On Valentine's Day we celebrated with our families and a few of our closest friends Clara's 2
nd birthday. We bumped out the party a few weeks because we were not sure when cousin Brendan (due on her actual birthday) would arrive. Clara thought it was fantastic that most of her favorite people we at our home at once. She was especially thrilled to see her cousins and paraded them through the house showing off all of her toys.
Cupcakes again this year because they are Miss Clara's favorite!
It was a special treat to have our Grandma Elaine come for the party. She has had a tough few months, but was feeling well enough to share in the festivities.
Clara with pals Logan and Hayden Fisher
Opening her first present with help from Auntie Dianne - one that was decorated with love by her special pal, Davis!
All of the kiddos had fun making Valentine's Day cards.
Ashley, Taylor, Zane, Hailey & Clara
Hailey, Clara, Olivia & Logan
Daddy and Grandma Carol put in a lot of help with the food at the party and it turned out great!
Cool, Lego's!
Clara got so spoiled with all of the fun gifts of toys, clothes and books! It is sad to see her outgrow some of the toys from last year, even some of the books, too. Mommy & Daddy love having new things to play with Clara with and read. So many of her current favorites we could recite in our sleep!
After the party we spent a little time reflecting back to last year and how much Scout has changed in one year's time. Last birthday she wasn't walking or talking. We were still introducing new foods and less concerned about her climbing and her getting into things. Our family room and bonus room had not completely evolved into crazy play zones and she had yet to claim all of my shoes and purses as her own or even become obsessed with lip gloss! At her first birthday party she didn't seem to "get it"!
This year it was a completely different story... she talked about every person that was going to come, she can sing the Happy Birthday song all by herself, she knows she likes CUPCAKES, she tore into the wrapped gifts like a pro and went and gave her sweet thank yous after opening them. She even surprised us by perfectly blowing out her own birthday candle. And in the days after she talked about what a fun time she had and how much she loves everyone who attended.
The weather has been so beautiful the past few days. We have been trying to spend as much time outside as possible. On Saturday, we wanted to make the most of our beautiful day as a family and decided to take Clara to Northwest Trek Wildlife Park in Eatonville. It was Kevin's first trip to the park as well while Erin had many fun memories there growing up. Clara really liked looking at the animals from the raised step at every exhibit. She was most interested in the animals that moved around and that she could easily see, which makes sense. 
After checking out the coyote exhibit, we tried to get her to howl and she refused with this precious pout!
The main event at the park is a 50 minute tram ride to see animals in their natural roaming environment. There were a lot of animals visible but most had better views from the opposite side of the tram. Clara enjoyed looking at all of the ducks and even took a few shots with her own camera. 
From the tram we were able to see bison, mountain goats, ram, elk, deer and even a few moose. We didn't bring the right camera lens so it was difficult to get good photos of the animals. 
Clara liked walking around on her own and is starting to protest being in her stroller. We managed to get her to ride in it for a few stretches but had to find things for her to snack on while she was seated. 
Looking for the bobcats with Mommy
