Thank You Soldiers

I have been remiss this week is expressing my thanks to all those who currently serve or who have served in our military protecting those freedoms that we all so enjoy. I greatly appreciate all that those in our Armed Forces, past and present, do for us.


Our Memorial Day was spent rather quietly. Unfortunately, Ken had to work, but Isabella and I joined my sisters and my brother-in-law for dinner. Ken was however off of work yesterday. We enjoyed a nice trip to Costco to get a new mattress. Our was horrendous! So we got one of those Memory Foam mattresses (not just the topper). So far its really nice. We'll see after a couple days of getting used to it. Isabella was fine all day and then last night about dinnertime, she ended up sick. She was sick a few more times and then just ran a fever all night and most of the morning. Her fever finally broke today while she was taking a nap. She's been in a good mood and playing well since she woke up. Thank goodness!! When she has been feeling okay, she makes us sing with her. Her favorites include The Itsy Bitsy Spider, Patty Cake, Book of Mormon Stories, and Once There Was a Snowman. We'll have to get some videos of her doing these later. Its pretty funny. The only problem is that we have to sing them about a billion times. If we're lucky, we can distract her with something else so that we only sing them a million times.

And sorry, no pictures today. Maybe I'll have some more pictures and videos later in the week.

We're having a boy...

Yep, that's right we're having a boy. Here's some baby pictures:

Tamales & Ice Cream

So last week at church, we had a Cinco de Mayo potluck dinner (yes, a week late). For some reason I decided to make homemade tamales. I found a recipe in one of the cookbooks that Ken gave me for Mother's Day and decided to try it out. Making them wasn't really all that hard, just time consuming. I think they turned out pretty good considering I'd never made them before. We all decided that they did need to be a bit smaller with a little less masa. Otherwise, they turned out pretty good. This was just one pan of them.



This evening, we went out for a bit and then decided to drive down to JoJo's Ice Cream in Dumfries. I hadn't noticed before that they had Baby Cones for toddlers. So Ken and Isabella had their cones (I just had a float). Here's some pictures of them enjoying their ice cream. Too bad we didn't think about the fact that it was about 57 degrees when we got there and dropping as the sun went down. By the time Isabella was done, Ken and I were a little cold. We'd at least put a jacket on Isabella, but hadn't thought about it for us. Oh well, the ice cream was still yummy.


All that was after we had to give Isabella a bath right after dinner. Evidently mashed potatoes made a good hair gel.


And a few cute pictures:
My little couch potato

She was pouting in the car but of course, she stopped pouting as soon as I tried to take a picture. Its still a cute picture though.

Pictures from Mother's Day

Here's some pictures from our Mother's Day Barbecue with Ken's family.

Katlyn and Isabella playing in the wagon.


Isabella playing in the playhouse.


Bubbles!


Anyone need a pile of grass?


Chillin' out.


Sliding

Mother's Day

I had an absolutely wonderful Mother's Day. It actually started on Saturday because Ken was actually off of work on a Saturday. I was able to go get a pedicure and relax while Ken took Isabella shopping. Later in the evening, I got a spiffy new "do." Linda was nice enough to cut my hair for me. It turned out really cute. As some point maybe I'll take a pic of it and post it. Then Sunday I woke up to some beautiful cards and some great presents. Ken does actually pay attention. I got a cookbook holder, which is good, because now maybe I won't get stuff all over my cookbooks. He also got me two new cookbooks. I love cookbooks! One is a 5 ingredient grilling cookbook and the other is Blue Ribbon Recipes from State and County Fairs all over the country. It has some fun recipes in it that I am definitely going to have to try. At church, there were some wonderful speakers and some great musical numbers (one of which my husband sang in). After church, we went and joined Ken's family for a Mother's Day backyard barbecue. It was a lot of good food and good fun. Isabella had a ball. She was quite dirty when we finally came home.

I love that there is a day to honor Motherhood as I have a wonderful mother and a great mother-in-law. I was so blessed to have my Mom as one of my very best friends growing up and even to this day. And I am so grateful for my great Mother-in-law who raised a wonderful son that I was able to marry for time and all eternity in the temple. Thank you to all the mother's in my life that serve as such a great example for me and how I want to raise my children.

Isabella is getting too big too fast.

Isabella really is growing up too fast. All of a sudden she jumped up to a 3T size. At the doctor yesterday, I found out that she shot up about 4 inches since her last appointment, which I think was in January. Speaking of the doctors appointment, Isabella has a mild case of croup and an ear infection. That meant at least one sleepless night for Mommy. At least last night was a little better. Her fever finally broke this morning and she's been playing all day.

She's talking so much more. She uses short sentences at times (usually only 2 or 3 words). She very clear when she is saying something specific. She loves to point out her seat and wherever anyone else is sitting. She likes to watch for Daddy through the window and when she sees him, she gives him kisses through the window. She loves to play outside. Sometimes we have to bribe her to get her to come inside. She loves to give the baby kisses and hugs and to say Hi to the baby....which means that she's kissing and hugging Mommy's tummy and waving hi at Mommy's tummy. Its really cute.

I just had to prove how big she's getting so here's some random pictures and videos.

She usually yells Hi and Bye at everyone, but she was being a little shy here for some reason.


Isabella proving her knowledge of Animal sounds.


I'm not sure, she was playing with her soccer goal and Ken took this picture.



My little model. I thought it was funny when she cocked her leg and stood there posing. Then she had to run over and make sure I knew that she was saying "cheese."



Playing outside with Daddy



This is the nightly ritual for Isabella and Ken. She goes and gets her pacifier (or two) out of the drawer and Ken tries to get it. Then Isabella gives it to Ken, who puts it back in the drawer and we start all over again.



Ken was playing with her on our bed. She loves to be thrown onto the bed or the couch or whatever.

Dead worms

Tammy went to a Pampered Chef party so Isabella and I decided we would take her new jogging stroller out for a spin. It felt like we (I mean I) walked miles and we stopped at a local playground where she spent all of five minutes sliding and then said "lets go." Great more walking. This time she wanted to walk next to the stroller. So off we went. We didn't get far before Isabella spotted a worm on the sidewalk, well a dead worm, so she stopped say hi. I think she likes worms cause they look like little snakes. After talking to the dead worm for a few minutes we were off again. Then she spotted another worm and I think you know how this story goes. So after the tenth worm I realized this wasn't going to stop so time for Isabella to get back in the stroller. After strapping her in I asked her if she had fun. She said "upset" I said "you're upset?" she then said "I'm upset and tired." Kids.