Oh memories

I was just looking through all the videos on my computer, and I honestly didn't even remember a lot of them. So for a jog down memory lane ... if anyone else is interested.

Note to self: If having a day when you want to kill your dog, just pull up some puppy pictures or videos, and you will fall back in love (slightly).




Porter was the CUTEST puppy ever. I sure do miss him as a puppy.


And of course, some cute videos of our little Belle. Sometimes I forget how small she once was.






...Don't judge me for the large amount of items in the crib with Belle. I know, I know, they are all SIDS risk factors, but when we first moved Belle into her crib, she wouldn't sleep well, because she was so used to her snug little bassinet, so we had to add filling in her crib, until she got a little more used to it. Once she was used to it, we removed all blankets, stuffed animals, etc. ... but that is not the point of this blog. Just enjoy the cute video. :)



And some more. Sorry, for all the videos, but she is so DARN cute, I couldn't leave them out. :)




... and yes, it drives me NUTS that her face is covered by that stupid sun most of the time, but this video was taken by Dave, and I don't think he quite understands the importance of facial expressions in pictures and videos (no offense babe).

Almost Done.




The last one for now.

Goodbye my love

With a great deal of sadness, I must report that it has come time to say good-bye to the one thing that I can always depend on to make me feel better, the thing that keeps me moving through the day, the staple in my diet - my diet coke.

As many of you know, a part of my every-day living is dealing with pelvic pain - some days, I hardly notice it, others it is hard to ignore. Of course, as (also) many of you know, I have endometriosis, which can explain the pain. However, I have certain symptoms that it hasn't been able to explain. And I also tend to have chronic urinary tract infections that have gone unexplained. And of course, there is the issue of my early and constant contractions while I was pregnant, that were attributed to a chronic urinary tract infection and bladder spasms.

Well, today, as I was, again, dealing with this annoying pain that I am beginning to grow sick of, I began talking to the PA at my office and explaining my symptoms. She was already aware of my UTIs as she has been the one to write my prescriptions for the last couple. And so of course, within just minutes of talking to her about it, she suggested that I might have a condition called interstitial cystitis. Why have NONE of my other doctors even brought this up? I do not know. But she brought up a list of symptoms for this condition and as I read through the list, I could check off each one.

The downside to this story that has taken me way too long to tell - I cannot have ANY carbonation. Of course, with just my luck - carbonation only worsens the inflammation in the bladder and makes the symptoms worse. So after some lecturing from the PA and the doctor, I have had to come to accept the fact that I must say adieu to this dear friend of mine.

Craft Day!!!

Kathryn and I decided to have a last minute craft day because we have both been wanting to make wreaths for our doors. We decided to each do an autumn wreath and a Halloween wreath. As we were finishing up with our wreaths, Mom decided she wanted to join in the fun and do some too, so we made a mad dash to the store and grabbed some supplies for her as well and whipped hers out quickly. We also made one for Camille since she wasn't able to join in on the fun. They all turned out super cute and we had fun. We had a fun day!


Our Halloween wreaths! Kathryn's, Mom's, and mine. Mom's turned out way fuller and cuter since Kathryn and I tried to cut on costs for ours and split the feather boa used for the wreath.


Mom's cute wreath hanging on her door.


My autumn wreath.


All the autumn wreaths. Mom's, mine, Camille's, and Kathryn's.

Babysitter poll

Dave and I hired a regular babysitter (a college student) back in March and she just comes when Dave goes to class until either he or I get home - so it averages to be about 3 days per week and anywhere from 2-3 hours per day. I've really struggled to know how much to pay her, because she comes regularly like a nanny would, but doesn't take on any duties of a nanny. She is just here to watch Isabelle - no house duties, no driving, no bathing, etc.

How much would you pay a regular babysitter who comes to your home?

Belle is One!

My last post was supposed to be about my sweet girl who turned one, and then obviously turned out to be something other than that. So I am going to make up for it and do a real post about my cute 1-year old.

On July 18th, our little Belle turned ONE!!!! I honestly cannot believe that she was born over a year ago. Time really does fly and kids really do grow so fast - they grow too fast. For her birthday, we decided to have a small party for her. We invited family and a few friends. Almost all of my family was there, including my grandma and aunts and uncles. And our friends, Mike and Mel came with their little boy Ashton.

It was a small and simple party, but a good one. My sister, Kathryn, helped me with some decorations and frosting some cupcakes. It was a bright, fun, summery party! Belle got all sorts of great presents and even had fun opening them. Overall, it was a good day.

One of my high school friends made the cake, Kathryn and I did the cupcakes, and Kathryn whipped together the cute paper flowers in a matter of minutes! What a talented designer.


When Isabelle first got her cake, she was a bit bashful with it, and just picked a little at the time. But eventually she got the hang of it and dug right in. She loved it! It was so fun to watch her make a mess and enjoy eating her little cake.




It truly is amazing to reflect on the last year and see how much my baby has changed in grown. It is sad to know that she is no longer my tiny baby, but it is so fun to watch her grow and change and develop into the cute person that she is. She has truly brightened our lives even amidst a busy and stressful time.

She is the busiest body I have ever seen - walking everywhere, getting into every cupboard, climbing every stair, and moving as much as she possibly can. She loves to just spend time with her mommy and daddy. She loves to play and laugh for as long as we have energy to do so. She loves to play with the dogs and I think she almost talks to them more than she talks to us. She loves to spin around in circles and be thrown in the air. Again, she just loves to move! Sitting still, lying down, or being strapped in a car seat are definitely not any of her favorite past times. We are lucky to have a good little eater. I swear the girl never stops. She will eat anything we will let her. Although she is a social baby, she likes to pretend she's shy when people try to talk to her. But eventually, she'll give in and give them the smiles and babbles they are looking for.

Although totally and completely exhausting, we cannot get enough of our little Belle. We are truly blessed to have her in our lives.

We love you Miss Isabelle Jane!

My baby is growing up!

Our little miss Isabelle Jane turned 1 on July 18th! Although it feels like she was born forever ago, I feel like she is just growing so fast! It is crazy to me that we have left the baby phase and are well into the toddler phase.

I am sure that I am not the only person who has felt the way I do, but as we have hit this significant benchmark, I am feeling like a horrible mother. I have not been consistent in keeping a journal about all of Isabelle's growth and each mile marker. I have not written down when she rolled over for the first time or when she got her first tooth. I don't have video of her first steps. I don't have pictures of every significant event through her first year. And I'm wishing I could make up for it and remember every little single thing so I can document it, but let's be honest - a lot of it is a big blur. I may have well been on drugs for the first three months of her life (but don't worry, I wasn't) - between the recovery from the delivery/c-section, the recovery from my whacked out hormones, trying to get a grasp on being a mom, and trying to stay on top of things with work - things were definitely crazy and there are few significant things that I can remember.

Although I eventually regained a sense of who I am and became more of a normal person, life didn't get any less busy, and unfortunately, I didn't get any better at keeping a scrapbook or a journal. Although I did make a few attempts to write in a baby book my aunt gave to me, I know that I missed out on writing a lot of things down. I hope that one day Isabelle will forgive me for not being more on top of things - for not having newborn pictures, for not sending out birth announcements, for not documenting her growth each month of her first year, for not scrapbooking all the precious moments, for not doing all the things that I always wanted to do and wish I did do.

Now that this post which was supposed to be about my adorable daughter has turned into a self-hating session, I will try to make it more of a positive entry.

Although I missed out on a lot of writing and picture taking, I truly have enjoyed this last year with our beautiful daughter. Isabelle has truly been such an incredible blessing in our lives. She has such a positive spirit about her and has a way of just making you feel good. Even though I haven't been the perfect mom, the time that I have had this last year to be a first-time mommy has been nearly perfect. It has been an incredible experience to bring a child into this world and to experience this part of Heavenly Father's plan, to take part in such a divine calling. I have treasured the last 12 months and I so look forward to the future years with our little Isabelle.

4th of July

Once upon a time, my family and relatives used to take an annual trip to the Grand Tetons and camp over the 4th of July. It has been quite some time since we last went (like 10 years or so long time) and this year, my youngest sister Kathryn decided we needed to reintroduce the tradition. We have talked about it many times, but this year Kathryn actually pulled through and reserved the campsite for us, so the trip actually happened!

We camped at Colter Bay in the Grand Tetons for 4 nights and spent our days visiting some sites. Unfortunately, we were there for such a short time that we couldn't fit everything in, but we were able to fit in a few highlights of beautiful of northwestern Wyoming.

We arrived Thursday night, July 1st and didn't have time to but anything but set up camp before heading to bed.

On Friday, we hiked around Jenny Lake and up to the waterfall then took a boat ride back. It was a long hike with a baby, 4 kids, and some out-of-shape adults, but it was fun.





Then on Saturday, we took the drive up to Yellowstone to visit Old Faithful and walked around the geysers. For some reason, those geysers seemed a lot cooler when I was younger, but we still had fun.



For the 4th, on Sunday, we had our own family sacrament meeting at the campsite. My dad and uncle Bruce organized a simple and nice little meeting. I was actually quite impressed for having been such a sporadic meeting, as we had planned on attending church at the Jackson Lake Lodge, but changed our plans once we found out Sacrament was not until 6:30pm. Dave and my brother Jeff prepared the sacrament, and Kathryn's fiance, Matt, and my cousin, Josh passed the sacrament. My uncle Bruce conducted the meeting and gave an inspirational talk about the blessing of the gospel being restored in our country and the responsibility we have as members of the gospel of Jesus Christ and citizens of this country to live righteously in order to maintain the freedoms we do. My dad added a few thoughts and then opened some time for testimonies. Although very simple, the meeting was a spiritual one. It was really neat to see the priesthood holders in my family gather together and provide the opportunity for us to partake of the sacrament, and to feel of the spirit as we sat together as a family in the sounds and scenery of the mountains. I felt as if that day and that meeting was a tender mercy. The simplicity and yet strength of that day was a testimony building experience for me.

After church, we traveled to Jackson Hole just in time to watch a really lame shoot-out near the town square, walk through a couple shops, and then make our way to the baseball park for the spectacular fireworks show. The night was definitely colder than I remember past 4ths in Jackson being, but the fireworks were pretty incredible, and in my opinion, they were the best that we've seen there.




After a long and late night in Jackson, the inevitable came, and we had to wake up early to get camp packed up and head back home. It was a very short few days, but they were fun. I always love spending time in nature, I love spending time with family, and I love having new experiences with my cute hubby and baby.