SNOW!

We finally got Isabelle out in the snow a couple of weeks ago. She absolutely LOVED it! She helped her dad shovel the driveway by touching, throwing, and eating the snow. Now she brings me her boots to go out and play. She is definitely her father's child when it comes to the snow.

Happy New Year (Only a month late)

We spent the night at Mike's parents, along with his sister, Sharon, and her family.

We had fondue for dinner and it was delicious! It's a great meal to piece on all night til midnight! Mike's dad got a little impatient with the oil heating up and decided to use some outside help. The torch got used later to roast marshmallows.


We played board games and the Wii for a very entertaining evening.


Isabelle wanted nothing to do with the new year's hat. She just screamed. Needless to say, she went to bed and didn't make it to midnight.


We were stuffed from the fondue but still had room for the bubbly at midnight. We celebrated at 10pm (New York's midnight) with the kids and then celebrated again at midnight our time.

California Wedding

My little brother, Matthew, got married between Christmas and New Year's. We left Isabelle and Jake at Mike's mom's and rode down with another brother and his wife, Danny and Karen, who also left kids with grandma. It was like a 3 day double date! Our 9-10 hour drive took 14 hours down and 17 home. It was LONG thanks to snow, blizzards, construction, and wrecks! Danny and Karen kept things interesting and it was quite the memory maker.

Here's a massive collage of some cute snapshots. Click on it to make it bigger.


Some of the girls. We didn't get a girls picture with Mom, Liz and Casey.


Here is all the boys.


The beautiful couple! It was a beatiful wedding. The weather was slightly chilly. I was glad I had my snow boots and a sweater. The reception was very "Father of the Bride." Just perfect! We love Casey and she's a great addition to our family.

Christmas

So after downloading pictures, I realize I have almost no pictures from Christmas events. I guess I was having so much fun I forgot to take pictures. Mike's family has lots of fun Christmas traditions and they all involve lots of people. We stayed at Mike's parents house for the week and had a great time visiting and playing games with family. Mike's sister from Texas came up with her family and his other sister's family also spent a few nights. It was a full house and tons of fun. All the cousins had a great time playing together. There was more than one occasion I couldn't find Isabelle only to find her 2 floors away playing with her cousins having the time of her life. I didn't realize she was old enought to play by herself with cousins! I guess my baby's growing up!

Here's a couple of Christmas morning pictures.

What's better than 1 baby? 2 BABIES! She's hilarious with her dolls. She rocks them and feeds them bottles and pats their back. She's already a little mother.


Isabelle got excited with each toy she got. She didn't quite get the ripping of the paper part, but we couldn't get the toys out of the packaging fast enough for her to play with. It's quite the event to get toys detached from wires, tape, and cardboard!

Isabelles favorite toy is probably her doll stroller. She loves to push all her babies around. It's so cute to watch!

Sunny Florida!!!!

The week before Christmas, we went on a trip to Daytona Beach, Florida with Mike's parents. Sharon and Joe (Mike's sister) and their kids, and Grandma Bird came too. We had a blast!!!! Here's the whole clan. Click on the collages to make them bigger. Too many great pictures!


My favorite part was Disney World! The Christmas lights were beautiful! I had the time of my life. Isabelle was getting cranky by the end, once she was able to walk, she was perfectly happy. She got tired of being held or in the stroller. She loved the rides and was very agreeable the entire day.


St. Augustine and the Daytona Speedway. We toured the oldest fort in North America in St. Augustine. It was very old and interesting. Another day we drove by the famous Daytona Speedway. There were cars speeding by and we just couldn't get enough of the noise! :)


The rest of the time we were at the beach or pool. We got to stay right on the beach. It was great! A couple of days it was a little chilly, but we still spent almost every morning at the beach and pool. The last few days, it was perfect and warm! We built sand castles, rode bikes on the beach, and body boarded to our hearts desires. Isabelle didn't eat very much sand this time, but played with the sand buckets at the beach or pool.


Isabelle's favorite part was the seagulls. She loved to chase them and took off after them every chance she got.

We had such a great trip. Isabelle loved spending time with her cousins and we had a great time with Mike's family. It was sad to come home, but great to come home for the holidays. Christmas posts yet to come.

Best Friends

Isabelle and Jake are so entertaining to watch.

She lays on him

and her new favorite thing to do is give him kisses. She leans in and says "Ahhmmm" for kisses and Jake just goes to town. She giggles and claps. It's absolutely hilarious!

The Christmas Tree

After Thanksgiving, Isabelle helped grandma decorate her tree. She didn't really quite know what to think, but did put on an ornament.


A couple of days later, we put up our tree and Isabelle really enjoyed playing with a couple of jingle bell ornaments and putting the other ornaments on the tree. She got so interested, she wouldn't really look at me for a picture.



I carefully put all my very child proof wooden, metal, and plastic ornaments low for Isabelle to play with. She even put the jingle belly ornaments on and now she doesn't touch the tree. I realize I shouldn't complain, but I was curious to see what she would do with it and was prepared for finding broken ornaments in odd places of the house, but she hasn't pulled a single ornament off. She does point to the tree and stand in front of it saying, "OOOO" and "Dis, dis, dis?" but doesn't touch it. Maybe next year!

Birthday, Halloween, and Visitors

Isabelle had a great first birthday. She wasn't very enthusiastic to unwrap the presents, but she loved playing with them once she got them out.

She wouldn't touch the cake until Mike shoved her hand in it. Then she chowed down.

For Halloween Isabelle was a cute little fairy. She actually didn't feel good, so she was grumpy. She clutched her magic wand and wouldn't let go. We went to a trunk or treat for about 15 minutes and trick or treated at one house, our friends Ryan and Kari. Jake also was a fairy... :)

My parents came to town for a couple of weeks. It was so fun to spend some time with them and Isabelle could spend some time with her other grandparents. She loved them. While they were here, my mom and I made curtains for Isabelle's room. We haven't gotten them hung up yet, so picture to come. We had such a great time.

While my parents were in this part of the world, we met up with 3 of my siblings at my grandparent's house. Isabelle got to play with her cousins. Isabelle and Kali were so cute.

Isabelle and Sydney ran around in their tutus for most of the time.

Mike's parents went to China for a few weeks and brought Isabelle a panda purse. She carries it around all the time and loves to put things in it. What a girl!

Isabelle and I were appropriately dressed for the BYU, Utah game. Mike was in traitor colors and not allowed to be in the picture. We were a little sad with the outcome, but enjoyed the friendly rilvary for the day.

Our Halloween Party

We had Mike's family's annual Halloween party. We carved pumpkins and made our homemade doughnuts. They were delicious! The weather was perfect for carving on the deck. Isabelle wanted absolutely nothing to do with the pumpkin. She got pumpkin goo on her foot and started crying and held her foot up in disgust....we're in trouble for the future. Here's our masterpiece!

The Beach

Of couse, while in San Diego, we made it to the beach. We had so much fun playing in the sand and water. Isabelle loved every second as she tried to shovel the sand stright to her mouth. I think her and Andrew had a contest to see who could eat the most sand. We had a great time.