Oh what fun!!!

Last Saturday was such beautiful day: high in the mid 70's, no wind, sunshine and our family hanging out together. We headed out to Walnut Creek Reservoir and went fishing. Most of the lakes out here are man-made, but this one was so cool. There was all these trees in the lake sticking out and they gave it lots of character. It was so fun to be outside enjoying the springtime. Isabel had a total blast and was so excited to go fishing. David and her caught 4 blue gill and she would scream everytime they reeled one in. We can't wait for more nice weather to go camping and fishing this spring.

Isabel had fun running all over, looking at the ducks and helping Daddy fish.

David had his turkey hunting gear out in the living room on Friday night, and Isabel put all this stuff on and started saying "unting, unting". She loves to mimick us and cracks us up.

Here is our little Brig, looking cute as always. He doesn't quite fit in Isabel's doll stroller, but he sure gave us lots of grins when we put him in there. He is always so happy and is really starting to discover his voice and is getting pretty coordinated with his hands and holding on to rattles. He loves to suck on his hands and is starting to laugh a lot more. It is so fun to watch him grow. He likes to hold on to his left foot with his left hand. I don't want him to grow so fast, I wish I could slow time down!

He grunts and grunts when he is having tummy time and is getting better at rolling over to get out of it:)

It's Potty time!!! We spent last week potty training Isabel. It was much more work and more stressful than I thought, but it was still a great experience and I know it will be worth it when it is completely done. I did a method called "3 Day Potty Training" if anyone wants info about it, click here. It took us longer than 3 days, but I think that is because I was doing a few things wrong, and I couldn't catch her everytime she was going. It was a very long week, but David was able to come home earlier than he usually does to help with Brigham and the house. I admit I got frustrated and didn't know how it was going to work, but she has the hang of it now. Today was our first accident free day, and we were even able to go to church. She has been telling us everytime and is staying dry at night and at naptime (she has actually been dry at naps and night the whole time). She is such a big girl and it is so nice to know that we accomplished something really hard together. She got a really cute dress and shoes that she picked out as her reward for being a "big girl". I love this girl more than I can comprehend!

Way to go Isabel, we are so happy for you! (and mommy too, since she won't be changing anymore of your diapers)

In a nutshell

I am finally posting some pics from spring break. we went to Utah and had a great time. We had Isabel's birthday, Brigham's blessing and just some relaxing time together. My parents were able to come for Brigham's blessing and it was great to have them there and see them for a bit. We had so much fun, it is always great to see family and have a little vacation. We ate at some of our favorite restaurants and had fun playing with our families. We were also able to be there for David's cousin's wedding, and we are really close with Kristen, so we were excited we could be there. Here are just a few pictures. Sorry they are in reverse order, but I can't get the pics rearranged.
We have started bathing the kids together, and Isabel does great with it. She helps me wash his hair and plays in the tub while I get him out and dressed.

I whacked my hair and dyed it while we were home. That is what happens when I get bored and I have David around to watch the kids. I am still trying to get used to it, but I was ready for a change.

Isabel got this cute chair from Rachel and so she likes to sit by Brigham and hang out.

We celebrated Isabel's Birthday a little early since my parents were in town for the blessing. We had a yummy chocolate cherry cake and Isabel ate a huge piece so good with her fork. She is a pretty clean eater when she enjoys the food. We had fun just relaxing and visiting with our parents.

We never told Isabel about blowing her candles out, but when we got done singing to her, she knew just what to do and it only took a couple tries to get them out. She must be full of hot air like her daddy!:)

Here are both sets of grandparents. David gave such a beautiful blessing to Brigham. Aunt Elaine knows shorthand and was nice enough to transcribe the blessing so I can get it written up for Brigham for him to have. I am so grateful to have such a sweet husband who loves our kids so much.

This is a picture that captures David perfectly. David loves the broncos, loves to hunt and loves to take naps. Brig is his father's son!!!

We love the outdoors and we have so much fun on G & G Bailey's property. The grandkids were building a fort and we had fun checking it out behind the house.

Brigham had his first 4-wheeler ride and he was so content.

Isabel giving loves to G & G at the wedding luncheon.

Here is David's little sister getting some snuggles from our little stud. We wish we could see Rachel more when we come home, but she is always so busy. Ahh the life of a high-schooler:)

I don't know why Isabel looks like she is scheming up something.Not the most friendly face, but still adorable.

In other news, I am going to start potty training Isabel tomorrow. We are using the "3-day potty training" method. I hear great things about it and I am very optimistic. But I have to devote the next 3 days to Isabel and nothing else, so I will be M.I.A. for a bit. Hopefully we will be back at the end of the week with good news.

3 months already?

I can't believe my little man is already 3 months. I am still amazed that we have 2 beautiful, sweet children in our family. This little guy is so much joy and brings so much love into our family. He has such a sweet disposition and is willing to smile at anyone who gives him attention. He is rolling over really well and learning to use his voice and blow bubbles. He sleeps great and eats great and is happy all the time. He loves to watch his sister play and cuddle with his daddy in the evenings. He loves to snuggle and is the sweetest thing to watch when he drools in his sleep. He is flailing his limbs like crazy when he is lying down. We are so happy to have him in the family and can't wait to see what the future holds. We love you Brig!

In other news, we are back from spring break and I have lots of pictures to post, but we took turns this week with a 24 hour flu bug...no fun let me say! so we are better, the weather is warm and life is good. Hopefully I will post the pics this next week. No promises, because I am busy finishing up a friendship quilt for the dental club, making a video for a relief society activity, working on a song with my friend for the activity and getting Isabel ready to be potty trained. Then I am sure my house will be in desperate need of some TLC. It was so great to see some family over the break and we love you all!

Sick, sick, sick, SICK!

That is one "sick" for every person in our family. Yep, we are all sick. It started last wednesday when Isabel started coughing and not sleeping good and just had a body flu. Then on Sat. David and I started feeling pretty crummy and congested. Then on Sunday, poor Brigham started coughing too. Yesterday, my ears started killing me and I was getting more sick. So I went to the Dr.'s today and apparently I have an ear infection (who knew you could get them when you are all grown up). So I got put on antibiotics. Then I thought I better take the kids in and make sure they are okay (since we are flying in 2 days). So Isabel has an ear infection, and Brigham has....yep, RSV. My worst nightmare. It is not in its worst stage, so it can get worse, which scares me. I thought david had a sinus infection so I sent him to urgent care when he got home from school so he could get on antibiotics and not give as many germs to Brigham. But, no he just has a cold, so the dr. told him to get a bunch of over the counter meds. You should see our kitchen counter, it is littered with antibiotics, creams to help with diaper rash (for Isabel, not for us), cold medicines, salines, honey and nyquil. We are a pretty sore looking bunch. David gave Brigham a beautiful blessing. I just hope it doesn't get down into his lungs. We hope we can still go to Utah for Spring Break and see both sets of parents. I guess tomorrow will tell. And then I have to take him back to the doctor on Friday so they can check up on him. Oh what a crazy week!

My wonderful Valentine!

Today is a double holiday for our family. Not only is it Valentine's day, which is a great holiday, but it is also David's Birthday. An even better bonus was that it was Saturday, so we got to spend a lot more time with him. We started the day off with a yummy breakfast, and then played around with Isabel and just vegged in our jammies. Then we got up and went and got some grocery shopping done (not too exciting, but I LOVED having David's help, so that is just fine by me!). Then David headed off to the school to get some studying done (he has 4 tests this next week and 4 more the week after. They are all cramming them in before Spring break), and I headed home to get stuff done for his birthday. He came home and helped me get the rest of dinner ready. Then we opened his presents. His mom had sent some great clothes for him to use hunting and some warm base layer clothes. I got him a box turkey call (he may drive us crazy practicing with it) and a coupon for him to pick out some sunglasses that he is DESPERATELY needs.
Then we had dinner. We had an amazing prime rib, spinach salad, grape salad, and mashed potatoes. Oh I almost forgot to mention we had bubbly! (sparkling cider, or as Isabel calls it "spicy"). We ate ourselves into a coma (we didn't get the meat sweats Amy, thank goodness!). Then we topped it off with some strawberry shortcake. A day can't help but be amazing when you eat so much food. I will admit that I am a little too obsessed with food, but hey, you only live once, right?
It was so fun to spend the day as a family and show our valentine how thankful we are for him. He truly is such a special person. He is such a wonderful example to me of a selfless person. When we first started dating, he made a joke that he would swim across the ocean without arms for me. So silly, but it is true. I know he would do anything for me and our children, and I am so lucky that he found me in this crazy world. He makes me laugh every day and it does something to my heart to see him with our children. I love him more and more everyday and it only seems fitting that this sweetheart of a person was born on Valentine's Day. I love you honey, thank you for agreeing to spend forever with me!

Isabel came and put this bow on me and then put one on herself. She was so excited and started laughing hysterically. I guess she thinks we are the best presents:)

Not much to say

Well, we haven't been up to much lately. In fact, my brain is total mush right now and I can't think of anything. I am excited because I just finished making a video of our pictures from 2008 and we are going to watch it for family night tonight. I went to the cannery on Saturday and got lots of food storage (which make David wince because then he has to find a place to store it all). Our children continue to make us smile and fill our hearts with love and gratitude. We feel so blessed. I will go play with my kids now and bring more news if we do anything exciting!
Here are a few scrapbook pages I have done. It is pretty addicting, but I don't have much time to work on them right now. I hope I can stay up on it somewhat to get a decent scrapbook going.

We checked out the ice fishing derby at a nearby lake. You've never seen so many ice tents! It was a really nice day too, so it wasn't too bad being outside

Here's our little guy flashing us a few smiles. He is such a happy easy going guy. It is so cute to see him smile at Isabel when she is mauling him. He is very liberal with the grins when he gets a clean diaper put on.

Hanging out

Because this last week was so bitter cold, and we have a newborn, we couldn't go anywhere! I could barely stand to open the door to get the mail. So we had fun just hanging out, being silly, getting cabin fever, and decorating the house with all of Isabels toys scattered. My kids bring me so much joy, but I was a bit stir crazy. So David let me go out on Saturday for a few hours and get some fresh air! Here's some pics from this week.
Here is our little stud muffin getting some tummy time. He is growing and changing so fast, we try to just enjoy every minute with him. He is such an easy going baby and he doesn't mind all of Isabel's attention that she loves to shower on him.

Here is my little copycat. She has been mimmicking everything I do. Including trying to nurse her babies, attempting to use the breast pump, even doing the sound effects of what the machine sounds like, and putting on makeup with me. She is such a joy, but is definitely learning how to voice her opinion. She constantly teaches us new things and makes us laugh everyday with the energy and sillyness that she brings to our family. She is learning new words everyday and helps me out so much with Brigham. I am so glad she is so loving to him and doesn't get mad when I need to tend to him.

She saw me putting these glasses on Mr Potato Head and insisted I try them on her. Not quite the perfect fit, but she doesn't seem to mind.

After his bath, Daddy had fun styling his hair. Isn't he adorable. He is chunking up on us. I had him weighed at one month and he was 10 lbs, 2 oz, which puts him in the 75th percentile. Total opposite from Isabel, I think he is gonna be a big baby. He is starting to smile a little bit and is learning to coo. It is so much fun to watch as your kids learn new things and grow and develop. We are so thankful for these precios spirits.

Back to the real world

Well David had to go back to school this week, and it was a sad occasion. It has been so fun having David home over the break, and he was a lifesaver to me in getting adjusted to our new family. Here's a few pictures from the last week. Here's our little sleeper. He always finds a way to wiggle his arms out of his blanket. Although he won't go to sleep unless his arms are wrapped up, he likes to get them loose.

David helped Isabel build a snowman on Saturday. Yes those are deer antlers for arms, we had to improvise. They are both wearing camo coats. I had a baby shower for Brigham with my friends here in the Village and one of my sweet friends got this adorable camo coat for Brigham to wear next winter (they all know David so well!). David wanted Isabel to wear it so they could match. Since she is so tiny, it fit her great, and she thought it was cool that she got to wear something different.

She loves to give Brigham "ugs" (hugs) and does it every chance she can, even squishing him sometimes. She is so sweet to him, we couldn't wish for anything better.

Here is our handsome little guy. He is getting more alert everyday and loves to be able to look around. David swears he likes to stare at the deer we have, because we willay him down on the couch under the deer and he fixates his eyes on it and won't budge. I guess we are training him early to be daddy's hunting partner.

Here is mommy's little helper. Isabel wants to be doing everything I am doing. If Brigham is fussy and I pick him up to bounce him and pat his back. Isabel runs and finds one of her baby dolls and does the same thing. The other day I was nursing him and she went and picked up her baby, tried to lift her shirt up, and couldn't, so she just cradled her baby like I was holding Brigham and just sat there. What a little mommy! This picture was after I had brigham in the carrier for a while. She went and picked it up and wanted Daddy to help her put it on. She wants to be so involved and is such a sweetheart. I still can't believe that she is my little baby girl, and I have another baby already. It is amazing that I can love two little kids so much, they are true joy. Being a mother is such a special blessing!

Happy New Year!

We bid farewell to 2008 by eating a delicious king crab leg dinner, YUM!!! Of course with a 2 1/2 week old and David in the home, we didn't stay up till midnight, but we had fun just the same. We had a great chocolate cake that Isabel enjoyed as well. That is why everyone needs a daddy-they let you make messes.

On the 31st, I took Isabel out on a mommy/daughter date to the zoo. She has been adjusting well to Brigham, but has been acting out a bit, so I took her out to have some alone time with her. I think she really enjoyed it, I know I did. It was fun to see her back to her normal self. We just wandered around and let her go wherever she wanted. We had lots of fun at the aquarium and the desert dome. She was so curious and intrigued by everything and loved having my undivided attention.

playing in the car and with the horn. She loves to honk at people and lets out a big yell whenever David honks the horn.

she loves to color!

We can't wait to see what 2009 brings us. Each year just keeps getting better.