Get ready... set... go...

(isn't this the cutest monster you've ever seen?)

It's September.

Like you didn't know.

But September is the month before October you see.

Like you didn't know that either.

I spend the whole entire month of September getting ready for October.

December? You don't scare me one bit.

This month I will be planning a trip to California and Disneyland, a Toy Story Birthday Party (in California), A Hello Kitty Birthday Party (in Utah), a dinner celebration at Hee Haw (aka Texas Roadhouse), and all this for one little soon to be 3 year old.

My mother tells me I've created a monster.

You see, birthdays are a BIG deal to me. Birthdays are the one day a year that the day is all about you.

It's okay Tim knew this about me before we got married.

I have installed this thinking into my little two year old, she is VERY excited about her birthday this year. Every morning when I go to get her out of her crib, she says:

"Mama, it's October?"

Those of you that know me know, know that my birthday is also in October. I almost had Izzie on my 30th birthday. I was checked into labor and delivery all ready to go, but when my doctor came into the room I begged her to go home. I was NOT going to have our baby on MY birthday!! We joked my whole pregnancy that this would happen, I laughed it off at the time. But when it was actually going to happen, it was not funny at all. The 17th of October is MY day. Luckily my doctor let me go home that night, and I checked back into the hospital the next night and was in labor for a full 24 hours so we are two days apart. Thank goodness, cause neither her nor I want to share our day with each other!

My mother is right, I have created a monster.

But it's OK, cause she's cute.

So please excuse me for the next month, I will be in my basement covered in birthday decor.

Can someone please come check on me on the 16th of October to make sure I don't miss my birthday? Please?

Pool Time

We pulled the pool out a little earlier this year and Izzies friends from next door came over to have a little fun.
Boy has Izzie grown, last year I thought this thing was too big, and now it's too small. Makes me sad :(

As you can tell by Izzies hair, the wind picked up a bit and it got a little too cold for the kids. It was fun while it lasted.

Pony Express Days Parade

Our little town here in Utah has a annual Pony Express Days Parade. It has grown so much just in the four years we have lived here. Izzie has been every year and just loves it! This year she saw other kids climbing the trees, and just had to get in on the fun. I had to put her in the tree of course, but she felt like a big girl :)

Izzie lovin' on her Daddy.

Iz stopped the parade when she saw these ladies walking down the street!! She just walked right into the parade so she could say hello and get a hug from her old friends. It was very cute!

Brittanys Graduation

We were happy to make it back from California in time to go to Bubbs graduation. I can't believe how fast kids grow up! We have been friends with the Heusers for close to 8 years!
We are so proud of her! Izzie and I made her this sign that morning. I was freaking out, Izzie me and a glue gun don't mix well. Lets just say there was a lot of screaming.

Afterwards we ALL went to Bucas for the traditional post graduation dinner.

James and Brian stayed with us, it was so nice to have them back home again we miss them!!!

Adventures in the clown car were a blast guys :)

A day at the farm

On Mothers day this year we had a BBQ at Kevin and Susie's, all the Moms came including my Mom and Grandma. We had a great time we ate Mexican food and the boys BBQ'd carne esada. At the end of the night after everyone went home we were cleaning up in the backyard and my Mom fell and twisted her ankle, bad. I ended up taking her to the ER to get it checked out to make sure it wasn't broken (my mom has broken her ankle before, she does her own stunts and shes good). Well it turned out it wasn't broken only sprained but boy was it ugly! She ended up getting a lot of time off work so it would heal. And the night before we were to fly back, we convinced her to come back to Utah with us to heal here. I know, I know you're asking yourself why is she telling us this story in a post titled "A day at the farm"? Well I just saw my mom in the pictures and remembered why she was with us that day. And because I'm a very bad blogger and haven't been keeping up with my blog, I forgot to put it in my entry titled "Mothers Day 2010" Anyways moving on to "A day at the Farm"...

We had fun at the farm this day, there were tons of baby animals because it was spring and all. Izzie always finds something new to do there every time. This time it was pulling on the buckets with grandma.


This goat kept calling out for his mama in the other pen, and every time he would call out Izzie would jump, it was pretty funny.

Always a good time when we visit the farm!

Mothers Day 2010

We went to California again for Mothers Day this year. But this time we flew, it was so nice to get there and settled in so fast :) we don't get to do that very often anymore because now Izzie's not free. The trip had a lot of firsts! Izzie has the best Uncles ever, James and Brian bought her her first princess dress. She loved it so much it was hard to get her out of it to go to bed, and the first thing she said in the morning was "mama, princess dress"
Izzie got to vist with her cousins a lot this trip it always makes us happy to see their relationships grow more and more with each trip. It is so important to both Tim and I that she really knows our families in California,that's why we go back so often. On this trip we all went to Pinks, the famous hot dog joint in California. Tim, Izzie, Grandpa, Sean, Brandon, James, Brian, and myself all piled in our cars and went to the new location at Knotts Berry Farm. All I can say is YUM YUM life changing!!! If you ever get the chance GO!

Another first this year was a trip to Disneyland with Grandma and Grandpa McBride. She had so much fun sharing her favorite place on earth with them. They got their tickets for free through the Disney "Give a Day get a Day" program this year.

We really had a great time with them. I think it had been over 20 years since they had been there last!

And here is the annual Mothers Day rose picture, I get one every year :) They are some of my favorite pictures of my baby girl.

I hope you all had as good a Mothers Day as I had!!!

Disney On Ice

A few weeks ago we we're able to go to Disney on Ice for free! Okay maybe not for free, we had to sit in the freezing cold for about 5 hours in the heart of Salt Lake City 3 months ago, but the tickets were free! Tim went earlier that day to pick-up the tickets at the box office and got awesome seats right behind the VIP section.

Izzie had so much fun seeing all the characters skating around, I think it gave her a Disneyland fix that will last till we can get back there in May... I hope.

She was all smiles the whole time.

Here are some shots of the show, Izzies getting a kick out of looking at them again right now as I type. She's yelling "Gotta go's" she still won't call them cars.

We will be sitting in the cold again next year to get our tickets, it was so worth it!

Hello Again!

Here are some snapshots from our last trip to California, I can't wait to go back for Mothers Day, we're flying this time whoo hoo!!

Grandma LaVigne had Izzies face painted at the meet the princess area, she loved it!

Kevin with all his brothers and sisters, at his 60th surprise birthday party.

All of us on the train ride at Disneyland, it was kind of faster than we thought, Tim fell on me at one point in the ride:) Good thing we rode in the cage!

Izzie with Uncle James and Uncle Brian, she LOVED that they came and met us at Disneyland!!

We have been back here in Utah or "tu-ta" as Izzie calls it, for weeks now, but still have yet to get back into a routine (ugh I hate that part of traveling). The only part of traveling that I really like is getting to visit family and friends, and most of all how much Izzie learns while we're out of our "Utah bubble". Izzie's vocabulary is growing so much now, and she makes Tim and I laugh on a daily basis. My mom says that I need to right this stuff down, because you quickly forget the little things. So I'm going to listen to my Mama and write them down here, because this is the closest thing I have to a journal right now :)

When we ask Izzie to say Utah she says "no MY ta" it makes us crack up EVERYTIME!!

"ah-ah" =Diaper

She loves to call her dad Tim. I love it when she says " Tim look, look!"

"Preeee" This is what she calls the Disney Princesses.

And lately she has taken to calling me mama, I have no idea why. But I'll take it.

I'll write more as I can remember them, and as she comes up with new ones. You can skip over that part of my posts, it won't hurt my feelings. It is purely for me :)

Look who's cookin'

Iz had lots of fun "cooking" with me this morning :)
She even stole the apron right off me, I guess I know what my next sewing project is going to be.

Family Farm Night

I'm going to say it again.....I LOVE where we live. While at family farm night at Thanksgiving Point, in the middle of taking a thousand pictures of Iz, I just had to stop and take a shot of our beautiful sunset. It literally stopped me in my tracks. Utah sunsets, there's nothing like them. I don't miss southern California at all....ok maybe a little bit. I could use a nice sunny warm day every once in awhile during the cold days of winter. Maybe that's why we visit so much....hum?
Iz enjoyed her visit with the cows, she was much braver this trip. I'm amazed how quickly she changes from month to month.
And yes those are devil horns on her head. I pick my battles...this was not one of them.

Our little cowgirl rode the pony all on her own this time. Mom was panicking a little bit, and Dad was standing by just in case. You'd hear this little nervous laugh escape her every once in a while, it almost had me in tears it was so funny.

Next it was on to the crafts, the theme of the night was Three Blind Mice. Iz, I mean Tim and I, made a little mouse out of felt while Izzie colored a picture of the little guys.

On our way out Izzie couldn't resist one last ride on the saddle.

Latest Project

On Black Friday this year. My mom and I got a couple of new "toys". My mom purchased a new laptop, and I picked up a new DVD player for the car. We both got super deals, had to get up early to do it, but it was worth it. Neither one of us had a bag to put them in. So while my Mom was visiting us this past Christmas, we whipped a couple of them up using this pattern.

I had to add a little "bling" after my mom left. It was just calling for it. I love anything that sparkles :)

I think it turned out pretty good. Thank you for the great idea Make it and Love it!

Here's a shot of the inside, it has two pockets.

The pattern is very easy to follow, so if you have something screaming at you for a bag, get to it!