Izzie makes three

Hee Haw!

2011-05-24T07:25:00.006-06:00

If you know Izzie, you know this girl loves steak! So it's not a surprise that her favorite restaurant is Texas Roadhouse or "Hee Haw" as she calls it. She calls it Hee Haw because on your birthday they make you sit on a saddle and they get the whole restaurant you yell Yee Haw! really loud. If you ask Izzie where she wants to eat she will always say Hee Haw!!

Funny story about Izzie and her steak...For some reason Tim and I decided that she should have chicken instead of steak, probably because she had already had red meat that week, anyway when the waiter brought out the chicken she looked at him funny and told him "what is this? I don't want chicken you need to bring me a steak". The poor waiter just looked at us with this funny look on his face like, do I have to listen to the three year old? We still laugh about this every time we go.

Happy girl, finally on the saddle!!

I don't know, do you think she likes chocolate cake?

A group shot. All her "sends"

This girls got real spoiled :)

She LOVED all her gifts!

She just couldn't wait to model them all.

Such a HAM!

We just LOVE this girl, it's such a joy to watch her grow up!

Hello Kitty Birthday

2011-05-23T09:28:00.005-06:00

We were all about Hello Kitty last year so for her 3rd "Utah" birthday we celebrated "Ho Kitty" style!
She just loved that she had a baby cake just for her :)

I made lots of sugar cookies for all her "sends" and her to decorate.
And lots of colorful frosting too.

I think Izzie found her calling, she just loves to decorate cookies!

Lunch at the kid table :)

And some "before" pictures

Hula Girl

2011-05-23T09:13:00.003-06:00

Izzie started taking Hula classes from the girls down the street back in September. She loves it. It's so cute to see all the little girls in the neighborhood leave their houses at the same time and walk down together, it's really a site to see :)

These are pictures from her first day, her friends Olivia and Miale came over to help her get ready.

There's a lot more hip swinging in our house now :) And next month Izzie and her Hula friends will be in our little towns parade, she can't wait!

I'm Baaaack!

2011-05-21T19:09:00.006-06:00

Long time no see, I mean blog. I'm going to be doing some catching up here on my blog. I've been a bad bad blogger :) But I'm promise to be better, I had forgotten how important it is to document the things going on in our lives, and it makes me take more pictures too. So here we go..

I just had to post these pictures, I forgot where I had gone (which is another reason you should keep up on your blogging, but I'll beat myself up later) but I left Tim home alone to take care of Izzie and when I came home, she looked like this :) Can you see the art work on her face, arms and legs and just about everywhere else?

She had gone over to play with Olivia next door and they got REAL creative together!

So cute and soooo proud of her work!

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

2010-09-10T09:57:00.007-06:00

(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

2010-07-06T11:33:00.002-06:00

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

2010-07-05T07:43:00.005-06:00

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

2010-07-04T16:32:00.003-06:00

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

2010-07-04T13:27:00.006-06:00

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

2010-07-04T13:01:00.004-06:00

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

2010-03-24T11:41:00.003-06:00

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!

2010-03-03T08:00:00.006-07:00

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'

2010-01-10T12:21:00.004-07:00

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

2010-01-05T10:13:00.003-07:00

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

2010-01-01T20:34:00.007-07:00

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!

Mom's Birthday Party

2010-01-01T20:21:00.002-07:00

We were so lucky to have my Mom come up the day after Christmas, it was only for a few days, but we'll take what we can get! I wanted to celebrate her birthday while she was here. Her birthday is on January 6th, so we weren't to early. Uncle Steven even came!

Izzie still gets excited when people sing happy birthday, I love that about her :)

Mom opening her gift, a new digital camera, she needed one. Her old Kodak was falling apart.

Does Iz know how to party? She put the box from the camera on her head and kept saying

ta-da!

She got grandma in the mood too ;)

Happy Birthday Mom. We hope you have a great day.

We love you

White Christmas

2010-01-01T20:00:00.002-07:00

I know we've lived here for over three years now, but sometimes new snow in the morning takes my breath away. I'm so glad that Izzie is at an age where she can really enjoy it now. She had to try her new snow boots out on Christmas Eve, the snow was calling to her.

Later that morning we got her dressed up to go see "Santa" (the fake one) at the Mall.

Here are some shots of Christmas morning.

She loved her my little pony from Uncle Mike and Aunt Heidi.

Here she is lovin' her new Buzz doll, she's really in to "Budz" right now.

She absolutely loves her new cars, from the movie "Cars". I know she's a girl, she's just really into Buzz and Cars right now. And trains, oh boy!

She wrapped up Christmas morning with a free concert using her new microphone.

We hope your Christmas was as Merry and Bright as ours!

Happy NewYear!

2009-12-31T20:01:00.008-07:00

Everyone says the same thing this time a year. This year went by so fast! Where has the time gone? I can't believe the year's gone already? So I'm not going to say any of those. I really want to though! I can almost feel my fingers moving to those exact keys, but I'm stopping myself.

I've heard so many people say that they couldn't wait for 2009 to be over. As if everything bad that has ever happened to them, happened in 2009. I have the exact opposite feeling this year. I wish I could just stop time sometimes, bottle it up and relive some days over and over again. When I stop think about time, and what real little of it that we have together with our loved one's, it panics me. I can feel my heart start to race and panic kicks in. And right away I have to change the subject in my mind, quick Nikki think of something else! I've had to do this a lot since the passing of my dad. The subject of mortality really slaps you in the face, hard. I couldn't watch any T.V. that dealt with murder or medical issues for a real long time, because my mind would start to go places I really didn't want it going to. And you know that if I don't want to watch T.V. something strange is definitely going on! I've had a true lesson in faith these last few months of 2009. I've been reminded that there are many things, sometimes the most important things, that are out of my control. I've been blessed with feelings of comfort and peace because I know that my heavenly father won't give me anything I can't handle. He has given me so many blessings this year and I am so thankful for all of them. I have a happy healthy beautiful daughter. A husband who I love with all my heart, who loves me despite all my issues. And many family and friends who love me as well. So tonight as this year comes to an end, I want to say that I am so thankful for all of you family and friends, I consider each moment we spent together in 2009 a true blessing. I wouldn't trade them for anything. Thank you for making my 2009 so special :)

A visit from Santa

2009-12-23T13:51:00.005-07:00

We have a tradition in our neighborhood, Santa comes around every year on the back of a firetruck with his sirens blaring. It just so happened that this year it was the first weekend we got back from California, so we went from 80 degrees to this....

Izzie was so excited! She quickly learned to say the word SNOW :) It was soooo cold, the storm came from Canada, so temperatures quickly went into the negatives. Not a very nice welcome home gift.

She loved to make the snow crunch under her boots and had a great time walking with her daddy down to her friends house.

However she did NOT like how it made her hands feel. She came crying back to us when she learned that snow and bare hands do not mix. I know it's sad but I just had to take a picture.All was well when Santa finally got around to our street.

We have been busy!

2009-12-22T17:16:00.009-07:00

I feel like I'm finally back! It always takes awhile for me to get back into a routine when I return home from California. And with this past trip being an especially long one, it seems it took me a little bit longer. But these past couple days I've been on FIRE! Let's see where to start? I finally got my cinnamon rolls to rise :) YES!! It's amazing what you can do with a good batch of yeast. So I made four batches to hand out to the neighbors, I wanted to be a little different this year. Who doesn't like a warm fresh batch of homemade cinnamon rolls? I forgot to take a picture, so you'll just have to imagine :) Go ahead I'll wait.

Last night I finally got around to making this amazing recipe for tortilla soup. You must make some for yourself you will not be disappointed. Here's a picture of mine.

Go here to make your own. YUM.

I have also always wanted to make a batch of her homemade BBQ sauce, so I did that too. I used this recipe, but I didn't have any peach preserves so I substituted with some apple jelly I had in the fridge, and oh was it good. I plan I using it on some of the chicken I got from WalMart for 99 cents while my moms here later this week.

Last week Izzie helped her daddy decorate both our Christmas trees, we have one upstairs and one downstairs. She was trying to smell the lights as Tim was putting them on the tree. It made me laugh so hard, it is so much fun having a 2 year old around...most of the time.

She was really proud of her tree, plus she just cannot pass up a photo opportunity.

I hope your holiday preparations are going well, and that this post finds you and your family happy and healthy because...... it's almost Christmas!!!!!

Izzie's Birthday October 19th 2009

2009-12-19T14:15:00.007-07:00

These past few months have truly been the hardest and the most rewarding of my life. I have experienced so many different emotions, I'm still on the roller coaster of life but I thought I'd take a few moments to share our baby girls birthday with you all. If you can't tell we went to Disneyland, can you believe this was the cutest picture of her in her mickey ears? She's really into making funny faces right now.
We weren't sure if she was going to be one of those kids that are afraid of the characters or not. We soon found out that she LOVED them! Every time she saw one of them, didn't matter who, she would take off running to meet them. It was soooo cute. Here are a few, just a few cause there were too many to post, of her meeting some of them.

We did a little shopping, she loved to try things on and check herself out in the mirror. We had a great day, I took a million pictures but had to stop myself as far as posting them all here.
After Disneyland, we came home and had spaghetti. Izzie and Daddy's favorite. I brought a jar from home that I had made with tomatoes from our garden this year. And can I say it was the best I've ever had! It takes awhile to make but it is so worth it!
We were so lucky that great grandpa and great grandma could come celebrate with us that night. Both sets of grandparents were also there, as well as our friends Todd and Missy.
Izzie had a princess cake from Costco, and after singing to her, she proceeded to eat all the dots off her cake with a fork. Just the dots.
After a long day Izzie got in her jammies and relaxed before heading to bed. This picture cracks me up, she really brings so much joy and laughter into our lives. Tim and I feel truly blessed that God has given this special girl to us to love, enjoy and cherish. More pictures to come of our trip to California. I have to cut it short today we are off to the Heusers for breakfast. I tried making cinnamon rolls this weekend but after 2 attempts, found out that my yeast is bad! I have an on going feud with getting my breads to rise, I will prevail!!!

Wish me luck. UGGG!!

Sea World - Part Two

2009-11-12T12:53:00.007-07:00

Last time we were in California, I think it was June, we went to Sea World. I found out that our tickets were good for two days, so we decided to take advantage of that, and go again in October. It was so nice the second time, we didn't feel rushed. The first time we found ourselves running around trying to fit all the shows in. I think it's next to impossible to fit it all in, in one trip!!!!

The dolphins were awesome this time, they were really friendly, it was our favorite attraction. Izzie stayed with this dolphin for a good five minutes. I think he was just as interested in her, as she was in him, it was a very cute moment. Tim was a good Daddy and went on the rides with Izzie, we made a quick stop at the Budweiser Horses - they are so BIG!

Izzie thought she would be cute and grab the camera while we were waiting for the Shamu show to start. She's so darn CUTE!

Here she is trying to put Tim's hat back on for him, I could not stop laughing!

Last shot of the day, hey look it's another picture of me, on my blog, imagine that :)

More pictures to come - Disneyland, camping and much much more!

Halloween 2009 - California Style :)

2009-11-10T10:05:00.007-07:00

I know I'm her mom, but I think this is the cutest Cat in the Hat I've ever seen! I whipped up a black tutu the night before Halloween, and you can't see them but we bought her the ruby slipper shoes from Target and some black tights and she was ready to GO!

She was so excited, that she was going to trick-or-treat with her cousins Sean and Brandon until we got there and they were dressed in scary costumes, she warmed up to them as the night went on, but that's why she has a terrified look on her face in all the pictures :)

We had a lot of fun sharing the night with them Sean and Brandon were so sweet with her even when she was slowing them down! Izzie thought knocking on doors and getting candy was just the greatest thing ever!!!

Hope you Halloween was just as fun as ours was.

Izzie's 2nd Birthday Party

2009-11-06T07:43:00.002-07:00

First I would like to start this post by saying, I'm so sorry that the pictures are out of order. I'm posting on Tim's new laptop and I'm still trying to master it. I miss my Mac. :(

Izzie opening her gifts with Daddy.

Here are some of Izzie's cousins decorating pumpkins.

Gift bags and shoes, and Halloween rubber duckies for the babies. A special thank you to Uncle Brian for her awesome personal cake!

We had Costco hot dogs with Tommy's Chili and super nachos for lunch. YUM!

Here is the pumpkin carving station before the storm of kids hit. A special thanks to Uncle Rick for letting us borrow his Halloween blow-ups!

We also had a cookie decorating station as well, it was a big hit.

Here's Izzie with her cousins Colt and Brianna at the caramel apple decorating station. I think those were the best thing at the party, besides Iz or course :)

The kids had fun dancing inside too, it was hard to get a good picture of Izzie. She was to busy making the rounds.

Here's a close-up of the girl's goodie shoes. They took forever to make, but I think they turned out great!

Close-up of the centerpieces and chandeliers.

It was such a great party! Thank you so much James and Brian for letting us have the party at your house, and for all your help throughout the day. And to the grandma's I couldn't have done it without you guys.

We have decided to move back to California.

2009-11-03T08:56:00.002-07:00

As most of you know, I am still out here in California, our two week vacation quickly turned into an extented stay when my Dad passed away the day before we were supposed to go home. I am dealing pretty well I think. As best I can I guess. My Dad and I haven't always had the best relationship, but it had slowly been getting better ever since I got married in 2000. And when I had Izzie in 2007, I think the relationship was totally healed , I was really at peace with where we were as father and daughter. It is so true what they say, you never really know what it's like or what it takes to be a parent until you become one yourself. For the first time in my life I started appreciating what my Dad could give me, and stopped being upset with what he couldn't give me. He was truly a great grandpa, and seeing him in grandpa mode helped me remember the good times we had growing up, back before things got really complicated. I am so grateful, although it was very hard to watch, that I was able to be with him until the very end. As difficult as it has been, I feel truly blessed that we were still here in California.
Tim, Izzie and I are trying to make the best of our extended stay here and enjoy the California sun while we can. Tim will continue to work from his parents house and go into his office in Anaheim Hills when he can. My dad made us promise months before he died (not that he needed to ask), that we would help my mom with the finances and anything else that my mom might need when he passed away. There is a much bigger mess there than we ever thought there would be, so I think our stay here will be long. We are quickly finding out that you need a death certificate to do anything, and I mean anything, and that can take a minimum of 15 days to get one! I am so grateful that Tim is willing and able to take care of my mom and my family, he is truly the best husband ever! I will keep you all posted on how we are doing, thank you so much for your prayers and well wishes. We miss you Utah :(
And Tiff, I was just kidding about the moving back bit, hee hee.

2009-10-02T20:45:00.003-06:00

I am a bad BAD blogger. No blogger of the year award for me, I have been M.I.A for way to long. I was told by my friend Tiffany that I should be ashamed of myself, and I am :(. I have a really good excuse though! I have been getting things ready for our trip to California, and this is going to be a big one!! We will be celebrating Izzie's 2nd birthday, and this means a PARTY! I have been buying and collecting party "stuff" for about 6 months now, and believe me I have been given lots of funny looks and a few rolls of the eyes, for buying things way to soon, but that's what I do I'm always thinking months in advance. I have been making invites, party favors, centerpieces, searching the internet for recipes, and much much more, thus the reason my blog has not been updated for soooo long. Am I forgiven yet? I would post pictures of all the stuff I've been doing, but I don't want to ruin the party, so you'll just have to wait, I will post all the pictures from the party, I promise!

This trip we will be taking the Shasta trailer. It's our maiden voyage, wish us luck :) Tim has been sanding and refinishing all the wood inside, hopefully he will finish before it's time to go. While Susie and Kevin were here, oh yeah that's another reason I haven't blogged in along time too, they came and visited us for a week, Susie helped me recover the dinette seats (thank you Susie) they came out so good, saved myself about 600 dollars! I'm putting that new sewing machine to work! And on another note, Fall is here! I spent the first cold day of the season, making homemade marinara sauce and zucchini bread, using tomatoes and zucchini from the garden, which is doing great!!! We even have corn, we didn't think they would produce anything but they did :) I'm hoping our trees in front will hold onto their color until we get home, I'm really going to be disappointed if I miss it :( I wish people would come visit in the fall, it is truly my favorite time of year here.

I hope this has brought everyone up to date on what has been going on out here in Utah, and we can't wait to come see you all!!!

First trip to the dentist!

2009-09-07T21:16:00.003-06:00

She was all smiles as we are leaving for the dentist. I was soooo nervous, I was just praying that all her teeth were in good shape. Tim asked why I was so nervous, and I told him it's cause I'm the Mom! If something is wrong and she has a cavity it's my fault!

She was a BIG girl and went in all on her own, I don't think she will next time though!

She wanted nothing to do with "that" chair after the Dr. was poking at her teeth, but she was all over that toy drawer!! :)

She kept calling Tim, Mom it was so funny, she just wanted someone to get her out of that chair. She got an A+, her teeth are perfect, now we just need to keep them that way!

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. We just finished a week long visit with Kevin and Susie (Tim's parents) they came to see us this past week. We have been working on the trailer this past weekend, thanks to Bill Dean the woodwork is almost done, and we just finished recovering the dinette benches, thanks for the help Susie! We are very excited about our first camping trip this October I can't wait!!

It's time.

2009-08-27T14:35:00.002-06:00

We finally had to do it, we had to put the child protection locks on the cabinets. We had put up baby gates at the hallway to the stairs and the walkway into the kitchen as soon as she could crawl and that was enough till now. A few nights ago she followed me into the kitchen and while my back was turned for two seconds and she had opened the cabinet under the sink and was sucking on the spray bottle of scrubbing bubbles. It scared me so bad, because people are always saying it only takes a second and it really does, that I yelled for Tim downstairs to come put the locks on. Funny thing is we have had them for months but just never got around to putting them on. Anyways I thought I would include these pictures of Tim and his little handy helper. She was so funny "helping" him.

Dog days of summer

2009-08-27T14:10:00.002-06:00

Last week it was pretty hot out here in Utah, so we got Izzie's pool out. The dogs joined her for the first time, and quickly learned that being in the backyard with the baby = getting wet :)

And you know what dogs do when they get wet.

Izzie thought that it was so funny to see them rolling around on the grass, making funny noises.

She thought she would give it a try!

Just thought I would share our funny moment with you :) Tim and I got a very good laugh!

MONSTER TRUCK SHOW!

2009-08-24T11:49:00.003-06:00

So I know I've been a bad blogger, I thought I'd get caught up a little today. A few weeks ago we entered a contest at our local Firestone tire center to win tickets to the monster truck show and we won! Thanks Tiff and Rick we couldn't have done it without you hee hee :). We got to go to the Firestone tent before the show where they fed us dinner and we got to meet the drivers. Izzie had a lot of fun, they gave these great gift bags with lots of goodies too. They had gift cards to local restaurants, hats, mini monster truck toys, shirts and lots more!

We had to go to Cabellas beforehand to get Iz something to cover her ears, and as you can tell by the picture, she didn't like them AT ALL! And I want to go on record, here is a picture of me, on my blog, imagine that!

I had to get a shot of the view from our seats, it was such a beautiful day. (I love living in Utah) I thought I'd put Izzie in the shot too, hey she's cute.

Here's Iz playing with John in the tent while we ate dinner and below a shot of Izzie with 4 of the drivers, as you can tell she didn't like a strange man holding her very much :)

Thanks again Tiff and Rick, I mean Firestone, we had a great day!

They're Back!

2009-08-22T10:39:00.005-06:00

If you know me you know, me loves my TV shows! Two of our, and I saw our because Tim likes these shows as much as I do :), are back!!!

Project Runway

(Lifetime)

Flipping Out

(Brovo)

these shows have been a lifesaver this week, we've all been sick and it all started with Izzie, which means I had a couple sleepless nights first, then it all got better when Tim got sick and then it moved on to me. Be happy I haven't blogged in awhile, I'm not a very nice sick person. I have had these shows to look forward to, and recommend them to you all. I have been shocked at how many men love project runway (only because their wives make them watch it :) hee hee yah right) and Flipping Out has a very dry humor to it. Hope everyone is enjoying the rest of their summers, school has already started here in Utah, you can tell cause all the moms are dancing in the streets!

Family Ties

2009-08-10T12:33:00.004-06:00

I saw this in a magazine and thought it was just the cutest idea! What a sweet way to display your late father or grandfathers old ties. You can also place a picture of them wearing a particular tie inside the frame. I just thought this was a neat idea, and wanted to share it.

Homemade Pickles

2009-08-07T11:48:00.004-06:00

This morning I made a batch of Homemade Pickles. Karen gave us two big, gorgeous cucumbers from her garden that I didn't know what to do with. I started looking over the recipes at Prudence Pennywise (your can find her button on my sidebar too) and found one! I didn't have 10 cucumbers like her recipe called for so I cut it down to this recipe with a few changes of my own.

Refrigerator Dill Pickles

2 large cucumbers

3 cloves of garlic, sliced

fresh dill

3 cups of water

1 cup white vinegar

1/8 cup kosher salt

1/2 T. sugar

black pepper

black peppercorns

Using my 2 glass jars, I layered cucumbers, onions, black pepper, a few sprigs of fresh dill, a few peppercorns, and garlic. I did about three layers per jar. Or until jar was filled to the top. Now I didn't say how much dill or pepper to use because I think the amount depends on the person. we used a lot, we like strong pickles :)

After layers were complete in a 4 cup glass measuring cup I added 3 cups water, 1 cup white vinegar, salt, and sugar. I heated this to a boil in my microwave. After it comes to a boil take the measuring cup out and let it rest for 5 minutes. Then pour into your jars. The recipe said to refrigerate for a week before serving.

Ok I know I'm bad, but i have a good excuse :)

2009-08-04T11:55:00.004-06:00

I know it's been awhile, but I've just been so busy. Does anyone else get this panic moment at the end of July like I did this past week, when you realize summer is almost over? It's now officially August, which is almost September which means it's almost FALL!! I get this little bit of mommy guilt, did I do enough with Iz this summer? Did she play outside enough? Did we hit enough water parks? Oh the guilt! So that is why these past few weeks I have been trying to cram little day trips in before it starts to cool off here in Utah. I know I'm crazy, Tim thinks so too. So this past weekend we went to Thanksgiving Point. It's a huge "family event center" here in Utah. They have huge beautiful gardens, a farm, the largest dinosaur museum in the world (no really they do), a movie theater, a place for cooking classes (I've taken one with my friend Tiffany) a movie theater (went with my bro-in-law Ryan and Tim once) and a little water park for the kiddies, that's where we took Izzie this past Saturday she had lots of fun! This kid LOVES the water!

The theme there is Noah's Ark

She'd climb on the rocks and say Hi to people, (okay I'm going to stop right here and ask you people something, why when a cute little girl says hi and waves at you, do people not wave back or even acknowledge her? How rude! they look right at her, I know they heard her. All they do is look away and keep on walking, it makes me want to throw something at the back of their heads! Okay thanks for letting me vent :)

We had lots of fun, and I was able to check one more thing off my list of things I wanted to do with Iz this summer.

Thanksgiving Point CHECK!

Another thing we did this past month was visit the Tracy Aviary on Pioneer Day

(yes we have a Pioneer Day here in Utah, it's a state holiday everyone gets the day off!)

Now I know your thinking, hey dosen't she have a deep rooted fear of birds? And the answer is YES, but it was FREE, what can i say I'm a sucker for free:)

We went with Karen Dean and her kids. Izzie has a little baby crush on Clayton, he tells her stories and plays peekaboo with her and Iz just loves it!

The Aviary was okay it could have been better, but there were a few cool birds and it got us out of the house and hey I'll say it again it was free.

Izzie stopping to smell the flowers.

Not that it was on my list of things to do this summer, but I'm putting it on there so I can check it off. (it makes me feel better)

Tracy Aviary CHECK!

Post on blog CHECK!

(I'm on a roll, somebody stop me!)

Now go out and do something fun today, so you can check something off your list!

Dinner With Danny

2009-07-23T13:09:00.007-06:00

Wednesday was our 9th wedding anniversary and that morning I woke up to these on the dining room table. I was so shocked that scrapped to top of my foot on our metal baby gate (ouch!). As I looked closer I saw that Tim also got some pastries for us to share (Yum!) We had a very relaxed morning with Iz eating our goodies (I think she was more excited about the pastries than me) and watching a little Food network.

That night the three of us went to Bucca's for dinner (one of Tim's favorites) and when we walked in the door Danny was there to greet us! Izzie was so excited :)

After dinner we headed to the drive in theater! It was soooo much fun. We took the mustang so we could sit under the stars. It was the first time we've been together. We didn't know how Izzie would be sitting in her car seat for that long, but she was perfect! She absolutely loved the movie Up! She was laughing and screaming and having a great time. At this drive in, they show a kids movie first and then a movie for adults right afterwards, so It's two movies for the price of one, can't beat that.

In this picture she's getting mad at me for interrupting her movie with my bright flash, but you know me always have to get a picture! Tim just kept telling me, "that flash is really bright", "hey honey that flash is super bright".... oh well. MUST GET PICTURES! :)

We had so much fun, I think that a drive in movie with your family is a must this summer! Even if you have to drive a little bit further than you normally would, it is an experience that is just to good to pass up. Pack up a dinner and some snacks, load the kids in the car and head off to the movies you won't be sorry you did I promise!

Getting to know me...

2009-07-21T12:44:00.003-06:00

I just got tagged on Facebook this morning and thought that I would post my responses here as my post for the day, lets call it a getting to know me day :)

1 What time did you get up this morning? 7:30 Izzie let me sleep in!!!

2. How do you like your steak? Medium rare

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? I can't remember it's been that long

4.what is your favorite TV show? Bones, NCIS, Flipping Out (new season starts in August Yeah!) and the list goes on....

5.If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? Europe would be fun for a bit, but I like Utah right now.

6. What did you have for breakfast today? egg beaters with spinach, ham, tomatoes and a little cheese thanks Tim :)

7. What is your favorite cuisine? CHEESEBURGER ( a good one!)

8. What foods do you dislike? Fish, celery raw onions.

9. Favorite Place to Eat? Really depends on what I'm in the mood for..

10. Favorite salad dressing? A really good blue cheese or Ranch

11.What kind of vehicle do you drive? Ford Expedition

12. What are your favorite clothes? Comfy jeans and a black shirt.

13. Where would you visit if you had the chance? Ireland

14. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? Depends on what kinda day I'm having

15. Where would you want to retire? Somewhere with a beach!

16. Favorite time of day? Evening

17. Where were you born? Whittier California

18. What is your favorite sport to watch? NONE!!!

19. Who do you think will not tag you back? ???

20. Person you expect to tag you back first? Don't know

21. Who are you most curious about their responses to this? All of them

22. Bird watcher? No I hate birds, I watch to make sure they won't peck me to death!!!

23. Are you a morning person or a night person? morning

24. Do you have any pets? Yes, 2 Boxers Stuart and Stella

25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? No (SAD)

26. What did you want to be when you were little? Teacher

27. What is your best childhood memory? Don't know that I have a favorite, but the one Christmas my mom hid our presents and sent us on a scavenger hunt christmas morning was fun. And camping at Camp James with the family growing up was nice, family picnics with the whole family, horseback riding with the cousins won't forget that, it's when I learned why the cowboys walk the way they do!!

28. Are you a cat or dog person? Dog

29. Are you married? Yes 9 years tomorrow!!!

30. Always wear your seat belt? Yes!

Kickback, enjoy the ride!

2009-07-19T22:59:00.003-06:00

I was having a little bit of trouble trying to decide what to write about tonight. Does anyone out there really want to hear that I went to another class on how to use my new and often complicated sewing machine? I am seriously intimidated by it, still! Or how I went to the the dermatologist this week and had some spots removed, 4 of them to be exact, and now I feel like a chicken has pecked tiny deep painful holes all over my body? No, I don't think so. Or maybe you would like to hear about how I think my body is trying to get sick, and my mind is saying I don't have time for this right now! I can't find the energy to do anything! Not even read a book, that would require me moving my eyes back and forth. Can't interest you in that either?

Hum?

I came downstairs and started looking through my pictures in iphoto for some inspiration and found this.....

I started laughing as I remembered the day I took this picture on my cellphone. It was at the end of a very long day and I took Izzie out front to kill some time before it was time for her bath. She played for awhile but then, just ran out of steam! She kicked back on her bike and watched the other kids play. As a Mom I find that I push myself all day to get things done that "NEED" to be done. Sometimes I make myself, I'm going to say it CRAZY! And for what? Who says I have to get it ALL done NOW? I'm going to take a lesson for my daughter and kickback for a little bit, hey they don't call them the lazy days of summer for nothing right?

At the end of the day your kids aren't going to remember a messy house, they're going to remember the great day they had with their mom!

GO HAVE SOME FUN!

I give you permission :)

Stuffed Bell Peppers and Stuff :)

2009-07-15T09:30:00.003-06:00

So my garden is doing super great in the tomato department, but those bell peppers have got some splaining to do! I have one lonely green bell pepper on the smallest of all my pepper plants. The other three had better start producing or I'm never going to be able to make one of our favorite recipes. I've been holding out on making it cause I keep telling myself that this is the week their going to start producing! So I'm thinking maybe if I share this recipe, send it into cyberspace, some good bell pepper energy will come my way! :)

Hopefully your gardens are doing better than mine and you can make this tonight!

Stuffed Bell Peppers

1 lb ground beef

1/2 cup uncooked long grain white rice

1 cup water

6 green bell peppers

2 (8oz) cans tomato sauce

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Place the rice and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and cook for 20 minutes. ( Sometimes I fix a meal the night before that requires rice and set aside about a cup of rice and this meal comes together much faster!)

3. In a skillet cook beef until evenly browned.

4. Remove and discard the tops, seeds, and membranes of the bell peppers. Arrange peppers on a cookie sheet lined with foil, with hollowed sides up. You may have to slice the bottoms a little so they will stand up straight.

5. In a bowl, mix the browned beef, cooked rice, I can of tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper.

6. Spoon an equal amount of the mixture into each hollowed pepper. Mix the remaining tomato sauce and Italian seasoning in a small bowl, and pour over stuffed peppers.

7. Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, basting with your extra sauce every 15 minutes, until the peppers are tender.

And enjoy!

If your wondering why I have pictures.. I took these about 5 months ago with the intention of putting this recipe on my blog, but never did. Maybe thats why I don't have peppers? Hummmm?

Funniest thing I've seen in a long time :)

2009-07-09T22:00:00.002-06:00

Tim and I were watching TV last night and a commercial for this came on, we haven't laughed that hard in a long time!!!!!

Lazy Days of Summer

2009-07-09T17:43:00.004-06:00

It has been so HOT here the past few days, I just cant stand it!!! We took Izzie over to Tiff and Rick's to swim for a little bit the other day. She really knows how to relax in the pool. I'm finding it really hard to make myself go outside for anything! We tried planting some ground cover between the rocks out back by the fountain, and when I say "we" this time, I do mean "we" I was out there planting right along with Tim. And let me tell you I have a blister to prove it!! Now if you know me, you know that I do not like gardening at all, but I am pushing myself this year to really try an get a the very least a semi-green thumb. Well last weekend it wasn't pretty, it was way to hot to be out back doing anything. We started to bicker, bad. Lets just say we won't be doing that again anytime soon. But something good did happen this week.

Look what Tim found on KSL...

It's an upright freezer! We have been wanting one of these since we moved in. Our new fridge was one of the one's with the freeze on the bottom. We quickly found out that it doesn't hold as much, and Tim hates it. There have been many, many freezers on KSL, but they have all been the chest models, and we didn't want to have to dig for our food. We have learned to be patient and to wait till the perfect opportunity comes and not be quick to make big purchases, and it payed off again this time. We got this freezer for 50 bucks! Can't beat that :)

Isn't it pretty?

And another good thing this week..

My gardens growing

Here's the latest picture, the tomatoes just keep getting bigger and bigger I can't wait till their ready to pick!!

Hope everyone is staying cool! This weekend I am determined to get out and do something fun wish me luck :D

The little red, I mean purple car :)

2009-07-06T10:33:00.006-06:00

Our friend Karen Dean gave us one of her "red cars", it had many, many miles of fun on it. We were so grateful, and Izzie couldn't be more excited. She was always "stealing" other kids cars in the neighborhood, as her mother it was getting a little embarrassing to say the least. We wanted to make it her own so we decided to girly it up a bit. So we cleaned it up, and by we I mean Tim :) Someone had to take the pictures.

Tim took it all apart and, Izzie helped him clean it up with a little soap and water.

This was a funny moment, as Tim was washing her car I asked him if when he was in his car club detailing his cars for hours at a time, if he ever thought he would be detailing a little red car for his daughter one day. I couldn't resist it just looked too funny:)

So after it was all dried, we went to Wal*Mart and got some of this new spray-paint for plastics

And turned that little red car into this -

We couldn't resist adding the little bling butterfly to the front and her little license plate in the back. I know it's crooked, I fixed it after I saw the picture, but you get the idea. So if any of you have some old plastic toys that need a little lift try this paint out, it works wonders!

And now we need to get to that desk....

4th of July fun

2009-07-05T20:30:00.003-06:00

Call me crazy I know, but I just had to see if the shirt from last 4th still fit my growing baby squish squish :( I made Tim go through the bags of clothes in her room with me to find this shirt! (see my last post for info on my sad mommy moment) And look the shirt fit!!!! it's a 3-6 months shirt.

Here's a picture of Izzie with the neighborhood girls watching the fireworks last night. It was really fun she had a great time! She came inside and just crashed, it was a long fun day.

Look how BIG she looks!

Whatcha doing Mom?

We had a good time this year BBQ-ing and swimming at the Heuser's too! Hope everyone had a great day!

Happy Birthday USA!!!

2009-07-04T12:07:00.002-06:00

I went looking for some 4th of July pictures from the past to post today and found this one. It made me so sad! She's growing up so fast, look at that peach fuzz hair, and her little round baby head. I could just eat her up. Will someone please tell me how to make her stop growing , PLEASE!!!!

Today we're heading over to Tiff and Ricks for a BBQ and then coming back to our house to watch the fireworks from our front lawn, I guess the neighborhood is getting together in the park right in front of our house this year to set off all the fireworks. Should be fun :)

We hope everyone has a very safe and Happy 4th of July!!!

Love,

Tim, Nikki and Isabella

Ahhh it's good to be home

2009-07-01T21:15:00.005-06:00

Well this is my first post since getting back from yet another trip to California. I love going there and getting to spend time with family and friends, but but oh how I hate getting home and having to unpack! I feel so displaced when I get home, sounds weird but hey that's how I feel. Maybe it's the endless list that pops into my mind of things that need to get done the minute I walk in the door. So many chores so little time! I kind of love being in California because the only thing I'm in charge of or need to keep clean is the guest bedroom we stay in. And then I get home and get a huge reality check! To make things a little more difficult this time I had to go straight to work doing my Dove gig for four days. But all that is behind me now and life is getting back to normal, ahhh. I am happy to report that my veggie garden is doing great! Thank you Karen!!! I have lots of tomatoes, one huge green bell pepper, a tall row of corn and many strawberries ( thank you Tiff ). This trip we packed a lot in lets see we....

Went to our nephews Birthday party, Izzie hit her first pinata (did I spell that right?)

Went to Justin's graduation (yea Justin!)

Had one Huge family drama! All is well now though.

Izzie played with her cousins a few times, and loved every minute :)

Went to the beach

Pigged out on Thrifty's ice cream - the best!

Visited my Mom at the hospital where she works.

Took Izzie to Penn Park, so many memories of my childhood came flooding back the minute I stepped foot in the park.

Drove by my old high school, and our old house in Whittier, talk about flash backs, I won't go there!

I could go on and on but I'll stop there, I'm realizing there is just too much to list in one blog post. Let's just say we had a great time and loved visiting everyone :) I'll put some pictures in just for fun enjoy :)

Izzie at Penn park, I found out my Mom used to play at this park as well. There used to be ducks here that you could feed but there were none to be found :( so sad. My Mom released her ducks wiggles and waggles here when she was young.

At the beach, the water was soooo warm it was great! This was Fathers day, we went with James and Brian, then went to give Justin a hard time at his new job, the Golden Spoon YUM!

Do you recognize her? It's Hannah Montana :) My mom bought this Hannah Montana wig for Izzie on clearance from target she LOVED it.

She was pretty good with the stick, scary :o.

2009-06-08T20:49:00.002-06:00

Well here are some pictures that I have been promising to post for awhile. I found out this afternoon that we will be taking a road trip to California this Wednesday, so I'm running around trying to get everything done that needs to get done before we leave my mental list is long and getting longer as I walk through my house so this post is going to be a short one!

Here's Izzie sitting at the awesome desk we found at a yard sale

My vegetable garden, something is eating them and I don't know what to do about it. Any ideas?

And here we are at the Pony Express Days parade here in Eagle Mountain

Izzie had so much fun it was her first parade, I thought she would get bored after awhile but she stayed interested in it all till the very end, so I'm thinking we'll make the trip down to Provo to see the 4th of July one, it supposed to be great. Hope to see you all soon!

Boo Boos and M&M's

2009-06-04T22:22:00.004-06:00

Well it happened, Izzie has her first "real" injury today. I knew it was going to happen one day. Today she fell face first into the bench in our living-room. She hit right in the area between her nose and her upper lip. It bled and is a little swollen and bruised on the right hand side of her nose. She did one of those silent cries for the first few seconds and then let out a nice long scream followed by a few seconds short breaths, I'm sure all you moms know what I'm talking about :) We have found that a real test of how bad the boo boo is and how worried we should be, is best measured by weather or not she will take an M&M while crying, if she stops crying when she sees it, we know we're okay, but if she keeps on crying we know it's bad. Today she stopped crying when presented with an M&M, but it's me that is going in a checking on her a lot more that usual tonight and making sure that the swelling is not getting any worse. I know I'm overreacting, but give me a break there was blood!! This is a before picture by the way, it was just a cute one from this week, before her spill today. Hopefully it will be all better in the morning :).

We put her to work!!

2009-05-29T20:09:00.002-06:00

So Izzie's new "thing" is helping you empty the dishwasher. I know this won't last into her teenage years so I'm taking it while I can get it! She makes a beeline for the kitchen and gasps if she sees you opening the door, it's really funny. And every time she hands you a dish she makes a noise that sounds like "here you go", she tries :) She takes the job really seriously, I couldn't even get her to look at me and smile for a picture and that's VERY rare.

The top shelf's a little hard for her, but it doesn't stop her.

And the heavy stuff doesn't stop her either

These past few days have been super busy, we planted all the veggies in our first planter box, and got started on the second, I had to stop yesterday when it got dark ( I have never shoveled so much dirt in my life!) and this morning I thought my arms were going to fall off, I actually wish they would because then the pain stop! I gave myself and Tim :) the day off from gardening, I've been working him hard too, and we went into town for lunch. On the way down the hill we saw the cutest old school desk at a yard-sale, Izzie is going to love it! We have to sand and paint it first but oh I can't wait!! I will post pictures of the garden YAH! and the yard-sale find this weekend.

She's Singing in the Rain

2009-05-26T07:11:00.005-06:00

Hope everyone had a super an safe Memorial Day weekend, we stayed at home and hit a book sale in Park City. All weekend long we were having thunderstorms and showers, and if you know me, you know I consider that great news! We still run out and sit on our porch to watch the storms go by, and I think we passed our love of storms on to Izzie. We let her go out and play in it for the first time this weekend, she had a ball.

It was all fun till the thunder and lightning started, then Dad had to go get her :)

The only bad thing about the rain is now I have to go pull weeds cause it softened the soil, Yuck!

Pictures as promised and on the same day. I'm good!

2009-05-20T23:11:00.003-06:00

Here are some pictures as promised, only a few though, they are taking sooooo long to upload tonight and I'm very tired. We were gardening again tonight, I know, I know 2 count them 2 days in a row, and NO crying!!!! Tim was so proud I was setting a good example for Izzie who was "helping" us today :)

Can you tell how much Izzie loved the beach, she was so funny!

Here we are at Izzie's first trip to Sea World, she had a blast!!

They have these new feeder tubes to so you can feed the sea lions.

Here are some pictures from Mother's Day this year, I was so lucky to be able to see friends and family this year!!

Here's a picture of Emma and Izzie, Emma is Stephanie Hopwoods little girl.

We're Back!

2009-05-20T09:31:00.003-06:00

We're back from Cali again :) We had such a great time visiting with everyone! But back to life, back to reality. I spent yesterday running errands all over the place. I had to pick up a sprinkler part that broke while we were away, some kind of pump of some sort, all I now is that our water wasn't working in the back yard so it had to be taken care of ASAP. And of course you can just go buy it at your local Home Depot, they sent me to Sprinkler World, the guy at Home Depot was rattling of directions like I know my way around Utah. I still need to master the streets out here, they are not at all like anywhere else, come visit you'll see, but I found it eventually. Then I had to pick up a kit from a class I signed up for and then couldn't make it to cause we were gone. Then off to our new Wal*Mart (yah I still get excited) to get food for the week, and vegetable plants for my new garden. And yes I planted them last night. I'm famous for getting plants and watching them die in the pots they came in on my front porch, In case you didn't know I hate gardening I'm trying to make myself like it :) . Anyway after Tim and I planted the veggies we came in and watched some TV. I saw a commercial for a new show on FOX called Glee I thought it would be good so I added it to my long list on the DVR, OMG!! we loved it!!! You have got to go to fox.com and watch the Pilot on their website. I cannot say enough good things about it, so I won't try, just go watch for yourself. I'm so glad to have a new show to watch this summer, I was so bummed last night watching all my season finales, if you don't know yet I am such a TV junkie, but now that it's summer I switch to all my favorite reality shows My life on the d-list, flipping out, project runway and the list goes on. Can't wait!

FYI

I will post vacation photo's soon, I have to unpack my bags first, Izzie's helping me with that by putting everything all over the living room :)

She's a BIG girl now... well almost :)

2009-05-05T15:04:00.005-06:00

Ok, ok I know I haven't posted in a long time. But hopefully this post will get everyone caught up by the end. Well where to start? My Grandparents and my Mom came for a surprise visit, we were very excited to see them and had a great visit! That same weekend I did another Dove demo at Costco (we are going to use the money to fix-up the trailer a bit). Our friend Karen from down the street got us some planter boxes from her Dad (thanks Karen!) so we can start a vegetable, Tim cut them down for me, they were super wide, and we went and picked up some compost (the soil out here is really, really bad!) I can't wait to get home and start :)

******* NEWS FLASH ********

We are super excited to announce that our WAL*MART is now open!!!!

While we were there the Chester the Cheeto guy was there Izzie had fun following him around the store.

This past month Izzie also had her 18 month doctor's appointment, everything went well she is still a little on the small side, she's in the 20th percentile. The doctor also said that now was the time to start thinking about potty training, Tim was VERY EXCITED! So this past weekend we went potty shopping :)

On our way we stopped and had pizza at THE PIE and shared some dessert at COLD STONE

We got a sprinkle bowl for Izzie (ok and for me too, I still can't resist sprinkles)

As you can tell she really enjoyed it :)

And them we got down to business, we checked out many models before deciding on this one, Izzie helped us out too.

Here is the new throne at home, she still has yet to sit on it, the doctor told us just to make it available to her, and not to force it on her. I will keep you all posted on what happens next, I'm sure there will be many, many stories to come :)

Life is real busy right now, I'm getting ready for the family to fly to California this week, it will be the first time flying since Izzie has started walking, I'm sure this should be fun. :)

Our new baby

2009-04-22T10:36:00.002-06:00

So here's our "new" baby..... we call her the 'TIN' lounge. T for Tim, I for Izzie and N for me :). I will be starting a new blog to show our progress while we fix her up and then all the trips we take on the way, I'll let you know the address as soon as it's up and ready. Anyways more about her, she is a 1962 Shasta trailer, all wood inside and has all the original goodies. We bought her from a guy in Tooele, Utah for $500!! such a steal! We used some of the money from Izzie's vacation jar to buy her. I will post inside pictures on our TIN lounge blog soon!

Happy Easter!!!!

2009-04-13T11:14:00.002-06:00

We had a great Easter this year, Izzie woke up right on time (7 am sharp!!!) and was very excited to see what the Easter Bunny had left her :)

We spent some time outside walking around while Dad got the Turkey ready to fry. She's wearing the outfit Grandma McBride made her before she was even born.

Later in the afternoon we had to make a quick costume change, the wind kicked up and it got pretty cold and she wanted to be outside when her friends came over.

Connor and Clayton hanging out by the fountain.

Karen and Kennedy

Izzie and Kennedy enjoying the sunshine.

The Heusers came over later that day and we had a late lunch and hung out. Hope everyone had a Happy Easter too!!!

Izzie's First Easter Egg Hunt!!!!

2009-04-11T17:20:00.003-06:00

I thought I would share some pictures of the Easter Egg hunt we went to on Friday. Izzie had a lot of fun, and the weather couldn't have been any better!!

Here we are walking to the park down the street, as you can tell she is VERY excited!

And let the hunt begin! She was having fun at first, and then they let the BIG kids join in and it was all over from there :) She started screaming at everyone, it was really very funny. She grabbed a few before they we all gone, so that was good.

We got a little distracted when all the eggs were gone and started playing on the park toys, and some kids skateboard :)

Hope everyone has a VERY happy easter, we love you all!!!!

Are these the right shape for my face....?

2009-04-07T10:33:00.002-06:00

Izzie found my old reading glasses and wanted me to put them on her this morning. We were shocked that she kept them on for so long and was walking around in them. Needless to say we were laughing VERY hard!!!

Love the fish lips!

Yesterday Izzie and I had fun visiting with the neighbors, it was such a nice day that I wanted to let her walk around outside. We're very excited about the neighborhood easter egg hunt this Friday Izzie has been practicing at home. I'm sure I'll have great pictures to post :)

Guess who's walking????

2009-04-02T14:03:00.001-06:00

Last night Izzie decided it was time to walk on her own! And now she's a walking machine :) Look out world!!!! I will post pictures or video soon.

Getting Ready for Easter!!

2009-03-26T10:13:00.002-06:00

This morning we're getting ready for Easter, as you can tell Stuart is VERY excited!! Stuart and Izzie were fighting over who got the bunny ears:)

Izzie's helping by putting the eggs in the bowl, this is the only way I could stop her from "helping" me with the other decorations. She loved the plastic grass it was everywhere!!!

Hope everyone is getting in the spirit as well!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-18T10:27:00.006-06:00

I hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's Day! I thought I would share our day with everyone:)

We started our day out at story time at our library

As you can see, Izzie uses it more like a social hour :) she has fun.

Tim brought me "green" roses the night before

I made corn-beef and cabbage with potatoes and carrots for the first time! Izzie actually ate it, now mom was a different story:)

We ended our day with a great bath!!

We let the pony out of the barn!!!!

2009-03-16T19:31:00.004-06:00

The weather was soooo nice here that we decided to take the mustang out for a ride today, Izzie just loved the wind blowing in her "new" hair:)

Latest Pics

2009-03-15T20:52:00.003-06:00

I know it has been way to long! But not much has been going on. The three of us keep passing around the same darn cold week after week, it's getting real old real fast!!! And I know everyone is going through the same thing, so I didn't think anyone wanted to here me complain, you can thank me later :) Anyway I thought I could at the very least post some pictures of the "little one" enjoy!!!

SPRING IS ALMOST HERE!!!!

We have been practicing the walking every chance we get!

We bought her this little chair for the porch this spring/summer because we love to sit on the porch and watch the storms come in, but she just couldn't resist :) Please don't mind the outfit she just got out of bed.... really she did.

2009-03-02T09:52:00.004-07:00

Our little Ballerina :)

2009-02-25T14:58:00.001-07:00

Here are the pictures we had taken around Valentine's Day

Can you believe she did this pose all on her own?

When it rains... it pours!

2009-02-25T07:27:00.000-07:00

So many things have gone wrong these past few days I don't even know where to start!!!! Maybe I'll just list them for you....

I finally go to the class that teaches me how to use my new sewing machine that I got for Christmas... only to find out that it is broken and needs to be sent in for repairs. Three week lead time UGH!!!

My blender breaks while making Izzie a breakfast smoothie.

Later that day... my stand mixer breaks while in the middle of making bread. At least I can take them in for repairs at the same time :)

Izzie starts teething again!

Izzie gets very high fever, I think she's getting an ear infection from the teething.

Tim goes to the doctor because he just can't shake this cough... he has bronchitis.

And all this is in the past few days. Needless to say I'm very tired, cranky and seriously doubting the KitchenAid brand!

Hope everyones week is going better than mine :)

Pretzels anyone?

2009-02-20T20:56:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took at trip up to Cabellas to get a new tub of pretzels. For those of you that have visited us in Utah you know that Izzie likes to snack on the pretzels from this store, it's very strange her love of Cabella pretzels, you have to hide them from her because she will eat them all day long!!! This is why we keep them in the car, and only the car!!! Anyway they have this big aquarium that you can walk through and we thought it would be fun for Izzie to see. It took her a while to warm up to it, but she had fun. There is soooo much to look at there, you really can spend all day there, maybe thats why they have a cafeteria? Hum?

Notice the death-grip on dads collar? I think she inherited moms deep fear of the underwater world!

Warming up to the idea here.

I loved this shot because you can see her smile in the glass

Not much going on.....

2009-02-18T16:25:00.000-07:00

Look who has enough hair to put in pigtails!

Smiling at her daddy :)

Not to much going on out here in Utah. Although can I take this moment to say that we here in Utah have had enough of your California storms, so quit sending them our way! Most of them have missed us here in Eagle Mountain, although we got a big on on Valentine's day. But the rest of the state is getting a lot of snow!!! Today I took down all my Valentine's day decorations and put up the St. Patrick's Day stuff (yeah), and I finally put the rest of the Christmas decorations away (I know I'm bad, but it was the outside decor and it's cold here:). Hope all is well with everyone!!!!!

Valentine's Day!

2009-02-15T09:21:00.000-07:00

This is what I woke up to on Valentine's Day morning! Isn't that bag just to die for,

I LOVED IT!!

I made Tim his favorite breakfast sandwich ever, and served it on a a sparkly heart shaped plate. I told you we were going big with the holidays this year :)

Daddy was extra nice and shared with Izzie, I guess she's a fan of the sandwich too now.

Here's Izzie opening her first Valentine from Daddy.

Dad also got her a SUPER soft bear holding a heart that says LOVE. As you can see she loved it!

That morning we woke up to this! And yes those are Christmas lights! It's to snowy to take them down yet :)

I hope everyone had a very HAPPY VALENTINES' DAY !!!!!

We love you

Love is in the Air!!!

2009-02-13T20:10:00.001-07:00

These are photo's of Izzie just one year ago, this was actually the very first time we got a real smile out of her, it just melted our hearts! And it happened to be right around Valentines Day:)

I thought since it's Valentines Day I would share the story of how Tim & Nikki met.

(it is flashback Friday!) I know a lot of you know the story, but there are some out there that don't, so here it goes..

Tim and I officially met in December of 1998 at The Home Depot where I was working. It was really late, way past closing time and I was the last register open that night. My manager wouldn't let me close out my drawer because there was still a group of guys shopping. After about 20 minutes they finally came to check out, and I guess you can say I got a little bit sassy with one of Tim's friends when he stared joking around with me and giving me a hard time. I would later find out that Tim thought it was really funny. Tim was in that group of guys that night, and it turned out we had a mutual friend that worked with me named Gary. Later that night Tim met up with Gary and he just happened to ask if Tim was seeing anyone, he said no but asked if he knew someone named Nicole that worked with him. Later that week Gary came up to me and said that one of his friends saw me the other night, and wanted to get my number. I asked if he was a nice guy, he said yes and that was enough for me, I knew Gary wouldn't set me up with a weirdo. So I gave him my number and waited for the call. I waited, and waited, and waited, and every time I saw Gary he would ask "did he call yet" and every time my answer was the same "nope, not yet". A month later he finally called and our first date was at BJ'S Pizza by the beach. (I would later find out he waited so long to call because he was to nervous, how sweet :) You were worth the wait honey!!!

I'm going to end my blog tonight with 10 things I love about my sweetie, it is

Valentine's Day!:

1. I love how hard he works, to make it so I can stay home with Izzie.

2. I love his wicked sense of humor, it's just like mine and I think we have passed it on to Izzie too, yikes!

3. I love how he makes me take time for myself, somehow he always knows when I need it.

4. I love that he goes to the movies with me 2 times a year, he hates going to the movies.

5. I love that he hardly ever tells me no.

6. I love that he likes to cook!

7. I love that he is sooooo good at decorating. He makes a real mean bow!!!

8. I love that he has patience, I really don't have much myself.

9. I love that he is such a great Dad!

10. I love that he is such a generous person, especially when it comes to Izzie and I.

Happy Valentine's Day Honey I love you!

I'm such a lucky girl to have you as my partner in crime!!!!

MyHotComments

The sign says it all

2009-02-11T10:54:00.000-07:00

I saw this sign in the store the other day and just had to take a picture! I almost bought it, but we have a rule that you can't buy anything unless you know exactly where it will go when it comes in the door at home, so I had to settle for a picture. But doesn't it just say it all!!

Say Cheese!

2009-02-09T21:03:00.000-07:00

I'm always getting these coupons in the mail from JC Penny's and Sears for their portrait studios, I save them with every intention of going in, cause they look like such a good deal. But after our first experience at a portrait studio with our little one, we have been so reluctant to go back, we felt like we left with the word "SUCKER" across our foreheads. The pictures look so cute, and the layouts are so adorable! You end up saying yes to this and that and before you know it your bill is over two hundred dollars.

A few weeks ago I started tossing the idea around that we should take Izzie back in. I told Tim, we should use this coupon it's such a great deal, he agreed and so our mission began. I read and re-read the fine print on the coupon, I was not going to get suckered again! I told him, we are not ordering anything extra this time! Do not let me get carried away! We agreed to keep each other in check, and after pumping each other up for over a week, I felt we were strong enough to make the appointment to go in. And so this afternoon we got Izzie all dolled up and went to the mall. As we were approaching the studio, I saw the lady standing behind the cash register and I thought I can do this! Be strong! She is the enemy! After many photos and prop changes, we were finally done and ready to pick our favorite shot. Only one though, because the coupon said it MUST BE THE SAME POSE FOR ALL SHEETS!! We sat down at the little table and went through all the different poses and the whole time the lady kept saying "oh that ones soooo cute, look at that smile!", "ooooohhh, how sweet!" I'm thinking, do they send her to some sort of class to learn this stuff? And to make things even harder, the whole time we're trying to pick-out that perfect pose, Izzie is screaming (partly my fault, it was well past her lunchtime). But I'm happy to report that we only picked two poses, I know, I know I said only one, but I think this is a huge improvement from our last visit. And besides have you seen her? she's darn cute and imagine her in a tutu, I'm lucky I only picked two! We only spent $26!!! , so I can say with great pride MISSION ACCOMPLISHED !!!

I will post the pictures as soon as we get them :)

Flashback Friday

2009-02-06T06:45:00.000-07:00

I thought I would do a flashback Friday today. I was looking through some of my old photos on my computer this morning and came across the photos from this HOT day in August. My mom was in town and we decided to take Izzie out front so she could enjoy a homemade yogurt and strawberry popsicle. She made it look sooooo yummy! Until I tasted it, plain yogurt is just disgusting, I don't care what you put in it, it tastes like Elmer's glue, and yes I've tasted glue.

My grandparents we're also in town so they came over to join in on the fun. It truly was a perfect day :) As I was scanning through all my pictures, I stopped at this group because it looked so warm!, I really miss my grass and my trees look they have leaves on them! OK I'm officially ready for Spring!

Facebook?....Yeah Facebook!!!!

2009-02-05T10:48:00.000-07:00

I just had to share this picture of Izzie, she fell asleep in the car like this yesterday. While we were in California Red Robin gave her a balloon on the way out and she loved it, so we tied it to Tim's headrest in the car, and even though the balloon popped many days ago she still plays with (and chews on) the ribbon.

So a few nights ago I just couldn't get to sleep, maybe it had something to do with all the iced tea I drank that day, huh I wonder?, so anyway I couldn't sleep so I went downstairs and decided to see what this Facebook thing that everyone keeps talking about, is all about. So I sign up and right away it comes up with all these names of people that have already signed up that I might know and it asks if I want to be friends with them, I was shocked at how with a few simple questions they found so many people that I knew! I was even more shocked to see that even my grandparents were on there already, I have got to get with it! Anyway, 3 hours later I was still on there checking up on old friends, I even was able to find one of my very best friends Terry Lamoree, but she now goes by Terry Coxwell. I have had so much fun chatting with people I haven't heard from in years! When I told Tim about it, he got on that morning and joined too. So go to Facebook if you haven't already and join, you won't regret it!!!

Happy Groundhog Day!!

2009-02-02T10:24:00.000-07:00

I'm so sorry I haven't had very many funny witty things to say lately, I'm still trying to unpack and get back in the groove of things back here at home. It always takes me a little while to get out of "vacation mode", it's such a nice happy carefree place to be that sometimes I really resist the transition back to "real life". Last night we went to Tiff and Rick's to watch the Super Bowl, and if you know Tim and I, you know we are not sports people to say the least :) but if you watched the game yourself you know it was a VERY exciting second half! When we got home that night we both agreed that we can handle a little bit of football every now and then if it's that exciting and short :) Here is the latest picture from our trip to California, Izzie really enjoyed emptying grandmas cupboards everyday, sometimes two three times. Since we've gotten home every time I open the pantry door she makes a mad dash to get there before I close the door so she can see what she can get into, and if I shut the door before she's done she starts to protest :) Thank you Susie :)

Lunch with Great-Grandma Kittie

2009-01-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from lunch with Great-Grandma Kittie, we went to Lucille's in Brea for some good southern cookin'! We had a lot of fun catching up with her :)

My two favorite people :)

This girl LOVES her onions, anyway you give them to her!

Great-Grandma tried to tell her that little girls don't scream, Izzie wasn't havin it!

She discovered that she also LOVES watermelon YUM!

Izzie and Great-Grandma Kittie had a really good time getting to know each other.

A Day at the Park

2009-01-30T07:40:00.000-07:00

When I pulled up all the pictures we took while in California, I realized that there was no way I could put them all in one post so I will share pictures through out the the week. The weather wasn't all sunny while we were there, we saw on the news that rain was coming so we took advantage of our first sunny day and went to the park with Izzie's cousins Sean and Brandon and her Aunt Heidi. Heidi told us about Irvine Park in Orange and it sounded like fun, so we picked them up and had a day at the park. We all rode on the little train they have there, it takes you all around the park and you get to see the little lake they have there and all the little playgrounds and picnic areas. They also had horses and ponies for the kids to ride. I tried to pick and extra slow one for Izzie, I think he was a little too slow, he kept stopping to smell flowers and fence posts, it was really funny. Izzie loved it. Sean and Brandon had to ride the "trotting" ponies, that ride should come with a warning! they were bouncing all over the place they loved it though :) and it was sure funny to watch. The boys were itching to get to the playgrounds to run around so we stopped there next, Izzie had a blast on the swings and slides. Next stop was the Zoo they have in the park, I was very impressed with the selection of animals. It was close to closing time so we had to rush but I think we pretty much saw everything. As you can tell Izzie had a lot of fun that day , and even better for me she slept great that night! More pictures to come....

I'm Back!

2009-01-28T18:26:00.000-07:00

We're back! We just got home this afternoon and I snuck downstairs to do "laundry" and sneak in a quick post :) I've missed blogging there's just no time when your on vacation! I'm downloading all the pictures as I type and will post them in the morning, get ready there's lots! We had such a great time visiting with everyone, but it's good to be home. Now I must go back upstairs to unpack and get to work on all my shows in my DVR (yeah!)

Sick AND Tired!!!

2009-01-14T10:58:00.000-07:00

I know, I know it's been a while! I haven't been feeling well to say the least, and if you've been reading my blog you know that I started the Healthy Habits program and it has taken everything I've got to do my mommy duties, exercise 30 min everyday and pack for our trip to California! I don't know about anyone else but I have to have a clean house when I get back from a trip, so I have been doing extra housework on top of everything else! Ugh. And to top everything off, Tim and Izzie got sick as well this week, so I'm not getting any sympathy around here, it's everyone for themselves :) This is the first time I have been sick since Izzie was born, being a Mom and being sick is sooooo much worse than just being sick! Sick or not she is still up at 7am everyday, so on those mornings when I just wanted to sleep in, it was so hard to drag myself out of bed, especially when Tim is snoring away next to me. It took everything I had not to wake him up so I wasn't suffering alone. I know I'm awful, it sure would have felt good at the time though :)

I promise I will have many new and exciting posts while we are in California. We will be stopping in Las Vegas to meet up with my family. My "little" brother Steven is getting married there, so the whole LaVigne family is making a visit to "Sin City" to celebrate.

Post Christmas Blues

2009-01-07T19:27:00.000-07:00

I've got the post Christmas blues, and I've got them bad. For those of you who know me well you know that I love gifts. No really I love them. Not just receiving them mind you, but giving them as well. And they don't have to be anything big or expensive, or even wrapped (although when it is wrapped it is soooo much better). What I love most about a gift is the anticipation of it all, is the person going to like it? Am I going to like it?. A few weeks before Christmas I get real excited, I'm on a real high. I wrap the presents and stick them under the tree so I can look at them and smile. One year I had our tree up and presents under the tree two days after Thanksgiving, I do not recommend this, the presents get really dusty and who wants to dust their Christmas presents? As the big day creeps closer, the wind starts to let out of my sails a little, and by the time Christmas eve gets here I lay in bed I start to get down right sad, it's almost Christmas day and in a few hours it will all be over. I have to wait 364 days to do it all again, so sad. The only thought that makes me feel a little better.... Valentine's Day and then St. Patrick's Day, my Birthday (don't even get me started on that!) and even as I write in my blog I'm thinking maybe it's not the gifts I like but the celebrations, the decorations, the gathering of family and friends the celebrating of life! I have so many fond memories of holidays, Easter picnics, Grandpas birthday (anyone remember horseback riding, Disneyland, the zoo?). So this year I decided that I'm going to celebrate each holiday this year like it's Christmas! I will spread the LOVE this Valentines day, and I will eat GREEN on St. Patrick's day, I will decorate my home with every passing holiday and enjoy them to the fullest! I want Izzie to have holiday memories to last a lifetime! And the gifts, well they will be a specially decorated cupcake, or a little love note to my honey because don't we all just want to know that we're loved, that we matter, that what we do everyday makes some small difference in the world? That in itself is the greatest gift you can give to anyone. So I challenge everyone to celebrate life this year! Celebrate BIG!!!!

You up for it?

2009-01-06T11:10:00.000-07:00

Check out this blog it looks like a fun challenge, gosh knows I need something to motivate me a little more!

healthyhabitsrm.blogspot.com

Hope to see you there!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

2009-01-05T10:56:00.000-07:00

So yesterday morning I woke up to every ones worst nightmare, the cell phone ringing, waking you up out of a dead sleep, your mind automatically thinks that something bad has happened. It was my mom's ring tone so I knew who it was even before I answered it, so I braced myself for some bad news:

Me: Hello

My Mom (mind you she's screaming this):Hello

Me: Hello

Mom: Hello can you hear me?

Me: Hello, yes I can hear you! (now I'm screaming)

Mom: Nikki can you hear me? I'm driving and I dropped my phone on the floor, I was trying to call your Dad. Can you hear me? Did I wake you? I'm sorry!

Me: That's OK I'll talk to you later.

Mom: OK sorry sweetie have a nice day!

As I hung up my phone I was thinking oh thank goodness nothing bad had happened, and then I thought only my mother would do something like that, I started to laugh. It turned out that it was around 6 in the morning, I didn't know it at the time because it was still really dark here. I tried to go back to sleep but it was no use, but all day when I thought about my wake-up call it made me smile. For those of you who don't know, today is my moms birthday, so I thought I would share somethings you might not know about her.

My mom can make wearing two completely different shoes to my

brothers baseball game look good!

When she gets really mad, she sings. (Oh how we hated this growing up)

She thinks it soooo hilarious to scream BANG! to make me jump, at anytime, anywhere.

She gets you to run one real quick errand with her, and then you find yourself making three four stops on the way home. She is so famous for this.

She once smashed a whole ice cream cone in my brother Steven's face, right in the middle of a restaurant because he was sassing her.

She is always falling, slipping, or burning herself. I cannot tell you how many toes she has broken, too many to count!

She is such a hard worker. She can work circles around anyone!

She is the very best Mom, Sister, Daughter and Grandma anyone could ever have, just ask anyone of us.

She is always giving of herself, it wasn't until I became a mother myself that I realized how great I had it growing up. She truly is the best mother a girl could ask for, she often apologizes because she feels like she wasn't a good enough mother to us sometimes, and I always have to set her straight. I think as a mom if you don't doubt yourself once in a while there's something wrong with you! So I hope this entry today will give her a little Mom boost, because don't we all need one once in a while? I love you mom and I hope you have a very

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I wish I could be there with you :)

Love your favorite daughter

Nikki :)

Another year gone

2009-01-02T20:10:00.000-07:00

I know everyone is saying it but..... wow where did 2008 go? It went by so fast! As I think back at what we have done, we really have packed a lot in one year. I thought instead of reminiscing about everything I would show some of my favorite pictures from this year....

Izzie cheering on the crowd at her 1st birthday party

(I know I need to get the video posted on here I'm working on it)

The McBride Family, this picture captures our family spirit. :) Click on it to make it bigger, you'll miss to much if you don't

Izzie loved getting to know her cousins better this year.

Hanging out with grandpa

Can you spot her?

Busted!

Izzie's first plane ride

My first mothers day

Rick on the 4th of July

Father's Day

Wearing the hat grandma LaVigne made

Playing with cousin sean

These are only some of my favorites there are many many more. I wish everyone good luck with their new years resolutions, gosh knows I have many myself. We miss you all and love you very much!

Happy New Year!!!

2008-12-31T19:29:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to wish everyone a very happy new year. We love you all!!!

Love

Tim, Nikki and Isabella :)

Christmas Morning 2008

2008-12-28T19:28:00.000-07:00

We were very blessed this year to have Kevin and Susie with us this Christmas, we all had a lot of fun. The week flew by way to fast. Christmas morning was wonderful, we woke up ate the usual Christmas wreath then went downstairs to open all our presents. Izzie went first, she opened her little people and wanted to play with them right away, it took us awhile to even get her to look at another present.

We all had a very relaxed morning, it was fun to just take our time. After we opened presents we got to work making dinner. We had our friends Tiffany and Rick and family over, as well as our friends Karen and Bill and their kids too. We ate dinner played games and had a really great time.

What a site to wake up to!

Stuart wanted her toy sooooo bad!

Kevin and Susie hanging out on the couch.

Let me do it myself!

2008-12-28T13:28:00.001-07:00

On Christmas Eve Tim, Kevin and I went out to get the last minute items for our Christmas dinner, we stopped for lunch at Rumbi's and Izzie thought it was time to feed herself. She just took the fork from Tim and went to town, she was even holding it right!!

Sorry about the fuzzy pictures, had to use the camera on the phone and the lighting was bad.

Check out the new mullet she's sporting, as Tim says business in the front, party in the back!

He Can Fly!!!

2008-12-27T22:19:00.000-07:00

Tim and I decided to give Kevin an early Christmas gift this year. A few days before Christmas we drove up to Ogden, Utah so he could do a little indoor skydiving! Here are some great pictures enjoy......

Here he is suited up and ready to go.

He went pretty high up by himself.

But the instructor to him up even higher!

Does he look a little windblown to you?

Hello?

2008-12-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

Here she is talking on daddy's old work phone.

She's trying to walk over to me with the phone.

And here she's getting really mad at the phone because the cord won't go any further. This is the little attitude we talk about, it makes us laugh now but later I'm sure it will be a challenge!

She's playing with the kitchen David and Maria got her for her birthday she loves it.

She's such a ham!

And here the attitude is back! She got really mad at it for some reason, she started screaming at her little sink, scary!

WARNING MOMMY STORY!!!

2008-12-18T21:17:00.000-07:00

I swore to myself I would not become one of "them", you know the mom that tells everyone she comes in contact with all the "cute" things their child did last night, the mom that thinks their child is just the sweetest, smartest, funniest kid ever! But it has happened. Tonight it is with great pride that I say that I have become one of "them".

When it was just the two of us, a lot of our friends were having babies and telling us these kinds of stories, and don't get me wrong some of them were funny, some of them even make us laugh to this day, but some of them were painful to listen to at the time. I would be thinking to myself why are they telling me this? Please make them stop! Quick someone change the subject! But now that I have joined the "Club" I get it, I totally get it. I was young and not ready enter into that faze of life. I now find myself seeking these stories out, reading them on other moms blogs, when I run into other moms I know, I drag them out of them! Hearing them makes me feel "normal" that I'm not alone in the sometimes frustrating world of mommyhood. I know now that it can brighten someones day, like when I was talking to my Mom on the phone yesterday, she has been having a rough time lately, but it made her smile and laugh a little to hear about Izzies latest and greatest adventures. And when she said "heywo" to her Uncle Ryan on the phone it made him laugh, and it made her Aunt Stephanie very jealous.

My daughter makes me laugh everyday, and tonight, in my eyes, she became the smartest little one year old to ever walk, I mean crawl, the face of the earth. And her little attitude, oh it makes Tim and I laugh all the time, we always look at each other and say "we're in trouble". And so I share my tales of Izzie with great pride here on my blog, I figure if people don't want to hear them they can just press their back key and spare themselves, because I won't, I will keep on talking about my smart, sweet, sassy and funny baby girl.

It's here!

2008-12-16T10:37:00.001-07:00

The snow is finally here! We woke up to a few inches of snow this morning, Izzie and I peeked out the backdoor she was so excited to see all the white stuff all over her backyard, it got a long ooooooohhhhhh!!! We took her out front so she could touch the trees, I'm sure she's going to have fun this winter now that she's old enough to play in it.

We tried to take more Christmas pictures, it started off pretty rocky as you can see, but we were able to get a few good shots.

Tim and I bought this dress last Christmas, we couldn't resist the gorgeous green!

Here's the money shot!

More cute winter shots to follow I'm sure! We are planning a trip up to Idaho to visit family next week before Christmas so check back soon for more pictures! I am in a mad rush to get the house clean for Christmas, gifts shipped off and homemade gifts completed before Santa gets here so please forgive me for the short post!

It's official....

2008-12-10T22:38:00.000-07:00

I honestly never thought I would say it and mean it, but today for the first time in a really long time, I could have killed my precious first "baby girl" Stella. The past couple of days she has been a huge pain in the neck!!! We put up our "winter fence" for the dogs the other day, it's SUPPOSED to stop them from getting into the yard during the winter time to keep the grass looking good come spring. But Stella has gotten out both days, Stuart however has been a saint. After getting yelled at and smacked on the butt she was put in her "place" and then proceeded to eat the babies lunch off the coffee table as soon as my back was turned!! I had a MAJOR breakdown, all day it felt like I was taking one step forward, two steps back(you know the kind of day right?) Later on I finally got the books done and the baby to bed (on top of everything else she's teething again) and put the dogs in the garage to eat dinner and got to cleaning the kitchen, something I was trying to get to all day. After two hours of cleaning and cooking dinner, I finally got it all done and went to let the dogs in and Stella comes charging past me, and Stuart is stuck standing in the huge puddle she left behind shaking. He's looking at me like "I didn't do it please don't beat me!!!!" So needless to say I had my second breakdown for the day, and Tim came home to me yelling at her, nice homecoming :) So for the next half hour I was scrubbing my garage floor with Lysol (something I never thought I would do) and then had to go inside and scrub the floors inside too, you know because the baby crawls all over them all day and the dogs tracked pee all over them. And can I say, while we're on the subject, since Izzie has started crawling, my wood floors have never looked so good!!! So once again Tim had to calm me down, and threatened Stella, "If you piss your Mom off again, I'm going to tie you up in a sweater outside and you can just freeze, like the little dog across the street and howl all day" and of course Stella is shaking the whole time. All in all the day ended pretty well, we ate our stuffed bell peppers, YUM and watched a little TV. Thanks for listening to me vent!! But listen up one more very important announcement.......

FREE TO A GOOD HOME

This cute, perfect in every way, female boxer needs a new home. No really she's perfect!!!

(just kidding)

Getting that perfect christmas card photo!

2008-12-07T08:38:00.000-07:00

Today we were on the hunt for the perfect Christmas card photo. We went everywhere stuck our baby in places she should never have been, and still didn't get it, but we sure had fun trying :) To start our day off we decided to finally try one of the local places we saw on Diners Drive-Ins and Dives, you know the show on the Food Network, So we went to Moochies ....

And I'm just going to say it .... I LOVE MOOCHIES!!! I'm telling you we are taking everyone here when you come to visit so be prepared :) The BEST Philly cheese steak sandwich ever! And I mean ever!!

Izzie loved it too!

It was another beautiful day here so we went to Gardner's Village to try and get photos of Izzie and do a little Christmas shopping too. They have these little elves they put out around the holidays, some of them are a little scary and some are very cute so we walked all over the whole village trying to find the "perfect" elf to sit her next to. We didn't get the photo, but we got some really cute shots:)

I made the mistake of going in the cute little Baby Boutique they have there and bought this hat in Black for Izzie... sometimes I just can't stop myself.

Here's a shot of one of the elves in the background, but Izzie wouldn't look at the camera!

And here we put her in front of a tree in one of the stores and still she wouldn't look, ugh! So Tim gave her a ball off the tree and what does she do.... stares at the ball of course :)

And there's the always lovely fake smile

And here we thought oh won't that be cute, her by the covered bridge... no she just wanted to yell at the ducks.

And here are some of the scary elves I was talking about, yuck what is that stuff oozing down her face?!

We finally gave up and went to the mall, and Izzie rode the carousel for the first time. She loved it. I was a little sad, she is growing up so fast! My sadness didn't last very long though, I was soon laughing my head off when the carousel started to go round. It wasn't to fast for Izzie, but it sure was for Tim. He said it feels much faster when you're standing, and the animal next to them was a reindeer and every time it went up and down the antlers would jab into his back but he couldn't move because he had to stay close to Izzie, so he kept making this painful face the whole time.

She was all smiles the whole time!

We didn't get the perfect Christmas card photo, but I think we got a perfect day together.

2008-12-05T20:49:00.000-07:00

Ryan, Steph, Tim and Jordan

Getting ready to hit the rapids this past summer.

We love it when people come out to see us!!!!

Just another day...

2008-12-05T20:03:00.000-07:00

Today I found myself drowning in endless piles of clothes that I let accumulate, again! Why do I always do that to myself? I think that will be one of my new years resolutions, one of many I should say. Other than the piles of laundry I waded through, today was a pretty good day. The sun was shining and it's in the high 40's, in Utah, in December! Can you believe that we have yet to get a real snowstorm? I'm telling you the universe is waiting for Kevin and Susie's plane to touch down and BAM!! storm watch 2008 :). We joke about that here in Utah now, we remember watching the news at night in California, and even if it was only 1/8th of an inch of rain, the weatherman would call it "STORM WATCH" and some cameraman would take a shot of the water rushing down the gutter. Ahhh California there are some things we miss but not much.

Tim and I talk about it sometimes, moving to Utah, especially when the seasons change here. Life in California was just whizzing by us, and now that we're here, life just goes a little slower. I never knew why people would make such a big deal about fall and now that we're here oh my gosh the colors and the crispness of the air, there's nothing like it. And curling up by the fire while you watch the snow fall outside your windows, blissful. And just when you can't take the snow anymore... spring comes. We love it here, we love how our lives have changed. Instead of saying hi and goodbye in between our 2 sometimes 3 jobs in California, we see each other all day everyday and WE get to stay home with our baby girl. I'm a truly lucky, lucky girl.

The only downfall?.... we miss all of you, our family and friends back in California. Please come visit!! There is always room at our Inn!!!!

All the toys you buy them and they play with......

2008-12-02T17:52:00.000-07:00

I just don't understand it, all the toys she got for her birthday and she plays for hours with her... croc-pot!!!!

Check out her new molars, she's been working on them for weeks :)

2008-12-02T12:54:00.000-07:00

Cousin Wendi's Wedding

2008-12-01T12:29:00.001-07:00

This weekend I was doing my Costco gig, so Tim took care of Izzie during the day, they always have a good time. On Saturday my cousin Wendi was having her wedding reception, so after I finished up for the day at Costco I asked Tim to get her ready and meet me in the parking lot so we could drive there together and when he pulled up Izzie was sitting in the front seat in her car seat sunroof open, mind you it was in the 30's, in this outfit (the one we bought for Christmas pictures) her hair was sticking straight up and she looked like she had been in a wind tunnel! She had the BIGGEST smile on her face. I could NOT stop laughing, and even as I'm writing this I'm still laughing.

This was taken later in the night, she was ready to go!

She likes to pull my hair when it's down, so here I scared her by grabbing her hands before she could pull my hair again. She loves loves loves to be scared it cracks her up!

Look at her little curl! Her hair is getting longer!!!

Christmas Tree Shopping 2008

2008-11-28T20:39:00.000-07:00

This afternoon we went christmas tree shopping, imagine that it's not even December yet!

Have we got it together this year or what?!!! :)

She's so darn cute!!!

She spotted the perfect tree!

The weather could not have been better. At lunch Tim and I decided that the first snow storm of the year will come when Kevin and Susie get here later this month ( it's always freezing cold when they come)

Izzie checking on her daddy

2008-11-28T20:31:00.000-07:00

We spent quite a while walking up and down all the isles looking for the "perfect" tree. Izzie looks a little confused here.

Izzie found her tree for upstairs, she's not real sure about the guy with the chain saw a few feet away though.

Izzie with her Dad

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-11-28T20:22:00.000-07:00

Izzie with Great Grandma and Cousin Breylon

Great Grandma and Grandpa

Izzie enjoying turkey for the first time :)

Our sweet baby girl!

2008-11-28T20:14:00.000-07:00

I just had to share this picture of Isabella sleeping!

That's the bunny Tim and I made for

her at Build-a Bear while she

was still in the NICU.

Hey you out there!

2008-11-21T21:54:00.000-07:00

Izzie was having fun yelling out the front window today. It was really cute.

She just figured out we were taking her picture and laughing at her.

Izzie's Painted Toes :)

2008-11-20T12:31:00.000-07:00

Cute purple toes! She let me paint them for the first time today.

She's helping me take pictures of her by keeping track of the lens cap

We call this the fish lips pose, it's new:)

She looks so much like Tim in this picture, it's one of his looks.

She is pulling herself up so well now, walking is just around the corner!