Catch Up

It has been a very long while since I did a post about what has been going on here.  This is my attempt at catching you all up with some tidbits despite not having all the photos I wish I did from activities we have been busy with.

Andy and Lindsey were definitely Uncle and Aunt #1 for Isla this month.  They treated us majorly to a nice week in Indianapolis, IN.  While there, we toured the Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL Colts  team.  Isla had a TOTAL BLAST with Andy, Lindsey and Charlie.  It was a huge sacrifice for them to take on these to little ones that might as well be twins.  They so much like siblings I am really wondering what our little boy will look like.  Thank you Andy and Lindsey for treating us to a really nice and needed week together (even if he was working) and the biggest blessing to know Isla was happy and so well taken care of in our absence. 

This  pic should not be a surprise to any of you but for documentation sake here was a fun surprise we had one early Saturday morning in March.  I spent the later half of the evening on a group date with Jared's siblings and parents wishing my stomach would stop trying to jump through my throat and the world would stop spinning.  Jared recalled the other day at that he was thinking at that movie, "Oh man I can't take her anywhere for the next nine months!"  I remember thinking, "Oh man, I don't want to go anywhere for the next nine months!"

For Mother's Day we surprised Anita and family with a quick trip up Sunday afternoon.  We loved having all the kiddos together.  Isla especially loved that her cousins include Ruby the dog and all his toys ... like a water bowl.

Memorial Day was filled with one of my favorite things, hiking, hot pots, and the Wrights.

Sweet Eli James was born July 23rd and we got a chance to head up that afternoon to welcome this little boy into the world.  You can check Estee's blog for some pics of him.  Isla was not allowed to go to the hospital with us so we took turns going in to see him.  Jared captured this video of Isla seeing the local hospital garden statues a tune.  As a side note, Isla is a very good at learning and memorizing songs.  She sings them most of the day, but rarely on cue.  She prefers backseat singing and serenading her toys and books.  For documentation sake, she has known the following songs for months and months:

I am a Child of God (all three verses)

Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam

I like to look for Rainbows

ABC's

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

Mary's Lullaby

Three Little Speckled Frogs

Slippery Fish

Love One Another

I Feel my Savior's Love

 Row Row Row Your Boat

Give Said the Little Stream

Wheels on the Bus
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
I Love to See the Temple (both verses)

Next up was Lizzie James birthday.   It was a really fun evening with neighbors and family.  She is such a sweet girl.  I love that she and Isla enjoy each other and seem to play so well together.

With all of craziness of Jared's travel we are continually adjusting and trying to make the most of our time together while he's home.  We recently instigated an annual hike Friday when he get's home.  The first one was up Neff's canyon.  The picture of us are totally unflattering, but for again for documentations sake I had to post this little muffin just LOVING our hike, the birds, bees, flys, flowers, and trees.  It turns out if one is to actually go to the very top of Neff's canyon, high up to the wildflower fields, the trails turns ridiculously steep.  I don't think it was just the 5+ month pregnant belly that was slowing me down.  The trail turned into a steep beast for the last mile or two.  Going down though was worse.  I would prefer not to recount the number of times I slipped.  Just one more reason Jared wore the kid pack this time.  We might have lost Isla rolling down the hill, had I and my butterfinger feet been carrying her.

We started July off with one of my favorite doctors appointments together.  Here is a pick of our little man!  We are so looking forward to meeting him.

One more trip back to Logan for Sam's brithday party was filled with his annual dinner in the canyon.  Isla loved her weekend hanging out with Sadie, talking to Drew on Sadie's phone and going for little excursions with her cousins in the canyon.

One of my favorite parts of moving to Sandy has been having such a great neighborhood.  The other night we had some of our dear friends and neighbors over for an impromptu dinner and ice cream.  They have five really cute boys.  Their youngest, Kingston (3 yrs) and Isla have particularly bonded.  He has adopted her as his pseudo sister and they adamantly declare  their best-friend-hood to any who asks.  Though I don't have a picture of them together yet, here is one of Isla enjoying full control over her dad's cup of ice cream that night.

Sara and Birch came for Alex's first EFY and we got to spend a couple of evenings playing with them.  I am pretty sure that the swim party at Matt and Jessica's and ice cream cone with Birch are tied for Isla's favorite events together.

Fire season hit Utah, among other states,  about three months to early  we have had the fortune/misfortune of seeing fires ignite and spread at massive rates right from our house windows.  Jared caught this shot the other night of the West Valley fire.  This one brought ash in the air around our homes in addition to the strong stench of smoke.

At the sake of celebrating Isla's independence and removing some of my dignity I will now depict what Isla likes to do in the morning while I get ready for excercise.  She has been very good at using the toilet these last few weeks especially loves trying on my underwear instead of hers.  After taking this picture we had a knock at the door and I quickly pulled off all the underwear and rushed with her down stairs.  Then we hoped in the car to run some errands and it wasn't until returning for her nap time that I realized she still had three pairs of underwear around her waist that she had been wearing all day.  Nice

And now August.  Last weekend we reenacted one of my favorite childhood outings.  Sandy had it's very own air balloon launch and it started at a blessed 7am verses the typical 5am times.   I have been wanting to do this with Isla for a while and this park was just down the street.  We had so much fun watching the launch.  The flying pig, was by far Isla's favorite.  If you look at the last picture closely you will also notice a man flying his air balloon in a chair rather than the typical basket.  It reminded me of a favorite movie, Danny Deckchair.  Rent it if you haven't.