Early Christmas

On the Friday before Christmas, we had a small, early Christmas before leaving for Salt Lake. We tried to take Isabelle over to the outlets to visit Santa, but he was on a break that never ended. When we got home, we gave Isabelle some of the gifts that would not be making the trip to Salt Lake. She barely cared about unwrapping the presents and even the presents themselves! Danny and I did most of the unwrapping for her while she played with her other toys (I guess we should have just wrapped some of those up and saved the $)! After a little coaxing, she did ride on her new zebra and play with a few of her new things.

We were supposed to fly out to Salt Lake on Saturday morning, but I got the terrible 24-hour flu early that morning and we had to change our flight to Sunday. Thanks to Danny for taking care of me and Isabelle even while he was suffering from a really bad cough and cold!

Holiday Spirit

Izzie really got into the holiday spirit in December tasting some delicious Christmas candy, "un-decorating" the tree (you'll notice that most of the ornaments made their way to the top portion of the tree), and playing with our Santa & Mrs. Claus wooden dolls. The dress she's wearing is her Christmas dress - luckily she got to wear it to church once before Christmas since we ended up missing church on the 23rd because of our flight to Salt Lake.

Cutie

These are just a couple recent pictures of our little princess. The poor girl got her first case of the stomach flu on Sunday afternoon and is still slowly recovering. We fly home to Salt Lake on Saturday for the holidays, so hopefully she feels better by then.

Visit with nana & papa

Danny's mom, Vi, and step-father, Andy, visited us for a few days in early December. We had a ton of rain while they were here, so we mostly just hung out at our house, shopped at the outlets, and went out to eat. Isabelle had a really fun time opening and playing with her new piano, an early Christmas gift from nana and papa. We also had the chance to go down to Tucson one afternoon and visit Danny's grandmother, Alice, and step-grandfather, Harry.

Family Photos

A year after Isabelle's arrival, we finally had some professional family photos taken. It worked out great because we were able to kill two birds with one stone and get Izzie's 1-year old photos taken at the same time. I had a different outfit for her to wear for her individual shots, but her attention span with the whole photo shoot thing was pretty short, so I didn't want to push it! Anyway, here are a couple of my favorites.

Santa's Village

Last Saturday we spent the afternoon and evening with our friends Al, Kristie, and Taylor at Santa's Village, a Christmas theme park out in Chandler with rides, games, shows, and holiday display windows. Kristie works for the Mayo Clinic (they rented the park out for their holiday party) and was nice enough to invite us along. Some of the highlights included Danny & Izzie's and Kristie & Taylor's elephant rides, Izzie & Taylor's pony ride, watching the elephant and tiger shows, riding a few fun rides, looking at some really cute Christmas display windows, and Danny winning Izzie a giant stuffed monkey from a basketball game. And, yes, it was the middle of November and Isabelle has a sun hat on - it was like 90 degrees during the afternoon!



On a side note, the headline posted on the website for this theme park is hilarious (Danny wants to send it into Leno or Letterman). It says:
FREE RIDES
FREE SHOWS
FREE ATTRACTIONS
ONE LOW PRICE

Happy Birthday Isabelle!

Isabelle turned one on November 9th. It's amazing how fast the year went by and how much she's grown and learned. This has definitely been one of the best years ever because of all the joy she's added to our lives.

Anyway, Danny took work off on her birthday and we took her to lunch and to the Wildlife World Zoo. The zoo is on the west side of Phoenix and while lacking in some ways (like not having paved walkways), it is actually quite an attraction. Most of the habitats are fairly small, so you can see the animals really close-up (not great for the animals, but it made it nice for Izzie to be able to see them). The highlights of the visit included Danny & Izzie feeding the giraffe (it actually licked both of them with it's nasty, long tongue - gross!), one of the monkeys giving Izzie a ton of attention, and Izzie chasing the goats, deer, and baby llamas around in the petting zoo.

First Birthday Party

We celebrated Izzie's first birthday a few days early with my parents and our close friends Greg, Niki, & Alexa and Britany, Jeremy, Maya, and Kenyon. We had a delicious dinner, prepared by my mother who is an excellent cook, the kids played, and Izzie was spoiled with attention, gifts, and cake. Thanks to everyone for coming and for the lovely gifts - Izzie loves you!

Izzie holding up one finger for "how old is Isabelle?"

Izzie enjoying her birthday cupcake!

Puppy Chair

From the moment we let her try it out in the store, Izzie has been in love with the puppy chair that my parents gave her for her birthday. She's constantly hugging & kissing him and she likes sitting and bouncing on him while watching her shows or reading her books. They also gave her a plush lamb which she also adores; she likes to put lambie in the puppy chair and also push her around in the dolly stroller that Alexa gave her.

Happy Halloween!

Izzie had a great 1st Halloween - especially with grandma & grandpa in town! Danny & Greg took my dad golfing in the morning and then me, my mom & Izzie met the guys and Niki & Alexa down in Tempe for lunch. The little lady bug and fairy princess had fun flying around the outdoor shopping center together and got much attention from passerbyers.

On our way home from lunch, we stopped at several stores trying to find a big pumpkin for Izzie, but didn't have any luck. So, we had to settle for a few little pie pumpkins which actually turned out great because Izzie thought they were balls and had a great time carrying them around and playing with them. Later that evening, we ordered pizza and passed out candy.

Grandma & Grandpa - Hooray!

My parents came to visit us 10/27 through 11/5. It was great spending time with them and fun to have them here for Isabelle's first Halloween and first birthday party. We spent our time taking morning walks, going to the park, shopping, eating, and just hanging out. Even though Izzie hadn't seen them since July, she warmed right up to them and was constantly signing grandma and grandpa. They were even nice enough to hang out with Izzie one Friday night so Danny and I could go to dinner and a movie (a novelty for us since she was born)! Anyway, thanks again for everything mom & dad - we wish you could have stayed longer.

Halloween Party

The Friday before Halloween we went to our church Halloween party. Our little ladybug had a fun time playing with her friend Taylor and seeing all of the kids in their costumes.

Fountains!

On Saturday, we went to Desert Ridge to do some shopping, have lunch, and we also ended up getting flu shots (the real highlight of the outing!). Izzie had so much fun playing (and getting soaking wet) in the fountains and didn't want to leave!

On another note - Danny and I started the South Beach Diet last Monday. Neither of us have ever really been into dieting much, but we tried this one a couple years ago and both had great success; so, we're at it again! Anyway, the first two weeks are hell because you really can't eat any carbs. So, I just wanted to say that standing in line to order our salads at Paradise Bakery was pure torture as I was taunted by the huge display of delicious cookies. I almost caved, but didn't want to face the wrath of Danny for cheating!

Railroad Park

Last Thursday Isabelle and I met our friends Britany, Maya, & Kenyon, Niki & Alexa, and Bettina & Devyn at the cutest park in Scottsdale for a little picnic and fun. They have a train ride, a carousel, a couple different playgrounds, an ice cream parlour and lots of grass-areas and picnic tables. I wish I had taken more pictures to show the park better, but Izzie had fun on her first train and carousel rides. While on the train, she waved, signed train, and had a hard time sitting still on her seat of course. She wasn't too sure about the carousel ride and I actually had to take her off the horse half way through and just hold her (I can't blame her for that since I hate rides that go in circles)!


Left: Izzie's first train ride. Right: Alexa & Izzie chill'n in their strollers.

Left: Izzie. Right: Maya, Britany & Kenyon on the train.