Crazy Summer Madness

OK, so as many of you already know, we have had a crazy summer so far.

First off, we went to Virginia on a family vacation with the Larson's for Christelle's graduation. It was so so fun! Here's a few pics of the trip:

Ferry Ride at Busch Gardens

Smithsonian Dinosaur

Virginia Beach

Picture with Grover at Busch Gardens

Washington Monument when we drove up to DC

On the train

Crazy scary fun roller coaster

We got back from Virginia on Father's Day night. Tuesday night it was time for Brad and I to go to Houston in search of a house-leaving Isaac with his grandma's. Our plan was to leave at midnight on Jetblue standby buddy tickets to JFK in New York, then fly from New York to Austin, then drive 2 hours to Houston. Reaching Houston at about 2 to 3 PM the next day. Using standby tickets this was the cheapest fastest route. Still a huge trip though. So the day we were supposed to leave, things were not looking promising as far as getting on the JFK flight. Unfortunatly Jetblue only flies to 2 destinations from Salt Lake, making it easy for the flights to fill up, and harder to get on standby.

So we decided a plan B trip would be to drive all night to Vegas, and get on a plane there at 7 am, cause it's easy to fly standby from Vegas. Plus my grandparents just bought a house down there, so we'd have a place to park our car. Before we jumped to plan B, we thought we'd at least show up at the airport to see if there was any chance of someone dropping out, and us getting on. We went to the airport around 9, checked in, and started the waiting game. As it came closer and closer to boarding time, we got more and more nervous- wondering if we were going to have to make a long 6 1/2 hour drive to Vegas that night. Finally it was time to board... but they weren't handing out standby seating assignments yet. As the plane was boarding we went up to the ticket man to see if we were gonna make it on. We got a smile, and he said, "you guys will make it"!! YES! We made it on, and we didn't have to drive all night.

So needless to say, by the time we got to Houston the next day, we were positively exhausted.

We got a hotel room, and crashed. The next day our first day of house shopping began. I could go on and on with the details of our house search- but I'll just write it all up in a nutshell. The first day we looked in northern Houston, a little farther away from Brad's school with a grumpy realtor. The second day we looked and condo's and apartments as a plan B in case we didn't get a house in time. The third day we looked in Southern Houston, a little closer to the school with a really good realtor. It ends up we liked a house in Northern Houston the most, so we decided to put an offer in the the good realtor. We decided to offer 6,000 bucks less then asking price (which is alot when you are dealing with a house as cheap as this), expecting a counter offer. The next day we got a call from our realtor saying our offer had been accepted!! We were so excited! We are going to get a house! The house we chose has been basically completely redone- so it will really feel like we are moving into a new house. So we officially had a successful Houston trip.

Other then house shopping, we did a few more fun things in Houston- I'm having too much trouble posting pics, so you can look at facebook for that. :)

So the following Monday came around- the day we were supposed to go home. We got word from Brad's mom that there was no chance of flying into Salt Lake on standby and there wouldn't be for days. Ugh.. not again. So plan B- fly into Vegas. So we drove our car back to Austin, jumped on a plane to Long Beach, then finally got into Las Vegas where my grandparents were nice enough to pick us up and let us stay with them. By this point, as you can imagine, I was missing my little boy so so much! It was so sad to see the plane leave to Salt Lake from Long Beach, and not be able to get on it. At least we'd get to see my grandparents new house. We ended up spending a day and a half in Vegas- then finally started the long drive home. 7 hours later we pulled into my parents driveway, and I could finally see Isaac again! I ran up to greet him, and he looked at me like I was a stranger, wanted nothing to do with me! It totally broke my heart. When Brad approached him, we was just fine with his daddy- but he seriously didn't even want me to hold him. We finally figured that he was mad at me for abandoning him or something. I think nothing breaks a mother's heart like her child not wanting her after not seeing each other for a week. So I'm slowly getting his forgivness back. He'll now let me hold him, but still doesn't want to give me "loves" or anything. It's even more heartbreaking to think that I have to leave him again on Monday for Honduras :( We'll be gone for 11 days, I don't know how I'll handle that. Plus this last week that we've been seperated, Isaac has grown and learned so much! He is basically running around now- when we left a week ago he was barely able to take a few steps. So I'm sure I'll miss so much in the next couple weeks too.

Ok, I'm done complaining about being seperated from my baby. Over-all we had a wonderful trip, and we got a house! We are so dang excited- and life is good. Brad, me, and my sister Steph will be in Honduras from the 5th-16th, so I'm sure I'll have some fun stories to tell then. Happy 4th of July everyone! Thanks for reading my novel- ha ha. This turned out a bit longer then I thought it would.

Learning to walk

Isaac is seriously so so fun right now. He's a little sponge that soaks in everything around him. he is learning things so fast! For instance, last week we were at church, and he was babbling and being a little too loud during sacrament meeting. So Brad looked at him, put his finger up to his mouth and shushed him. What was Isaac's reaction? He shushed him back with his finger to his mouth! It's so fun to see him imitate everything we do. :) He probably doesn't understand exactly what shushing means, but he's quieter when he's shushing us then when he's talking ha ha. He can now show you where his ears, eyes, toes, mouth, and belly button are. About half the time he gets his nose right. He has a little toy that says "blaa", so he likes to yell "blaa" back at it. His first word is poop- and he's trying to say many other words. Since we live with birds now, he takes special interest in them. Everytime we go outside, he'll look for the birds, then do sign language for "bird" when he hears them.



At breakfast I always put cheerios on his tray for him to snack on, and he always drops some on the floor. Of course the bird is right there on the floor waiting for them, then Isaac enjoys watching the bird eat his cheerios. This morning, Isaac tried eating his cheerios by sticking his head down to the tray, and eating without his hands. I then realized that he was trying to eat like the bird! What a funny little boy.

Finally, Isaac is learning to walk, and doing quite well. For quite some time, he's been walking along furniture, and while holding onto our hands. He's always been scared to take a solo step though. Then on Sunday night, he was super tired, and super wired and hyper as a result. He started playing this game where he'd stand up all on his own, then we'd clap for him, then he's sit or fall down. He got such a kick out of us applauding him, that he'd stand up over and over again. I think he finally found out, it's not so bad to fall down after all. The next day, we visited my mom. When we were in her front room, I put him down on his feet, and he surprised us all by taking about 10 steps! He wobbled around like a drunk man, but he seriously walked 10 steps all by himself! Here's a video of him taking a few steps later that night:





So, he is finally learning to walk. He still wobbles around like a drunk man, and falls after a few steps, but I'm sure he'll get the hang of it soon! His biggest problem is that he's just so anxious to take off running, he forgets that he has to keep his balance :) I think he's going to be a handful when he does get it down....

Happy Memorial Day

So, alot has happened since our last post. First of all Isaac had his first birthday! He had all of his grandparents, and all of his great grandparents there! He's such a lucky boy.

In other big news, we have actually moved! I am officially no longer working at the Plaza Hotel, so we officially do not live there anymore. I have bittersweet feelings about this. I do miss our tiny little apartment that I used to hate- but we've made so many memories there, it's hard not to miss it. I miss living in the heart of downtown, where I could pull out the stroller, and walk across the street to Temple Square. Or walk down the street and enjoy the Gateway Mall. I don't miss vacuuming endlessly long hallways, or trying to make girls clean up their kitchen mess, or trying to stay up until midnight to kick out boys. But best of all, I don't miss trying to sneak into the kitchen when I'm hungry, or out the front door so I don't wake up the sleeping baby in there. That's right, Isaac now has his own room- no more sleeping in the kitchen for him! Overall it's been a nice refreshing change. We are currently in Brad's parent's basement, and will be here until August when we make the BIG move.

Anyways, we have a super busy summer ahead of us. In a couple weeks we will be spending a week in Virginia. Then at the end of June we will be home shopping in Houston. We'll be in Honduras for a couple of weeks in July, and camping at the end of July to the beginning of August. Oh, and I can't forget... We get to see Carrie Underwood on July 3rd. I am SOO freakin excited :) She's pretty much my all time favorite. Then the middle of August is when we will be moved off to Houston.

In Isaac news: He just got in his 6th tooth. He now has 4 on top and 2 on bottom. He is super close to being able to walk. He's taken a few steps on his own, but he usually thinks he needs something to hold on to. At his 1 year appointment, he was a whopping 26 lbs! I don't know how I carry that boy around every day.

As for what we did for today? First, we went out to Copperton Park, had lunch with my family, and looked at the progress at Quynn's house. Isaac had a great time on the playground as the pictures below show. :) Then we went to Brad's grandma's house and had a hamburger BBQ with his family. Pretty much a perfect day. Happy Memorial Day everyone! Here are some pics from the playground:

Isaac swinging:



When we crawled through the tunnel, of course he decided to stop right there, so I had to shove him through the rest of the way before I started to suffer from claustophobia :)

Clapping his hands out of excitement to go down the slide:

Downtown

Back when it was warm a couple weeks ago, we decided to go for a walk down to Gateway. On the way down, we got lunch at the taco stand there, and had a little picnic on the grass. We've been trying to get Isaac to like the grass, but he still is very wary of it. We've gotten to the point where if he is in a really good mood, he'll sit on it without screaming. But he sure doesn't want to touch it with his hands, or crawl around on it. So maybe by the end of the summer, he'll be more tolerant of the grass.

Then we visited the Olympic fountains. Isaac thought that was pretty cool. The umbrella was for the sun, not the water. But anyways, I really like this picture a lot.

And here's the front view. What cute boys I have.

Then just a couple more pictures..... The other day when we were sneaking by Isaac's crib as he slept, we saw that he fell asleep with his foot sticking through the rails. We thought it was picture worthy ha ha.
And finally- last picture- Brad took a picture titled "Spoiled Baby". This is Isaac with all of his toys. But he really isn't too spoiled- Brad just thinks he is.

What's new

It's been awhile since I posted, so i thought I'd choose a few of my favorite pictures out of the camera and put them up! Above is Isaac doing one of his favorite things. He loves to open and close drawers, and he loves to pull stuff out and put stuff in. We left a bag of baby food on the floor for a bit after shopping, so Isaac took it upon himself to put some of it in the drawer. lol.

Next, over spring break the only fun thing we did was go up to Anniversary Inn for a night. We drove up to Logan because they have way better rooms. We decided to go with the "Vegas Nights" room. It was REALLY nice. I think the coolest part of the room was the window. It looked like the city of Vegas!

And here is a picture of Brad "gambling". I took it just because I'll probably never really see him gamble. The room came with this little computer game thing with like 200 games on it. It was pretty cool.

And finally, lets talk about Isaac's teeth. The little bugger is actually just getting his 5th tooth in! I can't believe how fast his teeth are growing in. So I bought him a little toothbrush. I do need to get better at getting into a good habit of brushing his teeth though. It's just so hard to remember he's got them now!

Oh, and here's a video. I hope it works. I just thought it was so dang cute. Isaac went through a snorting phase. He was eating a cracker and snorted just a little too much. He actually snorts all the time while eating, I don't know how he usually does it without snorting his food and choking.

If you leave Isaac alone in a room for 5 minutes....

This is what you get:

Our February

So this is Brad and sorry, no pictures this post.

But here's the update on Isaac:

He's definitely got 3 teeth. A nice pair of little crooked ones on bottom and then this big buck tooth growing from the top.

He pulls this horrible scream-at-the-top-of-his-lungs tantrum and we can't wait for a few years down the road when we can tell him he's not allowed to do that.

He is very interested with wires and especially ones that lead to outlets.

He's learned that the word "NO" is most serious for 2 things in our house; touching the outlets and connecting wires and touch the keyboard when one of us is working on the computer. I'm pleased to say that he really listens to us really good and he stops even if we're across the room.

He's obsessed with eyes. He wants to pluck them out. This applies both to stuffed animals as well as human beings.

He's making all sorts of sounds now and is constantly changing his common terms and phrases with every few days.

For Valentine's day Amy took me to Nicklecade and some other "memorable" places that we did while dating. And I took her to Chuck a Rama where she eats a hundred of her favorite scones and everything else and then I decorated her room with lots of pink balloons and streamers and stuff all girlsy. Oh and I went to the bank and took out a bunch of cash and used that to decorate the room too. oh and Peanut M&M's too of course.

We are doing great with school and life so far and as of today, and Brad is getting over strep.

Happy February All!