Isaacson Family

Santa pictures

2011-12-28T09:06:00.000-08:00

I almost forgot to add the pictures of the girls with Santa this year. Molly saw quite a few Santas and wasn't overly warm to him. This one at the ward Christmas party she seemed to do the best with. Emma, on the other hand, thought Santa was a hoot and whenever she saw one, would hold her hands out to him and just giggle. I'm still caught off guard with how friendly my baby is.

A little bit of Christmas

2011-12-28T08:50:00.000-08:00

Even though we didn't do the best job this year of documenting our Christmas through pictures, we really did have a wonderful time celebrating together, thinking and talking about the blessings/gifts we've received from our Savior in general and this year specifically, spending time with family, and presents. We hope all of you also had a wonderful Christmas.

Here's a few of the pictures we actually did take. I don't think they'll need much explanation.

Molly's Gingerbread house.

Cookies for Santa.

The set-up Christmas morning. The trampoline was the girls' gift from Santa.

Molly seeing everything for the first time.

It's a hit.

At Grandpa's and Grandma's Christmas night.

1, and Loving It.

2011-12-09T17:56:00.001-08:00

Here are Emma's 1 year pictures. She was a hoot during the session...the biggest challenge was just getting her to sit/stand still enough to snap a picture. It was wonderful not to have her screaming from shyness. Emma is such a social creature, and obviously adorable. (Am I biased? Sure, but who wouldn't agree?)

Happy Birthday, Emma!

2011-11-22T18:21:00.001-08:00

Wow. How in the world did this...

turn into this?!?

My sweet little baby is 1 today, and I go back and forth between being happy and sad about it. It's always fun to see her accomplish new things, but with each new thing, I lose my baby a little more. Emma is such a sweetheart. She has been so fun and a wonderful blessing in our family.

Here's a little bit about Emma these days:
-Starting to walk on her own
-loves to clap for herself
-can sign "more"
-loves people. She'll pretty much go to anyone and is not stranger shy, though she does have her favorites.
-loves to cuddle. She'll randomly come up to me or others and just lay her head on us. Soooo sweet!!
-wants to be outside, even though it's a little cold these days. If we find a good day to go for a walk, she's in heaven. She has a habit of straightening her right leg and pointing her right big toe while in her stroller. Pretty funny.
-loves her bath.
-loves Molly a lot! She gets such a kick out of her big sister.
-still not the biggest eater. Now that we've trained her to sleep through the night (yeah, that took us a while...) she does a little better eating during the day, but she's fairly particular.
-quite content with playing on her own. Though, we do have to keep an eye on her, she's into everything!

We had a pretty low key day today. Once Daddy got home, we Skyped with Grammy and Grampy in CA while Emma opened a couple of presents, ate dinner, then Grandma and Grandpa came to open the rest of the presents with Emma, and join us for cake and ice cream.

Here is Emma's cake. I thought it turned out pretty cute. It's becoming tradition to do these types of cakes for birthdays, and I have a lot of fun doing it. Enough work to make me feel like I'm doing something special, but doesn't require too much creativity on my part. I'm lucky that my parent's library has a bunch of Wilton cake pans at their library that we can just check out.

Here are some more pictures of our adorable birthday girl:

Emma and her Grandpa. (He's one of her favorite people)

Emma and Grandma. (Also a favorite)

The last thing we did was eat the cake. When Molly had her first birthday, she would have nothing to do with the cake, and when I finally got a bite in her mouth, she spit it out. So needless to say, I was curious to see how Emma would react. And she did not disappoint! It was so fun to see her her get a little bit of cake in her mouth, then pick up the entire piece and shovel it in.

And yes, she's found her nose. This is actually quite common for her these days...sigh.

Trunk-or-Treat

2011-10-26T19:33:00.000-07:00

Tonight was our ward's Trunk-or-Treat. Molly was so excited to to finally be able to wear her skeleton costume, and Emma was less than thrilled to be in her skunk costume. They were both adorable, and Molly got a great haul. Now we're even more excited to go trick-or-treating on Monday!

Such a cutie! She was sure to let people know that she was a "silly" skeleton, not a scary one!

Not sure what's up with the head tilt, but whatever, she's adorable.

The stinker herself. We had to keep her hands occupied, otherwise she wanted to tear off that hat.

Can't get enough of these girls!

As I said...

Molly and her little friend, Madelyn, all ready to get some candy.

Center Grove Orchard

2011-10-15T17:08:00.000-07:00

These last couple of weeks have been difficult for our little family, so this weekend we decided to take some time to do something fun together. We went to a pumpkin patch/apple orchard that I discovered last fall with a friend. I'm so glad we invested in going today, I think we all had a great time. Even Emma was pleasant for the 3 and 1/2 hours we were there, and for an 11 month old, that's about all you can ask for.

First thing we hit: the corn pool! Both girls loved it.

Emma could not stop watching the crazy kids. And, she had to have her binky in, or she would try and eat the corn.

Can't get much cuter than that!

Or that!

Hayride out to the pumpkin patch. The sun was very bright, as you can tell.

Molly had a blast jumping on the big inflatable "pillow".

Barrel ride.

The Big Slide...Molly and David are on the top right.

Emma and her pumpkin from the pumpkin patch. This girl is completely smitten with her pumpkin. She did not want to let this thing out of hands on the car ride home, or when we got inside. This is after her nap...she was so excited to get it back! Seriously...cutest thing ever.

'Nuff said.

Our newest addition

2011-08-25T16:30:00.000-07:00

We have a new member of the family, who is already much loved and adored, and getting much use. When we knew we would be moving to a bigger place, the first thing I wanted to get was a piano. Nothing fancy, just a small upright that would fit in our still somewhat small space, but still an upgrade from our digital piano. I started checking out Craigslist, and the first piano we went to look at is the one we got. And we have loved every minute of having it. I've also started teaching some piano lessons again, and have 3 students at the moment, with 2 more probably starting soon.

This is pretty much what happens every time I sit down to play. Lightening fast, Emma is there to play with the pedals. Makes for interesting pedal work on my part.

She thinks she is just the coolest thing ever.

Personally, I don't really understand the fascination.

Emma 9 months

2011-08-23T11:22:00.000-07:00

So, I've been a little remiss is picture taking and blog posting lately. These past few months have been a little crazy. We moved at the end of July, and I've been trying to get used to this new calling of Young Women's president, and then adding two kids into the mix, you can pretty much get the picture. (No pun intended.) Needless to say, I can barely believe that my little Emma is 9 months old. Here's a little of what she's been up to the last little bit.


Emma still adores her big sister Molly.

Emma still loves playing and rolling on the floor. She is very content to just be on her own and entertain herself, something I never enjoyed with Molly.

Molly and Emma both adore their Grandpa and Grandma. Emma is not shy of strangers...yet. She does really well when others hold her, and she loves to smile at everyone.

She's finally sitting up!! At 8 1/2 months I had almost given up hope, but she's finally decided sitting isn't so bad.

Can't get enough of that smile!

In the last few weeks, Emma has taken some big strides in the eating solid foods area. She'll actually eat now instead of take 2 bites then lock her lips together. I've discovered she would much rather eat store-bought baby food than homemade, which drives me a little crazy. Her favorites are chicken noodle, and carrots.

This is what happens these days whenever we try to change Emma's diaper. We have to make sure she's holding something that will distract her from moving around, otherwise it ends up being quite the circus act.

Oh-well, at least she's cute.

Her nine month appointment is next week, so we'll find out her stats then. A couple other random tid-bits about our crazy Emma:
   * She still gets up twice a night for a bottle. She seems genuinely hungry and goes right back to sleep when she's done, so I don't have the heart to make her cry it out yet. I'll see what the Dr. says next week about it.
   *She's working on her first tooth, and it's not been fun. It's taking forever for it to pop through, but I'm so anxious for my normal Emma to be back.
   *We call Emma "spider-monkey" because she loves to use her feet like an extra pair of hands. I've never been able to get a decent picture or video of it, but it's pretty dang adorable, and I've never seen anything quite like it.
   *Because she constantly loves to kick against furniture and jump in her jumper, she has the strongest pair of legs. We were at my parent's house the other day, and she was laying on the floor with her feet against an arm-chair. Not like a kitchen chair, but an actual up-holstered arm-chair that my parents have in the living room. She started pushing her feet against it and was actually lifting the chair up off the floor.
   *Emma loves to hold conversations with people by shrieking back and forth. It's pretty cute when Molly gets Emma to do it with her. Emma has also started imitating smacking her lips.

Adventureland

2011-07-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to Adventureland, a theme park in Iowa about 45 minutes away. It was mostly for Molly, since they have a lot of rides she would enjoy, and a water park that we knew she would love. It was pretty fun, though we wore out quickly because of the heat. I've grown up going to Adventureland, so it always brings back memories when we go.

Nauvoo

2011-07-05T09:46:00.000-07:00

We went to Nauvoo this last weekend. We met up with my parents and sisters and had lots of fun, and stayed overnight together. It was wicked hot, though, so it put a little bit of a damper on ambitious plans, but we still got to enjoy some things. David and I each got to do a session at the Temple (though not together), our first since getting married there! Growing up near-by with visits most summers, and of course being married there, I will always have a special place for Nauvoo in my heart. We love it there! We'll get to go again in about a month when my sister Katie gets married there.

The Statue Garden at the Visitor's Center:

Molly with her Aunt Kamila and Kamila's boyfriend Caleb.

Nauvoo Temple at night.

Molly and Grandma at Family Pastimes.

Concentrating on making rope, just like the pioneers.

Down on the Mississippi River bank.

Getting ready to go on a carriage ride.

Emma did amazingly well on the carriage, and spent almost the whole thing with Grandma and Grandpa.

Me and my girls.

Germany

2011-06-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

David just got back last night from a business trip to Germany. Yeah, I know what you're thinking..."and you didn't go with him!?!" Believe me, I wanted to. And hopefully some year, I will. For now, I just have to live vicariously through some of the pictures David took.

The second day of the trip, David and his boss and a few co-workers walked around a small lake, hoping to go to a restaurant on the edge of the lake for dinner. It happened to be closed, but they still got to enjoy the pretty scenery.

David wasn't able to go to church in Germany like he had wanted to, but he did take a run next to the chapel there and got a picture of their sign.

I can't read it, but I think it looks cool!

A trip to Kiel for a festival. This boat is restored from the 13th century!

This is the plant in Germany for the company David works for.

A hands-on demonstration of how the pumps and motors that the company makes are operated.

Since we are big fans of Aldi, and they are from Germany, David of course had to visit the real thing.

Family Pictures

2011-06-12T16:52:00.000-07:00

Molly turns 4!

2011-05-25T06:54:00.000-07:00

Molly's birthday seemed to last 2 weeks, from her party in California, to her actual birthday that we just spent as a family and she opened her presents from us, to her cake and ice-cream party with my family and our good friends, then some extra presents (didn't arrive in time for the party) from Grandma and Grandpa. Let's just say this kid got hooked up.

Molly chose eggs and pancakes for her birthday dinner. Since we didn't eat cake on her actual birthday, we had her blow out some candles in her pan"cake"s. Cute, huh?

The eventual cake. Though we had some drama during the making, it turned out great. I'm so grateful David has some experience working in a cake decorating shop and has an artistic eye. He really helped a lot. Molly was thrilled with the outcome.

California Fun, Part 2

2011-05-25T06:38:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, we went to Happy Hollow Park. This was a perfect park for a kid Molly's age. She had so much fun. They have a little petting zoo, little kid rides, and a fun playground. We took a ton of pictures, but in interest of time, I'm only showing a few.

One of the first things we did was feed the goats. It took Molly a little while to warm up to them, but she loved it.

This must have been before the warming up.

One of the little rides. The funny part was when David hopped on one and rode around with Molly.

Molly and her cousin Lily. These two had so much fun together.

The whole gang except for Grammy and Grampy, who is taking the picture.

This is where Emma spent most of the day. She did so well.


Emma getting loves from Grammy.

One of the funniest things was watching Molly's emotional evolution concerning the roller coaster. I was actually surprised with the intensity of it for a kiddie-coaster. It gave some pretty good thrills. Molly was so excited to go on, and the first time, she just screamed...not screamed cried, but from terror. In the first few pictures, you can kind-of see her face and how scared she is. But the fun thing about Molly is she still loved it, and wanted to go again and again. The last time she went, David went with her and caught a picture of her face during the ride. Priceless.

On Friday, Grammy put on a birthday party for Molly, since her birthday was the next week. We went to a fun park with a playground and some sand, and had a picnic lunch of mac and cheese and fruit. It was a great chance for Molly to see a lot of cousins (who are actually second cousins), and celebrate her birthday. Only bummer is, she was pretty sick. She had a fever off and on, and was just not feeling very well. But she was a great sport, and of course loved opening presents.

Cute caterpillar cake made by Grammy, with just a little help from me.

We sure enjoyed our trip to California. We had so much fun, and loved visiting with people we haven't seen in a few years. We only hope to be able to make it out again soon.

Happy Birthday, Molly!

2011-05-11T09:16:00.000-07:00

Our sweet Molly turns 4 today! Wow, where have the years gone? This precious girl is one of the best things that has ever happened to us, and we love her so much.

May 11, 2007

7 months

1 year

2 Years

3 Years

4 Years

California Fun, Part 1

2011-05-09T11:26:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we returned home from a great trip to California to visit David's parents and extended family. We had a great time, and did a lot of really fun things. Here's a low-down of the first part of our week in Cali:

We arrived on Saturday afternoon and had an amazing dinner of ribs and veggies. On Sunday we went to church, then had family dinner at David's Grandma's house. It had been 2 and 1/2 years since the last time we were in California, so it was great to see people.

On Monday, we hit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We took along Molly's little cousin Lily, and the two girls had a blast together looking at all the cool fish, and playing in the kid's area. We've been wanting to go to the Aquarium for some time now, and it was well worth it!

Molly loved the area where you could touch the rays and the star fish. She's definitely a hands-on girl!

In the "wave" tunnel.

Silly girls. Of course we didn't get one picture where any of them were looking at the camera.

Aw, what a cute family, right?

After the aquarium, we headed to the beach. Molly has been begging to go to a beach for I don't know how long, so we knew if we did anything in California, the beach was a must. And of course, she loved it. We wanted to go again later in the week, but Molly ended up getting sick.

Molly and Lily got right to work in the sand. Someone left them a big hole to play in...how nice of them!

Emma stuck with me...she didn't venture in to the sand this time. I'm OK with that.

Grampy and the grand-girls.

On Tuesday we hung out around home and I had the chance that afternoon to do some hair-cuts. That's always fun for me. Coming up later...Happy Hollow and Molly's birthday party.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T20:18:00.000-07:00

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter holiday reflecting on the resurrection and atoning sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ. We are so grateful for the knowledge that we have that our Savior lives! We had a wonderful day celebrating Easter with family, and of course enjoying the spoils from the Easter Bunny!

Our celebration started on Friday when we got together with our awesome friends and decorated Easter eggs.

Molly and Sidney...the inseparables.

So much concentration...

Emma was pretty cute and content in her seat just watching the action.

On Saturday we decorated sugar cookies, an activity which seems to becoming a holiday tradition for Molly.

Last night the Easter Bunny visited and delivered a basket and eggs for Molly. Emma has no clue what's going on and has enough fun just watching Molly go crazy, so she didn't miss out on a whole lot. This morning Molly went in search of her hidden eggs and basket.

Finding the eggs.

Phew...basket found!


Once again, Emma was content just watching the action from Daddy's lap.

After all the excitement, we wound down and got ready for church. The girls looked so adorable in their dresses today.

In a slightly different topic, Emma is five months old as of Friday. I just can't believe it. I feel like I probably say this every time I talk about her, but she is an absolute delight. She has the most adorable and infectious smile, we can't get enough of it. She is happy and content most of the time, and pretty much her favorite thing to do these days is just lie on the floor, and the more action she can watch, the better. She doesn't seem all that concerned with rolling over. Sometimes she'll role from her back to her front, but then she gets stuck and won't (I say won't because she know how) roll back over. I know, weird...usually it's the other way around. Her other new love is her Jumperoo. Molly never liked the Jumperoo, so it's fun to watch Emma get such a kick out of it. Emma has made the transition from breast feeding to formula, and pretty soon we'll be starting solids. She'll usually sleep 8 hours straight at night, and that has been wonderful. She loves her crib, and we can lie her right down, wide awake, and she'll fall right asleep for naps and bedtime. She doesn't like to be held while sleeping. This makes me sad at times, but I do enjoy the fact I can just lay her in her crib and she won't fuss. She's a great baby!

Molly's gymnastics

2011-04-12T06:41:00.000-07:00

Molly completed her gymnastics class last week. We were able to get some video of her showing off some of her skills. Funny thing is, she wasn't too keen on the showing off part. You could tell that she was holding back because of the cameras...her teacher even commented during the class "Molly, you're so serious today." But, it's still cute, and it's mostly for the Grandparents anyway. Molly really loved her gymnastics class, and says she will like to do another one...that is, after she takes a dance class and a swimming class. Not that she knows what she wants or anything...

Feeling Blessed!

2011-04-05T08:37:00.000-07:00

The past few months David has been in frantic search of a job. When we moved to Ames last May, it was for David to start a new job at a small little company. We were so excited, he had been looking for a job for over a year. We knew it was the right thing for our family. It felt like David's career was finally going to start, and we knew we were meant to be in Ames. Then David had his accident and because he needed time to fully recover, his company needed to replace him, so he lost his job. It was a real trial of our faith, as we wondered why the Lord would bring us here to Ames for a job, only to lose that job within a couple of months. Once David was cleared for work again, the search for another engineering job was back in full swing. I hated the thought of having to pack up and move to yet another state! In the meantime, David started a production job at a big company here in Ames called Sauer Danfoss. His hope was to get his foot in the door, and hopefully get hired on as an engineer. He had a job interview for an engineering position a couple of weeks ago, and we just got word this morning that he got the job! He'll be starting on the 25th of April. Though it was a rough time last year as we struggled through not having a job again, our situation has actually improved. David will be making more at this job than his previous one, and he's more excited about the work. It re-affirms to us that the Lord knows our situation, and he has a plan for us. I sincerely believe that this new job is the reason we were to come to Ames, though it might have taken a round-about way to get there. I'm so grateful that we will be able to stay in Ames...I've really grown to love this little town, and we've made such great friends and really enjoy being close to family. We truly feel blessed!

It's Spring!

2011-03-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

Happy official spring! We're so glad the weather is warming up around here, and are even enjoying the rainy day we're having today. Call me crazy, I don't mind! We've been able to take advantage of the nice weather recently and get outside for walks and let Molly ride her bike. We're getting itchy for BBQs with friends and play dates at the park. These next few months are also going to be busy with family. But enough of the future, here's some pictures of the last month.

Emma is 4 months old today. Holy cow, where has the time gone? I was discussing with David the other day that it seems like the past few months have gone so fast, and yet it feels like Emma has always been a part of our family. That's how well she fits in, I guess. Here are her stats from her Dr.'s appointment today:
Height: 25 inches (75%)
Weight: 12 lbs 7 oz (25%)

Emma is a very happy and fun little baby. She loves her big sister, and is getting interested in toys, though she still can't grab them quite yet. We do tummy time, and she's rolled over a couple times from front to back, but doesn't really seem too interested in making it happen very often. I'm totally OK with that. She is now sleeping in Molly's room in the big crib, and so far so good. Last night she slept for an 8 hour stretch. It was wonderful. She's tried out her Bumbo chair a few times, but she's so tiny she ends up in weird angles, so she's not a big fan yet. She caught on very quickly to her jumperoo, though, and thought that was pretty cool.

Now that Emma is a little more interactive, Molly has taken more interest in her. She gives Emma the softest kisses and hugs at bedtime, it's so sweet to watch. Molly also loves to "keep an eye on Emma" if I have to go to the laundry room real quick. I love watching those tender moments between the two of them.

The other night I tried something with Molly's hair that my Mom occasionally did with mine. We did lots of tiny braids after her bath in the evening, then took them out in the morning. The braids looked pretty cute, but the end result wasn't that great. I think Molly's hair is just a little too fine and wispy. I'm excited to try again in a few years, though.

Molly has also recently renewed her obsession with all things vegetable. We made steamed broccoli for dinner a while ago, and I think she literally ate a pound. We've also had asparagus, and she couldn't get enough. Then, we tried some artichokes, which David and I happen to love. The first time David picked some up, he only got two, thinking there was no way Molly would like it. But she did, and asked for her very own the next time we got them. And she ate the whole thing.

Molly finally gets her Frosty...

2011-03-11T07:51:00.000-08:00

The Snowman, that is. Every time it has snowed this winter, Molly has begged to go out and build a snowman. And every time David has tried with her (it's not really my thing, especially with a brand new baby around) the snow has been uncooperative. Or maybe we should blame it on David? He is from California, after all. No, the snow has been unusually fluffy all winter, so we just haven't been able to get our snowman, until now. On Wednesday David and Molly headed outside, expecting the same old fluffy snow, but thankfully it was just right for snowman-making. And Molly looks out of our sliding door all day, just to make sure he's still there. It's supposed to get up to 60 degrees today...I don't have the heart to tell her he probably won't last much longer.

Working hard together.

At one point Molly got distracted and started raking snow off the bushes.

The end result. Pretty good for a 3 year old and a Californian, wouldn't you say?

Emma: 3 Months

2011-02-22T12:15:00.000-08:00

Apparently we aren't doing much around here. I haven't had much to blog about. There's only so many pictures of an infant in a bouncer people want to see before it gets boring. But oh-well. Emma is 3 months old today, so lots of pictures of an infant in a bouncer is what you get! Here's the last month in our house:

Emma's favorite pastime #1: The Bath
Emma is a huge fan of bath time. David's nickname for her these days is little fishy. She gives the best smiles during bath time. She's also thrown her best fits the second she's pulled out.

Emma's favorite pastime #2: Big Sister Molly
Emma is getting to the point where she loves to watch people, and one of her favorite people to watch is Molly. You can just see the wheels spinning in her head trying to figure out what that big girl is doing, and wondering when she'll be doing that too. I can tell Emma is going to adore her big sister. I hope Molly always adores her back!

Emma's been sleeping in our room in a bassinet, but we recently got the big crib set up in Molly's room. I keep stalling the night we put her in it to sleep, but it's great for naps or playtime. Emma gets a big kick out of the little mirror attached to the side.

Emma's favorite pastime #3: Her Hands
Emma loves sucking on her hands. We often find her chomping down on them, or sucking on them in the middle of night. It's pretty funny too when she studies them and she goes cross-eyed. Too cute.

Emma spends a lot of time in her bouncer...she just loves it, so why mess with a good thing, right? Sometimes Molly thinks she gets a little lonely, so she'll kindly share a few of her stuffed animals.

Emma's favorite pastime #4: Blowing Bubbles
We get the funniest expressions from Emma when she starts blowing her bubbles. I think it's the cutest thing ever.

Just because she's so cute:

One thing we did do recently is get together with some of Molly's best friends Sidney and Isaac and make valentines. And I actually took a picture!

Emma's favorite pastime #5: Sleeping
Emma is a pretty decent sleeper, and I'm so grateful. There's still room for improvement, but I really can't complain. She'll usually go from about 9/10 pm to 3/4 am, then go right back asleep until about 6/7 am. David gets up pretty early for work, so once he's gone, if Emma wakes up I usually end up putting her in bed with me while I try and catch a little more sleep.

And again, just because she's cute:

You Stink

2011-02-10T19:15:00.000-08:00

Molly has been showing evidence lately that she has my keen sense of smell. Take tonight for instance. This conversation took place with David right after her bath:

Molly: sniff sniff "I smell something. Do I smell my bum?
David: "Why, did you toot?"
Molly: "No."
David: "Well, you just got out of the bath, so you should smell clean."
Molly: "Daddy, you stink."

Emma: 2 Months

2011-01-22T18:11:00.000-08:00

Emma is 2 months old today. She is such a little joy, and we love her so much. She had her two month appointment yesterday, and got some shots, so last night and today have been a little rough, but usually she is a happy and content baby, easy to calm. And dare I say she is a cutie? Here are her stats from yesterday:

Weight: 10 lbs 5 oz
Height: 22 and 3/4 in.
Head: 38.4 cm

Some pictures from today: (we're finally catching some of those elusive smiles...)

All that posing and smiling for the camera really wears a baby out!

Smarty Pants

2011-01-20T18:20:00.000-08:00

Molly's newest obsession is writing. She loves to get out her pencil and a piece of scratch paper, then ask us how to write random words. She has done this so much that she pretty much knows how to write all of her letters now. She can also write Molly, Emma, Momma, and Daddy all on her own without asking for spelling. Though sometimes it drives me crazy spelling words to her all day long, I'm so grateful that she loves to learn. It makes teaching her so much easier.

A week or so ago she asked to write on her dry-erase board. Instead of random words, we decided to write a little bit about her. Here's what she came up with...and she wrote the whole thing by herself. She just had to ask me for the letters. Way to go, Molly!

Please excuse the messy hair...we hadn't gotten around to doing it yet that day.

Molly has also started a gymnastics class. She is in heaven! Today was her second day. David took her, and this is the conversation they had when she was done. (It's like pulling teeth trying to get any information from this girl...which is ironic, because it seems like she never stops talking...)

David: So what did you do in your gymnastics class?
Molly: I don't know.
David: Did you run around?
Molly: No.
David: Did you jump up and down?
Molly: Nope.
David: Did you have fun?
Molly: YEAH!!!

Blessing Pictures

2011-01-13T17:33:00.000-08:00

We did some blessing pictures of Emma in the studio a couple of weeks ago. Though I wasn't overly impressed with the photographer, we happened to get a few cute shots, and that's all that matters, right? Here are our favorites:

I decided to get a few naked shots while we were there, but by this time, Emma had pretty much had enough, so in all the pictures she was making some pretty funny faces. This is one such example.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-05T19:19:00.000-08:00

Welcome, 2011! We're excited for the start of a new year, and are hopeful that this year will be a little less eventful than last year. 2010 brought for us a new job, a pregnancy, a move to a new state, a major accident, a loss of said new job, and a new member of our family. We're tired! But we had a great Christmas and New Years with family, and are grateful for the extra opportunity to turn our hearts to Christ. We are truly blessed.

We are all enjoying our beautiful little Emma. She is such a sweet baby, and pretty calm and content for the most part. Molly continues to be a gentle and loving big sister.

This is a common position for Emma...her hands are constantly up by her face, almost as if to guard out all the chaos!

Molly finally got her wish...we got snow! It was too cold for the first few days we had it, and she had a cold, so we kept inside, but she finally got the opportunity to go outside and play for a while. She was in heaven. I don't think she even realized she was freezing! The snow wasn't right for snowmen, so that's the next thing on her list...a good snow so she can build Frosty. Hopefully that will be coming soon.

We had a great Christmas Eve with my family in Urbandale. Included was a delicious dinner, taking a walk to deliver my family's final 12 Days of Christmas gift (talk about cold!), reading the nativity, and a "concert" that included my two sisters and me. Christmas morning we spent here at home and opened presents, then had a second Christmas with my family at their house. We're so happy to live near family!

A couple of days after Christmas, David's parents came to visit and to meet Emma for the first time. It was so fun to have them here. We played games constantly. They even babysat for David and me to have an anniversary dinner out...happy 7 years to us! We were so sad to see them go.

Emma and her Grampy. Doesn't she look comfortable?

Sunday was a big day for us. Molly had her first day in Primary, and Emma was blessed. We've been prepping Molly on entering primary for quite a while, letting her know that she would no longer be in Nursery, but would be a Sunbeam. At first her response was "I don't WANT to be a Sunbeam!", but she quickly got on board with the idea. She seemed to have a great time. I can't believe my little girl is in Primary!

It seemed like Emma knew she was in the spotlight that day. She was a little out of sorts the whole day. It was interesting trying to take pictures, but we did get a few good ones.

Emma with Grandma and Grandpa Yourstone.

Emma with Grammy and Grampy Isaacson.


A four generation picture with Emma's great Grandpa Yourstone.

Emma and her proud parents.

We have pictures exactly like this of Molly in this blessing dress.

Emma is now six weeks old. Just in the last week she's started smiling and responding to us. It has been so much fun trying to get her to smile. Of course, we haven't quite caught it on camera yet, but we'll keep trying!

Yes, she does have a left hand, it's just hiding in her sleeve. Too funny!

2 Weeks...Already!

2010-12-08T18:42:00.000-08:00

I can't even believe that Emma is already just over 2 weeks old. I'm already sad time is going by so fast. She has been an amazing little addition to our family. I can't even remember life without her, it just feels so right to have her here. She had her 2 week check-up today, and Dr. says she looks perfect. She's up to 8 lbs 1 oz and 21 1/2 inches. We had some issues with breast-feeding in the beginning, and she wasn't gaining weight very fast and was very fussy, but the last week or so has gone really well, and it's nice to see she's growing and is healthy. We're so grateful for our little baby girl! Here are a few pics from the last couple of weeks:

Breakfast With Santa

2010-12-08T17:49:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, our church held a Breakfast with Santa activity for the primary and nursery aged kids. David took Molly, and she had a great time. I think this was the first year we got a picture of Molly with Santa where she wasn't crying. They also did the nativity story with all the kids, and Molly was Mary. She looks pretty cute in her big bathrobe. It must have made some impact on her, because during this week I've had lots of questions about baby Jesus and His birth. Maybe it just hits home for her because of Emma just being born, I don't know. Today in the car we listened to Silent Night, and Molly was very curious about why Jesus was sleeping on hay. I realized how hard it is to sometimes explain these things we just take for granted to a 3 year old who is trying to learn it all for the first time. Anyway, here's some pics from the activity:

Finally it's not traumatic meeting Santa.

Cute little "Mary".

She's Finally Here!

2010-11-26T19:52:00.000-08:00

We are so excited to welcome Emma Jane Isaacson to our family. Emma arrived on Monday, November 22 at 3:25 pm, weighing 7 lbs 8 oz and measuring 21 inches. She's absolutely beautiful, and we are all completely smitten. The labor and delivery was fairly smooth. I woke up at 3:30 am on Monday morning with some contractions, thought they weren't really much so I tried to move around to see if they would go away. They continued to get worse, so we eventually called the on-call nurse and got ready to head to the hospital. My Mom met us at our house to gather up Molly. We arrived at the hospital around 7, I received an epidural around 8 or 8:30, then we played the waiting game. Once Emma was ready, it just took a few pushes and she was out. We are so grateful to have her here safe and sound. Here are some pics:

Proud Momma.

Proud Daddy.

Proud big sister.

Our new family.

Grandma and Grandpa Yourstone with their two grand kids.


Sweet baby Emma.

Heading home.


Resting peacefully on Thanksgiving.

Our two adorable girls. Molly us such a great big sister. She's already adjusting better than expected. She loves little Emma.

What a cutie!

I just love this picture. Emma looks so comfy on her Daddy.

That's Bad

2010-11-17T19:03:00.000-08:00

Tonight in the shower, Molly dropped her bucket on her toe. Commence the tears and the end of the bath. As we were toweling her off, she proceeded to say "That hurt really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really bad." Making sure I understood how bad it hurt (wink, wink), I asked, "How bad did it hurt, Molly?" Her reply: "Like 30 pounds of bad." That's bad.

Thanksgiving Reflections

2010-11-11T12:54:00.000-08:00

"A grateful heart...comes through expressing gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His blessings and to those around us for all that they bring into our lives." -President Thomas S. Monson

I know so many of us loved this talk from President Monson in the last General Conference. It's really gotten me thinking over the last weeks about everything that I have to be grateful for. As we go through life and endure trials, it's sometimes so easy to look past our blessings and focus on those things that are not going as we would like. I know in the past few months I've struggled with this at times, and so hearing and re-reading this talk really renewed my resolve to express my gratitude for those things that I do have. It's amazing how that can make such a difference in attitude. With this month being focused on Thanksgiving, I've been so inspired by the blogs I've been reading where people are sharing what they're grateful for every day. I obviously haven't been doing that, but I wanted to share a few things that I've really been thinking about lately. I usually don't do the "personal" stuff on this blog, so sorry if it's a little out of the blue. And it will probably be long...don't feel obligated to read the whole thing!

I Am Grateful For:

1. My Husband: Four months ago I came within inches of losing my husband and being a single mom to a 3 year old and an unborn baby. When doctor after doctor tells you that no one should have medically survived what David went through, you come to understand what divine intervention means. I am grateful every day that I have a walking, talking, back to normal husband. The speed in which David recovered is truly remarkable. So often during those first weeks I was afraid that even though he survived, he would never really be the same person I had married and love. Now, there are only a few minor signs that he has been through anything. He's walking without crutches or cane, but still has a slight limp, and there is some scarring around his right eye. But if you were to talk to him, he's just who he used to be. I love him so much, and am sincerely grateful we can continue our lives together. Though neither of us are perfect, and we've gone through some pretty difficult things during our 7 years of marriage, I know that as we continue to work together, our marriage will be strengthened.

2. Molly: I have the most beautiful, loving, funny, helpful and exasperating 3 1/2 year old in the world. I am so grateful that she is a part of our little family. Of course she has her moments as all toddlers do, and even when I'm ready to pull my hair out in frustration, I couldn't imagine my life without my sweet Molly. She has such a love for life that is infectious. I'm so inspired by her simple faith. She has such a thirst for knowledge, I just hope that I can keep up with her as she gets older. She is an amazing kid, and I will be forever grateful that I am her Mom.

3. Bringing New Life Into the World: I can't tell you how excited and grateful I am that we will soon have a new little member of our family. It's felt like a long and sometimes hard journey to get her here...and I'm not just talking about the last 8 1/2 months! It wasn't part of the plan to wait 3 1/2 years before adding another child to our family, but I know that the Lord knows best, even though I don't know his plan for us. I know so many other people that have had an even more difficult time having children, some not at all, so I can only be grateful that this little one is coming when she is.

4. Extended Family: Both David and I have amazing families, and I am so grateful for the support and strength they are to us. For me, I wasn't born into the family that I have, so I am even more grateful that the Lord led us together and I can now call them my family. They are amazing, not just to me, but as people. I have incredible parents who I credit for making me who I am today. I don't know what I would do without their unfailing love and support. I'm so grateful that I married into a wonderful family as well. It's not something I thought about when getting married, I kind-of just lucked out on that, but it's definitely something I'll always be grateful for.

5. Our Ward Family and Friends: We moved into an amazing ward here in Iowa, and have met so many great people. We also have wonderful friends, both here and in other places where we've lived. Our ward has been so supportive and helpful to us, even though they didn't know us very well. While both David and I were in Texas, my family and most of the ward moved our entire apartment from the second floor to an apartment on the first floor, since we didn't know what David's condition would be and if he would need to be in a wheelchair for a number of months. Though that ended up not being the case, it's been such a blessing to be on the first floor, especially when I was having to do almost everything around the house and all the shopping and carrying and being near the end of my pregnancy. I'm grateful that the Lord has put people in our path that we have come to love and call dear friends. I just wish we could live near all of them at the same time!

6: Modern Medicine and Health Insurance: I often complain about insurance, whether it be health insurance or car insurance, or whatever. It often seems that it doesn't always come through for you in the end, whether you have it or not. But David's accident has totaled over $500,000, and insurance in this case has saved us financially. We're still not doing that great, but it's better than being bankrupt. I'm also grateful for the Doctors and medical people that have been so wonderful both here and in Texas. I know that David was in good hands during his trauma and surgery. We often had nurses telling us that he was in a great place, and that it was the hospital that JFK was taken to when he was shot. I always found this interesting that they would think this comforting to me...didn't JFK not make it? Both David and I have been in medical situations besides this event that if it weren't for modern medicine, neither of us would be alive today. So I'm grateful for the time we live and the medical knowledge that is available to us.

7. The Gospel: I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have of the Gospel. What a strength this has been to me over the years. I'm grateful for my testimony. I'm grateful for the scriptures and the things they teach us. I'm also grateful for my brand-new calling as Gospel Doctrine teacher. I haven't had to teach yet, and probably won't until either the end of December or January since this baby is coming pretty soon, but I'm so excited to be able to study the scriptures with the intent of teaching. I have always loved my callings in music, but I'm looking forward to the opportunity to stretch myself spiritually.

8. My Heavenly Father and My Savior, Jesus Christ: Most importantly, I am grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ, and for his atoning sacrifice. I know it is through him that I have strength to carry the burdens that come my way. I know that he has atoned for my sins and allows a way for me to continually improve myself. I know that Heavenly Father has a plan for our family, and I'm grateful for the blessings that are continually poured out upon us. I'm grateful for prayer and the blessings that come when we pray sincerely to our Heavenly Father. I know that he is watching over me continually and for that I am sincerely grateful.

The Halloween that Never Ends

2010-10-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

For being not one of my favorite holidays, Halloween certainly seems to last forever around here. I'm grateful Molly loves it so much, it makes it that much more fun for me. After some more Halloween fun tonight, we can start looking forward to Thanksgiving and the new baby, depending on which comes first. (Fingers crossed it will be baby.)

A few days ago we found a cute little Haunted House making kit. Something my family does around Christmas is get the gingerbread house kits, and we've had lots of fun with those, so we thought this would be a fun activity for us to do as a family. Molly thought it was great. She was really creative, and did a great job in selecting where to put the candy...I really just helped with the frosting.

Having fun...with a silly little smile. Can't get this girl to look at the camera with a natural smile.

Waiting patiently to place the candy.


The finished project. What a masterpiece!

Last night we hit our neighborhood for the most important thing...candy! Iowa is interesting in the fact that we do our trick-or-treating on "Beggar's night", or the night before Halloween. Since we live pretty close to Iowa State, and they have a football game tonight, Ames changed the trick-or-treating to Friday. This actually works out really great for us, because now we're going down to my parents house tonight to hit their neighborhood for some more trick-or-treating. Can we just say sugar high? Anyway, last night we met up with friends and let the kids go wild.

Pretty little princess, all ready to go.

What an adorable group. Molly, Sidney and Isaac.

Molly is so excited to be able to go trick-or-treating again tonight, along with carving some pumpkins. Then we'll have the candy to remind us of the fun. I think after tonight my body will be ready to be done with Halloween for another year.

Big Sister Class

2010-10-21T17:25:00.000-07:00

Tonight Molly had a big sister class at the hospital where we'll be having the baby. Last week, when I asked Molly if that was something that she wanted to do, she immediately became excited, and insisted that we go right then. Every day since we've heard non-stop when her class was going to be. Needless to say, she's been pretty excited about it. It was so fun! What a great way to make the sibling feel special and helpful for the new baby.

The first thing the kids did was color a paper bib with crayons. Once they finished, the teachers ironed the coloring onto a cloth bib for the baby. So cute! Molly thought it was great.

The teacher demonstrating the correct way to hold a new baby.

Molly taking her turn.

Learning how to do one of the most important jobs...changing the diaper!

Getting the diaper set up.

Fastening the diaper in place. What a great helper! So looking forward to that.


Getting a certificate at the end of the class. (Side note: What does it tell you about Molly that once she had the certificate in hand, she rushed over to us and asked "Can I cut that when we get home?" This girl has an unusual obsession with her scissors.)

Another fun thing they did that we didn't get pictures of was they took all the kids on a tour of Birthways, which is what they call the labor and delivery floor of the hospital. They got to see the rooms that the Moms stay in and the nursery for the babies. David and I stayed behind for that...we'll get our own tour next week. I just think it's so neat that they do that for the kids. On the way home Molly was telling us about the rooms and the gowns that the Moms get to wear. I think we're all getting pretty excited for the arrival of this baby. 5 more weeks!

Halloween is starting Early!

2010-10-20T16:25:00.000-07:00

Today Molly's friends Sidney and Isaac had a little Halloween party at their house. Molly has been so excited to wear her costume that Grandma got her. She has been telling everyone that she gets to be Cinderella this year, and she made an adorable Cinderella if I do say so myself. As we were getting ready for the party, Molly made it clear how important it was that I do her hair EXACTLY like Cinderella has it in all of her pictures. I tried my best, but Molly doesn't have a whole lot of hair. I think it ended up adorable anyway, and Molly was pleased, so I guess that's the important part.


All ready for the party!


We arrived a little early so we could help set up. Molly seems to be saying in this picture "Come on! Let's get this party started!"

Molly and her adorable friend Sidney.

Gearing up for the Ghost toss. Molly needs to work on her aim a little bit.

Trying to figure out the donut eating contest. It was pretty tricky, but once that donut came off the string, it was gone pretty quick.

The fun cupcake walk. All the kids were digging the Little People Halloween music.

Devouring the prize of the cupcake walk.

Getting this many kids to stand still after eating who know how much sugar is no small feat. What a cute little group, though.


It took Molly some time to get in the mood for the silly glasses, but once she saw others getting their pictures taken in them, she wanted too.

What a fun way to start off the Halloween season! Thanks, Liz, for throwing such a fun party. Now Molly keeps asking when she can wear her Cinderella costume next. She is ready for more partying, and it's a good thing, because we have about 4 or 5 more Halloween related activities lined up. I'm tired just thinking about it....

Quiet times

2010-10-20T15:57:00.000-07:00

Lately Molly has been implementing her three-year-old toddler-ness full force. Either that, or I'm more hormonal and tired because of the pregnancy, so my patience runs a little thin. Either way, we seem to have a battle of wills going on a lot, and try as I might, I feel like I'm on the losing team. It makes me a little worried for when this baby gets here. But for now, we just take it day by day, and hope that we're all alive at the end.

These rough times just make me appreciate those quiet, calm moments that we get every now and then. Molly has been getting into painting lately, so I let her paint her little pumpkin the other day. It's fun to see her get focused and concentrate on something so intently. This girl takes her art work very seriously.

Another time Molly was playing in her room, and I realized that it had been quiet for some time. Molly's not one to be mischievous or get herself into trouble, so I never worry too much about that, but I'm always curious what gets her attention. I found her on her bed with a pile of books. Her position on the bed reminded me of being little and how I would always read. She looked so grown up and cute!

32 1/2 weeks

2010-10-07T09:52:00.000-07:00

This is for a very persistent friend (you know who you are!) Since she came through and posted a pregnancy pic on her blog (you look so cute, btw) I figured I should keep up my end of the bargain.

At this point I feel like I'm as big as I was when I delivered Molly, though I've only gained 1/3 of the weight. I feel achy and tired, but who doesn't at this point in pregnancy? We had our second ultrasound on Tuesday, and the spot they found on the baby's heart in the first one has completely disappeared, so there are no current indicators of down syndrome. Baby is still active and healthy, so we are very grateful.

Molly of course had to get in on the picture taking action.

Apple Orchard

2010-10-04T19:30:00.000-07:00

Today Molly and I joined our friends on a trip to a local apple orchard and pumpkin patch. Since David's on crutches, we figured we should check it out first before having him attempt the trip. It was so fun, once David is off the crutches we will definitely be making a trip back. They had so many fun things to do, we didn't even get to all of it today. I took pictures of course, but again, they aren't the greatest. Oh, the dreams for a nicer camera! Also, I've noticed lately that Molly will very rarely look at the camera...her head will be turned toward me, but she's always looking off in another direction. It's driving me crazy! Oh, well, I guess for a three year old, I'm lucky she'll at least stand still for me...for the most part.

I know the glare on this is pretty horrible, but it's the best picture I got that showed how awesome this "corn pool" was. I've never seen so much corn like this before! This kids had a blast playing in it, I think it was one of the favorite activities.

Molly showing off the corn.

I'm so glad we actually got a picture of all the kids together. There's Molly, then Isaac and Sidney, who are twins and turned 4 in May, then little Addi in the back. She's about a year and 1/2. These are some of our most favorite people here in Iowa! Molly loves doing everything with them.

Riding the pedal-pushers.

There was a little section of the place that had a nursery rhyme theme. They had a ton of these little rhymes with the look-through windows. (I got a picture of the pumpkin one since it was a pumpkin patch!)


This was the wood house from "The Three Little Pigs." They also had the straw and brick houses. Too cute! The kids had a blast going in and out of all three of them.

We can't wait to go back with David and do some of the other things we didn't get to today. We would love to pick some Golden Delicious apples and some pumpkins, go on the hay ride, go through the corn maze, go down the gigantic slide again (didn't get any pics of that one), and jump on the giant pillow. We're keeping our fingers crossed that at David's orthopedic appointment on Thursday we'll hear some good news about the progress of his hip, and hopefully he'll either be off his crutches, or able to at least put some more weight on his leg, if not all. We'll keep you updated.

General Conference

2010-10-04T19:05:00.000-07:00

I always look forward so much to General Conference, and I especially was excited for this one. I thought the whole thing was amazing, as usual, but also a much needed spiritual boost. I used the opportunity to also make some great food...I seem to always get in the mood to cook during conference weekend, and I was definitely feeling like making some yummy food. On Saturday I made some home-made apple pancakes with cooked apple slices for breakfast, then that evening we had some friends over to eat some pumpkin crisp I had made. On Sunday we headed to my parent's house and I made some bread-bowls and soup. I think I'm in love with fall.

Molly did really well for all the sessions. We tried to keep her occupied as much as possible so that we could listen. I was pleasantly surprised with how quiet she was. One of her favorite activities was getting out her art easel and doing some painting. I haven't had the guts to do the painting part of it yet, so it was a great first-time activity for her. I think it lasted almost the entire afternoon session on Saturday.

New Bike

2010-10-04T18:50:00.000-07:00

Shortly after getting back from Texas, and friend and I hit some garage sales. I've been looking for a bigger bike for Molly for a while, since she's been using a trike, but it's starting to get a little small for her. I actually found a little princess bike with training wheels for ten bucks. Jack-pot! I couldn't resist getting it for her, even though she'll probably out-grow it pretty quick. We've been taking every chance we get to enjoy this amazing fall weather and do some bike-riding.

Zoo

2010-10-04T18:45:00.000-07:00

The day of David's accident, I took Molly and her little neighbor friend to our local, not very exciting, zoo. I unfortunately have bad things associated with this zoo now, because it was on my way out of the parking lot that I heard the bad news, but hopefully I can get the gumption to go again soon to create some new memories. But while we were there, Molly had a blast with Jonah. I got a few pictures, though none of them turned out very well. Oh, well.

Waiting for the train to get going.


Peeking out the gopher hole.

Molly Quote

2010-09-14T10:55:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in our last post about Molly being able to make us laugh even through difficult times. One such example:

Molly has been obsessed with playing with my hair lately, especially on those rare occasions when it's straight, or when it's wet before I pull it back in the all-too-common messy bun. The other morning I mentioned to her "Molly, I know what you need for Christmas. One of those heads with lots of hair." Her response: "But Momma, I already have a head with lots of hair!"

Thank You...and an Update

2010-09-10T12:34:00.000-07:00

Well, we thought it was about time we got back to our blog, but it would feel weird for me to just start randomly posting without addressing what our little family has been through the last month and 1/2. Many of you are aware, but for those few who have no idea what I'm talking about, here's the story.

On July 20th, David was on a business trip in Texas and had a major accident. He fell 15 stories at his hotel, and suffered major injuries. To this day, we are not sure what happened, and we probably never will. There has been much speculation on everyone's part, but David remembers nothing from that day, and probably never will, and there were no witnesses to the event, so that's pretty much all we can do, is speculate. Once I heard the news, I flew that afternoon straight to Texas and met up with David's parents. David was in the ICU in critical condition, so of course we really had no idea what we would find when we got there...you pretty much expect the worst from that type of accident. Here's the low down of the injuries sustained and the current condition:

1. pelvis fractures, front and back...those are healing on their own.
2. right acetabular fracture (hip fracture)...this he had surgery on 2 days after the accident. They fixed it with a metal plate and screws. He is non-weight bearing on his right leg, probably for another 4 weeks or so.
3. right ortibal floor-wall fracture...basically means his right eye-socket had a blow-out fracture. This is healing on it's own, they don't need to do surgery on it. He received stitches around his right eye, but his actual eye is almost completely fine. They discovered some scaring on his retina, but it doesn't impede his vision.
4. right scapular fracture...basically a hairline fracture on the back of his right shoulder. This has given him some problems, and his right arm/hand are still weak, but there has been huge improvement.
5. 12 cracked/broken ribs...amazingly enough, this causes him little pain, except for when he yawns.
6. both lungs collapsed once he got to the hospital, so he had two tubes into his lungs for a few days. He ended up getting a pulmonary embolism and is currently on blood thinners, but they expect he should be able to get off those within 6 months.
7. traumatic brain injury...considering the length of the fall, this has been healing incredibly quickly. He still has trouble sometimes remembering correct words, or mixes words up, and has trouble following deep conversation. He had a CT scan of his brain just this week, and the healing is almost complete. In another couple of weeks, we have an appointment with a neuropsychologist to evaluate the cognitive recovery of the brain injury.

There were a couple more, but those are pretty much the major ones. David spent 4 weeks in Texas in the hospital and rehab center. I spent the whole 4 weeks with him, and Molly stayed here in Iowa with my parents. David was then transferred to a rehab center in Des Moines, but was doing so well that he only stayed for 3 and 1/2 days. He currently is home and gets around on crutches because he can't bear weight on his right leg, but the recovery has been speedy and the doctors say it will be complete. We have numerous Dr. appointments every week, along with with physical and occupational therapy, and speech therapy will most likely be starting soon as well.

So, now for the Thank You. We wanted to let everyone know who has been praying and fasting for us how much we appreciate it. Our testimonies of prayer have been strengthened 10 fold...we have seen miracles happen that we contribute solely to the prayers that have been offered in our behalf. We have also received so many calls, cards, emails, flowers, and thoughts sent our way. They have meant so much to us in this trying time. We know the Lord has blessed us beyond measure. Of course the trial is not over, there are many un-knowns in the near future, but we can't not acknowledge that the Lord is looking out for us. Every doctor, therapist, family member and friend that has heard David's story has to acknowledge that there is a higher power at play here. We can only call it as a miracle, and we continue to count our blessings.

As for me...I'm still kicking. And so is this baby! There was some concern while I was in Texas how the stress of the situation would affect the pregnancy and this sweet baby I'm carrying, but all is well. I have to be careful of what I do around here, I'm in charge of a lot that I wouldn't otherwise have to do, and that's sometimes hard for me. I'm completely exhausted most of time, but again I know the Lord is strengthening me to carry the burdens I have to carry. The baby is growing fine, and she is very active. I'm grateful she's so keen on making sure I know she's still in there...it definitely eases my worries about her. I'm 29 weeks...and 40 is quickly approaching! The whole first part of the pregnancy I was completely excited for the day this baby would arrive, but now I'm just content to let these last weeks play out. Hopefully our little family will be somewhat back to normal by the time she comes.

As for Molly...she has been such a trooper. That month that I was away from her was complete torture. I had never been away from her for more that 24 hours, and I missed her so much. And once David started remembering her while he was in the hospital, he missed her like crazy too. I'm so grateful that I have such a wonderful family that just took her in on the moment's notice. It eased my mind knowing that she was at least happy and healthy, and living the high life with her Grandma and Grandpa and 2 aunts. The hardest part right now for her is not completely understanding why Daddy can't run after her and get down on the floor to play games with her like he used to. She likes to remind us that "Daddy is slow, and I'm fast!" I'm sure she'll appreciate the day, as we all will, when David can get rid of the crutches and be a little more back to normal. She continues to be a bright spot for us. Even through the hardest of times, she can make us laugh. I don't know what I would do without my sweet precious Molly.

Well, if you're still reading by this point, that's basically what's been going on with us lately. Thanks again for everyone who has wished us well. We are blessed to have such wonderful friends and family.

Crazy Storm

2010-07-18T11:58:00.000-07:00

In the middle of the night last night, most of Iowa had a crazy wind/rain storm roll through. I woke up around 2:30 last night to lightening that was flashing so brightly and fast, one guy at church today described it as being lightening you could read a book by. That's pretty accurate. When I looked out the window to check the storm, the wind was blowing so hard and the rain coming down so fast, everything was just a blur, I couldn't really see anything. Our power went out a few times, though we were lucky that it came back on...others in our neighborhood and throughout the state are still without power. And David pretty much slept through the whole thing!

On our drive to church this morning, we couldn't believe all the debris of branches and leaves in roads and yards. We even saw a few trees that had been torn out by their roots. On our way home, we saw tons of people working on clean-up, along with trucks driving away with piles of branches in their beds. We went for a little drive after lunch to check out some of the damage. Here are just a few pictures I took of some trees right in our neighborhood...and I'm sure this is a similar seen all around the state.

This is right in our parking lot.

Same tree just other direction...when we left for church it was sitting on the white car.

If you look closely, you can see the power line that this tree took out.

Our apartment building is right behind this tree...we're lucky it fell the way it did and not into the apartments.

I Love to See the Temple

2010-07-10T16:17:00.000-07:00

Today we went with our ward on a family Temple trip to the Winter Quarters, Nebraska Temple. This was neat for us because we were able to take Molly, and babysitting was provided while we did our session. Then we were able to go to the Visitor's Center. We left the house at 6:30 this morning, got to the temple around 9:30, dropped Molly off at the park where the kids were being watched, started our session at 10, ate lunch around 12, did some pictures and visiting, went through the Visitor's Center, headed home around 1:30, and got home around 4. We are all completely exhausted. But it was a wonderful experience. I love the fact that Molly was able to visit the Temple with us. She was so excited about it, then was really disappointed when she couldn't go inside.

After lunch, we took some pictures as a ward. Then the kids gathered together and sang I Love to See the Temple. It was so sweet.

Then the primary president had the kids go up to the Temple and actually touch it and explained to them how the Temple is special and a sacred place.

Molly is becoming quite the photographer, and it's actually getting pretty useful. She was able to take this picture of David and me at the doors to the temple.

Another picture by Molly...some of the flowers on the Temple grounds. So pretty.

The Winter Quarters visitor center has a really neat display right now called Reflections of Christ by a photographer named Mark Mabry. The pictures were amazing. Here are just one that I especially loved. I felt a little guilty taking pictures of the pictures, so I only did the one.

And of course we had to get one family picture in before we left.

Single Ladies

2010-07-08T10:44:00.000-07:00

I'm a little embarrassed to admit that Molly's favorite song right now is Single Ladies by Beyonce. Numerous times a day we'll crank it up on my iPod and Molly will dance around the room, singing right along to "All the single ladies, All the single ladies..." If another song comes on, she'll immediately stop cold and insist that she doesn't like it. Needless to say, we listen to a lot of Single Ladies around here right now.

This morning before I was very awake, David asked Molly to sing him a song before he had to leave for work. She replied, "I don't want to sing a song. How about the Single Ladies sing a song?" David replied that might be a little too loud while I was still sleeping, and Molly said "The Single Ladies can sing it very quietly!"

And baby is...

2010-06-29T11:58:00.000-07:00

...as Molly says, "a girl named Barbie." When I got home from the ultrasound and told Molly that the baby was a girl, she basically acted like, "well, duh, Mom, I've been telling you that all along." We are so excited. "Barbie" looks great and everything is on track. She's measuring a couple days ahead of the due date, so that's good. Hopefully this baby will be born in November and not December. There was one little thing caught during the ultrasound (and because of my lack of medical knowledge I can't remember for the life of me what it's called) that isn't too concerning at this point, but we will be doing another ultrasound during the third trimester just to make sure everything is still going well. I can't say I'm too disappointed in having a second ultrasound. Knowing that "Barbie" is a girl makes her seem that much more real to me. It was so fun seeing her little heart beating, and her little arms and legs move around. We definitely feel blessed!

Baby Gender

2010-06-25T08:06:00.000-07:00

I've heard a lot of talk lately from pregnant friends/people I know about the fun in waiting to find out about the gender of baby until during the birth. I was worried this was becoming the new trend. I think maybe once I have one boy and one girl, and I feel fully prepared for either, I might consider that option. I don't know if I'll ever have the patience, but I do agree that it would be fun. But I know for sure we'll be finding out the gender of this baby...on Tuesday!

With Molly I almost felt like I knew she was going to be a girl. I don't know if that's because I was just really hoping she was a girl, or if it was just a pregnant mom-to-be's intuition. But for this one, I feel like I have no idea. Maybe it's just more important to me that we just make it through this pregnancy and I'll be happy for either, as long as it's healthy. Anyway, we'll be letting you know on Tuesday, hopefully, on what we'll be getting in about 5 months. In the meantime, let me know what you think, and see if any of you have a better guess at this point than I do. Come on over and cast your vote! (there's a poll going on over on the right)

The other day, Molly and I were swimming, and I again asked her if she wanted this baby to be a boy or a girl. I don't know why, she's never changed her opinion. She immediately responded that this baby will be a girl. I asked her, "But, Molly, what if by some chance it's a boy, will you be OK with that?" She thought for a minute, then slyly responded with "Momma, what if it's TWO girls?"

Family Day

2010-06-19T17:05:00.000-07:00

David had some long hours at work this week, so we were all excited to spend today together. We first went to Toy Story 3. Molly loves both the other Toy Story movies, so she has been eagerly waiting to go to the 3rd, especially since it would be her second time in a "big fee-ater." We of course had to get some popcorn, and Molly happily snacked during the whole movie. We all agree that it was a very good movie, probably my favorite of the 3. It was a wonderful first family outing to the theater.

After we got home, David and Molly went swimming. I didn't feel like getting in the pool, so I took the opportunity to take some pictures. Molly loves "our" pool. We have a view of it right from our balcony, and she often looks outside to see who's in the pool, or to ask to go swimming. We pretty much make it in any day that is not raining.

Molly's favorite pool accessory is her inner-tube fish. It has offered her amazing amounts of freedom. She does great at swimming all around by herself.
She also jumps off from the edge of the pool in to the water. At first it made me a little nervous, but she's never had a problem. She things it's pretty great. I wasn't quite quick enough in the picture taking, but here she is right after jumping in.
And of course, the pool outing wouldn't be complete without some splashing.

On a different note, we've had some crazy weather the last few days/weeks. Last night, after a particularly stormy day, we saw some pretty cool clouds. David thought they looked a little like mountain peaks.

Random Mollyness

2010-06-16T17:50:00.000-07:00

So, I've realized that I haven't been very good lately about taking pictures of Molly. I've been more concerned with actually figuring out what to do around here, that when I find something fun, I've forgotten to bring the camera. Or when I do have the camera, I just don't use it. I have been keeping track of some funny Molly things that I need to document, though. But first, here are the few pictures I have of Molly from the last month.

On the Saturday before Memorial Day, we met my parents and two sisters at a local state park for some grilling and fun. It's been a favorite park of our family's for a long time. Molly had a blast with her Grandparents and Aunts, and thought there was lots of fun things to do.

On Memorial Day we decided to take Molly to the parade here in town. Molly was so excited to see a parade again...she's been talking about the 4th of July parade from last year forever. During this parade I realized just what a small town we are living in...it literally lasted 5 minutes, if that. And the closest people there watching the thing were about 50 yards away! There were a couple of cars, 1 fire truck, a small band, and some veterans. I was worried Molly would be a little disappointed, but she got a little American flag and some candy, so she thought it was the greatest thing in the world. Here she is seeing the first people coming around the corner.

Now for some random Molly stories. Molly has always been a little against nick-names. I call her "Molls" every now and then, but other than that, she refuses to be called anything but Molly. If she starts asking me a question, I will often say "Yes, sweetie?" and she is quick to come back with "I am not Sweetie, I'm Molly!" She also often reminds us, even out of the blue, that she is no longer a baby, but a big girl, and that soon she will be a Momma.

Just in the last couple of weeks, Molly is constantly asking us to watch her. Her exact phrase is "Momma, watch how I do." And if we try and get away with saying "That's great, Molly" without really paying attention, she will immediately tell us again to watch her. We really can't get away with anything around her.

Molly has a little tape measure that she likes to play with. She'll go around measuring things or people. Whenever I ask her how long something is, she'll pause and then say "Mmmm, it's 20 months."

There have been a few nights where Molly has a hard time falling asleep. A few nights ago I went in to lay with her to help her relax. I was a little worried that she would like this and think it would be a nightly thing, but I shouldn't have been. Once I lay down she said, "Momma, you have 5 minutes." Apparently I use this tactic with her quite often. After a few minutes she told me that I had zero minutes left and I needed to leave. I didn't think she would be the one kicking me out of her bed!

Lately Molly has loved playing with her Barbies, and watching Barbie movies. But the one thing that drives me crazy is that she insists on her Barbies being naked. As I put some of her toys away at night I will usually dress all her Barbies, but the first thing she does when she pulls them out is take all the clothes off. And this includes her Ken doll. I try not to make a big deal of it, but I have mentioned to her that maybe we should keep her dolls dressed, but she responds that she likes them better naked. Should I be worried?

Since we're getting close to finding out the sex of our baby, we've been asking Molly whether she would like a baby sister or a baby brother. She insists that she wants a sister, every single time. A little while ago David reminded her about her friends back in Indiana, and named off their little brothers by name. Molly was excited and said, "Oh, yeah, I remember them! I like those brothers!" We asked her if she would like a little brother herself just like that, and she immediately responded with a "NO!" So then we asked her what she would like to name the baby, and she replied, "Barbie!"

Some Updates

2010-05-24T06:43:00.000-07:00

Well, we've been here in Ames for almost two weeks now. I feel like we're finally getting settled in and used to our new home. I've only had a couple of break downs, and that's pretty good considering my hormones and how much we miss our friends back in Indiana. It's been a hard adjustment not being able to walk out my front door to the playground and meet 5 other mom's with their kids. Some of the days have been long, but I think we're starting to meet people and will have some friends to hang with soon. We only have a few more boxes to unpack, and some other organizing to do, and then I think we'll finally be done. Oh, I am so looking forward to that!

When my Grandma passed away in December, we inherited one of the twin beds she had in her guest room. Molly has been so excited to make the transition from her toddler bed to the big bed, so we thought that the move would be the perfect time to do it. When we got the bed all set up and the mattress on, we realized that the bed is actually an Extra-long twin, and we only had the regular mattress. So there was a big gap at the end of the bed. We knew we couldn't really leave it like that...we didn't want Molly falling down the hole at the end of the bed. My mom came up with an amazing idea to put a board across the bottom and use it to store all of Molly's stuffed animals. An we love it! It works perfectly, and Molly is so proud of her new bed.
We also have a new addition to our family. No, no baby yet, but we have bought a CAR! We knew once David got this new job that a new car would be something to get pretty quickly. David's commute it about 10-15 minutes depending on traffic, and we knew it wasn't going to be feasible for me to take him and pick him up every single day. So, we found a car we liked, thought it was a pretty good deal, and broke down and bought it. And I am LOVING it. For the last 5 and 1/2 years we have been driving a tiny little car with no power steering and no air conditioning. It's been a great little car for us, but I am so ready for some cool air during these hot and humid summers! As for me, I think I'm recovering from the move, though maybe a little slowly. I've even had some days this last week that I never threw up! (Unfortunately, today will not be one of those days.) Yesterday I made an actual homemade dinner from scratch, and there was no gagging involved. And I could even eat it! It's amazing the little things like that I've started to appreciate after these last 7 weeks. I've found a Doctor here, and have my first appointment with her in a couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to getting in there again just to confirm everything is still progressing OK.

Happy Birthday, Molly!

2010-05-17T13:34:00.001-07:00

Yes, I know Molly's birthday was last week, but I am just now getting a chance to sit down at the computer and actually blog about it. We are getting settled, slowly, into our new home and new life here in Ames. So far, so good. I think both Molly and I are going through some serious withdrawals from our dear friends in Indiana, but I hope pretty soon we'll start making some new ones. The house is nowhere near getting unpacked. I definitely haven't been up to my usual unpacking this time around. Oh-well, hopefully by the time we move next we'll be done.

The night before we left Indiana, since we would be traveling on Molly's birthday, my friend Ann threw our family a farewell/birthday potluck dinner. I was so grateful that Molly would get a birthday cake, since she had been begging for a specific cake since Christmas, and it was a wonderful opportunity to say good-bye to our awesome neighbors and friends. Thanks, Ann, for a great party!

The amazing princess cake made by Ann.

Ready to dig in to the good food.

Waiting to blow out the candles on the cake while we sing "Happy Birthday"

The cake tasted as good as it looked!

Opening presents. This was the scene around Molly. It was pretty cute. Everyone wanted the perfect view. Thanks to everyone who gave Molly a present. It made our trip much better!

Handing out the Thank-You hugs. So cute.

I can't believe my little baby is already 3 years old. These last 3 years have been full of adventure and laughter, all due to our adorable, sweet little girl. I wouldn't change a second of it! I love you, Molly. I'm so grateful we've been blessed to have you as a part of our family.

First step to being 3

2010-05-04T13:00:00.000-07:00

Molly has a history of becoming hysterical at the doctor's office. Today was her check-up since she's turning 3, so I've been working on preparing her for the visit since I don't have a lot of energy to deal with the hysterics. For the last few days I've been going over the basics like the scale, that thing they use to check reflexes, and the stethoscope. Molly has a little stethoscope of her own, so she was excited to show the Dr. and tell him she even knew how to use it. Here she all ready to go:I think over-all the method worked. She was still a little shy, but didn't cry once, until they gave her the last vaccine she needed. And then it was just drama. I've had so much blood work done over the last 8 months that I really didn't sympathize much, but according to Molly, the world was ending. She settled down once I promised her some ice cream, though.

On a side note, this afternoon a bunch of us friends were outside playing. I was sitting in the grass talking to some adults, and Molly was doing her thing with the kids. She went inside to use the bathroom, then on her way back out, one of the moms turned to me and said, "Kim, your daughter is completely naked." And she was! She walked right out our house stark naked, not a care in the world. Of course that got me moving faster than I have in the last month. I'm not sure what prompted her to take off all her clothes, let alone come outside once they were all off, but we had a good talk on how it's not polite to walk around naked.

Molly has a Secret...

2010-05-03T08:59:00.000-07:00

Molly has been waiting to wear this shirt for ages. We actually bought it last summer when I found out I was pregnant. Unfortunately, in August, right before I was going to announce I was pregnant, I went through a difficult miscarriage. I started bleeding heavily and ended up in the emergency room. But we survived, and are so thrilled that we are pregnant again. I went to the Dr. today and heard the heart beat for the first time, and everything looks good so far. We are really excited. Due date is November 27th!

This month has been a little challenging for me. I've been quite sick, and David has been away for so long. I've been trying to pack whenever I have the energy, though I still don't feel like I'm getting anywhere. But I'm so grateful for wonderful friends and neighbors who have helped out with Molly and have even occasionally fed us food (heaven knows I don't do much cooking these days). But though it's been challenging, I am so grateful that the Lord has blessed us so much in the last couple of months. I keep thinking that he's looking down at me with a little smirk on his face just thinking "well, you get what you pray for!" I'll take it!

In Loving Memory

2010-04-26T05:34:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday my Dad's Mom passed away from a very quick battle with cancer. I'm very sad that I'm not able to attend the funeral in Utah tomorrow. I wish that I was able to be there to pay tribute to a wonderful woman and support my Dad and his family. Though you can tell by Molly's age that this picture is a little outdated, here is my amazing Grandma and Grandpa Yourstone. We'll sure miss you, Grandma!
This comes right on the heels of losing my Mom's Mom, Grandma MacKay, in December. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend her funeral in Utah. Another outdated picture; this was taken the day Molly was blessed.
My family has always lived miles away from either set of Grandparents, so I don't feel like I ever was able to get to know them extremely well, but I do know the wonderful people both my Grandmas were. I feel so blessed to have been given the opportunity to be apart of such a great family legacy. I'm grateful for the Gospel and the knowledge it gives us of eternal families.

We're Surviving...

2010-04-17T18:43:00.000-07:00

...I think. You might want to check with Molly on that, though. David has now been gone for a total of 11 days, and we've seen him for 1 day in the middle of that. We only have about 17 more days to go! We're are missing him terribly, but are so grateful that he has a job and is working hard learning the ropes. He's doing great in Texas, so that's good.

Today I took Molly to her first movie in a theater. A local theater here does free matinees for kids on Saturdays. We're grateful my friend Ann and her family didn't mind Molly and me being third wheels for their family time. Molly was pretty excited about the whole thing, and especially with the popcorn. She did say over and over "Momma, it's too dark in here, I can't see my popcorn!" and "How do we get out of here?" We saw Astro Boy, which wouldn't have been my first choice as Molly's first movie in a theater, but hey, it's free, am I really going to argue? Molly said afterward it was a little bit weird.

We then hit Purdue's spring fest, once again with Ann and her family. Molly actually got her face painted, I couldn't believe it. That is a huge step for her. We of course had to wash it off right when we got home, but hey, it lasted for a couple of hours. I'm sad I forgot my camera, I had meant to take it today. So alas, no pictures, but I'm sure you get the jist.

I was exhausted after our crazy day out, so I was taking a little rest on the couch this afternoon while Molly was doing computer games. She looked over to me and asked if I was sleeping, which I responded that I was getting pretty close. She hopped up and went upstairs to get some books, then came down and read to me, then sang me some songs. It completely melted my heart that she wanted to do her bedtime routine for me. Molly has been acting out a little bit lately, I think in response to her Daddy being away, so she's been pretty difficult at times. I so appreciated that sweetness from her, I really needed it.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T06:24:00.001-07:00

Happy Easter! We hope everyone can enjoy celebrating the resurrection of our Savior on this beautiful April morning.
Last week we were at my parent's house, so we went to their ward on Sunday for church. Molly learned about the resurrection in Nursery. In the car on the way home, I asked Molly what she had learned, and she explained to me how Jesus lived in a cave for 3 months, and then he was alive again! I'm pretty sure that's not exactly what was taught, but I thought it was cute. We've been working on correcting that notion this week.

We've been doing our little Easter celebrations the last couple of days. On Friday we colored Easter eggs. Molly took it very seriously. We used the little Q-tip looking ink things that Grammy sent in her Easter package. It's the first time we've really taken the time to color Easter eggs since Molly was born. We're excited to use those eggs for our Easter dinner tonight...Deviled eggs, Mmmmm.Yesterday before conference, we had a little Easter egg hunt for the kids in our little apartment complex. Though it was pouring rain, they loved getting together and hunting for the eggs outside. Then between the morning and afternoon sessions we had a potluck at a neighbor's house. It was fun to get together.

This morning Molly got to do another Easter egg hunt all by herself. We've collected quite a few eggs over that last couple of years, so to me it seemed like a ton for one little girl to find. She thought it was an absolute blast.

We also hid her Easter basket...in her little kitchen. We told her while she was looking for eggs to keep an eye out for it. She opened the door to the fridge on her kitchen, took a little gasp, and got very excited. We put some bunny ears in the basket, and that's the first thing she put on. The second was the watch that we got her at the zoo last week in Iowa. She's been asking for a watch forever, so we found a cute one, and figured the Easter basket was a great place to have it. She immediately eyed it and said, "My watch!" like she knew it was coming or something.

We're looking forward to another relaxing day watching General Conference, enjoying a nice Easter dinner of ham (my first one EVER!), roasted asparagus, mashed potatoes, rolls, and deviled eggs. Hope you enjoy the rest or your day, and eat just as well!

Family Pics

2010-04-02T13:17:00.000-07:00

I would not hesitate to tell you that I really have no skill with a camera. I'm not shy about that fact, that's just the way it is. Though I enjoy taking pictures, I've never taken the time to learn all the cool things you can do with photography. We've been fortunate here in Indiana to make some friends that are pretty good at the whole taking pictures thing. I'm grateful that Jessica and her sister Bethany were so willing to take some family pictures for us, especially before we move. We admire your skills! We didn't want to bore you with hundreds of pictures of us, so I settled down to the difficult task of picking a few of our favorites, though it still turned out to be a lot! Anyway, here's us.

These are just hilarious. Classic Molly.

We have NEWS!

2010-04-01T12:04:00.000-07:00

David got the job! We will be moving to Iowa in the very near future. These next couple of months are going to be an absolute whirl-wind. Next week David heads to Ames for a couple of days for some "training". Then next Monday, he will head to Texas for 4 weeks to work with a client of the company he is now employed with, while I stay at home and try and do some packing here and there. After Texas, we'll pack our stuff for the 7th time in our 6 years of marriage, and head off to Ames (or somewhere nearby), and David will start his new career. So thank you all for your support and prayers! Now we just need a few days for it all to sink in...

Iowa

2010-03-25T06:20:00.000-07:00

Most of you know that David has been looking for an engineering job for, like, EVER. We are so excited that on Tuesday he has a job interview in Ames, Iowa. That's about 50 minutes from my parent's house. As you can imagine, this is a huge deal for us, and we are anxious, nervous, excited, and at least for me, just want to get it done! So please keep your fingers crossed and your prayers going for us!

Since I've known about the interview, I keep comparing how I felt leaving Utah to move to Indiana, to how I would feel leaving Indiana and moving to Iowa. I was so done with Utah at the time we left. I was sad to leave a few good friends, and a close temple, but that was about it. I really had no sadness in moving away from what we had known for our whole married life. Compare that to now, when I think of moving away from our home for only the last year and a half, and I get major butterflies and heart palpitations! Even though our little family has gone through some difficult times in Indiana, I have absolutely loved it here. We have made some amazing friends that I hope will last a lifetime. If this job happens not to be the one for David, knowing that we get to stay in Indiana for a little while longer will be a great comfort. But for a job, wouldn't close to family be the ideal?

I've been in Iowa since Sunday, helping out my sisters while my parents are in New Jersey. They should get home tonight, and David will join us in a couple of days for the interview, and to take us back home. Molly and I have had fun together the last few days, though I think it's safe to say we are both getting a little sick of each other. My sisters are busy with school and sports and stuff, so we don't see them much. Today is my youngest sister's birthday (15!) so hopefully we'll be able to do some fun birthday celebrations once everyone gets back home. So anyway, that's what we've been up to the last week.

Wow, it's a little weird for me to make a post that is a little on the personal side, without a Molly story or too and some pictures. I hope I won't regret this in a day or two...!

All About the Hair

2010-03-11T11:52:00.000-08:00

Because Molly's hair is fine, yet curly, she will usually wake up with some pretty crazy bed-head. One of the first things we do in the morning is hair, just to get it out of her eyes and under control. This morning, she woke up with the most gorgeous curls, so we for-went the usual ponytails, and I just pulled it up in the front. Not a style we usually go for, but I didn't have to do a thing to it, and it looked so cute.In a similar topic, I finally figured out how I wanted to store Molly's bows that I've been making. So far she doesn't have too many, so we only need the "M", but as I make more, (and there will be more!), I can add letters for her name. I think it's pretty cute, and adds some decoration to Molly's fairly bare walls in her room.

I've been meaning to record this for some time, so this is a totally different topic. We've been trying to teach Molly to say "Please" and ask nicely for things, instead of just saying "I need..." or "I want..." She's getting good at saying please without being reminded, and now we've moved on to saying "May I..." A conversation will usually go something like this:

Molly: "I want some milk."
Me: "How do you ask nicely?"
Molly: "Please, I want some milk."
Me: "Please, MAY I HAVE some milk."
Molly: "Please, may I want some milk?"

Oh, well, it's progress.

Feelin' Crafty

2010-03-05T12:47:00.000-08:00

Today I learned a new craft. Hair bows. Poor Molly hasn't really had any cute bows for her hair; we usually just use the colored ponies. My wonderful, crafty, generous, all-knowing friend Ann (she encouraged me to say that!) lent me her expertise on getting some great accessories for bows, then showed me how to make them. I will have to admit, I might be a little obsessed. Molly is going to be the most ribboned out girl around! Thanks, Ann, for being such a great teacher!

Feelin' Pretty

2010-03-05T12:43:00.001-08:00

Earlier this week, Tracy and her girls stopped by to play for a while. It was fun to have them over again! Molly received a tote bag of hair styling tools (play, of course) for Christmas, and that seemed to be a hit among the girls for most of the time they were here. Tracy let down her hair and was a great sport about letting the girls beautify her. They brushed, blow dried, and curled her hair to perfection!

Green Eggs and Ham

2010-03-04T12:21:00.001-08:00

Every now and then I do something fun and feel like a "cool" mom. Lately Molly's favorite game to play on the computer is Green Eggs and Ham. I randomly asked her one day if she wanted to eat some green eggs and ham, and she immediately agreed that would be a great idea. So on Sunday, we made green eggs with ham. I'm sure this is not something new, that plenty of people have done this before, but for just a moment, I felt like a cool Mom. Molly was all excited about the whole thing, until she got a glimpse of the green eggs. She immediately said "I don't like green eggs and ham, Mom, I don't want them." We told her she at least had to try them. She took one bite, said "oh, I LIKE green eggs and ham" and began to dig in with earnest. Didn't she learn anything from the book?This morning I asked Molly if she wanted to try green eggs again, but she said no. Then she asked for pink eggs. We didn't eat pink eggs for breakfast.

Our Future Olympian

2010-02-27T16:06:00.000-08:00

I don't know where she first heard of it, but for a few months Molly has been asking to go ice skating. And I'm not just talking about a fleeting fancy of thought, I'm talking about multiple times a day asking if we can go ice skating NOW! We kept putting it off, but ever since the Olympics started, and she's caught snippets of the various speed skating and figure skating events, the insistence has increased. We finally just shelled out the big bucks and chalked it up to a good experience. And it was a blast!

Where's Molly?

There she is!

In town our only ice rink is TINY and outdoors. It was pretty busy, but I think Molly was in absolute heaven. She started out with the actual ice skates, but we ended up switching to ones that hooked right on to her own boots, and she seemed to do even better with those. We think that part of the reason Molly was loving it so much is because it was a challenge. She seemed very focused the whole time. She held our hands for most of it, but near the end she actually let go and was doing fine. We didn't think we would last for too long, but ended up staying for an hour and 1/2.Our camera died before we were able to catch any pics with me helping Molly (oh, darn!), but we had just enough time to catch the Zamboni. David's family are big hockey fans, so the Zamboni is a pretty big deal. Molly thought it was quite fascinating as well.
Funnily enough, now that we have conquered ice skating, Molly is asking to go roller skating. I think we'll be waiting a few months.

That's My Girl

2010-02-22T12:21:00.000-08:00

As most people who know Molly well are already aware, she hates to be icky or sticky or have anything on her hands. She used to love to use glue sticks, until she realized that they can make her hands sticky, so she won't go near them now. She goes through 3 or more napkins during a messy dinner because she refuses to re-use a napkin that looks dirty. She goes into hysterics that include major hand waving when she gets something on her hand that takes more than a little rubbing to get off. And most recently, she has refused to eat apples, one of her favorite foods, because she doesn't like the stickiness (and yes, we've tried to tell her that she can just wash her hands once she's done...does not work). She's choked numerous times on the apple skins, so we usually just peel the skin off for her, and we recently came up with this method so that she can now enjoy eating apples again:(Please excuse the crazy hair and pajamas, Molly was up sick the night before this picture, so that day was a pajama day!)

Molly Quote:
Molly: "Momma, what are those dots?" (as she points in mid-air)
Me: "That's called dust."
Molly: "Uh-oh, I better get my dust-pan!"

Wonderful Friends

2010-02-13T15:56:00.000-08:00

I have great friends that I LOVE living close to. Some of them dropped by tonight to sing me Happy Birthday, and light some candles on a cake my friend Ann made. (It's just her way of making sure that I'm at her house bright and early on Monday morning to work out...all these extra calories I need to burn!) Thanks so much for thinking of me!

After they had left, David exclaimed, "Cake number 2!" Molly replied, "It's for me!" She then proceeded to ask for a candle, which I handed her one (unlit, of course). A moment later, she handed it back, half chewed, and said, "I don't like this very much, I don't want it." Note to self, don't try to eat the birthday candles.

Happy Birthday to ME!

2010-02-13T11:05:00.000-08:00

For the last few months, since I've discovered bread making, all I've wanted for my birthday was a Kitchen Aid Mixer. I've been going back and forth between a couple of them, so finally I decided to make a trip into a local kitchen supply store, and see if they could give me any insight. Well, they ended up talking me into a Cuisinart. I feel like such a rebel! But I'm so excited, and I think it's beautiful! I was able to pay for the whole thing with all my birthday money, so thanks to everyone who contributed to my new baby!We've already put it to good use. Today we made one of my family's traditions for birthdays: German Chocolate Cake. I was even able to use the new bundt pan that my Mom sent to me. Can't wait to dig into that! (if you're curious about the recipe, go HERE.)This morning David made me a wonderful breakfast, and then this afternoon he built me a new shelf in our laundry "closet" so that I could store my mixer off the counter. Thanks to wonderful neighbors who offered to watch Molly, we'll be going out to eat in an hour or so (Olive Garden, here we come!) I have to say, this has been a great birthday!

Valentine's Party

2010-02-11T14:09:00.000-08:00

Today Molly and her school friends had a Valentine's party at our place. It was a lot of fun to get together, exchange some valentines, play some games, and eat some sugar! Molly's Grammy sent a package with some heart shaped cupcake tins and the mix, so I whipped those up last night to share with everyone today. They were so cute!We also made the valentines that we handed out. I think they turned out pretty adorable, if my non-crafty self says so. Molly had fun at least while we were making them.I took a couple of pictures of the party, but they turned out terrible. But I did catch a couple of Molly after the parting devouring her heart shaped cupcake!
PS: For some really amazing pictures (Jessica is much better at taking photos than I am) visit her blog HERE. (I hope you don't mind, Jessica)

Dress-up and Computer

2010-02-08T12:21:00.000-08:00

This seems to be a pretty typical day around our house...Molly in her Princess dress-up shoes (or even a Princess dress), hammering away with her tools. It never ceases to crack me up. Molly's dress-up collection is a pretty big hit when friends come over. Her friends Ben and Ehre came to play for a while today, and all 3 looked so cute in their outfits that I had to get a picture. (Thanks, Ann, for not freaking out about me posting a picture of your son wearing dress-ups!)

Ben and Molly:

Ehre and Molly

Recently Molly figured out how to work the mouse to the computer. It's amazing how out of nowhere some of these things catch on. It was just like one day she suddenly knows how to do it, without us even teaching her. It's been a lot of fun for her to be able to do her own games now. But I still think it looks a little odd to see this tiny little thing sitting by herself at the computer. I guess my baby is growing up...sigh.

More Molly Quote

2010-02-05T14:13:00.000-08:00

Molly: "I have to poop!"
David: "Then go poop."
Molly: "Not now. Tomorrow!"

This kid cracks us up.

Molly Quote

2010-02-02T14:12:00.000-08:00

Last night, David was putting Molly to bed. As she was getting dressed after her bath, she grabbed a pair of her Tinkerbell panties. She hiked them up as high as they could go, then exclaimed, "Look! I have a Tinker-belly!" We don't know for sure if she actually meant to be funny, but no matter. I think it's hilarious.

Monkey Joe's

2010-02-01T11:35:00.000-08:00

There's a popular new place in town these days called Monkey Joe's, and last week we finally got around to seeing what all the fuss is about. It was actually so much fun. Molly has been so cooped up lately with the cold weather, that she had a blast just running around, jumping and sliding and pretty much doing whatever she wanted in a place much bigger than our apartment. Inside Monkey Joe's are a bunch of those inflatable play/jump house things, and even David and I were able to "assist" Molly on some of the more difficult slides and mazes. About half way through our time there, we had Molly's friends Amy and Adelynne show up. It was so cute seeing them go down one of the big slides together. (Please excuse the quality of the pics)...

David and Molly on the slide

Molly on the slide, once she figured she was brave enough to do it herself.

Making the hike back up (we spent a LOT of time on this one slide)

Making the hike up with Amy and Adelynne

There they go!

A Little Bit of Nothing

2010-01-27T05:54:00.000-08:00

So it seems our lives have slowed down lately for the most part. With the holidays over, there's not a whole lot of note-worthy going on right now. Life still is busy, but not too exciting. I think we're just trying to survive the winter and keep our hopes up that spring is at least thinking of coming. A couple of weeks ago it looked like this:Then it warmed up and melted, and then the other day we got another couple of inches. Though I hate to admit it, I think it will like this for at least a few more months. Sigh...

This is for my Mom and Dad. For Christmas they gave Molly a couple awesome new pieces for her train set, and they've been great to build some new tracks. I couldn't really tell who was having more fun, Molly or David. I'm glad David loves to play on the floor with Molly with her toys. That's something I have a hard time doing myself. Anyway, this is what they came up with together:Molly had a blast with that for a while, then we had a couple of Molly's friends come play, and Benjamin (3) didn't leave the trains the whole 2 hours they were here. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Molly is still happy and healthy. She's been doing a little better lately at playing creatively on her own, and it has been wonderful. But her shyness has been returning, and that hasn't been quite so fun. David subbed in nursery a few weeks ago, and it seems like ever since then, Molly hates big groups, or being with other people. If either David and I are around, she is very clingy, and she has cried thinking of going to nursery or her joy school and being left. Once she's there she ends up doing fine, but it's been throwing us for a loop that last couple of weeks. I'm hoping this is only a phase.

A couple of weeks ago we had the Missionaries over for dinner. Near the end, Molly was getting a little restless and distracting, so we had her go play upstairs on her own for a while. When it was time for the Missionaries to leave, David went to get her, and found her in the bathroom, standing on the toilet seat, holding the Fe-breeze. She had sprayed and saturated our whole counter until it was dripping on to the floor. Needless to say, the Fe-breeze is now in the garbage, and the smell is finally gone. I'm grateful that for the most part, Molly doesn't get into too much mischief.

Making Music

2010-01-19T09:47:00.000-08:00

I love to read, and I love music. As a mother, I hope that my children include among their interests a love for books and music. Molly has already established that she loves to read...we keep 3 of our local libraries in business with all of the books we check out and read with her. She has also been demonstrating her love for music lately. One of the things we do together is sit at the piano, and she will flip through the Children's Songbook, and we will play and sing the songs together. Yesterday I heard Molly singing I Am A Child of God while plunking the keys, and she was nice enough to do it for me again once I pulled out the video camera.

Are You My Child?

2010-01-11T16:25:00.000-08:00

I tell the following story, not to incur the wrath of every mother I know, but out of pure shock. Tonight after dinner, around 6 o'clock, Molly mentioned to me that it was getting dark outside. I replied she was right, and that meant that it was getting close to her bedtime. We usually don't start getting ready for bed until around 7, but Molly thought about it for a minute after I mentioned that, then said, "Momma, I'm ready for bed now. Let's take a bath!" I thought she was just kidding and told her she didn't need to take a bath right then, she could keep playing if she wanted to, but she proceeded to break down into tears and insist that it was time for bed. I finally agreed, figuring that after her bath she would realize what she was volunteering for, and thinking she would be willing to wait. Once her bath was done, I again told her she didn't need to go to bed yet, so she could play in her play room for a while. After about 15 minutes, she came back to me and said "Momma, I'm ready to get in bed now." After I picked myself up off the floor, and made sure she understood that even though she was going to bed early, she wasn't allowed to get out of bed once she was in, we proceeded with prayers, scriptures, and reading books. She was in bed with lights out by 7 o'clock, completely by her choice, and I haven't heard a peep. Now, Molly has never been one to fight going to bed, at least not terribly, but neither has she asked for bed. Am I lucky enough to have a child that can recognize she's tired enough for bed? I'm appreciating it now, but I hope I won't be paying for it early in the morning!

Quick Christmas Update

2010-01-11T16:10:00.000-08:00

This year was the first year since David and I were married that we had Christmas at our own house. We were a little sad about it at first, but as it got closer, it was so much fun coming up with our own traditions and having just us. It was so great. We missed family a ton, but we still had lots of fun.

We started with one of my families traditions of making sugar cookies and decorating them on Christmas Eve. I will admit this was the first time I had ever made sugar cookies (gasp!). But they turned out really well, and the best part was just decorating them. Molly had a lot of fun with that.

Here she is getting ready:And here are the beginnings of our masterpieces.

We then had a great spread for Christmas Eve dinner. We were eating the leftovers up until we left for Iowa for New Years!Molly thought Christmas was magical, in the way only a two and 1/2 year old can. She got a fun kitchen from "Santa" and for a couple weeks after Christmas, couldn't stop telling everyone about it. Grandparents, friends, teachers, even cashiers at the grocery store, she would lean in and quietly say to them "Santa brought me a kitchen for Christmas. It's pink, and it's mine."

Molly opening stocking gifts...

And playing with her new kitchen.

We were able to go to Iowa for New Years, and it was fun to have a second Christmas with my family there. It was sad to come home, but we're adjusting back to life now, just with more stuff!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T07:30:00.000-08:00

We're not very good yet about sending out Christmas cards or letters, but we wanted to wish all of our friends and family that might read our blog a very Merry Christmas! Hope everyone enjoys a safe and happy holiday, and feels the love of our Savior as we turn our hearts to Him.

Once There Was a Snowman...or Two

2009-12-23T05:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we woke up to a little more snow, though it still wasn't much. But we were able to get outside and play with some friends, and David even successfully built his first snowman (that he can remember). Don't judge...he's from California!

The first thing Molly hit when we were outside was our neighbor's sledding tube. Molly thought it was great fun getting pulled around everywhere.
By the time we got outside, our neighbors were finishing up their own snowman, and Molly quickly joined in helping them. Her "helping" consisted of adding little snowballs around the middle, and on the top. We lovingly call it the Mickey Mouse Snowman. Molly had a lot of fun with her friend Lydia.Off to make some snow angels...Lydia helped teach Molly how to do it.
And of course, once David saw Mike and Heather's awesome snowman, he had to show us how he could make one, but first he quietly leaned in and asked me "Kim, how do you make a snowman?" I gave him the sound advice of "Gather some snow and start rolling!"

Once again, Lydia and Molly were a big help!

I can't take any credit for the snowman, except for maybe the nose, eyes and mouth, but we had to get a family picture (with a little friend in the background). Thanks to our neighbors who helped David with the other finishing touches.

More fun with the sledding tube.

We're so lucky to live next to so many members of our ward, and such great people to call friends. It makes moments like this so much fun, and worth remembering!

First Snow and Santa

2009-12-12T18:09:00.000-08:00

The other morning we woke up, and we had a dusting of snow on the ground. Molly has been waiting so patiently for snow, and she was absolutely thrilled. She had school that morning, so she was even able to wear her boots on the walk over. She was definitely excited. I can't wait until we actually get some real snow, more than 1/8 of an inch.

Yesterday Molly woke up with some crazy bed head. She has lately been sleeping on what she calls her "blankie pillow," which is just her blanket layed across her pillow, and I think since it's not silky, it makes her hair get a little knotted in the back. It was pretty funny, and since we were getting such a kick out of it, she was too.
For the last few weeks, we've been asking Molly if she wants to go see Santa at the mall, and she has absolutely refused. Her response has always been, "No! Santa's too big!" Well, we decided not to waste our money on a Santa picture that she didn't really even want anyway, so we waited until our ward Christmas party tonight. It worked pretty well. Once she saw her friends sitting on Santa's lap, even thought she wasn't thrilled with the idea, she did do very well. So at least we got our obligatory yearly Christmas Santa picture.

You Goofy

2009-12-06T16:40:00.001-08:00

Before David and I were married, but close to being engaged, he and his family went to Disneyland. While there, he bought me a Minnie Mouse bride headband, knowing he would soon be proposing, and thinking it was pretty cute. Molly has recently discovered it in her dress-up stuff, and has started wearing it all over the house.

Molly calls them her Mickey Mouse ears. We've tried correcting her and telling her they are Minnie Mouse's ears, but she doesn't believe us. The other day, she even went as far as telling us that SHE was Mickey Mouse, because she was wearing his ears. I then became Minnie Mouse, and David is now Goofy. Every now and then, out of the blue, she call us by our new names, trying to be funny. "Momma, you Minnie Mouse. Daddy, you Goofy!" I once made the mistake of calling her "Mickey", and she was quick to correct me saying: "I'm not Mickey...I'm Mickey MOUSE!"

This morning she was looking for a toy, and I told her it was upstairs in her playroom. I suggested she go and get it. She quickly refuted that and suggested I go get it instead. I told her "I think Mickey Mouse should go get it." She thought for a minute, then said, "Momma, YOU'RE Mickey Mouse!" One smart cookie, she is.

2 and 1/2 Years!

2009-11-21T09:38:00.000-08:00

Molly is 2 and 1/2, and we finally got her 2 year old pictures taken. It took a while, but I figured, as long as we get them done before she turns 3, we're doing OK. I tried to prep her as much as possible, and she was pretty excited about it, but the minute we got there, she turned on the shyness. It was a little frustrating, because her hair was so cute, and she kept burying her head into David's and my shoulders. But the man who took the pictures was very patient, and was able to get some of her in the few moments she decided to smile. And what a cute smile it is!

Random Mollyness

2009-11-12T16:44:00.000-08:00

Time for some more random Mollyness. It seems like now that Molly can talk well, and is becoming more of her own little person, we often have some pretty hilarious moments. I wish I could have a video camera on her all day to catch all the little moments that are impossible to remember later.

Molly love her colors. It seems she always has, but the past few months have been all about the difference between light and dark colors. I'm not sure where she picked up on the concept, but she loves to identify whether a color is light or dark...and she is much more partial to the light. She is a pastel girl all the way, except when it comes to purple. Then it can be either light or dark. When you ask her what her favorite colors are, she'll tell you purple and light blue and light green. Funny kid.

Molly already has some pretty solid goals for herself. It started with getting baptized at 8 and wearing a white dress, then going on a mission at 21 and wearing a name tag that says Molly. But now, if she asks to be able to do something, and we tell her she'll have to wait until she's a little older, she will assign an age for that task. For example, she wanted to climb a tree one day, but I told her she wasn't quite big enough, so she decided when she turned 5, she would be able to climb a tree. That has proceeded into at 4, she'll be able to go to the Salt Lake Temple, at 9 she gets to sit in Momma's seat (the passenger seat) in the car, and at 16 she'll be able to drive Momma to work. (We helped a little with that age.) We're trying to get her to say she can't get married until she's 30, but she just laughs.

Apparently we go to Wal-Mart too often. Lately, if Molly decides that she wants something, whether it be a toy or a snack that we don't have, she quickly pipes up that we should go to Wal-Mart and buy it.

A lot of people tell us that Molly looks like a Precious Moments doll, with her soft blonde hair and round face. It's funny that I collect Precious Moments. I have a bunch on a shelf in our living room. Molly has figured out the resemblance too, and frequently asks to look at the Molly dolls. What do you think?She is pretty sweet like a Precious Moments doll, too, at least when she wants to be. She's always coming up to David and me saying, "I love you!" It sounds more like "I luff you!" but it's still cute, and completely melts my heart.

Molly asks for two things ALL the time right now. The first is for it to be Christmas so that she can get markers, and the second is for it to get hot out so she can go swimming in her little pool. She even mentioned both in her prayer the other night...oh, the faith of a 2 year old! Two bad she'll have to wait quite a while for both.

We've mentioned before Molly's aversion to being dirty. I'm surprised she likes markers so much, because she tends to get them on her hands, and she can't stand it when she sees anything on her hands. The other day she got some black on her hand that would not come off. She almost had a mini panic attack, she was so upset about it. David came up with the perfect solution for her...just wear a glove on that hand! Molly was so thrilled that she couldn't see the black anymore, she refused to take the glove off, and even wore it to bed that night. Whatever works, I guess.

My Little Angel

2009-10-29T17:52:00.000-07:00

Wow...today has been a crazy day. This morning Molly and her little school friends had a Halloween party at our house. It was so much fun. Molly was ecstatic that she could finally wear her costume...she's an angel. She has been waiting almost a month for this, so she's been on cloud nine pretty much the whole day. I must say she is the cutest angel I've ever seen!

Everyone started out with some pumpkin painting. Call me crazy for letting Molly paint while wearing a solid white dress...but she did amazingly well. I debated putting on an old shirt, but she didn't like that too much while pumpkin carving, so I decided to take my chances. I think all of the kids thought it was pretty fun.

Here is the group, with a couple additions, and one subtraction. From left we have Amy, then Adelynne, Makiah is the little skunk in the front, then Benjamin, and of course Molly. Evan is hiding behind Molly, but he is also part of the class. What a cute little bunch!

After group pictures, we did a little cake walk, and in place of the cake, we had some chocolate pumpkin candies. I don't have any pictures of it, because I was manning the music and also video taping it, but it looked like the kids had so much fun. We just put papers down with numbers on them, then called out a number once the music stopped. I made sure that each kid got one, and when each child's number was called, they got so excited!

Then it was on to decorating sugar cookies. This is the first time Molly has even been interested in decorating a cookie...just last Halloween, during her aversion to sugar faze, Molly had the chance to decorate a cookie and she would have nothing to do with it. She thought it was pretty fun this time.
Tonight we joined Amy and Adelynne and trick-or-treated down at the dorms on Purdue campus. All day Molly talked about going, and she was so excited. Here are the girls right before the fun began:
I couldn't believe how well Molly did...she walked up about 16 flights of stairs, and up and down 16 dorm floors. I tried to help her, even offered to hold her, and she would have none of it. The only thing she would let me do was near the end, when her bag started getting heavy, she let me carry it for her.
Molly was so polite. It was the cutest thing to hear her say "trick-or-treat," then "thank you!" I hardly ever had to prompt her. She was just so happy and patient...we had a couple of rough kids that liked to shove and get in front, but Molly would just wait her turn, then get in there when she could. She is such a sweetheart.

Can you imagine a happier kid?

Pumpkin Carving

2009-10-29T17:31:00.000-07:00

Can you believe that since David and I have been married, we have never carved pumpkins for Halloween? I know, we are soooo out of touch. But we are finally back, and got out our carving tools for our pumpkins this year. I think Molly really gets us going sometimes.

First, we decorated them with some pretty cool stickers that Grammy Isaacson sent us. Molly had a blast making silly faces on them.

Molly called the one on the left Daddy, the one in the middle Molly, and I'm the one on the right. Thanks Molls! Then she had to get in with them...
A couple of days later we started carving. Molly poked one little finger into the guts of the pumpkin, got grossed out, then wouldn't really touch any more of it. Chalk it up to her aversion to ickiness. And here are our works of art. Pretty impressive for not having carved any for over 5 years, wouldn't you say?

Chicago and "Why?"

2009-10-19T16:59:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we went to the Chicago temple with our good friends Tracy and Dustin. Tracy's mom is in town, and she was nice enough to watch our girls so we could have an adult outing. It was great! It was nice to have a day with much adult conversation, and it included the temple! It was a really pretty day, though taking pictures in front of the temple proved a bit of a challenge...the sun was very bright.

Yours truly...and David, of course.

Tracy and Dustin (I hope you don't mind I put you on here!)

Just us girls!

After the temple we went out to eat at Giordano's for some Chicago style pizza. I thought it was pretty good, I'm pretty sure Tracy and Dustin enjoyed it, but David was in pure heaven. He has found his new favorite pizza...too bad it's a good couple of hours away. Or maybe that's a good thing.

Chicago also happens to be the closest place to us, at least that we have visited, that has Dunkin Donuts. All donuts are good, but DD is just a little bit better. So we stopped by on the way home and grabbed a few for the next day. Which leads me into my next story...

Molly has learned the word "why". She gets great joy out of asking it all day long. And it seems to me that half the fun for her is just to see how long she can keep us going before we finally give up and say "because I said so!" Today we went on a walk, and on the way home, this was our conversation:
Molly: "Momma, I want a donut."
Me: "Molly, I'm sorry, but we don't have any donuts."
Molly: "Why?"
Me: "Because, when we had them yesterday, that was just a special treat. We don't eat them every day."
Molly: "Why?"
Me: "Because, even though they taste really good, they really aren't that good for you."
Molly: "Why?"
Me: "Because they have lots of sugar in them."
Molly: "Why?"
Me: "To make them taste yummy."
Molly: "Why?"
Me: (having no idea really what to say to that...) "Because I said so."

Molly Naked Baby

2009-10-16T12:19:00.000-07:00

Another naked baby story: Molly has suddenly gained an interest in Ariel, and watching The Little Mermaid. I've been pretty excited, because I've been working on our Disney movie collection the last few years, but Molly has never wanted to watch any. So when she finally asked to watch "the Ariel movie", I was pretty happy. Until now. David told me today on the way home from work that while Molly was watching that today, she proceeded to take off her shirt and say "Molly be naked baby like Ariel naked baby". Then, once we walked in the door, Molly again proceeded to take off her shirt and say "Molly be naked baby like Ariel". We're horrified. I knew that one day we might have to explain modesty and how to be modest, but I didn't think that conversation would come before Molly was even 2 and 1/2! And I'm a little sad about Ariel being a naked baby.

Oh, What a Beautiful Pumpkin!

2009-10-13T19:30:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, we took advantage of the sunshine and headed to a cute little pumpkin farm. We went last year and thought it was a lot of fun, so we really wanted to go again this year. Molly was old enough this time that she had a blast. The very first thing we did when we got there was head to the barn to see the animals. Molly thought it was pretty interesting, but didn't want to get too close to anything.

After the animals in the barn, we had to go ride the pony. Molly was so excited to get on, but it didn't last very long. It seemed like a pretty bumpy ride, and Molly didn't like it too much.
Next, we took a hay ride to the pumpkin fields to pick our own pumpkins. The field was huge, and they let us go anywhere we wanted to find the perfect pumpkins. We each got to pick one. Molly had fun tramping through the pumpkin plants, but started getting pretty worried about how dirty she was getting. It took a couple of times telling her it was ok to be dirty before she was ok about it. I didn't get any pictures of the pumpkins we ended up choosing, but I'm sure we'll get some as we start decorating and carving them.

After the fun of picking pumpkins, Molly wanted to get into the bounce house, or as she likes to call it, the trampoline. She had it all to herself for a little while, but then other kids started coming and it got a little wild. We had to coax her off with the promise of other fun things to do...
...which included this fun "sand" box full of corn kernels. Isn't that cute? Molly got right in there with the trucks. She had fun with that for quite a while.

I love this picture, where you can see the corn fields and windmills in the background. This is the Midwest, and I think it's so pretty!

Before we left, we hit the hay maze. At first Molly thought it was pretty cool, being able to decide where she wanted to go. But after so many dead ends, I think she got a little frustrated. Daddy was nice enough to help her find her way, though. It was pretty cute seeing her little head bob up and down through the rows. Molly affectionately called it the big nest.

Gotta run. See YA!

It was such a fun, beautiful fall day. I love this time of year, as the weather starts to get cooler, and the holidays are fast approaching. Nothing better than spending a day with your family at the pumpkin farm!