Worth the wait.

I thought I'd leave you this little nugget of a photo post while I am on vacation for eleven days. Eleven is two more than nine and seven more than four and ten more than one. Just in case. I'm most looking forward to all the family time- no agenda, nothing to do- we are not even taking a computer. Gasp! Think of my blog reader when I return, it will be out of control.

(If you are casing my house to rob...we have a large unemployed man house sitting for us. He has a pitt bull. This isn't my first rodeo.)

Our family pictures were postponed due to horrible weather and we finally had them taken last week. Katie was super quick to edit and mail them to me- she is totally fantastic. Isabelle was 75% cooperative? She suddenly is not amused by anything we do.. it's really hard to get a big toothy smile on cue. Mostly she just wanted us to leave her alone so she could play in the water uninterrupted. Here are four hundred pictures, which I have carefully narrowed down from five million. I'm so glad we had pictures of Isabelle again, I want to remember every single stage- I love her fluffy hair and her soft cheeks and her greenbrown eyes and her little fingers.

Mrs. Jared Later

I'm sitting in the middle of a dirty house, piles of laundry, a snotty baby, and a long to do list.

But man, did we have a great weekend.

Friday morning we packed up and drove to Sacramento for Sabrina's wedding. We spent the day visiting the temple, eating at Panera twice, and catching up with all the extended family. Weddings are so fun! But they are so short, and it was hard to see everyone and not get to really hang out for longer than a few minutes.

I definitely didn't get as many pictures as I thought I would-in fact there isn't a single one of just me and Jazz and Iz. Stuff is harder with Isabelle, I suddenly don't have as many free hands available to lug a camera around. It was nice to just enjoy the reception and just let the photographer do his thang, you know?

Saturday was such a beautiful day. The ceremony was so special, the reception was gorgeous, Sabrina was the happiest I have ever seen her in her entire life. And she really looked a m a z i n g.

Also PS- If you want to know more about what happens in our temples, or why we are married inside of them, visit this site or else email me.

Isabelle, Madilyn, baby Kira, and Sabrina's new niece Hannah all wore matching coral and cream dresses. Isabelle refused to wear the fancy shoes (except for official photos). And guess how long she kept her hairband on?

Sean and Rachel outside the temple after the sealing ceremony. Rachel's parents made a special effort to come so they could watch Jakob for them. Isn't that so nice?

Morgan and JR. Have I mentioned how much we love JR? T minus three weeks until their wedding. Yay.

My handsome spouse in his fancy tux with our super cute baby. She wanted SO BADLY with EVERY OUNCE of her body to get inside that fountain. She tried over and over again.

The happy couple exiting the temple! Isn't she so beautiful!?

This is the cake that Morgan made. You know she's a pasty chef. And now you know how amazing she is. Seven layers, baked in Redding, transported and stacked in Sacramento. It was so delicious, chocolate with cream cheese, vanilla with cream cheese, chocolate with raspberry, vanilla with strawberry cream cheese. I wanted a bite from every single layer. Well done, Mo.

I zoomed and cropped this shot because I had to show you how gorgeous her hair was. I seriously loved her dress, her shoes and her makeup were very complimentary, but I thought her hair and hairpieces totally MADE her look. So glamorous, so blingy, but so classy and SO Sabrina.

The Adelman's, some from near and some from far. We love their whole family. Not to mention Whitney (Sabrina's best friend since forever) literally saved the day on more than once occasion. Need a tide pen? Sure, Whitney has it. A safety pin? Yep, she has that too. Hair spray? Bobby pins? Check and check. 

Me and Scrabs.

These girls are true blue friends. They came from San Francisco to take part in the special day- and they watched Isabelle for us while we were in the temple. They brought stickers and coloring books, snacks and cookies to entertain the girls for an hour. If I could custom order two great friends, they couldn't get better than Leigh and Mex.

Starting to get tired. Olivia made an appearance.

The Chipmans! Drove all day Friday to spend Saturday with us, and drove all day Sunday to return to Utah.

 This is from Friday night- all of the ladies went to Gelato for a mini Bachelorette. I was high on Benadryl (allergy season is kicking me.) and consequently, look like a floating head.

 My fav girls.

Isabelle fell asleep as soon as we left the parking lot at the country club, she was so tired. She was mostly a great baby, she thought during dinner when everyone was sitting down was her cue to get up and run around wildly. But, she stayed awake until about ten, which for her may as well be the middle of the night. We got back to the hotel about 10:30- and you know how it is, we were so so tired. I took the one zillion pins out of my hair and it looked like this. It took twenty minutes to comb out after I washed it.

Some of my favorite parts of the day:

     -Watching Sabrina's shining face in the temple, so happy, so deserving, so excited to be married to Jared.

     -Isabelle trying her darndest to get inside the fountain.

     -Sampling the cake. I wish I got more! Next time, I am bringing a giant tupperware. Seriously.

     -Seeing Jazz in his handsome tux.

     -Being with my whole family

     -Seeing all the little details come together for Sabrina's perfect day.

Alright family and friends, let's do it again soon! Say, June 11th?

Mother's Day

The other day I was putting Nemo on for Isabelle because she loves it with all her heart and I'm really not against a little quality disney movie every once in awhile. Usually I start it just at the opening credits just after Coral (the mom fish) is viciously eaten by some sort of oceanic eel. It's slightly too traumatic for Isabelle and she doesn't understand what happens to the other striped fish for the rest of the movie.

Anyway.

I got to thinking how sad it was that Nemo doesn't have a mom in this particular film. But really, let's reflect on Disney's track record concerning a mother figure:

Beauty and the Beast- Belle's mom is MIA
Little Mermaid- not really sure what happened to Ariels's mom
Princess and the Frog- We never really see Tiana's mother either.
Bambi- mother shot dead on camera
Pinocchio- Geppetto is unmarried. No wooden puppet mom.
Tangled- Rapunzel is brought up by an evil woman claiming to be her mother.
Cinderella- Step mother is evil, locks up Cinderella.
Aladdin- Jasmine's mom is also dead.
Ratatoille: No mother rat anywhere to be found.

Can you see what I mean? I'm not sure what Disney has against mother figures in their ANIMATED CHILDREN'S MOVIES.

Despite Nemo's dead mom, we had a great Mother's Day. Jazz always takes time to "help" Isabelle make a card for me with her fingerprints or hand print or messy scribbles. It is my favorite. I feel like a real mom when I have artwork hanging on my fridge.

I made myself a triple lemon cake with lemon glaze, lemon cream cheese filling and lemon butter cream frosting. One of the most amazing things I have eaten in a long time. The recipe calls for lemonade concentrate in the batter, in the glaze, and in the filling. After the cake cools, you poke holes in the top and pour the glaze over the cake and let it sit over night. TOTALLY WORTH THE TIME.

After church, we had the missionaries over for lasagna and cake. I love feeding the missionaries, I always think of the nice people that fed my brothers on their missions, and I feel like I can give back a little bit.

As always, Isabelle is just the best part of my day, and I really can't imagine my life without her.

"busy being fabulous"

(name that band!)

We are busy.

I know everyone is busy, but this month is cray-zay 'round these parts.

Today was my niece's third birthday.  I took 350 pictures. Proooobably overkill.

My sister and her betrothed are coming Tuesday. Friday we leave for Sacramento for THEIR WEDDING.

We return late Sunday night. She will be married. And in Cancun.

The following Friday, we pack up and head for our wonderful Hawaiian vacation. FOR TEN DAYS. TEN GLORIOUS SUN FILLED DAYS.

When we return, it is June 1st. And Other Sister gets married the eleventh, in Utah.

See what I mean?

I'm not complaining, because I love being busy, and I especially love being busy doing awesome things such as celebrating nuptials and laying on a beach with my family.

Speaking of staying busy, there is a toddler I know that keeps me right on my toes. (See what I did there? Transition!) With all this warm weather, we have swapped out her closet for more accommodating outfits.  Her tiny thighs look so adorable in shorts, I could just eat them. She has grown out of her shoes- and so I searched for some sandals for her to wear throughout the summer. Saltwater sandals came highly recommended so I bought this pair:

I love them because they are simple- just the one strap... they go with everything. You get the point... I was all excited to get Isabelle dressed the other day and have her wear her new sandals. And I put them on her feet. AND SHE SOBBED. Not like, "hey, what are these new shoes," more like "mom strapped nuclear bombs to my feet." She would not take a step. I tried to stretch them and loosen then, bend them so they were more comfortable, I bribed her with a fruit circle to get her to come out of her room and NOTHING. I went back in and she was standing in the exact place that I plopped her down, crying her eyes out. Felt like a great mom.

I tried them on three more separate occasions and still she totally freaked out when they were on her. She hated them. So, I cried a little and took them back. I went to the only baby store in town and while I was looking at some possible See Kai Run shoes for church, I related my Saltwater failure to the sales associate. She handed me a different (code for hideous) style to try, and though I knew Isabelle would hate them, I put them on to humor her.

As soon as I fastened the buckle, Isabelle was off. She was running around the store like the soles were made of marshmallows.  She loved them! And then I knew I would have to pay for the less attractive shoes and let her wear them the entire summer.

I know they don't LOOK that different. But the heart cutouts...they just aren't my thing... and the soles are what you can't see- they look like elderly orthopedic shoes. BUT SHE LOVES THEM. I guess it could be worse, there's no Dora or Elmo or anything insane like that.

It becomes more and more obvious to me that these little souls from heaven come down with their own fiery little spirits and opinions ready to give. Isabelle often chooses between two tops, or two lunch options. She may be little but she sure knows what she wants!

Coming soon: madilyn's birthday festivities, mother's day hooplah, and the story of my new green table.

how to date.

Going out on a date just isn't quite as easy as it used to be.


2:30 Baby wakes up from nap. Commence play time.
3:30 Pass baby off to husband. Take a nice long shower. Rejoice.
3:50 Baby reappears. Wants to "help" blowdry your hair.
3:55 Baby puts moisturizer in her hair.
4:00 Baby sits on counter while you do your make up.
4:05 Baby throws MAC brushes under running water
4:10 Baby sits in wet sink.
4:15 Give up and put baby in the bath tub
4:20 Finish hair while singing nursery rhymes

4:30 Try to feed baby dinner. Baby throws food on floor. Not excited to be in her high chair.
4:45 Should have fed baby before bath. Open new pack of wet wipes.
5:00 Pack bag for Isabelle. Include jammies, extra jammies, a hundred diapers, toothbrush, sleep sack
5:05 Peer into closet. Realize all pants are dirty. Find some in the dryer. Rejoice again.
5:10 Baby has removed pants. Change baby into suitable play clothes.
5:12 Sweating.
5:15 Where is Olivia.
5:17 WHERE IS THAT DOLL.
5:19. Of course, there she is.
5:20 Run by moms, pick up our pack n play
5:25 Apply lipstick in the car. Not the best idea.
5:30 Arrive at Scott and JaNae's. Baby is giddy with excitement. Wants out of car.
5:30 Baby runs into Madilyn's arms, not stopping to look back.
5:32 Drive away.

5:40 Arrive at dinner 20 minutes early.
6:00 Eat the most delicious shrimp fettuccine in the entire world. (nellos.) company is pretty great too.
6:30 Light some bananas on fire, flambe style.
6:45 Have an hour before movie starts.
6:50 Get groceries quick like, unpack and put them away at home
7:45 See movie! Remember jellybeans in purse pocket. Rejoice.
9:50 Retrieve sleeping baby. Hear about her night. Missed that baby.

Isabelle will not let me leave her anywhere but Grandma's and Madilyn's- those really are our two options. You can see they had a great time without me though. JaNae blew up some balloons for them to play with and Isabelle immediately put the bottom into her mouth and pulled it until it snapped. Apparently it was hysterical.

I was thinking the other day- what if I didn't have my family close by? Who would I call? Like a regular baby sitter? A young woman from my ward? A THIRTEEN YEAR OLD? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? How did anyone ever let me baby sit their kids? I mean, I was a GREAT baby sitter, I brought a bag full of fun toys and books, I did the dishes and picked up toys, I read stories and played games and never even used the phone once. I definitely did not get paid enough. Would I leave my teenage self with my own daughter? maybe? probably? I'd like to think so. But really, I was just a kid.