Summer Fun!

We did a lot of fun things this summer! We enjoyed going to Thanksgiving Point a few times, we grew a little garden, did a lot of yard work, swimming (Isabel even took swimming lessons, which she simply loooved), we had picnics, birthday celebrations, went to the family reunion, went hiking, camping, etc., etc. Here's a short picture retrospective.

Sisterly Love

Isabel usually comes to our bed in the morning when she wakes up. A couple of days ago when she came to our bed she found Sophia already in our bed sleeping next to dad. Isabel naturally woke her sister up as she tried to climb onto the bed, but then she looked at Sophia and said, 'Hi, Sweetheart!'
Isn't that the cutest things ever!!! She'd never used the word before, it was totally expontaneous!
Here are some pictures of the two cutest sisters in the world!

the girls with the pearl and butterfly earrings

I've been wanting to pierce Isabel's ears for a while now. Those of who who are American and might think that a very strange statement, remember I'm Brazilian, and in Brazil, we pierce babies' ears at the hospital a day or two after they are born. Having that said, Mike is not Brazilian (even though he loves Brazil very much), and like many of this great nation used to think the idea of piercing a baby's ear ridiculous. Even before I was first pregnant with Isabel, we used to have these long silly arguments over piercing or not piercing our unborn babies' ears. I thought he would never give in. He said he believed the girl had the right to choose. I told him she would, if she didn't want earrings, she could always take them off. It didn't convince him.
Another issue that always brought some cultural disagreement to our household was gun ownership. I told Mike I did not want a gun in the house. I don't believe it's safe to have one with little ones in the house (or even teenagers for that matter). We used to also have long silly arguments over that.
One day Mike said he would be ok with me piercing the girls' ears if he could have a gun. After much talking over the matter, I agreed. Well, I still didn't like the idea of having a gun in the house, so I also just kinda chickened out on the idea of piercing our girls' ears. We dropped the topic and haven't talked much about it since Sophia was born.
Last Saturday I decided just out of the blue to go get both Isabel's and Sophia's ears pierced. I called my sister to go with me to help out because Mike had to work (thanks for coming along, Mari, you were great!). It was easier than I thought. After very little crying, this is the result (sorry the pictures aren't great, but they never hold still!).





Might I also add that Isabel has been asking for earrings ever since she got her dress up chest from vovo for Christmas. It came with 2 pairs of clip on earrings, but they didn't stay on well enough for her taste, so she'd been saying she wanted earrings like mom's.
Oh, I almost forgot... Mike thinks they look adorable with earrings! : )

More pictures

These are a little older, but I just realized I hadn't posted any of them yet. My sister in law Dawnae took these when they went sledging the day after Christmas. It was Isabel's first time. She had a blast! Enjoy!

Pictures!

Last week a lot of Mike's family were here in Utah for Grandpa Jack's funeral. It was good to be with family and to hear stories about grandpa.
Dawnae and Deanna stayed at our house. I really liked having them over, since we don't usually get to spend a lot of time together. Isabel is still talking about her aunts. Dawnae took some beautiful pictures of the family, so here are some of my favorites. (I'm not sure why they are looking so dark here, the colors look much brighter in my pictures viewer. I wish we had more pictures of Isabel, but she was more interested in playing with her cousin Spencer than taking pictures)

Catching Up

We had a great Holiday Season! I really enjoyed being able to spend some time with both sides of the family. We had Thanksgiving here at our house, then Christmas eve at my parents', Christmas Day at Emily's, then a couple more "get togethers" again here at our house, the then New Year's Eve at my parents again (without Mike this time, though, the poor guy had to work all night - I missed having his kiss at midnight), and finally Lindsey's wedding on New Year's day. As you can see, it was pretty busy, but we did have a great time! A special thanks goes to the Wilson ladies who helped with the planning and executing of such a fun holiday!

Well, we are now recovering from the holidays and putting our lives back into a routine (as much as we enjoyed all the fun, it takes a while to go back to normal). The girls are now sick again unfortunately, but hopefully it's just a cold, and they'll be as good as new in a week or so.

Isabel and Sophia are becoming great friends. It's so cute to see them interact. Isabel really likes including Sophia in her make believe games. Isabel was playing with her princess things this morning, and she asked me over and over again to put a princess costume on Sophia too. This is what my princesses look like in pajamas and costumes!







I hope you all had a great Holiday Season too. Have a very happy New Year!

I'm sick of sick

It seems like everyone I talk to now either is sick or has a sick child, so needless to say it's been that way in our house too for the past 2 weeks. We've all been sick at some level, but we are mostly better now, except for Isabel. The poor thing has really gotten the worst of it. She's had a fever and a very sore throat since Sunday. It is so sad to see my baby so uncomfortable. She spent about two hours yesterday either whining or crying. She asks for water, then says she doesn't want it, then something else, and she refuses it too. The only thing she seems to really want is to watch Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure, which we did 4 times yesterday.
I got very little sleep most nights this week. Last night Mike, being the wonderful husband he is, let me sleep and went to sleep with her downstairs so he could take care of her every time she woke up. I slept well, no, really well. I guess I really needed it.
She seems to be doing better today. Her fever wasn't as high, and she even played a little instead of just watching tv. Hopefully she will be better soon.
Here is a little video to remind me how cute she is (especially with her sister) when she is not sick and whining all the time. I know this sounds heartless, but it is hard to think she is adorable when to poor thing is so miserable. I love my little girls, and it breaks my heart to see them sick. Well, here's for better times!