Izzy's 4th Birthday

This year Izzy's birthday landed on a Sunday,

which meant celebrating both Saturday and Sunday

(darn :)

Izzy chose to go to Chuy's, her favorite restaurant (along with Costco) for her birthday dinner on Saturday. We, of course, were perfectly fine with this choice.

We also hiked along the greenbelt, which I don't think Izzy would have chosen, if I would given her the choice. Lance and I just wanted to get out of the house.

Sunday morning dawned early (we have 9am church).

All week she had been telling me she was so excited for her birthday because she was going to get Trix.

So Sunday morning she got her beloved Trix before church.

We waited until after church to open presents.

(A princess computer, Ariel bathtub boat, coloring book from Beth, Strawberry Shortcake movie, teddy bear, book, and puzzles.)

I finally got to use my sign I made a few months ago.

The back says "Congratulations"

Izzy chose little chocolate bears for her cake this year. We each got to decorate and eat our own. Thanks to Grandma Jensen, who always has a plethora of fun ideas and pans for us to borrow!

She blew out her candles in front of the computer so Grandma Jensen and co. could sing to her and watch her. We re-did the whole candle scene with Grammie and Poppy 30 minutes later.

Someday my family will actually be with us on our birthdays!!!

Happy Birthday Little Izkins!

We love you!

December and January recap

December and half of January came and went in a crazy whirlwind.

After shopping, school parties and pageants, dentist and doctor appointments, rental cars (we finally got around to taking the Sequoia in after it got rear ended in Oct.), Christmas lessons and talks in church, cooking and delivering Christmas goodies, and getting the house ready we were ready for the Christmas holiday to begin. My parents flew in on the 22nd and spent 10 days with us. It was awesome having them here for Christmas and for the break. We enjoyed many walks around Belterra (as did Molly), going to the Wimberley Trail of Lights, visiting the San Antonio Zoo, Eating great Mexican food on the Riverwalk, hanging out in Zilker Park in the 70 degree weather, and enjoying good food (including some good Texas BBQ).

After my parents flew home on the 31st of December it was scramble time to get Christmas put away, clean the house, and pack for our trip to Utah for the third wedding in Lance's family in the past 6 months. This time we ALL made the trip. It was a fast trip, one I didn't even really take pictures on, and we were home 6 days later.

(We have one more wedding coming up... Adria in May)

Now I'm catching up on life and getting everything back in order and everyone back on a routine.

I'm happy to say that "Blog" is the last thing on my list for today.

So here are some random pictures of the past month and a half, in no particular order.

Liv... 7 months.

We were lucky enough to get one good day of snow while in Utah. The girls were ecstatic!!

Izzy as an angle in her preschool Christmas pageant.

Dad on Christmas morning... enjoying the toys he bought for himself :)

Mom and Liv

Izzy and Beth Christmas morning.

Santa made their wish come true with a Barbie house.

Grammie made their wish come true with banks to keep their money in.

Christmas Eve Dinner.

My tradition on Christmas Even is soup, salad, and bread. It's warm and cozy.

I save the big dinner for Christmas.

This year we made Prime Rib, Funeral Potatoes, Asparagus, Rolls, and Trifle for dessert.

Liv while the rest of us were bowling Christmas Eve.

Gosh, Lance...you'd think we could find 1 pictures with you smiling :)

Molly

A teddy bear this big can make ANYONE happy on Christmas morning!!

More....more... more... Barbies...

San Antonio Zoo

Zilker Park on a 74 degree day in December!!

My dad won a photo contest with this one of Izzy.

Cool lighting.

Smoochable cheeks

I can't seem to get enough of this little girl.

She is so lovable.

I think it's safe to say that I LOVE the baby stage.

Hope everyone's holidays were lovely.

I, for one, had a lovely season but am ready to get normal life back in order and march onto the next stage...

2012.

Is it time for another post already???

My excuse for not posting recently is because it's been so busy lately.

And because I forget to take pictures.

And because I'm lazy.

November came and went..

and with it came many days helping out in Beth's kinder class, going to Thanksgiving lunches with both Izzy and Beth at their schools, transitioning from being the Primary secretary to the YW, dentist appointments, dr. appointments ( ya know, trying to squeeze them in before the end of the year... needless to say we reached my deductible this year), and Thanksgiving ( and our favorite weekend.... Thanksgiving weekend).

Some highlights include:

*Helping with Beth's Pow Wow at school (they got to make shirts, listen to stories, make necklaces, go "hunting" for buffalo, etc.)

* Tiger Fun festival at Beth's school

*Watching Beth in her Thanksgiving program (she was the corn :)

* Eating Thanksgiving lunch with Izzy at her preschool

* Having our computer crash the day before Thanksgiving ( at least it was good timing for Black Friday)

* FINALLY getting a new cell phone. Now I just have to learn how to use it.. along with the new computer.

*Having our good friends, the Shreeve's over for Thanksgiving dinner

(Complete with all the traditional menu items, pumpkin, and butterscotch pie, Cars 2, and football of course)

* Our favorite weekend... which included:

- The bounce house

(the kids picked that over Sea World... Lance and I were totally ok with that :)

- Lunch at Costco ( why do we love this so much... I don't know)

-Seeing the new Muppet movie in the theater (cute)

-Thanksgiving LO's for dinner (Yum)

-I'm sure our favorite restaurant, Chuy's, was in there somewhere

-Setting up the Christmas stuff

(no Christmas tree yet... we're getting a real one this year. It's our year for my parents to come to Austin for Christmas...yea for no traveling...)

And welcome December!!!

I was having a hard time getting excited for all the Christmas bustle and shopping.

It's hard to feel the Christmas spirit when it's 80 degrees outside and all the stores have had their stuff out for a month and a half already.

Thankfully this past weekend we had the temperature drop drastically.

We also welcomed in the season with our annual stake Christmas concert, our ward Christmas breakfast, and the First Presidency Devotional.

It did the trick.

Now I'm ready to tackle my list.

Bring on the

Christmas cards
Grandparent gifts

Shopping

(I can't believe I've waiting this long to get started)

And Christmas menu planning

I love having my parents come for Christmas.

I love not having to haul my whole family to Utah, along with gifts and winter clothes.

I love being able to plan our winter break.

I love not having to work around everyone else's schedules.

I love hosting Christmas Eve and Christmas Day meals

(I'm sure that comment will come back to haunt me)

I love being able to buy big presents and not have to worry about them fitting in a suitcase.

So have a very merry Christmas Season and enjoy the month...

Finally...Rice Cereal!!

Liv was MORE than happy to try rice cereal today.

She's been patiently watching and waiting.

She's over 5 months but I've been holding off until after our trip to Utah last weekend and also because I'm trying to keep her small and little

(not size wise, as you can see it's too late for that... but age wise.)

I want her to stay"babish" for a while.

No growing up right now.

I'm enjoying the baby stage too much.

"Mom, is that all you've got? Isn't there any prime rib to go with it??"

Halloween

Halloween this year was kinda "off"

Let me back up.

Thursday night Lance, Livy, and I flew out to Utah for Luke's wedding (Lance's younger brother).

Beth and Izzy stayed in Austin with some friends.

Saturday morning I find out Izzy has thrown up at our friends house...

the mom taking care of her is about 11 weeks pregnant, and sick.

I'd made these arrangements before any of us knew.

Luckily throughout the day she felt better.

Sunday afternoon we got home.

After 3 straight nights of 6 hours of sleep (Liv slept slightly more... but not much) we were exhuasted.

After 3 nights of "sleepovers" Beth and Izzy were also exhausted.

Sunday night we carve pumpkins.

Not because any of us really wanted to.

Just because it is what we do.

And Halloween was the next day.

Halloween morning.

I wake up with flu like symptoms...

As did 7 others of Lance's family that attended the wedding that weekend.

After throwing up for the first time in over 8 years (it was as fun as I remember it being :) I mustered up the energy to get the kids dressed up in costume and walk around the block with them trick or treating

(I probably should have stayed home but I LOVE LOVE LOVE trick or treating and didn't want to miss it )

Halloween night.

Izzy can't go to sleep because of some bladder issues (Still currently trying to figure those out, as they woke her up last night as well)

I go to bed with chills and fever.

Next day I feel better....

Then I get a migraine just for kicks.

Today doing better....

still feeling lasting effects from migraine

Think flu/food poisoning is gone.

Also re-reading this post and realizing it's boring and whiny.

Sorry about that.

Don't really care enough to change it though.

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween.

My kids are obsessed with cats. Every year they want a cat carving.

And

"No Dad. You can NOT bring Snugs with you to Texas this Christmas.

The girls will see her when they come to Utah next..."

Beth was the "Queen of Hearts" and wore a costume that my mom made me when I was her age.

Izzy was a fairy... again.

For some reason my kids are totally fine with simple costumes.

They even prefer ones they have already wore in past years.

Izzy has already asked me to be a kitty next year... even though she was a kitty last year... and I'm pretty sure the year before that as well.

Molly went as a big fat black pig.

Lance went as a tired, over worked lawyer.

Liv went as "Chubs" and was eyeing all the candy.

I just went.

Fall Fun Weekend

This weekend was our "Fall Fun" Weekend...

Friday night we headed to the Austin Zoo for "Boo at the Zoo"

Basically it's a fancy way of saying you go to the zoo with flashlights and see the animals at night.

We also go to ride the zoo train through some "spooky" lights and such.

Cute.

Nice weather.

Something to do on Friday night.

Kids loved it.

*

(Disclaimer: NONE of these pictures are very flattering. It's just all I got to document, unfortunately)

Every year we head to the Marble Falls Pumpkin Patch.

It's my way of participating in fall, whether it's here in Texas or not.

I usually get some really good pictures but it was SO crowded this time.

We usually don't go on a Saturday but this year, due to "Billables" we had to.

I was just happy to be there and enjoy the hundreds of pumpkins, homemade pumpkin and strawberry ice cream, funny and entertaining goats, and a day away with my family.

I always get a family picture here to compare with my last one from last year...

This one IS NOT one of my favorites but after a long day in the sun we were just DONE.

My little baby chubs.

(K- This one is flattering :)

Pickin' all the Zenia's you could fit in a cup.

Hope you all are having a lovely fall.

Personal Preference

Some people prefer to nap on the bed...

Some people prefer to nap on the craft table.