Hylite Excusion

Today we went on a drive to explore our new surroundings. Daddy took us to beautiful Hylite recreation area, where there is cross country skiing, ice climbing and hiking. In the summer we plan on going camping and swimming in the lake! It is a beautiful place practically in our back yard!

Letter to Isabel

Isabel,

One year ago today we met you! While I feel that I already knew you, seeing your face for the first time was just beyond any type of joy and contentment I've ever felt. I've told you so many times that you truly are a dream come true! Ever since I can remember I've wanted to be a mama. It was you that made it happen!

This last year has brought so many changes to our lives. We've lost family members, added people to our family and moved to a new state. Through it all you have been a constant source of joy and love in our lives. Just this morning when daddy was telling you goodbye before he headed to work, you looked up at him and opened your mouth to give him a slobber kiss! Then you reached out to me so that I could lean in for my own kiss!

You are so amazing just because you are YOU! I see truly awesome things in you my sweet girl. You are independent and like to be able to do things by yourself, yet you also have a very tender heart. You (generally) obey very well and I only have to tell you "no" once and you stop being a little stinker. You have a great sense of humor and love to do things to make mommy and daddy laugh. Once you find something that makes us crack up, you do it over and over! You are curious and intelligent, and are very interested in how things work. I hope you take after mama and are good with mechanical things! You are very easy going and its so nice to be able to take you pretty much anywhere. While I try to keep your bedtimes consistent, we can still hang out with friends a little later than normal because as long as you are occupied you're pretty happy! Here at home you are busy, busy, busy! You never stop moving! You love to climb into bathroom cupboards and take out all the toilet paper rolls, play with plastic containers in the kitchen or empty your dresser drawers. When you are around a lot of other people, you become a little observer. You sit and just watch and listen. You love your doggy "Bob" and look for him every morning when you wake up. You are learning how to be gentle with giving him love and affection. He loves you too and is very patient with you tugging on his ears or grabbing his little legs. You are also very loving. While you don't cuddle with mommy very much, you do love to cuddle with daddy, Poppa and Auntie Sam from time to time. You generously give out your adorable slobber kisses and are starting to give loving hugs as well.

Your strength, obedience, humor, curiosity, intelligence, gentleness, observations, easy going personality & loving spirit, are qualities that will help you go far in adulthood. Your daddy and I pray that we have the strength and wisdom to keep leading you on a path of integrity.

I love you forever
I like you for always
As long as I'm living
My baby you will be

I love you so much my baby girl!
~Mama

Snow Day!

Even though it is mid March, we finally got our snow day! It snowed almost 10 inches! We figured it was about time to take Isabel out and have her play in the snow! It was so bright we should have put some sunglasses on her. Snow days like these are going to be the norm in Isabel's life while we live in Montana. There are snowmen, snow forts and igloos all around. I can't wait to build some with Isabel too!

Birthday outfit photoshoot *attempt*

As I was going through pictures from Isabel's birthday party I realized there wasn't a good one of her in the little birthday outfit I made for her! I had to remedy that, so today I got her all dressed up again and we *tried* to do a photo shoot. As you can see, it didn't go very well at first, and she ended up falling apart at the end, but in the middle I got some good pictures!

The adorable headband was an Etsy find. The shop is From Scrappy to Sassy.

I made the shirt by using a onesie that I already had - how lucky that the green was the ideal color! It didn't turn out perfect, but was cute non-the-less.

The tutu was super easy. I've been wanting to make one for a while! This tutorial was super helpful.

Some pink legging and her Tiny Toms finished off her Birthday look!

Hiking to the M

One of the "must-do" hikes in Bozeman is hiking up to the M. So we took Aunty Nana, Abuelita and Pop on a sunset hike! 

One Year Old!

We did it! One year of parenting under our belts! Isabel's one year birthday was so much fun, but also sad for this mama at the same time. While she will always be my baby girl, she developmentally is not longer a baby but entering toddler-hood! Every day I try to cuddle with my sweet girl, but she is too busy to just sit around right now!

Here are her new "tricks" this month!
*Climbs down the stairs
*Says "tay du" for "thank you"
*Walks while you hold one of her hands
*Has two bottom molars coming through
*Puts toys away
*Yelps like a dog
*Throws her head back and howls like a wolf
*Grunts like an elk
*Growls like a bear
*Uses her hand in front of her mouth to make an Indian sound
*Attempts to feed herself with a spoon
*Waves hello and bye-bye
*Makes a dramatic gasping noise that is funny and alarming at the same time

She is at such a fun stage right now when she can imitate so many things! She isn't walking yet, but she still manages to get into everything! As you can see from this month's pictures, her personality is shining through more and more. Isabel sure is a little ham!

1st Birthday Party

I'm not sure who this party was really for - Isabel or mom & dad! We had so much fun planning it! Daddy thought it would be fun to do a musical theme being that Isabel loves playing daddy's guitars and keyboard.

Our menu included: "guitar" string cheese, fruit "melody", "serenade" lemonade, rock and "roll" sandwiches, complete with lunch meat that looked like a piano!

The people that helped celebrate Isabel's first year of birth were: Abuelita, Auntie Nana, Poppa, the Awes, Spositos, Seacats, Racicots, Sloans and Adam!

While the moms and dads visited the toddlers made shoebox guitars, and took home shakers as party favors. Isabel didn't quite know what to do about opening up presents so the toddler friends helped her on that end. When it came time for cake though, it didn't take her long to figure that one out! She had a blast gobbling up the yummy cream cheese frosting to get to the red velvet cake underneath!

A photo for each month of her life starting when I was 38 week pregnant

My mom gave me these tulips two years ago for my birthday. They already bloomed in Sonoma, but the leaves were the perfect color green so I had to use them for some decorations! I spray painted the pot for an extra pop of color.

Party favors were baby-food jars filled with split peas (they even matched the colors of the party). I spray painted the lids, and used the same fabric from the banner and table runner to cover the outside of the jars. Some ribbon and a tag completed the look! Oh, and the lids were glued on so little hands couldn't figure out how to get a hold of the peas and cause trouble!

Her tutu became a headdress thanks to Abuelita!

Time to get clean!

While Isabel wont remember this 1st birthday party, it was such a blast to celebrate this monumental first year of her life! We wished all of our family could have been here, but we are so grateful to my mom, sister Hannah and Pop for coming out for the party! We are also so thankful for our amazing friends and their kiddos that Isabel gets to grow up with.


*Credits* I didn't design all the adorable graphics myself (I wish!) On etsy I found a wonderful graphic artist who did a custom design just for the party! Here is a link to her etsy shop.