Hair!

So... I have never been one of those girls that is great with hair. Even my own hair! I can do it down or in a pony tail. Okay - I can also do a bun. Half-up... that's a little tricky for me.
Ridiculous, I know.

Anyway, I've been realizing lately that Elise's hair was probably getting long enough to "do" something with. But that made me a little anxious because I had no idea what to "do" with it!
So one day - I busted out one of my elastic rubber bands and I put a pony tail on the top of her head. And I loved it! And I thought she looked so cute!
(I later learned that they have little teeny tiny elastic rubber bands for doing baby's hair...
how ingenius).

Well, on this particular day of hair adventures Elise was in her room playing with her basket of shoes and having just a grand old time. Laughing, smiling, jabbering away. So happy!
And she looked so cute with her new hair-do too!
I couldn't resist - I ran to grab the camera and... sure enough.
As soon as the camera was out - this is the look that I got.

I tried REALLY hard. I just wanted those darling expressions that I had just witnessed to be captured on camera for posterity! I begged, I pleaded.
And she livened up a little.
Look at this darling little stinker.

I took her downstairs and gave her a doll to try to bribe her...
but still nothing.

When Jeremy got home I held her for some photos to try to get a big grin out of her...
NOTHING.
(But at least I got to enjoy an excuse for some photos with her and snuggling her some more - always a good thing.)

Silly goose!
She is the happiest little giggly girl... and yet when the camera comes out she gets all shy.

Oh well...

Time with Daddy

Everyone at our house loves time with Daddy.
He is a very popular man.
And oh how we all missed him while we were gone in Arizona!!!
Here's just a few random moments the day after we got home.

Jeremy listening to Isaac's secrets, thoughts, and adventures.

And cuddling and loving 2 kids at once. :)

We can't get enough of him!
So glad to be back together again.

Visit with Poppy Rod!

While we were in town we of course HAD to make time to say hello to Poppy Rod.
And it was a blast - as always.
But we definitely missed Jeremy. :(

They had us over for a nice dinner... and the kids warmed right up to their Poppy Rod and Grandma Cindy. They were right at home within moments.

And Isaac especially liked his "Aunt" Sarah (Cindy's youngest daughter).
He still talks about her.

So grateful to have so much wonderful family in our lives.
Bummer that Arizona is so far away...

The Mesa Temple

While we were in Arizona we made time to go visit the Mesa Arizona Temple and walk around the temple grounds. Since we live several hours from the operating temples in our area, it felt like a real treat to be able to take my kids to see the temple! Isaac was very excited to see the temple - and he talked about how this was the temple where Jeremy and I had gotten married - it was special to be able to take him there.

Touching the temple.

My kids and I at the temple!!
So grateful that they are mine forever and that we are blessed to be an ETERNAL family!

We love to see the temple. :)

The Barn Park

Oh we LOVED the nice Arizona weather while we were there!! I tried to get outside with the kids a lot (since I knew we would be returning to more cold and snow - yikes!) and so we visited several parks. It was so much fun for us. And it was even better - because Tiff and her kids usually came along! This was the only park that I took photos at. I'm not sure what it is called - but we called it the "Barn Park". It was incredible - and everyone had loads of fun!

Elise on the drive to the park - she must have known that good times were coming.

Isaac found the "bells" at the park right away. Of course. :)

Both kids got to go down the slide.

Isaac got to try out a tire swing with Jake and Sarah. It was a big hit!

Grandma holding Elise.

Elise loved touching and holding the wood chips.

What I apparently look like while taking a bajillion photos of my sweetheart.

Swings! Always her favorite. :)

And what good park playdate doesn't end with snack time??

Girl's Night Out at the SPA

While I was in Arizona it was so nice to be able to spend some time with my sister. Most of the time that we spent together was hanging out as moms - with our kiddos. Which is great. But - on one night of nights - my parents babysat after the kids were in bed and Tiffany treated me to a Girl's Night Out at the SPA.

I had never been to a spa before... and WHAT A TREAT. We got massages and pedicures. Does life get any better than that?!?! All in the relaxing spa atmosphere. What an experience!

Anyway - afterwards I treated us to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. Yum.

Obviously the best part of the experience was the one-on-one sister time. We talked and talked and talked and I thoroughly enjoyed that. Tiffany is one of my very best friends and it was so nice to be able to spend an evening out together!

Playdough with Grandma

Isaac had SO much fun at "Grandma and Papa's" house.
He loved their toys, their books, their movies, their warm weather...
but MOST of all he (of course!) loved the time he got to spend with each of them.

I can't believe that I don't have photos of his time spent with Papa. Devastating.
He spent hours outside playing basketball with Papa, seeing Papa's motorcycle, and (this was the HIGHLIGHT) being pulled around the backyard in a wagon behind Papa's bike.
Seriously - the kid was obsessed! LOVED it. He had SO much fun!

And, of course, he loved spending time with his Grandma as well.
One day she made playdough with him - and that was a BIG hit.
And I did get pictures of that. :)

Elise was happy to just be hanging out.
She liked the new toys and was interested in everything that was going on... but she also (especially for the first several days!) didn't want me out of her sight. Overall, she just hung out and everyone was happy to see her. :)

Isaac playing with his finished product!

Yay for green homemade playdough!

Mirror, Mirror

Elise LOVES playing in front of the mirror. So one day, in a stroke of brilliance, I grabbed our tall hallway mirror, put it on it's side and laid it on the floor (propped up against the wall) in our front room. Elise was SO happy and completely giddy and hilarious to watch. She LOVED it!!!!

She would crawl over to it as soon as we put her down anywhere... and she would smile and roll onto her back and kick her legs as fast as she could and squeal with delight... and then roll back onto her tummy and pat the mirror and smile and laugh. It was so fun to watch her play in the mirror! We kept the mirror up like this for weeks - since she loved it so much. Until she figured out how to grab the edge of it and shake it with her arm and nearly pulled it over on herself. :( Then we obviously had to put it away. And thus ended the happy days of playing with the mirror. Anyway... here are a few of the happy mirror moments captured on camera. :)