Cali trip, part 1

For one last summer hurrah (and a medical conference), we just spent 6 days on a trip to California! Day one was spent in the car driving...I think it took us 8 1/2 hours with stops in Las Vegas and Barstow. Or was it Baker?.... I dunno, some desert town.

Isabelle was an ANGEL and didn't make a peep the whole drive. She just slept and ate like a good baby. The other two watched DVDs on their own players with headphones on, and Mark and I listened to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on audio CD. So it was an uneventful drive.

We were staying at the Red Lion in Anaheim, right across the street from Disneyland. We couldn't actually go to the park this time (it's nearly $100 per ticket now) but we decided to walk to Downtown Disney District to stroll around that night. Mark wanted to walk because it was theoretically only a couple of blocks away, but it ended up being six miles of walking/meandering around the shops by the time we were done. Ha!

 Luke was obsessed with the fire hydrants they had along the way and insisted on getting a photo with one.

 To get to Downtown Disney from the direction we were coming, we had to walk through the lobby of the Disney Grand Californian Hotel & Spa. (Luke settled in to watch a movie but we couldn't stay.) And let me tell you, if I ever feel like spending $400 a night on a hotel, this would be the place! It was GORGEOUS!

 Anyway, we finally got there and enjoyed a few hours of Disney-fied shopping and fun. It was super crowded and overpriced, but we had a good time.

 Madelyn wanted to pick up another princess nightgown (she's been getting them since she was four--they last a long time) and we got a Frozen toy for our niece Emery. 

P.S. Long live the Genie!

 I had to seriously restrain myself from getting some princess shirts for me. If I wasn't already shelling out $37 for Madelyn's Belle nightgown, I would have spent that money on the tan and red Ariel shirt.

 Mark and the kids were so excited to go to the Lego store.

 Gandalf!

 The Hulk!

Luke and I built a Lego car to race.

 Disneyland has fireworks every single night at 9:30. They are the best fireworks I've ever seen. We could see them from our hotel window as well.

 The palm trees were so beautiful. I felt like we were in Egypt.

 We finally headed back and got to the hotel at midnight, Utah time. We had some very tired kids!

Isabelle's blessing dress photos

 Isabelle's blessing day was so crazy that I didn't get a chance to take any pics of just her in her dress. So a week afterward, I set up this little photo shoot. I saw this idea with the flowers on Pinterest and went out and picked all of these from our yard, yanked a sheet off Luke's bed and shot away. It took a while because this little cutie (2 months old at the time) doesn't like for me to be near to her unless I'm going to pick her up and hold her. She was super squirmy and we had to take a couple of breaks.

 I made her dress using this pattern (altered to make it longer, and fully lined).

 I also made her bracelet and headband.She looked so precious.

 The light coming from the window was all over the place and kept changing the colors in the room...frustrating to try and edit afterwards.

After a while, she had flailed around so much that the flowers were getting destroyed, and she spit up on the sheet, so I moved her to her baby papasan.

 This afghan was made by an old family friend, Dorothy Bone. Madelyn used it at her blessing, too.

 Squishy lips!

 :) ♥

I just love this little girl so much!!

Isabelle's baby blessing

We had Isabelle's baby blessing on July 13th. I was going to have it the week before (and the weather would have been perfectly cool/overcast, dangit) but my family was just getting back from a family reunion in Colorado and needed more time to recoup.

I was so excited to see her in the dress and bracelet (and headband that I stitched 5 minutes before church) that I made. She was supposed to wear some little eyelet shoes that Madelyn wore for her blessing, but I pulled them out and one of them had yellowed pretty badly. I've since washed it up but it was too late for the blessing. So she wore a different pair that were way too big but OH WELL. She still looked darling.

 Mark got her ready (rather unceremoniously) on the living room floor while the kids were already waiting in the car. We are ALLLWAYYYSS late for church but we did manage to get there 10 minutes early that day. It was a miracle, given everything I was trying to get done that morning.

But the tradeoff was that I didn't get any cute pics of just Isabelle in her dress that day. But I took some a week later, so whatever, man.

Mark gave a beautiful blessing and our dads, my brothers Tyler, Kevin and Shay helped, along with our friend Cam Norton. Isabelle Miranda Yoder fussed through half the blessing, the little dear.

We ditched the rest of church after Sacrament meeting and went to a park near my house for a picnic.

 

It was 93° and super humid that day--Mark said it felt like we were in North Carolina.

l-r: Nora, Shay, Emery and Maria Nielson, Ava, Monica, Nathan and Tyler Murset, Luke, Melissa, Isabelle, Mark and Madelyn Yoder, Megan, Carolyn, Rich, Gary, Lori, Hattie, Kevin and Jack Murset

 The food was awesome--we had this pasta salad, this cheesecake fruit salad (minus the marshmallows), pb&j for the kids, watermelon, carrots and dip, cookies, brownies and sandwich pinwheels from my Smith's deli. Yum yum.

 And my sister in law Monica made some lemon cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and decorated them to look like a little blessing dress!

It was melting hot, but we still had a good time. (My sister-in-law Nikki Yoder was there too but somehow didn't get photographed.)

One of the best parts was that my friend Anya got to come with her daughter Amber and husband James! They happened to be down visiting her mom in Hurricane.

Anya grew up next door to me and we were best buds. She's the one who keeps crocheting me all sorts of awesome stuff. Oh, and it happened to be her birthday that day! Wooo!!

My dad took some nice pics while I was busy running around being hostess:

 Auntie Meg (all my nieces and nephew's favorite auntie, by far)

 
One day shy of two months old.

 

 Mark's folks, Kathy and Frank Yoder. Glad to get a good picture of them!

Not sure if you can see the family resemblance in Mark....*chortle* Actually, Frank looks exactly like the Dalai Lama when he has his glasses on.

I love my in-laws!

 

My folks, Carolyn and Rich Murset

 

Afterwards, we went back to my place to sit in the air conditioning like big blobs. Kevin and Lori stuck around for a few more hours and the cousins got lots of time to play.

  

Hattie and Madelyn

 Luke and Jack

 

Gary :)

It was a great day, but I have to say I'm happy to have that event crossed off my list! Phew!

Two months old!

Time for some stats again. Isabelle turned two months old on July 14.

Weight: 10 lbs. 1 oz. (24th percentile)
Length: 21.25 inches (10th percentile)

New things she can do this month: smile, coo, squeal, roll over to one side, sit up with support, kick off blankets, sleep for longer stretches at night! She loves to stare at lights and ceiling fans.

She has been my fussiest baby, but everyone still loves her to pieces. We've just had a hard time figuring out her tummy issues. She chokes and swallows air when I nurse her, and formula makes her either gassy or constipated. I'm hoping things will get better as she gets older! We have been switching formulas left and right and giving her Miralax in the meantime.

 Dress and tights from my friend Nadia :)

 She is interacting with people a lot and will "talk" to them. It is the cutest thing. We love our little peanut. She is the squirmiest little girl!