We're still here!

So you might have thought I disappeared, but nope we are still here.  The lack of posts have been due to the fact that I'm PREGNANT!!  For me that means for the past 15 weeks I have been feeling sick, nausea, tired, more nausea, and lots of laying on the couch.  Poor Izzy, she has watched lots of cartoons; she even has some Bubble Guppies episodes memorized.  I feel like I have to hire babysitters and go somewhere so she has someone to play with! But even though I haven't been feeling great, we are really excited to have another addition to our family.  The baby is due Dec. 11! I'm hoping to have the baby early and be farther away from Christmas, but we will see.  And hopefully this morning sickness, I mean all day sickness, goes away soon, preferably before we go to Hawaii next week :)

Izzy's ear piercing

I decided it was time for Izzy to get a real hair cut.  So I took her to Cookie Cutters, which is a place just for kids.  

 She picked her car to ride in and they had Bubble guppies, her favorite cartoon, playing on her own personal TV.  However, she was not excited about this leopard cape she had to wear.  She ripped it off and started screaming. I wasn't sure if she was going to let the hair dresser put it back on,

 But a little bribery with a sucker works every time.

 Cutting away

 Styling away

 I think it is so cute!! Izzy doesn't agree, can you tell by the face?!!

 Then we went to the mall to get her ears pierced.  She loved Claires because of all the purses, belts, and accessories.

 She was a little unsure of the lady marking her ears with a marker.  Then I held her for the rest, so no pictures.  She screamed when it happened; I felt like the worst mother in the world.  Everyone in the store was staring at me.  But by the time we paid, she was done crying and happily eating her sucker.

So happy and cute with her ears pierced and new hair cut.  Whenever anyone asks about getting her ears pierced, she says, "I got my ears pierced, it hurt, I cried."  She has been such a trooper, she lets me clean them without a fight and says Thanks Mom!  She loves them!

Easter weekend

I never realized how much there is to do on Easter for kids.  On Saturday morning we went to an Easter egg hunt that our city put on.  

Izzy with her friend Gwen.  Izzy doesn't like to look at cameras.

She did cookie decorating.

Then we went to the Provo Beach Resort to celebrate her friend's birthday.

Then we went to the BYU Easter egg hunt.  It was a zoo to say the least, but it was still fun.

Izzy waited to go on the field to get candy.

Everyone waiting on the field to get the candy. 

Izzy is quite a clever one though.  While everyone else was waiting to get on the field Izzy started collecting candy on the sidelines, under the bleachers, and on the bleachers.  She loves her candy. 

Another view of the chaos.  Good thing Izzy stocked up with candy on the sidelines or else she might not have gotten any.

She had fun though carrying her Easter basket around.

She didn't want to stop for a picture.

She is quite proud of her basket.

Check out all my candy! Seriously it's like Halloween.

Sunday morning the Easter bunny brought her a basket with some treats.

She was so excited.

The bubbles were her favorite.  I thought she would like the purse/book the most, but she wasn't too excited about that.

Actually the candy was her favorite.

Picture before church.

She won't let go of the basket to sit by us. 

Love this picture! She is actually smiling and looking at the camera!

Another good one!

Family shot, not so good, but we tried!

For dinner, the Smiths joined us, Kat and Mat, and Danny and Derdle.  We even brought out the china.  It was a great weekend!

DC Visit

Mike had a work conference in DC so Izzy and I came along.  It worked perfectly because his parents live there so they watched Izzy for a few days and we got a few days to ourselves.  I forgot what it is like to sleep in :)  

 On Wednesday we went to the park and of course Izzy was obsessed with the horse.  Seriously, she sleeps with her horse books during her nap and at night.  No she will not be getting a real horse ever!!

 On Thursday we did some sightseeing; it was a gorgeous day!

 We toured with Grant (works with Mike), his wife, and Mike's work partner Stephen and his daughter.

 You can't really tell what this is, but supposedly it is the first cornerstone of the capitol laid by George Washington.  We had a private tour of the capitol because someone they work with grew up with Senator Lee (it's all about who you know, right?!)  We got to see lots of cool "behind the scene stuff" that you wouldn't see on a normal tour.

 We got to meet Senator Lee and have our pictures taken with him.  Mike thought this picture was cool because it is Sen Lee with his dad's statue, Rex Lee, behind him.

 Izzy was well taken care of by Mami  and Papi.  Mami took her to the library and checked out a bunch of horse books.  Izzy couldn't wait to read them to me.  And if I said the wrong thing she would correct me, "No, mommy those are ponies."  She had it all memorized.

 Best part of the trip was meeting baby Charles, Guillaume and Dana's baby boy.  Izzy loved playing with him, but had to be reminded to be soft.  She would bounce him in his rocker and say, "go faster!"  We had to tell her he did not want to go fast.  Not everyone is as crazy as you Izzy!!

 Such a cuties

 One night at the conference they had the old white house chef, Walter Scheib, prepare the meals and he spoke to us also.  He told lots of funny stories about working with the Clintons and the Bushes.  He cooked the best meal ever!! I wish he could be my personal chef!

 The cousins watching a DVD together.  Izzy was a bit controlling with her toys/gadgets (as you can tell she had to be holding it).  I think we need to work on sharing.

 Mike and Baby Charles.

 We love Baby Charles!

 All the Bergeron cousins!  Trying to get them to look at the camera was near impossible.

I am lucky to have such great sister and brother in laws!!

It's been a year

Sometimes I wonder where the time goes.  It's been a year since my brother, Craig, passed away.  I still remember what I was wearing, where I was standing, and my plans for the evening when I got that phone call from my dad that changed my life forever.  This past year has not been easy.  There were mornings over the summer where I would lay in bed and cry; Izzy would come lay with me and say, "What's wrong Mommy? I love you."  I remember going to Disney World a few weeks after and all the workers saying, "have a magical day."  I wanted to yell and scream at them that nothing was magical about my life or my day.  I hated the question at the grocery store or gym, "How's your day?"  I just wanted to say terrible, thanks for asking.  But somehow you manage to get through those days.  I often hear the saying time heals all wounds.  I disagree.  I think that with time I have learned that I can be happy again and that life will be good again.  But I don't think time simply passing makes things better.  I think it takes work and effort to better understand yourself, your situation, and so much more. I will always miss my brother.  There are days when I think everything is going great and then something reminds me of him and I start to cry and I'm ok with that.  I have learned a lot about myself over the past year, I have learned a lot about the gospel, the Atonement, and so much more.  I am grateful for the things which I have learned and the person I am becoming. 

Dennis and Craig in Hawaii.  A few years ago my family took a cruise to Hawaii for Christmas.  It was so fun to all be together.

Craig, Dennis, Mike, and I went mudbugging in Kauai.  I love this picture of Craig and I.  I have it in my room on my dresser.

When I was pregnant with Izzy my whole family went to our cabin in Montana.  Rarely do we all go there together.  This was right before Craig started med school and I think he was only there for 36 hours because he had to get back for school, but he still made the effort to be with the family.  He always took any opportunity to be with the fam.

Craig holding Izzy at Christmas.  I always teased him that he should not be a pediatrician because babies were not his speciality.  I love his fiance, Lindsey, sitting beside him.  She is the best person ever-so caring and kind.  

I miss him so much and think about him everyday!  I love you Craig!!

Gymnastics

A few months ago Izzy started taking gymnastics at the fitness center.  She loves it so much (and that's an understatement).  She wants to wear her leotard and skirt everyday.  She walks along the back of the couch and calls it the balance beam.  She does forward rolls and hand stands in the living room every day all day.  Everyday when I finish working out she runs straight to the gymnastics room, even though she only has class once per week.  Seriously her eyes light up when she is in class.  I love watching her enjoy something so much!!

Practicing her handstand on the wall.

Balancing on this ball thing-you can't really see it.

Walking the balance beam.

Practicing her hand stand.

Swinging-this is her favorite part! I love that smile!!

More hand stands.

Swinging on the bar with her friend Gwen.  She has two friends from our ward in the class which makes it even more fun!

Practicing with the teacher

This is the vault, she likes to ride it like a horse...can't imagine why.

Another shot of the horsie riding as Izzy calls it.

Doing a backwards roll.

My dad was there watching and Izzy went over to him and said, "Watch me Papa."  I guess she didn't like that he was reading the paper and not paying attention to her. 

So happy that she loves something so much!