Come one, come all! {a circus birthday party}

Bella's party was SO much fun! It was such a great theme. It was easy to plan for because there was just tons of different ideas that fit with the theme. 

Here are the pictures.. -Warning- there are TONS of them!

The invitations.. well kind of. I didn't really mail them. Just like our Christmas cards..

The birthday girl..

The details..

Mustaches on a stick

Lips on a stick

Circus Clown Pops

Cotton Candy

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Circus Peanuts

Popcorn

Goldfish in a bag party favors

The guests..

*I thought I was good and got pictures of everyone but I didn't. Oops! Not shown.. 

Ty, Jaden, Chris and Sierra.

 Uncle AJ had flowers delivered to both of the birthday girls (my sister and Bella)

Just for the record, I've NEVER been sent flowers. ;)

~Odds and Ends~

Shy girl!

Birthday girls!

We had such a blast at Bella's circus party! Everything turned out great and I was thankful to all who came and enjoyed this special day with us. Happy 2nd Birthday baby big girl!

Dear Isabella

Oh my sweet girl, I can't even describe how my life has changed since you came into this world 2 years ago. And daddy's life has changed too! Dora, Blue, Nemo, Dory & the Chipmunks make frequent stops at our house. Our refrigerator is covered in alphabet magnets, fingerprints speckle the walls, there are random crayon marks on furniture and you have to watch out for toys or you might break your neck tripping over them. But I LOVE every second of it.

I love the way sing Row row booooaaaattt! and twink twink stttarrrr! and the way you repeat every word you hear. Even bad ones.. You are really good at dressing yourself. Even if it's both legs in one pant leg and underwear on top of your pants. You are so sweet and say "hi" to random people in the grocery store and all the old ladies want to take you home.

I love how much you love your dogs. And how sweet you are to all animals. I love how hard you fight me to take your naps and to go to bed but then I find you curled up asleep on the couch or in your bed. You loved your binky so much and it was so hard to take away but you've done so good. Mommy is so proud!

I love how tall you are getting. You love shoes way too much and I think it's adorable. You LOVE bath time and would stay in there all day if I would let you. You like getting dressed. You hate getting your hair done.

I love your curious nature and how silly you are. You are definitely our kid. You fit into our family SO well!

Mommy's makeup is the funnest thing ever and I love the bright shades on you. They aren't very easy to get off though! I miss you so much when I'm not near you and I love playing in your kitchen with you! You are the best little chef!

So my little Bella Roo, Izzy, Izzy Boo Boo.. I love you bigger than the sky and I hope you have a wonderful 2nd birthday!

Love,
Mommy

A birth story

I can't believe 2 years ago I was waiting for little Bella to be born thinking that it would never happen! This is our birth story.. although I should have told this story a long time ago*.



The last week of my pregnancy my blood sugars were going crazy (I had gestational diabetes, not fun!!) so they decided to induce us on 2/26 which was the day before my due date.. and was also my sister's birthday. They asked us to call in the morning to check in and see what time they wanted us to come in. Much to our dismay, they said that a billion ladies decided to go into labor and that it had been a really busy night and to call back in a few more hours. Oh the anticipation! But about an hour later they called and told us to head on up.

By noon they had everything started and we were on our way. I held out as long as I could for an epidural (holy pain!.. not the epidural but the pains of labor) but finally gave in. Seriously I was in heaven. I have lots of respect for the crazy gals that go sans epidural. There.is.no.way.

Everything was going good except that I just wasn't dilating (this is as graphic as I'll go just for your sake). Plus Bella's heart rate kept dropping. They kept having me switch sides thinking that her umbilical cord could be squished. Fast forward 10 hours.. long hours for daddy.. short hours for mommy.. My nurse (who was AMAZING by the way) told me that my Dr was on the way and to be prepared for a C-section. All through out my pregnancy I always envisioned that I'd have a C-section.. not sure why! They had me drink that disgustingly sweet anti-nausea stuff and as soon as my Dr got there we were on our way to the operating room.

I'll save you all the gory details but everything went great and at 10:18 PM a healthy baby girl was born weighing in at 6 pounds 3 ounces and measuring 20" long.

It turns out the Bella was posterior (face up instead of facing down like she was supposed to be) so she was wedged in an awkward position. And that's why my labor pains were so terrible although I think it's safe to say that they are never wonderful feeling.

All the blood, sweat and tears of my pregnancy and of labor was worth it for this little gal. She is such a blessing!

*Due to the time frame.. this story may be a little exaggerated or made up where my memory fails me..

Missing these cute kids..

My younger brother Chris and his family decided to move from Texas back to Wyoming. Yay! I'd be happier if it was Utah but I'm happy to have them closer. They flew his wife Bonnie and her cute kids here and then my step dad flew there and helped drive the moving truck to Wyoming. We got to spend so much time with Bonnie and the kids. Bella LOVED having her cousins here although she was kind of bratty. We are working on that.

Everything was going good until the guys got in a car accident. It was the other night with that really bad snow storm. A semi was slid out across all the lanes of traffic and they slid right into it. Luckily my step dad maneuvered the truck right in between the guard rail and the semi so that the trailer took the most damage. Nobody was hurt and we feel really lucky!

All the cousins.. Well Ty is actually their uncle but he is a youngster so we included him.

Zander, Ty, Tayzhia, Charity, Gretchen, Emma, Bella, Jaden

Such a cute girl! We wondered how Bella and Charity would get along but they did really well considering they are both the princesses of the family. They are a year apart.

Seriously.. look at those eyes! Justin was ready to haul him home.

The girls really enjoyed playing together. 

Zander wanted to play too but the girls weren't very good at including him. Even though he is 6 months younger than Bella, he out weighs her by 5 pounds already!

We LOVED every second of this visit!