Happy Anniversary!

Wednesday was our 3 year anniversary. My mom watched Bella and we went out to dinner. We normally go spend the night out for our anniversary but I've been having Bella withdrawals ever since going back to work..so I didn't want to leave her for the night.

Happy Anniversary to us!



On a side note, I have a problem... These are Bella's new faces when the camera comes out...



Anticipating the flash, she squints, closes her eyes and makes funny faces. Not good.

Baptism

Last Sunday AJ got baptized. It was beautiful and the whole family looked radiant. I think we could all feel God's love that night. Congrats AJ!

1/2 a year old!

Bella is, that is. Actually she is 6 and 1/2 months old now. I started this post the day she turned 6 months old and haven't had the time to finish and post it :( Being back to work is SOOOO hard! Although I am so lucky that my sister and my mom are able to help watch Bella. I can't imagine having to leave her with a stranger. It's just so incredibly overwhelming to work a full time job, run a small business and be a mommy. Hopefully I'll be able to balance everything out soon and I won't have to work so much at the regular j.o.b. soon. Oh, and I want to get into doing photography in the near future also..

Anyhoo.. Bella is doing great! She has both of her top teeth coming in and she is super close to crawling. I think if I didn't have hardwood floors (it's slippery with a blanket down) that she probably would be crawling. We have been to the zoo several times this summer and she really enjoys it.

Her 6 month favorites:
Cups-She really likes to drink out of cups!
Pineapple-She is definitely grandma's kid and LOVES pineapple.
Bathtime-She still loves bathtime. She really loves to splash in the water now.
Anything that makes noise.

At her 6 month checkup, she weighed 17 lbs 3 oz and is now 27" tall. She is in the 99% for height!

My Prima Ballerina

The Canon Rebel

I have wanted a Canon Rebel for awhile now and I finally decided to just get one. I am so happy I did! It is everything I was hoping for, plus some! I figure that I can learn somethings about photography and just take all of Isabella's pictures at home and save money by not taking her to the studio. I did take a photography class in high school.. but I honestly can't remember much of anything from that class. The good thing is that I have Photoshop and I do know how to edit pictures. Here are a few I took around the house today..like I didn't have anything better to do than take 2oo pictures on my new camera.

See, I can take sweet pictures of wall art.

The light switch bird

Baby Zander Rex

My brother Chris and his wife Bonnie just had their baby! Ok, so they had him on the 7th but I'm just getting around to blogging about it.. Anyway, he is so CUTE! And can you believe that hair?! Sadly they live in Texas so we've only seen pictures. I really wish they lived closer so that Bella had cousins her age to play with but so far I haven't convinced them to move yet. I'll keep working on that. Congrats Chris and Bonnie! He is absolutely adorable!

Relay For Life

Here are some pictures from the Relay For Life. This year was a lot of fun. It was definitely one of my favorite years. Maybe it was because I was on such a big team and it allowed us time away from the our booth. I think the best part was when my mom got "arrested". We had to go post bail for her before she killed one of us. Funny!

Cute jail bird

Our Snack Shack

Our Family Photo!

Last night we had a caricature done of our cute little family. I love it so much! I am going to frame it and hang it in our living room. The guy who drew it is totally amazing and the nicest person ever. He was at the Syracuse Days about a month ago and I wanted one then but Justin wasn't with us. I found out that he was going to be at the Relay so I talked Justin into doing one. I can't wait to hang it up!

5 Months

Mommy's Little Sweetheart!

Bella on Pioneer Day

Bella turned 5 months old on the 26th. I know I say this ALL the time, but I can't believe how fast she is growing up! Even though I want her to stay little, I love each and every new thing she does. She is incredibly smart, just like daddy.

Bella Loves:

• Dogs- our dogs, grandma's dogs, the neighbors dogs. She especially likes ones with long ears that she can grab on to.
  
• Naps. Yep, she is definitely my kid and enjoys her beauty sleep.
• She really likes the other kids lately. They can get her laughing more than any of the adults.
• She really loves sweet potatoes and prunes. Green beans and peas are another story.
• Bathtime is her favorite time of the day. She loves to splash around and chew on her washrag.
  
• The T.V! I have to keep it off during the day because she keeps her little eyes glued to it.
• Boys, she loves all the guys in the family. Daddy, grandpa, Uncle Ty, Jaden..and any other guy who looks at her. I'm in SOOO much trouble :)
  

A day at the zoo

Yesterday we went to the Hogle Zoo with all the family (minus AJ) . It was so much fun! I seriously haven't been to the zoo in probably 10 years and I can't believe how different it is. They really have improved everything! Plus, it's a lot more fun when you are seeing the zoo for the first time through the eyes of a little explorer!

Bella is really curious lately and she liked seeing all of the different animals. Most of all, she really liked riding around in her stroller and getting attention from the other kids.