A Grand-pre Wedding

On May 23rd my best friend growing up married the woman of his dreams. We headed over to Spokane a couple of days before hand because the boys were throwing his bachelor party the day before the wedding, and I didn't want to miss it. It was a great time.

Saturday I headed out to the wedding early because I was in the party and also needed to help set up. Nell and Izzie came out later, and even uncle D showed up.


Here's Izzie in her new dress looking as beautiful as ever. It's funny to watch her in new situations and strange locations. She seems to thrive at those moments. She's definitely going to have a great sense of adventure when she gets older.


After the ceremony everyone headed off for some food. I stuck around for the wedding pictures. While waiting around I found Izzie playing in the driveway getting all dusty. I couldn't resist a picture because even though she got all dirty she was still cute, and kids are kids.


Here's the wedding party during pictures.


And here's the happy couple.


Of course I could resist getting a picture with my beautiful wife.


After pictures we headed to the back for some food and cake. Izzie took a liking to uncle D. Here they are high-fiving and eating cake.



When the dancing started Izzie was more than intrigued. She and I dance in the living room at home sometimes, but she's never actually seen anyone else dance (except maybe in a movie). As we sat there watching she kept saying "dance... dance." I took the hint, and we headed out on the deck for a dance. Once we got there she was more intrigued with the other people dancing around us than anything, and of course I felt like a tool. Not because I was embarrassed to be dancing with my daughter, but because I can't dance. Just watch the video at the end.






And that was it. We sent the newly weds off for their honeymoon in Europe and called it a night.

Congratulations Jake & April.

Mother's Day Weekend

Mother's Day weekend was pretty fun this year. On Saturday we found out that there was a carnival in town, so we decided that we should head down there to help support the carnies. We arrived fairly early, so there was hardly anyone there. That meant that the lines were non-existent, and that we could be in and out in no time. We walked around to check it out and then decided to buy some tickets so that we could take Izzie on the few rides that we deemed acceptable for our precious girl. Luckily they were rides that she wanted to ride on. Here she is mesmerized by the helicopters just before riding on them with mom.


Soon they were on their way to a joyous ride in a circle.



Here's an excellent video of the action.



Then it was off to the ridiculous little cars that aren't even worth the time.


At first Izzie was into it, but then things didn't go so well.


Here's a good video of Nell's empathy for poor Izzie.



After the cars Izzie wanted to go back to the helicopters with dad, so we went. Here's Izzie and I waiting for our turn.


Yeah!


And that was it. We picked up some cotton candy on the way out and then headed to the park.


Of course Izzie still loves the swings and slides. This year she can actually get up the ladders/stairs on her own, so it makes it a bit more fun for her (and us).


It always makes me smile to see her have so much fun.




And that was it for Saturday. We headed home and made some dinner.

On Mother's Day we got up, I made breakfast and the we enjoyed it together (like every weekend). Then Izzie and I double teamed the dishes.


After dishes were done we let mommy open her cards from us.



Then we headed out of the house for some fresh air and fun. We ultimately ended up at Two Moon Park here in Billings. Here's Nell and Izzie trekking down one of the trails.


Of course we were bound to find some bugs. Here's Izzie tracking one down.


Got it.


And then she gave it to Mommy. How sweet. Happy Mother's day Mom.


Then we were off again.


For some reason I over estimated how much a child less than two can endure. I bet we only got 3/4 or maybe a full mile down the trail before Izzie was saying "Up. Up." So, I put her on my shoulders and we went on.


We finally made it to the river. Izzie was awestruck for a few moments and then I talked her into throwing rocks with me.



Here we are resting in the shade before our long trek back to the car.


After dinner we let Izzie have some cotton candy, or "otton andy" as she says, for dessert. She devoured it.



Then it was off to bed. Here she is enjoying a book with mommy.


Thanks Mommy! We love you so much! Happy Mothers Day.

April 2009

Our trip to Helena over Easter weekend was a big chunk of April because we were there for five days, so there isn't much more to post. But because we did have more fun than just that weekend I thought you'd like to see.

On the 3rd we went to a very cool AIDS awareness exhibit thing here at a church in Billings. It was put on by the World Vision Experience. It was a self guided tour where you put on headphones and listen to a narrator tell stories and guide you through the experience. They didn't allow pictures, but I snuck one anyway. Here's Izzie and Nell looking as beautiful as ever in their sweet headphones.


April was also the month we were able to paint the basement. Nell and I managed to get the primer on the walls in about 7 hours one day. It might have gone faster if we hadn't caught a snag in the afternoon. Izzie found one of our paint trays while we weren't looking and in about 30 seconds managed to paint her face arms and clothes. I'm not sure if she thought it was lotion or what, but the kid was on a self painting mission. She succeeded.





We also had a concrete collision. Izzie fell off of the front porch head first. Lucky for here the sidewalk was there to break her fall. The result was an awesome bruise.


While we were in Helena we went to a park near the Huschka's house where we found the world's worst slide. I'm sure I don't need to explain why after you see this video.



Izzie also became the proud new owner of a squirt gun while we were in Helena. Here she is a few days later at home just after a bath. She shot herself in the eye and I was lucky enough to catch her reaction.


In April we also graduated Izzie from her crib to a big girl bed. The first night went well because she didn't know she could actually get out. That revelation came the second night. Needless to say the first few weeks of the big girl bed were rough on mom and dad. There should be instruction books for things like this. We made it through the rough part though. Now it's just every once in a while when she doesn't want to go to sleep that we have a tough time with her. We still close her door all the way though so that she can't escape and come to our room. Sometimes we find her sleeping on a mound of stuffed animals in front of her door, and sometimes we find her sprawled out on the floor in the mornings. Here's picture of her sleeping on her floor.


Here's Izzie hanging out with mom and dad in Lowe's while we shopped for doors.


And that was the interesting stuff from April.

Easter 2009

This year for Easter we were in Helena staying with the Huschka's for the weekend. They invited us over to some new friends of theirs for a BBQ and egg hunt with their family. It was a blast. Izzie had a ton of fun too. I didn't know how she would do with the egg hunt because it was her first one and usually she's kind of apprehensive about things like that. She didn't have any problems at all. Nell showed her what to do and what to look for (EGGS!), and she did the rest.

About four or so eggs into the hunt she opened one and discovered that there was candy inside. It took about two minutes to get her back on track because the she wanted to open and eat the candy in the other three eggs in her basket. I found it funny. Here are some pictures of the hunt.





The egg hunt for the littlest kids (Izzie's league)lasted about 15 minutes. Out of the eight or so kids that were in it, Izzie found the most eggs. She did dang good. Here she is taking a break after her successful hunt.


First place a big barbie-brushy-make-up-thingy. Nell didn't think Izzie would be into that (and she was right), so we opted for one of the consolation prizes... bubbles. Turns out Izzie thought the bubbles were the greatest. Here she is triumphantly returning for collecting her spoils.


That was all on the Saturday before Easter. We stayed at the Huschka's house that night. Here's Izzie laughing and having a good time laying in bed with mom and dad in the morning.


On Easter afternoon we re-hid all of the kids' eggs that they found on Saturday plus the ones that the Huschka's had and let the kids have another egg hunt on Easter. Here's Iz with mom, the Huschka boys and their Grandma hunting eggs.


Real eggs were hidden this time along with the fake ones. This was Izzie's first time shelling and egg and she did pretty well.


Easter night she crashed pretty hard. I've never seen my child eat that much candy and be wired for that long. It's like she drank 50 Red Bulls. Here she is zonked in her bed.


Thanks Huschka's for being so gracious and letting us crash at your place for five days! We had a blast. And thanks Randy & Laurie for letting us be a part of your family for the weekend.