Happy Birthday to Isaac!

Isaac officially turned TWO years old! November 15th was the big day.....the family came over and we celebrated with a little "dirt" cake and ice cream. Actually I made some pumpkin dessert for the adults and filled the tractor full of chocolate cake crumbles and some gummy worms for the kids. The pumpkin dessert wasn't my most successful attempt ever--I think we all would have opted for the dirt and gummy worms if we'd had enough. It was a hit with Isaac, for sure. He goes to sleep each night with a truck in his death-grip, so this was right up his alley.


Like I mentioned, he likes trucks a lot. This is all he did all night long (below). The first present he opened had this little skidster being pulled by a truck and a trailer. He threw the truck and trailer in the corner and wouldn't even touch his other two presents. So Madison and Emma opened them while Isaac put cake and ice cream in the skidster and dumped it various places. Great company for the guests, Isaac!

I'm sure the flame had him fascinated more than anything, but I had to wonder what kind of wishes might go through his cute little two-year-old mind....

Isaac and Grady are so cute together. Sometimes Isaac has a hard time SHARING.....but they had fun playing trucks together as long as Isaac got to keep his precious skidster.

Since my last post about Isaac's vocabulary, he has quadrupled his word list. He has also quadrupled his use of the word "mine" only it sounds like "MY! MY! MY!" over and over again all day long. He really believes he owns everything in his sight. He likes to show off for people by running around like crazy, screaming his little high-pitched scream and trying a summer-sault or two. He LOVES to read, and always has to be sitting in someone's lap while reading. He cannot share your lap, either, we have learned. He especially likes his little animal book--he gets so excited when he turns the page to see a "NEIGH! NEIGH!" (aka horse). Isaac's favorite foods are macaroni and cheese and chicken nuggets. I've tried to get him to eat vegetables and he is the worst in our family so far. But if you give him a big pile of sour cream to dip stuff in, he'll eat just about anything! In fact, he usually ends up just spooning the sour cream straight into his mouth--forget about the dippping. He is ALWAYS happy, always has a smile on his face. And definately ALL boy--spending most of the day with three females does not rub off on him at all.....his world is dirt and toilets, trucks, mischief, bothering his sisters, anything BOY. Except that he does favor a little pink and purple blanket more than any of the others. And I did mention that he won't go to sleep without a truck in his hands. He's just a really cute, funny, interesting, unique, and happy little boy! I don't know what we would do without him! Happy birthday to our little Isaac--we love you so much!

My Cute Little Boy....

.....Is growing up way too fast. I've been trying so hard to take in every moment lately, but time is still passing way too fast. He will turn two next month! Lately he is just SOOO CUTE and I want to remember these little things!


This is how he sleeps most of the time. I love his little feet sticking out underneath. And you can see the bottle in the background....yes, he is almost two and still has a bottle at bedtime. We got rid of his binky, but still haven't quite dealt with the bottle yet. He is my baby, and the only time he'll let me hold him anymore is when he drinks his bottle!

Isaac loves to go places--mostly because driving means passing a lot of really cool vehicles.....particularly "GUCKS"......which means "Trucks" in Isaac language. That is all we hear when we are in the car--he doesn't just say it, he SCREAMS "guck!!!....."guck!!!" every 5 seconds. Except of course, when he sees a really extra super cool truck--maybe one with a huge trailer attached or something.....then he whispers "wow, guck....wow, guck" with such respect. So cute. I know what I'm getting him for Christmas for sure.

Speaking of Isaac language, here are a few of his favorite words:

"Goook" = cookie

"Da Gog" = all gone

"Wa da?!" = what's that?!

"woof woof woof" = dog

"roar" = any other kind of animal

......well, of course "No!" is right at the top of the vocabulary, and then mama and daddy....and that is about it! I know he's a little slower with the whole talking thing, because he has two sisters who say everything for him! But every day he jabbers more and more with so much expression. I love the sound of jabbering!

Isaac still loves to "cook," still unloads all of my pots and pans and lids out of the cupboard and fills them with a whole bag of cereal or dirt or garbage or whatever he can find to "stir". Every morning when I get him out of his crib, he runs to the kitchen and goes straight to the waffle iron or the pancake griddle. So basically I make a lot of waffles and pancakes because I'm a sucker. And at 6:30 in the morning, it's usually just Isaac and I....so he does all the stirring and we have our little bonding time.

Madison and Emma taught Isaac how to catch a bug by trapping it underneath a little tupperware bowl....the other day while the girls were at school, I came down the hall and found a few little tupperware bowls upside down on the carpet. When I picked them up, each one had a little dead box elder bug underneath. I thought it was so cute!

And yes, the toilet is still his friend. Every once in awhile he decides he needs some water to "stir" into his pots so he goes to the toilet to get it. Today he walked out with a bottle full of water and a straw inside. He was drinking the water through the straw and so proud that he got his own bottle! Yep, the toilet had signs all around it of Isaac's recent visit. I know that is SOOO gross! I try not to let that happen, but every once in awhile.....maybe a little toilet water here and there will build his immune system.

So anyway, there are a few of my favorite Isaac things lately. Just tonight before bed Emma said to Madison, "I'm so glad we got our little Isaac boy," and Madison said, "Yeah, he sure is a funny little guy." We're all so glad to have him!

Some things are just worth repeating....

TOP OF UTAH 2009!

It actually happened!! (Despite the incident with my toe, if you read that post.) True, I worried so much about my toe and the cold that I caught that I went TOTALLY psycho and didn't sleep for a week. I ran the marathon in my mind about 1000 times, day and night--I just kinda went nuts for a while (my family can vouch for that one, sorry family). So it ended up that my toe was not even an issue, thanks to a good tape job and some really good numbing cream. I think the lack of sleep/lingering cold had more of an affect......I didn't do my best running that day (not even close), but I finished! I came pretty close to my goal, and now I can look forward to NEXT TIME!
This is the very CUTE poster that Becky and Suzanne brought to me the day before the race. I'm so grateful for good friends......Julie was my counselor for four months while we trained...... Becky supplied me with GU at 10:30 one night when I realized I didn't have any and had a 21 mile run the next morning.....Suzanne drove us up clear up Blacksmith Fork canyon one morning VERY early......Leigh brought me some "toe tubes" that saved my life.......Jessica and Becky and my sister-in-law Pam all came and ran with us at the marathon.....there are many more little things, and I just couldn't have done it without such good friends!

And here is my cute family, cheering along the way (but really wondering what the heck they were doing sitting out in the hot sun all morning watching a bunch of crazy people). They were so cute and it lifted my spirits every time I saw them along the route.

I wish I had a picture of Kelly (he was the one taking the pictures). He should have received an award at the finish line as well! He put up with a lot over the last couple of months.....He was so patient and supportive, I just love him!

What a good feeling that was! That's the scary part, all these endorphins are a bit addicting. That has a lot to do with my current attitude--I'm going through withdrawls!

So to sum it all up.....some things are just worth repeating! Even though I've wanted to accomplish this goal for a long time, I always somewhat dreaded the idea. I thought I would do it once and check it off the list for good! I thought I would be totally burned out of running by the end of the training...not so! Just the opposite, I felt so good and loved it more and more! And even though the race itself didn't go as well as I pictured, it was still such an awesome day. So much support from my family and friends (thanks so much!), even complete strangers cheering each other along. It was inspiring! So if you're considering a little adventure such as this, just know you can do it, and once might not be enough!