I suppose its about time for another catch up post, I can't believe its been about a month! So heres the rundown on our happenings lately.

First off, I was able to go on a quick visit to see my sisters and have some fun in Utah. Honestly, if Lester hadn't insisted I go and booked a few things, I probably wouldn't have gone, bc I would have felt to bad leaving my Addy behind. But in the end it was a good thing, bc they got Daddy/daughter time, and Isla and I got to enjoy our extended family and Utah. People always say they left their heart in San Francisco, and while this area is my home and always will be my number one, I think I left a small part of my heart in Utah-I loved living there and made a lot of wonderful memories, and so many people I love have moved there over the years. I also miss the seasons. The main high lights of the entire great trip were visiting with a lot of family and friends, playing games with them, etc, taking a croissant making class that was to die for with some friends, and hanging in the snow and leaves. I will never be closer to anyone them my husband and children, but their is something to be said about sisterhood-your sister understands you in a different way then anyone I suppose.




















Thankgiving we crammed in as much as we possibly could since we are surrounded by both of our families, and that will not always be the case. Lester made what my Mom would call a Mary Poppins turkey [practically perfect in every way] and made several pies. Our first round consisted of my Mom's side of the family at our house, and it was a lot of work and a lot of fun. Then we stopped by my Dad's side of the family for a quick hello/goodbye and headed over to Lester's family's house. The whole day we tried to pace ourselves, but by the end of it we were worn out to say the least. That tryptophan is no joke man. But, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I will say I am thankful for the same things as always, but even more so now-for my ever growing, beautiful family, for home and my relationship with Christ.








Now, it is finally our favorite-Christmas time! Although to be honest, we have had our tree up since before Halloween [and I don't care who knows it!] and my family has just finished setting up theirs. [Tangent: Several years ago my Uncle Lloyd gave my family this funny Christmas decoration that is a girl in the corner. Addy is terrified of her-she is constantly asking me if she is in trouble, or why is she mad, and when we try to tell her its pretend and get her to touch it, she FREAKS. Good times!] We have a lot of fun things to look forward to and on our schedule for the rest of the month.




 Lester is endlessly and tirelessly doing school and work, but when he does have some down time we are enjoying the holidays so far. Addy and I made a paper chain to countdown to Christmas, with different fun holiday things to do for each day-it helps the hours till Daddy comes home pass quicker.

So that is what has been going on with us for the last month! Hope all is well with everyone else, and they are enjoying their holiday season as well! Buon Natale everyone!

I feel like amidst the newness of toddler-dom I haven't been recording here about our sweet Isla girl. She is now a whopping 3 months old and is showing this more and more every day. She has gone from being our sweet, small fragile doll to a chubby, interactive happy baby. She has great head control, and even stronger legs which she likes to push off and stand on whenever she can. She has big hazel eyes that sparkle when she smiles, which I am happy to say is very very often. She is very talkative and loves to to coo in response to anything and everything. She is easily startled and likes to follow people and things with her eyes. She graced us with her very first laugh yesterday, on Halloween night while watching her sister play with the bubbles she got while trick or treating, and it is ridiculous how cute it is. She has done it once since then already, and there is not a better sound in the whole world I tell you. Heart melting.






She is a bit of a Momma's girl, and loves to be cuddled and kissed. But she likes to play & do exercises & talk with her Daddy. She also adores her sister, which is great since this is reciprocated probably a little too much haha-they like to laugh together, read and lay on the boppy together. She is in a hurry to do everything with Addy and it does my heart good to see how much they like each other.





She is at that stage where she likes to watch the pictures, listen to stories and rattles and take in the whole world in front of her. She loves to be outside, but at the same time she wants to be bundled up tight and warm at all time, no matter where we go. She is my sweet cuddly girl and I couldn't do with out her. She wakes up still about once a night, which is more the doable, and eats often and very easily. Its amazing how much easier it is this time around [in regards to that at least]. She loves soft things like holding on to her cotton blankets tight in her grasp, to the point that I will often find little bits of cotton in the palm of her hand from how tight she's been holding on. If she has a blanket, and a pacifier she can be soothed pretty easily. She is gorgeous and sweet and fun. At least for my part I feel like she doesn't cry to often, but still in the random times she does she can go from 0 to 10 pretty quickly and will only seem to calm down with me. Still, she has made great strides in letting others hold and play with her-especially at church everyone is so sweet about wanting to hold her and she seems to enjoy it.

I think that this being my second time around I can appreciate what people mean when they say it all goes by so fast-with Addy I couldn't wait till she grew into new fun outfits or see her do new exciting things. But with Isla, I just want her to slow down and stay my sweet Momma's girl forever. Once again it feels like she was born yesterday, and yet like I can't remember life before her-like she has always been here, and a part of our family. I can't begin to say how grateful I am for this little family of mine. Especially our Isla baby.

This weekend has been awesome, but at the same time I am a little glad it is over! On Saturday we had our Primary carnival which we had been looking forward to all month. It was a lot of work, but we had a lot of help, and over all I think it was a success. I am glad I got this opportunity to see all that goes into planning an activity like this-it gives me a greater appreciation for how hard all my leaders must have worked to make things fun for us over the years.