Jumping for Joy!

Isla's is more of a hop...

We are so glad to have our Boss and Phi back into our lives! It's been a long boring Summer without them running around entertaining Isla. Every morning Isla would come down and ask for "Where's Boston?" checking everywhere! 

We have had a busy week already filled with coloring, bubbles, walks, parks, and hot dogs (they love hot dogs) Boston will start Kindergarten this year so I'm excited to plan some more girlie stuff while he's away at school; tea time, dolls, nail polish...

Paris Part I

 We left from Brussels to Paris on August 1. The only problem about the high-speed train is that we went backwards the whole way. So all of us sat back and tried to look at the countryside. 

We pulled into Paris and got on to another mode of transportation, busses (let's just say at this point all of us were tired of sitting from airplanes and trains!) we went through a sketch part of town that kind of worried us all, I'm talking about swarms and swarms of peoples and flies everywhere. But we quickly exited that part of town and got into the center of the city to our hotel "Le Grand Hotel" that sits next to the Opera House.

We got settled in and LOVED the view we had from our hotel room:

Woo-Hoo for the Eiffel Tower :D 

They had a very nice welcome dinner that was in the hotel we were staying at. The food was delish and pretty sure we couldn't get enough of our favorite dessert the chocolate cup pictured below:

They went all out with music, a singer, 4 course meal and the company wasn't bad! We made some really great friends on this trip, and being alone with Micah was amazing - we knew Isla was being spoiled to death back in Utah and we could stay out late, act like we were teenagers, go wherever we pleased, and sit at a dinner table for more than 40 minutes! 

The next 5 days were busy busy busy with tours, food, and walking! That part is still to come...

Belgium

So if you haven't noticed we've been gone for awhile. Micah had an amazing opportunity to earn a trip to Brussels and Paris, so along with his co-workers and Micah's hard work we were able to head to Europe for 9 days :D

Miss Isla hung out with the fam back in Utah.

Our journey started out to Brussels. What a beautiful city that has some great history. They have a reigning King and they just adore him and his Queen. Everywhere we went on tours they couldn't say enough about their King and Queen. 

We headed to Bruges, Belgium which was 1.5 hour away from Brussels. 

The tour guide said that the city hasn't changed street structures since it was built in the 13th century. 

Bruges is known for it's lace. The cutest elderly ladies would sit out on their doorways making the lace. Such a great trade that takes an amazing amount of time, and patience!

They also have horse carriages that go all around the city. We took a ride and it was so nice to see the quaint old town with cobblestone streets. 

Here is my everyday go-to outfit over in Europe:

The temperatures were perfect at 70-80 degrees. The tour guides usually talked through a microphone so that's what that black box is hanging from my neck. Then the perfect accessory: the orange wristband. This was all all-access pass to cutting in front of LONG lines, food, discounts. I loved this accessory.


Our last day in Belgium I was sad because it looked like I wasn't going to see a very good friend I had made when I was an exchange student to France back in 2003. Micah came to the rescue and suggested that we just rent a car and drive to her.

So at 7:00 pm that night we rented a car and headed to Lille, France which is just on the border of Belgium and France 1.5 hours away. 

Let's just say that I got a little taste of "The Amazing Race" and I am a horrible navigator with a map. Since we didn't have our phones, we had no GPS, and we just printed out a paper with some simple directions. Navigating through European streets is quite interesting...

But we finally made it!

Meet Juliette Berthier. She is one of the sweetest girls I met on my studies in France all those years ago. We have always kept in touch and I am so grateful for her friendship. She cooked us an amazing meal, we chatted the night away, Micah and Jeremy (Juliette's boyfriend)got along great, and we got a great insight to a normal French family's life. 

They teased us saying we were "So American" for out split-decision in renting a car and driving to them that night. Ha ha.

We pulled into our hotel at 3:00 am and packed for our departing trip to Paris at 7:00 that morning. We felt so young and single staying out that late!

We couldn't leave Belgium without having belgium waffles. Delish!

Our Family Pictures

We just got our family pictures done by Sweet Moments by Candi who was so amazing with Isla :)

Isla Update

We've been having the best time with Isla lately. She's really starting to pick up with talking and conversing. 

22 months old

24 lbs

Clothes size: 18-24 Months

Shoe size: 6 Toddler

Favorites:

Blankie. Doggie. Elmo. Ugly helmet. Strawberry Cream Mini Spooners. Chocolate Milk. Cheese. Swimming. 

 We only have one complaint. She's a biter. She's doing better, but she can get her friends pretty good with leaving marks. I know that she'll grow out of it, but geesh it's more embarrassing being the mother of the biter! 

Other than that she's an angel :) Always giving kisses, saying hi and bye (with a kiss blown your way) giving hugs to her friends, asking if we're ok, and saying "I YUV U!" 

25!

HAPPY
25th BIRTHDAY...


to me :) 

Micah went all out to surprise me with a party with all the people i love dearly! I was so touched by all the people who showed up to the HOT party. Literally it was so hot that we were melting away! 

 The conspirators that got me to the party to be surprised ;) This is their little guy Devon - he's such a smiley boy wherever he goes!

Tommy and Katie

Aunt Mar, Uncle Bob, Micah & Jeremy

Brit & Della

And also Happy Birthday to my grandma! She never wants to share the spotlight on our birthdays, so she let's me have it all!

Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July! We had so much fun with going to our ward's barbeque in the morning, hiking up at Brighton with our friends the Webbs, and then continuing the night with fireworks and yummy food!

Miss Isla and Mr. Devon capturing a moment before some hot tubbing!

We headed up to Logan for some family pictures (coming soon) and then went camping with my family up Left Hand Fork. Here's some of the cutest cousins that take care of Isla so well!

Riding the four-wheelers with Daddy was super fun! 

Mommy was a little fun too!

Update

Happy Father's Day!! We had the best time spoiling our dad in our lives :) 

My favorite things I want to remember about Micah being a dad is how he always makes a song for Isla  when there doing something. She just giggles and stares at him, but is always entertained! Then if he's really doing an amazing song she'll dance. 

I'm not kidding when I say my dad was never as concerned about me as he is his granddaughters. He get's anxiety attacks when Isla is climbing and running everywhere. So you know he must love her when he's running after her keeping her safe. 

I didn't get a picture with Micah's dad, David, but he is the best swing pusher! He will always take Isla out and push her endlessly on a swing, she's caught on to this and will search him out to go swing.

Micah's sister has amazing summer outings and they headed to Liberty Park. Della showed off her tooth that just fell out:

 Aliya was quick to pose, then zipped off right after! She's quite a good picture-taker!

And Isla saying "CHEESE!" with her head up in the air.

 Isla is now sleeping on the floor 2 days out of the week. You can see behind her all her clothes she takes out and try's to put on. I guess all the clothes she takes on and off is exhausting, because she just collapses right on the spot.

And as always she has her hot pink blankie and baby with her:

I have to remember how I act on the phone because apparently I always have my hand gesturing, smiling, and saying "oh!"

Our Boston came for a visit and they were off with the stuffed animals! I can't believe how big they've both gotten! Boston will be turning 2 next week!

She's just getting so big!