Tiny's New Trick

Isabelle has picked up a new trick....one that I love....she smiles for the camera! As soon as I put the camera up to my face and tell her to smile, she does! It's so cute and has made for some really great pictures!!Eric's show, The Hasty Heart, closed last weekend. He had a great time playing with the boys and it was a wonderful show with a powerful message. We're both so glad that he was able to be a part of it! And both so glad it's over. That's one of the funny things about Eric. Unlike most actors, Eric loves closing a show. He always feels accomplished. And in this case, I think, he also felt relieved. The cast went out after the show on Saturday and it was fun to be able to spend time with them. One of the hardest things about doing a show now that we've had Tiny is that we don't get to hang at Applebee's with everyone nearly as much. *shrugs* We made the most of that night for that very reason, we were the last ones to leave! :-)
Isabelle and I went on her first picnic yesterday! It was a little windy but they weather was still wonderful! It was so fun to be outside, sitting on the grass, hanging with my baby. I'm so lucky to be a mommy!!Kung Fooey opens in about a week an half, which means we leave for DISNEY WORLD in a week and a half!!!! AHHHHHH! I cannot believe it's so soon! I've been planning this trip since October and it always seemed so far away, but now it's almost here. It still hasn't really set in, obviously, because I haven't gotten ANYTHING done! We're going to have so much fun! I can't wait to be away with Tiny, Eric, and Caleb for a whole week! We're going to ride awesome rides, swim in really neat pools, and eat the most amazing food. *eek*Speaking of Kung Fooey, I am a fantastic choreographer! :-) They look so great! We ran the second act last night and it was a little rough...okay a lot rough but it was mostly just memorization issues. But the dancing is AWESOME! I'm so proud of the cast and really am feeling like I might actually be good at this! ;-) I couldn't have done it without my Nic-ee-poo though! I love him so much! And Tiny seems to be a fan as well....

Fun in the Sun!

Ahhh, the SUN! No, not the non-existent warmth here in Utah, the warmth, humidity, and sunshine of California! What a nice escape my trip to Palm Springs was. Sure, there was stress, and I was in a lot of pain through most of the trip, but being with my Tiny, her boyfriend, and 2 of my dearest friends outweighed all of that! I shall now share with you the details of Isabelle's first vacation!!

Thursday, May 12th- I scrambled around like a mad woman trying to get everything ready for Izzy and I to leave the next morning. Eric, my rock, took the day off work to stay home and help me get ready! THANK THE LORDS OF KOBAL for amazing husbands!!! He took the car to get cleaned, and lubed, and the tires rotated. He then came home and helped me calm down and go shopping. That evening he went to Hale and I went to OBT, which naturally means I got absolutely no packing done! Brilliant!

Lucky Friday the 13th- I get up early so I can shower and finish all of the packing. Luckily, Tiny slept through all the noise I was making in her room! I got everything finished and somehow ended up with 700lbs of luggage. I still don't know what took up so much room! I felt stupid for having packed so much stuff but Sunny gave me a "get out of jail free" card since it was my first time traveling with a baby...but she did make fun of me, which I'm pretty sure was warranted! Kori, Logan, and Sunny got to my house, we packed up, and headed out. We stopped at McDonald's for breakfast-which was delicious- and then we were on our way to Cedar City. The babies did really well until about 15 minutes before we stopped. (That was kind of their pattern for the whole trip. It didn't matter how long we'd been traveling, about 15 minutes before we got there they'd both go crazy. I think they knew what was coming and just couldn't wait to get out of the car.) We stopped at "The Pastry Pub" in Cedar City to eat some delicious lunch and see Kori and Sunny's family. Then we took the kids to the Discovery Park to ware them out, which was effective! Isabelle LOVED the swings. I've taken her to the park a few times but she's always just swung with me. This was her first time in a baby swing all by herself. She was crazy about it, I think I could've left her there all day. After we went down some slides and finished "discovering" the park we were ready to leave for Vegas. The kiddos we asleep before we even left the parking lot! We got to Vegas, checked into our lovely hotel room, and headed out to find food and show Vegas to our babies...and Kori who hadn't been there for a long time! We ate in Caesers Palace. I had some AMAZING calamari. Seriously, I would drive back to Vegas right now just to get some! After food we went to the Bellagio. They have a cool butterfly exhibit right now and of course we saw the fountains. Tiny loved watching the fountains. The kids were over-stimulated and ready for sleep when we got back! They both slept really well that night which was wonderful!

Saturday May 14th- Monday May 16th -We drove for what seemed like an eternity. It was only a 4 hour drive but it seemed like we were never going to get there. We stopped once for lunch at Panda Express and one other time to change baby diapers. After a long, windy drive we were finally in California. The property was beautiful and we were all so happy to finally be there. The days that followed were full of swimming, eating, relaxing, watching Tangled and being girls! Sunny prepared a bunch of delicious and healthy meals for our trip. It was so nice to have proof that you can eat healthy and it can still taste amazing! THANK YOU SUNNY!!! The swimming pool at this property was really neat. Tiny and Logan had a really fun time in the pool and it always wore them out, which was really nice. We even got to take them down the water slide...so fun!!! Our last night there we got all dressed up to go into Palm Springs, which didn't exactly work out like we had planned but we still had some yummy Mexican food and got to see a little bit of the cute Palm Springs strip. Getting ready to go though, was so much fun!! Sunny plucked my eyebrows and did my make-up. I felt so pretty (she did a really great job) and for the first time ever I got to do girl things with girls. I can't even express how thrilled I was and how happy I felt. I'm so lucky to have Sunny and Kori in my life...I really feel like I've found girls that I can be friends with forever, which is something I didn't know if I'd ever find.

Tuesday May 17th- Time to go home! We were definitely sad to be leaving the warm but I think we were all ready to get home to our boys. Originally, we weren't sure what we were thinking traveling with two teething babies but it turns out, at least for me, that missing my boy was harder than traveling with Tiny. Tiny and Logan were actually really really really good, we got very lucky I think. Anyways, so we decided to drive straight home rather than stopping for the night in Vegas or Cedar. We stopped for lunch at In and Out (which was much more of a novelty before they were in Utah) and at Kori and Sunny's Aunt's house in Cedar to give the kids a break from the car. We made it home around 1am and 3 very happy men rejoiced!!!

All in all, I think the trip was a huge success. I don't know if Kori and Sunny feel the same, especially because they had to be around me for the bit of a meltdown I had, crying over spilled milk....quite literally! But I love them both, and little Logan, SO much!!! I loved our girls trip, the good and the bad. I loved being with my Sunny, whom I adore, and getting to know and love Kori! I loved traveling with Tiny and realizing that I can survive a vacation with her! I love eating healthy food. I loved swimming! I loved driving and talking with the girls about everything under the sun. I loved BEING IN THE SUN! I loved our power walk and our "getting lost adventure" to Palm Springs. I loved feeling loved and accepted.
I'm so very grateful to Sunny for being willing to do so much to make this vacation possible! I'm thankful that she wanted to spend a few days with me and Izzy. I'm so so glad that she's my friend, I don't know what I'd do without her. And I'm SUPER thankful that Kori was so willing to sit in the back with the babies and keep them happy. (Which I hope really was the case. I tried to give you an out Kor, and you said you were fine so...I hope that was true and that you don't hate me because you had to feed my baby and keep her smiling!) Kori was amazing with the kids and they loved having her back there. I'm so glad that she was willing to accept me and treat me like one of the sisters! I'm so grateful to both of them for making me feel incredible loved. For teaching me new things and correcting my mistakes. For laughing with me and at me. For sharing things with me and listening to my feelings. You girls are amazing and I love you more than I could ever say!!!
I'm also very thankful to Logan and Isabelle for being such happy travel companions. Thank you babies, for being good, smiling lots, and making us happy. Thank you for not making us stop every 10 minutes and for giving us an awesome excuse to have Tangled constantly playing in the background. Thank you for being such beautiful, wonderful children. And a special thanks to my Tiny...thank you baby for being such a joy! Mommy got very frustrated with you a couple of times but all in all you were a delight. Thanks for sitting and playing by yourself sometimes. Thanks for eating whatever I give to you and for sleeping through the night. Thanks for being so smiley for pictures and giving mommy kisses. You're such a sweet girl and I love you more than everything!!
And thank you to my Eric. Thanks for giving us up for a few days so we could go play in the sun. Thanks for helping me get ready and saying up til 3am chatting with me when I got back. Thanks for being supportive and encouraging me when I wasn't sure I could make this vacation happen. Thanks for loving me and Tiny!!!

Playing catch up!

Well, it has been some days since I have posted on this here bloggy, so I thought I'd best get all caught up.

Things are going just fine for the Armstrong's. Eric and I had our 3rd Anniversary on 4-23 and it was wonderful. We had auditions for, "Kung Fooey", (the show that we're directing this summer at OBT) in the morning and they went great. We had lots of talented people and called almost everyone back! Then we dropped Tiny off at my Aunt Kim's house and Eric and I met Sunny at the Courtyard Marriott in Salt Lake. She was nice enough to check us in so that we could get a super discounted room. I'll be honest....she's kind of the most awesome person ever. So we chatted with sunshine for a bit and then went to get some snacks for the night. We decided while we were out that we might as well get dinner since it was a Saturday night and places would fill up fast. We ended up having our romantic dinner at "The Tin Angel". SUCH a charming little place. The food was wonderful, exotic, and not so expensive that we broke the bank but just pricey enough to feel like we were celebrating!! We had 3 tapas (2 bite plates) 1.) Prosciutto wrapped shrimp 2.) Delicious bread with oil and balsamic vinegar and 3.) Flank steak skewers with an apricot chutney. MMM! We also got the fancy version on french fries, baked fingerling potatoes with their house aioli. DELICIOUS! For dinner Eric got the duck with Israeli couscous and I got some sort of amazing chicken with a lemon caper sauce over fresh pasta! And we shared a caramelized pear tart brulee for dessert! It was incredible food!!! Anyways, then we went back to the hotel and DID NOT wait 30 minutes before swimming. Although, in our defense, we didn't really swim so much as we just sat in the hot tub....for a long time! Then we went on to do other things that I don't think anyone really wants to hear about. Then I got a some pains and ruined the rest of the night. :-( Lame Kia! So Eric ate the snacks by himself and I think watched part of "The Ten Commandments". I dunno!
The next day was Easter....I felt bad not being with Tiny on her very first Easter but I figured of all of them to be away for this one would be the best because she wouldn't remember it, so she spent the day with my Aunt Kim and her family. Eric and I soaked in the hot tub, had an amazing lunch, and went to see African Cats with Sunny and Rusty. The movie was kind of awesome actually! Rusty HATED it though. He said it was the single worst thing he'd ever seen! Yeah...he's super dramatic but we still felt bad for dragging him to it. I have to be honest though, I never in a million years would've guessed that the reason Rusty would hate that movie was because it was too sad! Poor Rusty is a little to sensitive to watch Big Kitty's suffer...and who can blame him?? Oh, we love those two, they're good quality people and wonderful friends!!

We went and got Tiny that night, unfortunately she was a little bit sick so she wasn't great for Kim like I was hoping she would be. Guess we're gonna have to find someone else to watch her next time. Ugh! BEHAVE CHILD! It's just too hard to predicted babies!!!

Well, its now May 6th, so, I started writing this post 8 days ago! Now there is so much more to catch up on and I feel overwhelmed by it all so...I'll catch you up REALLY fast.
We cast our show! Yay! We have a wonderful cast (we think...) and we can't wait to put this show together. We cast Scott Butler, Jake Miskimins, Matt Glade, Jesse Curran, Eric Jensen, Clarence Strohn, Angie DeGrazio, Sara Higgins, Dru Watts, Nic, Brown, Sunny Simkins, Sandy Jensen, Annalise Karr, and Patrick Alderman. I know some of those names don't mean anything yet, but they will very soon! We started choreography for the show and the cast is doing remarkably well with it! THANK THE LORD'S OF KOBOL!!!

Eric's show is going really well. He's still having a lot of fun and doing lots of guy bonding! It was pie night last night which means they're half way done! YAY!!! We'll see if I ever let him do this again! ;-) I actually love watching him perform, it makes me all sorts of happy! I'm so proud to be married to such a talented guy!

Isabelle is growing like a weed. She gets more personality everyday and I love it! She's getting to be so much fun. She's a wiggle worm which I'm trying to encourage into something productive but she'd rather just lay on her back and wiggle her hips. Silly baby! She eats anything I put in her mouth and doesn't think its acceptable for me to eat something and not share with her. She's a very happy baby and I love her a lot!

Isabelle and I are leaving for Palm Springs next week....SO EXCITED!!!! We're going on a "relaxing and rejuvenating" vacation with Sunny, Kori, and Logan. It SHOULD be a lot of fun, as long as the kiddos behave. We're going to be gone for 6 days stopping in Vegas on the way there and the way back. I can hardly stand the waiting! I want it to be right now!!!!!! Although, it'll the the first time since Eric and I got married that we have gone more than 1 night without each other. It's going to be strange to be away from him for so long. But I'm sure he'll be SUPER productive at home and get a lot done so the house looks great and the dog smells better when I get home! ;-)

There's my attempt at playing catch up. Hope it was semi-informative and slightly entertaining! I shall end this post with a picture of my messy faced Tiny in her sink bath this morning! She loves the water!!!!

Growing up TOO fast!!

Well, believe it or not, Isabelle is 6 months old today! WOW, I cannot believe I've had this precious little terror for half a year...its amazing how fast the time flies! She has brought me more smiles and tears in her short 6 months than I've had my whole life. I love everything about her and still can't believe that she's mine!
I remember, the day I went into labor, telling Eric I wasn't ready to be a mommy yet! When the nurse came in and said "Well, the doctor wants to keep you! You're having a baby today!" it started to set in that my life was going to seriously change and I wasn't quite sure I'd prepared enough for that. Then I held that tiny smashed face angel in my arms and all my worries melted away....for about 48 hours until they released me from the hospital! It is an overwhelming sense of fear and responsibility you feel as you walk through the front door with this miniature human package. I still don't know how I (or anyone who's ever had a child) survived those first 6 weeks. It is such an adjustment figuring out how to go from a couple to a family, then you add taking care of aforementioned small person and it kind of blows your mind how stressful life gets. And yet somehow, through all of it, you experience a tremendous amount of happy.
I will never be able to express the love I feel for my little Belle. I've always heard mothers talk about that special love that you feel for your child. The love that makes you want to kill anyone who looks at them wrong and makes you cry every time they bump their head. After about 4 months I finally felt that I had discovered that love and now I feel it grow every time she does! The bigger the baby the bigger the love!
Isabelle is a sweetheart at least 80% of the time! She grows and changes faster than I can keep track! To help me remember, here's my profile of Tiny at 6 months old!

Isabelle Julianna Armstrong
6 months old
Isabelle is 27 and 1/4 inches long (89th Percentile)
Bellie weighs 16 lbs 14 oz (69th Percentile)
Isabelle can sit up all by herself!Izzy can take steps holding onto Mommy's hands! (This is my favorite!)
Isabelle is eating all sorts of food and can even feed herself crackers.Bellie loves show tunes and screams if there's not music playing in the car.
Isabelle can roll over from her back to her tummy, but she immediately regrets it.Izzy can say "dada", "nee", "ahhh", "grah" and "booth"
Bellie still loves to "sing" herself to sleep.
Isabelle can stand up by herself when holding onto furniture.
Bellie loves to laugh!Izzy is already a bit of a flirt and almost always prefers men!
Isabelle sleeps in her own bed, un-swaddled all night long and takes great naps.
Izzy still loves her "jump-jump"Isabelle's favorite TV show is Bubble Guppies (Yeah, that's a real thing!)
Bellie's favorite toys are: Her blanket frog "Wubba", her pink plush blocks, her link toys, and her "lamby pie"Izzy is crazy about grabbing her toes!!!Isabelle is only 6 months old and has been to movies and stage plays. She has gone to Wheeler Farm, the South Jordan pool, the mall, the park, and the hair salon! She's even been to Idaho! She's held hands with a younger man and been kissed more time than I can count! She's quite the lucky young lady.

Oh, how I love this little girl. There is so much life has in store for her. So much I want to show her and teach her and FEED her! She is truly the light of my life! I'm so blessed to be home with her so that we can make memories every day! I treasure all of the moments with her, the happy and the sad and cannot wait for all of the tomorrows I'll have with her.And so, to my sweet Tiny, a very very happy half birthday! Let's celebrate with lots of hugs and kisses....and Mexican food with Aunt Sunny!

Our new edition!

Okay, I haven't written forever, things have been crazy!! Before anything else I need to introduce you to the newest member of our family. This is ta Tanka, our 185 lb Newfoundland. We saved him from sudden death! Okay, maybe it wasn't that dramatic, but we did give him a very impromptu loving home that no one in Idaho seemed to be able to offer. He's a big sweetie and we love him so much! Unfortunately, he brought to our attention just how much our lifestyle had changed. We need a dog that's friendly with people AND other dogs...which our sweet Hilo wasn't, so, we had to part with her. :-(She was such a ridiculous girl and we really did love her, but we could no longer have a dog that was as possessive as she was. We need to be able to take our dog for walks, leave him at day care, not worry that he'll get in a fight with Snoopy, or ever hurt the baby. None of those things were really possible with Hilo. We were sad to say goodbye but we found her a wonderful home!! They're taking great care of her and spoiling her rotten! They love her, she's a perfect fit for their family!
So...there was a huge snowstorm the other day...yeah, its the middle of April and there was a massive snowstorm!!! Oh, Utah! I was so sad that we hadn't gotten any pictures of Tiny's first winter and, thanks to the April snow, we have some now! And THIS one is one of my favorite pictures of ALL TIME!!! Oh my gosh, I love this little girl! She gets bigger and smarter everyday which makes me very happy and a little bit sad. She even rolled over from her back to her tummy the other day! I thought she was never going to do it! :-) I was so so proud of her!
Isabelle loves eating! She really does! I've never seen a kid down their food in such a short time. She's very adventurous at trying new food, which mommy is very happy about. In her short 8 weeks of eating solid foods she's already tried a lot of stuff! She's had apples, bananas, oatmeal, peaches, pears, prunes, squash, rice crackers, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, and carrots of the baby food variety. She's also had quite a few tastes of grown up foods...cuz I'm a bad mommy. ;-) She's had crackers, ice cream, french bread, strawberry compote, garlic cheese biscuits from Red Lobster, crepes, key lime yogurt, Milano cookies, whipped cream, and pickles....she LOVES pickles!! On top of that, we've dipped her binky in just about everything we've ever eaten! She's particularly fond a delicious lemon sauce that comes over shrimp at Chin Wah and pesto sauce. HA! Oh how people are going to judge me now!! But what can you do, I love food and she loves food so...we eat food!! :-)Speaking of food, I'm going to FINALLY start making Tiny's meals this coming week. My Baby Bullet arrived (after a lot of waiting and frustration) and I couldn't be more excited! We also received our "Food Lovers Diet" package in the mail. Eric and I are really excited about starting this program! Now, I am NOT a dieter! I think diets are stupid and don't work and quite frankly, I don't have the willpower to stick with one. But this program seemed different enough that Eric and I were willing to give it a shot. There's no calorie counting or membership fees or food that has to be shipped to you. Basically the whole program is just teaching you how to eat the foods you like in the right portions and combinations that your body is always in a "fat burning mode" rather than a "fat storing mode". There were 2 things that sold us on this program. 1.) NEVER having to give up foods that we love or eat foods that we hate and 2.) Because there's no counting or prepackaged food, we can cook and eat like normal people. That means we can maintain this forever and Isabelle can grow up learning about healthy eating habits instead of watching mommy and daddy dieting (which is basically just teaching her what to do if she gets too fat.) Anyways, I'll keep you posted on our progress and all of that once we actually start...which will be tomorrow!
I leave you with this picture of Tiny the day we took her swimming for the first time...which she loved by the way! I'm so lucky to have her!