Ok, so once again it's been a while. I really need to get better about keeping my blog updated, but I always think it would be more interesting with pictures so I wait, thinking we'll get a new cable for our camera. I think I just need to accept the fact that it isn't going to happen anytime soon and just move on. :)
Anyway, so let's see, what all has happened in the last few months? Well, Matt lost his job on March 31st, but didn't tell me until April 1st, so at first I thought it was some cruel April Fool's joke. Of course it wasn't, and moments of panic followed, but then I was
ok. They gave us a decent severance package so I knew we would be
ok for a little while at least. Luckily one of Matt's friends recommended him for a job at
Silverline Security a few weeks later. Matt interviewed with the owners of the company and was hired the next day. So all in all, Matt was only out of work for one month, which gave him the chance to get some things done around the house that he hadn't had time for before. So everything worked out perfectly as far as Matt's employment was concerned, so then we just had to figure out what to do with Isabelle during the day while we were both working. My little sister Lora had been watching her for about 20 hours a week and luckily she was willing to watch her for 40 hours a week. We were very lucky that Lora is so helpful. Without her I really don't know what we would do, I can't stand the thought of putting Isabelle in daycare with someone we don't know. Plus Isabelle just adores Lora. They have so much fun together and sometimes the only way I can get Isabelle out of bed in the morning is to tell her that we're going to see Lora. Then she gets all excited and jumps out of bed. :) So, back to Matt's job. He works in North Salt Lake now and was hired to be the director of customer service. They had very specific objectives and goals for his position and he exceeded all of their expectations. Now that he has their customer service department completely under control and running smoothly they have moved him to the position of compliance officer. I hope he likes that position as well as his last one. :) I guess we'll find out in the next couple of weeks. Oh, and their company sells home security systems, they don't do mall security or anything like that. So many people assumed that since Matt likes guns so much that he must be working a security position at some business somewhere, carrying a gun and flashlight around. :)
On to other news. I decided a few weeks ago that since Matt works in Salt Lake now and doesn't get home until around 7:00 at night that I would start doing the cooking around the house so that we can still eat at a decent hour. I'm sure Matt was very scared at the idea, but to his credit he seemed very supportive of the idea. Now those of you that know me well, know that I DO NOT cook. I can bake and make desserts, but cooking....not so much. The first day was horrible, I burned the poor pork chops, but Matt still ate them. They weren't so bad once you got past the blackened outer crust. Ha ha!! The next day was a million times better, I made a whole
asian feast. It was really yummy. I made
miso soup, fried
wontons stuffed with pork and other good things, beef stir fry and rice. Since then it's been up & down. You never know what you're gonna get. :) Some things will take some practice and time, but all in all, it's all edible and not so bad.
Let's see..what else? In June my mom persuaded me to enter Isabelle into the Freedom Festival baby contest. So we took her over on a Saturday afternoon to be judged, which consists of putting your baby on a table while a judge tries to play with them. Weird, I know, but whatever. Anyway, Isabelle instantly picked up two of the stuffed animals they had sitting there and was watching the judge talking to her and smiling. I told Isabelle to kiss one of the animals and she did, then she started giggling like crazy because she thought it was so funny. When Isabelle thinks something is silly she covers her mouth when she giggles, it's the cutest thing. So that's what she did, and of course the judge thought it was hilarious. Needless to say Isabelle won first place in her age division, which meant she got to be in the two Freedom Festival parades. The next weekend was the Children's Parade. It went
ok. We weren't as prepared as we could have been. The week seemed to fly by, so I didn't get the wagon decorated like I wanted and we were running around all crazy in the 20 minutes between when I got home from my training run and when we had to leave for the parade. Isabelle was
ok during the parade. She didn't love it, and seemed to get bored after a couple of blocks, but since it was only about 6 blocks we survived. We then knew we had to be a lot more prepared for the longer parade the next week. It was still fun though. My parents made little signs that had her name on it, so people would yell her name and she'd look at them and smile.
My sister Jana came that next week to visit on her way home from their vacation in California. It was fun having them around. We had our "Driveway of Fire" on Friday night. Matt added a new element this year....hand sanitizer. It was awesome. You light it on fire and it makes a pretty blue flame. :) Milo &
Kae were lighting the fireworks this year, as always, and they made good use of the hand sanitizer. Everything was going well until one of their "boxes of doom" got out of control and fireworks started flying everywhere. Poor little Isabelle got hit with one right in the chest. She wasn't hurt, but she was really scared so we had to take her home soon after that, which was just as well since it was her bedtime anyway.
The next morning I got up bright & early to go to the Balloon Fest. I let Matt & Isabelle sleep in so I went by myself. It was pretty windy when I got there so they hadn't launched any balloons yet. They started blowing up a huge Coke bottle balloon right after I arrived and they were talking about how it was the biggest one of its kind. It was 178 feet tall. As soon as they stood it up the wind got a hold of it and it instantly slammed to the ground amid screams of the people below it. Of course people aren't going to get hurt from a falling balloon, they were just more surprised than anything. As soon as it hit it started bouncing back in my direction, but luckily the
people holding the ropes stopped it before it hit the ground on my side. It was all very entertaining. Soon after that they deflated the big Coke bottle and explained it was just there for display since there aren't enough places big enough for it to land in Provo/
Orem. Well, after an hour and a half of waiting for the winds to die down they finally launched 3 balloons, but then the wind picked back up and they cancelled any more launches. So I went home a little disappointed since I knew I wouldn't be able to watch the balloons on Monday since we would be getting Isabelle ready for the parade.
This is Isabelle before the parade. Note all the drinks & snacks in the front of the wagon. :)
On Monday morning, the day of the parade, everything went relatively smoothly. We woke up in plenty of time to get ready and to get Isabelle ready. We left a little later than we planned, but got to the parade start in plenty of time. Lora fixed Isabelle's hair when we got to the parade start and then we were ready to go. I had spent Sunday night decorating Amber's wagon that we used for the parade and it looked really cute. Lora helped me make some really cute signs to put on the side of the wagon. Kae helped me tape the streamers all over the wagon and then Matt made some really cute wheel covers and put flags in the front of the wagon. Once the parade started the rest is kind of a blur. My parents were at the beginning of the parade route, in our usual spot, and we saw a few other people we knew along the way. Other than that, we were just trying to keep up with everyone. They were going at a really fast pace for some reason. I almost had to run a few times. Isabelle seemed to enjoy herself. We made sure she had a lot of snacks and drinks, so she was fine. She'd wave and smile at people that called her name and we got a lot of people saying, "She's just the cutest thing I've ever seen." It was fun. We got a little hot towards the end, but all in all it wasn't so bad. The parade route was about 2 miles and then we walked back about another mile before Kae picked up Matt and took him back to our car. I then made it almost all the way back to the beginning of the parade before Matt finally was able to get the car through the traffic to pick us up. Isabelle was exhausted after the parade. It was funny, as soon as we were off the parade route it was like she knew she was done smiling & waving and instantly laid down in the wagon to rest. It was so cute!
Here's Isabelle after the parade, happy to be in the nice cool car.
After the parade we rested at home. Isabelle and Matt took a long nap while I made a strawberry tart and a strawberry cake/pie for our family BBQ. We had the BBQ at my parents' house and it was yummy, as usual. After dinner we had a badminton tournament which was a ton of fun. My mom and I were a team, and we didn't win, but that's
ok. Matt &
Kae were a team, and they ended up in the championship game against Ken & Lora. I think Ken & Lora ended up winning, but I don't remember. :)
Well, that was our lovely 4
th of July weekend. In between all of the fun of the last few weeks we always made time to watch the World Cup games. It was sad when the US lost to Ghana, but they did well and we're still proud of them. Maybe next time we'll make it to the finals. :) Take care everyone, and have a great week!!
We have to read it to her about 10 to 20 times a day. It's the cutest book. Every page you turn gets rid of one of the little lady bugs. She is starting to learn her numbers with this book. There's a number in the corner of every page for how many ladybugs are on that page. As soon as you turn the page she points to the number and says a number. She's usually right. :) I'm so glad that she loves to read, because so do I. 
