Crew's 1st year pictures

Crew

Cruiser

Cruiser Bruiser

mini-tan

Crouton

Crew-ton

Bruiser

                             Don't you just want to kiss him???

I had these pictures taken at a new studio in draper (mainly because I really wanted to check out the studio).  I think they turned out great!  Crew is not the happiest of souls - so it was really hard to get him to smile.  Mostly he just looked at us like we were crazy. 

He may look exactly like Tanner - but they are polar opposites in personality.  Tanner is easy going, laid back, and a happy-go-lucky kind of guy.  NOT CREW.  He came with quite an attitude and he knows how to use it.  But oh how I love him!

Quilting and Photography

This past year I have picked up 2 new hobbies. Quilting and photography. I finished my 1st quilt and I am about 1/2 way through my 2nd one. I love working with fabric - there are so many wonderful colors and designs. The possibilities are endless. I love seeing the progress you can make quickly - then it all comes together and it's so cool! You feel like you've actually accomplished something worthwhile and beautiful. You can lose yourself in motherhood - you work hard all day and at the end of it - sometimes it seems like all your left with is a messy house, ornery kids, laundry and dirty dishes to wash. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing more important than motherhood, you just get faster results with quilting. Hopefully after 20 years of being a mother the results will be worthwhile and beautiful too.

My 2nd hobby I have worked on this past year is photography. Hopefully this one will be more than just a hobby. I've always loved taking pictures - been kind of known as the "family photographer" but I got a great camera and some great lenses and I LOVE IT!!! I'm always "armed" and ready with my camera - I think my kids wish I would just stick with quilting. So I've been taking classes at the U, reading tons of books and practicing all the time. The pictures below are from a field trip with one of my classes at Red Butte Gardens in Salt Lake City. There are so many of Courtney because we could bring one model and I brought her. It was kind of funny - she ended up being the model for the whole class because my teacher loved her. Anyways - here are some of the ones I really loved.

This one of Court is my absolute favorite!

I've had so much fun with these 2 hobbies. I'm always open for suggestions and help - I know so many of you out there are pro at these things. But it's been a blast to find things that I love to do.

Blast from the past - Crew's birth from 2009

I know, it's now January 2011 but I'm finally posting my pictures from Crew's birth from 2009. The biggest event in my life since I last posted. Crew Grant Isom was actually born on his due date on Oct. 6th, 2009. He was born at 6:40 p.m. weighing in at 7lbs 9 oz. I was in labor nearly 24 hours and did it NATURALLY with much help from my wonderful husband, sister in law Emily and my mom. Words cannot express what I went through - but I did it! (Don't know if I will ever do that again!!!)

When Crew was born the connection was immediate. It felt like - where have you been my whole life?

Here is Porter and I in the Labor and Delivery room before all heck broke loose! I'm still smiling here.
Here's my sister-in-law Emily who came and literally held my hand through the whole thing. (Sorry if I broke any bones Emily). She was so great to have there and give me the encouragement and help that I really needed. (Thanks Em - you're the best!)

Me and my mom! My mom wasn't so sure of this natural thing - I think she thought I was crazy and she was probably right. I don't think parents like to see their kids in pain.

Whew........Crew finally made it. The whole fam!

1st bath....Courtney Jake and Tanner helped. They were so excited to have a new brother.

Home from the hospital.

Crew is now 15 months old. He has long, blond, slightly curly hair. We call him "mini-Tan" -Tanner and Crew could be twins. He can be quite a handful....they talk about the terrible 2's.........I think he started it about 6 months and is still going through it! We all love him very much.

Porter and Steph's trip

Porter was going on a trip with Chris, his boss, and I got to tag along. It was so nice of them to invite me. We had such a great time!!! We went to Washington D.C., Grand Cayman and to New Orleans. It was a great break from everything - but I was also excited to get home. My wonderful mother watched the kids for me so I was able to go. Here a some pictures from our trip.


This is Chris and Porter in Nebraska where we stopped for gas on our way to D.C.


This is after we landed in D.C. We visited my cousin Mindy and her husband Ricky at their apartment in D.C. It was really fun to see her.

Here we are visiting some of the sites in D.C. There is soooo much to see. We only had a day and a half - so it wasn't too much time - but we saw as much as we could. I swear we walked like 15 miles a day -okay maybe not that much - but I started having contractions and cramping. You would need a month or more to see all of the monuments and museums there. We had a great time with just the two of us.

Natural History museum:

Here are some pictures of all the monuments we went to.

This is the White House.

This is at the World War II monument.

Washington Monument

We are at the WWII monument with the Lincoln Memorial behind us.

After about a mile or so walk, we made it to the Lincoln Memorial.

Vietnam memorial

One of the coolest things we did was go to Arlington Cemetery. We saw the changing of the guard and some other really cool things.

There is an endless sea of headstones.

Here we are at the Capital Building, I was surprised at how close you can get to it. Although, you have to be careful there are armed guards with AK-47's everywhere. I wanted to get my picture next to one of them but I was too afraid to ask.

This is the sunset over Cuba on our way to the Caymans. I was a little nervous flying over Cuba, I didn't want to get shot down!!!

The first day on the Caymans we all went on Chris's boat and he showed us the island. It was a blast!!! It is such a beautiful place. He took us down Dinosaur Ally where these huge Iguana's are swimming in the ocean, he took us snorkeling, we went to this great little restaurant on the other side of the island and he took us to Stingray City. Stingray City is this sandbar far out in the ocean where people can feed stingray's. I guess people have been doing it for 30 years, so everyday 100's of stingray's come and wait on this sandbar. I didn't get any pictures there, but it was amazing!!! I was totally freaked out at first - these huge stingray's 4-6 feet across come up to you and want food. You feed them squid and they suck it right out of your hand. They chase you if they think you have food and swim along your body and in between your legs - creepy! But is was amazing to be so close and touch these huge animals. The female ones were really aggressive, the males were a lot smaller - I even stepped on one - but it didn't sting me.

Porter in heaven - anything that has big engines and goes really fast is right up his ally!

This is where we ate lunch. Porter living it up!

It is paradise there.

Dinosaur Ally - the Iguanas sunbathe on this wall and then jump in and swim to the grove trees on the other side.

We ate at the best restaurants!!! Chris and Melody go there all the time - so they know many of the locals and the best places to eat and shop.

This is Chris and Melody. They were so nice to invite me and so wonderful to us on the trip.

This is looking south - I think- from where we stayed. We are right on 7 mile beach.

This is the Ritz, where we stayed!

This is looking North - I think.

There are two towers at the Ritz Carlton that are homes -or I guess condo's -that people own. Chris and Melody own almost the whole 2nd floor on this tower. You can see the balcony on the very right of this picture and about the next 4 balconies that go back on the left - that is their home. It is beautiful and they were so kind to let us stay there with them.

Porter took this picture for posterity! This is the first time in my life that I ordered seafood at a restaurant. He couldn't believe it. He ordered tuna the night before and it was so good the next night I ordered my own.

This is everyone at dinner for Chris's 50th bday party. There is Porter, me, Melody, Chris, Stephanie and Steve (they are Melody and Chris's best friends that were on the whole trip with us - great people) and Penny and Rafe (Rafe is Chris's cousin that lives on the island and Penny is his wife - also great people).

Leaving the Caymans :(

You can see 7 mile beach where we stayed.

We made a stop in New Orleans on the way home. This is on Bourbon street- I don' recommend going there. It was interesting to see, but not a place I would ever want to go back.

It was a whirlwind of a trip but it was so fun to spend time with Porter. I missed my kids and it was so great to pick them up and hug them when I got back.