Joining the blogger world...

Isla is 16 months old now. We tried out the nursery at church today. I had a way harder time than she did. I sat in Relief Society next to Sister Case and told her I was sad that Isla was already old enough to go to her own class. She said, "With kids the days are long and the years are short." Im seeing how true that is. I am also seeing how true it is that you forget that cute thing they did that you thought you never would forget which brings me to a blog. I haven't been the best at journaling and im hoping this will give me a way to keep up with recording this amazing time in our lives...life with Isla.

To give a short recap, our story began the fall of 2006. Ian's aunt Kathy and my mom decided they wanted to set us up. We both reluctantly agreed to give our number. My mom decided to add a special touch and gave Ian my phone number along with my senior picture. Perfect! Amazingly enough, it worked. Ian called me and our first date was to the Ram in Riverside with an institute class to follow. We spent the next year on the phone a lot, ( we lived an hour away from each other) going on many runs, making dinner together, eating out, watching movies, attending weekend seminars, trips to Seattle, trips to the Lake, snowmobiling. It was a great year. We got married in his Aunt Kathy's backyard on December 15, 2007 in winter wonderland of snow. It was a breathtaking scene. I wore a white down coat and Ian wore a black down coat. Our siblings were our bridesmaids and groomsmen and my dad walked me down the snowy aisle. Our guests had never attended a wedding like it before! Everyone was stressed about the weather but I just new it would be beautiful and it was. After the ceremony, we had an open house in Galen and Kathy's house. There was delicious food and a red velvet wedding cake that me and Ian's mom made together along with hot chocolate. Ian sang to me followed by the traditional embarrassing rendition of "unfortunate man" by my uncles. It was a beautiful day.

Three months later we were surprised to learn that a little one was on the way and we spent the rest of our first year of marriage preparing. We welcomed Isla Jeanne Hansen into the world on her daddy's birthday, December 31, 2008. And life was never the same. She was born into a winter wonderland. We brought her home to our tiny one bedroom apartment with a burning fire. We all three slept together in our room. We spent five more months living in that tiny place on the third floor.

When Isla was one month old, we all three went to the temple to be sealed together for time and all eternity. It was a beautiful day, a beautiful ceremony. Isla looked like an angel. Ian and I placed our hands on each other with Isla's tiny hand on top and were sealed together. What I remember about that day was being so grateful to the Savior, that because of Him we can always have a second chance. I was grateful that because of Him, we can make mistakes and that He can bring peace and healing to any experience in life and that there is hope and a reason to keep trying. I felt grace and forgiveness and love.

Isla is such a miracle. She is funny, charming and the most outgoing, friendliest people person you will ever meet. At church on Sunday she can be seen with a new friend every week. She has never met a stranger. My grandpa always says, I see someone new walking the halls holding Isla each week. Ian and I just got done putting her to bed. She now has her own room. Our bedtime routine goes like this: First me and Isla take a bath, second I hand her off to dad who wraps her in a towl and puts her diaper on and gets her in her jammies. Then he warms up some milk while I read her stories. She drinks her milk then we all pray. Tonight for the first time she folded her arms during the prayer. Then Isla turns off the light by herself. Then we get "Allie" her favorite friend, the stuffed owl that Aunt Jordan made for her. We say "night night" and she says "sleep tight." She has developed a pretty extensive vocabulary at this point. Our week usually looks like this: Ian works Mon through Fri as an Educational Services Manager for Innovation computing. He's a computer guy :) He loves his job and he's great at what he does. As for me and Isla, Monday we wake up, have breakfast and then go to the library for reading time. She's been doing this since she was about 4 months old and she loves it. Then we go grocery shopping. Then lunch time. Isla takes a nap. After her nap we go for a run. ( I push her in the stroller.) On Tues and Thurs we go to the Bischoffs. Robin and I take turns running. Isla loves to play with Zane, Owen and Ronan or as she calls them, "boys". Friday night is pizza night. Sunday morning is Swedish pancakes (she calls them "mancakes") and then church. Ian and I fit a date in there somewhere. Life is good.

Isla's favorites right now are: airplanes, birdies, flowers, cars vroom vroom, coloring, anything with a motor, bread, crackers, cheese, apples and bananas, jumping on the bed, playing monster with dad, kisses, waving hi to strangers, outside, clouds, the moon and turning on and off light switches. We are learning how to be soft and how to use a spoon and brush our teeth.