Ben and Allison's night out....

I know this is Isabella's blog but we have to brag about our night out. Ben and I joined our friends Lee and Monique last night to a concert to see the Police. Yes, that is right we got to see Sting. :-) The concert was also in one of the most amazing places ever, the Red Rocks Amphitheater. Our neighbors were able to watch Isabella (which she did great) and we were able to enjoy a night out. Enjoy the pics.

Visitors...

We recently had a house full. Ben's sister, Ruth got to come visit and meet her niece for the first time. Ben's mom surprised her with a plane ticket for her birthday. She flew in on Wednesday the 16th and left on Tuesday the 22nd. It was a nice surprise for all of us and we were so glad she finally got to meet Isabella. Has you can see they hit it off very well.















On Thursday nights during the summer, one of the local parks has a free concert in the park. We loaded up the car with picnic gear and headed there Thursday evening. Aunt Ruth was able to enjoy it with us.















On Saturday our friends from Kansas, Shane & Brandy Jones and their three, Josie, Jackson and Julie came and bunked with us for a few days as well. It was a lot of fun having a house full. They left on Tuesday a little after Ruth.















On Sunday we added a few more and our friends Lee, Monique and Connor came and joined us for a cook out.





























Here they are watching Ben and Lee (not shown) in a big ping pong tournament. :-)















On Monday, we all headed out to downtown Denver (minus Ben as he had to stay home to work) and walked around the 16th Street Mall and went to one of our favorite restaurants, Wynkoops.















After a long day, some how they all managed to muster up some energy to go on a hike with Ben on Monday evening. Isabella and I stayed home.

Our little froggie...

Some neighbors have let us borrow several toys that there children have outgrown. One of them is a "Johnny Jump Up" that we attach the door. Some days she jumps more than others but she really seems to enjoy it. Check out this little video we took of her yesterday morning. We will have to post a better one of her jumping when she is a little more active.

First time at the pool...

Our little girl turned 8 months on Saturday. My how time is flying by. We have been wanting to take her to our rec center pool for a while now and finally was able to on Saturday.

Check me out in my pink bikini!






























She wasn't quite sure what to think at first.






























Then she was "Daddy, I don't think I like this".















Once we took her to the outdoor part, she really warmed up to it and started splashing.















Here she is resting after an exhausting time of splashing around and talking to everyone. :-)

Sad days....but happy times too!

On Tuesday, June 24th, we received word that my Granddaddy Smith had passed away in his home in NC. Fortunately, Isabella was able to meet him in April when we were there for her baby dedication.















After some scrambling and help from our dear friends, Brian and Nicole Roberson (Nicole works for Delta and helped us out with a buddy pass), we were able to make it to NC for the funeral and spend time with family. Even though it was a sad time, we still were able to enjoy some happy times too. After the funeral on Friday, the church provided lunch for all the family and friends. As you can see Isabella enjoyed some of that lunch as well....































Yes, that is a chicken bone. The lady holding Isabella used to watch me when I was a little girl. She let us eat while she held Isabella. Ben and I both turned around and couldn't believe how much she was enjoying that bone. It was pretty funny. She even threw a fit when we eventually had to take it away from her. :-)

We were also able to visit with my Papa Lopez. Here are a couple of sweet pics with Isabella.






























While we were there we were going through some things at my grandparents house and found some old pictures. My aunt and cousin found this one of me with my parents. Do you think our Isabella resembles her mom? I still think she has a good mixture of both her mom and dad. :-)


































Ben got home Sunday(6/29) and Isabella and I finally made it back on Thursday (7/3) after a couple of days of traveling. It is definitely good to be home but we did enjoy the extra days we got to spend with my family.