Tis the Season

We started the tradition of making gingerbread houses last year in Logan. This year we did it for FHE. We had so much fun, especially since Sophie could do a lot more by herself. She had so much fun sticking all the candy on the house her and I put together. Although she pushed a little too hard and toppled the roof, so it ended up looking like a box. Zoe had fun munching on the graham crackers and laughing at us.

Here we are decorating:

Here is Zoe enjoying the craziness!

Sophie, her candy covered mouth and gingerbread house!

And here we have our finished products. Tyler said he was going for the abstract...basically he "munched" on the graham crackers and then threw them on the top of his house. My house only lasted till the next day when Sophie decided to munch on the door...then the gumdrops....

We definitely had a blast making these and highly suggest it as a family activity!

Fun in the Snow

About a week ago, Tyler was watching the girls while I made dinner. All was quiet...nice but very unusual...then I heard them coming.....
Sophie was dressed up...not unusual...but then Tyler brings in Zoe! Absolutely adorable and hilarious. Sophie was the one to instigate this but Tyler was an able accomplice! What daddy's won't do for their girls!!!!

Last weekend we had some snow in good 'ole Tooele. So we suited up for some fun. Sophie had a blast, though she resembled the little guy from A Christmas Story, you know the one all bundled up in his snow suit and he can't put his arms down or walk. It was quite comical! Zoe was about the same, the snowsuit was very puffy to say the least, she did have fun....at least I think so....she didn't cry as we subjected her to the traditional snow angel. Here are some pictures of our fun.

Zoe in her puffy snow suit, she couldn't even sit up very well!

Tyler and Zoe getting ready to make snow angels. Tyler had to help Zoe a bit...she is only 8 months..lol.

Sophie and I making our snow angels.

Halloween...a bit late...

Not that we went trick-r-treating late, but I am horribly late at posting about it. Anyway, we had so much fun this year for Halloween. Sophie is finally old enough to get excited about it week before hand. We decorated cupcakes, sang silly songs, did a countdown and made her costume. She was so excited to be Minnie Mouse. Zoe on the other hand could have cared less, and would have probably been happier, had I not forced her into a cow costume (which everyone thought was a giraffe, and I could see it after they said it, oh well). According to Sophie, Zoe was Clarabell Cow, from Mickey Mouse, the way she said it made me laugh!!

Here are the girls with Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Kraig, they came to visit us from Nevada early on Halloween day. We were treated to a yummy lunch and Sophie got to trick-r-treat grandpa. He gave her bunches of candy when she said trick-r-treat!

Sophie and her silly faces, and the best picture I got of her in her costume. Go figure!

Zoe, just loving the flash on the camera. Don't you just want to eat those cheeks...yum!

A couple of days before Halloween, I think, anyway, Tyler and Sophie went out and raked and bagged all the leaves. Sophie was so willing to help, she opened the bags and after they were full dragged them over to the pile. It was super cute, to bad kids don't get so excited to help as they get older!

Here is Zoe shirking her daughter duties. Playing in the high chair while Sophie was working so hard....well, I guess she was helping make dinner..lol.

Sophie being a big helper for her dad!

Happy Birthday Sophie!!!

My little one is 3. It is hard to believe that she is growing as fast as she is, time has just flown by since she was born. We celebrated her birthday on Saturday with a princess theme. Sophie is in love with the Disney Princesses. Not a day goes by when she doesn't play with one of the doll she has. All month I have heard how she wants a Belle cake. She got the idea into her head after she say her cousin Josie's Cinderella cake. So finally on Saturday she got her wish, and man did her eyes light up!
Here is the cake:

Sophie and her cake after blowing out the candles.

Don't you just love how she lined all her new princesses up:

And yet another princess...

and a gift certificate to the Purple Cow...thanks Uncle Jared, she was so excited!!!

Sophie received so many nice presents from family and she was so grateful for all of them. Thanks everyone!!

Happy Birthday Sophers!!!!

Pumpkin Patch

A couple of Monday's ago we ventured out the the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins. Sophie had a blast running through the field and she probably would have brought home every last pumpkin if we would have let her. Here is the one she finally decided on:

Daddy and Zoe examining her pumpkin to make sure it's the right one!

I don't know if that face means the pumpkins approved or not, but we got it for her anyway.

After we got home I busted out the paints and let Sophie go wild, it was a lot more fun for Sophie than carving because she could get her hands dirty, and I wasn't consistently telling her to get her hands away from the knives.
Me subjecting my baby to a hand print sample on her pumpkin....messy business!

Sophie having an artistic flare...I think she used every color we sat out. In the end her pumpkin was brown and gray because of all the colors she mixed together, but hey, she had a blast painting.

Loving fall, and a new purchase

First off, Tyler and I made a purchase that I never dreamed I would make, mainly because I was morally opposed to vans. I vowed that I would never be the mom that needed a van to get around. I thought that they were too typical of a stay at home mom, and if you know me, I don't like to be typical. However, a couple of weeks ago the girls and I got rear ended in Clearfield when we went to visit my sister in the hospital (she had an adorable baby girl.). The rental car they gave us, much to my dismay, was a mini van. Well let's just say I fell in love!!! They rest as they say is history, and here is my purchase to prove it!


Now onto fall. I absolutely love the change of seasons that we are experiencing, not so much the cold weather but the start of all the fabulous holidays! Sophie is especially excited for Halloween, she has already decided to be Minnie Mouse and now everyday I hear, "It's Halloween time...can we go to the Halloween store...can I be Minnie yet?" It is all very cute and a little unnerving that she doesn't understand time yet, but she is almost three, I can't expect too much, right!

A couple of days ago we made cupcakes to usher in the start of the season. Sophie loves to bake with me and the cupcakes were no exception. It was an all day event and she never let me forget that the cupcakes still needed to be frosted. So here they are:

Here is Sophie devouring the much anticipated cupcake, mind you she only licked the frosting off and crumbled the cupcake. Gotta love three year olds!

What happens at Girl Party, stays at Girl Party

Except for these super cute skirts we made!

Zoe is so GQ!!

Sophie posing, I can never get this kid to just smile and look pretty, she is always having to look goofy, just like her daddy.

One of our many male party crashers! Look at that face...like he deserves to be fed just because he dropped Sophie off.


Three days of sewing, mod podging, and endless girl fun, Zoe just couldn't take anymore!

Don't you wish your family had a girl party??

98th Birthday Party

So this happened last month and I have finally got around to blogging about it.
Tyler's great grandma had her 98th birthday party and we traveled down to Chester (down my Manti, for those of you who don't know), for it. We had a really good time visiting with family, eating good food and Sophie had a blast playing with cousins by the dozens. While most of us visited and took pictures the kids and some of the adult males gathered up frogs. Sophie thought they were awesome, others weren't too fond of them, and some screamed and ran the other way.
Here are some pictures from the day:

Zoe finally decided to take a much needed nap.

All the great-great grandkids with Grandma Jessie.

The whole family (well from Grandma Jessie's daughter Wilma, which is Tyler's grandma).


Sophie eating her yummy lunch on my chair.

Grandma Jessie and Zoe.

Cousins

This past Wednesday my little sister had her first baby! Her name is Cardon and is so adorable. The girls and I went up and visited her the other day. Sophie loved on "baby Cardon", it was so cute. She was so gentle and well behaved, a first, since she loves to roll Zoe over and terrorize her all day, every day!

I forget how little newborns are, Zoe towered above Cardon. I hadn't realized how big Zoe was getting, but I guess she is 6 months old, can't expect her to stay little forever! It made me sad, time is flying with Zoe.

Here are the cousins lying around together, Sophie and Zoe were eating it up, but I don't think Cardon was too happy.

Sophie loved holding Cardon and sang her a little song, it was precious.

Laughing

Sophie is the only one that can get Zoe rolling in laughter like this! Gotta love siblings.

Sophie's Nurturing Side

Now don't worry Sophie is no prodigy, she just has the one word per page book memorized since she was about 14 month old. Okay so she is a genius...just don't tell her that!

It's been a while....

...since I last posted. A few things have happened in the past month. First of all we are now in the great state of Tooele. We moved into our new house (don't worry we didn't buy, we're just renting for now) at the first of August and got all unpacked before Tyler started his new job. New teacher training started the second week in August for Tyler and he breezed though that with meetings, continental breakfasts and yummy lunches put on by the district (...what am I doing home with kids...geez, I could be eating free, yummy food instead of finishing what Sophie didn't eat and testing rice cereal....j/k I love being home!) Tyler started his first week of school on Monday, he has mostly freshmen and says they are quiet and pretty much do what their told (it's probably because they are scared out of their minds as they tackle their first year of high school...I know I would have been had I went to high school in 9th grade, gotta love junior high!!).

I have been taking care of our sweet little girls and catching them doing the darndest things!

Here is Zoe at 5 months....such a sweetie!

The girls watching Cinderella together.

Sophie reading to Zoe...what is she reading you ask? Tyler's Terry Brooks books, look closely and you can see the stack of 400 page books on the floor not too far away from Sophie.



Sophie trying to sit in the high chair, mind you, when she was supposed to be in the high chair we could never get her to sit in it. So we gave up and put her up to the table. Now that we pulled it out for Zoe we can't get her to leave it alone!

This picture is our last Sunday in Logan, Sophie is displaying a daddy-esk cheeser in her new church skirt and shirt grandma Cindy made for her. Zoe...she is just happy to be gnawing on her fingers.

Well, that felt good to get done. Now you're all updated on our little family, well except for the two cute videos that I will have to post later, just consider this a teaser for the really good stuff!

Summer Fun!

We have been having such a fun summer that I have put off posting about it. Honestly, we have been away from the house a lot so I haven't spent too much time on the computer. Some exciting news for those of you who don't know, Tyler got a math teaching job at Tooele High, so we will be moving out there the first part of August! We are very excited for this new chapter in our lives but also sad to leave Logan, we have made some good friends up here.

Now on to the fun summer we have been having. Oh about a month ago the girls and I went with Aunt Cami to the Treehouse museum in Ogden. Sophie had a blast dragging her poor preggo aunt around the whole museum. They had tea parties, drew with water on stones, brushed teeth, played with blocks....you name it they did it!

Cami and Sophie having a tea party.

Then at the end of June we went with some friends to the Manti Pageant. We had such a good time. Tyler and I visited our favorite pizza place in the whole world!!! FAT JACKS (now called Roy's Pizza)!!! We gorged ourselves on the much coveted fat sticks...man oh man were they good!!! After that we got our hotel, saved us some seats at the temple and headed to the tabernacle for dinner. We ate dinner and then headed back to the temple for the pageant. Sophie only made it through about 40 minutes and then crashed on Tyler's lap. Zoe...well I'm sure you can guess that she was out from the start! On the way home we stopped by Tyler's sister and let Sophie and Zoe play with their cousins for a while. We came home tired and happy, it was a great weekend.

Here we are at the pageant.

On the fourth of July my mom came out for a few days. We played lots while she was here. Shopping, swimming, shopping....did I mention shopping, and we helped my little sister make a quilt for her baby girl that is due in September. Sophie and Zoe had so much fun with Grandma and Aunt Cami, it was hard to get them home!

Uncle Bowen, Aunt Cami, Grandma and Zoe waiting for the parade to start.

Daddy and Sophie waiting for the parade to start.

Grandma cuddling a very tired Zoe at our little picnic at the park after the parade.

Sophie playing with the bubbles she won at the fish pond.

Sophie and Grandma waiting for the fireworks. Sophie actually made it through the whole night! She loved ooing and awing the fireworks.

Now for my little Zoe. She is getting big so fast! Here she is, four months old, it seems like it took Sophie forever to get to this point! She loves to coo and roll over. In all honesty I think I am going to have another little chatter box on my hands!

Having fun in her bouncer!

Trying rice cereal for the first time. It went better than the look on her face suggests!

Finally, my Sophie. I bought her a princess backpack for church (to carry all her stuff in so I don't have to haul it all, along with a full diaper bag). She is in love with the stinkin' thing. So far she sleeps with it and is constantly wearing it all around the house. She is even pretending to go to school! Gotta love her!

Here is the bag that never comes off!