Winter and Random Pics

When the first good snowfall hit Sophie would NOT stop asking to go and play in the snow. It drove me insane. So when Tyler got home from work he took both the girls outside for a romp in it. To say they had a blast would be an understatement. For the next three days Tyler was obligated to take them out when he got home from work. Both the girls were at the ready when he walked through the door and had their snowsuits on in seconds. I was amazed...never have I seen them move so fast!!

Zoe loved the Snowman...


As did Sophie...



About a month ago I was folding laundry and I guess Zoe got a hold of a pair of Sophie's undies...well this is what she came up with. Silly girl! She was so proud of herself.

And last but not least, Tyler celebrated his 29th birthday...that's right folks, he is getting up there in years! I know the cupcake looks pitiful, but man were they sublime!!! Oh and disregard Sophie's mortified look, I have no clue what she was doing.

Thanksgiving in Elko

Well we braved the weather and headed out to my parents for Thanksgiving. The girls had so much fun at their grandparents house. They loved chasing the elusive cat around the house, playing with grandpa and my parents even treated us to the movie Tangled. We all loved it and the girls were especially excited that grandpa came with us. My mom and I cooked Thanksgiving dinner together which was so much fun! We even made some super fab pecan pie that I couldn't get enough of. On Black Friday, my mom and I braved Walmart at midnight, came home for a cat nap and then hit JC Penny's at 4:30 a.m. To say I was delirious at 4:30 would be an understatement. I think it took me until we were in the check out line at Penny's before my foggy brain cleared enough to make sense out of what we were doing. I did get some awesome deals though...and it was hilarious...at least I laughed quite a bit!!

Here are a couple pictures:
The girls all ready for the 3.5 hour journey. Having a portable DVD player is so convenient!

Sophie being a goofball.

Grandma giving Zoe a cinnamon bear...Zoe loved it...can you tell!

We had an awesome Thanksgiving and so much fun playing in Elko. Thanks Mom and Dad!!

Halloween

This year we had lots of fun for Halloween. Sophie was especially excited. I think she is finally old enough to remember last year a bit. Sophie had pick out what she wanted to be since about the middle of September and her and I devised a costume for Zoe. Good thing I had so long to work on these costumes because it took me the whole month and a half to get them done. Sophie was a butterfly and Zoe was a ladybug.

We started the day off playing and waiting around not so patiently for trick-r-treating. For dinner we had yummy potato soup with cheesy "black" cats on top and bread sticks. Sophie thought it was so cool that there was a cat in her soup. Zoe could have cared less, she just wanted to eat the bread sticks.

After dinner we went to the trunk-r-treat in Stockton and got to see Grandma Cindy, Aunt Jamie and Grandma Willie. The girls had a lot of fun there, but it was so cold!! Zoe had her hands in her coat pockets the whole time. It was cute though, because every time Zoe saw something scary, she would bust out her cute little "..scwarreey" When we were done there we thought we would go around our neighborhood. Zoe had a blast and loved the glow stick bracelet I put on her. She loved the idea of getting candy by saying trick-r-treat and had it down pat pretty fast. Sophie was a pro, and ran up to every door and only hesitated when they had scary things on the porch.

Here are some pictures from the fun night.

Sophie and Zoe enjoying their spoils and warming up with warm apple cider and a Max and Ruby Halloween cartoon...


My little butterfly, ladybug and the gardener (isn't he a looker...wink, wink!)


Sophie had to pose for her picture...and well she posed in every pic I took of her...what a silly girl!

My cutie, Zoebugs!

See what I mean....posing once again, notice how her hands are turned under...

I think Zoe is showing Tyler a bug or something...she was rather excited about it.

This was Sophie the day she got to dress up for Preschool. She was so excited to be able to wear her costume to school. And once again, she is posing!

Four Years Ago Today...

...I went from this: (and yes that is a fetal heartbeat monitor, I was a bit worried about this pregnancy!)

...to this:

It is hard to believe that my baby is 4 years old today. A lot has changed in what seems to be a blink of an eye. Sophie is a big girl, she talks your ear off, loves to help me cook and is a beautiful girl! I can't believe the healing power this little one has been in my life. I was a wreck of emotions and fear when I carried her and for about the first 6 months of her life. She has taught me so much...words cannot express the blessing her little life has been and will be!!!

Happy Birthday Soph!!!

Some Summer Fun!

So I guess it is about time that I document the rest of our summer. At the end of July we packed up the van and headed to Logan...well actually through Logan to Bear Lake to go camping. This is probably one of my favorite places to go camping. I just love it!! Being so close to a gorgeous lake and the peace and quiet of the woods. We had so much fun this year. Sophie had been asking us constantly if we could go camping so finally we set off. It was much easier this year since Zoe was a bit older. We spent a day playing at camp, a day at the lake and a day in Logan. Here are the picture...in order...just backwards:

As we packed up camp I kept the girls occupied with some stickers and paint. It was much easier for Tyler and I to get the tent packed without the girls trampling over the tent. Here Zoe is much happier putting the stickers on herself than the paper...she did love the painting part though.


Sophie loves to paint and had a lot of fun sticking things on her paper.


The mornings were pretty chilly so we had hot chocolate to warm us up. These girls LOVED it! Zoe couldn't get enough. Every time we put some in her sippy she would chug it and then cry for more. It was so funny!

We spent a whole day at the lake. The girls had so much fun playing in the water and sand. They couldn't get enough, trying to get them to come and eat lunch was pretty much pointless, they could have cared less. By the end of they afternoon we were all exhausted. Sophie of course didn't want to leave, but as soon as we got them buckled in, the car started and the a/c on both of them were out like a light! We didn't want to go back to camp because we had planned on eating dinner in Garden City so Tyler and I decided to take a drive to Idaho to see where he had interviewed for a teaching job. Let's just say I am glad that he didn't get it! It was in the middle of nowhere!!

Here are the girls and Tyler building in the sand:

After the drive we stopped in Garden City and got yummy Raspberry shakes and dinner. It tasted so so good after a long day of sun. That night when we got back to camp we were all so tuckered out that we laid in the tent and watched Toy Story 2. Got to love portable DVD players!

Before we went to the Lake we stopped up by Sunrise Campground and went for a little hike. It was still to chilly to swim and it helped burn some time. Sophie loved it and would have ran the whole way had we let her. Zoe wasn't content riding on Tyler's shoulders the whole way...she wanted to explore!

Here we are on the trail.

Here are my little rag-a-muffins! So happy to be playing in the dirt!

Of course we roasted marshmallows and hot dogs the first night we were there. Funny enough Sophie wasn't too interested in eating s'more and only had one marshmallow. Zoe LOVED the marshmallows and probably would have eaten the whole bag had we let her. Now Tyler and I on the other hand...after the girls went to bed, we ended up eating the whole bag!!!

That was our fun adventure to Bear Lake. Oh we did stop in Logan on the way home and got some of our favorite foods from up there to eat. We loved one of the Chinese places up there and miss it so much, that and Firehouse Pizza. So we couldn't leave without a sampling!

On the 24th of July, Tooele held a Primary Parade. Each ward put together a "float" and all the primary kids got to ride/walk in the parade and dress up. Some were Pioneers....well...most were pioneers. Sophie decided to dress up as a Native American, we told her that she was a Nephite but she kept saying Indian...oh well, she looked cute!

That was our summer...now it is back to reality, work for Tyler, the usual for me, and Sophie gets to go to preschool!

Dance Recital

This summer I enrolled Sophie in a dance class. She had so much fun and loved learning to dance! Her teacher was amazing and Sophie loved her. Here is the end of summer dance recital at Stansbury Days. She is the one on the far left:

I was so proud of her. If anyone knows Sophie very well, she very much dislikes getting up in front of people, especially big crowds. The fact that she did get up there without screaming was a miracle, and she did the dance so well!!!

Got Some Catching Up to Do!!

On my last post about the 4th, I forgot to show the pictures of Sophie and Zoe going for a ride on the horse with Grandpa Dan. Sophie wasn't too thrilled about being put up so high. She is a bit of a scaredy cat. Zoe on the other hand absolutely loved it! She even took a little bit of a ride down the road. Sophie didn't even let the horse take one step before she was trying to get down. Here are the pictures of their adventure:

As you can see Sophie is more than ready to get down.


Zoe is loving it. Her uncle Jared said she looks like she is spotting cattle off in the distance. She does look very serious!


At the end of June we got the backyard somewhat started. Tyler put together our sprinkler system and we laid sod. Tyler was so good. He dug the trenches for the pipe all by himself on pure man power. No heavy equipment needed here, folks!! The girls loved going out and playing in the dirt while Tyler dug. They also loved playing in the trenches. Here are a few pictures:

The girls playing in the trenches.

Zoe is really getting into playing. These girls were filthy the whole month of June, dirt was everywhere on them and all over my house. I am so happy that the grass has stymied some of that!

Here is Tyler in his ridiculous hat that he wears just to spite me! Although it did keep him from getting horribly burned on his neck like he did the summer before when he was working landscape. Doesn't he look awesome out there with his shear man power!! Where's the Tim the Tool Man Taylor grunt when you need one!?

And here we are laying the sod. Well, I don't think that is actually any of us. That would be a wonderful family from our ward that came to help us! They were awesome and it only took us a little over an hour to get the sod down.

Here is Sophie all gussied up in here princess earrings laying sod. After we were all finished she started gathering all the scraps and putting them on the empty spot that we left for the future patio. She sure loves playing in the dirt!

Sophie and Zoe playing with Grandpa Dan on the newly laid sod. Why they aren't rolling in it I will never know...the obviously prefer the dirt...grr!

And there you have it. Horses, dirt and sod! There is more to come though. We have done quite a bit lately.

Parade, anyone?

This year to the 4th we stayed in Tooele to play. Sophie started dance this summer and so she had the opportunity to ride in the parade with her dance company. I think she had fun...let's just say that I got recruited to throw candy because she cried ever time I tried to leave. Note to self, don't wear flip-flops when you have a child that might not let you out of their sight on a parade day! Here are some pictures of the fun we had...in reverse order since I forgot how blogger uploads them and I don't want to do it again.....

Here are the girls and me waiting for Tyler to set off the few fireworks that we got. Mind you Zoe very rarely sees this time of night, so pardon her zombie look, that and she didn't like the flash.

My cute girlies!!

Grandpa Dan took Sophie and Zoe to the park after the parade and let them try a few games. Doesn't Tyler look excited that Zoe just won a fish for us to take home!!! Poor Sophie needs some more practice for next year. Oh and Sophie named the fish, Slinky, he almost kicked the bucket the day after we brought him home, but he pulled through, tough little fish!

Here we come to Sophie riding in the parade. Don't the girls look so stinkin' cute in their pink dance outfits? I just LOVED them! Sophie is the one on the bottom row, left side, second one in. She really enjoyed watching the big girls dancing behind the trailer.

I think that this is the only smile I got out of this girl the whole time....she's the one in the middle. I think that it turned out quite cute!

Well that was our fun weekend. A little different than past years. We are usually all watching the parade, but only Daddy and Zoe got to enjoy it. I was bummed and decided that I need to cameras because I didn't get any of Zoe watching the parade...bummer!!!

Swimming and the Zoo

Last week my mom came to Utah and we had some fun. First off we went to the pool on Wednesday. Talk about a cold choice. It was overcast....completely overcast, but at least it didn't rain. Zoe had Grandma Cheryl by the hands and made her walk all over the kiddie pool. She LOVED the water, even dunking her own head under the water several times. Although she didn't last more than 45 minutes in the water before she started getting cold and tired. Sophie on the other hand could have swam for hours. Her and I were soaked from head to toe because she wanted to go down the slides. I was freezing and didn't want to get out of the water because that was what was keeping me warm. Sophie loved splashing and sliding! After we got out of our swim gear we headed to do some shopping. Zoe was so tuckered out that she slept in the car, in the stroller and the whole way through the store. Poor girl.

Thursday we were disappointed to wake up to pouring rain. We were hoping to go the zoo. Reluctantly we decided to go to Discovery Kids at the Gateway, but when we went to pick up my mom on the way into Salt Lake there were blue skies. So we headed for the zoo determined to see some animals. Sophie would have been so disappointed had we not gone. She was so excited! Both of the girls love the animals. Zoe kept saying "an-iml" the whole time, she loved the monkeys, orangutans and giraffe. Sophie loved everything! We even got to sit in on the bird show and have birds fly right over our heads. That was so cool and Zoe love it for about 10 minutes and then wanted to run around so we had to make our exit. Sophie love the train and was bummed when she had to get off. Grandma each let them pick out a souvenir, Zoe a stuffed giraffe and Sophie a necklace and bracelet (she is such a girly girl!).

Here are some pictures of our adventures with Grandma Cheryl:

My three monkeys....no wonder my house feels like a zoo sometimes!


The best picture I got of Sophie on the carousel.



Zoe on the carousel.

Sophie loving the monkeys!

Zoe, Grandma Cheryl and Zoe's cousin loving the monkeys. Don't you love Zoe's face, it's priceless!

Our attempt at getting a family picture...hello....look at the camera!!!

My sister, the girls and Grandma after swimming. So much warmer!

Crappy turned Gorgeous

Now before you think that I am being mean, and calling Sophie crappy, think again. I am talking about the piece of furniture on the left, in both of the pictures, she just happen to be in the pictures with the said crappy turned gorgeous. I forgot to take a before picture so these are what I found to show you how it looked before. My mom bought this stand for me when I was still in high school and it was used to store some of my clothing. I took it with me when I left home and got married. It was used to hold dish towels, the microwave and pots and pans. When we moved into our new house it was pretty much useless as a kitchen accessory so I decided it was time for a make over.


Oh, isn't Sophie adorable in all her 18 month old glory! I love this picture of her.

Here is the after:

I removed the doors, sanded it, added some moulding, changed the hardware and painted it RED! And I must say that I LOVE IT!!! It is now placed along the wall between the kitchen and the hallway to the girls room. It will be used as a message station/writing desk. I am going to add some baskets to the shelf in the bottom to hold odds and ends, and put a charging station on top.

More Pictures of the House

Well, we are pretty much settled in the house. All I have left to do is hang up pictures. I am really lacking in decor and so it might take a while to make the walls look less bare but it will eventually happen...I think anyway. So here are some more pictures of the house that you guys asked for:

This is the front room, I know that you already saw a picture of it but Tyler thought you needed to see it with our stuff in it:

This is the girls bathroom:

The girls bedroom:

The playroom, and yes I am the mean mom that makes my kids share a room. It is so nice to have all the toys out of the bedroom and in a separate room that I can just shut the door when the mess is overwhelming!

The laundry room:

The entryway with the stairs to the unfinished basement...oh and the girls parading around with their purses:

My bedroom looking out from the walk in closet:

Finally, my oasis...also know as the master bath. It has a separate tub and shower, and the toilet is in a separate little room...funny, huh?

Well, that is about it...well except for the garage, but all garages look pretty much the same so I didn't this I should bore you with a picture of it and the basement is concrete and insulation wrap. Not too exciting...well except for the possibilities!

Jessica, the house is on the south end of Tooele, right before the salt shed and where they keep all of the school buses. On the west side of main.