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!!!