Smingus Dingus

Poland has the coolest holidays that we don't have. The day after Easter is called "Smingus Dingus" (which is just an awesome name in and of itself) and it's basically National Waterfight Day. There are seriously kids with squirt guns and buckets of water everywhere, soaking everyone in sight all day long. I was there for two of these holidays, and I ran from the hooligani all day long. It was great.

When I taught 5th grade I usually always observed this holiday with my students by taking them out at the end of the day and squirting them lightly with my little squirt bottle after explaining the holiday. They loved it.

When Joseph and I got married and he learned of this crazy day, he had no idea that I'd actually observe it with him as well. But for FHE tonight, I took him outside and dumped a bucket of water on his unsuspecting back. I was so glad it was such a warm day! He got me back a bit, and Sophie thought we were nuts, which we are.

I'm glad I married such a good sport and that he takes my craziness in stride.

For those of you who've been telling me to post a picture of "the bump", here it is. Sorry about the water splotches all over my shirt in addition to the bump, but this is proof that I really am almost 6 months pregnant. :)

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter weekend and did many fun things.

Sophie adopted 3 little bunnies for the occasion. She sure loves the new additions to her stuffed animals.

We had an Easter Egg Hunt with the MBASA and Sophie was not in the mood (it was her first day being sick) for finding the eggs, so mama had to help a ton.

"I got an egg and I'm not sure I'm supposed to have it!"

"Hey, it's got something inside!"

Sophie loved the Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa Lamb's house and was in a better mood for finding eggs and eating the goodness inside them.

We had a little help and did awesome!

Proof that Sophie actually did pick one up on her own.

The Question Has Been Settled...

Whenever people try to determine who Sophie looks most like, they usually come to the conclusion that she's just a good mix of both her mama and daddy. I would agree, but new evidence has arisen in my favor. This is a picture of me when I was a year and a half years old, the same age Sophie is now. Thanks for sending this on to me, Dad! So other than the hair color, could you tell us apart?

Dang Pavlov

There are the usual triggers in life: you smell food and it makes you want to eat, you hear music and you want to dance or sing along. And then there are the not so normal ones. I've struggled my whole life with a very irritating trigger. Whenever I put lotion on my hands, I suddenly have to use the bathroom, which of course means that I then have to wash my hands which washes away the lotion I just put on. I then have to reapply the lotion, and the vicious cycle continues.

Sophie has also developed a funny trigger that you probably have seen before if you have children. The second she hears the bath water turn on, she goes to the bathroom. I learned this the hard way by having already removed her diaper and then having to clean up a lovely mess on the floor after putting her into the bath. I learned to just keep her diaper on for a moment after turning on the water, and we were good. Joseph admits to weird associations, like when he hears the Backstreet Boys he thinks of Brazil, but that's not really a trigger. I'll figure his weird one out here, though. So do you have any unique triggers? If so, I wanna hear 'em. :)

Wordy Wednesday

Sophie knew the mouse made the arrow on the screen move somehow, she just wasn't exactly sure how. I had a friend who once taught a basic computer skills class at a community college, and he said he had older people who really did this same thing with the mouse and couldn't figure out why it wasn't working! I figure that in about 6 months she'll know more about computers than I do now anyway, so I'm okay with her making a few mistakes now. (Oh, and do you see the Playstation 3 that Joseph won in the background? Yes, he is the luckiest dog ever, at least when it comes to raffles at MBA events. He never wins anything else, though, so don't even try to hit him up to buy your next lottery ticket! And the only reason it's not being promptly auctioned off on ebay right now is because it's a BluRay player, and that's just cool!)
I don't know why, I just think Sophie is so cute when she drinks her milk. She absolutely loves milk and can't get enough of that creamy goodness. (Oh and Diana, if you're reading this, I think we left that sippy cup at your house! Oops!)
Joseph and I have this silly ongoing battle over whether Sophie will turn out to be a basketballer (Joseph's preference) or a swimmer (my preference), because of course she needs to decide that right now! She can't just do both as a little girl and enjoy both sports and then when she has to make a decision in junior high because they're played during the same season, she can just pick one then. Oh no, we use things she does right now to prove which way she's leaning, like her absolute obsession with any basketball court and balls. What Joseph fears most is that we'll have a pool in our place in California, and he knows I'm taking Sophie in it every single day, so watch out! She'll be a swimmer yet! Yes, we are certifiably crazy. :)

Weddings are so fun...

...especially when it's of your 79-year old grandpa! My Grandpa Lamb got married on Saturday in the LA Temple to darling Maybeth. They were so cute together and will be wonderful companions for one another for the rest of their lives.

The newlyweds first coming out of the temple.

There were so many of the family who were able to make it. It was fun to see them all again.

Sophie had fun playing on the temple grounds while we went in for the wedding.

We think she's pretty cute.

Grandpa and GRANDMA Lamb with all the great grandkids.

Sophie and Austin had fun playing together.

The highlight of the weekend for Sophie was Grandpa's slide. She learned to go down it all by herself and did it over and over all day long.

But the best part was climbing back up. Without shoes, these little monkey feet could scamper up to the top without any help in no time!
We also took a little time while we were in LA to go see the townhouse where we'll be living. Here's a shot of the outside. This is where Maybeth's lived the past 20 years and now that she's moved in with Grandpa Lamb, she is kind enough to let us live in it while we will be in LA. It's actually in Glendora which is a darling little community nestled right up against the greenest mountains (though I know they won't always be green) and we know we're going to love it there!
Here's a view from the balcony. Love those palm trees! And there's a pool in the middle of the complex that will be so nice in the summertime!

Bounce House

We had playgroup last week at a place called Jump On It! in Lindon. Sophie doesn't really get jumping yet, but after a while she was loving running on the gazillions of trampolines that they have and bouncing a little bit. She also loved when I held her and jumped. I was sad that I couldn't go jumping and flipping on the tramps they have for the big kids, including the ones leaning against the wall, but I don't think Baby Girl would like that very much. We weren't sure we liked it very much at the beginning...

...but it didn't take too long to figure out this was fun.

We eventually got pretty daring and crazy and had a blast!

Mom thought it was funny when we laid on the tramp and got static-hair.

With good friends Lisa, Vanessa, and Nicole Brown and Danielle, Alexis, and Carter DeMotte from our ward.

Pilololow

This is an older video, but I wanted to share how Sophie pronounces anything that has a double l in the word by rolling the l with her tongue (i.e. pillow is pillllll, balloon and ball are ballllllll, etc...)

A Day at the Zoo

Wild Wednesday at the Hogle Zoo means a free pass in for everyone, and since the weather was so nice that day (at last!) Sophie and I made the trip up there last week to see the animals up close and in person. My Mom and brother Jonny joined us and we had a great time watching Sophie take it all in for her very first time ever.

We saw lots of monkeys and Sophie was enthralled watching them all!

We made the elephant sound very well while trying to communicate with them.

Not too old for a shoulder ride!

What does a cougar say?

Sophie loved the giraffes (and I'm sorry about the lightning streak from Jonny's coat!)

Sophie discovered her shadow for the very first time and was almost as excited about that as she was about the animals!

Thanks for a fun day at the zoo!