A Whirlwind Day

We headed to San Diego a couple weeks ago to spend the day and started it off at Sea World.  We only got one show in but the girls' favorite part of the day ended up being the old Cap'n Kids play area that used to be my favorite as a child as well.  I couldn't believe it when Sophie wanted to climb the big nets, but she did, so we attempted it and she did great!  We pretended we were spiders in a web like Charlotte in Charlotte's Web and that helped get her to the top.  Once we were back on solid ground we spent some time in front of the silly mirrors that made us look really short and squat.  Sophie thought those were hilarious.  I kinda preferred the one that made us tall and super skinny. :)

We spent the majority of the time in this play area, though.  Sophie figured out that if you step on a block it will give way and send you sprawling all over the floor in funny positions.

She liked to monopolize all the blocks and brought them all to our corner.  You can tell how the other girls there felt about her greediness.

Avery also loved this area and would get on top of these blocks and then fall off the back of them and come up smiling every time.  Joseph and I are thinking about putting in this kind of floor in our dream house play room someday.

We visited the star fish before leaving.  Avery mostly loved splashing in the water but Sophie actually picked the little guys up and was good about keeping them in the water to play with them, except for a quick picture.

Then we headed off to Qualcomm Stadium to watch BYU play San Diego State.  Sophie exclaimed after we were there a few minutes "Mama, we don't have to watch them on TV!  We get to see them in real life!"  She thought that was pretty cool, and it was fun getting to see them play one time this year.  It was a fun game to be at since literally almost half the crowd were BYU fans, so whenever we did something good it was like being at a home game with all the cheers.

We got to be there with my brothers Geoff and Peter and also Abby, Austin, and Gabe.  After the game Geoff treated us to a delicious meal at Roy's that I will never forget.  Thanks, Bro!  And thanks for getting us our tickets to the game, Pete!

We wish the Cougars could have performed as well against TCU last Saturday as they did against SDSU the Saturday before, but oh well.  That's life I guess.  We had a long, whirlwind day, but it was very fun and very worth it.

Columbus Day Hike

Joseph had Columbus Day off so we decided to have a picnic and a hike on our favorite trail when our grand plans of apple picking and going to the beach were thwarted.

Sophie was so excited to walk by herself like a big girl this time, which of course made our hike 3 times as long because the girl cannot pass a rock without picking it up and throwing it.  She also loves to carry sticks, especially big ones.

Avery rode in my pack until Sophie got out of hers, then switched to the big one on daddy's back.  She loved it.

She thought she could head up the same hill that Sophie did but found it was a little more difficult in clunky shoes than she would have liked.

We saw a beautiful view of our city from the top (although Sophie was convinced it was a new, secret city we had just discovered).  Avery entertained herself most of the time by stealing daddy's hat off her head and putting it on her own.

Pumpkin Patch

I took the girls to a pumpkin patch at Cal Poly last week to pick out our 4 pumpkins.  There were literally a couple thousand pumpkins spread out all over this huge field and all the way up the hill, too.  It was beautiful.

We had kind of a rough time while we were there because it was realllllly hot (mid-90's) and pretty miserable being out in the sun all that time, so we had a lot of tears from Avery.

But fortunately we had some smiles, too.  Sophie had a blast picking out pumpkins for each of us, and she made me walk all the way to the top of the hill to find them, of course.

Once Avery got over her tears she was content to just sit down in the dirt and get all dirty.

More tears, but this time it was Sophie who had just stepped on an ant hill and got attacked with bites, so I can't blame her at all.  This was also at the end and I even felt like crying by this point.  We left right after this picture.  But it was still a fun adventure, and we can't wait to carve our pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns!

Still Just a Little Peanut

Avery and Sophie both had checkups at the doctor last week, Avery for 15 months and Sophie for 3 years.  They were measured and weighed, and I was surprised to see that Avery is still only just 21 lbs!  She wasn't quite 20 lbs. yet when she had her year checkup, but that means that she's only gained like a pound and a half in 3 months.  I shouldn't be too surprised, though, when neither of my children are good eaters.  Seriously, sometimes I wonder how they survive at all.  

Avery is in the 30th percentile for weight, but she's still in the 80th percentile for height!  The doctor said she's still on target to be 5'8" like her mom, while Sophie is looking like she'll be more like 5'5" or 5'6".  That will be a strange day when Avery is taller than Sophie I think.  (And I love this picture of her with her phones!  She loves to call Gramma on the phone.)

She's our little Peanut, but we sure love you, Avery Jane!  Thanks for being our sweet toddler girl!

Our Sophstar is 3!!

Sophie Jo turned 3 years old yesterday!  (I have a 3-year old--crazy!)  The partying started on Thursday and lasted all weekend long, just as birthdays should. :)

Sophie requested a My Little Pony theme for her party.  I decided to try my hand at my first tiered cake and thought the 2-layered pony cake turned out alright.

It definitely wasn't perfect, but Sophie liked it, and that's all that mattered.

Sophie has a "twin" named Kate and her mom Shannon and I decided to do a joint party for them with their friends.  We had about 15 kids and their mommas come and had a great time.  We started it off with a game like musical chairs called "Pass the Pony".  Sophie didn't want to get out when it was her turn to.  "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" went through my head more than once during the party, but all in all she was a good sport and had a lot of fun.

These are some of the friends who came to celebrate with us.

Sophie and Kate got to wear these cute crowns that Shannon made them to blow out their candles.  Then we dove in and ate up that bottom layer pretty quickly.  I kept the top layer for her to have to blow out candles on her actual birthday.

Sophie dreamed and talked about breaking open this pinata for the entire week leading up to the party.  She gave it several good whacks but it didn't budge.  In the end, nobody was able to bust it open and we had to pull the strings on the bottom.  They sure make them impenetrable these days.

Avery spent the majority of the party wandering around with the helium balloons trailing behind her.  She's such a sweet, funny little girl!

Sophie was given so many ponies for her birthday!  She definitely has a plethora of them now.  This largest one was from her Gramma Jensen.  Thanks, Bob!

Here are my girls in their matching outfits.  Avery's pants look like bell-bottoms and we call her our Flower Child when she wears them.

Our gift to Sophie was this Disney Princess kitchen.  She and Avery both have loved playing with it and have used the fake food that she also got for her birthday to make me and Joseph meal after dessert after meal to eat.

Sophie loves her daddy and she loves apples.  So you can see why this is one contented girl right here.

I just think this is such a cute picture.

We sang once again to Sophie for her family party and she thought long and hard about a wish before blowing out her 3 candles.  It was very cute.

We sure love this Sophie Girl!  She brings our family so much laughter and joy and we're so glad she made us parents 3 years ago!  Happy Birthday, Sophstar!