Family Pictures

We had our family pictures taken by the spouse of an MBA student and were so impressed by how good she is. Hey, anyone who can make me look good must be pretty talented! We love how they turned out and are having a hard time deciding which one to blow up and make this year's family picture. Any input from any of you?

Big Shoes to Fill

Sophie's got a long way to go before she can fill these shoes properly! I had to tell her that she's in a long line of people who'd like to be more like her daddy, starting with me! Love you, Joseph! (And thanks for the beautiful green dress, Bob!)

Evolution of Dance

We've seen this before, just as you probably have (after all, it's one of the most highly watched You Tube videos out there) but had to laugh when we saw it again. Those 80's and 90's dances brought back sooo many memories for us and we were totally dancing along! Enjoy!

Fall Frenzy

Sophie loves to play in the leaves, and the trees in our yard have been so accomodating to her. What nice trees we have.

The artists posing next to the pumpkins they skillfully crafted for our FHE activity tonight. A hawk and a baseball player will adorn our porch for the next couple of weeks.

Spaghetti Face

I must be part Italian because even on my first try, I love this stuff! Why haven't I had this sooner?!

Cornbellys Fun

We love October! Especially when the sun still decides to make an appearance. We went with a bunch of other MBA Spouse Association moms and kids to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point for a day of fun. Unfortunately it was right during Sophie's nap so she gave the camera more than her share of crusties, but I think she still had a fun time.

Sophie, Mia, and Brynn

Stephanie and I took on the big slide and probably had more fun than Mia or Sophie did!

I was so glad so many other moms with little ones came because they had so much fun together! Here are Macie, Sophie, Brynn, Danny, Tayson, and Mia playing with the ducks and the water. A news guy taped them all playing, but I have no idea whether it actually made the news that day or not. They sure were cute together anyway!

Sophie's 1 Year Old Pictures

It took us 10 minutes to actually take the pictures and 5 minutes for me to decide on which one to get, and yet we were at the studio for 3 hours total! Sophie fortunately was an angel, but I will never do that again (or at least not if I even glimpse that it's the least bit busy inside.) Good thing I have a cute baby and the pictures turned out well! That made it worth it.

Tagged Again

What Was I Doing 10 Years Ago?

I had just started my freshman year at BYU and was loving being independent and living in Deseret Towers in S Hall. I had made some great friends who I later lived with off-campus and we were currently afraid of the guys in our ward because they were mostly all RM's (and therefore all wanting to get married and sooooo old! Or so we thought.) That was okay because I had started to date a boy I met during freshman orientation and went to the BYU Homecoming dance and on other fun dates with him. (I also did study a little.) Luckily we got over our fear of "older" men and became great friends with our ward and eventually did a ton of stuff with them. I loved my freshman year!

What Was I Doing 5 Years Ago?

I had recently returned from my mission to Poland and was trying to like life back in school but wasn't succeeding very well. I had had a rough first year back but was now in a much better ward and was adjusting much better at this point. I started teaching 5th grade as an intern at Sprucewood Elementary in Sandy, so I threw myself into that and it took over my life. I ate, slept, and breathed teaching and while it was one of the hardest things I've ever done, it was also a wonderful experience and I'm so grateful I had it and the 3 other years I taught as well.

What Was I Doing 1 Year Ago?

I had just barely given birth to my first daughter, a redhead who we named Sophie, and was adjusting to life as a mom. My mother was still staying here with us and saved my life that first week as she would take Sophie during the night and let me sleep inbetween feedings and cleaned and cooked and was an angel. I missed her a lot when she left. Joseph was just starting his first year in the MBA program and was liking that a lot, and I was doing Activity Days for my calling and enjoying that.

What Was I Doing Yesterday?

I woke up and got Sophie and myself breakfast and baths, played with Sophie for a little while then put her down for a nap while I did the dishes and wrote my weekly email to the family. Once Sophie woke up we ate lunch then went to Kiddie Kandids for her one year old pictures. I spent a hellacious 3 hours there waiting for them to first take her pictures then let us view them and I don't want to go back for a really long time. Then we came home, I put Sophie down for a much-needed nap, made dinner, welcomed Joseph home and ate Sloppy Josephs. :) Then we had FHE, played some more, rearranged the living room and Sophie's room (so much more manageable!), and put Sophie to bed. Then I went and clogged for a little while with a friend, came home and chatted with Joseph and blogged a bit, and then went to bed.

5 Places I Would Rather Be:

On a Cruise to the Mediterranean with Joseph

Visiting Poland

At the all-inclusive resort in Cozumel where we honeymooned

Somewhere tropical and exotic with all of my family
In bed with a good book

5 Treats I Love:

Key lime pie

Skittles

Hot tamales

Swedish Fish

Peppermint Ice Cream

What Would I Do With a Million Dollars:

Get through the rest of school debt-free, buy a beautiful big home, buy a mini-van (I can't believe I'm saying that), buy Joseph his dream 46" HDTV, hire a maid, invest, and save for missions and the future.

5 Favorite TV Shows:

We don't get any channels at all so we don't watch anything, but if I could watch just one show a day it would be "Ellen". I think she's so funny and I would love to go do a challenge with her on her show and dance and everything.

My Most Memorable Things Right Now:

Being mom to an adorable baby-transitioning-to-a-toddler, looking forward to the holiday season, enjoying being poor college students for the last time ever (hooray!) and everything this MBA experience brings, and learning a ton from my calling and appreciating all that the Lord is allowing me to experience.

People I Am Tagging:

Anyone who would like to answer these questions and post it on their own blog for me to see and learn more about you is tagged. You're it!

Happy 1st Birthday, Sophie!

We had a fabulous time celebrating Sophie's birthday today. She didn't quite know what was going on, but I think she loved all the "extra" attention she got (even though she already has our undivided attention all day long so I don't know how much more we could give, but it was attention doing different things I guess.)

We got a free cake from Macey's just for Sophie to dig into, and boy did she ever! She didn't hesitate to start picking at the frosting and shoving it in her face, and eventually made it to the cake. I'm not too worried about her sugar intake because most of it didn't even make it in her mouth. She almost had more fun smearing the frosting all over her tray and playing with it than eating it.

This is the cake that I made for everyone else to enjoy. It turned out much bigger than I expected but no one seemed to mind! :)

We did presents after cake and Sophie wasn't very interested in opening any of them, though she did get good at pulling out tissue paper, but she loved the toys she got and played with them the rest of the night.

Thanks for coming to celebrate the evening with us! It was a lot of fun!

One Year Old

Our baby is one year old today! It's crazy how fast that year went. I can still remember the nurses talking about the cute red-headed baby being passed around the nursery and realizing they were talking about mine! like it was yesterday! It has been a wonderful year filled with so much joy because of this sweet, beautiful girl that God gave to us. We're so very grateful to Him for such a gift. More pictures and reminiscing to come in later posts, but for now, here's a video I made of Sophie's first year from pictures and videos we took. Warning: this is 17 minutes long, so I don't expect anyone but the grandparents to be able to get through it. Joseph teased me that I must've used every single picture and video that we ever took of Sophie, but you'd be surprised at how much restraint I had and that I really limited myself to which pictures I used. The last 3 minutes doesn't have music b/c they only allowed me to use 3 songs, so I apologize for that. So enjoy if you have the time, everyone, and we love you, Sophie Jo!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I'm A Walkin Machine!

It only took me a few days to get to the point where I no longer crawl. Ever. I only walk now, and consequently I don't like to be held by anyone, unless I specifically ask to be held. I'm still in the adorable falling-down-a-lot stage (though probably not as much as this video shows. I just wasn't used to wearing the Robeez and it was throwing off my groove) but I'm even getting better at that! I love this new freedom! (And please don't mind the cluttered house, which was mostly thanks to yours truly. Destroying more things just naturally comes with being more mobile! Isn't it great?!)

"These are a few of my favorite things..."

Isn't it funny how babies get attached to certain things that we can't seem to explain or understand? It doesn't matter how much you try to force a lovie or a toy, if they don't decide to like it, there's nothing you can do. They seem to latch onto the most random things.
For example, Sophie loves her pillow more than almost anything else in the world. It was made for me by one of my student's moms a couple years ago and it must've been by Divine Providence that I chose to ever put it in her crib, because now she can't sleep without it. Heaven help us if it ever falls apart. One of the first words Sophie ever said (if not the first) was "ba" for ball. She loooooves to play with balls and it's usually the first toy she goes to find in the morning.
She does love her mommy, but mostly for my hair. Sophie loves to suck her left thumb while holding my hair with her right hand, and it's the fastest way I can get her to stop crying or whining. Joseph's threatened to grow out his hair so he has something that can soothe her, too!
She loves to water the flowers with me and then plays with the watering can for hours afterward. I can't tell how green her thumb is yet, but hopefully she got her Gramma Bob's genes and will love to garden.

And of course, the orange bowl. Sophie loves anything that's not really a toy, including a wooden spoon, remotes, cell phones, tags on toys, an orange funnel, and pens. Her favorite games include Peek-a-boo, Hide and Go Seek with the balls, and pointing at pictures and making us tell her who's in them. Oh, and making us say animal noises till the cows come home (pun totally intended.) What a funny baby. We love her so much!

The New Look

A lot of people have been wondering how I did the new background for the blog, and so here's the answer. I wish I could take all the credit, but I actually can't take any because all I did is copy and paste and voila, here it is! The website where this comes from is http://matiekay.blogspot.com/. It's a girl who makes her own templates and is sharing them with anyone who wants them. She walks you through how to put it on your own blog and it's really easy. She has some really cute things, so check it out!

Look Out Mia Hamm!

Sophie was kicking the ball like a champ until we pulled out the camera, and then she was done. So we'll get more video later, but here's a sampling of what a talented soccer player she is.

We Bleed Blue

Rain or Shine, Win or Lose, we are True Blue Cougar fans! Sophie even got into the spirit last night, and I think BYU only ended up losing its game b/c its cutest little fan had to go to bed and they lost their good luck charm. But we'll redeem ourselves this week and Sophie will be there to shake her pom pom and "Cheer our Cougars of BYU! Rah rah rah rah rah! Rah rah rah rah rah! Rah rah rah rah rah! GOOOOOOO COUGARS!"

First Steps

Sophie took her first steps this week! We've had so much fun watching her get more confident from barely taking 2 steps to the point where she actually loves to try walking on her own. She still throws herself to the finish line, but she can walk up to 10 steps now without any help.