August & Summer Wrap Up

Well, these pictures are seriously so random. We bought a Mac and I hate how it organizes photos and haven't figured out how to manipulate my way around that yet. Our photos come from three different devices which makes it worse. So enjoy some stories with a mishmash of photos. 

August is always super busy and lots of fun. Between our anniversary, my birthday, and the end of summer we end up doing a ton of extra activities. The elder's quorum had an activity up at a reservoir  with boating and kayaking. It was a great activity and we had a lot of fun paddling out on the lake with Sophie. We had Daniel pedaling a kayak with Sophie and me sitting in the back--he got a pretty good workout. Then we went boating. Sophie loved the boat and watching people wakeboard. Daniel tried (unsuccessfully) to wakeboard and I tried (unsuccessfully) to surf behind the boat. Both were fun to try though. 

Later that week my brother Spencer came into town and he, Daniel, and I floated the Boise River. It was fun, mellow and you feel surprisingly secluded even when you are floating right through downtown. Although the river was a little crowded, we had a good time. 

Daniel and I had a glorious movie watching experience for our anniversary. We bought "VIP" tickets for Guardians of the Galaxy, which were still cheaper than a show at Edwards. We will never watch a movie the same again. They have extra large seats, you are up in the balcony and can eat a whole variety of foods (I had gelato), and it's 21 and up so there are no obnoxious teens. It was amazing. 

Then for my birthday weekend the Engers came out for a quick visit. Sophie was thrilled to have those girls around again and cried anytime we separated from them. We got to show them our house and see some of Meridian, and downtown Boise. There's still tons to see here so they will just have to keep coming for more visits. :) We ate lots of yummy food and had a great time. 

The week after that was full of visits for church and I was pressured asked to feed two sets of missionaries. That took a lot of food, but was really fun. It's funny that when you're a teenager missionaries seem so old and cool. The first thing I thought when one pair showed up was, "Aw, you're such little babies!" Both of them went out at the new age of 18. 

Now we are settling in for fall and greatly looking forward to it! 

Someone likes hiding in the curtains

Last Hoorah in the Pool for the Summer

Sophie eats raspberries by putting them on her finger one-by-one 

Checking out the Splash Park in Meridian

 Back in July Daniel went to Mayhem something-or-another concert with his pal Bryan. 

 Running wild and free at a ward activity

 Daniel's work had a little party for their employees that started with a fun run down the greenbelt with this guy, Josh Cox. He set the world record for the 50k at one point (it has since been beaten) and is sponsored by PowerBar. Daniel technically beat him during their run that morning. Later they had food and did an obstacle course. Sounds like too much to me. 

At the reservoir

Floating the River

Shopping at Trader Joe's

Helping me make cookies for the first time

Can you see Sophie? 

Sophie likes yard "work"

Playing Dress Up

Learning to jump off the bed

Lunch is rough, when you wake up before six am. 

Amusing Sophie anecdotes:

• She's becoming increasingly emotional (my bad). Anytime anything fun ends, people leave, we have to leave, etc. she melts down. Trying to make pancakes with her, she cried after we added each ingredient because she wanted to add more. Heaven help us. 
• She learned to pick her nose and eat it. Sigh. The first time we saw her do it we laughed uncontrollably hard. Now she does it with such gusto unless we stop her. 
• She flung poo out of her diaper. That was fun. 
• She loves saying momma and dada and pointing to each of us. When we say, "love the mama/dada" she puts both her little hands under our chins and tickles us. 
• She's in love with the new Taylor Swift song "Shake it Off." We watch the music video multiple times a day. She's even picked up some of the simple dance moves/gestures and noises like "umm hmm." We were playing it in car and we heard a little voice say "more" after the song ended. Super cute. 

She's getting more opinionated which mainly means she exercises her right to say "no." She has officially been put in timeout 3 times for dumping food on the carpet. Despite all the attitude changes, she really is so much fun right now. She's silly and lovable and loves new experiences. She loves other children and following them around. Sophie and I started going to a music and movement class at the library and she absolutely loves it. She won't have anything to do with me and would rather stand in the center of the room and dance in front of the teacher. I was impressed with what she did catch on to and I'm excited to see how she learns over the course of the class.