Trip to Richfield

 The day after Thanksgiving we headed down to Richfield, Utah. Richfield is Daniel's Dad hometown and is still home to Daniel's grandma and bunches of aunts and uncles and cousins. It's a  big-small town surrounded by even smaller towns, lots of farmland, and the start of the red rock of southern Utah. It's a beautiful and quiet area. I was nervous about the six hour drive, but Sophie did amazing on the way there until the last half hour. That was just too much for her and she lost it. We stayed at Daniel's Grandma Clara's house that was built by her husband years ago. That evening all the extended family had a big party for Grandma's 89th birthday that is coming up. We ate lots of Turkey day leftovers and played games and visited. There are so many great-grandkiddos! There were tons of babies Sophie's age and loads of others running around. It was too much fun. The most fun/shocking thing of the weekend was how social and bubbly Sophie was. Mostly she is shy and hesitant around new people, but she chatted up everyone and smiled and waved like it was nothing. When we first arrived Daniel's cousin and his wife and little guy were there and Sophie had a ball chasing him around the house. She did her best to keep up with him. And then Daniel's cousin scooped Sophie up and she loved her! This rarely happens with our shy girl, but she absolutely was a joy the entire trip. I've never seen her so consistently happy and independent of me. We may just have to move to Richfield because she's been grumpy ever since we got home.

 Saturday was the annual Jensen Family Christmas tree hunt. This is a tradition that I have only heard about and couldn't wait to participate. Some camped up in the mountains, but we just drove a short ways up from Grandma's house. Some took off on four wheelers and even horses, but we just drove a short way and had fun traipsing about looking for trees. It was so fun. I was so excited when we found some darling trees to bring back. We don't have a lot of space so we kept it to a smaller tree---and like I've always heard, they always look smaller on the mountain.

 We did another Richfield tradition and went to "the dairy." I expected an actual dairy, but it's a restaurant run by a family that has a dairy. It was still fun. We got dinner and ice cream, and the notorious punch bags (literally punch in a bag--think capri sun). Sophie got her first ice cream cone from Grandpa Jensen and she could not have been happier, she downed almost the entire thing.

 We decided to break up our drive home and stop Sunday night on Temple Square to see the Christmas lights. I haven't been forever and it was very fun. Sophie instantly started looking up at the lights and pointing and laughing. It was adorable! Like I said, this baby was incredibly fun and bubbly all weekend. Then we had dinner at Macaroni Grill with two of my longtime friends, Darla and Sariah. I'm glad they were able to meet Sophie. We had a wonderful time. It was a great trip and I'm so happy we went. We've now decorated our Christmas tree and I love it even more--even if it's squished into our tiny living room. It's a great addition and we are so excited for Christmas!

Thanksgiving

 Thanksgiving was great! We had a delicious dinner at Erin and Jason's with Grandpa Jensen and some of Jason's family. It was also Hannah's birthday so we had some My Little Pony decorations incorporated throughout. Watching Hannah help with dinner made her all of a sudden seem like such a big girl. She's growing into such a wonderful little lady. Dinner was delightful. Daniel and I had our first taste of deep fried turkey--which is awesome! Sophie enjoyed herself as well, munching on rolls, stuffing, ham, turkey, and sweet potatoes.

Sophie couldn't have sweeter cousins

 Hannah was kind enough to share her My Little Pony birthday present with everyone. Sophie was particularly enamored with the light up wings and music. Christmas couldn't come soon enough for Sophie--that girl needs more toys. After dinner we went see "Frozen" for Hannah's birthday with everyone. Sophie's first real movie experience! The only reason I figured we could take her to this movie is because I assumed there would be a million other kids there and that was true. We happened to sit on the second to last row from the top where no one was sitting behind us and there was a little square of carpet that Sophie hung out on when she wasn't feeling the movie. For the most part she did great! She loved the music parts and would wave her arms up and down excitedly. It was pretty cute and the movie was adorable! After the movie we ate an unholy amount of pie and we had to skip out on birthday cake to get Sophie home for bed. Aaannddd....Daniel and I drove home with a pie on the top of our car. Whoops.

 

This year, we are thankful for our darling baby girl that brings joy to every day!

Babysitting and Bathtime

I'm tired. Like I-just-had-a-newborn-baby kind of tired. Sophie just isn't sleeping. For almost a week now, whenever she wakes up she is up for at least an hour. Some mornings we are up at four or five for the day, one terrible day it was three a.m. Three a.m!? She cries when it comes to anything related to sleep and nursing has been awful too--I'm not friends with those teeth. I'm exhausted and my body hurts from endlessly holding my 20 lbs. baby trying to get her to sleep. (I shouldn't blog when I don't feel well)

 

In other news, a couple weekends ago Daniel and I were able to watch our Enger girls while their parents had a quick get-away to San Francisco. It was fun, but four kids was exhausting business. The girls were great. They were so helpful, sweet with Sophie, patient with her grumpiness, didn't fight, and all-around easy going girls. We had a few minor (one slightly more than minor) meltdowns, but that's to be expected. We tried to play games whenever Sophie napped--which was rare, she's a terrible napper when we aren't home. Grandpa Jensen came over around dinnertime each night and was a great help. Saturday the weather was surprisingly good so we went to lunch and then went to the park. The park was fun and it was great to get out of the house and run around. We played an intense game of hide-and-seek where Daniel hid so well we had to give up.

 

Saturday we made little Thanksgiving turkeys and Sunday after church we made a "Welcome Home" sign for their parents. Sophie honestly was the biggest chore the whole weekend. She was getting over being sick and just didn't sleep well and was grumpy. It was a fun weekend, but we were worn out by the end. It's a good thing you have one kid at a time (in most cases), rather than four at once.

 

Sophie's new winter hat

 I realized I haven't taken any bath pictures of Sophie, which is a shame because she really loves bathtime, especially now that she can crawl around and splash like crazy. She loves sticking her hands in the running water, chewing on her bath toys, and splashing all over. Also, Sophie really likes "brushing her teeth" which is just her chewing on the toothbrush, but I figure that's not too shabby.

 

Happy Birthday Grandma

Sophie and I made this little birthday card for my mom today (with some help from my dad and brother). Sophie finally is feeling well and not grumpy. So "Happy Birthday" to my wonderful mom who continues to spoil me and spoils Sophie even more.