Visit from G-Pa & Misc. Catch-up

 Daniel's dad came out for the weekend for a little visit. We honestly know little about Boise so we took him to some of the restaurants that we have tried, visited the aquarium, and swam at the hotel. It was a fun little weekend. The aquarium was a little ghetto, but Sophie was highly entertained. She giggled over and over and wanted to touch everything. She's hilarious.

 

 So, this picture doesn't do it justice, but this is (more or less) Southeast Boise where we live. Lots of tree, nestled against the foothills. Downtown is just to the left and we live somewhere off to the right. We bought a used bike trailer for Sophie and me (my new car!) and I've had fun adventuring on nice weather days. We live really close to a lot of great parks where I've met some new friends. One day I pushed myself to ride all the way downtown which took somewhere around 30-40 min. It took longer than expected, but Sophie really seems to enjoy just cruisin' along behind me.

Daniel and I both got new iPhones and Sophie and I have been snapping lots of pictures. She likes our phones too much already. Mostly she likes to yell at Siri. Sophie's current hobbies are: smacking mom in the face with books, watching Sesame Street and Curious George, dancing, throwing raquetballs, going down the slide, and crawling all over the park.

V-day Cupcakes

New Shoes!

 We did a DIY toys one morning and they worked for a while....

 Church is at eleven...which happens to be the same time as naptime. A couple times she has fallen asleep just as we are ready to go out the door. We can never make it through all three hours of church before she just loses it. I go back for Relief Society because I lead the music {shocking, I know}. If you know how to avoid slipping into inactivity, let us know!

 

Such a Girl

 It amazing how quickly Sophie picks up what would be called "girly" tendencies. I haven't had a boy so maybe they do these things too. Sophie loves to give hugs--not just to people, but to all her stuffed animals or any other inanimate object we say, "Give 'em hugs." She squishes them tight in a really good hug. I've found her in her room giving repeated hugs to her stuffed dolls. She also gives us the best hugs on the planet. She wraps her tiny arms around our necks and pats us on the back. It is the easiest way to melt any heart. She also gives lots of kisses. The other girly tendency is that she loves to brush my hair. And her own hair. She sits in my lap while I dry my hair and demands to brush my hair and assist in drying it. It is little actual help, but it's pretty sweet.

 One rainy Saturday we decided to do something more exciting than go to the grocery store. We went and walked around the Capitol building which was both pretty cool and relatively boring. Maybe I just like boring things? We've been exploring more and more of downtown Boise and it's been fun. Then we went to the Boise Art Museum which was fairly interesting. They had a great kids play space which Daniel and I may have had more fun in than Sophie.

*I've got a few more posts coming, but I've been working on our end-of-the-year blog book and a variety of other things during naptime and after bedtime so hopefully they will come soon.

Look Who's One!

• Name: Sophie Mae Jensen
• Nicknames: Sophie Lulu/CooCoo/BooBoo/DooDoo/RooRoo, Squirt, Sophie Bug
• Hair Color: Brown with some beautiful blonde roots growing in
• Eyes: Smoky Gray with a hint of Green
• Personality Traits: Shy, but often friendly. Playful, sensitive, happy. Excellent potential for silliness.
• Favorite Activities: Following mommy around the house, pulling magnets off the fridge, playing with grocery bags, being chased, riding in grocery carts, dancing to TV shows' theme songs.
• Favorite Toys: Baby remote (and all other button-covered objects), cords of all shapes and sizes, car keys, wipe containers, balloons.
• Favorite Foods: Cheese, Key Lime Yogurt, Ice cream, and Puffs.
• I look extra cute in: footie jammies, sweaters, and hats.
• Funny Things I do: A variety of silly noises (tongue flapping, lip strumming, bubble blowing, monkey screeching), "Be Cute" (turns head onto shoulder and smiles), waves bye-bye, wrinkling up nose and pursing lips together, clinging to mom like a koala cub and falling asleep on her chest.
• Things I Like to Do: Follow other children around, spit water out of my mouth like a fountain, feel the wind in my face, give big, slobbery, open-mouthed kisses.
• Favorite Songs: Itsy Bitsy Spider and 5 Little Monkeys (in a tree, not a bed)
• Un-Favorite Things: Lying flat for more than two seconds, being too tired, getting teeth, when mommy ignores me for more than two seconds, and having things taken away that I want (but shouldn't have)
• Unique Things About Me: I have two identical bumps on the back of my ears just like my daddy (and some of my aunts) and I have a stork's bite on the back of my neck just like my mommy.
• The Best Part about being One: Mom and Dad will do anything to make me laugh. And I get infinite kisses.

 

My mom got Sophie a singing birthday card and she thinks it's the coolest thing ever. My favorite is that she looks up and smiles when it sings, "Every girl can beeeee a princess..."

 Sophie had two birthday celebrations. I am a firm believer that birthdays should be a week long party anyways, so that was fine with me. On her birthday she and I played with balloons all day, played with some dollar store presents, and for dessert we, plus Grandma and Grandpa H., went to DQ--which is literally fifty yards away--for some ice cream. Sophie's favorite! Saturday Daniel and I actually planned a date to go see Catching Fire. Pretty sure we were the last people in America to see it. Sophie stayed at our apartment with Grandma and Grandpa. We were gone for four hours, which stressed me out a little, but she did well! They had to go on a drive to get her to nap, but no complaints. Then we had pizza and cake! I didn't even want a picture of the cake because I used all my new cake decorating stuff and kind of just messed around, so it's not pretty. I didn't even make enough of one color to coat the whole cake, and I just wanted try making flowers so I did a bunch. I learned a lot from one cake, but it sure tasted amazing!





















 


 

We loved celebrating with our beautiful baby girl. She's the best. We think she had fun too.





































 
 

Our Move

It's possible each year will start with a blog post of Sophie's birthday, but we'll hold out for just a bit. The first weekend of January we did move to Boise--which is kind of a big deal. My parents were a huge help by driving the moving truck from Boise to Idaho Falls and back. For the most part the move went fine. I still don't ever enjoy moving. So far Boise is great. Our apartment is less than great. We barely fit in it and the kitchen is pathetically old and has no storage. And we have no microwave, it's back in Idaho Falls. We will get it eventually. The area we are in is great though. I can't wait for spring because we are in a beautiful tree-lined neighborhood, just a few blocks from the Greenbelt. We've already enjoyed living close to downtown and eating at some cool places. Our ward seems really nice. And Daniel LOVES his job. I don't know if I've ever heard him say that. Do you know what else I've never heard him say, "I can't believe it's already Tuesday. This week is going by fast!" I about died laughing. He has brought home a million goodies. He gets ten PowerBars a day for free. It's more than we could ever eat (everyone should expect PowerBar gift baskets from us for the next several years). He's brought back t-shirts, bags, a jersey, water bottle, steel-toed boots, plus a bunch of things he bought at cost from the company store (Hooray for cheap Gerber baby food!!!) Nestle just proves every day that they are an excellent company to work for. So far, so good.