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.

Idaho Falls Trip

Last week Sophie and I went on a little adventure. Jason and Erin went on a work resort trip to Colorado and I got to go watch their girlies for them. We rode the shuttle out to Pocatello which was really nice because I just got to hang out with Sophie rather than worrying about her in the back seat all alone. Then Erin and the girls picked us up there. 

My goal was to keep everyone happy by staying busy, keep the house moderately clean, and not kill any of their animals. I'm pleased to report I succeeded in all of those things. Hannah had a rough time when they first left and on the day they were coming home, but being older makes you more aware of what's going on, so that's understandable. The first day after Jason and Erin left I whisked everyone off to the library. It happened to be story time when we got there so we participated in that and a little craft after. All the girls got some books for the week and I almost lost Sophie for the first time, but we all survived. The girls have a million cute little friends who were almost more excited to see Sophie than they were. Sophie had a love/hate relationship with all of them. They tended to swarm her and scream "Hi Sophie!" to the point she would cry and run back to me. But she also loved following them around and doing cute things for them. (Like "Super Sophie!" complete with a cape and superhero arms and her plethora of animal noises)

 One night we had friends over to watch Frozen. It was definitely the most adorable time I've ever watched that movie with all of them dancing and singing at the top of their lungs. We ended up at the Splash Park in Rexburg two days in a row because everyone had so much fun (and it killed a bunch of time and they had free lunch!). The second day we rode the carousel, which completely freaked Sophie out. Saturday we went to Ammon Days which was fun, but probably the most stressful thing I did all week. Everyone participated in everything, won tons of prizes, and ate buckets of junk food. Sophie tried cotton candy for the first time and loved it. Sunday we went to sacrament meeting and waited for mom and dad to come home. The week went by surprisingly fast and we all had a great time.

I "made" the girls go to Cocoa Bean with me. I'm so mean.

Greatest Cart Contraption Ever

She looked too darn cute for church. They all did.

A Talent Show for Sophie: 

My favorite parts of the week:

• Playing with just Sophie and Kira. Watching the two of them is great fun. 
• Listening to Kira talk to herself.
• Making paper dolls with just Hannah. 
• Bella's incessant silliness that always makes Sophie smile. 
• Sophie's endless supply of friends.
• Listening to the girls talk to their parent's on the phone. Their conversations are the best. 
• Dressing up four little girls (five if you include myself) for church. 
• Playing at the splash park.
• Somehow getting all of us free meals 3x's.

Random Sophie Getting Into Trouble Photo