Pig tails?

First time I've actually tried... it's long enough for pig tails!

Oh and she really wants to feed herself right now... hence the... well you get it. The one below is Sophia's new car! We finally bought her a real backyard toy.

(The man hands are Ross' ... didn't want any confusion.)

Fashion tip? Not quite...

So this is for Missy who keeps encouraging me to post creative tips (I don't dare say fashion or beauty as I am in in no place to offer either). But we all have funny things we've discovered make us feel cuter--please share! But one of mine is cutting t-shirt necklines...I went through a phase in college where I pulled out all my little-boy thriftstore t-shirts (like Dodgers, Sunnyside Elementary, etc) from High School (another phase I guess) and by cutting the necklines, made them new t-shirts. So if it was ever in, it's got to be out by now, but do you know I STILL do it? Now I buy the cheap target t-shirts and do the same thing. If interested, keep reading.

So there's two ways to cut them. The most subtle way is just RIGHT below the collar (even though there's no real collar but below that inch or so of neckline-- is that called the collar?) just all the way around so your cutting the collar perfectly off and in the garbage goes an O. It opens it up more than you'd think and makes it more comfortable and -- the key-- shows your collar bone which makes a casual boy tee look much more femine. That works best if the shirt is pretty fitted. If it's really fitted and the sleeves are tight to the armpit, it's also cute if you take an inch+ off the sleeves to make it shaped more like a cap sleeve. If it's too loose on the armpit and you cut the sleeves, you could end up with that sort of 80's sort of white trash/Six Flags look (vision of bra through armpit hole)--- not cute.

So, the other way is even simpler--a line strait down the middle...as low as you want (ooh la la). This style you've seen in trendy stores for a little while, but you may as well cut it yourself. This is silly but here's a couple of pictures I had of one I cut like this. Hope this helps Missy! And anyone else with cute tees with unfortunately tight necklines.

Probably so not blogworthy. I think I'm a little out of control lately on the unedited thoughts I actually put in writing on this thing. I know it's open for all to read, but I still use it as a journal, so I reserve the right to be dull or trivial. :)

It's a new week tomorrow. Sigh.

Every Day Tee

So when I get something new that I like, I wear it almost every day until I'm over it. It's kind of a problem of mine. So if we're getting together with the same people twice in a row, I'm totally at a loss for what to wear. My newest every day shirt is nothing special, it's a black henley from target with 3/4 length sleeves. Perfect for our cool, 70 something weather. I wore it the other day to do my body pump class (washed it), wore it yesterday when my friend Marnie and I made rice crispy treats (didn't wash it), and wore it today to run my errands all morning. I came home AFTER running errands all morning and found a large chunk of rice crispy treat lodged in the middle of my back.

Thank goodness I had a child in tow... (obvious excuse for being disheveled at all times.)

Sophia just woke up from her one, two hour nap. The last couple of days have been working out all right with about an 11:30 nap. Today's didn't start until 2 because my errands screwed her up. But two hours is pretty good. I'll take it.

Disappointed

A repeat... buuuummer.

Is it Friday yet?

(She's not actually waving-- just about to pat the ball with that hand. But I liked that it looked like she actually posed for a picture. And yes, as much as I usually try to take pictures of her on the grass, where she REALLY likes to play is, of course, the dirt.)

Don't know why, but I'm particularly tired this week. It might be the "is she-- isn't she-- switching to one nap?" game we're playing with Sophia right now... or maybe just that dang body pump class. But I feel worked. I don't think I've cooked a real meal for Ross all week, poor guy. That, I blame on an excess in left-overs and a resolution to keep my fridge cleaned out. I figured we didn't want the food to go to waste so it was strictly a decision based on frugality, not laziness. In that case Ross is EXTREMELY supportive of my not cooking... :) It works out well.
(Not that he demands dinner usually or anything-- just had to clarify.)

Also Sophia's been in an extra funk this week-- I'm thinking she's definitely feeling some of the pain of teething. It's wierd how as a mom sometimes you're so sure you "just know." The symptoms could probably be just another cold, but I just know it's teething. Whenever she's sick, Ross wants me to call the doctor-- I can't figure out why I would bother, when I know better than them. ;) Just kidding, I'm not that cocky, but... well sort of. I've realized I wasn't raised on the doctor so sometimes it's hard for me to really think we need to use our pediatrician. At least for such minor things. Anyway-- pretty sure she's gettin' some good molars. Poor thing. I can't imagine the pain these little tiny people go through in the beginning of their lives with all the growing, the teething, the ear infections, the diaper rash (can you imagine?.. wierd.) I seriously think Sophia's such a tough little thing.

So here's a picture of Lizzie's beautiful little girl Kate Elizabeth. Her first was born vaginally but it went horribly and her recovery took a couple of months so the doctor suggested a c-section with this one. The recovery has been night and day better than the last and she's happy to be able to sit up and actually hold and enjoy her beautiful new baby. It sounds like the toughest part is Tanner's adjustment to the whole thing (her 2 year old), so Tuesday he came over and played with Sophia all day to get some normalcy. Poor little guy.

That's all I got.

Little mama

This is a video of my little girl in action as a true little girl. If only I could make you ignore my voice. Oh well.



So this world of online journaling (sometimes that makes me feel better about it) keeps amazing me with how it connects people. Genny, my first roomate at BYU in Provo, just found me through google, which sent her to my brother-in-law, Joe's Spanish Phrase of the Day, where she found my link and emailed me through my blog (she's now on my link list). The world really does just get smaller and smaller! When we lived together we were two silly girls sharing a bunk bed at King Henry and now she now has two beautiful little children and a husband in med school. I just love that through this convenient way of keeping in touch, we can actually hear the happy endings we missed out on, of our old friends.

So yesterday I did a new class at my gym called body pump. Anybody done it? Apparently it's big in other cities... at least they keep marketing it like it is. So it kicked my butt. I can tell it's going to get harder and harder to walk as the day goes on. I guess that's a good thing? The infliction of horrible pain for the possibility of a harder body later... hmmmm....No I really am a believer in exercise. If only the results were guaranteed regardless of how many frozen brownies you eat.

(Yes that's my new favorite treat.)

One nap?

She's loving books right now which is so relieving since she went through phases where she wanted nothing to do with them. I've realized that those things aren't always worth worrying about... when they don't seem to be picking up the things we're SUPPOSED to be teaching them. They always seem to come around in their own time-- from ALL my experience with my one 16 month old. :)

Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure I have nothing very exciting to say, but I feel like venting all the same so read at your own risk.

So last year we had 9 am church and I thought it was the worst time possible because Sophia usually took a 9 am nap. All through church she was a little animal and I couldn't even get mad since it wasn't her fault-- I'd trained her to sleep during that time and was now forcing her to stay awake, quiet, and relatively still on like 4 feet of bench? Kind of a lot to ask.

Needless to say we were SOOO excited to change to 11 am church in January-- we had it all mapped out-- she would awake just minutes before, already dressed and ready, and we'd race off with a happy, rested child arriving just in time for the end of the prelude music and to get our own bench on the side where we could lock her in to spend the next hour and 15 quietly munching cheerios and reading velcro Bible stories (breathe.... ) Didn't quite happen that way.

Sure enough, with our luck, the first week of the new year was the first day Sophia decided she might not want to take a morning nap anymore. I believe my little 161/2 month old MIGHT be transitioning to one nap. A little sooner than I wanted, but it works. At least every other day or so.

We tried so hard to plan this Sunday so it would work, putting her down at 6:30 the night before hoping she would wake up early and so still take her 9 am nap--- not a chance. So we wrestled through Sacrament Meeting as usual, offering apologetic glances to all of those around us directly affected by her throwing food, singing loudly during talks instead of music numbers, attempts to climb over the bench, and her full-blown,back-arched, leg- kicking tantrums-- (they end before we can take her out or else I promise we would.)

Once Sacrament Meeting was over, Ross sat with her in Nursery (since she's not old enough to go on her own yet) so I could teach my class. After one last melt down, he took her out of nursery to walk around and she crashed on his shoulder in a moment--- NEVER HAPPENS. Mine is not one of those children you see sleeping in their mother's arms while she's having a lengthy, energetic, female conversation (I'm always amazed by this at church.) She sleeps great in a crib, but the catch is-- no where else. So this was a big deal. A big bummer too, as that 30 minute nap on Daddy's shoulder sufficed her for the rest of the day. :(

Anyway-- last night she slept from 6:30 pm-8:00 am, worn out from the previous day. So I am wondering if this one nap thing could be the key to an 8 am wake time. I just can't believe how nice it is to be up and alert and semi-straightened up BEFORE she wakes up. LOVE it.

Those of you with older kids, when did yours move to one nap? What time of day did you do it?

Did anyone watch the Golden Globes? I think I want Reese Witherspoon's hair. Yup bangs. Do you think they're only cute because she's like 85 pounds?...because I'm a hair bigger than that. ;) No but really, I'm getting my hair cut next Saturday and I'm seriously thinking real bangs. AHHHH ... we'll see... I've been known to go in with big dreams and come out with some subtle layers -- the kind that boys would NEVER notice and your girlfriends we'll assure you "now that they look closer they can totally tell."

I guess we'll just see what I'm inspired to do this Saturday.

A happy memory...

Sophia's first trip to the beach-- 6 months old in Newport.

C-sections?

It's 8:23 and my daughter is not awake for the day yet. I'm kind of confused because she took an afternoon nap from 3-5 yesterday which usually means a late bedtime (8-8:30) and an early wake up (6-6:30). Ross left just after 6 and before he did, brought me the portable DVD player so I could persuade Sophia to lie in bed with me since he heard her "singing" in her bed. Right after he left she went quiet until NOW! OK she's barely starting to make some noises. Man-- if I could really figure out what formula of sleep gets her to sleep in until 8:30.... that's pretty nice.

So I have c-section on the mind. My friend Lizzie had hers' yesterday morning at 7:30 and is probably coming home today. In case anyone didn't know, I had a c-section with Sophia because she was breech--- (pretty much as breech as they come, feet up at ears, bum down, and head in my rib cage.) I was horrified when my doctor insisted that was my only option... I had fought so long with him to try and have the most natural experience I could handle. (I didn't want any induction, potossin, and in a perfect world, no epidural, but that was definitely up for debate- long labors sound insane to me without drugs.) Anyway, once I conceded to the fact that I didn't really have a choice, or if I thought I did, I could be putting my baby at danger, we went for the c-section. We even had to take her 3 weeks early since I was dilated 4 cm at that point and my going into true labor would have been dangerous. Sure enough, once she was out, and perfect and healthy, I couldn't have cared less what the process was and c-sections no longer seemed so bad. It helped that supposedly my doctor was particularly experienced with them and had the quickest recovery rate in the desert. We were able to go home the next day (like Lizzie will) and while in a lot of pain, I took ibuprofen for 5 days and managed it alright. The whole experience was much better than I'd read and heard about the surgery and over all, I could see why my doctor was, as I called him, a bit c-section happy.

So now, after watching Lizzie go through the same thing, I've been thinking a lot about the next one and I'm terrified all over again. Most doctors refuse, or strongly discourage VBACS (vaginal birth after cesarean). However they also strongly discourage more than three c-sections. So I've just realized that now I'm in a place where I'm either going to feel limited to the number of children I can have (which is just really sad and weird to me), or like I'm putting my baby and myself in danger if I try for a VBAC or try for over three c-sections. Of course they can't keep you from doing either (well my doctor WON'T do a VBAC but I'm sure I could find one that would), but how scary to go through an entire pregnancy knowing that you're pushing it a little bit and your uterus might rupture.

The dangers of VBAC are that during delivery, your scar could rupture and kill mother and child, or for ex. my sister knows someone whose scar ruptured, the baby's head got stuck in it and now she has brain damage-- that she wouldn't have had otherwise-- that would be hard to live with.

I think the dangers with multiple c-sections are just that carrying another baby could rupture your uterus... bad things etc... and then there's just tons of increased risk that comes along with another surgery at that point-- I read about them but don't remember medical terms-- there were a lot. Ross keeps pointing out that a lot of women have high risk pregnancies and do great, and it probably just depends on the body and how well it's recovered from the previous pregnancies.

OK this is probably getting soooo boring. Anyone who has not had a baby might be particularly bored... anyone who has might totally disagree with something I said. I guess my point is just that I'm really concerned lately because I feel like there's a good chance we'll be told we should only have three children and that if we want more, which is the lesser of two dangers? A VBAC, or a 4th c-section. I probably need to stop worrying and figure that we'll have as many as we're supposed to have safely-- as Ross keeps saying. It will all work out... etc... I'm still worried.

So Sophia is talking up a storm in her bed now... better go get her.

Happy Birthday Ross!

(A little disclaimer, this first one was in Venice when I was 6 months pregnant.)

So today celebrates an extremely important day to me... the birth of this sweet man, husband and father.

Yes today is Ross' 29th birthday!!! TWENTY NINE! Crazy huh? That's almost 30! Remember when 30 sounded so old? Back when we imitated 50 by using that shaky old man voice saying "Heyyyy sonnyyyy...". How quickly our perspective seems to change. Now my young, cute husband who still wears his hat backwards, skateboards to get the mail, and prefers a boxed white cake mix with store bought confetti frosting to any Martha recipe I could try... is turning one year shy of 30. Do we ever really grow up?

This is a man that I knew when I married him would do whatever he could to make a stranger's life easier, let alone his WIFE. He is a giver. He always lets me eat most of his fries from In & Out even though I refuse to get my own. He doesn't even try to convince me anymore. He always plugs my cell phone in at night so that I'll actually have service the next day. I lay in bed waiting for him while he wanders the house trying to find where I hid it...because I never know. He ALWAYS leaves me the last treat, he won't even take the last bite- if I tell him to, he splits it in half. In almost 4 years of years of marriage I have never gotten excited to eat something yummy and found it to be all gone... I got very used to that growing up with 5 siblings and I guess he knows how hard that was for me :) (sounds like a confession that I have serious issues with food I know.... I sort of do.)

He always tells me I'm beautiful even though most days he sees me in jammies before he leaves, and back in jammies by the time he gets back home. He tells me I'm a good mom and that he thinks my reading voice to Sophia is soothing. He treats Sophia just like the smartest, coolest, most important little girl she is... so that she will become it.

He rubs my back as often as I ask, and when he does, he doesn't pretend to rub it like I've seen so many other husbands do, he looks at it like a work out and goes all out! :) He carries everything at church for me and most places that we go (again, tries to look at it like a work out). He uses funny phrases I've never heard of and teaches me what they mean. He always does the garbage, the yard, the Christmas lights, and all the other man jobs that I love to be exempt from. He praises me for the jobs that I do and tells me I'm a wonderful cook, decorator, and organizer... he makes me feel like an artist and tells me that he wants me to take classes some day. I love that.

He plays with Sophia just like I'd always imagined a super dad would with our little ones; he's so full of joy and energy and makes her laugh and laugh. He sings to her at night and I could listen outside the door for hours... but it only lasts a couple of minutes before she swats at his face. (We've discovered she doesn't actually like to be sung to at night.)

He reads up on what's going on in the world and lets me use him as my Cliff's Notes. ( I lived on those things in school... another confession, oops). But even if I don't know something that I totally should about politics, or the scriptures, he never makes me feel dumb, but always answers my questions. He is such a righteous priesthood holder and makes me feel like Sophia and I will always be safe with him. He is an optimist and finds the good in everyone. He is truly one of those people that doesn't speak ill of anyone. (Sometimes it can even be frustrating when I need a gossiping avenue... (confession? ...seriously I can't help but do it) ... he focuses on the good in me and reminds me to do the same :).

He is a constant example, a reminder of how blessed I am, proof of the existence of a man who's GOOD to his core, something that the world doesn't even believe exists anymore. He is my best friend and my sweet heart and I am SOOO grateful that he was born 29 years ago today.

Happy Birthday Ross! I love you.

A long weekend...

I LOVE long weekends. Saturday was a wonderfully typical Saturday where we ate a yummier breakfast than normal, hung out together as a family, ran some errands, did some chores, and then played at night with some friends. I say typical, but too often we're seperated so that I can run child-free errands, or Ross can play some football or do something else that doesn't require a shirt and tie like the other six days of the week. So it wasn't so much a typical Saturday, as an ideal Saturday in my mind. Ross might disagree as he did vacuum out the car that I let be filled with pirates booty, fruity cheerios, crackers, string cheese, and yes (gasp) even blackberries. I used to stick to dry foods in the car but I felt like she was snacking too much on processed stuff, so now I just deal with the consequences, an occasional blackberry, tomato or kidney bean smashed into the carpet. Yes I'm totally one of those moms.. with the super messy (not-quite-a) mini-van. I never would have guessed. But my car has been known to get out of control these days with my little one. Thank goodness I have a wonderful husband who loves me enough to clean it out. :)

Anyway, on Sunday night my parents came out to see us since everyone had Martin Luther King Day off. We watched the premier of "24" together (which should be a whole other blog on it's own since I think it might be the best show on television- ever), they stayed over for the night, hung out with us the next day, and took us to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory (love the Pasta Da Vinci) for an early celebration of Ross' birthday (also needs to be a whole other blog.) It was so fun to have an extra day to hang out with my wonderful parents in our little world out here. That night after they left, we of course watched the second half of the premier of "24" and I held my breath for nearly two hours. I love that show.

It was a good weekend.

Her FIRST haircut

So Sophia’s hair has been growing super fast lately. I was loving it for a while there, and then it was like one morning I woke up and she had grown a bit of a mullet. The thought of taking scissors to my daughter’s hair was terrifying, as you can imagine, (a) because they’re scissors and they’re sharp and (b) because she has been bald for the majority of her life so it just seemed a little wrong. However, I decided it had to be done. So the other night in the bath, I snipped a little off the back while she focused intently on stuffing every toy she could find into her new bath tub basketball hoop (thanks Nana and Grandpa B.) I figured no one would even really notice. That night, Ross got home just in time to put her down. When he emerged from her room we had this conversation.

“Did you cut her hair?”

“Maybe… what do you think?”

“She looks like a little boy.”

Obviously I was stressed about it all through the night and into the next day, so I decided to put her in a little dress and tights and take pictures to assure myself she looked nothing like a little boy. I’m sure no one else can even tell, but trust me, she really was growing a little party in back before.

So here is my precious daughter in four pictures that probably look the same to you, after she had her first haircut.

Of course Ross recants his heartless statement.

Still reminscing on Christmas morning...

So I think I found a way to fit the video and go back to my old template (I'm pretty sure I liked it better. I know it's silly and doesn't matter, but if you have an opinion let me know.) It looks like google video takes up less space than youtube. I think.

Anyway, this is obviously a silly video of Sophia on Christmas morning with Elmo. We thought it was kind of funny. Sophia never took a bottle so it's funny because she doesn't get the whole baby with a bottle thing. So intstead she tries to give her sippy cups to her dolls.... even Elmo. The look is not quite the same. :)

It's overcast today... I LOVE it. I'm sure I've said it before, but that's a rare occurance out here in the city of sun. We soak up the wonderfully diffused light like most people in winter soak up any bit of sun. I LOVE it. Did I already say that?

One thing that's really cool about the desert is that even when we have 80 degree days here, we can often see snow on top of the mountains that surround us, and they're not THAT high. I think my parents are coming out on Sunday and staying over, since Monday's a holiday, and we all might go up to Idyllwild (sp?) or Big Bear or the top of the tram... somewhere with snow. I've been regretting not really letting Sophia play in the snow in Utah so this is my chance. :)


This is a picture of Sophia at only 7 months (crazy huh?) and my great friend Marnie, the one that's pregnant and horribly sick, and commenting sometimes. She doesn't have a blog yet, she was planning on waiting until she has her baby in July, but I'm trying to convince her to start one now. If nothing else, to track the growth of her belly and her stages of insanity. :)

Now you've met another one of my best friends our here. Her husband, like Lizzie's, works with Ross at Merrill. We've realized that we're really lucky because the boss at Merrill recruits out of BYU which means we are bound to be surrounded by a lot of young families like us, I guess that's another perk about the desert.

Happy Birthday Lizzie!

Again, I'm copying Missy and today, January 11th, honoring the birthday of a dear friend.

Lizzie is the friend we went to Hawaii with, the one who threw my baby shower and whose baby shower I threw. She is the friend I call Martha (Stewart) because she has an incredible talent in the home. She sewed all of her own mock roman shades and beautiful thick curtains for her formal dining room (we later saw some in Pottery Barn that were only ALMOST as cute). She organizes like there's no tomorrow and has food storage for the whole neighborhood (well at least Ross, Sophia and I :) just kidding Liz). She's the kind of friend I set my bar by and constantly fall short, but it keeps me growing. She's a genius in the kitchen, makes the kinds of things from scratch I thought grew in grocery stores. (She's the one who taught me to make carmel and almond roca.) She's a dream wife to her husband, Shad of 7 years (I think), and is the example of devotion in a marriage. She used to be Mrs. Lamm, the teacher that every 2nd grade girl wanted to be like and every boy had a little crush on. Now she's an incredible mother to her little two year old boy Tanner (SUPER cute), and is due to have her little girl, Kate Elizabeth on January 18th by c-section. She has been such a blessing to me, since we've moved out here to the barren desert :), and I'm so grateful today, that she was born. :)

Happy Birthday Lizzie.

(the pictures at the top were over a year ago when Tanner was not even 1. This one was of course at Halloween and Lizzie's almost 7 months pregnant in it, believe it or not.)

This last one was taken at Dukes in Hawaii. That's of course, her cute husband, Shad.

testing video...123

So I think I finally figured out how to post a video without ruining my sidebar. This is an old video, so Sophia talks a lot more now, but at the time her little voice in this was priceless... ok it still is. (Sorry it's so dark.)


"Papa Kirk's words of wisdom..."

A new template?

Totally unrelated to anything... just wanted to post this picture-- I fill the basket with toys-- she empties the toys out and plays in the basket all morning. I LOVE her.

So I feel like I haven't been on here forever as my last blog was titled "I love Sundays"... and three days could count as forever when this little online journal has become somewhat of an addiction. I guess I was too busy on Monday seeing as our Christmas decorations had still not been taken down (gasp) and I felt like the neighbors were scowling at me through my Christmas tree window. It wasn't lit up or anything, but still up and decorated... the danger of a fake tree. So the house is almost Christmas free now, except for some glitter that I'll swiffer up after Sophia wakes up from her nap. It's strange how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE to put up the Christmas decor, but how surprisingly happy I am to get my house back. I didn't realize how much I missed my blank walls, blue pillows, and corners. In order to fit all the new stuff in, every corner seems to get filled up and the house definitely wanders dangerously close to "cluttered". Anyway, as much as I'll long for Christmas '07, I'm ready for this one to return to the garage.

So anyway, that was Monday. Yesterday, something awful took over my electronic friend I couldn't seem to get my lap top to do anything I wanted. When the internet worked, my blogger acount didn't, and when blogger should have been back up, my internet was down. Sophia's entire first nap was over and so was my blogging time. So sad.

So today I have a somewhat new template which I shouldn't care that much about but I'm not sure I like. I decided to finally switch to the new version of blogger as the pesky reminders were getting to me, and I didn't want problems like yesterday again just because I was too stubborn to switch over. Since I was making all of the changes anyway, I decided to change templates so that the text would stretch wider. I'm hoping that will allow me to post videos from youtube without messing up my sidebar (probably FAR more information than anyone cares to hear...but that's the problem I've run in to in the past.) .....(take a breath....)

So, I'm back, with a new template (for now), Christmas free (sad but not), and with a new link to an old and GOLDEN friend Michelle Ross! If you check her blog you'll probably want to be her friend too... she's one of those. We met at BYU Hawaii (great friendships start there huh Sarah and Mis?) where we both went for a semester of our freshman year. This is an ode to blogging since we haven't spoken in a few years at least, and she found me through my blog and emailed me. Now I have a new reason to love this silly addiction that I blame sweet Missy for. :) Not only does it keep us connected, but apparently it reunites. I probably sound super cheesy, but I'm very excited to have Shelly back in my life!

In honor of good friends, and Christmas, here's a picture of our collage of Christmas cards (which reminds me I should probably take that down too)... Ok now that I see it up, it kind of looks like we must not have that many friends... hmmm.

So I still desperately need to set some new year's resolutions, but that's another thing Ross and I haven't exactly found the time to do. It's coming. And I'm sure you'll have to hear about a few on here. I'm committing myself right now to do it before the month of January is over. I figure 11/12 of the year should be enough to accomplish any reasonable goal.

I Love Sundays

So Sophia is doing SO much better. She started her antibiotics on Friday (I'm sooo glad we went to the pediatrician pre-weekend) and by Saturday afternoon we had our little smiling, laughing (dramatically with the head tilted back and everything-- this is her new thing) girl back. Last night was the first night in what feels like a couple of weeks that she hasn't woken up at SOME point in the night. She was finally back to normal, even a little better, sleeping from 6:30pm to 7:30am and waking up happy. We were ALL happy.

We had stake conference, naps, family time outside on our new patio furniture on a perfect Sunday evening, AND chocolate chip cookies, the normal ones, not the whole wheat oatmeal ones, Ross' choice. Today was a good day.



This isn't our new patio furniture or anything, just a picture with my sweet husband because I liked it.

Ear infections- yuck!

With so many fun filled days with all of her cousins, Sophia has seemed to be suffering from a never-ending cold. Her sleep was getting worse and worse and she's been so cranky lately so today I took her to the pediatrician.... sure enough, double ear infection. I feel awful. I was getting a little frustrated with the cranky pants and now I find out she's probably been miserable the last few days. Not to mention she had to fly with two ear infections-- what a trooper. I'm a little afraid of antibiotics so this should be fun.

These are pictures of Sophia in Phoenix at a park where they had a little train. She loved to walk along the tracks. We're training her to follow the straight and narrow. :)

We're home!

We're really home! It feels like we've been gone forever! We spent a week in San Diego with my family and then another five days in Utah with Ross'. The real reason we went up there was for his Dad's big surprise 60th birthday party on the 30th. I couldn't say that before in case he read this. I already posted some pictures from San Diego but now I'm home and realized that we didn't take a SINGLE picture in Utah. I'm so sad! It was beautiful and white and Christmasy and we got to play all day every day with Ross' beautiful family. I saw one of my best friends from college, Sarah, who came home from D.C. who I miss to DEATH. She's single and has a way more exciting life than I so I was honored to spend part of my New Year's Eve with her. (Exciting does not mean better, don't worry Sarah--- I love my life. :) I just think it sounds pretty fun to explore our nation's capital on the weekends in cute boots.)

I also got to see one of my childhood friends, Erin Marriott. We were best friends in Elementary school until she moved to Cedar City, Utah.) Now she's in Salt Lake with her husband and daughter, Lillie, (yup same name! :)) and we finally got together. It had been way too long.

So all of this, a little bit of fun in the snow, and not a single picture to prove it. I guess we were just having to much fun to pull out the camera there. So here are some MORE pictures of San Diego that include some of the following events:

-at the Nature Preserve in Chula Vista petting mana rays (sp?) with Lacy, Joe, and Joseph
-finding a rat in the pool (eeeek!!!!)
-Papa with his grandkids
-the toddlers in their baby's 1st christmas hats (even though it was their second)
-Sophia, because she's so dang cute
-Lacy's gorgeous family (look at that little boy, he really is as sweet as he looks)
-making rolls for Christmas with Lacy and my sister-in-law Jeanette
-My little family in Coronado when we went to see the tree on Christmas night.