Christmas Day

Christmas this year was a lot of fun, and it's hard to believe that it's over. When I woke up this morning, Rich had already taken down all of our decorations... the only signs of Christmas are our little piles of
gifts that haven't been put away yet.

In the months prior to Christmas, I spent all of my free time knitting these GIANT stockings for us. I was surprised at how big they are, but on Christmas morning, they sure are fun!

Sophia seemed to enjoy Christmas morning... she liked pulling the paper off and putting it in her mouth. She got a jumper from Santa and she already loves it. She also got some toys, shoes, and clothes.

The stockings got even bigger when they were full!

We went to church with the Bowens and then to their house for games and some gift exchanges.

Grandma Sorenson got all they new babies their first American Girl dolls. It was really sweet of her and fun to see the babies lick and drool on the dolls. They'll get some good use, for sure!

Halloween festivities

I love making dinner in a pumpkin at Halloween time. It feels so festive. Rich and I had some friends over and we ate this and watched Troll 2. This is a little tradition I started when I was in college. If any of you haven't seen Troll 2... get on it! You won't regret it!

We decided to make Sophia a little duck. It was super cute seeing her doing normal things like eating and sleeping when she was dressed up in her costume.

On Haloween night, we went trick-or-treating with Sophia, Brooklyn, Becky, and John. Aren't they cute! I was so excited to go trick-or-treating again. It was a lot of fun!

If you look close on this next picture, you can see Sophia's trick-or-treating basket that she's holding. It would only fit a tootsie roll or one kit kat bar in it, but it was the perfect size for her. She was a trooper and held on to it most of the night.

Becky and Brooklyn

Rich and Sophia

After walking around for about 15 minutes, Sophia was exhaused. Too much sugar, I guess. :)

It was fun having trick-or-treaters come to the door. My favorite was when my two friends from Vegas stopped by in their homemade costumes. They are bloodshot eyes, if you couldn't tell.

Here are a few more of Sohia in her costume.

Some Photos

Here are a few quick photos of our little Sophia. She is growing up so fast... Sometimes I wish I could make time slow down!

Here is Sophia with her 2nd cousin, Tyler. He's such a cute kid!

I'm excited about fall because that means staying indoors more... which means more knitting and crocheting. This little duck hat is my first project. I'm happy to have such a sweet model. :)

Here is Sophia and Rich.

This Brooklyn and Sophia hanging out together. Such cute girls!

Brooklyn REALLY liked Sophia that night! HAHA!

Las Vegas... Again

Rich had a conference in Las Vegas last weekend, so we decided to make a vacation out of it. Before we left, I had to run some errands. When when I got back home, I found Sophia like this...

throw up everywhere! I don' t know how she fell asleep in that mess... I had to bath her and do a quick wash of the car seat before we started the big road trip. YUCK! Anyhow...

We love going back to Vegas... mostly for the food. :) We also did some touristy stuff while we were there.

We saw the Hoover Dam... which is always neat, but we thought the new bridge was a lot more exciting. I've seen this thing being built from the beginning, so it was amazing to see it all finished.

We went shopping at Town Square, where I hit up H&M. Sophia loves her Baby Bjorne. She loves looking around at everything, and I love not carrying her in my arms! (Thanks again, Jess, for the Bjorne... it's the best!)

While Rich was at the conference, I went to my old work place and saw some of my co-workers... and friends. :) It was fun visiting with everyone and watching them "oh" and "ah" over Sophia. I got so many different comments. Some said she looks just like me, others say she looks just like Rich. Some said I looked just the same, others said I've gained weight (Haha! No offense was taken because I did just have a baby.)

Here I am with Sophia and my good friend, and former boss, Megann. She took the chance and hired me after I moved to Vegas, even though I had no nursing home experience. I was really blessed with a good job there, thanks to her. :)

These two made me laugh every day. They are such fun girls!

Rich and I took some time and walked around the strip. He took me to the coke store (which I had never been to before) and we tasted all the different flavors Coke makes all over the world. It was a lot of fun! I lost $3 at this outing because I dared Rich to drink a whole cup full of a nasty flavor. I'm not sure how I feel about paying that to him... what's his is mine, right??

And we get to my favorite part of the whole trip! Meeting the Coca-Cola bear. He was so funny! We could have sat and watched him all day. In one of these pictures, the bear was biting Rich's head! It was so unexpected and funny! I wish we would have gotten video. Anyway, I could go on and on about the bear... but I think it's one of those "you had to be there" events.

We also hit up the M&M store. It's so pretty in there with all the different colors of M&M's!

And then, of course, we had to go see the Gardens at the Bellagio.

Rich was a real champ, carrying around my purse/diaper bag all over the strip. What a guy!

We also saw my old roommate, Megan, and her hubby and daughter. It was a good time, and I'm so grateful we got to get out of Salt Lake for a bit. It was a lot harder doing Vegas with a baby, that's for sure! When I walked through the casinos with her, lots of people stopped to admire her... I like to think it's because she's super cute, but it was probably just because she's a baby in a casino.

Company

This weekend, my two best friends from High School came to visit and meet Sophia. We had some good times, for sure. Jessamyn got in on Friday and we gave her a warm welcome.

We went straight to Cafe Rio, YUMMY! Then hung out at home until we decided to go see The Help. It was a really good movie (even though I spend most of it standing off to the side, bouncing Sophia, so she wouldn't scream... that's the last time I take her to a night movie)

The next day, Michelle got here. We ate at In and Out and went for a walk at Memory Grove with Rocco, and then made an ice cream trip. When we got home, we watched the Justin Bieber movie... I think we all caught a little of the Bieber fever. I love that these girls agreed to watch the movie with me... I don't think I ever could have talked Rich into it. We also made a trip to the outlets in Park City and then had dinner at PF Changs. Delish! Since Jessamyn is a seasoned mom of 2 (with one on the way) she had a lot of little tips for me... We found a pacifier that Sophia took and I was GIDDY to finally find one that she would use (it was short lived though because she stopped taking it after the first night), she taught me about toys that hang from the car seat to keep her entertained, and she taught me that when shopping, you can put a blanket in the bottom of a cart and lie her in it when you don't bring in the car seat. Michelle kept us laughing and entertained, like always. I love these girls and I am so happy they came to visit. I can't wait until the next time we get together!


Here's a little photo of Sophia... I can't get enough of this girl! Love her!! :)