January happenings

So, somehow my computer erased all my November and December pictures. I don't want to talk about it. (Luckily I was able to get them all printed off, but no digital copies.)

Here are the pictures I took in January.  I made Sophia this owl hat and she really likes it. I have to admit, she looks pretty dang cute in it! I made one for her baby too, and I love how she carries it around with her when both their hats are on.



Sophia loves watching Elmo. I try to limit TV time, but it sure is nice when I'm trying to get dinner made or the house clean!  

 Lately she has been brave enough to lie down in the bath tub and she thinks she's pretty cool. I love how proud of herself she gets when she does this.  The first few times she did this, Rich and I would watch her and laugh because she was so serious. No smile, no moving,  just looking around with her eyes.

This is one of my favorite things about Sophia. She loves books. I will find her like this: sitting in her big chair, surounded by books, and often looking at one upside down. It cracks me up!

Here are some things that she is doing lately: (Warning- this may be boring for everyone else since ther are no pictures and lots of detail about what Sophia is doing.)

In the mornings, Rich usually gets her up. She sleeps until about 6:30-7:30 and he gets her breakfast. When I get out of bed, he finishes getting ready for work and he always brings his shoes and socks into the kitchen to put them on. Sophia is super helpful. As soon as Rich puts a shoe on the floor, she picks it up and gives it to him, saying, "shoe". She follows him around "helping" until he is all ready, then she waves at him and says "bye".

When Rich leaves, she usually likes to play with some toys... especially her babies. I love that she likes her babies so much. She has been tickling them lately and putting them down for naps.

She loves to eat cheese... just like her mom! She says it like this, "teese". Which also sounds just like how she pronounces "keys," "please," and "teeth" (for toothbrush).

She likes to take me and Rich by the finger and lead us to the fridge or whatever she wants.

When Rich gets home, she loves to play with him on the floor. She will say, "ball" and Rich lies on the floor with the ball under his head and then the games begin. :)

She loves to talk on the phone to my mom and loves to facetime with Corinne. She will ask several times a day for "mam-ma".

She loves when we play with Rocco. I will make Rocco stay while Sophia and I hide behind a door or somewhere in another room and then when he comes to find us, Sophia cracks up so hard. She also gets a good belly laugh when I make Rocco roll-over.

When it's nap time or time for bed, I usually read her a story and then put her down, but lately she has been asking to "rock". After we read the books, she'll turn around and rest her head on my shoulder while I rock her in the chair. I love that she likes to rock, it's one of the best parts of my day. She also will lift up her shirt and say, "back", which means it's time for me to tickle her back. It's so cute! If she's not too tired, she'll pop her head up and point to items in her room while saying their names. (blanket, mom, wipe, diaper, baby, binki, bear, elephant, etc.)

She is now in nursery, thank heavens! It took a couple weeks for her to adjust, but now it's pretty smooth, and I couldn't be happier. We have church at 1 now, so I have to wake her up from her nap to go. Last week, Rich had to go up to church early and when Sophia saw him putting on his tie, she said, "church?". I was surprised she knew that when he puts a tie on, he goes to church. Anyway, when I woke her up from her nap, she was super groggy until I said, "Do you want to go to church?" She said, "Dad?" I was surprised she remembered where he was. I told her she was going to nursery and she was real willing to get ready and go. Rich dropped her off and she didn't cry or protest at all. Oh, I love it!

She likes to have things in their right place. If Rocco's food dish is crooked, she'll say, "Oh!" and go straighten it. Or if she is playing with a spoon or a dish, she'll say, "back" which means she's done playing with it and wants to put it back. She also will wipe up her spills.  It's so nice... and my fingers are crossed that being clean is a part of her personality, and not just a phase!

That's all for now!

Washington Part 3

This is still at Tumwater Falls watching the fish. Sophia was amazed at them too.



She would say, "Wow" when we saw a fish try to jump up the waterfall.
 

Above the waterfall, to the right, there is the fish hatchery where their final destination is.

Here are some in the water in the hatchery. Once they get here, they are killed. It's a little sad because they've traveled so far to get here, but they would die anyway. The workers kill them and take their eggs and let them hatch here, where they will one day return again. They use the fish for protein powders and things like that since they aren't very good to eat. Our next trip, Rich is bringing his fishing pole! Hopefully he catches some that will taste good. :)
 

Our last night here, we went out for Thai food in downtown Olympia. I love these girls so much! I laugh so hard when I'm with them! It's always a good time!
 

Left to right we have: Jessamyn, baby Jacob (he is 6 months younger than Sophia, but he already outweighs her!), me, Sophia, Michelle, and her sister, Anne. It's fun being with Anne too... we used to babysit her kids, who are now in COLLEGE!
 

It was sure sad saying bye to these girls! I look forward to the next time we get together!!  (Maybe Jess and her family will come to Conference in April??)

When we drove home, we didn't stop for the night...we just went straight through. Honestly, that trip home is all a blur now. Poor Sophia got to the point that when her Baby Einstein movie would almost end, she'd be in tears! She would get so bored.  Baby Einstein saved us on that trip, along with my sister-in-law's portable DVD player! After the trip she would cry when I put her in the car for an errand. She had no idea if it would be a 5 minute trip or 12+ hours. We are really glad we went though!

Washington Part 2

This is still on our 3rd day in Washington... we had just explored Point Defiance Park and decided to go get some lunch.



Michelle recommended Duke's Clam Chowder House and we couldn't thank her enough! Rich got clam chowder and I got corn chowder. We both agreed it was the BEST chowder we'd ever had! If you ever to go Tacoma... eat here!! There is a great view as well, as it's right on the water.



This is an old fire fighter boat near Duke's.
 

We then went back to Point Defiance to spend more time there, now that we weren't hungry. This is a garden there. So pretty! 

Sophia loved posing for the picture.
 

More gardens. 

The fog was beginning to clear and we could see the water.
 

There is an old fort in the park called Fort Nisqually. It used to be a trading post or something. We walked around, and tried to avoid the creepy tour guides.
 

There is a fun area where kids can play like the settlers did. There is a puppet show curtain and Rich put on a very talented show for us. There were also games and other activities. It would be fun to take older kids there.
 

One of the lookout points. (Notice Sophia kicked back again!)
 

We then went for a little hike. I love the green ferns. I was hoping to see a HUGE slug, like there usually are on these trails, but no luck on this day. 

I love this picture!
 

The next day, we drove back to Olympia and went to the farmer's market. This is my favorite market in the whole world! It's such a cute place, with good food, and good entertainment. Plus it's right by the water, which I love!
 

We bought a bunch of apples to taste test on our drive home. 

Rich eating some more chowder.

Sophia dancing on the tables.
 

We went for another hike at a park I used to go to all the time. I couldn't find the trail I usually hiked on so we went on a shorter, different one. I was cracking up at Sophia because she just wanted me to hold her. Not sure why she wasn't happy with Rich.
 

This is where the trail ended. Have I mentioned I like the water??
 

She is much happier now that we found a swing and a cracker.
 

We then went to Tumwater Falls and watched the salmon run. It was seriously, one of the best things we did there! 

We watched the fish try to jump up the waterfall. I learned a lot about the life cycle of salmon. Apparently, they will always come back to the place they were born to spawn. They swim thousands and thousands of miles to come back and have babies. Once they have babies, their life cycle is over and they die. I am amazed that they can be out in the ocean for years, but still remember how to swim back to the place they were born.

To be continued...

Washington Part 1

These posts are VERY overdue! In September, we drove up to Washington state to visit my old stomping grounds and some of my very best friends. It was a lot of fun and I loved showing Rich around again and showing him where I lived. From Salt Lake City, it is a 13 hour drive. With a toddler, it ends up taking much longer. On our drive up, we stopped in Oregon and stayed with our brother-in-law's mom. She was such a sweetheart and really made us feel welcome. One our 2nd day of driving, we stopped at these waterfalls off the freeway for a little break in our driving.



Look how tall they are!

Notice the bridge in the background...

Here we are on that bridge. So pretty!

When we got to our destination, we had dinner with my two high school friends. My friend, Michelle, let us stay at her house, which was really nice of her because Sophia made her have to "toddler proof" her house for the week. 

 

I think this is our 2nd day in Washington. We looked around the state capitol building. I wish we had gotten a picture of the grounds, but these two are all I had. I guess I wasn't in the picture taking mode yet.




Here is Sophia, lounging as usual in her stroller. It always cracks me up when she kicks her feet up and enjoys the ride. :)

This is at Percivile Landing. It's on the Puget Sound pennisula and it's one of my favorite things about Olympia. I love the water!  (Notice Sophia, knocked out in her stroller... too much relaxing, I guess.) 

That night, Michelle was nice enough to watch Sophia while Rich and I went to a Mariners game. They played horrible, but I love Safeco Field! I really miss the team the Mariners had while I was in high school... they were so much fun to watch! And they were so much better in those days!!

Here is Rich, enjoying his hot dog. I was stressed out because we had snuck down to better seats and I was SUPER worried that we were going to get caught. We only stayed in these seats for a little bit so I could relax!

We decided to explore the stadium and took advantage of these photo opp's.
 

Yay!

We then found some other seats that were not quite as close, but we were treated like VIP's here. The workers invited us in to sit, asked if they could get us anything, and took our picture. That's when we knew, we found our seats! It was a really fun night!

The next day we drove around Michelle's neighborhood in DuPont and found a PET CEMETARY! It was creepy.
 

Then we went to Tacoma where we explored Point Defiance Park. I had never been here so it was fun to experience something new. I love this picture because it has a Washington "feel" to it. Behind us is the Puget Sound. We could barely see the water and islands in it because of the fog. Weather like this makes me feel so cozy!
 

I love the forests and hiking trails here. It's so pretty!
 

Pictures don't do it justice!
 

 To be continued....

Great Grandma Clyde

A few weeks ago, we stopped by to visit Rich's grandma. Isn't she cute! I wish I had gotten a better picture, but Sophia lost it after this one.