Snowshoeing

It has been snowing here non-stop for, well, forever. At least that's what it feels like to me! But this weekend we decided to make good use of all this white stuff and went SNOWSHOEING!!! My dear friend, Melyn, had told us about it and so we conned her into taking us and being our Snowshoeing Extraordinaire Guide. And.... it was a blast. :) Thank you, Melyn!

To all of our dismay every last one of us forgot our cameras on the trip, so we have zero pictures of our fun. Blarg! But here are some pics of the lovely people that went with us:

Melyn (on the left)!
No, Jodi (on the right) didn't come -- I'm being lazy and not cropping this pic, but we would have loved it if she had been there!!

Josh & Allison with their daughter, Kate who I regretfully don't have a pic of (she wasn't around when this shot was taken), but she is just the cutest thing and Sophie's BFF. :)

Yours Truly and Yours Truly's True Love

...& Sophie! (old pic, but she sure could have used this hat on the trip!)

Anyway, so we went up to Mill Creek Canyon, strapped on our shoes and away we went! Josh & Allison brought along their amazingly awesome jogging double stroller that can be hooked up to skis (after you take the wheels off) and pulled behind someone -- in our case, either Josh or Bryce. We bundled Sophie and Kate up and stuffed them in the stroller and they were happy as two little bugs in a rug (after Sophie stopped crying, at least). Both of them fell asleep about half way into things, and they just looked so cute in there snoring away! This is kindof what their stroller looks like, though this particular stroller is for pets. You can just imagine the girls tucked in here, taking it all in. :)
So that's the story. Still kicking ourselves for not remembering the camera. But we thoroughly enjoyed experiencing snow shoes and stomping through feet of snow without sinking to the bottom. For anyone curious about trying it, we give it two thumbs way way up!

The New Hang-out

Let's hear it for boxes from Costco!!

Young Love Part II

Sophie's very good friend (and long distance baby-boyfriend) came to visit last week! She was thrilled beyond belief to see him - squealing, dancing and babbling up a storm. (As a side note, I was also thrilled to see Ethan's mom, Sherri - I miss those Virginia girls!!!) We tried to get the two lovebirds to sit still for a few pics and had minor success. But looking through the pics reminded me of this post and so here a few more pics to tack onto the end of it...

soooo cute -- holding hands and everything.

Ethan gives Sophie a hug

Sophie gives Ethan a hug back"What? Ethan? Nope, haven't seen him around here...!" (If they don't know he's here, they can't take him away!!)Ethan was very gentlemanly and happily shared his goldfish with Sophie -- what a guy!Sophie shows her appreciation by feeding Ethan - who happily sat
and ate as many goldfish as she gave him. :)

So, for all you wondering about the status of this relationship, it seems that distance is no problem for these two. Come and visit again soon, Ethan (& Sherri!!)!! :)

Cosmo the Cougar Cat

Today the MBASA had an activity for the kiddies and Cosmo (BYU's mascot) showed up!! Sophie was petrified of him, but we still managed to get a quick picture. They had a little frog pinata and let all the kids have a turn at whacking it, then once all the kids were done, Cosmo came up and beat the thing open. When all the kids went running for the candy, I took Sophie's hand so she could get in on some of the action. I hadn't realized she still had her Cosmo radar turned on, though, and she refused to walk a certain way to candy b/c the path took her too close to Cosmo. Soooo, we took a different route to the Smarties and Dum-dums.

The baby with her goods.Plastic is no hindrance for my child! I pulled the Smarties out of Sophie mouth just after this was taken only to find that she'd somehow bitten through the plastic and was happily working her way through the candy...!

Called to Serve

Yesterday my brother entered the MTC and began his two-year mission for our church. We all congregated at our house in the morning and had a huge celebratory breakfast -- complete with blueberry syrup! (it was SUPER good. Here's the recipe. According to the reviews for this, ignore the waffle recipe, but go for the syrup) I was so glad to get to see him off. Good luck, Nath! We love you!

Bryce & Nathan
Somehow I knew this had happened when the pic was taken...

Melissa, Nathan (his turn to have his eyes closed, I guess), Emma, meBryce & Nath messing around

The Important Things

My sister, Marci, just sent me this pic and it simply HAD to go on the blog. During our trip to Boston we also were able to visit Marci and her fam. Among other things, we found time to squeeze in a little Ms. PacMan (the one and only video game at which I am halfway decent). Sophie found the controllers fascinating and was soon as entranced as her mom - and aunt. Marci sent this to me with the comment that we were breaking Sophie in to the important things in life. Good thing the moment was captured!!

And speaking of the important things in life, Sophie also recently discovered the joy of chocolate chip cookies warm from the oven. We made cookies last week and some time later, when they were cooling on the counter it occurs to me that Sophie has disappeared from the living room and is being suspiciously quiet.... I checked the kitchen, found the culprit and then ran for the camera. It was just too cute - how can one possibly be upset at a chocolate-covered face this cute?? And besides that... I can totally relate!!

Catching Up

It's a new year and all that jazz, but I can't just jump into 2008 without posting some pics of our good times at the end of 2007. It just wouldn't be right, ya know?? So here's a little recap for all y'alls interested in seeing what we've been up to the last 4 weeks or so...

We opened presents at our house on Christmas Eve and Sophie really got into the swing of things after a while. By the end of the morning she was a regular pro at wrapping paper ripping! Probably her favorite gift was the new baby doll she received from Santa. Here she is with one of her looks of pure joy when she first laid eyes on it:

Does it look like she's going to let the thing go any time soon? I think not.Sophie also received her very own broom and dust pan which she felt the need to put to work right away. and ps - how awesome are the yellow striped pants??? I love 'em!Later that night, we hopped on board a plane and flew over night to Boston to surprise (most of) the LaP's on Christmas morning. We were barely functioning by the time we got there, but it was so fun to see the reactions of the surprised-ees that it was totally worth it. Once we showed up, there was present-opening round 2! Sophie even had her own little chair - which she LOVED - for the event. Voila:

Cris opening up the socks my mom just had to get him when she saw them. Cris would like to know how many other people out there receive gifts from their brother's mother-in-law. :) they were a big hit, Mom!And here's the gift we searched the world over for... A sticky mouth complete with tongue that sticks to the walls, ceiling, etc. Also a big hit. :)
I pirated these pics (and a few others, as well) from the LaP's blog - they are just so hilarious!! Bryce's nephews, Alex & Brigham, made all the boys superhero capes for Christmas. Each cape had their name written on it in puffy paint. The girls received scarfs also monogrammed with puffy paint - thanks guys! Later in the week, all the girls made soft, flannel pj pants. It was a truly a pajama party -- late at night, lots of pjs everywhere you looked and treats, to boot! We had some good times around the sewing machines and irons. And Sophie and I even have matching pants now, too! Will have to get a pic of both of us wearing our pants...Sophie LOVED the famous crepes her Grandpa LaP made - I'm not sure who ate more that day -- Bryce, me or Sophie! Here she is going after another bite:Amazingly, Sophie left her pigtails in for all 3 hours of church! But they were out in about 2 seconds when we got home. The results? Priceless.
Daddy-daughter date at the kitchen sink.
During our week in Boston, we made a trip up to New Hampshire/Vermont to visit Bryce's friend, Kyle. We made sure to take pics this time as these two are famous for hanging out and not taking a single photo to document the good times.Sophie & Kyle

Sophie and Kyle's cousin, who we also met on the trip.
Is that not the best cheesy grin you've ever seen?? Love that little face!!After lunch and visiting with Kyle's family, we drove over to the bowling alley for an intense game of, umm, bowling.

Check out that form! No wonder he had such a good game!

If you're familiar with how bowling scores, you should check this out. Kyle had this incredible comeback in his last turn - with 2 strikes and a spare, he blew his score out of the water and beat me by 5 points!

The happy bowlers.Naptime for more than Sophie... This pic is so completely darling. I love it. Love it. LOVE IT.

And this one, too. And we come to an end. Now, on to 2008!

Last Night

Last night Sophie slept through the night, however I...

woke up 3 times to go to the bathroom,

woke up 4 times with my gag-inducing cough,

and went through about half a box of kleenex thanks to allergies on high alert.

What does this all mean?? That we're expecting baby #2. Arriving on our around July 13, 2008. Happy sleeping and Happy New Year!