Snowbird

These pictures are about one month old. We spent a few days up at Snowbird. On our first day we made an impromptu decision that we'd hike up to the tram. You see, if you hike up the mountain you get a free ride down. Jeff loves anything free. So do I. Unfortunately, we didn't take in account that he'd be hiking up with a 2 year old novice and an extremely nauseated pregnant lady (yeah, I'm pregnant - due the first week of April). These two factors made for a more difficult hike than we planned on.

We had talked to someone who suggested a particular path that was steep at first but than became easier. After that first stretch Jeff asked if I wanted to turn back. I'll be honest, I was SO close to taking him up on the offer but I resisted. Since I wasn't feeling the best it was up to Jeff to carry Sofía. Normally we have a backpack to carry her in but we didn't bring it. Instead, he had to carry her in his arms. She actually fell asleep in his arms part way. My job was to carry our backpack and camera. I really wished Jeff could have carried them but since he had Fía I didn't have the heart to ask him.

It took us about four hours to reach the top. The last half mile seemed to never end. Every time I thought we had reached the end there was another turn that appeared out of nowhere. Overall, we had a great time. The scenery was beautiful and Sofía really seemed to enjoy it. This was the longest hike we've taken her on and she was a real trooper. She was even game enough to walk a bit of the way.

Enjoy the pictures.

This is BEFORE the hike. We had to walk to our starting point and we thought we'd give Sofía some training. As you can tell she was having a lot of fun.

I'm not sure who was enjoying this more...Jeff of Fía?

I promise I wasn't going to die. Since we weren't planning on hiking the mountain I hadn't dressed for the occasion. It just shows on my face. Also, I love how focused Sofía is as she's walking.

Lovely girl. Lovely scenery.

Learning Numbers

Learning the ABC's

Happily Ever After

My belief in Happily Ever Afters was shaken up this past week. I found out that a few friends of mine are either in a middle of a divorce or are contemplating one. Seriously, it just tears at my heart when I think of it. How can something that starts out so beautifully turn into disappointment and heartbreak?
Maybe I've watched too many movies where the hero and heroine go off into the sunset to live their lives happily ever after. I actually read once that watching too many movies like that set up too high expectations for relationships. What do you think? Personally, I've seen plenty to keep me grounded in reality. My own parents are divorced. I understand that marriages don't always work out. Yet, it just gets to me every time. Sigh.
Speaking of those kinds of movies I'm really jonesing for some Anne of Green Gables. My mom and I had the tradition of watching the whole series once or twice a year. We'd watch them over a weekend. I'm sure the next time I do I'll be crying. Not because of Matthew or Gilbert but over my mother's absence. It's been one year since she died and I miss her like crazy.
I try to mention her often to Sofía. Just the other night I was singing one of my mom's favorite hymns to her as she went to bed. I told Sofía, "Your Grandma Betty loves this song. She'd sing it all the time." Sofía looked at me and said, "Grandma Betty loves me" and she pointed to herself. It made my day.

Our Garden

So....we have lived in our new home for almost eight months now. To all of those who are wondering where your invite has been - it's still coming. We're just not the best entertainers. For five years we've lived in a tiny apartment that wasn't too welcoming and so we've been out of practice.

Jeff's eyes have been opened to all of the work that comes with homeownership. It includes mowing the lawn, watering the lawn, trimming the lawn, prepping our swamp cooler, pulling weeds, trimming bushes, trimming trees, fixing broken sprinklers; etc. We can only imagine what it would have been like if we had bought a fixer-upper!

Our pride and joy right now though is our garden. It was one of those things we dreamt of when we were renters. We pulled out a pond (which was really nice but too tempting for our little one), filled it in with dirt and started planting. We have eggplant, strawberries, tomatoes, broccoli, brussel sprouts, pumpkin, peppers, and zucchini. It sounds like a lot but we kept our garden pretty small. We didn't want to overdo it since we don't know what we're doing.

The great thing is it has been about a month and our plants are still alive. What's more is they're growing! I'm sure most of you have bounteous gardens and could teach us a thing or two about gardening. Please, if you have any suggestions, bring them on.

Here are some pictures. Enjoy!

This is the before.

This is the after (or at least the "so far").

Here is the rest of our backyard. Our next plan is to cut down the big pine tree and plant a fruit tree. We're leaning towards either an apricot or cherry tree.

Sofía is planting her pumpkin plant that began as a little seed. She loves to water it so much that she doesn't know when to stop.

We've decided no one is too small to do yard work. She has to earn her way somehow.

Here we are in the Memory Grove Park. Although we don't live downtown anymore we still make frequent visits.

Song of the Day

One thing I've had to change as a new mother is my music selection. Don't get me wrong. I still manage to listen to SOME current music (I'm loving the Neon Trees). However, our little one tends to get first selection. She loves Jason Mraz's Sesame Street version of "I'm Yours" called "Outdoors". She bobs her head to the beat.

Her latest love, though, is anything on the play list of Supersimplesongs. A few guys who teach ESL in Japan came up with some kid friendly tunes to teach simple phrases and such. They can all be found on Youtube, but this is one of her favorites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVkPWDixDhs

Sofía will sing along and mimic the actions. I'll have to catch her on video one of these days.

Bathroom Humor

I was reading a post on my friend's blog that brought to mind something that happened to Jeff. Just to preface it - I got Jeff's permission to share this with the cyberworld.

About a week ago, he was using the restroom at his work. As he was in one of the bathroom stalls he hears another gentleman leave a stall and wash his hands. You know the drill. Then all of a sudden the lights go off. Apparently the guy turned the lights off on his way out. Jeff started to yell out, "Somebody's still in here! (or something like that)", but it was too late. He knew he was in trouble when he heard the second set of doors (I guess there's a double entrance) shut.

As Jeff describes it, the bathroom was pitch black. Yet, what was he to do? It's not like he could get up and turn the lights back on. He had to finish his business - in complete darkness.

This strikes me funny on a few different levels. First, who would turn off the lights of a public restroom in the middle of the day? I guess he was well trained by his parents to turn off the light. Also, Jeff told his workmates about this awkward situation. After doing so, one of his colleagues went to the scene of the crime. What did he do? He turned off the lights just to see how dark it would be. He later reported back to Jeff that he was right, it WAS very dark with the lights off. That would be something I would totally have done too! Although I'm not sure I would admit to it.

Sometimes I think Jeff works at Dunder Mifflin.

Monkeys in the Tree

Sofía has a new favorite song. I'm sure many moms out there have heard of it. I'm still learning it as you can tell from the video. Enjoy!

Speaking in Church

Today Jeff and I spoke in our new ward. After almost six years of marriage this is the first time we've been asked to speak as a couple. Jeff and I had two completely different approaches to our assignment.
Jeff is the type of person who makes a broad outline of what he's going to be speaking on and done. He has the talent of impromptu speech. I think he spent maybe an hour on this talk. Me? I'm so embarassed to tell.
I'm afraid the perfectionist side of me comes out in full display when I prepare talks. The problem is I tend to overprepare. By that, I mean I fully immerse myself in research. I find one brilliant quote after brilliant quote that I HAVE to some how incorporate into my talk. WHen I'm finally ready to organize my talk two things happen. First, I completely forget what the point of my talk is and I have to refocus my efforts. Second, I'm forced to whittle down the piles of information that I've accumulated into something coherent.
This is where the funny part comes in. To our surprise we arrive to Sacrament meeting and find that there is not one but two more speakers on the program. Add on a congregational hymn and we have a full slate. By the time it was my turn to speak (I was the third and Jeff the last) we had about 15 minutes left.
After hours of preparation (and I do mean hours) I was forced to whittle down my talk so that I could give Jeff time to speak. How kind of me, right? Believe me, I was completely fine with it. The problem was I wasn't sure how to shorten my talk. I skipped a few things but I still noticed that time was running short. I finally, just looked at the clock and then abruptly stopped my talk and said, "You know - I want to make sure my husband has time to talk so let me end this." Next thing you know, I bear my testimony and sit down.
It was definitely not the smoothest transitions but it worked and I think everything turned out okay. Someday I'll be able to ease up on the preparation. Until then it just gives Jeff a reason to laugh at me.

Christmas Photos

I was perusing our photos and realized there were a handfull of pictures that some family in Alaska might love.

It's official. She now knows to pose for pictures.

Party!!!!!!!!

One of my favorite Christmas memories...Jeff and I stayed up late into Christmas Eve setting up her presents. We had bought a furry Elmo chair and set it in front of the tree. Jeff was sure she was going to squeal with delight when she laid eyes on it. Jeff had the video recorder set as I brought her into our living room once she awoke. She took one look at her surroundings then looked at me and set her head on my shoulder. It was so anticlimatic. After an hour of cuddling with mommy we finally coaxed her into opening her gifts.

Happy New Year!

It's the beginning of a new decade and things are great. We feel settled into our new home, we're focused on our goals for the year and Sofía makes everything we do well worth it. Today Jeff returned to work. He will be working 60 to 70 hour weeks until tax season is over. Luckily, I finished my busy work schedule last week and so I'll be home to pick up the slack. Jeff has been putting in overtime hours watching Sofía while I've been at work during the holidays. The time away from Sofía made me appreciate her all the more.

Speaking of holidays...here's a picture of our little daughter in her Halloween costume. We do realize Halloween was two months ago but it's never too late for pictures, right? Enjoy!

This picture was taken in our new backyard. Yayyy! Our little shark was able to play out there for a few weeks before the cold hit. Can't wait 'til spring.

This is a slightly altered version of her costume. She's a little kid being eaten by a shark. For some reason she kept sticking her arm out of the mouth. This was taken at a Halloween party at her little gym. She takes a tumbling class there. She enjoys it...as you can clearly tell.

Sofía loves to play dress up. It doesn't matter what it is she'll find a way to use it in her wardrobe. Maybe she'll take after her aunt (wink...wink). The scary thing is she already looks for the mirror to check herself out. Uh-oh.