Soccer Time

Well, we finally signed Fia up for soccer. After one game we've already received our money's worth.

This was one of the more memorable moments for me during the game. The Blue Lightning team was about to kick off. The boy with the ball was chosen to kick the ball.

Fia thought he was taking to long or something...so she ran right over to where he was and decided to kick the ball herself. This picture shows her coach running over to try to stop her.

Thoughtful Gesture

We know, we know...it's been months since we've posted a new entry. Here are some pictures of our new one's blessing day. We tried to keep the event small. We figured since it took place on the Fourth of July weekend most people had plans anyway. Her dress was made from Marcela's wedding dress. Our seamstress told us that there is still enough fabric to make one more blessingdress or two boy outfits. So...if we have one more girl or two boys you'll know why.

Today we were able to spend the whole day together as a family. With Jeff in school this doesn't happen too often. After a day full of errands we were near a dollar theater and thought we'd check to see if there was a movie we could take our girls to see. Well, one's a baby so...

as long as she could sleep she'd be fine. We noticed that Rio was playing and figured Sofía would enjoy it. When we asked for the tickets the employee told us that it was in 3D and so it would cost more. Now, this is going to sound like we're cheapskates but we didn't want to spend the extra few dollars for the movie. It doesn't help that we're just not into the whole 3D frenzy that Hollywood is trying to convince us to love.

Here is where the cool part comes in. As we were walking away an older gentleman comes up to us. He gently puts his hand on Jeff's shoulder and asks if we'd like to see the movie. His wife was standing just off to the side with a grin on her face. They wanted to buy our family tickets so we could see the movie. We politely declined explaining that we were just not interested in 3D movies. They understood and we parted ways. Their nice gesture definitely made our day. How nice to have complete strangers take notice of us and offer to pay for our tickets. I thought they were just coming over to comment on how cute our baby is. Speaking of...enjoy the pictures.

This little girl smiles SO much. She must get it from her dad. Seriously, she always wakes up with a smile on her face and a giggle that comes after.

Beautiful girl.

We hope they grow up to be the very best of friends. I think they're off to a good start.

No longer a baby...she's three years old now.

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.

Merry Christmas!

Well, today we are spending our first Christmas in our new home. It will be a day full of firsts. Our first Christmas where we will be the hosts instead of the guests. More significantly, it will be the first Christmas without my mom. I know she is here in spirit, though. Christmas was her favorite holiday and I'm sure she wouldn't miss it.

My family decided that we would continue her tradition of preparing lasagna for our Christmas feast. Who might be undertaking this responsibility? (Gulp) Me. Wish me good luck. I'm not the most experienced cook and I've never made her lasagna. She didn't have a written recipe and so I'm winging it. I'm sure my mom considers this a Christmas miracle. Hopefully, my memories of past Christmas lasagnas will be accurate.

Here's a little treat for all of our loved ones. We finally figured out how to download video snippets to our computer. No surprise, they all center around Sofía. We hope all of you have a Christmas full of happiness and peace.

Family Time

Here's a few pictures from our trip to Washington. We went to see Jeff's sister and her family before they move to Alaska. The best word to describe our time there would be RELAXATION.

It has been a year since the two girls saw each other. It was fun to see them interact with each other now that they're older. Lilley is only six months older than Sofía but she seems a lot older. The whole time we were there she called Sofía "baby". She's such a cutie and it was fun to get to know her better. We can't wait until we can see them again.

This is why we wanted to come visit Heidi and Seth. It gave the two cousins some time to play together.

Sofía immediately connected with Heidi. As soon as we arrived Sofía reached her arms out for her. I guess she knows who her aunt is.

This was the first time Seth met Sofía. It didn't take long for her to warm up to him. Too bad she couldn't go hunting with him. Maybe next time.

Mealtime was particularly fun. Each one wanted to sit in the others' chair. They tried to take each other's food. It gave us an idea of what it might be like with two children.

A trip to Washington isn't complete without a trip to Seattle. We love the vibe of the city. Sofía couldn't stop looking at all of the people. It rained, of course, but it was still a lot of fun.

We took a lot of breaks during our drive. This is at one of the rest stops in Washington. You can see the look of relief on Sofía's face. She did such a wonderful job during the drive. She definitely exceeded our expectations.

Mr. Lucky

Well, Jeff and I have finally jumped on the Facebook bandwagon. It has been pretty cool getting in touch with some long (and not so long) lost friends and family. Of course, guess what Jeff is doing along the way as he's reconnecting with friends? He's giving them a link to our blog. No problem. Of course, as I sit there watching him give out the link a thought goes through my head..."I better update our blog". Then other thoughts start to spill out: "I hope people find it interesting", "I need to make it look good", "I need to post more pictures",...the pressure! :)

So...I thought I'd write about Jeff for all of his new Facebook friends.

This man that I married is Mr. Lucky. Why do I call him that? Well, it's because this last weekend I was in the car with him as he ran a red light with a police car watching him and he didn't get a ticket. Just to make it clear...the light wasn't even a shade of yellow. It was full on RED! To make it even more absurd...he didn't even get pulled over.

I'm sure Jeff would like me to explain what happened leading up to it. He isn't normally a reckless driver. He's a very good driver. He just happened to see another police car pull over a car heading the opposite direction. We were so distracted by it that we didn't pay attention to the light ahead of us that was turning red. Instead of braking Jeff thought he had enough time to cross the intersection. He didn't. Before we even got to the intersection the light had turned red. We quickly realized the police car had seen everything and Jeff just pulled over. Yet, the police car just pulled a u-turn and headed the other way. Jeff lucks out. In all reality, it was lucky that no one else was on the road either.

This reminds me of when we were driving to Seattle a few years back. When Jeff was driving he was KIND OF driving over the speed limit (I won't say how much). Next thing we know a police car comes out of nowhere with his lights flashing behind us. Jeff knows he's been caught. Does he get pulled over? No. Instead, the police car pulls up next to us and then speeds past. THEN, the very next day it was my turn to drive and what happens? I'm driving about the same speed as Jeff (maybe a little slower) and I get pulled over and get the ticket. Yeah...you can say I was a little bitter at the time. At least we can laugh at it now. If only a little bit of Jeff's luck could rub off on me.

We didn't think Sofía has too much hair until we looked at her younger pictures. What a change a few months make.

Jeff just chillin' with his daughter.

New First: Camping

We went camping with my brother and his family. Sofía had such a good time. What did she do? Most of the time she just walked around the campsite over and over again. Even when the sun went down, she kept walking. That's when we figured we should stop her before she injured herself.
The cool thing is she never wandered off too far. Whenever she tried one of her cousins was right there to stop her. Anyways, here are some pictures. Enjoy.


For some reason Sofía had to have these two badminton rackets in her hand at all times.


When my brother took this picture for us he commented how it was going to be put on our blog. I guess he was right.



Do you think she enjoyed herself? Sofía was so wired that it took her a good while before she fell asleep. She thought it was the neatest thing to be sleeping in a tent.



Her first hula hoop. Now how do you work this thing?

I think she almost has it figured out.

Happy Anniversary!

Well, so far so good. Today Jeff and I are celebrating five years of marriage. After the day we had Sunday we could use a night out without little Sofía. I've been warned about how difficult it can be when a child is teething but WOW it's another thing actually experiencing it. Sofía hasn't been too bad until today. Just imagine non-stop crying.
I had to take Sofía out into the foyer during Sacrament meeting. I joined four other parents with their own fussy/crying children. Who else was out there with us? A husband and pregnant wife. I'm thinking they were probably having second thoughts about the whole parenting thing.
After Jeff went to bed I began to peruse our collection of photos. It brought things back into perspective for me. Seeing our five years of marriage pass with each image I realized how quickly time goes.
I thought I'd share with you a few photos from our wedding day.

Jeff is pretty easy on the eyes, isn't he? One of the many reasons I married him.

...and another reason .

This is the SECOND time we left the temple. We had to reinact our exit because our photographer was late. Yeah...let's not get started on that.

Here we are dancing. This is my not so subtle hint to Jeff. He knows what I mean.

Happy Anniversary Jefe!

Happy Birthday

Sofía is officially one year old. We had such a busy weekend that we wore little Sofía out. We started out the day by getting up early and meeting the McConkie/Beasley family at the parade in Provo. Burke was nice enough to get up before everyone else to snab a perfect spot. I believe he was there at 3 am.

As you can tell Sofía enjoyed the parade. What's not to like? There was music which she danced to. There was plenty of applause from the crowd which she clapped with. There was food which she ate. Best of all, there were plenty of family whom she played with. She warmed up to Uncle Burke instantly.

This is the ideal. You can hold the baby and then give her back to her parents when you're done. Rather, I think LaMonte and Callae would have taken her home if we had asked them to. Sofía was taking it all in.

Since neither Jeff or I have much experience in throwing big parties we thought we'd keep it simple. We opened gifts and ate cake & ice cream. This actually took place the day AFTER because on the fourth we were out all day.

We helped her blow out her candle. All week I had been practicing with her on how to blow. She got to where she could do it, but I guess she got stage fright.

Sofía usually likes to flip off whatever is on her plate on to the floor. I'm guessing she liked the cake and ice cream too much to spoil it.