Finally!

I thought I would post these pictures when things "settled down" around here after our month long trip to see family. We've now been home a month and things are not settling down quite like I thought they would! So I finally made myself make time to do it! This is my husband's youngest sister, JoAnna. I've known her since she was 8 years old!! She let me take her bridals when we were out for her wedding. She is seriously photogenic and absolutely beautiful!

Birthday Girl!!

5 years ago today Brian and I went in to the Logan hospital to have Sophie delivered by Cesarean section (she was breach & had the cord around her neck). We were so nervous and excited to meet this little girl and bring her in to our family!
We feel so blessed to have her!

Just a few days old & as sweet as can be

One year old & letting it be known who's the boss

Two years old & feisty!

3 years old & loving all things girly!

4 years old & FUNNY!
5 years old & so grown up!

Here is a little info about our Sophie girl on her 5th birthday:

She loves being a big sister and is such a natural little caretaker with Nora and Miles, or any other child who happens to be around!

She is very excited for school to start next month and thinks turning 5 will mean she is old enough to do all sorts of things (like ride her bike to school) by herself.
She is (and always has been) a very emotional girl. She feels every emotion very strongly, but is getting better at working her way through them.
She is very sensitive to anything she perceives as scary. We still don't watch any Disney shows that have anyone who is too scary or she has nightmares and a hard time falling asleep.
She is pretty shy and gets nervous if asked to do anything in front of a crowd.
She loves to just be at home.
She loves to eat broccoli, meat, blueberries, muffins, chocolate milk & popcorn
Some of her favorite things to do are: any kind of craft, exploring outside, looking for bugs (she will pick up any kind of bug or creature -except spiders!), playing Barbies, playing "family", making up songs, playing tag, swinging, talking on the phone, drawing pictures and making up a story to go with it, playing soccer and making a bed on the floor and watching a favorite show with the whole family!
Some of her favorite shows are: Dora the Explorer, Strawberry Shortcake, Max & Ruby, Bindi the Jungle girl & Rachel Ray
Some of the things she says a lot of: "Mom, let's make a deal...", "Oh, ummm... here's an idea..", "Okay, here's the plan.."
I can't believe Sophie is already 5 years old! She is a joy to have in our family and we love her so much! Happy Birthday Sophie!!

Just kidding....

Okay - I didn't really mean to trick anyone. I was really going to make our blog private. But..... Brian talked me out of it. So for now our blog will remain as it is. But I'm going to make a killing selling all of your email addresses to on-line solicitors! Ha ha!! Not really of course. I deleted the post so your email addresses will not be accessible from my blog. But I did save them.... just in case I really do make our blog private someday!

totally WICKED!!!

Brian and I got to go to the Broadway musical Wicked last night, and it was AMAZING!! We've been really wanting to go so Brian entered a raffle they were holding to get the $125.00 tickets for $25.00, and though he didn't win some people he was standing by won twice so he bought the tickets from them and we were in Row B! It was seriously INCREDIBLE! I had the chills and my heart was racing for most of the 3 hour show! We found a baby sitter last minute for the kids (one of my young women) and Ashlee and Andy were kind enough to take Miles. Thanks so much guys! If any of you have the chance to go see this - definitely go!
It was AWESOME - oh, did I say that already???

Kirtland (and more)

I was able to go to Kirtland, Ohio this weekend for Youth Conference with the Young Women in our ward. I took Miles with me and the girls got to spend the weekend with Brian. It was so neat to see the Kirtland temple, the Isaac Morley farm, the John Johnson farm, the Visitor's center and the rock quarry where they cut sandstone for the temple. It was awesome to learn more about the saints who lived there and the sacrifices they made to build the temple. There was truly an incredible spirit in these places. Did you know when they first built the temple it had a greenish/blue tint to it (because the saints mixed anything/everything in with the plaster) and it had a reddish roof (red paint was the cheapest) and olive green doors? They recently painted the doors the same color. While I was gone the girls had a great time playing with Brian. He took them on a bus ride (I had the car) and managed to have the house AMAZINGLY clean and he even organized many places that had become slightly un-organized (okay more than slightly. way more) I still have so many pictures to post from our month long vacation to visit family but it's been so busy I haven't downloaded them all!
Miles has been a little fussy lately and yesterday I found out why - he got his first tooth! He will be 5 months old on the 16th so this is a little early. But at least I found out why he's been fussy!

Here is the little man in his crib

Nora hiding under her pillow to get her "fix" (aka: binky)

Kirtland temple

Sleeping boy

John Johnson farm (with a 2 carriage garage)

This is the front of the John Johnson farm. The front is beige and the back is red because the beige paint cost more. Also - this is the home where Joseph Smith was pulled out of bed in the middle of the night and tarred and feathered, but still gave the sunday sermon the next day.

This is the rock quarry where they cut sandstone for the temple. The holes are from the pioneers

I think the month of July is going to go by just as quickly as the month of June did! Why do summers have to go so fast?? We got together with some friends who we lived by at the Utah State trailer court when we were first married and they just moved to Michigan! It was so fun to see them again and remember the good times of trailer park living! It has started getting pretty humid here and I've discovered I quite like humidity (of course it hasn't gotten over 90 degrees yet - so I'm sure that will make quite a difference!) We also saw lightning bugs for the first time the other night and it was SO fun! Brian and I were enjoying it just as much (okay - maybe more!) as the kids were. They were awesome! We fed Miles his first taste of rice cereal tonight and he enjoyed it for the most part, but the girls loved feeding him even more!

Feeding Miles

He doesn't know quite what to think here...

Nora, Sophie, Josh & Nathan

Us with the Franson's (picture by Sophie) - Nora looks quite excited!

I love what the humidity does to Sophie's curls!!!

Our curly haired girl!

Fun on the 4th!

I LOVE the 4th of July! It is one of my favorite Holidays. We headed downtown to a parade in the morning and sat by our friends/neighbors the Seedalls. It was a fun parade with lots of political advertisements, belly dancers, dogs and hydraulic cars. And not a single dairy princess or marching band! I think what surprised me the most was at the start of the parade when the flag went by we stood up and put our hands over our hearts, but only saw a few other people doing the same thing. It made me sad, aren't we still supposed to do that? I love that part because it gives me a minute to think of all the people who have made, or are making, such great sacrifices for our country! There was also quite a bit of candy (we sat at the beginning of the parade to ensure they wouldn't run out before they got to us!) Later that night we had a bbq in our backyard with some friends, tie-dyed shirts and had a small fireworks show early on for the kids. (We were going to go to a big party that was being thrown by some friends in our ward, but since we are just getting the kids back to their regular sleeping schedule after being back from our month vacation we opted to stay home and get the kids to bed at a decent hour!) It was such a fun day to be with friends and celebrate the wonderful country we are blessed to live in!

the kids sitting by their tie-dyed creations

The girls watching the $10.00 Wal-Mart fireworks show

Brian and Andy were the official firework lighters

Cute Ainsley (our friends little girl)

Just one of the many cars that were in the parade

Maddie, Spencer, Sophie and Nora watching the parade

The Seedall's (minus Ryan who is at a conference)

Tie-dying fun!

Part of the flag cake!

Me and the girls at the parade

Waving their flags

Nora & dad
Miles liked his little flag

Little brother

I remember cheering and rejoicing for every milestone Sophie reached when she was a baby. I couldn't wait for the next thing to happen; teeth, solid foods, crawling, etc... It was all so exciting as a new mom, the excitement was still there with Nora but not as much eagerness for the next milestone. I took Miles to his 4 month check up today and found myself sorrowing when the doctor told me I could probably start him on rice cereal in a few weeks. Is my baby old enough for that? I thought to myself. I guess in all honesty it is me who is not ready. My little guy is growing up! Much too fast.

4 1/2 month stats:
weight: 13 pounds 6 oz
height: 24 inches
head: 16 1/2 inches
looks: above average (according to me!)

His weight and head were in the 5-10 percentile and his height was in the 15-20 percentile. Which is strange because he doesn't seem that small to me! Some of his likes right now are: playing with his toys, sucking on his hands, kicking in the bathtub, and getting attention from his sisters! And he can roll from his back to his belly. One of my favorite things to do is put a picture of the girls up on the screensaver of our computer and hold Miles up to it. He will sit and smile and laugh and "talk" to the screen for a long time! It is so adorable! This boy loves his sisters!