Jenny's Engaged!!

He finally did it! Jenny's boyfriend proposed today, we all knew they were perfect for each other for awhile now but we were just waiting for him to pop the question. I kept thinking he was going to do it at any moment since they got here for Christmas but when it wasn't hidden in any of her Christmas gifts I was starting to doubt... what was he thinking? Even I was getting impatient wondering if he ever would do it... Let's just say he surprised us all!! We are SO pleased, and very excited to have James as part of our family, what a cute couple! Congrats you two!!

Christmas Fun

We had a nice Christmas, it started with Dan and I getting up at 6 am to go to my paren'ts house, it was so cold that Dan tucked his pants into his socks! Jack (my little brother who is on a mission to New Jersey) called at 7. It was great to hear Jack's voice. We then proceeded into the front room (in order shortest to tallest) to see what Santa brought us. We had a great time opening gifts and recieved many great ones. But the highlight of Christmas was watching Sophie with her presents. Grandma and Grandpa Quincy gave Sophie this electronic toy she can stand by, she loves the lights, buttons, sounds and music! (By the way her Christmas nightgown was made by her Grandma Quincy pretty cute huh?) After all our presents were opened we headed back to the Chapman's where we enjoyed some delicious "shipwreck" breakfast (which is just all of the breakfast foods all mixed together in a scrambled mess... so good), Sophie took a nap and then we opened more presents. We were all incredibly spoiled by the Chapmans and had tons of fun watching Elise and Sophie enjoy their presents. Elise's favorite seemed to be her squeaking shoes, she ran around the house to let their squeaks be heard loud and clear! The thing that Sophie enjoyed most from Grandma Nina were the books. She can't get enough of them! Here's a picture of her with Aunt Candice reading a book, you can tell she really enjoys it. We pretty much just played around the rest of the day. That evening Dan decided that they needed to play Lord of the Rings Risk... here is a flash back 3 years ago when he got the game...

As you can clearly see... he likes the game, he also loves The Lord of the Rings so it's like the ideal combo for him. He played with his Dad and brother until 2 am!! Crazy kids. Here are some more pictures I took throughout the day for you to enjoy.



Sophie making her newly acquired kissy face. Playing her favorite game with Daddy, bite the binky. Jonathan rocking out to Guitar Hero 3.

Matt playing Guitar Hero 2. Grandma Nina's favorite Christmas present! Can you guess which Chapman couple is expecting a baby in August? Take a stab at it on the poll on the right side bar, get it right and win a prize! Well not really, but isn't it fun to play anyway? :)

Christmas Dresses

Grandma Nina got Sophie and her cousin Elise Christmas dresses, so we had to take some pictures today of the two together. I can't believe tomorrow is Christmas Eve!! I hope you all are surrounded by as many loved ones as we are, have a wonderful Christmas!

10 Monthday

This month Sophie has been working on perfecting her crawling skills, she also really enjoys pulling herself up on things so she can stand holding onto them. She has started cruising (walking while holding onto furniture) and standing on her own for brief (but longer than before) amounts of time. She has also turned into quite the chatter box... well babble box really. She loves to imitate everything we say. She will have very serious conversations to us in babble, it's hard not to laugh because she really thinks she is talking to us just like we do to her. One of my favorite things she learned how to do this month is dance! She starts rocking or head banging when ever she can hear music or when she sees something that she knows can play music. She has also learned to wave hello and goodbye which is always fun. My other favorite thing that Sophie has learned to do this month is her "monster grin," that's what my mom calls it. She does this cute smile when she's really happy where she closes her eyes and pulls the corners of her mouth as wide as possible, she usually does it towards the ceiling, too cute. Technically Sophie was 10 months old yesterday but hopefully she didn't grow too much in one day. We are in Utah so her bear pictures are in a different chair and with her cousin's bear (which is identical to Sophie's anyway, how convenient.) She was not in a picture mood so I don't have any good smiles but here are the best ones.



I had to include the one on the right, she was just throwing a tantrum! Dan was trying to get her to smile by showing her his ice cream bar but she just saw that as teasing. She just starting doing this thing the past few days when she is mad she'll throw her head back as hard as she can, several times resulting in her smacking her head on the hard floor. I wish I knew how to stop her from doing that, she has to know it will hurt! She is so careful about not banging her head on the hard floor when she rolls over or sits from standing but lately she'll just hit it as hard as she can when she doesn't get what she wants!!

Here's a picture of Sophie with her cousin Elise, I thought it was a good depiction of how they are together. They only want what the other one has. Elise is much better than Sophie at sharing though, she will give Sophie stuff to play with if she doesn't want it. Sophie on the other hand, wants it all... all the toys in sight and has a hard time deciding which one she wants most unless Elise is playing with something, then she wants that one! I guess we start young wanting what we don't have.

We're Here!!

We made it to Utah!! It's so good to be home, I can't even describe how good it is... but it's good! Here are a few pictures from our first few days here. We've kept busy but not the stressful kind of busy, just the busy where we do what we want when we want to and don't have to be any where at any particular time. It's heavenly. Dan and his brothers can't get enough of Halo 3 and play it any chance they get, seriously ANY CHANCE. They've got 3 Xbox 360's and 3 TV's (they're not good at sharing) set up in Dan's parent's basement, what nerds. Last night they played all night and finally went to bed as Sophie and I were getting up at 6:30 a.m.!!! Crazy kids.


Dan laughing (looks like he's special needs don't you think?); Matt playing Halo; Me yelling at the Wii (sorry it's so blurry, still thought it was a good facial expression.)

Cami sleeping while the guys play on through the night; my favorite (and only) niece Elise, Ann and Elise.

Sophie playing Halo with Dan; Sophie smiling at her Uncle Jason (who is playing Halo of course).

Oh and I also wanted to say that Sophie has done pretty well with all of these "new" people that she doesn't remember. She has had a lot of stranger anxiety in the past so we are really happy to see her loving her aunts, uncles and grandparents. She especially loves both of her Grandmas, she starts smiling and reaching for them as soon as they enter the room.

cold jog

I know I have been posting a lot this week... and not about anything spectacular I don't have an excuse except for that I've been a little extra picture happy. I think I'll blame it on the Christmas season, I am SO EXCITED to go home this weekend!! Anyway, I waited until the afternoon to go jogging today in hopes it would warm up a bit and some snow would melt off the trail. Some snow was melted but it was anything but warm outside. Despite the cold wind I really did enjoy the beautiful scenery, snow just makes everything look so clean and new. One of my favorite things about Denver are the trails. Denver has paved trails EVERYWHERE there is one that goes from Boulder to Colorado Springs... not really sure how many miles that is but it's FAR! That trail runs right behind our apartment complex, so convenient. I've never been much of a runner anyway but I'd always run on a treadmill when I did. Now that I have a small sidekick, and a jogging stroller it's the easiest way for me to exercise. And I must say that I enjoy it a lot more now that I can do it outside and with friends. I appreciate nature a lot more when I am on foot rather than in the car, Denver really is a pretty place.

Poor Sophie can't hardly move all bundled up, but she does stay warm in her clothes, snow suit, gloves, hat, quilt, and sleeping bag! I also have a weather shield which is a plastic thing that covers the outside of the stroller to keep the wind out, she's got her own little bubble.

drinking like a big girl!

Sophie drank from a cup for the first time tonight. Whenever I am having a drink while I am holding her she fusses until I let her put her mouth on the rim, she doesn't do anything else, just put her mouth on it and she's satisfied. But tonight she started tilting her head back and lifting the cup... (try to ignore the food on her nose and in her hair, she needs a bath.)



This is actually a second take because the first time Dan thought he was recording her doing lots of good sips... but he hadn't pushed record hard enough. She was getting a little sick of it by this point, but you get the idea. I like how she has to make noise when the glass is brought to her face because it makes a funny sound. It makes me a little sad that she's so anxious to grow up.

Doing the Dishes

Previously I posted a blog about Sophie helping me with the laundry, well... this just shows you how glamorous our lives really are because now she likes to do the dishes! Sophie likes to climb up on anything that she can stand by and the when the dishwasher is open it's the perfect height, plus there are loud things she can bang up there. I took a couple pictures of her "helping" me the other day. I like the one on the left, she looks like she just got caught doing something naughty (which she kind of is). It's probably not the best activity for her but... she likes it and I can get the dishes done if I just let her stand there. :)

We have been "Elfed"!

Dan sent me this yesterday... I guess he doesn't study THAT hard if he has time to do stuff like this. It is pretty funny though, just click on the link and you'll see what I mean.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1204589459

messy eater

This afternoon I fed Sophie some oatmeal cereal with prune juice (I know yum yum!), her usual afternoon snack. But today she made a ROYAL MESS of herself! I know this girl has the most documented life of any child... but I couldn't help but pull out the camera and snag some pictures of her. She was being so funny and doing turkey neck (that's what I call it when people press their chin towards their neck giving themselves a double chin) and spitting. I don't know how she does it but she manages to get her food all over her face and hair sometimes. I tried to catch the turkey neck but it didn't really work out, she only does it when she has eye contact with me... but here are my favorites I wanted to share with you all. Oh and by the way the thing on her nose is a piece of bread. :)

Finals (bah humbug!)

Finals are in full swing here in Denver. Dan's first final is tomorrow, and he is so nervous! (I don't know why, he is totally prepared.) He has been studying religiously, all day, everyday. We are so proud of all of his hard work but we miss him terribly! He did come home to study Saturday afternoon when the law school was evacuated because of a fire alarm, that was nice. I got the picture on the right of Sophie this morning right after Dan left. She follows him around all morning while he's trying to get ready to go. And for the last week she stands with her face against the stair gate watching the door after Dan leaves for a minute or two, it's really cute. All of us are excited for finals to be over next week!

my little dancer

I pulled out the Christmas decorations this afternoon, I wasn't going to do it since we leave town in 2 weeks and won't be home until mid January. I thought it wasn't worth it since we wouldn't be here to enjoy them. But I just felt so humbug-ish without them. Plus I had some people coming over later and it seemed appropriate. ANYWAY, one of our decorations is a xylophone like thing with little soldiers who play Christmas songs. I turned it on to see if there were batteries in it and when it started playing Sophie started dancing!! I hurried and got the video camera (I've learned that she doesn't always do stuff more than once so if I wait, I miss it.) She was dancing all night whenever I turned it on again or sang a song she'd start bouncing!! Gee I really hope she keeps this up because I think it is so adorable!

She really gets into it and she can tell that I like it so it just makes her bounce harder, too cute... I love it. Her personality comes out more all the time. Quick story: last night we were at a friend's house visiting teaching. She has a daughter who is 13 months named Brinley. Sophie just loves kids so she immediately wriggles out of my arms so she can crawl over to Brinley. Poor Brinley was terrified of Sophie and kept whimpering to her mom for help as Sophie proceeded to scream at Brinley (in a loving way), grab her binky and climb up her legs to reach her face. Sophie is anything but shy and can hold her own she tends to sort of beat up kids (by trying to play with them) since she is so curious. I've always said she has no respect for personal space.

Thanksgiving

We had a nice relaxing Thanksgiving. Sophie woke up with bed head for the first time, it looks pretty tame in the picture but it really was pretty crazy. We thought it was great that she had enough hair for it to get messed up! We just laid around all morning and then decided to go for a jog at noon. This is a picture of Sophie all bundled up to go jogging, she could harldy move with all of these layers plus a quilt and a sleeping bag thing in the stroller. But it was necessary because it was so COLD! That evening we got together with a couple of our friends from the ward to have Thanksgiving dinner. It was nice not to have to make the whole Thanksgiving spread just for Dan and I. Plus I enjoyed sharing the holiday with others, isn't that what Thanksgiving is about? Bringing people together? We had good food and conversation then played a couple games.

I did a little shopping the day after Thanksgiving, but not until 9am... my mom and sisters usually go closer to 5, but without them here, I couldn't find the motivation. I found a few good deals though. Dan was at school for 12 hours that day (NERD!) and I think he was the only one there. Hard to believe he'd rather study than shop huh? The highlight of our Thanksgiving was when my little sister Jenny arrived the day after. She went to Salt Lake for Thanksgiving day but we got her on her way home to Houston the day after. She usually has a lay over in Denver anyway and it ended up saving her money to buy two tickets (one to SL and one to Denver). She got here too late that night to catch Sophie before bed time so the above picture is of them together the following morning. Sophie seemed to remember her aunt Jenny and they got along great! We were so glad to have her and she seemed to be really excited to see Sophie. I love having visitors and Jenny is the best kind because she is so helpful, I think I could use an extra set of hands on a permanent basis! :)



On Saturday we had a good time watching the BYU vs. Utah game. We had a Jason and Ellen over (Jason is in law school with Dan) along with Jenny cheering for the Y with Dan, Sophie and I rooting for the U. BYU won, but we enjoyed an excuse to order pizza and get together. Sophie found a new favorite during the game, celery sticks!

That night Jenny and I enjoyed playing with Sophie and taking these funny pictures of her sucking on the glass door to the porch. The flash is pretty annoying and you can see how dirty the window is but her faces are pretty funny!



And then we really made Jenny work this morning before church when she helped us take some family pictures near our house. I think they turned out pretty good! Didn't she do a wonderful job? Here are a few of my favorites:

This is Sophie waving "hello!"