"you can't catch me!"

I failed to mention in my previous post that Sophie learns lots of things in nursery too, which is encouraging! As a teacher I often didn't feel like the kids were getting anything out of it. Just the other day Sophie was pointing at one of our wedding pictures saying, "emple!" (meaning temple), I never taught her that.

Here's a video of Sophie singing a song she learned in nursery, it took me a minute to figure out what it was that she was singing the first time she did it. But now she sings it all the time. The "can't catch me!" part is her favorite.

nursery ROCKS!

Sophie has actually been going to nursery for 1 month now, but it is definitely worth mentioning! Dan and I pretty much taught nursery our first 3 years of marriage, with the exception of a CTR 5 class for about 6 months. I always enjoyed teaching nursery. Dan, on the other hand had to "get used to" it. But I didn't realize what a big help it is to parents!! Those last 3 months waiting for Sophie to be old enough went SO SLOWLY. I felt like I didn't get anything out of church, I felt more like I was trying to contain a fire. Now that she can go learn, play and snack in the nursery I can listen to Sunday School and attend Young Womens (that's my current calling). It is just heavenly. I would never bring Sophie in because the girls would listen even less (if that's possible) to the lesson. And on weeks where Dan and I were both teaching at the same time (he's in the Elder's Quorum presidency) we had to ask a friend to chase her around the halls for us. What a relief! I'm so glad we have a nursery.
The icing on the cake is that SOPHIE LOVES IT!! We get near the nursery room and Sophie starts smiling once we get close she is fighting to run in the door. Over the gate she goes and she literally runs to the toys without looking back. When we come to pick her up, I have to chase her around the room to grab her. She often cries when we take her home. In short NURSERY ROCKS, and her teachers deserve a cookie... or whatever else they want.

tree hugger and baby lover

How to: Take Care of a Baby

by Sophie

Part One: Taking Baby on a Walk

1. Always give her lots of kisses.2. Tuck her in safely and "go, go, go!!"3. It's fun to crash into things.4. It's even better with a running start!5. Oops!! (sometimes the baby falls out)6. If she falls out, just put her somewhere else... safe and sound!7. Then you'll be back in business!!8. Being a mommy makes me so proud!

After Sophie played mommy we went outside for her favorite activity lately, picking up leaves. She's always liked picking things up off the ground, but it's just been recently that she shows more interest in pretty things. She could hunt leaves forever. Funny thing is that she won't hold more than one leaf at a time so I get handed a leaf every time she finds a new one. I promptly toss it on the ground behind me, but she doesn't seem to mind or notice yet. :) I didn't get a picture of it, but she really does hug trees, pretty much every tree she can get close to she runs up and hugs the trunk.

I also wanted to mention a few other things I love that Sophie does these days:

1) she counts to 6 instead of 3 to start herself off on a run

2) she says "hi" every time she makes eye contact with you even though you've been in the room together for hours

3) she says "bye" every time she is going to not only leave the room but also just when she's going to focus her attention elsewhere, she does this to her toys as well

4) she loves to pretend to be different animals and have me guess what she is, her favorites are a monkey, frog, lion, and gorilla

5) she enjoys getting her hair done and will clap and say, "yea!!" whenever it's done

6) she has to wash all of her bath toys with soap and a wash cloth (just like she's washed) before she gets out of the tub

7) she decides it's time to dance a few times a day even though there is no music or any real reason for it

8) she loves peas I have to treat them like a dessert and give them to her last otherwise she won't eat anything else!

9) it's a treat to wash her hands and she asks to do it frequently, hand sanitizer is extra special

OK, that was more than a few, but I don't want to forget all of these cute little things she does! I love her so much and hope I'll be able to love this next baby just as much.

who does Sophie look more like?

I saw this on a friend's blog and thought it looked fun. I'm afraid I don't believe it though, to me Sophie looks much more like Dan!

PHEW, we made it!

Well, we made it! It wasn't easy but we packed up and moved all of our belongings less than 1 mile down the street. I don't think you ever realize how much stuff you have until you move. You'd think with all my recent moving experience I would have a good grip on the reality of the extent of my belongings... but NO! It never ceases to amaze and horrify me the amount of stuff we move out of an apartment. Anyway, here are some photos (these are for you Mom) of the apartment. I took some pictures the morning after we arrived and yesterday after I finished unpacking, well mostly... only 3 boxes left! I think the living area was the worst, I didn't think I'd ever be able to get through all that stuff! It made me want to cry looking over that mess.

You can see Sophie poking around in the boxes in the before picture. The poor thing is still trying to find her way around our new place. It's better now that the boxes are gone but I could tell she didn't know where she was. I would ask her to go find something in her room and she couldn't find her room. Whenever she happened on the front door she would cry to go outside! But she really likes the room to run around now, and runs laps all day long. The extra space is really nice for all of us. We love our new apartment, especially now that it looks like a home instead of a disaster area! There's still a few more things I need to find places for and most of the pictures to hang but it feels like home.

Sophie worked really hard with the move. Here's Sophie "helping" Dan take her gate down at our old place. The 2nd picture is of Sophie wearing some "glos" (as she says it) she just had to have because I was wearing latex gloves to clean. She actually spent one evening and one morning at friends' houses so we could get stuff done. She really enjoyed that part! I didn't take any pictures of them, but all of our friends and neighbors who watched Sophie and helped us move everything are my heroes and you all deserve medals, we really couldn't have done it without you! Thanks a million!!

I also wanted to throw in this picture of Sophie from the Stake Fair cake walk, didn't take many pictures because we got there late and I had to work at the face painting booth. She thought the walking/dancing to the music was fun and had no idea it was for a cupcake! It was a huge bonus but she still wanted to keep walking. Oh and as a side note, pretty sure her ears are crooked because no matter how much I mess with her sunglasses they are always crooked! Poor thing.

Also, here's an update on my siblings in Houston for those who are wondering. Jenny and James are still without power and hot water! But James goes back to work on Monday. The ironic thing is that the townhome they are buying has power and water, but they don't move in until November. There was some damage to the town home but since they don't own it yet they don't have to pay. Jason and Nicole are still in San Antonio for Jason to work at a different office since the Houston one is still out of commission. Nicole is just hoping she still has a job when they get back, she started a new job the week before Ike and hasn't been able to talk to them about being in San Antonio. What crazy times!! I wish I could bring you over cookies or dinner or something. Hang in there guys, we love you!

here we go again...

We got the keys to our new apartment today and started moving over the little stuff. (We will wait to move the big stuff when we have help from friends tomorrow... we're not stupid!) I just realized that this will be our 6th place we have lived since we were married 4 years ago! I think I'm a little out of control... Dan would be happy to live just about anywhere but I always talk him into moving. I can honestly say that this time I would have rather stayed where I'm at. And if Sophie wasn't in danger of loosing her life (or being seriously injured) on our stairs, we wouldn't be moving. I'm sad to leave our current apartment complex, it is wonderful. Our new one is nice too, just not quite as nice... Anyway, I'll be glad when it's over. And I am very much looking forward to having a 3rd bedroom as well as a bigger living room! We will miss having our current neighbors so close but look forward to living by some of our other friends and hopefully making some new ones too.

In other news, my sister Jenny, her husband James, my brother Jason, and his wife Nicole all live in Houston and are still without power due to hurricane Ike. But I am very happy to report that they are safe, maybe not very comfortable without hot water (or good water pressure) or A/C (it's still in the 90's in Houston this time of year) but SAFE. Take care guys, we'll keep praying for you!

polictics smalitics!

I've been posting a lot lately, and for that I apologize. But I have wanted to post about the presidential election for awhile now and today it's weighing heavily on my mind. Politics frustrate me!!

Here are some reasons I don't feel prepared to vote for president in November:

1. You can't believe anything you hear. Most of what all the TV channels and candidates say about each other are contradictory. How can I trust them? What's a reliable source?

2. I don't know what's best for my country. Despite my education, I don't have any experience balancing a budget of this size, or dealing with foreign countries, going to/getting out of a war, fixing an economy... etc (the list goes on and on). So what exactly qualifies me to decide what our country needs? Who am I to decide?

3. I can't judge the candidates' character without knowing them. If I can't make a judgement based on their policies (see items 1 and 2) I feel the person with the best character would make the best decisions as president. But how could I possibly know the character of the candidates when all I hear is what the media says (mostly untrue) and what they say themselves was written by someone else?

Here are some reasons I feel prepared to vote for president in November (none of which are good reasons):

1. My vote won't really make a difference anyway. If I go to all of this trouble to research and pray and try to make the best decision I can, just one schmuck will vote for the opposite person for no good reason (like, "he/she's HOT!") and cancel out my vote anyway.

2. The president doesn't have all the power. Since everything has to go through congress, it's not like everything the new president says goes. So maybe who the president is doesn't make a very big difference anyway.

3. I can vote for whoever my husband tells me to. I trust Dan's opinion (he married me after all) and feel like he knows a whole lot more about this stuff than I do, why not just let him do the work?

4. Once in office, the new president could not even do what he's saying he'll do now. What's to say that the new president won't follow through with what he said and all my research would be for nothing anyway?

I am ashamed to admit that I haven't voted in past elections due to some of these reasons and really want to be involved in this next election. Does anyone know a good way for me to prepare? I would love advice on how to get past these issues I have so I feel like I am making a good and worthwhile decision. Please comment and let me know how you decide who to vote for!

On a lighter note: Sophie has had a cold and despite her past hatred for the device (and I mean HATRED, it took two of us to hold her down); she LOVES to get her snot sucked with the snot sucker lately!! She just keeps asking for, "mo mo mo!"

Jessica's 25!

I celebrated living a quarter of a century yesterday. I'm so glad to be alive, and celebrating another birthday! I feel like I appreciate life more and more the older I get. It just keeps getting better!! I think that is credit to my wonderful husband and daughter. I am so grateful to all my friends and family who called and/or sent cards on my birthday, I feel so loved. Thanks guys! I am seriously so blessed (reference to the blog making fun of blogs like mine intended) to live where I live, have the friends and family I have, and to enjoy the time I have here. Below you will find a somewhat boring account (due to the level of detail contained) of what took place on my 25th birthday.

It started out right in the morning when Dan let me sleep in until 8 while he took care of Sophie. Always a luxury. When I did get up I found Dan and Sophie busy in the kitchen making me breakfast. (awwwww!!) So sweet, right? I think so. Dan had to go to a training at school for the law journal and left to go catch the bus as I was getting ready to vacuum. He left and came back a couple minutes later and said that he'd catch the next bus, so I could get in the shower while he vacuumed and put Sophie down for her nap. Yeah!! I thought it was pretty sweet. After her nap, Sophie wanted a turn with the mop. She "helped" me mop the floors and then (w/o the wet part) she enjoyed mopping our carpet for a good 30 min or so.

In the afternoon (Dan's training was done early, hurray!) we went up to the outlet malls in Colorado Mills. Oh my goodness, I think I'm in LOVE!! I can't believe we've lived here a year and I didn't know about them. It's an outlet mall, so everything is cheaper and they have stores I hadn't ever seen as outlets before. Plus it was an indoor mall, so weather isn't a factor (so nice). Needless to say, I WILL BE BACK!
That evening Dan prepared my favorite dinner of salmon, rice, and veggies. Isn't he cute in my apron? Our wonderful friends Kim and Jake came over and watched Sophie so Dan and I could go see a movie. I wanted to see Mama Mia! again, it was really fun. Dan was a good sport.

my BIG girl

Sophie had her 18 month check up today. She's developing great, no problems at all. She shows no signs of being ready for potty training except that she knows what the potty is and comes to hear me pee. But she couldn't care less about having a dirty diaper and never tells me if it is. Even when I ask her, I'm not sure she knows what I'm talking about. According to the handout I got to today "many children are ready... by 2 years of age... most children are potty trained by 3 1/2." So I guess she has some time. I just can't help but think how wonderful it would be to only have one child in diapers at a time! Oh well, it's up to her, not me I guess. Please leave me any advice of you veterans have on how and when to do it! Here's her stats:

Weight: 24 lbs 11.6 oz (54%)

Height: 33 1/4 inches (87%)

Head: 48.2 cm (88%)

She started out in the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th percentiles at birth so she's come a long way!! I thought she was getting really tall, but she always seems big to me. Now my fears are confirmed, I guess she might be tall like her dad after all! She was also the unwilling recipient of 3 shots this afternoon. I haven't ever felt so bad when she got shots, because she's never cried so hard and looked at me so horrified and betrayed. So I took her to McDonald's for an ice cream cone afterwards. :) What can I say? I'm a softy.

Here's a video from last week of Sophie "talking." She does this all the time, she'll get all riled up and hyper and just go off forever! She sounds mad but she's not, she's just passionate. It's embarrassing when some of the words sound like cuss words and she's yelling them at a stranger in the store. :) But at home, it's really funny. (Sorry about the poor video, I think it was too dark and our camera had a hard time focusing.)

Labor day weekend

Saturday evening (after the Utah football game, GO UTES!!) we went to A Taste of Colorado celebration downtown. We took the light rail down, Sophie thought that was pretty cool, and said, "choo choo!" most of the way. The festival was full of food booths from local restaurants where you could purchase meals or just samples of their best dishes. It was fun to try out a bunch of restaurants at once to know where we want to visit another time. Sophie's favorite was the roasted corn. Dan and I both liked the bacon wrapped chicken from Texas de Brazil. They also had merchants selling all sorts of stuff, and rides! We took Sophie on the train, she didn't have a lot of choices because she's not big enough for most rides. She got mad when I put the seat belt on her but was happy once the ride started. It was really crowded but we had a good time, I'm glad we went.

We had big plans for Monday that didn't all work out... I woke up early and made cinnamon streusel muffins for breakfast which were delicious! Then we went swimming, Sophie is getting so good! She can go across the pool by herself, she's just giddy being able to get around on her own she waves and says, "hi hi hi hi," over and over again. While Sophie was napping Dan and I watched the movie Serentiy. It's a great show but kind of scary. :) We were planning on going over the the Children's Museum after Soph woke up but as I was looking up the address I found out they close at 4:00! Sophie didn't wake up until after 2:00, so we decided to go another time. But we did go down to the mall to let Soph play in the play area there. I got to do some shopping for my upcoming birthday and I found a new maternity dress! I am really happy about that. It was nice to spend time together, I just love my little girl and husband so much!!


Here are a few random pictures from last week I wanted to share. Some of Sophie's favorite toys come from the kitchen and this colander is her #1 fav, she holds it over her face like a fencing mask. Here's Soph just chowing down at a stake YW's activity. She ate about half my hamburger and an entire hot dog that night! Plus, who knows how many chips and peas... I think she may be having a growth spurt soon with the way she's been eating. The last one is from a morning when she found Dan's goggles, I thought they would bother her and she'd take them right off. But she wore them for about 3 hours!! She even watched Sesame Street with them on. What a silly girl.


Hope you all had a nice holiday!!!