July Festivities

July seems to be the month that keeps on giving. Other than the fact that it is bloody hot, we are finding lots of fun things to do.

Eating toast. For one who doesn't eat bread at all, this was a big moment.

Greg surprised me with Train tickets for my birthday and the day finally came for us to go - without Sofi :). I have always wanted to see him and this just happened to be the year we were finally in town when he was here. In all my pregnant glory, you better believe I was singing and dancing with the best of them.

Quite possibly the worst angle for both of us, but we saw TRAIN!!!

We had fun despite the fact that Sof was being awful for the babysitter. Oh well.

Her new obsession is painting anyone's nails. There are worse things.

Tangled is still going strong in our house

It was my job to save spots for the Farmington Parade, and it did not disappoint. It is probably the best parade of the summer, and Sofi didn't want her Fat Boy, so yours truly devoured it in 2 bites flat.

Sof sure loves her Uncle Toby

Grandma and Grandpa Spjute treated everyone to the Trampoline park after the Farmington Festival Parade. Sof was in heaven, and Greg wasn't too shabby on the slackline.

If they offer a winter season pass, I am totally getting her one and we are going Every. Single. Day.

July 11 is officially the best day ever. Not really, but food-wise it's not too bad. We dressed up like cows and got free dinner at Chik-Fil-A, then went over to 7/11 and got a free slurpee, which isn't anywhere near as good as a frazzle, but it was free so I can't complain too bad.

My cute "cows"

First pony!

Breaking in Baby Sister's new bed

These car carts have saved our shopping trips!

Greg's grandma's twin sisters had a birthday bash we had a lot of fun at. It's fun to see the Boise Spjutes' and get reaquainted with them every time.

Greg's dad scored us tickets to the MoTab's Pioneer concert. Mark graciously watched Batman at our apartment while Sofi slept. The concert was actually really good, and I may now just be an Alex Boye fan.

Yes, Greg is sweating in this picture. We ran the entire way from where we parked to be able to get there in time.

Sofi got to meet her new baby cousin Baya, and loved her as much as I thought she would. I'm getting more and more excited for her to be a big sister. She's going to be the best little helper.

Exploding flour.

For July 24th, Greg's cousin invited us up to her home in Park City, and we had a lot of fun. Sofi was able to run around like a crazy person and play for hours with cousins. 

We went to El Rancho with April, Toby and their kids. A little farm in the middle of the city. I'm still able to catch a chicken, pregnant belly and all :). When you forget you're pregnant for a minute, it's amazing how fast you can still run.

throwing rocks.

Sof and Megan are two peas in a pod.

Photo cred: Sofi. She's getting pretty good.

Playing in Grandpa's beautiful backyard.

Camping in Bryce Canyon

I have wanted to camp in Bryce Canyon the last few years and we were finally able to make it a reality last week. We spent a few days camping at Ruby's Inn outside Bryce Canyon and had a lot of fun! Sof loved spending time in the tent and chasing the squirrels (chipmunks).

We arrived Wednesday in time to set up camp and make dinner. Sooo yummy! We also found a fun train shuttle and I'm pretty sure that was the highlight of the trip for Sofi.

She found a walking stick.

She loved hanging out in this tent. We joked about setting it up in the front room and maybe she would play by herself back home ...

On the train. Greg has crazy eyes ...

She slept good the first night. She rolled off in the middle of the night and her head sounded like a huge rock being dropped on the ground. Luckily she was so out of it, it didn't wake her up and she slept through me shoving her back in her sleeping bag while trying not to die of laughter. 

Sof if getting the hang of taking pictures

Sexiest raccoon hat wearer I've ever seen.

Thursday dawned bright with Sofi waking up at 6:30 am, but it gave us plenty of time to make breakfast and get ready to hike before the crowds. We parked at the Visitor's Center and were bused up to Sunset Point where our hike the Navajo Loop started.

These little guys were everywhere! Including our campsite where they chewed a hole in our tent.

My happy place!

Spritzing her Daddy. 

It's not easy hiking while 30 weeks pregnant.

It was so hot in our tent, but she took a short nap anyway.

Lucky Greg was able to go on a super awesome mountain bike ride all by himself. Sof and I were 40 min late picking him up, but based on his pics he rode through some beautiful country and even had a run-in with Smokey.

True to rainstorms in Southern Utah, when it rains it floods fast. We had just barely finished cooking dinner and loading our plates when the heavens opened. We ate inside the tent while we watched the tarp outside fill up with water. Luckily, our tent really is waterproof. 

Sof was happy to listen to music while her daddy stripped in the background. I had no idea I got him in the shot! 

Friday morning Sofi amazed us by sleeping in until 8:30 am When this little girl wants to, she can sleep! Greg and I were pretty must laying there staring at the ceiling waiting for her. We spent the morning in the park driving around to the different view points. 

Where is Sofi?

This is the town of Tropic. I spent many summers there growing up. it's where my Grandpa Jolley is from and such a fun little town. Just like Cedar City, I'm related to 1/2 of the people there.

Greg had the brilliant idea of taking the bikes into Bryce Canyon and riding the mostly downhill trail back to the Visitor's Center. It was so fun! Sof got her thrill on the bus and we got to cruise past the Europeans stopped in the middle of the road taking pictures of deer. I'm convinced there is no wildlife left in Europe, with how enthralled those people were by the deer and chipmunks.

Greg was tricky and managed to get us all in one shot. Let me just say, that it is not easy to bike uphill 30 weeks pregnant.

Halfway through, we stopped at one of the campgrounds in the Park. 

The original plan was to eat dinner Friday night at one of the restaurants, but due to the fact that they were way too expensive, we ate dinner back at camp and it turned out to be really good! Why does food always taste better while camping? Insead, we went to Old Town and splurged on ice cream. It was worth it.

Saturday was our day to leave. After waking up around 8:00 am, our morning was spent making breaking and packing up our muddy gear as quickly as possible. We then decided to take the bikes back into the park one more time to ride the trail before heading out. We also stopped to get some more ice cream. Sofi was not happy to leave and kept asking to go back and stay "in the tent" (Apparently the french group across the way hadn't bothered her as much as Greg and I). Sof was a trooper and eventually succumbed to a nap, which allowed her to sleep until we got home. 

We had so much fun and I'm so glad we were able to take this little family trip before we become a family of 4 in 10 short weeks.