Spring Break 2016

We finally did it. We escaped northern Utah and headed south, and what a fun week we had! Greg has been working crazy hours at work so we took off and left him in the dust. (Just kidding, he'd been telling me to go for weeks).

Sofi was such a champ on the way down. We stopped for a break in Beaver then made it to Cedar without a single crying spell. This trip will go down in the books. I've learned that as long as I feed Sofi food during a trip, she stays happy. Being 'Hangry' tends to run in my family...

It was fun to see the temple going up coming into Cedar. Here is a picture I took before my exit. I know, so safe.

Hard to see, but it's right above the power lines.

We left for Cedar early and got there just in time to enjoy the day. Sofi's visit revolved around grandma's kitty. She would rather watch the crazy cat than eat. She must be my child.

Sofi is all girl, and was all about modeling my little sister Shelby's headband and anklet she made for her.

It was so fun to have someone to go walking with in the morning. My mom is in such good shape! I nicknamed her "the bulldozer." Seriously, she puts me to shame. We walked up to the temple and the weather was beautiful!

Sofi got really good at sneaking up on the kitty

Enjoying the sunshine! Notice no coat and no socks. She was in heaven!

We had 1 rough night. This is how Sofi felt about it when I checked on her in the morning.

Covering her eyes in her sleep. Poor babe. 

We wanted even more sunshine (crazy right?) so we traveled even further south to Hurricane to see my sister Jess and her kids, and I am so happy we did. Hello 80 degree weather!

The Black Ridge. Oh how I've missed you! I think my smile would get bigger and bigger the further south I drove.

I had to take yet another picture driving because these tree's in Toquerville were so pretty! Everything was blooming; and I love this little highway. It's been way too long!

I wasn't sure if I was going to stay the night or not, so I of course only packed Sofi's bag. Good thing I did, because we stayed the night :). 

After much coaxing, Sofi ended up taking a 2+ hour nap at Jess's. We then packed the car to go hiking. How pretty are these pictures? This was yet another moment when I kept asking myself, "Why did I ever leave?!?"

Look how vibrant those trees are!

Hahaha! You're welcome Jess :)

Cute Thor babe is no longer a babe. He literally explored everything on this hike.

The water was FREEZING!!!

Jess is a free spirit. Nothing gets her down and she is such a fun person to be around. I aspire to be more like her, but maybe with more of a schedule? Love ya Jess :). She always tells me "Hakuna Matata" whenever I complain. No expectations = no disappointments. I like her style.

Bath time with cousins. 

Sofi slept like a champ in the pack n'play. Future camping trips are looking more promising.

Stealing toys from cousin Ridge. It's a good thing he's a good sport.

Once we got back to Cedar, Sofi fell asleep and almost took a 3 hr nap. Holy cow! She's never done that before and it was pretty awesome. She woke up at 6:00 pm, so we decided to go watch Shelby dance. It was pretty entertaining.

Sofi loved clapping and cheering the dancers on with the rest of the crowd.

Going strong at 8:45 pm. Her schedule was so off schedule and it was so awesome!

Hang tight, more updates to come.

The Zoo at the Zoo

(Thanks Alicia for the title of this post :) ).

Just like any young mom trying to survive the winter, I thought it would be a great idea to take advantage of Hogle Zoo's free day. It was their last free day so what better time to go right? Wrong. Big wrong. I parked more than a 1/2 mile away in the residential area, and was still walking past the long line of cars making their way up Sunnyside Ave to the zoo's parking lots. And yes, I was walking faster than that line of cars.

Luckily, my sister-in-law Alicia was willing to take advantage of the free day with me. What a lesson we learned. We definitely saw more people than animals and the drive to the zoo took longer than the time we took just walking around. We did one lap and decided to call it quits. Sensory overload for the wee ones! Or so I thought ... Sofi only slept 1 hour after getting home. Oh well, life goes on ...

The survivors.

I'm wishing now I would've taken a picture of that line of cars while singing in my head the annoying childhood song, "There is the [road] that never ends, it goes on and on my friends ..."

Provo City Center Temple

My family made a mad dash up to stay with us February 14-15. It was fun to have them here with us. They are such good sports to drive all the way up just to sleep on air mattresses. I keep telling myself one day we will have a room with a real mattress in it just for guests. One day ...

Anyway, the family came in the night after the Sofi Loaf had gone to sleep so it was a surprise to her to see Grandpa sleeping in the middle of the living room floor. How she didn't hear him during the night, I don't know. Greg and I didn't sleep much that night because we could both hear him through the floor. It was soooo bad! I'll have to get the recording from my sister who was sleeping right next to him on the couch. I laugh to myself thinking, "It could've been worst." Now she can say she survived a war. It literally sounded like my dad sounded like he was dropping bombs and leveling buildings all night.

I digress. Sofi went right to my mom. She loves that lady! I still think she might remember her helping taking care of her our first week home. Who knows? After a few minutes, she went to Grandpa Todd too, and he gave her someone to stare at during breakfast. Man can that girl stare.

We all got ready, Sofi napped, and we headed down to Lehi to meet up with my older sister's for lunch. It was fun to almost all be together, minus Greg and my brother-in-law.

I knew the temple would be busy, with it being a holiday and a day off giving people a good excuse to see the temple, but I had no idea it would be as busy as it was. Once we parked, we found ourselves at the back of the line outside the underground parking. Once we got into the covered parking, the lines snaked back and forth, and we found out it was a 2.5 hour wait before even getting into the video. No way! My family still had to drive back home and I had a tired babe, so we hopped out of line and walked around the temple grounds. One day I'll go inside.

Grandpa kissing Sofi on the cheek. :) 

What a beautiful day.

10 Months Old on Valentines

For anyone who knows me, it comes as no surprise to them that Valentine's is my least favorite holiday. I don't know why? Maybe because of the stalkers in my past life? Greg is glad I don't like it because there are no expectations for him to meet. Isn't he lucky?

This year though, I was looking forward to Valentine's because ... wait for it ... SOFI TURNED 10 MONTHS OLD! Seriously people, she has been out for longer than she was in. This was something to document.

She is a princess, and she knows she's a princess. She rules the roost and knows there is nothing she can't get away with. The stubborn little piece inherited her father's trait and sometimes it's just not worth the battle. Oh well, hopefully I can deal with it when she gets older.

She has discovered the art of waving and is by far the most social one in this family. She waves to strangers in the store, dogs on the street and groups of kids out playing on the playground. I've had more conversations with strangers about my adorable baby than anything else in my life.

She also loves pointing, and is actually pretty good at telling me what she wants just by pointing at it. In fact, she points so often that she has started doing the pincher grasp with her middle finger and thumb so her index finger can still be out showing me whatever it is she wants. It's hilarious!

Pointing on our walk

She is getting brave and has fallen off the couch and chair. Luckily I've been there to catch her but I'm afraid her luck is running out ...

Other loves include:

• Looking out the window for Daddy
• Playing the piano
• Getting ready with mom (she found my toothbrush the other day)
• Blueberries
• Sitting forward instead of relaxing in her stroller
• Standing instead of army crawling
• Napping (when she decides to)
• Mimicking any and all sounds
• Eating
• BATH TIME!

 

Chubby arms!

For your viewing pleasure ...

Greg turns 28!

I'm married to a 28 year old. He's so old.

Birthday's aren't a big deal to Greg, but they are to me, so I try to force my excitement on him whether he wants it or not. He's so lucky! 

Sofi and I shopped for very practical presents (of course procrastinating until the day of). He is always in need of clothes, so it is clothing he got. If we ever need a break from each other, and it's cold outside, Kohls' is the place we go. There are some carts with a baby spot in the from of the cart so we can both be together without being together. It is the greatest thing ever.

Anyway, back to Greg. We went and rescued him from his cubicle for lunch and crossed the tracks to the west side where we found a ghetto but surprisingly good mexican joint. Greg's pick. It's his birthday.

While most normal individuals prefer to go out to dinner for their birthday meal, Greg being the ever optimist (funny) requested yet another homemade meal, so a homemade meal he got. His choice? Tater tot casserole complete with baked potatoes. I know, your mouths just watered. Sofi is just like her daddy and is a meat and potato kind of gal. We even make her her own little potato when we bake them. She's the cutest.

Greg went all out, and instead of requesting oatmeal raisin cookies like last year, wanted me to make him a full-blown cheesecake. Like, an official one; none of this non-baked crap. So I went and bought a pan at Target and found a recipe to try. The end result? Perfection! The best part was running to the grocery store 1 mile down the road while Sofi napped. Parent of the year award! She tends herself more than she thinks.

Yes, I forgot to get a picture of my perfect cheesecake. Don't remind me.

We are so grateful for Greggy and the person he is in our lives. We wouldn't be near as entertained without him. Happy birthday Greg! We sure do love ya :).

Quick Trip to Cedar

We didn't get to visit my family over the Christmas holiday, so we took a quick trip down this weekend to see them. Greg was able to get Friday off, and we frantically packed Thursday when he went home, threw the Sofi Loaf in the "chokie" (that's what we call her carseat) and away we went. We thought we were being smart to beat the storm that was supposed to come in on Friday; we were sorely mistaken. We survived the traffic of Salt Lake County we thought we were home free until we hit Utah County where the snowflakes were some of the biggest I've ever seen. The lines in the road were completely gone, and the only way we knew we were still on the road was because of the noise strips. It was crazy! We also had random fog patches clear until Nephi, where it seemed to disappear. Long story made short, it took us a lot longer to get to Cedar than we though.

Playing with grandpa on his lunch break.

Sofi still read the books while Grandma took a phone call.

She wasn't too sure about having a bath in the sink ... 

Greg helped take down the Christmas lights. It was a beautiful day!

Sofi wasn't too sure about the snow... or cold cement ... or not being held. It's a toss up.

This is right before Greg almost dropped her in the snow bank.

Sofi love, Love, LOVED Grandma's kitty

She was quite the little traveler on the wood floor. I wish we had some where we lived.

She loved being the center of attention all weekend.

We escaped to the local Pizza Cart restaurant. 

It's a fun little place. They make you your own pizza right there in their pizza oven.

My cousin Alex reported his mission from Korea on Sunday, so it was fun to see him after 2 years. A lot has changed and he got to meet Sofi. He goes to the U so I've already told him we will take him to lunch one day. 

Poor Lacy was trapped in the bathroom while we packed to leave.

On our way home

It's always hard for me to leave; especially after having so much fun. Greg has some long hours ahead of him the next few months, so I'm already planning our next trip down. It's always fun to have a place to call home.