Christmas and More!

I'm back.....but I have to say keeping up with my blog is NOT my talent is this world. I barely check my e-mail everyday so even keeping up on facebook and updating my blog are nearly impossible for me. Saying that, I did want to share some pictures of Christmas and update people on the fact that Bryce and I haven't done or gone anywhere lately and we are just really BORING PEOPLE! We stayed at home through all the holiday season this year. I am one of those people who just enjoys being home....We not fans of travelling on holidays.

We did some fun things with Sophie...until she caught her cold right before Christmas. I can't take her anywhere with a yellow snotty nose...people look at you like "why did you bring your kid here?" Luckily she is still scared of Santa so we only got to see Santa from a distance (a couple of different places). But she sure liked telling everyone else what she wanted Santa to bring her for Christmas. She would blurt out "a new dolly, bath toys, and CANDY". (being the most important!) She got everything she wanted and a new play kitchen. She liked everything she got and I gave her an ELMO doll that DOES NOT MAKE ANY NOISE! (I thought I had died and gone to heaven to find a elmo doll that doesn't say anything...I'm SO HAPPY!) Bryce and I decided we needed clothes so we just took a shopping trip after Christmas. Like every Christmas I had to return almost everything I bought Bryce. Oh well, I try.

We really had a wonderful Christmas this year. It was just nice to be around our family and enjoy each other's company. It was fun to teach Sophie about the Christmas story...(I may have gone a little too far when I taught her that the donkey Mary rode was Nestor, the Long Eared Christmas Donkey though!)

I hope everyone also had a nice Christmas and enjoy the pictures.

Sophie on Christmas morning with all her toys!

She really enjoyed the cake we got for Jesus because it was his Birthday!

Mom, Dad and Sophie Christmas eve after opening our poppers!

Sophie on the Sunday before Christmas in her simple dress that I bought her.

One of Sophie's favorite things is to unwrap hershey kisses for me when I make peanut blossoms. Luckily she only tasted the first one, then she proceeded to unwrap about 40 or more. (way more then I needed, but she enjoyed herself)

New Landscape and Other Things

Here are some great pics of our new landscaped yard. We haven't been able to go on the sod yet....not for a few more days. We love it because at least it is not the eye sore it used to be. I know that it seems bare and without color, but the planting will be taking place slowly over the next couple of years.






Here is a quick pic of our new couches. Very long overdue. Just like the landscape, we need to add some color with pillows, rugs, and curtains. We haven't brought ourselves to take the tags off yet.


How could I not add a picture of Sophie. We went to the park this day. I can't keep her shoes on when we are outside. I've pretty much given up.


Lastly, one quick story about Sophie. One of her favorite things to do has always been to play the piano, and you can see that she is really trying to mimic me and play like I would. She doesn't just pound but tries to use separate fingers to play the notes. Her new favorite thing to do is sit on my lap, open the primary songbook and wherever we start she says "what's this one?" and I say "Heavenly Father loves me." (the title to the song) She then sets her self up, places her hands on the keys and plays and sings "havenly fadder loves me". And that's it! Then we move on to the next song title and sing that one. Bryce said the funniest one was the song "Home". That's all she sang, "home" as she played and they moved on to the next song. Trust me I am going to get this on video soon.

Yes....We are still here and doing well. I just haven't had a chance to sit down in long time to actually do a blog. Life gets so busy, especially when I'm chasing Sophie around all the time. We had her 2nd Birthday in May followed by a couple of visits from different family members. We then started a major landscaping project and at the same time I had nasal surgery. Like I said, life has been really busy but really good too. Here some pics to share with you.

.Here is the backyard before and when the finally got it to all dirt. I am going to share pictures soon of the completed backyard.


The above pics are from her 2nd birthday. Her favorite present was the used trike we got from our next door neighbors for 15 bucks. It's great. She also really loved her gymbo doll.

Sophie and I loved having our nieces and nephew here for a week to play with us before they move to Australia. Unfortunately Daisy isn't in the picture above because she was crying because she didn't want to leave.

It was a nice hug from Daisy when we went to the small water park in our area then........
Daisy got a bit too friendly with a entire chokehold. Sophie was just trying to eat her animal cracker.

Joshua helping Sophie with one of those bubble machines that surrounds you. We had a lot of fun at the children's museum.

Just a note to add about my nasal surgery. There aren't any "fun" pics of me because the MD said I would look totally normal and I did. But for the first time in years I can actually breathe through my nose. By the way the MD said my nose was "impressive" (before surgery).






































Yes....We are still here and doing well. I just haven't had a chance to sit down in long time to acutally do a blog. Life gets so busy, especially when I'm chasing Sophie around all the time. We had her 2nd Birthday in May followed by a couple of visits from different family members. We then started a major landscaping project and at the same time I had nasal surgury. Like I said, life has been really busy but really good too.