Some Random Smatterings for Now..

We are finally moved into our house, and we are loving it!  Thank you to all those friends and family who helped.  I am almost done packing; I didn't want it to take longer than a week, but that's how things go sometimes. 

Sophie loves the new house, especially the stairway.  She actually still calls this Jack's house because Jack (our realtor) is always the one to show it to us.  On the plus side, she likes Jack's house more than she liked hers, so we're in good shape.

 Sophie went to play at her friend Kayla's house.  They are such cute little friends.

 Justin's birthday fell on the day we were coming back from Mexico, and then we immediately began moving madness, but I finally was able to take him to Famous Dave's in Las Vegas amidst attending a wedding.

 Sophie being Sophie...

 This is a nest in our ivy outside.  Sophie loves to look at it each day, and she is constantly asking when the birdie will come out.

 Katie came down with chicken pox of all things shortly after we moved.  She was a sad little girl for a little while.  I guess we don't need to finish that vaccination...

Sophie's Antics

Justin and I went to renew our temple recommends.  When I went into the bishop's office, the door closed, and Sophie yelled, "Mommy, don't go!"  She then plopped on the floor, put her head down and groaned, "It's all my fault!"

Sophie and I were having a tea party.  She took a giant swig of her lemonade and said, "So afreshing!"

I always tell Sophie if she eats too many marshmallows she'll get a tummy ache.  One day, I gave her her usual allotment of two, and she said, "But Mommy!  I want a tummy ache!"

My mom came over to our house.  When she left, Sophie sighed, "Poor, poor little Grandma.  She'll miss me so much."

Katie somehow managed to remove her diaper one night, and Justin woke up to find poop in her crib.  He promptly put her in the tub.  Then Justin jumped in the shower.  Sophie asked me what happened to Katie.  I told her she needed a bath because she pooped in her crib.  She then asked where her daddy was; I told her he was taking a shower.  She got a really worried look on her face and exclaimed, "Oh no!  Daddy pooped in his bed!"


I wasn't feeling well one day, so I laid down on the couch and let Sophie watch a movie.  She came over, began stroking my face and hair, and sang me "You Are My Sunshine."  She even put my name and her name into the song like I do for her every night.  It was so sweet that she knew all the words and wanted to make me feel loved by singing it that I actually started to tear up.  It was the sweetest little thing.

Sophie's Name Game

Sophie loves to change her name several times throughout a day.  In fact, very rarely does she want to actually be called by the name Sophie.  Sometimes this frustrates me to no end, but then I just hope it's a phase and will end very soon.  Well, we're going on 3 months, and she is still on it, but she now gives me helpful hints as to what her name is by changing my name as well.  So I have created a chart of her most common names to illustrate what I go through...

When Justin is home, she throws him into the mix by giving him another related name.  Katie's name, however, is never related to anybody.  Katie is usually Alvin and the Chipmunks, or if Sophie's name is Alvin and the Chipmunks, Katie's name will then change to Chicken Little. 

Here's to hoping she will soon just be Sophie...

Our New House

Eventually I will catch up on the last few months, but for now, I have decided to move forward, so I have some blogging motivation. 

Justin and I have been searching for a new home for months.  We nearly bought one in December in Ivins, but we had some problems with our lender.  And now in hindsight, I am glad that things didn't work out with that house, and we were able to find this new one.  The Lord was so instrumental in us getting this home.  We loved it the moment we saw it, but it was already under contract.  While we were waiting to see if the deal would go through, we switched lenders and got an offer ready. 

The offer fell through just days after we had all our ducks in a row, and everything is going smoothly this time.

This home is only a mile from Justin's work and a mile away from our home now, which will soon serve as a rental. 

We are set to close on or before the 14th of March, so anyone in the St George area who will be around on moving day is more than welcome to come help us move.  We are going to need tons of help, and there will be pizza and my indebted gratitude for all volunteers. 

Without further adieu, here she is!  When we finally get settled, I will add better and more photos.

 Living room.  It is actually bigger than it looks.  There's new paint and carpet throughout.

 Dining nook.  There is also a formal dining room.

 I love the stairway.

 Master bath with a huge tub, and an enormous walk-in closet.  The entire master bath has been redone.

 Spare room

 The girls' room with lots of fun hideaways.  The biggest one is on the other side of the room.  Sophie loves it!

My favorite feature is that it's on a 1/3 of an acre, so the backyard is nice and big.  There is also a fun reading nook in the room we are planning to use as an office/library. 

It totals 2175 sq ft, 4 bedrooms, and 3 full baths.  We honestly feel so blessed that people like us could have the opportunity to find a house like this for such a great deal.

Moab

This year we decided to take a little trip to Moab for some rest and family fun.  This is our first time taking a couple day trip with Just our kids and us.  We had a fantastic time!

Our first night we ate at the Moab Diner--I highly recommend it.  

 While there, a group of bikers came into the diner.  Sophie pointed and loudly shouted, "Look Mom, monsters!"  Justin and I sheepishly tried to get her to stop, but she just kept pointing and shouting.  Luckily, the bikers were good-natured about the whole thing.  I really was worried we'd end up in a biker brawl!

 Katie zonked!  Beds always look more comfortable when babies are sleeping in them.  This bed was really comfortable though...

 Justin hid my birthday cards in the glove box, so I could open them on my birthday.  Sophie's card was tucked in among mine, so she got to open hers too.  She loved this card from my Grandma Sullivan.  She carried it around all day.

 On our way out of town, Sophie shouted, "Mater!" over and over again.  We could not figure out what she was talking about until we saw this little beauty in a parking lot.  We had to visit him each time we passed from then on.

 We snagged a Chinese tourist to snap a family photo.

 We decided to hike to delicate arch, but the hike was harder now that we have kids.  We were still moving along pretty well until Sophie tripped and had blood pouring from her mouth and chin.  A little visit to the car for the first aid kit fixed her right up, and we drove a little ways and looked at delicate arch from a distance.

 Sophie was obsessed with picking up sticks.  We made her put them all back before we left though....

 Katie was totally chill with having this bed all to herself.

 Sophie showing off her battle wound.

This trip was definitely a fantastic one!  We also played at a really cool park with hundreds of xylophones, and we went bowling, but those photos are on my other camera which is currently MIA.  I'll have to add them when it surfaces.

Because My Kids Are Cute!

Sophie loves to brush Scammer.

 Sweet little Katie.

 Justin and I have been trying out new healthy food options.  One of our new favorites is black rice; Justin especially likes it with blackened shrimp.  I've been making it into a pilaf, but I am excited to try it in soup next.

 Here is Justin opening his Christmas present from Sophie.  She just couldn't wait until Christmas for him to enjoy his treats.

 I convinced Justin to cut down a Christmas tree this year.  Here we are decorating it.  It was a beauty!

Thanksgiving

This year we got to host Justin's family for Thanksgiving Dinner.  I wanted everything to be perfect, and it honestly went off without a hitch.  Our day was full of good food and wonderful conversation.

Here was my table setting.  I was able to do this all for free!  

 I had an old maroon sheet that I cut up and sewed to make these napkins.  I also cut apart a leaf vine I had and tied some twine around the plates.

  I also used some of the fabric and stapled it to some cardboard, added some candles and leaves I had, and voila!

 On Thanksgiving morning, Justin had to take a photo of a certain slant of light in our living room.  In honor, I had to read the Emily Dickinson poem.  It was a perfect way to start the day.

 Katie got to have some yummy sweet potatoes.

 Sophie loves her grandma.

 Michael scored the turkey leg.  It was awesome to have him home from England for the holiday.

  Don't you love candid shots?

 That black cat in the background is one Sophie made in school.  She would not let me take it down.  I tried to convince her that Halloween was over, but to no avail.

 After dinner, we all gathered in the living room for some fun games.

 This was how I felt after a busy day of cooking....