Last Week Of January

Where does the time go? Already at the end of the first month of the year. Almost 6 months since I last posted. A lot going on I guess.

Sophia started 1st grade in August. She's loving it. She has a great teacher. Sophia loves her. She gets upset if she has to miss school. She is reading and writing better and better. Makes things a little bit harder for Bernie and I if we are trying to hide something. The days of spelling things out to each other are about over. But it is so much fun to hear her read. She loves to write too. She loves notebooks. She has a couple of composition books that she used to color and pretend to write in. Now she writes stories. Some of them are a hoot. Maybe I should start posting some of her stories. Probably be more interesting than what I post. Sophia also lost her two front teeth right before Christmas. I finally had a kid that could sing "All I want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth." It was cute. She is still doing gymnastics and is loving it. But we decided not to do cheer leading. One thing at a time right now. She is growing and learning and is a great kid. Cute as can be a getting funnier and funnier and goofier and goofier.

Tyler has spent the last 6 months getting all his paperwork and interviews done to go on a mission. It seemed like a never ending process. I also think that he drug his feet for a little bit because of the enormity of the prospect. But he got everything done. He got his mission call 14 January. He is going to Edmonton Canada and leaves 17 March. We are very excited. He will be the first one in our family to go on a mission. Surprisingly, I'm not really nervous. Of course as a mom I will worry about if he's warm enough, getting enough to eat, and stuff like that. But overall I'm really not worried. I know that he will be taken care of.

Tyler also went on Trek this summer. For my friends who are not LDS, Trek is like a camping trip with the addition of reenacting the crossing of the plains by the handcart pioneers. They live and even dress as they did in the 1800's. It was a great experience for him. He had a great time. He was tired and hungry but had a great time. The area that they were at was gorgeous. He said that as they hiked along, he loved to look around at the scenery. They had great couple as their Ma & Pa. Cathy & Josh Skousen. Tyler was already good friends with them and made it nice for the Trek. At the end of the Trek Cathy pulled me aside to tell me how amazing Tyler was. She told me about how one night they were sitting around the fire talking about if they could have anything from home right then what would it be. She told me that everyone was saying things like their bed or pillow, stuff like that. When they got to Tyler, he said he would want his little sister. They missed each other so much when he was gone that week. We got to greet them as they came into "Salt Lake City". It was great. When they first came down the hill I tried to pick his group out. I was looking for our bishop. He is very tall and often towers over others in a group. So I thought that I could spot him easy. It was at this point that I realized how tall Tyler really is. He is not that much shorter than our bishop. They were almost right in front of us before I spotted them. He looked so grown up all of sudden. He had a week's worth of beard growth on him and looked so tall and tan (when we got home and he took a shower we realized that the tan was dirt LOL). Sophia ran to him and he scooped her up and just held her for the longest time. It was so sweet. Bernie and I did not get to really hug him or talk to him right away. He just wanted to hug Sophia. I can't be 100% sure but I do think that a couple of tears fell from his eyes as he just held his little sister. Sophia cried when he left for Trek and bugged me every day about when we were going to go pick him up. She did the same thing when he went to EFY two years ago and was gone for a week. I have no idea how Bernie and I are going to remain sane for the two years that Tyler will be gone on his mission. Sophia is going to drive us nuts. But it will be hard to see how much she's going to miss him. She has only been away for him for a week twice. And those were hard weeks for her. Will have to make her some sort of countdown calendar that will be fun but at the same time not overwhelm her about how long two years are. LOL. Wish me luck. LOL.

One of our dogs, Schatzi, had puppies at the end of September. She had 7! That is a big number for a mini schnauzer. She did great. It was an experience. I never helped a dog deliver puppies before. Neat but gross all the same time. Schatzi did great though. I am so grateful that I had my friend Jess here to help me. They are all very cute. She had 3 girls and 4 boys. All of them black with various white spots except for one. He is salt and pepper like his mama. With everything that has been going on here we have not advertised them yet. Getting that taken care of now. Hopefully will have them sold soon. One of the girls has already gone to Texas. So we have 6 left. They are cute and all but I am sooooo ready for them to find new homes. 8 dogs in one house is a bit too much. We considered keeping one but now we think 2 is enough.

Well, that's about it for general updates. Will try to post more often. Have some finished knitting projects that I need to take pictures of and post. Will be doing a lot of knitting for Tyler the next 2 years. Have to make sure that he stays warm.

Until next time...

Last Week of July!!

Can't believe that it is the last week of July already. The summer is almost over and I have no idea where it has gone. I have not completed half the projects that I wanted to get done. Still have some outfits to make for Sophia. Luckily it stays hot here until the end of September so she should be able to wear them for 2 more months.

Tyler is progressing with his mission paperwork. He has his dental clearance done and has an appointment in August for the medical clearance. He will be ordained an elder at the end of August and he and I started Temple Prep class yesterday. Can't believe that it's actually going to happen. I am excited for him. I will miss him but it will be an amazing experience for him.

In a few short weeks Sophia will start 1st grade. She is growing so fast. She loves school and can't wait for it to start. I can wait. The house is so quiet during the school year. I know that I should enjoy it and I'm sure I will one day. LOL. The big thing with her right now is going to be trying to get her back on a school like schedule. She has been staying up late and getting up late. Need to use the next couple of weeks to get back into the early to bed early rise mode. Don't want that struggle when school starts.

Going to try to take some pictures of the kids this week and post them. I still need to scan their school pictures from last year. Sophia got the cutest outfit from my mom. Need to take some pictures of her in it. It's really cute.

Until next time...

Summer

I can't believe that summer is almost over. Seems like I have been busy but I also feel like I have done nothing. I have been doing some sewing. Found a website with a tutorial on making a little girls dress out of an adult's button down shirt. http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=170402.0

I bought a couple of large men's button down shirts at the thrift store and have made Sophia a some cute little summer dresses. Did not follow the directions exactly because she wanted to keep the front pockets. So they turned out wider than needed. I made a little pleat and now as she grows I can let it out. And when it's too small for a dress, it can be a cute shirt. I need to take some pictures. They turned out really cute.

Also made us matching dresses. Turned out cute. I think that mine makes me look a little frumpy but it is comfortable and it is really cool for the summer. We wore our dresses to a picnic and I stayed nice a cool the whole time. I was even running around with Sophia flying a kite. So the dress is great for summer.

I have a lot more sewing to do. Trying to use all the material that I have bought over the last couple of years. My goal for the summer was to not buy any clothes for Sophia. She had a lot of pants that fit her fine except in the length so I just cut them off and put a hem in them. Other ones that are too short in the middle I am trying figure out how to make them into skirts and dresses. Her short/pants drawer has no more room. LOL.

Tyler has started to get everything together for his mission. He has his dental clearance, an appointment for medical clearance next month, and then it's interviews. He wants to be able to leave mid October. He is getting really excited and a little nevervous. So am I. But I am very proud of him to be so determined to go. It will be great and scary and great for him.

So I guess I have not done a whole lot but just a bunch of little things. A lot of busy work. :0)

Cheerleading

In May Sophia had her first Cheerleading showcase. She did cheerleading just about the entire school year. She absolutely loved it. She will probably go back in the fall. The showcase was really cute. Her team came in third for their group. She got a medal and a trophy. It was really cute to see all the little girls cheering. Sophia loved that she got to wear make up and I did her hair with the curling iron and lots of hair spray. She felt all big and glamorous. Maybe it's just me but they don't make Aquanet the way they used to. Could be that it needs humidity to develop the shell. LOL. Just don't have the humidity here in New Mexico that Ohio did when I was teenager and would lacquer my hair with it. LOL. It was a lot of fun for all of us (not sure Tyler enjoyed it that much but he did take the pictures). Just wish that the showcases were not on Sundays.

Second Field Trip

Sophia had her second field trip in the spring. Took me too long to post the pictures here. We went to the Aquarium and Botanical Gardens. We had a great time. It was a little chilly but not too bad.

Here are some pictures from the Aquarium.

The gardens were amazing. The first place we went was the Children's Garden. Should have been the last place. It's not that easy to get Kindergarteners out of that place.

Here are pictures from the Children's Garden.

Here is the rest of the pictures I took in the various gardens. Spring is a great time to go.

First Field Trip

Sophia went on her first field trip last week. She was very excited. They went to the Zoo. I was able to go with her. We were lucky and I was not assigned any other child except her. Because of safety issues the school asks that parents who help out be fingerprinted at the main office. Bernie and and I have not gone down to do that yet. The parents who had not been fingerprinted yet were asked to stick with parents that had. We paired up with two parents that we knew from church. That's always nice. But we some how got separated. Really wasn't worried since it was just Sophia and me. We had a blast even though we were a little late for lunch. And all the kids were hungry within 30 minutes of getting there. LOL. It was a little cold with a slight breeze. But it was fun. Sophia's favorite were the seals. She kept running back and forth between the windows of the tank to watch one of them swim back and forth. The seals here are usually really playful and like to show off. We had to go back 3 times to watch them.


The prairie dogs are always cute. Growing up we loved to watch any nature show that had prairie dogs. After 7 going on 8 years living here, I still love to see them. Just about any open space around here has prairie dogs. Most people here though view them as pests. Right up there with mice and rats. LOL. Of course I have not had a yard torn up by these adorable creatures.

Sophia was also excited to see the giraffes, zebras, and elephants. She liked the monkeys and always enjoys the flamingos. Probably because they are pink.

She did not care for the python that looked like it was looking right at her. She was quite happy to get out of the reptile house. LOL.

She was also thrilled to see the cheetahs. She loves the Cheetah Girls on Disney. Anything with a cheetah like print is Cheetah Girls. So needless to say she was excited to see real cheetahs.

A good time was had by all. And Sophia was asleep by 5 PM and did not wake up until 7 AM. We walked her little behind off!! It was a great first field trip.

Pumpkin Patch

I just love going to the Pumpkin Patch! This has now become a family tradition for Sophia. We went last year and Sophia started asking about it 2 months before they opened this year. We were not going to get out of going. It's a lot of fun. Lots of things to do. There are two moonwalks. One is a traditional one for the little ones. It's shaped like a pumpkin. That is always the first thing that she has to do. Of course it's right there as you walk in. It's a little tricky trying to take a picture through the plastic windows. LOL.After a nice jump then it is off to the cow train. For some reason she wanted me to go with her this time. The cars are definitely made for kids and not moms. I know that my back end has expanded over the years but jeeze o' pete I did not think it had expanded that much. You need to a contortionist to get into one of those. And then to have a 5 year old sit on your lap. I think she will ride by herself next year. The animal cut outs are a big hit too. Sophia had to have her picture taken in each one.































Then we had to climb the hay bale mountain. Sophia calls it the straw mountain. Looks like great fun huh? But you get little bits of hay stuck in your jeans. In various places. Not too comfortable. But worth it when you see the smiles she gives ya.










The second moonwalk think is actually a called a pillow. Sophia loves this one. This is what she talks about the most. I can go on this one with her. It is lots of fun.











Sophia found a hay bale maze that she just could not get enough of. She almost worked up the courage to go down the big slides. They were big tubes that went through a big hill. We'd get to the top and in line and then she would chicken out. She has not been a real big fan of slides. Getting better but I don't think she's ready for the big ones. Then of course was the maze. We did pretty good. Last year we got lost. This year we did okay. Lost out place on the map but we found the clues and that got us out in about 30 minutes. Of course Sophia was thrilled with the design. Cinderella in her carriage.






After the maze we took the hayride out to the pumpkin patch. It was great fun. Sophia conked out in the truck on the way home. She's still talking about it 2 weeks later. Can't wait until next year.