Seeing Mom, and Heidi's Wedding

My best friend, Heidi, got married this summer so I flew up to Utah to stay with my mom for a bit and bring her to the wedding with me. 

Here's my mom's place, such a cute apartment. 

At the time she was still a missionary in SLC but has since been released and is now serving a Service Mission in the same area.

I went to lunch with my mom and some of her friends from her mission.

They were hilarious ladies. :)

My mom is so cute! 

Everything about her is so wonderful to me. 

She's so genuine and wholesome.

We had a lot of fun together, I miss her a lot. 

Waiting for "the tracks"

She lives a block away from this

We went walking at sunset, it was beautiful

We had a lot to get ready for Heidi's bridal shower

The gorgeous bride

The Shower was at Heidi's grandma's house, in the back yard.

Getting some "fun" gifts :)

The next morning we did hair and nails

At the wedding we saw old friends. 

This is Casey, an old roommate, and her husband Peter.

Waiting for Heidi to come out of the temple after the sealing

Casey, Tiffany (and baby), and me. Apt 206!

Heidi and Ian arriving at the Luncheon

The first to eat, they were so hungry. 

My mom and I had lots of long talks, 

between running around getting things ready for the shower and wedding. 

In high school I wasn't the most understanding daughter. 

I'm happy to say I was never one of those girls that talked bad about their mother. I never screamed at her, called her names, or was disrespectful to her.

I was the debator. I challenged her alot and was relentless in testing her boundaries. She stuck to her guns and when I left home I started to understand how amazing and great she was. 

She's such a strong lady. 

Twenty years living in the Alaskan wilderness, the only white lady for hundreds of miles and a virtual single parent taking care of 4 kids. 

I'm proud to say the my daughter is her namesake, Sophia Joyce

Mom took me to the spoken word before going to church, where Elder Oaks happened to be presiding. He shook my hand after sacrament meeting, it was awesome. 

Samuel's Summer

 Samuel, our 15 year old nephew, had an awesome summer. 

He did Youth Conference, EFY, and a High Adventure hike. All in two months.  

Getting his pack ready for high adventure 

The young men's group went up to Nevada I think for a 50 mile hike. 

He grew up a lot this summer, he had fun with his friends and had some great experiences. 

Band camp started the end of July and rolled right into the school year in late August. 

He's looking forward to driving and dating next year. :)

"I Loved Her First"

Squishy Face!

Love those cheeks!

  

Cutie

When she wants something she goes for it!

Someone gave her a sucker

Beginning to walk at 10 months

Daniel's Transformation

At the end of June, Daniel heard about a "biggest loser" competition at work. He decided it was time to start trimming down so he signed up. He ended up being the only contestant from the San Antonio office, with other contestants spread out through the country. 

  

Over 3 months he lost 50 lbs!

He did the usual stuff: biking to and from work, and basketball with the guys at lunch, but the biggest difference was in the way he ate. He limited himself to one portion of whatever we were eating for dinner and something simple for breakfast and lunch.

He won the contest and we are so proud of him!

 He's so great at teaching and leading by example. Lots of people at his office were inspired and I was inspired too. I started my weight loss journey September 1st and have lost 15 lbs. so far. I weigh in on Thursdays. I plan to reach my goal weight by next summer. 

Snuggling

I love having a little girl!

Father's Day 2011

This post is a bit late, but there's a funny story behind it. I got up that morning thinking of all the things I wanted to do for Daniel. He's such a wonderful dad! Ethan was sick so we stayed home from church and I used the time to make Daniel's favorite dinner and a very special dessert. 

There were decorations, the table was set and my desert was cooling. They got home, we gave gifts and started eating. Out of curiosity I asked who spoke at church. They said one of the youth spoke on gratitude. "Gratitude for fathers?" I asked.

 "No, just gratitude," they said.

"They didn't talk about fathers on Father's Day?"

"Guess not," they said smiling. 

Apparently I was a WEEK EARLY for Father's Day. And the stinkers didn't call or tell me till after they had gotten the yummy dinner. Ah well. :)

We got Daniel a new watch for Father's Day

Ethan colored him a picture

I made him special chocolate lava cakes.

We Love Buzz

Ethan and his best friend M like to exchange toys sometimes,

one day M let Ethan borrow BUZZ LIGHTYEAR!

This was a huge deal for Ethan so we took pictures to commemerate

So excited about it!

Such tenderness for a plastic toy. :)

"Take a picture of his face Momma!"

I was in my room and the house was quiet.

I went to the living room to see what was going on.

Imaginative play, I love it

Flying with Buzz

We call these "piggies" and love to tickle them

Needless to say it was a bit dramatic when Buzz had to go back home to M's house.

But we were happy to have him and might be getting one for Christmas!

Sophie's Funny Faces

Sophie started crawling at 8 months old and is on the move most of the time.

One place she can't move away from the camera is in her high chair!

These are just some pictures to help us remember her expressions at this age.

Happy face: open mouth, kicking legs, flapping arms

She wants to get picked up

Mischevious face, she has something she doesn't usually get to have

 

Her legs are so chunky! :) They are so squishy!

And I want to remember how small she is in her high chair

She uses the back of her hand to push food into her mouth

Now she's just showing off her teeth, four with two more breaking through

Getting annoyed with the camera.