*SOPHIE TURNS 4*

I have been slacking a little bit here because I have been meaning to write this post for a about a week now, but things keep coming up (strep throat, food poisoning, among other things), So I have been a bit delayed, but this post, and my last post (about Cru) are my favorite posts of the year to write because I get to talk all about my favorite little people, and today is all about this girl!! 

She just happened to turn 4 years old on August 11, and what a great day it was! (minus the fact that Nick got Strep throat that day) She got to have a fun birthday water party in our backyard with lots of kids and she loved every minute of it!

Let me tell you a little bit about Sophie. And then I will let her tell you a little bit more about herself.

Sophie is at such a great age right now. I am loving 4 years old! She is getting big enough to do things on her own but still needs me, which I like! 

She is very sweet, a great helper, an awesome big sister, she is very funny with a great sense of humor, and is my little buddy. 

She, of course, still has her moments of drama, and is about as stubborn as they come. She is incredibly girly, and loves anything and everything that you can imagine a girly girl liking. Although, she still likes to play cars and basketball and things like that with Cru.

Throwing rocks in the pond right next to our house

She also LOVES animals!  Her and I are very unsuccessfully trying to talk Nick into letting us get a dog. I don't think its ever going to happen.

Sophie and Carly (my Grandma's dog)

Sophie is very smart, and still really loves to draw and paint, and dance! She has gotten really good at writing her name, and so now she signs everything she draws. She is starting Pre-school this coming Tuesday, and cannot wait to start. She is going to do great!

She really is a wonderful little girl who we love SO much! I feel like I could go on for a really long time about her, but I won't. Just know that we feel so lucky and blessed to have her as part of our family.

Now I will let her tell you about herself, here is how it works: I ask these 27 questions (I did these same questions last year) and she will answer them, and I will type her answer. I also have a couple videos of the actual interview after the questions if you would like to watch her answer them instead of just reading it. (its much better than just reading them if you ask me!)

Enjoy!

1. What is your favorite color? All the colors

2. What is your favorite toy? Snowflake (thats her stuffed Pony, and she is pretty much another member of our family, we go nowhere without Snowflake)

Meet Snowflake

3. What is your favorite show or movie? Doc Mcstuffins, Sheriff Callie, and Mulan, Frozen, and Lion King

4. What is your favorite food? The soup with the corn (also called Taco Soup)

5. What is your favorite outfit? My new outfits for Pre-school 

She is also obsessed with this nightgown

6. What is your favorite game? My mermaid game I got for my birthday

7. What is something you love to do? play with Snowflake, and draw, and go on the slide upstairs (made from a cardboard box and the couch, my best invention ever), oh and dress up.

8. What is your favorite animal? Horse

9. What is your favorite song? "the Lord commmanded Nephi to go and build a boat) She is singing it while she said this, of course

10. Who is your best friend? Kyler (her cousin)

Here are a couple others of her best friends 

Anna (another cousin)

Grant

Norah and Karleigh

11. What is your favorite thing to play outside? Ride bikes

12. What is your favorite drink? Lemonaid, I mean... Hot Chocolate

13. What is your favorite Holiday? Christmas

14. What do you take to bed with you? Snowflake and blankie

15. What do you want to be when you grow up? a Mom (YES!)

16. What is your favorite thing about your little brother? He plays with me

17. What is your favorite thing about yourself? when I sleep and its not dark outside (she happened to take a nap today which NEVER happens, apparently she likes it! haha)

18. What do you pray for? that I be reverent, and that I be kind

19. What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? Play tackle

20. What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy? play planes, when you hold me and and I fly

21. What is your favorite book? The potty book (seriously the weirdest book ever! but her and Cru LOVE it)

22. Where do you want to go on vacation? To the parade

At the Jerome parade

23. What makes you happy? when people share toys

24. What makes you sad? when someone hits me

25. What is something you are good at? Puzzles

26. If you could fly, where would you fly? California

27. If you had a million dollars to buy whatever you want what would you buy? A big bike with those brakes up here (handle bar brakes) and I could put my wheel up high (pop a wheelie) 

*CRU TURNS 2*

I honestly cannot believe that this little boy is now 2 years old! 

Seriously when did he get so big?! 

Cru's birthday was August 2nd. We had a fun day, and Nick was able to get it off of work. So we had fun going to Arctic Circle for lunch, and that night we had Nick's parents and his brother Jono, and his family over for Donuts (Cru isn't really a cake fan) and opened presents. 

It was a fun, pretty easy-going day!

 And now because it is his birthday and because I like to this, 

here are 20 fun facts about Cru:

1. He is such a fun boy, he loves to do silly things and LOVES to play play PLAY

2. He is SO laid back, he almost never gets upset unless he is mad because Sophie won't quit touching him (which happens ALOT)

3. He has SO much ENERGY!!! Seriously this boy is non-stop ALL of the time!

4. Cru LOVES trucks, cars, planes, motorcycles, tractors, and pretty much anything with a motor.

This was probably his favorite birthday gift, We got it from Nick's brother and fixed it so that it would run. He LOVES it!

5. He is also really good at playing by himself, just give him a car or ball and he will entertain himself for hours!

6. Cru really likes to play basketball (well, his version) which is basically him throwing the ball into the hoop as many times as possible, and me or Nick cheering him on. Here is a little video to show you:

7. He also really enjoys playing catch, and he is surprisingly good at it, although he is much better at the throwing, than catching.

8. Cru is a great eater! Seriously, he pretty much eats anything, and that includes dirt and sand.. YUM!

9.  He is getting much better at talking lately, and it's so cute to hear his little voice.

10. Cru really loves his blanket and is still pretty attached to the paci at bedtime, I need to kick that habit here pretty quick.

11. He LOVES LOVES LOVES his Daddy! He is a total "daddy's boy" and always wants to do what Nick is doing. He is always trying to be just like Nick. For example: Cru really likes to wear hats because Nick wears hats, and if they are together and Nick turns his hat backwards, you better believe Cru is going to flip his backwards too. SO CUTE!

12. Despite being a Daddy's boy, Cru also loves me too! :)

13. He is a pretty good counter, and can count to about 13, sometimes he needs a little help though.

14. He has lately really started liking to sing, he loves singing te ABC's, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes and a recent favorite, Happy Birthday. It could be the fact that most of our birthdays are in August so its been sung alot lately.

15. Cru really loves being around other kids, even if he doesn't play directly with them, he likes to just have kids around. He loves going to Nursery on Sunday.

16. He is very much more physically active then Sophie ever was, he loves to climb, run, jump and any other forms of movement. If there is any way to get on top of something, he will find it, and do it! I have found him in many places, that I have no idea how he got to. 

(Yes he got up there himself)

17. Some of Cru's favorite things to watch include: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, and the movies "Cars" and "Planes", and "Frozen" (he can thank Sophie for that)

18.He really loves Sophie, and they are pretty funny together. He loves to make her laugh.

19. Cru is a very sweet  little boy, and he is pretty sensitive also, and really hates when me or Nick get upset with him. Even if we just raise our voice at him, even if we aren't mad, he gets sad and will cry, so we really try not to do that.

20. Cru is ALL boy if you can't already tell from this list, and we love him sooooo much! I don't know what we would do without his sweet, fun little personality in our home. Happy Birthday little buddy!

Here are a couple more pictures and videos of Cru. 

This is one of my ALL TIME favorite videos! I laugh everytime!

4th July Weekend

This last weekend we went had the great opportunity to go with my cousin, Nicole, her family, my Grandma, and my brother Brandon and his wife Michelle, to Alpine, WY for the 4th of July. They rented a cabin for the weekend and were so nice to let us join them. 

My other cousin Tina, and her family live there, and I have been DYING to see them and their new house for awhile now, so I was super excited to go! They had her brother Benji, his wife Kayla, and their sweet little girl Alexis staying with them, and also my aunt Teresa and Uncle Doug (Tina's parents). 

So it was quite a party!

 We seriously had a great trip! I LOVE spending time with my extended family and this trip was great! 

We definitely need to make it a tradition or something! 

We had a Blast!

And instead of telling you all that we did, I will just overload you all with pictures! :)

Carnival in Star Valley. They each got a green ribbon for running in the race.

These two girls are bestest friends, and SO cute together! They were inseparable the entire time.

Palisades Reservoir

Yes we hauled our new paddle board with us... and it was worth it!

Jackson Hole

The Grand Tetons

Intermittent Springs near Afton, WY

Seriously, is this not one of the most BEAUTIFUL places ever! 

We Loved it!!

Anniversary Surprise Weekend

So like I mentioned in my last post, Sophie had her dance recital about On June 13.

 Well right after the dance recital, Nick surprised me with a little get-away trip to Boise for our anniversary (which is actually June 27) 

This was a TOTAL surprise! I had no idea until that day that anything was going on and it was SO fun. 

For those you you who don't know, I absolutely LOVE surprises and I LOVE spur of the moment things so this was great! He didn't tell me what we were doing in Boise he just said to pack my bags, and we were off!

 He even arranged for my mom and sister to watch the kids, without me knowing. That's pretty impressive.

So when we got to Boise he finally told me what the first surprise was....wait for it...

Nick had got tickets for him and me to go to the One Republic/The Script/American Authors concert! I was so excited! I really like One Republic and The Script so this was pretty awesome! 

Typical Nick picture here 

It was such a fun concert and One Republic was AMAZING! The other bands were good to but seriously, WOW, I was so impressed with what a good concert One Republic put on. They were great!

Nick then arranged for us to stay at a hotel that night.

I though that was it, and that was a great surprise and I loved it. Well apparently he wasn't finished. ;)

The next day we hung out and then went to lunch at Tucanos. It was delicious, as always. 

Then, during lunch he was acting a little odd, as in he would get these phone calls and walk off to talk to the person and when I would ask him about who it was he wouldn't say anything, odd. 

So by that point I knew something else had to be going on. Sure enough, as soon as we got out of the restaurant my sister pulled up in OUR van with the kids. 

Nick had arranged for her to bring them and we were off to Roaring Springs water park. It was great! Except, did I mention that the weather that day was only supposed to be only 70 degrees as the high? 

Any other day that weather would be just fine, but when you are going to a water park 70 is a bit chilly, especially when there is a breeze. Ha.

It was ok though, and worked out just fine, and although we all did freeze slightly, we had a blast!

 And because of the cooler weather we basically had the water park to ourselves. We literally could go on any ride with NO line. I think that made it worth it, especially with the kids. 

This is how we ate our lunch, mostly because we were freezing! 

Did I mention the kids were OBSESSED with the little kiddie slides! They probably went on them 500 times. Cru was especially happy about them, and it was adorable!

here are a couple videos of it.

The kids loved it, we loved it! It was a great surprise trip and pretty much I have the best husband ever! 

We had such a fun time! 

Happy 6 years to us!