Swimming!

We went swimming!!  Sophia was so excited!

All ready to go!

And despite her long face, she really did have a great time!

All cuddled up!

I'd Like a Whole Pond of You!

"Rubber Ducky, you're the one!

You make *playtime* so much fun!"

I brought out my shoebox of rubber duckies for Sophia.  She had so much fun scattering them all over the room.

The next thing I knew she was putting them all in her crib.

Then I looked over to see she had piled them on top of the bucket of wipes.  I'm actually impressed she got so many on there without them toppling.

Sure enough, I found them hiding under the bed.

"Rubber Ducky, joy of joys!  When I *eat* you, you make noise!"

 Then she helped me clean them all up again.  Such a good little helper!  :)

"Rubber Ducky, I'm awfully fond of you!"

Our New Car! (and other adventures)

Life is good!  The insurance totaled Tim's truck from the accident, as well as buying us a new car seat (the base was in his truck at the time of the accident), and giving us accident forgiveness so our rates won't go up.  So, we used the money from the truck to buy ourselves a Prius!  It's a wonderful little car (Hybrid) that gets *amazing* gas mileage!  We've decided that we enjoy not having a car payment, so we're going to be a one-car-family for a little while and save some money for projects around the house.  Eventually we will be getting another truck for Tim, but for now it's nice to be able to save money!  Here she is:

Not quite gray, and not quite green.  Pretty little car!

We've had some fun adventures the past month! We hosted the Brandt family dinner in July, which was a lot of fun! We got to celebrate Tim's parents' 50th anniversary, and have fun with the family.

Then the first part of August, we had the Brandt family reunion! It was a blast! Sophia had so much fun with everyone.  There was a swing there that we got to play on, and she would giggle SO HARD when I took her on it. 

Other than that, things have just been going forward. Tim's doing an awesome job as Elder's Quorum President.  My eyes have adjusted from the LASIK.  They told me at my appointment the beginning of August that I'm seeing 20/20 and my eyes look good!  Such a HUGE blessing in my life! Sophia continues to grow.  I swear she gets cuter every day!  :)  And she is super smart!  She loves to go outside and will ask me to put on her shoes ("goosh") and her hair bow ("broah").  Then she'll find my shoes and wave "bye-bye" until I take her outside.  She babbles constantly, though we don't understand much of it.  She can say plenty of things that we do understand, and she still signs a few things like "please" and "hungry." 

 She LOVES to sing!  She does the actions to songs like "Popcorn Popping" and "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed," but she also just sings along with me when I sing, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "I Am a Child of God."  She recently went into Nursery and does super!  I stayed with her the first couple of times, even though she mostly ignored me.  Now I just drop her off, and she has no issues.  Again - I am SUPER blessed!

Our furniture consists mainly of "sphere chairs" (dorm room type furniture), and a few days ago, Sophia learned to climb into them.  And now she's climbing into everything she can reach.  What a crazy new development!  She's just a great part of our lives, and we feel blessed every day to be her parents!

She found a pair of pants and put them on her head.

She backs up one centimeter at a time to sit down on things, like laps.

Singing ...

This is what the lizard "says."

Putting her stuffed kitty to bed.

She has enough hair to make pigtails, if only she would leave the clips in place! 

Tall enough to reach the table.

She's been teething for awhile.  Hopefully those pearly whites will stop interfering with nap time soon!

Little toes!

Our Independence Day

We had a great fourth of July!  Sophia and I really got into the red, white, and blue of things.

We went to the parade in Kaysville.  It was hot, but we had a lot of fun!  Sophia did really well, and we kept her cool with a squirt bottle and lots of water to drink.

We hung out with family at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Later on we went to the Kaysville fireworks, which are always awesome!  Sophia didn't get much of a nap during the day, so it was super that she was so calm and happy all night.  I didn't get any pictures at the fireworks, but Sophia was more interested in the glow bracelets I brought than the noise and light in the sky.

It was a GREAT day, and by the end, we were all pooped.

Tim's Accident

So, for those of you who didn't see on Facebook, Tim was in a car accident last Friday.  He's doing really well; he just has a sprained ankle.  We're still waiting for the insurance to decide if they are going to total the truck or repair it.  We are so grateful that Tim is okay and that the Lord looks out for us always.  Pictures of the truck and Tim's pretty bruises are below, if you're interested.  Have a great day!

Childproofing

We finally finished childproofing the main floor a few weeks ago.  Sophia has had such a blast running around her new domain.  And she has found a few new toys!  :)

Such a happy girl!

Columbus, Ohio!

The end of May, we were privileged to to back to Columbus, Ohio to visit Tim's parents.  They are Temple President/Matron there until the end of next year.  Sophia did really well on all the plane rides, and we even got comments after the first flight that people didn't know there was a baby on board.  It was so awesome to spend time with Tim's parents, and Sophia got really good at saying, "Papa."  She will even say it now when she sees a picture of him.  Tim was nauseous most of the time from the humidity, a sinus infection, and just the travel.  He was a good sport, though, and came along to everything.

We went to some of the historic sites in Kirtland, which was really fun.

We also stopped by Lake Erie and let Sophia put her feet in the sand and water.  She wasn't entirely sure what to think of it.

And we got to see the Kirtland Temple.  (we weren't allowed to take pictures inside)

We drove to Indiana to visit with some more of Tim's family, which was a blast!

And we went to the conservatory to see the butterfly exhibit.  Sophia really liked trying to grab them.  ;)

One landed on TIm's leg.

We got to visit the temple where Tim's parents work.  It's a beautiful little temple.

We had a lot of fun and can't wait to see them again soon!  :)