A New Friend

Well, she is here...

... and oh so cute!

Her name is Flaming Spirit - but Sophie calls her "Ria!"  Ria Jenna Phipps to be exact.

The kids love her.  They both enjoyed brushing her, giving her "walking lessons," and riding her around the yard.  

Even Collin, my little guy that is afraid of every animal, enjoyed having "Ria" at Grandpa's house.  He kept saying "I am so brave!"  Way to be brave bud.

Thanks Grandpa for the pony.  We love her!

The Winner Is ...

... Jolene!

Good work on recognizing my shoot location.

Call me and we will talk pictures.

Family?  Just kids?  Whatever you want ... if you want!

I promise I am not an expert or all that good.  I just have a love/dream and would really like some more practice!

mini GOLF

We took the kids mini golfing for the first time the other day and it was SO MUCH FUN!  We all had such a great time.  The kids LOVED it, and we LOVED watching them.  They were hilarious.  All the rules were tossed aside.  They both decided that it was much easier to hit their ball, then pick it up and take it right to the hole and hit it in.  No matter how much we stressed NOT to pick up the ball they just couldn't resist.  They would even help us out by picking up our ball and taking it to the hole for us too.  

Sophie was moving a mile a minute and refused to let us help her hold the golf club the right way.  She kept saying "I a good golfer.  I so strong to be a good golfer!"  She would then show us her golfing muscles and say "I so good!"  She is so funny!  I love to see her have fun trying new things.

 

Collin was more into having his Daddy help him with his hits.  He would then quickly grab his ball with his hands.  It was the funniest watching him move his ball through the loop de loop with his hands.  Logan and I were dying with laughter.  He loved putting his ball in the holes and would do each hole over and over.  He kept saying "Where's my foot?" (meaning his golf club).

What a blast!  We can't wait to go again . . . and again!  A new summer favorite for sure!

Vacation

We just returned home from a wonderful vacation.  We spent the long weekend with family, enjoying beautiful Victoria, Canada.  It couldn't have been a better trip.  Everything went so smoothly. . . we caught all of our flights, the kids were amazing (with minimal tantrums), we didn't forget anything essential.  We were surrounded by great people having a great time.  It was so fun to get away from home and grow closer to one another.

Highlights:

• The Seattle aquarium.  Seeing the octopus being fed was amazing.  I was totally captivated.  The sea otters are still one of my favorites.  They are so cute and so much like little people.  It brought back a lot of memories of visiting the aquarium with Logan when we were dating.  So fun.

• Pikes Market where I had the BEST and BIGGEST raspberries ever.  And where we met a balloon man and got some balloon animals.

• Feasting at the Crab Pot.  It was yummy and fun.  They dump your food in the middle of the table and you crack the crab open with mallets.  And bibs.  Its always more fun with bibs.  The kids thought it was funny that the adults were wearing bibs!  Silly mom and dad.

• Sighting a whale on the clipper ride to Victoria.  (otherwise this was a low light . . . I was so sick)
• Visiting the beautiful Butchart Gardens kid free.  Logan's mom spent the day with the kids doing things they would enjoy. . . the BUG ZOO.  They loved it!  Thanks Marie.

• Visiting a petting zoo where Sophie fell in love with a little black goat.  She wouldn't go near any other.

• Relaxing at a park while the kids played and played and played.
• Feeding the ducks some bread that Sophie convinced a nice lady to give us.  Okay, it didn't take much convincing.  Just a cute smile and a loud "I want to feed the ducks!"  And wala!  We have bread.

• A night out with NO kids with Logan's sister Andrea and her husband, Jake.  It was so wonderful to eat without fighting kids.  I only had to worry about shoving bites into my own mouth!  OOooOh . . . and creme brulee!  Yummy!
• A boat ride to Fisherman's Warf where the kids got to feed some seals.  So neat!  The seals practically ate out of your hand.  I am glad I got to experience it with them.  And I didn't even have to get my hands all slimy from the fish!

• Not taking the clipper back home.  Yay!  I didn't have to worry about getting sick!
• Getting home!  The vacation was awesome and so much fun, but it is always soOOoo nice to be home again and get back to my routine.    There really is no place like home.  I fear Ruby has been spoiled.  She was never put down for 5 days and now she constantly wants to be held. 

Thanks Marie for such a great time.  It was wonderful and we are glad we could all be together.

Whew!  That was a long one.

Contest!!!

The pictures on the last post were taken by Jenn and our friend Cindy.  Do you think you know the location of the shoot?  The first person to correctly identify the location on a comment wins the big prize.  A free family photo shoot with Jenn.  She'll photoshop the images and give you the disk.  Jenn's too modest to think anyone would want a photo shoot with her, but you and I know better.  So good luck and here's a hint: its local to Davis County.  I'm so proud of Jenn and her good work.  

Here's a couple I took that night.

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Finally . . .

. . . we have some family pictures!  The last time we had some taken Sophie was 6 months old.  I would say that it is about time!!

Which one do you like the best? I can't decide.

Isn't she so beautiful?

Dandelion Princess

Aunt Amy came to visit and made Sophie a dandelion crown.

A beautiful Princess!!