A rose is a rose

This picture does it no justice, but this rose is growing in my front yard and I've NEVER seen anything so vibrant. It looks totally fake! I love it.

4 Months Cute

Meili is officially 4 months old tomorrow! Still bald as a peach, but cute and sweet as a peach as well.

Her personality is beginning to shine through and I adore it (aside from the temper tantrums she's already having!)

Favorites:

to be talked at

making noise

chomping on hands as though she is STARVING

taking a bunch of tiny naps all day long (not mom's fav)

sleeping about 7 hours, then 4 or 5 more at night

smiling smiling smiling

trying to pull toys into her mouth

Sofie

Mom singing

Working on:

laughing (My dad got her to laugh for the first time yesterday! I have yet to be successful)

rolling over -she gets about half way

better hand eye coordination

growing hair -my cousin's 4 year old asked when she was going to turn into a girl!

She's a darling.

This is one of those pictures I just want to smooch.

NOW it's summer!

Kiddie Pools

Sun bathing

Otter Pops

Impromptu Playdates

Shady Trees

Thanks Jess for a fun summer day!!

Enjoying a Little Sunshine!

Isn't it great when your sister's in-laws have access to a condo-clubhouse-swimming pool?!

I sure enjoyed it! And so did "Salt and Pepper" here.

Sofie was so much braver than I expected her to be. She got to the point where she was leaping before I was ready...kind of scary for Mom, but Sofie sure had a great time! (oh, and me in a swimsuit, don't worry it's a work in progress. I'm slllloooowwwwlllyy working back to my pre-prego weight.)

Singin' Meimei

This is for the out-of-towners.

Choo Choo Choo On Our Way To The Zoo

Okay, so not really the zoo, but it's like a petting zoo, kind of. This weekend we were so lucky to have Derek's sister and her husband and darling 1 year old Tayah come visit us! On Saturday, during the few hours it wasn't freezing or raining, we went to the Thanksgiving Point farm with our three girls. It was so fun to have visitors and to get to see sweet baby Tayah again! Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving Point.

Kristy, Tayah, and Sofie.

Sofie hiding her snacks from the hungry horse.

Kristy looking too gorgeous to be walking in animal feces.

Mooooo!

Lots of interesting smells at this place...

I love Tayah's "totally unimpressed Dad" face.

I think Derek and Seth had more fun crawling through these ant tunnels than most children do!

The wagon ride. Doesn't Mei look so happy to be there in the cold wind?

Ready, Set, Grow!!

My angel of a sister came over today and spent the ENTIRE day helping me beautify my yard! I don't know what I would've done without her help! I was able to get our garden weeded, tons of plants purchased and planted. We have tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, strawberries, all sorts of peppers, spinach, lettuce, onion, zucchini, beets, peas, some raspberry bushes (not shown), and some herbs. I'm so excited! Nothing better than garden fresh salsa in the summer.

I'll have to post another picture later when you can actually see the plants better!

This is our darling little peach twig. I'm so thrilled that it's got leaves growing! I hope we're still around by the time it starts bearing fruit.

I'm sad it took so long, but so relieved to finally see little leaf buds growing on our trees in the front yard. It's almost June for crying out loud!

My lilac bush is also FINALLY blooming! And it made me jump for joy to see the ones I transplanted to the front yard actually blooming today as well! Yay, my hack job of a transplant might actually grow!

(My favorite time of night when the sun is setting and turns everything a deep gorgeous color)

Sofie's favorite addition to the yard. We love KSL.com!

Now if we could just get the weeds killed, the grass to grow, and the millions of sprinkler issues resolved!

Just Another Manic May

May, so far, has been busy with lots of parties and lots of cousins. First was Don's graduation and a trip to Logan to visit cousins, and Mother's Day. Next was my birthday (no pictures on my camera of this event, but it was a good one.) Then cousin Sienna had a birthday party at the Little Gym. This place is heaven on earth, especially when they do birthday parties. They did EVERYTHING! They even kept track of who gave what gifts. Very cool place. Sofie loved it but was intimidated by the bigger cousins.

Next was a visit from cousins who are moving back in town!! Hooray!! They've been in Logan for 5 LONG years!!

The ladies. Sofie will be in heaven when they move back.

(as will I, who will finally have my sister close by and lots of friends for Sofie to play with)

And I thought this miracle would never manifest itself...both of my girls sleeping!! It lasted 5 minutes.

Darling Sofie sang to me first thing in the morning (hence the sweet bedhair) on my birthday.

Meili turned 3 months yesterday and is working on all sorts of skills like batting at things and talking. She has changed so much just this week and is finally getting less ornery! Her naps are all over the place and completely inconsistent, but she's pretty consistent at night. Bedtime around 9 or 10pm, then a feeding around 4am, then back asleep until around 8am. Works for me...for now.

Pic of the Day

Not sure how she so sneakily fell asleep on the floor. And doubly not sure how she did it while her loud big sister played right next to her.

Easters

Learning about the Easter Bunny.

On Easter Eve Sofie got a little nervous and told me she didn't want him to come. But I think she was glad he did!

Sooooo thrilled to color eggs!

Mostly she just dipped the thing in the colors and mixed them all until we had an ugly brown.

(This is mom after a long day of weeding...)

We had two egg hunts, and PLENTY of candy!

Sofie and "her Sienna"

The ladies. Pretty sure Sofie's chomping on a treat.

Mom's Easter Treat