I finally did it!

I have been wanting to get my haircut for months now, and yesterday I finally got it done. It is a little shorter than I had planned, but I really like it. I think I cut off almost a foot and a half! My hair hasn't been this short since before I moved to D.C., in fact David has never even seen me with this short of hair! I'm glad for the change and the chance for a little excitement. I've included a little before and after picture for you all to enjoy!

Halloween Fun!

I love Halloween! I love the pumpkins, the leaves, the fun activities, dressing up, and don't forget the candy. This year Sophie and I went to Gardner's Village to look at all the witches. Even though it was super crowded we had a good time. This is us sitting outside the cute little shops for a photo.

Here are some pictures of just a few of the witches we saw.

This one would fit in nicely at the Bybee household with all that TNT!

This was one of my favorites flying through the air on her bike.

One of my favorite Halloween activities is to carve pumpkins and thanks to David's sister, Robyn, we didn't even have to buy any pumpkins this year. She grew these monsters in her garden and donated them to our festivities.

These are our pumpkins all aglow. I carved the spider and David the owl. David proclaimed himself the winner of best pumpkin award this year and I would have to agree. Way to go Honey!

What do I like even more than carving pumpkins? Throwing a Halloween party of course. I love dressing up, baking food, and throwing a good party. It is usually a lot of work but always worth it. We had some awesome guests at our party this year. We had Harry Potter, Ron, Hermione and her cat Crookshanks. We also had a bunch of pirates with a really cute parrot. We were most fortunate to be graced with the presence of an escaped mental patient (Sophie's favorite guest by far) and her doctor. We also had some fashionably late partygoers donning one anothers rival school appearal. And last but not least the cutest little witch in town with her semi-creepy parents.

This pirate mamma made the little parrot costume. So cute and so amazing!

The scariest I've ever seen Shey! Sophie seriously could not get enough of Aunt Shey!

The black widow and her web!! I think our costumes turned out pretty good for just putting them together a few hours before the party started.

The cutest little witch in town. Thanks to my mom for making Sophie's skirt and cape. They turned our awesome and she really enjoyed them.

Witchie Poo!

Unfortunately on Saturday it was raining a lot so we almost gave up hope on taking Sophie trick or treating. But luckily it stopped raining around seven so we took her for a quick trip around the block to collect some candy. Candy that of course would be eaten by mom and dad!

Sophie and Dad Trick or Treating

Sophie dipping into her spoils before we even made it back to the house!

Good thing we have a pet door and a set of really long arms because somehow we locked ourselves out of house! Don't worry Super David got us inside in a jiffy.

I hope everyone had a super Halloween and enjoys the upcoming holidays!

September Highlights

I can't believe that I haven't blogged since before we left London! I was doing such a good job, but I've kind of slacked off since we got home. So here are a few highlights from September.

Labor Day Weekend in Pocatello!

This was Sophie's first time swimming and she absolutely loved it! So sad that summer was over so quickly and we couldn't go swimming a few more times.

So excited!

Sophie and her cousin, Aspen.

Enjoying the sun, water, and barefeet!


Enjoying the homemade rootbeer fumes! Classic

I can't believe how nice the weather was in September. David, Sophie and I decided to take advantage of it and hike the Y. It was not a very long hike, but it was a steep hike. The view was beautiful from the top and we got there just in time to watch the sun set.

We are so blessed to live so close to the temple. It is one of mine and Sophie's favorite places to go for a walk. The flowers were so beautiful I couldn't resist snapping a few photos.

One of Sophie's new favorite things to do is dump her milk upside down while she is eating until she has a pile that she can spread around with her fingers. It is very messy and annoys me to no end, so I tried to find a better outlet for creative powers.

Sophie's First Fingerpainting

So, for those of you who don't know, I'm the Young Women's Secretary in our ward and this last month I had an awesome opportunity. The YW took a four week RAD (rape agression defense) course, and I had the opportunity to take it with them. It was an awesome experience and I learned a lot of things about how to protect myself and just be more aware of my surroundings. The class was very empowering and a really great experience for the girls and the leaders alike.

This is me all suited up for my simulation on the last week. I was really nervous before it started, but once we got going I was a fighting machine!


All the YW, leaders, and aggresors after our simulation.

A couple of weeks ago I was cleaning out Sophie's closet and looking for some fall clothes when she found this coat and hat that I bought her for the winter. She wanted to try them on and the refused to take them off. She had them on for about an hour before I made her take them off. I mean come on, it was like 85 degrees outside! Crazy kid, gotta love her!

Wimbledon and Portobello Market

I can't believe we only have two weeks left in London. Last weekend we had the chance to knock off a few more things from our list. We went to the famous Portobello Market and I knew it would be crowded but honestly I had no idea. The directions on the website literally said to get off the train and follow the crowd. And it was not lying! This was a day we should have put Sophie in the backpack because pushing a stroller through the crowds was near impossible. The market was incredible. Food, antiques, gifts, fresh produce, and just about anything else you can imagine. However, it was not as fun as one might imagine because of the aforementioned stroller which made it difficult to actually get in close to look at things. None the less we enjoyed ourselves and had some good treats as well.

Well we enjoyed ourselves most of the time. David's face says how he really feels about pushing a stroller through wall to wall people.

I tried to take a pictures of the crowds, but this is not a very good representation.

Our next stop was Wimbledon Lawn and Tennis Club. Now compare David's face at the market to his face in these next couple of pictures. He was like a kid in a candy store. We decided that we would pay a little extra money to take a tour of the grounds and it was definitely worth it. As we started the tour David looked at me and said, "I've never been so excited in my whole life!" Like I said, kid in a candy store. It was pretty impressive to see the courts and the whole club was beautifully decked out in white and purple flowers. Hopefully someday we can come back during The Championships and see some tennis being played at this amazing facility.

David touching Court 18 where the longest match of tennis was played just a month ago!

Maranda sitting in the chairs where the players sit after their matches to be interviewed, and by that smile I would say that she must have won her match.

David with his future tennis star!

Family photo at Centre Court

PICTURES OF LONDON

So David was looking at the blog the other day and was quite impressed that I had posted so many times, BUT he asked me where all the pictures of London were (which I'm sure some of you are wondering as well). Honestly, I have so many pictures I am a little overwhelmed and don't know where to start! But I decided I'll just start posting a few pictures a day so you can really see what we have been up to. There may not be much commentary on them but I know the pictures are what people really want, so that is what they'll get. Enjoy!

Our First Night Out in London

(Westminster and The London Eye)

View of Parliament from inside The London Eye

Sophie enjoying the ride!

Parliament and Big Ben

Sophie and I on Westminster Bridge in front of The London Eye

Sophie's first steps!!

I know, two posts in one day, it's a miracle. I promised some people a video of this awesome feat, so here it is. On Tuesday Sophie took her first steps and continues to practice each day. My favorite part is how proud of herself she is. After she takes a few steps she gets so excited she opens her mouth really wide and claps her hands. I can't believe how big my baby is getting!

Funny Stories

I have been meaning to post these for awhile now. After the initial shock (story 1) and embarrassment (story 2) wore off these are some pretty funny stories and pictures.

Story #1

(Sorry this is long but I took it right out of my journal because I was too lazy to write it again).

Sophie has moved on from making a mess with her food to making a mess with my food. She was fed, happy, and playing quite nicely with her toys, so I took the chance to get myself some breakfast. I swear that kid has a 6^th sense for food. She perked up as soon as she heard me open the cereal box and was at the table begging before I could even sit down. So unable to ignore her cute smile I gave her a few bites of my cereal while she was standing next to my chair. I looked away for one second and all the sudden crash! She had reached up onto the table and pulled my bowl of cereal over. The bowl remained on the table but because she was greedily standing right beneath it she was immediately covered in milk and granola. She was shocked and started making little whimpering sounds of unbelief, but soon enough she realized that my misfortune was her triumph. She promptly sat down on the floor and with milk rolling down her head and into her eyes and cereal in her ears she began eating the spoils of her success. I couldn’t help but laugh. Who is this daughter of mine, so in love with food! She ate as quickly as she could as I tried to clean up the mess around her. So much for the previous night’s bath and her freshly laundered pajamas.

If you look closely you can see the milk pooling up in her right eye! And what you can't see is the granola stuck in her ear.

Story #2

Before I start I must say thank you to David for allowing me to post this story now that he has had time to realize how funny it actually is!

A few weeks ago, I was trying to make some friends after church. While I was talking to a girl in the foyer David was close by tossing Sophie up in the air and catching her close to the ground. When I finished talking I went to the bathroom and then proceeded to go and change Sophie before we headed for home. As I went to change Sophie David followed me to the changing room and seemed in a bit of a hurry to get out of church. Once alone, he told me that when tossing Sophie in the air and bending down to catch her he had split his pants. Of course I started laughing (at this point this incident was too fresh to be funny to David) as he showed me this split which was much larger than I had expected. David untucked his shirt and with me walking closely behind him we immediately headed for home.

Some dude on the train with a splint in his pants! Oh yeah it's David!! Thanks for letting me share this honey.

This is the split in David's pants!!! Okay we tore it a little more once we got home, but only about two inches. It was a massive blow out!!! To his credit these pants were about 7 years old.