Sophie Baby turns 1!!!

I know this is a month late, but Sophie's 1st birthday here in London was pretty anticlimactic. It's a good thing we threw her a big party before we left! I can't believe that my baby girl is already one, and growing up so fast. Since we have been in London she has started standing up all by herself, got two new teeth, learned some more signs, and even attempted to take her first step today. Sophie is a very sweet and loving little girl. She loves to give kisses and hugs when she wants but not on command. She has a great smile and beautiful eyes that light up any room train, or museum that we enter. She is a little social butterfly and loves it when people give her attention. She will make faces and smile at whomever is willing to glance her way. In fact, she is developing quite the sense of humor and loves to laugh She has even developed a few tricks to try and make mom and dad laugh. She is very smart and loves to read books and go to the library. She is also extremely curious and very independent. She likes to try new things and always wants to do whatever mom and dad are doing. She really enjoys being outside, whether it is taking walks, seeing sights, feeding the ducks, or just playing in the park. David and I are so happy to have her in our family and love watching her grow and learn new things. I have a lot of pictures I want to post but it is really late and our internet is slow. So here are some pictures of what we did on Sophie's birthday.

We had a tea party

Watched some tennis while we ate our snacks

Fed the swans

And this is not from her birthday, but it is her new favorite face to make!!

Go Bananas!!

Here are my 2 kilograms of bananas minus the one Sophie ate for lunch (that's a total of 14)!!!

Going to the grocery store here is quite a hassle. A 15 minute train ride (both ways), pushing a stroller with a cranky baby and carrying two large heavy bags of groceries is just not my idea of a good time. So I ordered my groceries on line and had them delivered to my flat. Overall I think it was worth the extra money I had to pay for delivery. However, when ordering bananas I had to put in the amount I wanted by weight. And if you have ever wondered how much 2kg of bananas is, lets just say our family will not be short on potassium any time soon. Now if I just had a pan or any of the proper ingredients we would have some killer banana bread!

Happy Independence Day!!

This is the second time in the short time I have been married that we have celebrated the 4th of July out of the country. No fireworks :( The first time was on our honeymoon in Jamaica and now I'm in the Mother country of all places!! So in celebration of my home country and our gracious host for the summer here is a list of things I like about both.

Today after church we celebrated a not so 4th of July at the Tower of London. Don't mind all the other people this is the only family photo we have at the Tower.

What I Miss about America

* The 4^th of July- Happy Independence Day!

* Ice cream

* A whole night of darkness (the sun doesn't go down until almost 10 and comes up at 4:30! Plus it doesn’t help that we live in a very well lit city.)

* My top sheet and my bed while we’re on the topic

* Sophie’s crib, poor girl has to sleep in a little pack and play!!

* My kitchen, my appliances, my spices, my cookbooks, my pans

* My car

* Using major appliances without having to read the instruction manual (i.e. dishwasher, oven, microwave, washer/dryer)

* A separate washer and dryer (All in one—not so cool!)

* Not having to worry about looking the right way when crossing the street

* The grocery store (I never thought I would miss that place!)

* Fahrenheit

* Family and Friends of course!!!

What I Like about London

* The accent

* The chocolate

* Watching Wimbledon live everyday (on the tele)

* The architecture

* The history

* So many great things to do

* Really cool license plates

* Believe it or not--- the weather! (Except for the first few days when it was so chilly I thought I would have to buy a whole new wardrobe. Since then, not a day of rain and every day it is between 70 and 80 degrees which is perfect weather for walking around the city.)

* BBC Cartoons-Sophie really enjoys them

* Mine and Sophie’s almost daily walks and swan feedings around the docks in front of our flat.

* The public transportation is quite good and I couldn’t live without it since I don’t have a car.

* Having my best friend and favorite baby to explore the city with!

Welcome to London!

This is the view from our balcony of Canary Wharf where David works.

So this is at least the third time I have attempted to write this post. Each time I start to write how our first week in London has gone (now our first two weeks) and it turns out to be quite the novel. Now I know some people are interested in our travels, but I’m sure nobody wants to know as much as my novel contains even after a few edits. The other problem I have encountered is that we have to purchase pay as you go internet time, so I do not have the leisure of unlimited time on the internet. This has led to me typing my posts in Word and copying them onto the blog when I finish, but the bonus is that I have my travel novel for myself and I can just give you the highlights. So without any further ado, since we have been here….

• Upon arrival we were told Sophie and I needed Visas and couldn’t enter the country without them, and then we persuaded her to let us in anyway
• For the first 4 days Sophie woke up at 3 or 4 every morning and wouldn’t go back to sleep until 7 or 8
• We celebrated Sophie’s first birthday
• We celebrated our 3^rd Anniversary
• Sophie and I have had our first couple of outings to see the Tower of London, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and a picnic in St. James Park.
• As a family we have walked around Canary Wharf, St. Paul’s Cathedral, The British Museum, Kensington Palace, Greenwich Park and the Royal Observatory, the shops at Bond and Oxford Streets, Piccadilly Circus, and Trafalgar Square. We have also had a picnic in Hyde Park, taken a tour of the Bank of England (by mere chance we were in the neighborhood on one of only four days a year they give the tour) The Natural History Museum, and taken a ride on the London Eye!
• Sophie started standing all by herself on Thursday and is very proud of her new trick!

To sum it all up we had a couple of really crazy days when we first arrived, but are having and great time and wish you all could come and visit. Stay tuned for hopefully better and more updates on our summer in London! (I will post more pictures later but we are off to explore Tower Bridge)

Summer is Crazy but so FUN!

So far we have had a totally crazy summer. It started with me turning 30 and currently consists of David driving to L.A. and back in a day in order to pick up his passport so we can fly to London in the morning. Here are some of the highlights of our summer so far. Stay tuned for more details and our adventures in London.

My 30th Birthday Party

We went to Ohio to visit David's Grandpa

Hiking in Ohio with David's family

We had an early 1st birthday party for Sophie in Pocatello

She really loved her cake!



Last week we went to Zion's National Park with my family and David's sister Robyn and her family. It was lots of fun and Sophie loved being outside.

We've had a great summer so far and we are really looking forward to spending the rest of it in London! Hope everyone is having a great summer.

Happy Earth Day!

I love Earth Day! Is that weird? Every year I want to plant a tree on Earth Day, but it has never worked out. Some year I will make it happen, but until then I will find other ways to celebrate. So this year, in celebration of Mother Earth I thought I would post some pictures of her beauty. ( Okay and one of my sweet baby Sophie-she fit right in with all the flowers!) On Tuesday I had the chance to go to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point with David's mom, his sister, his aunt, and his cousin. We had a great time and saw some really beautiful flowers.

I'm truely grateful for the beauties of the Earth, whether it be a flower, a snow capped mountain, a warm beach, or maybe even an ash cloud produced from a exploding volcano ( I hold no grudge against this ash cloud as long as it stays under control long enough for David to get back from London!). These beauties really help me feel Heavenly Father's love for me. It's amazing that He would take the time to create such beauty,emaculate and simple, for me to enjoy!

Nine Months!

Last week Sophie hit her nine month mark. I can't believe how big she is getting. We love her so much and she is truely the greatest joy in our lives. I just wanted to share some of my favorite things about her.

1. She loves to give me kisses and play with my hair
2. She enjoys pretty things- like earrings and rings
3. She loves to read books
4. She makes the most interesting sounds when she talks
5. She has a smile and laugh that light up the room and will brighten anyone's day
6. She loves food and is extremely jealous of anything I eat
7. She loves to take baths
8. She loves music and sometimes will try to sing along
9. She loves her link toys and the remote control
10. She can sit up and play all on her own, but refuses to roll over
11. She is starting to try and crawl but has only discovered how to go backwards and in circles
12. She is extemely curious and wants to touch and explore everything around her
13. She loves to go on walks
14. She loves babies (especially her two new cousins)
15. She loves Itsy Bitsy Spider
16. She loves to play peek-a-boo with me when I go to get her up from her nap
17. I love it when I find her in her crib with her blanket twisted between her legs and arms and right up agians her face
18. I love how her toes haven't stopped moving since the day we brought her home
19. I love her chubby cheeks and funny facial expressions
20. I love her two little teeth
21. I love how she blows air through her nose when she is trying to be funny (but not when she is mad)
22. I love how she flaps her arms like a little bird trying to fly when she gets excited or really wants something
23. I love it when she gently strokes my face with her cute little hands
24. I love how she cocks her head to the side when she is trying to be cute
25. Most of all I love her sweet personality and that she loves her mom and dad!

I took Sophie to her first Easter Egg Hunt on Friday. And although she couldn't really hunt for the eggs and couldn't have anything inside of them she really enjoyed playing with them. I love this video because it just shows her little curious mind at work!