Gymnastics and Ballet

      So I recently put Sophia in some gymnastics and dance classes and it is the cutest thing I have ever seen. Gymnastics she didn't super love but Ballet was heaven on earth for her! She talks about it everyday and can't wait to go back! Lucky for you I got some pics and some awesome videos of her dancing, just wait to swoon over the cuteness! Enjoy!

    I was pretty impressed for it being her first class. She likes to elaborate every now and then with an extra twirl, but who doesn't?

     Adorable right?

             ~A

Table redo

         I am so far behind on Blogging but I finally finished a huge project that has been in the process for a while so I had to brag about it and show it off. So here is my table before, pretty small, basic covered in paint chips. There were to main things I didn't like about my table the size and the color. So I was on a quest to change those.

     I decided my best option was to rebuild a new top attach it to the base. I then wanted to repaint the base and find two fun head chairs and build benches for the sides. Well the benches are another complete project of their own so those aren't done yet. I found to chairs at this little thrift store next door to our apartment complex. 7$! Awesome! I found some fabric to redo the seats and painted the legs and backs of them to match the bottom of the table. 

After a few trial and errors getting the top of the table to stick together and to attach to the base it finally all worked out and looks awesome! So with out further ado here is my finished table!

      Needless to say I love it! It is huge! (Compared to our other table ha ha) The chairs turned out so cute and the top color is exactly what I was aiming for. I feel like the pictures don't do it justice but it looks amazing, you will just have to take my word for it!

         ~A 

Happy Birthday Joel!

     Joel turned one on Wed. Sept 4th. I can't believe it! Where did this year go? It has flown by! Joel is the dang cutest kid I have ever met! I might be biased though. He is seriously so happy all the time. He takes everything in stride and he laughs so so much. Everyone who meets him tells me he is the cutest sweetest baby ever. It's true. His new favorite thing is to open his mouth and go AWE! It sounds weird but it is so funny! He is taking tentative steps but hasn't totally switched over to walking yet. He still has no fear for his life, he dives off, into, and through everything. Pulls anything he can and off and out of anything. We lovingly call him baby hulk. His weight has kind of evened out since his surgeries but he is still nice and tall and has the biggest feet! He is my cuddle bug and I love it!!! All you really need to know is we think he is pretty awesome and are so lucky to have him in our lives!

     So his birthday was on Wednesday and we wanted to do something fun. If you know me, you know I am a birthday party crazy lady so the fact he was really going to get one was breaking my heart. So Monday morning I decided we needed a party. So this was very last minute and I planned a cute little car themed dinner party for us for to have. Sophia loved it and Joel had no idea what was going on!

Birthday Boy! 

Balloon Wall. This was so easy to do and so cute! I will have to do this for more indoor parties!

The whole get up!

Sophia thought the cones were party hats! She kept trying to wear it.

The birthday cake! Turned out cuter than I expected and was fairly easy!

That's right! Digging right in there! After a little help he was ready to attack that cake! 

Joel did a little redecorating on the cake! We thought it was pretty good!

The after mess.

All Joel wanted to do was eat the presents!

This was how present opening went, Sophia opened, Joel played.

His sweet new motorcycle walker, which I got for a steal of a deal!! 

It's hard to believe this precious boy is one! I am feeling very nostalgic right now! What happened to this last year? How I love this boy! 

~A 

California bound!

     So as mentioned in my previous post we have moved to California! Baby Joel had his surgery Tue. August 6th and we took off Friday Aug. 9th. It was one of the craziest weeks of my life! One I wish to never repeat. It all started Thursday. My wonderful sister Tiffany volunteered to come to Cali with us and help us move in and get settled. She took Thursday off work and we headed to Provo to pick up the truck and load it. Well no one from the ward showed up and all our friends were busy with work and such so it was just me and Tiff. Luckily one of our neighbors is a student and had the summer off and he was home to help us. He saved our lives! We started at noon and didn't finish till 7pm. My sister and I were so tired!

     Friday morning we got up bright and early and headed out. It was sad saying buy to my parents, it didn't help that anytime I hugged someone Tiffany started crying ha ha. It was also more bitter sweet because my brother and his wife left the day before for Canada for dental school and my mom was feeling a little overwhelmed with her kids all moving! Also the week before we said goodbye to Tyler's family and to Sara and Collin who moved to Oregon. A lot of moving family! It is crazy!

    We wanted to break up the trip a little for the kids so Friday night we stopped in Logandale NV and stayed with grandpa Bohn for the night. I love that man! He cracks me up and is so good to us! While we were there we went into Vegas and stopped for a visit with some old friends. It was so great to see Chrissy and Gavin and their adorable kids. We then stopped and had dinner with my brother and my dad's side of the family that all lives in Vegas.

     Saturday morning we got up and headed out. From Vegas it was about a 4 hour drive to Cali. When we made it to our place the bishop from our ward had called the missionaries and sent two sets out to help us unload. The got it done in 45 minutes!! Compared to the seven hours it took us to load we were so grateful! We were so ready to get settled in but by Sunday morning we knew we needed to move again.

     Our apartment was a mess. Not in the literal since. The inside was nice and really cute but that was about the only bonus. The water heater was broken, the power cords for internet had been cut, it was literally infested with spiders, and the worst part no one was willing to fix it. The owner was just a flipper who bought the place to fix it up and sell it again so he was just wanting to sell it. He told us to talk to our neighbor downstairs, but he couldn't do anything because he couldn't fork out the money to fix it. The company that rented us the apartment couldn't do anything because they said the owner was now in charge. It all seemed really shady and we didn't feel comfortable living there when no one was taking responsibility for anything but they all wanted the money from it. So we decided to get out and fast. Monday morning we went hunting and by that night had the keys to our new place. Tuesday morning we moved out of the old apartment and into the new one. It was crazy!!

     Tiffany flew home Monday night so it was just Tyler and I to move everything. Tyler decided to  send a shout out to the school and see if anyone would show up. The turn out was amazing!! I couldn't believe so many people were willing to come help us. Complete strangers showed up and worked all day with us to help us move. It was so heart warming and I instantly felt loved by the people at Tyler's school. Jess family lives out here and her mother was a huge help with the kids in all this mess, I know we are going to love it here.

     After our crazy start we are getting settled in. We love our new place and our ward is awesome. The kids are starting to get back into a routine. I have signed Sophia up for some fun classes so hopefully she will start making some friends soon. We miss family and friends but we have been having so much fun exploring Southern California. The next four years are looking up!

~A

     

Summer Recap

So the last time I posted was Sophia's birthday party, oh so much has happened since then! So let's do a quick recap of the summer!

We had the 4th of July which we spent with my family.

The kids all at the new splash pad by my moms house! Not the best pic but I love it!

The girls at the parade! We didn't even make it through half of it it was so hot we went home. The kids didn't even want to be there. 

Over the 4th of July Briana and Matt were in the musical the Scarlet Pimpernel. I love this musical! I went down for the whole week and did hair for the play. It was a lot of fun! 

Then we had the 24th of July which we spent at my Grandma's.

This is the only pic I took of that day. Sophia with her face painted ha ha. 

My grandma's town always has a big todo and we always go up for it and have a big bbq. 

    Then we went to Ely for a craft fair Tyler's sisters and I have been prepping for since Feb. Ely Art's in the Park was a two day event. It was a lot of hard work but I am really happy with our turn out and how well we did. Our booth was very original and super cute! The hardest part was our need of selling and our want of keeping the cute stuff we made ha ha.

     Then Joel had his second surgery the 6th of August. I did not take any pictures this time. Joel did amazing. When the doctor came out he said there was quite a bit more damage done inside then he was expecting so they had to go back and fix it. He hated the the IV this time but after they took it out he was completely happy. We got home from the hospital and he was crawling and playing right away. It was amazing! I couldn't believe it. For how well he did last time he did even better this time. That baby is one amazing kid!
     4 days after Joel's surgery we moved to California! I will have a nice lengthy post on that next but we are here now and settling in.
    In between all this we had parties, family reunions, several hospital visits for Burns and cuts and surgeries (my kids didn't take it easy on me this summer), lots of packing, several car break downs, visits from Tyler, and more packing.
    It was a CRAZY summer! Not particularly one I want to repeat but I am glad we got as much in as we did I knew it would be the last chance we got to do a lot of these things and I didn't want to leave anything out!

~A

My 3 year old.

     That's right folks this little lady turned three! I can't believe I have a three year old. It's weird, I will probably say that for every birthday but it's true, it's just crazy how fast time flies!

     This little girl is full of spunk and sass. She is also very sweet and kind. She loves all things princess and dirt. She is friends with just about anyone she meets, and all though her brother can get on her nerves she really gets along with him well and I can tell they are already friends. She loves it when he follows her around the house and they just giggle together most days. She loves to give compliments and helps with baby Joel all the time. She will be the first to tell you she doesn't like something or she doesn't want to do something. If a kid is mean to her she is not afraid to fight back, which I actually really like about her!

     I wasn't going to do much for her birthday this year because we had such a crazy summer going on but my mom mentioned she thought Sophia needed a princess party and I knew she was totally right. So I went for it, and I will be the first to admit I went total crazy mom! I don't know what my deal was but I just had to make everything I saw! So with out further ado, Sophia's 3rd Princess party!! 

     It was such a fun day! The kids loved the party and Sophia was so spoiled, she got way to many presents! haha Sophia has so many good friends! It made me sad to think of the friends we are leaving behind in a month to move to Cali. Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate with us! A huge shout out to my mother for making the cake for me, and to my sister Tiff for coming early and helping me get stuff ready, and to my wonderful sis in law Hanna for taking pics!! You guys are fabulous!

~A