Sand and Sun...

Friday afternoon we headed to Rockaway Beach for a fun and relaxing weekend. Sophia practiced relaxing on the way down and slept the entire drive, lol. After sitting for so long, once we arrived, we buckled Sophia into her stroller and went for a walk into town. There, we found the cute little cafe we always go to for coffee, and had clam chowder. I am not much of a seafood fan, but their clam chowder was amazing!
Once my mom, my 3 brothers, and sister arrived, they met us in town and we decided to go on the beach since the sun was shining and it was gorgeous out! We walked along the beach and watched the waves roll in. I couldn't believe how nice it was. Friday night after work, my dad joined us. It had been almost a year since we had gone to the beach as a family!
Saturday we woke up and had a big breakfast and then drove a half hour to Seaside to browse in the shops and play in the arcade. Seaside was pretty busy and the arcade was insane! But we had a lot of fun and I played a few games I had never played before, like Dance Revolution. Oh my goodness do I have slow reflexes. Me and my older brother, Shawn put the setting on easy and we did really good, but then we changed it to standard and we were cracking up the whole time because we were stinking so bad that we failed, lol. But it was so much fun! We were all starving by the time we got done in the arcade that we stopped by a candy shop (bought way too many sweets), and then had dinner at 'Doogers', pretty much the best seafood restaurant in Seaside. We were so exhausted by the end of the day that we headed home to unwind. We ended up watching Bedtime Stories, which was pretty cute, and then headed to bed for some much needed zzzz's.
Sunday morning we had breakfast at 'The Bite' and then because we were blessed to have more sunny weather, we went to the beach and played volleyball. Man, am I out of shape! We had three on each team and were running around like crazy to keep the ball in the air. I'm sure it was quite comical to watch, but all us kids had a blast playing together! While we were playing volleyball, my mom was playing with Sophia in the sand. It was so warm, that we took her shoes off and let her walk around in the sand barefoot. She didn't mind her little toes in the sand, however, she didn't like sand on her hands, and every time she would fall and get sand on her hands, she would brush them together to get the sand off. Sophia absolutely loved the beach!

Enjoying a family stroll on the beach

"The Boys" (Cameron, Jeff, Cole & Shawn)

My little sis, Cassidy, and my Mom

Sophia lovin' the fresh air and sunshine

The weekend went by way too fast, as it always does, and we didn't want to come home:( We had such a blast at the beach and also a wonderful time spending the weekend with my family.

What a fun weekend!

Saturday,Courtney and Elle came over and visited for a while, then Courtney and I took the girls to a park by my house. It was nice because for a Saturday, it wasn't that busy and Elle and Sophia were able to play on the swings, go down the slides and climb on the play structures without having to worry about a bunch of big kids. Sophia saw Elle climbing up the play structure and thought she was big enough to do it too. She did a pretty good job, and made it half way up. She's still a little young for playing on the jungle gym all by herself, but she loves to swing and go down the slide! The girls also found a basketball, so they played with that together, well more like Sophia kept on trying to steal the ball from Elle. But Elle was really sweet and would let Sophia have the basketball.

Elle loved playing with the bubbles

Sophia had a blast on the swings

Elle and Sophia playing ball together

It turned out to be a beautiful and day we had a lot of fun at the park with Courtney and Elle.



Then Sunday morning at 9 a.m. we grabbed Starbucks and met my parents out in Gresham at Mt. Hood Lanes to go bowling. I'm not the best bowler but I have a lot of fun doing it. My dad is a really good bowler and has got over 200 quite a few times. We played 2 games and on the third game, my dad got the rack for Sophia so she could push the ball down it and bowl. She had so much fun and once she started, she didn't want to stop. She also couldn't stop looking at and touching all the colorful bowling balls. I was so afraid she was going to smash her fingers, but she was really careful.
















































After bowling, we headed out to my parents house in Sandy for a BBQ. It was so gorgeous and warm out! My Dad barbecued chicken and steaks and we jumped on the trampoline and Jeff and my two younger brothers, Cameron and Cole, had a water balloon fight. We spent all day outside soaking up the sun with my family. It was so fun and relaxing!
We had a packed weekend, but it was a blast because we spent it with our friends and family:)

Spring is in the air...

Friday, Sophia and I went to go see my friend Kristen in Portland. We went to see her new house and visit. While we were there, we went out to eat at Panera Bread Company. Sophia and I shared a mini lemon poppy seed bunt cake. She absolutely loved it and wanted to eat the whole thing! After that, we went to Portland Nursery to get some flowers for our yard.
Instead of carts, they have little red wagons to put your flowers in. This was perfect because we ended up putting Sophia in the wagon and pulling her around while we looked at all the different plants. She had so much fun and would say hi to everyone that walked by.These pictures I took on my iphone, so they aren't the best quality, but I just had to get some pics of her in the wagon:)


It was such a perfect day. The weather was beautiful and it was so fun going out to eat and then to the nursery. Sophia was so pooped after all the activity, she fell asleep on the way home.
I love taking her with me to different places these days because she is so observant and interactive. She is my little buddy and we have so much fun together.

Jungle fever...

When I saw these cute zebra pants at Gymboree, I couldn't help but get them for Sophia. Monday morning before work, the sun was shining, so I took advantage of the nice weather and took Sophia out on our front porch to take some pics of her in her new outfit.

Our little Easter Bunny...

This has probably been my favorite Easter to date! It started with the Saturday night Easter service at Abundant Life Church and then home to watch a movie (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas). Then, on Sunday morning we woke up, Sophia opened her Easter basket, and we enjoyed homemade waffles, Sophia especially liked them :).Then it was off to my parents house up in Sandy, where we met my four siblings, Jeff's parents and his sister, Katie. Their we had a nice lunch, visited with everyone, and relaxed. We also hid some eggs for Sophia filled with little snacks. She had a blast searching for the eggs and had even more fun opening them to see what was inside. At first she was a little confused at what to do, but once she got the hang of it, she was and old pro and found all the eggs we hid for her.

Aside from all the yummy food and the Easter egg hunts, my favorite part was watching Sophia's eyes light up with all the excitement. I look at her and I am overwhelmed with my love for her. I can't hug her, kiss her, squeeze her enough. It made me stop and think that even as much as I love Sophia, the Lord's love for us is even greater. Understanding this makes me feel so incredibly grateful to know that my Heavenly Father loves me that much. Everything, as a mother, that I feel for Sophia, He feels for us times ten, and realizing this, really put into perspective my personal relationship with God.

I feel so very blessed and am so thankful for all the love we are surrounded with by our family, friends, and especially our Savior.

Little Jumpin' Bean...

I was up at my parents in Sandy yesterday for work and I am lucky enough to get to take Sophia with me. Well, for Christmas Jeff and I got my brothers and sister a giant trampoline. Due to the weather, they haven't really been able to jump on it much, until now. Because it was so beautiful and warm yesterday,after work, we put Sophia on the giant trampoline to see what she would do. She absolutely loved it and would scream and squeal! We would sit on it with her and lightly bounce her up and down. She had an absolute blast on the trampoline (so did I)!

A new trick up her sleeve...

Sophia is fairly tall for her age, and because of this she can now open doors; doors to the bathroom, bedroom, etc. No longer is she contained, but she can now explore to her hearts content. Which means we now have to keep an even closer eye on her these days.
Fortunately, as she learns new concepts, she forgets the old ones, like climbing up the stairs. I'm hoping that's one that is gone for good. Though it was great exercise for me, my legs needed a break! It continues to amaze me how much energy little kids have!