The Stultz Family

2012-02-12T15:41:00.000-08:00

Here's a few updates of Landon! :)

Time with Sophie

2012-02-12T15:34:00.000-08:00

We took a little bit of time out the other day to play a little bit of bowling on the Wii. Sophie loves it (even though she gets a gutter ball almost every time :))

First bath

2012-02-09T08:43:00.000-08:00

On the biliblanket

2012-02-09T08:38:00.000-08:00

Just like his big sister, Landon had to be on the biliblanket for his bilirubin (jaundice) levels the first few days we came home from the hospital. Here he is with the biliblanket on.

Going home from the hospital!

2012-01-28T08:39:00.000-08:00

Here's our cute little bundle getting ready to go home from the hospital!

Baby Landon :)

2012-01-26T19:19:00.001-08:00

Some updates :)

2012-01-14T13:53:00.000-08:00

As we've been patiently awaiting the arrival of the baby, we've been busy getting Sophie switched into the other bedroom and getting the baby's room set up as well.

Here's a few pics of each room!
(We still have to paint Sophie's room so disregard the pumpkin color, but I think she loved how it turned out! She actually wanted to go to sleep at 6 p.m. one day — that never happens!)

We have to find somewhere for this old computer monitor of Jason's (I'm suggesting recycling it since it's as old as the hills!)

(Disregard the pile of clothes on the dresser! Those are clothes Sophie has grown out of that I need to put away)

Also here's a pic of Sophie doing what seems to be her favorite thing right now: painting!

Christmas morning!

2012-01-02T10:27:00.000-08:00

Sorry it has taken me so long to get these on here! It seems like I have been so busy and then with the pregnancy on top of everything else, I'm just exhausted!
Here's a few from Christmas day! (I was having issues with our camera and a lot of our photos turned out blurry)
Here's Sophie in her new dress-up outfit! She was dancing all over the house with it on!
These are some cute little pajamas Sophie got from Grandpa and Grandma Light that also had a doll with matching pajamas.

Decorating for Christmas

2011-12-04T17:31:00.000-08:00

Meant to put these on earlier, but here's a few pics of us decorating for Christmas! Sophie loved putting ornaments on the tree!

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T14:05:00.000-07:00

Sophie was a princess for Halloween this year! She made a beautiful one!!

Here she is with Jason dressed up in his grim reaper costume. She thought he was funny in his costume. This picture cracks me up!

Here's a few of our friends at the branch Halloween party!

Fall festival

2011-09-25T18:33:00.000-07:00

Albert Lea had a fall festival downtown on Saturday so while I went down there to cover it for the newspaper, we also had a fun time!

Fishing

2011-09-18T15:17:00.000-07:00

Sophie's first day of preschool!

2011-09-11T14:28:00.000-07:00

She was excited to say the least!

An adventure on the trail

2011-09-05T05:51:00.000-07:00

We went on a little stroll the other day on one of the trails at our state park in Albert Lea. Sophie had a blast! Here's some photos from our adventure!

A little trip to Cannon Falls, Minnesota

2011-08-16T09:08:00.000-07:00

I'll be honest. My job takes me to some pretty amazing places and to see some pretty amazing people. So when I heard that President Barack Obama was coming to Cannon Falls, Minn., a small town about 1 1/2 hours away from me, I jumped at the chance to go.
Whether you agree with the man's political views or not, I think it's still a neat thing to say that you've actually seen a president of our country.

This little town-hall meeting felt like a campaign stop of his I had covered a couple years ago when he was running for office, just much more security. It was practically like going through airport security but it went a little faster. It was fun.
Perhaps even more exciting, however, was seeing reporters from all over the country — I sat next to a reporter from the Washington Post and in front of me were a couple reporters with USA Today.
And then of course there's the awesome press passes you get when you go to these things that I like to collect.
This one said "White House Press Pool."
Pretty neat stuff for a small-town, community newspaper reporter.

(Photos by Eric Johnson/Albert Lea Tribune)

To see more about the visit, go to http://www.albertleatribune.com/2011/08/15/obama-its-time-for-the-games-to-stop/

Some crazy fun!

2011-08-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

Call me crazy, but sometimes you just have to let your kids have a little fun....
A couple weeks ago, our neighbor had his sprinkler on across the street, and he yelled across the street to me when we were taking out our dog to if Sophie wanted to play in the water. I took a large sigh, thought over the odds (after all she was in regular clothes and I wasn't sure if I wanted to deal with getting her cleaned up, but I went ahead and said, "Sure, why not!" I knew she'd LOVE doing it!
So I bit my tongue and she went flying over there! I let her play in the water for about 10 minutes, and she got soaked!
Ha, but I got some good laughs out of it!

Swimming!!

2011-07-17T19:51:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, we went to the city pool here in Albert Lea! They had a free swim day! Sophie was reluctant to get in the water, but once she did she didn't want to get out!!

Our garden!

2011-07-17T19:38:00.000-07:00

Though things seem a little bit slow this year, our garden is finally starting to take off! We have a 10-by-20-foot space. It starts with cucumbers, then green peppers, chili peppers, tomatoes, zuchinni, onions and green beans!

Flowers!

2011-07-16T19:10:00.000-07:00

Here's a few pics of outside around the house!

Eddie Cochran car show

2011-07-11T15:33:00.000-07:00

This was from back in June during the annual big Eddie Cochran car show that Jason just loves!
Jason and Sophie next to Jason's camaro.
Killing some time waiting for Jason and his mom to come by in the 26-mile cruise part!
Jason and his mom on the 26-mile cruise, while Sophie and I watched from the sidelines :)

Library fun

2011-07-11T08:15:00.000-07:00

Sophie loves the library, so we've been trying to get her to as many special events and storytimes that they have this summer! Here she is at one when a guy from a reptile/amphibian zoo came!
(For the first two photos you can play a little "Where's Sophie?" game -- instead of "Where's Waldo?" :)

Swimming

2011-07-11T07:57:00.000-07:00

Here Sophie is swimming with her friend Hannah! They're getting together again this week to swim!

Fishing

2011-07-10T19:56:00.000-07:00

(These are kind of old but I'm finally getting around to getting them uploaded! I thought these were adorable! These are from the first time Sophie went fishing with Jason! Looks like I'm going to have two lovers of fishing on my hands!)

Third of July Parade

2011-07-10T13:20:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple from the recent Third of July Parade here in Albert Lea while we were waiting for it to start. (Note Sophie's funny faces!)

2011-07-04T13:15:00.000-07:00

Salt Lake City

2011-06-28T17:23:00.000-07:00

Easter/Baby blessing

2011-05-31T06:19:00.001-07:00

Family photos 2011

2011-05-20T18:12:00.000-07:00

I have so many pictures from the trip that I still need to post, but here are some highlights of the wonderful family photos we had taken when we were all out in Utah! They were taken by one of Kim's friends from her freshman year at BYU. Her name is Lani Wilkinson. Here's her website www.laniwilkinsonphotography.com.

Easter Egg Hunt

2011-04-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

Brooke!

2011-04-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

It was great to see Brooke for a few minutes when we flew into the SLC airport!! I'm still curious where she went on her honeymoon!

misc. pics

2011-04-14T18:07:00.000-07:00

Me and Sophie's attempt to get a photo together earlier today!

We got this little dress up outfit at a yard sale this past weekend! She loves it!

A dog's life :)

2011-04-14T15:26:00.000-07:00

I don't know if all dogs are like this but it reminded me of Sugar, who is now 11 or 12 years old and still living with my parents! :)

Sophie, the singer

2011-04-14T15:13:00.000-07:00

Sophie has developed into quite the singer! She LOVES to sing! We got her a little microphone several months ago when she seemed to start to take an interest in it, and she periodically picks it up and starts going full out singing a song! Here she is intently singing the ABCs! :)

Sophie :)

2011-03-28T16:01:00.000-07:00

I was trying to take some pictures of the house today, and Sophie let me know she wanted her picture taken :) Here's a few!

House upgrades

2011-03-20T14:41:00.000-07:00

We were finally able to get our new chandelier installed this week thanks to our friends Carol and Dave! I'm excited about it!

AFTER

BEFORE

We still need a few other things for the room, but at least we have the basics — a table! :)

Meet Chance :)

2011-03-06T17:34:00.001-08:00

Took this photo to show you guys how much Sophie loved her Elmo sweatshirt and her stickers from her card!

Sophie turns 3!

2011-02-20T12:27:00.000-08:00

Sophie turned 3 today, but we had her party yesterday with some friends from church! She had a blast!

Some pics of the house!

2011-02-09T15:25:00.000-08:00

Here's a few quick pics of the house for those interested! We've got lots of plans for the living room, but here's what we've got so far! Obviously there aren't any curtains yet up throughout the house either!

We bought a house!

2011-01-31T19:42:00.000-08:00

Last week we closed on a house! Here's a pic we took of it before there was snow on the ground! I'll put some more up soon! :)

Old Man Winter is in Albert Lea

2011-01-12T15:36:00.000-08:00

Here in Minnesota we're in the middle of our annual arctic freeze, so Jason and I decided to drive around and take a few pics. These are our typical surroundings during about 5 months of the year. It's quite cold, but it sure is beautiful.

These are the ice houses which are set up for people to sit in as they ice fish. It's quite the sport.

Sneaky Sophie :)

2011-01-06T14:34:00.001-08:00

More to come later!

Christmas!

2010-12-25T19:13:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick glimpse of our Christmas festivities from the last two days! We had a quiet last two days at home with our little family.

Here's Sophie in her new tent that Grandpa and Grandma Light got her.

Christmas morning, Sophie walked straight into where the tree was and found her princess kitchen and table and chairs set waiting for her. She didn't know what to think!
She immediately got to work and set the table
Here she is opening a few other gifts!

Here's Jason in his new hunting clothes (plus one of his guns). Jason is on a hunting kick!

We were very blessed for Christmas and want everyone to know how grateful we are for the love shown to our family!
(Now if only we could get moved into our new house ASAP! I'm going crazy from the lack of space!!) :)

Sophie's visit with Santa

2010-12-24T16:39:00.001-08:00

All this month, Sophie has been excited when she talks about Santa but then freaks out when she actually sees him in person. Well with this Santa (which is an awesome Santa might I add), she ran straight up to him and jumped up on his lap. She didn't look at him at first, but then warmed up to him! :)

2010-12-01T15:44:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago we wanted to get some idea of whether Sophie would like a small tent as a Christmas gift, so we set up Jason's deer blind in the living room and let her try it out. She loved it!

Coloring queen

2010-12-01T15:40:00.000-08:00

Sophie has been obsessed with coloring in this new Elmo coloring book we got from the dollar store, so I thought I'd try to get her in the act. (Also, I wanted to point out to mom where we hung our stockings this year :) )

Getting ready for Christmas!

2010-11-27T20:05:00.001-08:00

Well, because we're going to be moving soon into our new house and are literally wall to wall in boxes, we decided to go with an 18-inch Christmas tree this year :)
Regardless of the size, Sophie loved decorating it!

Cookie decorating :)

2010-11-26T12:57:00.000-08:00

We went to this event the other night called An Evening of Giving, and Sophie got to decorate a cookie among other things! (She wanted to put every single kind of decoration on it she could. :)

Hunting!

2010-11-06T13:05:00.000-07:00

Jason went out hunting with our neighbor today! This is what they got! Technically our neighbor had the first shot, but Jason had the second shot, which ultimately killed the deer.

Minnesota is crazy today! Jason said there were tons of hunters out!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T19:24:00.000-07:00

This year, Sophie dressed up as Super Girl! She loved it! Here's Jason and Sophie before we were going out to visit a few of our friends!

Sophie with our friend, Sarena
This is Jason's mask, but Sophie thinks it is the funniest thing to put it on!

Stickers

2010-10-31T19:04:00.000-07:00

So Sophie loves stickers now! The other day she got a hold of a sheet of Sesame Street stickers and put them all on her pants. Here she is trying to run from me!

Silly Sophie :)

2010-10-21T13:46:00.000-07:00

I was packing up some stuff the other day and Sophie found a pair of gloves of mine and a winter hat and started dressing up. But instead of putting the gloves on her hands, she put them on her feet :)

Pumpkins

2010-10-17T15:12:00.000-07:00

Sophie has loved getting pumpkins at a pumpkin patch this year! The one we went to last year was closed so we found this other one!
Here she goes, running down the path to find her pumpkin!
Stopping for a photo!
She found her pumpkin!
Here she is carrying it away
Jason is cleaning it

Rain Rain Rain

2010-09-27T11:48:00.000-07:00

We got tons of rain last week and so there's been lots of flooding in the areas surrounding in Albert Lea. Albert Lea lucked out on having any major damages (compared to some of the surrounding communities which had major problems). The lake is just up a lot.
Our famous mermaid had water all the way up to her belly button. Usually you can see her mermaid fin.
Here you can see how the island is submerged.

Water is up high here (one of Jason's favorite fishing spots)

:)

2010-08-29T16:29:00.000-07:00

Sophie is finally beginning to cooperate a little bit more with letting me do fun things to her hair!
Here she is smiling away (It's a great pic minus her bruise on her head from her most recent wipeout)

Catching up on some older pics!

2010-08-29T16:16:00.000-07:00

Sophie just loves this princess crown that we found in the closet that we had forgotten our friend had given us!

Here's a few from the Freeborn County Fair a few weeks ago! Sophie couldn't wait to ride the train and the merry-go-round.

Sophie with a little baby chick.
Sophie enjoying corn from the garden :)

Playing at the park with daddy

2010-08-29T16:11:00.000-07:00

Remembering Geri

2010-08-14T02:40:00.001-07:00

As some of you may know, my good friend Geri from work died a week ago. Tonight we honored her at the Freeborn County Relay for Life, along with all the other cancer fighters and survivors.

Some of the luminaries lit up at the event.

My boss, Scott, ordered tons of pink balloon that our team and Geri's family could release into the air in honor of Geri. Here are some of Geri's sisters and friends singing before we did that.
Releasing the balloons
Watching the balloons go into the air!

Sophie licking the frosting off a cookie :) (This is kind of random, but I thought it was an adorable picture of Sophie)

Hawaiian Luau

2010-07-25T11:44:00.001-07:00

Jason turns 32!

2010-07-24T14:36:00.001-07:00

More random pics

2010-07-20T17:42:00.000-07:00

Here's Sophie in the little Chinese dress that Jessica and Thomas got for her when they were on their trip! This was the best one I could get so far! I'll try to get some more later!

Sophie's new (used) toddler bed! When we bought it at a yard sale this weekend, it only had the head and footboards. Jason made the bedframe for it!

Random pics of Sophie

2010-07-11T14:02:00.001-07:00

Sophie is in a stage where she loves to try on things!
Ha!

Our first produce from the garden!

2010-07-06T20:14:00.000-07:00

Third of July Parade/Swimming at Fountain Lake

2010-07-04T13:45:00.001-07:00

We had a busy day on July 3! Here in Albert Lea, we always have a big parade, and we also went to the city beach area here off of Fountain Lake!

The parade

Swimming
Sophie looks so confident in this picture!

Sophie loves water more and more now!

Fourth of July fun at the carnival!

2010-07-02T17:55:00.000-07:00

Sneaky Sophie :)

2010-07-01T19:44:00.000-07:00

Sophie being sneaky and trying to drink water from the hose hookup while I was watering the garden!
Sophie is shaking hands with the corn stalk! Ha! :)

Playing at the park

2010-07-01T19:33:00.000-07:00

Going up and down the slide at the park was Sophie's favorite thing to do today! She could have stayed there for hours!

We were fortunate

2010-06-20T21:01:00.000-07:00

The past few days here near Albert Lea have been crazy to say the least. Thursday evening, severe weather moved into the area and more than 20 tornadoes struck down in our county alone.
As you can imagine, that means the hectic nature of my life began. As a reporter, some of the most difficult, yet thrilling times come from disaster. I know that's hard for some people to understand, but it's true.
While I can understand that some see the media as a pest, we are a mouthpiece too. I've also been told before by victims of disaster that it was therapeutic for them to talk about what has happened.
I'll be honest, I teared up a few times during some of these interviews.
It also stirred up my fear of tornadoes.
Here's some photos from the Albert Lea Tribune's Web site, taken by myself and my co-workers. Some loaded smaller than others. To view more, go to www.albertleatribune.com.
Here's a photo of one of the tornadoes right outside of Albert Lea. This was taken by a Mason City Globe Gazette reporter.

In the foreground is this family's basement/foundation. In the back is the house, which has been completely lifted and then set back down next to it. My editor took this Thursday evening after the tornadoes struck in Alden, Minn.
This guy (at right) has lived in his house all of his life (40-some years). It was destroyed Thursday evening. I took this photo at about 6:30 a.m. Friday.
Amazingly enough, his flag was still standing, even though his house was destroyed.

Today, Jason and I volunteered at the Salvation Army for a few hours to help make sandwiches for volunteers to take out to people who've lost their homes or to people who are helping in the cleanup process. It may not be much, but hopefully it will lighten someone's load.

Garden update!

2010-06-20T15:47:00.000-07:00

Hope everybody doesn't get too annoyed with all these garden updates, I just thought people might like to see how much the garden has grown in the last few days! We have lots of blooms and some produce starting!

St. Paul's Como Zoo

2010-06-20T12:21:00.000-07:00

Here's a bunch of photos from our visit to the zoo yesterday!

Garden update!

2010-06-06T18:54:00.000-07:00

A view of the whole garden!

From the right: potatoes, onions, peas, green beans

From right: peas, green beans, carrots, corn

Corn, peppers (green peppers, jalapeños, habañeros), tomatoes. In back zuchinni and cucumbers

Beautiful Albert Lea

2010-06-03T20:00:00.000-07:00

Jason took these two pictures of Fountain Lake here in Albert Lea a couple weeks ago!

Flowers and shades

2010-06-03T19:40:00.000-07:00

Sophie got these sunglasses last weekend, and she just loves them!

Some of the flowers in the backyard!

What are these?
One of the two flower pots on the front step.

Some of the flowers around the house.

Swimming!!

2010-05-29T20:47:00.000-07:00

We set up this little swimming pool in our backyard today to see how Sophie would like it! She was kind of afraid of it at first, but ended up loving it! She didn't want to get out!
(Sorry for the overload of pics, but I couldn't narrow down my favorites!)

Our garden 2010!

2010-05-23T16:51:00.000-07:00

Sophie LOVES making a big mess in the water!

Here she is trying to take a drink! Ha!
Here's a corner shot of our garden
This shows the tomatoes, green peppers, jalapenos, habanero peppers and zucchini in the top right
Here's the corn (which I'm very excited about because this is the first year we've tried that)
Three rows of green beans

Three rows of peas
Two rows of onions
Eight potato mounds. (oh and what you can't see in this picture is the cucumber plants in the back! And there's carrots beside the corn that are just barely coming up so far!)

Our newest edition! We're excited about it because we can cook healthy food on it for me and burgers for Jason!

Easter egg hunt

2010-04-04T16:09:00.000-07:00

Jason and Sophie in the hunt

Sophie and the crazy-looking Easter Bunny!
Sophie while we were standing in line waiting for our turn!

Sophie loves Terri's hat!

2010-04-04T16:06:00.000-07:00

Sophie's babysitter, Terri, has this hat that Sophie loves!

Spring fever

2010-03-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

Well it wasn't super warm today, but it wasn't super cold so we decided to go out for a little walk on the Blazing Star Trail here in Albert Lea. Sophie loved it and actually walked probably about half the way of the entire trail (which equaled out to about 3/4 of a mile that she walked!)
Here's a few pics from our walk. I have a few more to crop and stuff still!

Sophie turns 2!

2010-02-21T11:53:00.000-08:00

For Sophie's birthday, we had a little party over at our friend Catherine's house, where we had Navajo tacos, cake and opened presents! It was fun!

It's hard to believe, but Sophie is now 2!! Here she is while we were all singing Happy Birthday to her! She didn't quite know what to think!
Sophie with our friend Terri (who also babysits Sophie) and Sarena
Opening up presents!

Sophie laughs as her new Elmo laughs and rolls around on the floor!
Sophie loves, loves, loves Elmo!

(I haven't had the capability of switching this one around yet, but here's Jason helping make the fry bread for the Navajo Tacos!

Cake preview

2010-02-20T12:13:00.000-08:00

Today is Sophie's birthday!! Here's a preview of the cake :)

Here's Sophie a few days ago with a messy face in her pajamas and my hat :)

Sophie's first haircut!

2010-02-05T16:02:00.000-08:00

Today, after I got done with work, we took Sophie over to get her hair cut!! She did a great job! She literally sat perfectly still the entire time! We were amazed!

At the end she got a sucker for being so good!

Our new couch!

2010-02-04T14:35:00.000-08:00

Thanks to a bonus Jason got from work, today we got our new couch!! I was so excited! Sophie was too!! She immediately jumped up on it!
Here's Sophie up on the couch with a big grin on her face! (Look how long and crazy her hair is getting! We're going to have to finally get it cut!)
The living room.
Another one of Sophie.
Here's one unrelated of Sophie and Jason cuddling while watching a movie. (Note the old couch)

Just some cute pics of Jason and Sophie!

2010-01-09T11:30:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day

2009-12-25T10:06:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning Sophie was in her new pajamas and we opened the gifts we got for each other!

Of course she got some more Elmo stuff :)
Here's Jason opening up a gift!
Here's Sophie again :) (Note she's carrying the Elmo from Christmas Eve)

Opening up her potty seat :)

Sophie wants to be a big girl

2009-12-25T10:03:00.000-08:00

Sophie wants to be a big girl! She will no longer sit in her high chair, so now she sits in a regular seat!

Christmas Eve!

2009-12-25T09:23:00.001-08:00

On Christmas Eve we opened the presents from Grandpa and Grandma Light!
The highlight of Sophie's Christmas Eve was opening an Elmo toy!
As soon as Sophie saw her Elmo toy she gave it a hug!
Then she gave it a kiss!
Sophie loved this Dr. Seuss "One fish, two fish" book that grandpa and grandma got her! She loves fish!
Smiling for the camera!

Here's daddy opening up the radio-controlled car he got with some money from his parents

The many faces of Sophie

2009-12-23T16:26:00.000-08:00

Here's Sophie's new favorite face to make! We think it's hilarious!

Here's Sophie in mommy's hat!

Snow/Making treats!

2009-12-13T15:52:00.000-08:00

Sophie refused to wear her gloves and kept pulling them off, so of course when she touched the snow and felt how cold it was, she freaked out! I think she's kind of afraid of the snow right now like she used to be with the grass!
Here she is another day ready to go outside!

BAKING!

Jason had this great idea to make chocolate-covered cinnamon drops (kind of like they had chocolate-covered cinnamon bears at the BYU bookstore) Here he is getting into quite the routine. I got demoted from it a couple times after dropping the cinnamon drops in the chocolate. Ha!

(Sorry this pic is blurry) These are chocolate crinkles — something new to try this year. They turned out pretty good!
Next, we just have to do another batch or two of fudge, since we had some problems with the fudge setting up properly the first go around. Hope everybody we're giving treats to likes chocolate, since it turned out to be a lot of chocolate this year! :)

RACE CAR
Jason wanted me to put this up. He got this radio-controlled race car this weekend with some money that his mom sent for Christmas. He's looking forward to the spring when he can take it over to a school/church parking lot to test it out! He's such a kid at heart!

SNOW!

2009-12-09T07:26:00.001-08:00

The Minnesota we know and love (and hate) is back! We got dumped with tons of snow yesterday/last night! Pictures to come!

Here's the house! Look how high the piles are getting and this was only the first major snow of the year. When we first came out the door Wednesday there were 2 and 3 foot drifts. We supposedly got 13 inches.
A slice of the snow by the sidewalk! It's hard to tell how thick this is from the picture, but it goes up past my knees!
Jason getting ready to venture out into the cold with his face mask!

We haven't let Sophie go outside and play yet since the temperatures have been so low. (In the single digits for the high and below zero for the low). But hopefully in the next few days we can get some good pictures of her playing in the snow!

Sophie and hats!

2009-11-30T18:42:00.000-08:00

The past week or two Sophie has loved putting on Jason's beanie. It's like she's getting ready for the snow (that we don't have). Here she is with her own hat on and then Jason's hat in the last two pics.

Doesn't Sophie look so tough? I think these pics are hilarious!

Getting ready for Christmas!

2009-11-28T16:35:00.000-08:00

We put up the tree today! Sophie seemed scared of the tree at first, then she couldn't stop saying 'tree' over and over again. She got tangled up in the lights when we put the lights on, and then when we put on the ornaments we kind of did an assembly line where I handed the ornaments to Sophie and then Sophie handed them to Jason. Once the ornaments were on, then she kept wanting to take them off.

The Mouse

2009-11-21T18:19:00.000-08:00

So last year, we got Sophie this play mouse for cats at the Dollar Store one day because she loved playing with it. Recently, it resurfaced, and now she's scared of it!
I know it's mean, but I couldn't help but post these pictures.

FISHIES!

2009-11-21T18:14:00.000-08:00

Sophie LOVES fish! Everytime we go somewhere with fish, whether it's Walmart, my work, or Cabela's, we take Sophie to see the fish! She just points at them and says over and over again, "Fishies! Fishies!"
So we decided to get her two goldfish, and they're in the living room!

Here she is getting excited about the fish!

Sophie around the house!

2009-11-09T13:10:00.000-08:00

Sophie has this new thing where she loves to put on "bracelets" (some real, some not)
(Note the weird hair strand ... there's this piece that seems to be longer at times than others.)
Here she is for a close-up at the camera! Isn't her little Albert Lea Tigers sweatshirt adorable?

Happy Halloween!!

2009-11-02T16:08:00.000-08:00

Sophie was a bumblebee!!

Here's some pics from our church Halloween activity:
Jason's probably going to kill me for putting this up, but here he is with the mullet wig he got! Ha! He also had some crazy teeth that he wore (He was a hillbilly) He won first place for the adult costume category, too! Ha!
Sophie checking things out!

By the end of the night, Sophie ditched her wings and eventually her actual costume.

The pumpkin patch

2009-10-17T14:52:00.000-07:00

We went to this pumpkin patch today off of the main road Jason uses to go to work. Turned out to be really great, and I can just imagine how much Sophie will love it next year! We ended up getting three little pumpkins and we're going to draw faces on them and we'll carve bigger ones next year! (We hope to grow our own pumpkins next year!)

Just had to post this! I thought it was the cutest thing ever!
Me & Sophie!
href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fYxE24PxtSw/Sto_BicLE8I/AAAAAAAABq0/mn1ls2RuK8w/s1600-h/pic8.jpg">This would have been really cute if I could have caught them both smiling, but this is the best one I could get!
They had lots of games and animals! We went over to the llamas!

Jason's like, "What in the heck is that thing trying to do?"
And for your viewing pleasure... Ha!

Snow before Halloween!

2009-10-17T14:50:00.001-07:00

We live where again? Oh yeah.... Minnesota..... also known as the tundra..... It snowed on Monday! This is the first time since I've lived here that it actually snowed before Halloween!

Miscellaneous Sophie

2009-10-17T14:46:00.000-07:00

One time we were over at my friend Sarah's house and she taught Sophie the sign language for more. Sophie just gets the biggest kick out of it, and anytime she hears that word "more" she starts doing it! Ha!
Sophie won't keep socks on for anything anymore. She keeps ripping them off. Here she is caught in the act!

2009-10-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, after going up to the Twin Cities for a couple different things, we stopped at Cabela's (AKA Jason's Disneyland) on the way back.
Sophie LOVED the animals!

Here she is next to the "big bear" as she called it!

Jason's body work on his truck

2009-09-27T14:49:00.000-07:00

Jason has been working hard doing body work on his truck. He's done a great job so far, and it's really coming along well!

One of the spots he's working on. This was one of the areas where there was rust, so he cut out the rust and is putting in a new piece.
Another spot.

Sick Sophie

2009-09-27T14:36:00.000-07:00

The weirdest thing happened this weekend.
On Friday, Sophie started breaking out. It started on her trunk (stomach/back) and then by Saturday it had started on her arms, legs and face, too.
She hadn't eaten anything new, and we hadn't switched laundry detergents. She was a little bit more irritable than normal, but she'd act happy, too. She'd eat and drink the same as normal.
So I had our babysitter, Terri, look at Sophie, and she thinks Sophie has the measles.
Anyways, we're still not sure what it is. We haven't taken Sophie in because she hasn't really had any kind of crazy temperature or anything and the bumps are fading away.
When Sophie woke up on Saturday her eyes were a little swollen.
I don't even know if you can tell from this picture or not, but here's the little bumps. They're not like chicken pox by any means, they're more like a bunch of sand granules size bumps. And that's how it described measles when we looked it up online.
Sophie cuddling with daddy

She still had fun in the bathtub!