My budding photographer

Sophie took these photos of me and Lauren.

She even did back-button focusing on this-her first time using that feature!

She's a little photographer in the making--which is fine with me because if you teach your kids photography they'll never have enough money to buy drugs.

And here she is on her first day of 1st grade:

You are not my mother. You are a Snort!

Have you ever gone to the library, grabbed a few potentially interesting books, got home and started reading them, and they are all duds?

Or you know those books that your 2 year old always insists on reading but you, as the parent, just don't get? I'm looking to you, Go, Dog, Go!

Maybe I am hard to please, but sometimes great children's books are hard to come by. I like my children's books to entertain both myself and my child.

Well, this past library visit was very successful. Yay! And because I am currently obsessed with amazing kid books, here are a few you may want to check out...

A Cat Named Tim and Other Short Stories

Dave read this one to the kids the other night and the laughs coming from those 3 were infectious! This one is a mostly wordless picture book and a collection of short stories. If you read it, my favorite is the one with spaghetti.


Room for Bear

Oh, this one is so cute. It's about a bear and his duck family and how they literally fit each other in their lives. I like cute stories.


A Mountain of Friends

This is a very short, fun book. The story is about how a group of friends help make a little penguins dream come true. I can't tell you more because it would give the book away. Just read it.

Le Grand Canyon

We are working on becoming more spontaneous people. So we went to the Grand Canyon with Uncle Ben and Aunt Joanna. It was mucho hot. Poor Lauren (and everyone else) got a bit of a sunburn.

I flew over the Grand Canyon when I went to Utah a couple of months ago. Did you know it's really big? I mean, from the sky it is EXPANSIVE. I finally got it. The canyon is big.

Did you also know what every year, over 5 million people visit this place? I wonder if that is more than what Disneyland gets.

On our roundabout way home we stopped in a lovely forest outside of Flagstaff and wandered around for a bit. I could live in Flagstaff.

 

Then we found this cute little Pioneer Museum in Flagstaff. I recommend it. There were little pioneer homes you could walk through, a train to climb into, and a bunch of old stuff in the main building (which used to be the Flagstaff hospital).

Yay for spontaneous adventures!

This little monkey turned 6

  ...back in March.

Sophie. You had a birthday. You turned 6. Your birthday was overshadowed a bit by Lauren's arrival to our family five days earlier. We didn't invite lots of friends over or have a piñata, but I took you to playgroup and told you that playing with your friends would be your party. You were okay with that. Later, we ate cake at home and Daddy took you to Build-A-Bear where you picked out Princess Celestia of My Little Pony.

 

Sophie, you are the best big sister a mom could ask for. When I am busy, you always make sure to give Lauren lots of smiles and songs to keep her happy. Lauren loves you so much already.

You and Sabrina get along real well and together you have fun playing in Imagination Land. I love how you look out for your sisters and I hope you always continue to be good friends with them.

 

You are keeping the Tooth Fairy busy with all the teeth you are losing. Once, we thought the Tooth Fairy forgot to pick up your tooth, but then you told us that you forgot to put the tooth on your bed. She came that following night. 

You love the game of UNO. You like to go clothes shopping with me (yay!) and pick out pretty dresses to wear. You love your friends, soccer, school, Star Wars, Kung Fu Panda, and swimming.

And we love you lots, Sophie!

Slippin' and Slidin'

Grandma and Grandpa Hancock wanted to see pictures of the girls playing on our new swing set. I took photos for a family I know, and in exchange, we got a play set! We have been putting it to good use this summer. Just add water.

Yooty-tooty-tah

Family Vacation: Utah.

First stop: GFR in Park City. I saw my peeps. This means 3 days of girl-only time, lots of chocolate, and lots of laughing.

Lauren was the only family member allowed to come with me for this part.

Salt Lake. Dave and the girls met up with me after GFR, and together we rode the commuter train to Temple Square.

This is Sabrina "watching" Meet the Mormons in the Visitor's Center.

 And Sabrina with her snack and dad.

 And here we all are trying to take a family photo in a picturesque setting. You can see how that worked out.

 We stayed with the Melvilles and their 3 beautiful girls.

 Then we met up with my brother, Joe and his family.

 It was a great vacation that the whole family enjoyed!

Glimpse into Sabrina's World

I showed Sabrina this picture and asked her who was in it. 

This is what she said, pointing to each person:

"Daddy, Sissy (her way of saying 'Sophie'), and boots!"

Dish Duty

Parents usually become really sad when they think about their babies growing up.

....Until they learn how to do dishes properly. Then it is the most exciting thing ever!

The Fabulous Five

Today I clicked on the "Gal Pals" link on my blog.

Looking at photos of my friends brought back so many memories, but most of all it got me so excited to see these people in a few weeks!

So let's look at our friendship through the years, shall we?

 This is me in 5th grade. I played the French horn.

It is very apparent in this photo of how popular I was. 

Everybody wanted to be best friends with the girl in the oversized sweater that played French horn!

So, it was no surprise to anyone when I became best friends with two of the brainiest and most creative kids in school, Jael and Lecia.

Then I met Brityn (and Cameron).

I remember the first day I met these two.

We were in Primary at the Marana building, and I was impressed that they already had braces!

But our lives would never be the same when we met Nicole.

I mean, where else would we get the insider information on all things Frank Sinatra and Mafia?

(By the way, I totally credit this photo for launching my photography career.)

We were so awesome.

In fact, we were so cool that we made our own amazing movie and had a very fancy movie premier dinner.

If you read that last line in a sarcastic tone, then you read it correctly.

And then we said goodbye to our favorite friend/brother/crush/irksome-person, Cameron, as he left for his mission.

Lecia cried,

as usual.

Yet we continued to dance.

We even had our own exclusive dance party during Lecia's wedding reception.

I can't wait to see you guys!!

Nicole, I hope you've got a playlist all made out for us.