Sophie's First Girl's Camp

 Our Ward Girl's Camp was July 8th, 9th and 10th this year.  Having a four month old does not lend itself easily to participating fully in such activities; however, Sophie and I did make it up to Mantua on the 9th and were able to bond with the Young Women for a few hours before heading for home.  Sophie definitely did more bonding than I did.  The girls could not get enough of her!  Someone would be holding her and then suddenly there would be a big cluster of young women surrounding her, cooing at her as she grinned back at them with her enormous smile.  You know the one, the one where she's smiling so big she might actually eat you!  Then a girl would come over to me to show me what a cute picture she'd taken of my little darling and how she'd be sure to send me a copy because Sophie is just so darn cute!  She fell asleep in the arms of our Bishop's wife who can't believe her own baby is getting so big!  She's sixteen months.  And that's how the afternoon went.  Sophie was passed around and just smiled and smiled and enjoyed herself.  Our Young Women President made her this adorable bracelet with value colored beads to remember her first girls camp and I was beginning to think that Sophie was born to camp!  And then she let me know how false that was.  At about 9:00 pm started hollering and would not stop!  I was having the hardest time comforting her and everything I tried backfired on me and made her yell louder.  It seemed like FOREVER that she carried on.  It was probably only a half hour, but then she was asleep and it was almost time for testimony meeting.  My favorite part of Girls Camp and the main reason I chose to head up there Tuesday.  It was amazing.  These Young Women are amazing!  I don't think any of us will forget the way we felt when sweet Emily, who is down-syndrome, bore her testimony.  And Sophie slept through it all.  Until I stood up to bear mine.  I was just beginning when she decided she'd rather I didn't, and so I made it as short and sweet as I could.  What a memory!  I still think she was a champ, and so grateful for how sweet everyone was with her.  When she cried so many ward members told me how unlike Sophie that was.  She's such a sweetheart whenever they've seen her that it couldn't possibly be otherwise!

  Clearly these pictures weren't taken in the wilderness but they're just too cute!! 

Staycation

June was a big month for our family.  Sophie was blessed, we had family in from New York and DC, several siblings participated in the Utah Valley Marathon, we sent Nate off on his mission and had baby showers for little Milo and baby Leila (who will be here next month!).  We spent lots of time together running to various places for the little ones enjoyment, and for the adults sanity.  It was a joy to spend time together as siblings since distance makes that nearly impossible most of the year.  Definitely good times, but unfortunately Jon was in Farson for two of the three weeks that my family was here and he wasn't able to participate in much of what we did, so we decided that the week of the 4th Jon would take some time off of work and we would have a vacation here at home.  Just fill our days with fun and local activities.  Tuesday the 2nd we spent the afternoon at the Bountiful Rec Center and had a blast!  The girls got to wear matching bathing suits (I need to take a picture!!) the first of many matching outfits to come...  It took Lyds a bit to warm up to the water, but by the end of the afternoon she couldn't get enough of it.  Especially the slide.  I think I went down that ginormous roller coaster of a slide twenty consecutive times (though it felt like a bajillion) in quick succession before I passed her off to Jon and took over caring for Sophie.  We took turns with the girls and went back and forth between the fun outdoor options that included a ship with a steering wheel that Lyds loved being in control of and the cool indoor options that held the super rad slide and lazy river.  Such a fun time!

Wednesday we traveled all the way to Sandy and spent some time at The Living Planet Aquarium.  Lydia was dressed in her BYU tennis attire and Sophie in her U of U cheerleading outfit.  What cute girls!  Lydia could have spent days and days in the water at the Rec Center, but tired quickly of the Aquarium.  What a neat place!  But probably one to be enjoyed when the girls are a little bit older and can really appreciate it... just a thought.  She enjoyed the fish, and seemed interested in the sea horses, loved sitting on the huge plastic frog, but the 13 foot snake scared her quite a bit more than the creepy, crawly spiders did.  And to say that she did not care for the spiders is an understatement for sure.  She was so ready to be done with the animals by the time we reached the end that she didn't even want to look at the penguins!  Not only did she not want to look at them, she became boneless and we had a difficult time getting her back in the stroller.  That soon changed when she realized that there were stuffed animals in the gift shop.  So many fun fluffy friends!  But she was tired and had already let us know it, so we didn't linger there for long, but returned to the car and headed for home.

 Thursday.  What a day.  6:00 am found us up and moving!  We needed to be at my parents ward in Bountiful by 7:30 and didn't want to be late!  My dad was in charge of the annual 4th of July Breakfast that's held after a flag raising ceremony and music and a speech dedicated to America and those who have or who are currently fighting for our freedoms.  It's a wonderful tradition and a great way to start a fantastically fun and family packed day.  We enjoyed catching up with friends from the ward and family we don't often get to see.  And then we were off to the Kaysville parade!  I imagine that Lyds will appreciate these things more in future years, but despite her disinterest, she was up close and on Jon's shoulders periodically through the parade and saw the princesses as they waved to everyone and she was right up front again to see the horses of course.  But for the most part she didn't want a front row seat, she wanted to eat her snacks on the picnic blanket and sit in the wagon.  By the time the final horses had ridden through and we were packed up and heading back to Mom and Dad Fraziers it was clear that Lydia was exhausted.  She couldn't keep her head upright as Jon pulled her in the wagon and before we'd made it to the school Lyds was bobbing back and forth in that wagon.  Good thing she was belted in!  She must have been spent to fall asleep sitting straight up with nothing to support her, and eventually crashed face first onto our wagon supplies for the final leg of our return trip.  Then she slept for another hour inside before waking up to enjoy a hot dog.  Yum yum.  We only rested at our house for a few minutes before heading off to my parents for hamburgers and some time on the trampoline!  And then we were back in Kaysville for the fireworks.  So much food!!  Great meals and tasty snacks.  I felt like all we were doing was eating eating eating!  No wonder we were stuffed!  So good thing we had some distance to trek before we found Mom and Dad Frazier and our spot on the lawn for the big show.  Watching Lydia was highly entertaining once the fireworks display began.  She HATED them at first!  So loud!!  Jon held her tight and she pressed one ear up against his chest while he covered her other ear.  Then she decided it wasn't so bad and was actually enjoying herself for a few minutes, but that didn't last.  Before the finale she was bored.  Ready to be done.  And wanting to go home.  And Sophie's response to all of this?  She was tired.  And crying.  I honestly think she would have been fine.  Maybe even slept through the whole thing if only she could have fallen asleep to begin with.  Instead she had that look of being so tired she couldn't sleep and on top of that dealing with the noise.  Which certainly didn't help.  We didn't bring head phones for her, but that most likely would have made all the difference in the world if we had.  Was it worth it?  Screaming girls and such a late night... but yes.  It was definitely worth it.  Another memory.  Jon and I have decided to enjoy the moment the best we can no matter what.  Sure beats staying home and doing nothing!  We made it home around 11:00 and I changed and put a sleeping Lydia into her pajamas while she was totally oblivious.  Sophie was completely out as well.  She really was a champ today!  In and out of her car seat.  Again and again and again.  Sleeping anywhere and everywhere.  Constant movement- lots of it in the Bjorn.  All in all it was rather a lot to deal with so it's no wonder both girls slept soundly through the night and our tentative plans to visit the zoo on Friday were cancelled.  We needed to recover from the previous days festivities and just take it easy.  So that's what we did!  It was so great having Jon spend all that time with the girls.  Lydia struggled when he went back to work the following Monday.  Poor babe!  If only she could spend as much time with him as she wanted...

Uncle Nate

Uncle Nate has already been in the MTC for almost a month.  Wow!  And Lydia still talks about him quite a bit.  Right before he left we tried to spend as much time with him as possible, knowing that we wouldn't get to see him for two full years.  Knowing that little Lyds would be FOUR before he comes home and she gets to see him again.  That Sophie would be two, and essentially meeting him for the first time.   Helping Lyds understand why Uncle Nate isn't around because he's on his mission has been a good thing for the family.  Jon and I write to him weekly and plan to continue that until he's home.  We sing "I Hope They Call Me on a Mission" and "We'll Bring the World His Truth" at bedtime and talk about what Uncle Nate is doing, and when we're at Grandma's and Grandpa's we remind Lyds that Nate isn't there because he's preparing to share the gospel in the Netherlands.  Just the other day Lydia and I were coloring and she wanted me to draw Dada.  Then Lydia, then Baby, then Mama, then Uncle Nate and finally Dada again.  I love that she still thinks about Uncle Nate, asks about him (in her little way), and I know that she misses him.

Before he left we were able to go to the Zoo with him, the Heiselts, Aunt Abby, and Aunt Jess.  Lydia had a great time.  She loves animals.  She has a different favorite animal daily so the zoo was a wonderful way for her to spend her day.  She was fascinated with the elephants, thought the otters looked like snakes, and ran around like she owned the place by the time we reached the giraffes.  Sophie loved... Aunt Abby.  And being in the Bjorn.  In the past few days Sophie has revealed her cute little laugh consistently.  I've heard her laugh before, but now it happens often, and I love it!  It's amazing how much she sounds like Lyds when she's laughing.  I think Aunt Abby is still sending her messages telepathically, but that's a story for another day.  The Zoo was awesome.  And that evening with Uncle Nate was very special.  It's no wonder we all love him!  He is amazing.  Lydia went and hugged him probably ten times before and after he was set apart and then again when we left to drive home.  I was a mess.  I felt like I didn't get enough time with him and was so sad for Jon because he wasn't able to be with us for anything that day.  Nate looks up to Jon a lot and they have a great relationship.  We decided that driving down to Provo the next day- the day he entered the MTC- would make everyone feel better.  Jon would be feeling up to that, Lydia could give him one more hug, I would get a chance to talk to him a little bit more... So we joined in on a last family meal with Uncle Nate at Cafe Rios in Provo before saying farewell to him until June 2015.  It was perfect.  True, we didn't get to see him off at the curb outside his new home away from home, but we were there until the end and that was the best.  Uncle Nate is going to be one fabulous missionary.  In fact, he already is.  Uncle Nate, we miss you.