All About Sophie

I realize that I have not posted a lot this year, and now September is nearly over and I have not said one word about what we have been up to this month, but with all that going through my mind I have decided that this post will be all about Sophie. She has had a lot of fun this summer and has grown up so fast; it is hard to believe that she turns one in a few days.

Early on when we moved to Beckley we bought this kiddy pool for Sophie to use. She loves water and had a blast swimming in her pool out on our deck.







I decided that one day I would fill up a cookie sheet with water so she could splash her hands in the water. I had some things I needed to do in the kitchen and this idea seemed like a brilliant plan to entertain Sophie and help me. I had to laugh when I looked up to check on her, she had decided that splashing her hands in the water was not enough but that she had to sit in it as well. She thought she was so clever.





She loves to read books. We have a basket with some of her books in it, she loves to pull the basket out and climb inside to read her books. She jibbers to herself and turns the pages one by one, I think it is so adorable.




We were given this little green car that can fold up into a walker to help Sophie learn to walk. It has actually come in very handy. Sophie loves the car feature, Stewart and I take turns pushing her up and down our hallway as fast as we can. She would not mind if we did this activity all day long she loves it that much. I finally got smart and tied a string to the front handle bars so that I can pull her around instead of having to bend over and push her, this arrangement is much nicer for both Stewart and I. Here is a video that I took of Stewart pushing Sophie; sorry about the bad video taking skills you will have to turn your head or your screen to view it properly.

Sophie loves to help me cook in the kitchen. She loves it when I sit her on the counter so she can watch what I am doing. As she has gotten older, watching has become less of a hobby to her; she would rather help me instead. My wonderful sister in-law made this apron for Sophie and it has come in so handy we use it all the time. Here are some pictures of Sophie helping me make her daddy some biscuits.

About once a day we take Sophie’s green car/walker and go outside (if it is good weather) and practice walking around in the driveway. Sophie is getting super good at walking with her walker. Her she is strutting her stuff.

On September 23, Sophie took two small shuffle baby steps. We knew at that point it would not be long before she takes her real first steps. On September 28th Sophie took her first real steps, I am glad I had the camera out to document this major achievement for her. When Stewart got home from school that night we tried to get her to do it for him but she was not in the mood. Good thing for Stewart and all of you that I got it on camera.

More facts about Sophie

She says hi, hello, dada and sometimes mama. “Hi” is her first word, with dada a close second. She knows the word dada but not the meaning behind it, everything is dada. Sometimes when I point to myself and say “mama” she points to herself and says “dada”.

She has 6 teeth

She loves people, everyone out here says she is a “doll baby”; she will wave to most everyone we see.

She loves to give us hugs and kisses, and has even learned to blow us kisses.

She weighs 15ish pounds; she is a small little girl.

She can climb up stairs

She also knows a handful of signs she uses to communicate with us. She is a smarty pants, she catches on to new things fast.

She loves to play with her stuffed animals or dolls. I love to listen to her jibber to her dolls or watch her play with her dolls when she thinks no one is watching her. She always makes sure her toys know they are loved, because she kisses them often.

She loves to play hide and seek with Stewart and I, one of us will go hide with Sophie while the other counts. Sophie gets so excited when we play that she most often gives herself away by squealing or coming out of hiding. We have learned it is better to have her “find” rather then “hide”.

She just finished reading the Book of Mormon. I have been reading aloud to her everyday from the Book of Mormon since day one, we just finished it on Sept. 25th, a week ahead of schedule.


Well there you have it, a post all about our loveable Sophie. I will post more about her soon since she is having a birthday on Saturday. We are going to have a party the week after since this weekend is General Conference. It is hard to believe that it has been a whole year since Sophie joined us, time is moving to fast; it seems like just yesterday she made her début.

August was a Blur

August came and went in a Blur. I think I spent most of the month in the kitchen cooking, washing dishes or canning. I have been lucky enough to find great deals on produce or have had some produce handed to me so that I could build our food storage up. I am learning that even though it is hard work to can food I am grateful that I know how to do it and most of all so proud of the end result. This year I have canned: blueberry syrup, blueberry pie filling, peaches, peach pie filling, peach jam, grape juice, grape jelly, homemade salsa, and applesauce (I will be caning this next week). I am extra proud of myself since half of the things I have canned I had to teach myself how to do it.

At the beginning of August Stewart and I got a membership at the local YMCA, we have since been swimming together as a family a few times a week. Sophie loves the water and enjoys splashing around. One of us will play with Sophie while the other swims laps. I have been meaning to bring my camera and take pictures of Sophie in the water but it has not happened yet.

Since we have moved to Beckley, Stewart and I have met some wonderful people. We enjoy our new ward and feel so at home with the members here. I mentioned to Stewart it is nice to be in a ward where we are not just another medical student but we are finally individuals. I love it! We were able to go visit the farm of one of our bishopric members. They live about 50 minutes from our house on a narrow windy road. They only live about 30 miles from us, but since the roads are windy it takes longer. When we got there I was a little carsick but I shook it off, and had a great time. Their home sits in a quite little hollow (or holler if you’re West Virginian). They have 4 goats, a horse, 2 beef cows, chickens, 2 bee hives, 2 dogs, a cat, and lots of wildlife including black bears. Sophie loved the animals, she really likes wildlife. We wish there was a zoo nearby so she could see more animals. Anyway we had a fantastic time, they told me us we could come back so I could ride their horse and Stewart could go target shooting.

Sophie was not to found of the horse, I think he was a little too big for her

Speaking of new wards, with new wards comes new opportunities to serve in the church. We moved here in June and in August we finally got a calling. Stewart is now the Ward Mission Leader and I am the Young Women Leader. Both are fairly demanding callings, but we are both excited to serve.

At the end of the month the town of Beckley had a children’s fair one of the events took place at a near by lake called Lake Stephens. Being the adventuresome people we are we decided to take Sophie and visit the lake. We thought there would be more to do but to be honest the fair was lame, so we took a walk down to the lake to play in the sand. If we would have planned better we would have thought to bring our swimsuits. Sophie loved the water, but disliked the sand a lot. We had a fun time together as a family enjoying the last real day of summer.

Sophie did not like the feel of the sand on her toes

Well there you have it, our August happenings. Hugs!