Birthday Girl!

I LOVE CAKE!
My little beauty

"Like okay mom, enough pictures already."

Sophie loves to look at books, she's the intellectual in the family.

Birthday toes, I couldn't believe she sat still for me to pain them all.

It was a beautiful day today in Denver, 72. We tried out our new caterpillar sprinkler that Erin and fam gave Ken for her b-day. She got out her umbrella and pretended it was raining.

Sophie's puppy b-day cake, Walmart special.

Ladybug and sunflower cupcakes for the visiting teachers. Kennedy and I made these together. I can't believe my little Sophie is one year old. I can remember having her like it was yesterday. It literally took me less than a minute from the time I started pushing to the time she was born..too much info? My doctor said he would always remember her because his dogs name was Sophie. Who knew that she would so closely resemble a little puppy her first year? Staining our carpet with pee spots as she crawls away after a bath, constantly sticking her tongue out, kissing us by sucking on or licking our faces etc. etc. She is such a happy little girl and so sweet. She always has a goofy little look on her face or huge smile. She has a great little laugh and follows her big sister everywhere. She can eat any baby under the table, loves to wrestle with sister and mom and loves to sneak up the stairs or pull everything out of the cupboards. Everyone thinks she is a boy but on the bright side they always comment on her gorgeous blue eyes. We sure love our little girl.

Look alike

Do people ever tell you that your kids look like someone? We have decided that Sophie looks like Dopey. My brother in law thinks she looks like the Jeff Dunham puppet.

Yearly Pics

We got some pictures taken near the girls birthdays. I always have my brother do pictures for me when we are in Utah, and I like them MUCH better but I like to have the "school picture" look so that I can compare them from year to year.

Kennedy at four years old.
Sophie at one year old.

If you live in Utah and need pictures taken for your kids, family, wedding or graduation you should check out my brother's site. I think he is incredibly talented and much less posed then the JCPenney beauties here. www.looslitaken.com

Who knew?

(beautiful Fort Collins and one of the many bike paths/trails, from the internet..I didn't take this)

We headed up to Fort Collins today to see my friend Erin and her kids and to go to the park. While leaving the park I asked Kennedy if she had a fun time and she said, "You know mom, I guess being a kid isn't so bad after all."

Things may be looking up for my belligerent little redhead.

One year older

The girls birthdays are about a month apart and so I thought I would update on both of them right about now. Kennedy's birthday was March 27 and she turned 4. Sophie will turn one on April 30. I thought the above picture was funny. She is such a sweet little girl. She is a very pleasant and smiley kid who loves to observe and watch the things around her. She is very busy and loves to get into everything. Her favorite thing to do right now is get into the movie drawer and pull out all the dvd cases. Then she heads over to the cupboards and pulls all the sandwich bags out of the box, then onto the tinfoil and whatever else she can make a mess of. She will pretty much eat anything and seems to always be hungry. She has the most beautiful blue eyes and I am convinced that her red hair is even brighter than her sisters. She loves to give slobber kisses and to roll around and wrestle with mom and Kennedy. She loves her daddy and gets a huge smile on her face when he comes home.

Kennedy is FULL of personality. Just today she was telling me that we need a little brother so that she can teach him how to cooperate, "you know mom, it is important to learn how to play well with others." She should take her own advice. Anywho, she has a huge vocabulary and loves to learn and use new words. She is a great little dancer and sings all day long. She loves to play dress up and pretend. Kennedy also loves to ride her bike and go on hikes or play outside. She is excited to take swim lessons this summer with her cousin Shelton and can't wait to see all her family and friends in Utah, it is all she talks about. She is really good about reminding mom and dad to do prayers and family scriptures at night and when she sees someone on tv do something bad she says, "they must not know about Jesus." She even likes to tell women at Nordstrom that they need a little more fabric if they aren't dressed very modestly and their "boomers" are hanging out. She eats just about every five minutes, I can't keep up with her need for food. It may have something to do with the fact that she dances around the house and never stops going all day long. We really love her.

The story of Sophie's life.

Grandma Scotty

My cute little Grandma Scotty Loosli passed away this week. She is actually my step-Grandma but since my real Grandma passed away when my dad was on his mission I never knew her. She was a tiny little lady and was always so kind and patient with the crazy grand kids at her house.
You can read her obituary at http://www.legacy.com/saltlaketribune/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=126263703 She has lived in St. George since my Grandpa Loosli passed away so I actually haven't seen her in a long time. It is nice to know that she is now reuniting with loved ones that passed on before her.

Funny Girl

I love my little Kennedy. I often complain about how high maintenance she is but she's absolutely entertaining! Two examples:

Today while going to the bathroom she yelled that there was an ant on the bathroom floor. So I said okay and went about my business. TEN minutes later I walked past the bathroom and she was still in there, so I asked "Kennedy are you okay?"

"Well yes mom but you know that I am scared of ants, can you come get it?"

I went into the bathroom and she was sitting on the toilet with her legs straight out in front of her so that the ferocious ant couldn't climb up her leg.

Then I was watching Felicity and she walked in and said, "Mom is it okay if I watch this with you? Is it appropriate for me?"

Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day

What a day we have had. My poor little Sophie began the day by falling down the stairs. I thought I had the gate up and was sweeping and then I hear a bang and a scream. Later in the day she and Kennedy were playing in a box and she somehow got a huge cut on her finger. Later it was bath time and Sophie thinks it's funny to stand and sit and splash everywhere, well she hit her lip on the side of the tub. It is rough being 11 months old I tell ya.

We had a nice weekend in Fruita. We took a drive up to the monument and hung out with family. We did a hike to a beautiful lookout and saw one of the trails that Mike rides, I cannot believe he rides UP those kinds of hills. I think it is best that I don't see any other trails.

The kids had a fun egg hunt and we had a nice lesson as a family about the Savior. All in all a great Easter weekend.

Now we are struggling to keep Kennedy in her bed without coming into our room 10 times night with excuses about why she can't sleep. We've hear everything from "Mom there is water in my eyes, how can I possibly sleep with water in my eyes?" to "I am so scared I just couldn't stop thinking about my parents." Oh the drama.

Go Grandma!

Since we are going out of town for Easter (to Fruita), I thought I would let the girls open their Easter gift from Grandma early. She made the girls these adorable lambs. Kennedy absolutely would not believe me that Grandma made the lambs, "How could she have possibly made them Mom." Well frankly Ken, I don't really know because they are stinkin cute and look store bought and the girls LOVE them, but then again this is Grandma Loosli and she is quite crafty! Thanks Grandma Colleen.

Back to the grind

What a nice weekend. Conference was nice and so relaxing. Mike and I took turns sleeping in on Saturday and Sunday, it was bliss. The talks were all great, of course, but I particularly enjoyed Elder Holland's talk about the Atonement on Sunday morning. It was one of the few times that Kennedy wasn't asking me to play with her and Sophie was asleep so I actually got to listen. It set a very nice tone for this week as we prepare for Easter Weekend.

During conference Kennedy kept comparing the picture we have of the Prophet in our house with the prophet as he spoke on tv. She said "that is not the Prophet mom, he has lost all his hair like Uncle Peter." That cracked me up, especially since Peter is not the baldest of my brothers but she has asked him several times where all his hair went. Then she wanted to sit at the computer and watch a show so she got her spagettios and moved them to the computer, sat down and said, "perfectly executed." I don't know where she gets these little phrases but I love that she uses them correctly. She was so needy this weekend and I was soooo not in the mood to entertain kids, I just wanted to relax and listen to the talks. I had to break out the corstarch and water combo to keep her entertained both on Saturday and Sunday. If you've never tried it you just mix cornstarch with water and it makes this weird goo that is fun to play with...totally messy but it bought me some time to myself.

In answer to your question...

Many people asked about how much it would cost to have a picture done by my brother like the ones he did for Kennedy. I spoke to him and he said that it is anywhere between $150-$200 per person in the picture, depending on time and detail. Here is one he did years ago of Mike. You can check out his other work or contact him at http://www.blakeloosli.com/

Mountain biking

Here are some pictures from the mountain biking in Fruita and Moab. This was the same weekend as the Moab Half Marathon, Mike is still talking about it. Mike overlooking the valley on the ridge of one of the trails.
Mike, Greg and Justin.
Mike and Greg.
The bikes.

Jim on the ridge of another trail.

Here are some videos from the weekend.

http://s582.photobucket.com/albums/ss269/stonesfamily/?action=view&current=FruitaMarch2009010.flv

http://s582.photobucket.com/albums/ss269/stonesfamily/?action=view&current=FruitaMarch2009024.flv