BUNGEE JUMPING

For our 5 year anniversary Eli surprised me with bungee jumping! It's something I've always wanted to do, but when I actually got the chance, became super super scarred. We went off a bridge in Twin Falls, Idaho, and it was 175 ft jump. We've been skydiving, so I thought I'd be ok, but this was seriously the single scariest thing I have ever done. You just plain fall. And then the cord catches, recoils, and you fall again. Over and over. We each did two jumps, and the guy running it makes you do them both in a row. I almost didn't do the second jump, but when I got back to the top he just set me back on the beam and started counting down. SO glad I did it, but probably won't be doing it again!

OREGON

In June we took the long drive up to Hammond, Oregon to see Eli's brother Jason and his family. And I mean LONG drive. Twelve hours one way with two little girls is not so much fun. Sophie watched Oliver and Company NINE times. We got so sick of listening to it that we stopped and bought headphones for her. Also very annoying was the fact that she has to pee every five seconds. Once we finally got there tho, it was awesome : ) Jason is a park ranger and so we got to do all sorts of cool things in the forest and on the coast. We spent a lot of time at the beach, bike riding, and just spending time together. Sophie loved the aquarium, and having a sleepover with cousin Kenyon every night. Definitely a trip I would love to take again, but not until after I petition the state of Oregon to raise the speed limit to anything other than 65!

The Switch

I have now done the one thing that I swore I would NEVER do when it came to babies - cloth diapers. And as incredibly ludicrous as it may sound, they're not that bad! I have always had such a negative opinion of cloth diapers, probably because when I thought of them I envisioned those old school ones fastened on with a ginormous safety pin, leaking everywhere and everything else gross that goes along with diapers. I have a sister in law whose been trying to talk me into "going cloth" since before Sophie was born, but that wasn't happening. Lately, with Eli back in school and working less, we've been doing everything we can think of to save a little cash, cloth diapers were brought into the discussion as a mere joke. Shortly thereafter, I was in Colorado visiting family and friends, and found out that both my sister in law (a different one) and a good friend of mine were also doing cloth. So, after hearing about how much money they save and how great they are for the environment, I did a little research. Turns out cloth diapers have come a long way. So, we've traded in our Huggies, helped the environment (not something I'm super worried about, but it sounds good), and "gone cloth." They're actually no where near the work I thought they'd be, super soft on her little butt, about the same size as a disposable, and come in patterns so cute I'm considering buying t-shirts to match and calling it an outfit.

Easter

Elin Danielle 6 Months

Just like Sophie, Elin is at the top of the charts : ) At her 6 month checkup she was 27.5" long, and weighed 19.5 lbs, both in the 97th percentile. She would already rather eat baby food than drink a bottle, and loves gram crackers and raspberry jam.

We found out on Monday that Eli was accepted into the Masters Nursing program at BYU! I've cheered for a number of colleges, played for a few, and wished I could have gone to some others, but never once dreamed that I'd do any such thing for BYU. It's actually a very highly rated program, and Eli was very lucky to get in only having graduated from nursing school 2 years ago (only 15 people were accepted into the program). His stellar GRE score and awesome letters of recommendation helped. So, I guess for the next 2 years I'll have to suck it up and cheer on the Cougars. Good job babe, you're a male Cougar. But, we already knew that : )

Elin Danielle @ 4 Months

I can't believe it, but Elin is already 4 months old. She's just getting big SO fast. . . . . a little too fast for me. At her 4 month check up she was 25.5 " long, and weighed 15 lbs 11 oz. She's about the same length Sophie was, but weighs about 1/2 lb more. She's in the 95th percentile across the board, big girls at our house!

Maybe the greatest day ever!

I never thought that someone using the toilet would bring me such joy, but alas, it has!!!! I tried a few months ago to potty train her, but got so frustrated that I just gave up. After buying diapers for two for the past four months, I decided that it might be cheaper to just buy new panties over and over again. Anyway, for lack of a better idea, we did potty training cold turkey. When Sophie woke up on Monday morning, I took her diaper off and replaced it with a pair of Dora the Explorer panties. Day 1 had 12 accidents. Day 2, 9 accidents. Day 3, ZERO!!!! I seriously thought she wasn't getting it, and after mopping the floor a dozen times was about ready to give up again. But, something clicked inside that little head of hers, and now I can officially say that Sophie Melissa is officially potty trained!

I know that my blogging could be described as somewhat sporadic, and inconsistent at best, but it has now come to a near halt altogether. Our lap top decided to blow up, which has caused some serious frustrations. Eli is all up in arms that he won't have one for school now, and all the important things he does like paying our bills and basically managing our lives, but I'm concerned about the REALLY important stuff, like facebook and blog stalking. I guess it didn't actually blow up, but it did make a really obnoxious noise and have a flashing black and white screen for about 2o minutes, and now it won't even turn on. So, we had do did our old desk top out of storage and plug 'er in. Apparently computers don't do well just sitting uncovered in a storage room for 2 years, because it has become very temperamental. The most annoying part for me is that it will no longer upload photos from an SD card or a USB. So, no pictures for you!

Christmas . . . a little after the fact

Christmas seemed to come in such a rush this year, even now that it's over I feel behinde. We did Christmas at our house this year, and Sophie got such a haul that I'm glad it didn't have to be transportted anywhere. Eli totally surprised me by somehow getting my college basketball jersey and having it framed for me, and also got me a camera, which is really really nice, capable of so many cool things, and I have no clue how to use it properly! It did come with quite a bit of reading material, so I should probably get around to it. . . .

Elin, looking happy with her presents, even tho she has no clue what's going on.

Sophie was not as impressed with some of her presents as we thought she'd be.