Happy Birthday Sophie!

My baby is 1!

And I know it sounds cliche but I can't imagine our family without her.

Still convinced her favorite person is Ry, although the teasing is becoming more frequent.

Ry can get those good belly laughs out of her.

She can also get her to scream whenever she takes her toys, shuts her in a room, or cuddles with mom.

I really hope you two will be best friends (any suggestions?).

She struggles at nap time, climbs on everything, is SO loud...which is very different from Ry.

I am EXHAUSTED after 3 hrs. of church with her, where I am her jungle gym.

When I shush her in church she looks me square in the eyes and lets out a deliberate scream.

She is so close to walking everywhere.

Says the cutest high pitched "hi".

She pants like a dog, smacks her lips when she wants a kiss, and loves to dance by swinging her right arm back and forth.

Happy birthday Sopha!

Splash

Love the splash parks here.

And the blue skies.

oh...and these cute faces.

Sophie's many modes of transportation.


This is later in the day when I was getting pelted by the hail while moving our tomato plants. The weather was torrential enough to warrant us picking Kev up from school, which is saying something, I think that's happened maybe 5 times while we've been here (die hard b iker).

another hike. another mtn.

This past Saturday I had nothing planned so Kev's default weekend activity is the family driving to the mountains and doing a 4 hr. hike. I was not feeling it at first...but it turned out quite pleasant.

This was our destination which was pretty gruelling to get to. I felt like I was climbing stairs for an hour straight.

Kev's ulterior motive for our family hike.

Kev doubles as a pack mule. He has to be packing an extra 50 lbs.

One little mishap. Ry took an accidental dive into the lake. No extra clothes, but she wore my jacket on top and kev's jacket for pants, and we were then left to walk down the mountain in the rain.

One of these days I hope to have pictures of us frolicking on the beach. I love the mountains but I would not be opposed to a nice beach get away.

Berry Breakfast

So many reasons to love summer, one of them being fresh yummy berries. Sophie's favorite breakfast is all you can eat blackberries, blueberries, or strawberries. Day 1 of berry fest was messy, day 2 we lost the shirt.

ghost town

Saturday we headed to the mountains for some hiking, which is how we spend a lot of our weekends. This however was the first time we went to a ghost town. It was A.MAZING. The ghost town was pretty cool, but the beautiful mountains and wildflowers were spectacular.

Glad we have friends who love to escape the city too. McDonoughs are always up for a good adventure.

I want a yard full of wildflowers...but not of the dandelion variety.

It's best not to tell Ry to smile for pics. You end up with either monkey face (as seen below) or squinty eyes (as seen above).

Sophie and her best friend Belle. They both have great style (and know how to rock a yellow sweat suit).


Plumb tuckered out on the way down.

We balanced our day with mother nature with a nice dose of outlet shopping at the end...a perfect day.