No Witches Hat!

We had a pretty fun time at the annual Ivins Halloween Party last night. Doug and I went as bags of jelly beans and Sophia went in a halloween outfit. She absolutely refused to wear a costume. When we got there she totally started screaming and freaking out at everyone in costume. It was pretty funny. She calmed down after awhile but was still on edge for the rest of the party.

Here's the cookies I took to the party. They were so fun to make and decorate! Thank you Target for the $1 cookie cutters!

Here's the happy family at the party. (Sorry we're not really looking at the camera.) If you look close you can see my new hair cut that I got yesterday. I went to the local beauty college here in Payson and was actually pleased with the outcome.

And here's a slide show of cousins and other fun things. Sophia's cousins Bridger and Logan went as "Bad guys" (or "mad" guys as Bridger calls them - he's so cute!) Enjoy!

Free Association

The other night while I was working Sophia was sitting next to me coloring (or scribbling or whatever you want to call it) like she normally does. In between sribbles she'd pause for a minute and say "um...." and then announce what she had just drawn. The list started getting pretty funny so I had to write it down. Here's her free association list: Drezden...fireworks...santa...mom...chairs...tortilla...phone...bathtoys. So there you have it. Here' the picture that went along with it. What do you make of that Grandpa Miller?

More silly moments

This morning while I was in the shower Sophia found the socks that I wore yesterday and put them on all by herself along with her jelly (or as she calls them "flower") shoes. She sure is one stylin kiddo!


Also this morning I was talking to Doug on the phone and when I hung up she said, "who ya calkin' for?" (which also means, "who were you talking to?"). Anyway, I told her it was dad and she said, "Oh, you tell 'im I love ya?" (meaning, "did you tell him I love him?"). What a thoughtful child. It was pretty sweet.

Finally, here's a picture and video of Sophs helping Doug make waffles for dinner last night. Enjoy!
Making Waffles with Dad from jmwilkins10 on Vimeo.

The First Snow!

We woke up this morning to snow on the ground! It was so fun and it made me so anxious for the holidays! Sophia and I stared out the window for about 15 minutes and she just kept saying "See-yee no (silly snow)" over and over again. She also kept saying "no on car, no on trees, no on grass...." She's a pretty observant child (not to mention master of the obvious). Anyway, it's pretty much all melted by this afternoon but it was a fun surprise to wake up to this morning.

Apples, Apples, and more Apples

We have greatly been enjoying the harvest of my parents apple trees lately. On Thursday I made a ton of applesauce, last night we mad juice at my parents house, and today I'm planning on doing some pie filling. It's been great! Sophia had such a fun time helping with the juice last night. Her job was to put the apples from the bucket into the water bath. We all enjoyed it and cam away with about 18 gallons of juice! We definitely have to admit that it just wasn't the same without the Damstedts help. You were missed.
During the whole process Sophia took a little tumble off the picnic table bench. She bonked her face pretty good. Last night as I was putting her to bed I finally convinced her to let me to look inside her mouth to make sure she hadn't injured anything to serious. As I was looking I saw that she tore her frenulum (the little flappy thing between your gums and upper lip). I don't think there's anything they can do for it so I'm not too worried. Doug remembers he once tore his and it grew back. (D-if you happen to read this, feel free to share your medical opinion). Anyway, she seems to be doing fine today so I don't think it did any permanent damage. I felt bad for the poor kid though and she looks pretty beat up.




I tried to show her bumps and bruises with this picture but it looks more like a mug shot.


P.S. Here's a bonus picture of a cake my sister-in-law Heather made the other night when we got together to celebrate birthdays.

The Grotto

Last night for FHE we headed up Payson Canyon to see if we could be successful at Letterboxing. See www.letterboxing.org for more info. My sister first told me about Letterboxing and when I saw that there was one in Payson we decided to check it out. We went to a place called "The Grotto". For those of you who, like me, have no idea what a Grotto is, here ya go: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grotto. It was kind of just like a cave with a big waterfall running into it and standing water all around. It was actually quite spectacular. (Sorry I kind of have freaky eyes in this picture. You've got to love camera timers).

There was a little hike to get there full of fun log bridges and beautiful fall leaves. We had a great time and Sophia was the best little hiker.
We were not successful at finding the Letterbox but we were successful at a fun family evening together. I'd never been up Payson Canyon but it was gorgeous and we plan on making many trips up there in the future. Enjoy the pics and videos (in the video Sophs is holding the bag of leaves we collected. She was pretty proud about carrying it all the way down)!

Hiking from jmwilkins10 on Vimeo.
P.S. Here's a bonus picture of Sophs enjoying a bit of whipped cream the other day.

We love Wales and Conference!

What a great conference weekend! We went to Wales, UT with a few of Doug's siblings and had a fabulous time! We painted pumpkins, frosted cookies, and did a lot of other really fun crafts. We also had such a fun time playing with cousins and listening to conference. It was a very relaxing and greatly enjoyed weekend.

This is a picture or Sophia doing some good painting.


Here's Sophia with a few cousins on the fire truck at the park.


Here's one of Sophia and I enjoying a ride at the park.


Here's Sophia with her cousin Cassandra.


Here's all the cousins with their completed pumpkins.


Here's Sophia's pumpkin. We were going for the grandma with blue hair and curlers look. How'd we do?


This is what Doug would look like if he was pregnant. Just Kidding. It was pretty cold outside and Sophia was freaking out so he tried to warm her up.


Here's a final one of Sophs and the cousins enjoying a relaxing moment on the bench.

She loves to see the temple

Now that we live in Payson and it takes us longer to get anywhere, Sophia loves to sing in the car. Her songs of choice are the "Daddy Song" (I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home) and the "Temple Song" (I Love to See the Temple. The other day when we were driving she wanted to sing the temple song and so I started singing it and she sang along with me. I had no idea she knew the words but it was so cute to hear her little voice sing the words. Sorry that my voice is a little more prominent in the video but you can still here her a little bit. Enjoy!


Temple from jmwilkins10 on Vimeo.

Getting ready for General Conference

So for our family home evening (or fammy mome eemming) last night Doug decided to talk about President Hinckley to prepare Sophia for conference. Here's the little lesson he had Sophia give.


President Hinckley from jmwilkins10 on Vimeo.
We then talked about how we were going to go down to Wales to watch conference this weekend. As we were getting her ready for bed she suddenly burst into tears and said "I watch President Hinckey" and "I go Wales" over and over again. We had quite the time explaining that we had to wait a few more days for that. What a silly kid. Enjoy your conference weekend!

Sweet Sophia

Our little girl has been quite the character lately. Yesterday she said two sweet things (among many others) that I had to document so that I remember them when I'm really ready to strangle her. I got her out of her bath and changed and everything and then she was playing toys. She walked into our living room where Doug and I were sitting and I said, "I love you Sophia". She then said, "I love you too much!". It was a pretty sweet moment.

Later that night we put her to bed in her new bed and assumed everything was just fine. We heard her making some noise but didn't think anything of it. I went to check on her and she had completely taken her jammies off and was going for the diaper. I was trying hard to be mad but it really just made me laugh so I made Doug deal with it. He got her dressed again and everything and as he was leaving the room she said, "Sleep good dad". She really knows the perfect moments to say those heart melting things. What a kiddo.

I forgot to include in a previous post that I took her to the doctor for her 2 year check up last week and supposedly she's in the 34%ile (26 lbs). She's never been about the 10%ile so I was pretty shocked. Who knows how accurate it actually was because she was a little bit afraid of the scale.

Finally, I've included a picture of her new duds that I picked up last week from Target. When I pulled out all of her shoes from last year I found that not a single one fit her! And they were too big for her last winter! So we had to go get new ones. Enjoy!