Golf and Ice Cream with the Cranes

President and Sister Crane were in town this weekend to see their family but we managed to steal a little bit of time with them too! Jarem, Brian Perkinson (a fellow PR missionary), Paul (President Cranes' son-in-law) and P. Crane all went golfing early Saturday morning and later that day we grabbed some Cold Stone as we saw them off at the airport.
We feel so blessed to have had the most wonderful Mission President who enriched our missions and our lives. He taught us to strive for excellence and believed that we were capable of it. He showed us love and compassion but also required exactness. Puerto Rico and the 400+ missionaries the Cranes served are blessed to have worked at thier side and felt of their love. President and Sister Crane are absolutely wonderful and we love them so!

Cubs D-backs Game

Last night we went to the Cubs D-backs game with Sofie. Jarem took her down to the Cubs bullpen to watch them warm up and one of the pitchers tossed Sofie a ball as it is her first MLB game. We ate hot dogs, nachos, and lemonade together and our Cubs won! It was a the perfect summer night.

Don't mess with Texas!

This year we celebrated the Fourth of July weekend in Amarillo, Texas at the Reed family reunion. It was wonderful to see the Hallows again, meet all of our extended family, and have some good 'ole texan fun.

We loved the 11 hour road trip. When else do we get 11 hours to just talk and listen to music?
Sofie with her Aunties.
Sofie with Great Gramma Jackie.
Sofie with Great Aunt Nancy.
Jackie, Camilla, and Lisa.
Uncle Bob and Jarem. Jarem and Grampa.
Cousins.
Sofie, Camilla and Uncle Jimmy (taken right after Jimmy finished explaining to us that he doesn't like bologna unless it's fried.) The Aunties.
In the car again.

Sofie and her cousin. Cousins playing cards. (note. Reed is drinking his 3rd soda before the food is ready. He spent the rest of the afternoon laying on a blanket with a wicked tummy ache.)

Uncle Bob, Grampa, Jarem, and others. Sofie playing with cousin Missy. We got to see the Britt family! We ate the best bbq EVER (besides Bret's of course) at Rudy's.  We drove home saturday night. Sofie slept and Jarem had his first energy drink.

A Lemon

First Food

This week I relented and gave Sofie her first real food. It's terribly hard for me to see her grow up so quickly so I guess we'll just have to have another baby!

We fed her rice cereal before bed and she loved it so much she slept all night long. Good girl Sof!

Like Mother like Daughter

As I was leaving the house I realized that Sofie and I were matching, so I had to take some pictures to document the chance occasion! I love spending all of my time with her. If I am away from her for any period of time, even if she is taking a nap I miss her. Besides Jarem she is my bestest friend. We went to get her her 6 month shots the other day and decided to make an outing of it. Since i am new to Mesa and need to learn my way around, we left dad alone for the day. He had already done a company service project all morning long in the heat so he deserved some ESPN/doze time. I was equipped with a hand made map from Jarem but still managed to get myself lost for almost an hour. For those that know me this is to be expected, but i was determined to find my way and did, eventually. We got the immunizations and our next stop was Church's Chicken. I love their honey biscuits because we always got them on the mission as a treat if anything went well. Sofie and I ate one together (well...she had tiny crumbs) and she loved it! She had the biggest smile the entire time. Our last stop was Nordstrom of course and we got Auntie Liza some jeans. They're the same ones that Jarem got me last week and I had to get her some because they're on sale and will look even cuter on her! Sofie loves her stroller and just looks around at everything trying to figure it all out. We walked around the mall some more and then headed home. It was a wonderful girls day out. I love my Sofie.

Back at home and very involved.

Also very flexible.

Like a Seal in the Water

Sofie is a little awkward on land. While playing, she frequently drills herself in the face with her toys. When she rolls over she gets stuck, like a turtle on her back. She punches and scratches herself regularly as she tries to gain control of her limbs. She runs into walls, chairs, and tables with her walker. But just like a seal, Sofie's awkwardness on land is compensated by her sleekness in the water.

Sofie's greatest pool trick so far this summer is her monkey hold on the side of the pool.

And as we all expected, Sofie floats!!!

She is off to the races.

Drunk off chlorine water.