Lost Comments...

Hey faithful blog readers and blog peekers!
I just noticed I had a back up of blog comments dating back to October!!! I did not realize I had to "publish" them?!?

Well, their published and I wanted to thank all of you for the great comments and for all the thoughtful messages. Nick and I love being able to share with all of you Sofia’s little adventures and milestones. It's amazing to look back at my previous posts and see the transformation that she has made. We can hardly believe that she will be turning two in just over a month!! We are really excited to start planning the big birthday bash! So far we're thinking of a Gabba themed wonderland!

YOOO GABBA GABBA!!

Sofia has been doing so well in school! Her vocabulary is expanding with such speed, she is putting together more and more sentences and wants to repeat EVERYTHING!! Nick is really excited because she is now able to say all of the DC Comic characters from Flash, Green Lantern, and Batman to Nick's favorite, Aquaman! He's a proud Daddy! She is still a faithful fan of Yo Gabba Gabba but has added a few others to her list of favorites. Backyardigans and SpongeBob Square pants are now right at the top of her list. Our DVR is now filled with unwatched episodes just waiting for her to enjoy em'!  It's so cute to watch her enjoy her shows...she is totally into them. She laughs, sings along and dances to them all!

Well, stay turned in for the next blog update...and we would love to continue to read the comments so, keep em' coming

We love you!

New Year and Old Friends!

To kick off the new year, we headed up north to Idaho to visit my cousin and her family.  Nick and I had never been to Idaho and we were so excited to see the green trees, snow and nature!  After living in Arizona the muted colors of the desert begin to all look the same and the cactus and shrubs can't compete with the mile high pines found in the north!

Excited to get away and for Sofie to take her first plane ride, we could not pack the bags fast enough and say so long to the work week and 2009! Leading up to the trip we kept telling Sofie that she was gonna take a plane ride and point out the plane in the sky.  The flying Gods were shining down on us the day of the trip, we only bought two seats and Sofie was supposed to sit on my lap.  Well, it turns out that Idaho is not the hot spot for ringing in the new year...so our flight was not full and Sofie scored her own seat! She was able to sleep for most of the flight and was ready to go as soon as we landed!

Here is Nick and Sofie as we touched down in Spokane. Coure d' Alene is only about half hour away.

To help us celebrate the new year, we decided to make a stop at the STATE ran liquor store.  It was so weird, you can only buy liquor at these designated stores.  The employees are even state employees.  Nick made some friends and found out that it is a small world...turns out the two people that were working in the store were at one point from Arizona?!

I was so happy to be there~! Thanks Emily, Alex and Fisher!

Here we are on Lake Fernan.  It was frozen when we got there, by the end of our trip all the snow had melted!!

Living in the desert, I rarely get the chance to use some of my Minnesota weather gear, I was excited to dust off my down vests, jackets, scarves and gloves! This place is BEAUTIFUL!!!

Here is Alex getting ready to sabor the New Year bottle of Champagne

Here is Alex saboring the bottle...I was suppose to join him but my bottle was opened and enjoyed!

These are some of Alex's trophies!

Proud hunter!

Here is Nick showing off an elk jaw bone..

I LOVE HIM!!

Waiting for the New Year! 2010 is lookin' good so far!

It was so nice to ring in the new year with family! We had good food, yummy drinks and tons of laughs.

I was so excited to finally meet Fisher!  I've seen so many pictures of him and we've done numerous Skype calls but still meeting this extrodinary little man was so nice.  I immediatly fell in love with his squeezable cheeks and his laugh!  He is so adventurous and daring...he even taught Sofie a few new tricks!

(Thanks Fisher, Sofie is now trying your sofa acrobatics)

Fisher was too heavy for Nick...he's use to his little feather!

We took the kids to a children's museum in Spokane and Sofie and Fisher had a great time!

Fisher enjoying himself!

Sofie really enjoys painting!

After we explored downtown Spokane, we enjoyed some local food as we often do. Alex took us to one of his favorite places to eat while in Spokane

This was in the parking lot of Dick's- This "warning" was on the window of a car in the parking lot...we took a picture of it because it was just too weird! We decided not to test it!  

Sofie and Fisher were excited to enjoy thier "Whammy" burger!

After seeing all the sights of Coure d' Alene Nick and I decided that we want to live there- at some point~

We strolled along the longest floating boardwalk in the world- Also looked at the Coure d' Alene Resort

The trip was amazing and we plan on going back in August for an extraordinary camping trip and to look at some properties!

We love you guys and can't wait until the summer! THANK YOU!!!

Our White Christmas!

This year we celebrated Christmas a little differently. Nick and I really wanted to give Sofie a “White Christmas”…so all year we planned on heading to Durango, Colorado for a unique Christmas experience. After giving the idea more and more thought, we decided it would be easier just to drive the 150 miles north to Flagstaff instead.

So, a few days before Christmas we loaded up the Jetta and set out on an adventure.  After a short three hour long car ride and numerous sippy cups later we arrived at the cutest hotel chain....Little America

Nick and I fell in love with "Little America" when driving through Wyoming many many years ago.  For those of you who have never stayed at one of these unique travel lodges, next time your on the road and come across one of them- give it a try! The first time we stayed in a Little America it was when we were moving to Minnesota, we were only about 19 yrs old and thought it was to coolest place!  I think everything on that trip made a big impression on us...we had never been on our own before! Anyway, whenever were on the road and come across a Little America we always stay with them! 

This trip turned out to be the just what we needed.  It was a PERFECT getaway! Being able to drive 3 hours and be in a totally different environment was really nice and memorable!  We did some sightseeing and had some days we just relaxed and enjoyed spending all day with each other.

Sofie really enjoyed the snow. It was the first time she had seen snow!  She loved touching it, walking in it and searching for it~!   She was fascinated by it!  It was too cute, she could not grasp the concept that without gloves her hands would get COLD~ each time she touched the white stuff she looked at us with such a surprised look! We loved it!

Here is Sofie laughing at her Nick while he played with her in the snow.

I loved seeing her enjoy the snow~!

She wanted to go everywhere with her new pink snow boots!

Nick really enjoyed playing snowball fight with Sofie...let's just say Daddy won!

Our second day in Flagstaff we took Sofie for a ride on the Polar Express! This is something that we plan on doing every year, we all really enjoyed ourselves! Nick and I were a little surprised at how much fun we had! The train left from the station in Williams Arizona and lasted for about an hour. 

We were really hoping Sofie would last the entire train ride and not get scared or lose interest. Much to our surprise, she loved each minute of it and sang along with the Christmas carols too!

Okay, this picture She looks so enthusiastic!! but she really did enjoy herself!

Here is a picture of the train depot in Williams.

When we boarded the train, they gave each of us our own cup of hot cocoa and freshly baked cookie.  Sofie was not such a fan of the cookie...but loved the hot cocoa.  While we were on the train they read the book of the Polar Express and sang Christmas carols.

Here is Santa handing Sofie her very own sleigh bell.

The Allen Family- Williams AZ 2009

As posted in my previous post...Nick decided he wanted to buy a Santa suit and surprise Sofie on Christmas eve with a special visit at the hote.  Nick was so excited all day for what was coming.  Sofie and I headed down to the lobby to see if Santa was down there.  Sofie was really excited to see a fake santa down there and I kept telling her maybe if she's good we'll see the real Santa!

And then...just around the corner...came Santa!! Sofie was so surprised and yes...she was a little scared, but did come around.

Here is a picture of some random lady that wanted her picture with Santa!

Everyone in the lobby really liked seeing Santa. 

You'll notice no pictures of the three of us...that's cause Sofie would not get close to Santa.  Even before, each time we went to the mall she was sure to let me and Nick know..."Mommy, no sit,only talk"! We could not get her to take her picture with Santa!

Christmas Day we had a delicious dinner, it was so nice!

she could not eat another berry!

Here is Nick standing proud next to his Christmas gift...home beer brewing kit. 

His goal is to make some pretty tasty ales!

Here is Nick choosing his flavors...he chose a cherry flavor to make a cherry wheat beer.  YUMMY!

We decided to wait to open the rest of our gifts until we came home so we could open up the gifts with family.  Here a few of Sofie opening her gifts. 

This Christmas was so nice! We are excited to do it all over next year!