I'm back! Finally!
Here's my excuse: Our summer was way too fun and busy to spend time blogging, so I got behind. Then this last semester for Jonny was a doozy. Apparently getting 2 Masters degrees at the same time can be kinda hard? Who knew! He needed the computer 100% of the time, either at school, or at home doing homework. We got an ipad so I had internet access, but couldn't blog on it without the pictures I needed.
Good enough excuse? Well, probably not, but here I am.
Our summer was a lot of fun. Jonny interned with TIC, and Sophie and I split up our time between Utah and Colorado (we went back and forth a few times).
We LOVED Denver. If we could choose anywhere to live, it would be our #1 choice. We lived just south of Denver, in the beautiful city of Greenwood Village. Our hotel was right off of the main street, so we were close to everything. Living in a hotel was certainly an interesting experience. We made our child sleep in the bathroom, which I'm sure she really loved. We didn't have a bedroom, so we put Soph's pack n play in the bathroom every night so we could shut the door. Then before we went to bed, so we could use the bathroom, we would have to pick her up, break down the pack n play, and set it back up in the kitchen (it wouldn't fit through the door, otherwise). This was the 1 thing I do NOT miss about the summer!
Our "kitchen" was a little sink, countertop, fridge, a couple of cabinets, and a 2-burner stove. Surprisingly, even though we didn't have an oven, we had a dishwasher! It was actually a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed it.
About a mile away from us was this lovely park that Soph and I spent countless hours at...
The park had lots of geese, which Soph loved to chase around. On the first day Jonny went to the park with us, he got a little present on his head...
I am seriously smiling right now just thinking of that park and how much fun we had there.
About 5 minutes down the road from us was a brand new splash pad. It actually had tons of stuff there, but the splash pad was what Sophie loved the most. We spent even more time here than the other park.
Lucky for us, our good friends from here in Logan also interned at TIC, so we got to spend time with them while we were there. Kendall and I have become great friends, and Sophie and Maren have as well.
One day we took the girls to the Children's Museum in downtown Denver, and I think they loved it.
Right by the Children's Museum was an aquarium, and Jonny and I took Soph there one day. She loves animals, so it was awesome.
One of the things I loved most about CO was that there was so much to do. Within just a few miles of our hotel were so many shops, restaurants, and parks. Then with just a short drive to downtown there was a ton more. It was the perfect place.
As I mentioned (a looong time ago!) we got to stay with Jeff and Julia, from my side of the family, when we first got there. We decided to go to church with them in Aurora all summer, because we'd be house-sitting for a family in their ward for a month anyways.
We loved the ward and felt so welcome. Unfortunately, our time there was the few months before Sophie was old enough for nursery, so we spent a lot of time chasing after her in the halls and trying to rock her to sleep. Ha! Nursery should start at 14 months, NOT 18. It would've made my life much easier :)
Eventually it was time for us to leave our little hotel room and move into the house (Jonny actually made the move while I was in Utah). It was so nice to go from one little room to having a whole house, a giant kitchen (with an oven!!), and a huge yard to play in. Sophie appreciated it the most, I think :)
She spent almost all of the time we were at the house out on the back porch...
She loved picking up rocks and organizing them on the benches.
As part of our duties for house-sitting, we got to take care of the garden. We harvested quite a few veggies! Somehow, 1 zucchini hid from us in the very back and grew into this beast...
We were so grateful for the Pack family, and that they let us stay at their house. It was a huge blessing!
I'm not sure where that picture of Sophie was taken, but it reminded me of her Grandpa Lords :)
And while Jonny promises me that he worked very hard during the summer, somehow he found himself in a situation where he needed to where pink butt-less chaps... Hmmm...
Sorry, that post was long. And boring. But at least it's done!
