happy birthday hopey sister!

it's been a year since our lives were 

forever changed by the addition 

our sweet little hopey sister.

we celebrated with burgers, chips, cake and ice cream.

most importantly, we celebrated with family and friends.  

nana and papa were kind enough to let us celebrate in their backyard. 

pure joy!

classic happy hopey picture.  

she started clapping and laughing after 

we sang happy birthday to her.

i think she was satisfied with her accomplishment. 

i know i was impressed by her abilities. 

more than once, she dipped her face down 

into the cake to get a bite. 

i realize that the pictures below are all fairly similar.

however, i really wanted the progression of these shots. 

as you can see, the cake wasn't the only thing hope was after.

uncle lance's hat was doomed from the beginning.

hope has made great strides this year.  she is sitting up all by herself, she loves for us to sing to her (favorites include popcorn popping, and fishy fishy) , she claps at the end of songs and any time she is really happy, she is eating solids like a champ, she says ba, ba, ba and da, da, da, she rolls as a form a mobility, she gets on all fours and rocks back and forth, she brightens any room with her smile and brightens our lives with our presence.  we couldn't imagine life without hope. 

independence day

the fireworks in logan are always on the 3rd of july.  

we love this because the 3rd is hope's birthday.  

last year at this time, hope and christian were in the NICU, 

i was in recovery from labor and delivery, 

and minnie was with my parents at the dixon's 4th of july 

party waiting for her sister to be born.  

(although, i don't think she really knew she was waiting for that.)

this year, we were all at the dixon's celebrating hope and our country.

it was so much fun.

we ate hot dogs and treats.

minnie ran around the house with ladybug ears on.

hope was just being a little party animal. 

on the 4th, we went to the parade in hyrum.  

minnie loved waving at all the floats, getting candy and making a mess with otter pops.

hope and papa just had fun making faces at each other. 

i am grateful we live in this beautiful nation. 

i'm grateful for the sacrifices made so that we are free. 

i am grateful for hope of a bright future.

bathing beauties

the inventor of the rashguard will always have a special place in my heart. 

pure genius.

lovin' the camera

minnie was loving the camera.

i guess if i looked this natural in pictures,

i'd love the camera too.

girls camp

i took hope up to girls camp for a day.  

as you can probably tell, she loved it.

frozen night on the ice

trying to keep minnie entertained as we waited in line to meet elsa and anna. 

the frozen fractals were a good distraction.

 

  

minnie was so excited.  she ran right up to them. 

i didn't get a picture of it, but because elsa and anna knelt down to get to minnie's level, 

she thought she ought to kneel down too.  it was really cute.  

 

i was trying to get a picture of minnie in her skating gear.  

she was trying to humor me, but as you can tell, she wasn't really feeling it. 

 then, she started feeling it. 

and, here we are, skating the night away. 

chick-fil-a hosted a frozen night on the ice at the eccles ice arena.  we decided it would be fun to take minnie, since she can't get enough of the movie or the princesses from it.  she was in heaven.  she got to meet elsa and anna.  they took a portrait for her to take home.  we ate dinner and belle served us.  there was a lemonade fountain.  last of all we skated.  i thought that minnie wouldn't be to excited about the skating part.  turns out, i was wrong.  she loved it.  and, i loved that she loved it.  she is at such a great age - inquiring, learning, full of emotion, rallying for independence.  every day is an adventure with her.  the adventure was amplified with our little frozen date. 

milestones

hope decided to start sitting up all by herself at nine months.  

needless to say, we were all very excited for this milestone.