Helen my ski instructor

Helen is Lucy's Grandma and she taught me to ski. I got to go with her three times and the last time she brought Lucy and we all skied together. Helen had me look for rabbits in the woods and make pizza wedges with my skis... she says I am really good at the parallel turns too.

Skiing on my own

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Momma lets me have a cupcake early

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I'm 4!

Today I turned four. Mommy, Sofia & I had a special birthday picnic outside on the deck. I am waiting for my birthday party but it is really hard. I keep asking Mommy when everyone is coming she tells me after 5 o'clock. I don't know what that means but that it is taking a really long time for everyone to come. I want to eat my princess cupcakes right now & I ask Mommy to look at them all the time so she takes them down to let me see them. I licked the frosting off one of them so she gave in and let me have one at our lunch picnic. Yay! I love my Ariel ring.

My 4th birthday party guests

These are some of the guests that came on my birthday. They all made my stay in Utah so much more fun. Lucy was my favorite friend, she is shown here with me playing on the floor at my party, we have so much in common, she even likes to pick her nose like me! The other 4 year olds were Eli (shown with his Dad) and Grace shown with her Mom, Dad and sister. Pip is my favorite dog, she belongs to Guy and Karin. I was really happy she could come to my party. We did an Easter egg hunt in the back yard, had pizza and my favorite... cupcakes!

Happy Easter

The Easter Bunny found us in Utah. It looks like Sofia has chocolate all over her face but it's really just fruit leather. (However, she has snuck a few m&m's out of Lussi's basket when I wasn't looking.)

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9 Months

I have no idea where this last month went. Sofia is cruising, pulling herself up on furniture, smiling, giggling, and babbling a lot. The only thing that she does that we understand is she waves bye-bye by folding her fingers in towards the palm. She also uses this sign when she is really tired and wants to go nigh-nigh. Oh yes... she also has her third tooth, strangely it is neither of the top middle ones it is the right one between the middle teeth and the fangs.

For the Grandmas

This trip has been especially hard on the Grandmas. They have asked for more photos so here they are. Lussi loves her blue room with the kites, flowers, bumblebees, butterflies & dragonflies. She wants to paint her room when we get home. Sofia is crazy about being on Dada's shoulders, she especially loves to grab his hair and pull really hard. The basket photo is on the floor of the Patagonia Outlet store. The workers went crazy for the two cuties in the baskets. I will also post some more videos soon.

"walking" w/ help

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Wooden fish from Ikea

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Lately Sofia has been super giggly. She always laughs at herself after sneezing(tough to catch on film) and she really gets a kick out of herself in the mirror. And as you she in this video she really laughs when she sees her big sister doing silly stuff.

Watch out! I'm on the move.

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Olympic venue

We spent an afternoon in the sun on the Olympic trails. It was exciting to be back, stirring up memories of both the Olympics and the Olympic trials. There were Utah National Guard members shooting on the range which really made me want to hit some targets. We all skied and Lussi was a superstar, skiing all the way down to the range and back up to the lodge.

Soldier Hollow

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Windy Nebraska

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Goin' west

Leaving Minnesota heading west with family in tote, the car trip was actually quite enjoyable. It's always an amazing feeling out on the road with the vastness of land and open road in front of you. I felt myself really breathing for the first time since we started Midnight Sun and Cory's new company Medsearch network. It's been a crazy four years and this west thing is exactly what we all needed. We have settled in to life in a condo at the bottom of the two canyons where four of the best alpine areas lie. Mornings bring us shifting shadows across a long mountain range called Wasatch. The temps have been near 50 since we arrived in the valley and in the 30's up on the ski hill. Three days a week we have the same routine as we had in Duluth. Cory works from 7:30 to 5:30 and I keep up the fortress with two demanding princesses. The other days have found us in all sorts of venues, backcountry skiing, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing & swimming at the rec center. We've met plenty of four year olds with Lussi's help, and of course she keeps things very interesting.

8 Months

Sofia is on the move crawling across the room. She also loves to stand against the couch and beat her hands wildly on the cushions. It's hard to hold her sometimes because she is constantly squirming. She's also moved on to mostly table food but I would say she loves food but it does not like her (still major gas and poo issues). And finally on Valentine's day she got her second bottom tooth.

7 Months

Lussi is the key to catching pictures of Sofia smiling. Now at 7 months she has a tooth on the bottom left, she can sit up all by herself and throw toys around, roll both ways, and jump like crazy in the Johnny Jump Up.

Finger food

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Pushing Sofia

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The Magic Carpet

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Letting go.

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Downhill skiing w/ Dada

I never want to stop going up the magic carpet and down the bunny hill. It's really fun and I'm getting better every time we go.

I love pushing Sofia!

Outside play

It's been a rare afternoon that I have been able to get both girls out to play but this particular day the sun was out and the temperature perfect. Lussi really enjoyed having Fia to play with and especially loved pushing her in the swing.

baby snow angel

Unfortunately there is no reference to show how totally adorable this little snow angel is. I made it by placing Sofia down in the snow and moving her legs and arms back and forth.

Tootsin in Lutsen

We went to Lutsen and stayed at Ingrid's Grandma's cabin. Greg kept telling me there is no tootsin in Lutsen. I thought that was really funny! Ingrid and I had lots of fun roasting marshmallows, sledding & of course... tootsin in Lutsen.

Fun with Silo

I had a great time snowshoeing & sledding with Silo. Daddy spun us around on the sled so fast that the sled came off the ground. I loved that!

Yum Yum Yum

I love food!

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Sofia loves food but food does not love Sofia. She is constipated on food but without it she is really crabby. What to do?