Sophie Says:

Sophie turned eighteen months old last week. It is hard to believe she is already a year and a half. Here is a list of words that she is now saying: Ella, Mommy, Daddy, Ball, Bye-Bye, Milk, Puppy (woo-woo, puppy barks), Bite, Nite-nite, Mine, No, Bo-Bo (belly button), Uh-oh, Cow (moo). I'm sure I missed a few but this was the list I recently made. Her favorite new words are no and mine (they are not my favorite!) She is pretty strong-willed like Ella was at this age! At her recent Dr appointment she weighed 23 pounds and 6.5 ounces and was 32 and 1/4 inches long. She is still a great sleeper and a good eater! One of her favorite things to do is pull Ella's hair now. We love this baby so much and she is very busy and fun with quite the personality!

Sophie Swimming

Sophie loves to swim! She is fearless and would jump off the side to us all day if we let her. We took so many pictures last week and these are just a small sample of them. She is so fun and energetic lately!

Pizza Please

Our girls love some Pizza! Ella loves to make pizzas with Tadd and they make them a lot at home. One night last week, at the Beach, we had grilled pizzas by the pool. It was great, especially because we didn't have to clean up after them, we just put them in the pools. Sophie liked it so much she had pizza sauce up her nose!

Ella's Eighteen...

Ella helped to catch eighteen crabs last week on the Beach! She loves to go "crabbing" and we went 3 nights with our flashlights, buckets and nets. We had real good luck one night and caught twelve! Here are some of the pictures of Ella with her many crabs from the Beach!

Hometown Hero

One night at the Beach we went down to a new area on the Destin Harbor. They had a tribute to a Hometown Hero, (American soldier) complete with a WWII flyover, fireworks, songs, train rides, and even cartoon movies. It was fun for the girls. We ate at one of our favorites, Poppy's and had what else, crab legs and lobster. Here are some pics from the night.

Super Swimmer

Ella has really been swimming well this Summer. While we were at the Beach she started jumping off the side and swimming to us. It's a shame that Summer is almost over and swimming will come to an end. Here is a short video of her swimming last week to us.

Two...

TWO long years ago today my Mom went to Heaven after a long battle with breast cancer, just six months later, my Dad joined her in Heaven. It's been a tough TWO years as many of you know. I have been full of ups and downs and many emotions. Thanks to God and all my friends and family, I have made it through these tough times. Along the way I have also had many blessings, I was 11 weeks pregnant with Sophie when I lost Mom and she was only 4 weeks old when I lost Dad. She was such a blessing and a good distraction during that difficult time. Also my sister, Julie and her husband, Chad, recently had my 3rd niece, Baby Brilee. That would be TWO baby girls to add to the group in less than TWO years!

We have also been blessed with TWO precious girls. We love them more and more everyday! They are growing up so fast and we are having so much fun with them this week at the Beach. Ella is swimming so well this summer and Sophie keeps us busy and laughing. Tonight she walked into the pool with her dress on and started playing in the fountains. Ella then chased her around the play area with her crab net. They are so cute and sweet together. We feel so blessed to have them happy and healthy.

We have TWO more great days to enjoy at the Beach! It has been a good distraction for me today because it's hard to cry all day at the Beach! Here are some of the pictures of our fun trip!

Sand and Storms

We are at the Beach this week, just the four of us! We are having a great, relaxing time, even with a visit from a Tropical Storm!! It rained mostly last night and some today. We may see the sun a few days this week! A rainy day at the beach is still better than a sunny day at home!!

The girls love playing and splashing in this pool. Ella is swimming like a fish, or a mermaid as she likes to say. I need to get it on video!

Sophie running around in the grass. I think that she looks like Tadd here, do you?

Pictures of the stormy waves they were really big for the Destin area!!


After a long day of shopping at the Outlets, we ate at Back Porch. I had a pound and a half of crab legs-by myself-yum!!

Sweet Sophie!

Sweet sandy feet!

Lake Lovin'

We have really been loving the lake this Summer. This weekend we went with the Lanes and met up with the Coons and McGintys for some boating, tubing, and "seadooing." There were 5 kiddos minus baby Sally and they all had fun on the boat ride.

Say cheese! Ella, Lucy, Pax, Brooks and Sophie.

Getting some Daddy time before her nap on the boat.

Ella tubing with Lindsay a.k.a Lucy and Sally's mom.

Naptime on the Boat!

Smiling Sophie


Yes this is Brooks standing up on the tube, he is so cute and funny riding the tube and Ella is just laid back and enjoying the ride. We let them ride once without an adult, they wanted to so bad.

Sophie loves to put sunglasses on her face, no matter what size they are! She is currently wearing a pair she just dug out of my purse-again!

Girls in Gulf Shores

I went throuh more pictures of our girls trip to the Beach! Here are several more shots of our fun trip!

Ella now likes to take OUR pictures so here is her photography work.

Here is the Big water slide into the lazy river. It was fun and fast!


Sophie swimming

A shot inside our Condo, it was so nice!

Gabby came out to watch her 6 great grandaughters swim in the pools!

Gabby and Ella being sweet!.

Another picture taken by Ella!

Taylor feeding Sophie a snowcone in the Pool. They are silly together.

We took the girls to the track to ride Go-carts one night and they had a little track that they could drive alone-scary!

Sophie heading out to play in the sand.

This is how we felt about packing up and leaving!