Sophers

Here are some of Sophie's 1-year-old pictures. She is a character and so much fun. She is a talker and says new words every day. I am very grateful to be her mom.

Summer Update

This has once again been an eventful summer for the McKays. Jake worked his 4th summer river guiding on the Salmon River in Idaho. My river guiding days are on hold for awhile so Sophie and I had a fun summer hanging out with family and exploring small towns in Idaho. We also moved out of our house at the end of July and just recently bought a cute, old house in Provo.

Sophie now has enough hair for pigtails which we are having a lot of fun with. She knows her animal noises and likes to blow kisses and show everyone her belly button.

Our new home

Happy Independence Day!

We celebrated the 4th of July at the McKay's cabin outside of Oakley. We had a family reunion with Jake's immediate family. We went to the Oakley Rodeo, which was rootin' tootin', barbequed, took family pictures, and just had fun hanging out together.

Sophie enjoyed her first 4th of July

She also thought the rodeo was pretty cool.
She liked the bull riding and calf roping the best.

The McKay family. There are now 6 grandkids in the McKay family
and it was fun to see them all together.

Aloha!

Palm trees, pineapple, white beaches, and shaved ice. These are just a few of the things that I love about Hawaii. Jake, Sophie and I spent a wonderful 11 days in Hawaii visiting Michael, Natalie and Ellie. Sophie and Ellie had fun eating sand and splashing in the water together and it was great hanging out with Michael and Natalie. We played on the beach, swam, snorkeled, spear fished, went hiking, visited the Polynesian Cultural Center, Pearl Harbor, ate shaved ice and had a splendid time.

This was the gorgeous view from the back of the house where we stayed

Ellie, Natalie, Jenn and Sophie

Modeling our sweet tats from the PCC, Sophie even got a little dolphin on her leg

Michael and Jake with their girls

Beach babes

Jake and Sophie on Waikiki

Groovin' Sophie

Sophie loves music and has developed some amazing dancing skills.

Sunny California

The beach, The San Diego Zoo, Seaworld, Universal Studios and DISNEYLAND! Need I say more. We just had an action packed week on vacation with Jake's family. We surprised his mom this year for her birthday by taking her on a family trip to California and especially, Disnleyland. There were 11 of us and a spectacular time was had by all. Sophie loved pretty much every minute of it and was a trooper to travel 24+ hours in the car and sit for hours in her stroller. She loved the parades at Disneyland and made friends in all the lines we waited in.

The San Diego Zoo

Sophie and Jake hanging out, waiting for the Shamu show to start.

Disneyland- "The Happiest Place on Earth"

Sophie with her cousins, Kenzie and Drew

Sophie liked the sand but wasn't so excited about the cold water

Springtime

I love Spring. I love hearing the birds sing, seeing flowers start to come up, Easter, St. Patricks Day, wearing shorts and flipflops, taking Sophie out in her stroller, driving with the windows down and everything else that comes along with Spring. Here are some of our recent spring pictures.

Sophie looking beautiful in her new Easter dress from Grandma

The whole Easter basket thing was over Sophie's head

Jake and Sophie are best buds and she thinks her Dad is pretty great

We had a wild St. Patricks Day party with at Ali and Vance's. I'm teaching Sophie to be proud of her Irish heritage.

This is just a sweet picture. Sophie is very patient with us and goes along with everything.

January Highlights

My little sis, Ali is now a married women.
She and Vance got married on January 2nd in the Mount Timpanogos Temple.

Sophie and Jake looking stunning at the reception

Ali was a gorgeous bride

There are now 16 of us in the Duerden family.
Welcome to Vance, Jackson, Sophia and Ellie who have all joined us in the last year.

Sophie just hangin' out with her cousins, Ellie and Jackson.

Happy New Year 2008

In this new year, I have decided to join the blogging world to stay more connected with my family and friends. We will start off with our 2007 highlights.

• Sophia Leone McKay's arrival on September 5th- This was, of course, the biggest highlight and Jake and I are loving life with little Sophie.
  
• Watching Sophie grow in her first four months
  
• My (Jenn's) graduation from BYU in April
• Our cruise to Mexico in May to celebrate graduation
• Jake's exciting summer working on the river surrounded by forest fires
• We moved into a little house in Provo in August. We are renting the top floor of a cute, brick house complete with a big front porch and squeaky floors.

2007 was a marvelous year and we are looking forward to 2008.