One of my blogging friends was in town and invited us to meet up in Spanish Fork at the splash pad.  It was packed, but still so much fun.  I was surprised when Sam was the one who didn't want to play, and O jumped right in.  Samuel warmed up to it though, and before long both boys were running around, fighting the fountains, stomping on the sprays, and have a grand ol' time.  We will for sure be going back there again!

With the end of school and anticipating a long summer ahead, I’ve designated one day a week as Park Day.  The idea is we go to a “cool” park, or at least a new one.  (Of course all of this is dependent on the stupid 50 degrees and rainy weather going away!)  We did get a beautiful day last week, though, so after some errands in Orem, we stopped off at Nielsen’s Grove with a picnic.  The boys love to go there to run around, explore, and feed the ducks.  Samuel could not stay away from the pond.  He was so intrigued with the rocks and the fish and who knows what else.  Owen just loves to do anything his big brother is doing.  And chase the ducks.  “Hi Duckie, Hi Duck, Hi Duckie” he would squeal as he ran after them.  It was a wonderful day to be outside in shorts and sunblock.  Here’s hoping we get some more of those days soon!!

Chasing some ducks.

“Hey Mommy, Ownie fowders!  Picture, cheeeeeese!!”

Side by side, playing in the dirt, so so cute, Mom says “Guys look at me!”  So bored with the camera, Samuel snickers and pulls his hat over his head.  “Owen, let’s hide from Mom.”  Both laugh their little pants off.  They think they’re so funny. 

February 4-February 9, 2011

Samuel finally got his wish.  We went to California.  We drove down to Vegas Friday night and got to go to cousin Sariah’s baptism Saturday morning.  After a lovely morning and afternoon with family, we threw Grandma B into the van with us and drove the rest of the way to California.

It was such a NICE WARM BEAUTIFUL little vacation.  It’s never long enough.  But we enjoyed our time there with cousins, park trips, backyard adventures, and a few field trips.  We once again came home wondering, Why the heck don’t we just live there?  Maybe one day.

The boys were up before 7 every morning.  I loved that we could spend it in the backyard picking and eating oranges in our pajamas.  And we could always count on Grandma B joining us while everyone else slept.

Monarch butterflies in the backyard.  Sam excitedly crouched down and began spouting out facts.  “This is the monarch butterfly.  He likes milkweed.  Right now he is migrating to Mexico.”  He sat there and watched it quietly for several minutes.  And later, “Oh, this butterfly has hatched from his chrysalis.  Don’t touch him yet, he needs to dry his wings all by himself.”

All of Sam’s studying made O curious.

Rolling Hills Elementary School park with the Mutters, which apparently turned into a photo shoot for Owen.  No pics of Samuel.  Oops.  He was way too busy playing Kratt Brothers with Tyler.  “You know about the Kratts, too?!”

Beautiful little boy of mine.

And look at this gorgeous little gal.

Rubik’s cube genious.  Before and After.

O pointing to the helicopter and making his helicopter noise.

O got mad at me for something, so into Daddy’s arms he went.  Cuties.

Playing soccer with Daddy.

This picture makes my heart warm.  Two awesome daddys.

Bastanchury Park a little further down the road the next day.

I so so love that these two are such good buddies.

Owen LOVES the swing, which is so funny, because until late last fall, he wouldn’t stay in one longer than 2 pushes.

Erik and O did this about 12 times.  (And again, it’s turned into an exclusive photo shoot of just Owen.  Sam was very busy running around with a 7 year old girl who was very very fond of him.)

This makes me heart warm, too.  I hope my boys realize how blessed they are to be so loved.

Fer cuteness!  Brothers and Brothers.

Our big adventure this trip was a whale watching expedition.  Everyone was concerned about the preggo lady getting sick.  I did mostly ok.  Samuel did not.  He spent most of the 3 hours with his head in the bucket.  We kept yelling, “SAM SAM, LOOK LOOK!” when there was something cool.  He had a hard time spotting the common dolphins swimming by the other boat, and he was totally over the pelicans and the seals by this point.  But when we were right in the middle of a huge pod of bottle nose dolphins, it was a bit frustrating for Sam to not see them.  There were several RIGHT by the boat.  “SAM!!  Do you see them?!?!”  And he’d mutter, “Yeah yeah yeah” from the bucket.  Argh!  But he finally picked his head up long enough to catch sight of one right in front of us.  “Whoa, coooool!!  I just saw a real dolphin!!  Did you see that huge dolphin right there?!”  Yay!  We got our money’s worth for Sam’s ticket.   Then both boys fell asleep for the rest of the ride back to harbor.

Cutest munches ever.  (Who say Cheeeese but never actually look at the camera.)

Pelicans in the harbor, seals (or sea lions? We saw both.) waving goodbye as we left the harbor, lots of birds mean dolphins, hard to see but there are common dolphins in the pictures of the boats, and then a bottlenose fin.

Between manning the boys, the bucket, and the camera, we got very limited pics.  This is the best one of a the bottlenoses swimming right by our boat.

After the tour, we were ready for some walking and some food.  We walked around beautiful Balboa, and I seriously could’ve just spent all day there.  After a much needed lunch at BJs, we took the boys to play on the beach for a little bit before it was time to head back.  Grandma gave each boy a toy for the ride home; a whale we named Barfy for Sam, and a seal for Owen that he named Shark.  Perfectly perfect day!

Leaving Wednesday morning with sunburned and blistered cheeks.  Yeah, I felt great about that one.  But still a smile on his face.  California will do that to you.

I am desperately trying to catch up on the blog!!  I can’t believe how far I’ve fallen behind.  But since I don’t journal or scrapbook or anything else like that, I blog.  It’s my record.  It’s ridiculous how much I forget and all I want to do is remember.  Every. Little. Detail.  So although some of you might benefit from my obsession (I’m thinking Grandmas ) I really do it all for ME!  Anywho, just a few more things worth sharing.

O hates the car.  He does ok up to about 20 minutes.  Then it’s all hands on deck trying to keep him happy enough to make it to our destination.  Our trip to and from CO the other week was particularly difficult.  We had a few quiet moments on the way with a cheeseburger and some Spiderman juice.  And M&Ms helped us out on the way back.  Silly little monkey.

Also on the road from Colorado.  Pit stop.

This is Samuel with the RC truck he got from his cousins for his birthday.  And with some cables he stole from Daddy’s room.  And Owen’s toy.  I really don’t know what his intentions were, but it made me laugh.  I would love to get a peek into that brain of his and see what’s going on. 

Tuesday and Thursday mornings while Sam is at school are often spent running errands and trying to “get things done.”  I was starting to feel that wasn’t very fair for Owen.  So one morning, we bundled up and went to the park.  Little O-man was in heaven.  We hadn’t been to the park in several weeks, and he had such a good time climbing (he totally thinks he’s a big kid), playing with Mommy, swinging (which he didn’t used to have any interest in), watching apache helicopters fly over, and walking the whole way home balancing on the curb.

October 12, 2010

Nielsen’s Grove is a favorite place to go for a special outing.  It’s lots of fun, but a bit farther away so we don’t get to go there lots.  And whenever we do go, we always forget bread for the ducks!  This time we remembered.  Both of the boys had so much fun feeding the ducks, playing on the playground, making new friends, walking the paths, and running up and down the field.

Doesn’t little Owen make this playground look giganto?  He loved climbing to the very top to go down the super long twisty slide, all the while giving Mom a heart attack.

There were so many ducks!  Way more than we have ever seen there before.

Owen was crazy about the ducks.  He found a particularly large one to chase.

Sam’s insanely sensitive ears only lasted so long by the duck pond, but he was followed by a couple dumb ducks that he tried to feed.  He sat there throwing bread at them, and they wouldn’t eat it, so Sam kept pointing and saying, “There, ducks!  It’s right there, ducks!  Eat the bread, ducks!”  It was really funny how annoyed he got.

Yes.  I love these boys.

On Monday, the boys and I picked up lunch, met Erik at the clinic, then walked to the park behind it for a picnic.  Samuel loves the playground and holds absolutely zero inhibitions about anything; the spider net, the straight down slide, the fireman pole, he does them all.  Owen was a bit more cautious, but still loved cruising around and hanging out in the wood chips.

Didn’t you save any for me, Mom??

Hahaha!  Hi, Owen!  Do you see me?!

These two are such good buddies.  I love it.

This picture says a lot about the differences in my boys’ personalities.

What a special treat to meet up with Daddy in the middle of the day AND enjoy the sunshine before the snow set in again the next day.  We are anxiously awaiting our next picnic at the clinic!

Craig Park is right down the street from Grandma and Grandpa B’s house.  It is huge!  This was our second time there, and Erik says we only explored a small part of it.  We saw ducks in the pond, walked some horse trails, climbed a few hills and a tree, crossed a bridge, followed a couple paths, and played at two different play grounds.

Owen had his first official swing.  Uh, Mom, what are you doing?

Oh I see!  Well, I think I might like this . . .

Yep! Yep, I definitely like this!

Then Owen fell asleep.  And Sam got dirty.  Two sure signs of a day well spent.

Yes, Samuel.  My first born child . . . remember him?  All I’ve been posting about is baby baby baby.  I have been a pretty lame-o Mom recently.  Sam and I haven’t done much of anything exciting lately, so I sucked it up and got ready for a little morning out with my boy.  We spent all morning playing at Nielsen’s Grove; feeding ducks and fish, chasing birds, watching the landscapers, swinging, climbing, walking, running, and even enjoying a couple quiet moments sitting side by side on the park bench.  I took a million pictures, and none of them are that great, but I couldn’t stop going through them when I got home.  I just can’t get over what a BIG BOY Samuel has turned into.  What happened to my baby?

{Bottom 2nd from left: “Ooo dats a big truck cutting da grass!  Sounds like monster truck!”  Bottom right: No desire to listen to my warnings that Mommy duck would NOT like him getting so close to her babies, Samuel ventured closer.  When Mama duck started quacking and flapping her wings Sam got totally startled and high tailed it back up the rocks.}

Here are some things going on with Mr. Sammers these days . . .

• He loves singing, and I love listening to him break out in song while he’s playing by himself.  Itsy Bitsy Spider, Wheels on the Bus, Monkeys and the Alligator (Sam taught me this one!) and Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam are his favorites. 
• Samuel has gotten really good at praying.  Most of his prayers go something like this, “Heavenly Father, nice day, thanks Mommy Daddy, thanks [Caroline, Grandpa B, Gavin, and trucks have each gotten their own personal mention from Sam], Jesus AMEN!”  The first time I heard him pray all by himself, Samuel had just finished banging on the piano as he sang “Jesus Sunbeam.”  Then he hopped down and said, “Ok, time prayer,” folded his arms, closed his eyes, bowed his head, and gave his little prayer.  So cute.
• Samuel is easily impressed, and very encouraging.  He is always willing to shout out a “Yay, you did it!  Good job, Mommy!”  for even the most simplest of tasks.
• He can count to 20 and knows his ABCs.  However, if you ask him how many there are of something, it is always always “TWEE!”  Today at the park, we found some sleeping ducklings and Samuel said, “Ok, let’s count baby ducks . . . 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 . . . Twee!  Twee baby ducks.  Good job,  Mommy.”
• Sam has been sleeping in a toddler bed for probably about a month now.  He’s done surprisingly well with it!  Next step is moving him into a twin in his brand new room when it’s all finished!
• Sam is fascinated with birthdays, particularly Daddy’s.  Cake, presents, candles, anything birthday related he will just randomly start talking about.  I also catch him singing Happy Birthday to You randomly.  One afternoon Sam told me, “It’s Daddy’s birthday!”  I explained to him for the millionth time, “Nope, it’s not Daddy’s birthday today.”  Well, Sam thought about it for a moment this time before replying, “Oh.  It’s Daddy’s birthday MORROW!”
• Sam is also working hard at his colors and shapes.  He is a pro at orange, triangles, and circles.  The rest can sometimes be hit and miss, but he sure loves to try.
• He loves pancakes.  I have to make them at least once a day.  Thank heavens for frozen microwaveable Eggo silver dollars!  Samuel devours those.
• Next to “Where is it??” the most commonly heard phrase around here is “Oh, there it is!”  Samuel is so bad at keeping track of his things, and he is horrible at following a pointed finger or directions to find it.
• I was actually surprised it didn’t happen sooner, perhaps when Erik and I were matched in size, because I have since surpassed him BY FAR.  But the other evening Erik was plopped on the coach and Sam went over and lifted up his shirt.  “That’s baby in Daddy’s tummy?”  I laughed sooo hard.  Erik explained, nope, no baby, but Samuel was still very intrigued and continued investigating Erik’s belly button and hairy stomach before concluding, “Oh, well it’s very dirty.”  {Ok, so it doesn’t sound so funny now, but I just about peed my pants laughing.}
• This little goober is SO 2 and 1/2.  He is whiney, possesive, destructive, stubborn, and naughty naughty naughty.  Samuel is also bright, hilarious, loving, silly, forgiving, and the joy of our home.  How I love this little man!! 

That’s been the mantra the last several days, maybe even week or so.  For the most part, the weather has cooperated beautifully, and we have made good use of it.  There have been several trips to the different parks within walking distance, lots of time in the backyard, and evenings playing with the neighbors while we wait for Daddy to come home. 

On Saturday we went to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point.  Because the tractor ride wasn’t going, Sam got to ride the ponies twice!  He sat on the pony both times jabbering non-stop,  ”Woody, yeeha, ride ‘em cowboy, catch other horsies,” etc etc.  Then he cried when it was time to get off.  Erik let Sam go around the ring a couple times by himself before he finally heeded to my continually escalating panic, and finished off the ride by Samuel’s side.  Samuel was sometimes timid about touching the animals, but like usual, he just took some time to warm up.  However, he did not warm up to the tom turkey, no matter how many times we walked by.  That tom was strutting around making funny noise and ruffling his feathers, and Sam did not like it one bit.  He did think it was pretty funny when Mom found out she weighs as much as a goat and kid; how appropriate.

Today after a morning of errands, we went to Nielsen’s Grove to feed the ducks.  Too bad it was pretty much a bust.  There’s a storm moving in right now, and it was sooooo windy.  The ducks were hiding in the reeds, and Samuel disliked the wind almost as much as me.  We made it about 15 minutes on the playground before Sam said he was ready to “Back car.  Time go home.”

So we most definitely enjoyed this little taste of spring.  Hopefully it won’t wait too long before coming back.

A couple Saturdays ago we were bored and went to Wal-Mart because Erik wanted to buy Samuel [another] truck.  We left with a fire truck that made noises and flashed its lights, squishy water balls, and a 2-pack of kites.  Today, it was windy enough to finally give the kites a go.  It took us several tries to get the kite up — Erik even told me to get the box the kites came in to see if it had instructions — but soon it was high-flying.  Sam liked running and throwing the kite in the air like he had watched Mom do.  We had a fun evening.  It’s always fun to do something a bit different.