zoo lights.....

We actually had to bundle up last night!  For FHE, Lynsdie and I decided to take the kiddos to see the zoo lights.  It was the free members night so it was packed, but really fun.  I was disappointed that none of the animals actually had lights on them. 

We decided it is as close as we get to Temple Square, and probably a good 20 degrees warmer!

Random moments....

Here's just some random pics from our day to day

Here's Addie.  She is so sweet.  We had the chance to play with her a couple days a week for the past few months and she and Sam would just run around and chase each other and squeal with delight.

This is Sam shivering and saying "cold"- yep, 2nd week in December and note what she is wearing outside...

In order to remember that it actually is December,  we went to the "snowfall" at a local mall where they play Christmas music and blow snow from above.  Samantha wasn't all that impressed.  The escalators were way more exciting.

I never remember my camera, so I had to catch this.  Samantha's best friends are all boys.  She is always out-numbered.  She is learning to tease back and hold her own ground with them all to survive.  Who knew they would all love playing in the stroller cars at the mall?  

I had worn a scarf on this particular day and as we were folding laundry Samantha decided she wanted to wear one too.  She grabbed one of my shirts and put it around her neck.

And then there's this little gem.  You wouldn't know it, but she was happy as a clam until I pulled out the camera.  The minute Chris walks in the door she is laughing and squealing and running around.  She loves to play with his name badge and help him take off his shoes and socks.

Another year of thanks.....

This year for thanksgiving we had a party!  It started off small, but kept growing by the minute.  We ended up with 14 adults, 2 babies, and 8 kids.  I am so grateful that there were such fun friends left in town that were willing to join us.  Everyone brought a little bit of their traditional meals with them.  

Chris also got the day off- awesome- and even got to play a game of soccer with some of the guys.  He may or may not have complained about being sore for the next week.  His "soccer muscles" have not been used in years.

The kids table ("borrowed" from the church the night before!)

 The adult and baby table

 And of course Sam, who never wants to be the subject of a picture unless she is looking at it.  It is really hard to capture her these days, but she was a champ while we set up and cooked.  I am pretty sure she had 3 squeeze applesauces and triple helpings of ice cream and chocolate cake.

I am so grateful for the friends we have who make being away from family a little bit easier on holidays.  I am also grateful for my incredible husband who works really long hours so I can stay at home and play with Samantha.  He is pretty sure we just kick it in our pjs all day, I assure him its not all tulips and roses, but it is a pretty sweet gig.  

That's more like it.....

We are lucky enough to get to plan our vacations based on what weeks Chris draws out of a hat.  We had been looking forward to this last one of the year because we knew we could actually experience the fall season.  We headed to Utah to see if we could find some snow.  Funny thing was, we took the Arizona sun with us.  It was beautiful the entire week.

 Chris could barely contain himself with a rake and leaves.  He and Sam crunched in them and jumped in them.

 For Halloween we decided to transform into little red riding hood, the big bad wolf, and granny.  You would think a little girl would find a big bad wolf scary, but Samantha didn't even flinch.  No wonder the wolf looks so happy.

Little Red thought getting candy (especially M&Ms) was pretty sweet.  She also couldn't get enough of my aunts cat.  Too bad we wouldn't let her put the cat in her basket.

 Chris carved his pumpkin in honor of his daughter this year.  Nothing says I love you like Elmo.

 We visited Thanksgiving Point for the first time.  

 Samantha was not afraid of getting friendly with the cows, but wanted nothing to do with the pony ride.

 Her favorite part was this little "saloon".  She has apparently been to one before because she knew dancing was involved and didn't want to leave.

 She also enjoyed running through G & G Brown's garden.  

Thanks for the family fun.  5 1/2 days is just not long enough.

October fun.....

I love this time of year because even though its still 90 degrees outside, we can start to do fallish things.

We had an awesome Halloween party at our house with our friends

One Saturday we ventured out to an orchard that was about 45 minutes away.  It seemed sketchy at first when the pavement ended and there was no orchard in site, but eventually the dirt road turned into this fun little farm.

 There were hay bales to climb, chickens to chase,

 and really big trikes to try to ride

On the way home I discovered Samantha was poopy and turned around to tell her she stunk.  This was her response!

18 months....

Samantha is officially 18 months now.  We celebrated by going to the pediatrician and getting 4 vaccines (I mean, nothing says I love you like passive immunity right?).

Here's a little taste of what she's all about these days:

Weight: 24 lbs  50th percentile

Height: 33 in      75th percentile

Foods she loves: yogurt, fruit smoothies, pears, cheese, eggs, pancakes, Oh's cereal, pasta, peanut butter/honey sandwich (no crust, and she must open it if folded in order to get it to stick to her fingers prior to ingesting), and M&M's (she is obsessed with them.  I can't even check out at the grocery store anymore without being handed 10 packages of them).  She is very persnickety when it comes to eating.  I have learned the only constant is that she has no constant.

Words she is using: Mama (usually with great exuberance), Dada (whenever the phone rings- she gets more phone time with him than face to face time), No and Yeah (both with varying tempos and with varying enthusiasm), Elmo, Coo-kie, kitty cat, me, I, bubble, pop, tickle-tickle-tickle-tickle, go-go-go

Things she loves to do: jump, jump, jump, climb on everything, open the fridge and pull stuff out, open the pantry and pull stuff out, climb some more, play the piano, read books (often the same book 6 times until I tell her she must choose a new one.  Anything with Elmo is an instant hit at the library and she carries them around with her until I sneak them back because they are all so dumb), run around (she now runs so fast I can't just fast walk to catch her- I too have to run), swing, wink, jumping jacks and dance.

Naughty things she likes to do: take a drink and then spit it out all while looking at you and giving a naughty giggle, puts things in her mouth like rocks and beads and as she does so she says "No", bolts out of the garage and across the street the minute the garage door opens

 First day of piggy tails

 So much for using a spoon

 Standing on her head

 Playing tickle monster

 Why swim when you can play with dripping water?

 No obstacle is too difficult for this girl to master

  A little sandbox time with the white old man

 Sorting aka Eating beads

 This is her when I told her to wink at me

 She recently discovered a new place to climb

 She is quite the tower builder- Chris didn't believe me that she could stack 5 blocks by herself.  As you can see, she is also a great tower destroyer.

Things she can't get enough of: Elmo, M&Ms, school buses, airplanes, putting her hands under running water, climbing around in the car (she literally throws a fit if we take her out before letting her play jungle gym in the car for 5 minutes) and bath-time.

She is growing like a weed and getting more fun by the day.

Apple Annie's......

Chris had this past week off and let's just say, it was awesome.  Every time this happens I forget how nice it is to actually sit down and eat together as a family and to not have to change every single diaper.  

In true Chris "vacation" form, we painted 2 rooms (Sam's new room and the room for the baby), went to the temple, had a smoothie-donut park morning, went on our first bike ride since Sam was born (she loved it!) and then to finish off the week we visited an orchard called Apple Annie's.  It is in Wilcox, AZ which is about 1 1/2 hours away.  We debated whether or not it would be worth the drive, but we had a blast.  

Sam was not sure of the wheelbarrow, but sat in it for a minute

This is the first apple she picked off of the ground and instantly started trying to bite it.

Let's pretend like this little apple picking contraption isn't really cool.  We wandered around aimlessly pretending like we knew which apples were which until we finally asked someone where the signs were that told you.  Turns out the ones we thought were Fuji were not.  We still have no idea what ones we brought home!  We did encounter one big snake- after that I went from strolling mode to hyper-awareness mode.

 After we had had our fill of apples- apple picking, apple bread, apple cider donuts- we headed 5 miles down the road to the pumpkin patch/vegi part of the farm.

 We got to take a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch and so Sam could pick her very first pumpkin- Chris even let her help use the "adult only" shears.

 The weather was beautiful for the first few hours, but by afternoon we were hot and sweaty and all came home with a bit of a sunburn

So, even though it was a bit of a drive and Samantha didn't get a very good morning nap, she seemed to enjoy herself- funny how one of her biggest smiles of the day came when we were leaving and she plopped herself down on the ground in the dirt/rocks and just started playing with the rocks.  Can you tell that is what she is used to playing with here!?