Saint Samuel :)

Our sweet Sam has been showing his reverent side lately! We know that he is very impressionable, and so we try and teach him by example. A week or two ago, he started to say "Amen!" after we prayed. Soon afterwards, he began to fold his arms. He has been getting better and better each day. Just yesterday, I gave him some lunch in his highchair, and then walked away to pick up around the house. When I looked back, he was sitting there patiently with his arms folded, and wouldn't eat lunch until I prayed!

I asked him to fold his arms so I can take a picture, so here he is practicing!

We love our Sam!

Savannah

Living in Florida has a lot of advantages, and one of them is our proximity to so many fantastic places to visit. We are not far from Savannah, so last weekend we decided to zip up there and explore the historical downtown. Our friends, the Andrew's, came up as well, and we had a blast!

This is a great example of the beautiful southern trees that line the streets of Savannah. As you can see from how bundled up we are, we were having unusually cold weather!

This is a really gorgeous old fountain in Forsyth Park. Sam is showing off his climbing skills. Yikes!



We enjoyed some delicious southern food at Paula Deen's restaurant...fried chicken, fried catfish, black-eyed peas, fried corn bread, sweet potatoes, and her famous "Ooey-Gooey Butter Cake!" It was amazing and heart-stopping all at the same time. Yum!


On our way back, we decided to stop off at the beach and we found this spot that you are allowed to drive on (It's hard to tell from the picture, but that is ocean right behind them) so we let Sam sit on Daddy's lap and steer...Sam LOVED it!
Even though it was freezing, we still had a great time.
Our trip was wonderful, and we enjoyed every minute of it. Today is another story. I've often wondered what my house would look like if I wasn't constantly cleaning up after Sam around the clock, and unfortunately I no longer have to wonder. Let me back up for a minute - there is a really bad stomach virus going around, and I seem to have caught it. I spent the entire night throwing up, and so I am completely worn out. All I had the strength to do all morning was lay on floor and get hit in the head with flying legos (thank you Sam) and watch as Sam systematically tore our apartment apart. Sam was as happy as a clam to do all of his exploring uninterrupted by mommy. All of the DVD's are now separated from their cases and thrown about, the seat cushions of the couch are thrown on the floor, every toy he owns is scattered about, and intermixed with the toys are all of our canned food items from our pantry. Our bookshelves are looking as empty as our pantry, which is a pretty impressive feat considering our shelves are 9 feet tall and that Sam had to scale them to get the books off. With how sick I feel, my energy level is at a zero, so all I can do is sit here and think about how clean my home was before Sam woke up this morning. All things considered, I've been better.

Sam's Stroller Adventure

Today the weather is beautiful! After a few weeks of chilly temperatures here, winter is over and summer is upon us once again. Despite the 80 degree weather, we had a heavy rainstorm yesterday, so today we thought we'd take Sam for a walk in the puddles. We strapped Mary (the girl I babysit everyday) in the stroller, and let Sam walk beside us. It wasn't long before Sam realized it was so much more fun for him to push the stroller himself, so we took them to an empty area of the parking lot at our apartment and let him push the stroller to his heart's content. He took his job very seriously and wouldn't accept any help from us. Luckily Mary didn't mind being pushed in the stroller by a toddler who aimed straight for huge puddles.

Every once in awhile, Sam would stop and pat Mary on the head, as if to tell her to hang in there!

This is quite the somber look he's got going! This was taken when it was time to head inside and he wasn't very happy about it.

Back to Florida

We are back to reality. Sam and I were gone for exactly one month, spending the first half in Spokane, and the second half in Utah, where we met up with Aaron. Aaron was unable to make it to Spokane because he was finishing up a rotation, and so we really missed him. When Sam saw Aaron for the first time after two and half weeks apart, it was one of the sweetest moments I have ever witnessed. Sam’s jaw dropped, and he started screaming “daddy” over and over, laughing and running into his arms. Aaron is definitely Sam’s best friend.

We had a great time being with the Rasmussen’s over the holidays! We spent our time playing board games together, eating delicious homemade chocolates, visiting with family, and we enjoyed every minute of it! Christmas was especially fun for Sam. All of the family spent Christmas Eve together and opened presents. Santa gave Sam a lot of fun toys (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa)! In fact, putting him to bed that night was extremely challenging. All that Sam wanted to do was play with his toys, and so he cried almost all night. Around midnight I went to see what the matter was, and he was sobbing, pointing upstairs where the toys were, and saying “BALL! BALL!” over and over. The poor boy just wanted to play with his toys! Occasionally he would interchange “ball” for “beep beep” (which means car) or for “Ho Ho Ho” (which means Santa). We finally gave in around 3am, and Aaron brought Sam upstairs to play with toys. What a patient daddy! So after wonderful visits with our families this past month, we are in Florida, and back to reality.

As we have settled back into our routine this week, Sam has provided some good entertainment, as always. Sam has a vocabulary of around 15 words, which is constantly growing. But, as most of you know, he has a one track mind for a…you guessed it…BALL! He loves every kind of ball: football, basketball, golf ball, etc. Well, he has reached new heights with this passion. The other day I was cleaning up around the house and I wasn’t paying attention to what Sam was up to, but I heard him say “Ball” over and over, so I knew it was nothing unusual. When I walked over to him, I saw him sitting on the couch, with a Sports Illustrated on his lap. He was carefully and meticulously going page by page, staring at every picture of the various sporting events, until he would inevitably spot the ball in each picture, point to it, and proudly exclaim “Ball”! He even offered an occasional “Wow” every once in awhile. Aaron and I couldn’t be prouder! J Usually,Sam will pick out a book from the bookshelf, bring it over to us, and climb on our laps when he wants to be read to, but now it’s a whole other ball game (pun intended) because Sam’s reading interests have expanded! Before bed the other night, Sam sat quietly on Aaron’s lap as Aaron read articles from Sports Illustrated. It is so fun to watch as Sam develops such a fun and sweet personality!

Sam's Santa Saga

We went to a Christmas party at my mom's ward, and Sam got to meet Santa! This is his second year sitting on Santa's lap, and I don't think it was as fun for him this year as it was last year. Last year, he giggled and laughed, and we were able to take some really cute pictures. This year...I think Sam was wondering why I put him on the lap of a large and hairy stranger. Instead of the magical, happy memory we were hoping to create, it was pretty traumatic. Lots of screaming and crying.

Christmas Party!

We are in Spokane visiting with my family! It has been so fun spending time with all of Sam's little cousins! We got everyone together and had a little Christmas party for all of the kids (Thanks for hosting it Melissa, you did a wonderful job!). Christmas PJ's, gingerbread houses, and peppermint milkshakes! It was a lot of fun! On the bottom row: Sam, Teagan, Kobe, and Abby - on the top row: Hayden, Dylan, and Molly.

I've loved being in Spokane...even though the weather has been frightful! Sam didn't know what to do with a 75 degree drop in temperature overnight! Nor did I, for that matter! Unfortunately, our trip started out on a sad note when we had a football game party at Aunt Shelly's for the big Florida/Alabama game last week...but I suppose for us Florida fans, the details are better left unsaid... Despite the setback, we had a wonderful time - good food and good company!

Thanksgiving

What an adventure this Thanksgiving has been! We have had so much fun with Kimball and Shelley visiting with us! We spent three days at Disney World, and then went to the Florida vs Florida State game on Saturday. Sam wasn't able to nap much at all, but he did really well all week! He takes the cake on being super busy and active, but for as busy as he is, he is also very happy and loving. He was hugging every little kid he could find at Disney! (Whether they wanted one or not, they got a Sam hug!) Disney was a lot of fun. Aaron really likes to do as much that is humanly possible at theme parks, so we were there until 9pm at night every night! Luckily, on Thanksgiving, we were able to find a Cracker Barrel that was still open, so we were able to still have a Thanksgiving dinner!

The game on Saturday was A LOT of fun! A lot of people laugh when they see us wearing Florida gear when we come visit, but here, you get laughed at if you are not wearing orange and blue! Floridians are crazy about their Gator Football! During the game, the jumbotron screen showed Sam 4 TIMES! After the game, we were walking out and people that were in a section above us were yelling at us to get our attention, and asked if they could take a picture of our little guy, since he was practically famous! Then, more and more people would walk by us and say, "Hey! Its the boy that was always on the jumbtron! We saw you!" We thought it was so strange that all of those people remembered Sam! After we had left the game, I thought that no one else would recognize him, but I was wrong! Later that night we went to the store, and a lady in the produce section said that she saw him at the game on the jumbotron! I think its time I get this boy an agent! :)

Sam, Aaron and Bethany at the game

At football games, usually someone in the crowd will bring a beach ball and toss it around the stadium. As soon as Sam saw it bouncing around the crowd, he got so excited and said "ball!" over and over, so we knew it wouldn't be long until he got the ball :) Here is Aaron, Sam and his game ball, and Shelley and Bethany

Here is a picture of all of us at the game, Kimball, Sam, Aaron, Shelley, and Bethany

Tim Tebow running a touchdown

We had a great Thanksgiving, and are so glad that Kimball and Shelley came to visit!