So Sweet

This morning right after Jim left for work I heard Samuel downstairs crying.  I came down and he was lying on the floor in front of the door that goes out to the garage sobbing with big alligator tears.  I asked him what was wrong and in his most sincere, sad voice said:  "I forgot to say I love you to Dad".  What a sweet boy!  I hurried and called Jim on the cell phone and let Samuel tell him.  What would we do without cell phones?

George

George has been so fun lately.  He is smiling and giggling more than ever.  The past few days have not been as pleasant because he is teething and he is just miserable.  I find that I have to give more love and hugs during this time, which isn't always easy and sometimes when he is so fussy it is hard to remember.  I sure love him.

Samuel's Prayer

Last week Samuel, George, and I went shopping with Grandma Moss.  We had a great time.  Grandma even let Samuel choose a toy that he wanted for Christmas.  He chose a little set of two star wars figurines.  When we got the checkout we had this conversation:

Me:  Christmas is a little while away still.

Samuel:  How long?

Me:  Well, Christmas is usually after it has snowed for a long, long time.

Samuel: Okay. And then I can open my star wars toys?

Me:  Yes, but it will be a little while.

Fast forward now to that same evening at prayer time.

Samuel: Bless mommy and daddy and George.  Bless that it will snow a long long time so can open my star wars toys.

This line has been included in almost every single prayer since that day last week.  It may be a LONG time until Christmas is here!

Bring a Friend

Last Friday Samuel had the opportunity to go to a gymnastics class with his friend Mallory. It was "bring a friend day" at the Little Gym. Samuel talked about going to it the entire week before it actually happened. He had a blast and Mallory was so good about helping him stay in line and follow the rules.

Here Samuel and Mallory are crawling along the parallel bars (they both loved this part).

There were a few times when Samuel was much too intrigued by the other equipment when he was supposed to be on the rainbow mat. Needless to say the teachers learned and used his name a lot in that hour that he was there.

Katie (Mallory's mom) and I joked that this would be the last "bring a friend day" they would ever have because it was just too much for the teachers to have Samuel there (not listening so well).. It was fun to see him enjoying himself and it was also hard at times to see that my own child is sometimes off in his own world. Not that I didn't already know this. He is just a free spirit - or something.

Straight from the farmers

I decided that this year would be the year that I canned/bottled tomatoes, peaches, pears, whatever.  Since my tomato plants aren't as plentiful as I had hoped, I went to a place called Finch Family Farm in Provo and bought 2 boxes of beautiful tomatoes.  After I had paid for them, put them in my car and drove away I thought to myself - Man, that felt so good to give my money directly to the farmer who grew those tomatoes.  It felt so right!  Maybe that sounds odd, but I love the idea of buying locally grown food whenever possible.  There was no middle man and I am helping to support what little farming is left here.  It just felt right.  The same could be said about the peaches that I purchased last week at Allred's Orchards in Provo.  

Although I have terrible memories of bottling fruits and vegetables as a child, I found this time around to be quite relaxing and fulfilling.  I'm not sure if it is just the process of accomplishing such a task or what, but I quite enjoyed bottling the pears, peaches, tomatoes, beans, and jams.   I think I will do this again next year.

11 Years

My how time flies!  We celebrated our 11 year anniversary last Friday (Sept. 5th).  It is hard to believe that it has really been 11 years already.  Jim brought me three dozen roses at lunch and then we went to Chef's Table for some delicious salmon.  It was a great night out.  I sure love my man!  He is so good to me.  

My Little Guy is Growing Up!

I just realized that George is 6 months today.  I love his great big smile.  Although he is a pretty serious baby he has the most wonderful laugh!  I can't help but giggle myself whenever I hear him laughing.  I am so lucky to be his momma.  

Swimming Lessons

Samuel had his first swimming lesson ever last night.  I think he had a good time.  I also think it will be good for him to be around other adults.  He really likes to do what he wants to do - doesn't always take direction from others very well.  We'll have to work on that.  He is in a class with five girls and just had a perma-grin on his face the entire thirty minutes.

Another Kitchen Gadget?

Just when you think you may have enough kitchen gadgets, another one comes along! My friend Sheri introduced me to this fabulous gadget. It is called the swivel sweeper and I love it! Thanks Sheri. The thing that is really great about this is that you can put your child to work - yes slave labor! Samuel absolutely loves using the "noisy vacuum" on the kitchen floor. The best part of it is that I don't mind him using it. Unlike other similar gadgets, it doesn't just push dirt around it actually sucks it up. It is battery operated and there is a little trap door that drops when you push two buttons to empty the dirt that gets picked up. You can get these at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Well worth it! I highly recommend it.

Fun with Friends!

Last week our friends Sheri, Jayden, and Jasmyn came and stayed with us and we had a lot of fun. Jayden is about three months older than Samuel and they basically spent the first 6-9 months of their lives being with each other on an almost daily basis.  So it shouldn't surprise me that when Jayden arrived they began playing as if they had just seen each other the previous day.  They didn't miss a beat.  It was awesome.  Does that mean that there were no arguments or quarreling?  No, but they are three years old!  We went up to Gateway and the kids played in the fountains.  It also happened to be Brazilian days, so we went ahead and joined in the festivities - dancing, etc.  They were handing out free shirts and the kids were really excited.


Then we planned to go to Thanksgiving Point Farm Country. We were talking about the pony rides and then Samuel kept talking about the ponies, pony tails, pony hair (???) and then he decided he wanted a "pony hair". So Sheri helped him out with this:


We did make it to Farm Country and we had a great time riding ponies, feeding the ducks, geese, goats, sheep and whatever else snuck in for a snack.



It was so nice to spend time with Sheri and the girls again! We miss having them around more. I guess it is our turn to visit them now!

Read All About It!

If you didn't already read your Daily Herald paper today, you may not know that Jim was featured on the front page.  If you have a minute, take a look at the article.  Evidently Jim is the first speech language pathologist in Intermountain Health Care history to do teletherapy (speech therapy via teleconferencing) and have it approved/covered by insurance.  I am so proud of him.