My fearless little guy

One of the libraries near me does this cool thing every Thursday where they bring out all sorts of toys and activities and lets anyone who wants to participate go at it. Sam was very intense as he played and genuinely didn't realize when he was knocking kids over and taking their toys. It's hard to keep up with him! I wish I got a dollar for every time I hear "is this your son?"

 

Here is another example of Sam's confident and rambunctious personality. A few girls from the ward meet at this park every week where there is a little water play area. Well, recently the water hasn't been on so on this particular day I didn't being any water gear with me. It happened to be a hot day and so the water was going. Sam was so determined to get in the water. I threw off his clothes and let him roam with his diaper (which got so full of water it split open spilling those jelly crystal things everywhere). There were plenty of kids his age there that day, but no one dared play in the water. So Sam played along side two ten year old boys. Everyone was laughing at how fearless he was being, especially since he kept falling, getting hurt, crying to me and then marching right back in. Nothing stops this boy!

 Sam and I went to the Loomis eggplant festival this weekend and had a really good time. I swear there is a festival or carnival going on every weekend! I love where I live!  He is enjoying a lollipop he won from a spinning wheel raffle. He's too cool to show how excited he is.

 He did not want to leave the coach. Anything with wheels is just magical to him.

 We went through a kid's corn maze. It was quite pretty and a great contained area for him to roam and roam. He kept falling and finally just decided to eat his cushions.

I blew up a bunch of balloons the other night and made a little barricade and set Sam in it. I then would hit all the balloons frantically so they swarmed around him. Sam got so overwhelmed with joy and excitement he started convulsing and then face planted on the tile floor resulting in a  bloody nose. It took a little consoling and he was back. I admire his determination to get the most out of everything!

Having fun!

 Sam loves to crawl into his highchair, even if he isn't hungry and he always gets stuck. It doesn't seem to bother him. I think it's cute. In fact he'll play with play dough or eat a meal with his leg sticking out like that, totally content.

 Sam and I went to this awesome kid's play gym place called Wacky Tacky with a friend and had so much fun! I know the balls are for throwing but Sam found a more creative way to play with them.

 I hope you can see Sam's huge smile through the netting. He was just in complete rapturous joy when we got there. He would just smile as big as he could and yell "Nanna!" every once in a while.

One of Sam's best friends is Addy and boy do we love going over to her house. When we drive up Sam points and yells "dogga, dogga". He knows there are animals everywhere. He loves the chicken coupe. He can't quite get his mind around them

 I like this picture...caught off guard as he investigates.

 

We went to this amazing park in Sacramento called Fairytale Town. It is perfect for toddlers who just want to roam. Everything is themed like a fairytale. It's a cute idea.

 

 Sam roamed a lot. In fact he roamed right into the moat that surrounded the park. It was the most disgusting part of the moat as well. He was so unbelievably drenched. I asked up front if they had any towels and they suggested using napkins from the bathroom..Well that really wasn't going to cut it, so we just stayed for a another hour until he was more on the damp side. He wasn't bothered by it and continued having fun, which is all that matters.

I love this area. There is so much scenery. They have a lot of bike paths as well. They are great places for exploring and to do more of that toddler roaming which Sam is so good at. I am trying to get to know every inch of this area so I can be a pro explorer with all my other kids. Sam is a great adventure buddy.

A another great week!

Sam and I have had a great week. Is it just my imagination or is he getting really big a little too fast? He likes to walk up and down the stairs by himself. He has to use the railing, of course. I think it's pretty impressive.

Don't ask me how this happened. I didn't put his diaper on this way, I only noticed later that it got completely contorted. I think this is evidence of Sam's intense play times. He has such a cute bum.

Hank, Sam and I managed to find a little time to be together as a family this weekend. Rocklin city was holding a Car and Chili cook-off fair, so we checked it out. Sam was ga-ga over the cars. He is really into cars (he's such a boy!). He always laughs when I say "vroom!" for some reason. I think might be making fun of my interpretation.

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We didn't participate in the Chili portion of the fair but still got a kick out of the judging table. Firemen, policemen, and the mayor...true Chili experts.

That evening was our Ward's party. Hank couldn't be there so I went to represent the family. They had a lot of fun stuff to do. Sam was in serious play mode the whole time. Every time I turned he was gone and I would find him cascading among rocks, eating sand, getting into people's faces or sobbing because he got hurt or fell. He is hard to keep up with!

My little social butterfly. He particularly liked the taste of this sand.

After the third and most dramatic fall, Sam was pretty upset. These guys calmed him down. It was pretty cute.

On to another fun and exciting week with my little Sam who as you could probably tell is my life right now. He brings me so much joy and satisfaction. 

Labor day and an amazing boy

Hank, Sam and I had a very fun Labor day. We spent the morning meandering along a bike trial near our apartment. I love living somewhere new, there are so many new things to discover. We really wanted to visit Folsom Lake but we were warned about the crowds so we found a back trail that came off of a residential area and fortunately it was perfect. Enough boats to keep Sam excited but still lots of space to explore. Sam loved the boats and now when he sees a picture of a boat he goes off in gibberish.

Here we are off the beaten path, trying to find a way to the lake. A fun little adventure.

We are so blessed to live near McKay and LaRee (Hank's uncle and Aunt) and their kids. They invited us over to another family's house for Labor day festivities. We swam, we played ping-pong, we chatted, we laughed, we ate BBQ and home-made ice cream...really what more could you ask for?

I know everyone thinks their kid is the most amazing, but really, my kid is :) Here we are at a storytime geared towards babies and toddlers. So we arrive and Sam jumps out of arms and starts exploring everything. He reads books that have been put out, he is climbing on chairs, crawling under tables, touching kids faces and testing to see how close he can get to the story tellers. I think nothing of it since that is usual behavior for my little one, until I notice that every other kid is sitting with their moms'. It took a while for the rest of the toddlers to start exploring. I was pretty proud to see him acting so confident in an unfamiliar environment.Well, there you go...Sam is so amazing.

I know this is silly but lets just add it in for fun okay!

Sorry about the belly shot, but really I couldn't resist. Sam is pals with his Dad, it's just so sweet.

A quick update

 

Sam is continuing to establish a relationship with the neighbors' cats. This one particular cat will come up to Sam and sprawl out waiting for a scratch. Sam usually just pulls his ears or hits him quickly. I wonder how long it will take before the cat realizes Sam's not quite getting it.

It is almost laughable how family-oriented the Roseville/Rocklin area is. There are like 6 libraries (of which I know of) in a 20 minute radius of where I live. Every library has a play area with toys, easels and other sorts of things. I feel like every store has a 'Thomas the Tank Engine' table set up. There is also a story-time going on somewhere, sometime everyday...even if that place is Pottery Barn (no joke). Sam and I have been having a blast discovering this community together.

Here we are at a shopping center where a festival (of course) was going on. Sam loved the water show.

I wish I would have gotten more pictures of the festival. They had a big kids area with rock climbing and face painting etc. Sam just walked around in awe. He was pretty darn excited about the car show. As you can tell he is dying to take this one out on the road.

He is growing up so fast!

Our Move!

The week before we left was bitter-sweet as you can imagine. Hank, Sam and I have been living near so much family and now was the time for departure. I think we made the best of the week though.

One of my favorite activities was going to this exclusive beach in Malibu. My mom and brother found this cool cave so Hank, Bethany, Daniel and I had to go exploring. It was beautiful...I really am going to miss the beach.

Over at the Grandma and Grandpa Florence household we had some visitors that same week. Hank's sister Heather along with her hubby Ceasar, his mom and sister and of course their two girls Alicey and Olivia came around. We had a really nice time with them as always. Kids grow so fast!

Light isn't so good here...sorry. My amazing family took their entire Saturday to drive 2 vans up to where we are living which is about 6 hours away and then drove home in the same day. I can't thank them enough, I really felt so loved.

Right after they left Hank and I made a mad dash to costco. We had no food, cleaning supplies, nothing...we are basically starting from scratch. When got there we discovered the store was closing in twenty minutes. I felt like I was on the Toy R Us toy run. We filled up two carts in less then twenty minutes and when Hank ran back to grab some bananas he got yelled at. It was probably one of the most fun costco trips I have been on. When we got back to the car we realized how small it was. Sam had to share the back seat.

Little did we know the entire week would be like that costco trip. We had to buy all new furniture, linens, cleaning supplies, kitchenware etc. Between craig's list, garage sales and goodwill I have to say we did pretty well. Some of our more complete rooms are below.

Dining room.

Living room

Probably my favorite room, Sam's room. The other half is cute too.

Our neighbors have cats who frequently come up to our kitchen window to say hi. Sam gets so excited and bangs on the glass while yelling out gibberish..."ahh-kit-ka-kay-kit", he is getting close. He is actually becoming more coherent everyday. He is constantly asking "who dat?" or "wha dat?". He also says other words like doggie, Daddy and of course Nana (but I don't know if that counts as a word, even though it is his favorite).

Hank's Aunt and Uncle live near us and they have been so good to us this week. Their youngest, Addy adores Sam and Sam I think is a little perplexed on why she pays so much attention to him. I can tell he likes her company because he actually will reach out for her. She convinced her parents to buy Sam that outfit on a recent trip and I have to say she has good taste.

Sam loves going over to their house. They have cats, puppies, chicken, tons of space to explore and of course Addy. He is starting to recognize the house. Last time we went over he pointed to the house as we were walking up and started speaking rapidly. I am so looking forward to getting close to this family.

After an exhausting week we decided we needed some family time, so we went to Old Town Sacramento. I am so excited to get more familiar with this area and it's history, because there is so much! We found this awesome toy store which filled up probably half of our trip. Oh Sam now makes certain sounds like "Choo Choo" for a train and "ooh-ahh" for a monkey. He is certainly growing.

This is the land of trains. Someday when we go to the train museum I'll tell you all about it, but for now, all I know is that there are trains everywhere. We hear little a "Choo Choo" voice a lot.

So we are excited about our future up here and feel very good about the community and environment. I hope to keep in touch more often since we are further away now. Love you all!

A nice big catch-up

 

The 4th of July weekend was really fun. Hank's brother Trevor and his wife Lindsay and their two sons came to visit as well as Hank's sister Mandy and her friend. We had a full house on the 4th. Sam was very much occupied. With all the visitors around he seemed very busy to do many things. Playing in that pool was serious business.

We celebrated with the whole family on the 5th. On the 4th we had a BBQ at my sister's with my family. It was in Santa Barabara so when Sam started showing signs of weekend exhaustion I tried to rush him home to bed but mid- drive he woke up and there was no going back. So I strapped him on my back and climbed on the roof where Sam and I enjoyed the fireworks alone together (Hank was working). It was pretty special. Sam was in amazement and after several minutes of awe he started yelling "DA! BOOM!" over and over. When the finale came on he just yelled "AAAHHHHH!" until the show finished. He's quite the mimicker.

 

The other big event around here is my sister-in-law Summer left for her mission just a few days ago. She is going to New Jersey, so we had a weekend of good byes. I am sad to see her go but I know the Lord needs her and there are so many who will be blessed to have her.

 

When we are not running around doing family stuff, Sam and I quite enjoy our time together. His personality is just shooting out of him. He helps me with everything from flipping pancakes to feeding me food. He talks and talks and talks (that reminds me of someone...someone I married). I really can't understand much of what he says, but every so often I'll realize and think "oh that's what you were saying all this time!". He also takes his playtime very seriously. My mom jokes that he has a lot he needs to do around the house like dump out all the recycling, pull out all the magazines and a very important job is bang the watering cans on the patio floor. He just goes to his stations, does his work and then moves on. I am so glad I have a hardworking boy.

My mom gave me this Teddy bear when I was a baby and I have kept it on my bed ever since, even before Sam was born it's place was on our bed. Now every morning Sam wakes up and gives Teddy a hug and kiss. He has become so affectionate recently. In the middle of playing a game he will randomly wrap his arms around me and lay his head on my shoulder. I have to admit it's pretty much the most amazing feeling.

 

After 15 months Sam decided he might want to try walking. Now don't get too excited because he prefers crawling if he wants to get somewhere fast but now he can take a few steps before falling down. I just love that he goes at his own pace. He can climb up and down stairs, slide down slides, climb back up slides etc. At a park once a women commented on Sam's mobility and said " he probably started walking at 8 months" She was shocked when I told her he wasn't walking yet. I love that he does things at his own terms. He is my special little guy.