A Big Day Out!

Spring is really in the air here at our house.
It's been hard to stick to our routine and work schedules. We managed to get a night out to dinner - of course to our favorite steak place. Who takes their own pictures at a restaurant? You would think we never ate out!

Then on Saturday, mommy and me and Sam decided to have a big day out. Daddy decided to stay home and get some yard work done so the three of us headed out on a beautiful spring day. We started out at the Children's Discovery Garden at Thanksgiving Point. Hardly anyone was there - and it was the first day they were open this spring. We had a great time. They have this great Ark sculpture at the entrance. We're sitting under a rhino. On the side we found these monkeys . . . are we helping them escape . . . or are they trying to get us on board? We'll never tell!Then we explored the bear caves. We know there were some bears in there we couldn't see - we could hear them!Just hanging out!Here we are playing in the tunnel - Sam went through this tunnel without even thinking twice. He wouldn't have anything to do with the tunnel in the bear cave though.Here we are making music! As if every sound that comes out of our mouths isn't music?And here we are doing some art. Really - no one was here except a few boy scouts. It was fabulous!
On our way back to the entrance we stopped at the ark again. Sam found a turtle and really wanted to take it home with us . . . mommy said no.And we couldn't resist one more picture with the elephants.They had a whole flower bed full of purple pansies - we can't wait to go back in a few weeks for the tulip festival!We weren't ready to go home yet, so we decided to head over to the Farm. There were definitely a few more people over there but the day was too nice to waste. We did our favorite things . . . feeding the goats. I know I say this all the time, but really - Sam isn't afraid of anything. He walked right up to the goats and put his hand out for them to eat from.
Of course I'm not saying that I'm afraid of things, but I can be a little more hesitant from time to time. Once I remembered how to do this, I stopped throwing the corn over the fence to the goats and let them eat out of my fingers.Then we went over to see the other animals including the horses. And our visit with the horses led, of course, to our pony rides. I know Sam looks worried in this picture, but really he wasn't. He rode all by himself and had so much fun!And here I am on our second ride - I'm an old pro at riding by myself. No problems!After a stop at Aunt Cathie's house to drop off a present, we headed for home. It turns out daddy really did do a whole bunch of yard work. He started working on our big sandbox area to get ready for the renovations he has planned for this summer. We'll see what it ends up like. We still couldn't bring ourselves to be indoors, so we got out the T-ball and Basketball and played and played and played.Sam knows what to do - he just needs to be a little taller!Look at that form - look at that shot - - - yes, I scored!
Sam Alert: Hey everyone - Sam here. If you think Mason loves to be outside, then you really don't know me. I absolutely LOVE to be outside. Give me a shovel and a bucket and some sand . . . . I'm good to go!
But as much I love being outside, I also love being in the kitchen. I walk around most of every day saying "Stir, Stir". Mommy hands me a bowl and a whisk and I'm a happy boy. It's even better when there's actually something in the bowl to stir. After mom took this picture, she actually put eggs in the bowl for me and we made breakfast! Yum! Here's to a great week.

Work . . . Movie Night . . . Fun at the Park!

As usual, it was a busy week, but we managed to fit in some fun times. We started our week with an evening at Grandpa and Grandma L's new house helping them with some chores. We picked up pizzas and drinks on the way there - - - and since they wouldn't let me use any of the power tools, I supervised the pizza. It was yummy - I had two pieces. Their house is looking good!

Mommy had to go out of town for a night and so after she got home we had a great movie night. We snuggled up in mommy's bed and watched The Princess & The Frog. Two thumbs up for the movie!We had a really warm day today - and so we spent some much needed time at one of our local parks this afternoon playing and being outside. I had a FANTASTIC time!Sam really enjoyed getting out and running around. He found the bridge and ran up and down it for a really long time.Sam was a little bit nervous at first about the bigger slides so mommy and I went down with him a few times.Here's an action shot with me going down the spiral slide.
Another picture of mom and Sam.

He really started loving the big slides . . .And here you can see Sam flying down the big bumpy slide all by himself.
Here's a great picture of me and Sam . . . this was sure a great afternoon at the park! And yes, it was 65 degrees this afternoon - watch out spring. We're ready for you! When we got home, we played outside for a few minutes while mommy finished up dinner. This is me with my remote control car from Christmas. Two thumbs up on this toy too!Sam Alert: Howdy everyone. Another week with good health. Yeah - maybe spring is my good luck charm! Another picture of me in one of our trees. I LOVE to climb!And here I am hanging with my daddy this afternoon. We were running around playing soccer and were hot and tired. Sure do love him!

AHHH - It's Nearly Spring in Utah!

How does that saying go . . . if you don't like the weather in Utah, wait a few hours and it will be different. We had snow at the end of last week and at the end of this week. But in between we had a day or two of beautiful sunny weather that made us dream of spring and summer! We took advantage of every second of warmth we had and played in the yard, in our sandbox, and we even climbed trees. We were not happy when it got dark and cold and time to go in!

Sam decided that he quite liked being in the trees and this picture represents just one of multiple times he was in the trees. This boy has no fear!

We played catch and soccer. And we just simply enjoyed being outside after a very long winter!Ms. Heidi needed a day off this week so mommy stayed home with us and took us to the Dinosaur Museum. We truly can never get enough of this place. Surprisingly there were tons of people at the museum on a weekday morning. But we persevered and got to do all the fun things we hoped to do. This is one of our favorite exhibits at the museum - these are the super dooper giant dinos. So cool!Mommy even put on her brave face and let us play at the sand/water tables for about 30 minutes . . . with ALLLLLL the other kids. Mommy said she had an interesting time people watching. It was loud and there were lots of people - but we had a GREAT time!

We even got to spend some time in the quarry digging for bones. Just one more part of the museum we never get tired of.

It was great to have a day with mom and the dinos!
And then this is how we spent Friday night. Is this fair . . . . does anyone care? Yes - that is mom sitting at the bar eating a Subway sandwich and reading while Sam does the dishes. Hum!We found a fun new thing to do - Play-doh! We spent more than a few minutes getting our hands dirty with play-doh this week. Sam is old enough now to not try to eat it so instead we made people and pretend food and lots of fun shapes with it.
And we love fixing things. This is my remote control car that Santa brought me this year. It needed new batteries . . . . again. But we're pros at using tools so we got it up and running without any sweat.Sam Alert: Howdy! A little sun and warm weather does a body good. Here are a few pictures of me from this week for your viewing enjoyment. Daddy was in charge of combing my hair after my bath tonight. Can you say mohawk? Actually, can you say double mohawk - nothing like having a mirror at your back so you can see all sides of a great head of hair. Dad and mom are glad that I'm finally brushing my teeth all by myself now. Gotta take good care of the ol' chompers! And there are really two important things of note in this picture . . . #1- I'm hiding. Remember if I can't see you, you can't see me. #2- This is my favorite way to "sit" in the bar stool. It makes mommy crazy so of course I do it every chance I get!

A Good Week!

Hi everyone - Sam here. We are just finishing up a good week . . . . no big new fun activities. But we got some good news and spent some time hanging with the family.

As we mentioned last week, I had to have some tests done up at our local children's hospital. The first test was a Sweat Chloride test - they put some medicine on my arms, then some electrodes, and then they wrapped my arms up and collected my sweat. Interesting huh! Here I am with daddy getting the electrodes . . . . a little shock treatment? Hum!

Then I had to sweat lots for 30 minutes so we put my heavy coat on and found a play area at the hospital. They had this super cool police car we played with. I think I NEED one of these at home!Ok - I did do some pushing as well, but I was having so much fun riding it was hard to give up my turn. Then we went back to the lab and they cleaned me up and took away my sweaty gauze pads for testing. Then they drew 3 vials of my blood. I didn't flinch or cry at all. Not through any of the tests. The lady said I was a champ!

The GOOD NEWS is that all my tests came back negative . . . and given the problems they were testing me for, that is really good news! So now that all the big, hairy, ugly diseases are off the table, we're going to visit with a doctor to see if I need some growth hormones - or not? The best possible outcome for a little guy who isn't gaining much weight.By way of other fun activities, my brother and I spent some time together, trying not to bug each other too much. Here we are blowing bubbles in the bathtub. Good times!We absolutely LOVE helping out in the kitchen - - cooking, cleaning up, whatever. I got to wash the dishes this time. Who doesn't love playing in water?And we're learning how to load the dishwasher - - not just throwing the dishes in it, but actually putting them where they are supposed to go so they will actually get clean. Who knew there was a method to this?
And I know we've asked about child labor laws before but we've never heard back from anyone. Trash - really? I'm not even 2 years old yet!
Mason and I both love music. We put on a piano concert the other night. It was a beautiful duet! Thanks for the concern from everybody . . . . all is good and I am feeling lots better. I'm shooting for 6 weeks without getting sick. Keep your fingers and toes crossed!
Mason Alert: Howdy! It's weird having to wait till the end of the blog to talk! But Sam deserved a little blog time this week. I tried hard to be a good big brother this week. Sometimes that is easier than other times! For instance . . . . at the hospital playing with the police car . . . . I thought for sure the car had a flat tire so I changed it for Sam. I didn't even make him get out of the car.It snowed a little bit on Friday this week. Not enough to go sledding, but definitely enough to play in. Daddy dunked me in the snow! I guess my hair needed washing. And there was definitely enough snow for a snowball fight! We are armed and ready. Can you see the picture that daddy made in the snow for us?
Here's to another great week!