Catching Up!

We've had a busy last two weeks and are excited to get you all caught up on things. Sorry for not posting last weekend, but time just got away from us. We've put a lot of our pictures in collages for you on this post so that you can see lots without taking up too much space. Seat belts on - - - this is going to be a long post!

We've had a great winter so far, even though it's technically not winter yet. The snow has been excellent and finally the timing of a huge storm was perfect to allow us to be able to enjoy it all. We did a little sledding in our circle and made snow angels. It was super deep but incredibly light and fluffy. The warm weather has come back the last few days and we only have just a little snow left now. It was definitely fun while it lasted! We're sure there will be more.

And, as always, we've had a lot of fun just playing around the house.

We went down to Thanksgiving Point to see the Christmas lights and the reindeer. This one is Prancer - and we got to pet him. Super soft - surprisingly soft!
Our Aunt Jen Jen flew up and got to spend a week with us while daddy was in Atlanta for a conference. The first thing we did with her was go to the Festival of Trees. Aunt Lu and Bart went with us as well. It was so much fun - we love good holiday traditions! We had been looking forward to visiting with the Big Guy to tell him what we were thinking about by way of Christmas presents. Sam was brave but still wasn't too excited about seeing him.
We looked at beautifully decorated Christmas trees, ate yummy food, saw gingerbread houses, and played in the Kids Corner. We shopped - - as if we had a chance when Aunt Jen Jen and mommy get together! We crafted and read books. So much fun!

Before daddy left town, they also surprised us with a trip to the North Pole on the North Pole Express (Heber Valley Railroad). It was super great!
Do the smiles on our faces give you any idea of how excited we were?We had hot cocoa and cookies. We sang songs. And we spent time with Mrs. Claus and then Santa himself.

And just a cute picture of us for fun!We also got some sad news that our Aunt Mary Isabell died and so Grandma and Grandpa G. flew up to go with us to Wyoming for her funeral. She was one of our most favorite relatives! It was great to see her kids (mommy's cousins) and make some new friends. We stayed in our favorite condos in Star Valley while we were there and let everyone watch "The Polar Express" movie with us - they hadn't ever seen it before . . . can you believe it?Here I am in my little nest up in the loft. This condo had an elk on the loft instead of the moose at the one next door that we stayed in last time. Daddy got back in town a few days ago and then this past weekend we treated mommy to a late birthday dinner at our favorite restaurant. Sam and I got to ride the saddle since she wouldn't do it. (Our server was incredibly patient and nice!)This weekend we also went Christmas tree hunting and came home (from a local tree lot) with a beauty. We got it all decorated and love sitting in front of it . . . just to look at it!And of course, we put up our train. Daddy had to do some serious surgery on it to get it running but it's been chugging well since the surgery. We love this train!We'll try not to let another week go by without posting - our fingers are tired from typing so much. Thanks for reading all the way through . . . now here's Sam.

Sam Alert: Hey there everyone . . . here are some cute pictures of me from the last two weeks. Enjoy!

On the North Pole ExpressIn Star Valley at the condo - I would rather be outside!

At home riding Dash
In my room reading books - I can't get enough of books lately. Daddy and mommy are so happy about this!Sam out - take care everyone!

P.S. In a late Sunday development . . . I just got back from the Urgent Care Center with 7 (yes, count them . . . SEVEN) stitches in my forehead. I fell off one of our bar stools this afternoon and cracked my head open. It wasn't a long cut, but it sure was deep. My fat lip and bonked head agree that it didn't feel very good. But let it be known that I didn't cry a single tear at the doctor's... not even as they were putting stitches in! I'm one tough cookie! All is well!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Another Thanksgiving has just passed us by. And oh what a Thanksgiving it was! But before we get to being thankful for yummy food and good company - let's take a look at our week.

Here's Sam watching one of his favorite Little Einstein's episodes - the Golden Pyramid. The Nile Crocodile is chasing them and Sam just couldn't bear to watch.

We've had our fair share of snow already this season. And we lived through the "Blizzard of 2010". It was cold, but not too much snow.
Here's Sam sporting daddy's snow boots. Those boots are almost as tall as he is!
And now to Thanksgiving Day. Uncle Noley & Aunt Christy came over to have dinner with us. It was a super yummy dinner with all of favorite Thanksgiving foods. We ate until we couldn't eat any more - and then we added a piece of pumpkin pie . . . with some of that tasty whipped cream on top!
Everyone got in on the whipped cream action - straight in to the mouth.
We got in a good wrestling match with Uncle Noley. We also got to skype with our family in California that evening. A great day!

Sam and I have been enjoying a few days at home. We've been playing and playing and playing. Here I am giving Sam a ride in the truck. Who says you can't drive until you're 16? Sam hasn't been much of a napper lately, but he jumped on the chance to take a nap in my bed. He did so good - he stayed in the bed for the entire nap time and never let his feet touch the floor . . . . that's the rule for sleeping in a big boy bed at our house!We started decorating for Christmas this weekend. We'll be decorating in stages this year. We already put up the lights before all the snow storms started (while it was still nice and warm) so that's all done. We put out some things but most of our decorations are up high and we have to wait for daddy to have time to help us get those boxes down. We've also started our Christmas crafts. Here we are with our trees.And then - there's always more snow. We woke up to another snow storm today and got to go out and help daddy shovel. Here we are doing our front walk. Mommy says the good news here is that I actually really understand the whole snow shoveling thing this year. I scoop and lift and dump perfectly! The parents seem incredibly excited about this new understanding of mine - I wonder why?We helped out our neighbors with their shoveling. That's what good neighbors do!Sam Alert: Howdy y'all. Sam here. Daddy and mommy say that they've noticed such a change in me the last little while. They say I'm really growing up - my vocabulary (isn't that a big word!) has increased dramatically (another big word) literally over night. I'm making all kinds of connections about the real world. Mommy's favorite thing that I said this week: "Look - Santa. Ho, Ho, Ho!" Enjoy a couple of Sam pictures from the week. First up - my new favorite thing. Riding around in the back of my truck!And here I am this morning - waiting for daddy to shut the snow blower down so I could go out and shovel snow. The blower is super noisy and I didn't want to get very close.

Now That's a Snow Storm

We heard that snow was coming so we spent the majority of our free time this week working on the yard and getting things ready for winter. We weren't disappointed when we woke up to this sight this morning:We went out with a measuring stick and the snow came in at 12 inches. Now that's a snow storm! Daddy went out and got the snow blower up and running. We cheered him on from the front door. Good job daddy!Here we are out in the snow on our way to church today. We're supposed to get more snow tonight, tomorrow, and Tuesday.In other non-snow events of the week - we love to hide around the house when the garage door opens. Either mommy or daddy (whoever is coming home) has to wander around the house to find us. This was my newest hiding spot - it was a good one!

Sam got in on the "hiding in the bucket of balls" action.

We also did some wrestling with daddy. Boys just can't seem to get enough of wrestling!We had a little crafting time, as usual this week. We made Indian Corn. The glue should be dry tomorrow and we'll put the tops on and hang them up in our rooms.
Sam Alert: Howdy y'all. We love to play "turtles". Daddy puts beanbags on our backs and we crawl around like little turtles. Fun huh! Have a good week everyone.

A Quiet Week

Everyone has been feeling a little under the weather this week. Sam's been fighting another round of croup - keep your fingers crossed that daddy and mommy aren't out tonight walking him in the cold air.

Sam has always loved music. He loves to pull out the piano bench and start playing. This week he found a new way to make piano music . . . with his knee. It was actually pretty good.

Story time is always a favorite time of the night for us. Here we are reading The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle. It's a good one!

We got in the Christmas spirit a little this weekend by watching The Polar Express movie. It combines two things we love . . . trains and Santa. We also helped with some yard work this weekend. The leaves seem to be waiting until its gets really cold to fall this year. Sam begged to rake the leaves all day . . . even after we were done. I did a little block building - I built a city with a train going around it. The building with the orange semi-circle on top is the Orange Factory - where they make oranges and orange milk . . . who knew?

Another one of our favorite things is doing Yoga with mommy. We have mastered our Downward Dog poses. Here we are doing some relaxation. Namaste. And for craft time this week we made hand print turkeys. Then we got to paint a whole turkey scene. We love crafts! Sam Alert: Hey everybody! Sam here. The title of this picture is . . . A boy and his dog. And the title of this one is . . . Following in Daddy's Footsteps. Ahh - now if I could only stop coughing. Sam out!

Adventures in Camping and the Sandbox

Ahhh - the dog days of Fall. Despite the recent snow at our house, we ended up having a really nice week weather-wise. We tried to make the most of it!

One of the fun things we get to do as annual pass holders at Thanksgiving Point is to go to different educational sessions. This week one of the Animal Crackers sessions was all about camping. We had a great time learning about the supplies you need to take on a camping trip.

We made bandannas, bracelets, looked at constellations, and - our favorite - went fishing and hiking.And we ate smores . . . . what's camping without some gooey chocolate and marshmallows!We also spent quite a bit of time out in the yard playing (while mommy and daddy did yard work). We know where our priorities are!
Sam got brave and tried out the "big boy" swings in our sandbox. He giggled the entire time. We had to remind him to hang on tight though - he had a couple of near-miss falls. He loved it!He still enjoys the "little boy" swing too. He begged to get on this one as well. It's funny to think back about how much he hated swings when he was a baby - now you just can't keep him out.One last run with our big metal trucks before they went into the warm, dry shed for the winter.
And another swing around the yard in the wagon. Good times!The last really cool thing we did this week was plant pumpkins. Daddy and mommy selected some really neat decoration-only pumpkins this year. So of course we had to break them open to see what they looked like inside before they headed to the trashcan. They were so cool, we decided to try planting some of their seeds to see if we can grown some next spring. Wish us luck!Sam Alert: Hey everyone. Mason thought he would spare you all the pictures of us after eating our smores the other day. I'm not so kind. Not surprisingly, my favorite part of a smore is the chocolate. I went through a short phase this summer of being a little nervous about slides. I'm glad to say that phase is now over and I'm a slide maniac. And I've fallen in love with one more thing this week . . . mommy's iPad. Between Mason and I, mommy hardly knows where to find it. She loaded on some great games and educational apps for us. We love this thing! We know how to work it better than she does! Sam out - catch you next week.