Sam Our Ham

 And his influence is spreading...

Richmond Adventures

I took pics of the loft, but it looks too messy. I'll have to clean and take some more. In the meantime, here are some pictures of things we've done since moving to Richmond.

Dan's first day of work. (We were staying with my parents at the time - that's not our apartment. I WISH!)

 Also while staying with my parents, we went to a fun splash pad. Sam got prune fingers. The poor kid behind Sam was crying because his mom was yelling at him. It was sad.

The kids and I go crazy cooped up for too long so we've tried a few different parks. This one is Deep Run. The playground was really cool and they had a ton of running/walking trails.

One day I just picked a park listed on the GPS and it took me to a really big park that didn't have a playground. I think it was called Dogwood Dell? Anyway, they had an amphitheater and carillon tower.

We went to the amphitheater and the kids decided to put on a show for me. More like a dance.

A few weeks ago we thought it would be fun to go to Belle Isle - a small island in the James River accessible by a pedestrian bridge under a freeway. It's had a steel mill on it and at one point during the Civil War it was used as a prisoner-of-war camp. It was really busy that day. Plus it had rained a ton so the river was unswimmable (waters over 9 feet high) and the ground was super muddy. I was wearing flip flops. I always wear the wrong shoes on our adventures.

 Dan checking out the rock climbing possibilities.

 Super high water. It was so brown from all the rain that Sam now calls it "Chocolate River."

 Dan's pointing to his building. I just noticed that Sam is pointing, too. Not quite sure what at, but that's cute.

During a rainy day last week I took the kids to the Virginia Museum of Fine Art. I thought it was pretty cool and there was a ton that we didn't get to see. The kids' favorite part, of course, was spinning on the orange chairs in the lobby.

Another weekend we went to the DC temple.

More adventures to come!

Sam is FIVE!

Sam turned five on May 25th. Can't believe it. He got to plan the day. That means we went to Chuck-E-Cheese. Grandma and Grandpa Cheney came and brought delicious donuts, too.

Birthday boy playing Dan's old Gameboy. We let him have it right before our move and he's been obsessed every since.

 And Afton can really ham it up these days. Also, please notice our "luxury" apartment.

 Chuck E.

 This trip reminded me how much I love air hockey.

After sensory overload, we went to a local joint for BBQ and then hit up an open house. It's ended up being the one house that Dan and I can both agree on, but we're also considering building a home... More on that another day.

We then went back to our apartment for cake, ice cream, and presents.

Sam received two lego sets and a Batman DVD from G&G Cheney as well as a few games, a set of dinosaurs, and a DreamLite from us.

Sam is such a sweet, kind, handsome kid. We love him so much and are so grateful to be his parents. He has handled this move (and all the adjustments that come along with it) so well. He likes to play games and do things with us, he's learning some simple words and surprises me sometimes by pointing out words he can sight-read. We discovered the pool table in our complex and now we go down there a lot to play pool and he's actually really good. (There aren't any sticks so we just use our hands.) He loves to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house. He likes to swim. He likes to be silly (the other day he told me I was his "sweet chicken nugget") and tell silly jokes. I can't wait until we're settled so that we can get life into a normal routine for him. He's the best. We love our little buddy!

Moving and a Half Marathon - which I don't recommend scheduling within a week or so of each other if you can help it.

While on vacation, we got an offer on our house. The same couple had actually put an offer on our house the week before, but we couldn't see eye-to-eye during the negotiations so we both walked away. After househunting a second weekend, I guess they decided they liked our house enough to give us a better offer. We negotiated a little bit more and got a contract! About two weeks on the market - really great!

So we got back from LA early Sunday morning. The movers came Thursday. Everything in between was a blur. Huge thanks go out to our friends and ward members who watched our kids while we got stuff done. They were major lifesavers. We decided to use an ABF truck and pay movers to come and load everything up. Since we didn't have somewhere to stay once we got to Richmond, we could pay to store the stuff in the ABF thing (it's like a POD but bigger) until we found a home. We also rented a Penske for the essential stuff that we needed before finding a home. So we got all loaded up and Dan was awesome and vacuumed/cleaned the house to make it look great in case our sale didn't go through. He started driving the Penske late Thursday night. I think he slept on the side of the road for a total of about 3 hours or something and got to my parents' house late Friday night. I spent Thursday through most of Saturday with Kirk and Gretchen and then flew to Charlottesville Saturday afternoon. Friday Gretchen, Dionne, and I all got together one last time for a playdate. It was great. Dionne has been such a great friend to me. She was also such a huge help to us during the move. I miss her! Sam really misses Harrison and Carter, too. Harrison was so thoughtful and gave Carter and Sam a picture of the three of them in a decorated frame. On Sam's frame, Harrison drew our family, a soldier, and a race car.

And for a walk down memory lane, this is what Sam and I looked like when we moved into our Houston home:

We sure got spoiled by the inexpensive and large homes in Houston. We are having a tough time here finding something we both like. And we are living in a one bedroom apartment with a loft while we house hunt. The small space is a good motivation for finding something SOON! But I digress.

We stayed with my parents for a week while I tried to find a short term rental. Dan was making the 1 hour, 45 minute commute each day. That Friday I had a plane ticket to fly to Kansas City and run the Go Girl half marathon with Candice and my Aunt Colleen. I got in around dinnertime and Candice, Craig, and the girls picked me up and took me to Uncle Dana and Aunt Colleen's. We visited with everyone (David and Meegan came over, too) and then tried to go to bed at a reasonable time.

We woke up early Saturday morning and got to the race with enough time to stand in line for 15 minutes to use the port-a-potty. I was terrified that I'd have to use the bathroom somewhere on the course and there wouldn't be a toilet. This was the first long run I'd done where I didn't have to stop and use the bathroom!! YAY! TMI? Sorry.

Before the race:

So we stood there forever waiting for the race to start. It started 30 minutes late. Candice and I hung together for the first 8 miles or so and then she wasn't feeling well and decided to walk. I ran pretty much the whole thing. I walked while I drank so I wouldn't spill, and then I walked at one point around mile 11 when I saw Candice behind me and tried to wait to see if she wanted to run together, but she still wasn't feeling great so I ran (more like a slow jog at this point) to the end. I am so glad Candice signed up for this race and encouraged me to do the same! I never thought I'd be able to run that far. I am so proud of my aunt, too! She hadn't been running, either, and started training just 10 weeks before the race.

We did it!

 Cheers.

 Uncle Dana was such a great cheerleader. He strategically maneuvered his way around the course to cheer us at three different spots along the way. And he held all my junk for me.

Craig and the girls, as well as David and Meegan, cheered us on, too.

After the race I took a much needed shower, we hit up Oklahoma Joe's, watched Preakness for some strange reason, hung out, (have you seen a cuter baby? Other than mine, of course?)

and played a game that was fun but I can't remember the name of. Then I flew back to Virginia early Sunday.