Minnesota

First, I want to start out by saying that today in primary, Dan taught a lesson about Samson and spiritual strength, as you will. At the beginning of class, the kids arm wrestled each other. The strongest kid (age 8) then arm wrestled Dan. Dan won. Then that kid arm wrestled me. I am pleased to announce that I won! I was a little worried he would beat me, but I pulled through beautifully. What can I say - I'm that macho.

Second, and the main reason for this post, we went to Minnesota last weekend and I wanted to write about it. Actually, I wanted Dan to write about it, but he wasn't going to. So I've taken matters into my own hands. Dan's maternal grandpa and step-grandma live in Minnesota. Dan hadn't seen them in a really long time, and I had never met them, so we decided to spend the long weekend visiting with them. It was so much fun!

We spent two nights with Dan's aunt and uncle and their family in Wisconsin. They have a pool and the weather was actually quite hot, so it made for a nice combo.

Grandma Betty, Grandpa Jack, Dan, Sam, Dan's dad.

They had 3 dogs there, which kind of worried me. Sam would ride around on this train thing and terrorize the pit bull. I was so afraid that the pit bull would snap and terrorize Sam back, but fortunately, that never happened. Here's Sam riding the train after also discovering a purple helmet. He can't resist a good helmet.

We sat by the pool a lot and visited with Dan's parents (who flew out from Washington), aunt and uncle, cousins, and grandparents. By the end of the trip, we had gone to breakfast a few times, visited the St. Paul ward for church on Sunday, visited a nice free zoo called Como Zoo in St. Paul, and just enjoyed meeting family.

Gma and Gpa with Gpa's antique Ford truck. He's really into antique cars and motorcycles and used to have a larger collection. He scared Sam to death with the ooga horn. (I don't know how to spell ooga...)

Four generations.

Most of the gang.

Side story: Dan's cousin (who had the cutest Minnesota accent in the world) was talking about how it would be so weird to see a truck with longhorns on it like we see sometimes around Texas and how that is so bizarre. Well, we were driving around St. Paul and we came across this. You tell me which is more strange!

Como Zoo.

Sam and his great-grandpa both love cars. Here's Sam showing off his cars. Grandpa Jack gave Sam that white corvette as a present.

It was a really nice trip. I was also excited to cross 2 more states off of my "states to visit" list!

Happy 4th of July!

We might be busy on the fourth, so I wanted to post this now. Every week our library has a special hour for children ages 2-3. Sam loves it. They sing songs, the librarian reads a book, and sometimes they do a craft. Sam's favorite part is when the librarian walks around with a big bear puppet and gives each of the kids a hug. He loves to hug the bear. Maybe that will help ease his fear of other characters like Santa and the Easter bunny?

This week they made patriotic door hangers. Other than the big blue star and the "USA", which I placed, Sam either told me where he wanted the stars or put them on himself.

Sometimes he's so photogenic when he says, "Cheese!" Other times, not so much. But he's still a cutie to me!Hope you have a great fourth of July!

This past weekend, Dan and I celebrated our sixth anniversary. Each month we go to the temple and we switch off going in while the other watches Sam. While I was in the temple, Dan took Sam to a piano store because we had toyed with the idea of getting a digital piano for our anniversary. That was until we saw the price of digital pianos! So we basically ended up getting each other nothing. But that's okay.

It was nice to go to the temple on our anniversary and think about being there six years ago together. I also noticed that there were a few weddings that day which made me happy.

During Sam's nap, Dan worked on painting the study (pictures to come). Later that night, a friend watched Sam while Dan and I went to dinner at a nice South American restaurant. It was delicious! I'm sad I didn't take any pictures of our date, but now that I wrote it down, at least I won't forget. (I have already forgotten what we did on our first and second anniversaries...)

I love you, Dan! And here's a picture my dad took of us in Florida just so this post isn't picture-less.

Happy Father's Day yesterday! I am so blessed to have a great husband, father, brothers, grandfathers, etc. in my life. I have learned so much from them and appreciate their examples - especially my dad and Dan. I love them so much!

Yesterday I asked Dan to take a 29-week picture of me. I thought it would be fun to also go back and find a picture from when I was 29 weeks with Sam to compare. When I found it, I was so embarrassed to realize that I'm wearing the EXACT SAME THING - down to the necklace - that I did for the picture over 2 years ago. Well, at least it will be a true comparison, right? Sam on left, baby girl on right. I feel a lot bigger this time around.

I've been working on some projects that I wanted to complete before our baby comes along. Sam is really into modes of transportation, so I thought it would be fun to paint some silhouettes of various things to hang on his walls. I found images online, blew them up, traced them onto canvas, and painted them. Total project cost was around $12. (The 16x20 canvases were buy one get one free and I already had 3 of the paint colors.) We haven't hung them but maybe I'll post a picture of that after we do. Sam could identify all of them except the airplane, but I don't blame him. My bad.

Sam's been doing this weird yoga-type move where he bends over, puts his head to the floor, and lifts his arms. I tried to get him to do it on his own, but it's easier to get him to do it when I'm singing "Once There Was A Snowman" so you get to hear my beautiful voice.

Orange is his favorite color

When I go to get Sam out of his room first thing in the morning, the only way to get him to be still long enough for me to change his diaper is to ask him what he would like to wear that day. (If he gets to pick his outfit, he's more excited to put it on.) Every morning it's the same response, "Orange shirt! Orange shirt!" Too bad he only has 3 orange shirts. Once he's worn those, I try to make the others look appealing by pointing out the dinosaurs, basketballs, dump trucks, or other flashy images on them. It works sometimes.

As further evidence, he used only orange crayon on the picture he colored today at church. Orange is Dan's favorite color, too, so maybe Sam's just being like his BFF.

And here's Sam's new haircut, courtesy of Dan. I think he looks very handsome. He's got a cowlick in the front, so it looks kind of funny here, but Dan actually did a really great job.

Events

Here's what has been going on lately.

We went to the temple last weekend. I tried to take cute pictures of Sam since it was around his birthday, but he never really gave me the smile I was going for.

Especially after he fell down some stairs and hit his head...

We FINALLY finished touching up the stripes we painted in Sam's new room. (Note to those who are painting: DO NOT try to paint stripes on textured walls unless you have totally awesome tape. Otherwise you'll spend 20+ hours touching up your stripes.)

Notice how when I'm not trying hard to get Sam to smile, he totally hams it up for me and says "CHEESE!" We also put up bunk beds, but kept them separate.

(Showing off one of our curtain options. We went w/ the red ones.)

Yesterday we went to the children's museum.

Me at 27 weeks. When taking my picture, Dan always tells me to "be sassy." That's the best I can do.

A Tribute

This week, a man named Drew bought our subaru. It was a bittersweet day for me. I was glad to see her go so that our neighbors would stop secretly hating us for having it parked on the street for so long. The mailman also hated it because it blocked our mailbox. He put a note in our box asking us to move it. We moved it forward a few feet, but that's the best we could do. I'll bet he did a major happy dance when he saw it was gone.

I have some great memories of that car, though.

*When Dad brought it home, I thought it was so cool looking.
*When Mom used to drive me and Candice around, Candice would crank up the volume on her favorite songs and I could never hear anything Mom was saying in the front. Mom would make Candice turn it down to "volume 7". That was the rule. Mom had to remind Candice constantly.
*Mom driving me to seminary in the mornings. One morning we saw a UFO. No one believes us to this day. Sure, it just happened to appear right near the airport, but so what?
*Eventually I got to drive it to seminary and school. Driving home from seminary, we ALWAYS ended up behind an electric blue Tracker with a license plate that said CN DBL. One day we followed them to find out where they lived. We wondered if they were twins or what. I think we got scared that they might find out we followed them so we never got to the bottom of that one.

*Thinking that I should win the senior class superlative for "Best set of wheels." They gave it to a girl named Kelly who drove a red SUV. Her license plate said "Smile". Give me a break.

*I had to drive on a date once because my date was using crutches. Right when I went to accelerate onto the freeway, his crutch put the stick in neutral and I was revving it up wondering why it wasn't going. I thought we were going to get hit.

*Dan and I inherited the car when we got married and when we picked it up in Virginia, we drove it back to Utah, and then up to Washington and back to Utah. I love roadtrips w/ Dan. That first roadtrip we heard "This Love" by Maroon 5 a million times. Now whenever we go on a roadtrip, Dan waits anxiously hoping to hear that song.

*Driving to my parents' house every Thursday night during law school.

*Driving Sam out to my parents' house during the days while Dan studied for the bar. Mom and I would scrapbook.

*Getting lost many times in Houston.

I just love that car. I hope her new owner will love her as much as I did.

Seven years ago today...

Seven years ago today, Dan and I kissed for the first time. In honor of that fateful day, I'm going to post a list of qualities I was looking for in my future spouse. I just found it today while cleaning the craft room. I think I wrote it when I was 15 in a young women's class at church.

"Characteristics of my marriage partner"

• Attractive
• Honest
• Fun
• Smart
• Kind
• Likes kids
• Happy
• Taller than me
• Worthy to go to the temple
• Return missionary
• Takes his share of responsibility
• Communicates (TALK and listen)
• Good at compromise
• Has same goals
• Loves the Lord
• Feels the Spirit
• Prays
• Patient
• Enjoys service
• Slow to anger
• Pure
• Respects me
• Dresses modestly
• High standards
• Nice teeth
• Muscular --Dan added that one

I'm happy to say that Dan fit the bill then, and he does now. I love you, Dan! Thanks for kissing me on that tire swing 7 years ago.

Sam's stats

Weight: 31.8 pounds (85th percentile)
Height: 36 3/4 inches (95th percentile)
Head: 52 cm (above 95th percentile) The highest they go is 95%. So Sam's head is off the charts!

Sam is also slightly anemic (which we could have guessed since he hardly eats anything) so he'll have to start taking a children's multivitamin. That's all.

Sam is TWO!

(I wrote the majority of this yesterday but it has the wrong date at the top. His b-day was yesterday.)

Today is Sam's birthday. I can't believe he is already two. Well, sometimes I think he still acts like a baby, and other times I think he is such a big boy. So today is a bittersweet one for me. I watched the video I made for him on his first birthday with pictures of him from when he was born. Then I looked at his pictures from last birthday and he still looked so little. It makes me sad to think that he's growing up so fast. And he has no idea how much his life is going to change once Appleseed (our temporary name for #2) comes into the scene! I am also happy and grateful to have such a wonderful son. He is so good most of the time and is such a sweetheart. He is very obedient and he makes really funny faces. I just love my little man.

Here's how the day went: (Mostly so that I can remember to write this in his journal.)

Woke up asking for milk and Yo Gabba Gabba.

Ate a breakfast of applesauce and frozen corn. (No, I am not making that up. He is such a random/picky eater!)

Went to church playgroup which happened to be at the splashpad down the street.

Took a bath.

Ate pasta for lunch.

Took a 2 hour nap. (Darn! I was hoping for his usual 3. Especially since I spent 95% of his nap working on his ghetto-looking train cake.)

Hung out at home waiting for Dan to get home.

Showing off his next matchbox car.

Ate dinner, had cake, and opened presents.

(Please notice how my "train" looks like a boat. I swear I followed Betty Crocker's how-to video! Oh, well. At least Sam recognized what it was supposed to be. He called it "choo choo cake." And I was too cheap to buy all the candy you're supposed to use like Oreos for the wheels... At least I know not to be so ambitious next time. And at least it tasted good.)

He was so spoiled this birthday. We bought him a train table on craigslist and he LOVES it. That was by far his favorite present.

Drought

Sorry for the dry spell. We've really been just relaxing and doing the same old stuff these past few weeks.

Our cable offers free video-on-demand kid shows and Sam has recently been OBSSESSED with Yo Gabba Gabba. It's a really fun show where weird characters dance and sing such wonderful songs as "Party in My Tummy" and "Family." The only downside is that video-on-demand only offers 4 shows at a time, so we've watched the same Yo Gabba Gabba shows over and over and over. Sam likes to watch them while he drinks his milk (3 times/day).

It's over 90 degrees here each day now so other than going to the pool a few times a week, we stay inside after like 10 a.m.

My pregnancy has been going really well for the most part. I feel pretty good most of the time. I think I've put a stop to the rapid weight gain I experienced in Florida. I'm shedding hair like a beast this pregnancy and that didn't happen with Sam. The doctor said it's normal, but I still hate pulling hair off my clothes all the time!

I frequently have crazy pregnancy dreams. Last night I dreamt that Dan and I were laying on a beautiful beach having a grand time. Then, out of nowhere, Topanga (from Boy Meets World), apparently one of Dan's vengeful ex-girlfriends, came along and started yelling at him and going off for some reason.

She may look cute and cuddly, but I'm here to tell you, she's not!

We are family!

Last week we drove over to Destin, Florida to attend the Kevin Cheney family reunion. It was so much fun! My parents rented a beach-side condo and we spent the whole week soaking up the sun, playing in the water, playing nightly games, and eating WAY WAY WAY too much food. (If you don't believe me, I went to my 23-week appointment yesterday and I had gained 9 pounds in 5 weeks. I owe it all to the donuts and ice cream in Florida. Before that, I can't remember the last time I had a donut. Or 6.)

I love just spending time with my family. Prepare for picture overload.

Sam really loved the water most of the time. He'd run up to it and want us to hold him so that he could go deeper. He wasn't as fond of the pool as he was the ocean.

He also loved playing w/ a dump truck in the sand.

We went bowling one day. Dan let Sam bowl all of his second shots. They got the highest score for our group. Go figure.

We also went mini-golfing. Afterwards, Dan and Sam rode the train. Sam LOVES trains. I got the worst score of my life. Dan won.

Dan catching a wave from the sand bar.

Candice and Craig love to take jumping pictures, but I never got a picture of Candice actually leaving the ground! I'm sure she did, though.

Mom and Dad lovebirds.

All of the girls in the family (minus Mom) are pregnant. Here we are lined up by due date.

We had SO much fun! Next time we see everyone, there will be four new babies. Crazy!