Grandma & Joey's Visit

Grandma and Joey were able to come down and visit for a few weeks and it was wonderful!! Unfortunately we took them to the airport today :(
I was amazed at how instantaneously Sam seemed to be so comfortable around them when we picked them up!! It was so exciting to see how she remembered them from previous visits!!! Sam is in a "kissy" stage where she loves giving kisses...she started this the day grandma came down, way to time that one mom! Grandma enjoyed many kisses from "Ssssss" as Sam refers to herself as!!

Happy Independence Day!!

Happy Independence Day!! It's the fourth of July and we are fortunate enough to celebrate with my mom and little brother, Joey! We began the day fairly uneventful, but ended with a bang!! I've been really wanting to go to this one location and take pictures of Sam where a few of my friends have had professional pictures done. And since I haven't had professional pictures done since Sam's birthday I figured I'd take a few amatuer ones :)...The only problem was my child was much more difficult to get to smile for me than she is for the professionals! Although she did learn to stay where I told her to...lol...she would start to walk away and I would tell her "back back back" and she would mimic me "ba ba ba" and go back to where I had put her and plop on the ground for about two seconds before doing it all over again!

Happy girl after getting some of Grandma's candy...

Grandma sharing...

Samantha begging...

Dance, dance, dance...

Grandma's here! Time for a date!!

So as many know, Michael and I work opposite days to save on babysitting fees and to spend the most amount of time with our quickly growing daughter! Well, the downfall to this plan is that we see each other very little!!! So...mom came to visit and we hit her up to watch lil' Sam overnight so Michael and I could just spend a night together...just the two of us...alone!! It was WONDERFUL!! We went to Boise on Friday afternoon where we went to dinner at McGraths Fish House (AWESOME FOOD!!), then we went and saw the movie "Grownups" totally not what we expected but it was a great movie none the less...maybe even purchase worthy! Then stayed the night at the Oxford Suites...I love that hotel!! It has the most amazing rooms plus two free evening drinks plus a hot breakfast buffet for sooo cheap!! Saturday morning we packed up and hit Kohls real quick on the way home. It was so refreshing to spend a full 24hrs with just the two of us!!

My dear friend's wedding...

I have made some really great friends at work, many of them pictured in the first picture down, but by far one of the greatest was the bride, Cralene. I had the pleasure of being able to orient her and get to know her both in and out of work! She has a heart of gold and I couldn't be happier for her and Grant as they were joined in marriage yesterday!!! And it was a BEAUTIFUL wedding with a BEAUTIFUL bride!!! I was disappointed though that we had to leave a little early from the reception (due to a tired child!) so I missed the breaking of the beloved piggy bank and the cake cutting...but we had a lot of fun while we were there!!

Some of my co-workers

Our little family

The bride Mrs. Cralene Gould

Eyeballing the fountain...

A good parent would've stopped their child from trampling all over the the landscaping to get to the water fountain...what do I do? Take pictures of course :)

So, Aiden Zunino here kept trying to kiss Sam all night and in the picture below he was trying to dance with her. But our little Sam wasn't going to have anything to do with little boys! She turned her head each time he tried to kiss her and pushed him away just after I snapped this picture...good job Sam...keep it that way, boys are bad until you're old enough to get married ;)

Sam pacing in and out of the building dancing while she was walking and chanting "dan dan dan" aka "dance dance dance" :)

Tired little girl!

I have always found it so cute when little kids fall asleep in their highchairs, but have always thought there was no way my lil' one ever would...she only falls asleep in her bed or pack'n'play! Well...lately since we've taken her binky away, she's decided certain days she just isn't going to take a nap, instead she'll play in her bed for the two or three hours we leave her in there. And yesterday was one of those days! I actually left her in her crib for almost two hours, then decided to try and get her to lay down with me...about a half our after laying her down with me, I was drifting off, but awakened by Sam licking my face! I opened my eyes and she started giggling hysterically! Everytime after this that I closed my eyes that's what she would do...lol. The only problem with her not taking a nap yesterday was we had an evening wedding to be at...so after hours of failed attempts at a nap, I gave her a quick snack in her highchair and hopped into the shower. When I came out this is what I found...

Needless to say, the quick 15 minute nap she had in her highchair was not long enough and she did not last very long at the wedding...but we did make it through the wedding and almost two hours of the reception!

A fun summer day...

Today was soo much fun!!! Summer finally decided to show up here and we took full advantage of it! We began our day at the lake where Sam LOVED being in the water!! We had a picnic in the park then went home for a much needed nap for all of us! When we woke up from our naps it was time for Michael's softball game, Sam and I watched about the first 15 minutes then proceeded onto the playground area where she finally got up enough guts to go down the slide!! ...until she accidentally went down backwards as shown in this first picture and scared herself half to death!!

Father's Day

So today's Father's day, which also happens to land on my birthday this year. Unfortunately for Michael and I we are both working today, he is working 6am til about 630pm and I will leave for work the second he flies through the door so I can make it on time for my night shift :( ...but I wanted to take a moment and talk about my dad and husband...

My dad...my dad is one of the smartest people I know! It doesn't matter the subject, he is usually extremely knowledgeable about everything!! He is always a very honest, patient man with a good work ethic and an extremely generous heart! The one thing I remember about my dad from growing up is every morning he would sit at the kitchen counter with his breakfast and his Bible doing his devotions! He was and is always there for all of his children, he is an amazing dad!

My husband, the father to my daughter...People always say girls marry someone similar to their dad...that statement might be true! Michael is a very honest, patient man with a good work ethic and an extremely generous heart...see the similarities lol...but he's more than that, he's gracious, loving and pure!! I have loved him for so long, but when I watched him transform into a "dad" it made me love him even more! He is a great father to little Sammy! He is loving and patient...even when she has her ever so dramatic girly moments!!! Watching him interact with her makes me love him even more! So Happy Father's Day baby!! I love you so and thank you for all you do, you're the best!!

This is what Sam and I made for Michael while he was working on Father's Day!