A visit from Auntie Angie

It's been a while since I updated my blog and honestly I cannot say why. Perhaps because I have been busy, worn out and haven't taken any pictures over the past month :(

Well, Michael's sister, Angie, has been here for the past 2 1/2 weeks now so I've been trying to snap a picture here and there...I think I've got like 5, so not like me!! It's been really nice having her down here, she's been a big help with Sam and the yard! It is so neat to see Sam interact with her!! I have noticed a huge difference when people come to our house vs. us going to theirs pertaining to Sam's comfort level! It only took the two hour drive home from the airport and Sam was instantly comfortable with her!

Sam wearing one of Auntie Angie's headbands...

Sam loved to hang out on Auntie Angie's bed, partly because there's a mirror that she can admire herself in like she's doing here...

And she's still looking in the mirror...vain lil' girl! :)

Sam's been picking up words like crazy...although she only uses them when SHE wants to! She's also very much into mimicking faces and sounds that people make. Michael said "woo hoo" about three nights ago and still I randomly catch Sam saying it just like he did sporadically throughout the day. I am really enjoying this age, she's like a sponge, and although she doesn't always follow directions, you can tell that she understands everything that you say :)

So, today we're heading back to Spokane to take Angie home. It'll be a SHORT trip as always, but it'll be good for Sam to see her grandparents!

Camping with our friends, the Rosenaus...

This was our first attempt at taking Sam camping...
We went up near Hailey, Idaho and found a spot right off the road with lots of trees and a creek that ran along side of it, it was perfect!! The only thing that wasn't perfect was the weather! It was pouring rain and hail the moment we pulled in, which in turn soaked all of our stuff in the back of the truck! Unfortunately our suit case had a hole in it and everything was soaked by the time we set up camp, so we had wet clothes all three days :) As we unpacked we realized we forgot our camping chairs as well as all of Sam's warm clothes...I had them all in a pile on her dresser to go but forgot to put them in the suit case. :( So, Michael and Kirk went to town as soon as we got there and picked up a sweatshirt and a pair of "pants" for Sam, they were really capris for a much larger child, but did fit her like pants. They looked for camp chairs but the cheapest they could find were $60 a piece!!! Needless to say they were smart and did not buy these, so they called dispatch and ended up getting hooked up with a Blane county officer who let us borrow his....so wonderful!! Thank you officer we've never met, I greatly appreciated it!! When it came time to sleep the first night, Sam decided she was going to lie awake until after five am and if she caught eye contact with Michael or I she would start jabbering, otherwise she just laid awake looking at the top of the tent. The second night she fell right to sleep, but woke up screaming in the middle of the night, I assume she had a bad dream...from then on she cried any time I took her into the tent :( We got rained on off and on the whole trip and the last night we were supposed to stay all we could see was clouds so we decided to pack up camp and head out a night early...after stopping for ice cream in Hailey of course :) We had a lot of fun and had some great fellowship with some really good friends that we don't hang out with nearly enough!!

Mommy and Sam on one of our hikes...

Sittin with dad by the campfire

This was Sam's favorite way to hike!

S'ghetti-Os!!

Sam loved sitting in the middle of the creek on this rock!!

And this is what happens when she's told no...

The lid was really on, she just thought she was drinking it...

Walking through the puddles with dad...

Putting rocks in the creek

Mommy and Sam by the campfire

Two out of three of Kirk and Kira's kids with Sam on the rock in the creek

Kira and her daughter, Andi, who is just about the same age as Sam

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!