August and September

So rather than just continue procrastinating by always looking at other peoples blogs and never updating my own, I decided to just bite the bullet and do it...so I am going to combine the months of August and September and do a big recap. We had a lot of fun over the summer, even though summer seemed to be almost non-existent with Dallin starting school in July. But we did manage still to have some fun. Most of the time we just play dress up at home and be silly, but we did manage to get out and do some fun stuff. I wanted to put the older boys in swim lessons early in the summer but that just didn't happen, so I ended up enrolling them in August. It was a two week program-Dallin in a class by himself and Evan with mommy or daddy. Well the weather for the first week was gorgeous and Dallin loved swim class. Evan on the other hand was too grumpy (he was/is adjusting to not really getting a nap because of Dallin's school schedule), so I think in the two week period, he got in the water a total of maybe 3 times-all ending in crying...argh!! Oh well, maybe I will try it next year, although earlier in the summer. The second week of the lessons the weather turned cold so Dallin wouldn't get in the water either so the last week he only made it to lessons maybe 3 times. Even though it wasn't as I had hoped, Dallin still made some huge improvements and we will try again next year!

In September we finally made a trip to Las Vegas. We hadn't been up there since passing through Christmas of last year. Grandpa, Jim and and Jeromy hadn't even met the baby, so Labor Day weekend we braved the traffic and headed north. The traffic actually wasn't too bad and we had a wonderful time swimming at Aunt Sue's and Uncle's Jim's house (and eating yummy food), visiting Great Grandpa and Great Grandma and Jeromy, and the just hanging out at Grandma Perry's house. It was a wonderful trip, we even made it down to the Bellagio to look at the beautiful gardens!

The most important event during this 2 month catch up was of course the celebration of Evan's 3rd birthday! He was so excited about having his "Buzz Lightyear Birthday" that for about a month before his birthday if anyone asked him anything he instantly would say "my buzz lightyear birthday". Great Grandma and Grandma Perry came down for his birthday weekend. We decided that since we were doing his little party with friends over the weekend, that we would celebrate his real birthday by going to Chuck E Cheese! He loved it. We ended up with a bazillion tokens and then tickets so the boys both came home with cotton candy and toys. It was a wonderful night (thanks Great Grandma-what a great gift!). The next day we headed to the nature center here in town where we saw snakes (which the boys and maybe Grandma touched), turtles, birds, sea turtles, sharks, reptiles etc. In fact, we even had a backstage tour from one of my students, where we got to see sea horses and a baby shark. It was super fun. That evening we had Evan's "Buzz Lightyear" party which I think was a huge success. Scott did a great job on the cake-as usual...he even snuck in the tricky relightable candles...that was pretty funny to watch. We had a few of Evan's little friends come over and it was a ton of fun! It was a great birthday. Evan is such a good boy, don't get me wrong he is a pill, but for the most part he is a joking, smiling, active little boy. We just love him to pieces. He has a smile that will just melt your heart...those dimples will get him out of most trouble. It has been a lot of fun to be with him more during the days since Dallin is at school. I think he likes having more of the attention, he has become quite a big helper with Andrew. For his birthday he gave Scott and I a gift-he basically potty trained himself!!! He just did it, no fights, he just did it! We just love our big guy, he keeps us laughing!

Most of the pic's here are just us at home, growing and having fun. The older boys love to dress up-it cracks me up! I love their imaginations and their creativity. In August we also went to the Sand Castle Building contest in Imperial Beach. We thought we would brave the crowds and check out this very popular event-craziness, in fact we never really found a parking spot so while the two youngest boys slept in the car with Scott illegally parked, Dallin and I checked out the competition. I wasn't too impressed I mean they were okay sculptures but these are supposed to be the nations best, well I found out when Scott took his shift down on the beach with Dallin, that I only saw the amateur sand castles. Oh well, it was still and experience that we did and probably won't do again-haha!

What would a post be with at pic's of Andrew. What can I say, during August and September a lot of cool things happened. He became much stronger on his belly, he was rolling all over the place and he started to sit up on his own. It is so funny to watch the world through his eyes, it is all magical and at every milestone (rolling, sitting, crawling-which he now really has the hang of), it is like the world is brand new. He is such a sweet baby although lately he is starting to scream at me...why not the other boys do, he probably feels like that is the only way to get my attention. And as you can tell by the pic's the older boys absolutely love him. Maybe my next post will just be about him-he is such a happy content little guy!

At the Sand Castle Competition:


Pro-castle

This was an amateur build but it was cool!



Pic's of life at home:

Andrew at about 6 months.

Dressed up and scary Dallin (he actually took off each layer to reveal himself as Dallin-it was pretty funny)

I wanted a nice picture of the boys all dressed up for church...what a mess, two of them were or had been crying! Oh well, they still look handsome.

Dallin and his favorite little guy!

Evan and his little buddy!

Swim Lessons 2010:

Las Vegas Trip September 2010:

What a content little guy!

We made it to the new city center, this is mom inside one of the malls.

We love the Bellagio gardens!

Mommy and her big boy!

Grandma and the Samson boys! Gotta love Dallin, he is always pulling a face.

The whole group at the Bellagio!

Great Grandpa meets Andrew!

The Samson boys and Great Grandpa.

Great Grandpa and Dallin playing around!

At home pic's:

My favorite little pirate!

Poor little guy, I went upstairs to get ready to go get Dallin from school and when I came back Evan had fallen asleep at the table, it was so funny. I think Dallin's school schedule is hard on Evan!

What a happy little guy and oh so strong!

Andrew learning to sit on his own at about 6months old.

Such a happy boy-he was so proud of his accomplishment.

Evan's 3rd Birthday Festivities: Weekend of his birthday, nature center and friend party.

Touching a snake!

On the bus with Grandma Perry-this was Evan's favorite part, riding the bus!

Daddy and Dallin on the bus.

Great Grandma and me on the bus.

After the cake eating. Do you think he liked his cake?

His favorite gift-a pirate set, from Dallin. I think he "hooked" someone that night and had to stand in the corner-birthday or no birthday he is still our Evan.

Actual Birthday: