The Barn

Since the Weather continues to be dismal and seriously depressing here in Utah we decided to take the kids to the new indoor jump place here in Draper called The Barn. They all had a blast! I thought for sure Sam would be to apprehensive and stick by my side the whole time but quite the opposite was the case! I would push him up to the top of the slides (as a side note I will never make fun of the people on gladiator again as they climb those inflatable things, man it was a work out) he would fling himself down before I could even haul myself up! He had great fun bouncing around with his cousins of all ages. My sister in laws and I had a great time helping and watching. It also had the added bonus of tuckering them all out so sam had a nice two and a half hour nap this afternoon. I have included some fun videos of Cooper and Ali sliding and of Liam talking. He is so stinking cute!

This one goes out to Liam

Looking over my blog I feel not enough time has been dedicated to my amazing baby boy Liam. For those of you who don't know, Liam (william) came into our lives only 16 months after Sam and has been a dream since he came into this world. True the pregnancy and birth were mildly horrific but ever since he has been the sweetest baby you could ever hope for. And really it wasn't his fault I couldn't get an epidural and was kind enough to keep it to 45 minutes. Yes I was only in labor for 45 minutes. I thought Sam was an easy baby but that was before Liam. He literally will smile at ANYONE and thrives on attention, but is also content to sit and devour his hand. Today he found his voice. He spent a good majority of his day yelling. Not crying, simply talking very loudly. He thought it was hilarious and obviously gets a kick out of hearing his own voice... a hint of what is to come-- maybe :) He adores his older brother and has shown just how tough he is by surving countless fairly rough displays of affection on Sams part. He really is the type of baby every mother dreams of. As I read through a parent magazine on childrens dispositions every single time Liam was the "easy" baby, and it is so true, he makes it easy to adore him, and that all three of his family members do!

Sam has found Heaven

Today my sisters Claire and Felicity and my mom took Sam and Liam to Discovery Gateway. It is the childrens museum in downtown Salt Lake. My pass for the virginia living museum allows me to get myself and three other people in free whoo hoo! What drew us there though was the traveling exhibit with Sesame Street Called get to know your body. Not only was the normal museum AMAZING but sam was in absolute heaven in Sesame street! He got to go to Elmos world and play the counts organ. It was just awesome. When we walked in the museum there was a TON of really neat things to play with cranes that lifted foam blocks, Jeeps you could drive around and a HUGE water station... what did sam go for first.. of course the train table. I am telling you I have got to get me one of those! I am trying to see when I can go down again before we leave. I think the pictures say it all :)

Cousins are the BEST!

Today was a relaxing Saturday. We had fun digging through everything at Down East finding great deals and lots of fun items. Then we ate at one of my favorite resturants Rumbi's with the Page's. The Page children as soooooo cute! They were great with Sam and Liam even though sam was being a bit of a brat at lunch... What sam be a brat!-- impossible you say :) Then this evening the Pages and the Millers and Reynolds came over and we played the Wii, ate pizza and a ton of treats and watched night at the museum.... well thats what the adults did. The kids had a blast running a muck and playing dress up. Sam absolutely loved it. It was especially nice since Sam has been feeling under the weather lately... I will not go into details but his diapers are not fun-- lets leave it at that. He also took a fun bath with his cousin Bailey who was making him laugh harder then I have seen in a long time. Simeon was amazingly tender wtih Liam and took great care of him for me ALOT today. He really was a lifesaver. I am hoping all this action will make the boys sleep in tommorow. Heaven knows I could use the rest!

Who doesn't love a good nap

Today was one of the most relaxing days I have had in quite sometime. Both Chris's and My mothers were busy today and Chris was at work ALL day so it was just the boys and I. After eating a messy messy lunch of pasta the three of us took a long very very bubbly bath in Chris's parents ginormous bath tub. It apparently took a lot out of the three of us because we all then fell asleep for three and a half hours!!! It was glorious! After waking up and finding that both my sisters and Melony had been trying to get a hold of me (bummer that I missed their calls heaven knows I love lunch's out!!) I was shocked to find how much time had passed by. Then after turning on the news I thought to myself here I am sleeping for hours while most of the country is in a frenzy over the election today. I found myself day dreaming about what it would be like to be back at my old job in DC and how excited and crazy busy everyone must be, (this was augmented when I saw my old boss on TV again). I then looked at my two boys, one with a basket over his head spinning in circles and the other finding that he can blow big bubbles with his spit and thought nothing can get better then a three hour nap and my boys!

Super Bowl Sunday

Today we woke up in Utah to a massive snow storm! It was crazy! Sam unfortunatly caught a stomach bug and thus spent all last night getting sick. Poor chris was his first victim. It is so embaressing but I honestly cannot do throw up. I will just end up getting sick myself. I keep thinking it is a mental thing and get so frustrated with myself telling myself to "buck up and be a good mom". The minute I get around it though blah there I go myself. So poor chris had to deal with him for the majority of the evening. Seen as both boys are still on Virginia time we woke up rediculously early again and got to watch the snow falling in the dark. Poor Chris had to leave for Guard at six and drive on all the unplowed streets. Sam seemed to be over his sickness and Liam seemed pretty content so I went outside to help Chris's dad shovel the insane amount of snow off the driveway before church. Sam decided he wanted to join us but that did not last long. He may look like his daddy but when it comes to climates he is deffinetly his mother's son-- the warmer the better. After about five mins he was following me around whining till I took him in.

Because of the insane weather (some of the valley got 16 inchs!) and Sams amazing stomach pyrotechnics we decided to stick around here for the game. Luckily the Millers and the Reynolds braved the roads so Sam had two of his cousins to play with :) It is great to see family but man am I home sick for Virginias mild winter. And if we ever do end up somewhere it snows ever winter we will be investing in a four wheeler with an attachable shovel!

Virginia Living Museum

Jordan and I took Fischer and Sam to the Virginia Living museum in Newport News today. They had an awesome time! They were able to see and touch live crabs and lots of huge fish, jellyfish and stingrays. Sams favorite remains ducks though. For some reason he just loves those guys. He stood and stared for a long time at the alligators, it was a pretty intense staring contest but in the alligator won out. Outside there was a beautiful walk way where they got to see Wolves, coyotes, deer, Bald Eagles etc. There was a great interactive part where the boys dressed like chipmunks and could crawl through tunnels. Sam also decided to taste test the fish that were in the Bald Eagles nest... yummm no germs there I am sure. What is terrible these days is getting either of these cute boys to look at the camera. Sam used to be such a ham and now you say smile and he translates that to "she must want a picture of the back of my head". So included are some pictures but I can't be held responsible for their quality :)

Sam Looking Cool Lttle Chipmunk Boys The Crawfords Have Landed



Sam Checking out the "Sea Star" Sampling the delicious Fish Liam enjoying chillin in the stroller