Camping Trial Run

Several months ago we decided we should go camping at least once this summer. We thought about a couple of different weekends, but never actually went. We were always hesitant because we didn't know how Sam would handle it. Now, here in August, we realized how fast we were running out of time. A few weeks ago, we decided the best option was to do a trial run in our back yard. If Sam passed, we'd consider still trying to get in a weekend camping away from home.

As soon as Jason got home from work last Friday, we pulled out the tent and started our "camping trip." Sam was a little confused about it all, but still had fun watching daddy set up a big thing to play in.
Great campsite, huh? We purposely put it up right by the fence, so it would block direct sunlight in the morning. We're such dedicated nature lovers, especially in the morning.
To get full use out of the tent, we heated up some pizza and quesadillas and had a tent-picnic.

Sam had a lot of fun playing in the tent, especially since there are two rooms, which are great for hide and seek and jump out and 'scare' daddy.
Poor Maggie, she wasn't welcome inside. She was sad.

After we ate, we set up a pack-n-play for Sam and our air mattress and brought all our pillows and blankets out. We watched the first half of Princess Bride out there on the laptop (once again, we're awesome with nature...) An hour after Sam's bedtime we finally put him to sleep, thinking that the real trial was about to begin. He went right to sleep, just happy to be in the tent. He was an angel in fact. Jason and I even watched the rest of the movie out there, and he didn't complain that he was stuck in the other section. We realized the real trial only began when WE went to bed. Since air mattresses are so awesome, especially for someone that is 8 months pregnant, we knew there was a possibility that we wouldn't still be there in the morning. Jason warned me he might go in during the night. I didn't think we should leave our child outside in the middle of the night by himself, so I figured I would be the one to stay out there. After two hours, I wanted to cry because of the amount of pain my body was dealing with, my parched throat, my filled to the rim bladder, my sciatic nerve, and my throbbing hips, just to name a few. I finally got up to go inside to use the bathroom and just move around a little bit. I looked longingly at my wonderful bed, but was determined to not chicken out. So outside I went again. After four more hours, with still not really falling into a deep sleep, Jason, also nice and awake, informed me he was going inside. We realized we were crazy for actually thinking we would betray our bed in this way, picked up Sam, carried him to his bed, and had a great rest of the night!

Summary: Sam gets an A+ in camping. Daddy and Mommy get an F. We will not be camping again until we forget this whole night, which will probably take place next fall, when we reconvince ourselves that we can be campers for a night. Then we will be reminded again of why we don't camp... ever.

Thanksgiving Point Activities

The week following Jason's work party, we had a couple of passes to the different Thanksgiving Point sites. My sister-in-law, Allyson, and I went together with Sam and his cousin, Brigham.
First we went to the gardens, which are huge and beautiful. On a hot day, the walk got a little longer, and it didn't help being 7 1/2 months pregnant...
Sam had lots of fun with Brigham smelling the flowers and running all over the place when we would let them out of their strollers.


It's really funny to watch two toddlers trying to run downhill. Sam probably would have been fine, but he thought it looked fun each time that Brigham fell down, so he would fall down too.

After the Gardens we went to the Children's Discovery Gardens. We didn't realize until we got there that most moms brought their kids in swimming suits... Hope they didn't mind that our kids were only in their diapers...
Our next stop was to the Dinosaur Museum. Sam is looking up at the bones and stuff hanging from the ceiling. I think it was all a little confusing to him.
until he met this guy. This one made more sense than just a display of bones. They became such good friends, he didn't want to say goodbye. Oh and Brigham liked him too!
Our little archaeologist...
After the Museum, Allyson and Brigham went home, but Sam and I decided to make one more stop at the Farm Country. Sammy loved to pet the animals... of course most were hoping for a little corn instead of dirty little fingers, but I'm sure they found the flavor of his hands to be similar to the stuff they eat...
We went on a little carriage ride at the end which was fun for both of us. (probably because he was tired of walking and he's really hard to carry around these days...)
We had lots of fun, but by the end we were so tired. Sam fell asleep pretty quick once we got to the car. The next day he kept talking about the animals he saw, and wanting to pet them again. Maybe we'll go back someday....

"Carnivale"

Last Saturday was Jason's summer work party. Sam didn't have a great nap that day, so I was a little worried that he would be a major pill... until I realized that a little sugar goes a long way with a small child's attitude! For the party, Omniture rented a carnival... which in a child's world means... a lot of sugar. (It's hard to say no when it's all free!)

Here is his first shot of sugar... his beloved 'stwawbewwy ice'
While we waited in line at the ferris wheel, Sam enjoyed watching the Tornado... I think he would have preferred to be on the other side of the gate... well, at least until it started going.
I was worried that he would be a little scared of how high we would go, but he had more of a smile than a frown, so I took that as a good sign. Plus I think it helps to be jammed in between the two people in the world that you trust the most...
Believe it or not, he actually did get one of the little bean bags in the pocket, I was actually impressed. He has a good throwing arm, but not the best of aim usually. You can see the red bean bag in the yellow pocket.
Sammy met Sammy T the clown. Gotta be honest with you, I think he was a little weirded out. It was the first clown he's seen as far as I remember. But it was all ok when he handed him his very own balloon sword.
This would be his sword about 5 minutes after the previous picture. It didn't like the biting.
While we waited for our turn on the cow train, Sam found popcorn kernels on the ground. After watching him pick them up and try to eat them, I decided it would be best to let him have his own bag...
The cow train that Sam still talks about.
I got a quick picture of him before I crammed myself in there too to hold him, since he probably would've tried to climb out if he had been left on his own. If you're wondering how I fit, I promise you don't want to try to visualize it... it wasn't pretty. It didn't cross my mind that I should look for a bigger cow... so we picked one of the smaller ones. Apparently Bella is one of the more petite cows... but fit I did, in my own way. And I only ended up with a small bruise on my knee from the bumpy ride with a child jammed in between my crunched up legs. I don't think the fetus enjoyed it too much... yeah, so it was pretty much the worst ride of my life. But Sam loved it!
We had so much fun. Later in the evening (when Sam should have been in bed) everyone gathered on the grass for the usual Rock, Paper, Scissors tournament, a band played and then it ended with a great fire work show. The whole time Sam was exactly as you would expect a 2 year old to be with a body full of sugar... totally wired. But he loved dancing to the band and his eyes would light up with the fire works.
I think most of all I enjoyed the fact that we were together as a family. I feel so blessed to have Jason and Sam in my life. Jason was so patient with me as I tried to give Sam all sorts of carnival experiences that maybe weren't entirely necessary... I'm so blessed that my children have such a wonderful daddy.

Our fun adventure

A couple of weekends ago, we went to visit Jason's brother, Troy and his family in Idaho. Since the family reunion a couple of weeks before, Sam had been obsessed with playing with "Doe-Doe" or as we call him Joe-Joe. Sam loves playing with Joe-Joe! He's so fun! Joe-Joe loves to play with Maggie! She's so carriable. Well, actually not, and poor Maggie had a rough weekend, but the kids sure had fun with her!
On the way home Sunday night, just past the Utah border, our car started acting up. Or maybe I should say down... since it died. Luckily it was more like taking a nap than dying, but it still was causing problems. It started again just fine, but once we got into the south part of Salt Lake it started 'taking a nap' more often. We realized it would take us forever to get all the way to Springville at the rate we were going. We called Jason's parents, who live in Lehi, and asked if we could spend the night there. Sam was excited to see Gampa and Gampa. (Sorry Grandma, the M is usually overtaken by the P.) Even though it was bedtime, Sam found the news very interesting.


Our little cherry picker:

We recently discovered that Sam loves cherries! And once again remembered that he is a messy eater!

What would you do if...

Jason and I have been watching the show Heroes lately. So we're really in a superpower mindset now. The other day he asked me what are three things I would do if I could be invisible. We realized how easy it would be to be bad if you had pretty much any superpower. I wondered if I would be tempted to make wrong choices because I could 'get away with it' for now. I hope I wouldn't, and I'm guessing I'll never be given the opportunity to find out...
But what are your thoughts? What would you do if you could be invisible?

Jason's new toy

We finally did it! We bought a piano yesterday. We've been looking at pianos for some time now, and have been saving for one for even longer. Most of the time Jason has been very anti-digital because he just didn't think they had the same sound quality... then he played a newer digital and realized they've made some major improvements with them. We liked the idea of easier movement and no need for tuning. And when kids are napping, or mom is snapping (mean like a turtle) the volume can be turned down. We looked at a few acoustic ones, but Jason decided that he was converted to digital, so we found this one. The woman is moving to Hawaii this weekend, so she really needed to sell it. She came down $400 because of that. So, we feel we got a pretty good deal. (Good job Jason!) The first time I saw it was when Jason was playing it, right where you see it in the picture. Good thing I trust his judgment. He went and looked at it on Tuesday and borrowed a friend's truck and bought it on Wednesday.
It is so nice to have homemade music in our home. (Ipod, you're great, and don't take it personally, but sometimes you just don't cut it...) I love hearing Jason play, he is so talented. I'm glad he'll get the chance to pull his music out more often. His music has officially been relocated from the office's closet to our living room! Maybe now he'll remember again the song he wrote for me for our wedding and he can record it onto the piano so I can listen to it anytime I want! It's a most beautiful song, from a most beautiful person.

July thus far

Oh, the lazy days of summer... I guess Sesame Street got a little boring for him.
Maggie is getting ready for her first bath. She had no idea what was coming... let's just say, she didn't care for it.
Oh, so sweet, daddy brushing his little girl's hair. This could be good practice for him if we have a girl!

Sam's typical look at the 4th of July Parade in Provo. I thought he would enjoy it, but he just had this worried/confused look on his face almost the whole time. However, he did get excited about BYU's float, since it had a 'choo choo' on it.
After the parade we went home and ate lunch. After lunch, I told Sam it was time for his nap. Of course, he didn't think he needed a nap, so he tried to hide in the pantry. I wonder when he'll realize that just because we can't make eye contact, it doesn't mean he's invisible...
Sam and his snaps. He had a hard time throwing them hard enough to pop them, so daddy taught him the stomping method.
He had way too much fun stomping on them all. Let's just say we went through the 2 boxes we got him rather quickly. It was fun watching him though.

So far July has been a fun month, nothing too exciting, which is fine with me!

The Cook Family Reunion Results

This past weekend we had our family reunion for Jason's side that we do every other year with his parents and siblings and their kids. His sister and her husband, Holly and Scott were in charge of planning the 3 day event. On Friday morning we did an activity like Trading Spaces. Each group was given $20 to work with. Everyone was divided up and assigned to another family's house to do whatever they wanted to do with it. We could do some redecorating, cleaning, making a treat, etc. There were a total of 44 people (several being small children) and 6 homes involved. Jason's sister, brother and brother-in-law were the adults that came to our house. We were to leave a list of suggestions which they could do if they wanted but were not required to. Jason's sister, Shelly has heard me mention more than once that I would love to have a red front door. So on their way to our house, they stopped by Home Depot and bought red paint and painted the door. (They also did a great job organizing/cleaning our office and hanging our pictures that I have been dreading to find places for since we moved in four months ago.!) When we all met up again at Jason's parents house, they were a little nervous about how we would feel about their little project. All they would tell us was that they "took a risk" with something that we'd have to wait and see when we got home. I will admit I was a bit nervous, since none of the other groups were too worried about their decisions. We kept trying to guess what they did, but they wouldn't tell us. About 2 minutes before we got home, I figured it out. I was really hoping I was right and that we would drive up to the house with a red door. And we did!! Yeah! I'm pretty sure most of the family knew before us what they did, but it was a fun surprise. The whole activity was a lot of fun.

On Saturday morning we met at Canyon Glen Park and hiked up to Bridal Veil Falls. There and back was about 2 miles, so it was quite an adventure for a 2 year old that doesn't think he needs a stroller. He did ride in it on and off, but it was still a good workout for us all. Even Maggie. We decided to take her with since the whole planned day was to be outside. The kids all wanted to take turns to walk her and carry her, so we hardly even saw her during that time. After the hike and lunch... she got her first taste of ham and now her treats have no effect... but she was so exhausted, she fell asleep under a big stroller and a little niece puller her our by her legs and she didn't even stir, just stayed completely knocked out.
Speaking of knocked out... Sam was pretty exhausted too. It was about 2:00 or so when we left the park and it didn't take him long to get comfy and go to sleep. I'm surprised he even had the energy to get his arm above his shoulder like that. But it makes for a cute picture!

Friday afternoon we had games and boys/girls hour and some seminar/classes. Then on Sunday we had a nice dinner and scriptural activity. The whole weekend was really great, Scott and Holly did an excellent job planning the whole thing... I think they should be in charge every time...

Sandbox for Sammy

Yet another yard project... only this one was a bit quicker and a lot more fun.
A few days ago, we finally got around to putting the sandbox together. Since it only involved cutting and nailing a couple of boards together, it wasn't too bad. Sam watched with a little bit of confusion since he didn't really know the joys of sand... yet.
He was a little hesitant to give it a chance, but as soon as we brought out a few trucks he hopped right in and started vrooming away. He especially had fun with Jason there playing with him. Daddy built up a nice big mound for his trucks and then of course showed him how to knock it down.
He had so much fun playing that he didn't even care that we were in and out of the house for a while. He usually doesn't like to be left outside alone, but now I can watch him from the dining room and still get the kitchen clean while he's outside making a mess! Win-win!
This was his Building-the-sandbox battle wound. He was watching from above the retaining wall and tripped over the curvy curbing separating the grass from the flower bed.

Well, Sam is very happy to have a sandbox. So far we don't have too much sand on the lawn, but I know that won't last long. It's just really fun to see him out there having so much fun, especially now that we got him a few more sand toys. He'd probably play out there all day if he could. Nap time sure is the pits!

Sammy's first sno cone

A few days ago, Jason decided it was time to introduce Sam to the wonderful world of sno cones. There's a little Sno Shack on Main in Springville, so we went for a little family time. On the way Sam kept asking where we were going (which he does frequently and repeatedly) and we kept telling him we were going to get a sno cone. Of course he didn't know what they were, so we described them in words he knows and loves. We said we were getting "stwawbewwy n ice" for him. He was pretty excited since he loves both strawberries and ice. He was in heaven. It was fun to watch him so happy.