Father and Sons Campout

Friends in our Shoreline ward...

GREAT picture of father and son...

Setting up the tent...


Sitting around the campfire...


Sitting outside the tent...the next morning...

Evan said Sam had a hard time going to sleep. He kept telling Evan he was "all done sleeping" and that he wanted to go home! I guess eventually Sam got tired enough and fell asleep.

Sam's favorite part of the trip...throwing rocks in the river!

Our First Girls' Night

Evan took Sam to the father and son's camp out last night (Friday, August 14th) and left me and Lauren home by ourselves. We have had such fun! We went over to a friend's house last night and watched the movie, Hairspray. Lauren loved it! She would just stand in front of the TV and squeal with delight. I think she even tried to dance a little. Anyway, I feel like I've seen more of Lauren's personality since yesterday afternoon than I have since she was born. I think she's thoroughly enjoying not having her big brother around to tell her what she can play with, when she can play, and how she can play. I've had fun bonding with my little girl. It makes me excited for the many more girls' nights to come! :-)

Oh, and by the way...Lauren slept until 8:30 this morning which means I slept until 8:30 am too! Seriously, Evan can take Sam camping any weekend he wants to! :-)

August 10, 2007

Two years ago today my mom died. I have thought about her and missed her so much the past few days. She was a wonderful and caring person and the best mom a girl could hope for! I love her and miss her beyond expression.

I love this quote from Bruce R. McConkie. It makes my heart happy.

"When a righteous man or righteous woman dies, they do not cease to love their family in the flesh, they do not cease to pray for them, they do not cease to labor in their behalf. As their family was their primary concern in this life, so it will continue to be their primary concern on the other side of the veil. We would demean the nature of their labors in the spirit world to suppose that they had nothing more to do than to conduct a daily watch over those they left behind; yet the love and interest is still there, and on special occasions their presence will be felt and in some instances, as appropriate, they may be granted the privilege to more fully manifest themselves, though these treasures of heaven will not be common."

Itsy Bitsy Spider and More...

Sam has started singing Itsy Bitsy Spider around the house lately. It's so fun to hear him singing. He was sitting on my lap last night and I got him to sing it for the camera. Sorry for the poor filiming job on my part, but at least I got him singing it TWICE!

Isn't this smile just SO CUTE?!?

Our little Mozart...

I hardly ever post a picture of myself on our blog, but I sort of like this one of me and Evan.

I love my hubby! :-)

Sam is still lining things up at our house...I need to take a picture of when he sets the table for dinner. It's hillarious. There's a line of spoons and forks next to my plate and another line next to Evan's plate.

Lauren is still crawling everywhere. She especially likes to crawl under her exer-saucer. She's super cute and very mobile these days. I think she'll be walking by her 1st b-day.

Vacation Highlights

The kids handled the long drive to Utah very well...I love this picture because it shows the excitement on Sam's face when we pulled out the portable DVD player (Thanks, Heather!) and he discovered he could watch movies in the car...so fun! :-) Evan and I loved it too...it saved us.

Evan went backpacking in Zions Canyon (Virgin River narrows) with his brother, dad, brother in-law, two uncles and a cousin. He had a GREAT time and I'm sure he'll post some pictures later of the fun. Anyway, while he was backpacking and having a grand time our two kiddos got the stomach flu...yes, you heard me correctly...the stomach flu! Lauren started barfing Monday night about 11:30 pm and pretty much barfed all night long. Sam started Tuesday morning about 7:30 am. They both were at it all day Tuesday...talk about a stressful day...it was awful! Thankfully, I had my mother and sister in law on hand to help clean up all the barf, wipe the tears, and console and help me...a very stressed out mommy. After a long day of keeping NOTHING down we took them into the ER at Primary Childrens Hospital. The nurses took one look at them and immediately got the IV's started. They were both super dehydrated and they ended up admitting them both to what they call their "Rapid Treatment Unit". So, we spent Tuesday night and all day Wednesday at the hospital. Luckily, Evan came home from backpacking Tuesday night and came straight to the hospital.

Let me just note here that the whole reason we went to Utah was for Evan's Hatch family reunion that started on Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday afternoon we were hopeful that we could at least make it for part of the reunion if the kids were both feeling better.

Sam was completely better by Wednesday afternoon. He was drinking again, asking for crackers and keeping it all down.

Lauren was definitely feeling better, but still wasn't totally herself. We could tell she still didn't feel too good, but we went home on Wednesday hopeful that she'd turn a corner sooner rather than later.

Thursday morning Evan took Sam to Wheeler Farm in Salt Lake to look at the animals.

Well, Thursday morning Lauren started barfing again and was at it all day long. By Thursday night we could tell she was dehydrated again, so I took her back to Children's while Evan stayed with Sam. I should also note that Evan's mom and sister had to come back from the reunion Thursday night because they were both sick...yes, you guessed right...they had the stomach flu. Bummer.

Anyway, they admitted Lauren again to the RTU to get rehydrated. By Friday she was feeling noticeably better (see pictures below) and we took her home Friday afternoon feeling hopeful again. Needless to say we didn't make it to the Hatch family reunion. Such a bummer. I'm still depressed about it. Oh well...at least my kids were getting the care they needed.

We drove home yesterday (Monday, July 20th) after letting Lauren heal for a few days in preparation for our long drive home. She's still not 100%, but she did well on the drive (only a few bouts of diarrhea and one minor spit up) and her appetite is slowly improving. She's standing here by my side as I type this smiling a huge grin at me...Can I just say what a relief it is to have my happy baby back?!? I hate having sick kids...truly hate it.

Splish, splash I was taking a bath...

I know I am biased, but I just think she couldn't be any cuter! :-)

Kidz

Oh how I love the open mouth smile!

I feel like Lauren has progressed in her physical development so much faster than Sam ever did...At nine months she's crawling all over the place and pulling herself up on her feet. What makes me laugh is when she gets on her feet she stands on her tippy tippy toes. She's pretty good...maybe ballet is in her future! :-)

Tonight Sam wanted to wear his hat and backpack so he could look like this little plastic guy he was playing with. I had to giggle and then oblige. I love my little boy!

You can see from this picture (below) that Evan and I are doing a GREAT job at teaching table manners to Sam...;-) For the record I don't think he learned this by watching me or Evan...certainly not me...I don't think I could get my leg up on the table even if I tried!

This tower's SO TALL!!

Still lining things up...


Sam: Now I know my ABC's...

Lauren is super squirmy...especially when we're trying to get her dressed. She hates it and does what she can to get out of it...Evan and I joke that it's pretty much like wrestling a greased pig.