One year...

Well, it's been a little over a year since my mom passed away. It doesn't seem like it's been that long. I still miss her like crazy. There are times I wish so badly she could see Sam toddling around and witness some of the super cute things he says/does. She'd love it. I also wish she was around so I could talk to her about having another baby. I'm starting to have little panic moments every now and then...only 4 more weeks! CRAZY!!! Anyway, we all (including my sister and her family) spent the weekend with my dad, so he wasn't alone for the one year anniversary of her death. Here are some pictures from our weekend in Spokane...

We all visited hmy mom's grave Sunday morning (August 10th) before going to church.

Malachi LOVES cars and Grandpa let him drive the riding lawn mower. Malachi was in heaven. This was definitely a Grandma thing to do...She used to let Ammon ride with her on the riding lawn mower.

We went and had professional pictures taken at JCPenney of the four boys. They all looked rather dapper in their matching shirts. :-)

It was HOT in Spokane, so the boys broke out the slip n' slide and had a GREAT time! :-)

Doggies

Well, Sam's new favorite thing are doggies. Every animal...be it a bird, duck, cat or dog...is a doggie. He could easily say the word "doggie" 1000 times a day. I should take the time to count one day. I think you'd be shocked at how many times the word escapes his mouth. Anyway, his love affair with dogs is really quite cute. Below are some videos of Sam saying "doggie" and other pictures from the past little while.

Sam was sick one Sunday and he ONLY wanted his daddy. Evan couldn't hold Sam AND make dinner, so he put Sam in the back pack while he worked in the kitchen. Too cute and too funny...

This is one of my favorite pictures of Sam for sure...he's saying prayers with us. Every morning and evening we say family prayers. Sam's learned that he bows his head and folds his little hands during prayer time. Now, he doesn't do this for the entire prayer...only a few seconds and then he's distracted and up and about. But we're thrilled he's learned what to do when we say prayers! ;-) I happened to snap this picture during one of our family prayers. I know, I know...it's a bit sacreligious to be snapping photos while we pray, but I just HAD to get this on camera!

It's been way too long...

The main reason it's been way too long since I last posted an entry on our blog is because on April 15th I fell and ruptured my Achilles tendon. How it happened was a total fluke...I fell in a grocery store parking lot while lunging after Sam who was rolling away from me in a shopping cart. I guess you could say my efforts to save him were heroic, but when it comes down to the wire...it's just a HUGE dose of rotten luck! :-) I can kind of laugh about it now...now that it's mostly over, but at the time it was an enormous trial for me. I couldn't put any weight on my foot for six VERY LONG weeks and then had to wear the gigantic and annoying boot for another six VERY LONG weeks, but at least I could walk and didn't have to use the scooter (see picture below). :-)

The most difficult and humbling part of this whole experience was I couldn't take care of Sam. I was in a very bad spot...pregnant and gimpy. Thankfully, my wonderful mother in law (Jill) was able to come and be with us in the most crucial times and spent a good amount of time helping us out. My dad came to help out a few times when he could get off of work and I spent a week in Vancouver with my sister. We also live in an amazingly supportive ward. I was overwhelmed by the support and help that the Relief Society offered. I literally had 2 or 3 different ladies come and help me out each day family wasn't able to be here. It was great to get to know the ladies in my ward in this way. They are wonderful and I love them. I really feel I came to know Christ better through their service to me.

Anyway, I didn't take very many pictures while I was down and out...I think I had a small bout of depression. However, we did manage to get a few during this time and we were better at taking pictures towards the end of this whole ordeal. I'm much better now...still slow and pregnant, but definitely not as gimpy! :-)

This picture was taken about a week after I had surgery. Notice the enormous boot...there were definitely moments when I wanted to throw that thing out the window and kiss it a permanent goodbye! :-)

Instead of crutches I was able to rent one of these knee scooters. It was a HUGE blessing and allowed me to do a lot more for Sam than if I would have had only the crutches. I got pretty good with the scooter. By the end of the six weeks I could get up and down the stairs with it on my own and figured out how to get in and out of our apartment.

Sam learned to walk during the past few months...He was walking before I was!!! :-) It's amazing how quickly they progress. Now he's walking, practically running, everywhere and loving life. I think walking is his new favorite hobby!

Memorial Day weekend we took a trip to Cannon Beach with Alan and Jill (Evan's parents) and Brian. We had a great time and I even got to take a walk on the beach! I had given up the scooter at this point and was walking with just the boot. I was happy I got to be on the beach with Sam and Evan. Sam LOVED the beach...lots of wide open space to walk and run! :-)

Evan's brother, Brian, has been called to serve in the Georgia Atlanta North Mission. He reported to the MTC on June 18th. He spoke in church the weekend before and we went down to Portland to hear him speak. There were other members of the Hatch family (Jill's family) that were able to be there too. It was great to hear Brian speak. He will be a fantastic missionary! It was also nice to spend some time with family after church at Alan and Jill's.

Elder Thacker

What's a family gathering without a game of cards?! :-)

Enjoying the good weather...

Sam playing with Grandma...

On June 21st we flew to Washington, DC to spend a few days with Evan's cousins (Eric and Jenny Hatch). Shelley and Kimball were there too. Evan had a great time seeing the sights with Shelley and Kimball. Sam and I stayed home with Jenny and Isaac (their two year old little boy). Jenny is also pregnant and I just couldn't see my gimpy pregnant self walking around DC all day long, so we opted to hang out at home. We had a great time visiting with Eric and Jenny and spending time with Shelley and Kimball.

Isaac and Sam messing around....

After spending a few days in DC, we (Evan, me, Sam, Shelley and Kimball) drove to the Outer Banks in North Carolina for the Thacker family reunion. We had a GREAT time spending time with family, swimming in the pool, and playing at the beach. It was a blast! :-)

The Mess Maker

On Sunday mornings before church I'm often working on the computer hurrying to try and get things ready for YW in time. This is proving to be more difficult as time goes on and as Sam gets older. This is the mess Sam made this morning before church while I worked. I know...it's a bit unbelieveable that someone so little could do so much damage in a relatively short amount of time and that his mom let him get away with it! Goodness...I never thought it would be MY child making such a mess! Well, he does and I do let him get away with it sometimes if it means I can have a few minutes of peace and quiet to work on the computer. Anyway, lately he's been getting into EVERYTHING! It's enough to make me want to pully my hair out sometimes. But I've managed to get some good pictures of my little mess maker in action. Here are a few from this week....

Notice the maxi pads...:-)

Road Trip

Evan had a week off of school (spring break) and we decided it would be fun to drive to Utah and visit family and friends who we don't get to see that often. So, Monday morning (March 24th...Monday after Easter) we hopped in the car and drove from Spokane to Logan, UT in only 11 hours. Sam did sooooooo good! He is a super traveler. We kept him busy with his books. The key was giving him some variety. He knew when we'd try to recycle a book too soon. He'd say, "No...No..." and we'd give him a new one (a book he hadn't had in a few hours) and he was a happy camper. Nice. Sometimes they'd even put him to sleep...an added bonus. :-)

We spent the first few days in the Logan area visiting relatives and spending time at "the cabin." My extended family built a cabin on my Grandpa's old ranch land. It's beautiful there and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We saw many of my aunts and uncles and cousins that live in Cache Valley as well as Evan's aunt and uncle. I wish I would have taken more pictures of the people we saw, but I didn't. Oh well...next time. :-)

There's a swing at the cabin and Sam loved playing on that! He'd swing ALL DAY if he had his way.

This is my all time favorite picture from the trip. I just love Sam sitting on the old tractor with his dad. Man...they are such cute boys! I love them so much...

Of course Sam loved climbing the stairs at the cabin. He gets so excited about climbing up them. Aaahhh...such joy in simple things! :-)


On Wednesday morning we drove down to Salt Lake and met up with Evan's parents and Shelley and Kimball (Evan's Sister and her husband). Grandpa Thacker took Sam outside to play with the ducks. He was a little apprehensive about the ducks.

So, here's where I was a total slacker in the picture taking department. Wednesday night we drove down to Provo to hear Brian's (Evan's brother) Men's Chorus concert. It was an amazing concert and I so wish I would have taken a picture of all of us with Brian in his Men's Chorus suit. Darn. Again...Oh well, next time.

Thursday morning we met up with Brian for breakfast and then spent some time on BYU's campus. It was so fun to be there again. I forgot how much I love that place. So many happy, happy memories for me. It was fun for Evan and I to drive around Provo and walk around campus telling stories of our time at BYU. We also met up with some of Evan's cousins for lunch. It was a great day. Again, I wish I would have taken more pictures!

After lunch at the Cougareat we went to visit Uncle Bud and Aunt LaPreal and Aunt Marilyn (Evan's great aunts and uncle). They live in Provo and Evan's cousin Lori and her little boy Trayson came to visit too. It was fun to visit with them too. I DID take a picture here....Yeah!! Yeah!!

Thursday night my Aunt Nadine (my mom's sister) planned a big shin-dig at her house for many of my Nelson relatives. Gosh, it was so fun to see lots of my cousins who I haven't seen in a REALLY long time! Unfortunately, the only picture I took was of Sam with his second cousin Nathan. They were super cute eating dinner in their respective high chairs. Three cheers for Nadine for having TWO high chairs on hand!

Friday and Saturday night we stayed with Shelley and Kimball in Salt Lake. It was great to spend some quality time with them in their home. There is a nice spirit there and we felt lucky to be there. Again, I wish I would have taken some pictures of Sam with his Aunt Shelley and Uncle Kimball. Goodness, if there's one lesson I learned on this trip it's...take more pictures!

Friday night we had dinner with some of our Boston friends who now live in Salt Lake. It was so fun to see them. I had many roommates during my tenure as a single girl and Melyn and Jodi were two of the very best! For me, the term "roommate" is a term of endearment. My roommates are like family to me. I love them! Here's beautiful Jodi holding Sam.

When I lived with Jodi and Melyn one of our favorite desserts was "Diabetes in a Bowl." It's basically warm and slightly underbaked cookie dough with icecream and chocolate sauce on top. This time we changed it a bit and it became..."Diabetes in a Pan." We baked the cookie dough in a small cake pan (cookie bar style) and then put scoops of ice cream on top with chocolate sauce and all four of us (and Sam) ate the whole thing out of the pan. Oh my goodness...soooooo GOOD!
We had a great trip. I loved having Evan by my side 24/7. He's such a good husband...my best friend in the whole wide world! The three words I love to hear him say the most are, "I'll change him" and I got to hear those words a lot on this trip. It was great! I'm grateful we traveled safely and returned home in one piece. It's nice to be home again, but I'm already excited for our next vacation! :-)

Paper Easter Baskets

When I was growing up my mom would make us paper Easter baskets for Easter morning. They were always filled with our favorite Easter candy. This tradition continued even when I moved away from home. My mom always sent me a care package at Easter and inside would always be a paper Easter basket. She even sent me one when I was on my mission in Denmark. And when I lived with roommates she made paper Easter baskets for them too. Since this was my first Easter without my mom I just had to make paper Easter baskets for everyone. Easter just wouldn't be the same without them. Evan and I spent today (Easter Sunday) with my dad in Spokane. He spoke in sacrament meeting today and gave a wonderful talk on the Savior and bore a very powerful and personal testimony of Him. Wow, it felt wonderful to feel the spirit so strongly testify of Jesus Christ. So, today my thoughts have been with my mom...I've had the paper Easter baskets to remind me of her and my dad's testimony of the divinity of Christ as a sweet reminder that I will see her again. It has been a special day for me.

Here's a picture of my dad with Sam at my mom's grave. We visited her grave site and took her some flowers yesterday (Saturday) afternoon after we arrived here in Spokane.

Story Time

Sam LOVES books. Whenever I need a few minutes of peace and quiet, I get his basket of books and he very methodically takes each book out of the basket one by one and looks at them, turning pages as he goes. He's quite the pro at it. Sometimes this will give me a good 30 minutes of uninterrupted peace (as long as I'm slightly out of eye sight and I don't bother him...he kind of forgets that I'm around).

He also loves the little rocking chair that Grandma and Grandpa Thacker gave him for his birthday. He loves to sit in it and rock and loves to try and get in and out of it too. This is often a challenge since he's not so good on his feet quite yet. But we're making progress. Anyway, tonight when he was sitting in his chair I gave him some books to look at...Needless to say, he was a happy camper! :-)

I love the big, cheesy grin! :-)