Walking the dog...

We go on walks around Greenlake all the time and see people out walking their dog. Well, Sam has a little doggie pull-toy that he loves to take on a walk. The other day he was walking up and down the hill outside our house with the dog...it was too cute! :-)

Blog-Slacker

I've been a total slacker with the blog lately...my only excuse is laziness. Here are some recent pictures of the kids with an update on each...


I love this picture of Sam and Lauren. Sam likes to get in the port-a-crib with Lauren after she wakes up from her nap. He gets in there and they just lay there and giggle at eachother. It's cute and fun to see them bonding...makes this mama's heart happy! :-)

Lauren is super mellow...most of the time. She can get fiesty if you take something she's playing with away from her (which her brother does every now and then), but mostly she's a happy little girl and growing like a weed. She's in the 90th percentile for height and the 40th percentile for weight...tall and skinny.

so cute...

Sam still loves to read and our new favorite place to get books is the D.I.. We've found some good ones there lately and they're always only $.50! One of his other favorite things to do is go to the zoo...He loves the zoo! I have to be careful because if I say the word "zoo" outloud he's running to the door and getting his shoes while exclaiming, "Okay! Let's go! I go get my shoes on..."

He's learned how to smile for the camera. If I tell him to smile when taking his picture...he does! It's great and I love it. He's just so darn cute...I love my little boy! :-)

Love the sunglasses...

Sam's new favorite way to eat an apple...climb up on the table, eat it whole and straight out of the fruit bowl!

Some things just don't change...:-)

Like father like son...On this particular Saturday morning, Evan is reading a research paper for school and Sam wanted to join in on the fun. Sam is turning out to be a lot like his dad. It's fun to see the similarities even at such a young age! :-)


Lauren is still cute...She ate rice cereal for the first time today. Even though she's smiling in this picture she didn't like it too much. We'll keep trying. :-)

Sam still is a picky eater...I was so excited yesterday because Sam ate EVERYTHING on his plate for lunch (see the above picture). I couldn't believe it. I really don't remember the last time he did that. However, he was back to his old antics for dinner (see the below picture). Hardly ate a thing on his plate. This is the part of motherhood I think I'm failing. Sam won't touch a vegetable and he's totally finicky...one day he likes cheese, the next day he doesn't. I seriously don't know what to do. Oh well...I'm trying to remember what my good friend Heather always says...Everything's a stage. I hope he grows out of this one soon!


Why is there ALWAYS a load of laundry to wash or put away?!?!?! Can't we ever just be DONE with it?!? Seriously...it makes me crazy!

to be washed...

to be put away...

Scrablle Glory

Tonight for our "date" Evan and I got some take-out (E-Arby's, J-Taco Bell) and came home and played a game of Scrabble. I WON! :-) The reason this is so glorious is I feel like I NEVER beat Evan at Scrabble, but I did tonight. Oh, yah! I was so happy. Well, my cute and sometimes nerdy husband likes to graph things, so while I was thinking of ways to earn big points with my letter tiles he was busy graphing the outcome of our game. I don't think it helped him feel better about his defeat, but it sure helped me feel great about my victory.

Therapy

I recently spent a weekend in sunny southern California with six of my favorite women in the world...my BYU roommates. They are amazing, beautiful, intelligent, funny, and have been such a blessing in my life over the past SIXTEEN years (I can't believe it's been that long!). In the course of those sixteen years we have collectively been through a lot...marriage, babies, divorce, cancer, death, sick parents, and all the other curve balls life is constantly throwing at you. Through it all we have stayed in contact and been an amazing support to one another. I remember when I was struggling with breast feeding Sam I sent out an SOS email to my roommates and got all the advice and empathy I needed at the time and when my mom died they were there for me then too. Not to mention last year when I tore my Achilles tendon, they collectively sent me a five month subscription to Netflix (great idea for the gimpy girl!). Anyway, I love them more than I can express. They have taught me what true friendship is.

We try and get together every couple of years for a reunion and this time was GREAT! Some of the highlights were going out to dinner, a trip to In N' Out Burger, an outing to the beach, all seven of us getting pedicures (oh wait...make that eight...little Aila got one too!), shopping, hot tub therapy, and staying up each night till the early morning because we just couldn't stop talking!

Melissa, Heather, me and Jenni

Tiff and Aila at the beach

Lauren and Aila in the stroller on our shopping trip.

Colorful toes...

Nothing better than a good dinner with good friends.

From left to right...Melissa, Debbie, Heather, Tiff, Me, Noreen, and Jenni

Funny Girl (Noreen)

The cheerleaders in action (Tiff and Heather)

Tiff and Aila getting a pedicure with Debbie taking the picture

Little Cutie Pa-tooties :-)

Lauren is growing and changing it seems by the minute. She just couldn't be any cuter. I know I'm biased, but really...she is super cute! I love her smile...it seriously makes my heart skip a beat.

We continue to go on walks almost every day. Often times we just walk around our neighborhood. Sam still loves it and I think Lauren even enjoys herself (see the picture below...this is Lauren in the stroller from my perspective when I'm pushing).

Sam still loves his books. His new favorite is an animal book I brought home from a weekend trip I took to California for a girls' weekend with my BYU roommates. I left Sam for the first time ever. I cried when I left him (don't worry...I got over it and had a fabulous time with my roommates). Anyway, I brought him a "surprise" home from my trip...the animal book he's looking at in this picture.

Sam recently learned how to dance, thanks to our friends Maddie and Adam Hoopes (friends in our Shoreline ward). I got a video of him in action one afternoon. Too funny...

Here's a cute video of Lauren giggling...

Here's another cute video of Sam...

A Tribute to Big Mama :-)

On January 18th, MaLeesa and John blessed Araceli. She wore a blessing dress my mom had made for one of my cousins over 20 years ago. The dress is a classic "JaNet" creation and Araceli looked SO CUTE in it. MaLeesa and I both commented that Big Mama must have been smiling in heaven the Sunday Araceli wore this dress. What a wonderful tribute to my mom...