Samantha's first day of 1st Grade!!!!

Leaving the house....looking adorable and a bit nervous.

Waiting outside the school for a bit.....looking even more nervous.

Outside her classroom door.....looking more confident and happy (her cute teacher is in the background. The woman looks in her 40's but she has 10 kids and 13 grandkids!!).

Alex is not too happy about the whole situation. He about broke down in tears.

So I let him go into the classroom to give her one last hug. They are such good friends!

Do you see how that boy is looking at her????? We are in SOOOOO much trouble!!

Have a great first day Mantha-Moo!!! We are proud of you and will miss you so much! (But we'll see you at 1.30! ;-))

Summer 2010

It's been a fairly uneventful summer for us this year. Our main priority (okay, MY main priority) has been the yard and the house. When we moved in the yard was SOOOOOO overgrown and I just couldn't handle it! The yard was definitely not my style, so I have been working very hard on ripping things out, chopping trees, and just trying to make it my own. It's been a lot of hard work but I am learning a lot. And loosing weight. Pulling out greenery with roots stretching to China is a ROUGH workout!! I wish I would have taken more before and after pictures, but I'm just not that smart sometimes. Here are a couple though from my ripping-down-the-ivy adventure.

Before
After

The month of July included the following:
Samantha's sleep study in which we paid a bunch of money to find out that her sleep is close to normal (I guess she doesn't get the right amount of REM sleep, but there is no explanation for it or anything to do about it.)
A Saturday afternoon trip to Bridal Veil Falls.

And of course, Samantha's 6th birthday.

August included more yard work and a quick weekend to Vernal to visit Dinosaurland.


They are working on updating The Quarry in the dinosaur park and so most all of it is closed - which is why entrance to the park was free. So, seeing real bones in the ground was kind of a bust, but we saw a few and then enjoyed some time at the new Dino museum. It was a great museum. We all had an enjoyable time. Except I got sick. Blast you KFC!!!!

This week marks the end of our summer and I am okay to see it go!!! The kids are ready and excited for school and I am ready and excited to see them off! Kristi-time is going to increase dramatically which makes me hope that family-time will be that much more enjoyable!!!

What?

We took Samantha and Alex to get ice cream at Baskin Robbins for Samantha's birthday.
It was their first time there.
The other night at dinner Samantha asked if we could go get ice cream at "Basketball Robin Hood".
It took us a minute to realize what she meant.
And then we laughed.
A lot.

The 7 Grandkids!

7 Grandkids all under the age of 6. Yes, when we get together it IS a zoo!!! But look at those handsome/beautiful faces!!! (that is, if you can find Caleb's face....)

For my mom

I told my mom about this picture and she wanted me to post it. Look at those cute kids!!!

Sometimes I get wondering what a baby of mine would look like. This little angel is about as close as I am going to get! Abby has a lot of Chad in her, but apparently my 4 month old picture looks A LOT like Abby at this age. I guess my ears weren't as cute and elf-like, but she does resemble me as a baby. She even has a dimple like me! Love you Abby Kate!

Happy 6th Birthday, Samantha!

Hey pretty girl! You are 6 today!!! I was laying in bed last night thinking about you and how lucky we are to have you and I wanted to write something special about you. I decided to write down my 6 favorite things about you. There are hundreds of things that I love and admire you for, but these are my top 6!

1. You are the most generous, giving person I have ever met!
2. You are very loving and caring.
3. You are so enthusiastic about life.
4. You are hilarious!
5. You are very spiritual and love to go to church
6. You are a good example to everyone around you.

I really could go on and on, but we had a big, fun day.......and I'm tired! We met all the cousins at the park, played, had lunch, ate cupcakes, came back to the house, played some more, rest time, dinner time, Trafalga for miniature golf and race cars, and finally to Baskin Robbins for ice cream! It was a terrific day spent with my birthday girl!

I love you so much Samantha and am so happy you are a part of our family!!!

I have no title for this post

Alex stole his daddy's glasses, phone, and watch. Looking very daddy-like.

We had friends stay with us last week and while we didn't get too much time with them, we did get a zoo trip in.

Those are some adorable kids.

Prim and Proper

Andy caught this picture of Samantha. All she was doing was watching a movie. I really don't know any other 6 year olds that sit like that during a movie. But I love it.

Ernest

Our friend, Ernest, is visiting for a couple of days from Jersey City. I taught the little whipper-snapper Seminary while we were living there. The kids have loved having him around.....as you can see from the picture, they think he is a great jungle gym!

Feeding the 3 kids breakfast.

Some favorite pictures from Bear Lake

You can click on these pictures to make them larger to really see the faces! HILARIOUS!

This pretty much sums up the ride for me and Andy.....me smiling and laughing and Andy concentrating on not tipping. He's not a fan of the tube.

Cameron is flying out of his seat.....and there are no words for Kami's face!!

Again, Cameron flying out of his seat......and no words for Richele's face!

I just love all of the smiles in this one! PURE JOY!

Alex isn't so sure about catching that much air. Neither is Kami.....but Cameron was in heaven!

Dinner

This is all I had for dinner the other night.
A nice heirloom tomato.
Covered in amazing, fresh mozz straight from Staten Island, NY.
Topped with fresh basil from my garden.
Can't forget the salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar as well.
It was heaven.

Samantha's Kindergarten Graduation

SUCH a Samantha pose.

Samantha was so happy her Daddy was there and able to see her school and teachers.

Memorial Day 2010

We had a BBQ at Kami's house for Memorial Day this year. It's like an amusement park in her backyard! Trampoline, Swing set, giant blow-up bouncer and slide, and new this year......a Zip-line!!

Mom, Abby, and the old man resting in his swinging chair.

Richele....so sad to be sitting alone!

Samantha getting ready to rock the zip-line!

Alex waiting for his turn.

Nicole is a wuss. There, I said it. So we NEVER thought she would go on the zip-line, but she braved up and did it a couple of times. I don't think she ever fully enjoyed it, but she had a fake smile plastered on her face anyways.

A rare day

Today was one of those rare days where I found my children enchanting and adorable and just plain fun!! It doesn't happen everyday, though I wish that it would.
So when it happens, like today, I want to document it.

Alex cracked me up when we were outside sitting on the porch blowing bubbles.
I can't even remember what he said, but it made me laugh.

Samantha colored a beautiful picture of a house and hung it on the fridge. She also did some awesome summer homework with Grammy.

Both of them threw up "I Love You" signs for me and Andy while we were on the stand in church today. Samantha even pumped her fist at me while I was at the podium as if to say, "You go girl!"

Alex was a super awesome helper for daddy and Grampy outside working on the waterfall. He looked like such a big boy crouching beside Grampy making sure everything worked (I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture). He gladly ran back and forth getting everything the big boys asked him to get. Rarely do we find such obedience in that little boy!!

While the boys worked Samantha had games planned for the girls. First, we played freeze tag. Then, musical chairs. And last, hide and seek. For every game of musical chairs that we won we were rewarded with a rock, picked especially by Samantha. She was being so lively and fun!!

Both kids just made me happy to be a mom today! If every day could be like this.......it would be about as close to heaven as I could imagine!
I adore you, Samantha and Alex!!!

What we've been up to.....

We will start with this adorable face: Alex.
Alex has been ROCKIN' his speech therapy and his teacher thinks after June we may be able to take a break and see how he does! I'm still going to enroll him in therapy at the new school in August and if they seem to do a good job I won't have him go back to Paige. She has been wonderful, but she's also very expensive!!
Alex has just been so determined and focused and I couldn't be more proud of him! His stutter is 99% gone, his 's' sounds are almost 100%, and the only sound that really is still a struggle is 'th'. But apparently that is a harder sound for these kids and age just might take care of that. We are still going to practice though.
Alex loves his Razor Scooter and can't wait to be outside playing for the summer. He finished his first year of preschool last week and he did just awesome.

Samantha and her best friend, Lamby.
Samantha graduates from Kindergarten tomorrow! She is so excited to be done and for their little party. She is right on track for starting 1st grade! Unfortunately, she doesn't really enjoy reading, but when you can get her in the mood, she really can do a good job. She is also doing great at math and writing. I can tell already that she is more of the artsy type. She would rather sing and dance and color and draw than just about anything else. And oh boy, you should see this girl dance!!!!
Samantha is super excited for the summer and spending a lot of time at the park with her cousins. She has also made one friend in the neighborhood and I'm sure they will have plenty of playdates. I am going to sign the kids up for another round of swimming lessons sometime soon and then our plan is to sneak back into our townhome pool in Pleasant Grove!! We were the only ones there in the mornings anyways.......and I kept my key!!! Shhhhhh, don't tell!

The above pictures illustrate what I've been up to. Painting! I think it turned out great. It seems that all of my time is used up by this dern house! It's a good thing I love it or I'd been in quite the state! The yard is coming along and we plan to chop a few more trees down this weekend. I'm having to mow the lawn twice a week because the grass is so healthy and pretty and grows like mad! Oh.....and it could be this crazy spring weather full of rain and SNOW! My bird feeder has many, many, many visitors and just yesterday Andy bought me a bird book so I can track what kind of birds visit. I enjoy having the same interests as my grandma and mom. My grandma could tell you about every kind of bird and with just a simple explanation of what color they are she could tell you their name. My mom is the same way. Maybe I will be too, someday.

This is Andy's pizza oven! Every Saturday since we moved in has been pizza night. I think Andy has it figured out now! The pizzas cook quickly and are quite tasty! It's been a lot of fun.
Andy hasn't had to travel too much lately, but now we are going to pay for it. He is going to be gone half of the month of June! First to London, then to Philly, then to NYC. I so totally wish the kids and I could go with him. I'm not even going to mention the fact that the CEO brought up the issue of us moving to London again. It likely won't even get past the talking whimsically phase, so no worries. But it would have to happen now.....after we bought a terrific home in a terrific area. Of course!

Overall, we are happy, healthy, and ready for the summer!!! We are so blessed to be in a home we love with great neighbors. We LOVE our ward! We LOVE our family and plan on spending a lot of time with them this summer! BRING ON BEAR LAKE!!!!
Life rocks!

Morning in the garden

I spent the morning in the yard. My goal was to get the front and back yard mowed. I got the front done. Took forever because the grass was too long and wet (that's what she said) and the mower kept getting clogged. I finally finished it and went for the edger. It broke. I tried and tried to fix it but it kept breaking. So, what does any normal person do when their edger is broken?? Of course! They pick up a hatchet and chop down 3 trees!! I got a blister, but it was a really good workout.
Then I remembered that the 3 trees in front needed to have some branches trimmed, so I did that. I then tried to haul the lawn mower up the side stairs to the backyard. I'm strong, but not that strong. So, needless to say, I didn't finish everything I had set out to do this morning, but I'm sweaty and tired so I must have done some good.

Happy with and proud of the Loveridge family

Today was a good day. Mother's Day is always nice. Andy and the kids treat me pretty great every day, but today they really showed me how much they love me. Andy is even cleaning the kitchen and doing dishes while I rest my sore back in bed and blog.

We got together with my family for dinner at Richele's house to celebrate Mother's Day and my dad's birthday. I got thinking about my family after we got home and how proud I am of everyone. My dad served as a faithful and wonderful bishop of a single's ward for the past 3 years and was released today. He is going to miss those kids so much! And, of course, I know they will miss him because I know he showed them so much love. I am just really proud of my dad!

I'm proud of the wonderful mother's my sisters are as well. I adore their children soooooooo much and it would break my heart if they didn't have mothers who treated them like they deserve. But they do! We love each other's children like our own and I can honestly say that my sisters are my best friends.

And of course I couldn't pass up the opportunity to say how lucky I am to have the mom that I have!! She is the best! She is always there for me and my family and my children know, without a doubt, that Grammy adores them and will do anything for them. It's funny how I'm "a grown woman" but still sometimes miss being at home with my mom and having her take care of me. I am so lucky to not only have 2 sisters who I love to be around, but a mom who I love to be around. We talk on the phone probably more than is necessary, but I don't care! There is no one else I'd rather chat with. I love you mom!!!

See???? Don't I have the best family?? And did I mention how cute we all are??? We are one handsome family! I'd post a family picture to prove it if we had a current one!!

We need to put that on our to-do list.

Simply to embarass Andy

In his defense though, he was being sweet and playing dress-up with the kids. I just happened to catch the fun.

Nurse Samantha

I've got a touch of a cold and was feeling pretty crappy yesterday afternoon. Andy was home watching the kids so I took a shower and crawled into bed.

Samantha was very concerned and only wanted to take care of me. As you can see in the picture, she brought me her Hello Kitty blanket, a panda bear, a book, and 2 get well notes. She kept coming in and rubbing my face asking if I was feeling okay. Then she would wander around the bed smoothing the sheets and organizing my goodies. She brought me food and took away the empty plates as well.
Have you ever heard of a sweeter little girl???