Picture Fest!

Seth's first visit to the Dentist. His teeth were great, but he threw a fit when we left because they have a big train set in the waiting room. He now is always asking to go back to the dentist!

What a stud!


Sam loves taking baths!

This is why you never feed a child prunes when he is in a jumper (Yes Karin, I finally broke down and bought one)

We love Grandma and Grandpa's house!

Giddy-up horsey!

I don't know what exactly Sam is upset about, but Bo doesn't look too happy either (not that you can really even see Bo).

Nick had a meeting in Heber so we decided to tag along and then we drove over to Midway to look at the leaves.

While setting up the camera for the self portrait, I got all these stickers in my hair and they were a beast to get out!

So cute!

Chillin out at the Gateway fountains

Yes, I know these are terribly attractive, but Seth loves to make funny faces and take self portraits. Isn't he just so cute????

Cedar Breaks

How much can I do?

Okay, I'm going to try and get something posted while Sam is taking one of his 20-30 min catnaps. I swear that boy does not sleep. That is how Seth was as a baby, and I thought that it was just a fluke, but I guess that is just how my babies are. AAAUUUUGGGGHHHH! But he is so darn cute when he is happy, so it all evens out.

We have been great. Our last trip to Parowan was wonderful. We had a great time with most of the family there. It was nice spending time with Valerie and Matthew out from Chicago. You know how they say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery....well, Val must just idolize me. First, she goes and marries Nick's cousin (technically his cousin's son) and then she struggles to get pregnant. Then, she has her baby on Seth's 1st birthday and decorates the nursery the same as mine. Now, she is pregnant again and due a week or so after Sam's 1st birthday. Should I be concerned or just accept that I will always be the big sister to copy? Just kidding Val, we are so happy for you guys and really hope that we have 2 kids with the same birthday. For those of you who may not have figured it out on your own, these kids are first cousins through me and Val and second cousins through Nick and Matthew. IN BREEDERS (quoted from the movie Son-in-Law).

Besides spending time with our Chicago-ites, we had a family activity where we learned a lot about our ancestors. We went 4 generations back on both sides and each child/grandchild learned about one ancestor and told everyone about them. It was great being able to visualize them as a real person and not just a name on a piece of paper. Seth even learned about one and it was so cute as he was speaking in the microphone "Everhardus Johannes Van Limburg". It was pretty amazing, because this activity was at least 3 weeks ago and on Sunday I was saying his name to see if Seth remembered. Not only did he finish his name for me, but he remembered who he was married to, how many kids he had and that he was a sharp shooter in the army. That kid is so smart. The latest of his funnies (that I can remember) is when Seth came downstairs with a diaper and asked Nick if he was poopy and said that we needed to check his pants and change his diaper. Guess we better start being a little more careful if we have gas!

Sam is doing great. Over Labor Day weekend, he finally decided that he would start rolling over consistently. But he will only go from his back to his tummy. He still won't roll from his tummy to his back (unless it is an accident). I have nieces who had babies around the same time as Sam and they are crawling all over the place. I try and get Sam on his hands and knees and he gets excited and then does a face plant. I can't remember when Seth started crawling, but I think it will be awhile for Sam. Oh well, at least he is not getting into things yet. I should just be looking at the positive aspects of it right? But he is so fun and he laughs a lot and he always gives such big smiles.

For those of you who know our dog Bo, he is not doing so great. I'm not sure if he has arthritis, or if his hips are bad, but he is really struggling lately. He can't walk without limping really bad and last night he made it up about 3 or 4 stairs when his leg gave out and he fell down. It was so sad, he couldn't even move for awhile after that. I'm taking him to the vet next week to see what we can do for him. He is almost 12 now, so he has had a good life, but he is such a part of the family that it breaks my heart to see him in pain.

I got a new calling. I am now the compassionate service leader. Luckily, I missed the big baby boom and we don't have a lot of old people in our ward so hopefully it won't be too stressful. I do love our ward so I don't mind serving.

On Monday we went up to SLC since Nick had the day off work. We rode Trax (Seth still has a fascination with trains) and then we went to Temple Square, the Church Office Building and went to the observation deck, and then went to the Gateway and played in the water fountain display thing. Both kids did pretty well.

Things coming up...I think just Halloween. For the ward party, we are going as the Wizard of Oz cast. Obviously I will be Dorothy, Nick is the Scarecrow, Seth is the Tin Man and Sam is the Lion. I've got the Lion and some of Dorothy, but I'm still working on the other 2. If you have any suggestions on how to make a Tin Man costume for Seth, please pass that on.

I think that is it for now. I'm going to post pictures in a separate posting since they are such a pain in the butt to arrange.