Sing, Sing, Sing!

I came across this video that I had taken of Samuel at the beginning of August. I had forgotten all about it. Its a cute little video of him singing a very basic children's church song. It's cute. 

Family Home Evening (FHE)

On Monday nights we try to hold a "Family Home Evening" where we set aside some time for just our family. We like to incorporate a little religious lesson and have a fun activity planned. Most of the time the lesson is geared towards Samuel. They are basic but fun little lessons for him to grasp and understand. 

On this particular Monday, we packed a picnic dinner and went on a friendly hike at the Mercer Slough. Samuel insisted on bringing his own Thomas the Train backpack so he could carry his own water. He hiked the entire time and never once had to have us carry him. I love watching him grow and become an independent and creative little child.  

We hiked a ways until we found a nice little meadow to lay out a blanket and have our picnic dinner. After dinner I gave a little lesson about how we can take care of the bodies that God has given us. We also sang a children's church song and colored a picture of the things that we can do to stay healthy and well. It was a wonderful way to spend a beautiful Monday evening.

Sorry the pictures are all a bit fuzzy. The sun was creating a funny glare that prevented our cameras from getting some clear shots. I also realized that I don't have too many pictures of me in my blog posts. So, here is one. It's not flattering and a bit fuzzy but as you can see I am very pregnant. When this picture was taken I was 35 weeks along. I am so ready to have this baby. Soon soon soon. 

This is a video of Samuel being his goofy self. 

Tractors and Cows...What More Can You Ask For?

We went down to see Grandma and Grandpa Skeem a few weekends ago. Samuel LOVES going to visit. Marcus, Kyan's brother, decided to mow the lawn so we asked Samuel if he would like to ride. There wasn't a moments hesitation. To Samuel, a riding lawnmower is like riding on a REAL tractor. Its all the same to him. He thought it was the next best thing to the cows....I'll get to that one in a second.

Kyan drove the mower around with Samuel for awhile. He chatted up a storm and ate an apple off one of the nearby apple trees. I don't know what makes riding on a lawnmower so neat but I remember as a child just loving it too. One of my favorite memories was riding with my Grandpa Sypher on a rider. I also loved following behind my Dad while he mowed. I played some sort of imaginary game. It was so entertaining for me.

The following is a little video of Samuel and Daddy riding the "tractor". 

Grandpa Skeem has two cows on his land now. His son Brydon wanted to buy some cows but didn't have the land. So, they worked it out so that the cows could live on Grandpa's property. It has brought the place to life. Samuel had a good 'ol time mooing back at the cows and feeding them hay. 

These calves aren't just any typical calves. One is deaf and the other has a limp leg. We know now why they only cost $25 a piece. If anything, they have brought out some good laughs in us all.  

While the ladies were attending a baby shower, the guys and the kids went on a walk down to the water quarry. Yup, you heard that right, the Dad's watched the kids while us ladies had some "lady time" at our nieces baby shower. We all had a good time. 

Breaking Point

Have you ever heard someone's personal story or saw something that made you stop and think...

"What would my breaking point be?"

Sometimes I can't help but recognized how blessed I have been. I credit God to all the blessings that have been showered upon my life. One of the greatest blessings in my life has been my husband. We met more then 4 years ago and within 5 months from our first date we were married. I fell for him so quickly. He was perfect for me. Finally, I found the love of my life. He has been so loving, understanding, kind, gentle with me, he has been everything I could have ever hoped for. 

People would say, "Marriage is hard", or "There is an ADJUSTMENT period (Beware)", or "Enjoy the honeymoon stage while it LASTS" (Are you saying marriage just gets worse as time goes on?), or they will comment about how men are so this or so that as though us women have to put up with soooo much. 

I will have to admit, I think we skipped it all. There has been no adjustment period, there has been no difficult fights or arguments or situations that has made either one of us question our decision in marrying one another. Each day since the day we married has been a beautiful reminder of the wonderful blessing of our companionship. A match made in heaven? I would say yes.

I look at my life and then think, why me? Why have I been blessed so abundantly when others have not? Why do some find love but it ends in heart ache or crushed dreams? Why has our marriage been so blissful and smooth sailing? Why have we been blessed to have children when others have not been able to? 

Each of us will have our hard times. We will be faced with moments in our lives that will bring us to our knees in anguish or perhaps to our breaking points. 

Because our marriage has been so wonderful, I can't help but wonder if it would ever be taken from me. Can something like this bless our lives through old age?

I have realized lately, that if for some reason, some day, my husband never made it home to me and our sweet boys, I don't know how strong I would be. The world around me would fall, my faith would fail, my heart would shatter to pieces. I would break. 

Losing my husband would be my breaking point. 

The life as I know it would never be the same. The love, perfection and sweet innocence would be taken from me in a matter of moments, changing and altering my life forever.

I hope this will never be apart of my life story. I hope and pray that we are blessed to live and share our lives together for a very long time. I hope the love we have can withstand the natural forces of life. My dream is to grow old together and still be madly in love with a life full of experiences both difficult and blissful yet all fulfilling. I hope I can sit back in my old age and think back on our lives lived together and know that there is such a thing as perfect love and a perfect companionship. 

Have you ever thought about what would make you break? What would cause your world to turn upside down or for you to question everything you know to be true in life? 

What is your breaking point? 

Summer Camping

Kyan and I decided that this summer we would make an effort to go camping. For some reason, last summer we had good intentions but never made it. So, I sat down and made reservation for a couple of campsites for two different weekends in the summer. 

The FIRST was planned for Whidbey Island. We planned on camping with Kyan's brother and his family but as the weekend approached, the weather looked awfully rainy and miserable. So, we opted to change our plans and head down to Grandpa and Grandma Skeem's place. The weather looked more promising and they live on 25 acres of forest. So, who says camping HAS to be at a campsite? It turned out to be a wonderful experience. It was the same weekend as Samuel's 2nd birthday so we were able to celebrate his birthday at his Grandparents AND go camping. It all turned out to be a good experience. 

Our SECOND camping trip was planned for Orcas Island, Moran State Park. This took place toward the end of August. Kyan took the Friday off so that we could have a long weekend of camping. The weather was perfect. We packed the car with everything we needed plus some new fishing poles. Samuel could hardly wait. He was so excited about the whole idea of camping that he spent the day before, going through all of the camping gear and playing with it (Yes, very helpful indeed). 

Unfortunately, I never took any pictures of the trip except the ferry dock. We spent most of Friday at the ferry dock trying to catch the stupid ferry. We had missed our first ferry because it was CRAZY BUSY for some reason. So, we ended up having to wait 3-1/2 hours to get onto the next ferry. Um.....yeah, not how we had envisioned spending our Friday. It didn't help that it was during Samuel's nap time so he wasn't the most pleasant. Nontheless, we managed to get on the ferry and from there on we had a pleasant experience.

Though we had a pleasant time, we learned a few things from this trip.

1. Don't go camping on an island if you don't want to wait at a ferry dock for hours.
2. A 2 year old is not old enough to go fishing. He will want to play with the fishing pole, hooks, and bate. Skip the fishing and just rent the row boat.
3. Also, candy is a good idea while fishing if you don't mind a melt down shortly after the fishing experience.
4. Enjoy camping by exploring and going on the nearby kid friendly hikes. Samuel loved seeing the little waterfalls at the end of the hike. 
5. It's okay to take a nap when the kid takes a nap during the day, especially if you are pregnant and you didn't sleep too soundly because you woke up in the night to your husband having to chase the deer away from the garbage bag hanging from the tree. 
6. Don't place your tent under a tall tree with pine cones. We woke from our nap to pine cones falling on our tent because apparently squirrels like to harvest them from the tree and then collect the fallen ones for food... I guess? We just happened to be right where the squirrel was harvesting. We initially thought kids were chucking them at our tent but quickly learned that wasn't the case after we spotted the fuzzy brown culprit up in the trees.
7. We learned from a year earlier that our child doesn't handle hot chocolate very well before bed. So, Kyan and I enjoyed our hot chocolate by the fire without Samuel. Yes, it's okay to enjoy some alone time even when family camping. 

Overall, the trip was fun. I'm glad we went but it was definitely a learning experience. We ended up waking up at the crack of dawn on Sunday morning to catch the ferry so we wouldn't have to experience another day like Friday. We got on the ferry with no problem but when we got home, I was so exhausted, I slept and slept and slept and had no problem going to sleep that night. 

The THIRD camping trip was without Kyan. He was on his brother's hike. Samuel and I went camping with my Mom and Dad and my little sister Kimberlee. We found a campsite at Lake Kachess and had a wonderful time. Samuel loved playing with Kimberlee, spending time with Grandma making water canals and bridges and making sails boats with Grandpa which were made from driftwood, sticks and leaves. They set them to sail a few times. It was fun to watch. I even made one myself. 

  

Will we go camping again? Of course. I love it, Kyan loves it, and most of all, our son loves it too. It creates memories whether they are all wonderful or not so much....

They are memories nonetheless. :)

Evergreen State Fair

The first day of the Evergreen State Fair was toward the end of August and it was FREE. So, Samuel and I decided we would make our way out to Monroe to have a fair day. Unfortunately, it was on a Thursday so Kyan couldn't join us because of work. However, Samuel's cousins were able to meet up with us a little later in the day.

Samuel LOVED the animals. We saw cows, chickens, roosters, goats, sheep, rabbits and goats. He thought the little piglets were so cute. They were only a few days old at this point in time. 

We also had a good time sitting on trackers of all shapes and sizes. His legs were a little to short to reach the ground on the little green tracker trike so I had to help him drive it around. He had fun.

I don't know if you can tell but Samuel is making tracker sounds and pretending to drive it. He has a thing for trackers....well, I suppose he also has a thing for airplanes, trucks, buses, and basically anything that has wheels.

After we had met up with the cousins, we decided to go watch a pigs race. I have never seen one of these races before but it was pretty funny and entertaining to watch. Samuel thought it was hilarious. He apparently really enjoyed the event because it was one of the first things he told his daddy about that evening.

The Big Night of August 10th

I have been prepping Samuel for a month now about the 'BIG BOY BED' that he would be moving into. I made it sound exciting and fun and the place to be. Finally, after the room was painted, the curtains were made, and the bed posts were sanded, stained and coated with polyurethane, I was able to assemble the bed and transfer Samuel to his new room and new bed.

August 10th was the first night in his room. He was so excited. He giggled and wiggled in his new sheets and gathered all his stuffed animals around him. Our little baby was now officially a boy. He would from this point on, sleep in a twin bed.

However, we took a chance and didn't put any guard rails on the side of the twin bed but decided to lay a body pillow on the ground and surround him with his stuffed animals. He had only fallen off the bed twice in the first week or so but has had no problems since. I did walk in on him during his nap time once to check on him and couldn't find him anywhere. I quickly thought to look under the bed and sure enough he had fallen asleep playing with his animals and reading his books. Silly boy. 

A Summer Evening

Samuel and I have been to Newport Beach our fair share this summer. However, this August summer evening was extra fun and extra special because "Daddy" was with us. As you can see, Samuel had fun being thrown into the air by Kyan. It was a wonderful way to spend a summer evening together. Sigh...Isn't this what summer is all about?

The Adventures of August

I woke up this morning only to realize that we are already halfway through the month of September. Holy craziness. The whole "nesting" has set in since September and I completely forgot to post about all of the fun August activities. 

I've been busy getting the house organized and projects completed before the baby comes. You may ask....what is there to get done besides washing the baby clothes and sheets for the crib? Oh, honey, if only you knew how O.C.D. my personality can be sometimes. This characteristic of mine helped me excel in my college career and it has also helped in keeping thing tidier and more organized at home. But, when it comes to getting ready for a baby the list of things that MUST get done seem to be a mile long. And, for some reason, when one thing gets completed, one or more items get discovered and are then added to the list. See my problem? But, before I go into detail on some of the "nesting" things I have been doing, I want to talk about many of the adventures we have had in August. 

AUGUST started out with a lovely evening hike with the best two boys in my life: 

My lovely husband....  

And my sweet little boy.

The following week, Samuel and I discovered the perfect blackberry bush to pick from. After picking blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries this summer, Samuel has fallen in love. He CONSTANTLY asks me if we could go berry picking. He eats more then he picks but I suppose that's half the fun, right!?!

You can't tell but Samuel is also wearing his favorite Thomas the Train backpack. He carried his own water on our little walk/bike ride to the blackberry bush in our neighborhood. We had a wonderful walk/bike ride there and a nice time picking berries. But, shall I mention the way home? Do I admit that my child threw a fit and wouldn't ride his bike and insisted on running away from me? Oh, did I mention I was pregnant, carrying a large bucket of blackberries and holding his bulky bike in my other hand while attempting to run after my child because he decided it was funny not to listen to his mom? 

Nah...I just like to remember the good parts. That's all you remember in the long run anyway, right?

I hope so. :)