Four, Quatro, 4, Quatre, IV, Si . . .

Happy Four Years To Us!

The girl in that picture above had no idea just how incredible life was going to get . . .

Potty Training 101

Begin with a little lady who is very excited to use the "big girl potty" and wear "big girl panties" she picked out herself . . .
Supply lots of reinforcers and assistants such as Skittles, M&M's, stickers, potty books from the library, phone calls from Dad while he's at work . . .
Set this baby to go off every 15 minutes to remind Mommy to take her to the potty (it then automatically re-sets itself-I had to throw the picture in for all my Special Ed friends) . . .
Fill in a sticker chart every time pee-pee or poo-poo goes in the toilet. Then at the end of each row reward the special little lady with a treat of her choice . . .
Don't plan to go anywhere for 3 days. Our world is potty training right now! And then after you've done ALL of this, be sure to have the mindset that if it still isn't working . . . we're just not quite ready and we'll try again in a little while. Wish us luck!

*Note: I noticed this post is getting a lot of traffic. I actually give a much better detailed account of what to do here It says it's for a little boy, but the principles are pretty much universal. Good luck!

This is Charlie

He is one of Marc's students from the BYU Ward he serves in. He is also Lucy's first crush. She asks about him frequently and when we tell her the BYU students are coming over she asks, "Is Charlie coming?" with a dreamy look in her eyes. She thinks he is pretty amazing. We think he is great too!

David, 14 months

We are simply in love with our little man. Here is a little update:

-He says: "Mom, Dad, cracker (for all food), throw and Lucy" There's also a lot of babbling/grunting in there that we're not exactly sure what it all means. He also signs for "more"
-He has gone from army crawling to regular crawling to bear crawling. He also walks all around the furniture, but has not yet been brave enough to take off on his own
-He can make the greatest sound effects with his mouth. Lucy tries to replicate them but she doesn't even come close
-He is happy most of the time and if he is unhappy, you can usually remedy it pretty quick with a good tickle which always makes him laugh
-He eats A LOT. I have a hard time keeping enough food in him (makes sense that he is in the 90th percentile for height and weight)
-Our pediatrician always says, "I wish I had 100 more just like him. He is the picture of health." For that, we feel VERY blessed
-My parents used to say right after my brother, Kevin, went on his mission, "From day one he has always been an absolute joy to raise." I now completely understand what they mean with my own son.

(notice the milk on his chin-such a boy)

And sometimes-things are a little tricky . . .

We LOVE our "Mr. Sun"

Lucy's logic . . .

Mom: "Why did you do that?"
Lucy: "Because I did."

Mom: "Why did you spill that?"
Lucy: "Because I spilled it."

Mom: "Why didn't you take a nap?"
Lucy: "Because I didn't sleep."

Mom: "Why did you hit David."
Lucy: "Because I hit his arm."

Mom: "Why are you afraid of the trampoline?"
Lucy: "Because the trampoline scares me."

You get the idea. And I really haven't figured out a very good rebuttal ;)

When did they grow-up?

Mammouth Creek July 9-12

Sampson Reunion 2010

This was the first thing my husband and sister-in-law decided to do upon arriving at the cabin and seeing the creek:

My oldest brother, David with the first catch . . .

The ladies made bows while the men cleaned the fish

Jennifer was the dog whisperer (Kevin offered support)

Lucy fishing with Grandpa in the morning

Daddy with his fishing buddy

Fishing buddy #2

Lucy helping Aunt Tiff and Grandma make breakfast

Going for a little stroll

Lucy with her cousin Sydney

Sittin' on the dock of the bay . . .

The ladies . . .

Uncle David helping Lucy catch a fish (or was it seaweed?)

A very bumpy car ride with some very giggly girls

Our little lady

With their four older girl cousins, I barely had to lift a finger the whole time I was there!

Then our little family was the only one left to stay for the last night. I took hardly any pictures, because we were having so much fun making memories of long walks, smores, camp fires, listening to the water, and laying around doing nothing more than just being with each other! It was incredible.

4th of July

4th of July traditions include:
-Running a 5k or 10k (1st annual this year)
-Watching the Parade
-Waffles at our house afterward
-BBQ with red, white & blue jello
-Fireworks

Ready for the parade

Getting ready for the fun. (The people behind us were from a certain university that shall remain nameless to protect the innocent. But they booed every BYU float and I just might have had to inform them they were obnoxious).

More parade goers

and a little dance . . .

From my front porch looking in . . .

Happy Summer!

Our new puppy

He is a cockapoo (cocker spaniel and standard poodle mix) and although we liked Lucy's suggestions of "Gunny" and "Tuesday" for a name, we have decided he looks like a Howard. We really like him and he doesn't shed! Welcome to the family pup.

Lost & Found

Many of you know my computer crashed in November and we lost EVERYTHING! I mean it when I say EVERYTHING. The tech guys in Arizona (where my computer was sent to try and revive it) said it was the worst case they had ever seen!

Luckily my photo albums were current so we had hard copies of most of the treasured pictures. I was still, however, missing the electronic pictures. Then I remembered that I am always sending my Mom pictures via email and I looked up what I had sent her. Below is a sampling. I was so happy to have these precious pictures back:

Engagement photo shoot summer 2006

Getting ready for the big day summer 2006

Lucy's blessing December 2007

Lucy December 2007

Lucy summer 2008

David on his BIRTHday

One happy family-we have a BROTHER!

Halloween 2009

June 2009

Cute kids before church one day

Priceless . . .