Sooooo Busy, Soooo Fun!

Sorry for not keeping up with my weekly Summers Sons' Soup - but we have just been crazy busy and loving every minute of it. My roommate from BYU, Rebekah, came out to visit us this weekend - and we had such a great time. We showed her the heartland of Iowa and laughed and giggled! Thanks Bekah for making the trip, we loved having you! Here are some pictures of our adventures here in Iowa:

Living History Farms Halloween -
This was how I found Jack just before we loaded back into the car after we were done! How sad!

Howell's Pumpkin Patch - This is our last trip to Howell's and Sam has loved it every year, and every year we've taken a picture of him to see "how tall" he is.

As for the boys, they are also loving the company with the exception of being in their carseats more than they like.Bandaids have become Sam's new "comfort" lately - at first I loved this but lately he's been having a lot of owies on his face, and insists upon wearing a bandaid. People look at me like "Whose wierd child is this?"He also recieved a new pair of PJ's from Grandma! Loved them - Lightning McQueen is still the bomb!Sam put them on right away, telling me they would make him warm and cozy. He also tried to wear them to preschool today, but I convinced him it wouldn't be a great idea.

Jack has been smiling for about two weeks now, and I haven't been able to get a really good picture of him smiling - but here's my best attempt. He is such a happy boy and loves to be held and snuggled.


Both boys are destined to be BYU fans and we are starting early on their True Blue attire.
We carved pumpkins last night for FHE and came up with some good pumpkins - Shawn always outshines us with his creativity, and seriously spends 3-4 hours working on his. Guess which one is his?I promise to post our Halloween fun this weekend. We are so excited to show off Sam as Buzz Lightyear and Jack as his best buddy Woody!

One final note - I haven't posted where Shawn is going for his next year rotations for those of you who want to keep up to date with that - He'll be in Waterloo, IA (June); Minneapolis, MN (July); August not scheduled; Allentown, PA (September); SLC, Utah(Oct - Jan) That is all he has set right now! We are so proud of his hard work and can't believe we will be moving in less than a year. We've loved living here so it is bittersweet to be finishing up this chapter of our life!

Summers Sons' Saturday Soup - Late Edition

I apologize for the late edition, but we were so happy to have our family out here for Jack's blessing! My parents and all of my sisters came out to Iowa and we were able to see some sites we hadn't been to, and just enjoy each others company! Thank you family for your love and your support - we loved having you here. For those of our family who couldn't make it, we missed you and look forward to seeing you in a few weeks.Sam had Farmer Day at preschool on Thursday and he was excited to show off his boots and cowboy hat. His teachers thought he looked like Tim McGraw - he's so cute.

Jack weighed in this week at 11 lbs. and 21 1/2 inches - he is definetly packing on the pounds, and we're loving the pudge he's making. His blessing day was beautiful, and Shawn gave a wonderful blessing. We both are so grateful for Jack being in our family and realized again how lucky we are to have him in our lives.



My parents and I went to Winterset and visited John Wayne's birthplace and saw the Bridges of Madison county on Friday. On Saturday we went to the downtown farmer's market with Steph and Ledger and loved the breakfast burritos and got some apples and pies to take home - YUM!! We picked up Bobbi, Leah, Katie, & Penny Saturday night and enjoyed a fun filled day of Guitar Hero and Singstar on Sunday after the blessing. Thanks again for coming - we love you all and miss you already!

Summers Sons' Saturday Soup

Wow! Where has the week gone? I didn't have anything planned this week but for some reason the week flew by, and I still haven't checked off hardly anything on my list. Here's some pics to share. First is our super fun Murder Mystery dinner that our great friends the Janke's put together. We had a great time and are so glad to have such fun friends here! I was an FBI agent with a rich lady cover and Shawn was the town Mayor.The picture of Jack was funny to me because it looks like he's celebrating or shouting hurray!!Final shot - I've been working on a new feet picture for the blog header - but getting the boys to both sit still, not cry, not squeeze the other one to death is kinda a challenge! Oh, well - I'll have to wait for Shawn to help me ... We hope you all had a great week, and can't wait to see our family this week for Jack's blessing!!!

Two Fun Tags

Tag #1: Look in your picture file, find the fourth folder, find the fourth picture in that folder and post it - the result A super cute picture of Jack taken by Erica, love it.


Tag #2: This one I thought was super cute, so here it goes:

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Brownie 4-Runner
2. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR'S NAME: ("The" + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) The Reading Sun Tour
3. YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Oatmeal Cookie Dough Snickerdoodle
4. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) M-Sum
5. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Red Dog
6. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Hill St.Anthony
7. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Summe
8. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The" + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) The Blue Almond Punch
9. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Bill Grant
10. STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy) Eternity FastBreak
11. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Siddoway "G"
12. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) Weatherston Washington
13. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Summer Iris
14. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) Pineapple Pajama-ie
15. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Banana Pancake Willow

I know tag anyone who wants to do either of these tags - they were both really fun!!!Don't be scared, you know you want to do it . . . .

Summers Sons' Saturday Soup

Jack is 1 month old today! I can't believe its already been a month. He continues to be the best little boy, sleeping and eating great. One thing that I love about Jack is how alert he is. He'll stare right at us and its such a funny thing because its like he's "really" observing you and remembering you. He and Sam are so cute together and I went into check on Jack while he was napping and found a "friend" in napping with him too. This is Sam's Baby Jack (Mic - you'll recognize this little contribution you made to Sam's toy collection) and he's been napping, pooping, and yes even eating. I went to nurse Jack and Sam decided that his Baby Jack was hungry and sure enough he lifted his shirt and fed him, then burped him, then layed him down to sleep. What a good brother.

Sam has had another great week - really his behavior this week has been very good, and I think that he's going to be okay. For awhile there, I was nervous because he had become really aggressive and physical, but he seems to be learning (slowly) that being kind is a lot more fun. This week he's done some pretty cool things. First it started off with a trip to Target and one Buzz Lightyear Costume. He was so excited to put on the costume, and then once on it didn't come off for two days - literally; and we could only call him Buzz, not Sam.
Only the call of nature could get him to even partially remove it. In fact the first night he slept in it, I went in to check on him and he was drenched with sweat (the costume is nylon). So I took it off of him hoping to make him more comfortable. At 2:00 A.M. he woke up to go to the bathroom, noticed he wasn't wearing Buzz anymore and started to sob until we put it back on him. We ordered him a way cool inflatable "Jet Pack" to complete the costume and give him wings so he can be a real space ranger. He thinks he's pretty hot stuff - and can't get over looking at himself in any reflective surface (notice the picture by the glass door - he's checking himself out).
Second: Shawn gave him a special treat and took him to Walking With Dinosaurs - a really cool show that has automated Dinosaurs. They are super life-like, and Shawn and Sam loved it. Sam is also learning at a really young age that Dad is the guy to take to places like this, he made off with a super cool (and expensive) dinosaur toy, french fries and ice cream!

Third: We hit some garage sales this weekend and got some killer cowboy boots. I of course took a picture - but have discovered another hilarious thing about Sam. I say, "Say Cheese" and Sam makes his cheese fit the occasion. For example, he said "Cheese Cowboy Boots" or when I took his Buzz picture he said "Cheese Buzz LightYear" or "Cheese Dancing" - he's very descriptive.

Finally I have to note how happy and blessed I feel right now. As I hold and play with my two healthy, sweet boys I realize how wonderful it is to be me. I don't always have these feelings - especially when Sam has just hit me and told me I was mean, or Jack has pooped through his diaper, or I haven't showered at 2:00 in the afternoon and my house is a complete mess, but overall my life is very happy thanks to my boys and my sweet husband - who not only loves me and our boys, but shows it in everything he does!