Sam's Saturday Soup - Fishing, Fair, FUN

This week has been really fun and busy. We are really trying to take advantage of the rest of the month with just Sam. We celebrated my birthday on Tuesday, yes the big 25! I have to take a quick second to note that my little brother J.D. and I share the same birthday, and we have always loved sharing the day together, so happy b-day to J, the big 23! My great neighbor Cindi made me an awesome and huge chocolate cake that Sam thought was brownie so loved as much as I did.
Then we went to the opening day of the Iowa State Fair, and enjoyed AWESOME food and weather! It was a beautiful night and we stuffed ourselves with our favorite foods: turkey legs(Shawn), fried pickles (Meg), and hotdogs (Sam). Sam loved seeing the animals - the best place I think for kids is the Animal Learning Center Bldg. next to the Happy Helpers farm thing. They have baby horses, pigs, sheep, ducks, chickens, etc. The kids get to pet some of them and even watch the babies hatch! I was a little bummed though b/c we didn't get to do the Helping Hands exhibit which is one of Sam's favorite things, but to make up for it he went on the potato sack slide TWICE! Yes that's right, my child, who never gets excited about anything asked to go again with a big cheesey smile on his face. How could I not fork out another $10 (I know insane for a slide) - stuff like that never happens with Sam.





We ended the week with fishing at the Pence's. We came out empty handed, but Sam was more interested in the kittens and the pedal tractor!!! He had a ball, and I also have to say I LOVE their house - it really is my dream house including barn, gardens, pond, everything about it is what I would love to have someday.It is just so "homey"! So we had a great week and hope that everyone else had a fabulous week too.





QUESTION of the WEEK: What is your favorite part about the fair???

So I read it - - -

I finished Breaking Dawn two days ago, and have tried to come up with words to describe how I felt about it! I've read a bunch of other people's responses and I think they would concur with my mixed reviews. First I love that Edward and Bella are "officially" together, but on the other hand, does Bella really deserve Edward?? She kind of drives me crazy, the constant whiny, stubborn attitude drives me crazy and I think would Edward and Jacob really want to be with someone like her?? So why does she get to pick which one she wants and they both just stand there like you are the greatest thing in the world, when I want to throw things at her and tell her to stop being such a baby!

Speaking of babies - the whole baby thing really wierded me out, but I liked the idea that it could work out for human/vampire. It also made the book like Erica said a little less believable, which helped me to let go of my mad obsession with them. The others seemed to be more possible, where this one with blood drinking, vampire creating, shield powers, imprinting on infants gave it the ultra supernatural that really isn't my bag, so I think I'm officially over my Twilight Trauma, but I am looking forward to the movie.

So all in all, I liked it, not loved it, but am satisfied with the way it ended although if there is really a guy like Edward Cullen out there, please don't settle for a Bella - be a man, don't let her be all "he's my best friend and I love him in a different way" - tell her to hit the high road! And that's all I have to say about that.

Sam's Saturday Soup - The Return!

So we are finally back from our fun vacation to Idaho. We really had a great time visiting our family, playing in the water, seeing all the new little cousins, and of course - enjoying Pioneer Day!! I also need to thank Shawn for the great job he did on the blog while I was gone. I know it was a huge sacrifice for him, but he managed to pull through. Also I came back to a very fun exciting surprise - Shawn surprised me with Brad Paisley concert tickets and an overnight trip to Kansas City for my birthday.

We had a great time, seriously it was amazing to see him play the guitar and Jewel was touring with him and she yodelled, which is one of my favorite things she does: enjoy the video!

Thanks Shawn - you're the best.

Sam and Grandpa Kelly fishing - this pond was incredible. It is stocked, so the fish literally fight to get on the hook. Sam caught three fish, one he hooked in the tail! He had a great time.
Sam and "his girls" the Ashton girls heading up to fish.
Cowboy Sam - we went to the Pioneer Day Rodeo and Sam loved it. He loved being in his cowboy clothes and watching the bucking broncs and the bulls!

Sam and his cousins at the Sand Dunes - the loved playing in the sand and roasting hotdogs and smoresThis is me at 35 weeks - only five more weeks to go! Yea! I can't wait to get our little guy here.
Sam and his cousins on a float with my Grandma Jeanne - as you can see, he was very excited to be! Thanks mom for holding him there so we could get a picture!

Megan made me do it...

I feel so honored to have been entrusted with this incredible responsibility of making a post on this blog. Meg is in Idaho with Sam, but insisted I stay behind to watch over the blog and keep it updated. I tried to convince her that I really was not worthy of such a job, that I could not possibly live up to her standards of blogging. She reinforced the idea that I was actually capable. After that, I really really tried to change her mind by claiming that my manhood might be at stake, but here I am. My parents and Jake came over this last week and we celebrated Sam's birthday, went to the zoo, went to Nauvoo, and played a little golf. We had a great time with them, and I am also proud to say I still haven't had a heart attack after nearly eating 10 times my body weight in 1 fantastic week of good ol' Iowa grub! I can always count on eating well when family visits. Not that Meg doesn't feed me well the rest of the time... Anyway, here are the pics!

I hope Jake realizes his hair will probably end up looking like mine and not Dad's.

I love riding the zoo train!



This is us trying to mimmick how the Saints looked and felt as they were forced to leave their homes in Nauvoo and cross the Mississippi in the dead of winter.


Carthage was awesome as always, kind of like me.

Meg did a great job with Sam's Buzz Lightyear cake. I'm not being sarcastic this time.



Sam thought the farm themed gifts were pretty cool and had a fun birthday. Meg and I worked the graveyard shift for a few nights trying to get the barn done, and it turned out not too shabby considering the fact that I whittled it all out of one solid piece of wood.

This is me being too lazy to figure out how to rotate this picture of us at the zoo the right way. Now, it's time for bed. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Sam!

Sam is turning three! I can't believe it. He has gotten to be such a big fun boy. I am so happy that he came to me and Shawn, and am amazed at how much I love him everyday. Here's some things about Sam:

1. Born: July 14, 2005 after 30 hours of labor, weighed 6 lbs. 12 oz, and was 20 inches long.
2. Sam loves to play baseball with his dad and is a pretty good hitter.
3. Sam has flown 12 times, his first flight was to Philadelphia when he was about 2 1/2 months.
4. Sam loves chocolate but hates any other candy, popcicles, fruit snacks and basically all other good treats.
5. He loves Toy Story, Cars, 101 Dalmations, Thomas the Tank Engine, Bob the Builder, and Madagascar.
6. Sam is the greatest little boy ever. We are so blessed to have him in our family! Sam Happy Birthday! We love you so much.

Sam's Saturday Soup - Sunday Leftovers!

Sorry we are a day late due to the HUGE celebrating we did over the weekend (okay, not HUGE, but I'm a little lazy!) Here's a quick recap of our fun week. Monday we went to the zoo and saw the elephants they have there as special guests. These elephants were amazing, honestly they could do things with 7000 lbs. that I can't do with ???lbs! It was really great.

Finally we ended the week in celebration - we went to the Yankee Doodle Pop Fireworks at the state capital. They were great, but getting out afterwards took a little too long! We also had friends over for a BBQ and then headed to the Waukee Parade. Sam loved the firetrucks and tractors! He had a great time collecting all the tootsie rolls too. That night we enjoyed Waukee's great firework display from our back yard. Definetly liked watching in my pj's with and getting home in uh, one second afterwards.



Hope everyone else had a great 4th of July! What did you all do???

Maternity Pictures

Mary did such a GREAT job! It is so fun to have some pictures of this pregnancy, especially the ones of Sam and my belly are too precious. She was so good with Sam and had a lot of fun, creative ideas for the belly - if anyone is looking for pictures to be taken don't hesitate. Thanks again Mary for using us as your guinea pigs, we love the pictures. Here's a small - but large sampling of the pictures we got. She gave them to us in color and black and white!











This picture is my absolute Favorite of Sammy! It just really captures him how I always see him!