..september in pictures..

..finn, a little unsure of the big scary thing at comicon..

..trying to get a good family picture is hard work & results in lots of outtakes!..

..sam's first sucker! one slimy, sticky mess!!

..playdate with the collard's & the ayres'. finn needs a baby sister, don't ya think?? ;)..

1) wondering about gollam 2) all ready for the state fair 3) love when i check on sam and his bum is in the air. love it even more when his bum is in the air and an elephant is cuddling/protecting him!!
4) finn brought that block to me and said, "look mom, the capitol." i thought that was pretty creative! 5) after 5 1/2 months pepsi-free, i decided to start drinking again. boy was it delicious! 6) cute finn loves to cheese it up
7) wrong way sam! :0 8) brothers shopping at lowe's 9) happy 5th birthday to my best friend!! love my claustrophobs

..he loves brownie batter, just like his momma!..

..zoo playdate with the phippen's..

..handsome boys in their sunday best..

..having fun at corbin's birthday party. sam made his way into the pool, fully clothed, mind you. finn followed suit. finn loved riding the horse. robby even taught him how the real cowboy's do it (with one hand in the air!!)..

..father son camping trip at strawberry lake w/grandpa, too! finn loved it..

..sam's first trip down the slide. he liked it way too much. this kid is 100% his dad & already has a thirst for adventure!..

..you know it's serious business when his tongue is sticking out! ;)..

..at the park for mccoy's first birthday party..

..finn kept looking up in awe, saying "it's so big!" i also love how sam photo-bombed the pic on the left!..

..a quick visit to the capitol for finn, who talks about it non-stop and points it out, every time we're in salt lake..

..1) state fair fun 2) back to where it all began- logan! just me & lance for usu homecoming 3) refer to post about finn @ 2 1/2 for the story on the diaper and wipes out on the trampoline.
4) sam looking like such a big boy in his new carseat! 5) my crazy boys at target. finn was running the aisles like a crazy person. sam figured out how to wiggle his way out of the buckle, turn around & stand up. crazy kids!! 6) an evening family walk/bike ride. finn is getting so good on his balance bike!
7) cutie pie finn 8) me & finn on the ferris wheel @ scheels. finn loved it! 9) sam's first tooth finally cut through!!..

..sammy boy's cake smash..

sammy boy was a bit of a grump by the time we got to the studio to do his cake smash. he was done with pictures. our expectations were set so high for his cake smash, because his big brother's cake smash was hilarious! we're talking, rolling on the ground laughing - that is the state grandma cindy and i were in, watching finn dig into his cake. i don't know if sam just didn't like the cake much or what, but he had a couple bites, licked some frosting, then tipped the cake off the stand and decided he was done! we still got some pretty good photos though, despite his disinterest.

still can't believe this chubby little man is almost one. once again, thanks to the amazing paige davis for capturing my sweet little boy at this fun age.

..family pictures in the orchard..

prior to seeing how our pictures actually turned out, had you asked me how our fall family photo session went, i would have told you, "awful." like i'm pretty sure that's what i told everyone who asked. it was one of those sessions from a movie - where everything goes wrong. i had been planning this session out in my mind for months. yes, months. probably even before sam was born.

rewind to the spring of 2012, when we did finn's one year photos in this same orchard. i loved the way they turned out - even though leaves were just barely beginning to bud on the trees (since it was only the beginning of april) the colors were just pretty and i thought it made for a lovely shoot. shortly after sam was born, i remember thinking it would be fun to compare pictures (sort of how we have the same picture of both of them as newborns - the one where they are holding their head up with their hands). i knew the orchard would be beautiful in the fall, so that was that. fall family pictures in the orchard. 

well, as luck would have it, it rained on and off the day we had scheduled our pictures. i tried not to worry, because the rainstorms have been so sporadic lately - pouring one minute, dry and sunny the next. our session wasn't scheduled til 5, so all day i kept hoping that it would let up. around 3:30 it started pouring in salt lake, so i called paige to see what we should do. she suggested bringing sam to the studio for his one year shoot, as planned, since those didn't hinge on the weather. after we did his cake smash and some studio photos, we would see what the weather was like and go from there. so i got sam (and myself) all ready to go - we were running about 20 minutes behind (what else is new?!) and left for paige's studio. well i called her on our way there to let her know we were running behind, and she suggested starting at the orchard since it wasn't raining at the time. great plan! so i called lance to tell him to get him and finn ready asap, then head to the orchard with the dogs. of course he didn't answer. i called him like fifteen times. finally he picked up, i told him the plan, then sam and i headed to  the orchard. 

while we were waiting for lance and finn, we did some pictures of just sam. i'm so glad, because he was happy and they turned out really cute. however, by the time lance actually got there (like 45 minutes later, mind you. long story short, he called as he was getting on the freeway to make sure he had everything - turns out he forgot the dogs, so he had to turn around and pick them up. seriously, we're so dysfunctional on picture day!) sam was a complete grump. finn had fallen asleep in the car (since, again, go figure, he didn't take a nap. why, of all days, does he choose picture day to not take a nap?!) and would have nothing to do with anyone except lance, so we were working with two toddlers who wanted nothing to do with getting their picture taken. epic. paige's duster thing that she uses to get kids to laugh was the only thing that cheered finn up, so we finally got some smiles out of him, but it was very hit and miss. when sam was smiling, finn was crying and vis versa. 

i was 95% sure my hair looked awful, since i did it in such a hurry. the orchard was kind of muddy, since it had been raining all day, so we all had mud all over from when the dogs jumped up on us. speaking of the dogs, they ran away mid-photo shoot, so who knows if they ended up in any pictures anyway. and the list of disasters goes on and on. or so i thought, prior to seeing our photos. 

i decided to just try and have a positive attitude about it. when you factor in things you can't control, like a one and two year old, dogs, the weather, the state of your hair on picture day, etc... - that is a lot of things that could go wrong. i kept saying to myself, "if we just get one good picture, i'll be happy." our pictures from the spring turned out so great, so at least i had those on my walls to get me by until our next photo session (probably not til next year). i was mostly banking on the fall session for our christmas cards, which is why i just needed/wanted one good picture. 

well, to my surprise, we got more than one! i don't know why i'm surprised, really. paige is amazing and just works her magic every time. there is one family photo that i absolutely love, and it is already in a picture frame on the wall. there are plenty of sam that are absolutely darling, and a few of finn that are magazine-worthy as well. is it just me, or are my kids gorgeous? obviously i'm biased, but that picture of finn - baby model! 

lance is always wondering why we need multiple family photo sessions a year. what can i say? i just love having good pictures of my sweet babies and family. this is such a precious time in our lives, and one that everyone says goes by in the blink of an eye, which is why i want good pictures to look back on. i'm so thankful to lance for making it possible, and so glad we found such a wonderful family photographer. don't know what we'd do without paige davis! 

..sam is 11 months..

my dear samuel james,

i can hardly believe that in one short month you will be a year old. one month! how is it possible?! seems like just yesterday i found out i was pregnant with you, and here we are, rapidly approaching your first birthday. i can't think about it, otherwise i get emotional. haha so for now, we will enjoy the last month of you as an infant. :)

your personality is coming out stronger each and every day, and i sure do love it. you are one little firecracker my man. silly as can be, happy when your happy, sad when your sad. there isn't much "in between" with you. you remind me more and more of your dad each day - yikes! just kidding. dad has a great personality so obviously we wouldn't mind more of that in our lives.

some things i want to remember about you as an 11-month-old:
- you say "boo," as in "peek-a-boo." that is your favorite game to play, still. it gets you rolling on the ground in fits of giggles. i love it, so obviously i love that your first word, besides mama and dada, was boo.
- you can give high fives
- you clap for yourself when we say "good job sammy!" too cute.
- you are ALL OVER THE PLACE. omg dude, i can't keep up with ya! not to mention you're a speedy little crawler.
- you're still very good natured around other people. when we have friends over, or go somewhere, usually you'll play by yourself or sit contentedly in your stroller for hours. unless we are shopping. when we're at the mall you pitch a fit. i'm sure dad puts ya up to that, eh? ;)
- you can drink from a straw. we have to hold the cup, though, otherwise whatever is in the cup ends up all over you and the table.
- you can stand on your own for a few seconds at a time.
- your first tooth keeps coming up then going back down. this is so frustrating because i can tell you're in pain and i just wish that darn tooth would cut through already!!!!! ugh.
- you're a little daddy's boy. you light up when dad gets home, and want nothing to do with me while he's here. i love this. i love it mostly because i know you still love me. more than your big bro did at this age anyway. ;)

my sweet sam, i love you so much. you make life so interesting and this family wouldn't be complete without you. thanks for all your giggles, and for the energy you bring to our home.

love,
mom

..the utah state fair..

 

every year in august i see signs advertising the state fair (which is always the first couple weeks of september) and every year i say to myself, "we need to go." and every year guess what we don't do? go to the state fair! haha i don't know what it is, but since finn was born we haven't been once. well this year i decided that we really would go, and i'm so glad we did because it was a blast!

we planned on going with the nelsen's and the kettle's - two families from our ward who we have come to love. seriously, it's so fun having neighbors as friends, and people who are up for anything, anytime, anywhere. on sunday, jess mentioned how pictures at the fair turn out so great, because of all the colors and everything that's going on. she also said that one year she had max wear his cowboy boots. i thought, "how cute!" so yesterday, i went all over the freakin' state looking for a pair of cowboy boots for finn. did you know cowboy boots at payless are only $5 cheaper than authentic boots from a country outfitter? needless to say, after spending $40 at payless, then finding them for $45 at the ifa store down the street, i bought the authentic ones and returned the plastic payless knock-offs. they were so ugly, anyway.

finn looked so cute in his cowboy get-up, and pretty much everyone we passed pointed and said, "how cute." yes, i read their lips. ;) when we were standing in line to get in, the lady in front of us commented multiple times on how cute finn looked. she pre-purchased her tickets, and turns out she bought one too many, so she gave it to us! and i'm pretty sure it was solely based on finn's outfit! i also decided to dress up, and i had these little robeez cowboy boots for sam that were hand-me-downs from finn. they fit him perfect, too. sadly lance was the only non-festive one of the bunch. he wore the most western-looking shirt he owns but i mean still, he didn't look like a cowboy whatsoever. we'll have to work on his cowboy wardrobe. ;)

the fair is an interesting place. it brings all different economic classes of people together into one venue, which makes for good people watching. however, when you're trying to keep a baby that is confined to his stroller (since he has no interest in walking and you don't want him to scrape his knees crawling) happy, and an eager 2-year-old within your line of sight, people-watching suddenly gets thrown out of the realm of possibilities. oh well, if it means keeping your children safe i guess. ;)

i'm sure most people would agree that one of the best parts of the fair is the food. fair food, need i say more? so greasy, yet so delicious. let's not mention that dinner at the fair costs about the same as dinner at an upper-end restaurant, because that takes away from the yum-factor. seriously though, how do two corn dogs, onion rings and a lemonade cost $30?! it was still good, even with that price tag and all those flies attacking us. (don't even get me started about the flies right now...they are awful!).

the rest of the night was spent looking at the animals, eating ice cream and riding the rides. finn loved the rides, sam loved the merry-go-round, lance and i loved the ginormous million-feet-up-in-the-air ride we rode. the weather was perfect. it wasn't too crowded. seriously, we lucked out! and to top it all off, we were in the company of good friends. we didn't get home until 10:30 pm! if that doesn't say it all, i don't know what will. it was a fun night, and one i hope to repeat in the years to come.