Sam is seriously the best dad. I am so grateful for his fun, playful attitude with LucyMae. Yes, he is serious sometimes, and yes I play and have fun with LucyMae too. But there is something so unique about daddy-time...just care-free, good, wholesome having fun and laughing. He is so much better at ignoring any mess that is being created at the time and being creative in how he plays with her....take this for example: just an old pair of socks can turn your child into a frog! LucyMae loved it and was laughing and smiling non-stop.
The best part about playing with Dad is how worn-out she gets. LucyMae is not one of those kids that falls asleep with her face in her food. She usually has to be in her bed and right at her nap-time...so, we knew she was thoroughly worn-out when we found her like this....
She was sitting up, hunched over, in the corner of her bed...probably trying to get her binky that had fallen out in her lap. She was out COLD! So stinkin' cute!
Sam and I have both been really enjoying our callings in the Young Mens and Young Womens. Sam was originally the teacher's advisor, but was recently re-called as the 2nd counselor in the YM presidency...which puts him in charge of the deacons. MAN, those kids LOVE him. When I was dropping him off at the church for their monthly campout, before he had even opened his door to get out, there were 5+ deacons swarming around his door, and from that moment on they were stuck to him like glue. They went on a camp-out to the coldest part of the Black Hills...and it just happened to be -4 that night. Boy, am I glad the YW don't go on winter campouts. Sam was the hit of the party because he cooked peach cobbler in our dutch oven, and he took our air-mattress that has a slow leak in it to use as a sled. Needless to say, the boys all LOVED him!
We have also had fun being able to fulfill our callings together....It is so nice to be able to go to mutual night with my husband, and not have several different nights spread throughout the week between the two of us for church callings. The stake put on an awesome "Standards Day", complete with ice-skating, lesson-time, games, and a stake dance that night. It made for a long day for all of us, but it was fun and a great way to get to know the youth better. It also gave us an opportunity to go ice-skating together, with people there to hold LucyMae while we skated...
The Young Women also had a great cooking night where we exchanged recipes and demonstrated making quesadillas and muddie-buddies.
And THEN....our trip to Utah began. Sam had Spring Break the second week of March, so on Friday, March 6th we headed out. We got an early start for the 12 hour drive...and actually quite enjoyed the journey. LucyMae is a champion traveler. I think she cried for maybe 20 minutes of the 12 hours. We took nice long breaks every few hours for lunch and stuff, so that LucyMae could get out and move around and get rid of some of her energy. We arrived at my mom's cabin at Bear Lake by 8:00 and enjoyed a fun evening hanging out with the family. LucyMae seemed to remember just about everybody and was very happy to see all of them.
We spent Saturday skiing at Beaver and having a GREAT time. It was sunny and sort of warm. I even took a run with LucyMae on my back in the carrier. She LOVED it and would start whining whenever I stopped. We did video it, but haven't gotten the correct firewire cable to download it on our computer yet...so that video is yet to come. LucyMae also had a great time hanging out in the lodge finding other little friends to play with.
After skiing all day we headed to the pizza place in Garden City with the "Old Ephraim" pizza. That thing is huge, and even with all the people we had there, we weren't able to finish it. But it sure was good! Then we headed to Lava Hot Springs for some hot-water-soaking. Despite the long drive it sure did feel good to relax in the hot-springs...sorry I didn't get any pictures of that.
Sunday was a wonderful, relaxing day. We all forgot about the time change though, so we almost missed church, but remembered just in time to make it to sacrament meeting. And then just hung out at the cabin and had a DELICIOUS dinner cooked by my mom and Don. Monday was another day of great skiing...in lots of fresh powder. It just dumped all night and all day while we were there. SO FUN and such good luck to have hit the storm just right.
After skiing we headed to Logan to spend some time with my Gramma Ruthie and my dad. It was so nice to just sit and visit with my amazing grandma about her life, the history she is writing, and life in general. It was especially fun to see LucyMae interact with her. Ruth is the lady who started Joy School, if you have ever heard of it....and I must say she has lost none of her nack with children over the years. While Sam and I were getting all packed up the next morning, we just let LucyMae hang out with Gramma Ruthie for about 1/2 hour, and they both loved the one-on-one time. LucyMae was also fascinated with a life-size doll that my grandma had...she gave it lots of loves, and even went so far as to lay a big, wet one on it.
On our way out of Logan we stopped off at my mom's parent's house too...the Hoopers. My grandpa Hooper is recovering very well from open-heart surgery in December, and the whole gang there seems to be doing very well. My grandma Hooper gave me a picture that she found of me when I was about 1...and I must say it is amazing how much LucyMae looks like I did.... with a perfect amount of Sam mixed in there too.
So we headed to Salt Lake on Tuesday morning, and went straight to my dad's place to unload our stuff before heading over to hang out with Tenille, Clark, and Paul. We had so much fun watching LucyMae and Clark chase each other around the house. Tenille and Paul are living in our old apartment, so it was fun to see how different, and the same, the place looks. LucyMae seemed to recognize the place when she made a bee-line for her old room the second we got there.
During our time in Salt Lake we got to go skiing again...thanks to my dad for lots of cheap and free skiing (he hooked us up at Beaver and at the Canyons - what an awesome dad!). Sam's brother and mom and sister were kind enough to watch LucyMae for the whole day while we got in an awesome bluebird day of skiing....I was SOOO tired by the end of that day....hmmm...I must not have skied 50+ days this season or something....weird! It doesn't do great things for the self-esteem when your 55 year old dad is in better shape than you on the ski-slopes...he is on his 70 somethingth day of skiing this season though....
We also had a fun night hanging out with Sam's 2 brothers and their wives. We went bowling and played the Wii. It was so fun to chill with them again...didn't get any pictures though. We really do miss living near our siblings to hang out with. And we had a fun FHE with my family, which included dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen. Sam had never been there, so it was fun to get several different kinds of pizza and try them all.....he was converted.
Thursday we had fun in many ways...first and foremost was our meeting with Sam's uncle Dave, who is a CPA and is the most generous guy in the world. He helps us do our taxes while we are poor students...and this year, for the first time in our marriage, we are getting a tax REFUND!!! WAHOO!!! For us that is something to celebrate. We will definitely be spending it on something very smart and thrifty like....a fun trip by ourselves this summer...somewhere...yet to be determined. And then we got to hang out at the park for a bit with the fam. We put LucyMae and Clark in a swing together...it was hilarious and they loved it.
And Thursday evening we both got haircuts, compliments of Clair, from the same lady who did my hair for our wedding. She is a good friend of Clair's. And then we were lucky to be in town for one of Sam's cousin's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding reception, and we got to see lots of family and friends that we wouldn't otherwise have had time to see.
Then from Friday on we got hang out in Orem with Sam's family. It was such a beautiful weekend with amazing weather. Sam's family watched LucyMae so that we could attend the temple...which ain't gonna happen often while we are in Rapid City (the nearest temple is in Bismarck, North Dakota...6 hours away). We got to go running together once, and I got to go running with Sam's sisters. We got to watch Britt do AWESOME in her track meet...those little Evans girls are pretty amazing runners. We got to go to dinner with most of the fam to Applebees (thank you Mark). We got to go on a double-date-night with Andy and Amy to Goodwood bar-b-que... where Sam and I have been wanting to go for a long time (thank you Clair). We got to spend an afternoon at the park with the family in the amazing weather. And to top it all of...LucyMae got sick. She finally got sick, for the first time in her 10 months of life. So I was a little mad that it was actually happening (I think I was starting to believe she was invincible), and that it had to happen to the poor girl while we were on vacation, knowing that in just 2 days we would driving 12 hours home again. And, although she did have one pretty miserable night, she was an angel for the rest of it. Except for that one night, we wouldn't have known she was sick by her behavior at all...just by her constantly running nose.
We spent Sunday afternoon just loving being with family, at the Evans house for Sunday dinner again. Oh, how we miss Sunday dinner. LucyMae had the time of her life playing with all her aunts and uncles and grandparents. She really loves Hannah, who is so good at getting down on her level and playing with her. And she ESPECIALLY loved Benson, the dog. She spent hours standing at the glass-sliding-door to the backyard pounding on the glass and waving and talking to Benson. Anytime she sees a dog now she gets ecstatic. I think we are going to have to get a dog...but it will have to wait until we are in our own home, because this rental doesn't allow pets. And we especially enjoyed the traditional Evans family Sunday walk. The weather was SOOO nice while we were there...thank you!
Needless to say, we had an awesome vacation and were sad to leave Utah again. But...we were both excited to "come home" again. This little place called Rapid City is actually starting to feel like home to us. Despite LucyMae being so miserably sick, she traveled wonderfully on the way home, again crying for only 20-30 minutes of the trip. She is such a little trooper. The weather was PERFECT for our drive home and made it so enjoyable. And when we finally did get home and walked in our house, LucyMae was SO EXCITED. She started squealing and flailing her arms. She loves our house and her toys and oh, how she loves her bed! She slept SO WELL that first night home. We are so grateful for such a happy, easy-going, delightful little girl.
And since we've been home, we have enjoyed wonderful weather and temperatures that reached 80 degrees this past Sunday. BUT Monday brought one of the infamous spring blizzards that shuts the whole town down. We all knew it was coming, so Monday morning was chaos at all the stores as everybody tried to prepare for the snowing-in. From about 5:00pm Monday night, until 6:00pm Tuesday night there was a blizzard warning, no-travel warnings, crazy winds and everybody was snowed-in. Although it was bad, it was not as bad as the storm we were here for in November. But, we did enjoy the aftermath...Sam built a little sledding hill in our front yard that he took Lucymae down. Doesn't she look cute in her little snow-pants? Man I love that girl.
OH...and big news on LucyMae's front...she is now sporting her first tooth, that we didn't even know was coming in since she never complained about it. AND she can take 5 or 6 steps on her own...if she has someone to catch her when she gets tipsy. She's WALKING! My little 10-month old is moving too fast for me. She is gradually weaning herself and just growing up right before my eyes. This goes way too fast...parenthood speeds life up more than I ever imagined it would. But it also makes life so much more joyful than I ever thought it would.
Sorry for the SUPER LONG POST....but here are some videos and a slide-show for your viewing pleasure:
5 comments:
Whew, that was a massive post! Looks like some fun good times. And that little LucyMae...man, what a doll!
I loved your post! I had been waiting for an update and that , my friend, was very satisfying! Lucy Mae is adorable and getting so grown up.
I love it! That Lucy-Mae is growing up way too fast for me!
Love the post. I think it's so fun to have our kids so close! I love watching them achieve milestones so close together, and also watching how different they are. Clark FINALLY started babbling today....maybe he will talk after all!
Wow what fun to feel 'caught up" especially because we didn't get a chance to see you while you were here. I think we left for Miami just as you arrived in Salt Lake! How fun to see these adorable pictures and videos. I've got to have Eli help me do those slide shows. I always have more pics than I have room for but I don't know how to do it! LucyMae is ADORABLE! She's changing so much. So glad you had such a great time with everyone while you were home. We're going to miss you next Sunday! Tal is bringing a girlfriend home from NYC and most of your fam is coming for Easter dinner. Sounds as though there are lots of decisions going on there right now!
Love and miss you! Keep those updates coming!
Linda and Rick and troops!
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