Simply Sampson

Briggs

2011-12-18T20:52:00.000-08:00

Our newest addition, Lee Briggs Sampson, joined our family on November 17, 2011 at noon. He weighed in at 8 lb 7 oz and 20.5" long. Amazingly, he's not our biggest baby. Cambelle beat him weighing 8lb 9 oz.

Briggs is a GREAT baby. He actually doesn't have a choice, he has to be good.... with 2 toddlers and a volleyball playing 8 year old I don't have time for him to be anything but good.

It's always so fun to have a new baby in the house. They are such sweet little spirits and it's so fun to see the kids with him. They love "Skully" so much. He got that nickname while I was pregnant. Our kids love the Disney cartoon of "Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and they each pretend to be one of the characters. Beck is Jake, Cambelle is Izzy, Elle is Cubby and Briggs by default is Skully... the pirate bird.

Cambelle, like always, is a great help.... Beck and Elle have to be bribed to help. Oh, and Beck can't stand baby spit-up... it brings on the dry heaves so fast. But so does bananas, garbage cans and poopy diapers... He'll make a great dad one day...HA!

Back to School

2011-09-19T19:49:00.001-07:00

Cambelle is off to third grade. This summer flew by....

The kiddos definately miss their big sis while she is gone to school. The first couple days they kept asking where she was or they would walk around the house calling her name and looking for her.

The Mom In Me...

2011-07-07T15:40:00.000-07:00

The mom in me couldn't resist taking a "first day of school" picture of Cody before he headed off for his first day at the Police Academy. He was only willing if we were all in it...

We are so proud of Cody for all of his hard work and long hours at the Academy. His schedule is 5pm - 9pm, Monday through Friday and all day Saturday, pretty much for the next year. It will all be worth it though in the end, right...??? That's what I keep telling myself. Next year it will be all worth it.

Cruisin’ the Caribbean

2011-06-29T17:29:00.001-07:00

Cody and I decided to celebrate our 10^th anniversary this year by going on vacation together….for the first time without kids. It was AMAZING!! Well, one kid came with us, but he was pretty low key… (I was 3 months pregnant) I guess I won't be able to get completely away for a while still. We were lucky enough to have two of our good friends, (who just happen to be brothers) come with us on our adventure. We spent 8 perfect days in the beautiful Caribbean visiting place like St. Thomas, Antigua, Bermuda and ending in New York. I was so nice to be able to get away and relax and just spend time as a couple. We are definitely going to have to plan more vacations like this one. Here are a few pics of our adventures...

Evacuation training... so fun!!

The view from our balcony on the first morning.... Gorgeous!!

Magen's Bay, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

Our favorite spot... the ice cream stand. We are so much ice cream it isn't even funny.... ok, maybe a little funny.

The crew of our ship even helped us celebrate our anniversary. They sang "Happy Anniversary" to the tune of "Happy Birthday" since the crew is international it sounded a lot like the "Fa-Ra-Ra-Ra's" from the movie "A Christmas Story"

Cambelle's Baptism

2011-04-16T14:49:00.000-07:00

Cambelle was baptised a member of the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints on February 5th, 2011. We are so proud of our little girl for her decision. Just look at her dad's smile.... definitely a proud daddy.

Time Flies . . .

2010-12-21T15:44:00.000-08:00

Has it really been that long since I posted on our blog.... jeesh! Sorry for not updating everyone on our happenings. I guess this will be another one of those catch up posts that tells about everything and anything... those are always fun ... here we go...
We have moved back home to Utah from Colorado. It really was a fun adventure for our family and we are all really grateful for the chance we had to do it... well... everyone except maybe Cody. I think we counted about 1300 man hours on that job in just 3 1/2 months. INCREDIBLE! We are so glad to have our Dad back.

My "reward" for sticking out those 3 1/2 months was that I could get LASIK done! I didn't waste any time getting that scheduled and had my surgery just 2 weeks after we moved home. I am now officially 20/15 (which is even better than 20/20)! I love it!

We had a nice low key Halloween. Cambelle was one of the 3 Musketeers (barbie style), Beck was a Pirate, and Elle was a bumble bee. Too Cute!

Cambelle got her ears peirced. How can you say no to that girl on anything. We thought she would wait until she was older, but when your kids come to you and so diplomatically try and convince you to let them do something, how can you tell them no? She was very brave, even though it hurt ... a lot... She gets to change her earrings on her birthday... she planned it to be exactly 6 weeks to the day so she could wear a new pair on her birthday.

Cody has been busy again with work... which we love and hate all at the same time. Its nice to have work, but it's also nice to get to spend time together again.

I have been busy just being me. Primary secretary keeps me busy, as do two toddlers and a 7 year old.

We are all super excited for Christmas to get here and even had a snow day today (NO SCHOOL!) We saw about 20" of snow overnight. The kids love it!

Hope anyone reading this has a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year because I'm pretty sure I won't post between now and then, but thanks for checking in on us!

Our Adventures...Part Deux

2010-09-21T14:52:00.000-07:00

Our adventures in Colorado continue....

Our biggest and craziest thing so far has been Cody's accident at work with a hand power planer. Just for clarification hand planers are NOT meant for hands. This happened right before Labor day weekend, so we got to spend a week in Utah for some R&R. It is healing really well. It looks way better now. I will have to post some current pictures. It is amazing how quickly the body can really heal itself. The cool part in all this is that the guys up here at the construction site like Cody so much that they all pooled their cash and gave our family a huge chunk of money to help cover costs while Cody was down. People are amazing. They all like Cody up here because he is the only mormon any of them have ever met.

We still take our weekly sunday walk down to the river. It is Becks favorite thing about livng out here. Every time he even sees the river he starts yelling " Reeber, reeber".

Our new friend Pauly came over again and made us another fantastic meal. He is completely amazing!

Most recently though we had our good friend Lance come out from Utah and stay with us for a week. The kids absolutely adore Lance (and his twin brother Ryan) so it was an extra special week for all of us. We took a day and went up to Aspen and did some window shopping. I think the cheapest on sale item we found was a t-shirt for $58.
This giant dog is at an antique store in Aspen and Beck loves to walk by and say Hi to this dog.

While Lance was here he introduced Elle to McDonalds sweet & sour sauce. She couldn't get enough. I think she even had a melt down when we took it away.

We spent a day up at the Glenwood Caverns in the Fairy Caves. No strollers allowed in the caves so Lance and I ended up carrying the two babies through the 70 minute cave tour.

The kids had such a good time that Cambelle decided that Lance is their step-dad. Her theory on that is that Lance is the guy who "steps in" when dad cant come because of work...the step-dad. We thought it was funny, I liked the idea of two incomes...

We rounded out the week by driving in to Denver for two days. Cody and Lance went to the Broncos home opener against the SeaHawks. They had third row tickets. Cody didn't want to carry around my pink camera so I'll have to post pictures of the boys at the game once I get them from Lance. The kids and I drove out to Colorado Springs and spent the day with my Aunt and Uncle. They took us to the "Garden of the Gods" . It's a geological wonder where the tectonic plates hit and sent these huge rocks straight up into the air. It was amazing.

We are only out here for another week or so and then its back to Utah. Cody will have to stay a few weeks later than the kids and I, but hopefully it will be life back to normal soon. Although I will miss all these adventures.

The Best Thing I Ever Ate ...

2010-08-20T08:49:00.000-07:00

I love the Food Network. The shows make me feel like I can cook. I mean really cook. They always have these little commercials that ask the food network stars "What is the best thing you have ever eaten?" I've thought about that question a lot. And I can't seem to ever fill it in. I've eaten some pretty darn good things in my life, like Citrus Crusted Halibut...YUM...or Chocolate Lava Cake...Double YUM... But nothing has ever fallen into the category of "The BEST..Ever. Until Wednesday...

A new friend, Pauley, came over Wednesday night to cook us dinner. I had been told that Pauley had been a chef, but I wasn't sure how good he actually was. Sometimes people get over-sensationalized..you know. Pauley is now a finish carpenter on the house Cody is working on in Aspen. Anyway back to the story. Apparently, Pauley was a chef for over 20 years. A real chef too. He brought all the food he would need and he cooked up a storm. I just watched. In fact, he banned me from the kitchen. I tried to sneak in once and got in trouble. He was chopping and slicing and mixing and breading like a mad man. I couldn't even keep up on what was going on he was so fast. The house smelled just like a fine restaurant. Even the kids were excited. We all watched. Drooling the whole time. Oh by the way, Cody was allowed in the kitchen as the dish washer. Hee Hee, I love it. When he was finished we had a fantastic French Cuisine meal of herb crusted chicken with a mushroom sauce that was to die for, dirty mashed potatoes with garlic and goat cheese, and fresh steeped asparagus. I don't even know what steeped means, it was so fancy.

This meal by far is the best thing I have ever eaten! Cody completely agrees. The kids do too. We all ate it and loved it. Even the asparagus, which they would have never eaten if I had given it to them. We were all so full by the end of dinner that we were starting to get the sweats. You know what I'm talking about. The "I ate way too much food" sweats. SO GOOD.

Pauley was amazing. I guess he gave up the life of a professional chef because of the 80 hour work week. You're the first one there and the last one to leave when you're the chef. And since he found the love of his life, (his lovely wife Paula) he didn't want to be gone all the time. Sadly though he went into construction and landed this job which he has been on for 2 1/2 years of his 4 year marriage to Paula and she lives in Denver (4 hours away) so they don't see each other as often as he would like.

Paul has agreed to come over every few weeks and cook with me. Give me some pointers. Teach me some stuff. So cool. It's like having food network, live in my kitchen. WooHoo. I'll let you know how it goes. He says I have to cook him a meal first. Uh, ya...what do you cook a chef? Mac & Cheese? I don't think so.

The most handsome dishwasher I've ever seen..

So now I want to know....What the best thing You've ever eaten? I know what my answer is.

Our adventures...

2010-08-07T15:00:00.001-07:00

We've had a lot of little "adventures" out here in Basalt, Colorado. We've pet a baby alligator, gotten completly lost trying to find a hardware store, cut 5 inches of Cambelle's hair off, played on a big excavation tractor, eaten a whole piece of pizza by ourselves (Elle) and had the flu. Thats not even half of all we've done out here. It's been fun. Here's some pictures to prove it too... sorry no pictures of the baby alligator, he was too shy...

Some nice guy up at the house Cody is working on invited the kiddos to go and drive his excavation "digger". Beck was a little scared, but when he saw Cambelle try it he was totally excited.

Our first top tooth gone. My baby is growing up. We're gonna need braces soon...

This little monster ate an entire piece of pizza. And not just a little slice, a full on mondo sized slice...no wonder she weighs the same as Beck..

Poor guy, he may look cute like this, but he's dressed this way because he threw up all over himself...twice... nasty flu..

Cambelle wanted a new "do" for school. We also did some school shopping. Here's a mini fashion show she gave us when we got home...

Our New Home.....For a bit...

2010-07-07T16:10:00.000-07:00

So we have officially moved to Colorado. It's only temporary though. Cody has work in Aspen, CO until September. He was driving back and forth, but that got WAY to hard on him and me and the kiddos. So since schools out for summer we figured we would all move to Colorado. It's definately an adjustment. But its also a fun adventure that we get to have as a family. Here are some pictures of our new temporary home. There's no real order to any of these, but I'll at least tell you a little about each picture... here goes...

This is the kids' room/office. Beck and Cambelle share the bed and Elle's in the play pen thing. The wall that the picture is taken from is a wooden accordian sliding door, very 70's.

This is the main bathroom. There is access to this bathroom from both bedrooms. Something our family can't seem to get away from no matter where we move is multiple doors to a bathroom. It's getting to be pretty funny.

Thats our front door to the bottom left, and our fantastic patio. The only downfall is the downfall... all the slats on the rail are far enough apart that Elle could squish through so she has to be watched pretty close out there since it is a two or three story fall...

This is how you get to our front door. It's quite a climb and a fall as Beck has almost found out.

This is the kids' favorite room in the whole house. The pink bathroom. Cambelle loves it because well, it's pink. But Beck loves the tiny sink. He now has the cleanest hands in Colorado thanks to this sink. Maybe we'll finally finish potty training with washing hands in the tiny sink after as an incentive. Maybe not, I don't want to get too ambitious.

This is the main bedroom. Nothing too exciting other than the awesome built in. Another fantastic 70's addition.

Here's the kitchen. No dishwasher though. So sad. It looks like Cambelle is going to learn how to wash dishes this summer... heehee

Here's our dining room. It's a table... I know..you're all jealous now of our massive dining hall. (you can see the awesome accordian door to the kids room in this one)

The living room is actually quite nice. Other than the gi-normous ants that like to come visit us. Oh, and the spiders too. The house was vacant for a couple of months, so every cupboard and corner has a little friend waiting to meet my flip-flop.

This is looking from the living room toward the kitchen. Another built-in. I must say, we are not lacking on storage space.

Thats our lovely abode. Hope you enjoyed. And we'll see you all in September.

Love,

The Sampson Fam

Elle's Birthday

2010-06-18T20:31:00.000-07:00

Elle officially turned 1 on Thursday (the 17th). We ended up celebrating twice. Since we were going to be gone to Colorado on her birthday and Grandma and Grandpa didn't want to miss out.

My mom has a tradition of making a blanket for the babies in our family for their first birthday. Elle's turned out super cute!

On Thursday we went out for pizza ( one of Elle's favorites) and then went back to the hotel for birthday cupcakes.

Elle's first year seems to have gone by SO fast. She is such a cute girl. Oh, and for the record she officially started walking before she turned 1. She's been trying for a while now, but is a little chicken. On Tuesday she just kind of started walking everywhere. Especially to Grandpa. So we are counting it as walking before her first birthday. After all she was only 11 months and 29 days.

Happy Birthday Little One....here's some pictures of the 1st year of in the book of Elle...

Beck's 2nd Birthday

2010-05-17T19:18:00.000-07:00

Beck turned two on May 8th. He's our lucky guy that will always have a birthday on Mother's Day weekend or there abouts. (Elle's will always coincide with Father's Day, go figure). We took him and the kiddos to Chuck E Cheese on Friday. Surprisingly enough he wasn't all that spooked by the Cheese. Most kids are terrified.

On his actual birthday (saturday) we had the traditional birthday pancakes. We kept calling them number two pancakes, but Cambelle thought it sounded gross. (She's seven, can you tell).

Later that day we opened presents and had a little family party with our family here in the house. You can see my poor dads legs in the background. He pulled his back doing yardwork that afternoon, poor guy.

On Sunday (mothers day) we had some extended family over for some cake and a little mothers day celebration too. Beck is REALLY into "nandy" (candy). So I decided to make his a candy cake. I went all out and he absolutely loved it. The suckers on the top were so heavy they actually made the cake start to lean and it just about fell over. Ha!

April Fools!

2010-04-01T21:41:00.000-07:00

I love and hate April Fool's Day. I love to play the jokes and tricks on other people, but hate being the one to be duped. This year I got Cambelle. I told her I had made her a really special breakfast. She was so excited. I brought over her plate and drink and set them in front of her. When she opened her eyes to see this she was like " umm ... thanks?" " Mom, this is dinner."

I called out "April Fools" and she giggled and thought it was funny. It gets even better. She grabs a spoon to actually eat her dinner/breakfast. The food is not what it appears to be. The "veggies" are made from tootsie rolls that I shaped to look like real peas, carrots and corn. And the fish sticks are vanilla wafer cookies covered in peanut butter and dipped in crushed corn flakes. Her drink of Kool-aid was actually Jell-o too. When she popped a spoonful of "veggies" in her mouth and the taste was completely off she spit them all back out onto her plate and yelled " Mom what is this?" Beck scoops up his "veggies" and immediately shouts out "Nandy" (his word for candy). She hurried and grabbed the "fish stick" and bit in and couldn't stop laughing when she figured out that her breakfast was all messed up and that she was getting cookies, candy and jello for breakfast.

I think Becks confused face when I gave hime dinner for breakfast is my favorite. Even a 2 year old knows this is not breakfast food.

Too funny.

What shall I do next year ?...

Big Helper

2010-02-16T13:25:00.000-08:00

Beck is our big helper these days. The more he learns to do, the more he wants to help. He has a special fettish with brooms & vacuums. I think he cleans the kitchen floor more than I do. He loves to get out the swivel sweeper and clean up anything and everything on the floor. Even things he shouldn't. Flipping through my photos on the laptop today I realized, Beck likes to help with a lot of things for instance ...

He loves to help Cody with his tools...

He likes to help give himself baths...

He loves to help me in the kitchen...

and, he absolutely loves to hep baby Elle...

He sure is a cute little guy.

Creative Juices

2010-02-04T12:08:00.000-08:00

Something about the long awaited coming of spring seems to get my creative juices flowing. I love to decorate sugar cookies, scrapbook and do all sorts of crafty things. Here is my latest project.

It was kind of out of neccesity. OK, not actually necessity, but for an LDS girl you must have a cute sunday bag. I got called to the Primary Secretary in our ward and have to have a cute bag to carry all my stuff right? I think I'm justifying this to myself. Anyway, it turned out fabulous! I love it. Now I'm trying to come up with an excuse to make another. The pattern I bought has 3 others, so if anyone wants to get some fabric, I'll make ya a bag. Cause I'm in the crafty mood.

I even got Cambelle in a crafty mood. She made this cute little flower all by herself. Way to go sister!

Happy Birthday Cambelle

2010-01-20T14:49:00.000-08:00

She's 7!

Cambelle's birthdays are always fun. At least the last couple years have been. I love to see how exciting it is to have a birthday. I wish my birthday was that exciting. We had our traditional birthday pancakes, and a little get together that ended up being not so little. It started out as just our family. Then it was our family, my parents and my sister. By the time we were all together there were about 21 of us. We had cake (decorated exactly as Cambelle asked) and ice cream and an all around good time.

For her birthday she asked for 3 dresses. Dress up dresses. Not just any dress up dresses, but exact duplicates of the "Barbie and the 3 Musketeers" dresses. I started back in early December and I hemmed the final dress while she was at school on her birthday. All my hard work payed off though, she loved them!

It was so fun to see all of our family and friends show Cambelle how much they love her. She truly is a special girl!!

Christmas

2010-01-03T15:13:00.000-08:00

This was Elle's first christmas and Beck's first christmas that he "gets it". We had a lot of fun this christmas. Cody's sister Norma was down from Alaska so we spent Christmas Eve at his Dad's house and celebrated a little early with them. We played in the snow and built a snowman, had a fantastic dinner and opened a few presents. Santa even made a surprise visit, which Beck did not appreciate. Even Cambelle was a little worried when the big guy himself showed up on Grandpa Sampsons doorstep. We had a fun filled, exhausting day.

Christmas day was no different. Fun filled and exhausting. The hour and a half drive home christmas eve gave all the kids a great nap at 9:00 on christmas eve so no one was tired at bed time. I think we finally got to bed around 1:00. Elle was the first one up (she doesn't even know about Santa yet, why was she so excited?) at 5:30. The other two kids got up around 7. Cambelle could hardly contain herself when she realized that it was Christmas morning. By the time we got around to opening presents ( we had to wait for Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Ray) Elle was fast asleep again and Cambelle had rifled through every present under the tree to see which boxes belonged to her. The rest of my family showed up aroun noon for the traditional christmas dinner at my parents house and we played games and the kiddies opened even more presents. Then it was off to Grandma Lola's for even more presents. I think our kids are totally spoiled by their grandparents and aunts and uncles. It was a typical Christmas for us and thats just how I like it.

Temple Square

2009-12-07T23:21:00.000-08:00

We finally made it up to temple square in Salt Lake this year. I think I have been trying to get our family up there for years. My best friend growing up lives up in Salt Lake so we used her as an excuse to get up there. Emily is so much fun with the kids. We planned our trip before we knew the weather report though and it turned out to be freezing. Actually colder than freezing, it was about 20 degrees. Plus it had snowed earlier in the day. It was beautiful! Seeing all the christmas lights somehow really gets me into the christmas mood. It makes me feel like a kid again.

I am so glad Cody is in a christmasy mood this year and lets me drag him around to these things. Cody has been so good this year. Usually he barely tolerates the whole christmas thing, but this year I think I'm finally gettin' to him. He listens to christmas music in the car with us, he has been to two different "light shows", and he was actually willing to help me get out the christmas decorations. Lucky for him this years decorations consist of stockings and garland and thats it. My parents took care of all the other decorating. I just love this time of year. Merry Christmas All!

2009-11-07T18:38:00.000-08:00

For Halloween this year we went with the Star Wars theme. My sisters kids dressed up with us and I think we had just about everyone covered. It was a lot of fun making these costumes.

Beck as an Ewok

Elle as Yoda

Jacob-The Sith Lord, Jared-Obi Wan, Kaley-R2D2, Karey-Padame, Cambelle-Princess Leah, McKenna-C3PO, Beck-Ewok, and Elle-Yoda.

Fall Hike

2009-11-07T18:27:00.000-08:00

It's been our family tradition since Cody and I were first married to take a fall hike. The hike gets shorter and shorter every year, as the kids legs are shorter and shorter every year. They just don't make it quite as far. It seems like fall came really fast this year and we didn't get out on the trails until the first week of October and all the leaves had already fallen off. It was still a great time to get out.

Cambelle was helping Beck across this little bridge after this picture was taken and he started to lose his balance. She tried to save him and fell in herself. Cody ended up catching Beck before she took him down with her. What a great big sister.

Camping Adventures

2009-10-01T21:39:00.000-07:00

Whoever it was that decided camping was a vacation was obviously not the one in charge of planning and carrying out the "vacation". It is so much work to go camping. Enough of my whining here is a picture journal of our camping trip...

Do you see anything missing? Like maybe a gas pedal? Beck somehow broke off the gas pedal while we were down at the reservoir. Cody ended up driving the scout back to the campsite with a pair of pliers attached to the throttle. We had to send Grandpa into town (2 hrs away) to het the pieces welded back together. All I can say is thank heavens Lance brought his tool set...

Cambelle did NOT want to go on the boat, but as soon as we were out on the water she was just fine.

All in all it was a good time, but it is always so nice to come home. And to shower. Thanks to Grandpa for the good times and our good friends Lance and Ryan for coming along and making our trip so much fun.

Lost Tooth

2009-09-21T22:56:00.001-07:00

Cambelle lost her first tooth tonight. She was so excited. Well actually she was mad! Cody was wiggling her tooth and it popped out. At first she didn't notice, but then she realized there was a hole in her mouth and she was not happy. When it finally sank in that she had actually lost her tooth finally she was all smiles. Toothless smiles.

Evil Humidifiers

2009-09-21T22:46:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning as I was getting Cambelle ready for school, Beck came out of his bedroom screaming and crying. I wasn't too concerned, that's how he usually comes out in the mornings. But he kept rubbing his hands on his legs. I asked him if he had "Owwies" because the day before he had gotten his immunizations. He just kept on crying for about 40 minutes. A bottle finally calmed him down and that was that. Well, later in the day as I was getting Beck ready I noticed that the humidifier in his room was unplugged. I don't remember unplugging that I thought to myself. So I looked at Beck and asked him if he had touched it. He looked at me very innocently and said "no, no" while shaking his finger at the humidifier. I told him "We don't touch!" and he replied "Owwies". Thats right good boy. Well around lunch time my Mom picks Beck up and notices his hand. It looks something like this...

Now everything starts fitting together in my head. The crying, rubbing of the hands, the unplugged humidifier. Apparently Beck put his hand against the steam coming out of the humidifer and got a good second degree burn on his finger. The blister popped later that day, on my sisters pants, but now his finger is raw and sore. Poor guy. I swear his curiosity is going to get him in some serious trouble one day. Oh, wait it already did.

Elle's Blessing

2009-09-21T22:38:00.000-07:00

Cody blessed Elle on Sunday September 3, 2009. It was a beautiful blessing. Thanks to all of our friends and family that supported us. We had a lunch afterwards at my parents house and overall it was a great day. She looked absolutely beautiful in her little white dress. Here are a couple of shots of Elle on her big day.

Bike Riding

2009-09-21T22:18:00.000-07:00

So this summer Cambelle has had a great time learning how to rider her bike with out training wheels. (I know she's 6. She should probably know how by now, but we've been busy with babies and such lately.) She basically taught herself, only a little bit of help from mom and dad, by riding down a slanted walkway. It was so funny to watch because she just couldn't get started. When she would fall she would always yell out "I'm OK" and then hop up, and if she was hurt she would still yell it out hop up and then limp over crying for some sympathy. Overall she did a terrific job. Now she wants to start riding her bike to school with her cousins. I'm hoping the weather gets cold so I can keep driving her. I'm an overprotective mom, I know.

Where has the summer gone?

2009-08-10T18:05:00.000-07:00

Seriously, where has the summer gone? School starts next week and I'm not sure I'm ready. As most of you know, we are not morning people at our house. Well, Cody is a morning person, but the rest of us are not. Cambelle starts first grade in a week and i'm going to have to get up and help her get ready, after being up all night with the babies. It's going to be insane! I'm going to have to actually get our family in a routine. Real bedtimes. Real wake-up times. Maybe even scheduled nap times for all of us. Hopefully we all adjust quickly. I'll let you know.

The kids are growing so fast. Elle is two months old. She has the greatest smile. She actually has two smiles. Her first smile is just a cute little smile, but my favorite smile is what we call "happy eyes". When she gives you this smile, it makes her eyes scrunch up and her whole face smiles. I love it. This is when babies start getting fun. They aren't all that exciting up to this point.

Beck is 15 months old and constantly sick. I think it's just his lot in life. It seems that we are in the doctors office at least every two to three weeks. His latest was a virus that caused a 103.4 degree temperature and a really ornery little boy. After he was over that we found out he was also cutting 4 teeth (two are molars). When he is healthy and not cutting teeth he is an absolute riot. He know the sounds a lion, puppy, and snake make. And he has the most hilarious "please" face you have ever seen. I think it's the snaggle teeth that make it so funny. I think the highlight for me lately is that he finally says "mama". He has been saying dada since he was 9 months old, so this is pretty exciting for me.

Cambelle got her hair permed this summer, hopefully it will help us get ready faster in the mornings for school. She took gymnastics and loved it. She is doing cartwheels and flips and sommersalts through the house all the time. Luckily no serious injuries yet. She has kicked Beck in the head a time or two with a flubbed up hand stand but nothing worse than that.

Cody and I celebrated our 8th anniversary in the end of July. Unfortunately, with a new baby and a cranky one year old we didn't get to do anything other than go to the movies. That was fun though. It's crazy to think that we've been married for 8 years. A lot has happened in those eight years, both good and bad and everywhere inbetween and we love each other even more than when we got married.

Life has been crazy the past little while, but it's life and I love it.

She's Here!

2009-06-24T13:03:00.000-07:00

Our newest addition arrived on Wednesday June 17, 2009 at 9:48 a.m. Elle Sampson weighed in at 7lb 9 oz. and 21" long. She beautiful, but I'm partial. We are so glad for her to be here and to join our family.

It's been a crazy week since we got home from the hospital. Beck came down with tonsilitis. We took him to the doctor who started him on antibiotics, but his throat was so sore that he reufsed to eat or drink anything. He became so dehydrated that he didn't even have tears anymore, so Monday night we spent at the hospital with Beck who had to get an IV. Very traumatic! Not just for Beck, but for a crazy, hormonal, emotional Mom. The nurses said he would calm down after the IV was in place, but he screamed and cried for 2 more hours. Usually they would leave and IV line in for 12 more hours in case he needed more fluids, but the doctor was so concerned that Beck wouldn't sleep if they left it in so they took is out early. Today he is starting to act more like himself. He even slept last night! Awesome! We might actually get back to our normal routine soon.

Through all this craziness Cambelle has been wonderful. She is such a great help with two babies at home. She is so patient with Beck and with me. And she absolutely adores her baby sister!

Poor Cody is probably completely exhausted. He was the lucky one who stayed up with Beck this last week, while I was up with the baby. Then every morning, he's off to work. No rest for the weary I suppose.

Elle is an excellent baby. She sleeps and eats really well. What a blessing!

Thanks to everyone for their love and support!

First Haircut

2009-05-10T22:43:00.001-07:00

Beck got his first haircut back in April. I found these pictures while looking for birthday pictures to upload. I completely forgot to post these back in April. It's so funny to see how shaggy his hair is in this first picture. Cody got out the hair cutters and we gave Beck a dum-dum sucker, a trick we learned from a friend. If you want them to hold still, give them a sucker. The sucker worked like a charm. He sat mostly still. OK, he sat as still as an 11 month old can. He looks so cute with this new 'do. It's been almost a month since he got his hair cut and it's almost time for another one. He has fun hair. It naturally wants to do the cool "faux-hawk" look, or you can comb it like a cute little missionary haircut. Lucky guy.

Beck's 1st Birthday!

2009-05-10T22:28:00.000-07:00

Our little man turned one on May 8th! So crazy. I can't believe how fast the time has flown. How cliche', I know but really it feels like it has gone by so fast. Beckster, as we call him, is growing up so fast and learning so much. I think it is a blessing in disguise. If he wasn't growing up so fast, how would I be able to handle another baby in a couple of weeks.

For Beck's birthday we had the traditional # pancake. This one was easy compared to Cambelle's 6. Beck really loves pancakes so it was a perfect breakfast for him. Cody was even lucky enough to have the day off of work to spend with us. We didn'y do much on his actual birthday, but we did have a party for him on Saturday. He got a little tractor to ride on and he loves it. Thanks to everyone for coming and sharing this fun time with us.

After the birthday party we had a movie night. The kiddo's stayed in the house and watched "Bolt". Cambelle, Karey and Kaley all wore their matching PJ's from Park City, cute girls. All the adults went outside and did a drive-in type movie and watched "Taken". Very Scary! It was a fun night.

We've Moved.

2009-04-09T21:42:00.000-07:00

For real. We've moved. We sold our Payson home and moved in with my parents for a little spell. I am really going to miss our old house. We lived there for 3 years. We built it ourselves. There were a lot of good memories there, and it is sad to leave all that behind...but I suppose in the long run it will have been for the best. Along with moving our email address changed. I would just send out an email, but we also switched to a lap top and I lost all my email contacts, so here is our new email. thesampsonfam@gmail.com Send me an email so I will have your email address and I can add you to my email contacts.

Along with moving we have had a couple other happenings around here. Beck is officially walking! For the records he started walking at 10 1/2 months old. That is so crazy to me. I think Cambelle was over a year old when she really started walking. It's been fun to see him cruising around so much, but it's also a little scary. He doesn't understand the word NO yet so he gets himself into a lot of trouble these days.

Cody and I both celebrated our birthdays in March. One year old and wiser too, I guess...

Cody's now 31 and I'm 27. CRAZY! We always make # pancakes for birthdays at our house so when it was my birthday and Cody had to be at work Cambelle took over. I mixed and helped her pour them out and she did the rest. What an awesome kid. I tried to tell her that I didn't need a 27 pancake, but she insisted that it would make my birthday that much "more better".

My mom and sisters and I decided to have ourselves a girls night in a couple weeks ago. It was fun to get away from the kids. I love 'em but it was sure nice to have a break. We had a great time. I think we stayed up until 3 in the morning. Ate lots and lots of treats and just had a great time hanging out together. It was fun because I don't think we ever really got to hang our together like that growing up. I was always to young to be any fun. ( who wants to hang out with a little sis.) and then when I was old enough to be fun, my sisters had moved out. It was a great weekend. Thanks girls!

Only 9 weeks left until the new baby comes. The doctors say there are more weeks than that but I'm not listening to them. They were off with Becks due date so I'm trusting my own instincts this time. I guess in 2 months we will see who was right. (please let it be me...)

Cambelle is almost finished with kindergarten. She is reading so well. Above a first grade level even. She totally gets that from me. I love to read. I don't remember being that smart in kindergarten. I think kids are smarter now than we were in our day.

Well I will keep everyone posted as to how things are. A huge THANKS to all those that helped us move and especially to my parents! They have been so nice to let us move in and take over their home. Hopefully some day we can repay them for all of their kindness. Thanks Mom and Dad. We Love You.

Kindy 500

2009-03-04T13:20:00.001-08:00

Cambelle's school does something called the Kindy 500, it's where all the kindergarteners make cars and then "drive" them through the school on a road trip to learn about our country. Cambelle decided she wanted a slug bug. She wanted it pink, but they don't make hot pink spray paint. So it was red instead. We had a lot of fun making her car. I got to go to school with her as a mother helper. I think I learned things about our country that I didn't even know. We had a good time. Unfortunatley, the slug bug went in the dumpster last week since we are de-cluttering so we can move soon. Don't tell Cambelle. I think it would break her heart.

He's 10 months old

2009-03-04T13:14:00.000-08:00

I can't believe my little guy is 10 months old. Time flies. He's just about ready to take off walking. pretty much any day now. He is such a crack up too. We taught him how to ask for more and shake his head no or nod yes. Everything is way exaggerated when he does it though. It's awesome!

Draper Temple

2009-03-04T13:08:00.000-08:00

We had the chance to go to the Draper Temple open house last week as a family. It was so much fun to go together as a family. When else can you take your little ones into the temple with you? Cambelle loved every minute of it. She had so many questions and her eyes were huge when she saw the enormous chandelier in the celestial room. Cody even stood with her in the sealing room and showed her the mirrors, where you can see yourself go on forever. What a fun day for our family. I hope Cambelle will remember going through. I remember going through the Mt. Timpanogos temple when it was first built. I was a lot older than 6 though. Ok I was 10. But still I hope she can remember what a neat experience it was.

Updates

2009-02-04T21:45:00.000-08:00

Apparently not a whole lot has happened round here in almost a month, cause I haven't blogged since January 11th. Jeesh! Well, we found out our surprise bundle of joy is a ...girl! Cambelle is super excited. She really wanted a sister. I think at the doctors office we even got told " I told you it would be a girl". Why does she always have to be right. We are all actually really excited for a girl, now the trouble is names. We had a boy name picked out but we just can't seem to come up with a girl name that feels right. If anyone has any suggestions, please send them this way. Other than that it has just been life as usual around here. Basketball games 2-3 times a week, and that's it. After all the craziness of the holidays it almost seems boring to be this normal. Oh well I'll get used to it.

These are pictures from earlier tonight. Cody gave Beck a big blob of choclate icing to eat (he was whining) and this is how he got back to being clean. I think this was actually his first sink bath. I'm pretty sure I was more wet when it was all said and done than he was. Cambelle was being helpful and squirted me down accidentally with the sprayer, and Beck really loves to splash! Good times!

Happy Birthday Cambelle!

2009-01-11T22:10:00.000-08:00

Cambelle turned 6 today. That totally makes me feel old. She was lucky enough to have a Sunday birthday so we partied a little on Saturday too. We headed out to PG and went to Kangaroo Zoo with some cousins. It was super fun. The kids played the entire time we were there. They would stop in for a drink now and then but pretty much played the whole time. The only bummer was that they put a new weight limit on the slides of 150 lbs. so the dad's couldn't play on them. Too bad. They played hide and seek with the kiddos though and we taught them the game of sardines. I thought everyone new how to play sardines, but apparently not. Then we went out to lunch at the Pizza Factory (Cambelle's choice). All in all we had a really fun day and are really grateful to Donovan and Lore for letting us borrow their kids for Cambelle's sake. It wouldn't have been nearly as fun without them, so thanks.

Today on her birthday we surprised her with a 6 pancake and breakfast in bed.

She's always asking for breakfast in bed so we thought, "why not, it's her birthday." But then we had to rush off for 9 a.m. church so we didn't get to celebrate until later in the afternoon.

She made and decorated her own birthday cake even. It turned out pretty cute.

Then we invited my sister and her family over to celebrate with us. It was a fun day. She even got some pretty cool kind of retro toys. She got a slinky, the game Operation, and a bunch of playdough stuff. (All things she wanted.) I just still can't believe she's 6.

8 Months Old

2009-01-08T13:04:00.000-08:00

Beck is now 8 months old and on the move. He has started officially crawling, (he's been army crawling for almost a month now). We were so excited when he started to get around on his own because he seemed to be happier on the move, but now I wish he was staying still. He gets himself into more trouble already. Of course he puts everything in his mouth including wrappers he finds by the garbage, barbie shoes, dryer lint you name, we've pulled it out of his mouth. Even hair clips. His one love now though is pulling himself up to stand against the furniture. Very dangerous. I don't remember Cambelle being this much work. Maybe it's just a boy thing or maybe it's just been 6 years since we had a baby in our house? Who knows. We love the little guy though, and can't imagine life without him now.

Getting The Wiggles Out

2008-12-17T11:01:00.000-08:00

Apparently Beck has the Christmas jitters or something. We couldn't stop laughing when we saw him trying to get his wiggles out. He only does it if he's on tile floors and you have to ask him if he can wiggle. So funny! Enjoy!

I Am Such A Slacker!

2008-12-08T12:46:00.000-08:00

It has been over a month since I posted anything to my blog. What a slacker! I don't think I even remember much of November. It kind of went by in a blur for us here. Beck is 7 months old today. I can't believe how big he is. He is loads of fun. He's trying to scoot around now and can give kisses. We took a video of him giving kisses and it just makes me laugh to watch it. I think it will be one of those things that no matter how bad your day is you can't help but smile when you watch him. At his last Dr. visit he weighed 15lb 15 oz. and was 28 inches tall. I guess thats good. I don't actually know.

Cambelle is totally loving kindergarten, which I think we all knew she would. Last week they made a ginger bread man and while they were at recess it "ran away". The class spent all week looking for it throughout the school and each day a different person would see it like the principal or the secretary or one day it was in the library reading. Cambelle was so worked up over the gingerbread man though that she wouldn't even go out in the halls at school to get her backpack because she was afraid the gingerbread man would be waiting for her. She even thought it followed her home and she wouldn't sleep in her own room all last week. Luckliy for us they finally found the gingerbread man on Friday and they all got to taste him. I think she's still a little worried though. She quite the skeptic that it was the same gingerbread man that ran away.

Cody has started his basketball season again, which is always fun. Seriously, I enjoy it. It gives us somewhere to go at least one night a week. He is on two different teams this year. His Double D Bolt team that he has been on for 5 years is awesome. His brother Donovan is even on the team this year which makes it even more fun. I think for the season right now they are 5-0. Pretty Good!
I think the biggest news in our family has to do with me though. I figured I would save it for last that way if you didn't read the whole blog you wouldn't know. I'll see who really reads my blogs. Anyway, in November we found out that I am pregnant again! YAY! Seriously I am excited. The day we found out I think I was in shock. No, I know I was in shock. After all the time it took us to get our 2nd baby, a third one shows up unexpectedly. Cambelle and I say it will be a girl and Cody is cheering for another boy. I guess we'll see. My official due date is June 24th. For those of you keeping track, yes, that is only 13 months after Beck was born. I am super excited and a little nervous. Everyone says it will be like having twins, but I think it will be totally different. Not that I know the difference, but this way I will have one that is walking and a newborn and to top it all off, Cambelle starts full time school in first grade in August. It will be an adventure. The Lord knows all things and for some reason he knew we needed another little Sampson around. Maybe someday He'll fill me in on the plan. Anyway, that is our family caught up for the month. Hopefully I'll blog again before the New Year, if not Happy Holidays!

Halloween Fun

2008-11-03T16:46:00.000-08:00

This year for Halloween Cambelle decided to be something scary instead of the usual princess. She chose a mummy. I was going to make Beck a mummy costume too, but never got around to it. Luckily, a day or two before Halloween Cody thought up a great costume for him. A bag of cookies. It turned out to be super cute. And it seriously is a bag of cookies. We just emptied the bag and cut leg holes and slid it on the little guy. Simple enough.

We had a great time trick or treating with some of Cody's high school buddies and their kids. We also hit up the Neways accounting department where my sister works. They give out the best stuff. All in all I think we made off with quite a stash of candy. Hooray for sugar! Oh and an update on Cody, he's doing tons better! He even went to work. He's going to try basketball tonight, we'll see how that goes. Thanks for everyones concern and prayers.

Our Super Cool Pumpkins We Carved

Church Ball!

2008-10-26T20:55:00.000-07:00

Who of us have not had someone get hurt at a church basketball game. I think everyone that has ever played has been injured at one time or another. Unfortunately for Cody it seems to happen more often than not. Especially here in Payson. When we first moved to Payson he started playing up at the Stake center and came home with a black eye and a gouge in his back. Aren't we supposed to play nice? He's had multiple sprained ankles and who knows how many scrapes and bruises. Well this weeks injury takes the cake! Wednesday night he went up to the stake center for ball and we all decided to go along. We hadn't seen Dad all day because he worked until 9 p.m. so it was a good chance to at least be near him. Most of the games went well until near the end. There was a guy there, not from our stake, who was playing pretty physically and getting underneath Cody on rebounds and wrapping him up trying to steal the ball. From the looks of him he totally thought he should have been the #1 pick for the NBA draft if only he were a foot and a half taller. Anyway, Cody went up for a rebound and this guy pushes him in the back on the way down. As Cody lands he lands like a ton of bricks. He collapsed to the floor and is apparently in agony. Cody slid himself off the court and then left the gym barely walking. Apparently he threw out his back. They think it is probably a sprained ligament, but that ligament is so screwed up that they can't put his back back in. Now for those of you that know Cody, you know what this is going to do to him right. His work is all lifting and physical labor. So for at least the next week and a half he is totally out of commission. The worst part is that his real basketball season starts in a week. It will be sad to miss those games. I think I will just be glad when Cody is back to being Cody. It's not fun to see him in pain constantly and he will probably be totally sick of me in a week and a half. Spending 24/7 with me might not be his idea of a good time. But maybe it will be good. I can talk all I want and he can't even walk away. That 's my silver lining to all this. Good quality time with my hubby. Feel better soon Cody.

Welcome Fall!

2008-10-06T14:23:00.000-07:00

It's finally here, FALL! This is my favorite time of the year. I thought that most people loved spring or summer, but asking around, Fall seems to be just about everyone's favorite. I love when the leaves change but most of all I love the smell. Fall just smells so good. It just doesn't get any better than this.

We have a family tradition that Cody and I started when we were first married and that is to go on a fall hike. Cambelle has changed the name to "The Leaf Hunt". We used to go up by Sundance in Provo canyon, but now that we live in Payson we decided to go a little closer to home. We all piled in the 1976 International Scout and drove up the canyon. The colors were amazing. Beck slept the whole way and Cambelle talked the entire time (not uncommon for either of them).

Cody had gone on a hike the week prior with the YM/YW to the Grotto and said it was something Cambelle would love, so that is where we set out for. The grotto is an easy little trail. You get to cross the stream about 6 or 7 different times and then you finally make it to the waterfall. In spring the water fall and pond is huge, but not quite as big in fall. It was still beautfiul. Cody and Cambelle deciced to do the rest of the hike to the top of the waterfall while Beck and I stayed down at the bottom. Much too steep of a hike for mom and baby. All in all it was a perfect time.

5 months

2008-10-06T14:12:00.000-07:00

Beck is 5 months old now. Well give or take a day or two. I can't believe how time flies. We went to the doctor on Thursday and he weighed in at 14lb. 14oz. and 26 1/4" tall. He's come quite a ways from 7lb 10oz and 21" long when he was born. I think he will be fairly tall. I can't imagine why he wouldn't be though. Cody and I are both fairly tall people. Cody especially. Beck rolls over, can sit up if you sit him in his boppy, eats oatmeal, and up until last night was sleeping 10 hours at night. His personality is so much fun. He smiles at everyone and loves to talk. His version of talking is actually high pitches squealing, but it is so cute anyways. Cody asked me the other day what I thought he would be like when he is older. Like with Cambelle we knew she would be social even when she was a baby. You could just tell. I think Beck will be the same in that regard. I definatly think he will be all boy though. Sound effects and all. I think he will be very active, like most boys, because he is non-stop now. I also think we could have some trouble with the girls when he is a little older. What girl wouldn't fall head over heels for those baby blue eyes and dark hair. I know I did. Well here's to another great month with our baby boy.

Soccer Star!

2008-09-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

This was Cambelle's first year playing soccer, and she did awesome! The first game we weren't to sure, but their team did great. Cambelle is surprisingly agressive on the soccer field. She went after the ball, and wasn't afraid to run up and steal the ball away from the other players, even her own teammates. She even scored a goal! The coach said at the beginning of the season that the most important thing to kids this age in soccer are the treats at the end of each game, but Cambelle would get pretty upset over the other team scoring a goal and especially over a loss. Don't know where she would get such a competitive side? The only time Cambelle kind of checked out of the game was when she was goalie. For some reason she would lose all focus and we would see her twirling up in the net and goofing off. Luckliy there were 3 other girls on her team that weren't so into the game and preffered to be goalie instead of running. So here's to a winning season of soccer. Great job Cambelle!

Rice Cereal

2008-09-24T14:41:00.000-07:00

Beck is 4 months old now, and ready for some solid foods. I don't know if he's more ready or if I am? I seriously can't keep up with his stomach much longer. He is hungry about every 2 hours. It's like having an enormous newborn. Beck gobbled up the rice cereal the first two or three times we fed it to him, but now, he's done with it. He gets so mad when you try to feed it to him now. He's even figured out how to cry without swallowing the rice cereal I shove in. Too smart. I'm gonna have to try oatmeal or something else, because there is no way he's putting up with rice cereal.

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

2008-09-06T12:07:00.000-07:00

Last night we spent the evening at the Orem Owlz baseball game. It was the last home game of the season, and our friends Cortney and Jill invited us. Before the game there was a BMX bike show going on outside the stadium and we stopped and watched a couple of cool bike tricks. We even got free stuff, which Cambelle loved. Here are Cambelle and Cody showing off their biker looks.

We had a fun time, although I don't think I even watched one full inning. We got general admission seating and if any of you have ever been to an Owlz game, you will know that that means you get to sit on the grass. Normally that wouldn't be a challenge, but the incline of the grass is probably at a 45 degree angle. We kept sliding off our blankets down the hill. The kids thought it was super fun. Who doesn't love rolling down a huge hill, right? There was only on incidnet and luckily it didn't invlove any of our kids. A kid was trying to catch a home run ball and put his glove up and didn't see the ball coming and it hit him smack in the head. He was ok though after about 20 minutes. I'll bet he has a huge goose egg today though. Thanks again to Cort and Jill and their cute family for a fun night out!

Payson Onion Days

2008-09-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

Labor day weekend in Payson meens it's Onion days! I really don't have any idea why it's onion days, but as a Payson native, I must celebrate. On Friday night there was a football game, followed by some awesome fireworks. My parents live close enough to the High School that we can watch the fireworks up close from the comfort of their backyard. It was so much fun. Most of my family and a few others joined us for the festivities. Beck actually liked the fireworks, which surprised me a little since he doesn'y usually appreciate loud noises and these fireworks were loud! Monday was the parade. It started out just fine. A little overcast but not too cold. About 30 minutes into it Cody called ( he was at work in Springville) and told me to head for cover there was a big storm headed south that had just hit the area he was in. We moved our chairs over to a close by tree and prepared to just wait the storm out. Probably not the best idea. It ended up pouring rain, hailing, lightning, and bowing for a good 45 minutes. We were soaking wet and freezing cold. When the storm moved in it brought with it a cold front that dropped temperature from 70 degrees down to 47. The kids did fine. I think it was the adults that were the most miserable. After we dried off from the parade, we went to my Mom and Dad's place for a picnic (indoors, of course) and a birthday party for my nephew Jared. That evening we ended out the day with Cody's dad and we went down to the carnival. Can you believe it cost $10 for two rides for Cambelle. That's ridiculous. Fortunately for Cambelle, Grandpa Sampson will do just about anything for her. Cambelle and Grandpa rode the ferris wheel and then just Cambelle rode the merry-go-round. All in all it was a great holiday. can't wait for next year.

Aunt Rachel & Beck at the fireworks show

The 3 stooges; Kaley, Karey & Cambelle
Waiting out the rainy parade

Happy 9th Birthday Jared
Spending some time with Ray

Remuda RoundUp

2008-08-30T19:41:00.000-07:00

We went to David's horse auction this afternoon and had a good 'ol time. Cambelle tried and tried to convince Cody to buy a baby horse for her. She even said she would find it a place to live close by so she could take care of it. Unfortunately for Cambelle she doesn't have Dad tied around her little finger quite that tight.

Beck

2008-08-27T20:26:00.001-07:00

1 Month Old

2 Months Old

3 months Old

Everyone keeps telling me how much Beck has changed in the past few months. I personally don't see it. Maybe that's because I see him everday. Even looking at his past pictures I think he still looks the same to me. What do you think?

Kindergarten Baby

2008-08-27T20:14:00.000-07:00

8.27.08 First day of school

Watching for the school bus

There goes our baby girl.

Can you beleive it? We have a kindergartener on our hands. Cambelle went to her very first day of kindergarten today and absolutely loved it! I knew she would though, because she loved preschool. The hard part of the day for me was putting my baby girl on a school bus and sending her off. I didn't cry though, and I am very proud of myself for that. There was only one hitch in the day and that was when the bus came home earlier than expected and I wasn't waiting at the corner when Cambelle got off the bus like I had promised. There were a few tears, hers not mine, but all in all I think we all had a pretty good day.

Annual Redneck Night

2008-08-23T00:02:00.000-07:00

Cody's side of the family has decided to begin a new tradition. Annual Red Neck Night. Sounds like a good ol' time doesn't it! Well, it really is. The Utah County Fair was held in Spanish Fork this year and they had their first ever demolition derby. It was a blast! The cars were loud! (probably too loud for poor Beck). The wreck's were humongous and the flying dirt clods were dangerous. Trust me on that last one, I know from experience. Some time during the third round of demo, a car got stuck right in front of us and being on the second row, we were sitting in the danger zone. A compacted dirt clod about the size of a plum flew up and hit me square in the eye. It hurt like the dickens! Beck got hit too poor guy. I think he handled it better than I did though. The next day I had a cute little black eye. Pretty funny thinking back on it now. We had a great time and it was fun to hang out with family. Next year though, I'm sitting on the top row for sure.

White Trash Never Looked SOOO Good!

Jennica, Cambelle & Bailey

Doing The Chicken Dance

Troy & Grandpa Sampson

Hanging Out With Family

Family Picture

2008-08-16T13:04:00.000-07:00

Here is our latest Schollenberger Family picture. It was taken at the Mayan restaraunt in June of this year. Aren't we a good looking bunch!

BRAVO!!

2008-08-12T15:32:00.000-07:00

Aunt Gayle taught Cambelle a little song on the piano while we were in Idaho. So here is their debut concert. Enjoy!

Baby Abby

2008-08-12T15:24:00.000-07:00

Nicole's newest addition, Baby Abby

Cambelle LOVES to hold babies

Beck looks enormous next
to a newborn!

Our niece Nicole had a baby recently and we got the chance to visit her before their family moved down south to Arizona. We will sure miss them, and miss watching their kids grow up.

Black Canyon

2008-08-12T15:16:00.000-07:00

Playing at the beach.

Janet, Daisy & Troy

Cody & Danny Tubing

Where Did They Go?

We all went up to Black Canyon reservoir on Saturday for some fun out on the water. Cambelle and Cody went tubing, but Cambelle decided against it after she almost "drownded". She actually just fell off the tube in to the water and didn't know to lean back when wearing a life jacket. We had so much fun. Thanks so much to Steve and Monica for such a fun day. We even witnessed a couple barrel rolls by "the boys". It was an awesome day.

Pictures at the Temple

2008-08-12T15:11:00.000-07:00

Trying To Stay In The Shade On The Boise Temple Grounds

Our Cute Cousin Courtney

Climbing The Temple Tree's. (Is that allowed?)

Jason & Brittney

2008-08-12T15:02:00.000-07:00

08-08-08

Here are pictures from our recent trip up to Idaho for Jason & Brittney's wedding.

Happy Birthday Greg!

2008-08-11T20:31:00.000-07:00

Today was Greg's birthday. (He is married to my oldest sister Christine). We went out to dinner at Red Lobster and then back to the house for some birthday cake. It was a great time. So Happy Birthday Greg. We Love You.

The Best Part

2008-08-05T16:02:00.001-07:00

We have had a phenomena in our house the past couple of weeks. There are mysterious notes showing up everywhere. Folded up pieces of paper, and little sticky notes can be found in just about every corner of our house. We done some detective work and we think we may have caught the culprit. Let's see if you can too.

Cambelle has learned how to write. She writes these notes and leaves them all over the house. Under our pillows, sticky notes on the cupboards anywhere she can reach, and the she hides. She watches and waits for us to "discover" them and then she just can't stop giggling when we read them out loud. This is one of the best parts of being a mom. Somedays, not often, but somedays I wonder if my time would be better spent working outside the home. But on days like today, with little sticky notes just waiting to be found, I can't think of a place in the enitre world that I would rather be than here at home with my beautiful kids.

Baby Beck

2008-08-02T19:44:00.001-07:00

For those of you that couldn't be here when our little Beck was born. Here is a flashback to three months ago. May 8, 2008, I woke up at 6:00 a.m. (after being out until 2:00 a.m. the night before) to go to the bathroom and discovered that my water had broke. I woke up Cody and asked him, "how do I know if my water broke?" to which he responded, "How would I know!" We went to the hospital where 8 hours and 2 failed epidurals later, Glenn Beck Sampson was born. (3 1/2 weeks early). He was a healthy 7lb. 10oz. and 21" long. He is a wonderful baby. In fact he just might be the best baby in the world. Trust me, I'm not partial at all. He is a great eater, and at 1 month old was sleeping through the night. If I would have known how easy this was all going to be, I might not have waited 5 1/2 years before having another.

We're Here!

2008-08-02T19:38:00.000-07:00

We have finally made it! We are now officially on the web.