Early Christmas

Since we will be in Illinois for Christmas this year we decided to open presents today so we don't have to haul them to Illinois just to haul them home again.
Samantha quickly figured out how much fun it was to rip open presents. She opened a box, pulled out the contents, then discarded the contents in order to play with the box. I expected this, but it was much more entertaining to watch than I had anticipated.

Michael gave me this black sweater. I accidentally found it while cleaning out the car yesterday. I wore it to church and during Sacrament Meeting Samantha decided to bite off one of my buttons. Fortunately, I was able to get it out of her mouth before she swallowed it.

Samantha has sat on Santa's lap twice this week and has HATED it both times. She immediately started screaming.

We had our friends Jennifer and Jann and their girls over for dinner earlier this week. They gave us some nice presents and I knitted a couple scarves and a hat for their girls. They loved them! Samantha is also showing off her cute knitted hat!

We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!!!!

Christmas Tree

I think one of my most favorite parts of Christmas is putting up the Christmas tree. I grew up with the tradition of getting a new Christmas ornament every year. My mom would often get an ornament that reflected what we did that year. For example, I have a hiking smore for the year I went on a hand cart trek. Another year she got me a cowgirl hat because I was in Annie Get Your Gun. Whether the ornament reflected the year or not, they all have fun memories attached. I think that's why I love putting up the tree. We are going to have the same tradition with our kids and hopefully they'll love it just as much as I do!

Another favorite of mine is the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional. Growing up I couldn't wait to hear what story President Monson would tell. He has never failed to capture my attention. Samantha enjoyed the devotional this year as well. During the song, "For Unto Us a Child Is Born" she conducted the music by waving her hands and nodding her head to the beat. She didn't take her eyes of the choir. She also joined in singing every once in a while. It was adorable!!! I kept thinking, "I wish I had a camera!!!"

Happy Veteran's Day!!!

One of the great things about living in a military town is that everyone has Veteran's Day off and since it's nice out they celbrate it with a parade!!!

During the parade we met up with our new friends the Montoyas (Chris, Janae, Faith, and Gabe). We all went back to our complex to swim and grill burgers. It was a lot of fun!!!

Samantha was getting jealous that we were all in the water and she wasn't, so we decided to let her get in. She wasn't excited about it at first, but after a while she was fine as long as she could cling to mom.

Above is Faith and below is Gabe (left) and Chris. Janae was nice enough to take pictures for us! Thanks Janae!!!

Thoroughly Modern Samantha

In the past few weeks Samantha has discovered that she loves to talk on the phone. She actually likes to listen more than she likes to talk, but nonetheless she lunges for the phone when it is in sight. She does the same with the computer.

Happy Halloween!!!

We had a trunck-or-treat tonight at the church. We had a lot of fun eating dinner, dressing up, and decorating our trunk. We even got a prize for third place in the trunk decorating contest!!!

The girls sitting with Samanta are the daughters of our new friend Jennifer. We met her this week when the missionaries invited us to go to an appointment with them. We are excited that she is getting baptized and we are glad to have a good friend.

Samantha was exhausted by the time the night was over!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Mom,

You've sure accomplished a lot in your life. Thanks! We love you and miss you!

Michael, Heidi, and Samantha

Will she ever say "mom"??!!?!?!

Samantha's vocabulary has been very limited so far in her progression. In her mind there is only one word....

Heidi has no bitter feelings towards our daddy's girl.

Oh, Samantha!

Now that we live in a new area, away from family, I am finding that it is harder to find reasons for me to get out and do somthing during the day. Because I don't go anywhere I'm finding that I take a lot more pictures of Samantha. I'm not sure why, but you all get to look at the pictures because of it!
The lady that lives upstairs has taken a liking to our girl. She stopped by last night to give Samantha this big, pink teddy bear. It's nice to have good neighbors. The bear is the same size as Samantha is. I wanted to get a picture of her with it, of course, but everytime I pushed the button the on the camera Samantha would move her hands up to her face. After about a dozen tries I gave up.

We had a Family Fun Fair tonight at the stake center. It was fun! There was food, displays, and blow up toys for the kids.

Unpacking with a Princess is Pretty Much Impossible

We found an apartment last week. It's small, but we decided to get it anyway because we are only going to be here for 6-8 months. After that we are going to be tranfered to a different post.

Unpacking has been quite the task in the small apartment and with a little princess. She did so well on the drive down and while we were in the hotel, but now she doesn't seem to like the change of environment. I hope she adapts soon or our little pathway through the boxes may not disappear for a while!!!

Apartment Hunting We Will Go.....

A New Adventure

So you've probably all heard that we're moving to Sierra Vista, Arizona. It's kind of come so fast that I haven't had a lot of time to digest the idea yet. I did to a little digesting today when I had a screaming baby and my mom came over between her classes to rock Samatha to sleep. I was packing in the kitchen and mom was in Samantha's room singing to her. That's when everything hit me for the first time. I've been so lucky to be near my mom and others who have helped cause my stress level to be low much of the time. Now Michael, Samatha, and I are off on our own. I'm sad to leave, but excited for a new adventure.

Aside from leaving family and friends, I'm so sad to be leaving the play. I've already grown to love the kids I've been working with. Luckily Theresa, my sister-in-law, has been helping me with the play and has agreed to take over for me. I know she'll do a great job, so I don't worry.

Well...on to the next chapter of our lives.

Pirates of Penzance

Pirates of Penzance is the musical that I decided on for South Fremont's musical this year. I'm really excited, but very nervous. I am doing auditions on Wednesday. I'm very lucky to have Theresa, Melissa, and Kathryn (my sisters-in-law and sister) here to help me with the auditions and even with the show. I'm going to need the support. This is the first full-length play I've ever directed and it's a little intimidating. I think it will work out though. I would probably feel more confident if I had a pianist (any suggestions?).

Michael helped me hang about 30 flyers around the high school today, so hopefully there will be a good turn out at auditions then we can start strong on rehearsals next week. The show then opens the Thursday before Thanksgiving and plays through Monday. Mark your calander! I hope you can make it!

Music

So when I get on someone's blog and there is music blasting all of the sudden it drives me crazy, but I have succumb to the music world and added a music player to our blog. I hope it doesn't drive you crazy. If it does, then feel free to hit the pause button. All of the songs are Disney and therefore should be fun for your kids (for those of you who have kids) or might just be fun for you to listen to! There are 17 songs and they are supposed to play randomly, so hopefully there will be a different song to surprise you everytime you look at our page.

Happy 25th Birthday Michael!

Happy 4th!!!

We had a wonderful 4th! We spent the night before at my parent's house so we could go to a flag raising that morning at 6:30 in Parker. Now, I know that sounds crazy to get up that early, but it is a tradition that my family has done ever since we moved to Idaho. There is a short program and then we eat breakfast. It was a lot of fun!

(Samantha was tired after a long morning)

(Samantha and Great Grandma Burt)

(Now here's a good lookin' guy!)

(Grandma and Granddad Burt)

(Aunt Susan and Samantha)



Next we went to the parade in Ashton. Ashton is a really small town, so the parade was pretty short. In fact, they turn the parade around and go back the other way so we got to see both sides of all the floats.

Michael had his last assignment as an intern on the 4th. He helped man a booth after the parade. We both got State Farm Baseball shirts and hats (they actually looked like baseballs) to wear while at the parade and for the booth. I felt a little funny that we matched, but that's okay.

After all the festivities in Ashton we had a barbecue out at my parent's house. They bought 60 hamburger's for the occation, thinking that would be oodles, and they ran out. There was just enough. We had a ton of people there. Some family from both sides came, some neighbors came, some friends of my dad's came, and a ton a college students that my sister invited. I think I only knew about half of the people there. We ate lots of food, played Settler's of Catan (Mike's favorite game) and Pinnocle, and lit off some fireworks.

By the time we got home Samantha was out! She'd had a long day being the life of the party. It was fun to show off our little girl and spend the day with family and friends.