Random Milestones and Moments

To start with I just have to share this funny picture of Sammie, I was going about my normal morning routine when Sammie walked into my room like this. I just busted out laughing. I don't know if this stems from when I was pregnant with the twins, or from seeing many pregnant women at the park in the last two weeks.



One afternoon last week, we went to my mom's house to play in her pool. The kids had been begging me to swim. Since I feel like I would be a negligent parent if I took 4 kids to a public pool by myself, I felt this would be a manageable alternative.

This was the twins first time swimming. Lucy loved it, she loved to splash, get her face splashed, crawling on the grass, the whole nine yards. Logan was a little bit more weary. He wasn't quite sure. If I set him on the grass he would freak out and need to picked up immediately. He did, however, love hitting the water. Logan wasn't sure about the splash that hit his face, but it didn't stop him.



Sammie and Eston have been participating in some Summer program classes the last few weeks. While there the twins have been spending a lot of time in there stroller. I decided to be a fun mom and try them on the swings.



The both loved it and protested when I took them out. It will be nice when they are older and can put them side by side without worrying that they are going to fall out.



About a month and a half ago, Logan got his first haircut. My mom was not happy because she thought his curl was going to be gone. Luckily, those curls are going no where. Logan did pretty good.

Lucy is a very happy and interactive baby. She has developed this face lately that we call her squishy face. When she gets really excited she will create the face below and then after a few seconds will peek to see if you are laughing at her. She is infectiously happy.



Lucy learned to do two things this week. 1.) Lucy learned to bring herself into a sitting position. This has only been a matter of time. She has been close for a while but until yesterday hadn't completed the task. 2.) Lucy also figured out how to pull herself up to furniture. This also happened yesterday. Lucy pulls herself up and then laughs because she is so proud of herself. She is even starting to try and walk along the couch. She hasn't quite figured out how to get down without falling. I guess practice makes perfect.

Both babies started crawling/creeping about a month ago. Lucy crawls on all four and and Logan army crawls. It is always fun to see who wins the baby race when they are really interested in an object. Now we just need to get Logan motivated on sitting by himself.

Pedersen Camping Trip

This past weekend we took an overnight camping trip with my parents and siblings. We went up to Park City and stayed at a local campground there. Matt and I had decided that we would divide and conquer this weekend. Neither of us was ready to tackle a camping trip with all four kids especially since 2 of them are barely crawling. Matt came up for the afternoon and then took the babies back to our house. I stayed at the campground with Sammie and Eston.

Logan thought he was so cool sitting on the camp chair by himself.



Logan was even great when it came to taking a nap in the tent. I layed him down and he was out. Lucy came as well, but I somehow didn't get any pictures of her. Neither baby quite knew what to think about the grass and being out in the open, but they did great.



After Matt left we went to the "HEATED" pool and HOT TUB that the campground had. I would have to say that this was the coldest memory I have this year. I spent more time in the showers than I did in the actual hot tub. I felt like a Popsicle.
Uncle Dallin let the kids help cut kindling for the fire. Eston took this job very seriously.




Eston was in between pant sizes. One pair is way to short for him and tight in the waist. This pair of pants was long enough but too big in the waste. The poor boy kept loosing his pants the whole time we were camping. He had just come over from the swings asking for a smore and this is what we were greeted with.



Sammie was loving every minute of this trip. I LOVE that my kids love to camp. The are constantly asking me if they can camp out in our front room or when we can go sleep in a tent again. This will be a lot of fun in the future.



Sammie got to sleep in a tent with Lindsay and Carly and thought that was the coolest thing ever, but Eston and I had the real party tent. It was just me and Handy Manny. We went in to go to sleep and took a lot of wacky pictures. This is just one of the many funny things we were doing. This little man cracks me up.



Here is to a great time and looking forward to many more.

Boys vs. Girls

To start this post, the girls win, just because Matt took no pictures of his adventure with the boys, so this is all about us.

Matt and I had a lot going on in the last week. Spencer (my brother) graduated from High School on Thursday night, Braden (Matt's brother) graduated from High School in Idaho on Friday night, and Sammie had her dance rehearsal and recital for most the day on Saturday. In order to support and accommodate all that we happening we decided the best way to handle this would be to divide and conquer. Matt took the two boys up to Idaho on Thursday night and I stayed behind with the girls.

We started our adventure out by heading to Ogden for Spencer's graduation. This has been a long awaited moment for our family.
Sammie really wanted to get a picture with Spencer and my girls. We are PROUD of you buddy.



I told Sammie that she had to take a nap because we had a lot going on this weekend and I needed her to be in a good mood. She wasn't too happy about this so she decided to protest. Too bad she feel asleep during her SIT IN. I was laughing because I could just picture what was going through her mind when she zonked.



On Friday, the girls and I headed to the mall to help Spencer with a little clothes shopping. We had a lot of fun and ended up bringing home a new member of the family.
This is Gabriella, the bear. (The name was picked from High School Musical, go figure.)



Lucy was a great sport. She was a delight to be with. She flirted with the clerks, and was laughing. I just felt bad when she feel asleep. Apparently this stroller wasn't as cushy as she had hoped. It was too cute to watch.




Friday night we had arranged to spend the night at Lindsay's house. Sammie was in girl heaven. We ate dinner, painted toe nails, watched a movie and then she settled in for the night on the hide-a-bed.
On Saturday after the dance rehearsal, Lucy and I took Sammie out for brunch with Etta and Anni from dance. These girls have known each other for a long time and can be such goof balls together.




The boys came home just in time for Matt to catch Sammie's dance recital. We had a great time but sure missed our men folk. It's nice to be a big family of 6 again.

Sammie's Dance Recital

Sammie just finished her first dance recital. She was adorable. I don't know who was more excited for her big night, her or me.

This past few months she has been taking dance with 4 of her friends. Every week she was so excited to go to class. She never complained and always kept trying to tell me that I couldn't be late (kinda hard with 4 kids under 4).

This girl was in her element.
This is her dance class. She took with Anni, Etta, and Salote.



I had to laugh at this picture because this was one of my favorite poses for years when I was a kid.



I took a few pictures at her rehearsal.




They are all looking to the side because that is were their teacher was standing to help them out. We loved having Miss Natalie as a dance teacher this year and hope she comes back for next year.



Sammie had a tough time getting ready for her big night. Saturday morning she woke up with the sniffles but acted ok. But by 3:00 in the afternoon (1 hour before she had to be at the recital) she had a total melt down. She was sick with a head cold. I tried to curl her hair and she screamed, I offered to stop she screamed louder, I told her I would skip the make-up and she screamed, I put the make-up on her and screamed she wanted it off. Sammie was sick and she was crying, but was also determined to get to her recital. I debated about what to do. I figured if it was a little head cold I would send her because it was such a big night for her and she has looked forward to it for a long time.



She did great and was adorable to watch. She had a painted smile on her face and was one of the few preschool dancers in her class that followed the teachers dance moves. We were very proud of her.



FYI: We came home that night and around 10:30 at night Sammie got slammed with what appears to be croup. Poor little girl (and sorry to all dancers she hung out with), her big night and she wasn't at her top level. She is a trooper.