Sunday, June 28, 2009

Pictures, Pictures and more Pictures



Playing in the fountains at the all abilities park
Always loves the slides

We said good bye to our beloved Subaru! I loved this car. With the all wheel drive I never did get it to slide in the snow or ice. We had to trade it in for something bigger.

Our new ride. Story of how we ended up with a mini Van is in the post below. I really do like it though.
Seth and Ethan sitting nicely snacking on Crackers. They are nine days apart, but like 10 lbs too.

Seth beating up on Ethan for no reason, he's just a big bully. But we're working on it.
Sam feeding the Giraffes.

Seth on the Conservation Carousel

Feeding the Monkey's

Orange Lion Tamerins


My zookeeper for a day!

We named the Kitty Moshoe.

The kitty was hiding behind our shoe basket and Seth kept saying more shoe, more shoe. Which sounded a lot like Moshoe, so that's how he got his name.

Cowboy at heart.

Moved to a big boy bed. Vroom, Vroom.

Bathtime Bubbles.

Chillin' with the puppies

I have a ton more pictures (like over 500 from Sam's zoo day), but I figure this is good for now to give a general idea. I have pictures of FD too, I promise she was there, its just been really sensitive lately and I have to be really careful.

Sam's semester ended this week so he is off for a whole month!!! I'm so excited. He and I both start back the end of August. So I have until then to get all or our house projects done. Wish us luck!


Thursday, June 25, 2009

Loose Change

I will load the pictures for this post later, they are on the desktop and I am on the laptop.

What's been up with us?
Sam-
School, School and More school. The semester ends tonight so I will get Sam back for a whole month. So he can finish all the random projects he started around the house last break. Sam has also been working a lot because his boss had a heart attack in Hawaii last week. He's doing really great and everything. For Sam's birthday Seth and FD got him a gift certificate to be a zookeeper for the day. Tuesday he got to go to the zoo and play with the monkeys. He got to go inside the enclosures, feed multiple types of monkeys and feed the giraffes. He had so much fun.

Seth-
is talking up a storm and is climbing all over. He moved into his big boy race car bed and out of his crib, he is working on a 10 step program to kick his Binky habit.
We drove up to Layton and saw my cousin that was here visiting, she has a little boy that is 9 days younger than Seth but twice as big. Seth was a big bully but had fun. We've been busy switching Seth's bedroom around and playing outside. He loves swimming, slides and playing with dirt and rocks. He's a boy through and through.
We also went to the zoo the day Sam was there being a zookeeper. Seth loved running around and making the animal noises. The Cheetah didn't appreciate Seth's "cat call" though, and began to charge the fence. The next day Seth and I went to Liberty park with some friends from Salt Lake and played at the all abilities park in the fountains and on the playgrounds. He loved it.

FD started a summer program she attends Monday- Friday and is loving it. They go swimming twice a week, and to tons of other fun activities. She was able to attend girls camp for the whole week thanks to some great leaders! She got hair extensions in and is loving it. Black, pink, blonde, and purple. I figured it's summer and she can have crazy hair and it will have to redone before school anyway so why not.

Me-
Same old Same old. Still running around keeping the house going. We bought a minivan... yep a minivan. I swore I would never ever drive a minivan, but our subaru was just getting to small. I researched tons of SUV's. Sam and I went the to the dealership I told the salesman up front I didn't want a minivan, but that I needed a 3rd row seat for hauling kids, some of which are teenagers and some are in carseats. I wanted room to haul all the stuff that accompanied kids, to sit higher off the ground than a car and some other things. The salesman Aaron was great and let me drive all the cars I thought I wanted (Expeditions, Pilots...) and then let me decide that it didn't meet my needs. So I finally relented and he showed me a minivan. Easy access to 3rd row seat, built in car seats, deep storage in back, storage in the floor, rear climate control, higher off the ground, great gas mileage, great price... it was everything I asked for except it was a minivan. So I gave in and got a minivan and love it. So if you need a car in the near future go to Car town in Lehi, Aaron is great!

So to all the people making speculations, yes we rearranged Seth's room, and we got a minivan for more room but no I am no pregnant, but yes some changes are coming.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

More people should be special

This is a beautiful song by Collin Raye, written about his granddaughter with neurological disabilities. There aren't many songs out there about children with disabilities and their impact on people's lives, and this one seemed to be just so perfect. I love this song.

My other favorite song about a child with a disability is "God's Will" by Marina McBride.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJnoBbueEc0
I've spent the majority of my life "serving" individuals with disabilities. Serving is in quotes because I've gained so much more from them than they could ever gain from me.
I gained Sam, because a client set us up, and he's my favorite.
I can't tell you how many times I've heard "it takes a special person to do what you are doing." I just don't get it. How could you not? They are amazing individuals that have wonderful talents and attributes to share if people just take the time to realize it.
One of my favorite attributes of most people with disabilities is they don't care what clothes I'm wearing or how my hair is done. They care that I'm there, they accept me for what I am and I accept them. Sometimes I wished more people in the world were "special".

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Suckers for a stray...


Kitten found in the parking lot of DI. Seth and Sam fell in Love...
Sam got Nina cat 2 years ago for Father's day, and now this one for this year's father's day.
He's really mellow, he let me put him in the tub and give him a bath, Seth snuggle him, and so far gets along with the rest of the zoo at our house.
It's a boy, any ideas for names?
Snowball is not an option.