Viva Las Vegas

So a week ago, the Fears family took off on a long road trip to Las Vegas. We decided to split the 10 hour drive into two days and just enjoy the ride. It was SO nice! Sam did quite well for the most part and there was no pulling over for cat naps. Awesome! We met my family there for a fun little family gathering and lots of sun, swimming, games, and fun. Here are some of the grandkids standing outside Cheesecake Factory.

Sam loved all the huge fish that kept swimming by.

Yummy! I love this place!

Dallin and Shellee

Newlyweds - Chandra and Roland (and Haley)

a blury picture, but here is Mitch, Lincoln, and Jordan

Jordan and Annie

Ryan and Jessica and their three kids. Maddy, Austin, and Mia

Jason and Shannon

Brandon, Steph and Mckinley

Gary, Tara and happy little Sambo (I told you he was cute!)

Mom and Dad

Sam digging into some delicious cheesecake. Don't even tell me about the calories in one of these, I already know. And yes, I ate it anyways. How can you not?

The volcano at the Mirage

The water show at the Belagio. My #1 favorite thing to see every time I'm in Vegas. I could sit and watch this for hours.

Sam claiming something that is clearly not his.

I am very sure Sam was actually supposed to be a fish. He is so completely in love with the water and has ZERO fear of anything. Which actually makes me very nervous. He honestly kept dunking himself...strange? Yeah, I thought we mean parents were supposed to be the ones doing that to our little kids. Not this one. He kept walking off the steps into the water and didn't even freak out when we went all the way under. He WANTED to be there.

We went to the MGM Grand to see the baby (not so tiny babies) lions. Sam was completely entertained. They were feeding the lions ground beef, dropping little pieces all around the window so that we could all have a close look. Sam got down and looked up into this lion's face and just started saying "HI!" in this cute little high pitched voice tha you would use talking to a little baby or something. It was cute...I've said that he's cute before, right?

Gary and I and a few other family members went to a show...The Lion King one night. It was totally amazing and so worth it if you ever happen to have the chance. Loved it.

More swimming...we swam every single day and Sam couldn't have been more in heaven.

I know what you're thinking right about here...it's true. Preggers with #2. (Boy)

Napping by the pool.

One day Sam discovered jumping off the edge into the pool. Well, he, of course loved it. But every time I'd put him back up on the edge of the pool, he would move down more because he really didn't want me catching him. Maybe I should have let him just jump in once to see if he still would have liked it.

And of course, you can't hit Vegas without hitting In-n-Out right? We had such a fun trip and it was so fun to spend some good quality time with my family. Thanks Mom and Dad for some great family time!

Have I told you how cute this little boy is? I still can't believe he's mine!

Is it ok that probably six out of seven days a week I "dress" Sam in this outfit? Less laundry for me, happy boy for him! Win-win...right?

Still sporting bracelets. Oh yes.

Easter, Wedding, Life, etc.

In April, Gary and I ran the Albuquerque Half Marathon. My third...Gary's FIRST! We had a lot of fun. Gary did great and even though we were both sore the next day, was talking about running a FULL Marathon...yikes. You're on your own for that one hunnie! I just like my 13.1 races. And yes, look at that beard!!! He calls it his training beard and couldn't shave it until he ran the race. Here we are with our friends that also ran the race. I'm already excited for next year!

And, an after shot...just for fun.

Then Easter came. Sam's first, well second technically. But last year we didn't do anything. Once he figured it out, he had a blast looking for those eggs.

May came and is almost gone, but the beginning of May took us to Utah for my sister's wedding which was really nice.Sam and I at the wedding dinner. Bad picture, cute kid! (Even with food in his mouth)Some other family in attendance.While in Utah, we hiked the Y. Have to do that every once in a while.And, Sam got some great play time with his cousins. Here Brynlee and Mckinley are fighting over who got to push Sam around in this little play stroller. Sam didn't get what they were fighting about...he just wanted them to get over it and PUSH HIM AROUND!

Sam also had his first motorcycle ride with Uncle Brad. Up the street and back was about as far as I was willing to let him go. He loved it and didn't want to get off.

I've been swimming lately, which I so love! And Sam loves to dig around in my swim bag and find my goggles, swim cap and anything else he can play with and wear. Notice the 'bracelets' as well. He is obsessed with anything that he can wear on his wrists. The other day he was getting frustrated at something so I went to see what it was and he was trying really really hard (and getting really really mad) to put the little milk jug ring on his wrist. Obviously it was way too small, but he was trying hard!

And another one of Sam's favorite things...don't mind the dirty face. He loves the bath. Loves bouncy balls, cups, and bracelets IN the bath and I can't ever get him out. Even if I drain all the water, he lays down and tries to splash and refuses to let me get him out.

Clean folded laundry...makes the perfect bed. Usually he likes to dump anything and everything OUT, but I had already folded this laundry a couple times, and wouldn't let him dump anymore. So he decided to just lay on it.

He found his Dad's hat and refused to take it off! Yes he is eating those Cheetos off the ground, no I didn't do anything about it. And yes, he is wearing bracelets still....should I start to worry?

Sam and Gary went on the Fathers and Sons camp out a couple weeks ago. I was excited for them, a little sad that I'd miss a camping trip with Sam, and maybe a little worried that something terrible would happen to him. I was telling my friend this and she said, "Well, they can't have a fire, so that's good. The place is flat so that is safe, the only thing really that COULD possibly happen is he could step on a cactus." Well, with no shoes on, Saturday morning, my little baby stepped on a cactus with BOTH feet! It was SO sad! He still has some little quills in his feet. At least he came home alive, right?

Two reasons for including this picture: #1) Sam's precious face! We were running all around on the grass and he was loving every second of it. #2) Gary's precious grass. He keeps asking me when I'm going to blog about his nice, green grass. So, here it is! :) I have to admit, it is pretty darn nice. He has spent a lot of time getting it to where it is. He loves it so much, I often catch him staring at it out the window or sitting on the back deck just looking at it. It's pretty funny

More bracelets...see? I'm not even lying to you. He.loves.them!

All ready for church. Once Gary put one of Sam's ties on for church, he went and came back with the others and wanted them all on!

Last night Gary was out checking out his grass (of course) and Sam took a blanket out to Gary, and then came back in and got some graham crackers out of the cupboard and went back outside and shared with his Dad. It was cute! Oh, I love this little man! I love both of these men!

Can I please get caught up with blogging?

Sam's cousin, Austin, was born a year earlier than Sam on the 21st of December. Sam's birthday is on December 20th and Lincoln's is on the 28th. So, we had a fun birthday party for all three of them when we got to Utah for Christmas. I made these cute little matchy matchy shirts for the birthday boys and we had a pajama party and had waffles. Sam didn't want to get his hands dirty, so he opted for the cupcake face plant. Worked pretty good for a while.

But then he gave up, realizing that it was just taking way too long.

A tradition that started way way back when Jason was on his mission (SO SO long ago) was to Christmas carol...to his girlfriend's (now wife) home. This tradition still remains and now we carol to a few other in-laws as well. This year Annie had a fabulous idea since we all really can't sing that well. We used Kazoos! It was the best idea ever! Hopefully this tradition stands.

Gary and Sam got matching ties for Christmas...don't they look sharp?

We went bowling with Gary's family. Sam sure liked it. Looking at all these pictures makes me want to go do these things again with him now that he is even older. I think he would really enjoy these activities even more now.

Corbin and Sam. Cute cousins.

Gary and I met up with some friends from New Mexico (all of which no longer live there anymore) and had dinner. It was SO fun to see them all, we sure miss them! Hopefully we can continue to keep in touch in the future.

Of course, no visit to Utah is complete without a visit to some BYU sporting event. In this case, it was to watch the infamous Jimmer.

Lunch with some of my dearest friends from my youth. I'm still in my youth, but this was my 'younger youth' :) I miss these girls too! It was really fun to catch up.

Well, since Gary is sporting the beard, we decided to dress him up in cowboy gear and head out to the Rodeo. We actually went two nights in a row, it was THAT fun! I think Gary was just looking for a good excuse to put on his cowboy hat again.

Sam feeding the ducks at the Zoo. He was going crazy, I had to stay very close by because he was trying to get in the water!

For Christmas Gary gave me tickets to go see Wicked which came here to Albuquerque. I'm so glad we went, who knows if we'll ever make it to NYC to see it on Broadway. It was SO worth it.

Sam in his element. He loves to just lay on our bed and play with whatever 'toys' he can find laying around. I love it too because he is just so darn cute!

One day a long time ago, I was in the kitchen making dinner and Sam came over to my legs and wanted me to pick him up so he could see what I was doing (something he always wants to do). I was trying to get dinner ready and in the oven and so I said to Sam "Go get a chair" and pointed over to a chair...not even thinking he would understand what I just said. Well, Sam went over to the table and started pulling a chair over. I know, he's a genius! :) That was the start (or the end) of a new life for me. Anytime I'm at the counter, Sam walks over to the table and pulls over a chair. He LOVES to help me make dinner and especially cookies or anything sweet. His favorite part is licking off the spatula. He is our little dough boy.

Another thing Sam loves, are my fuzzy socks. If I leave them around and he finds them...he wants them on his little feet. It's pretty cute and hilarious too.