Sam had a great 2nd birthday. He got nine dinosaurs, or "saurus" as he likes to call them from mom and dad. They have a nice home on one of the shelves of his bookshelf. His Grandma and Grandpa Henrie gave him some neat magnifying I spy books and some cars with a really neat little mat that zips up into a box to store his cars. Grandma and Grandpa Eavenson and Aunt Becky gave him a cute cuddly bear, a neat little stop-motion book, and a book of nursery rhymes. Of course, he also got new cars from them, too. He got new clothes from everybody, and one of mom's favorite gifts, a new set of Sunday clothes. A very good birthday indeed.
In June we went to the Shakespearean festival in Cedar City. We decided only to go for three days this year instead of the usual five, because Jared's dad had eye surgery a few weeks before that ended up having some complications. He had a hard time traveling. The plays were great. We saw Much Ado About Nothing (probably my all-time-favorite Shakespeare play) and Macbeth. I was surprised that Macbeth ended up being my favorite this year. They did such a great job!!
About three weeks ago we went fishing with the kids. Sam had never been, and he absolutely loved it. When we got to the shore he found an old soccer ball that soon ended up in the water. It kept floating out, and he kept asking Daddy to go get it. We could still see it after being there for about an hour when it finally disappeared. Sam thought it was great that we kept catching sticks for him (no fish for us on this trip, there were about 10 boats on the lake making some big wakes) . So, we caught him some sticks and he'd draw in the mud with them. Later on he discovered there were some tiny shells in the sand, so he had a fun time collecting them. Next Sam discovered the joy of throwing rocks into the water! We had a hard time pulling that kid away from the water when it started getting dark.
Surprisingly, little Brittany LOVED the whole trip. She was content the entire time - about 3 1/2 hours total. She laughed and talked and giggled, but mostly just watched us. It was a great time for everyone.
Last week Jared's work had the annual Lagoon party. It's getting more and more fun for us as the kids get older. Sam was big enough to go on Puff the Magic Dragon this year, so he and Dad went and had a great time. Brittany and I waved and cheered them on. You can always tell when Sam is really enjoying something because he is completely focused on what he is doing. He won't smile or look around, but he'll concentrate until he's finished and then you'll see the biggest smile in the world. We went on the train ride as a family and they had all kinds of tigers and lions awake and prowling. It was a great little ride! When we asked Sam if he liked the train ride he said "Oh yeah"! The day at Lagoon had Sam's stamp of approval. Brittany, on the other hand, was not a very big fan, but she was a good sport to let the rest of us go and have a good time.
Today is Jared and my anniversary so we decided to go out and have some fun. Our friends watched Sam and Brittany and we went to check out a local hot springs up Ogden canyon. We were relieved to see that there were no skinny dippers present. There were four pools, ranging from lukewarm to scalding hot. We tried several, including the scalding hot one that we agreed would be a lot of fun to try in the winter. It was a beautiful setting. The hot springs are right next to a gorgeous waterfall and right next to the river. We saw several hikers walk by and we even watched a guy catch a fish! The Mexican guy in his whitey-tightys wasn't quite as picturesque as the rest of the scene, but overall it was a great, fun experience. We later went to the Ruby River steakhouse for an excellent dinner. A great way to celebrate being married four years.
