I love New York!!!!

Jared and I celebrated our 4th anniversary this month. On the day of our anniversary, Jared had to work the night shift in his ER rotation so we went out for an early dinner to PF Changs. We decided that to really celebrate our anniversary we would go to New York and stay with our good friends Jared and Debi. (Thanks again guys we had so much fun and hope that you'll let us come back again.) We were also reunited with a few more dental friends, the Shamos and Will. It was great seeing them again. We had a blast and saw so much of the city. We went to: the Statue of Liberty; Ground Zero (well a big fence where it's supposed to be, they're building the new building to be done in 2012, same year we'll be done with residency); Times Square; FAO Scharz (the toy store from the movie "Big" with the big piano); Greenwich Village; SoHo; Toys'R'Us in Times Square (there's a ferris wheel in it, Sam loved it); Union Square; Gray's Papaya (the best hot dog place in NY); Central Park (it really is huge and beautiful); Jared went to the Yankee vs. Oriole game on Friday; Natural History Museum; and we did so much more. Here are a bunch of pictures from our trip.

Lady Liberty herself.

FAO Schwarz. Sam loves stuffed animals. He kissed and hugged as many as he could and then made them kiss each other.

Will playing chop sticks.

Sam trying to play chop sticks.

Even jumping on the keys, Sam couldn't didn't weigh enough to make any noise.

Harry Potter and friends made of legos.

Carnegie Deli where if you ask for bacon, you get bacon...a lot of it.

If you ever go there be prepared to get more than you bargained for.

Times Square

Central Park. I can't believe how big it is. It's gorgeous too.

Toys'R'Us ferris wheel. Sam loved riding in the fire truck.

Old Yankee stadium.

Go Yankees!

Two little buddies together again.

Max Brenner's, where if you love chocolate then come here.

Chocolate peanut butter crepes with chocolate sauce.

Waffles with strawberries, white chocolate and milk chocolate sauce.

Is my little baby boy trying to tell me something???

A couple of weeks ago I was folding laundry while Sam was playing. I turned around to find this.

I know he has a few years before he goes off to school but I don't know if I'll be ready.
I got these boots for Sam a few weeks ago on clearance at Target and was really excited for them to get some real use today. Sam was not so sure at first about being out in the rain but after a few minutes he was jumping in puddles and playing cars in the puddles.

He's gonna be a soccer player!!!

In Richmond there is an indoor soccer gym where you can start your kids, on a team, at 18 mos. This was Sam's second time and he really likes it. The first week we couldn't get him to put down the soccer ball. He held one the entire time but still managed to kick a few others. Today he did really well and even scored a few goals. It was so fun watching him play and get so excited about the "ball" (one of the few words he says). I love that he has a uniform. We bought him new shoes for it which he fell in love with the moment he saw them because they have a car that lights up on them. (He is totally obsessed with cars right now.)

Hanging out.

Water break.

The long awaited house pictures

Hey thanks everyone for your comments on the "nursery troubles". I stayed in nursery with Sam this last Sunday and after several times of reassuring him that I was going to stay in there with him and a few minutes of sitting on my lap he was ready to play. He did great so we'll see how next week goes.

Here's a few pictures of our house. I still don't have my computer up and running so I don't have any of the before pictures so I'll hold off on showing the kitchen for a little while longer. We only painted the living room. We'll probably eventually paint the dining room but not for a while.

This is our family/living room. It started out a yellowish color that didn't really work for us. Jared was so proud that he was able to put a hole in the wall to run the tv cables down to the cable box and dvd player so we didn't have them showing or something to hide the cables. When we move we'll have to cover up the big holes. I think it does look good though. We were afraid the paint color was going to be too dark but it has grown on me since painting.

This is another view of the living room going into the music room. Sam loves playing with the door.

This is the music room which is supposed to be a living room but we don't have enough furniture to fill it so we turned it into our music room.

This is the formal dining room. We also have an eat-in kitchen but we only have one table so our kitchen has a lot of space right now. Eventually I want to paint the dining room red but we still have some other projects that I need to start and finish before I think about this one.

Nursery troubles

I knew it is going to be a hard day when during Sacrament meeting I took Sam out to change his diaper and he didn't want to leave because he thought I was going to take him to nursery. After Sacrament meeting I told him it was time to go to nursery and he started crying right then. He didn't last 30 seconds in the nursery before he made himself throw up. Yes Sam can make himself throw up if he gets really upset. It can be a little frustrating and now a little embarrassing to say the least. He did so well going to nursery in CA and his first 1-2 Sundays here but now he screams whenever we walk in there and won't let go of me. I stayed with him the first few Sundays and tried to get him to play with the other kids but any time I would start to move away he'd run to my side and start crying. I tried talking to him and letting him know that I was going to be back soon. The last couple weeks I tried putting him in there and letting him cry it out. I'm not sure if that was the best idea considering how today went. I don't know how to help him adjust and get over his separation anxiety. He's usually ok on one on one situations, I don't know if it's because there are so many kids or if he was traumatized by something. Any suggestions?

Hanging out

Sam playing on our front steps.

Catching up

We're finally pretty much settled in. I still don't have my computer connected, I need to get a desk or table for it so in the mean time I've been using Jared's laptop. I spent most of the last month stripping wallpaper in our kitchen and painting our kitchen and living room. It's hard to get anything done with 20 month old awake because he really likes to get into everything so I tried to mostly work on it during Sam's naps and at night. I've haven't taken any pictures of the outcome so I'll have to post those another time but I'm pleased with it.

Jared's mom came out last weekend so we checked out some of the sights around here. One day we went to Williamsburg and Yorktown. Another day we went to Maymont house, the owners died in the 1920s and left their 100 acre estate to the city of Richmond for the public. Sam loved the petting zoo there. There were a lot gardens and house itself was incredibly lavish and elegant.

This is Yorktown at the beach. Sam had a really good time running around.
Still Yorktown on the beach.

We're still trying to get used to the weather here. It's pretty hot and humid. Sam and I try to spend as much time as we can at the neighborhood pool.

I still haven't posted pictures of Jared's graduation so here are some pictures of our last weeks in California.

Jared just finished his last day of clinic.

At the OKU dinner.

Our last day at Disneyland...at least while living in CA.

Lunch at Ariel's Grotto.

The awards ceremony with our LDS friends, classmates and wives.

Just before graduation Sam hanging with his buddy Quincy one last time.

My dad chasing Sam around during graduation. We're so glad that he made it back from Kuwait in time for it. Thanks Dad!

I guess it was too bright in the room. :)

Jared being hooded.

Shaking Dean Parks hand.

We're so proud of dental graduates.

Thanks to all our family who came out and supported.

Back at our complex, Sam swinging with his cousin, with Dad and Grandpa pushing. Our last day in CA.

We stopped in New Orleans on our way to VA. We spent some time at the aquarium and the zoo. We only have pictures from our trip to the zoo. I think Sam's favorite park was taking the street car to the zoo.

Climbing on the baby elephant statue.

It was soooooooooooo humid. Time for drink break.

We made some friends at the zoo. It all started with a comment about my hair, next thing we knew we spent the rest of our zoo trip with them.

Can't go to Louisiana without seeing a gator.