Sam the monkey

Sam is pretty hilarious these days... and loves pulling new faces. He was posing for the camera yesterday and I think I captured his funny personality in some of these.



Sam saying "hi" to the camera. Then he would insist on seeing this pic on the little screen on the camera and saying "hi" back to himself.

Sam's monkey face, thanks to Tricia who taught him this. Usually he'll grab both his ears, but he would only grab ONE yesterday!

When I started taking pics, this is how I found Sam. Yep. He managed to put on my boots and was walking around as best he could (aka VERY slowly).

Sweet Sam.


This is what I get when I try to pose Sam.
"Sam, show me your truck."

"Sam, say CHEESE!"



Anyone who knows Sam knows that he LOVES LOVES LOVES to line up cars. So... enter our new toy room with these AWESOME built-in bookshelves and cabinets. The best part for Sam? The ledge above the cabinets where he can line up all his cars and trucks.

Some Moving Pics

Ahhhh, how we miss Boston already! Here's our last full day there. (MANY thanks to the Russes, Chases, etc for all the help, meals, babysitting, taking our food, etc. We MISS YOU GUYS!!!)

Here are all our boxes...




And, Sam thought it was funny to wear my hat while Matt and I were packing. Yep. He wore it for about 2 hours straight. He thought he was soooo funny.

Sorry... no pics yet.

Yes... I hear you! I need to post pics of our new house! And yet... I can't quite seem to make myself take pics of the unfinished rooms, undecorated walls, spaces I don't know what to do with yet, walls I want to repaint, etc. We're getting closer, but be patient! Pics to come...

We've ARRIVED

More later, but we made it to SLC! One thing I will absolutely not miss... the 5+ hour flights with a toddler on a regular basis to see family. Phfew.

We move into our new house on Monday and closed today. Can't believe that 100 signatures and an hour later, we have a substantial loan and are homeowners. Seems a bit too easy... are we old enough for this yet???

More once life resumes some sense of normalcy and we have uploaded some new pics. LOVE being closer to family here!!!

Sam boxes and shoes

Sam's not so sure about this packing business. So far he's been pretty good. Yesterday I was trying to pack some of Sam's books on the sly. BUT Sam discovered what I was up to and climbed on in! (He must have been channeling his cousin Sophie, too...)



He read books in the box for a while and then systematically took each book out of the box and handed them to me. Guess we'll wait on those!!!


Could someone please ship this to Sam's room in SLC?


Sam LOVES trying on Matt's shoes. Here he is this morning with what he found in Dad's closet.


Back to packing...

Thanks, Mitt.

Of all the reporters, phone calls, mailings, congratulations, suggestions, rants and raves and other random things that we've received from those Mitt fans and enemies who mistakenly think that Matt's name is Mitt or that he lives here or who knows what...

This one is the BEST.

I just got home from Costco today and there was a package sitting on my doorstep. Yep. An 18 inch long, FIVE POUND Hershey's chocolate bar with the inscription on it (see below). On the outside of the box was the gift message from the sender... "If able, please give to Mitt." (ummm... wouldn't you just send it to his home or campaign HQ or something???)



Mitt, if you don't mind too much, I think we'll savor this one for all the trouble we've gone through living in the same small town (and sharing the same last name) as you over the past 6 years you've been both governor and running for president. (And for those of you just wondering... Yes. We are distantly related. But nope. He's not my father-in-law as so many assume!)

So, thanks Mitt. Here's to you.

Sleeping... (or the Lack Thereof...) HELP!!

Sam hasn't slept much at all since our trip to Utah over New Years. In fact, while we were in SLC, he was a horrible sleeper. That's to be expected though. He never sleeps well away from home.

However, he usually makes up for it when we get back.

Not so, not so.

Matt and I have decided it's separation anxiety. Sam will wake up screaming in the middle of the night and be awake for hours on end. No amount of letting him "cry it out" seems to work, although it has always worked in the past.

The only thing that seems to work is if Matt or I stay in his room until he falls back asleep. This wouldn't actually be so bad except that it takes about 2 hours.

After weeks of no sleep, I finally caved last night and let Sam sleep with me in our bed while Matt slept on the couch. (This is always a bad idea.)

The result? Sam slept. I didn't. I'm now going on 4 hours of sleep per night for about 10 consecutive nights. Shortly after Lisa B had her 6th baby, she jokingly asked me, "Does anyone die from this job? I am sooooo tired!"

I'm starting to take her seriously...

Any sleeping advice??? I don't have time to be tired with all this moving, buying a house, packing, arranging for selling cars, etc stuff going on!!! HELP.

To "the Mecca"

Yep... after almost 6 years in Boston, we've decided it's time to grow up and be big kids!


What does that mean exactly?


We bought a house!!
Yes... 5 br, 2.5 bath, fenced yard, 2 car garage dreaminess.

The catch?
It's in Salt Lake City... and we're moving! We have loved Boston and all our close friends here. We have loved working with the youth especially these past couple years and having our adventure back east.

But, it's time to go. We're THRILLED to move closer to Leese, Bryce, and Bel and to Matt's family. So, SLC here we come...

Matt's Political Rally Cap

Matt decided late at night last night that he ought to do SOMETHING to root Mitt on in NH today. So, he disappeared in the back. I thought he was getting ready for bed.

He came back with "Mitt Romney hair".





We decided his hair needs to be a bit longer all around and bushier on the sides. Besides that, not bad. It took many tries to take this pic because I was laughing so hard and I kept making Matt laugh!

So, our challenge to you if you're REALLY a Mitt fan... Join us in rooting him on today and go take a few minutes in the bathroom to style your 'do.

Say CHEESE

We just got back from SLC to see Rachel off (to the MTC for a mission in Korea), and Sam picked up on "saying cheese" for pictures.

Here are a few gems... The last one is my current fave...