Best Friend

Today when Samantha and I were grocery shopping she leaned over towards me, gave me a big hug, and said "mommy, you're my best friend."

Heart warming!

SNOWBALL FIGHT!

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Canby Train and Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday the Dymock family took Samantha to the Canby Train and Pumpkin Patch. She loved it! It was little chilly, but we were all warmly dressed. We ran into Elise Wikle's family on the Canby ferry, they were headed to the train too! Here are some pictures that we took with Ryan's phone.

We were the first ones on the train and waited for a couple minutes for everyone else to get on.

Samantha got a kick out of the petting zoo area, and these goats were extra friendly.

There were TONS of pumpkins, and Samantha would find one and say 'This one's CUTE!" or "This one is DADDY SIZE!" "This one is Mantha Size!"

There was a little tunnel that went all the way around the hay pyramid. It was really dark and Samantha didn't want to stay under it for very long.

The hay pyramid was pretty tall. Samantha is a really good climber, but it was a little windy and chilly, so she was mostly clingy to whoever was holding her.

Here is Samantha and Ryan sitting on the very top of the pyramid. Ryan is holding wiggly Samantha very tightly... it's a long way down...

On our ride on the train back, we sat in the caboose.

Here's Samantha and Leah, Samantha chose one of her 'Samantha-sized' pumpkins to go along with the family pumpkin we bought.

It was great fun!

Wilsonville Fun in the Sun

Today was the Wilsonville Fun in the Sun, and it definitely lived up to its name! Samantha had such a fun time, which made it extra fun for her parents.

Samantha and Ryan had their first experience with 'Elephant Ears.' Two Thumbs up!

The festivities were held by the little water park in the middle of the city. This picture was taken 2 seconds before Samantha got soaked all over her shirt and pants as she was attempting to climb up the step. She was soaked but she dried very quickly because it was so hot.
Here are a couple of cuties...

There was a table of bubbles and Samantha loved it. A couple of the bubble sticks you would wave in the air and it would make a HUGE bubble which Samantha would chase down and pop, while giggling hysterically.

They only let so many kids go through this inflatable train obstacle course at a time, but Samantha LOVED it. She went through it at least 5 times. And we loved it because it was only for kids under 8, so we didn't have to worry about rough-and-tumble pre-teens running through and knocking her down.




Painting a picture of a recycling plant with mommy at the "Allied Waste" booth. She picked out all the colors and did all the work herself.
More of Samantha playing in the train obstacle course.



There was a booth with exotic pet salespeople who had brought 5 exotic birds to showcase, and they were letting people hold and pet the birds. Samantha was very soft and gentle.

This is the frog toss game. You had to feed the frog by tossing a plastic fly into the mouth of the inflatable frog pool. Samantha won a rub-on frog tatoo, and a small inflatable frog toy.
These are 4/5 birds that were showcased.

A ball pit with TONS of inflatable balls.

The potatoe golf challenge. Samantha and daddy got a HOLE IN ONE! So they won a free popsicle. I was so proud of them both!

Samantha loves her cereal

Yesterday I was trying to get Samantha to have some lunch. She loves cereal, but I wanted her to have something else for a change. Here's how the conversation went:

Ryan: Samantha, what do you want to have for lunch?

Samantha: Food.

Ryan: What kind of food?

Samantha: Cereal.

Ryan: Samantha, we need to have you eat more things besides cereal.

Samantha: No Daddy, cereal.

Ryan: How 'bout some hot dogs?

Samantha: No Daddy, cereal.

Ryan: How 'bout some mac and cheese?

Samantha: No Daddy, cereal. (more emphatically now)

Ryan: How about a sandwich.

Samantha: Stop it Daddy. Cereal.

More cute Samantha

Another cute phrase Samantha says is "scoot!" She just LOVES reading books and would read all day long if she could. When she wants you to sit by her and read she says "scoot!" and pats the space next to her. She started saying that when she would call to me and say "Daddy, read books!" and I would come over and see that she was sitting right in the middle of the couch, and say, "scoot!" to get her to scoot over so I could sit next to her. Now it is Samantha's code word for come sit next to me and read.

She loves to read Dr Suess and her "Pincess" (princess) books. We got her this large castle shaped container that holds 12 different princess books. She can recognize and name each of the princesses too: Ariel, Jasmine, 'Rella, Belle, etc.

In nursery in our last ward, they would do songs that require actions, and Samantha loves doing the actions. Songs like 'popcorn popping' and 'the driver on the bus' and 'if you're happy and you know it' and 'head-shoulders-knees-and-toes.' It is so cute to see her get excited about the songs and do the actions on cue.

Samantha can also name various body parts, and she will say them on cue when you point to them. It was cute last month when she discovered 'elbow.' She can recognize and repeat back: chin, cheek, neck, eyebrow, forehead, hair, ear, nose, eyes, teeth, tongue, shoulder, arm, elbow, wrist, fingers, hand, bum, leg, shin, knee, ankle, toes, and foot.

I'll write more when I think of some more. We're so proud of how fast she is learning! And she is only 21 months!

Samantha's Cuteness Update

Since Leah got her Nursing Care Manager job, I have been doing the stay-at-home Dad thing, which has given me tons of father-daughter time with Samantha. I love it! Today, we filled up the huge tub and Samantha went swimming (it's that big). While she was swimming around, I wrote down the following notes on my ipod touch:

Today Samantha started saying very clearly "swimming suit". We filled up Terry and Laraine's big tub and she went swimming. I was handing her toys and asking her the colors and she repeatedly got them right, purple, red, blue, pink, etc. She would get it right and say "I smart!". She has heard me say repeatedly that she is smart and today she picked up on the word!
Yesterday a neighbor told us that he had seen lots of rabbits near this meadow area where we were walking. Samantha was saying "they're gone!" and I said that the bunnies were just hiding in the grass. Samantha said "bunnies hiding in grass." It was the most complex sentence I have heard her say yet!
Samantha has gotten to the point where she can repeat any two syllable word you say as well as most three syllable words. But what is really impressive is when she remembers them later and says them when they are applicable like in the tub just now she keeps saying "penguin!" and "whale!" which are words I have taught her in the last week.

The other day in the car I had given her a water bottle with the lid on to hold while she was in the car seat. I few minutes later I looked back and somehow she had taken off the lid. I said 'you took off the lid!" and she responded 'tada!'

While Samantha was in the tub I took the walrus toy and squirted her with some water. She said "daddy, no more, please."

Here is another ipod note excerpt that I wrote on Sunday:

Today we were out in the foyer waiting for the sacrament. A young woman who looked a lot like Heidi walked past us and Samantha ran up to her from behind saying: "Heidi! Heidi!" The girl turned around, Samantha realized it wasn't Heidi and quickly said, "Nope!" and then scurried back over to us.

This one is from July 11:

Today I came into the living room and Samantha was doing a head stand on the couch and lifting her feet in the air. She said, "I upside down!" She knows that word from the book Hop on Pop, when it talks about "Mr Brown is upside down."

From Jul 3:

Today Samantha coughed a few times and then said to Leah in a very scratchy voice, "I'm okay, I'm okay."

From June 24, the day we met Elder Cook of the 12 Apostles:

Elder Cook told Samantha earlier today that she was so good at folding her arms and complimented her on her reverence at such a young age. As they were about to set Laraine apart, Samantha had folded her arms, bowed her head, and closed her eyes on Leah's lap. Elder Cook complimented her before Elder Whitney began the blessing.