The Schmidts

Justin had to go on his Cross Country trip for my birthday weekend but he still took good care of me and gave me a big wad of cash to go clothes shopping. (The fact that I had a break down after being embarrassed that I was still wearing clothes from middle school at a social might have ignited the idea) I can't believe I'm 25! Wow, time is flying so much faster. I am so blessed and am truly enjoying life - most days. :) I get down here and there, but who doesn't? I went to the Relief Society activity that night and came home to the dishes and laundry all done - which there was a lot of both, and a cake and decorations! Justin sang to me and we ate cake and ice cream together. I received two packages from loved ones which was exciting. Thanks mom, dad, Jake, and Grandma! I also received phone calls with the "Happy Birthday Song" I felt very loved!

Lately I have not had the chance to grab the camera quick enough to capture all the adventures, or precious moments, with our Samuel. He has me wrapped around his little finger. It's truly incredible how much we love this little guy. I just went to grab pictures and I found more than I thought I would. Here are a few:  This is Sam's sand pit - okay, dirt pit. I didn't necessarily want my front door flower bed to be a play pit, but that is how it turned out. I did try and plant flowers but they didn't last long and it's a very handy shady spot for Sam to play. This day we were watching Baily during her dad's graduation. It was loads of fun. Playgroup fun for a couple hours. Justin was tossing stuffed animals into the crib and they all thought it was hilarious. The boys love to bounce on Sam's bed - Leo especially loves it. We have sure enjoyed having Leo in our home. Sam and Leo have lots of fun. Sometimes Sam can be a little overbearing fo...

I had a wonderful Mother's day weekend! It started with a visit to the Oklahoma City Temple. Recently in our scripture study as a couple in the Old Testament and in my personal scripture study of the Book of Mormon my mind has been enlightened to how the Bible is the word of God, but many question are unanswered where simple truths have been lost in it's many translations and that is where the Book of Mormon can be such a great help. They truly lean on each other. This made my experience at the temple all the more special. Justin and Sam shopped while I was in the temple, they picked me up and we snagged lunch at Qdoba, a Mexican restaurant, and then hit the zoo. Here are a few pictures of our time at the Zoo: Sam watching the Elephants He won't wear his sunglasses, dang it! He looks so cute in them Sam loved and danced to the music at the shows The mom and baby elephant were so cute - my favorite Sea Lion Show We wore Sam right out...

Sam says "Dad" now and has come to really like his dad's motorcycle. I couldn't resist taking this picture of our walking Sam watching his dad leave for work. He was talking and pointing at him all the while, wanting to join dad on the motorcycle and when dad and the motorcycle disappeared he cried long and hard. This morning he stood in the same place and did the same thing. I tried to make it happy for him, asking him to wave "bye, bye" but he wouldn't do it. He stood and watched babbling and asking me to help him join him and then cried. I picked him up and explained that dad went to work and he would see him later. He had such big tears. I got him back to eating his lunch, but it took him a bit to recover. He did recover and we had a great time at the park with Leo. They were both tuckered out and are taking their afternoon nap right now. I think this has become Sam's little perch. A place he will be often saying hi and bye to the people who come...

Ever since we have moved out from college apartments I have wanted a garden. As we planned for our move to Oklahoma I pictured a garden in our yard, it didn't matter the size I just wanted to plant a garden. It took planting flowers in our beds for me to realize we did not have the sun exposure needed to plant a garden in the beds already established in our yard. During the winter I thought about what I could do to still have a garden. Our faithful home teacher Brother Benham suggested we make a deal with a neighbor friend or someone who has a spot. So, that's what I did. The Jeppesens were so kind to let us use the south portion of their flower beds. I told them they can have all of the harvest if they want to and that we'll do the work. They are more than willing to help out despite the deal. Before I figured this out I had planted 3 sets of seeds in cups, our own starts inside. We killed the first batch, the second did pretty good and the 3rd one did exceptionally we...

Oh the fun we have that we wouldn't have without Sam. We love him so much. This is a fun age. Sam knows what he wants and has found clever ways to tell us. Usually he uses an "uh, uh" with his arm extended in the direction of what he wants. Here are a few of the recent exciting times for Sam I have captured on our camera.  This was the day we transplanted our garden! It was sure an exciting day for me. I will blog more about it specifically soon. As soon as Sam saw our green plants he was after them. We tried to distract him and well, the muddy puddle worked. We let him get soooo muddy. He was splashing in the mud. He came back over when he was getting cold despite the really warm weather because he was so wet and muddy. Justin took him home and threw him in the bath while I finished transplanting. When I got home and saw the tub I was reminded how muddy Sam really had become. He loved it and we were able to keep working. Recently Justin has taken the time to ...

For the past month I have had twins! Well, kind of. Leo spends his Monday - Friday from 7:30- 3:30ish at our place and is 1 month younger than Sam. I've never really desired to have twins and I still feel that way, but it has been quite a learning experience and a lot of fun to have our friend Leo join Sam and I. Sam has thoroughly enjoyed having a playmate. I considered the pros and cons as I pondered and prayed about if it was right for our family and the pros weighed out and felt right. I love being a stay at home mom, most days :), and did not want to steer in any direction of not giving my full attention to my kids (right now, Sam) at home. It's so easy to forget the importance of the work at home and desire the success and accomplishments of the world. So easily I can compare my worth to what I bring in money wise or what projects I finish. Being a mom, some days you don't get much of anything "done" even if you feel exhausted at the end of the day, and I ...

While in Utah I was able to get together with my good friends Marissa Shepherd, Brittany Swainston, and Emma Black. We had dinner at Cowboy Grub in SLC, where Emma and I spent summer of 2008. It was great catching up and seeing my best friends. Sam enjoyed the good company too! Had to add this one - Sam with the Zambrano's puppy after we returned from Utah