We're home!

Actually we're not, but I'll get to that in a second.

On the 19th Stephen and I (with Samantha) took a road trip out to Delaware to spend about 10 days with my folks. The trip out was fine, we ended up driving straight through with no stopping (left at 7pm got to my parents house at 3:30pm) So we made pretty good time (It's 1200 miles).

The week was spent relaxing, watching tv (well episodes of 'Arrested Development' Stephen's new favorite discontinued tv show), helping my parents with odds and ends, and enjoying ourselves. Stephen put in a new transmission in my dad's riding lawn mower and built a table for Sammi out of cherry wood (it's going to match her crib and be super cute). I spent a lot of time planning what I can do this spring/summer with my house.

I couldn't get Samantha down to sleep in a port-a-crib, so she ended up sleeping in a queen size bed next door to my bedroom. She absolutely LOVED being able to get out in the morning, run to the door (which we left slightly ajar), and go downstairs all by herself. Although the getting out of bed while I was trying to get her to sleep was extremely exhausting some nights. So she'd go to bed at 10pm so she'd go right to sleep :) She's pretty pleasant even when she's tired if there are things to do and other things to explore (like her grandparents giant house where none of the cupboards/drawers are locked).

Delaware was gorgeous. It's the very beginning of spring there and by the last day my parents daffodils bloomed. Daffodils are what spring means to me since they are one of the first flowers to pop. And since living in Utah and Minnesota, spring means a lot.

Also, while we were there Samantha's talking just took off. She was a regular chatter box. She finally finalized 'daddy' but also called my dad "bampa" and my mom "mamma" (I'm "mommY!") She even had a word for Dalton but I can't quite figure out the phonetics of it. But she would say it and point to him while he was passing the sacrament. She's started saying her own prayers too. One day I wasn't getting her food quickly enough and she was sitting in her high chair. So she folded her arms mumbled for a bit and said "amen!" looked up and did it over again until she got her food. It was quite cute. My mom swears she said "I woke up!" when she tried putting her down for a nap and a minute later Sammi came out of the bedroom and started walking down the stairs. Another thing she did was a few times she'd go get a diaper, wipes and lay down to be changed because she was poopy. So she's growing and changing and learning.

We left on Monday the 30th. Samantha was better the trip back than out. The trip out she wouldn't sleep in the car until she passed out of shear exhaustion at 3am and she kept trying to get out of her carseat. But the trip back she played happily in her carseat with the stuff I had brought for her (her favorite was magnets and a cookie sheet) and went to sleep around 9pm and slept clean through (aside from occasional stops but would go right back to sleep). I guess there is certainly something about conditioning children to travel.

As I said earlier, I'm not home at the moment. Stephen and I are staying at Mark and Tamara's while they are in Utah. I'd say we were babysitting but they all pretty well take care of themselves. I'm more the authority figure to the arguments and make sure they do their practicing and jobs. Samantha's absolutely loved it here. Elizabeth (3) has taken to calling her "Baby Mantha". But Little Bit and Preston have played with her. She doesn't quite get the chasing but she'll take turns on toys with them and was even playing in the secret room with flashlights. This is where everyone tells me "See! Two children are easier than one!" yes, I see that.

Anyway. I'll post some pictures once we are back home and the camera's are uploaded to the computer.