Sammy at 3 weeks July 13th, 2007

We didn't take too many pictures for this week. It was one of those weeks that on Sunday night when we went to see what pictures to send to our birthmother, we said "oh no, we haven't taken any pictures this week!" So we quickly took a few. This picture above is one of my favorites. It shows how much he is growing, and he's even got a bit of a smirk on his face. The facial expressions are coming more and more, which is just a total blast!
Michelle with Sammy all bundled up!
Here is Sammy and Dave. Hey look he is sort of awake! This also is happening more and more.
What a cute little family.
Hmmm, I love this soft bear blanket! My birth grandma gave it to me.

First annual DaBell Family Olympics -- July 4th

The first annual DaBell Family Olympics was a total blast. Kimberly and Brandon had recently done some of these events for their youth conference and so they put on the olympics for us all. We had a great time. Here is Nicole, Jen, Kimberly, and Annette looking on as we did the shotput. (We were throwing a wet sponge)
Here is Kimberly getting ready to toss. Everyone seemed to have their own strategy (some using trickery others not)
Ralph, Robyn DaBell, Dave. We had to keep an eye on Robyn, you never know what strategy she'd employ! :-)
We switched to a freestyle throw and Mike Whitesides quickly ended the competition with an out of control toss onto the roof. Luckily Brandon employed some Monkey skills and got it down. We all had a good laugh and a good time.

Sammy's week 2

This week Sammy had a great time! It was the 4th of July, so of course we all went to a movie. Samuel's first ever going to a movie was to go to Transformers. He was great and hardly made a sound! Afterwards, we went to the Baum's for family olympics. It was a great time. The above picture is Sammy and Grandpa Pond, with second cousin Blake Whitesides who is older than him by 6 weeks. If you look close, Blake and Sammy showed up in the same onesie (Future sluggers). Since Ralph was wearing his Big Dog baseball shirt, we had to get them all together in a picture!
For Grandpa Droge's birthday (July 6th) we went up to the canyon with all Dave's family and had a wiener and marshmallow roast. It was a lot of fun.
This is Sammy just chillin'
Bath time! We love taking pictures of Sammy when he is all wet. His hair is very curly when wet, and we just think he's adorable of course!
This is his birth mom bear. Sammy and his birthmother have the same bear. It will be fun to see him grow in comparison to this large bear and share that with her.

First week with Sammy July 1st, 2007

Here is our first family picture. He is just the cutest little guy and such a delight to have in our home! The first week was filled with showers, thank you so much to all those who came rushing to our aid! It was a bit hectic and the time was so fast, but right now we feel great and are just enjoying this little spirit in our home.
Our neighbor Nikki Miner gave us this onesie (it says "Instructions not included"). We would just like to follow that up with a big AMEN!
Dave teaching Sammy the fine art of taking a nap on the couch!
Dave's two favorite people.
Yeah life is good! I whimper -- food comes rushing to my lips; I wrinkle my nose at it -- they'll heat it back up! I fidget -- they change my diaper. This is the life. And everyone I meet holds me and loves me!