All-star in training

It's been a little while since we put some movies up, so I thought I'd share some of Super Sam's athletic accomplishments. :-)

Improvised basektball: I suppose he sees us putting clothes into the laundry basket. Samuel has decided that every time he gets a chance, he will help out. Michelle has given up on her shelf of socks because it gets cleaned off a few times a day. We just have to be careful when doing the laundry that we don't wash 10 pair of dark socks that have been tossed in. Anyway, Sammy's field goal percentage isn't super high (note all the pair on the floor), but I think he is improving which is all that matters. I'm just so proud of his work ethic for always wanting to practice!

Playing Frisbee: Don't you love how the simplist things make great toys? Case in point. A simple rubber coaster. Not all that impressive. But to Sammy it is a great little toy. Here we are playing catch on the couch. It isn't too surprising to see him carrying this little coaster around. It's nearly as cool as a pen or a highlighter!

Wild Animal Trainer: A favorite game of Sammy's is to play the wild animal trainer. You get behind the bars and jump at him like a wild animal. He absolutely loves it!

Monster Tag: He is a great little roamer and loves to have fun! We chase him around all the time and he absolutely loves it! Here we had just thrown some laundry on the bed and let him romp and play.

Real Basketball: Well okay it's not real basketball, but it actually has a hoop and ball.

Well there you go. Hope you enjoy these videos. Sammy just turned 11 months, and we can't believe how much he has grown. We love him.

Bikes Ducks & Barbed-wire

I know it seems like an odd combination, but we managed to fit all three into one afternoon last Saturday.

Bikes & Ducks:
With how beautiful the weather has been, we decided that we need to do some more bike riding. Usually when we go for exercise we go over to Jensen Park a couple blocks away. They have a big cement walkway that is about a mile and half around. There is a big lake in it as well that has ducks and fish and other animals. Sammy absolutely loves his little ducks, so we thought we'd go feed the ducks and then go for a bike ride a couple times around the loop.

Sammy all bundled up in his little buggy.
Tuppins a bag!

Well that was fun, though it turns out that when you go to feed the ducks, you are actually going to feed the seagulls. They are a lot more aggressive! I guess it wouldn't have been so bad if we had decided to go feed the seagulls, but we wanted to specifically feed the ducks, so we were annoyed. We had to do some diversionary tactics and threw one piece high and far to the side so the little vultures would run after it and then we could quickly toss some pieces to our fine web footed friends. It was pretty fun. A little group of pelicans even came pretty close, so it was a good time.

Barbed Wire:

This ends the happy portion of our happy little field trip. :-) After our bread was out we decided to finish that bike ride. The first lap was just great, and most of the second was too. We were just enjoying ourselves, chatting away as we did a light ride around the park.

This park is not complete, Syracuse ran out of money and wasn't able to purchase and develop the last half of the land which is currently a field with a barbed wire fence around it. Yep you guessed it, one of us introduced ourselves to said fence.

My (Dave's) bike had Sammy's trailer attached, which causes me to make wide turns. At one point there is a little part that turns right and then 10 feet later turns left. I took the first turn a bit wide and then didn't have much room on the second turn. Michelle hit her front tire into one of the tires of the trailers causing her to swerve off the cement path. I heard and felt the collision and looked back to see her riding along the dirt off to the side trying to regain balance. Then I heard a crunch and turned to see her plant herself into a barbed wire fence. I stopped and asked if she was okay, but she was stuck so I kind of had to lift her up off the fence. She had poke marks every 8 inches or so on the left side of her body and ripped holes in her BYU sweater and jeans. All the puncture wounds made us a little nervous (since her Tetanus was overdue) so we got her home and to the doctor for some Tetanis shots. It was quite the little adventure. We laugh at it now, well half of us do... We also couldn't decide who's fault it was. I said she should have been riding single file, and she says I forced her off the road. Sammy is undecided on who is to blame and thus it may never be resolved. :-)

A couple days later we noticed that the one big spot had bruised up nicely so we got a shot of it. Turns out we should have waited another day because it doubled in size and went super dark. Luckily all the other spots cleared up and didn't bruise as bad, so it's only emotional wounds to worry about now. :-)

Shave and a Hair Cut....

The Shave

We love Simba. He is the best cat-who-thinks-he's-a-dog in the world. He answers to us calling his name, he takes care of himself, he likes to play fetch, he's great with Sammy, he has the sweetest personality. In my book, having a long-haired cat has only one disadvantage...the HAIR!

I can keep up with his shedding, but I didn't realize long-haired cats need to be routinely brushed. Yep, routinely. Our routine has been - whenever we feel like giving Simba some extra attention. Not to mention his reactions to being brushed sound a lot like, "Ooowwwww." Seriously. Sometimes he'd even add a hiss for some extra flair.

Unfortnately, due to our grooming neglect, Simba has developed some very large matted patches. We tried cutting them out, a few successfully, but one snip of his skin...oops! and he wouldn't let us touch him for days. I couldn't really blame him.

After reading several online sights about matted fur and the detriments to the cats health (skin irritations, claws getting caught, worms making matts their homes - yes, worms!) we decided Simba was in need of a shave. Now he really fits his name.

Before


After

The Haircut

I'm not a fan of getting my haircut - mostly because I have a hard time finding a stylist that "gets" me. And, honestly, I'm pretty cheap when it comes to hair. However, I realize it's a necessary evil, especially with my thick and heavy mop. So a couple Saturdays ago, I went - spur-of-the-moment to get a haircut.

Long story short - I walked out feeling butchered. I really don't like it, I even cried a little. Luckily, my husband and friends pretend to like it. Plus, hair grows and there's nothing I can do about it now, although I hope stimulating my roots with pulling and scratching my scalp helps!

(Sorry, I neglected to take actual before and after pictures! Drat!)

Before

After

My Road to Motherhood

With the passing of my first true mothers day, I have had a lot of thoughts, feelings and emotions pass through my mind and heart.

I love my mother. I love her guidance and kindness and friendship and closeness to the spirit. I love my mother-in-law. I love her faith and sacrifice and the amazing man she raised for me. I am SO glad to be a mother. I love it. I love him. I love to see him giggle and learn new things. I love to hold him and smell him and rock him. There were days I thought I would never enjoy this sweet privilege. Days where it seemed only an unattainable dream.

All growing up I wanted to be a mother. For the longest time I thought that was all there was for grown women to do – we grow up, get married and become mommies. My friend and I played house at recess and at home constantly. It was our favorite past time – to pretend to have children, name them and take care of them in our ideal-made-up world. I know this mindset was influenced by my mother, whom I admire and adore. She was lucky enough to be able to stay home with me and my sisters and doted on each and every one of us. I wanted to grow up and be just like her.

Well, I grew up and I went to college. My intention was to major in Marriage, Family and Human Development – the perfect major for my career aspirations. I declared it as my major and began taking courses on family finance and marriage prep. Later, I shared my decision with my mother but was surprised to hear her immediate response, “What do you do with an MFHD major? You need to choose something that is marketable.” I was confused. Why did I need to be marketable? I was going to spend my career days changing diapers, reading bedtime stories and driving carpool! Little did I know how inspired my mother was in giving me that counsel. I’m convinced she knew, as all mothers seem to know, what was in store for me. I picked a new major – elementary education – another suitable pick for learning how to be a good mother and something I’d fallen in love with during my semester teaching English in China. And since my mother had majored in education, I knew she’d be pleased.

Three semesters before graduation – I got married. Again, my intention was to finish up my education, which included an internship teaching 4th grade, and then stay at home with my babies. The end of the school year came near. The pregnancy tests remained negative. I tentatively began looking for a real teaching position to keep myself busy and found one teaching 2nd grade. I took the job thinking, “I’ll just teach one more year and then I’ll get to stay home.”

My intention was to teach one more year. Surely in a year a pregnancy was possible. I began reading about fertility. I began charting and tracking cycles, seeing the doctor, taking fertility medications. We began praying every night and morning for our family to arrive. We hoped and hoped and HOPED.

Three years later – after countless doctors visits, prescriptions, and a diagnosis called PCOS, we still had no answers and no children. We knew it would take a lot more money and doctors visits to attempt a pregnancy. I began to question myself and my role as a woman. The road through infertility (a completely different post) is not one I would have picked, but also not one I would have traded for the world. We started thinking about trying the adoption route.

As I look back, the Lord placed people in my life as examples of adoption and infertility as a way to encourage and guide me toward adoption. I started teaching at a new school after we moved to Davis County. One of the teachers at the school had just adopted a little girl through LDSFS. Another of the teachers had placed her first child for adoption several years previous. We met another couple in our ward, the very first Sunday in church, that we had uncanny similarities with (again, a completely different post) and became best friends with them. The Lord knew me and he knew my heart and he wanted to answer my prayers. He wanted me to be a mother, but he had a different plan for me. One that took four years for me to realize and act upon. One that required a lot more humility and patience than I thought I possessed.

One that was really His whole plan in the first place.

Eight months after we entered LDSFS for the first time to talk with a case worker, our darling boy was placed in our arms. Finally! Our prayers were answered by the sweetest angel on Earth. She made me a mother. I love her so much, there are absolutely no words to describe it. I love her for sacrificing herself – her desires – her heart – for our little boy.

I never would have imagined that I would share my first real Mothers Day with such an admirable woman, and I couldn’t be more honored.

Adoption is such a privilege and because of it, I am a Mother.

p.s.
Several months ago, while blog-surfing through the adoption community I came across this music video on this pro-adoption blog (which quickly became my favorite daily read!). I think it sums these feelings all up. Enjoy.

I Would Die For That

Kellie Coffee

(Sorry to skip all the gritty and fabulous details but I’d like to do them justice, so stay tuned for more on these precious subjects.)

A Train to California!

The Frontrunner commuter rail opened up this last week, and as many of you may know it was free to the public until May 1st. We decided it would be fun to go for an adventure. It was Jazz game night, but our friends either had better offers (Mutual of course) or were laying on death beds with horrible sicknesses, so we would be watching alone. I also had the inkling that it wasn't going to be a good night for the Jazz, so we decided to take the risk of missing part of the game to go for a trainride. We decided to hop on the train at our Layton stop (we should call it the Sill's stop -- its right across the street and right behind Doug and Emmy's) and cruise into downtown, go out to eat, and then come on back to hopefully catch most of the game.

Here is Sammy and I as one of the trains are pulling away from the station

Okay, let's be honest here -- the trainride wasn't all THAT exciting, once you are on, its just like taking the bus or a tram anywhere else. However, it was pretty cool to see how fast we got going, in fact we could see the freeway traffic and we were going a bit faster than them most times. Also, because of the fact that the fare was free, there were a zillion people on board, so we didn't get a seat. I would assume that would change once you have to pay some money to go for a ride! And sitting down did seem to be much more enjoyable than standing.

The Frontrunner takes you to the Salt Lake Central station which is just a couple blocks from the Gateway. I guess you could just walk it, but there is a Trax station right there that will take you to the planetarium. We rode it for free as well, not sure if that will always be the case either... Anyway, we ended up in Gateway and decided to eat at the California Pizza Kitchen. We had eaten at the Orem one and the Vegas one, and we weren't disappointed. It was great!

And yes Michelle came with us, here is finally some proof! Sorry babe, I'll try to take more of the pictures next adventure. :-)

Time to hit the road to get back home! In the evening the trains are spaced out longer (an hour between each one) so there were TONS of people waiting to get on. Luckily we got there a bit early so we were close to the front for getting on the train. Here are a few pictures of Sammy on my shoulders while we were waiting for the train to come back.

We thought that the Plumber T-shirt and the plumber baby went well together. :-)

We had a good time, though the train took a lot longer than we thought it would. It was about an hour from the Layton stop to the gateway. You can usually drive that in half the time. It did seem to be a bit bogged down by the sheer number of people that were using the trains due to the freeness of the ride, so it would be interesting to take it for a spin when there weren't so many people clogging up the time. It was fun to go for a train ride while it is still a novelty though, and it turns out the Jazz decided to not even play (beat by 26 points!! ouch) so it was time well spent!

Go Jazz!

We sure are enjoying Jazz playoff season, isn't everybody?!

This time of year just makes it so exciting with how intense each game is and how important every minute is. They haven't played super well, but good enough to win 3-1. Last year we got tickets to a playoff game and had a blast so we decided to do it again.

I've followed them fairly well this season and we've watched a number of the games, so it was so exciting to go to the game. We got some tickets through Jon's work and got a steal of a deal for some pretty good seats. Upper bowl but on the bottom. Anyway we went to game 3. It was so much fun and loud and exciting, but finally frustrating when the game slipped away.
Here's a couple pictures of us at the game.

Everyone getting ready to go

Jon, Carrie, Michelle. They gave us all T-shirts that say "One Team, one Dream"

Jon and Carrie -- what great friends

Here we are!

Let's finish them off boys, bring on the Lakers!

Go JAZZ!!

Cousins

I know, I know -- 2 posts in one day after a week of nothing, its feast or famine around here!

Sammy's little cousin Nathan came to play today. It was fun to watch Sammy, especially with his curiousity of this cute little guy. Obviously there wasn't a whole lot of interaction quite yet, but it makes me excited for the years to come when these guys are going to be all over the place together. I'm excited for this summer when Sammy will get to meet his older two cousins as well, and then two more are coming this fall from the Baum's!

So this picture reminds me of pictures with my cousins Blake or James, where one of us is crying. Yeah, Sam was in no mood for a photo shoot. In fact he wanted to pout and flail his arms everywhere! Thus in order for the picture to take place, and Nathan to remain bruiseless, restraints had to be applied! :-) I also wonder how similar this picture is to the baby pictures of Legolas the elf next to Hagrid?

Cute cousins! Note: no Nathan's were trampled under knee during this photo shoot.

Thanks for coming to Play!

No nap, thanks!

I'm sure all of you parents have experienced this at one time or another. Sammy recently has decided that naps are not cool. There is so much to investigate and so many places to go, that really who has time for sleep?! So he has to cry himself to sleep. We've found him in some crazy positions.

Obviously he isn't asleep here, quite the opposite. This is one of his ways to battle the sleep monster -- pull yourself up in the crib so that it is impossible for the dreaded sleep monster to get you!

A common result of car rides is the classic dead Sammy look

This is our all-time favorite. One option to fight the sleep monster is to sit up. but of course when that sleep monster comes at you full steam, what do you do? Collapse right in half. Now that's a nice relaxing nap! We usually have to let him cry to sleep, and then rescue him from whatever unfortunate position he finds himself in. I think this photo also shows he is a Plumber's grandson!

Sweet Dreams!

From 10 to 13 in 6

28 years ago R. Pond family began with 2.

Over 8 years they brought 5 daughters into the world making their family 7 in all.

5 years ago, the family of 7 grew to 9.

10 months ago, this family of 9 grew to 10.

And in the next 6 months R. Pond family is growing again!

In August, 10 will become 11.

Congrats Jen and Cody, Sammy's pretty excited to have another Uncle!

And in October, 11 will become 13.

Yes, 13.

Thus, these faces...

And these thrilled faces!

Congrats K & B! Sammy's pretty excited to have some Pond (Baum) cousins!

Unfortunate

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program of scrumptious sweet sam pics to bring you this:


I thought it was hilarious.


While fixing dinner the other day I was watching food network (one of my current obsessions). When everything was ready and set out, I paused the TV in order to pray. What unfortunate - yet hilarious - timing!


It reminded me of this face:

Jasmine says to the camel, "Hello doctor. How are you?"

And it reminded me of a time in highschool when my friend Emily said, "Go make that face in the mirror and see if you ever want to make it again."

I'm sure this lady, bless her heart, hadn't ever seen this face in a mirror.

Maybe you won't find it as funny as I did - if not, sorry. More cute pics of Sammy coming soon.

The freedom of Mobility!

So sweet little Sammy has realized that his new mobility has created some wonderful freedom and now some favorite past times. These new past times include:

• Chasing Simba (we've noticed that Sammy has a couple small scratches on his hands...

• Going into his bathroom to retrieve the rubber duckies. Unfortunately there are other fun things to play with in the bathroom which don't seem nearly as sanitary as yellow rubber duckies, so poor Samuel often realizes that this realm is behind a closed door. :-(
  

• Raiding the magazine rack. What is more fun than a piece of crinkleable paper? A whole bunch of crinkleable papers bound together, that you can rip apart and have a wonderful time!

• Playing with the radio. I love his excitement whenever he comes into the room and realizes he has found the radio. He does his little excited, "Ah hah!" over and over again.

• Getting stranded. Apparently the whole "what comes up must come down" is currently in his mind as, "What comes up will stay up only long enough to be picked up by a parent, and if this doesn't happen, panic!"

Sammy at the magazine rack. People talk about they know there's trouble when it is suddenly quiet. That's Sammy to a tee. Wait a second he isn't chuckling and crawling around, what did he get into?

I was able to catch him before any damage was done. The hymn book was there to save the day. Usually he starts by just crinkling what he can before he takes them out and commences the true destruction.Why Sammy thinks the radio is so cool: buttons galore, some of which even open things, an antenna to pull on and twist around, some little levers that turn on the sound, some knobs that change the volume, and some knobs that change what noise comes out. It is even big enough to stand up on and will handle some good old fashioned beating.

So today I sat Sammy down next to the radio while I went to take a shower. A couple minutes into my shower I hear a sudden blaring of loud noise -- Super Sam managed to turn on the radio. I waited for him to start screaming from being startled, but nothing happened. I'm sure he ducked for cover, and I would have loved to see his face, but apparently he realized it was harmless. Well a couple minutes later, the volume went up and down, and then the channels started changing. He even at one point switched it from radio to CD and we got a little bit of a conference talk. Everytime something different happened I started laughing and asking myself why I was still in the shower and not getting this on camera. Needless to say he was done performing by the time I was ready for him to.

I was able to get a clip of his excitement as he crawls towards something he recognizes. Notice the rubber ducky. Yep, recently pilfered from the tub! I guess there is a size limit, so I had to break it up into the journey and the destination.

After all this, nap-time is a wonderful past-time too!

How to Create a Stressful Life

Add the following to what you already do everyday...

Over 8 weeks, set aside a mountain of grading to be done at the last minute, then add 28 report cards to be completed in 2 days. Stir in one 2nd grade program to be viewed by 400 parents and grandparents and add 3 powerpoint presentations to be prepared 5 days before program. Include 2 last minute practices for program to induce handfuls of stress.

Mix it all together to create one joyously overworked and stressed out teacher, then add:

Three church callings

Ten cubscouts to be taught about astronomy

Five families to call about cancelling choir

One major holiday

Eighteen eggs to dye

One baby blessing

One 13th birthday

One birthday cake and a broccoli salad

One little crawler who gets into everything

One yard in desperate need of weeding and planting

AND

One husband who is on spring break and wants wifes undivided attention.

Phew! I am glad those last two weeks are over!

_________________________

(The week in pictures)

Our Program

The program was about Heroes (the Davis Reads theme this year) and it was fabulous! The students were amazing and everything came together really well. I am so proud of these 2nd graders!

This is Sammy on Easter morning. He loved playing with the plastic eggs. And for you book lovers out there, check out this book.

It's called, My Easter Basket and the True Story of Easter

Thanks Lori for getting my mind started on Easter Books. After much research I found this little gem. It talks about the colors in an Easter basket and how they remind us of Jesus. It really kept Sammy's attention. Here are a couple of lines from the book:

"The green inside my basket is like the palms that lay...

upon the ground for Jesus for his parade one day."

We LOVE it (and it sparkles too!)

With Joey turning 13, the Droge's no longer have any "children," just teenagers. And with Adam being on his mission, there's only 2 (out of 8) boys at home!

I made this cake for Joey's 13th birthday. It's not much, but just frosting this took about an hour.

We got together for little Nathan's blessing and Joey's b-day. Here is the constantly changing & growing Droge family!

And finally, a post just isn't a post without this darling face!

Easter Surprise!

Sammy decided to give us an easter surprise:

Yes, he finally figured out the crawling thing, and he has now realized he can get anything he wants. This was one of the first successful tries, and after a zillion little demonstrations to family all Easter weekend, he thinks he has it down pretty good! I guess it is time to start doing some toddler proofing, because he thinks he needs to grow up!

I love pudding

Michelle was making chocolate pudding for the inside of Joseph's birthday cake and decided to give Sammy a try. Obviously he loved it. My favorite part is the table slap at the end, as if to say, "Give me more, I wasn't done!"

Rub-a-dub-dub

Rub-a-dub-dub

One little man (and a couple of ducks) in a tub.

And who do you think he be?

A Butcher...

No, Sammy hasn't been to the slaughter house lately, but Sammy has been cleared by the Doc to eat meats! (I know, it's a stretch.) And - like all other food - he LOVES it. Although you can't really tell, this is a jar of "Apples and Chicken" baby food. Sammy wolfed it down in 2 minutes flat!

A Baker...

A Candlestick Maker...

Think...Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candlestick.

What a sweet little Sam is he!