Visit to Utah

We got to go out to Utah for a visit over Labor Day, it was fantastic! We flew out really early Saturday morning, Paul stayed until Monday evening, and Sam & I got to stay until Friday afternoon. We had so much fun seeing everyone and showing Sam off! I’ll admit that I was pretty exhausted by the time we came home, though, and ready to have a vacation from my vacation. I feel like such a loser, we took tons and tons of pictures but I forgot to take some of the most important ones!! I didn’t get any with Aunt Becky, Ally & Cache, or anyone from the clinic that I worked at. Sorry, guys, I promise to get them next time. No one is more bummed than me.

Saturday we spent some time at my parents’ house and Sam got to know Grandpa Steve and Aunt Becky, as well as reacquaint himself with Grandma Janet and Aunt Leah

(Excuse Grandpa Steve’s hair; it was early and we caught him asleep)

Playing with Gma & Gpa

hahaha, I love this smashed face picture. He was totally conked out and somehow managed to breathe despite his mouth and nose being mooshed into Gma’s shoulder.

Paul got to go shooting with my dad, I got to go shopping with my mom and sisters, and everyone was happy!

Later we went to Martin’s house to get together with the Lamas side of the family…

Paul, Sam & Paul’s dad Luis

Sam reacquainting with Martin

Meeting our Tia (Aunt) Sylvana, who was totally infatuated with him. Tia is so tiny, Sam was like 1/4 of her size! We sure love our tia, she is so sweet and everyone who meets her can’t help but love her immediately. Her family gave us a very thoughtful gift of several cute onesies, a blanket, a wipes holder and a comb set. Thank you, tia!

Sam and cousin Heidi, listening to Heidi’s ipod together. These girls love babies, it was so fun to get to spend time with them and have them get to know Sam. We hope they can come visit soon!

Sam and cousin Arlene. Heidi and Arlene are quickly becoming some of my favorite people. I’ve loved getting to know them more and more over the past 3 years, and I feel closer to them every time we hang out. We got to spend some time just the four of us on Thursday and had a great time.

Sam with Arlene’s boyfriend, Darren. He’s really shy but just the nicest guy ever.

Sam and cousin Isaiah. He doesn’t smile in pictures so I told him to smile and got this huge cheeser, haha.

We decided to bless Sam in Utah so the majority of our families could be a part of his special day. We found the cutest little outfit for him and made sure to A) put a onesie underneath for ultimate blowout protection and B) not put his pants on until we were walking out the door. I think Sam is the first baby in the history of the planet to not blow out all over his blessing outfit, hahaha. We were supposed to be at the church early and so of course as we were strapping Sam into his carseat to go he started crying that he was starvin’ marvin. I looked at him and said “you have FIVE minutes. And then you have to be satisfied with that and be good through your blessing”. He’s such a good boy, he listened to mommy. We ended up walking in just as they were beginning the meeting…oops! Sam was the last one to his own blessing, haha. I let my sister be in charge of pictures for me and haven’t asked her for them yet so I don’t have many, but here are a few from the BBQ after church:

Sam and Daddy on blessing day

My favorite happy couple! AJ and Brandon

Sammy with my Aunt Karen. My aunties and cousins were so nice, they all brought delicious food and gifts for Sam to the BBQ. Thanks so much, everyone! I just love getting together with my extended family, they’re all so nice and so fun and have the greatest stories of all time to share. My aunt Karen is a family history guru and has awesome accounts of our ancestors. She had a DVD of her and my dad’s aunties and uncles that I unfortunately didn’t get to see, I was disappointed. Maybe next time.

I didn’t get a picture of Sam and me until after we took his suit off because he was getting too hot. You can see how relieved he was to get out of it; he felt so FREEEE!

My cousins, Aimee & Trent Augustus, and their daughter Kaylee. Trent was the hero of the party because he’s a homebuilding genius and fixed the air conditioner.

Later that day we stopped off to see some family friends, including Larry Dimartini (the guy who owned the motorcycle & sidecar we rode around in when we got married) who is one of my all-time favorite people, and our old friends Mono and Janet Alvarez & their 2 kids. Unfortunately I was really lame all afternoon and got NO pictures of this, AH!

Then we headed over to see our friends Josue and Xinnia Alvarez. Xinnia and I were due on the same day but our babies ended up being almost a month apart! Sam was born on July 24 and Evan came along on August 20th. Even though she waited until she went into labor naturally Evan was born at like 6 pounds 15 ounces! What a tiny baby! We had fun swapping poop stories and introducing the boys to each other.

Sam (who has his a whopping 11 lbs 2 oz and 21 1/4 inches!) looked gargantuan next to little Evan, haha

We put them in Evan’s crib together and the first thing they did was grab each others’ hands like they were best friends, it was so cute! Unfortunately, the camera wasn’t ready to catch the moment and we missed it.

Here is the cute little Alvarez family. Poor Xinnia, we woke her up when we came over so she’s in her PJ’s

The next day we went to Staples, where Paul used to work, to show off baby Sam. It’s crazy how many of his old coworkers don’t work there anymore, especially since they’d all worked there for forever, but there were some familiar faces.

Here’s Megan, with the biggest smile ever.

And Markai, who held him for the longest.

We had fun catching up with Phil, Paul’s old boss, and these two girls for a while before I went home to hit the hay for a little bit and Paul went visiting the other coworkers who’d transferred up to the Orem store. He didn’t take the camera, so we don’t have pictures.

That afternoon we went to visit my friend Ally’s family in Springville (of course, no pictures). Her parents are so sweet, I love seeing them. And her little brother just got home from his mission…if I had any friends that age I would totally set them up, he is SO cute!

After that we headed to the Smith’s house. These guys were my second family for most of my childhood. I was really bummed to miss Lynda, who was working, but we got to see Mel and his oldest daughter Maure and visit with them. Maure and her partner Angela finally got married this summer here in Cali, and she had the most GORGEOUS ring! We all missed Emily & Danny, who are in Boston, and of course Katherine, who we’re sure has this little clan of all our kids around her in Heaven and gives them a kiss and a “give ‘em hell!” before she sends them off to us. Don’t listen, Sammy!!

Sam and Grandpa Mel. Maure and Angela gave Sam this groovy onesie, and he was so excited to wear it that he blew out in the onesie he was wearing so he could put it on immediately.

Sam and Maure. Sam really loved Maure, whose baby skills are incredible. I was paying strict attention to all of her tactics, hehe.

Then it was off to the airport for Daddy, who had to go home because LAPD is lame and doesn’t let you have vacation days in academy. Sam and I consoled ourselves by hanging out with my old friend Merica. She was so sweet and treated us to dinner and cheesecake (woohoo!) and then we spent hours and hours talking at her apartment. We finally left at like 1AM, I felt bad because she had to work in the morning.

Here’s Merica, who looks cute, with Sam, who looks kinda weird. We took pictures of Merica and me, too, but those should not be seen by the general public. Ever.

Tuesday we spent shopping with Ally and Cache, who we unfortunately didn’t get any pictures of. AH! I could kick myself. We found lots of really good sales, which was great for me because we have no money and none of my clothes fit me. I was so excited to get some clothes that fit I seriously almost cried. Then I went and got my hair done for the first time in 6 months and again, almost cried with happiness. Brandalyn was so sweet and insisted that I not tip her as her “baby present for Sam”. I waited to get my hair done in Utah because salons out here either have astronomical prices or are located in the grocery store, which is just scary. Tuesday night we hung out with Brandon and AJ at my mom’s house, talking about her wedding and such. I am SO excited for her wedding and SO bummed out that I’m not out there helping her plan it.

Wednesday we went to lunch with my friends from my old job at Mountain View Marketing (BOO, MVM!). I love these girls so much it’s ridiculous, I love getting together with them. Lani had her 1-year-old Payton there, who is usually the happiest little baby in the whole world but was really not sure about the whole Sam hogging all the attention scenario. I tell ya, that girl has got the crusty look thing DOWN. We ended up staying at the restaraunt (yay for Cafe Rio!!) for like 2 hours, I felt bad for those who have jobs and had to stay late/leave early to accomodate the lunch date. But I’m sure glad you did, I love you guys!

Lani holding Sam and Payton pouting about it.

Lani and Sam

Nikki-Nikole and Sam. She’s too good to read blogs so I don’t have to feel bad for picking this picture to be the one everyone sees, hahaha.

Jes and Sam. I hate to be one of those people who has a baby and then thinks other people should have them, too, but Jes should really have a baby. She is incredible with them. Little kids flock to her like she’s the Pied Piper, they just love her. Sam included. I was going to go see her and Banks later that night at their house but of course got caught up in other visitations and missed out. I was so bummed not to see him, but I guess we’ll just have to make do with next time.

That afternoon we went to the clinic I used to work at so everyone could meet Sam. He was cooed over and just about every single person thought that they were the first ones that day to come up with a cute “little girl” joke in honor of Sam’s gender surprise at birth. Kind of like when people make lamb jokes when they find out my name is Mary. We were happy to see everyone, though, those ladies & gents were there every day through most of my pregnancy and therefore most of my whining.

Later that night Sam hung out with his cousins, Will and Loren. They are so cute, they’re way excited to meet him and look at him and hold him…until they’re holding him and then they’re done with it after oh, twenty seconds or so.

Sam and Will, who proclaims him “very handsome”

Sam and Loren, who is mildly disappointed that Sam isn’t a girl but thinks he’s really cute, all the same.

Grandma Janet working on Sam’s baby quilt, which is the COOLEST thing ever!!! It’s superheroes and I didn’t take a picture of it on purpose because I want to get the whole effect when it’s finished.

Later my high school friend Marissa came over to visit on her way out to move to SLC, hehe. She just got a new job up there and finally found an apartment. She informs me that she used to be all about baby girls but thanks to Sam and her little cousin she’s in love with baby boys now.

Thursday we spent hanging out and playing games with Aunt Becky, which was so much fun. She even busted out the old swing so Sam could enjoy it, braving the depths of the “stuff” closet to get it out. We took the opportunity to enjoy some Burgers Supreme while daddy wasn’t here to make us feel guilty about all of the grease, and it was pure heaven. Hear that, Paul? HEAVEN.

We spent a few hours with Arlene and Heidi, too, chatting it up at noodles & company (ok, I admit it, I had 2 lunches. Sue me.) over their delectable mac & cheese. I really love those girls. Arlene was a total sweetheart and gave me her blackberry car charger, since she doesn’t use it and my phone had like 1/2 a bar left (Paul took our sole charger back home to Cali). We stopped in to say good-bye to Tia Sylvana on our way out, too.

Then we went wedding dress shopping (ok, just looking at the one she already picked out) with AJ. She looks AMAZING in that dress, I love it so much!! I really wanted to take a picture but they are NAZIS about cameras in their stores so I didn’t. We also made the obligatory stops at the Utah craft stores, since the Cali ones SUCK and are freaking expensive, and had a great time talking wedding. When we were done we went to her house and Sam met her mom, Karri.

Apparently he’s got a thing for doing this face with the Wightman girls. AJ’s nephew Jude was there and wasn’t sure how he felt about Grandma holding another baby. He was petting her hair like she was a kitty cat to gain the spotlight back, hahaha. So cute.

Then we walked up for a brief visit with the Rowley family, some more of my favorite people.

Shane was convinced that he could get Sam to give him his first smile (Sam knew better and saved that for mommy earlier this week – SO cute!!!) and was tickling and cooing all over the place. Kyle was trying to help by making farty noises with his mouth, and when I pointed out that this would probably just encourage Sam to fart, not smile, he became fixated with the idea of hearing this wonderful phenomenon. Unfortunately, Sam wasn’t up for a private concert so Kyle was disappointed.

Unfortunately, we only got a very brief visit with Dalene, who’d been at a child CPR class all night. Sam was loving snuggling up with her for a few minutes, though, and we felt so sad for her that she hadn’t heard from her new missionary, Luke, yet. I think Sam was an ok consolation for a few minutes.

Friday we only had time to pack and leave for the airport, so we (VERY sadly!) didn’t get to see the last few people that we really wanted to on our trip. (Joanna, I promise you will be the FIRST person when we come back!) We were VERY, VERY happy to be with daddy again, but this is pretty much how both Sam and I felt when we got home:

We unpacked all of our suitcases, and check out all of the baby stuff we came home with from Utah!!!

We couldn’t believe how sweet everyone was with all of their gifts and hand-me-downs. We are so blessed in this, we won’t have to buy Sam any clothes for a full year! Thanks to Ally, especially, for the unbelievable amount of gently used baby clothes that she and Cache passed our way.

We had so much fun seeing everyone and can’t wait to come back out! We love you all!!!

love, mary

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