"milking it" sommer style

Over Memorial Weekend, we joined the Sommer crew in Junction, UT for a fun-filled reunion at the Courthouse, a real courthouse turned gigantic house. The theme of the reunion: Milk It! And we did. Not literally, although we could have. There were hundreds of cows down the street that just stopped and stared at us when we approached.

We ate, played (Nerf war, kickball, Connect Four, etc.), hiked and sort of rested (one year old baby in a new environment with a stuffed nose...not much sleep going on). Awesome location and an amazing job by Paige and Eric (thank you!). They were in charge this year and it went off without a hitch. They even lit a fire with milk. Fantastical.

The Courthouse 

 

 

The Family Hike in Marysvale

(an old mining town at the foot of some hills)

 

Cute boys.

 Win's cousin, Massimo. They definitely look related.

 Massi, Paige, Win and Kent

 Grandpa Sommer and Massi

 Our nephew, Canon

 We made it to the waterfall! Win was freezing so we layered him up.

 Happy baby at the Courthouse.

"Milking it" one last time.

We had one last hurrah on our way home in Vegas where we played in the pool at the Westin with Matt and Laura's family. I didn't bring my camera to the pool so that part wasn't captured in images, but Win went on his first water slide with Daddy and enjoyed it.

Good, good times. We can't wait until the next reunion.

win's world at 15 months

 

Win's Words:

Bus

Baby

Ball

Basketball (pretty close to the real word)

Football (same as above)

Mole (points to them and says "mole")

Mama (uses mainly when tired or sad)

Daddy

Milk (the "m" is barely audible)

Water (wah-er)

Car

Doggie

Egg

No

Duck

Trash

Diaper

Bubble

Ouch

Whoa

Light

Apple

Yogurt (go-gurt)

Yum (um)

Grandma (ah-ma)

Gross

Fish

Hat

Hot

Balloon

Nova (no-na)

Night night (nigh-nigh)

Uh-oh

Oval

Hi

Bye

Animal sounds:

Horse

Cow

Pig

Dog

Cat

Owl

Bird (crow…caw, caw)

Chicken (sort of)

Monkey (with hand in armpit action)

Penguin (waddles...no sound)

 

Favorite things to do:

Run…away from us, up and down the hall, outside on the sidewalk, in the halls at church, anywhere. He trips here and there, but he gets up and starts going again.

He likes when we set up his bowling ball animals and he crashes into them at running speed and they all fall over.

He loves balls, and probably always will. He likes ones he can throw with one hand. He has decent aim and can throw pretty far. We’re impressed. He also kicks really well. We think he’s an athlete in the making.

He loves to read. He is especially fond of his race car book right now. He also likes Sandra Boynton books.

Win likes bath time with bubbles. We started using them after reading “Tubby.” I thought he would enjoy them and he does, but he was sort of hesitant about them at first. He would just stand in the bath, but now he requests them every time and actually sits.

He likes to say “hi” to everyone around him. We were sitting in the foyer outside of the chapel the other day and when sacrament was over, he sat on my lap and said “hi” to everyone who was walking out. He is a friendly kid.

Win loves Daddy. He is so happy when Kent gets home from work. It’s the signal that playtime has begun.

Win likes to go to the park and kick the ball on the basketball court. There’s a park right across the street so we try to go over once a day. He also likes to watch Kent and I shoot baskets. He wants to shoot baskets too, but gets frustrated because neither Kent nor I can get him high enough to do so.

He likes to watch sports on television. His current favorite is basketball.

He’s also really into his pacifier(s). We try to only give them to him at night, but sometimes he gets a hold of them at other times. He could suck on one all day if we let him. He enjoys throwing them out of his crib at night. He also likes it when we bite the handle eof the pacifier and pull it out then put it back in his mouth.

Likes to throw things away in the trash. I think we may have lost some toys that way.

He enjoys being tickled and tossed in the air. He especially likes being tickled under his neck and on his ribs.

He’s also really into playing on our bed. Maybe not the safest activity, but one of us is always supervising him. He loves it and I love when he spreads himself out on his back and relaxes-cracks me up.

Favorite foods:

Yogurt

Eggs

Milk with vanilla almond milk (it’s a good mix)

Grapes

Sweet potatoes

Muffins

Cheese

He has been picky lately and we think he is contemplating vegetarianism. Not sure why. Maybe the texture? Maybe PETA has been secretly communicating with him? We're not sure.

Win is at such a fun age. He’s smart and gets things. When we ask him to do something, he understands and does it (most of the time). Sometimes he gets frustrated when he can’t do things, but then he calms down and gets busy doing something else. I love when he’s tired and puts his little head down on my shoulder. So sweet. We don’t nurse anymore, but we do cuddle. He’s a sweet, smart boy and we are so grateful he is ours.

easter

This was Easter Sunday at Grandma and Grandpa Sommer's house. We enjoyed ham with mustard sauce, delicious side dishes and a chocolate egg and poppy seed cake for dessert. It was lovely, and a lovely day.

Win sported a salmon-colored shirt and a preppy white cable vest.

He enjoyed the flower beds at Grandma and Grandpa Sommer's house.

Kent wore a salmon-colored tie. Not too matchy, but sort of.

And here we are, the Sommer Family.

pre-easter

The day before Easter, we got together at my mom and dad's house for a picnic lunch and Easter Egg Hunt.

Win was recovering from a bad cold and ear infection, but he didn't let that ruin his first hunt. It's amazing to me that he got the concept of looking for an egg and placing it in his basket. Of course a rock or two ended up in there and the plastic eggs were opened and hard boiled ones slightly cracked, but he got it.

Daddy was his main helper, but all of the other kids were willing to point out egg hiding places.

Post-nap he enjoyed the eggs once more while we enjoyed the beautiful weather. It was a perfect spring day. More like a cool summer day.

While I enjoyed the orange blossoms...

Win played basketball with his best buddy.

He LOVES his daddy. In fact, that was the first word out of his mouth this morning.

It was a wonderful day.

(Easter Sunday photos will be in another post because I've maxed out my photo limit.)

peter gabriel revival

I heard this song the other day and I thought it was a long lost Peter Gabriel song, but no, it's a new guy. Well, new to me. Like I've said before, I'm not up on music. I want to be, it just seems that other things (baby, work, home, life, etc.) take up my spare moments. Anyway, besides the point. I really love this song. It's called "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye. Here it is for your listening pleasure.

Funky video. I know they're in the nude-it's artistic, doesn't show anything and it just works.

He's performing in LA next Thursday. Rewind my life to two years ago and Kent and I would have been there. It can't happen this time, but I do want to go to a concert soon. I miss them.

That's it. Cool song, interesting video, fun find.

Kind of ironic that Martha Stewart's name is Martha...

All right, the list is compiled and I'm on way to being one tidy lady. I started last week, but Win had a bad cold so he of course came first. These are general guidelines; I realize life is unpredictable and people come before housework. Anyway, here she is:


It might need some tweaking, but so far so good. Seemingly doable and that's what I need.

By the way, if I name our daughter Martha, will she be destined to be a creative, clean, domestic goddess? Hmm...food for thought.

Mary vs. Martha

When it comes to tidying the house, I’m a total Mary. I can live in clutter for quite some time. A gift? Hardly. It’s a horrible habit, and one that I’ve lived with since I was a teenager. I remember leaving my stuff around the family room for days and my mom would ask me to pick it up, but I wouldn’t. It’s not that I was trying to be a bratty 16 year old or flagrantly disobedient, I just didn’t make time for it, I had other things to do besides clean. When my mom couldn’t stand it anymore, she would shove everything in a black plastic bag and hide it. That was always scary and helped ignite action, but I still tend to have what my mom lovingly refers to as “dropsie.”

I’ve really tried to get better and over my case of the “dropsies,” but it is honestly hard for me. If I have a few spare moments, I never think to myself, “This would be an excellent time to clean out the shoe basket, vacuum and do a few dishes.” No, I feel the need to work on a project on the computer, take a shower or anything else (blog).

I want to turn a new leaf though. This spring. Right now. We live in a small enough space so that I can change my habits on a small scale. I’ve enlisted the help of Pinterest and found some great cleaning/chore sheets. I need to personalize them, but at least I know what I need to do daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. I want to be an organized, clean housekeeper. I'll never be a "neat freak," that's not in me and not healthy, but now is the time. One husband, one child, one small apartment, 100% doable.

(Just so you know, I’m not a total slob. I clean and declutter, I just need to do it on a more regular basis. Life just feels better that way.)

Anyway, here’s to hoping I can pick up a little bit more of Martha’s personality.

Happy Cleaning!