4th Anniversary

Wedding Day

1st Anniversary

2nd Anniversary

3rd Anniversary

4th Anniversary

This year, as parents of a toddler, it was refreshing just to get out of the house and be "alone together".  We dropped Chloe at my parents house, then went and ate at Basila's using (score!) some gift cards given to us earlier that day.  It's a little greek restaurant and is SO yummy!!!  After that we went to the $2.50 theater and watch Kung Fu Panda 2---LOVED it!  Put Jack Black and a moral into a movie together and we're sold!  When that finished we went to Krave (only the best self serve yogurt ever) and splurged so that we could each have our own!  Crazy, I know (the funny thing is, I totally had buyers remorse when we were done because we could've bought two containers of Dreyer's ice cream and had some for the next day too for the same price!)!  We were done by 10 and then off to pick up our Chloe bug (can your say old farts?).  I keep telling myself we skimped this year so we can save up and go to Hawaii next year....right????  Really though, it was a great date and time well spent with my honey!

Chatty Chloe

Chloe has become a little chatterbox!  She said her first word around 9 or 10 months (besides Mama or Dada, not trying to brag...) and now at 21 months, speaks in sentences up to 7 words!  The craziest part for me, is that she's forming sentences around ideas all by herself!

• Today she asked Ronnie "Thirsty Daddy?"  He said yes and that's why he had a cup.  She immediately responded "I thirsty too."
• She was playing with her sippy cup and when she got the lid on exclaimed "Daddy!  Look it!  I put lid on!"
• She LOVES the temple, so we took her there yesterday for a walk and treats.  As we were walking up to the front entrance, she looked up to the tippy top and said "Holy COooow Daddy!"  She always says "Temple, mommy daddy" because I told her that's where mommy and daddy got married.  We sing "I Love to See the Temple" every day and she has started sing her own rendition.  Super cute :)
• We were driving the other day and I mentioned to Ronnie how I was soooo tired and Chloe immediately repeated " I sooooooo tired Mommy."  Now she says it whenever it's getting close to her nap and it cracks us up every time.
• Ronnie threw her in the hair and she screamed and said "Daddy, scare me!"  Yesterday she ran into her rocking horse and it startled her so she said "It scare me!"
• We're introducing her to Disney movies and so far the favorite by far is "Tangled".  She always says "Mommy, Flynn Ryder cute" and has started responding to the movie by laughing at the right parts or saying "ouch" when the characters get hurt.  She also loves "Cimerella" and "Frog movie (Princess and the Frog)".  When we sing songs from Tangled she always informs us "Tangle song!"  She asks to watch it every day, multiple times a day.
• She says "Bless you Mommy" after I sneeze and will keep saying it until I tell her thank you.
• If you tickle her or do something she doesn't like she'll say "STOP IT!" but I just have to cock my eyebrows at her and then she'll calmly say "Please stop it."
• We have an ultrasound picture on our bulletin board in the kitchen and while we eat she'll frequently say "Baby sister sooo cute."
• Tonight we were at my in-laws and Chloe sat at the piano with her cousin Audrey and played random notes, singing "twinkle star, twinkle star" over and over :)

She says various other things like "I wanna play blocks" or "Wanna play pony" or "Wanna wash hands", more every day stuff.  It's rare when she cannot express exactly what she wants.  We're so proud of Chloe and are amazed at what she learns every day!

Oregon Days 1-3

 Chloe LOVED flying on the airplane!  She is so obsessed, just like her Daddy.

 Scenes like this always melt my heart

 Sweet, happy, crazy Chloe

 The "venue" Vince and Stephanie Lee's house 

 The outdoor vanity and solar shower

 Cruisin' in the bug

 Can anyone say Nacho Libre?

 Out for lunch on Saturday

 Love breakfast for lunch :) or any meal for that matter...

In July we were able to fly to beautiful Rogue River, Oregon (technically we flew into Medford) for the LeBaron Family Reunion and stay for a week.  We drove to Las Vegas on Wednesday the 20th and spent the night at Ronnie's cousin Sara's house (where my eyeballs almost fell out from cat allergies), then she drove us to the airport the next morning.  The airport was a bit hectic (as I'm sure it is for most people) since Ronnie had 2 carry-ons and a car seat and I had a carry on, my baby bump (definitely counts as an extra item) and Chloe by the hand, weaving in and out of people and slot machines.  Chloe kept saying "Mommy, pretty lights!" and pointing excitedly to all of the slot machines...it makes sense to me now why they have to be so flashy...like moths to the flame ;) Anyhow, we made it onto the airplane (after gobbling down a half a dozen mini Cinnabons at airport prices) around 6:50 am and after playing musical chairs to get Chloe a window seat, we were off!  Chloe did pretty well as long as she was able to look out the window or watch Tangled on Ronnie's phone.  Almost as quickly as we reached the altitude to take off our seatbelts, they announced we were descending and had to put them back (it was only an hour and a half flight).  It made me feel extremely grateful (not for the first time) that we were flying, instead making the 17+ hour drive :)
Vince and Steph picked us up at the airport and we were on our way to their lovely, green and lush home!  They've put so much work into their yard and amenities for the reunion, and I love their creative touch in everything!  Oregon is SO pretty and well, green!  I loved being constantly surrounded by forests!  We got there around 2 or 3 and were able to take it pretty easy the rest of the day and squeeze in a nap (thanks to Annabellie for letting us use her room for the week!).  Friday we were able to  help with odd jobs (mucking the chicken coop, stringing lights) to prepare for the reunion and were rewarded with a tasty dinner made by Sherri.  It was so nice to relax and play and work together-I LOVED sitting on their porch, feeling the breeze and cozying up to my book.  Saturday Ronnie, Chloe and I got to drive into town in Steph's VW Bug and enjoy some scenery and a little breakfast for lunch (I adore places that serve breakfast all day), then we found a park to take Chloe for a swing.  It was a lovely day and by the time we got back, more family had arrived!

A Little About Me...

I've been putting off a really big and detailed post about our trip to Oregon, so since I'm not sure when it will actually be up, here's a little about me for your reading pleasure :)

A. age :: twenty three

B. bed size :: queen

C. chore you hate :: killing bugs and changing poopy diapers. 

D. dogs :: not allowed at our complex

E. essential start to your day :: cold cereal first thing

F. favorite color :: gray and orange

G. gold or silver :: silver

H. height :: 5'9"

I. instruments you play :: piano and percussion

J. job title :: mommy, hair dresser, day care attendant

K. kids :: Chloe & Little Sister

L. live :: lovely small town Utah

M. maiden name :: Rimmasch

N. nicknames :: Sami, Samli, Samaria, Sama-lama-ding-dong, Samisue, Samwise, Sam I am

O. overnight hospital stays :: only when I had Chloe

P. pet peeve :: when people don't respond to a question or request

Q. quote ::  "the pain of discipline or the pain of regret...choose your pain"

R. righty or lefty :: lefty

S. siblings :: two sisters, one brother

T. time you wake up :: 7:30

U. university attended :: Paul Mitchell

V. vegetables you dislike: everything except for potatoes (though I do force myself to eat everything else). I eat like a four year old...

W. what makes you run late ::  forgetting to look at the clock.  Ronnie has to do a count down for me on Sundays so we can get to church almost on time.

X. x-rays you’ve had :: dental, ankle 

Y. yummy food ::  domino's pizza, any or every day of the week

Z. zoo animal favorite :: giraffes 

Lookey What I Made!

No, I am not super cool and did not create an amazing tutorial with pictures.  I did, however, make some similar fabric flowers using this tutorial from Make it and Love it!  It was actually pretty quick and painless and took around 10 minutes start to finish!  I love speedy crafts-they make me feel so accomplished!  AND she has all sorts of other free tutorials on her website, like this awesome Maternity Band that I want to make next!

Brookie's "Bachelorette" Party

Kari, Brooke, Dani, me and Callie at Suwadee's

I was going to post about our Oregon trip today, but Ronnie put the pictures on the laptop and of course has it with him (I don't think he ever leaves without it), so you get to hear about my girl's weekend in SLC instead!  One of my besties Brooke is getting married in September, so we decided to trek up to her neck of the woods (is that how you spell neck in that phrase??) and throw her a "bachelorette" party (I dubbed it "bachelorette" because it wasn't really a cutsie shower and I put the quotation marks because it wasn't really anything scandalous...so there ya go...I just felt the need to explain).  It brought back so many memories getting together with all of these girls and just hanging out!  We've all been best friends since high school and a few of them I've know since kindergarten or before (I think I went to joy school with a few of them).  We actually kind of remind me of  The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (minus the magical pants...), because we all have different, distinct personalities, yet we all get along and love each other.  The other great part is that they are all the type of friend that I can go ages without seeing or talking to, but the minute we get together, we're on the same page again!  LOVE, love, love all of my girls!
We started out by making a world record in pee stops and the length of time it takes to get from St. George to SLC (and it wasn't just yours truly preggers woman requesting the stops), then finally made it to the Gateway for some shopping!  Shockingly, after about two stores, we were all totally pooped (granted, the first one we went to was two stories worth of Forever 21, where Brookie tried on various rompers), so we headed to dinner.  We went to this seemingly hole in the wall Thai place that turned out to be completely delicious (it was my first Thai experience) and extremely busy.  It was one of those places you just kind of have to know about or else you'd drive right by it (to it's credit, it was really nice inside, but a large part of it is outside, so you can't really tell).  It's called Suwadee's...maybe you've heard of it?
After that we headed to Brooke's new place for gifts and girl talk.  I didn't take pictures of many of her presents since they were mostly "married people stuff", but I did snap one of socks that I gave her.  They were in a tiny bag and as I handed it to her I told her "this is all you're really going to need" (I know, clever).  If you can't tell, they are knee socks that say "I'm a hot mess" on them and Ronnie and I thought they were hilarious and partially accurate.  I know many people who think that lingerie is a complete waste of time, so I figured if she just had a pair of socks then she'd be set!  We then stayed up until the wee hours of the morning, chatting, laughing and giving our sage married advice to Brooke.  When we finally did go to bed, the two mommies (Kari and myself) ended up bunking together and at one point she woke up patting me down trying to find her baby to nurse and I'm sure I almost knocked her off the bed with all of my "support pillows" under every square inch of me.
When we finally got home, I passed out for about three hours and only emerged for Domino's pizza...it's amazing how only 5 years have gone by since high school and yet my body feels so old and decrepit and can't handle one little girl's night.  It was worth it though!

Little Sister.

15 weeks

20 weeks

Ever since we found out we were preggers, we've been asking Chloe whether she would have a brother or a sister and her reply was ALWAYS "sister!", but Ronnie and I still felt like it was a boy, so it was a bit of a shock when the ultrasound tech wrote the words "I'm a girl!"  I guess we should have believed Chloe-she was up there last after all!

Our ultrasound was kind of funny this time around because our tech was a little worn out and frazzled from doing them all day...she measured everything on the baby (head, four chambers of the heart etc...) and then when she had finished she said that she'd forgotten what she had measured, so she'd better do it again!  AH!  All before she told us the gender!  So she redid everything and took a gazillion pictures (which was okay by me) and then wrote the gender on the screen without saying anything.  I had laid back down at this point because my neck was sore, so I couldn't tell what she had written and Ronnie was fidgeting with his camera, so we both kind of missed the "moment" and had to ask "what does that say?"  The real kicker was afterwards when she was looking at the pictures with us and said "there's the little boy part!" and then quickly said "oh wait...you're having a girl!  It's %100 girl, I promise!" when she saw how confused we were.  She was really nice and we could tell it had been a long day, so we just laughed it off and decided that if it comes out a boy, that'll be great too!

We are super excited to be having another sweet little girl (especially me)!  I love that they will be so close in age and that I can dress them matching on special occasions!  Hopefully they will be little buddies and not arch enemies (though I'm certain that there will be times)!  I loved growing up with my sisters-playing barbies and school and beating each other up and now that we're older going shopping and talking and just being there for each other :)

We don't have a name for her yet, so we just refer to her as Little Sister, which is probably what we'll call her most of the time anyway once she's here.  I like the names Evie, Eva, Ava, Olivia (apparently I'm into V's), and Ronnie likes Sophie.  We're having a hard time agreeing on anything besides her middle name, which will be Claire, after her Grandma LeBaron.

This pregnancy has been great so far, just like Chloe's was!  Actually, I feel a whole lot better since I'm not in hair school full time!  With Chloe I was exhausted all the time and got really bloated from being on my feet all day (and many nights).  Most days I forget I'm even pregnant, but by the evening my stomach usually gets tight and I have to take it a little easier.  I'm trying to exercise a couple of days a week and keep really hydrated, which is obviously helping a lot.  I felt Little Sister move for the first time around 18 weeks and Ronnie felt her for the first time while we were in Oregon when I was around 21.5 weeks.  It may be too early to tell, but I don't feel like she moves around as much as Chloe did and that she has an overall more relaxed personality than her.  I feel so blessed to have had such healthy pregnancies!

I'm pretty sure that Chloe understands what's going on and that she already loves her Little Sister :)  We talk about her all the time and practice with baby dolls.  She went with me to my last appointment and I explained to her that we were going to hear Little Sister's heart beat, that it went "boom, boom" and showed her where her own heart was.  She sat still next to me and held my hand, completely captivated by the sound.  Now she'll randomly put her hand on her heart and say "Mommy, sister-boom boom!"  She is such a little sweetie and so grown up!  I can't wait to have my girls together!!!

Hi!

I came home after a late night grocery trip to find these two passed out on the bed and had to take a picture.  They seemed pretty zonked, so I figured it wouldn't bother them, but as soon as the flash went off, Chloe's eyes bolted open and she said ever so cheerfully "Hi!" and then was wide awake for the rest of the night!  Chloe is such a little mimicker and has such a large vocabulary that I can't keep track!  She's our little parrot and repeats almost anything we say :)  One that never ceases to make us laugh is "Daddy, I wanna piss!"  Which really means "Daddy, I wanna kiss!"  We try to correct her (atleast I do...Ronnie thinks it's hilarious), but all that comes out is "piss!"  The other night we asked her what we should name little sister and she immediately responded "Binki Airnane!"  As we pulled into the garage after church today she started shouting "New airnane!" referring to the airplane that Ronnie got yesterday.  She is so quick and it always astounds me the way she can form sentences around ideas now!  Chloe LOVES airplanes and sits on Ronnie's lap almost every day to play the airplane simulator with him.

Seriously Funny

Chloe makes us laugh ALL the time, especially now that she is speaking in 3 to 4 word sentences.  It seems like she progressed SO much the week we were in Oregon (pictures to come).  Her latest things have been:

• The minute we walked into the house after flying home from Oregon she said "I wanna ride airnane!"
• Ronnie crashed his airplane at my family reunion and Chloe came up to me and said "Mommy airnane broken"...."fix it!"
• I think she gets a little bored in the car because whenever we're driving somewhere she'll say "Mommy look!"  I usually look back and find her twisting her pinky and ring fingers together and proudly holding up both hands or the last couple of times she's stuck her hands through the gap in her seat belt and wiggled her fingers at me and giggled.
• Her favorite song is "Bitsy Spider" and she wants to sing it over and OVER again...especially in the car.  She'll say "Mom!  Bitsy Spider?" and if I don't do the actions she'll usually say "All done.  Mom!  Bitsy Spider?" until I do the actions.  She also loves getting out her "binoculars" and singing "Popcorn Popping".
• One phrase I sometimes regret teaching her is "stop it", which had to evolve to "please stop it" because it was getting a little mean.  Whenever we tickle or tease her she says in all seriousness "Please stop it!"
• Since we got back from Oregon Chloe has been wanting to sleep in our bed and calls it "this bed".  When I put her down at night she'll say "Mom, this bed?" and I have to remind her that she has to sleep in her bed.
• This might be TMI, but oh well!  The other day I was using the restroom and Chloe came walking in (any mom knows that there is no such thing as privacy) and I asked her if she was stinky.  She replied "I stinky too!" to which I asked "You think Mommy is stinky?"  She gave a big nod and said "Uh hu!  I stinky too!"

Those are all I can think of at the moment, but I'll update as they keep coming!  We love you Chloe!