Sumner Family Reunion

I honestly can't even remember the last time I'd seen some of my dad's siblings, so I was really excited to hear that they were all coming out to visit in October!  Most of them had never been to Utah before either, so my parents were excited to show them around, ride the gondola at Snow Basin, etc.

Matt, Adam, and I went up on the Saturday that everyone was here.  We had a beautiful, intimate memorial for my grandmother who passed away earlier this year followed by good food, jokes, and lots of catching up.  None of them had met Matt before, and they were obviously excited to meet Adam.  My dad's siblings are all super witty and have great senses of humor.  We had a great time and are already looking forward to the next reunion!

(These pictures were gathered from several different sources, so forgive the picture quality...)

1800s (just kidding... probably like 1965) 

Present Day

Barbara and Joe

My cute parentals

Nancy and Richard

Tom

Ashton and Bill

Maybe Matt and I will take our little family on a trip up to Minnesota to visit these awesome people in the near future... I mean, Adam has to start learning how to play hockey sometime, right?!

A Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

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Although Adam isn't quite old enough to enjoy everything there is about fall and pumpkins and Halloween, I certainly love using him as an excuse to participate in all of the fun kid stuff.

This last weekend we went to the pumpkin patch with some friends in our ward and had a really fun time.  This pumpkin patch was only a dollar and had a lot of fun attractions: corn and hay mazes, petting zoo, hay ride, and a corn kernel pit.  You could also go into the field and pick your own pumpkins!

I can't wait until next year when Adam will be walking and will be able to be interested in more than just the hay.

That one time when I fell asleep on a stranger

I have absolutely no problem sleeping.  My head hits the pillow each night and I'm out in 10 minutes or less.  If I wake up in the middle of the night, I can fall right back to sleep.  I can also fall asleep anywhere-- airplanes, classes/conferences, church, movie theaters, etc.  You name it; I can fall asleep there.  This sounds like a dream right?  Well, it some cases it is.  Take the airplane for example.  When I was flying to Sweden to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I slept probably 8 out of the 10 hours we were on the plane from Salt Lake City to Paris.  And when it's not a dream?  Well, just keep reading...

When I was a freshman at BYU, all the "Susie Schoolwork" characteristics that I had developed during well, K-12, went out the window.  I was staying up super late, hanging out with friends all the time, waiting until the very last minute to do my homework, skipping classes occasionally.  No, these are not things I'm proud of, but not necessarily things that I would go back and change.  Anyway, I had a really hard time staying awake in classes, and church, and watching movies, and pretty much any other time where I was not moving.  And actually, I continued to have this problem even when I would get enough sleep!  It was a real struggle.  Five-ten minutes into a lecture and I was out.  I tried everything: eating and drinking during class, doodling, pinching my sides, holding my feet off the ground, taking notes.  Nothing was working, so I just decided to embrace these nap times.

Every Tuesday morning at BYU, a campus devotional is held at the Marriott Center.  And it was during one of these devotionals that I experienced one of my most embarrassing moments.  Not necessarily because the situation was embarrassing, but more because of the way I reacted to it.

So, I met up with my best friend since 5th grade, Elyse, to attend the devotional.  We walked into the enormous facility, which was pretty full, and were lucky enough to find just two open spots next to the stairs about half-way down the lower half of the room.  It was a woman speaker, which I admit I sometimes have a hard time with because many women church leaders use strange intonations when they speak and it doesn't sound at all like normal talking.  My mind began to wander at about the same time the lights dimmed.  It was crowded and warm in there.  I snuggled down lower into my seat.

Next thing I know, I was waking up.  But I was confused.  I slowly opened my eyes... Wait a second.  Where am I and whose shoulder am I on?  Oh. My. Gosh.  The reality of the situation dawned on me: I am sleeping on a random person! What do I do!?  And I wasn't just gracefully leaning on this person, which I vaguely remembered was a guy.  I had totally taken residency on his shoulder!  Like full-on nuzzled into his neck, completely asleep.  Oh no, have I been drooling?  Snoring?  How bad was my breath?  All these questions ran through my mind as I made my decision about what to do.  I slowly raised my head up, I'm talking like slow motion action movie here, without even glancing toward him.  Maybe if I pretend it didn't happen, it would go away...

I sat in my seat on pins and needles determined not to move, counting my blinks, using every ounce of self-control not to glance his way.  The mental and physical strength needed to maintain this stillness started to get the better of me.  My blinks became slower and slower, heavier and heaver...

Again, I found myself waking up... on this guy's shoulder!  I couldn't believe it!  This was absolutely the most horrible thing.  I can't let him see my face.  He can never know who I am.  I decided to repeat my original strategy: pretend nothing happened.  I slowly picked my head up off my new-found pillow and sat straight forward.  I chanced a glance at the clock on the opposite wall.  Four minutes.  I can survive this for four minutes.

The devotional ended and I was up out of my seat before the closing prayer's "Amen."

"Go, go, go!" I whispered to Elyse and I shoved her out of the row and up the stairs, never looking back or slowing down.

Who this guy is remains a mystery.  Whether or not he was sitting next to his girlfriend remains a mystery (oh, murder me...).  Why I didn't just look at him and make a joke about it remains a mystery.

But Shoulder Pillow Man, if you ever read this: Thank you, and I'm sorry if I drooled.

And note to myself: Thank you for finding yourself in this predicament before the age of selfies and memes.

A Trip to Beaver

A few weeks ago we headed down to the Beaver mountains to camp, hike, and rock climb with my parents and a family, the Hicks, that they are good friends with.  The drive up the mountain was beautiful, with bright yellow trees mixed in with all the green.

We found this awesome place to climb last year and have been back several times since.  Unfortunately, we have no idea what it's called or what the climbs are rated, and it's not listed on Mountain Project.  We love it though!  It's nestled into this little canyon and there's a stream that flows right along side it.

We did several different climbs.  Matt and I both had some star moments-- He climbed this beast which I didn't even attempt...

And I climbed this route that only my dad and I were able to complete!  

Proud moment for my rock-climber-dad.  And for me, too.

I know I say this all the time, but I love living in a place that is so outdoorsy. I love that I can drive 15 minutes and be hiking in the canyon!  I especially love this time of year when all the colors are changing and the air is cool and crisp.  I'm grateful that I can share these things and make memories with the people I love most.

Happy Birthday Matt!

I love celebrating Matt's birthday every year.  It is such an important day to me.  I mean, how different would my life be if Matt had never been born!?  Plus, celebrating October birthdays is so much fun because there is so much to do!  You can carve pumpkins, go to haunted houses, watch Halloween movies, eat pumpkin food, go to football games... basically any and all of the fall festivities can be incorporated into the birthday celebrations.

Since we recently went from two incomes to a half an income (Matt works part-time while he is in school), we decided not to get gifts for each other for birthdays this year and to keep our celebrations simple in an effort to save a little extra money.  So, here's the run down of how we celebrated his special day.

I decorated our apartment with streamers and balloons while Matt was at school/work.  Then, Adam and I picked Matt up from work and had lunch at the duck pond before his classes started.  Adam loved it!

When Matt got home from school, we packed up our hot dogs, buns, and condiments and headed to the canyon to have a fire with our neighbors.  We love going to the canyon, especially this time of year when the leaves are changing colors and the air is getting cooler.  We have made some really great memories there over the years.

After roasting hot dogs and enjoying time by the fire while we listened to the river, we came home and ate the delicious apple pie that Lacey made for Matt since he doesn't really care for cake.  Lacey has made it a tradition to make a cake for our birthday's every year.  Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the pie, but is was delicious!!

I'm so grateful that Matt was born and that I get to wake up every day beside him.  He is my favorite person on the planet, an incredible husband and father, and my very best friend.  Here's to 25!

We have an almost 7-month old!

I really can't believe that Adam is almost seven months old.  He has been in our lives for over half a year and it has been wonderful!  I mean sure, we have the occasional blow out, spit up on the couch, oh and that one time Adam kicked Matt in the face and gave him a bloody nose... but overall, I have to say the last almost seven months have been wonderful.

Adam has started to eat "real food."  I decided that I didn't want to spend all of our vacation money on baby food, so I've been making my own things for Adam to eat.  He loves carrots, sweet potatoes, and apples.  Actually he has pretty much liked everything we've fed him except for green beans.  Unfortunately, that is what I made the most of.  Any recommendations for other foods that your babies liked?  He insists on feeding himself and is usually more interested in his booster seat than in the food, but we're getting there.  He also loves cheerios.

Although he tries really hard, Adam can't quite crawl.  He definitely gets around though.  I'll look up from folding laundry or reading a book and he is on the other side of the room!  He gets up on all fours, scoots his legs up under his body, and then falls forward on his chest.  It's his own unique version of the worm, but it's working!  We've started baby proofing the house which is actually a lot more difficult than it sounds, and it seems the best way to do it is by trial and error.  We block things that we think he will get into, and then he ends up messing with something we didn't even think of.  What am I going to do when this kid is walking!?

Adam has officially grown out of his mullet, but some of the long hairs still remain.  Our neighbor does hair and his going to give him a little trim around the ears and neck.  First haircut!

I thought Adam was teething because he was showing all the signs, but it was a false alarm.  He is still toothless.

Adam doesn't quite sleep through the night yet, but he is so good at going down for bed that waking up for 10 minutes to feed him twice between 7:30-7:30 doesn't even bother me... Matt says the real reason it doesn't bother me is because I've forgotten what it's like to sleep for 6+ hours straight, which is probably true.  We usually give Adam a bath around 7:00 which he loves, lotion him up and get his jammies on, and then feed him and read stories.  We lay him down around 7:30 and he is fast asleep by 8.  I love spending all day with Adam, but I have to admit that I am excited when 7:00 rolls around.  It's nice to have the evenings with Matt to wind down and read, watch a movie, or work on the computer without feeling like I'm neglecting my child.

Adam is already fitting into his 9-month clothes, although they are a tad big.  At his last appointment, he weighed 17.8 lbs (49%) and was 24.5 inches long (13%).  He was in the 97% though for head size!  Hah!  We got a kick out of that.

Stranger danger is a real thing.  We've also learned that Adam hates facial hair and is suspicious of people with dark/thick rimmed glasses.  He cries whenever anyone with either of these features tries to hold him.  And when my brother tries to hold him... even though Ashton has neither glasses or facial hair.

Adam is happiest when he is outside.  He loves going on walks, laying in the grass, eating the grass, etc.  He also loves dogs.  My parents have a big, black golden doodle named Riley.  Adam will try to grab Riley's fur and just giggles the whole time.  He is also interested in faces, specifically noses.

We sure do love this chubby, blue eyed babe!