Looks like the last time I wrote was in early February. So we'll pick up from there.
On 11 February 2005, we went to court in Provo, UT to finalize Samantha's adoption. It was an amazing experience. The judge was very kind and offered us some sound advice. The next day we had Samantha sealed to us for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple. Sadly, the sealer spent most of his time telling us about the geography of the temple instead of potentially talking about the importance of the ordinance he was about to perform, but his priesthood authority was what really counted I guess. I blessed her the next day in Church, and remarkably she didn't cry at all during the blessing.
Later on in February we went to the USS Intrepid museum, which wasn't nearly as impressive as we'd hoped. It was cool to see the inside of a Concorde though - man those things are tiny inside! And it was funny to walk through Times Square on a Saturday afternoon, with Samantha completely passed out. What I wouldn't give for her to be able to do that now..... We also went up to Boston for a weekend. I had to go up for work, so Kristi and Sam tagged along for the drive up. We had a good time walking around, but MAN was it cold. I guess that's what we get for going to Boston in February. The best part of the trip was that ESP picked up the tab for the very nice Westin Copley in Back Bay, and we had a very high room for free! Samantha had her first pool experience, and again she exceeded expectations by not crying one little bit. On the way home, we drove through Newport, RI to check out the fancy mansions, and Kristi drove home from there. She was kind enough to take us on a short detour through the Bronx, but it was just a quickie, and we didn't even get shot at! Wow, February was a busy month!
I don't remember too much that happened in March. We went to the Auto show, which was pretty cool, but that was about it. Or at least, that's the only place where we took pictures. Samantha is crawling now - not sure if she started that before or not. There are plenty of cute pictures from March, so I'll just post some of those for your enjoyment.
Messy Eater
Bath Time
Samantha likes to play a head butt game with Mommy
The famous old man face
Messy Eater
Bath Time
Samantha likes to play a head butt game with Mommy
The famous old man faceIn April we flew back to UT for Kristi's birthday and a Loveridge family trip down to Moab. We had a good time hanging out and hiking around Arches Nat'l Park.
May was a big month. We moved from Jersey City down to Woodbridge. The move was quite a process. For the week leading up to the big day, I hauled down one or 2 loads every night in the Brentmeister General. Then on Saturday, Maile came and took Samantha, and we loaded up the truck. We had some help from the missionaries, one of the guys in the ward, and 3 of the Young Men. Unfortunately, those Young Men were the only ones that were able to come down to Woodbridge and help us unload. One of them was a champion though, and really made up for the other 2 not being too much help. The new apartment is amazing - 2 whole bedrooms! We don't have to lock ourselves in the bedroom when Samantha goes to sleep! Samantha took to the new arrangment right away, and now sleeps 12-14 hours/night. Yes, we do love that, thank you very much. We also can actually cook dinner for ourselves, and speak in a normal tone of voice. It's like a whole new world has been opened to us.
