Wildflowers and Campfires

It's been a very fun and eventful summer, but we haven't had much time to do something we usually do a lot of during the summer: camp.  Weekends have been extra busy with family stuff, and Sam hasn't been able to take any time off from work during the week since he recently started a new job. We finally had some time last weekend, so Friday evening we headed up into the mountains. 

Cohen chilling in the tent. He loved the tent so much that he wanted to go to be early ... until he found the marshmallows.

Cohen woke up bright and early the next morning. Sam took him outside to let me sleep a little longer (I love that man!) and together they got the fire going and made breakfast.

Cohen "helping" daddy with the muffins.

A bouquet of beautiful wild flowers picked for me by Cohen. (It's okay to pick wild flowers if a two-year-old gives them to his mom, right??)

Sam enjoying his muffin experiment (muffins cooked in hollowed out orange peels). They turned out perfect!

After breakfast we packed up our stuff and went on a hike.

Cohen isn't too interested in riding in the backpack anymore.

Thanks for making sure I stayed hydrated, Buddy!

Sam gets to go camping again this weekend with the scouts, but hopefully we'll be able to go again as a family before it gets too cold. This summer has flown by!

Today's Harvest

I love shopping for dinner in our garden. 

mixed greens, squash, tomatoes, asian eggplant, cilantro and carrots

 We also have corn, a variety of peppers, zucchini, several additional tomato varieties, cucumbers, beans, pumpkins, rosemary, basil and oregano growing. It's been a battle getting anything to grow in our clay packed dirt. The snails, slugs and earwigs (yuck!) haven't helped either. But we're finally reaping some yummy rewards!

APPROVED!

We're finally approved to adopt again. Even after going through this once before, I still can't believe how much the approval process involves. Background checks, doctor visits, interviews with a social worker, home inspection, essay questions, references, financial review ... the list goes on. Then of course there's all the stuff that needs to be done for the online profile. It's totally consumed me for the last several weeks.

Now I get to relax.

Okay, "relax" is a huge understatement. I'm definitely not as anxious as I was the first time we did this, but it's like waiting for Christmas morning to come, but you have no idea when it will be. Maybe next week, maybe next year ...

Luckily I have a lot more faith in the adoption process then I did last time. I tried my best to believe it would all work out, but I had a lot of doubts. After what we experienced with Cohen I came to see Heavenly Father's hand in everything. When the time was right, He made sure everything came together. He helped Katrina find us and let her know we were the right family for Cohen. And He help prepare Sam and me to be worthy of His and Katrina's incredible gift to us. In the end, it was worth every second of waiting.

DIY Family Photo

The time has come for an updated family photo. We're super close to getting approved to adopt again, and we need a new photo for our website. After our last family photo shoot I swore we'd hire a photographer for the next one.  I should know myself better than that by now. Sam and I are diy-ers and we both dabble in photography, so we made a few alterations to the method we used last time and decided to give it a shot (no pun intended). We scouted out a location in advance and then dragged my parents along to "assist".  We set up all the shots, my mom actually took the pictures, and my dad did whatever was necessary to get Cohen's attention and make him smile. A few minutes into our shoot the wind kicked up, clouds gathered above us in a pre-tornado formation, and it began to pour. Luckily it cleared up for a few minutes before the sun set. We got a few good shots in, but here are some that didn't quite make the cut:  

"Come on Cohen, stand on this tiny pole, ignore the 100 mph wind, smile like you're having a blast, never mind that funnel cloud forming above us, look at grandpa ..." A bit much to ask of a two-year-old! Really, he was a champ. 

I ruined way too many pictures by brushing hair off my face--Sam was about ready to shave my head.

Cohen is dancing--I love this pic, too bad he's out of focus.

How hard would it be to photoshop out the cracker?

This method worked much better than our last photo shoot, but I am glad it's over!!
Here are our two favorites. Now we just have to decide which on to use.

Thanks for being such good sports Mom and Dad!

Family Reunion

Last weekend we headed south to spend some time with Sam's immediate and extended family. His dad has 12 brothers and sisters, so there's a lot of people to keep up with! Facebook helps, but only so much. I remember the first reunion I attended was about a month before Sam and I got married. I'll admit it was a bit overwhelming--so many new faces and names, everyone having a sense of humor that was a little unfamiliar to me (lots of inside jokes and phrases spoken in Dine (Navajo), and I had terrible allergies from the rodeo grounds next door. But everyone made me feel like I was part of the family and I was so excited to know that I would officially be a part of this family very soon. 

We arrived Friday afternoon and spent the day with Sam's immediate family. It was good to see Sam's brother Cooper and his family. They live in Albuquerque and we don't get to see them very often. Cohen was very excited to play with his cousins and didn't want to miss a minute of the action--a nap was definitely out of the question! 

We spent most of Saturday at the lake. It was HEAVEN!!! Perfect weather, warm water, and great company. It doesn't get better than that!

"No mom and dad, I am NOT tired!"

Shooting the breeze with everyone on Sam's parent's front porch.

Our nephew, Mitch, trying to do a gainer--OUCH!

Me being a dork. The cliff was the perfect jumping platform--only about 5-6 feet from the water, it hung out a couple of feet past the the other rocks, and the water was clean, clear and DEEP below. 

Sam's cousin doing a back flip. (nice shot, Sam!)

I LOVE it when he wrinkles his nose like this. Katrina does the same thing.

The weekend was far too short. See ya'll next year!