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!

  

1 Year Old!

Cohen had quite the birthday experience.  Sam's family had a family reunion in Arizona the weekend of Cohen's big day, so we were able to celebrate with much of Sam's extended family and then we had an official birthday party for him after we got back.

Cohen and his cousin Tristan the first night of the family reunion.  Tristan is two months older than Cohen and he acts two months older, but Cohen definitely looks like the older one.  (At Cohen's 12-month doctor appt., he measured the size of an average 18-month old!)  They kept trying to play with this tractor all night, but their second-cousin did not want to share.

Luckily Sam's sister gave him the perfect birthday present the next day--his very own tractor.  He played with this thing for HOURS!  However, he had no problem sharing with all of his cousins--I was so proud!

       

We spend most of Cohen's birthday at the lake.  He LOVED it!

Cohen met his Great Grandma B for the first time.  I'm so grateful they could finally meet.  She lives on the Navajo reservation, about 4-5 hours away from Sam's parents, so we don't get to see her as often as we'd like.  Cohen went right up to her, tapped her on the leg to get her attention, and and then went right for her necklace!  They were so sweet with each other.  

***

For Cohen's party, I made him his very own cake.  The idea was to have several layers of chocolate cake stacked on top of each other, then covered in beautiful wisps of whipped cream and topped multi-colored sprinkles.  I wanted it to be cute, yummy and messy!  I froze the cake to make it easier to cut and frost, but it was about a zillion degrees, so the cake defrosted too fast and little cake crumbs got into the whipped cream as I was frosting it.  The whipped cream also didn't stand up to the heat very well.  It ended up being the ugliest cake I have ever seen!  However, Cohen loved it, and that was my ultimate goal.  Several of his cousins couldn't help themselves either and joined in the fun of devouring the chocolate & whipped cream mess!  I was grateful to the zillion degree weather afterward because we could just hose him off!

Katrina and her brother came to the party, too.  I'm so glad they could share this special day with us!  Katrina had just gotten back from Costa Rica and gave Cohen a really cool drum.  Here you can see where Cohen gets his good looks!

It used to bother me when adults would say something about kids growing up too fast.  As a kid, growing up seemed to crawl by.  But now I'm one of those annoying adults.  I can't believe how fast the past year has flown by!  I am so grateful that I get to have this little guy in my life.  I love getting to know him.  He teaches me something and makes me giggle every day.  I can't imagine my life without him!

Biking & Hiking

Sam finally had a free Saturday so we made the most of it and headed south on Thursday for a long weekend.  We hung out with Sam’s family and spent the rest of the time enjoying the epic spring weather. 

We went on one of our favorite bike rides around Sam’s hometown.  I had a little accident, but it was definitely worth it.  

Saturday we spent all day hiking to and from Choal Falls.  Not very many people know about this place -- we didn’t run into a single person the entire day.  We only snapped a few photos on our way to the falls, but we used up the rest of our camera’s memory card when we got there.  Here’s just a few. 

The stream was ideal for wading in and the perfectly smooth sand massaged our tired feet.  The water just under the falls was barely deep enough for swimming, but the water was a little chilly for that.  

This little guy is about the closest thing to a human we saw the entire hike.

We also saw this nifty little house some little creature built.  Hole was about the diameter of a  pinky.

It was about 75-80 degrees on Saturday, but the next day the wind picked up as we were getting ready to leave and a couple hours into our drive home we hit this.

Thankfully we didn’t hit that gorgeous late 60’s model Camero in front of us.  Drool.  

Sam's the Man

He cooks AND bakes.

One Sunday he felt like bread and we were out.

So he made TWO different kinds. I just did the dishes.

Here’s a cake he made me for my birthday. How cute is that?!

Iron Chef Sam at the first Annual Corn Festival at the Navajo Village Heritage Center.

He made traditional Navajo dishes and introduced his new creation,

The Navajo Cheese Steak. Yum!

He's very creative.

Our neighbors cut down a giant tree in their yard, so he took a chunk of the trunk to make a powwow drum.

Last summer we went to Lake Powell and he made an awesome sand castle.

At Pioneer Trek he made a makeshift shower so I could wash my hair …

The rest of the ward ended up using it, too.

Everything’s much better with clean hair!

He knows how to make me laugh.

At least one Hotel in Mexico has a trampoline and we were lucky enough to stay there.
Sam performed a hilarious cheerleading-meets-Cirque de Soleil routine
while diners at the nearby restaurant looked on.

Sam SERIOUSLY prefers this picture over the one we use at the top of this blog.
We have it in our house and it makes me laugh every time I see it.

I LOVE this guy!