Happy Halloween!

Definitely the cutest Charlie Brown ever!

Road Trip

Last week we took a last minute road trip to the pacific northwest.  We both have family there and we love this area--if we were to move to a different part of the country, this is definitely where we'd want to go.  But our main purpose of the trip was to visit Sam's grandma who lives near Seattle.  Sam's mom and sister Emily also came along for most of the trip.  

We were very lucky to get to stay at this awesome bed and breakfast owned by my dad's cousin.  It's located right on the beach and the property is filled with award-winning hydrangeas--it's magical and oh-so relaxing!  

Light House at Long Beach

Puget Sound

Seattle Aquarium

Seattle Aquarium 

Exploring the boardwalk--nice face, Cohen!

Mission accomplished!  Cohen and I finally got to meet Sam's mom's mom.  

Cohen with one of his Auntie Em's (he has one on each side).  Do you see Emily's white streak of hair? It's  a rare family trait from Sam's dad's family.  Cohen has the same thing but further back on his head.  Of course he didn't get it from Sam--Katrina's brother has a white streak in the same place as Cohen. 

On our way home at a rest stop in Pendleton, Oregon.  We had perfect timing to watch this beautiful sunset!

Adios Office!

I've had the same job since my last semester of college. I've loved it, but not as much as I love being a mom. I've always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, but for the last year it's worked best for our family for me to keep working while Sam stayed home and finished up his last couple of classes. About a week after I returned to work after taking a 12-week leave when Cohen was born, I came home to a tired looking Sam standing in the middle of the kitchen saying, "every dad should have to do this so that they know what it's like! I can't get anything done!" I just laughed. Really, he's done a stellar job. He cooks, he cleans, and most importantly, he has a blast with Cohen. All while finishing up his last couple of classes. I'm sure he's the best dad EVER! It's been a blessing in many ways. I have a new appreciation for mothers who must work; Sam and Cohen have an incredible bond; and Sam truly appreciates how much work it takes to care for a child. But now it's time to switch places. Yippee!!! I will never take it for granted.

Aquarium

Here are a few photos from a trip to the aquarium to took Yesterday with the Cub Scouts (Sam's Cub Master and I'm a den leader). Besides some very poor customer service, we had a great time. 

He Walks!

Yesterday was a pretty big day for my niece, Ellie.  Not only did she turn 8 years old, she also chose to be baptized and confirmed a member of the the LDS Church.  Yeah, Ellie!  We are so proud of you!!

Yesterday was also a pretty big day for Cohen!  Ellie was posing for pictures with her grandparents when Cohen totally stole her thunder (sorry, Ellie!) by taking his very first steps right into the frame of the picture being taken.  He's had very good balance for quite sometime, but he's never even tried to walk.  Then suddenly THREE perfect steps.  Unfortunately, Sam was helping out in the kitchen, so I excitedly screamed for him to come see (and scared him half to death) and luckily Cohen repeated his moves for his dad and the photo below.  Yeah, Cohen!  We are so proud of you!!  

He already gets around so fast and gets into EVERYTHING, so I'm just bracing myself for when he masters walking.  He knows how to keep me busy!

Summer 2010

I love this time of year!  We've been trying to get outside as much a possible, and especially love spending time in the mountains.  One of my Father's Day presents to Sam was a hike on a trail he had never been to before.  It was unusually hot, and I wasn't feeling very well, but I think Sam enjoyed it.  Cohen loved it, despite getting really sweaty in his wrap, and eventually fell asleep.  Even though I was hot and sick, it was so good to get up into the beautiful mountains!

We recently went camping with one of my sisters and her family.  It was a short camping trip, but lots of fun.  We had yummy tin foil dinners for dinner along with delicious dutch oven baked beans.  This was our first time camping with Cohen.  He's a master crawler and wanted to expore everything. Thank goodness for port-a-cribs!  Really, Cohen seemed to enjoy it and loved being with his cousins.  My only worry was that he wouldn't sleep, but he slept like a champ.  It was actually nice having him all cuddled up next to me.  In the morning we hiked to Timpanogos Cave.  Cohen hitched a ride on my back and leaked thru his diaper--it's the only time I can remember where I was hoping people would think the wet spot all over me was sweat! 

Cohen wants to be outside all the time, just like his daddy.  Here he is helping Sam wash the car.  I didn't think he'd like the cold water, but it didn't phase him at all.

This week we went to Lagoon with Sam's brothers and sisters Shane, Emily and Marci, and Marci's family.  I was shocked at the ticket price for a soon-to-be-one-year-old!  It was totally worth it though.

I took Cohen on one of my favorite childhood rides, but I don't think he was quite ready for it!

We also took him on the Horror ride--he looks pretty freaked out, but he actually didn't get scared thanks to all of the camera flashing going on.

Cohen's cousins won him about twelve hammers that they ended up trading in for a stuffed wolf.  It's his new favorite stuffed animal.

He loved the train ride!

At the top of the giant ferris wheel at sunset.

We also went on a hike with my uncle and brother-in-law.  The goal was the find THE TREE HOUSE.  The Tree House was this amazing place "somewhere" in the mountains that Sam helped build many moons ago.  We went there a couple of times when we were dating and first married, but it had been years since we'd visited.  The place had windows, a wood burning stove, and was infested with chipmunks (one of the funniest things I've seen in my life).  We had heard it had been torn down, so we thought we'd go check it out.  This is what we found:    

 BUMMER!!

The hike was pretty tough, especially since we took a "shortcut" through some pretty heavy brush.  We all had some pretty scratched up legs to show off by the end, except for Cohen.  He had a nice relaxing ride!

Last summer kind of escaped me.  I was busy getting ready for a baby and then taking care of a newborn.  I wouldn't have traded that for anything, but it's been nice to get out a little more this 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!