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!

  

Beads

My sister Allison and her kiddies are in town for a few weeks. We've been busy going to the pool, throwing a surprise baby shower for our sister Emily who is pregnant with a boy after having three girls, going shopping, having slumber parties, and helping Alli with one of her latest projects. For the last several years she's volunteered with an organization called Mothers Without Borders. She goes to Africa to work with orphaned youth, organizes fundraisers in her hometown, and recently was the brainchild of a genius idea to help the youth she works with raise money for themselves. Through a lot of trial and error, she figured out a way for the youth to make beads that is similar to the way they make bricks for their buildings (a couple of years ago she made bricks with them that were used to build a school.) 

Just before her visit to Utah she was in Zambia where she taught the kids how to make the beads. Then she brought them here to have my mom (a seasoned jewelry maker) help her figure out how to make beautiful jewelry out of them. The jewelry will then be sold to raise money for the kids. Each set (necklace and earrings) sold will pay for half of one year of their education. Each child made enough beads to make two sets, so when both sell, they've earned enough money to pay for their own education. The idea is to empower the kids and give them hope for their future. 

Each child who made beads had their own bag to store them in. We had to make sure not to mix any of them up because each necklace will come with the story of the child who made the beads. As we worked on them, Alli told us their stories--stories of tragedy, brutality, healing and hope.  These kids are my heroes.

Before we could string the beads onto necklaces and earrings we had to open up some of the bead holes that were too small (thank you Sam for giving us free reign of your tools and helping us figure out how to do this) and apply a glaze:

Who thought you'd need a power drill to make jewelry?  (btw, this power drill was a wedding present I gave to Sam--we sure have gotten a lot of use out of it!) 

glazing the beads--being very careful not to plug up the holes again

The finished product. I can't wait to see what they'll look like as part of a necklace.

Alli also told us about a couple of really cool things that happened while we were there. First, a mission for our church opened up in the area, and second, she found out laws have made it "easier" for Americans to adopt orphaned youth from Zambia. It's still kind of complicated, but it is possible. However, Alli has mixed feelings about it. She sees how well the children she's worked with have thrived in their new Mother's Without Borders home, and how they've formed strong bonds to the other children there. Alli has developed a great love for those kids, and a very strong bonds with several of them, but she doesn't want to take them away from their "family" in Zambia. It's a very complicated situation.

I'm grateful I was able to help out a little with this project. I'd really like to meet the kids who made the beads someday. Time to start saving my pennies!

While we worked on the beads, Cohen was hard at work on his cousins giant jaw breaker. Thanks for sharing, Ethan!

TWO!

Time flies when you're having fun!  Most who don't know Cohen think he's at least three because he's so tall. But I can't believe he's already two! By the time you're my age, not much changes between birthdays. But Cohen has learned a lot since last year: he can walk (and run!), count to 10+, pedal his tricycle, shoot a basket, name ALL of his cousins, aunts, uncles grandparents and friends, dance, sing, and he can finish the sentences and lines to his favorite books and songs.

To celebrate we had a casual dinner party at our house yesterday. I debated whether or not to have a family party AND a friend party, but opted for "just" a family party. Most of his closest friends are cousins anyway, so we'll save the friend thing for later. We had a houseful and yardful with just family anyway.

Dinner included Cohen's favorite foods: hot dogs & sausages, french fries, veggies & ranch dip, and ice cream. Of course we had cake, too. Last year's cake was an aesthetic disaster, but all the kids loved it. So this year I used the same idea with a few changes and it turned out much prettier.

Cohen was ecstatic about the "balls" on his cake.

I wonder what he wished for??

Only the birthday boy could get away with this.

Great grandmas, grandparents, great uncle, aunts, uncles, cousins and Katrina's family. A pretty big crowd for a two year old! The more the merrier, I say!!

When buying Cohen b-day presents, Sam and I need to remember other people will get him gifts, too. He got a lot of stuff: stuffed animals, books, cars, clothes, puzzles, chocolate milk, candy, balls, a power drill, and his favorite, a lawnmower that blows bubbles. I think it's time get rid of some of his "old" toys. They are starting to take over the house! 

Happy Birthday Bub-o. We love you!

Happy B-Day America!

We spent the 4th of July weekend at Sam's sister's. They live on about 10 acres just outside of a small town. Their property includes a seasonal stream, swimming pond and several out buildings like a gazebo, outdoor kitchen and a small cabin. They also have these little flower, vegetable and sculpture gardens, and sitting areas peppered throughout the property. It's seriously a work of art.

We attended the town parade which began with a 5k fun run that Sam and our nephew ran in. We also went to the firework show that was pretty darn amazing for such a small town. We had such a great time we've decided to make it a tradition. 

Cohen on the bounce-a-line (he gave it this name--why isn't it called that already?)

Cohen can ride this thing for real when I'm dead--ha, ha.

Cohen and Grandpa

the swimming hole

Cohen hangin' with the guys

Playing with glow sticks while waiting for the fireworks to begin: