A Tribute

For my ninth birthday, while we were camping in San Simeon, California, I got my very first camera: the Kodak Jazz. At least, that's what I remember it being called, but I couldn't find any pictures of it online anywhere. It was flat and hot blue and totally awesome. Maybe it was the Kodak Star? Anyway, I loved that camera. Over the next few years, I took some fabulous pictures. I was looking at some of them this week and scanned a few of my favorites - either because I just think they're fun or they're sentimental.

Camping - San Simeon

Camping - San Simeon

Kirk jumping over a canal with a huge drop-off on the other side. He did it while Mom wasn't looking. Per usual, he probably could have died, but didn't.

Grandpa Cheney's 72nd b-day! I love him.

Candice will probably kill me for this, but I think she looks cute!

I don't know why Kirk is lifting his shirt. Kirk? Care to explain?

Grandpa O'Brien's grave. I wish I knew him better.

Old Faithful.

Ryan.

I still haven't decided what to do about getting my hair cut, but in the meantime, I'd like to share a few people I consider my hair icons... Maybe with enough time, money, patience, and my own personal hair dresser, I could eventually achieve the gorgeous tresses of the likes of:

Blake Lively

Evangeline Lily

Carrie Underwood

But let's be honest. In Houston, my hair looks more like:

Sebastian Bach
Weird Al

or Robert Plant

Dan said out of those three, it's most like Robert Plant's. *sigh* I guess I just need to get over it.

Is a $90 haircut worth it if you only get it cut twice a year? I NEED a haircut and the only good recommendation I've gotten from anyone is a place that costs $84 (plus tip). I can't imagine spending that much, but I haven't gotten a cut since November and it was from a beauty school in Utah ($8 total). No one ever cuts my hair well and this place has straight 5-star reviews from Citysearch. But $90? Yikes. Thoughts?

I find it ironic that Sam's BYU onesie (what with the BYU Honor Code and all...)

is his most revealing.

I usually think of myself as an independent woman. I think that's changed a bit since I got married, though. Friday night, Dan had to go on a boyscout campout so I had the place to myself. Well, Sam was there, but after he went to bed, it was like I had the place to myself. I watched a chick flick and then stayed up entirely too late not doing anything in particular, just putting off going to sleep. I wasn't scared, but then I got to thinking, "I'm not scared, but if I were to be scared, what would I be scared OF?" So then I start thinking of all of these scary things that I could be scared of and then I successfully scared myself. Mostly I was thinking of the freaky nighttime zombie people in "I Am Legend." I don't know why, but they are like the creepiest things to me. Thankfully, I realized that I shouldn't be scared of nighttime zombie freaks and peacefully slept for 6 hours... Until Dan's alarm went off at 6 a.m. He forgot to shut it off before he left.

Last Birthday Post - I Promise!

Sam's birthday was pretty laid back. We had hot dogs, ate cake, opened presents, and hung out. I had been thinking about what to do for Sam's cake for months. A train? A monkey? A giant cupcake? In the end, I couldn't ever really think of anything so I just made a "1". With the leftover cake, I attempted to make blocks. Let's just say they left something to be desired. Oh, well. They tasted good.My idea of an outfit:Dan's idea of an outfit:Here's Sam right when he started to dig in:I think he liked it.

Today he had his one-year check-up. He had sprouted! He's now in the 90th percentile for height. Still 90th for head (duh!), and 50th for weight. He got four shots and a finger prick to test his iron. Funny story: He got a little band-aid on his finger from the finger prick. He was kind of sucking and chewing on it. In the car on the way home from the doctor, I heard him sort of gagging and I look and his band-aid is gone! So I swap my finger around in his mouth and didn't feel it so I kind of gagged him and out it came. Super gross.

Today's the day!

I had been wanting to figure out Windows Movie Maker for a while and decided that I would start with a video slideshow of Sam's first year. Dan and I love him so much and are so grateful that a loving Heavenly Father sent such a sweet baby boy to our family. Happy birthday, Samuel!

I've never been much of a foodie. In the past few years, most of our meals have been things that are prepared quickly (ramen, hot dogs, pasta) and easily. I blame it on the fact that I worked full time and Dan studied full time. Ever since Sam was born, I've gotten more interested in cooking and expanding my culinary horizons.One of my favorite recipe websites is AllRecipes. In case you don't know what it is, people post their own recipes and then others use them and rate them on a 5-star scale and leave comments. (That's probably like a lot of other sites, too. I just like this one a lot.) So when I want to make something, for example, a cheesecake, I'll search "cheesecake" and then sort the list of cheesecake recipes by rating so that I can see the recipe with the overall best rating. That way you don't waste time making stuff that's just ho-hum and most of your food turns out great. Some of our favorite recipes from this site are:

B and L's Strawberry Smoothie (but we use ice cream instead of yogurt)
Chantal's New York Cheesecake
Double Tomato Bruschetta
Pizza with Pepper, Onion, and Feta

And there are so many more that I want to make. Are there any recipe sites that you love? I'd love to hear about them.

In other news, Dan and I rented Last Chance Harvey from Redbox. Yikes. What a bad movie. I was hoping it would be good but you spend 3/4 of the movie wincing at how sad this dude's life is, then he meets this lady and they just talk all day and he follows her around and then they fall in love. Not to mention, the cover says the movie is "Richly funny" but I think we laughed out loud maybe once. Dan's rating: 2 out of 10. My rating: 3 out of 10. I think I'm more lenient when it comes to movies...

Tomorrow is Sam's birthday. I can't believe our baby will be ONE! I made a video of pictures of his first year. I'll have to shrink it down a ton in order to fit it on the blog, so the quality will be really bad. I'll try to get it all figured out and post it if I can. In the meantime, here are some shots of the soon-to-be birthday boy! He wasn't feeling too photogenic that day... And yesterday we chopped his hair off.And I saw this gem on a walk the other day. Pure Texas.

Fifty-two weeks ago today, Dan graduated from law school. I was as big as a house. Sam came one week later. I wore the same dress today that I wore then, but it fits much better now.

Today we took a walk. We saw a dead frog, a dead bird, and a dead kitten. We also saw a few cats, lots of birds, a rabbit, lizards, and a homeless man. One time on a walk we saw a crazy homeless man get in a fight with a really mean limo driver. On a different walk, we saw a car full of guys ask a man walking by for directions. The man ignored them and turned around to walk the other way. It was strange.

We went to look at our house this weekend. It's really coming along. The brick work is almost done and the drywall is done, too. It's supposed to be finished in 2 months. I can't believe it!Are quinceañeras big in any other cities besides Houston? It's a Mexican tradition where girls who turn 15 have a huge party. We see girls walking around like this all the time getting their pictures taken. They have entire entourages of "bridesmaids" and "best men"-type looking people, too. They make a huge deal about it. So much so that instead of just a bridal expo at the Reliant Stadium this weekend, it was a bridal and quinceañera expo. They act like it's a wedding. (We even saw a girl turning quince getting her pictures taken at the temple this weekend. -- Dan)

Hey folks, Sam the man here.

Even though I just went to Utah last weekend, I've been itching to get out of town - feel the wind in my hair and sandy water up my nostrils. So Dad took Friday off of work for a much-needed vacay and we hit the open road.

This is how I like to roll. Some people put one arm out the window, I put one leg up on my toy thing.

Seven hours and one pit stop later we ended up on South Padre Island (known to the locals as SPI), the OBX of the Texas coast.

We got there in time to play at the beach and spend some time in the hotel pool. It was my first time seeing the ocean and I was mesmerized. It called to me like the sirens to Ulysses. I was putty in its hands.

We had some Mexican food for dinner and then hit the sack early. Only to have the worst night's sleep of all of our collective lives. Seriously. The pits. And did I mention how dirty our hotel room was? Mom wouldn't even walk on the floor barefoot. She had to stand on a towel and drag her feet to get around.

Dad got up early the next morning to enjoy the sun rising over the ocean and Mom and I missed him so we joined him for some pictures. We spent the rest of the day walking back and forth between the ocean and our hotel room. I had to nap a lot. The beach wore me out! Maybe because I would get wet and then crawl around and get sand all over my face, clothes, hair, stroller, chair, towel, Mom, Dad, etc.

Here I'm doing my stretches. Look at how flexible I am! Take that Cirque du Soleil.

Last night's sleep was better than the first. I think it's because Mom and Dad covered my crib with a blanket to make it easier to sleep. This morning we headed back and stopped at a church in Harlingen, Texas. Now we're home and Mom's finally letting me crawl around because this floor is much cleaner.

All in all, it was a great trip. It was exhausting trying to keep all the ladies off me, but I'd better get used to it.

Until next time folks, peace.

On Friday afternoon I flew to Salt Lake City for the wedding of one of my best friends. Saturday she got sealed to her husband, Ryan, in the Salt Lake Temple. It was such a beautiful ceremony! I'd never met Ryan before but he seems like such a great match for Brittney and I can tell that he treats her so well! They looked great together. It was a rainy day, but it stopped when they came out of the temple and for pictures so it was perfect. I'm so glad I got to be there for her wedding. I'm excited for them to start life as a married couple! I only wish they were closer...

Her reception took place at the Zions Bank Building right across from Temple Square. It had a great view.

I also got to see some old friends, my mom (who watched Sam for me basically all day! THANKS!), my sister, and her husband. They are really cute. By the way, happy birthday, Craig.