Amazing!

It's simply amazing how fast kids pick up on stuff. I know I always say Cohen never ceases to amaze me but...he seriously never ceases to amaze me. I just didn't know that he would understand SO much when he was just 16 months old. And who knows how long he has been understanding me and I just didn't know it. (Looks like I need to be careful what I say :)

Two days ago while looking at a picture book I decided to ask him questions about where things were instead of me pointing to them and saying what they were. To my surprise Cohen knew what most of the items were on his own including items that I wasn't really even pointing out before (pants, bowl, peach, etc.). I had no idea he could do this and was in total amazement. Then I would say a word he's never said a few times and he would repeat me (This I've gotten use to because he's learning words at such a fast rate). Then to further amaze me I flipped through a book of animals (about 25) and told him what each was, some of which he has never seen before. Then I flipped to a page where there were a whole bunch in a row and asked him to point to specific animals...I'm telling you my kid is a GENIUS!!!! He pointed out almost every animal correctly even though he'd only seen a few of them once. Then to even further impress me, while driving in the car later that day I asked him what a cow said and when he was right I asked him all his other sounds. He didn't get a single one wrong plus he got a few that I didn't think he would. The reason I was was so impressed was because I was under the impression he only knew his sounds by "looking" at the picture not by hearing the word.

Because he understands so much these days I can't tell him it's time to go to bed and I have to find other ways to get him upstairs. The other night I asked him where his books were and if he could show me. He immediately walked towards the stairs , up them and took me to his books. As long as I kept asking him where they were he didn't get distracted before he actually showed me. Then tonight I asked him if he could show me where his bedroom was, I wasn't sure he actually knew but I was wrong. He walked out of my room and right up the stairs again. This time he wasn't falling for my trickery. He pointed to his room as he walked right past it and onto some books laying on the floor. What a smarty pants.

Pathetic!

My little baby is growing up so fast, he hit his 16 month mark yesterday....what's pathetic is I'm so behind on my blogging that the last post was his 15 month accomplishments. I've been missing all kinds of events but the truth is I've been so busy with other stuff blogging has just been pushed to the way side.

Ninety-five percent of the time Cohen is a joy to be around, he is such a happy kid with a good spirit. The other five percent of the time he is teething, which leads to not sleeping then to crankiness, then to throwing food on the floor because he doesn't want to eat it (including cookies), and the crankiness + his age also leads to testing boundaries of things he knows he shouldn't be doing. None the less I LOVE being his mom and my favorite sound in the world is his laugh. It brightens my day and everyone around him when he flashes you a smile because his whole face lights up. You know you have an extra happy kid when everyone you pass in public comments on how cute and happy your baby is because he is smiling at them. Here are his newest accomplishments and things I want to remember. It always amazes me how much he understands.

~ His top left tooth (next to the front tooth) FINALLY came in, now we're waiting on the right one.
~ He adds to his vocabulary almost everyday. Lately he has been picking up on 3-5 words a day. Here is his list of words he says, some of them are way more consistent than others: Hi, Mama, Dada, Hot (when he points to the fire place, humidifier, oven, or a steaming pot), cookie, cracker, nana (banana) out there (he points out of his room), off, on (when he wants to turn the fire place off and on), gum-ma (grandma), papa (grandpa), no no, yeah, yes waTer (he exaggerates the T), balloon, ball, yuck, uh oh, oops, ouch, tank ewe (thank you), home, clock, more, dance, apple, kitty, meow, ish (fish), car, truck, brr (for cold), peach, pooh bear, tiga (tigger), I also had a scarf laying over the couch and I told him what it was and he kept saying scuf over and over, but I'm not sure he'll remember that one tomorrow. He makes the sounds for a cow, pig, rooster, duck, kitty, frog (rib), monkey, bears and lions he says roar for, heehee for a horse, hiss for a snake, and the funniest is when he blows air in and out of his nose when I ask what a bunny does.
~ As of Sunday he's walking every where now. Before he would just walk when he wanted to but now he only wants to walk.
~Now that he's walking all the time he also wants to dance more. He use to just kind of jump up and down for his dancing but his new and improved moves include wiggling his bum from side to side and turning back and forth at the waist.
~He's got really good hand eye coordination. He stacks Lego's together and he loves taking caps/lids off things and putting them back on. He's also really good at shapes. We got him one of those balls that has like 10 shapes and if you tell him which hole to put it in he will twist the shape until he get it in there.
~Finds his belly button...not just mine
~kicks his soccer balls
~clicks his tongue
~drinks from a cup
~ Two nights ago after Cohen ate dinner we were going to run errands, we both got ready and in the mean time he picked up his tiger. We were walking out of my bedroom door and I said "lets leave the tiger here" so he dropped him. I continued to walk out the door and in to the living room to get my purse. I set him down and he walked back into the bedroom and came back out with his tiger. I let him take the tiger with us but as soon as we got into the car he chucked him on the ground. After we were done running errands I was getting everything out of the car and I didn't have enough hands so I was shoving stuff in bags, including his tiger. We went in the house and I put the bags down and went into the bedroom to get Cohen ready for bed. As soon as I set him down he disappeared out the door, I gave him a min by himself because I could hear him making noises in the living room and knew he was fine. All of a sudden he comes walking back into the bedroom with his tiger! Apparently he had watched me put the tiger into the bag in the car and watched where I set the bag down because he had no problem finding his tiger. The funny thing is he really doesn't even care about the tiger that much, so when he came back in the room and he saw his teddy bear sitting in his rocking chair he dropped the tiger and crawled up into the chair next to the bear to watch a few cartoons while I tried to get him ready for bed.

15 Months!!

Wow, it seems like I just barely posted Cohen's 14 month milestones. I guess it's probably because I posted those late. But here they are...

* Walking!!!
* Saying the sounds for a pig, cow and rooster (even though the pig kind sounds a little like a duck, the moo is more like boo and the rooster is cocka) He has made the sound for a duck (which is NOT the same duck sound as his pig) but he doesn't say this one consistently.
* Pointed to a box of crackers and said crocka
* Repeated the word Truck when we were walking to Josh's truck
* Went down the slide by himself (although we never let him try it before now)
* Is about to be breaking his 5th tooth on top (right now we just see the bump)
* Waves every time we are walking away from people
* Learned how to kick a soccer ball
* Drank actual hot chocolate for the first time...and cried for a second when it was gone.
* And one time crawled out my bedroom door, up the stairs and into his bedroom a few minutes before his bedtime because he was tired. Does my kid love sleep or what?

Jack-O-Lantern Dinner!

Last year I found this recipe for a Jack-O-Lantern dinner in my sister's cook book and thought it looked fun. I think it has now become a Halloween/Fall tradition for our family. This is our second year of doing it and it's just as fun the second year. Placing a whole pumpkin in the middle of your table on a cute platter just sets the tone for the season and doubles as your center piece. If any of you are willing to sacrifice your pre-carved pumpkin give it a try. Josh loves it, I don't love the flavor of pumpkin and cooking the dinner in the pumpkin gives it a slight pumpkin taste. So it's not my most favorite "food" recipe but I love cooking the pumpkin whole. Plus is keeps your food warm for hours. I think I might take a soup to our ward Halloween party in the pumpkin instead of a crock pot.

Jack-O-Lantern Dinner

1 sm. to med. pumpkin

¾ c. chopped onion

1 to 2 T. butter

1 ½ lbs. ground beef

2 T. soy sauce

2 T. brown sugar

1 (4 oz.) can mushrooms

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 ½ c. cooked rice

1 (4 oz.) can sliced water chestnuts, drained (optional)

Start cooking your rice according to package directions. Cut off the pumpkin top and clean out all seeds and stringy pulp. Sauté onions in butter or oil in a large skillet. Add meat and brown. Drain off grease. Add soy sauce, sugar, mushrooms, and soup. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes. Add cooked rice and simmer an additional 5 minutes. Pour mixture into pumpkin. Replace pumpkin top. Place the filled pumpkin on a baking sheet and bake at 350˚ F for one hour. The pumpkin itself should be tender when removed from the oven. Yields 5 to 6 servings.

Play date!

Last Friday Brooke and Chase decided to come over and play. Our husbands have what we consider as undesirable work schedules that sometimes leave us feeling like we are stuck in our house all day and into the night seeing no one but our 1 year old. Anyway, Cohen and Chase don't play with other kids their age much so we decided that they need to start so they learn to play nice. When Cohen plays with older kids, its fine because they put up with what he does and think its funny when he pats them roughly in the face (aka, hitting) but when it's kids his age he occasionally makes them cry (sorry Chase and Kayla). Anyway, Cohen has this fun little 4-wheeler that he got for his birthday, which I have already posted about him riding a few months ago. This time Chase and Cohen took a ride together. Chase doesn't know how to drive it but the first ride they took he accidentally kept leaning on the button so they were able to go. After that we let Cohen drive. It was fun having them play together and made our day go by SO much faster! Now we know the true value of a play date.

Walking!!!

I guess standing was a really good start. Last Sunday he walked 2 steps in church from one row to the other (he was trying to get to some kids, he loves kids so they are a great motivation to walk I guess) the chairs were a little out of his reach so he walked. Then the next day he walked 4 steps from his toy box to me, the rest of the night he didn't want to crawl anywhere. He just kept grabbing my hand and pulling me to where he wanted to go so he could walk there. Then last night after we had eaten dinner, Josh's dad was holding him and set him back a ways from him but still facing him and he just walked to him. Just like that, all of a sudden he decided he was going to walk and within a few min he was walking back and forth across the room from person to person. Sometimes he would get the person, stop and redirect to someone else. He loved getting so much attention he just kept going, and going and going for at least a half hour. He was getting such a good work out he was sweating. Plus he's so excited and animated when he walks that he hyperventilates when he does it. Its really funny. It kind of reminded me of when I was young and just learned how to do something like a back hand spring or back tuck in gymnastics and would keep doing it over and over until I was so tired I wasn't even landing on my feet anymore. What a fun thing for him to learn. But sad that he's so big.

Standing is a start

Cohen is the funniest kid. He wants to do everything in his own time...which is perfectly fine with me (although if you would have asked me if it was fine when I was in labor, I probably wouldn't have said that was okay considering I was over due and then after being induced was still in labor for 18 hrs) But he's never been in a rush to do anything, which again is fine with me but I know he's getting to an age where he needs to be walking. Anyway, anytime you would try to get him to walk and he would realize that's what you were doing, he would sit down as fast as he could. The last few weeks or so he has been standing next to things without using his hands...but yesterday he finally figured out he could stand up in the middle of the room all by himself. He's so proud of himself. He even tries to dance while standing. Woohoo! Progress!

Gap baby's got nothin on him!

These are Cohen's 1 year pictures taken at 14 1/2 months. So...I'm a little late! I wanted to get really nice family pictures because since Cohen has been born we have never gotten family pictures. Anyway, I was waiting to do Cohen's 1 year pictures at the same time so they would be really nice but the girl I wanted to go to couldn't get us in until Oct. Our pictures were scheduled for last Monday but something came up and we weren't able to go. At that point I decided I would take them myself. I know nothing about cameras. My first attempt would have been perfect...except my cabinet guy was installing cabinets much later than I thought he would be (I'm not complaining about him being there because at least I'm finally getting cabinets 2 years later) so we didn't get started until later than I wanted. It was getting dark so fast that the shutter had to stay open super long...and trying to get a 1 year old to hold perfectly still was impossible. Almost all my pictures were blurry. Ugh!! I was so frustrated because I LOVED the background and Cohen was being super smiley. I decided for one more attempt before my mom left town and Cohen was not nearly as smiley, he definitely didn't think the same things were funny as he did the night before. By the end of our photo shoot, he wouldn't respond to ANYTHING. I was supper annoyed the whole time because some of the places I wanted to shoot were in full sun and so I had to use places I didn't like as much. By the end I at least ended up with enough good pictures to be satisfied. I think I will sit down and read the manual to the camera before the next photo shoot. Here a few of my favorites. P.S. The only editing, if any, I did was fix the lighting, I promise I did not make his eyes more blue or his lips more red...my baby is just naturally adorable :) (words you hear from every mom's mouth)

More pics

New Beanie

I just had to post really fast about how cute my Coco Puff's new beanie is, plus I was trying his coat on him that I bought a few weeks ago to see how it fit. Amazingly if he had his coat on, he kept the beanie on, when the coat came off...so did the hat. At least he knows they go together.

14 Month Accomplishments

A few days ago Cohen hit his 14 month mark. I just wanted to document all the new things he's been doing lately.

* Saying "Hi" to everyone
* Saying "Uh Oh!" when he drops something
* Standing by himself and took 2 steps
* Waving bye with his fingers and not just his arm
* Pops the popcorn when we sing Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree
* Drops his pacifier in his crib all by himself after every time he wakes up
* Got his 2nd top tooth
* Started doing squats next to me when I would do a dip while holding onto the hearth of the fireplace
* Sat in his first booster seat instead of a highchair at a restaurant
* Gives high/low fives and tens
* Gets shy and lays his head on mine or Josh's shoulder when a girl smiles at him
* Love to sit in our lap to watch cartoons
* Helps put away his toys by dropping them into the toy box
* Can point to Mommy's belly button
* Can find Tigger out of the Whinnie the Pooh characters


Sitting in his booster seat for the 1st time choosing what he wants off the menu.

Riding up to Sun Crest

Today was an exciting day! My neighbor Andrea and I have been talking about riding up Sun Crest mountain (the backside of point of the mountain) for the last few weeks and today we did it!! Woohoo! It was actually really fun and there wasn't a single point where I wanted to quit or thought it was too much to handle because my goal was the top. We rode from our house to the top which was 22 miles in an hour and a half and burned over 1,000 calories. I think I want to do this a few more times before it gets too cold. It was a really good work out and after good work outs like that all you want to do is come home and eat healthy and not let the 1,000+ calories burned go to waste.

Petting Zoo

I practically had to beg Josh to go to the petting zoo at Thanksgiving Pt with Cohen and I because he didn't really think Cohen would enjoy it, but he was pleasantly surprised and was glad we went. Cohen would hold onto the fence and pull himself over so he could get a better look at the animals. He pet the horses, sheep, goats, bunnies and a cow and took his VERY FIRST PONY RIDE!!!! He is such a big boy already, I don't know where the time has gone.

Last minute Cabin Trip

A few weeks ago we took a trip to our cabin with Josh's cousin Justin and his wife Michelle and little boy Brayton. Cohen was sick before we went (surprise, surprise) and was on an antibiotic which gave him a rash. I swear we had a different child that weekend. I have never seen him act the way he acted but the poor kid had a rash all over his whole body and was breaking a tooth, who wouldn't be grumpy?? The whole trip was a bust for eating out. The first night we tried to go this restaurant in Jackson Hole our friends recommended, we weren't sure what to expect. The cheapest plate you could order was $20, then you waited along with EVERYONE else to be seated (this was probably over 500 people) then they explained how everyone would go by tables, get your silverware and tin plate then through an assembly line and get your meat, baked beans, baked potato, applesauce, cornbread and lemonade. Doing this carrying Cohen was already hard but eating was the real task. Cohen would not sit still, his rash was making him so miserable that eating our food was almost impossible. Plus the food wasn't that great. Part of the $20 is to pay for the entertainment that starts after all the food is cleared away. It was a bunch of Cowboys playing their guitars and singing. It was already past Cohen's bedtime and he wasn't happy to start with so we only stayed for about 20 min out of the 1 1/2 hr show. The whole experience might have been better enjoyed without an itchy little boy.

While waiting to be seated at the Bar J. Chuck wagon, Cohen entertained himself with the bears.


The next day we had planned on going to this pizza place that was in town. We've heard from the locals that the place is amazing so this time we scheduled it into our meals. But when we went to eat there it was closed. So we decided to go to this Bar and Grill that we've been wanting to try. We went in and the place was full but everyone had their food except one table. We ordered and then began to wait...and wait...and wait...for 1 HOUR! The one table that didn't have their food when we came in was a table of 8 guys, they ordered their food, got their food, ate their food and left before we even saw the waitress again. When we finally talked to the waitress we asked what was taking so long she said they were just now cooking our food. We asked why it took an hour just to start cooking 3 hamburgers and some chicken strips, she didn't know. We asked to talk to the manager and when he never came...we left. We didn't care that our food was almost out, by that time we were so annoyed we didn't want to eat there unless it was free. After waiting so long it was time for both Cohen and Brayton's naps so we had Josh and Justin take us back to the cabin while they went in search of food. We had spotted this hot dog place that was open so they were going to go back there. Turns out they only take cash...who carries cash these days?? So after 3 hours of trying to eat lunch in a small town with nothing open and bad service the boys returned home and we ate leftovers. We usually bring food for every meal, we just though this time we'd try a few of the local places out and see if they were any good. Unfortunately we were still unable to try anything out...except the Huckleberry shakes from the Emporium. Those were so delicious we got one every day!

Behind on my blogging...again!

I haven't blogged in over a month. The more I got behind the less motivated I became to catch up...and every time I thought about blogging I was overwhelmed by all the things I have been letting pass by. So here I am with probably only 10-20 min left of Cohen's nap which isn't nearly enough time to catch up my last month of slacking but a half of a blog is a start...right?

Just before school started Cohen and I went to the Dinosaur Museum with some of the neighbors, I think Cohen had more fun with all the kids than the actual museum itself.

Swinging Deal!!

I've been wanting to get Cohen a baby pool all summer but when I went to get the one I wanted, they were sold out...even online. So he never got his pool, until now! We were at Walmart the other day and saw a kiddie pool on sale for $5! I realize its nearing the end of summer but for $5 he could use it once and get our money's worth. Anyway, I blew up his pool and he LOVES it empty and loves it a little bit less when its full of water. He really likes that he can get in and out whenever he wants all by himself. He was so excited to play in his new pool I couldn't even get him all the way dressed before he was in the pool. He' still got on his jammy shirt!

Williams Family Reunion at the Cabin

This last weekend we went our cabin for my side of the family reunion. Not everyone was able to be there because work wasn't permitting but we still had a good time. We fished in the ponds that are on the golf course that the cabin sits on, went on walks, painted, played games, went into Jackson and did a scenic chair ride and Alpine slides. Plus we ate LOTS of food. With half of our party being kids 6 and under it was pretty chaotic most of the time but we still enjoyed our time away from our regular life. Even though we kept talking about getting a group picture it never happened... so here are a few random pictures from the weekend.

My niece Ila watching the other kids fish.
Brandon helping Audrey, Cai and Corbin.
I haven't been fishing in years. I cast 3 times and what do you know...third time's a charm!! I'm a pretty amazing fisher woman. My fish is flippin' around so you can't see how HUGE he really is in the picture.
Our little family at the park just about to go up the ski lift.
At the top of the mountain, over looking Jackson, Wyoming.

Biker Babes!!

My sister got me into biking a few years ago but a good portion of the last 2 years I couldn't bike because it was either too cold, I was too far pregnant or recovering from a c-section, so that pretty much shot my warm summer months to get out and be active. This summer I've been trying to fit in all my summer activities that I love. I always went biking and climbing with my sister and some of her neighbor friends. Sadly my sister moved to Colorado a few weeks ago and there went my biking, climbing, swimming partner and good friend. Although we haven't been as close in the past year as we were before (on top of other projects she went back to school and has 3 kids and then I had a baby, which just didn't leave as much flexibility as we had before to hang out) she is still the best sister I could ever have and she will be missed.

Thankfully, many of the husbands in the neighborhood go biking together and most of them have been trying to talk their wives into going with them for quite some time. I haven't been successful in talking my own husband into going but I did manage to tell one of our neighbor friends to put more pressure on his wife to go with me. Soon after we had talked a few other neighbor girls into going too. It's been so fun! Its a fun girls morning out, a good work out and a good neighborly bonding past time. I will be so SAD to see summer go. Summer got such a late start this year I'm really feeling jiped.

Me, Andrea and Jamie after our ride. This was Jamie's 2nd time!! Woohoo! Good job Jamie! PS. The boys make fun of us for wearing skirts and bringing a camera, but my theory is if I'm not going to be as good as them, I might as well look cute doing it and be able to document it.
Taking a picture break!
Autumn, Kirsten, Andrea, Me, Jamie

Welcome Savannah Chase!!!

Megs had a rough time getting her here but Savannah finally made her entrace the day after Cohen's birthday. I went to the hospital to see her today and she is ADORABLE. She's a really good mix of both Josh and Megan. I'm sure megan won't super appreciate me posting this picture, because she's in her attractive hospital gown but I thought it was still cute. Besides Megan just had a c-section...be amazed she's standing up, she's doing awesome!

Riding the 4-wheeler

One more thing to add to his Birthday post, as you saw in the picture below he got a 4-wheeler for his birthday. He caught on really fast; this was his first ride by himself. We couldn't help but laugh because he was so cute and we didn't want to stop him from running into the buffet because he was doing so good!!! He's such a big boy already.

Happy 1st Birthday Cohen!!!

I'm a little late getting this post up but I was trying to in sequence of events on getting caught up. Cohen's birthday was this last Sunday, I can't believe he is already 1, it seems like I was JUST pregnant. Here are some pictures of his fun day!


I'm definitely not going to win any cake decorating contests but it worked for a 1 year old.

Delicious!!
Cohen on his new powered 4-wheeler. He's such a stud!

Cohen has always been such a wonderful easy going baby, which has made it easy to love him to death and enjoy every second of being a mom. Here are 12 of my favorite things he has been doing lately in his 12 months of life:

1. calling me mama
2. pointing to everything he wants to touch
3. laying his head on my shoulder after a nap (he RARELY does this so I love it when he does)
4. follows me around the house
5. lays right in mine or Josh's laps while we are eating on the floor in the bedroom, moans when he wants another bite and stays there until our food is gone
6. chooses books over toys when I'm giving him the choice
7.turns the pages and lifts the flaps in books when you tell him too
8. knows exactly how to find his pacifier and slides his hand on the ribbon until he reaches the pacifier then pops it into his mouth
9. how he LOVES kids and gets so excited when he sees them
10. how he usually has a smile on his face and how hard he laughs when you tickle his back
11. when you lay him down in his crib he rolls over as fast as he can, stands up and starts jumping and giggling
12. crawling after Josh down the hall when he is leaving for work (he's got his daddy wrapped around his finger)

4th of July!

It was a hard decision for me but at the VERY (and I mean very) last min I decided to drive to Fallon with Daren and Amanda for the 4th of July. It was maybe the only time this year I was going to see my brother who lives in Arizona so I decided I should go. It just worked out that my sister was picking up her 2 boys (who my mom had taken home with her for a week so my sister could go house hunting in CO) so if I didn't go I was going to be missing a party. We spent both days at the lake. Cohen had a blast. He LOVES kids. I guess he's like his momma and loves to meet new people and make new friends.

Cousins in town

My sister-in-law Natalie was in town for a week so my mom also came into town to be able to see her and the kids while they were here. We decided to pick up some dinner and go to the park so all the cousins could run around. We were suppose to go get professional pictures with all of the cousins but Cohen got a bruise on his face and Kooper fell out of her stroller and got a black eye, the day before we were getting pictures. We decided to hold off on the pictures until next time. But here are Cohen and Kooper (only 3 weeks apart) they are so fun together because they are in the same stages.

More pictures of Cohen 10-11 months

Happy Father's Day!
If you look closley Cohen's 2 bottom teeth are coming in...finally!

At the Cabin

We went the cabin with the Conklins and the Ercanbracks at the end of May, over mine and Josh's 5 year anniversary weekend. Wow! I can't believe its already been 5 eyars. Anyway, we had a lot of fun while we were there. There are quite a few little fishing ponds within walking distance so the boys went fishing. Josh took Cohen and even though it was pretty cold outside Cohen loved it. He is such a content good little boy, we love him to death. Near the end of our weekend away, Cohen came down with a HORRIBLE flu that kept him puking for 6 days. Cohen is not much of a crier, but on about the 5th day of puking he had started to cry it and made me cry because I knew he would only cry if he was REALLY hurting or feeling so crappy he just couldn't take it anymore. I just felt so bad for him and wished I could do something to actually make him feel better. Its sad when you're babies are sick.