We try to keep busy...

Well, I do try to keep busy. This is about the only craft or project I've done since we moved to Portland, but I hope to do more.


I kind of felt like I was at super Saturday (from relief society) every time I worked on painting this for Cohen. Thank you Sabrina for holding a "craft night" to get me started.

Every day Cohen and I go out side to get the mail. I've always looked forward to it... and Cohen has started to catch on too.

These are some of the trees in our little apartment complex. Aren't they beautiful?! They are blooming all around the city right now. I'm teaching Cohen to smell them. He does smell them... and then gets a handful of them, and then tries to eat them. I shouldn't be surprised.

Cohen is fascinated with balloons, and that's an understatement. He has been for a couple of months now, but I can never get the excitement recorded just right. There's a video below. While on our little walk to the mailbox he sometimes pulls me in the other direction so he can get this close to the balloons or "Bo-bo" as he calls them. It's really cute.

I like that my relief society president is good with following through. When I expressed my desire to her to get out more she made sure that Amber called me. Amber is a great mom that is always out and about with her three kids. She told me about the Portland "Ladybug hikes".... and here we have it. The hikes are for 2-5 year-olds (Cohen's too young, oh well) and are basically nature walks that occur every week and rotate between parks in the city. All the little kids wear these ladybug backpacks that have all sorts of fun things in them like cups for dirt, containers for bugs, necklaces that make noise, etc.

The backpack contained a spoon to dig in the dirt. Here our leader, Annie, told the kids to dig in the mole mounds to try to find the hole where the mole came out. I don't think Cohen consumed too much dirt. :)

There were lots of sticks on the ground in one area so they all played pretend magic wands. By the way, Cohen was always leading the pack down the path, and didn't want to focus long.
Did I mention this park was absolutely beautiful? When Portland says "park" they really mean forest. I didn't see a soccer field, but of course I didn't come close to seeing the whole park.
This is what it looks like to walk with Cohen.

Pardon the bare bum....
The evening bath sometimes brings surprises. This is our tub, you can't see the water because Cohen's so high up. Oh dear, this boy likes to climb, and it really scares me sometimes!
Cohen's had this toy turtle since December, and he mostly likes to hit the top button because it plays music of course. Tonight I thought I'd see if he's learning numbers at all, so I asked him where the "1" is and where the "3" is, etc. He's so smart! He knew all the numbers on the first try! I know I'm his mom, so I think he's smart just because he's my son, but I'm impressed that we've never really practiced written numbers, and he knows them.

There is another member to the family. I don't want to leave Josh out. He's loving studying chiropractic. School is pretty much his life right now. Finals are next week so he spends a lot of time studying. I'm happy when I get to see him for dinner and to have him for bath-time with Cohen. He's doing great in school, but we are all excited for our two week break coming up.

Here's the balloon video. I wish it really showed his excitement. This is only a taste.

A visit from the family!

We loved having so many of Josh's family come to visit. Grandma, Cohen, and Takaiya couldn't get enough of each other. Here they are reading stories in Cohen's little tent.

Bath time was a blast with the two cousins. They splashed a lot, and I think Cohen might have even convinced Takaiya that it's okay to lay down in the tub.

On Saturday we went to the lovely Su Lan Chinese Garden in downtown Portland. It's a little oasis in the middle of the city. I couldn't believe how tranquil it was. This is Josh's sister Jessie, and her husband Robbie with my little bug.

Here we have Cohen demonstrating an elephant with Grandma in the Chinese Garden.

I tried to have a cute picture with Cohen, but he was more fascinated with the flowers and leaves than the camera. They were beautiful!

It was so nice to spend some family time with Josh. I'm so proud of him because he's working so hard at school and doing so well, but it certainly keeps him busy.

Dani and Takaiya checking things out.

It really was beautiful.

While we were there a local Chinese school's Yo-yo club had a performance. They were pretty good! I had forgotten that the traditional yo-yo isn't like the one you can buy at the grocery store. There's video below.

The first thing I noticed when we got there was the ground. It looked like tile, but it was lots of small stones neatly organized with moss growing in between.

Thanks to Debbie and Wayne, we went out to Red Lobster. The cousins were captivated by the lobster tank.

He loved to watch them wiggle.

Another great week in Portland

The Zoo!


We went to the zoo with some friends from the ward, and Cohen had a pretty good time.

Here he is sitting on a bronze lion. He liked it a lot and thought he should growl while he was up there.
Cohen loved the elephants! He makes a trumpeting sound and throws his arm in the air when you ask him what an elephant says.

Four one-year-olds at the zoo. It's good for him to get out and see some friends.

It's another great week in Portland. Cohen is constantly surprising Josh and I with funny or cute things. (Yes, there are also enough of the frustrating things to balance everything out.)

One evening while I was making dinner and Josh was doing homework we noticed it got really quiet for a while. We knew something must be going on. What do you know... a minute later we hear Cohen squealing in frustration because he climbed into this tight space and couldn't get out. We laughed hard and wished we could have had the camera out a little sooner.

Some days it's just good to do something different.

Josh forgot a packet for school so Cohen and I brought it to him and then had a picnic lunch on the campus lawn.

I figure Cohen must observe everything I do. I already knew that in my head.... but this week I could actually see what it is teaching my son. Everything is a pretend phone to him right now. What is the most cute is that he talks on the "phone" with it held between his shoulder and ear. In this picture he's doing this with his red car going around the house saying "hello"...... "yes" ..... "ummm" .... "no" ..... and other baby chatter. He's pretty cute.

The sleeping lions.

a haircut and strawberries!

Well, I'm going to attempt to be a good blogger, and update weekly. In the last week we've had some fun! We found out that Cohen likes celery! This is huge because he really won't eat fresh fruits or veggies. Once I figure out how to upload videos (I have one of Cohen eating celery) I'll share some fun ones. Last year I made chocolate covered strawberries for Josh for Valentine's day, and they were such a hit, that I decided to do it again. I'm not a professional by any means - so don't look at the pictures too carefully, but they taste good - and that's what's important.

One of the little rules I've had for Cohen ever since he learned how to climb has been that he's not allowed to stand up on the kitchen table chairs. (He'd usually end up on the kitchen table.) Well, I decided to change my rule. Is that allowed? He begs and begs for my attention whenever I'm in the kitchen preparing food. I don't want to teach him that I'm going to hold him all the time - so I got this idea from a friend in the ward. So far it's a good compromise. He doesn't beg for me to pick him up, and he can see what I'm doing, and I think he's fairly safe as long as I keep an eye on where I place him, and what I'm doing on the counter.

Cohen loves chocolate - just like his mommy. How could he not love the Ghirardelli chips that covered the strawberries? I think that's why he's smiling so much in this picture.

Here they are. I think they turned out better last year. At least they tasted good, and Josh loved them and of course wanted to share them with me.

Grandma (Josh's mom, Debbie) sent a cute Valentine's day package for us. This is a little creature was in it, and I think Cohen likes it. He points out the eyes and even says "eyes."




We finally got Cohen's hair cut again. There is a girl that lives in our ward and in our apartment complex in my same situation (husband at Chiropractic school, she's home with 2 kids) that cuts hair. She did a fantastic job- I think better than the salon I took Cohen to at the end of November.

We put gel in it most days, but it usually wares off in a couple of hours.

Cohen - laughing his head off!

We're still alive and happy!

Since our last post in August, a lot has happened. We're in Portland! Josh is going to Western States University of Chiropractic, and I get to be at home with Cohen. It was sure a whirlwind to get here, but here we are, and everything is going well. Josh loves school and is very excited about being a Chiropractor, and I'm getting used to being a home-maker. Cohen and I have lots of fun while daddy is at school. There is no way I could post everything to catch up, so here are some fun pictures from most recent to past that I just can't leave out.

This is our cute Cohen hanging on to the remote. We don't really watch TV ever, but he likes to hold on to this and dance.

We got a discounted washer and dryer from the Sears Outlet. I highly recommend it to anyone looking! Cohen is such a big helper with laundry. He gets so excited to take the clothes in and out, that it makes it less of a chore for me.

This is our new kitchen on day 2 or so of Portland. Yes, Cohen literally ate in the middle of the kitchen. Our table was buried.

Our living room (again on day 2.) I promise it looks better now.

Some of the view. It snowed when we had only been here for a couple of days. At the time I thought it was no big deal. (2 inches.....) Now I realize it hardly ever gets below freezing here - let alone snow!

I had to pack in Cohen's head for naps during the drive to Oregon. I just hate so see his little head flop over. It can't be comfortable.

Oh, the joys of packing and moving. This is our place in Utah.

Cohen loved opening presents this year! He certainly wasn't timid about it.

Uncle Chris and Cohen playing. Cohen had a blast.

We got a rocking horse for Cohen. Too bad he was deathly afraid of the thing until about a week ago. (only 5 or 6 weeks later)

My family on Christmas day.

We had our pictures taken by my friend Jenny Fejeldsted at the Salt Lake Library. They turned out pretty good. Too bad Cohen was a little cranky that day.

I think I'll always cherish this one.