Sam's cousin, Austin, was born a year earlier than Sam on the 21st of December. Sam's birthday is on December 20th and Lincoln's is on the 28th. So, we had a fun birthday party for all three of them when we got to Utah for Christmas. I made these cute little matchy matchy shirts for the birthday boys and we had a pajama party and had waffles.
Sam didn't want to get his hands dirty, so he opted for the cupcake face plant. Worked pretty good for a while.
But then he gave up, realizing that it was just taking way too long. 
A tradition that started way way back when Jason was on his mission (SO SO long ago) was to Christmas carol...to his girlfriend's (now wife) home. This tradition still remains and now we carol to a few other in-laws as well. This year Annie had a fabulous idea since we all really can't sing that well. We used Kazoos! It was the best idea ever! Hopefully this tradition stands. 
Gary and Sam got matching ties for Christmas...don't they look sharp? 
We went bowling with Gary's family. Sam sure liked it. Looking at all these pictures makes me want to go do these things again with him now that he is even older. I think he would really enjoy these activities even more now. 
Corbin and Sam. Cute cousins. 
Gary and I met up with some friends from New Mexico (all of which no longer live there anymore) and had dinner. It was SO fun to see them all, we sure miss them! Hopefully we can continue to keep in touch in the future. 
Of course, no visit to Utah is complete without a visit to some BYU sporting event. In this case, it was to watch the infamous Jimmer. 
Lunch with some of my dearest friends from my youth. I'm still in my youth, but this was my 'younger youth' :) I miss these girls too! It was really fun to catch up. 
Well, since Gary is sporting the beard, we decided to dress him up in cowboy gear and head out to the Rodeo. We actually went two nights in a row, it was THAT fun! I think Gary was just looking for a good excuse to put on his cowboy hat again. 
Sam feeding the ducks at the Zoo. He was going crazy, I had to stay very close by because he was trying to get in the water! 
For Christmas Gary gave me tickets to go see Wicked which came here to Albuquerque. I'm so glad we went, who knows if we'll ever make it to NYC to see it on Broadway. It was SO worth it. 
Sam in his element. He loves to just lay on our bed and play with whatever 'toys' he can find laying around. I love it too because he is just so darn cute!
One day a long time ago, I was in the kitchen making dinner and Sam came over to my legs and wanted me to pick him up so he could see what I was doing (something he always wants to do). I was trying to get dinner ready and in the oven and so I said to Sam "Go get a chair" and pointed over to a chair...not even thinking he would understand what I just said. Well, Sam went over to the table and started pulling a chair over. I know, he's a genius! :) That was the start (or the end) of a new life for me. Anytime I'm at the counter, Sam walks over to the table and pulls over a chair. He LOVES to help me make dinner and especially cookies or anything sweet. His favorite part is licking off the spatula. He is our little dough boy. 
Another thing Sam loves, are my fuzzy socks. If I leave them around and he finds them...he wants them on his little feet. It's pretty cute and hilarious too. 
All Sam wanted to do all night was crawl over to this big blow-up pumpkin.
One of Sam's FAVORITE things to play with...if he even hears me unscrewing my lid he comes running!
Ok, he #1 favorite thing is his blankie. He loves it on his head, around his neck, over his arm...anyway he can get it to hang on him. 
We had lots of fun visitors for Thanksgiving. Gary's sister Liz and her family came and visited from Arizona. We also had some other local friends as well. We're just glad everyone fit!! And the food was amazing. Oh, I love Thanksgiving!
These two little cousins had lots of fun together. I bet now that they are even older they would have a blast!
We showed the Hall family Old Town. And did some dancing on the stage while we were there.
Also, visited Explora. Love that place!
Yes, I finished taking these for Sam's first year. They obviously got much harder to take as he got older and more mobile. But here he is at 11 months. 
This was on his birthday! We had some friends over for cake.
Getting ready for Christmas.
