3 months old, reunions, and Sam's baby blessing

Sam's Three Month Photos:

Warning: This post is going to be full of pictures!

We have been really busy since I last posted, so I'll try to summarize what we've been up to. 

July 22-26: All of Don's immediate family came into town for a family reunion.  We went camping at Olive Ridge Campground, near Estes Park, went to Rocky Mountain National Park and drove Trail Ridge Road, went on an awesome hike to Calypso Cascades in Rocky Mountain, went mountain biking daily, and ate lots of great campfire treats.  I was tentative about camping with Sam since he was only two months old, but thanks to the Wilsons and their wonderful tent trailer and our neighbors, Linda and Judith, and their Moses basket, Sam slept really well and turned out to be a really great camper!  I think some of his best nights were during this camping trip.  I don't know if it was the cold or being totally worn out, but he only woke up once each night, which was miraculous for us!

Mom Conkey and RJ - Christine's dog

April, Brian and Isaac - happy to be back in the mountains again!

This was just a classic moment with Wendi (doing something artistic), Ben (striking a pose) and Don (just enjoying his surroundings).

Sam loves his Grandpa Curtis!

Hiking to Calypso Cascades

Wendi, Christine, April, and me.  People always think that I am just one of the sisters because we all look a lot alike.  I love it and I love them!

On top of Trail Ridge Road

July 25:  The Brunsons had a BBQ in Broomfield to celebrate the Conkeys all being in town.  All of Don's family's friends came along with my parents, brother Mike and sister-in-law Jana, and their kids, and my brother Brian, my sister-in-law, LeAnne, and their kids. It was a great time.

The Conkey clan

July 26:  Don blessed Sam at church and all of Don's family and my family I just mentioned were there. We had a lasagna lunch after and took lots of pictures of Sam in his adorable outfit.  His double chin did manage to hide his cute little bowtie.  He's getting so chunky!

I love these shoes!

My mom bought Sam his blessing outfit.  He looked so adorable!

Grandma and Grandpa Conkey with their two grand babies, Isaac and Sam.

My nieces Madelyn, Breanne, and Abby (L to R)

The Black cousins with baby Sam

Isaac liked wearing Grandpa's glasses

My family

Don's family

July 27:  My wonderful friend and college roommate, Angela, came through town on her way to school in Boston.  She is so amazing and dynamic and so much fun to be around. It was fabulous seeing her!

Lauren, Angie, and me.  We were all college roommates and it was so fun to get together!

August 1:  Don rode the Copper Triangle, which is a bike ride for charity that runs from Copper Mountain over three mountain passes (Freemont, Tennessee, Vail.  Vail is 11 miles of steep uphill after having already ridden 65+ miles of crazy uphill... You know Don!  Always performing some amazing physical feat or another).  We thought it would be a great idea for me to just drive with Don to Copper and then continue on to Vernal since we'd headed in the right direction and were on our way to my family reunion in Orem. It ended up not being such a great idea after all, but it was definitely an adventure. 

Sam decided sleeping wasn't on his agenda the night before, so after being up with him nearly all night and getting about two hours of sleep, we left at 6 am and drove to Copper.  I dropped Don off with Luke and drove to Vail with Sam to wait for Don to finish the race.  Don thought it would take him about 4 hours total to ride the route.  I finally found a place to park in Vail and trekked about 2 miles to watch a senior tennis tournament that was going on.  I thought I'd watch the tournament, see Don ride by in a couple hours, walk around Vail, find some food and go to the finish line.  

At about 1 pm, I started getting really worried.  There was no where to eat (only posh restaurants and huge hotels) and Don still hadn't called me.  He was supposed to be finishing the race at this point and I was still in Vail, so I was really worried I had missed him. Just as I was about to pack up and head back to the car, Don called to tell me he was coming through Vail.  I watched as he and Luke rode past and then waited another hour before driving to meet him in Copper.  

I did have fun at the tennis tournament, though. The old people at it were really nice and liked Sam.  Several people asked me if my husband was playing, which was funny, since it was a senior tennis tournament.  They must have thought I was some young gold digger or something.  Ha!  Since a posh tennis tournament was not exactly the ideal place for a fussy baby, I had to get creative.  I ended up changing Sam's diapers under a bush and hiding a chair in a thicket of trees to breastfeed.

Don had spent an hour that morning playing tetris with all of our stuff to get it to fit into our little car.  I didn't really think about how difficult it would be to get everything back into the car when I pulled things out, but when I got back and was trying to fit the stroller and bike tires and everything else back into the trunk, I had a serious struggle.  Sam was overtired and hungry and this point and began screaming his head off.  It was stressful and he screamed all the way to Copper where we picked up Don and then all the way to Vernal.  I think next time Don does a race or bike ride, I'll get a babysitter and go get a massage or something.  :)  

Don had a great time and did really well on the ride.  I never thought I'd think anyone made spandex look good, but Don definitely does.  

August 2 - 9:  We were in Orem for my family reunion.  The reunion didn't actually start until Wednesday, but we brought our mountain bikes and hit the trails, just like old times!  Don bought me a new mountain bike as a post baby gift since I've been riding a bike that is too small for me for 5 years or so.  I've missed mountain biking so much!  It was great to be back in the saddle again.

Don with Caitlin, Courtney, (the twins) and Spencer, three of my sister Kerri's cute kids.

My mom, Grandma Black, LeAnne (sister-in-law), Kerri (sister), Jana (sister-in-law), and Erin (cousin)

Don playing a crazy kickball game

 

My cousin, Olivia, her daughter Lilian, Sam, and my cousin's husband Ben

My nephew Gabe

Almost all of the Black grandbabies.  My brother Steve and his wife Amber and their three kids weren't able to come, but all the other kids are there.

My niece, Camille

The whole crazy Black clan

My nephew Spencer, the chicken

My niece Courtney

Dave and Jaclyn doing their new age Irish dance. Very funny.

My niece Rachel.  She is such a beautiful girl!

Our bug dance

My nephew Jesse

My niece Breanne right after she lost her tooth.  She was so proud and she told me that the tooth fairy did come.

My niece Abby and nephew Logan

Caitlin

Me and the Cosmonaut (a.k.a Dave)

Logan

Madelyn and Breanne having fun on the slide

Madelyn and Logan

Abby, Jesse, and Courtney

 Courtney, Logan, and Madelyn

Mike and Camille

Sam with Great Grandpa Brown

Sam with Great Grandma Black

On Wednesday, my parents watched all of the kids so we (me and my siblings and spouses) could go to the temple. That night we had a pizza night and played games at a park near my house. Thursday, we took family pictures and went swimming. Friday, we headed up to a cabin near Heber and played in the mountains 'til Saturday morning.  We rode the Alpine Slide at Park City and had a BBQ at home.  Then we had a talent show.  I made up a modern dance with my sister-in-law, Jaclyn about bugs that you can watch below. At the end, Don becomes the exterminator... It was my first and probably only attempt at choreography and I really enjoyed it.  

Sunday, we played games and hung out.  Monday, we drove home and stopped in Vernal to see Don's sister Christine. I loved being with my family so much!  The week flew by so quickly and now we're back at the usual stuff.

Two funny things that my nephew Spencer (6) said during the reunion:

1. "Hey Emily.  I just wanted to let you know (he said this as if he had terrible news), all of your flowers in your room are dead."  I couldn't figure out what he was talking about.  Then, I realized that he was talking about all the bouquets of dried flowers in my room left there from weddings, old boyfriends, etc.  They've been there for years and years, but he thought someone had forgotten to water them and they'd died in my absence. He tried to break it to me gently and looked really surprised when I just laughed and laughed.
2. Spencer was looking at Sam and noticed he didn't have any teeth.  He asked me, "How does he cry without any teeth?" I laughed and told him I was sure he'd still be able to cry if I knocked out all of his teeth.  He later told me that Sam said a word "without any teeth".  He told me he said "hola."  Who knew we had a bilingual kid!  I thought Spencer's fixation with teeth being important for sound making was pretty funny. 

This is my nephew Spencer.  He is hilarious!