Q&A: Sam

1. How did you meet your spouse? As Jessica mentioned, one weekend in Boise I was set up on a blind date with one of her roommates. On this date a group of us decided to watch a movie after attending a single’s dance at Jessica’s place. Right before we started the movie, Jessica got back from a date that she had been on. We started visiting a bit and she warned us that the movie was not going to be very good. After a bit we decided to ignore her warning and we proceeded to watch the movie anyways. Low and behold, as Jessica predicted the movie did not end on my Top Ten List of Favorites. At the end of the night when I returned home and recapped the evening with one of my good buddies, I kept thinking about the really cute little brunet that I meet earlier. Although I was only able to talk with her briefly in a group setting that night, I could tell that she was very sweet and had a very kind heart. In such a short conversation Jessica made a great impression and I hoped that we would somehow have the opportunity to get to know each better somehow, someday. As destiny played out… time had to first run its course before we were able to pick up where we had left off in our conversation during this chance meeting. But as with all of the important things in life, things eventually worked out better then I ever imagined they would.

2. Where did you go on your first date? After a considerable amount of time, destiny dealt me another favorable hand. I was again setup up on another blind date. I have to admit that this particular point in my life I had already been setup up on what seemed like a thousand blind dates that never seemed to work out. I also was rather frustrated with dating and was really not looking for a relationship at this point in time. Nonetheless, I decided to at least go along with the group to the Idaho State Fair. As luck would have it… this blind date was different, and I was setup with a really cute little brunette. At first the date was rather awkward due to some of the surrounding circumstances. But as the night went I on Jessica and I eventually started to warm up one another and started to hit it off. Eventually as the night was drawing to a close, through some crafty engineering, Jessica and I ended up on one final ride together. I did not know at the time that she does not fair well on moving rides, roller coasters, etc… but I soon noticed that she didn’t look like she was feeling so good. Instinctually, I reached out and put my hand on her arm to comfort her. At that moment, both Jessica and I felt our first connection together, which set the course for an enjoyable rest of the evening together. After our first date, Jessica and I kept in contact and eventually started spending some time together as friends. Later in the fall that year, I started taking some classes at the BSU LDS institute and by “chance” I would end up bumping into Jessica as she was walking to her evening class. Usually, we would end up talking for a while under one of large trees next to the building. The more I got to know Jessica during these conversations and as we began spending more time together the more I realized just how beautiful, sweet, and wonderful she is. Eventually we started spending more and more time together. As we did our friendship grew into a deep love and respect for one another. Months later, one afternoon while we were walking in the park together as often enjoy doing, we both finally realized that we had first meet long before during the chance meeting while I was on a blind date with her roommate. She was indeed that cute little brunette that I had hoped to have the opportunity to get to know years before, only now she was more beautiful and incredible then I ever had imagined.

3. What is your favorite memory (or memories) from a Cottam family vacation/get-together? The original family reunion at the beach house in Ventura, CA. where nothing less then epic. I can still remember visiting with our Aunts, Uncles, cousins and Grandparents. The setting was spectacular to say the least…. So Cal. beach , sun, swimming, bogie boarding, and surfing. We had an amazing time enjoying Fiesta in Santa Barbara . But by far my most prized memory of all was waking up one morning to see the glorious site of an old surf dog back in his element. I don’t think I will ever forget the joy of seeing my pops back out in the lineup on a trusty long board. I always knew that he had Southern Californian salt water running through his veins… but at that very moment I think we were all transported back in time and experienced a vision of the much younger pops, kicking it So. Cal style, earning his undisputed title as the beloved “Smooth Dog”.

4. What was your favorite family vacation growing up? (In-laws can tell about their favorite family vacation growing up.) This is a tough one, because there are some many wonderful options to choose from. Mom and Pops always had a wonderful sense of adventure and created wonderful opportunities for us to explore and enjoy new places together. One particular Easter camping trip stands out in my mind. When we were all very young our parents took us on a camping trip to Dead Horse Point in Southern Utah . Not wanting us to miss out on the fun searching for Easter candy my parents proceeded to coordinate the coolest Easter egg hunt that I can remember. I will never forget how much fun we had running around the campground searching the brush, trees and cactus for hidden treasures. If I remember correctly we may have even found a few Easter lizards.

5. How many grand kids do you predict there will be in the family (total, when everyone's done having babies)? I can hope for twenty grand kids… but I will guess 14.

6. What's your favorite Cottam family tradition? I always loved hoping in the family car at Christmas time and cruising around to see the amazing Christmas lights in Hidden Valley . It was always a lot of fun joking around with everyone and seeing all of the houses decked out in tons of lights and ornaments. I do however still wish that we would have been able to pull of our plans for the mega-Cottam Christmas decorations that among many other amazing ideas involved flooding the front yard and turning it into an ice skating rink. I still think that if we would have started in early November, we could have pulled it off!!!

7. What's your favorite meal/food that Mom makes? Although I love all of the food that my mom makes and a lot of my very favorites have already been mentioned by others… I am going to have to go old school on this one. When we were younger we would often load up in the family truckster (the Brown Party Flame and later the Golden Goat) and head off to amazing camping areas in the National Parks and other cool areas across the west. Although these incredible adventures often varied in location, distance, and time duration there was always one constant (that even today) we could bank on… the traditional Cottam camping dinner. This family favorite consists of the following: pork chops grilled on the Coleman camping stove, canned string beans, gravy, and of course the famous camping potatoes. Now if you have yet to enjoy this Cottam tradition, there is one last thing that you must know… a good camping diner is never complete without canned pears or fruit cocktail that has been chilled to perfection in a cool mountain stream or lake. We spent many wonderful evenings enjoying this rugged feast while taking in breath taking scenery and most importantly spending quality time together as a family. To this day when I have any of these foods I can’t help but to be taken back to many of those magical moments we enjoyed while growing together as Cottams. Although this was never the fanciest of meals, for me this has always been exactly what I imagine a good meal in heaven would taste like.

8. What is your favorite Cottam family holiday memory? There are so many good memories to choose from that in a way they blend together as one big happy experience. But if I must pick one single experience it would be the Christmas in Reno when Santa brought us all our first set of skis. I can still remember that we were all so excited upon seeing out good fortune that we all proceeded to get decked out in our whole ski outfit, strap on the ski boots and clip into our skis for a few practice runs around the living room. Excitement ran very high at the Cottam home that Christmas as we all joyfully anticipated our beloved days of glory at Sky Tavern for the Jr. Ski program. I am not sure or not if this was the same Christmas when we were snowed in with a few feet of snow. But if not I do know that we were definitely inspired at that moment to scheme up plans to ski down the road in front of our house and the idea for the infamous ski jump in the back yard. To this day, Mom and Dad swear that this ski jump extended way up onto the roof of our house… and claim that at one point they had the ski and snowboard tracks to prove it. I personally remember things a little differently. I am pretty that Adam, Chris, or Megs will back me up on this… but when it came to our backyard aerial training safety was always our number one priority. With this in mind, even if extending the ramp up to the roof would have meant a lot better approach and some fatty air. Personally I think that it was safe to say that we were always more focused on prepping for Sunday school. Frankly, despite mom and dad’s version of the storey, I know that we would have never wanted to jeopardize our health and future posterity for a few glorious moments for eternal backyard glory.

9. Which of the Cottam kids is going to end having the most children? Chris and Natalie... but I hope that we all give them a good run for their money!!!

10. What is the best piece of advice/lesson you learned from Mom & Dad? Mom and dad always taught us to standup and take accountability for our actions. From a very young age they worked very hard to teach us the importance of personal integrity and helped us to learn that we were in control of our own actions and destiny. On many occasions they loved us enough to not let us take the easy way out and firmly encouraged us to do the right thing. We were also taught us that it was up to us to make the most out of ourselves and to never look for excuses from others when we failed to do so. When successful we were taught the importance of humility and no mater what the circumstances to always look for ways to help others to also be their best. Thank you mom and dad for your fine examples and for helping us become the individuals who we now are.