A Snow Day

Shoveling with Daddy

My First Hosting Thanksgiving

For some reason I felt very strongly that I wanted to be in charge of Thanksgiving this year. I enjoyed choosing the menu. I wanted it to be like we had when growing up in WV. We had grandma's homemade chicken and noodles, turkey, stuffing, corn, rolls, and  homemade mashed potatoes. It all turned out and was ready to eat and warm at the same time. I have to say for it being my first time it was a success. We are all stuffed. We had it at mom's house because she has more room in her kitchen. Mom was unable to be here because she is in WV. Uncle Van, Hyrum, Todd, Brandon, Chris, Cooper, and myself enjoyed a great Thanksgiving together!

So Much To Be Thankful For

Each year I think, "Hey, I'm going to do one of those things where you post something you're thankful for each day." Then, I realize it's a little unrealistic for me. Life is busy! And, I'm trying to enjoy those moments and things I'm thankful for. See it's THANKSgiving, I figured it's time I write a few things down.

• A hardworking, determined husband.
• A son that makes me smile each day.
• The sound of laughter in my home.
• The gospel of Jesus Christ.
• A warm home to live in.
• Great neighbors.
• Wonderful friends.
• Amazing family.
• A job to help support my family.
• The goal to be a stay-at-home mom.
• Food! Lots of yummy food!
• Modern medicine.
• My church-calling in the Young Women's.
• A sister-in-law on a mission.
• Missionary work.
• Temple marriage and the knowledge of eternal families.
• My Savior, Jesus Christ.
• Photography.
• A mom that is truly my best friend.
• A brother that I've drawn closer to as we've gotten old. A man that I love and look up to and who is an AMAZING uncle to Cooper.

There are so many more things to be thankful for. The list is endless. I am blessed.

He's TWO!

I can't believe MY BABY is TWO! Where have the past two years gone!? He makes me smile each day. I love the excitement and curiosity he has for life. He is a sweet, but bold child. He is adventurous and silly. He's full of energy. He loves anything to do with sports. He will watch it and play it. He has great hand-eye coordination. He has a great golf swing, an amazing football throw, and a point-on kick!  He loves people and makes friends easily. He is talking a lot! I wish I knew what he was saying. He isn't a picky eater, which is great! He loves muffins, oatmeal, corndogs, and yogurt with sprinkles. He loves Winnie the Pooh and Curious George. He wakes up each morning to watch Curious George and then he wants breakfast. He also loves foxes so we celebrated with a fox cake. It was a wonderful party with family. He truly is loved (and spoiled) by so many.

Sports, sports, sports!

To say Cooper loves sports is an understatement. We celebrated his birthday with Nana two days early because she was going out of town. She got him this bat with a ball. That night I went in to check on him and this is what I found. 

He plays sports all day long. He kicks it, throws it, swings at it. He plays with tennis balls, baseballs, basketballs, footballs, soccer balls, and golf balls! He's just like his daddy was at that age.

My Wonderful Grandma

My mom gave me the news yesterday that my grandma is having liver failure. After thinking of this news all day, I knew I needed to call my grandma and tell her how much she means to me and how grateful I am that she was able to help raise me, even though I knew it would be a difficult call. I shared what I needed to say and she told me how proud she was of me and the life I've created--- having a home, education, kid, etc. She told me she hoped I felt she had helped raise me well, which of course I do. We laughed a little and I tried not to let her hear how badly I was crying on the other end. Though we hope and pray that doctors will be able to fix her heart and that her liver won't be so bad that they can't just remove part of it, she isn't doing well. I don't know if it will be the last time I speak with her or not. I am in tears. She is an incredible woman who I love and admire. She is strong and sassy. She speaks her mind. She has these soft kissable cheeks. She's a wonderful cook. I thought I would die when my mom moved us from WV to UT when I was young. At that time I truly believe I loved my grandma more than my mom. She just got me... spoiled me more like it. Though I missed her greatly, it was the greatest thing my mom could have done for us. My mom is now my best friend. I love her more than words can say. Though I hope it is not the last conversation with my grandma, I'm grateful I was able to speak with her and tell her how much she means to me. At the end, she told me to give Cooper kisses for her and bravely told me the doctors were going to fix her. I love her. Oh, how I love her.

Surgery a Success

Cooper's surgery was a success. The doctor said he can usually see nose when he goes in to take adenoids out, but it was so swollen he couldn't see past adenoids. His left ear was blocked off better than ear plugs could have blocked the sound. Doctor said he had a bad sinus infection. They cleaned out everything. He should do a lot better now. He is very cranky and sad, but doing well. He only wanted daddy after surgery.

His oxygen was low so he has to have some by him. He let George have some, too.

The job! The job!

I'm excited to say that Chris got the job he was been waiting to hear about for 3 weeks! He is the new manager of Weber State's Indoor Practice Facility. We are happy and relieved that he will have a full time job kind of in his career field. He's very excited! We are all happy he will still be close to home and working in what he loves, sports! He will have his own office and the new facility is BEAUTIFUL! Pictures to come! So proud of my hubby! He has worked so hard for this!

Happy Halloween!

We decided to dress Cooper up as Mr. Frederiksen from the Disney movie "Up" this year. His costume turned out even better than I expected! When Eileen and I spotted the coat, we knew it was more than perfect! I bought his little bottle cap pin on Etsy. We had a lot of fun visiting grandparents and aunts/uncles. Happy Halloween!

And we couldn't help but laugh when Pawpaw Todd was dressed as a scout for Halloween!

Twinners

These two showed up to church in the same outfit today. They are meant to be best friends!

Stressed

Life sure is overwhelming. I just want to cry. I think I have been so stressed lately that I have daily headaches. I just can't seem to figure life out. I know we're supposed to count our blessings, but it's hard when it seems like everything is going wrong. Chris has struggled to find work since March. His career field is small and specific. We have been living off of a little of our savings each month. We've gone from over $3000 in savings to just over $500. It's dwindling and it stresses me out. And the joys of being a home owner! Our garage door needs replaced, our doorbell needs fixed, and we have a huge hole in our downstairs living room due to a leak in the bathroom. We have been down to one car since March. The other is broke down in the garage. The list goes on and on. To top it off, I can't find anyone I trust to watch Cooper while I'm working. I can't send him to a daycare. It terrifies me that he will be molested. I am just torn. And we just found out that Cooper's left eartube hasn't been working and may have to have eartubes put back in. That's $1500 out of pocket. Life is incredible stressful right now. I just want to be home with my boy. I want to be the one to take care of him. I don't want to spend my paycheck paying for someone else to watch him. However, we also want to be self-reliant. We aren't big spenders. We have never had internet or cable. We just want to provide for ourselves and live with what is necessary in life. We don't want to make so little that we live off the government either. We just want to provide for ourselves. We do have so many blessings though. We have a home. We have a car. We have food. We have amazing friends. We have the church. We have jobs. We are providing for ourselves. I just need a break from real life. A vacation would be nice. One of these days. I just need to be grateful that we have what we have and that things aren't worse. I know things always work out it's just a matter of me being patient.

2013 Family Photos

We had our annual family photos taken by White Dandelion Photography. We loved the fall colors and were able to have pictures with Mom, Todd, and Brandon. It was nice and I love the images. I am so grateful for family.

{Pictures to come.}

Best Friends

I am so glad that Cooper already has a best friend. His name is Sam. Cooper calls him "Mas" and Sam calls Cooper "Booker." They love the play together. They say good night at the window each night when they go to bed. They are growing so fast!

Loved

Cooper is loved beyond words by so many. He enjoyed playing with his aunts on the iPad. It was a good laugh for us all.

Weber State!

Chris, his dad, and his grandpa used to go to Weber State games all the time. Now Cooper gets to go with His dad and grandpa. It's fun having Chris sit with us because he is usually working the Ames, but not anymore. We had a lot of fun! Cooper plays football and days football all day long so he loved it! He was even saying, "Go cats!"

Streaker!

Cooper keeps taking his diaper off lately. I put it back on and went upstairs to finish getting ready for church. I came back downstairs and he was standing there, butt naked, playing the iPad. Hilarious! He has his daddy's butt!

Pumpkin Time!

We went to the pumpkin patch with our really good friends, the Roses and the Bennions. The adults and kids alike had a blast! We played in the courtyard on the slides, took a train ride, and ran around. We also took a ride to the pumpkin patch and picked out our pumpkins! We ended the night with Crown Burger... mmm!!! A very fun night!

Fishing at the Fish Farm

Chris' parents called us Monday evening and wanted to take Cooper to a local fish farm in North Ogden to catch some fish for Family Home Evening. We all enjoyed it. Cooper enjoyed throwing the food in the pond, helping hold the rod, and watching the fish wiggle. He would watch them and start wiggling like them. It was pretty funny! We had a blast. I love looking at the pictures. It reminds me of just how lucky I am to have such wonderful inlaws and just how much I love my two boys. Life is good!

Our Little Athlete

Cooper loves any sport that has a ball in it. He loves baseball, football, and soccer. I tell him to get his bat ready and he gets the bat up on his shoulder where is should be (regardless as to whether he actually has a bat in his hands or not). Anything long and skinny will do. If all else fails, he'll just act like he has one. He's swinging all day. He throws balls all day. He loves to kick them, too. When he sees a hoop or basketball he says "b-ball." He is a spitting image of his dad. He also likes golf. We took him to the driving range with us on a little family date night and he thought it was the coolest thing. He would put the ball down for dad. He loved watching Daddy hit balls. He would say "woooooe!" He liked to hit a few as well. He would look both ways before swinging. It was hilarious and adorable! We love our Cooper!

{Pictures... and maybe video... to come!}

Mommy's Silly Boy

This kid makes me smile and laugh on a daily basis. Love him!