So much time has passed, there is no way to catch up! Cooper is a speed walker...he totally leans into his walk wherever he goes, it kills me seeing such a small little person take such big steps.

This was from Halloween. Cutest little chicken ever!
He loves to climb and explore, always wanting to be higher so he can check everything out.


Al got him this hat for Christmas, this is Christmas morning. Cooper is the best little pal, I love every second with him.

Newport

We just got back from California with some of Al's family. We had a great time! The weather was great, just a little rain one day. The food was A-MAZ-ING, including Crab Cooker three times and the worlds best donuts. Funny how I never eat donuts at all, but we look forward to the donuts in Newport all year. I am also addicted to Diet Cherry Coke now, that stuff is wonderful. We just played on the beach and ate...that's my kind of vacation.

Cooper loved playing in the sand. Eating it mostly. And all the treasures he found including shells, seaweed, and his favorite, cigarette butts. Between the drool, snot, and sunblock, he had a permanent beard of sand. He was a very good beach baby. Luckily none of us got too sunburned. Al's feet were the only casualties as far as the sun. And now that summer is officially over, I finally have a tan!

weekend

This past weekend was a great one! We started out on Friday going to YC's Mongolian BBQ. I do not recommend it. Stick with Pei Wei's or PF Changs. Then Saturday we got to meet Elder Jeffrey R Holland! He came to Al's parents stake conference and stayed at their house. He is amazing and he gave a wonderful talk the next day at the conference. After meeting Elder Holland we drove up to Cherry (near Prescott) for a BBQ at Al's boss's home. It was so beautiful. Way cooler than the valley, totally green, gorgeous, and the food was to die for. Cooper had the best time crawling around in the grass, dirt, dog poop, etc. There were 6 dogs roaming around and after a while, Coop was enjoying them too. Totally fun weekend!

family pictures

My cousin Emily is a great photographer! I just recently found out that she has been doing this, and she is so talented! She took some of us before Ben left. Cooper was loving her.

Elder Photogenic

Ben, my youngest brother has just left for his mission! He is going to Uruguay. I seriously cannot believe it. He is such a good-looking kid. Not to mention, he is definitely the most photogenic in our family.

A quick update

• Cooper has been crawling for a month or so. It's an army style lizard-ish movement. He CAN crawl up on hands and knees, but when he wants to go fast, he uses the army crawl.

• His favorite thing right now is to pull up on things. It only works if the object is the perfect height, and has something to grip onto.

• His bottom teeth are in and he loves to bite chins, especially mine. It used to be pretty cute but now it really hurts.

• He had his first fever and ear infection last week. Unfortunately he is on antibiotics right now. I tried to wait it out, but the infection did not resolve on its own.

• Climbing all over people, pillows, boxes is very fun for him.

• He has been much more vocal lately.

• Much to our dismay, he has become an active member in a local gang. Kids these days...

Cabin

Some pics from my favorite place in the whole world. The cabin!

6 and 1/2 months

Hi, Dad!

Going after the camera.

Cooper has been sitting up on his own for more than a week now. I think he is teething, but I've thought that for 4 months so what do I know? He is a very happy little guy as long as he is not alone, he likes company and attention. He needs a brother or sister!

The photographer that took our pictures is Rachel Earl with Earl Photography. Their website is earlphotography.com. I highly recommend her. I love love love the pictures she took. We go t them all on a CD and there were like 90 great pictures!! She is really nice and flexible.

These are some family pictures we got last week. I love them.

lazy

Long time, no post. The last two weeks have been fun! We went to California for Cameron Rosenhan's wedding to a wonderful, beautiful girl. They were married in the San Diego temple and I want to move to California. We spend Easter morning at Sally's moms house, had a delicious breakfast, went to church, and then drove back to AZ. Cooper was a dream! he was such a good sport, and so happy despite the missed naps and long stretches without eating. We had a great time with family and friends and really enjoyed having a break together. But I didn't take even one picture. Other events include Coop rolling over. He is a pro and refuses to stay on his stomach longer than 30 seconds now. I chopped my hair, yes the typical "first-time-mom" thing to do. But I am so glad, my hair was driving me nuts! And short hair is alot easier to unwind from Cooper's fingers, toes, neck, etc. Below is the only pic I have of my hair, I'd take a better one today but I didn't do it and so it looks not so good.

project

This is my project that I have been working on. I got the idea from a blog I found and wanted to do something like it for Cooper's room. The picture is really dark, but I like how they turned out. (The plane is navy not black).

This week

I'm pretty bugged that yet again, reruns of The Office. They are trying to make us feel better about it by playing 3 old episodes instead of just 1. I'm still bugged.



I am excited for conference. I love conference weekend. It is always wonderful to hear the messages from the apostles and President Hinckley. It recharges your battery. AND, I love not having to go to church. It's just a nice break to spend time with family without all the meetings. And have a big breakfast.


Al took this picture of the Snowflake Temple last summer. It is beautiful, I want to go through sometime. It was the first time I'd ever been through that town. It is very charming. I wouldn't mind living there.

Recipes

Here is a recipe I would like to share - very easy and very yummy. It is from my mother-in-law.

Baked Spaghetti

1 normal size package of spaghetti
8 -12 oz Italian Sausage (I like the Hot flavor, you can skip sausage if you don't like)
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
1 carton of cottage cheese - I think 16 oz.
8 oz shredded mozzarella
1/2 - 1 c parmesan cheese
1 egg

Cook sausage, crumble it, drain fat. Add sauce and heat.
Mix the cheeses and egg well.
Cook the spaghetti until almost done, still a little chewy, drain pasta.
Spray 9"x13" pan with Pam.
Put half the pasta on bottom of pan.
Spread cheese mixture over the pasta as best you can, its lumpy.
Put the rest of the pasta on top of that.
Pour the sausage/sauce over the top.
Sprinkle more mozzarella or parmesan on top
Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

This is really good as leftovers, or you can freeze it then bake. Sooo good!! If you have a recipe you love, post it in the comments or just post it on your blog this week. I will be looking for them! Al always makes fun of me because I spend hours just looking through cook books and online for recipes so this will be very helpful!

I blog about food a lot. Too much? no. Food is what I think about a good portion of each day and that translates into many posts about food. I love to eat. I am loving learning to cook good food. Al especially likes my turkey burgers. We should use this whole blogging world to share favorite recipes with one another. Next week we will, think about some of your favorites.

Yum

Today at the grocery store I bought Mothers Iced Oatmeal Cookies. I haven't had these in years and I love them. Everytime it snowed in Provo, my friend Lane and I would look at the mountains and think that the snow looked like the icing on these cookies. I love them.

Feet!

When I peeked in to check on him napping, I found that he has discovered his feet!

It's too hot today. I'm not ready.

Here are some of my favorites lately.

Family Pics

I really love these pictures of our families. They are natural - they show personality and I like that. People are missing from both but they are still great.

This was last year when my family hiked through a sandy riverbed for 17 hours.

This is Al's family a year and a half ago. All the siblings have since had another child. (Ad will have hers any day now.)

Supporting Local Restaurant

Trader Joe's has a creamy Cilantro dressing that is the closest thing I have found to Cafe Rio's amazing dressing. I love Cafe Rio's dressing. I love the worker that always asked "What can I get for the lady?"...you know the one I'm talking about. I loved when Nacho was there to flirt with my husband. I love Cafe Rio. Only on the busiest nights when the line of people wove all the way to the pop machines and back around did I disappointedly leave unsatisfied. Recently we were talking about why it is such a phenomenon, why do people crave it so? My theory is that it brings back all the nostalgic feelings of going to school in Provo. It was an event to go to Cafe Rio, always a magical experience, especially when you get Dr. Pepper with your pork salad. I'm a little concerned about their business here in Mesa. It is rarely crowded. It needs regular patrons to stay strong and that is why I am making it a personal goal of mine to go more often.

I think he is teething. It feels like his top teeth are coming in. He has been so fun, learning new things all the time. My favorite thing is to watch him focus so hard on bringing his hands together to grab hold of a toy. It takes real concentration. He is getting so big.

girl scout cookies

So excited for Girl Scout Cookies!!

They don't make my favorite one anymore, it was a powdery Lemon flavored one. But I love Thin Mints, Tag-A-Longs, and just as of last year...Samoas. Al converted me on Samoas. I thought I didn't like them, but I was wrong. Al has converted me on many things including:

1) Samoas, and coconut in general

2) David Gray

3) Matta's (but only the cheese enchiladas, rice, and beans) I still hate their salsa.

But he'll never get me into the Bee Gee's. Guaranteed!