Clean Windows

I just had my windows cleaned and am loving the difference! Everything looks clean and crisp. My little bro has 2 years experience cleaning windows if you're interested! His name is Ben and his phone # is 480 363 3173.

So good.

This is my latest recipe find. http://www.tangledandtrue.com/2009/08/real-simple.html It's from Tangled and True, who got it from real simple. We absolutely loved it. Even if you're not a big fan of peanut sauce, its not too peanutty. And it's easy!

Monsoon....More Like "Non"soon

Where is the rain? Where are the storms that we used to chase in high school? So far this monsoon season has been a flop.

On Sunday

Al: Cooper, what did you learn about in nursery today?

Cooper: ummmm...........ummmm....baptise

Al: Wow! That's good, what is baptise? (both of us very surprised, he usually says "trucks")

Cooper: ummmm......it's spanish.

How To...

I've noticed that How-To's are an especially popular blog post these days so I thought I'd contribute.

Smoky, Smoldering Eye

A How To:

1) Apply eye make-up as usual on Day 1, using black eyeliner and black mascara.
2) Don't wash your eye make-up off before going to bed.
3) Wake-up on Day 2 and Voila! Works everytime. Even better on Day 3.

Just thinkin'

• Lately Cooper will be making this concerned face, looking off in the distance and I will ask..."What's wrong?" and he says..."I'm just thinkin."
• 
  For the first time, Annie and Cooper's naps are happening at the same time...consistently! For the last several days - its a great feeling. I have 2 hours in the afternoon!

• I love Diet Cherry Coke. We rarely buy pop, but when it's Diet Cherry Coke, look out.

• When you burn pine nuts on your stove top, your house smells like garbage for days.

• Cooper finished swimming lessons today! Big improvements made in 2 weeks.

• Annie is army crawling and losing her chubbies. It's killing me.

• Portable DVD players are a gift from above.
  
• We went to the cabin (Sundance) a few weeks ago. That place is my favorite in the world. I love going with my own kids now. Cooper loved it.

Annie taking a very serious bath in the sink.

Whenever we suggested that he look for deer, snakes, any animals...he would put on his "goggles" to help find them.

Cooper looks like a mini Al in this picture. Love it.

Other highlights included seeing lots of family, getting very little sleep 8 nights in a row, delicious food, Al doing some killer bike rides, beautiful rain. It was another great year at the cabin.

Project

I have been working on a fun project the last couple months! I have always loved to sew, and the last few years I've made aprons as gifts. Recently I have sold a few here and there and now I have decided to open up shop! Most of all, I have totally loved having a creative outlet - it is fun and theraputic. Here are some of the aprons I've made. I've opened a shop on Etsy (an online superstore for handmade goodies) if you are interested! The link for that is to the right as well.

Early to Rise

Yesterday I got up before 5 am, and I stayed up. Most days I am up around 4 to feed Annie. Then we both go back to sleep for two more hours. Or until Cooper gets woken up by the blasted birds that have made their home in our roof. But yesterday, I stayed up and it made a BIG difference in the quality of my day. I felt much more prepared, calm, happy, just better. Here are some of the things I was able to do, that I don't usually do:

• Say bye to Al when he leaves for his bike ride at 4:55.
• Straighten the post-weekend mess of a house.
• Do some of my Yoga video that I haven't done for 3 years.
• Eat a healthy breakfast- healthy for me anyways, wheat chex with strawberries on top.

Having that extra hour before the kiddies woke helped me be a happier Mom, and much more fun. When Cooper said "Let's play.....it be fun!" like he always does, I happily joined him for an hour, instead of joining him for 5 minutes and then cutting out to do dishes once he got distracted. It was such a great day in general! So I am making a goal to wake up before the kids do as often as possible.

Cooper and Cole when we were taking pictures of all the grandkids for Grandma. I love this one. And even more, I love that Cooper has darling cousins to play with and love. He and Coley have such a great time together.

Coop loves to play with his soccer ball that he got for Easter - thats what he was doing before I snapped this picture. And Al is just being an awesome Dad/monster.

We got another round of pictures - the last time was when Cooper was 5 months. I love these ones - its a whole new ball game with a toddler. He was a good sport. I don't know who was more difficult, Cooper or Al. jk Al jk. Not much to report, just keeping very busy with life. Annie is still delightful. She had never passed her hearing screening since she was born, so we'd been to the ENT specialist a few times. They could never do the tests that were needed because of persistent fluid in her ears. But thankfully, she had a test where they had to sedate her with anesthesia, and they found that her hearing is 100%. She talks a lot and loves her daddy the most. Cooper is also her favorite - he is a great entertainer. Cooper's latest thing is asking his dad "Hows work?" when he gets home. And "Hows meeting?" is what he asks me. He is my favorite little buddy. ** Our photographer was Amanda Crookston - she is a friend from high school and she is awesome! http://www.amandaandhercamera.blogspot.com/

This is how Cooper gives a "thumbs up".

This is Annie's smile.

Cooper is potty trained! He is a wonderful little 2 year old.

Annie sleeps til 4 or 5 every night, she is such a happy little girl.

For Valentines we went to a Joshua Radin concert. It was really fun to go out to something like that. I hadn't been to a show since we went to Something Corporate 3 years ago (where we were the oldest ones there by 10 years). This crowd was better suited for people our age. Lots of funny people there. My favorite was the girl next to us who thought she was at a Gloria Estefan concert. She was dancing and singing her heart out (out of tune and wrong words) the whole time. I couldn't stop giggling, and at one point, thought we had to move because she was so distracting. This show was not a place to dance or sing along in your white salsa dress, high heels and crazy jewelry. She did not fit the crowd.

We had a great time.

We have a new baby girl, Annie Kate! She was born a few days before Thanksgiving. She is a doll. Dimples, blue eyes, light hair - we are in love again. Cooper has been so sweet with her, he can't get enough. Annie is a great eater but not quite as good at sleeping. Cooper was the easiest baby and Annie is definitely not the hardest, just more typical I think...I was spoiled with Coop.

We had a great Christmas. Lots of family time. Cooper understood Santa this year, and he really had a ball. And for all of you who will be receiving our "Christmas" Card in mid-January, please know that you were not an afterthought - we are just a little behind! I am going to pick up our cards from Costco today. Better late than never, I always say.

Helping decorate the tree.

Cooper and Santa's Sleigh being pulled by his giraffe.

Welcome to Paradise

This place was amazing! We went with some friends to their beautiful home in Montana on Flathead Lake. I couldn't have changed one thing about it to make it better! The surroundings were gorgeous, the weather perfect, and the company was so so fun! It was fun to make new friends and relax in the most beautiful place I've ever been. Unfortunately we only took 3 pictures, so if any of you girls that took more - I'd love for you to send me some!

Think Pink

We found out last month that we are having a girl! Very excited. We will be naming her Annie _____ . Not sure on the middle name.

The Cabin

The cabin was wonderful of course, I love Sundance. Lots of relaxing, eating great food, and fun. This year was so fun with Cooper being so much bigger. He loved it!! He still talks about the waterfall.
Enjoying his first Sundance sucker.

Al switched our blog to private a few days ago, before I was able to invite anyone so that is why you couldn't get on. Although, there are probably only 3 of you that even knew it went private since most have given up on me posting. It's true, I am a lazy blogger!

May

At the San Tan Splash Pad with his buddy Jayne.

This is his "taking care of business" face.

Mothers Day was super! We got to see both our beautiful Mom's and tell them how much we love them. And even though Al was feeling sick he still made me a delicious breakfast and gave me some new clothes to fit my growing waistline. Our next baby is due some time in early December! Coop and this one will be almost exactly 2 years apart. We are totally excited and I can only hope that this next one will be as easy as little Coop. He really is a dream, and this age (almost 18 months) is just the most fun. I always knew I'd love my children but I didn't know it would be this fun!

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...