December 2013 - Ho! Ho! Ho!

Holy Cow! The year is already over!  I am so excited for 2014.  2013 has been good to us.  Looking back, we accomplished just about all of our goals!  We sat down and had a family home evening this month to set new goals for 2014.  We are going to strive to be healthier, wiser in our money choices, and to read our scriptures better! We had our ward Christmas party this month and Cooper was a social as ever.  We also took a trip into Oakland to the temple and stopped at Bass Pro Shop to have a picture of Cooper taken with Santa.  He didn’t get upset but he was definitely a little unsure of what was going on. 

We stayed home for Christmas this year.  Lynn worked Christmas day, so we celebrated a little early.  Cooper had a humongous Christmas!  We took all his old toys and put them away so he has a chance to play with the new stuff.  He loves everything! We have such an amazing family that spoiled us. We had some old friends from our college days (cause that was like 3 years ago for me) come visit us the week after Christmas.  We made some AMAZING cupcakes and did some shopping. It is so fun to hang out with old friends and watch our kids play together.  We are looking forward to all that the New Year will bring!  Happy New Year to all our friends and family, we love you!

November 2013 - Gobble Gobble

The 1^st week of November was a rough one! Cooper has been slowly getting his one year molar’s, one.at.a.time.  It was killing us as I am sure him as well.  We were wondering if he was just hitting his terrible two’s early!  Luckily he is back to his happy self finally and sleeping well again. He is such a riot to watch during the day.  He refuses to use words or signs, but is really good at either bringing us what he wants or pointing and yelling J He folds his arms to pray and loves to give hugs.  He also loves older kids! He thinks it so fun to play with big kids. Lynn had a Saturday off so we got some yummy Hawaiian food from a place in town and had a picnic at the park.  Coopers not a hug fan of the swing but loved the slide. We also had a friend in the ward make him a sensory table that he loves! 

Lynn got switched to morning shifts, so he is working from 12-8 am.  Probably the worst shift because he is sooo tired and has to try and sleep during the day. But in the 9 months he has been working, he has only had to work this shift maybe 4 or 5 weeks.  He will switch again pretty soon.  He is liking work a lot more and we are starting to apply for other positions within the bureau so he can start using his degree more. 

Thanksgiving was great! My parents came up from Southern Cali and we had a pretty low key holiday.  I baked an awesome turkey and my mom made some fantastic rolls! I drug my dad out on Thursday night to Old Navy for their early “Black Friday” deals.  We shopped for about 10 minutes and then stood in line for about 3 hours!  The lines this year were the worst part.  We did some other shopping on Friday and it wasn’t too bad.  Saturday the 30^th I ran another half marathon.  I didn’t run as fast as I was hoping too but there were a lot more hills than I was expecting!  I added about 3 minutes to my last time, but overall I was pretty happy with it.  I ran this one with my dad again and my friend here in town that has been training with me.  We enjoyed some In n’ Out Saturday night to celebrate. J

October 2013 - Happy Halloween!

What a fun month!  We were able to take Cooper to the pumpkin patch and children’s hay maze here in town.  He loves walking around all the pumpkins and he even picked out his own.  He always loves wandering around the hay maze and climbing the bales.

The next weekend Lynn and I competed in a Mud Blast 5k in Modesto.  It was so fun!  We have to jump over hay bales, climb them, climb wood walls, trek through a TON of mud, carry a log out and back across a field, dunk ourselves in muddy water and then walk through more mud and climb mud piles.  The best part was just doing it with Lynn though! It is so hard between; work, school, church, and Cooper to find time for just us! So, it was a treat to get to spend the morning with just him.  J

Halloween ended our month.  Unfortunately, Lynn had to work again this year.  But Cooper and I did a little trick or treating at our churches Trunk or Treat.  We went as a bank robber and a bag of money.  We decorated the trunk of our car as a bank vault and handed out 100 Grands for candy. J it was a fun night! 

We also had some new family photos taken! (The girl I found here does a great job! She also did Coopers 1 year photos.)

September 2013

This was a pretty normal month for us! Cooper finally started walking and he is already a pro! He runs all over the place and has no care for the safety of himself. He goes head first into everything. He won’t catch himself with his hands either cause he can’t drop the toys in his hands! He loves that he can carry things in his hands to other rooms. All day he goes back and forth with his toys. We went up to Sacramento for a baby blessing for some friends from Rexburg. Cooper loved being around all the kids and wanted to ride scooters with them too. He got such a kick out of being pushed around on the scooters and bikes. Once we put the kidos to bed, my friend and I went out to see a late show. I couldn’t believe how many people were still out! Lol ok, I just haven’t been out that late in a while. It was fun to go to out without a kid and feel like a regular adult for a couple hours.                                                                                                                                                                               We were also able to go to the Oakland temple again this month. It is definitely more of a challenge with Cooper and with the temple being so far away now! We took for granted how much we were blessed living in Rexburg with a temple just 5 minutes up the hill and grandparents 15 minutes away to babysit! It is such a pretty temple though and we love being able to show Cooper how important it is to us to make the trip and go. They have some beautiful grounds and Cooper loved running around and attempting to jump in the little river to swim.

Sorry for the short post, this month just flew by!

August 2013 - Traveling!

August was a long month for us! We started the month off by completing Lynn’s second half marathon and my first! I ran faster than I expected so I was pleased with my 2:15:30! I have another couple races planned for later this year so hopefully I can beat that time. A week later I did a sprint Triathlon with my older brother. Cooper also turned 1!! We had celebrated early before Lynn had to leave, so his actual birthday he only got a cupcake. He weighs in at 20.9lbs, 29.5in, and is just under the 25% in both height and weight. Lynn went to Glynco Georgia for three weeks for work training. I think it was more like a mini vacations! He got his own room, got to shoot guns, eat all he wanted, and workout. Ok, he did have classes like 8 hours a day and he is still working on his masters so he had homework in the evening too. :) In the meantime, I went south to Lompoc to stay with my parents. The first weekend I was down there we had a family reunion for my mother’s side. It was great to see family that I haven’t seen in years and they hadn’t ever met Cooper! The second week I was down there we camped on the beach. Cooper was a handful to take camping, the kid wanted to eat everything! I couldn’t set him down the whole time; he kept putting rocks and dirt in his mouth! When we went down to the ocean one day, he crawled straight into the waves without looking back once! He didn’t seem to mind that the water was freezing. He also ate his fair share of sand that day too. The 3rd week we just relaxed at my mom’s house. My grandparents were still there so we got to spend some extra time with them. We went over to another beach and spent an afternoon just soaking up that southern California sun! We picked Lynn up from the airport on our way home in Fresno. It was a nice break to get away but even nicer to finally be home together. Finally, this last week Lynn’s family came to visit from Idaho. They only had a couple of days with us but we made it count. We went into San Francisco and took Cooper to the Zoo. He loved seeing all of the animals but has NO interest in getting close enough to touch any of them. We also got ice cream at Ghirardelli Square, saw the Golden Gate Bridge, and ended the day at an Oakland A’s game (who won!). We had a great time visiting with everyone and are now ready for a little bit of normal for a while. :)

July 2013 - Birhtday Month!

What an awesome month!  We kicked it off with an early 4^th of July celebration at some friends that we knew from Rexburg. They now live in Modesto, so we headed up there to swim and BBQ.  Lynn worked on the 4^th so we didn’t even stay up to see any fireworks.  The 5^th was my birthday!!!  Lynn totally spoiled me.  I found a used Kitchen Aid on craigslist for half the price of a new one!  I have always really wanted and I LOVE it already.  I use all the time, it is so much easier than a hand mixer!  We also went out to dinner at Olive Garden! 

A couple weeks later was our 5^th Anniversary! Holy Cow! Time flys when you are having a good time. We are so amazed looking back on the last five years how good life has been.  There have been trials, but we have met all of the goals we set for ourselves when we got married and look forward reaching some new ones now.   Lynn was working on our actual anniversary so the weekend before we went over to Monterey to stay for the night.  We were planning on spending the day at the beach but it was pretty chilly and overcast so we ended up going to the aquarium.  I am so glad we did because Cooper loved it.  They had these huge cylinders of Minos swimming in circles and Cooper was so amazed watching them.  He also got a big kick out of the penguins.  We knew we wouldn’t be able to take a big vacation this year, so we are taking as many small short trips as we can to visit all of the cool stuff around us!

Since Lynn has work training over Cooper’s actual birthday we celebrated a little early.  It was a baseball theme with just a few friends at the park.  We grilled some hot dogs and let Cooper eat his cake.  He had a blast and got a lot of neat presents.  The day after we had some 1 year photos taken, I can’t wait to see how they turn out!

What an awesome month!  We kicked it off with an early 4^th of July celebration at some friends that we knew from Rexburg. They now live in Modesto, so we headed up there to swim and BBQ.  Lynn worked on the 4^th so we didn’t even stay up to see any fireworks.  The 5^th was my birthday!!!  Lynn totally spoiled me.  I found a used Kitchen Aid on craigslist for half the price of a new one!  I have always really wanted and I LOVE it already.  I use all the time, it is so much easier than a hand mixer!  We also went out to dinner at Olive Garden! 

A couple weeks later was our 5^th Anniversary! Holy Cow! Time flys when you are having a good time. We are so amazed looking back on the last five years how good life has been.  There have been trials, but we have met all of the goals we set for ourselves when we got married and look forward reaching some new ones now.   Lynn was working on our actual anniversary so the weekend before we went over to Monterey to stay for the night.  We were planning on spending the day at the beach but it was pretty chilly and overcast so we ended up going to the aquarium.  I am so glad we did because Cooper loved it.  They had these huge cylinders of Minos swimming in circles and Cooper was so amazed watching them.  He also got a big kick out of the penguins.  We knew we wouldn’t be able to take a big vacation this year, so we are taking as many small short trips as we can to visit all of the cool stuff around us!

Since Lynn has work training over Cooper’s actual birthday we celebrated a little early.  It was a baseball theme with just a few friends at the park.  We grilled some hot dogs and let Cooper eat his cake.  He had a blast and got a lot of neat presents.  The day after we had some 1 year photos taken, I can’t wait to see how they turn out!

June 2013 It's Hot Here!

I can’t believe June is already over!  I’m trying to remember everything we did! We got to take a trip into Oakland to visit the LDS temple.  It was perfect weather and nice to go visit somewhere new.  We got to take turns with Cooper in the visitor’s center there and the Sister Missionaries all fawned over Cooper who flirted with all of them. I also had a race! I did an Olympic Triathlon with a friend.  I started by swimming a mile in lake at Rancho Seco Park just outside of Sacramento.  The relay teams started last with the older athletes, these people were in some serious shape! I really had to step it up and work hard to keep up with them. I finished in 30 minutes, and then my friend biked 24 miles in about an hour and 15 minutes.  Then I ran 6.6 miles in about an hour and 3 minutes!  I was tired but it was a good challenge.  I love doing triathlons; it’s nice to mix it up with something else besides just running.

 My parents stopped through a couple times on their way to and from my sisters in Oregon.  It is nice to live near them again; it’s been about 7 years since I lived this close.  I made my dad run a 9 mile run with me when he was here. J He definitely helped me keep my pace up.  We will be running a half marathon together in about a month! They had one of my nephews with them when they came through and we had some free tickets to the Modesto Nuts game so we took them!  We had a blast watching them play; they farm out for the Colorado Rookies.  We also got to meet my niece for the 1^st time!  She and Cooper are only about 3 months apart; they are going to be besties!

Lynn is working a lot but he seems to be getting a more regular schedule now, which is nice.  He was working about 10 days straight at a time but now he is doing 5 on and 2 off.  Right now his days off are Monday’s and Tuesday’s so our weeks are a little off sometimes.  Oh, and it has been in the 100's! We stay inside in the AC most of the day.

Cooper is growing up too fast.  He is a speed crawler.  Trying to sweep or clean without him getting into my stuff is like a speed test every time.  He has 8 teeth now, is sleep through the night for the most part, and walks along anything he can reach.  He also loves to pull things off shelves or out of drawers.  He especially enjoys pulling all the clothes out the laundry baskets! He talks almost non-stop and always uses his hands to explain.  We have no clue with he is telling us but he sure has a lot to say! We bought him a little swimming pool of his own that he can cool off in and splash around in.  We took him to the city pool and he loved it!

 

May 2013 - The Many Trips!

It has been a busy month; I can’t believe it is already over!  This month we got to go into San Francisco to see the Giants play the Braves.  We were about the only Braves fans around us so we had to be careful how loud we cheered. ;) We went on the best night though since that is the only game of the series that the Braves won.  We stayed the night in the city and got up early Friday to go see some of the sights.  We didn’t have a lot of time and we will be going back soon enough so we just drove along the wharf and went to the Golden Gate Bridge.  We got out there and walked along the bridge for a little while and took some pictures and looked around the gift shop, then headed home.  It was a great short get-way for us and Cooper had a blast! I also took a cake decorating class this past month at the local craft store.  It was so fun to learn some new tricks and nice to have a couple hours to myself to do what I love!

                For Memorial Day we rented an RV with some good friends from college who live north of us.  We went up to Lake Siskiyou near the base of Mt. Shasta.  It was sooo pretty up there!  We were afraid it would be pretty cold but the weather as perfect and sunny.  Saturday morning we each took turns running or biking without the kids, which is a treat.  J Turlock is pretty flat, so it was a nice opportunity to get to run on some good hills.  I also went for a dip in the lake.  Pretty sure everyone around us, including Lynn, thought I was crazy.  The lake is all snow run-off so it was pretty cold, but I wanted to get a chance to swim in open water for my triathlon coming up in a couple weeks.  It was actually pretty warm.  Lynn had four days off in a row, which doesn’t happen very often.  We headed home on Sunday afternoon so he could relax all day Monday before he had to head back to work the following Tuesday.  It was such a fun weekend, we are definitely going to have to try and do it again next year.  Renting the RV wasn’t as cheap as we had hoped it would be and the cabins are actually cheaper if you can make a reservation in time, but the RV was more comfortable than camping in a tent for sure. 

(I don't know why it's cutting them off like that)  :( 

                Cooper also saw our new doctor here!  He was 18.6lbs and 28in long.  So, short and light for his age but doing great!  He stands up on everything, has 7 teeth now, and is getting soooo close to walking.  I’m sure he will be walking around by his 1^st birthday.  He loves mac n’ cheese and peas!  And pretty much anything sweet.  He will eat anything we are eating.  He also loves to read!  He will sit in his toy corner in the living room each day for about a half hour and just flip through books babbling to himself.  It is the cutest thing to watch!

April 2013 - And so it begins...

CONFERENCE!  So excited to have been able to hear from the Prophet of our church and all the other leaders who spoke.  It is such an uplifting weekend and perfect for us to spend time together before Lynn started on the 8^th. We just relaxed at home the whole time.

Lynn started work the next week.  He did 2 weeks of in-class training then a week of shadowing and then started working with the inmates himself.  So far it has been good, nothing real excited has happened.  He has been on day shifts which is nice and had most weekends off, but now he is starting to have to work on Sundays, which stinks.  The 1^st full week of May though he has a couple days off during the week so we will be going over to San Francisco to see the Giants play the Braves and stay for the night.  It should be a fun chance to get away!!

Cooper is mobile now and gets into everything and pulls himself up on everything in sight!  I run around behind him all day catching him as he falls.  He gets the proudest smile on his face when he stands all the way up.  He loves: pudding, fish sticks, any vegetable, bananas (if he can hold it and eat it), anything sweet, and anything mom or dad are eating pretty much.  He hates: guitars (he starts screaming and reaches to be picked up), most fruits, being left alone!  He loves attention though.  At church this last week he was out in the halls playing with some other kids and their moms.  He would push the other babies away so he could crawl up on their mom’s laps!  Such an attention hog. He also bites everything within reach of his mouth and it hurts!  He is doing really well at going to bed on his own though, he just rock him for a few minutes and say prayers with him then lay him down and he usually falls right to sleep without any crying.  I love having his bed time at 7:30! It definitely gives Lynn and me a chance to relax without worrying about him. We love him so much and his laughs when he gets tired is the funniest thing I have ever seen!

The Californian's - March 2013

Well, we made it to California!  The trip went just about as smoothly as it could have and we had a lot of help.  We flew my mom in to Idaho Falls to help me drive with Cooper in one car and Lynn drove the moving truck and towed our other car behind it.  We were really nervous about going through Donner Pass, especially when it snowed on us in Elko the night before.  But we made sure to hit the pass at the warmest part of the day and thankfully it was clear and dry.  While Lynn and a friend unloaded the truck into a storage unit, I went with my mom and a friend to go look at some apartments.  We found a place we liked and had Lynn walk through it so we could put in an application.  It’s a 3 bed 1.5 bath townhome with a 1 car garage.  We are so excited to have all if our stuff back and have more space. 

We’ve had such a fun time here already.  We took Cooper to feed the baby cows one morning and went to visit the beach.  He hates the wind, so he pretty much just gave us grumpy faces the whole time.  He also has 4! Teeth now.  He is cutting a big one on top so he has been a little fussy with that too (understandably).  He isn’t sleeping great so we are ready to get moved in and have his crib back so we can really get a routine down with him. 

We finally got moved into our apartment on the 22^nd of March.  We had a ton of help from our ward here and got everything moved in in about an hour and a half!  By Monday we had the downstairs all unpacked and by Friday we were pretty much done. We also got to go visit some friends up in Redding.  Since moving to Cali, we have already seen so many friends from Rexburg!  The Walkers were blessing their second little boy (so cute!) so we went up to stay the night and see him be blessed.  We left after sacrament so we could make it home in time to see the Haas’ stop by.  It was so fun to visit with old friends and let them meet Cooper. 

Cooper is now sleeping in his own bed the whole night and barely cries when we lay him down.  I think most of the crying stems from not wanting to miss out on all the fun from the day.  He can also sit himself up, which of course he did while we weren’t looking.  He is soooo close to crawling; we are keeping our eyes on him 24/7 so we don’t miss it. He is also clapping all the time, it is so cute. He is adjusting so well being here.  We have often wondered if this is where we really need to be but the Lord has shown us so many tender mercies that there is no denying this is EXACTLY where we need to be.  :)

Here are some pictures of our new place!