March 2014

March was a busy month for us.  Lynn has been having dental work done for what seems like the last 3 months! We are so blessed to finally have dental coverage so we are taking advantage of it this year.  Lynn is also finally on a set schedule for this quarter at work which is fantastic.  He is home in the mornings; which is our favorite because I get to sleep in J and he gets to get a good run in each morning. I also went down to my parent’s new house for a week. 

They recently moved and we hadn't seen them since Thanksgiving so Cooper and I went down for a few days to visit.  We have a fun time shopping and playing with Grandma and Grandpa.  He would wake up every morning and immediately call for “PAPA!!!” It was pretty cute.  Cooper is saying so much now!  He also will inform us when he is in need of a diaper change which is pretty darn convenient since he can also fetch his diapers and throw away the dirty ones. I hope this means he is getting close to being ready to potty train.  We have tried a couple times but so far it was a no go. He is till as fearless as ever and loves to climb on anything and everything. He is a very independent little boy and when he knows what he wants, he doesn't usually stop until he gets it.

(Finally fits in his Carhart outfit from G & G Spain he got for his birthday last year!)

We recently switch gyms too. J This one has a pool!  I already love going to swim each week.  Cooper loves it as well and I am looking forward to teaching him more this summer.  I have been trying all the classes they offer and so far the kickboxing class is my favorite and it kicks my trash every time I go to it.  We have also started applying for jobs for Lynn to move on from being a Correctional Officer onto a Case Manager.  We are willing to go just about anywhere but we hope we will stay on the west coast. Not much else on the home front.  Until next month!

February 2014 - The Month of Love

February was such a short month! We enjoyed a fun Valentine’s Day at home.  I made a yummy dinner for us of steak and lobster tails.  The guy at the store asked if I wanted a whole lobster! I wasn’t quite that adventurous this time around.  The lobster was actually a lot easier to prepare than I thought it would be.  Cooper got a new movie and some cute clothes from his Grandma and Grandpa Spain.  We also went to go buy a gun but we went on the worst weekend.  There was a gun show in town so the store was a crazy.  We ended up going back this last weekend and got the one we wanted!  It has been a long time coming and we definitely feel like we need it more than ever in the area we live in, so that was where some of our tax return went too.

  I also finally got our 72-hour kits assembled.  I’m pretty proud of myself for that, it has been in the works pretty much for the last 5 years!  The only issue I have now is that they are crazy heavy!!! And I still haven’t put clothes in them.  So, I am going to have to do some rearranging I think.  Miraculously, I also sewed my own pillow slip covers this month.  I have never sewn anything before besides a button so with some help of a couple friends I got three slip covers made! I ran out of fabric, so I still have another one to do, but I actually really enjoyed it! Who knew? Mom? Why didn’t you try to get me to learn to sew earlier???? (She might punch me for that line…) J

Cooper had his 18 month check-up this month.  He is about 26lbs and at about the 50^th % for height and just under the 25^th % for weight.  He has recently learned to climb on everything!  We have baby gates that blockade him now in just the living room.  He gets pretty mad he can’t get into the kitchen now but he has figured out he can climb over the couches to get into the kitchen if we aren’t watching long enough.  He is also in nursery now!  He loves it and never once shed a tear for being left in there.  He has actually been going for a while and he is starting to catch on to the songs and lessons.  He is obsessed with cats and pretty much loves any other animal.  He asks for his kitty app all the time and wants to Skype his Grandma and Grandpa Spain to see their kitty on the iPad.  He is learning so many new words.  It is so nice to be able to ask him what he wants and for the most part he can either tell us or help us understand.  J

January 2014! Happy New Year

This year started out with a bang!  Lynn worked New Year’s Day, so we didn’t do anything big.  Lynn’s birthday was the 6^th and some friends of ours ended getting a few court side seats to a King’s game! So we headed up to Sacramento and left Cooper with a sitter.  It was so fun to get out for a night with other adults!  Even more fun with old friends while we cheered for Jimmer and tried to get him to look at us (to no avail). It was a late night but a fun way to celebrate Lynn’s birthday.  We went out to lunch and had cake for his actual birthday with just us.  He got a new season of Community (his favorite TV show) and a new Bluetooth speaker. 

The rest of the month was pretty low key.  We made it into Oakland just this last week.  The temple was closed for a couple weeks for cleaning so we had to wait to go.  Cooper loves running up and down the little river they have that runs on the temple grounds and just about threw himself in the fountain! He is talking so much now.  He is learning new words every day and can repeat just about everything we say (toddler talk at least). He is getting really good and following directions and is very independent and a very picky eater!  He has been going to nursery for an hour or so for a little while. The last Sunday of January though he went for the whole two hours!  He loves to sing the songs and play with the older kids.  He will actually be old enough for nursery on the 8^th of February! We are working on reverence whenever we can.  He is getting better and making it through the first hour of church without having to be taken out.  It slow, but I think he is getting it.  He is also OBESSED with cats. Our neighbor has a little cat that is always out.  He follows that thing around everywhere.  We also have an app on the iPad that he goes to every morning first thing. I guess that’s about all for our month!

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!