hmmm....I think since I had saved the little conversations with Cooper a couple weeks ago, the post below is dated that day....making it show up on news feeds that I updated 2 weeks ago...blasted technology.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! I was feeling pretty guilty this weekend, between packing-moving-unpacking, I hadn't really done anything festive and fun with Cooper for Halloween. So we headed out to Michael's for a free Halloween craft.
The lady that instructed the kids, reminded me of the lady who took the kids pictures at Kiddie Kandids. Bless her heart, you could just tell she didn't have very much experience with little ones and didn't understand the mentality of a 2 year old, but they still had fun. They drew a picture on a paper that they turned into magnet for the fridge, and glued the legs and eyes on the little spiders that fit inside. Cooper was pretty proud of himself, and I was pretty impressed that everything stayed glued on...until later that night when he proudly put his project on the fridge, then decided it would be more fun to rip the eyes off...eh, what do you expect?
We were pretty excited for Halloween this year. As previously posted, Coop had a broken leg last year, so this was the first year that he was really able to get into it. This is Nick, Johns parents dog, his outfit was a hit among the trick or treaters. (sorry it's a little fuzzy...I'm starting to try to the whole camera on manual thing when I use my good camera, so it's going to take some practice)
Since Coopers costume is much cuter if he is with his Pink Ladies, we tagged along with my sister and her two girls.
These two were a hoot. Cooper was so excited and had been practicing what to say all day, so he didn't hesitate to yell "trick or treat" as soon as the people would answer their doors. Maddie was a crack up and once, when it was a house that she knew, just opened the door, went in, saw the bowl of candy, and helped herself. It was hilarious.
After we went to my parents house for some good ole Pizzaria. Oh how I heart this place...I'm not much of a salad girl, I never order them, but I seriously think I could eat a whole carton of their salad....mmmm sounds so good right now. Ever since we got rid of Coopers binky, what feels like a gazillion years ago, he hasn't shown any interest in them. But on Halloween, for some reason, he thought it was hilarious to put Sophie's in his mouth, it could be because we were laughing at him...maybe, just maybe. I love that if you look in the background of the pic, you can see Sophie, on the couch crying...all for the sake of a picture and a good laugh.

I had saved a few of the funny things that Coop said a few weeks ago, and forgot to post them...oh how he makes me smile.

Brandon had left his rootbeer on the table, Coop climbed up and took a swig
Cooper: Can I have some of your drink?
Brandon: No that drink is just for mommies and daddies
(Coop gets a really sad look on his face and puts his palms facing up)
Cooper: But....can't you share?

One of Coopers two books that he picked to read at bedtime was a Christmas book.
Brandon: Who's that? (pointing to Santa)
Cooper: (thinking really hard for a minute) .....Sandwich...
(he was close)

We went to Chick-Fil-A the other night (got our free sandwich coupons in the mail earlier in the week...we don't waste any time) We walked in....Cooper walked in and went right up to the guy and said "I want chicken nuggets"

So many pictures....

During conference weekend we headed up to O-town (yet again I know) to spend some time with the fam. On Sunday night my mom had put together a few things for the kidlets to keep them entertained. They painted these pumpkins that were stepping stones. I think they loved the idea that we were letting them get messy....until my son decided to paint Maddie instead of the pumpkin.
Then they frosted and decorated sugar cookies. Leave it to my child to put as much candy on as possible...eat the frosting and candy off the top, then put the cookie back.
Bradee was standing behind me trying to get him to smile....she was pulling faces at him....apparently he thought he was supposed to mimic what she was doing...
This picture was just too funny to leave out. Little Sophie loves her tongue can you tell? This past weekend Brandon and I were able to get away to Park City for our Anniversary. Thank you time share presentations for continuing to offer us free getaways. :-) Did we take a single picture on this weekend away...negative. Lets be honest....I have 5 1/2 weeks left in this pregnancy and I don't really enjoy putting myself in front of the camera if I can avoid it. Thanks Marci for watching Coop!
Then yesterday Megan and I carpooled up to Ogden...again. Does it seem like I venture up that way weekly...sadly it's because I do. Every year we get together with my dads side of the family and go to the local pumpkinaze.
Remember my post about this outing last year.....it was on this slide that Cooper broke his leg. I'm not sure if he remembers that or not, but when we got there he just kept saying that he didn't want to go on the big slide. We played over on a little slide for a while, until he couldn't handle being left out anymore. He loved it...and we were able to come home in one piece.
Trying to keep track of 3 2yr olds and a few extras with just 2 adults...one being large with child. Slightly difficult. Here's Lacie after she wrangled up one of them.

They had fun following each other around and playing hide and go seek.
The evening starts with soup and breadsticks and ends with hot choc. donuts and pumpkin bars. Mmmm, it's a fabulous tradition. Thanks Posts for always putting this together for us!!
While we were all together, we decided to get the kids Halloween pictures done. I know you can't even really tell what Coop is supposed to be in this pic, but he is smiling so cute, I had to get it. The back of his jacket says Thunderbirds.....he's a greaser...maybe for Halloween I'll spray paint his hair black or something...suggestions? Maybe put a pack of cigarettes in his back pocket? Joking.
Heres the whole group. The girls have little jackets that go with these costumes too...I heart the glasses. On the way home, I was so tired, and Megan and I were trying to keep Cooper and Anna quiet so Evan could sleep....pretty much an impossible task. They both kept saying things that made me realize they are both too smart for their own good...here was one of my favorite conversations:
Megan: Cooper if you can't be quiet, I'm going to take your raisins away
(Cooper grabbing his raisins by the handfuls and shoving them in his mouth)
Me: Cooper if you can't be quiet, I'll take the raisins out of your mouth
(Coop, having swallowed, with both his hands up in the air in the confused stance)
Cooper: Mom you can't, they not in my mouth....they in my belly....you can't reach in my belly...you can't reach in my belly mom...they right here.

Touche son....touche

Mascot Bowl & Baby Evan

Last week my sister and Barb decided to run in a race. Ross had taken Anna up to O-town so we got to watch baby Evan for a few hours.
Coop was so excited! He loves his little cousins, hopefully he'll like his little brother as much, we'll see if he likes a baby that doesn't leave after a few hours. Props to Megan and Barb though for coming in first and second! They rock!
Don't mind that my son is in his underwear in the majority of these pictures. This is what Cooper picked out for his outfit last Friday. Oh he cracks me up.

Later that night we headed over to the high school for the annual mascot bowl. We should have known to come early....everywhere in this county is over-populated with little kidlets...so by the time we got there we had to sit in the sun. Luckily it went down pretty quick and then we could see the game. The mascot bowl has mascots from all over play a game of football against a couple of local little league teams. This pic was during half time when the gorilla from the Phoenix Suns came over to sign things for the little kids....he wasn't so sure of him at first.
But he quickly warmed up and kept saying, 'he's a nice goriya' (we still struggle with the l's)
Barney had a little incident and the paramedics came to take him away...they kept dropping him off the stretcher. :-) Here is how he returned later in the quarter. The whole time he was gone Cooper kept asking, "where's the purple dinosaur, he go to the hospital with Grandpa Rob"
Of course our favorite mascot of the evening...Big Blue. We honestly waited outside the port-a-potty for like 7 minutes so we could at least get a pic with him. I'm sure he loved opening the door to us. :-) Next year we'll know to go early so he can meet all of the mascots. Happy conference weekend!

As of late...

Saturday while Brandon and my dad went to the BYU game, I headed up to Ogden. John was working, so Lacie and the girls met us at Sonora Grill for lunch. Highlight of the meal, our favorite dessert, Cheesecake Chimichangas. It's fabulous. Usually it's served in pineapple sauce...which is still really good, but we recommend it with the raspberry sauce...oohh...I'm salivating just thinking about it.
Then we walked around to see all the horses. I think they're pretty random, but the kids love them.
A horse that doesn't move...it was Coopers kind of horse.
Bradee said at the beginning that she wanted her picture taken with her favorite horse....this one was the lucky winner...only fitting since it matched her shirt.
We walked along 25th street where people had their booths up to sell foods and goods and what not....select areas smelled highly of incense...not a favorite smell of mine. We turned around at the Union Station. I was kind of sad because it was a million degrees and past nap time, so the kids were getting to be pretty done. So we didn't get to go see the trains, we'll have to go back again, but the kids did enjoy the fountain for a minute. Maddie, wasn't too fond of being so close to the fountain by herself though.
I love this picture. Cooper and Maddie play SO well together. They copy whatever the other is doing. While we were pushing the strollers back to the cars, they would reach their hands out of the stroller so they could hold hands. Love it.
The main reason we were going to O-town for the weekend though was for this young lady. We had a surprise birthday party for Grandma Toyn. She is 80 years young and looks fabulous. She was so surprised and even more excited that her brothers and sisters were all making the commute to come, along with friends from their old ward in the valley and others they hadn't seen in a long time. Happy Birthday Grandma, we love you!
Coop was in heaven with all his cousins and other cousins we don't get to see as much as we'd like. This was mostly what his dinner consisted of that night. Such a healthy choice right?
This little lady was a little late getting to the party. Why you ask? Well, you know those little googly eyes that you use to glue on crafts and what not? Somehow, one managed to find it's way up her nose, and they couldn't get it out. :-) Kal took her to Insta-Care....where the Dr, also couldn't get it out. So they closed off the nostril that the eye wasn't in, and Kal blew into her mouth..and out it came. Just in case you ever find yourself in a similar situation, there is a tip for you, save yourself a copay. Oh she cracks me up.
Doesn't he look like big stuff? Well, he is. We started potty training a couple days ago. We're on day 3 right now, and I think he is doing pretty well. The kid does not want to poop in the toilet for the life of him, but I hear this is VERY common and will come with time. He's only in pull ups at night, since he's not quite making it to the toilet in time when he wakes up in the morning. Day 3 is so far a lot better than days previous....he only goes about once every hour...hour and a half, so it's not quite as exhausting as day 1 and 2 when it was every 20 min. I'm hoping each day he continues to get better, but I've been pretty surprised with how well he's done this far. Also, where did my cool fall weather go? I am already missing the days where my house stayed in the low 60's all day long....

Bear Lake

This past weekend we headed up to Bear Lake with my family.

As previously mentioned in numerous posts....my son is a fish... He LOVES the water, and loves to throw rocks. He just kept getting deeper and deeper in the water....the fact that waves were coming at him, didn't bother him in the slightest.
Oh my husband...how I love him so. The kids seem to flock to him when we're together, and he is so good with them....I know this is cheesy, but for real, whenever I see him with Cooper and our nieces and nephews, I love him more than I thought was possible...he's amazing.
One of the days we were up there John and my dad competed in the triathlon. They did this last year when we were up there as well.. This year John did the Olympic. He was doing awesome, and kicking trash I might add, when his tire blew during the bike portion. We were all so bummed for him. He ended up walking his bike back and continuing on the run and finishing in great time.
My dad did the sprint and did great as well!! Ross did the swim portion for him and then Larry did the bike and the run. Oh my family never ceases to amaze me...one of these days I'll be in half as good of shape as my 59 year old father...one day.
We also went mini golfing while we were there. Coop loves golf, he'll sit and watch it with Brandon forever. He loves to golf around the house and can tell you which club he is using. (ie: driver, putter, iron) So actually going out on a course his size...he was in heaven.He cried each time we had to leave. And now since we've been home, we've had to make our own mini golf course throughout the house several times a day...he can't get enough. It was so nice to get away, the weather was PERFECT while we were up there, I wish it was like that year round. We played games, lounged around, ate at Cafe Sabor and got shakes at LaBeau's, played a little baseball and more. Cooper was in heaven playing with his cousins every day. Although, we have slept better since we've been home. About once every few weeks or once a month Cooper we scream in his sleep...once he wakes up he's fine, I think he's just having a bad dream. Well in Bear Lake, he screamed numerous times throughout each night. Since we were sleeping in the same room we could hear what came before the screams. "No, that's mine!!" I think he was fighting off his cousins in his dreams as well. Thanks so much mom and dad for everything!! It's something we've done every year since I was little and I love continuing the tradition with our rapidly growing family.

The Bean Museum

Last week we headed down to Provo to check out the Bean Museum. It's down on BYU's campus and filled with 2 floors of every animal imaginable, stuffed. It was so neat to see everything. Brandon tried to get Cooper to kiss these bears...he didn't go for that...we had to keep telling him that they weren't alive...so who can blame him for being a little apprehensive.
Each week they do a story time. Cooper was a little too antsy to sit while the girl read stories....there were so many things for him to do, that he would sit for a minute then run and play. However, when she busted out this turtle for the kids to touch and play with....he didn't want to leave. He loved this little guy. She then brought up a snake...Cooper thought it was really cool...but only from a distance...he didn't want to touch that one. Did I mention this place is free?