Happy New Year 2012!!!

We had a great New Year's Eve this year, we went to a matinee of Sherlock Holmes with Ry's family and then joined them for an early dinner at Road House. After dinner we went to Ry's parents' to play some games before we headed up to my Grandparents to play some games and enjoy some yummy snacks. We played some games then Coop dozed off and I think we ended up leaving a little bit before the official count down, (we made up our own at about 11:30) and then headed home so we could start our New Year off with some sleep.

We thought we would have a great start to our New Year, but it turns out that that wasn't in the cards for us. On January 3rd Ry was playing in a City League basketball game that was getting pretty heated, and of course, the dumb refs were not helping the situation by making horrible calls or no calls at all. During the last quarter Ry went in for a lay up and was literally tackled by three of the other teams' players, and no foul called, surprise surprise, Ry couldn't get up without help and was in TONS of pain. He was telling me what he heard/felt when it happened and I knew instantly, from experience, that he probably tore his ACL. Our friend Nic checked him out and thought he tore the athlete's triad (ACL, MCL, and meniscus) so he wrote us an order for an MRI, we got the results back and he completely tore his ACL, meniscus and partially tore part of the other meniscus. We met with the surgeon and he wants Ry to get as much range of motion he can before operating so that recovery is easier so he has been doing his exercises to work on that.

Ry has continued to coach his girls team and had their last game this past week against Twin, they won and had a great season. Now Ry is helping with the varsity in their preparation for State, which will be mid February. He wants to put off surgery until after the State Championship, we meet with the doctor again this Thursday, so we will see what he says.

Ryan is in Boston right now, he is in the process of starting his own business and hopes to get it up and running by September 1st, it's very exciting, scary and is going to take lots of faith, so I hope everything goes as planned and it all takes off smoothly.

Cooper is developing such a funny personality, he is becoming more and more independent. He has tried lots of new foods this month; squash, which he hates, blueberries, avacado, sweet potatoes, banana, broccoli, and apples. His favorites are blueberries, broccoli and sweet potatoes, he likes apples and bananas if he can eat them like finger food, he won't eat them off of a spoon. He hates pureed apples and squash, and he is bored with his oatmeal, so I try mixing in foods he likes with it. He watches everyone and everything around him and tries mimicking sounds all the time. His latest sound is growling, he got a new book with a lion and a bear, and ever since we started reading that he growls, it's hilarious! We have been working with him on crawling, but he only scoots backward and then gets so frustrated that he throws himself on the ground and buries his head in his hands. He would much rather stand and jump than crawl, i'm going to try and find a jumper seat to hang from the doorway, I think he would love it. He is getting extremely good with his fingers and hands, he was introduced to the bead roller coaster at my parents' and is obsessed with it. On January 15th Coop's first tooth poked through and eight days later is second one popped through, teething has definitely been a bit of a challenge. He is just not himself, doesn't feel well, and wants to chew on anything he gets his hands on. I cannot believe he is already seven months old, time is flying so fast, before I know it I'm going to be planning his one year birthday party.

Cooper's first New Year's Eve, such a fitting picture... isn't he darling!?

After his little cat nap...

Our little family!

 Goodnight litte one, and Happy New Year 2012!!!

 Mischevious little face.

 Coop has been enjoying his Christmas toys...

 And he loves sitting up by himself, it's his new found love.

Ry and his team, he has had so much fun coaching them and is definitely sad that the season is already over.

 Cooper giving Grandpa kisses!

Coopy loves his broccoli!

He is very vocal, as you can see!

M.... blueberries!

     Seven months old

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!

This Christmas flew by WAY too fast, I feel like we barely got to enjoy that Christmas feeling. I love this time of year and the reminder we get to reflect on our Savior and his birth along with all of our many blessings. Christmas is even more magical having a baby, Cooper loved everything about Christmas; the lights, the music, the tree, ornaments, gifts (mostly the paper and ribbon), and all the family we were surrounded by. Ry's family has a family Christmas party the day before Christmas Eve every year, but sadly, this year we were unable to make it. Both my boys were super sick, Ry was achey, feverish and literally could barely drag himself out of bed, and little Coop had a cough, runny nose and just didn't feel well, so we stayed in and I took care of the sickies. Coop started feeling a little better for Christmas Eve but Ry still felt pretty crappy so we couldn't go to our annual Christmas Eve day movie with his family. After resting all day, Ry rallied and got ready for our Christmas Eve festivities, still feeling bad, he was such a trooper. We started our traditional progressive dinner at my parents house with delicious appetizers, wassail and egg nog. Cooper fell asleep for a while while we were out at my parents and I was hoping he wouldn't stay asleep the whole night, because I was so excited for him to enjoy his first Christmas Eve. After my parents' house we headed to the Wood's for yummy soup, salad, bread and rolls. We ended at my Grandparents' for the main course and my personal favorite ris a la mande, which I did not get enough of this year. After dinner my Grandpa read the Christmas story from the Bible, we sang some Christmas songs and opened gifts and enjoyed being with our family.

 Cooper enjoying the tree and playing with his presents, he started sitting by himself on December 5th, such a big boy!

 One of Coop's favorite decorations was the mistletoe, he had to touch it every time we walked by.

 He would much rather stand that sit and thinks he is much bigger than he really is. He gets very frustrated when he's on he tummy reaching for a toy because he can only scoot backward and hasn't mastered forward movement yet.

 You can tell from this picture he was not feeling himself, poor little guy. I cannot believe he is already six months old!! This has been the fastest six months of my life, I really wish time would slow down a bit so I can savor all the sweet moments with Coop.

CHRISTMAS EVE 2011

 Happy Christmas Eve family photo op at my parents house.

 Great Grandma snuggling our little tired gummie bear before he crashed...

 Christmas Eve naptime...

 My cute Grandparents.

 Ry playing with the Wood's kids, he's such a kid at heart.

 Uncle Marcus enjoying some quality time with this little nugget.

 Cooper loved feeling the tree and looking at all the lights.

 Cooper enjoying his books from his Great Uncle Scott.

Coop with his Great Grandpa Miller and the outfit he picked out for him. My Grandparents gave Coop this darling track suit and have been VERY excited to give it to him since they bought it a few months ago. My Grandpa kept asking when he was going to wear it anytime I would visit and I had to remind him it wasn't Christmas yet, so Coop didn't have it.

 Uncle David and Uncle Scott

Coop enjoying some more wrapping paper.

CHRISTMAS DAY 2011

Christmas morning was SO fun, Ry and I enjoyed watching Cooper with all of his new toys. Santa brought lots of fun things for Coop this year, he will be entertained for years to come with all of his fun toys. We could have got Cooper a water bottle and some wrapping paper and he would have been just as happy, and we decided for next year we won't go so overboard with all the toys. After we opened our gifts at home and had a nice Christmas morning together Cooper and I went to church (Ry was still feeling sick so he went back to bed). Toward the end of the meeting I saw my phone light up, it was a text from Mareesa saying that Mckaid was on the phone to hurry out there. Since Ry was still feeling bad, I ran to the car with Coop and hustled out to my parents so I could talk to Kaid. He sounded so great and it was so nice to talk to him. He's such a wonderful missionary, he has a cute little accent and we could tell he is loving everything and everyone on his mission. I miss him so much and can't wait for his return in nine months!

Mckaid sent us this pic for Cooper, he's is so excited he's an uncle and is looking forward to September so he can't meet him in person.

Kaid playing with baby lion cubs, SOOOO darling!

 Unwrapping gifts...

 Coop and his Christmas morning haul...

 Coop's Christmas teddy from Ry's parents.

Opening gifts at Ry's parents.

Coop opening some gifts from my parents...

 The day after Christmas we went shooting together. My Dad, Mareesa, Kirsten, Uncle Scott, Sheridan, and Marcus.

 Ry and his 22, he hasn't shot for almost two years now.

 Marcus trying out his new rifle, his Christmas present to himself.

 Scott trying out Marcus' bow...it's much harder than it looks.

 Me shooting my Christmas present, it's a little revolver that shoots 45's and 410 shot gun shells, love it, thanks Ry!!!

Cooper with all of his Christmas loot, he had a fabulous first Christmas. We had such a nice time with all of the family that was able to be here. Ry is finally feeling better and Coop is back to his happy little self.

More December Fun...

 Although it hasn't snowed much there were a few frigid days, so Coop got to dress nice and warm in his bear suit from his Great Gma and Great Gpa Sims. Doesn't he look comfy and cozy?

 Cooper was a great assistant as I wrapped gifts, he loved the ribbon and paper!!

 He loves his chubby little feet and anytime he finds his toes he sucks on them. He is such a happy boy and we LOVE it!!!

 Ry's girls team had a three day tournament in Utah, Cooper and I drove down on the last day to watch their last game. They took second place and are improving and playing much better together as a team. After the game we headed to Salt Lake for a little bit of Christmas shopping, there were an insane amount of people and it wasn't a very fun or successful shopping night. After shopping we went to Macaroni Grill for dinner and we were planning on going to look at the lights at Temple Square but while we were eating dinner the temperature dropped into the teens so we decided it was too cold for Coop, so we just drove around for Coopy looked at the lights and LOVED them.

While Lauren had a Jamberry party our boys got to play. They are SO cute together, they reach for each other, smile at each other and notice each other's toys, hats and shoes... LOVE them!

 My Dad's friend, Mike, also known as Santa, has visited me as Santa since I was born. We have now started the exciting tradition with Cooper, for a second generation, how fun!!

 He loved sucking on the wrapped candy cane and he was surprisingly happy to sit on Santa's lap!

 Santa brought Cooper a darling little Union Pacific RR bear, i'm not sure which he liked better, the wrapping paper or the bear.

Year 26 of Santa's visits!