July in a Nutshell

July was a crazy and very exciting month for us. We had lots and lots of pool time, Ry played in a golf tournament every weekend, we had lots of family time out on the course and the weather couldn't have been more perfect.

Ry and I were planning on buying a house in the early fall and decided that before we start seriously looking and fall in love with something, that we should see what we are approved for. So on July 3rd I had a pre-approval meeting to see what we qualified for, that day our realtor, Jason, sent me a list of houses and none of them really screamed "come look at me" there were a couple that I wanted to walk through, because sometimes walking through is better than pictures. There was one that didn't have the greatest pictures (they were taken in the winter) but the location was exactly what Ry wanted. Ry has been really busy with work so I forwarded him the list and told him which ones I wanted to go through. He was only interested in the last one on the list, which was the one I knew he would love the location. That evening we drove up to look at it and Ry was one hundred percent in love, I loved the location, didn't love the looks of the outside and still really wanted to look through the other houses on my list. I guess I always pictured going through tons of houses before I decided on "the one" but that wasn't the case. Jason called me the next day to let me know that one of the ones I wanted to see sold and the other had an offer, so we only went through the one that Ry was loving. We went through the house and both of us looked at each other like "yep, this is the one" and Ry said he didn't want to look at anything else, period. I still did, just to make sure we were making the right decision, I mean, it's a very pricey decision; so Jason took me through four or five houses that were priced about the same as the one Ry loved and I hated them all, none of them felt like they could be my home. Ry and I drove up at least three or four times to look at the house again that weekend and to watch the sunset, the view is absolutely stunning. We took our family up and a couple of our close friends to show them what we thought would be our house. Since we were not planning on buying until fall we were shocked we found something that we liked so much so fast but we both knew it was the house for us and it was one of those things that we would regret forever if we lost out on it. So Tuesday the 9th we put an offer in and heard back the next day that it was accepted, I pretty much had most of the house packed before we even heard back, I was so excited! Our closing date was set for August 12th, so we worked on getting everything packed and getting rid of anything we didn't want in our new house.

Like a said we kept busy playing at the pool, golfing tons and tons of paper work for our house and packing this month. We got final approval on July 30th and got our closing date moved up to August 2nd.

We celebrated our FIVE year anniversary on the 31st, has it really been five years?! We were planning a trip to Vegas, it's long over due, but we decided that buying our new house was sufficient and we were both more than fine with that decision. We spent some of the day together, Ry still had work, so we met for sushi at Sumisu and just spent time together that night. July was a whirl wind of fun and excitement, I think it was the fastest flying month of the summer.

Kisses for one of his besties Ashlyn, I am in trouble, this boy loves to kiss as much or more than I do!

Snack time at the pool with Kolty, they are adorable!

One of our date nights golfing...

Exploring our new house with our best friends before it was ours.

Coop loves to climb and jump off these rocks.

My little sun bathing fish.

Family fun night golfing, seriously can't get enough of these two cuties and check out Coop's pink cheekies.

My little packing helper, he did so great and wasn't even really phased with all the madness of the move and change.

Laying on the grass with Uncle Kaid, who had a birthday this month, so did Mareesa, I don't know why I have no pictures.

Enjoying the park by our old house before it's no longer in walking distance.

More pool time with my best buddy.

 

Ry played in a tournament in Preston on July 28th and got his FIRST HOLE IN ONE!!!! Way to go babe, you are awesome!

 

Five year anniversary; wouldn't have chose to spend it any other way!!!

25 Months Old

25 Month Old Facts:

• You love singing "happy birthday to you" and will randomly sing in through out the day as you're playing.
• You love being outside and are obsessed with taking walks. You get your stroller out and push it out the gate to the road and sit and wait for me to take you on a walk to the park, to see the fire trucks or down to feed the ducks.
• You love golf, while we are swimming and you hear someone tee of you say "golf, daddy" its dang cute.
• You have really started loving cauliflower and asking for it at lunch and dinner time, you like "gawlic" (garlic) on it.
• You are getting very brave at the pool, you love counting to three and then jumping in. You will go under the water now and say "under under".
• You have also started saying "here, here ya go" when you give people things. You also say "careful" when we get out of the car or when you are walking on the edge of things.
• You love visiting great-grandma and great-grandpa and eating their raspberries, you will eat them right off the plant, literally, you don't even use your hands you just bite if off with your teeth. You love their swing and playing with Uncle Scott and David's old cars and toys.
• You love new clothes and shoes and will say "new shoes, or new flops, or new clothes" anytime I get them out for you.
• You are also in love with diggers or any big machine, you know "diggers, dumpers, tractors, lawn mower, fuel trucks, dump trucks, buses" and i'm sure i'm missing some, but those are a few of your favorites that you are always looking for and yell out if you see them.
• You become more fun every single day, i'm not sure how it's possible, but you are just a blast to have around. You love joking and playing tricks and you are always making Daddy and I laugh, we love you little sunshine!

West Yellowstone and Driggs Family Reunion

Thursday, the 5th, Ry and I played in our couples tournament that we placed first in, not too shabby for my first tournament, I won't mention what my handicap was though. Mareesa watched Coop while we did that and then I picked her up and dropped Ry off and we headed up to West Yellowstone. My parents and the boys left earlier that morning to go through the park and we were just planning on meeting them at our room in West Yellowstone. On the way there we stopped for some delicious homemade waffle cones and ice cream at Dave's and little Coop was out shortly after. The weather was hot and gorgeous when we left Pocatello and as we were driving through Island Park we got hit with a huge hail and rain storm that I think followed us to West Yellowstone. We were to early for check in and my parents and the boys were over in Yellowstone, so we wandered around town, bought some sweatshirts because it was in the 90's when we left and significantly lower there and looked at all the cute little shops while we waited to check in.

Once we were all checked in, we settled in and decided to go swim until the rest of the gang got back, the pool was pretty chilly but Coop still loved jumping in, he would say "one, two freeee!" he loves the water, that's for sure. Once my parents and the boys got there we showered and had dinner together and then the boys wanted to go get some sweatshirts to match ours. It was pouring rain, there was tons of lightning and thunder, we all love a good summer storm, so we sat out on the deck and watched.

The next day we were all moving much slower than we should have been to get to the reunion in time. We stopped at Grandma Sheppard's grave and then headed to Driggs; while we were driving the national weather service kept interrupting on the radio to warn of quarter size hail, gusts of wind 40-50 mph and basically to stay inside. Well, our family reunion was out in Cedron outside, and of course the second we pulled up the storm hit. We got to say hi to a few of our relatives but then headed back to great-grandpa's house in Driggs to hang out for a bit. Coop loved the horses in the field and kept picking grass to feed them while literally squealing with delight. There wasn't much family reunion food left and we were all hungry so we headed down to Tony's after we basically said hi and bye to everyone. Tony's was delish, but they ran out of food so fast that I didn't get to eat as much as I would have liked, but it was fun to just hang out together. After Tony's we stopped at the drugstore so my parents could get their lime freezes before we hit the road.

We took the scenic route over Piney home, Marcus rode with Ween, Coop and I. It was a quick little trip but we had a great time.

On the way to West Yellowstone and Coopster sporting his tourist sweatshirt.

 

During checkout the boys had way too much fun with the baggage cart, Coop was belly laughing SO hard.

At great grandpa's house feeding the horses and then at the Drugstore, lining up all the "anmals" he wanted them all and would've spent all day in there. So cute.

Independence Day 2013

I'm very patriotic and the Fourth is my favorite holiday next to Halloween so we had to celebrate appropriately starting with a breakfast of Fourth of July waffles that were delicious.

Ry and I had a tee time at 7:50AM for what we thought was the couples tournament (which ended being the next morning) so we just enjoyed ourselves and invited Kaid to come along with us. It was good practice for that actual tournament the next day, which we placed first in!!! We dropped Coop off with my parents and they went to the parade which they said Coop thoroughly enjoyed.

On our way to our annual barbecue at the Wood's we stopped at the snow shack for Coop and Ry, perfect way to cool off on the hot July day.

 

Parking our truck up by the fair grounds to watch the firework show that night. Those white chunks on Coop are pieces of his snow cone cup, he chewed up like a puppy.

Eating some delicious juicy summer fruit before he took a dip in the pool.

Fourth yummies...

My mountain man brother, Andrea, Gruwmpuh, Boppa, Adam and his friend from Brazil. RY and Coop swimming with Liz, of course Kaid and Marcus wrestling each other to the point of near drowning, and a little family pic.

Coop and Ry played basketball and we took a few festive photos while we waited for it to get dark.

Coop loved the "sprinklers" he would gasp and then say "oooo wow"

We only got to enjoy a few fountains in the street this year; we waited for the Firework show for almost an hour and then decided to just head home. It was so windy that the Biggest Show in Idaho fireworks didn't shoot off until after 11:00PM which was way passed our bedtime, I was so excited because Coop was actually awake and ready for the fireworks this year, I guess there's always next year.

 

June Randoms

June was a super busy month for all of us and the weather was warmer than normal which was something Coop and I tried to enjoy every single day we could. Café Rio became a weekly meal, Coop will eat an entire bowl of black beans and the whole quesadilla. When we got back from our camping weekend we went over to our storage unit, since we didn't have time before we left, to get a few things and when Ry opened it the only thing in there was a box of Ry's mission stuff and my golf clubs. I was shocked, I cried and then I was really upset; all of our Halloween decorations and costumes, Cooper's baby clothes, my maternity clothes and post-partum tools (breast pump, nursing stuff, etc.)all of our camping and boating gear, and most importantly all of my journals from the time I was five, yearbooks and pictures were all stolen. Ryan's little brother borrowed our key to go get Ry's golf clubs a couple of months earlier and left it in the lock so it was really easy for someone to lift all of our stuff in there, I am still pretty sad about all of it and I'm trying really hard to get over it, but i'm constantly seeing things that remind me of things that were taken and it just stirs up the sad sick feeling every time. I just have to know that those kind of people will get what's coming to them and I have to get over it and forgive and try to forget.

 Other than that hiccup we got lots of golfing and swimming in together and had a wonderful kick off month for summer.

Coop diving into his "buhlack beans" "nummy nummy".

Daddy teaching Coop how to pull the pin (it's his favorite job when we got golf) and it keeps him out of the sand.

One of many family fun nights we had out on the course.

Putting together and loving it.

This was after Coop had a really big lunch, he kept patting his stomach saying "bellay bellay" I was laughing so hard I'm surprised my pictures turned out ok.

Picking leaves off of Mae Mae and Boppa's maple tree and chasing Shoo shoo around their yard.

With his bestfriend Kolton, enjoying his favorite part of the pool, "nack time" he would get out probably every twenty minutes to half our for a little snack.

Loving his uncle Kaid!

Bestfriends since they were in our bellies and we thought they were both girls.

Another snack time, my little cheeseball.

Checking out the "fishies" at his two year check up, which he did the best he has ever done, he talked to Dr. Fulks, told him about the animals on the poster in our room and only cried a little when he got his immunizations.

Coop loves building "towers" with his Daddy, and then he can't wait to "knock it".

24 Months and Birthday Letter

24 Month Facts:

• You are 70th percentile in weight, 80th in height and 90th for head size (for that big brain of yours).
• You talk all the time, non-stop and learn new words daily.
• If someone asks you a question lately you say "ummmm..." pause for a while and then answer it.
• You say "like it" anytime you like what we are doing, like the food you are trying or book we are reading.
• You had about two or three days of terrible, awful two's, it was like you were a completely different child. You were so naughty, threw fits like I've never seen you do and completely wore me out. I'm happy to say those only last those few days and you have been an angel for the most part since then, phew!
• You are obsessed with animals and anything to do with outside.
• You love swimming and will jump in to me and go under the water, I think you are going to be a good little swimmer soon.
• You say "careful" whenever you are on the edge of something, or whenever we are walking through a parking lot.
• You know what things people have given you and will say their name when you get it out.
• You love being outside, playing with "wums" (worms) looking for bugs, picking up rocks and sticks.
• You will say "nummy" when you are eating something you like.
• I started teaching you your letters and you can look at the letters A through F and tell me what they are.
• When you are lifting something you'll say "heavy" in a tough, gruff little voice.
• You love going outside to watch the firetrucks and ambulance drive off.
• You are growing so fast and you are such a smart little nugget, you make Momma and Daddy so happy every single day. We love you baby boy!

 

 

 

My dear sweet little Cooper,

 

I cannot believe it has been two years since you came into this world as a perfect little seven pound nine ounce little angel bug. You have changed our lives forever in the best way imaginable, you bring so much joy and happiness to us and we would not be able to live without you. You have developed such a fun and outgoing personality. You are always on the go and never walk you have always run where ever you are going no matter what you are doing. You love all kinds of trucks, diggers, firetrucks, police, ambulances, all kinds of animals and you love making animal sounds. You thrive outside and could not have more boy in you. You are very sweet with other kids, you love to hug, kiss and snuggle. You are so smart and love learning things, you could read with me for hours, you love to take your pillow out of your bed and lay on it while we read. You love music and bob your head anytime you start to hear music, yes, even at church.

 

At every stage you hit (except the couple days after you turned two) I just want to bottle you up and keep you that way forever. I always think to myself "it cant get any better or more fun" and you never cease to amaze me, the things you say and do are always making me laugh. You really have a contagious happiness in your spirit and everyone around you, even strangers in the stores, notice it. I feel like the luckiest Momma in the world to call you my son, I got so lucky to get such a sweet, happy and loving kid. I hope that you always keep you sweet spirit about you and always be a good example to all those around you. You are my best little buddy and I love that I get to spend every single day, all day with you. You keep me on my toes and keep me on the go non-stop but I love it and wouldn't change a thing about you. You wake up happy every morning yelling "Momma, mommy, mommmm" and I love it, it starts my day out right, it makes your Dad a little jealous, but that's okay, you've woken up saying his name a couple times.

 

We have had a very fun and busy year and I'm constantly amazed at well you adjust to everything we do. You are a great traveler, and for the most part you stay on your schedule even if we aren't quite on the right schedule that you are used to. You were so good at potty training and I'm so proud of you for catching on so fast and doing such a great job. I'm sure by next year you will be one hundred percent night trained; you take your nap without diapers now and are doing great! You have learned so much and I can see that you thirst for more knowledge all the time and I hope that I can teach you as well as you need and want to be taught.

 

I think I have passed my love for Disneyland and all things Disney to you. You love Disney movies and yell "dinneyland" at the beginning of all the movies when they show the castle. You love Cars and know all of the characters by name, you've got lots of Cars books and love to read them over and over again. You call Lighting McQueen "Queen" you love Mater and have a few of him in different sizes, you love Mack truck and always want to bring yours in the car. I can't wait to take you to Disneyland, I keep bugging your Daddy about it, it will happen soon enough, I'm sure.

 

I know every year just keeps getting better and I wish time would slow down a little bit. I want to savor every second that I have with you and be the best Momma I can for you. You are the sweetest little bug and I love you more and more everyday, I'm not sure how that's possible, but it is; the love I have for you gives me a small glimpse of how much our Heavenly Father must love us all. Happy Birthday my big two year old handsome little man, I LOVE YOU more than you can imagine, keep being my little angel bug!!!

 

Love,

Momma

 



Happy 2nd Birthday Cooper!!!

After we got semi-unpacked and cleaned up from camping we headed out to my parents for Coop to open the rest of his birthday presents and have cake.

Boppa assisted Coop in his present opening, as you can tell from their cute faces they had a blast!

 

It takes a lot of concentration for those cute little fingers to open the wrapping.

Mareesa made his cake and he was SO excited to blow out his candle, he had been practicing for about a month before his birthday, so sweet and SO cute! I hope he wished for a baby brother or sister.

 

Loving all of his Cars goods and of course licking all of the frosting off the cake, he is his Daddy's child in that aspect for sure!

 

HAPPY 2nd birthday sweet Angel Bug!