Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Thankful

I am thankful for my kids who LOVE chocolate AND donuts. This is what happens when you combine the two:



I am thankful for my sweet little boy, who is growing up too fast. When I tell him to slow down he laughs at me and asks if I will cry. I tell him eventually and he laughs some more.
Here he is taking swim lessons at our Rec. Center. He loves the water.

I am thankful for my strong little girl. I knew she was a fighter from the womb but I'm amazed at how tough she is every day. Cooper wrestles with her and she thinks it's the best thing in the world. She's always so tough when she gets her laser treatments done - back to her old self by mid morning.

I am thankful for my husband. He WANTED to take me to the Notre Dame vs. Utah game even when all of his friends where flying SOLO. We had a great time despite a tragic loss - I always have a great time with you, honey!

I am thankful for friends. Here are a few but I have many more who are so supportive and caring. They are my family that I CHOSE and I love you all.

Halloween Fun

In Iowa there is a place called Bloomsbury Farm. I've heard about it each year but never went. Well, this was our last chance so Randy and I packed up the kids, he was a good sport, and spent the day getting lost in corn mazes, shooting corncob cannons, and playing in corn kernels.

Caroline amazes me at what a good sport she is. Cooper can wrestle her to the ground, jump on her, etc. and she will still laugh and think he's the greatest playmate.

Family picture moment:

This is just a random picture of CJ I snapped while the two of us were at the mall together (Cooper was at preschool). We had some time to waste so I let her walk around and just followed. She had so much fun looking in the windows at the displays and I know she felt like a big girl to be out of the stroller.

I planned the Medical Partners Halloween Party this year and it was so much fun!! To plan it and to attend. We frosted sugar cookies, made "ghosts", colored treat bags, put on spooky tatoos and ate pizza. I love this party because it's at the hospital so Randy was able to stop by between surgical cases and snap a picture with us.

 We went to several parties but I guess we were having too much fun because the this is the BEST picture I took of my children in their costumes.

I dressed up as Wendy and Randy was a pirate but can you believe I didn't take a single picture with me camera! I will have to get it from a friend who did and post it later. Randy let me put eyeliner on him and everything. I love Halloween.

Support the Utes

I wanted to post our Utah vs. Iowa State experience even though UTAH has been grossly disappointing as of late :( I had high hopes for the rivalry game this year, but we will see...

November 27th.

Our good friend and fellow resident of Randy's, Bryan, is an Ames, Iowa native. He scored us some tickets and, in true Iowa style, we tailgated with friends before the game.

I love that Caroline is reaching for the pizza in this picture.

And Cooper tried to reach for something else when I wasn't looking. He'll catch on that moms see everything:



Want to know the best way to keep kids happy at a football game? Get them a bottomless fountain drink:

You would think they had never been exposed to soda! I think this kept them both busy for a good 1/2 hour.

And here I am with my good buddie, Kara, and her sweet baby girl. When we moved to Iowa 4+ years ago neither of us had children. Wow, how life has changed!

One last cute picture of the munchkins - and the final score was Utah-68 Iowa State-27.

October Begins

In October Cooper played on his FIRST soccer team - all 3 and 4 year-olds. Most of the time Cooper wanted to dance on the field and do cartwheels instead of run after the ball. Randy made it to one of the games, but couldn't understand how I could watch him goof off and dance so much. He told Cooper that the other team were all "bad guys" and he had to NOT let them get the ball in the net. Cooper marched to the goal and stood with his arms out to make sure that didn't happen. But then he wouldn't move. His Coach asked what he was doing and he told him, "I'm not going to let the bad guys win, coach." Way to teach your 3-year-old, right? We decided to CHILL out and just let him play after that. By the last game he was in there kicking the ball - I think next year will be much better - but I did like laughing at his performances.

We visited a few pumpkin patches in October. Here are a few of my favorite pictures of the kids:

I can't believe they actually sat still for me on this last one - so cute! I have a hard time capturing these moments because my camera is TOO SLOW :)

More on October to come...

Meet me in Saint Louis

If you've never been to St. Louis you are MISSING OUT! Randy had a conference there in September and the kids & I tagged along for a quick weekend trip with him. I WISH we would have stayed longer because this city has some great FREE things to do for families. But, trying to squeeze it all in... here's what we did:

There is an amazing Children's Museum that puts ours in Iowa to SHAME and since I have a membership we were able to get in FREE. My friend, Shawn, and her children joined us while here husband was at the conference as well. Here's Caroline and Jane playing in the "house".

There was also a GIANT beanstalk that snaked up 3 flights of stairs. Cooper couldn't get enough of it.

There were water rooms, a maze, slides, an outdoor pond and all kinds of things. We only had the morning, ate lunch and then were off to the Zoo, which was also FREE.

Lots of cool animals to see. The day was HOT and STICKY so we all appreciated the drinking fountains.

Already it was time to pick-up our guys then we went downtown and grabbed dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory (not free).

We snapped a picture by the ARCH (arch not shown, too big to fit) and drove home, whew - I'm tired just remembering this!

So if you have a chance to go to this city, take it, you won't regret your choice. Just watch where you park. Despite all of our FREE activities I did get a parking ticket at the Zoo - oops!

Fall Events

I'm determined that I am NOT going to skip through any photos this year, so I know it is NOVEMBER and it's getting COLD, but I promise that I will get caught up on our adventures this month. Ok, I said it, now I have to DO it.

We had so much fun at Wilson's Apple Orchard this year - I'm going to miss it next fall! THIS pictures is why boys should not be left to their own devises:

Seriously, three doctors, you think they would have thought of a better way.

And who doesn't LOVE room to run and play. Do you remember the last time when you felt this carefree:

I know I should not let Cooper run with a stick, but have you seen how he likes to climb and jump off everything? The stick is the least of my worries with him.

Miss Caroline is her own little person. She LOVES to follow Cooper around, but also doesn't mind sitting by herself - so independent!

Two little munchkins - they're BOTH smiling and looking at the camera - hooray!

We also went to the DENTIST in September - a first fo C.J.



Cooper is a PRO, so I knew he would do great, but Caroline surprised me. She SCREAMS every time Randy or I brush her teeth like it's the first time. You think twice a day and she would get use to it, but she was GREAT at the dentist. Maybe I should have a stranger brush her teeth ALL the time.

One last picture - I'm doing a preschool co-op again with Cooper. This year we have SEVEN 3-year-olds, twice a week and we rotate. My first week was a little crazy because they were all just so excited and needed to learn the RULES. But you have to be PATIENT with kids as cute as these (we made butterfly masks):

Birthday Boy Keepin' It Young

I neglected to post anything for Randy's birthday -- September 17th!! He is now safely IN his THIRTIES. In August he kept our tradition alive and again participated in the Solon Beef Days BALE TOSS. I get a kick out of how strong he is without exercising, I have to admit I am a little jealous! If you've never picked up a hay bale, they usually weigh around 50 pounds or more. Here was his first throw:

It started to get dark, so this picture is not as good, but check out this one!

He even worked up a little sweat and threw over 11 feet, 6 inches.

Happy late birthday post honey - love you!

A few Utah pictures

I know, it's AUGUST and I STILL have not posted any summer pictures. So, here are a few from our UTAH trip since, let's face it, we have to make our yearly pilgrimage to the promised land where grandparents and babysitters (usually the same) are plenty. It also reminds me how NICE it is to be close to family.

Let's start out with me and my favorite buddy, Cooper. HIS favorite place was... Jumpin' Jacks with more inflatable bouncy houses than you could ever imagine.

We went camping with the McAffee clan, but AFTER C.J. burnt her hands touching the door stop on the front porch - aweful!! We're talking big BLISTERS up her fingers and everything. Randy and I passed her back and forth the whole time we were in the mountains since she STILL didn't want to walk, but cried every time she crawled. Here she is in a happy moment because she found a toy phone in Uncle Cliff and Aunt Jessi's camper.

It's amazing how fast babies can heal. Her bandages were off in 2 weeks.

Cooper had fun catching fish at Kids' Pond.

They both had fun with their cousins

Trevor, Caroline, Megan, Tyler, Cooper

And I had fun with my sister.

I wanted to run at least 1 race while I had so many babysitting options so my brother, Andrew, was a good sport to run with me. I picked him up at 6:30am to drive to Enoch for a 5k and asked how often he ran. He told me never, but thought it would be fun to do something with me. SERIOUSLY, I LOVE this kid. Of course I HAD to run WITH him but after 1.5 miles he told me to PLEASE go on without him and he would meet me at the finish line. It was my best time ever of 26 minutes. He didn't do too badly either, 32 minutes. Thanks for the run, little brother.

After the race we got to be in the parade in Cedar City on the Renaissance Fair Float. My Dad was in-charge so we couldn't say no. My mom makes the most amazing Renaissance costumes. Here is CJ and Cooper int their outfits. They got to ride in a wagon and eat, I mean pass out candy.

I had some GREAT pictures of all of us but my Dad stole them off my camera - I don't think he realized he did it. So no pictures of me in my dress - boo hoo.

Grandma Clark & Caroline

Grandpa Clark and Cooper

I have a funny story involving Randy, Cooper, cousin Sierra, throw-up, and streaking coming soon.
Hope you enjoy these for now and, if you live near family, you had BETTER give them a big HUG and tell them you appreciate them! I wish ours were closer - we love you guys!

June Catch-Up

Lots of family visiting these past few months, you know how it goes... here are a few shots of our JUNE adventures before I start posting our latest TRIP pictures.

[ Close your eyes, imagine all the CUTE pictures of the kids and me in FLORIDA and CHICAGO. Alas, they will never be seen because I LEFT my camera on the PLANE!! And, after daily phone calls to the airline, it is now gone FOREVER. ]
A moment of silence........

Ok, on to better things :)

Cooper finished preschool for the year. I was able to have the last one at my house and we decorated bird houses, then had a party in the backyard. I, and four other moms, participated in a preschool co-op this past year, rotating houses each week. We're doing it again this fall, it was a great success! 

Caroline is growing and learning so fast. Especially her fashion sense. She even has a

LITTLE bit of hair now, yea!

C.J. also says "cheese" when she sees me with a camera - I wonder who she gets that from :)

We were driving in the car one day, I looked back and saw this:

Cooper likes to hold her hand and give her kisses, though she's not always so cooperative.

We've been saying good-bye to a few friends this year as their residency experience has ended. Here is Cooper with Riggs and Luke at a farewell bbq for the Gurgell's (off to Stanford). The Iowa gear was not planned, it's just what EVERYONE wears on the weekends - go hawkeyes!

Shortly after this Riggs and his family (McKay's) were off as well to Philly. We're going to miss all our friends who have moved on - good luck to everyone!

Spring is always fun when we get to plant flowers with "Grandpa" Frank. He is our sweet next door neighbor (literally, we share a wall) who is so good to our family and adores Cooper & C.J. Cooper was all smiles when he was able to help plant this year. Shortly after this pictures was taken he sprayed us all with the hose, but it was ok because "it was just an accident, mommy."

 Pictures of our summer adventures soon to come!