Giving Thanks

I absolutely LOVE this time of year. When you have an excuse to make treats, eat too much, and sit down with friends to share a meal. We had a FUN group at our house this year to celebrate Thanksgiving. I absolutely hated having to sit at the "kid table" when we went to my grandparent's house growing up, but here I am segregating the young and old.

(Adult Table - or is it?)
(Kid Table)

(Babies in-between)

I hope everyone else had as good a time as I did. My pregnant belly felt like it had STRETCHED 2 inches by the end of the night. I kept trying to find a comfortable position on the couch while Cooper had the best idea and just stripped down to his diaper.

Thanks to the Judd, Erekson, Maline & Henderson Families for joining us this year!

I have to end with my thankful list in no particular order:

1. For my family, including the 2 on the way

2. For good health

3. For the gospel of Jesus Christ

4. That my husband has a stable career and I'm able to stay at home with my sweet boy

5. For my friends that keep me smiling :)

A Family Affair

Cooper and I flew to Utah the first part of the month for 2 reasons: 1) I'm afraid my doctor will tell me I can't travel soon and I don't know when I'd get out again; and 2) my BABY brother was getting MARRIED!! That's right, Paul-E-Wog took the plunge before the other 3 boys.

And here's the HAPPY couple with my nephew, Trevor, as the ring bearer. He kept telling his mom he wanted to be the one to throw the flowers but he settled for the rings in the end.

Paul and Kelsie drove to Las Vegas after their big day for the honeymoon. My sister and I did the decorating for the luncheon so I had to put a pic in with how it turned out. Not bad for 2 girls with 4 kids between them (5, 3, 1 & 3 months) and NO husbands around to help! Poor Dad was our errand boy with half his finger (severed it the week before in a not-to-be mentioned wood splitting accident) - love you Dad!

But BEFORE the wedding... we had a little fun at the Hogle Zoo with the Clark Family. Here's Cooper with Aunt Jane:

And me with Sierra, Cooper with Grandma.

Of course after the Zoo it's good to wash the wonderful smells off. So Cooper had to jump in the tub with his cousin:

Then we were off to spend time with the Gray's - OF course I MADE them take me to Leatherby's, though the ice cream didn't taste the same with my temporary discerning palette (I can't wait until I LIKE chocolate and sweets again). Here's Cooper with cousin Tyler:

And Cindy with her littlest one, Megan:

At the end of our trip we headed back to SUNNY, BEAUTIFUL, wish I lived there RIGHT NOW Saint George. Cooper wouldn't leave Grandpa alone. He even "helped" him in his office.
Thanks to everyone for the wonderful time. We had too many adventures to blog about. I did drop in on my friends at Nu Skin, ahhh... back in the working days when I straightened my hair and put make-up on EVERY day. Thanks to Shan, Candice, Brian, Matt and everyone else who made time to chat with me for a while.

This scoop is for you!

Announcing...

I FINALLY went in for an ultrasound on Wednesday and we are SO HAPPY to let everyone know that both twins look GREAT and we are expecting...

Randy said, "There goes my football team!" (I don't know how many babies he thinks I'm going to have but I don't see THAT many in our future.) Soon the girls will outnumber the boys in our house - how weird!

Let's bring on the PINK!

Spooky Lion

I know it's sooo late, but couldn't NOT post a pic of Coop in his Halloween costume. My friend, Anna, saved me some $$ this year when she let me borrow this adorable LION costume that Cooper ADORED. In fact, I put it on him a few weeks before to make certain it fit and he did NOT want to take it off. I see superhero costumes in our future for sure. This is a pic of Randy, me and Coop at the Annual Medical Partners' Halloween Kids' Party.

We went trick-or-treating later that night and I think Randy had just as much fun as Cooper! It didn't take Coop long to figure out the routine, but if any of the houses had a dog inside he would run in (before I could stop him) so he could pet it - NO fear, I swear. Needless to say we saw many houses in our neighborhood, inside and out.

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween as well!

Be Back Soon

Cooper and I are off on adventures in Utah - visiting family and attending my BABY brother's wedding!! (I can't even believe it.) So I'll have some fun pics and tales to tell when we get back next week.

Love to all!

Da Bears

We had an exciting weekend in CHICAGO - finally time to go to DA BEARS game!! Instead of staying downtown this year, we stopped in Naperville for the night (such a cute little town) and went to their Children's Museum. They have all kinds of cool exhibits, the one below is where Cooper had the most fun - in the water - followed closely by the bubble-making room. I think Randy had just as much fun as Cooper playing with all the toys.

The town has a cool riverwalk that we strolled in the evening. I took a TON of pictures of Cooper but he's in the stage where he has NO TIME to look at me and smile for the camera, so this was the best one...

And the next day we MADE IT to the game. AMAZINGLY Cooper lasted the ENTIRE time. He and I had a snack break during the 2nd quarter, but besides that he just chilled with us in our seats while we fed him every treat imaginable. Ironically, the next day was his first dentist appointment.

Couldn't have asked for better weather at 65 degrees and sunny, plus it was an EXCITING game against the Vikings. Next year I'm afraid Randy will have to find a buddy to take with him, so.... let me know if you're interested!!

Check out the HILARIOUS video fro SNL on DA BEARS and DA BULLS - makes me laugh EVERY TIME.

PS. Here's the Belly progress from last week...

Fall Brings in the NEW

We went a little crazy, with 3 kids soon in our future, and bought a new Honda Odyssey! Randy is laughing at me because I won't drive it (or insure it, why waste the $$) until we sell his car and are back down to 2 vehicles. It's a GREAT van, many of our friends have the same, but I NEVER thought my FIRST NEW vehicle would be a MINIVAN! Ahhh, to embrace motherhood and all its perks! Here are Cooper and I with our salesman, Patrick:

We REALLY lucked out because Aunt Beth and Aunt Ruth drove all the way from Utah to our neck of the woods on a little sightseeing adventure. They spent 2 days spoiling us with playmates for Cooper, goodies at the Kalona bakery, and more from Amana Colonies. We were all sad to see them leave. Thanks for the fun time!

We wrapped up the weekend with a day-trip to Dubuque - beautiful drive this time of year with the leaves changing. Our neighbor told us of the steepest railway west of the Mississippi, so I had to check it out. As luck would have it, the town was also hosting their annual Chili Cook-Off, not so good for my super-sensitive sniffer, but it came with games for the kids. Cooper LOVED the bouncy house. He threw a MAJOR fit when we had to DETACH him from the fun.

I HAD to take a pic of this chili booth for all you Chuck Norris fans, not sure how true their claim is, I'd bet my money on Chuck anyday:

And finally we made it to the railway. It was a little shorter than I thought - ok, a lot. So good thing for the chili or Randy would have been SOOO disappointed.