Happy Halloween!

I love that Halloween was on a Saturday this year because that meant we didn't have to wait for Randy to get home from work to begin our fun! Here he is with our 2 scary dragons:

Cooper was very proud of the pumpkin he and Daddy carved that day. But once we put it on the porch in the dark it was too scary to hug.

How could you not LOVE your little boy to pieces when he does THIS while trick-or-treating and keep in mind that my 2-year-old LOVES candy and NOT sharing:
He runs to the door and drags mommy with him.
(Neighbor opens the door.)
Cooper: Trick or Treat!
Neighbor: What a cute Dragon! Pick any treat you like.
Cooper: Thank you (picks a treat), now I need one for my mommy.
Neighbor: Oh, ok. (Cooper picks another treat)
Cooper: Here you go, mommy! (Hands mommy the chocolate - he knows me well.)
Seriously? How cute it that! I told him mommy didn't need any more treats but thank you for thinking of me.

October

My good friend Kara is going to have a BABY! So Darci, Katie, Shawn and I got together and decided to throw a shower for her and invited all the women of the ortho dept. I think we had a pretty good turn-out and eveyone had a nice time. Here we are with Kara holding Kate and Hannah in the middle - we're just getting her primed for what is to come!

I had to include this funny pic of Caroline with my friend MaryEdith's little boy, Pierce. A picture says a thousand words, right? These two were smiling at each other while they scooted around, they're only a week or two apart. We went out to Amana and took some cute pictures before it was TOO cold. This was the ONLY one I took where Cooper was actually looking at the camera. What a turkey!

CJ is sitting up like a big girl in her high chair. I love this portable one that you can just strap on a seat and she can sit at the table with the rest of us.

And here I am with my good friend, Andrea who came out to Iowa. I love her! When I told Randy she was coming to visit he was puzzled why she would want to fly to the midwest on her vacation... to see ME of course! We braved the U of Iowa tailgating with 2 kids just to give her a taste of the crazy football fans we live amongst.

Andrea -THANK YOU for coming to visit me - I had a great time :)

Fall Adventures

I need to catch up on an important event... Randy turned 32 in September! He's been telling people all year that he was already 32 until I reminded him of his correct age. Woops! Happy LATE, LATE birthday to you, honey. You will always be older than me :)

Before the weather turned cold outside we were able to get a few rides in our bike trailer with BOTH kids. Caroline was big enough to ride in here when we came back from Utah. I can't wait to pull it out in the spring! They were so cute once Cooper stopped poking CJ and they both drifted off to sleep.

Cooper is a great climber these days... I wonder where he gets it from?? I know, you think it would be Randy but he's actually afraid of heights! This is the highest I've seen Randy climb since I tricked him into riding the Free Fall at Knott's Berry Farm (another story).

And with the help of our esteemed "Grandpa" Frank next door, I was able to take the kids on the Hawkeye Express Train to the stadium. It was CRAZY getting to the stadium but then we rode back before the game started and had the train all to ourselves.

Cooper was THRILLED to ride in a REAL train.

We hope you are all enjoying the fall weather wherever you live.

September Vacation

Our vacation to visit family was a success! Cooper, CJ and I came home a little tired and ready to sleep in our own beds. Here's the perfect clip to explain how hard we played, enjoy:

Time to Relax

Thanks to all of you who gave me props for my race! I'm hoping to run another when I get back from vacation... speaking of vacation, this post will be short because we are leaving

TONIGHT!!

And Randy gets to come with us (for a little while)!

I'm hoping to get a little bit of this while we visit family in southern Utah:

And maybe a little WATER time as well.

I hope to minimize the crying time...

And enjoy our TOGETHER time:

When we get back I will post some FUN summer pictures and get CAUGHT UP with what we did these past few months.

Proof of my 8k

I HAD to post this to remember for the future that it is possible to run an 8k... in the rain.... with 2 kids in tow.... after staying up until after midnight.... and wakeboarding all afternoon.... 2 months after having a baby....

I know for some of you this would be a piece of CAKE but I only finished because RANDY kept PUSHING me (literally) and telling me to HAVE A LITTLE PRIDE. Thanks honey, I WILL sprint past you next year so I don't have to listen to it AGAIN.

Click on this link to see the pain on my face - enjoy!
brightroom event photography

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Randomness

Let me start by giving a shout out to my sweet husband of 8 years (yes honey, it HAS been 8 years of marriage already). The wind had blown our BBQ over numerous times so for Father's Day we got our chief grill master.... ta da - a new grill! Love to you and all you do!

We are taking advantage of playing outside while the weather is nice here. So much so that Cooper will fall asleep quickly in unusual places.

I'm learning that the reason 2 kids are difficult is because when one is asleep...

the other one is wide awake.

But how could you mind with a sweet face like that!

I've been feeling so great lately that I actually mowed the lawn! It's AWESOME to get out and work - I'm feeling the baby fat FINALLY begin to melt away. While I mowed the lawn Cooper enjoyed an ice pop (ok, 4 ice pops, but it was the only way I could keep him from wanting to HELP me mow).

Cooper is all about doing things "by meself, mommy" so this is the face he gave me when I tried to help him with his bike.

Love to all!