Nutty Buddy Balls

This is for Ashley and anyone else who loves Nutty Buddy bars. My sister in law Amber gave me this recpie. These were my neighbor candies and I took the left overs to our Ottley Family Christmas party. HUGE hit!

Nutty Buddy Balls
1/2 C. Butter
2 C. Peanut Butter
4 C. Powdered Sugar
3 C. Rice Crispies
1 bag Dipping chocolate

Soften butter and blend peanut butter together. Then mix in powdered sugar and blend well. Mix in Rice Crispies. Form mixture into 1" balls. Any bigger and they are too rich!
Melt dipping chocolate. Pour out chocolate onto marble tile and roll balls in chocolate to coat. Place on wax paper to cool.
**If you have an electric fondue pot that also works for melting the chocolate so that it doesn't get to hot. Also use tongs to poke balls and dip in chocolate to coat.(Less messy)

I hope you all enjoy!

Man Bag

Cooper has always been about emptying EVERYTHING out of my purse. Things have evolved all of the sudden. He just started to empty it one day and then tried to carry it down the hallway. Well that particular purse also doubles as a diaper bag so needless to say it is rather large. Instead of having him trip all over the place and hurt himself I decided to give him an old purse to play with. He kills me! He will pick it up and just start walking all over the house. Not slowly either which also kills me. Just this morning he thought it would be better to put the strap over his head and carry it that way. Which was terribly convenient when he crawled because it wouldn't get in the way.
Oh yes and Kris HATES this, but it is still funny to watch.
Here are some of my favorite pics I have taken over the last few days.

Surgery Update

We had noticed Friday that it looked like the scab had fallen off and the urethra they built was splitting. After a through stare I noticed it had split open, but it wasn't causing any pain so we figured we wouldn't worry about it. This morning we had an appointment to get Cooper's stint tube taken out. Sure enough the Doc said it had split open. He didn't give me any explanation as to why. When I say it split I mean the WHOLE urethra. There is just a 1mm piece that looks like its holding on; but even underneath that it split as well. Kris and I are so disappointed!
So it looks like we wait for it to heal while keeping an ever watchful eye that it doesn't scar over and completely block his urethra. It will be another 3 months before we go back and see how it healed and schedule another surgery.
BUMMER!!

Cooper's 2nd surgery

Alright for those who don't know. Cooper was born with a Hyposadia & Chordee deformity to his penis. What that is: The urethra doesn't form or is only partially developed & a Chordee is a curvature of the penis. Cooper would have had this even if he would the been born full term. We were unlucky in the fact that he had both very severely. We were told in the beginning that it would take 2 maybe 3 surgeries.

Yesterday we had to be up to Primary Childrens Hospital(PMC) at 6 a.m. to check in for Cooper's surgery. Everything went smoothly and they took him back at 7:30. Then the fun waiting began. Emily from the Operating room called around 9:30 and gave us an update. Nothing exciting just that his vitals were good and it would be a couple more hours. More waiting. Can I just say that they kept the TV on the same channel the whole time and I heard the same news at least 4 times! It was really starting to wear on me and then right at 11:30 Dr. O came out from the O.R. and took us into a conference room. He told us he was really pleased with the way it went. He wasn't able to get the tube to go to the tip of the penis but that it was only shy by 2mm. It would still be fully functional and Coop would never know the difference. Now we just have to wait and be extra careful that it heals beautifully. We would need to go back into surgery if the tube "springs a leak" some where. So keep your fingers crossed for us!
When he was waking up from the anaesthesia he was rolling around and had some how managed to get up on all all 4's and then bonked his head on the bed rails. Poor boy he was so drugged he didn't know what was going on & he was starving to boot. He drank 12oz. of Apple juice like it was nothing! Recovery went well other than the bonk on the noggin' and we were out of there at 1 pm. He slept all the way home and for another hour. He was fairly active last night. He was just very irritable and whiny.
This morning was another story. He started having bladder spasms. Which they told us would happen because he has a stint tube that goes directly into his bladder and constantly drains into his diaper. I forgot to give him another dose of a med that is supposed to prevent them, when I gave him his Tylenol at 4am this morning. Oops that wont be happening again. Basically he screams until they stop. Its so sad though because when he has one his little legs buckle and shake. Poor little man!

15 months

Wow so many fun things are happening today! 1st its Halloween and 2ndly Cooper is officially 15 months. Nothing too exciting is going on. He is starting to jabber a lot more and he loves to do it when you are in a conversation with some one else. I am fairly sure he some what understands the meaning of "Yeah". He probably says that word the most. We are also starting to work on a couple of signs our first one of choice is "eat" and then "more". He hasn't quiet picked up on them yet but it takes time. He also is getting more stable on his feet, but hasn't taken off running yet. Cooper's favorite thing to do is empty EVERYTHING! I had to go buy a new garbage can for the kitchen because I caught him emptying it and let wasn't a pretty sight.
Here is a cute couple of pictures from last Halloween and this Halloween as a comparison. Hope you enjoy!
This is a Build-A-Bear "Pirate" costume(He was still only 5lbs)

Here is his ever so cute Elephant from this year

Pumpkins

Last night we decided it was time to carve our awesome pumpkins. Kris decided on Oogie Boogie, I wanted a spider, and we both thought Jack Skellington was perfect for Cooper's pumpkin. I think carving is really fun but you forget how long it takes and how icky it can be. We had lots of fun though.

Crafty Weekend

Everybody was all about crafting this weekend. Yes even Kris!
Kris has been working on modifying a mask he bought for his Lord of Darkness costume. So our plan was to cut out the seriously weak looking horns and make some kick ass ones that a MAN could be proud of, and that would represent the Lord of Darkness. Friday Kris went to Utrecht craft and bought the supplies we would need. After dinner we started working on horn building. Kris's only problem is that he is an Ottley. He can't help that perfectionism runs in his blood. So Dave(room-mate) and I sat and watched Kris struggle trying to make the very first horn perfect. Finally after an hour of over thinking the project I took over. My Forakis "good enough" blood worked very well for this project. So I sculpted the horns with 1/8" sculptor wire. It took longer than I thought but they looked darn good when I was all done!

Saturday I had been itching to go to The Wood Connection so at the crack of dawn I was up and ready to go at ten in the morning to go get some christmas gifts picked out for peeps in our families. I can't tell you how excited I was to find a new project that I could make and give! I was like a giddy little girl. When I got home I totally ditched helping Kris and started painting one set. I wish I could show pictures but there are people who read this that can't see what I am up too. So after Christmas I will post pictures of every thing I have and will make. I just finished my sisters and its so perfect! I am way excited and it is no where near christmas!
Sunday I told my sister-in-law that I wanted to make my nieces birthday cake so I could keep up on my decorating skills. I was really happy with the idea I found on the internet and so I spent all morning making a "Franken Girl" cake. There are the results!

Construction

This past weekend was all about construction. We spent all day Saturday up at Kris's moms house. She was helping me decode pattern lingo and Kris was sanding and refinishing a wood floor in one of the bedrooms.
Debbie was such a big help broadening my domestic goddess skills! How am I supposed to know what Baste means in fabric talk! I know how to baste a turkey but not fabric. Here is one excerpt from the pattern instructions. "Open out bodice back lining. With right sides together baste bodice front to bodice back at right side seams." HUH I think I read it 4 times and then Deb told me what to do. If I was a man I would have been scratching my butt in frustration. All in all it was a fairly easy pattern, when some one was decoding! I got the dress done in two days! Here are some photos.


As for Kris sanding and refinishing doesn't take that long. Its the prep that takes the most time! I wish I had a before picture but I was busy with my dress. So here are a couple of pics of the floor.

Also on Sunday Kris was so excited to get his Keg-r-ator together. So there are also a couple of pics of our now stocked beer facility.

New Furniture

So we got a new living room set and a new mattress delivered last Monday! Sorry I am late on posting pictures. But I just want you to see the old set. Which is 25yr old Ethan Allen set. I love it and will miss it but didn't have the time or funds to re-cover the cushions. I would like to thank my aunt and uncle for donating this furniture to us when we were starting our own home!
So here is the old:


And here is the new sectional and ottoman:


The chair & 1/2 and side table/ottoman

Something Like Walking

Cooper is so close to walking its sickening! He gets brave every once in a while and will let go of the furniture and walk a few feet before he sits down. We are so proud of our little man. His technical 1st birthday is tomorrow and he is right on mark developmentally. Just small, but that isn't very shocking either considering Kris and I weren't exactly big kids either. Here is a video of Cooper walking from Kris to me. It cuts off at the end because I had to catch him.

Ashley & Kessler

Friday Cooper & I drove up to Randolf to watch Ashley preform during half time of the homecoming football game and just to watch her cheer. It was funny sitting there watch a high school foot ball game again. It reminded me how much fun we used to have. Rich High is a much smaller school but it was still fun. Ashley's Cheer squad and the drill team preformed a version of Thriller in some of the old cheer outfits and old football jerseys that they made look worn and bloodied! I know it doesn't sound so good but it was so cute!

After spending the night at my parents house. Cooper & I packed up and headed for Logan! I was excited to drive down the canyon and check out all the beautiful leaves. Also my brother in law Kessler was going to be preforming with his high school's marching band in the annual comp. they have up at Utah State. So since I was driving through we stopped and watch Bingham take first place in their class! It was fun to be back in the Aggie football stadium where so many fun memories took place. I also drove past my old college apt. I miss some of those fun friends and memories! After they preformed I dragged Kris's family too Anige's! My favorite place to eat in Logan. They have AWESOME cinnamon rolls! So the next time you are in Logan you must eat at Angies!
Here is a pic of Kessler!

Hunting & Bunko

So this last weekend we went up to Bear Lake. Saturday morning before the rooster crowed Kris & my dad were up getting all the things loaded for an early morning hunt. My dad was lucky enough to get a call the week before letting him know that someone had passed up a Bull Elk tag and it was his if he wanted it. DUH!! Anyone who knows anything about my dad is fall=hunting! Kris was excited to go out with him again this year because the Ranger was fully enclosed this time around. Last year it didn't have a wind shield or doors; so they basically froze! Unfortunately they saw one Elk but didn't get it.
By the time they got back we ladies and Cooper were up and ready to go. But we were trying to get appitizers ready for our "Couples Bunko" night. My mom really wanted to do it since Thursday was her birhtday. There were supposed to be 6 couples but one bailed out at the last minute so we had to have one ghost table. I had never played Bunko before but it is fun! Especially when you have a good group of people and a Keg of beer!! Randy likes to call that combo "Drunko" instead of Bunko. Which was true for most people. Especially him! He would get really excited and shout Bunko really loud and throw his arms up and I swear he was doing "spirit fingers". I had to be responsible so I only drank a little not so much that I was sober by the time we dragged mom & dad out! It was so much fun I am sure we will be doing it again in the future.

Happy Birthday Mom, G-ma, & Friend

Today is my mothers birthday! There are so many things about my mom that make her so amazing! She is always understanding, kind, thoughtful, tender-hearted, smart, strong, and most of all Loving. I wish that I could be half the person she is. She may not realize it but I strive to be like her in so many ways.
I love you mom! You really are the Cool mom all the kids wanted.

1st Cookie

Thanks to Kris's sister Amber; Cooper had his first animal cracker yesterday. It was love at first taste. He wouldn't stop eating them! So today I just had to get some pictures of the distruction. I hope everyone enjoys them as much as I do.

Camping

Ever since our friend Nick had told us he wanted to go camping a month ago I had been making a list of pros and cons. Finally we just decided to give it a shot. I thought for sure it just wouldn't be any fun.
Oh how I was WRONG! Its been 2 years since Kris & I went camping last. Way to long for my taste. So I pulled out all of our camping gear on Wed and was cleaning the dust off and airing everything out. I had packed up the car and when Kris got off work a little early on Friday we were off to the Uinta's. I would have to say the best thing about our friends camping spot is its not far from the city. An hour max and it is GORGEOUS! This camping spot is in the "Upper Setting" just below Mirror Lake. A short hike to the mountain side and its one of the most beautiful views. But I am not about to share this awesome spot with the world so that's as close as you get! It was so nice to get away from the city. I really like roughing too. I am not the type of girl who has to be clean while camping. Its not camping unless your hands are dirty! When we arrived we set up camp and started a fire for dinner. When we finally were done it was dark and Cooper had fallen asleep. By the way Cooper is the cutest thing in 2 layers of fleece jammies and 2 fleece blankets with a fleece beanie on! That is the definition of a "burrito baby"! Anyway nothing too exciting the first night just trying to stay warm next to the fire until we were tired enough to put it out.
Saturday we up before the rooster! Cooper usually wakes up around 6 a.m. takes a bottle and then will sleep for another couple of hours. Yeah not while camping!! He was up and chatting before the sun was! It was cute but we really could have used another hour of sleep. After breakfast and a little closer to noon we decided to go for a hike/walk to try and get Coop to take a nap. So I put him in the snugglie and hauled him around for a half hour or so. It was a nice walk on a dirt road. We were also trying to kill time until a couple of Kris's friends showed up. But once they arrived the fun started! There was alot of drinking, playing bean bag toss, washu's, "hunting" for wood, and just good conversation.

The rest is boring. Packing up camp and heading home.

Twighlight Concert

The Galavin Center has been hosting the Twighlight Concert Series for the last few months and we were finally able to make it to the last one of the season. We got there 20min before the first band came on and browsed the little booths that were set up. People selling misc. things. It was really nice night to be out in the city. We stopped by on of Kris's customers BBQ booth. He makes some of the BEST ribs I have ever eaten! Our roommates came also so we all passed Cooper around and talked and listened to some pretty chill music. After a while I did get kinda bored so we left to put the baby to sleep. We will definitely be going next year though.
I love this picture!

LakeTown Demo Derby

Last weekend we went up to Bear Lake after a 3 week hiatus. It was good to get to spend time with my parents and sister without a ton of people around.
Kris & I left SLC around 3 pm on Friday so we could make it up to Bear Lake in time for a Golf Tourney. It was fun! We sucked of course but we have tons of fun golfing together. It does make it a lot more fun when you are playing best ball.
Saturday morning we waited until it warmed up enough to go boating. I wakeboarded a couple of times but for some reason it was just kicking my butt! Kris was the same way but he went a few times more than I did. After boating my mom & I got ready and went to browse the shops in town for some warmer clothes. I am so used to it always being warm in the city. I forget it is starting to get down into the 50's over night. So I didn't bring any warm clothes for the baby to be in at the Demo derby. I had to pick up some pants because my mom had talked my sister and I into being part of the "Half Time" entertainment. If you could picture a real life Mario Kart race that is what it felt like. Two people were on a 4-wheeler; the driver had a balloon duct taped to their helmet and the passenger has a plastic bat. There were 11 4-wheeler teams going a round the arena in a cirlce trying to not tip over while smacking the oppenents balloon off. It was hilariously fun! We were the second people out because my sister got the bat smacked out of her hand. Too bad the winners got $300!
Sunday we hung out most of the morning and then decided to all go golfing. So we snapped the baby in the golf cart and took off. It wasn't my best golfing ever but I think I am improving. After that we went back home and ate some pizza and then headed for home.

Hour 13

On friday night we had our roommates daughter stick around the house so we could go to our favorite bar and watch our friends band play their first gig. Kris helped them get in their and he also helped them order some sweet shirts to sale. Kris and I were so excited we were the first people other than the band to show up. Plus it was a much needed get away for me. Now if you know anything about me you would know that I like to drink as much as the next girl, but I haven't REALLY drank since I got pregnant with Cooper. This whole mommy business just ruins the fun. Let me just say I go the drunkest I have EVER been on friday night. Ryan the bartender knew just what I wanted when I said "Make me your favorite drink"! It was called an Aligator. All I know is between 4ish of those and some shots of Treasure I was done! I do still remember everything that went on but I haven't ever puked like that in my life!!
Aside from my drinking...We had so much fun the band was AWESOME and we were with all our friends!!
If you are interesed in hearing what I am talking about you should go check out their myspace page and give them a litsen. www.myspace.com/Hour13

Here are some pics of the fun!

1 year check up

Today we had Cooper's check up with his pediatrician. All went well. He weighs in at 16 lbs 2 oz, which is great that means he has gained 10 oz in 3 weeks. He has a huge head and long body so here is how he rates!
Head= 70%
Body= 15%
Weight= 0%

Dr. Ralston is very pleased with his development. He kicked me in the butt though for him not sleeping through the night. He understands somethings but made a few reccomendations for us to try. Basically its a diluted version of the Ferber method. Which is fine with me at this point. After a year I am down with the idea of sleeping through the night. He also reccomended to start trying whole milk. Ease into it the way we went from breastmilk to formula. He said try and spread it out over a months time that way if he has any reaction we will be able to catch it.

He is a happy healthy little guy!

Cooper's Birthday Party

It turned out great. Everything went well except running out of propane in the middle of grilling burgers and pineapple. All the kids got a pirate bandana and treasure chest with goodies in it. Other than that it was sitting around talking and eating. Nothing too exciting. Cooper was really great to watch while we sang happy birthday and he ate his cake. Suprisingly enough only one handfull hit the floor and the dog was all over that. After cake we opened some gifts that his friends and family brought. Spoiled little boy! Here is a slide show of the pics and a video. Hope you enjoy because we sure did!

Happy Birthday

I can't believe that at 3:40 pm a year ago today my world came crashing down when the doctors told us they had to take me in right now! I just remember freaking out because nobody knew we were at the hospital! I called my mom and started crying while Kris called everyone else. Then I was gone! Being wheeled back into the Infant ICU Delivery room so they could pass him through a window and straight into the waiting arms of some really great nurses. While they were prepping me for a c-section they had told Kris and I that the chances of him crying when he came out weren't great because he was so little. I just remember laying there focusing on breathing while Kris tried to keep me talking. Then there it was! It was the tiniest squeak you had ever heard and I just started to bawl. That to me should have said right out the gate how strong our mini Cooper was!

A year! It has never been so significant to me before. I know I have said it before but I just want everyone to know what a true blessing Cooper has been. He made me realize how strong I was, how fragile life is, and that miracles happen!

We love you so much little man! Happy 1st Birthday.

Mommy & Daddy

Family & 1st yr. Pics

If you didn't notice the new header...
We finally got a family picture! Yeah!!! It was kind of a stressful day for me but it all turned out great.
I was working for my mom so she and my dad could take a week off. Of course Mondays are the WORST. It really doesn't help either when someone forgets to forward the fax machine and then is out of cell service all day. STRESS ME OUT!!
Anyway when Kris got home from work we all changed and did some finishing touches and were out the door to Kiddie Kandids. They may be over priced but I love the fact that I dont have to wait weeks for my pictures.
So here they are:

Cooper Update

On Tuesday we had a follow up appt with the Utah Health Department. When Cooper was still in the Newborn ICU they had approached us and asked if we would be willing to sign up for it. Its all research oriented to see how well preemies adapt. They schedule you to come see them at 3 months, 9 months, 1 ½ yrs, 2 ½ yrs, and 4 ½ yrs. So needless to say we will be seeing them sporadically over the 4 yrs. Its really great though as a parent. They do more developmental testing than a regular pediatrician would. You meet with 4 - 5 different depts and everyone does there own thing. First we met with a pediatrician, then a neurologist, he had a hearing evaluation, a speech screening, and finally a nutritionist. Unfortunately this takes any where from 3-4 hours. Oh well its all good to know how he is doing. Everyone we met with thinks he is just amazing for being “ A 29 weeker!” That is what they call him being born at 29 weeks gestational age. His only down fall is since he starting to get really active he is burning a lot more calories. He is 27.5 inches long and only weighs 15 lbs 8 oz! I swear I am feeding him all his little belly can handle! So we have to beef up his diet by adding more formula than the usual 1 scoop to 2 oz ratio. We are supposed to be giving him 4oz w/ 3 scoops for added calories and adding a tsp of olive oil to his baby food throughout the day. For being so skinny though he isn’t that far away from walking. Maybe a couple more months is all. All in all he is an amazing baby. Kris and I are so blessed that he is doing so well for being so early and we will never take that for granted!

His 1st birthday is less than two weeks away! I just wanted to add this cute pic with a couple of teeth in it!

Hogel Zoo

Yesterday My sister-in-law and I took all the kids to the zoo. It was Cooper's first time and we picked the perfect day and time. It was cloudy the whole time so it wasn't even hot! First we went to see the Elephants. Cooper wasn't that interested in them even though they were moving around. As we walked through the zoo a pattern started to develop. If the animal wasn't moving he didn't care about it. He would look around at the other people and start baby babbling to them. Giving them big smiles and coo's. It was really cute! If an animal was close to the glass I would put him right up against it and he would put his hands on the glass and start talking to it. After seeing all the animals we decided to go the new carousel. Cooper sat on a bear and his cousin's sat on the row of animals right behind him. He didn't mind it but didn't love it either. I dont know why but he kept trying to lean back. At least the girls had fun! After that we headed up to have some lunch and on the short walk Cooper fell asleep in his stroller. Poor guy was tuckered out! We did get him a pet Lion from the gift shop and a cute sun hat for next time!

Weekend at BL

Yes that is right we did it again. Like our usual routine we are pretty much back to every other weekend at Bear Lake! This weekend was a little more fun than usual. We were able to coordinate with our friends The Gates annual Bear Lake (BL) trip. It was such a blast to see Corey come out of his quiet shell and look like he was having fun! Friday night we met them at the local BBQ restaurant. Afterwards we convinced them to come hang out at my parents house for a couple of hours. My dad gave them a tour of their place and then we started a fire and sat around talking and roasting marshmallows. Kayden, The Gates 5 year old son, was in love with roasting the marshmallows. He would stick them so close they would instantly catch on fire and then he would pull a little Dennis the menace trick while trying to blow them out. I almost died laughing I though for sure he was going to end up flinging a fiery marshmallows somewhere.

After some much needed sleep that night we woke up early and headed down to the beach to stake out our spot for the day. When all was said and done we had it all! Covered canopy, chairs, blankets, portable crib, sand toys, horse shoes, and volleyball. Now we just needed the people! After an hour of waiting Corey and Holly showed up and we helped the anchor off. Within the next hour my parents friends and their two kids and another friend with some of their friends showed up too. All in all it was a group of about 20 people. We did some boating and of course all the beach activities mentioned above. It turned out to be around 12 hours at the beach that day!

Sunday we got up early again but everyone was a little more tired. It took some convincing but I got Ashley, Kris, and Dad to go out on the boat again. I wanted to get out on the wake board! So we found the Gates out on the lake and headed over to the North side of the lake for calmer and warmer water! Oh boy it was! It has been 2 years since I have wake boarded but it felt great to get back out on the water. Kris didn't because he had sun burnt the tops of his feet really really bad and didn't want to squeeze them into wake board bindings. Understandable! After some skiing by dad we all stopped and started to float for a while swimming around and what not. When Corey dove in the water, not realizing how deep it wasn't! It was just shy of 5 feet deep. He had hit the bottom head first and jarred his neck! He already has a messed up back so this was a very very bad thing. We followed them back to the Marina where Kris escorted them to the local clinic where the Doc checked him out. Everything looked okie dokie but told him to take it easy for a while. Its never a good weekend at Bear Lake unless there is some drama!

4th O July Weekend

You have to love this time of year! All the holidays present perfect opportunites to get outside and enjoy the summer sun! Our 4th of July was great. We BBQ with my family and played a couple of games of Farkle before we headed over to Kris's Dad's house for his stepmothers birthday party. There is nothing like hanging out with family, having fun, and free food! It was a good for Cooper to see family he hasn't in a while. It was also a good day for firsts. He finally started to crawl on his hands and knees instead of "Army Crawling." Cooper also experienced a sand box for the 1st time. He and I sat there and I tried to get him to touch the sand, it took some serious convincing; I buried his feet, and he tried to eat the sandbox toys. I would have to say that was a good experience. He liked it better than grass. I also had the brilliant idea to see if he would like the water slide. Yeah not so much. I wasn't smart enough to touch the water first before I sat him down on it. It was freezing cold hose water and he instantly started to cry. So to win back his affection I fed him and then we left for the night to make sure he fell asleep before the neighbors started to light fireworks.Aside from all this fun we actually had a weekend that wasn't planned with "fun" activites all weekend. So Kris and I decided it was a great weekend to get started on Part 2 of our back yard remodel. Thursday Kris and our roommate Dave headed over to Lowes after work and picked up 2 1/2 pallets of tan retaining wall bricks. After a pretty penny and some extra tools of course we ready to get started! We both knew what we were getting into but didn't know how frustrating it could be. Of course I am a genius at leveling things and how dirt works perfectly for this! So I suggested that we the "soft" clay like dirt first and then we would use the 5 bags of sand. Lets just say after the 6 hours that it took just to lay the first row. We learned that they tell you to use sand as your base for a reason!! Our second row of bricks took a quarter of the time it took to lay the first row. From there it went really fast. We had all 5 rows done around 4p.m. and then a serious set back happend. Since we had an extra 50 bricks hanging around we decided to put another row on. I went inside to check on Cooper and shortly after Kris came inside. His face said it all! Something had happened. If you split our 60 Ft. wall into the 3rds the center 1/3 of the wall had decided not to stand anymore but rather lean against the dirt wall that was about a foot behind it. OH!!! We were almost done. Seriously mabye 10 more bricks and we were going to call it a night. But no!!! So Kris quit swearing and got back to work of pulling the collapsed wall and re-stacking a couple of rows and then filled in the gap with gravel before repeating until 6:30pm when he had finally finished. We had started at 9 a.m. so I would say we had a dang good work out!

Before "The Wall"

The Great Collapse of 2008

Success!!!

Bachelorette Party

So it is a very very rare occasion that I hang out with all girls! Mostly because I dont have just one group of girl-friends. I was lucky enough to be invited to Las Vegas for Amie's bachelorette party. I was so excited to go I couldn't even tell you.

We left SLC Saturday morning and after 3 stops for food, gas, and booze; we arrived just in time to check into our rooms. We had talked about what we wanted to do on Sat night the entire trip. I made it a point that we go see a male review. I have wanted to see the "Thunder from Down Under" since I was a teenager. Unfortunately for me it never worked out for either of my bachelorette parties to go to Vegas. This was my chance and Ashley (Amie's soon to be neice) had the same feelings. So we walked down the strip to a 1/2 ticket store. BUMMER! They didn't sale TDU tickets, but they did sale "American Storm." We were told that AS was better any way because the strippers came out into the audience! Horray we were so there. I haven't had so that much fun in a long time! IT wasn't just about seeing mostly naked men. It was the hilarious reactions of the women they would take on stage and strip for! Our Ashley was lucky enough to get taken up on stage by the second to last stripper Tony. He was the best one out of all of them. He did things to Ashley and another audience memeber that had the entire place laughing so hard. First he danced in between both of them, went around the back of the other girl and jumped over her landing in both of their laps. His head was in Ashley's and his butt was in the other girls. That is skill! Ashley was laughing and the other gal looked petrified. When he was done with that he stood up and started bumping his butt against Ashley. He was hitting her right in the boobs and hard enough that it was making her chair move. We were just dying of laughter!

Sunday we spent the majority of the day at the pool catching some sun and enjoying the hot weather. We had decided to go see Fantasy at the Luxor. After getting ready and grabbing dinner at the Cathouse (great atmosphere) we grabbed our seats for the show. Some how an entire Bachelor party ended up right behind us. They were funny but also irritating because they talked the whole time! Wow if you are into topless beautiful women you need to go see this show. It was great and now I know what my weightloss acheivement is! The rest is boring. We woke up Monday and drove home!

Your a Daddy Day

After a short baby shower on Sat we drove up to Bear Lake for the rest of the weekend. We mad it up there just in time to go to the Pickleville Playhouse for a Western cookout and then a show called Chuck Wagon's showdown. I thought ok this play is going to be ok but since we had never gone we were all kinda excited. Oh I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. It was a musical that poked fun at just about everything. The best part was Cooper behaved the whole time! I was shocked but he even fell asleep half way through.

Sunday after my grand parents left at 8:30 a.m. !?? We got ready had some food and took to the water. It takes a lot of prep to take a baby out on the boat but I was stoked for Cooper's first time out. He dug it as long as the boat was moving. He didn't like just hanging out in the life vest. Understandably because I wouldn't have like it either. He sat on my dad's lap while he drove and ended up falling asleep there. It took some convincing but we finally got Kris to get out on the water. Since he wasn't able to do it on Memorial like the last couple of years we subed it as his first run of the season! The lake was like glass, but also like ice considering it just melted 6 weeks ago. Of course after that is was an all out Mario Kart war for the rest of the night.

To all the fathers in my life: Happy Fathers Day!

Coop Giggles

It is so much fun having a child sometimes. Our new thing is trying to find ways to make him laugh. So here is a video of Kris slapping the kitchen table and Cooper bustin' a gut. Unfortunately I missed the real hard laughing.

Yard Remodling

So the running joke in my family is to go over to each others houses and point out some new project that could be done. I dont know why my parents still try but Kris has already thought of everything you could possibly do to this old house!

I have been trying since the snow melted to keep up on the weeds that attack our gardens. Its the rock hard clay we have for dirt and the fact that its all root bound. Sucks!!! Finally after weeks of diligence I had the front yard garden taken care of. So to the back I went. OMG! Our back yard "garden" we will try and call it. Since really it was a bug infested weed pit! I couldn't believe it! I swear over one weekend the weeds grew six inches. All of the sudden we had a forest of milkweed and grass. It was so bad you couldn't see Optimus when he walked the fence line.

After weeding half of it Kris and I gave up and started the biggest project we have done so far to the house. We rented a backhoe from Diamond Rental and tore up the back yard. Our real goal was to level it out since our yard slopes toward the house. Bad news is that is a lot of money in just retaining wall blocks not to mention top soil and new sod. So we half assed it. We only tore out the "weed pit" and where we are going to put our 12' X 20' deck.

Now our biggest battle will be finding the time to finish what we started.

Here is before the damage:

This is After:

TOOTH

Yeah he finally got his first tooth. We could see it was coming all weekend and then yesterday it finally broke through the skin. Unfortunately I cant get a picture of it.

Memorial Weekend

If you have a great memory I would like you to name two years when the weather hasn't been crappy on Memorial weekend. Last year was nice but that is the only one I can think of. By nice I mean sunny that doesn't mean warm.

So like the past few years we went up to Bear Lake to visit my family and Kris was hoping to get out on the water for the first wakeboarding run of the year. Dissapointing to say the least was the fact that Saturday was the nicest weather and we didn't arrive until six that evening. Bummer! Oh well instead we did what my family does second best. Played cards and nintendo games until midnight.

Sunday was another chance to get out on the lake but by the time we were ready the storm clouds had moved in. It wasn't raining yet but definately too cold to be out on the lake. So we packed up the baby and went golfing instead. We all debated on what to do with our Coop and our original idea was to rachet strap the car seat in the golf cart, but when we arrived and were getting set up I found that his car seat clicked into the golf carts basket just like it would in the car base. Problem solved! I have to admit that it was a great idea and Cooper cooperated the whole time. I think he really liked being able to see everything that was going on. When we would drive he would talk to us. It was so cute! Kris & I had an amazing game. We both shot the best we ever had.

Monday was another crappy weather day but Kris & I wanted to golfing again. So when it looked like the weather was breaking My dad, Kris & I pilled into the golf cart and headed to the course. It was a little chilly and it only sprinkled for a min the whole time we were out. When we got home we decided that no one wanted to cook so Mom & Dad took us out to dinner at a local steak house. It was yummy!

I really have to thank my parents! We are so lucky to be able to get out of the city and go some where we always know we are going to have fun. We both love you so much and thanks for the non-stop giggles this weekend!

Natalie on Speed

Whew is all I have to say right now. So I am on a new diet and the Doc prescibed me a drug called Phentramine. It is a stimulant kinda like what Hydroxycut does. It is supposed to help give me a boost of energy so I dont just sit on my butt all day. Its working! This moring I got up at seven and this is what I have accomplished so far:
Fed baby
Ate breakfast
Cleaned kitchen
Organized Storage
Two loads of laundry washed
Showered and got ready

I am lucky if I get all this stuff accomplished in a day. My mind is going 100 miles an hour and I feel like I cant stop moving. But its not a bad feeling like jittery or heart racing I just feel like I have the energy to get even more done. Hopefully I dont clean the house all in one day because then I wont have anything to do tomorrow!

Floating

Kris picked up a cute little life vest from Cosco months ago, but I finally decided Cooper needed to get used to it since boating season starts this weekend! I filled up our bath tub with luke warm water and we sat there for a half hour in the tub. First we started without the vest just getting used to the floating feeling with me supporting him. Then I put the vest on. He really did seem to mind it. I would almost go as far to say he might have liked it! He just chilled in the vest floating around the tub. Here are some pics.

All in a day

Ok so in the last two days so much has changed with our little guy! Of course as soon as we talked about it with Dr. Ralston Cooper slept from 9pm-5:45am! That is sleeping through the night if you ask me. I freaked out when I saw the time on the clock. I thought maybe I slept through him crying or something. I know his probably wont be consistent but it was still exciting.

Also he is starting to crawl! Well army crawl but its all the same. Here is a video it isn't the best but it gives you a lookie.

9 mo. Check Up

Coopers check up was today and every thing looks great! He is still gaining an avgerage of a pound a month. This means that on his first birthday he should be around 17-18 lbs! His weight was 14.3 lbs and he is 26 1/4 inches long. He is in that inbetween sizes phase that I hate. His head did measure in the 80% percentile so that is great news! Other than that we are supposed to really work on getting him to sleep through the night before he hits the "Where is my mommy phase". Dr.Ralston said it looks and feels like his bottom teeth are coming in. Yeah for drooling grouchy babies!
Here are some recent pics

GO JAZZ

Look for these shirts at tonights game! We will be on the third row ;)

Kittens

Kris's sister Amber is such an amazing person. Her family has been set up to be a "Foster family" to pets at the humaine society. Today Amber was kind enough to come over to my home and show me her newest foster kitties. They are 10 days old and just lost their mama. They were so precious! It has been so long since I have seen kittens that small. It was a litter of 4 babies and they were just crawling all over each other. Lets just say it looked like a kitten orgy. Optimus wouldn't leave the poor things alone. He couldn't quite figure out what they were. Amber will have the kittens for up to 6 weeks. She will have to bottle feed them and she has to rub their butts with a wet rag to stimulate them to poop & peep. That doesn't sound like too much fun but lord knows her three little girls will love it!

Baby E v v y

We would like to congratulate Nick & Tessy on the birth of their beautiful daughter. She is so cute and small. Its amazing how quickly you forget how small your own children were! We are so excited for some of our best friends and now Cooper has a girl friend!