It was warm, the dogs were distracted, coop was antsy, and it's nearly impossible to have everyone looking at the same time with no wind pushing the hair in my face or people in the background or shadows on faces, etc. You get the point. Sadie's rolling in hay, Jake's chasing people and dogs, Coop is trying to escape as well, Dallin's tired of holding coop cuz he's like a thousand pounds, I'm trying to remember all the spots and poses while keeping my dress down and prevent flashing everybody. Luckily we had Lexi and G to make sure we didn't lose my phone or Coop's precious remote control we take everywhere. They were seriously saints to go and put up with all the shenanigans. G was our photographer and Lexi was the professional "make Cooper smile" person as well as the dog bouncer. We owe them so much lol no sane person would go through that for free. I'm kind of exaggerating and kind of not. Doing anything with two dogs and a baby is pretty difficult.
Anyway because of all that going on I was thinking on the way home the likelihood we got anything good is low. Then here we are after editing and we've got 25 solid shots!! I was so happy I even got one of all the kids together. Ah what fortune. I love it. Such a beautiful day, place, family, friends, dogs. Only thing I don't really like how my hair or dress turned out. But oh well close enough.
Here they all are!
Our AMAZING photo crew!! You guys rock!!
As I was going through the memory card I saw the ones we took when he was a newborn, then 1 month in the backyard, then 6 months and now. It was so crazy to see how much he has changed! This was him at 6 months. So weird how time flies.
It may sound crazy but I've already thought of a bunch of spots I want to do the next photoshoot. Hopefully someone else though. It's a lot less stressful when it's someone else and not you in the pictures lol
Just a warning on this post – I am using the talk to text function on my phone some of the time to try to get this done faster. I also just type really fast and don't care to fix mistakes so there are so many typos you may need to text me to interpret later. (Just to give you an idea so I don't sound lazy saying that- this post took 4 hours to do. So it's a lot of work. and I just have to fit it in wehre i can cuz im busy.)
I titled this post hanging on because about 70% of the time we're just hanging on for this wild ride that we’re on right now. It’s so much to balance that we’re just barely hanging onto all the pieces of our lives that we have to hold together. I frequently have meltdowns because I get so overwhelmed. (I clearly don’t handle stress well... right now I may or may not be surrounded by the remains of the mountain of crumbl cookies I just inhaled...) I eat my feelings apparently. Anywho.... on to the rest of the post.
Celebrating Josie's would have been 8th birthday
It was a sad day. We were tyring to make it light and positive to feel more like we're celebrating for her than mourning her but it didn't really work. Any way jessi and wade watched coop for us while we took Jake out by ourselves so these were the pics of them playing while we were out.
We went to petsmart and got jake a feast for dinner. Then we we went to goldwater and got a beer sampler. Then we went to the dog park and that was it. Dallin had a hard time that whole day. I was worse the day before. But neither of us are past it yet. The only good news we realized is that josie wasn't that cute as a puppy but became cute as an adult and we didn't bond with her until later too so it makes us have hope for Sadie. Maybe by next February we will be past the first year transition phase and we'll feel better.
We got a window AC unit
This is a pic of coop at home depot. He was pretty excited about everything he saw lol
Cooper's walking now!
This was the first time I got it on video which was March 31
Spying on Coop when he's supposed to be sleeping
His self-soothe game is on point
Pool Party!
Jessi and Wade had a pool party last Saturday and it was fun to finally get back together again. We have all been so busy the last few weeks so we haven’t been hanging out a lot. We had a lot of fun it was nice to just feel those relaxed summer vibes again. I only have 24 more days of school… But who’s counting... LOL
He loves his ball pit and tubes
Justin and Lexi gave us their hand me down ball pit and tubes set thing. Cooper loves it so much but the problem is the balls and all the pieces to it end up all over the yard and it’s so frustrating to keep it clean. So we finally figured out situation where we put all the balls in the tent and I put one of the shingles from my roof in it to keep it weighed down so that it doesn’t keep blowing away LOL
Speaking of justin and lexi, this was from a dya they watched coop and he learned how to play peekaboo
Skincare
I have really gotten into skin care lately! I think anti-aging stuff is so cool because I’ve seen it working! I started using like five or six different products and I’ve noticed a huge difference in my skin. Ive gotten into micro needling and I do it every Monday so I call it my “microneedling Mondays" LOL and I use red light therapy every once in a while as well.
This was the mask that Dallin got me over the summer. I have also been whitening my teeth lately
Work
I am not going to lie to you I work life has been quite tumultuous lately. Lots of ups and downs but as a whole it has been very stressful and there are a lot of unknowns for next year and what I’m going to do. And at the same time with all of that job security stress and hurt that I feel, I am also having to prepare for the dance concert again. I know that my job is changing next year, just don’t know what yet. So when I made the bulletin board this month I was hoping it’s message would inspire me as well as the kids.
The kids still find a way to pull me out of my funk. This was from a lively little wager I had going with a student and I won so he had to get me a cookie. I do still love my job and the students I teach and it will eventually calm down and become simple again and I will get more of those moments I’m sure.
One of the cool moments was that student government wanted to make our fire drill a little bit more fun for the kids. So they gave each class a couple of balloons. We had to write our names on the balloons and then out at the fire drill we all released the balloons at the same time so that made an ordinary event into some thing a lot more fun and I enjoyed it.
I still have so much to be grateful for and I am really working on staying positive. Even as I write this I just feel guilty for complaining so much because I do have so many things that are awesome going on still. (I have good days and bad days and today just happened to be catastrophic.) One of those things is that the parents are doing wonderful Wednesdays for us still. Every Wednesday they bring in treats for us.
I had so much fun doing the world of dance week. We spend each day doing different dances from around the world and it was so much fun! That’s the kind of thing I’m definitely going to miss next year. It’s making each thing as the year goes by sort of bitter sweet because I know I may never get to do this again maybe that’s a negative way of looking at it, my work may just go in phases and I may end up coming back to the dance phase. But anyway the world of dance week was really fun. We did hula, Tahitian dance, Irish step dancing, and one of the most interesting ones was called Tinikling. It’s a dance that they do in the Philippines and they jump back-and-forth over bamboo sticks. We used broomsticks and we had a blast!
Craft Night!
Michelle and Katie came over and we made signs for Easter. I love hearing them talk about their kids growing up so that I kind of know what to expect. They gave great advice and they are always so understanding.
Dallin's Family Visited
Dallins parents were going to a wedding in Vegas and so they came here after and stayed for a week. At first it was just going to be done with another one Brian decided to drive down for a few days as well. It was so fun having them all here and Cooper loved playing with them and going for new adventures
While they were here they were fixing up Dallins dad‘s boat so that he can sell it. This is Matthew and Dallin kneeboarding
All of us going on a golf cart ride and visiting melissa's family and having dinner over there
His first time on a boat and he loved it
He wants to drive everything
Cooper's 1st Birthday Party!
His first birthday party was literally a dream for me. It was like one of those things that you hype up in your mind and you know that logically it doesn’t make sense for you to hype it up that much but it still happens anyway LOL
Shelly and I had his birthday party theme already planned out before he was born. And we had such a good turn out, we got to swim thanks to Justin and Lexi hosting, the decor was amazing and we all had such a great time.
I can't believe he's already a year. I made a year video for him.
The tables turned out cute because we put a peice of washi tape down the middle that looked like road and Mini Cooper cars on top
My favorite memory of the day was cooper laughing his head off at addi swimming around in the pool. So much joy my heart burst
I was so glad that my backdrop idea worked!!
Shelly’s cake masterpiece was everything I could have ever dreamed of and more!!
Both my parents came which means a lot I was grateful for their help and for all the fort it took for them to be there. Tom and my mom drove ten hours only to be there 2 days and drive back so I couldn’t believe how nice that was.
This was luca’s first time swimming!
We were so touched that the people came to be there for us and celebrate with us. You always feel so cared about when u do an event and people come for you because they want to be with you, ya know?
The ball pit was a hit!
Birthday weekend with GG & Donk
They only had one more day with us but we made it count! Of course we had a little cake the next day
My mom took a turn with swimming lessons
He opened his birthday presents and played with his new toys
We owed it to ourselves to go to that gelato place because that’s a must-do
Went on a golf cart ride
The Dogs
I took these of close pictures of Sadie trying to capture how long her eyelashes are. I don’t really think it worked because pictures don’t do it justice
One night I went into panic mode going holy cow I don’t know where Sadie is! I thought I lost her and look where she was...
Hugs for jakey 😀
Sadie dug and rolled in mud and brought it in all over the place
She has been acting completely normal and then a routine fecal test at vet found microscopic proteins of giardia. So they gave us two medicines and told her to come back in a month to re test. It's so weird because we have no idea where she could have gotten that she hasn't been anywhere or seen any other dogs besides ellie and luna. They were checked and dont have anything so it doesn't make sense. But they said its a minor case and they're not worried at all about her or jake.
She is still struggling with potty training and we still don’t feel that bonded to her yet. Right now the board is at 2 days and I think her record is 5 days. I swear it wasn’t this hard with Jake and jo.
I think once she fills out and loses the puppy hair she has hope for being cute lol it’s also very difficult to find a puppy cute when they poop and pee all over everything you have. I sound like a horrible person right now but it’s the truth. She does have good qualities too. She is really good about her crate she doesn’t cry in there. She doesn’t bark and she will cuddle you really well. Her coloring is lightening a little I’ve noticed.
St. Patrick's Day Dinner
We went over to Lexi’s for a st Patrick’s day dinner and had a blast!
I even cooked the main dish!! I accidentally made WAAAAYY too much. But it turned out really good. It was chicken pesto pasta and I dyed the noodles green.
Play Days with Livi
I just realized putting this all together and getting it organized that I take away too many pictures of the two of them together LOL all of these pictures are only from three playdates
She was pushing him around in the jump jump it was hilarious
The Pokemon Rip n ship
Easter!
It was crazy for us to think about where we were and how life was a year ago last easter. I hid a basket for cooper full of all his favorite things- banana, chicken nuggets, yogurt and avocado lol He actually fit in that same basket last year. So weird to think of that.
Sadie's first easter
Coop and I read an easter book my mom gave him
We went to an easter egg hunt with Justin and Lexi and that was really fun. We also went to brunch with them at Pacinos. We got a picture with the easter bunny and in front of pacinos with all of us but dallin's phone broke at the pool party becuase cooper threw it in the pool . So we're hoping we can still access those photos but we don't have them yet.
Overall it was a really fun day.
Dreaming about orange trees
We went to a nursury thinking we were going to buy an orange tree becuase we love the scent of the oragne blossoms so much. They were on sale and even with the sale itw as going to be at least 3 grand!! I couldn't beleive it! So obviously we left without a tree. It was beautiful there and we had some on e on one time with jake so that was nice.
More Boating pics
It took me so long to organize the pictures so I just didn't want to move more. We went to eat dinner at the lake restaurant after and i always love that.
Coop fell asleep on the boat!
The Aquarium
My old roommate Tonya set me up with her old sorority sister from college cami who lives 30 min from me and has a son 3 months older than coop! What are the odds of that since they went to college in Ohio, I met tonya in utah and we both end up here and have kids at the same time. Anyway it was nice to meet her and go out. It was fun we went to the aquarium and then out to eat after. I have never been there and it was cool but way over priced. 42$ for one person are you kidding me?!
I thought it was funny that the sloth's name was what Skyler used to call me in high school "Squidney"
Hair
I have been wanting to chop my hair off for probly 10 years. I remember talking to my mom about it in 2011. And I kept chickening out. I would either freak myself out or other people would. I would send ppl pictures and they would say "noooo don't do that I love your hair" or "you'll just regret it" or "you're going to look like a karen"
I finally decided I just don't care what other people think anymore. It's my hair and my life and it can be just as cute in a 100 different ways not just long. Life is too short to have the same boring hairstyle the whole time. I want to try them all. I refuse to believe that beauty always has to look the same. I'm sick of looking like everyone else and doing the hair that everyone else does. I was ready to be unique and be me and do what I want to do instead of worrying of someone else thinking I look like a Karen. So it was a very freeing feeling to finally just stop caring and do what I want.
I even googled "what is karen hair" and I got this result which is completely different from the cut I got. Just to prove the nay-sayers wrong. And also it's pretty rude to tell someone that anyway. I don't get it.
This is the BEFORE version
This is during
And this is the AFTER!!!! (Isn't it amazing?!!? And if you don't like it I don't care and don't want to know. It's too late anyway.)
I got suckered into buying this gorgeous wig and as it turns out it is not gorgeous in real life. I was laughing so hard when I put it on. That is the most hideous thing I've ever seen and I definitely want to return it. That is the best example of a pinterest fail i've ever seen. I just need to stpo buyging things off pinterest.
Ryan, Shayle, Oakley, and Ollie Visit
We hiked at pagago park, went to raising canes and then tempe towne lake. It was good to see them again!
We're photographers now
We did free family pictures for the maynes and the sandins and I seriously love doing it! we got a light reflector and a new lens and i edit them and everything so we're practically pros. It was so fun and it's so rewarding when you get good pics.
Look how adorable he is!
I just love him.
he still will give you the sweetest cuddles
We're still in the perfect weather time of year
only drawback is the allergies in my nose...
The Girls Group
We've gotten so busy we haven't gotten together in a while but this was the last time
One of the times gianna hosted and we were celebrating the end of her dangle so we had this cake..... hahahah
Our Dates
We have been doing better about going on dates on the weekends and it is so nice. We went to fred astair ballroom school and took a ballroom dance class with justin and lexi one saturday. More pics of that on dallin's broken phone unfortunately. But it was really fun and dallins such a good dancer.
This was our old babysitter- she no-showed on us a couple times though and I'm over it so we're hiring someone more reliable. Let me know if you know of anyone!
This was the second time she bailed on us. We got all ready and then she didn't show up. So we took a picture and then tried to salvage the night but the truth is it's not a date if you stay home. That's how we feel anyway.
We took this guy with us to brunch on sunday so that was sort-of kindof a date.
Golf Cart rides
We all love them !
monthly mantle
This was for march
this is april
"Joojing" (How do you spell that? Jooge?) Up the Front a little
I learned that word from HGTV and now I don't how to write it. But anyway coop helped me go pick out new flowers an plant them in the front planters. (Well he supervised at least.) First I spray painted them black again because they were so faded. And I fixed the sprinklers there so they're still alive and it's been a few weeks now! woohoo!
Cooper trying a crumbl cookie for the first time. He is a big fan!
The "big banquet" for employee of the year
Dallin was so sad he didn't get the big party and dinner that they always do because of covid. I'm so proud of him for winning. Out of the thousand people they chose him! He didn't win the biggest prize but we still do get to go on a trip! They did little scavenger hunts during the zoom and one was find a hat, picture, and magnet and take a selfie with it and we won a giftcard from that too! Brian presented one of the awards so I took his picture while he was talking.
We'll end the post with a cute pic of this guy :)
He has a top tooth now thats huge! it came in after this pic so that's why you cant see it here
