I titled this post finally because we're at a time when we feel like we have arrived at what we wanted. The most obvious one is that I finally made it to the end of the school year. 😅
Finally sweat-free at night and a lower electric bill!!
Dallin always says I'm verbally abusive when I'm hot. It has been tradition for me to wake up in the night covered in sweat and tell him we have to sell the house and move because I can't live like this. Our room is so bad that the only way we survive the summer here is to move upstairs. We had HVAC people come and tell us there isn't anything we can do. So we finally got a window unit and it has been a GAME CHANGER. We can keep the rest of the house at 80 and then cool our room only, and then coop has his own AC upstairs so we have saved so much money. In the past I would literally crank that thing down to 70 just to feel anything in our room because no air goes in there. It's always 5 degrees higher than everywhere else in the house. So anyway because that shutter has to be open all the time we got curtains and it's working out great! Dallin is happy he no longer has to wake up to threats at 3 am 😂
Bath time cuteness
It's finally summer!
I know that it's probably not common for someone who lives in Arizona to be excited for summer, but we usually are at the beginning. We get excited for swimming, floating the river, and being together more since I don't have to work and Coop doesn't have to go to daycare. It's great for May, June, and July, it's just August and September that suck. By that time we are so sick of the heat, my job has started back up again, and we miss experiencing fall.
My FINAL dance concert
I have been so sad that I don't get to teach dance next year. I feel like I had my dream job for 4 years and now it's gone. The way the rug got ripped out from under me was also very abrupt, confusing, and personally offended me. But I have also worked really hard on looking forward to a new chapter of my life. As the saying goes, "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." It was a dream come true for me to teach dance, and this may not be the end for me. I could always teach dance in the future somewhere else. So I've reached a point where I've accepted it and moved on. It was just a very rough March, April, and May for me professionally speaking. There was a lot of unknown and that makes it even worse because you know you're losing what you love but you don't know what the next chapter will be so you have nothing to look forward to yet. I knew the end of the year would be emotional for me because it was my last dance show. But of course I never get emotional at the normal times. It would make sense for me to be emotional during the show or at the end of the show but I cried in my first hour the day before the show. I had a better experience this time because I had less pressure to make everything perfect. But there was tons of stress in the preparation of concert and I got yelled at by 5 different parents in the month leading up to it. That is one thing that I will not miss about teaching dance. I was so glad when it was finally over. I will miss it, but I've started to recognize that there are pros and cons to every job so there will be good parts about not teaching dance. (Like the stress of concert preparation and the parents yelling at me.) Dallin brought me flowers and he said it was the best show yet. In between shows one of the students made and brought a cake since it was my last show. Overall it went well.
Concert week shelly stayed with us and it was so much help! We all went out to olive garden one night and it had been so long since we went there and coop's first time of course. We loved it! Coop literally ate an entire chicken parm by himself.
We were financially ambushed 😖
The water heater died, and that costed1400$, the AC needed repairs that was 930$, paid the stupid hoa 636$, and we paid only half the bill for an ER visit and it’s 711$. (not counting the doctor just the hospital so there will be another bill) We had so much hit us at once and it was at the same time as all my job uncertainty and parents yelling at me. My method of dealing with it was just eating my feelings lol So it was frustrating but we had a savings built up so that we could be prepared if things like this ever happened. And now I’m so glad we did because it saved us.
Here’s a picture of our new water heater! (And a picture that documents me losing control with cookies to deal with the emotional trauma of being broke...)
Hair
I got My hair thinned out more on bottom and it helped a lot because I like it more now. I am missing my long hair though.
With hair like this you don’t have the option of just putting it in a bun so it is sometimes annoying how dependent I am on a curling iron or straightener. When the power went out that was my first thought- how am I going to do my hair?! Lol luckily it came back. I also learned how to curl it with a straightener!
The end of work-finally!
The students get wilder the closer we get to the end of the year so that makes us really ready to be done hahaPacking up my room was sad. I filled my car multiple times.
The last day of school we watched High school musical (as is the tradition) and they danced along at the end because this year we learned "we're all in this together" dance.
It is so strange watching them grow up. The freshman I started with here just graduated. That flew by!
Chelsea and I took one last picture in my room. By the time I had everything packed up it was kind of sad looking around and seeing that you couldn't even tell I had been there. I loved that room and that job and those students.
Coop and I took a picture on the last day of school
And I thought this side by side was a crazy transformation!
Of course we also had to take a last day picture with marni and "grandma". That transformation is crazy and that year flew by! He is going to miss them. He lights up every day when they open the door to drop him off. They gave him a beach ball as his summer present and he is obsessed!
Mother’s Day!
I wish every day was Mother’s Day. It was amazing. We ate out for every meal and I got a bunch of gifts. I actually really like being a mom too. He’s pretty cool 😍The breakfast outside tradition continued
Some of my gifts
Trying to be a pro
Did a couple more photo shoots and now I’m editing them.
I made this logo and posted a few ads
Cooper and Sadie
They both love the pouches lol
They both wear diapers lol
Get a puppy they said.... it’ll be fun they said...🤦🏻♀️
Finally new flooring!!!
We have wanted new flooring for 5 years and it always seemed so far away but we are finally doing it! This was us trying to find the right stuff
We got a lot of samples and decided to go with the one on the right
This was a village of a million tiny cold sores on my lip and below. And this was after my previous huge one finally started healing. It was painful and gross looking
Cooper’s first haircut!
I don’t get why some moms feel emotional, I felt completely normal. It was funny he hated the electric hair cutter so he cried but the second she gave him a balloon all was forgiven and he was so happy hahaha
The place was so cute. He sat in a car and they had a movie playing for him
After he walked around holding his balloon for hours until it popped
Giggles with friends
We went to giggles in chandler with Coop’s friends and had a blast!
Another microneedling Monday
It makes a big difference! It just turns me red haha
May mantle
Family pictures
Check out the previous post to see them all!
I was so glad we had both dogs in the pictures because I think I have finally bonded with Sadie. Jake seems to love her too.
The scariest few days
Cooper got sooooo sick. It lasted about a week. We couldn’t get the fever to go down. Dallin was so worried he slept on the floor in coop’s room. When it got the worst he was shaking, his lips were purple, and he was completely zoned out. Like he wouldn’t move or respond to any stimuli. His eyes were open but he just sat there and every once in a while he would have a little tremor. He wasn’t eating or drinking and he didn’t cry at all. Dallin just held him all day. We called the doctor and they said he is showing signs of respiratory distress so you have to go to the hospital. Driving to hospital was the first time I’ve ever seen Dallin speed. Once we got there someone met us at the door and Dallin went in with coop cuz only one of us could and I waited in the car. That was the most anxious I think I’ve ever felt.
This is a video of him when he was sick.
This was the video dallin sent me from inside the hospital that made us both feel better because he was moving and playing with the mask and he wasn't acting zoned out anymore. So we knew it was going away
They said he was probly at 104 and they got his fever to go down and when it went down all of his symptoms started to go away. The doctor said that all of those things could have been happening not because of respiratory distress but because when you have that high of a fever your body puts the blood to the essential organs and away from the non essentials. So that would explain why his hands and feet were like ice but everywhere else on his body was on fire. After a few hours they let him go home and he was getting better the next few days. We were so relieved.
Dallin watched cooper that week and I stayed home one day. These are all the pics he took after he started to be himself again.
Date nights
We love date nights!!
Before.....
During.....
After!! Haha it was so good I practically licked the plate
This was at the patio at las sendas. Beautiful sunset view
This was at the wine bar by our house.
So remember how I said I never cry at the times that make sense? Well at that dinner I cried and I have only cried over Cooper maybe once. And Dallin thought it was so funny because it was because he told me we got cardinals season tickets. I was just imagining cooper growing up going to games and us having that as a memory and becoming members of the community with strong roots. But i agree it is funny because I didn’t cry when he was born or when he turned one or my first day back at work or any of the other times people always said I’d cry. But we are seriously so excited for our season tickets!
Breakfast at Cozy Corner Cafe
I freaking love that place so much. We were talking to every table around us and every waitress wanted to play and talk to cooper. Plus, the food is amazing!
Sadie's first pool day
She seemed unsure. Didn't hate it, but didn't love it either. I bet she will one day. We had so much fun!
Blowing out the tire on the 202
I was a half hour late for work but Dallin came and saved us. It was scary sitting there because cars were going past so fast and so close the car was shaking. But coop was just chillin' so that was good.
Dallin saved us and we switched cars and then I drove to Marni's and work. So there's another 400$ expense coming when I have to get a new tire. Yay.
We like Sadie now
She is at day 12 right now of no poop or pee in the house! And she cuddles with us and plays fetch so we are actually liking her. I guess dallin, Coop and Jake have liked her for a long time but it's really recent for me because I had a hard time. I think it was just too soon for me after Josie and my heart was just rejecting it and then I felt guilty for feeling that way so it made it worse. But anyway this is coop eating spaghetti and feeding her as he goes. lol He likes sharing.
Dream On
This is what the house would look like if I could do everything I wanted to do to the exterior. And who knows maybe one day it will look like that if we stay here a long time. Aren’t my editing skills awesome! Haha
Recent play date with coops girlfriend 😍
we are going to miss them when they leave for 4 months up to washington :(
This is a video of livi playing fetch haha
Coop loves dogs
Growing Coopey
He grew up so much just in the one week that Shelly was here with him. She is also an excellent teacher. He can clap, high 5, wave, eat with a spoon, walk in shoes, and there was a little bit there where we thought he knew what yellow was lol
This is him trying to walk in sandals for the first time and hating it haha he like the shoes that aren’t as thick on the bottom
When he goes to bed he goes up the stairs by himself and then holds his own bottle and that’s the only way he will sit through a book. If he sees the bottle it’s game over he will make sure he gets it.
Look how grown up he looks with his air gelled up
