8/25/24-9/27/24
Hey there! The season is changing! I can feel it!
Sleeping angels 👼 😇
Here are the cute sleep pics we can't help ourselves from taking lol
So she's been obsessed and carrying this thing everywhere she goes for a few weeks now and I will see her at 10pm emptying the contents organizing and reloading lol and I'm thinking go to bed kid!
The next day we went to thanksgiving point. Cooper asked that we go to the "children play place" and I thought that was cool because he was kind of over it (idk, scared maybe?) after the last experience wasn't a good one so every time I asked him he'd say no no nooooo! so when he suggested it I was thinking oh wow cool good for him. And then it ended up being so fun and such a good day!
They were both so interested and patient and good mannered the whole time. It's so hit or miss with that place. I'm wondering if it has to do with the amount of people that are there and maybe if it's a lot they get over stimulated or something? (You can see in the right pic she was working so hard on those bridges she split her pants lol ) We even got a comment from another adult there that saw her doing everything he was doing in the jungle gym part and said wow she's a little brave one! haha
Then we went outside and it was such beautiful weather and scenery. Another mom with two kids came over and Cooper went up to the younger and said "what's your name little one?" and got no response so he went to the mom and said what's his name? (even though it was a girl lol) and she answered and then Cooper said "that's my sister Kenzie. They can be friends." And she said great and he said "I went hiking yesterday and I'm not sick anymore!" and she's like "okkkayyy?" lol (because of how he got carsick) I thought it was so cute how happy and confident he was to start up a conversation with somebody he didn't know. And he was observant that Kinley and the other little girl were interacting with each other a little bit so that's why he started the conversation. He got the phrase "little one" from a show and I think it's adorable when he says it cuz he will say it to the dogs if they whine he says what's wrong little one? haha
So that was a very good day. They seem to be hit and miss now with the teething because some days are screaming days and the pics from below are one of those. Got her to calm down for pancakes and painting cuz she was excited about that
Coop said I want you to chase me while taking pictures ..... so here it is on the left. On the right my mom babysat one night and they did a movie marathon so that's the kids watching Luca and paw patrol movie
These are pictures from a day we went to the TP farm and rode the train. I was very impressed with how patient they were waiting in the line. no complaints at all and followed directions staying by me. I did, however get stuck at the top of the jungle gym with Kinley. They both demand I come with them, I decline, then I see Kinley get herself into dangerous situations because she's so brave and determined to do everything Cooper does. and then I end up going in to save her. that's how it always goes and I am not a fan.
The dinosaur museum as a whole is always a place they wanna go but within the museum you never know what they're gonna wanna do. This was a day they were into the water
The weather was amazing and it was so nice to be kid free for an evening
Jake Owen opened and I'm such a huge fan of him I was on cloud 9
we went with Rachael and Todd and it was so fun to see them again. (my feet tan lines in this picture crack me up)
So this was after insulation and when they were putting up siding
they put slats in the back fence
garage before and after sheet rock
inside before and after sheet rock
my cousins and I were pall bearers
The family graves in springville
the cousins
baby reven is so cute
now that ben is here only missing Katie and Aubrey
Rudy and Desmond trying to lift Mckinley onto the trampoline hahaha it was a team lift
she likes to decorate her body with marker and stickers
dino museum is me telling her not to throw sand repeatedly and her running off and me trying to bounce back and forth between the two places they both want to be or carrying her in the football hold kicking and screaming to a place she doesn't wanna go. Oh and also the museum has this stupid tv that does a morbid, creepy, definitely not age appropriate show about death and destruction of dinosaurs and Cooper is obsessed and it's always a huge fight to get him out of there. I hate that they have a tv in a museum, doesn't that defeat the purpose!?
She wanted to color and swing at the same time. She definitely knows what she wants and she will fight for it lol
she is getting big enough to climb now and she's getting good at it!
coop likes to play knights and dragon in the castle. this was Dallins toy set when he was a kid too and he loved it so the apple doesn't fall far from the tree
check out my foot tan lines
he took off his foot bandaid from his blister and got it stuck in his hair at practice
they loved feeding the animals, playing on the playground, and riding the train. They have 0 interest in riding the ponies which is fine by me because its a long line
I learned the hard way to not try to go up into the playground with them because I got stuck. I had one leg up completely and the other on the ground almost doing the splits in this tiny enclosed tower while holding a thrashing Kinley and other kids all climbing around me. We barely got outta there alive and I was sweating lol so I told them "never again." With Cooper I just have to endure complaining that I won't go but with Kinley she will go up and try 100 ways to die so I end up going in to save her. Then she wanted noodles and berries for dinner her favorite
we went to the park with tom one morning and there were a few poop accidents lol not going to name names here.... ahem.... 😂 but it's not who you'd expect
mckinley lining up the dinosaurs and coop had a game so I had Austin babysit while I took him
mckinley fell in love with cinderella and I thought it was adorable. she will say "I want sin-yella!"
coop was sad daddy was leaving and he didn't get to go on the airplane too so for some odd reason dallin promised him a yellow triceratops so I had to scour the internet to find one and painted one he already has yellow too (just in case it didn't get here in time) and I was hoping he'd forget but no. He kept looking outside asking if the box with his yellow triceratops was here yet lol he's very used to the way we shop. it was so cute to see how excited he was
he had been talking about mini golf for a while and would pretend to play at home with a stick and a ball on the floor so dallin thought that would be a good thing to do together. and when he told him it was going to happen a few days before he said he wants an orange ball haha so that's what he got
and they did arcade games and got hamburgers so coopers perfect day lol
Cooper liked the idea of riding his bike but he didn't want to peddle he just wanted to be pushed. He still liked it tho so I'd say its a step in the right direction
And I was just marveling at how beautiful it was there. It's so funny because this trail is exactly where I grew up I remember walking on it with my dad. But as a kid you never notice that something is beautiful
Sadie sue
she went gray really young lol
She wasn't always the cuddly type (which was why I didn't like her much at first) but since moving to Utah especially I've noticed she is attached to me wherever I go. You'd think that'd be annoying and sometimes I guess it is but mostly I like it. she's cute to cuddle with me while I read or watch tv
Cooper wanted to take her with us when we went on a walk. He said "I want to show Sadie the bush we hide in" lol 😂 so sorry Jake but I guess you're not invited..... (He's become very irritable in his old age and snaps easily so no one really wants to be around him. Him and Sadie fight daily and they're pretty gnarly fights)
Anyways so here's coop showing Sadie the bush
photo
this was the end of my photo challenge with Kim- weather, self portrait, my red blend drink, and my shadow
kids
aka what our whole life revolves around now. which is sometimes amazing and sometimes so hard. This was a Christmas present to dallin but Kinley uses it more than he does now. The top makes water taste like juice and she's so addicted to her bottles that this is a good way to try and get her off of it. but I'd be lying if I said she's anywhere close to kicking that addiction lol
She's an adrenaline junkie I guess. when we ride the bike she says faster faster and then on the swing higher higher! lol
They both love hiking so much. Cooper especially will beg and beg for days until we take him to "hike the trail in the mountain" lol I think it's so cute how outdoorsy and brave he is. When he falls he immediately gets up and says "it's ok I keep trying." Because the roads up the canyon are so curvy him and I both got carsick on the drive there and back and we had to keep explaining to him what carsickness is and that it's normal because he kept saying I feel sick, my tummy hurts, etc. So when we stopped the car he was so excited that he wasn't sick anymore lol poor kid
Took these pics to show how long her hair is getting now
She likes to be independent so getting her to hold someone's hand to cross the street or stay with the group in general is difficult. We were accidentally given Oreos that we didn't order from Walmart so the kids were in love and called them the black cookies and I let them each have one a day so one day Cooper said one for mommy too and lets take a picture! so here's our Oreo pictures
shelly sent this dress and she decided randomly one day she wanted to wear it and accessorize with my hat . I think it's cute that she has her own opinions and wants to wear certain things. she's very girly and will ask for dresses over pants. or maybe it's not a girly thing and it just because its more comfortable
"I'm a princess. so pretty"
Coop said I want you to chase me while taking pictures ..... so here it is on the left. On the right my mom babysat one night and they did a movie marathon so that's the kids watching Luca and paw patrol movie
they loved the whole cosmic bath thing that we did it that way exclusively for like 2 months every night
dan and shay concert
We got there before doors opened to get a good spot and we were astounded by the amount of people. it was crazy
watching the camera and Kinley is staring at the camera and my mom is trapped under sleeping Cooper lol
house
I broke my promise of not going to the house and I have been visiting. It's looking good but progress is very slow. A lot of days I go and no one is there working at all.
this is after sheet rock (which went up an entire month after we were promised it would be up)
interest rates are going down!
the pic of the finished siding
what the outside looks like now
grama sally
my last grandparent passed away. It was definitely her time and it was the perfect way to go because there was no pain. She always said she wanted to graduate this life and go be with her husband so I'm happy that now she is. It was emotional for a couple days for me but I think it's all for the best. It's just crazy how fast life goes by. This is her baby picture.
the service was perfect for her because it was light hearted. So much laughter and good memories shared and jokes and the song was sunshine in my soul today. I just think she was the most positive person I've ever met and chose to be happy regardless of the situation and that's very inspiring to me. I hope to be like that. I think she would have been happy to see all of her family and friends getting together and enjoying each others company and laughing about the good times in her honor.
the whole family
I remember complaining about the recovery and how difficult the newborn phase was with Mckinley after she was born and saying I'm barely surviving with 2 I don't know how you had 5 and my Grama said, "I wanted each of those babies so bad. It was hard for me and I had a lot of losses so every time I got a baby I was so grateful and treasured every single moment. These times are hard but they will fly by and you only get this time once with that sweet little baby so try to enjoy it." And that really pulled me out of my "woah is me" state of mind. She was such an inspiration and I always loved her. She was so fun to be around and good at talking to people and being funny and stuff. I remember whenever she visited us we would stay up so late talking and then the next morning I'd wake up to her singing "good mornin' good mornin, we talked the whole night through, good mornin good mornin to you, good mornin good mornin, it's great to stay up late, good mornin good morning to you!" I have a lot of great memories with her. One of the strongest is the scent of cinnamon because she always wore this scented necklace from Hawaii that was balls of cinnamon or something.
hangin' out with the graff's
So much fun when the graphs all get together!
our life now days
her bottle addiction is feirce. coop likes making creations with his sticks and he will stick a cork or ball on the end of it and tape another stick onto it or screw or whatever lol it's interesting
love popsicles and coloring and stickers. One time I was taking stickers off the wall and she runs over and says excuse me?! lol
they tried cherry tomatoes and both decided no thank you and gave it to Sadie lol
I will find a toy car in the coffee grounds or a toy in my water, toys down the vents, etc. I do the toy rotation thing but coop still remembers everything we have and will just go get it if it's not out and he wants it because he knows all my hiding places. it still helps though I've noticed with them playing to not have it all out at once.
nonna and pa
we love when they visit. coop gets so sad when they leave
running
I've been running, and I got absorbing underwear and compression underneath and still pee my pants when I run lol so I have to be completely dehydrated for the run to not end up looking like this picture on the left. sometimes kinder goes with me and she says faster faster! lol she likes it
smog
I was running and noticed oh wow the air quality must be bad because I can't even see the mountains lol whoops
check out my foot tan lines
cool right?! 😎
fantasy football is upon us
so this was dallin completely absorbed in his phone while we were on a walk one day because he was doing a "practice draft" (who knew that was even a thing) but he said it was important and he ended up doing really well so far so he's excited. the pic on the right is the kids fighting over the tricycle so they were both trying to ride it at the same time lol Cooper still has 0 interest in his bike
soccer
soccer definitely had its challenges for us. 5:30 practices in Saratoga meant leaving an hour early and sitting in traffic to go, and then he would end up falling asleep and cranky. Games were tricky because he went through phases of not wanting to play or desperate to get out there and play and being scared, to being ultra aggressive and pushing kids lol typical toddler stuff all over the place. it was also hard to keep mckinley still and occupied during games or practices. (I would sit there watching the other families with younger siblings thinking "how on earth do they get them to just sit still and watch like that?!") I learned that trying to attend soccer practice or game with her by myself is just simply a recipe for disaster and not doable at all. She would throw a fit that she can't get out there and play too, or be running for the busy road full of cars, or she wants the park next to the game, which is fine unless Cooper sees and he thinks that's unfair he should be able to do the park too so he just leaves the field. So overall I think it was good exposure for him and we made friends out of it and I would still do it again because it was good for him to conquer a fear/get out of his comfort zone and try something new. But dang it was difficult for me from a management perspective 😂 so kind glad its over now.
Dallins bro trip to AZ
his anniversary present was to go on a trip to az with Brian and Justin and rent an airbnb and just swim, game, Warhammer, eat, watch tv, etc, and relax and he said he loved it. 😊
This was what we did at home while he was gone. We went to pupas
we got a minor cold and Cooper stayed home from school, but it was so minor that he ended up acting completely normal the rest of the day and I was thinking dang it I should have just taken him to school because we lose our grant if he misses more than like 10 days or so
we played and we went to the farm at TP
my mom came over one night for park walk and dinner
is it halloween yet? is it Christmas yet?
he can't wait for halloween and Christmas. he's been planning out his costume since June I think so he kept asking is it halloween yet is it Christmas yet so finally I made a calendar and we've been marking off each day. He said we should color it green and put a stick on it lol so that's what we did. then we made snow men out of playdough because he was so sad there was no snow. lol "can we put up the Christmas tree yet?"
most recent trip to see the new TP farm
The farm has expanded and renovated so it's different now and we went to check it out
school
Cooper seems to like school and is happy to go. I don't get much information out of him but one day I pestered him for information so repeatedly that he finally gave in and summarized, "I go to school, I play the kitchen, I sit the rug, I play outside, mommy comes back." so I asked what happens when they sit on the rug and he said "I try to hold really still." lol and another day he got in the car and immediately spouted out the story that "Luca peed on the school floor said whoops accident sorry and the janner man come spray it and wipe it cuz it was big mess so yucky. Silly Luca no pee the floor you pee the potty." lol
Another detail I've gotten is there is a girl named Julianna that is really pretty so he likes to play kitchen with her. haha he's so funny.
He still gets so tired without that nap. It's taking him longer than I thought it would to get used to no nap. So sometimes he falls asleep in the car on the way there or home or when we get home from school he just seems so exhausted
Daddy son date
coop and dallin went mini golfing for some special time and he was so happy!
Riverton Jordan river park
one Sunday we took our bikes over to Riverton and tried the park by the Jordan river and it was really fun.
the one and only non-kid section of the blog 😮💨 😅
It's definitely hard to not have the kids take over your life as a parent. Our non kid time is not much, but we take what we can get. and of course I wouldn't have it any other way. But it does get exhausting at times. So the pic on the left is Franck's and on the right is Ivy and Farley (both very good.) Now that I'm noticing the two pictures side by side I'm noticing even though those are two completely different outfits (one is a dress and one is a shirt) I tend to be into the same look hahaha because it looks the same
This was when I went out for a girls dinner at cliff dining pub with Megan we had such a good time-lots of laughs
teething
She has been growing a heck of a tooth because there's been so much drool and hand in the mouth and crying. And you know how she is when she cries- it's like a scream cry. She is very demanding that I must hold her standing up and in this certain position. So it ends up killing my back
Here's the video compilation this time around.
Dang they are so freakin' cute and funny. I love that Kinley sings 🥰
