Silly Cooper

Cooper has been starting the "copycat" stage....how long does that last by the way?...forever? Anyways, he and I were in the shower the other morning and I had my foot up on the edge shaving my legs. He put his foot up on the side and had a toy that he was rubbing on his leg...I laughed all day about it. I just thought it was so funny. I wonder what he was thinking. "Hmmm. Don't know what she's doing exactly, but I guess I'll give it a try.......(with a very focused look on his face)....not bad."

**He also started doing something kind of funny, maybe a little dangerous. He's been trying to throw his toys up at lights and ceiling fans and stuff. He's not even close but he sure does try hard.

**Today I had the dishwasher open, (knives already put away :).... ) Cooper always hands me the silverware and then all the cups, and then whatever else he can manage to pull out for me to put away. This morning I was kinda busy so I just let him do his thing in the kitchen and didn't check on him for a little while. When I finally went in, he had the silverware drawer open which is right next to the dishwasher and he had unloaded all the silverware and piled it in the drawer.....along with a couple of plates and glasses. Whatever he could manage to fit. It's probably a good thing I went in when I did. Oh, you might be wondering how he reached...he stands on the dishwasher door and holds on to the top rack. Probably not good for the dishwasher but if it can hold a whole rack of dishes it can hold a 26 lb. kid right?

Time for the countdown....

....Well kinda sorta I guess. I know once you get the little guy you can't give him back so I'm enjoying my sleep and my one on one time with Cooper while it lasts. I do however have just over one month left until thing #2 arrives. Still no names yet. I think I'll put up a poll of a couple of names we can't decide on and I won't tell you anyone's favorites so there's no bias at all. His first name will for sure be John (Both my dad's and my father-in-law's name)....it's the middle name he'll go by that we're stuck on.

We bought another crib and set that up in Coops room a couple of weeks ago. I have to get a carseat....and a couple of other small necessities but we're pretty much as ready as we can be. You know how when it was just you to worry about getting ready and being somewhere on time?? That was easy right? Then the first kid comes along and it takes a long time to figure out how to be on time again. Well I just started to get back into punctuality and I'm about to get all screwed up again....all for good reason though I guess. It's amazing to me how much a mom has to plan ahead just to get to church on time....It will probably be easier to figure it out this second time around.

Only time will tell right?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Some things we're thankful for:
-our babies....well 1 and 8/9ths of them ;)
-Moms who cook awesome Thanksgiving dinners
-Our families
-Silverdale 4th ward, the sweet gospel of Jesus Christ
-eachother
-Jake's job
-The heated blanket on our bed
-Living in the USA
-Twilight book series, well Rachel is anyways
-Toilet paper
-breath mints
-our lovely little hybrid
-wool socks
-Sunny days
-cell phones
-Friends....sorry you guys that this wasn't earlier on the list.... :)
-5 dollar foot longs
-the uncle who happens to be a car mechanic
-baby wipes
-gold fish crackers
-hot water
-swimming pools
-airplanes
-volleyball everything
-snap fitness
-christmas decorations
-the youth of the church....especially ours in SIV ward
-the internet
-Dr. Christen
-Costco
-our "shows" --Fringe, The Office, Life...among others
-dollar theatres. we don't have one here and we sure do miss it.
-the beautiful city of Seattle
-our health
-nap time
-bed time
-waking up in the morning
-comfy couches
-glasses
-honey buckets at jake's job site
-chocolate
-tillamook ice cream
-crystal light lemonade


I don't know where a good place to even stop would be.
We could go on and on and on....but the tryptophan is starting to kick in...........

Make it stop!!!

As much as I love seeing campaign ads 24/7 and hearing candidates bash each other back and forth rather than talking TO the American People about what they actually have in store for us, I am very excited for it to end today. Or atleast the majority of it. Here's a funny cartoon I found:

Halloween

Cooper was a fuzzy wuzzy bear for halloween this year.  I think it beats the pink piggy he was last year when everyone thought he was a little girl that didn't belong to us.  I bought the outfit back in September and we "practiced" in it so he wouldn't have a hard time wearing it when the day actually came.  From behind he actually looked like a real something walking around, I thought he resembled an ewok (sp?) mostly but he was just so cute!  He was very good at growling and everything.  Maybe next year he'll actually understand the whole trick-or-treat, walk around with a bucket and get free candy thing. 

We ended up just going to the church and doing the trunk-or-treat with the three wards that meet there.  It was rainy and wet but that didn't stop everyone from having fun! After that we ended up at grandma and grandpa Fry's to show off Coop's costume.  Cooper had his first sucker that night, plus two more and lots of other candy that I'm sure has permenantly ruined him for life.  He hasn't wanted regular food since....

As for other updates, Jake is still very busy with work.  I am growing daily with little fry inside.  We are almost at 8 months!  But we are definitely not counting the days.....with all the season's festivities I'm sure the time will go by fast enough.  We are both very busy with Young Men and Young Womens and we both love being second counselors in the presidencies.  It is awesome working with the youth of the church.  I am constantly surprised at the challenges they face compared to mine just 5 or so years ago.  

Life is busy....when isn't it right?!  More updates sooner than later :)

The Best Three Years of My Life!

Today is our anniversary and can I just say these last three years have definitly been the best of my life...by far. Many of you know our story but I'll just give a nutshell version of it for those who don't.

In January of 2005 I got an email from Jake, a former co-worker of mine and someone who was in my stake growing up. The email said something like, "Hey this is Jake, I heard you were looking for me :) I am in town for the next 24 hours and I was wondering if you wanted to go out tonight? ...Give me a call."

That fall my mom had asked his parents when he'd be home for Christmas break. We had found out that he was coming home for a brief visit before heading down to Mexico for an 8 month internship with DelSol. So....I wrote it off early and didn't expect to see him so you can imagine my surprise to open up that email. We went out that night for a couple of hours and got hot chocolate while Jake showed me pictures of his trip down to South America with his brother Matt that they had just come home from. While out on the date he was telling me all about where they were going to live in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and invited me to come down sometime and visit. Sounded like a pretty casual invite....something I was totally for but never thought would actually happen. That night I came home...after my curfew...and wasn't even in trouble. The next morning my mom came into my room all giddy to wake me up and ask me how it went. I don't recall the whole conversation except for the part when I jokingly said I was going to marry him :)

I told her all about Mexico and she was like...Why don't you go!? I was like...What? You would let me do that? She was all for it...that week my friends Corie, Louise and I bought our tickets to Cabo for 8 days in March for spring break. Between then and the trip Jake and I kept in contact mostly by email while he helped us figure out accomadations and other details of the trip. He asked me in February if I would hang out with his friend Brandon who was coming home from his mission and probably wouldn't have many friends at home. So Brandon and I started to spend some time together, went out on some dates and made a little thing out of it I guess you could say.... Don't blame me for anything all you judges out there....I was 19 :)

To keep this as short as possible, I went to Cabo kind of dating Brandon and I came back...well....not dating Brandon :) About a month later, after Jake and I had our nightly "internet chat dates" and expensive phone calls....Jake came home for about a week to transfer to Cancun. He got home on a Thursday night. I saw him right after my classes Friday and we spent the whole weekend together. He proposed Tuesday April 19th and midnight so I guess it was the 20th....we had Wednesday together then he left Thursday morning to come back on the 14th of August for our sealing on the 19th.

WHOA I know. But look what it's all turned into. We are the very best of friends still and have a beautiful, vibrant, hilarious little boy and another on the way. Life isn't exactly as I pictured it 5 years ago but I know that I couldn't possibly ask for more.

Camping!!

This last weekend we were invited to go camping with some families in our ward. We went up to Lake Cushman Friday afternoon and brought Jake's two brothers with us, Mike and John. We got there around 3 and set up our tent and stuff then went to the lake to swim for a bit before cooking our tin foil dinners!!! What was really nice about the weekend was that it was about 80-90 degrees during the day so it was perfect....When we were coming back from swimming Cooper fell asleep and I could not wake him up for about an hour. He slept from about 6-7 so needless to say, it was hard for him to fall asleep that night. He finally fell asleep around 11 or 12 that night and as soon as he fell asleep so did the rest of us.....And then the snoring began. Jake and I didn't know that BOTH of his brothers snored so bad. Again, needless to say, that night sucked. But by the time morning came and Cooper woke up at about 6:30 it started a great day. It got really hot again on Saturday and we were at the lake all day boating and swimming until about 3. We were so tired Saturday night and we all slept really well. We are really excited to go camping again soon!

John Adams

So Jake and I have been watching this HBO John Adams series that my parents have been getting on netflix and it has been so good! It's nice to "get to know" someone like John Adams and the others involved in the formation of this country that we live in. Everyone knows the readers digest version of America's independence but this series has been so educational and entertaining.

There was a part in the movie where John Adams is leaving his family for a little while and asked his daughter what she needed to remember. She said, "Be good. Do good." I really liked that so I looked it up and found that L.M. Heroux said it and THAT is how I decided to change our blog title. What a few simple words that you could really live your life by.

Just joking....but not funny.

So remember how I was so excited about having the internet at our new place?! Well, no longer, as of about a week after moving there....

So for an update:
-Jake bought himself a new car. It's a '63 Chevy Nova Super Sport. There are a few things he wants to do with it but for the most part it's in great shape.
-We found out we are having another boy! Due date--Jan. 9 '09
-Cooper is understanding quite a bit of what we say and is saying a few words of his own....the list is small but includes uh-oh, daddy and mom...and he signs "more" pretty well.


Other than that we've just really been enjoying the summer around here and spending time with family.

Here are some pictures from the last month or so!

One Year Pictures

While in Utah we took Cooper to a place called Kiddie Kandids for his one year pictures. (A birthday gift from Grandma Fry.) They turned out so cute so I wanted to put up a link for everyone to see!

http://mystudio.kiddiekandids.com/viewshare.asp?c=006232801WE4NQYC6

Just copy the link and paste it into the web address bar. The pictures are little but still cute.

I might sound biased but I think it's worth a couple of minutes :)

A New Perk

Life just got a little better.  We have the internet now!!!!!!!

We moved last week into a little place out in the woods.  Now we have the internet, I need something to connect me to the outside world...

Anyways, it's a nice little treat and now hopefully I can be a little better at the whole blogging thing.  Now I just need to locate the camera and charger.........

For a quick update:

The rest of the week in Utah was so fun.  I took Cooper to get his one year pictures taken and they are just adorable as ever.  It was a lot of fun.  Paige and her roomies came down from Rexburg on Friday and stayed the weekend for the wedding on Saturday which was a hit.  Really nothing went wrong!  Sunday morning we all left to go home and on the way we stopped off in Homedale? ID to see Angela and Carson.  That was a nice little break in the drive :)

Now we're home, in a new house than when we left.  (Bless Jakes little heart for moving without me.  I love him so much!)  Now I am slowly unpacking.

THE summer vacation

So I am on my official "vacation" for the summer this week. My mom, my sister Carly, Cooper and I left Saturday morning for Rexburg, ID. We got there that night after a very long day in the car and went to Broulim's to get food for dinner the next day. Then of course we made a stop at Snoasis :) I love that place. I'm pretty sure I would have made the trip just for that. I ended up staying with my good friend Megan Hebdon with Cooper. We both desperatly needed sleep and thought it would be more possible at her place rather than Paige's. Mom and Carly stayed at Paige's apartment and then we all went to her ward Sunday where she taught Sunday School and did a really good job. That night we had Kahlua Pig, a staple dish Paige loves that my mom makes like a pro. I also got to go visit a few people and say hi! Coop and I went to see the Jensens, Lisa and Matt, Cambree and Josh and my good friend Eric. I wish I could have seen more....I was hoping to actually go the 11th wards sacrament meeting but wasn't quite feeling up to it at the moment.

(Disclaimer: I guess now is a good time to tell people I'm expecting!)

Anyways, I just loved being in Rexburg again. Sunday afternoon when I drove by Porter Park, I actually saw Alma and Nicole walking with little Jagger in a stroller. Everything that day just made me smile and really miss Rexburg. It really is such a special place. That night we stayed in the AmericInn. Monday morning's breakfast was "de-lish" and we made another couple of stops, including Snoasis again, before leaving for Utah.

We got to Utah Monday afternoon and have just been enjoying the hot sunshine ever since. My cousin Andrew is getting married on Saturday to his fiance Lindsey who asked me to be her maid of honor! I have until Saturday to find something to wear still....you'd think actually being in Utah would make it a little easier to find something modest enough but no way. I'll find something by then.....

Anyways, that's probably it for now...oh and to add the the pregnancy thing....I am almost 12 weeks and due in January. This one so far is WAY easier to handle than Cooper. I feel sick every day but I am way more functional than before.

Moving.

The last couple weeks have been full of fun! My birthday was on the 16th and Jake planned a whole afternoon/evening for us. When he got off work we took a ferry over to Seattle and went out to dinner at Buca de Beppos....SO GOOD! Then we went to this Seattle Improv group thingy. Jake bought tickets ahead of time and we went and it was a lot of fun. I'll start taking people to it when they come to visit. That weekend we had this nice little heat wave that kept temperatures in the 80s and 90s for a couple of days. That was nice for a change.

We just went to Boise for Memorial Day Weekend for Jake's cousins wedding. That was a lot of fun. Cooper traveled really well and the weather was really nice there also. We stayed with the Rutter family (great family friends) and went shopping, went to a wedding, went to the movies, went out to eat....a lot, and all sorts of fun stuff. We also got a lot of time to spend with Jake's family including his brothers Mike, and Matt with his wife Nicole and our niece Aubree.

Now we just found out that the house we are is has sold! Yikes. I've been searching for about 3 days straight for a new place...nothing yet but I'm sure we'll find something. Nothing beats rent in Rexburg I can tell you that right now.

So until next time...enjoy the nice weather, give a little love, and play!

Much needed update

So I know it's been a month and a half. A lot has been going on. Jake got a job! for starters.....I don't know what his "official" title is but he's working for a guy who owns a few companies and is currently developing a medical park in Port Orchard, about 20 minutes away from us. Jake is the main guy for this project who gets all the stuff done. He's pretty much the middle man for the lawyers, architects, the city, etc. He absolutely loves who he's working for and the fact that he's learning from the best the things he wants to know for his own career in developing one day.

As for me I just ended this season of coaching last weekend in Portland, OR with our 18s girls club team for Olympic Premier Volleyball Club. The director seemed to like what I did so she has asked me to be the clubs new assistant director. I haven't officially said yes yet but it is a dream of mine to be in a position like that. I love coaching and being involved with young girls who love playing volleyball. The administrative part should be fun too and I've had good experience through the BYUI competitive volleyball league.

Cooper will be one on the 3rd of June. He's walking about 75% of the time and thinks that he is holding a conversation with those around him. He is just so funny! With Jake getting a job and us having one car I've been spending A LOT of time with Coop, just sitting playing and laughing at him. The weather is starting to pick up outside and I'm realizing what a boy Cooper really is. He loves sticks, dirt, grass and rocks. (All kids probably do but he makes sword noises with his sticks) He is non-stop, unless you're reading him a book. He loves his books, otherwise he would never stop to listen to a word you say.

We've got a few plans this summer, kind of, I think....

-We will be in Boise Memorial Day weekend for Jakes cousin's (Sarah) wedding
-I will be traveling with my mom for my cousin's (Andrew) wedding which will include a detour to Boise, Paige in Rexburg and Yellowstone National Park
-I might go with my dad in July to pick Paige up from school.

This is all pending so far but I'm looking forward to the trips.

The picture of Cooper is from Easter but it's whats on the computer at my parents right now.

Poor Baby

I can't tell for sure but I think Cooper is going to get his top four front teeth right about the same time. They've been these rapidly growing bumps and now two of them feel as if they are going to finally break through. Coop is finally coming down from a cold too. I felt bad for him but at the same time I loved last week because he was super cuddly. The poor kid, he's growing like a weed which has got to be somewhat painful, teeth are popping out left and right and the kid either can't breathe through his nose or gets super ticked when I constantly wipe it off.

He was the first to get sick, then me, then my in-laws, now Jake....who's next? That tiny little kid's germs really packed a punch for the rest of us.

Lunar Eclipse

Last night we both had the night off from our constant and various obligations which gave us the chance to observe a lunar eclipse. It was the first time I've ever seen one. I wish I could have taken a couple of pictures but our camera wasn't with us. I never realized, although I think I knew in the back of my mind that the moon shines so bright because of a reflection of the sun. When the earth is exactly between the sun and the moon, that is what gives us a lunar eclipse. The earth casts a shadow over the moon and makes it look hazy and very dim.

We called Jake's dad to ask him a couple of questions about it. (He is very keen on his astrology.) We asked how many regions of the earth saw this...He said that only 2% of the earth's surface saw a complete lunar eclipse and we were part of that! Hopefully some of you others got to experience some of it too.

Might I add that it was extra special in that it was a completely clear night last night. Which as some of you know that is a special gift at this time of year in WA.

After the lunar eclipse we went to the church for one of Jake's basketball games. I love watching him play ball, he really is good.

Job Interview

A guy from a company named Rinchem called Jake this morning to conduct a phone interview. He gave them his resume at the BYU job fair a couple of weeks ago. We happened to be driving out to Port Orchard when he called so I had the opportunity to sit and listen to Jake interview. From my perspective I thought Jake interviewed really well. He is SO GOOD with those kinds of things. It's funny because he stumbles over his words a lot when we're just talking or being "normal" but when he's on the spot in something like an interview he can really sell himself well. We'll see if this guy gives us a call back.

Jake also recently applied for a job with Del Sol, the company he did his internship with. It's a corporate position, the fourth one that he's applied for with them and we heard back from them for the first time on this one. We'll see what comes next......

We went out to Chucky Cheese's today with my mom, brother and sister. I haven't been there since forever ago and it was just as I remembered it, well....maybe not as cool as I remember it being. It was a lot like going to the county fair, crazy with kids running around everywhere trying to win crappy prizes....and "carny" looking parents....hahaha.

However, it was fun playing some of those games and I agree with our friends Jared and Ali, it would be super sweet to set up a ski ball tourney at that place some day.

Something's in the air...

Today was the weirdest....(And so weird, I don't even know if I'm spelling Wieriedierd right...)

My team played out in Kent and came in 2nd place out of the whole tourney. Long day, we showed up at 7 am and I got home at 9 tonight. They girls were amazing. The last game (champ match) was so crazy I thought I was going to puke. My adrenaline was going big time. To add to it I saw 2 huge accidents on the way home and called the cops on some naked kids outside in my in-laws neighborhood. Four teenagers (two boys and two girls) were doing something they probably shouldn't have been doing in a home development currently under construction.

Jake and I are house sitting for my parents friends. Last night was our first night there, big king size bed, house on the water, just built this last year, and a dog running around all night. Needless to say, we didn't sleep much last night, too weird for us. But we really love the house and tonight should be better, I hope. That lack of sleep and todays events make me feel like I'm in the twilight zone, so if all this sounds like a bunch of nonsense, I apologize....atleast you know why now.

I'll just shut up :)

Tomorrow should make more sense!

V-day <3

Valentines day has never been such a big thing for us...maybe it will be one day when we have money to splurge on gifts and flowers and all that lovey dovey stuff. Yesterday however was a beautiful day out so we packed up our lunch and went out to have a picnic on the water. It was a lot of fun, kind of chilly outside but it looked warm with all the sun. Today we made little goody bags for our siblings and delivered them to their schools. That was a lot of fun too :)

Oh, I guess we did have a gift for eachother, we just bought a new camera and called that "Valentines Day". We've been without a camera since about October....That's been really hard with Cooper growing so much!!! But now we have one as of two days ago and I just need to start posting the pictures we've been taking.

As for jobs, still nothing yet. But for some reason, it's working for us. People keep calling and saying, "I hear you're not working right now, I have a little job for ya if you're interested...."

Jake's been taking all these little projects and they've added up to be quite enough for us! We've been so blessed. Plus, I'm still coaching and absolutely loving it. We have another tourney this Saturday. Then we start traveling in a few weeks to some of our bigger tourneys taking us to Eastern Wash. Oregon, and Texas.

Discovery

So I was looking through some friends blogs and discovered that you could leave a comment!....Then I thought to myself, "I wonder if anyone has ever left a comment on mine..."

Lo and behold there were 14. So, I'm not a snob, I just didn't know until this very moment...Now I do and I can respond to them!!!! And boy oh boy let me tell you, it's an exciting feeling!

Remember how Jake decided on a whim to travel with his Mom to Utah to help her out? It's a good thing he did because now they are sitting in the car on the side of the road.... with everyone else.... waiting for the interstate to open. :)

I just hope they make it back by next week at this rate.

Happy 2008!!

I know it's already been a few days but Happy New Year! It's hard to keep this updated not having the internet at our place...but I'll put in some extra effort from now on.

It's been 3 weeks since graduation and still no luck on a job for Jake yet. We still have our fingers crossed on a couple of prospects however. We're finally pretty much settled into our place and we're just waiting on our new sofa and love seat that we bought about 2 weeks ago. Our ward is really small and I'm pretty sure we're the youngest family. It's definitely quite different from the typical student ward. Jake just got called into the Young Men presidency and I will get my calling in a couple of weeks so I'll fill everyone in on that when it happens....but the calling was no surprise to me considering its the fourth time I've been in that position ;)

We still haven't gotten our camera fixed, it's toward the bottom of the list of all the things to get done right now. But I can't wait to get it fixed because I feel like we're missing out big time on Cooper's milestones. He's been cutting his first tooth this week, that little thing is sharp! He also started scooting around and trying to get on all fours. He's absolutely hilarious and we love love love him.

My sister Paige went back to school today. My parents are driving her out to Rexburg and will be back in a few days. I'm going to miss Paige a lot!!! She's one of the only friends I have around here! In the meanwhile Jake and I are keeping Carly and Chad, playing soccer mom and such. Jake is actually leaving with his mom tomorrow morning to help her drive as she takes our family friend, Megan, down to UofU. He'll be gone for a few days....And I'll have the tooth cutting monster :)

My goal is to call a lot of our friends to say hi....so expect a call from me!