November

November has been a busy month and I cannot believe it's over!!!  We started off with my 25th b-day on the 5th which was a lot of fun!  My buddy, Kali, took me out for frozen yogurt and then she (and her hubby and little girl) brought over pizza for dinner later that day.  We enjoyed the pizza and a yummy cake and then the adults went to a church play that evening.  The play was a bit lame, but it was nice to get out without the kids for a brief moment.

Richard and I celebrated our 7th anniversary on the 16th of November.  Speaking of time flying!  We had a great day and even managed to go out to dinner (thanks again to Kali!!!).

Here is a classic shot the morning after we got engaged.  That was quite a night and we are lucky to be alive from the all night drive to Utah after I had already stayed up all night the night before for grad night and then had my graduation.  Crazy!!!

Taylor helped me bake some goodies for the YW presidency and showed off her great ability to look fabulous under any circumstances...

Dakota had to jump in the shot as usual :).

Taylor was involved in her school's Thanksgiving performance.  She looked so cute dressed up as a little pilgrim girl.  My plan was to record her performance but there were so many parents that decided to stand up and get in the aisles during their songs that I could hardly see my daughter to watch her, let alone record her.  But I did get some good pics afterwards.

Taylor and her good friend Timmy on the Mayflower.

Richard happened to have Thanksgiving off this year because it fell on his normal 'weekend'.  It was his first Thanksgiving with his family in about 4 years!  The morning of Thanksgiving I had my first 5K.  It was SO fun!  I worked really hard to get ready for it and it felt really good to set a goal and then actually accomplish it.  I am hooked and plan to do one every 3-4 months or so and then try to do a 10K next Thanksgiving.  Richard, Cooper, my Mom, and Dad came to support me.  It was great to see them at the finish line!

Waiting to get started.

Cooper was giving me a little hug, such a sweet boy, he definitely loves his mama!

Sprinting to the finish line!

My official time was 31:44 and I came in 289th place out of 480 people. :)

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious and the kids had a blast running around with cousins!  We headed home Friday morning and the kiddos were pooped!

I think we are about a block away from Gene/Millie's in this shot!

Taylor decided to finally get sick so we have been lying low this weekend.  She gets a really nasty cough that hits her at night and she literally coughs for hours until it finally makes her throw up.  Then she/we can all get some sleep.  Cough medicine doesn't seem to help her at all.  She was pretty good last night and I kept her home from school today to give her one more day to recover.  Cooper's nose started running today and I feel like I have a pretty gnarly head cold coming on.  Hopefully it will quickly run its course and we will all be better in no time!  December here we come!!!

Halloween and Stuff

We've all been doing quite well lately.  Nothing crazy or really that exciting to report.  Mr. Cooper is walking all over the place and is the cutest little man ever.  Seriously, he's the best little dude I have ever met.  Such a joyful little fellow.  I can't get enough of his sweet little face!

We got Cooper a new pair of shoes since he is walking everywhere now, he LOVES them and literally wears them all day everyday (except for when he is sleeping).  He also REALLY likes hats.  Funny guy.

Halloween was really fun.  We went to our ward trunk or treat and the kids had a good old time.  The kids looked so cute in their costumes.  Taylor was a "Medieval times QUEEN" (please do not call her a princess, it is very upsetting).  Dakota was Supergirl but preferred to go by Super Dakota.  Cooper was The Hulk.

This is Taylor when she tried her costume on for the first time.

  

Here she is at school

Such a lady

Super Dakota to the rescue!!!

Definitely my favorite photo...so very Koty.

My best bud and I went as Ketchup and Mustard to the ward party.  Here is Cooper and I before we left.

Kali and me (I have to say that we were a big hit ;)!)

Carving pumpkins was very fun, although I am having a hard time convincing Dakota that it is time to throw them away.  It makes her very sad to think of her little friend in the garbage.

Halloween night, we hit up a few houses in our neighborhood in the traditional trick or treating fashion.  Kali and her little Ellie came with us and the girls cleaned up quite well.

Can you feel the enthusiasm?

You have to really love Disney to put Mickey Mouse concrete in your walkway...

Ellie's haul

Koty's goodies

The kids received popcorn balls as one of their treats and they didn't like them at all...Cooper, on the other hand thought they were a rare delicacy and enjoyed every bite.  I call these photos "The Popcornball Series"

Yum

See what I have!

Ohhhhhh that's gooooood...

So Halloween is over and we move on to the month of November...I cannot believe that this year is almost over.  Crazy!

A few more pictures for the road.  It's always nice to catch your kids loving each other.  So sweet.

Last but not least, Dakota was feeling very sad this evening so we took a picture so we could see her feelings.  Here is her sad face...

Well, seeing her sad face made her feel a little silly...

And then she got down right kooky...I love this nut.

The Goings On

We have had an interesting 3 months dealing with Richard's medical complications. To spare you the details, Rich has been sent from doctor to doctor, been refused to be seen, basically been told that his pain and problems have been in his head, been put on antibiotics 3 or 4 times and now FINALLY he has gotten some answers. He happened to have a follow-up with his regular physician and he unloaded it all on her, told her every detail, and expressed his overwhelming frustrations to her. He has been in pain and missing work and no one seems to have any idea what to do with him. She listened and then examined him herself and said that yes, there was definitely something going wrong down there. She sent him for a testicular ultrasound and had him come back in that very day for results. Turns out it's not in Richard's head (DUH!!!). He has a condition called Hydrocele (which is fluid around the testicles) and varicose veins on BOTH testicles. Poor guy. Needless to say, if someone had taken the time to actually run some tests on him, this all could have been remedied months ago. He will most likely have to have surgery, which would be the only way to stop the inflammation and pain. If this could have been discovered back when the problems first arose, he could already be recovered by now. He's back at work for the first time in weeks and will see the Urologist in about 2 weeks. After that we will find out the details of the surgery and what the recovery time will be. Not fun, not fun at all!!!

Now to the fun part of life...our kiddos. They are such beautiful, crazy, funny little people and I don't know what we would do without them.

Our little Cooper-man is SO cute!!! He is walking about 90% of the time now and is beginning to say more and more words. He's got loads of personality and is such a love bug.

Yes, I know...Mommy is hysterical.

This is his "cheese" face. I love it!

Dakota is doing A LOT better. We implemented hot sauce on the tongue for biting as she was getting crazy out of control with that issue (including parents calling about her in the nursery). Needless to say, she hasn't bitten anyone in about 3 weeks! Wahhh Hooo!!!! She also slept through the whole night last night and even slept in to 7:15! How glorious!!!

Here are some pictures from TayTay's first game. I was trying to get a nice picture of Koko because the lighting was so good...this is what I got when I asked her for a pretty face. Oh well!

"See my cwazy eyes?"

Here's Tay and her teammates in their "cheer bling" shirts.

Water break!

Taylor is doing great! She is an amazing student and is reading like you wouldn't believe. She also is a champion speller and has received a 100% on every spelling test she has taken. She LOVES school and is so happy. :)

Her cheer uniform finally arrived. Here she is trying it on.

Here she is getting to wear it to Spirit Day at school (that would be a low v she is doing there)

Last night I took Taylor to her school's Fall Festival. Some 1st graders did the "Pumpkin Patch Polka." It was very cute.

Ham alert

My 3 monkeys...they may wear me out, but I love love love them!