Christmas Morning

Cooper with his new Big Truck!

The loot...

Josie was so excited she could "use" her doll accessories


Adorable hat she got

The aftermath...

Ahhhh!!! It was SO nice to stay home!!! I thought we would be so sad and lonely. But after working so much and so much stress lately- it was nice to just relax!! I can't begin to tell you how much fun it was to spend so much time together as a family and just enjoy each other and not worry about traveling. We did miss family but it was a very relaxing holiday with just the 4 of us.

Christmas with friends...

We joined up with some of our other friends who stayed here and don't have any family. It was fun, we had dessert, played games and let the kids be crazy!!

Pre Christmas...

Here is the fam testing out our new camera!! We are SO excited- we LOVE it and I can finally video and record the kids- yeah!! So many cute memories... unrecorded, but not any more!

Amongst the chaos!!

Yes, amongst the chaos of starting a new business and having your husband start a new job- we have managed to have a little fun and find some time (just a little) to spend with friends and family. I would NOT recommend starting a business unless you are fully prepared to loose any life you once had, work your butt off for free and spend countless hours at your business doing ANYTHING and EVERYTHING and STILL have a long list of "To Do's"!!

Camping in the backyard...

We have been dying to go camping but things just keep coming up and it's really hard for me to get away lately. So instead we decided to just go local- really local, as in our backyard!! We invited some friends over (Cooper's new BEST friend- Evelyn) and had a camp fire, smores and popped the tent up! It was tons of fun and the best part was that we all got to sleep in our own beds and watch a movie before! I highly recommend it.

Josie- 18 mo

My kids are growing up too fast!! Especially Josie- she is talking away and repeating everything you say- too cute! I really tried to get her 18 mo photo shoot in but every time I tried she was so NOT interested. These are the best ones I got. Hopefully her 2yr shoot will go better. Things Josie Loves:
1. "Baba" (Bottle)Yes I know we need to get her off of it- but it's SO nice!
2. "Bee" (Her red blanket that is just like Coopers) She has grown SO attached to this thing!
3. "Baybee" (Baby doll) She loves dolls. She is SO cute with them! She gets my dish towels down and wraps the baby up in it and then put her up against her chest and rocks back and forth patting her on the back saying "Shhh Shhh". It is SO cute!! Then she tries to give it a bottle. It is SO weird how early girls have that maternal instict!
4. "Doodee" (Cooper- for some reason she calls him "Doodee"). Regardless, she loves the kid. They are two peas in a pod those two. They have just recently started playing really well together- I think Josie just toughened up a bit and Cooper got a bit nicer as well. It's quite nice- FINALLY!!
5. "Nany" (Candy) Yes- it is such a weakness I have as a mother, I totally bribe them with candy- I know- I am so bad!!
6. "Teeessee" (Cheese) Both kinds of cheese- the kind you eat, which she loves and the kind you say when you take a picture. She has become quite the ham with saying "Teessee" and makes the Funniest face!! (See below)

Spring Creek Park

A couple weeks ago we made it (it was the last day of the water features so I was determined to go) to Spring Creek park. I'm glad we got to go- the kids LOVE that park. What's not to love?? They have water, and TONS of play equipment. They played for hours!! We went with our friends Jamie, Jude and Lila.

Bobcat Ridge

Today it was so nice out so we decided to go up to the mountains. It was late since we have church until 2 now and the kids take naps after so we just went somewhere pretty close. Bobcat Ridge is really close and a really easy walk for the kids. For some reason Cooper kept running ahead of us and then lye down right in the middle of the dirt path! The kids LOVED it and the drive up was really pretty. It's just right up behind Horsetooth Resivoir about 25 minutes from our house. This time we didn't get to see ANY rattle snakes or anything cool! But I'm ok with that :)

Visit from Grammy...

Joe's Mom came out the day after my dad left. It was a little crazy but VERY nice to have the company. Joe took the kids to Denver to pick her up and they all went to the Zoo and then to a baseball game (no pics sorry). She only stayed the weekend and it went by fast but we did get to do some cute things and snap some cute shots while she was here! We got to go to Fossile Creek park and show her the big "Dinosaur" so Cooper calls it. We also got to go up to Picnic Rock- where the highlight was a really cute furry Caterpillar and a rock throwing contest- fun times!

Second Visit from Dad

With all the work we did the first visit my dad hardly got to spend any time with the kids or me so he decided to come back for a second visit two weeks later. "The more relaxing visit" actually turned into more work then the first visit!! We worked well into the morning hours and my dad didn't get more than 3 hours of sleep a night. It was pretty much hell. BUT we made the Grand Opening and after everything was done all we wanted to do was crash but we made ourselves actually do something and my dad really wanted to spend some time with the kids. So we headed up to the Farm and checked out the animals and rode "Ginger" Cooper's new found love (a horse).