Goodbye 2008!
We really did have a good year! It went by TOO fast. Somehow my newborn baby is now almost a one year old! How did this happen?

Andy got his first haircut last Friday!

Before:


After:

We had a nice Christmas at home this year and the weekends before and after we got together with our wonderful families!

The weekend before Christmas we spent in Manti.

Have you ever seen such fabulous wisemen before? You are welcome Laura, I know you are glad I posted this picture!
(My wiseman costume was inspired by Tina Turner and Michael Jackson.....)

Ben's Mom really loves the kids to act out the Christmas Story every year. Andy was a very wiggly Baby Jesus.

Two days after Christmas we headed to my parents.


Aunt Becky playing Don't Eat Pete with the kids.


My beautiful and suddenly very grown up niece Natalie. She has turned into such an accomplished and beautiful young lady.


Andy couldn't seem to close his mouth while cuddling with Aunt Lisa. She is jaw-droppingly beautiful...


We finished the evening with a little Rock Band of course!


We look forward to a fun filled 2009 with friends and family!

One of our little mundane moments that makes my life worthwhile....



Good morning sunshine!
Merry Christmas to all!

Count em! FIVE!

Charlie's birthday-December first!

His birthday party was on Saturday the sixth!

Some of the boys and my funny niece Alyx in the middle!


I really regret I didn't get ALL of the kids together in one shot! What was I thinking?
Starting with Charlie then heading to his left-Charlie, Connor, Ethan, Braden, Alyx, Max and Carter. Maddie, Kara, Daegan, Nash, Boston, Scout and Connor were also there but not in this picture!

I accidentally only put four candles on!


That's better!
Balloon fight! Max, Maddie and Charlie.


Random action shots!

Impromptu bbq for those who stayed..


I really want to thank everyone who came over last night! It was quite a drive for most of you and it really made Charlie's day to have everyone come. It really means a lot to us that you came to help Charlie celebrate. Thanks as well to grandparents who sent birthday cards and money. He kept saying how lucky he was! We are all lucky to have such great family in our lives. Love to you all!

BOO! Hello, did you miss us?

You know I dropped my camera and haven't blogged lately. I am SO TIRED OF LOOKING AT THAT STUPID BUG every time I get on here to link to all of ya'll's blogs! Time for a new post no matter now mundane it may be!!

You know, it only took me a month and a half to paint my bedroom! Ha! Here is how it turned out for those of you wondering. I like it! Looks a little dark but it doesn't bother me at all, looks very pretty especially in daylight!


I also painted these bathrooms, they were white before. I like color!

This is Charlie's bathroom, or more correctly the second bathroom. The color isn't true in the picture, it's called Pumpkin Butter and is more on the orangey side rather then yellow. It really warmed it up in there though and I love it!


This is our master bathroom, which isn't very big and I couldn't find a flattering angle to take a picture! The color is again not quite right, it's a little more limey/richer color in person and the towels are purple, I thought the looked almost navy in the shot which is all wrong. I like it, it's like an iris flower, the ones with the dark purple petals and green stems! I know, I know, OBVIOUSLY green stems but you know what I mean!


I still have several more rooms to do! It's fun having projects to keep me busy and motivated but at the same time I am anxious to be finished!

Next room on the list is for this guy...
What a sweetie!

EEEWWW!!!
This nasty dude was creeping through my garage today after I dropped Charlie off at preschool. Turns out about 2 weeks ago my neighbor was discussing their "Jerusalem cricket" they have in a jar at school and, yep, that's what it is. It's BIG! About 2 inches long and pretty fat! This is an internet picture since (sniff sniff) I dropped our digital camera (broke it) and the only pictures I have are blurry camera phone ones.


MAN! I had to do an insect collection in 8th grade and I NEVER found anything this cool!

OH RIKKI!!!!

Charlie asked me to dress up for Halloween so I kept my promise...It was fun!
Now I know it's not Halloween YET but we already dressed up for our ward party!


It was very popular amongst the adults....Kids were confused..I Love Lucy..Hello!

Could he BE any cuter?


Our ward Halloween party..Ben dressed up last minute, he is a "punk kid snowboarder" but really, we all know that's his true self. Snowboarder: check, punk: double check, kid (at heart): check!



Masks weren't allowed at the ward party so here is Charlie's full Power Ranger costume!


Should have dressed this one as a jailbird!

QUIRKS..Who, ME?

Andrea tagged me to list 6 quirks so here goes!

1. Sniff sniff.....I need to smell all new food before putting it into my mouth. Ben teases me, but really, all I need is one good sniff and I already know whether or not I want a taste. I also REALLY love to sniff a freshly opened Snickers bar. Almost more then actually eating it. The eating is usually a slight let down after the awesome aroma!

2. This one drives Ben crazy-I am lazy when it comes to screwing lids on things tightly. I just set lids on top of stuff and this can cause problems when someone else (namely Ben) tries to pick it up by the lid! Peanut butter, bottles of pills, hairspray, you name it and the lid might not be on tight at my house...

3. I spell words in my mouth with my tongue on my teeth. The last word someone said, or a word I am thinking of. Now that is embarrassing and strange, I KNOW!

4. I make up and sing the dumbest songs to my kids...Those of you who know me best know my knack for singing about the mundane. One of my most popular right now is "keep it up, keep it up, you're doing great" which is to be sung when Charlie is cleaning his room. He will amazingly clean his entire room and put away all his clean laundry and make his bed with a smile on his face if I sing/chant that the whole time. Small price to pay to get him to enjoy his chores! I also have several versions about how cute the baby is and things like that. Sometimes I sing "go get your shoes on," and other instructions. Charlie also seems to have inherited/learned this talent and it's very cute when he sings his responses to me..Now that isn't weird is it?

5. I have a major aversion to doing laundry. Especially putting it away. I would rather clean the ENTIRE house then fold and put away the laundry. This one I share with Andrea but I'm having a hard time thinking of 6 so I had to post it anyway. ;-)

6. It's hard to think of 6 that I will make public without embarrassing myself......Sorry..I guess 5 is all you get!

I tag Becky G. and Kari S.....GO!

DID YOU KNOW??


That making a haunted candy castle is more fun then going to the racetrack? Amazing!


That Charlie went to a farm with his pre-school last month and ACTUALLY rode the horse?


This is his overall impression of the pigpen.....


Did you know that Charlie takes some pretty funny pictures when he's allowed to run free with the camera?


That this is the weather today? Soccer got canceled..YIKES!


Did you know that Andy is in the 77th percentile for height and the 6th percentile for weight! Wow...This is how to feed a baby who doesn't like his bottle. He's also taking medication for reflux and things are going pretty good as long as you know the tricks! (picture taken by Charlie, which explains why no Andy is visible!)


Did you know that these guys are pretty wonderful? I sure did....

-CSI TOOELE-

DATE: September 12, 2008

TIME: 7:43 p.m.

SCENE OF THE CRIME: Nearly empty neighborhood


WITNESSES:Andy Cook/Christina Cook


AVAIL. ASSISTANCE: NONE


EVIDENCE:One blood trail 1/4 mile long


PERPETRATOR: Gravel Blaster Bike


VICTIMS:Charlie Cook/one front tooth


VERDICT:
Charlie's got a brand new smile.........