My Little Monkey

So if you read my blog you know how I call Cooper my little MONKEY. The day we brought him home from the hospital he looked like a little monkey the way he sat in his car seat. And still to this day he clings like a little monkey, lays with his fist like a monkey, makes faces that look like a monkey, and does this thing with his mouth that makes him look like a monkey. So because of this he gets called monkey a lot more than he gets called Cooper........at least by me. I think another reason I had to come up with a nickname for him is because we call Indiana our dog by: buddy, Mr., handsome, and say good boy to him. Indiana responds to all of these along with his real name and usually only gets called Indiana if he is in trouble. So every time one of us calls Cooper one of those name Indiana runs over or looks at you like you are talking to him. So we quickly had to get out of the habit of calling Cooper by those nicknames.

Needless to say, when I saw this monkey costume at Costco I knew Cooper had to dress as a monkey for Halloween. Obviously he is still little so some fancy costume wouldn't be comfy for him and he wouldn't have stayed a happy baby if we would have tried putting him in it. So this costume worked perfect because it was super soft and fluffy so he didn't mind wearing it at all. I also loved that he got to wear it three times (family party, I took him to my Young Women's Halloween party, and then on Halloween). Thinking back I wish I would have taken him to the bike race in his costume, he would have stayed super warm.

Cutest Monkey ever!!!

Cooper and Mom on Halloween

Look at that chubby monkey belly

Daddy and Cooper on Halloween

Cooper LOVES his binky

Look at that handsome smile

Again with that fist in his mouth....if there isn't a binky there is a fist :)

Grandpa's Race

On Saturday my dad had a cycle cross race at Wheeler Farm. He normally doesn't do cycle cross he is more of a road cyclist. At first I was worried it was going to be really cold for Cooper to be outside but surprisingly it was quite nice. It was fun to get outside and do something different. Cooper was great. My dad did really good for his first cycle cross race and we were proud of him. The funniest part of the races was that because it was Halloween weekend a lot of the riders were dressed up in Halloween costumes. They weren't normal Halloween costumes, they were HILARIOUS!

I LOVE these big eyes!

Watching Grandpa Gary

Waiting for the race to start

Go DAD!

The typical Grandpa Gary tongue picture.....My dad, brother, and I all stick our tongue out when we are concentrating or working hard at something

Pumpkin Carving Night

On Friday night we had our friends Nikki, Time, Codie, and Luke come over and we carved some pumpkins. I absolutely love carving PUMPKINS. It is one tradition that we have done every year and I can't wait for when Cooper is big enough to help carve them. It was a lot of fun. I was taking care of Cooper so I didn't get a chance to carve one but I still had a good time. Brad's turned out really cool. He scraped the outside of the entire pumpkin then carved it. So when it was lit it looked awesome!

Hanging out while Brad carved his pumpkin

Luke...in my apron :) and Tim
(Luke's wife Codie was upstairs putting their baby Jack to sleep)

Tim and Nikki (these are always the faces they pull in pictures)

What Cooper did once my mom showed up

Ah I LOVE this little face!!!!

My attempt at taking a picture of the finished pumpkins

Tim's, Nikki's, Brad's, Luke's and Codie's

Family Halloween Party

Last Sunday my family had a HALLOWEEN PARTY at my Grandma and Grandpa Frantz's House. We haven't had a family Halloween party in years, but now that we have Cooper my grandma decided it was time to start having them again. It was fun we all dressed up. Some of the costumes were hilarious. Cooper was a little MONKEY, since I call him monkey I couldn't pass up this adorable costume when I saw it. I was an indian and Brad was a flavor constructor. You might ask what a flavor constructor is......well Brad had this construction worker costume from last year so this year instead of tools, he put cooking and baking utensils in his belt since he is so into cooking and baking. We had dinner and played our family tradition of BINGO. We have BINGO for every holiday and we always play it. Brad and I loaded up with candy and snacks and Cooper got some spoons and cute snack containers. Brad and I had to play a card for him so that he could "win" them :) It was a fun night!

The Whole Family

My dad (Nerdy Redneck), My mom (something creepy note real sure on what though), Aspen (Zebra Fairy), Cooper the MONKEY, Me (Indian) and Brad (Flavor Constructor)

Our Little Family

Happy I Love You Day!!!

The other day Brad came home from work and surprised me with this.

I opened it and it is an 80 minute Swedish Massage at the Spa Club. He is so sweet! My favorite is how he "wrapped" it, electrical tape and all :) I can't wait to get to use my massage. I have the BEST husband ever!

Have I done any good in the world today?

The other night I had the opportunity to clean the Conference Center with my stake from 9:30 to midnight. One interesting bit of info I learned.....the Conference Center is 1.2 million square feet. That is insane! On top of that there are only 12 on the cleaning crew so majority of the cleaning has to be done by volunteers.

Originally Brad was going to be joining me but my mom ended up not being able to watch Cooper so he stayed home with him. At first I was upset that I had ever signed up because I realized it was going to be my first time not being home to put Cooper to bed. That might not seem like that big of a deal but I LOVE being able to read him a story, bundle him up in his blanket, kissing him good night, and being the last one he sees before he goes to sleep. So all day I kind of was dreading going and cleaning. I drove down with my friend Nikki and another lady in our ward. As we got there I was shocked at how few people in our stake had volunteered. It was then that I realized how much I needed to be there.

Our ward had the most people with 13 but there were only a total of 24 people from the entire stake :( I know I can't judge because people have really busy lives but I left a 3 month old at home to be there and there was a lady in my ward who is like 6 months pregnant. There was a lot of husbands there which made sense since their wives were home with the young kids. Our job that night was to vacuum the auditorium which seats 21,000 people. I have been to a few sessions of conference but I had forgotten how enormous it really is. We paired up, one with the vacuum on their back and the other in charge of navigating the really long cords threw all the seats. There are 3 different levels and we split up and went to work. We vacuumed for almost 2 hours straight and still didn't even get done with half of the auditorium. This got me thinking about how important volunteers are for getting this responsibility completed and how far one night of service can go so far but how much more really is needed.



I get caught up in my own life and responsibilities that I forget how important service is. In a talk given by Pres. Monson he says "The Savior tells us that unless we lose ourselves in service to others, there is little purpose to our own lives. Those who live only for themselves eventually shrivel up and figuratively lose their lives, while those who lose themselves in service to others grow and flourish—and in effect save their lives". It makes me realize how important service unto others really is. This is something that I am truly going to strive to be better at. I only have one child right now and I am blessed enough to stay home with him. Because of this I have a lot more free time than others and I should use it to benefit others. Especially with all the holidays coming up there are so many opportunities for serving others and this year I am going to strive and do my part in helping those in need.

“Man’s greatest happiness comes from losing himself for the good of others."
-President David O. McKay

We LOVE Tummy Time

Okay so maybe Cooper doesn't always love tummy time but he looks pretty cute doing it. I didn't used to put Cooper on his tummy for very long because every time I did he spit up a ton and wasn't strong enough to lift his face out of it and it would break my heart. But now he has the strongest little neck and loves looking around during tummy time. As I have mentioned before my child doesn't have much fat on him and that especially goes for his back. When he is doing tummy time and lifting his head you see these little muscles all down his back. It's crazy because you wouldn't think of a baby being "muscly" but I think that because he doesn't have any chub yet to hide the muscles you see them.

Smiling like crazy

I'm pretty sure he was trying to eat something because he was being hilarious with his little tongue

He LOVES his fists

He still gets his little wrinkly forehead and his big eyes....I love it!

Not very often but occasionally he falls asleep during tummy time

He is looking soooo big

He is getting a ton more hair and hasn't really lost any yet

Strong baby

Okay so in the next few he was doing naked tummy time and I don't know if it was the design on the blanket he was on or his fist but he was concentrating really hard and it was making him look like a little monkey (which happens a lot and hence why I calm him MONKEY) his eyes were going cross-eyed it was just too funny!

Bed Time Stories

Well for the past couple weeks we have started reading Cooper a story before bedtime. Now that Cooper is focusing and actually watching things I figured it was time. I usually would read him books during the day when we are home but I wanted to start doing it with Brad. So every night after his last feeding, once pajamas are on and he's wrapped and ready for bed we head up to his room. Don't worry this is a family affair. Indiana has a little bed in Cooper's room and he comes up and lays in it while we read. Brad and I alternate nights of who reads to Cooper. It is adorable watching him look at the pages and actually pay attention to the pictures. It gives him a chance to calm down and get relaxed before we lay him down. After his story we kiss him good night and lay him in his crib. He usually falls asleep without any fussing and is down for the night which is usually about 10 hours with one feeding somewhere in there.

Look at how focused he is on the book

Daddy reading to Cooper....you can see Indiana laying in his bed

Two Firsts!!!

This has been a big week for Cooper. On Sunday October 17th he rolled over for the first time. We were watching the Sunday Night Football game. The Colts were playing. And for the ones who know anything about Brad he NEVER misses a Colts game if it's on tv. Well I was getting ready to put Cooper in his pajamas so he was just hanging out without his diaper on. My child absolutely LOVES being naked. He starts kicking his legs and swinging his arms like crazy and makes these hilarious little noises and faces. I have a video but since he's naked I'm not going to post it. I figured I would let him hang out on a blanket and have some naked tummy time. Besides how can I resist wanting to see his cute little bum. Well as he was laying there he kept bringing his knees up under him and sticking his bum in the air. Almost into a crawl position but his little arms aren't strong enough yet so he kept pushing to his side. He tried for a few minutes to roll to his right but it wasn't working then he went for his left. After a few minutes of kicking his little feet he finally rolled over. It was amazing seeing such a great little victory. Our good friends Nikki and Tim and my dad were all over at our house to witness it along with me and Brad. He hasn't done it again yet but he kicks those little legs and gets up on his knees and sure tries. Now if he could just figure out how to get that dang arm out of the way :)

The other first that we had this week was on Wednesday October 27th Cooper GIGGLED for the very first time. Again I was getting Cooper ready for bed and he was enjoying some naked time. Cooper is a skinny little thing and the only ounce a fat on him is his double chin. So I was kissing his chubby little neck and he giggled. Again my friend Nikki was over and this time Brad wasn't around. Brad and Nikki's husband Tim were helping a friend with some computer stuff so Nikki came over and hung out until the guys were done. I was shocked because he had never giggled before so I thought it was just a fluke. But I kept kissing his neck and chin and he just kept giggling even harder. It was the absolutely CUTEST little giggle that I had ever heard. I know every mom feels that way about their own baby :) But honestly I was in love with his little giggle! Obviously I tried to catch in on the camera but once the camera came out he stopped doing it.

It has been a really big week of milestones and I can't wait to see what is in store for us next.

Cooper loving on Grandpa Gary

I'm worried he is going to be a thumb sucker it always manages to find it's way to his mouth if he loses his binky

Hanging out in his robe before bath time

Nothing feels better than seeing this little face look straight at you especially because it usually give me the biggest little grin :)

I FINALLY caught a picture of his big smile

Weekend of Family Fun!

We had so much fun with Brad's family while they were here over the weekend. The weekend started with us all getting together for lunch and Rodizio Grill. I have only been there once before and was skeptical about going again. I am not a huge meat person and the meat I do eat I am kinda picky about. So I stuck strictly to the salad bar and it was tasty! Brad was excited to be able to stuff himself with amazing meats though. Cooper slept for most of the lunch which was nice so we could all eat.

Abel

Bennett laughing (his little laugh is so cute)

Michael having fun with all the utensils
Jack Michael trying to tell Julie where the whip cream is on her face. It was hilarious watching him try to think of how to explain it because she wasn't getting it :)

Me and Brad

Jack and Michael at the taffy shop

After lunch we all went to Sugarhouse Park. We spent a few hours there talking, swinging, and playing on the playground.

Me, Jack and Michael throwing rocks down at the creek

Brad swinging Michael (his nephews LOVE him!)

Michael wanted a turn to push Brad

Don't you just want to squeeze him.

Jack's turn with Uncle Brad

This is what Cooper did the entire time at the park. He was so exhausted from the crazy weekend.

Our little family. I think Cooper is sneezing here.

Bennett is the most photogenic kid ever!

Eating all the yummy taffy we bought

I was worried Coop was cold because it was a little chilly outside

After the park Brad's cousin arranged for all their family to play games, eat pizza and hang out at the church for the evening. It was a lot of fun. The kids ran around and played. The guys played basketball. The mom's took care of the babies :) But we all had a really fun time!

Cooper was actually awake the entire time!

Mom and Coop

Brad played basketball almost the entire time we were there

Bennett with Aunt Kacey

Saying Goodbye to the Richey's (Ugh we look like Ute fans here)

I absolutely LOVE Brad's family. I hate that they all live so far away and we can't do fun family things like this more often. I wish Cooper had his cousins closer. But Brad and his siblings are so close that I am sure we will always continue getting together like this. It was a really great weekend and it sure drained poor little Cooper. He has been so tired ever since. But we are staying home this week so he can get back into our routine. What a fun family weekend that we will always remember!