Camping Fun

We decided to go camping for Spring Break. We were going to leave on Monday and come back Wednesday, but when we heard that Monday and Tuesday were going to be wash out days we thought that camping in the rain with kids would not be a good experience. So we canceled our reservation. With it being Spring Break as well as Easter Weekend finding a camp ground with availability was hard. We finally found a camp ground with a spot for us at Cooper State Park. Cooper State Park is about a couple of hours from here. We figured since we are the Coopers we should go and check out Cooper State Park.

The kids enjoyed camping, fishing, and biking. We learned that Spencer needs to stay warm and sleeping in a tent is not his cup of tea. He cried the whole night until we put him in the car. Grant went out in the middle of the night making room for Spencer in the car. When he came back to the tent, Spencer had fallen asleep in my arms, but Madeline was starting to cry. So Madeline and Grant went and slept in the car. Grant would turn the car on and run the heater for a bit and then he would turn the car off. A few hours later I got too cold and so I traded spaces with Grant in the car. When Grant got back to the tent he woke Spencer up in the process of getting into bed. So Spencer joined Madeline and I in the back of the car. There we slept great. The next morning we rearranged some things, moved the air mattress into the back of the car for Spencer and I to sleep in that night. Spencer slept great and Grant and the kids shared one air mattress. Grant got up several times to help Madeline get comfortable or put blankets back on her. Anthony was the only one that slept great both nights. He is a born camper. He loves being outdoors and gets so excited when we go camping or go hiking. This was Madeline's first time to go fishing and she was so excited. She especially loved the worms. She was not scared of them one bit. She dove right in digging for a worm to put on her hook. Anthony on the other hand would not touch them one bit. Madeline wanted to put the worm on her hook, but Grant saw danger in her doing that and knew that she would poke herself pretty good. Fishing with Madeline was an adventure. She would swing her fishing rod around getting it tangled in trees or getting it hooked on her shirt. She enjoyed casting her line out and then reeling it back in or taking her rod and making circles in the water. Anthony has gone fishing before but he still has not developed the patience for waiting. As soon as he casts he is ready to reel it back in. He is getting pretty good at casting himself we just need to work on the patience part, but that will come with age.

With this camping trip we learned a few things. Cereal works a lot better than panacakes and next time I will prepare food ahead of time and just heat it up at our campsite. I felt like I was either cooking or cleaning up the whole time and wasn't doing a lot of relaxing. We also learned that we can make special camping chores for the kids to do to help with the load. They helped set up the campsite, but as far as cooking and cleaning we didn't have them do anything. Also paper products work just as good as regular plastic plates, and when camping you need to start dinner at 4:00 or you will be eating and trying to clean up in the dark. At 7:00 kids are tired and cranky and trying to clean up from dinner with tired and cranky kids who still want their smores is not fun. So with all that in mind our next camping trip should be better. And we probably won't go camping until it is a little bit warmer during the night or Spencer will have a fit. Next time we will have a sleeping bag for Madeline so that she can not get out of her covers and wake up cold. We had a lot of fun and I know the kids enjoyed themselves. The park was nice, the campsites were a little bit close together, but the spot that we were was a safe spot to be with kids riding their bikes. We were next to a circle so the kids could ride down the street go around the circle and come back without being in any real danger of cars.

Enough with the rambling here are pictures for you all to enjoy!

Anthony wanted to take a picture of our campsite, hence the number 59. Maybe he wanted to remember that 59 was a great spot.

A pic of Anthony riding his bike.

A pic of Madeline riding her scooter.

Where is Anthony? Where is Madeline? Grant took this picture during one of the many times he got up in the middle of night to cover up and help kids get comfortable.

Madeline and Anthony cooking their hot dogs for dinner. Madeline loves the campfire. We had to have a good lesson about fire safety and the way we walk around the campfire. This girl is either clueless or has no fear.
Madeline and Anthony enjoying the evening by the fire. Notice the tea kettle, the kids loves to have hot chocolate it is one of their treats they look forward to every night.
Anthony fishing.
Madeline fishing.
Anthony wanted to take a pic of everyone by the tent.

Cooper Look-alike Meter

We thought it would be fun to see who spencer favors. We weren't surprised that it was Anthony. There are a lot of pictures of Spencer and Anthony that look very similar. The funny thing is at birth Spencer did not look like Madeline or Anthony. When Madeline was born it was another Anthony only smaller.

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Cooper Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebs - Collage - Morph

Cooper Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Pedigree - Family tree chart

Cooper Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Solve the Family Mystery

Which one is Spencer and which one is Anthony. In these pictures Anthony and Spencer are the same age. Spencer is now 10 months old and he weighs 23 pounds. He is officially weighs more than Madeline. I stood Spencer up to Madeline the other day and he came up to her eyes. Here soon people are going to think Spencer is older than Madeline. Spencer is not moving yet, my kids tend to be late bloomers in this area. I am not complaining I am enjoying the time that I have. He has 6 teeth, four on top and two on the bottom. He loves to jabber and has the "M" and "D" sound down pat. He loves to jump, swing, rock, and he loves sitting outside on the grass. He is the happiest baby who loves to laugh and smile. Now for those who made it through this paragraph I will entertain you by telling you that the top picture is Anthony and the bottom picture is Spencer. I should have saved the money and just put Anthony's picture up and said it was Spencer.

An Overdue Update

On Feb. 29 we were blessed with nice weather. Grant decided to take 1/2 day off from work and go camping for the weekend after the kids got out school. I called ahead of time at our desired camping spot and they said they had plenty of campsites available. Well we got there about 5:00 and they were booked. I guess there were a lot of people who had the same idea as we did. The kids were disaapointed because we were planning on going biking and fishing and hiking. So we came home disappointed and made tents in the living room. The kids thought this was a neat idea. Lesson learned make reservations no matter what month it is.
A weeked later it is snowing. After picking up Madeline from school she said it was raining and that she couldn't wait for it to turn over to snow. As soon as it did she was outside playing in it. After awhile her hands got cold so Grant brought her in. That did not set well with Madeline she still wanted to play out in the snow. Madeline has never really seen snow until now, however she knew exactly what to do.
Anthony building his snowman. The kids decided that a two ball snow man was perfect and that they didn't need the third ball. For Texas it was a pretty good snow storm not enough to cancel school.
Spencer loves his bathtime. As soon as he sees the bathtub he gets excited. He will spend the whole time splashing, it is fun to watch. He cries when you take him out. He even understands when you say time for a bath because he will get excited. He is such a big boy that he quickly out grew all bath tub baby devices. He sits up pretty good in the tub. Thank goodness he hasn't learned how to move yet.
Spencer is starting to get tired of baby food, I don't blame him that stuff in the jars looks nasty. He is still figuring out how to feed him self but he is getting better. Daddy made spaghetti for dinner one night and Spencer went to town afterwards. Needless to say a bath was in order and a good mopping of the floor. A side note, if Spencer has food in his mouth and he sees more food he will spit out what it is in his mouth to get the other food he sees, even if it is the same thing.

For Saint Patricks Day, I made the kids green pancakes, green eggs with gree milk, we even had green butter. Anthony was a little unsure about it but when he realized that it tasted the same he dived in and ate it up. After breakfast he commented on how he loved Saint Patrick's Day. I think this will be our new tradition

Another view of our green breakfast. The pictures don't do it justice. It was a lot of fun!

Spencer enoying his green breakfast.

I have been tagged

So I have been tagged, my very first tag I feel so honored. Thinking of 7 things about me that would be interesting has been a challenge.

1. When eating lasagna I go for the middle piece no matter what. I do not like the crust. I always leave the last corner of my sandwhich-a crust thing.

2. I do not like anything touching the bottom of my feet especially crumbs on the floor.

3. I am always straightening things. It doesn't matter what it is, I have to have things straight and centered. I am always strainghtening things on the kitchen counter, pictures, and things on a dresser.

4. I do not like clutter. I am always cleaning and organizing things. Grant bought me a label maker for Christmas and I have had fun labeling our whole house.

5. Before I got married I was a vampire at the children's hospital. Lets just say I didn't make friends with the children.

6. Grant and I dated for two weeks before we got engaged. We knew who each other were for about a year. We had the same friends and were at the same group parties, but didn't know more than each others name.

7. I knew Grant was going to be husband before I even knew his name or who he was. I just knew from the back of his head and a little help from Heavenly Father.

Now 7 things about grant:

1. Grant died once; thank goodness it didn't last long. I am so glad he is here.

2. Whenever Grant has a thought or wants to say something, he touches his nose with his index finger.

3. When Grant eats a sandwhich he holds it like a plate and eats all the way around the sandwhich before he eats the middle.

4. Grant empties his pants pockets the same way at night and fills them the same way in the morning. Infact he gets ready for bed or for the day in the same order everyday.

5. Grant has eaten an aborted duck egg.

6. Grant built his own bike. It was his bike that helped him get his current job.

7. Grant broke his neck in a BYU sponsored car accident. This explains the reason behind number 1.

Now since Brittney tagged everyone that I know who reads my blog, I can't really tag anyone so if you read my blog and have a blog of your own consider yourself tagged.

We Escaped!!

We decided to escape from jail (mundane things of life) and head out for a family day trip. We went to Turner Falls in Oklahoma about a couple of hours away. The kids had the day off from school, the weather was beautiful and Grant had nothing pressing at work, it just seemed like the perfect thing to do. The kids enjoyed hiking around and Anthony had fun hiking up to the caves with his daddy. The caves were too high up for Madeline to hike to, but she enjoyed hiking around on some of the easier trails as well as hiking up to and looking around in some castles that they had there. When we got there Anthony was excited and ready to go. We however had to get the bags ready for the hike, change spencer's diaper and feed him alittle bit. This seemed too long for Anthony who was itching to get to the hiking trails. We discovered yesterday that Anthony loves to go hiking. He is not much for walking around the park or the neighborhood, but take him to a hiking trail and he is gone. He marched right up to the moutain (mole hill more like it- no where near like the Rockies) with no fear and began the assend to the cave. Anthony is not much for sports and animals scare him, but hiking he has no fear. Grant had to work to keep up with him. Anthony was always a head of the family and he seemed to be lost in his own world. The kids brought flash lights to use in the caves. Madeline wasn't able to hike up to the caves, but we found a castle that she could hike up to and she got use her flashlight. She didn't know that it was a castle and not a cave, but to her it was a cave and she was content and we were happy to find something that she could use her flashlight. The kids were tired and so were we at the end of the day, but it was so much fun to escape from jail and enjoy the day as a family.

Anthony on the outside of the cave.

Anthony at home; hiking

Anthony in the cave

Me and the kids in front of the falls.

Daddy and the kids in front of the falls.

Daddy and Spencer

Daddy and the kids in front of the castle.

Madeline in front of a pool of water; I like the picture of her

Madeline working out in the garage with daddy. Like father, like daughter.

Madeline took Anthony's pirates and put them to bed using her yellow blanket. She then told everyone to be quiet because the pirates were sleeping.

Crazy Cooper Update

This past week was uneventful, which for us is great! Yesterday at church I received a new calling. I was released as Visiting Teaching Coordinator and Family History Consultant and called as 2nd Counselor in the Primary. That is so funny! A couple Wednesdays ago I was up at the church putting reports in the computer when the Bishop asked to talk to me. At that time they extended me the call to be Primary Secretary. Great! I thought I am a good gopher. Sunday came and they didn't release me and they didn't call me, so I thought they changed their mind. Well they did change their mind; instead of secretary they decided 2nd counselor. I agreed and said as long as I don't move up. So I was glad yesterday at church when they called me to be counselor and didn't change their mind. I have known this would be happening for some time. Heavenly Father has been nudging me and giving me promptings that it is my time to serve in the primary (which I have never done before). A few years ago this would have terrified me, but I can see through my own children how the Lord has prepared me for this time to serve. I am excited! I love teaching children! FHE at our house are a family favorite. I try to do it like primary so the kids have a lot of fun and I think it helps Madeline to learn the songs and lessons better.

For Valentines Day I decided to throw the kids a party. They were totally excited about it. I didn't realize how much candy they would bring home from school, I thought it was halloween. It is safe to say that most of the candy was thrown out. Not only did they get lots of candy, but they must have eaten lots of sugar, they were everywhere. Next year, I might change our party a little different; I didn't know that I would be adding to their sugar content for the day. But anyway, I gave the kids a bucket of cookies and instead of just giving it to them I created a treasure hunt for them to find their Valentine. I created one for Grant as well. Anthony loves treasure hunts. When you start to read the clue he will immediately go and find the next clue and then come back and say it wasn't there, we then tell him that he needs to read the whole clue before leaving. This was Madeline's first time to do a treasure hunt. After I read her the clue I would then ask her where should we go and she would tell me "A treasure hunt." She did this each time, so she didn't quit get the idea but she had a lot of fun. After our treasure hunt, I made heart shape cupcakes for the kids to decorate and after cupcakes they each had their homemade pinata that Grant helped me make. After the party we went to a 3.00 all you can eat pizza buffet which the kids absouletely enjoyed, and Spencer did too!

Anthony is doing really well on his scripture reading. I found an easy BOM reader from BYU bookstore. It is written at Anthony's level and goes through the whole BOM. Yesterday during Sacrament meeting, Anthony was reading his scriptures and there were some pretty big words and he was just cruising through them. He has really picked up reading fast. He is starting to enjoy reading too. He has made a goal to become a good reader and he has a goal tracker on the wall that lists his steps on how he can become a good reader so I think that has helped to motivate him. I also found a website that a free scripture printables where you can print stories from the BOM and the kids draw a picture of what they think the story is about. Anthony has also enjoyed these and they have been really good for him during Sacrament Meeting as well as understanding what the story is about.

Madeline is healthy and has recovered very nicely from surgery. We are now getting ready for her heart cath in march. The is a prepartory step for her heart surgery in June.

Spencer is 22 1/2 pounds and happy as can be. He still gets around by spinning in circles and scooting backwards. He has started to get on all fours and rock. He has 6 teeth, this surprised me because Anthony and Madeline didn't teethed until they were a year old.

Oh another thing, I almost forgot. I worked really hard to clean our house really well and keep it maintained with three kids so that this weekend I didn't have to do any house chores and I could just work on my projects. Well I am happy to report that I met my goal and boy was it nice. I didn't realize how much I needed time to work on my hobbies. I scrapbooked all weekend long and made a huge dent in my scrapbooks. I was able to get Spencer's book completed as far as I had pictures for, Anthony 2004-2005 album done, and Madeline's 2005-2006 almost done. I will be happy if I get completely caught before the year is out. Grant was very suportive too and helped me out to make it possible for me to scrapbook. I even got the kids on it and had some pictures for them to glue on pieces of paper for their own scrapbooks. I have decided I am going to do this every weekend. Maybe this weekend I will finish a couple of baby quilts that I have started for Spencer before he out grows them. Well I think that is our week. Enjoy the pics.

For FHE evening we talked about our ancestors and what it means to be an etnernal family, so to celebrate we made a dessert from Grandma Thompson cookbook.

Madeline was suppose to be sleaping, but little did we know that she was not sleeping; this is how we found her. I couldn't resist getting a picture and then after picture we put immediately back to bed.

The cutiest 9 month ever

Valentine Day Breakfast that I made for the kids.

Successful Surgery & Other Happenings

Madeline's surgery on Monday was a sucess. The only hiccup we had was the morning of surgery the wrong instruments were sent over and they had to rush deliever the right instruments from another hospital. This delayed the surgery a couple of hours enough time for Madeline to realize she was hungry and to start asking to eat. Luckily Grant was able to distract her until it was time for her to go back. Each time they give her medicine similar to laughing gas. One of these times we are going to remember our camera and take a video of Madeline. She is hilarious when the Madeline kicks in. She will be sitting contently and then all of a sudden bust out laughing for no reason. This time Grant was playing a game of got your nose and Madeline just thought that was the funniest thing ever. Grant asked Madeline to touch her nose, by this time the medicine had kicked in and so she was pretty much drunk and therefore had a hard time touching her nose. The surgery only lasted about an hour and half. I stayed home during the morning hours, got Anthony off to school, tidied up the house a bit, packed my bags, watched the news conference in regards to the new first presidency and then left for the hospital. It is so nerve racking driving there. I am not much for driving, and going to Dallas is like driving into New York City. I have never seen so many crazy drivers. I get to the hospital and breathed a sigh of relief. I load up Spencer in the stroller with all of my luggage and as soon as we step foot in the elevator he starts crying. I get him calmed down and then when we enter the hospital he starts cyring again. Once in the hospital there are a couple of elevators that we need to use and each time he freaks out crying. We learned that day, Spencer does not like elevators. Madeline spent the night in intensive care for precaution. When she woke up she immediately asked for Mac n Cheese. She had to wait until the next day before they would let her eat solids. I stayed with Madeline in the hospital until she went home. It was a nice quiet time together. We read books, watched cartoons, called daddy on the phone, went for walks, played with toys, and sang lots of songs. I mostly held her or laid with her in the bed. It made for long nights Madeline and I sleeping together in a recliner or trying to share a twin bed, but she was comfortable and that was all that mattered. When it came time to go home, Madeline was full of smiles. She missed her daddy and her brothers very much. I think mostly she missed her home. When we got home Grant and Anthony had given her a heart attack in her room (sprinkled hearts everywhere) as well as made her a welcome home banner. Anthony put together a treasured hunt game together for madeline too enjoy. However, he was so excited about the game that he pretty much did it for her and she enjoyed the treat. Madeline is back to normal, has been since day one, she occasionally has pain, and sleeping is hard for her. She gets uncomfortable and has a hard time getting into a comfortable position without waking up and having someone help her. She misses school and wants to go back and play with her friends. Thanks for everyone who said prayers on our behalf. Thanks mom and dad for the card, Madeline loved it. Madeline's class at school also sent her a get well card, she was thrilled to have something from her friends.





Madeline's surgery has been pretty much the big event for our family. Spencer decided to come down with a cold so it has been tricky helping Spencer get better and helping Madeline with her back. Luckily Grant was able to stay home all week, so the extra help was great. Spencer is nine months old today. He was 4 teeth so far and it looks like a couple more are coming. He is close to crawling, but for now he gets to where he needs to go by scooting in circles or using his walker. The weather has been great, and so we have spent lots of time outside enjoying the weather. Spener loves it outside. As soon as you sit him down on the grass, he starts attacking it. He loves playing in the grass, he would love to eat it too if Mommy and Daddy would let him.





Today at church I was given a new calling as 2nd counselor in the primary. The week before they had asked me to be secretary in primary. Well at church they didn't announce my new call so I thought maybe they changed their mind. I didn't think they would change it in the direction they did. I have been subbing as sunbeams teacher and have enjoyed every minute of it and I was thinking more along those lines, but the Lord saw something different. I have known for sometime that it was my time to go to primary, but I just needed to wait for the Lord's time. I was not shocked that it was a primary calling. I told the Bishop why so when they changed my calling to 2nd counselor and I told him that I was warmed up to the idea of being a gopher, he then told me well you were the one that said that Lord has told you it is time to go to primary. I then told him yes I said primary, there are lots of positions in primary. Anyway, I am still in shock and as Elder Utchdorf said joyfully overwhelmed. It will be fun! I love teaching the children!





Well we will leave you for another week, unless something comes up of worthiness to post. Enjoy the pics.













Madeline's card from her class at school.
She is holding up her thank you note that
I e-mailed to her teacher.











Madeline wanted me to take a picture
of her and I while laying in the bed
together. Pretty good!














Madeline talking on the phone
with daddy wearing the clown
nose that she got from a couple
of clowns that came by to visit her.
She wasn't too sure about the clowns,
I think she thought they were more
strange than funny.

Madeline talking to the phone the
evening of her surgery. This made
her night. The nurse went to great
lengths for her daddy to call, because
it was after hours.

Madeline enjoying a bowl of grapes,

in this picture she is trying to stick out her tongue.