A Daddy-Daughter Date

This year Aspen entered a drawing contest to win tickets to Molly Mouse. Molly Mouse is a ballet put on by the Children's Ballet Theater. Aspen colored her picture for days and did the best that she could. She was convinced she was going to win the tickets and kept asking us if we thought she would win too. Both Zach and I told her that if we were the ones judging, we would totally pick hers but we didn't want to set her up for rejection either. So she entered her picture and we waited to see what would happen. Well she did end up winning the tickets for her age group and she was so excited. Zach decided that he wanted to make that day especially "special" for her so he decided to take her. He bought her a corsage and even drove around the block before ringing the doorbell to pick her up for their date. He took her to dinner and requested a special table by the fireplace. Aspen talked about their date for many days afterward and was sad when her corsage had to be thrown away. Lucky for her, it came with a special bracelet that she can keep forever. Thank you Zach for being the "daddy" that you are. You are amazing and both Aspen and I are lucky to have you.

Aspen's First Snowman of the Season

Here is a picture of Aspen's first snowman of the season. She built it all by herself and improvised using cherry tomatoes and a pixie stick. Aspen is not a picky eater but tomatoes are one thing she can't stand. It isn't for lack of trying either. She has probably tried them over 50 times and she keeps trying them too, bless her heart. She does not take after her mother. I am quite possibly one of the world's most picky eaters. I feel so lucky to have her. It makes meal times so easy. My next child will probably be just like me or so I have been told. That said, you can see in the picture exactly what Aspen decided to use the cherry tomatoes for. I laugh every time I look at this picture. I can just picture what she was thinking in her head.

Picking and Carving the Perfect Pumpkin

Zach was so excited to take Aspen to find the perfect pumpkin. He found this place in Riverton that had rows and rows of pumpkins and he knew that would be the place. So a week before Halloween, we went Pumpkin shopping. When we got there, Aspen couldn't get out of the car fast enough. She found hundreds of pumpkins that she wanted. She had a really hard time picking just one for herself so we let her pick one for mom, dad and baby as well.




Then we had to carve the little beauties! Aspen was adamant about carving her own pumpkin with NO help. I was a little nervous but she did an awesome job. She did let her dad take out all the "gross" stuff. She didn't see any need for her to "touch" it. She is such a daddy's girl and Of course he loves it.

Before Aspen cut into her pumpkin, she made sure to tell it sorry. She has such a tender little heart. Her daddy loves that too. Okay, so does her mom :-).





So now that we found and carved our pumpkins...it was time to trick-or-treat!

A Very Happy Halloween

We started celebrating Halloween about a week early. Every year at Grandpa Coops work, they hold a huge Halloween party complete with games, trick or treating, dinner and a movie. We always have the best time there and this year was no exception. Here are a few pictures from that night.

Aspen went as Cinderella this year. We bought her costume while we were in Disney Land and figured it would be a perfect time for her to wear it again.

Goofy Grandma Cam

Grandpa Coop and Grandma Laurie

Brock, Holly and Jeremy

Two Sweet Princesses Gone Fishing!

Our Little Run Away

Do any of you remember running away from home? I do, but it wasn't until I was in Jr. High! Aspen surprised us the other night by telling us she was catching the bus and running away from home! What! Where in the world did our 6 year old come up with this plan. Basically what happened is that her dad had gotten mad at her for playing with our neighbors mailbox. She opened it and some of their mail fell out. He told her that tampering with other people's mail is a federal offense and she needed to go and pick it up. There was no screaming or tears. She simply went over, picked up their mail and headed back to the house. She was up in her room for a minute and just as I was wondering what she was up to, she came walking down the stairs with her purse, a rolling backpack and her My Twinn doll. When I asked her what she was doing, this was her response. "Mom, I don't know how to tell you this but I am running away from home. I am so mad at my dad. He hurt my feelings and I need to leave!" I was shocked but simply said, "Okay honey, I am sorry you feel that way. Your daddy wasn't trying to hurt your feelings and I know he loves you very much. But if you need to go, then I guess you need to go." I think she was surprised by my reaction. Zach was there but couldn't say anything because he was trying so hard not to laugh. We made sure she had a jacket and her favorite stuffed animal and we asked her how she was going to get to where she needed to go. She said she was going to take the bus. The bus doesn't actually come into our neighborhood but we humored her anyway. She knows she can't go past the corner stop sign so we wondered just how far she would go. Here are some pictures of her leaving. We had to get the camera for this one. It is a little bit blurry because it was taken through the window of our house.


Here is one of her looking back to see if anyone is watching her. Of course we were!


Here is one of her waiting for the bus. She never did pass the stop sign.


We gave her about 10 minutes and then Zach went out and got her. He told her he was sorry that her feelings had been hurt and that he loved her. She decided to come home. We are glad she did. We would have missed her terribly :-).

The Scarecrow Festival-Thanksgiving Point

We went with the LaFord family to the Scarecrow Festival last Saturday. Emily and Tyson have 3 adorable kids. Alex who is 7 and twin girls who turned 2 this past July, Avery and Kendall. Aspen is convinced that she and Alex are brother and sister. If you ask her if she has any siblings she will tell you she is getting a sister after Christmas and she has a brother named Alex. They honestly do act like brother and sister. Aspen also adores the twins and loves playing "big" sister to them! Here are some cute pictures from that day. We had such a fun time. The best part was watching Emily take both girls up the slide. By the time she reached the top, you can see a line forming behind her. It was priceless. Emily you are such a good sport and Tyson shame on you for not helping her up the slide. Just kidding, we all know how independent she is. She wouldn't have let you help if you tried.

Aspen and Kendall:


Tyson and Avery:


Aspen, Alex and some really tall guy:


A picture of Emily taking her girls up the slide. Notice the line forming after her... She is the person at the very top!

Halloween Festivities

Garden after Dark-Red Butte Gardens:

We try to make it to this event each year. It is so much fun. This year the theme was, "Once Upon a Time." The girls sang in a Shrek Karaoke, they made a seed packet, a witches hat and a monkey puppet. They traveled through a glow in the dark Gum Drop Alley and fell through the rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland. They also collected all their stamps from each station and received a prize at the end. No, it wasn't some random cheap toy, it was a tree for them to plant! As a parent, I thought that was a great idea. As a child, they probably wanted the cheap toy. All in all, it was blast.

KeLsie, Aspen and Cassidy doing Karaoke

Some Halloween Decorations and a not so scary spider.

My Niece KeLsie hanging out with a moose.

Catching Up!

It has been a long time since I blogged. It isn't that I don't want to blog or that I have nothing to blog about but more that I lack the motivation! So here is a quick catch up on our lives. Aspen has started 1st grade and loves it. She is learning so much and having fun at the same time. Her school is a bit on the extreme side but since she doesn't know any different, we don't tell her. With that said, it also demands a lot of our time so we are adjusting as well. Here is a picture from her first day. She is with one of her best friends, Alyssa.


Then about a month ago, Zach's aunt came to town to visit. Holly is absolutely amazing and we love spending time with her. Did I mention she is also beautiful. We were able to get together for dinner at Archibalds, we saw the witches at Gardner Village and went to Red Mango for Dessert. Then the next morning we met for Sunday Brunch at the Little America. It was fantastic! The weekend went by so quickly but we were thankful for the time we had with her. She reminds Aspen so much of her grandma Cam (well they are sisters) and Aspen just adores her. Thank you Holly for your visit and for spending time with us. We love you.






Aspen also started Ballet again. She had both Ballet and Gymnastics over the summer but we had to limit it to one extra curricular activity once school started. I think she would have chose gymnastics but we talked her into Ballet. Or rather the fact that her friend Cassidy would be in her class helped motivate her. She is at the Children's Ballet Theater and her teacher is amazing this year. It really is an adorable place. We love it there.


Zach took the day off a couple of weeks ago to go with Aspen on her field trip. They took the kids the the BYU Museum of Natural History and to Cabella's. The kids were studying natural animal habitats in class as well as the difference between Carnivore, Herbivores and Omnivores so these were the perfect places for them to visualize what they were learning. Here are a few pictures from that day. Zach still isn't convinced that 1st graders wouldn't have enjoyed a different kind of field trip but again, they don't know any different so why tell them :-). They had a blast.



I really do have more to tell you but the motivational thing is kicking in. I will post more soon.

Here and Gone!

With our summer slowly coming to an end (school started today) we are trying to fit in as much "fun" as we possibly can. Aspen and I have been spending a lot of time at the pool and this past weekend, we all took a trip up to Snowbird and bought "All Day Passes." Actually we purchased passes for Aspen and Zach and I just sat around and watched them have fun. Oh the joys of pregnancy :-). They did everything they could. They raced down the Alpine Slide numerous times. They jumped on the bungy trampolines. They climed the rockwall, rode the ZipRider and then finished the day off with an Arial Tram Ride. For those of you who haven't done this, I highly recommend it. It is so much fun. We usually do it at least once a year. Here are a few pics from our day.




This last picture is of Aspen coming down the Aerial Tram Ride. She was exhausted but I liked how you could see her reflection in the glass. So I added the picture :-).

It's Official

Aspen is finally going to be a big sister. We cheated and went to Fetal Studio's this past weekend. I am only 17 1/2 weeks but we found out we are having another girl! We are so excited. It was kind of a strange twist because we were all convinced we were having a boy. This pregnancy has been completely different from my last. The guy who did our ultra sound wasn't very convincing either. After numerous attempts and a fruit juice to get the baby moving, he decided it was a girl. He may very well be right. He would know better than we would right! Either way, we are excited for baby #2 and so is Aspen. She sings and talks to my belly every day. Now that I can feel the baby move, I can tell just how much she already loves Aspen. Whenever Aspen talks to her, she moves around like crazy. It is so sweet.

Here is a profile picture from our ultra sound.

A lot can happen in a month and a half!

I honestly don't know why I haven't kept up on my blog. But rather than sit and give you a bunch of lame excuses, I will simply add a few pictures and get us up to date.

In June Aspen had the opportunity to ride in the Lehi Stock Parade with her Grandma Laurie. Aspen has loved horses since she was a baby. Even her room is decorated with horses. So this was the perfect thing for her. An old frind of mine, Tom Lewis, or as I still like to call him "Tommy" let us borrow one of his horses. Thank you Tommy and Jen for letting us do this. You guys are great.


The other great thing about this parade is that my cute Grandparents were the Grand Marshalls. In order for them to be the Grand Marshall's, someone had to nominate them and "someone" did. They not only were the Grand Marshall's of this parade but they were the Marshall's of the entire Lehi Round Up Days. Even though it wore them out, they loved each and every minute of it.



I also had the opportunity to spend some time with and old friend of mine, Katie Terry. We have been friends since Jr. High. I knew that her little girl loves horses just as much as Aspen, so I called to see if they would like to come with us. Lucky for us, they did.


Also in June, Zach represented the Sheriff's Office at the Riverton Demolition Derby Tug O' War. Basically, they go up against the Riverton Fire Department. They have done this for the past two years and both years the Sheriff's Office has taken the title. Here is a picture of Zach. He is the third guy in. Look at those muscle's. Zach said his motivation came from not wanting his little girl to see him lose. You could hear her screaming over the hundreds of other spectators. She was so proud of her daddy and so was I!


In July, Aspen had the opportunity to be in another parade. This time is was with the Children's Ballet Theater. She takes dance there with her favorite friend Cassidy. Here is a picture of the two of them on that day.


The final post I will do is of us on a litte hike up Big Cottonwood Canyon. Aspen has loved this hike since she could walk and we do it at least once a year. Grandma Cam came with us this time and it was fun to have her: