Douglas Family Reunion

This year, we had the 3rd Annual Douglas Family Reunion up at the campgrounds in Mantua, Utah. It is open to the public and "first come first serve" basis. We went up on Thursday and mom and dad saved a big spot for everyone. We ended up borrowing Steph and Paul's big trailer, so mom and dad were able to stay in ours. We camped till Sunday afternoon.

It was really beautiful up there, but there was not much shade. It would be extremely hot during the day and cold at night as soon as the sun disappeared behind the mountains. The kids spent some of their time going on hikes up the nearby trail. That was nice because it was all shaded and safe for the kids. Plus, it was great and needed exercise for me!

I ended up spending quite a bit of time in the trailer with Clayton. He had a great time if he could crawl around in the trailer, and not be outside in the heat. He also enjoyed going on a small 4-wheeler ride with grandpa.
The food was great, like normal. Thanks goes out to Dad and Bryce for doing most of the cooking. We had cowboy beans, bbq chicken, dutch oven potatoes and rolls, burgers, omelettes and the ever famous scones and Carrie's awesome salsa. We spent one of the days down at Hyrum Dam and the kids had a great time swimming in the Lake. There wasn't much beach, so we all sat up on the grassy hill. Cooper had a fun time playing in the water with his cousins!One of my most favorite parts of the weekend, was spending one of the nights around the campfire with all the siblings. We stayed up talking till about 1 and it was nice just to relax and visit with each other. I think overall, everyone had a great time. I do have to admit that it takes alot of work to go camping. I think it took us 3 hours to clean everything up and head out.We are looking forward to next years reunion that will hopefully be held up Blacksmith Fork Canyon! We hope that more of the family will be able to make it to next years.

Father's Day

On Father's Day morning, we got up and made some omelettes (Bryce's favorite breakfast food) out of my Thrive Food. Bryce said they were very good. We also got Bryce this shirt. As you can see, he looks very handsome in it. The colors are great and they look good on him.

We drove up to Cache Valley that day so we could visit with Bryce's parents for a couple of hours and then we were off to Wellsville to have a dinner with all the "Coopers" down at the damn.
The food was awesome and it was fun to be able to visit with everyone. Kylee (my neice) spent alot of time with Cooper and they walked all the way around the pond. Cooper was in heaven and I thought that was nice of Kylee to do that with him. Everyone took turns holding Clayton, which was nice for me to have a little break. I always enjoy these special holidays that we have to get together as a family and enjoy each other's company.

I am thankful to all of the wonderful "fathers" in my life. I am blessed to have an earthly father that is such a good example to me and my family and we can turn to him for anything. I am thankful for a father in law that treats me like I am one of his daughters and I know that he loves me alot. I am thankful for my grandpa Cooper, for the wonderful patriarch he is for our family, for the loving and kind man that he is. And I am truly grateful for my Heavenly Father, and for all the beautiful blessings He has given me!

Brotherly Love

It has been so much fun to watch Cooper finally interact with and love Clayton. Until just recently, he hasn't paid much attention to Clayton. They now do more things together. Clayton will crawl towards Cooper if he is in the room.

They have also started taking baths together and Clayton thinks its awesome to lean up on Cooper. Cooper fills the bath pretty full, so I have to sit there with an arm holding on to Clayton or he will tip right over! He loves to splash Cooper and play with all of his "bath toys."
Almost every night I overhear Cooper asking Heavenly Father to please bless Clayton that "he can be a big boy like me." Clayton and I love to go wake Cooper up in the morning. Clayton gets really excited when he realizes Cooper is under the covers!

The other day, Clayton was not very happy and so Cooper decided to read him a book. As you can see, Cooper was trying his best, but Clayton was not cooperating very well.

Clayton wanted to touch the book and lay on the book and poor Cooper patiently sat there and tried to keep showing him the pictures.Finally I put Clayton in Cooper's lap and it worked a little bit better. I thought that was very thoughtful of Cooper. He knows how much Clayton loves books and he was being an awesome big brother!

Sink or Swim

The last two weeks in June, Cooper took private swimming lessons. There were 8 kids in his class and he had a fun time. He seems to be more comfortable in the water now, especially dipping his head under the water.

He does a great job of floating on his back and holding his breath in the water. In fact, he could hold his breath the longest of all the kids. At first he wanted to plug his nose with his hand, but the teacher started pulling his hand off his nose and he learned real quickly to hold his breath without using his hands!

He has a harder time of actually swimming on his stomach, but he will get better as we spend more time in the water. The kids all had a great time, even though it was hard at times for them to listen and focus on the teacher.

We will definately do swimming lessons again next year! The price was reasonable and it gave us something to do for a few weeks.

9 Months Old

Clayton just turned 9 months old and it is crazy because it seems like he just came into the world yesterday! He is such a fun little guy, though completely opposite of "baby" Cooper.

We took Clayton to the doctor last week for his check-up and he was healthy as could be and doing great. That night, he came down with a very bad cold, running nose, croupy cough and watery eyes and is still sick today. Other than that, Clayton has been good. He weighs in at 20.6 pounds(50%) and is 30 inches long(95%). His head was over 100% so they want me to bring him back in six weeks to measure his head again to make sure everything is OK.
Clayton is currently drinking about 6 bottles a day...3 formula and 3 juice. He loves any kind of food. He really enjoys fruit like bottled pears and peaches, blueberries, and freeze dried strawberries. He loves dinner time when he sits next to me in his high chair, props his feet up, sits back, and I stuff food in his mouth. Clayton does not have any teeth yet, but they seem to bother him all the time. Every one always ask me if he is teething. I say, "Yes, he has been teething for the last 9 months." It is cute to watch him gum his food though. Clayton is starting to pull himself up into kneeling or standing position and he is getting better at crawling. Every since we got back from Texas, he seems to stay right by my side and mostly wants me to hold him. But he is playing with his toys more and more each day.
Clayton loves to help me wake up Cooper in the morning. I will sit him right next to Cooper and he will rub Cooper's head and then he will smile when Cooper wakes up. It's very cute and he just adores Cooper. Right now, Clayton's term of endearment is head butting. He will lower his head into yours and its pretty cute unless he hits you hard.

I love to Read

The last three weeks I have been able to read three different books. It seems like reading comes and goes. Life gets really busy and other things seem to creep into life and take up my time and suddenly I stop reading. Then, out of the blue, someone will suggest a good book and if I make the time, I begin to read again and I remember how much I love it and how I should fit it into my schedule every day.

While in Texas, I was able to read "The Hunger Games". I thought it was pretty good and there are two more in the series. It is basically about 12 districts within what used to be the US and they are controlled by a demanding and heartless government. Each district has a boy and girl that represent them in the "Hunger Games." Basically, they put the kids in a huge arena or location and the last kid alive, wins food for their starving district. It sounds crazy, but it is actually entertaining.

For some time now, I have been wanting to read the "Lone Survivor" by Marcus Lutrell. While in Texas, Shayne and Jen loaned it to me to read. This book is based on a true story that happened just a few years ago. Four Navy SEAL's were on a very dangerous mission up in the mountains of Hindu Kush, Afghanistan. It is a story about their bravery, committment to each other and to their country, and how he was the only survivor of that mission. He swears alot in the book, but that was kind of expected. He talks about God, his country, his life-long friends that he lost and about how the liberals and the media put the military in a predicament with their riduculous "rules of engagement" and their lying and deceitfulness. It is definately a book that I would recommend you read. Makes you appreciate the military more!

I also just finished "Broken Things to Mend" by Jeffrey R. Holland. What a great book! Full of inspiring messages about the gospel of Jesus Christ. The book is easy to read and also easy to understand.

I like this part of the book and it applies to us today. .. if only we had a president that believed in God and offered up prayers unto Him like our forefathers:

"Lincoln asked his fellow citizens to pray earnestly to the Almighty God and "to implore Him, as the Supreme Ruler of the World, not to destroy us as a people, nor suffer us to be destroyed by the hostility or connivance of other Nations, or by obstinated adhesion to our own counsels, which may be in conflict with His eternal pruposes, and to implore Him to enlighten the mind of the Nation to know and do His will; humbly believing that it is in accordance with His will that our place should be maintained as a united people among family of nations."

Spending Time with Sean and Kellye

With Tyler being gone on his mission, the kids aren't quite sure what to do when they get to Grandma and Grandpa's. They know that something is missing. Well, I don't know if Cooper ever felt that way, but lucky for him, Sean arrived and spent lots of time with Cooper.
They spent alot of time in the hot tub out in mom and dad's backyard. It was neat to watch Cooper adore his uncle Sean. Sean also helped Cooper and Annika build a fort in our room and he played "knights and princesses" with them. Kellye and Sean both read books to Clayton and he loved it. If he was fussy, they would sit down and read to him. It would calm him right down. Sean and Sherrie couldn't believe his red hair.

One night, Sean and Kellye rented "Tooth Fairy" and watched it with the kids. They had a good time snuggled up on the couch. I love watching my kids interact with their aunts and uncles. It means alot to me that they could spend this precious time with them and get to know them better.

Summer Fun

My mom teaches school at a Private School called St. Thomas Early Learning Center. She has been there for 14 years. Every summer, they have a camp called Summer Fun. The camp lasts a week and the kids go and do crafts, make food, and play in the water. My mom was in charge of it this year, which made her extremely busy. Mom is so good with children. Every morning I would drop Cooper off and go in for a few minutes to see what they were doing that day. I am amazed as I watch my mom with those little kids. She is so patient with each one and she genuinely cares about them. I kept thinking, "those kids are so blessed to have her as their teacher." Cooper enjoyed painting pictures, making the different crafts, and playing with his new buddy, Carter. He also had a good time out on the playground riding on the big tricycles and playing in the water, sandbox, and shaving cream.

Thanks mom for having Cooper come spend that time with you at Summer Fun. He had a great time and I appreciate all you do for us.

Turner Falls

We went to Turner Falls, which is located in Oklahoma, just an hour and a half north of Roanoke. We had a great time hiking, looking at the old castles, playing in the river, and watching the kids enjoy the waterfall and beach sand. Cooper had a blast and I loved watching him smile as he ran through the water. The water was pretty cold, but it didn't slow Cooper down. He even jumped into a little swimming hole and waded out in the water up to his chest. At one point, he tripped and went down into the water. When he came up, he started crying, and said, "mom, I drowned for a little bit." Uncle Shayne took him across the little lake and Cooper thought that was neat. Sherrie had a killer headache but still managed to help me with Clayton. Clayton wasn't quite sure about the water. He would stand in it but didn't want to sit in it.
We sat on the side of the river in the shade while the kids played in the water. Cooper thought it was neat to float down the river in a little tube. He did it over and over again!
The river was perfect because it wasn't too deep and the kids could run and play in it with out us being right by their side. Turner Falls is a place that I would definately like to go to again. Thanks Shayne and Jen for suggesting the idea.

Happy Birthday Shayne

I was able to go to dinner with Shayne and Jen to celebrate Shayne's Birthday. We went to eat at good restaraunt called BJ's. It was nice to be able to spend time with them. After we discussed Shayne and Bryce's work, we figured out that we have both been praying for jobs to increase, which means that we have been praying for more floods and more foreclosures. So sad!! I haven't been with Shayne on his birthday in years, so it was really good to be there. Shayne has so many good qualities and I admire him so much. He is a great dad and husband. I am so impressed by the way he treats his children and his wonderful wife. He is a hard worker and a good example to me!