My Two Angels

Yesterday, we went up to Logan to have my sister, Jocelynn take pictures of Cooper, Clayton, and Landon. It was a perfect day for pictures and Jocelynn took some really good shots. I wanted to get some 1 year old pictures of Clayton and then get some of Cooper instead of school pictures.

Well, I took Clayton in for his one year check up. He weighed just under 21 pounds (20%), measured in at 30.5 inches long (75%) and his head measured at 90%.
Along with turning one comes lots of shots. Clayton had to get 5 shots in his poor little legs. Cooper and I also got a flu shot so we wouldn't feel left out! Cooper absolutely loved his shot...NOT! He cried harder than Clayton, but they were both instantly healed as soon as the nurse brought out the suckers!
Cooper seems to be enjoying school so far, except for getting up early. He really likes his teacher and he has lots of friends in his class. He brought home a book the other day about Color Crazy Creatures and sang me a song about every single color. It was very cute.
Cooper's favorite thing about school thus far, is that he got to go to the library and check out a book. I love to see the excitement on his face when he shows me a new book each week that he has picked out.
I love my boys so much and I am so blessed to be their mom. They teach me so much every single day and I just love spending time with them. I am thankful the Cooper is really starting to pay attention and play with Clayton. I love to see the love they have for each other.

Look Who's One

Yesterday, our 2nd little miracle turned one year old. It has gone by so quickly and its crazy to think that we have had him in our home and family for a whole year. Part of me still feels like it was yesterday when we were going through all the tests, shots, and ultrasounds to help bring him here!

Yesterday, we had a little celebration for Clayton. We had the Gabrish's over for burgers and hotdogs. We let Clayton open a few presents and then dive into his cake. I made the cake out of the rock candies. It was alot of fun. Clayton helped me lick off the decorating utensil after I frosted his cake.

I also took Clatyon on a walk yesterday morning because he loves walks. Bryce brought him home some french fries and he devoured those quickly!
Some of the things that Clayton does right now are:

a) crawls around like a mad man with his head down and shaking it back and forth

b) he loves to play in Cooper's room with all of his toys AS LONG as someone else is in the room with him....if we leave the room, he will crawl out to find us..he does not like being alone....he is at my side all day long....so much fun!
c) he absolutely loves real milk....complete opposite of Cooper...he just downs the bottles of milk and I love that we don't have to buy formula anymore...saves about $40 a month.
d) he loves to dance... I like to dance, so I always dance with Clayton when the music is on....he figured it out and if I am holding him, he will lean down and grab my thumb...as we start to dance, he will start to sing...very very endearing.

e) he just started making car, truck, and motorcycle sounds when he plays with his toys

f) he has mastered the stairs quite a while ago...he loves to go up and down

g) he loves his brother so much....when Cooper goes to school in the morning, Clayton will look around the house for him...he finds lots of joy in tackling Cooper when he is laying in his bed or on the floor

h) I know I've said it a million times, but he LOVES rocks!

In this picture, he was not happy because he ran out of the rocks to eat...as soon as I put some more in front of him, he was happy as could be!

Last Campout of the Year

This past Friday we were going to go camping with Jacqui and Jared. Bryce worked real hard to fix our trailer earlier in the week and we had everything ready to go...the last thing we needed to do was load our trailer and put it down. Well, the trailer wouldn't go down, so we bagged it and just did everything but sleep in our trailer.

It actually ended up being a lot of fun and I am glad we didn't have to freeze in our trailer at night. We went camping up to Mantua and while it was a bit cold, we enjoyed being in the outdoors and the kids had a blast.
The kids had a great time playing on the hill behind our camping spot. It is really steep and they spent most of their time sliding down on their bums and even Landon tried it out...but he only tried it once! We ate hamburgers and chips for lunch and then decided to have smores before the sun went down. Later that night, we played games in the trailer while the kids colored and played with their light sabers.
Clayton had a fun time crawling around on Jacqui's mat and trying to eat anything he could find on the ground....including rocks. He played with the dogs food, tried to knock the food off our table and of course, loved eating dinner with us. He and Cooper were so exhausted when we headed home that night. They fell asleep in the car and slept peacefully through the night, so they would be ready for another adventurous day!
On Saturday morning, we came back to camp at 9 and Jacqui had fixed a tasty "mountain man" breakfast in the dutch oven. It was freezing cold that morning because the wind was blowing hard. Bryce had the boys help him find firewood and drag it over to our camp. Then he acted like "Tim the toolman Taylor" and used his new chain saw. I had to tease him about it, but he actually provided lots of nice firewood for us!
At eleven, we took off on our 4 wheelers to Inspiration Point. It took us about an hour to get there but it was so beautiful along the way. Bryce took Cooper behind him and I had Landon behind me. We switched on the way back and Landon ended up falling asleep in Bryces arms.
Later that afternoon, Jacqu and Jared taught Reese and Jaxson how to ride their dirt bike. It was crazy to see these little ones be able to control the dirt bike. For the most part, they did a good job. Cooper decided that he wanted to drive the 4 wheeler by himself so we took turns riding with him as he drove us around the gravel pit.
It was fun to teach him how to be careful and responsible when he is driving a 4 wheeler. I thought he did a great job and he was very cautious (like his mom) and smart while driving around. He thought he was so big and he kept saying, "Aren't you proud of me, mom?"
Clayton had a fun time exploring everything while we were camping. He enjoyed watching the fire for a few seconds. He loved to crawl around in the dirt and rocks. I bet he spent a good two hours out in the gravel pit picking up rocks. He was very content and happy to just stay their and play.
He was having so much fun that he would not go down for a nap. Finally, around 4, Bryce decided to take him on a short bike ride and he crashed out. I guess there is something about the hum and bumping of a ATV that babies love! Either that, or Bryce has a way of putting people to sleep!We ate walking tacos on Saturday night along with corn on the cob. We let the kids play for a little longer while we packed things up. It was so much fun to be outside and enjoy the Fall weather that is starting to set in. But, once again, my favorite part of it all was watching my kids have fun and to see the smiles on their faces...nothing will ever beat that in my book!

Clayton

We went camping this weekend and when I put Clayton in jeans and a long sleeve shirt, I thought he looked so adorable so we ventured outside to snap some pictures of him. He is getting so big and he is so much fun right now. Clatyon loves rocks, whether he is crawling around on them, holding them, or putting them in his mouth. Rocks are his favorite toy!

Clayton got his first tooth on August 2 and then his second tooth just came in on Sept 9. Although he doesn't have many teeth, that doesnt' slow down his eating or appetite. Clayton loves all fruits and most veggies. His most favorite fruit is strawberries and he recently loves corn. He is just a ball of energy all the time!

Bryce's Trip to D.C.

Hello everybody! This is actually Bryce writing on Jenn's blog. While Jenn was on her exciting trip to Moab, I was on a work trip to Washington D.C. I went out there with Alpine's operations manager, Bart Caley. The trip was originally supposed to be to Nashville, Tenn. Unfortunately, this summer there was major flooding that took place in Nashville, so the trip was moved. I've always wanted to go to our nation's capitol, so I was excited for the opportunity to go. We met with a company that supplies our jobs to us. They are nationwide, so there was people from about one thousand other companies there as well. It was a big group. As far as the meetings and trainings went, it was just okay. The highlight from the convention was the key note speaker. Her name is, Lisa Ford. She spoke on giving better customer service. She based her lecture on a study that came out of Texas A&M's marketing school. Yes I gave a WHOOP for all you Aggies out there when she mentioned A&M. She did an excellent job and is a very charismatic speaker. If any of you ever have the opportunity to hear her, it is well worth the time. Bart and I were able to do a little bit of sight seeing while we were there. The classes and meetings would end between six and seven, so then we'd head out to see the town. It was great to be able to head down to the "mall" and see the Washington monument, Lincoln Memorial, and to see the Korean War Memorial. That night we decided to look up restaurants from the show, "Diners, Dives, and Drive-ins." We ended up at a little hamburger joint in Georgetown. The history of the building was pretty cool, but the food was just okay. I noticed a few things as we made our little excursions around Alexandria, D.C. and Georgetown. The food there is expensive. Plan on paying a little bit more than you're used to if you plan on dining. The second thing is that finding a parking spot is a pain in the rear. We probably walked an average of a half mile to any of the restaurants we ate at. There just isn't a lot of places to park a car or the spots are full! The last thing is the real estate prices are crazy out there! If you want to buy a place, you'd better have a big wad of cash with you.

The last day we were there, we ended up doing some souvenir shopping between our last class and when we had to be to the airport. We were in the old part of Alexandria and decided to grab a bite at a little sea food place. We went in and the food was good, but the surprising part was that the prices were reasonable! While we were waiting for our food we found out that the building we were eating in was believed to have been built in the late 1700's or early 1800's. That kind of blew my mind. Utah wasn't even settled for another fifty years after that and about the only buildings that are still around that are old like that are the temples. It was just a little trippy to think about the age and history that is on the east side of our country, while the west is still fairly young in its history.
We finished up our lunch and stopped by Arlington Cemetery. It was a humbling opportunity to walk through the graves of all those men and women who have laid down there lives, or served in the defense of our country. As I walked through it, the saying on the wall of the Korean war memorial rang out so true to me "Freedom is not Free". We were lucky in our timing there and were able to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I am very grateful for the country we live in and the sacrifices that have been made to give us the opportunities and the freedoms that we have. We need to do all we can to protect those freedoms. If we let them slip away or allow others to take them from us, then the sacrifice of all will have been for nothing. We need to keep God in our lives and He in turn will keep freedom and the blessings of freedom in ours.

Back to School

Cooper just started kindergarten this past Wednesday. He goes in the morning from 8:25-11:10. His teachers name is Ms. Clark and she seems to be really nice. She is a little bit older, but Cooper likes her alot. The first day of school was typical for Cooper. I was really worried about him having a hard time getting up in the morning since he sleeps till 9 or 10 everyday.
But, I should have known better because in Cooper has always been ready for his "big events" in life...ie. getting off the bottle, potty training, sleeping in a big bed...the list could go on and on!
Anyway, Cooper got up 5 minutes before my alarm went off...came and layed in bed with me..and then got dressed for school. He was so excited for his first day and he looked so cute. It also brought back lots of memories for myself. I can look back at some of our "hatch" pictures and could tell you which ones are from the "first day of school."
I also have memories from kindergarten so this seems to be when the memories really start for some people. We went to his school, Freedom Elementary, parked the car and took him into his class. He hung up his backpack and went and found his name on his table. He was so excited and there were so many parents in the room that my emotions quickly came and left within a matter of seconds. We are happy for him and the way that he is learning and growing. It is crazy to think that we have a kid in school now, but it is a good step for all of us.