Sunday Afternoon

I have fallen very slowly in love with living so close to a big city. I never thought I would say that. Although nothing is better to me then the view of wide open fields in Idaho-especially in the fall- the view on a night shift out Primary Children's large windows has started to compare. At 2 am on the 4th floor of the hospital, the city lights are pretty awesome. Let me say, I still sometimes get a certain feeling like a knot in my stomach on a Sunday afternoon and I just want so much to be home in Idaho-laying on my mom's back patio not hearing a single sound, or driving up to my grandpa's farm. I miss just the pure 100% quiet. Yesterday Shawn gave me and Cooper one hour of his time away from studying for finals. We ended up in Millcreek canyon, not a soul in sight. It was gorgeous. It was ALMOST as beautiful and peaceful as the campsites by my grandparents-those are big shoes to fill..

Cooper loves being outside and we might have gone over our one hour limit but we had such a fun time. Shawn got his extra energy out from studying by trying to cross the river skipping from rock to rock, and hiking some of the hills that were too steep to carry a baby up. We were all successfully worn our when we got home.

Shawn eventually went back to his books. I put Cooper in his pj's and we sat by a fire in the backyard with our neighbors. Cooper was in a daze staring at the fire and rocking in an old wooden rocking chair. The stars were bright last night and the weather was hanging at that rare perfect balance between too hot and too cold. Cooper fell asleep and I went back out to chat until way past my bedtime. Something about campfires always sparks good conversation. When we woke up this morning I could smell the scent of campfire on my sweatshirt and in Cooper's hair, I love that smell. This is the first of many campfire mornings for Cooper this summer. I realized this morning that there are so many beautiful places to find wherever life takes us in the next ten years. Despite my prior beliefs, beauty is not only found in the country of Idaho and on my grandparent's farm. Although, to me that might always be my favorite place of beauty. I suppose wherever we go, we just need to get off our little bums and go discover the secret beauty of where we are at that moment. I have to say I'm getting excited.

Speaking of getting off our bums, this little boy will not crawl-but he will walk all over the house with this little walker. He goes from one piece of furniture to the next about 50 times a day. He will not sit to play with his toys he has to have them up on all the couches. My favorite is that if I put goldfish in the bottom of that walker he will take a break from his wanderings and bend down and grab a fish or two. It is so funny to watch him try to balance, it takes forever but to him one little goldfish is worth it. His favorite thing is to walk over to the shoe holder and pull out every shoe, and then put them back in and do it all again! He has been getting so tired at the end of the day, wait he is not the only one, we ALL have been exhausted, but time sure flies when we are being so entertained. I am loving this stage that Cooper, it's so fun to see his personality more and more all the time!

Dinner time

Thanks to this weather we have already had some lovely dinners in the front yard this year and it's only April. This is the direct result of garage sale kitchen chairs which don't provide enough room for our legs to fit under our table. They sure are cute pushed in though if that counts! As fun as eating sideways at the table is, laying on a blanket outside with a front row view of the sunset is a little bit more fun. Especially with a happy boy, who wraps his chubby arms around our necks, and another happy boy who is almost done with yet another semester. What a beautiful night.

Little bit of Spingtime

I am just a little behind with my attempts to keep up on this thing. I really want to because I am just getting ready to order my blog book and I don't want anything left out! But at the same time, the sunshine has been pouring in through the windows and it's so hard to sit down and take the time to catch up. Here goes.. This past weekend we went to St George. It was such a nice time to get away. Shawn is just starting finals and MCAT studying once again, so we were ready to enjoy our last few days by the pool and with Shawn's parents. Shawn's parents are so good to us. They spoil us every time we are together. We love their company, and we learn a lot from their examples. They have been married 30 years this year, which is pretty darn impressive, especially these days! We love having sleepovers with them and forcing the two Shawn's to play Rook at any hour of the night. We went shopping, went to the pool, ate delicious food and even played a little Rook as usual. The boys went golfing which will keep Shawn happy for at least another month. I feel blessed to have in-laws that I can share a small hotel room with, or live with for three months, or share a tiny cruise cabin with for 7 nights and still wake up loving them only more then I did before. I did not do a good job of taking pictures, but I did get some of Cooper's first trip to the pool. He seriously was in Heaven. After Shawn's parents started heading back we took Cooper back to the pool one last time. He was exhausted from the busy weekend but he was so happy in the water-he was in the pool for probably a good hour and he would have stayed much longer if we had let him. Everything has proven to be more fun with Mr. Coop around.

We drove home that night when Cooper was asleep. It was just Shawn and I catching up on our chit chat while we watched a southern Utah sunset out the window. We felt exhausted and a little sunburned, but very satisfied. Like I have said before-Cooper pretty much thinks Shawn is the greatest, the head honcho, the main man, etc etc. This was a picture I couldn't resist. Shawn insisted on buying this jersey for Cooper for Easter, and he insisted that he wore it to the pool. They both looked pretty adorable I do have to say-just hangin out poolside, sharing some team Allen pride.

Check out that cute little shadow.

This is Cooper's new favorite face to make when he is focusing on anything, he drops his mouth open and just stares. Yesterday before church he was intrigued by my camera.

This is a little family picture at Easter, we went to Idaho and we had a great time celebrating with my family. We also were lucky to be there for Cooper's little cousin Dylan's baby blessing. Can't wait for Cooper and Dylan to run all over their grandpa's farm together. Hopefully someday more pictures to come..

Life definitely seems like it keeps us too busy! We still don't know where in the world we will be at the end of the Summer, which can very easily stress a girl out. But I have to be honest, behind the stress there is a definite sense of excitement for changes to come. Happy happy Springtime!