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!