The land of the in between

This is a place I feel like we have been living for a while. We are undecided about the next move. Every plan depends on something, which then depends on something like test scores, which then depends on something like application timing, which then again depends on something annoying like financial status, which then again depends on interviews and who knows what else. When you are someone who has always had somewhat of a plan, this can drive you crazy! We feel like we have exciting plans in the future, but we just don't know exactly when and how they are all working out. So here we sit, in the land of the in between.
Today I found a little garage sale rocking chair, that I think I will love more after a paint job. I have a huge pile of wonderful things in my basement waiting for a paint job, and an actual home to be displayed in. I was cleaning during nap time this morning and realized for now, this pillow matches this chair perfectly. A young women's leader of mine made this pillow for me, I wonder if she knows how many times I have read the words, and they hit me like "why hasn't anyone reminded me of that lately??" It is only another quote by my favorite lady sister Hinckley.

"The trick is to enjoy life, don't wish away your days waiting for better ones ahead"

Truthfully, unless I think about all the headache we have solidifying a plan for the next year, life is not at all hard to enjoy. Mostly because I have good company. Cooper has found a pathway taking laps around the house. He starts in his bedroom by his crib, he walks around the whole room, opens the bottom drawer and throws everything out, and then heads into the bathroom. In the bathroom we purposely leave the shampoos and soap bottles on the outside rim of the tub with the lids closed. He walks along the tub and pushes every bottle in separately listening to the loud bang. He opens the bathroom cupboard under the sink a few times, not to touch anything inside, but just to open and slam it for a while. He then walks down the hall and into the kitchen where he opens the drawer under the stove and bangs a few pots and pans. He moves over to the tupperware drawer and follows the wall around the whole kitchen. He ends up in the living room where his toys are and if he is lucky there are a few treats at the end of his route and sits for a while and eats them before getting up again. The whole route can keep him busy for about 20-30 minutes. He can walk around the whole house a million times as long as he has something to hold onto, but he definitely is not brave enough to step out on his own. It cracks me up to watch him explore this little place time and time again.

We have had plenty to do to fill our time in this nice weather. My best bet for a happy boy is to keep him as busy as possible during the day.

He does this major cheesy smile all the sudden it's so funny. It's almost like he is making fun of the smiles I make at him.

This is the cutest picture of Cooper and Sophie. Little by little, they are actually starting to interact with each other and just yesterday at lunch Cooper reached for Sophie's hand and she reached back and thought it was the funniest thing. She used to not love it when he always wanted to touch her! They are so cute and surprisingly sometimes are starting to look a little bit a like on the right day at the right moment. Cooper gets the cutest look in his eyes when he sees Sophie and watches everything she does. I'm grateful we have had these years by Sophie, she will always have a special little place in my heart!

I love seeing Cooper start interacting with little people about his age. It is even more convenient when I love their moms so it is happiness for everyone all around. These are two of his little friends that he has started trying to interact with in the past few weeks. It's cute because Lincoln thinks that Cooper is such a little baby, and Cooper thinks that Dean is just such a little baby!

And just so I never forget..Cooper has finally been okay with sitting down by us for a minute, and he especially is learning to love books. Coming from a family of summertime bookworms every year, I am so happy that he actually acts like he cares about the books we have! His favorite book right now is "Time for Bed". We read it every night and he gets so excited to see the animals on every page. He also has been a little more cuddly then usual due to teething (but I'll take it!) and he finally will give kisses, which is the cutest thing! Shawn took these on mother's day he was so sweet that night before bed.

I suppose this is not a bad place to be living the in between life. I have never been so grateful for good friends and family who make my free time with Cooper so fun. Summer is my favorite time of year, I know I have said that about fall and I probably will say it again in September, but right now- I just want Summer! Here's to hoping that before the summer is over, we actually have a plan for a new chapter! Until then, we will be trusting my favorite lady, and thinking ONLY positive thoughts, in the land of the in between!

Hello, World.

This weekend should be all about my boy. No, not the boy I talk about in every single post, whose pee and spit up and sleeping patterns I want to share with the world. But, the other boy, the one who is responsible for creating team Allen in the first place. Only my best friend, my best example, my best half. This weekend he should put on his cap and gown, and march across a stadium with pride, looking handsome and becoming officially grown up. I have the ceremony pictured in my mind actually going very well. I would probably shed a tear when the first few notes of pomp and circumstance began, because that's what I do whenever I hear the first few notes of that song, even if I don't know a single soul in a cap and gown. Graduation is a tender subject for me.
Graduation brings change. I don't always love that about graduation, the way you feel the morning after, when life as you know it is all something new, and there is no classroom on your schedule that teaches you exactly where to go.

I am fairly positive my camera would be in the grad's face all day long, capturing every detail of the hat, the gown, the red and white field, the expressions on the accomplished face. I think I would sit in the sunlit stadium and reflect on our years as students. I am certain I would feel that no wife in the place could be quite as proud as I. I would feel privileged, that I am the one who gets to be the number one fan. What fond memories I have. Student memories, where what we do and how broke we are doesn't matter, because we are not really part of real life yet. An excuse to just let unsettled futures be okay, and be exciting. I will miss these days. For that reason I am grateful that one lingering summer class is still tying us to that "student" world for just a few short months. It is in those quick months we have to decide where a more grown up life will actually be taking us.

For a few reasons, my boy is not putting on his cap and gown this weekend. One being that he just doesn't care for stuff such as that. Another being that for him it would feel like a fake out, since he still has that lingering class. But that doesn't mean that this weekend is still not significant to me. As long as we have been married we have lived life this way, and I'm excited to see what life holds now that this phase is coming to a close. The butterflies are starting, because whether we are present in the crowds or not, Shawn's tassle is being moved over to the other side of his cap this weekend, and we have one foot out the door. This side of the cap means big adventures are right around the corner, we just don't know quite what they are yet. I will be playing the graduation scenario out in my mind this weekend, while we are holding hands and sipping a soda, or sitting by a campfire in the canyon-and I will be extra proud of my boy, whether he knows it or not.

I am grateful that he deserved his cap and gown this weekend, and that he would have worn it so well. Grateful knowing that he has worked himself ragged between full time school and full time work. Knowing that he is someone I admire, look up to, and am privileged to be next to day after day, just hoping his awesomeness rubs off on me. He will not appreciate this post when he sees it, but 20 years from now that will be different. Then he'll look back and he might be a tiny bit grateful to me, that I documented this monumental moment in some way. And at that point we will laugh at how little we knew on this carefree weekend, two twenty four year olds and a baby. And we will smile, that we knew nothing about our future and the gifts it holds that we have yet to discover..In that case-Hello, world. It's about time we get to come explore you in a whole new way.

Happy Weekend. It's Friday, every post sounds better on a Friday.

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!

Here comes the sun

We are so happy to have the sun back. I don't think I actually have seasonal depression but I have to say I naturally feel 100,000 times happier when I see the sun shining and hear a few birds chirping. We have taken full advantage. It was just in time for Shawn's spring break..it made last weekend just amazing.
Cooper has always been a lover of being outside. When he was a newborn he would fall asleep the second we took him outside. Last week he laughed every time we put our hand on the door knob and started shaking it. Here is just one big giant picture overload for anyone who cares. They prove that Cooper truly is a sun junkie like his mom. I just really had to take a million pictures of everything, because I'm the mom and I naturally love everything that goes on in Cooper's life. I think Utah and Idaho people get much more excited for the sun in the springtime then the average person, because we don't see the sun nearly enough.

We took a Sunday afternoon walk to Wasatch Hollow, complete with nap hair and we didn't even care.

Cooper loves Shawn right now and thinks he is just the funniest person in the world..unfortunately I have to make Cooper take his naps and not eat his favorite things which include the remote and toilet paper, so I believe that bumped me to second funniest.

It's hilarious that Cooper actually keeps these glasses on and just looks through them like he thinks they are awesome.

Just dreaming of being outside during lunchtime

We played a little tennis and Cooper actually just played in the corner as happy as can be..he is not usually that easily self entertained!

I bought this chair for Cooper for Easter but it was such a nice day I had to give in early. I set him on the steps and put his bottle in the cup holder. He was so content he watched cars go up and down our street for a good forty five minutes. It was funny because I couldn't get him to smile or change his expression at all he was so mellow! Every once in a while he would grab his bottle for a little sip, but other then that he did NOT move.

Utah summers are my favorite. Look at this gorgeous sunset. We went on a little drive and couldn't get over how lucky we are to be living somewhere with so much to explore within such a short distance of our house. We don't know how much longer we will be in Utah...so now I'm getting all sentimental and proclaiming my love for it! I hope we spend lots more time here in our future..

ps if anyone can tell me how to make these pictures on my blog bigger, so the full adorableness of cooper's face can be enjoyed I would really appreciate it!!

Feelin the Love

Last weekend the unheard of happened.
Shawn cut out early from work.

We took a little roadtrip up to Idaho. Remember those roadtrips I always proclaimed my love for on this blog? This was just like those good ol roadtrip days, only instead of having my head on my best friend's shoulder I was banging my head against the window from Coop screaming. just kidding. Coop was actually an angel-but I was in the back on book duty, giving treats, and giving him his frog foot to chew on.

Our destination-grandma's house to unload little Coop. We were heading out for date night in Idaho falls, complete with a swimming sleepover. Seriously!

Who knew little old Edwards theatre and little old Idaho Falls could put such butterflies of excitement in my stomach!! It felt like I was going to the ocean or something. Dinner and a movie haven't been a part of our social life since about seven months ago..not even once people! I pretended I was working a night shift, and I kissed my little Coop goodbye knowing he was in good hands at grandmas. We drove to Idaho Falls and it started raining on our way. The air smelled of delicious Idaho country-ness. We had a grand old time. I kept looking at Shawn thinking, it has been wayy too long my friend, since me and you hit the town. Although we see each other everyday there really is nothing like getting fancied up for a little one on one time. It's quite the thing, this thing called marriage that gives you a permanent BFF.

We ate some Mexican food, we went to the Vow, we got some milk shakes, and we did the last thing we felt like doing after all that food and we suited up for the pool. We laughed at things that weren't even funny, and we pretended we were back in Provo, just two little Allen kiddos going on a care free date with someone they love. It was one of my favorite nights we have probably ever had, mostly because I realized how much I had taken for granted the fun times we have together.

Until we got in the pool. I was in the hot tub trying to stay warm, and Shawn was having a few second of five year old time in the other pool before joining me. We were the only two in the whole place. We started discussing from one pool to the other about how much Coop would love to stick his fat little feet in this water. And that was it. The kiss of death, our bubble was popped. We tried to push that thought immediately away but it was too late. Our plan of sleeping in and enjoying every last moment of late checkout, ended up becoming a six am pillow chat about how fast we could get dressed, eat the free breakfast (couldn't miss that) and head home without feeling like crazy people walking through my mom's door. We were on the freeway headed home before 8.

Needless to say, we missed Coop more then he missed us. Lesson number one for the weekend-date nights with my boy are still the best, and somehow we need to make them happen more often. Lesson number two, bringing Coop in our bed at 6:30 and begging for just another five minutes of family cuddle time is tied or maybe one step ahead as the other best. Crazy how incomplete we feel without that little loud breather wiggling around in between us wherever we go. We all agreed when we got home, an early morning bed for three never felt so good. We speak for Coop here.

Our actual vday was low key. Shawn got home from his lab at eight. I spent the majority of my day reminding my other boy that despite what he thinks someday, I was his very first Valentine. HE thinks he is soo cool trying to walk himself along the couch.

I drilled it into his brain and gave him a valentine to show him when he is twenty. It was a simple day filled with the things I love. Good treats, Good people, Good tv and a warm blanket to cuddle with on the couch. Not quite up to par with my mom's valentines, but it's my first year as a valentine's mom, I have lots of years to learn!

Happy day of love from our little cozy home to your much more modern, built this century, bathroom counter big enough for your straightener home :)

p.s. we aren't the biggest vday gift people, but I did finish my wedding book online after only about three years of working on it..and Shawn gave me a pretty little necklace with a C engraved in it. Bet you can't guess what the C is for!