How to Steal a Toy

The Pleasures of Owning a Home

I'm sure many of you got hit as hard as we did the last couple of nights with rain and wind. Tuesday night I came home from Mutual (it was pouring!) to find that we had a leak in our roof that was dripping through to our bedroom. This is the second leak we've found this Summer. Cody went up and tarred the roof Wednesday afternoon, but it began leaking again last night. Because of the placement of the leak (right along a beam) we're not quite sure where the water is coming through. With all the wind we got last night, one of our trees in the back began to tip over. Cody went out in his swimsuit during the worst part of the storm to try and tie it up so it didn't break the roots, but with all the rain the ground was so soft that the stake kept pulling out. So after giving up on that and placing a towel on the floor in our bedroom to catch the water, we decided it was time to read scriptures and go to bed. In the middle of reading, the power flickered off, turned back on, then went out again. Cody and I got the flashlights, finished reading the chapter, then decided to get ready for bed. Without fans and ac (our ac was already set at 82 degrees) the house began to heat up. After 15 minutes we gave in and drove to Cody's parents house to sleep. When we came back this morning we found out the power had turned back on around 2:30am. I'm glad we didn't try to stick it out at home. On top of all that, our water softener began to fill with water a month or so ago. We called a plumber friend of ours who said we needed to special order a part. $40 for the part and $115 for labor later, we found out that the circuit board in the water softener rusted out when it filled with water. Ugh!

So, with all that I'm saying, isn't it lovely to own your own home?

We need a new roof and a new water softener. Too bad we don't have a money tree (granted, it probably would've blown over in the wind yesterday too)!

Cooper's Many Faces

click here to get the fonts used in this page

My 1st digital scrapbooking page...

click here to see where I got my paper & embellishments

Mom, don't read...or at least don't tell Dad!

Last night Cody, Cooper & I went to my parent's house for dinner. My Mom and Dad were actually in Utah so we went to make dinner with Chad and Ben. It was going to be a hodgepodge kind of meal since none of us really planned for it: steak (3 huge ones), scalloped potatoes, and green beans. The potatoes were in the oven, the grill was heated, and the steaks were spiced and ready to go. Cody and I went out back to put our steak on the grill when we realized that the grill wasn't heating up. We checked everything- the connection, the gas tank, the switches, but it wouldn't light and we couldn't hear or smell any gas coming out. So, we decided to go to plan b. Chad looked up on the Internet how to cook steaks inside and we found a site that told us how to cook them in a pan on the stove. It said it would cause a little bit of smoke. Do you sense what happened next? Yep, Cody and I put our steak on and it began to instantly smoke up the house. We opened all the windows and doors and even grabbed fans to help fan the smoke out. After trying this for about 10 minutes we finally called it quit because the smoke was everywhere. Cooper was having a fit (because of the smoke, we think) so I had to take him to the other side of the house. We all tried the steak and it had a distinct burned taste to it-definitely not worth it. So, the point of this blog is to let all of you know that cooking steaks on the stove causes a ton of smoke and doesn't taste good. Mom, if you read this, don't tell Dad...he'll have a fit about all the smoke in the house.

Teeth...already?

Last night Cody, Cooper, and I came home from the Riding’s house and were just sitting around. Cooper pulled my finger into his mouth and was biting on it when I realized that something was a bit sharp. Lo and behold, Cooper has gotten his first tooth! It is a bottom tooth and has just broken through the gums. I can’t believe he’s already getting teeth!

Is it usual to be getting teeth at 5 months?

(I tried to get a picture of it...but you try and hold a 5 month old down to get a picture of their mouth...it doesn't work!)

"Oh Baby!"

Congratuations goes to my sister Anna and her husband Lincoln who are FINALLY pregnant! They have been married for 6 1/2 years and trying to get pregnant for 3 of those years. After a little help from a fertility clinic, they are expecting and due February 9th! Yeah!

(Sorry about the picture- it's over 2 years old- but I don't have any others)

Laughing Baby

This video is actually from a few weeks ago. We were at my parents house for Sunday night dinner and Cooper was getting fussy. I was trying to amuse him with a paper plate and for some reason I decided to bop him on the head with it. By the time we got the camera out and recording his best laughs were gone, but this is still pretty funny.