Derek and Kacie Flake

Here comes Peter Cotton Tail

2011-04-16T14:20:00.001-07:00

After the trip to Cali I picked up Cooper and spend a night with my parents who were staying at the Scottsdale Princess for a conference. Cooper loved roaming around finding Tennis balls lost from the court under bushes and loved chasing the bunnies that are ALL over the property.

Grampy joined us for a walk after one of his meetings

We LOVE visiting the valley in the Spring!

First Annual Girl's Trip!

2011-04-14T13:33:00.002-07:00

In March Kelly contributed part of her time share to a girls trip for us three girls.

We went to Palm Springs, Cali which I had been to once before while I was pregnant with Cooper. I was really excited for the trip and only half excited for the destination since I didn't remember there being that much to do. Well was I WRONG! We LOVED it, and have decided to make this an annual girls trip. I would even love it we went back to Palm Springs every year!

It's the perfect location because the weather was great, the drive is easy but we don't really go there for anything else, which makes it special.

We drove my van there on Thursday and got there in time to eat dinner. We checked into the awesome hotel that Kelly got us then ordered pizza and salad from the pool side bar area. The pizza was incredible. We ate it up in our room while playing a rousing game of Beanboozled. (my name for Bohnanza)

The next morning we woke up and hit the streets for some tropical garage sale-ing. This was so much fun to me because we got to really explore the area, chat it up with the locals, and score some fun souvenirs. I just LOVE that I have a mom and sister who feel the same way! I came home with some great finds.

By the time we were done we were starving for lunch and aimlessly drove around looking for a GOOD place to eat. Now, when I travel, I want to eat fabulous food and try new things. Well, I had googled all about the best places to eat in Palm Springs so I could recognize the names, but didn't know how to get to any of them. So we drove around until we spotted a sign for Cheeky's, which was on my list. We had to wait for about 30 or 40 minutes which was how long it took me to agonize over what I should order. I asked every person in line what they recommend and they all came back with the same answer, that everything was incredible. We decided to each order something and split it three ways, which we ended up doing for the rest of the meals on the trip. Some pesto fries, salmon, a fabulous sandwich and a chicken salad later

we were stuffed and ready to walk up and down the street which was lined with fancy shmancy interior decorating shops. My favorite one featured "Juan Antonio" who was like a palm reader for interior design who incredibly accurately described exactly who I am based on the things I had commented on liking in the store. He was wearing loud argyle pants and a electric blue shirt. Loved it.

We also ambled through a fabulous art fair set up in a park where we chatted forever with a purse-selling lady who happens to be from Scottsdale. My next diaper bag has GOT to be from her, I loved them. Across the street is where I tried my first macaroon, which was the ONE thing I was determined to do while I was in Palm Springs. I found it to be sweeter than I had imagined but quite good. We also had Tahitian Vanilla Gellato from the same place that I will someday own a swimming pool full of if I happen to meet a genie.

Saturday we went to Cabazon Outlets which I am sorry to say have lost their luster. The Crate and Barrel outlet is gone, along with many of my other favorite. We did make out like bandits with some great deals stacked with coupons from Harry and David though! We also made a stop at Hadley's where I confirmed my belief that it can't hold a candle to Sheilds date farm, where I am determined to watch the entire movie about the process of date farming someday.

So on the way home from Cabazon my mom declares that she wants to eat something REALLY GOOD. We stop by the In-n-out which honestly had about 40 cars in line for AND didn't fit my mom's desires anyway. So then we drive forever trying to find a decent place to feed my mother. At one point we spotted an Applebee's and pointed it out in desperation to which my mom very excitedly said "WHERE" then just as quickly decided that we should soldier on. Well, by now it's like 8:30pm we're starving and practically lost when my mom points to a sign for "Sherman's" and says "Kacie is that on your list" to which I replied with much surprise and gratitude "YES". So we went to Shermans, the Jewish deli where the food was SO BLAND where my mom ordered some watery soup that I loved while I ordered a egg salad that I loved and my sister got a salad that I loved....I was starving. THEN we each ordered what they are really known for: their incredible deserts. They were about 30 different kinds of intricate desserts with the most surly dessert server ever. My favorite moment was when a tall black man and I were decided on desserts next to each other. The surly server had already dished up a couple for him and was about to get another one when he spotted a blueberry cake that he said "oh I want that kind" to her, she begrudgingly said, "oh you want that instead" and he curtly says to her "don't you instead me, I want BOTH"! We ordered a Bavarian cream thingy, a coconut cake slice and a red velvet slice. They were all super rich and Kelly's Bavarian was the best. My mom and I finished most of it off the next day while she was in the shower :)

So Sunday we went to church were because of our timing and getting lost we ended up attending the most incredible Sunday school class where a lds book author happened to be present followed by sacrament meeting in Spanish. Afterwords we headed to a really fun swap meet / fair thing were we got there just before closing but still all managed to get some great finds! I got a beautiful wreath and a cosmetic train case for traveling which I haggled down from $25 to $16 with a man who barely spoke English. I loved it and had been looking for a makeup case forever. (i haggled the wreath down too)

We then went to an area called the River that was SO beautiful and ate at a place called Aqua Pazzaz, not on the list but still really fabulous. This is a picture of us there eating next to the water which winds through the whole shopping area.

On Monday we did a little more shopping, packed up and ate one last time at a historic mexican food restaurant that had been there. It reminded me of Disneyland and I videoed like every inch of it on the flip. Which is why there are hardly any pictures from this trip, my mom and I documented like every minute of it on her flip so we can be sure to redo the parts we loved!

It was a great trip and I am so grateful to Derek, Reed, Bridget, and whoever else helped watch Cooper so I could take a little break!

Next year I hope to revisit a couple of our favorite restaurants, go back to Sheild's date farm, and ride the tram up the mountain. LOVED this trip! Thanks Kelly and Mom for pitching in on the costs!

Cooper Flake

2011-02-21T08:51:00.002-07:00

The end of Februrary marks Cooper turning 19 months old. I'm sure that if I weren't a mother or especially if I weren't Cooper's mother I would think that such an occasion would be rather rediculous to remark over. But becuase I am Cooper's mother, and perhaps you think this is rediculous (I don't blame you), I will say that the best I can explain it is that counting the days Cooper has been in my life is almost akin to counting down the days to Christmas. Another way of putting it is that saying that I love being Cooper's mother is an understatement.

Anyhow, the real point of this post is to document the kind of person Cooper is right now so that I can remember when I'm bedraggled and hair-brained and so Cooper can look back on how he started.

Firstly, as a said before, Cooper is such a little person.

People have always commented that he looks like a little man becuase of his hair and features but now he even acts like one.

He talks. a lot.

He knows more words every day that he just picks up himself. Yesterday he took me to the bathroom door, tapped it with his inch-long pointer finger and asked "bath". He does love bath time.

His first word in the morning is usually "Basketball" which is is obsessed with or "macknee" which is his word for the vacuum, his other obsession. This morning it was "mommy"...loved that.

He can say doggy, duck, ball, basketball, help, please, more, milk, mommy, dada, mammy(grammie), snow, bye bye, night night, thank you, love you, (the last four are all said in a high sing-songy voice)

He also carries on conversations, making deep eye contact, eyebrows raised for emphasis, in complete jibberish.

Though I don't know much about kids his age he seems different in some ways. He has a lot of patience, regard for others, and is independent yet unafraid to ask for help. This seems mature to me.

He will hold still while I cut his hair, knows the names of his three favorite stuffed animals (Red Bear, Po, "B") and eats almost anything.

We love our Cooper kid so much and love nothing more than watching him learn and grow.

What my name means

2011-02-19T11:54:00.003-07:00

Kacie Lynn Flake

Have you ever stopped to think about what your name means? Like what it really, really means? For some reason this is the very question I pondered while blow drying my hair today and I was surprised to realize how many people this question can include. It also made me hope that I can think of all of these sort of questions while everyone who knows the answers are around to tell me.

My first name is Kacie.

According to "Think Baby Names" Kacie means alert and watchful. I believe this to be true to the extent that horoscopes are true...meaning, I am sure I am alert and watchful at some points. Or maybe this is referring to my parenting style and is a gentle way of saying paranoid. In that case, yes, I believe they have me pegged.

It also means that my mom would have to redo my birth certificate when my Dad spelled it the "boy way".

It means that in the 4th grade I would wrongfully get sent to the principles office because a girl named Casey had hit someone on the playground, sending my heart rate through the roof at the prospect that I had done something evil enough to be sent there.

It means that I will never own a premade, bike-sized license plate, rubbery cup, or keychain with my name on it. que lastima.

It means that spelling my name out loud more times in my life than someone named Casey.

K - A - C - I - E

My middle name is Lynn

which means that I am like my mom

and that my Grandmother just always liked the name.

It means that when I learned to write in cursive I would write my full name more often because of how pretty the L and Y looked next to each other.

My last name is Flake.

It means that I married the most incredible man I could ever dream of. truly.

It means that my children will unconsciously stick their tongue out when they concentrate and that they'll have many cousins to grow up with.

It means that I should know my family history because I WILL be asked about it, often.

It means that my children will grow up with a last name that they will learn to be as proud of as their great aunts and uncles.

It means being the butt of a joke and snowman decorations ("my friends are flakes")

at Christmastime.

It means bingo at Thanksgiving.

It means my kids will have to be very careful with who they go on a date with in the White Mountains.

It means I reached my ultimate goal of marrying the right man and the right time by the right authority.

What does your name really mean? I'd love to know. Or perhaps you know more about what my name means? Care to share?

How to be Prepared for a Snowstorm

2011-01-12T14:58:00.008-07:00

I am really enjoying the nice weather we have enjoyed the last few days. Travis and Kendra came to visit us and to play in the snow, and while we weren't able to do that, we did have a delicious valentine's day dinner of homemade fettuccine Alfredo which gave me a fabulous opportunity to try out the new pasta machine Derek gave me for my birthday...delicious!
V-day was especially enjoyable this year, Derek brought home an incredible bouquet of flowers, threw a little Usher on (that he had just downloaded for me) did a dance that would put even Usher himself to shame, and presented me with peanut m&m's. Frankly I can't think of a better combo :) Travis and Kendra arrived shortly after and we had our second v-day double date together. I hope we keep it a tradition! I LOVE that we were able to spend time outside in some sunshine and even go to the park!

Unfortunately for Travis and Kendra who will have just missed it, I have heard that the forecast is calling for more snow this weekend. As a reminder to myself and for those of us who may have our sights set on spring already, I thought I'd let Cooper demonstrate how to best be prepared for a snowstorm.

Before the storm hits there are a few things you'll want to do. For one, make sure you have the right gear. Just because someone says you need boots for the snow doesn't mean that ALL boots will be equally effective. Some boots are better for sports while others are better for snow exploring.

Hats, mittens, and a jacket are also highly recommended. If you look like the Michelin Man, you're probably adequately prepared.

Secondly, the winter may be a long one so make sure you have some meat on your bones, even if it means taking it off of someone else's.

Our suggestion is to make sure that you aren't wearing your gear from step one while proceeding to step two. BBQ sauce has its tendencies.

Step Three: Enjoy the snow! Something about snow really is magical. It can transform the whole landscape into a fresh, clean slate of pure white, a grown adult into a child, and a baby into Groucho Marx.

And another thing, Julie Andrews wasn't lying about the nose and eyelashes thing...

Last step. Make sure you have someone you love to help you warm up afterwards!

Christmas 2010!

2011-01-09T18:53:00.005-07:00

This year was "Flake Family" Christmas so as soon as Derek got off of work on Thursday we headed to the Mesa.

Now, being a Mountain Girl I was unprepared on many accounts. For one nobody warned me that I should have packed for a swim party more than a Christmas party. It was so hot down there! I was dying in long sleeves!

Our first stop was the mall to finish our last few shopping items. Mistake two, I was not prepared for every single Valley resident to be at one mall. Derek just dropped me off as I ran in since we literally could not find a parking spot. CRAZY.

Thursday night the whole family (minus a few) gathered to do some supreme Christmas light looking and hot cocoa drinking. Lori provided the most adorable, tastiest hot cocoa table ever. LOVED that we made it down in time for this!

On Christmas Eve Bridget, Bup and Slimmy came over to spend the night with us at Reed and Lori's.

Here is the Christmas morning crew!

Here is Lori's beautiful tree with the presents!

Later everyone else came over and we opened presents, we had over 30 people opening presents at one time!

Here are most of the grandkids on the porch swing we had just given Lori as a group gift.

We thought it would be fun to see if it is possible to make twelve kids sit in one area for 3 seconds on Christmas day. As you can see, it's not :)

Love Cooper's pj's and converse. There's nothing like staying in your pj's all day on Christmas!

Here's a picture of SOME of the mess.

We loved getting to see our family on Christmas! Especially the Californians who were obviously in some need of tickling.

Later we thought it would be fun to see if it is possible to have 3 1 yr olds sit, smile and look forward.

Also not possible.

And last but not least I've included Cooper's first santa picture.

Here we have captured the silent cry that is evoked when Cooper:

is mortally wounded

is enduring unbearable pain

and

when he sits on Santa's lap.

Oh how I love Christmas! I am still in shock that it went by so fast!

More November 2010

2010-12-23T11:15:00.005-07:00

In an attempt to upload tons of pictures I got them all out of order. In the interest of saving me time, we'll all just have to try to fit the pieces back into the order they belong in.

We spent Thanksgiving in a very cold and snowy Utah with family. This trip was based around my nephew Sky's mission farewell. We spend the first night with Derek's Uncle Dennis and were able to see his cousin Angie the next day when we met up to meet at her husband Mike's awesome Warehouse!

Then we stayed with my family in a condo in Farmington. This picture is Cooper discovering the joy of frontloading washer and dryers.

How we both wish we had these at our house!
Here is Grampy trying to get a picture with the two youngest grand babies and the oldest great grandbaby. Kai, Krey and Kooper :) I LOVED having these three boys together. Their birthdays are May, June and July!

The boys with the boys

Dave Derek Derek

Kai Cooper Krey

...

and if you think that was confusing Derek #2 is my nephew that is two years older than me so I'm a great aunt to Krey and Avah...

Poor Cooper was so upset of pictures. I kept saying that something was wrong with him because he never cries. People just kept telling me that he was just having a hard time with all the excitement but we found out a few minutes later that he had the worst diaper rash ever.

I felt so bad about these pictures where I can now tell he doesn't want to sit on his poor raw bum.

So here is the real adventure. Cooper's first airplane ride. Our flight to Salt Lake was delayed about 5 hours due to a snow storm. So Cooper had a ton of fun exploring the entire airport and making friends with every single person he could. He would walk up to anyone and just say hi until they played with him. The airport was so full of people flying for Thanksgiving and Cooper would just walk up complete strangers who were buried in a book and just make fast friends. By the time we boarded the plane and walked back to our seat everyone new Cooper and said hi as we walked by. We even got on a return flight with some of the same people from our original flight with people who remembered him!

At about 9:30 pm running along the seats from his Daddy to a few strangers/best friends who were playing "I'm gonna get you" with him.

The girls with the boys!

Kelly, Jen and I

The Thanksgiving feast crew!

Derek with sweet Avah Skye!

Cooper with his cousin Derek!

Here's us at the airport about 4 hours before our flight took off.

Cooper loved checking everything out! This terminal is the best!

This is the return flight home in the Salt Lake Airport. We bought Cooper a ridiculously overpriced adorable plane to commemorate this fun occasion!

Whew, flash forward to earlier in the month for me to remind you once again how much I love a freshly woken baby.

Mmmm, my favorite!

Cooper enjoying Lori's hall tree/ wall tree...Reed and I still can't quite get down what to call this beautiful antique!

November 2010

2010-12-23T11:00:00.003-07:00

November just may have been one of the best months this year! It was so full of fun fun things to do!

My mom, sister, Bridget and I went to the So You Think You Can Dance performance at Jobing.com arena. So. much. fun. This is my favorite t.v. show and there is nothing like actually seeing it in person. Loved it! Cooper loves his Grandpa Reed!

This helps give you the picture of what his hair looked like on Halloween.

Kai, the special guy.

Can we just take a moment to be in awe of how I let Cooper's hair get so dang long? Why does it feel like I cut his hair every two weeks? It's become more and more clear that Cooper has the Thompson hairy genes.

We also joined my parents for the convention that my dad attends annually at the J.W. Marriot Hotel. I love joining my parents on these trips as it makes me feel like a little kid again to be tagging along on all of their fun adventures! We got to enjoy the fun lazy river at the hotel and we all got to go to a suns game which we had an absolute blast doing! We were all in a huge party box with a great view, great food, and comfortable seats. The game went into several over-times which translated into my sister and I getting our second wind which translated to us doing some glorious victory dances as the entire hospital board staff admired our vigor and vim... remind me not to stay out that late now that I'm a mother. Apparently all of these photos are on my sister's camera, I swear I took some with mine too but I can't seem to find them.

I love that you can't tell how much the boys were splashing in this picture until you look and my dad and derek's faces. Too great!

Here's some splashing in action. Cooper LOVES being in the water and just couldn't get enough.

Within 10 minutes of my mom and I going in to check the room out Cooper tripped and hit his lip just perfectly on the corner of a table to split it on the outside of his lip and inside of his gums. It immediately started bleeding like crazy. I was worried that it would need stitches or something to keep him from being disfigured for life so I had his wonderful doctor, Dr. Thompson (no relation) take a look at it. She declared him to be fine and I was grateful to hear that but was still worried. This was the next day when it looked tons better and in 4 days it looked like nothing had ever happened. I still can't believe how quickly it healed!

These are Cooper's beloved puppy shoes. Brittnee and Francie put these on the diaper cake that they gave me for my baby shower and boy do we love these things. He just happens to have the cutest puppy pj's to match and he just loves wearing them around the house.

I can't stand how cute he is in those pj's and puppy shoes!

October 2010

2010-12-23T08:00:00.005-07:00

In October we spend every minute we could soaking up the loveliness of fall. Fall is definitely my favorite season and it may be Coopers too as there is an endless supply of leaves to rake up...and we all know how dearly Cooper loves tools on a long handle.

Grampy enlisted him to come help with his yard. Here he is stomping down the pine needles to make room for more.

I couldn't help but snap a bunch of pics of him hard at work!

My parents have acquired the most lovely grey fox that frequents the yard. He was eating juniper berries here and stayed for a long time. He didn't mind us admiring him from the window or Cooper saying "oof" 4,000 times while watching him.

Derek was working in the yard a couple of weeks before Halloween and saw this tarantula. He wanted to show me so he put it in a jar. I, of course, immediately adopted it as a pet, named him Donovan, and went hunting for spider food insects to feed him. When Donovan refused to eat my offerings for several weeks and I began to question my abilities as a spider mother I reintroduced him to the wild hoping that mother nature would treat him as well as I did. (not likely)

This picture is to simply illustrate how odd some baby clothes are. Is it just me or are these baby boy maternity pants?

My humble but well loved harvest from my gardens!

For Halloween Cooper was a dinosaur. He wore the cutest puffy costume and we spiked his hair with really still gel into three really huge spikes. (his hair was so long)

I forgot my camera but so my mom took pictures with her camera that I haven't gotten from her yet.

We went to the Woodland Lake Ward party where we ate some fabulous chili, went Trunk-or-Treating (sort-of, Cooper didn't get this quite yet) and took rides in the quad-train (quad pulling barrels cut into train cars)

My favorite memory of this night was going back to Grammy's house. Cooper would just scoop up his candy (like 7 pieces) and just giggle with joy as he just played and played with it. Then my mom and I decided it was time to wash the glue out of his hair and tipped him into the sink. Cooper didn't like this too much but quickly grabbed a tomato that Grammy had sitting near by and just started eating in whole. When that one was done he just grabbed another and another. He patiently ate 3 whole tomatoes while we scrubbed at his hair! Oh how I love this boy!

September 2010

2010-12-22T18:36:00.002-07:00

Let's see if I can catch the blog up a bit before Christmas comes and it gets really ridiculous to be blogging about so many months ago!

September brought the beginning of autumn, birthdays for lots of family members (including Derek!) and the return of us visiting the valley of the sun.

I just love this picture of very tired Uncles with their almost as tired niece and nephew! Derek has sweet Evelyn and Travis has Coop.

I also did a lot of crafting in September. This is a shirt I am sewing...which still isn't finished!

Here's Cooper with his best buddy Reddin.

I really hope that these boys stay good friends as they grow up. I just love it!

August

2010-11-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

Whew, I finally got through all of our July adventures! Since I was still trying to keep up with all of the events that July held August went by in a flash. I took 9 total pictures this month, as opposed to the 400 from July.

August was a wonderful month though. Derek and I celebrated our 3rd Anniversary by staying at the Heritage Inn Bed and Breakfast in Snowflake. My dad had won(sort of) a one night's stay from a Golf tournament and gave it to us to use. I L.O.V.E.D. staying there. It was our first stay at a B&B and was so enjoyable. We went out to dinner, watched movies in our lovely king sized bed, took a walk around the town, enjoyed the lovely gardens and had such an incredible breakfast. We loved the owners who were so friendly and helpful! When our stay was over it was just so nice to only drive 40 minutes to pick Cooper up. It was so relaxing to get away then not have a long drive home. It just ended up being the perfect little stay for our Anniversary. I would do it again in a heartbeat and now I even have dreams of running my own B&B someday!

Cooper and I also enjoyed going out to lunch with my dear friends, Emily and Rachel. I love living in the mountains and I am so thrilled that I am not the only one who has come back! We miss you Rachel but we are sure that New York is suiting you just fine!

We celebrated Jolie's birthday before the Waite's headed back to the valley and Cooper got a balloon to take home. He just loves balloons and played with it for hours.

I love how even though motherhood keeps me busy Cooper has a way of helping me slow down. Each new discovery is such a wonder for him and reminds me of how incredible the little things are. I love watching him learn new things every day and develop into the person that he will be for the rest of his life. He is just my buddy and is such a sweet, loving, patient, easy to please, helpful, joyful, and special boy. I am so grateful to be the one raising him.

The Big ONE

2010-11-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Cooper's birthday was a huge success. We had so many family and friends come to show their love for Cooper!

We even had guests come in from out of town! Grandpa Gary and Grandma Gary came from Anthem, and Jamey, Nikki and Courtney came from Mesa. Cooper's Grammy and Grampy were there with his Great Grandmother too! Lots of friends came like Auntie Em and Seth who became our fabulous photographer, Stacy, Brady and best friend Reddin-bear, Beth and Jackson who was a pro at helping Cooper open his presents; Matt, Katie, Jayden and Jolie Waite were there who we miss so much!

We had some hotdogs, and other treats plus rocket popsicles which Cooper's Grammy made especially for his party and went right along with his rocket theme!

We started Cooper out with a popsicle which was cold but oh so good!

Then it was time for Cooper's own personal cake

Here he is giving it his first try...hmm pretty good

It didn't take long before he was really getting into it

He just kept on enjoying that cake until it was everywhere

By this time we had already done all of the games and opening presents so he was pretty tired. He went ahead and smeared the frosting everywhere that wasn't already covered at this point.

Then we finished it off with another Popsicle. Oh how fun birthdays are!

Cooper got so many fun toys that we are still getting tons of enjoyment out of months later!

He loved seeing what would come out of each box or bag

I love the look of joy on his face!

He was such a good model standing on the running board of his first motorized vehicle. His Grandpa Gary and Grandma Rainie sure spoiled him!

Thank you thank you to everyone who came and for those who thought of Cooper on his special day!

Birthday Preparations

2010-11-18T07:00:00.002-07:00

So after months of anticipation I had finally arrived at Cooper's birthday preparation time.

I had been so excited to throw Cooper a great little one year old bash to celebrate how much we love our Cooper kid. I decided to make a fondant cake so Cooper could celebrate Charm City Cakes style. Before you get excited let me just cut to the chase and admit that the fondant was way too soft and entirely unworkable BUT the whole process did lead to some priceless moments, which is the real story here.

The first thing I did was head to the fancy cooking store in town. Everything here is quite expensive, really fun to look at, and I am always afraid that i'm going to break something worth $1,000,000,000. This challenge/thrill draws me in every time, plus, because I am such a thrill seeker, I bring a baby to make it even more daring. I also like to get my food coloring gels there. So, I went to pick out some new colors to do Cooper's cake.

I chose purple and teal. Cooper wanted to hold our soon to be purchases of course so I let him have one while I continued to look around. Well, I knew it was sealed still so I didn't even think twice about it coming open. I looked down to see Cooper drooling the most lovely shade of teal - the perfect shade for his birthday cake.

Now nervous that I am going to permanently dye something teal that is worth $100,000,000 I frantically ask the owner if she had any paper towels or anything.

So after asking for permission to place my precious gem on her lovely counter top I borrow a paper towel, then pull out my camera to capture the moment, throwing all caution to the wind and risking breaking and dyeing multiple expensive items.

So here we are, at Classic Cookware. Drooling in style over the lovely items they have to offer.

Amazingly we got out of the store having only payed for what we intended to, plus the owner was a great sport. (who also seemed a little nervous about the situation)

Cooper also had a teal smile for the next two days.

I'll go ahead and place to final product here to keep you from waiting.

Fondant? No

Gumpaste rocket ships? Yes

I figure it could have turned out worse...

the cake and the store visit :)

Wedded Bliss

2010-11-17T07:00:00.001-07:00

July also held Reed and Lori's wedding.

What a joy this event was for us! I really can't even say how excited I am to have another Mother-in-Law and so many new sister and brother's -in-law. Plus all of the new cousins for Cooper! I am just in heaven with this new addition to our family!

I left the main pictures of the wedding to the photographer but I did catch a few candid shots of the wedding preparations.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Reed getting Cooper in ship-shape for the wedding pictures. I love that Reed still took these little moments with his family on his big day.

The Crum girls did an incredible job coming up with the attire for the kids! I LOVE those dresses and Cooper's tie is so adorable. I have yet to see the real pictures but I am sure they had to have turned out beautifully.

Here is Reed's bride, Lori. She looked just incredible and is such a sweet person. I wish I would have gotten a better picture of her! She is an example of a person who just has goodness flowing out of them constantly. Her amazing daughters are proof of how lucky we are to be able to call each of them family.

Can I just say again how excited I am for Cooper to have more cousins!

I just LOVE my family and feel so lucky to have married someone who came with such an unbelievable family! I love living in Show Low but I wish we could come to every single get-together. I hate that we miss out but I am just grateful that we are able to visit as much as we do!

Proud to be a Flake

2010-11-16T07:00:00.001-07:00

Way back in July we traveled to the far away land of Snowflake for the giant Flake Family Reunion.

I didn't take many pictures but thought I would share the highlights of this fun tradition.

The Sam and Rula Flake family (derek's grandpa) attends the reunion every other year. The reunion is held every year for everyone who has had, will have, wishes they had, or does have the last name Flake.

Our branch of the family takes over the Silver Creek Inn where we make a giant circle of about 50 people in the parking lot and play Mafia all night. (which lead to some disagreements) We enjoyed going to the Flake Family rodeo where Christina MC'd like a pro. (which lead to a disagreements by someone outside of our immediate family branch) Enjoyed the Flake Family picnic on the James Madison house lawn (which lead to some disagreements...by me, I was so hot and hungry) went boutique shopping (which may have led to some disagreements about what was purchased) attended the parade where every ward in the town makes its own personal float. (I seem to remember some disagreements about how wet people got from the firetruck). We had so much fun. I amazed at how fun it is just to be in Snowflake with everyone. It's such a small town but there is never a dull moment when all of the Flakes are there!

There may be little scuffles here and there the but those moments mixed with the laughter, memories, long visits, games, and traditions are what makes us such a unique family.

We love this reunion and anxiously await it every two years. There is nothing like being together with a big family, catching up on everyone's lives, meeting their newest family members, and eating tons of cookies.

The secret to how I get things done

2010-11-10T11:05:00.005-07:00

I've decided to spill the beans on how I get things done around my house.

Firstly, I have an amazing husband who provides for the family, AND helps around the house.

For this particular incident I asked Derek to help me clean up Cooper's highchair and floor after eating some crackers. Derek grabbed the vacuum (I would have grabbed a dishcloth...silly me) and had the mess cleaned up in no time...floor, highchair, and baby. Who knew how effective vacuums are on babies.

Well, Cooper is like his father in almost every way.

He is definitely my little helper.

No matter what or when the situation is, he is there to help.

Here he is reorganizing the refrigerator while I was getting the night's dinner ingredients out.

How perfect is it that when I needed to add a little bbq sauce, carne asada sauce, and ranch dressing to the spaghetti it would be right there in the middle of the kitchen floor.

I walked into my bedroom the other day to see that Cooper had found a way to help me check the door locks at night.

Look how proud he is.

We recently put in a sprinkler system and lawn. Digging out the trenches was long hard work but having Cooper do all of the manual labor sure saved us $.

Here we have Cooper unloading the dishwasher for me...one of my least favorite chores. Easy fix, teach the baby to do it.

Cooper even helped his Grampy rake the pine needles in his backyard.

Here he is climbing inside the dryer to fold the socks.

Cooper loves the swiffer and broom the most. He knows right where to go to find them and gets them out about 3 times a day. He even knows where the brooms are at Grandpa's house!

So there you have it. I have a LOT of help from Cooper.

All of the credit goes to my incredible husband and my dear Cooper kid.

A few pics from the summer

2010-11-10T10:58:00.002-07:00

Here I am playing catch up as always! I really got stuck blogging in the month of July becuase so much went on! July was full of everything it should be: Softball, birthdays, weddings, popsicles, etc. The result is that it flew by so fast I didn't realize we were in August until it was half over! Whew!

Crazy Cooper

2010-09-13T11:16:00.002-07:00

Cooper just gets more and more fun with time!

This particular incident from July is one of my favorites.

On One of Those Mornings when I was already running late and things just kept happening to put me behind I had just gotten Cooper ready to go then was going to quickly jump in the shower and be off.

Well...I have a walk-in snail shower.

Before this time Cooper had never shown much interest in the shower and would crawl around in my bedroom nearby while I took a quick shower. This time Cooper, freshly dressed remember, crawls into the shower while I am rushing to get clean. and sits there, unmoving, under the streaming water, fully clothed, acting neither excited or upset. Oh how I have grown to love each set-back. As I checked the clock again and ran through my house to get my camera wearing only a towel I took a second to think about how much I cherish each moment as a mother.
Another one of Cooper's unique attributes is his uncanny resemblance to Cousin Itt.
I feel like I give him a haircut every other week!

He is always figuring out something new to do. I love that he stood with both feet on a jar of lotion in order to be 1 in closer to seeing in this drawer.

Just look at those tippy-toes!

Oh how I love a "freshly-woken" baby

2010-09-13T11:12:00.001-07:00

The Swimfants

2010-09-13T10:55:00.002-07:00

In June Cooper and I took a Mom and Tot swim class ahem, I preferred to call it Swim Team.

You may be thinking "you expect that blimp to swim?" but be consoled, I was aiming for some fun splash time/ something to do, not Michael Phelps.

So we signed up the second the class opened, anxiously waited for the day to come, slapped on our swimsuits and a swim diaper and headed to the pool. Cooper's best buddy and swimfant partner in crime Reddin and his mom Stacy joined us!

Reddin was quite the little swim champ! He was probably the youngest but was one of the most fearless ones we had in the class!Cooper loved to splash and crawl in the zero side of the pool but the class was right during his nap time which meant that much of the time he looked like this
Oh how I love a soggy baby. He was the head of the swim team as far as I was concerned.

Here is me representing the mom and Cooper playing the role of tot.

All and all we swam away with a fun little memory and a swim certificate to "Copper" Flake.

Family Pictures by Coco May 2010

2010-09-11T10:24:00.004-07:00

Thank you Coco! I LOVE these pictures and will cherish them forever.

This is normally where I would put all of the info to get your own family pics by Coco but she has since moved! We miss you!

Quick May Catch-up!

2010-09-11T09:51:00.002-07:00

We enjoy Cooper every day, he is just our little buddy! We can't get enough of him!
He also became a crawler this month. I went to the bathroom once and couldn't find him when I came back - this is back when he used to be about where you left him. After searching all around I found him behind the TV going for the chords.

Cooper loves playing with other kids - especially his cousins that are big enough to give him rides! I love Carson's face here! Evelyn is lucky to have him as a big brother!

Cooper and Evelyn working on their crawling skills.

Yes Evelyn is younger and better at crawling here.

(She also walked before Cooper did, and is about two months younger, talk about baby Einstein!)

I can't say I was too jealous though, I had watched Kelly try to keep up with Kai once he started to move and was grateful for my extra weeks of not having to run around as the safety police!

Derek goes to the hospital

2010-09-11T09:13:00.003-07:00

After some pretty serious symptoms associated with a bad flare-up of Derek's U.C. we headed to the hospital on April 28th. Derek was in the hospital for a week while they pumped him full of pain meds, anti-biotics and steroids.

Rainie and Gary were so sweet to come visit Derek, especially since they were also dealing with Rainie's mother having to go to the hospital and Jamey and Travis getting ready for their surgeries to swap kidneys all at just about the same time!

Cooper got to visit his Daddy just about every day and my parents and sister were so kind to watch him without any notice for an entire week while I spend most of my time and the hospital. We were so grateful for that!

Cooper liked trying out Daddy's hospital bed.

Here Derek is showing Cooper his IV's and is telling him about what they do.

These two pictures illustrate just how bad it was...

pretty darn bad.

This was the first time Cooper got to visit, Derek had to walk down and meet him because of flu restrictions but after a few days they let Cooper come into his room since Derek was there for so long and because flu season was basically over. We were very grateful for the excellent and thoughtful staff of Summit!

Memories of the whole ordeal:

These are my memories since Derek remembers almost nothing of this whole thing - which came in handy when I accidentally told him about one of his father's day gifts. -no big deal, he was still totally surprised when he got the gift!

He was also surprised when his Mom called to say she was coming, he turned to me and asked when I had told her. I answered that HE had called her on the phone the day before.

My other favorite is when he asked me to clear off his bedside tray because "there was candy everywhere!"...this is funny because a) Derek loves candy b) he is never knit-picky/needy of inconsequential things like this...ever c) there were seriously like 5 pieces of candy out (little hard candies for him to suck on)

Derek's friend, family and co-workers were so very kind to him! It made us so grateful for the people we have around us and it made me so grateful for Derek!

Catch up from April

2010-09-11T09:00:00.002-07:00

Hanging out with Grampy Cooper with a few of the cousins his age

from left: Evie, Evelyn, Baron and Cooper

Reed + Lori = Love...and more cousins for Cooper!

Cooper helping put the laundry away

Carson being a champ of a cousin and giving Cooper a ride!

Grandpa with Coop

Ode to a Dino

2010-07-14T07:16:00.002-07:00

Dearest Baby Kai Eyes as blue as the sky
please come back to Arizona

Cooper is tired of being alone -a.

We miss the cute things that you do

and please bring your mommy too!

Happy Easter...yeah, I'm that far behind

2010-07-13T20:53:00.004-07:00

Way back at Easter time my Aunt, Uncle and cousins from Michigan came to visit. My Uncle Gary from Texas also came for a few days. .

This picture shows almost all of my Grandmother's family (my mom's side of the family). We are only missing my cousin Catharine, my sister's husband, plus the babies are mysteriously not in this picture...

(If you are Flake looking at this you probably didn't know that families came this small!)

It is a rare opportunity for my Grandmother to have all of her kids together. They are all so spread apart.

Sweet picture of Grandmother and Cooper

The Easter Feast line up

I am so glad that everyone got to meet the babies! Cooper loved the attention!

Cooper's Easter basket had a nice book in it...

though the book Kai got looked pretty cool too...

He loved his first Easter! and so did I!

Homemade Noodles

2010-07-13T20:48:00.003-07:00

Way back in the chilly days of March I tried my hand at homemade noodles. They were incredible, very easy, and are now the only way I will make chicken noodle soup. I got the recipe off of allrecipes.com, which is my favorite recipe site. There are several versions of every recipe you can think of. I just look at the one with the highest rating, read about 10 of the 124(plus or minus) reviews to make the adjustments that people recommend, and

I end up with a fabulous result every time. YUM-O

February Projects

2010-06-01T12:35:00.002-07:00

Owning a house sure keeps us busy. There are endless projects to get done. Luckily we have Cooper, who is a fabulous helper. One of February's projects was reupholstering the dining room chairs. The house came with a great dining room table and buffet table but the fabric was rather 80's.
A trip to SAS fabric, $14 and some staples later, our chairs were much more suitable. Derek also got our entire bedroom painted all by himself!

Cutest Pictures of Cooper from February

2010-06-01T12:21:00.002-07:00

First official haircut by Marleen Jolley.

Best Birthday Yet! (major catch up)

2010-05-25T12:11:00.008-07:00

This year for my birthday (way back on February 9th) I told derek that I wanted a surprise. Tall order, I know. Good thing Derek, who happens to be great at surprises, is my husband. So all I knew was that Derek got an extra day off of work and that we were going to go somewhere in the valley.

We got up in the morning and headed to who know where. Later it came out that I thought he was taking me to the Renaissance Festival, which put a tinge of foot dragging into my mood.

Instead we went to the Wildlife World Zoo in Goodyear (I think that is where it technically is)

Kelly, Kai, Kendra, Carson, Cooper, Kacie....and Derek and Evelyn were the zoo crew!

Best Birthday Yet

So here comes a million pictures, which I narrowed down to only my very favorites.

This zoo is incredible, if you've ever wondered if it is worth the trip IT IS.

They have a large petting zoo section with more than just your run-of-the-barn farm animals.

They also recently opened a really big aquarium section with incredible animals including sharks and albino alligators.

Even the souvenir shops have animal exhibits.

They also have some way fun rides, this ride goes through the aquarium then when you come out there are several parrots that surprised us with HELLO, and in the middle of the track there is a monkey exhibit(the trees in the picture)

Lots of fun!

Cooper loved it and was, as always, such a great baby.

This one is for my mom, who loves finding wild turtles
Derek. Cooper. Penguin

Cooper ALMOST got eaten by a giant lobster

Kai hated the thought of almost losing his cousin.

Back to the petting zoo, I got bitten HARD by this crazy turkey.

He doesn't even look sorry.

Cooper loved seeing the animals

We loved the little train ride through the enclosures! So much fun

Such friendly staff and animals!

Quick live commercial for the Moby Wrap:

The Kangaroos really have it right, wearing your baby is the best. I absolutely LOVE my moby, it has served me well since Cooper was 2 days old. It is my number one must have baby gear item. So if you are pregnant, nursing, or planning to become pregnant

get one!

Thanks for mine Kelly!

Since this is a privately owned Zoo it is so much better than other big zoos. You can get SO close to the animals. It was such a cool experience to see them so well. I got so many great shots because of this that make me look like I have decent picture taking skills - wow

This was the best birthday surprise! I can't thank Derek enough for the fabulous trip to a place I didn't even know about. (Plus, because Derek has mad connections, everything, including the rides, were free for our whole gang - the cherry on top for a person that loves a bargain!)

Check out our stingray encounter! My favorite thing!

Phoenix Art Museum

2010-04-02T09:38:00.004-07:00

The same weekend as Riverdance Kelly took me to the Phoenix Art Museum for my birthday. (So we're talking the beginning of February here...sorry for dragging you through the last several months of my life but my blog is my journal so I can't skip anything!)

There's an awesome Ansel Adams exhibit there right now which we enjoyed plus I also had to visit my favorite full-time exhibits.
Haven't been there before? I LOVE it there, go give it a try and make sure you get obliterated by the fireflies....that's the best part.

Riverdance!

2010-04-02T09:06:00.004-07:00

My mom gave Kelly and I Riverdance tickets for Christmas.

This is their final tour and we LOVED it.

It is seriously so cool to watch and it's incredible what they can do.

We had so much fun taking pictures, which was funny because this was no justin timberlake concert....everyone else was like 82 and on their best behavior while my mom, sister and I are going crazy trying to take pictures of ourselves...

(I could have put a bunch more like these)

We tried to wait forever to take pictures with the real people BUT...they never came out so we took pictures with their poster instead.

Then we tried to make people ask to take pictures with us.

Unfortunately they don't let you take pictures of the performance itself BUT

this is exactly what it looked like.
as a side note, the performance was at Mesa Arts Center, the perfect place for engagement pictures.

January Snowstorm

2010-04-02T08:39:00.003-07:00

This is what Cooper looks like when...

2010-04-02T08:21:00.004-07:00

he's ready for the snow
he's trying to be like his dad

he's being a maiden

he is freshly woken up

he looks at my mom (not quite the exact face)

he gets dressed up like a girl (such a cute sweater but really made him look like a girl)

he gets a bath

(all pictures from January 2010)

Sunday Family Picture

2010-04-02T08:12:00.003-07:00

I am super behind on blogging so here is my attempt to catch up a bit.

This is pretty much the only family picture we have.

Thanks to our camera timer and flour bin for your wonderful artistry in creating this family portrait.Cooper sporting one of his Christmas presents from his dad.

Cooper got this shirt and I got one that says

"I love my Cooper"

Eating Adventures

2010-01-07T07:58:00.002-07:00

As many of you know there are a lot of different ideas about the "right way" to introduce solids but the national association of people who know what they're talking about (I seriously don't remember the real distinction) recommends that you do not introduce solids until 6 months of age.

other guidelines agree that children should be able to sit up on their own,

babies should first be given rice cereal,

then veggies,

then fruit.

And the specifications go on.

Well, I hope those guidelines aren't too important

Here is Cooper trying his first foods...sweet potatoes

a few days before Christmas...about 4 1/2 months old

in his bumbo seat...because he can't sit up alone

I was upstairs helping my mom wrap presents when I received word that my dad was feeding Cooper the food that Kelly had prepared for Kai...without me knowing.

So, since we had already messed up those nice little guidelines we've since given Cooper pretty much everything....

his favorite so far...cantaloupe

which he loves more than ice cream

Yes, we know this because he has had both,

though he did REALLY like my cake batter ice cream from marble slab

Bad parents? shrug shoulders.
If there is anything I've learned from being a mother it is that :

A) it is impossible to do things the way you though you wanted to do them before you had your baby (actually, it's impossible to do them that way and not make other people mad/frustrated/think you're overprotective/hurt their feelings)

B) It is sometimes fun to throw the guidelines out the window. How did the pilgrims/pioneers/cavemen introduce solids? We may never know.

yes. i do realize that far fewer of their children survived...but they probably didn't die of ice cream

Think I'm crazy? Break one of your rules and see how much fun it can be!

One more reason that I am grateful for Derek...and his skinny ribs

2010-01-07T07:47:00.002-07:00

My mother happily raised two daughters. She loved having girls but now that we are married I think that she also LOVES having boys around to help with things that boys are good at

like being taller than girls

being stronger than girls...

etc.

Thank goodness she has two sons-in-law who are always willing to help.

See how happy Derek is to help? It's one of the many reasons I love him
See how he is not as happy in this picture?
Well he is stuck there...pretty darn stuck.

Not good news to his now possibly fatherless son

My parents have a 12 foot prelit Christmas tree that Derek kindly put the very last piece on top by reaching through this gap in the railing.
He had to reach super far and when he went to go back in...his ribs would not fit through the opening.
Derek always says calm in sticky situations so when I could tell that he was seriously worried..I was SERIOUSLY worried.
Luckily Matt was finally able to pull on Derek's clothes hard enough to help him slide out.

But not before we all wondered if we should go ahead and call the fire department.

A resolution for you to try out

2010-01-01T13:33:00.004-07:00

stick with me here...

So, one of my passions is mail. Yep. Letters. But I mean REAL mail. I LOVE going to the mailbox and finding something besides a bill (or that I've just one 100,000,000,000,000,000 dollars) The day of the personal letter is fading...and I don't like it. While the internet, cellphones, texts, etc. make for quick conversation and are fabulous, there is nothing like getting a hand-written letter to catch up on someone's life.

Do you agree?

You do!?

Do you really? If you really do then accept this challenge.

Be my pen pal.

Okay so what do you have to?

Write me real letters.

and I will write back.

Let's get down to the nitty gritty (as Nacho says)

Pros:

you get real mail too

the cards will probably be pretty adorable

it gives you something to look forward to

I have the potential to be an incredible pen pal

(i say potential because Caitlin may read this and think...no you're not...but

I'd love to start up again with you Caitlin!)

Cons:

it costs 44 cents every time

it takes time to sit down and do it

So if you are interested then so am I. I don't care if we know each other super well, or barely at all, or if we don't' actually know each other. I would love one pen pal or many so if you want to become pen pals and you don't already know my address e-mail me at kcbug77@hotmail.com or leave a comment. I'll even write you first!

Oh what fun

2009-12-23T08:47:00.003-07:00

What I woke up to this morning.
Bliss

Winter Wonderland

2009-12-22T18:05:00.002-07:00

Last night was the most peaceful snow fall.

We turned on the outside lights and watched it come down and drank
cocoa and cider.

Loved it.

Pajama Party!

2009-12-22T17:40:00.003-07:00

Matt, Holly, Neils and Jax came to visit us this last weekend!

We had a p.j. party,

watched Toy Story,

went to breakfast at Darbi's,

went sledding,

went shopping,

sat in front of the fire,

chatted,

and MORE.

Thanks for coming to visit and happy happy birthday to Holly!our angel that deserves to be on the top of a Christmas tree
What I see at the end of every nap time...love it.
(i couldn't catch his full smile on camera)

the reject picture...too funny how Matt and I have the same head-tilt barbie smile.

The Weather Outside is Frightful

2009-12-08T09:46:00.002-07:00

Winter is here and we are getting so excited for Christmas with

Cooper!
I looked out the window the other day and just happened to see about 30-40 elk booking it down the golf course fairway...in the middle of the day....so crazy.

My dad says that they were actually reindeer scouting out who is naughty and who is nice:

thank goodness Cooper was being good right then.

We also got our first big storm which was cool at first until

it blew like crazy all night, kept us up,

AND

blew a tree INTO my parents living room roof...

yeah. not good.

Four month Fun

2009-12-08T09:39:00.002-07:00

Cooper is now four months old! Most people say they can't believe it but I really just feel like this is how life has always been, he is such a fun part of our lives.

He is getting easier and easier as he gets older - not as fussy and really smiley.

Cooper brings many joys including:

knowing what to do with your arms in family pictures

(do you fold them and risk looking mad or impatient? leave them straight and worry about looking like a soldier? lovingly touch your spouse and risk looking like you're at prom?)

NOPE, just cradle your child

I LOVE watching Cooper with his dad.

The only thing better than having Derek as a husband is having

Derek as a husband and having a baby that wants to grow

up to be Derek.

He doesn't look at Derek without breaking into a huge smile every time

and focuses so hard on Derek's face trying to mimic whatever he is doing.

Watching Cooper grow and learn new things is ridiculously exciting.
...except for the fact that Cooper doesn't actually appear to grow.

Pop quiz.
Put the following babies in order by age:

Answer: Cooper looks smaller than Evelyn (far right) but he is actually TWO months older than her.

He looks smaller than Jax (middle) also but Jax is ALSO TWO months younger than Cooper.

Evelyn = 2 months Jax = two months old Cooper = Four months old.

Yeah.

Cooper is in the "less than one percentile" for weight...

Jax is 100%

Other joys include learning to find our own spiritual fulfillment as it turns out that

the church halls are not as enlightening as the actual classrooms.

(I'm sure the relief society president was really impressed with me since I was taking pictures

in the hall and didn't show up to class)

Being parents is too much fun!

Quick Catch Up

2009-11-19T10:39:00.002-07:00

Here are some of November's highlights:

We visited the valley while Derek had a PT class. I got some Christmas shopping done and we got to spend time with our family!

Carson was so cute with the babies, they all just sat there and posed for us!

We've learned that Cooper has the same sweet tooth as his father.
(don't worry, this was just for pictures)

Good thing he is the cutest child in the universe...

he has been colicky/hard to put down to sleep/hard to get to stay asleep/wakes up 100 times during the night

over the last several weeks.

I am reading every sleep book there is and am hopeful I'll have him figured out in no time.

We're already making progress

It's never too early for magic!

2009-10-29T10:57:00.005-07:00

Derek is such an incredible husband. After coming home from Time Out for Women several weeks ago he surprised me with a gift. I opened it and it was the cutest mickey mouse outfit for Cooper and tickets to Disneyland!

I was so so excited as I LOVE disneyland so very much.It was so fun to be there at Halloween, the fireworks were fabulous and there were these extremely talented pumpkin carvers. Here she was working on the Queen of Hearts.

She had already finished alice.

I LOVE the monsters Inc ride

Enjoying a Dole Pineapple float - our favorite!

Jesse was so cute with Cooper!

Cooper's very first ride was the Nemo Submarines. This is so appropriate because my favorite ride as a child was the submarines and this was my first time going on it since they've re-done it.

Going to Disneyland with a 2 1/2 month old has its perks.

The parent swap program had both Derek and I on the Space Mountain in twenty minutes when regular waiting was 40.
The only down side is that we rode many of the rides solo

Cooper's first picture with Mickey!

The last time we were here my dreams really did come true!

This was right after Derek proposed to me!

Now look at us!

I am so grateful for my incredible husband who is such a selfless husband and father. He is so thoughtful and loving and I still can't believe I am married to such a perfect man who gets up so early every morning after what is usually a not so restful night and goes to work so our family can make these memories.

I loved our trip! It was such a fabulous break and I loved visiting Cullen, Jenny, Mason and Brady! We just can't get enough of California!

Football Fan?

2009-10-29T10:34:00.001-07:00

Cooper has been liking his bumbo seat. The other day Derek put him in front of the T.V. to watch a Baby Einstein video because we believe they will make him really really smart at a young age. Just Kidding (google baby Einstein recall if you're confused) He put him in front of the T.V. to help me make dinner while football was on.

A few minutes later he was like this

Poor Derek finally has someone who is supposed to like sports with him

and this is what happens

...but maybe he was just tired that night because a few days later he was all decked out in his ASU outfit getting really into it...

but it turns out that he was watching The Office, not ASU football.

So far it looks like he likes sports as much as his mother does.

Dear Dad

2009-10-28T11:10:00.004-07:00

Thank you for:

all of the hours you spend playing with me and making me smile

giving me your blue eyes, dark hair, and such handsome genes

teaching me how to be mischievous

loving me even when I'm naughty

and at the end of the day,

for being my best friend.

if I could only know how lucky I am to have you as my daddy.

C.R.F and E.L.F.

2009-10-22T10:52:00.003-07:00

Cooper's newest cousin, Evelyn joined us on Sept. 23rd!

Here Evelyn is only two days old and Cooper is 2 months old. (notice how they are the same size...) I am SO thrilled that Cooper has Evelyn and Carson to be fun little cousins that he can grow up with.

Doesn't Kendra look GREAT! She is such a pro at having children and is such a great example of being a great mother!

Chillin' like a Villiain

2009-10-22T10:36:00.003-07:00

Isn't it incredible that babies come with so much personality?

You can already tell that while Kai is the gap-model GQ type Cooper will be choosing a different sort of lifestyle... Here's our little homie in his velour suit with his "I'm a bawler" face.

Home can be a heaven on earth!

2009-10-13T08:34:00.005-07:00

Derek and I became official home owners in Show Low!

After much searching (house hunters on HGTV makes it look so fun...it is NOT) we finally found one that we loved!

The house is beautiful but has been a lot of work with needing to be painted, cleaned, and otherwise fixed up a bit

It also had way too many trees.

Here is it's former lack of curb appeal picture:
One afternoon, three chainsaws and four men later...here it is!

I can't wait for it to have grass and bushes!

Here is the scraggly back yard:

And after!

I love that Derek is so quickly becoming a mountain man!

We are so grateful for our new home and are so glad we were able to buy while the market is so favorable! We know we will be able to live here for a long time and it feels so great to be starting off our new little family in our own home.

More from the book club

2009-10-04T08:05:00.003-07:00

We are having some Internet issues so I will post pictures of our house and Cooper as soon as I can but until then...

The Book Club

A Separate Peace

Rating on a scale from 1-10...I'd say a 7.5

A very well written book with an original plot. It is set in WWII era without really being about the war which I enjoyed. (not that I don't enjoy war era books, I just like that this wasn't the main focus for this book) It earns a 7.5 for being a very interesting read but I would not really be interested in re-reading it. It would probably make a good movie though...

Next I read The Little Prince

Rating probably a 10 actually

I've read this several times but I just love this book. It is written for children and is just delightful. It is a very very quick read, makes me stop and think about appreciating things more, and I get something different out of it every time. What more could you ask for?

Great quote: "That is the hardest thing of all. It is much harder to judge yourself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself, it's because you're truly a wise man."

Currently reading Three Cups of Tea

I am finding it quite enjoyable though I can really tell that it is written by a journalist - way too fancy with the vocabulary and description at times. (not that journalists are bad writers, they just have a different style since they usually write much shorter pieces)

Next on my list: Dan Brown's new book (I forget what it is called right now...)

Happy Thoughts

2009-09-22T11:15:00.002-07:00

"Oh, it is wonderful to know that our Heavenly Father loves us - even with all our flaws! His love is such that even should we give up on ourselves, He never will"

Joseph B. Wirthlin

Book Club

2009-09-19T11:28:00.003-07:00

Welcome to my new personal book club via my blog. Hopefully I'll be able to keep this up and would love your advice and comments! I'll start by reviewing the last two books I've read.

*Note: this is designed to NOT ruin plots for people who haven't read it yet, fear not

1. The Host by Stephanie Meyer. Rating out of 10...I give it a 5.

My views: Meyer is not a particularly good writer. I also have no idea how the book is so long. The first 3/4 of the book I would actually rate at a 3 but the ending was better so it brought it up a bit. The book is too vague at the beginning, too long winded at other times, and quite predictable. I do know people who loved it but I think the biggest problem for me is that it is too science fiction-y. Elements such as the "bat planet" "claw-beasts" and names like "Fords Deep Waters" keep me from getting as involved with the story - a factor that can sway me to forgive the previous faults. If this type of story is your thing, you may love it.

*I also feel that the character's names majorly lack creativity. If I were to write a book there would be a Mrs. Virgil Grantham...now tell me that isn't more interesting that Melanie or Jared or Jamie or Ian or Kyle etc.

Overall: Not as good as Twilight, had entertaining parts, too "out there" for me.

2. The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler. Rating out of 10....I give it a 4.

My Views: I expected this book to discuss Austen's books a bit more but instead Fowler uses Austen's books as allusions throughout the book somewhat clever but also made the end predictable. There is way too much needless bad language. The plot line leaves quite a bit to be desired as well.

Redeeming lines:

"Do you still believe in happy endings?
Oh my Lord, yes...I guess I would. I've had about a hundred of them" (from a character who had rough spots in life)

Overall: Cute ending but would NOT recommend to a friend.

Currently reading:

A Separate Peace...anyone read this before?

Super Cooper!

2009-09-19T11:10:00.003-07:00

While we still get constant comments on how tiny Cooper is there are SOME parts of him that are growing.

His belly has now far surpassed the circumference of his tiny buns. His personality gets even more delightful every day.
He is my little buddy and is such a happy baby.

He is starting to look more like his Dad with his dark hair, blue eyes, and cute feet.

We just can't get enough of him!

his great-Grandmother

Grasshopper Pie

2009-09-15T21:07:00.002-07:00

Can you see anything hiding in these leaves?Take a closer look:

This crazy creature was found IN OUR BEDROOM the other day.
I heard a strange velociraptor-like noise in the middle of the night that woke me up. (I would hate for a velociraptor to eat my child) After listening for a while and not hearing anything I went back to sleep. Early in the morning I woke to Derek saying "What is this!" In a rather alarmed voice. I groggily tried to focus on what he was looking at and got up to see this giant green leaf-like creature. I then did the natural thing to do and placed a cup over him (that derek had kindly punched a breathing hole into) slid a piece of paper underneath and taped the cup to the paper to hold the bug for further questioning.

Later my mom and I took his mug shots to document his size and color then released him onto an Aspen tree which made us realize that he is perfectly designed to be camouflaged in.

also note his mouse-sized poop also pictured on the paper

So what IS this thing with velociraptor-like noises and proportions?

Well I googled "giant green leaf grasshopper thing" and found out that he is probably a Sasuma grasshopper with great capabilities:

"The largest of the grasshopper species with its remarkable leaf-like wings that serves as camouflage in a world full of predators. When the camouflage fails to work, a grasshoppers can still leap 20 times the length of its own body to aid in its escape. Amazingly, the peak acceleration force during take-off of a grasshopper jump approaches 20 G's, the same g-force would invariably squash a human."

And for only $89.29 you can buy a framed version for your own home

...very odd

Sisters, Sisters

2009-09-14T14:01:00.005-07:00

There were never such devoted sisters

When a certain gentleman arrived from Rome She wore the dress, and I stayed home

Two different faces but in tight places

We think and we act as one!

Those who've seen us know that not a thing could come between us,

many men have tried to split us up but no one can

Help the mister who comes between me and my sister!

Happy happy birthday to my best sister!

WANTED

2009-09-13T20:14:00.004-07:00

Experienced softball players to join our team

Must have good running shoes

Preferably not a sore loser

Softball moms for between inning treats provided

Blessed Event

2009-09-10T17:52:00.004-07:00

On September 6th Derek blessed Cooper. It was such a beatiful blessing and such a fun weekend. David and Kelly brought Kai to be blessed the same day so that the cousins could be blessed together. I am so glad they did! Also a set of triplets was blessed the same day...sorry Woodland Lake Ward for having you close your eyes for the first half of sacrament meeting.

I'll have to get the best picture of both of the babies together from Kelly - Kai was sick of pictures at this moment.

Cooper is such a great baby. I am so grateful for the beautiful blessing that Derek gave. He blessed Cooper that he will keep his easy going nature - he really is such a patient, loving, easy baby and I am so grateful for his sweet spirit.

5 weeks 6 days

2009-09-10T17:33:00.002-07:00

Cooper is getting old so fast! I love every minute with him.

I just uploaded almost 500 pictures onto my computer so I will be posting a lot more often (hopefully) Stay tuned for some adorable pictures!

Cooper's bedroom (unfinished version)

Trying out his new crib for a nap! This is his quilt/bed set that I made to channel my "nesting" instinct into somthing productive. I still need to finish up the window valance and get that up.

My little buddy

Cooper is staring to smile a lot. We haven't captured one on camera yet but we will!

A Quick Note

2009-09-02T18:35:00.002-07:00

I wish I was better at blogging more frequently! I'll make it a goal so then it will actually happen. Anyhow, why I haven't been blogging so well is becuase A. I had a baby. But you already new that. B. We bought an moved in to a new house. This A / B combo has meant that I spend any extra time I have trying to clean/put away stuff/ organize/ decorate/ paint / or sleep (and mostly there isn't a lot of time that is extra)
The good news: I AM getting organized/ put away/ cleaned etc etc SO I will be able to focus making goals to get things done in my real life (not moving limbo life) like blog, bake, sew, craft, journal, etc. Meanwhile I am loving my husband, baby, house, and our new DVR.

A Baby Story

2009-08-05T14:55:00.006-07:00

minutes old baby Cooper

Unfortunately this post will not end with footage of the birth like in the show but here is the story. I decided to only write it out once so you get the Flake Family Journal version...sorry!

I went in to be induced at 7:30 am. We scheduled the induction two days before when I went to my doctors appointment the day after my due date and found out that Cooper's head was still no where near being down, I was completely undilated, and I was still 50% effaced (same as the previous three weeks). I wasn't so excited about the induction and planned on saying that we'd wait as long as we could when I went to the appointment but when I heard that nothing had changed and that my doctor didn't want to let me go over a week over, I decided to go ahead and do it before the weekend so that Derek would be able to ask off less from work.

So...back to the induction. I got to the hospital, waltzed up to the brand new unit on the 4th floor and got settled into my room. Dr. Tindall was in surgery so my nurse got my IV in (actually another nurse did because she tried twice without getting it to work...needles hate my veins) So at about 9:30 Dr. Tindall induced me with a Foley catheter (puts the catheter in, tapes it to my leg, when it falls out I'm dilated to a 4) This was quite uncomfortable but much better than using gels or other chemicals in my mind, so I was happy to be doing it this way! It fell out at about 11:30 and I felt great amid my contractions so Derek and I did some laps around the hospital floors while we waited for the nurse to call the doctor. He came and broke my water at 12:37 - Derek missed this procedure as he was down in the fabulous (it really is fabulous) cafeteria getting a grilled cheese with ham and fries. Anyhow, as soon as my water broke the contractions became much more painful. I stayed in bed for the next while so they could monitor his heartbeat and tried to breath through the contractions. I got up to walk around so that his head would hopefully move down and requested that I get my epidural before too long. My nurse told me to give her plenty of notice. So she went to get my IV of fluids to walk around with but by the time she got back I was throwing up so we decided to just get back in to bed. The epidural lady (anesthetician?, anesthesiologist?) Melissa came at 3:30pm and did a FABULOUS job with my epidural. I was shaking with pain from trying to hold perfectly still in the hunched over epidural position during contractions (the epidural itself was very tolerable). Then I was SO happy, my epidural was perfect - I could feel and move my legs and feet but could only feel the pressure of my contractions. Then we hung out for the next several hours while I remained dilated to a 5 (where I was before the epidural). Then magically, before 5 and 6 I dilated to an 8, was fully effaced, and his head was in a good position....BUT he was posterior. So I got a new nurse at 6 who had been doing this for 29 years and she got Cooper to turn in only 40 minutes by having me lay on my side with an exercise ball between my legs...I love this lady for this.

At 7pm the nurse started having me push and went to get Dr. Tindall about 10 or 20 minutes before 8. At 8:02pm Cooper was born! Everything went perfectly, I loved the hospital staff, enjoyed the fabulous food, and returned home with Cooper Sunday morning at 10:30am.

So here is what we did our first day home (Monday)

Went on a walk in the Moby (thanks aunt Kelly!)

I only missed two days of walking to have Cooper...we love our walks!
Had my first bath.

and had Grandpa Reed, Travis, Kendra and Carson come to visit us! (haven't uploaded these pictures yet)

We love our Cooper Kid so much and can't believe how good he is. We are really spoiled. He is a great eater, fabulous sleeper, and hardly ever cries. I can't believe how adorable his face is!

Whew, again, sorry if that was too much info but now I can print it out, stick it in my journal, and go back to my mothering duties!

The Cooper Kid

2009-08-02T13:03:00.009-07:00

Hi Everyone, I'm Cooper. I'm doing really great and am excited to share my life through this blog with you.

P.S.- Real Men aren't afraid of Pink

Stay tuned for a fun post from Mommy with more pictures and all the details

Now go ahead and tell me how cute I am

What I would love...

2009-07-28T11:25:00.004-07:00

I would LOVE for someone to teach me how to get my list of friends and family to tell me how long it's been since they've updated. Is anyone willing to try to explain it to me? Thanks!

P.S. It's Cooper's "big day"! I keep telling him it's his day to come out...we'll see!

One day to go...I wish!

2009-07-27T12:51:00.004-07:00

So as you might have noticed my little green pregnancy girl says I only have one day to go. Don't I wish that were true! Due dates are so...what's the word? I have said July 28th probably a million times in the last nine months which sure builds things up. I know that almost all first time moms go over but it is just a bit hard at this stage.
I was thinking last night though (at about 3 am...when I got up to write thank you cards from my baby shower) it doesn't seem like that long ago that I found out I was pregnant and thought "gosh, the end of july is SO far away" now it's already here! I am so grateful for how wonderful my pregnancy has been, I have been so blessed. So I will just keep trying to entertain myself with my sewing projects for Cooper's room. (I would post them but it just seems like it would be so much better to do it when they are actually displayed in a crib...I'm done with the quilt, bumper pad, and changing table pad and cover and just need to do the valance for the windows...and perhaps a matching pillow for the rocking chair...and a few matching burp cloths with the extra fabric)

So much to be happy about BUT...

2009-07-23T13:48:00.004-07:00

Besides the fact that my child prefers to stay un-born, I have so much to be about about in my life right now.

I am so so excited about the near future where I will be able to:

be a stay at home mom,

live in our own house in the white mountains,

be able to make lunch for my husband when he comes home from work,

work on crafts,

decorate my house,

landscape the yard,

actually look at my belongings which have been in storage
...I could go on and on

BUT I realized yesterday that all of this means one terrible thing

I will have to become a spider killer.

I was going to put a picture of a real spider but after google imaging spider...it creeped me out to much so I then google imaged "plastic spider" much better.
which I really really hate but I will have no option once I have a child that could be eaten alive.
All of these wonderful things will surely make this duty worth it but I'm sure I'll have to start slowly. (which means taping a cup over the spider in it's location until my husband comes home...my sister and I invented this technique long ago which is especially useful on stink bugs which you leave under the cup until they die of natural causes/starvation and you skip the stinky part)

Looking for your Advice!

2009-07-20T17:04:00.005-07:00

Due to the very helpful nursing bra responses I've decided to ask for more advice in order to be a perfect mother from day one. (HA!)

What were you not prepared for or what surprised you when it came to labor/delivery/having a new baby?

What is your best advice for labor/delivery/having a new baby?

(example of what I am looking for: "steal as many nose-sucker bulbs from the hospital as you can, they are way better than any you can find in a store")

Thoughts from Today

2009-07-17T11:43:00.003-07:00

Everything seems a little off in my world today. Not necessarily bad - just off, I'll explain.

1. Update on Cooper - He is in the "posterior" position which means that he is facing the wrong way. This means that he may cause:

prolonged labor

a need to be induced (because his head won't come down)

a higher chance of c-section

back labor (which hurts a million times more than regular labor)

constant pain

etc.

SO, I have been trying to turn him around by crawling on my hands and knees, avoiding leaning back and I even tried sleeping on my stomach. If you would like to sympathize take a nap with a basketball that has been equipped with a back massager (to replicate his constant movement) under your stomach. The stomach sleeping did not last long but was attempted by making an extra bed of pillows on top of the bed with no extra pillows under my stomach.

2. My mom and I did some baking today. We made zucchini bread and muffins using two different recipes that we have used before. Batter #1 ended up the same consistency as cookie dough and is still in the oven...and batter #2 ended up yielding us way more than it ever has (we've used the recipe a million times) we both triple checked the recipes. #2 has ended up looking and tasting fabulous but it was just very odd.

3. I really need nursing bra advice. This is perhaps a personal matter in a public setting but welcome to pregnancy right?

Nursing bras are apparently outlawed from being sold anywhere on the mountain (except one lame style at walmart) which I find odd because this is Pinetop, not Flagstaff, we do wear bras here. SO I ordered $200 worth from JCPenney so I could try them on and send back all but the two I liked the best. I ordered them in my regular size, which was the smallest size they carry and they are ALL too big. I compared them with my regular bras and they are WAY bigger. So is there something I don't know about nursing bras? If you are small do you not need them? I figure that the purpose of a nursing bra is that you are able to feed your child without having to remove all of your clothing - making nursing in public much more accepted by society. So why don't nursing bras come smaller? Why are they so much bigger while proclaiming to be a smaller size? Does anyone have advice about this? (you can e-mail me about it at kcbug77@hotmail.com if you are not currently pregnant and wish to keep your dignity about private matters)

4. And my last thought of today. I am wanting to buy one of these styles of necklaces with graduation money from my Grandmother. I think I want to design my own with some inspiring word/words. This one is super cute but I am also thinking about "grow" with a flower or something else...any ideas? It can be more than one word. I think these necklaces are so cute.

* This adorable picture of a necklace probably appears on my blog illegally BUT to make it better I urge all of you to check out tinytokensdesigns at etsy and buy one as it will probably be one of the more fulfilling purchases you'll ever make. (free advertising)

Those are my thoughts today, I'd love to hear yours!

How time can fly!

2009-07-10T12:20:00.002-07:00

This picture was taken almost two years ago at my wedding...a few weeks ago Derek and I were able to go to Zach and Melissa's beautiful wedding. I am so happy for them and Melissa could not have looked more beautiful!

I, on the other hand, couldn't look much more pregnant! I have just a few weeks left and am counting down the days!
Currently I am enjoying activities such as:
being productive from the hours of 1-4 a.m.
making Cooper's crib set
garage sale-ing for baby stuff
making lists to remind me of all the stuff I want to get done
walking every morning to try to encourage Cooper to join us in the world

Any good advice on getting through the last weeks or encouraging Cooper to join us?

Baby Shower

2009-07-10T12:13:00.004-07:00

Kendra gave me a fabulous baby shower in Mesa. There was a beautiful spread of breakfast goodies plus a yogurt bar, such a cute idea.

I recieved so many great things and loved seeing everyone who could make it.
My mom and Grandmother even braved the heat and drove up from Pinetop and Rainie came from Anthem. My first roommate ever Michelle also drove up from Flagstaff! It was so fun to have so many people travel just for my shower!

Can't wait for my little baby boy!

Happy July!

2009-07-02T15:31:00.008-07:00

Time for some major catch up! I can't believe it's July already but I am SO glad that it is. I just can't wait for Cooper to be here and really hope that he does arrive in July!

Derek and I took a trip to California as a happy graduation / "babymoon" trip. We went to Newport Beach for the first several days and stayed with Cullen and Jenny then headed to San Deigo for a few nights to see those sights. It was a great trip and we saw so much! We did all of our favorite things which includes T.K. Burger, Jane's Corndogs, Red Mango plus did new things like get donut holes, go to Laguna, go to Balboa, and more, it was so fun!

We were walking out on the pier to Ruby's diner and saw a whole group of sea lions just playing so close, it was so cool, we've never just seen sea lions so close in like that before!

Our first stop in San Diego was the zoo of course. We were first greeted by this large peacock.

We decided to take the bus tour first to see the sights then walked around for the rest of the day. In the afternoon the Galbasini's joined us for more zoo fun.

The zoo had recently opened up their new elephant (among other things) exhibit which has an awesome area you can walk around and see the caregivers taking care of the animals. It was a really well done area of the zoo.

Derek with a camel who's hump is falling over - odd.

My two favorites were the polar bears and the hippo, with the hippo being my most favorite. He kept walking laps under water (without ever coming up) and would come right by all of the underwater veiwing part.

The next day we walked over to the USS Midway which was really enjoyable as you can tell from Derek's face above. It's a giant aircraft carrier that took us over 3 hours to tour! This is the view from the top deck. There was so much to see and it was just incredible how such a giant thing can float!
The last day we went to Mission Beach before heading home and ate a place called the Wave Yard which had the best breakfast burrito ever created that Derek was brilliant enough to order. They had a couple of those wave machines where you drop in and practice your surfing type tricks, it was really cool.

Fun trip!

On to the rest of our lives

2009-05-12T10:45:00.006-07:00

We graduated! I am so proud of and grateful for my husband. He is my hero for going to school so diligently to be a provider for our family. He has worked so hard over the past ten years to accomplish his Doctorate and I am so proud of him!

For those of you who do not know getting a doctorate means that you get to wear a cool hood/cape thing. (see above)

We are grateful to our family who traveled to come support us and watch Derek walk!

He sure looks happy to be done!

We also went to the PT ceremony/party thing where the group had one last chance to be together.

We we miss all of the friends we made in the program

It appears that Derek will REALLY miss one of his professors. (good thing Derek's not famous, this is tabloid material)
Goodbye Flagstaff, hello the rest of our lives!

Catch up from Easter

2009-05-12T10:20:00.005-07:00

Now that I'm done with school I need to do some catching up in the blogging realm.

Flash back to Easter. Derek and I dyed eggs (actually happened several days after Easter but Derek is so nice to play along with me and dye them after the fact)

Here are our two favorites.
Easter dinner was wonderful. Kelly and David came so we were able to celebrate all together.
My mom contributed a gorgeous yam casserole (and most of the rest of the food)

Kelly was thrilled to help with the salad

Grandmother did her magic with cutting the strawberries

I made a cake (this is it's good angle, it's actually leaning quite precariously)

And the boys.....added the entertainment?

It was a fun but quick weekend but luckily I have Derek who is always up for entertaining me!

I also made about 1,000 cupcakes

Which Derek quite enjoyed

Confession Time

2009-04-15T17:15:00.003-07:00

1. I must admit that our blog is so lame and white because I can't figure out how to make it have a cute design. It did have one I really liked and thought I'd just leave forever but for some reason that went away and I can't figure out how to get one back... I don't have the time, patience, or skills to figure this out. Lame I know. I feel like I should be able how to figure this out. I've followed the directions....

2. In two and a half weeks the rest of my life will start. I've been waiting to be a graduated person for my whole life and can't wait. Now I just have to get in my project that was due before spring break to make sure this whole thing really happens.

3. I'm extremely proud of Derek who has been such a hard worker in all of his internships. His CI's have been raving about him and he's excited to be Dr. Flake!

4. I'm getting rather large. Every day a new person tells me how I seem to grow before their very eyes. What a compliment! I love being able to feel him move and am grateful that I am still relatively free of any pregnancy discomforts. I feel so lucky! (knock on wood) I'll post a picture of me soon but until then I'll put up this one to remind people what REALLY big is.

I'm also grateful that this is NOT me.

Spring Break

2009-04-05T18:29:00.003-07:00

Well things are starting to change as the pregnancy progresses. Kelly and I discovered that two pregnant people can't walk through the pantry door at the same time. (this picture was taken at 21 weeks)

For Spring Break I headed to Palm Springs. Unfortunately the hospital doesn't have a spring break so Derek had to stay home and work. It was a bummer to go without him but I really needed the break from student teaching. We spent a few days seeing the sights including the beach, Sheild's Date Farm which has been around since the 1920's and features a film on the romance and sex life of the date. (really scandalous footage of date trees... the funniest part was that two old people appeared to be watching the entire movie, who watches an entire documentary on dates...)
It is great being pregnant at the same time as my sister. Everywhere we went people would say, oh my gosh are you guys sisters! and you're pregnant at the same time! how fun!

Here my Dad is a happy little clam at PGA where he was able to play golf. I realized as we drove up that this is the golf course featured on Soarin' over California where the golf ball comes up and almost hits you, I was thrilled.

I really enjoyed the beautiful plants in California soaking up the sun. (Derek texted me a picture of the blizzarding weather in Pinetop the day this was taken)

The view from the patio of our room, it was a really cool place that had been around since the 1920's as well (probably gave the date farm a run for it's money)

One of the CA highlights, the windmills, I LOVE them and took tons of pictures, I'll spare you though

I also discovered the bottle brush plant which can also be a tree, so pretty!

It was a fun trip that made returning to Pinetop weather and school quite the rude awakening.

I also missed Derek way too much and really would prefer not to go without him again.

It's a....

2009-03-15T18:32:00.004-07:00

Boy!

The ultrasound tech says he has my chin and nose.
He got sick of all of the poking and prodding and finally asked us to back off with the hand up, look away gesture.
Any suggestions on names? The only one we can both agree on so far is Cooper but we're still in the market.

I'll try to get belly pictures up soon but I really haven't taken any since the ones I've put up. I'm really disappointed in myself though because I think I'll really wish I had them to look at next time around. I will tell you that it looks like I'm smuggling a basketball.

our new side career

2009-03-11T17:19:00.001-07:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Teachable Moments

2009-03-05T17:13:00.003-07:00

So I always love reading other people's "cute comments" from their children and I decided that it would be fun to share some of my "funny student comments" to show how fun it's been being a teacher.

The first test I gave my freshman class had these instructions:

"True or False: Put a + for true and a 0 for false" (this is to keep kids from doing the artistic half "t" half "f")

4 tests came back with this for answers:

1. 0

2. a +

3. a+

4. 0

5. a +

I LOVED this. I'm sure they were thinking, man I have no idea why I should put an "a +" but I guess since true things are good they get an "a +". They took things so seriously! (notice the past tense, they're pretty over being serious now)

One student from another class had her cellphone taken away for texting while taking a test. After class she came back to see if Mrs. Peterson would give her the phone yet, when Mrs. Peterson said that school policy is two days so she'll keep it for 24 hours to be nice (which still meant getting it back the next day) the girl asks to call her mom. We innocently assume that she needs a ride home right....WRONG. So she calls up her mom and says "mom they took my phone away and won't give it back until tomorrow. Can they legally do that to me?" After about two minutes of silence the girl left the classroom with tears running down her face.

Apparently she didn't anticipate her mother thinking that this was legal

An exchange student from Norway was responding to a discussion about divorce and was explaining how she has a friend in Saudi Arabia whose husband would be required to keep paying for his wife to have a comfortable life if they were to get a divorce. Mrs. Peterson piped in to ask "well don't women have to basically just do what they're told there and stay all covered up" Ingrid says confidently " well that's what I thought but she sent me this video titled "want to know what's under my dish dosh, and whoa" (dish dosh = the covering thing they have to wear) The class of coarse lost it and now refer to anything of that nature as being under the dish dosh. (probably had to be there for this one)

There have been many more but those are all I can think of right now!

Pregnancy Predictions (with belly pics)

2009-02-19T17:02:00.005-07:00

There are only two and a half weeks left until we find out what we're having and I couldn't be more anxious to find out!

So lets have a vote! Leave a comment with your guess and lets see who is right!

(this game exempt in the state of California because I already know what Cullen thinks

and have decided that what he can "see" in the last ultrasound is bogus)

So we've been doing all sorts of tests to try to make an early guess.

We've got the classic yet ever so varied ring over the belly/wrist trick

Here we have Kelly as our control. (knows she's having a boy)

Now I don't think this test, as administered by Derek, was very accurate because he also believes this technique is equally efficient on men, which seems rather illogical as they are not the bearers of the children, AND he self administered the test to himself - very sketchy.

If men are as accurate as women then children must be as accurate as adults.

Carson was happy to give it a test. Result: inconclusive.

It was later re-done in a much more accurate style:

string tied onto a straight pin which is stuck in the center of a pencil's eraser.

My mother has always had the result of horizontal lines across her wrist her entire life.

My result was vertical lines over my wrist.

Internet sources state that in some circumstances that this would mean I'm having a boy,

other sites state that since it was not a circle, I'm having a girl.

Results: unsure due to conflicting information.

Other internet indicators:

Heartbeat is 155 - girl

dry skin - boy

my combined age at time of conception and the month of conception are an odd number when added together - girl

prone to headaches - boy

I have acne - girl

not much morning sickness - boy

when asked to present my hands I put them palm up - girl

and my feet reached the threshold of ability to get cold way before I ever thought about getting pregnant so that test is inconclusive.

So now that you can make a highly educated guess - go cast your vote!

Onto the next question:

Teacher Moment

Pop Quiz:

What do these three people have in common?

(Freshman answer)

they're all girls

(Senior Smarty-pants Answer)

they are all Flakes (Bridget by maiden name)
(Real Answer)

They're all pregnant!

Yay! Kendra announced that she's pregnant via Caron's shirt at Carson's birthday party and Bridget (Bup really) announced it a week earlier at dinner! I can't wait for my kid to have close cousins on both sides of the family!

Here is what we look like now:

This is what we will look like:

(pushing out our bellies - which I've always had a great aptitude for)

I must say that pregnancy is treating me pretty well. I do have headaches here and there,

mega tiredness, etc. but have been blessed with few other problems.

I have heard a lot about husbands suddenly suffering from the same pains as their pregnant counter-parts. Symptoms include aches, pains, weight gain, etc. While Derek hasn't had these problems he does seem to have acquired the belly!

(try-on belly at Motherhood)

Here is the official 15 week picture. The pink shirt ones above with the sister-in-laws is 16 and let me tell you....week 17 (which doesn't have a picture) puts those ones to shame.

Away in Dreamland

2009-02-04T17:45:00.002-07:00

I hope to be posting a belly picture soon but yesterday's attempt at 15 weeks ended up not coming out so well. I'll try again today when Derek gets home. Anyhow what I've really been enjoying so far is that student teaching really keeps my mind off of being pregnant which is great because I get so excited about things like this that the time passes SO slowly. So, instead of counting off how many days I am pregnant I have a hard time remembering how many weeks along I am.

Another enjoyable aspect of my pregnancy are my very vivid dreams which I remember in great detail each day.

Here's last night's adventure:

So I was at school teaching when someone came and told a few of us to come up to the library. As we got to the library we learned that a nuclear bomb was being set off. The 30ish of us that were asked to the library were asked to sit down while this man explained what was going on. He calmly told us that the world was being cleansed of everyone who did not have a super power and that why we were asked here is because we each had a power. He then pointed to each of us randomly and told us about our powers (some already knew, I personally had no idea) The only other person I recognized was a student from my class who was able to fly. (he was excited to hear about this today in class) I was told that my power was the ability to know when people were lying or telling the truth, which I really didn't' think was that great of a power in a world of all super heroes that, if upset, could easily crush my fragile body with their super strength or laser beam my arms off.

Anyone care to interpret?

Scary Visit with the doc

2009-01-18T14:29:00.005-07:00

I went to the doctor on wednesday which turned out to be quite the visit. Firstly, I sat in the waiting room for over an hour while I watched many people come in, sit down, get called in to see the doctor, and leave...all while I sat there. Finally when I'm the only one in the waiting room they ask me if I'm Kacie, I say that I am and they ask if I had left. I told them no but had noticed that they had called for a "christy" that never responded. I wondered if someone just didn't look at the name closely enough before calling for the person but after hearing 10 names called I figured that there was a very good chance that someone named Christy could be stuffed in the waiting room with all of the rest of us. Anyhow, they said "OHHhhh" then left for another 10 min. Scare #1 Will I ever see the doctor?
Sidenote: This ENTIRE time I have to pee so badly but don't want to go because my little pregnancy book said that I'd probably have a urine sample so I didn't want to go right before I get in the room then can't go on command. To Much information? Sorry, it comes in to play in a second. Scare #2 Will I ever get to pee?
So then I sit down, wait for a minute and the dr. comes in and has me lay down to see how big my uterus is. He says, whoa, you may be having twins! I blurt out "I hope not" which I quickly realize was very ungrateful to say but to be honest yes, I'd rather not start with two at once.
Scare #3 I'm having two twins (again, not THAT bad of a scare but still, kinda scary) Then I explain that I am about to pee my pants and he quickly tells me to use the bathroom then comes back and tells me that I feel much more normal.
Next the nurse comes in with her microphone thing to hear the baby's heartbeat. Well after 10 minutes of listening to what sounds like a rather windy day inside me, she starts asking if I've had any complications. Scare #4 I'm NOT having twins, instead I'm not even having A child.
Enter the scene from Marley and Me where Jennifer and Owen are excitedly having their first ultrasound at 10 weeks and there is no heartbeat. They go home heartbroken.
So then I start to focus as hard as I can on not prematurely starting to cry while the nurse's eyebrows furrow more and more.
I stay really brave and they take me to to ultrasound room right away and give me an actual ultrasound to see whats up and finally, there is my baby wiggling all over on the screen (which is why the microphone thingy couldn't pick it up) So I get an early ultrasound and even got to take home 4D pictures already! Pretty nice perk for having my own heart stop beating.
Here's the proof that someone's in there!

Big updates!

2009-01-11T18:30:00.003-07:00

It's been way too long since I've blogged! Derek keeps asking me when I'm going to update it and I keep asking him when he'd like to start contributing to it more. Anyways, I am so sorry for being absent from the cyber world. How can I make it up to you all? With some really big news you say? Okay.
I'm pregnant!
I'm due July 28th, am almost done with morning sickness and got through it without ever throwing up! yay! We're so excited!

Other updates include us moving to Pinetop before Christmas. It was sad to move but I've already started teaching and love it so far (only been three days). Maybe I'll go into more detail later but until then...I have some lesson plans to work on!

Weekend Fun

2008-11-23T18:47:00.009-07:00

Warning: This is not a post about Twilight, though I did see it and like it. Sorry to dissapoint. If you have any interest in the Flinstones, tourist traps, or the wonders of the world, stay tuned.

Welcome to Bedrock City, the most incredible tourist trap I have ever experienced.

Here is an artist depiction of the fun you are about to enjoy.

For only $4 a person Derek and I enjoyed all of what you see here. As the lady at the entrance said "it is the off season so it's only $4 but the train is not running. It is still very interesting though, even without the train" I thought "interesting" was a hilarious choice of words and knew that this was a must see - train or no train.
Tada! Can you believe that we were the ONLY people here?

Derek gained a bit of weight but fit right in!

I seemed to have lost weight a lot of weight without compromising the roundness of my hips...

Here we have Fred's house. A self led tour of his house was included in the price, just as advertised.

Inside the dentist office. Dangerous.

Derek peeking out of the Jail

Picking up some mail at the...

Post Office

The creepiest part:

Hair Salon

Absolutely strange bone hair styles...really strange.

The local market, today's special: cactus juice

Also included in the advertised price: picture with Fred. Check.

An unexpected surprise: The Goatasaurus

very rare

As a side note, we also went to the Grand Canyon. You didn't think that I was suggesting that Bedrock City was a wonder of the world did you?

It was, as expected, grand.

Here is a depiction of what you are about to enjoy:

The price for this view $25. I thought that this was a lot of money for something that belongs to God, who would never charge me $25.

Pack mules which are cool becuase no one has ever fallen in the canyon while riding a mule (a lot have fallen in who were not) but are not cool becuase if you are a bystander you are supposed to stand against a wall and hold still "becuase they bite you when they smell food". Though, you know, I don't know if I believe this. This warning was posted on signs but really, I think they just don't want to deal with people. After all they are mules, not blood thirsty tigers, and if they're so hungry, why dont' they just feed them more often and let people pet them?

For $25 a petting zoo should be included

The train (to make up for the lack of one at Bedrock City)

So that's it! The next time you have an extra $25 (+ $4 per person for Bedrock city) I suggest going to the Grand Canyon. The next time you have and extra 1,000 lbs. of plaster, I suggest creating a replica of a famous cartoon city - complete with train.

Wedding Flowers

2008-11-05T14:49:00.003-07:00

My friend Michaela Judd recently hired me to do to the flowers for her wedding. I was so excited to do this for her and loved the colors she chose. Her theme was fall and her colors were pretty much any fall colors. Here are some pictures of how they turned out.

This is the bride's bouquet. I loved the wheat in it. This is the top view of it

This was the bouquet for her 5 year old daughter.

These are the corsages for the mothers and grandmothers

side view:

These are the boutineers:

side view:

I had a blast doing this so if you know anyone

who is getting married and wants

professional looking flowers for cheap - let me know!

I love your blog award - thanks Krista!

2008-10-30T17:25:00.002-07:00

Krista has given me the "I love your blog award" - how fun! The rules are that I have to write down the first word that comes to my mind for each number.

1. 1. Where is your cell phone? nearby
2. Where is your significant other? work
3. Your hair color? brown
4. Your mother? incredible
5. Your father? dedicated
6. Your favorite thing? Derek
7. Your dream last night? forgotten
8. Your dream/goal? family
9. The room you're in? living (as in room)

10.Your hobby? crafts
11. Your fear? derek dying (had two have two words)

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? House
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you're not? tall
15. One of your wish-list items? time
16. Where you grew up? Pinetop
17. The last thing you ate? grapes (of the frozen variety)
18. What are you wearing? pj's
19. Your TV? On
20. Your pet? Buzly - p.s. I re-named Krista's fish
21. Your computer? appreciated
22. Your mood? happy
23. Missing someone? Derek

24. Your car? honda
25. Something you're not wearing? toga
26. Favorite store? eh...
27. Your summer? lovin'
28. Love someone? Derek
29. Your favorite color? red
30. When is the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? forget

I pass this "I love your blog award" to:

Kelly and Kendra

What do you say we leave for California?

2008-10-28T15:20:00.004-07:00

Derek and I met up with Eric and Ny to head to California for our yearly visit our favorite Hunnington and Newport spots.

Our first stop was Knott's Berry Farm where we rode the new "Pony Express" which just so happened to be my favorite ride. You sit on a "horse" that keeps you leaning forward as you go through the rollercoaster. I thought it was great and made everyone stay on to take another ride.

Here is PROOF that Derek went on Supreme Scream, an effort that Cullen has been making for years. I would have gone but had we just gone on Ghostrider, which was the worst decision I have made in years, and resulted in my brain getting wrecked.

Here's the crew on Perilous Plunge, you can mostly see Eric and Ny in the thirdish row but part of Derek's face is visible behind the huge splash. I am not visible in the picture but had the driest pants and provided this incredible photo ;)

We visited all of our favorite spots to eat including Jane's Corndogs, TK Burger and Orignal Pizza. We added to those favorites The Crab Cooker, and The Red Mango which has the BEST SMOOTHIES in the WORLD. I've already told Derek that from this time forward if he EVER sees a Red Mango to just pull over no matter what the situation, I suggest that you do the same.

Below we are at our favorite spot to watch dudes with ocean tricks and boats - the wedge.

It was so refreshing to take a short trip to get out of Arizona and see the sights.

Our sights included :

Scuba Steve and the Scuba Squad

which are here seen departing for an underwater adventure at

about five at night.

Their destination? As far as we could tell the only thing worth scuba-ing would be

Poop Rock, currently inhabited by 58 Seagulls.

We also drove around looking for the Cohen's house but ened up finding the most creative

use of shingles I have ever seen.

I'm guessing it's a whale's head?

We did, of course, see some fabulous sunsets, two weddings, and a million palm trees.

The trip was short but we got in some great rollercoaster riding, fabulous shopping, incredible eating, and beatiful sight seeing.

Until next year...