Fun Times in Cali

Well we got back from California this morning. It was a busy couple of days but well worth it. We got in Thursday night and immediately Aaron, Juliet and Kingston took us to dinner at The Islands restaurant. It was really good food. Afterwards we went to this really fun yogurt place in the mall called Yogurt Land. It was such a fun place-you grabbed your tub (literally) and filled it with whatever kinds of yogurt you like. The dispensers were like the soft serve ice cream machines-then you put whatever topping you could possibly imagine i.e. fruit, cereal, candy, etc.. took it up to the scale, had it weighed (it costs .30 cents an ounce) and that's it. Totally fun! We went a few times:) We went to the temple on Friday and had a really good time there going through with family. Afterwards we went to the beach and chilled for a little while before heading to the mall and having dinner at Panera's. All in all it was a fun trip but I am glad to be back home with my boys. It will be nice sleeping in my own bed tonight. Thanks for all the fun memories, Juliet, Aaron, Kingston, Lisa and Mercedes. I love you all!

I GOT IT!

Well it finally came-my provisional acceptance into the BYU Bachelor of General Studies program. I just have to complete one course now (before July 1) and then I will hopefully get my formal acceptance. I'm excited to finally be getting back into BYU after 10 years!!! Hope I can do as well as I would like too! It will be a lot different now that I have 4 kids in tow:) but I'm up for the challenge. Yeah me:)

We have a walker

I took this video the other day when the boys were playing. Cody had just got a birthday present from my friend April-A superman mask and cape. Cody was sure proud of it, but it scared the baby so he wouldn't take any steps. He's walking pretty good now. I tried to catch him walking, but really only got him standing and falling. If my video didn't take so long to load I would try to do another one. Oh well, I guess you'll all see him walking in person soon anyways.

Everyone's Enlightened

Lately after I'm done running on the treadmill in the mornings I'll read a few chapters in this self help book I acquired. It's called, "Don't Sweat The Small Stuff..and it's all small stuff". This is one of the best little books I've read in a long time. It's always giving ideas to work on and how to be a better person. Simple little things that if applied can help in ones daily life. I wanted to share one of the chapters I read recently b/c I thought it was a really cool way to look at things and to help (at least me anyways) look at situations differently without getting annoyed or "stressed out".
"Imagine that Everyone Is Enlightened Except You"-As the title suggests, the idea is to imagine that everyone you know and everyone you meet is perfectly enlightened. That is, everyone except you! The people you meet are all here to teach you something. Perhaps the obnoxious driver or disrespectful teenager is here to teach you about patience, the punk rocker might be here to teach you to be less judgmental.
Your job is to try to determine what the people in your ife are trying to teach you. You'll find that if you do this, you'll be far less annoyed, bothered, and frustrated by the actions and imperfections of other people. You can actually get yourself in the habit of approaching life in this manner and ,if you do, you'll be glad you did. Often, once you discover what someone is trying to teach you, it's easy to let go of your frustration. For example, suppose you're in the post office and the postal clerk appears to be intentionally moving slowly. Rather than feeling frustrated, ask yourself the question, "What is he trying to teach me?" Maybe you need to learn about compassion-how hard it would be to have a job that you don't like. Or perhaps you could learn a little more about being patient. Standing in line is an excellent opportunity to break your habit of feeling impatient.
You may be surprised at how fun and easy this is. All you're really doing is changing your perception from "Why are they doing this?" to "What are they trying to teach me?" Take a look around today at all the enlightened people.

Cody is 5!

We had a little birthday for Cody this afternoon. He wanted a Spiderman theme so we bought a few things from party city and made pizza and spider juice. He was so excited for his birthday to come for a couple of different reasons-the main reason being that now since he's 5 he can start kindergarten in the fall. Everyday he would have me tell him how many days were left on the countdown (the one on this blog) so that he would know when it was his birthday. He was even more excited when I told him that his birthday lasted all day. Well needless to say he had a great time and was very exhausted by the time bedtime rolled around-he even fell asleep with a couple of presents in hand.

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Special Mail

The boys got a Valentine package yesterday from Grandpa and Grandma Cooper and they were excited to eat their goodies;) Dallas also had a fun day at school with his valentine party they had. He's proudly displaying his valentine box he made. Dallas also wrote two really nice poems about his family and love that I will try and post later.

The Back Fence

We got this story in the Elder's Quorum Newsletter today and as I was reading the story it really touched me and so I wanted to share it-you may have heard it before but please bear with me.
"There was a little boy with a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, to hammer a nail in the fence.
"By the end of the first day the boy had drvien 37 nails into the fence. Over time, the boy deccided it was easier to hold his tmeper than to drive nails into fence posts.
"Finally, a day came when the boy didn't lose his temper. When he told his father, he congratulted him, and told the boy to pull out one nail each day he didn't lose his tmeper. Weeks passed and one day the young boy told his father that all the nails were done. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence.
"You have done well, my son, but look at the holes. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave scars just like these. A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one." -Anonymous

I liked this analogy very much and hope that I can be more thoughtful and mindful as to not leave holes in anyone else's fence. I have been the fence before and it does hold true-verbal wounds do not heal and I think, as in my case, they are not easily forgotten. Words can hurt very much and I hope that I can teach my kids to be mindful of the things they say so they don't hurt anyone's feelings. We need to be friendly and Christ-like to all we meet and in all we do.

Mutton Chops

So I came home today from a baptism this morning in Graham and this is what my husband looked like:)

Museum Of Flight

Last night we went to the Museum of Flight with the boys. The 1st Thursday of each month from 5-9 p.m. admission is free so I thought it would be a fun activity to take the kids to. Mike has played a couple of gigs there and always comes back excited so last night we finally made it there. Mike's dad came with us which made it extra fun. Lots of walking but really neat. We will definitely be going back there again!

Extreme Old Age

Today we went over and had our monthly FHE with the family out at mom, dad and Tam's house. Mike gave a real good lesson on being reverent and respectful at church, school, home, etc. Afterwards Lisa used some of her new found skills from one of her classes at EOU to make me look like an old woman. It is suppose to be used in an onstage setting in particular. The whole process didn't seem to take too long and I rather enjoyed just having to sit there and get played with:) The hardest part I think was when I had to puff out my cheeks and upper chin to get the "wrinkly" effect. My lips were quivering so bad and I did start to feel like I was drooling but couldn't move to stop it for fear of my puffed cheeks deflating:) My neck turned out really good but unfortunately I didn't get any close ups of that. I had a lot of fun though and hope Lisa gets a really good grade in her class!

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