Merry Christmas!

                      Cooper telling Santa he wants a big crane for Christmas. 

This year we spent Christmas in Nampa, Idaho.  Cooper liked to push Amariah in the basket.
                                           

He spent most of the time as 'naked boy'.  He likes to be naked boy so he can run fast like the wind. 

He is so nice to give his cousin a ride.

Grammy Terry gives the best hair cuts.  Cooper was a little wiggly this time.

 

Cooper helping make sugar cookies.  What a good little helper he was.  He absolutely hated getting his hands dirty.

Daddy testing out the dough as he's rolling it.

The finished product. They were delicious!

                                                
                                               Cooper and Aunt Erin.

Cooper playing with his 'weed whacker' light saber.

Posing for the camera with his apron on.  Such a great helper in the kitchen.

Uncle Micky, Aunt Erin, and cousin Amariah.

Paul's family opens presents on Christmas Eve because when he was little he just couldn't wait until morning.  I can't believe his parents gave in so easily. So we ended up telling Cooper that Santa came to Grammy and Grampy's house before we got there. 
We arrived in Nampa a few days before Christmas and only a few times Cooper asked to open presents. 

Amariah opening her first present.  A musical tea party set.  I think she loved it!  Cooper kept a close eye on all the presents she opened to see if it was something he wanted to play with.

Cooper loved to help pass out the presents, even if they weren't for him.

Cooper finally got a chance to play with the tea set while Amariah wasn't looking.

Cooper helping daddy open a present. 

Taking a picture with his new camera.

                                    

Amariah showing off her cute new outfit.

More pictures from our new found photographer.

Me finally getting a turn to open a present or two. But not without Cooper's help of course.

More present opening.

The bag is the best part!  Tastes good too.

Testing out more of Amariah's toys.

Cooper doing the happy excited dance after opening his toy cement truck from Grandpa Ed.

The most awesome cement truck ever.
                                                

And we can't forget about the pretty dog. 

Opening his big crane from Santa.

This year Cooper was very excited about baby Jesus's birthday.  And of course as Cooper knows it all birthday celebrations must have a cake with a candle to blow out.  So that's just what we did.  Grammy Terry made an apple pie and we put a candle in it and sang happy birthday to baby Jesus.  I think I'm going to like this new tradition.  Leave it to my 3 year old to come up with a great idea!

More naked boy taking pictures and playing with his new Hot Wheels race track.

Cooper posing for a picture.

Jaybez jumping over Cooper instead of the stick.

Wow!  The car is not even touching the track.  I think Paul had more fun playing with this than Cooper did.

Cooper discovered that Grammy had a cool vacuum to play with.  He asked to play with it 3 days in a row.  Wish he was like that at home.

This was Cooper's other favorite activity.  Running up and down the long hallway with no clothes on so he could run fast like the wind.

                                               

One time he convinced Grammy to run with him.  I think Grammy Ed had a turn too.

Playing the piano and singing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer with Amariah.

Cute Amariah learning to walk.

Giving Jaybez her daily treats.

We spent a whole week in Nampa and had a great time. Thanks to the Burnett family for a wonderful Christmas!

Cooper's 3rd Birthday Party

In October Cooper turned three years old.  Most of all of our family was able to come down to UT to celebrate Cooper's 3rd birthday.  Grammy Rachel was thoughtful enough to make Cooper a Mickey Mouse costume for Halloween.

 

We found a Mickey Mouse balloon that was perfect for the party.

 

Friday morning all the boys went fishing.  This was Cooper's idea of fishing, eating chips and throwing rocks.

I am so thankful that the weather was beautiful outside.   Cooper has been riding his bike a lot and finally learned to pedal on his own!

 Cooper has recently discovered Frisbee throwing.  He needs a little more practice at throwing.

 Erin and I decorating Cooper's Mickey Mouse cake. 

 Not quite sure what Grammy Terry is doing here.  I think Cooper is wondering the same thing.

 Mickey Mouse!  Turned out pretty cute!

 Gotta lick the frosting!  It's the best part.

 

Auntie Erin holding naked boy.  

Before the party Cooper decided he wanted to play some football.  Everyone had so much fun!

 Cooper almost caught the ball.

 What a great smile!

 And of course, he had to drive around in Monroe's jeep.  It was so nice of her to let him drive.

 Opening presents.  Cooper was so excited. We should have saved this present for last because it's all he wanted to play with.


Loves his Mickey Mouse rocket!

 He's not too sure about the books, but mom and dad enjoyed reading them.

 New big boy underwear on his head!  At least it's getting some use and staying clean.

 For Cooper's birthday dinner we decided to make sushi.  Cooper loves sushi!  Making sushi takes a long time but apparently it's worth the wait.

 The master sushi maker cutting the roles.

 Cooper was so very excited that Papi and Loretta came to eat dinner with us and have cake.

 Cooper is so silly playing with his chopsticks.

 Yummy!

 Here we are eating our sushi and steak for those of us who aren't crazy about sushi.  Although, I do have to say I did eat a few pieces and actually enjoyed them.

 More fun playing with his chopsticks!

 Yay!  Time to eat cake.  I think we sang and blew out the candles at least three times. 

 

Blowing out the candles is Cooper's favorite part.

 Cooper enjoyed playing on my iPad and making funny faces.

 Later that weekend my family went to Black Island Farms to pick pumpkins.  Cooper enjoyed the hayride, as did Mickey Mouse. 

 He wasn't quite sure what about getting a pumpkin.

 Cooper wanted to pick one that he could hold all by himself.  And he could, at least while sitting down.

 The family posing for a picture.

 What cute pumpkins we all make.

 These are some scary looking pumpkin faces!

Cooper loved going down the slide.  He even wanted to go down the big tunnel slide but  mom and dad were a little scared so, maybe next year.

 Watch out daddy and Cooper for the attack of Uncle Craig!

 Sliding down backwards is the best.  Cooper only did this because he saw other kids doing it.

 Well this looks like fun.  I think Aunt Olga needs a little help getting down.

 Cooper loved riding the train.  I think we rode it about three times.

 He also loved playing the drums and singing the ABC's.  I'm sure someday he will start his own band.

 After, we went to MacCools (Irish pub house) for dinner.  We'd never been there before and what a great place it is.  I'm glad they have one in Ogden too.  Can't wait to go there again.
 

What a cute picture of Craig and Olga.

 Cooper was a well behaved little boy.
At the end of our evening Paul discovered that the harmonic balancer (crank shaft pulley) was broken on our Subaru had come loose and was wobbling.  Luckily once he figured out what was wrong it only took a few minutes the next day to fix it.  I'm so glad that Paul is a very handy guy!  He's a very talented man and can do just about anything!    

To end our birthday weekend we took a family picture with all of our pumpkins.  We had forgotten to take a picture with the Burnett family before they left but maybe there is a way Paul could photo shop them in.  Thanks everyone for traveling to UT to celebrate Cooper's birthday.