:: Halloween Party @ the Allsops ::

{rodeo clown, rodeo queen & cowboy}

We had another successful Halloween party! Char and I are quite the party planners. :) The party was held at Ben and Char's beautiful home. Maybe one day I'll have a home....{in 15 years} To begin, we had such a yummy dinner! Chicken Tortilla soup in bread bowls, salads and homemade root beer. We partied hardy with some fun games this year....

First off, the doughnut eating contest.

RULES: You have 60 seconds to eat as much of the doughnut but keep it on the string.

The women dominated this game, by the way.

Homemade rootbeer by Ben Allsop a.k.a. Steve Young

The candle blow out game. Whoever could blow out the candle from furthest away won.

We had a candy guessing game. Whoever was closest to the amount of candies in a jar won a prize.

We decorated, ate and very much enjoyed cupcakes made by Char.

Cohen Kitchen :: Troy Allsop :: Noah Paulson

 The Hillbillies & Pea Pod :: Braden, Mandy & Brightyn Boyer

  Scarecrow, Lion & Steve Young :: Ben, Char & Troy Allsop

 The ABC's :: Rich, Rachel & Noah Poulson

The Covey's :: Steven, Emily & Steven

Happen Halloween!

:: Halloween on Campus ::

 YEE HAW!

My cute litte cowboy and I went to a kids party at BYU. Laura and Abs joined us and it was CRAZY! SO many little kids, you can only imagine. There were very few games and things for the little ones, like Cohen, to do so we were in, out and on our way home.

Perfect amount of time for us mommies.

 Did a little people watching, won a duck, and played the rings game.

 Fishing at the pond.

Co thought it was SO SO cool that he could play a game to win a treat. His face expression prooves that.

:: good thing he's cute ::

 I have a story to tell.

Yesterday was quite the day. It was a semi-decent day, but I just felt hurried all day, and I shouldn't have been. I did a haircut in the morning, cleaned the house, did some laundry, then met my good friend Aubree for lunch at the wonderful Zupas. Some stressful things came up, but all in all it was an ok day.

Other than the "POOP" incident.

Lunch was great. Aubree is great. The food was GREAT.

When we were getting ready to leave I smelt poop. Zupas is just down the road a few minutes from our house so at first I thought I'll just stick Co in the car, we'll zip right home and change him. Well, I got to the car and felt a VERY full diaper. So I thought I would just change him in the backseat which I've done plenty of times. BAD IDEA.

Right as I open the diaper Cohen grabs his poop, it's all over his hand and dripping off everywhere, he wipes in down the seat, down his leg, and then grabs a play wooden spoon that was by him. All this was happening while I was holding his kicking legs and ripping more wipes out. I got his bum fairly clean when I grabbed the diaper and set it on the ground. As I'm finishing cleaning him up from head to toe in poop he decides it's funny to kick both legs as fast as he can. Trying my hardest not to get more poop on the seat of the car, I'm holing on to him for dear life, not paying attention to the diaper on the ground and I STEP in the poopy diaper. Now my shoe was COVERED in poop. Very stinky poop. GROSS! I'm gagging at this point thinking "why did you not just wait til you got home to change him?". But then again, who knows what would have happened if Cohen would have sat on all the poop in his carseat. YUCK.

I think it was an "11 wiper" diaper change.

 Good thing he's cute!

 {random pictures cause I was not about to take poopy pictures}

:: first comes Fall, then comes Winter ::

 It's time to get the warm clothes out!

Fall is beginning to leave us, and I don't like it.

Fall in Provo has made me fall in love with it,

and has become my FAVORITE season of the year.

This will be my last 'Fall' living in Provo,

so I'm milking it for all it's worth.

 Yesterday we played outside for the first time in our snow coat and hat. Cohen's little hands were ice cubes by the time we went inside. It doesn't even phase him to be so cold. 

He loves being out in nature. Period.

We are still trying to enjoy every minute we have outside with no snow.

I feel the snow coming, soon.

Ready or not Melissa, here it comes!

:: the place that I call home ::

 We went to my beautiful home town of St. George, again. I love s.g. trips. You may have already caught onto that. I may be a little bias, but I can promise you one thing....if you go live in s.g. for no more than one year {so you can witness each season} you will be hooked. You will fall in love. You won't be able to leave - EVER.

 {Co watching the fish in my parents pond}

 Lots of swinging + lots of playing hard = good naps and night time sleeping for Cohen = happy mommy

 We played every kind of ball, played guns with Kai, cars with Corby...

 And had yummy treats the WHOLE weekend.

 {taking a play break for a popsicle - do you think these cousins are watching a movie? I think yes.} 

 Playing golf with Daddy. Cohen is drawn to golf balls. Not the fake ones, only the real ones. My parents have just about every kind of ball in their backyard and Cohen only wanted to play with the real golf balls. Maybe I have a future golfer on the hands....

 Or maybe the next Michael Jordan...

 Possibly a mini Babe Ruth. He's all boy that's for sure.

How cute is Nana K?! Playing a little baseball in her dress even.

 We had a surprise CONGRATULATIONS party for my sweetheart for getting accepted to Medical school. I went to St. George a day earlier than him, so when he got into town we had a party waiting.

 {My beautiful sister-in-law Jenna and I}

 {playing some crazy basketball with Daddy and Uncle Josh}

 THE REASON WE MADE THE TRIP.

My mighty, manly, hunter shot us a deer.

Yuck, but yay!

I'm sure this will be his last hunting trip for quite some time, and it was a successful one.

Way to go Brock! Now let's hope I can cook and eat the meat. Yucky.

 Two of my good friends from high school came and played one morning with their sweet babes.

Wish we had more time to play! One day....

 Ty Partridge : : Aubree Wiest : : Cohen Kitchen

We wore him out AGAIN.

He was sleeping before we made it to the freeway.

It never fails. St. George is just way too much fun.

We love our families so very much.

I just can't think about possibly moving far away from them. Blah.

One day - We will get to see them on a daily basis when we live in the beautiful town that I call home...

St. George, Utah.

:: boo-boo's ::

 Wowzers.

This little boy just can't stay on his feet. Bless his heart. These pics do not do justice. The day after I took them face planted it on the cement outside and got two more golf ball size bruises on his forehead.

I hate seeing him hurt.

BUT...

On a positive note, many other parents and grandparents have looked at him and have said "oh I remember when my kids were in the stage". That made me feel a little better, like I wasn't the WORST mommy in the entire world.

He's one tough cookie.

"IF" he cries when he falls, it's only for a short moment.

:: if you need us we'll be at the OPERA ::

  

We went to the opera.

It was actually Brock's idea.

We went to support a couple that Brock home-teaches in our ward who had a big role in the show. 
 They did AWESOME! Lacey was the most funny role in the show and her voice is beyond great.

We are NOT really the OPERA type.

Don't get me wrong - I think it is absolutely PHENOMENAL what those people can do with their voices, while acting at the same time.

BUT...

It was 3 hours long.

Every song was in German.

I was sleepy to begin with.

It was probably 50 degrees in the theater.

Nonetheless, it was a great date night.

Maybe because of the photo shoot we had....

 {And here is probably the best picture of the night..

my new skirt from Gap that I love.}

:: why so much happiness? ::

 {Cohen grabbing his nose like the little boy in his book}

I love being happy.

I love good days.

And especially I love when my whole little family is happy.

We are really happy.

Why you may ask??

Drum roll please.............

BROCK GOT ACCEPTED TO MEDICAL SCHOOL!

WOO! Wow. What a relief. 

Him and I have been on an emotional roller coaster since he got the phone call. We are HAPPY, relieved, excited, anxious, and a lot of NERVOUS feelings on my part.

He has been accepted to Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, in Fort Worth, Texas. Just outside of Dallas.

YIKES.

It's starting to sink in. I could pack up and move my family to TEXAS in less than a year. {big knots in my stomach as we speak}

What a blessing to know we at least have ONE option for med school and don't have to apply next year. He is waiting to go to another interview and see if he receives others.

Pray for me.

Pray that I can be tough and have faith 

to go down the right path that is meant for us.

I'm still HAPPY. Just a lot of "scared" of the unknown.

Change is good right? RIGHT. It helps you grown.
{trying to think positively}

 {my boys reading books before bedtime}

I am SO proud of Brock. This is what he has been working towards for 3 1/2 years. He deserves it, and will become an amazing doctor.

Watch out world.......Dr. Brock Kitchen is on his way!

{ok, maybe in about 8 years, but still.}

I am happy.

And I love it.

:: 16 months ::

 Cohen is 16 months today.

What's new with Cohen... 

• he is Mr. Independent in every way possible. He wants to eat everything with a fork and drink out of a glass cup like mom and dad. He is pretty good at it.
• loves throwing his diaper away after every diaper change. {I love this new trick}
• LOVES LOVES LOVES airplanes. He will point to one in the sky while making an 'O' shape with his mouth and whispering an 'O' sound. He can hear one in the sky from inside the house.
• loves sticks, rocks, and especially loves all the acorns on the ground outside our house. His cup holder in his carseat is full of them, as well as the pair of pants he's wearing now.
• he now says "Bless You" when someone sneezes {I've been working hard on this one} It's more like "bets ew" but it's so very sweet. 
• Co now has 12 pretty, white teeth. {all 4 molars are all the way in}
• He is getting longer white leg hairs. So cute! He's turning into a big boy.
• Knows MANY animal sounds {dog, cat, monkey, elephant, duck, chicken, pig} He will also say "Yee Haw" when asked what a cowboy says, and he'll make an airplane-in-the-sky sound when asked what sound an airplane makes.
• When counting, he still just says 2 and 3. I'm working on counting 1 to 5.
• He doesn't say the ABC's quite yet, but he makes his own letter sounds while singing the tune. {one of my favorite things he does}

 {taking a stab at the mac}

{The 'O' face}