:: Sunday with Garzas ::

Our best friends Reed, Melissa & Brooklyn Garza came over for Sunday dinner. We had a blast! One of my favorite things about our friendship is whenever we get together it's like we see each other daily, and we can talk for HOURS. We put the babies to bed and pulled a late night, well latER night and talked each other's ears off. We now only live about 40 mins away from them. YAY! Now we just need to work on getting the Allsops to move out here to TX for at least 4 years while we're here.

 These two little love birds had a great time together. They shared toys and by the end of the night Cohen was saying "Brookwyn" a lot, wanting her attention always. What sweet friends. I have a feeling they will be VERY good friends. 

Maybe even lovers one day if I have anything to do with it....

Cohen wanted to show Brooklyn "the dog". Sweet Brock lifts Co up over the fence multiple times a day to see the HUGE dog that lives next door. He's sort of a barker dog, but it's a very deep bark which isn't bad, also he doesn't bark all night long or anything too terrible. The big dog makes us feel safe in a way. He barks at any sound of an intruder around. Good dog.

WE LOVE THE GARZAS!

And just can't get enough of them.

We look up to them more than they'll ever know.

How blessed we are to have such great friends.

:: THE FORT ::

 A fort for Family night.

WHAT A HIT.

Cohen was in heaven.

We even had our lesson in the fort of course.

The next morning Cohen woke up, walked out to the family room and the first thing he said was "Where's a Fort?"

And the tradition of THE FORT begins....

:: Cars 2 ::

 This weekend has turned out to be WONDERFUL.
We have been productive, which hasn't been happening everyday lately, we've had loads of fun, and we all have been happy and positive. And I will just say - that hasn't always been the case these few weeks we've been here in Texas.

Here are a few events that have taken place this weekend...

- Brock and I purchased our first washer. FINALLY! Dryer will be coming soon. Brock rigged up a sweet clothes line in our backyard for now that works just fine. :)
- I FINALLY was able to go to a Dr. here. {We've been waiting too long for insurance to switch and process} My Dr. and his office and staff are definitely different than I am used to. I didn't realize how NICE everything and everyone was at my Utah clinic. But, it was do just fine. He is very nice, has lots of experience, and I will only be seeing him a couple times before this baby boy comes. A little update on the baby....as of now he weighs 5 lbs. 15 oz., 5 more ounces than Cohen was when he was born. We both are healthy. The only stressful part now is I am having to decide whether or not I should have a C-section or not. BLAH. Pros and cons to both. Due to my 4th degree tear when I delivered Cohen, it may not be smart to risk that happening again and have bad permanent damage. The hardest part of all is it my choice. I wish the Dr. would have just said go one way or the other. It will all work out for the best. I'm not too worried about it. BUT, if you are reading this and have any opinion or experience please give me your feed back. It is looking like this baby will be born July 15th IF he doesn't come earlier. Whether I deliver c-section or not I can schedule to be induced that day. YAY! That's at least a positive thing. A week earlier than planned.
- Friday night we were surprised to get a call from some old friends from our first married student ward in Utah, The Gillets. They asked to take us out to dinner to welcome us to Texas. That just made our night! We had a WONDERFUL meal at Macaroni Grill, and the company was even better. It was so nice to get caught up with them and meet their two youngest kids. Darling family who we look up to so much, and are excited that they live so close to us. We WILL be seeing them more.
- After we went to dinner we went to Brock's first softball game. He plays with our ward on a city league team. I was quite surprised how serious these games are, and how nice the fields are. Brock did say he was very rusty, but he had a blast. Cohen pulled a late night and we stayed for the whole game to watch Daddy. He thought it was so cool to see dad play baseball. On our drive home at 10:00 pm {way past Co's bedtime} Co said, "Daddy, fun game. That was fun." During the game he asked a few times "Mama, let's go home." Bless his heart, he was so tired.
- Saturday was a productive day, LOVE THOSE DAYS. I feel tons more prepared for this new baby to come. Then we found tickets to Cars 2 for $5.00 so we went to the early show. Co wasn't as interested as we thought he would be. He LOVES Cars 1 and watches the whole movie, but the Cars 2 was a little different. He'll have to get used to it I guess. He did surprise me how well he did at the theater, not knowing what to expect at his first movie. Bear {his teddy bear that is attached to his hip these days} came with us of course, and we had plenty of snacks. It was a good show. 
Although, Cars 1 still has my "favorite" vote.

:: Fort Worth Zoo ::

 We braved the heat, and went to the Fort Worth Zoo.

Our biggest bribe was the half price admissions day.

How could we pass that up?!

We are trying hard to take advantage of this precious time we have all together before Brock starts med school and his life is over....just kidding. We were impressed with the zoo. The grounds were very nice, especially the areas that the animals were in, and there was multiple animals of each kind.

 Brock sometimes forgets to count "1,2,3" when taking pictures. 

This is the outcome above - I'm talking and Co's picking a boogie.

But the birds are cool!

 As you can see, it was quite WARM. This boy sweats the second he steps outside, but he doesn't mind at all. By the end of the zoo, I was one sweaty swollen pregnant mama.

 Here Cohen is debating on whether or not he wants to touch the snake. 

He got up the courage and did a quick touch, but only once.

The lions were sound asleep, which was a bummer. And the zoo now has robotic dinosaurs throughout the zoo. The bear in the picture is a Sloth Bear, the name doesn't make him sound so mean. But he was ready for lunch I think, pacing back and forth looking like he was ready to pounce. A little unnerving.

Surprised to see the zebras. Not sure why...

 KING OF THE JUNGLE. This big boy looked like he has some major attitude. He gave us a good BUM shot and shook it a little. I recorded it on the video camera.

 This was taken inside the reptile/aquarium building.

Co was checking out the little boy monster in the tank. Just Kidding.

We are enjoying living in a big city with so many fun things to do. Like I said before, we are soaking up this free time with Brock. Cohen is in absolute heaven. Fort Worth is treating us well so far. It was rough getting here and settled, but it's coming along. We are having many good days in a row.

And that makes us all happy.

:: Cohen turns TWO ::

 MY BIRTHDAY BOY turned 2 yesterday, June 20, 2011.
We had "WAFFOS" for breakfast, his favorite, with candles in them because he loves to blow them out so much. He blew them out twice.

 After breakfast we opened a few gifts:
a WAY COOl Cars coloring book with magic markers that only color on the Cars paper, given to him by Abs. She sent it all the way from Arizona. {Thanks Sommers!}

 A Lightning Mcqueen chair just his size from mom and dad.

 A new squirt gun, another one of his new favorite things. 
He opened it and said "It's BIG!"

 We filled our day with doing things Cohen LOVES:
Going to the library and played a bit and checked out some new books.

 Went to a park and almost got blown away by the CRAZY Texas wind.
Still had fun, especially playing with Daddy, his hero.

 That evening we went to my Aunt Davita's for a BBQ/SWIM Birthday party. It was just perfect. Nothing to big, it was just great. We did a little swimming, and then ate some VERY GOOD BURGERS.

 Corbin {Em's boyfriend} :: Emily :: Cohen

 Aunt Davita gave Cohen this little Dallas Cowboys Romo jersey, just his size. ADORABLE! He wanted to put it on right away.

 Chocolate cake made by Mama, this is about how fancy I get with cakes. That's why we usually leave them up to Daddy. Again, Co blew out the candles twice. He loves it!

 I think by this dirty mug we can see he enjoyed his birthday cake.

 Happy Birthday Buddy!
You are my sunshine, & make life wonderful & full of happiness every day. Thanks for being obedient, active, funny, friendly & CRAZY to make our lives exciting & enjoyable.
We LOVE you.

p.s. this is my 300th post. 

:: to Daddy ::

Dear Daddy,

Happy Father's Day!

I love you because you wrestle with me, and you play cars with me, and you teach me how to "Jimmer". You are the best Daddy that I could possibly have, and I love everything about you.

You are my hero and I want to be JUST LIKE YOU.

Thank you for teaching me, and loving me, and being my best bud.

I LOVE YOU DADDY!

Love, Cohen

And I, Melissa the Mama, add my DITTO to that all.

Brock is one of a kind.

Cohen could not ask for a better dad.

And I thank him forever for that.

I YOU LOVE, SWEETHEART.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY.

:: Cohen at TWO YEARS OLD ::

{playing with homemade playdough, made by Daddy}

My sweet little boy turns 2 tomorrow.

He is more fun than ever, and blows me away daily with how quick he is learning and catching on to life. Brock and I could not be more pleased with this boy of ours. We have VERY few complaints about him the past two years. Cohen is perfect for us and our little family. He turns our grey skies blue.

FACTS ABOUT COHEN:

• He loves our new ward, especially singing/instrument time in nursery.
• He has a love for music. Catches on to songs very quickly and could sing all day. A few favorites at the moment: Itsy Bitsy Spider, Popcorn Popping, Wheels on the Bus.
• Can count to 10, missing only 1 or 2 numbers at times.
• Knows how to say the alphabet and recognizes most letters when he sees them.
• Loves our new home and has adjusted very well. Whenever something comes up about Grandma's house {which is daily} he says "Gramma's house, too far away". Sad but true.
• Often tells Brock and I "Cute pants!" or he'll rub my face and say "Cute Mama!". This morning when he was eating Breakfast and I was standing in the kitchen he said "Mama, cool shoes!". I laughed out loud. Not sure where he got that one.
• A phrase he uses often "I don't want it." Even if we are asking him to say something or do something he'll still reply sometimes with "I don't want it" instead of "I don't want to". We're working on it.
• Starting to be more and more interested in the potty. Sits and flushes every now and then but hasn't actually gone in the potty.
• HE IS A DADDY'S BOY!! Finally. This is a NEW thing in our house and Brock and I LOVE it. He has always been 100% a Mama's boy and now Dad is the cool one. Cohen is his little shadow, literally, and he wants to do and eat everything Dad does. Which should be helpful when this new baby comes.
• Plays on his own better than ever. His funny imagination just runs wild. He talks to his stuffed animals like they're babies.
• Is very observant when it comes to locations. He recognizes when we are almost home, and when we are almost to "the lawn mower/blower store" {Home Depot}.

• Is becoming quite the tease. He'll hide his toes and ask where they went. Then pull them out and say "I teasing".
• Two new phrases he is saying "I sorry Dad" usually for no reason. Also "What ya doin' Dad?"

Happy Birthday my handsome 2 year old!

Can't wait to see what life has in store for you.

:: On the Border ::

 {Chels . Me . Em}

My sweet Aunt Davita welcomed us to Texas by taking us out to dinner at one of the many popular TEX MEX restaurants, On the Border. YUM. It hit the spot for my tummy, and the company was even better - Chels and Em brought their sweet boyfriends as well. Davita lives in Dallas, only 45 mins from us. I just love her and feel "at home" when I'm with her and her girls.

  {Me & Aunt Davita}

{Davita . Chelsea . Gabe . Me . Brock & Co . Emily . Corbin}

Thank you again Davita!

We are so lucky to have your love and support.

:: our first two weeks ::

 {Daddy & Co trying to cool off with a water fight}

What a different kind of experience the last two weeks have been. I'll start off by saying this post will be a novel full of recent thoughts and feelings, more personal and DEEP than I usually get on the blog.

I would call the last two weeks a major roller coaster ride for our little family. Most days are filled with good and bad news, excitement and disappointments. We keep smiling and remembering we are better off than a lot of people in our situation. With finances being VERY TIGHT at the moment {while we're waiting for our school loan to kick in} there is quite the amount of financial stress in our home - something Brock and I haven't experienced much of. Again, we remind ourselves money is only a SPECK of life, and we are blessed to have the savings we do. Last night as we were eating dinner we just started laughing. Our meal consisted of hot dogs, frozen peas and cold cereal. WOW. YUCK. RANDOM. Key word - CHEAP. As we were laughing, I noticed Brock switched his spoon to his left hand and continued to eat his cereal. I asked him WHY and he replied with a smile "IF I'm going to become a surgeon I have to be good with both hands." 

That created more laughter.

Sometimes you just need to laugh. It's healthy. Sometimes you need to cry, let it all out. It's healthy. We have been doing PLENTY of both the past two weeks, me being the hormonal wife I am these days all the crying has been on my part. Like I mentioned before, we are so blessed and better off than so many people. Even though these past two weeks have been ROUGH to say the least, they have not broken us down completely. We know that this is just a little speed bump in our road, and it too shall pass. To most it may be a very SMALL "hard time", but it always seems large in the moment.

I was reading in the Bible this morning and came across a verse and quote by an apostle that summed up my thoughts and feelings of the past two weeks pretty well...

Psalms 56:4

"In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; 

I will not fear what flesh can do unto me."

A quote by President James E. Faust:

"Remember the Lord has said, "Fear ye not therefore". He knows us, He loves us and He knows our needs. He will comfort us if only we will trust in Him and His goodness and wisdom. There are many things we cannot change. We all have difficulties and disappointments. But often these turn out to be opportunities. The Lord can measure how strong we are by how we handle these difficulties in our lives. As the Lord said to the Prophet Joseph Smith, "Know thou my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."

Comforting.

I don't want to be too mushy or preachy on my "not so personal blog", but I do want to say this quote keeps me positive and helps me look on the bright side of things. TRUST is a strong word, but I believe it to be a great thing. So... that's what I will continue to try my best to do - TRUST.

Everything happens for a reason.

Sometimes the only reason is for us to LEARN.

I am grateful for what I KNOW.

For the love and support I have from my Heavenly Father 

and all the family and friends that surround me on this earth.

:: Stockyards in Fort Worth ::

 Yee Haw! We decided to brave the heat and head to the Fort Worth Stockyards, only about 15 mins from our house. There was a nice breeze, which felt good blowing on our dripping sweat. We enjoyed the stockyards. There's plenty to do at the stockyards, such as historical tours, a petting zoo that was pretty small and closed when we were there, shops and restaurants, and a visitor center, a human maze and the popular HERD RIDE. Being the cheap poor medical students we are, we left there spending NO MONEY which made the day even more enjoyable, if you ask me. We packed our own lunch and a lot of activities and sites are free.

 Not QUITE as long as a longhorn's horn span.

 Here is the ringleader guy who started the HERD RIDE down the main street of the attraction. He would throw his whip every now and then and let out a loud whistle, and every longhorn just followed right behind him. Good thing. Those animals could do some serious damage to a human. They are HUGE.

 A sweet lady in the visitor center gave Co a sheriff's badge and Brock and I Fort Worth pins. Co thought he was pretty cool wearing it, AND showing off his muscles.

 Mr. Cowboy here scared Cohen half to death. I had to go up and knock on him a few times, telling Cohen that he was fake and made of metal. I THINK he understood. Although he still didn't want to be close to him unless I was holding him.

If you ever visit Fort Worth, the Stockyards will be worth a little of your time. There is much more to do, but we just did the basic "cheap" day. Plenty for us.

Side note: The temperature yesterday was 111 degrees in Fort Worth, with a little humidity. Even though I am pregnant and have sweat dripping every place possible most days, I'm not complaining. I'll take HEAT of SNOW any day.

:: a funny story ::

 Saturday night sounded like a great night to go for a walk/wagon ride in our neighborhood. We left our house at about 8:00 pm when it was starting to cool down a little. We didn't make it far due to my HUGE belly. As we got home Brock walked to the front door to let us in and then we realized....LOCKED OUT.
YES we had our house keys with us, but NO we didn't remember that we have a second deadbolt lock on all our doors that only locks and unlocks from the inside, and we also left out of our garage. BUMMER! There was NO way of getting in our house! It's getting dark at this point, and we have nothing but our phones with us. SO I called our property manager to see if she happened to have a second garage door opener, NOPE. SO....we went to our next door neighbors to get some ideas and tools. Breaking a window or door was our LAST resort. After about 2 hours of trying every window and door, and with the help of Brock a few neighbors' clever brains they were able to get a bar and BARELY get through the top of our garage door to pull the emergency string to lift the door. YIKES. Almost 3 hours later we made it in.
Lesson learned.
I can guarantee we won't be locking ourselves out again.
On a positive note, Cohen loved his wagon ride.
Also, our neighbors are amazing. Very giving and willing to help with whatever we are in need of. They were getting us cold water and a chair for me to sit in. So grateful for them all.
One good thing that came from this nightmare was that we were able to get to know our neighbors a little better.