:: the flight to TEXAS ::

Cohen's 1st flight

 I was dreading this day for quite sometime. Flying with an active 2 year old boy sitting on a 8 month pregnant lady's lap just doesn't sound right. With that said, the flight went fabulous. It did not even phase Cohen in the least bit. I was expecting his ears to hurt, for him to be a little uneasy or scared even, and thought he would want to get down and RUN up and down the aisle the whole 3 hour flight. NOPE. None of the 3 happened. The flight attendants and people sitting around us kept saying "you have an angel in our arms" or "he is a blessing", all in their texan accents.

 We kept busy with PLENTY of snacks and treats, watching CARS {thanks Josh for your dvd player} books, magnadoodle and taking pictures.

 My parents dropped us off at the airport in Vegas, and it was way too fast! We got stuck in traffic due to a wreck, so we had to be dropped off at the curb to make our flight. I wanted to throw up. I was nervous we were going to miss our flight, didn't want to say goodbye, didn't want to cry so Cohen would be ok and not scared. I was almost running behind my umbrella stroller and as we made it to our gate the guy taking tickets saw my face and said "go right on in dear" with a smile as I gave him my pass. The flight was completely full and the only seat left for us was on the second to last row. But we made it through the day and arrived in Fort Worth safely.

What a blessing.

When I saw Brock I just cried. Overwhelmed with excitement to see him and be in our new town, emotionally DRAINED from crying and stressing. WHAT A DAY. I thank my Heavenly Father for helping this day go as smoothly as it did. I saw blessing after blessing and am forever grateful for them.

Cohen's 1st flight = SUCCESS.

:: it's time to say GOODBYE ::

 {Corby, Cohen & Naomi riding in Grandpa's wheelbarrow}

Oh how I hate goodbyes.

What a wonderful experience this month of May has been. We were are so grateful for family that is so loving and generous to let us stay at their house, eat their food, take up all their spare time for a whole month. We will miss everything about ST GEORGE especially our loved ones who live there.

With that said...

Thank you family for loving us so much, for taking such good care of our little family, for teaching our son so many useful lessons and most importantly for making unforgettable memories with us that we will never forget.

We miss you like crazy multiple times a day, and can't 

wait for December to come when we get to come visit for the holidays.

A few moments I don't want to forget about:
-- watching Phil and Lois Hulme leave our family party, holding hands 
and smiling like they are so in love. {they are 85 years old}
-- reality check of how important my family is to me 
and the wonderful support they are to our family's future.
-- how amazing it is to be a parent. Absolutely DRAINING some days, but those days make me stronger. It's incredible to see how much Cohen can take in and learn by example. The pressure is on, but it's a good way of keeping me in line. Thanks Buddy. 

:: happy EARLY birthday party ::

JUNE 1ST

 We decided an "early" party for Co's birthday would be fun and a good opportunity for our friends and family get together.

Brock did the honors once again and made Cohen's cake. I thought baseball cupcakes would go just great with the bat and ball cake. Co loves sports but especially baseball. He swings everything like a baseball bat.

 He thought blowing out his candles was SO COOL that he asked to do it a few times, which he did.

 Dad told him he could dunk his face and have a taste, so he went for it. It didn't last too long due to his phobia of having his hands and face dirty.

 FAMILY & FRIENDS in attendance:

Papa & Nana Kitchen, Josh & Kai, Jade and Tiff, Uncle Matt, Grandma & Grandpa Mathews, Cort, Em & kids, Grandma Sheryl, Aunt Loni & Uncle Terrance, Meg & Aubree Wiest, Lexie & Ty Partridge

The park where the party was held was right across the street from a fire station. We walked over and the fighters showed us how they lift the truck completely off the ground to raise the big crane tower thing up high in the air. The kids were fascinated.

 Co was spoiled with such fun gifts. We thought it was hilarious that his favorite was the $5.00 lawn mower I grabbed for him from Kmart last minute. He would have slept with that thing if I'd let him.

Thanks to everyone who came!

We love you oh so much.

HAPPY "EARLY" BIRTHDAY BUD!

:: st george month is coming to an end ::

 {Co and Aubree Wiest at our swim party @ Lexie's}

This month just FLEW RIGHT BY just as I expected.

It has been wonderful, warm, tiring, stressful at times, well worth it. We are so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends to take such good care of us. We are going to miss all of them more than words can say. 

 {Ty Partridge and Co @ Lexie's swim party}

 {Co and Brightyn Boyer}

My sweet friend Mandy Boyer was in S.G. and was kind enough to stop by and see us. It made our day and felt good to be close to some Provo friends. They are in the process of applying for med school and we are crossing our fingers that they come to TX!

 

:: Happy Birthday Dad ::

May 27th

 Happy Birthday to you Grandpa!

I think Cohen said that exact phrase 100 times this day.

We had a great day, celebrating Grandpa.

He is a man I have always and will always look up to.

I LOVE watching him with his grandkids. You can tell they mean the world to him, and he would do anything for them.

A few words that describe my dad:

POSITIVE :: EASY GOING :: HUMOROUS :: LOVING :: GIVING :: SINCERE

We LOVE you Grandpa!

Hope your 51st year of life treats you wonderful.

I have good feeling about his year. 

:: COHEN ::

23 months

  IN a NUTSHELL....Cohen has been up to:

 -buckling buckles any chance he has

-being outside every waking moment

-playing with cousins and being in HEAVEN

-following cousin Naomi around whenever she's around

-fell down every one of the stairs in my parents house

{nearly gave us all a heart attack, but cried for about 15 secs and ran back upstairs to play with no injuries}

-has been talking like a big boy:

"hey mom!", "Mom, where are you?", "Baby, change you?" {change pretend baby's diaper}, if he bumps into me he'll say "Sorry Mom", says "hold you" when he wants to be picked up to see something above his eye level, talks about moving to "Teck-guess" {Texas}, now when he falls he gets up and says "I Ok", two of his most used phrases are "Oh Darn it!" and "Oh Man!". 
-LOVES to sing songs more than ever. A few favorites {with actions} are: Itsy Bitsy Spider, I am a Child of God, Twinkle Twinkle, Book of Mormon Stories, I am like a Star.

{Playing Grandpa's ukelele and Grandma's guitar}

:: call me crafty ::

 I did a little remodeling to Brock and I's old dresser.

Sanded it down a little, didn't even have to strip it...

 Primed it, and spray painted it...

 Did a little distressing and painted the knobs navy blue.

I was pleased at how it turned out.

It's going to look SO CUTE in Cohen's new room.

Also - I made a FHE BAG from scratch. My sister-in-law Emily gave me this idea for FHE with young ones. You fill this bag with items of all kinds {a boat, apple, little book, cotton ball} and you attach scriptures with each item to read. Then everyone can guess what the item has to do with the scripture.

The little ones LOVE to pull an item out of the bag.

 

:: SWIMMING at Grandma Sheryl's ::

COHEN :: NAOMI :: CORBIN 

{Our 3 little fishes}

Cohen's starting to get used to swimming. We haven't been too many times. He does good at getting dunked. I guess you could say he likes it, mostly because Dad does it.

:: Aunt Jenna's BIRTHDAY/GRADUATION ::

 What a memorable day for my beautiful sister-in-law.

She turned 18 on the day she graduated from Snow Canyon High School.

 Making one serious birthday wish....

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY and Congrats Jen!

We LOVE your stinkin' guts.

:: FHE @ the ST GEORGE TEMPLE ::

 We visited the Visitor Center for FHE.

There is a wonderful spirit in this building, as well as on the temple grounds. 
We are definitely going to have to adjust to traveling more than 5 mins to go to the temple in Texas.

 Cohen saw Jesus and said "Jesus, hug him!"

He wanted a hug badly from Jesus.

He reasoned with Grandpa and touched his toes.

 Progression of a picture....

 There's not too many thing that touch my heart more than hearing Cohen yelled with excitement "TEMPO!" when we pulled up.