Utah Trip

From forever ago. As in, before Grand Junction. Yup, I'm crazy behind.
So, Lincoln and I flew out to Utah for a week and a half. Well, that was the plan, but we came home two days early because we were pooped. We shopped a ton (of course), went up to Idaho to see Caroline and Skylar where we played Dungeons and Dragons (you know that's right), hung out with Allison, Alex, and Xandrie for the day, and saw other family and friends. I'm so mad I didn't get a picture of Lincoln with my grandparents. I could've gotten one of the two Linc's! Ah well. Next time.
(more pictures to come)

Grand Junction Trip

Kurt has joined his friend's brand new mountain bike team since he's doing a few races this summer. They had a team camp in Fruita, CO, so Lincoln and I tagged along to hang out with the other significant others. We camped with the crew on Friday night. Then Saturday the boys headed out for all-day riding, while us girls went on a hike. I borrow a friend's Kelty and Lincoln loved it. Shelly drove out to hang out with us and went on the hike with us. After that, us girls checked in at our (me and Kurt) hotel for the night and hung out in the pool for a bit and showered. I took Lincoln in the pool but we didn't last very long because the water was pretty cool and the room wasn't heated or in the sun. Then we ate dinner at a fantastic pizza place. On Sunday, we did our own thing as a family. We headed to downtown Grand Junction which is super cute--which I very surprised. (I dunno why, just was.) There's all kinds of cute shops and restaurants and they have pianos up and down the street for anyone to play. There was an art and jazz festival going on and I LOVE those. It was fun to peruse the vendors and I picked up a print from an artist I fell in love with. After that we headed home. Lincoln did pretty well in the car but he prefers flying to driving because he doesn't have to be in his car seat the whole time. :) Fun first road trip with the boy-o!

Visit from Grandma

At some point in April, Shelly came out to visit. I don't remember doing a whole lot, but we went up to Golden one evening for dinner. Golden is such a fun town and she'd never been before.

Racing Racing Racing

Kurt's race season is just about the opposite of last year. He has raced five times so far, and has placed first once, fourth twice, seventh once, and crashed out once. He wasn't injured very badly, just a very minor concussion and lots of road rash. He missed a race the next week, but was back in it a week after that. He truly is the Kurtsanimal. He says his road racing season is basically over, other than a couple more events, and he hopes to cat up by the end of the season. In the meantime, he's turning his focus to mountain bike racing. He loves mountain biking and is excited to race since he has no idea what kind of beast it is (similar to road racing? completely different?). Everyone told him he'd have to race less once we have kids, but it's been fun for Lincoln and I to go to his races. As we have more, he might have to scale back but probably not much. He enjoys it so much and it's a great destresser for him. Not to mention how healthy he is. Part of the reason he's doing so well (other than what he learned last season) is his awesome trainer and his focus. His coach has given him very intelligently designed workouts and since he has less time to train, he's training smarter. I'm so proud of him and so so so happy for him.

Easter 2013

I was perhaps too excited about Lincoln's Easter outfit. His bowtie turned out completely adorable (even though it took me way too long due to having a hard time understanding the instructions, but then again, it was eleven o'clock at night) and he wore seersucker pants, for crying out loud! My little Southern gentleman. Also, I convinced Kurt to wear his tan suit and bowtie (and he spontaneously wore his boat shoes--good man) and I wore the prettiest thing I've ever owned (other than my wedding dress)--my chiffon maxi skirt. 

I love Easter, and I love how we Mormons focus more on Easter and the resurrection than Good Friday and the Atonement. I mean, we know the importance of the Atonement--it's mentioned every Sunday in at least one of the meetings--but without the resurrection, there would be little reason for the resurrection. Conversely, the resurrection needed the Atonement, because if we couldn't repent of our sins, I doubt we'd be all that excited about eternity. It's a package deal, and what a perfect plan Heavenly Father gave us and Jesus Chris performed for us. So grateful for the Plan of Salvation and this Gospel.

Okay, time for pictures! (I wish I'd thought to get pictures of just Kurt and Lincoln. Drat!)

A Day without Lincoln

Yep, Kurt and I got away on our own for EIGHT WHOLE HOURS. It was weird. But really good. And I missed the kiddo like crazy.
Last week I babysat over night for a friend, in exchange for her babysitting for us in the future. After the snowstorm this weekend, Kurt and I decided to go snowboarding. We dropped Lincoln off at her house at 8, then enjoyed a perfect day on the slopes. Clear skies, temps in the 20s (perfect snowboarding temperature), not crowded, soft, fresh snow (though no powder to be found, poop), BOGO lift tickets ... it was awesome. I even attempted several jumps and landed two! Huzzah! Kurt's front binding broke on his back foot and he was still way more awesome than me. I guess that's what happens when you've been snowboarding for 20 years.
We picked Lincoln up at 4:30, so it was really 8.5 hours. By far the longest I've spent away from him (by a loooong shot). Then I realized that night that it's less than Kurt spends away every week day. Funny, the different perspectives.
Lincoln did great and was happy and smiley when we picked him up, but the next day he wanted to be held almost the whole day. I guess he missed me. :)

A Visitor

February hasn't been quiet (far from it), but there hasn't been a lot to document via photograph. However, the other day Swift was barking like crazy in the backyard. This is nothing special, as he's a stupid dog, but when I went to tell him to shut up, I saw the reason why he was barking. One of our backyard neighbors had a visitor who decided the roof of their shed was a nice place for an afternoon nap.

Family Pictures

The day before Lincoln's blessing, we got our family pictures done by my fabulous cousin Michelle. (Denver peeps, she's totally available for sessions.) All the families got pictures--a huge group one of the Coopers, Kurt and me, Ryan and Mandi and Co., Skylar and Caroline, and even Kurt's family got in on it! (Pictures of the Cooper clan forthcoming since we're still waiting on my mom to pick them out.)
The last time Kurt and I took nice pictures was in 2009, so these were a bit overdue. (Those were also done by Michelle!)

Cosmo le Cougar

The BYU Alumni Association had a Meet Cosmo event at our church building a few weeks ago. We found out about it right as it started. So we threw on our BYU gear, dressed Lincoln accordingly, and headed over to snap a picture.

Family Insanity!

So, we had guests from December 27th till January 5th. It was crazy, but fun. Ryan and Mandi and Co. were the first to arrive early on the 27th, and Steph flew in that night. Mom flew in the next evening, and Dad, Caroline, Skylar, and Collin trailed in via car. The Wilcox's arrived that night. On the morning of the 29th, Nikkia, Wendy (his girlfriend), and Shelley flew in.
Sunday directly after the blessing, Mom, Dad, Steph, and Collin left for Charleston. Shelley flew out on Monday the 31st. Nikkia and Wendy left on the 1st. Ryan and Mandi and Co. and the Wilcox's departed on the 2nd, and Caroline and Skylar stayed until the morning of the 5th. Some people had hotel rooms and Shelley stayed at the Winfield's for a night, but for two nights in a row we had ten extra people and one extra dog in our house!
We played LOTS of games--Dominion, this name game thingy, improv games, What If, and the Game of Things. We stayed up way too late every night. We had the Cooper family gift and book exchange (gifts for the kiddos, books exchanged white elephant style for the adults). We went to the aquarium and REI. We ate at Pinche Tacos, Watercourse Foods, and Toast. We had homemade pizza, homemade shrimp and grits, WAY too many sweets, and of course the famous Snack City. And we had a really, really awesome time. It was nice to return to our quiet ways after everyone left, but that doesn't mean I didn't immediately miss them like crazy!
(More pics coming soon--Kurt took a bunch with his phone.)

Lincoln's Blessing

On January 30th, we blessed Lincoln. It was a beautiful blessing promising, among other things, that Lincoln will have a strong personal relationship with Heavenly Father and that he'll live a long life. My entire family came out for it, as well as Kurt's mom, brother, and his girlfriend, and our awesome friends the Wilcox's. The Winfield's, Bergam's, and my cousin Michelle and her family all came too! After, we had a casual lunch in the gym (because there was no way all of us were going to fit comfortably in our house), and my parents, Stephanie, and Collin headed home after they ate. It was such a beautiful day. I'm so grateful for this amazing Gospel!
Also, I forgot to take pictures of Lincoln in his adorable blessing outfit, so I did two weeks later. He's laying on a beautiful blanket that my mom crocheted for him, which he was blessed on. He looked pretty similar, except he was already growing too long for the outfit. This kid is a weed! But a cute weed. Yay!

 All the men who were in the circle

 Friends

 Michelle and her cute family (plus Xandrie, the Wilcox's daughter who's in my arms)
Also, Kurt was not stifling Lincoln. Lincoln was hungry, so he was sucking on Kurt's hand.

 Everyone goofy pic