Our Week

At the end of last week both Lydia and I caught some bug or another and were feeling pretty lousy for a couple of days. I'm happy to report that we are both feeling better, although we didn't do much this week that required a whole bunch of energy. (Well I didn't expend much energy. Lydia seemed to still have loads of energy, even though she wasn't feeling well, she just was a little more grumpy than usual.) I blame the lack of pictures this week on my lack of energy, however, we did do some fun things:

#1- Our great friends, Cassie and Colin came over for some dinner and a little FHE on Monday night. We loved visiting with them.  For FHE I gave a little thought about Charity that I recently discovered through a friend, Cami. I read it on her blog and it was so powerful to me. Charity is something that I've been working to improve on and this quote reminded me how important it is. It's by Marvin J. Ashton:

"Real charity is not something you give away; it is something that you acquire and mark a part of yourself...Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don't judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt ore remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone's differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn't handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another's weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other...The best and most clear indicator that we are progressing spiritually and coming unto Christ is the way we treat other people...Be one who nurtures and who builds. Be one who has an understanding and a forgiving heart, who looks for the best in people. Leave people better than you found them. Be fair with your competitors, whether in business, athletics, or elsewhere. Don't get drawn into some of the parlance of our day and try to "win" by intimidation or by undermining someone's character. Lend a hand to those who are frightened, lonely, or burdened. If we could look into each other's hearts and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care. Once again may I emphasize the principle that when we truly become converted to Jesus Christ, committed to Him, an interesting thing happens: our attention turns to the welfare of our fellowmen, and the way we treat others becomes increasingly filled with patience, kindness, a gentle acceptance, and a desire to play a positive role in their lives."

I loved this so much. It sums up my my desire to be more charitable and a better disciple of Jesus Christ. Thanks Cassie and Colin for the great night! (Even if they did tromp David and I at Dominos.)

#2- Tuesday marked the season premier of S.H.I.E.L.D. and we were so excited. We aren't super huge TV watchers, but we feel strongly about supporting family friendly shows. We want television producers to know that there are people out there that want wholesome entertainment. This seems like it's going to be a really great family friendly show, so we will watch to show our support (unless/until we decide otherwise). This was the very first show I've ever watched the season premier/very first episode of the very first season on the night that it premiered. (I'm usually a "watch it 10 years after the last season was cancelled kind of girl.) We marked it on our calendar and were really excited about it! It was really good and we're excited to have a fun show to watch on Tuesday nights.

#3- I've got to spend some time with my very favorite people this week:
--Lydia and I drove to Aunt Amy's house to visit with her after her surgery that she had last week. Lydia was so shy about it, which is funny because she definitely knows Amy well, but she'd never been to Amy's house before. I was soaking it up because she was willing to cuddle with me on the couch which very rarely happens. We hope that Amy starts feeling better soon!
--My sweet friend Rebekah took me out to lunch for my birthday. We met up at the Thanksgiving Point Deli and enjoyed chatting over lunch. Elizabeth and Lydia are the same age and had a good time playing together (meaning: Lydia loved to play with Zizzy's pink sparkly bow and follow her around). It was so nice!
--We love our Cooper friends and love spending time with them. We get together a few times each week to chat or do something fun. It makes me laugh because Lydia loves both Carson and Elsie SO much (she even started saying Elsie this morning), but if you ask Carson if Lydia is his friend he shakes his head and adamantly says "NO, Elsie is my best friend." Obviously Carson and Lydia are friends. They play together all the time, and Carson is awesome at making her laugh. But for some reason he is super stubborn and won't admit that they are friends. (According to him I'm not his friend, Elsie isn't Lydia's friend, I'm not Ashley's friend, and Ashely isn't my friend. The only friends are Carson, Mommy, Daddy, and Elsie.) Regardless of what Carson will admit, I love all of these people and am glad that we are all friends.

#4- David has been spending quite a bit of time in Logan lately for all of the recruiting events that Eide Bailly is involved in up there. He is really good at explaining to the applicants/students/prospective employees why HMB, I mean Eide Bailly, is a fantastic place to work. He really enjoys being a part of the recruiting process. It's been fun for him to be able to spend so much time in Logan. Wednesday he went golfing with the Beta Alpha Psi group, which was fun but it was SO cold. It was raining and even after lunch and driving all the way home he was absolutely soaked through. It was awesome though, because he got to come straight home after golfing (due to the completely soaked clothing) and just worked from home for the rest of the afternoon. We loved it!

#5- My sweet Jenna-sister came down to visit! She stayed the night with us last night, and she and Kevin stayed up ridiculously late (it was like eleven or something crazy like that) chatting with David and I. I enjoyed it so much. I love Jenna, love Kevin, and LOVE spending time with them. It was nice to have them spend the night at our house and we are looking forward to spending time with them this weekend.

Happy Friday!

Pirate Party

Last year, we randomly heard about the annual Pirate Party at the Hutchings Museum in Lehi. I love fun things like that and so we packed up and went with our favorite Cooper family. Lydia was the most darling little pirate, complete with parrot on her shoulder. I've included pictures of my baby pirate so we can ooh and ahh about how darling she is. 

We had such a good time last year that we knew we wanted to go again this year. I'd been thinking about it and was meaning to find out when they were holding it again, but luckily Ashley found out that it was this week and we made plans to go together again. She still had the little red scarf for Carson from last year and I pulled out some scrap fabric and made matching pirate attire for Lydia and Elsie. I could not get over how darling of a pirate that Lydia makes. Ashley suggested printing a picture of Pirate Lydia each year and putting them together on a wall in our home. I love that idea! A super way to showcase our little girl as she grows. 

Elsie was a little nervous, so Ashley ended up carrying her the majority of the time but Lydia and Carson were enthralled with all of the cool pirate things going on as well as all the regular museum pieces. They had a great time running around together and exploring. When you come in, you get a little bag to collect all your pirate treasures and then you follow the path to different stations. You start by picking a pirate name out of a jar, Lydia was Lia the Lizard Tamer and Elsie was Eliza the Eel Catcher - which was so funny because they both randomly started with the same letter as their real names. Carson was Blond-beard the Pirate, which was funny given the color of his hair. The stations varied from picking a pirate ship and looking at a real pirate cutlass to petting a lizard and listening to pirate music (my personal favorite). It's silly and kind of cheesy but such a fun thing.  

After we had finished walking through the museum/stations we went outside and waited for the candy cannon to go off. Lydia and Carson were happy to play Pirate with their fun balloon swords. I don't know that Lydia knew exactly what sword fighting was, but she loved playing with Carson. Much of the time she follows Carson around hoping that he will play with her, and much of the time he just wants her to stop following him. It was so fun to see them play together so well at the museum.

We tried to get a good picture of Lydia and Elsie together - sitting - so they wouldn't run off. Carson wanted in on the fun as well. These were the best shots I was able to come up with. After they decided they were done with that, we let them run around for a good while while we chatted and followed them around. 

I know that this is seriously picture overload - and the pictures aren't spectacular or anything. But I just think that it represents so much of what our life is like right now. "Over here. Now over there. Whats this? A rock? I'll put it in my mouth. Uh oh here comes Mom. Up the stairs. Down the stairs. Is that my sword? I'll take it with me. Oh there is Elsie. I'll chase her. What is this? What is that? The road! Maybe I can make it there before Mom catches me." So much energy! 

I don't want  that to sound like she has ADD. She is just so engaged in everything around her. 

She can run around forever and you can tell she is so excited to be able to explore. Sometimes it gets tiring because she doesn't even care if I'm there or not. If we are in the front yard she'll run to the back yard; if we are sitting on the grass, she'll run to the street. It makes me nervous that she is so independent. However, as we were walking back to the car she was holding onto my hand (okay, so I was holding onto her hand) and her little pirate bandana fell down over her eyes. I thought that she'd get upset and stop walking but she didn't. She just kept walking along, holding onto my hand and trusting that I would keep her safe. It filled my heart with gratitude for such a sweet trusting spirit in my little daughter. Independent spirit or not, she trusts me to lead her blindly on. I hope that I can always live up to that trust and always lead her in the right direction. Ashley was walking in front of us and snapped this picture. I love it so much. 

I tried to snap a cute picture of Lydia and I as we were getting into the car, but she kept staring and smiling at her reflection in the car window. Hey, when you can't beat 'em, join 'em. 

I'm so glad that we were able to go to the pirate party again this year. Thank you Ashley! 

Lets put it on our calendar for next year, okay?

Did you know?

You've probably seen the question/answer posts that go around the blogger world occasionally. The idea is that you answer the questions and then tag other people to answer your questions. I was recently called out by my friend, Molly, because she knows that I read her blog regularly. I love to read things about people so I decided to follow through. I'm just going to do it a little differently. I'm not going to "tag" anyone - but I'll answer the questions and maybe you'll learn something new about me.

1. What's your zodiac sign? And do you read your horoscope?

I'm fairly superstitious. I throw salt over my left shoulder when I spill it on the table, wish on stars, and cringe when a black cat crosses my path. Most of the time I do it as a funny thing, but deep down there is a little part of me that really believes. My horoscope is a Virgo and when my family used to get the newspaper I would always check my horoscope just in case. I think they are funny. However, I believe a much more accurate prediction of life can be found in the wisdom of Chinese fortune cookies. (Honestly, I once broke up with my boyfriend at the time after being prompted by a fortune cookie.)

2. First kiss story!

My first kiss with David was so sweet. (And that's the only first kiss that matters.) We had been hanging out/going on dates for several weeks. That night we were at an Aggie Basketball game where he introduced me to a friend as his girlfriend, then quickly looked at me to see how I reacted to that statement. I was surprised but asked myself, "Is that what I am? Am I okay with that?" and answered a resounding "Yes!". I had to work at the TSC computer lab after the game, so David walked me up and sat at a computer in the first row where we chatted over Aggiemail for practically my entire shift. At one point my Facebook popped up with a notification (this is before Facebook was banned at work) that said "David Peaden has sent you a relationship request." I laughed at how silly it was and clicked accept. I looked up and saw the biggest smile in return. He walked me home and even though it was late, neither of us wanted the night to be over, so we stopped outside my apartment building (between Pineview and the fence by the Garden Court apartments). One of the biggest things that I remember is that we were both so nervous, which made everything that much more sweet. I don't think either of us was planning on kissing that night, and I think we were both surprised to find ourselves in the moment - but I'm so glad that we did. It was a sweet kiss. Pretty much cementing our status as boyfriend and girlfriend (as if being facebook official wasn't enough). Haha. We were so young. But I'm so glad that we found each other. 

3. Shuffle your Ipod and tell me the first 3 songs that come up.

I have an iPod. I do. But it's upstairs gathering dust. How about I embed my favorite song at the moment? It's We Are by Keke Palmer. I'm not a huge music guru, but Lydia and I love to dance around the house to this song. (As well as the ever favorite Will I. Am/Sesame Street "What I Am".) 

   

4. What's your favorite website/blog/tumblr?
Honestly, I love reading blogs. I love reading my sisters blogs (shout out, Melis and Jen!). I love reading my friends blogs, both old friends and new friends. I love soaking up all the different ways that people write and reading about the the adventures of their lives. I try my hardest to comment each time I read someone's blog because I think it's kind and shows that you think their lives and time spent writing is valuable. However, if I had to pick a "professional" blog. Like a person I don't know but they make money blogging - it would be Young House Love. I love them so much that David surprised me with their new book for Valentines Day this year. Much of our house is influenced my their designs - I love the concept that your home is constantly in motion, that it doesn't have to be perfect right now. It's fine to just do little things at a time, loving your house the whole time. Plus, I love the way they write.

5. Who's your celebrity crush?
I don't really follow celebrities. I love Harry Potter, Remington Steele, and Mr. Darcy.

6. Top 5 ways to win your heart?
Sometimes I think to myself that I must be the luckiest girl in the whole world to marry someone who would put up with such a needy girl. Of the five love languages - I think I'm all five. Luckily I have an amazing man who constantly wins my heart. However, five things that David does to win my heart: 1) Sweeping the floor for me. I hate it, and I love when David does it for me. 2) Surprising me with a little treat, usually candy. 3) Going out and doing something fun together. It doesn't matter what it is- be it mini-golf, a women's expo, walking around the park, trying out a new restaurant, or anything. Spending that time together doing something fun means the world to me. (Even more so now that I don't get out of the house as often.) 4) Giving Lydia a bath while I sit downstairs. This is happening as we speak.  It melts my heart to listen to her chattering to him and hearing him sing to her. Plus it's SO nice sometimes to let him take care of her and be able to just sit and rest. It's huge. 5) Talking/laughing with me. I feel like David and I talk to each other more than more people do. We just both like to talk a lot and we love to talk to each other. We can talk for an hour about all of the different aspects of one single topic or cover ten topics in the space of five minutes. Whenever we have a nice talk, I always feel refreshed and loved that he cares enough to talk and listen to me. It is good for my heart.

7. Tell me a joke.
So, a grasshopper walks into a bar and the bartender says "Hey, we have a drink named after you!" And the grasshopper says, "Awesome! You have a drink named Fred?"

*cue awkward silence*

One of our family friends, David Larsen, used to tell this joke over and over and over when we were really little kids. None of us got it. (What is a bar? Why is it funny that the grasshoppers name is Fred?) But little Mr. Larsen thought that it was so funny. Pretty soon my 4 and 6 year old brothers were quoting it all the time and it turned into a family joke. I still laugh every time someone brings it up.

8. No money reservations--where would you live/visit for a month?
England/Europe. Hands down. No questions asked.

9. 3 things that you always have in your purse/backpack/car/pocket?
Wipes. Diapers. Snacks. (Oh and I try to make sure my wallet is in there, too.)

10. What book could you read over and over again?
Hmmm... I usually would rather read a new book than re-read a book I've already read. But I love, love, love The Scarlet Pimpernel. I also love the Harry Potter books. I've probably re-read those books the most of any books out there. Although they always make me sad when they end and then I walk around the house moping like I lost my best friend for days afterwards.

11. Your favorite TV series?
Remington Steele. Seriously guys. This is the real deal. I love it so much. David introduced me when we were first married and we flew through the seasons. Pierce Brosnan before he was James Bond. Laura Holt. We still frequently quote lines from this show. It's probably the only TV series that I want to own. I seem to be drawn to older TV shows. I've loved Quincy, The New Adventures of Superman, and Star Trek: Next Generation. I've seen every single episode of Murder She Wrote. I'm currently watching Scarecrow and Mrs. King and loving it! But of them all... Remington Steele is my favorite.

***Update: So after I published this post, I showed it to David and we laughed while he read through all of my responses. When we got to the end we decided that it would be double-the-fun if he were to answer all of the questions as well. So here is David's Did You Know. Enjoy!

1. What's your zodiac sign? And do you read your horoscope?
I am a Libra. I heard something about the dates for your Zodiac signs changing, but after some research, apparently it has something to do with tropical zodiacs and sidereal zodiacs and there are two zodiacs'. Either way, I'm still a Libra. Sometimes I would read my horoscope especially if my Sister Amy was around. But since we don't get the newspaper at my house, I have to make it through the day without my horoscope.

2. First kiss story!
I think Shantel did a great job with our first kiss story above, so I'll just add a couple of notes. First, I was really nervous and was definitely not planning on kissing her. However, I am so glad that we did kiss. Also, her and her roommates had a jar with money for the first person to kiss under the mistletoe in their apartment. They had been teasing as for weeks about winning the money. I am glad to say that I managed to kiss Shantel where we were alone instead of with all her roommates watching. I'm also really glad that we still won the money (They stole the mistletoe and hid it not wanting to lose the money so we won anyway).

3. Shuffle your Ipod and tell me the first 3 songs that come up.
I don't own an Ipod. I never have. I think I am an aberration of our generation. Sometimes I listen to the radio, but my preference is listening to sports talk. So I will give you the last three podcasts I listended to on our iPad. The B.S. Report (Talking about the NFL season), Around the Horn, and PTI.

4. What's your favorite website/blog/tumblr?
ESPN.com- hands down.

5. Who's your celebrity crush?
I do not usually follow celebrities or even know their names. So I don't have a celebrity crush. However, Zendaya was on dancing with the stars and she was pretty cool, Shantel and I cheered for her to win the show! Well, until Shantel panicked at the end and started rooting for Kelly Pickler. Shantel's votes for Kelly changed the whole course of the show.

6. Top 5 ways to win your heart?
These are the top 5 ways Shantel wins my heart.
1. Talking to me, we love to talk and discuss everything. She said it perfectly, we can talk for hours about one thing and dissect the entire issue or cover 10 subjects in 5 minutes. I love it.
2. The way she takes care of Lydia. I love seeing how much Lydia loves her and how Shantel cares for Lydia.
3. Letting me watch sports. I love sports and letting me relax and enjoy the game is a shortcut to my heart.
4. Treats. Some of my favorites are Chip Bars, Orange Julius and Butterscotch chip cookies.
5. Making me laugh. The thing that endears me to Shantel so much is when she says or does something funny. She has a great sense of humor and comedic timing and I love it.

7. Tell me a joke.
I love jokes, but for some reason I have a mental block about remembering jokes. If I hear a funny joke, I always think, I am going to remember that because it was so funny and then I will have a funny joke
to tell. Then I never do remember it. Here is the best joke I have heard in a while.

So, a grasshopper walks into a bar and the bartender says "Hey, we have a drink named after you!" And the grasshopper says, "Awesome! You have a drink named Fred?"

*cue awkward silence*

I read this and was laughing so hard. Then Shantel told me that this joke is not funny. But I think it is so so funny. I am still laughing.

8. No money reservations--where would you live/visit for a month?
England/Europe. I spent a couple days in London last November and loved it. I can't wait to go back.

9. 3 things that you always have in your purse/backpack/car/pocket?
Wallet, Keys and Cell phone. I feel like that is kind of a boring question, so to make it more interesting, the most used things in my wallet (in order) are my credit card, sam's club card, Driver's License. The 3 least used things in my wallet (in order) are my HSA Debit Card, Insurance card and Business debit card.

10. What book could you read over and over again?
Harry Potter. I love reading Harry Potter. I have read it multiple times in English and Spanish.

11. Your favorite TV series?
White Collar, I really really like White Collar.


It's Shantel again. Thanks so much Molly! This turned into something really fun for David and I to do together. Haha. Still laughing about it all. I wasn't going to tag anyone - but I wouldn't mind if my sisters decided to follow suit! Oh, and my mom, since she officially has a blog now. (Courtesy of Melissa.) And anyone else who wants to join in - it's actually kind of fun. Make up your own questions if you don't like these ones. :) 

Phoenix, AZ

David loves his job. So do I, actually. I love that he loves what he does and that he loves the people that he works with. However, as we head back into busy season - that means longer hours... and business trips. Because David works as an Auditor for a public accounting firm that means that he goes to his clients place of business and works with them to audit their financial statements. He gets to work with a lot of neat clients and most of them are fairly close by. Some of them are a little bit further, and he spends 4-7 weeks a year traveling to different clients to work on their audits. This last week he was in Phoenix, AZ, working hard. There were several days that we only got to talk for a couple of minutes and one day that we didn't get to talk at all because he was so busy. (We talked more when he was in Kazakhstan!) But one thing that is nice about the people/clients that he works with is that they all make an effort to make sure that they eat well and usually get to do one fun thing while they are there. David loves the Phoenix trip, because they get to go to a Diamondbacks baseball game. They try to time their trip for when the Diamondbacks play the Dodgers. Here are a couple pictures from his trip: 

Buffalo Wild Wings

Diamondbacks vs. Dodgers 

While David was busy playing/working hard, Lydia and I decided to pack up and head to Morgan to spend the week with my family. I'm not a huge fan of hanging out at our house alone, and I'm so grateful to have family so close that we are able to visit whenever David goes away. Lydia loved spending time with my parents and her Uncle Jacob. But I think everyone knows that her favorite part of every day was being able to "play" with Dante. Dante is my family's giant dog who would happily eat Lydia for a mid-morning snack. (Okay, I exaggerate. He isn't mean, he's just a really friendly dog. But when you are 4 times as big as your playmate, friendly is the equivalent of very scary.) Lydia loved Dante so much that she spent the entire day either staring at him out the window, whining/begging me to take her out to be with him, or convincing one of my parents/Jacob to take her outside. It was ridiculous how much she was obsessed with him. We spent a lot of time at the side of my parents house where there was a fence to the backyard that you could see Dante. This way she got to be close enough to him to make her happy and I didn't have to worry about him eating her. She would cry and cry until we took her out, and she would giggle and laugh as we took her out but as soon as he got too close or barked at her she would get scared/cry. These pictures are a great illustration of her relationship with Dante. 

Look at those eyelashes baby! 

I wish I could figure out how to upload videos. There is the most darling video of her teasing him by putting her foot right by the opening. She was playing with her cups and when he barked, it startled her and she dropped them right by the opening. He immediately grabs them and pulls them through the crack. She was so sad and it was SO funny. My favorite part was after she cried for a second she looks at the fence and in an indignant voice says "Dante!". (Sounds more like Dan-deh, but it's totally his name.) I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. 

When we weren't outside, we were usually by the back door looking through the window - but when we wanted to mix it up, we'd go to my parents room and look out their window. Seriously, I can't express enough the level of obsession that this girl has with that dog. 

If we got really crazy - we even let Dante inside. 

When I could finally distract her from Dante, she spent her time spinning the picture of her daddy in the corner and climbing on things. 

I am seriously exhausted. Looking at these pictures reminds me why. She has so. much. energy. Luckily for me there was a park by my parents house and Lydia has learned how to go up the steps and down the slide all by herself! All I have to do it sit at the bottom of the slide while she runs her energy out. (Until she gets distracted and starts running away.) Again, I have the sweetest video of her running around the playground and going down the slide. She is so fun. 

Most of all, we just missed this boy so much. I'm so glad that he is home with us instead of having to skype at night. Although, we make some pretty cute skypers. 

I'm so glad that David has such a good job and that we are blessed with modern technology to not only be able to talk - but to be able to see each other. I'm even more grateful that he is home now and I get to go cuddle with him on the couch while we watch the BYU vs. Utah game. 

p.s. Mom & Dad, I'm sorry that I didn't get a single picture of us together. We really are so grateful that you let us come and crash your house!