Happy Birthday Cooper Gary!

Cooper turned 2 today and, as is tradition in our family, he got to pick an activity to do, and what we ate for every meal (he was more inclined to listen to his sisters than me today so we mostly had junk food much to my chagrin). His activity was to play outside of course, but neither he or his brother lasted in the snow for more than 10 minutes before cold hands and runny noses won out. But not to have his day spoiled we made our own playground indoors, slide included! Dave spent the afternoon with the boys inside and I took the girls, who weren't ready to leave the snow, sledding. Once the girls tired themselves from climbing up hills, we went to McDonalds(aka Mickey Donalds or Old McDonalds) and spent an hour playing on their huge indoor playground and had Coopers favorite - french fries. That evening Cooper chose doughnuts over cake, so of course I got creative and made up the most cake-like looking doughnut I could and stuck two candles on top. Dave was certain he'd get sick if he ate it all, but I was certain he'd only take a few bits and squish the rest between his hands. It was lots of fun to see him so excited over his doughnut cake, and other activities that day, but it was even more fun to see his siblings get into the celebration and treat their brother extra special all day long.

2008 Cox family Christmas letter

I’d like to say that this year I’m going green by posting our annual Christmas letter on our family blog site instead of through the post office, but, in all honesty, I’ve just put off writing it till the last minute, so my apologies to you all.

Typically I rack my brain to remember what has transpired over the past twelve months, and typically I spend a good amount of time phrasing and arranging our little stories because typically not much changes from year to year with our family. But this year has certainly been atypical, to say the least. Since most, if not all, of 2008 has already been documented in previous blogs, I’ll leave it to you to sift through the details if you wish.  However, as a courteous summation, our highlights are as follows:

 

 Anne has caught a genealogy bug of sorts and has written and bound three family books, and is currently working on books four and five.

 Dave finally closed the chapter on NCARB testing and received his Architectural license in June. And promoted to Senior Associate at VCBO.

 

 

Nicole had her first piano recital and ran in her first marathon.

 

Emma started kindergarten, reading, bike  riding, and fishing.

 

 

Carter has mastered the computer and navigating the web to his favorite internet sites (P.B.S. kids and Star Fall).

Cooper, after proving he was old enough to climb out of his crib several times, has graduated to the lower half of his brother’s bunk bed.

 

And in March we adopted Princess, the family dog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In spite of the commercialism and chaotic festivities that typically occupy the mind around this time of year, this past month has been both reflective and sobering for Dave and I; mainly due to the passing away of his grandmother, a life threatening scare from our niece, and other heart breaking family events.  Although partly removed from the personal impact of these events, I find myself on the one hand very shaken by the realities of life and the trials some are called to endure and on the other hand full of peace and assurance as I’ve plead for understanding from our elder brother, Jesus Christ.  Of all the things we could possible say to you this year; an idea presented to us by a dear neighbor comes to mind. WWJG … what does that mean, you ask? Well, perhaps you’re familiar with the popular wristbands initialed WWJD worn by some as a reminder of What Would Jesus Do.  This Christmas, we’ve elected instead to remind ourselves of WWJG, or “What Would Jesus Give”.  The answer: He gives us the unique strength and power that comes from knowing who we are what life is all about.  He gives us the hope to believe that through His atonement our imperfections can be made pure and whole. Through His suffering in Gethsemane, He gives a healing balm as one who knows perfectly the sorrows we feel; and He gives unconditional love as he stands ever ready to lift us up when we turn to him for help.

As our family and friends span ever greater distances between us, and the hand of relief is not so easily extended, we wish for you know that you are in our hearts and prayers. May the gifts of Christ grace you and yours this Holiday Season.  

Love,

            Dave & Anne.

 

P.S. We wanted to share with you this christmas video clip that was sent to us by a dear family friend.  Hopefully the link works. 

 http://mabrystudios.typepad.com/reflections_of_christ/2008/03/reflections-sli.html

It's Autumn Time!

Around the first of October, Dave and I took the kids up in the canyon to see the fall folage. We stopped at casacade springs and walked around for a while. The kids ran around while Dave played around with his camera, then we stopped at a park on the way home to let the kids play. Here are some of the fun shots Dave took that day.

Busy Month!

October has come and gone and it seems like I'm now just finally getting into the swing things with our school routine. With Nicole and Emma both in school it's been a bit of a juggling act since September to figure out getting to and from school, spending time with each doing homework and extra curricular activities as well as spending time with the two boys at home, and just the normal running of the house.  After two months of chaos we've finally found a rhythm that works. It's called DELEGATE and MULTI-TASK!! Dave helps out by driving the girls to school in the morning, Emma and Nicole help each with their reading homework (Nicole has to read out loud for 40 minutes and Emma has to be read to for at least 30 minutes) And I've combined walking the dog while exercising on the treadmill while Cooper naps while Carter watches his pre-school shows on TV all into one hour! Whew!!  As busy our days may get, I like having the routine, and order -- at least for a little while until the inevitable "changes" come our way again.  

October, aside from the Lagoon Day and Girls Night that I mentioned in my Photo section, It was also Halloween!  Our neighborhood puts on a Trunk-or-Treat along with a Chili cook off each year at the Chapel and each year it's gotten bigger and bigger as word has gotten around about how much fun it is.  It's really nice, especially with little kids, to be able to hit all the families in the neighborhood within 30 minutes of pacing up and down rows of parked cars in a parking lot.  Some families go to great lengths decorating the trunks of their cars now too.  Anyway, this year I was the witch who, according to Emma, turned all her darling kids into animals - except for Carter who was my pirate who caught them all. Cooper started out as a lion, but since he was to big for the costume, I changed him to a dog, which worked out well seeing how Nicole was a black cat, and Emma was a mouse.  

 

   HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!

Girls Night Halloween Party

Good thing Grandma was here...these spiders were all over the place "EEEEK!"

In Dave's family it's been decided that when the Guys (Meaning anyone old enough to work hard and who doesn't have kids to watch) go to Kanab to help out his folks with projects, the rest of us all get together and have a 'Girls Night'. This time it just happened to fall on the 24th, and I figured it was close enough to make our 'Girls Night' and Halloween Party too. So Carter and I, while the girls were at school, decorated the house with Balloons, streamers, and spiders; and the girls added a touch of spook by hanging up some scary drawings they'd painted and picking out some halloween movies. While the kids played and watched movies, the women munched on goodies and visited. Later that evening we play the "Dangling Doughnut" game (so named by Tami - but I call it the "Doughnut on a string" game). Whatever you call it - we had lots of fun getting our faces covered in powdered sugar. The next morning the kids participated in a treasure hunt and then bobbed for apples.

Family Day at Lagoon

For the past 2 months Dave has had to work 14+ hour days at work. So when his 2 school projects finally went out (meaning the design phase was completed). He took a long weekend and we spent some much needed time together as a family. The girls had school out for UEA, so that friday, Oct 17th we took the three oldest kids to Lagoon for the whole day!! ( Kira, Sunny and Aunt Kari doted over Cooper and gave him lots of one on one attention that he LOVED! - thanks!)

Thoughts on Conference

This fall conference has come and gone. And I wanted to share with you my impressions on a few of the messages that were given.  It's interesting to note that more often than not, what I hear in conference is not necessarily what was said.  Depending on the frame of mind I'm in and the thoughts I've been pondering, the Holy Ghost will impress on me ideas and feelings while certain messages are being given.  For example, Elder Bednar spoke on making prayer meaningful.  While he spoke he said " In the book of Moses we learn that all things were created spiritually before they were created physically upon the earth.... In a similar way, meaningful prayer is the spiritual creation of a meaningful day."  That idea really struck a cord with me. I seem, like most people I suppose, to struggle with managing my daily responsibilities.  I have long known the benefits of visualizing and meditating have always believed they really worked, and I believe that prayer is a form of that. So combining the two ideas of praying (communication with God and calling for the divine) and visualization (being a spiritual creation) seemed to be such a perfect match!  So I going to "experiment" with his words and try it out this week. I'm going to have my morning prayers be more focused on, not only what I'm grateful for, but how I envision my day.  Then recognize throughout the day when I'm being prompted on how to accomplish the things I've prayed for, and following up in the evening with a "PPI" type of prayer.  I'm excited to see what happens.

How about you? What message did you get from conference and what are you going to do with that message?

girls being girlie

Olivia is a good friend of Nicole's and Emma's. This day she brought over her make-up kit and after spending time doing their hair and make-up (some how Carter, got wrangled into it!) they came and asked if I'd take their pictures.
Here's how they turned out.

painting fun

With the girls in school each day, I get time to spend it with just my boys. Today I thought we'd introduce Cooper to painting and give Carter a chance to learn about mixing colors.