In Good Company

  Ben has been working at Portneuf going on three years now and since he's been there we have never gone to a work party. We've always got the tickets to go, but never actually gone. Each employee gets a plus one and since I work there now I used my plus one for Tuesdee and Ben used his for Aaron so that we could double. We went there and the party itself was not our kind of thing. The food was good though and the company even better. It was so nice to get out and do stuff as a couple while the kids were home having fun together as well. Special thanks to Chelsie for watching them for us. Sometimes parents need to just get out. Even though the party was lame we still had a good time together. Next time I think we will just get the food and run.

Macie Jo

 As I look back at our old posts I realized that both Natty and Travis got their own personal post after their birth, but I have neglected to give Macie her own post. This one is all about her.
 Macie Jo entered the world July 12th at 7 pounds and 1 ounce. She is a very happy baby and very well fed. Macie Jo, like my other two, was given a special name. Many people have the middle name Jo. It's a very common and cute middle name that really goes well with anything. In the Cook Family Jo is a very special and sacred name. It is the name of Ben's grandma, Josephine Johnson. I had the privilege of meeting Josephine when I was in high school. I saw her a handful of times before Ben left on his mission. There are people you meet in this life that when you first meet them you automatically know that they are special. It doesn't happen often and that is why when you do meet these people you just know. That is exactly how I've always felt about meeting Josephine Johnson. It's not something I can explain, it's just something I knew from the first time I met her. She was special! After Ben left on his mission I wondered if I would ever see her again due to her health. Lucky for me I did. In fact Ben and I went to her house to tell her when we got engaged. She was so excited for us she could hardly stand it. Before she passed away I had the privilege of giving her one of her last baths and doing her hair and make up and making her feel as beautiful on the outside as she was on the inside. What an honor and a memory I get to keep with me. Our little Macie Jo has big shoes to fill, but I have no doubt that she will fill them as she is a very special girl as well. She is a happy little girl, a ray of sunshine.

Cute Little Cookies

  This doesn't happen often so I had to share. Yesterday I set Macie on the floor and then Travis plopped down beside her so he could play with her and try to get her to say "Da da" and "Ma ma". Then came Natty storming in the room and the three of them just laid on the floor playing together. It was a picture perfect moment. They are the cutest Little Cookies I've ever seen (or as I like to call them this time of the year my Cute Little Tax Write Offs). You can't help but love these children.

 

Nostalgia

  Monday, after Travis came home from school, we took the kids out to the old dog park we took Colonel too when he was a puppy. Lots of nostalgia there. I remember Ben being gone to school or work and I felt like I sat around the house all the time so I was trying to be a good mom and decided to take Travis and Colonel for a walk. I put Travis in the stroller and hooked Colonel up to the leash. When we got out in front of our apartment Colonel got away from me and started running after the neighbor who was a grumpy old man that I did not like. I was deathly afraid he would run between his legs and knock him down. Luckily I caught him. I should have turned around right then and there, but I was determined to go on that walk so I had the stroller in one hand and the leash in the other. Colonel kept tugging at the leash. He never was a very good leash dog. Well, let's face it, he never was a very good dog period. He did have his moments though. Not this time however. As we were walking we got toward the end of the block and were going off the curb. Colonel wrapped himself around the stroller and took off running. I of course, Mom of the Year, did not have Travis strapped in the seatbelt. The stroller tipped over and Travis fell out of the stroller in the middle of the street. I said a few choice words and picked him up. That stupid dog kept running. I was going to just let him go because I was so mad, but then he stopped so I caught up to him and dragged his butt back to the apartment and that was the first and only time I ever attempted to go on a walk without Ben with me. Every time we drive past that park I always think of that day and how mad I was at that dog. That was a great park though. Lots of happy memories there. I remember Travis taking some of his first steps there in the middle of the field. We must have walked miles and miles around it. We went on a walk nearly every day between the time I woke up for the day and before I went to work. It is right behind our old apartment. It is pretty close by now. I don't know why it's taken me two years to take the kids out there, but I plan on taking them many more times this summer while Ben studies away.

Back To The Grind

  Things are starting to get back to normal in the Cook house. Travis has started school back up once again. Church has changed back to 9:00 which we are already missing our beloved 11:00 church. Our New Years goals are made and probably half broken already, but we continue to move forward.
  This last week while Travis was in school the girls and I bonded. Natty wanted to hold Macie for a picture. Macie wanted to eat Natty to sooth her forth-coming teeth.

 

 

  Travis is enjoying being back to school. He doesn't like it, he looooves it!! He sure has been an early-bird the last week or so. He gets up so early that he's got a 10-20 minute wait before I let him out to catch the bus. Still his usual handsome self though!

 

 

  Since Ben has been working the past couple of nights I've let the kids sneak in bed with me. I usually go to bed a little later and just put them down in my bed. I know they don't get to sleep right away because I can here them giggling and laughing in there. As long as they are not being destructive I just let them because they only get to be little once and they are making memories. It's really nice to hear them have fun together. They get along so well. It just takes me back in time to when I was little and all the fun I had with my brothers and sisters.