Another AWESOME Weekend

Friday night, my little brother Don suggested I bring my kids down to the Red Butte Gardens in Salt Lake. He has a membership there and could get us all in for free. (Regularly it is $6 a person, kids 3 and under are free.) It is one of the coolest places I have been to in awhile (I don't get out much though). It is GORGEOUS! Flowers and all kinds of plants everywhere. They have this kids garden with fountains and mazes and playhouses. It was a blast.

Cannon loved playing in the fountain and would have stayed there all day if I'd let him.
My kids absolutely loved looking at and smelling all the flowers.

That's what I call a flower bed.

Playing in the red sand box.

Feeding the fish and ducks.

I have many more pics, but couldn't possibly upload them all.

It was an awesome time though and I would highly recommend it.

Saturday morning we got up and decided since hiking up Adams Canyon was such a success we'd try another hike. I had heard a lot about Waterfall Canyon and thought we'd give it a try.
It was a nice hike and we really enjoyed it, but I wish we would have had more time. We took a wrong path and ended up away from the trail to the waterfall, but it was still a good hike and we still found a little pond for the kids to play in.

Em and Ky taking a rest by the pond.

My two reason's for living.

They were such good hikers again!

Em...the tree hugger.

The view. It was a really hot day and we had a little league football game to get to, so we'll have to save hiking to the waterfall for another day. :)

Then Saturday night we got to go on a MUCH NEEDED double date with some friends to see TOBY KEITH.
He was at Usana, which is always a fun time. By far my favorite place to go to a concert. I think he was drunk before he even came out on stage, and I have never seen so many drunk, red neck "white trash" all in one place before, but it was still a lot of fun and I am really thankful Curtis sacrificed to make it happen.

WHAT AN AWESOME WEEKEND!

Everyone has Cancer

Dear Family and Friends:

As I'm sure you all know, this past year has been a really tough one for me and my family. I will be the first to admit, I have not been handling my trials very gracefully. That's probably why I am having to face them over and over. You think I'd learn! I wish I could proudly say I have fought like a champ, stayed positive and strong, relied on my Savior, and handled it all with grace and dignity. However, I am embarrassed and sad to say I have been quite the opposite. I have acted in ways I am so ashamed of I can't even mention them. Made some choices that will forever haunt me, and done damage to relationships I really hope time, love, and forgiveness can repair.

As I have been trying to focus on the good and REALLY TRY HARD to learn and grow from each trial, I have been praying for a way to turn all this into something positive. I have felt really impressed to capture everything I have learned and all my experiences...and am quickly finding that not only do I have quite the book on my hands...but quite a lot I still need to learn and work on.

One thing I have learned though is that I'm not the only one struggling, not the only one hurting, not the only one trying, and not the only one that had to fight cancer. EVERYONE HAS CANCER sometime in their life. Everyone has some horrible thing they have to fight that could destroy their life if they let it or don't get the proper treatment. I have learned just how important it is to not be judgemental and to truly love everyone. You never know what they are going through. And it's hard to say how you would TRULY act in a situation UNTIL you are actually the one in it.

So I just wanted to let you all know how much I love you. I haven't always been the best friend, sister, daughter, cousin, niece, etc., and I hope you can forgive me. I have been extremely self-centered and am realizing now that it is pretty lonely when all you ever care about is yourself.

I am still doing a lot of research (and growing) and would love your help, advice, and input. It seems the more I have talked to people about the struggles in their lives (or the "cancer" they have faced), there are definite patterns and similarities regardless of what "type" of "cancer" you may be fighting. I would love to hear your experiences, thoughts, and the "treatment" you use...books you have read, anything. I know this is an extremely personal thing, so don't feel obligated. I just have A LOT of wonderful family and friends whom I would love to become more like. :) I would love to hear from you! Shoot me an email (cosperfamily@hotmail.com), give me a call (801)628-8827, or let's go to lunch/hang out sometime and talk about it.

I am so blessed to know such wonderful people!

LOVES TO ALL!!!

Fun with McKay

We were lucky enough to have an extra kid come back with us from our trip to Idaho. McKay himself decided he would like to come back to Utah and spend some time with his uncle's Curtis and Corey as well as some of his cousins. I was really worried about how I would keep him entertained, but we found plenty of fun things to do and Kylee and Cannon LOVED having him around to play with, and I LOVED having him around to help keep my kids out of trouble.

Here are just some of the few things we did while he was here.

We went to the Layton Park and had a picnic.

Fed the ducks
McKay was a pro at feeding the ducks.

We went to the Hill Aerospace Museum

Kylee called it the "Airshow Museum"
since she remembered seeing the planes at the airshow.

There were lots of really neat planes to see.

McKay pretending like he was flying.

He's such a funny kid.

They had planes to see both inside and out.

This planes tires were almost bigger then the kids.

Then one day we took a hike up Adams Canyon

and also had a picnic up there.

We had SO much fun playing in the cold water of the waterfall.

Kylee talked about this for days. She was SUCH a good hiker. This will be something our family will do much more often I'm sure. The kids loved it.

We again had a picnic and just enjoyed the beautiful weather and scenery.

We are definitely looking forward to doing more hiking.

If you know of any great spots, let me know. :)

We really enjoyed having McKay come stay with us.

Just after he had left, Kylee said, "I miss him already."

MAMA!!!

Cannon: "Mama!"

Me: "What Cannon?"

Cannon: "Mama!"

Me: "Yes Cannon?"

Cannon: (a little louder) "Ma Ma!"

Me: (looking right at him and speaking louder too) "Cannon, what baby?"

Cannon: laughing now "Ma Ma!"

Me: "Cannon...you're silly. Please stop."

Cannon: "Mama Mama Mama Mama Mama!"

Me: (now frustrated and losing my patience...yelling) "Cannon, STOP!"

Cannon: (a little more quietly) "wuv you mama."

Crazy Kid

My Sweet Helpers

I don't know what I ever did to deserve such sweet kids. I just hate that they have such a lame (literally) mom who always feels horrible. This particular day I was passing a kidney stone and in a lot of pain and just laying on the couch crying when Kylee asked me "what's a matter mom?" I complained to her that I hurt and the house was a mess and that I just didn't know what to do. She kissed me and then a few moments later I heard some noises and wondered what mess they were making but then heard Kylee telling Cannon "we have to get it all clean for mom Cannon." I looked up and this is what I found.

Cannon had the broom and Kylee had the mop.

I love my kids!!!

Let's Go to the Zoo

KYLEE: "Mom, want to go to the zoo with me?"

Me: "Ky, I would love to go to the zoo with you, but we don't have any money."

KYLEE: "That's ok, I've got money, I'll pay for you. (Shows me her purse full of a few pennies and dimes) Me: "That's really sweet hunny but I don't think that's enough to pay for us."

Kylee: "Yes it is mom, let's go. Come on. It's just over here." (takes me by the hand and leads me into her bedroom) "Look there's a monkey. I'm going to take it's picture."
KYLEE: "Mom will you take my picture with the Monkey?"

Kylee with the baby monkey

Kylee and the Mommy Monkey

Kylee with the bear

There was a giraffe and tiger at the zoo too.

Kylee swimming with the dolphin.

What a great trip to the zoo. :)

Proud of Our Nephews

Bailey recently got his Arrow of Light in Scouts.

He is a very active kid and I'm sure he will just keep doing great things in Scouting.
It was fun to be able to see the ceremony and celebrate this great accomplishment with him.
WAY TO GO BAILEY!
Keep up the great work!


Then we traveled to Boise to watch McKay get baptized.
He is one of the sweetest kids I know.
So kind and selfless.
Just a really great kid!
WAY TO GO MCKAY!
Here he is with all his cousin's that came. What a fun picture!

Since this post was all about nephews I had to put a picture of our only other nephew on here.

Camdyn...we are just proud to have you in our family.

He makes us laugh all the time and him and Kylee and very great friends.

LOVE ALL OUR NEPHEWS!!!

Celebrations

Summer seems to be a very busy time for everyone. For those of us who aren't blessed with the means to go camping every weekend, or boating, or on fun vacations, or pretty much anywhere that takes too much gas or money...summer gets to be long and lonely. Everyone else seems to always be out doing things we just don't have the money to do. I'm not complaining (well, maybe a little) just saying we are running out of fun and FREE things to do this summer. Luckily July was full of celebrations and fun things, so that helped the month fly right on by.

We went to the Bountiful parade to celebrate the 24th of July.

(more pics of this on facebook)

Cody turned 19.

Kylee helped me make this cake for him. It's chocolate with chocolate icing, and Kylee insisted on putting chocolate chips on top too...so we wrote Happy 19 Cody in chocolate chips. I love that little girl, but man is she persistent if she has her mind on something. Not sure where she gets it from. ;-)

We went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. My kids were both ready for naps (especially Cannon) but I really think Kylee enjoyed it and understood what a special place the temple is.

Then we've just been celebrating LIFE. :) Cannon is a MONKEY and climbs on everything. Recently he has learned to climb up on the bar stools and get on the kitchen counter. Here he is talking to Grandma on the phone. He makes me laugh, smile, cry, and gives me heart attacks about once a day.

Luckily my kids have a VERY awesome and fun DAD who is always more then willing to play with them. If only he didn't have to work so darn hard and could be home more. We sure miss him.