Happy Anniversary

27 Jan 2008

I know, I know, my anniversary isn't on Jan 26th. However, it is on May 8th and this year will be our big number 10!!! Amazing! I can't beleive it's been that long since Jared and I were married. We actually started dating in Dec of 1994. That means that we've been a couple for almost 15 years. That's like half my life! I love Jared so much and since he seems to love me too I guess we'll give it a go for another 15 years (at least).

Well, the reason I'm writing about my anniversary in January is that Jared got me an early present.

The band is new and it has 10 diamonds to represent the 10 years we've been married. The center diamond is also new. Jared traded in my .44 carat for a 1 carat! It's so much bigger and I love it. He says, "This is how your ring should have looked all along." I love my new ring and my wonderful considerate husband!

For you folks who think you're so funny, no, he did not go to Jared. He went to Moses! Way better!

Beach Day - Thanks MLK!

19 Jan 2009

I know, I know, today isn't really the 19th - but I've been really busy with lots of stuff and I neglected to post these great pictures earlier. When my parents were here last week we went to the beach in Corpus Christi. The temperature was around 80 degrees and we had a great time.

The Gingerbread House

14 Jan 2009

The gingerbread house is finally done!!! It took me about 2 months from start to finish but it was totally worth it. I was inspired by a food network challenge where they were making candy castles. I was sure that I could do just as good. Now, I'm not so sure, but I do know a lot more about making and working with icing. The trick is to make it super sticky. Here is my recipe:

2 cups powdered sugar
1 egg white
tiny bit of vinegar (like 1/2 tsp) - add more to make the icing thinner

This will make really thick and sticky icing that dries hard in a manner of minutes and rock hard by the next day. Next year my house will be even better!!!!

Boring Old January

12 Jan 2009

Well just as Jared predicted - January is pretty boring. We're all fine here. We (meaning me, Derek and Holly) sleep in late. Jared goes to work and Tyler goes to school. Ralphie is getting to be a better (more obedient) dog thanks to the new air horn we use to warn him of danger. We just need to be sure that we warn everyone else before we use it or we get three crying kids in addition to the terrified/paranoid puppy.

One bright light in the old day-to-day is that Grandma James came to visit last Tuesday and Grandpa James will be here on Wednesday. They will stay until Jan 20th. We are so glad to have them here because Grandma loves to do dishes and Grandpa loves to teach Tyler how to ride a bike. We're hoping that it will be warm enough to go down to Corpus Christi to play on the beach and show Grandpa the aircraft carrier. It's been warm off and on all week. We hope the warm is on next Sat.

This was Holly about a week ago. She's even fatter and cuter and less yellow now.

These two are the SLEEPIEST! Jared is always sleepy. Holly is always sleepy when Jared is holding her. It's kinda weird. Actually, she's really sleepy at night too. It's nice for us to get good sleep but it makes it hard to work on things during the day because she's awake and wants to play.

Tyler is really good at holding the baby! He loves to sit and hold her and sing her songs.

He always gives her back when she starts to cry.

This is what you can do in Jan if you live in Texas.

Ralphie recreation time! They were doing this for awhile before I thought to make a video. Don't worry about Ralphie. He's okay.

Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que

[Jared] One of my New Year's Resolutions is to patronize establishments which share my name. I couldn't shop for jewelry at Jared's, so I settled for a an evening of BBQ at Cooper's. Texas is littered with these little pit BBQ joints. Eating there is a lot like dropping in on a family reunion, you typically eat off a slab of butcher-paper and sit at picnic-tables, and the food is A-maz-ing. Suzie got pork ribs and I got beef--wow. Makes me sort of regret growing up in Utah where our only culinary distinctions are fry-sauce and green-jello with carrots. Then again, San Antonio was declared by the American Obesity Association as the fattest city in the United States (I can see why, they can seriously cook down here).
Suzie thought she'd pick up a few Coopers to go.

I, on the other hand, couldn't leave without getting a hat and a T-Shirt. I know there's some big fans of Trucker hats who follow this blog, big ups!

One of Suzie's resolutions is to eat a Chimichanga, which is actually harder than one might think. Apparently, Chimichangas are considered Cal-Mex, not Tex-Mex. If anyone can find a joint online in SA where Suzie can get her Chimi-fix, we'd be obliged!

Tyler hijacked our white board and made a list of his favorite things called 'Tyler's Goods.' He started with 'video games,' then filled the rest in. Notably missing is Derek, oh well, c'est la guerre.

Suzie and I had to go to the Commissary (grocery-store in civilian language), and I saw this:

Shelf-stable Egg Nog! This stuff doesn't expire until Spring 2010! That way, when Armegeddon hits, I'll be sittin' pretty sippin' my Nog, while all you chumps are trying to keep the government from taking your guns and silver coins! It doesn't taste great, but it's not horrible either. We also tried Southern Comfort Egg Nog (we decided to not add the whiskey), which was good, but had a heavy nutmeg flavor. The best we tried this season was Hill-Country Farms (or something like that) from WalMart--Smooth, thick, sweet-but-not-sugary.

*Sigh* now onto boring old January.

Dinner Time Recipes

1 Jan 2009

One of my New Year's resolutions is to be a better menu planner. I think that this will help my family eat healthier and cheaper. I was talking about this with Jared a few days ago when my mom called with the idea of a family recipe blog. Perfect! Now I can get and share ideas with my whole family. I think that it will help me plan out my meals ahead of time and make better shopping lists. Here is the link:

dinnertimerecipes.blogspot.com

If you would like to contribute just e-mail me and I will add you to the list of administrators so that you can log on and make changes. If you just want to look and use the ideas - that's great too.

Christmas Eve

24 Dec 2008

Since we were far away from all of our family members we spent Christmas Eve alone this year. It wasn't lonely though - we had fun. We played Wii most of the morning, watched Horton Hears a Who after lunch and then went downtown to see the lights on the Riverwalk before dinner. The lights were actually really neat. We noticed that they weren't as formal and professional looking as the lights at temple square - they had more of a mexican fiesta flare - but they were more enjoyable for three reasons 1) there was a river and that's always peaceful and fun 2) there were less people and more restaurants (we ate at Joe's Crab Shack) and 3) it was 70 degrees instead of 7 degrees. We took Holly with us (of course) and I got lots of comments from the other people there about how little and cute she was. I totally agree. The kids got to open one present when we got home. It was new Christmas pajamas for all!

If you will notice - all of us are in focus in this photo except for Tyler. I had to take the picure without the flash in order to get the lights in the background and so I told everyone to hold really still. We all did, except for Tyler who has to do the opposite of everything we say. Jared says he's just testing limits. I say that he's making a compelling argument for a permanent transfer to the naughty boy farm.

This is a cute little video of Derek and Jared dancing at dinner.

This is Holly and I at the restaurant. I was holding her the whole time I was eating and when we got home she smelled somewhat of coconut shrimp.

Welcome Holly!

28 Dec 2008

Well things are going very well with our new cutie baby. She sleeps almost 23 hours a day and eats every three. I'm having a harder time nursing than I did with Tyler or Derek (very painful) but I'm sure it will get better over the next few weeks. Here are some more photos - I'm sure that the grandmas are especially anxious to see them.

Holly Jolly Christmas

We had a Family Home Evening with the boys about Priesthood Blessings, which ended with everyone getting a blessing from Jared (me). An hour or two after we were done, Suzie announced that she thought tonight was the night she'd deliver. Suzie had a friend from our church drive her to the hospital on base, while I arranged for someone to come stay with the boys. At 3:00 am, 22 Dec, Suzie was dilated to a 5, at 4:00 she was lobbying hard for an epidural, after which she felt a WHOLE lot better...

Around 5:15 am Suzie started getting beat up pretty bad again, despite the epidural, so the anesthesiologist came packing a huge syringe full of something that made everything all right again. Suzie pushed five times, and out squirted Holly Ann Cooper at about 5:40 am. This picture was taken at 0542, as soon as I was relieved from thigh-holding, chord-cutting duty.
Holly's Stats (if I can remember right)
Holly Ann Cooper
Born 22 Dec 2008, 0540
6 lbs, 12 oz, 19"

Enjoy watching an enlisted medical technician suck the cheesy-discharge and mucus off my little girl! The cackling in the background is Suzie's close friend Ashley, who drove her to the hospital and stayed up talking with her all night until after Suzie and the baby were comfortable. Thank you Ashley!

She is without a doubt the most beautiful baby ever, the pinnacle of a heritage of uber-cute babies. Already she is much more cuddly and less punchy-kicky-elbowy than her older brothers. If you hold her close, she instantly mellows out and purrs like a kitten.

Unfortunately, DOD Guidelines for a Healthy Pregnancy (I'm not making this up) stipulate that the mother and baby must remain inpatient for a minimum of 24 hour after delivery, or 48 hours if emergency aftercare might be difficult (e.g. during the holidays). So Suzie and Holly wont make it home until Christmas Eve. So I'm a single father of two boys, while Suzie is an abandoned mother with a new baby in a military hospital.

Can't wait until Christmas!

11 Days to Go!

21 Dec 2008

Pregnancy Update:

Well, no baby yet. On Friday I was having lots of really strong contractions. They weren't close together (about 10 min) but they didn't stop for 8 hours. So, we went to the hospital at about 11:00 p.m. and got checked out. They said that I was only dialated to 1 cm even with all the contractions. They had me walk around for a hour and a half to see if the contractions would get stronger but they didn't and we were really tired so we just came home. (My super nice visiting teacher watched the boys. She has 5 boys of her own - all under 10 - and our kids had a really good time there.) I continued to have contractions all day yesterday and I am still having them this morning. They are pretty regular (still about 10 min apart) and uncomfortable, but not getting stronger.

I'm a little disappointed and a little glad that our baby isn't here yet. I want to have her soon so that I can start feeling better, but I also want Jared to be a little more healed from his eye surgery so that he can drive and take care of the boys. He says that the pain is mostly gone but that the contact "bandages" that he's been wearing since Thurs morning are getting really dirty and irritating. He should be getting the contacts removed tomorrow morning and then hopefully he can start driving again.

Well, we're all here at home together now (no school, no work) until Jan 5th. Tyler is super excited for the candy he's going to get out of the advent calendar on the 25th and Derek is just excited for "PRESENTS!!!" We love you and we will keep you updated.

Love, Suzie