Cooper's Birthday

For Coop's birthday, we let him open two gifts in the morning and the rest that evening. That night we just ate dinner at home, open gifts, and had dessert.

One of his gifts was tickets to a Jazz game. He was very excited.

Ted and Cooper at the Jazz game. They had a ton of fun
and Coop was pretty tuckered out the next day because the
game didn't start until 8:30. Oh well.

Coop and the family with his favorite gift.

Mom and Cooper with his ice cream cake.

Cooper's Baptism

Cooper got baptizeed on February 4th, and it was a wonderful day. Cooper was just beaming all day and was so excited to be baptized, and I was overwhelmed at the love and support that we received that day. We had 50 people come to show their love and support that day and it really meant a lot to us. Thank you!!!
Cooper's baptism turned out great! Ted did a great job of focusing the talk on Cooper, and the baptism went smooth as well. I am so thankful that Ted is a worthy priesthood holder and could perform these ordinances.

Cooper's First Day of Scouts

Cooper started Scouts 4 days after his baptism, and he was so excited he could hardly contain himself. After school that day, he came straight home, ate a snack, and did his homework without any arguing. He knew the deal was that he had to do homework before he could go.
He had so much fun and kept saying the rest of the night, "I love this shirt. It is so comfortable."

My Big-Little Man

My little man is getting so big and I cannot believe that he is old enough to be getting baptized!!! Where does the time go?
It is going to be a crazy week!!! We are having a friend birthday party for him tomorrow, his birthday is next week and then 3 days later, we have his baptism.
Here is his baptism invitation and his 8 year old pictures. I took him to the Union Station and took his pictures by trains and he really enjoyed it because he loves trains.

The Wind Storm

The wind storm on December 3rd was very scary down in our area. We woke up not thinking much of the wind and when we looked outside, we noticed a little it of our fence was missing. As the morning went on, we literally watched about 75% of our fencing blow over. When that had subsided, Ted decided that there wasn't much he could do and that he would head into work. That's when we started to hear siding rip off of our house. It was a very eventful day and we are just grateful that no one in our ward was seriously hurt.

This is a view from our neighbors yard looking into our
yard and into our other neighbors yard.

Our beautiful house.

This siding started coming down right before the wind
started to die down.

A view from our back neighbor's yard.

Dance Recital

Kendall had her Christmas dance recital this year on a Saturday and it was so much better than last years. It was just the right amount of time and Kendall had a great time.

Kendall was funny because this year she was a little shy
or embarrassed. I'm not sure which one.

Kendall and her BFF, Molly

Ted got Kendall some flowers for doing such a good job,
and they were a big hit!!!

Kendall would not look at the camera, but kept her
eyes on the teacher. She did a really good job and we
are proud of her.

Nana and Papa came to support Kendall.

So did Grandpa Dean and Grandma Laurie

Morgan couldn't wait to get on the stage and give Kendall
a hug. Morgan absolutely loved the dance recital and would
yell out when she would see Kendall.

Thank you for coming everyone. We love you!!!

Christmas

This Christmas was a lot of fun. The kids were so excited and just couldn't wait to get the festivities started. We had a few days packed with festivities. We started at Christmas Eve morning at my dads, then went to Teds dads to visit, and then went to my moms that evening. The next morning, we opened gifts, went to church, came back to play, and then headed to Ted's dad's for Christmas dinner. It was a great two days!!!!

The kids were so excited and wound up about Christmas
and this is literally what they did the whole time at my
Dad and Laurie's, they laid on the ground and wrestled
and yelled.

The grand kids with Grandma and Grandpa Dean and
Grandma and Grandpa Benstog

Trev, Dad, Me, Ryan

Me, mom, Trev, and Ryan

The kids in their new p.j.s from Nana (and or auntie Leslie)

Ted had to get a picture of my mom with all the gifts.
She loves to by for the kids. In her defense, about half
of these are from everyone bringing in their gifts to exchange
and for the kids.

As soon as we woke up, Morgan kept saying, "Santa
eat cookies!" She wanted to see if he had eaten them.

The kids coming down to see what Santa brought.

"Who's having fun?" ....... "Meeeeeee!!!!)

Santa brought a tent for Kendall and it was a big hit!!!!

Every time Morgan would open a present, she would hand
Ted the piece of wrapping paper and say "Here you go."

Can we have some crackers with that cheese?

Coop got so many legos and had all his sets built by the
next day. He does an awesome job.

Morgan opened like two presents and then wanted to go play.

Uncle Scott giving instructions for the candy bar game.....
Everyone had a blast!!!!!

Grandpa gave everyone of his 16 grandkids a candy bar and $10.

Kendall got an easy bake oven, so we made a cake!!!