Paleo...perhaps not!

For the past several months, I've been going to Crossfit. Part of Crossfit, is following a Paleo diet meaning no grains, beans, added salt, dairy, or processed foods (do know that I'm known to cheat! I try to follow it at least 85% of the time!) My wonderful neighbor, Marcie gave me some almond flour to try & make a Paleo chocolate cake. Needless to say, as you can clearly tell by the picture, it didn't quite turn out...the taste was fine but the presentation left much to be desired! I'm a horrible cook as it is & when I attempt things like this that take time & effort, then turn out badly, it just reinforces my distaste for cooking!!

Time in the Tub

Miss Marley is such a good big sister! She wanted to help bathe Grace! She's usually so helpful with Grace...I can only pray that such an attitude will continue as she grows older!!!!

Playtime

It's so fun to watch Grace's mechanics & movements improve & get better. She was being so cute playing with this toy, but I kind of failed to take a decent pictures. I love that she is learning something new everyday!!!

Banner

Marley found this scrap of tissue paper. But for a 2 1/2 year old, it's no ordinary scrap of tissue paper...it's a "banner" that Marley wrote some sort of "message" on, then proceeded to hang it on the fridge for everyone to read. Sometimes I can't believe the imagination of this child!!






BLANKET TENT


Marley loves to make this make-shift fort out of blankets & the mini-recliners. In fact, she'll sometimes insist that she eats lunch in there or that Grace lay down in there with her!

Coloring with Markers

When Marley showed me that she had been coloring in her Hello Kitty activity book with markers, I was absolutely shocked that she had colored nearly the entire Hello Kitty face & stayed within the lines. I'm sure it's a fluke & I probably won't see her color like that for awhile!!









MY SWEETY PEAS



I love little baby bodies! They are so little, cute & soft!! Grace doesn't normally like to lay on her belly, but since she seemed to be tolerating it alright, I was able to get a couple of non-crying pictures!!

Pillow Pet Dreams

I was doing something like folding laundry in the other room when I realized that it was too quiet in the living room. This is how I found Marley! Asleep on the floor with her 'snugly' blanket & her beloved Pillow Pet!!





ANNUAL COOKE NEW YEARS BOWLING PARTY


For the past 3 or 4 years, Jerry & Ruth book several lanes at Fat Cats bowling in order to host the Cooke Family Bowling Party!! It's always such fun to get together. I'm the worst bowler possible (this year, I broke 100 in one of the four games I played...a record for me!) but I enjoy getting together, especially now that Marley's old enough to participate.

Kevin's sister, Kristen & her hubby, Guy (Kevin's bowling competition), Kevin, & I.

Marley was going nuts with the air vent thing on the bowling conveyor belt thing (I'm sure there's a technical term, but I'm not that nerdy!) or as her Aunt Trina called it, bowling "Flash Dance".

Marley took home 1st prize in her lane! She beat out Papa Jerry!! She was pretty happy to get that medal!

Kevin's bowling nemesis, Guy, won the Grand prize this year, which includes bragging rights, your name engraved on the silver bowling trophy, & being able to showcase the trophy for an entire year! Next year, Guy. Next year!

My Sweet Baby Grace

There's no particular reason I'm posting these photos...just love my sweet baby Grace! She's so darn adorable!! I want to constantly kiss those cheeks!!!


IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE...
My mother-in-law Ruth thoughtfully decided to give me tickets to the play "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie". It is based after those fun "If You Give.." books. So Marley & I, and Miranda & her two daughters, Sadie & Kinley went together. I was a bit nervous that Marley wasn't going to sit through the entire play...but she LOVED it & sat through the whole thing. She talked about wanting to see it again weeks afterward!!

Kinley, Marley, & Sadie on the set of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie".

Snow Day

Marley got a new snowsuit & sled for Christmas. Since there was lots of fresh fallen snow, Marley & Kevin decided to try it out in our front yard!

Then we decided to move to an elementary school down the road that has a great hill for sledding!!
I stayed warm in the car with Little Miss Grace!

Marley LOVED, LOVED, LOVED playing in the snow & using her new sled! She was a die hard & didn't want to stop even though she was so cold!!

Marley also had to take a minute to play on the playground equipment as well!

I LOVE this snow suit on Grace! You can see several hours of sledding was enough to wear Marley out!!

BROKEN RECORDER

Marley has this extremely cheap recorder that she got for free somewhere. One day she was trying to play with it & ended up breaking it & her heart apparently. This is how I found her...sulking over the broken instrument!!!

MARLEY, GRACE, & A BALLOON

Like every little kid, Marley adores balloons. In fact, she won't want to part with them & let me throw them away, even when most of the air is out & they are nearly all shriveled up!!

Marley is always wanting me to take pictures of her & Grace. To bad I can't get a decent picture!!






IT'S A PILLOW PET!

One of Marley's favorite things she received for Christmas is a lady bug Pillow Pet. Whoever came up with this idea is a marketing genius because she is obsessed with hers & it was one of the cheapest things she got for Christmas!

CUPPY-CAKE

Marley is constantly asking to make cookies & cupcakes. So we gave her this cupcake-maker for Christmas. She had loads of fun making them, but mostly because I did all the work! There are so many cracks & crevices to clean on that thing! It's ridiculous!!!

Marley enjoying the fruits of my labor...but I really enjoyed spending time with her & she loved it!

CHRISTMAS...IT'S FINALLY HERE

Marley checking out her Christmas haul...of course she goes right for the Pillow Pet!

Marley insisted we get a bumble bee Pillow pet for Grace (she also keeps insisting that I need a unicorn Pillow Pet.) What a nice big sister!

So as you might be able to get from the pictures, Marley & Grace got a whole bunch of stuff. In fact, probably TOO much stuff! It got so overwhelming to Marley & she didn't know what to play with because there was TOO much!!! I think we went over board! It's so darn fun shopping for them, but next year, I'm determined to cut it, at least, by half! This was out of control!!!! No kid needs this much stuff!

COOKE CHRISTMAS

We met at Kevin's sister Noelle's clubhouse for a Cooke Christmas get-together this year. Mr. & Mrs. Claus made an appearance. It took some coaxing, but I got Marley to sit on Santa's lap!! Having little kids makes Christmas so much fun!!

ACKROYD CHRISTMAS

Marley with her Aunt Tina; Grandma Orimi with Grace.

Kevin, Seth, & Jono

Of course Marley had loads of presents to open. This kid gets way too many things from all her family! She doesn't even know how lucky she is!!!

You may wonder what my brother Seth is doing...having a seizure, a short bout of palsy, or just being a weirdo.

We had so much fun hanging out with the family! It's always a good, relaxed time!

SLEEPING BABY

I love looking at my kids when they are asleep. So innocent & peaceful! Grace looks so cute sleeping that I have to resist the temptation to pick her up! Love this kid!!!!

Laker Colors

Kevin allowed Marley to get dressed one morning & she came out wearing this...

Laker colors! She loves these purple yoga-type pants because they are comfortable & the shirt was just whatever she could reached in her closet. She's such a nut!

HO, HO, HO...

Marley was enthralled with the Santa hat when we unpacked it from the Christmas boxes. She wanted to wear it around the house this time. She came down the hall saying, "ho, ho, ho...Merry Christmas!"


GRACE GIRL


Of course I just think my little Grace Girl is the cutest thing ever, so I just had to snap a few pictures of her...even though in some these photos she looks frightened! I love this kid so much!!


TRIMMING THE TREE


As Marley has gotten older, she has really looked forward to getting out the Christmas decorations & decorating the tree. This year she was able to actually hang up the various ornaments, even if they were all at her level near the bottom of the tree.


Marley got a little manger scene ornament kit from Grandma Ruth that she was dying to put together. Then found a Santa hat from our Christmas box, of course, had to wear it around everywhere.



We also have this 'snow man kit', that Marley got out everyday while we had it out to dress up in it. Oh to be a kid & have the simplest things entertain you...

Marley was so thrilled to hang up all the ornaments!

FRIENDS & DRESS-UP

After going to dinner with the North family & exchanging Christmas gifts, we spent some time hanging out. Marley, Sadie, & Kinley came out all dressed-up & it was absolutely so adorable to see them all together!!

CHRISTMAS CARD 2010

HIGH HEELS

The heels Marley is wearing are nearly 4 inches but she loves to go through my closet & get out my shoes & purses. She is a complete girlie-girl. I have a little make-up bag filled up with various lipsticks & lip glosses that I don't use any more & she is constantly getting in it to put her "make-up" on. I love this girl! She's so much fun!

SLEEPY-TIME

I love looking at Grace when she's asleep. She's got such a sweet innocent face that looks so at peace when she's sleeping!

PLAYING WITH DUPLO

We signed Marley up for a Pottery Barn class where she was able to build things out of Duplos. She was the only girl at the class but had such a wonderful time.

PANDA DOUGH

One day Marley brought me some white fabric batting & wanted to get out her rolling pin so she could make some cookies out of "panda dough". I wasn't really understanding what she meant & I couldn't figure out where she was getting the batting from. Finally I realized that this white bear she has (that she refers to as a "panda bear") had a little hole in it's belly & she was pulling the stuffing out of it. I have know idea why she thought she should call it dough...such a goofy kid!

COWBOY BOOTS

As usual, Marley is into putting on my shoes. Today I left some of my Frye boots out & she managed to get both of them on & wobble around in them. It makes me laugh because she looks so goofy in them!!

GLASS ART

For my birthday, Ruth & Jerry, set up a glass blowing class for Kevin & I at Thanksgiving Point. Apparently, having the facility & equipment can be quite expensive, so the next closest place to take a class like this is in Washington state!! In order to keep the glass in a liquid form, the kilns are kept at approximately 3000 degrees, so the glass blowing room is extremely warm (fortunately, it was rather cold outside, so that helped some). Plus, you have to wear cotton long sleeves, cotton pants, gloves & a handkerchief around your face while the kiln is open.

Although we turned out some glass paper weights, we did manage to make some vases & other forms, with the assistance from our instructor. Glass blowing is fun but very challenging. I was a bit fearful at first because you are working with some pretty serious materials at insanely high temperatures. There's even a whole little dance-step type thing you do to sit down on your bench in order to blow some bubbles into your glass. It's very tricky because you constantly have to keep your liquid glass moving, otherwise, gravity takes over & you end up with a piece of glass you've gathered that you cannot use unless you reheat it again! Our instructor informed us that some people come out empty handed in their first class as they are not able to make anything other than paperweights! Fortunately, that was not the case for us! We made some pretty cool pieces!!

PHOENIX IN NOVEMBER

Even though I sadly didn't take any pictures, we got to attend my friend Suzy Hardy's daughter's wedding reception. We left the day after Thanksgiving & got to see the awesome job Suzy did with her daughter's reception!!! It was so cute & you could completely tell Suzy had put it together! It was nice because I got to see a physician & a nurse that I used to work with. It was good to catch up with them! Suzy's daughter converted to Mormonism thanks to her wonderful now-husband & was able to get married in the Mesa Temple. Even though Suzy couldn't attend, I was so happy that she had such a good attitude about everything! She's a great person!!!

The Cooper family was nice enough to let us stay with them. Even though it was crowded, we had a good time (and I hope they did as well)! Charlie & Marley got along better this time (except when Charlie zipped Marley into the trampoline so Marley couldn't get out!). However, our fun was cut short as the day after we got there, Marley got horribly sick & started throwing up. Needless to say, we weren't able to go out & do much of anything since Marley wasn't up to it. Using lots of bleach-cleaner & hand-sanitizer we managed to keep everyone else from getting sick (thank heavens!!) Marley didn't start feeling better until the day after we got home! Poor kid! She managed to make the plane right home without anything horrible happening, but that meant trouble because as soon as we buckled her into her car seat, she threw-up all over it! It was a big mess that we couldn't clean up until we got home, after we dropped Kevin's mom, Ruth, off at home since Ruth had picked us up. So Marley had to sit in that puke-covered car seat for nearly 30 minutes before we got home!! Fortunately, we did manage to clean the car seat well enough with a power-washer & there is no residual smell/vomit on the seat anymore!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2010

This year we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with Kevin's parents, and, of course, Ruth did her usual fantastic job of putting everything together! She works so hard & it always turns out so fantastic...who could ask for a better mom/mother-in-law/grandma!!!

FAMILY PHOTOS

We managed to recruit Amber again for yet another photo session. We wanted to give my parents & the in-laws a good Christmas gift & what's better than a picture of ourselves (are we narcisists or what?)

What a lovely couple!

Oh heavens! Grace is so adorable! I love to kiss that little face & I love her out fit in this photo!

Love these photos of Marley! Love the hands in the pockets & the position of her feet! She's my baby doll!

I know I'm tooting my own horn, but I really love this picture of us all together! I think that it turned out so well & we all look really nice in it!

TEAM PICTURE

This was the first year that they offered season ticket holders of at least 20 years a chance to get a picture taken with the entire Jazz 2010/2011 team. Even though it was an assembly line of people all getting their picture taken with barely a chance to smile for the camera before we were shuffled off the blue carpet. But you better believe that if you even thought for a second about stepping off the blue carpet on to that wooden floor, they swarmed you like a S.W.A.T. team! Kevin of course was messing around while we were waiting in line & stepped off the carpet on to the wooden floor trying to get one of the player's attention & a serious looking usher in a formal looking jacket came rushing over to ensure that he wouldn't step on that floor again! When Tyrone Corbin saw Grace, he said "Oh hey a baby!" And Deron Williams was texting or doing something on his phone the entire time until the camera man said cheese, then he looked up briefly, pasted a smile on his face, & was back to his phone again...definitely a multi-tasker that obviously knew he had LOTS of pictures to take before he could get out of there! It was a cool experience...thanks Jerry for hooking us up!!