Birthday Girl

We decided to celebrate Marley's second birthday in low-key fashion this year. We had a wonderful time with our immediate family members!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR WONDERFUL LITTLE GIRL WHO WE LOVE WITH ALL OUR HEARTS!!!!!

Marley's Grandma Ruth brought a lovely princess cake & delicious chocolate covered strawberries.

We got some wonderful cupcakes from So Cupcake (the carrot cake & red velvet were awesome!)

Top Left: Marley's Uncle Jono & Uncle David. Top Right: Marley with Papa Jerry. Bottom Left: Marley with Papa Jerry & Aunt Alece. Bottom Right: Cousin Aric

Top Left: Grandma Ruth. Top Right: Marley with Great-grandma Orie.

Bottom Left: Aunt Alece with Marley. Bottom Right: Miss Birthday Girl

These pictures were taken by Aunt Alece. These are of Marley blowing out her birthday candles (since you can't tell what is supposed to be portrayed in these pictures.) Nice job Alece :)

Marley loved the cupcakes & the presents!

She had just as much fun opening up the gifts as she did getting them!

She received many wonderful gifts & has had a great time using them!

Kevin & I gave her a great big ball pit & couldn't get her out of it she loved it so much!

Las Vegas & Phoenix

We decided to take a trip to Las Vegas with my bro, Seth, & Mandi & her family. We spent a few nights in Vegas with Mandi, then parted ways & went to Phoenix to catch a Sun's basketball game & visit the Karl, Chantae, Charlie, & their new addition, Erza.


We went to Serendipity in Vegas (it's known for it's $1000 edible gold leaf dessert) to try this delicious "Cold Hot Chocolate". Kinley & Marley couldn't get enough of it! The picture of Kevin is him wearing Justin's sleeveless shirt around the condo. I don't know why, but it made me laugh so hard!


Marley had a wonderful time with Kinley & Sadie. They kept going around giving each other hugs...so adorable. Marley got to see the adult & baby lions at MGM Grand. She talked about them for days after!


This little "gem" was near our hotel in Phoenix. There is NO WAY anything kosher happens in a place called "Magic Massage".


Holding Erza made me remember how I had forgotten that Marley really was that little at one time. He was a lovely baby & we are so glad we got to see him!!!


Kevin took Marley for a little ride on the Ruckus. She liked to so much that one ride just wasn't enough!



I love the pictures of Marley & Charlie giving each other kisses!



What do I say here? It's Seth.


To give Chantae a little break, we took the girls swimming at the hotel pool. We kind of wondered if we were actually allowed to swim as nearly EVERY guest was of retirement or older!

Other uses for headbands...

One day I heard Marley asking for my help. When I found her, she had some how trapped her arms with one of my headbands, giving her limited arm movement. It had me cracking up! Sometimes I just don't know what goes through this kid's head!!

Gymnastics

I decided to enroll Marley in a Gymnastics class, hoping to increase her balance & coordination & let her get some exercise. Some weeks she doesn't do too bad & will listen to the teacher & follow commands. However, there are some weeks that don't go as smoothly. On week I was trying to get her to move to the next station & tried to pick her up to move her along & she went limp, collapsed to the floor & started rolling around on the mat! Sometimes I just have to roll my eyes because what else can I do?

Dress Up

Marley loves to put on her own clothes & wear them how she thinks they should be worn. She loves those little squeaky shoes (those are actually the shoes from Japan that I used to wear when I was little) and carry around a purse.


I was so into taking pictures of what Marley was wearing, I hadn't noticed that Marley had placed stickers all over the wall! She adores stickers & I find them EVERYWHERE!!!

Saint George Parade of Homes

I have always wanted to go to the Saint George Parade of Homes & this year me, Mandi, & our families to a trip down to Saint George to do just that!


There were a few interesting homes, but this bedroom was probably by far my favorite out of everything we saw. I LOVE that everything in the room is a different shade of gray. The furniture isn't exactly black...it's a really dark brown. It's given me an itch to redo my bedroom. I also adored this pool and the surrounding background!


To give Marley a break, we went swimming & to Pirate Island (it's similar to Chuck E. Cheese, without the under current of domestic violence). I know she really liked to swimming but not sure if she liked Pirate Island...maybe she was a little too young yet.

Mad Mullet

Kevin had grown sick of his hair being so long. One day he decided he was going to cut it off, but decided he'd try to see what the fuss about the mullet is all about, & cut himself one. I couldn't stop laughing at it & I BEGGED him to wear it to work at least one day, but he refused...at least he let me take a picture!

Madame Moustache

Marley pulled out this fake moustache that we got from who-knows-where & wanted to put it on. But by the time I managed to get her looking at me so I could take a picture of her wearing the 'stache, she wanted it off & started fussing.

Sadie & Kinley

Sadie & Kinley came up to play with Marley. Of course they were running around doing super cute things & posing just perfectly, but my camera (and/or the user) was having some issues/technical difficulties...so these are the best ones I could get of them!

Accessories

Marley absolutely loves baby dolls & loves purses. She decided to wear this purse around like a satchel. When we are at the store, she always wants to buy a purse or wants to carry my purse around!

Phoenix Suns

Even though the Phoenix Suns are number 8 in the running for the Western Confrence Finals, they are my FAVORITE NBA team (and who knows, the spread is only two games, so they could jump up the ranks!) So out of all the tickets handed out, these are the ones I wanted. We were lucky enough to get extras so my sibs could go as well!!!

Featured in the top picture are two of my favs Steve Nash & Amar'e Stoudemire! YE-AH!

Half-time entertainment just made me smile! These little girls were so darn cute doing their little dance routine! I loved it!!!

Double Trouble

A friend from high school, Tonya, is due to have twin girls in the next little bit. So Mandi & Amber were kind enough to have a small baby shower for her. She got some really cute clothes & lots of best wishes! Having twins will definitely be a huge challenge, but I'm sure she'll be great at it! Good luck Tonya!

Me, Mandi, Tonya & her darling little girl, Crystal.

Bowling FHE Style

We've had several fun young couples move into our area & thought it might be a good time to all get together for some good old fashion bowling. We had several come & several that we hope can make it next time!

Top Left: Joshy Larsen. Top Right: Marley, Ray King, Shane & Debbie Mattingly. Bottom Left: Mack Larsen. Bottom Right: Mack Larsen, Shane Mattingly, & Marley.

BABY NUMBER TWO

Kevin & I both agreed that we should be having baby number two as Marley turned two. So we started trying May 2009. Month, after month, we had no luck. I kept thinking we'll just give it more time, but as the months passed, we started to think that maybe it just wasn't going to happen. It was hard to accept because Marley came so easily...we one day decided let's have a baby, and a month or so later, we were pregnant with Marley. So when December 2009 rolled up, I decided I was going to a fertility doctor. Several people I had worked with had done fertility treatments & were able to give me good advice & recommendations on who I should see. So I made the appointment for January 2010. Apparently, for me, making the appointment was enough because I took a pregnancy test January 9, 2010, low & behold it was positive! Whahoo! I definitely feel that all those months we were stressing unnecessarily & worrying too much about getting pregnant. When I made the fertility appointment is when we just relaxed & figured we'd wait until we saw the specialist & I think that's what did it! We are so excited to have another precious little baby in our home!! And even though they will be 2 1/2 years apart, I feel like it will work out better this way!

Birthday with Obasan

For my grandmother's birthday 83rd birthday, we all met for dinner. We were going to treat ourselves to some Brick Oven Pizza, but had a bit of a snafu with the seating arrangements. So we went to the next best place (according to the 65 & over crowd) the GC Buffet. Sometimes the Golden Corral isn't so golden, but we made an exception for her birthday.

All Bundled Up

This lovely woman at work, Mary, (who knit a very cute sweater for Marley last year) had given Marley this coat/hat/mitten set for my baby shower when I pregnant with Marley. I got it out the other day thinking that Marley can now wear it. She immediately put on the hat & tried to put on the mittens (both of which Mary knitted, by the way). So I wanted to get pictures of her in the whole thing & she completely cooperated with me (for once!)

Fake Lashes

My cute hair dresser, Niki, had these wonderful eyelashes on when I went to visit her last. She said that her secret was eyelash extensions. I LOVED how they looked & totally wanted to try them. I knew that I wouldn't be the only who would, so Alece, Tina, & Tina's sister, Jana, had them done as well. The girl that does them just came over to my parents house & we had them done in the same night. I tried to take some before & after photos, which didn't turn out too well, but I think you can see the difference!

Alece's eyelashes turned out so adorable!


Even though I look like Frankenstien here, you can see how awesome the lashes look!


If you look close enough, you can see what a difference the lashes made for our eyes!

Basketball & Bowling

Last week we got to watch Kevin's cousin, David Foster, play some U of U basketball. I know he doesn't like to hear how tall he is because, of course, he gets it FROM EVERYONE, but I have to share his unbelievable height...7'3"! FOR REAL! I mean, you can't really believe it even when you see it. It's weird because Kevin is so darn tall & David's nearly a foot taller!!! He's engaged to this really cute girl, Britta, who is about 6'1" so their children are going to be ginormous!!!! Anyway, keep any eye for him...he just might make the NBA Draft!! (I just got my Olympus camera fixed & I've realized that it's a good camera, but not as good as the Nikon, so some of these pictures lack a bit)


David is #51

Look at David compared to the ref!!

OK, so the U's mascot had to be doing meth or something...he kept up his wild, spastic "dancing" up through out the entire game!

It's Marley's first basketball game & I thought she did pretty well.

Her Papa Jerry bought her the CUTEST U of U cheer leading out fit! We love it!

Marley looks kind of dopey here, but she was experiencing her first taste of cotton candy. For some weird reason she thought she had to lick it to eat it.



FatCats is the site where the Annual Cooke Family Bowling Tournament is held. Each year, there is an adult & children's trophy to be won. As I'm sure anyone who's played a game with him (Mandi & Justin...), knows Kevin is ultra-competitive. As Kevin won the bowling trophy last year, he was determined to keep it. As part of one of our 12 Days of Christmas gifts from Ruth & Jerry, we got white t-shirts to tie-dye. Well I didn't get around to doing that & thought we'd go as the Plain White Ts, but I didn't even manage that!!

Jerry & his classic 'snug-fit' tie-dye.

This was Marley's first time bowling & I think she liked it quite a bit!

Woot! Kevin brings home the trophy once again (to Guy Fowlks' dismay) with a accumulative score of 257! Boo-yah! Ethan just wanted to hold the trophy, so I had to get a picture of that (Ethan actually won the grand kids trophy)!

All the grand kids got a consolation medal.

This is the best picture of all the kids together (so you can imagine how the other ones turned out). As you can see, Marley's cooperating really well (as usual)!