"Finding Strength Within"

Last night I went to a wonderful, spiritual fireside put on for the women in the Bluebell Ward. It was truely amazing the strength shown by the women who shared their stories. It was very emotional and there was a box of tissues passed around. The purpose of the fireside was to show us that our burdens can be made light if we put our faith in the Lord. I truely believe that we did agree with the terms of our lifes before we entered this world and we are not given any trials that we cannot handle.

This quote was passed out by one of the speakers and I just love it.

"Lord, Help me to remember that nothing

is going to happen to me today, that

you and I can't handle."

Cake Fight!!

We decided to have Ashton eat the cake with no hands and he just didn't quite get it. I decided to show him knowing full well what kind of consequences I might face. This is almost how the cake fight started. I pulled away right in time. Despite Jeff's efforts I did not get a face full of cake.
But Ashton did. He was the first to go in. He thought it was hillarious. (what a mean dad, ha ha)
Jeff being the good sport that he is let Ashton put his face into the cake, with a little help from Aunt Mandy.
This is Ashton's after face. He doesn't seem to mind.
Just when we thought the cake fight was over Jeff brought a handful over for Mandy's face.

Where would we be without the after pictures. You would think this would be the end, but wait there is no way this would be the end.
Out of no where Mandy grabbed me and started rubbing her cake filled face all over mine.
I found cake in my hair, behind my ears, in my ears and all over my face. I'd say Mandy and I are close, but we have never been that close before.
Just when we were starting to clean up Jeff and Mandy conspired against Katie and got her in the face with what was left of the cake. She seems to enjoy it though.
This is what was left of the cake. Jeremy and Kalen were watching kids in the living room and just missed out on this craziness. (We wouldn't want to get cake in the carpet) It was a huge mess, but it was really funny. There was cake everywhere.

Big Birthday's Take 2

We had the first parties in Panguitch. We didn't want our families in the Basin to be left out so we had some parties here too. This is the cake for Ashton that Aunt Katie, and Aunt Mandy made. They missed the Panguitch party and they had a really great idea for a cake so we said sure why not. In a post to come I will show you an after picture of this cake, you don't want to miss it.
This is Cooper and Ashton. They enjoyed the birthday cake.
Mandy and Katie also had a great idea for Jeff's cake. Jeff is always saying how he wants a BOSE, so they got him one for his birthday. I thought it was a perfect cake. Caution: Do not hook up a BOSE cake to your TV.
We were able to put 30 candles on this cake. It was awesome. I don't know if Jeff thought it was awesome, but the rest of us did.

Dallen had two pieces of cake. He enjoyed it so much I had to give him two. He totally cleaned his plate.

Big Birthday's

We had two big birthdays in the last week, and 4 parties. As you can imagine we have lots of pictures. Ashton turned 3 on the 2nd and Jeff turned, get ready for it, 30 on the 6th. We had a lot of fun and a lot of cake. I did a basketball cake with the help of Grandma Kathleen, she cooked I decorated. Ashton still loves to play basketball so I thought it would be perfect.
He got some new boots from grandma and grandpa cooper.
Jeff's friend Gaylen and his family came over to the park for Ashton's party. We were supposed to go swimming, but the weather didn't cooperate. I don't think the kids really minded that much they loved playing around at the park.
This is left to right: Berkley, Allie, and Ashton. Those are Gaylen and Becky's kids. We try and get together with them whenever we can.
Here is Jeff at his surprise party. For all of our efforts, (mine and his mom's), it didn't work out so well. The food was awesome thanks to Jeff's parents. Unfortunately, no one besides Gaylen and Becky were able to come. (By the way they are awesome.) Last minute cancellations seemed to be a trend. Oh and I lost the three candle so all he had was a "0". Thank you Aunt Kay and Uncle Tom for the use of your house, beautiful as always. Thanks to Mom and Dad Cooper, I couldn't have done it without you. As for me, it's the thought that counts isn't it?

What's in the Box?

For Ashton's birthday we decided it was time to get a puppy. I found a family that had lab puppies that would be ready right in time for Ashton's birthday on the 2nd so it was perfect. About a week before on the 26th we got a call saying the puppies were starting to wander and we could come and pick him up that day if we wanted to. We tried to get Ashton to name him, but it just didn't work out so Mommy decided that McQueen would be what Ashton would want since "Cars" is still his favorite movie. Ashton is still so excited about his puppy and we play with him everyday about 3 or 4 times. We love our new puppy and it was the perfect b-day gift for our 3 year old big guy.