R & R

I'm not sure you'd really call it rest and relaxation, but it's vacation at least! We have been crazy crazy since June. As soon as girl's camp was over, Shawn was laid off temporarily. This actually came as a huge blessing in disguise we're now realizing.

My parents and Ian flew in that next week for a visit. It's funny-before we had Oakley, we saw my family once a year (sometimes twice if they came out for a grandparent's birthday). This past year alone, we've seen them four times and we already have another trip planned in August! Anyway, with Oakley now being "detached", my parents were able to watch him all they wanted. Shawn and I definitely enjoyed that! Although, my camera decided to break on me so I'll have to post pictures of everything when I can snag them from my mom.

The first major happening was the first ever Cox Family Reunion. Everyone on my dad's side of the family met down in Fairview (where my grandpa grew up) for a weekend of fun and games. The cabin we stayed in was some distant relatives and it was HUGE with a pool table, ping pong table, and air hockey table in the basement. My cousin also thought to bring his pistol for fun so we got to shoot at some makeshift targets. There were also horses to see and a lot of hiking trails to visit. We also were able to make it down Manti for the last performance of the Manti pageant this year. None of us had ever been, so it was a good night. (the Hill Camorah pageant is still my favorite, though!) We got to spend a lot of time with our cousins the live in Vegas so it was really fun to get to know them better and play games!

The next week was filled with a lot of visits. It seemed like my parents had Oakley almost every day, so Shawn and I were able to spend time alone and get a lot of projects done around our house. A lot of the visits were to the doctor, though. This was another we're glad Shawn had the time off work. He finally had no excuse to not go the doctor. He's had a recurring problem that was starting to happen a lot more frequently. He would lose feeling and muscle control in both his legs and just drop wherever he was. The first few times it happened, I actually just laughed at him (it was really funny-you would have laughed too!). But when it kept happening, I knew something wasn't quite right. So, after a month of XRAYs, MRIs, MRAs, EMGs, and LOTS of blood work (Shawn never even passed out-I'm so proud of him!), he still loses control and we have no idea why! But, we can relax because the neurologist has ruled out all of the "really bad" things and has just determined that for some reason, Shawn's spinal chord isn't getting adequate blood flow and simply told him to take baby aspirin. Which, trying to get Shawn to take any kind of medicine is almost as hard as pushing a rope-it's just not going to happen! But hopefully he'll start taking it and notice a break from the symptoms.

While Shawn is still off, we're just enjoying the freedom we have. Our camper is loaded and packed so we can (and have)just get up and go whenever and wherever we choose. We've also enjoyed spending time in our boat, which Shawn definitely enjoyed restoring the shine to. We've been up to Bear Lake, Pineview, and Willard but love to explore new boating places. So, if you know of any-share the wealth! We even got my parents to go camping with us up to Bear Lake! They were such troopers. Honestly, I think the fact that Oakley was up there with us sealed the deal ;-)

They left last week but we never really had to say good-bye. We have a trip planned to go see Brady in Dallas the first week of August. We'll be in a condo by a lake with nothing to distract and bother us (besides each other!). I'm definitely looking forward to it. Shawn and I are acually going a few days before my parents, Ian, and Larissa get there so we will get some good visiting in with Brady and Casey before we leave for the condo. Oakley was just about 6 months old when they saw him last, so they'll have a little more fun with him this time!

Oakley saw his first firework show last night up at Weber State. They have a huge production for the 24th of July (which is a holiday here in UT for 'something'). I thought the loud noises would scare him more than they did. He was waaay tired by the time they started, but he loved every minute of them. At one point, he started shaking and I couldn't tell if he was just so excited or scared. I then heard him laughing and clapping, so I was relieved! He absolutely loved them, and crashed hard last night!

Other than that, we're staying busy this week making our apricot jam. I love the smell that lingers in my kitchen! My neighbor is going to give us a bunch of her grapes when they ripen, also-I'm excited to do those! I'm definitely looking forward to our peaches, too. They'll be really ready in a couple years because we just planted them last fall. I did leave just a couple on each tree this year as a "sneak peek".

Well, until next time (when I have pics)! Keep smiling!!!

Oakley's Portraits

We finally went and got professional portraits done of Oakley. It's been an entire year, and we hadn't gotten any portraits until now. It's not like he doesn't have enough pictures of him (taken by Bobshi primarily) plastered all over our house! He was getting really tired and was ready for a nap as soon as we got to the studio. And the photographer (whom I had little faith in until after I saw the pictures she did get) kept trying to get him to sit on her red light. Now, imagine how hard and frustrating it was to try to get him to stay still-all he wanted to do was rummage through all the props. On top of that, she wouldn't take the picture unless he was looking right at her, so I thought she bypassed so many good opportunities to click just because he wasn't looking. But, like I said, they turned out wonderful-I was so surprised!!!