Wipeout!

I posted this video on Facebook, but it's good enough for my blog, also! We headed up to Bear Lake over this Labor Day weekend and had a blast!



Bear Lake is my all time favorite place to boat because I'm a fanatic about having to be able to see my feet in the water. I hate stepping on mushy, slimy things without knowing what it is. At the lake, nothing is mushy! It's just super fine sand and crystal clear water-no wonder they call it the Caribbean of the Rockies. It was a little different, however-the water peaks at about 70 degrees. That never stops us, though. We camped all weekend and had a wonderful time boating. On Monday, Shawn't cousins came up with a few other friends and rented wave runners, so we got to play on them for a little while also.
This video I made for my sister and her roommates to remember the trip by, and I have another video of Oakster, but my computer is acting up, so I will have to add that in later. Enjoy!

Ready to Take on the World!

After only 4 months in the making, the Oakster has finally decided to take his first real steps. Since he was about 11 months old, he was walking (assisted of course) pretty well. We kept saying, "Oh, it'll only be a few weeks til he's going on his own". Month after month, he was still at the exact same place he had started the month before. After awhile, we realized he was going to start walking as soon as it was his idea. That's exactly what he did. Just yesterday, he let go of the couch and walked acrossed the room towards a toy. He tried about 4 or 5 times and that was all he needed. As soon as he woke up today, he would do nothing but walk. He was exploring everything. He loved transitioning between the carpet and tile...back and forth and back and forth. So, for all you family members that have been harassing me about my blog updates-this one's for you!

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!!!

Busy, Busy

Sorry for the lack of posts this past month. Things have been super crazy at our house-mainly because of church callings. In our church, people volunteer their time and "talents" to help the church run. The bishop of our church "calls" or assigns you these responsibilities. You do have the freedom to choose to accept them or not, because no one gets paid. In our ward, some members are reluctant to accept callings for whatever reason. So, the members that are willing end up with multiple callings. Shawn and I started as

Webelos Leaders

After doing that for a few years, Shawn was called as 1st counselor in the

Elders Quorum

That was doable, because I was mainly the only one that worked on scouts anyways, so I really just needed him to show up and be the second adult. After he had been in the Elders Quorum for a few months, I was also called as the

Camp Director for the Young Women

Even that wasn't so bad...still doable. But, when it rains, it pours! Not even two weeks later, I was put in as 1st counselor in the

Relief Society

I've only officially been in for two weeks, but have already helped with our first funeral and birth and hours and hours of meetings with this presidency.

All of this without being released from any other callings...so sorry for the drought. It probably won't end until after Girls Camp, though!!!

My Baby's 1!!!

This past week, we celebrated Oakley's birth. He got to have a play date with his neighborhood pals on Friday, then we had to entire fam damily over on Sunday. In the event that Shawn's entire family showed, I had to plan for about 35-40. Luckily, although we would have loved to see them, they don't do get-togethers very often, so only a few of them came. It made things a bit easier, although it was still crazy at our house! Sunday was wet and rainy all day and we had planned on having a bbq outside because our house would have come apart at the seams if we had to sqeeze all those people inside. There had been pockets of sunshine between downpours, so we set everything up outside but also cleaned out the garage and car port "just in case". The party was supposed to start at 6, and at 5, another terrential downpour commenced. I was starting to freak a bit. But, someone (Shawn, that is) must have been living right because right at about 5:50, the clouds broke and the sun shined the entire party! It started raining again right as Oakley finished his cake, so we gathered in our little canopy and opened presents. It worked out perfectly!

I had planned on just tossing some chocolate frosting on "Oakley's" cake. Larissa was up visiting, and because she's so creative, we came up with the idea to write words around the cake that made up his name. If you can't read them: Outgoing Adorable Kissable Loving Edible Youthful. I love her!

Oakley was quite unsure about the cake at the beginning, but as soon as Shawn showed him that he could eat it, he dug right in. He finished off more than half of it! By the end, he was throwing cake at everyone who passed by him.

The finished product :-)

Mucho Randomnoso

So, I've been gathering things that I've wanted to post, but could never find a roundtuit. This first slide is of Odie playing the piano. I have video also, but can never get it to work for some reason. He plays whenever he passes the piano, and then turns around and waits for someone to clap or say something before he'll continue...it's so funny! The video I got is him reading music. He plays for awhile, then stops to turn the page, then plays again, then turns the page again...priceless!

This next one is pretty self explanatory-his first real "booboo". I think he's allergic to gravity, I'll have to have the doc check at his next checkup. I couldn't believe how fast it popped out of his head. By the time I picked him up (only like 2-3 seconds after he hit the corner) it was already protruding out of his head about a cm! Gross!! I hear I have to just get used to it with boys, though.

We had lots of Easter parties to go to. Shawn's family was planning a camping trip, but everyone flaked out, so we were actually able to go to the other parties. We ended up going camping by ourselves to a closer location. (Last slide) We just went out to Antelope Island, and I couldn't believe I've been here this long and just barely discovered its beauty! It was gorgeous out there and the bugs weren't out yet! We took our bikes, and eggs to decorate. I forgot to pack our Easter bunny treats, which bummed me out a bit (even though I'm the only one that really enjoys the hunt). But...we have AWESOME NEIGHBORS!!! We came home Sunday eve, and as we were hauling stuff out of the camper, Shawn noticed a few eggs on our doorstep. We looked closer, and our lawn was covered with goodies to search for! It totally made my day. If you were the Easter Bunny...THANK YOU!!!

Odie's new thing now is he loves to read. By read, I really mean throw books on the floor. He does look at the pictures for a second before he moves on to the next one, so I guess that counts.



I went outside with Odie because he was getting really tired and cranky, and the fresh air always helps! Anyways, we found with bird in my grandma's garden and the second we walked by, he started laughing. He went crazy when I actually made it move.



That's all the randomness for now, even though I've left out a lot.

P.S. I feel like I should definitely be riding the short bus, but I just realized there's a compose tab, and I can do all sorts of things to the text!...next post!

Health Update

As some of you may know (many do not), I've been having some health concerns of my own over the last little while. It all started just after Christmas vacation. During the month of January I had gained A LOT of weight. I was being good, and walking, but everyday the needle on the scale rotated a little farther. I've been working on losing weight, so this was very frustrating, and I was losing hope! I would eat even less, walk more, and the pounds still packed on. I just thought I was doomed to be big. After another month, though, my neck began to get really stiff. I was having a hard time looking up and swallowing without it hurting. I finally gave in and went into the doctor (yes-it takes a lot for me to go in) and he found a lump on my thyroid. He drew some blood, and sent me in to have an ultrasound done. It took me two weeks to finally hear word about what was found, but all I got out of him (his nurse, actually) was that the nodule was bigger than he'd like and was getting too much blood flow. He ruled out thyroiditis, but I'd need to see an endocrinologist.
Now, there's only one endocrinology office in this area, so the next appointment they had was almost a month away. I took it, but called them about every other day to see if they had any cancellations, as my neck was still hurting. That didn't work, so after a month of waiting, I finally got into the endocrinologist today. Now, in that month's time, of course, my mind was fearing the worst. My doc wouldn't tell me anything (for anyone who lives in the area, I'm looking for a new OBGYN-let me know if you like yours!)so I had to do my own research. Apparently, thyroid nodules are very common, but you only need to worry if they are big or if your lymph nodes are also swollen. So, mine was big (according to the doc), and I've had this pesky swollen lymph node for years. Of course I started freaking out. I went into his office ready for whatever he was going to throw at me. But, lucky for me, he's not really worried! He says my swollen lymph node doesn't really relate to this, and that the nodule I was so worried about from the other doc isn't really a nodule at all. It was just my entire thyroid that was enlarged. He didn't have to biopsy anything, or run any more tests.
So, what does this all mean??? I'm fine. I'm on medicine to get my TSH levels normalized, which means I have to have blood work done every 6 weeks until they are. I need to get an ultrasound of my thyroid done yearly to monitor nodules, and I will have to take synthroid for the rest of my life. That I can handle! The one downside right now-I do have to wait until everything is normalized before I can think about Oakley being a big brother. It may be much later than what Shawn and I are thinking, but at least it can happen!
Cancer scare #2 evaded! Go me!

Nobody Loves Me...

My parents flew out for a quick visit to see me...I mean Oakley (what was I thinking!)...a few weeks ago. I wasn't very good about blogging while they were here, but here's what went down

PopPop

PopPop scared the crud out of me...I thought I was going to die!


But then he took me for a walk so it was all good. Well, as much of a walk as he could with a broken leg!

Bobshi

It's almost easier than telling a toddler to play hide-and-go-seek...without seeking ;-)





Andy Reid...here I come! Bobshi taught me how to play catch!

Poppy


Even thought he's pushing 85, Poppy still got down on the floor and chased me around his house, then played catch with me.


He also taught me how to talk


Aunt Rissa

I just love my Aunt Rissa. And I'm so glad she lives close, so I can see her whenever I want to!

Tami

I provided the entertainment for the group that helped Tami move into her new house. In return, she gave me these totally awesome kneepads so I don't bruise my knees. I think they're hot.