Cooper's 4th Birthday

Cooper had a wonderful birthday week. We can't believe our little boy is already four. It has gone so fast. He is acting so much older lately. He started off his birthday week by celebrating at preschool. Mom baked cupcakes and he got to take them and celebrate with his classmates. Then On Friday he got to hang out with Nanni and Boppi Owen at the farm with Grandma Verla. After dad got off work we went to Applebees (per Coop's request). It was very yummy. Then onto a show at Beasley. We saw Pippi Longstocking. The kids had a nice time. On Saturday Cooper had a birthday party with his friends. They had fun playing in the sandbox, on the playset, eating cupcakes again, opening presents, and trying out a pinata. It was a pull string one and unfortunately didn't work like it was supposed too. Daddy had to break open the bottom. All the kids scrambled for candy and toys. Cooper has one more week of school and then he is out for summer break. We can't beleive he will finish his first year of preschool. It seems really early for school to get out, but they end one week before the college kids do. We are so excited for summer!

Easter Weekend

We had a wonderful Easter weekend! Nanni Vicki came to visit. We had a lot of fun going to the annual Genesee Easter egg hunt. The boys received dollar bills, candy, and toys in their eggs. We dyed easter eggs. Charlie thought the dye was a drink and kept trying to taste it with the spoon. His lips were a little purple. Coop had fun dying the eggs one color, then putting the dyed egg into another color to see what color it would turn. We were up at 4:30 am Easter to go to the sunrise service at Coredlia. We woke the boys up at 5am. They had fun going through their Easter baskets before we left. As we were getting into the car to go to church, Cooper said, "Where are we going?" I told him we were going to church, and he said "In the night time." It was so cute. We went to the oldest Lutheran Chuch in Idaho, which is about 20 minutes from our house, here in Genesee. There are rolling hills all around it. It was a wonderful service! It was just like little house on the prairie. They only use the church for Easter sunrise services, weddings, and a few concerts in the summer. There is an outhouse off to the right and a a little Cemetery with about five grave sites behind the church. It holds about 100 people. There is no electricity or heat. Charlie was back down for a nap by 8:30am. Mom cooked us a wonderful Easter dinner. Christ is Risen! Hallelujah!

Women's Retreat

I had the wonderful opportunity to go to the Women's Retreat at Camp Lutherhaven this past weekend. Four women from our congregation went. It was such a relaxing, wonderful weekend. The theme was Bloomin in God's Grace. We had massages, went to the spa and soaked our feet, put some kind of dipped wax on our hands and used yummy smelling lotions when we were done. We hiked to Homestead in the rain, did some Christian Yoga, got a massage, ate the most amazing food, hiked down to the lake front after dark, played spoons and had wonderful prayer and devotional time. We stayed up until midnight on Friday and 1:30am on Saturday. We made crafts. I sewed an apron and was very impressed. I do not sew. We were surrounded by wonderful friends, the beauty of the mountains and God's grace all weekend. I can't wait for next year.

Cooper's first professional haircut

Cooper had picture day at preschool last week for the first time. I decided to take him in to get his first professional haircut. Tiffany in town, did a wonderful job. Cooper would not sit in the chair alone. He started to cry and tried to get out. She let him sit on my lap while she cut it. He was as happy as can be. He was good the entire time, but only on my lap. It is so much fun to spike. Hopefully next time he will feel comfortable sitting in the chair alone. Charlie was very upset he didn't get one. He started to cry and kept pointing at his hair. I told him maybe next time. We came home and he got a haircut. The below picture is the day of pictures at preschool. The above is after he got his haircut.

Sailing

Last weekend Nate had the opportunity to go sailing with a co-worker named Jeff. They have sailboat races down in Lewiston this time of year. Nate was so excited. Of course the day turned out to be kind of crummy. It was raining cats and dogs. It didn't stop these boys though. Nate got quite the workout and can't wait to go again.

Trip to Boise

For Cooper's spring break, we decided to load up the car and head to Boise to visit grandparents and Uncles. We had so much fun. Cooper's only request was to go to that big park. He was talking about Ann Morrison. We went two days to this amazing park. We even had a picnic. We had so much fun planting flowers, playing in the mud (thanks Nanni Vicki), helping with yard work, celebrating Uncle Patrick's 21st birthday and much more. The weather was amazing and it was 70 degrees one day. It was wonderful! The boys had a lot of fun playing with Uncle Nic and Uncle Patrick. Horsey rides are always fun! It was a great way to spend the week.

Weekend Getaway

Nate and I finally took the time to go on a weekend getaway together to Kellogg, Idaho. This was our first weekend away since before Cooper was born. Nanni Owen came up from Boise to stay with the boys. We thank her so much! The boys had so much fun with Nanni. We started our wonderful weekend off at Camp Lutherhaven in Coeur d' Alene, ID for the Lutherhaven annual meeting. It is absolutely gorgeous there and an amazing place to be. From there we drove to Kellogg and checked into our condo. It was so nice. We had a romance and ski package waiting for us. We then went to the waterpark for about an hour. It was fun. It felt like we were young again. We would love to take the kids back one day. We ate at a really nice restaurant for dinner. Nate was very goofy. He had a little too much to drink. We splurged and got an appetizer, which we never do. It was so yummy. After that we headed back to the condo. The next morning Nate went and got some breakfast to bring back to the condo. We got on the gondola at about 9am and headed up the mountain. It was about a 20 minutes ride. We skiied for about 2 hours until lunch time. The snow was amazing. The powder was up to our knees and we saw some people stuck in it waste high. After lunch it was hard to go back out in the snowy, windy weather. I made it two more runs and I was done. Nate went on a couple black diomands without me and I waited for him in the lodge. We had a wonderful time!