Cooper loved the shark in the park-especially the kids inside!
Cooper loves his Grandpa, he is his best friend. It is so hard to believe he was ever scared of him, now he loves it when Grandpa growls and'tries' to scare him.
Super sweet baby tried to eat all the rocks at Lake Cleveland.
To all you doubters out there, my kid really can read. Unfortunately, he has a short attention span; after numerous attempts , this was the best we could get on video. Much like catching Bigfoot or a UFO on tape, catching Cooper reading on video is nearly impossible. Really. I am not making it up. Some day I will have more proof...and someday we will find the Loch Ness monster.
Jer got this super cute picture at the birthday party. He looks so sweet and innocent! Well after we came back from Grandma's he got mad at his dad for fencing him in and he was so upset he held his breath, fell over backwards and passed out! It was the scariest thing ever. Apparently 20% kids do this (Brandon did, so don't blame my genes).
Anyway, I guess we're going to have to work on just keeping him happy and see if we can avoid this little trick.
Well Cooper turned 1 on Wednesday and I think he had a good birthday week, although he was a little silent on the issue. Saturday he had a birthday party and devoured birthday cake, played with balloons and opened presents. And most of this week we hung out in Burley, so he didn't have to go to daycare and we went to the fair and looked at all the animals on his birthday. Cooper thought the pigs were very fascinating.Most of all, I love the fact that I get to be your mom! If you had any say in the matter, thank for picking me!! I am looking forward to the next 365 days and all of our exciting adventures!!
Cooper and Papa at the fair, meeting an oink-oink for the first time on his birthday!
Wild animals at the party!
Anxiously awaiting some birthday cake!!
Oh, yeah-that is the good stuff!
Cooper and Holden hanging in the park.
Luckily, Janie got Cooper a pool, so that cooled down the kids. 
Cooper liked the pool, but Holden LOVED it. He was a total water baby and loved to spash around.
Cooper and I went down on Thursday to Burley and we had a fun little BBQ/photo shoot at Mitch and Shari's house!The past couple of weeks Cooper has been frantically perfecting his walking ability. He still looks like a drunken Leprechaun doing the limbo a lot of the time, but he is getting pretty good. Please ignore my messy house, I really have to blame that on Cooper. And do note how well he listens to me and how I resort to mild psychotic behavior.
He has lots of other little tricks-he likes to clap when we say 'yay!' (we like to do this as he walks across the floor happily clapping and Brandon and I chanting 'yay!') He also likes to raise his arms when we say 'arms up' and he loves to wave, backwards (towards himself), but I am still counting it. Oddly, he had a lot of words he use to say and he seems to have abandoned talking for walking!
Wow, what a difference a few months can make. Here is Cooper back in March, strangled by Grandma and looking tiny on the tiger.
And here he is this last weekend, looking more and more like a little boy than baby and able to touch the ground!!
We had a fun 4th, we went out to breakfast and Cooper yelled every time he wanted a bite of something (exactly every 2.3 seconds). I think our restaurant days are nearing an end. Then we went to the zoo where Cooper was more interested in the animals than the last time he was there. He even waved to the tiger, his new trick that he learned while wooing all the women in Albertsons. Then we came home and hung out in the backyard all day. Cooper had his ball pit, his pool, and he was fixed up. And he would scream if you tried to take him in the house. This past week he has really been good at taking a few steps once in awhile, especially on the grass because if he crawls he has to do a daddy-long leg crawl (he still doesn't like the grass touching him).
Cooper doing his patriotic pose-and no eating the flag does not count as desecration.
How happy is this guy??
Quite the clam digger, this one. Last weekend was our annual Durfee-Brackenbury reunion and it was a busy time. Friday Cooper threw up on me (twice). It was a little ironic since I packed multiple outfits for him, but not so many for myself! It was also freezing cold, even in the trailer that Cooper and I commandeered from my parents. And Saturday he exploded in my cousin Rhonda's baby's walker! Then he woke up screaming at midnight and as I stood up to turn on the light he dove past me out of the bed and onto the floor! EEK! Then he screamed for two hours (I promise not because he fell out of the bed) but because his teeth were bugging him and he was really stuffed up.
But we really did have a great time. It was super fun to see everyone and we had a huge crop of new babies, so that was exciting. We had horseshoes, kids games, finger painting, face painting, a dismal craft project that I put on, an excellent talent show, and our ever popular auction. It was a fun weekend, but I am still tired from it!
Cooper getting a little crazy with sponge painting
Eating his ever handy snackins with cool sunscreen hair
Gloria and Dick and their respective mean and fat dogs
Cousin Vicki, or a crazy hillbilly (or both??)
Durfee girls doing a little ditty
Jamie and I took Kevin, Emma, and Cooper up to Silver City yesterday since we have been on our ghost hunting kick. We had to take my car since Brandon "forgot" to leave me the Jeep and Jamie and I couldn't figure out how to remove Cooper's car seat to put it in her truck. The road was super scary-we were nearly run over by several ATVs and a gigantic passenger bus that had NO business on the mountain. We also nearly got high centered on the very rustic road (umm, foot trail?) to the cemetery. Once we were there a downpour started, which really limited our ghost hunt and we had to spend a half hour backing out down the road since we couldn't turn around (all while I envisioned the road off the mountain getting washed out and Brandon saying 'I told you so'). The rest of the time was kind of lame as all the buildings are privately owned and you can't really explore much. At least we were able to check this off of our list since we have wanted to go for years.
Here is 15 seconds later after he did a complete flip off of those stairs. Apparently 5 year olds have pretty short attention spans and when I said, "Watch the baby and don't let him fall", Emma thought I meant until she sees a rusty railroad tie which is a treasure hunt clue, which clearly takes precedence.
Here is Holden-how sweet is this guy??
Cooper loved to take over the exersaucer
It was a 100 degrees at the graduation. Cooper spent the time shedding clothes, periodically bawling when everyone clapped and shouted, and pulling the hair of the lady in front of us (yes, it was just a little embarassing).
Look out ladies!! 
Oh Cooper, how you keep me busy! I remember just a few months ago how you liked to take naps. And you were immobile. Oh, I loved immobility. I could play dress-up with you all day long. Now it takes 20 minutes to put your clothes on you all while you scream and try to kick me in the face. But I am flexible; that is why you only have to wear a diaper now. Who needs clothes, right?
And diaper changes? I didn't appreciate how easy they were. Now you scream and flip over and try to run away (maybe with a little poo still stuck to your bum). And when left in the Cooper Corral for 30 seconds, you scream bloody murder unless I give you some less than nutritious snacks to divert your attention. Of course, I admit, I shouldn't ever leave you alone (going to the bathroom solo is just plain lonely, right?), or put you down (that constant backache reminds me of you all day). If I do put you down, it is much better if you are left to roam free at lightning speed scavenging dog food and anything on the floor that you can stuff into your mouth before I pry open your chubby little hand. At least you know your name, I know this because whenever I chase after you shouting it, you speed up the demolition process. And the dogs? You know they love you. They make that yelping sound to show you how much they love you and your quick little hands.
And I love it when you wake me up in the morning with a friendly hair pull/face slap, or when you wake me up several times during the night just because you wanted to say hi. There isn't any time of the day I'm not happy to see you, and all joking aside- I really do mean that. I am loving every minute of this life and I wouldn't trade a second for anything. Especially today when you said mama, and I really think you meant it and you weren't just stringing some syllables together. I am just hoping someday you stop the desire to eat everything since your affinity for the small and disgusting does stress me out. Especially if I don't have that piece of dog food in your bait bag:)
