Fall is for the Birds

In our world, (well, Stephen's at least), Fall means falconry starts to become a bigger deal. We've been trying to spend time each evening in our yard before things get too cold to be able to. Cooper loves being outside and seems to love Stephen's birds too. He touches them hesitantly and points them out from across the lawn. The other day Stephen had a bird DVD on and Cooper watched it intently with him for several minutes- needless to say, Dad was pretty proud. And Mom's pretty sure there needs to be a girl around here... :)

Keaton's Baptism!

This past Saturday was Keaton's baptism! We traveled to Pocatello Saturday morning and spent most of the day there. Keaton was so excited and did a great job making everyone feel good for coming. What a blessing to be able to see things come full circle- watching Stephen baptize him was amazing! Keaton's uncle Russell Contreras did the confirmation and gave Keaton a really nice blessing. A special day- we are so proud of you Keaton!

Labor Day at Bruneau Dunes

We spent Labor Day weekend (and Keaton's eigth birthday!) at Bruneau Dunes State Park with our friends Jackson, Trish, Jax and Ceci Whitehurst. We had a great time getting to know them better and can hardly wait for more good times to come. We opened presents and ate brownies around camp for Keaton's birthday on Saturday.

The boys running down the sand- it got hot under thier feet!


Jax, Taron and Jolie (Ceci's friend) on top of the world for a moment!

Jax, Taron, Keaton, Jolie and Ceci...

Out shooting Keaton's new youth gun he got for his birthday. Interesting experience while we were there... Cooper and I were sitting in the truck out of the wind while the boyz were out shooting. I was letting Cooper play with the keys and explore around the cab. I stepped out and stood beside the window to take some pictures. While I was outside, Cooper managed to lock himself in! I was hysterical for a few minutes as we tried to talk him into pressing the right buttons to unlock the door. Finally Stephen was able to wedge his arm between the door and the frame on the passenger side that hadn't been closed tight. We talked Cooper in to putting the keys in Dad's hand and unlocked him! A scary moment and a lesson learned... Luckily he thought the whole thing was a game and was laughing and smiling the whole time!

We (heart) Sarah Palin!

At the risk of being cheesy, I just wanted to mention that Stephen and I are pretty stoked about the new Republican VP. Thought her speech at the RNC was strong and we loved when the camera showed her youngest daughter holding thier baby, licking her palm and combing his hair over with it! So cute and so real!

Just Us Recently

Been too long since I've posted. Haven't had too awful much to include, but here are few random pics of just us.

Cooper is into climbing into and lifting things lately. His favs are "his drawer" in the kitchen- the bottom drawer has random stuff in it that he rifles through while I'm cooking. He climbs into other big enough (or not quite) things too- like this roasting pan. He's a menace boy, but so fun- what did we ever do without him? :)


Recently all the boys were wearing white polo shirts to church and I turned it into a photo opportunity. So cute and so silly. Pretty good dudes.

I'm honestly suer which bird this is, but wanted to include a bird pic for Stephen's sake- he's getting pretty exciting about the weather cooling down cuz for him that means flying season!