I'm Getting Stronger, Grandpa

Dear Grandpa Diener,

I have been hearing a lot about some sort of horsey ride.  I've been told I have to be strong enough to have a ride, but I'm not sure how strong.  So I'm working hard to hold my head up high and to sit nice and even smile and laugh because I've been told that it's a lot of fun.  So I wanted to let you know that I'm getting bigger.  I'm getting stronger.  And I really like to giggle.  And I've still got some time before we see you next time.

So, I hope the horsey ride is still working next time we get to Wisconsin.... I wouldn't want to miss out on all the fun that the other grandkids have had. 

Love you,
Cooper

p.s.  I had Mama take some pictures of me sitting in my seat so you could see how strong I'm getting!

Family Time for a Weekend

Over the weekend we had almost all of our family here to join us for Cooper's baptism.  Everyone arrived on Friday and spent the weekend with us.  It was wonderful to have them here and the weather was GORGEOUS so we were able to spend much of the time outside and not all cooped up in the house!

We were only missing the nieces and nephews - Keelie, Brody, Ruari & Jake, Jordyn, Jackson.  It would have been great to have them all here, but for the quick weekend we understood that they couldn't make it.  But we had some extra visitors, the Williams, and we were so happy that they joined us during the day as well!

Here is the weekend summed up with pictures...

Greeting everyone for the weekend....
This was Cooper's first time meeting Grandma & Grandpa Heck and his Uncle Russ. 

It was also the first time meeting Uncle Craig.  Grandma & Grandpa Diener and Auntie Traci were "old" friends already :)

It was a BEAUTIFUL weekend for everyone to be here.  The weather was gorgeous so we spent a lot of time outside!

The kids even had a game of football with Uncle Craig who was all-time quarterback for the other players (Cody, Samantha, Ethan and Trevor).  In addition, Uncle Craig got his bike ride in (which is why he is in his bike shorts in these pictures) and Rick, Ethan and Craig did a couple holes of golf on #18

We could not have asked for a better weekend!

Besides Cooper's Baptism, we took this opportunity of having family in town (and being between Ethan's and Trevor's birthdays) to sing happy birthday to them with family around.  That hasn't happened since we've moved to Utah, so it was special for them to have family sing to them.

Thank you.  A HUGE thank you to everyone for making the trip to celebrate Cooper's special day with us!  We loved and appreciated you coming to Missouri!

Cooper's Celebration

On October 1, 2011, Cooper Davis was officially welcomed into our Catholic church community.  We had a wonderful house full of family that came for the weekend and the day was beautiful.  Since almost everyone had to leave early on Sunday morning to head back to Wisconsin, we decided to have a private baptism on Saturday morning.  That way we could celebrate and enjoy the rest of the day and allow everyone to get ready for the trip back to WI.  It was perfect.  Cooper did  very well - not even a cry out of him.  And it was very special to have everyone here to share in his big day.  Those in attendance included:

• Grandma and Grandpa Heck
• Uncle Russ
• Grandma and Grandpa Diener
• Uncle Craig
• Auntie Traci & Uncle Ken
• The Williams family even joined us for a little while during the day

We had a great day full of food, laughs and sun.  We played outside, watched some football (the WI Badgers) and some baseball (Milwaukee Brewers) and just enjoyed having family and friends with us!

Cooper, you won't remember this day, but we hope it's the first day of many that you welcome the Lord into your life and rely on Him to guide you, love you and help you through all that you encounter.  If you can keep the Lord as the center of all you do, all you think, and all you say your life will be full of the Holy Spirit and will be wonderful.  No matter what gets thrown your way, good or bad, know that He is with you at all times.  He is there to rejoice & celebrate and He is there to lift you up & give you strength when it's needed.  We love you and wish you a full, spiritual life! This is just the first step of many on your journey...

The boys wanted to be front and center with Cooper          

 Cooper with his God Parents, Traci & Ken                                  Heck side of the family

 Diener side of the family                                                      Grandpa &Grandma Diener with boys

 Grandma and Grandpa Heck with boys                                                  Our family of 5

 

Getting ready for the big day

Cooper's 1st Wisconsin Visitors

(post #1 of the catch up game)

One week after Cooper was born, my mom and dad came out to visit us for a few days.  Oh wait, who do grandparents come to see?  They come to see the grandkids - especially a brand new one!  So they came out to spoil their grandkids, Ethan, Trevor and Cooper.  They were here for 10 days (July 9th - July 19th) and it was WONDERFUL to have them here.

It was so blasted hot so the outside activities were much more limited than normal, but they managed to have fun and do a lot of things with the kids.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to partake in some of the fun due to my recovery time with the c-section, but the boys had fun and that was the main thing!  Thank you again Mom and Dad for visiting, for spoiling our boys rotten, and for helping me out around the house.   

Since my time is a bit more limited these days I am going to give a quick run down of things they did and then just post some of the fun pictures we have from their visit.

• Going to the swimming pool
• Golfing 2 rounds
• Putting green
• Movie (Mr. Popper's Penguins) in Warrensburg
• out to eat at the Elks and El Camino
• Washing cars
• Loving on and snuggling with Cooper
• Playing the Wii
• Vacuuming and washing my floors (this was not fun, but was something that was very much appreciated by me!!  Thank you for doing these two, among other things, for me Mom and Dad!)
• Watching the boys play in the little pool in the driveway
• Going to Build-A-Bear
• Going to a Kansas City Royals baseball game (this was just the boys, Rick, my Dad, Ethan and Trevor)

the silly stuff....doing Minute to Win It challenges and trying to rubbing Grandpa's head to feel the hair 

"Helping" Grandpa was the car ;)

August Visitors - The Mueller's

At the end of August, Rick's Uncle John, Aunt Colleen and their 2 children, Jenny and Dylan came for a visit.  It was WONDERFUL to have them visit us for the long weekend.  It was one of those visits that you hope for but never expect so it was a great surprise when they told us they were taking the venture to Missouri. 

The visit was very low key. We didn't have any plans and with the boys already being in school we really couldn't travel anywhere very far away. But it was ok. It was nice to just sit back, relax and enjoy the time together! They loved meeting Cooper and Ethan and Trevor absolutely loved having cousins here to play with.
Thank you Mueller Family for visiting us... it meant more than you know!

below are random pictures from the visit.... swimming, golfing, puzzle-mania, just enjoying each other.

Ellis Visit to Meet Cooper

Cooper got to meet some more of the family this past week.  His Uncle Ken, Auntie Traci, and cousins, Jake, Jordyn and Jackson came to Missouri to meet him.  And he loved them!! (and I think they loved him too).   It was once again hot, hot, hot, but we were able to enjoy some time at the pool and the kids just had fun being together.

Thanks again for coming to visit with us!  Cooper (and the rest of us) love you all!