My Pioneer Children

I'm ready for my sweet babies to come home.

Whenever I think about pioneers,
I think of brave women and men.
I like to remember that children came, too;
I would like to have been a child then.

                                   - Della Dalby Provost

It's humbling to think of the hours of service so many have given so our youth could have the opportunity to rely completely on their Savior for three days out in the middle of nowhere. To learn who led the way before them, to realize who they are, and recognize what they can become.

Cali vs. The Cooks

Cali - 1

Cooks - 0

When the police officer smiled at my window, and told us just how fast we were going all I could think about was how much he reminded me of Poncho from CHiPs. He had the whitest sparkly teeth.

 While he was writing the ticket, I started to sing the CHiPs theme song to lighten the very tense mood in our car.

Trust me, it was VERY funny.

Not everyone in the car agreed.

I loved how after Poncho gave us the ticket, he smiled (I had to shield my eyes from the bright light coming off his teeth) and he said "Okay to get back into traffic, accelerate very quickly and then change lanes when it's safe." 

Oh that was worth the ticket right there.

I reminded everyone in the car that I am still ticket free after over two decades of driving.

Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that, I got to drive for the rest of the trip.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Joe

Want to meet the most amazing 72 year old? 

 

 

It's a lot of work to get a serious picture of him.

This is a man that you can call in crisis and he'll come to the rescue.

He has a joke for every occasion.

His green eyes always sparkle whenever he gets to the punch line.

You can talk to him about any gospel principle in depth.

He loves my sweet Mama just as fiercely as the day he fell in love with her.

I passed Chemistry because he sat at the kitchen table every single night to help me do my homework.

This guy loves road trips.

Never eat anything he hands you out of his pocket, ever.

Even if you are at church and starving.

It's always old and crunchy with fuzz on it.

If you are little (or a cranky teenager) and look remotely miserable at church he'll grab your hand and draw smiley faces on your fingers so you'll have friends to hang with.

We still talk about his "Tarzan Yell" he'd do to random people on the street as we drove by, just to embarass us, and scare the poor people.

He has several aliases

 (Yes, that's a word, I looked it up.)

I have spent a lifetime being seated at restaurants under strange names.

If you ask any grandkid if they know Vladamir, they'll tell you he's their grandpa.

Same goes for Lirpa Sloof, or Joe for that matter. 

He unconditionally loves those around him

and I'm lucky to know and love him.

Happy Birthday Dad!

I blinked

 

 The time from kindergarten to high school goes by too fast. 

Cinco de Mustache

Jeff's work holds an annual mustache growing contest. Coincidentally I always hold a no kissing contest at the exact same time.

This is usually the look when I get when he gets home from work and I've started a home improvement project he knows he'll end up helping me finish.

In honor of Cinco de Mayo I am posting the recipe for Flat Enchiladas. A family favorite. If you've never had it, you've been missing out. 

Flat Enchiladas

1 lb ground beef                                   

1 can of Mild Rosarita enchilada sauce 

1 cup of shredded longhorn cheese     

1 tomato diced                                      

3 green onions                                       

1 4 oz can sliced olives

1/4 cup diced sweet pickles

4 cups shredded lettuce

corn tortillas (frozen work best)

sour cream

Cook ground beef and drain.  Add sauce and simmer 10 minutes.  Dip tortillas one at a time into simmering sauce.  Place tortilla on plate, top with ¼ of the beef and sauce.  Top with condiments.  Makes 4 good sized servings.

Flat enchiladas are so good my kids sometimes ask for it instead of a birthday cake.

Too bad Blake didn't ask for it this year.

National Blake Day Eve (aka the day before Blake's 17th birthday) I found his birthday cheesecake was missing something . . . like a piece of it. When I asked him about it he defended the act by telling me I could take a picture of it and Photoshop the piece back in. When that didn't work on me, he told me it was an accident. Hummm. How can I be mad at that sweet cheesecake eating kid?

However he did have to endure everyone wearing matching attire for game day!

Adios Muchachas!

The Real Royal Wedding

You may think the Royal Wedding is on it's way but the truth is, it already happened.

How cute is Randy's I'M MARRIED dance outside on the temple grounds!
       

When I saw him give a high five to someone, I sort of felt teary. He's a good guy and he's so happy to be married to sweet Devlyn.

A few of the kids that had the day off of school came down to see Devy walk out of the temple.

I love that you can pick a Young out of a crowd. Hello Cousins!

The reception that night was amazing! 

I am sad I didn't get tons of pictures, but it's pretty tight security at a Royal Wedding.
   

Trust me, it was amazing!

...and they lived happily ever after.

Cook kickball hecklers and an egg hunt

I thought there was a short radius for ankle bracelet monitors, but Jeff seemed to make it to our family event with his on.

Every year we line the kids up for a picture. Blake tries so hard, but there's always an awkward look to how he holds his baby cousins. Poor Savanna! 

We call these three the water boys because they love to catch everything and anything in the water.

My kids think they're too old for the egg hunt but at least one of them enjoyed throwing the plastic eggs at the cousins. The other didn't like being in the line of fire.

It took a bit of convincing for the kids to share some of the candy.



The cute babies seemed a bit surprised at the number of cameras





The best part of family gatherings is to watch all the memories being created, nothing could be sweeter.