Ayla & Ava

Another week gone without much to report.

I can officially say that I have begun to feel the little human inside of me wiggling and kicking. That is pretty fun.

Today during the sacrament, Evan accidentally smacked Vera in the face with the bread tray. She started crying, so I carried her out to the foyer. And they didn't offer me (or the other lady on the couch) the water. It was kind of strange.. The boy brought it out and offered it to a guy on the other couch, then walked by us. I waved my hand at the boy and said "right here!" and he just kind of nodded at us and went back into the chapel. Huh? We thought maybe he would come back out... and then he didn't. So we were sad we missed it. I asked the bishopric about it after the meeting and that sister and I were still able to take it. Since it had already been blessed he just took us into a quiet office and offered it to us. So... if that ever happens to you... now you know that you can still take it.

I went to pick up Vera from nursery and the teacher handed me a little paper with the name AVA written in crayon at the top. She said, this is for Ava.... Me, handing it back to her: "Oh... Ava's not my kid." (There is a little girl named Ava in our ward). She looked at me very confused until I realized that she thought Vera's name was Ava. She was embarrassed to admit they were calling her Ava all day long. Haha. I'm sure Vera didn't care.

So... yep. I almost missed the sacrament and Vera's teacher called her the wrong name. Exciting week! ;)

So You Think You Have Snow?

Welcome to my neighborhood. We're more and more tempted to buy a snow blower with each new storm... poor Evan is breaking his back with his little shovel, trying to get the snow over these mountains. But chances are it will be a long time before we have another winter like this one... right?

January Cook Happenings

This week we FINALLY got a rental car. It's a sweet chrysler car (not sure the make) and it's super fancy. It's a push-button ignition and you shift gears with a dial (like a radio knob). It's cray-cray. It has heated seats, surround sound, cruise control, and I'm sure it gets at least 30 miles to the gallon. Also, front wheel drive and the doors automatically unlock when you approach with the key fob. So, that's been fun!

Clara has discovered the joys of peek-a-boo. She was laughing more than we've ever heard her laugh today. She is so much fun!

I made some seriously disgusting gummies this week that are loaded with absorbable vitamin C and iron. Heather is quickly learning that if I have to choose between delicious and nutritious, I choose nutritious. Luckily I don't have to choose between the two very often!  And I personally don't mind the gummies all that much. :D

I volunteered at the English Learning Center this week and will continue doing that every Thursday night for the rest of the semester. I really enjoy it! I'm helping with the beginner class. There are 15 students in the class and most of them are Spanish speakers. There are two ladies from Sudan and one lady from Vietnam. They are fun to work with!

Joshua and I saw Moana last night. It was so cute! We loved it. We're sticking to PG movies now that vidangel is out of service. Next one we want to see is Hidden Figures.

I enjoyed playing the piano for primary today! Hope everyone else had a holy and peaceful sabbath.

Much love,
the Cooks

BYU Vocal Point and Getting Sick

The title about sums it up. Let's see....this week...
Monday was a physical for me. I hadn't had one in like 7 years, so I thought it was time. My blood work all came back A-ok. That's the good news. The bad news is I do have a lump that needs to be diagnosed further. The doc didn't think it was a bad lump; but, nevertheless a mammogram is scheduled for Feb 13th.

Friday Dad and I played pickleball for our date night. We really do enjoy that sport.

Saturday I tried to do my body in by cross-country skiing around Mantua Reservoir. It was pretty fun, but toooo long. My legs were very tired of doing the motions. At one point, Julie and I skied right on the frozen ice.  There were quite a few ice fisherman on the reservoir, so we figured we'd be safe. Very fun.

That night we took Hunter to the Vocal Point concert. They are pretty darn good.


Now I've officially come down with a bad cold. I made it through playing the organ and leading the choir to sing today with lots of drugs in my system. I hope it goes away quickly, cuz Friday we are off on our cruise!! Yeah!! Fun pictures to come!

Have great weeks everybody! Love you all!

The Claytons

 Not much new this week. The kids were out of school for 3 more days and at this rate we may never have a summer break.

Beckham is cute and Chris is quite enjoying this binky dad brought at Thanksgiving. Although after today I am banning it from church as it is way too distracting to everyone around us. 

A few pics from this week.  Brielle has a new shower/bath obsession.  She LOVES them. She undresses herself and turns on the shower at least once a day and just hops on in.  Sometimes twice a day.  She is always clean that's for sure.   

That's all from us.  We're keeping our fingers crossed for a full week of school this week! 

Freezer Meals & Friends

This week was pretty uneventful...

We decided we're not going to go on a cruise this year, so you're off the hook for babysitting, mom & Jenny.

Yesterday Jenny and I got together to make a few freezer meals and then we gathered with a few friends from college (from the choir we were in) and sang together. We're going to start doing that every month. So fun!

Vera had a fever all day yesterday and was pretty miserable. Today she seems to be fine! So we're grateful for that. 

I dyed my hair brown. I like it... it's not much darker than my natural color. Evan didn't notice.

I'm going to start making freezer meals regularly (I've got to make good use of my ginormous freezer!) so if anyone has any suggestions, send them my way! Bonus if they're delicious AND nutritious, but if you have to choose... let's go with delicious ;)

Warning: If Jenny offers you a homemade "gummy" ... Just say no!

       This year has been a good one so far! We think we are all finally over being SICK, so we are grateful for that!

Josh started a new job with "Solar Partner" in Orem. They hired him to do SEO among other things. He is excited to have a job that will help him develop his marketing skills and also something that he is able to contribute to right away.  

He has been going to Orem Wednesday - Friday and staying with his dad. He works from Logan the other days. After he trains (most likely in February) he will be able to work in Logan and not have to commute. Joshua is also going to school part time with the BYU-Idaho online program. He is liking that so far.

Monte is moving back to Lopez Island because he can now also do his work from home. He decided to buy all of the carpet cleaning equipment and supplies from us and he'll resume that job as well. 

I've been enjoying my time with Clara, she is really growing. She is now standing up without holding on to anything. I’ve seen her stand on her own for about 15 seconds. Pretty impressive for a nine month old baby! It won’t be long until she’s walking! Her top two teeth just poked through and I've heard her grinding her teeth a bit *grimace*. Hopefully she doesn't keep that up too long. 

I also received a new calling as YW Camp Director! I think it will be fun. We are doing camp at a cabin this year, so that should make things easier, right? I also got a second calling yesterday which is Primary Pianist! So those are really new and different callings for me. I'm excited. I've been calling-less for 5 months now (except for visiting teaching of course). 

Oh yeah, and Josh was in a car accident and totaled the van. His back is really bothering him and he is being treated for whiplash by a chiropractor. We haven't settled with the other insurance company yet, but we are confident we will come out on top. The other driver was at fault. We are grateful no one was seriously injured.