A breath of fresh air.

Listen. I like food. I especially like Thanksgiving food. I am thankful that every year I get to partake of the awesomeness that is Turkey, potatoes,stuffing, and all the other delish food that I ate this last weekend.

This year we did Thanksgiving at my Mom and Step-Dad's. We actually did Thanksgiving dinner at noon, then we all headed to St. George.

I would maybe compare this St. George trip to a breath of fresh air. It was nice weather, lots of good times, game playing, hiking, watching Utah win, finally seeing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (loved it!!), and lots more yummy food . (We did have to drive home in a blizzard, and not the pretend kind that the weather man claimed we had a week ago. This was real, and it wasn't fun driving for 6 hrs in it. I am thankful for 4-wheel drive.)

Also, playing Taboo with my Grandma is maybe one of the funniest things I have done in this last year....or maybe in my whole life. I'm not gonna lie. Grandma Nelson, you are awesome.

Also, here is Chase's list of what she is thankful for:

1. Cake

2. Dinner

3. Bubbles

4. Hospital

5. Gaige

6. Dad

7. Cohen

I did not make it on the list, but somehow "Hospital" did? What the!??

What Cohen was most thankful for this Thanksgiving? Why blueberry pie of course!

This is that water park place in St. George. I don't know what its called so I call it the water park place. The pic on the left is Cohen comforting Chase. I kindof got mad when she stuck her foot (with the shoe and sock still on it) under a water fall. As a result she got mad at me and sat on this chair and pouted. Cohen walked over and held her hands. Not sure why I took the picture from the back. Clearly it would have been better to get a pic of the actual hand holding. Mainly I just like capturing any moments of tenderness between them....because sometimes they are not so tender to each other.

We hiked the red rocks. It was gorgeous and the kids had such a blast. There was that moment when I slipped and fell and did the splits and thought I broke my ankle. I guess thats what I get for thinking I can hike in flip flops. I am so crazy.

Zach the stuck nephew.

Nanna and Grandpa Cooper, with the grandkidlets

Chase and Hailey

Chase hiked in her Captain EO boots. Turns out not only are they awesome looking, but they are also awesome for hiking. Double the awesomeness!

In fact, while she was hiking, I was thinking "damn those boots are awesome", then Jamison said to me "You know I think those are the ugliest boots I have ever scene. How about we throw them away."

Oooooooooh no my friend. The Captain Eo boots will remain with us until they no longer fit her.

And now for the mushy stuff.

I am thankful for lots of things. I kindof feel silly listing them all, because most of them are the basic things that everyone is thankful for...but I really am thankful for it all. One of the biggest things thats been on my mind lately is how thankful I am for my kids and the fact that they are here and they are healthy. The past few months I have read about some families who don't have it so great. Wether dealing with the death of a child, or a child diagnosed with cancer...it breaks my heart. And really, my heart goes out to them. I look at these parents and their children as being so courageous and strong. I friend of mine has a little boy who was diagnosed with cancer about a yr ago, and is currently in remission (yay!). Her family amazes me. Her little boy amazes me. I can't read and hear about these things, and not automatically think of my own children.

So, I guess what I am trying to say is that I am most thankful for Chase and Cohen. I love them more than any words could describe. I am thankful for every little moment I have with them. Every little thing they do and say. I wish I could bottle it all up, and 50 yrs from now when they are grown up and gone, I could open that bottle and relive it all again.

I thank God every day that they are mine.

Right now I am going to go give Chase a big sloppy kiss, and then she will say "Gross Mom, stop!" But she will laugh, and I will love it.

And when Cohen wakes up I will squeeze his cheeks and kiss his face and tell him to say "Mama", because every time he says it it melts my heart. Then I will feel bad because I cut his hair today and I didn't do a very good job....but I guess its better than the mullet he was sportin.

The gift that just keeps right on giving.

Heres the thing. You know how you buy that yummy smelling lotion,use a small portion, then the rest just sits on your shelf, or in your bathroom cupboard for forever because, lets be real, that stuff doesn't actually work. Yes it smells nice, but it doesn't do anything in the "making your skin not dry" department.

Heres what you need to do. You need to order some Basa lotion, or Basa body stick, or Basa lip balm, or maybe some other amazing Basa product. Why? Well because:

- It actually works amazingly well, as in your skin probably has never felt so soft (OK, so I can't make that promise for you, but I can promise it worked wonders for me).

-All the ingredients are all natural, totally organic. Hello coconut oil amazingness.

-When you purchase any Basa product you are helping the women of Mombasa Africa "lift themselves out of poverty and become self-reliant".

Go ahead and read this small excerpt taken from the Basa body website:

"It began with a trip to Kenya where we connected with wonderful, intelligent women working hard to feed their families. Their small-scale enterprise was called Coast Coconut Farms, where they produced virgin, organic coconut oil by hand.

Determined to find a way to help them grow their business and tell their story, we came home and through the help of many good people, created Basa, named after the women of Mombasa, Kenya, where the coconut oil is produced.

It is our hope that by sharing our natural skin care products and their inspiring story, we can help these women of Africa lift themselves out of poverty and become self-reliant."

So there you go. Not only will you be getting amazing skin products (that really are awesome I might add) but you will be helping such an amazing cause in the process. And now that the Holidays are upon us, now is the perfect time to order. And the great thing is you can order some of the products in bulk, which means there is your gift for all your friends, or coworkers, or sisters, or whatev my peeps. (Or just order some for yourself. You will love.) I think this is the perfect gift for anyone on your list. And once they use it, they will most likely want more. And there it is. The gift that just keeps right on giving.

Click on the button on my sidebar ---------------------------------------------------------------->

to check out the Basabody sight, read more about this awesome cause, and order to your hearts delight.

Sometimes I rhyme.

Happy gift giving:)

Chase and The List, The Fall Fairy, and The Tea Party

Today Chase and I wrote a letter to santa. She asked that I write out her Christmas list, but she had to write "Dear Santa", draw Santa a portrait of himself, and address the envelope. I wrote down word for word what she said, we folded it up, then stuck it in the mail box. The mail man has made sure it will be delivered to Santa....or maybe I snuck out and got it and stuck it in her baby book.

I had to help her out with the "D" and the "R", but she wrote the "ea" and "santa" herself.

Chase told me that she had to write "Santa" really big on the envelope,so he would for sure get it.

I think we have everything on the list covered, except #'s 1 & 5. Haven't been able to find pajamas with a heart yet, and I have no idea what she means by "painting with a kitty".

She attempted to explain it but I am still very lost.

The x-ray machine is this doctors station thingamajig she found in one of the many toy catalogs we have been receiving. The past few months she has been very interested in what is inside our bodies. She is always asking what the different bones are called, where certain organs are located...stuff like that. Today she told me that, "because Jesus helped make us, then he knows what is inside of all of us so we need to buy a book from Jesus that will tell us where all the things inside of us are."

I explained that Jesus doesn't sell books, but Barnes and Nobles does, so I'm sure we can find a book explaining all of that there.

I have no idea where she comes up with this stuff, but I love it.

-------------------

When Jamison's brothers flew in from Hawaii for Marilee's funeral, they stayed with Jamison's sister Beckie. For those few days we hung out at Beckie's house a lot, just so we could spend time all together. Chase loves it there because Aunt Beckie and Uncle Steve have a super cool play room with lots of dress ups and such for little girls like Chase to play with.

In the freezing cold fall evening Chase ran around in this fairy outfit for almost an hour. She was in heaven. She made her uncle Scott run around with her and pretend to be a fairy. I so wish I would have got a picture of that. It was awesome.

I'm also really bummed I didn't get any pictures of Cohen doing his face plants into the dog bed. That was equally as funny/awesome.

Fairy Chase eating dinner in between her uncles Randy and David.

--------------------

Grandma Marilee left Chase this tea set and table cloth. One of Chase's favorite things to do at her Grandma's house was have tea parties.

So today Chase went and got Ella. She requested that I pull out the snow flake table cloth, and her fancy tea set so that her and Ella could have a tea party.

Listening to the things that two 3 yr olds talk about while they drink "tea" is hilarious.

It was like 2 totally different conversations happening at once.

Example:

Chase: "Ella, I wrote my list to Santa today and its going to the North Pole, and I really want Santa to send me a ticket to the North Pole."

Ella: "Chase, my favorite color is green but sometimes I wear purple and its OK."

Chase: " The mail man already came and got my letter."

Ella: "My Mom is going to buy me a pink dress."

Oh that little boy on those building blocks boxes? Thats just my husband.

Did you by chance own V.I.K Jumbo Building Blocks when you were a small child? How about V.I.K Animal Stackers?

Well....

I will have you know that that little boy on the cover of the building blocks box AND the animal stackers box is Jamison, my husband.

Every where we go he gets recognized, and I'm like "leave him alone! He needs his privacy!"

But really thats never happened.

I gotta say, he is one adorable little boy. Yellow turtle necks are awesome.

We are hot.

We were going to skype with Jamison's Dad and Step-Mom last night, but then we got a little side-tracked with photo booth.

The question is, which one should we use as our Christmas card this year? Not!

Until we meet again.

After a 9 month battle with cancer, Jamison's Mom Marilee passed away on November 2nd.

I don't have the words to describe what this past week has been like. The feelings, emotions....

She was such a beautiful, kind, amazing person who loved to actually live life.

I will forever be grateful that we were able to be there with her when she left us. That we were able to say goodbye. Those last few days we would all gather at her house just to be close to her. It was clear that her time was close. I will never forget that feeling in her home. Those last few times we were all there together (and by "all" I mean her children, siblings, parents, family), the feeling in her home was so peaceful and calm. There was such a strong feeling of warmth and comfort. I hoped that she could feel it, that she could feel the overwhelming love felt for her by all of those people.

I remember this last summer, she had been diagnosed with cancer probably 4 or 5 months previously. My parents invited Marilee and her husband Tom over for a bbque. As I watched Chase jumping on the trampoline I could over hear my Mom and Marilee talking. I will never forget Marilee telling my Mom that the one thing she has a hard time coming to terms with is the fact that because Chase is so young she probably won't remember her. When Marilee was diagnosed, the cancer was already at stage 4, which means it was terminal. She understood that her time was short.

I find myself praying everyday now that Chase will remember her. That all those tea parties they had together will remain tucked away in a special place in Chase's mind, and not be lost. Playing in her backyard in that big metal tub. I want Chase to remember that. Her Grandma was an amazing kind person. Someone who went through so much in her life, but was never negative. Who never lost faith. She never gave up. She was so strong. She taught her children that when life was unbearable, you could not quit. She had such a strong testimony. She had the best attitude. She always saw the best in people. I will forever be grateful to her for the amazing person my husband is.

Through all of this I now have a better understanding of how short life truly is. How we must not waste our time on trivial things.

I want to thank everyone for all they have done for us this past week. Flowers, cards, kind words. It was very much appreciated. The amount of people that came to honor Marilee at her viewing and funeral was overwhelming. She was surrounded by so many amazing people all through her life, and its those very people who have helped her family get through these very hard days since she left us.

It has been very difficult coming to terms with the fact that she is gone. Especially for Jamison and his Sister and Brothers. Watching them go through has not been easy.

Although this past week has been filled with lots of tears and heart ache, there has also been laughter and good moments. I feel like the whole family has felt a strong sense of closeness. Marilee would have wanted that. To her, family was the most important thing. Although we can no longer see her, I have no doubt that she is still with us. That she will continue to be there for her Husband, Children, and Grand-children.

Chloe and Chase both wearing Marilee's necklaces in honor of her.

Jamison, David, Beckie, Scott, Randy.

Halloween was here.

Halloween. It was a good one. Took the kids trick-or-treating in the pouring rain, watched some world series, ate some dang good chili...and lots of other yummy things. Chase had her first Halloween costume school parade, we accomplished a few things on my Halloween to do list, we managed to keep Cohen in his lion costume for a few hours (but man that kid is hard to get a picture of. He moves non stop).

Being a witch is serious business

Story time. She pretends she is a witch teacher and reads me stories

Serious face makeup shot

Wild lion who won't stand still.

Dancing at Gardener Village Witches Night Out.

Halloween night.

Me and my Lion

-------------------------

We went to the whole Witches Night Out at Gardener Village thing. I think it was the first and last time I will do that. I felt like I was at Disneyland on a really bad day. Way to many people. Chase danced while we were there. I did enjoy that 3 minute portion of it.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!