Be Always Like the Lamb so Mild

Welcoming...Jonathan Dean Cope
Born Oct. 22
8lbs. 6oz---20.5 inches

It's been a while since the pull to blog has actually placed me in front of the keyboard, but Jon has given this family the excuse to crow a little. He came into this world like a charming little champ, and I expect great things of him. So, mark my words...this bouncing bundle of sweetness is going to make the world a better place.

Like most warm-blooded mamas, I love newborn babies--but not just because they are cute, soft, and sweet-smelling. I really think that birth is the purest point of seeing a child's potential. They come to our homes so full of brilliance, only to be exposed to bad parenting, preservative laden foods, and the influence of mindless television (all of which can occasionally be found in our home.) Looking at him now, I have no doubt that he'll be a good neighbor, a great father, and a loving husband. I'm also confident that he is capable of anything, and that he will always be found on the the right side of life's battles...so long as I don't mess things up. Talk about pressure!
So, I promise to block what corruption I can for you Johnny, so you can grow up to be the "night in shining armor"/future secretary of state that I know you can be.

Sleep baby sleep

Down where the woodbines creep

Be always like the lamb so mild

A kind, and sweet, and gentle child

Sleep baby sleep

Something to Blog About

Tree of Christmas Past

In reference to Andy's comment (which was in very poor taste) ...(JK). Here is an example of what your Christmas tree might possibly look like if your house catches on fire, and a snow storm follows.

Cuttin' Down Trees, Puttin' Up Reindeer and Singin' Songs of Joy and Peace

One of the best parts of the Holidays, is transforming your everyday surroundings into something special. I just love decorating the tree, and unwrapping the nativity(s).

The sisters had a great time putting together Mom's tree over the Thanksgiving Weekend, and when we arrived back in Enterprise, it was our first order of business.

Mom's tree is on bottom, and mine is on top. --(I prefer Mom's--I bought all of my decor after Christmas last year, and it turned out a little fancier than I like, but what can you do when your picking from the leftover clearance items. We also do a smaller (less elegant) tree upstairs with our superman and lightning McQueen ornaments.

Eveybody's Lookin For a Way to Get Real Gone

Best Wishes for a Happy Halloween--to you and yours, from the good people of Enterprise, UT (home of Indiana Jones, Lightning Mcqueen, and The Infamous Pumpkin Man.)

Baby Rain or Shine, All the Time. We've Got Eachother, Sharin' The Laughter and Love

Ben has recently embraced his pre-teen side, and come to grips with the fact that he's a fan of iCarly (an amusing TV show for the 11-15 age-group.) Anyway, Reid was watching T.V. the other afternoon, and iCarly just happened to be on. Now, Reid knows how much his dad enjoys this show, but unfortunately, Reid was just a little too comfortable to run downstairs and let Ben know. Luckily the camera happened to be handy, so he decided to photograph the entire episode for his Father. Needless to say, we have many more photos just like this one.

My greatest hope is that someday I can gather my male-dominated family and enjoy an episode of Gilmore Girls together. One step at a time.

When You Wish Upon a Star (and Purchase 3-day park hopper tickets.,) Your Dreams Come True...

Yes, we took the vacation of every middle class family's dream. Disneyland!!! Maybe it's a little white-trash, maybe it's a little cliche, but it all boils down to fun for everyone---including Olli, who may look unhappy in the picture below, but is shortly to be in raptures. I know he looks like grump town, but after his encounter with the rapid ride (note the wetness) we just happened upon Lightening McQueen; and all dampness was forgotten.

The Poster Face For DisneyLand

Here's a close up of Olli's face after he hit the rough end of several consecutive waves. "The happiest place on earth?"---he begs to differ.

More Hawaii,see below

Welcome to the collage of your dreams. This fantastic selection of pictures depicts the trails and triumphs of our half day hike. Very cool, very hard.

Q: Those turtles seem unusually large. A: Excellent Observation, keep up the good work, gum shoe!

Q:Who have we here? A: Starting back Left: Nadene (Ben's Mom), Kelly ( Our friend from Blanding), Ali (Ben's Sister), Amber (Sister in Law), Mark (Ben's Brother), Dan (Ben's Cousin), Marie (Dan's wife)----Front Left: John (Ben's Dad), Jodi & Ben.

Q: Is it me, or does that yellow lab look LOST? A: It is no small coincidence, that we stumbled across this mysterious dog after locating the beach crash site for the hit TV show LOST. Thanks to a series of hunches, and a GPS unit, we located said beach, and found Vincent waiting for us.

Wake up Slow and makin' Banana Pancakes

The word apparently leaked out that Ben and I have been frivolously vacationing our lives away, so I decided I'd better fess up and give proper documentation to the alleged frolic.... Below is the view from our back deck. Q: Jodi, tell me, is Hawaii the tropical paradise Hollywood would have us envision? A: Why yes my friend, yes, yes it is.

Q: Who's that babeO'licious and what about that back drop?

A: That tropical Tiki doll is Jodi, and she's posing from the punchbowl cemetery, which offers a great view of downtown Honolulu

Q: What are your chances of seeing and/or being injured by the marine life? A: 100% (Please note the shark below, and let the record show: Nadene was brutally attacked in a confrontation with a blue-bubble jelly fish.)

Q:Is Ben swinging from that tree? A: Naturally.

Raindrops on Roses and wiskers on Kittens

I Think this is officially the first tag I have ever followed through with. Chalk it up to Larissa's personal invitation, sent to me via-email (knowing that I'm less than sufficient when it comes to blog-updating/perusing).
So, here goes.
Behold Six things that make me happy ( in no particular order)......
#1. Christmas!-I know, I know the holidays make everyone happy, with the exception of some hard hearted old Hollywood men, but even they eventually come around. All is takes is a few angles, a little girl with a miracle up her sleeve, or a flyby from Santa, but in the end, they all come on board, and as much as I like to think my self outside the box, I'm going to have to go with the masses on this one.
I love the decorations, the smells, the shopping, the letters to Santa, the excitement and reverence that you feel on Christmas eve, and of course the food.

#2. Love at home......Nothing gives me more pleasure than seeing my boys play and enjoy each other. These moments are few and far between, but hey, even Wally and the Beav had their run ins.

#3. White dresses with blue satin sashes.........or rather the mission to find one on clearance. Yes, I love a bargain, and I love to hunt down a deal. Now that doesn't mean I'm good at haggling with used car salesmen, but give me 6 hours, no kids, a good pair of shoes, and a metropolis, and you've given me happiness. ----Does that sound horribly worldly? I'll try to clean in up for the next one.

#4. I love it when Ben kisses my forehead out of the blue. ( It's pretty much why I married him.)

#5. Speaking of brown paper packages tied up with string. I get a major rush of happiness when I get a new book in the mail.

#6. Getting my eyebrows waxed. (sorry more worldly stuff)

Kitchen

So, I've been telling Lesli that I would post some photos of the house for the last two months ........and I'm just now getting around to it. Better late than never!
They'll probably put that preceding sentence on the front door of my sarcophagus.

Ther are Places I Remember--All my Life, Though Some have Changed

Just look at these boys roaring their terrible roars and gnashing their terrible teeth

And take a gander at these cuties: Brennan and her floppy little James

Iowa, Where the wind comes sweeping down the plains.

What a great trip! My only regret is a complete lack of photo documentation, but even without the picture proof, you can take my word for it: Burlington is as we left it (except not so under-water.) It was so fun to see all the familiar faces not excepting the Olson family, who seem like they were born to live in Southeast Iowa. Abby and Andy are even training for a ridiculously long bike race through the State (talk about local ! This is not something that Ben and I ever contemplated.)
We were more or less able to hit all the important parts of our old stomping ground.
1. Rendezvous with the Hartson family, giving Reid and Billy a much needed buddy reunion.
2. The set up of Base Camp (Olson Home, formerly the Cope residence)
3. Mazzio's Pizza (a buffet featuring pizza--need I say more?)
4. Snake Alley
5. Mary Snow's Homemade Bread
6. Several late nights being Lost in Austen (or the Gilmore girls--a modern version of what our husbands don't want to watch.)
7. Pomegranate Juice and Wasabi Peas at Brennan's all night bar and grill.
8. An introduction to Cinnamon crunch bagels via Abby
9. A Trip to the Moline Zoo (As shown above)
10. Spending time with the friends we love

I've misplaced one of the two camera's we took on the trip, so there are more pictures to come.

Shades of Mediocrity

Enough already! I sit down for a walk down acquaintance lane, and while perusing through the blogs of friends and family I'm accosted with massive amounts of over-achieving. I guess you could say that it's the biggest beef I have with the blog-zone. It's not a true example of historic accuracy. Where are the TV watching, preservative eating, unvacumed lives of my peeps (super cool way to say people)? I recently had a conversation with one of the afore-mentioned , where she brought up that she also felt like the "Queen of Mediocrity" In an effort to comfort her, I offered to move back to her corner of the world and make her feel like she wasn't the only loser in town. She thought the idea would work like a charm, and that my average lifestyle would make her feel a little above average. This depressed me further.
So TAG!!!! I challenge all who read this plea, to put down their craft projects, and t-ball trophies---just for a few hours, and let me see the human side of your lives. I'm not asking for a video account of you losing your temper after one of your 45 sons pees in the garbage can. Maybe just a picture of an unmade bed, or a mole with hair growing out of it. Just listen to your hearts on this one post, and then get back to business as usual. ---Am I the only one who occasionally feels a little green with envy after a half-hour of blog surfing? I know, I've got a problem; I'm going to reform.

Sure Beats, "Deep Pile Carpet, and A Couple of Paintings From Sears"

So, Jenni (that sweetheart of a genius,) did some fancy foot work, and plugged in these two different stucco colors to the house template she created. Talk about helpful. Anyway, what's the verdict? Here's my idea, and if it sounds like a colossial mistake please stop it in it's tracks. Charcol Roof, Cream stucco, and dark brown/wooden shutters (with black straps/hardware). I may also thow in some angled wooden beams on the porch in the upper corners.
Please keep the imput coming, I know that this is boringsville for you all, but it's so helpful--you can't imagine.

See Post Below

Home, Where my Thought's Escaping

The truth is... I'm starting to breakdown, and I'm only on decision number one of this house rebuild project. So I'm asking cyberspace...what should I do? They've asked me to pick out shingle colors for the roof so I've been leaning toward a charcoal color. I also have the option of changing the stucco color, and--although I like the brown, I would like something that is little less dated. I feel like our house just screams "Utah suburbia," and I want to make it a little more timeless, but how?
Pictured above, is the house as it was before the fire, as well as my kindergarten "cut and paste" of what the home would look like with lighter stucco. It also shows the darker roofing, and the added window and stone elements. The stone is pretty much how it will appear regardless of what contrasting colors we choose. So give me some roof and stucco colors. I could use the feedback. My husband just gives me a whole lot of "looks good to me."

Goodnight Moon, you'll Find the Mouse

I realize it's late, but Ben and I just went to check the boys before hitting the sack, and we found something we felt to be "blog worthy."

This is a shot of Ollie who never fails to pass out 36 sec. after coming in contact with the pillow--unfortunately his older brother lies in his bed much longer, counting endless amounts of sheep and when that doesn't lull him, he breaks out the art supplies. As you can see in the above photo, he's supplied his brother with not one, but two proofs of identity. The first adornment is a crude name tag fashioned from a pipe cleaner, and strung through the sleeping boy's trouser tag. The second is a little more contemporary, but serves a similar purpose. When we found them, both artist and art were sleeping peacefully.

Here are some photos of the progess of our house. The top one is taken from the garage looking into the kitchen. The second one down is the kitchen. The next on is the master bedroom and Roger's room while the last one is the wash room. Hopefully this next week they are going to pull the roof and upper level off which then means they may start putting things back together rather than pulling it apart.