Grandpa's Birthday

Kyle was up early this morning, probably because he was SO excited to wish Grandpa Steve-o a happy birthday! The only bad thing is that we're not there to celebrate with him. Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Kyle was SO helpful to get the stuff to put the pictures on the blog. I guess he was just so anxious to tell his grandpa that he remembered his birthday!

White Sands

Lucky for us, there was NOT a missile testing going on at White Sands National Monument on Wednesday. That meant the park was open and we were able to go visit one of the world's great wonders, found right in New Mexico! White Sands is the closest thing to a beach between Midland and Mesa, so we wanted to give Kyle a feel of the fun that awaits him at his new Miami home. Here's some pictures of "the fam."






Here's Jordan and Julia on their anniversary: married THREE WHOLE YEARS!!!



Whenever Kyle changes surfaces or is crawling on a new terrain, he does this "bear crawl." He seemed to like playing in the sand.



We all had a fun time!





Stephen liked our stop at White Sands so much, he wanted to do a cartwheel!



I had a great time seeing this great natural wonder. I'm more and more amazed at all the hidden treasures of the "Land of Enchantment."

Road Trip 2008

On our way from Midland to Mesa, we had to make a few stops. The first day of the road trip was pretty much to do whatever we wanted, so we took our time and paused along the GREAT roads of New Mexico. Our first stop: La Fonda. It's a Mexican restaurant, or claims to be. It can't stand up to La Fiesta. It was good, but not great. I'll stick with Hobbs, America, any day of the week. Here we are in front of the restaurant. (Artesia has a great appreciation for the arts.)

Next, we drove through the mountains. (Thank goodness! I was REALLY starting to get sick of all the flat, dry desert scenery!) We made a stop at Runyun's to buy some cherry cider and fresh cherries! I think we got in the way of some hicks just trying to catch their dinner:



Although the forest was closed, we made a stop at the place where Stephen and his friends got in a wreck, many years ago, while traveling around Boy Scout Camp. Their brakes went out, and they wrecked into a tree. Interestingly enough, we weren't sure where the tree went. Stephen knew the exact spot in the road, but the tree is now missing!

He did find a cool carcass:

Meanwhile, Jordan decided to become "one" with nature. (He's quite "green," you know!) He started making this cattle call, and the cows really did "come home!" Crazy! What a naturalist!


Just before this, we were reprimanded by some senior citizens in a Vacation Bible School van. I guess they were trying to save us when they pulled over to the side of the road and yelled: "THE FOREST IS CLOSED! You'll get a $200 ticket. YOU WILL!!! You can't stop. I'm just warning you!!!" Yeah, right. We were taking pictures and reminiscing. No tickets, and we rode on........

Catching Up

Kyle and I are back from Houston, but our "Summer Fun" has only just begun. Tomorrow, after Stephen gets home from work and rests a bit, we are going on a road trip to Phoenix, with Uncle Bando and Aunt Gummies. What fun!

I am also FINALLY reunited with my camera cord, which means I'm able to get these pictures out of my camera, into the computer, and onto my blog. There's several posts to catch up on!

First, on Father's Day, Kyle and I went over to Grama Sue's. Grama Sue was in Cabo, but Auntie Deb, Jules, and Nicole wanted to cook a special Father's Day Dinner for everyone who was in town. Sadly, Uncle Mark, Aunt Terri, Rachael, Aunt Kelly, and Olivia ate a late lunch and were too full to eat. This information came a little too late, seeing as Auntie Deb had already marinated TONS of chicken for shish-ka-bobs. We still ate a wonderful meal and celebrated all of our fathers, even though the only male actually at the dinner table was Kyle!

Here's Jules and Nicole with their special Father's Day dessert...YUM!

Sunday in Houston

Part of our spur-of-the-moment trip to Houston involved going to church. Unfortunately, we only packed for three days of baseball games! Kyle and I both had to go out and get some clothes that were more suitable for going to church on Sunday! Here we are in our new "Sunday Best!"

Kyle Goes to Kyle Field

Kyle Field is the home of Aggie Football. Stephen and I spent many Friday nights (Midnight Yell) and Saturday Game Days there. However, Kyle had never made the trip to Aggieland. While driving back to Houston from Dallas, we decided to make a stop and let little Kyle see Kyle Field, the inspiration for his name!

Take Kyle Out to the Ballgame....Day Three

We went to one more baseball game in Dallas. This day-game was HOT!!!!! Kyle was pretty restless, so I took him up to the next level, and we stayed in the shade. He fell asleep in the 5th and stayed asleep until the end of the 8th inning, even through all the noise and cheers of the Rangers crowd, whose team won the game. We left early (out of character for the Coopers) and almost missed a comeback in the 9th! The Braves still lost and Kyle was ready to get on the road:

A Big First

Kyle took his first steps tonight! We are in Houston, at Grandma and Grandpa Cooper's house, so it was an extra special moment. How interesting that we were at Grandma and Grandpa Boulter's house on the day that Kyle first rolled over. Now, the Coopers got to witness a major milestone. Fun, Fun!

As promised, here are some videos of Kyle's first steps:

Camp Hervey

On our vacation to Dallas we were lucky enough to get a reservation at "Camp Hervey." (Julia's parents' house.) Kyle had so many activities on his schedule: playing with toys, climbing stairs, going on a nature walk, hunting for hawks, eating peaches right off the tree, and swimming.

I also got to "play!" Lee let me reorganize/redecorate her bookshelves, one of my favorite things to do! We're so grateful to have been able to make a visit to the Hervey home.

Julia's sister even played a part in our camp activities. We visited her at work at the Celebrity Cafe. It was a fun place to eat, and we're glad we got to hang out for awhile. (They do need to work on getting a changing table in the bathroom. Kyle had a MAJOR blow-out, and I had to run next door to the movie theater to find a place to change him. That was an interesting end to our fun little adventure.)