2 Years and Counting!

OK so technically, it's been 6 years! BUT Chad and I's anniversary is on Monday! I can't believe how lucky I am to have such a sweet, handsome, wonderful man as my husband!
It's so crazy to look back and realize that we got together the summer of ninth grade, and are still together!
Chad and I went out on Saturday to see Inception to celebrate it, and hopefully get dinner afterwards, and our friends Angela & Spencer watched Braiden for us. It was Braiden's first time being baby sat---we hadn't been on a date in 6 months!---and I was iffy on how he would be.
But anyways, we dropped him off and headed out, I texted Angela to see how Braiden was, and he was doing great. I was relieved that he was bein' good without me.
So we saw Inception---it was great! Awesome movie, that I totally recommend!--Right when the movie was over I checked my phone to see if Angela had texted me, and she had, just 10 mins. before the movie was over. Braiden had been crying since 45 mins after we left,---which totaled to 3 hours---wouldn't take his bottle, and only took a 20 min. nap! They had tried everything, his baby food, his bottle, tylenol, teething tablets, stroller walk! Poor guys!!! So we hurried home and got the little stinker! After I fed him--'cause he is a grumpy cuss and only wants the boob--he was fine! Talkin' and laughin'! We decided instead of goin' out to eat, we would just order pizza and let Angela and Spencer de-stress, I felt so bad that Braiden cried for so long at them,and they really stuck in there!---I really wanted pizza anyways!
It was a great day, when we Braiden laid down for the night the pizza arrived, we bought a movie off of Zune on the Xbox--Cop Out, VERY funny!--chowed down and enjoyed each other!
It was a PERFECT day!

The Tough Stuff

As some of you may know, my dad was diagnosed with brain cancer waaay back in 2004. Over the years he has fought the endless war against it. He has "beat" it, only to have it come back!

In the summer of '09 he was cleared of his 2nd bout with cancer! This was so great! My dad could finally do what he wants to do and was healthy enough to do it! And if you know my dad, it is nearly impossible for him to sit idly and let life pass him by! No, my dad is always doin' something, usually hiking or fixing cars, and he did these things through both his struggles with cancer. And he was so happy to be able to go out and find a job again and get off disability. Not only that, he and my mother were looking for a house to own, their very fist house that they wouldn't be renting, & I was pregnant with their first grandson! Life was looking so good.

Then in August '09, about a week after their 20 something year anniversary, and 2 days after my little sister's birthday, my mom came out with some pretty hard news for my father that morning. She wanted a divorce, she didn't love him like she used to. And that is where everything started to go down hill again. My mother moved out of the house with my little sister, leaving my dad alone in a big house filled with everything they had acquired over their lifetime...endless memories of love, laughs and wonderful memories shared with her and the family.

After a couple weeks, things are packed, are goin' into storage and different houses. My dad has to move in with my grandparents (his parents) small house, which is already filled to the hilt with my 2 cousins, aunt, grandma and grandpa. But my dad is doing his best to stay positive! He is looking for somewhere to live by himself, and looking into getting a job. He really wants a place where he can be close to my little sister, Jakell, and she can come stay if she wants. And just as he is finding some homes that look promising, something happens.

My dad's throat has been kind of tight, and has had a hard time swallowing lately. And on this particular day, it is so difficult that he has to go into the hospital. Come to find out....my dad has cancer, again, but this time it's in his esophagus.

So now my dad is fighting the fight against cancer once more, and he has to stay with my Grandparents because he needs to use what little money he gets from disability to pay for his meds. and what not.

He has recently gone in to get the tumor removed, and to have his stomach reattached to intestines and stuff that don't have scarring, so hopefully the cancer will go away and he can eat food other than baby food, and soup. He has a tube in his stomache, a j-tube, for drainage and stuff, doin the chemo. and takin meds. to keep him from seizuring. But surgery hasn't ran as smoothly as it did when he got the tumor removed from his brain. His stomach has had leaks, there is blood in his urine, and he is just plain struggling.

It's so hard to see and hear about how hard of a time my dad is having. I'm always so scared that I'm going to lose him, and my son will never really get to know his Grandpa. My dad is such a wonderful man. He is kind to everyone and works hard! I've never known a man more deserving of an easy going, happy life than him. And yet everything is falling down all around him...but he still has the strength to smile and say he is enjoying life. I love my dad with all my heart, he is my hero, and I hope that this fight isn't the end of him, I hope he is around for a long time.

I guess what I want to ask from all of you, mormon, buddist, baptist, pagan, aethiest, muslim-even, just pray for him, or wish him a speedy recovery, or whatever it is that YOU do. I'd really appreciate it.

I love this guy, & I would like him to stick around for a while!

My life after High School

I figured a good way to kick off my blog is to start off with what's happened after High School ended, thats where I left off with just about everyone anyway!

So after graduation I got a job at DEB (DEB is where it's at!)and moved to St. George. Shortly after on August 23 I got married to Chad! We got married at the Coral Canyon Golf Course, and it was gorgeous, my mom did my whole wedding and she did amazing! She made my cake,did the decorations, my make-up---everything and it was perfect, she is sooo skilled!
We really didn't spend very much on my wedding either, and you wouldn't know it to look at it, hell even my dress was CHEAP! It was on sale 'cause it was from "last season" and was only $100! Dude, it looked like everything they had on display that was $1,000+! Lace up back, beaded details, scrunchy bottom, everything, I loved it! So anyways, our Honeymoon ended up being in Las Vegas, yeah...a 19 and 18 year old in Vegas...exciting right? That wasn't orignially the plan, Chad was told by our parents that they would pay for our honeymoon, and not to worry about it, that we would go to the Bahamas or Disneyland...but obviously it didn't work out! It really didn't turn out as bad as we thought it would though, it was actually a blast! We went and saw Cirque Du Soliel's Mystere, rode the New York New York rollercoaster(my first rollercoaster!), went to Circus Circus's Adventure Dome, and had tons of fun just checking out the different things there.

A couple of days after our Honeymoon Chad flew out to Basic Training (BMT) at Lackland AFB, TX. That was tough, cause we had just gotten married and he was gone! I always carried my phone with me, just in case he called, and when he did I would cry for 30 minutes after. But before we knew it, he was graduating from BMT! I flew down to see him, and I was freakin' scared! I had never been on a plane by myself before, let alone it had been 5 years since I'd been on one. But I survived haha! I took my first Taxi ride and stayed in a hotel by myself for the first time ever, and I was nervous! But it turned out good! Chad and I got to spend a lot of time together, we went to Sea World and it was a blast. But unfortunaly I had to go back alone, cause then Chad had to go to Tech. School to learn how to do his job, Aircrew Flight Equipment. It lasted from October to December, and he made it back home in time for Christmas!

Five or six days after Christmas Chad and I had to fly to Cali, because the base they gave us was Travis AFB. It was crazy that he had just gotten home and we already were leaving! When we got to the base, we didn't have a car...or anything for that matter, only the things we packed in our luggage! All of our stuff was still back home, being packed up by a moving company, and we couldn't afford to ship the car over. We stayed in a hotel on base for 11 days before we got put into a house in "Georgetown" on base. it was $59 a night! Luckily we got reimbursed for 10 days! But we soon found out that we "owed" the Air Force money! How was this possible? We had just gotten to the base and we didn't use any of the Air Force's money! Turns out Finances had messed up our pay and paid us waaaay to much from the time Chad was in BMT until then, so we owed them $3000 for there mistake! So we had to set up payments, or they would just take $3000 that we don't have! Things were pretty tight but we did fine. We also found a car on base that we bought, our '04 Buick Rainier. Yay for us?! haha only it's currently not doing so good!

February rolled around, and Chad and I adopted a cute little puppy named Tink, and chihuahua/terrior mix, for my Valentines Day gift! I was so excited! And it was an adventure haha trying to potty train her was tough at first cause she had diarrhea, but it all worked out in the end. I love her to death, and we still have her! She's a good little dog. Our neighbors told us that since we got a dog, we were going to get pregnant, because that's what happened to her. We just laughed and told her not to jinx us and moved on.

But low and behold, in May '09, ironically the day after I watched Knocked Up for the first time, we found out I was pregnant. I was so scared and excited!

After 9 wonderfully uncomfortable months we gave birth to Braiden Jason Cooper a week early (39 weeks), on February 16th, 2010. He was 7 lbs exactly and 19.5 inches long!Now He is 6 months old, 19 lbs 8 oz.s (90%), and 28 inches long (95%). And doin good, he is so smart! Sitting with support, rolling over back to front and front to back, & just hitting his milestones like crazy! Chad and I are more in love than ever before and life is great!