The Christopher Cousins

So I was looking through some pic/s and found this awesome pic from last winter (in Bear Lake at the Small Reunion) while we were all anxiously waiting the arrival of our baby boys! We love you LEVI Christopher, CHRISTOPHER Adam, & Christopher KNOX! 

...And here they are :)

 CHRISTOPHER Adam, Christopher KNOX, & LEVI Christopher

Found this journal entry today on the computer :)

12/4/10

Danny taught David to say “Ya” over the Thanksgiving holiday.  The first time we noticed him saying it clearly Danny said, “Ya, ya!”  And then David repeated “Ya, ya!” right back to him.  It was so cute and Danny was very proud.  Now they say, “ya” back and forth to each other.

It is super cute …except for the other day David started throwing food off his tray and I said, “David!  No!”  He looked at me and said, “Yaaa!”  Looking on the bright side, he hasn’t learned “No” yet. J

David’s favorite thing to do with Mom right now is hold my hand and take me on walks around the house.  He loves being the leader and deciding which room we will go in next. 

New words that David has said are “ruff” and “wow” …and his most frequent verbalization is repeating “doe, doe, doe…” over and over again.  He also loves to play catch with anyone who is willing.  He catches and throws the volleyball with both hands (standing about a foot apart) …I must say that the chest pass is his forte.  He throws smaller balls over hand with both hands and eats with either hand –so still a mystery if he’ll be right or left-handed.

David is growing up!

This morning David said the prayer all by himself.  It was such a tender prayer and included, "Thank Thee for this day, thank Thee for Jesus that he is helping me feel better."  He also thanked Heavenly Father for everyone in the Family: Daddy, Mommy, David, Jamers, and Mary. :)  He also thanked "that TJ can come play with me."  TJ is a 6-yr-old boy in our ward who comes over with his dad, Todd in the morning -him and Danny are trading some work: Todd is painting our trim and Danny -refinishing their hardwood floor.  After David said, "Amen" at the end he looked up at me with a great big smile!  -and then we hugged!  It was precious!!

The Proposal

November 13, 2008

Brad Davies, the principal at my school, knew of Danny's plan to propose so he snuck in and took pictures ...initially, I had no idea that he was there, but it is so fun to have pictures now of that perfect moment!

12 Day Courtship: The ROMANTIC and SHOCKING Proposal

            On November 13, 2008 I was wrapping up a lesson with my second grade class just before lunch at Orem Elementary.  I was writing on the board when I heard the voice of one of my students, “Miss Cook!”  As I turned around Danny was walking towards me with a vase full of red roses.  I thought to myself, “Oh my goodness! -how sweet of him to find out where I work and bring me flowers!”  (You see, our first date was only 12 days prior).  However, Danny’s plan included much more: as he got close to me Danny dropped to one knee …and my whole body began to shake.  As he popped the question all of my students began to chant, “Say Yes!  Say Yes!” as they pounded their hands on their desks.  None of my students had ever seen Danny previous to this day but all recognized the “fairytale picture” of him on his knee with a diamond ring box opened towards me.  I answered “Yes!” immediately, but the chanting was so loud that it was impossible for the students to hear my response.  As their voices became louder and ever-so-strong (trust me!), I turned to them and exclaimed, “I said ‘YES!’”  You can imagine the outrageous outpour of cheering from the class of 2^nd graders, and needless to say the rest of the day was less productive.

            The students served the dessert at our wedding reception the evening of December 23, 2008 and will always be a special part of our engagement and wedding. J



                                               



...and breathless the rest of the day...

-our engagement story was published on-line in the Daily Herald in the article "Just Say 'Yes'" for Valentine's Day on Saturday February 13, 2010 -it's towards the very bottom of the article:

http://www.heraldextra.com/lifestyles/article_22ed9740-1833-11df-9732-001cc4c03286.html

Lots of Smiles

 This is the shirt that Danny wore to the State Volleyball Tournament on Saturday November 8, 2008.  I heard someone yelling my name from the stands and when I looked up, this is what I saw :) ...you can imagine the sigh from all of the high school girls.  The next day was the first day that we told eachother "I love you" ...we were both glad and relieved that we both felt the same (since it was only 1 week after our first date).  We took these photos of Danny up at his apt in Sandy the following week so we could always have the memory.

We initially met sometime in Oct at the Sandy, Institute.  I wanted to take a class from the instructor, Brother Scott Anderson and Danny happened to be on the cousel.  The class was on Wed nights and we met one of those nights doing a service project after class.  I wasn't planning on helping that night since I was sooo tired and barely could stay awake through the class, but I kept feeling like I should just go help with at least one hat (the service project was making hats for babies in Africa).  So I did, and Danny was helping with the project ..and hence my eternal testimony of service :)

It took him a couple weeks to ask me out, but he did and November 1st we went on our first date: to Cafe Rio, and then bowling.  We went out again the next week up in Sandy: to Walmart to buy ice cream and watch a movie at Danny's. 
I got to meet Danny's brother Stephen and wife McKenna the night before state -it was so fun because it was the first of Danny's family that I got to meet.  The plan was to meet at their house and have brownies and ice cream ...I was like ..um...forever late getting there (from a pre-state volleyball party) so it wasn't a very good first impression, but Danny was forgiving and they were too :)
That weekend was the Volleyball tournament -Danny came and watched both days.  After the tournamnet on Saturday (and Taking State -Go Lady Knights!!) Danny gave me flowers and we all (me, danny, my mom) went to the movie ...pretty much I just remember smiling a lot :)