Cooper's 4!

 

Before his birthday, we were able to have a little Joy School graduation for Cooper and his classmates.  Cooper had a great year and I really enjoyed being a part of teaching these sweet kids.

Only FOUR?? Cooper, you're an enigma to us. You are smaller than anyone your age, yet you always seem older than you are!  You are such a special spirit!  You comprehend things far beyond your years, and we love to hear the profound things that come out of your mouth (and love that it's still in the sweet little helium voice that I'm going to miss so much when it goes away! :)) You are kind, caring, and thoughtful and are a wonderful brother and son. You always make sure to give us at least four kisses and hugs each night before bed...extra if you feel like someone needs a little more. Thanks for being such a bright spot in our lives and sharing your love and light with us!

For Cooper's bday, we did family gifts on his actual day...this is a short video of him finding his scavenger hunt gift.

 After his actual birthday, we went with a couple of his friends to Chuck E. Cheese (not a normal stop, since it's an hour away, but he's been wanting to go for a while.)

 

 

 The birthday king with his rainbow cake

   

Kyla not so sure about the horsey ride

 

Tucker wasn't too disappointed about going to Chuck E. Cheese  

Boy bonding!

...And on to San Diego!

After our week trip to Utah, we hopped on another plane and headed to San Diego for a week. 

We started our week off with a trip to Legoland!  Thanks Oma and Opa for such a fun experience!

  

 We had a lot of fun just hanging, playing, and enjoying good company

 The boys got a play-doh dentist toy for their bday celebration in Utah that they brought with them...
I can already see the "Wolf Team Dentistry" practice! :)

As part of our trip, Rudy set up a surprise overnight in downtown San Diego to celebrate our belated 8th anniversary.  Rudy's parents not only watched the kids for us, but they let Rudy drive the Z3! :)  We went into the city, took a ferry to a nice restaurant, stayed in a beautiful hotel and enjoyed a relaxed morning of wandering Seaport Village. It was wonderful!

 The kids were kept pretty entertained while we were gone...

 They even got to see the back of their Great Oma and Opa's house!

We had a ton of fun in San Diego!  Thanks for all the great memories!  We love you guys!

Our visit to Utah

 Oh how we love visiting all the cousins and family in Utah!  The kids seem to just be able to pick up right where we left off last time we visited, which we love, but their closeness and fun they have together also makes it SO hard to leave!  This vacation was jam packed full of fun and adventure!

Nana and Papa borrowed a water slide and the kids enjoyed a 'water park day' (taking breaks from the slide in their hot tub.)

 

 Nana and Papa put on a great Birthday Bash for all three of our kids, inviting all the younger cousins.  They made cake, played games, and opened presents- doesn't get much better than this!

 

 Cooper got an angry birds shirt from Nana which he LOVES.  Loved it so much, he put a bucket on his head and went running around the yard pretending he was being launched by a slingshot! :)

 We were able to go to lots of fun restraunts, play tennis, go to Park City, etc.  But some of the most fun times were just hanging out together, playing games and having fun!

 Kyla kept herself quite entertained.

One of the days we left all the cousins together (thanks to the older ones for helping keep the youngers in line! :)  and the adults were able to go to the temple to do Sealings, then out to dinner at The Mandarin!  Such a GREAT night (and YUMMY food!)

Rudy telling entertaining 'toof stories' to the nieces and nephews.

 

And thanks to photographer Ginny, we were able to get an updated family picture of the cousins, individual families, and adults.

 (although ours is not going to stay updated for very long! ;)

Thanks so much for making it such a great time every time we come out!  We love you guys and miss you more than words can say!!