Meeting Baby Kai

The kids and I headed to IL on Thursday evening to welcome baby Kai into the world, but...he decided that he would not make his debut until 3:58a.m. on Friday morning. We figured since my niece, Megan, was induced on Thursday morning around 7:30a.m. that surely he would be there by that night : ) Meg was a trooper, she hung in there until around 8:30p.m. on Thursday and finally gave in a got that much needed epidural. YEA for drugs, HA!!!! After that, everything was pretty smooth sailin' until...her epidural line came out and she was dilated to 9, OUCH!!! It took them awhile to get it back into place, but after that all went well and her little man arrived, safe and sound : ) I couldn't wait to see him, I figured he'd have a ton of tiny, dark curls all over his little head, but he didn't. He does have a lot of dark hair, but it is pretty straight. I'm sure over time he will get some curl to it. He is so sweet, you just wanted to squeeze him tight! Keegan and Kallee were not too happy that they did not get to hold him, due to age restrictions, but they still had a good time with their cousins. On Friday my nephews, Tim & Chris came up with their families to welcome their nephew into this world, so my kids were happy that their cousins come to play. After everyone said their hellos to baby Kai, it was time to head to Steak-N-Shake for some food. Uncle Stan bought all the little kids (us big ones too), a shake, yummy! Once we were all stuffed to almost puking state (HA!), we headed back to our apartments for some much needed sleep. Since Meg & LaMorris have some friends that take care of the student housing, we were able to stay in a fully stocked, 2 bed room apartments for FREE! They were so nice, we all got our own apartments for our families, what a great deal that was! Thanks so much to Ashley for making sure our stay was so nice!!! After a good nights rest, we all headed to breakfast and then we headed home. The rest of the family stayed for the rest of the weekend, but since I had to teach Sunday School and I had a surprise b-day party to plan for, we headed home. It was so nice to meet you baby Kai, we love you and can't wait to hold you again! Congrats to Meg & LaMorris, you guys did great!!!

Papa Stan so proud of his 3rd grandson!

Little Mr. Pouty Lips : )

Mama Meg and her little guy

See Meg, ALLLL those hours of labor was worth it : ) Poor thing was at it for 20+ hours, ugh!

Great-Aunt Niecey checking out his little, tiny toes : )

Sweet baby boy! I think he really looks like Meg in this one

Grammy Shirley enjoying grandbaby #4

Grammy Shirley enjoy grandbaby #3, little man Jake!

Kallee & Maddie have fun!Keegan entertaining Karson & Maddie

Some of the kids waiting for their meal at S-N-S

Mr. Steak-N-Shake King -- Jakey

Talon & Keegan enjoying the apartment, sure thankful for this portable DVD player!

Kallee enjoying the apratment too : )Out for pizza with my nephew Nick

Happy 4th of July

Today we had some friends and family join us for our 4th of July celebration: my sister Mary and her family, her in-laws The Baker's, Sara & Tony and gang, Matt & Bobbie & Isabelle (their boys were gone) and Scott & Kathryn. I believe we had 22 of us total. We had LOTS of yummy food (of course) and LOTS of laughs too : ) The kids ran around like wild animals in the rain all day, but they had fun too, HA! After it started to get more chilly, we made several pots of coffee and enjoyed desserts and a few rounds of "Apples to Apples" Bible Edition. It was just us "girls" that played, cause the boring, old guys didn't want to play, as usual! After all that, it was time to eat again so that we could run out the door to see fireworks. We all ran in different directions, but we all got see the fireworks. It was a fun day of making memories, we are SO thankful for our family and friends!!! All the yummy food: burgers, brats, hotdogs, potato salad, pasta salad, veggie tray, beans, watermelon, desserts, desserts and more desserts : )

Kallee all smiles in her 4th of July shirt!

My niece CJ all prettied up in her 4th of July clothes!

Little Miss Megyn was all dressed in her pretty red, white and blue! She is so cute!

Some of the Derschied's waiting for lunch

The Sullivans in their 4th of July clothes, they made their cool shirts, they were so neat looking!

Chow Time

Scott and Pa Baker relaxing

Maverick enjoying a ride on "Dakota" our boy's horse : ) Since our boys are much too big for this horse, we sent him home with Maverick so he could enjoy him!

Maverick giving his Daddy kisses, so sweet!

The 3 oldest had a jam session, of course Kallee had to join in too : )

Our Un-Expected Anniversary Get-Away

We celebrated our 15th anniversary yesterday and due to the lack of moola (please don't act surprised after my hubby has been out of job since December :), we didn't plan on going any where. We just told one another we would enjoy dinner out somewhere and enjoy each other's company. On Wednesday Jerry got a call from a friend of ours and he asked if we would be interested in having some gift certificates for Ruth's Chris Steak House??? They had received them as a gift and said they would never use them, so... Of course we said yes, so we were VERY excited about getting to go some where REALLY nice for our anniversary dinner!!! I would like to say a BIG thank you to those special friends of ours, that gave us these gift certificates, we owe you BIG time : ) They wanted to start our meal off with some complimentary champagne, but since we don't drink...it was Coke and Pink Lemonade on the rocks for us : ) Our meal was absolutely wonderful: New York Strip Steak, Stuffed Chicken Breast, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Creamy Spinach and House Salads. To top off the already awesome meal, they gave us a free dessert for our anniversary--Carrot Cake, some of our absolute favorite! We were sooo full we took the dessert with us to our hotel and enjoyed it before going to bed, it was AWESOME!!! It was topped with a cream cheese frosting and drizzled with a scruptous carmel topping, YUMMY! Speaking of hotels...we had planned on eating and coming straight home, but Jerry thought he'd do some Priceline shopping and see what kind of room he could get us. After placing a bid of under $50, for a $150 room, we won the bid!!! So instead of coming home, we spent the night in our cozy little room downtown Indy, YEA! Thanks honey for a wonderful, un-expected anniversary get-away, I had a wonderful time!

The front of Ruth's Chris Steak House

Us standing in front of the fountain at the restaurt!

This is what it looking like when you entered

You would think for $150/night they could afford a headboard, HA!

Jerry catching up on his reading before heading to dinner : )

The view from our window

Hotel lobby --the staff there were great!

Us relaxing after our dinner!

Happy 15th Anniversary to...US

WOW, where has the last 15 years went?!?! I can't believe Jerry and I will celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary tomorrow, it sure doesn't seem possible! We have had our share of ups and downs, but what marriage hasn't! We are still together after all this time and I hope we have many more years together! I would like to wish my hubby a Happy Anniversary tomorrow! I Love You!

The VERY young bride, I was almost 18 1/2!

The "old groom" or so he thought he was, HA! He was 23.

Me and my Daddy, I love this guy, he is such a GREAT Daddy!



"You may kiss the bride"!

Mr. & Mrs. Jerry CooperThe Wedding Party -- I will try to keep them in order, staring with the back row (LtoR) and winding around to the front: Barbie Shattuck (my SIL), Jamie Huber (one of my best friends from high school), Crystal (Petty) Beard (my niece), Mary Lee (Shattuck) Baker (my sister/best friend), Jerry & I, Alan (Jerry's brother), Tony Derscheid (our friend), Jim Griffin (Jerry's friend), Matt Murray (our ex-BIL), Doug Shattuck (my brother), Jonathan Bailey (Jerry's friend). Next row starting at the left: Sara (Fritz) Derscheid (my best friend), Elizabeth (Cooper/Murray) Banes (Jerry's sister),Kay (Petty) Beard (my niece/best friend), Nick Petty (my nephew), Megan (Petty) Crawford (my niece/Jr. Bride), Jessie Reynolds (little guy I use to babysit/Jr. Groom). Front Row: Chantal Shattuck (my niece/flower girl), Luke Clark (family friend/Bible Bearer) and Shauna Shattuck (my niece/flower girl)
Getting ready to head to the reception

At our reception