What have we been up too?

No good, that's what. Rick has graffitied on the tree in the front of our house. We have a Aspen tree, or Quakie, as it's called out here. It will scar over and we will be able to enjoy it for the life of the tree.

Katie got a new tent. She loves to read...

...and sleep in it. We call it her new home.

Katie is a girl after her daddy's heart. She has been enjoying all of his Louis Lamour books. She brings one up at a time and "reads" it. Daddy set his books up down in her office (the basement) so she has full access to any history books, westerns, etc. that he has. He likes to start her young on the "good" stuff.

She is not a girly girl. Daddy also has her playing football out back. She LOVES to play football. I am not so good at playing with her, as I still throw like a girl. I'll help her perfect her touchdown dance.

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Our little princess has dressed up to wish you all a Happy Valentines Day. Isn't she precious. OK well truth be told she saw this dress, which looks like it's for a flower girl, on clearance and had to have it. It is a princess dress, she said. It makes me want to get married all over again and change the colors to blue and teal. I love it. Katie loves it because it twirls. What a girl.

But of course she is still Katie so right after she twirled in it it was off, and she was just as happy running around the house, in her underwear, in the winter. Weirdo.
Takes after her father. Not that I've seen him run around in his underwear. He probably does it when I'm not home. He knows I'll blog it.

Happy Valentines Everyone!!!
Love
Amy

Kikki Brag Time

My niece makes me so proud. I swear she is so advanced for her age. Her mommy just informed me that at 6 weeks she has rolled over. She wasn't as impressed herself until I told her that Katie didn't roll over until 4 1/2 months, and that normally babies roll over at around 4 mos. She has finally heard her real voice as Kikki let out an "ohhh" the other night. I remember hearing what Katie's little voice sounded like, not just the little squeaks and grunts of infant hood but her voice.
And do you not just LOVE the little deer outfit. I mean did you see the tail?!?!?! She is starting to look a lot like her daddy. Her nose seems to give her away.
She had her 6 week check-up and she is now a hefty 15 pounder. I assured her mommy that Katie grew that fast. Although she started a bit smaller. But by 6 weeks Katie was close to 12 pounds herself. If you see her now she is close to 40 inches tall, but I don't know her weight since she hasn't been to the doctor lately, and my scale broke. No I didn't break it, the battery died.

Anyway, Kikki is so cute. Just look at the feet of this little outfit. Precious. Makes me want one. I hope I get this outfit passed to me when I have another! Hint, Hint!

My Girls- By Rick

After reading the blog from Amy's and my anniversary, I felt that I needed to share a couple of things as well. First, there is nothing that I will not do for Amy. This includes; moving to another state and leaving my beloved Chico behind, working as a miner while holding an MBA, trying to get my career straight so that Amy can do what she does best (being a mom), and buying her a minivan. Yes, I have finally lost my "man card" because I drove Amy's minivan (and liked it). She knew what she wanted and I wanted her to have it, so now she is in a "mom-mobile". I think it suits her quite well.


This is not two-toned, but it is dirty and I didn't want to wash it for the pictures today since it is supposed to snow in the next couple of days. Anyway, it is a 2006 Honda Odyssey with all the cool stuff a person could want (except an MP3 plug in).

It is quite nice to drive and it has my personal favorite... butt warmers! Boy those are nice in the winter time! Since it is a touring edition, it does have power sliding doors, a sunroof, DVD system, and a navigation system. All of which are pretty cool.





The extra seats simply fold into the space in the back so that they are there when needed.


Katie's favorite is the DVD player

Just ask her!

While I am on the subject of Katie...

I had to laugh the other day when I overheard Amy telling someone that Katie acts "just like her dad." This made me very proud! I knew she was a chip off the old block when she came to me one day and said, "Daddy, let's go bother Mommy." Boy, that one really warmed my heart! Talk about making me proud. Really, in life it has to be the little things that count.


Seriously though, I do love Amy very much and would do anything in the world for her. She is a fantastic mother and a specatacular wife. Being married to her over the past 6 years has been the easiest thing that I have ever done and the most enjoyable. I wonder how she puts up with me sometimes, but I am grateful that she does and humbled by how much she loves me. For me, it is like I married my best friend on earth. Each day that goes by is better than the last. It is beyond words how much fun we have exploring different places and seeing different things, Even a simple trip to Salt Lake City is so much better with Amy riding along. We talk about our lives, our hopes, and our dreams together and it makes the trip go quick.

Amy- I love you more each day and wish only the best for you. We have been through a tremedous amount in our time together and I can only imagine what life will bring our way. If we are never blessed with another child, then it really won't matter as long as we have each other. I am thankful for Katie because she is a part of both of us and represents our life that we have made together. I love you both and will love you for the rest of my life. - Rick

PS- I am sorry (but only a little) that our daughter has seemingly taken on so many of my traits. The worst being her "Rick Copsey stubbornness", but that just makes your life all that more fun having two of me around!!!

She is still working on the winking.

RWC

Katie and Daddy trip

Today, Katie and I grabbed some fruit snacks, some water, and Molly to visit the wild horses on top of White Mountain, or as Katie calls it "Horse Mountain". It was a fun trip for us, but we missed Mommy and wished she was with us. However, we did take the camera so that Amy could see what we did today...


This is Katie on White Mountain with Rock Springs below us. Before anyone freaks out, there really wasn't a cliff behind her so she was perfectly safe standing there. There is a bench just out of site, so one would really have to work to get themselves to tumble down the hill at this spot.


Here she is trying to figure out where our house is.


"It's down there, Daddy." She makes me so proud when she acts just like me ;)


Even Molly wanted to take a look.

Katie asked to take my picture, so I let her. She is a pretty good photographer and she is only 3!

She fell behind looking for rocks, so she ran to catch up with me and Molly.

Whew!!! She was pooped...

but still managed somewhat of a smile.

I know that there have been other wild horse pictures, but we took some more. Enjoy...

I thought this was a pretty cool shot with Pilot Butte and the sky lined horse. Too bad it didn't rear up when I was taking the picture.

This years colt

That is all for this one- RWC

The Elk - by Rick

I was going through some of our recent pictures and noticed that a couple of my favorites from the National Elk Refuge didn't make it onto the blog. With that in mind, here you go...


My finger started itching at this point.

I know that my father-in-law is shaking about now... calm down Tom and breathe.

What an impressive group and a great trip as well.

These are the sleighs that take you out to see the elk. You do not have to go out there because you can see the elk from the road, but these folks will take you out amogst the elk and it is a really neat experience! Highly recommended if you ever find yourself near Jackson, Wyoming in the late fall or winter months.

FYI- Amy forgot to answer the trivia question from her "Jackson" blog... Johnny and June Carter Cash are the ones who sang the song.

RWC

The squirrel- by Rick

One day when Amy and I were watching over our new backyard, drinking coffee, we noticed that there were some hungry birds nearby. We decided that it would be a good idea to visit Walmart for a new bird feeder so that all of the local birds will be happy.

Look at those happy birds! ...

...then we noticed that the bird feeder was emptying out pretty fast and we didn't have a ton of local birds visiting our backyard. So, then it happened. Amy looked out one day and saw why...

Sneaky, the squirrel decided to check out the bird feeder. Apparently, modesty is not one of his traits, nor is understanding that bird feeders are for birds and squirrel feeders (which we do not have) are for squirrels.

To make matters worse, this little sucker decides to show off while he is making a mess stealing bird food.

Look at him hanging upside down on the little branch.

We laughed and thought it was cute at first, but then we realized that he was taking an awful lot of bird food and that stuff wasn't cheap...

Obviously, something had to be done, so I sicked my killer dog on him.

She was more interested in the Frisbee than this local menace, so she did what she does best and found a sunny spot to lay down. Besides, she is scared of Chihuahua's, which are about the same size as the goofy squirrel...

So, I thought about "plan B". We live in Wyoming and I know that I have the right tools for this one...

Amy wasn't too thrilled with the idea that I would let an arrow fly in the backyard, but I told her that we really didn't know our neighbors anyway and most of their dogs are barkers. I mean it is totally a win-win for me. Besides, I have a brother in Missouri that would eat the gosh darn thing... probably raw.

Well, against my better judgement, I opted to not go "Robin Hood" on the furry menace, but we did take to leaving peanuts out for the squirrels so that the birds will have some chance at the food. It was probably the best solution because now all the critters are happy.

The end... RWC