Cooper's room

week 26 also was the week that the major work on Cooper's room was done, with many thanks to brennon, brian, and gabe!

gabe had done the painting...the walls and the ceiling. no, everything is not the same color. it took him some time, but it looks better than i imagined it would. he had done that a couple of weeks ago and we were just waiting for my brother to get some time to fit us into his busy schedule. he was doing the crown moulding. well, the time came and it looks great! i had no idea how intricate it was to do. i thought it was just some 45 degree angles and a few nails. i was corrected. he had a saw that he used once the angle was cut to cut out the edges so everything would fit just perfect. he said that if my dad were to look at it and it wasn't done right, there would be hell to pay. he's probably right.

so now, my mom has some trick up her sleeve for one of the walls that we are waiting on and then we can clean the carpets and start putting furniture in.

it is all waiting in the garage for it's home. the crib, dresser, changing table, ottoman, ceiling fan and a few handmade toys that were mine when i was little. we are waiting on the glider to come in and the fabric for the sheers over the windows. i am also back on the hunt for bedding...yuck! i had it all done until i went into pottery barn baby last night and the sales lady told me that the bedding that looks white online is really a cream color- so annoying!

26 weeks down

this was from a couple of weeks ago...man time is flying!

25 weeks down and another wedding

gabe's cousin david got married this last weekend in pleasanton. it was pretty hot out there, but so beautiful! we got to spend some pretty great time with the michael side of the family and let me tell you, they can party! there are a few things that i know about the michaels as a whole:

1. they have strong opinions (not a bad thing)

2. they don't like it when you "peek" a.k.a find out the sex

3. they love an open dance floor!

they booed the dj at the end of the reception! i have never in all of the weddings i have been to, heard a crowd boo the dj...it was hillarious! they just wanted to keep on dancing, and when he wouldn't/couldn't keep going, some of them even tried to start singing to keep the party going! i loved it. that was probably the last time for a while that gabe and i will be able to close down a dance floor, and i was glad to be able to do it with people who were so enthusiastic about it! so, thank you michael family!

our WT 4th of July :)

yes, that is my sister in a bikini with a shotgun and i will get to that in just a minute.

gabe and i went with my parents and sister up to some family friends house for some good old fashioned fun. shawn and dana have been friends with my parents for quite some time and they even hopped on a plane to come and celebrate when gabe and i got married in cabo. anyway, they recently built a beautiful home on 20 acres up in lincoln and since then, the parties are at their house! we aren't even there for 20 minutes and the boys start getting out their toys. first, it was the bows. and no, not the kind that go in your hair. as most of you know, my dad has been hunting with a bow and arrow for my entire life and i am sure before that. he goes elk hunting with his buddies in idaho every september and would go more if my mom would let him, i'm sure. so shawn and his son cole have taken up the sport also. so they all get out their bows and head out into the field where they have a target set up. of course, my husband is close on their heels. not because he knows anything about the sport, but he just want to play too! so, they play for a little while until the rest of the party starts showing up with their shotguns in tow. that's right, i said shotguns.
let the skeet shooting commence!
by this time, i was so hot that i was in the pool and there wasn't much that you could do to get me out. i did have a good view of the action, mostly to make sure that gabe didn't blow off his finger or anything else that would require a trip to the emergency room. about 30 minutes into the guys shooting, and missing quite a bit i might add, alexi decides that she wants to try. now my brother and i grew up around guns and hunting and trap shooting. we both learned at a young age how to shoot, but alexi hasn't had that exposure. so, she goes down and gets her lesson from my dad who hands her a 410 and starts teaching her the safety of the gun first. he then proceeds to start throwing clay pigeons in the air for her to shoot. she misses the first few, but then starts getting the hang of it and moves onto the machine that actually throws them out. typically, the shooter says 'pull' when they are ready to shoot. not my sister, who says a girly 'okay' and then proceeds to blast them out of the air. she misses the first few, but after that, the girl could not miss! it was amazing! and then she ran out of shells. so, my dad asks her if she wants to try a 12 gauge. sure she says as she picks up the gun that is almost bigger than her! a 12 gauge has a lot more power than what she was shooting which means a lot more kick, but that didn't stop her. she proceeded to make grown men look like rookies...it was great!
we stayed up there and watched the fireworks over the valley. there were about 5 shows that we could see at once. it was beautiful. a great way to spend the 4th. a little known fact, gabe and i actually met on the 4th, 12 years ago!

middle name help

alright, those of you who don't want to know the sex...DO NOT KEEP READING!

we have narrowed the middle name down to a few and would like your input. now, that doesn't mean that we will listen to any of you in particular, but would appreciate your input.

so, as most of you know if you read gabe's most recent post, we are having a little boy and his name is Cooper ? Michael. so, here are the names that you can vote on:

1. Cooper Johnson Michael (my maiden name)

2. Cooper J. Michael

3. Cooper Bradley Michael (my dad and brother's middle name)

4. Cooper Gabriel Michael

5. Cooper Nicholas Michael

So, there you have it...let us know (mandylynnmichael@yahoo.com)