Cooks & Cooks in Utah with Grandma & Grandpa

Camille and Bryan came to Utah in late April to visit family and attend the sealing of Kjersty, Bryan's sister, and her husband, Chris, in the Logan Temple.  Bryan's parents, Bryce and Karol Cook, will leave in July to serve a two-year mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Bryce will be the mission president.  (Their mission will be two years instead of the regular three because of the difficult circumstances in the country.)

We enjoyed spending a few days with them while they were in town.  Craig, Michelle, and Ben came up from Provo to join in the fun.  We missed Josh, who was on a two-week tour of Asian countries with other BYU MBA students.

We had Sunday dinner with Grandpa Scott and took a few family photos in the backyard. 

Tytan and Grandpa; Ben and Bryan

Ben with Craig; Tytan with Grandpa

Aubrie is not too sold on grass.

The first of a dozen shots was the best.

Traditional crazy faces!

Ben at home

Ben is actually quite a big help in the kitchen--right, Michelle?!

 We're glad to know that Michelle and Josh are continuing the Magic Carpet Ride tradition!
 

Ben loves wearing grown-up shoes--Grandma's in this case.

Ben enjoys bedtime stories with Mom and Dad.  Afterwards they softly sing Primary songs and have prayer.

Water color painting with Grandpa Scott

Josh, Michelle, and Ben came up for an afternoon water color session with Grandpa Scott.

Ben gets in on the action.

Looking good!

Jazz Game

Grandpa invited us to watch another Jazz game in the Zion's Bank box.

Ben is intent on the game

Emily and Sam with Grandpa

Bruce, Craig, Mary Lee, Michelle, Josh and Ben

New Years 2013 with Provo Cooks

We started the year off with a bang--or was it Wham! into those bowling pins at the Wasatch lanes near Grandpa Scott's house.

The first of several big scores for Michelle.

Mary Lee enjoys the sweet, but unfamiliar taste of success.

Josh hits another strike!

A familiar sight on the score board when Dad was up.

The scoreboard says it all--Josh watch out for Michelle!

Michelle and Josh made sure we were well-stocked with games and goodies for New Year's Eve.

Ben helped deal...

and shuffle

It was a great way to start off 2013!

Fun with Family in Utah and Idaho

Our July began with the blessing of our newest granddaughter, sweet Aubrie Claire Cook.  Camille and Bryan hosted a family gathering afterwards at a nearby park.

L to R: Carol and Bryce; Bryan, Tytan, Camille and Aubrie; Bruce and Mary Lee, July 1, 2012

Craig, Josh, Ben, Michelle, Aubrie, Camille, Bryan and Tytan

Precious Aubrie and her beautiful mom!

Fun with Grandpa!

The next day Bruce and Mary Lee joined his siblings and parents for a reunion in Island Park, Idaho at a cabin owned by David's family.

Back row L to R:  David, Ruth, Max, Darrell, Cathy, Bruce.  Front L to R:  Teresa, Jill, Steve, Laurie, Debbie, Mary Lee

Cathy & Darrell, Bruce & Mary Lee, Jill & Steve, Teresa & David at Upper Mesa Falls, Snake River

We celebrated Craig's 23rd birthday on the 4th of July at Tucano's in Provo.

Craig, Dad, and Tytan at Tucano's

Josh, Michelle and Ben joined us and we took some family pictures afterwards.  Bryan and Camille were in New York looking for an apartment because they will be moving there in early August for Bryan's work at Goldman Sachs.  Grandma and Grandpa Cook got to take care of Brie and we got to take care of Tytan--hurray!

Josh, Ben, Michelle, Craig, Mary Lee, Bruce and Tytan at Riverwoods

We got some great shots of Josh, Michelle and Ben.  It was hard to choose which one to post!

Josh, Michelle and charming Ben

Dad and Tytan had fun looking at the James Christensen fountain.

More fun with Grandpa!

On Saturday, we visited Great-grandmother Faux.

Craig's whirlwind visit

What do our storage unit, La Salsa Mexican food, and the movie "Inception" have in common?!  These are some of Craig's favorite things and he packed them all and more into his visit to Tucson last week...including downing fresh home made rolls.  As he loaded up his plate, he said "I'll start with six."

Craig enjoying the first hot roll with the Toumey's homemade apply butter

Craig was the first of the children to try out Dad's new TV late Saturday night when we brought him home from the airport.  Of course, the test wasn't really complete until we had watched the DVD "Inception" he had brought, about subconscious suggestions and staged dreams within dreams.  That one really got us thinking!  In fact I had to ask him to stop it a couple of times just to make sure I understood what was going on.  We also saw "The Avengers" at Park Mall on Monday night for FHE.  Whew! That was the most action-packed FHE we've had in a long time!

Members of the ward were happy to greet Craig on Sunday at church and in the afternoon we skyped with Nathan and his family.  Cameron and his roommate Jared came over for dinner and we got them to tell us about setting up the new Jimmy John's in northwest Tucson. Sounds like it's doing really well.

Craig visited the storage unit on Monday and this time he actually took more boxes to the storage unit than he brought back!  He thinks he may need to get a bigger book case in his room at school--we love his love of learning and books.

Dad came home from work early on Monday afternoon and we headed out to Colossal Cave in the Rincon Mountains, which none of us had seen before.

After leaving the cave, we saw this cool dude in the parking lot.  We think he might have been a movie star--and he had this really sweet ride.  We're not sure if Truly Nolen is his name or the title of his next movie....help, anyone?