the heart of life

     Well, I'm sure you've all heard we are embarking on our biggest, most exciting expedition yet... Beau and I are going to have a baby!  We are so excited! Let me give you a little back story...  On October 20th, we found out I was pregnant.  That same day, I scheduled my 8 week appointment at the doctor.  This was to be the appointment that we were hopefully going to hear the heartbeat for the first time.  I quickly informed Beau that, besides our parents, we do not need to tell ANYONE until that appointment is complete and everything looks- and sounds- like it should.

     And so began the most difficult test my husband's patience has ever endured.  At least once a day for the next three(ish) weeks his favorite thing to say was, "So, can we tell people yet?"  We were counting down the days.  Those of you who know our family know that this is how it went:

Beau:  Can't keep surprises, so this was worse than Christmas, my birthday, and the desire to spoil a great movie ending all wrapped into one.
My Mom (Anne):  Also wanted to tell pretty badly but as an alternative, already started thinking of Grandmother names and bought me a diaper bag
Beau's Mom (Susanne):  Almost as bad as Beau when it came to wanting to tell.  Her quote was, "the second yall start telling people, you better let me know cause I wanna tell everyone too!"
My Brother (Joe):  Couldn't tell his best friend John, so instead he told the next best option- a dog.
My Dad, Beau's Dad, and Myself (all can be lumped into one on this):  While we were all VERY excited and glad to share the good news when the time was right, but we were able to keep the surprise.  There was no anguish in keeping a secret, simply the knowledge that we would share when the time was right.

     We all did, however, survive the wait.  On November 16th Beau and I went to the doctor and luckily they didn't make me wait long.  Almost as soon as the ultrasound showed up on the screen, we got to see all 1.52cm of our baby.  We got to see it's little heart fluttering and we got to hear all 176 beats per minute.  I also got to hear the nurse say, "That sounds like a good, strong heartbeat for 8 weeks."  That was probably the best thing she could've told me at that moment.

     The rest of the day was spent telling our family, friends, and co-workers the good news.  We told the same story and answered the same questions about 1000 times.

 "When's the due date?" - June 29
"How long have you known?"- About 3-4 weeks
"How are you feeling?"- Pretty great.  No real morning sickness.  As long as I don't let myself get hungry, I feel good.
"When do you find out if it's a boy or girl?" - Probably the end of January or beginning of February

     There were many more topics of discussion, but Beau and I enjoyed discussing this topic as much as everyone wanted to. :)  We also want to say to everyone, thank you all for your kind words and excitement and most importantly, prayers! We are blown away with how blessed we are to have so many people in our lives who love us so much!  And please know, that we love you too!  Let the countdown for baby Cooper begin! :)

in between days

To summarize...

Fall arrived and it came with some color.

Went to an Auburn game and I didn't hate it.  They beat Ole Miss 41-23.  They moved up from my 12th favorite team in the SEC to my 11th favorite team in the SEC.  Way to go wife, you pulled one over on me.  Plus the free tickets, free food and free place to stay didn't hurt either (we had free skybox tickets!)

Sarah and her mom started a photography business.  Maple Leaf Photography.  I designed the logo, pretty proud of that.  They've also got a facebook page, so check 'em out if you've got a spare minute.

Went to Arkansas for the Inaugural Oldtee event.  Still not 100% sure what that means, but it did involve good friends, camping, memories and a little bit of cold weather.  Plus the Park Ranger told us to quiet down.  That's the official sign of a good time, getting threatened to be shut down by Johnny Law.  We even successfully cooked biscuits over an open flame.  #goodtimes

Again with the ugly field.  Adam took us to a UCA game and the sunset actually made the field bearable for a few short seconds.  Had to snap this shot.  Franchione was coaching Texas State which made me consider shouting obscenities his way, but I refrained.

I bet I see you sooner than you expect....

the curse of comfort

It's August and it's hot.  The only place to escape the heat is in the water, hence the reason for some of our newest purchases:

We live a block from the river, why has it taken us over a year to realize this?  Anyway, we're in the midst of making amends for our actions.

Also, we got a new car for our expeditions.  Introducing the aptly named Tara the Xterra:

16 days until football season.

School has started.

Sarah is the head volleyball coach this year.

Lots of things have happened in the last month.

Short update?  Yes.

all these things that i've done

The Final Tally:

17 states
6,500 miles (2 oil changes)
25 National Parks/Monuments/Historic Sites

The last 2 weeks don't make sense.  It's bizarre to me that we were at the Grand Canyon just a week ago and the only reason we were there is because we drove 14 hours out of our way.  And the 14 hours we drove out of our way didn't even seem abnormal, it was the norm for this trip.  Days, dates and states all run together like a dream.  It feels like a month since we've been home and at the same time, like it was just yesterday.  I'm glad Sarah kept a detailed journal & photographic record of what we did because without it, I'm not sure I'd be able to remember it all.  About 15 minutes away from home, Sarah turned the iPod to "Sweet Home Alabama."  I've seen some unbelievable things and had a great time along the way, but it's always good to be home.

Thanks to all who read and followed along on our "expedition."  Every kid at some point is asked what they want to be when they grow up, and it's always some extraordinary job that few ever get to live out.   I always wanted to be an explorer, and for the last 2 weeks I was allowed to live that out.  And I got to live it out with my best friend.  That's pretty hard to beat.   We're already looking forward to our next adventure which we are tentatively calling The "Maine" Tour.  If everything works out right, it will be next summer.  Here's a couple more pictures from the trip.  I'm sure Sarah will be adding a few thousand to facebook soon.

"Is this the end or did we ever really start,
It’s not the wheels, but the road that makes us who we are," 
Wandering Ways - Adam Hambrick

wandering ways

Sorry, no update last night.  We did arrive in Conway, AR around 6:30 yesterday evening.   We drove from Kansas City, MO. where we stayed night before last, and drove to Conway.  We made a little detour  to see the final home of Laura Ingalls Wilder in Mansfield, MO.  I have to admit, as a child, I loved watching the Little House on the Prairie TV series.  Seeing that her house where she wrote the books was so near our route, I had to stop. 

After seeing the house, we drove to the Hambricks’ house, and went to Little Rock to eat at a place called Gauchos.  We probably all gained about five pounds, due to the fact that they brought you unlimited varieties of meat and sides.  It’s a Brazilian buffet brought to your table.   

After driving all day, being extremely full, and having watched an hour of TV with Adam and Merritt, Beau and I were beyond tired.  Hence, no blog last night.  After about 10 hours of sleep last night, we are ready to spend the day doing something fun in Arkansas.   Adam has mentioned a stop at the best fried chicken restaurant ever.   Sounds good to me.    

Sorry there aren't many pictures from yesterday.

chasing cars

We woke up this morning with not much of a plan and decided to head east to Minnesota.  Once we arrived, we decided we might as well keep going and see Minneapolis and St. Paul too.  Once we got to the Twin Cities, we decided that since we we're so close, we might as well press on and head into Wisconsin and check another state off the list.

Side note:  Beau and I are cooperatively and competitively trying to go to all 50 states.  So far I’m winning the competition 37 states to Beau’s 30.  On the cooperative side of it, on this trip alone, we will have seen at least 17 states.  (Some we’ve both already seen before, but 17 in one trip is a big accomplishment.)

Anyway, back to today.  We stopped first at Pipestone National Monument.  I never realized pipes were such an integral part of our nation’s history, but apparently both Minnesota and our US government think so.  Here we saw that the Indians began making pipes years before anyone else had ever heard of them.  Soon after, settlers and traders began using, making, and trading them, and thus became quite the unhealthy and yet historical American tradition.

Next was the drive through Minnesota to get to Minneapolis.  I have to be honest, we’ve started running out of things to do/read/listen to in the car to keep us entertained.  Therefore, we decided to have some fun by throwing bagels out the window today.  Did I really say bagels?  Yes.  You see, two weeks ago we packed down our car with enough provisions to last throughout the trip.  Of course we overestimated how much food we would need.  This morning I discovered that the 4 bagels had left were stale.   Nobody likes a stale bagel, so let the fun begin.   After a couple of distance and accuracy tries each, we were quickly out of bagels.  While it was short lived, it was a fun activity for the Coopers and a yummy snack for some lucky animals.  Quite the win-win. 

Next, was our stop at the Twin Cities.  We saw the Metrodome (The Vikings Field), the Twins new baseball stadium, as well as many of the downtown areas.  We then took a short detour into Wisconsin.  While in Wisconsin, we decided we had to have some form of dairy product.  I had some Coldstone ice cream and Beau had a Frappuccino from Starbucks.  We can confirm that they have correctly nicknamed their state “America’s Dairyland”.  It was some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had. 

The next definite stop is Conway, Arkansas to visit the Hambricks’ for a couple of days.  On the way there, who knows?

Since we didn't have too many things to take pictures of today, I'll throw in a couple of randoms, including the worlds largest prarie dog statue.

 

when the day met the night

What a fun day we had today!  We left Black Hawk this morning and went to Mount Rushmore.  We were even able to see Gutzon Borglum’s (the creator of the memorial) sculptor’s studio.  In the studio,  there was a 1:12 scale model of the memorial and we were able to learn a little more about the history of it. 

After Mt. Rushmore, we drove to the Badlands.  It is a beautiful National Park that some people compare to the surface of the moon because it is the only other place where formations like those occur.  We entered the Park through the south entrance that belonged to the Lakota Indian Tribe, and drove north into the US National Park area.  We learned that the Badlands get its name from French trappers traveling through the area in the 1700’s.  They had such a hard time making their way through the land because of the strange rock that crumbled very easily and was difficult to travel on.  They were so frustrated with the area, that they named it Badlands. 

While going through the Badlands we saw wildlife, beautiful and very different scenery, and even walked around and climbed on some of the formations.  It was almost like climbing around on giant sandcastles. 

After leaving the Badlands, we went to eat lunch at Wall Drugstore in Wall, SD…”The Friendly Town.”  Beau and I decided to stick with the regional cuisine and have buffalo burgers.  We’d also heard great things about their doughnuts, so why not?  Two homemade, deep fried, chocolate covered doughnuts please!  And boy, were they good.

We then made a short stop at the Delta 09 Minuteman Missile Site.  This site was one of many that the US used to house nuclear warheads during the Cold War.  The site dispelled many myths about the minuteman missile project such as:  none of the sights were top secret and it took four people to turn the keys to launch the missile.  With Beau and I both having degrees related to history, we really enjoyed this stop.

Finally, we decided we would stop at an old 1880’s Western town.  We found out that the town was put together in 1989.  However, all the buildings in the town came from other towns, and each building was an actually dated anywhere from the 1880’s to early 1900’s.  It was put together as an homage to the old west, and is a way for tourists to experience what an actual 1880’s town used to be like.   It was so much fun!  We were able to go inside the buildings, sit on the wagons and stagecoaches, and in the town hotel you could even see spur marks from cowboy boots on the stairs.  The town saloon functioned as a concession stand, but used to be an actual working saloon in the early 1900’s.  There was a church, a doctor/dentist’s office above the mercantile, a school house, and so much more. 

Another neat thing about this particular town, was that it had many of the actual props from the movie Dances with Wolves.  For example:  a teepee from the Indian tribe, the wagon train, the log cabin he lived in, various costumes and weaponry, and even the original movie script and behind the scenes pictures.  Kevin Costner’s horse in the movie (Cisco) was even buried nearby. 

As mentioned earlier in the blog, it was quite a fun day; probably one of our favorites of the entire trip.  We discovered some more of America’s history and got to step back into time and feel like we were a part of it.  Tonight, we will drive as far as we can and see where we end up.  Agenda for tomorrow?  We have none.