Copes

First Weekend without Ethan

So this weekend Eric and Uncle Ryan took Ethan and went camping in Flagstaff. This is the first time I have been away from Ethan for two whole nights. It sounded like a great idea while they were planning it, but as it came closer I was not so sure about it. It ended up turning out just fine. They had a great time camping and I had a great time hanging out with friends and my mother and sister-in-law. Friday night I went to the big Mom’s Night Out for the MOMs Club that I am in (which I am currently President of for the next year). It was so much fun. It was an Italian catered “Mommies” awards night. We gave thanks to the outgoing board members and all the volunteers from the past year and also welcomed the new boards members. There was drinking, dancing, singing, and a great time had by all. I was able to sleep in until 11:15am on Saturday. It was fantastic because I have not done that in a long time. I then headed to the Pointe Tapatio Resort to meet my mother-in-law and sister-in-law to swim and enjoy a few tasty beverages. We spent a good 4 and a half hours in the pool. Our fingers and toes were fairly prunny so it was time to get out and go to a movie. My sister-in-law and I saw My Sister’s Keeper (a little disappointing after reading the book so I vowed to not read the book first again). I came home and hit the sack. Sunday I watched TV in bed (a favorite pasttime of mine), cleaned a little, and spent time with Matt, Stephanie, and their adorable twin baby boys They were having a photo shoot and I cannot wait to see the pictures. All in all it was a fabulous weekend, but I am glad to have them back home. Eric can blog about his camping trip. I will tell you Ethan had a great time camping with his daddy next to the cows.

Ethan’s swim lessons

Ethan started swim lessons today. He did fantastic! He cried which is expected, but he grabbed the bar as he was instructed to do. He also has great breath control. He takes a breath before she dunks him under the water. He would be under water for three to five seconds before grabbing the bar all by himself. He also was faced away from the bar and he would turn to grab the bar. It was so awesome to see my little guy learning a new skill (He’s not my baby anymore. He is learning to swim. That is crazy!!) I may be a little biased, but he did such a phenomenal job this morning. He is going to have ths swimming thing down so quickly! I strongly recommend Infant Swim Resource to all parents that are looking for swim lessons!! The website is www.swimisr.com . Pictures will follow soon.

*Edit: The main national website is www.infantswim.com, while a group of Tucson ISR instructors operate www.swimisr.com.

Eric’s List of 5 Passions/Addictions

Inspired by the Adams’… These are in no particular order…

1. Exercise – I love exercising in ways that don’t seem like exercise. I play ultimate frisbee (2 hours of sprinting), mountain biking (the cliffs and cacti keep your mind off the calories you are burning), flag football. I love being outdoors, getting my heart rate up, and feeling the adrenaline when I catch the long huck or am rock crawling my way down National. Its way too cool to give up and I hope to share them with my kids.
2. Politics – There is something addictive about personal freedoms and liberties. The liberty bug bit me and I keep feeding it to keep it near. I’ve gotten better about my soap box, but I still like sharing my ideas and debunking others. I think shooting my gun falls in this category too.
3. Family – My only reason to have passion in the first place, hopefully I get to share my passions with my family. Roughhousing with Ethan or watching a movie with Aubrey is way too good to give up.
4. Work – I am addicted to work. I need to specify this. I work at Medtronic 40 hours a week, thats it. Outside that, I am always looking for more web design/development to push my skills. I constantly need to have my plate overloaded, hence my PhD, Primerica, Web Design, Work, Ultimate Frisbee, Flag Football, music class with Ethan, and anything else I cling to.
5. Beer - Beer is my friend. There is no better beverage than a cold dark beer. Fat Tire (see 1), Moose Drool, Kiltlifter, Arrogant Bastard are just the beginning. We are living in a beer revolution right now and I love every minute of it. The important thing is Ethan likes it too.

Maricopa in WSJ

Any publicity is good publicity, right? Right?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123543721679054667.html

25 Things About Me

1. I love being a mommy. I think it is the most rewarding job because I get to spend all of my time with my little guy and see him grow and do new things every day.
2. I love my husband because he works so that I can stay home and do what I have always wanted to do. He also watches Ethan anytime I want to go out and actually encourages me to go out with my friends. He is also a great daddy, funny, super smart, and cute.
3. I never wanted to have a career, being a stay at home mom is the best job. I wanted to be a housewife since I was a kid
4. In the last 10 months, I have really grown to enjoy exercising. I was never motivated enough to go to a gym or go run, but stroller strides is  the best exercise program because you are working out, but you have your kids with you. It is also a good social networking avenue.
5. I love going to the movies to see just about anything
6. I am really shy, but have become a lot more outgoing since having Ethan and joining stroller strides (Thank you Jodi and Melissa!!!)
7. I wish I had a talent such as singing or dancing.
8. I like to cook, but am not creative or bold enough to try new recipes. Every time I try a new recipe it never tastes very good. 
9. I am a Britney Spears fan and was even when she went through her “crazy” phase. The album she came out with then was not very good, but I still own it.
10. I am a coffee snob. I love my Starbucks and girl talk time with Angie while enjoying our Starbucks.
11. I hate regular coffee. I tried to buy the Peppermint mocha creamer, but it is not even close to being the same as Starbucks.
12. I aspire to be a great parent and always have an open and honest relationship with Ethan.
13. I married my high school sweetheart
14. Pink is my favorite color
15. I would absolutely love to go see a taping of Ellen and/or Dr. Phil. We went once to see a taping of a show that used to be on called, “Less than Perfect” and I thought that was really cool.
16. I do not really like talking on the phone anymore. I did as a teenager and I now wonder what the heck we talked about. I saw my best friend all day at school, but we still managed to spend hours on the phone.
17. I am addicted to TV and my tivo!! I think Tivo is the greatest invention!
18. I am extremely proud of the fact that I breastfed my son until he was a year old. I wanted to give up numerous times, but I made a commitment to myself and my son that I would do it for a year and I did.
19. I was the first one in my family to go to College. I am proud that I graduated. (That said, I probably would not do it again if I had it to do all over) However, I am proud of myself for sticking with it.
20. Dr. Pepper is my favorite soft drink. It is the syrup of life as Riley calls it.
21. I like to sleep in. That is one of the hard things about being a parent. You do not get to sleep in anymore.
22. I love to be pampered. Massages, facials, manicures, pedicures, I could do that every day!!
23. I love to go on vacation to pretty much anywhere. That is the one time my husband will actually spend money and not worry about it.
24. I always drive when Eric and I go anywhere together.
25. Screw you Matt, this list took me a week.

25 things about Eric

Both Matt and Stephanie Adams posted a 25 list, so I jumped on the bandwagon, not to be confused with the Cardinals bandwagon.

1. My favorite beers are Moose Drool, Fat Tire, Kilt Lifter, and when I’m feeling manly, Arrogant Bastard
2. I am only happy when my plate of life is overwhelmingly full. I want to be an expert in web design, web development, Linux Administration, Windows Administration, Digital Circuit Design, Digital Architectures, Digital Signal Processing, Lighting, Photography, Sales, husbandry, fatherhood, leadership, shooting, … I think that is it.
3. By day, I design next generation medical device signal processing architectures. By night I husband, father, and develop web applications.
4. Economics fascinates me. I get very excited when I see the free market work. I get very frustrated when I see it bastardized by government intervention.
5. I love to learn. In fact, I call it my crack addiction. My formal education is currently in its PhD stage (in Electrical Engineering). If in the future, I got a law degree, an MBA, and an MD degree, I wouldn’t suprised, but I probably wouldn’t be married either…
6. I love to read, but have no time for fiction. Books on history, politics, economics, are fantastic.
7. The book, Unintended Consequences kickstarted my love of the 2nd Amendment and its true meaning.
8. I am probably the only athiest to start a bible study group.
9. I mountain bike, I play ultimate frisbee, and now flag football, all less than I should
10. I am a radical Libertarian, believing in personal choice, extremely limited government, the rule of law, and liberties.
11. I believe the root of all morals are personal liberty
12. My faith in modern medicine is about as strong as my faith in Social Security
13. I can only drink coffee at work, where I am sitting in front of a computer thinking heavily. Every where else my hands are too busy.
14. I hate staring at my shoes. I take as many opportunities to meet new people and spend as much time as possible strengthening current relationships.
15. One day I will finish my beer delivering robot
16. I am usually the cheapest person you will ever meet. The only exception is on vacation, when I spend like its going out of style. Also, when I do spend money,  I choose to buy quality items that last instead of cheap ones that don’t. That does not apply to anything purchased at Harbor Freight.
17. Despite what others may think, I have the best wife in the world. She knows me so well, she doesn’t have to ask how my day was.
18. The next car I buy will be paid in cash. I can’t see myself financing any depreciating assets.
19. I’ve learned more about money and people from Primerica than anywhere else.
20. I have 1 desktop, 2 laptops, and a server at home. I run Windows, Ubuntu Linux, and FreeBSD. None of my computers can support Vista. I will buy a Mac before I go Vista.
21. I love open source software and its communities. I love that I can ask a question in a forum and some one will answer, freely exchanging information. I contribute to several forums to ensure a strong future for open source software.
22. I don’t throw anything away until it has no possible future use. That means keeping old computers, bikes, pens, paper, chairs, anything I can reapply to my life.
23. I think most college degrees are a waste of money. Most people don’t need college degrees to be successful in life. Most self made millionaires started their own trades company.
24. I wear the pants in my family. Its a good thing too because my legs look terrible in a skirt.
25. I want to teach my kids strength, honor, about ethics, money, and how to win friends and influence people.