Happy birthday!!!

The newest edition to the family has arrived!!!!

Gavin A.J. White was born at 1am today.

His happy Mommy (Jess) is doing awesome.

Emily, Mia, Mama Coop, Kelly and I are going o go up to Cedar to go meet him.

I am so happy, and entirely too excited to hold him.


Look at that sweet little brand new baby face! Ahhhh! It is sooooo precious!

I will show you the pics that I take when we go this afternoon.

These are taken by Brig. Thanks for the pics woman!

Yea for Gavin! (Jess, Sam, Ivy and Sammy we love you too)

A little known fact...

Did you know that it is 1,762 steps from the front door of the house - to Kelly's kindergarten class room - and back?

Well, you do now - and knowledge is power!

Do you think that I counted every single step, or did I use a step counting device?

If you guessed that I used the device, then you win a free sno-cone.....to be eaten in the middle of December...in a bikini.

I had the step counter on all day and it was pretty sweet! I looked at it once and I had taken over 3000 steps. Then I accidentally hit the reset button and it totally ruined my day. Oh- well. Like my Poppy always said, "Tomorrow's another day Lex."

Deej took half the day off today to walk Kell-Bell to school today. I thought that was super sweetie-pie of him. Kelly was over the moon about him walking with her.

Wow, I hardly ever talk about DJ.

Weird.

He really is interesting and funny. Kelly is just more hilarious to me I guess.

Shout out to the Deej! Love ya babe.

OK. Dilemma time. I must make a choice here and It has to be made by 7:00 pm.

******1******* Savy has a volleyball game tonight at 7:00.

******2*******There is a big beginning year PTA meeting at 7:00. I have ALWAYS wanted to be in the PTA. I would have to go there all by my self and lately I like to have a sidekick.


I am not sure what to do, but I bet that whatever choice I make will be the best one.

I hope.

The big day.

It happened.

Kelly got ready all by herself. Brushed her teeth, took a shower, did not yell at me while I blow dried and curled her hair.

Then, she took both Grammie and my hands and walked to the Elementary school.

I have been waiting for this moment since I first saw her sweet little face on February 18th 2003.

Not that I wanted to get rid of my baby...I just have always wanted to be there with her at home, until she went into school.



It was a lofty goal I know.

In my humble opinion it was worth every sacrifice.

Now it feels like the day after Christmas. Only we get to do it all over again five days a week, so it does not sting as bad.

Ok...now here are the pictures from our amazingly fast day.

Do you think that I need to buy Kelly a larger backpack??? I don't know. I think that possibly something that is twice her size is more appropriate for a kindergartner

I really like this picture of Kel. She is super excited and is afraid that Grammie and I are going to make her late. She still stopped for us and posed for the picture.

Grammie wanted me to get in the with her, but I am also picture-a-phobic. It is a serious problem I know, but I am learning to deal with that.

Hey! No Parking!

My little girl ran right into the chaos that is the first day of school and went right to the coat hook and hung up her backpack.

I was so proud, she IS a neat freak like me!

Then she totally tuned Grammie and I out. It was school time people!
Time for Kelly to get in the zone and do some learning.

See ya Mom. Later Grammie. Peace out.

We could not let that happen.

We needed pictures of her sitting at her little desk...and ...and pictures of her breathing, and blinking.

I admit that it was really hard to walk out of that room. So, we put it off a little more by taking another picture.

We then begged Kelly to do the traditional "stand by the black board" picture. She was fully annoyed by this because she was right in the middle of telling people that she" has not lost a tooth yet", and that she "knows someone else that has is named Jesse."

She is a hard core social butterfly. I enjoy watching her.


My favorite part of this picture is the "be polite" sign that she is standing by. If you know Kel, then you are laughing too.


Out the door we left without so much as a "goodbye Mommy", or a tear filled "how will I go on without you mom?"

Certainly, her confidence is worlds better that crying and being afraid.....but I already missed my girl.

I didn't need to miss her long, because at the end of the school day I was there to watch her come out the door.

She had a great day. I could not be more proud of her.

Today was shot day. :(

It is a 100% fact that I am terrified of needles of any sort.

I have gone through 4 pain filled labors, and not even once had an epidural. That is not because I am super strong, or totally pain tolerant.

No.

It is because I am a needle wheenie. I am not afraid to admit that at all.

Luckily I have an amazing mother-in-law that was willing to shield me from the horror that is seeing my daughter being stuck by ultra tiny needles.

Thank you so, so much Mama Coop. What would I do without you????

(probably curl into the fetal position on the floor until someone pored water on me.)

Kelly wanted to share her battle wounds form the day.

First there was two shots on the right arm here. Hence the two band aids. Grammie and Nurse Susan got her to sit still for those two.

I had to listen in the hall because I honestly feared that I would faint at the sight of seeing the event. This is full acknowledgment that I am a horrible mother for not being there...I feel all crushed inside, I promise.

Here Kelly is showing me that she also has battle wounds on her left arm as well.

After the first two shots she got wise and was NOT having them carry on any further.

She would wiggle and cry.

I was then summoned to help hold her down, so they could just get it done and over with.

Fear was then over come and I walked in the horrible shot room as cool as the other side of the pillow. You could not even tell that I was scared stupid.

We all held Kel still and she made it through the last two shots just fine.

It was superb. (that is my new word by the way, I hope that I am spelling it right.)

Kelly, Amanda, Sadie, Mama Coop and I all went to Savy's volleyball game against Gunnison tonight.

They were outstanding! (another new word)

The team won and Sav was a true team leader and on fire player....way to go Sav!!

Kelly lives to cheer! She likes to yell, "go Savy! or go Carly!" My personal favorite is "Go Kanab, boo losers."

Tonight it was "She just Cooped those poops."

I SWEAR that she made it up herself. She is into rhyming lately.

It is a bad thing to say...I think. I am trying to teach her about sportsmanship. Truthfully, I could not hide how much that made me laugh. It was just too funny.

Promises were made that I will work on teaching Kelly better team cheers.

Pinkie swear.

Here are a couple of pics of everyone enjoying the game...... I think that they turned out especially full of cuteness.

Sadie was trying to stand like Kel in this pic. It was pretty funny. She is a fast learner.

When Sadie saw Sav at the game she said "boo boo." Because she saw her knee brace...so concerned - and not even 2 years old yet!

The radness that is Kel, Mama Coop, Amanda and Sadie.

View it. Enjoy it. Try not to make all of your friends jealous that my family is super sweet and fun to go to games with.

Oh, and yes. Kelly DOES wear that shirt to all of Savy's games.
I bought it for that very reason. It says Cooper on the back.

She likes to think of it as her uniform and I have no problem with that at all. She and I think that it is the coolest....because it is!

Finally, all Kelly wanted was to take a picture with Savy after the game. So here it is.

Tomorrow is the official first day of Kindergarten...I am not sure if I am going to be able to sleep to night I am so excited!

Sweet dreams. :)

This is my 51st post...are you sick of me yet?

My sweet little nieces are here!

Aren't they just they cutest short people that you have ever seen??

They like to say things like "Sadie sucker", and "not nap time."

Kelly really thinks that it is her job to baby sit Mia and Sadie...so I think that I am going to keep her believing that and give her a dollar for her to stash in her jewelry box.





Yesterday I took this sweet picture of Savy at just ONE of her two jobs.

• she goes to early morning ed-net college classes
• then a full day of school
• volleyball practice
• then a job at the station (pictured above)
• or at her other job at Houstons as a hostess/busser

She is a crazy busy 16 year old....I guess all 16 year olds are busy. I feel old and NOT busy.

I am going to go fold laundry and then go watch Spongebob to make myself feel useful and youthful.

Amazing shoes..just an idea for you

I was feeling a little bored yesterday.

It was Sunday and I just felt like either watching the movie Beaches, and making my husband suffer....or I could go online and find something random to do.

So, I went right to the computer and made these AMAZING shoes for Savy to wear to high school. It's going to be so great!

Yes, I know that they are both shoes for the right foot. Maybe it is a message that Savy does not have two left feet. That she is graceful.

Did you ever think of that?

Hmmm?

(or maybe it is because I accidentally made two right shoes.... and it took me forever to make them... and I just left it the way it was because I am lazy.)

Anyway. One shoe has Michael Jordan on it and he is checking out Sav and he is saying, " Dang Savy, you are a hottie!"

Then the other shoe is a picture of Savy and she is replying, "I know Michael. I know."

Of course that is because she is super fly and all.

I made them here....... http://www.zazzle.com/

You can also make a pair of Keds for your self, or a loved one....possibly an enemy. I am certainly not one to judge you on your shoe making.

I could suggest making a spaghetti kitten theme, or maybe a polka dot Spongebob pair?

Hey! The Olympics are officially dunzo now, so why not celebrate by wearing a pair of shoes with 8 time gold medal winner Michael Phelps all over them??? Nothing says fashion like pride for America's top athletes on you shoes.

Go nuts...you only live once and personalized shoes are the way to go, I tell you.

I might even go to the family dollar store and just buy a white pair of shoes and draw on them with a sharpie.....it is just the idea that rocking the silly shoe is for everybody.

Don't be afraid to love it.

Greetings Earthlings

All well here at casa de Coop.

Deej, Papa Coop, and Mama Coop are all hard at work.

Savy and Ali are at school. Well...Ali is doing school things. She starts her second year at Dixie on Monday I think.

I am just chilling with Kelly Jess for a bit before we head on out to the Western Legends thingy in town.

Now you are caught up...whew. Alright.

Awesome picture of Papa Coop making his famous salsa, right? I was lucky enough to be able to hang out with him yesterday when he made a couple of batches.

You bet your sweet patootie that I was watching his every move when he was making it. I have aspirations to learn how to make salsa and he is the master.

It is an interesting process, making salsa. I would even venture to say that it is an art form if done correctly. Papa Coop is definitely an art director.

Peeling the skin off of warm tomatoes is already at the top of my "ew yucky" list. Not really sure why I feel that way, it just is.

We went to Savy's first Volleyball game last night.

It was really fun to watch. Her team is good, really good. They just need to up the confidence level a little and they will be as tight as the spandex that the wear.

It WAS just the first game after all.


I love this picture of Savy. Her hands all on her hips. Looking like she wants to lay the smack down. She is tough yo. I wouldn't mess with her.

The volleyball team has a major, major sweet fan section. They are so loud and they support the girls so much. I bet that they intimidate the other teams big time.

Mia and Kelly had a great time at the game. They were clapping and cheering...then they wanted to play silly little people games and we told them to cool it!

Ha ha not really. They were waaaay good and pretty much just yelled for Savy.

We made this sign for Sav and it says "GO Coop" in giant black letters with red outline on a white sheet. I am pretty sure that you can see it from space. I used this really large sharpie maker on it and it made the sign smell like spray paint on crack. It does not smell nice. Every time you got it out to wave it, someone got a little head rush. I am going to have to wash it, or soak it in smelly good before the next game for sure.

Oh, yeah. I almost forgot! Today Kelly went into her school and got to see her class room, meet her teacher and do a little test.

Well, I lied.

I did not almost forget to say anything. I have been wanting to write about it the whole time! I just figured that I would write about things in the order that they happened.

Because I am having a real OCD kind of day today.

Tomorrow I might just write everything backwards...or go crazy and write about something that didn't even happen....you never know with me...I am wild.

Ok, so the school thing was cool. I love the classroom. It is soooo fun. We went on a little scavenger hunt in the classroom to get Kel used to where everything was. It was fun.

Her teacher was nice, I was worried that she was instantly not going to like me and look down on me because of the way I look or something. But, no. She was chill. She even told me to go fill out an appilcation to be a teachers aide.

I did. That would be so cool. Not going to get my hopes up though. I will just volunteer as much as I can for now. It is just Kell's first year and all.

Kel seemed to do good on her test. I tried to listen in to see how she was doing, but it was to hard to hear, so I gave up. I am pretty sure that she did great though. Love my baby. Can't even stop myself from eavesdropping on her.

By the way, is she making a weird face in that last picture, or is it just me???

Probably just me.

Ah, school days

Today the Savster had her first day of Junior year. I know, freaking CRAZY right??

What happened to the "I'm a little teapot" singing - little baby- denim hat wearing - sweetie pie?

Well, this is what happened. ---->

Now she is a 16 year old - music thumping- pool jumping - volleyball spiking - sweetie pie.

Waaaah.

But, I did make her first day of school breakfast.

Pancakes and Bacon.

Some of you know that I am horrible at making bacon. Like, fire starting in your oven horrible.

I did ok though. It was angry bacon, like really really cooked in the middle and not cooked on the ends.

The pancakes were crazy fluffy. I made the syrup though, so the over fluffiness of the pancakes was instantly canceled out.

Awesome.

Doesn't Sav look radical?

You better say that she does or else she is going to give you the stink eye!
--->
Ha Ha!

Jess's Baby shower!

So this is Jess. Aint she a doll????

In just a few short weeks she is going to have the worlds cutest little boy named Gavin. I am seriously very, very excited.

A little while back we went to Boulder City for her baby shower.

It was so so so much fun.

It was so fun that I kept it to myself. Then I could savor it, and torture all of the non-attending people of the world.

Now I am feeling generous. I will share my sweet pictures of Jessica's awesome baby shower.

Here is Emily, Jess and Brig. We all drove down from Cedar together. The ride was a fun one. I honestly think that when people are talking and laughing, car ride s go by waaaaay faster.

This is just after we got to super Johnna's house. It look so amazing. I will show you just how great it was. ...in a sec.

We are waiting for all of Jess's guests to arrive. Walking around ooohing and awwwing at all of the hard work Johnna had done.

Here is a cutie-pie picture of Jess and her Johnna.

Do you have someone that you aspire to be like? Do you wish that you had someones awesome qualities?? You don't? Well I can give you Johnna's phone number and then there ya go. She will instantly be your idol. We all love her to death...well not death, but you know what I mean.


The theme of the baby shower was duckies. It was super sweet.

My favorite decoration was by FAR this buck with the rubber duckies on the antlers. It made everyone smile and I am going to copy it as many times as I can in every baby shower that I throw...ever.



We played games. They were hilarious! This one is where you put cotton balls in a bowl with a blind fold on. The winner got like 87 of them in the bowl. I think I got a grand total of 18 or something.

I know, I should totally be on the Olympic blindfolded cotton spooning team. They have called me, but I really just do not have the time.

This is the super silly game of guess how big Jess's belly is.

You take your string and cut it off where you think it will be her size.

Easy enough, right?

I just used my own body.....It was Waaaay to big. Jess is a tiny lady. Even if she is 8 months pregnant. I'm not jealous, (yeah right)

Emily won this game too...Come to think of it, Emily won all of the games. I think she was up late the night before practicing or something.

WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING

The following pictures are of CANDY. They are NOT of doodie. So please do not freak out and go toilet paper casa de Coop because you think that they are nasty doodie pics ok?

OK.

These are sooo mature.

Jess and the candy diaper. ->

Em and the candy diaper...she won this game too...super baby shower genius.
And finally here is Johnna with her candy diaper masterpeice.

Hello, we are five.

That is why it was sooo fun though. We laughed so much and it was great I tell you.


Here is Em and Jess. They are so cute.

Jess had that precious smile on her face the WHOLE time. She was so happy.

Here is a shot of Tera and Johnna.
Tera is Johnna's sister and she cracks me up! I was laughing at her the whole night. She is super nice and smarter than anyone that I know. I am so glad that I met her.
I officially claimed her as my friend now. I told her thatfact and she seemed to agree, so we're golden!



So, we had a blast, and then it was time to go out and get some fresh air. We decided the best place for a midnight walk would be the cemetery. It is quiet...there might be sprinklers on to cool us off.

It was a really cool place. It had lots of paths to walk on and we got sprayed several times... it really felt like it was 102 outside and it was night...bleh.


We had fun taking weird pictures. Like this one of Jess peeking her little head out of the side of a tree. I put it on here because it is precious.

"Where is Jess you guys?"

"I don't know, I can't find her."

"Oh, there she is, hiding behind that tree."

"Silly Jess."

*enter laugh track here*

It is really like a Scooby Doo ending or something.

No.

This makes it more like a Scooby Doo ending.

Look at our creepy picture.

We put a camera on the sign for the cemetery and set the timer. Then we all ran and got in our spots.

This picture is what we got.

There is Johnna, then Em. THey look all see through.

Then you can see Jess and I am on the very right.
The weirdest thing about this picture is not that we look all ghostly...it is that if you look closely you can see Jess's baby Gavin. IN HER TUMMY.

She is wearing a black tank top. She is not carrying anything at all.

Gavin is head down and at an angle. You can see his little back bone even.

I love this picture. I am going to frame it and hang it in my home.

If that made you all spooked out then I will leave you with this sweetie pie picture of Kelly that I took an hour ago.

She is getting tooo big I tell you!

Oh!!!!! Savy starts her JUNIOR year tomorrow!

Sooooooo crazy!

We are looking forward to Volleyball season big time. I am going to end my endless post now to go make "GO COOP" signs for the games.

So rad.

Well...it's official now.

Our little babies are now officially in Kindergarten. (Say a little prayer for the innocent teachers)

Kindergarten. OOOh that word just bugs me. I personally think that it should be spelled kindergarden...but the higher ups in the world of spelling say other wise.

BOOOO!

Here is a sweet picture of my niece Jesee, my baby Kelly and my nephew Wyatt when they were just wee ones.

Now they are going to learn to read and add...then build companies to save the world.....aw just look at the tiny wonder in those eyes.

Yes, I am crying a little.

I will post a first day of school picture on here when I get a good one.

Promise.

When I went down stairs today I nearly gave my sweet mother-in-law a heart attack. She really screamed out loud.

My face looked like someone had shoved a few grapefruits in my chin just for giggles.

I was not laughing though. It was so sore and so, so HUGE!!!!

Luckily I have this AMAZING sister Cynthia, that hooked me right up with a doctors visit.

I gotta tell you that I thought that the doctor was crazy, with all of his talk of cutting open my face, doing complicated CAT scans, and giving me shots, or IV's.

NO!!!! Alexis does not do these things.

I told him this. Then, I was sent down to the dentist. That was a much better experience. He gave me simple x-rays, and told me that all I needed was a mega dose of antibiotics.

Whew! Dogged that bullet.

Now I seriously look like this guy.

<- <- Head wrap with ice and everything.

I even rocked it when I went to the Elementary school for the big meet your teacher shin dig. It was either wear the head wrap of happiness and at least look like I am capable of getting medical attention, or not wear it and scare small children.

Scaring small children can be fun, but not on back to school night. I've got to have some kind of rules here.

In other BREAKING Casa de Cooper news * * * * * * *

Ali is leaving in the early hours of the morning to go on a fire!!!!!

Yeah for Ali!

Mooolah for college is a REALLY good thing. Those guys work HARD!

We will all miss her mega tons though. As soon as she gets back she will be rushing off to go back to Dixie to learn about ancient studies...or underwater basket weaving.... I know that it is one of them. :)

Guess who turned 30 years old today???????

Sam-bo Ram-bo! Jess's Hubby!

High fives all around!

Sam is our brother in law and he is just the coolest. We have had many an excellent meal cooked by the man. Loads and loads of interesting conversations. Way to many good times to even mention. This picture might clue you in on a good one. :) He is always super nice to my little Kelly and that is the bestest. You have got to see him around a gaggle of kiddos, it is pretty sweet.

Welcome to the 30's Sam! Happy Birthday!

WAIT!!!

I know that this is getting loooong but I cannot end this without saying happy 23rd Birthday to our BABE-AH!

Kelly and Sarah looove to call each other babe-ah. It is silly and I love it.

Sarah and Jim have been gone for a couple of weeks now and it is weirding me out a little.

I really enjoyed having her stop by every day to see what
is up. Going shopping with her is something that I highly recommend that everyone do in their life time.

She is funny, intellegent, loving, loyal and true to herself and we love her to little tinny bits.

So, Happy Birthday rad Sarah! Happy Anniversary to you and Jim too!

We miss you!

Now I must go think sleepy thoughts...sleepy, chin healing thoughts.