Relaxation time for me!

I can now heave a huge sigh of relief.

Papa Coop's surprise birthday party was last Saturday and it was wonderful.

***crazy side note***

For a really long time...like my whole life... I have been spelling surprise like this- suprize- I thought it was sup prize!

I am officially an idiot.

The cool thing is that the old me would never admit to that mistake..ever.

I feel all changed and new.

Not really.

***end of crazy side note***

Anyway, all of the hiding, whispering and plan making is done. What a relief!

He almost caught me at least three or four times when I was either making something, or talking to someone about some part of the party.

Planning surprise parties can take it out of you.

We went to Gramma Cooper's Halloween party in St. George that afternoon. It is a tradition, and not to be missed.

You saw how much fun it is in my last post.... so everyone had to be EXTRA sneaky and not say anything to Papa Coop. It was a tough one, because people were talking about Jess being there, and Gramma Cooper herself was going to drive over to Kanab the minute her party was over.

Risky....risky.

Then, when we were there in St. George, Papa Coop tells Mama Coop and I that he isn't going to go back to Kanab after the party.

What?!!!?

Yep. He had work plans to pick up a load in Vegas. AHHH!

Well, Mama Coop got right on her phone and called his work. She had already cleared the night with his boss a few days before. I guess his boss didn't want to let the cat out of the bag, and decided to not tell him no, if there was work to be done.

It was quickly taken care of and the surprise party was back on! Woo hoo! (Thanks Uncle Tom!!!)

The hostess-with-the-mostest Emily had everything down to an exact science. It is nice to plan things with someone that understands my obsessive compulsiveness...and my internal need to people please to the nth degree. She knows me.

Here is an example of her organization skills first hand. The power point presentation of,

• what needed to be done,
  
• who is doing it, and
  
• when it has to be finished.
  

Pure genius....love it.

Papa Coop arrived at the party a little miffed that we had somehow lost the seven layer dip. He had his mind set on eating that as soon as he got home.

All anger was gone the second he heard "Surprise!!"

I was behind him a bit, so I did not see them all jump out, but I bet it was a sight to see. I think someone might have taped his entrance..I am not sure.

At the right is what we wanted this picture to look like!!

We all were missing Nicole so much! Now, with my awe inspiring paint program skills I can make the impossible...possible.

Here Nicole is with Jess, Gavin, Savy, Ali and Amanda. It looks like Amanda is holding up a Happy Birthday Dad sign. How nice of her.


Oooh! Here is a classic picture. Nicole, Sarah and Jess. Watch out everybody! Here comes trouble.

;)

Man I am such a good photo cropper-changer. I should do it for a living. You can hardly tell. HaHaHa

All kidding aside, we really did miss Nicole, Matt, Zack and Dylan. We know how hard it is to make the trip from California, and everyone is looking forward to hanging out with you guys at Thanksgiving.

Nicole and Matt made this SWEET 2 disk CD for Papa Coop. We then burned it, and gave it out as thank you gifts to all our guests. Party music is a great reminder of people that you love and the fun time you have had with them. Thanks guys!

Now I just need to plan my Halloween night.

I think I have plans with my new friend Ole' One Eye. Fun!

Pirates love candy

I have witnessed it firsthand. Pirates absolutely live for candy.

The other day, I met a short pirate who went by the name, "One Eyed Cooper".

She was full of mischief and mayhem...she had plans to set sail for her Grandma Cooper's candy throwing bash.

One Eye insisted that I come along with her and enjoy the festivities.

Usually I would not make plans with short, bloody, one eyed pirates....but this one was especially cute and very charming. So, I agreed to go along with her.

When we got there, we were met by with her friend "Raggedy Ann". She didn't look raggedy at all to me. In fact, she was quite cute. I liked her braids and her dress. Her make up was different, but I hear that's all the rage with the cool kids these days.

Trends..I can never keep up with them. I am still wearing leg warmers for crying out loud.

Next Ole' one eye wanted to get some grub. She kept telling me that her Grandma made the best jack-o-lantern cheese burgers.

What is THAT?

It isn't pumpkin flavored cheese burgers, is it? I can handle hanging out with a swash buckling pirate and her Raggedy Ann sidekick, but eating pumpkin flavored cheese burgers is not on my list of things I want to do.

Then she kindly showed me her Grandma, and I saw right away what they really were. Just yummy burgers with cheese cut out to look like jack-o-lantern faces.

I could handle that. :)


Here she is...with her fellow scallywags. Enjoying the hot, late October afternoon.

*****Side note*******

Hello mother nature? It is almost winter. 85 degrees on October 25th is not natural. I am NOT a fan of hot weather, being as I am not the smallest person that I know. I prefer a chilly day to a warm one hands down.

This story is not about me and my temperature needs. It is about my adventure with my tiny pirate.

*****Back to the story*****

It appears that One eye does not like cheese burgers....look at the scowl that she can produce when asked to finish up her plate.

Shiver me timbers.

I asked her, "What did I do to you? Why do you want me to walk the plank, One eye?"

She grumbled something about wanting the candy to be tossed off of the plank, not me. Whew! That was a close one.

She went and grabbed her loot bag and waited at the bottom of the plank.

What could she be doing? Surely she had gone mad with scurvy....or were her mumbles of candy being tossed, tied to this craziness somehow?

I had to find out.

I went to the bottom, and waited by her. Soon, more small people gathered around with loot bags as well. Then they started to chant.

"Candy. Candy. Candy."

Is was enough to drive you mad. The suspense was killing me. What was going to happen?


Then I saw her. Gramma Cooper was outside, on the deck...with a huge bowl. What could possibly be in that large bowl? It couldn't be candy could it?

No.

That would be madness. I would not know what to make of it. candy flying through the air.

Then...it happened!

Gramma Cooper raised her hand and flung the candy out to the hungry mob below. It was like a candy rainbow, flying through the sky.

At first I thought that it was going to frighten me...but, to tell you the truth, I really liked watching it.

All of the short people ran around in a dizzy to catch all of the tossed candy. Gramma would reach into her large bowl over and over. It looked like it was raining candy.

I bet my friend Willy Wonka would have loved this party. My pirate friend really did. She was running around, laughing at the other kids. She even made sure that the even smaller people got their share of the candy as well.

Who knew that pirates were so thoughtful and giving? Not me.


Boy, was I wrong. Ole' One Eye then came to the sidelines and let the taller people try to catch the candy too. If it was my Gramma, I would stay and not let anyone catch it...but I guess pirates are just made from a different mold.

Here you can see the joy that pirates give when they share. Look at these happy people. I feel all warm and fuzzy all over just from seeing it.

Here she is walking away from the toss. She looks so fulfilled and happy.

Just as long as she does not try to threaten me to swab the deck or hoist the main sail.... I heard that angry pirates like to do that.

I looked around to try to find my small pirate friend.

Where could she have gone?

Did she go back to her ship? She would not leave me there, and not say even so much as a good bye to her beloved Gramma.

No. Not One Eye.

I spotted her sitting by her friend. They were eating their loot and swapping stories about salty sea dogs. Big grins were stretched across their faces.

All because of their love of candy. So simple, these little people. We could all learn a lesson from them.

Like....

• Don't judge a person by how they look, they could be totally different than you expected.
• Enjoy the little things in life.
• Share your candy.
• Spend time with your family.
• Don't be afraid to try new things, like jack-o-lantern cheese burgers.
• Sometimes you gotta just do what is fun, toss the candy off the deck, elbow your cousin for a snickers bar, cheer in delight at the sight of your loot bag.
• Live it up! :)
  

Lazy Sunday

Today IS Sunday, a day that is famous for being the day that you read the comics. (or funny pages as I like to call them)

I do call my blog Cooper COMICS....

It is about time that I put some actual comics on my blog...do you think?

I should make it a Sunday tradition...that would be smashing.


I found this site http://www.befunky.com/ and I then made these sweet "comics" of a few of my favorite pictures, just to see how it works.

Do not be surprised if you wind up in one of my comic strips on a fine Sunday afternoon.

So, if you see me with a camera, please feel free to assume the following things....

• I am going to take a picture of you
• I will not ever make fun of you
• Your picture will most likely end up on my blog
• That picture could be made into a cartoon
• I do this purely to amuse myself

Alright. I feel better getting that off of my chest.

I was starting to feel a wee bit guilty for taking people's pictures and making silly stories about them.

Just a wee bit though. Which I guess is enough to make me set up that minor disclaimer.

Now maybe my imaginary reader will stop leaving me.....

• angry text messages,
  
• nasty notes on my facebook wall,
  
• rude icons on my myspace,
  
• testy tweets on my Twitter account,
• and sassy comments on my blog here.....

Sheesh maybe I should join some other social internet website.

What does Pirate DJ have to say about that?

Ha ha. Pirate DJ, you have such a way with words.

You amaze me.

Bug problems

When I got up yesterday morning, there was this HUGE spider on the couch.

Check this bad boy out!

It was way to big to smash it with a shoe. I am pretty sure that we didn't have enough bug spray in the house to even give it a cold sore.

I started to panic. What am I going to do with this giant bug?

Why does he only have four legs? Was he in a back alley giant spider fight? Did he fight in some spider army, and was wounded in the battle?

I can't very well kill a veteran of some foreign huge spider war, especially since he was obviously wounded.

What if he was just a bully, and not the good guy? He could possibly be the one starting the big, bad fights in the back alley's with innocent smaller daddy long legs.

I do not know.

I can't take the chance that he is a good spider. So I shooed him out the door on to the lawn.

He will like it out there. It is all green and full of trees that he can make giant webs with.

GREAT!

Now he is trying to get back in the house.

Spiders are not allowed in Casa de Coop! From what I hear, whenever the girls would see a spider in the house they would put a pan over it and write a note to their Dad to kill it.

Well, I do not have a pan big enough for this spider.

Oh wait! Here comes Savy. She might have a pan big enough in her van. There is a lot of random things in there....stranger things have happened.

Do not be afraid of the giant four legged spider Savy! She looks pretty scared.

Dang it! She ran away.

Now where am I going to get a giant pan from? I am just going to have to have a look inside the casa to see if I can find one.

Nope, no pan...what the???

How did that wounded giant spider get on the roof???

Did you put him up there imaginary reader?

If you did then that is not fair! You know that I am only 5'4'' and 31 years old....and a not really what you would call "athletic".

How am I supposed to put a pan on it now when it is up there?

Huh? What? Call Sarah?

Yes, she IS 5' 11''....and super young, like 23....and she is waaay athletic.

Do not be afraid Sarah! He is not that mean...I do not think that he has fangs even......oh great. Now she is gone.

I can text message Papa Coop! He would be here as quick as he could and he would smash that spider!

I used to want it to live, and go on...maybe help the community, with all it's four legged glory.

But no.

You had to put it on the roof imaginary reader!

Oh, here he comes..Papa Coop is going to get that thing, and I can go on with my life.

What?!!! No!!!!

Papa Coop can not stand the sight of a four legged spider!

I did not know that this was his only phobia! Great. People do not tell me anything. If I would have only known!

Now that giant spider has scared Savy, Sarah and Papa Coop away.

I am lonely and stuck with this giant spider on the roof.

Wait....I can use it as a Halloween decoration! Then we might get a few trick or treaters even! We did not get any last year...it was a bummer.

Then I am going to have to get it down. Mama Coop will not stand for a giant, misbehaving spider on her roof.

Why spider.

WHY???

The Wise!

Today is a special day! My niece Samantha James White is turning four years old.

Gosh, just typing that out made it seem so impossible that little Sammy is getting so big!

The night before she was born, Jess was having dinner with DJ and I and we could not believe that the next day she was going to have a new little girl in their lives. We were so excited. Sammy was on her way! Little did we know how awesome she would be.


Here, at the left is her first Halloween. Only a couple of weeks old and just the smallest baby girl.

I remember like it was yesterday. All she did was snooze away like the sweetest angel. I wanted to pick her up and hold her, but DJ kept telling me to leave her be.

So I did....but I made a frownie face at him when his back was turned.

Sammy, Sammers, PaJammers, or my favorite nick name "the Wise"...(because her name is Sammy, and that went on to Sam Gamgee, from Lord of the rings, who was also called Samwise Gamgee...)

When I deconstruct how I make up people's nicknames...it makes me sound loony. Oh well.

We had such a fun time at Brian Head...she was such a fun toddler to be around. Kelly would be crying about snow melting or something, and Sammy would just look at me and smile. Just like that on the right. She is holding a snow baby. She kept telling me that all of her snow babies were shrinking.

Sammy and Kelly used to have the most marvelous tea parties. They would dress up completely ...dresses, shoes earrings, bracelets, and crowns and have high tea at my little kitchen table.

They would have the cutest conversations...like world politics and the state of the union. You should have heard them talk economics....whew! It got heated.

No.

That didn't happen. They DID talk about puppies, dollies and I think toots were thrown in there for good measure.

Sammy, you are

• cute
• funny
• sweet
• silly
• caring
• nice
  
• cuddly
• and special

Happy birthday Wise....we all love you...ooodles.

Tagged : )

I was tagged by the lovely Tiff aka http://rhettandtiffjacksonfamily.blogspot.com/

I like her..so I will do this tag..but then she must be my slave....FOREVER!!!!

Nah, I will just do the tag..... but just this once. ;)

7 Things I can do.....

7. I can sit and talk to my husband all day long, and never get tired of it.
6. I can draw a silly cartoon of almost anyone, (for some reason, I just CAN NOT draw Jason Pillmore!)
5. I can make giant signs that say "Go Coop" on them.
4. I can be there at the drop of a hat for my special family..anything, anytime...just ask. I mean it.
3. I can spend quality time with my Kelly...and love every minute.
2. I can miss Elora and Zoey every second of everyday.
1. I can have a perfectly pleasant conversation with a random stranger and not feel odd about it one bit.

7 Things I can't do.....

7. I can't make my shoe laces stay tied..ugh even with double knots!
6. I can't walk on rocks with my croc shoes anymore...I wore them out already!!!
5. I can't eat eggs..I am REALLY allergic...like, kill me allergic.
4. I can't go to sleep at night without a fan blowing on me.
3. I can't believe that Sammy is four years old!!!
2. I can't stop looking for my middle school friends form Washington state... on facebook.
1. I can't quit biting my nails...it is gross.

7 Things I LOVE about DJ...

7. I love that he tries his hardest to be the best person that he can be.
6. I love that he is honest.
5. I love that he is so special with Kelly.
4. I love that he can recite almost every line in the movie "Princess Bride" word for word.
3. I love that he understands who I am. Always has...always will.
2. I love that he thinks that people are checking out his booty...honey not everyone is checking out your booty. Sorry sweet pea.
1. I love that he loves our family.

7 Things I say the most often are....

7. That's awesome.
6. Kelly....stop it.
5. Stop pinching me DJ.
5. Do I really have to come get you now?
4. Is it really 7:00 am?
2. I need caffeine...now.
1. I love you.

7 Celebrity Admirations....

7. Rachel McAdams
6. Bill Murray
5. Jason Bateman
4. Wil Ferrel
3. Amy Pohler
2. Tina Fey
1. Jimmy Stewart

7 Favorite Foods....

7. Ice
6. White cheddar popcorn
5. Tomatoes
4. Guacamole
3. Artichokes
2. Chicken..anything
1. A plain sandwich

7 People to tag....

7. Shannon
6. Polly
5. Stephanie
4. Stacy
3. Alexis...the other one
2. Amanda
1. Savy...except use Mama Coop and Papa Coop instead of a hubby...cause your just 16 and don't got no hubby.... :) aint ....got ...no...hubby. Oooooh. Feeling like a backwoods weirdo feels kinda sticky..I'm guunna go wash that off.

Night night.

Daisy troop fire station visit!

"Oh yeah!
It's the Girl Scouts!
Oh yeah!
They Rock!!"

That is my new chant that I do with Kelly and Jesee when we go to girl scouts.

Normally, it is held in the Elementary school gym...which I think is a GREAT thing. It is easy to get to and it is easy for the leaders, I hope.

Kelly's girl scout troop 2200 went on a field trip to the Kanab fire station the other day. I was asked to come along as an extra pair of eyes... so I went.

I do not have that much going on in my social calendar. Alright, I admit it, I was excited to go.

I decided that a camera would be sweet to have along with me. Then I would not just be the weirdo parent there to ruin the sweet fire station moment with my "I see you playing with that medical equipment" eye.

So, I borrowed my Mommy's camera. (Thank you Mommy!) Yes, I call her Mommy..and yes my camera is still a runaway.

Kelly, Jesee and I headed out to the fire station at 3:00. We were going as fast as we could.. we had to drop off people and pick up permission slips. Things like that always happen to me.

We got there alright.

Right in the middle of a speech about fire safety! UGH! Way to make an entrance team Alexis!

Oh well. We listened to Mr. Decker tell the kiddo's about fire safety and that the troop needed to make a plan with their family about a meeting place if there was ever a fire. Then they talked about smoke detectors and the like...

Wooo hoooo! It was off to the fire trucks!!! Ooooh we got to see the AMBULANCE too! Sweet!

(Side note to imaginary reader: I have NEVER been in an ambulance, or a fire truck, so this is a first for me too, and I was pretty pumped about it.)

The girls were separated into two groups. I was with Kelly's group, obviously.

We got to see the AMBULANCE first!!! A very nice man, Mr. Willoghby, showed us the ins and outs of the ambulance.

• how to give a blood sugar test to a diabetic...poor Trina...not a popular thing to do around 5-7 year olds by the way
• the power operated gurney
• the stair chair....in case someone gets stuck and has to go down stairs..it is coool
• the defibrillator..they liked that
• he showed them the rescue backboard...they have new ones..some have metal..some do not, it is easy for x-ray's without metal I think.

I took a picture of Kelly on the backboard....(I am not 100% on the name for that I think I might have just made it up) All of the girls got on it, but I only took a picture of Kelly on it, because I am selfish and it was soooo cute and funny.

They said thank you to Mr. Willoghby and went on to the fire truck.

Kanab has a new fire truck yo!

It is TIGHT! It is all black and shiny...it reminds me of the old knight rider...but I am lame.

Mr. Decker showed them more about how certain fire trucks are used for different uses. Like one is for a house fire situations, and one is better for a brush fire. It was pretty interesting stuff.

Call the Discovery Channel, because these people can educate and entertain!

The girls got to get inside and sit in the truck. They even got to put on the head phones that the fire crew actually uses. It was sooooooo cute that I think that I got a little dizzy. :)

They then climbed all over it.. I wanted to see them honk the horn, but we were inside the station, so it would have been loud and scary. Which is why I wanted them to do it... I love to scare small people.

Not really.

OK, I do, but not if it could hurt their ears and stuff.

I asked if the troop could stand in front of the new fire truck for a few pictures together. The plan is to take those pictures, and send them into the local paper for some happy news.

"Little girl scouts check out fire station."

The local paper eats that stuff up!!!

I sent the picture along with some details of the trip and future goings on to the paper and on Wednesday it was NOT there.

Now, I am PRETTY sure that I made the deadline for the next issue. I looked and it was NOT there!

This is what could have happened....

• I missed the deadline
• I sent it to the wrong address...I would do that, I struggle
• or, they just didn't care and did not put it in... boooooooo

It better be in the next issue, or I am going to have to make some NOISE!!!

Anyway, it was fun. Kelly answered a question about fire safety......and got a stuffed teddy bear dressed in a fire outfit.

Don't get too excited.. they ALL got bears... but I was happy for her for raising her hand and trying for a bear.

Yea! The people in our community that work so hard with the EMT and the Fire station rule!!! I have a new respect and honestly I want to drive the fire truck.....

But really, don't we all?