100th post...woo hoo

I am getting more and more in the Christmas spirit!

I have been...

• making craft projects with Cynthia
• decorating the tree
• shopping with my Mom and sisters
• putting up lights outside with DJ
• going to Kelly Christmas program
• going shopping with Mama Coop and Kelly J
• Making cookies
• shoveling snow
• wrapping presents

It has been so much fun. I love the holiday season. All of the prep work is half of the fun.

Last night my Gramma flew into Vegas from Colorado. I am sooooo excited to see her! She is a really special person. Gramma is going to be staying at my Mom's house. Fun!

Then, today we are going over to St. George to go to the annual Grandma Cooper Christmas party! I always have a really fun time at that. I get to see a lot of people that I haven't seen in a while, and the Coopers are such a sweet bunch. Yea!

Kelly has a really great time with all of her cousins at Grandma's party too. We always take a million pictures...so I can share the fun. :)

Oh, I made these cookies for Kelly's teachers the other night. My Mom let us use her cookie cutters so we could have a huge variety of shapes. ( I get bored decorating the same shape) I think that I made like 60 cookies...all in one night. What do you think huh?

Hooray for Kindergarten!

Yesterday was Kelly's Kindergarten Christmas program. I have been looking forward to going to it since I heard about it a month ago. To me, it was more exciting than Christmas itself!

It was AMAZING!!!

I swear that I was laughing so much that I had tears coming down my cheeks. The only thing is that I had to laugh all quiet, because I didn't want the other parents to think that I was being rude.....laughing at their kids.

I wouldn't do that.

I WOULD laugh at my own kid though. She is quite the ham! There was several times when she would take a bow, or do something extra silly.

She is wonderful.

This picture of her is my favorite one of the day. She is just about to talk to the parents. She says "Thank you, thank you." Then she takes a bow.

The best part is that you can see her teacher Mrs. McFadden watching her. She doesn't miss a beat I tell you. She is a SAINT!

OK. The kiddo's sang so many cutie-pie songs, and danced the sweetest dances. It was hard not to take a million pictures. The thing is that I am short...and the people in front of me were tall. They did not turn out how I wanted them to be. I did try though.

Here Kel is ringing the bells for a song. It was pretty sweet. She was so excited to show me how she could play the bells.

I thought that she was going to be nervous...she has never been in anything like this at all. She was not a bit nervous. In fact, I think that she loved it. I was pretty impressed.

Thank you Mom, Shannon and Mama Coop for coming to Kelly's program! My Mom is a trooper...she went to the morning one yesterday too. Wyatt and Jesee were in that one. I bet it was cute too.

Now....I saved the best for last.

In one of the songs the kids run around the audience. It was so funny.

Mama Coop said that it was like a stampede of Kindergarten elephants. Pretty much all of them had some kind of boot on...because of the massive snow we have now. If they didn't have boots, then they were wicked stompers.



This is the best video. Enjoy. :)

Dancing Cooper Elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Photo shoot!

OK....

So a little while back I posted my ideas for our Christmas card photos.

If you did not see them, then I will wait a minute while you scroll down to see the amazing pictures of DJ, Kelly and myself.

.....hmmmmmm......la la la.......

Back so soon?

Pretty sweet huh?

I made one of Savy and Ali, I could not help myself. I want to share my art with the world.

Here is Savy.

Notice how she holds her little snowman doll so tightly. Her side ponytail is all the rage these days.

I want to know why she is not wearing a jacket when she is obviously outside on a snowy day.

Crazy teenagers!

Now for Ali's picture.

All I can say is...... WOW!

Watch out boys, Ali is ready for the holiday season with her new look.

Where does she buy those giant candles? She better watch out around an open flame. It looks like she might have a wee bit of hair spray on that doo.

hahahahahhahahahaahhahhah.

I love making these Christmas card pictures. I must walk away from the computer and wrap some presents or something.

Oh....it is snowing like CRAZY outside now! Kelly is going to love it when she gets out of school.

Hopefully she won't be snowed in!

Cynthia Noel

Yep, that is correct. My sister's name is Cynthia Noel.

Christmas time is her favorite time of year, so it fits her perfectly!

It is also right around her birthday...I guess I should tell you that small detail.

Saturday was not only Aunt Lisa's birthday, but Cyn's too.

My sweet sister is now 29. Next year's birthday party is going to be a fun one. I can predict that much..

When I was a little person, I was often caught biting Cynthia on the arm.

Once when I was a tween ...I chased her around with a hammer. I can't really remember why though. Probably had something to do with clothes, or the phone I am sure.

What else do tweens argue about? The state of the Nation?

Not likely.

Once when I was fighting with my sister my Mom sat beside me and told me this...

"Alexis, I think that you are just wasting time fighting with your sister. She is your best friend. I know that you do not see it now, but when you are an adult the three of you are going to be so close. My sisters are my best friends, I know that your sisters will be your best friends."

Well, I was just a dim-witted kid and I just thought that she was crazy, and as soon as I grew up I was going to run away to some far away country and never bother with my kid sisters.

Needless to say that she was right. I love my sisters dearly. They really are my best friends.

I have a really fun time with my Cyn.

Last week My Mom, Cyn, Shannon and I went to St. George to go Christmas shopping..... I swear that I was laughing so hard that I had tears coming down my face. I would explain what we were doing, but then I would laugh so hard that I would cry, then the tears would get in the keyboard. Then it would stop working, and I would be unable to ramble on and on.

Cute picture of Cyns family huh? It is Wyatt, Rhett, Charlee, Cynthia and Jesee.

It was taken by my baby sister Shannon a week ago. Another talented woman in my inner circle. I love this picture...I stole it from her....sweet!

If you do not know Cynthia, then you are really missing out, and I HIGHLY recommend that you find her and then spend some quality time getting to know her.

You will feel like a changed person if you do.

Cyn has the uncanny ability to bring out the very best in people. Maybe that is why she is a nurse?

Quiet people are outgoing around her, crazy people are calm. It is a sight to behold.

On second thought, if everyone tried to get to know her then she would not have time for the likes of me!

Never mind! Stay away! I am not sharing with you.

Happy Birthday to my

• funny
  
• thoughtful
  
• busy
• caring
• honest
• silly
• bold
• awesome mom
• friend to all
  
• sister Cynthia.

Love ya Fragga!

;)

Aunt Lisa....

...is the BEST!!

This is a picture of her and her daughter Katelyn. They look so much alike don't they??

Lisa is D.J's Aunt on his Dad's side.

I adore her!

She lives in this really cute town north of St. George called Veyo. The view of the surrounding mountains is amazing. I really wish that I was there right now. Perfect place to chill out and watch a storm come in.

Lisa's birthday was Saturday...I am super bummed that I missed it.

She is a real gem.

• Whenever I need someone to talk to I can always give her a call.
  
• At the holiday parties, she is the best person to hangout with.
  
• Kelly loves her, she is always so nice to her and makes her feel special.
  
• I have fun with her even when we are treading water!

Happy birthday Liis! Love you. :)

Christmas card!

Greetings!

Holiday festivities are going full swing here at Casa de Coop.

Mama and Papa Coop went out into the wilderness and got a Christmas tree. It was a really cold day that day too! Brave souls.

I love that they have the chain saw in their hand. Sweet detail.


We even decorated our tree tonight! See? Isn't it pretty-full? I always want to sleep under the tree. It looks like a wonderful place to take a nap.

OK.


Tonight it is all about the Christmas card.

I have been fretting about what to put on our family card this year. My thoughts always tend to drift to a funny picture of Kelly..... I can't help it, I love my little girl.

My sister Cynthia told me that I HAD to be on the card this year.

She was all.....

"Alexis, you are a person. You exist. You have to be on your card."

Whatever.

I do not like having my picture taken. Enough said.

So, tonight I was looking at my favorite website.... (please click on it and check it out yo!)

bestweekever.com

....I adore that hilarious site. I check it everyday, to see where the funny is at.

They then told me all about this mega-rad Christmas card generator.

photobooth.com

It is the Pho-ho-hoto booth.

Then, I knew that my Christmas card woes were OVER!

Here are the amazing results.

D.J. looking dashing in this green blazer. I am really feeling the hair. It makes you want to brush it and put little clippies in there.

Kelly with is fun head wrap, the fresh snow on the trees in the background.

I am loving the black bangs too.

It just screams Merry Christmas to me.

Then there is my picture.

Wow!

What is going on with this picture???

Am I going shopping?

Who did my fantastic hair?

Why am I going shopping when I already have a bunch of presents behind me?

What is wrong with my face? It looks all crazy.

They are PERFECTION!!!!

You KNOW that yo want me to send you one!

Busy, busy...

Ah, yes. It is December 11th.

I am sure that everyone is busy wrapping presents, making cookies, stringing up Christmas light, and decorating the tree.

Busy, busy time of year.

I am usually a Tasmanian devil of activity by now. Shopping for my family, writing holiday cards, making crafts with Kelly. I even get caught singing a song or two...I can't help it, the holiday spirit fills me and much to the regret of the people around me, I sing.

Sadly, I am not doing any of the fun filled things that make the season bright.

What am I doing you ask????

I am PAINTING the bathroom.

Casa de Coop desperately needed to have a facelift before our holiday guests arrived. I was the only one not working, or learning, in the house.

I don't mind really.


Watch out though, when I am done, I am going to be a Christmas freak!

;)

The Sav is 17!!!

Wow!

Savannah Lea Cooper is 17 today!!!!

Here are 17 ways to say Happy birthday in 17 languages from around the world. I just know that Savy is going to travel around the world someday..so she will need to know this.

Arabic ..........Eid milaad saeed! or Kul sana wa inta/i a!
Austrian.......Ois guade winsch i dia zum Gbuadsdog!
Chinese-Mandarin.....qu ni sheng er kuai le
Dutch...........Fan herte lokwinske!
French.........Joyeux Anniversaire!
German.......Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!
Italian...........Buon Compleanno!
Japanese....Otanjou-bi Omedetou Gozaimasu!
Latin............Fortuna dies natalis!
Mongolian..Torson odriin mend hurgee!
Navajo........bil hoozho bi'dizhchi-neeji' 'aneilkaah!
Russian.....S dniom razhdjenia! or Pazdravliayu s dniom razhdjenia!
Samoan....Manuia lou aso fanau!
Swedish....Grattis pŒ fšdelsedagen
Taiwanese..San leaz quiet lo!
Vietnamese...Chuc Mung Sinh Nhat!
Yiddish........A Freilekhn Gebortstog!
Zulu.............Ilanga elimndandi kuwe!


Sav, you are a really wondrous person.

We love going to watch you sing with Xpress ..or help lead your team to a Varsity victory.

It is fun to sit around and laugh at Family Guy re-runs with you and ponder the thought process between a talking dog and a talking baby.

Thank you for letting me make giant "Go Coop" signs and bring them to your volley ball and basketball games. Thanks for also not pretending that I am not invisible when you see me yelling for you and cheering for you holding the sign.

I know it must not be that great to have your brother and his family come and spoil all of your fun. We really have tried our hardest to stay out of your space. Kelly has been so, so good at staying out of your room.

If I was five, and had an aunt that I adored....I would try my hardest to stay IN her room.

Kelly looks forward to coming downstairs every morning and saying hello to you. I think that it is so cute how she pretends to act all cool.

See what you bring out in people???

I am glad that I have had the chance to spend time to get to know you.

Your sense of humor is wicked fierce, your kindness to others is genuine and sweet, and your love for your family and friends is obvious and real.

We all love you so much Sav, Have the best Birthday EVER!!!

p.s. I can't believe that you are 17 today!!!!

Ivy Kay is 10!

Oh, my.

My beautiful, smart, kind and caring niece Ivy Kay White turned 10 yesterday.

Man, I wish that we could have been there to celebrate with her and her awesome family. We always have so much fun together.

If wishes were fishes...right??? I have been saying that so much lately.

This stunning picture of Ivy was taken by Nicole on Thanksgiving weekend. I think that Ivy looks like an angel. That is probably because she is...I think so anyway.

When I first met Ivy, she was just a tiny small person. She was about 5 or 6 months old and I came over to casa de Coop with Emily to see her new niece. Ivy was in this really precious duck shaped bouncy thing. You should have seen her, attached to the door....bouncing everywhere and laughing.

I thought that she was the cutest little girl ever! (She is)


This picture on the left is one that we had taken to give to Mama Coop on Mothers day. There is Dylan, Zack, he is holding a 3 month old Kelly, and then there is smiling Ivy on the right. They all look so little!

Ever since Kelly was 10 days old, Ivy has been her #1 person.

As far as Kelly was concerned.....Ivy hung the moon.

For a little while, I got to watch her while Jess went to work.

It was such a fun time! Ivy was in kindergarten! I was got to be there when she got on the bus to go to school for the first time, and then see her Dad surprise her by picking her up from the bus stop that afternoon. It was so cool.

I got to get her ready for the day and then she helped Kelly style her baby wisps of hair. They got to eat breakfast together, and Kelly and I loved walking to the bus stop to get her from school everyday.

Don't they look so cute together? That is one of my favorite pictures.


Now, Ivy is a big...grown up....I miss her very much. She knows that we love her. I really get that.

Here is a sweet picture of Ivy, Kelly and Sammy playing Rockband at Aunt Sarah's house. They loved it!!

Ivy, you are a really special person to all of us.

I am sure that you know it, but you would not say anything.

We miss

• going to the store to find a fun project to do
• playing a fun game
  
• reading a cute book
• talking about school and life together
• swimming the day away
• watching you be a great example to your cousins and sisters

Ivy, I know that we will always be super close, and I am so happy for that. You are, and always have been someone that I hold close to my heart.

Love you Iver.

Hero Scape

OK. This is a disclaimer.

************************************************************************************

I love my daughter. She is the apple of my eye...my special little girl. My reason for living.

Sometimes she gets emotional about the weirdest things!

Sometimes I happen to have a camera right with me and I take pictures of her being sad. It's not like I see her being sad and then I run and get my camera.

No, I wouldn't do that.

I just wanted to make myself clear right at the beginning.....

*************************************************************************************

D.J's 27th birthday was this last Friday.

Woot woot! Go Coop! Only three more years until he is 30!

We were of course, in Pine Valley that day. So he got to be surrounded by all of his fam. That was pretty neat.

Nicole gave D.J. this really sweet game called Hero Scape. It is right up his alley. He is a crazy gamer, for sure. Cole knows exactly what Deej likes because her son Zack loves all things gamer as well. Zack and Matt play Hero Scape.

Yesterday D.J. Kelly and I decided that we were going to try to play the game together. I have never really been that good at fantasy, or role playing games. Dungeons and Dragons, or Risk were not really my cup of tea. This game is kind of like both.

Ugh.

Well, my husband wanted me to at least give it a try. He IS my best friend.....(sigh).... I decided to play along.

Kelly got to be on D.J.'s team. She loved this game RIGHT away. She loved all of the pieces, and the tiny little characters that she got to use. It was like a small world at her finger tips.

Her job was to roll the dice....(lots of dice by the way, I think around 10 of them.) ....and she also got to move their guys around too.

Five and 1/2 year olds love playing games. Kelly lives for games.

She really loved this large Dragon piece. It is HUGE!!! When Deej got it out we all were like...

"WOW! Where in the world did you get that?! Was that in your game? No way!"

Really.

I am a nerd. I am fine with that.

So, the object of the game is to basically kill the other players guys...Kelly did not want anyone to even TRY to kill her super precious dragon. Oh no. Do not even go there.


Like any loving and caring mother, I made an attempt to kill her dragon.

Big mistake.

Huge.

This is what happened. ---------->

Totally sad. Miserably horrified. Traumatized for life.

Water works streaming out of her eyes......

Until I told her that her I was not really going to go after her dragon. I was just kidding around.
No one would ever, Ever even dream of such a nightmare idea like killing her dragon.

Ugh.

Team Daddy got to win.

What does D.J. think about this??????

I thought so.

By the way, I had a camera by me because I was going to take pictures of D.J. and Kelly playing to send to Nicole...kind of like a cyber thank you note. It was just too hard not to write about it today.


Here is a video of them playing.

I am not sure why it is sideways. I could not turn it the right way.

Oh well.

I have a new word...

It is spunkdidliocious. My cousin Laura... (that is her in the gray shirt on the right) she was talking to us on Thanksgiving and it came out of her mouth just like she was saying "hello" or something.

I heart made up words.

When I was in 10th grade I started to use the word spleen as much as I could. Mostly because I was sick of rad, and awesome...and like.

"Like, you guys....I totally want to go to the like TV towers and like look at the like stars. That would be like so rad. Like."

You know what I mean, I am sure.

Savy Ali and I came up with preciolicious. It is a really fun one to say in a group conversation.

"Oh, baby Gavin looks so sweet today. He is so preciolicious."

Anyway...I just wanted to share my quest for interesting words....feel free to let me know you favorite strange word. I will take it and use the heck out of it.

Just for you.

Here is a tasty little picture tidbit.

It's Doug, Mia, Em, Savy, Jason, Sadie, Amanda and Deej.

This picture says so much.

1. My family is so very silly
2. They know how to rock a group pose
3. Even when it is cold out they still have fun
4. I really took this picture in a tshirt and shorts

Thanks for the picture Em!

Yea Team Pratt!

Greetings!

Did you have an amazing Thanksgiving weekend?

We had a super rad time in Pine Valley for our Thanksgiving weekend. It was not only a turkey feast....oh no. We had a gigantic Pratt family reunion. 58 of us all together.

So amazing.

Then we celebrated Grandpa Pratt's birthday.

We know how to get together and do it up RIGHT!

Look at these little sweeties up at the top of this post. This is just a sample of all the kiddos that were running around. Seriously..they ran, and ran, and ran all day and all night! I was tired just watching them.

Here is Addi, Will, Sammy, Kelly, Brianna, Dylan and Shannon.

Starting Wednesday night, until Sunday we all stayed at the Dixie College Cabin in Pine Valley.
It is so incredibly beautiful up there. It was foggy,and dew covered. The perfect settle in and chat weather.

Not all of us were chatting..... DJ went 4 wheeling with the Pillmore's and the Thebeau's. He even came back to get warmer clothes. Brrrr. I don't really get cold, but he made me get the chills when he came back.

If you are wondering if I got my crazy booty on a 4 wheeler...then you answer would be NO. For some strange reason I dislike riding on motorcycles, or 4 wheelers. Rhinos are ok. I think that I was traumatized as a small child or something.

There I go, getting off track again.


We played quite a few games. Board games, hand games, video games. It was a really fun way to get to know people. Honestly, when you see someone pantomime "Leave it to Beaver" and they act like a full on beaver, with a tail and buck teeth...you bond.

I had a totally fun time hanging out with the kiddos. All of my favorite "little people" are not so little anymore.

Bah!

My niece Ivy is going to be 10 years old on the 7th. I can hardly believe it. It feels like yesterday that she was four and just a tiny gal.

Anyway, we did a few projects together. The turkey hats were WAY funny. Pine cone turkeys ended up being a pain to glue...but if you just waited for them to dry...they ended up cute as a button.

I have to say that we had MOUNTAINS of food. I have never seen such a sight. To tell you the truth, I do not think that I have ever spent 4 days with 58 people.

You could seriously eat 24 hours a day for a month and you would not eat all of the food that was up at the cabin. Everyone helped with the Thanksgiving dinner...it was yummers. Then, each family had a dinner night. Oh, the taco fiesta was so perfect. I do go on.

We had movie night. Not what you would think. We were not all huddled around Kung fu Panda.

No.

Aunt Mace had un earthed some pretty fabulous home movies. I got to see

• Papa Coop picking up Mama Coop for a DATE
• Mama Coop on a float going down a street in St. George
• DJ as a nine year old...super cute
• Nicole with HUGE hair
• Sarah as a little girl, she loved Shane..ha ha
• Amanda singing with the other kids to a big crowd
• Ali as a baby
• Grandma Pratt as a young woman
• Aunt Mace as a small girl
• and Aunt Ann as a ballerina

Pretty sweet eh?

Well I am getting tired just writing down all the things that we did this weekend..and I didn't even get the HALF of it.

****Yawn****

Ah, I think I will go take a nap.

;)