Last days

Tomorrow at this time I'll be able to say that I successfully completed my first year as a teacher! It's been a crazy year, stressful at times, but also very good. And I went from Miss Downs to Mrs. Cooley in addition to everything else! How great is that?!
I have to say that I'll miss some of my students--there were some really great kids. Others I won't miss at all...but I've learned a lot, changed my curriculum a number of times, and discovered that Ancient World History isn't so bad!
Bring on next year!!! Well, after a nice long summer break that is! :)

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a fun Memorial Day weekend! Friday we used up some coupons for free Chik-Fil-A, bought Ryan more new clothes why is he so easy to buy for? and met up with Allan, Kristie, and Jaden for our first Slurpees of the summer season. Saturday Ryan had to work so I hung with my parents until he got off. We then hit up the sale at Al's and got some new bike helmets, went shopping for clothes for me a total bust! and then came home. I do have to tell you about dinner that night though: I'd made rhubarb syrup earlier in the week and couldn't figure out what to actually do with it! My dad suggested putting it on pancakes so Ryan whipped up a batch of pancakes and we topped them with some strawberries and the syrup. Oh my! They were so delicious! And yes, I am eighty years old and find rhubarb to be quite tasty! ;0) Sunday we both had to teach--Ryan Sunday School and me Relief Society. A special shout-out and thanks to Kristie for coming to our lessons!! Both times I've taught since having that calling I've either had my mom thanks mommy! or my mother-in-law there for support. How lucky is that?! After church we went to pick up Grandma Erm and took her to the Cooley's for dinner. Pepsi chicken was on the menu and it sure was yummy! We ended the day with popcorn, Linda cake, and watching We Bought A Zoo. That was such a cute movie! Monday rolled around and Ryan and I took advantage of a day off by sleeping in. It was fabulous! For the rest of our day we ate, went to the cemetery, and hung out with family. I'd say it was a pretty great weekend!

Thank-you For Your Worms

Last weekend Ryan and I had some great times with my family. It started off with catching "Dancing with Our Students' Stars" put on by the Logan City School District's foundation. I was super excited to see my kindergarten teacher dance. She did a great job and even earned perfect 10s across the board for her performance. It was pretty disappointing that she didn't win overall!
After the performance we went back to my parents' and hunted night crawlers. The fabulous rainstorm on Friday brought the worms out in droves. We filled a bucket which we figured would be more than ample for our fishing expedition on Saturday afternoon.

Busy but Loving It!

Wow-eee!!! These past few months have been crazy busy! Here's the run-down:
In March we celebrated Ryan's birthday. I made mini puff pancakes for breakfast--so tasty!!! Gave him some presents and then sent him off to school. After I finished work at 9 that night, we had a steak and "Uncle Kevin potatoes" dinner with his family where he also opened more presents and we ate some tasty cake.
We also celebrated St. Patrick's Day with the extended Cooley Family in Newton, marked the 25th wedding anniversary of Allan and Kristie and surpassed 100 days of marriage! (The last two just happened to fall on the same day--awesome!)

A Crazy Life

Yes we're still alive but so crazy busy that I have about a million things on my to-do list every day it seems. Since I last posted we've celebrated 3 months of marriage, 100 days of marriage, Ryan's birthday, Easter, and done a lot of other things. I'm hoping one day soon I get to catch up on all this and document it with a couple photos. Until then my blog readers...we're still happily married and loving life! Even if it's full, full, full!!!

2 Months and Valentine's Day

Ryan and I celebrated our two-month anniversary last Friday. I love celebrating these little milestones. It's so fun!!! And to add to the fun we included Kira in our festivities. I picked Kira up from school, strategized about her history fair project and then we went to pick up Ryan. We grabbed some Subway ($5 footlongs--it's Februany!) and headed back to the Cooley home to watch Beauty and the Beast on their awesome new TV. It turned out that it was the diamond edition of the movie so there was even an extended scene! Allan and Kristie came home from dinner and joined our festivities. We ate popcorn, Ryan played Zelda, we did a Tim-Tam slam... It turned out to be a great evening!
Then for Valentine's Day we got to sleep in ('cause it was Tuesday and we can do that on Tuesday and Thursday), I made Ryan's favorite muffins for breakfast and then filled his pockets, shoes, and notebooks with cheesy Valentines. He had fun trying to find them all, which wasn't accomplished until late that evening! We parted ways about 10 am--Ryan to school then work, me to work, class, then work again. For dinner at 9:30 that night (yep, that's about when we rejoin each other at home), we enjoyed one of those heart shaped pizzas from Papa Murphy's and a S'more pizza for dessert. It tasted fantastic alongside a couple episodes of Fringe! All in all, I'd say it was a great Valentine's Day. Low-key is just what we needed with our hectic schedules!
P.S. The only picture I have is of our Tim Tam Slam. Thanks Kristie!!! I'll try to do better with my own documentation!

Tim Tam Slam!!!

Disneyland! Oh my what a fabulous adventure!!!

Once upon a time I was a girl who married into a family of Disneyland fanatics. Love you Cooleys! ;o) I myself, had never been to this magical place and therefore could not quite grasp the reason for this, shall we say, obsession? But that all changed on the 25th of January....
After an eventful departure from Logan, a super-early flight to Long Beach, and a warm welcome to sunny California, I set my two little feet inside a magical adventure. And for the next four days, I walked, and stood, and ate (A LOT), and rode, and basked in the world of Disney. Needless to say, I had a fantastic time and dare I admit it???? I CAN'T WAIT TO GO BACK!!!!