My Super Cool Visiting Teacher

Can I just say that I have the best Visiting Teachers! Look at this adorable valentine's present that Lauralyn made me. Filled with chocolate goodies! I love handmade gifts and this was so cute I just love it. Happy Valentine's day to me.

Credit Union

I got thinking tonight I should mention that I am on the Credit Union Supervisory Committee these days. The coolest thing really. It all happened pretty fast. I was thinking it would take awhile and maybe it would be after I finished up my time on the Boosters Board but nope that's not how it worked out. So a little overlap here and there and here I am.
Here's my philosophy: Everyone should volunteer to do something somewhere for the community. Let's face it Mendis is tapped so it is up to me to represent. I have served on the Little League board and the Boosters so this is a stretch for me. Everyone has been super nice to me and made me feel at home from the start. It's alot to take in right now but I am excited to do this. I need to dust off all the financial training from BYU years ago that's for sure. It's been a few months already and I am sure some people are wondering what I am doing there but I think it's cool.

Official Visit

Well Hayden has had a pretty exciting past couple of weeks. Mendis made a cool highlight video from his football highlights and they sent them off to some colleges. He's had a couple of calls since then from college coaches. That's pretty cool getting calls from college coaches! One of his favorites is Mesa Community College but they can't give him a scholarship his first year since he is not an Arizona resident. He really likes the idea of going to a junior college though. He hasn't heard much back from Snow lately which is a bummer because he really liked it there. They just got a new head coach and according to some other parents they haven't heard from them either since the change over. He got a call from St Mary's in Kansas this week too and a JC in California.The big surprise was the call from Dixie State a couple of weeks ago. Actually he is there right now on an official visit. He is spending the whole day today. They are going to dinner tonight and a bball game. Tomorrow he visits with the coaches so he is really anxious to hear what they can offer him. It would be fun to have him close to home so we could go to all his games but really we would get to as many as possible no matter where he played. Looks like we might be making an visit to Mesa soon so he can compare. So we will see what happens. He might still like the idea of BYU walkon too so who knows. Will we need to invest in red gear or what color?

What the Heck

Soooo.. do you recall I mentioned this summer that we met our friends the Holyoaks for dinner. [We met up with them in August at the Brick Oven in St George. We have been friends since the early years in Provo when we were all first married. They are currently living in Hong Kong but occasionally get back to the states to visit family.Refer to older posts.] Well that crazy gal went back home to Hong Kong and bought me a little gift.
Charisse decided she wanted me to have some real pearls from Hong Kong. Can you beat that?? So wow I am speachless. They arrived this week. Thank you so much for being so thoughtful.

It's a ploy to entice us over there maybe. I love to shop. I know we only have another year and a half before they leave there so we are running out of time.....we want to get over there. Maybe when Hayden gets off on his mission and we find out a rich uncle somewhere left us $$. Time and money that's all we need. Really I think we can do this. Somehow.

Cooper's Blessing

Sunday Jan 9th was Cooper's Blessing day so we loaded Hayden up in the car and hit the road Sat afternoon just in time to get to Tonopah for dinner. Ashley had made a fabulous lasagna dinner for the family that night. We stuffed ourselves and visited everyone for awhile.

Mendis played basketball with Rees:

Hayden and Benjy played some Mario cart:

I played with Coop and visited with Ashley. Such a fun evening.

Sunday we all went to the Tonopah ward for the baby blessing. Hayden got to help bless the sacrament since they are always short on priests. We took some pictures and Rees hustled off to Sunbeams. After church we went back to their house for some lunch and some more visiting before we had to leave. It was fun to see them again. Their cute little pink house is coming right along. The kids are growing like little weeds. We even enjoyed the cold weather since we knew it was only for the weekend. We are so excited to see everyone doing well. Cooper is gaining weight and looks different every time we see him. We just love that cute little guy. It's hard to get a picture of him happy and content but he does have his happy times. Ashley wished there were more of them. It was a fun weekend and we are so happy to see their family growing and doing well. Some of life's many blessings are seeing your children happy and doing well and having Grandkids!!

Atta Boy Jeff

You all know Jeff is busy going to school at BYUI. Well apparently they give you scholarships for good grades even after you start attending school there. Jeff slaved away and pulled it off. After his first 2 semesters he has qualified for free tuition for Spring...100% PAID!!
We are so excited for him. Once in awhile the hard work pays off. So here's hoping he can keep it going. That's alot of work to mix in with the fun he is having up there. Maybe since the weather is so hideous this semester he will have lots of study time while he is snow bound. Way to go Jeff...our first scholarship in the family. We couldn't be prouder.

Not the Waffle Iron!!

During the Christmas Break disaster struck...the waffle iron quit working. Right in the middle of cooking too I might add. Mendis is always making waffles for breakfast so whenever the kids are home they can count on at least 1 waffle breakfast. Lucky for all of us I got 2 crock pots for Christmas so I quickly traded one in and got a new waffle iron so the tradition lives on...whew.
So in my defense of the cooked breakfast thing here let me explain my view. Yes Mendis is usually the one who cooks breakfast because I prefer cold cereal. Really I do. WAY less fattening and after 28 years + of cooking I can't get real excited about rustling up yet another meal. Also I don't care for milk so I like to have cereal so I get some milk in my diet somewhere. Either cold or hot but cold is easier. If not cereal I love yogurt and fruit so as a result Mendis can usually be found making breakfast. He's not such a fan of the breakfast I like. Win win

Gingerbread Challenge of the World!

Every year on Christmas Eve we have the Gingerbread championship of the world. It started as a way to keep the kids entertained while I made dinner etc and has grown to a full blown day long event. All the kids and I make our own so we have a whole village by the time we are finished. Over the years we have had a train and train station, walmart, churches, castles, Australian home, igloo, you name it. Last year we had a chocolate bell everyone had to incorporate into their designs so we need to do that again next year.

What a dang mess:

The trash talking usually starts days ahead of time and gets heated by the time we are done. Some people (Hayden) take it pretty seriously. This year Hayden did another football stadium. He spent hours getting everything just so. Jeff made a castle with tons and tons of candy. Christina made a Mediterranean villa. I stuck with a traditional house. The humidity was not our friend this year because things started collapsing early on. Even the graham crackers got soft by that night. Hayden was pretty torn up when the humidity made the tootsie roll supports collapse on the stadium. We were just hoping everything would make it to the annual gingerbread house shooting fest. Every year on New Year's Day we take them all out to the hills and shoot them up. We get 22's and rifles going until there is nothing left. Way more fun than just pitching them in the trash.

Hayden's Pirate Stadium:

Christina's Villa:

Jeff's Castle:

My house:

Out with the old

After much anticipation we finally replaced the tv! We were one of the last holdouts left I think. Our old tv wasn't even a flat screen and I'm not sure what size it was...pretty small compared to the huge tv's everyone else seems to have. We all wanted to get a new one except Mendis. He just didn't feel the need. Turns out the prices of led/lcd tv's finally started to drop to make room for the new 3D tvs so we took the plunge. Merry Christmas to us! HD is so amazing we are still in awe. 55 inches of tv bliss!

Christmas Letter 2010

Greetings from the Coopers

We hope this finds you all doing well this Christmas season. Hopefully we all have the chance to catch our breath after the hectic year. Seems like it never really slows down. We have been busy with the usual stuff. We spent alot of time watching Hayden play football, basketball and baseball. Thank goodness we enjoy running around watching him play because we did alot of it. Not only did he play on the high school teams he played on an AAU team this year too for basketball. In football they went to state again so that was fun. The day after the state game Mendis, Jeff and I flew to Orlando and went on our first cruise to the Bahamas. We all were there to celebrate Mom & Dad's 50th anniversary. We had a great time and are now scheming to find a way to go on another one!

This summer we went to Park City for our vacation. We loved just getting away from it all for a few days. It was actually the first time we had been there and just fell in love with the place. We spent most of our time watching movies and relaxing which is just what we needed. We went to the Manti Pageant in June. That was fun to see again because it's been years since we had been there.

Probably the biggest relief of the year was Hayden getting his Eagle Scout badge done in time. He finished it with a day to spare even! We'd like to think he can coast now until graduation but we know that will never happen. Hard to believe our baby is 18 and a senior on the way out the door. He plans on putting his mission papers in this spring. Jeff is enjoying life up at BYUI in Rexburg. He takes joy in getting good grades and is still an adrenaline junkie. I think the ice and snow will slow him down a bit now until it thaws. Christina is in her second year of teaching 5th grade in Provo. She loves it and the kids just love her. Ashley and Benjy just had their 2nd little boy last month. They named him Cooper Mendis and he looks just like Rees. Rees is still running circles around us. We love being Grandpa and Grammy but we could use some more energy. Mendis is still as busy as ever. He has tons to do at work running both the engineering and operations departments for the power company. He spends most nights and all Sundays at church. Between work, school and Hayden's games he finds a sliver of time to cut weeds that never quit and watch the Amazing Race and the Biggest Loser with me. I am still the office manager at the eye Dr office and working in young women's.

Life is full but apparently that works for us. We have no idea what is would be like to be bored. Hopefully we don't find out next year when we are empty nesters!! Have a great new year everyone and Merry Christmas from the Coopers.