The One After 2 Years!!

For some reason about a month ago I changed the words to the beginning of the Fresh Prince theme song.  Justin thought it was funny (and also that I am incredibly clever and talented :) so I "rearranged" the rest for our anniversary post (Holy crap how has it been 2 years already!!!).  Enjoy!

Now this is a story all about how
My heart got caught, it got pinned down
And I'd like to take a minute just sit right there
I'll tell you how I fell in love with a man named Coop-Air.

In Southeast Arizona born and raised
In a small town is where I spent most of my days.
Readin' books, swimmin', Barbies were cool,
Started playin' some v-ball outside of the school.
Well, there were no cute guys; none were lookin’ too good
So I had to go searchin’ outside my neighborhood.
I dated one engineer and my friends got scared
And said “go to grad school in a place with salt air.”

I applied and got in after just four days
Packed up my Jimmy truck and we were on our way
First day of orientation was when I met my hubby,
But we didn’t know it yet so we started to “study.”
Quantum, yo, this is bad!
He’s the best study buddy that I ever had.
Is this what the beginning of true love feels like?
Hmmm he might be all right.

I said yes to a date and after one year
He proposed on a mountain, I always want him near.
If anything I could say that this man was rare
So of course I said yes and now I’m a Coop-Air!

Me, Justin and Cory at Zion's National Park, October 2008.  This was the weekend we decided we wanted to be more than friends ;)

Justin, me and yep, that's Cory again- he's a good camping buddy.  Hiking down from Red Pine Lake with Werther's caramels.

Murder mystery dinner, December 2009.  We were all assassins.  I was Sweet Cyanide (note the chemical reference) and Justin was the best Don Juan ever!

This is probably my favorite wedding picture of us :)

Love.

Leaving for Hawaii.

At Pearl Harbor on our honeymoon.

Polynesian Cultural Center on our honeymoon.

Yellowstone National Park, July 2010.

It's been a good couple of years and we can't wait for the rest!!

The One with the New Calling

I know you're all dying for a London post (It was amazing, simply amazing!) but that's probably going to be really long so this is all I have time for today.  Not to mention that Mom is in town and we are heading over to Grandma's house for dinner shortly :)

Remember just a few months ago (5 to be exact!) when I said I had finally gotten my favorite calling as primary pianist?  Well that's already over.  Sigh.  That is seriously the best calling in the church.  Period.  Love the kids.  I'm so going to miss them.  It's even easier in our ward because we're so small the kids don't separate into junior and senior primary so I have a huge break where I just got to talk to the ladies in the primary presidency.  It was awesome.

A few weeks ago on the way back home from Moab Justin got a text from the ward executive secretary asking if/when we could meet with the bishop that week.  Sure, no prob.  I didn't really speculate about it until the day of.  Then I remembered that the couple who were previously the YM and YW presidents (yep, simultaneously, the poor things!) had been looking for a house.  I did a quick facebook search and sure enough, they were closing on one.  I called Justin and said "I figured it out.  You've been ward mission leader for so long, they're going to release you and call you as YM president!"  There was no doubt in my mind I would be keeping my own calling.  There are only about 3 of us in the ward who can even play the piano, I had nothing to worry about.

I had everything to worry about!  I texted Melissa (the former YW pres) before our appointment to let her know I may or may not be slightly upset with her and I would decide in about half an hour.  She accidentally spilled the beans in her response thinking we had just gotten out of meeting with the bishop and I realized it was me!  I was the one getting a new calling!  Unfortunately this was right before my trip to the UK and I had to warn the bishop that I would be out of town for the remaining Sundays of the month.  I've always thought that the one calling I never wanted was in the YW.  I should have known better than to think that, it's like asking to shoot yourself in the foot.  Never a good idea.  So I won't technically be sustained and set apart for 2 more weeks but I've already been helping out with the girls and it's actually been pretty fun.  We only have 4 girls which makes it easier in some ways and harder in others.  I know some of my readers have had callings in YW before so feel free to tell me about your favorite activities and lessons and any other advice you're willing to share.  Heaven knows these girls are going to need all the help they can get with me as a leader!

The One with Caterpillars

This post should rub off some of the "nerd shine" we gained from the last one.  Summer is almost here so Justin and I broke out with our mountain bikes and camping gear and headed down to Moab for the weekend.  The last time we went to Moab was two months before our wedding and I fell.  You can actually see my battle scar in some of our wedding pictures which is why it was our last biking trip before the wedding.  Moab is famous for biking, as in Mecca.  We didn't try the Slickrock trail that people honestly come from Europe to bike but there are tons of other fun trails.  Not to mention Moab is just gorgeous.  It's right next to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and has some beautiful sandstone formations.

We got a later start than we'd planned and pulled into Moab after dark.  There are hundreds of campsites around but we drove for over 2 hours before we found one.  Why?  Because apparently we chose to bike during Moab's busiest weekend.  The car show was in town.  Good grief.  Last time we almost couldn't find a spot either because there was a marathon going on.  We really need to check the town schedule before we plan another trip!  We finally found a spot around 11pm and decided to save our tin foil dinners for the next night.

The next morning we woke up and cooked a big breakfast in preparation for a full day of biking.  We realized that the reason our spot was open was because it was right on the edge of the campground and next to the road.  Why do show cars have such loud engines?  And when did all these caterpillars show up?!

 

Usually things like this really gross me out.  I absolutely hate large swarms of creepy-crawlies.  I feel like they get on me.  Ugh, I'm feeling itchy just talking about it.  Thankfully these caterpillars didn't creep me out.  It did take a good 5 minutes to flick them all away though.

Back to breakfast, I thought this was going to be too much food (eggs, sausage and pancakes) when we packed it but we ate it all.  Mostly because of Justin's monster pancake!

After we packed up we were ready to hit the biking trail.  We did a set of trails called the Bar M that has multiple loops and offshoots you can add to make your ride longer.  If you stay on Bar M it's a pretty easy beginner trail and the loops get more technical.  We did Circle O which apparently is one of the more technical.  Yay for me.  Justin is just so much better (and less scared) than I am.

Look how awesome I am!

I saw this family with a 2 year old who was basically pushing his bike with his feet on the ground.  This will be us someday.  Or Justin will bike by himself a lot.  I'm sure they didn't cover much ground.

We spent another 2+ hours during lunch looking for a new campsite and finally called all the campgrounds in town.  Luckily we got the last spot at an RV park.  Once we knew we had a place to sleep for the night we hit up the Klondike Bluffs trail.

The cool thing about the KB trail is it ends at the edge of Arches Natl. Park.  There's actually a bike rack up there where you can leave your bike and hike in.  My legs were a little shaky after a full day of biking but it was totally worth it.

Looking out over Arches.

Some pretty cool hoodoos.

Justin loves to pose.

 

This is me doing some yoga (pigeon pose) on top of the rock.  This would be an awesome spot for yoga!!

How amazing is this?!

Our last minute campsite turned out to be pretty nice.  There were even showers which we were really grateful for after a long, sweaty day.  We finally ate our tin foil dinners and made banana boats.

Oh and the funniest thing- there was an actual pay phone at the RV park.  I haven't seen one of these in years!!!!  Someday a museum will be built up around it :)

The One where the Coopers have Talent!

A few weeks ago our ward celebrated its 163rd birthday.  We had a big ward dinner and a talent show.  A few weeks before the party Justin mentioned a sign up sheet had been passed around in Elders Quorum but he wasn't sure what he could do as a talent.  He brought up the idea of doing chemistry experiments and I jumped on it.  Brilliant!!  In undergrad I was part of the chemistry club and once a year we would hold "Magic Shows" and do science demonstrations.  Everybody loved it.

We got everything ready to go on Friday and went to the party a little early to set up.  Unfortunately some of the kids found our props and if one kid had a balloon, they all needed a balloon :)  Thank goodness I brought the bag!

Justin and I were actually going out to dinner after the party with his dad and sister so we decided not to eat any Hawaiian Haystacks.  They smelled so good!  It was only the thought of Settebello's that kept us from eating.  We were pretty hungry though so I asked Justin to go get a small salad or something.  This is what he came back with.  One plate with a few handfuls of chow mein noodles!  Too funny!!

The bishopric kicked things off with a Simon and Garfunkel number.  For not being a real band they were really good!  His face is blocked but Brother Taft (far right) has a masters in music and plays the trombone.  I love when he plays for church activities!  What random talents we all have huh?!  The kids in front could not help dancing to any musical number, so cute.

And here it is, our talent.  "Chemistry with the Coopers."
We're so nerdy.

This is obviously not my video.  I just thought it was fitting :)

If you have questions about any of the people, topics, etc. mentioned in the video- we honestly know about it.  And I like Picard.  Maybe I shouldn't admit that.

Justin gave a little intro.

Then I explained a little bit about phases of matter illustrated by liquid nitrogen.  We "froze" the balloons so they shriveled up and then re-expanded once we took them out of the lN2.

Next we did a luminol experiment but we turned all the lights off so there aren't any pictures.  If you can't tell from the name, luminol is chemiluminescent and gives off light when catalyzed by hydrogen peroxide.  Think glow bracelets and fireflies.

Our grand finale was "elephant toothpaste."  This is a really common demo because people LOVE it.

 The demo ends at about 45 sec but I didn't want to edit.  Sorry, I'm lazy.

 
I was worried that after our "talent" people would either think we are even weirder than we really are or really cool.  I think it was the latter and we may have inspired some kids to learn more about science.  And possibly some of the adults.  One of my favorite primary kids came up afterward and told me "That was great chemistry!"  Thanks Arthur :)

The One with Jimmy Mack

For those of you who don't know I am a girl who drives a truck and his name is

Just Jimmy for short.  I bought a silver Toyota Tacoma for my 23rd birthday and we've been together for 5 years now.  Yes, longer than Justin and I :)  He doesn't like snow/cold any more than I do and is definitely ready to move back to rust-free AZ weather.  Jimmy has sadly been in a few accidents (disclaimer: only one of them was my fault and that was in terrible driving conditions!) including having someone in the oncoming lane fall asleep at the wheel and head straight for us!  That was probably the worst.  Wondering why I'm writing so much about a vehicle?  Because I recently received a title in the mail with my name on it.  Yep, that's right.  I have finally made the last payment on my loan and Jimmy is now officially all mine!  Hands off ladies!!

Oh yeah, and hands off this one too :)

This picture is from a murder mystery dinner we went to before we were married where Justin was "Don Juan."  He did so great with this character!  His Spanish accent still makes me laugh!  Love him!!!