The Cooley Clan: March 2009

March 30, 2009

RACHAEL'S BAPTISM DAY!

Daddy Daughter moment

Rachael is being silly as I try to get a photo with her on Sunday (March 29th) morning when she will be announced as one of the newest members of the church.

The Cooley Family

after Rachael's baptism

Rachael is standing next to my mother's old High School friend (who is more like an Aunt to both Rachael and myself), Bertha and Ron Torrez.

Our friend, Alicia Anderson with Rachael and Qaiden...she's my sister, Chantel's best friend and a friend to our whole family...it was so nice of her to come.

Ron Torrez, Uncle Winn and Aunt Karent Foster, Alicia, Shelley(holding Aleah), Jacob, Rachael, Dad, Mom, Qaiden, Chris (Aunt Karen's daughter) and her daughter (?)

It was nice to have some of both Rich and my family there as well as close friends. Both sets of Grandparents couldn't come so that made it hard for her, but seeing friends of our family and Richs' extended family there made it a GREAT memory for her. Afterwards, they all came here for Hawaiian Haystacks and Root Beer Floats (which Rachael requested)! We then played Apples to Apples with Ron and Bertha Torrez, Aunt Shelley (Paul had to work), and Alicia Anderdson. It was fun for Rachael and us all as we visited with one another. Thank you to all who came to support her! We are SOOOO proud of this decision she made on her own!

Rachael's BAPTISM!!!

Her Aunt and Uncle Schneider spoke about Baptism as you see them in the pictures.

The other girl that got baptized at the same time was her friend and neighbor, Roselind (Rosie) Schraedel being baptized by her father, Anthony Schraedel.

Rachael Anne Cooley was baptized on March 28th, 2009

by her father, Richard LeRoy Cooley II. It was such a beautiful baptism! Now she is an official member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints...COOL, HUH?!

These 2 girls are GREAT!

March 12, 2009

A NEW HAIRSTYLE...

It's pretty short, huh?!

Ok, so I got my haircut yesterday in a short A-line cut and they told me I got about 9-10 inches cut off!!!! Can you believe that?! It was getting too long and straggly looking and wanted something short so this summer I don't roast in the heat being pregnant as well. I don't know if it suits me yet or not, but I guess I'll get used to it soon enough, and it will always grow out.

March 10, 2009

Rachael's 8th Birthday

Rachael woke up to her door decorated (by dad because mom had the stomach flu :() with candy, cards, gifts, etc. and french toast for breakfast. She wanted that for breakfast, Kid's burger king chicken nuggets meal for lunch and chinese for dinner. After dinner, she opened her presents. Grandma gave her a princess heart pillow, cute plaid skirt, shirt set, book, game, and a bowl & cup set. Qaiden and Aleah got her a horse pet shop figure. Jacob got her a pet shop book with a pet shop, but it won't come for another couple of weeks from the Scholastic Book Club. He did put together a fun treasure hunt for her to go on to find her main gift...the roller blades/helmet/pad set! She really wanted that and will be able to use it fairly soon...as soon as the snow melts that is! We got another big dump this weekend!!! Rachael's big party with friends is going to be this Saturday... A BOWLING PARTY! She will be baptized March 28th and she is very excited about that! I'll post more pics later...

Mom & Aleah's Birthday Continued...

We don't like cake much in our family, so Rich made a peach cobbler for us with vanilla ice cream...YUM! Rich bought me a Cast Iron Dutch Oven, Skillet, gloves, lifter set for my birthday and so he seasoned it that day and was hoping to use it to make the peach cobbler, but it wasn't ready by the time we needed it, so we'll have to try it out this summer when we go camping! I can't wait till we try it out!

Aleah liked her book and Abby doll she got for her birthday, and we had a lot of fun at The Boondocks that day as well. Later that night, my parents came to watch the kids while Rich and I went out to dinner at the Mikado Japanese Restaurant in Bountiful. It was ok, but I got a little food poisoning or something because I almost threw up that night! I shouldn't have had the fried shrimp/vegetables. My body doesn't like a lot of fried foods! Nonetheless, it was a nice day overall!

Aleah & Charise's Birthday Party

Happy Birthday to Aleah (2 years old now) and Mom (31)!

Even though it turned out to be an expensive birthday party, it sure was fun to do it together as a family...thank you guys!

Dad and Qaiden have fun bumping the older kids!

BUMPER BOATS

Jacob and Rachael

Our family just finished reading the Book of Mormon on February 28th, 2009 so we celebrated that as well as Aleah's and my birthday at The Boondocks Fun Center in Draper, Utah. It was fun racing in the cars, doing the bumper boats, and doing all the arcade games! The kids each got a treat when they turned in all their tickets from the arcade games. They had a blast!

Mom & Aleah

Aleah and I are waiting while we get our oil changed in our Honda Pilot...the last week of February 2009. Isn't she a cutie pie?!!!!!!!!!!

Funny Kid Moments!

December 20, 2011- We were all in the kitchen making gingerbread and I had just taken out the first batch of the gingerbread boy and girl. As I attempted to scrape up the girl on the spatula, she was too soft and started to fall apart as I quickly placed the mangled mess on the brown paper bag! Qaiden pointed to the messed up cookie and said, "Ladies first!" and "Mom killed her!" It was just so funny I changed from being really upset that I had ruined the cookie to laughing so hard at the random funny comment! I keep telling the boys, "Ladies first", and I guess it is sinking in!

November 2011- I like to recycle plastic containers and so I had just washed out one of them and placed the plastic lid on top the toaster (near the sink) to dry. Jacob went to put some bread in the toaster and while in there, the lid melted! Just a little while later as I was getting dinner prepared, Qaiden sat on the stove counter right next to the hot stove top. I told Q to get down off the counter but he was slow to obey. I had turned off the stove, but one of the burners was still hot and so as Q sat there, his coat was lying on the still hot burner and his inner part of the coat melted. I was a bit angry with him for not being obedient and was pretty frustrated. At this point, I turned to the boys and said, "Ok, and the winner for the 'NO-BRAINER' award goes to...drum roll please...QAIDEN!" I changed from being angry to laughing because of how funny my own comment seemed to me! ;) (Sometimes you just gotta laugh at yourself!)So, whenever we do something stupidly funny, we call it the NO-BRAINER award! It's become quite funny to see some of the silly things we do each day!

May 25, 2010- As the kids got ready for school this morning, I asked Rachael if she remembered to get a leotard for Gymnastics today after school. Qaiden overheard and said "...it's NOT Aleah-tard, it's a Rachael-tard! And I would wear a Qaiden-tard!" Ohhhh the silly things that kids come up with!

Jan 20, 2010- I was in the middle of winding the cord of our kirby vacuum cleaner while singing 'Ring around the rosies a pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes we all fall down'...and Aleah just standing there all the sudden dropped to her bottom without bending her knees (looked a little awkward). It was just one of those moments that made me laugh because it was so unexpected!

Who Is... Richard LeRoy Cooley II

With much pushing and proding from Charise and a little from her Mom, I am attempting to briefly answer the question "Who am I?". To begin, I was born to wonderful parents, Richard LeRoy Cooley and Leah Tryon on October 16, 1970 in Little Rock, Arkansas. I am the 2nd eldest of eight children... Nichale, myself, Rodney, Roger, Oralea, Tawnya, Andelaura and Gayla. I moved to Mesa, Arizona when I was about 3 years old and lived there till I was 9 years old. In the summer of 1980 my family moved to Carthage, Missouri where I spent the most important and influential part of my childhood. It was during my time in Carthage that I finished grade school, Junior High and High School. I graduated from Carthage High School in May 1989 and shortly after entered the MTC (Missionary Training Center) in Provo, Utah, January 1990. I served an honorable mission to Brasilia, Brazil. Shortly after my mission, I enlisted in the Air Force and was Active Duty for 9 years. My time on active duty in the Air Force was spent in San Antonio, TX (Lackland AFB) for basic training, then I went to Technical School in Dever, Colorado (Lowry AFB) after which I moved to Hill AFB in Clearfield, Utah. I was afterwards, stationed in South Korea (Osan AFB) and was there for 1 year. Then I cross-trained from Munitions (otherwise known as "Ammo") to Computer Maintenance and went to Buloxi, Mississippi (Keesler AFB). My time as an "Active Duty" enlisted member ended in Anchorage, Alaska (Elmendorf AFB), where I met and married my wonderful wife, Charise Alithea Nebeker. Her father worked as the Chief Auditor at Elmendorf AFB and was just around the corner from the Headquarters bldg. where I worked in what was called the RAOC - pronounced rock - (in the basement of that bldg.). We met in June, 1997 at the LDS Singles Branch at the Maplewood Chapel in Anchorage, AK and dated till she went back to Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho. Charise came home for Christmas and we got engaged January 1, 1998 and got married that summer, July 18, 1998 in the Salt Lake City Temple! It was a VERY special day for me! We lived there in Anchorage till 2000 and then moved in to Charise's parents home (10411 High Bluff Dr., Eagle River, AK 99577) for 10 months to save money for school. Thanks to Charise's parents we were able to save a substantial amount for school, which eventually was used as a down-payment on our 1st home. We had just had our 1st baby, Jacob LeRoy, August 26th, 1999 and then we were blessed with a baby girl, Rachael Anne on March 9th, 2001. We moved to Logan, Utah, May 2001 so I could go to school at Utah State University to finally finish my degree in Electrical Engineering that I'd been trying to finish for quite some time and which was VERY difficult to do while working in the military and moving around a lot. I also transitioned from Active duty to the Air Force Reserves shortly after arriving in Logan. I got my Bachelor degree December 2003 and got a job working with the government on Hill AFB as an Electronics Engineer six months later in a three year internship. We moved closer to the base in May of 2004 soon after our third child was born; Qaiden John, April 6, 2004. I was fortunately to get commissioned as an Officer in the Reserves about a year after starting work at Hill AFB and just before going back to school to get my Masters of Engineering in Electrical Engineering. It only took me a year and a half. I am currently a Captain in the Reserves and work as an Individual Augmentee (IMA) in the 508th ASW, which is an Active Duty unit. Our 4th child, Aleah Reese was born on my wife's birthday, February 28, 2007, in Layton, Utah and we had our 5th child, Luke William on September 19, 2009 at Davis Hospital and Medical Center in Layton, Utah as well. Life is going well for my family and we are grateful for ALL of our blessings!!!