The Cooley Clan: May 2009

May 30, 2009

Nebeker Family Reunion 2009

We're OUTTA HERE!!!

After the float trip, we changed our clothes and were ready to get dinner ready but we got rained out so started to pack up everything. A couple of men stayed back to pack up the rest while the women drove the rest of us back to our home to camp INSIDE and stay dry! The weather was one NOT cooperating with us and that whole month was one of the wettest June has ever seen! So much for the rest of our reunion! It was still filled with some fun times despite the rain though.

We'll NEVER do that again!!!!! It was so dang cold and the water was very high that time of year. The people we saw when we got out thought we were CRAZY...and I think he was right...but the thrill was pretty fun too!

Dan holding Logan and Charise nearby...Stevie was taking the picture I think.

Rachael fell off her tube and Dan had to help her off the log and then linked her tube with mine because she was a little freaked out after that.

PAUL led the way in to the frigid fast moving water...way to go Paul!

Everyone (except Rich watching Taylor and Aleah) experienced our memorable float trip.

FLOAT TRIP 2009

Aleah and Taylor had so much fun just looking at each other!

We had some fun filling up the water balloons at the faucet and actually had the sun come out for just an hour or two! Perfect for the kids to do a treasure hunt and water balloons.

THE BANDANA GANG

2 A-girls

Cheryl sure is hungry!

MEXICAN...yummmmm

Playing games in the rain!

JUNE 13th, LUNCH TIME burritos

Rachael and Qaiden

CUTE!

Aleah is VERY expressive don't you think?

Rich was the official fire starter for the group! He is so handy!

Sitting around the campfire chillin' (literally) ;)

Bonanza (The Bean Game) was introduced to us by Reed and was actually pretty fun!

We ended up buying it a while later.

GAME TIME

Shelley with the little ones...Paul resting!

Richard comes to the rescue with his air pump!

JUNE 12th Up in the Ogden Canyon by Pineview Reservoir we reserved a CAMP site to save money. Here we are setting things up and playing some badmitton!

Jacob's origami animals on his shoulder and hand

Rachael and Qaiden's origami frogs

ORIGAMI with Shelley

The rain put a stop to our fun...BUMMER...so Stevie, Shelley and Paul, and our family went to Shelley's apt. in SLC and ate dinner and swam in their pool at Brigham Apartments. The kids did some origami as well. Chantel and Reed had other plans with his family and Alicia. Dan and Cheryl went to run errands.

Shelley and Paul compete in a DANCE OFF!

Qaiden and Payton play Guitar Hero

Arcade Play

4-D Movie's

Rich and Aleah

MINITURE GOLF

AHHHH!%*#! Charise crashes!!!

That seat belt worked really well but HURT so bad! Luckily I wasn't hurt too badly because I was pregnant at the time...remember?

Charise tries to sneak in the inside lane...move over Steve...WATCH OUT!!!!

GO!

Rach, Alicia, Jacob with Stevie and Charise race.

Get set...

Now it's OUR time to race...on your marks...

Paul's leading but here come's Cheryl in the outside lane! GO Cheryl!!!

On your mark, get set, GO!

The big boys can't wait to race...

Alician Anderson (Chantel's friend) met up with us.

Cousins await their turn!

June 11th, 2009 was the start of our Family Reunion with everyone arriving the night before at our home and Shelley and Paul's apartment. We took off that morning for a fun-filled day at the Trafalga Fun Center in Orem, Utah. Chantel knew the people who ran it and got us unlimited wrist passes to do anything we wanted. So, we first got out there to the racetrack.

May 27, 2009

Memorial Day BBQ

Memorial Day, May 25, 2009 we had my sister, Shelley and her husband, Paul over for a BBQ as well as a friend of mine, Nan Schmalz. We had turkey burgers, chips, green salad, watermelon, and fruit salad. It was nice to relax a little, throw the frisby around and toss the baseball around as well. We had lots of chores to do outside, so it was sure nice to have a little break in the day about 1-4 pm. It was a nice day! Look at Qaiden...as always...our little NUT! :)

Goblin Valley Escapade

We finally got home about 5 pm, and were able to cook our dutch oven in the oven at home...it was DELICIOUS! Thanks Jenn, for the Chicken & Vegetables recipe!

Awesome formations, even from a distance!

We did, however get a photo of the kids on the side of the road in front of one formation that was near the campsite there.

Cold and Wet but smiling!

When we did get to Goblin Valley, it was so wet and muddy, all we could see was the

formations at a distance. Those brave enough to walk down into the valley, came up COMPLETELY COVERED in mud up to their hips! They were at least prepared with raincoats, boots, warm clothes. We had short-sleeve shirts, shorts, and sandles on...not the best prepared trip as you can tell...but an adventure nonetheless. Now I wish I had not been such a "STICK IN THE MUD" :-) because my attitute was not the best at the time. I guess the weather made me a little grumpy.

Thanks for planning it though Rich, because now we know where it is located and how to get there now, thanks to your new GPS. Next time, we'll make sure we go when there is NO rain so we can actually hike down the valley and see the formations up close!

Inside this gas station

HOLLOW MOUNTAIN

Saturday, May 23rd was Richard's trip he planned, except didn't account for the RAINY weather down in the middle of Utah, near Moab! We woke up at 5 am, loaded up the kids in the car with our cooler full of lunch (sandwhiches, fruit, drinks) as well as our dutch oven dinner I had already prepared (chicken/vegetable bake), bread, watermelon followed by yummy smores. We were going to find a day campsite to sit around the campfire and have fun playing games, eating etc. Well, no luck...IT RAINED THE ENTIRE TIME!!!! So, our day was mostly spent in the car, the kids watching movies in the back and looking out the windows at rain and more rain! We did stop off at a cool gas station that was cut in the side of a mountain!!!

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!!!