What have the Cooleys been up to?

It's been a busy past couple of months. School started and is well under way. I can't believe I'm two units away from being done with first trimester already! My classes are pretty good this year. They do have their moments and sometimes I just can't take the incessant talking! Would you just please be quiet? But on the whole school is going pretty good. It's definitely a step above last year!
Ryan is busy with classes and work. We finally broke down and got the internet at our place which I think has been a big help! We spent a lot of time running around trying to get his homework done. It's crazy how much school relies on the internet these days.
Our families are doing well and we work hard at balancing time between the Downs and the Cooleys. I'm sure that both sides would prefer they get us more but we're doing our best to have "us" time too.
We're excited for fall weather and everything it brings with it. We celebrated Halloween with my family and the traditional chili dinner. It was pretty low-key but we did manage to dress up! (See the picture on the sidebar...)I'm looking forward now to decorating for Thanksgiving and then Christmas!! We're 8 days away from our 11-month anniversary. I can't believe how time has flown. Pretty soon a whole year will have gone by.
One new thing we've started is going up to Ryan's grandma Erm's place on Friday nights. We cook dinner for the three of us and then sit down to watch our two favorite shows--Fringe and Blue Bloods. Grandma doesn't care about the shows but I think she likes the company. We enjoy it as well--it's pretty relaxing and a fun way to spend the evening!
We both have teaching callings in the ward. Ryan teaches gospel doctrine every other week and I teach the fourth Sunday lessons in Relief Society. I enjoy teaching and LOVE that my mom comes to hear me give me lesson just about every month! That's pretty special!
Well I guess that's about it for the Cooley Clan! Twenty days until Thanksgiving! Hurray!!!!

Wow!

I know I've been a slacker blogger for a while now. I've made several attempts at trying to give it a facelift as of late but it wouldn't work so I just became more and more frustrated with the whole thing! Needless to say, the months of pictures and information I want to add has gone undone because of my inability to make simple changes to how this whole thing looks! Anyway, as you can probably see, they've been taken care of and I am now ready to download a bunch of pictures from various sources and hopefully get caught up here. After all, I've got great incentive--Christmas is coming and I've got gifts that require pictures so I've gotta download them anyway. Might as well do a little blogging here as well right?

P.S. Ryan only realized last night that we had a blog...yeah, that about sums the whole thing up!

Back to School

If you read my blog does anyone actually read it? then you'll know that the last post I made was on the last day of the 2011-2012 school year. And now here I am, one day away from having my first day of the 2012-2013 school year over with. What'd I do with my summer you might ask? I have no idea!!! Well I do, but it seems like it sure was a whirlwind and was far too short. Now I'm back to school with my room all ready to welcome my kiddies. I'm still at North Cache teaching Ancient World History. I've added three more sections this year YAY!!! so I'll be a bit busier. I moved to a new classroom and we'll see how that works out. I just can't believe it's here again! And to boot, my adorable husband is off on a week-long hunting trip which will conclude on Saturday. Needless to say that though it's only Wednesday, I feel like I've already lived through the week trying to accomplish a lot of things on my own. Boy I miss Ryan!!! It's strange to come home and be in an empty place all evening. Did I mention that I miss him? I'll be glad when this week is over so we can get back into a routine. Ryan starts school again on Monday and we'll be back to the work/school grindstone. Good-bye summer, hello fall! Hopefully being back in the swing of things will give me a chance to catch up on this blogging thing....

The 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!