Why is the grass in the backyard so lumpy?

14 Feb 2009

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

I like Valentines Day because I like Valentines Day cookies and cupcakes. I'm not really one of those super romatic types who insists on lots of presents and flowers. However, Jared always goes out with the boys to get me a present and they love it so much. This year they got me a book about how to do landscaping in Texas. See, I grew up in the frozen north (before I moved here to what is now apparently the frozen south). In Utah I know that you can grow lilacs, elm trees, apples, pine trees, roses, grapes, and pumpkins. I have no idea what grows here but I know that it isn't any of those things. All the flora is alien to me. I just got the book today and I've already read most of it and drawn out the plan for my back yard. I plan to hang this plan on my fridge and leave it there for the next 15 years. **wink**wink** Right Mom? I know you know what I'm talking about :)

Here is the book Jared and the boys gave me today.

Here is a book that I bought last summer when I bought the house in North Dakota.

Here is the yard plan that Tyler made. You might need a magnifying glass to see the labels. I think it's pretty good.
P.S. In the comments on my last post Kevin asked why the grass in the backyard was so lumpy. Um..well, cause it's crappy bermuda grass, the rain turned it to mud and then I walked all over it to take the pictures. No kidding, they put in the grass and then the next day we got 2 inches of rain. The whole place was a swamp - it still is. I plan to replace the weeds - I mean "grass" - that they installed with St. Augstine like we have at our house now. Jared says that there might be a city ordinance against it because it uses more water, but I'm going to do it anyway. I'll get it on the black market if I have to.

Our New House

13 Feb 2009

Okay. So now that everyone has read The Air Force Story (a drama), I'm ready to start my regular old blog posts again. As many of you already know, we sold our house in North Dakota at the end of January. Luckily the market picked up in that area because of oil drilling and even with all the double house payments we made, we only lost a couple of thousand dollars. It's a lot, but it could have been worse.

Now, we get to get a new house. And here it is! It's about 10 miles from where we live now on a cute little cul-de-sac in a gated community called Cobblestone. It's brand new, has 4 bedrooms and sprinkers. Our loan looks good and I just found out today that our mortgage company wants to close on Feb 26th. I'm so so excited to finially live in my own home again! Yay.

Here is the front of the house.

Here is the backyard.

Here is the dining room and living room.

Kitchen.

Hallway upstairs.

Old timey stair-ladder into the attic where the furnace is.

Here is a link to the model home on the builder's website. It's just like ours but the floorplan is flipped. http://www.kbhome.com/Plan~PlanID~00865210-A-2183.aspx

Aim (less) high. [Jared's post]

I surprised a lot of people when I volunteered to join the Air Force in order to complete my internship and PhD in clinical Psychology. I knew going into it that I wasn't a traditional 'Airman,' but from all my years of working in the mental health field I'd learned that different patients need different therapists with different personalities in order to help everyone find a good fit. I hoped that I would find my niche and that I could prove myself.

As I went through training, I grew to love the tradition, the camaraderie, and the respect that I experienced as I served. I quickly decided that I was going to make a career of mental health in the Air Force. It would mean substantially less pay than if I were to pursue a mental health career in the civilian sector, but I was looking forward to seeing new places and most of all, I loved the patients I served in the Air Force--brave men and women who have been to hell and back and simply need to tell their experiences to someone who won't react in horror, repulsion, or disgust.

Something that I didn't grow to love was paperwork. All through grade school, junior high, and high school, I always struggled with completing homework. When I finally made it to college, I performed a lot better because the focus shifted to midterms and finals, and I've always tested well. But when it comes to remaining on-task and being detail oriented with paperwork and administrative tasks, I have to work doubly-hard.

Perhaps it was inevitable that I would get written-up for paperwork problems. Then during the remediation process that followed, my illustrious Director of Training (a 100-year-old civilian) repeatedly gave me wrong or incomplete instructions for what I should do to alleviate my supervisor's concerns. Despite her interference, I finally demonstrated that I was qualified to be an independent mental health provider at a nuclear weapons base. I was less than a week from moving to the new base when my Director raised concerns about how I had conducted research for my dissertation. After she presented her case to my other supervisors (using 'facts' about my past which were patently false), they voted to dismiss me from the internship. I followed due-process to fight the decision, which involved Colonels, Lieutenant Colonels, and at least one Major General, from all over the Air Force coming to San Antonio to review my case.

Ultimately, the independent review demonstrated that my training had been deficient and the Director's remediation efforts had failed to follow due-process. Unfortunately, the review also decided that I was no longer considered a good fit for the Air Force. At this point, we are awaiting the Installation Commander's final stamp on my dismissal from the internship. Following that, I will most likely be dismissed from the Air Force all together. To make matters worse, I've been told by my professors at BYU that being asked to leave the internship will mean the end of my graduate program, with virtually no chance of moving my credits to a different degree or university. Bottom-line, I will not be able to complete my PhD.

So now what? Suzie and I are going to be teachers! I've always loved teaching, and I've had the opportunity to teach at Provo College and BYU, not to mention Sunday School and Gospel Doctorine at church. I've always enjoyed it regardless of the subject. My mom is a math teacher and Texas offers a teaching certificate for people interested in teaching math or science with relatively little time and expense. We're buying a new home in San Antonio, new schools are opening up in the area, and we like the city and the weather. I've got thousands of dolloars of knowledge rattling around in my head about the psychology of human behavior, and years of hard-won hands-on experience with the most difficult populations imaginable (mental patients, imprisoned sex-offenders, and BYU freshmen). Suzie and I will finally be able to spend time with one another after the workday is done, we'll have summers off, and there is very little risk that I'll be sent on a business trip to Afghanistan.

We're happy about where we're at, we truly feel the hand of Providence is at work, and we're excited to begin our next adventure. We are sincerely thankful for everyone who has expressed their support throughout this process. We love you all, and we're humbled to be surrounded by such wonderful friends and family.

Jared

Goodbye Grandpa

Today Jared's grandpa, Perry Johnson, died from complications related to surgery and old age. We are deeply saddened by his passing. However, our faith in God's Eternal Plan gives us joy in the knowledge that he will be able to be reunited with his wife, Lola, who died several years ago. At this time, our thoughts and prayers are with Jared's mother, Janet. Grandpa Johnson is her father. The pain and sense of loss that she is feeling right now must be unbearable.

Janet, we love you so much and want to do all that we can to ease your burden. We will be here for you as long as you need us.

With all our love,

Jared and Suzie

In Loving Memory

In Loving Memory of

Brian Collings Cooper

14 Feb 1953 - 19 Jan 2010

Dad, we love you and will miss you so much. Your positive attitude and dedication to your work and family will always be an inspiration to us and our children. Thank you for all of your love and support. We will do our very best to honor your example by giving to our family and neighbors and living the gospel the best that we can. God be with you till we meet again.

Love,
Jared and Suzie

New Blogging Fun

20 Jan 2010

I'm a little frustrated with blogger right now. They are messing up all of my video posts! Grrrr. Oh well. I spent most of the day learning how to make the cute little animations that you see to your right. Aren't they cute?!? The first one links to a scrapbooking blog that I set up so that I can share the digital scrapbooking stuff that I make. If you click on it you will see a kit that I made up last week. I listed the kit on DigiFree (a scrapbooking freebie search engine) and I've already had over 50 downloads! The other link is to my recipe blog. When I find or make up a particularly good recipe, I post it there. If you have a recipe request, please let me know and I will post it. Here's some scrapbook pages I made of Ralphie.

Going Out To Eat

19 Jan 2010

So we had a pretty hard day today. Jared spent all day at his hearing listening to people talk about how they don't think that he's a good doctor. Then, on his way home, I had to call him and tell him that his dad had quietly passed away this morning before he'd even left for work.

He felt pretty beat up and so I suggested that we all go out to eat at his favorite restaurant and just take some time to eat and relax. It took us about 30 minutes to get there and then we sat down for another 30 minute wait for our table. It was nice to have time to talk about the day but Holly started getting kind of upset as it got closer to her bedtime and then Derek stepped in a fountain and got his pants all wet. After 40 minutes of waiting it didn't look like we were any closer to getting a table and the kids had pretty much completed their transformations into hungry, whiney time bombs. Jared suggested to me that we might do better to just leave and cut our losses. Tyler was listening in and respsonded with the following:

"You know, the Cooper house is empty right now so we don't have to wait for a table and I've heard that all the food there is free. Also, while you're waiting for your food you can watch TV or play a game. Maybe we should just go there for dinner. Plus, they have my favorite food, peanutbutter and honey sandwiches."

We might not have a job in a few months, but we will always have the cutest, best kids ever!!!

---

P.S. We will probably get the outcome from the hearing sometime this week or next week. We hope its this week. Thank you for your prayers.

Ralphie's Progressive Haircut

13 Jan 2009

Ralphie needs haircuts. When his hair gets too long then it gets dirty really fast, takes forever to dry after his bath and gets tangled and matted in just a few days. The problem is that cutting it takes forever. I tried some clippers once and he really freaked out so I decided that it might be easier (and probably faster too) to just cut it by hand with scissors. I use the width of my fingers to judge the length and just go all over his body. Since Holly is such a busy body lately, I had to do the cutting while she was napping. This meant that the entire grooming process was slowly completed over four days.

Before (hairy and slobbery)

Middle (tee hee - doggy clown pants)

After (sleek and trim - and sleepy)

Back on the Job!

12 Jan 2010

So, I've been slackin' off the blog for the past two months and I feel sorta bad. So...to make up for it, I thought that I'd post these little gems. Watch them in order.

Snow Day!

20 Dec 2009

While we were in Utah for Christmas, Jared and the kids went sledding at Grandma and Grandpa James' house. They both had a lot of fun.

Everything was going just swimmingly until Tyler decided to start a snowball fight. However, Kevin was easy to defeat, so it was still a great day!