Travel Time

I know I said in my last post that I would update about my trip as soon as I got home.  I also am aware that I didn’t do that.  I don’t really feel like explaining why I didn’t do that (mostly because that explanation would probably go something like this: “I was too lazy”).

 

So, here it is.  I went to Seattle.  Then to Portland.  Then back to Seattle.  Then to Portland again.  Then back to Seattle again.  Then I came home to Denver.  All in eight days.  I went to visit my seester. 

While nothing super eventful happened, I still got to explore a new city, and I really love to explore urban areas.

 

I won a slap bet against my brother-in-law.   In case you were wondering, this place is not called The Butterfly Pavilion.

 

Yes, I went to the Space Needle, but I my camera battery was long dead so I didn’t take any pictures.  It was lame, though, because a “private party” was being held there that evening, and they pretty much kicked us out early so they could set up for the party.  They weren’t very good at keeping the party a secret, though, but I don’t know how you could hide a 300 pound ice sculpture in the shape of the new Seattle Sounders logo.

 

I went got to spend some quality time in my favorite book store. 

Of course I went to Pike Place Market.  I really liked it there, and went back a second time so I could get some pictures. 

It rained a lot, but I like rain.  I ate some stellar Thai food, delicious Cuban food, and a crappy chicken salad sandwich.  I got blisters on my feet, I took lots of buses, rode a monorail, and a light rail.  I slept on a couch, the coldest air mattress on the planet, and a bed.  I went to a concert for a local Seattle band, which I ended up liking a lot. 

 

It was a pretty good trip.

I Love This Face!

Addie
January 22, 2009
























This pretty baby is ONE YEAR OLD!

My Favorite Seester!!!

UPDATE: I had this post all ready to publish on the correct day, but something happened with blogger, and it didn't go through when I set it to. It's okay, though, because in my family we celebrate birthdays a whole week before and after they happen.

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Today is my favorite sister's favorite day-- her birthday! Sara and I really didn't get along when I was younger because I always wanted to be just like her, and she didn't like that. When I was three, I broke her new dollhouse. When I was thirteen, I stole her portable CD player (and anything else she left behind when she went to college). I'm pretty sure I annoyed the living hell out of her. One day something changed, because now we are closer than ever, and I am her biggest fan. Thank you for not killing me all of those years. Thanks for staying up with me on my loneliest nights and talking to me for hours on the phone while we watched QVC until three in the morning. I am so glad I have someone else who thinks it is fun to drive around Springfield, Missouri in a cherry red Mustang while wearing chote bandanas and listening to Jesse McCartney. Wanna chug a warm can of beer and ride a Ferris wheel with me?

Photo by Adria Dismuke

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, I got to go pick up Addie and bring her over to spend some opening gifts. After stopping at TEN different stores the day before, I finally found a Christmas dress for her at 1:30am! I also made her matching bows, and she sure was cute.

Happy Birthday Lil' Brudder!

Brudder, Bubba, BJ, Kid... You won't see any kind of sappy tribute to your life here, so if that's what you're looking for, then you must have me confused with the nice sister. All I have to offer you on this, the dawn of your 21st birthday, are a few poorly scanned childhood photographs to remind us all of how adorable you once were...



...and also to remind us of the poor fashion choices you made as a young boy.



Oh, and a couple of pictures of the grown up you are turning into. Who gave you permission to get taller than me, or stronger? That little girl is amazing, and I know she loves her crazy dad.

Happy Birthday!

Life in Fast Motion

So I have officially become a bad blogger. That's okay, though, because I think it means I have a life. Maybe. Last time I updated, I was in Missouri to see my grandpa for the last time. My mom and I got there after a 36-hour experience on the road with the neighbors that live accross the street from her. They were coincidentally making the drive that week to visit their daughter in Nevada, Missouri, which is about an hour away from the tiny town where my grandparents live. It was an interesting journey, to say the least. I ended up leaving my cell phone at the Days Inn in Salina, Kansas on the way out there. I ended up having no phone until the day before we left to fly back. It's not like I would have gotten decent phone reception there anyway, so it was okay. While in Missouri, I got to meet some relatives that I'd never met before. My mom has a half-brother who has three kids that I didn't know about, and I got to meet them. They were mostly nice. I say mostly because the youngest one-- 15 years old-- was quiet, and shy and strange. My mom also has a step-sister who has three kids, the oldest two I'd never known about. So, yay for unknown cousins, I guess. Anyway, the night after we arrived my grandpa passed away after a brief fight with bone cancer. My seester was able to take time away from her job to fly out for an eventful (or not so eventful) week of celebrating, funeral-going, commiserating, RV-sleeping, and bad beer drinking. I was hoping to add a picture or two here, but my camera was out of commission during the trip, and Seester has not sent me any pictures yet.

The day before we left for Missouri, I accepted a job in Colorado. I had no idea that I would even be going to Missouri at that point, and I had agreed to start on the 22nd of August. That meant that when I returned to Utah on the 18th, that I would have less than a week to pack my apartment and the things at my mom's house before I flew out to Colorado that Friday. Combine the lack of time, and my lack of planning ahead, and I was a stressed mess! I managed to clean my apartment in time, and pack two boxes of less than 50 pounds each to check as luggage. I arrived at DIA after spending the entire flight staring at the hottest guy I'd ever seen. I was so flustered trying to follow him off the plane that I forgot my carry-on, and had to turn around and go back onto the plane and get it. I am retarded.

More later!

i have better things to do than blog when i'm not in utah

I have been awful at updating since I've been on vacation, I know. I think it keeps the suspense up... leaves you all wondering what kinds of shennanigans I am getting myself into now. Well, I thought I'd slip a little picture post in here so you all don't die in anticipation.

Addie is getting so big!



Megan and I in the 'limo' at the beginning
of the best July 4th EVER!

My favorite ***sparkly*** fireworks peeking out from behind a tree.

Daisy Belle

This is Daisy Belle. I adopted her on my birthday. She lives at my mom's house, because I live in an apartment. She sleeps in my bed when I am not there. She is overweight... a pure flabrador retriever. We are friends.

January is Full of Changes!

There are days when something happens that I think I should blog about. A lot of those days have gone by, and I don't have a clue what to say. Since I have a whole month to catch up on, I'll keep it quick.


♥On January 4th, 2008, the Cooley family was expanded by one. Addilyn Marie Cooley was born around 4pm in Boulder, Colorado, while I was somewhere in the middle of Wyoming, trying to get there before she arrived!




♥On January 22, I accepted a new offer for a full time job. Now I don't have to work two part-time jobs! Yay for no more waiting tables! I start next Monday, so we'll see how I like it.



♥I have been sick for about three weeks now. I am so done, it's not even funny.



♥It has snowed here at least every other day for the past month... I am just guessing, but that feels accurate. It snowed so much, that our snow tubing activity at Soldier Hollow was canceled. Argh!



♥I... Ummm.... Errrr..... I am in the *cough* Relief Society Presidency *cough*. Ummm.... yeah. I don't know exactly who was the brilliant one to think of me, but they must not have been aware of my unwillingness to get out of bed in the morning... or maybe they were, and this is their evil plan.



♥I have a new favorite movie- Juno. I saw it twice in the theater, and I have the soundtrack. It's an excellent film, and I highly recommend it. I mentioned that fact to one of my roommates (we'll just call her 'Dagron'), and she let me know how much she hated it, and said that she walked out of the theater because it was - and I quote - "vulgar and disgusting". Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Oh, Provo.



♥Oh, and my sister turned thirty, so everyone go and make fun of her now.

Blog Is A Weird Word

I'm not really sure what I am doing back on this thing. I haven't updated it in almost a year, so that's pretty lame right there. I feel like I should be catching the internet-world up with my life, but I am not going to. I am too lazy. I will start from right here, right now, and we'll see how long I can keep going.

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my whole famn damily is coming to utah for thanksgiving, and i'm not sure that i am exactly looking forward to it. sara is driving down from oregon with jeremy, brian and his baby's momma are coming from colorado, and scott and his nasty dog are driving out with MY DAD. to stay at my mom's house. not kidding. that's all my siblings, plus my divorced parents, two dogs, a cat, and my weird stepdad. throw his kids in there, with the four illegitimate grandchildren, and you've got all the ingredients for the holiday from hell. oh, and don't forget the fact that we have one working shower in the whole house. i'm almost happy that i have to work on wednesday, friday, and saturday. i love my life.

Ellie Mae!

This is Ellie! Isn't she the cutest?

Funked Out Saturday Night

So I went to the most awesomely cool concert last night! I took 186 pictures, and I was trying to think of an equally awesome and cool way to share them with everyone. That's how this blog came to be, and it will forever stay awesomely cool!
Here are a few of the pictures I took at the John Mayer Trio concert. Opening was Joss Stone.