Garth Brooks

In August, my sister in law Danielle won free tickets to a Garth Brooks concert in Sun Valley. I was so lucky because she chose to take me, which of course I couldn't refuse... So off we went to Sun Valley! It was phenomenal! He was accompanied by the Sun Valley Civic Symphony... I know what you are thinking... Thunder Rolls on the huge timpani drums... (ok, so maybe you are only thinking that if you are a band geek like me...) but let me just tell you it was breath taking!

 We stopped in Atomic City and ate at Pickle's Place, Home of the Atomic Burger... 

This is Danielle's Atomic Burger... Mmmm..

Here we are waiting to get into the seating area... It was soooo hot!

 We were sitting in a grassy area outside of the main tent. We were there a couple of hours before the show opened and they played music over the loud speakers and we brought a picnic and tried to read while we waited. This is our view. We were actually really close to the screen which was nice but we couldn't see the actual show. The seats to go inside started at $250.00. Yikes! 

These people were funny... I never would have thought to bring a table, table cloth, a vase with flowers and some candles... I couldn't believe how many people had done the same thing! Oh well, to each their own...

The show was great! Garth Brooks is a fantastic performer! He was telling all sorts of stories about his childhood and his the things that influenced his music the most.

And, as if the day wasn't already good enough, Trisha Yearwood (I totally didn't know that she was his wife) came out and they sang together! FaNtAsTiC!!!

The symphony was the icing on the cake! What a treat! I seriously had chills! I guess I had never thought about it, but they used a huge sheet of metal to make the thunder. Wowee! 

Thank you so much Danielle! I had the most amazing time!

Christmas?

So... growing up... we didn't ever have Christmas lights on the house. Maybe a couple out in the tree and I guess one year we had a row of icicle lights over the garage... but I love Christmas lights. So, I decided now that I have my own house... we will have them. So every year we have put them up but never taken any pictures. I know, right? What's up with that? My favorite year was our first Christmas at Pulling Courts... We made the railing on the porch look like a candy cane. So sad... it only exists in my memories... So this year, I was determined to take some pictures and of course, we had no snow. We had little storms here and there but nothing to cover the grass... So, since this is Idaho... I knew that I had to snow at least one good snow after Christmas so we waited... and waited... and then we were the only house on the block with lights still up but we waited... and FINALLY at the end of February I got my storm... So, I went out at 7am so I could get it before it all melted.... These pictures are harder to take than you would think! After messing with all the settings on the camera for almost a half hour and freezing half to death, (because I got so excited I just ran out in my pj's instead of getting properly dressed) I gave up. So this is what I came up with... hehe... I'm happy because I have one half decent photo of my lights. :) 

Silhouettes...

Last November, all the Cooley's were in town for Thanksgiving. We decided to take the fam out for some pictures... As usual, I had to work that day so I didn't get go to all the places they went, but I did tag along to a tunnel to try out silhouette pictures. We had such a blast but being November, it was so cold! The poor kiddies almost froze to death! I did a few edits and here's what I came up with:

This was all of the Cooley grandkids...

 Alissa, Maycee, Blaine, Landon, Allison, Ashley, Collin, Katelyn, Easton & Dawson

Danielle & Darren

 

Easton, Brandon, Aubrey & Dawson

  

Allison, Katelyn, Shawn, Susan, Blaine & Ashley

 

Joey, Christopher, Katelyn, Ryan & Ashley

Thanks Cooley Fam! I had a blast!

Loser!

Alright... I know that I'm a loser because I haven't posted since like... October... Seriously, I realize how pathetic that is... So, I'm going to make an attempt to catch up on some things because now I have a little more time on my hands... Yay! For starters, I now have a new job. I am no longer at the Dollar Tree. Let's just pause for a WOO HOO!!! I'm now working for Anesthesia Associates... That's right, a doctor's office so I have doctor hours. Off by 4:00pm Mon-Thur and off by 3:00 on Friday's for an early start to my weekend. No more nights, no more weekends. Isn't that fantastic? I'm truly been blessed because now I actually get to have dinner with my dear husband. Don't misunderstand, he never made me feel like a bad wife, but there is something to be said for making a warm meal for your husband and pack lunch for the next day... That's what good women do for their hubbies! Anywho... enough babbling for now. I'll post more later.... promise!

Oops...

On Saturday, October 17th, we and our friends Matt and Melonie decided to go dirt biking for the last run of the season. We had such a great time and the leaves were beautiful! We could not have asked for better weather. We got to the top of Black Rock Canyon and then decided to head back to the bottom. I'm the wimp of the bunch so naturally I was at the back of the group and often they would all slow down to wait for me and once they saw me, they would take off again. I thought it was a little strange when I came around the corner and Kevin was standing on the side of the trail and Matt was on his bike... So I killed my engine and asked what was going on and Kevin said... "I fell..." I asked, "Are you ok?" and his response was, "Probably not..." Hummm.... It turns out, he was going a little too fast and when he came around the corner he realized it was too sharp and he was going to head off road and in the instant he decided that he didn't want to do that, he turned the bike hard and pulled the front break instead of the back one... So, the bike fell right over onto his leg and it died. It was such a beast to start and Matt was trying his best to restart it while Kevin regained his composure. The bugs came out in full force and there were wasps everywhere. There was a wasp on Melonie's helmet that she swatted and it got angry and bit her... Then, it went down the back of her shirt and continued to bite. Poor girl! She couldn't get her helmet off and once we finally got the wasp out I think we counted 5 bites in addition to the first. Those suckers hurt! So, after Matt push started the bike, we finally got going again and got to the bottom and loaded the bikes. What and end to the summer! Here are some photos of Kevin's foot:

This is right after he first took his shoes off. Can you see the bump
forming on the side of his left foot?


This is the first night when we went to bed. You can see the
swelling increasing and the bruising is beginning...



This is the second day. You can't really tell by the picture but
now you can't really see the bump from the bone in the ankle.
It is just swollen.


Pretty purple! This picture is kinda fuzzy but you can kinda see
that his whole foot has a slight blue tint to it...
I don't think that's normal.


This is Kevin with his bandage and my nice fuzzy sock. He said it
was toogirly to wear to my parents house for dinner so naturally
I thought I better put it on the blog... hehe

Kevin is doing much better now. His battle wounds are healing nicely. He'll be good as new in no time. :)