First Christmas in Our New Home

Scott, Milo, and I had a great first Christmas in our new home! As you've seen from my earlier posts, the house was nicely decorated and our tree turned out really well. Scott and I spent Christmas eve at home and had our own celebration. The majority pf my morning was spent making my mom's trifle. We have it every year in Canada and I wanted to continue the tradition here. We opened some presents and had an early dinner. My family has a tradition of eating meatballs and perogies on Christmas eve, so that's what we made for dinner. We had a bunch of leftovers so decided to take some over to Scott's parents. His mom had knee replacement surgery a few weeks ago so we figured they wouldn't object to leftovers. When we came home we opened a couple more presents and then went to bed.

On Christmas day Scott woke me up around 7:30 to open the rest of our presents to and from each other. We both got some good swag and Milo was pretty happy with the treats and toys Santa brought him. He even got some stocking stuffers from his grandma and grandpa Kich in Canada. He was excited that they didn't forget about him. After our gifts were opened I headed back into the kitchen to make a couple of dishes to take over to Scott's parents place. They had the Cooley family Christmas at their house. We went over mid afternoon and just hung out waiting for everyone else to arrive. It wasn't a huge gathering; there was myself, Scott, Gretchen and Nolan (Scott's parents), Matt, Jen, and Jack (the siblings), Brandi (sister in law), our niece Jaycee, and the four dogs: Milo, Chubs, Elvis, and Scooter. We had fun exchanging gifts and stockings. A few of us got something prank-like in our stockings. Scott is deathly afraid of mice and rats and he got a giant jelly belly rat in his stocking. I had Nolan and got him a coffee mug with his picture on it. Under the picture it said "crap garbage" which is one of Nolan's favorite sayings in the world. We all got a good laugh when he opened it.

One of the night's highlights was that it was Jaycee's first Christmas. After everything she went through being born so early, we're all so glad that she's healthy and happy. As expected, Jaycee got a lot of loot! The item she was most fascinated with was a box of tic tacs, go figure! She was laughing her head off every time we shook the tic tacs box. She started going red in the face and ended up getting the hiccups. Needless to say, I think she had a great first Christmas. All of the excitement tuckered her out at the end of the night.

Overall, I think everyone had a good Christmas. Scott and I called my family in Canada to wish them a merry Christmas. I haven't been back to Guelph for two years now but it was nice to at least speak with my family on the holiday. My parents are actually coming in today for a visit. They won't be here very long, but it's better than nothing. Scott and I are looking forward to spending time with them and to show them our house as they've only seen pictures. Merry Christmas everyone and a happy new year!

All Ready for Christmas!

Scott and I picked up our first real Christmas tree last Friday.  Obviously we've had real trees before when we lived with our parents, but this is our first tree in our new home.  I have to say, we got a pretty awesome tree!  It's about 8 feet tall and is pretty full.  It's a fur tree which is nice because the needles aren't prickly.  It was sort of an ordeal getting the tree home though.  The place we picked the tree up from was down the road from Scott's work and on my way home from work, so we decided to meet there.  Since Scott has the bigger car (Pathfinder) we decided that he'd drive the tree home.  The workers at the tree lot tied the tree down and told us it was secure.  Yea, they were wrong!!!  I got a call from Scott on my way home from the tree lot...the tree fell off his car.  I thought he was kidding at first but apparently the guys at the tree place didn't do as good of a job tying down the tree as they claimed.  Poor Scott had to pull over and fix the tree by himself.  Needless to say, it was snowing and freezing cold!!  I think next year we'll plan on going in one car, just in case. 

The tree and Scott made it home in one piece.  We kept it outside overnight to let the branches fall.  We brought the tree in the house Saturday morning.  Since we haven't had a real tree before, we had to string all of the ornaments we bought last year on clearance.  I decided it would be a good idea to test the lights before putting them on the tree and it's a good thing I did.  We bought the lights last year as well but never pulled them out of the box.  What were supposed to be colored lights were all white.  Since we bought them a year ago, we couldn't really take them back.  We just went to the store and bought some more.  So, the tree is all done and looks great in our house! 

  
I also decorated the mantle and hung our stockings.  Milo's is in the middle.



I think it's safe to say that we're all ready for Christmas now.  Both the inside and outside of our house look great.  Scott's mom and dad came over on Sunday to check out the decorations and were pretty impressed.  My parent's will be coming into town on the 28th, so let's hope they're equally satisfied with our hard work.  Now the countdown begins until Christmas is here....just 18 more days.  My work is gracious and gives me time off from Christmas through New Years.  Scott gets a couple days off, but not as many as me.  Happy Holidays everyone!

Thanksgiving

Scott, Milo, and I celebrated American Thanksgiving last week with Scott's family.  Since I don't get to officially celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving at the beginning of October, it's nice to at least get some time off for a Thanksgiving Holiday.  We enjoyed a nice long weekend together, although it went by much too fast.  I was able to get all of my Christmas shopping done and now the presents are just waiting to be put under the Christmas tree, which Scott and I are picking up tomorrow night.  I'm excited for our first Christmas tree in our new home.  We bought and put up our Christmas lights on the house and transformed the inside into a Christmas scene.  As Scott would say, it looks like Christmas threw up in the house.  All of the decorations turned out great and really got us in the festive mood.  Overall, it was a nice holiday weekend but going back to work on Monday was a killer! 

Christmas lights are all up!

  

This CrAzY thing humans call Halloween - By Milo Cooley

I was SO excited (as always) when my Mommy and Daddy came home from work Monday night.  What threw me for a loop was when my Mommy pulled out this weird looking piece of clothing from the closet and said "Happy Halloween hunny, you're going to be a caterpillar!".  A few things popped into my mind:  1) What is this thing called Halloween?, 2) What is a caterpillar?, and 3) Is my Mommy going to put that thing on me?  Sure enough, I was told to "sit" (which of course I did since I'm a good boy) and then had to wait patiently for my Mommy to strap my caterpillar costume on me.  Usually I don't mind having human clothes on me, but this costume thingy was kind of itchy.  I walked around for a while shaking like crazy in hopes of getting my costume off (don't tell my parents though).  I wasn't successful so I gave up and just decided to play along since my Mommy and Daddy kept telling me how cute I looked (see below). 

After dinner, my Daddy told me I needed to go in my room for a bit (they call it my crate but I think room sounds better!).  I went in, as I was told to do, but was really confused.  I didn't remember doing anything bad that I needed to be punished for, so why did I have to go to my room?  Then it started...door bell ringing, kids yelling "Trick or Treat", and lots of giggling.  I'm not the best behaved boy when new people come to my house (or at least that's what my parents tell me).  I like to bark a lot and jump up and down; this must be why I was sent to my room.  After being locked in my room for a few minutes I decided that I wanted out to see what was going on outside.  My Mommy's a sucker for my cute looks and feels bad when I'm locked in my room so I started crying and stared at her with my big brown eyes.  It worked!!!  I was let out of my room but was told that I needed to stay on my Mommy's lap while Daddy answered the door. 

I still barked every time the door was opened.  I'm a dog, what do you humans expect out of me?!  My parents took turns holding me and giving out "candy" (I think it's like my treats) to the little humans who were wearing weird clothes like me.  After the front door was closed, I would be put back down on the ground where I would run around like crazy.  My parents kept asking me what I was doing...as if I can answer...I'm a dog, hello!!!  If I could speak their language I would have told them that I was checking the entire house to make sure that none of those oddly dressed little humans snuck in.  Last thing I want is some stranger in my house stealing my treats! 

Between the rounds of little humans coming to my house, I enjoyed looking out the window to see if any of them were wearing the same costume as me.  Sadly, none of them were (I guess this caterpillar thing isn't very cool).  I did get the chance to scare a few little humans though, which I loved.  Since I'm small, I'm hard to see through the front window.  When a little human would get close to my door I'd start barking like crazy.  I guess my job on Halloween was to do the tricking.  My Mommy took a picture of me getting ready to "trick" the little humans. 

I don't like Halloween as much as Christmas, but I guess it's an okay human holiday.  My parents tell me that I'll have to do this all over again next year.  I just hope they let me pick out my own costume.  That's all for now.  Thanks for reading humans (big and small).

~ Milo

Halloween

In talking with one of my doctors at work on Friday, I was reminded of how the wonderful Halloween costumes my mom made for me as a kid often had to fit over snowsuits or other various pieces of winter clothing.  I was everything from a caterpillar (picture below) and Spanish dancer to a lion and princess.  If you ask me, I had some pretty cool costumes.  Too bad I didn't inherit my mom's sewing abilities!  My kids (one day) will probably fall victim to store bought costumes, unless my mom wants to make costumes and ship them (hint, hint).

The weather here in Utah hasn't been too bad.  It's a bit chilly, but I think the Trick or Treaters will escape from having to bundle up under their costumes; lucky ducks!  Scott and I have a few decorations up outside, but didn't go overboard.  We do have this neat grim reaper that hangs from the roof and shakes and makes scary noises when someone walks by. 

We also carved pumpkins with Jack, Brandi, and Jaycee.  Since Brandi doesn't trust Jaycee with a knife just yet, she painted her pumpkin.  I don't think Jaycee was a fan of the paint (see below).  Regardless, she did a pretty good job for a 6 monther.

Once Jaycee was done, it was time for the adults to carve their pumpkins.  I made a ghost with the word "BOO" in it, Scott made the Apple logo, and Milo (yes he can carve pumpkins...he's a super talented dog) made Mike Wazowski from Monster's Inc.  Mine and Milo's pumpkins turned out great, but Scott had a little trouble at first.  When people say that duct tape fixes anything, they mean it!  Scott fixed up his pumpkin and was able to re-do the design.  Below are pictures of the pumpkins we made.

From left to right: Scott's, Ariane's, Milo's

Scott's ghetto pumpkin fix up

Overall, it was a pretty fun night filled with lots of laughs!  I'm looking forward to seeing what all the neighborhood kids will be dressed as tonight.  Let's hope we actually get kids, unlike our second year living in Arizona.  We bought candy and not one single kid came by!  Happy Halloween everyone!

Birthday Celebrations

I find that as you get older, birthdays tend to become just like any other day. When I was a kid I loved birthdays and would get excited a month or two in advance. I don't know why I was so excited to become an adult...what was I thinking?! That being said, I actually had a pretty good birthday this year. I took the day off work, which was VERY nice. Scott worked a half day so we could spend some more time together. When he came home from work he surprised me with an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. I opened some gifts from Scott and Milo (I don't know how they let him in the store or where he got money from) and was very happy with what I got. Later Scott and I watched Bad Teacher, which was actually better than I expected and was pretty funny. Scott's parents came over after dinner for cake and some more presents. That was it for the actual birthday day fun. On Saturday I headed over to Brandi's house (my sister-in-law) to do some crafts and spend time with Jaycee. Since I hadn't seen Jaycee in a few weeks I spent most of the time holding, feeding, and playing with her. She's just so cute and precious, so obviously my crafts took a back seat. I got one craft done; it was a super cute reindeer (will post a pic soon). After craft time, it was time for dinner. We celebrated my birthday with Scott's family Saturday night and went to dinner at Red Lobster. It was a lot of fun, good food, more awesome gifts, and lastly, embarrassing birthday singing. Overall, I had a really good birthday. Just two more years until the big 3-0; YIKES!!!!

Been a while...sorry!

It's been a while since I last blogged...sorry to those of you who read!  While it's been about a month since I was last on, I'm sad to say that there's not much to report :(  Life has pretty much been the same.  I've come to realize that the older you get, the more routine and less exciting life can be.  You wake up every morning, eat breakfast, go to work, come home, eat dinner, relax, go to bed, and then do the same thing the next day.  That's just life I guess!!  I did have the misfortune of contracting a lovely bacterial infection the other week.  What started out as a sinus infection (which I didn't know I had) eventually spread to my throat and ear.  I ended up going to the doctor and was put on amoxicillin.  After a few days on the meds I started feeling a lot better.  I did miss out on attending my niece Jaycee's blessing though.  Since she was a preemie, her immune system isn't the best.  I didn't want to risk getting her sick (since she was just sick the week before), so I stayed home.  Scott was able to go and took a bunch of pictures for me.  Luckily Scott didn't catch what I had! 

To help save on monthly bills, Scott and I opted out of getting cable.  Back tracking a few months, we found out during our home inspection that there's a big antenna in our attic.  Being the electronic genius that Scott is, he figured out a way to tap into the antenna and get us 50 free channels.  Quite a few of them are in Spanish but we get most of the local channels so I can still watch all of my shows.  Lately the Ute football games have been on channels we don't get so we ended up going over to my in-laws last weekend to watch the football game and the Tigers baseball game.  Scott's mom is from Michigan so we've become Tigers fans :)  Sadly, both teams lost.  Two good things came out of the weekend though, I got a new pair of running shoes (early b-day present from Scott) and Scott's mom treated us to Chinese food for dinner.  

One thing I failed to mention is that it snowed here last week.  The temperature have since warmed up, but seeing the snow in the mountains is kind of depressing.  I'm not ready for winter yet!!!  That's all for now.  Hopefully it won't be another month before I get a chance to write.      

More Furniture

My parents have been holding onto their old furniture for a while so that I could make use of it when I got my first house. Well, the time finally came for them to send their collection our way.  Scott and I received a nice delivery of furniture yesterday afternoon that makes our house look fuller. There were a few hiccups with the delivery however. The furniture was supposed to be delivered last week. Also, one of the items they had sent wasn't on the truck. And finally, Scott and I had to help the mover as they only sent one guy to move a couple of couches and other various heavy items. I thought the whole reason people hired movers was so they didn't have to do the work themselves...guess not. Scott and I haven't had good luck with moving companies! When we moved to Arizona in 2008 our stuff was really delayed and we ended up having to live in a hotel for a few days. Not to mention they damaged a few pieces of our furniture. We're just glad that the furniture arrived and are very thankful to my mom and dad for sending it all the way from Guelph to Salt Lake!!!

New Bed

When I sleep I like to spread out...I'm talking one leg hanging off the bed and the other sprawled out into the middle.  I often sleep on an angle as well.  When Scott and I first moved in together we had a full/double bed.  After a few months we decided the bed wasn't big enough to comfortably sleep two people so we upgraded to a Queen.  After 4+ years of sleeping on the Queen bed we decided, yet again, that it was time to upgrade to a bigger bed.   Last Saturday a King bed was delivered to our house.  It looked so big compared to our Queen...or should I say made the Queen look small.  I'm now able to spread out at night without taking up any of Scott's room.  We've both been able to sleep better which has been a huge bonus.  We moved our Queen into the guest room downstairs and gave our old Double bed to Scott's younger brother Matt who was in need of a new bed.
   

New Bed!

The Painting Never Ends!!!

So I decided that our front door and shutters needed a paint change. The front door was pretty banged up and really needed a fresh coat of paint and I just didn't like the green shutters. I went to Home Depot the other day to pick up some paint. I found a really nice colour called cranberry (maroon colour). When the guy behind the counter mixed the paint it came out a rose pink colour...not at all what I wanted. Who would want a pink door?? I had the Depot guy mix another can of paint which looked like it came out the right colour. Friday night after work I decided that I was going to put a coat of paint on the door. I'm glad I did because the colour was still off. It came out a fushia colour and was gross looking. So, this morning Scott and I went back to the store to pick out a different colour. The one we chose is called Bordeaux and it looks pretty good. The door is all done (just drying) and the shutters just need some touching up in a couple places. I think the house will look really nice when we hang up the shutters. I'll be sure to post some pictures of the finished product.

Before

After

After

Jaycee is HOME

Our family got some great news today! Scott's brother and his wife were finally able to bring their baby Jaycee home today. After being in the hospital just one day shy of 4 months she's finally out of the hospital!!!! Naturally Scott and I wanted to see her as soon as possible so we headed over to Jack and Brandi's right from work. It was so nice being able to spend time with her outside of the hospital and I know Jaycee's mom and dad are thrilled to finally have their baby girl home. Scott and I both took turns holding her and she was pretty alert! When I was done holding Jaycee I handed her over to Scott. About two minutes later Jaycee spit up all over Scott's chest. We're not talking a little spit up...that little girl projectiled all over her Uncle. I laughed and told Jaycee that she was a good girl for not throwing up on her Aunt. She's just so cute and Scott and I love spending time with her. We're so happy for Jack and Brandi and know they will be great parents. Scott and I are looking forward to spending lots more time with Jaycee and watching her grow!!

Weekend

So I really don't enjoy how fast the weekends go by.  It seems that Scott and I have things to do around the house every weekend that somehow take up most of our free time.  By the time Sunday night rolls around I don't know where the weekend has gone.  Hopefully once we're more settled into the new house we can enjoy the weekends.  On that note, we did get the chance to take in a movie.  We went to see The Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  While I'm pretty sure it wasn't supposed to be a sad movie, I still caught myself crying a few times.  The movie focuses a lot on animal testing and it got to me.  I just kept thinking how sad it would be if people needed to test things on Milo!  We both enjoyed the movie as it was a good mix of action and story development.  I would recommend it! 

As for stuff around the house, Scott changed our outside lights as the ones that were up before were hideous!!!  When we turned the power back on to test the lights we noticed that they turn on and off by themselves for no reason.  It was pretty annoying so we ended up having to take out the bulbs.  I'm guessing the wiring was done incorrectly but we don't really want to hire an electrician to come out right now.  Looks like we'll have to wait a bit before our outside lights work.  I've managed to get more decorations hung and even painted a wood craft over the weekend.  Our house is coming together nicely! 

Our Niece Jaycee

Scott and I became an Uncle and Aunt in April to our cute little niece Jaycee Michelle Cooley.  Jaycee's due date was July 17 but she decided that she wanted to meet the family earlier than that.  Even though she was almost 3 months early, she was still as cute as ever!  After months spent in two different hospitals and a couple of surgeries Jaycee finally gets to come home next week!!!  This is the first child for my brother and sister-in-law (Jack and Brandi).  Scott and I are so excited to have a niece and have already been spoiling her....and she's not even home yet!  It's still a little early for me to say if she looks like her mom or dad but I'm sure that will change as she gets older. 

The other day I was looking at pictures of Jaycee from the time she was born until now.  I couldn't believe how different she looks.  It's like she's a different baby all together.  Scott and I got to hold her a couple of weeks ago and loved every moment of it.  She slept most of the time and purred when I was holding her.  I had to double check I wasn't holding a cat because that's what she sounded like.  My facebook profile picture was me holding her....NO, it's not my kid (a few people have asked).  We're excited that Jack and Brandi get to bring her home soon and can FINALLY enjoy having a baby.  They're going to be great parents and have waited a long time from this day. 

                                                               When Jaycee was born

                                           I love this picture!

"Guys, you're being TOO loud!!!"

                                  Scott holding Jaycee                               First time I got to hold Jaycee

Our First Home

So, as many of you may know already, Scott and I purchased our first home last month. The whole process affected many emotions: happy, anxious, nervous, excited, etc. After looking at about 20 homes we finally found the one we wanted to call OURS.  While we looked at lots of nice homes they were all missing something.  The house we ended up buying didn’t have EVERYTHING we wanted, but it was pretty close.  We compromised a bit on location to get a house we wanted.  We were originally looking in a different part of the valley but weren’t able to find something we really loved.  Our house is actually in a good location.  We’re close to the stores, the freeway, our works, and my in-laws (which makes them happy since none of Scott’s family lives super duper close).  

Our house is a rambler (or bungalow as they’re called up in Canada).  It has a finished basement which is a HUGE plus, especially for Scott.  He’s turned it into his video game/movie area which is fine by me.  I call it his “man cave” and even got him a sign for it.  There are 4 bedrooms (three of which are upstairs) and 3 baths.  We have a nice guest suite in the basement which will be great for visitors (not that we’ll probably get too many). 

Any ways, here are some pictures of the place we now call home.  Milo loves having all this space to himself and gets lost quite regularly in the large backyard.  I’m assuming it’s like a jungle to him!  

                                                                      Our house!

                                                                                            living room

                                                                            kitchen

                                                                          hall bath

                                                                       Scott's sign

                                                         media area in the basement

                                                                     deck out back

                                                                        Milo's playground