It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

It's the beginning of the school year! Of course any time this comes around I think of that commercial (I think it was for Staples) with the dad taking the kids shopping for school supplies and bounding down the aisles to that song. Such a good commercial! haha! This means Jaryn is back to work, subbing at the middle school across the street from the apartment. She worked the whole first week, and most of the second (could have worked more but I needed a couple of days to get ready for VACATION!).

That being said... we leave to meet up with Jaryn's family on the beach on Saturday morning and we are super excited! We are excited to see family and also excited for the relaxation! We'll post more when we get back!

Exciting News!!

Yesterday we found out that Nic got accepted to Grad school at Argosy University in Nashville! He will be starting this Fall, and will be working towards a Masters in Counseling. This program should take him 2-2.5 years to finish. He will be doing most of his work online and spending 1 weekend/semester in the classroom. We are both very excited for him to be able to take this next step towards becoming a licensed counselor!

Lots of exciting things coming up!

Well, like the title says, we have a lot of exciting things coming up in the next few weeks!

Next Saturday (the 25th) Jaryn is taking two more Praxis exams, so that she can teach in TN. Unfortunately, she won't get the results back before school starts, so she is planning on spending the next year subbing and getting applications out. She got the results from the first test she took, and she passed with flying colors! We are praying for the same outcome on these next two! School starts in just a few short weeks, so hopefully she will be busy subbing again soon!

Nic is still busy working, but he has some exciting events on the horizon as well. He has applied to Argosy University in Nashville, to go to grad school for a Masters in Counseling. The last step in the application process is an interview, which will take place later this month! As long as that goes well, he is all set to start in the fall! We will keep you updated on how that goes!

It has been a busy couple of weeks. We had a great time with family and friends in New York, and immediately after coming home we started babysitting/house sitting for a week! It was crazy to be looking after a 6 yr old all week! We had a good time and now we are back in our apartment and just trying to enjoy the summer. We hope that you all are enjoying yours as well!

NEW YORK!

I am writing this post from the couch in my parents house! We left TN on Wednesday morning and drove to Akron, Ohio to stay at my (Jaryn's) Uncle David & Aunt Jody's house. We had a very nice time visiting with them, and on Thursday morning we headed out for our next stop in Buffalo, NY at Nic's Uncle Phil & Aunt Kelley's house for lunch. It was great to see them and our cousins, and we had a delicious lunch! Finally, later in the afternoon, we headed on to Canandaigua.

We had a very busy weekend! On Thursday night a bunch of people came over to my parents house and we hung out for a while. Friday we spent most of the day with Nic's family for his brother, Luke's, high school graduation. Saturday was spent with Jaryn's family at her cousin Abbie's wedding. Finally, we spent Sunday morning with Jaryn's aunts and uncles, having brunch at her parents' house, and in the afternoon we went to a surprise party for a cousin. Finally, later on Sunday afternoon, we took Nic to the airport to fly back to TN to work for a few days. That was the lamest thing ever, but he'll be back in just a few days and we'll have another super busy weekend! So there is quite a bit to look forward to!

Trip to Ohio

Ok, here are some videos that we took on our trip to Ohio at the end of May!

We got off the highway for a few minutes to search for a local attraction called the Wigwam Village Inn, in Cave City, KY! haha this is something that I read about in a magazine and I just HAD to see it in real life! It was only a couple of miles off the highway, so it wasn't a major detour. As you can tell, I was quite disappointed that Nic wouldn't pull over so I could take pictures! haha!

Part of our trip through Kentucky... it was quite a long drive!

Ok, well these take a long time to upload, so that is all you are going to get for now! Hope you enjoy them!

Busy Busy Busy!

Well, it looks like its been a little while since I have posted on here. I need to put some pictures up... perhaps tomorrow? Anyways, we have been quite busy lately, and have some exciting things coming up, as well!

School is out for the summer, so Jaryn has been enjoying her time off from substitute teaching. She is taking three Praxis exams this summer (1 on June 13th and 2 on July 25th), so once those are finished with, she should be able to pursue a Tennessee teaching license. Hopefully she will have that set by the fall so that she can put applications out.

Nic is still enjoying his job. Today he interviewed at Argosy University, for their graduate program in counseling. He has also applied to Trevecca Nazarene and Tennessee State. The hope is for him to be able to start a program in the fall, which is very exciting! It is the next step in his ultimate goal of becoming a therapist.

At the end of May we took a weekend road trip to Ohio for Jaryn's couin Jesyca's wedding. It was a great trip, and it was wonderful to be with family! Our next trip will be to New York in just a few weeks!! We will be there for Nic's brother's graduation and the weddings of two more of Jaryn's cousins. We are very much looking forward to being able to spend time with family and friends! The exact dates of the trip will be June 24th-July 6th. Nic won't be there the whole time (he has to work Mon-Thurs, and he will be flying from Rochester to Nashville and back). Contact us to make plans!!

Well I think that about sums it up for now. We are enjoying the beautiful (but occasionally stormy) weather down here, and taking advantage of the great pool that our apartment complex has. We are also working with the youth group at our church and really enjoying that as well. Ok, well look for some pictures, and even some videos, to come soon! Hopefully I will add them tonight or tomorrow, but I am trying to study for my test so we'll see.

Tornado Warning!

Nic has all the Mule Day pictures, so I don't know when I'll be able to put them up here. So until then I will keep you amused with pictures from today's severe T-storm and tornado warnings! Maybe I will even put up some of the videos that we took. Yes, we decided to throw caution completely to the wind and get some pictures and videos of all the craziness. Nothing touched down here but we had friends on the other side of town with hail and actual cloud rotation. Tornadoes touched down in Murfreesboro which is about 45 minutes away from us. A lot of damage and some casualties have been reported. So if anyone reads this, I'm sure your prayers would be appreciated for the city of Murfreesboro.

Acquire the Fire and random YG Pics

Small group time. Nic with some of the guys.


Watching the basketball madness.


Hanging out at Youth Group, too cool to join in and play basketball with everyone else.


Here is a group of the kids at ATF, arm wrestling while waiting for our pizza to be delivered for lunch!

Nic and Matt (Youth Pastor... sorry about the picture, haha!) waiting for the pizza delivery guy. It took a really long time and we were very hungry!


Another group got their pizza way before we did, and had one pizza left over, so they gave it to us while we waited. We were very grateful!


Susan and Malina, taking over the little counter area so we have some place to eat our pizza once we get it!

The whole group, right before we left to come back to Columbia. I didn't take too many pictures, so you can't really tell, but we had a really good time!


Like the title says, these are some pictures from Youth Group. The top 3 are from one Wednesday night, and the others are from Acquire the Fire in Nashville. Good times!

What a week!

Jaryn finally made it back to Tennessee on Sunday after spending a week and a half in New York with her family. What was supposed to be a weekend trip to attend cousins' bridal showers turned into a week and a half while her Grandma Ruth was in the hospital! Thankfully, Grandma Ruth is home and doing well, and Jaryn had a good time visiting with friends that she didn't think she was going to be able to see. Pictures soon!

Whew!

Our life has been anything but lazy lately! This past weekend was spent in Nashville with the youth group from our church at a youth event called Acquire the Fire. It was awesome, but exhausting! Pictures will be posted soon.

This coming weekend Jaryn will be flying to New York for Abbie's and Jesyca's (both are cousins) bridal showers, which are both on Saturday. That makes it nice and convenient for the out of towners! Nic will be hanging out in TN with friends. Kyle, a friend from college who lives in Georgia is going to be coming up to keep him company!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NIC!!

Nic's 23rd Birthday was Friday, March 6th. We had a fun-filled weekend with friends to celebrate! The first few pictures are from our small group on Tuesday night celebrating both Nic and our friend Scott's birthday. Then on Friday night we had some friends over and we hung out in the Clubhouse of our apartment complex (where we had Thanksgiving with Jaryn's family). On Saturday, we had a delicious birthday lunch at PF Changs! mmm!



A look at the birthday cake from small group on Tuesday! It was delicious!


Singing happy birthday to Scott and Nic!

The set up! I made artichoke dip, stuffed mushrooms and pumpernickel bread dip! We also had an assortment of fruit, veggies & dip, and cheese & crackers.

Tracy, Nic and Dave

Scott, Todd and Matt hanging out by the food

Krystal and Ariel playing pool.


Grace and Micah playing ping-pong!


Blowing out the non-existent candles on his birthday cookie cake! Note the beer glasses on the table that were a present from friends!


Finally, on Saturday, we used up a PF Chang's gift card on a birthday lunch and did some shopping at the mall to use up an assortment of gift cards from Christmas and his birthday!

A Dinning Room Table AT LAST!

Here it is!! Our beautiful dinning room table! I thought it would be a long time before we had anything to sit at when we had people over, and I was sick of having to borrow tables and chairs from the apartment complex when we were having company. We could NOT believe it when, out of nowhere, people from church wanted to buy us a table and chairs! It even has a leaf so that it expands!








This was the first meal we made for company. We had our friend Chris over and had deluxe burgers with sweet potato fries and macaroni salad. It was a pretty delicious meal! Of course I had to take a picture of the table all set up! It was a pretty exciting night, that is for sure.
:-)

Luke's Visit!

Luke came to visit during a break from school and one of the first things we did was go to our friend Mark's house that is way out in the boondocks and shoot guns. This is probably the most redneck thing we have ever done!

Nic shooting the .22

Luke shooting the handgun

My turn! Shooting the 12 gauge.

We decided to make some s'mores in the fireplace!



The s'mores were delicious!

Luke trying to be cool.

Luke and Jaryn went to The Carter House in Franklin, TN. This is the site of a major Civil War battle that literally happened on the lawn of this family's home. You should all look up the Battle of Franklin, it is pretty interesting.

This picture was taken from where the Union trenches actually were. The marks on the building are from the Confederate soldiers shooting at them during the battle.

The basement where the family hid out during the battle.

Luke in the car, texting Marissa while Jaryn's aunt takes us on a driving tour of Nashville on Luke's last day in TN :-(

Pictures from Christmas

Getting off the plane in Chicago to get a connecting plane to Buffalo on our way to NY... It was FREEZING and snowing. This trip was a nightmare! We were supposed to get in to Buffalo around midnight, but we didn't end up getting in until 3am, and left the airport at 4am because it took so long to get off the plane and get our luggage! Ultimately we were just thankful to have made it home at all because there were a lot of people in O'Hare that probably weren't going to make it out of the airport before Christmas.

Christmas morning at Jaryn's parents' house. We had Christmas morning here, then Jaryn's cousins came over and we did Christmas with her Mom's side of the family (the Coopers). In the afternoon we went to Nic's mom's house. We had Christmas with her side of the family a couple of days later.

Our Christmas present from Justin... Thanks!

Us in our Christmas sweaters, with Zoie!

The most important part of any Cooper family gathering... the food! A delicious assortment of quiches!

Christmas with the Cooper family... Jaryn and Uncle Gary playing Santas

Jaryn's family on Christmas... Nic, Jaryn, Rebekah, Dad w/ Zoie, Mom, Justin, Lauren and Princess.

Nic playing with Carah, on Christmas at his mom's house

Nic's sister Amber with their friend Carah

Mom and dad, out to eat at Little Venice in Binghamton, NY

Jaryn's family at her grandparents' house in Binghamton, NY


Recap: We flew to NY for Christmas to spend time with our families! It was a crazy trip. We packed a lot into a few days and were totally exhausted by the time we got back to Tennessee, but of course it was worth it because we got to see most of our family and a few friends as well.

Pictures from Thanksgiving (Read from the bottom up, haha!)

Everyone outside of RCA Studio B


Here I am sitting at Elvis's piano (the one that he used to record his songs) at RCA Studio B.


Jaryn and Marianne kissing Tim McGraw at the Country Music Hall of Fame


Elvis's golden piano at the Country Music Hall of Fame with Elizabeth, Marianne and Derek


Everyone after the Rockettes show at the Opry. The girl in the pink shirt in front was actually in the show. She is a relative of a friend of Elizabeth's. She wasn't a Rockette.


And we walked around the Opryland Hotel. Here is a picture of us by a "tree" of pointsettias.


On our outing to the Opry, we stopped by Liz's work and she checked Nic's hearing.

Oops! Haha we had a few problems with the dishwasher! Nic spent most of the night trying to clean this up!


After dinner we played Balderdash! It was a lot of fun!


Everyone! Us, Jaryn's parents, her sisters, Aunt Linda, Dick, Debbie, Tricia and Elizabeth!


All the food! It was so delicious!


Here is the picture of the whole set up... we rented out the Rec. Room of our apartment complex so that we would have enough room for everyone. It worked out really well!


Mom and Dad checking the turkey!! mmm!


Ok, so bear with me. I have never done a blog with pictures in it, and I don't think this is turning out so well! haha! But these are just a few pictures from when Jaryn's family came down for Thanksgiving. Her parents and sisters, Aunt Linda (who lives in Nashville) and her boyfriend Dick, and her cousins's Elizabeth (goes to school in Nashville), Tricia and their mom Debbie were all over at our place.

After Thanksgiving, Marianne (Elizabeth and Tricia's sister) and her Fiance Derek came out from Greenville to hang out for the weekend. We went to the Grand Ole Opry to see the Rockets, and to the Country Music Hall of Fame.