My annoying husband.....and My favorite things

Okay, so the title might sound harsh but, I awoke early this morning to my husband chanting loudly "Reeebels....Reeebels....Reeebels". Apparently he was looking forward to the evenings big UNLV basketball game.



I will be the first to admit that I am grumpy when I wake up. Mornings, naps, anytime I wake up I am grumpy. (It's a Rowe thing). The thing is, I didn't even have to wake up as early this morning because my kids are all ready out for Christmas vacation. I was selfishly looking forward to an extra half hour of shut-eye. This kind of thing is not uncommon for Jeff. He is such a morning person and I am the complete opposite. He has woken me up at like 5am before just to talk. Some may think this is sweet but, I am sorry, I have a hard time even thinking that early. So, Jeff is chanting his "Runnin Rebels" chant so loudly that it wakes all 4 kids up. They all begin to pile into our bed. Jeff decides it's a good time to talk to our kids about their different birth stories. I am still trying to ignore and maybe get a minute more of sleep. So, he purposely asks questions like, "What pregnancy would you say was your hardest pregnancy?", "Which was the most painful pregnancy?", "What child was easiest to give birth to?". I mean, who asks these kind of questions first thing in the morning? Jeff is well meaning. Just like a child who has more energy than they know what to do with.

...On to my favorite things. I was tagged to post "My favorite things" from my friend Linds. Here goes.

1. My 5 kids (4 not including Jeff)
2. Email
3. Saturdays, as long as I don't have a chocolate fountain
4. The Readers Digest
5. Ice Cream
6. Clearance sections
7. Craigslist
8. Snow days
9. Hanging out with family and friends
10. The smell of Fall
11. Shoes
12. The Plaza lights

13. The service that I constantly see people give
14. Laughter - yes, this is a good thing being married to Jeff
15. KU Basketball
16. 24
17. Fox News
18. Out in the Barn and The Cottage Door - fabulous, unique home decor
19. Games, I love to play games and watch game shows
20. Christmas- This is the best time of year!

What are some of your favorite things?

----Becky

Bubba needs your help!!!

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. I think Bubba has given up on our blog. She will not write. Maybe she's got a case of blog fright. It happens. Remember when Donny Osmond battled through a severe case of stage fright? Seriously, I'm not joking. I saw it on E! True Hollywood Story. Now, this is just one man's opinion, but I think Donny was going through puberty and couldn't hit his high notes in Puppy Love. Okay, you've got to watch this. I about wet my pants watching it. Clean up in aisle five.



Speaking of the Osmonds...did anyone see Marie collapse on Dancing with the Stars? I know this is old, but it's funny.



That was great. The Osmonds are a train wreck. Marie is the Mormon version of Britney Spears.

Anyways, back to Bubba. Perhaps she doesn't want to write because she'll be turning 30 in a couple of months...mid-life crisis. Or maybe...she's pregnant. She was snoring last night. That's one of her pregnant signs. All women have them. Bubba snores when she's pregnant. No kidding. If Bubba is pregnant...remember who broke the story first. Oh, she's going to be mad. So, I'm begging everyone to send comments to our blog and give Bubba words of encouragement. Tell her she's a good writer. Tell her that her new hair cut looks nice. Tell her having 5 children isn't difficult.

Let me conclude what perhaps might be my final blog with these delightful pictures from our Church Christmas Party the other night. Click on the link below to take a look. Most people know to click on a link, but those directions are mainly for my mom. I love my mom. She's a great woman, but she struggles with cooking and computers. It must be a C thing. However, I doubt my mom has moved past the previous paragraph because she's probably calling everyone with news that Bubba is pregnant. Mom, it was a joke. She's not pregnant. At least I don't think she is, but Bubba was snoring last night. Bubba, was that you? Smells and snores like Cooper!

***Church Christmas Party Pictures***

***Updated***Christmas at the Coopers!

Update to our blog. I've added a video clip of the kid's bloopers from our Christmas at the Coopers video shoot. I've posted it beneath the original video. I've also started Coop's Sports Scoop. It's a blog dedicated solely to sports! Read it and you'll find out why I started Coop's Sports Scoop. I hate the Spurs.
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Well, I'm sorry it has taken so long to write again. It's actually Bubba's turn, but she's been busy. I have her on a tighter leash. A lot of our time the past couple of days has been spent indoors. We had an ice storm on Tuesday, and like always, it was way overblown by the weather geeks...err...meteorologists. How do they keep their jobs? How many of us would still be employed if we made as many mistakes as those goof balls? So school was canceled, and I worked from home on Tuesday. We had a lot of fun. We made a video for my show. For those of you who do not know, I host a weekly training video called To the Point (2TP) for Sprint Customer Care Centers. It's not your typical training video. It's more like a cheesy Saturday Night Live or talk show. Each week my production staff and I try to create a short, catchy, cheesy video to open up the show. It can be a lot of fun. My producer had the idea that a quick video clip of Christmas at the Coopers could be somewhat entertaining. So the kids and I did it. Remember, it's cheesy, and Bubba did not want to be in the video because her hair was not done. I thought the main reason she whacked her hair was so it would be easier to do. I still don't get it. Anyways, on with the show!





See, pretty cheesy huh? Max wins an Oscar for over actor of the year. And yes, I get paid to do that. No one ever said you couldn't have fun at work. Don't blame me for your career choice. And besides, I'm sure you all make a lot more money than me.

A couple of things before I close. As I was driving to work this morning listening to the radio, I heard this dreadful remake of We Three Kings by a group called Eclipse out of Utah. It was just horrible. I mean, they had someone Beatboxing to it. I'm sure as the Wisemen were journeying to visit the Baby Jesus they were Beatboxing all the way. Leave Christmas songs alone. Is there some sort of requirement in the music industry that you have to make a Christmas album? Seriously, who wants to listen to Garth Brooks sing Silver Bells, or White Christmas, or heaven forbid, O Little Town of Bethlehem? I'm sure he found some way to insert alcohol, trucks and his dog into the songs. I think the only thing worse than listening to Garth sing Christmas songs would be Britney Spears singing them. Could you imagine Britney singing Joy to the World? That would be just magical listening to the Queen of love and joy spreading Christmas cheer! You know I actually have an album. If you want one for Christmas, just let me know. Here's a sample:



And finally, let's finish with a couple of sports notes. Ron Mexico finally received his sentence for mistreatment of dogs. Lawyer friends, is that the legal term for what he did? Please correct me if I'm wrong. It appears that for the next couple of years Mr. Vick won't be passing the football...or herpes for that matter. I really have a problem with what Mike did. I mean, why in the world would he torture dogs when he could have used cats? Rid the world of cats. There are two things my father in-law and I have in common. One, our love for Rowe (Bubba's maiden name) women, and two, our hatred for cats. I would love to share more about this, but I'll need to save the cat stories for another blog. This entry is already too long.

And, I can't wait to hear George Mitchell's report on baseball's drug culture. He's supposedly going to name Major League Baseball players who have used steroids. At this point, wouldn't it be easier to name players who haven't used steroids? Jeff, was that you? Smells like Cooper.

Do you like it thick or thin?

We're going to try something new in our blog. Both Bubba and I are going to post together. This could be dangerous. We're going to give you a taste of one of our animated conversations right here in our blog. It's not a disagreement or argument. It's more like a debate, and you guys get to be the audience. We thought it would be fun to do something different. We'll see how it goes. Let us know what you think by posting a comment below our entry.

Jeff: Let me begin by giving you a. . .What? We're already having a difference of opinions. I think when I write, it should go Jeff then semicolon. Bubba thinks it should be Jeff then dash. I don't know, and I don't care. You do it your way, and I'll do it my way.

Bubba: Okay, I agree. When I looked over I thought you had put a period. I don't have my glasses on.

Jeff: Speaking of glasses. . .they look real nice with your new hair style. Okay, let's get back to our original topic. Here we go. Hopefully you've all read my previous post, "Playing Mr. Mom and Remembering mine." If not, this is all you need to know. I worked from home the other day and watched the kids while Bubba was out. I must brag about myself for a second. I not only got all my REAL work done but cleaned the house, vacuumed, did the dishes and ordered pizza for dinner. I thought Bubba would be so proud of me. I was actually excited for her to come home. I thought she would be surprised and happy.

Side note. . .Let me explain something about my wife. I could probably do 50 things right, but if that 51st thing is wrong, forget about the first 50 because I'm getting it. End of Side note. . .

So Bubba picks up the pizza on her way home, comes inside, places the pizza on the table and opens the boxes. I thought for sure I was going to see a sweet smile on her face, but oh no. Forget about the clean house, dishes and dinner. This is what happens. I kid you not. Bubba stomps her foot and whines, "You got thin crust on both pizzas!!!" Well, I love you too. Can you believe that? I was crushed.

Becky: Yes, I did stomp my foot, but let me give you my side of the story. After working a crazy, long , hectic day doing 3 chocolate fountains I was starving. I talked to Jeff and he suggested pizza which sounded great! I was craving a pizza place called Godfathers which has awesome pizza. Their pizza crust is particularly good. It's a bit more expensive but, I haven't had it in about a year so I decided it would be worth it. So, I pick the pizza up and can smell it the entire drive home. I was starving! I walk in to an amazingly clean home and said, "Wow, the house looks really nice". I sat the pizza down and opened the lid (because the box felt rather light), I was so annoyed when I saw both pizzas had thin crust. At that moment, I remembered that Jeff had called me right in the middle of my busy chocolate fountain event to tell me something important. He informed me that thin crust pizza had 9 carbs less per slice than regular crust pizza. If you didn't know.....Jeff has weight and eating issues. Even though he looks good he is always paranoid about his carbs. So, I guess he took it upon himself to do our whole family a favor by ordering low carb pizza. I think that also explains why we all ate twice as many slices as we normally do. So, the benefit of thin crust??? I don't get it!

Jeff: See, it worked. Our kids actually ate their dinner. Chalk up another one to me. Now, you claimed to have said , "Wow, the house looks really nice." Did you say that out loud, or were you thinking that? Is this another instance where a husband is supposed to read his wife's mind. I haven't quite mastered that yet. Regarding the pizza, I did a little research online and was trying to help our family eat more healthful. We don't need all those unnecessary carbs. I'm worried about our bodies. As the old saying goes. . .the more crust, the bigger the bust.

Becky: By the way, Jeff was on the phone when I complimented my family on the house. I also learned that it was my sweet Lexi and wonderful mom who cleaned the kitchen for me. However, Jeff also did a lot of the other cleaning. I just wanted to give credit where it's due.

Jeff: I'm sorry, what was that? I was drinking my Crystal Light. Sing it with me, "I believe in Crystal Light because I believe in me!" I loved those 80's Crystal Light commercials with Raquel Welch. Anyways. . . so let us know how you like your pizza, thick or thin. Vote in our poll to the right, and send us your comment. Reese, was that you? Smells like Cooper.

Playing Mr. Mom and Remembering Mine

Today is my big day to shine. I'm home alone with the kids. I'm in charge. I feel all grown up. Actually, I'm working from home today and Bubba is not here. I think she's testing me after my two previous posts. I promise I'll have pizza ordered and ready to go by 4:45 when she gets home. Okay, I promised not to make any more comments about our dinners, but I just couldn't resist. When I'm home alone with the kids, we eat the very finest. I know how to organize two meals --corn dogs and pizza. For lunch, I'm microwaving corn dogs, and for dinner, we'll probably order pizza. Hey, it's healthy. I grew up on frozen corn dogs, cold cereal and pizza. And look at me, I turned out okay.

I love my mom. She's a sweet spirit. She does a lot of things well. One them is not cooking. I compare my mother's meals to the meals made by the mom in "Better off Dead." I love that movie. . . probably the best comedy from the 80's. Remember the green glob with raisins that crawls off Lane's plate. That was great. They don't make movies like that anymore. My mom's cooking is very similar. I remember having a friend over for lunch one Sunday afternoon. I didn't have a lot friends growing up, so this was a big moment for me. I guess my mom had been inspired at church that day because she decided to experiment with lunch. Bad idea. She made spaghetti, which would have been fine if she would have just left it at that. But, she decided to get creative and add little hot dogs to the spaghetti. It was embarrassing. My mom has issues with spaghetti. I don't think she's quite got over the first spaghetti meal she made for my dad. I wasn't alive then, but my dad says it gave him a case of diarrhea. We'll stop right there.

It's snowing in Kansas!!! I love it. . .for about 2 hours. I grew up in Las Vegas. I could live without snow, ice and wind. The kids seem to enjoy it, so that's good because it keeps them busy. Max and his buddy James are outside playing in the snow. Max and James. . . two of the most interesting boys I know. Just take a look at this picture from a basketball game we went to a couple of weeks ago. Should I be worried?


Well, need to run. Ashlyn is begging for lunch. Stop crying Ashlyn! Lunch is coming! Now I know how Bubba feels when I get home from work. Ashlyn, was that you? Smells like Cooper.

So much to do......so little time

It's days like today, where I am feeling stressed with everything on my plate, that the last thing I need to be doing is blogging. It has been a busy week, and will remain a busy month, up to the point we get on an airplane to go to Vegas for Christmas. My days are filled with cleaning, doctors appointments, lessons, COOKING, laundry, errands, kids school stuff and so forth. You know, the usual. On top of that, this month I have several chocolate fountains and of course the Christmas shopping (which is not close to being done). I know this is the same for most people. I so admire the many people that I see that can get it all done. Everything in order, organized, clean and dinner done when it needs to be. Maybe, one day I will actually be able to get everything done on my (Jeffs) list. Gotta go.......time to pick up the kids!---Becky

Setting the record straight. . .

In my blog tonight, I would like to respond to a couple of entries my sweet Bubba posted. Let's begin with the dinner debate. . .When should it be done? For some background on this subject, please read my post, "Man, I'm in trouble." This has been an interesting topic around MY. . . err, sorry Bubba, OUR house and work the past couple days. Let me answer this question with an example.

Tonight Bubba is tending a chocolate fountain for a party. For those of you who do not know, Bubba runs a small chocolate fountain business, Chocolate Occasion. We have the best chocolate in town. Try it. Make your special occasion a chocolate one. . .Chocolate Occasion. Sorry, shameless promotion.

Okay, back to my original story. So, my loving mother in-law has been watching the kids for a couple of hours while Bubba has been tending the fountain, and I arrive home from work at my normal time to pick up our children. And guess what? That's right. . . Dinner is ready! My mother in-law has made homemade chicken noodle soup and rolls. Wow, what a woman!!! These older ladies know how to treat their men. No wonder my father in-law is always happy. My guess is he will live a much longer life than me. See why I liked living with the in-laws. Enough said or typed on that topic. I think I've made my point.

My second and last point has to do with Bubba's short hair. Yes, I was shocked when I came home from work to find Bubba's beautiful hair missing. The only other time I have been that shocked was when Magic Johnson announced he was HIV positive. I held my composure much better this time. After hearing the tragic news about Magic, I threw a brick at my backboard. No, I wasn't shooting hoops. I actually took a stone brick and tossed it towards the basket. Luckily, I missed. Over the past couple of days, I have grown to like Bubba's short hair. Maybe it was the way the stylist had styled her hair. Seriously, sometimes these barbers and stylists do the goofiest things with our hair. I guess they figure they'll experiment on our hair first, so if it looks really bad they won't try it on their own hair.

Let me just make this final comment on short hair and long hair. Some women look very nice with short hair. For example, look at Hillary Clinton. She looks like the man she's always wanted to be. Okay seriously. . .Halle Berry, Jenny McCarthy, Mandy Moore, Keira Knightley and now my sweet Bubba all look very attractive with short hair. Now let's reverse the roles. Some men don't look good with long hair. Bubba tells me when my hair gets too long, I look chubby.

I promise this is our final post on dinner and hair. This post was heavily edited by Bubba. If you would like a copy of my original entry, feel free to post a comment or email me. Max, was that you? Smells like Cooper.

It's just hair!

So, I got my hair cut. I was ready for a change. After losing handfuls of hair due to post hormonal pregnancy, I finally decided to do it. I took Ashlyn along with me because we're still trying to even out her hair after the hair cut she gave herself almost a year ago. I was a little uncertain about my hair when I left the salon because of some of the comments Ashlyn was making. "Mom, you look like a boy......you look like daddy." Well, isn't that great! Every wife wants to be told they look like their husband. Of course, Amy who cuts my hair, loved it. Rachel Kingston, who watched Reese, liked it. So, it was on to home to see what the rest of the clan thought. When I picked up Lexi and Max from school, Lexi helped me gain some confidence by telling me she liked my hair. Max didn't say anything, so I took that as a positive vote. At home, during after-school snacks, Reese was fussing and I was trying to calm her down. My sweet little Ashlyn chimes in, "I think she's crying because she doesn't like your hair". Leave it to Ashlyn to give baby Reese's vote. So, I am at 2-2. Jeff is the tie-breaker. I anxiously waited for him to get home to see what he thought. Now, let me first tell you that Jeff does not like short hair. I was hoping that I could change his mind. He walks in shortly after we've finished our after-school snacks. "You cut it short!" (Strike 1). "Why didn't you tell me you were going to cut it short, I would have tried to talk you out of it". (Strike 2). "You know how you felt when Ashlyn cut her hair short? That's how I feel right now." (Strike 3). So, I guess I lost the game this time 3-2. It's only hair, it will grow back. But, I think I like it.......I may try to win this game one more time.----Becky

What's your vote? Check out the pictures to the right. Girls pic is before. Family pic is after. Take the poll.

Yep, you are in trouble!

What Jeff failed to mention, is that he asked why dinner was not ready at 4:45pm!!! And....I prefer to be called Becky-Beck.

Man, I'm in trouble!!!

I want to apologize for not writing yesterday. Something came up. Okay, actually...I got in trouble. It seems like I'm always in the doghouse. I mean, I was ready to post. I had a list of topics I wanted to cover. I was ready to write about Christmas songs and the current state of basketball. However, I lost the desire after my somewhat animated conversation with Bubba. Before I tell you the story, I'm pleading innocent, and I want you to know I'm the victim here. This is how it all went down. I came home from work hungrier than a newborn baby. I was ready to eat. So, I asked Bubba if dinner was done. I knew it wasn't. I saw that the timer had 26 minutes left. I thought the comment was harmless, right? I was just teasing. Bubba didn't see it that way. She was hot...much hotter than our meal. I mean, I might have made another comment that went something like this, "Well, it would have been nice if dinner would have been done when I got home." I'll never admit to being the smartest man. You could probably compare me to the Crocodile Hunter. I'm not afraid to play with dangerous animals. I would say Bubba is like a KOALA bear...cute and cuddly on the outside, but ready to attack at any moment. Maybe I should stop right here and let you imagine how the rest of our conversation went last night. It was an entertaining night at the Coopers. I love Bubba! Okay, I'm sick. I just ate a large frosty. I promise my next entry will be better. I'll have plenty of takes. Alexis, was that you? Smells like cooper.

Kids, kids & more kids

Cohen Cooper Anderson

Congratulations to Jeffs sister Jodi and our brother-in-law Ryan for bringing a new baby boy into the family today!!

Well, Jeff has decided that we need to take turns updating the blog. He says daily........HA, we will see about that. So, my day was filled with kids. Mine and others. I had the privilege of watching several different kids throughout the day. To tell you the truth, I look forward to watching other kids play here. As the kids have gotten older, it is really more of a help than a hinder. They just run off and play. Today, as I watched a little boy named Derek, it brought back fond memories when he came running in with a Barbie doll (Sorry, Mat but, I promise he wasn't playing with it). I had to laugh to his mom Lindsay telling her what my mom used to do with our Barbie dolls when we were growing up. I think like any mom, my mother started to get concerned as her boys were getting older seeing these naked Barbies lying around. She decided she would paint underwear and bras on all of our Barbies. Unfortunately, this made word around my schoolmates. I had boys teasing me that my mom painted underwear on my Barbies. I hate to admit that I denied it up and down. Now, it is my turn to decide what to do to cover up our Barbies. It's not enough to just ask my daughters to keep them dressed! Well, I better run. Lexi has to finish reading 30 more pages by the end of the night for a book report. Unfortunately, she is following my procrastination ways. ----Becky

Coop's Scoop is ON!!!

Okay, here goes draft #3. I have a bad feeling about this. I hate writing. So why in the world am I doing a blog? I don't know. I guess it's because I just lectured my children on the importance of keeping a journal or diary. That was a mistake. My wife is really excited about doing this blogging thing, and now she's lecturing ME on how to make a blog. She's a backseat blogger. I'm regretting the lecture...mine and hers. I wonder if my father ever felt that way after the hundreds of lectures he gave me as a kid. Oh wait, he still gives them to me. I thought maybe they would stop after I left the house. I'm 32 now with one wife and 4 interesting kids, but the lectures never stop. Big Jeff(Dad), Kenna(Mom) and my sweet wife of almost 10 years, Bubba (wife), all give them to me. I'm stuck in a circle of lectures.

As I'm writing this blog, I'm reminded of my first day of kindergarten. It was horrible!!! Kenna made me wear a vomit brown button up shirt and nasty dress pants, also brown. Our first house was brown. My only friend in Kindergarten had the last name of Brown, Jeffrey Brown. Brown is one of the ugliest colors alive. Can colors be alive? I don't know. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that from the beginning my parents wanted me to be a nerd. Maybe they thought it would make me a better student. Nice try. Didn't work. My other reason for bringing up my first day of school is that this first blog is just like that day, horrible. Did I mention I hate writing? If you're looking for a grammatically correct blog, go to my brother's or sister's blog. He's a lawyer, and she received a degree in English.

I guess I'm required to talk about my family in my blog. I think I read it somewhere in the blog agreement when I signed up. What? You don't read those exciting license agreements that some overpaid lawyer dictated to his secretary? Lawyers are great. More on them in future blogs. Back to my family. I'm married to Bubba. We have 4 unusual children. Alexis is 7 and reading a 100 page book right now that's supposed to be done by tomorrow. She's on page 10. I love kids. Procrastination runs in the family. So does constipation and irritation. Max is my only boy. He's 6. He loves the piano and wearing costumes. Not a good sign. I think Liberace started out that way too. Here's a link to him playing the piano:


Ashlyn is our 3 year old. She looks like my wife but acts exactly like me. She spends a lot of time in her room. She's just misunderstood. Our youngest child is Reese. She's 6 months. Bubba just made her cry. Reese is going to be one tough kid. She takes a lot of abuse from the 3 older kids and I guess my wife. Bubba said she was just trying to make her smile. By making a scary face? Right.

Okay, need to go. The girls are fighting over barbie.com and my 0-10 Dolphins are about ready to play on Monday Night Football. I'm excited to watch former BYU QB John Beck. I'm a huge BYU football fan. Remember when Monday Night Football used to be MUST SEE TV. Man, times have changed. Bubba, was that you? Smells like Cooper.