Guess We Owe the Blogging World an Update

Hey All,
Sorry it's been a while since the blog's been updated. Life has been hectic around the Koop home. I finished the semester well and David and I took on four weekends of weddings in a row. Congratulations to Ryan and Kristi Rudman, Nathan and Laura Markley, Jordan and Kayla Lemmons, and Steven and Amy Gramza. We love you all and wish you the best.
I've started working at the KU Natural History Museum in the Public Education department. We are getting ready to take on three days of science summer day camps. Should be really fun learning forensic science, chemistry, geography, and geology.
David is still working at the Johnson County Sheriff's Department. He has made a move, however, from the property room to the lobby. So now he gets to interact alot more with the public and he doesn't come home quite so late. Yay!
David was also featured in a recent 'Behind Bars' special on the Discovery Channel. Well his face never appeared on the show, but they used some of his video footage from a medical emergency. So David is now a videographer for Discovery. :)
I think thats about all that new for us right now. Hope everyone is doing well.
Katie

Spring has Sprung!

Okay so the title of this post has nothing to do with what I want to tell everyone about. This is Katie by the way. I got a job today! I'm very excited. I will be working as a student assistant in the public education department at the KU Natural History Museum. There are three summer day camps at the museum this summer and instructing/assisting with those camps will be my main job. I'm really looking forward to it. It's a little different twist on the type of work I did at Sunset Zoo so it should be a fun learning experience. Yay for those! Bye for now!

So I got a few fun pictures from my road trip to Iowa with Becky. Sorry it took me so long.

Buckle Up For Life and Vending Machines

Hey everyone! This is Katie and this marks my first blog. :) I wasn't sure what to talk about so I guess I'll just fill you in on what I did for part of my Spring Break. Becky (my sister) and I finally made it up to Iowa to visit my good friend Rachel Roozeboom. For those of you who don't know Rachel, she and I have been friends for a long time and she was my maid of honor. Way to go "best chick". (sorry inside joke) So I've wanted to visit Rachel up in Iowa for the past like five years. She originally headed north to go to Dordt College. Now she works as a youth director for a church in a little town called Sheldon. And yes its LITTLE. Sorry Rachel, we know you love it and it seems like you are doing great there, but it is really small. And cold! :)
Anyways, Becky and I finally had the chance to take the 6 hour drive up there, but sadly we had to leave our husbands home to bring home the bacon. Thanks husbands. We know it was tough but we appreciate it.
While we were in Sheldon we enjoyed some great girls time with movies and some rousing games of tennis on the Wii. Rachel also took us to see her alma mater, and all three of us made our biggest purchase at the bookstore. We are now sporting fabulous Dordt College sweatpants. Sweatpants are becoming my annual Spring Break souvenir. Kind of fun and definitely comfy.
I think that's about all. I'll post some pictures soon. Now for the rest of Spring Break I get to enjoy our new living room furniture and work around the apartment. Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!
Oh, that new furniture I mentioned is pretty awesome. You should come visit so you can check it out. Maybe even stay for a movie so you can experience the comfort. :)

Paul comes to visit!

I must apologize for not keeping my word after the last post. I was intending to write about our visit to Manhattan to see the parents and their new dwelling place. We did have a fantastic visit and however not getting a full tour of the house we were able to creep around the outside and peer inside the windows. It looked like a good house.

Now onto the matter at hand: Paul's visit. Most of you might not know Paul has been a friend of mine since the 3rd grade and he was in fourth grade. Most recently he was a groomsmen in my wedding. Anyways, he is here. He brought trail mix.

I'm happy he's here.

Like any other day...

Hey followers! haha...I just wanted to say that to give myself a since of power of the ones who read this blog. I really don't think there is much power in the blogger other than the distinct aspect of interest that one produces in their life. So...you suppose that I and my wife Katie must interest you somehow. Anyways...

Well, I didn't really have much to write on today, I'm planning on writing next week following up a trip to Manhattan, KS to see the future residence of the parents. Moving is an exciting thing and it allows for new perspectives and a fresh way to arrange your life.

I hope that you will tune in next week to hear about our venture to the "Little" Apple.

1 Month down...

Let's just say that we expect to live to about 85 years old. That's a little more than the average life expectancy right now, but I think we could do it. Let's do some math! My dad will get a kick out of this because he knows more than anyone that I hate math. So, the average of Katie's and I's remaining life is approximately 63 years. That's also 756 months, or 3528 weeks, or 24696 days away!!! So, 63 years together sounds pretty good. We have just tackled the first month of marriage. It's been a month filled with obvious things like love, laughter, and joy, but we know there are also times of laziness, sadness, and frustration. 1/12 of a year...that's til mile marker #1, when the honeymoon year is over. We have a ways to go, but that's exactly what we signed up for. We're excited to be here and so glad that we have friends and family around us to see us through the next 755 months of our marriage...and maybe even more!

The Test of a Blogger

This post is dedicated to my friend Ryan Mayo.

Last Sunday after church service Katie and I chatted with our friend Ryan. Ryan is engaged and excited to be married like us this coming summer. We were sharing with Ryan some of the things we have been doing since the wedding like decorating the apartment, cooking together, having couples over, and starting a blog. Ryan laughed and ask how the blog was working out. It might be well known to most of you that "blogging" is a sort of fad that a lot of people jump into only to end up not keeping up to date with. I cannot yet say that this is not me because I have only posted a few times and within a month. I had suggested to Ryan to check the blog out and follow the things Katie and I post about our married life. I chuckle inside at the situation that could unfold from here, I could be eating my words in 6 months not keeping up with regular posts or I could be reveling in my ability to keep the world well informed about the activities of our life. I'm giving Ryan all the credit on this one cause I want to prove him wrong but more so prove to the world that marriage can be worth writing about. Marriage is a wondrous journey worth documenting. I hope to share many stories of both enjoyable and interesting moments with you all. Stay tuned!

House Guests!!!

Yesterday evening we had the great privilege of having our first house guests (other than family) over for dinner, tv, and games. Christy and Josh were wonderful company, both being very good friends of ours. We ate some delicious spaghetti that my beautiful wife prepared and then we all sat around our 52 inch tv and watch "How I Met Your Mother", one of the most awesome shows ever! We also watch "Accidentally on Purpose" and "Big Bang Theory". After dinner and tv shows we all gather on our living room floor and played Loaded Questions, a board game that really makes you laugh hard. We all had a fantastic time. Katie and I are enjoying married life and looking forward to sharing moments like this with many others.

Back to Work, back to Life, and on through (Living, Loving, Laughing, Crying)

I'm going back to work today, which is a relieving thing and a giant leap. I'm glad to be going back to earning the wage and building skills. The past week with my new wife Katie has been one full of cherishing moments and peaceful recollections, along with hopeful smiles of our future together. I have very much enjoyed our time of almost absolutely zero separation. I must go now, on to the job, which is not my work but more so my duty as a husband to provide a beautiful comfortable life for Katie. My desire is to do just that by any means. She laying behind me as I type this and I right exactly where we're at right now. Having her here makes me feel ready and able to go to work and do the work necessary to love her with all that I am. These is my wondering today, my job is to be her husband.

The First Week of Our New Life Together

Hello Everyone,

Today marks the first complete week of Katie and I's married life together. It's already funny to think how just a week ago we were in the hustle and bustle of wedding preparations and so very anxiously awaiting finally tying the knot. Katie and I had a fantastic 4 days in San Diego enjoying the ocean view and 60 degree weather. We went to the zoo of course, which was the number one priority, then spent some enjoyable time at the beach and doing some shopping. We arrived in KC to below teen temperatures and more snow. Not what we wanted, but now we can keep each other nice and warm. There were lots of wonderful gifts and quite an overwhelming mess waiting at home for us, but thus far we have done well to organize and start creating a home for ourselves. Today we went to church and had the joy of being married and introducing ourselves as the Koops, even though we really only talked to Ryan and Kristi. We were aptly proclaimed as the "married people!!!" We cooked a delightful lunch together and then washed the dishes. And now we're both sitting on the lovely brown plaid couch each on our computers. Married life rocks!!! Catch you on the flip side.