Merry Christmas Slide Show

Zach's 6th and Kyler's 4th birthday party

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year too!!!!

Can you believe that Christmas is over? Time flies I am telling you... Here it is just 9 days till we make our journey to Texas yet again.. It is strange and good that we are going. I really can't believe that it has been almost 15 months since Tad left. There have been days that have flown by and then there have been months that have dragged on. Strange how time works that way sometimes. I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas and that you have a very Happy New Year too. Tad loves this time of year and he splurged on the kids and bought them the Wii so now that will not have to go through Wii withdrawls once we move. Personally I think that he was mostly buying it for himself. He is just a big kid at heart. I am so glad that the kids will get their daddy back soon and that I will have a husband again. It might be strange not having the bed to myself but it is a sacrifice that I am willing to make. :) Zach just celebrated his 6th birthday (pictures to follow) at Chuck E. Cheese. We snuck Kyler's in there too although his birthday isn't until February. They had so much fun. Notice I didn't say "We had so much fun" It was great for the kids but a little over-crowded for the adults. Oh well it is a sacrifice for the kids. What is 3 hours of my sanity? Not much.. We are heading down to Lindon tomorrow for my niece's birthday. I can't believe that she is already turning 1. She was so much fun here this last week. She is such a happy little girl. Well I will stop rambling for now. This might be the last post for awhile as I am going to be very busy uprooting my family and getting settled again.

Just an update...

I know that it has been awhile since I have posted any sort of picture on our website, but I have been posting, just on facebook. Well I thought I would update here as well. Things are really good with us right now. We are down to less than 2 months to when we move back to Texas, which means that Tad will be home soon after that. Can you believe it? I can't. This past year has had it's slow moments, but for the most part it has really flown by. On a sidenote for Tad he was awarded the bronze star. I am not sure exactly what that means and why he was awarded it, but basically his commanders were really impressed with his commanding abilities and how he handled his position over there. I am really proud of him and his accomplishments. I know that he felt good that he was recognized for the service that he has given. The kids and I leave for Texas on January 15th, and we start the whole moving thing again. It will be interesting to see what has become of all of our belongings that have been locked in a storage unit for over a year. I am afraid that it won't be very pretty. Then we have to uproot again in July and move to Fort Benning, GA. Tad got accepted into Captains Career Course. We knew that he would we just didn't think that it would happen so soon after he got home. The class last 6 months and then we move onto another post. We are not sure where this will be and we won't know until September, or October. I actually don't mind the moving all so much I like to see new places and discover new things. I just hope the kids feel the same. Anyway that is the latest in our lives. Hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving and gets to eat their hearts content. All our Love

I told you we had a lot of firsts.....

Here is Kyler at GYMNASTICS. My kids had to follow in my footsteps a little bit and so far Kyler and Zach seem to enjoy it. Here are some pics of Kyler doing his stuff..

now that is a sandbox

My parents are getting prepared to rip out the front yard and start all over and what better way to do that than 8 loads of dirt. I'm talking a big dumptruck coming to the house and unloading 8 times. The kids loved it and are having a ball with playing in it. Now we just have to deal with the aftermath of dirt through the house and baths every night now. Oh well. I guess there is a price for fun like that.

Kylers first day of Pre-k.

We are just loaded with first days of something or other lately. Now it is Kyler's turn. I thought he would struggle because ever since he had his tonsils out he won't do anything without me so I thought for sure that this would not work. But once again one of my children prove me wrong. He left me talking and walked right into school without a backwards glance. And he had a great time.

1st day of kindergarten

Here it is another school year and Zachary is officially in grade school. He is so excited. He was actually up at the crack of dawn (ask my parents). I hope he has a great school year..

Kyler's first hospital stay

Kyler had his tonsils out last night. This is the first time either Zach or Kyler have been hospitalized for anything. Kyler sure did it right. We went to the dr.'s office just because he had been fighting a fever for 5 days and he wasn't getting better and the doctor saw some sort of abcess on the right side of his throat behind his tonsil so she order a CT scan of his neck and throat. Well my poor little trooper (because he was a brave little boy) let them put an IV in his arm shoot contrast into his blood stream and then they took images of his neck. He was obviously scared but he did so well it went pretty fast. Once they had the images they needed we had to go back to the dr.'s office and they decided that they needed to admit him to the hospital for dehydration (did I mention that he hadn't eaten or drank anything for 4 days) and they were going to have the on call ear, nose and throat dr. take a look at him and he said that instead of feeding him antibiotics to see if the absess went down he wanted to go in and relieve the pressure and drain it. Then he came back a few minutes later and said were going to remove the tonsils as well. I was a little stunned and shocked, but he was so sick that I just wanted him to start feeling better. Anyway they did the surgery and he came through it really well and we are now home and he is recovering. We had a really eventful night. I am just so proud of my little boy for being so brave and such a little trooper, he could have made things so much more difficult. I love him so much. Here are some pictures of him after surgery in his hospital room. I am so happy that I have the opportunity to raise such an amazing little boy.

California 2008

Disneyland

Tad got here on the 8th of June and we spent 3 great weeks together, but our big trip was to Disneyland. It was actually a lot of fun, if you can believe that. We definetly needed more than 2 days in the park, but it was great. The first day was crazy busy at the park, we found out that there were about 90,000 people there that day. The lines were long, but the kids were mesmerized by all there was to see. Kyler was just tall enough to go on the all the rides, so he braved Splash mountain, Space mountain and some other roller coasters. The poor kid had no expression on his face the entire time he was on the ride, whether it be happy or sad. By the end of the day they were so tired we were sitting at dinner and both of them collapsed on the table before the food even arrived. It was cute and just a little sad. The second day we discovered how to use the fast pass. If you are going or have gone you understand what this is and take full advantage. It made waiting in line bearable (on the major rides). It was really slick and got us to the front of the line on a lot of rides. It was great. We also learned that we needed to give the kids a break halfway through the day or they were grumps by the end of the day, so we went back to our hotel and they took a nap. We had a lot of fun. Here are some pictures of the trip...

Zach "graduates" from Preschool

I have a graduate... Mind you it is only pre-kindergarten. Now I can't believe I have a 5 year old. He is a handful, but I love him to death. He went to a preschool just up the street here and she held a little graduation for all the kids that are moving onto Kindergarten and "the big school" it was the best kind of graduation short and sweet. You can't beat that.

T-Minus 8 Days and Counting

WE are tentativley awaiting Tad's arrival for R & R. You can never be sure of anything with the Army so we are just crossing our fingers that it will come through. We are so excited to have him home for a little while. This was kind of out of the blue, we weren't expecting to have him home until September or October. Just another reason it is hard to count on when he will be here. We are planning so many things when he is here so if for some reason he doesn't get to see someone it wasn't that we didn't want to it is because they only give him so many days and we are taking the kids to Disneyland. Yeah!!!! Tad has never been and Zach keeps telling us that "if you love someone you take them to Disneyland" so how can you disappoint? We can't. So we are loading up the can with the kids, my parents and us and heading off to the big CA... It will be a very eventful trip packed into 4 days. Yes, that is right I said 4 days and we are driving... We must be crazy, but with all of us it is actually cheaper to drive than to fly. I hope that we get to see as many people as we possibly can while he is here, but we will mostly be having alot of good, quality family time, because I know the days will just fly by once he is here. We are going to make the most of our time together as a family. Have a wonderful, blessed day everyone. We love you!!!

Austin Powers???

My kids found an old Austin Powers costume that was Jason's way back in the day. They of course had to put on this old smelling wig and everything else that was in the bag and look.... Austin Powers. I can't deny how cute they look.

Jensen Cousins

Here we are we finally have a girl that we can show off. We went and had pictures taken of all the kids yesterday, it went as well as can be expected. Now all you mothers out there know what I mean. It took an hour and a half to get the ones we got that was between nursings and kids crying and going out of our minds but in the end we got the best we could from them all at the same time. I wish we could cut and paste, wouldn't that be nice, oh well it was an experience that I will not try again for a long time.




Now we only got onw good picture with Juliana so the boys got extra workouts and got more. They weren't that happy about it.

remodeling is done........

if you can't tell these are the new floors in the dining area and in the TV area. It has really warmed up since the paint and the new floors I think that everyone is happy with the results.

trains... trains.... trains.....

We may never get enough of trains in this house....

here we are.....

these pictures are of the train show that we went to a few weeks back. The spongebob was all legos. There was this huge train display of all legos. It was the coolest thing they had a bunch of different displays, like space and a farm and this spongebob, it was a big hit with the kids.


We are down to less than a year... That is a milestone I think. We are surviving and Tad is doing well. I think that is all that we can ask for at the moment. I am thankful for all that my husband sacrifices on a daily basis to do what he believes in and what he knows to be important. We had a good Easter weekend. The kids had a lot of fun we had an easter egg hunt in the living room it was too cold to do it outside. If you remember last year we were in Texas and we got snow on Easter so considering that is was a lot warmer, however I wasn't going to go hide eggs outside this year. They still enjoyed themselves and that is all that matters. It is starting to get warmer and I love that. Me and the kids spent some time outside and had a picnic and everything it was a lot of fun. I know that they have had some cabin fever and spring can't come soon enough. Thanks for all the support and prayers that are sent our way. Thanks

no title

We took these pictures this last sunday. My boys look so old, they are growing up so fast. I just thought that I would throw them out there. Hope that everyone who reads this is doing well. We love you all.

Kyler turns 3!!!!!!

Kyler turned 3 on friday and we had a big family birthday party for him saturday. He is still really big into Thomas the tank engine and so that was his party. We had a train pinata and he got spoiled by his family. The kids had a lot of fun. It was the first big birthday party that Kyler has been able to have because we have always been out of the state on his birthday so it was fun to do it for him. He always has fun with his cousins.

Tad is being looked after

I just got this IM from Tad this morning. I thought that I would share his experience with you. I know that he is being blessed and watched over. I KNOW that it isn't just luck.....
Tad Coleman (3:06:02 AM) >> "I had a spiritual experience while in the field. I will tell you so maybe you don't worry as much about me. The people in the unit think I have a halo over my head. When I went to relieve the CO in the field I parked my vehicle next to his. As soon as I parked next to the CO I felt the need to look around the area. I actually pushed the idea off until the next morning. I decided to check out the location I was at the night before. I walked about ten feet and then had to turn the corner. On the other side of the corner was an IED. I was only a foot away. It was a pressure plate IED and therefore needed pressure to be set off. I called up the demolition team and they came and picked it up. Also when I am in the area things are usually quiet. We will hear gun shots and explosions around us, but nothing to close. It is the ongoing joke for the unit to take the XO out for good luck. I am glad my luck hasn't changed. I hope you don't worry too much, but I thought you should know. I love you and will talk with you later."
You can take what you want from this, but I am going to take that my husband is being taken care of over there and he is being an instrument in His hands.

I survived!!!

I had my first lesson as substitute Relief Society teacher yesterday. It is very intimidating standing up there and giving a lesson to ladies that I look up to and admire. I feel that I am so inadequete to teach them, and yet I was. It went really well, I wasn't able to talk about everything that I had prepared for but what I did went well. I had a lot of discussion and comments. I have another lesson on the third sunday of next month as well. I can't say that I am looking forward to it, but I feel more at ease with teaching and can say that I think that I will enjoy this new calling.

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Tad sent me a really nice bouquet of flowers and some chocolates from Hallmark. It was really sweet of him to think of me at a time like this when he is working so hard and so far away from me. I was able to spend the day with my kids, which was nice. We got to take something to my grandma and spend some time with her and then I took the kids to McDonalds to eat and play of course. We rushed Zach to school so that he could give out his valentines to his classmates. He had a great time. Now they are watching a transformers cartoon and they are actually sitting on the couch quietly watching the movie. It is nice for some peace and quiet. They can get a little rowdy this time of the night. All in all it was a pretty good day. I am very grateful for the good days.Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

wrestling not soccer?

Here we thought Kyver was predestined for Soccer. Maybe not. He can certainly do a "take down".