We got elfed!

Check this out!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1311559346

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

We went out and bought our Christmas tree this past weekend. We bundled everyone up and went Friday evening in the rain (just before the snow started falling. luckily we found the one we wanted at the first lot. So we brought it home. Well it so happens that the tree was sopping wet. Then again why wouldn't it be it had rained all day. Josh dragged it in and we tried to lift it into the stand. After a few failed attempts we decided it was best to lay it down and put the stand on. So we did. After getting the stand on Josh stood it up and I went in to start dinner. Only a few minutes after standing it up I heard Josh saying "Shanna get me a fly swatter or something quick!" So I scrambled to find something and made it to the living room after he had grabbed one of the towels off of the floor and was proceeding to swat at a very large wasp! It had taken shelter in our tree and flew out after it could not handle any more of the rustling and moving around. In addition to our stinging friend there were about 4-5 of those big brown bugs that I would imagine are some type of beetle or something; and several other flying bugs. That's enough to make you feel like there are bugs crawling all over you by the time the night is over.

Regardless of that it was fun and we got a pretty nice looking tree. So I'm not complaining.

Double Ear Infections and Birthdays go Hand in Hand Right?

Hannah's birthday was last Tuesday. I can't believe my baby is 2! She's getting so big! The Saturday before her birthday we were out running around trying to get everything together for family to come over for cake and ice cream the next evening. But all Hannah wanted was to have me hold her. I couldn't figure out what was wrong. And then she developed a fever. So when Josh got home from work we decided to take her in somewhere. The only problem was that it was 8 o'clock and most places were closed. Even Instacare which surprised me because they are supposed to be an after hours clinic. Anyway, we ended up calling the doctor's answering service and they told us that there was an Instacare on Bangerter and 12600 South. So we piled the girls in the car, took dinner to go and went in to the doctor. They told us she had an infection in both ears. Lovely! Poor girl. So they gave me some anti-biotics and sent us on our way. After which we drove up to 1300 East and 12300 South to go to Walgreens (because apparently not all of them are 24 hour pharmacies). So we finally got home at about 10:30. The next day Hannah felt a lot better. The girls had a lot of fun playing with their cousins that night. We had cake and ice cream (Hannah chose a rainbow cupcake cake). It was a lot of fun. These past two years have gone by so fast! I love you Hannah Happy Birthday!

Something Fun

I just found this today and thought it looked fun. So here it is. Apparently I act my age. Who'd a thunk it?

You Are 28 Years Old

Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

Go Cougars!!!

A couple of weeks ago we were invited to go to Alan's house to watch the BYU/Utah football game. Josh was working so the girls and I went up with my mom and dad and Karna. It was a close game. Both teams played really well but in the end the better team (The Cougars of course) pulled off a win! It was a lot of fun to sit and watch it with Alan, Dad, Mom, and Karna. We were all yelling pretty loud, but Alan was definitely the loudest! Alan's whole family was wearing BYU shirts except Des who was still wearing blue. And I was paging Josh at work updates on the game. It was great!

Christmas, Christmas Time is Here

I must admit that I am really not ready for the holidays to be here this year. It went by way too fast! I can't believe it. But yesterday I dug out the Christmas decorations and decided there was no better time to put them up. So I started with my village. And then put up some garland and other decorations. Now we need to get a tree and put up some lights on the windows and stuff. The girls love to sit and watch my village and they played with santa hats and bells. It was lots of fun.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving day was a fun day for us. Josh had to work so the girls and I went over to Ami's house to help out since we were doing the family dinner there. The girls played with their cousins and had a lot of fun. And I helped Ami get stuff ready. When everyone showed up we ate dinner and sat around a while and talked. It was a lot of fun to be with everyone. Josh came out after work and got there at about 8:00 pm. We are very grateful to be near our family and friends; to see them often and be able to celebrate with them.

Could I get some crackers with this cheeseball?

Jump on it!

Some friends of ours have a little boy who turned 6 this past week and we were invited to his birthday party at a place called Jump on It. It was so much fun! This place it just a bunch of the big square trampolines put together that you can jump on. The girls had a lot of fun there. They didn't want to come home. Abi wanted to jump by herself, so she would go to a trampoline that no one else was on and jump. But when someone would come to jump by her she would move to another one with no one on it. It was pretty funny to watch!

New Bed

After months of dealing with the uncomfortability of our bed we finally broke down and bought a new one. We have only had our mattress for 5 years but it was very uncomfortable to sleep on. Kind of a disappointment due to the fact that we spent a substantial amount of money on it. It was a memory foam mattress and supposed to last a long time but near the end there were indentations where we slept and it was more comfortable to sleep in the middle. Over the past year we have tested a few beds and finally decided on a intelli-bed. And we bought a kind bed. So there is a lot more room on the bed. But it takes up more space in the room. As you will see from the following picture (I had to stand in our bathroom to take them). And it's really tall. Abi can't even climb up on it by herself. I love my new bed!

Fun & Exciting Things

October was filled with a lot of fun things to do. I mentioned in a previous post we went to the Scarecrow Festival. But we also made a trip to Hogle Zoo, Hee Haw Farms, and then of course what child could resist trick-or-treating. The trip to the zoo was an unplanned event decided on the day of. But it was lots of fun. We went with Josh's sister Jen and her two little boys! It was not too crowded so that made it even better. We walked around and saw all the animals and went on the train ride (which we didn't have to wait for), saw the ghost of the bayou (the white alligator), and just had fun with Jen and the boys.

Then on the 25th, Abi's preschool went to Hee Haw Farms for a field trip! It was so much fun! Abi and Hannah loved it! We saw the biggest pig I've ever seen. And a bunch of other Animals. We went on a Hay ride, and the girls got to pick their own pumpkin from the pumkin patch. They had a little maze made out of bales of hay for the kids to play in and a big slide for them to go down. They had lots of fun!

And last but certainly not least was Halloween! A day filled with costumes, candy, tired (and wired kids), and lots of fun! The evening before we decorated our very own Halloween Cookie House, and the girls had a little too much fun; Hannah kept eating the candies we were giving her to put on the house and they both liked the frosting. Then we started Halloween off with pumpkin pancakes and hot cider syrup (yummy!). Then we dressed Abi up in her costume to get her ready for School. Her costume this year was Snow White. Then it was off to school. Her class did a program that day so after Hannah's nap we went over and watched them sing a few Halloween songs. The kids in the class were dressed up so cute, and you could tell they all worked hard on those songs. Abi was singing them for days before the program. After that we went out to the Marriott in Salt Lake to see a few of my old colleagues. The girls were more excited to get candy that anything but it gave me some time to chat with some friends. After leaving the Marriott, we went to my dad's work to go trick-or-treating around the office. The girls really loved seeing Grandpa Z and walking around to all of his colleagues work stations and getting more candy! We said goodbye to Grandpa and visited with Grandma MeeMee (Josh's mom) for a few minutes, then it we rushed off to make it to the trunk-or-treat at the ward house. I've never participated in one before but I must say that it was much better than taking them around everywhere. Especially with them being so young. It was nice to be home and done with all of that by 7 so we could sit down and eat dinner, and get the girls off to bed on time. We had a few trick-or-treaters come by and Grandma and Grandpa Coleman stopped by too! All in all it was a pretty good day, and the amount of candy that the girls brought home was enough to re-fill the candy bowl and then some!

Scarecrow Festival

A week or so ago we went to the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point. Though we had a lot of fun I expected to see some Scarecrows. However, there were not many to be seen except for the occasional decoration and a display set up to look like a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean. Oh well, it was fun! They had all sorts of fun things for the kids to do. Lots of those huge blow up things and little games like fishing and such; a haunted house. And the Highway Patrol flew their helicopter over head and then landed in an open area so we could go and look at it. When we walked up the officer asked the kids if they had car seats. Abi proudly proclaimed that she did. Then they all got to sit in the helicopter. As we were walking away Ami said that we should have told our kids to say "What's a car seat?" Just to see what the officer would say. Then on the way out the gate we stopped at the pumpkin patch and picked up a few pumpkins for the kids. Not what I would have expected a Scarecrow Festival to be like but it was fun and the girls liked it.

School Pictures

Abi had pictures at school a couple of weeks ago, taken by Photography by Steph. They turned out so cute! With a few typical Abi expressions too! You can view them all here.

Timpanogos Cave

Last weekend Josh and I hiked up to Timpanogos Cave. Heidi had mentioned that she wanted to go up with us sometime so we had tried to plan a time where we could all go but seeing as though Josh works every Saturday it was a little difficult to plan. We tried to go up one Saturday after he woke up when he was still on Graveyard shift but that did not work so we planned for Conference Weekend, since Josh would be taking that Saturday off anyway. Well Heidi forgot to ask for it off from her second job so she ended up not being able to go. But Josh said he wanted to go anyway. And since I had never been I was totally up for it.
So we asked Josh's dad and Kris to come down and watch the girls. They got to our house around 9 am. And Josh called to see if the cave was open because it was rainy that day. They said that they were currently clearing snow off the trail and to call back. After waiting and calling back they said yes they were open. So we left. And on our way up the canyon, we started remembering all of the things we'd forgotten; camera (I have a few pictures on phones that I will try to post later), tissues, water, etc. When we arrived we ended up buying two bottles of water and some rain ponchos. Good thing we did too or we would have been soaking wet and dying of thirst by the time we reached the top.
Anyway, it was fun. We got to get out without the girls and have some time to ourselves. We were only about 15-20 minutes away from home and we were surrounded by nature! Hard to believe you only have to go a short drive.
Mostly it rained on the way up, but when we came out of the caves, there was snow on the ground! We hiked back down and about 1/2 way down it was rain again. Crazy how the elevation changes things! By the time we got back to the car my feet were soaked and my nose was cold but it was well worth it! Aside from not being able to walk without pain for a few days following I would totally do it again!

Playing Dress-Up

Abi recieved a couple of Princess dresses for her birthday in June and for the longest time Hannah would not put one on. Well a couple of weeks ago she did. And it just so happened to be the one that I think she dislikes the most. She doesn't like the taffeta. Well she wore it long enough for me to be able to get a picture of the two of them. Keep in mind I had not done their hair yet (somedays I find it pointless unless we are getting ready to go somewhere.)

Then last Friday Abi's friend Kennedy came over while her mom (Mandy) and dad went somewhere and they brought Kennedy's Snow White outfit. So they both put their Snow White dresses on. I couldn't get Hannah to put on the other dress again (one time was enough); but she still wanted to be in the picture.

Aren't they just the cutest!!!!

Advances in Technology

Ok so I just had to do a post on the recent cell phone I encountered. I have been trying to gather up unneeded items at our house and dispose of them. I came across a few old cell phones and happened upon a charity called Cell Phones for Soldiers. This particular charity collects old cell phones people no longer use and turn them in to recycle in exchange for money to put on a calling card so that soldiers over seas can call home. So I happened to mention this to my mother. Now, I love my mother, but she tends to hold on to useless things for a while after she no longer needs them. Many years ago she had a cell phone, and over the course of conversation I discovered she still had it and she then gave it to me to donate. I'm a little embarrased to send it in. And here's why.......

**The following pictures are taken next to my cell phone which is a Motorola Razr (there are cell phones out there which are smaller than mine!)**

Who knew some people still had one laying around!

Skin Head

Josh has been wanting to shave his head for a while. And I don't know if he didn't because I didn't want him to or because he was a little nervous to do it. Well on a previous post in April I posted pictures of a haircut he did. Buzzed. I guess that (and some talks with brother-in-laws) finally gave him the nerve to do it. In spite of what I said. So here's what he looked like the night he did it.


It's been a few weeks so it's starting to grow in again but I have a feeling it won't last long. He is already talking about doing it again after his mission reunion on Friday. And the girls are starting to get used to touching it; Hannah still makes a face after she touches daddy's head.

Def Leppard Video

I sure hope this works this time. I've been trying to upload this video for almost a month now. And it hasn't been working. Sorry it's a little shaky. I was dancing while trying to tape, but if you close your eyes you can pretend that you are there and you don't have watch the camera shaking. And the people you hear singing would be Karna & Alan.

Styx-Come Sail Away

I hope this one works too. This video is a long one. Almost 9 minutes. But not as shaky as the Def Leppard one.

Def Leppard, Styx, and Foreigner

My brother and sisters and I all went to the Def Leppard concert on September 7th. It was AWESOME! I loved it! And it was a lot of fun to hang out with my siblings. That doesn't happen a whole lot with just us. It was pretty fun to watch Alan get all hyped up and Karna was so loud but it was great! I love my family. We got to the concert just before it was ready to begin and the people at the gate almost made me go back to my car because I had my camera. Well I finally got in with a warning not to use my camera or it would be confiscated. Yeah ok. Who takes a camera to a concert with no intention of using it? I got a 8 minute video of Styx "Come Sail Away" and then my battery was almost dead! I was a little bummed because Def Leppard had not even come on yet. But I turned my camera off and was able to get some great pics. And even a video of Def Leppard. Here are some of the pictures.

Tummy Troubles

If you think it's hard to have sick children; you should have spent the last few weeks in my house. As mentioned in the previous post our first night with Josh out of town was the start of things. And though I mentioned that Hannah's sickness was due to my own stupidity I'm not so sure about that anymore. See the Friday after Hannah's little episode (the 10th) I woke up from an average night sleep and felt a little wierd. I began having a few stomach pains. After sitting on my bed and feeling them progressively get worse I called Josh (not that he could do anything being so far away but give words of comfort). I came to realize this was not a good idea as it only made him worry about me, and at one point he said he was going to call an ambulance. Doubled over in pain I was a little scared and not sure of what to do. See this same morning my mother was in surgery to have her gal bladder removed. And in times of need my brain never functions properly so I could not seem to think of many friends with a car big enough to hold my two girls myself and their children too. So when it got to be too much to bear and after talking to my friend Mandy we decided that it was best that she come down to Lehi from Bountiful (which meant another 1/2 hour or so of waiting) and I would see if a neighbor would watch my children. So I waited until one of the pains subsided and ran across the street to the neighbors house and rang the door bell. As luck would have it by the time she answered the door I was doubled over in pain again. After a brief overview of my story she told me to call my friend back and let her know that the neighbor was going to take me to the ER. So we left my kids still in their pj's and wild hair with her husband and left. She was great to stay with me and hold my hand when they put the IV in. I HATE NEEDLES! You would think that after having a couple of kids one wouldn't be so babyish about getting one but I still cry and yell. Anyway, after some morphine things were going pretty well. They never found anything wrong with me. they checked all sorts of things. Nice to know my ER co-pay went to good use. My neighbor was great throughout the whole day though she took me home and got me into bed. Took my girls the whole day. Brought me lunch and dinner, made sure the girls got a nap, and even bathed them and put them in bed for me. Well the following few days went pretty good. Then at about 4:30 am on the following Monday (the 13th) Abi woke up walked into my bedroom said "Mommy my throat hurts" and then lost everything in her tummy on my bedroom floor. And this continued throughout the day. She couldn't even keep water down. The next day she seemed just fine and even went to school on Wednesday. Well on Wednesday Ami came to stay with us for a few days and I mentioned to her that we had all been sick recently. But that we were over it for a few days now. Well things were going pretty well and the night I was supposed to go and pick Josh up from the airport (Friday night/Saturday morning); Ami came in at about 1 am and told me that Braxton (her 1 year old) was throwing up. So she spent the night with him on the couch in my front room much like the day I spent with Abi and he couldn't keep water down either. The following day (Sunday) Ami got it. After I had done so much to sanitize my whole house. Then Monday Abi got it again! Tuesday we thought she was doing so well and then Tuesday night she lost it on our bedroom floor again! Luckily this was the last time. And for a week now we have all been fairly healthy. Cross our fingers it doesn't come back. Kudos to the single mom's out there who don't have anyone to help them when their child/children is sick. It was hard enough to do it for two weeks by myself, I can't imagine what it would have been like if Josh had not been home to help out for the last little bit.

First Day of School

Well today was Abi's first day of school. She's been talking about it for weeks. And anticipating her first day. She almost did not get to go because I thought Hannah was sick and seeing as though Josh is on another business trip and I couldn't leave her home I was a little leary about taking Abi since I thought I would have to stay with her for a little while. I was wrong. First of all Hannah's sickness was caused by my own stupidity. And after breakfast it was pretty much gone. More of an upset tummy. Not only that but we took Abi to school and she didn't even care that I was leaving. I told her that I would be back in a little while to get her and she said "ok bye love you." Hannah didn't want to leave her sister there though. I think it was more that she wanted to stay and play too. But we got home and she and I sat together and watched a movie. She was still a little tired from waking up at 4:30 am. But boy was she excited to go and pick up her sister! Abi had a lot of fun at school! She made a couple new friends and painted a picture too. I think preschool is going to be a great thing for her. Here is a picture. Josh has the camera so I had to take it with my phone so it's not that great.

Harry Potter

Well the long wait is over. I must say that I was very satisfied with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I must say I was a little nervous about it. I ordered a copy for my mom and I on amazon.com (apparently along with 2 million others). I was so proud. We were going to get our books delivered right to our doorstep. I had them shipped to my mom's house since we usually have a read-a-thon when the books come out, and thought that the kids could play while we read. So I very quickly got ready to go and we left Lehi for Bountiful around 9 am and waited. Then waited some more. Little did I realize that it would be coming via US Postal Service, not UPS which my amazon account stated. So since my mothers mail didn't come until 4 pm. That's how long I waited. I was a little upset. Had I known this I would have had it delivered to my house since my mail comes at 10 am. Well by the time we recieved it I had to pack the girls up and head for home. I didn't even get to start reading my book until after Josh left for work at 6:15 pm. With a few breaks to get the girls ready for and in bed. I read until 1:30 or 2 am. Then I just had to put the book down if I was to get any sleep at all. Sunday morning after showering and feeding the girls breakfast I picked up the book again and continued my reading. Josh had woke up to tell me that he wasn't feeling well so church was out of the question for him. So I continued reading and finally finished it at about 4:15 pm.

So as not to spoil the book for those who have not read it I will not go into too much depth. I think that it was the perfect end to the series. Surprisingly enough I was ok with the characters that died. I think I had prepared myself for anything to happen. So I think that only one or two of them even affected me much. I knew the moment I read it which part or chapter of the book was so hard for JK Rowling to write. I cried myself. I'm retarded like that and I get too involved in books that I'm reading. I must confess I am a little sad that the series is over, only movies to look forward to now. At some point I will go back and re-read all the books one right after the other, but I think for now I need to move on to other books. If anyone has any suggestions let me know.

Abi's New Favorite Movie

Well I hope this worked. Abi's new favorite movie is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The one with Johnny Depp. And she knows the words throughout the movie too. But what's even better is to see her dance to the Oompa Loompa Songs. This one is the one for Augustus Gloop.

A Little Behind the Times

Well we are a little behind but we finally purchased our first barbeque grill last week. It was a great learning experience. Upon purchase we were offered a previously assembled one but decided to get one in a box. Little did we know how much work needed to be put into it. We were up until 11 pm putting it together on Saturday night.

Then today we had our first family bbq! It was fun. With the exeption that Josh was rushing around trying to cook dinner and get ready to go to work. Next time we'll have to start earlier.

4th of July!

We didn't really get out to do much on the 4th. Josh worked all day, while the girls and I just played and hung out at home. We had planned to go over to Thanksgiving Point for Fireworks and such when he got home at around 7:30. I made sure that the girls took an extra long nap since I knew they would be up late. And then I dressed them in their jammies before we left. We decided that it would be better to walk since there aren't many roads that lead to Thanksgiving Point and figured that if we drove we would definitely get stuck in major traffic coming home. So we loaded up the stroller and set off on our approximate 2 mile walk. Upon our arrival we found a nice shady place on the grass and set up our things. We then decided that hamburgers and hot dogs sounded good for dinner so we went to the stand not too far from us. For the next couple of hours we ate, and played while waiting for the fireworks to begin. And quickly realized that we should have brought more things to keep the girls busy. But it was a fun time outside. When the fireworks began the girls became entranced by them. At least for the first few minutes. After a while they went back to playing with their glow necklaces and eating the candy and other treats which were brought by Josh's sister. They did enjoy the fireworks though. All in all it was a pretty good show. After the show we began our walk home. And boy were we glad that we walked! Traffic was horrible! But we just whizzed by everyone in their cars. By the time we got home it was about 11:30 and we were expecting to sit out a little longer while some neighbors did some of their fireworks. But luckily it turned out that didn't happen. Needless to say, the girls were up until about midnight or a little later. However considering the time of night they were pretty well behaved. We had a really great time! Here are a few pictures.

The girls loved the kettle corn daddy bought!

We want fireworks!

WOW!!!