9 months (plus a couple weeks)

I promise I'll get better at posting these when David takes the photos on the
actual month mark eventually...

Coleman is over nine months now - he's been out longer than he was inside, that's a big deal! I cannot, seriously, cannot believe my baby is SO BIG and growing up SO FAST!!! He is VERY close to walking, pulls himself up onto everything, climbs up and down our few stairs, and even took a step on his own a time or two. He also says "mama" when he's whiny, tired, hungry or wants to snuggle with me and says "dada" when he's happy and wants to play. Maybe he'll see me as a friend to play with someday. :)











This has been my absolute favorite age - he plays with you and laughs so hard. He also has become a GREAT eater and for the first time since he was two months old he no problems eating. He sleeps well, is happy most of the day, plays, gets in to everything and even "unrecycles" as David calls it. Needless to say I am LOVING LIFE!!

All moved in

Sorry to disappoint, but no photos this time around.

We're still unpacking and rearranging and decorating and purchasing home stuff, so I'll do a photo update once we're a little further down the road. However I had to post about the move because I felt so grateful for so many friends and family who came out on a snowy Saturday to help us move. We had so much help, including a completely enclosed trailer that fit most of our stuff, that it only took us 2 hours to move just about everything! David and I packed, labeled and stacked all of our stuff in the living room to make it easier and then we had so many friends and family show up to help move it. Erynn had a babysitting service in Coleman's old room for Coleman and all my friend's kids, and we had cardboard boxes all over to carpet to protect it from all the mud and I'd say the move was a huge success.

I'm also EXTREMELY grateful for a husband who is oh soooooo handy and talented. He has fixed, taken apart, cleaned, installed so many things in the last two weeks from taking the oven and fridge doors off to get them through the front door to hanging blinds, installing dishwashers (yes plural, we had a lemon for the first one so he's done it twice now), and hooking up our washer and dryer. I've definitely learned a lot about different tools and small things you can buy at Home Depot like "pigtails". Haha. In addition to all of our craziness, he helped someone else move on Saturday and when he was mowing the lawn at the house we used to rent, I went outside to talk to him and he was mowing our neighbors lawn too even though we had been cleaning for 4 hours because she is recently divorced and he didn't want her to have to come do it alone. He is so giving and so selfless! David is the best, truly has the best heart, out of anyone I've ever known! Such a sweetheart!

Fulfill a 5 year dream. Check.

I Splash 'N Dash'd a few weeks ago at BYU and I LOVED.EVERY.SINGLE.MINUTE! Ever since David's mission, I found out about BYU's Splash 'N Dash Biathalon and I would dream about doing the running portion, while David did the swim and we would win the team race. Then he came home from his mission and I had a torn ACL and it took two years to recover and then I had another surgery to repair it and then last year I was pregnant with Coleman. So now, five years later here I was out of shape trying to work out with a stroller debating on whether or not we should really do it, but we did and it was worth every minute. I don't know what my time was and I probably didn't do so great, but the fact is...I DID IT! I finally fulfilled a dream of mine and did something I've always wanted to do and it felt great! I did the whole thing - the swim and run and I smiled the whole time. If possible, that will definitely be a regular thing for me, but knowing my luck it may be another five years before I'll be able to do it again. Coleman just loved the free bagels and oranges they handed out to the runners at the end. :)

A Day with the Girls

Why is it that every time girls get together, they just laugh and laugh and laugh? I LOVED my ski day a couple of weeks ago with two of the coolest ladies around - Jessica and Jenny. Don't worry, the weather and snow were horrible and icy, but we seriously laughed the whole day and now we're looking back wondering why we didn't go together more! I think Jenny would agree, we'd snowboard with a skier anytime if it's Jessica, she even made skiing look fun!





I think I need to get some purple pants now for next time
because they totally matched each other....

COLEMAN JUST TOOK HIS FIRST STEP!!

I turned around and guess who was standing there smiling at me ALL BY HIMSELF!!! Oh my gosh, I am in serious trouble! He turned 9 months TWO days ago and within just a couple of weeks, he'll be WALKING!!! Wow.

Sorry I couldn't snap a photo, if you're a mom then you KNOW that it only lasted a few seconds and I wanted to stare at him and soak it all up!

Offer accepted and approved - we're moving!

Here's a quick snapshot of our new house, hopefully we can make it our home very soon! We move in two weeks, wish us luck...

P.S. It has a garage, so Davey is very very excited to say the least and I am excited about the front porch that we'll be hanging a porch swing on very shortly!

Recent Paintings...

Head on over to my art blog for more info.







P.S. I'll be painting and posting more regularly, so check back often!

Such fun visitors!

We had a great time seeing so much family last month! We got to see Jon and Andrea, Rose, Erynn, Jacob & Laura, Grandma Myra and Grandpa Mark, and Jamie and Brent! Thanks for coming out everyone, we loved seeing you. Coleman loves seeing family and got to know them so well - here's a photo of Coleman and Grandma.
They also spent some quality time while we got to go skiing!

It's true, Coleman has a girlfriend!

Isn't Mayla a babe? Gorgeous!




This was the two of them last night when we got to watch Mayla for the evening. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he was trying to put the moves on her! Don't worry, he already does. When she cries, he crawls over and gives her a kiss - that a boy! Coleman LOVES it when she comes over to play and so do I because she giggles and squeals and models for us and is such a sweet little girl. Her mom is not so bad either - we have A LOT of fun together! Don't worry, we've already talked about Coleman taking her to the Prom...

Steamboat Springs, CO

We had a great trip to Steamboat Springs, CO a few weeks ago and would love to go again next year if we can! Jon and Andrea were excellent hosts and we loved taking a few days to hang out in a cute ski town with the locals. We went sledding - more like extreme sledding and it was awesome, we went swimming in the hot springs - Coleman LOVED this, we went to a fireworks show and we hung out with the Scotts. Thanks for a great trip guys!

8 months!!

Wow! My son is 8 1/2 months old and he is growing like a weed. He gets in to
everything, yes, but he is way more fun than I ever imagined possible!

I love being a mom!!!

7 months

Well I have just been so swamped lately, that I'm posting this a little late...he is now 8 1/2 months old, so I'll be posting these 7 and 8 month posts back to back. These are the
last photos before his haircut. Enjoy.

Buyer's Market

So we've decided to take advantage of the low interest rates and cheap homes and buy one! We found a nice little foreclosure in Provo that is a gold mine and we're currently in Escrow, so if everything goes through, we'll be closing on March 28th and moving in the first week of April!! Until it's really ours, I'm only posting one photo because I don't want to get everyone's (mine especially) hopes up until it's a done deal. Until then, enjoy this photo - it's my favorite thing about the house!

It may just be that I'm an artist, but I really think that's the coolest bathroom I've ever seen!

I did it, I cut his hair.

My mom would be proud. Even though it was SO CUTE long, it was getting awfully scraggly! Hopefully now it will all grow at the same time. I'm going to have to get used to seeing a little blondie!

BEFORE

AFTER

Who would have thought all I would need is a cookie to distract him?? Nice.

All in time

You might say that Brittany and I are spiritual; at least we try to be genuine in our worship. Looking back, we have realized that there are times in our lives when we feel God’s spirit guiding or inspiring us as our lives unfold. This is one of those moments.

A few years back we began discussing when we should buy a home. After the big housing market crash, we thought, wow, know is our time to buy a home that we can afford, and at a fraction of what it might have been valued at a year prior. We looked at a few homes, thumbed through a few house magazines, but never felt comfortable with the idea. The timing wasn’t right.

About two weeks Brittany and I both felt like now might be a better time to buy a home. We’ve been thinking about it, and have felt surprisingly more at peace with the idea of purchasing a home. Within a relatively short period of time, we have acquired approval for a loan, hired a realtor and are now ready to begin making offers on a home. It has been amazing to both of us at how fast things can come together when the timing is right.

For those who are faithful, the Lord has promised, “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the Lord of hosts.” (The Old Testament, Malachi 3:, 10-12)

Late Christmas Gift

For Christmas this year, I decided to make Brittany a notebook full of photographs and memories of all of the fun times that we've had together. I kind of bit off more than I could chew, but it has been a lot of fun digging through boxes of notes that we've written to each other over the past 4 years. This one was from Mother's Day 2010, a few months before Coleman was born.

Ahem...

Just finished a painting...love that feeling and love having an easel in my kitchen!

We're in SERIOUS trouble!

You can imagine my surprise tonight when I turned around and saw my
seven month old baby (or not so baby anymore) doing this...

Seriously Coleman, can you stop growing up for just ONE day already?! You're not even old enough to be crawling yet, let alone pulling yourself up and standing!