The Cole Family

Debate...

2012-01-18T10:19:00.000-08:00

I was watching the Dr Oz show the other day. He was talking about food and whether it was addictive or just emotional. As I've been thinking about this for a couple of days, I can to this conclusion. I think it's both! I think we eat because of different emotional things...stress, lonely, nervous, happy, whatever. But I think the foods we eat during those times can be addictive. I have always had a problem with eating the wrong foods when I have those emotions. I don't go to the fruits or veggies, I go to the chips and chocolate!! I am however now changing that and reprogramming my brain to go to the better foods. It is very hard! I went through 3 days of head aches, and being tired. I didn't understand why at first but then I realized it was the lack of fatty, sweet foods. Now don't get me wrong, I still have the occasional yummy just not all the time. I've been feeling so much better and loosing weight too!

Now to branch off a little bit. Because I've ALWAYS had this "issue" with food I've never had to deal with the other side of it. Not eating and being too skinny. As most of you know, Nellie has ADHD and is on meds. She has been on them for almost 2 years now. They have helped her so much! She is able to concentrate at school and is doing great! The only down side is that the meds make you not hungry. Now Nellie is a smaller girl anyway, and with this she is very thin. We go to the dc every 2 months to have her checked and she is doing ok... mostly. Until this last time. She has lost 2 lbs and isn't growing. This is partially because she doesn't sleep much, and you grow when you sleep. She has been on different sleep aids but still she stays awake.

When talking with her dc he said that anything I wouldn't eat, give it to her! Give her the fat stuff, peanut butter, milk shakes, butter. Just not fatty sugary foods (she doesn't need the sugar :) ) The problem is that I can't get her to even eat that! Last night I sat with her at the table for 2 1/2 hours just for her to eat a very small amount of spaghetti. We talked about eating and how important it was. She says she's never hungry. The dc told me to literally make her eat the food. It's so hard when people say, don't force her to eat or if you give her that she'll be fat. I'm doing what the dc has told me to do and what I feel is right for her. I feel like you can't have a middle. You're either too skinny and people judge you for that, or you're too fat and people judge you for that. No one knows what the other person is going through, or why they are doing what they are doing. We are all at different stages in life.

I didn't want to go on a tangent, I just wanted to put it out there and see how other people feel on this subject.

Last year ;)

2012-01-05T09:38:00.000-08:00

All Samantha wanted was a pillow pet.

Nellie finally got her cash register!

Hopefully Patrick won't get lost anymore with his new GPS

I got a Kindle so now I can read in style...and everyone can play games and watch movies on it.

Girls in their Mrs. Clause dresses and Owen in his NEW suite. The top is too small and the bottoms were too big!!

Owen's new toy for his cars

Last year on Thanksgiving we attempted to make our first turkey. Needless to say it didn't turn out at all! Cooking it at 180 degrees for 9 hours doesn't cook it! Anyway, we tried again this year for Christmas and it turned out GREAT!!

Nellie's 2 front teeth have been loose for about 4 months now. She's been too scared to have us pull them out. The wed before Christmas we went to the dentist for a regular check up and he said they can come out any time. She said she wanted to wait until Christmas eve so that the tooth fairy and santa would come together. So on Christmas eve we got one out and then she was afraid to pull the other one out.

Christmas eve...one down!!

The day after New Years she had gymnastics and was helping a friend with a flip. The friend kicked her in the face on accident and made the tooth even worse. I told her it needed to come out! So that night we got it out. She feels so much better now that they are gone.

Now we get to wait for the new ones to come. The dentist had me look at the x-rays and her new teeth are so huge! They are twice the size of her baby ones! He doesn't even think they will fit in that huge hole in her mouth. We'll see...;)

Polar Express!!

2011-12-24T16:29:00.000-08:00

This past summer Patrick and I decided that it would be fun to go on the polar express. So back in June we bought the tickets. We never told the kids until the day of. The girls were very excited and Owen didn't understand except that we were going on a train. The train itself was slow and really bumpy, but the kids had so much fun! They even talked to Santa!

I'm so mad! I only got a picture of Samantha with Santa :( Oh well, I got video of the rest

Waiting for the train to come

Cookie and Cocoa station

Been a while

2011-12-12T09:35:00.000-08:00

Patrick and I just had our 9th anniversary! Thanks to a wonderful mom and great friends, we got to go to the beach for almost 5 days! It was freezing but so beautiful! Here are some of the pix we got.

All I wanted was one good picture of us and Patrick had to be crazy in all of them...oh well, what can you do ;)

I guess this one is ok

We went to dinner in Astoria and this was out our window. They people at the restaurant said that the birds do this every day!! This wasn't even all of them either. There were tons!! They would do cool waves and dives all in sink with each other It was very interesting to watch.

They're going to hate me for putting that one up :)

Sat we spent the day at the water park. It was fun not having the kids there, but we also got worn out faster. We did all the slides a ton of times in only a couple of hours. With kids it took all day just to go on a couple of slides. It was still tons of fun! If you look close you can see santa in his suit! We got pix with him but it was with Corina's camera.

At Tillamock after the water park. Don't we all look great...

Sunday morning before we went home we walked the beach and got shells for the kids. There was hardly anyone there. It was so pretty too.

Right after we got the kids. They didn't want to leave Grandmas house. Guess we have to go away more often ;)

Halloween

2011-11-02T10:16:00.000-07:00

This year was so fun! Owen is at a great age. Every single house we went to, he had to find the candy that he got and show everyone. He was a train conductor, Samantha was the Hello Kitty witch and Nellie was a cheerleader.

~A very special day~

2011-10-20T20:47:00.000-07:00

On Oct 8th Nellie made the choice to get baptized. It was such a wonderful, spiritual day for her and us. Thanks to all who came and supported her!!

I can't tell...do you think she is happy?!?!?!

Us with Bishop Wilson

We had been looking for a dress for her and couldn't find anything we liked that was under $50. My mom was at the Sears outlet one day and they brought out this dress with a fuzzy shawl. The whole thing was $5!!! It was meant to be :)

The families from both sides, minus my sister and brother-in-law and Patrick's oldest brother.

Nellie with cousins

Nellie

2011-10-02T19:39:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that 8 years have gone by! So much has happened it feels like a life time but at the same time it feels like it was yesterday. Nellie has grown so much over that last year. She has become an excellent reader. She can ride an adult bike with the breaks on the handle bars. She can now play games with us and understand them! (she loves that) Those are just some fun things. She is such a great helper for me. She loves going to school and is very good at it. Next Saturday she is getting baptized and is so excited for that. We got her her very own set of scriptures and case. It's awesome that she can read them!

We have some friends that have a daughter that has a birthday 2 days before Nellie. They are good friends and decided to have a combined birthday party. They wanted it to be a princess tea party. We didn't want to leave out family so we had a family party on Friday night and then the kid party on Saturday. Here are most of the pictures...enjoy! :)

Corina is a professional cake decorator and wanted to do the fancy kid cake, so I did the cupcakes for the family party.

Does anyone remember that segment in sesame street, long ago, that had the girl rocking in a huge rocking chair? This totally reminded me of that! LOL

The birthday girls

It was way to windy, so we had them pretend to blow out the candles. ;)

GG and Nellie

Papa and Grandma Susan

~ KID PARTY~

The "tea" and cake table

Make-up and jewelry table

To the left of the picture was the nail station and to the right was the hair station

Nellie after getting her hair done

Samantha begged me to take a picture of her eyes. She did them herself...pretty good too.

All the girls from the party. The super tall on in the back was a sister of one of the girls there to help us. She was great!

Birthday girls with their moms. Corina said we had to dress up too. Of course she found a great one to fit her...as for me, well I'm a bit bigger than her so it was harder to find something. Luckily, I have a wonderful mom that can sew. I found a plain dress at the thrift store and she fancied it up for me. It will also be my Halloween costume.

I had to put a picture of this shirt! Isn't it so cute!

Thanks to everyone who came or helped with the parties! It was so much fun and the girls had a blast!

Staycation ;)

2011-08-28T15:54:00.000-07:00

To start our vacation week we went with the Merrill and Collier families to the zoo on Mon. It was so fun. The kids had a great time! The animals were perfect too. We got to see just about everything in action.

HELLO!!

The monkeys were SSSOOO loud! They kept going and going. Owen couldn't help but become one of them.

The snakes were pretty cool. Nellie has been having horrible dreams about them so we made a point to see all the snakes we could and show her that they aren't that bad.

I think she was a little freaked out about the dinosaurs.

This is what I get when I say, "hey, can I have a good picture of you guys?" Have to say it's not the best one ever...but funny.

Owen's first real train ride. He loved it! That's all he ever talks about.

Samantha wanted to be brave and feed the birds. She was a little scared when it landed on her but after that she did great.

Tuesday we went to the Evergreen Aviation Museum and Water Park. HOLY COW!! If anyone reading this ever gets a chance to go, do it!! It was so cool. The kids loved it and we did too. The only thing that would have made it better was to have a sitter or a grandparent there taking pixs and watching owen. I'm mad that I didn't get any pix. After the water park, we drove to Depot Bay and spent the night. Wed we got up and it was beautiful so we went to the beach. It was windy but so perfect! After the beach we went to the Aquarium. It was the first time the kids had ever been there. Right when we got there they were feeding the anaconda so we watched for a good half an hour.

All owen wanted to do was have a snack.

Men men men men manly men men men. You know the song. They had to see who could carry it over....

Patrick won!!

Girls building a castle

Done castle

Best one of the family. Silly kids

We got stuck behind these 2 for about 20 min.

After the beach on Wed we drove to Oxbow to meet up with the girls scout troop. We got there at 7:30 and they closed the gates at 8pm. We still have to get a few things at home so we grabbed a hot dog and went home for the night. We came back Thur morning, ate breakfast, set up camp, men went fishing and the kids and moms went to the water. We were at the river for the rest of the day. It was so beautiful. There weren't that many people there so that was nice. Again, I didn't have my camera with me but other people took pix. We did see a lot of deer though and got pix of them. We camped Thur night and came back Fri morning.

Joe Dirt wig lol :)

Work it!!

Puzzle

2011-08-20T10:30:00.000-07:00

Nellie has been doing puzzles for as long as I can remember. At 2 and 3 she was doing 25 piece puzzles and at 4 doing 50, 5 doing 100. She has mostly been doing 100 piece ones since then. For Christmas she got this 500 piece Noah's Ark puzzle (http://www.dowdlefolkart.com/products/56-noahs-ark-puzzles.aspx) Just this summer she decided to start it. She has been working on it for over a month and is this far already. She won't let anyone help her and actually gets mad if you try to help. Puzzles are really the only thing she will sit for a long time and do. This one will be one that we glue and put on the wall. She impresses me every day with what she can do.

Turning 2 :)

2011-07-31T19:53:00.000-07:00

Today, July 31st, is Owen's 2nd Birthday. We had a party for him yesterday at the splash pad. It was so fun and great weather! This is how it went:

Music note cupcakes to go with the guitar cupcake cake.

Cupcake cake made by mom, frosted by Corina and mom. Couldn't have done it that good on my own ;)

The mastermind with the birthday boy

Singing Happy Birthday to himself...so cute

YUMMY!!!

Some of the friends...wouldn't be a party without them!

After his party we came home and started on my Aunts cake. Corina taught me how to do a rose and this was my very first ever rose. Pretty good if you ask me!

Cake for my Aunts 65th. I baked, Corina decorated all!! She is awesome!

The girls gift to Owen was a train set. He hasn't stopped playing with it. Thanks Eliza for the idea!! :)

??Wondering??

2011-07-28T21:58:00.000-07:00

I wonder if I post these just for me or if anyone really looks at them. Just this one time if you look on here leave me a message so that I know if I should keep it up. Thanks :)

Summer So Far ~

2011-07-24T16:43:00.000-07:00

So far this summer we have just been swimming and spending lots of time outside...when it's sunny. I'm just going to put the pix and explain as I go. Enjoy!

Nellie and Samantha both have only ever had one swimming lesson and this summer they are both doing great!! Samantha loves it way more than Nellie though...

...as you can tell ;) This is where Nellie likes to be.

Among the many things Owen is learning how to do, he has figured out how to open nail polish. This is a whole bottle of white that I had to remove with half a bottle of acetone!

The girls' school had a fair so we went. There were hardly any people there so it was great! Free everything except for $5 helmets. This is Owen's fish.

Popsicle

Butterfly

On the back of a fire truck.

I think Owen would be ok being a fireman. He LOVED it!!

Samantha in the Waste Management truck.

Hopefully the last time Nellie and Owen sit in the back of a cop car!

Fed Ex

Owen driving the Fed Ex truck

Rebel

2011-06-13T21:16:00.000-07:00

I guess I should blog about Patrick. :)

The first few years of our marriage Patrick didn't do to well in the driving department. He got in lots of accidents and got a ticket. Long story short we both agreed that maybe a scooter was the better vehicle for him.

Since he's had the scooter...a few years...he's become a MUCH better driver. He is more aware of everything around him. I even feel a little bit better letting him drive the car.

Although the scooter has treated him very well, it is a bit slow. He holds up traffic a lot and it takes him longer to get to work. For his birthday he got lots of $$$ and decided he wanted to take the motorcycle course. I told him ok as long as it meant he was just getting a bigger scooter. As you can see that was not the case!! He passed and of course loved the motorcycle feel. He finally convinced me to let him get a bike. The first few days I was very worried, but the couple weeks he's had it he's showed me that he is very careful. He loves keeping up with traffic now too. :)

~Enjoy~

First ride on the bike

I have to park the car weird now so he has a place to put it...we so need to get out of apartments!!

Bodies

2011-06-06T13:37:00.000-07:00

Our bodies are wonderful things. But when things happen and you don't have any control over what your body is doing it is a VERY scary thing.

For about 7 months now I have had panic disorder. It's something I've never had before and it just came on one day. I was at the store by myself and all of a sudden I felt like I was going to pass out. My heart was racing, I was sweating like crazy, I was shaky and everything was blurry. I honestly thought I was having a heart attack. I dropped everything and went to the car. I called Patrick and he had to talk me all the way home. When I got home I was bawling and went right to my bed. I felt dizzy and I didn't know what was going on. Finally, I fell asleep. The next morning I was still feeling weird so I went to Urgent Care. They also thought it was a heart thing and did tons of blood work and an EKG. Of course everything was normal. (that made me feel even worse!) So for the next 2 weeks I still felt very funny and went to an ENT doc thinking it was vertigo...it wasn't. I finally went to my regular doc and told him everything that was going on. He immediately said it was panic disorder. Ok, what does that mean? He said it is something that comes on for now reason, has no logic to it and can go away just as fast as it came. He put me on a medication that I was to take only when I felt the panic coming or if I knew I was going to be somewhere that triggered it. I mostly found it to happen when I was around large groups of people...store, church, park. Up until 2 weeks ago it has been working pretty well.

I started getting very tired. I couldn't hardly go anywhere without feeling like I was just going to pass out. At church I had to sit in the foyer because my heart was beating so bad I could hardly move. The only place I felt ok was at home laying down. Samantha got strep and so I took her to Urgent Care and had them check me too. They did more blood work and said they would call me in 2-3 days. Well, the next morning they called and said my thyroid level was elevated and to make an appointment with my regular doc. This morning was the appointment and this is what I found out. My panic has gotten so bad that it is now anxiety. I have been feeling so tired because I've been anxious every day! After hearing all of this it totally makes sense! Having the attacks are so hard on my body. I now have to take meds every day. I'll try it for 2 weeks and report back to my doc. He is very confident that everything I am experiencing is related to the anxiety. At this point he isn't that worried about my thyroid but says he'll check it again in 3 months. I am just so greatfull that we have docs to figure things out. I have been so worried that something more serious was wrong. Yes, anxiety is serious but is very treatable.

I'm happy to know that I will be back to normal soon and be able to do more things. This has really halted all my fun plans and activities with my kids. I feel like I can't go anywhere without feeling like I'm going to die. As my doc said, if you've never had it, you'll never get/understand it. This isn't something people normally talk about. I want to get it out there so everyone can know what is going on. I don't expect anyone to fully understand what it's like to have it. I just needed to vent. I'm glad we figured it out now so hopefully we can have a great summer with friends and family!!

Samantha's 6!!

2011-05-31T07:32:00.000-07:00

I really can't believe it's been 6 years!

Samantha is:

creative

patient

loving

kind to everyone

always willing to try something new

good with babies

an animal lover

and an overall great kid!

She wanted to have her party at Grandma and Papa's house, again, so we did. She had a great time! Thanks for all of you that came, froze, brought gifts, and played.

She got lots of new clothes. She has been literally growing like a weed. She puts on a pair of pants in the morning and I have to have her change 2-3 times because they don't fit! Her and Nellie are wearing the same size now. Her are some fun pix of her party :)

I love this girls so much! I can't imagine our family without her. I love watching her grow and learn everyday.

Owen

2011-05-25T19:33:00.000-07:00

Tue morning, just a few spots

I should have known that something else was going to happen. We were all almost better and then it hit! 6 days into the amoxicillin for his ear infection the rash came. He was fine Monday all day and then Tuesday he woke up with small spots that looked like he had been bitten in a few places. I called the doc and they said he might have chicken pox. We had to go in through a back door and get special treatment. They decided that it was an allergic reaction to the amoxicillin. By lunch time he was covered, head to toe, with the small spots. The doc said it would get worse before it got better. Little did we know how much worse! Tuesday night was not fun :( He was up most of the night fussing and very uncomfortable. So that meant I was up with him. It was dark all night so I really couldn't see how bad he was getting. Wed morning I saw him and just about lost it. His whole face was covered and the spots had gotten bigger and redder. I called the doc again and they said that this should be the worst of it but to watch for breathing issues or if he starts acting funny. He's been pretty miserable all day and hasn't wanted to be in clothes...understandable. He cries when I change him and freaks out in the bath. Samantha and I are both allergic to amoxicillin but never got the rash this bad. We'll see how he does tonight and hopefully he won't get worse. Here are the pictures so far.

Tue evening

Wed morning

Wed evening

Wed night. It's been a very long 2 days. Hope we get some sleep tonight.

Our life...

2011-05-17T20:55:00.000-07:00

I don't really know what our problem is this year, but we can't seem to stay well. Between the kids and I we have been sick almost this whole year!! At this point I'm starting to go a little stir crazy because we haven't gotten out much. I can't wait for the sun to come out and everyone to get better so we can get out of here! In the mean time we try to keep busy in our little apartment. Some days are easier than others but we make it. Here are some pictures to show you what we do ;)
By the way, I've started watching a friends' 14 month old daughter. Her and Owen play all day while the girls are at school. She's such an easy going girl. There are some pictures of her too. Enjoy! You'll have to turn the volume way up for the movies.

Go to the end and you'll see a video of this. Patrick was DEAD by the end but the kids loved it! So funny :)

He's getting so big!

Owen doesn't like it when dad sleeps on the couch, so he tries to wake him up.

My "other" daughter

The other video at the end is of this. I was dying laughing!! Nellie was so tired but Owen kept saying "GO! GO!" (He weighs only a little less than her)

When everyone is sick...this is what we do :(

Cousins on Easter

St. Patrick's Day Party :)

2011-03-21T20:19:00.000-07:00

Part of my "lovely" decorations

The other part of the "lovely" decorations...and Patrick :)

Had to make everything high enough so Owen wouldn't take it all down

I think they made this one just for him!!

Sporting his new, green, glasses

We have some very talented, awesome friends!! This cake was made by one of them! Thanks so much!

The inside

One of the 3 breakfast club guys

Casey and the balloons

FRIENDS!

So here is the story:
Patrick works 10-12 hour day 5-6 days a week. Planning something for his 30th was VERY difficult! I convinced him to get his actually birthday off so that he and I could do something. We did get to go out to lunch and spend some time together. He thought that we were just doing that and then having a couple over for games later. We had dinner at my parents' house when I "forgot" my wallet. So around 7:15 my mom calls and said that I left my wallet and that dad needed help moving something. Patrick said sure he would go. Right when he left I/we got to work! I had told everyone ahead of time what the plan was and to be there at a specific time. They were all GREAT at getting the timing right too! 15 min later he came in like this. Totally surprised and mad that he was carrying all this stuff...lol. Thanks to all our friend who made this possible! It was a blast!

The Breakfast Club

Evil Patrick

Beautiful green cake with lots of green food coloring!!

MORE FRIENDS!

EVEN MORE FRIENDS!

Patrick said to me later that night after everyone left that he didn't know how he was going to top that next year for my 30th. He says he's not that creative and can't keep secrets. So now you all know and maybe someone can help him next year...not that I really want anything anyway ;)

Thinking...

2011-03-01T19:09:00.000-08:00

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. There are 2 things in my life right now that are pretty big and I kind of want them now! I've been praying about them and doing research on them and...nothing. The only thing that keeps coming up is patience. Now for me, normally, this is not a hard thing. Just about everything I've had to wait for. But these 2 things I've been waiting a long time for. I don't know if I've just been waiting long enough that "I" feel like it's time or that other people around me are getting them and I'm not and I just think it's not fair. I don't know. I'm sure it will all make sense in the end but for now it's driving me NUTS!! The kids got their CD from church a little while ago and it's the only CD I play in the car now. Maybe I need to put what I want in the Lords hands and know that whatever is suppose to happen will happen. I guess this is a big test of faith, patience, trust and endurance. I haven't ever wrote anything like this before but it's such a big part of my life right now that I have to vent to someone...or something, even if no one reads this. It feels good to put it out there.

PS...I'm not going to say what the things are until they happen, so don't ask. :)

MARRIAGE

2011-01-31T17:17:00.000-08:00

I found this on one of my friends blogs and had to try it out. I was surprised by some answers and happy with others. Nellie is 7 and Samantha is 5. Enjoy :)

1. HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHO TO MARRY?
Nellie ~ Can you marry friends or people in your class?
Samantha ~ Pick one!

2. WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?Nellie ~ What age did you get married? (then she said) How about 10!
Samantha ~ Big

3. HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?
Nellie ~ Because they kiss on the lips.
Samantha ~ Because it's on your phone. (no clue)

4. WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?
Nellie ~ You call each other names.
Samantha ~ I don't know?

5. WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?
Nellie ~ Go to the movie theater
Samantha ~ To the park.

6. WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?
Nellie ~ When you're married
Samantha ~ When you're married

7. IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?
Nellie ~ Married, so then you can spend time together.
Samantha ~ Married, because then you can kiss.

8. HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN'T GET MARRIED?
Nellie ~ They would be sad because their wouldn't be any kids.
Samantha ~ You would get old.

9. HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK?
Nellie ~ By wrapping my arms around them.
Samantha ~ True loves kiss!

Girl Scouts

2011-01-11T15:48:00.000-08:00

Nellie and Samantha have been daisy girls scouts for a few months now. They love it and have met some new friends. This past weekend they had their Investiture Ceremony. They got their smocks, patches and pin. They sang some song and had cake. It was fun. The leader is my friend and VERY good baker. She made the cake with all the girls' names on it. They had a great time.

Nellie getting her smock.

Samantha getting her smock

Awesome cake...yummy too!

All the girls

They sang 2 songs but my battery died in the middle of the second one...oh well. :)

* Kid Fun *

2010-12-22T12:18:00.000-08:00

Kids in their Christmas shirts, bell necklaces and elf hat :)

Owen was screaming and got taken away before the picture was taken.

All the fun stuff the girls made at school this season.

Little late ;)

2010-11-30T14:02:00.000-08:00

So I know that this is really late, but oh well. We spent halloween with the missionaries. We had a blast carving pumpkins, playing games and making fun halloweeny food.
These are my awesome nails (if I do say so myself) that even I couldn't believe were real. They looked so fake, and yes I did them myself!!
Our lovely family picture. Patrick was a HUGE personal trainer, Samantha and I were witches, Nellie was the tooth fairy and Owen was a dog.

~UTAH~

2010-10-26T16:15:00.000-07:00

Patrick and I have been married for almost 8 years and we have never gone a real vacation. We've gone over night before but this time was 10 days in Utah. We got to stay with my brother and his family at their new house and see other family members. We ran into friends and people we knew that are on their missions. It was a busy and fun time. Here are just a few of the things that we did. Enjoy! :)
So for the first time in our married life we went out to dinner as a whole family! We've gone with other family members but never alone. My brother found the place on line and we are so glad! There was only one other family there, we went at 5pm, so we basically had the place to ourselves. It was a Chinese place and they didn't really speak English. They were the nicest people and the food was the best!! Too bad they don't have one in Oregon. Our hostess even held Owen for about 30 min so we could both eat. She walked him around and showed him the kitchen. It was great. Then we tipped her really well and she got mad at us, kind of. So she gave us a ton of fortune cookies. :)
2 Elders that we had in the Tigard ward are in Utah going to school so we met up with them for ice cream. They picked the place and I don't even remember the name of it, but the ice cream was HUGE!!!! We didn't know it was going to be that big or we wouldn't have all gotten one. It was good though and we had fun meeting up and talking with them.
We went to Antelope Island. Alright, I'm not going to lie. The drive across was NASTY!! The smell is enough to kill any living thing, and I think there was some dead stuff along the way. But once we got to the Island itself the smell was gone, it was weird. There were "biso" as Nellie called them...bison. We were right up to a few of them. Very cool. But the view was so beautiful! I tried to get some good picts but they didn't turn out as good as in person. Oh well.
Inside the North Visitors Center. It was an awesome experience in there. There weren't very many people there so we got royal treatment from the sister missionaries. :)

The Salt Lake Temple was beautiful. Patrick and I got to do a session while my brother and sister-in-law watched the kids...thanks! It was so fun to walk around Temple square and see everything. I was worried that the kids wouldn't like it but they actually had a great time. Glad we went.

We went to the Hill Air Force Base. The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever! Owen loved all the huge airplanes.
Nellie and Samantha both went rock climbing...and loved it!!
Overall we had a great trip. We did a lot of "firsts" and won't ever forget it. Thanks to Kyle and Maria for letting us crash at your house, you saved us tons!!

Pictures

2010-08-23T21:19:00.001-07:00

This is all the things that have happened in the past month all in one! Except I forget that it goes backwards when you put the picts in, so this first one happened just a few days ago.
Samantha has been BEGGING me for a while to get her hair cut. She was even crying a few mornings because she wanted it so bad. I have a friend that cuts hair, she came over and chopped it all off. Samantha has never had her hair "cut" before. She always wants it long so we just trim it. It is pretty drastic but she loves it!!
This is just the girls ready for church. They saw me getting ready (putting on makeup) and they wanted some. So I put powder, and lip gloss on them. Then they just had to have a picture taken. I really like it :)
I can't get the video to work so you'll just have to believe that he is walking. He doesn't even crawl anymore. He tries to run and then falls on his face. My baby isn't a baby anymore :(

This is a little cake I made for his birthday party at my parents' house. He had to have something for them to watch him rip apart. The blue was everywhere. It was fun.

This is the cake I made for Owen's first birthday and Carson's 8th birthday/baptism. It took a LONG time, but luckily I have a friend who is awesome and helped me every step of the way. I learned so many new tricks and ideas from her. I would have never been able to do something that good on my own.
Well, that has me all caught up on picts now. Enjoy :)

8-9-10

2010-08-09T21:18:00.000-07:00

OWEN IS WALKING!! I wish I had my camera with me today at my parents house but of course I didn't. He took a few steps for my dad yesterday but today was the day! It was so fun to watch his confidence grow throughout the day. This morning he wouldn't take more than 1 or 2 steps. But this evening we went to my parents and he was everywhere. For any of you that know my parents house, he walked from the couch in the living room to the play room. It was a good 30 steps. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings, but I will for sure be getting some picts and a video. So be waiting for another post tomorrow. No more baby for us :( But that also means that I don't have to carry him all over either :)

Stink'n computer!!

2010-08-03T08:32:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I really want to post about Owen's party and the cake(s) I made but our computer hasn't worked for a couple months and we have had a couple of different people look at it. They have come to the conclusion that we either need a new computer, mother drive or something else. So we got the something else yesteday and it seems to be working ok for now. I can actually get on for longer than 3 min without it shutting off. The only problem is that we now have to get all of our info off the old whatever it is and put it on this new one. So I still can't put any picts as of yet. I don't want anyone to worry, they are coming soon! :)

The lip and another tooth!

2010-06-30T22:17:00.000-07:00

Owen is becoming quit the little man :) He has got some faces that are just so funny! The one he is most famous for is THE LIP!! We can't help but laugh every time he does it. If you say the word handsome to him...the lip comes out. If he is sad...the lip comes out. If he's getting ready to smile...yep you guessed it, the lip comes out. I can't wait to see how his lip plays out in his life. He is 11 months tomorrow and it seems like time is flying by! The last picture of him on here is a funny story. We had made some cupcakes and I left them on the table~mistake #1. I was checking my email and he came up to me so I picked him up~mistake #2. I was obviously not paying attention to him~mistake #3~because the next thing I felt was frosting all over my arm. He had gotten a cupcake and was enjoying it to the fullest! I took it away from him so I could clean it up and of course the lip came out. Nellie took a picture for us. I just think he was practicing for his birthday! :)

Nellie lost her 2nd tooth a little while back. Both teeth so far have not been technically ready to come out. However, she won't eat or do hardly anything because they hurt so bad, so we (meaning my sister) pull them out. She is just now getting the permanent tooth in from the first one she lost a few months ago. Anyway, she is feeling much better with the loose teeth out and is eating now!

SSSOOO Funny!! At least to me :)

2010-06-17T22:15:00.000-07:00

I was just looking at how old my kids are on the little ticker thing to the left and noticed that Owen in his picture looks just like his ticker guy! Well, that's all for now...I just thought it was funny. I think I'm a little tired ;)

Projects

2010-06-02T16:01:00.000-07:00

So this is my big project. I have learned that I really love to paint. It takes my mind off of everything and it is relaxing. Nellie and I found these houses at Michaels and had to get them. We did her's first and then started on mine. Patrick built it for me and then I painted it. It took at total of 3 days. One of the days we spent 6 hours just putting it together. It was crazy hard!! He had to keep taking apart pieces so that I could paint them and then putting it back together again. We love our house and had fun working on it together. I might paint the inside some day, but for now it is natural. Enjoy :)

Nellie has been watching me and helping me paint so she wanted to do one of her own. Patrick put it together for her and she painted it all by herself. She was very proud of her work and won't let anyone touch it. I think she did a great job! :)

The girls have piggy banks so I painted this block for Owen. Now when he gets older he'll have a block bank.
I found these at $ Tree and had to get them. Each one is one of my kids. Nellie is the flower, Samantha is the turtle and Owen is the boat.

Samantha

2010-05-18T09:54:00.001-07:00

Today is Samantha's 5th birthday. I can't believe how fast the past 5 years has gone. She has grown so much. I'll admit that she was not planned at all! She was actually a birth control baby. I can't imagine our family without her though. She is a peacemaker, friend and helper. She always reminds us to say our prayers no matter where we are. She is very creative and loves to put that to action. She is obsessed with dressing up and singing. Most days it's hard to get her into regular clothes just to go out of the house. She will be going into kindergarten this next year and is very excited. It's actually nice having her and Nellie so close. They always have someone to play with. Samantha even gets sad when Nellie has school and she doesn't. She loves to learn and is almost at the same level as Nellie. I can't wait to see what she does with her life as she gets older. Happy Birthday Samantha!! :)

9 Months

2010-05-03T21:43:00.000-07:00

Owen is now 9 months old. He had his check-up today and is weighing in at 24 1/2 lbs and 30 inches long. He remains in the 95% and is doing great! He has been crawling for about a month now and has learned, this past week, how to stand and cruse the furniture. He loves to find his way into the bathroom and the girls room to find all the small things to put in his mouth. He will eat anything you put in front of him. He sleeps from 7pm to 6:30am has a bottle then goes back to sleep until 8am.
He is such a joy to have in our home. The next few months will be very fun. He'll probably learn to walk, talk and maybe get some teeth!! Fun things to come. Enjoy our little man :)

What I like to do...

2010-04-06T21:09:00.000-07:00

Last week my aunt got the girls this mirror for their room so they could see themselves when they dress up. When she brought it over, I didn't want to be rude, but it was ugly! So I took it upon myself to "fix" it. I got out all my craft paint and went to it. I didn't realize how hard it was really going to be. It took only 2 days and now it's done. I think it turned out pretty good. The girls love it too! I guess that's all that really matters, right? :)

* Baby gone BIG *

2010-03-21T16:55:00.000-07:00

All of a sudden Owen got long hair! It was driving me nuts and I was debating whether or not to cut it. Well Saturday it got the best of me and I just did it! He sat so well and let me even do the buzzers. It was shocking at first but I love it now. He looks so much older, which I don't really like, but overall I think it suits him :)

A few weeks ago Nellie lost her first tooth. It was a little loose for a while but one morning she came screaming to me in the shower. She said that she had had her blanket in her mouth and Samantha ripped it out and made her tooth very loose! She wasn't kidding either!! It was really just hanging there. So I tried to pull it out but just couldn't get it. She kept trying and couldn't get it either. So my sister called and I told her about it and she said she'd be right over. She got it out on the first pull. No crying or anything! Later that day we went to my parents and my dad had made her a "tooth box". She thought it was the coolest thing. That night she put her tooth in the box and went to bed. The next morning she had $$$ in the box! I got a picture of her sleeping next to her tooth box. It was black in her room but with the flash it looks like day.
Enjoy :)

It's been way to long!!

2010-02-15T16:05:00.000-08:00

I guess having a baby again has kind of halted my blogging. :) Well, since the last one a lot has happened. Obviously Christmas. Not much happened, just family time. Next was new years and we just had fun with family and some friends playing games all night. For the last month and a half Samantha, Owen and I have had a "fun" time. Let's start with Owen. He is now over a half a year old! Crazy how fast that went. He is a very "healthy" baby weighing in at 22.5 lbs, 28.5 inches long and wearing 12-18 month clothes. He is overall in the 95%. He has been sitting up on his own since a week before Christmas, talks, laughs, the normal baby stuff. That's about it for him.

For about 12 years now I have had carpal tunnel. I've been to the doc lots of times but have always had a reason to not have the surgery done. Well on the 20th it was done!! After surgery there was no more numbness or tingling or dead arm at night. It was great! The only bad thing is that my strength isn't coming back very well. It hurts all the time and even worse when I try to do any pulling or grabbing. Hopefully that will come back with time. But for now I just have to deal with it and keep using it.
Now Samantha, a few months ago she found a large wart on the bottom of her foot. I took her to the doc and they froze it. Should have been gone in a week or so. Well we waited about 3 weeks and nothing! So we went back and they froze it again. 2 weeks later, nothing still. So I took her to a podiatrist and he said it was bad news. She has an absest under the wart and he has to cut it all out! She also has a small wart on the same foot in a different place and today I noticed a group of small ones growing on another part of the foot. The picture was when we first found it and now it is almost 2x that size! Who knows what's going on with her...we'll find out on Thurs.

I guess that's enough of an update for now. Enjoy the picts!

ICE!

2009-12-15T20:21:00.000-08:00

Last week we decided to go to the Falls. Patrick and I have never been, that we can remember, to see the falls when it is frozen. It was an awesome site! The ride there was a bit frightening though...everything was smooth until we got about 1 mile away from the exit and there was this guy going about 10 miles an hour. I, of course, got mad and "tried" to go around him. Well we soon found out why he was going so slow. The car was totally out of my control and we went through all the lanes and back. We actually did that 2 times before I got control back. It was so scary!! So we went 10 mph for the next mile too. Once we got there it was beautiful! Patrick took the girls out to go walk around and I stayed in the car with Owen. I could see all the people sliding around and I didn't want to risk falling with the baby. Anyway...I'm glad we made it there ok and back for that matter because on the way back there were NO cars on the road itself. They were all either in the ditches or stopped on the side. I wish we had a better camera to show just how gorgeous it was but ours will just have to do for now. Enjoy! :)

Cute : )

2009-11-18T21:13:00.000-08:00

Owen is a little over 3 1/2 months and getting a personality! Just thought I'd show some pictures of him being...himself. Enjoy!

Nellie and Samantha have made up a new game. They put these pillows on themselves and then they fall. They think it is the funniest thing ever! Patrick and I think they are very creative to even think of something like that. It is very funny to watch too! :

'Tis the season!

2009-11-03T21:38:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows how much Patrick loves to bake. Well this year we have taken it to a whole new level. He wanted to try and make pumpkin cheesecake with real pumpkin. So, of course, I was left to figure out how to do that. I found a website all about pumpkins, read a little and then just improvised a little and tried my own thing. After a few duds I got it right and he made his first cheesecake out of real pumpkin. We took a bit at the same time and just stood there. It was the best pumpkin cheesecake I've ever had! Last year he made one with the store bought stuff but this didn't even compare. Earlier this week a friend of mine asked if we wanted their left over 4 large pumpkins. I said sure, thinking we could do the seeds and use the meat for cheesecake and pie. Well, today we gutted, cooked, pureed and canned them. We ended up with about 30 16oz containers of puree. I'm so excited to be able to share the cheesecake with everyone! We called some friends and family members to try the first one and he'll be making more for others to sample. If you want one for the holidays or just to eat, let us know. He is selling them for $15.

Growing up

2009-10-27T15:45:00.000-07:00

Oh and I forgot to mention that Nellie now has glasses and is loving them! She didn't realize how much she needed them.
I can't believe how fast the past 3 months has gone! Owen will be 3 months old on Halloween. He is 17 and a half lbs now. He has outgrown almost all of the clothes that we had for him. We just had to go out and get 9 months size! He is laughing, holding his head up nicely and almost rolling over. One of my sisters-in -law just had her baby and Owen looks like a giant next to him. It's hard for me to believe that he was that tiny just a few weeks ago!! Nellie is loving school and Samantha's school finally started so she is very happy now. It is so weird only having one kid at home for almost 3 hours a day. I hardly know what to do.

I have started a new hobby making wipe containers and small diaper bags to match. Not like a regular diaper bag but one that literally just fits diapers in it. I will be selling them for $15 at a Christmas Bazaar that a friend and I have a booth at. If you know anyone that would like one or if you want one yourself, let me know. I have a few different fabrics for boys and girls. The one set in the picture is mine and it was the first one so it's not the best. The wipe containers are alone but I will be making the bags to match soon.

Lots going on...

2009-10-03T17:38:00.000-07:00

Well, Owen is 2 months and a week, Nellie turned 6, Nellie started Kindergarten and we had our family pictures done. So first of all Owen. He had his 2 month appointment and is doing GREAT!! He weighs 14 lbs and is 24 in long. Overall he is in the 90th percentile. The doctor says he is growing very nicely! Next, Nellie had her 6th birthday party at the Imagination Station. We had lots of friends and family there and she had a great time. She is also very excited to be in school, and so are we! She loves her teacher and all her new friends. The only bad part is coming home from school. She isn't the nicest person for a while after school. Oh well, I thought that would happen. Finally, once again Patrick's sister Bethany took our family pictures and did an awesome job. The girls however "forgot" how to smile so they look semi retarded in most of the pictures. But overall they are good. That's about all for now. Enjoy the pictures!

1 Month Already!?!

2009-08-29T16:03:00.001-07:00

I can't even believe that it has been 4 weeks since Owen was born! He is a great boy. He sleeps 4-5 hours at a time, at night. He really doesn't cry except when he needs a diaper change or when we wait to long to feed him. The girls are absolutely in LOVE with him! It's nice that they are older and can help me, but it is also not nice that they are older and try to hard help me. He is in 0-3 month clothes, finally, and in size 1 diapers. I don't know how much he weighs yet so you'll have to wait for that. Other than that everything is great! I feel great and am healing well from the birth. Enjoy the picture. We'll have more to post at his 2 month mark.

He's here!!

2009-08-04T21:10:00.000-07:00

From the start...
We went in on Thursday night, the 30th, to start the process of being induced. They had me come in the night before just to do some gel stuff to make it easier for the pitocin to work the next morning. They did that at 10:30pm and said that it is normal to have some contractions for about an hour but that they would stop after that. Well, one came and the next came seconds after that and 3 hours 2 min later he was born. Patrick was at work and my sister was at the hospital with me. He almost missed it! My midwife couldn't be found so they had to call one from Tigard to come and she almost missed it. Nellie and Samantha were both all natural births. With Owen after about an hour, I think, I got an epidural. Let me tell you that was great. I actually remember the whole thing. The bad part was that it didn't fully work on my left leg, but it was better than nothing. He was 7 lbs 5 1/2 oz and 21 in long. So far he is a great baby! He is actually nursing, something I wasn't able to do with the girls.
The bad part is that we were home one day and I wasn't feeling very good. I took my temp and it was 101 so I called the doc and she said to just watch it and if it gets to 103 to call back. Monday I felt horrible and my temp was 102.8 so I called back. She told me to go to the ER. We got there and they got us right in because my temp was now 103.3! They did a chest exray and nothing, so I just have an acute virus. But that means that I have to wear a mask for 3 days, no visitors, and I can only hold Owen when he's eating. Now today the girls have had a fever so I gave them meds and sent them to bed. We are all hoping that Owen doesn't get sick now.
Other than the sick part, everything is great! We are so blessed to have him in our family. He is such a good boy. Enjoy the pict, more to come.

9 DAYS : )

2009-07-22T19:09:00.000-07:00

Today was my last appointment! Crazy to think that. I didn't gain any weight so I remain at 14 lbs total. I was dilated to 1 centimeter so she stripped my membranes, very well I might add. If that doesn't kick start anything then we are set for induction on the 31st. She will have us come in on the 30th at 8pm to start things, so if it goes fast he might come on the 30th. We are all very excited and anxious for him to come. The girls can't wait! We even made a chain for them to help count the days. The picture was actually taken at 37 1/2 weeks. According to my own waist measurements, in the past 2 weeks I have grown 2 inches! I feel it but I don't know if you can tell. This will probably be my last post until after he is born so wish us luck!

2 more weeks!!

2009-07-15T15:50:00.001-07:00

Today was my appointment. Everything was good with the baby but I have gained another 8 lbs, so 14 total and my blood pressure was high. She also checked me and said that he was still a little high but that I was starting to thin out. She didn't actually say if I was dilated or not. I told her that I was really liking the idea of being induced early and she wants me to anyway because of how fast the girls were, so we decided to do it on the 31st! That only leaves me 2 weeks and a few days to go, which is fine with me.
On a different note, the picts above are because I was given a car seat for free and it was a little old looking so I decided to recover it. My mom did most of the sewing because my machine isn't working very well, but I did help. I think it turned out pretty good for no pattern.
We are officially all ready for this baby to come!

36 Weeks

2009-07-13T08:07:00.000-07:00

I only have 3-4 weeks left. 3 if I let her induce me, which I'm really thinking is a good idea. I am measuring 2 weeks earlier than my due date so we'll see. So far I have gained 6 lbs. I feel bigger though. I'm starting to get very puffy, if you can't tell from the picture. At this rate I'll be back to my wedding pounds when he comes out! How great would that be. I have my appointment on Weds so if there is any new news I will post more then. As for now, things are about the same.

35 weeks and the 4th

2009-07-06T16:59:00.000-07:00

Well, I only have 4-5 weeks left! I have gained 6 lbs so far and my doctor can't believe it, I can't either. This past weekend we went to the beach for a family reunion, kinda. The weather was perfect for me, just under 60. The kids had a blast and Patrick got to fly his kites. I didn't get to do very much, but it was still nice. Seeing all my Dad's siblings was cool too. Here are some of the picts.

32 Weeks...and counting!

2009-06-14T21:08:00.000-07:00

Only 8 weeks to go!! The doctor says I'm doing very good. I've only gained 2 lbs since Jan 9th! Can you believe it? I can't. She says my contractions aren't close enough to worry about, so I'm not. Hopefully the next few weeks will pass very quickly! A wedding, 4th of July at the beach, baby shower and more. I know the picts aren't that great this time. What can I say. The first one was Patrick and the second was Nellie. I wasn't having that great of a day anyway, so smiling was hard to fake. That's about all for now.

2 days later...

2009-05-19T15:22:00.000-07:00

Her eye keeps getting worse! The blood is pooling and making it more swollin. Poor girl!

28 Weeks

2009-05-18T15:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the 7 month mark. It's not going fast enough for me. I'm hoping he comes early, only because I feel horrible all the time. Other than that, things are good. I go to the doctor on Wednesday and we'll see what she says then. I have been having LOTS of contractions for about a month now that have made me slow down a bit. I will be a lot happier when this pregnancy is over! In other news, Nellie's lovely eye was due to a "horse" accident. Daddy was being the horse and her and Samantha were on his back at the same time. Needless to say they got bucked off and Samantha fell on top of Nellie's eye. She screamed for a good 2 hours. I think daddy is excited for a boy to be in the house. Today also marks Samantha's 4th birthday! I can't believe she is 4 already!! She wanted doughnuts for breakfast and then we went to DQ for ice cream after pre-school. Her party will be this Saturday so I'll put up picts after that. If there is anything important after the appointment I'll post more.

New Look

2009-04-24T17:26:00.001-07:00

So, for a long time Nellie has hated her hair brushed, things put in it, or anything having to do with hair. Every morning is a fight! I keep saying I'm going to shave it all off, but I know that would just make her happy. The other morning she said her hair was getting too long and it needed to be cut. So we went that day and I told the person just to cut it all off. This is what she did. Nellie absolutely loves it! She even told the lady that that was exactly how short she wanted it. It is so easy to do! I couldn't believe it. We just blow dry it after bath and then when she wakes up in the morning it is the same as the night before. It's great! Hopefully it won't grow too fast and we can keep it up.

24 weeks ~ 6 months

2009-04-19T10:56:00.000-07:00

I think he is growing! I do see a change from the last month. We are both doing good. Samantha is very happy that it is a boy, but Nellie wanted a girl so she is not happy. It took me about 3 days to get her ok with the fact that she can't change what is in there. Hopefully she will be happier when he actually comes. Patrick is a proud dad. He has the "manhood" picture on his phone and watch and shows people regularly. I guess that is all for now.

It's a BOY!!

2009-04-12T21:51:00.000-07:00

All the family knows now so we can tell all of you. It is a boy and we are very excited! As you can tell in the picts it was very obvious so there is no doubt. Everything looks good with me and him and we don't have to go back to the doctor for 6 weeks.

Paint

2009-04-11T18:17:00.000-07:00

Before we even knew what the baby was going to be we decided on a theme for the baby's room. Patrick really wanted a beach room so he can rock the baby and just relax. We went with it and just finished (the walls) yesterday. Capri came and helped me paint. I think it turned out pretty darn good. All we need now is a curtain, some shelves with sea shells, from the beach, and the crib stuff. Everyone has been asking about it and they don't really understand my explanation so I took some picts to show you. Also, the girls got a new bunk bed and we had to put more dots up to fill in the empty wall where the other bunk bed was, so I took picts of their room too. Enjoy :)
Baby announcement coming tomorrow!!

The big day...

2009-04-07T13:25:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the day we will find out what the baby is. Everyone is so sure on what it is, some say a boy and some say a girl. I would love to see what you all think it will be. I might not post it until Sunday because we are telling all the family first but I think it would be fun to hear all your opinions. Wish us luck! :)

~Half way there~

2009-03-24T11:28:00.000-07:00

I am now 20 weeks which means only 20 more to go! I don't think much has changed since 17 weeks but I told myself I was going to put new picts every month so here it is. The baby is very active now, although no one else can feel it yet. Every time Patrick tries to feel it, it stops moving. Poor Patrick :( We go to find out the gender on the 8th of April. Hopefully it won't be shy.

17 Weeks!!

2009-03-02T09:51:00.001-08:00

I'd have to say that there is a big change from 12 weeks to 17 weeks. Nellie is officially my prego photographer and I think she does a pretty good job. Samantha of course has to be in all the picts. She is a little excited for the baby to come. I'm going to try to put new picts up every month mostly for me to see how big I've gotten. I guess that's all for now.

Baby update

2009-02-17T10:12:00.001-08:00

These are the newest baby picts and also our family picts taken around Christmas. Because of how the appointments go, we won't be able to find out what the baby is until April! I'm not very happy about that, but I'll get over it. We have also moved again. I know, what a shock! The house just wasn't working out. Now we are in a great apartment and really hoping to stay for a while. Now that we are going to have 3 it makes it harder to move. I don't want to do it anymore. That's all for now.

Interesting week

2009-01-26T09:00:00.000-08:00

This week has been crazy! First we went and played at the cousins house and Samantha fell outside and scrapped up her chin. Then 2 days later we picked her up from pre-school and she had a nice shiner on her eye. Of course, no one knows what happened. Then that night the girls wanted to sleep in the same bed, which they do on a regular basis, but this time was different. Not even 10 min after I put them in there, Nellie starts screaming! I said what is wrong - as she was turning the corner - and Samantha is yelling, Nellie has blood! So Nellie has blood all over her hands, face and clothes. I got her to calm down and had her sitting there with toilet paper and went to the bedroom. Blood was all over the wall and all over the bed, which I had just 3 day's before cleaned! I got everything cleaned up and put Nellie on her bed. Come to find out, Samantha had head butted her in the nose. I was so surprised to find that she didn't even have a bruse, just swelling. I hope this week goes a litttle better. On a different note, I love taking picts of myself being prego. This is my first on with this baby with more to come. I am 12 weeks in the picture. The girls where just a little excited. Nellie took almost all the picts for me.

We're having a paperclip!

2009-01-12T09:24:00.000-08:00

For those of you who haven't heard yet we are expecting our 3rd sometime in August. The due date is the 9th but who knows. When I told the girls they were so cute. This is how it went:

Mom ~ you guys are going to have a new baby!
Nellie ~ Mom, I'm going to take good care of you. Hey! Do we have any diapers?
Mom ~ No honey! The baby won't be here until it gets sunny and hot outside.
Nellie ~ But mom, it is sunny today!
Mom ~ My tummy has to get really big and the baby has to grow before it can come out.
Nellie ~ So no punching it?
Mom ~ NO!
Samantha ~ And to kicking it? ( with kicking action )
Mom ~ NO!
Samantha ~ Mom, we have to get some bottles!
Nellie ~ And grandma Susan just brought the crib back so we need to set it up!
Mom ~ Girls!!! The baby isn't coming for a long time, it's ok. We'll do all that later.

I gave up after that and we went on with the day. I took the girls to school and when I picked them up and got Nellie in her seat and then went to the other side to help Samantha. She was standing there looking very sad, this is how it went:

Mom ~ Samantha, what's wrong?
(nothing)
Mom ~ Did you have a bad day at school?
( head shake, no )
Mom ~ Then what's wrong?
(Samantha getting a little teary)
Samantha ~ I want to hold the baby! (crying)

All I could do was laugh! She was so cute. I didn't even know what to say. I reassured her that when the baby comes she will get to hold it a lot.

The whole thing has been very funny. All they do now is pretend like they have babies in their tummies and think of names to call it. Nellie is sure it is a baby sister, although Patrick says it's a boy. We'll find out in a couple of months. That's all for now. I'll keep everyone posted when there is more.

My Girls ~

2009-01-08T18:24:00.000-08:00

I had to show everyone what my girls did while we were stuck in the house. They got some new dress-up clothes from Patrick's Grandparents and I couldn't resist. I hope you all have a good laugh, I know I did!

Another First!!

2008-12-10T19:35:00.000-08:00

So Nellie decided to get on her bike and ride it for the first time, with no training wheels, this past week. Also, Patrick is fully healed and back at work. My brother and his family were here for a little bit and we got some good pictures of them. I guess it is hard to get them all to smile at the same time, as you can see. In our house we have this cupboard that we really don't use and the girls have made it their hiding spot. Well, Patrick decided to get in on it and joined them. Enjoy the picts. Anyway, that's about all for now. We are looking forward to a good holiday season and we'll post lots of picts after Christmas.

Lots has happened...

2008-11-09T13:32:00.000-08:00

A lot has happened in the past month or so. Starting from the bottom going up, Nellie had her 5th birthday on Sep. 28th. We went to the Mt. Scott Community Center Skate Rink. She had a blast. Eliza, a good friend, made her a barbie cake that was awesome!
Next is Patrick's knee. One picture is with the stitches, the next is after they are out. He has felt the best in his life! He will go to the doctor on the 11th to see if everything is ok and see if he is ready to go back to work.
We have moved AGAIN! We are renting a house from some friends for a while with the hopes of buying it after a few months. It is sooooo... nice to not be managing again! This move has made it our 11th in 6 years. Some may call us crazy, but we feel blessed. Every place we have moved to, we have made great friends and there has always been a purpose for us being there.
Last but not least, halloween. I don't get dressed up, I like to dress others up. Nellie was a horse. Samantha was a lion, and Patrick was himself on his surgery day. The hospital let him keep all the "goods" . He, of course, added his own touches to it. Overall it was a fun day!

~The Uncovering~

2008-10-02T09:41:00.000-07:00

Patrick was able to undo the bandages and take a shower yesterday. He had to wrap it with saran wrap first and I just had to take a picture of that. He was feeling so good that he thought he could do more than he really could. Needless to say, the swelling went way up and a couple of the incisions started bleeding. So he has been doing nothing the past day and a half and it is getting better.

SURGERY!!

2008-09-30T09:44:00.000-07:00

Patrick finally had his knee surgery on Monday. Everything went well and he is feeling much better. He wants to get up and run but I won't let him. He can't take the bandages off until tomorrow so I will have more picts of the actual wound later. Oh ya! We had his cousins here for the weekend. She was doing my hair and I did her nails. Then Patrick was just laying there and we decided to do his nails too. Enjoy :)

...And the school starts:

2008-09-16T15:34:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of the next 25+ years. Nellie started school! She has been looking forward to this day for a LONG time. When I took her she went right in and didn't look back. Samantha on the other hand didn't want to leave. She wanted to stay and play. Then we went to the car and Samantha was freaking out. She was worried about Nellie and didn't want to leave her behind. So the picts I have are of Nellie very excited to go to school and Samantha bawling. She can't wait to go back tomorrow. I can't wait either :)

Pictures

2008-09-02T12:26:00.000-07:00

My mom wanted to get pictures of the family before my brother and his family went back to Idaho. So we got together and this is what came of it. My mom made us wear matching color T-shirts for each family. By the way they were not our choice.

Piano!

2008-08-21T21:30:00.000-07:00

I have always wanted my very own piano, but never had the space or money. I still don't really have the space but was able to get on for free! The missionaries in our ward went tracting and came across this piano outside. They asked the people what they were going to do with it and they said they were going to give it away. Knowing that I wanted a piano the missionaries asked the person if they could have it. She said yes and now it is mine. It is so beautiful and will play great in a few weeks, after it is tuned. The girls have already had their first lesson today and are loving it also. Thanks to the missionaries, I owe them big time :)

Crazy Weekend!

2008-08-04T15:34:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went camping with my brother and his family. Patrick had to work on Saturday so he took his scooter. I told Kyle to give him VERY detailed directions. To make a long story short Patrick got lost(in the rain on his scooter), I got lost, Kyle had to go and find Patrick and I met up with them so we could all get to the campground. Kyle said he didn't give us very good directions. Oh well. Camping was fun. We went to the river on our way home and took some fun picts. It was a pretty good weekend and we get to do the camping thing all over again in a couple of weeks with our ward. I will be much more prepared next time!

Memories-

2008-07-26T16:02:00.000-07:00

I saw this on another friends blog and thought this sounded like fun.

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together, or one of the first memories you have of me. It doesn't matter if you knew me a lot or a little, anything you remember.

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses, If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

I wonder what everyone else remembers that I don't??!! HA HA HA!!

New things

2008-07-19T21:25:00.000-07:00

We went on a shopping spree and got the girls matching bed sets. The sheets are the soft cotton, they feel so nice, I want some.
Also, today I felt crafty so I decided to make some aprons for the girls. I didn't have a pattern or anything, I just started cutting and they turned out so cute. They wore them almost all day. Now I get to make some for my sister's girls too. Anyone else need a kid apron? Overall, we had a pretty good day.

Fishing!

2008-07-13T19:33:00.000-07:00

The girls and I went fishing with my sister, her family, my brother, his family, and my sister's neighbor. We spent about 3 hours fishing. Nellie caught the first fish, her first ever! After that, Matt, Ethan, Josie and myself all caught one. It was a very fun day. Thanks to Capri's neighbor for inviting us. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Our 4th

2008-07-07T09:13:00.000-07:00

We didn't have much planned for the 4th day so we had the missionaries over to play games. They had so much fun with us that they didnt' want to leave. They got permission to come out to gresham and have a bbq with my family. Then we were having so much fun there that we decided not to go and watch the fireworks like we had planned. While we were there my dad figured that there were enough men there, why not tear down the old shed. So between 4 guys it was down in about 3 minuets. Overall it was very nice day.

Summer....

2008-06-17T09:17:00.000-07:00

With summer now here we are going to be very busy. The girls just got out of swimming lessons, and are ready for our pool here at the apartments. Samantha is passing up Nellie in that department. We went with Capri, Ethan, Maria, Riley, Brooklynn and Grandma Susan to the mary-go-round and had a blast. My girls could do that all day long. The apartments are crazy right now. 2 different people skipped out on me in a matter of 3 days. So now I have more vacent. The pool is keeping me busy, having to check it 4 times a day. It's never ending. We are now getting ready for Patrick to have his surgery. I will make sure to take picts so you can all see. Other than that, I will get new picts up after I take some.

Samantha's 3rd

2008-05-28T10:00:00.001-07:00

So Samantha turned 3 on May 18th. We had a party at Cook park. She had a blast opening presents, as you can see. It was so windy that she had to pretend like she was blowing out the candles. Other than that, it was a fun party.

We're Finally Here!!

2008-05-22T14:39:00.000-07:00

Everyone has been asking and so here we are. I finally got a new camera which will make it even funner.
Just for an update on our family...we live in Tigard and are managing apartments for the moment. We just sold our house in Troutdale so that Patrick have knee surgery at the end of June, also to pay off some debt and save for a new house. The girls are both in swimming lessons and having a blast! Today they both put thier heads all the way under the water. That was a huge step for Nellie. Samantha is a little fish and wants to take off by herself. Other than that we are just hanging out waiting for the sun to come out and the pool to open. I'll get picts up later.

The Cole Family

Debate...

Last year ;)

Polar Express!!

Been a while

Halloween

~A very special day~

Nellie

Staycation ;)

Puzzle

Turning 2 :)

??Wondering??

Summer So Far ~

Rebel

Bodies

Samantha's 6!!

Owen

Our life...

St. Patrick's Day Party :)

Thinking...

MARRIAGE

Girl Scouts

They sang 2 songs but my battery died in the middle of the second one...oh well. :)

* Kid Fun *

Little late ;)

~UTAH~

Pictures

8-9-10

Stink'n computer!!

The lip and another tooth!

SSSOOO Funny!! At least to me :)

Projects

Samantha

9 Months

What I like to do...

* Baby gone BIG *

It's been way to long!!

ICE!

Cute : )

'Tis the season!

Growing up

Lots going on...

1 Month Already!?!

He's here!!

9 DAYS : )

2 more weeks!!

36 Weeks

35 weeks and the 4th

32 Weeks...and counting!

2 days later...

28 Weeks

*New Look *

24 weeks ~ 6 months

It's a BOY!!

Paint

The big day...

~Half way there~

17 Weeks!!

Baby update

Interesting week

We're having a paperclip!

My Girls ~

Another First!!

Lots has happened...

~The Uncovering~

SURGERY!!

...And the school starts:

Pictures

Piano!

Crazy Weekend!

Memories-

*New things*

Fishing!

Our 4th

Summer....

Samantha's 3rd

We're Finally Here!!

New Look

New things