Let the countdown begin.

I am so excited... We are leaving for Disneyland in just a week and a half. I am so excited to get away, visit with family, enjoy the park and all the rides and entertainment, and just have fun with Mickey and all his friends!

I made this countdown for our kids. They have had so much fun taking a ring off every day as we get ready for the trip.
On a down note, I am a little sad about the timing of the trip. We are going to be gone during our ward's primary program. I was just put in as our new primary president and I am stressed and worried about missing the program. I know that the kids will do a fabulous job, but I am sad that I won't get to see them.

Happy Birthday Skylar!

I can't believe I have a seven year old! Skylar is getting so grown up. She is such a fun girl and I love having her in our family.
This year for her birthday she wanted to have a pajama party. So we had a late night with her and 9 of her friends. It was CRAZY! Just imagine 11 little girls (counting her and Kortnie) going nuts for two hours and that's what the party was like. I think all of the girls had a great time and Skylar told us it was her best birthday ever! (although I think she tells us that every year!).

We opened some presents from Mom and Dad, Grandma and Aunt Melodee before the party started. 

Decorating pillow cases

The whole gang and their creations.

Getting ready to play musical pillows.

Boogie Fever!

What do you wish this person with a BUMP on the head!

Dear old Skylar

Make a wish! We did cupcakes with flowers made out of starbusts and skittles.

The LOOT! Wow she is spoiled.

Almost all of her friends that she invited are in her school class this year and it was fun to meet them and get to know the girls that she spends so much time talking about.

7 reasons we love you Skylar!
- You are beautiful inside and out!
- You are a great protector of your little sister and brothers.
- You are so smart.
- You are willing to try new things.
- You have an amazing heart and don't like to see others suffer.
- You love to laugh and have fun.
- You have a great testimony of the gospel.

Rolling, rolling, rolling

On Saturday Lukas turned 4 months old. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. He is growing up too fast. I love to see him grow and develop. I have his check up with the doctor tomorrow and I am excited to see how much he has grown.
On Friday he learned to roll over from his back to his belly. I actually got some pictures! (okay so this is the second time he did it, but hey at least I got my camera out!)

Laying on his back - just getting ready!

Starting to roll.

Almost There!

And a he makes it to his belly!

 He also loves to grasp his hands. He is still singing and talking whenever anyone will listen. He loves to stand when we hold his hands and he has started teething. He drools and tries to bite on everything.

October Fun

I hate that I am always so behind in my blogging. I  really hope to change that one day, but don't expect it any time soon!
  
October was a fun month filled with witches, parties and trick-or-treating.
Over UEA weekend Kory took a couple of days off so we went to Gardener Village to see the witches with three of my sisters and all their kids. It was CrAzY busy! The weather was beautiful though and the kids had a great time finding all the witches from the scavenger hunt. After seeing all the witches we went and got lunch and then took the kids to a park. It was nice to do something fun as a family and get out and enjoy the fall weather.
We also took a trip to the pumpkin patch.  The kids had fun trying to pick the perfect pumpkin. Holland kept asking about the Great Pumpkin and Charlie Brown. It was so cute.

It had rained the day we went to pick pumpkins, so all of our shoes looked like this by the time we went home. We had to go home in our socks and then wash off all our shoes with the hose.

 That night we went home and painted the pumpkins. The kids all had fun decorating the pumpkin they had chosen.



On the Friday before Halloween, Kory took the day off and we were able to go to both Skylar and Kortnie's class Halloween parties. It was fun to see them in their costumes.

All of my little tricksters were so excited to go Trick-or-Treating. They had a great time even though it was raining.

And here is little Lukas getting acquainted with Ronald. Since they dressed up as the same thing this year, they spent a lot of time together!

3 months and random

Lukas is now three months old and is growing so fast! He loves to smile and talk and sing. Anytime he hears people talking or singing he wants to be a part of it. He is starting to clasp his hands together and his neck is getting so strong. 

I love his little dimple. This picture doesn't do it justice, but he has the cutest dimple on his right side.

Tummy Time!

Chillaxin' in the Bumbo

Holland has decided that he no longer is going to take naps everyday. He will fight it and when I put him in his room he just stays awake and plays, however late afternoon will hit and this is what I will find!

This is in our small play area under the stairs.

We are gearing up for Halloween around here. All the kids have their costumes and they are all so excited. Skylar is going to be a witch, Kortnie is going to be Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Holland is going to be a dinosaur and Lukas is going to be a skeleton. The girls can't wait to show off their costumes! 

Happy Birthday Kortnie

Kortnie's Birthday was on Sunday and she turned 5 years old. I can't believe how fast the last five years have gone. Kortnie loves being in preschool and playing with friends. She asks to play from the moment she wakes up in the morning, and cries when she has to come in at night. She is taking a tumbling class and a dance class and loves them.
Since her birthday was on Sunday we went to the park Saturday night and ate pizza. She got to choose whatever she wanted for dinner. Then Sunday night we celebrated with brownies, chocolate ice cream and chocolate milk! (I think this girl has the same addiction to chocolate that I do!)
She got tons of new dress-up, chap stick, bubblegum, and a ballerina doll and a barbie doll. She was very excited about her new toys and has not stopped playing with them.
We love you Kortnie!

Such a Princess!

Top 5 Reasons We Think You Are Great

• You love to give us hugs and kisses
• You have a very tender heart
• You love to help your sister and little brothers
• You have a great smile
• You are a beautiful dancer

A trip to Idaho Falls

My girlfriend Adrienne recently moved to Idaho Falls, so for Labor Day Weekend we went up and stayed with her and her family.
The first night there we went to check out the Idaho Falls Temple and see an exhibit they had at the visitors center. The kids were not very interested, but the temple was beautiful.  Then we went and got some amazing ice cream at a local dairy. YUMMY!

On Monday we went to their zoo. It was nice to see some animals that are not usually out and about at our zoo, plus the whole family got in for under $6.00!

The kids sitting a nest at the zoo. 

Kory also got to go golfing with Chris, and Adrienne and I got some alone time to go shopping. It was nice to see her and her new home. Thanks for a great weekend! 

Lukas at the zoo!

I have not been very good about taking pictures of Lukas, but he is growing up so fast! This picture was taken two days before his 2 month mark. At his two month dr.'s appointment he was 11 lbs. 12 oz. (50th percentile) and 23.5 inches long (75th percentile). He is smiling so much and is trying to laugh. He has rolled over from his tummy to his back three different times, but cannot always do it. He is becoming more and more alert and loves to look around. 

Fun in Scofield

Our neighbor Robert invited us to go with him to his cabin this year and we took the opportunity one weekend in August. We didn't get to stay long, but we enjoyed relaxing and a visit to the lake. The girls spent a lot of time fishing with their Dad, while Holland scared all the fish away by throwing every rock he could find into the water. They got very dirty! It was beautiful weather and was nice to go to a new place.

Holland, Skylar and Kortnie at the Lake

Lukas trying hard not to wake up. He slept most of the time we were fishing.

Sweet Treats

I love chocolate! I would proudly admit to being addicted. What I love even more is my family - so when you combine those two things, it equals perfection - Or, at least a lot of fun!
 

In August my family did a Sharp family reunion before we got together with my mom's entire side for our Coombs family reunion. We started off with a tour of Sweets Candy Factory. You have to wear a hair net for the tour, and they even made Lukas wear one. Because the regular hair nets would be HUGE on him they gave me a net me would wear for their beard. It was too cute!

After the tour

Lukas in his hair net!

  We celebrated my sisters birthday the first night, with tons of pizza and just hanging out. We even got in a game with just the adults while Grandma Ann and Aunt Gigi played games and made crafts with the kids. 

The next day we went to a splash park. Of course it was overcast and even a little chilly, but that didn't stop the kids from having a great time.

Fun in the water.

 The next day we went to Wheeler's Farm. Of course it was very HOT and we were all wishing we had switched the splash park to this day instead. The kids enjoyed looking at the animals and some even participated in milking a cow. The highlight of the last day though was an awesome dinner that my mom had catered and a fabulous magic show.  The magician was great and did a wonderful job involving all the kids.

The magicians assistant

  The next day was the Coombs family reunion. It was great to see my cousins and aunts and uncles. It is always too long in between seeing each other. There were also many that could not attend, that we missed!
We played some great games including boomerang golf and a minute to win it challenge.

The Coombs

My cousin Art and his son AJ competing in Minute to Win it!

Lukas enjoying the festivities - 1 month.

First day of School!

Skylar right before taking her to school. She was so excited!

Waiting in line for school to start.

Heading in! Happy first day!

Skylar was excited and nervous to start school this year. She moved schools, because she is attending a gifted and talented program, so she was unsure about how everything worked in her new class. After school she told me that everything went great and she loved recess the best.

Kortnie started her second year of preschool the next week. She was so excited to be back in school. She loves her teachers and missed them over the summer.

Before school - she also got to choose a new outfit.

Hanging up her backpack.

Writing her name.

We are full swing into the school year and both of the girls are enjoying their classes.

July

July was a crazy month full of ups and downs. Lukas was born, we dealt with the loss of Kory's dad, and school started for Skylar. I felt really bad for Skylar because she only got three weeks off between the end of Kindergarten and the beginning of first grade. The first two weeks she didn't even get to enjoy her time off because we were too crazy dealing with everything else that was going on. So, the last week I tried to do a couple of fun things with her and the kids.

We went to Kennecot Copper Mines with the cousins. They had free admission for a week, so we were excited to take advantage of that. I am not sure how much they all loved the mines, but they did enjoy spending some time with their cousins. 

 

 We also went to our ward 24th of July breakfast. Kory helped the kids decorate their bikes for the bike parade. They had a lot of fun. Kortnie was excited that she got to show everyone that she could ride a two-wheeler.

So hard to say goodbye...

George Willyns Denos

May 7, 1929 - July 14, 2010

Kory's Dad passed away on July 14, 2010. He went in for surgery to have a stint put into his kidney on July 6, 2010 the same day that Lukas was born. It was an in and out procedure, but his body somehow got infected and he was unable to recover.  It was a whirlwind of a week for us. We knew that he had gone in for the surgery and Kory had called in and checked on him and his mom, but we didn't really realize that he was not doing well because we were so busy with the new baby. Kory decided to go visit Monday night and he found out that his dad was not doing well at all. Tuesday, Kory was called to go over and give him a blessing with his other brothers and when he got there his dad had slipped into a coma. He called me and I went right over with the kids and the baby. We all got to say our goodbyes and then after a while I took the kids home. While I was gone, Kory said that the home hospice company sent a harpist in to play for Dad and that it was a very spiritual experience. Later that night I went back to be together with the family. We all knew his time was short and wanted to be together. We talked and sang and just tried to comfort one another. I went home and went to bed around 10:00 pm and Kory stayed until after midnight, but with no changes, he came home and went to bed also. He got a call around 2:00 am that his Dad was gone. He went back over to the house while I stayed home with all the kids.
Over the next week we spent a lot of time together as a family and shared our favorite stories about Dad. We listened to him singing on CD's that had been recorded. We planned and got ready for the funeral. It was a busy and hard week. His funeral was held on Monday, July 19, 2010. It was a beautiful service. 
We are so sad that Dad and Grandpa are gone, but we are glad that it was quick and that he did not have to suffer for long. I am most sad that Lukas did not get to meet his Grandpa and learn what an amazing man he was named after. Dad was an amazing person. I loved to sit and listen to him tell stories about his life, or sit around the piano and listen to him sing. He was always positive and saw the good in everything and everyone. I loved being with him and getting to know him. I can't wait until it will be possible to see him again.