All Because Two People Fell In Love

hmmmm...... I just feel compelled

2009-08-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

This isn't a funny post. this post has no real great meaning except for me. I wanted to take a few seconds to tell all the people I know and all the family I have and all the friends I have made that I love you all. I have been introspective today as I signed up to participate in the Susan G. Komen race for the cure. I am thinking of all the lovely women in my life that I have met and that have changed me one way or another. Through their stories of faith and persistance and fighting they have caused me to be grateful, thankful, and humble. I am thankful for lives lived and even though some of those lives ended early.... They lived to the fullest. I want to be one of those women. I want to enjoy each breath I am given, because unlike them, I can still breath. I pray for those that are still fighting their fights. Margaret, you are an inspiration. Your example of faith is unbelievable. Your strength is amazing. You are a strong woman. I am very proud of you. Zina, you are loved and you are missed. You loved everyone and everything.. even the critters in your back garden that ate your plants and made growing things otherwise impossible.. Caroleen, you have beautiful daughters that will continue on in your honor. You raised them well. You will be re-united again.

I don't know what else to say. I just wanted to say this. Thanks for listening. =)

missed a scheduled event.. this is the result...

2009-06-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

OH my gosh dear friends... This morning I had the worst experience in my life and of course, I have to blog about it.

It started a week ago... I was vacuuming my living room and my vacuum pretty much died. I tried to fix it.. to no avail. So, I have been living with no vacuum for about a week. I have 4 children, daycare, and a dog. I do have a very small little vacuum thing that is about 20 years old. lol and I have been using that as much as possible. But that doesn't clean much. just surface cleaning, barely. K, so 3 days ago I was playing Basketball and my back started to hurt really really bad. I finished the game and that was the last physical activity of any kind that I have had for 3 days. I haven't cleaned my house, I haven't put away laundry, I haven't done dishes, I barely got my kids to school this morning. I finally got out of bed about 930 and slowly make it to the shower... I get out of the shower and my son says to me.. Jeff called. JEFF?? who's that?? About 1 min. later the phone rings and at that exact moment I see out of my bedroom window a strange man in the backyard, with a tape measure, and I remember.. THAT'S JEFF!!!! See, we are trying to re-fi our house right now and BofA sent out an appraiser.. JEFF! UGH. I quickly threw on what was closest to my hands... my pajamas... and ran out side to see if I could find him. He was just coming around the corner and says, HI, I need to see the inside of your house. I about died. The inside of MY HOUSE??? does he know that I have been incapacitated for the better part of this week and that my vacuum broke???

So, instead of telling you about my complete embarassment and total lack of preparation.. I would like to just show you.
I hope you enjoy and remember.. if your back is out, CALL A MAID!!!!!

2009-04-03T19:58:00.000-07:00

Well.. I haven't posted anything in a very long time. I have been too addicted to Facebook I think.. and running short on time most days. My days are only 24 hours long.... But I figured I have a few minutes right now.. Here are a few pics from our Easter Vacation... I know its called Spring Break now.. but growing up it was Easter Vacation.. so I regress to that time. I took 2 days off work and we headed out to the Oregon Coast. We ended up staying in Gearhart, OR which is about 1 hour 45 minutes away. Brian couldn't get time off work so it was me and the 4 kidlets.. I had to call in reinforcemtns though.. me and 4 kids alone was kinda daunting.. so I invited the kids babysitter to come with us and help keep me sane. We had the BEST time ever. We rented a lovely 2 bedroom Condo and we had a pool/jacuzzi.. the beach was right out the window and so we spent much of our time beach combing for shells, sand dollars, etc. We even learned how to "clam". Razor Clams are abundant on the OR coast.. so that was fun. This is also the first beach I have ever driven on. Growing up in CA I always saw the lifeguards driving on the beach and I was always a little jealous.. so I got my chance! We actually drove in the water a bit too.... later to find out it isn't soo good for the belt in the engine of the Suburban... Who knew?? OH WELL. Its a memory! so, here are a few pics of the kids freezing their butts off.. but all in the name of fun. We wish more family lived close so that we could enjoy these things together!!!!!!

our kitchen.. in the condo.. much fun

Michael just keeps 'em comin..

2009-01-27T17:13:00.000-08:00

Michael is our child that makes us laugh uncontrollably! Here is another gem..

Yesterday I asked Mikey to go look for his little sister and make sure she was OK and not getting into anything she isn't supposed to..so a few minutes later he comes back and says "mom, madelyn is playing in her room with her toys." I said thanks to him and he went away to play.

About 20 minutes later (after I was done prepping for dinner) I go to look for Madelyn and she is not anywhere to be found... I go into my room and what do I find?? Not Madelyn.. but proof that she has been there. Brian's misc. drawer was open and money was everywhere (all change). My makeup drawer was open and my make up was drawn on the carpet, and my shoes were everywhere. I called for Michael and I said.."so were these the toys she was playing with??" He says sorry to me and apologizes for lying and says he wont do it again. I asked him to please help me clean up the mess. He was happy to help. One of the other kids called me so I left Mikey in there while I went to the LR. I'm in the LR talking to Hannah and Michael comes out, doing some silly whistling thingy, looking at me as we goes to walk up the stairs... HE IS SO HIDING SOMETHING.. he has that guilty look.... I said "Michael, whats in your pockets?" he says nothing. I said "Come here." he comes over. he shows me his pockets, he even goes as far as to jump up and down to show me that there is nothing in his pockets... I said "give me your hands." he just looks at me and opens them. Snuggled nicely in his left hand is about $3.00 in change..LOL. I said, "Uh, is this yours?" he said no. I asked him to please go put it back in dads drawer. He says ok. A minute later he comes back and goes to go upstairs and this time he's humming... again, guilty! So I said, "Michael, open your mouth!" He walks over, opens it, and there inside are 3 quarters! LOL!!!!! I said "uh, ya, I'm smarter than you! Don't try this again!" He spits them out and then gets sent to his room for a time out....

what a dork! He finally made it to his room though!

Is this an appropriate time to dip into the emergency supply?

2008-10-02T14:34:00.000-07:00

For FHE we put together our emergency packs for the children for their school. They are asked to have a pack that contains drinks, snacks, healthy item, large bag for poncho, and a letter/picture from home for the child to have to help ease anxiety (in the event of an emergency). We got the bags all put together, they were all sat out the next morning, the kids were very excited to bring them to school and to give them to their teachers.

When the kids got off the bus at our house later that afternoon I noticed that Michael hadn't come inside yet.. I asked Hannah "Where is Michael?" she said he is outside on the grass. I go outside and turn the corner and there is my beautiful precious 5 year old, copping a squat right there on the side of the hill, with a granola bar in his hand. I immediately recognized it as the granola bar that was in his "emergency" bag. I said "Michael, where did you get that from?" He said "From my emergency bag." I reminded him that those items were only for an emergency and furthermore, they were supposed to be left at school with the teacher and that he was not supposed to open it and eat it!! I walked over, picked up all the other things that were removed from the bag, ie his letter and family picture.. grrrr... and I put them all back and I said "Michael, this isn't ok. This bag was made for your class. Why did you open it and eat it?" "I was hungry" he said. "My teacher told me to eat it." I looked at him with THAT look that mothers are so good at and I said "Your teacher TOLD you to EAT it????" He said yes with those eyes and continued to chomp on his granola bar. I told him that I had a hard time believing that because she is the one that requested the emergency bag. He said and I quote " I kept trying to give it to her but she kept telling me to put it away and then she told me to go ahead and eat it. So I did cuz I was hungry."

I marched inside, obviously at wits end, and my 2nd oldest child says to me "Mom, Michael was eating his emergency food on the bus and he said that his teacher told him to eat it." I said "Ya, I know. I am calling the school right now because something is strange."

I called the school and the secretary answers. I said "Hi Debbie, is Mrs. Magistrale still there today? I need to talk to her." She said, "Mrs. Magistrale has been gone all day, she had a substitute. You can call her tomorrow." All of a sudden it dawned on me, all at once, in a great flash of light what had happened. All I could do is laugh. I laughed so hard. Brandon says to me "Well what did she say?" I couldn't even tell him becuase I was laughing so hard.

Michael had tried to give his "emergency" bag to his "teacher" and she didn't know what it was and continued to turn him away and probably got so sick of this child showing her his bag of "goodies" that she just said ,"Well go ahead and eat it." Not knowing it was emergency food.

sometimes when our children do things and we can't seem to find a reason for the insanity.. we just need to take a step back, analyze the situation, and try to see if from the childs perspective.

Thank you Mrs. Kindergarten Subsititute. You taught me a great lesson today which was:
5 year old boys are very honest. They ususally do things out of curiosity not malice, they are ruled by their stomachs and they pretty much always so as they are told by their teachers!

thanks to Michael for conitinually bringing laughter and amazement into my day. You're a doll.

Love Mom

you sleep there.. right there. in the middle of the field, there.

2008-08-28T15:00:00.001-07:00

So we had our annual Ward Campout last weekend. It was a blast. The kids had lots of fun, lots of candy, lots of running around. Pretty much a lot of NON supervision. We adults had more important things to do like play Hand and Foot. Anyway, when we pulled in we were one of the last ones to arrive, can you believe that. Brian actually works for a living and can't get out of work early for camping. What ever! Anyway, we get there and pretty much all the spots were taken except for the ones that required above ground sleeping.. like you know, on stilts, above the water. Since we left THAT tent at home we were forced to sleep in the middle of the field right next to the big bonfire. Hmmmm.. can anyone say 'Thanks Freebairns for saving us a spot??" LOL. so, ya, this is our tent, in the field. It worked out fine. Not my fault when Maddy woke up at 2am and screamed her head off for a good 15 minutes and woke up most the camp... if we were in a spot on the side in the back of the campground you all would have slept way more peaceful! hahahahaha

this is a picture from Brian and Maddy's morning walk to the lake.
This is so beautiful. We live in the prettiest place on planet Earth. I know, true huh??! Its naturally breathtaking.

Get out of your babies bed!

2008-08-28T14:55:00.000-07:00

Madelyn thought that the FAKE baby was getting better sleeping arrangments apparently. She kicked out her baby and climbed on in.. now remember, this crib is BIG ENOUGH FOR A FAKE BABY not a beast Madelyn's size. What a silly girl

Boys are afraid of dinosaurs....

2008-08-28T14:47:00.001-07:00

Brandon and Malaki afraid of dinosaurs....ok well actually it's only Brandon that is afraid of dinosaurs.. LOL! Madelyn heard one of the animatronic dinosaurs roar and she ran behind me and screamed. It was so cute. Wish I had a picture of that! This is a picture of Hannah and I outside of OMSI in front of the huge dinosaur. notice we aren't scared hehe

how to relax....

2008-07-28T23:44:00.001-07:00

I had to include this last photo. Madelyn taking a sit.. strange considering when we are at the pool its me that is running around after her and all I really want to do is this.............

Human Canvas 101

2008-07-28T23:24:00.000-07:00

This Is Maddy Using Herself As A Paint Canvas. How Is It That A 2 Year Old Can Find So Much Joy And Excitement From Painting Herself?? So Intriguing! Love Kids And Their Creative Juices......

ps... I dont think much made it onto the paper... infact, where is the paper??!!??

Giggling girls

2008-07-28T23:12:00.001-07:00

So this is Abbey and me having fun. We decided to give Spencer a photography lesson. So this is his lesson and our chance to be silly girls. I am not sure who had more fun? I wish I could bottle up Abbey's giggles and play that for you while you look at these pictures. Abbey is such a girly girl and loves to giggle. Taking silly pics just encouraged that! =) Thanks Abb's for the pics and memories. Love you. Oh ya, and props to Spencer. Good job dude!

Saturday Fun in the Sun

2008-07-12T20:51:00.000-07:00

This here is Hannah's own personal wave machine..... a baby floaty toy! I bought this for Maddy in hopes to get her over her fright of the pool. How fun would that be to float around in? Took 3 suckers and a lot of convincing before she finally screamed enough that we figured we best take her out and try again another day. Seriously, 3 suckers.! But then Hannah figured if Maddy didn't want to play in it then she would.... this is what I walked outside too... so fun to be a kid!

Summer pics

2008-07-07T22:43:00.001-07:00

I thought this was a very handsome picture of my sweetie pie and wanted you all to drool....you know it's true so don't deny it... hehe

this was a candid shot and I love it. Hannah just on her own leaned up and kissed Daddy on the cheek and he LOVED it. Precious moments.

here are the rest of the monkeys.

Seriously... can't we take ONE nice family picture??? DANG BOYS!!!

Happy and safe 4th of July!

2008-07-07T22:30:00.000-07:00

This is our homemade 4th of July! It was so fun. In Washington we are allowed to set off our own fireworks and what a display Brian did for our family. Good job sweetie! He spent a pretty penny on them but it was worth it. Very fun to spend time together, not get hurt, and see pretty lights! HEHE such good times.

Another of our spectacular fireworks.

Coleman Look-alike Meter

2008-06-30T23:17:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Coleman Look-alike Meter

2008-06-30T23:15:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Coleman Look-alike Meter

2008-06-30T23:12:00.000-07:00

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Coleman Look-alike Meter

2008-06-30T22:56:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

smiles and cupcakes.......

2008-06-05T21:44:00.000-07:00

Michael graduated today, from pre-school! woot woot! Madelyn and I were very proud of him.. .and yes that is cupcake on his face. Only at pre-school grad day do you get cupcakes! And for grad night guess what he did?? He went to bed on time! LOLOL! We will celebrate this weekend.

We love Michael and are proud of him. Wish you all could have been there to enjoy in the festivities... maybe when he graduates from COLLEGE you can make it?? lol. good night peeps!

Would you say you completely agree, somewhat agree, completely disagree with the following statement about crest toothpaste???

2008-06-03T19:26:00.000-07:00

For all you unsuspecting souls out there who get suckered into answering your phone..... don't get additionally suckered into doing an over the phone survey where they ask you to view a DVD for them and then they will call you to find out your answers after watching it... UGH! I watched the DVD which was very entertaining. It was of a sitcom and it was funny! They called me tonight and asked me about 6 questions about the show.. then proceeded to ask me questions regarding the COMMERCIALS ...... Oh my gag, 45 min. later and she is still asking me questions about the commercials. When I asked her how much longer this was going to take she said "I have no idea." I said, a round about idea how long? She said "it could take an additional 5 - 10 min." That was 15 min. ago! So, I am in the middle of the 200th thousand question when my phone dies.. come to find out Brian was changing some electrical outlets in the house and happened to pick THE ONE that has our electrical for our alarm system connected to it which has our HOME PHONE connected to it....LOLOL! THANKS BABE!!!!

HERES TO YOUR SURVEY!

Our latest trip with the Ottley's , Gleneden Beach, Oregon

2008-05-30T21:19:00.000-07:00

have to have the night of smores on the beach. That is a Coleman/Ottley tradition.... And both years we froze!!!! This isn't California People!! ugh.

this is the living room of the house we stayed at. It was RIGHT on the water. We learned, once we got there, that the house (2 years previous) nearly washed into the ocean. Apparently there was a massive storm that lasted like 3 days and the ocean washed away all of the yard and took 5 feet of the foundation with it. They had pictures there at the house for people to look at. Good thing I didn't know this BEFORE booking the vacation. I so would not have gone there. As it turned out, we had a great time and rarely thought about the house falling into the ocean....

Madelyn and Me enjoying our Mothers Day on the sand.... Brian was in Seattle so I made my own Mothers Day Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Yum Lasagna.. GAG!!

our own personal path to the water from the backyard. This was an amazing house.

my 4 little munchkins. This was about 1 hour after we got to the house on Mothers Day. We of course had to play in the water (ya, I know, it was Sunday but we were on vacation all of you!!!). We came back to the house, got in the hot tub to warm up, made dinner and then watched the sun set over the water. The kids were very excited to go to bed as the room they shared had 2 very cool bunk beds in it! What a great time we had making memories, spending time together, laughing together, playing in the water together. I recommend every family at least ONCE in their life (if possible) rent a house on the water and see what happens.... its a transformation!

2008-05-30T21:15:00.000-07:00

can someone please help Brandon get this kite in the air??

Maddy's favorite thing was to play in the sand and transfer sand from one bucket to the next. Apparently she thought this was a cool piece of sand... ?!!

I am sure they are devising a plan on how to conquer the tide....

I REMEMBER DOING THIS WITH LISA MERRILL! I remember standing there, just like that and yelling "bring the big mama!" *that was what we called the big waves* remember this Lisa???

How Did All You Rocks Get In My Pocket??

2008-05-30T20:44:00.000-07:00

This is Brandon emerging from being burried in the sand by Mom. That was fun!!

can someone please tell me where the SUN went?

this is Hannah, true to her free spirit nature. Who cares if the water is 50 degrees!??

Michael cares if the water is 50 Degrees.. .shorts and a sweater! way to stay warm Mikey

Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness. These waves just keep coming

Life of Brian

2008-05-30T08:45:00.000-07:00

Has anyone ever turned down a job offer, accepted a job offer, and turned down a job offer ALL FOR THE SAME JOB??

Ya, me neither.

But Brian has!

anyone want to go swimming in my car?

2008-05-29T21:35:00.000-07:00

Brian took me on a date on Friday. Johnny took Jackie on a date on Friday. We all 4 went together. We went and saw Indiana Jones. It was awesome. Some point in the movie there was a very loud bang/crack/crash sound and we all individually thought to ourselves.."wow, that other movie next door is loud... or that sound didn't fit in our movie." those were the thoughts going through our heads, at the same time, with out eachother knowing it. So, onward. The rest of the movie went off with out a hitch. We are walking out when it was over and a YW from our ward is a "popcorn girl" as Brian so affectionately named her.. and she says to us, "there was a HUGE thunderstorm and I guess everything is flooded outside, there was water spilling over the roads" we were like, NO WAY! that was the sound we heard. Cool! We go outside, lots of water everywhere but doesn't seem soo bad, we approach Brian's car and realize it is all fogged up! I am wondering why? Didn't take long to figure out why. Brian, in his infinite wisdom, left ALL 4 windows open, just a crack....... we learned that JUST A CRACK can amount to a lot in a massive downpour rainstorm. Needless to say, we had to go back inside and ask our friend for 4 trash bags so that we could sit on them. The car was soaked! Brian had a book sitting in the middle of the back seat. He picked it up and there was an outline of the book on the seat, a dry spot amongst the wet! When Jackie got in the car the water on the floor spilled over the top of her flip flops and soaked her feet! it was wet~! It took about 4 days and one evening leaving the car running with the heater on full blast to dry it out. What fun!

Brian learned to never ever EVER leave his windows cracked in the Northwest. Thanks for the fun Bro!!

Monkey boy does it again..

2008-05-29T21:32:00.001-07:00

So this afternoon Michael and I had a little disagreement... he got upset with me and storms off and yells "you are acting just like Rosie!" (for those of you who don't know my neighbors, Rosie is a lady that lives on our block that is pretty nasty to the children). So, I said "Michael, come back here. What does that mean?" He looks at me, throws his hands in the air Coleman style and yells "I have NO idea!"

I laughed. he grinned. we were friends again.

2008-05-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

my mouth is frozen, my mouth is frozen, MY MOUTH IS FROZEN! See Mom, I told you that ice didn't hurt my tummy and that is why I want to eat it all day... Now do you understand why?? I am Kassidy McBurney and my Mom and Dad are Danny and Lisa and they have a couple of other kids, but they love me the most. One of their kids they names Chandler (and he's cute but has long toe nails..) and the other one is named uh, kitty?? I don't remember, shows you how much I care..

anyway, I have pretty eyes and I am borrowing Maddy's bathing suit. I like it! I might put it in my suitcase and wear it when I get home.. shh!!

2008-05-22T22:41:00.000-07:00

sassy lady

this is abbey and I think she thinks that I think she is getting away with something but she clearly thinks wrong cuz I am smart and I know that she has a bucket full of candy and she is supposed to share her spiderman eggs with the others and as soon as we all sit at the table to show eachother the goods we have someone is going to spot those extra spiderman eggs and say "ABBEY THINKS SHE CAN HAVE ALL THESE!!!!!" and the war will be on!

2008-05-22T22:39:00.000-07:00

k BAILEY, this is Easter and this is my nephew and isn't he sweet! Who would have thought he gives his teacher such a hard time.. .HEHE.

Now I get it....

2008-05-22T17:01:00.000-07:00

Something happened just now that I thought was so funny and I wanted to share it with someone and realized..... I have a blog spot......

So, Maddy turned 2 the other day and for her bday we got her a cute baby that cry's, laughs, makes sounds when it drinks, makes sounds when it uses the teething ring, etc. Very cute baby and Maddy (I think) thinks in some way she is real! When the baby cries, Maddy throws the baby down, points to it, and says UH OH!! with a very concerned look on her face. When the baby laughs, Maddy picks it up, hugs it, and laughs with it.. so the baby's name is Rae Rae. Just about 3 minutes ago it started to just downpour. I can hear Maddy outside my window so I know she is out there playing. I wait to hear her come in and she doesn't... so I go and look...... Maddy is standing on the trampoline with Rae Rae in her hand, blanket around her and points to Rae Rae, smiling, and says " WA WA!" (wa wa is water). I laughed! Nice babysitting job Maddy!!

I dunno I felt left out....

2008-05-20T09:22:00.000-07:00

That pretty much sums up my one weak moment of giving in to the blogger social pressure. Thanks family! Thanks friends! I'm in. (famous last words) So I kinda think of this blog thing like writing in a journal, so don't expect much from me. The last time I wrote in my journal was during those sleepless hours of new babyhood. Thankfully Madelyn sleeps a lot better now.. to bad she sleeps a lot better now. My journal hasn't had an entry for 1+ years...... oh well, here we go again!