Some catch-up...

I haven't blogged in forever! Mainly because I take so many pictures, our computer is almost out of room! So July and August's pics are on the camera still! Yikes! I thought since I'm journaling on here that I'd catch up with a few things since the start of summertime...
My sweet crazy friend Heather, had a little tea party for the girls finishing school. It was darling! The food was amazing and we got to chat with friends - what more could you ask for! Heather did an outstanding job, like always!


Poor Adelyn - Becca's baby daughter is never left alone when Emma, Marlee, Claire and Julia are around! They all take turns holding her - Becca, you're a good sport!

Look at all the yummies! And take a glance at her kitchen - her home is right from a Pottery Barn ad!

All the wonderful ladies that were able to attend. Our ward has got the neatest women in it! I am truly blessed by all your friendships!

Dave, Emma and I at her little graduation from preschool. I love St. Andrews! She had a blast there and made some really cute friends. It's been fun seeing how much she has grown and blossomed in a year!

My mom with my youngest sister Jamie and Emma. I am so fortunate to have such a great supportive fam! I love you two!!

Emma's Preschool Graduation with Miss Kathy and her "most favoritest" teacher Miss Deena.

David and Claire at the graduation.

My beautiful SINGLE (give a shout if you've got a hottie single LDS man you know of - she's a catch - and she's gonna kill me for this...) sister Laura at her GRAD School Graduation party in Seattle.

A funny shot of the two younger girls cranky this thingy with Emma lying on her back - pretty typical...:)

My darling youngest sister Jamie having a moment with Claire at Tumwater State Park.

Family Resemblance?

David has been so good lately at scanning pictures of both his side and mine. He's gone through baby books and old photos just lying around our parent's house. I was going through my baby pictures he'd scanned when I thought I'd do a little comparison between myself and my kiddies! Dave only scanned entire pages of his baby book so I didn't have a picture yet to compare him too. What do you think? Is there a family resemblance?

A Day like that...

Do you ever have a day where you question yourself? Of course you have, I guess everyone does. Tonight after fixing dinner, wrangling the kids in and out of the bath tub, lotions, jammies and a pass off to Dave for book reading duty, I sat down and just stared out the window. I wasn't looking at anything in particular, in fact, I think I was staring at our fence. This overwhelming sense of doubt came over me. I kept asking myself, "Am I a good person? Am I interesting? Am I fun? Am I a good mom? Am I a good wife? Am I a good daughter/sister? Am I a good friend? Am I using my time on this earth the best way I possibly can?" My answer to all is "eh." So I guess I'm having an eh day. I feel like I try. Is it noticed? Am I succeeding? I don't know. I guess all we can do is try. And pray. I think it's important to question these things in life. To re-evaluate. Take a step back and look at my life. So I guess this post is my self evaluation. In writing this I'm reminded of what President Hinckley said in the October conference in 1995, "Each of us can do a little better than we have been doing. We can be a little more kind. We can be a little more merciful. We can be a little more forgiving. We can live with respect and appreciation for those not of our faith. We can improve the world about us, in our homes and in our social activities. We can do it, if we will be prayerful and faithful."

I hope that when my children read this post someday they will be able to answer "yes, mom, you were a good mom that tried hard to raise us the best way you knew how." I hope that my family when reading this realizes how much I love you and look up to you. I do try to be there for you, but I will try harder. To my friends reading this, I hope you know what a blessing you are in my life and my family's. I hope you feel I'm there for you. To David, I hope you know how much I love you and couldn't imagine my life without you. I hope I'm everything to you that you are to me. And to myself, I promise to try a little harder to be happy with who I am.

Great Wall

I adore this picture of the men! If only the soldiers who walked this wall could see the Coleman men! They would be terrified, don't they look so fierce? :)
The whole family. Isn't the background so incredibly beautiful? The wall goes on and on and on...
Me and my honey. We were so excited to actually be standing on the GREAT WALL!
David and Matt at the top of this incredible climb. They went as far as they thought they could go until they saw this sign next to them saying you couldn't go past this point. Then they saw a french couple coming down the stairs behind them and were a little peeved they hadn't kept going. Apparently, past that point it wasn't secure - they hadn't started any restoration past that point.

I guess I'd better finish up the China trip before I forget our last couple of days. This was by far my favorite day in China! We had a guide pick us up (didn't speak a lick of English) and drove us to the Wall. As soon as we got out the downtown area we could see how different they lived in the more rural areas. They literally lived in run down hut looking things. It was like that until we got the Great Wall. Once we parked and got out of the van, we were bombarded with merchants selling all the typical souveniers. We made our way up a steep hill until we got to the gondola. the ride up was amazing. So green and lush! And hot!
It was so surreal being up there on the wall. To know that this ancient place was tromped on by soldiers that lived their whole lives on their section of the wall. Workers lived out their lives there and sometimes died building it. And now we can walk on it! It was just an incredible day - one that I won't ever forget!

Photo Shoot!

My good friend Crystal came down to visit us yesterday and brought along her extra fancy camera! So we decided a little photo shoot of the girls was in order considering I haven't had their pictures taken in year! I put them in dresses that of course would coordinate with my home ;) and had the pictures taken in my mom's back yard. It was a little difficult to get everyone smiling at the same time, but a few turned out beautiful!

Daddies and Daughters

I grew up with 2 sisters. So there were 3 girls in the house and then my mom....and then...my dad. My poor dad. So much estrogen under one roof is never a good thing. But he survived! And now....he has 3 granddaughters! I chuckle just thinking about it! But I know my sisters would agree, that we couldn't have asked for a better dad. He always made sure we knew how much he loved us. He planned the best family vacations every year and always provided for us - I never knew when they had money issues. He was the one who drove us girls to college and saw us off. I remember my second year at BYU Idaho, he'd just dropped me off and was ready to head back to Washington, when I realized I'd forgotten something in his car. I must have surprised him because when I saw his face he quickly dried his eyes. If he sees an emotional movie or commercial even, he is the first to get teary! This is why I truly believe that it takes a certain kind of man to have only girls for children! Dad, I love you!
Still on the subject of special daddies to girls, I come to my husband David. I have to admit that I was a little nervous when we were first married. I'd never seen him around children! But once Emma was born, my worries melted away. No kidding, that man had a list of who could not hold Emma as an infant! As I'm typing this, he's putting Emma and Claire to bed, the darling. He honestly, is one of the most patient, loving, soft men I've ever known. The love he shows for all of us amazes me every day, especially when at the end of the day my face looks like the one below, and he comes in with hugs and kisses for us all. He has a testimony and a brilliant mind that I see reflected in my girl's eyes. David, I love love love you my honey of a man! I could not ask for anything more!

China Day 2! Finally!

Finally back to China! I'm going to forget things if I don't continue!
So day 2 was spent at the Temple of Heaven. This was where the Emperor would go to pray for a good harvest twice a year. It was built in the early 1400's. This place was gorgeous! The gardens were beautiful - all the buildings had spectacular blue roofs that were supposed to represent heaven. The Temple of Heaven was much larger than the Forbidden City, I was surprised by that. But they believed that if the Emperor went to the Temple of Heaven to pray to God, then it should be bigger than where the Emperor lived. They had a really cool Echo Wall that surrounded some buildings - if you stood about 50 feet away from someone and spoke close to the wall, they could hear you. It kind of worked - and I already forget why they built that! There was even a building that was exclusively for the Emperor to change in! We walked along a peaceful sidewalk where we passed by a man playing some kind of flute. We stopped and listened and he ate it up! Not only did he play some Chinese songs, he played 'Yankee Doodle' and 'My Country 'Tis of Thee'. We loved hearing some patriotic music and he enjoyed all the pictures and video we took of him. We continued on to hear a beautiful concert of ancient music. After we finished up with the Temple we went to the Pearl Market. This place was incredible! If you looked anyone in the eye or stopped to look at something, you had to be prepared to firmly say 'no!' or barter. They always started really high and you had to give your lowest price and stick to it! I'll go into this later....it was quite an experience! Overall, an incredible day once again!







Proof that I actually used chopsticks the WHOLE time I was in China! I didn't use a fork once - that's amazing considering I'd never figured out how to use them until I got to the land of chopsticks!
Dave's brother Matt being goofy.
Bruce, me, Dave and Matt at one of the temples.

Me and Dad Coleman, he was such a trooper every day and was a wonderful resource - he knew so much about all the places we visited! I have to say he's become a real buddy of mine! He's a lot of fun!

Happy Birthday my darling Claire Bear!

I'm late in writing this up, but my middle child - my happy, funny, adorable, loveable, squishy Claire just turned 4! I can't believe my little brown haired surprise is 4 years - old already. When I found out I was pregnant with Claire I'm ashamed so say I cried! Emma was 9 months old at the time, and even though we were going to try in another 3 months to get pregnant, I wasn't prepared for another baby! But Claire is such a blessing to our family. She is such a tender heart. Although a little stinker right now and a little emotional at times, Claire is the first one to hop up when someone is crying or hurt to give them a hug. Poor Olivia, a little girl in our ward, is constantly being "taken care" of by Claire at playgroup because she just LOVES her! The same goes for her little buddy "Zulia" from church! She has to be by her side, laughing, teasing, hugging...whatever.
I love my little Claire Bear for her overflowing little self. I love her tiny nose, her little streak of blonde amidst her light brown hair, her ability to play with her fingers when all toys are taken away from her in time out, her belting out of any numerous Disney songs, her dancing with wild abandon. Her imagination is uncomparable! When she was tiny and I'd place her on the floor on a blanket - her beautiful blue eyes would follow Emma around wherever she went - she adored her! She still does! The two sleep in a twin bed - I cannot separate them! Claire, I love you so much, my little adorable brown haired girl!

Shin splints and unhappy knees!

I thought I'd take a break from China posts and complain a little bit. Before I had children I loved to run. Ok, love isn't quite the word, more like I used to tolerate running. If I needed to drop a quick 5 pounds or so I'd run. Well after coming home from China all used to walking walking walking, I finally felt like I could start up my running again. I'm not nursing anymore (thank goodness!!!) so I felt like this is it! I can really exercise hardcore and lose everything I needed to before getting el preggo with baby #4! So last week I start out nice and easy - maybe a good mile run. Felt great! Ran 4 times last week with no problems. THIS week however, I ran the same route and came home Monday with the WORST shin splints! I could barely move my legs for 2 hours that night, and only then walking stiff legged. The next day I felt fine, so Wednesday I put on the running shoes hoping that Monday was a fluke...nope...barely made it home that night too! What is going on here?! I stretch, I drink lots of water - I'm so mad! If anyone has any brilliant ideas, send 'em my way!!!