Preschool Party

This week I was in charge of preschool which made it extra fun (but honestly a little stressful too)because we had our halloween party! All the kids dressed up in their costumes and we played fun games like pin the face on the Jack-o-lantern, eat the donut off a string and other fun stuff. We also read halloween books, made a halloween bat, and decorated halloween cookies. It was actually a lot of fun and went off without any major disasters! We have a really good group of kids and I'm so grateful I get the opportunity to participate in it with Brighton!

Our beautiful line up that includes a cheetah, dragon, princess, rock star, little bo peep, and the tooth fairy.

They had to make funny faces. Who could resist these cute creatures?

They got a kick out of making the jack-o-lantern look silly.
They just love craft time! Especially Halloween craft time!
And this is what Porter enjoyed doing during the party...

Pumpkin Patch

Brighton's Preschool class had an orange day last week where they were all supposed to wear orange and bring an orange snack to share and go to the pumpkin patch to look at orange pumpkins! She had a blast and even though it was one of the colder days we've had here, the kids couldn't get enough of playing outside and seeing all the pumpkins! Brighton loves her friends from her preschool group. I'm so glad I decided to join the preschool fun!

Smooth Sailing

Ever since the triathlon, Kyle and I have been dying to get some road bike, as our mountain bikes really slowed us down in the race. We finally did and we love them! They run like a pair of champs! They are so smooth and super fast! Kyle has even been able to start biking to work which he loves. The weather has been so nice lately that we have made it a routine to go on family bike rides. Now we just need to actually start training for the Capital City Triathlon in May! You knew I couldn't write an actual post and not put a picture up of the kids! They're loving the bike rides as well!

He's Uno

So I said I would post about all our fun festivities for Porter's birthday and here they are. Having the language abilitlies that I do, I thought we could have a cultural first birthday so the theme was...Uno. I know you're impressed right? I made an uno card birthday cake for him(easiest cake ever obviously!) and some uno numbered cupcakes for everyone else. I even made him an uno shirt using my freezer paper stenciling skills. We had some friends over and planned on actually playing uno, but we ended up talking the night away instead. It was a fun evening had by all and Porter loved the whole thing as you can clearly see in the pictures and video.My creative side coming out. Ridiculous right? But these were super easy so you can't go wrong! He literally dove head first into his cake. I really don't know why it took him so long to figure out he could pick it up, but it was very entertaining. The finished product... a very sugar-filled happy one-year-old!
He loved the candle on his cake. I think we've got a pyromaniac in the making on our hands.

Firsts

Porter has had a lot of firsts lately. He took his first steps a few days ago. He he learned his first sign (Which is "more" by the way. He's a big eater so obviously that was the first thing he picked up.). And today was his first birthday! I can't believe a year has already gone by since we had our little Oakey Doke! So many things have changed in our life it's incredible. We're so grateful for him in our lives. It's funny because you remember what life was like before having kids but you wonder how you survived without these little pieces of your heart running around the house. Anyway, we love him and we can't believe how fast time flies! We're planning on celebrating his birthday this weekend so future events will be posted at a later time. For now, Happy Birthday Porter!

Life

I know, I know. I've been terrible at blogging. How does life get so busy that you don't even have a second to take a breath? I can't even imagine how I'm going to deal with things when my kids become teenagers or even pre-teens and get involved with sports and what not! Yikes! I guess I'll just have to take it one day at a time. Which is what I've been doing lately and blogging has never made it to the top of the list by the end of each day. Anyway, I'm here. I'm having fun hanging out with my kids that are growing like crazy. Porter is almost walking, but he can stand on his own with ease. I think he's just so fast on all fours that he doesn't have an interest in trying just the 2 legs. He can seriously keep up with Brighton by crawling. It's nuts. He's nuts. He is all over the place and will not stop go go going. Brighton never had this much energy which means I didn't need that much energy for her. But Porter is definitely a different story. My energy level has been mandatorily increased. He makes life a lot crazier but a lot more fun too. If he wasn't so happy all the time, I think it would be a little harder to deal with. But he's so smiley that you can't help but be happy around him. And he's almost 1! Where did that year go? We all seem to be growing up and it's scary but fun! Life has it's ups and downs but it's worth it to see these smiling faces everyday!


Oh and did I mention today I turned my back on Porter for a minute and found this? He's quick.

The First Day

I can't believe I'm writing this but Brighton had her first day of school today! And don't let this picture fool you because she was over the moon about going to school. Some women from some of the wards here got together and decided to do a traveling preschool thing so yesterday was her first day. She must have really been ready to go because she didn't even turn to say goodbye. She just yelled "See ya mom and dad! Love you!" and was gone. Where did my little baby go? And who is this independent little girl?

We Tried

So I know I've been a terrible blogger, but my life has been too busy lately to even think about the computer. But I did want to mention at least one more thing that took place when my parents were here. Kyle and I did the YMCA triathlon! We've been training since we moved here (which is only a couple months but we thought why not!)and it turned out to be kinda fun! It was definitely long and arduous but we finished and that's all that matters right? And I think that this will be the beggining of more to come. We even got my dad to semi-agree to do one with us sometime soon! So I'm sure you're dying to see our lovely spandex-clad pictures and I won't leave you holding your breath any longer! Enjoy!
This is Kyle starting the last leg of the race. It was a 500 meter swim, 13 mile bike, and he's starting the 5k run portion.
Here I am looking like a goober trying to get off my bike and get ready to run.
This was when I crossed the finished line. You can see my obvious excitement and determination to finally be done!
The happy (and exhausted) family! We did it!Kyle was pleased to be done, as evident in the picture. Daddy and Porter finally relaxing in the car. To show their support, the kids wore their triathlon shirts that I made for them. Brighton was very proud.We even had some friends from our ward do it as well. Here are Erin, Sarah, and Jaimie with us. They did an awesome job! It was a fun time and I can honestly I would do it again! I guess we'll have to wait until next year or another one comes around sooner!

A little Putt Putt time

One day my parents were here we went putt putt golfing. Some friends gave Brighton a golf set for her birthday (Thanks Nikki!) and she has loved playing so to actually go to a place that had her size golf clubs and put the ball in the hole was pretty exciting to her. Although it was naptime by the end so she was getting to be quite a pill. But, all in all everyone enjoyed the time outside and loved playing th egreat game. I will add that I beat everyone, including my dad, which is a difficult task so I was pretty proud!Brighton concentrating with G'pops.
Kyle thought he could show Brighton some techniques. The lesson was in vain though because she went back to her old way of whacking the ball like she was using a baseball bat and baseball.
The face of a tired and cranky golfer.
There's never a sad moment when Porter's around.

Abilene Zoo

While my parents were here we drove out to the zoo. I've never seen Brighton so excited about animals before. It was sweltering but she could not get enough of the monkeys, zebras, and giraffes. The cool thing about the Abilene zoo is that you're able to feed most of the animals and they have a bridge over the giraffe's living space so you can reach high enough to feed the animals with ease. I took a video because Brighton finally got up the courage to feed them and it's entertaining. Even though it was a fun time, it was way too hot for any of us to enjoy more than an hour of animal fun so after our faces turned red and my mom almost passed out, we headed for the car. We'll definitely have to go back in the winter time when being outside doesn't make us want to throw up! For now, enjoy the pics!The crew finally finding some shadeG'Pops and Brighton just hangin outBrighton called this guy Marty from the movie MadagascarPorter was as happy as a clam just to be outside Brighton was super stoked to feed the giraffe (Melman from Madagascar, if you will) so here's a little show of her excitement.

Long awaited news

I know for all you Comin fam blog fans, this past month has been rough without any Comin news. The fact is, we've been so busy I haven't had a minute to sit down and post. So at long last, the famine is over and hopefully you're ready for a feast because a lot has been going on! From my parents coming, to training (and finishing) a triathlon, to moving across town, our month has been packed!

Let me first start with my parents coming because that was the highlight for all of us. They visited in the beginning of August and we had a lot of fun. Brighton was very entertained the entire time they were here because she had a buddy to color with her, style hair to, read books with, and just have fun with! We went to the zoo in Abilene, a Rockhounds baseball game, out to dinner a few times, and the pool a ton. It was a great time and we were sad to see them go, but we'll see them in November so we're counting down the days. Here are a few pics from the Rockhounds game. More posts will be forthcoming with all the juicy details of our many adventures from the past month!

Nana with Porter

G' pops and Oakey Doke

Kyle + Scissors = Bad News

So on Sunday while I was talking to my sister-in-law on the phone, Kyle had this great idea to give Brighton a hair cut without letting me in on it. Having no previous experience himself in the hairstyling field, he thought he was highly qualified to do the job. Now I've really been trying to grow her hair out for a while. It's so thin and takes forever to grow, so it has been quite a feat lately as I have been able to put it up in french braids. That's why you can obviously see that when I came in to the bathroom, I was pretty upset. Kyle had chopped off a good inch and a half in the front and only an inch in the back. He made it look like we were going for a very subtle mullet. He told me he was going for an "A frame" but he obviously didn't think it through because an A frame goes the opposite way (short in the back, long it the front. So now it's kind of uneven and I have to put it up all the time, which is hard to do because it's just a little too short. I know it's not too drastic, and from the pics you're probably thinking "That's not a big deal. It was barely a trim.", but for the person who does it everyday, it's not that fun. Anyway, thanks Kyle.



The Before photos


The After shots

A Typical Comin Day

Can you tell she got dressed all by herself today?


And little mister is pulling himself up on everything and has 4 teeth now (you can only see half of them if you look close). So between teething, cruising around, and playing dress up, our days are quite busy!

An Overdue Update

Before we left Utah, quite a few things happened all at once, all while we were trying to pack and leave, so I just wanted to update from the past Utah events. First off, we had to say goodbye to our families that lived close by so we made a quick trip up north to Provo and Pleasant Grove to visit Annie, Joe, Landon, Van, Wendy, Will, Alea, and Mel. It was good to see them all and say adios. We went to this super fun park close the Van and Wendy's house with Alea, Will, Brighton, Porter, Landon, and ANnie to have lunch and play. It was a real treat for the kids. I know Brighton is really missing hanging out with cousins and Aunts and Uncle now that we're so far and can't just hop in the car for 3 hours to see them. We miss you guys! But hopefully we'll be back soon to visit!

Secondly, right before we left, the Utah Summer Games were held and I am proud to say I participated in them! What are the Utah Summer Games you ask? Only the biggest sporting event in Utah held in Cedar City! They have every sport imaginable from ping pong, to fencing to basketball, pickeball, golf, track and field and anything else you can think of, including a 5k race and a 10k race. And the best part is that you don't have to be good at any of it! You just sign up! So I opted for the 10k and really enjoyed it! Now I haven't run a race this long since before I had Brighton and for some of you out there, a 10k might not be that big of a deal, but just getting back into the swing of things, I felt like this was a good accomplishment. It wasn't my greatest time, but I finished and that's all that matters. Anyway, now you're updated!

Take Me Out to the Rockhounds Game

Last weekend we went to our first Midland Rockhounds Baseball game and it was a blast! The town we moved to is very family friendly and this is one of the many family events to attend in Midland. The Rockhounds are a Minor League team affiliated with the Oakland A's so it's pretty popular here. The stadium was really nice and it was a lot of fun to get out as a fam. Brighton thought it was the coolest thing to see them hit the ball and when Rocky the the Rockhound came around she was a little apprehensive, but wouldn't stop talking about it for the rest of the week. Anyway, if you're in town and feel like getting the whole "take me out to the ball game" experience, give us a call!

Red, White, and BLUE

So on the 4th of July we were invited to some friends' house we recently met in the ward. We had a barbeque and went into their community pool and we had a great time. We were all sitting around the table when Brighton ran in from their girls' bedroom so excited and said "Mom! Look!". She had gotten into some nail polish (their girls were older mind you)and had painted her toes all by herself! The first thing on my mind was " Oh my gosh! It's going to be all over their carpet! I'm dead!" But after meticulous searching, there was none to be found! Not even a drop! Even though she got into trouble, I was actually pretty impressed with her skills and she was pretty proud of herself. She wasn't wearing blue that day, so maybe she was just trying to support America's B-day. Whatever it was, we hope everyone else had as great of a 4 of July as we did! Happy Independence Day!