A very long update

Okay so I'm going to back track by a few weeks and give the deets of our recent trip/move to UT. Brace yourself for a long blog. First off we got to Utah on August 7th and hung out with Kyle's fam which included Kyle's sisters Annie and Keri (along with their husbands Joe and Dan)and Brighton's cousins Landon and Olivia. All 3 of the cousins were born within 6 months so it's always so fun to have them together and see them interact! It's always so great to be with Kyle's sisters as well because they are some of my closest friends and I love spending time with them. So it was a great few days (mingled with some car troubles but that's over with so no worries). And p.s. Olivia doesn't walk but she scoots so one day she scooted right up to Landon and gave him a big hug! It was so cute we had to document it, even though it wasn't the greatest of pics (seen above).

Then we headed up to Ogden for a few days to visit our friends the Meegans (who we've seen since then, but I thought I'd give the play-by-play basically for my benefit). We had an awesome time because we hadn't seen them for over a year and desperately missed them. So Kyle and Pat did some climbing while Clarissa and I hung out with the kids and talked and talked for hours. It never fails when we get together, we never run out of things to say and I love it! So we had a blast there and Clarissa even took us to the Children's museum in their town which was amazing as you can see. Anyway we had a ton of fun with them and love the fact that we live closer to them!

Oh and we even got to see our friends Paul and Michelle Ottley and meet their little girl Abby who's 3 months younger than Brighton but much bigger! It was fun to see them because we haven't seen them in forever either!

Okay so after that, we finally moved down to Cedar City where we currently reside! A few days after we arrived we had a little family get-together with some of Kyle's siblings so it was a lot of fun to have Casey, Tyler, Annie, Joe, and Landon at our house! We went hiking and saw the sights of Cedar (which we weren't familiar with yet!).

All-in-all it was a really fun and busy few weeks and now we are settling in to school and life again and wanted to thank everyone who made our transition here so easy and say thanks to everyone who visited us or who we visited because we had a blast! whew! Long blog! Sorry!

What a weekend!

Okay so we finally have the internet at our house and we're able to post pics and get back to life being a little more calm so I'm fully back! Hooray! I was going a little crazy there without the world wide web at my finger tips! (cheesy I know!) Anyway, a TON has gone on since the last post and I've taken about a thousand and one pics so I'll update everyone on the dealings of the Comin clan when I have time, but I just wanted to let you all know about the greatest weekend I had really quick! Our best friends in the world came and visited us and we had a blast! Clarissa, Pat, Gracie, and Alli Meegan all came to see us (along with their family who conviniently lives here too!) and it was such a fun time! First, as you can see from the smiles above, Clariss and I went to see a Shakespearean play entitled "Twelfth Night" at the Utah Shakespeare Festival which was great and so fun to have a girls day out (we both didn't know what to do with ourselves without having a child on the hip!). The next day we had Sunday dinner over at the Montoyas (Pat's mom) and it was really great getting to know their fam. Then today we all went bouldering up at this place called "The Wash". Everyone came along including the babies so it was quite an event (And hopefully with pics forthcoming)! We always reminisce about the good old times we had staying up late and hanging out with the Meegans in Rexburg and it honestly felt like those times again this weekend. We could just sit around the table and talk for hours and love our lives when we're with them so it was one of the better weekends we've had in a while. We just wanted to say thanks so much Meegs for driving all this way to see us because we loved it and we couldn't ask for better friends!

We're Here!!

Okay so it's been a little bit of a stressful week due to situations unforeseen to us, but everything is semi-working out so we're doing okay! We just wanted to let everyone know that we're in Utah, and we're doing good. Our car isn't working so we;re having a little trouble figuring out transportation, but all-in-all,things are okay. We got to see our GREAT friends the Meegans and meet little Allison Danielle Meegan (Who they name after me!) for the very first time which was amazing and now we're headed down to Cedar City to get everything in order at our Apt. There are a bunch of pics forthcoming but with moving, things are a little hectic! Anyway, we didn't drop off the face of the earth just so you know! And we're in Utah finally so, yay!

Last Weekend in AK!!!

This weekend Kyle and I were able to go to the Anchorage Temple for the last time. It was a great experience because this was the temple that I recieved my endowments so it is a special place for me! When we go down to Cedar City, we won't have a built-in babysitter and the St. George temple is 45 minutes away, so it'll be interestng to see how our trips work out down there! Anyway it was a good last weekend! Also, my friend Clarissa inspired me with her creative headband-making abilities, so after a phone call to her, I made Brighton a headband of her own! Kyle thinks it's way too big and she looks like she has a protuberence coming out of her head, but I think it's alright. So thanks for the tips Cla!Well, here are a few pics of her with it on today for church. It was a little rough to leave the ward because we finally found our niche here, but I know we'll be in another great ward down in Utah. I can't believe I'm saying this, but we only have 2 MORE DAYS! Hooray! So if you don't hear from me soon, you'll know I'm flying in the sunny skies of UT!

Eklutna trip and fish tips

Well, I'm sorry for belated blogging, but with the packing and having last time get togethers with all our friends, things have been a little hectic. Buttoning up all the loose ends can sometimes be a headache! So I'll update for you! Last weekend we went to Eklutna Natl. Park to go camping and it was super fun as you can see from the previous video! And a monumental thing during this trip is that my mom came with us! My mom has never been tent camping in Alaska ever before (and we've lived here for almost 15 years now!)! She is deathly afraid of the bears so she has always refused...until now! We all loved the trip and made some great mems (including making many jokes after watching a beginning kayaker totally flip his kayak in the lake!)! When we woke up the next day, we all went out to Clooney Lake and brought a boat to go fishing. There were just some tiny Dolly Vardens in the lake, so it was fun to reel them in and toss them back. And one time when Kyle pulled one in, Brighton stuck out her tongue and actually got it into her mouth and chomped on the tail! Can you believe it?! It was so digusting! Luckily, she didn't bite any chunks off, but she did get a mouthful of slime and didn't seem to mind! Anyway, it was much fun and a great last trip before the big move which is in exactly 4 days! Words can't describe my giddiness!!

Booty Shakin' Baby

This weekend we went camping at Eklutna State Park with my parents which was quite fun! I'll post pics later but I just had to post this video of the trip before I did anything else! I've never posted videos and don't really tend to unless it is extremely worth it. Well, Brighton has been shaking her booty since she was like 6 months and this was a GREAT viedo of it! It's a little long but if you watch it, you'll get to see Brighton's personality shining through! Enjoy!

Loving the CT!

I wanted to say that I am loving being on this creative team! It has been so much fun and I have an awesome designer to create for! Jenna has been so great, understanding, and very helpful! And her designs are super cute! I just wanted to give a shout out to her and let everyone know that you can get her stuff at scrapdish.com or dragonflairestudios.com Oh and I've been working on some pages lately with her kits so there's a few below (Be grateful and Pure joy) that are made mostly with her stuff! Anyway, hope you enjoy the things I've been working on! Not much else has been going on here other than the fact that we leave in 13 days! Can you tell I'm excited?

New Cousin!

On July 20th, Brighton got a new cousin! Val, Kyle's step-sister gave birth to a beautiful baby girl they named Alexandria Ila Eastman! She's super cute and the family is doing well! And on that same day, Olivia turned one so they share a birthday! What fun it will be when everyone is together again! We just wanted to say way to go Val and Aaron and we can't wait to meet little Alexandria!

"Caught Up" in Kenai

Sorry that the entries have stopped the past few days but Kyle, Brighton, my dad, and I all went down to Kenai to go dip net fishing. We left on Thursday and returned on Saturday with a plethora of fish! We definitely caught our fill! The total was 27 and Kyle was the champion at 13 catches, my dad at 12, and I only caught 2 fish. I know I came out on bottom but it was still super fun and I was glad to catch any! For those of you who have never heard of dipnetting, it is a true Alaskan experience that we couldn't pass up before we left! What you do is take these giant nets hooked to a pole and wade out into the ocean, stick your net in the water and wait for a fish to swim in! Once they do, you drag it to the shore and whack it with a club until it's dead (Barbaric I know, but how else are you going to kill it?!). This takes place at the mouth of the Kenai river where it meets the ocean. It's about the only beach we have in AK that has full blown sand but I wouldn't go wearing a bathing suit there! It was super sunny and nice, but it's always very windy and the water is freezing (thus the chest waders and winter jackets) which makes for false hope. Anyway, we had a great time as you can see in the many pics and Brighton enjoyed her first trip to the ocean and even got some sun! Oh and the whole camping experience was like night and day compared to our first voyage! It was blissful because we brought her pack and play and set it up in the back of the truck! We didn't hear a peep from her all night! What a great vacation and fun way to round off the remaining days that we'll be true Alaskans!

Stroller Sadness

This will be a bit of a cheesy post but I wanted to say a sad farewell to my beloved jogging stroller! It was bittersweet today because we put a ton of stuff onto craigslist before we headed out. Well we were so happy because almost all of it was sold within a few hours, but that included our jogging stroller. By the way, can I just say that craigslist is the greatest?! I can't believe it took me this long to finally put anything on it! Anyway, we got almost all of what we paid for for our stroller and we were very happy, but I was a little bummed because I loved that thing! We took it everywhere and it made me go running, knowing that I could go with lil' B. Anyway, we hope to get a jogging stroller/bike trailer when I get down to utah so hopefully that'll make up for the awesomeness we had to depart with! Enough ranting! After all, I can't be too upset. I mean we're leaving in 20 days so what's there to be sad about?!

Harry and the Happy Day

So this past weekend after we saw the parade, Kyle and I went on a date to see the new Harry Potter movie and it was great! Of course I'm a sucker for all the Potter media so I loved it! I recommend it to everyone and just had to share my enthusiasm for magical mayhem (I'm a dork I know!)! And it's always fun going on dates with your husband! Although he's never read the books, he enjoyed the movie immensely and it was fun to get out together!
On to other day to day events, it was such a nice day today that Brighton and I couldn't stand staying inside! So we packed up and headed for the park with Lillie and Juliet! It was great fun except the park manager turned the sprinklers on and no one could play on the playground without getting soaked! Well, it was an enjoyable day and the sun got us excited for Utah! Only 21 more days in counting!!

Bear Paw Parade

So on Saturday we met our friends Juliet, Ryan, and Lillian Belnap to watch the Bear Paw Parade. The Bear Paw is a festival in Eagle River that everyone in town attends and there's activities through out the community during the week (Such as the slippery salmon run which an obstacle course you have to go through while carrying a dead salmon! It's weird up here in AK!). It's great fun and the parade is always an exciting event! This year's theme was "Pirates of the Bear-a-bean" which was pretty cheesy but fun to see everyone dressed like Capt. Jack Sparrow. Every year it seems like it pours on the day of the parade and Saturday was no different! Thankfully it stopped right before we got out of the the car so we didn't get too soaked. Lillie is Brighton's best friend here and they had a blast together pointing to the fire engines and clapping for the horses that went by. The funny thing is that the missionaries were in the parade too! They weren't attached to any float, but waved to all the bystanders. Random huh?! Well, I had to get a shot of that and thought it was pretty funny! We will definitely miss the good times and good friends we've had here but are super stoked that we'll be on a plane to sunny Utah in 3 weeks!

Special Day for the Foleys

Today was a special day for some friends of ours. A while back I told everyone about the story of the Foleys. Tehya was a foster child from birth to our friends Delmar and Jared Foley. Well a few weeks ago was Tehya's 1st birthday and all the papers went through last week for the adoption so they are an official family! We were invited to their sealing today and it was an awesome experience! They not only are official in the eyes of the government, but also in the eyes of the Lord! They are such a great family and Teyha is so lucky to be able to enjoy the blessings of being born in the covenant now that she is a full Foley! It was a tender experience that I'll never forget and I just thought I'd share the joy with all! Congrats to the Foleys!

Birdie Business

I have a little story to tell. Yesterday when Kyle, baby, and I started to go on our weekly bike ride, we noticed a bird was particularly close to us and it wasn't flying away. Kyle got so close that he grabbed a glove and picked it up! It would not move! We thought it must have a hurt wing or something because it was not doing anything. So we decided to freak my mom out and bring it in the house. Well we were nervous that it was going to go crazy and fly around but it didn't, although when we were taking the bird back out, it totally pooped all over Kyle! It was kinda funny! And when we took the bird back out, it flew away like nothing was wrong! It was weird. Brighton loved the whole experience! She wanted to get super close to it and touch it, but we didn't want her to get the bird flu! Haha! I was super mad that our camera battery was dead when this little event took place because we don't have any pics of it and I know that this pic has nothing to do with the story, but I always have to add one! Nothing too eventful is really going on with us other than the flight of the insane bird, although I do have a little news. If you haven't already noticed, I got invited to be on the Little Bird Design digital creative team! I am still a little nervous about being on the team but am loving everything I'm learning and doing so far! A big thanks goes to Beth Summers for introducing me to the creative team world! It's been great!

Tagged long ago!

In spirit of all the tagging that's been going on, we finally decided to actually follow through with a tag! It's been a long time coming, but we got tagged like a month ago by the Ottleys and finally sat down together to do it! (P.S. And do you love the picture of us?! It was 3 days before I had Brighton! Ugh!) So here it goes:

What was I doing 10 years ago:
D- Cheerleading on a little Pop Warner squad
K- Working at Taco John's

What was I doing 1 year ago:
D- Getting adjusted to motherhood
K- Managing the Alaska Club

5 snacks I enjoy:
D- Ice cream! Any flavor!
2. Quakes mini rice cakes
3. Popsicles
4. Nerds candy
5. Pepperoni (I love cold straight out of the fridge!)

K- Jamba juice
2. Burnt almond fudge ice cream
3. Frozen Snickers
4. Jello w/mandarin oranges in it and vanilla pudding on top
5. Red Swedish fish

5 songs I know I all the words to:
D- We didn't start the Fire- Billy Joel
2. Gangsta's Paradise- Coolio (Sad!)
3. Isn't She Lovely?- Stevie Wonder (Brighton loves it when I sing this song to her!)
4. Whenever, Wherever- Shakira
5. No woman, no cry- Bob Marley

K- We didn't start the Fire- Billy Joel (We are both obsessed with this song and embarrassingly enough we have a dance to it too!)
2. I would walk 500 miles-The Pretender
3. Mormon Rap
4. Come Thou Fount
5. Pachabel's Canon

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:
D- Pay for Kyle's schooling!
2. Invest and save for Brighton and future kids' college fund
3. Go to Spain!
4. Buy a boat or horse (I still can't decide yet!)
5. Go crazy at Joann Fabrics

K- Pay off school debts
2. Invest for kids' college funds
3. Go to Hawaii
4. Buy in as partial-owner to a ski resort
5. Open my own outdoors store named Comin' to the Outdoors

5 things I like doing:
D- Hiking
2. Biking
3. Knitting
4. Pilates
5. Scrapbooking

K-Bouldering
2. Skiing
3. Kissing my wife
4. Playing with lil' B
5. Hanging out with my siblings

5 things I will never wear again:
D- Leggings with stirrups
2. My hair in a perm
3. Bright teal green eyeliner (I looked like a lady of the night!)
4. Enormously large sweaters that were way too baggy on me!
5. BRACES!

K- Brown, orange, and white polyester disco shirt
2. Pegged pants
3. Black dress shoes with white socks
4. Bleached hair (It looked yellow on me!)
5. Jock strap w/ cup (Soccer cured me of that!)

5 of my Bad Habits:
D- I'm a backseat driver
2. I get too stressed over minor things
3. I'm too open when it comes to bodily functions (Example: I fart and burp in front of people but think it's okay if I say excuse me)
4. I spend too much time on the computer
5. Since being in AK, I eat a lot of junk food! Yuck!

K- I leave my clothes lying around our room
2. I'm either too quiet or too loud
3. I'm too forward when first meeting strangers i.e. I hug people upon introduction
4. Food sometimes doesn't sit well with me
5. I'm a little too stubborn

5 of my Favorite Toys:
D- Our camera
2. My jogging stroller
3. All my Stampin Up stuff
4. My bike
5. Our computer

K- My skis
2. My mad rock boulder pad (Thanks Pat!)
3. My future bike
4. Brighton's bike carrier
5. All our camping gear

Now I'm tagging:
Kirsten and Aaron Henscheid
and
Lizanne and Stuart Rasmussen

Independence Day- Seward Style

For the 4th of July, we went down to Seward to partake of the festivities there! In Alaska, Seward is the place to be on the 4th. It's definitely a tourist town so we were able to walk around the shops and see some fun stuff. Also, on the 4th there's what is called the Mt. Marathon race. It's a 5k race up Mt. Marathon which is this super steep mountain and if you can imagine they race up it! It's outta control! They get filthy and pretty bloody running up it and practically rolling down it! Anyway, we saw the women's start and the picture of the lone racer above is actually Kikkan Randall who is a first-placed Olympic skier! She's an amazing athlete! It was cool to see her! And there was even a mini- marathon race for the little kids which I thought was so cute I had to get a pic! Also we were able to go down to the docks and look at all the boats. Brighton loved looking at all the water. Oh and did I mention we went camping? Well, for those of you who aren't the biggest of fans of camping, I don't blame you! Having a little tyke in the picture definitely changes the scenario quite a bit! Brighton thought it was a sleepover and she did NOT go to bed! She was loving her life and going crazy! It was probably the worst night sleep I've had since Brighton was born! Well, it was an eventful and tiring 2 days but we had a ton of fun and we made some lasting mems!

These tiny feet

I can't believe these feet are walking all over the place! I forgot to let everyone know that Brighton is running all over the place now. She started walking about a month ago, but wasn't too big on the idea so we didn't push it. Well, now she can't get enough of it! She looks like she just got off a horse when she walks which is hilarious! Anyway it has been a ton of fun watching her grow and I can't believe she's getting so big! She's become a toddler and I'm getting all weepy-eyed but it's still so fun to see her personality and attitude get crazier by the minute!

A few things I've been working on

HZA-TFAATS

We haven't really told anyone this yet, but we joined a competitive adult soccer league this summer as a way to get in shape. A friend from the ward said they really needed people and it didn't matter if we had never played before (which was basically Kyle and my skill level).Well it has been kind of more competitive which is more than we bargained for, but we're still enjoying it. The team (HZA-TFAATS is the name of the team after the architecture firm that sponsored us) didn't have a goalie so Kyle got recruited to do it which he has done well at. And I think I'm just running around the field not helping much, but I still have a blast doing it! Brighton and Jayden (a friend of the family) are definitely our cheerleaders as you can see! Oh and I'm #22 in the pic above! We thought you all would like to see some action shots of us! We only have a few more games and then off we go to Utah right after! Hooray!

P.S. Under construction

Okay so I'm trying to revamp the blog and I don't know if I like it yet. There will most likely be further changes so I'll keep you posted! Sorry for the interruptions!