I think she likes it....

Two days ago was Tessa's first time with rice cereal, is she seriously alerady old enough for that?? Anyway, it was hiliarious, we were all laughing so hard at her. Which I know that is kind of mean, but really it was so funny. Porter and Carlee loved having the opportunity to feed "their" baby.

Here she is before the cereal smiling at Andy across the table.

Right after her first bite. Clearly she does not like it.

And it starts to come back out.

And it's all out.

Feeling much better.

Just being cute in the high chair.

One of her favorite toys are her spoons.

After it was all said and done I left the room to get a rag to wash her off. Then Carlee comes running in the room saying "911 emergency with baby, she spilled all of the cereal!!" My lovely Carlee girl had given Tessa the whole bowl to play with too.

It was a mess but she was so happy trying to figure out what all of this food stuff is about!

Seven years and NO itch....

Today is our seven year anniversary!! I cannot believe how fast the time has passed and how many amazing things we have done together over the years. To celebrate we went out Saturday night and saw Benjamin Button (which Tessa slept the whole time!), and then to a fabulous restaurant called Brio, we had a wonderful time and enjoyed great company. Then to top it all off, this morning when I woke up, taped to the bathroom mirror was a necklace that I have been wanting for years along with a sweet and simple note!! Andy is so thoughtful.

Andy, I love you so much and I am so grateful for your love and support. You are the most solid thing that I have ever had in my life and such an example to me. Thank you for loving me and giving me so many wonderful opportunities and great memories. You are a perfect father and husband. Happy Anniversary.

Andy and I at Crocker Park on our way to Brio.

Wooooo-Wii......

Wii love Christmas!!

We had a wonderful Christmas morning filled with lots of presents from Santa, breakfast with the missionaries, a visit from our neighbors, and staying in our pj's all day long! Can you ask for anything more (well, besides some family to share it with, another year maybe).

Mommy and Carlee opening the stockings.

Carlee on her four wheeler from Grandma Kay Lee.

Porter's golf clubs from Grandpa Matthew.

The van for Carlee's Loving Family dollhouse from Santa.

Porter loves his bat cave, it has an awesome elevator that bat man rides up and down.

The Wii!!!!!!

Yes, we gave the kids guitar hero (thanks mom), Porter loves it and totally rocks.

Carlee with her gift assortment, good variety if you ask me.

Porter with his.

Look at the seriousness on his face.

Carlee loves to jam and run around, it's so cute, the big guitar on her little body.

We are so blessed to have had such a wonderful morning with lots of gifts and just being together. Thanks to everyone who helped to make sure we had a great day. We love and miss our family so much this time of year. Oh, and if you are wondering about Tessa, she slept through it all, but Santa did not forget about her. Tessa got some books, spoons, bowls, and a sippy cup, she will be entering the food world very soon.

Merry Christmas!

And the winner is....

Devin!!!!!

We have chosen

What it all Coil's Down To

for our blog name.

Thank you to everyone for contributing their thoughts. Some of my favorites were:
- The Coil's, with the Syringe, in Bay Village (great take on the game Clue)
- Where the sidewalk ends (good idea to use book titles)
- The ABC's of the ER (if Andy had his own blog)
- Coil Cruasde (good to hear from Heather)
- Coils Crazy Crammin' Cozy Caramelized Coconut Coca Cola (without aspartame)Crazyness life" too

Good Times....

So last night we had a white elephant party, it was so funny! I think my favorite thing about it is the big gift reveal, everyone brought great gifts. We had....


1. Garage, tell you when you stop your car, light indicator, which has a sensor

2. Santa toilet lid cover with whoopee cushion (that was the gift we gave)

3. Sexy body spray, spam, and a cat statue

4. Big mouth singing bass

5. Velvet painting appraised for $3

6. Turkey baster with more spam

7. Glass faces of John Wayne and something else

8. His and hers tank tops made out of men's underwear (the funniest gift of all)


Thanks for everyone who was able to make it and contribute to the fun, we had a blast.

Andy's Dream House....

This past weekend we went to a friends house to decorate gingerbread houses. Andy was in heaven because he loves candy, so this was perfect for him. It was so fun to see everyone in their decorating element, we all made different, but very cute houses. Ours had a Andy made swing set and basketball hoop, Andrea and Devin's house had window boxes, and Anne and Dave's house had a ice rink! Thanks to Anne for all of your hard work (she made all of the gingerbread) and great organizing skills for putting this together, we had a great time!

The kids had their own table and gingerbread houses that they were able to decorate. It was so funny to see them at work and I loved looking over there knowing full well that they were eating more frosting and candy than actually putting it on their houses.

Our gingerbread house, full of color, and even looks good enough to eat!

I have to say that I love Andy's basketball hoop, very clever.

We actually got everyone in a picture, including the babies.

Also, don't forget to cast your vote here on a new name for our blog, just 7 days left!

Anyone up for some friendly competition???

So I have been struggling with the name of our blog for quite some time now, I know it's just a blog and not a big deal, but something that is on my mind. I noticed a while ago on one of my friends blogs that she had a friend with the same blog name as ours of "Our Journey". It really bothered me, I want our blog name to be original to our family. I have since changed it to "The ABC's of Life (ABC is Andy's initials), but I am just not feeling it and I cannot think of anything that I like, for some reason lately my creative juices are just not flowing.

Here's the deal, we are looking for suggestions for a new blog name. Please comment and tell us your suggestion. On December 22nd we will go through the suggestions and choose a winner! The winner will receive a surprise Christmas gift from our family to yours! Sound like fun??? I thought so. Good luck, happy brainstorming, and Merry Christmas!!

Look how cute....

This is how Andy found Tessa (asleep with the dogs ear in her mouth) a few minutes after he put her in the swing today. She is amazingly cute and so easy to love.

Oh Christmas Tree....

We decorated our tree on Sunday which took forever, but of course is so much fun. It is such a great tradition shared by so many families, I love it. It was so different this year because the kids were sooooo into it. Porter did most of the ornaments which just blew my mind, whatever short attention span. Carlee was so into the Barbie ornaments which I am so greateful to my mom for hanging on to them for so many years. It is funny how something so simple as an ornament can mean so much and bring back so many memories.

This is the section of the tree that Porter did most of the decorating. It was so cute and I loved it, but I slowly moved the ornaments around.

Andy being the super dad, had both of the kids on his shoulders so that they could both put the star on the tree.

Carlee had no fear being up there and reaching. Porter on the other hand was grabbing Andy's head so tightly and giving us a taste of his girly scream and laughing, poor kid is afraid of heights like his daddy.

Yeah for Carlee, she did it!!

And then it began to droop..... the star has since been repaired thanks to Andy's mastermind idea of using a wire hanger.

A Tree Farm in Medina

On Saturday we headed to a tree farm in Medina County to cut down our Christmas tree. It was the perfect day, there was snow on the ground but the sun was shining. We had such a great time running around in the snow, having snowball fights, and just being able to be together as a family. This was by far the most family friendly tree farm we have ever been to. They had a fire going so you could stay warm and they had bunnies there just for the kids to look at and play with.

The first thing I noticed when we pulled in was string of lights, I love it because it is so a tree lot thing, it automatically gets you excited to find your tree.

The warm fire was so beautiful and warm.

Porter nailing me with another snowball, he has a great throw.

Andy and Carlee trying to hide from me.

The scenery was just so beautiful. I love the bridge in this picture, I wish we had someone else there to take a family picture of us, it was the perfect spot.

I love our little Miss May, she is such a joy and so fun to kiss!

She is still off the charts....

Tessa had her four month appointment yesterday, she was four months on the 22nd, so I am here to report the stats:

Weight 19lbs. 3oz. (still off the chart)

Length 25 3/4 in. (95%)

Head 43 cm (95%)

I cannot believe how huge she is for only four months, I am a little nervous about what size clothes I will have to be buying when she is 12 months old when that is the size she is wearing now.

I love the chub in her face and her big lips, they are a lot like Porter's lips.


Tessa looks like she is afraid of Carlee but she really is unsure about the camera.


Last night we had new tires put on the van, both cars in two weeks-ouch, but when we came home and went to get the kids out of the back seat we found them all passed out, nice! Of course Porter had his hand in the car seat and Tessa was holding it. He loves her so much and I know she does too. She is always smiling at Porter and watching him more than anyone. So cute!



I had to add these next pictures because Tessa is now wearing the same hat that Carlee used to wear. What do you think, do they look alike?

Tessa on the left at four months and Carlee on the right at about five months.

Real or Fake, that is the question....

So, this morning Andy and I were looking at his schedule discussing when we would be going to get our Christmas tree. We usually go the day after Thanksgiving but his schedule is crazy, so who knows. This conversation led to one about always having a real tree and how it smells so good and how it is so fun to go and cut it down ourselves. I have heard horror stories about real trees, bringing home squirrels (maybe that was just the Christmas Vacation movie, which I love), spider nests, sap, and so on. But to me it's worth the risk, it's just all a part of the season. So what do you all think? I know that there are people out there who have fake trees and go fake for their own reasons and I am just curious what they are. There is something a little funny to me, that just made me have a little giggle to myself, about going to the attic to get the Christmas tree, I can see it now. It also brings back memories about my Grandma Ruth's house, I loved when she got her fake tree out of the attic, it was so fun, and in it's own way it smelled good too. But, I just need a little more anticipation than that and I am so grateful to Andy and his love for the real thing and the tradition that we have created together.

Let's go Utes!!

I just wanted to give a shout out to the Utah Utes. Today is the big rival game between them and BYU. Every year it is a battle and very exciting. I love the people who watch the game even though they never watch football and don't keep up with either team (you know who I am talking about). It is so much fun! I love to hear the kids yell "GO UTES" thanks to their dad's brainwashing. It also brings back great memories of last years game and the people that we were with. I asked Andy if there was anything that he wanted to say about the game and he is just sad that he has to work, I am sad about that too. I wish both teams the best of luck, may the best man win.

Losing Our Marbles

A toy that I absolutley have to share with everyone is a marble run!! Porter got the marble run from Santa last year when he was 3 turning 4 and loved it. Actually we loved it so much we went and bought another one a few months later.

5 things we love about the marble run:

1. Anyone can put it together

2. It is easy to clean up

3. It was fairly cheap

4. It has given us hours of fun

5. It's just awesome, who doesn't want a marble run!?!?

Porter and Carlee have played with the marble run so much. It is a toy they are able to play with by themselves. It is so fun when Andy builds with them, he does some crazy stuff, I just stick to the instructions and even then it is a little scarey and the kids get tired of waiting for me to finish, yeah, building anything is not for me.Right now at Costco they are selling a marble run that is awesome and totally cheap,it is a touch more advanced than the one we have, but it is still great. I have seen this exact marble run at other stores going for about 55-60 dollars! Crazy, I love Costco and our marble run.