The Big Revealing

Tonight, the Coplan house lights up the neighborhood! Josh did such a wonderful job and our house looks beautiful, but it's nearly impossible to show just how great it looks by taking a picture. And a picture that shows the entire house and isn't blurry. So here's the best I got.....

And here's a little video clip...

It's a lot prettier and lit up in person. You should come on by at see it!

Black Friday

Just like every year, my mom and I were up at 4am to hit the stores on Black Friday! It's a tradition we started years ago and every year we think we are crazy for being a part of the chaos. This year we toned things down A LOT! We only went to 2 stores because there just wasn't anything we really needed/wanted. That's not to say Josh and I didn't hit a few more stores throughout the day. I love the great deals and the adrenalin rush as I search for my stuff amongst hundreds of people. It's awesome. This year my deal of the day was this new complete bed set for Haylee's new big girl bed.

It was normally $99.99 and I got it for about $17 at Kohl's. This was the most important thing on my list this year. It wasn't easy to get though. I waited in line for about 30 minutes and when I got to the register I realized the one I had was for a Full size bed. I guess I just figured the kid's bedding would be twin. Anyway, they didn't have a Twin in the store and I was mega bummed. So, that's when Josh and I decided to hit another Kohl's and they had a some. I was so excited. Until I had to wait in line for another 45 minutes. Never fails-only at Kohl's do they have 12 registers and a million people in the store.

It seems like more people are getting in the game on Black Friday because I have never seen so many people in my life at Walmart trying to check out with loaded carts. But like most of the time, I got everything I went after and I had a blast. Black Friday 2009 = another successful (way toned down) shopping day.

I'm Thankful

On this Thanksgiving I'm thankful for.....


*My wonderful husband. He is one-of-a-kind. He helps me out so much. I'll come home from being out and instead of relaxing, he'll have all the laundry done, put away, and the house will be clean. He goes above and beyond to make my life a little bit easier. He helps out with Haylee so much too. He always gives her a bath, brushes her teeth and shares bedtime story/cuddle duty with me. He's a hard worker, he gets up at 3:30 every morning to go to work and provide for our family and sometimes doesn't get home till 6:00pm. He has decided to extend his "career path" by becoming a home inspector and has passed all the tests online and just has to take the state test to get his license. He is always trying to better things for our family. He is a great listener and remembers the small things I say. For example, I had told him it makes my day when I get an email saying someone wants to buy a set of my Christmas cards. The next morning I woke up to an email from him saying "I'd like to buy one set of your Christmas cards." It put a smile on my face. He is constantly doing little things or leaving me little notes to make me smile. When we go on vacation or camping he always helps pack and get things together and he always loads the car. It's just the small things I don't have to worry about. He loves to do family stuff-basketball games, Chuck-E-Cheese, Disney on Ice, the fair, dog shows, Amazing Jake's, the children's theatre shows, and all the other things I schedule to keep us busy. He never complains, he just loves to spend time as a family. We enjoy date nights at least 2-3 times a month too and that helps us to have a little break and just enjoy time alone. I could go on and on because I truly have the best husband in the world!

*My sweet Haylee girl. Even though these days she can be a real stinker, I love her so much. She has been doing so wonderful with potty training and I'm so proud of her. She is our little goofball and she is constantly doing things to make me laugh. She is good (most of the time) at cleaning up her messes when Mommy asks and being my little helper. She loves to help with the dishes and laundry and likes to sweep the floor too. She is very smart and has a really good memory. She remembers things that we have said weeks and even months ago. If I'm having an emotional breakdown (for whatever reason) she always pats my head and says, "it's okay mommy." Lately she has been talking about "the baby" and she loves to see my tummy and give the baby kisses. I love how she is a really good girl when we take her places. She'll sit thru ball games, dinner most of the time, and loves to walk around and just be anywhere out and about. I love my little girl so much and I can't wait to give her the little sister she has been asking for!

*Natalee. My sweet little baby growing inside my belly. I'm thankful that after months of trying Josh and I were able to conceive this precious miracle. I pray she continues to grow and be healthy and I can't wait to meet her in the spring.

*Our "little boy" Jackson. He has been the best dog for the past 7 1/2 years and we are so thankful for him. He is so smart and puts up with Haylee, and is so good with her. We couldn't have asked for a better dog.

*My mom, and best friend. I love the times we spend shopping and doing fun things together. I love when we get to take our mother-daughter trips and when we get to hit the stores at 4am on Black Friday. I'm thankful for all the times she watches Haylee for us and for everything she does for us. I appreciate her so much.

* I'm thankful for my brother and sister. I'm thankful for my Dad, and for the memories he left me with. I'm thankful for my Aunt Roxie and her family for making the step to reconnect with us and I'm thankful for the time I get to spend with them. I'm also thankful for the rest of my family for each person in my family has a special place in my heart.

* I'm thankful for Josh's family. I'm thankful they have always welcomed me with open arms and treated me like part of the family. I'm especially thankful for Josh's Dad, Jim, for treating me like his own daughter and caring for me since my Dad is no longer here.

*I'm thankful for the few good friends I have. It's hard to find a good friend, and I'm thankful to have the couple good ones I have.

* I'm thankful we have a home to live in, food to feed us, and I'm thankful for all the things I have in my life. I'm thankful for all the vacations we get to take as a family, all the memories we create and I feel truly blessed!


Happy Thanksgiving!!!

In other news....

I find it hilarious the things that amuse me these days...like Haylee going #2 on the big girl potty the last 6 days in a row! I'm so excited. We even had a couple days with no accidents. It's like it finally clicked and she has decided SHE wants to go in the big girl potty exclusively now, and that calls for some celebrating! And that we did. We took Haylee to AZ Mills and ate at the Rainforest Cafe, which Haylee loves because she likes all the animals. Then we took Haylee to the IMAX to see Under the Sea 3D. This was her first 3D movie and I wish I had my camera. Josh and I laughed so hard because she kept reaching out trying to touch the fish. She is too funny. After the movie she rode the carousel and we walked around. We even saw Santa but Haylee just waved and said "hi" from a far. She didn't want to get any closer. He said "hi" back so we told her how nice he is, but she wasn't having that!

We also took Haylee to the zoo last weekend and the weather was perfect but boy does it wear me out. It's too much exercise for this prego girl.

I just love this picture of Haylee and Jackson. They are best of friends and he is so good with her. Everyday when I'm in my craft room Jackson will come lay down and Haylee will go get books and come sit up against him and read to him. It is the cutest thing ever. He is the perfect dog. We even have him sleeping on his own bed by Josh's side of the bed which is a huge change. For the last 7 1/2 years he has slept with us, but he adapts so well with change and is doing awesome. Occasionally when we both fall asleep he'll quietly jump up at and lay at at the bottom of the bed but I'll catch him and he'll jump down right away.

And an update on Josh's knee. Well, he finally has his MRI tomorrow but luckily he started feeling better just a couple days after he hurt it so I don't think it's too bad. He is still wearing his knee brace and has been put on "moderate work duty." He has been taking it seriously....can't you tell.....

Of course, when he first hurt his knee and couldn't even walk he said, "how am I gonna finish the Christmas lights?" Talk about priorities. We just have a few (hundred) lights to put up and then comes the fun part of hooking everything up without too many fuses blowing. After that is all figured out we'll be ready to light up the neighborhood, literally.

It's A....

Sweet Little Girl!!!! Natalee is set to make her debut around May 2nd. We feel so blessed to be adding another girl to our family. As of yesterdays ultrasound everything is looking great! She seems to be a healthy little one, measuring and developing right on track. She is currently .40lbs. and 6.50" long. We saw her waving her little arm around a flipping all over. One minute she would be face down and the next she flips to her side.

Haylee is already the proud big sister. She enjoyed calling some of her relatives to share, "I'm having a little sister!" It was the cutest thing I've heard. We took her to Babies R Us to pick out a couple outfits and she was in heaven. She picked up outfit after outfit saying, "ohhh" and "this is for baby sister." I hope she's as excited when Natalee arrives!

So now begins the planning. Where will Haylee sleep? Where will Natalee sleep? How will we set up the rooms? We've been holding off till we found out what we are having but now the new year will bring some decorating and rearraging in our home-I'm so excited!!!

16 Weeks

I can't believe it! Today I am 16 weeks (4 months) pregnant. In just one week we will find out if it's a boy or a girl. We are so excited. Oh, and I'm finally starting to get a little baby bump.

Today, we also got back from our little getaway in Sedona. We had a wonderful time, just the 2 of us. It was a bit cold but the weather was otherwise beautiful.

This is a huge, beautiful house they've been building for years. I wonder which famous person owns it?

And this is the chapel that was built in the rocks. It's pretty neat to go inside.

Boy did we miss our little girl! She had a blast with her Grandma and went to the zoo. When we asked her (twice) what she wanted us to bring back for her she said, "uh, a donut." We just laughed because we have no idea where that came from. Of course, we did stop by a dunkin donuts on the way home!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Yep that's right, Josh has begun putting up Christmas lights.

After all, it takes quite some time to achieve this look-

and that's only half of it!

Fun at the Fair

We went to the fair Wednesday for the $1 rides and games and we had a blast. Josh's Uncle Richard works security at the fair so Haylee and I got to finally meet him which was nice.



The 1st ride the girls went on was the bumble bee ride. We didn't know yet that the girls could ride by themselves without an adult so Josh and Dustin went on that one with them. We were all laughing so hard because their 2 bees were the only ones not going up in the air when they pushed the joy stick up, they just hovered at the bottom. I guess they were over the weight limit!! The girls had a blast riding all the rides, and I loved watching Haylee's little excited face as the ride was going.

Haylee loved playing the games too. The fishing one is always a favorite! She also threw ping pong balls into floating bowls and helped us play the squirt gun games. She left with 6 prizes and was one happy girl.

I think the animals topped the fun for the night. We've been hearing about the pony ride and petting zoo ever since! I had to remind Haylee not to kiss the animals because she likes to stick her face up to theirs. We washed her up real good after leaving that exhibit!!

What a wonderful family night out! I think we'll go again next year on $1 night because the kids had a blast!

Suns Game

We went to our first game of the season recently and had a wonderful time. We bought tickets the day of the game using ticket exchange which I now love because tickets are so cheap! We had just arrived and were eating when this nice lady came up to my Mom and asked if she could upgrade all of our seats. Sweet! We were on the upper level but we were moved to the lower level dead center (section 102). It was so awesome to see the game so close up and Haylee loved it. She watched for the gorilla the entire game and was such a good girl. I wish I would have brought the camera!

Halloween Festivities

We all had a wonderful Halloween. It started last Wednesday when we carved Haylee's pumpkin. She chose the design this year and wanted a cat on a moon. At first she wasn't sure about the guts inside the pumpkin but after awhile she was anxious to get it out all by herself. (Which by the way is her favorite phrase. We always hear, "I do it alllll myself!")

This is the pumpkin Haylee picked out for her little brother/sister.

After the guts were out, Haylee had to patiently wait for Daddy to carve out her design. It turned out adorable and Haylee was so excited. So couldn't wait to get her picture taken in her costume with her pumpkin.

Friday night we went to our ward Trunk or Treat. This was Haylee's first experience but she picked up the routine real fast. She was hesitant at first and didn't want to go up to anyone who wore a scary costume but she had fun. After we left there we went to Chris's Haunted Graveyard. The girls weren't too sure about the scary decorations but they did good. Chris did an awesome job and the set up was amazing.

Saturday we took Haylee trick or treating in our neighborhood. We would walk up to a house, I would ring the doorbell and Haylee would knock, and when they opened the door she would forget how to say trick or treat and just held out her bag. It cracked me up. She did good remembering the "thank you" and "bye bye" though! She saw so many dogs and would be so excited to pet them that she could careless that someone was giving her candy. She even did great walking around all night and didn't want Daddy to hold her at all. We did our side of the neighbor and went back home but Haylee was ready for more so we did the other side of our street and called it a night. By that time Haylee was worn out and wanted some candy. The first thing she picked was a peanut butter cup.

So all in all Halloween was lots of fun. Haylee had a blast and loved wearing her costume. If only I could get her to take it off now that Halloween is over!

Rest in Peace

Grandma Virgie

January 12, 1924-October 30, 2009

On Thursday, my Grandma went to be with my Dad in Heaven. What a wonderful reunion that must have been.

In just the last 3 years, Josh and I went back to Iowa twice to see my Grandma, most recently being just last summer when we took Haylee. She adored Haylee. When we were there my Grandma was on the ground playing with her until she was out of breath. She loved to watch her toddle around my Uncle's property and she kept telling Haylee she was "full of ink."

I was looking back in Haylee's journal where I wrote about her 1st trip to Iowa. The night before we left we went to Grandma's to tell her good-bye. In the journal I wrote, "Haylee kept playing with Grandma's hair and laughing and Grandma gave her lots of kisses." We all gave Grandma hugs and kisses and as we left she was crying. I tried to keep it in but as we got in the car I just lost it. I told Josh I was just so sad because I had a feeling I would never see her again. That might have been somewhat true, but I most definitely will see her again someday.

My last words to her when I hung up the phone the last time we talked were "we love you!" and she said, "love you too!" I'm glad she knew.