Death & Taxes--the inevitable

To quote Benjamin Franklin: "'In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."
Well this month we've had a taste of both of those inevitable events. Our property taxes came in the mail, OUCH! They went up quite a bit from last year, even though our house value dropped, how does that work? Ahh, such is the life of a homeowner! Thank goodness Dan has a job right now!
Death is another inevitable and feared event of life. Dan's mom Darla isn't doing so well and it is difficult to watch her daily deterioration. The doctor said that she has at most 2-3 weeks left. She is in advanced liver failure and unfortunately the doctors cannot do anything to stop it. Hospice started last week and have been great. They have been so caring and supportive. It takes truly amazing people to work in Hospice. We really appreciate all of the love and support of our family and friends, thank you so much!
On a brighter note, Darla did fulfill her life-long dream of being a college grad from BYU. She graduated Monday with a BA in business through continuing education. Go Darla! Right now Darla, Dan, Mauri, Jenna and Grandpa Boyd are all enjoying the colossal monument of Mt. Rushmore. Dan said it is beautiful and truly awesome sight. I think it is great that they all get to spend some time together. While they are off sight-seeing I got to watch my cute niece Abbie. It is so cute to see Josh and Abbie play together. They are really great friends.
I really miss Phoenix, especially since we're expecting 2 feet of snow in Park City tomorrow, bbrrrrrrrr! It has been great weather here so far, in the 80's. The leaves are changing color and are absolutely gorgeous. I LOVE autumn!

Dan the Man

Dan turned 29 on Sept. 2nd. The kids and I gave him a few presents, which Josh was very excited about and "helped" Dan open them by ripping the paper to shreds. I made his favorite cake, spice cake with cream cheese frosting and Dan and I went out on a date to an amazing Sushi place called RA in Ahwatukee. The best were the Vegas rolls! If you ever have a chance go there! It was a fun day and it gave us a rest from all of the packing.
I know that it is well past Dan's 29th Birthday, but I had to post how amazing my husband is! So I made a list of 29 things I love about Dan!
1. He makes me smile everyday
2. He takes our kids on daddy dates (He took Josh to the BYU game last Saturday, sooo sad they lost)
3. He lets me sleep in a few extra minutes and gets up with Josh to give him his oatmeal
4. He is an amazing kisser . . . etc.
5. He always opens the door for me
6. He is very hardworking, even when he doesn't love what he is doing
7. He has an awesome sense of humor, he cracks me up all the time!
8. He is always ready at a moments notice to give me or the kids a priesthood blessing
9. He always eats what I make for dinner
10. He love BYU, even after they have a disappointing game.
11. He always puts our family first, in everything!
12. He cleans the toilets and the showers so I don't have to
13. He make the best fajitas I've ever tasted
14. He loves me even though his ski skills are far superior (He's double black diamond, I'm bunny hill)
15. He always says "I Love You" as the last thing he tells me on the phone, when we're talking, and at night
16. He waited for me to finish my degree at BYU, even though it meant loosing his Arizona residency and therefore having to pay more the first year at ASU Law School
17. He always snuggles with me when we watch a movie
18. He always offers me the last bite when we are splitting some kind of food
19. He has never yelled at me in the whole five years we've been married
20. He is always willing to change diapers
21. He makes a great dragon when he and Josh play dragons & knights
22. He adores our children
23. He is very gregarious and makes friends easily
24. He has made me much more geographically conscious (he was a geography major at BYU, and yes, he does know where every country is and their capital)
25. He has shown me how to have greater patience and not hold grudges
26. He always wins in tickle fights
27. He can sleep through my snoring and talking in my sleep
28. He is the best dad to our kids, they absolutely adore him!
29. He is everything I've ever wanted in a man, friend, husband and father, he is WONDERFUL!

I love you Dan!

Hiatus

When a long period of time passes between blog posts, I am often tempted to go back to the last posting and fill you all in with what has occurred during the elapsed time. When I turned on the old Compy I had intended to forgo the above-mentioned exercise due to the almost one month's worth of events I would have to write about, but then I thought "I got no school and I got no job but I got time, so why not inundate the world wide web with the minutia of my life." So, without further ado, I present (in chronological order) the past month in pictures and captions...

1. Grew my "Holly-is-out-of-town-and-I-have-a-big-test-to-take Beard." I call this one "I can handle the bar, can you?" Get it? Handle...bar... Yes, it's shaved off now, and yes, I realize that by posting this picture, it will somehow surface if I ever run for any public office.
Then again, maybe that's not a bad thing. Politicians don't sport the facial hair like they used to. For example, here's the first Governor of the territory of Arizona, John Noble Goodwin. He could definitely handle the bar.

2. I took the bar. As if the pain of studying for two months and then taking the bar weren't awful enough, I won't find out the results until October. I feel pretty good about it and am going with the assumption that I passed. If you have any doubts, please see number 1 above.

3. Holly and the kids finished up their month-long trip up to Utah while I studied for the bar. Holly's parents were kind enough to let Holly and the kids spend the month with them. They had a great time, especially Josh who is never unhappy with the complete undivided attention of an entire houseful of family members. I missed them immensely and it is wonderful to have them back at home again.
4. After the bar I flew up to Utah to reunite with my family and to drive back home to Arizona. While there and on our way home, we were able to spend some time with extended family and friends in Utah, Idaho, and Nevada.
Idaho with the Mumfords. Josh and Maggie got to feed the cows and Josh got to ride on a scooter (if you ask him, it might be the highlight of his life up to this point).
Las Vegas, NV with our cousins Becca and Matt and our good friends the Starleys.


5. Return home. It's great to be back home and back together as a family. I am more grateful than ever for my wonderful family and my beautiful and always supportive wife.

6. Maggie's pictures. Here are Maggie's 7 and 8 month pictures. She is scooting around a little bit and is as happy as ever.

I miss my family

It's been a little over two weeks since Holly and the kids went up to Utah. I have been studying away while they've been gone. I usually show up at the library around 9:30 in the morning and head home sometime around 10 at night. It's a lot of studying, but it will be all worth it when I finish my test on the 29th. By the way, I'm pretty sure that taking a Bar exam has to be one of the worst ways to spend one's anniversary (we celebrate our 5th anniversary on the 29th). Anyway, it is almost over and then I can get back to playing with my family. In the mean time, I get picture updates occasionally on my sister, Mauri's, blog. This may be one of my favorite pictures ever. Josh "The Cool Shades Dragon Warrior."

The rest of June...and on into July

So a lot has happened in the past couple of weeks and, although I don't have a lot to actually type, we have a ton of pictures we want to share with you. That being said, I'm taking my first steps into the world of collage picture posts. You can click on the pictures and they'll get bigger so you can see the smaller ones better. My sister, Mauri, does this all the time and it seems to be a very efficient way of posting a plethora of pictures at once. Jefe, I would like to know if you know what a plethora is? On with with pictures...

As some of you may know, we are planning on going to Germany to visit my dad and step-mom who will be moving there later this month. Well, since my passport expires this month, Holly's still has her maiden name on it, and Josh and Maggie have been able to get by with just birth certificates for all their foreign travel thus far (¡Viva Mexico!), it was time for us to get new passports, and that requires passport photos. Just so you all know, Josh and I aren't taking these pictures with the intent they double as our America's Most Wanted mug shots, but the requirement said our pictures need to be neutral. Holly can get away with smiling because, as you all know, Holly smiles all the time anyway so this is about as "neutral" as she gets. (By the way, I have to say that Holly looks amazing in this picture). As for Maggie (yes, that is Maggie; she wasn't allowed to wear her signature flower in her hair), we figured her expression wasn't quite as important since she's going to look completely different by the time her passport expires when she's 5!!! By the way, we took our own pictures and got them made official for free at this site. It's pretty handy. (I just realized that I used a ton of parentheses in this paragraph).After our photo-op, Holly took the kiddos up to visit my Uncle Jared, Aunt Jenna, Jacob, and Abbie in St. Johns. Josh and Maggie had a blast playing with their cousins and they even got to hand out with Grandma who has been in St. Johns visiting for a few weeks.
Last but certainly not least, Josh celebrated his 3rd birthday this week. I can't believe how fast time has gone by. He is such a fun little boy and I couldn't ask for a better son. When Holly asked Josh what kind of birthday party he wanted he emphatically told her "A Dragon Party!!!" Thanks to movies such as the Shrek Trilogy and Kung Fu Panda, Josh has come to love dragons. Holly didn't let him down. She planed and pulled of an awesome birthday party complete with pin the tail on the dragon, a dragon hunt, sword and shield painting, and the Pièce de résistance an amazing Dragon Cake (see pictures below). Josh had a bunch of his friends come over and they all seemed to have a great time.
For his birthday, and going along with the Dragon theme, we got him a dragon cape and a knight's armor costume. He loves them. During the past couple days he has often been found walking around wearing his armor looking for dragons.
For those who are interested, I am still plugging away at my bar prep studies. The test itself is on July 28-29. Holly and the kids have been so supportive and understanding of me needing to spend so much time in the library. To give them a little break and let them enjoy the summer, they flew up to Utah today and will be there until after I finish my test. I'll miss them immensely, but this will give me a great opportunity to buckle down and get to work without feeling guilty that I am not spending more time with them. I love you guys!!!

June so far . . .

Hello everyone, it's Holly. I haven't blogged in a while, Dan is more clever with the jokes and more eloquent. However, since he is stuck in the library until late every night studying for the bar (dun dun dunnnn. . . .) I decided to take over for a while.
Last week the kids and I went up to Choteau Montana (an hour and a half north of Great Falls) with my friend April and her son Mason who is one of Josh's best friends. It is beautiful up there, so green, wide open spaces, blue blue sky, and mountains. Josh had so much fun playing with Mason and his cousin Bree. His favorite was riding on the tractor!
The trip was kind of a comedy of errors though, in the first few hours being in Montana Josh got a minor concussion, I sprained both of my ankles (I very gracefully toppled down some stairs while holding Maggie) and Maggie got her first strawberry on her head and arm. The west is pretty wild! Then to top it off Maggie got sick and started to turned colors, so we decided that it was time to call it quits. So we packed up our stuff and flew home Sunday and have been hanging out at the house while Dan is busy studying.
I've been keeping busy playing LOTS of GeoTrax trains with Josh, experimenting with new recipes, talking with friends, and watching movies.
I am so proud of Dan for getting through law school and graduating and now for studying so hard! He is such a hard worker! Go Dan!

Help Cure Breast Cancer

As most of you probably know, my (Dan's) mom has been fighting a tough battle with breast cancer for the past couple of years. Last year, my mom and my sisters participated in the Susan G. Komen For the Cure cancer walk to raise money to find a cure for breast cancer. This year, my mom and my sister Mauri are going to do it again and they are working to raise money and raise awareness to help find a cure for this terrible disease. If you would like to help there are two ways to go about it. First, you can click here to donate directly towards their goal of $4,600. Second, if you want to really show your support, you can order one (or more) of these awesome t-shirts my sister has designed.
For $12 plus shipping ($3-5) you can help support the effort to find a cure for breast canser and raise awareness by wearing these awesome shirts at the same time. All proceeds from shirt sales will go to the Susan G. Komen For the Cure. For those in Phoenix, I will likely be able to get a much cheaper rate on shipping (if any at all) because I'm having Mauri send me a bulk order. Please help in any way you see fit. If you would like to order a shirt you can email me (sdanielcolton@gmail.com) or post a comment letting me know how many shirts you'd like and what size you'd like. As you may have noticed, the design of the shirt is a female style, but don't despair fellas, if you'd like a man-shirt, we can do that too. Yes, I will admit, I just ordered my first pink shirt. Thank you in advance to all of you who are willing to help us find a cure. Since 1 in 8 women will battle with breast cancer at some point in their lives, those who help are doing a great service to all the women we love so much.