The Coombs Family

This Christmas was one of the best we have had here at the Coombs house. Not because it was perfect, but it was pretty close. We took our sweet time this year and participated in many adventures. We saw more lights than ever before, got to take the kids to see Santa, gave away lots of gifts, and spent time together. Caleb spoiled me on Christmas eve after the kids went to bed. We agreed to keep the gifts small this year, but he ignored that rule. Which, was a fun little surprise. I got an iPad 2 and he got some cold gear for his motorcycle. We were both very happy.  The kids woke up early on Christmas day because we went to see my sisters' kids sing. Shelby started throwing up all over the church inside the chapel before it started and Calvin joined her after we rushed back home. I was sick all morning too, so Caleb had to run the show. He made an awesome Christmas meal for everyone and kept the kids happy while I rested. Luckily I made a lot of the food the night before and ...

This year we decided to kick off Christmas early and at full speed. It's early December and my house is completely decorated, shopping is finished, and I am counting down the days until Christmas. I am trying to make some fun traditions with my kids this year.  If you have any good traditions, pass them my way so we can be as cool as your family is. So far, this is what we have done: Cut down our own tree right after Thanksgiving Blast Christmas music as we decorate the whole house Caleb hung up lights outside this year for the first time. New tradition!  We did adopt a family which was a ton of fun to shop for.  Every day when I pick up the kids from day care, we drive around and look at the Christmas lights. Hoping this weekend we can start to hit the big attractions for lights. See our church nativity they put on. That has been a tradition the past few years as well. Make a gingerbread house, or this year- a graham cracker train. Let's keep the Christmas...

Two days after I ran the Portland marathon, I got very sick. Sick enough to spend some time in the hospital and on bed rest for three weeks. I have been getting allergy shots for awhile now to help relieve me of allergy symptoms during the spring and summer. It's been working wonderfully, until now. I went into anaphylactic shock twice. Nothing like hives all over your body, having your throat close, and puking all over the place at work to embarrass a girl. Yes it was very scary, but also really uncomfortable to happen at work. Both times too!! After one month of serious medication and restricted activities, I was ready to get back into my workouts. I started working with my trainer again and doing my food journal every day. Getting results, feeling good, and then- pneumonia hits, followed promptly by some cracked ribs from coughing too much. It's been three weeks that I have been sick again, which totals two months of lame-ness. I am officially DONE being sick and ready to ...

This year we went to my sisters ward and got pumpkins the weekend before Halloween. This guy in her ward has free pumpkins and an outdoor park at his house. Lots of fun toys, nasty hot dogs and tons of kids. Within the first 30 minutes Calvin managed to fall into a stream of water and almost drown himself. I was standing right there, but he was sinking and choking down water. Luckily I had packed extra clothes and he didn't choke on too much water. Good thing I'm a trained First Responder in case something like this happens. Every parent should be forced to learn CPR, but that's another story. So we got pumpkins and Calvin couldn't care less about them. He didn't want to hold still and was very motivated to get stuck and fall into the mud as much as possible. On the day of Halloween we went as a family to the trunk or treat. We met Rhoda's family and had a wonderful time. It did not rain like it did all day long, so the kids were dry. Shelby loved her ...

My darling daughter is growing up so fast. Shelby turned 3-years-old and is a bundle of energy and sass! We had a last minute party for her and threw together some food and decor. I was sick and couldn't do anything to help, but my family pitched in and made it happen. Caleb and my family threw the whole party as I sat around and watched and laughed.  Shelby was very spoiled by her grandma Wendy. She got her this wonderful hair and dress from the movie Tangled. Shelby is pretty sure she is Rapunzel now. She asks for the hair, dress, and shoes all the time for dress up. She slept in it the first night and wore it to day care the next day.  She got a matching doll and sang songs to it and danced  We brought a mirror for her to see herself. She just sang, danced and entertained the whole room. We recorded it and it's hilarious. She is so funny.  Even Kenady got a chance to dress up as Rapunzel. She is so cute and waited for her turn. As soon as Shelby asked for the ha...

I decided it was time to do another full marathon this year. It was my fourth and final race this summer and it was definitely the hardest! I trained with my friend Dwight Hemmert. We ran every weekend after Hood to Coast. Every Saturday we ran, 13, 15, 17.5, 21, and then the race. I would have liked more time between the races so I could train differently, but that's what we had to work with. Dwight was suppose to run with me, but he couldn't get time off work and twisted his ankle. So I ran with two of my co-workers Bill and Brian. They are both much faster than I am, but they didn't have to pay to do the race so they said they would stick with me until the end. I am so grateful I had them with me. They cheered me on, kept saying the most encouraging things, and wouldn't let me walk when I was being a big baby! It was raining on us the whole time and my long sleeve shirt was soaked. My hands were frozen. My left knee was locking up after about 14 miles. Caleb and my...

I want to live in Bend. Every time we go over there, I never want to come home. We try and go a couple times every year and it never disappoints. We went with my sisters family and Heather & Dwight and their boys. The weather was great and we had too much to do and too little time. Caleb and I headed over late Thursday night and had the day Friday to ourselves. I had to work in our Bend office, but we still got to enjoy that night. We went out to Goodies ice cream, which is always a requirement when we go. We rode our bikes everywhere and sat in the hot tub every day. Here's the huge bruise Calvin got right before we left. Poor guy always has a mark on his head.  I love this picture below because Calvin is just kicking back and waiting to be fed. He's so funny. He just wants to lay around and have someone shove food in his face all day.  Caleb found a small lizard that the kids were in love with. They all wanted to hold it, but Caleb knew they would accidentally smas...

Brightenbush is an Indian reservation up by Detroit lake. Our friends Heather & Dwight took us up this crazy road and showed it to us. We had a great time and will definitely be heading back sometime.  Caleb had to start a fire the manly way as soon as we got there. Caleb bought us this cute little raft that was fun. Calvin hated it, but the rest of us had fun in it.  Love these two boys  We also hiked about 10 miles up the Pacific Crest Trail so we were looking at Mt Jefferson. We had both kids in backpacks the whole time because it was too hard for them to walk. They both fell asleep eventually, but poor Calvin wasn't very happy then either. He had a huge strawberry where the pack was hitting him, so I don't blame him for being unhappy. Shelby on our hike My man at the top The whole family at the top! We made it. We ate lots of amazing food, which is one of my favorite parts of camping! The kids slept well, got really dirty, and played hard. I lov...

One of my favorite races is HTC, and this year was no different. My team was made up of family and friends and we had the perfect balance. I convinced Caleb to run this year and he wasn't quite sure what to expect. This is a picture of the people in my van. Curtis & Jennie Hemmert from New York. Love them. Curt was my BFF my entire life and it was great to catch up with him and his wife. Dwight (Curt's bro) and Heather Hemmert also ran. And then Caleb and I and our driver Heidi (sister of Dwight & Curt).   We were the van made up of happily married couples. We started the race loving each other and ended the race by relying on each other heavily. Jennie & Curt were adorable and ran their last legs together, so they both finished with a half marathon! Dwight finished the very last leg of the whole race with Curtis. We swapped legs around so that everyone had fun. Heidi drove the whole time without complaint or losing her cool. Traffic was insane and she could not b...