The Coombs Family

This break I decided to kidnap Rhoda's youngest three girls, and cram my car to the rooftop with kids on our way to Utah. My kids were so excited to have extra cousins in the car for the ride. We left around 4 am, and they slept the first three hours because it was so dark and pouring down rain. I was the only driver, but it wasn't too bad since it's only 13 hours to Logan Utah where Caleb's sister Jenny lives. Rhoda's kids have not been there for years and every kid loves their house. They have tons of animals and the kids got to ride a pony, milk a cow, make butter, ride big horses, eat smores outside in the fire pit and play in the club house. It was so much fun! We went to my cousin Jocelyn's house for a couple of days and she kept us busy. Trampoline park, daily workouts, shopping, great food, and dance parties. We finished the trip back in Logan and then headed home. My kids are already asking when we get to go back again.

Our schedules are so crazy right now that we almost didn't make plans for our anniversary. Then I thought about it more and decided that we NEED to get out of town and do something. So I booked us a hotel in the Pearl District, and I scheduled us each a 90 minute massage next to our hotel. My mom is watching our kids and we went on a one-night getaway! We ate Thai food on NW 23rd, and then got dessert from Papa Haydn's and took it back to our hotel. Our hotel was really nice and had a great balcony on the top roof. We slept horribly at the hotel, but the dessert in bed was a big bonus. The next morning we stayed in bed, and had amazing massages! It was so relaxing and a great way to start the day. We went out for ice cream at Salt N' Straw, our favorite. Then we shopped all around Portland. Caleb even got a bunch of new clothes that were long overdue! We got home late on Saturday, went to 9 am church on Sunday. After church we volunteered at the Soup Kitchen downtown....

This guy has been so busy working on his practice and turning it into his dream job. We spend a lot of late nights working and staying up late in bed talking about the plans. It was great to take the night off and spend time with friends eating some amazing steak at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. They decorated the table form and even got him a card. The best part of the meal was their mac n cheese. It was amazing and I don't even like to eat that EVER! Happy birthday babe!

I absolutely love Christmas time. I love to wrap gifts and leave them under the tree for weeks up to Christmas. I love to take gifts to people and the excitement that only a child can have this time of year. We stay up WAY too late every Christmas Eve making sure we didn't forget anything. This year was a little over the top from Santa. It's always pretty obvious when I am involved in the shopping for the kids and when Caleb is left to run to the store. He has a tendency to go a little overboard. Anyway, the kids always pass the tree on the way to our bedroom so I always try and wake up before they do so we can all have the surprise together. This year I heard Calvin coming upstairs because he walks so loudly that it's hard to miss. We waited for Shelby to wake up and then let the big kids open their Santa gift. And then Ronin came up and wanted nothing to do with his. Pretty funny, but he wakes up like Caleb, slow and cranky! After we shared gifts and breakfast we just...

Ronin had his birthday party two days after Christmas on his actual birthday. Each year I feel like I should do a half birthday, or maybe do it a week late. But the big kids always spoil it and this year they got Ronin so excited about it, that we couldn't wait. So I ripped Christmas down the day after again, cleaned my house, and then immediately decorated for Ronin's Paw Patrol party. We had family over, ate some cake, and had a great time. This boy loves his Paw Patrol, and all his cousins. Ronin talks all day long, every day. He says more words at 3 than any of my other kids. We have full conversations and he knows what he wants. He's obsessed with all construction vehicles just like Calvin was. He always points out trucks and trailers to me when we drive. He loves to watch Batman and Paw Patrol. He wants to read the same construction books every night, over and over. And he loves to snuggle. Every single morning he climbs into my bed and asks to "nuggle" ...

We went over to my sisters house for our party with our family the day before Christmas. I secretly bought Taylor Swift tickets for my sister and her girls, Shelby and myself. I wrapped up clues inside a box, one for each girl. They honestly had no idea! The last clue was tickets for each of them that I made with their names on it. The girls were laughing, crying, and completely shocked. Maybe one of the best Christmas memories I have ever had.

We got our Christmas tree early, the weekend of Thanksgiving as usual. It's enormous and we could not even get it into our house. Caleb and I both were pushing and pulling has hard as we could. We even took off more branches and it still wouldn't get inside. After adding tie down pull straps, blankets, and rope, we managed to get it in the house. We were sweating like crazy and scratched up our door, and the tree takes up half the room. It's so crazy and awesome! This year we had such a fun Christmas with the kids. We went to the Zoo lights for the first time with the kiddos. We've tried before but it was closed or too packed to even get in. This year it was also packed, but it did not rain on us. We visited Santa and the kids both asked for Kindles and Ronin wanted a motorcycle. Hope they aren't disappointed with what the big guy brings them! We had our gingerbread house making party. I wish I had a huge house so that I could invite more familie...