Camping, Eating, Movies.....and anticipation

I decided it is better late than never to talk about the uneventful happenings of last week. Nate spent friday night out camping with the scouts. Thanks to his calling of Assistant Scout Master we are now proud owners of a tent, propane stove, and fire pit (Not sure this city slicker chick is ever going to use them but I do see it as new additions to our 72 Hour Kit and Food Storage). So I am sure you are all just dying to know what I did with myself while my great husband was out wandering through the wilderness with a bunch of 12 year olds, unfortunately I got nothing. I spent the evening eating the famous thin crust St. Louis style pizza from Imoz's, popcorn buttered to the nines, and left over Valentine's Day chocolate from the Thornley Grandparents while watching movies Nate would not be caught dead watching. Ghost of Girlfriends Past was a predictable, lame, and a dud, while Julie & Julia was not a complete loss but did not help limit my chocolate consumption with a its glorious scenes of amazing food. After confessing what I consumed on a Friday evening I feel the need to defend myself by letting you all know that this is not a normal meal or evening for me. Nate and I have started a new nutrition plan that has us eating better foods and less food in an attempt to just be more healthy. So, all in all I guess you can say I had a little "set back" or "day off" of my nutrition plan but I am pleased to say I am back on and all is well. :)

Well I am excited for this up coming week, Nate has a Project Management Conference in North Carolina next week and I am going along. I love that anticipation of traveling somewhere new and different. Although Nate will be technically "working" and in meetings all day I am not letting that slow me down. I am hoping to make it to the beach (even if it is cold), the Raleigh Art Museum, the Raleigh North Carolina Temple, and hopefully getting some shopping in at some local shops.

Valentine's Day

Well for the last four weeks me and my friends have been planning a huge Valentine Amazing Race for our husbands. My friend Cammie Broadbent found the idea for this online and we changed things around to work in our town. We all met at Matt and Angeline's house at four and at about four thirty they boys were off to the Bishops house after we handed them their first clue.

Once arriving at the bishop's house they were read the rules of the race which were:

1) No Wallets

2) Everyone must wear the shirt provided (Cammie and Emily Broadbent made the husbands red shirts that said, "I Love My Wife.")

3) You must video your adventure and everyone must be in the video at some point

4) You must use the change provided by your wife to return home with a gift, flower, and a card after completing all your tasks. (Of course my $2.00 was all in pennies and boy was I hearing about it from Nate and all the other boys all night)

5) You have until 6:00 so let the games begin.

The tasks that they had to complete were (I am going to try and remember them all in the right order but I might be a little off ):

1) The bishops house were they got the rules, shirts, camera, and had to turn in their wallets.

2) They had to go to the YMCA and complete to reps on any machine.

3) They then went over to Denny and Julie Coleman's house to make Valentines Day Cards for their wives.

4) They then had to go to Emily and Jesse Broadbent's house to then write a love song. Nate and Jesse played the guitar and Kasey Jensen sang the song they wrote. It was quite the impressive lyrics that I in no way can do justice but maybe I will post the video when I get it.

5) Then they had to go to Schnucks (the local grocery stores in Missouri) and buy whip cream, Angeline in the clue had teased them that is was for when it was dark, they were with their wife and the moment was right. It was really for dessert but we couldn't help ourselves from teasing and taunting.

6) After Schnucks they had to head to the church where they had to pop 100 hundred balloons to try and find the next clue. Inside the balloons there was candy and then some had coupons for prizes like a passionate rub down, a long hug, one long dreamy stare that would either freak you out or make you feel like the sexiest person on the planet, and a few others.

7) After the church they had to head to the Welcome to Washington sign to pick up love letters from each of us and then the clue to head home for dinner.

Between the YMCA and going to make cards at Denny and Julie's they stopped at Lowes and bought us the little flower growing eggs or cups where you just add water and then you grow a flower. They then headed to the dollar store to buy us a gift....of course Nate went in and in a joking tone asked if they had a lingerie section, oh and who knew they did???? I sure didn't, so I wound up with a plaid pair of panties from the dollar store....oh man.

When they arrived home we gave them a prize, a can of whip cream :) and then dinner began which consisted of homemade Cafe Rio Chicken burittos or salad. It was amazing. There was tons of laughs over dinner about the quest we had sent our husbands and then the men telling us that next year they were planning Valentine's Day and a kiddy pool with baby oil would be involved. Oh, those silly boys. The men all surprisingly said they had a great time but thought it could have been a little bit shorter since it took them three hours instead of the planned hour and a half.

Following dinner we watched a movie Emily Broadbent had made with pictures of each couple from when they met, got married, and currently. It was so fun to see how all of our friends looked like when they first met each other. We then watched the video the guys made while on their journey, lucky for them the camera died at a couple points so they didn't have all of it but most of it. There were some great one liners and several moments of noise but no video because some forgot the cap. I have not laughed that hard in a long time.

We then played the Newlywed game. It was fun to see how everyone would answer questions and surprising at how well my husband knew all the other wives. There were several questions or answers the other husbands couldn't get for their wives and Nate knew them dead on, it was very funny. We then ate cheesecake and butterfinger brownie trifle. Let's just say after that night we were all feeling a little bigger then when we arrived.

Here is the pictures of the girls in their pink shirts that say, " I love my husband."

Here is all the boys after they returned in their, "I love my wife" shirts.

And last but not least, Nate and I together in our shirts. Aren't we just so cute??? Haha

We had such a blast with all of our friends. And I love my Valentine! He was such a good sport and earlier that day had gotten me the prettiest bouquet of roses. He is just so thoughtful all the time and I love how everyday together is never without laughter.

Well, I am still needing to take pictures of the house, as soon as the weather can decide not to be so cold and wet. Hopefully that will be sometime soon cause I am sick of this cold.

Hope you all had a Happy Valentines Day too!!!

Hello Blogging World

So, after much thought and contemplation I have decided to join the blogging world. I must say that living 1500 miles away from most of my friends and family, being a known blog-stocker, a horrible photo taker, having a weakness at journal writing, and wanting something to wean me off of Facebook has prompted this but I think it is going to be a very good thing. My goal is to post at least once a week the happenings of the Coleman's so hopefully you, my audience, can hold me to it.

So I better give a brief introduction for all you soon to be readers out there. Nate and I meet in December 2007 on a service trip to Mexico sponsored by Southern Utah University. After several teasing comments from me to Nate and Nate throwing me, fully clothed, into a swimming pool, you wouldn't have thought this would turn into anything "serious" but I guess you can say the rest is history.

We were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on July 22, 2008 and began as many would call, the American Dream. We transfered up to Weber State University, got new full time jobs, bought our first home in Layton, and got a dog....a great dane named Sir Charles.

After 15 months of enjoying many firsts together, developing our home improvement skills, and surviving work, school, and joys of married life Nate was offered a job in St. Louis working in the family business. We sold the house, packed up our belongings and headed 1500 miles east to Missouri. Man was that quite the adventure, our caravan consisted of Nate with the longest Uhaul truck available (a 26 footer) with a car hauler on the back with my car and I brought up the rear in the truck with a 125 lb. furry and wet nosed passenger. To be honest I never want to make that long of a journey that way ever again.

Once arriving in Missouri we moved into Nate's parents basement where we lived out of boxes and suitcases for three months. I was so grateful to be able to spend sometime getting to know, playing, shopping, cooking, and chatting with my mother-in-law, she is one of the most amazing women I have ever known.

On January 8th, 2010 we closed on our new house and since then it has been crazy with moving our stuff in, unpacking the mass of boxes, painting every room (some people have horrible taste in paint colors), and hanging new light fixtures. I love our new home and I am excited to create a book full of new memories with our friends and family there. Hopefully I will have some pictures of it to post soon.

Nate is loving his new job at Engineered Fire Protection and I am currently job hunting, and applying for schools. I have one semester left until I can graduate with my degree in Sociology so I hope I can qualify for instate tuition soon. We are both so excited to be in Missouri and so close to our Coleman Family!

Well I believe that sums it all up folks. Hopefully I will be diligent at keeping this up.