Drumroll please....

AND...It's a GIRL!!!

For those of you who are interested in how I told Jon, I made him close his eyes and hold out his hand, and then wrapped a pink ribbon around his little finger. We've always said that he would be in trouble if we had a little girl because she would have him wrapped around her little finger. I thought it was cute, anyway.

Jon and I are both so excited, although Jon was so sure it was going to be a boy (we both kinda were) that it still hits him every once in a while, but we couldn't be happier. Actually, we would have been equally excited either way. But now we will have one of each, my little girl will have the big brother I always wish I had had, and I'll get to start making plans for cute (but not so pink) girl clothes, decorations, etc. (I hear having a girl is more expensive--just on the cute clothes alone!) Cary has already agreed to switch baby clothes--her girl clothes for my boy clothes--but if anyone else has a bunch of cute little girl things gathering dust in a closet, I'd be more than happy to help take them off your hands. I'm so generous that way. =) Also, we're still trying to think of some good names, so if you have any ideas on that, feel free to send them our way as well. You could even leave them as comments on our blog here so other people can see what kind of names are being recommended.

Well, that's all from us for now. We hope you're enjoying the start of the holiday season. Jon and I sure are.

A Very Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving

The whole David Coombs clan (all 29 of us!) spent a wonderful Thanksgiving together in St. George. It was the first time since Crystal's wedding that we had EVERYONE together. Of course, by the next time we all get together, there will be at least 3 new little ones. We can hardly keep up with our growing families!

Jon, Aaron, and I had a wonderful time in St. George. Here is our small--but growing!--happy family enjoying the beautiful red rock backdrop.

 

Aaron LOVED exploring the beautiful red rocks behind Mom and Dad Coombs' house.

 

A Wonderful Coombs Thanksgiving

Jon and I had such a wonderful Thanksgiving up in St. George with the entire Coombs family. It's hard to believe that there are already 29 of us! Even harder to believe that 7 of those were added just since Mom and Dad Coombs left on their mission two years ago. The Lord really does bless families of those who serve missions! And there are still 3 more due in the next 5 months--I guess those blessings just keep on coming even after the mission is done.

Jon and I were unfortunately the last to arrive for the festivities, getting there late Wednesday night, but I think we still felt that by making the most of the time we did have, we didn't feel too jipped. It was so nice to see Mark and Lisa's family, especially the kids, since it had been way too long since we had seen them last. I hardly recognized Jonah! Hopefully we won't have to wait that long to see them again. Thursday we enjoyed a morning at the park near Joe and Cindy's, and then an afternoon filled with the most delicious food. Several of the family members, particularly the Mark Coombs family, had special traditional recipes that they shared with us all, and they were amazing, particularly Mark's pumpkin bread, sweet potatoes (tasted more like a dessert than a side dish), and Jim's Dutch apple pie. Thanksgiving is by far my favorite meal of the year--all of my favorites (turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, etc.) all spread out on one table. What a dream! That night we showcased our talents in our Coombs Family Talent Show. I noticed that many parents used their kids' talents for getting out of performing themselves, but when you have kids as cute as this family has, who could blame them? Jon and I displayed our well-honed psychic abilities to read each others minds, much to the amazement of all--or at least the 10-and-under crowd. Well, other than eating too much (but isn't that what Thanksgiving is for?), the whole day was perfect.

Friday started out with more pigging out as we enjoyed scones at the park. I still remember the morning I was first introduced to scones with the Coombs family back at the beach in California when Jon and I were still dating. It must have been then that I decided I needed to be a part of the Coombs family. =) Well, the guys and some of the girls spent the morning burning off their scones playing ultimate frisbee, while the rest of us burned off our excess calories chasing after our little ones. I'm still not sure who got the better workout that morning--me or Jon! We spent the afternoon playing games at the house, relaxing, and gearing up for our Christmas celebration (two holidays in one--since we won't all be able to get together at Christmas time) that night. We had a family devotional, sang plenty of Christmas songs, exchanged gifts (thanks Amy for the beautiful prayer stool!), and enjoyed dinner at Golden Corral thanks to Dad.

Saturday was nice because it was very relaxing, fairly unscripted, and as interactive as we wanted it to be. Some chose to go shopping, many of us played games (of which I was the reigning King in our game of Scum!), and some took the opportunity to nap, or set the hills on fire. =) At least Mark had permission for that, even if it did get a little more out of control than Mom would have liked. (Check out our Thanksgiving photos on our Yahoo site to see the hills ablaze--and that was after it had calmed down!) That night, Jon and I, Shelly and Jim, Amy, Mom and Dad, and Christien went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which Jon and I had been particularly anxious to see. The movie was great, and I thought the best of the four Harry Potter films, but no movie could possibly live up to the book, so I was still a little disappointed. Not a movie for the younger kids, but Harry Potter-reading adults will probably like it. It was just nice to get away and see a movie in an actual theater, though, something Jon and I haven't been able to do very often (maybe 4 times!) since Aaron joined our family. That night, despite my and Jon's need for sleep, we stayed up late talking to Mark and Lisa one last time, a very special treat that we would have loved to have been able to enjoy for longer. Sunday morning, after difficult goodbyes, Jon and I hit the road for home, finally arriving in QC 9 hours later.

So, that was our happy Thanksgiving. It seemed way too short, but we enjoyed every minute. The weekend only served to strengthen Jon's resolve to one day have his whole family living close. And with that, we hope you all had joyous and thanks-filled celebrations with your own loved ones. We certainly are grateful for all of you!

Happy Halloween!!!

Aaron went as a tiger for Halloween, and I have to admit, he's the cutest tiger I've ever seen... although, I may be a little biased. =) Aaron had fun at our Halloween Party and the ward's Trunk or Treat, but he's still a little too young for candy, so we skipped the trick or treating this year. Maybe next year... I'll post more cute Halloween pics, including pictures from our Halloween party on our Yahoo site, so follow the link to the right to see some more fun pictures. 

Here's our whole family at our ward's "Trunk or Treat" Party on Halloween night. I went as a 50's girl while Jon donned his Grumpy outfit for the night. At our Halloween Party on Saturday, Jon went as a surfer dude and I was a spider. Too bad we didn't get any good pictures of that night--I actually won the award for the most creative costume in our costume contest! Aaron went as a tiger both nights. 

Happy Halloween!!!

Sorry it's been so long since we've written, but really, nothing too exciting has happened recently. Mostly it's just a lot of progression in things that I've already mentioned.

We had a great Halloween Party last Saturday night with most of our old California friends and one family of new friends. Hilary and I planned a progressive Halloween party that started at our friend's home around the corner, then moved to our house, and then ended at Hilary's home. It's fun living so close to our friends so that we can do something like this! It was a lot of fun, but a little chaotic with so many kids there, but we had a great time playing games, talking, having a costume contest, and of course, eating! We hope all of you had a Happy Halloween!

My pregnancy continues to get easier, although I do still hate being pregnant, but at least I don't feel the need to be horizontal ALL the time. I love being at home with Aaron who continues to get cuter and cuter everyday. He's such a good, happy, easy kid, and he makes it so easy to be his mom.

Jon still struggles with enjoying his new job. He loves his students, but just hasn't found any coworkers with whom he can really bond. It's hard for someone as social as Jon to eat lunch everyday alone in his classroom, but he's found that it beats having to put up with the crass and often inappropriate conversations he was being subjected to in the teachers' lounge. And with teaching a 6/5th schedule (meaning he teaches 6 periods compared with the usual 5 period load of other teachers), he comes home every night exhausted and a little down-hearted. I think Jon counts down the days to vacations and breaks even more than his students do!

As for the prospect of moving to St. George next year, we're still waiting for the final word, but things look like they're moving forward. Dad Coombs seems to being having the success he was hoping for in getting his investors interested in the Hurricane and Apple Valley land, and if everything goes as planned, Jon and I will likely be heading to St. George next summer to help him in the selling of homes on the land. It's a great opportunity, but we have to admit, it's not the business that is drawing our interest--it's the opportunity to live so close to so much of Jon's family. If things go as planned, we expect that Cary and Warren, Mark and Lisa, and Amy will all be heading to St. George with us, where Joe and Cindy, Crystal and Kekoa, and Mom and Dad already live. That's almost the entire Coombs family! This has been Jon's dream for as long as I have known him. So, yes it will be nice to experience some financial independence and freedom, but that's not what's taking us to St. George. We'll keep you posted on any developments as they happen.

See, nothing too exciting. Jon and I are loving more and more where we live. I absolutely adore my new ward. (Our old ward was split and we were added to another ward that already existed.) Jon and I have been called to be CTR 8 teachers in the Primary and we have the most adorable kids. (Who would have thought I would have loved Primary so much!) We've had a blast making new friends and hanging out with our dear California friends. It actually will be really hard for us to leave here next year, but we really do feel like this is what we need to be doing. It always surprises us the way the Lord leads our lives.

We hope all of you are doing well and we love you all! Don't forget to keep in touch!

Happy Halloween!

Jon and I had a great time at our Progressive Halloween Party. This is us in the donut eating contest. I think Jon spent more time posing than eating, though! 

Looking towards the future...

Well, I'm FINALLY starting to get out of the worst of my pregnancy sickness, and it feels so nice to not NEED to be horizontal all the time. This pregnancy is truly following the pattern set by my pregnancy with Aaron, almost down to the week. I start feeling sick around 7 weeks, I gradually get worse and worse until around 10 weeks where I can hardly function due to being so sick, and then I wake up one morning...and the sun is shining and the birds are chirping, and all seems relatively right in the world. I'm just now getting to that point. I'm still pretty tired and a little sick, but the fact that I'm sitting upright typing at the computer is a sure sign that I'm on the mend, at least.

So, enough about that. I'm sure you don't want to hear about my being super sick. The big news affecting pretty much the whole Coombs family (Great 8) is all the real estate developments going on in St. George that may have most of the family moving to St. George by next summer, getting their real estate licenses, and helping dad sell new homes in Hurricane and Apple Valley. It's a great oppportunity for everyone, and what makes it even more special is the chance to have the whole family together. Of course, nothing is set in stone or finalized yet. It's pretty much a waiting game at the moment as we see if the investors like the property and want to start developing it. The hardest part for us, of course, it the thought of leaving all of our friends whom we moved to Arizona to be close to in the first place. We'll see what happens...there are still a lot of prayers and pondering to take place, but it's an exciting opportunity to think about, no matter what happens!

Well, that's the big news from us. Jon is looking forward to his two weeks off at the beginning of October (oh, the joys of being a teacher), and I'm looking forward to finally getting some energy back. We sure love you all!

Wow! What an amazing view! Jon and I hiked to the first falls on Mt. Timp. It was beautiful. 

Aren't my boys cute? 

Enjoying some time together 

What a Week! BIG NEWS.

So, before I get to our fabulous family reunion up at Aspen Grove, I better share with you all our exciting news...

WE'RE HAVING ANOTHER BABY!!

Yep, that's right. I'm pregnant, probably about 7 or 8 weeks, so not too far along yet. Jon and I really wanted to have our first two close together so they could always have a friend, and I really didn't want to be pregnant in Arizona over the summer, so a spring baby seemed perfect. I should be due mid to late April, which to me couldn't be more perfect. We're both so excited, but I'm not excited about the actual "being" pregnant part. I spend most of every day totally sick, but if this is anything like last time, I should be over the sickness part by around 10 weeks, so a couple more torturous weeks to go, and I should be fine.

So, that's the really exciting news. But in the midst of all this fun and excitement, Jon, Aaron, and I got to spend the week with the Coombs family up at Aspen Grove, UT. What a great time we had! We loved spending it with the whole family--playing wallyball, sitting around playing cards, hiking, and mostly just talking and catching up. There is so much to do there, and they even have free daycare during the day so we could all spend some uninterrupted adult time together. We also had fun at the Aspen Grove-sponsored activities, where the Coombs' did very well with awards. The Coombs family as a whole came in 1st in the Aspen Follies Competition, and I came in 1st in the Air Rifle Shooting for the whole camp! Wow, my parents would be so proud! The whole week was so much fun. We took tons of great pictures. In fact, it was while taking pictures that we announced to the whole Coombs family that I was pregnant. Jon was taking the pictures and took a big family group shot, then said, "Okay, we want the next picture to be really special, so on the count of 3, everyone say, 'Heather's Pregnant!'" I don't think people believed him at first. Most people just looked confused and said, "Are you serious!?" But there was general rejoicing once they realized it was true. On Saturday we had an all-too-quick chance to see Peep and Derek, which we loved and then it was time to head home. Other than the drive up and the drive back (especially the drive back where both Jon and I were sick!), the whole week was amazing. We miss everyone already.

It's been a wonderful couple of weeks. We loved our trip, but we've loved being home too. Jon is enjoying teaching and has some great kids, although he often talks of how much he misses his last high school, Tesoro, in California. Aaron is just getting cuter and cuter. He's such a sweet and happy baby almost all the time. He makes it so easy to be his mom. In fact, the other day I was laying on the couch very sick, and he came over, poked his head in front of mine with his big smile until I smiled back, and then dashed away, returning a minute later with a teddy bear for me. How adorable is that! And it's been so wonderful seeing our house everyday becoming more like a home. We love it. Now if I can just hold my sick head up long enough to enjoy all of it...

Well, we love you all! Hope to see many of you soon, either in Arizona or in your neck of the woods. Click on the link to the right to see more wonderful pictures of our fun trip to Aspen Grove. They're worth checking out!

Happy 1st Birthday Aaron!

Aaron playing with his new birthday present. 

Such a Big Boy!

Aaron's First Birthday!

Yesterday our little boy turned one-year-old. I can't believe how fast this last year went, although at times, it felt like an eternity. Aaron is still not quite walking yet, although he is perfectly capable of it. He'll take a few steps here and there, but he realizes he can get where he wants to go so much faster crawling and gives up on the whole walking thing. He'll get there soon, though. But he's growing up so much in other areas. He'll actually go off and play with his toys on his own for a while now, even climbing upstairs on his own to get to his toy area. Very convenient when I want to be cleaning downstairs. Unfortunately, he also likes to go off on his own now in stores, at church, anywhere he can get on his hands and knees and start crawling. It makes Sacrament Meeting a bit of a nightmare. The other night Jon and I took turns following him around Barnes and Noble while the other looked at books. Aaron LOVES to explore, meet new people, and crawl--fast. No wonder he hasn't started walking! He's just the sweetest baby and just keeps getting sweeter as he gets older. We unfortunately didn't do much to celebrate his birthday yesterday, but we figured we'll celebrate this week up at Aspen Grove with the whole Coombs family. Luckily Aaron is too young to realize that we gipped him on his birthday, and I'm usually the one who loves birthdays! But in our defense, both the Howards and the Browns were out of town this weekend, so we really didn't have too many people to celebrate with.

So, this week we take off for Utah on our whirlwind family reunion. I almost feel like we'll be driving as much as we'll be actually there, but I know it will be worth it. We're so sad that the Mark Coombs family won't be able to join us, but we're looking forward to seeing them for Thanksgiving.

Well, this entry isn't too exciting, but do check back soon--we should have a lot more to say in the next entry!
We love you all!

Our Beautiful New Home! Feel free to come visit. 

Mom and Dad Coombs came for a visit. She was playing solitaire while I was snapping pics of the room. 

This is our beautiful bonus room. I painted it country red and tan and Hilary helped me make the valances. We still have a little left to do, but it's turning out great! 

Our new home--this was taken at the walk-through in June. It looks a lot different now that we're in and have decorated. 

This is what our home looks like after painting and decorating. It's still a work in progress, but it's starting to look nice!

New Life

I can't believe it's already been a month since we left our little apartment in Tustin and moved our life here to Arizona. I feel like we just barely moved in, and it's taken us about this long to actually feel settled into our new home. It's amazing how much you have to do when you move into a new home. From installing ceiling fans and garage door openers to combating bug problems and little fix-it projects to painting almost the entire house, we have been super busy. Jon has vowed never to pick up another paint brush, which left the majority of the upstairs painting to me. But now that all of these little projects are being completed, our home is turning out great and we're loving it. I'll have to get pictures up as soon as I actually take them. Of course, there is still a lot we'd like to do, but all things will come with time...and money.

Aaron seems to be settling into his new digs pretty well too. I don't think he enjoyed the chaos of the whole move very much, but hey, who does, right? But now that things are more settled, he is loving the opportunity to explore so much more space. He has also loved playing with his cousin Emma and with the Howard's kids. It's so much fun being so close to everyone again. Now we're just waiting for Peep and Derek to get down here so Aaron can play with Matthew and Joshua.

We've also enjoyed having a ton of visitors since we've gotten here. Amy came the first weekend, then Jen, and now Mom and Dad Coombs are here visiting us. They're breaking in the guest room and say it's very comfortable, so now you can all start making reservations for the Hotel Coombs in Arizona. We'd love to have you.

Jon starts teaching this week and is super busy getting ready for that, and I should be starting a little part-time job soon, so things are just falling into place. We really love it here, in spite of the heat. Of course, we can't wait for fall to come! But it really is wonderful here. We'd love to hear from all of you, and for those we left in California, we truly miss you all. We'll send some pictures as soon as we can. Take care and know that we love you!

This is it!

Wow, this is it. This is big. Jon and I just finished up our last week at Tesoro High School and are heading out to Arizona tomorrow to do our walk-through on our house. It's a very bittersweet week. I think it was really hard in many ways for Jon to leave Tesoro. He loved the people he worked with, the school, his cushy schedule. The students, eh, he'll miss a couple of them. =) But it's been a really great year for both of us. Jon and I are both going to miss so many things about CA, (especially the family and friends that we will be leaving behind), but at the same time, we have so many marvelous things waiting for us in AZ, like a beautiful home and the rest of our family and friends. It's hard to leave, but we can't wait to leave at the same time.

Like I said, this is our last week, and with most of the rest of our time pre-occupied with packing, etc., today was really our last full day to enjoy CA, so we have been. We figured we have a lot to celebrate--end of the school year, new home and life in AZ, Father's Day (tomorrow), and our 3-YEAR ANNIVERSARY (last Tuesday 6/14). So, we celebrated by going to Las Brisas for breakfast, then we went kayaking in Newport Back Bay which was super fun, (but our arms will feel it tomorrow), and then we went and shared a mint Oreo Blizzard at DQ--yum. (So that last thing doesn't sound like very much, but it's my "treat" day, so for those who know me, you understand that's a big deal!) We are now home with Amy who was nice enough to babysit for us, and Jon is out barbeque-ing some London Broil for all of us to enjoy. We're also planning to get to Downtown Disney later on if possible--you know, hit all the truly "California Experience" places that we'll miss when we leave. I keep asking myself today, "Now why do I want to leave all of this?" Oh, yeah, I can't afford it. =)

So, here's the timeline--Jon and I leave tomorrow (Sunday 6/19) for Arizona right after we speak in Sacrament, then our walk-through and appt. with the lending company is on Monday, and we drive back Tuesday to pack, pack, pack the rest of the week. We load up the truck and clean the apartment Saturday morning, spend Saturday night at Amy's, and drive to AZ on Sunday. And finally, on Monday (6/27 ), we get to pick up our keys to our new home and move in that evening. And that's it! Man, what a week! This really is it.

Hey, this kid would never take a binky when he really needed it! What gives!

John Fulton's Graduation Dinner 

Moving Forward

Fortunately and unfortunately, I am home today. Unfortunate because it means that Stefanie and Audrey Burningham are sick and couldn't watch Aaron today so I couldn't go to work, and subsequently couldn't make money, but fortunate because I got to be home with my cute boy today and get some things done.

The biggest thing I was able to accomplish was to lock down a little more info regarding our move! It looks like Jon and I have our closing date on June 27th and unless something terrible and unforeseeable happens, that should be pretty firm. We are scheduled as of the moment to have our walk-through on June 20th. This is all good news because it means that Jon and I will have a full week work-free to get things ready for the move instead of having the stress of finishing school one day and moving the next. I was also able to talk to our loan agent and get our rate locked in today at a better rate than we had expected, so we're really excited and it seems like everything is working out great. I'm so glad because I have been a little more than mildly stressed about this whole experience recently. Maybe now I'll start sleeping better!

Jon and I had a wonderful weekend--Friday night we had dinner with the Fultons and some of their close family and friends to celebrate John's recent graduation from Cal State Long Beach Film program. What a great accomplishment! And John definitely has the talent to do some amazing work in the film industry. I just hope he remembers us little people when he accepts his Oscar for best screenplay and best director!

On Saturday Jon and I finally got to see Star Wars Ep III. We thought it was great, and by FAR the best of the 3 prequels, but anyone that has seen it could tell you that. On Sunday we drove up to our friends Jeanette and Rob's home in LA for a little get-together with her family (and the Fultons again). We had a great lunch and got to watch both Jeannete's promo for her new reality series and John's final film he recently showed at the CSULB student film festival. Both were great. Again--remember us little people!

And finally, Monday (Memorial Day) we had a California Coombs gathering with a BBQ, swimming, a showing of National Treasure, and lots of chatting. It was tons of fun, and it was really fun to be able to celebrate part of Jim and Shelly's anniversary with them! Happy Anniversary Jim and Shelly! Jim gave Shelly some of the most beautiful roses I have ever seen, and they both enjoyed a massage from Jen. What a way to spend the day! What a great couple. Thanks for letting us be a part of your special day, Jim and Shelly!

Just a few more weeks left, and it's been so fun that we've been able to pack every minute with fun, friends, and family. We love all of you!

Finally growing up

Since my (Heather's) family left last week, we've just been recuperating and getting back to schedule. It was so great having everyone here--especially going to Disneyland with everyone. Jon and I had really been wanting to go to Disneyland one more time before we left California, but we didn't think we'd be able to really pull it off. It was so much fun; I think we took over 100 pictures that day! We both miss our annual passes so much. Now we have other things to look forward to doing.

So, only a month left for us here in Tustin. It's been busy for us, but not too exciting. Now that I'm no longer in Young Women's (I was the 1st counselor and had been in YW for almost 3 years), I feel like I have no responsibilities at church, which with us leaving, is just as well. Work, in the meantime, seems to make me feel busy, even though I'm only working 2-3 days a week. I guess it's because I want to get done in 2 days what other academic advisors have 5 days to get done. It's a good thing I love what I do, though, because it's stressful trying to be a full-time mom, and still be a productive employee. I don't know how single working moms do it!

Jon and I spend a lot of time dreaming about our new home--living in, entertaining in, decorating, filling. It seems almost unreal that this time next month we could be living in our own home. We feel so "grown-up"! I guess it's about time--although I've had a hard time thinking I'm any older than 23. How can I possibly be 30! And a mom! And a homeowner! It's not that I have any problem with getting older, it's more like I'm just confused by the reality of it. I just still feel like I'm "playing" house sometimes. Now I just get to play in a bigger house! Maybe growing up won't be so bad. =)

Beautiful Sunset in Carlsbad 

Disneyland--all decked out for the 50th Anniversary! 

Heather's Family at Disneyland--Quinn, Mel, Ella, Mom, Grandma, Heather, Aaron, and Jon 

On Monday, May 8, Aaron got his first introduction to Disneyland!

Jon and Heather's First Blog

Hi Everyone! So this is our first official "blog", but we figured this would be the easiest way to keep in touch with family and friends and let you all see updated pictures of our fun life. We're almost counting down the days until we move to Arizona. The Howards have been generously sending us pictures of our home's progress, and it helps to make us even more excited. Now that the Bosleys have left us for Arizona, we feel like we're the only ones left here in Tustin. It's hard to believe in just about a month, it will be our turn!