Tomorrow. I am ready.

Eva M. Coleman

Together Forever

Eva Madonna Poulsen Coleman was born in Mt. Pleasant, Utah, May 15, 1915 to Erastus R. and Ida Ardell Madsen Poulsen. She died March 25, 2012 shortly before her 97th birthday.

Preceded in death by her beloved husband, sweetheart and companion, John Louis Coleman on November 7, 1989. Also sister, Fawn Madsen, and two brothers, Ernest and Clinton Poulsen as well as two infant sisters.

She attended school in Mt. Pleasant and graduated from North Sanpete High School. She was written up in Ripley's Believe It or Not for perfect attendance - with no absences or tardies in 15 years of school. Eva attended Snow College for two years where she sang in the college opera program and graduated in chemistry. She then attended BYU receiving her degree in foods and nutrition, completing nine semesters of chemistry.

She married John Louis Coleman, whom she had known and dated since her Junior year in high school, in the Manti Temple, November 24, 1936. They shared life adventures, 53 years, raised four children; Jacqueline (Bob) Cowdell, Jerry (Myra), John (Karen), Julie (Doug) Austin. They loved and enjoyed 20 grandchildren; 41 great-grandchildren; four step-great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. She and John served in the England, Birmingham Coventry Mission, 1980 - 81 making many lasting friendships that continued to Eva's passing.
Eva loved, enjoyed and participated in the lives of her family, to travel, cook, crochet, knit, china paint, bowl, golf, and was an excellent seamstress. She met with her Rook Club friends monthly for 70 years, and served in many organizations of the LDS Church, from three times Relief Society President to Young Women's, Seminary, and Primary. Eva was an example of enduring to the end, attending church every week of her life because of her love of the Lord. She will be missed, loved and remembered by all she left behind. Her legacy of love, service and dedication to the Lord and Jesus Christ will carry on in all her descendents.

The family would like to thank Janice and Susan for their loving care and support, helping Eva and her family for the last year.

Funeral services will be held Friday, March 30th, 1:00 p.m. at the Imperial 1st Ward, 2713 So. Filmore approx, 1540 E. A viewing will be held prior to services beginning at 11:30 a.m. Eva will be laid to rest next to her sweetheart at Redwood Memorial Cemetery.

Grandma Eva Madonna Poulsen Coleman

My sweet Grandmother passed away on March 25th at 3:08am. I was fortunate to be there and really help her for the last few days of her life. She was going to turn 97 in May. I will post about it, but not now. We have suffered a great loss and it is too hard for me to write down my feelings. I will say that I love and admired her so much. I will miss her very much. I will miss her house. A door has closed on a part of my life that is hard to accept.

I am very happy for her as she was so miserable and wanted so much to die. I am selfish and feel sad for me.... and my family. It is hard to live so far away. I miss out. My kids don't establish the relationships I long for them to have. I feel sorry for myself. I can't help it....

I will miss her funeral. That makes me sad too. Basically, I am just sad.

Sometimes life is good.... and hard..... and sad.

Pink was her favorite color. (O:

30 in 30 COMPLETE!!!

I don't know why anyone would actually want to blog every day of their lives. This mama deserves a medal!! I did it!! 30 posts in 30 days. It was hard, but fun. I think it is like a church calling that you have for too long though. You start to run out of creative ideas and intelligent thoughts. Don't get me wrong, I have plenty to write about and capture, but I like to chew on the memory for a while before I post it. I know, I am weird. I think lingering helps me with the memory a bit. This probably makes no sense, but inside my little head it makes perfect sense. No need for further explanation.

So, I will proudly wear this medal ON MY BLOG and know that I can keep up. I want to capture our lives. I need to PUBLISH PUBLISH PUBLISH. I think the biggest lesson I learned in 2011 is "a goal NOT written down is just a wish". This year I will publish TWO blog books for me and my family. It has been written.... Yea!!!

Life is good. Yes, life is good!!!

P.S. Now I am taking a break.....

P.S.S. We had the BEST day with David and Maria and kids. I sure love them! Eric and I have really had a strong urge as of late to be closer to family.... where that will take us I do not know. I may just have to eat my words one day. Maybe....

Day tripping

My parents are here visiting and we are going to see Uncle David and Aunt Maria for the day. The boys are excited to see them and their cousins Colin and Katherine. (pic courtesy of our OBX trip... can't wait for ALL the pics!! They are coming!!)

Pennsylvania, here we come!

Friday night fun (part tres)

We are not done with our Friday night fun posts..... I am so glad that Eric takes along the camera. He might not see all our kiddies, but he gets a few. Another pic, another day, another post! Oh, I have been looking into the publishing of my blog and plan to do that next week. I found a company that I like and am very excited!! Yea!!

Matt helped Eric a lot with Finn. He had him in a special harness so Eric could film him. Finn had a GREAT time and loved skiing with Eric, Matt and Lulu. The last pic is my favorite. Eric said that Finn would speed up to ski next to Lulu and then they would laugh and hug each other. Darling. Next year I PROMISE to join them on their Friday night fun. It is time.

My heart is full!

I must be doing something right because lately the boys have all really liked me. We all have our moments, but I have been getting a lot of love and am really enjoying it. One of the things Eric and I did right was to show affection and love to our kids and now we are blessed to receive it as well (despite their ages!). I look at this picture and feel like the luckiest woman, wife and mom in the world. I love all of my boys. They make my life fun and rich with blessings.

Life is good.

Wise words

Bravo.

And so it begins.....

First of all, I barely made it to my 26th post..... Whew! I went out with some friends and spaced my goal! Good thing I sat down before wandering up to bed.... I miss you bed.

Second, Coleman got slipped a note from a GIRL today at school. We really like this girl (we meaning her father and I) so Eric forced the note from him, scanned it and now I am blogging it. Coleman is going to kill both of us, but we love him just that much.

Like I said... and so it begins. (o;

Do I dare even write this.....

Daffodowndilly

by A.A. Milne

She wore her yellow sun-bonnet,
She wore her greenest gown;
She turned to the south wind
And curtsied up and down.
She turned to the sunlight
And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbour:
"Winter is dead."

I don't want to jinx myself or my fellow Marylanders... but I swear spring is here AND I think she has been here for a while. We had the mildest winter. Sadly, we didn't even have one single snow day. We had a light dusting of snow one day but not enough to freak out the city or school officials. I hope Spring is here and that we have a long, beautiful spring (I just sneezed, really. There are some downfalls...Poor Tate!) All the daffodils in my yard have either started to bloom or have buds on them and are waiting for a day like today (65 degrees and sunny), to bust out and officially welcome Spring. I am happy and don't even feel too tortured by the welcome of daylight savings TODAY. Yawn....!

Let's just hope that "winter is dead!" (cross your fingers!!)

The dreaded last night....

It was time. I have prolonged it and prolonged it. Finn needs to move to a BIG BOY bed. Sigh. Life is funny. I have wanted to get to this point in our lives and now I just want him to stay little. The ironic thing is.... EVERYONE is now sleeping better. I couldn't make myself do the bed AND room switch, but now I know I should have done it back in January as planned. Rested boys are happy boys!

Everyone adjusted the FIRST night and I really do mean that EVERYONE is sleeping better. Finn wakes up a little earlier, but I am okay with that (except on Saturdays and Sundays... I am NOT okay with that!!)

Of course I had to document the last night (and morning) in the crib. I gave away the changing table, but kept the crib. The hoarder in me could not let it go. Thanks Great-Grandpa Tate. We are still on the 5 year plan with the binkies, but that may change as well. It does keep him little and we like that. Maybe we will move to a 6 year plan (kidding!!)

He is such a big boy. (happy/sad)

Moments with Tate

Two funny conversations with Tate this week:

1. Driving in the car... Tate says," I just saw a car plate."

Mom says, "A what? A car plate? What is that?"

Tate says, " You know it covers up the tires sort of..."

Mom thinks, gets it, giggles and says, "Oh, you mean a hubcap. That is called a hubcap!!!"

Tate says, "Yea, a hubcap. I didn't know it was called that."

We need to work on our vocab. Shame on Mommy and Daddy!

2. Tate asks about our trip to Sanibel (which is very soon btw)!! He says, "What time are we leaving. What day are we leaving? How long is the flight to Florida?"

Mom says, "Friday the 30th and I don't know about the flight. It all depends on if we have a layover or not."

Tate says, "A layover? What is that?"

I look at him speechless.... and realize just how spoiled my kids are. Next time we go to Florida, we are walking there! Period!!

Lol.

MDO

One of Finn's sweet MDO teachers took this pic. Oh if I could be a fly on the wall.... I would love to see my kids in action at school etc. This is Finn's friend Matthew. He really likes him (as you can see). I really love this pic and am so glad that Finn is able to form friendships at such a young age. He really is something!

Basketball season is over.... almost

I am the WORST at taking pics during basketball. Once again, camera failure. On the supportive note, I do yell the loudest and am the ONLY parent that knows all the kids' names so I can officially yell at every kid. I am my kids' personal cheerleader. It is a good thing that Eric and I have to split up for the games because I know that he would die of embarrassment if he was with me. I am not obnoxious or negative. I hoot, cheer, clap and give loud-ish encouragement. Here is Gabe's team. His friend Tommy's Dad coached it again this year. It is a nice learning league and I like that all the kids are from DES.

Now which camera is Tate's team on..... Tate and Gabe are both done with basketball. Coleman is trying to balance tennis and church ball. He only has 3 more games with his team. On Thursdays, Coleman goes to 2 hours of tennis, dashes home to eat a little something and goes to an 1 1/2 of basketball practice. I know he will be glad when the season is over. He will continue to play tennis and actually start at school as well. The other boys will start soccer in a couple of weeks. I love the in between time...... but it won't last long. Sigh.

Life is good!!

Espanol

Last week Finn started a Spanish preschool on Fridays. I have a friend from Peru who wants to teach her kids Spanish and thought teaching others as well would be more fun for her own kids. Brilliant!!

I told Finn on Friday morning that he was going to Spanish Preschool. His response was both hilarious and too intelligent for his 3 wee years.

Finn says, "I'm going to a Spanish preschool? But I don't speak Spanish!!"

He has a point. Lol!!

Wise words

Lesson learned....

I love this pic.

I love my sweet boys.

I love those red skinny jeans.

I wish I had more family pics.... Lesson learned.

Tate's talents

Tate did Tech club again this year. I love his pictures. This year he made me a calendar with many of his pictures. (Thanks Tate!!) The school is under major construction so the kids had very little space to come up with unique pictures. I think they allowed them in the front of the building only, so considering this Tate did an amazing job at finding good pictures and unusual angles. The first pic is my favorite and the second is Tate's. These are only a few of his cool pics. Tate is so creative! I sure love him!!

P.S. I am going for 30 posts in 30 days.... This is HARD! Can I keep it up? We will see. Will I ever do this again? Not likely. (O;

Friday night fun OR Finn's first night skiing

Finn does not like to be left home... ever. On the previous Fridays, he cried, moped and had to be bribed with ice cream and extra phone time. He was NOT happy to have been left behind. Finally, the right night (well, not really because it was FREEZING!!) came and Finn set off into the big, unknown world.

He got a little cold, but the boy is a skiing machine. No fear. He was a little cold, but loved it and talked about skiing (and cold fingers) for days. He definitely was ready for another Friday night fun!!

A Gabe-ism

Gabe climbs into bed with me and snuggles up. I ask him how he slept and so on. He says to me, " You know your morning breath?" (which I don't mind admitting is usually quiet bad and he always lets me know just how bad it is!!). He looks at me confused (what he doesn't know is that I had already been up and because I had such a yuck taste in my mouth... I am sure it was the chili... I brushed my teeth TWICE) and says, " Your morning breath is so minty fresh." Ha!

Some marketing person deserves a raise.... "minty fresh". How many times has Gabi heard that in some commercial only to have it permanently imprinted on his brain? I just said "Thanks" and left him to wonder.

My secret... minty fresh. Ahhhhhh!

Friday night fun (part uno)

Friday nights are all about skiing in the winter. Eric is gracious enough to take the boys up to either Whitetail or Liberty and have some fun in the homemade snow. The boys LOVE it and this is even the year Finn learned how to ski. On this particular fun Friday, Aunt Liz was here to join in the snow merriment. It was fun for all!!