Hannah Montana Concert!

Tuesday night Madisen and I went to the Hannah Montana concert which included Ally and AJ. It was one of her Christmas gifts. We missed out on getting tickets back in November for her birthday. The tickets sold out in like 32 seconds or something ridiculous. Last month when I got back from a business seminar in Dallas Brian told me that she was coming back to Phoenix and the tickets were going on sale the next morning when I returned. I sat at my computer continuously refreshing the page until we finally got two tickets!! We decided it was going to be a "girls' night out" instead of a family outing since I could only get the two. One of Trent's Christmas gifts was tickets to go to the Super Motorcross a couple of weeks ago so they had their own "boys' night out".

Madisen got all decked out in her new Hannah Montana shirt and boots from Christmas. I got off work early to beat the traffic and the crowds and I'm so glad I did. We had dinner at Johnny Rockets and then headed over to the arena. It was definitely a lot to take in but I know Madisen loved every minute of it. They had a huge tour bus out in front and I took her picture in front of it (2nd picture). Then we went around the corner and they had this cardboard cut out of Miley Cyrus (aka Hannah Montana) set up for pictures as well. Madisen loves this picture because she says it looks like she's really standing by her. :)

Once I got a few pictures we of course had to buy a few (too many) souvenirs! hee hee Well, it's not like we'll be going to another concert anytime soon. Madisen's picks....a T-shirt, concert lanyards, book bag and a memory book. We also got a light-up "wand" for Trent.

We had a few minutes to spare before the show started so we went upstairs to find our seats. I was pretty surprised at what great seats we had. There really wasn't a bad seat in the place. Ally & AJ came out first and sang for about 30 minutes. I only knew one or two songs of theirs but Madisen seemed to know more. They were really great. The lights came on and we had a 15-20 minute intermission and then "Hannah Montana" came out. She put on an incredible show! Madisen was singing to every single song, dancing and waving her light the entire time. I think Hannah sang for about 45 minutes including a couple of songs with Ally and AJ and then she did the rest of the show as Miley Cyrus. Again, Madisen knew all the songs and I just enjoyed watching her have so much fun!

The show lasted for about 2 1/2 hours and well worth the price! It was a great girls' night out and I hope Madisen and I have many more to come.

I'm so glad you had so much fun and enjoyed your Christmas gift, Madisen. The smile on your face was my gift. :)

More pictures from Flagstaff

More pictures of us enjoying the snow in Flagstaff! Such a fun time.

Snow fun in Flagstaff

This past weekend Brian decided he wanted to head up to Flagstaff to play in the snow with the kids. So we headed up Saturday night, bought a few snow clothes for the kids, went to dinner and stayed at a motel for the night. Sunday morning we got up and headed to a designated snow play area. Trent and Madisen were so excited to go sledding, make a snowman, make snow angels and have snowball fights.

We couldn't believe how long it's been since we've gone up north during the winter when there's actually snow. I think Madisen was only about two years old so over five years since our last outing!! It was a beautiful day, the sun was out and it actually wasn't too cold. It was only cold when the wind picked up here and there throughout the day.

At first Madisen had to have someone help her each time she went down the hills but after a while she got the hang of it. They got going pretty fast on some of them and got some air on a few of the dips! I decided to try my hand at it a couple of times with each of the kids but I stayed to the small hills. Madisen braved going down a really huge hill with Daddy and got a face full of snow. She wasn't too happy and she didn't go down that one again. :(

Brian realized after a few times that we just aren't as young as we used to be and called it quits after a few runs!! We were both pretty sore the next day. At least he got to stay home and work since the kids were off of school for the holiday but I had to go into the office.

After sledding for a while we found a spot to make a snowman. Actually there was one already started for us and Madisen found a couple of carrots in the snow to use for him. He was a pretty sad looking snowman but they had fun making him. The snow was too "airy" to make snowballs or a snowman so they changed gears and made a few snow angels instead.

We were out there for almost five hours. I couldn't believe the kids had lasted that long!! We were heading out but found a couple new runs that the kids wanted to try. They were having a blast but the last time Trent went down this one he landed face first into the snow. At first I just thought he was being silly and reacting to the run but then this lady said she saw blood so of course I freaked out. Luckily he only had a bloody nose and didn't take out any of his permanent teeth. He tried that in baseball at the end of last season when he used his face instead of his glove to catch the ball, ouch(!) but that's another story....

Even though the day ended badly we all had a lot fun overall! It's so nice to only be less than two hours away from the forest and can enjoy cooler weather especially in the summers. The kids can't wait to go back really soon.

Girl Scout Cookies!!!!

January is really getting away from me. It's already been over two weeks since my original posts. I need to play catch up over the next couple of days to share what's been happenin' here. :)

Madisen had a lot of fun being a Girl Scout Daisy last year in Kindergarten that she decided to continue this year. I am still the co-leader of her troop too. She has had lots of fun earning patches, going on field trips and last November we got to go up to Prescott for Encampment 2007. The girls were too young to stay overnight at the camp but they were able to go up for the day to enjoy the fun activities including hiking, swaps, singing songs, and having a campfire and making yummy Smores. This picture of her is from that day wearing her bandanna filled with all of her swaps. I think the swaps were her favorite part of the day! The girls can't wait until 3rd grade so they'll be allowed to stay at the camp all weekend.

This year Madisen is a Brownie which means she can sell Girl Scout cookies!! :) She started selling a little over a week ago and has already sold over 80 boxes thanks to family, friends, neighbors and co-workers. She's already passed her personal goal so I guess we'll have to raise it to the next level. Hint, hint to any of you she hasn't hit up for cookies yet. hee hee

Madisen's 7th birthday - 11/8/07

I can't believe Madisen is 7 years old! Where has the time gone?!?! Madisen had her cake picked out for months and had specific requests this year which her Bapa happily obliged. We picked out the Tinkerbell cake pan and then her request...chocolate cake with chocolate chips! It was really moist and yummy. Bapa did a GREAT job.

Madisen decided to have her party at the bowling alley like we did for Trent's 9th birthday. She invited seven of her girlfriends and Bapa, Uncle Jon and Aunt Pam came to help her celebrate as well. Unfortunately, Nana was in the rehab center and couldn't make it so I made sure to take lots and lots of pictures, especially of the cake, for her to enjoy later.
Some of Madisen's birthday wishes this year were a PINK (of course) scooter, cooking stuff which included a cute apron, chef's hat, cooking utensils and a cookbook as well as dolls, games and arts and crafts stuff!

Her and her friends had a lot of fun bowling, eating pizza and hanging out!

Madisen waiting to blow out her candles while everyone sings "Happy Birthday" to her. Make a wish, baby! I hope they all come true. Mommy and Daddy love you very much.

Trent's 10th birthday - 9/27/07

Since I just started this blog, and the whole purpose was to share pictures with family and friends I thought I would go back to include the kids' birthdays and some of the holidays from last year. I can't believe Trent is the big 1-0 (double digits)!! He actually had two parties this year. He really wanted to have a sleepover this year. So, he got to invite 5 to 6 friends over and they had pizza, played games and set up the huge tent in the backyard to sleep in. The boys had a blast! Even Brian and Madisen set up the little tent and crashed next to the boys' big tent. I was smart and slept in my own comfy bed in the house. :) By 1PM the next day Brian and I were out for the count. We were exhausted but everyone had a great time.





We celebrated with my parents (Nana & Bapa) and Jon and Pam the following weekend. We had a nice dinner and my Dad aka "The Cake Maker" made another one of his "one of kind" cakes! This year is the "year of Pokemon" for Trent so he chose one of his favorite characters, Pikachu for my Dad to make. He absolutely loved it!

We decided to get Trent his big birthday wish...a Nintendo DS! Of course, when he saw the gift he knew what it was before he unwrapped (something he gets from his Uncle Jon)! Hence, the over-the-top reaction to his gift in the first picture. The little stinker! My parents and Jon and Pam each gave him his other birthday wishes which were Pokemon games!

Happy birthday, Trent! Mommy and Daddy love you very much but could you do us a favor? Stop growing up so fast! :)

Still More Christmas!

Two more pictures from Christmas...here is Madisen sporting her new robe with Nana and Bapa. It was quite the hit and a perfect gift from them.

After opening gifts we enjoyed yummy food and watched a movie. We had a wonderful day just spending time with our family. Along with my parents and Jon and Pam, Brian's Uncle Steve and Aunt Marie also came over to enjoy Christmas with us. It was so nice to visit with them. They just moved here and are now officially what we in AZ call "snow birds". :)

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday and Happy New Year.

More of Christmas Day!

Here's Madisen with her gifts from Grandma B. THANKS Grandma B for the Barbie and fun clothes! I am having fun playing with her and dressing her up.

Here are pictures of Aunt Pam & Uncle Jon getting some love from Tigger! I couldn't resist taking these pictures as Tigger was in one of her moods. She just loves to bury her head into long hair, rub up against everyone and give kitty hugs. We have to keep a close eye on Aunt Pam though because she wants to "steal" Tigger from us! :)

Christmas Day!

This year Trent and Madisen decided they were going to have a "stakeout" and wait for Santa. They got their blankets and game systems and sat in their beanbag chairs up in the new playroom overlooking the Christmas tree down in the living room. Brian told them that those chairs are only comfy for sitting in not really sleeping in but the kids were determined to stakeout Santa. By about 11PM Trent came down the hallway and announced that we were right and he was going to sleep in his own bed, but not before setting his alarm clock for 5:30AM! Madisen was kind of upset because she didn't want to be alone in the loft by herself so she came in our room to watch "Polar Express" and finally went to bed after that.

Boy, did 5:30AM come quick! I'm not sure why Trent set his alarm clock because I heard him running in the hallway back from downstairs to turn it off. He had already gone downstairs to investigate all the presents. I could hear him waking up Madisen and giving her details of his findings. They then dug into their stockings and rushed in to tell us everything they got.

Santa was good to them as always. Trent had asked Santa for an acoustic guitar and/or a turtle (YES, a LIVE turtle). I did ask him if he would be upset if Santa didn't bring the turtle (Mommy wasn't too keen on the idea!) and he said as long as Santa brought him one of his wishes he would be happy. Madisen had asked Santa for the Polar Express DVD and arts and crafts stuff. She realized after seeing Santa she should have asked for a DS, like her brother's. Luckily Santa heard her wishes and she got a DS of her very own, and a PINK one no less!

The kids loved being able to play their DS' together now and patiently waited for everyone to show up at the house so they could open their other presents.

Here's Trent with one of his gifts from Grandma B, a ESPN baseball game. THANKS Grandma B I'm having lots of fun playing it!

I will post more pictures of Christmas.

Christmas Eve

My Christmas wish came true! All I really wanted for Christmas was my Mom to be home. She was finally discharged from the rehab center on Friday, December 21st! It has been a long haul (almost 2 months) and I and the rest of my family feel so blessed to have her home.

We spent Christmas Eve over at Jon's in-laws house for a wonderful dinner. It was a perfect night of good food and good company. I made sure to bring my camera and take lots of pictures. It's probably been over 20 years since we've (the Coin Family) have had a family picture taken. I also made sure to get pictures of my Mom with the kids and of course, I couldn't resist a picture of all the "brown-eyed girls" - 3 generations.

I will treasure these pictures for many years to come!