Buh-bye 2009!

I have to say that I am not sad at all to say goodbye to 2009. Yes, there were some good parts to the year, but there were also some very bad things that I could've lived with out. That being said, I feel very positive that 2010 will bring many blessings to my family and I. As I said earlier, there are going to be some changes this year. One of those things is David's job. He has a wonderful opportunity before him at a company called Digital Globe. The company helps create the images for google maps. Isn't that cool? He is very excited about this and thinks it will be a good move for his career. After being at Ball Aerospace for almost 12 years, he's sad to leave the people and the company that treated him so well, but thinks this is the best move for him and our family. As for me, I turn 3o this year. I'm feeling very excited about entering my 30's. I plan on continuuing to stay at home with Noah and I'm also working on bringing in some extra money. I don't have all the bits and pieces together to make that happen yet, but I'm hoping I'll get the ball rolling on that in the next couple of months. Other than that, we'll just keep trying to do and be where God wants us. Not always an easy task, but we're a work in progress. I am thankful that God gave us each and every day of 2009. Though it wasn't always easy, I am confident that God was with me and our family every step of the way. I feel blessed to be where I am. God's grace is truly a gift and I'm thankful for His steady hand and providence over my family and I.

Thinking about the new year got me wondering about goals and resoutions for 2010. I usually don't make very many resoultions, but this year I am. I'll make my own and David and I are going to make some together as well. Once I have them together, I'll post them. That way, I can't go back on what I say! So what are some of your resolutions?

Have a safe and fun New Years!

Posting the Past

Click on the links below to see what we've been doing the past couple of months...

Halloween 2009

Noah's First Birthday

Thanksgiving 2009

Santa Claus

Meeting Mr. Claus

“Who is this scary guy?”

“Momma?”

“Maybe he’s not so bad.”

“I think I’ll try again next year.”

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving was very special this year. Our family had a lot to be thankful for due to the miraculous healing of Kerri. The Tharps and my Dad came back from Texas to be with us. My Mom was still here helping Kerri. Kerri couldn't be with us on Thanksgiving, but we all thought about her a bunch. We took Hadley for the day and she had fun playing with her cousins. Also while the fam was here, we spent a lot of time goofing around and even went to Breckenridge to go sledding. It was great watching all the kids go down the mountain. But, I think that Cody had the most fun of all. There's nothing quite like watching a cowboy hoot and holler down a mountain. He was the hit of the mountain. Noah want on his first sled ride, too. I think he had fun, but there was no way of really telling. He didn't scream or cry, so I guess I can safely say that he enjoyed it. I loved having those Tharps and my parents around. I miss the kids like crazy and having Dana around is always the best. It was a great time with all of them!

Cole, Lauren, Noah and Katelyn

Huge meltdown of the 1-year-olds

The boys minus Cole. He didn't want to be in the picture :(

Mom, Hadley, Katelyn, Dana and Lauren

All bundled up for the snow

Noah's 1st sled ride

No tears, so I guess he loved the ride!

The Cowboy and his buckaroos flying down the mountain
Cole and Katelyn playing Guitar Hero
Bob and Jude hanging out on Thanksgiving

Cody, Lauren and Dana


1st Thanksgiving dinner

Our little fam on Thanksgiving

Katelyn and Hadley

Thing 1 & Thing 2

On Noah's birthday, David took a day off work and we had breakfast, opened presents, spent the day in Boulder and had some cake. My Mom was there to celebrate as well. It was such a perfect day spent with a perfect boy. The following Saturday, we had his BIG party. Noah had a joing party with Brie (his future wife) and they celebrated with a Dr. Seuss Thing 1 and Thing 2 party. The kids played with many friends and family, ate WAY too much cake and opened a crazy amount of presents. Those kids made out like bandits! Anyway, it's hard to believe that one year has come and gone already. Here's to many, many more!

Click on the picture below to see all the birthday fun!

Arrrrrrrrrrghhhhh!

Isn't he the CUTEST pirate you ever did see??

"Totally not diggin' this earring Mom!"

Back From the Break....

Well, after a long hiatus, I decided it was time to get back to the ol' blog. I'm happy to say that I am finally ready to write again because I want everyone to know that life still goes on during good and bad times. And believe me, this year has been chock full of plenty of good, bad and sometimes VERY bad times!


First things first though, Kerri is alive and well. And all the glory goes to our gracious and miraculous God! We know that she is here today because of the power of prayer and because God is obviously not finished with her on this earth. She is now at home and is rehabbin' and trying her best to get back to a new normal. Our family is SO proud of her. Today just so happens to be her 4th anniversary with Adrian! So, happy anniversary Peech's! This day is also somewhat of an anniversary for David and I because we first met at their wedding. Without them, we wouldn't be us and we're forever grateful to them for getting married! If you want to keep up with Kerri's progress, you can go to http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/kerripeech You can leave her a message of encouragement if you'd like.

Other than that, David and I have been experiencing a lot of stress in our lives as well. The Monday before Thanksgiving I came home to a house that had been robbed. To say that it was an invasion of our lives is a HUGE understatement. Many things were taken, but the thing that I am absolutely DEVASTATED about is that they took our home videos along with our video camera. I've lost all the sweet videos of the day Noah was born and stuff like that. Ughhhhh, it just makes me sick to think about. It took a while, but I am now able to look at this situation with thanks that no one was hurt and that we still have a roof over our heads. But, shortly after that our Insurance company decided to stick it to us and still hasn't told us whether or not they are going to cover the claim! It's one thing to be robbed, but to be robbed by your insurance company is incomprehensible to me. I'm just furious over that! So, I'll keep you posted as to what's going on with that.

Besides all the bad things, I do realize that many GREAT things have been happening for David and I . I can't tell you everything quite yet, but so far, 2010 is looking up! David and I have been praying for a long time for our "luck" to change and I believe that it is. I can't wait to share the details with y'all soon. And no, I'm not pregnant so get that out of your head! :)

So, Team Coleman is back. I'm going to post later some things that have been going on the past few months. For example, we missed posting about Halloweeen, our 1-year-old and many other things. So those are coming....

It's good to be back!

Still Here...Kinda

I know it's been a while, but I have a good reason. First, my computer crashed. And now, I've been living at the hospital while my sister Kerri fights for her life. Though our lives still continue, I have been neglectiong the blog because I just can't seem to get my thoughts together right now. I do have a ton of pictures to upload, but they'll have to wait for now. Also, we're less than a month away from Noah's first birthday! Can you believe it? So, to say that there is a ton going on is a HUGE understatement. I promise that I will get back to the blog once things calm down. So keep checking back!

Also, thanks to all of you who are praying for my sister. She sure needs the prayer! We're all very proud of her. And if you want regular updates on her status, check my facebook page!

Take care of yourselves and stay healthy!

Crashin' Down

Yep, my computer crashed! Therefore, everything that I've worked on, taken a picture of, music I've downloaded is GONE! I am completely DEVASTATED!! Needless to say, the blog has been neglected because of it. However, I'm hoping to get it back up and running soon. We've had a lot going on and I want to share it with you, my loyal readers, very soon. So, hopefully it will get fixed ASAP! Stay tuned!

Noah's First Word

Noah's first word wasn't Momma or Daddy, but of course, BALL! What else can you expect from an athletic genius?! Both David and I were there to witness it and we were both so excited. I admit, I got a little teary eyed....my boy is growing up! I'm so anxious to hear more of his little voice. Right now it's mostly grunts and growling. He's definitely ALL BOY! Anyway, here's to Noah and his first word! And he said it on 9/9/09....cool!

33 Years of A Great Man

No, I’m not taking about Jesus (But yes, he’s GREAT too)!  I’m talkin’ about David James Coleman and it’s his birthday today! 

David, I hope that this is your best year yet!  I know you will work hard, love your family and have some fun this year.  But more than that, I pray that God will use you and your talents to His glory!

Know that “The Team” and I love you more than anything.  Thanks for being our everything! 

Happy Birthday!

Love,

Jenny

Longs Peak 2009

I've always wanted to do a fourteener (there are 53 mountains in Colorado over 14,000 feet in altitude) and specifically Longs Peak. I've never done either and after living in Colorado for over 20 years I figured there is no time like the present. My brother Jonathan has summit ed once and attempted Longs twice in the past two years. He was turned back because of weather on his first attempt.
Momentum for this trip has been building for two years for me and finally the day arrived when I would attempt my first fourteener.

Jonathan and I have been trying to train for this although I'd say we weren't quite prepared for what we would face (or at least I wasn't). We hiked bear peak to warm up two weeks prior which was a great workout and a good warm up. Anyway on to longs peak.

The first thing is that you have to start EARLY to be able to get on and off the top of the mountain before the afternoon thunderstorms roll in. From my front door to the trail head it's about a little over an hour. So on this day I left my front door at 1:15AM, picked up Travis and then met Jonathan in Lyons and we all carpooled from there to the trail head. After about 15 minutes of making sure we had all of our stuff and gearing up we headed up the trail signing in the log book at 3:05AM. Starting elevation was 9,400 feet.

The trip is supposed to be 15 miles round trip and I felt mentally prepared for the journey. Everyone was in high spirits and there was a lot of talking and joking on the way up the initial trail through goblins forest.


Along the way we were immediately warned of the dangers of inclement weather on this hike/climb.


The hike was a steady climb uphill but nobody seemed to mind it much, we took breaks when needed and I was taking in a lot of water from my camelbak along the way. We passed the tree line about 11,500 feet and the ammount of stars you can see at night from this elevation is difficult to describe, I've never seem so many stars. We were able to identify some of the well known constellations as well as the milky way and some other things. I believe all of us saw at least one if not more shooting stars, it was truly amazing and a huge blessing to see Gods creation so clearly. Our first real break was at the place where the trail splits between chasm lake or heading to the summit. To that point we were about four miles up the trial heading to the summit. Our pace was brisk and steady to this point. We were also able to see the lights of Denver, Boulder, Estes from this elevation. Not long after that break and a little further up the trail we began to see the horizon lightening up, this was yet another amazing and beautiful sight to see.

Daybreak over the twin sisters.

A little while after day break we reached the bottom of the Boulder Field the boulder field marks a clear distinction between the end of the hiking section and the start of the climb up Longs peak. It was about 6:15AM when we got there and we decided it would be a good time to stop and take another break, eat some food and refill our water supplies. It was awesome seeing the sun hit the diamond face of Longs as we sat in the shade and prepped for the climbing section of our day. We had come 5 miles to this point in the hike.






After our break we headed up the Boulder field and towards the Keyhole. This section was pretty enjoyable as you climb up about car sized rocks and pick your way through towards the Keyhole. We did start slowing down not only due to climbing but also due to lack of oxygen but our pace was still steady.




Reaching the Keyhole was a great accomplishment in terms of reaching our end goal, spirits were still high and we stopped for a short break to take in the view. When you get to the top of this section the view is just amazing.

Travis

Jonathan


Me

After taking some time to take in the view we were off on a horizontal traverse called "The Ledges" that connects the Keyhole to the "Trough" this was a nice break from the climbing but upon seeing the "Trough" you really start to wrap your mind around what exactly you've gotten yourself into. When you get to the base of the trough I believe you are just over 13,000 feet in elevation and the by the time you get to the end of the "Trough" I believe you are somewhere near 13,800 it's a 800 yards or so section that seems to go straight up. We started up the section and at this point we had our taskmaster Jonathan (who was in much better shape than Travis and I) mushing us onward and telling us to stop taking so many breaks. The air is very thin and catching your breath becomes tougher and tougher. This was by far the toughest part of the climb, it tests your want to and your endurance. A great challenge! After several breaks and much of this
we conquered the "Trough"! Here are a couple of pictures from the top of this section.




Now after conquering the "Trough" you are in a section called the "Narrows" it's pretty self explanatory and it didn't really bother me as much as some from whom I've heard but basically you walk along a ledge so to speak with I don't know 2-3k ft drops on your right. If you have problems with heights this section would get you bigtime. I actually rather enjoyed it. The pictures don't come close to doing it justice.

If you look closely you can see a few people walking along the "path".

After walking the traverse known as the "Narrows" you have only one section left to complete and that is called the "Homestretch" this is the most difficult of the climbing sections due to the steepness and altitude in which you are climbing. However I found it much easier than the "Trough" because you could actually see the top and also it's much shorter than the "Trough". Still you find yourself taking a break ever 20 feet or so on the way up.


We made it up! Each one getting there slightly before or after the others but we all three made it. The sense of accomplishment and the view was amazing! 14,255 ft and we climbed up 4,850 ft. We took about 5 minutes each to regain our breath before starting to take in the view. I wish I wasn't so tired at the top because I would have taken a lot more pictures but fatigue got the better of me and I didn't get a lot.



I did it!

Jonathan did it again!

Travis did it too but I somehow missed his solo picture.



After about an hour on the top mostly spent resting and eating lunch we started back down. I knew this would be toughest on my knee so I was a bit nervous but off we went. The "Homestretch" was challenging but we managed and then across the "Narrows" to the "Trough" and again the "Trough" just kicked my butt, this section took us a long time to get down and it was mostly on hands and knees or hands and feet or hands and butt and feet but we finally got down and across the "Ledges" and through the "Keyhole" and down the "Boulder Field". We stopped here for a much needed break and to again refill our waters. This is where I made a mistake in thinking that if I made it to this point the hike portion back down would be no problem. I was wrong!


The 5 miles down from there was extremely grueling, we had used up the majority of our energy on the way up and down the climbing sections and now we were totally spent. 5 miles of one foot in front of the other and down, down, down, down, just lit into our quads to say the least. I felt like my toes were all bruised from jamming into my shoes and it just didn't end. I don't know if my feet have ever felt that badly before. But we trudged on. Nobody talked much, Travis appeared a little dehydrated and was struggling. But we soldiered on.


Near the bottom we took a short break here.


Eventually we made it back to the car and I can tell you that it seeing that car was one of the most welcome sights I've ever seen. All three of us were completely exhausted and ready to be done. We did the whole up and down 15 miles in just over 13 hours. We were all glad to be done, here are some pictures of what shape we were in at the end.

Travis puts on his game face for a "I did it" pic.

me..... not so much.

Jonathan is ready for a nap.

All in all it was an awesome experience and an amazing day. I couldn't have picked better climbing partners and I'm very glad that we were able to do this. It's certainly sparked my interest in fourteeners and I intend to do others. Incidentally I looked and Longs Peak is one of the toughest of the 53 fourteeners in the state so I plan to do an easier one next time. What a great day!