Elder Coleman

Heather and I had the chance to drop Nathan, now Elder Coleman off at the MTC this morning. I was anticipating not being able to say too many goodbyes and stuff, but they really wanted me in and out. They seemed even a little bit reluctant to let us take this one picture. But, Elder Coleman is now safely there, no Swine Flu, and he is ready to go!


We made him a nice last home-cooked meal this morning our International Flapjack and Sausage Breakfast (sausage, eggs, pancakes, and orange julius). We enjoyed it, and he certainly did. He fidgeted around all morning, we went through his luggage again, he talked on the phone to the family, and now he is off. I can't believe my little brother is a missionary! It seems like just yesterday when we were running around in the mountains, building treehouses, wrestling, and of course involving ourselves in the little bit of sibling rivalry that occasionally happened. :) So much is changing! I guess you can't stay young forever. We will miss him, but I know he will be a great missionary serving the Lord in the Anchorage Alaska Mission.

Family Photo

Well, we finally took a family picture a couple of weeks ago. We want to wait until Heather's just a little bit older before we take her in for professional photos, but these turned out really well. Hope you like them!

She Did It!!!

Daniel and I walked into Heather's room this morning at 6:30 because Heather started making noises and we thought she might be waking up. We peeked over the bed only to find that Heather had ROLLED OVER! We were so surprised! I am not sure if it was an accident, or if she is starting to figure it out. I put her on her tummy a little bit to see if she would do it again, and she got really close, but she didn't quite make it. We will be doing a lot of tummy time today to see if she can do it again. If she does, we need to be more careful where we put her. If not, we need to be more careful where we put her. She did it once and she can do it again. :)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

It's been a pretty good spring/summer "vacation" so far (the mild sarcasm is due to the fact that we are working almost as hard even though school is out). My favorite job is being a dad, and I love the time I get to spend with Stephanie and Heather. I definitely don't get as many special experiences with Heather, but as you can see from the pictures that we have fun together.



Unfortunately, I have a couple of jobs that pay me to spend a few hours per day away from my two favorite girls (ok...maybe 10 hours is more than a few). Regardless, I am loving what I am doing almost as much as I love being with my family. I love finding ways to use technology to advance learning and science.

Speaking of work, I am pretty excited to be going on two trips this summer. In June, I will be spending 3 days in Piscataway, NJ at a conference planning and implementing an open platform for learning/training technology. In July, I will be spending 5 days in Durham, NC at a conference receiving training on how to use software to analyze and visualize genomes. Not only is this exactly the kind of thing I want to do for grad school, but it is also very close to where I want to go to grad school (Duke). This will be a great opportunity for me to network.

The only regret I have about this summer is not being able to bring Stephanie and Heather along. We almost bought a plane ticket for them to come out and visit New York City while I am in NJ, but we would not have had enough time to enjoy ourselves. Oh well, one of these days when we're rich and famous we'll be able to travel the world and visit all sorts of places. For now, we'll just be content with helping Heather learn about her new and exciting world.

We love you all. Can't wait to see you again!

Growing Pains

I think Heather must be growing this week, because she has been fussy, and eating tons, and not sleeping very well. Today she slept in until 10 (okay 9:40), went back down at 11, woke up at 12-ish (we went shopping and as we pushed her over the tiles as you walk into walmart, she woke up), then went down at 1:30, and has been sleeping ever since. It is nice to have her sleeping so much today because I have been able to get a lot done, but it also has made me realize how much I miss her. Here are some pictures that we took this week. I know it is a lot, but she is just so darn cute I couldn't leave these out!

Heather has been scooting. The other day, she scooted out of her pajamas and her blanket. She left a little cocoon behind her.

She didn't quite make it all the way out of her PJ's.

Daddy showing off his talented girl.

Helping Mommy sort through her clothes. She is already into the 3-6 month sizes, and truth be told, she is a little big for some of them.

She was so smiley and happy I wanted to take some pictures, but you just can't capture everything on camera I guess...

Sound asleep in her car seat. Finally!!

Hope you enjoyed these. Love you all!