Back from Ohio

Wow! Back from Ohio! I can hardly believe 3 1/2 weeks flew by so quickly! It was seriously the most relaxing vacation I have ever had. There were times when I felt I didn't have children, they were so occupied with Dylan and Josiah! Anyway, our last week there was a good one. Angela and Steffanne took me to lunch for my birthday, and then we did some shopping. We were gone for 5 hours! And to be out in the snow was wonderful! It was a lot of fun. We came home and watched Ella Enchanted, which was a cute movie, and had pizza for dinner. Ahhh, one of my favorite meals! It was good! Dylan made me a yummy chocolate cake! It was so good! I think it was the best cake (aside from the one Chris made me last year) that I have ever had. All of the boys had made me cards for my birthday. It was so cute and thoughtful! It was a great day! The next day, Chris and Russell went skiing. They both had fun and were safe. It was only a 300 foot drop, but still, it was challenging at times for them. That was the day Dylan wrote his amazing song. You can check it out on Youtube.com. He and Chris put music to it on Thursday. It was awesome! There was still a lot of snow on Thursday, so we all headed over to the golf coarse and slid down the gigantic hill! It was awesome! Gavin climbed up that huge hill at least 6 times and never complained once! It was great! Garrison and Gage had a great time, too. We left on Friday and made it to the airport 2 hours before we were to leave. Good thing because it took us forever to check in. Our flight to Denver was noneventful, which was good. But we were delayed an extra 2 hours on top of our already 3 hour layover due to weather in CA. Ugh! Well, finally, we boarded the plane only to wait another hour because there was a medical emergency on the plane. A man was having a diabetic seizure. Once the ambulance came and took him away, we were off! It was a bumpy ride from start to finish and Chris and I both thought we were not going to make it! Thank God the boys were sleeping most of the way! At one point, I was gripping Garrison and Gavin's legs so tightly I thought I was going to give them bruises. Garrison woke up one time and said, "What is Dylan doing?" I reminded him where we were and that Dylan was at home sleeping! After what seemed like forever, we arrived at LAX and Dave Broadwell picked us up, bless him! He drove in the crazy rain and wind to pick us up at an ungodly hour! We were truly blessed! We got home at about 2:30 and finally got in bed at 3! Overall, our flight home was lousy, but our time with the Ferris' and Hitas was amazing! I am so glad we had that time and would not have traded it for the world!

Ohio - Let it Snow....Let it Snow...Let it Snow

Right now, I am sitting on the couch, wrapped up in a superman blanket, staring at the snow falling. :) It is a great birthday gift from God, this snow we are getting. Every year, I ask for rain on my birthday. Today, I got snow! I'll take it!
Angela and Jaime arrived on Saturday. Unfortunately, they missed their flight! They were actually at the airport an hour early, but the lines were so long that they didn't check in before the 45 minute dead line. Chris and I laughed when we found out! And Steff had called Angela and was about to ask her, "DId you miss your flight?" But Angela answered her phone with "We are having issues. I will call you back!" Yikes! But yes, they arrived. We have seen the house they bought as well as Kim and Dave's. We went to a terrible church on Sunday, but I won't get into that. Yesterday, we went to my friend, Hannah's,house. It was neat to see her whole family. I haven't seen them in 13 years, so it was neat! The kids did not get along with her kids, and Josiah did a great job sticking up for the younger boys. Very cool.
A funny thing happened the other day. I had asked Gavin to get a chair that was by the computer so we could set the table for dinner. Gavin kept telling me that it was too heavy. I had bread in the over and had the water running for dishes when Gavin came in carrying Russell's laptop! "Mom!" he said. "It's too heavy!" How he unplugged it, I don't know. but I quickly dried my hands and put it back. Then I told him the chair, and he said, "Ohhh! That's not too heavy!" Way too funny!
We are still having a great time. It has been nice and relaxing! Friday, Chris and Russell went shooting, and that night, Chris and I saw National Treasure 2. Good movie. On Wednesday, Steff and Russell took our boys on a date and Chris and I watched Pirates 3 with the Ferris boys.We all had fun playing together. It was a great week! Christmas was fun doing a bunch of nothing. The boys opened a few gifts, and loved them.
So today, my sister, Angela, and I are going to go to lunch and celebrate our birthdays. It will be fun! Oh, and last night, I got a call at midnight, CA time, 3 here, from my sister. She sang me happy birthday! I answered because I have been keeping my phone on incase she goes in to labor! :) ahhh, the joys of phones! :)
We leave on Friday, so this will be my last blog from Ohio. I pray you all have a great new years and that the Lord blesses you abundantly! See you when we return! Love you all!

Christmas Eve in Ohio

Merry Christmas Eve! Wow! I can hardly believe it is almost Christmas! We have had a great time here in Ohio! It has been cold and rainy, cold and windy (winds up to 40 miles an hour), and just plain cold! But honestly, it is wonderful! I love dressing up in warm clothes! There is no snow in our Christmas forecast, but I am praying we will get some snow because "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas!" We haven't done a whole lot since I last wrote, but we have had a great time! We are all sleeping in at least until 8:00am, which is basically unheard of for me! Chris actually woke up today at 9:30am. Love it! On Friday, Russell sent Steff and I away for a spa day. It was a little weird. We decided to get a body wrap (because losing inches is always fun). And we also got a massage. The body wrap was 2 1/2 hours, and completely boring! We were not together during this part, and we didn't bring anything to read. Not a lot of fun! but then we both received amazing massages, and that was great! When we were done, we rushed home to a fantastic dinner made by Chris! Russell and Chris spent the day with the boys, which is no small thing! Steff and I came back refreshed and relaxed! Our husbands, however, were not so! Ahhh! Wonderful! We probably won't do it again, but it was an interesting experience!

Saturday, each family had family day. The Ferris' went to see National Treasure 2 and we stayed home and saw Meet the Robinsons. I love that movie! It has meaning, and I love it! Keep moving Forward! Sunday, we were going to go to church, but unfortunately, Steff's knee dislocated and then she passed out! We put everything on hold, but then my psycho sister wanted to go on a drive. We did, and saw some amazing houses in Oakwood, OH! We saw one that was for sale for $449,000. It truly looked like it was worth that much. It was huge! And beautiful! After our little exursion, we went to lunch at White Castle, which made my husband quite happy! It was good! We discovered White Castle has some great onion petals! Mmmm! Today, we are doing some holiday baking (see photo). Steff started making toffee, and Dylan was stirring it. He took the spoon out and realized the toffee melted the spoon! Back to the drawing board! We will use a metal spoon on the next batch! After baking, we are going to watch the movie Elf. Truly a funny movie! Gavin was even singing "I'm in a store, and I am singing!" and then he did the whole, "No it's not, yes it is" part all by himself! Funny! At white castle, we saw a sign that said "Best coffee in town" and we really wanted to say, "Yay! Good job! You did it!" You have got to see that movie! Way too funny! Tonight, we will sing carols and spend time together! And we are supposed to go see Christmas lights. We attempted to do this before, but unfortunately, Ohio-ans don't put a lot of lights on their houses. So we will spend $2 a person, and then see some.

I hope this blog finds you all enjoying your Christmas season! We love you and hope all is well! Have a Very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! I will keep you updated!

Ohio Activities

We are still in Ohio and are having a great time! We have been here for a week, and have already experienced snow! It was the first time the boys have ever seen and played in it! They loved it! You should have seen them, all dressed up in their coats and snow gear! So stinkin' cute! We have had fun going to see the different things Ohio has to offer. We went to the Airforce Museum. Truthfully, Gage and Gavin did not really enjoy that, but Garrison did. He sayed he has "always been into airplanes"! We went to the Discovery Museum in Dayton, and all of the boys really enjoyed that! They had so much to do and see there! It was great, too, because the 3rd Tuesday of every month is free! Yay! We ate at Steak N Shake, a place of memories for Chris. Honestly, this has been a great vacation so far! We are having fun sleeping in until 8! It actually gets light at 8! Crazy! It has been wonderful seeing the Ferris family! Last night, we watched White Christmas, my favorite Christmas movie! Today, we are going to stay at home and bake Christmas goodies! Good times, good times! The Hitas will be joining us on December 29th. We are looking forward to seeing them, too!
I don't know if Ohio is the place for us to move, but Chris is looking all over. At some point, we will get a newspaper and look at the opportunities here. We are also looking in San Antonio, Texas. Who knows where God will lead, but at this point, we are open to anything, well, kind of! :)

Hello Ohio

We arrived in Ohio on Tuesday night at about 8:45 p.m. We had a slight mis-hap on the way. We missed our flight, but in the end, it turned out better that we did. Instead of rushing onto the plane and not eating breakfast, we had time to sit and eat, and time to breathe before our plane took off 4 hours later than the original time scheduled. We also had a layover in Cincinatti instead of Atlanta, which worked out. The boys were ready to be off of a plane and in Ohio. We had an hour to grab dinner really quick and then board our plane to Dayton. It was a 20 minute flight. The boys did great on both planes. They loved the ride and were absolutely perfect! They behaved quite well, and we received many compliments on their behavior!
On Wednesday, we all slept in and then we went to cut down our own Christmas tree! That was great (see photo)! We are really enjoying Ohio so far, even though it has been ony 3 days. It has been great seeing the Ferris family and we look forward exploring Ohio with them. Chris had White Castle for lunch, and it was yummy! Yesterday, we went to look at the air force museum and saw lots of interesting planes and historical items. Snow is in the forecast (expected Saturday), so we want to do stuff before it hits. Good times, good times!

A White Christmas

Welcome to the first post of the Copeland Clan Blog. Just for reference, the above picture was taken at my Mom's wedding on December 1st, 2007 (left to right: Gage, Garrison, and Gavin). Garrison was the ring bearer at Mom's wedding (hence the pillow).

We have been a busy family lately. Along with preparing for and being involved in Mom's wedding, we have been frantically getting ready for our vacation to Ohio. Why Ohio, you ask? Well, let me tell you the story. Joi's sister, brother-in-law, and boys are on an American Adventure. They are currently traveling the 50 states in a travel trailer and looking for investment opportunities on the way. They are currently (and only temporarily) setting up their homestead in Ohio so that they can get their trailer repaired. So, we bought airplane tickets and we will be staying with them for the remainder of 2007 and into the beginning of 2008. We are excited about the opportunity to have our first "White Christmas". Also, we will be introducing our kids to the snow for the first time. In addition to that, we get to spend 3 weeks with family that we dearly love. It should be exciting with lots of firsts for us. Our first trip to Ohio. Our first experience as a family in the snow. The boys' first plane trip. I am looking forward to grabbing a few White Castle burgers while I am down there...and perhaps visiting Cracker Barrel for some Chicken and Dumplings. Mmmmmm......

Anyway...we wish you all a very enchanted Christmas and a fabulous New Year.