Birthday Sisters

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Amanda and her sister, Allison, share the same birthday and they've managed to be together on that day for the last 25 years. Its quite a feat when you consider they've lived in different parts of the country for a good part of the last 12 years. It took a lot of effort, surprises, and love to keep the streak going this long. Today the streak finally comes to an end. But they'll be together in 3 days at Disney World!!! (so stop the tears ladies) Their consolation this year was that Allison was able to come visit Amanda in Arizona for 10 days a few weeks ago and they (we all) had a great time.

So here is a little birthday tribute in honor of the Toskovich girls.

Let's hope we start a new streak next year...

Papa T's Birthday Tribute

Thursday, December 25, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PAPA T!!!!!

Jumbalaya Birthday Post

Sunday, December 21, 2008

This is totally lazy blogging, but in the past 5 weeks all of our kids have had their birthdays. Lincoln had a cul-de-sac birthday party and all his friends and cousins brought over their bikes and scooters. They mostly ended up playing with Bakugons in the driveway.

Noelle had her birthday bash at Peter Piper Pizza with all the little princesses. They feasted on a delicious cupcake tower (Note to parents - midweek-afternoon is the only time to visit this place. It was totally empty).

At Henrik's birthday party he nearly ate himself drunk on cupcakes. He preferred an intimate "family only" gathering with special guest "Oma" via iChat.

Christmas Lists...

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Lincoln, Noelle, and Henrik officially whispered in Santa's ear and informed him of their deepest Christmas desires. One of Santa's helpers relayed the message to us, this is what they asked for...

Lincoln asked for a bottle of Drakkar Noir cologne (he's old school like that). It never hurts to add that little extra scent when trying to smooth the ladies on the playground (circa 1987).

Noelle asked for a day spa package complete with hot stone massage, avocado face mask, mani/pedi, and a cut and style.

Henrik asked for a Hewlett-Packard Officejet 6310 All-in-One Printer/Fax/Scanner/Copier. This kid is constantly on the move and this will surely take his multitasking to light speed.

Wednesday Night Lights

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

The Broncos played their first (and only) playoff game this Wednesday. It was a fierce matchup against the Titans (remember them? moving on...). The Broncos struck first with a great run by Jake Whittaker and took a 6-0 halftime lead. However, on the first play of the second half the Titans (coached by Denzel) scored on great run by Eddie George to tie it at 6-6. The Titans scored again on their next possession and made it 13-6. The Broncos did not relent. Jake had another great run which contained about 19 cutbacks. The PAT was no good and the Broncos still trailed 13-12. The Titans running game proved to be too strong, as they put together drive which milked most of the clock. They scored another touchdown with under a minute to go and put the game away with a 2-point conversion - 21-12.

It was a great season and all the boys had a lot of fun and showed much improvement every game. Just wait 'till next season.

Lincoln established himself as a solid full-back. This video is one example of his hard-nosed running up the middle. (its hard to see, but Lincoln makes about 4 cuts with his swift feet)

ROADTRIP!!!!

Monday, November 17, 2008

Alright, so a couple weeks ago I suddenly and unexpectedly became "employment-challenged". After securing a job at a firm here in Mesa (thanks, Josh) I realized that we'd have almost a week before I was due to start. So Amanda and I decided Friday night that we should go on a road trip - ETD Saturday morning. We (read - Amanda) threw our van together as quick as possible and we hit the open road.*

So the itinerary went like this: We actually ended up leaving Mesa around 1pm (good road trips rarely begin on time) and headed up through Las Vegas to St.George, Utah. There we stopped and had dinner with Cousins Whitney and McKenzie and their families. Lincoln was baptized into the world of XBox360 - which is now the focus of every prayer he gives, hoping he receives one for his birthday.

We left St. George around 10:30pm and rolled in to Provo around 2:30am. Bryan and Roxanne let us shack up for the night and made us a great lunch - pot roast! Sunday afternoon we decided to get a little church in so we visited the Mt. Timpanogos Temple - the place where our marital bliss began over 8 years ago (3 eternities for Amanda).

Then we were off to visit our good friends Rick and Laurie Ferguson in Sandy. Our kids had a blast playing drums, having dance parties, throwing snow balls, and riding their pint-sized ATV - Mitch managed to hit two cars and a house while behind the wheels (rumor has it he blew .12 BAC). I got to spend the day with Rick "working" in Midway - one of the most awesomest places in Utah.

Monday night we went down the road and had dinner with Karen & Mike Hill and Matt & Aimee Ferre - and their kids. Karen & Mike's home has always been one of my favorites - such a great feeling everytime we visit. Later Monday night we went back to Provo to stay again with "Broxanne".

Early Tuesday we headed down to St.George to visit Whitney and the kids again. We went to a very cool park that had some sweet stuff for the kids. Harper taught Lincoln how to skateboard and the kids had another bodacious dance party.

Wednesday we headed out for our last leg of the trip. We made two stops in Henderson, NV to visit Tiffney Anderson (one of Amanda's college friends) and Jaime Bringhurst (one of Aaron's college friends). It was great catching up with them and watching our kids have a blast together - yet another impromptu dance party broke out at Jaime's house (noticing a trend here?). Noah has a wicked "pop and lock" that is bound to be legendary some day.

Thats 1500 miles in 5 days. Although we weren't able to document everything we did with pictures we had a great time visiting everyone along the way. We can honestly say that each stop was not nearly as long as we would have liked it to have been (though our hosts may think otherwise). If any of our friends or family are every passing through Arizona you are more than welcome to come visit.

*This road trip was sponsored by Mt. Dew, Finding Nemo, Pringles, Red Vines, Pepsi, Kung-Fu Panda, 5-Hour Energy, the Letter "T", and the Number "7".

Uber-Late Halloween Post

Yeah, its almost Thanksgiving and we're just now posting about Halloween. Sue me. Lincoln went as Optimus Prime and Noelle went as a Mouse. After deliberating between Snow Princess, Barbie Island Princess, and Cheerleader, Noelle decided on a Mouse. I was reminded to write this post as I was eating some of the candy they garnished from Trick-Or-Treating. Their box of candy is still half full. The kids had a great time at the school Halloween parties, the ward Truck-Or-Treat, and running around our neighborhood. I'm glad Halloween now consists of a full week's worth of festivities. What a great holiday.

Seriously, who gives out bags of Doritos for Halloween?

De-Mulleterization

All of our kids have started out life with unusual hair growth. Lincoln had no hair for a year. Noelle had no hair for 15 months and then when it came in it came in as a she-mullet. Henrik was starting life on the mullet path as well. So we decided to '86 the mullet. Check it out.
Our tool of choice is the is the Conair Professional Clipper 2000 with 7 adjustments and ear trimmers. See how much happier and smarter Henrik looks with the new mulletless cranium?
*Any people offended by this post need to look in a mirror, backwards, with another handheld mirror, then trim away.

Pazookies

Friday, November 7, 2008

When Kevin came to visit last week we went to dinner at Oregano's - one of our favorite places to eat, and eat some more. For dessert - Pazookies. The video says it all.

Baby Steps - These are the Things Daddies Miss While at Work

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

And, no, Henrik can't do anything without yelling.

Fashion Week - Lincoln Style!!!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

One of the many things we love obout Lincoln is his no-holds-barred approach to fashion. We've been letting him pick out his own outfits for a few years now - making him wear the clothes that "we" thought were "appropriate" wasn't a battle we wanted to fight. If there is an "avatar" that Lincoln has created for himself it is definitely the socks. You couldn't get this kid to wear plain white socks if you promised him daily trips to the dollar store.

So in honor of Lincoln's fashion creativity we're posting pictures of his outfits for the week.

Church socks only for Sunday? Nope. He wears them to school on Monday and he pulls them up to his knees. I particularly like the look of the white shoes with black socks. Lincoln is also a big fan of sport shorts.
On Tuesday he was feeling the "light blue" vibe. You might not be able to tell from the picture, but his shirt has a fish on it and his socks have sharks. He is very "theme" oriented. I caught him off guard while his socks started to "quit" on him - but he pulled them right back up after the photo. Wednesday's ensembles is one of my favorites to date. Lets go from top to bottom. Superman sunglasses to protect the eyes when he's at recess, and to hide the eyes when checking out the chicas. Brown Quiksilver shirt. Camo cargo shorts. And just when you thought he was going with the brown theme for the day - BAM!- aqua colored pirate skull&crossbone socks! And yes, he's in a white shoe phase - no white after Labor Day be damned!

Thursday's special guest - Noelle! We call her outfit "weather-challenged". Tank top because it might get warm later, but Disney Ice-Princess winter boots because its still chilly in the morning. And the black tights with small white polka dots ties it all together. Thursday was "new shoe" day for Lincoln. Amanda took him to Target to look at shoes - he was wearning size 11.5 and it turns out he wears a size 12.5. So she got him a snazzy pair of new Nike sport shoes - grey with orange trim. White socks with orange and blue trim. Grey sport shorts with red trim. White volcom shirt. We scrambled this morning to finish his homework and didn't have time to comb his hair. Blue backpack that hangs down to his socks.

And we end with a bang! Up top we have a greenish-brown "HULK" t-shirt. He was feeling sporty, again, and rocked the orange sport shorts (which also double as his flag football uniform). Round out the week of wild socks - camouflage. With the Nikes to complete the look. This one actually looks like thought went into it. Its quite the mix of orange and camouflage colors.

And there you go - a weeks worth of outfits brought to you from a free-thinking 5-year-old. Hope you had as much fun as we did.

Encore presentation - I just couldn't pass this outfit up. This outfit is part surfer, old man, church, and athletic. Beautiful.

(In no way is this post meant to poke fun at Lincoln - there are a lot of lessons that can be learned from his attitude about what he wears - wear clothes that you feel comfortable in and wear them because you like it - not to meet certain social standards or to please others. Be yourself!)

The Weekend...

Monday, October 20, 2008

On Friday night we had Lincoln's soccer game (another great game). AYSO was participating in "Silent Sideline" (aka - the most annoying way to attend any sporting event). No yelling, cheering, instructing, etc. Onlookers could only use "non-verbal communication" during the game - can anyone think of a NVC that isn't simply "clapping"? I only had one slip-up but managed to escape prosecution from the SS Police.

After the soccer game Lincoln and I went to the Mt.View/Basha football game. For once I swallowed my RMHS "Pride" (get it? moving on....) and supported the Toros del Mt. View. One of my young-men is the starting QB for Mt. View. Great game that went down to the wire.

Saturday morning we had Lincoln's flag football game in which the Broncos posted a 20-8 victory over the Cowboys. These games are seriously a blast to go to - the kids have so much fun, win or lose.

Saturday night was our ward's informal "Daddy/Daughter" night. A group of us decided to take our daughters out for a special night on the town for dinner and dancing - at Wendy's. The cuisine was outstanding and the company was even better. Noelle is a blast to be around (when she's not being attacked by her brothers). We then had an evening of tasty S'mores in our backyard firepit. What is it about marshmellows that just scream "Set Me On Fire!!!" to anyone under the age of 12?

Satuday "late-night" Amanda and I managed to escape to the theater to see "Eagle Eye". I think Amanda has a crush on Shia Lebeouf (aka Even Stevens or Stanley Yelnats). Pretty good movie with a lot of action (personally, I could do without the liberal slant that seems to infect every movie coming out of Hollywood these days).

Sunday was a wonderfully rest-filled day - between Henrik waking up too-early, the hour-long fight to get our kids ready for Church, wrestling with our children to keep them quiet during Church, preparing and giving Sunday School lessons, hometeaching, etc. etc. (one of those etc. is me following my fantasy football team online) - Sunday seems to be more exhausting than Saturday. When does the "rest" get here?

A Great Day for Amanda....

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Are You Ready for Some (Flag) Football?!

Monday, September 29, 2008

Saturday morning Lincoln had his first flag football game. The Broncos took on the 49ers in an epic struggle of will and courage. The lead changed hands several times, even twice in the last minute. With the Broncos ahead 22-18 with 30 seconds left the 49ers ran the entire length of the field to take the lead 24-22 (PAT no good). But the Broncos did not concede defeat. On the final play of the game, with 6 seconcds left and in the shadow of the 49ers end zone, Jake Whittaker took the handoff and sprinted for the game winning touchdown. All the boys played great and had a lot of fun.

Lincoln caught a pass (one of only two completions the entire game - 5-6 year old FF is a "run heavy" league) and scored a two-point conversion from 10 yards out. The coach told Lincoln to take the handoff and run to his daddy - and Lincoln did just that. Just before going out of bounds (to his daddy) Lincoln followed Granny's pointing finger to the end zone.

South of the Border, Down Mexico Way

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

When your boss says he's planning a deep sea fishing trip to Mexico and he'd like for you to come - you go. So I went. A group of us headed down to the southern tip of Baja California for three incredible days of deep sea fishing. We fished out of the sleepy little fishing village of Buena Vista, about an hours drive northeast of Cabo San Lucas. We stayed at Rancho Buena Vista - a small resort built in the '50s (probably hasn't changed much since) which was an isolated getaway for Hollywood celebs. Being that it was in between vacationing seasons, we were the only guests at the resort - we had the place all to ourselves. On to the pictures...

Here is the view from the front porch of our casita. When a resort has more hammocks than phones and TVs, its a good sign.

Every morning all the fishing boats would head out to the "squid spot" to catch a few squid, which would be used for bait. Here are pictures of the sunrise over the Sea of Cortez, our Captain (Gilberto) gaffing a squid, and Gordon Mohr (el Hefe) reeling in a squid.

Here are the spoils of the first day of fishing - two 65lb yellowfin tuna and two mahi mahi. What happened to the tuna on the right you ask? After hooking the tuna I fought it for over 30 minutes. Just as it became visible from the boat a sea lion (yes, a sea lion, probably about 400lbs easy) attacked the tuna and started tearing it apart. The Captain and 1st Mate (Jose) threw gaffs at the sea lion to chase it away - but it kept attacking the tuna all the way to the back dock of the boat. After taking a good chunk of the tuna it finally swam away.

Here is a picture of Michael Wright bringing in a tuna on day two. About 30 seconds after taking this picture Michael collapsed of exhaustion after boating the fish. I think this was the last time he touched a pole on the trip.

The second day ended up being a great day for fishing. Our boat caught two more tuna and about 12 mahi mahi. Here is a picture of the tuna I caught that didn't get attacked by the sea lion. Gordon had been fishing for about 30 minutes with no bite. He asked if I wanted to give it a shot so I grabbed the pole. About 15 seconds later I hooked the tuna. Beginners luck.

On the last day we didn't have any luck catching tuna so we decided to troll for mahi mahi. After trolling for about an hour we caught 8 mahi mahi in the span of 5 mintues - the boat was chaotic. Just when Jose was telling us there weren't any more fish (no mas) in the area Jim (Gordon's son-in-law) spotted something dark just off the back of the boat. Gilberto put a minnow on a hook and cast it in - almost immediately hooking a sail fish. Being that I was the rookie on the boat the crew let me do most of the work reeling. The sailfish was about 7 feet long and 110lbs and fought like crazy. (better pic coming). Catching the sailfish ended up being a great way to top off the trip.

Lincoln "Pele" Coleman

Friday, September 12, 2008

Friday night was Lincoln's first organized sporting event. His AYSO soccer team, "The Tigers" took the field against "The Hampsters" (I forgot their name) for a spirited soccer match. The Tigers walked off the field with a 1-0 record (although there was no official score). In case you missed SportsCenter - here is a highlight clip of Lincoln breaking away from the pack to score his first career goal.

Ladies and Gentlemen - Your 2008 Taco Bell Dance Squad!!!

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Last night while we were partaking of the goodness which is Taco Bell (I had the always delicious #6 - two Beef Chalupas Baja Style) Noelle got that special feeling and couldn't resist busting out into full dance mode. She was inspired by "On an Escapade" (Janet Jackson). (If you listen close, you can here Lincoln adding in beats of his own). This girl has no reservations about displaying her devastatingly precise and humorous dance moves. Check 'em out...

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

Monday, August 25, 2008

Okay, I can't just put up the 90210 and The OC clips without paying homage to my all-time favorite TV series - Cheers. I still TiVo Cheers episodes and seldom do I come accross an episode I haven't seen. Here's some Season 1 highlights of Ernie "Coach" Pantusso.


Some interesting facts about "Cheers":

In its first season Cheers was ranked 77th out of 77 shows and was nearly cancelled.
It was written and produced by Les and Glen Charles - mormon brothers born and raised in Henderson, NV.
Ted Danson earned $450,000 for the final season.
Six different cast members have won Emmy's for their roles on Cheers.
The first name of George Wendt's character is actually Hillary - Norm is his middle name.

Guilty Pleasures - Teen Shows

Well, I graduated high school in '93 with Dylan McKay, Brandon & Brenda Walsh, Steve Sanders, Donna Martin, David Silver, Kelly Taylor, and Andrea Zuckerman. Since then I've always been a sucker for a teen-based movie or TV show. I'm not sure if this was an accidental "Secret" desire that came to pass, but I can't say I'm disappointed that 90210 is making a comeback. Every time a new teen soap opera comes out I get my hopes up that it'll be as life-altering as the original 90210, but they usually end up being half-cracked wannabees or they end after only 3 seasons (I'm looking at you "The OC").

So, in honor of the OG 90210, I'm posting the show's all time greatest moment.


Also, this special moment from the OC is too good not to post.

Walkin' on the Streets of DC....

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Although we live in AZ now a big part of our hearts still remains on the East Coast. Amanda and the kids spent the whole month of July visiting her family and I joined them for the last week. While I was extremely bored at home (9 visits to the movie theater, 5 DBack games, and 5 rounds of golf notwithstanding) the rest of the family had a blast in DC and New Jersey.

Below is just a sampling of all the fun we had during our last week there.

Bryan and Roxanne got married at the Washington, DC Temple the morning I arrived. The day was partly cloudy with a nice cool breeze (j/k - DC in the summertime is no picnic - 186% humidity is not comfortable.) The DC Temple is awesome - for those of you who aren't LDS I highly suggest you get baptized just so you can attend weddings there. I have two friends who'd like to speak with you if you're interested ;)

We then roadtripped up to Point Pleasant Beach, NJ for a BBQ/Openhouse with the entire Toskovich clan at Oma's Beach House. The weather didn't exactly cooperate, but it was great seeing everyone. Henrik got to meet his great-grandmother - Stadababa. I'm not sure I feel comfortable with someone with a 'stache like CJ's being that close to my kid.

We spent plenty of time just hanging out at the beach. The rest of the week the weather was great. Point Pleasant is a little slice of heaven. I know what those of you who haven't been to the Jersey Shore are thinking - New Jersey and Heaven do not belong in the same sentence. I'm here to tell you they do - and in a big way. You've got the beach, the boardwalk, amusement rides, funnel cakes, zeppolies (google it and eat), swimming pool, Jersey Mikes, Hoffman's Ice Cream, Breakfast by the Shore, etc. (wow, did I mention enough food?) This is by far one of my favorite places on earth. And for some reason Lincoln and Noelle got addicted to fake tattoos while we were there. Amanda got addicted to vampire novels.

Yes, I'm bringing back the over-the-eyeglasses-sunglasses. So convenient and fashionable its astounding. Don't tell me they were never "in", that is just plain foolishness.

Can you say beach diva?

Henrik feasted on a steady diet of sand while at the beach.

Look, Lincoln found a crab and Noelle found an implant (er, whoops, I mean jellyfish).

The ladies were nice enough to let the guys breakaway for a day for a great guy-0-rama. It started of with me and Tyler making a pilgramage to Bethpage, New York - sight of the 2002 and 2009 U.S. Open and the countries best municipal golf facility. We didn't get to play the "black" course but were still treated to some great golf. Bethpage has five (5) 18-hole golf courses - we played the "blue" course which was plenty tough for us. We even got paired up with two locals who were a lot of fun to play with. Tyler and I made the wise decision to walk the course with pull-carts. After a 5 1/2 round we redefined the word "rotch".

After golf we met up with Kevin, Matt, Papa T and Lincoln at Yankee stadium. Although I am not a Yankee fan, there is something magical about Yankee Stadium - it will be sad to see it torn down after the end of the season. You've got to respect a place that can draw 55,000+ on a Tuesday night. Yankee Dogs, A-Rod's homerun, the Yankee "Roll Call", a drunk guy falling onto the backstop net = great night of baseball (and the Oriole's won).

This is what its all about, people.

Back in DC Amanda and I went to a Nationals game at Nationals Park. A great stadium all around, a big improvement over the old RFK. Although its a very modern venue (HD scoreboard is awesome) it has a lot of classic baseball cues. It was a neat experience visiting Yankee Stadium (which is in its last year of operation) and Nationals Park (brand new) in the same week.

And so the summer vacation comes to an end. This is what a month worth of "vacationing" looks like as it travels back to AZ...