Be afraid, be very afraid!

Jaydn and his friend Carson dressed up like superheros today. Can you tell? They really spooked me!

Dad's and Matt's Birthday

On Sunday we went to my parents' to celebrate my dad's and my brother Matt's birthday. Here they created a big smoke cloud blowing out candles together.
I was happy to see my grandmother at the dinner.
Jaydn loved holding his cousin, Mia. You can tell he is great with babies!

I love my family.

Lazy Floatin' on the Snake

Today we went rafting down the Hoback portion of the Snake River! It was wonderful. The weather was perfect, the water was perfect, everything was just great.

Jaydn has never gone before, but he loved it. We went with friends from our ward, the Taylors and Permanns. Here are pictures, although I forgot AGAIN to take any pictures of myself!

Welcome!

Hello! If you haven't visited us before, we are the Coletti's--Sean, Jessi and Jaydn. We live in Ammon, Idaho. I am an attorney in Idaho Falls, my wife teaches piano, gardens, and does just about everything else, and Jaydn is the best boy you could ever wish for.

We have been around the block a few times. After we got married back in 1999, we lived in Rexburg as we finished our Associate Degrees. Then we moved to Provo, Utah, where I enrolled in Brigham Young University. It was during that first year in Provo that we found out that Jessi was pregnant with Jaydn. I also enlisted in the Army National Guard during that time, and I served in the Guard for six years.

Our greatest blessing, Jaydn, was born in 2000. In 2001 I worked full time for the Army National Guard as a Korean linguist. In 2002, we moved our family to East Hartford, Connecticut, where I enrolled in the University of Connecticut School of Law. We lived in and loved Connecticut and the East Coast for three years.

In 2005 I graduated and we moved to Twin Falls, Idaho, where I took a one year position with District Judge John C. Hohnhorst. In 2006 we moved to exotic American Samoa, a small island chain in the South Pacific. I worked as a law clerk at the High Court of American Samoa for one year. It was an amazing experience living there, and we have many photographs of that experience on this blog. We miss it greatly.

In 2007 we moved back to Idaho Falls, where my parents and Jessi's parents live. I started work at a local law firm, Hopkins Roden Crockett Hansen & Hoopes. We finally became homeowners in December of 2007! In November of 2008, Jaydn was baptized! Now, it is August 2009, and we love our life together. We are excited and hopeful that, someday, we will be able to have another child, or adopt a child. One of my desires is to see Jessi be able to be a mother to another child, and Jaydn be a big brother. We hope that blessing will come. But, if it doesn't, we know we will still be happy together.

Sorry for the rambling, but I wanted to introduce ourselves. Here are some pictures of recent events in our lives:

My sister Melissa's graduation:
Me in all my hairiness as Zebulun in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat:

Jaydn soccer domination:

Family pictures (the bearded face is now gone):

Me with my sibs (Matt, Eric, Me, Mel):

Entire family (L to R: Eric, Cindy (my mom), Me, Jessi, Logan, Melissa, Mia, Jaydn, Jeff (my dad), Rachael, and Matt):

Cheesy!

Before the "KLCE 97 Second Chance Prom":

Jessi's sister Angela's wedding (L to R: Me, Jaydn, Chandler, Jessi, Sam, Riley, Les (Jessi's dad), William, Angela, Jey, Launa (Jessi's mom), Allie, Hannah, Daniel, and Jared):

Mother's Day 2009, with my grandmother:

So thanks for visiting, and I hope you come back frequently!

Rainbow

My camera didn't really like this, but a few Saturdays ago I (barely) caught a really cool rainbow. The rainbow was a perfect circle around the sun. See if you can make it out.

It's hard to take direct pictures of the sun!

A Look at My Bookshelf: The American Patriot's Almanac

Probably the most famous "American" thing that ever happened on my birthday (March 19) was the first day of the invasion of Iraq (2003), although Uncle Tom's Cabin was also published on my birthday in 1852.

On my wedding anniversary (May 7), Germany surrendered to the Allied forces in France, bringing an end to World War II in Europe (1945). George Washington was traveling from Mount Vernon to Philadelphia to attend the Second Continental Congress in 1775.

Today, April 18, brought the most famous ride in American history. Paul Revere made his ride from Boston to Lexington, Massachusetts on this day in 1775. April 18 is also the anniversary of the Great San Francisco Earthquake, which killed 3,000 people.

Each page of The American Patriot’s Almanac, by William J. Bennett and John T.E. Cribb corresponds to a day on the calendar, and contains fascinating and wonderful stories from our nation’s past. Now, more than ever, both we and our children must hear the fabled stories of America. I thoroughly enjoyed reading, and more clearly understanding, our nation’s history in a day-by-day format. I think you will, too, and that is why I gave the book five out of five stars.

Jessi Makes News

Have I Done Any Good in the World Today?

California Adventure Park

Our last day of park stomping was at California Adventure Park, right next to Disneyland.

Jaydn loved the whitewater raft ride.

No, it's not the REAL Wall-E.

Goofy couldn't get over Jaydn's sticker on his forehead.

Our favorite ride was called "Soarin' Over California." It was unreal!

Our least favorite part of CA Park was the "High School Musical 3" dancers. Lame!

Bumper cars!

After hitting some roller coasters, we went to the Brother Bear playground. My feet were about ready to fall off!

And then, the long drive home. Sheesh. Next time we're flying!

Disneyland

Disneyland! There is no more magical place. Even for old kids like me, it still is a great place.
We first went into the Tiki Tiki room, which I remembered as being really cool. It was ten times better than what I remembered it to be. The whole room comes to life!

Next we went on the safari boat trip. The best part of that was the guide, who basically spoke in "joke."

The Swiss Family Robinson treehouse was replaced by a Tarzan treehouse. A big disappointment!
Pirates of the Carribean scared the socks off of Jaydn, so we stayed away from dark, scary rides after that (although I did go on Indiana Jones by myself. That was fun!)

Here we are on the very tame boat ride:

And (I don't really have a second chin) Jaydn and I drove the cars. The most outdated ride at Disneyland, for sure.
Jaydn wore a sticker on his forehead--the whole week. He told us that if we ever got separated, we could tell where Jaydn was because of the sticker on his forehead! What a great idea!

Jessi and Jaydn did the submarine ride, which is totally redone in the theme of Finding Nemo. They said it was awesome. That's good, because I remember that when I was young it wasn't that cool.

The highlight of the day was that Jaydn was picked to go through Jedi training! And to think that they also chose the girl with the Mickey Mouse ears!?

Jaydn was so excited.
Good thing he learned these light saber moves. What a good padowan.

But then the unexpected...

How'd you like to put on this guy's makeup every day for the Jedi show? What a total pain! I hope he gets paid well. He actually did a good job of acting and moving like Darth Maul.

It's a good thing Jaydn fought him, he was too scary for me!

This girl seemed a little outmatched for the Vader.

So Vader, Maul and the storm troopers were totally wimpy! They got afraid of a bunch of kids and a few pretend Jedis, and left.

Way to go young padowans!

Jaydn's favorite ride was the Buzz Lightyear ride. This combined a ride with laser tag technology. It was really fun!

What a great day!