Saying Goodbye

A week ago a dear friend of mine passed away. She was an amazing person and I am so blessed to have had her as my friend.
Colleen and I became good friends when we were single and in the Student Branch (church) in Lewiston, ID. She was one of a group of us girls who all got married within the same year and then we all had our first babies together. We were a tight knit group and had so much fun! Staying up late chatting while our husbands were playing Halo. Watching our little ones take their first steps and giving each other advice on parenting/marriage. I always valued her wisdom. She always had the right answers. It won't be the same going back to Idaho knowing Colleen won't be there.
She was taken too soon but I know I will see her again... You are loved and missed Colleen!!


Colleen Marie (Hansen) Weigand passed away Jan. 5, 2012.
Colleen was born Jan. 30, 1974, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, to Mulloy and Jeanne (Thurgood) Hansen.
Colleen lived in Edmonton until the age of 2, when the family moved to Lethbridge, Alberta. At the age of 4, she moved with her parents and siblings to Bellevue, Wash., where she attended Bennett Elementary School, Highland Middle School and graduated from Interlake High School in 1992. From there she moved to Provo, Utah, and attended Brigham Young University for two years. She was called to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Knoxville, Tenn., mission in 1997 and returned to BYU in 1999. In 2001 she moved to Lewiston, where she met her best friend and future husband, Mark Weigand.
Colleen and Mark were married on July 13, 2002. She was proud to be the first child in her family to graduate college when she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree as an Acting major from BYU on Aug. 17, 2006. Her proudest achievements, however, came in 2003, 2005 and 2006 when her children, Trinity, Hunter and Logan, were born. They continue to be her greatest joy.
Colleen was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While at BYU, pursuing her Acting degree, she starred in and produced "The Great Divorce" (an adaptation of the book by C.S. Lewis) and starred in "An Ideal Husband."
She is survived by her husband, Mark Weigand; her children, Trinity Marie (8), Hunter Gerald (6) and Logan Mulloy (5); her parents, Mulloy Grigor and Jeanne (Thurgood) Hansen; her siblings, Philip (Cherri) Hansen, Jacobi (Doug) Bird, David (Meriann) Hansen, Amy (Michael) Larson, Julia (Jed) Reynolds, James Hansen, and Kimberly (Rich) Weldon; her grandmother, Evalyne Rose (Grigor) Hansen; 20 nieces and nephews; one great-nephew; and countless cousins and friends.
She was preceded in death by her grandparents, Verdon O. and Ada L. (Scott) Thurgood, and Aaron W. Hansen.
A public viewing will be at 11 a.m. today at the LDS Chapel on 16th and Ripon in Lewiston, followed by funeral services at noon.

Lauren is in 2nd grade!

I dropped Lauren off this morning at her new school!
We have a fabulous friend Kay who is teaching at this great charter school this year and she pulled some strings and got Lauren in!
We are excited because the school is an "A" school, she will get recess and PE daily, she has 2 awesome teachers Mrs. Piloto and Mrs. Torres. Plus, I know 3 people who are working there so she will be watched out for. What a huge comfort that is.
I'm so excited to see what this new year will bring for our smart little girl!

Another school year done!

I wanted to post side by side pictures of Lauren from this year of the first and last days of school. She looks so much older to me! I'm amazed at how well she did this year and how much she has learned. She earned straight A's the last 3 quarters of school and was on the honor roll every quarter. Way to go Bubs!!

That’s our girl!

Today Lauren was awarded for the second time for the Honor Roll! The first quarter she made the “A” Honor Roll which is an A average. This time she impressed us even more and made the Principal’s Honor Roll which is straight A’s!! This is all something new to Cory and I since we were average to below average students in our formative years. We are so proud of our little girl! Yay Lauren!!!

Her teacher Mrs. Sanchez

She said “Thanks for letting me have her in my class. She is an absolute jewel and is going to do big things in her life!”

Christmas 2010

I’m being a total slacker this year and not sending out cards or newsletters. This will have to do!

We began the year in Lewiston, ID. The girls and I were there staying with my parents while Cory was rotating at various residency sights throughout the country for the school year. Lauren was in Kindergarten so we stayed put while Cory did all of the travelling. Then in June we moved to Florida! We had a good summer going to the beach and enjoying the sun. The humidity took some getting used to but Cory and I both agree that even though Phoenix had a “dry” heat it was still more unbearable in the summer than this summer in Miami was. We could get in the car and actually touch the steering wheel and not have the belt buckles scorch our skin! We have enjoyed visiting the unique areas that this part of the country provides. We have gone to the Florida Everglades several times, We drove down through the Florida Keys while Cory’s mom was in town and took a glass bottom boat tour out of Key Largo and saw the coral reefs up close. And of course we have been to several beaches! What is nice is all of these places are within a half an hour of where we live.

Kristen turned 3 in August and loves having her alone time with Mommy during the day. She plays perfectly by herself and is happy to just be home and have all of the toys to herself! She has had her potty training ups and downs but as of right now she is trained…we’ll see next week though, things change fast with our little Jekyll and Hyde. She so sweet one moment and a total bum the next. Lauren is usually the unlucky recipient of Kristen’s rage!

Lauren started first grade in August and is doing fabulously. She was the only one in her class to receive an award for the Advanced Reading program. Then a couple of weeks later she received an award for being on the Honor Roll! Cory and I laugh because neither of us were on the honor roll in school. She is growing in to quite the tall, beautiful girl.

Cory is working hard being a first year Podiatry resident. In June he graduated and can officially be called Doctor! We are so proud of him!

I am trying to keep things afloat at home. I have a little house cleaning job I do a couple of days a week for a little extra money. It’s nice because I get to bring Kristen along and I do it while Lauren is at school. It works out perfectly. The downside is it leaves very little motivation to clean our own place! I was called as the 2nd counselor in the Primary Presidency the second Sunday we went to church here! The other ladies in the Presidency said they had been praying for someone to come along for quite a while and nobody seemed right. But when I came in to the ward they said “That’s her!!”. What a wonderful welcome !

We miss all of our family and friends but we have made some great new friends here and are enjoying our new church family! Here are some pictures from the last year-

On the glass bottom boat ride, everyone striking a pose!

Miami Beach

Catching Florida Blue crabs in a parking lot

The first day of school in uniform!

Fun with Nana at the gator farm

Exploring the Everglades (see the alligator??)

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2010!

Kristen really does speak

This is for the majority of you out there who don't believe that Kristen speaks :)
She's so painfully shy most of the time bu around me just lets it all out. She was just jabbering away talking about a dream she had this morning so I grabbed the camera and made her repeat it. She's a little more shy in this video than she was prior to me taping her.

Chatty Kristen from Jodi Brown on Vimeo.

Big Fat Slacker!

Obviously I haven't posted for a long time! We are moved and mostly settled in in Miami. I haven't wanted to take the time to blog and it just seems overwhelming to think of with all of the events from the last few months! I have been posting a lot of pictures on my Facebook page and that will just have to suffice till I can make myself sit down and type a few new chapters in our "book" :)