Livin' it up in Utah

Cal's first Moon Lake

2010-08-05T20:43:00.000-07:00

It was a hard decision to go to Moon Lake this year I have to admit. Jas was super sweet about it and let me know if I opted out it would be ok. I am so glad I went. Cal had a great time!

Moon Lake has been a familly reunion tradition in Jason's family for decades. This years turn out was not quite the usual for high numbers. I can't imagine what it would be like with everyone there. In the group we had there were easily a dozen kids mostly Cal's age give or take a year or two. Although he was as tall as all of them.

We played with his Aunts and Uncles at camp and loved the hammock so much. Not too far down the road was the beach. It was so beautiful. Cal had no problem walking right into the water and it was freezing!!! He didn't care. Thank goodness someone was always in the water to keep him from taking a walk deeper and deeper cause he would if you let him just go. On land he explored the canoes and had a blast chucking globs of mud at others. Our cousins were so prepared for fun activities one of them was the rock painting. Absolutely GENIUS! And then to top it off they brought wooden snakes to paint too! Cal had a great GREAT time with the paint and rocks. And he did awesome concentrating so hard. I painted the entire rock orange demonstrating the painting technique. Then I gave him the reins and he did fabulous! We had such an awesome time. Thank you to Grandpa Marv who made sure we were well taken care of. Next year will be even better!

Forgot to put these photos with the last blog

2010-06-18T21:47:00.001-07:00

Awesome Treehouse Museum

2010-06-18T21:43:00.000-07:00

We went to visit our friends at played at the Treehouse Museum. So AWESOME! Cal could have spent the entire visit in the musical room or at the Lego table. So much to see and do there. And then around the corner to the Farr Icecream Parlor we went. What a fantastic afternoon and then a cool evening outside on the lawn. Look what Cal wants Daddy! Someday we will have to get him a similar bike. He loved it. For a moment he tried sitting on the front wheel and holding onto the handlebars. He tried so many different ways but just couldn't figure out how to make it go. So cute!

Sharing Breakfast with the furniture!

2010-06-18T21:37:00.000-07:00

Cal has become independent when it comes to his meals. He must have the spoon or else....!!!! BIG MISTAKE - - I let him go at it with a mostly empty yogurt while being mobile. Oh he was so happy but I am still finding crunchy spots on the carpet or orange smears on my freshly painted walls. It was so cute at the time though.

Spitting Fun!

2010-06-12T22:01:00.001-07:00

Every kid has to go through this stage I guess. Oh boy! Gotta love the spitting.

End to a Rainy Day

2010-06-12T21:55:00.001-07:00

Today we stayed inside due to the rain and 48 degree temp. We had a good time watching Cal's new "Outdoor Elmo's World." As you can see in the pictures Cal was GLUED to the TV. I have to say that is the last Elmo's World I buy. We have got to get him into something else. Mommy is going nutty I can sing every song and finish phrases from it. So I bought "Shark Tales" for tonight. He liked what he saw. He went to bed shortly after. Cute kid!

Jelly Fish Fun!

2010-06-10T20:56:00.001-07:00

This was so cool! They had a light that changed colors so the jellyfish did too. So fun!

Summer Fun Has Begun!

2010-06-10T20:32:00.000-07:00

Today we met our friends Sarah (holding Cal) and her boys Korbin, Milo, and Emmett at the aquarium. We had a great time getting out of the house. It was so fun to watch Cal participate in this aquarium trip compared to our Vegas one. He wasn't walking two weeks ago when we were there. What a difference it has made to have him upright! He had a blast. He couldn't quite keep up with the other kids but he still had a good time. Here he is watching the penguins. I have to say that was super fun. They are quite the little "show-offs." The exhibits were surprisingly nice. The building looks quite shabby on the outside. These pictures are loading in different order than I thought so you can just piece these together yourself. Look at the cute boys! There is one more but he is almost two months old and being held at the moment. Cal just thinks the world of them, me too. When I go out with them passersby comment how cute my boys are. I just smile and say "thanks." Really they could be brothers they do look pretty similar. Well I am going to load the next three pics. Cal loved the giant frog it was hard to get him to pull away to the next exhibit. He LOVES to climb! They had a small brooke he was peeking through the fence at for a while. Then there is a picture of him outside yesterday with the ball. He knows the word "ball" very well now. And his favorite words lately are "ow" and "Don't!" (but no t on end of don't) Oh yeah, before I forget. His most favorite exhibit was the shallow pool where we were able to lean over and touch the Sting Ray's. We hung out there for at least fifteen minutes. I have never seen a Sting Ray come to the surface and wave before. These ones were coming up half out of the water with their eyes and waving right by the kids. They were like trained Sea World performers. It was so fun! Cal didn't touch them though. He would be splashing in the water (if I hadn't been there he would have jumped right in!) and then the Sting Ray would come by and he would pull back and watch it go by. This kid loves the water. There is a sprinkler on our blow up pool and he sticks his face in it. He LOVES the water! Sounds like its time for swimming lessons for the both of us. Oh boy! Everyone knows how fond I am of that idea.

Tribute to my husband

2010-06-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

I just have to get this out. As I was just emailing Jas I had a lot of gratitude bubble up. So here is my outlet. Today Calvin had his first experience with his blow up pool and sprinkler in the yard. The expressions on his face, squeals of delight, and looks of confusion from the sputtering sprinkler were so priceless. He had Aspen and I laughing so hard at times it was hard to breath. I have the blessing of waking up each day, walking into Cal's room and pulling him into my arms to say good morning. As summer has come along my thought early each morning is "what will today bring?" "What will we do for your first time ever today?" And it's not that we plan to do "firsts" every day. We happen to be in the moment and I realize its his first. And there I am sharing it with him. I am so grateful it brings me to tears. Thank you Jason for providing me this opportunity to share my days with Cal. Thank you for all of your hard work, long hours, early mornings, long periods of time on orders. These days are irreplaceable and I catch myself on days like today trying to grasp the hours and hold on. But they just slip away so quickly. He gets so big each day. So much stronger and independent. It is amazing to watch how he learns so speedily. Last Saturday night I took him to the park. It was his first time back since he has been walking(as of a week ago). He takes off up the playground stairs gets on the slide feet first belly down all by himself. Then at the end he gets up and climbs the slide to come back down again. We did this for over an hour. But that hour went by so quickly and while we walked home I felt I left my baby at the park and brought home a toddler. I knew this day would come. But it came so fast. I am just so very, very grateful I was able to be there with him through it all. Thank you to my hard working husband. I know he misses his family so much and he wishes he could be here for these small moments. We love our daddy! And to end on a less sappy note here is last night's laughs. Cal was gigglin so hard, come to find out he was bending over and Ruby was giving him french kisses and he thought it was the best thing ever. He was laughing so hard and I was too. I finally put an end to the show once I got a hold of myself. Oh he is just the light of my life! How did I ever think I life was good before him? Life is so beautiful, especially now that its summer!

Prairie Dog Exhibit Cal loved!

2010-04-19T21:08:00.000-07:00

This I think was one of Cal's favorites at the zoo. Of course he loved it, Daddy was too that's what was so great. I could have watched those little creatures for a while. They are quite comical.

2010-04-18T13:45:00.000-07:00

He is such a little GOOBER!

2010-04-18T13:42:00.000-07:00

The stroller was in the kitchen. I was doing dishes. I heard him giggling and found him here in the stroller bottom but head first. It took him a while to figure out how to turn around. Silly BOY!

2010-04-18T13:39:00.000-07:00

Calvin's 1st Birthday cakes. Anyone want to borrow Elmo cake pan for a cake? It will be in my cupboard for a while.

2010-04-18T13:38:00.000-07:00

Here is Cal eating his birthday cake. I blogged about it but the pics wouldn't load that night.

2010-04-18T13:33:00.000-07:00

Look at this smarty pants. He found my keys and apparently he watches and remembers because he was pretty determined to get those keys to stay on the doorknob. Now that it is warm outside I have been trying to spend at least a full hour out in the sun with him. Coming back inside the house can be a bit of a trial. Bribery is becoming a necessary tool. But now he goes to the door with or without my keys and stays there until I finally give in to going out.

2010-04-18T13:26:00.000-07:00

How cool is that! They were right there by the window. He enjoyed the zoo. Mostly because we were outside. Some guy gave us free tickets for the train. He was so overwhelmed by everything to see. Honestly I think his favorite part was the Discovery portion of the zoo. They have a hut you can go in and it has skylights you can poke your head through. The skylight is in the middle of a prairie dog exhibit so your head is right next to them. He loved it. Cal would bark at them. Oh if I haven't told you already we are convinced we have a Dr. Doolittle. He speaks jibberish to us and speaks fluent dog. He even barks at the birds. Or when he hears someone outside our home he goes to the door and barks. Yeah I laugh constantly with this boy. Although he does scream like a girl. We found out that he can be terrified. Not that we didn't think that he was old enough but we have just never been in a situation that has scared him. Until the zoo. They have a life-size replica of an elephant and it makes elephant noises. It scared him soooooo bad. I thought a little girl had been seriously injured. No, it was our baby boy. Jason couldn't go closer than ten feet or else he screamed so hard. He woke up 5 times two night after with the same scream. Nightmares?

2010-04-18T13:23:00.001-07:00

This is when I realized he needed a hair cut. I cut it later that night. EINSTEIN HAIR!

2010-04-18T13:05:00.000-07:00

So our little guy has had a rough weekend, but can you tell? It's amazing how happy kids can be even when they aren't feeling well. I think he just had a 24 hour bug. We stayed home from church today just to be on the safe side.

Yesterday I left Cal with Mom while I went up to SLC to do a bride early in the morning. I was not even half way through with her hair when Mom called saying Cal had thrown up four times. I fed him some sweet potatoes after he woke up from his nap at Mom's. He seemed to feel so much better so I thought it was a good idea to get him full of some food. OH BOY WHAT A MISTAKE!! I picked him up and all of our bags, blankets, etc. to go and he puked on EVERYTHING!! Including Mom's white living room carpet. Orange Sweet Potatoes! Oh and my new white blouse. So we were in the clear later that evening so Cassady and I took him out in the stroller. As we neared home he started to grumble. I now know why. Minutes after walking in the door we stripped his pants off of him to cool him down, it was so warm out. He was standing at the window when he relieved himself and Cass and I laughed because we could have swore he said a slow " Oh yeah.." I went to do the dishes and Cass summoned me quickly back to the living room. It had gone out the diaper, down his legs ALL over the carpet, and get this, down my heater vent. Not just on but DOWN IT. I had to take it apart and reach inside. It was SUCH A MESS!!! Cass just kept laughing and took a picture. You wait until its you Tweed. Although I was laughing pretty hard myself. Cal knew he had done something yucky. He had this worried look on his face. Poor guy. After that was cleaned up I got to clean up the pee Ruby left me in the bathroom. She was in there all morning while I was gone, but STILL.... So I screaming "UNCLE!" I am so done, please no more. He seems good today. Our good friend gave us a pair of shoes for him that are too big. He insists on wearing them. He tries to put them on by himself. So on they go and they stay, but walking is a little harder. He cracks me up all day. I wish I could just videotape our whole day sometimes. Especially in the car. He is so freaking funny. He has some of the best dance moves and he has the pursed lips and slight head bob down pat. LOVE LOVE LOVE this age!

Happy 1st Birthday Calvin!!

2010-02-07T21:04:00.000-08:00

Why haven't I been blogging? Well let me tell you I don't know how anyone has more than one kid and stays involved in anything. It is insane being a mom. But I LOVE IT!!!!! This now one year old baby is my life and I wouldn't change it for anything. He keeps me running constantly. Cal is now practicing standing with no support. That just started this weekend. He was super cute eating his Elmo cake I made him. My goal was to let him be as messy as my nephew Alex was when he ate his blue Cookie Monster cake. That was almost fifteen years ago, but I remember that evening I thought it was the cutest thing ever!

Look who had family pics!

2009-11-07T19:22:00.001-08:00

Happy Little Family

2009-11-07T19:17:00.001-08:00

Who would have thought that three years later after being married in the Timpanogos park we would be returning to have our family pictures take with the addition of our sweet little boy. We had a good time trying to get Cal to smile in these pics. We tried picking leaves to twirl in front of him and so many other things. Our photographer was able to capture some great shots!

Family Fall Pics!

2009-11-07T18:59:00.001-08:00

Doing what Cal does best SMILE!

2009-10-09T13:38:00.000-07:00

Cal is growing up so fast. This first picture he is watching his most favorite movie "Babies Love Music" by Fisher Price. It's a great video. (Kicks Baby Einstein in the butt!)

Next we have Cal in his Teddy Bear costume which he will be wearing for Halloween. So adorable!

The babe in the walker would be my happy morning buddy eating his Cheerios while I quickly eat mine before he demands his real breakfast.

The last two pics are just some shots of cute Cal. Happy all of the time and so easy to please. Believe it or not, those blue pj's are size 18 months! His toes poked through his 12 month pj's so we tried on the next size and SURPRISE they fit!

Cal's thinks he is a Big Boy!

2009-10-09T13:07:00.000-07:00

Little Cal has taken big steps in the milestones this last week. Saturday night after the priesthood session he crawled off of his belly in front of Grandpa Marvin, mom, dad, Uncle's Gage, Pace, Dallin, Weston, and Aunt Heidi. Today he decided to be a big boy and not only crawl but talk too. We are amazed how quickly he is growing up. He is so much fun the smiles are never-ending and he is now trying to pull himself up onto things. We caught him trying to pull up onto the couch, into the bathtub and trying to pull up on the first stair of our upstairs! Ahh! Mom and Dad are so not ready!

Out of all of us I really do think Ruby is probably the most excited. Since Cal has graduated to snacks she now has a never ending supply of Fruit Loops, Cheerios, Animal Crackers, etc. falling from the tray of his walker. Cal thinks its just great having Ruby follow him everywhere. Its quite funny to watch the show as Cal drops a snack Ruby waits until his walker has completely cleared the area before moving in and snatching the prize. Poor Roobs gets cornered by the walker or rolled onto (not really just scared). Fun times for this household!

Cute pics!

2009-10-05T11:17:00.001-07:00

These pics should have been posted months ago. I am so behind. But they are so cute I just had to share.

Cal at JB's

2009-10-05T11:09:00.000-07:00

He was just so cute in his little U of U hat we just had to get him on video.

Cute Baby Snap shots

2009-02-13T10:07:00.000-08:00

Yeah I will admit I always thought moms get carried away with too many pictures of their babies. Oh my goodness let me tell you I can't seem to get enough of this little guy!

Calvin Dale

2009-02-12T17:38:00.001-08:00

Tough Little Guy

2009-02-12T16:20:00.000-08:00

Intense, long, and totally worth it...Calvin Dale finally arrived weighing 7 lb and 4 oz and measured 19.5 in. He arrived at 2:32 am after 16 hours of L-A-B-O-R. I now know why labor is called "labor." Thank goodness for the meds!!!! But I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. He is adorable!

Calvin caused quite a rucus when he arrived. We had teams in the room and some in the hallway waiting. The poor guy swallowed the amniotic fluid containing meconium. It filled both lungs. The doc compared it to swallowing tar. With 5 days in the level 2 NICU he was able to gain enough strength to come home on oxygen.

Those five days were so long and exhausting. Jason had it pretty hard on the tiny pull out couch. The poor guy would wake up with three times as much sleep than I had, and he would be more be more haggard then I. It was kind of humorous.

Last night I walked into the nursery and found Jason reading to a sleeping Calvin. Those two are going to have so much fun together. He is making an awesome dad. I am loving being a mom. I knew it came with its ups and downs but I never knew how awesome it really would be. I have enjoyed every second with Cal.

The doc was super happy with Cal's progress and we have high hopes that next week we can bid the oxygen tank and monitor goodbye. We are sleep deprived, exhausted, at times delirious but we have never been happier. Let the good times roll!

One last time

2009-01-04T18:07:00.000-08:00

Its almost time for the big day, only 5 weeks away! Our cousin Deanna just took some photo's of us one last time as just us with no kids. Wow pictures don't lie! We hope you all had a great holiday. We enjoyed ourselves with two weeks of family every day. That was a lot of fun.

Pictures for my honey

2008-10-19T16:39:00.000-07:00

Ruby found a new favorite toy, pink stuffed bear.

Ruby thinks she is a cat when riding in the car.

Hey honey this last pic of me is just to say hi and I love you!

Camyll's First Quilts

2008-10-19T16:33:00.001-07:00

Yay! My first quilts I've ever made! Not bad if I may say so myself. Thanks to my mother-in-law, Monti, who had an aweful lot of patience. I am working on a three more right now. Uh-oh, I feel an obsession coming on!!

2008-10-15T17:25:00.000-07:00

Governor's Day

2008-09-18T20:33:00.002-07:00

This summer I got involved with the Family Readiness Group in Jason's unit. My partner and I are working hard to provide support and assistance to the families, provide a network of communication among the members and the chain of command. We also have the opportunity to welcome new members, be a social support by holding group activities, provide self-help referral, and so much more! I am loving being involved. In the small amount of time that I have been involved I had two fundraisers already. This last one was great! We had a scone booth at Governor's Day on Saturday September 13th. This year it was held at Rice-Eccles Stadium. All of the soldiers in state parade on the field in front of the Governor while he address' his troops. It a lot of fun for the families to watch. Its an amazing opportunity for a patriotic moment to see all of our troops lined up. This year we had a very small amount here in the states. So many of them are over sea.

The scone booth was a fun experience. With the amazing help of my mother-in-law and father-in-law, Jason, and two of my unit spouses we did awesome. We learned the do and do not's of fundraising and also raised a little money in the meantime. Our made from scratch scones were a hit with the home-made raspberry butter. I am loving being involved with the FRG and hopefully that energy I have for it continues even after the baby!

2008-09-18T20:33:00.001-07:00

Learning the ropes at work

2008-09-18T20:33:00.000-07:00

Jason had a fun last two weeks at work, although he would most likely describe it a little different. He and a few of the other men on his team were able to complete their qualifications with the state for rope rescuing. They spent two weeks in the course with a handful of firemen. If any of you know Jason there are two things he will hesitate towards. And that is snakes and heights! Lucky him, he got 1 on 1 training with great instructors who helped him rope rescue and also pose as a victim from varying heights. The best day was at the East Center where they repelled from the rafters into the seats. Thank goodness they didn't repel all the way to the floor! He made it through and is so happy to have that training behind him. He did learn a ton and is comfortable with rope rescue now so that is a plus, but I can't say he is comfortable with the heights still.