roberts family

december 2011

2012-01-08T19:14:00.000-08:00

busy month of treat-making and treat-consuming...

"gingerbread" (graham crackers glued with frosting to rice crispy treats)
and the traditional sugar cookies

Christmas Eve

Missionaries in our ward, Elders Reddish and Irwin, joined our festivities

Christmas morning was magical

we got dressed and went to church, then came home

and put jammies back on to open presents...

Calvin's 5th birthday!

we celebrated that night at red lobster - his choice - and guess what he ordered?...

Russell thought it would be fun to tie their napkins as pirate hats...and it was!
Mason kept saying "arrgghhh" to everyone that walked past our table.

First "friend" birthday party...complete with 12 friends, sports theme, pizza lunch, games, prizes, presents, and a big basketball cake! It was exhausting, but lots of fun.

We sure love this boy, who is already talking about what he's gonna do when he's 6! He loves preschool, and although he's the only kid in his class who never naps, his teacher tells me every week how polite he is. Calvin is inquisitive, imaginative, tenderhearted, and helpful. He is patient with his little brother and enjoys sports, Hotwheels cars, dinosaurs, Transformers, and riding his bike and scooter. His current favorite foods include seafood - especially salmon and shrimp cocktail, sushi, pasta, hot wings, and peanut butter and honey sandwiches. Calvin LOVES to sing! He is almost always singing or humming a primary song or preschool song, sometimes with his own lyrics to describe what he's doing. He is such a joy in our family!
We're so grateful for this 5 year-old.

FINALLY a t-ball game

2011-06-26T21:09:00.000-07:00

After years of anticipation AND a week with a rained-out game and practice, he finally got to play yesterday...

there was no shortage of parents to remind their kids to spread out on the field and watch the ball...

love the "action fielding shot" with his team-mate taking a break to sit down and check out his mitt during the game

our friend ashley came to cheer for calvin and the black team

and of course mason couldn't resist swinging a heavy metal object with his helmet on backwards. he can't wait until it's his turn too!

calvin did a great job and boy was it fun to watch!

father's day

2011-06-19T20:49:00.000-07:00

this may be the first time i've ever posted about something that same day...and let's be honest, probably the last.

anyway, here are some pics from father's day 2011:

we usually do homemade cards, but it was a long week, so we had fun picking out cards for dad at the store. (still working on getting everyone to look at the camera and be still at the same time)

mason being a goof in dad's hat and my shoes after church

some help opening new luggage!

steak dinner

and perhaps the best present of all...
russell gets to go to scout camp for 2 days! he leaves tomorrow and the boys had a ball helping him get his gear packed up.

happy father's day to the best! love you!

biting the bullet

2011-06-05T19:43:00.000-07:00

i've been stuck in a vicious cycle for 8 months. i think: "i should update my blog." so i go to it and realize my last post was in 2010. then i think: "i wonder if anyone else still blogs." so i look at my friends and family blogs. most of them still update, some every few days. this doesn't help me feel better about myself, but i love seeing what you guys are up to. then i think about how much has happened in the last 8 months and ALL my pictures and i get overwhelmed in yet another area of my life, so i just watch a food network show on hulu instead.

well i'm breaking the cycle tonight! it will be a struggle against some obsessive-compulsive tendencies of mine to catch up and post updates out of order, but these two little boys are growing up WAY too fast and there are grandparents, aunts & uncles, cousins, and friends that are missing it. and it's likely that most of you who read this blog stopped checking months ago, so this is also for posterity and to help me feel better about my lack of journaling.

i will start with most recent events and work backwards to october 2010, so this will show up as the newest post chronologically for awhile. but i will catch up so feel free to scroll down if you want to be caught up...

we begin with MASON'S 2nd BIRTHDAY! yep, he's two and boy is he ever. those brown eyes and curly locks have saved him from the time-out chair more times than i'd care to admit. he has a knack for teasing and mischief, but we sure love him!

we partied on memorial day, which was sunny and perfect for playing in the mini pool. the water was a little too cold for the birthday boy, though!

calvin and friends kade and kanigh loved the water.

mason requested a red race car cake...

and i think he wondered why we let him get so close to fire. calvin helped blow out the candles...

he ate the frosting and was done

on tuesday we celebrated as a family

mason is a talkative two-year old and seems to come up with something new every day that makes me wonder "where did he get that?" just a few weeks ago, he would say "mm hm" for yes. around his birthday he was saying, "yeah." yesterday he started with, "yes." today i asked him what he was doing and he said, "nothing." and EVERY time i ask if he needs his diaper changed he pats his bottom and says, "no, i fine."

speaking of diapers, i think mason's trying to potty train himself. i'm not ready for the commitment, yet, but he has started telling me when he needs to go and then actually going on the potty. he'll sit there for 15-20 minutes sometimes reading a book and then tell me when he's done. it sure is making my job easy and i'm hoping he doesn't realize that and change his mind!

mason loves cars, trucks, planes, motorcycles, boats, any sport (sounds like two other boys in this house!) and wrestling with calvin. he's such a boy and wants to do anything his brother or daddy are doing. he is the only kid in nursery now at church and just loves all three ladies that teach him. =) he's learning to pray by himself and loves to help.

so thankful for our sweet mason!

rocket bike

2011-05-21T19:44:00.000-07:00

calvin has earned his bike! he picked out the red rocket bike at the store months ago and earned a square on his chart every night that he stayed in his bed all night. he earned a new helmet after 15 days, a bell after 30, a light after 45 and finally his bike after 60 days.

since it stopped thunderstorming everyday, he's been able get in lots of practice.

we were cleaning out the garage and found the knee and elbow pads...

i love the ears!

a little more balance and the training wheels will be off...such a big boy!

gram & gramps

2011-05-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

we had such fun with my grandparents when they came to visit! the only regrets were that they didn't stay longer and that it rained for about half of their trip.

these boys took about 30 seconds to warm up and then didn't leave their great-grandparents alone! calvin was especially interested in gramps giving gram her daily shot for diabetes. mason just pretty much followed them everywhere, usually squeezing right in between:

we were on the go with a ferry ride across the ohio river, antique shopping in augusta, kentucky & ripley, ohio, lunch at the 50's diner in ripley, a trip to the amish market for goodies, and dinner at our favorite mexican restaurant.

we had a great time fishing at our friend's the snyder's home...calvin and russell each caught 1 fish, gramps caught 4!, and i got 2 mosquito bites! we saw wild geese landing on the lake and heard the bullfrogs singing.

a highlight of the visit was a trip to the tri-state warbird museum. they have a collection of working ww2 era planes, many of which gramps worked on throughout his career.

it was so neat to see him in his element and to hear about his experiences. i was also able to explain to calvin about how gramps was a hero, earning two purple hearts in his service in ww2.

thanks SO MUCH for coming to see us, gram and gramps! we sure love you!

the hair

2010-10-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

i gave mason his first haircut last sunday and we had some mixed emotions around here. mason was thrilled because he got a sucker, calvin was jealous so he got a haircut too, russell was hungry (it was fast sunday) and a little grumpy because he had to get his hair cut too before dinner, and i was a little sad because the curly mop is gone and my baby boy looks SO big now.

here's a before shot (from last month sometime) that gives you a good idea of the aforementioned curly mop:

and no, we're not potty-training yet. he likes to sit there before he gets in the tub (like calvin). he has actually gone once, but i'm pretty sure it was just a coincidence.

another before shot with a straighter version which means his head didn't get as sweaty that day...

pre-cut...

and AFTER

my handsome boys on a walk sunday evening:

silly boys

2010-10-01T18:37:00.000-07:00

both boys in a baby bathtub, calvin in daddy's glasses, boys in big boots

tools

calvin's new favorite song is "video killed the radio star," from "the wedding singer" soundtrack and these boys love to dance...

summer's over; here's what we did

2010-09-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

we had a whirlwind vacation during russell's month off this summer. we visited with most of the roberts clan for the 4th of july and dawson's blessing in kansas. katy and dan were gracious to host everyone for a busy and fun weekend.

loved the pool!

sun-bathing beauties kenzie and laney, pool shots, and miss marin trying the stairs

we tie-dyed patriotic shirts (russell has a bowl of dye, not a severed finger...).

calvin loved the swing-set too...

john, westin and savannah with their catches and my boys fishing in their jammies:

katy's ward had a 4th of july activity at a park, complete with a game of kickball. i was on one of the teams and my boys were on the other...

family pics before it started raining (above) and after (below)

boys love to play (and pose) in the rain...

fireworks

we made a quick church-history stop at the liberty jail in missouri on the way home

thanks to katy for putting us up in your awesome new house and for the pics i stole from your facebook...=) it was so fun seeing everyone.

the drive was 26 hours round trip! but the boys did great, we decided to push our luck and join our ward members on a trip to palmyra, ny. we left for the 9 hour drive to upstate new york two days after we got home from kansas. we had such a good time with good friends from church.

waiting for the hill cumorah pageant to start...

not sure why i didn't take any pics of the actual pageant...it was dark, so maybe that's why. anyway, it was lots of fun!

we toured the joseph smith family farm

log cabin:

view of palmyra temple from farm outside the sacred grove

smith family frame home, calvin and friends kade and kanigh sword-fighting with sticks outside the sacred grove (inappropriate, but pretty cute), and with friend haley and her boys touring the printing press building where the book of mormon was published

at the top of the hill cumorah

we also enjoyed the pool in our hotel, a delish dinner with everyone at the cheesecake factory, and a day trip to NIAGARA FALLS...

we rode the "maid of the mist" boat tour and i decided to leave the hood on my poncho down. sadly, the camera ran out of battery before we could get a shot of my awesome soaked hair. mason wasn't thrilled to get wet, but the rest of us loved it!

it's been a really hot summer here, so we frequented the woodland mound splash park...
(calvin's friend kanigh had his birthday party there)

we also went to the cincinnati zoo, which was really hot, humid, and smelly, but entertaining.
the boys sure loved it!

happy fall!

my baby is one

2010-08-04T14:59:00.000-07:00

actually, he's 3 1/2 and my second baby is 14 months! it's so hard to see my boys grow up. it's been such a fun year with our sweet mason, though! he's been a trooper with all the changes this year. he was 8 weeks old when we moved across the country and then waited 7 more weeks to get into our house. we've done lots of traveling too and we're so glad that he's an easy-going boy. what a blessing to have him in our family!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

mason is happy and full of mischief. he still looks so much like russell, except he has a curly mop of hair on his head that i refuse to cut for fear of losing the curls! he runs around these days and wants to do everything his brother does. he loves to climb and dance.

mason is mastering the sound effects that boys seem to inherently know. he likes to play cars and trains with calvin and makes a "woof" sound like a dog. he has learned to say "please" in sign language and "no" with his words and these are his two most-used communications (at least one is polite). he also says "hi," "hello," "mama," "dad," and "dog." oddly enough, he sits in time-out when we ask him to and seems to think it's pretty fun, which we need to work on. he's a good helper and likes to clean up and put his clothes in the basket.

mason has become a great eater, which is a total change from a few months ago. he loves fruit, veges, cheese, pasta, and any kind of meat. and, cake of course.

mason loves to give hugs and slobbery kisses. my favorite is how he puts his head on my shoulder and pats my back when i pick him up. we sure love this brown-eyed boy!

beginner's luck

2010-08-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

we decided that to have a true "ohio" experience, we need to grow something while we're here. our first attempt at a garden turned out pretty well. in february, we planted tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green peppers, habanero peppers, and jalapeno peppers and grew the plants inside until may.

in april, russell and calvin measured and tilled a great spot in the backyard. we planted local sweet corn, cucumbers, watermelon, pumpkins, cantaloupe, green beans, lettuce, carrots, onions, and strawberry plants.

we planted our tomatoes and peppers outside just after mother's day. these two pics are in early june.

here's a late june and mid-july shot:

this was just one day of picking cucumbers...we've had so many that i've given away probably 10 or so every week in addition to trying to use them!

here's a more recent shot...

i got the "prize-winning 100 lb pumpkin" seed packet (unknowingly, of course).

amazingly, everything has grown! our corn has been excellent and we were able to freeze some for later. the melons should be ready soon and we've actually been getting strawberries for a couple months. the peppers and tomatoes are just ripening and we're going to attempt some salsa-making and hope for beginner's luck there as well.

i decided that i really like gardening. it's a lot of work, but we've learned a lot and it's definitely rewarding. last night, we had corn, cantaloupe, strawberries, and tomatoes from our garden at dinner and we felt so self-sufficient! anyway, we're already planning some revisions for next year (lots fewer cucumbers!), so let's hope our luck holds out.

the rest of winter, spring & half of summer

2010-07-28T12:00:00.000-07:00

time to catch up. it's so hard to update this when it's been so long, but i've decided i need to start. my new year's resolution of writing in my journal isn't going so well, so i need to document our family's memories somewhere. for now, we'll go with highlights for each month:

FEBRUARY

russell turned 29! we had a little get-together to celebrate (with rainbow chip cake, of course). it snowed a lot that month, too.

russell made a lovely dinner and dessert on valentine's day
and, mason's cute toothy grin in the tub

MARCH

we had some rainy days and decided to make a box playhouse
and, i seem to have a surplus of tub pics, so mohawks in the tub

APRIL

we dyed sports-themed easter eggs this year

we had easter dinner with our friends the schenk's. pam made a delish feast and we brought lemon blackberry cake and these huge egg truffles for dessert.

russell had spring break! one of the days, we rode a little ferry across the river to augusta, a cute historic town in kentucky for ice cream

we also visited ripley, ohio, which is known for the underground railroad activity before the civil war. the rankin house is up on the hill. we had lunch at a 50's style diner... note my delicious burger and onion rings and russell's marshmallow rootbeer.
and, here's an unrelated, but cute shot of mason helping me unpack groceries.

MAY

i woke up to breakfast, a box of chocolates, and cards from all my boys on mother's day

my mom came to visit for 2 weeks! we took her on the ferry to augusta, to ripley (the top left picture is from the rankin house on the hill looking out over the river), to the aquarium in newport, and to woodland mound, a hamilton county park with a fun splash playground (bottom picture is calvin with his friend kade).

mason turned one! calvin made him this banner and we had a fun time celebrating, which i'll post about separately, very soon! we loved having grandma here and were sad to see her go.

JUNE

mason got a new big boy car seat in preparation for july's road trips. he loves facing the front like his brother. we got to go to lunch and catch up with the holt's, our friends from freshman year at byu.

russell took step one of the comlex board exam on june 15th (and we just found out this week that he passed!) and then he was done with school for a month. we went to woodland mound with playgroup friends, the aquarium, and a cool butterfly exhibit at the krohn conservatory in cincinnati:

we got to walk around with the butterflies everywhere and try to hold them. it was really hot that day, and it's in a greenhouse, which is why we look a little wilted in these pics. it was fun though, and we also discovered eden park, a great spot in cincinnati.

and, here's father's day and some recent pics of these silly boys. i still have our road trips to post about too, but i guess this is a good start. happy summer!

6 years

2010-03-18T10:36:00.000-07:00

6 years of marriage
5 more years of school/residency
4 homes in
3 states
2 sweet boys
1 happy couple

i love you, russell!

"the singers"

2010-03-05T12:00:00.000-08:00

just found this funny video that i took when we were visiting heather, ephraim and boys. max told me how to introduce them as "the singers..."

happy president's day

2010-02-15T17:15:00.000-08:00

so, it's been snowing ALL day and i got a little cabin fever earlier and decided to check the mail. this involves shoveling a path to the mailbox because someone i live with (starts w/ "r" and ends with "ussell") hates shoveling snow that has been walked/driven on (the mashed down snow freezes fast and is really hard to clear). anyway, we didn't have any mail, but i decided to keep shoveling. about halfway through clearing the driveway, i realized it's a holiday. thus, NO MAIL.

love the long driveway, hate shoveling it. at least i burned some extra valentine's calories.

hope your president's day was snow-free!

the big 0-3

2010-02-03T19:35:00.000-08:00

our handsome boy turned three! he was so excited to celebrate his birthday in texas this year...

the special day started out with a traditional birthday breakfast with his dad. they had breakfast tacos at taco cabana (where else?):

grandma and grandpa roberts took us to incredible pizza for lots of food, games, and rides. calvin got to ride the go-carts with russell and they got first place in their race!

then, back to kelly and john's for cake and presents. calvin wanted a baseball cake this year, so this is what i came up with. he loved it, and that's what matters!

calvin got to open some more birthday stuff when we got back from texas. (can you tell he still loves sports?)
everyday is an adventure with this kiddo. he has developed quite the imagination. he loves pretending to be different animals, a "sports guy," and various rescuers (firefighter, policeman, etc). some days, he's all of them at once: last week, he says, "i'm a rescue lion sports guy." it's freezing cold here and he still prefers to wear basketball shorts and a t-shirt. i'm trying to convince him that sports guys wear pants when it's snowing...

calvin's first day of sunbeams (3 year-old class in our church) was our first sunday back. he got all dressed up and was so excited to bring his scriptures. he loves his new teacher, too.
he was asked to give the 1st article of faith in primary and got a little shy, but he still has it memorized and recites it every once in awhile.

calvin loves to sing. he's like his dad and just makes up songs as he does stuff. his favorite song is "i love to see the temple."

he's potty trained! i do miss the sound of a little diapered-bottom running around the house, but we'll have that again in no time with the way mason is moving (army crawl right now). calvin did great and was so proud to wear his big boy underwear on the airplane for our christmas trip.

i wish i could record our conversations everyday! lately, calvin has talked a lot about his big blue truck that is coming to our house and how he will drive it to ohio and it's really big and his dog is in it and he will let me ride in it too. he still loves trucks and dogs. one day at lunch he was saying the prayer and he thanked Heavenly Father for the dog he's going to get. he must know something i don't. he does have an imaginary dog named frenny (?) that hangs around and likes to go to play group at the library with us.

i love to hear calvin say "silly": "siyee" and "smarshmallow." i asked him the other day if he wanted to call me mommy or mom or mama. he said "i'll call you windsay (lindsay)." calvin is such a good big brother and he loves to help with laundry, cleaning, and cooking, which will hopefully last!

we sure love this sweet boy. happy birthday!!

feliz navidad

2010-01-21T18:07:00.000-08:00

{ i've been putting this off because i have so many pictures! i decided to try the photo collage thing this time; you can click on the collage to see it enlarged. enjoy!! }

we got to spend 2 weeks in texas over the Christmas break! we did our Christmas morning on friday before we left ohio to minimize the luggage. as it was, we took 2 suitcases (3 on the way home!), 2 strollers, 2 car seats, and 5 carry-ons (not including the baby), so i guess it was a good idea.

after russell's test on friday night:

after a 6-hour delay in memphis because of weather, we made it to grandma and grandpa roberts'! most of the clan picked us up in the rv with a HUGE welcome banner on the side! (i wish i had a picture!)

monday, we headed up to killeen to visit ephraim, heather, max and ezra. they are the texas bbq gurus and recommended that we stop at kreuk's in lockhart. we're glad we took their advice - amazing brisket!

heather and ephraim treated us to some delicious meals, a drive through Christmas lights show, and a fun visit to the 1st cavalry museum. and all these boys treated us to some laughs! they sure had a good time and calvin misses playing army guys in max's backyard. thanks for letting us drop in for a fun visit!

back to san antonio... we performed the nativity pageant at a nursing home, which i'm sure was entertaining on some level! we had a good time. Christmas eve started at bruce, nancy and grandma's home with food, ornament-making, and a program with scriptures and songs.
we got some fun pictures of 5 of grandma's great-grandkids born in the last year...
then to kelly and john's for the opening of Christmas jammies...

FINALLY, the magical morning! grandpa read from the bible and book of mormon about the Savior's birth. we started unwrapping in an orderly fashion, then had some chaos for awhile. we took a break for a delicious breakfast and then started round 2 of the presents. we were definitely spoiled! (i love the pic of russell holding up his "blinded by science" t-shirt from his parents. he looks like a mad scientist with that hair!)
calvin had a blast making SNOW with cousins that night, which was the closest thing we got to a white Christmas.

calvin turned 3 on the 26th. watch for a separate birthday post SOON, but here's a preview pic...

we got some cute shots of the boys in their new sunday suits with grandma and grandpa:

we got to test out a flight simulator at kyle's work.
grandma took us to see the san antonio children's museum and eat yummy mexican food on the riverwalk.
russell and i got to go to the temple.
kim and mike treated us to a heavenly breakfast at magnolia pancake haus.
reese let us take him to northstar mall (that's big...he's a teenager. and it was fun)
we met our good friends the wright's for dinner and shakes at ez's. so good to see them:

on new year's eve it was a gorgeous 75 degrees and we spent most of the day outside. we started with the mandatory visit to rudy's bbq:
then off to breckenridge park to feed ducks and play corn-hole, fox-tail, and on the playground...

we rang in the new year (or in calvin and mason's case, slept through it) at "the shire" (grandma and grandpa's vacation rental home). we had a shrimp boil and strawberry shortcake, played a bunco tournament and monopoly deal, and exchanged white elephants. russell and i barely made it til midnight then somehow stayed up til 3 to get everything packed for our trip the next day.

after another long day of flying we (and ALL our luggage) made it home.
p.s. this little guy came home with three new teeth on top (now he's getting a fourth up there for a grand total of 6)

big thanks to rod and karen and kelly and john for hosting our stay. we had such a good time!
worst part of the trip: coming back to SUB-freezing temps! it was so nice to fly south for a bit of the winter and now i'm ready for spring.

happy new year!

6 months!

2009-12-15T17:37:00.000-08:00

this little sweet-cheeks is such a joy to our family. he's already 6 months old and ready to be on the go.

he has a little curly mohawk and the sweetest smile, which he shares often with family, friends, strangers, and even stuff on the shelf at the grocery store. he's such a happy baby.

mason has two teeth and has been eating rice cereal for a couple months. he recently started on fruits and veggies and he loves his peaches and sweet potatoes. right now his mode of transportation is rolling around (it's alarmingly quick and effective) and i suspect he'll be crawling within the next month. mason is ticklish and cuddly and loves to spit and make his big brother laugh.

he looks so much like his daddy. see for yourself! russell and mom in 1981...

mason and mom in 2009:

we sure love this boy!

turkey week

2009-12-14T20:34:00.000-08:00

we kicked off thanksgiving week by having some friends over for dinner and fhe. we decorated turkey cookies:

russell was off school tuesday through friday, so we had lots of free time for some more exploring...

we visited a couple amish settlements in the area and bought WAY too many treats (cinnamon rolls, cookies, pie, pretzels, apple pull-apart bread, candy, and more). YUM
calvin also loved trying out the huge (and expensive) play sets that they build.

we came home and had a pizza and popcorn movie party, complete with a "tent" in the living room:

we ventured into cincinnati for the first time and went to the aquarium in newport. we saw the penguin parade, frogs, birds, alligators, snakes, turtles, and feeding time for sharks and pirhanas. we got to touch crabs, starfish and SHARKS!

couldn't keep his eyes off the alligators

cool jellyfish exhibit

and the new favorite, sharks! at the petting tank, he kept yelling, "I TOUCHED THE SHARK!"

my three boys (in brown and orange stripes) on the scale they use to compare your weight to a shark's. calvin and russell decided to wear matching outfits that day, so i dressed mason to go along.

we walked outside in the chilly weather for a quick glimpse of cincinnati across the river (i love calvin's hand right on russell's forehead)

the missionaries joined us for our thanksgiving feast (my first time cooking the whole thing!).

i love smelling the onion and celery cooking in butter (for grandma's famous dressing)

russell roasted an excellent turkey this year

calvin wanted to take a thanksgiving picture with this book because he is thankful for it

our feast. we thought we'd be nice and start mason on applesauce for a special treat. this was the look he gave after every bite:

friday we went to the temple in louisville and then put up our christmas tree.

these two are so alike!

this one enjoyed nibbling on a package of ribbon

saturday we went to downtown cincinnati with our friends the levin's. we saw gingerbread house and train displays, rode a horse-pulled carriage, visited santa at macy's and ate seafood.

calvin was keeping his distance from santa and didn't want to sit on his lap. santa was nice and let me sit in his big chair with calvin - that's a first for me!

so grateful for a fun week together.

warbird museum

2009-11-22T18:27:00.000-08:00

last week in honor of veteran's day we visited a local ww2 airplane museum. it was good to learn more about that history and the heroes from that era. these two couldn't get enough:

candid shots

2009-11-14T19:55:00.000-08:00

calvin wanted to hold mason the other day and i happened to grab the camera...they turned out pretty cute:

three halloweens

2009-11-07T14:10:00.000-08:00

ohioans (is that what they're called?) don't go trick-or-treating on halloween. no one has been able to tell me why, but out here, all the towns decide the day and times for trick-or-treating. so, we did that on thursday, a ward trunk-or-treat on friday, and then a little party at our place on halloween. at least we got some good use out of the costumes. we had a great time making some fun treats too. here's the pics from our spooky week:

on monday, the boys and i made a jack-o-lantern cake and took it to share w/ russell and his fellow students and professors...

yes, it took a long time to make and no, i probably won't ever make one again, but it was yummy. (recipe was in family circle, but we used reese's pieces instead of m&m's and just did chocolate cake)

our cowboy and his horse rusty (named after aunt kim and uncle mike's huge dog) before trick-or-treating:

little monkey mason:

posing w/ sarah the bumblebee:

my friend sharon and her daughters trick-or-treated w/ us in our neighborhood

we made witch's hat cookies for our trunk-or-treat:

russell and mason (dressed as manu ginobili) at the trunk-or-treat

calvin and i made a spooky graveyard dessert for our party. he was such a good helper so i took a picture of every layer. here he is crushing the oreos for the dirt:

spreading the "dirt":

putting the worms, snails, and slugs in the dirt:

spreading the muddy mud:

dyeing the grass:

spreading the grass:

showing off the gravestones:

the graveyard:

more dirt to cover the graves

more creepy crawlies on top:

and, right before we ate it, we added some whipped cream ghosts:

BOO!

happy halloween!

fall's my favorite

2009-10-29T20:36:00.000-07:00

this time of year has been my favorite ever since i can remember. growing up, it was because i enjoyed new school clothes and supplies and because my birthday is in september. in college, i loved walking on campus and seeing the changing leaves in the mountains - fall still makes me miss school. i love the bright colors, the cooler weather, football season and the excitement for the holidays. last fall, i was busy with morning sickness and missed out. and, we didn't see much color or cooler weather in arizona, so i'm loving four seasons again (i'm sure i will retract this statement when winter comes!).

this is the view from our back deck:

this year was our first time visiting a pumpkin patch together. we went to a local family-run farm and had a great time despite the mud and colder temperatures.

there was a little petting zoo - here's the boys by the donkeys:

calvin tried out a mini straw maze

we took the tractor-pulled hay ride to the corn maze and pumpkin patch

calvin was preoccupied with the tractor (of course), so we didn't get many pictures of him actually looking at the camera. he always had to know where the tractor and the driver were and probably would've jumped on and tried to drive if we had let him.

jumping into the corn box - like a sand box, but with corn...=)

and, since we missed the county fair this year, we had to indulge ourselves and get a funnel cake (okay, AND some chili cheese fries - they're big on chili out here and we had to try it...). i think calvin just took a bite of the fries and he clearly liked the funnel cake better:

here's the boys with our beauties from the pumpkin patch, which, by the way, were a great deal: 7 bucks for three pumpkins and they threw in 2 free gourds

calvin picked his own - the biggest one he could find

mason ate rice cereal in the festive halloween bib while we carved our jack-0-lanterns

this man takes his pumpkin carving pretty seriously.

i think it's because he has ocd, but his attention-to-detail always helps the jack-o-lantern turn out nicely. (no, he's not gonna be a surgeon...)

i love how they're looking at eachother - like pumpkin friends

happy fall everyone!

recent adventures

2009-10-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

since moving here a couple months ago, we've done some exploring...

enterTRAINment junction in west chester, oh:

a HUGE model train exhibit and museum

fun kids area w/ playground, rides, and little theater area w/ non-stop thomas episodes

a hand-crank powered train ride that calvin loved!

they were doing "everything thomas" when we went, so calvin got to ride thomas (his favorite) as well.

shoveling coal w/ dad

we also took a trip to kirtland for a couple days before russell started school:

we had a nice tour of historic kirtland from some delightful sister missionaries

it was cool to see the temple too

we drove up to see lake erie before we left the area - it was huge!

mason did some snoozing,

while russell and calvin skipped rocks on the beach

we house-sat for our bishop and got to take advantage of their beach access to lake waynoka:

a couple weeks ago, we took a temple trip w/ some friends. the louisville, kentucky temple is a mini-temple, but still gorgeous. calvin cried when we left because he wanted to go in...

after the temple, we took the tour at the louisville slugger factory and museum w/ our friends, the schenks...

our little baseball fanatic and his daddy hugged the big bat when we got there

calvin got in lots of practice in the batting cage before our tour started

we saw how they make the bats and then checked out some cool artifacts in the museum. here's mason (my babe) next to THE babe's bat - you can't see it in the picture, but the bat is cracked...

calvin and russell holding a mickey mantle bat. this was probably russell's favorite - he saved his gloves! (sorry for the bad lighting)

calvin and his friend sarah (and russell in the rear) crawling in the big baseball mitt

we got souvenir mini bats

he couldn't bear to put it down!

we're in!

2009-10-11T19:47:00.000-07:00

i'm happy to report that we're no longer mooching off of good friends and living out of suitcases! now we're living out of boxes, but at least we have all our stuff in our own place. we love the house and are getting settled slowly but surely. mason sleeps like a champ in his crib in his own room and calvin loves his new big-boy bed. now on to potty training...ugh! russell passed his first finals of this year and we're all finally starting to feel better after a month of being sick. it's already getting chilly here, but the changing leaves are gorgeous (pics to come). a couple snap-shots for now:

i love dressing them alike! i'll try to get over it before they get old enough for it to be embarrassing, but for now i think it's pretty cute. calvin likes being "twins with baby mason," too.

this boy is getting so big - almost 4 1/2 months! he tried out his new highchair today (w/o the food, but we'll try that soon).

calvin eating his "i pooped in the potty so we made a chocolatey-brownie ice cream treat" treat. he scarfed it. what do i do next time? i'm running out of ideas...
at least he knows it not scary now!

progress on the house!

2009-09-22T17:58:00.000-07:00

yay! the house should be done within the next week. i'm amazed that it's gone up so quickly. these shots are from a couple weeks ago:

in the great room in front of the fireplace

calvin posing by his new garage

mason in his new room

calvin's new room

here's one from last week - don't be confused by the fact that russell's wearing the same shirt in all the pics. (we only packed for a few weeks, okay?)

some new neighbors walked over with us, hence the extra children in the shot.

we are grateful to good friends who have opened their homes to us as we've waited for the 45 day project!

still in school

2009-09-20T06:33:00.000-07:00

sorry! many of you are confused about what's going on with us. russell is still in medical school. his first year was in mesa, az. his program is set up so that for the last three years, all of the students are sent to community health center locations throughout the u.s. so, we're in southwestern ohio, just outside cincinatti. russell will get more clinical experience this year by working with a doctor at 11 different clinics in the area and then he'll do rotations out here for his last 2 years. hope that clears things up... we'd love to have visitors if you're out this way or would like to be!

summer?

2009-09-12T19:24:00.000-07:00

i'm not sure where summer went. i guess time flies when you have a baby and move across the country. here's a recap of our adventures...

we loved having my mom visit after mason was born.

she was such a big help and stayed until russell was finished with his last finals. grandma was a great buddy for calvin as we adjusted to life with a new baby.

mason's first walk:

calvin requested that we take his picture every time we took one of mason. here he is being a good eater...

three boys on father's day

calvin and i made daddy a baseball cake for father's day:

fourth of july family shot

we had lots of family in town on the weekend of the fourth for mason's blessing. here's heather and ezra being patriotic:

hannah and jacob with our flag cake

grandpa perkins snuggling with mason

max and ezra enjoying ice cream in the hot (and melting) arizona sun

grandma roberts with mason on his big day

grandma and grandpa roberts with the boys

family shot on blessing day

here's the handsome boy

a couple shots of mason, one month old

moving day - calvin posing with our truck
we'll miss our home, our friends, and our ward, among other things. we will not miss the high heat advisory temperatures that made loading the truck miserable!

the boys were packed like sardines in the back of the good old corolla for a cross-country trip. calvin and his moving buddy, iguana, are ready for one of many showings of "the happiest millionaire," his new favorite show (which luckily is 3 hours long!)...

we stopped in el paso overnight and then stayed in san antonio for a week. we got to see family, eat good food, and meet kelly and john's new baby marin, who is just 5 days younger than mason. it was great to be there for her blessing and for calvin to get to know cousins.
we went to the zoo:

reese, savannah, westin, calvin, mackenzie and hal

loved the hippos - i couldn't get calvin to turn around and pose!

crocodiles (another favorite) and fishing

can't go to the zoo without brushing a goat!

great-grandma roberts treated us to rudy's bbq, one of our favorite spots to eat.
here she is with the boys:

waiting for the grub...

kelly and baby marin - so cute!

grandma roberts took us on a train ride at brackenridge park. one of calvin's new obsessions is trains, so he was thrilled.

we did lots of swimming at grandma and grandpa roberts' house. here's mason lounging by the pool:

we went to the witte children's museum and calvin and russell had great fun exploring the exhibits

mackenzie, westin, savannah, hal and calvin building an ancient egyptian pyramid

we spent a day at sea world with kelly, kim, savannah, mackenzie, marin, hal and reese

feeding the dolphins

shamu show

calvin could have stayed at the water park ALL day

he also got another moving buddy, shamu, for the rest of the trip. can you tell that he LOVES it?

calvin, kelly, and westin at grandma's house

aunt kyle moved back to san antonio just in time to spend a couple days with us!

we celebrated rod's birthday before we left... here he is enjoying birthday breakfast at taco cabana:

on the road again...

we stopped in wichita, kansas to visit katy and dan's family. we got the grand one day tour of wichita, including an awesome ymca, delicious steak burgers and shakes, and the keeper of the plains monument (below)(not sure what milo's doing in this picture!) =)

delaney, magavin, and koby by the flaming torches:

our last overnight stop was in st. louis

we had a brief interlude in kentucky where we got stuck in the mc donald's parking lot during a monsoon...

12 days and 2441 miles later...OHIO

we've already had some adventures here as well - a visit to ride thomas the tank engine and a quick trip to kirtland, among others. we have good friends here who have generously made the wait for our home much more comfortable. it should be ready by the end of the month. stay tuned for more updates (sooner, i promise) and pics of the progress on the house...

home sweet home

2009-08-17T13:18:00.000-07:00

here's a nice shot of our home so far...
it turns out that rentals in this area are tough to find, so we're waiting on a house that's being built. stay tuned for pics and details of our adventure from arizona to ohio by way of el paso, san antonio, guthrie, wichita, and st. louis

my big boys:

may 31, 2009 - the details...

2009-06-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

MASON GRAHAM ROBERTS
BORN 5.31.09 @ 3:32 AM
7 LBS 15 OZ 19 INCHES
BROWN HAIR & DARK EYES

mason's middle name "graham" is the maiden name of two of his great-great grandmas (one on grandma roberts' and one on grandpa roberts' side of the family).

after watching WAY too much TLC in the hospital, i feel compelled to share our birth story (sorry for any details that might gross you out)...

i got up early sunday morning around 1:30 for a potty break, as usual. i had been having intermittent contractions that night, but nothing regular or different than the past few weeks. a few minutes after i got back in bed, my water broke. and boy did it gush. after reasoning with myself about the inevitability of the baby coming that day, i woke russell up and told him and he goes, "Really??" we were both in such shock because i was 4 days late with calvin and we definitely weren't planning to have this baby 8 days early. i didn't have anything packed for the hospital and we hadn't made arrangements for calvin because my mom was planning to come on wednesday. so, i called the hospital to find out if we could wait a little while before coming. they said no. we rushed around getting bags packed and called our friends kari and ben who saved the day and picked calvin up at the hospital. meanwhile, contractions were getting stronger and i'm continuing to soak through clothes w/ the water breakage. (my water broke after we got to the hospital with calvin, so this was a new and unpleasant experience!) we got to the hospital about 2:45 am and i went to check in while russell waited outside with calvin to meet kari. i finished up and had to waddle out there and give him a kiss before he left. i just felt so bad for leaving him so quickly. we wanted to try to make this as stress-free as possible for calvin to help ease the adjustment of sharing his parents with a baby brother and us getting him up at 2 in the morning and running around didn't help. he grabbed two of his friends (stuffed animals) and was so cheerful and excited in the car, though.

anyway, russell and i got into triage and waited for about 10 minutes to see the nurse. she came in about 3:00 and calmly started hooking me up to the fetal monitor and checking temp and blood pressure. my contractions were coming every couple minutes and were pretty strong, so i was anxious for her to check me and see how far i was dilated and then to get us to a labor room where we could more comfortably work through the contractions. she got baby's heartbeat on the monitor and then started to collect a sample of fluid to MAKE SURE it was my water that broke. hmmmmmm. i know that urinary incontinence is an issue in pregnancy, but i've never peed that much on accident and then continued to pee accidentally for the next hour straight! i guess it's protocol, but i was annoyed. so, she finally checks my cervix and says i am dilated to a 5 or 6. i was glad to hear that because i was only a 3 when we checked in to the hospital with calvin and it seemed to take forever to get to 5 or 6. while she's down there, the nurse asks if my doctor talked to me about the baby not being head down. what??? i told her that he was head down a couple weeks ago, but that she hadn't checked for that at my last appt. the nurse said she wasn't sure what she was feeling, but it wasn't a head. she starts calling to try to get an ultrasound brought in and then baby's heartbeat goes down on the monitor. so, she checks me again and then starts calling lots of people quickly. she said she's pretty sure what she's feeling is the umbilical cord and possibly a foot. so, the baby did some acrobatics at some point in the last couple weeks and he was now breach. also, the cord was prolapsed, which means it's coming out first. this accounts for the drop in his heartbeat and is obviously really dangerous because it gets pinched and cuts off blood, oxygen, and food supply to the baby. it also means an emergency c-section. so, nurse starts calling more people quickly and they lay me flat and get ready to move. russell can't come with me because they have to use general anaesthesia (i wasn't getting an epidural and i didn't even have an i.v. in at this point. we're flying to the operating room and they call a doc who is asleep in one of the rooms (waiting for another delivery) to come do the c-section. my doctor had left the hospital about 20 minutes before this and there wasn't time to wait for her to get back. meanwhile, this WHOLE time, the first nurse still has her fingers in my cervix and she is holding the baby off of the cord so he can breathe and monitoring his heart rate. when we got to the o.r., i asked if he was gonna be okay and she said she didn't know. that was the scariest point for me. it's one thing to get to the hosptial in pain and be worried about being able to cope through the delivery, but it's SO much worse to be worried about the baby surviving the delivery. they started the i.v. on the operating table and the anaesthesiologist told me he would be with me the whole time to make sure i was okay. the nurse who is holding baby off of the cord shouts that we need to go because he's down to 30 or 40 (that was his heart rate) and the last thing i remember is feeling like i couldn't breathe. i realized later that it was the drugs putting me to sleep, but i seriously thought i was suffocating and was trying to raise my arms up to tell somebody, but they weren't working.

i woke up and saw russell - he said hi. i asked if baby was okay. he said he was fine and they were bringing him in to see me. what a handsome little miracle! they had him out in minutes, less than a half hour after we got to triage. we spent 3 1/2 days in the hospital and it's so good to be home. my mom changed her flight and came sunday night, which was a lifesaver since russell had finals this week.

mason is healthy and so mild-mannered (just like calvin was - such a blessing). he's eating well and sleeps like a champ, usually just getting up once at night to eat.

calvin is adjusting well and loves his baby brother. he likes to use a high squeaky voice when he says "he's so cute!"russell and i are tired, but we love having 2 boys.

mason

2009-06-03T23:22:00.000-07:00

sorry for the delay in an update...mason and i came home today. here's a few pics - lots more details to come...

He's here!

2009-05-31T09:29:00.000-07:00

baby boy came eight days early this morning via an emergency c-section.
mother and baby are doing great!
he's very cute!
stay tuned for more details.

mother's day

2009-05-16T20:07:00.000-07:00

3:30 am. potty break

7:00 am. potty break. russell gets up to do his primary lesson

8:30 am. get up and waddle to the shower

8:45 am. smell food. head downstairs and calvin, sitting at the table, greets me with "happy mother's day!" eat yummy breakfast prepared by my dear husband. flowers, home-made cards, and chick flick on the table.

10:00 am - 1 pm. church. primary kids remembered the words and sang an awesome medley for their moms, calvin was SO reverent in sacrament meeting, got a dark chocolate candy bar for the mom's gift, sharing time duty for me and calvin pooped 5 minutes before i needed to teach senior primary (russell was also teaching), it's 107 (ONE-HUNDRED AND SEVEN) DEGREES in our car when we leave church

1:30 pm. start soaking my hot feet w/ swollen toes in ice water. russell thinks i'm crazy. he makes me lunch anyway cuz it's mother's day. calvin and i eat ice cream cones. call moms and grandmas to wish them a happy day. calvin keeps saying "happy mother's day" and "happy birthday."

3:30 pm. put calvin in his bed, try to take a nap, no such luck.

4:45 pm. calvin out of bed after he sang and practiced gymnastics the whole time. we wake russell up and he starts dinner.

6:30 pm. delicious mother's day feast: chicken cordon bleu, rice, fresh green beans, watermelon, and cream puffs...thank you my love! calvin takes AN HOUR to eat because he just wants to sing "i'm trying to be like Jesus" instead of chew and swallow. i didn't even know he knew that song - fun surprise.

7:30 pm. decided we should take some pictures today (see below...i'm now regretting this for obvious reasons). also shot cute video of calvin singing...no regrets there! i've been singing this song to him since he was in the womb and it's the best mother's day gift that he is singing it back.

(calvin's modeling my new pearl bracelet!)

9:00 pm. family prayer...calvin helps his daddy: "thankful for mommy, thankful for daddy, stinky toots, Jesus Christ, amen!" couldn't stop laughing.

10:30 pm. went to bed

11:15 pm. got up w/ a bottle of tums and wrote this blog post. 4 weeks (3 now) til baby comes...boy am i ready to start sleeping again. haha (at least the heartburn will be gone, right?)

some recent silly pics of my boy - i do love being a mom!

1:00 am. went to bed again

firsts

2009-05-14T20:20:00.001-07:00

Calvin had his first camp out in the backyard with Russell a couple weekends ago. It was a trial-run for our ward father/son camp out and I think Russell's glad he tried it at home first...

my boys ready to set up their camp site

making their foil dinners

they did some exploring in the back while dinner cooked

they were nice enough to eat inside w/ me - it was too hot outside!

ready for bed...calvin lasted until 11 pm and then they came inside for bed. he was so excited that he wouldn't even sit still on his sleeping bag. russell even tried pretending like he was asleep and calvin put his face like an inch away from russell's and just watched him for a few minutes, then kept talking and asking questions. so, no father/son's this year with the ward, but they certainly had a good time (and a good sleep once they came inside)!

the next day, calvin went to his first friend birthday party. it was a disney princess party with a bounce house, bbq, and face painting! he got a baseball and a football - no surprise - and had a great time!

last weekend we went to our first diamondbacks game. calvin wanted to wear his mariner's hat and bring his mitt, but we were a little high up to catch a fly ball. we sure had lots of snacks, though, and a great time!

it's probably also a first that i've posted as much as i have in the last few days. i'm trying to catch up before baby comes (in 3 1/2 weeks!) and i have a real excuse to put it off. so, stay tuned for a couple more posts in the next few days...

spring break

2009-05-12T13:14:00.000-07:00

we had a much-needed break for most of april and got to see lots of family. calvin and i flew to slc on apr 1st and spent a week with grandma and grandpa perkins. we got to see aunts, uncles, cousins, great grandparents, and friends. russell got to study and take finals and then met us in seattle for his spring break - apr 10-19th. it was nice to spend so much time together that last week and see family in seattle. here's a summary of our marathon trip:

utah

grandma & grandpa perkins took us to see the farm animals at thanksgiving point

learning to milk a cow

goats

horse (he changed his mind about a pony ride when he got close to them,
but loved looking at the horses)

cute baby calf

grandpa had a little shadow for the whole week, unless he was gone, then he followed grandma

easter egg hunt with some cousins

i think that's the one he ate w/ the wrapper still on

logan, alex, jacob, hannah and calvin (sorry about the weird reflective eyes...)

calvin with great-grams and gramps perkins after a delicious lunch at el matador

playing w/ cousins in jamie & rich's fun backyard

seattle

riley and calvin enjoying smoothies

playing with ethan - calvin loves his "big" cousins

dyeing easter eggs

so glad we got to meet new baby owen

calvin's blue egg w/ his name on it

easter morning - at least the easter bunny brought toothpaste along w/ all the junk

another egg hunt

who would expect them to actually look at the camera?

ready for church

russell and i got to go to the temple

we had to hurry and snap this picture while his shadow was showing (the sun wasn't out much until the end of the week)

russell, chip, calvin and riley riding the train in tacoma

bridge in tacoma

tacoma union station in the background

glass museum in tacoma in the background (weird looking blue things and cone-shaped roof)

displays on roof of glass museum

fountain in front of glass museum

eating delish seafood at ivar's in seattle

and feeding leftovers to the seagulls...

on the wharf

we got to see ethan's first t-ball game - he had a great hit!

mariner's game

calvin loves his aunt kyle

wow...i'm tired just reliving this whirlwind trip. but, it was SO good to see loved ones and to enjoy some cooler weather! it's already in the low 100's here and i'm miserable.
thanks mom & dad and chip & deb for hosting us!

cousins

2009-05-12T13:01:00.001-07:00

My cousin and his family from Utah came to visit at the end of March. We loved having company and Calvin especially loved playing with cousins. He still asks if they are coming over from time to time...flying in calvin's "airplane"

thanks for coming to see us!

march happiness

2009-04-27T09:46:00.000-07:00

my bearded husband was overjoyed to get 17th row tickets for a suns game in march (one of his administrators at school is the team doc). he LOVES basketball and has never sat in the lower bowl! the only thing that would have made him happier is if they were playing the spurs, but it was still a great time. i admit that i was shocked to see so many famous players...shaq, steve nash, grant hill...i obviously don't keep up on who plays where. fun date night - thanks kellen and erin for babysitting last minute!

aloha festival

2009-03-28T13:27:00.000-07:00

we headed to tempe a couple weekends ago with some friends for the annual spirit of aloha festival. we got some good kahlua pork and a large shaved ice, watched hawaiian dancing, and enjoyed the sunshine. thanks to the mecham's for inviting us.

haircut

2009-03-26T11:39:00.000-07:00

we caved and got calvin's shaggy hair cut a few weeks ago. i liked it better long - i guess we'll just have to grow it out again! here's the before and after:

he didn't want to hold still for an after picture, so this is the best i got. i think he looks like such a big boy!

payson

2009-03-21T12:53:00.000-07:00

a few weeks ago, calvin and i escaped the heat - yeah, it was just BARELY march! - and headed with some friends to a little campground outside payson (about 2 hours northeast of here) for the day. we had a picnic, went on a little nature walk, and just enjoyed being outside in 60 degree instead of 80 degree weather.

train park

2009-03-02T12:48:00.000-08:00

saturday we went to a train park in scottsdale. we rode the carousel, the little steam-powered train that goes around the park, and looked at the huge engines and cars. calvin wanted to drive them all.

here's a few more random pictures from february...

calvin insisted on wearing his "sun"glasses outside

and inside

meet russell's new personal trainer. calvin does a couple push-ups, then says, "daddy's turn."

get a good look at that shaggy hair...he's getting a haircut this week!

my valentine

2009-02-20T11:35:00.000-08:00

i love my husband. his birthday is feb 10 and so i usually end up flaking out for valentine's day. i always make him promise to not get me anything either, but he inevitably shows up with flowers, a card, and dark chocolate. the stuff is nice (that whole bag of chocolate is almost gone), but i love that russell is so thoughtful when he has a million other things to worry about right now and he was technically off the hook.

here's a couple pics from russell's birthday...calvin was so excited to give his dad the birthday card he made:
we had about 15 friends over for the party and ate shish-ka-bobs, loaded baked potatoes, fruit, salad, and cake. apparently 28 candles generate a lot of heat:
russell is one of the most ambitious and caring people i know. he chose a med school that focuses on serving underprivileged people and truly has a love for helping others. he's up at 6 everyday, rides his bike 5 miles to school, goes to class/studies til 5 or 6, rides home, eats dinner and plays w/ calvin, and then studies for a few more hours before bed. i admire his dedication as well as his efforts to be so available for us despite being so busy. it's very important to him to have weekends be for family time and i'm thankful for that. russell is an incredible dad and loves to spend time playing sports, trains, or anything with calvin. he's a kid at heart and is so fun to be around. this pregnancy has been a rough go for me and russell has been so good about helping out around the house and making sure i'm comfortable (and well-fed). i'm thankful that he's my valentine every year.

weekends

2009-02-09T16:20:00.000-08:00

We've had some free weekends this month and have been able to spend a lot of time together. The weather has been gorgeous and we found a great park in Chandler, complete with a motorcycle, bus, and fire truck toy that you can drive. Calvin was in heaven:

We've also been playing a lot of "Sorry," which is Calvin's new favorite game. He actually will sit down and play it and just needs help counting out the spaces (and remembering not to cheat - he likes to take all his pieces out of start at once). My favorite is how he says "sorry" when he draws that card...I'm pretty sure he got this from Russell. It's pretty funny:

surprise!

2009-01-21T13:31:00.000-08:00

boy #2 is due june 8th!

2!

2009-01-17T12:38:00.000-08:00

our boy turned two the day after Christmas. as mentioned, calvin was sick that week and we actually had to wake him up for his birthday party, but he seemed to have a good time. thanks to all those who celebrated with us!

my mom made calvin his own three layer cake. he ate the top layer for dinner
because he woke up right before we sang to him!

joshua sure enjoyed his rainbow chip cupcake

birthday bath with cousins...notice calvin's flopping mohawk!

calvin got to open his new birthday bike when we got home from utah. he's already getting the hang of the pedals and now just needs to work on steering. (i love the bulky helmet and knee and elbow pads, which have actually already come in handy!)

this kid has quite the personality.

he loves to:

drive things - calvin loves anything you can drive: helicopters, airplanes, cars, motorcycles, bikes, scooters, and especially trucks - he always asks to drive them when he sees them; he has a book of different trucks and can name most of them (many of which i didn't even know existed); if i let him, he would sit behind the wheel of our car and drive for hours

hold things - our neighbors have a huge lab and calvin always asks if he can hold the puppy when he sees him; the other day he saw some construction workers on a roof in our neighborhood and asked if he could hold them; he loves holding babies and sometimes even asks to hold me

zoom things - he loves to zoom his race cars, train set, and anything that you can pretend is a race car or train

hug and kiss things - calvin loves our vacuum - he went into the closet and gave it a hug and kiss 3 times yesterday; he also kisses random stuff in books that he likes

play sports - everything has a mitt right now: baseball mitt, football mitt, soccer mitt...?

read books - he likes to read to his stuffed animals

jump and run - calvin doesn't walk anywhere unless i'm holding his hand and he has to

animals, especially puppies and monkeys

calvin has decided that he's pretty much done taking naps and he celebrated the other day by taking off all of his clothes AND his diaper during his "rest time." he's learning to count and can go up to 7, except when i ask him to. he's also learning his colors and his favorite is red. calvin is a jabber-box and has a "manly grunt-like voice" that he uses when he says stuff like basketball or big truck. he continues to shadow his daddy whenever russell is home and loves to help with anything.

we sure love this little boy!

december highlights

2009-01-14T16:50:00.000-08:00

here i am wondering where half of january has gone and i still haven't posted about december. we had a busy month and were blessed to spend lots of time together and with extended family and loved ones. here goes the marathon post:

one of our traditions is to bake Christmas goodies to share...

katy and her kids, who sadly moved to kansas right before Christmas, came over for a farewell dinner and we also decorated cookies and opened presents.

koby and magavin with their masterpieces

then we headed up to the mesa temple to see the lights

this is something i've never seen before, so i had to capture it on film. yes, those are oranges (or maybe grapefruit) blooming on the tree covered with lights.

we also got to celebrate koby's birthday with them at amazing jakes, which is a restaurant place with lots of fun rides and stuff like laser tag and go-carts...

calvin and delaney on the train

the carousel with delaney and dad

teacups...i had to laugh because i took this picture just as russell was trying to squeeze in behind the spinning wheel thing in the middle =)
we had a great time! we really miss having katy's family close by, but we're glad that they got to kansas in time to spend Christmas with dan.

our next adventure started the next morning when my sister heather and i left for utah with 3 little boys in the back of the corolla. (heather drove out here with her friend after their husbands were deployed to iraq.) needless to say, it was a long drive, but we thankfully didn't hit any snow and the roads were clear.

max and calvin didn't waste any time getting out the dress up stuff:

ezra is such a smiler for pictures and makes a cute lion!

russell flew up on the 23rd and my grandparents came down for a visit just before the snow started falling on Christmas eve.

calvin with great gramps and gram

that night we performed the traditional perkins family Christmas pageant

2 shepherds and the angel of the Lord

this was one of the best pageants ever, and maybe one of the most sacreligious, and i laughed so hard that i was crying (maybe you just had to be there). max started out as a shepherd, then decided that he wanted to be buzz lightyear. he insisted on accompanying mary (played by hannah) and joseph (my dad) to the stable and he had to carry the baby Jesus. he wouldn't let hannah pick up the baby to swaddle Him and put Him back in the manger, but he did it for her. buzz made an excellent addition to the pageant this year:

we also opened a present from grandma and grandpa and some new jammies

calvin with his power painting set
this was our best shot at this festive picture

new jammies, robe and slippers

our Christmas miracle was that all three little boys slept until about 8! here they are first thing:

calvin got a baseball mitt from santa and we made the mistake of having him open it first. he loved it and wouldn't take it off his hand to open anything else, so he went with the one-handed technique.

it started snowing Christmas eve and came down for about a day. we were glad we didn't have to go anywhere! here's the huge snowdrift in the backyard:
it's sorta hard to play in snow when it's taller than you, but calvin and daddy managed...

in addition to the snow, another unwelcome gift is that we all got sick. calvin got his first ear infection and russell and i got colds, so we did a lot of sitting around the first week and tried to squeeze in everything else the last few days. russell and i saw the movie twilight, which was entertaining, and we went to the temple with heather. we had to get breakfast at kneaders (yum!) and got the traditional chinese food feast for new year's eve. we also got to have lunch with some college friends in provo and went to our good friend's wedding before we left. it was a much-needed break and we are so glad we got to go.

calvin is still asking every day if we can go see grandma and grandpa and go to koby's house to play. how do you explain to a 2 year-old that it takes a day to get to utah or kansas?

holidays

2008-12-13T15:35:00.000-08:00

turkey bowl with friends from russell's school

calvin was not content to sit on the sidelines and they graciously allowed him some playtime

this was my only picture from thanksgiving...i made rolls (my first attempt ever) and they turned out pretty well. we had a delish dinner with katy, dan, the cousins, and the missionaries.

we actually started decorating for Christmas on thanksgiving. those of you who know russell should know that he started it even though he usually protests anything Christmasy before turkey day is over. calvin found his stocking, a mitten decoration, and squished his "my first Christmas" hat on his head for a festive outfit...

i came downstairs and found two boys watching the train circle the tree

we've also been to two light parades. we went to this one in tempe with katy and her kiddos:

and, Christmas came early when toys r us delivered a small gift in a huge box (it was a big waste), so we made an airplane out of it. calvin enjoys taking his animals for a spin.

in unrelated news, russell participated in a dodgeball tournament (no fractured fingers this time!) for charity that was hosted by a club at school. here's his team in their goofy costumes. yeah, russell's the one with his underwears showing and the sporty pink headband...

his team won 2nd place!

november in arizona

2008-11-26T10:37:00.000-08:00

This month's weather has been beautiful and actually bearable for venturing outside. A few weeks ago, Russell's school hosted the ATSU Founder's Day BBQ at the Big Dreams Little League Park in Gilbert. The park has major league replica fields, a huge indoor soccer field, and a cool indoor eating place that overlooks five of the fields. There was a kickball tournament - our team took 2nd! - and of course Calvin was in heaven. He LOVES baseball and got to hang out in the dugout with our team and play on the field after the game.

learning to run the bases (backwards)

our friends Stan and Samira Brewer (below) and their little Isabella - she was so cute with her face painted!

I took these last pics two days ago - it was 75 degrees and we spent a lot of the day outside. Here's Calvin next to our monstrosity of a tumble weed...it's taller than him. Notice the flowers still blooming!:

I love this grass. I learned that there are actually two kinds of grass in Arizona - summer grass and winter grass. The summer grass is green, but not so soft and it's a type that can withstand the major heat. THIS is winter grass. It's emerald green and thick and luscious and I could probably eat it or at least have a nice nap in it.

I love that Calvin smiles for pictures now.
This is my favorite boy next to my favorite bush in our backyard.

I'm thankful for warm, sunny weather, especially because it's raining today.
Happy Thanksgiving!

quirky tag

2008-11-13T12:31:00.000-08:00

My sis-in-law Lyndy tagged me like two months ago...

Here are the rules:
Link the Person who Tagged you.
Mention rules on your blog.
Tell about 6 quirks of yours.
Tag 6 fellow bloggers to do the same.

1. I have to sleep on my side with a pillow between my legs and preferably be facing away from Russell and not touching him at all. I do love my husband, but I can't fall asleep without these conditions.

2. I hate shaving my legs. Before we moved to Arizona, I didn't really own a pair of shorts and seriously shaved probably once a month or so and even less in the winter (sorry if that grosses anyone out). I've only worn shorts since we moved here and regrettably, I've shaved more in the last three months than probably the last 5 years.

3. I'm a compulsive chap-stick user. I always have at least one tube with me and in the event that I can't find it, I'm really uncomfortable until my lips are properly coated again.

4. I always have a song in my head, which sounds sort of cheesy, but it's true. You can often catch me humming parts of it, which is probably annoying. The songs vary, but it's usually one that I've heard a lot lately. Recently, it's been "How Much is that Doggy in the Window?" or something from Aladdin - you can probably guess why.

5. I always squeeze the toothpaste from the middle. I like it. Russell is a bottom of the tube squeezer and regularly pushes the toothpaste back up to the top so it's nice and neat again. That's my favorite time to get a good squeeze right in the middle.

6. If my feet are cold, my whole body is uncomfortable. I usually sleep in socks because of this.

If you feel inclined to share your quirks, consider yourself tagged.

Enough about my issues...let me add some cute pics of Calvin. His latest quirk has to do with his wardrobe. These are all from the same day last week. He started out by insisting that he wear his coon skin cap to breakfast. He had to put it back on every time it fell off and there were fuzz balls in his cereal and stuck to his hands, though he didn't seem to mind.

When he got dressed, he wanted to put on a tie and then raided my "unmentionables" drawer. He put them on all by himself, so I had to capture it on film...
Then he kept the tie and tried on Russell's socks and shoes. Looks like a little old man...

yo ho, yo ho a pirate's life for me...

2008-11-02T18:29:00.000-08:00

Our Halloween festivities started with our ward's trunk-or-treat on Tuesday night.
Here's our little pirate all ready to go:

Calvin won a cupcake in the cake walk and got cotton candy and a balloon sword.

Russell's sister Katy let us borrow a crayon costume for me and a knight for Sir Russell...

Here's the boys in front of our trunk.

We carved our pumpkin on Thursday night

Calvin trick-or-treated at Katy & Dan's neighborhood with the cousins and loved it. Surprisingly, he ran up to all the doors, stuck out his bucket, and even waved bye and said "welcome" when Russell or I said "thanks." He scored in the candy department and still talks about "oween."

Russell decided to wear another of Katy's costumes for trick-or-treating - the "warlock" (witch) riding a ghost. Needless to say, he only lasted about a half hour waddling around in the 90 degree heat - yeah, I've never been so hot on Halloween and I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

Here's Uncle Dan, cousins Magavin the jedi, Milo as spiderman, Koby the pirate, and Delaney as Ariel, and Calvin all ready to go.

I had to include a short video (sorry the lighting is bad) of our candy-monger...

september visitors!

2008-10-19T21:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to me - my mom, sister Heather, and her boys Max and Ezra came to visit the day before my birthday. They graciously braved the heat (it was still in the 100's for all of Sept) and we had a great time. We ate out (Texas Roadhouse, Sweet Tomatoes, Cafe Rio!), enjoyed the pool, went to storytime at the library, got pedicures (just the girls), visited the Mesa Temple and visitor's center, and tried to walk around at the Riparian Preserve (a desert/wildlife area), but didn't last long in the heat. I wish I had more pictures, but I left the camera home most of the time. The cousins sure had a blast and it was great to spend some time with two of my favorite ladies.

calvin and max scooping rocks in the back...they really were having fun, but were probably annoyed that i asked them to look at the camera

fancy toes

grandma looks gorgeous with two distracted boys

matching cousins

Mesa Temple grounds

smiley brothers (max loved calvin's tool set safety goggles)

ezra is getting so big and is still such a good baby. he learned to scoot on his stomach while they were here.

heather and the boys stayed for almost a week and a half and my mom was able to stay for an extra week. calvin kept close tabs on his grandma and dragged her around with him everywhere for the last few days she was here. we were definitely spoiled and sad to see everyone go!

calvin discovered his shadow a couple days before my mom left - it was quite entertaining!

white coat ceremony

2008-08-25T22:40:00.000-07:00

Russell started school on July 28th and his white coat ceremony was Friday, August 1st. It's a traditional start-of-medical- school thing they do where some faculty and other guests speak, the students are given a white coat, they recite the osteopathic oath and then everyone takes pictures. This is what was going on inside the auditorium...

And out in the lobby (Calvin didn't last very long, but they did have screens outside and I was able to go back in when it was Russell's turn to be "coated")...

We're so glad that Hal, Kyle and Katy + kids could be there, as well as my mom. Russell had quite the fan club.

I'm so proud of all the hard work that Russell has put in to getting this far! (And, for those who were wondering, I finally cut Russell's hair yesterday - it was out of control in these pictures! It just wasn't on my to-do list those last two weeks of July. =)

arizona, shoes & dancing

2008-08-25T21:29:00.000-07:00

We love AZ so far and are anxious for the time when we can actually go outside for an extended period. They tell us here that it starts to cool off around October-ish. We are pretty much settled in our home - my favorite features are the space (compared to our last teeny apt), the kitchen, the air conditioning, the ceiling fans, and the garage. Some stuff we've done this past month:

- spent time at the pool whenever possible
- visited IKEA for the first time and had yummy meatballs
- unpacked and put away ALMOST everthing
- been to Wal-Mart WAY too many times
- BBQ'ed last weekend with Russell's school friends
- spoke in Sacrament Meeting our 2nd Sunday
- ate at In-n-Out Burger (honestly, I'd rather go to Carl's Jr - sorry to all you die hard fans)
- visited the library weekly
- ate Cafe Rio with Katy, my sis-in-law (yay, they have one here!)

We would love to host any who want to come visit (well, as long as we know you) and if it helps entice anyone, we have a Texas Roadhouse, Sweet Tomatoes, Bajio, and Chipotle just around the corner (you can tell we're enticed by good food).

I don't have pictures of the house yet, but one of Calvin's newest things is to go into my closet and try on my shoes. He always puts on the fancy ones and then walks back and forth across the bathroom floor between the bedroom and the closet - I guess he likes the noise they make. I've caught him on film twice so far:

These black ones are his favorite, but the blue suede (below) went better with his outfit that day...

He always neatly puts them back where they go - this kid cracks me up. His favorite words these days are broccoli (he loves to eat it too), racquetball, soccer ball, basketball (sensing a theme?), and Virgil (our turtle). He's become quite brave in the pool and would walk right off the step if I wasn't watching. He also loves to jump off the side and splash.

Okay, last thing. The other night, I put on the music from our wedding and we all danced for about an hour. Here's a video I took of Calvin and Russell about halfway through:

texas trip

2008-08-25T16:17:00.000-07:00

Right before we moved, we took a much-needed vacation. We stopped in Killeen to see Heather & Ephraim just in time to celebrate Ephraim's birthday. We got to meet little Ezra and enjoyed some amazing BBQ spots. Heather and the boys joined us in San Antonio and we visited the zoo, the Japanese sunken gardens, and spent a couple days in Padre Island at the beach. It was so nice to visit with family there and Calvin enjoyed playing with cousins. Here's a bunch of pictures to make up for my recent lapse:

Ezra and the birthday boy

Max graciously demonstrated his famous statue of liberty trick (and many others)

We all played out in the sprinklers

Me, Max and a rare look at an unhappy Ezra (he's usually so mild-mannered)

Butterfly photo shoot at the zoo...

Savannah

Calvin (what's with the ballerina arms?)

Max!

John, Kelly and the kiddos took us to the zoo

Cousins at the sunken gardens

We also went swimming at Grandma & Grandpa Roberts' pool...Here's Rod with Ezra

Karen let us take her Yukon to the coast so we could all drive together.
Heather was a trooper in the backseat with three little boys.

The beach! This was Calvin's first experience with the ocean and he loved it.

Boys playing in the sand

Ezra and Heather enjoying some shade

Calvin and Daddy flying a kite

More sand castle building

We had a wonderful time and are so glad we decided to still go. Who knows when we'll have another chance for a trip? We drove home straight through (23 hours and the low point of the trip) and got back on Wednesday at 4 in the morning. We packed Wednesday & Thursday, loaded the truck Friday, and Russell left Saturday morning. Thanks so much to our brother-in-law Mike for driving our stuff and my husband down to AZ (we used his truck and trailer and it was a tight squeeze). Calvin and I cleaned and checked out of our apt (with lots of help from amazing friends - Judy and Jean) and left Tuesday morning. Thanks to my mom for braving the drive with us! She stayed and helped unpack until Friday afternoon and was such a big help. So many things fell into place for us this past month. While on vacation, we were able to buy all of Russell's books (all 7 pages!!), figure out financial aid and apply for a scholarship, find a house to rent (with my sis-in-law Katy's help - actually she did it all!), sell our contract, find new health insurance, and arrange the moving stuff, to name a few. We are so blessed with supportive family and friends and the opportunity to see so many that we love.

for Heather

2008-08-25T01:14:00.000-07:00

Let me be the first to officially wish my little sis a Happy Birthday! Heathe, I know I promised to post tonight, but I just got pictures downloaded and it's one in the morning, so this will have to do.

We are alive and well in sweltering Arizona and are loving this new adventure so far. Russell is busy, but enjoying school and Calvin and I try to stay inside or in the neighborhood pool. Stay tuned for pictures, I promise.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Heather! What a phenomenal sister and friend you are. I'm thankful that we decided we liked each other after sharing a room for so long and for your influence in my life. I admire your courage, humor, concern for others, and the beautiful mother you've become. Have a happy day today...love you!

hallelujah!

2008-07-12T09:30:00.000-07:00

We've had a huge blessing this week: Russell got a phone call Thursday morning inviting him to attend medical school! He'll be starting at A. T. Still University in Mesa, AZ on July 28th. We're so excited for this amazing opportunity.

To do list for the next 2 weeks:
- pack and clean house, sell contract
- figure out how to pay for med school
- tie up loose ends at jobs
- find a place to live
- figure out how to get our stuff there
- vacation to TX for 10 days (pre-planned!)
- the hardest part - say goodbye to family, friends, ward members, primary kiddos, coworkers, and neighbors

A little overwhelming, but we've been waiting for most of the past year to be able to make plans, so we'll take it! Wish us luck.

independence day

2008-07-09T22:27:00.000-07:00

we spent the fourth of july at my parent's house and bbq-ed, ran through the sprinklers, played outside, and watched fireworkscalvin chose these sunglasses as his prize at his 18 month doctor's check-up last week

patriotic cousins - alex, calvin and logan

logan and calvin in the pool

running through the hopscotch sprinkler with mom while cousin jake waits his turn

russell and the kiddos

grandpa & grandma perkins and jamie & rich

june

2008-07-07T23:13:00.000-07:00

Some highlights from last month...

father's day

calvin showing his dad the card he made

new basketball shorts

calvin loves to try on dad's shoes

we took a last-minute trip to manti for the mormon miracle pageant:

we enjoyed the manti city bbq turkey dinner and had plenty of time to walk around
(it doesn't start until 9:30)

calvin opted out of a nap that day and decided to play chase with dad instead

calvin actually stayed awake through the entire show and then passed out as soon as we got back to the car. this was our first time at the pageant and a nice little adventure. once you get past all the protestors outside the temple grounds, it really is a spiritual experience and i'm glad we decided to go.

random shot of oreo-cookie-face

we had a nice perkins family get-together/birthday party for gramps a couple weekends ago:

unfortunately i only got one candid shot of family before the card was full

handsome birthday boy!

it was so nice to see family that we don't see often enough and remember our grandpa's special day. he is a singular example of hard work, unconditional love, and selfless service.
love you, gramps!

Calvin tag

2008-06-03T22:47:00.000-07:00

My friend Shandra tagged me awhile ago, so here's five things about my boy:

1. Calvin eats practically anything. His current favorites include any fruit, pasta, green beans, eggs and waffles. The only foods he's ever spit out are peas and asparagus. I wish I could take some credit, but I'm a pickier eater than he is.
2. Calvin is curious. His latest thing is to point at everything and ask, "What's that?" He repeats most of what he hears and loves to explore.

3. Calvin loves books. He likes to pick them out and put them on the scanner to check out at the library.

4. Calvin may look more like his mom, but he is his dad. He copies Russell's mannerisms, what he says, and how he says it. Sometimes it's a little scary, but mostly it's cute. Yesterday we were outside and Calvin walked over to Russell, sat down right next to him, crossed his legs the same way and did the same thing with his hands. This little boy loves his daddy.

5. Calvin is all boy. He loves sports, anything with wheels, and gathering rocks and sticks outside. His favorite words these days include "ball," "trucks," and "bus."

To pass this on, I'd like to hear 5 things about Max G., Alex & Logan T., Joshua P., & Brooklyn B.

So I gave in and cut Calvin's hair a couple days ago. What was supposed to be a "slight trim" turned into a "major cut," but at least it grows fast. His hair looks darker to me now, but I decided he's still handsome and looks like such a big boy. Here are some photos of the event:

Before.
We were all about this excited.

During.
Calvin kept spraying himself with the squirt bottle, squirming and laughing. This was both entertaining and made it especially easy for an unprofessional to wield a sharp pair of scissors.

Almost done.
A handsome smile.

After.
I can't decide if this look is innocence or guilt...
The cut's a little uneven, but at least we don't have to worry about it for a good few months!

past couple weeks

2008-06-03T21:30:00.000-07:00

One of my mission companions, Jenny, and her little boy, Preston, came over to visit a couple weeks ago. Preston and Calvin are just a week apart and had fun playing and eating snacks together. It was fun to finally meet cute Preston and to catch up with Jenny.

Preston was so good at looking at the camera. Calvin, as usual, was too busy.

For Memorial Day, we had a BBQ at my parent's house. Unfortunately, we had rain, thunder, lightning and hail on and off that day, but it was still a good time.

My dad manned the grill under umbrella cover.

Logan, Alex and Calvin enjoyed Grandma's big tub.

AND, Russell finally caught his first three fish. It was pretty chilly, so he and my dad are the only ones that went. This poor little trout was the unlucky one that didn't get thrown back because Russell is determined to eat it. May he rest in peace in our freezer.

boys

2008-05-09T21:33:00.000-07:00

Calvin has been learning some essentials from his dad this week:

how to turn the laundry basket into a rocket ship for two (he also saw how to fix it with duct tape after dad crashed the rocket)
the art of fishing...we're still working on the catching part - no fish yet!

Calvin also helped his dad install his NEW forward-facing car seat. I think it makes him look so much older! He loves the arm rests, cup holder, and much more leg room. However, I think he likes the big box that it came in the most.
I cut a hole in the side for a window and then kept wondering why I spend money on toys.
Calvin has spent a lot of time in his box this week. He refused to come out yesterday morning for family prayer, but he did fold his arms reverently (which he only does about half the time anyway) so I guess we'll keep the box.
And of course his dad had to show him a thing or two about playing in boxes.

Here's a video of Calvin in action. I've been trying for awhile to get him to talk on camera, so I was thrilled to get a couple of words out of him (listen close for "box" and "baby"). Also, I'm soliciting opinions about Calvin's hair. I really like it long, but I noticed how shaggy it's looking in the pics from this week. Should we cut it again? (I'll try to figure out how to do one of those polls.)

update

2008-04-30T18:51:00.000-07:00

April has flown by with far less sunshine and warm weather than I would have liked. It snowed last week and is now back in the 50's again! Nonetheless, we've been able to visit the park a few times and found that Calvin loves the playground and swings...

and Russell still loves the zipline.
Here's a cute tub shot that Calvin conveniently censored...his hair is getting so long again!
I wish this was more of an "update," but we're still anxiously waiting to find out if/when/where we'll be moving this summer. We'll keep everyone posted!

Easter & Arizona

2008-04-07T20:40:00.000-07:00

we decided to do baskets and egg stuff on easter saturday in hopes that sunday can be a day to remember the Savior's resurrection. we had a delicious dinner and a nice visit with family in herriman on sunday, but of course i forgot the camera. here's some shots from saturday...

calvin graciously looked up from his treats for a cute smile

his "surprised" look

dyeing eggs (russell and me) and eating goldfish (calvin)

we had an egg hunt in the backyard, which is mostly pavement, so i ran out of good hiding spots pretty quick. russell did most of the hunting and picking up because calvin just wanted to run around. note to self: next year, half a dozen eggs should do (not forty something!)

me and my handsome boy in his easter clothes

we left early monday morning to make the 14 hour drive to mesa, arizona. russell had an interview at a medical school there, which is conveniently located 5 minutes from his sister katy's house. the interview went well (he's on the alternate list for admission!) and it was great to visit with katy, dan and the kiddos.

russell and koby enjoying the nintendo wii

it was 85 degrees in phoenix while we were there and calvin loved playing outside with cousins. he had some eager helpers for his first slide experience (milo didn't want to look at the camera and delaney was the opposite!).

we discovered that calvin shares his dad's love for four-wheelers. he figured out that the foot pedal makes it move and the switch in the front is for forward and backward, but he didn't quite master the holding-on part.

russell thought he'd show calvin how it was done (or at least that was his excuse), but it went a lot slower...

delaney and calvin on a wagon ride. note how beautiful and green the grass is - it was a nice taste of spring that i miss (especially because it snowed here today)!
dan brought out the huge bubble machine and the kids loved it. tuesday was magavin's 7th birthday and russell is playing with one of gavin's cool new transformer toys.

koby with magavin during present time.

thanks to katy and dan for giving us a place to stay at such short notice and for a great time! we drove back wednesday. after changing several yuck diapers (calvin was good, but sick on the way home), narrowly avoiding a moose on hwy 20 (my fault), and miraculously coasting into nephi on fumes (my fault again) we decided that we'd spent way too much time in the car during the past three days.

calvin had his 15 month check-up the day after we got back. he's fit as a fiddle and was sadly rewarded with 3 shots. he loves strawberries, jelly beans and m&m's and has learned some new words this month: bubble, duck, cracker, turtle, banana, and grandpa (which sounds a lot like bubble).

we had a relaxing conference weekend in herriman with my dad (my mom is in georgia enjoying the newest grandson, ezra!). i'm definitely excited for the snow to be over and for spring to come back!