Buddies…

The best photos are those that are candid and can capture a simple moment in time…

I’m lovin’ it!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was so much fun this year! 

My parents were able to come up for a visit.  It was their first trip back since their car accident in March.  It was really great to have them with us for a little while.

Ellie took the pumpkin picking very serious, while Cal just wanted to push the wagon around.  He is so strong…  and very busy!

Cal liked helping more this year than last.  Last year he was pretty upset we had cut off the pumpkin’s head.  This year he was involved, but still a bit hesitant.

Ellie Belle, on the other hand, loved it and wanted to help the whole time.  Good job Sis!

We were quite pleased with our final product.  Cal would ask me all day long if we could light the pumpkins. 

Often we would find the tops of the pumpkins all over the place- in the yard, in the garage, even in my car.   He could not leave them alone.  It was very cute.

 

Halloween night finally came.  I was really excited about their costumes.  I will dress them in coordinating costumes as long as they will let me.  I have a feeling that will only be for another year or two.  Cal’s was a size 2-4 years old and it was SNUG.  In fact, the hat was so small it wouldn’t even go on his head.  I called the company and they sent me another hat, thinking they had accidently sent me an infant size.  Nope, it fit the same.  So my cleaver mom took the extra hat and made the original hat bigger and even had enough material left to lengthen the overalls.  Phew, thanks mama!  Cal is not a dress up kind of kid… but we told him that if he left it on people would give him candy.  Needless to say, he didn’t take it off one time.  Smart boy!

Ellie’s costume on the other hand was a 6-12 months.  It was huge on her!  We had to roll up the sleeves a ton.  Such a little lady!  She looked like a little doll!

 

 

We had a great time and many fun memories were made.  We had our annual “Souper” Party up at Lynell’s house with my parents and all of the cousins.  We seriously love Halloween!

Temple Trips

Family Home Evening can be tricky with two little children.  It usually last less than 5 minutes- total.  But even so, we feel it is important to start the habit the best we can. 

Patrick had the great idea of going to the Temple for FHE.  We could walk around the grounds and enjoy the Spirit we felt there.  We paused to talk about the Temple.  Cal knows it is “Jesus’s house” and that a Moroni blows his horn on top. 

We talked about when we were able to enter the Temple as a family to be sealed together forever.  We know they are young, too young to fully understand, but we want them to always remember the Timpanogos Temple and the special significance it has for our little family.

Ellie even took a few of her first steps there.  I love both of these pictures so much- holding hands with Daddy and Cal and walking to Daddy- precious!

Things went so well we decided to go to a different Temple a couple of weeks later.  This time we traveled to the Draper Temple.  Both Temples are only 15 minutes from our home- just in the opposite direction.  We feel so blessed to live in such a wonderful place!

Little Lessons You Teach Me…

When Cal was little I had some posts I called “Little lessons you teach me”.  These were moments in my parenting where I could feel and more deeply understand my Heavenly Father’s love and role in my life. 

Every month we take close to 500 pictures… seriously.  It’s nuts!  Almost daily, pictures are taken of this or that cute thing the kids are doing.  I download them often and keep them well organized.  With these pictures, the “what” we did in our life will be well documented. 

However, precious learning moments, I’m afraid, may be forgotten. So as these moments come- if possible I want to capture a picture and write it down.

This particular little moment happens frequently in our home.  When I’m getting ready in the morning the kids come into my room and play.  Often Cal will run into our closet and “hide” from me.  I will hear him giggle and then yell out, “Mama”.  Every time I will reply, “Oh no, Ellie, where is Calan?  I can’t see him.”  The giggles will continue from the closet and soon enough I will hear again, “Mama”.  “Calan, are you lost?  Where did you go?”  Then he will pop out and I act shocked and say, “Oh Calan, there you are… I was so worried.  He just laughs and laughs and then hides again. 

He sincerely believes I can’t see him...

One time while playing this little game a very clear thought came to my mind.  How often do I feel I can hide from the Lord when I’m not living up to my full potential?  Or even, how many times have I questioned if He knew I was there… calling out to Him waiting for His reply.  My life is so very blessed, but there are some days that I feel overwhelmed with 2 very young children.  There were some lonely days before I met my Patrick.  There were some feelings of being forgotten when we struggled with infertility. “Are you there?” I would cry to Him.  “Do you remember me?”  I knew deep down He was there, but in my sorrow it was sometimes easier to feel abandoned.

This little lesson has changed my perspective completely.  When I pray I try harder to imagine Him near me… listening, caring, smiling and even crying with me.  If I don’t feel His Spirit near it is because I have chosen to “hide”.  He will patiently wait for me to come to Him and say “here I am” even though He was there and aware of me the whole time. 

He is our loving Heavenly Father.  He would never leave us, it is us who turns our backs on Him.  He allowed His son suffered for our sins, our sorrow, our pain.  They know us perfectly.  We are never alone.  Ever.  And I truly believe, they are closer than we could ever imagine. 

What a beautiful lesson.  Thank you little Cal.

Experimenting with Colors…

Who knew…

Water…

Some food coloring…

Bowls…

Spoons…

Measuring cups…

And two adorable children

Could provide so much fun!

 

A very good month

July is one of my favorite months of the year.  The weather is always warm and there are so many fun things to celebrate. 

Our anniversary is on July 8th.  This was our 5 year anniversary.  Wow, how 5 years has flown by!  It has been a wonderful 5 years!  I loved Patrick so much the day we got married, but our love is much richer, much deeper.  I love our life together!  I feel so incredibly blessed to have him as my husband forever.  Often we comment on how blessed we feel.  Life is so good and we are so happy.  We wanted to get away for a night or two like we usually do, but leaving our babies just didn’t work out this year- and that was just fine with us!  Instead, our good  friend offered to watch the kids during the day and we went to Tucanos for lunch- yum!  It is the same restaurant where we had our wedding luncheon.  That night we headed up to Sundance for a concert at their open air amphitheater.  It was incredible! 

Patrick’s birthday is July 14 and mine is July 18. Cal and Ellie “helped” me make birthday breakfast. One of Patrick’s gifts was a slip and slide (smile). We had lots of fun and Cal was an instant fan!  Stroganoff for dinner and pineapple upside down cake for dessert.  A very relaxing and fun day all together as a family!

 

On the 18th we went up to my brother’s house for a BBQ.  Lynell and her family came down to help celebrate.  Boy do they know how to party! In their basement they have a karaoke stage that includes disco ball and a fog machine- how cool is that?  My favorite chocolate cake for dessert and we were all in heaven!

 

Being with family is always the best way to celebrate!

I must be rich…

Calan loves to “drive” my car.  Several times a day he will ask me, “Vroom vroom mama?” Which means he’s asking if he can go out to the garage and play in my car.  He’s ok playing out there for a little while alone, but most of the time he wants me out there with him.  He has me sit in the passenger seat while he pretends to drive us here or there.  I will say to him, “Calan, can you please drive me to the store?” and he will giggle and then vroom vroom like a race car.  He even asks me to put on my seat belt.  Such a safe driver!

I thought only rich people had a personal chauffeur… 

I must be rich!

The 4th of July

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. 

From start to finish it is a perfect day!  We always start off with the Provo Parade.  This year Cal was quite interested in what was going on and spent most of the parade up on Patrick’s shoulders watching intently.  Ellie on the other hand was just happy to be there- as always.  I love when the Veterans go by.  There is always a lump in my throat and I feel so proud to be an American!  I love our country so much!

After the parade we went home for some lunch and some much needed nap time.  We had a fun, long evening ahead of us and we wanted to give the kids as much nap time as possible.

We headed up to Blythe’s house for our annual BBQ, swim and fireworks. We love this tradition and every year just keeps getting better! Our first time going together was in 2006 just 4 days before our wedding and now we are a family of 4- love it! AND now that Dave’s family has moved to Utah they too could join in this fun tradition.

 

Both Cal and Ellie are little fish! They love the water as much as we do! Cal was so brave this year and (with Loni’s help) went down the slide several times. He is getting so big!

We planned to have Cal stay up for the fireworks and put Ellie down to sleep, but to our surprise Cal crashed and Ellie was wide awake.  I tried to keep her ears covered during the show.  She didn’t mind the noise one bit and seemed memorized by the pretty colors.

Yes, it was a perfect day!