NO!

Today, for the first time Calvin said the word NO!  I am so excited because he has shook his head, or he would scream but not actually say the word.  He is making progress really slowly, but I see little changes daily. 

When Calvin was a baby and even up until recently he would love to listen to music but never sing it or make any sounds to it.  Lately he has been singing and it is so cute.  It is words that I do not understand, but it is beautiful none the less.  I love my little Bubba Bear.

Winter Storm February 2014

We had a pretty mild Winter here in Oregon and my mind was looking forward to Spring more and more.  On Thursday, February 6 it was just suppose to be cold and we received about 5 inches of beautiful snow.  It was so windy and was blizzard like conditions.  Due to the snow, and the icy roads, school was cancelled.  In the morning I realized that we did not have any water because it had frozen so I got under the house and used a hair dryer to unfreeze the pipes.  It was cold, 12 degree wind chill, but I was determined that we needed water and it worked!

 

Friday we received a couple more inches so they cancelled school again.  It was a day spent playing in the snow and building forts.  Our girls had fun while Calvin decided he did not like the snow just yet.  We also received quite a few calls of frozen pipes from residents so most of the morning was spent helping them get their water going again.

 

Saturday I decided that since it was so boring and we could not go anywhere due to the road conditions that it would be fun to sled with the girls.  We had a blast.  We went across the street where there is a nice little hill and made a pretty fast track.  Calvin finally decided that the snow would be fun and he joined us.  It was so nice to have Mitchell home to play with the kids and gets some things done around here.  Mitchell did venture out with Ashley and they came home with a 1000 piece puzzle.  I had never completed such a huge puzzle before but it was the perfect thing for our bored family.  We completed it Sunday in just over 24 hours.  It is 3 feet long and is called Grand Finale.  I love it so much that I mod podged it and it is hanging in my bedroom.

Sunday church was cancelled because an ice storm came in Saturday night and froze everything.  You would walk on the snow and it would just crunch below your feet and was really really slippery.  The City of Portland asked that no one travel because the road conditions were so bad. 

 

Since we had not started thawing out yet school was cancelled again on Monday.  We decided it would be a good day to clean and get our house back in order.  It is nice that today, Tuesday, it is going away and we can get back to our normal lives again.  It was fun spending so much time with our family, but is so nice that they are back to school.

 

 Hailey made a little fort, until Calvin came over and stepped on it.

 Crash!

 My sweet Hailey after her fall.

 Calvin deciding if he likes the snow or not.

 Our neighbor brought over a couple of sleds and decided to pull me around on it and it was actually a lot of fun. 

 My little bubba bear enjoying the snow.

 Snow princess Lindsay.

 Surfing!!!

 Lindsay and Hailey going over to the hill across the street.

 Snow princess Ashley

Ashley and Calvin having fun together in the snow.

 

Now time for the Winter Thaw 2014

I Hate Chores

My dear sweet Hailey gave me this picture the other day and said that she looked in the dictionary and read that chores are to be small and odd jobs that last under 5 minutes. She was complaining about all of her chores that she has to do. I just had to laugh that she actually took the time to look it up in the dictionary. This has been on my fridge for over a week and I smile every time I see it.

Christmas 2013

This year we were able to go to Utah for Christmas.  A week before we were to leave our best friends car broke down and they had plans of going to Blackfoot, Idaho for our friend, Ruth's parents 40th Anniversary.  When we heard that they would not be able to go due to funds since their car was so much to fix, we decided to find a way to get them to go with us. 

 

We looked into getting a canopy for Mitchell's truck and could not find one anywhere that would fit.  We then decided that since our van needed to be fixed anyway, we would take it into the repair shop and get it repaired then take the van. 

 

Heather had to get Rebekah from BYU Idaho so we asked if Lindsay could drive with her and Elizabeth so we would have room in our van for Ruth and Paul.  This was perfect and a lot of fun for Lindsay.

 

We left for Utah at 11:30 PM because our friends had a play that they already had tickets for.  Once they drove up, we loaded in the van and drove away.  Mitchell drove for the first couple of hours, then he was so tired that Paul took over when we started heading into the Blue Mountains.  We hit really bad fog, then a blizzard and then icy roads but we made it safe and it was a TON of fun traveling with them.

 

We dropped Ruth and Paul off at Pocatello, then drove into Salt Lake to my parents house.

 It was so fun to pull up to Taylorsville and to see a ton of snow in the back yard for the kids to play in.  At first Calvin did not want to walk on the snow, then he kind of got the hang of it and had fun playing in Grandma and Grandpa Adamson's back yard.

 

This picture is of their view from their back porch.  GORGEOUS!

 We arrived on Saturday, December 21, Calvin's birthday.  The day before he opened his present which was a dry erase board/chalk board/paper roll.  He had a lot of fun playing with it.  At Grandmas house we sang Happy Birthday and he ate a cupcake.

 

On Sunday we headed to Lehi to listen to Tricia, Camille and Johnathan sing in their ward choir.  Tricia is the choir director and did a great job.  The music was beautiful.

 

That night we invited cousins from both sides of the family over to my parents home.  We asked that only adults come since their home is small.  Uncle Jay, Anna Marie and son, Alicia, Uncle Rob, Aunt Sharyl and Sara, Vanner, Donna, Karl, Nancy, Diantha, Trent Johnson all came along with Uncle Craig and MaryAnn.  On my Mom's side Uncle Ken, Kendra and her husband all came.  It was a wonderful night and so fun to see all of my cousins and Aunts and Uncles that I had not seen in years.

 

Monday Grandma and Grandpa had a Grandkid Christmas party.  They had fun eating pizza, making crafts, playing outside in the snow and just hanging out.  While they were partying it up Tricia, Allyson and I went shopping for last minute Christmas gifts and out to eat at Costa Vida.  We had a great time.

 

Tuesday I became really sick and wanted to sleep all day.  I did not have a fever, but had bad diarrhea.  My father was also sick and had been for awhile so he went to the Doctors office and received 2 bags of fluids in an IV.  As the day went on I started to feel a little better, but I was really weak all day.  That night Tricia's family and Allyson's family along with Uncle Jay came to my parents and we had a Christmas dinner along with the nativity story.  My parents handed out our presents including the story of the Candy Bomber, a Willie Handcart book and record of their genealogical DNA to see where our family was fun.  It was fun to learn that my family is 100% from Europe on both sides.

 

Christmas morning we did the traditional Christmas train starting youngest to oldest.

 The kids opened their stockings and they found candy along with their first real CTR rings. 

 

 Calvin had fun opening his gifts.

 

 

 Our family joke - Mrs. Egg McMuffin Love Ronald McDonald.  Funny Mitchell.  :)

 Hailey received a pair of skates.

 My favorite gift happened to be Calvin's drum set.  He sat down for the first time and banged out a tune, then took a full on bow.  It was really funny.  He then threw the drumsticks in the air.  This boy is a character.

 

The number one thing that I wanted to do while in Utah was go to Temple Square.  I was so excited to be able to go the day after Christmas. 

 

 

 

 

 Allyson and My Mom joined us while Mitchell, Adam, Calvin and Dad stayed home to let Calvin nap.

 Inside the tabernacle.

 

 

 

 In Deseret Book they had a display for the candy bomber book.  It was fun to shoot off the parachutes then run and catch them.  Each child was able to take a free candy cane.

 

 I love my Mommy and had so much fun visiting family.  We were not able to visit with friends since they day we would have, I was sick.  We had a blast.

We left Friday morning at 6, then went to Pocatello to pick up our friends and drive home.  We played a game, What If..... and had a blast laughing and talking.  They are awesome and we get along so well with them.  Would not have wanted to drive with anyone else.

Christmas Card 2013

Our friend Michael Wynkoop took the kids pictures this year for our Christmas card after church one day.  I printed up these cards and the lettering was so bad that I did not hand them out.  Oh well, it was fun anyways.

 

 

I made this header for facebook this Christmas.  Love the pictures of each of the kids, they are all getting so grown up.