Calaway

My Funny Valentine

2012-02-13T06:00:00.000-08:00

{December 2008 Pasco, WA}

{October 2011 Salem, OR}

{Even more in love today than we were 3 years ago}

Since Valentine's Day is coming up, I decided I was going to share a few things about Dallin and I, because, hey! It's my blog and I can do things like this. And because hopefully one day, our kids will look back and they can read about their mom and dad and get all grossed out by their mushiness toward one another.

I stole the questions from this blog, which is a daily read for me. I love Mariel. She's awesome!

How did you meet?
Well, initially, we met in 2006, right after I graduated from high school. I was kind of (read: REALLY) immature and Dallin wasn't so much interested. I, however, was very interested. Nothing happened though and after a few more run-ins, we finally started talking on the phone (I was in Pasco, Dallin was in Rexburg) in March of 2008 and the rest is history!

{July 2008 Priest Lake, ID}

What did you do on your first date?
We went to Bento's Teryaki Grill in Richland with Allen Liebing, his date, Sandy and Blaine and Hillary, then went to Dairy Queen and then hot tubbing at Dallin's apartment complex. The next morning, I had to go to Selah for a church activity and I had to be there at like 7:00 am, and once Dallin found out about it, he asked if I wanted him to drive me there. I VERY eagerly obliged. Later, he told me that he was hoping to meet more girls at said activity... he was in the dog house for awhile after that. I have since forgiven him.

What's the best romantic getaway you have been on?
We haven't been on many, but I would have to say the best was Cameo Heights Mansion in Touchet, WA. Granted, that was where we went for our wedding night, but it is the most amazing Bed and Breakfast you will ever find. We really wish we would have just spent our whole honeymoon there. The food is to die for (the pastries... oh the pastries...) the rooms are gorgeous and the view is phenomenal. You should check it out... right now... click here and thank me later.

What would be the ultimate romantic getaway?
Puerto Rico! Well, actually, the British Virgin Islands. Dallin served his mission in Puerto Rico, but spent one portion on the BVI's. He would love to go back and I would just love to go, period.

{The view from Dallin's apartment when he was serving on Tortola, BVI}

What are your songs?
The first song we sang together was, "Quando, Quando, Quando" by Michael Buble. It's still my ringtone for Dallin when he calls me. The song we danced to at our wedding was "You & I" also by Michael Buble. Our current favorites right now are "Just a Kiss" by Lady Antebellum and "Up" by Justin Bieber. Yes, Justin Bieber. I know. We're lame.

Quando, Quando, Quando
You & I
Just a Kiss
Up

If you were to make a special dinner for him, what would you make?
Oh gosh, I dunno. He hasn't really expressed any favorites lately, he just likes whatever I make. Probably something like tri-tip and potatoes, salad, veggies... yeah. Something to that effect. He's a meat and potatoes kinda guy. And I'm a meat and potatoes kinda girl. We're compatible like that.

What was the coolest gift you ever bought for him?
I think that would have to be the gift I actually made for him, which was a mission scrapbook of sorts with pictures and letters from when he served his mission in Puerto Rico. He loved it and it was so fun to see the look on his face when he opened it.

What is your favorite gift that he bought for you?
The perfume I wear everyday. Noir Tease by Victoria's Secret. Absolute favorite around these parts!

Finish this sentence, "It makes me laugh when my husband..."
Imitates voices. He is a pro at imitating and it never ceases to make me laugh. He's starting to master Christopher Walken. Oh goodness. It's amazing.

{Just thought this was a funny picture of him :) May 2009 St. Augustine, FL}

What are some everyday ways you show love for each other?
Life has been kind of crazy lately with Dallin in school and being the Venture Scout leader in our ward and also with me being in the Primary presidency. I have realized that I have to make a conscious effort everyday to make sure he knows I love him. I wake up every morning and make Dallin breakfast and a lunch to take to school and then I drive him to school and pick him up everyday. We usually text each other during the day to see how the other is doing and we always end our conversations with, "I love you". They're simple things, but they make the difference!

{My 22nd Birthday, October 2009 Rexburg, ID}

What are some things you like to do together?
We're kind of boring... we love to watch movies together. Lame, right? But, we love it! We also love to go on drives (not as lame...) It is especially fun around here because it's so green and beautiful all the time. We haven't just gone on a drive in a while though, we need to do it more often. I have actually wanted to find more things for us to do together lately. I think we need a "couple hobby" :) One day we'll find one!

{Beautiful places in Oregon that we like to drive to!}

If you could give your husband anything, what would it be?
A snowmobile. Yeah, kind of a big ticket item, but he really loves sledding. Although, on second thought, if I got him the sled, he would probably be gone every weekend using it in the winter time, so let's nix that idea. Just kidding! But seriously...

What cologne do you love your husband to wear?
Very Sexy for Him by Victoria's Secret. He wore it while we were dating and he still wears it now and I love it. He does throw other scents into the mix every now and again, but that's my all time favorite.

Finish this sentence, "My husband is especially attractive when..."
He's working. I guess I am a farm girl at heart because I love the combination of diesel, sweat, and whatever product he's working with (alfalfa, wheat straw, rye grass, etc.) There's nothing I love more than to see my husband hard at work because I know I will never want for anything. He is an amazing provider and there has never been a moment where I have thought that we were not secure financially.

{If you talked to Dallin about this picture (or Bradley) they would most likely tell you it was, "the stupidest day of their lives". But, it also shows just how hard he works! August 2009 Junction City, OR}

I love my marriage because...
It's fun. Yes, there are hard moments, no denying that. But, when all is said and done, we have fun together. He is my best friend, my other half, and as Dr. Suess put it, we have, "fallen into mutual weirdness and call it love". We're weird and we know it, but we love each other all the more for it. I wouldn't change a thing about him!

{I know, I know, this is a gem. But it perfectly showcases us and our "mutual weirdness". September 2008 Rexburg, ID}

The Rain Came Down...

2012-01-20T20:30:00.001-08:00

... And the floods definitely came up. You know those times when you are watching the news and you see the crazy floods in the mid west and down south and think, "wow, that is so much water" and "those poor people" and "I can't even imagine"? Well, I can imagine it now, because the floods have hit us! Salem has probably gotten 10 inches of rain since Wednesday (don't quote me on that) and we have felt the effects. On Thursday morning, I woke up and went into our kitchen to make breakfast when I stepped into a puddle on the kitchen floor. (We live in the basement level of our complex.) Our apartment building is rather unique, as it is in an octagon shape, so we have an atrium in the middle of all the apartments. When we went to sleep on Wednesday night, there was quite a bit of water in the atrium, almost to the sidewalk level. After I stepped in the water in the kitchen, I sprinted to the front door, swung it open and found that the water was now probably 1/4 to a 1/2 inch away from coming in our front door (probably 8-10 inches deep). I hurried to the back door then, to check on our porch and found that it was almost to the door as well (probably 3-4 inches deep). We quickly called maintenance and they told us they already had a sump pump going in the atrium and they would try to help us get the water out of our apartment as soon as they could. We then realized that our carpet was getting wet in places too, but just along our south facing wall. The puddle in our kitchen was also quickly turning into a small lake and we knew we had to do something, because our maintenance guys weren't going to be able to get to us quickly enough. We used all of our towels to soak up as much as we could and then we ran to Salem Public Works to get sandbags for everyone in our complex who needed them (along with half of Salem). As we were driving to get the sandbags, we crossed a bridge and the stream that normally flows rather peacefully underneath looked like it had turned into class 5 rapids. We later found out that not long after we had crossed, the stream breached and the road closed. Multiple streams breached in the area and, at one point, about 35 roads in Salem were closed. It was insane. Our carpet is now torn up, furniture is placed on one side of the apartment and overflow furniture is now crowding in Claire's room. We have an industrial sized fan blowing 24/7 as well as a dehumidifier and the house is basically in shambles. BUT, we're safe. We didn't get swept away in a parking lot and two of us killed (that happened in a nearby town, Turner, OR). We have minor damages done, that we don't even have to pay for (bless this stage of our lives, where we are renting!) and our apartment is still standing and liveable (albeit, messy!) We won't soon forget this winter and we are grateful for the help we've received (Marcus, you are the best brother, EVER!) and for a watchful Father in Heaven. We're definitely counting our blessings.

And now, some pictures. :)

Claire's crazy, messy room with all the extra furniture!

{Right outside our front door}
This picture was taken a few hours after the sump pump had been going, but, if you can imagine, that entire area where all the plants are was underwater and the sidewalk right in front of me was covered in about 3-4 inches of water.

The torn apart living room

Water in the kitchen. As you can see, the towels made NO difference whatsoever.

Our back porch

Before we moved all the furniture and had the carpet torn up. Those are my footprints {in water} The first few were a surprise to me {wet socks, boo!} and then I made the others so you could all get the full effect :)

{Image Source}

This is the road I always take to pick up/drop off Dallin for school.

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We passed by this on our way home from getting all the sandbags. We initially tried to turn down this road and then we saw this and turned around. Crazy!

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This is the source of the water from the above picture. This is a baseball complex. Pringle Creek flooded and made this field into a lake.

{Image Source}

Airport road, in Salem. We rarely go down this road but we pass by it all the time. We could not believe the amount of water in this area!

{Image Source}

Remember that peaceful stream turned class 5 rapids I was talking about earlier? Yup, this is it. We were right where those police officers were. I think the creek breached just moments after we crossed it.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-08T20:45:00.000-08:00

Wow. I'm sorry about the lack of posting, but our break was so wonderful, I didn't even think about blogging! So, here is the short version of our Christmas vacation!

December 16-24 we were with my family in Pasco. Here are some pictures from our stay! We opened gifts with my family on Christmas Eve.

All Claire really wanted to do was touch that Candy Cane ornament and a little one shaped like a fire truck the entire time we were at my Mom and Dad's. Other than that, she left everything else alone!

Wasn't my Mom's tree beautiful??

One of Claire's gifts from us. Even though it is supposed to stay magnetized to the fridge, she prefers hauling it everywhere around the apartment.

His favorite cologne. Very Sexy for Him by Victoria's Secret

Can we say CHEESE? :)

All the kids were making shadow puppets on my mom's wall so I had to take a picture :)

"Cowboy Santa" This guy came trotting through my parents neighborhood passing out candy canes on Christmas Eve. The kids loved it!

December 25 to January 7 we spent with Dallin's family in Ellensburg.

Christmas morning!

Can't ya tell? She's super excited! :)

Christmas PJ's

Her new favorite toy. She walks around with it all the time.

I love how it looks like she's asking him a question about the train. :)

Colt and Claire. She loved him! He had fun being the bigger, stronger cousin. :)

Claire steals our Camelbak water bottles all the time, so we were very excited when Uncle Derek got her one of her very own. As soon as she opened it, she stuck it straight in her mouth. :)

She had just woken up from a nap...

Hillary made this amazing hat for Claire and she made an adorable one for me as well. We LOVE them!

Dallin's Grandma, Jane, sent us all gifts this year even though she is serving her mission in New Orleans right now. She is a super woman! Thank you, Jane! We loved everything.

This is the gift we gave Jeff. A canvas of a picture that Dallin took with his phone. Pretty amazing, huh?

Valerie's gorgeous tree! She and my mom had totally different styles of decorating for their trees, but I love them both every year.

This picture just speaks for itself. :)

On the 29th, we went to Suncadia Resprt in Cle Elum with Dallin's family and swam at their indoor water facility. I think we have a water baby on our hands. Look at the pictures. I'll let you make your own judgement.

It was a wonderful Christmas break and we feel so blessed for all we have been given. Thank you Mom and Dad and Jeff and Valerie for all the gifts, food, entertainment and love! We love and miss you already!

Oh Hey, Remember Me?

2011-12-04T23:16:00.001-08:00

Before I posted about the Butternut Squash Soup, I didn't realize how long it had been since I last posted... Sorry! So, here is a total picture dump. Oh, and Thanksgiving Vacation? Didn't pull out my camera once. Yup. Epic fail. Sorry folks. Anyway, here we go!

These pictures are from Claire's birthdays. Yes, birthdays. Jeff and Valerie came for her actual birthday weekend and then my parents and Tara and David came down the next weekend for the BYU v OSU game and to celebrate Claire's birthday. The pictures are in no particular order :)

Claire's first birthday cake. A White Pumpkin :)

These next are just random pictures of Claire

Girlfriend LOVES lemons! She will eat and eat and eat as many as you give. One night, Dallin left his cup with some lemons on the ground and Claire discovered it the next morning. :)

These are family pictures that Ashley Henry took for us back in October. We LOVE how they turned out! Thanks Ash!

Anytime I get out the camera or camcorder lately, she crawls toward me to try to get the camera. :)

The Beautiful fall trees outside our window.

My Birthday! For some reason, Blogger won't let me upload certain photos, so this is the only one from my birthday that you get to see! :)

Spinach, anyone? As soon as the fridge door opens, she bolts toward it and plays inside. I turned around for like 2 minutes to start making bread and when I suddenly realized it was too quiet and turned around, this is what I saw. :)

So, that is life for us right now! Claire is getting into everything, has taken a few steps, but refuses to actually walk, and Dallin is wrapping up his first semester of school. Life is fabulous and we're grateful for this wonderful season where we are able to reflect on all our blessings and the beautiful gift of our Savior's atonement.

Butternut Squash Soup

2011-12-01T19:37:00.000-08:00

This is one of Dallin and my new favorites! We eat it like every two weeks :) Andrea Calaway was the first person to introduce us to this soup, but I didn't have her recipe, so I found a similar one online and then tweaked where I saw fit! Here's my recipe for all interested parties.

Butternut Squash Soup

1 1/2 Butternut Squashes, peeled and diced
1/2 Onion, diced
3 Cups Water
2 Cubes Chicken Bouillon
1 Can Chicken Broth
Franks Hot Sauce (or your favorite hot sauce) to taste
2 tsp Basil
2 tsp Thyme
1 tsp Marjoram
1 1/4 8-ounce Packages Cream Cheese
Bacon

In a soup pot, mix together all ingredients, minus the cream cheese. Let boil for 25 minutes or until squash is tender. In food processor or blender, puree the squash mixture with the cream cheese until smooth. Pour back into soup pot on low heat and heat through, but don't boil. Serve with crumbled bacon on top and enjoy!

This soup really is delicious, pretty fast and very easy! The longest/hardest part is just peeling and dicing the squash, but it is totally worth it! Hope you all enjoy it on those cold winter nights. :)

(This is a very filling soup, too.)

TGIT!

2011-10-20T14:55:00.001-07:00

It's Thursday! Yay! TNO (Thursday Night Out/Off) is the cause for much joy in the Willamette MBA program. The Business College doesn't have any classes on Friday's so that the students can have an extra day to meet with their PACE groups and work on their projects. But really, TNO has kinda become an excuse for most of the MBA students to meet at a bar and celebrate the end of another week. For us, TNO is usually the night where we rent a Redbox (or find something on Netflix Instant Play) and relax. Thursday has become my new favorite day of the week. Here's to many more TNO's!

I have a bunch of pictures to post from Claire's birthday with Jeff, Valerie and Janelle and from last weekend with my Mom and Dad, Tara and David and Marcus and Ashley, but my computer is sick... :( So is Claire. I'm thinking it might be because she got her MMR vaccination and her Chickenpox vaccination, all live virus, at her 1 year check up last week... Poor baby girl! So anyway, here are a few totally raw, unedited pictures from the Pumpkin patch we went to with my mom and Tara while everyone else was at the BYU v OSU game (Yay, Cougs!)

I love her eyes in this picture. I can't wait to go to town in PSE once my computer is working again!

All these beautiful gourds were from their fields. I really wanted to buy up their whole supply and bring them home with me, they were just so pretty!

I love this picture. Her face and Dallin's expression are perfect!

The crew on the hay ride! Claire wouldn't look at the camera. And isn't my neice, Sarah just gorgeous?? She's only 14, so any young men out there *cough* Derek *cough* have to wait a couple years ;-)

Unfortunately, this was the best shot we got of us all day... Not my most flattering picture of all time, but oh well, you take what you can get.

My niece, and his older sister, Emiline, calls him "Mr. Chubby Cheeks" but it sound more like this- "Mistowe Chubby Cheeks" Don't you just wanna kiss him?!

Another shot of my gorgeous niece

My beautiful mother!

Claire giving Grandma Henry kisses :)

William coming down the hay pyramid slide

Look really close. See that nice little wet circle on her bum? She didn't want to go potty in a porta potty (I don't blame her) so she just kept letting a little out every now and again which resulted in her pants getting wet and her not being able to go down any slides or riding any of the trikes. Silly girl, I love her!

Love You Forever, Like You For Always

2011-10-09T05:00:00.000-07:00

Dear Claire,

You are 1 year old today! That just seems completely unreal to me. People told me that once we started having children, time would speed up. That was the understatement of the year. Time has literally flown by.

I vividly remember every tiny detail of the day you were born. I remember talking to Aunt Rachel on the phone to make sure I was really in labor. I remember the frantic look on Daddy's face as he got home from the gym and saw just how much pain I was in. I remember we hit every green light on the way to the hospital (hallelujah) and trying to walk to the elevator in the hospital lobby. I remember the way my hands shook as I tried to sign all the ridiculous waivers and forms at the L&D sign in desk and telling the nurse that I was pretty sure you were coming RIGHT NOW. I remember the incredulous look she gave me as she checked to see how far dilated I was and announced I was at a 9. I remember the beautiful blessing Uncle Marcus gave me as the epidural finally kicked in and the total exhaustion that suddenly overcame me once the pain was under control. I remember seeing your tiny head crown and wondering if you were a boy or girl, and then not caring as the next contraction hit because I just wanted to have you in my arms! And I remember the most beautiful feeling that overcame me as Daddy announced we had a baby girl and they laid you on my chest for the very first time, softly singing happy birthday to you for the very first time. It was the most beautiful song I had ever heard. I looked into your sweet face and my life changed forever.

I was overcome with feelings of love and gratitude that you were healthy and strong. I remember feeling awful guilt as I realized how much love a mother has for her daughter and painfully recalled every time I was ever a brat to my own mother, suddenly realizing how much it must have hurt her to be treated that way. And then I was filled with a deep appreciation for all that my mother did for me and I knew I wanted to be a mother just like that for you.

October 9, 2010 was the most magical day of my life. It was the day you made me a mother, and I will never forget it. Happy Birthday, baby girl. I love you more than you will ever know.

Love, Momma

Inspired Words

2011-09-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

I was so inspired by the amazing talks given at the Relief Society Broadcast on Saturday. It was a wonderful meeting and I left feeling uplifted and edified. After the meeting, I decided there were two things that specifically stood out from the meeting that I wanted to remember. I decided to get my Photoshop on, and this is what I came up with.

I really liked the way they all turned out. Now, I am no graphic designer or even all that talented when it comes to Photoshop, but if you like these prints, feel free to download and save the image and print it out for yourself! If you feel like sharing it, just link back to my blog. And please, this is my work, so do not sell these images to anyone. Enjoy!

[To download, simply click on the image, then right click and save. All four images are 8x10]

Just Call Me June...

2011-09-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

June Cleaver that is. Really, the only thing different is the fact that I don't have really cute dresses to wear around the house all day while doing my various tasks! I wish I did, too. Those 1950-esque dresses are my favorite!

Anyway! I've been busy lately. Every day this week has had something big so far. Sunday was Stake Conference (don't know about my beliefs but would like to know more? Click here!) and we got a new Stake Presidency. We got there a little late, so we had to sit in the Primary room and my goodness, it was noisy. We could hardly hear a thing! But we're excited about the new presidency. They sound like wonderful men. We'll miss President Lathen, but at least he's in our ward, so we still get to see him every week!

After Stake conference, I made a huge batch of Chocolate Chip cookies because I knew I was going Visiting Teaching the next day and wanted to take all my sisters a treat. Unfortunately, we don't have air conditioning in our apartment and having the oven on that long was not fun, but I got them all baked. We now have way too many chocolate chip cookies on our hands. Anyone want some? Come on over! :)

Monday I went Visiting Teaching, which ended up being a half-the-day affair, but I really enjoyed it. One of our sisters that we teach had a ton of extra quart jars that she was getting rid of, so she gave me and Jennifer (my VT partner) all the jars. We were so excited because we wanted to start canning but I didn't have any jars and Jennifer had run out. Thank you Eva for all the jars, you are a saint!

Tuesday was the blessed canning day. I just did peaches but I am planning on doing pears sometime in the next couple of days. I got 18 quarts and none of the jars cracked! Whew! I would say it was a successful first attempt at canning. Dallin and I tried one of the jars last night and they turned out delicious. I think I am going to go buy more peaches because I have a feeling we're gonna go through them quick. As I started canning, I called my mom to make sure I was doing everything right and after hanging up with her, I noticed Claire was really quiet, so I looked over at her high chair where she was sitting and discovered she had fallen asleep! This was a first. I got a good laugh out of it :) Of course, I ran and got my phone and camera and snapped a few pictures. Poor little girl, I had no idea she was that tired!

My sleepy babe

All the peaches!

Yesterday I realized we were running low on bread, so I knew it was time to make more. For the past couple of years I haven't really bought bread. I got this amazing recipe via my awesome cousin Emily and I haven't looked back since! It's a little time consuming, but so worth it. Once that was done, I moved on to a project I have been meaning to tackle for quite a while- the lamp in Claire's room. It was a lamp that Dallin and I got when we were first married and we weren't using it out in the living room, so I gave it a little makeover! Remember it from this post? Well, here is the finished product!

I was inspired by this amazing lady and her cute party hats. I took mine in a bit of a different direction, but she was the inspiration! I love how the lamp turned out and Claire just kept staring at it before I put her down for bed last night, so she must love it too. :)

Oh, you remember the frames that I wasn't quite sure where to hang in Claire's room as well? They now have a home.

So, that's been my week so far! Chocolate chip cookies, visiting teaching, canning peaches, baking bread and making a new lamp for Claire. (You can throw laundry, cooking and cleaning in there too, if ya want) ;-) I just love productive weeks.

Ellensburg Fair and Rodeo 2011

2011-09-08T15:10:00.000-07:00

We were able to sneak away to Ellensburg this holiday weekend and visit with Dallin's family. It was so much fun, really busy and I gained 80 lbs from all the fair food I consumed. Seriously people, that stuff is just dripping in grease. And it's delicious.

Bradley, Derek and Janelle were all showing steers and did very well. We're so proud of you guys! I, unfortunately, didn't get any pictures... *slap on the wrist for that one*

On Saturday night, we got to watch Extreme Bulls, which is pretty much the rodeo, but only bull riding. It's so fun to watch. This year did not disappoint, either. We were so lucky as to see a bull jump the fence into an area that led to the fairgrounds. I'm pretty sure it was all fenced in, so he couldn't get into the actual fairgrounds, but heck, if he jumped one fence, I'm sure he could jump another! They caught him before he could do any damage though, thank goodness. The crowd went nuts when it happened and it was an exciting couple of minutes. :)

On Monday afternoon, we got to go to the actual big Rodeo where they do the calf roping, wild cow milking, bull riding, wild bronc riding, etc. This event, I did get pictures of, yay! Claire had had enough before the Rodeo was over though, so Dallin and I took her out and just walked around the fair grounds, getting more delicious fair food that just increased my waistline. (I've been on a fruit and veggie detox this whole week, in hopes of reversing the damage. So far, so good. Only a pound gained. Whew!) :)

So, here are the pictures I captured from the weekend. Thank you Jeff and Valerie for the great weekend, we loved every second and we miss you already!

Our Rodeo Clown. He was from Walla Walla! His name was JJ (can't remember his last name) and he was so funny! He was crazy in shape too. He ran from one end of the arena to the other multiple times and he was fast! I think he is a new favorite.

For the life of me, I can't remember the name of this group, but they all carried in American Flags and they were from the west side of the state. It was a beautiful sight to see so many American flags. And then, before the National Anthem, the announcer of the Rodeo gave the most beautiful prayer. You could tell it was totally not scripted, because he just started into it and the whole crowd was kind of taken by surprise. But at the end of the prayer, he talked about the freedoms we enjoy and how praying in public is one of those freedoms. I got pretty choked up, it was a really neat experience. I am grateful for those who live what they believe and are not afraid to let others know what they believe.

These Indians came in and they had the most beautiful outfits! I just had to show you all their beautiful headdresses and blankets.

Grandpa's girl.
:)

NACHOOOOOO!!!!

Valerie bought these hilarious Nacho Libre masks from a vendor at the fair and all the kids had to try em on. This is Bradley in the Green.

Derek in the Green/White, Janelle in the Nacho mask, and Bradley in the Green/Red. We were dying when they put them on, they looked awesome! I told Bradley that he and Savannah (his girlfriend) should be Nacho and Encarnacion for Halloween. That or Troy and Gabriella :)

Claire went to town on our Rodeo tickets. She loves chewing on anything that resembles paper or cardboard. I know. Awesome.

The One Arm Bandit performed during one of the breaks between events and he brought two buffalo with him. Those things are ENORMOUS.

Somehow, don't ask me how, he got them to get up on the top of his trailer. Here's the first one.

There's the second one.

And there he is in all his one arm glory! He really was amazing. He didn't hold on with his hand at all while he rode. Apparently he was working somewhere a few years back and was electrocuted really badly, which caused him to lose his hand. After that, he started performing as the One Arm Bandit and he's amazing on that horse. It was quite the sight to see him, his horse and those two buffalo on that trailer. Serious talent!

The Summer Happenings in the Calaway Household

2011-08-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't updated our lives lately! Life's been super crazy what with moving back down here to Salem from the Tri-Cities, getting ready for Grad school and trying to figure out all the craziness that goes along with that. But we've had an amazing summer and we're so excited for this fall!

At the beginning of July we went to Priest Lake with Dallin's family and had a blast. We were only there Sunday through Wednesday though, because we had a family reunion with the Mathew's family (my mom's side) Thursday through Saturday. Priest Lake was so much fun and we were so glad we got to see Blaine, Hillary and Colton! We miss you guys!

About to wreck...

REALLY about to wreck...

Wrecked!

Poor Andrea had some horrible falls that trip! She always came up smiling, though!

I didn't take any pictures at the Mathew's Family reunion because I knew my awesome cousin, Amy J would be taking tons of pictures. I haven't gotten those yet, but I can't wait until I do! I'll be sure to share once I get them. The reunion was great, as always. Thank you to the Rawlin's crew for putting on such an amazing event! We loved every minute of it!

Since all of my siblings were going to be in town for the Mathew's Family Reunion, we took the opportunity to get a family picture, because the last full family picture (in-laws, nieces, nephews, etc.) was at Dallin and my wedding, almost 3 years ago! And we've had a few additions since then, my daughter being among them. :) Let me tell you, trying to get 3 babies, all under the age of 18 months, to cooperate for a picture, is impossible. Just in case you were wondering. I think we have one picture of all of us that includes Savannah and Claire with bottles in their mouths and Tara nursing Andrew. True story. So awesome. When my mom and dad choose the shot they love best, I will make sure to show you on here. Until then, if you really wanna see all the wonderful shots (and have a good laugh!) click here.

The rest of July was fairly uneventful until the last week. I moved back down here to Salem and set up shop while Dallin was "roading" multiple balers, tractors, rakes and stackers down here from Pasco. It was a loooonnnnggg drive for him! Tractors only go about 26 mph. Needless to say, we're glad that's done. He's been working his little hiney off ever since and school starts for him, tomorrow! YIKES! Grad School, here we come! I'm excited and nervous for him and am anxiously awaiting the day when we are officially done with all educational endeavors. I know, it's pathetic! We haven't even started and I'm ready to be done! I'm so proud of Dallin for taking this step though, and getting out of his comfort zone to finish his education. He's amazing!

Last week we had the Henry Family reunion with all of my dad's family and it was a blast. We went to Eagle Crest Resort in Redmond, OR and enjoyed ourselves immensely! Sadly, because of work, Dallin and Chad couldn't make it and Sarah had her Pioneer Trek for our church. We missed all three of you! We also missed Laurie, Mike, Jenna, Justin, Grayson and Nicole! Thank you, Uncle Dick and cousin Pat for putting forth so much effort to make this reunion a success. We had a blast, it was so good to see everyone, and we definitely need to do these things more often. We'll make sure to plan the next one, and soon!

These pictures are in no particular order!

And one last thing. I've lost 14 lbs this summer. HOLLA! I love that my clothes fit the way they're supposed to now! Goodbye baby weight and good riddance! :)

So, that's life for us right now! We're doing great, loving life and we're so grateful for the Gospel in our lives that gives us hope, peace and keeps us grounded.

Done. Finito. Finis. Terminado.

2011-08-13T13:02:00.000-07:00

Finally.

I am finished!

Finished painting Claire's crib, that is.

Hallelujah!

It was a pain in my rear-end. And in my back. Literally.

9 cans of spray paint later... I think I'll be blowing off-white crud from my nose for the next 10 years. Too personal? Sorry.

I thought this was going to be a fairly easy task, painting her new-to-me crib to match her dresser and toy chest. But oh, how wrong I was. It took forever, what with feeding, not long enough nap times, and other chores like laundry, cleaning, vacuuming, dusting etc.

Can I just tell you, though? This crib turned out pretty fargin' amazing. (I hope you don't mind I just stole your word, Karen aka PRP!)

So, without further ado, here she is, in all her off-white/stained glory.

See all that distressing where the real wood is showing through? Well, the spray paint kept making this weird bubbling effect when I would paint and I was getting so frustrated because it looked AWFUL. But, then when I was adding the stain, the bubbling rubbed off to make it look like it was distressed and I could not be any happier with the results! I think it looks awesome!

I got these two frames at a yard sale in Pasco earlier this summer, for 25 cents a piece. I absolutely loved them and knew I wanted to use them for Claire's room, so I bought me some "ballet slipper" pink spray paint, painted em up real good and got a picture of the Columbia River Temple and Christ with the children and made them circular to fit in the frames. Now I just need to figure out where to hang them...

My next project for her room... white? Pink? Green? Not sure yet! I'll let you know how it goes!

She Looks Like Me! She Actually Looks Like Me!

2011-08-02T17:59:00.000-07:00

It's true. After months of being told that I have a 100% Calaway baby, I have proof to offer you that my daughter does in fact look something like me. What a miracle :)

Me as a baby

Claire

Who knew she would actually resemble me at some point :)

Reminders

2011-07-24T22:13:00.000-07:00

"Why should we mourn, or think our lot is hard?

'Tis not so; all is right."

It's funny how things are put into perspective with one simple line of a song. I'm grateful to those who have gone before me and sacrificed so much. Their faith and love of the Savior has helped me become who I am today.

Guess Who's Crawling??

2011-07-20T22:04:00.000-07:00

I haven't done an update post on Claire in about... forever. Sorry folks! Our little peanut is growing up way too fast though. She's 9 months. Can you believe it?? 9 months! Right before we went to Priest Lake this year, Claire started attempting to crawl, but hadn't quite mastered it. When we got home, suddenly the girl was crawling EVERYWHERE! We were shocked. She was one of those "overnighters" :) Our newest worry now are the stairs here at my Mom's. For some reason, they seem to have some magnetic force that attracts Claire to them whenever we're not looking. Needless to say, there have been many a dash to the stairs to scoop up the wee babe just before she tumbles downward. Luckily, there have not been any spills to date. She keeps us on our toes!

She's eating solids really well now and absolutely loves pears. I think she could live on pears alone. But, we encourage the veggies, even though she shudders any time she eats them. It's hilarious. She also loves graham crackers, Cheerios, cinnamon toast crunch (in very very limited quantities, don't worry) tortillas, bread, potatoes in any variety, i.e. french fries, baked potato, mashed potato, roasted potato, etc., and loves to chew on celery and carrots. She's got teeth too! 5 to be exact. Well, I think two of the teeth are fused together, so I guess technically 4? Anyway, she has her two top front and her two bottom front. The teeth that I think are fused are her bottom right front tooth and eye tooth. They're total snaggle. :)

She's started this new funny thing where whenever I feed her a bottle, one hand instantly goes to her ear and starts playing with it, while the other starts playing with her hair. Yeah, she doesn't hold her own bottles yet. She's totally content with me holding it for her. We're working on that.

Another funny thing- She has always growled. Ever since she was an infant, she has growled. But lately, she's started sounding like an engine that is struggling. :) Dallin took a video of it the other night on his phone. I'll have to post it on here, because it is so funny! She is consistently saying da-da, ma-ma, ba-ba, ga-ga, and every now and again, she says "sha-sha" and "fah-fah". She hasn't started associating those words with anything, although, she does look at me sometimes and say ma ma, and da da to Dallin, but I'm never sure if it's just coincidence or if she knows. I'll just say I have a genius of a kid and that she knows what she's doin. :)

She still loves her baths and loves playing with her toys in the bath. She hates being on her back, so changing diapers tends to be a challenge! She hates getting her hair fixed, but I always manage to do it somehow and she never sits still. The girl is ALWAYS on the go. I have to clip her toenails and fingernails while she is asleep because she wiggles too much while she is awake. She's totally unsure about animals, which ends up being quite entertaining to watch because she gets excited and nervous all at the same time. She reaches out to pet an animal then draws her hand back and starts whimpering. We can't figure that one out yet :) She loves to be outside and the other day we discovered that she loves to watch grandpa mow the lawn. Good gravy, she just sat in my lap and watched the mower the entire time. It's been one of the few times she actually stayed still. :) We think she must be allergic to sunscreen, because whenever I put it on her face, she breaks out in a rash and her eyes get all red and watery. So whenever we're outside, we stick to the shade.

Life with Claire at this stage is so much fun and we're loving every minute of it! I will post some videos soon. I just need to figure out my video camera... it's confusing to load things on the computer. Until the videos, though, here are lots of pictures!

We took family pictures with my immediate family the Saturday before 4th of July and this was Claire's outfit. I loved it, personally :)

My sleepy babe at Priest Lake

Kissy lips from Grandma Valerie at the lake :)

Playing with cords. Her favorite thing!

She loved being in the boat at Priest Lake. And she was super tired in this picture :)

CRAWLING!! :)

Family

2011-07-14T22:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the lack of posting! The last two weeks have been filled with family, family and more family! It's been wonderful too. I have enjoyed every minute. Except yesterday. Yesterday brought a 24 hour stomach bug that left me on the couch for hours on end and calling my AMAZING niece, Sarah to come watch Claire for me. Seriously, all those years of watching her as a little girl are totally being paid off right now. Love that good Karma. :)

On Sunday, Dallin informed me that his Uncle Bret had had a heart attack the day previous. We were both very worried and concerned and he was kept in our thoughts and prayers. He had heart open heart surgery yesterday and, I am told, it went well.

What struck me about that whole situation though, was the response of Bret's 6 brothers (my father-in-law and his brothers). As soon as they all heard about the heart attack and the ensuing surgery, they dropped everything and either flew or drove down to Utah to be with him. All 6 of these men are heavily involved with agriculture, and if any of you are not aware, this is their BUSY season. This is the season where they are stressing about hay prices and the weather. This is the, "I'll stay up all night if I have to, to make sure it gets done" season. This is when they make it or break it. This is the season where it's extremely difficult to drop everything and leave for a few days. But that's what they did. All 6 of them. They went to be with their brother in his time of need. They stuck by him until the end of his surgery to show their love and support. What a testament to Bret of how much he is loved.

If any of you know the Calaway men, they may seem a little (read: VERY) intimidating, maybe a little rough and tough, but I'll let you in on a little secret: they're all softies (in the very best sense of the word!) Those men are some of the greatest examples of love for family, love for spouses, and love of the gospel. I feel so incredibly blessed to have married into such an amazing family. Thank you Jeff, Bret, Courtney, Eric, Kerry, Kip and Cameron for being role models for my husband, for being uncles and a father-in-law to me and for loving us both. You men are amazing. And thank you to Jane, their mother, for raising 7 incredible boys. You were and are an amazing mother. And to Val- Even though you are gone, you left a lasting love and legacy with your boys which they will not soon forget.

L-R: (top) Jeff, (bottom) Bret, Courtney, Eric

L-R: Top Row Courtney, Jeff, Bret, Eric
L-R: Bottom Row Jane, Kerry, Val, Kip

L-R: Top Row Courtney, Foreign Exchange Student? I think?, Jeff, Bret, Eric
L-R: Bottom Row Jane, Cameron, Kerry, Val, Kip

{Taken April 2009 at Grandpa Val Calaway's Funeral}
L-R: Eric, Cameron, Courtney, Jane, Jeff, Bret, Kerry, Kip

And I Said, "What About Breakfast at Tiffany's?"

2011-07-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

My sweet little cousin, Tiffy-Kay (my nickname for her) is getting married. Even though she's only 3 years younger than me, it seems weird to me. I guess, in my minds eye, we're still playing barbies and dressing up. And although I have yet to meet her cute fiance, John (aka Scooter) he sounds like a wonderful guy. Anyone to catch the eye of Tiff must be pretty amazing! Last night we had a bridal shower for her and it turned out beautifully! Staci, Kristen, Shannon, Rachel and Mom, you outdid yourselves yet again.

The theme was "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and Tiffany's colors are Tiffany & Co. blue, white and silver. So, obviously, with a theme like that, and colors like that, it had to be fancy shmancy, which it was, to the nth degree. Lots of bling, lots of blue and lots of delicious, really healthy (read: fattening) food!

The Dessert Table

Tiffany's aunt, (my cousin) Kristen, made the gorgeous cupcakes. And trust me when I say, they tasted just as delicious as they looked. Heaven in my mouth.

"Girls in white dresses with blue satin... flowers..." These were the beautiful girls that met everyone at the door and then served the dinner.

Those cute blue satin flowers they are wearing were given to all the guests as favors. Me, my mom, Shannon, Staci and Rachel cranked those out one day. Lemme tell ya, there was a lot of burning, sewing, and assembling that day! :)

Because of the Tiffany & Co blue that we were using, we had to have a huge diamond, right??

The cute table that everyone saw as they walked in

Staci decorated the top of her piano with that cute jewelry tree and pearl necklaces. I loved it. She's amazing.

Their wedding announcement. I absolutely LOVE it.

The menu telling everyone what we would be eating

These sweet little girls sang "I love to see the Temple" for Tiff right before she opened her gifts. It was just about as close to heavenly Angels as you can get.

The favor boxes

Table Settings

Tiffany's aunt had the cutest idea for all of us to write down a piece of advice for her marriage, or a little love note for her. When she opened our gift to her, we would read off whatever advice we wanted to give her for her upcoming marriage. My advice was to always tell John how much she appreciated him and loved him, because it will inspire and encourage him to become even better. And pretty soon he'll get the hint and start telling her how amazing she is too. ;-)

Congratulations Tiffany, I am so excited for and proud of you! You will make a beautiful bride! And once again- Staci, Shannon, Rachel, Kristen and Mom- You guys are amazing! The food was delicious, the decorations were fabulous and you outdid yourselves once again.

Precious Moments

2011-06-28T22:27:00.000-07:00

I had one of those wonderful rare moments tonight, where there were no distractions, my babe was still and calm, and I was able to gaze into the face of perfection that my husband and I created.

I saw those big blue eyes staring solemnly at me with a pure love and trust and innocence that caused me to forget about the world around me and just look at my baby. I was reminded that I needed to slow down and enjoy this sweet little one and quit worrying about all the silly things that I worry about.

In that rare moment, I felt my love increase for my sweet little girl.

Motherhood is a beautiful thing.

The Best Two Years

2011-06-27T08:41:00.001-07:00

{Aren't these boys so stinkin handsome?!}

Yesterday was Tate's farewell. For the past 3 or 4 years, Tate has kind of become Dallin and my adopted younger brother. We love that kid. We are going to miss him terribly as he serves his mission in Figi, but I wouldn't have him in any other place. He will be an amazing missionary; He already is! I thought of what a great example he has been to those he has associated with for the past few years that I have known him and I am just impressed with his genuine love and concern for everyone. What a great example of love for his fellowmen. We are going to miss you so much, Tate! We love you and can't wait to see you in two years!

"Perhaps the reason we respond so universally to our mothers’ love is because it typifies the love of our Savior." -Bradley D. Foster
{source}

{My personal favorite}

Sometimes....

2011-06-21T15:01:00.001-07:00

{My sweet little Child of God}

Sometimes you just need a little reminder like this to put things into perspective. Thanks Hill, I needed that today.

My Main Squeeze

2011-06-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

I've attended a couple of weddings this weekend and can I just tell you how grateful I am for my AMAZING husband? I was reminded of that over-the-moon in love feeling I had for him when were dating, engaged, and first married and that super excited feeling I would always get anytime I saw him. I still get those feelings all the time, but it's fun to remember the excitement of your wedding day and to reflect on those wonderful blessings that marriage brings. I'm so grateful that he is mine for eternity.

As I have looked back on the last 3 years I have learned a few things about Dallin.

First, he's SUCH a hard worker. I don't know that I appreciated it the first summer we were married, but oh goodness, do I appreciate it now. He loves to be active and employed and hates standing still.

Second, his integrity. That man is so honest and is always concerned about whether he has been totally open and honest with all he deals with. I appreciate that so much in him. I know he is ALWAYS honest with me and I trust him 100%.

Third, his love for the Gospel. He is always striving to improve himself and loves to share the Gospel message with everyone he meets. He takes after his Grandpa Val Calaway. He's not afraid to share what he believes with anyone!

Fourth, (something I have discovered in the last 8 months) he's an amazing father. I always knew he would be a great father, but I didn't expect his total and complete love and adoration for his little girl. Claire will never doubt she is loved by her daddy because he is ALWAYS lovin on her! He can't get enough of her and always tells me how much he misses her when he's gone at work. (I have to remind him that he misses me too) ;-)

And last, but most certainly not least, he is so incredibly attractive. I remember the first time I met him (when I was 18 and he was 22) I pretty much went weak in the knees. Oh goodness, I was a fool for that boy. And I acted the part well, too. He tells me I was annoying and loud (I was) but I just wanted his attention! :) When he came and picked me up for my first date, I remember opening the door, seeing him standing there and me getting all tongue tied and nervous. I thought he was so hot and, well, I still do. Sometimes I look at him and think, "why'd he pick me again??"

I love this man so much and am so incredibly grateful for all he has done and continues to do for our little family. He's the perfect man for me! I love you babe! Happy Father's Day!

Lessons Learned While Climbing a Mountain

2011-06-08T12:52:00.000-07:00

{Picture taken from a hike I did of Badger in 2008}

Now, before you think I am super impressive and am hiking to incredible heights, let me assure you, Badger Mountain is not an impressive mountain. Well, let me rephrase that. To the out of shape hiker like myself, it is truly impressive. To those who have climbed, say, Mt. Everest, Badger looks like an ant hill. But I digress.

As I was climbing this morning with my mom and cousin, I kept noticing a man who was in front of us that looked quite experienced with this particular mountain. His pace was steady and he was not visibly struggling. As I came nearer to him, I started watching his feet. For some odd reason, my feet were drawn to the large rocks protruding from the pathway, while this man would move his foot a few inches here and there and dodge the rocks. As I started to do likewise, I found my climb was substantially easier. I thought of all the times in my life where I seemed to be drawn to something, only to figure out that it was the harder way and was making my life more complicated than it needed to be. Isn't it interesting how our church leaders continually give us wise counsel, as well as the scriptures, and like the man ahead of me on the path, show us the easier way? Yet we sometimes ignore them (at least I know I do on occasion). Why not save myself the trouble and choose the easier way? Sometimes I look at my face in the mirror and think, "silly girl... when will you learn?" All I can say is, I'm a work in progress!

The next lesson was learned as I was ascending a particularly steep part of the trail. I had been so focused on the trail and the obstacles it was presenting, that I was forgetting to look at the magnificent view of the Tri-Cities and the Columbia River that that elevation afforded me. Do you ever do that? Get so focused on what needs to be accomplished and get so consumed with your daily tasks, you forget to look at your children or your husband or even the living room floor that is littered with toys and books and games and a sweet giggling baby? I forget to enjoy the view sometimes. And the view I have right now is a beautiful one filled with the sweetest baby girl and a most loving and devoted husband and a small and cozy basement apartment that is all we need right now. I may not own the fanciest of cars or the biggest tv or the latest iPhone, but I have things that are worth far more than that in my life. The things that will be with me forever. My family.

The last lesson I learned happened in the last 100 yards of the hike. Those last 100 yards are a bugger! Talk about steep! As I was huffing and puffing and wondering if I was going to need a helicopter to take me back down the mountain (this is after like a half hour to 40 minutes of hiking mind you... I am total weak-sauce) I thought about how life is getting more difficult these days. It's not just having to raise a family or incurring debt for school or trying to make ends meet. We're just getting to the end. Things are getting tougher (more tough?) and we have to endure to the end. Because seriously, the view from the top? Well, it's magnificent. And I know, when the day comes that I get to see my Savior, face to face, it will be a glorious day. I may be huffing and puffing, my legs may feel like they're about to collapse underneath me, my heart may be pounding, but I intend to endure to the end.

"And, if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God."

{Another picture from my hike from 2008. That's Rattlesnake Mountain in the distance.}

Mid Morning Musings...

2011-06-03T10:26:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I updated this here blog. I apologize! Especially since the last post was on, none other than, feet.

Awesome.

I'll do better from here on out!

Claire turns 8 months next Thursday. Holy sha-moley. She's getting so big too! She isn't crawling yet, but she rolls everywhere and anywhere. She has 3 teeth now, and two are totally snaggle teeth. Poor kid. She LOVES graham crackers, cheerios, bananas, pears, apple sauce, carrots and sweet potatoes. She also loves it when I feed her any kind of potato product- french fries, mashed potatoes, hash browns, potato chips (gotcha! don't worry, not feeding her those yet) and she loves ice cream. But then again, who wouldn't love ice cream? I mean really, who are we kidding? She has started to eat rice cereal and oatmeal again (yay!) after a 2 month hiatus. We keep experimenting and she keeps eating, so we're happy. She also loves to make noises with her mouth. Namely "farty" noises. I'm blaming Dallin for that particular trait. Apparently he got frequent notes and or phone calls from teachers at school telling Jeff and Valerie that he was disrupting the class with all of the noises he made with his mouth. Funny thing is, he still makes silly noises now. Some things will never change. :)

Memorial Day was wonderful. We were able to visit my Grandma and Grandpa Mathews grave in Pasco and then we went to Othello where we saw Grandpa Calaway and Shiloh's grave as well as Grandma and Grandpa Courtney's grave (Grandma Jane Calaway's parents), and great Grandma and Grandpa Kent's grave. Then we spent the rest of the day with Valerie's family at her parents house. Grandpa Kent gave us a ride in his buggy (sooo cool!!) and we ate too much deliciousness. Of course, I didn't take ANY pictures the entire time we were there, so all you get to see are the gravesites. Sorry.

Flowers at my Grandma and Grandpa Mathews grave. That peony was so beautiful.

Can you believe my grandparents were married in 1929?? So crazy. Another crazy thing- my grandpa was born in 1906! My dad's grandma was born in 1902. So, my great grandma Burton was only 4 years older than my Grandpa Mathews. Pretty insane!

A HUGE thank you to the service men and women in our Country. I am so grateful for all those who have sacrificed their time, their families, and for some, their lives, so we can enjoy the freedoms here in America. We are truly blessed.

I've been touched, inspired, awed, moved, and somewhat melancholy as I have been reading Natasha's blog. Can we say, wow? She's amazing. Her positive attitude about her 2 year old daughter fighting cancer is just incredible. What an example of faith and trust in the Lord. I think an auction to raise money for their family might be in the near future, so stay tuned. I will give you all the details once we figure everything out. It will be here in Pasco and I know there will be amazing things donated, so get excited. Plus, there is no better cause than to help a family in such a time of need as this.

Dallin got accepted to Willamette University for the Fall 2011 MBA program! Yay! He also got a scholarship, which we are super stoked about. Dallin is such a stud, wouldn't you agree? :) I am so proud of him. He works so hard and provides so well. Claire and I are the luckiest girls in the world! We just sent in our deposit check to tell Willamette we will be attending this fall, so it looks like we have two more years in Salem. We're so excited to start (and, might I add, finish) :) this next phase of life. Grad school, here we come!

I feel so blessed to live this life that I do. I often have these words run through my mind each day, "Because I have been given much, I too must give. Because of thy great bounty, Lord, each day I live. I shall divide my gifts from Thee with every brother that I see, who has the need of help from me." I try to provide an act of service each day to show my Heavenly Father how truly thankful I am for all he has done for me.

So, that's pretty much all the wonderfulness going on in our lives. Oh, and here are some great pictures, because really? What would a post be without pictures of my sweet babe??

Sand Paper or Grindstone??

2011-05-17T16:59:00.000-07:00

My sister Tara always told me this story (or stories rather) about how when she was in High School, she and her group of friends, which included my now sister-in-law Staci, would always compare their feet and hands and vote on who had the best and worst looking/feeling of all. I think Tara either got last place on both, or close to last place. And I think Staci always got first place on both, or close to first. We Henry girls can't help it though, we just have rough hands and feet. Dallin has often commented on how my feet are comparable to sand paper or a grindstone. Awesome. Don't hold back, honey! Tell me how you really feel!

Anyhow. My sister-in-law, Andrea recommended that I use a pumice stone every time I am in the shower, so I headed down to my local Sally's Beauty Supply and came home with this...

The whole shebang cost less than $5 bucks and my feet are amazing now. I wish I had taken a before and after picture, but really? Who wants to see my feet? No one. The trick is that little container on the right. You put that stuff on your feet, slip on a pair of socks and let it do the magic. You will have sandal-ready feet in no time, my friends. Dallin has commented on how he misses being able to rub his legs on my heels in bed so he can get rid of his itches... but other than that, no complaints! (I think he would rather me not have "grindstone" heels than be able to scratch his legs, but then again, what do I know!) Either way, hurry down to your local Sally's and spend the best $3-$4 you will ever spend. You can thank me later.

Pumi Bar By Mr. Pumice PURPLE (Coarse)
Heel to Toe Spa Pedicure Collection "Feels Like New" Foot Softener

Lights! Camera! Action!

2011-05-11T14:13:00.000-07:00

I've had my windows open since 9 am and my house still faintly smells of popcorn. That could be because I popped about 30 (give or take) quarts of popcorn yesterday. It was pretty sweet. Literally. I made Kettle Corn and Caramel Corn. Both were hits. I made all this popcorn for my Relief Society activity last night. I was in charge of decorations and popcorn fit in perfectly. This is the invitation I made for the night-

Isn't it cute?? I got the idea from some invitation website and recreated it in Photoshop Elements (good heavens I love that program!)

I had a general idea of what I wanted the centerpieces to look like, but I just wasn't sure how I was going to pull it off. Luckily, 2nd ward had an activity with almost the same theme a few weeks ago and I was able to borrow a lot of decorations from them. Angie Eller, you are the best!!

So, here was how it turned out. I have never gotten so many compliments in my life. It felt so good. All the hard work was so worth it.

The food table centerpiece

Full view of the food table (that food was so delicious too. Kendell Prestwich, you are an amazing cook!)

Table centerpieces

I made those little film reels. I was so proud of myself! :) They looked really cute on the tables too, so I think the hours of cutting and spray painting were worth it :)

Full room view

The Stage. We had a talent show after dinner and all the performers were wonderful.

Thank you to all the ladies who helped me to decorate and donated their time, resources and talents! It was such a fun night!

Tender Mercies

2011-05-07T13:18:00.000-07:00

All last week I was preparing a lesson for the Young Women in our ward here in Salem. The lesson was on Individual Worth. Can I just tell you how crazy/wonderful/awful/amazing/stressful it was??

On Sunday, as I was getting ready for church, I was literally being attacked by thoughts of self doubt. My outfit wasn't cute and trendy enough. I was fat. I wasn't going to be cool enough. My lesson was gonna totally stink. The girls were going to think my handout was dumb. And on and on and on. I sat in the bathroom, staring at myself in the mirror when suddenly, I realized what was happening. The adversary was working overtime on me. He wanted me to doubt every good quality/attribute that I possess. He knew if he got to me, my lesson would most likely fail and those girls would not get to hear the important message I had for them. My individual worth was being ripped to shreds as I stood there in my bathroom, looking at myself in the mirror.

I decided I had had enough. No more stupid thoughts of self doubt! So I squared my shoulders, took a deep breath, said a silent prayer pleading for help to overcome my feelings of inadequacy and finished getting ready. As we left for church, I felt this overwhelming peace settle in on me, and I felt beautiful. I knew who I was and how wonderful my life was. I knew that, yes, I have a few pounds to lose. And yes, I don't have the trendiest clothes or the most unique and special style that others possess. But, I am a daughter of God and He loves me unconditionally. And that is ALL that matters.

I gave my lesson and felt like it went.... ok. I wasn't totally happy with how it all turned out, but I thought the girls felt the spirit and that was my goal. I talked to my friend Shawna yesterday (she is one of the leaders in Young Women's right now) and she said my lesson was a major hit. The girls couldn't stop talking about it and they loved the hair things I had made for each one of them. My spirit soared. I felt so good. I had wanted those girls to know that they were beautiful, talented, special princesses of a Heavenly King, and they felt it. I was on cloud 9. I had done it! It was such a major success for me and I couldn't thank my Heavenly Father enough. He is so good to me.

On another note- I am in charge of the decorations for our Relief Society quarterly activity that's coming up on Tuesday. I am super excited for it. Our theme is "Lights, Camera, Action!" and so I have been scouring the city for all things movie related. My sister in law, Staci, let me borrow some awesome popcorn buckets she has when I was up in Washington last, but she only had three, so I was looking everywhere trying to find three more. Unfortunately, I had been unsuccessful in that endeavor until last night. I had made some gourmet cupcakes for a Young Women/Scout auction that was going on last night and I needed some cheap platters to put them on. Enter: Dollar Tree. I LOVE that place. It is fantabulous. Yes. You read that right, FANTABULOUS! As I was searching, searching, searching for some cute platters, in the section I thought they would be in, I couldn't find anything. So I went to the next aisle over, and lo and behold, there were the platters. But wait... what was two shelves up, directly above the platters? THE POPCORN BUCKETS!! THREE popcorn buckets to be exact. The same as the ones Staci had lent me. Tender mercy?? I think so. I seriously almost started to cry/jump up and down in the store aisle. But I didn't. It was one of those moments where you think, "Heavenly Father seriously knows me and is 100% aware of me, isn't He?" It was an awesome moment. Needless to say, the decorations are going to be awesome and I will be sure to post pictures when it's all set up.

I am continually reminded (usually on a daily basis) of how blessed I am and I am so grateful for those blessings. Oh it is wonderful, wonderful to me.

Easters

2011-04-28T11:55:00.000-07:00

For those of you that live in Pasco and attend my parents ward, or for any of you who saw me, my mom, Tara and Rachel on Sunday at Church, let me just say- No, we did not all plan to wear the exact same shade of green on Easter. Pinky Promise. It just happened that we all came out of our respective dwelling places wearing dresses/skirts that all matched. It's gotta be a sisters/mother thing.

Easter was awesome. The Easter Bunny visited us and gave us all wonderful little gifts in the form of Despicable Me, a new white dress shirt and tie and some dark chocolate for Dallin, some onesies, socks, tights and a new book (You Are Special- best book ever) for Claire and some new white shorts, a pumice stone/special cream for my horribly cracked heels and earrings to match my dress that I wore Sunday. We love that Easter Bunny. Thankfully he didn't bring to us what he brought Nate and Staci- a new babe due in November. We're just not quite ready for another one yet. :)

I made the CUTEST Easter baskets for us this year and of course, took no pictures. They're still at my mom and dad's house too, so I guess I just get to tell ya about em. They were plain wicker baskets that I nabbed from Goodwill for a couple bucks and then I made liners for them out of the cutest John Deere fabric (yellow, green and tan for Dallin and pink and green for Claire and I). I was so happy with the way they turned out. And I didn't have to use Easter grass either! We hate that stuff.

So, here are the pictures from the day. Dallin had changed out of his suit from Church before I was able to catch him. He doesn't normally wear a blue, short sleeved shirt and jeans to church. :)

Ummm... Don't you just wanna eat that little girls cheeks?? We pretty much do everyday. It's awesome. She's been a little grumpy lately since she is cutting teeth (ouch!) and has the runny nose and clingy-ness (yup, just made that word up) that goes along with it. Our best friends are naps and ibuprofen these days. Thank goodness for pain killers! I'll post some more cute pictures that I have taken as of late in another post.

Oh yes, one last thing-

She's 17 lbs 4 oz (80%)
27.5 ins long (92%) riddle me that folks. riddle me that.
42.5 cm head circ (55%)

I was looking at my baby calendar the other day and I didn't hit 15 lbs til I was 9 months. Seriously?? And I was only like 24 or 25 inches too! I was a tiny little thing. Then I was walking at 10.5 months. Can you imagine a roughly 16 to 17 lb baby that was probably only 25 or 26 inches tall walking?? Yeah, neither can I. :) Just some fun stats for the day!

Hope your Easter was filled with thoughts of our wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ, the beautiful gift of the atonement and His resurrection. We're so grateful for His life, example and the ultimate sacrifice in our behalf.

Oh. Hello Again.

2011-04-18T22:07:00.000-07:00

Yup. We're still here. Alive and well too! Well, I think we're well. That's debatable with the 6 Month Old. 6 Months! Can you believe it?! Me neither. She was just born yesterday, right?? It seems that way.

Anyhow. As is the norm for us, we've been back and forth between Washington and here multiple times. I don't know if there will ever be a time where I won't feel like a bit of a vagabond. I'm not complaining though! I mean, really, who wants to stay in the same place all the time? Obviously we don't. :) So, while they wee babe is still wee, we're traveling as much as we're allowed.

I have this theory that my baby is allergic to oats. Awesome, right?? I started feeding her mixed rice/oatmeal with fruit when she was about 5 months while I was at my parents house and she LOVED it. Just tanked it down. I was so happy she caught on to the whole cereal thing so quickly. She really is practically perfect in every way. And I'm not biased! So she was doing great with the cereal at my mom and dad's, but then we came back down to Oregon and she hated it. Refused to eat it. So, I just did Oatmeal. I figured she would be ok with that. And she liked it for about 2 days, and then refused to eat that too. I was at a loss. So, I just gave up, thinking that I would try it again in a few weeks. So, true to my word, I tried oatmeal again, but this time, I didn't try to spoon feed, but I tried it in a bottle. Worked like a breeze. She was, once again, tanking the cereal, which caused much joy amongst Dallin and I. (We were going through a canister of formula in about a week! A week people! Talk about breakin the bank!) We noticed that Claire was starting to get really fussy a little after we started her on Oatmeal. She is normally the most chill, laid back baby ever and she rarely ever cries. Her pain tolerance is really high too. She's just a stinkin good kid! We've been so lucky. So, to have her be fussy was just foreign to us. We (read: I) was getting really frustrated because I couldn't figure out what was wrong and I knew that something was wrong. She just doesn't cry for no reason. Then, we headed to Ellensburg and I noticed she was developing eczema on her little tummy. She had never gotten eczema before when we've come to Washington, just a little drier skin than normal due to the change in humidity, but I just wrote it off as lack of humidity. Anyway, things were just going from bad to worse and she wasn't having regular bowel movements, even though I was giving her prunes and pears in her cereal! I was so mystified and was just praying that I would be inspired as to what could be the matter with my baby. Well, Saturday night, it hit me. I was looking at her eczema and I thought, "I wonder what mom puts on her eczema when she breaks out." See, my mom has started noticing the past year or so, that whenever she eats oats or wheat, she breaks out in eczema and gets bad headaches and stomach aches. She thinks she might have Celiac Disease, but she hasn't been tested for it. It's an auto immune disease as well, which, auto immune diseases run in my family. So it all started piecing together for me. Claire started breaking out with eczema when I had her regularly eating oatmeal, she was always crying and fussing like something hurt and rubbing her eyes like maybe her head hurt and her poor little tummy always seemed to be in turmoil. So, I stopped with the oatmeal and she has been my happy, pleasant baby once more. Hallelujah! She has her 6 Month check up tomorrow and I am going to share my concerns with my doctor to see what he thinks about her maybe having a food allergy. I really hope she doesn't, just for her sake, but if she does, at least I will know for sure that's what all the fuss has been about (pun definitely intended).

So, that's been the main focus of our lives the past week or so. Just trying to figure out how to make my little girl happy once more! I have videos I need to post and pictures I need to take and post, and I promise they will be on here soon! Oh, and let me show you the awesome before and after pictures of Claire's Laundry Hamper and my cake plate that I made.

Yay for cute things that can be made for really cheap. :) That cake plate cost me next to nothing. I think I paid 50 cents for the candle holder and 75 cents for the plate (Both at Goodwill). Then I bought some super glue and I already had the spray paint! Voila! Cheap, cute and easy peasy. It adds a little something to my small Easter display:)

I've Got a Fever and the Only Cure is More...

2011-04-08T13:06:00.000-07:00

Crafting.

That's right.

Crafting.

I have been bit (that sounds wrong for some reason. Bited? :) Ok, no. But really, I think I am using the correct grammar, it just sounds wrong to me.) by the crafting bug. And it's a subtle little bug. It bites ya and then 4 hours later you are wondering how you managed to whip out so many fantastic things in so little time... gulp. Or not. Ok, I dunno if I spent THAT much time yesterday, but it was probably kinda close. I taught myself how to make those super cute and trendy rosettes and now I am smitten. They might end up all over my house within the next few days. Dallin's gonna kill me. Or the rosettes. Hopefully the rosettes.

Anyhow!

My living room is pretty blah. We have a black entertainment center, tan couches, tan recliner, black frames on the wall, black and white picture of the temple... do you see a theme here?? Finally, last summer, I got fed up with my monochromatic world and bought some fun bright red pillows from IKEA (Favorite store) and felt like that could tide me over. Well, the red just hasn't been cutting it for me lately. So I found some super cute fabric at Joann's, bought me some pillow forms and went to work creating some accent pillows for our couches. Yippee! The fabric has these awesome red berries on it that are the same color of red as the IKEA pillows too, which is just wonderful. So, without further ado, here they are, in all their glory.

Before
My sad love seat with only red pillows.

After!
Doesn't it just add that much needed punch of color?? Love it

Here's a close up of the rosettes I made to kinda spice things up a little. :)

These were about the easiest things to make and they turned out so cute. I'm in love! Next up, Claire's laundry basket... It's almost done. Just a few finishing touches. Oh, and I am also going to show you some super cute cake plates I am in the process of making. They are easy peasy and inexpensive. Can't wait!

Filling My Cup

2011-04-04T11:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend was wonderful. Holy cow. General Conference was different for me this go 'round. I don't really know why. Maybe because I was trying to prepare for it? Maybe because I'm now a mother and I try to glean as much counsel and advice from our General Authorities and Auxiliary leaders as I possibly can so I can improve myself? Perhaps because of all the recent events- Tsunami/earthquakes in Japan, civil unrest in Egypt and Libya, and all other signs of the times. Whatever the reason, at the end of the first session on Sunday, I thought, "What?? There's only one more session left?? I'm not ready for this conference to be over!" It hit me that I am thirsting and hungering for the Gospel. That made me so happy. I have just been craving the peace and joy the Gospel brings into my life. When the second session ended, I felt that my cup had been filled, but I so look forward to when those talks are published in the May Ensign. Thank goodness for General Conference.

While watching the second session of conference, my sister-in-law Ashley and I made some hair things. It was so fun. I love to do it. It is seriously therapeutic for me. This might sound weird, but sometimes I concentrate better when my hands are doing something. I dunno why... probably my being slightly (read: VERY) A.D.D. Here are my creations. Some are for me, some are for Claire. I've contemplated selling them on Etsy, but I dunno if I will. I need opinions. Be honest. Just not too brutal. My confidence is fragile, keep that in mind. :)

I had to show off some of the ribbon I used for the clips too because I thought it was too cute. I love Joann's...

After Conference was over, we went to Marcus and Ashley's and had dinner, which was delicious. Grilled Chicken, Baked Beans and fruit salad, for all interested parties. Then we went to the Capitol Mall to take pictures of the beautiful trees in bloom right now. (I think it's called a mall... you know, the lawn area in front of the Capitol building... not a shopping mall. :)) It was a little chilly, but it was so pretty! Here are some of the pictures we got.

This is my new favorite picture by the way.
(Not a skirt. A Blanket. Just in case you wondered...)

Isn't it GORGEOUS?!

All in all, this was a very fulfilling weekend. I love it when I feel fulfilled. (Say that 5 times fast!) I am so incredibly blessed. Oooh, and I just finished a project for Dallin's birthday and it is on its way here. I'll share it with you once it comes. (He reads the blog. Wouldn't wanna spoil the surprise, now would we?!) And yes, I realize I am a little late on the whole birthday thing. I'll fill ya in on all the details as to why it took so long. Kind of labor intensive, but SOOO worth it. (Especially when I see the look on his face! I'll be sure to record it. We want this in the books. :))

Spring!

2011-03-29T16:00:00.000-07:00

I think Spring has finally sprung. It's hard to tell since it's always (except in the summer) green here. But the blossoms are out in abundance and there are daffodils EVERYWHERE! They grow like weeds down here.

So, in honor of spring, I have been doing some deep spring cleaning. I love cleaning. Seriously. I get in a groove and I can clean til the cows come home. I was cleaning the bathroom today and I was using my beloved Clorox Clean Up when I realized, "I love the smell of this stuff. That might be bad..." So I shared my concerns with Dallin. His reply? "Just don't drink it or anything and I think you'll be okay." Right. Thanks hon. I was laughing so hard when that was the advice I got. We have fun. :)

I have been taking a photography class from the awesome Jenne over at JK Photography and I have been learning SOOO much! I am starting to venture out and shoot in Manual and my pictures are actually turning out! It's so much fun!

Here's a picture of the Capitol Building that I took the other night. I love that I can take good pictures at night now!

For the Grandma's and all other interested parties, here are some updated pictures and videos of the little munchkin. She's getting so big!! I can't believe it. She's my favorite. :)

She joined us in bed the other morning. Isn't that the sweetest face you ever saw??

I made that flower that she is wearing in her hair. Isn't it adorable?

Sorry this one is so grainy. It was an experimental picture for one of my assignments with Jenne.

This is one of the dresses Valerie gave Claire. It is my absolute FAVORITE dress of all time.

Here it is again :)

Dallin took this one of us the other day and I thought it was hilarious. I love her face!

It was Dallin's 27th Birthday yesterday. In honor of the life he's lived, we went to Cheesecake Factory and we still have two, half eaten pieces of cheesecake in the fridge. (Chocolate Raspberry Truffle and Reeses Peanut Butter Cup, for those of you needing something to drool over!) That whole no sugar for a month thing will start... tomorrow? Yeah, tomorrow. :)

Here are 27 things Claire and I love about our favorite guy:
1. (Claire) He plays with me.
2. (Me) He makes me laugh.
3. (Claire) He makes me laugh too!
4. (Me) He's super handsome :)
5. (Claire) He rocks me to sleep in the recliner.
6. (Me) He's one of the hardest workers I know.
7. (Claire) He helps Mommy by feeding me and giving me baths if she's busy.
8. (Me) He helps out with Claire all the time and I appreciate it so much.
9. (Claire) He takes pictures of me and shoots videos of me.
10. (Me) He always compliments me on my cooking.
11. (Claire) He picks out really cute outfits for me.
12. (Me) We can talk about anything and everything from the most significant to the most insignificant.
13. (Me) He always supports me in everything that I do.
14. (Me) He always notices (and appreciates) when I clean the house, do the laundry, etc.
15. (Me) He'll take me on long drives so we can just get away from life for a few hours.
16. (Me) (Claire ran out of things to say. :)) He serenades me with his guitar. It makes me swoon. :)
17. His smile still makes me weak in the knees.
18. His kiss still makes me weak in the knees. :)
19. He's got really big arms... I like em. :)
20. We love the same foods and love to eat healthy.
21. We're both clean freaks.
22. We both love to exercise.
23. When it comes down to it, he'll do just as much work around the house as he will away from the house.
24. He's so good with Claire. He loves to play with her and feed and entertain her.
25. He's got such a strong testimony of the Gospel and he lives it.
26. He lives by integrity and never compromises it.
27. He's a super smarty pants! :)

Whew! 27 wonderful things that we love about Dallin. He's so wonderful and I feel so blessed to have him in my life. He's the best!!

5 Months

2011-03-15T18:07:00.000-07:00

Holy smokes. 5 months, people. My baby is 5 months old. I cannot believe it. And I am totally late in posting this, as she was 5 months on the 9th and it's now the 15th. . . If I don't hurry up, I will just have to combine my 5 and 6 month posts!

So here are some new achievements the little lady has been amazing us with the past few weeks. We're pretty stinking impressed, lemme tell ya!

She's rollin' people! On a regular basis! Back to front and front to back. She's a strong one, ladies and gents.

She talks all the time now. Just blabbers on and on and has the biggest stories to tell. She even moves her tongue like she really is trying to say something. It's so cute.

Along those same lines, she rarely cries anymore. Instead of crying, she yells. It's super funny. She'll just yell and yell until we figure out what it is she needs and then she's good!

She's eating solids! And she loves em! She gulps down cereal and fruits like it's no big deal. We're not nursing anymore, either. Just bottles and now cereal in the morning and at night. She's such a big girl now. :)

Her fingers are ALWAYS in her mouth. Seriously, she LOVES chewin on her fingers. She rarely wants/needs a paci. Fingers will do!

She loves to grab her toes and is constantly trying to stick them in her mouth. She's a flexible one, that girl.

She's starting to become a momma's girl. (gulp) I am afraid that she is starting to prefer me, although she will still smile at strangers. Just in the last few days though, she has started watching me wherever I am and making sure she can always see me. I fear the "clingy stage" is right around the corner.

Her hair is growing back! Yay! Slowly, but surely. Here's the insane thing though- It's coming in Blonde. Yeah. I know. Go figure. Two dark haired people with a blondie. It's dark blonde though, so she's still more dark than she is light. And she kind of has a "skullet" going on right now. I really don't wanna give her a haircut yet because she doesn't have that much hair, but I am contemplating it. Oh, and ever since she was born, the right side of her head has had longer, thicker hair than the left side. It wasn't as noticeable when she had so much hair, but now that she is more on the bald side, you can totally notice the difference. It's kind of funny. I'm contemplating cutting that too. . . we shall see what happens.

Anyway, I'll post a video of her rolling over tomorrow and I'll include some cute 5 month pictures as well! Until then, I have some projects in the works that I am going to share with you in the next week or so. Think pillows, cake plates, a laundry hamper and some rearranging of frames. It's sure to be good fun! :)

Thoughts of a Scatter-Brained Mother

2011-02-24T16:36:00.000-08:00

I've got a lot of thoughts swirling around in my head today. It happens sometimes. Scratch that. It happens all the time.

First thought- I REALLY hope my child is not getting the nasty cold/flu bug that's been raging through Salem. She started sneezing a bunch last night and has had a few green boogs. That and she's been sleeping a TON. My mantra for the past 24 hours has been "Please let it be teething, please let it be teething!" A girl can hope.

Second thought- Snowing?! Really?? In Salem? Where it NEVER snows?? Where were you in November and December when I actually WANTED you?? I went running at Bush Park with Claire on Monday and there was sunshine and daffodils and crocus's. I want Spring and bunnies and flowers, not snow boots and freezing my hiney off!

This is our Apartment building. Yep. It's in the shape of an octagon. Our apartment doesn't really have any right angles. You think I'm joking, but I'm not. It's just one weird octagon mess. But it's home and we like it. :)

Third thought- I think I have officially entered the "Mom Jean" realm. My cute low rise jeans (all 4 pair of them) just don't fit like they used to. What is up with that? I'm 23! I can't be a Mom Jean wearer yet. I refuse. So, I'll just keep hikin' up my pants like a dork all day long until I finally break down and buy an Invisibelt.

Fourth thought- I made Banana Bread last night at 10:00. I know, I'm crazy. Claire helped. Or, you know, sat in her Bumbo and was excellent company while I baked. I'm including pictures and a recipe at the end of this post. It's delicious. Please make it today.

That's Claire. Helping.

Fifth thought- Why did I make Banana Bread? I'm still about. . . oh. . . 20 lbs heavier than I want to be right now. I weighed myself last night and almost made the decision to starve myself. And then I smelled the Banana Bread and cut myself another piece. I'm all about self control, you know.

Sixth thought- As I am sitting here, Claire is practically rolling over! Yay! Or Boo? I can't decide if I am happy my baby is becoming mobile. Next thing I know she'll be running like a mad child around the house and pulling things off shelves. And then she'll be in a wedding dress marrying the man of her dreams. . . She's growing up too fast!!

Seventh thought- I have about 4 projects in the works right now. I'll be sure to post pictures of all of them when they're completed. First I have to get my new to me sewing machine from my mom! Yay for free sewing machines! And for crazy coupons for Joann's!

Eighth thought- Dallin takes the GMAT on Saturday. That means no more crazy studying! Unless he doesn't get the score he wants, which then means he'll take it again in 30 days. And then when he gets accepted into an MBA program that means the crazy studying will start again. I just have to remember that this is the best time of our lives, right? I have to live each day to the fullest so that I don't look back with any regrets. Easier said than done. But I'll work on it!

So, there are my random thoughts for the day. Here's the banana bread recipe! Enjoy it.

Banana Nut Bread (With Dark Chocolate Chips)

Ingredients

2 & 1/4 cups Flour
1 & 2/3 cups Sugar
1 & 1/4 tsp. Baking Powder
1 & 1/4 tsp. Soda
1 tsp. Salt
2/3 cup Shortening
2/3 cup buttermilk
3 eggs
1 & 1/4 cups ripe bananas; mashed
2/3 cups Nuts; chopped (optional)
2/3 cups chocolate chips (optional)
One 3 oz. pkg Vanilla Instant Pudding

Have you ever tried buttermilk in powder form? It is awesome! I don't use buttermilk often enough to warrant getting it in liquid form. All you do for the powder is add water and voila! You have buttermilk! I highly recommend it.

As you can see from the ingredients picture, I only had pecans on hand. Any nut will do, but I prefer walnuts. Pecans worked just fine though! I also used dark chocolate chips, because that's the kinda gal I am. We love dark chocolate at this house, but like the nuts, any kind of chocolate chip will work!

Because I had so many banana's, I ended up doubling my recipe and got 4 loafs, plus a little mini loaf. I figured out that about two average sized banana's equals a cup. If you use 3 bananas and have a little more than 1 1/4 cups, you'll be fine. Because, who really wants to use just half a brown banana? It's not like you're gonna wanna eat the other half, am I right? Or am I right? :)

The instructions are pretty simple. Just measure all ingredients into a bowl. Mix well and pour into 2 well greased or lined loaf pans. If you end up doubling the recipe, like I did, fill your loaf pans about half way and that will make it so your loaves don't overflow while baking. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes. I ended up baking mine for about 45-50 minutes, but I had 3 loaves in at a time.

There ya have it. Delicious banana nut chocolate chip bread! And just tell yourself that because it has banana's in it, it's REALLY healthy. :)

Integrity and My Shoulder Angel

2011-02-22T12:00:00.000-08:00

(Emperor's New Groove is my all time favorite movie, by the way)

Do any of you ever have the Temple Recommend Interview questions roll through your head during the day? I do. I know. Weird.

The other day I was in Goodwill and I found a laundry hamper that was exactly what I was looking for, for Claire's room! I was excited, but the price was a little bit higher than I was hoping for. It was only a few dollars more than I wanted to pay, but heck, a few bucks means a lot when you have to pay rent, utilities, a truck payment, insurance and you've got grad school application fees, etc. But I digress.

I noticed the price tag for the hamper was on the lid. I didn't even want the lid, so I thought, "I could just ditch the lid here, tell them I couldn't find a price tag and offer what I wanted to pay in the first place!"

Enter Shoulder Angel.

All that little shoulder angel had to do was utter one small phrase, "honest in your dealings with your fellowman" and I was toast. I realized I wouldn't be able to answer that question honestly if I ditched the lid and pretended to not know the real price. So, I kept the lid on, tried to negotiate the price, and didn't win. I paid full price.

Would it have been that big of a deal if I would have ditched the lid and lied? To most people, no it wouldn't have. But I've read about Jacob and Esau and I wasn't about to sell my birthright for a mess of pottage. Some things just aren't worth it and a few dollars difference wasn't worth giving up my integrity. So my shoulder angel gave a big 1-2 punch to my shoulder devil and I walked out of the store feeling extremely triumphant. Thank goodness for those shoulder angel's!

150 and The Lower Lights

2011-02-21T14:11:00.000-08:00

This is my 150th post. Sheesh. That's a lot of posts. I like to keep it real though and put things in to perspective. I was reading the PRP's blog the other day and she had her 900th post. So, pretty much, I'm a small fry. I got nothin on you, Karen! :)

For my 150th post, I want to tell you all about an amazing concert that is going to be happening in the Tri-Cities. Well, Burbank technically, but close enough. My awesome cousin, Marilyn, got The Lower Lights to come to the Tri-Cities! They are a very talented group of musicians who have done covers of various hymns, such as The Lord Is My Shepherd, This Little Light of Mine and Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. They are beautiful arrangements and I love them all. Tickets are VERY reasonably priced, but you need to act fast! They'll go quick and the concert is right around the corner! March 5, to be exact. So, go here to buy your tickets and check out The Lower Lights here. You won't be disappointed, I promise!

{Image Source}

Oh, and if you want a chance to get 2 {two} free tickets of your own, enter the Passionista's (AKA Marilyn) giveaway here and help her spread the word! But be quick about it! This giveaway ends tomorrow {Tuesday} night!

For My Little Hannah Banana

2011-02-18T21:37:00.000-08:00

My niece Hannah turned 11 today. I can still remember the day she was born and I can't believe that in one year she will be in Young Womens! She's growing up WAY too fast. So, here are 11 reasons why we love our Hannah!

1. She's an amazing soccer player. That girl is seriously talented and super fast!
2. She keeps the Sabbath day holy. She has had to make the decision of whether or not to play in her soccer games on Sunday and has always chosen not to. We're so proud of her choices.
3. She is an excellent Piano player.
4. She is a very willing participant for all my photo taking expeditions. :)
5. Claire loves Hannah because she loves to hold her and entertain her.
6. She is the sweetest little thing you will ever meet.
7. She is super smart. I remember when she was in Kindergarten she was spelling words that I am pretty sure I couldn't spell til I was like 19. :) Ok, not 19, but close enough. Either way, super smart!
8. She is an awesome singer. She's got a beautiful voice.
9. She is a super awesome swimmer. And she is extremely lucky because she gets really tan in the summer (I may or may not be a teensy bit jealous. :) )
10. She laughs and giggles all the time. I rarely see Hannah sad or mad. She's very positive!
11. She's an excellent friend and an awesome sister and an even better niece!

I hope you had the best Minute to Win it 11th Birthday Party ever! We love you! (And your present will be in the mail tomorrow! Hopefully you get it on Tuesday!)

These are some pictures I took of Hannah, Rebekah and Julia last weekend at Andrew's Baby Blessing.

Video's!

2011-02-16T23:19:00.000-08:00

Claire had her 4 month appointment today. She had to get three vaccinations today too, 1 oral, 2 shots. I hate vaccinations. It breaks my heart when the shock and hurt crosses her face and she starts screaming. Seriously, how can you not start crying when your baby is hurting?! I am pretty sure it's torture. In fact, I know why they torture family members on "24" to get people to crack. I'd be the worst CTU agent in the history of "24". But I digress.

My little (or should I say HUGE) girl scored in the 92nd, 80th and 60th percentile for height, weight and head circ, respectively. She's 25 1/4 inches (92%), 14 lbs 8 oz (80%), and has a 41 cm head circ (60%).

So, in honor of her 4 month appointment, I have decided to FINALLY post some videos of her. Now, I understand these videos are so wonderful and intriguing to Dallin and I, but they might get a little long and boring for you. So, just bear with us ridiculously proud parents.

So there you have it. Our little girl. Just excuse my ridiculous commentary and voice. Do I really sound that annoying in real life?! If so, I sincerely apologize.

All You Need is Love! Love is All You Need.

2011-02-14T15:18:00.000-08:00

Oh Valentine's Day. I've always had mixed feelings about this little holiday. Ironically enough, it was always when I was in a relationship that I hated Valentine's Day. I know, weird right? I guess I just figured I was buying someone else's husband a Valentine gift. Makes sense, doesn't it?

Last night Dallin and I were driving from Yakima to Ellensburg and I asked him the top 5 things that are making him happy right now. I thought those would probably symbolize what he loves the most, right? His answers didn't disappoint.

1. Me. I am the #1 thing making him happy. I would hope that was the #1 answer. :)
2. Claire. How can she not make you happy?!
3. The Gospel. Faith, Hope and Charity are pretty much the essentials of making a happy life, wouldn't you say?
4. Freedom. In light of the recent events in Egypt, freedom just seems to be even more precious these days.
5. Work. Dallin is one of the hardest workers I know and is such an amazing provider. I am grateful for his ability to work and his love of it. He's amazing.

So then, he asked me what my top 5 are. Here they are-

1. Him. He makes me so happy. He teases and jokes and makes me laugh all the time. He tells me he loves me on a daily basis and always comments on how beautiful he thinks I am. He gives me everything I could ever need. For that, I am truly grateful.
2. Claire. Her smiles, her laughing (videos of that to come), the way her face lights up when something connects. She makes life worthwhile.
3. The Gospel. (Are you sensing a theme here?)
4. Freedom.
5. My ability and love for creating. I love to be in the kitchen creating new dishes and treats. I love taking photographs and editing them. I love doing crafts and beautifying my home, making it feel more like a home and less like the little apartment that it is. :)

Those are our top 5 things making us happy. Life is amazing and we're feeling so grateful for everything we've been given. We have so much love in our family and we want to wish you all a very Happy Valentines Day!

Our very concerned cupid :)

"Now Make Them Drink The Milk"

2011-01-28T07:30:00.000-08:00

Dallin and I watched, "Despicable Me" the other night and I think it might be a new favorite around these parts. Favorite quotes are, "Knocked over!", "Now make them drink the milk", "IT'S SO FLUFFY!!", and "Thees ees garbage! You actually like thees??" Dallin and I couldn't stop laughing. I highly recommend it. And it's Family Friendly so the whole crew can watch it!

Here are some new pictures of Claire. The Grandma's were requesting. She's gotten a LOT more responsive lately and is starting to get control of her movements too. She's been playing with her little gym lately that has toys hanging down and she can now make herself hit the toys. It's so cute to watch her little face scrunch up in concentration as she tries to hit the toys. And then when she does hit a toy, her little legs and arms start pumpin and movin. I love watching her. So, without further ado, here are some recent pictures, in no particular order.

Here's my cheeser! She was enjoying her bumbo.

Fell asleep in daddy's arms. Not uncommon. :)

In her bumbo, being very serious. She get's that way sometimes. :)

Playing her little piano. We're starting her young. Very young. :) With those fingers though, who can blame us?!

Right before I gave her a bath one night. She would get that big open mouthed grin on her face until I would pull the camera up to my face to snap the picture and then she would immediately get serious again. Darn her! :)

Eating a bottle one night and telling everyone that she's number one. :)

Once again, every time I put the camera to my face, she would get serious, but I was fast on this one and caught the smile. So happy! She LOVES her baths, by the way.

Yeah, LOVES her baths. Can't ya tell?

I thought this series of pictures were too good not to post. These were taken just seconds apart. She pulls some awesome faces

So, that's our little girl! We're having so much fun with her and loving all these new changes taking place. She hits 4 months on the 9th of February and has her 4 month well check on the 16th, so I will let you all know her stats. We measured her the other day and she was 24.5 ins. Granted, she was wiggly and the tape measure kept slipping, but I think that's how long she is now. :) She is in 3-6 months clothes and fills them out pretty much length wise, but not so much width wise. We have a long skinny girl on our hands!

Getting the Creative Juices a Flowin'!

2011-01-24T18:18:00.000-08:00

In my last post, I promised before's and after's of the dresser for Claire's room. I finally got to paint it this weekend and it turned out awesome. I had so much fun doing it. Thank you Staci for the dresser and the painting instructions. :)

Before

Notice the awesome marker scribbles on the side :) Luckily they came off with a little water!

After

The Close up of the drawer

I got that super cute wreath from Real Deals. I love it. I should have done a close up on it. Oh well! :)

This is the toy chest that Staci made for Claire for Christmas. I was trying to copy this style for the dresser. I think I got it pretty well!

So, there it is. I love it and Claire's room is starting to look like a bedroom instead of a storage room! She actually has a place to put all her clothes now too, instead of the floor. Yay! :)

Right Now. . .

2011-01-17T11:14:00.000-08:00

Right now- My fantastically smart little babe is playing with her gym and is giving me the BEST reactions. Smiles, yelling, pumping her arms and legs in excitement. I. Love. It.

It's partially sunny outside. HALLELUJAH!

My house is a DISASTER. And I'm kind of ok with it. Don't worry, it will all be clean by the time Dallin comes home. That and a bunch of Laundry.

I have a dresser that needs to be painted. And I am super excited about painting it!! I'll show you all the before and afters. It's for Claire's room. All her clothes are currently in piles on the floor. Yeah. I know. Bad Mom.

The wee one and I both have these awesome colds that make my head feel like it is going to implode at any moment. Thank you Advil Cold and Sinus!

There is a grocery list sitting in front of me just begging to be bought. Plus it's an excuse to get out in that sunshine!

I am so grateful for this simple life I lead. I am constantly in awe of all the blessings and tender mercies I receive on a daily basis. I'm the luckiest girl in the world.

See. Believe. Become.

2011-01-10T23:38:00.000-08:00

Most of you probably follow our blog through Google reader or some other RSS feed, but for those of you who check out the actual blog, you've seen a couple changes. First, I decided we should change our name from Dallin and Ashley to The Calaway's, seeing as there are more than just us two now. Second, I changed from Finding Joy In Our Journey to See. Believe. Become. It's our family motto for this year.

Dallin and I were talking about the goals we wanted to set for this coming year and how we were going to accomplish them. We also talked about our fears, reservations, and other things that have held us back in the past. We decided that this year, we needed to take more action and become the people we want to be, but more importantly, the people our Heavenly Father wants us to be. So we decided we needed to SEE the attributes that we wanted to have, BELIEVE in the possibility of achieving those attributes and then, eventually, BECOME those attributes.

We both realized that we haven't taken too many steps outside our comfort zones since we've been married and decided it's time to change that. The only way to grow is to go someplace you've never been and do things you've never done. So, this is us, deciding to change. It's pretty scary, I'm not gonna lie. But it's also very exciting and I can't wait to dig in. Here are some things that I have personally decided to work on for 2011.

Lose the last of this baby weight. It's time people! And I have P90X waiting for me, ready to absolutely kick my trash. It should be interesting.
Improve my relationship with my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I haven't spent nearly enough time on my knees lately. It's time for my pants to get some holes worn in the knees.
Read and study the Scriptures. And love it.
Perform more acts of service. When I lived in Rexburg, I had opportunities thrown at me almost DAILY to serve people. Now, I have to work harder at finding those opportunities, but I will find them and I will become more selfless.
Walk more. Sit less. Along with this will also be- less time in front of flat screens. I sit way too much. And I am in front of flat screens too much. So, I am going to try and cut back on the blogging and facebooking and all other computer related things. I just read a study recently about how people who sit the majority of their day will ultimately have a shorter life span than someone who is on their feet more. I need to be more active and get outside more. My little miss needs the fresh air too. We're gonna put that stroller of hers to good use.

So, that's the skinny. My goals for 2011. There are other things I definitely need to improve on and work harder at, but those are my main focus. I want to be the best person I can be physically, emotionally and spiritually, and those seem to be the ticket. So, here's to 2011. It's gonna be a great year. I can feel it.

PS- Claire is 3 months! I will post some pictures and let you know all the fun new things our little bug is doing these days.

Lesson's I Learned While Snowmobiling

2011-01-05T22:52:00.000-08:00

I now understand the thrill of conquering a hill. You only understand it once you've done it. I get that now. :)

Snowmobiling is a good way to see how strong your marriage is. In case you were wondering, ours is good. :)

You're not as wimpy as you make yourself out to be. You're pretty courageous when it comes down to it. So step out of your comfort zone more often.

You know that moment when you are convinced you cannot go any farther because you feel you're just not strong enough? Somewhere, there is a reserve of strength that you didn't know you had, and suddenly you can do more than you ever thought you could. So, go ahead, try to go a little further next time you think you can't.

When you get stuck, no one knows where you are, your cell phone battery is about to die, the sun is setting and you're praying your guts out that someone will find you, Heavenly Father answers your prayers in the way you NEED, not the way you WANT. He'll make sure you're warm and that you stay calm, and then He'll send your rescuers in the form of 4 sweet teenage boys.

Claire's Baby Blessing

2011-01-01T15:24:00.000-08:00

We blessed Claire in our church the day after Christmas. (I know, what is with Dallin and I and our big events around Christmas time?! Getting married the 20th of December, blessing our baby on the 26th! We're just crazy kids.) It was a beautiful blessing and Claire was an angel. Thank you to Nate and Staci for opening your home to us for the dinner afterward and thank you to all who came to the blessing. We appreciated all the love and support so much. We have the best family and friends and we want you all to know we love so much! Thank you for everything!

Our little Angel

Hillary took this picture of Claire's bracelet and my ring. Isn't it beautiful??

Claire and Grandma Valerie

Claire with Grandpa Jeff and Grandma Valerie

With Dallin's Parents

With My Parents

Claire with Grandma Carolyn and Grandpa Bill

Claire with Grandma Carolyn

With Grandma and Grandpa Kent

With Grandma Calaway

Claire and I

Claire with her Great Grandpa and Grandma Kent

Christmas 2010

2011-01-01T13:11:00.001-08:00

There are going to be a few posts following this one today. Sorry for the overload, but my computer hasn't been working, and with the Holiday overload, posts have been neglected! So I am just now getting to all this.

Yes, I'm a little late, but here are some of the photos from our Christmas this year. We did Christmas morning with the Calaway's and then Christmas evening with the Henry's. It was such a fun day and we were able to talk to Devin for a few minutes, which was awesome. He's doing great and we are so proud of him for serving the Lord for 2 years of his life!

Claire in her little elf costume that her Great-Aunt Gaylene made her. Soo cute! Thank you Gaylene!! (She was really digging Mr. and Mrs. Clause.)

Our little flying elf!

Bradley and Claire takin a Christmas nap :)

Dallin and Claire with our Santa loot. ;) (Where's Waldo? I mean, Claire. :))

Our little family Christmas Morning

Dallin and Bryce in their new sleeping bags from Santa

My wonderful husband gave me perfume. It's the perfume that I wore in High School and lemme tell ya. . . memories. :) It's amazing how scents can take you back so fast.

Claire among all the Christmas stuff. She was our favorite Christmas present. :)

Me, Dallin, Andrea, Bryce and Derek

Grandma and Grandpa Calaway with Claire

Dallin's maps that he brought back from Puerto Rico. Santa framed them for us. It was the best Christmas present ever.

Dallin's new helmet!

Dallin and Claire walking into the house from the barn Christmas morning!

Luke, William and Claire

William and Claire

Our Christmas was so wonderful and we feel so blessed to have spent it with both our families. Thank you Mom and Dad and Jeff and Valerie for all the gifts, games, fun times and memories. We love you!

Little Chunk

2010-12-14T19:15:00.000-08:00

We took Claire in today for her 2 month check up and shots (boo) and we found out that our little girl is chunkin up! We are so happy. Her little legs and arms have been getting rolls on them over the past couple weeks and we are really happy about it. :)

So, here are the stats on our little lady.

Height- 22 3/4 inches (85%)
Weight- 10 lbs 15 oz. (75%)
Head Cir.- 38.5 cm (60%)

Not only do we have a little chunker, but we have a LONG little chunker. She has the longest arms and legs I have ever seen. And a long torso for that matter. She is filling out 3 month clothing, but it's almost becoming too short on her. Go figure that Dallin, at 5' 10" and me at 5' 3", would have a long baby. I'm sure she'll slow down soon enough and be a little shorty though. :)

The last two nights, she slept 8 hours and 7.5 hours respectively. Yeah. I know. I think someone is growing. We're not complaining. At all. She also ate non stop two days ago. I'm serious. I would nurse her, then give her a bottle, and as soon as she was done with the bottle, she was rooting. And so I would nurse, and then she'd want more, so I'd give her a bottle, so on and so forth until she finally fell asleep in a milk drunk stupor. :) She keeps us busy, that's for sure!

Can I just tell you how much I hate shots?? (For me but especially for my baby.) I seriously had to fight back tears as she started crying. Dallin told me afterward that he almost walked out of the room. Please tell me we're not lame parents who are way too emotional about these kinds of things?? You should know we're kind of wimps though. We hate it when Claire cries. We instantly want to console her because we just want her happy. So we pick her up, rock her, sing to her, and she instantly stops crying and everyone is happy. And now she's spoiled. . . but that's beside the point.

She got 4 vaccines today. One was oral and then three were shots in the legs. Ouch. That needle looked vicious. I felt for her. She's been sleeping most of today but occasionally she'll wake up and just cry out. It's a new cry too. An "I'm hurting" cry. It just about breaks my heart every time I hear it. See? I'm a total wimp. Pathetic, I know. I swear I used to be tough. Having a baby made me way too emotional and wimpified. Yes, I just made up a new word.

ANYWAY...

On to happier things! Here are a few new pictures taken last night and today for your viewing pleasure.

Me and Claire last night.

I caught the tail end of a smile, and this is what I got. :)

The first thing I thought of when I saw this picture was Jack Black in School of Rock when he sings, "And I am really ticked off!" I am pretty sure this was actually the beginning of a sneeze though. :)

Do you love the lace leggings? I think leggings and leg warmers on little babies are about the CUTEST thing ever.

Buttons and Bows

Today after her shots.

Her little headband is one that Tara gave me that Emiline used to wear. She actually wore it today without fussing. That's a rarity!

Helping Jenny

2010-12-11T13:49:00.000-08:00

My cousin Alicia just posted on her blog about her awesome Aunt Jenny and an auction in her behalf. She has contracted cancer again that has spread to various parts of her body. In order to help with all the costs that are associated with all the treatments she needs, they are having an online auction here, where all the proceeds will be given to Jenny and her family. Please, give someone the best Christmas present and bid on items or simply give a monetary gift to help out the family. I know they will greatly appreciate it.

Life As We Know It

2010-12-02T16:09:00.000-08:00

I have been horrible about posting lately. I am so sorry. Suddenly having a baby to take care of cuts back on the free time. Mother's with more than 1 child can start laughing and mocking me now. You're probably saying "Do you realize what you can get done with ONE kid?!" I know, I know. It's just an adjustment. I promise I'll get better again. :)

So, about Miss Claire. She's doing great. In fact, she slept 6.5 hours last night! Yahoo! She's started sleeping one 4-6 hour stretch almost every night for the past 2 weeks. We've had an occasional all-nighter here and there, but for the most part we're gettin on a schedule! Needless to say, I'm happy. And much more well rested. :)

Claire is also becoming much more alert. Her favorite thing to look at is anything bright i.e. lights, the sun (when it shows itself), etc. and lately, I find her staring at our big picture of the Columbia River Temple that we have hanging in our living room. I kid you not, she looks at it ALL THE TIME. I think she knows it's a special place. Seriously. This girl is smart. She knows mine and Dallin's voices and she knows my mom's and Valerie's voices really well too. Her eyes get big and she starts to look around when any of us speak. It's amazing. She grabs our fingers and holds on a lot too. And let me tell you, this girl has a death grip. Holy schmoley, she will not let go of you once she's got a hold of ya. Claire also loves music. (We would certainly hope so, with Dallin and I as her parents.) When I turn on The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, she quiets down if she's fussy, which she rarely is. It usually puts her to sleep too. And whenever I sing to her, it calms her down and puts her to sleep. Seriously, this girl is the easiest baby to console. It's awesome. We are INCREDIBLY lucky.

Another favorite of Claire's is bath time. It's pretty entertaining because she hates getting undressed and her diaper taken off, but as soon as she gets put in the bath, she relaxes and starts kickin her little legs around. I think she might be a splasher as she gets older. :) So, she loves bath time, but she hates getting out and me putting lotion on her. Oh my goodness, you would think we were abusing the poor child with the howls she lets out. I hope my neighbors don't report us to the CPS, sheesh. Sometimes I just put her in a onesie and then calm her down because trying to get any more clothing on her than that is a wee bit difficult. She fights me when I try to get her dressed. And she tries to eat her hand when I'm trying to put it through the sleeve. Needless to say, it's hard to get Claire dressed. :)

A new found favorite is her swing. Hallelujah. She was not liking it a few weeks ago and then this week, presto change-o, she loves it! It's been nice to stick her in so I can get some things done around the apartment.

Today, I was holding her on my chest and suddenly, she started laughing. For like 5 seconds. She just laughed. Giggled really. Smiling and everything. It was the CUTEST thing I have ever heard. I look forward to many more laughing sessions. She was kind of half asleep when she did it, but that seems to be the time when she smiles the most. I think she is starting to respond more to our smiles when she's awake though. A few times in the past week we have started smiling at her and you can tell she's really focusing on us and then she gives us a little smile. Or an attempt at a smile anyway. Have any of you seen How To Train Your Dragon? Cutest movie ever. You know the part where Hiccup smiles at Toothless and Toothless tries to smile back? Yeah, that's pretty much what it's like for Claire right now. Gummy smile and all. :)

One last thing and then I'll get to the pictures. She LOVES her car seat. But only when it's in motion. Like in the car or if we are swinging it back and forth. If she's just sitting in it, she gets mad. She's very opinionated already. :) But really, it makes it a dream for traveling. We usually just do a feed and diaper change at Biggs and then she's good the rest of the way home, whether it be Ellensburg or Pasco. Our little girl is the easiest baby. We are so incredibly blessed.

So, here are some pictures as of late. These first ones were taken at about her one month mark. She'll be 2 months on December 9! Can you believe it? She goes in for her 2 month check up on the 14th. I'll let you know her stats then.

This is a headband that Grandma Calaway sent to us a few weeks ago. I love it. Claire? Not so much. I am crossing my fingers that she starts to not mind having headbands and bows on her head. :)

I thought this picture was too cute not to post. Just look at that little butt. She'll kill me when she's older. But for now, let's just enjoy this cute shot. :)

Grandma also sent us a cute little beanie! Once again, I love it, Claire's not so sure about it.

I didn't think this little snow suit would fit her very well, because I got it in a 3 month size, but we put it on her while we were in Washington for Thanksgiving and it almost fits her perfectly! I was hoping it would last her until January or February, but I think that's gonna be stretching it. (Literally)

Bath time!

Doesn't she look like she's posing in this shot? so cute.

With Cousins Luke and Mathew over Thanksgiving

Claire and Cousin Luke

Claire and cousins William and Emiline

Claire and Emi. Emiline LOVES "Baby Care". She doted on her like you wouldn't believe. And the only thing to stop Emi from crying one night was telling her that baby Claire was asleep and if she kept crying, it would wake up baby Claire and would make her sad. Too funny.

Christmas Cards

2010-11-30T16:04:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas cards are almost complete. And soon, there will be one in all our loved ones mailboxes. I just love this time of year when suddenly the mailbox is full of Christmas Cards and letters updating everyone on their lives. It just makes me happy.

This is the first year we've done Christmas cards. We felt it was necessary with the new little one in our house. (Actually, she just gave me the excuse to finally do it. :)) We decided to go with Shutterfly this year for a couple of reasons. One, they have SUPER cute cards. And two, they gave me a deal I just couldn't refuse. 50 free Christmas cards. Is that a steal or what?? Now, with all their cute designs, I have had a hard time picking which card I want, but I finally found the one. I can't tell you which one though. You'll just have to look for it in your mailbox. :)

I highly recommend Shutterfly's Christmas cards, if you haven't already selected one yet this year. Just click here and get to browsing. They are so fun!

Hope you are all enjoying your Holidays as much as we are! I promise I will post later about Miss Claire and all the going's on at the Calaway household soon.

Until then, Happy Holidays!

I Love Free

2010-11-16T15:34:00.001-08:00

Don't you just love free things? (on a totally unrelated side note: I am typing this whole post one handed as I am holding my sleeping child. Yipes! Let's see how long THIS takes.) Shutterfly is giving away 50 free holiday cards to anyone who blogs about it. I dunno about you, but it sounds like a sweet deal to me! You do have to pay any applicable taxes and the shipping & handling, but you get really cute cards for free! :) If you're interested, click here to sign up. If you want to browse their cute cards, click here. The promotion is good for any 5x7 card, so check em out! Oh, and updates and more pictures of miss Claire will be coming later this week. Enjoy your Fall weather! We sure are!

23rd Birthday/Halloween 2010

2010-11-01T10:58:00.000-07:00

So, um, we didn't take ANY pictures on my birthday. Woops! Oh well, who needs pictures of their 23rd birthday? Totally an insignificant birthday in my book. :) Pretty much the next big milestone after 21 is 30, so I have 6 more totally insignificant birthdays to celebrate til then. :) It was a fabulous day though. We shopped til we dropped and then we headed north to Portland and had us some DELICIOUS Cheesecake Factory. Can I just profess my love publicly of all things Cheesecake Factory related?? Really, it's amazing. And we had Pumpkin Pecan Cheescake for dessert/my birthday cake. Is your mouth watering? Mine was all Saturday and I just started salivating again. Delicious.

My birthday night was not so pleasant, unfortunately. Little Miss Claire Bear decided she wanted to keep up the festivities of my birthday until the wee hours of the night; 2 am to 5 am, to be exact. Little stinker. Oh well, she has been forgiven and smothered with approximately 1000 more kisses since then, so all is well in the Calaway household.

Yesterday we wanted to take some family pictures since the trees and leaves outside our apartment complex are amazing right now, so Marcus and Ash came over and we took turns taking pictures of each other. They turned out pretty good. I'll give you a sneak peek, but only one, 'cause these are Christmas Card material here. :) After the pictures we carved pumpkins (I know, a little late, but better late than never, right??) Dallin carved ours. He's the artsy one in this relationship, trust me. It turned out AMAZING, if I do say so myself. He didn't carve it all the way out, just carved it so it was thin enough for the light to shine through. Pretty stinkin awesome. My husband rocks, by the way.

Claire gave me a belated birthday gift in the form of sleeping REALLY well last night. Dallin and I prayed REALLY hard last night for a good nights sleep. :) I think that may have had a little (read: EVERYTHING) to do with it.

Now I am impatiently waiting for my birthday package from Mom and Dad to arrive in the mail. I like getting packages. They're fun. :) Hope your Halloween was a safe, candy/fun filled evening! Now it's time for Christmas music!! :) (Please tell me I'm not the only one itching to play Christmas music as soon as November 1st comes around. Dallin has forbidden me to play it though. He claims he can't handle the excitement. Maybe I can get him to let me play it November 15th?? Crossing my fingers.)

The Pumpkin that Dallin so masterfully created! :)

Preview of the Photoshoot :)

The trees outside our apartment

Another shot of the beautiful fall colors.

Dear Claire. . .

2010-10-29T13:08:00.000-07:00

These past few nights have been, we'll say, interesting. 3 nights ago you decided you wanted to wake up at midnight, 2 am, 4 am, 6 am, and 8 am to have me feed you. Luckily, your dad is a super star and held you off until 11:30 am so that I could get a *few* precious hours of shut eye. Then 2 nights ago, you slept from 2 am until 6:30 am. Mama rejoiced. So did dad. It was a wonderful night. But last night. Oh last night. You just didn't want to go to bed. So you decided essentially pulling an all-nighter was on the agenda. I fell asleep nursing you every time. Once again, your dad is a super star and he held you off with a bottle this morning so that I could get my much needed sleep. If not for him, I would be in a walking zombie state as we speak.

But Claire, I want you to know something else, besides all the craziness of late night feedings and sleepless nights. I want you to know that as I held you before I went to bed last night, I looked at your precious face and felt my heart swell with gratitude that you are ours. Never in my life have I felt this kind of love toward someone. You are special. So special. Your daddy and I feel so lucky and so privileged that Heavenly Father entrusted you to us. We know you're destined to be something great, and the task to teach you everything you need to know is daunting, but we're up for the challenge. You have never been so loved by two people as you are loved by your daddy and I. So although these sleepless nights are tough on mom, she still looks at you with complete love and adoration every time she drags herself out of bed to feed you. Seeing that precious face is all I need to remind me how lucky I am to have you. I love you so much little Claire!

Love,

Mama

*Notice the white uggs! Thanks Bonnie, we LOVE them! :)*

Introducing: Claire Calaway

2010-10-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

The fact that I had this baby 3 weeks early is probably just as much of a shock to you as it has been for me. I figured that I would go full term, but after pushing a little 6 lb baby out, I am incredibly grateful she wasn't any bigger. :)

Late Friday night/early Saturday morning, I noticed I was having some pretty hard contractions. Harder and more painful than anything I had experienced up to that point in pregnancy. They were inconsistent, at best, so I just figured it wasn't that big a deal. I wasn't terribly worried or concerned. Saturday morning, Dallin asked me if I wanted to go to the gym with him, but because I had been up some of the night with contractions, I was pretty tired and decided I wasn't going to go with him. Then, right before he left, I noticed I had quite a bit of fluid leaking out of me and it was tinged with blood. Once again, I figured I was just getting to the end of the pregnancy and wrote it off as not a big deal. I got in the shower and then all the sudden I started having contractions that were rocking. my. world. I had to lean up against the wall and just concentrate on my breathing. After I got out, I sat down and drank a bunch of water, thinking that would help, but they just kept coming.

I finally started considering the possibility that I was, in fact, in labor and thought about calling Dallin at the gym, but figured he would be home soon enough and then we could head to the hospital. (Yeah, I know, I'm kinda dumb.) Then I got a text from Dallin asking me if I was feeling any better from that morning and I replied I thought I was in labor. He couldn't believe I hadn't called him, but things hadn't seemed that bad. Then suddenly, the contractions started coming fast and furious. I suddenly thought, "I wonder if we're even gonna make it to the hospital!" Dallin got home from the gym and we sprinted (read: Ashley waddled) to the car and hit every green light to the hospital. Hallelujah. I had a couple hard contractions on my way to the hospital and then as I was checking in, I had a few more. I was in so much pain at this point that I just wanted to get into a room and have an epidural as quick as was humanly possible. A triage nurse came to get me and led me to a room to check me out, explaining that she just wanted to make sure I was really in labor. This whole time, I am thinking, "if this isn't labor, then just shoot me now, 'cause it can't get any worse than this!" I got undressed and into my hospital gown as fast as I could, and she checked me (which was about as uncomfortable as all get out, holy crud!) and then she looked at me with shock in her eyes and said, "you're dilated to a 9!! We're moving you into your own room NOW!" I was kind of shocked, but not really, because of the amount of pain I was in. I asked the nurse on the way to my room if I was too late for an epidural (which I figured I was) and she said they MIGHT be able to get me one. Then she asked, "what's your plan for pain management?" Just then I had a contraction and I blurted out, "the epidural! That was my plan for pain management!!" She just started laughing. Luckily, I found humor in the situation as well. :)

They got me into my room and the nurses were just scrambling everywhere. I kind of felt bad. But then another contraction would hit and I didn't feel so bad anymore. I just wanted to be out of my misery. Those contractions were so hard and the urge to push was starting. My doctor came in (she was AMAZING. LOVED her) and she checked me and said I was actually more like an 8, not a 9, so they were going to get the anesthesiologist in to me STAT! :) He came in and gave me my epidural and within 15 minutes, I was in heaven. I also received an amazing blessing from Marcus and Dallin and things went smooth from there on out. I pushed for about an hour and a half, got hung up on her high little cheekbones, then out she came! The doctor flipped her over, asked Dallin if he wanted to tell me what it was, and we were both so overcome with emotion when he said it was a girl. They plopped her on my stomach, she started crying (we were already crying :)) and the rest is history.

It's been a crazy roller coaster so far. This is the hardest, most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life. Claire came to this world at 6 lbs. 3 oz. 18.5 ins long and left the hospital at 5 lbs. 12 oz. She dropped further down to 5 lbs 8 oz. and we were getting pretty scared. I was supposed to go to Claire's pediatrician on Wednesday, but I got a call Tuesday morning at 8:00 telling me they had a last minute cancellation and asked if I would like to come in for a 9:00 appt? For some reason, I felt I needed to say yes and we went in. That's when we found out that Claire had dropped to 5 lbs. 8 oz. and that we needed to pretty much start shoving food down her throat or else there were going to be negative consequences. So, we did just that, and are continuing to do it now. Our pediatrician was so inspired to call us to fill that appointment on Tuesday. If we had waited til Wednesday, I don't know what might have happened. I think Claire could have potentially been in big trouble. He said for some reason he just remembered the name Claire Calaway and thought of her to fill that appointment. I know there were higher powers at work in her behalf. For that, I am truly grateful.

So now we have feedings that are 2-3 hours apart all day everyday and after I feed, I pump like it's nobody's business! :) She's back up to 5 lbs 15 oz. and, the way she has been eating lately, she'll be up to her birth weight in no time flat. Meanwhile, I'm not getting much rest or much of anything done, but I am loving my new job as mommy. It feels so weird to have a daughter and know that she is ours. Dallin is probably the worlds best dad and is totally in love with Claire. He sits with her on his chest all the time and loves on her all day long. I think it's pretty safe to say that she is just as smitten with him as he is her. We both think she is the most beautiful baby that ever graced this planet (of course, we're not biased at all) and she continues to wrap us around her long little fingers everyday. We're so blessed and are loving every moment of this new journey.

Oh, and we just moved yesterday to a new apartment in our building so that Claire would have her own room. No big deal. We could NOT have done it without the help of my wonderful angel mother and Claire's two biggest fans, Marcus and Ash. With their help, we were able to move apartments and get everything cleaned and squared away. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU Marcus, Ash and Mom. We love you guys and appreciate you so much!! I especially want to thank my mom for all her help this week. She has fed us delicious, healthy meals, has run errands for us, helped me with the late night feedings so that I could get a little extra sleep and was super mom/mother-in-law/grandma all week long. I couldn't have made it through this first week without her. I love you, Mom!! Now Valerie, we need you here to fill the grandma void. :)

So, here are some pictures from the first week of little Claire Calaway's first week of life.

Claire's Favorite Place: Daddy's Chest

She's already starting to suck her thumb!

No Good, Very Bad Day

2010-10-05T13:20:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling exceptionally sorry for myself today. I've been frustrated, annoyed, irritated, sad, and had a string of four letter words continuously running through my brain. Shocking, I know. (Or not) So, this is my attempt to try and get me out of my funk.

I realize my situation right now is really not pitiable at all, nor am I looking for any of you to tell me it is, because if we're being honest, I'll be fine in a couple of hours. Just chalk it up to hormones. I've thankfully escaped the crazy roller coaster of hormones that some women are plagued by when they're pregnant and, for the most part, have been exceptionally happy. I've had a good attitude about most things and have just rolled with the punches, because I knew I really had no other choice, so I may as well enjoy my time, right? Well, today I guess things have just caught up to me. I don't sleep well at night anymore and haven't really for about a month and a half, so I am in a constant state of tiredness. And even though I probably shouldn't, I worry constantly about this baby inside me. I feel it move almost all the time, but if I notice it hasn't moved in a while, I freak myself out, wondering the last time it moved. Then I think of all the possible defects it could have once it's born and I wonder, "am I ready for all this??" Needless to say, that's not helping me at all either. And maybe, just maybe, the fact that we're still in Washington and I'm not near my doctor has me stressed out too. Because I am almost 37 weeks, and therefore, almost considered full term. So there you have it, my grievances all laid out there for you all to see.

But really, I would be an ungrateful brat if I didn't tell you all the wonderful blessings I have in my life. I have an amazing husband who works so hard to provide for me and this baby and loves me, despite my many flaws. We have two working vehicles that get us from point a to point b quite comfortably. We have clothes on our backs with plenty to spare. We have our health and really good health insurance just in case our health takes a turn for the worse. :) We are so lucky to have musical abilities and the opportunities to share them with others. We have incredible family members who support us in all we do and amazing parents who offer their homes to us whenever we need a place to stay without complaint. And, as far as I know, we have a healthy baby inside me who loves to kick and play. There are so many more blessings I know I'm not mentioning, but I'm feeling better now. :) So as you can see, I am incredibly blessed and am so grateful for this life I lead. Even though it doesn't always turn out the way I think it will, and there are twists and turns, I just have to keep up an attitude of gratitude. So I will try to be better about that. No promises though. :)

Help!

2010-09-30T15:01:00.000-07:00

Anyone else think of the Beatles upon reading this blog post title? Oh. Just me? Moving on then. . . :)

I couldn't sleep the other night. Wait. I can't ever sleep anymore. But it was really bad the other night. I laid awake for who knows how long and had a mental breakdown. I freaked out about the labor and delivery. I freaked out about the realization that when I leave the hospital in a month (give or take) I will no longer be pregnant, but I will have a baby that needs me. I freaked out that I am still in Washington and not in Oregon, close to my doctor and the hospital that I am pre-registered with. And the list goes on. It was like the panic attack of the century. Please, oh please, tell me I am not alone in this freak out. I hope every one of you who have had kids had this same freak out with your first. Or at least something similar. Maybe I should just admit myself to the psych ward now.

I woke up the next morning though, and suddenly, I had a dose of perspective and things just didn't seem so daunting. I'm still nervous, to be sure, but I am definitely not in melt-down mode. But then I did start thinking of some things that I really need to get ready in preparation for this little one to come. The first thing that I thought of was "the bag". You know, the bag with all your goodies that you take to the hospital. I have looked online for lists and things and I have gotten suggestions from people over the past few months, but with this ridiculous pregnant brain of mine, I can't remember what you have all said. So, please, give me your advice! What did you have that you were grateful you had with you at the hospital? Or what didn't you have that you wished you had? What the heck should I pack in my hospital bag?! :) Here's a list I got from Enfamil in my inbox the other day. Please, feel free to add to it. I need all the suggestions I can get!

# Shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, hairbrush, cosmetics and other toiletries
# Comfortable PJs (bring a couple), slippers and a robe
# Video and still cameras
# Socks
# Pillows
# Playing cards, puzzles, magazines, books
# Laptop and your favorite DVDs
# Hard candies to suck on during labor
# Moisturizer
# Pencil, notepad and a watch for timing contractions
# Phone numbers for family and friends
# Nursing bra, if you plan to breastfeed
# Underwear (several pairs)
# Street clothes
# An outfit for the baby, including socks, onesie, diaper and hat
# Baby blanket
# Infant car seat

I thought this was a pretty good list, but I want your advice too. So hit me with the suggestions!

Oh, and by the way: I'm 36 weeks tomorrow. Holy. Cow.

34 Weeks

2010-09-20T13:34:00.000-07:00

I hit my 34 week mark on Friday. It feels incredibly weird that in roughly 6 weeks (give or take) I will have a baby in my arms. In fact, it makes me just a tiny bit nervous. Or a lot nervous. In fact, if I start to over think it, then I almost go into panic mode. You think I'm kidding. I'm not. I realize I haven't posted many pictures on here from the pregnancy, so unless you are my friend on Facebook, or have seen me in live and living color, you haven't gotten to see this fantabulous belly of mine. So, I figured I may as well start from the very first prego picture I took and go from there. So here they are. Me throughout the pregnancy.

17.5 Weeks along

20 Weeks Along

22 Weeks Along

24 Weeks Along

26 Weeks Along

28 Weeks Along

30 Weeks Along

34 Weeks Along

I missed taking a 32 weeks picture. It was kind of a hectic time. We were in the process of making our temporary move back up here to Washington for the Timothy harvest. I figure my not taking a 32 week picture is pretty forgivable though. :)

I'm starting to feel more prepared, but I'm still plenty nervous. I can't wait to hold this baby and find out if it's a boy or a girl! My sister Tara just had her 20 week appointment today and she is having a boy! So I have her rooting for a boy and Megan rooting for a girl. :) We're just hoping for a healthy baby. I'll be sure to be better at posting pictures from now on and will resume my attitude of gratitude posts here in the next little while. Until next time!

I'd Like To File A Missing Person's Report...

2010-09-16T12:47:00.000-07:00

Sex: Female
Age: 22 (almost 23)
Height: 5' 3"
Weight: Let's not go there. We'll just say: (VERY) LARGE WITH CHILD
Hair: Dark Brown
Eyes: Blue
Race: Caucasian (she's so white, she glows in the dark!)
Distinguishing features: Looks like she has a basketball shoved up her shirt, freckles, waddles as she walks...

If found, please call friends and family to alert where she has been for the past two weeks! Thanks!

I feel like I have been apologizing on here a lot lately. I seem to go in spurts where I am super good and diligent at blogging, and other times where there are other things that just take precedence over updating the blog. Sorry for my lack of consistency, I promise I'll get better! Especially when this kid gets here. Be prepared to be over loaded with pictures.

We've been in Pasco, Salem and Ellensburg for the past 2 weeks and are currently in Ellensburg. Not sure how much longer we will be here, but I will be sure to keep you all posted as to where we roam. Had I known that I was going to be here in Washington so close to my due date, I think I probably would have not transferred my care down to Salem, but oh well! What can ya do?

Things are going really well as far as the pregnancy goes. I will be 34 weeks tomorrow. (HOLY COW!!!) I can't sleep at night (I think that's Heavenly Father's way of preparing me for when the baby comes and I will never sleep anyway!) I pee all day and all night long and my hands and feet are starting to swell. I think that about covers all the late pregnancy wonderfulness. :) For the most part though, I feel really good. I am just getting anxious for this little one to get here!! I had a dream last night that we had a boy. That makes for 2 boy dreams and 2 girl dreams. It's anyone's guess now! I, however, am convinced it's a girl. You can all start making your bets now. Only 6 weeks to go!

Dallin is all done with the harvest in Oregon and is helping out up here in Washington with the last of the Timothy and what-not. He had a really successful summer down in Oregon and we feel so incredibly blessed because of that! Once he is done up here, we'll head back to Salem and he's going to start studying for his GMAT. He is hoping to have it taken and the results back in his hands by the time the early application process begins at Willamette, which is December. Then we'll cross our fingers and hope he gets into their MBA program for Fall of 2011.

Life for us is pretty crazy right now, but hey, it'd be boring any other way! I promise I will once again resume my attitude of gratitude posts and make it to the 40 days, 'cause I ain't no quitter. :) I won't promise you WHEN I'll resume those, just know that I will. :) For now, here are some pictures from our most recent trip back down to Salem. If you ever have a time when you are leisurely making your way down to Portland, take some pit stops. We stayed on the Washington side until we got to the Bridge of the Gods and we crossed over there to Oregon. Totally cool. Highly recommended. Then we stopped at this place off of the I-84 called the Vista House. It overlooks the Columbia River Gorge and on into Portland and is really quite breathtaking. We timed it just right and got there at sunset too, so it was amazing. Once again, leisurely making your way down to Portland is the best way to go. I highly recommend it. :)

On the way to Oregon, on the Washington side.

The road to Oregon.

View from the Vista House at Sunset looking at the lights of Portland.

Another view from the Vista House

Day 26: In Limbo

2010-09-07T22:36:00.000-07:00

Once again, I apologize for my absence in the blogging world. I am sure you've all been DYING for my next post... Right. :) Anyhow, the last few days have been a little crazy. All day Friday I helped Dallin and Trent on the last fields that needed raking, baling and stacking and then Saturday I packed up and headed to Ellensburg. Dallin followed in the service truck a few hours later. Now we're in Pasco, where we're here to stay for a few weeks. Yes. Another temporary move. I know, we're insane. My life has no definite plans. All I know is I am going to have a kid in roughly 7 1/2 weeks. That is literally the only definite thing in our lives at this point. It makes for a good time, let me tell ya! I mean, really, who wants a predictable life? How boring would that be?? I guess I wouldn't really know, because my life has never been predictable. :) But seriously, this whole "in limbo" thing totally works for us, and we're just happy to be close to family and to have things to keep us busy.

I guess the thing that really has stuck out to me today is I am grateful to be where I am at this point in my life. And I am so grateful for who I am with. My journey wouldn't be nearly so good if it weren't for my wonderful husband standing beside me, supporting me in every way and working so hard. And I am grateful we have this crazy life. As insane as it sometimes gets, what with us running here and there and everywhere, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I love who I am and where I am at. And the best thing is, even though we don't know what the future holds for us, we know that where we're going is going to be the best place for us. It will be where we will grow the most and learn the most and be the best we can be. I am grateful for being "in limbo".

Day 25: A Letter

2010-09-02T22:52:00.000-07:00

Dear Baby,

I just want to let you know how excited your daddy and I are for you to arrive! I'll be 32 weeks tomorrow, which means you're almost here! (At least it seems that way!) You've been moving a lot lately. You love to kick and somersault and, on occasion, hit my rib cage, which isn't so much fun. :)

I heard your heartbeat again yesterday at my doctors appointment. I love to hear your little heart. It may be the most beautiful sound I have ever heard. It made me think of the very first time I ever heard it. It was a magical moment that I will not soon forget. I remember how nervous I was. Last August, when I was in that same doctors office, I hadn't heard a heart beat and I was afraid that would be the case again. So when I first heard that beautiful sound, it was like no one else was in the room except your daddy and me. Time stood still for just a moment. I remember looking at him and relief flooding through me. Now I get to feel your movements and your hiccups and it's about all I can do to patiently await your arrival.

I want you to know how special you are. I can tell you are going to be one amazing little spirit, and I cannot wait to get to know you better throughout the years. I know we'll have our rough patches to work through, but always remember how much your momma loves you. You are the sunshine in mine and daddy's world. Keep moving, keep punching, keep hiccuping, we never tire of seeing and feeling it. We love you sweet baby and can't wait til October, when we'll finally get to meet you.

Love you always,

Mom

Day 24: Rain, Rain, Go Away! Come Again When the Harvest is OVER!

2010-08-30T23:19:00.000-07:00

I don't sleep very well as of late. It's either a trip to the bathroom or being uncomfortable that wakes me up every couple of hours. In the wee hours of the morning this morning, I awoke to the sound of rain pounding on the tin roof right outside our window. I love the sound of rain on a tin roof. But last night, I cringed. I knew what rain that was pouring like that meant for Dallin. It meant no work would happen today. Normally, any woman would jump for joy, knowing her husband wouldn't have to work the next day, especially after a crazy summer like this has been. But, I have come to realize the bigger picture as far as work is concerned. Rain just isn't good in the summertime.

That being said, I was so grateful that I had the chance to just hang out with Dallin today. We needed that. With this sweet little one due in just 8 1/2 short weeks, we don't have a whole lot of time to be together, just us. So, we hopped in the car and headed to the coast at Lincoln City. Granted, Tate and Trent came with us, so it really wasn't just the two of us, but still, it was so good to be together. We headed to the Tanger Outlets (my favorite place in Lincoln City ;-)) and I got some baby stuff at Carters Outlet. Then we headed to Mo's and I had the best Clam Chowder ever! After that, we watched the sun set over the Pacific Ocean and then ended the evening at Cold Stone. Too bad it was 55 degrees as we were eating our ice cream. :) I still enjoyed mine though. Needless to day, it was a wonderful day for me and the hubs.

I am so grateful for Dallin and his willingness to work. He has the hardest work ethic and loves keeping busy. He does so much to provide for this little family, and I consider myself so lucky to have married someone with that quality. I am so grateful that we can spend time together too and have so much fun with each other. He is my best friend and my better half. I love this man with all my heart and can't wait for this little babe to meet his/her amazing daddy. Yay for rain today. :)

The Sunset

The boys in front of Mo's!

Dallin and I in front of Mo's (It was kind of windy and my hair was all over the place and this isn't the best picture, but oh well! We take what we can get! :))

The Pacific Ocean in the background. So pretty!

Day 23: In God We Trust

2010-08-29T23:10:00.001-07:00

At the rate I am going, 80 days will have gone by in my attempt to do my 40 day posts. :) Sorry, I'm just a slacker. I'd like to promise you an improvement, but I can't guarantee that. It's just the kind of person I am. :) So, if the posts continue to be sporadic, forgive me.

I was reading in 2nd Nephi the other day and a couple of passages of scripture really stuck out to me. Maybe because I have been thinking a lot about the 8/28 event that Glenn Beck hosted, or maybe because I just needed to read it. In the first chapter, Lehi is addressing Laman and Lemuel one last time before he passes away. He starts out by talking about the land of their inheritance; the promised land. In verse 5, he says, "Yea, the Lord hath covenanted this land unto me, and to my children forever, and also all those who should be led out of other countries by the hand of the Lord." He continues on in verse 6 saying, "there shall none come into this land save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord." As I read that, I realized that all who came to this land were truly brought here by divine design. What an amazing thing. The Lord had His hand in it all. He brought those to this land that He knew would build it up to the great nation it now is.

But then, right after Lehi tells them about this great nation and the divine way in which they inherited it, he issues this warning in verse 7, "Wherefore, this land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever."

What a warning. No cushion, no buffer, just puttin it all out there and telling it how it is. As I look at the state of our nation, I get a little nervous. We seem to be losing sight of what really matters. God is being taken out of our schools, attempted to be taken off our money and essentially, out of our lives. If we don't change things, well, I don't really want to find out what "cursed shall be the land for their sakes" all entails. Call me crazy. I would prefer it being blessed forever because of righteousness. And in order to do that, to be righteous, we need to go back to our roots. We need to get back to what our Founding Fathers started. We need to recognize the Lord's hand in the creating and establishing of this nation. And, as is written on all our currency, we need to remember, "In God, We Trust." We are truly a blessed nation that has been given so much. Let's not condemn ourselves to captivity and cursings, but instead continue to be the promised land.

Day 22: Trip Check

2010-08-27T12:31:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not posting. I swear, this week has been crazy. Between my visit home (which lasted way longer than it was originally planned for and I am totally ok with that :)) and getting back here to do laundry and buy groceries for my poor husband who was living without, and reading the final book in the Hunger Games series, Mockingjay, I feel like I am finally in normal mode. If you know me at all, once a book has me within it's grasp, I don't come up for food, water, air or sleep unless it's totally necessary. :) Ok, slight exaggeration. But only slight. But the house is clean, the laundry is done and the fridge is once more stocked, so I feel good.

As I made my way home on Wednesday, I found myself entering the Portland area at about 4:15. Bad timing. Rush hour starts right about that time. And rush hour in Portland stinks. It's pretty much bumper to bumper traffic for two solid hours. Not fun. So, as I entered Gresham, I called my mom and asked her if she could go online to tripcheck.org and see how the traffic was for me. What resulted was kind of an interesting experience. She was literally able to follow me from the I-84 to the I-205 to the I-5, all by camera. She told me what to expect as I came to certain roads, and where the traffic would be the heaviest, where it was lighter, if there were any accidents up ahead (which there were not, thank goodness.) She followed my trip for a good 15-20 miles and told me everything I needed to know. She kept commenting, "this is so crazy! I can't believe I can follow you like this!" She even saw live feed and could see me passing by certain cameras. It was pretty cool.

I thought about how it would be if our lives could be like that. If we could have someone that could go a few weeks or months or even years ahead of us and report what was coming and warn us how to avoid the traffic jams that may result. And then I realized, we do have that. It's called a Prophet of God. And his name is Thomas S. Monson. We have had so many prophets come and forewarn us of the dangers that surely lie ahead and how we can be prepared to face those dangers. When the First Presidency came out with the Proclamation to the World on Families, the family wasn't being attacked that heavily. Now, we are constantly being bombarded on every side concerning our families. When they first started warning about food storage and not going into debt, it wasn't as big of an issue with most people. Now, how many times do we see commercials for debt relieving agencies and credit card debt relief? There were laws that were trying to get passed about not having a garden or only being able to have a certain amount of food storage. We are seeing the wisdom NOW of the counsel we were given THEN. What foresight, what inspiration those wonderful men had/have to tell us how to prepare and arm ourselves against the certain dangers that may befall us. I am so grateful for a living Prophet who leads and guides us and gives us counsel. I am grateful for my own personal "tripcheck" that warns me when there are unforeseen dangers ahead. We thank Thee oh God, for a Prophet, to guide us in these latter-days.

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Day 21: Getthing Rid of the Junk

2010-08-24T21:26:00.000-07:00

Today I de-junked the closet in my old room at my parents. My mom has been asking me to do this for quite some time and I finally got around to it. Among the treasures that I found was the cast from my freshman year that Phil Vasser signed, about 4 of my old backpacks, my track spikes, stage make-up and performance shoes and a plethora of other goodies. (There may or may not have been unused wedding gifts in there too. Woops!) I parted with most of those things, but couldn't bear to get rid of my track spikes. Don't ask me why. Probably the same reason I cry at track meets. Those and my performance shoes. I couldn't bear to part with those. I think because I have this hope that one day I will be in another performance when I will need them. One never knows! One thing I found, I couldn't just send to the Goodwill, but I really don't want to keep it. It's my college bedding. It's super cute (Tommy Hilfiger), was only purchased 4 years ago and is still in great shape. The sheets might be a little faded, but I think it all looks really good. So, before I put it up on Craigslist, I am wondering if there is anyone who reads this blog that might be interested? I am getting rid of it for $25 OBO. Here's a picture of everything.

(Click on picture to enlarge)

The comforter is a twin, and so are the sheets. It comes with two pillow cases (only one pictured, but they're identical) one Euro Sham and a decorative pillow. I am throwing in a mattress pad too, which is super thick and really nice quality. I think it might be Egyptian cotton. The bedding, in case you can't tell from the pictures, is navy, light blue, yellow, lime green, hot pink and white striped. I absolutely LOVE this bedding, but have no use for it now, obviously. So, if you want it, give me a shout out!

Now, on to the real reason of this post. As I was de-junking, I thought about all the spiritual junk I am hoarding. Well, not spiritual, but saying sinful just sounds so harsh. I guess that's what it is though; sinful junk I carry around. You know, the "favorite sins", sins of omission, a bad habit, whatever! And I wondered why it's so hard to get rid of it all when it's so easy to get rid of all the temporal stuff that is unnecessary in my life. Why is it so difficult to give up certain sins? Because I am a natural [wo]man. And, I can't do it on my own. I need the Lord to be with me every step of the way to lead and guide and encourage and love.

When I was packing to go to college, my best friend Kayla, who I talked about in my last post, helped me get everything organized and ready. She is like the EXPERT de-junker. Before that night, I had this tendency to hang on to EVERYTHING. I would always think, "oh, I might use that sometime" or "I will definitely need that at some point" but she got me to be realistic. And ya know what? I can't remember a single thing I threw away that night, but I threw away a LOT of junk (much to my mother's delight!) Sometimes, we just need the expert de-junker to come into our life and allow Him to help us purge. Sometimes we need Him to tell us that we don't need any of that junk anymore. In fact, we would be so much better off without it! But, we have to LET Him help us. I'm slowly learning to let Him in to help me and I am trying to do my part the best I can, but hey! I'm not perfect! I stand in need of His assistance all day long. But thank goodness He is a forgiving being. Thank goodness He helps us when we ask, and even helps when we sometimes don't ask. I am vowing to start de-junking the "sin closet" that has built up in my life and let some things go. It's time to get rid of the junk.

My Apologies

2010-08-22T20:30:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry about not posting for the past couple of days, but I made a surprise trip to Washington when I found out all 5 of my siblings would be here. Needless to say, I would rather be spending my time with them than blogging. :) Things will resume on Tuesday! See you then!

The Original 6

Day 20: The Best Things in Life Aren't Things, They're Friends.

2010-08-19T14:46:00.000-07:00

Currently, I have no job. I don't go to school either. I'm just growing a baby! And I have limited interaction with the outside world. My interaction mainly consists of talking to the checkout people at WinCo and Costco and the occasional trip over to Marcus and Ashley's. So you can only imagine my delight when I received a package in the mail yesterday from one of my best friends in the entire world. As I read the card she included, it made me realize how blessed I am to have the friends that I do. Being here in Salem and somewhat removed from everyone, I tend to forget how lucky I am and what awesome people are in my life. This friend in particular is pretty amazing though. I can't tell you how many times in my life she has given her time and attention to me. She is always there when I need her and never asks for anything in return. She loves unconditionally and would drop anything at any moment if I asked her to. She's the bestest best friend a girl could ever ask for. So thanks Kay for all the good times. Thanks for the laughs at Yokes when you ran into the barrier as we were getting our favorite cake, thanks for all the movie rentals from Hollywood, for the crying on each others shoulders about dumb high school boys, for the auction where you first laid eyes on your future husband, for all the football and basketball games, the state tourneys, and supporting me in all my plays and concerts. You were the best friend in high and middle school and you've been even better as the years have gone on. I love ya babe!

"I'd like to be the sort of friend that you have been to me, I'd like to be the help that you've been always glad to be; I'd like to mean as much to you each minute of the day, as you have meant old friend of mine, to me along the way." -Anonymous

After her dance recital when we were like 5? :)

At one of the MANY football games from our high school experience

Kayla going to a prom our Junior year

Graduation!

At Kayla's wedding, May 25, 2008

All the Bridesmaids at her wedding!

"A friendship can weather most things and thrive in thin soil; but it needs a little mulch of letters and phone calls and small, silly presents every so often - just to save it from drying out completely." -Pam Brown

Day 19: You're The Inspiration!

2010-08-17T16:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not your typical girl. I don't cry in chick flicks or in sappy movies. I don't really ever cry, period (except now that I am pregnant. You can't STOP the tears anymore, it's kind of ridiculous.) But there is one thing that will get me crying instantly, no matter what, no matter where. Sporting events. Yes. You read that right. Sporting events. Track meets in particular. When I see athletes giving it their all, I lose it. I think it's because I know exactly how it feels to give everything you've got in that one moment; to be the best you can be. I know the burning in your lungs, legs filled with lead, can't go any harder, can't go any faster, giving it your all feeling. It's inspiring to me to see people working so hard at something.

So, it was no wonder that I was fogging up behind my lens as I took pictures of my oldest sister, Rachel, when she competed in her triathlon in July. (I know, I am so behind on posting about this!) She and her friend Wendy Beus trained and competed together (along with about half of Pasco 6th ward!) It was so amazing to see her accomplish this amazing feat because of a few things. One, it was her first triathlon ever. Two, she has diabetes and has had it since she was 12. She was diagnosed with it a few months prior to my being born. But don't let any statistician tell you anything about the likelihood of not being able to do certain things because of diabetes, because Rachel has beat them all. She's got 4 totally healthy girls (which in and of itself is a miracle) is totally fit and trim (and gorgeous to boot) and has a normal lifestyle apart from her having to give herself insulin at random times during the day. So, needless to say, I was in awe and totally inspired as I watched her compete in her triathlon. She got a great time too. Here are some of the pictures from the race.

I didn't get there in time to get a picture of her getting out of the Columbia from the swim, but I caught her just in time for the bike portion. This is just as she was coming back from the bike ride.

All the kids got cowbells from some random person handing them out and they were loving life. We finally told them they couldn't ring the bells unless they saw someone coming or going. :)

Just starting her 5K run.

Crossing the finish line! Phew!

Chad, Rach and the girls after the race.

The whole 6th ward group that competed (plus a couple not in 6th ward :))

So I guess my point with all of this is to say thank you to those who have inspired me. Thank you to my amazing siblings who are constantly defying all odds and doing great things and being the best siblings a youngest child could ever ask for. Thank you to amazing singers, pianists, violinists, guitarists, dancers, athletes, etc who have accomplished so much and inspired me to do my best in all I do. Thank you to my amazing father who, even though he was an outstanding athlete, never pushed us to do anything we didn't want to do, but supported us in everything. And thank you to my wonderful mother, who played taxi and ran us all over heck so that we could pursue our dreams. You are all my inspiration. *Cue Chicago* :)

Day 18: A/C Anyone?

2010-08-16T22:25:00.000-07:00

We don't have air conditioning in our apartment. Apparently, Salem builders didn't think the apartments needed air conditioning because of their "mild" summers. Yeah... they forgot about the pregnant women, who, on 95 degree days are melting in their apartments. No big. I don't think I have ever appreciated a/c more than I do right now. I finally got in my car and drove to Costco just so I could get some relief. And I guess we needed groceries too. :)

So this whole no a/c thing got my wheels turning. How the heck did those poor pioneer women survive on the plains? Walking in severe heat in a dress with multiple layers while being hormonally hot (yes, I just made that phrase up) is not my idea of a picnic. I. Would. Have. Died. Seriously, I am such a pansy. And I hate being hot. Those women were so strong. I want to be that strong. I don't wanna be a pansy anymore! I want to be a tough cookie who can weather the storms and live without a/c. So I am going to be strong. Summer won't last forever and in T-minus 10 1/2 weeks, this baby will be born and I will no longer be hormonally hot (at least I can only hope). I can make it. *Cue The Little Engine That Could, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!*

Day 17: Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

2010-08-15T18:45:00.000-07:00

Today in our Marriage and Family Relations class, we were discussing mothers and their important role in the lives of their children. I thought back to the previous hour where, in Sacrament Meeting, I had witnessed two little toddlers running here and there and everywhere while their mothers chased after them. And then I thought of the three little siblings who got up about every 10 minutes to go out into the foyer for some reason or another. And I thought of the two boys sitting in front of me, who during the sacrament, kept giggling incessantly. I realized, during that hour of sacrament meeting that all those situations would be me in just 11 weeks. Gone are the quiet sacrament meetings where I will get to listen intently to the talks being given. Gone are the days of sleeping in and going wherever I please whenever I please. Gone are the days of small purses and clothing without stains of spit up and drool. And you know what? I can't wait. I cannot wait for this sweet, precious little one to enter into our family. I am totally in love with her/him already and so is Dallin. We are so excited to hold this baby and love it and not get any sleep because of it and never have a moments peace. I know it will all be worth it. All the sleepless nights and the constant trips to the bathroom, my now altered body, the varicose veins that threaten to appear if I don't drink at least 64 oz of water each day are all going to be worth it.

This clip was shown today in class and I loved it. It showed motherhood as it really is; the ups and the downs, the realities of motherhood. And it also features one of my favorite apostles. (Is it bad to have a favorite apostle? I hope not. :))

Day 16: I'm All Alone, There's No One Here Beside Me.

2010-08-14T12:15:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the day your parents dropped you off at college for the first time? The scene probably went something like this- Mom is crying, dad's impatient to hit the road, and you can't wait to get back to your apartment and get to know your roommates and those cute boys that walked by about a half hour ago.

I have never been one that has enjoyed leaving home, so it came as a great surprise when I was anxious for my parents to hit the road the first time they dropped me off at BYU-Idaho. I was excited to live my own life and be on my own! Then I went home for a weekend visit a few weeks after I had been gone. I bawled my eyes out as I left to go back down to Rexburg. I hated leaving. I wanted to be back in Pasco with my family and friends and forget this whole college experience. But, I grew to love Rexburg and school and even though I was still homesick, I had amazing friends and roommates (and a few cute guys to distract me) that helped me to not miss home so much.

Now, here I sit in Salem, alone once more. My family came into town for a couple of days to visit and it was wonderful. We did back to school shopping, went to the coast, had crazy kids running around from dawn til dusk and enjoyed ourselves immensely. I now know how it feels to be the one left behind. I know how my mom would feel after we would head back to school from Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. Everyone leaves to go back to life as usual, and you get left behind. I have to admit, it royally stinks. I'm not a fan. But it got me to thinking, which is always a good thing. I thought about how it would feel to be left behind while the rest of my family progressed and reached that higher potential. What a terrible, terrible feeling. To see your family move on ahead of you, and to know you were being left behind, kicking yourself for not doing more. This temporary separation is nothing compared to what could be if I don't stay on my guard. I don't want to be left behind. I want to be with my family. This life will mean nothing unless I can be united with my family after we have all passed on. And it will be a glorious day when we will all be reunited and together forever.

"Families can be together forever, through Heavenly Father's plan. I always want to be with my own family, and the Lord has shown me how I can."

Sarah and Emiline at the coast yesterday

Luke, Mathew and William

Hannah and Emi playing in the sand

Emma burying her feet in the sand to keep em cool. :) That sand was hot!

Miss Rebekah

Day 15: I'm Coming!

2010-08-12T23:24:00.000-07:00

"You can't lean on the arm of Government and be successful! We are making a mistake by distancing ourselves from God." -Glenn Beck

Dallin and I are watching Glenn Beck right now, and the above quote was just said by him. He is the man that has inspired this 40 day transformation I am currently undergoing. After he said that, Dallin said, "You can't rely on the arm of flesh."

That got me to thinking, how many times do I rely on the arm of flesh? How many times do I forget to turn to my Heavenly Father and, instead, look to some other source? Too often, I'm afraid. I need to fix that. I believe a course correction is in order. How many times do we read the phrase in scripture "come unto me"? The Savior is constantly pleading with us to come to Him and let Him be apart of our lives. So why don't I always let Him?? Because, I'm a natural (wo)man. I rely on my arm of flesh too heavily. But I promise, I am working on this. I'm trying to be better. I'm coming. It might still be awhile, but I'll get there.