"Now Make Them Drink The Milk"

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'!

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. . .

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.

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

• 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

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

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!