Newest Craft Project

Since I have no longer been a student, I've discovered I've had more time on my hands. Well, with watching Calvin I don't have THAT much more time on my hands, but I've realized that I need something else to do besides watch Calvin. I've decided to try my hand at some crafts. I don't consider myself a "crafty person," but I guess the only way to get better is to practice, right?

While at another girl's home in our ward, I noticed she had these really cute blocks for her daughter. I thought, "I bet I could make something like that!" So I went to Roberts Arts and Crafts not really knowing what I needed to buy. I got some supplies and when I got home I researched the Internet to get some beginning lessons on stitching plastic canvas (probably should have done that in the opposite order, but it all worked out). When I told Trevor what I was doing he said, "Cool! We could even put letters on them!"

Well, long story short, a simple little project is taking me longer than expected but I think they will be fun for him once they are done. I'm making 6 blocks (so that we can spell Calvin's name) and putting different letters on all the sides. I'm even sticking bells and other things inside so they make noise. This first block took me a long time to do, but I learned a lot doing it and the other ones shouldn't take as long hopefully. For not knowing anything about plastic canvas I think it turned out pretty well!

Ward Campout

Last night our ward had a camp out in Jolley Ranch (by Springville). We actually found it this year unlike last year! It was beautiful there this time of year as all the leaves are changing colors!


The activity was really fun and we got to know some more people in our ward. We had a chili cook-off and peach cobbler for dessert. We didn't stay the night because we didn't think it would be wise with Calvin.

That's a great smile!


Here you can leaves the leaves changing color better.


This is a classic Calvin smile! :0)

Tis the season for peaches!

Daddo (Trevor's grandpa) invited me to his home to can peaches on Wednesday. I thought, "Oh, this will be great! We will have a couple jars of peaches to enjoy in the future!" Little did I know I would be going home with 16 jars of peaches! It was a lot of fun and I got to know Trevor's cousins Rachel and Stephanie better. We also made peach cobbler and I got to bring some home for Trevor.


Calvin has been really cute lately (well actually... he's always been cute). He is finding his voice and loves to babble, squeal, shout, and I'm pretty sure he's trying to sing along with the car radio when we drive somewhere. He also does this horse impression that is really funny. I'll try and get it on video. You know how kids are... once the camera turns on, they stop doing whatever it is you wanted to get on camera.

I find his socks have been soaking wet lately. Ah yes, this would explain it:
Wouldn't you love to be this flexible?

You know you are cool when...

you are driving with your windows rolled down and you stop at an intersection where a group of Gothic high school students are waiting to cross the street and it's obvious they like the music you are listening to.

Who would have thought we would be playing 'cool' music... :0) I'm guessing it won't happen too much in our lives!

What were we listening to you may ask? Tribute from Jack Black's band: Tenacious D (one of their few clean songs).

It's Official!

We are moving back to Silicon Valley next year! After much consideration and prayer we have decided to accept the full-time offer from Microsoft. Before we head back to California, I need to finish my Master's degree which will be sometime between April and August. We're both really excited and look forward to this new turn in our lives!

Sittin' Pretty

For the lonely grandma:

Article about 6 Food Mistakes Parents Make

I read this interesting article tonight about feeding children. None of the information is earth-shattering, but I thought it might appeal to some people who read this blog. I thought maybe someone could glean a new insight to try with their kids.

6 Food Mistakes Parents Make

I can remember not liking some things when I was younger such as squash, bell pepper, cheesecake (umm... probably not the best example), sourdough bread, plain milk. I had to try these items many times before I acquired a taste for them (it took until college but I now eat them willingly!). I'm grateful my parents still served me foods I disliked eating while I was growing up.

Utah State Fair

Yesterday (Saturday) we went to the Utah State Fair. It brought back a lot of memories for me entering in the State Fair when I was younger. By the way, my mom would have wasted the competition in the gingerbread house division!

We went with Heather, Cesar, Alicey, Olivia, Mandy, Summer, and Hank. Alicey went on her first ride ever! She loved it and wanted to go on all the rides after that!

I couldn't believe how big this steer was! It was around 2900 lbs and 6 feet tall!

I wasn't a big fan of the cow smell.
Ahhhhh! Much better! They had really gorgeous flowers!
They had an awesome butter sculpture! Pretty amazing!
Little Shop of Horrors creation.

Mmmmm.... gotta love the "carni" food!!! :0)

Calvin had quite a bit to say himself about the fair!

Latest Project

I really wanted to get a wreath for our door but didn't want to spend a lot of money on one. Kathryn helped me pick out a base and the leaves. Thank goodness for Roberts Arts and Crafts and their 40% off sale! I assembled it together yesterday. I think it turned out pretty well! The whole thing cost $4.00 less than buying one pre-made and I like it way more than the ones I saw already put together (the ones that weren't ridiculously expensive that is).

Chip off the old block

Yesterday I posted this picture of "Calvin":


That, in reality, is me at around 4 months! Lindsay and I were looking at baby pictures on Sunday and we realized just how much Calvin looks like me. We have the same nose, round head, lack of hair, and cheeks. It's uncanny! For comparison, here's a picture of Calvin playing:

Calvin's Baby Blessing

Sunday, August 31st, Trevor had the wonderful privilege of blessing Calvin back in our ward in Utah. This blessing is an opportunity to give a child his or her name and bestow blessings on that child. This is something men perform in our church who worthily hold the priesthood. Trevor gave a wonderful blessing and it was a great experience for our family. One of the best parts was that Calvin was just smiling and laughing at Trevor the whole time during the blessing. It was like he knew quite well what was going on. :0)

Calvin is sure lucky to have FIVE great-grandparents be able to attend his blessing!




Great-grandma Black with Calvin.



Another four-generation picture. This one turned out really good!



Our family!


After the blessing and sacrament meeting we had a luncheon at Trevor's grandparents' home. It was a nice opportunity to be with family and visit with each other. We love having Calvin as a member of our family!

Calvin being cute

Here's a picture we developed of Calvin and just scanned in. He's such a cutie!

Grandma Black's 80th Birthday Party!

Last Saturday on Aug. 30th we celebrated my Grandma Black's 80th birthday! It was fun to see cousins, aunts, and uncles that I haven't seen for a while.

Calvin really does love his stuffed tiger! This is a typical reaction when we give it to him.

I love the drool action caught in this picture!

My dad with his siblings and mom. Uncle Lester, Dad, Grandma, Aunt Becky, and Aunt Laurie.

Four generations! I'm sure Calvin will appreciate this picture when he is older.

Here is Calvin with his Grandpa Black. He loves his grandpa!

Dad's 60th Luau

My dad turned 60 this year so we had a luau to celebrate on Friday the 29th. My parents were married in Laie Hawaii so this birthday was somewhat in memory of that. Alicey's birthday was a few days before so we celebrated her birthday at the same time. It was a really fun birthday party. Enjoy pictures and a special video of the event!

My dad is so cute!



Hank and Leah are like this in real life :0)




Summer tasting the punch.



Summer, Mandy and Heather (my sisters).



My grandparents Henry and Aurora Florence.



Our little family :0).



My grandpa raises cows.



Calvin perplexed by the camera (as usual).



Alicey and I playing.



Alicey got more presents than she knew what to do with. By the end she told her mom, "No more!" She just wanted to play with her new toys, not open more.



My dad doing a jig.



This is a really special song to my parents. My mom sang this song for my dad when they were married. Enjoy!

How to get a new laptop for free...

Buy a laptop and get the service plan.

Lindsay bought me a laptop from Best Buy our first Christmas together in 2005. I used that laptop for two and a half years until I started having problems with it: the sound wasn't working anymore and it would crash while running certain programs. I decided to get it fixed during the summer because I wouldn't need it for school. Good thing I gave myself all summer to get it fixed.

First I took it into Best Buy in American Fork, UT on May 20th. They sent it out for repairs.

I got it back in Mountain View, CA on June 6th. Although it was working, some of the parts they used to repair it with were the wrong ones (and much cheaper wrong ones). On top of that some of the programs I used didn't work. So they sent it back out to get the right parts.

Two weeks later, I got it back in Milpitas, CA on June 20th. This time, everything seemed fine: the sound was working and it had the right parts. So I took it home and used it for about 10 minutes. The next morning, Saturday, I started it up to make plans with Lindsay for the day. It turned on and 5 seconds later turned off. Try as I might, I couldn't get it to turn back on. So, back to Best Buy. They couldn't get it to turn on either, so they sent it back out for repairs.

Another two weeks later, I picked it back up in Milpitas on July 2nd. Once again, my laptop was starting up, the sound was working and it had the right parts. So I took it home, turned it on and tried to check my email. No dice. My laptop wasn't picking up the Internet at all. I tried to fix the problem on my own but couldn't. So, yet again, I headed back to Best Buy and dropped it off for them to fix the problem at their local store.

A couple of days later, I got a call telling me they couldn't work on the laptop because I had Linux (another operating system) installed as well as Windows. So, on July 9th, I picked it back up to remove Linux. On my own, I figured out what the problem was and it wasn't what I expected. So I removed Linux, made a back up of my files, and went back to Best Buy for the fifth time. I explained the actual problem to them and they sent it back out for repairs.

Now into August, I heard back from Best Buy that my laptop was a "lemon" (basically, a dud, a busted computer) and that I was eligible to get it replaced with a new computer. So on August 8th I made my 10th and final visit to Best Buy and picked up a new laptop.

To give you even more perspective as to how ridiculous this whole thing was: we bought the original laptop for $1,099 plus $200 for the service plan. Every time they repaired my laptop, they replaced the entire motherboard (which is one of the most expensive parts of a computer). Collectively they spent $1,839 just on parts for the repairs. The new laptop I received was $1,000. Taking into account shipping costs and the time spent by employees working on my laptop, they spent over $3,000 on getting my computer repaired!

I got the better end of the deal. My new laptop is a much better computer than what I had before! It's faster, has much more memory, more storage, better graphics, and comes with Vista.

The moral of the story isn't that you should buy your laptops from Best Buy, but that you should spend the money and get the service plan!

Here's a shot of my new laptop:

One of Calvin's fascinations

Calvin loves to have blankets, stuffed animals, or anything soft by his head. I think it is very comforting to him. Whenever I go in to check on him during a nap or play time, many times I find him in this state:



Many many times I have to check and make sure he is breathing and has an air passageway for his nose :0).