Crafty Marty

I have an amazing mother-in-law. This blog post is a tribute to her and all of the wonderful things she has made for us. She is one of the craftiest woman I know. She has made Trevor and I so many things in the short 3 years or so that we have been married. To give you an idea, here are some of the things she has crafted for us:

A beautiful hand-painted Christmas display

Crocheted a baby blanket for Calvin:

A Christmas wreath:

A cute Christmas moon (I had Calvin sit next to things to give you a perspective of size):

A Christmas advent Calendar. This is an amazing work-of-art and must have taken her a looooong time to do. She cross-stitched everything on it:

She even cross-stitched all the pieces that hang on the calendar!
These adorable Christmas pillows. And yes, she stitched this all by hand as well:

Trevor and I LOVE our matching aprons she made us!
This cross-stitch hangs in our kitchen to remind us to always say nice things to each other:

We also really like these two floor pillows she made us. They are really nice quality!

This past Christmas she made us an afghan. She found pictures of our rug and couch and picked colors that would match our front room. I think she did an awesome job and the colors match perfectly!

Now she is working on the mother-of-all-cross-stitches for Calvin. In Trevor's family we just refer to it as "The cross-stitch" and everyone knows what we are talking about. You have to understand that we didn't mean for this to turn into such a huge project. She volunteered to make a cross-stitch for Calvin when he was born last May. Trevor and I thought it would be a good idea to pick a design that wasn't just for a "baby's room" but something that he could hang on his wall while he is growing up (so it would last longer). After going back and forth between designs, Trevor's mom decided she really liked this cross-stitch and said she was willing and excited to do it. We loved the design as well so we went with it. It's the most difficult cross-stitch she has ever done. She even wears two pairs of eyeglasses just so she can see the stitches (because the stitches are so small).

Here's a picture of her when she was just starting out (relatively starting out because I'm sure even what she has done took her a long time to do.).

Here is a video we took of the cross-stitch. I can't stress how amazing this work-of-art is to me. I know she has put in countless hours of work into it the past 10 months she has been working on it. I feel kind of bad even accepting it because I'm sure she wants to hang it in her house, but she keeps saying she wants to give it to Calvin. She said she'll have to make lots of trips to our house to admire her work :).

So this is all really amazing... but what is even MORE amazing to me is that Trevor is NOT an only child. He has 5 other siblings that she makes things for as well! I feel pretty spoiled to have so many nice things. I hope I can do the same for my children when they are older. So, if we haven't said it enough yet, then "Momma Marty, THANK YOU so much for everything you have made for us!!! We love you!!!"

Florence Family Fun

This past weekend, a bunch of my family were in town to see Hank, my brother, perform in Macbeth which is at BYU right now. My parents drove up on Friday and so we've been hanging out with them this weekend.

A few weekends ago, Lindsay and I went over to Jason's Deli for dinner and we got the Reuben sandwich. I've always loved these but this was Lindsay's first time trying them. Our sandwich was really good but a little expensive for what we got. So this week, Lindsay decided to make Reuben sandwiches from scratch after she found a corned beef brisket on sale. They turned out awesome!

After enjoying our delicious sandwiches, we headed over to Heather's house to eat some (more) dinner and hang out with my parents. Here's my dad and sister getting ready to play cards:

I imagine that Lindsay has mentioned that my mom has been working on a cross-stitch for Calvin. What she's accomplished is insane! She brought it with her to show us how things were coming along:

It's hard to fathom how truly immense this work is. To give it some perspective, here's Lindsay holding it:

Here's a copy of the original artwork this cross-stitch is based on. It's incredible how accurate this cross-stitch is!

On Saturday, we went and saw Macbeth and then went over to Mandy's apartment to celebrate Leah's birthday and Hank's performance as Macbeth. Hank did an awesome job! This was a different role for him and quite a challenge. He's done comedies, musicals, and a little drama but nothing like this. Well, Hank and Lady Macbeth did an outstanding job and really stole the show. It was very awesome. They portrayed the entire play in Book of Mormon times around the time of the Gadianton Robbers instead of Scotland. The sets and costumes were really cool; apparently, a lot of them were used in The Testaments and were rented from the Church's broadcasting department. Here we are singing Happy Birthday to Leah while Hank (still wearing his fake tattoos) is holding Leah's scented birthday candle :)

Calvin has been doing a really good job spending the evenings in different environments. He had a really good time with:

Mommy!

Summer!

Alicey!

And, by himself in the closet!

Needless to say, we had a fun weekend spending time with our family! Summer and I especially had a good time taking silly pictures. Here's our blurry super model pose:

Today, we went to my grandparents house and celebrated my grandpa's 87th birthday! Around 72 people showed up and most of them ate dinner! We had Hawaiian Haystacks and cake for dessert and ended up with just enough food.

In other news: Calvin has been enjoying spring and spends a great amount of time now looking out the window (and licking it...). Here's a cute shot of him enjoying the view:

We've got some cute videos of Calvin that we'll post later this week. Until later!

Calvin crawling and bouncing balls

We took some video this morning of Calvin crawling and bouncing balls. I tried to cut out the boring parts, but it's still a little long. I'm sure his grandparents won't care, right? :0)

And in case you were wondering, yes that is a racquetball he's playing with (a clean one). Gotta start him early! :0)

In unrelated news...
How to create a collection of home movies onto a DVD from our point-and-shoot camera using an iMac:

1. Import the movies from our camera into iPhoto
2. Load the videos from iPhoto into iMovie
3. Once you create your video in iMovie (selecting the right clips and adding titles, etc.), export the final movie with all the combined clips out of iMovie.
4. Import into GarageBand in order to add chapters (iMovie 08 doesn't do this)
   
5. Import into iDVD to actually create a menu and burn your DVD

As much as I love our iMac, sometimes I wonder at Apple making us use ALL of the programs in iLife in order to burn a DVD from our camera. Honestly, the process doesn't take that much time, but after doing it I just thought it was funny that we have to go through so many programs in order to create a DVD.

Spring Break

Friday afternoon there was a knock on our door and I found these three beauties on our doorstep!
They were from Trevor just to tell me he loved me. I have a great husband! He came home a little bit early on Friday which was also a really nice surprise for me (I always want to know when he'll be home and look forward to when he comes home from school). We first went to McDonald's to go to their playland because we thought Calvin would really enjoy the ball pit (this boy LOVES balls). When we got there, we found they didn't have a ball pit so we left. It was probably for the best because then we didn't have to buy anything. We decided instead to go get ice cream at Macey's for $0.25 each (much cheaper than McD's) and then went on a walk down the Provo river trail because it was such a nice afternoon. Calvin loved holding onto sticks and always wanted to have one in his hand while we walked along the trail (which was a little hard because he kept dropping them--oh well!).

My parents came into town last weekend for a visit and unfortunately I didn't take a single picture. I really regret it, but there's nothing I can do about it now. I just have to promise myself I'll be better in the future. We had a wonderful time with them and were sad to see them go. I think Calvin really enjoyed spending time with them also.

This past week was Spring Break for UVU so it was nice to not teach some of my classes. I can't believe there are only about 4 weeks left of the semester! I guess time flies when you're having fun :0) (also when you're really busy).

Calvin is getting a lot better at pulling himself up onto our couch, chairs, coffee table, and mom and dad. It seems like it won't be long before he is trying to stand up without support. He is also babbling a lot more which is fun for us to listen to.

This weekend we also had Stake Conference and Elder L. Tom Perry came and spoke to us. For those who aren't as familiar with our church, Elder Perry is the third most senior Apostle in the church. It is a pretty rare occasion for an apostle to come to a Stake Conference, so we were really excited about this opportunity. He spoke about the importance of families and showed how the beginning of each of the standard works focuses on the family. He also talked about staying out of debt and the great opportunity it was for his family to live all over the U.S. He also mentioned not being afraid to live outside of Utah-- :0). It was a really good talk and the whole conference was really inspiring. It was a good reminder for us to recommit ourselves to be a stronger family unit and to have more faith in Jesus Christ.

Pi Day and other updates

The U.S. has officially declared March 14th as "Pi Day" since it is 3-14 and the number Pi is 3.1415... Trevor and I thought it would be fun to have a "Pi Party" and have people bring pie to share. It was a lot of fun and all the pies people brought were really good! I didn't take that many pictures. I'm just not good at remembering to take pictures. I need to work on that.
Calvin playing with Alice from our ward.

Mandy and Heather enjoying some pie.

Last Saturday, Trevor's sisters and I organized a baby shower for Hank's wife, Leah. I bought lots of fruit earlier that day for the shower, and Calvin found the cantaloupe and had fun playing with it. This boy LOVES balls! He will spot one from across the room and will either point to it or crawl over to the ball if he can.
Calvin is now 10 months old! I can't believe how old he is getting. Time really does fly by! We love watching his personality develop. He is such a sweet little boy and is very even-tempered. He is also developing a sense of humor and we love to try making him laugh. Here are some other things he loves to do:

• Going for walks
• Playing with jumbo legos (mostly just sticking them in his mouth and banging them together)
• Knocking over towers his parents build for him
• Bouncing balls and chasing after them
• Pulling himself up on our couch and coffee table
• Sticking everything in his mouth
• Following his parents around the house and just exploring the house in general
  
• Taking baths
• Trying to imitate sounds his parents make
• Waving "bye-bye"

My mom teaches 3rd grade and this week is her Spring Break so my parents are visiting us this week! On Saturday we went to the Golden Corral with other members of my extended family living in the area for my Grandpa Walker's 85th birthday! It was nice my parents were able to be in town for that occasion. We've enjoyed being able to spend time with them and we are looking forward to seeing them some more this week!

The following is a video clip Trevor took last Saturday of Calvin playing with the cantaloupe. In it he says a word he's been saying a lot lately. We think it sounds like "but," but we aren't sure exactly what he's saying. It also shows Calvin imitating Trevor screaming. I don't encourage screaming in our home, but I do think this video is really cute.

Today is always a good day...

When you get all this:
for only $18.68!

Did I ever say how much I love Walgreens? I also have to give credit to my sister, Sarah, for letting me know about the deal. I don't find these good deals by myself.

Oh, and don't you worry, I'm going back for more! :0)

High Fives and Swinging

We took Calvin to the park the other day to play on the swings. We got there kind of late so it was getting darker outside and a little too cold so we didn't stay too long, but we got some pictures out of it to show you!

We can't wait until the weather is warmer and Calvin can go to the park more often!

Calvin's newest things are giving "high fives" and getting into EVERYTHING. He also loves to clap his hands and knows when to do it when we sing "Wind the Bobbin Up" (it's a British song for kids). He is crawling lots and is curious about anything and everything. He especially loves Trevor's laptop and knows right where the on/off button is and is very curious about the power cable. We have to be very careful what we have on the ground now. We love it and I wouldn't want it any other way.

He loves playing "follow the leader" and we crawl around the house together. He gets so excited now that he can follow us wherever we may go! I'll have to get some video of it tomorrow. If Trevor and I are both getting dinner ready in the kitchen, then he will crawl in there just to be near us. Then he'll go back in the family room, grab some more toys, and bring them in the kitchen to play with. It's the cutest thing ever.

Here is a video of Calvin giving me high fives.