Hodgepodge of events

We had enchiladas for dinner tonight. Calvin really liked them (except he doesn't care too much for chicken). I think he mostly enjoyed getting it ALL over himself.

I gave Calvin his first hair cut (with clippers) this past week. It was kind of a spur of the moment decision only because I was tired of it being uneven. I was a little surprised he wasn't afraid of the clippers (he can be a really sensitive little boy sometimes) and allowed me to cut it. Granted he moved his head a lot and it isn't the greatest cut, but it's a lot better than it used to be. This is the "after shot." I forgot to get a "before shot." I guess you can look at the picture below this one.

I'm also surprised by how many people ask me where Calvin gets his red hair from (while I'm right next to him). I guess my hair doesn't look that red, but I still find it humorous when I tell them I have red hair and to see their reaction.

Calvin is slightly afraid of rotating fans. We think this is because when he was first introduced to one, Trevor thought it would be fun to speak into and get up real close. Apparently Calvin didn't find it so fun. He's getting better, though, and at least we can put one in his room for those warm evenings without him crying.


One day Calvin decided to climb inside of his truck all by himself. It's actually not meant to be ridden like this (you have to put the seat down in the back first), but he loved it and enjoyed being pushed around. You can always tell when he's excited or likes something when he sticks his tongue out!

We went to Sears today to get pictures taken of Calvin. They turned out better than I expected (While she was taking the pictures I didn't think they would turn out very good). If you want to see the pictures I think you can click on this link: Calvin's Photo Shoot. Let me know if it doesn't work. It was kind of comical that right before we got them taken, Trevor was having Calvin walk by himself and he fell and got a big red bump on his forehead. While I wasn't laughing at the time (I didn't want him to have a big red bump in his pictures), I'm sure I'll laugh about it later. :0)

Also exciting news is that Calvin is doing much better with his walking! All of a sudden yesterday I think he figured out balance and is able to walk much further than before! He is becoming more confident with himself and will let go of our fingers more often to walk by himself.

In other news besides Calvin, Trevor's thesis is progressing pretty well. His program is mostly written and now he just has to write his thesis and do a user study. I'll be so glad when he's done and we can have him home for more than a few hours a day!

Memorial Day and other happenings

Going back in time about a week, I wanted to record what we did for Calvin's birthday. On his actual birthday we just spent the day together as a family (well, for the time that Trevor wasn't at work). We opened presents in the morning (thank you Grandpas and Grandmas for the gifts!) and had buttermilk pancakes which Calvin really likes.
Calvin got a Tonka truck which he LOVES to push around. He also likes to ride it as shown in the picture below. I think it's really helped him learn balance and how to walk better.

During the evening we went on a picnic and then to the Bean Museum. It's a taxidermy museum. Calvin seemed to enjoy looking at all the animals (sometimes it's hard for us to know if he likes something or not). Then we went to the Creamery and got ice cream.


On Sunday we took a little drive up to the base of the "Y" mountain to check out the view. We wanted to show Calvin the view of our city.
Calvin reaching for the camera. Typical.






We spent Memorial Day with Trevor's sisters. We went to a really cool park near the Orem Walmart (I don't know the name of the park). It was such a nice day and all the threats of rain never came to pass. At the park they had a cool swing set that actually rotated! Trevor was determined to get it to go fast so he tried to push it along with Summer (she was a good sport!) :0).

Here's Calvin swinging on that swing set. He seemed to like it so long as it wasn't going too high or too fast.


Calvin has started to take some steps the past couple days. We should really thank my cousin's daughter, Riley, for encouraging and teaching Calvin how to stand by himself. He's not completely interested in walking yet (and I'm not impatient to get him to walk) but it's so cute when he walks I can't help but want him to try it!

The video below shows some of Calvin's first attempts at walking. The first clip just shows his babbling. This is what he loves to do all day long and especially during church! :0)

Also notice the change in Trevor's hair style. I cut his hair on Memorial Day.

Here's a video of Calvin on his birthday learning to walk with his truck. He loves pushing this back and forth across our living room.

Happy First Birthday Calvin!!!

Dear Calvin,

It is possible you are turning one year old already?!?!? Oh how time flies! You have been a source of joy and happiness ever since you became a part of our family. Your dad and I feel extremely blessed that you are our first-born and the oldest sibling to all your future brothers and/or sisters. You will be a great example to them in their lives of how to be righteous and happy. You have already taught me so much and have been a great example to me. You are teaching me how to find joy in the simple things of life.

I don’t think a day has gone by that you have not made me smile or laugh. Even people who have never met you before always comment about what a happy child you are! Always—I’m not exaggerating. You have a gift for making others happy. I also get asked a lot if you ever cry. Well, you do cry I can assure you of that, but never very often or for very long. I was very spoiled having you as my first child!

I also love going on adventures with you. We both love to get out of the house and you are very good at sitting in the shopping cart or stroller for long periods of time. We have been on many different adventures so far in your short life. You’ve been to Alcatraz, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Golden Gate Park/Bridge, Muir Woods, Stanford University, Utah State Fair, Seattle, and Arizona only to name a few. We plan to go on many more adventures in your lifetime!

Your father and I love you so much. We are so happy that you will forever be a part of our family. We try to be good parents, but please forgive us when we make mistakes. I can’t wait to see what you will do with your life and what you will accomplish.

Love,
Mom


Here's a video I put together of some highlights from the past year. Hope you enjoy!



Note: Once you start playing the movie, if you want you can click on "HQ" to get a higher quality picture and sound. Only do it, though, if you have a pretty fast Internet connection speed.

Update from the past month

Wow! It has been a long time since I've updated and I apologize. Things got a little hectic last month and blogging just wasn't a priority for me at the time.

Last Sunday Trevor's family had a combined birthday party for Olivia and Calvin. Olivia is six days older than Calvin. We had amazing Indian food, presents, and birthday cake!
Calvin kind of got the hang of opening presents. Well, not really, but Summer was a big help in showing him how to do it! He really likes the new toys he got and loves playing with them.

Olivia and Calvin!


Summer and Calvin.


Trevor and Summer.


Summer and Olivia.


Calvin looks like he's reading the paper in this picture. We thought it was pretty cute!


Heather asked me to make the birthday cake for Sunday's party. I thought it would be cute to have two bears (one for Olivia and one for Calvin). The alphabet blocks aren't edible, but I just thought they would look cute on the cake.

I was really pushed for time decorating this cake and I experimented doing an all-butter frosting instead of half butter and half shortening (I'm not a fan of shortening). The frosting was really soft and kind of hard to decorate with, but oh well! Live and learn. Definitely not my best work, but at least it turned out okay.

Our camera was full so we didn't get any more pictures (hopefully other siblings maybe did and will send them to us!) Calvin was really tired by this time as evident in the picture. He liked the frosting, but I think he was too tired to eat very much.



This was just a funny picture of Trevor. I'm just so proud of him for all the hard work he's done in school. He finished his classes in April and now he just has to finish his Thesis this Summer. He's working full-time in the Internet Security Lab at BYU until we leave Provo. Yesterday was his Thesis proposal and he passed! We are hoping he'll defend his Thesis the end of July, but who knows how long these things will really take.


Nothing better than a peacefully sleeping baby! :0)



Calvin has actually gotten a lot better at feeding himself (despite what's shown in this picture...).
He now prefers to always have a fork or spoon and tries to eat with them. Sometimes he gives up and uses his hands, but we are so proud of him the few times he actually gets the food on the fork or spoon and into his mouth. He is starting to eat more and more of what we have for dinner. It's so nice not having to prepare him a separate meal. It saves me a lot of time.

Just a cute picture of Calvin.


We decorated Easter eggs early April and invited one of Trevor's co-workers in the Internet Security lab over to our home to do it with us. He's from India and had never decorated Easter eggs before. It was fun to teach him some of the different things you can do. We mostly just had fun experimenting with the dye, scotch tape, and crayon.


Ha ha! This is what happens sometimes when Calvin is drinking a bottle of milk and he takes it out of his mouth and shakes it.

In other news I finished teaching for the semester! Hooray! I'm glad to be done even though it was a good experience for me and I really enjoyed teaching. People ask me if I'm planning on working when we get to California and the answer is "only as a stay-at-home mom." Truth be told I love not working outside the home. Sure it's hard some days, but for me personally I love having the time to spend with Calvin and Trevor and just focus on my family and other little projects. This is how I am, not how everyone else needs to be. Maybe when my kids are all grown and I'm not needed as much at home or if we really need the money then I might consider working again.

Speaking of Calvin the little lad just woke up from his nap. I also have some video to post, but that will have to wait until later.

Happy Easter

This is probably one of my favorite talks from General Conference last week. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Mr. Independent

Calvin has decided in the past couple days that he can feed himself now.

I usually let him feed himself when it comes to finger foods, but I always controlled the spoon when giving him rice cereal, yogurt, or something mushy like that. Then lately it started to be a battle between us and Calvin would try and grab the spoon from me. When I let him have it (because otherwise he got really upset) I told him, "Okay, put the spoon in the bowl and get some cereal." And he did! It's the cutest (and messiest) thing ever. He now needs a complete wipe down or bath two or three times a day.

My favorite part is most times he puts the opposite side of the spoon into the bowl and eats from that. I guess it's easier for him to hold the spoon that way! :0)

We also buy these rice puffs for him (which he LOVES) and usually I pour some into my hand so he can grab them and put them in his mouth. Now he grabs them from my hand, puts them back into the container, and reaches in and grabs his own puffs.

It makes me really happy to see Calvin growing up and becoming more independent. Even though it's kind of sad he's not a little baby anymore, it's really rewarding to see new milestones he's achieving.

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!!!"