Our 24th of July Weekend

We had such a fun weekend I had to share it with all of you. On Thursday the 24th JR's family brought dinner over to our house where we ate and relaxed for the evening. The food was great and I had my first corn on the cob of the season. Yummy! Later in the evening after JR's family left I wanted to go see fireworks but JR didn't want to (I know, party pooper :D). So, I took Cali and we went and checked out Spanish Fork's firework show. It was really good and there were so many people there! It was a lot of fun doing something with just Cali and myself. I think I need to do more things just the two of us girls.

On Friday we headed up to Salt Lake to my parents home to help my sisters get things ready for a surprise party for my mom. She turned 60 last month, but we waited a little while before we threw her a party because of schedule conflicts, and because we really wanted to catch her by surprise. It turned out great!. She was so surprised and it was fun getting together with family and friends to show are love for her. Plus, we had the best cake and mint brownies (mmmmm :) that we ordered from Schmidt's pastry. I still have leftovers. They're the best!

On Saturday evening we got together with JR's family again. JR's dad took all the boys to a baseball game with his ward. So, the kids and I had fun hanging out with JR's mom and sisters. Cali sure loves spending time with them. And, any night I don't have to cook is a plus :D.

To top the weekend off we had a great Sabbath day today. Well, a great spiritual growth day I guess you could say. I got set apart as the 1st counselor in my wards primary presidency. I've never had a major calling like this before, so it'll definitely require much more from me, but I know I'll grow from it and I'm actually looking forward to stretching and serving more. Plus, I get to work with JR, since he's still the senior primary chorister. He's been so sweet and supportive with my new calling. I guess time will tell how things go, but so far I'm excited. The ladies I get to work with are amazing, so if nothing else we'll have a great time together :). Receiving this calling confirms even more to me how much Heavenly Father knows us individually and how he gives us opportunities to grow and become better. When I got called in to see the bishop, one of his counselors asked me if I was ready to receive more blessings. I knew I was in for something big (well, big for me :), but I really liked how he put what he said. I was in a position of ease and comfort with my life and I'm actually looking forward to serving more because I know that I'll be greatly blessed because of it. I just feel humbled knowing that Heavenly Father hasn't given up on me and still wants me to become all that he knows I can be with his help. Like I said, it's a humbling feeling.

So, there's my great weekend! I'm sure you're all wondering where the pictures of my adventures are, but apparently I forgot I had a camera this weekend. Sorry! I hope you all had awesome weekends as well and hopefully I'll get to read about it on your blogs :).

24th of July Parade Floats

On Tuesday night we took a drive up to the South Town Expo Center in Sandy to look at all the 24th of July parade floats that were on display. It really was a lot of fun! I had heard about it on the news and we're really glad we went. We don't usually go to that parade, so it was nice to see the floats up close. Plus, they had entertainment there, face painting for the kids, it was in an nice cool building, and it was free!

On the drive up to Sandy this was our view of the sky. It was so pretty, even through the car window :).

While we were there we got to vote for our favorite float. This was JR's and my favorite. It had seagulls and crickets on the float moving around. It was really cute and the theme was about still seeing miracles today.

That float also had two people dressed up like seagulls out in front talking to people. It was really entertaining. :)

It's amazing how much work goes into these floats. And some are by wards and stakes. What talented people we have in the church! :)

This was Cali's favorite float. It was Noah's Ark and it had a lot of cute animals all over it. If you look at the top right you can see Noah himself! :)

Here's Cali showing off her adorable face painted butterfly. I'm glad we got a picture because we just went home and washed it off in the bath. I wished she could have worn it longer. It was really really cute.

Here's the sunset we enjoyed on our drive home. The sky seriously looked like it was on fire. It was amazing!

The Life of a Boy

Poor Isaac. Yesterday was the second time he knocked his head against the wooden cupboard by our front door. The first time he got a huge goose egg. This time he got and even bigger one. He got over it sooner than I did. It just looks so painful! It's a good thing he's got such a tough head. He also has an older battle wound on his cheek from the other day. Of course this had to happen a few days before I'm putting him in the Spanish Fork baby contest. I think he's going for the sympathy vote :).

Despite the bumps and the messy hair he looks so cute in this picture. He's started to say 'eeese' (cheese) for pictures and he gives me the sweetest smiles. I love it!

Decorating Letters Using Mod Podge

I had so much fun decorating Cali's name letters and picture frame that I thought I'd share how I did it. I love to do crafts but I'm not that talented, so this was a great craft for me because it was really easy and something that anyone can do.

I started out with unfinished wooden letters and a picture frame. Then I sanded and spray painted them and let them dry for a day or so.

I went to Roberts Craft and found some cute scrap booking paper, stickers, ribbon and other items that I thought might be cute to decorate the letters with.


I decided what paper I wanted on which letters and then I cut out the paper so that it was flush with the edge of the front of the letters. I just turned the letters over and traced onto the paper. Just be careful to not mark up the letters with the pencil or pen you use to trace with.


I decorated my picture frame first because I wanted something to practice on that I didn't care about as much. It was good practice for me before I went on to the letters, and the letters turned out much better because of it.


After I had cut out all the paper I got my mod podge and poured some into a bowl. I got a sponge brush and used that to apply the mod podge. I put mod podge onto the part of the frame where I was going to put a specific piece of paper. Then I layed the paper onto the frame and smoothed it out really well to make sure every part was glued to the frame. Then I went on to the next piece of paper and did each one at a time to make sure they were all glued down really well.

After all the paper was glued down to the frame I put another layer of mod podge over the whole front of the frame to seal everything, making sure not to leave any bubbles.

I did that to all the letters after I finished the frame and I let them dry overnight. I wanted to hang my letters on the wall, so after the letters were completely dry I tacked metal hangers onto the back of each letter. Then I hot-glued ribbon and other decorations to the front of the letters.

I wanted ribbon on my letters, so I looped the ribbon through the metal hangers and made bows.

After I decided where to position each letter on the wall, I hammered one nail to hang it up on the metal hanger and I put another nail to hang the ribbon up on. Then I was done!

It was such a fun project and now Cali has letters that spell her name that are unique just for her. The matching picture frame was lots of fun too. It ties her room together and I though it was a cute addition. I hope this was helpful for any of you who would like to try this project. If you have any questions, just let me know. Have fun being crafty!

Cali's New Room

I decided after a year and a half of Cali living in a boring room that it needed a change. It took me a month or two of doing things here and there, but I finally got Cali's room all put together a week or so ago. It turned out so cute I thought I'd share it with you!

Cali with her new curtains and wall letters.

She got a really cute purple prayer rug from my mom for her birthday.

It fits in her room perfectly!

Cali's shelf that I FINALLY hung up. I've had that shelf since I was in high school and just never finished it so that I could hang it up. I'm glad I finally finished it because I really love how it looks in her room.

I finally found some really cute wooden clips that I used to hang up this gorgeous quilt that JR's grandma made for Cali. It's so intricate and beautiful and I'm so glad I get to finally display it!

Cali's letters that I decorated for her room. I really like how they turned out!

The cute frame I decorated for Cali's shelf.

Now I just need to find a cute picture to put in it :).

Memories!

Memory Lane...
I got this from my friend Keelee's blog. I thought it would be fun! I hope you will play along. Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses.

Thanks in advance for participating!

Kid Tag :)

Cali has been tagged, so I get to brag about her :). Here are ten things you may or may not know about Cali:

1- Cali's full name is Calista Rose. I love her name, but we never call her that :).

2- When Cali was 15 months old she burned her hand really badly on a hair straightener and had to go to the U of U burn center for skin grafts. She wore a burn glove for another 15 months. She's doing wonderfully now and her scared hand doesn't seem to hinder her at all. She still has to go into the U of U for appointments every year or so. The doctors will keep tabs on her until she's basically done growing to make sure her scar grows ok. She might have to have another surgery, but so far so good :).

3- Cali is one of the most sociable little girls you'll ever meet. She loves saying hi to new people, loves making friends, and is one of the nicest little girls out there :). She wins over everyone!

4- Cali has a really good ear for music. She picks out songs she's heard on the piano. The first song she picked out was "Ode to Joy", and she was just barely three years old! Her nursery teachers said she played it for them and they about died! It was really cute :).

5- Cali has an incredibly good memory. She remembers songs on the radio and will tell me the names of songs after hearing them only two or three times. Yesterday she heard the name Crystal and she said, "Mom, that was the name of the lady who helped clean my teeth." It took me a minute to remember what she was talking about because it had been a month since we went to the dentist, but she still remembered the name of the dental hygienist.

6- Cali has always been a really good eater, but lately she's been taking after her dad as to some of the things she likes to eat. She's been eating green olives and she even ate some salt and vinegar potato chips JR gave her. She DEFINITELY gets that from JR.

7- Cali has a really good imagination. I don't get phased now when Cali talks about playing with monsters and queens and turtles named Shelby. She might even have an imaginary friend or two... :). She is always making up songs and stories and jokes. She's quite the entertainer :).

8- Along with Cali having a good ear for music, she has excellent rhythm. If she's not singing a song she's clapping out the rhythm. She's been like that for as long as I can remember. When she did her little dance camp performance a few weeks ago she was really on beat with the music, and that was her first official week of dance - ever! Maybe it's the dancer in me that wants Cali to dance too, but I really think she loves dancing and I know she has a good ear for it :).

9- Cali is an excellent communicator and has been since she was really young. She LOVES to talk and if you're willing she'll talk to you forever (can't imagine where she gets that from ;). She is very articulate and likes learning and using new and big words. She definitely gets that from her dad :). Cali recently gave her first talk in primary. Out of the other kids in her class that participated she was the only one that you could understand perfectly. She did such a good job :).

10- Cali is such a good big sister. She loves Isaac and plays with him really well. She loves making him laugh and is always giving him hugs and kisses. She's a good little babysitter too and if I'm in the other room she'll tell me if Isaac is getting into things or if he needs me. She's a really good helper and I don't know what I'd do without her!

Cali would now like to tag Brianne Skowronek, Kyle Jennings, Jordyn Pearson, Kurt Benson, Ethan Millette, and Caleb Winfree.

Isaac Walks!!!

We didn't know if it would ever happen, but Isaac is finally walking! - well, walking more than just one or two steps :). He did his first big walking stretch yesterday and he's been doing awesome today. I think he's going to go straight to running with how fast he's walking. Maybe I didn't want him walking just yet... :). It seems appropriate that he's really starting to walk on his 14 month birthday (today) since his dad walked at 14 months too. Like I said in my last post, like father like son!

Happy Fourth!

Happy Fourth of July everyone! It was such a fun day, and even nicer that it was on a Friday so we have Saturday to recover :). We hung out with JR's family and went swimming and had a BBQ. JR and I also got to take Cali to go see the new movie Walle. Thanks Rosalie for watching Isaac for us! Cali had a blast, since this was only the second movie she's ever seen in the theatre. It was SUCH a cute movie and we highly recommend it. Here's a few pics of our Fourth of July adventures:

Like Father like Son. I love this pic but they both have their eyes closed! Isaac had a blast playing in the shallow water. He kept wanting to explore where it was deeper. I told him if he walked he could explore more, but he didn't pay any attention to me :).

Here's everyone chillin after swimming.

Isaac had lots of fun eating treats on grandma's lap.

Cali had a blast with these bubbles at the BBQ. So did Isaac :).

Yeah, Isaac liked the bubbles :).

Cali with her first sparklers.

Just Showing Off... :)

Ok, so I've been meaning to post these pics for two months now. These are Isaac's one year old pictures. I know they're two months old, but they're so dang cute I just had to share them. Enjoy!

Such a sweet little face.

Look at that big smile :D.

Isaac with his daddy.

This picture makes me laugh.

It's like Isaac is saying, "Man, getting old is rough!"

He's so darn cute.

This picture is my favorite! He's such a ham!

More cuteness... :).

There was a bunch more I could have posted, but I decided not to get too carried away :).