April Randomness

Some shots from April that I liked and didn't post.

Southern Hospitality

Bek's family are some of the most warm and inviting people I have ever met. They are intelligent, hilarious, hardworking, and tons of fun. They are in no way what I would consider rednecks in a negative aspect, but some of the activities that they engage in may be a bit suspect. I think it makes it that much more fun because they are so smart and decent. I appreciate them letting us all crash at their house last week. For some reason, their farm is one of my favorite places on earth. I feel at home there even though I have no right to feel such a connection. Thank you all for a wonderful time! In 2 short days we:

• rode four wheelers
• attended an auction
• caught a snapping turtle
• chased an escaped pig
• ate Amish Friendship Bread
• ate a big southern breakfast the way only Connie Jean can make it
• took a hike
• watched a cow give birth
• saw david's new house
• went rat shooting
• got lost in West Virginia (bad Jen!)
• played with cute little calves
• saw two sad dead calves
• attended a fireside
• met the "double headed dragon"

and the list could go on. Here are a few pictures that I liked. Jen still owes me some pictures of the rat shooting - those deserve their own post anyway, so I'll put them up when I have them.

Down by the lake listening to the bull frogs.

Calvin and Daddy going for a hike. Calvin has no shoes on because he loved playing in the grass with his bare feet.

My Dad playing with the snapping turtle. They caught it for some guy in town who likes to eat them. It made me nervous that my dad was telling us how their jaws were strong enough to snap your finger in half, yet he seemed completely unconcerned that he had the crazy thing by the tail.

Carrie looks like she's offering the boys a ride - we won't discuss what kind...

This was before the boys got sick. David was a great tour guide and led us through the mountains on the four wheelers showing us a good time as well as all of the sites.

Family time enjoying the hot summer rain.

Calvin and Cousin David.

Andy showing Calvin the sweet baby calf.

Bek is the only person who can be pregnant, in work boots, cooking on the grill and still look adorable. I would kill for her skin and lashes.

Jen and Carrie's engagement photo shoot.

A Need for Speed

This weekend we took a 5 hour trip down to Southern Virginia to see my dad who was driving in from Utah to give a lecture on Jerusalem, Visit David and Bek, and pick up my junk that I still had at my parent's house. We had a ton of fun, and I will do a more thorough post on that later.

Calvin screamed for an hour on our drive, so we pulled over to see if he was hungry. While we were at the rest stop, he wouldn't eat, he just kept smiling and jumping around in the van. His daddy let him play with the steering wheel and he got so excited every time a car zoomed by. He seems to love anything that drives.

We pushed him around in this little car and he loved it. He laughed and had a great time. I think we have a little NASCAR star in the making.

Baby in a Bucket

I just loved this clean new bucket and had to try Calvin out in it. He never knows quite what to think of the odd things that his parents make him do. We know that when he's older he'll resist, so we have to take our quirky pictures before he knows how ridiculous we really are.

Team Meeting

Tonight I had my team meeting to hand off my team to the new guy. I felt really sad afterwards that this is really happening and that I only have 12 days left of work. My boss, Sarah, is one of those women that everyone wants to be - she's beautiful, smart, funny, and practically perfect in every way. After the call we had the following conversation:

Me: I'm sad. I feel like I know it’s the right thing to break up with this boy, but I wanted him to chase me down and beg me not to go.

Sarah: He wanted to chase you, but he knew he wasn’t good enough, so he had to let you go without making you feel sorry for him.

We Lost Our Duck

Late Sunday night I went outside to check on the duck because it was raining so hard that the yard was flooding. She was huddled under the plants, being pelted by rain, but diligently tending her eggs. The next morning I went out early to check on her. I usually just check on her from the porch, but there were flowers missing from where she usually is, so I went closer to look and she was gone. So were her eggs. So were most of her feathers that had protected the nest.

I'm so sad that she's gone and that we don't know what happened. I don't think the ducklings hatched because there were no egg remnants, it doesn't seem likely that she moved them, and if she had been attacked it seems like there would have been signs of a struggle or pieces of eggs. Sad. I loved that duck. I checked on her a dozen times a day and couldn't wait for the babies to hatch. Wherever she is, by some crazy chance, I hope she and her babies are okay.

A Weekend of Fun

Even though this weekend has been a lot of hard work, we've also found some time to play and enjoy each other's company. Here are some of the highlights...

Friday night cookout. The weather was in the 80's at 9pm when we ate, and the food was delicious. A great end to the day.

Calvin loved eating outside. He thought it was so exciting!


Andy, the master chef.

Carrie and Bek packed the boys up for a trip to the park.

A cute shot of David.

Calvin on the fire truck.

David on the fire truck.

David on the swing.

A tunnel full of boys. David, Tyler, and Calvin.

A cute shot of Calvin.

Carrie built this cool pyramid out of blocks. Look closely and you can see all of the names inside. (She put the BOONE's so it doesn't include Andy, but really it was just because she ran out of D's. Sorry Andrew).

Three sweet boys all ready for church.

A Weekend of Work

This weekend David and Bek came up so that David could finish setting up our sprinkler system and seed our lawn. I should have taken some before shots, but I'll find one from when we first moved in to the house and post it later. These pics are from Saturday night. It looks like a completely different back yard. I dug up and replanted tulip, daffodil, and iris bulbs and raked leaves while David and Andy did the manly stuff like hauling 2.1 tons of rocks to the dump, hauling a dump truck full of topsoil to the back yard, planting three large holly tress, transplanting an apple tree, bringing in 2 tons of mulch, leveling the lawn and planting seed. Things are starting to look amazing and I can't wait until this summer when we have a lawn and a REAL yard instead of the disaster that we moved into. I'll post more as it progresses.

A Walk in the Park

Today was nice outside, so Andy and I took Calvin for a walk to the little community park. Strangely, when we arrived the park was empty so we had free run of the swings and the slides. We didn't stay too long because it was a bit chilly, but we had a lot of fun.

Calvin loved the swing. He had a huge smile every time we gave him a little push.
Mommy's not too attractive, but it's a cute one of the little guy, so I decided to let my ego go.
A fun ride with Daddy down the slide. Calvin seemed a bit less sure about the slide than he did the swings.

A Lesson in Sleep Deprivation

To all of you who thought it might be cute to kidnap and keep Calvin, let me tell you about today. He woke up at 6:30am (after being awake at 12:00, 1:30, 3:45, and 5:00) and played for 30 minutes before screeching loudly and shrilly for an hour... I won't bore you with ALL of the details, just know that the pattern was the same until we left for church at 2:00. He looked around and got as many people to smile at him as possible, before screaming intermittently from 2:45 - 4:30. We finally left church early to give him a nap. Nada. He just went back to screeching shrilly until 7:00 when he slept for 30 minutes. Took him on a stroller ride at 8:30 to kill time until bed time. We ran home early because, you guessed it, more screeching. I fed him and put him to bed at 9:45, finally looking forward to some peace and quiet. He screamed until 10:40.

I'm just now reveling in the absolute silence, so I thought I would write a pointless and uninteresting blog post. This picture was from earlier this week when he was sweet and adorable. Today he's a crazy, headache causing mutant boy that I swear I don't know. He doesn't seem sick or in pain, he just seems like he let himself get so tired that he can't function properly. Hopefully he'll sleep like a log tonight and get back into his adorable little boy groove. Here's looking forward to a better tomorrow!

The Sound of Laughter

Today Carrie was playing with Calvin and he had the cutest giggle, so I ran to get the camera. By this point, he was getting tired of the game and winding down a little, but it was still really cute. Sorry it's so dark.

We Have a Duck!

Yesterday we went for a walk and when we came back I was showing Carrie my flowers. When we were done looking, she stepped back quickly, and a huge duck flew out of the bush behind her. It startled her and we all watched as it flew away as fast as it could go. I said, "why was there a duck hiding in our bush?" and Carrie said, "maybe it was laying eggs." I laughed at her as I went to peek in the bush, and sure enough, we had Duck eggs!

The first night we saw only one egg buried in a pile of feathers. We watched most of the night and hoped that the mommy duck would come back, but we didn't see her return.

This morning I was worried about the egg, so I went to check on it and saw four more. It was a whole feathery nest full of eggs.

Mid-morning Andy came in to tell me that he'd checked again and she was back. It was hard to get a good picture because I didn't want to startle her, but you can see her hiding in the daffodils.

We were so happy that she had come back for her babies. It will be fun to see how the process unfolds and what she does with her ducklings once they arrive.

A Sunday Outing

Yesterday we crossed two more things off of Carrie's "DC To Do List" by going to the Holocaust Museum and Arlington National Cemetery. It was a somber day to be sure, and Andrew disrespectfully called it "the day of death". We had a good time though, despite the hoards of tourists that have all of a sudden descended on the city like locusts. We had to park about a mile away on the "bad side" of DC and Carrie was very excited about the graffiti and underpasses we walked through - convinced we were going to be mugged. We survived though, and both places were a great reminder of freedom and for how much I have to be grateful.

My favorite quote of the day, one that really made me think, was:

"When they came for the communists, I was silent, because I was not a communist;

When they came for the socialists, I was silent, because I was not a socialist;

When they came for the Jews, I did not protest, because I was not a Jew;

When they came for me, there was no one left to protest on my behalf."

Martin Niemoeller (1892-1984)

A Special Surprise

Yesterday Calvin got a surprise package in the mail from Auntie Riah and Uncle Curtis. He had a great time opening it, and then showed his gratitude by promptly putting the new sandals into his mouth.

Thanks for the adorable outfit and shoes, Riah and Curits. You guys are the BEST!

5 Months Old Today

Dear Calvin,

Another month has come and gone in the blink of an eye. You continue to change so quickly and each day brings uncharted territory for me and your daddy. While so much has happened, here are the most notable accomplishments of the past month:

• You have always stared at people until they look at you, but now you've started coughing to get people's attention. You'll do your fake little cough until someone notices, and then you will flash your biggest smile.


• You have started trying solid foods. Your favorite thing is banana flavored rice cereal, but most of it and anything else we feed you ends up covering your face, shirt, and chair.


• You continue to add new vocubulary words to your jabbering. I'm not sure why, but you talk more to daddy than you do anyone else. I think it's because he enunciates and talks to you like a grown-up, while mommy just copies your silly jabber.


• You've learned to hug. You wrap your pudgy arms tightly around our neck and lay your head on our shoulder. It tugs at our heart strings every time.


• You have developed the unfortunate skill of screeching loudly and shrilly everytime you don't get what you want, exactly when you want it.


• You've learned how to sit up and play all by yourself. You do it more each day and keep getting stronger and stronger.


• You have started giving large, open-mouthed kisses. Who would have thought that being slobbered on could be so heart-warming and adorable?


• Sometimes when I put in your crib at night, you will wait until I reach down to kiss you goodnight and then grab firmly onto my hair so I can't stand up. You're a very clever boy, Calvin. Oh yeah, and very strong.


• Your favorite time of day is first thing in the morning. You give me a huge smile when I go to pick you up out of your crib - like you've been waiting all night to see me - and then you coo and play for hours before getting semi-cranky for the rest of the day.

We are so grateful that five months ago today you came to live in our home. We love you, Calvin!

Let's Make a Chili Song!

Calvin's current favorite toy is a phone he got from Grandma and Grandpa Nelson for Easter. It's cute. It has two settings, one with songs, and one with words as you hit the different buttons. My favorite is the one that says "let's make a silly song!" but it sounds to me like, "let's make a chili song!" Makes me happy every time. Calvin spends probably an hour a day (combined little segments) playing with his phone, and he loves it. Here is a picture of him playing intently, and one of him posing for the camera after he saw the flash.