Packing

 This week has been a busy one. My house is out of control, we've been packing and getting ready to move, so we have been running around all week. And wouldn't you know it Calum has been busy too! He is walking everywhere and climbing on everything! The other day I walked out of the room only to find him on the table eating some bread when I came back. Silly kid. 

The weekend was a nice change from the rest of the week. We got to go camping with some of our friends to a really awesome camp site. Calum loved being outside with his buddies.

There were also a lot of dogs around for him to warm up to.

We set up camp, and I started this wicked fire!! I don't know when the last time I started a fire was. I was so proud of myself, I had to get a picture :) Notice the smudge of dirt on my face. I'm legit.

There were quite a few couples that came. Some we knew and some we had the pleasure of meeting for the first time. But that didn't stop us from playing mafia into the wee hours of the morning and shoveling our faces with s'mores and wolf'ems (If you don't know what wolf'ems are you need to get in touch with Butch, Skyler or Kevin; they will show you how its done!)

Calum loved the tent and the air mattress just like last time we camped. The only difference this time was that he figured out how to somersault off the air mattress. Haha. It was so funny. The first time he did it he sat there wondering if he should laugh or cry. He laughed.

We went on this cool hike on the Colorado trail in the morning. Calum was sleepy so we didn't hike that far but it was a good little jaunt.

That afternoon we attempted to go swimming in our pool but it was fffffreezing so we mostly just dipped our toes in and tried to tan our pastey selves :)

Calum didn't actually mind it to much. He liked kicking in the water, throwing his ball and blowing bubbles. We got out and were getting warm and he actually went over to the water, got on his belly and tried to scoot himself in.

 On Sunday we took a drive down to the temple and wandered around for a bit. Got a couple cute photos.

We also walked around a nearby park. Calum got sick of riding in his stroller.

Calum loves his dad. He walked right over and snuggled up on his lap :)

Calum can't wait to skate :) 

Onto another busy week for Kevin, me and as always this goofy monkey.

The School of Life

I think Calum changes daily. I don't want to miss a beat with this crazy kid but he just keeps going and growin. It is hard to keep up with all the new things he learns each day and all of his fun and not so fun personality changes. When I briefly taught school it was always hard to keep on top of the students grades. We would be doing all sorts of fun projects, test and assignments and the kids and parents always wanted to know how they were doing. Here is me doing my best to stay on top of things by evaluating Calum's activities :)

Climbing: A+

When we got home last week Calum decided he was going to start a climbing phase.

His ambitions were small at first.

But he soon started searching for greater altitude.

Yikes!! Not only did he climb up here multiple times to try and look out the window, but yesterday he climbed up on our kitchen chair and started rocking it back and forth. Crazy kid is too big for his britches. I thought I's have a few more years before he would become a daredevil like his dad.

Eating: C

I told Kevin the other day that feeding Calum might be the most frustrating part of my day.

Why, you ask? He looks so cute and harmless? True he is ridiculously cute, but he feels the need to be picky and independent. Which is so frustrating!! He used to be the best eater in the entire world. He would eat more than his 3 year old cousins and still beg for more. He used to love the new textures and flavors and gobble up every last bite. Sadly those days are long gone. His latest, he spits out and throws his food. It doesn't matter what the food is. It could be his most favorite thing or something new. He has now reservations in dumping it on the floor. The other fun thing is he gets frustrated and screams when he doesn't get his way. For example if he wants to feed himself and I try to he throws his head back and screams and all hope of us having a nice meal together is gone. It is now a struggle to figure out what he wants and to get him that thing before he explodes. I worry that he's not getting enough to eat because I really think he only eats like 3 bites at most meals. So I'll just say this area need improvement.

Now there are exceptions when he is happy and eats good. One such occasion: I gave him a banana to eat and he took a huge bite out of it and then another huge bite. His mouth was entirely full but that didn't stop him from inhaling the rest of his banana. It's moments like this that I'm grateful for.

On a side note, don't try to give Calum a kiss when he is eating. He will think you are food and try to eat your face!! :)

Kisses: A++

Speaking of kisses, Calum will now kiss us when we ask him. It is seriously the cutest thing ever!! He is all soft and tender and lightly touches his cute little lips to yours. Makes my little heart melt. Love him.
Click to have your heart melt

Calum has also learned to blow kisses to people. It's so funny when he does it because he mainly just pats his face. Funny.

Talking: A

Calum has started using more and more words each day. It started with ball, now he says hi, and off. Those are just the words he uses without being prompted. He will mimic us and try to say what we said, which is so cute. And he understand things that I tell him to do. I ask him to hand me his pacifier, and he does. I ask him to turn around, and he does. I ask him to get the ball, and he does. And the list goes on and on! It amazes me how smart he is already.

Play: A

Calum is such a fun boy. Even with his ever more frequent tantrums. He loves to play ball.

Not only has he perfected the donkey kick to make tsunami sized waves in the tub, he will also blow bubbles and squirt us with his bath toys.

Calum likes to whistle. It is the craziest thing but he does it all the time. The other day he found our train whistle and figured out how to make it work. Having his whole mouth around it wasn't super efficient but it would squeak a little and he thought it was so awesome!

I thought he was done with the whole putting things in his mouth phase but I guess sometimes things are too fun not to put in his mouth, like this fridge letter. It was an "O" and he kept sticking his tongue through the little whole in the middle. I kept taking it out of his mouth and it wouldn't be long until he would find it and do it again. Such a goof.

Walking: A

Calum's walking improves daily. Watch Calum's mad skills I thought he might have forgotten how to walk since we carried him around New York for 3 days straight but he proved me wrong. He cruises everywhere. His walking skills came in pretty handy at the ward dance this weekend :)

He wasn't to sure about the loud music and people at first, but he warmed up after a few songs and was bobbin his head like a mad man.

Calum was tuckered out after a long week of learning so much new stuff and just wanted to kick back, relax and watch G.I. Joe's with his dad :)

To sum up my evaluation I would have to say Calum is an all around good kid. There are definitely some areas that we need to work on. But his lack of dinner skills in no way affects his overall awesomeness in being a little boy. Keep up the good work little man! :)

New York

This weekend we went to New York for our friend Nicole's wedding. My sister, Darcie and her husband, Darin met us out there to party with us. Darin served his mission there so he was our little tour guide/photographer (I used some of your pics in this Darin). It was so fun to have him show us around and to get to see some friend from Utah State.

We took the Red Eye out. Calum thought the airport was really exciting and decided that he didn't want to go to sleep until we got on the plane. But once we took off he fell right to sleep and slept pretty much the whole way. Kevin and I weren't so lucky, we both felt like little kids on Christmas eve and couldn't get to sleep. As a result we were a little sleep deprived the next day. 

We met up with Darcie and Darin in Times Square, Calum was already snoozin in his sling by then. We were told not to bring a stroller by multiple people. I was a little worried where Calum would sleep but it wasn't a problem at all. Each time I put him in his sling he passed out within a minute or two. The only problem was that Kevin is too big for the sling so I got to lug around the little sack of potatoes.

Kevin, Darcie, and Darin all got their turns toting around the little tyke. It was a joint effort that worked out pretty well. (don't mind the blurriness of these pictures.)

Calum's favorite mode of transportation was the backpack/shopping cart.

Silly kids. Haha.

Calum was asleep when we checked out all the fun toy stores, but that didn't stop me and Darcie from livin it up!

We decided to go do the Top of the Rock and not the Empire State building. Darin along with some websites said that they liked this one better. So we took their advice and weren't disappointed.

We had an awesome view of the city and Central Park.

This was one of the many times that Kevin got in trouble in New York. Haha. Grandma's don't fret, Calum looks like he is on the edge of the building but it was really just a little ledge. 

 We had some authentic New York pizza then headed to Central Park. On our was there and everywhere, we got hassled by all the people trying to sell tourist trips. Darin said we must have tourist written all over us because he never has gotten hassled that much when he has come before. I think it's funny to look at the difference between us two couples in the picture above. Kevin and I don't look like tourists right? Haha.

Calum of course loved being outside and checking out all the people and sights but nothing beat the park. Calum loved the grass, birds, mud and water.

We met up with the bride and groom and headed to a Yankee's game.

By this point in the day we were all exhausted. We left the game a little early and went back to our hotel and crashed. Calum slept all through the night each night we were there. It was glorious. He was such a champ.

The next morning we walked to Battery park and checked out the famous bull along the way. Our hotel was like a block away from this is was sweet.

It was all gated off, but the security guard gave Calum an up close and personal experience. Calum wasn't too sure about the whole thing. :)

We went to the 9/11 memorial. It was amazing.

Of course Calum found some rocks to play with.

Also a teeny little crack where he could dip his little hand into the huge fountain.

 Next we walked the Brooklyn Bridge. We wanted to take Calum to a carousel on the other side but he was napping :(

We were so excited to get to go to the temple for Nicole's wedding. The temple is an awesome place but in New York City it's awesomeness seemed to be magnified. Anyone who has been to New York knows that it is CRAZY! There are a bazillion people, everywhere, all day long. It is super fast paced and noisy and dirty. It was seriously so amazing to get off the subway, cross a busy street and enter into the peaceful, clean, quiet, holy temple. Me and Kevin were both in awe by the spirit that we felt there. It was such a definite change and we were so happy to get to experience that feeling. Not only that but then we got to see one of my best friends get married. It was awesome. I told Kevin that it might be my new favorite temple just because you really can feel the difference. I loved it.

 After the temple Darin and Darcie flew home to be back for mothers day, so that meant the we were on our own in the Big Apple. We managed to get around. We did some shopping and walked along the beautiful Highline trail. (Pictures don't do it justice.)

We continued to wander through New York until we finally made it to the reception. It was in a beautiful penthouse and we got to party on the roof. Plus there was a mariachi band. What beats that??

Night time pictures didn't turn out great but had to put them in to show off the sweet view.

Next morning we went to church. Then checked out Grand Central Station and the Empire State building. We brought our camera but left the battery for it at the hotel. So these are our sweet phone pictures :)

From there we got a little lost on the subways. (Subway rides were so fun :) one of our drivers was Denzel Washington, there was a dance off on one of our trains and we saw a homeless guy throw up. Nothing quite like the NYC public transit.) Which was a little stressful but we made our way back to the hotel in the knick of time. Checked out and proceeded to Lady Liberty.

We were wanting to go to Liberty Island and go up into the Statue but we found out the statue is closed until November. We decided since we wouldn't be able to go up we'd just take the Staten Island Ferry and cruise around it. We did have a pretty good view of it, but we didn't get any good pictures with it. But Calum sure loved the boat ride.

Calum was so friendly with everyone we met. Especially the little kids. He would get excited and wave to everybody. I love this picture of these kids waving at each other. Too stinkin cute.

After we at lunch at the Occupy Wall Street Park :) Calum chased the pigeons and got dirtier than he did when we went camping. Haha.

We hopped back on the plane and flew back to real life. Calum got his own seat on the way home, which was sooo nice. He briefly watched t.v., was a wiggly monkey for a little bit then but eventually sacked out.

 We had such an awesome trip. We did so many things, walked a ton (we're still sore!) and got to hang out with friends and family.