Home Means Nevada

Calvin taught me the Nevada state song:

"Home means Nevada, Home means the hills,
Home means the sage and the pine.
Out by the Truckee, silvery rills,
Out where the sun always shines,
Here is the land which I love the best,
Fairer than all I can see.
Deep in the heart of the golden west
Home means Nevada to me"

We have had a lot of fun here with Calvin's family. Camden is constantly entertained with his uncles and aunts, and they with him.

This morning we woke up to trees and grass covered with frost; it was beautiful!

We also took some family pictures.

L-R: Top Row-Walter, Sonja, Laiel, Meagan, Katie, Calvin, Ashton
Bottom Row-McKay, Ivan, Camille, Camden

Santa Claus Came To Town

We had a wonderful Christmas and we have really been enjoying the Holiday and the time Calvin has had off of school. I wish he never had to go back! We spent the weekend before Christmas with my family. On Saturday we had a very fun Christmas Party. With Amy and Danny getting ready to leave on thier Honeymoon to Hawaii, we wanted to make sure we had a celebration before they left. My parents planned the whole day. We had several games and activities and an amazing packing tape ball. If you won a game, you could either pick from a bag of prizes or pick an envelope containing a prize. In the packing tape ball, there were DVD's, lotion, other prizes, and little candy canes. We sat in a circle and rolled dice; whenever you got doubles, you got a turn at trying to rip open the ball and get the prizes out. If you got a candy cane out, you got to pick one of the prizes or the envelopes. Inside the bag of prizes, there were items for all of us to be more prepared-things like light sticks, flashlights, first aid kits, etc. to go in our 72 hour safety bags. Inside the envelopes were gift cards and money. We had a lot of fun!

We spent time during the week making ginger bread houses, going to the Nutcracker Ballet, and playing Emily and Brooklyn's new game, Guitar Hero World Tour with two guitars :)

On Christmas Eve, we went back to our house in Spanish Fork. When we arrived, we found 2 foot snow drifts in our driveway! Calvin braved the cold and wind and shoveled the driveway. We got his truck all ready to take on our drive to Nevada by cleaning it out and putting on the camper shell. It took some extra work because we had left two pieces of sod in the back of the truck and they had frozen to the bed. It took several car washes and a couple of shovels, but we got it all cleaned out. We had fun getting everything else ready for Christmas morning!

In the morning, we got Camden up and went downstairs to see what Santa Claus had brought.

After that, we drove up to Bountiful to see my grandparents and then on to my parents house. We had fun playing with Christmas presents and visiting with the family. We ended the day with a game of Ticket to Ride, a new game my family got. Dad won-of course.

On Friday, we woke up early and headed to Nevada. The drive was long, but we lucked out and got some pretty nice weather...once we got out of Utah. We saw quite a few cars that had slid off the road where there was a lot of snow, but we made it to Fallon without any trouble.

We've had fun here with Calvin's siblings and parents. We'll put up a few pictures of the fun we've had!

Happy Holidays!

We wish you all a happy holiday season! Calvin has finished his finals and now has some time off! We've had a busy couple of weeks with Calvin finishing projects and papers and taking tests. I have enjoyed decorating our house and getting ready for Christmas. Camden is becoming more active every day. He is rolling around and grabbing onto everything. He is so curious and just goes for what he wants. We like to feed him and teach him how to drink out of cups.

This semester, Calvin took a jogging class and he was finishing up his final miles at home on Saturday night. Camden loves to kick his legs and as Calvin was running, it looked like Camden was too! Here is a little video of them together. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to rotate it.

A few weeks ago, my parents were out of town, and we went with Emily and Brooklyn to see the lights. Here are a couple pictures of the trip there...none of the lights. We plan on going again this week, so we'll take some more pictures.

Goodbye Butch

Yesterday we said goodbye to our dear dog Butch. We decided that we had to give him away since we are going to be moving to North Carolina, and probably won't have a place for him. Even though I did complain about him, I really did like him. We found a good home for him where he will even have another dog friend to play with, so that's really good. Here are a few pictures in memory of Butch :)

Amy's Wedding Pictures

Amy got her pictures back from her wedding, so here are some of our favorite ones of our family! Thanks Amy!

North Carolina and Duke University...Here we come!

Calvin is in! We are going to Duke University in Durham, North Carolina May 2009. Calvin has orientation on May 28th. We are so excited and so proud of Calvin for getting into the 12th ranked law school in the nation. What an adventure we are going to have! Part of the program Calvin is doing includes spending a summer at Hong Kong University and working in Hong Kong. While we are so excited to go, we are definitely going to miss family and friends. Here are a few pictures from our trip there this summer!

The law school building through our rainy window.

Happy Birthday Calvin!

We had a really fun surprise Birthday party for Calvin on Saturday. If you know me, you know that I am terrible at keeping secrets, but I tried really hard and didn't even tell Calvin. It also helped that he has been very busy with school and didn't have the time to try to convince me to tell him. So here was the plan. We didn't have TV installed at our house yet, so I called and had the cable company come over and set up our cable. I didn't even tell him that we had TV all week. We have the MTN on our city cable, so I planned to have a party and watch the BYU vs Utah game. On Saturday, Calvin left to work on some schoolwork at BYU. While he was gone, my family arrived and we set up everything for the party. We had so much food! The party was a lot of fun. We ate and watched the game on the big screen. It was so much fun to have everyone over and celebrate Calvin's 23rd Birthday! Too bad Max Hall wasn't having as good of a night...

BYU Cougars Football

So we went to the last BYU home game of the season. It was a lot of fun and the weather was perfect! Here are some cute pictures of us and our little BYU fan.

'Twas the night before last...

when all through the house,
not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The bottles were placed in the fridge with such care,
In hopes that no baby would need one from there;

Our family was nestled all snug in our beds,
While visions of sleeping 8 hours danced in our heads;
With us in our queen bed and Camden in his crib,
We hoped that this slumber would not be short-lived;

When I finally awoke to a small baby's chatter,
I opened my eyes to see what was the matter;
And what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a clock that read six! I grinned ear to ear;

I knew in a moment we had slept through the night,
And Camden had finally gotten it right;
So with a wink of my eye and a nod of my head,
He knew there was surely nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but filled his small tummy,
And went back to sleep to the delight of his mummy;
Then I whispered so softly at that beautiful sight,
Happy sleeping to all, and to all, a long night!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Camden just looked darling in his Tiger outfit! Unfortunately, by the time we got him in it, he was just too tired to stay up any longer! He missed the pumpkin carving, but we got some cute pictures of him with the pumpkin today :)

I have to say, this might be one of the best pumpkins I've ever carved. With Calvin's help, I got a little more creative than I usually do. I told him I thought it would be cool to do something with a neat pattern, and he told me I really had been missing out. I've always just carved some face on my pumpkin, nothing too neat. Well...here it is!

Update-we just got home tonight from a movie and some neighborhood delinquents smashed my pumpkin :( I'm sad.

A New Brother

What a great weekend! Amy and Danny are now Mr. and Mrs. Huffmire. We are so happy for them and happy to have a new brother (in law)! It was certainly a big day. Camden and I went up the day before to help with all of the preparations. I got to go with Amy and my mom to get manicures...my nails turned out very dark red! Then we just took care of all the last minute items! The wedding day was perfect weather. The ceremony was beautiful and Amy and Danny looked great. The dinner at the Joseph Smith Building was so pretty and turned out good too. The day was so busy that I didn't even get to take any pictures on my camera! The photographer (who took the pictures for my wedding, she's great!) took some really good ones though of our cute little Camden in his adorable suit (thank you Winder family!) so I really can't wait to see those.

I had so much fun making a wedding video for Amy and Danny. We put pictures from throughout their lives and then some at the end of them together. At the end of the video, I interviewed them and they told the story of how the fell in love. The video turned out great...with just a few kinks in the actual showing during the wedding dinner. When we finished taking pictures and were just getting ready for the guests to arrive, I realized that I had left the DVD at home. I tried to burn a new copy, but with no success. Luckily I had asked Calvin to bring our cables that would hook my computer up to a projector. I had to run from the Joseph Smith Building to the Conference Center parking lot in my heels to get the cables. Once we got the video file playing, it only went for the first 5 minutes, then started over. Amy cut her cake as a distraction, and when they were done with that, we were able to play the video from the program I made it in and then it went smoothly. Needless to say, next time, don't forget the DVD!! It really was fun and if anyone knows someone who is getting married and would like a video...let me know! Look how cute they are!

After the wedding, Calvin and I stayed in Farmington for the night because Calvin had to go show a cabin at the lodge on Saturday. He came back and we let the grandparents watch Camden while we went to dinner and a movie. It was a lot of fun, but we realized how old we are getting when we were so tired driving home at midnight.

We brought back all of Amy and Danny's presents, and on Sunday, they came to claim them. I thought I should have at least been able to keep a few for a delivery fee! But I gave them all back :) We fed them dinner (apparently they hadn't eaten all day) and watched them open presents. It was a lot of fun to have them over.

This week has been good! I've been doing a lot of work in the office, creating a promotional email to sell some Christmas gift certificates. I've already sold quite a few, so it has turned out to be a really good promotion. We have started feeding Camden rice cereal. He really likes it. He thinks it's some kind of game and ends up spitting a lot of it out when he is laughing. It was so funny the first time, he thought it was a lot of fun. He's doing good though, he ate a good amount, so that is fun. One more week on this, then we'll try some vegetables :)

Camden is also starting to move around a lot more! He can roll from his back to his stomach and stomach to back. I have learned that I definitely need to buckle him in and watch where I set him down!

Last week we had Cafe Rio salad night...I made everything from scratch and it turned out so good! Everything was just like Cafe Rio; sweet pork, fresh guacamole and pico de gallo, creamy tomatillo dressing, cliantro on top-right down to the cheese melted on the tortilla. My favorite!

Very Busy!

So last week was a huge week. Aside from the fact that I was searching every place I could think of for my ring, we had a lot going on. Calvin had tests, papers, and homework that were all demanding attention. We also had to get our grass put in as quickly as possible. I am proud to say, I laid all of it down and also mowed the lawn.

We also put our house up for sale. We haven't heard back from schools yet, but we thought we'd get a head start, as we are pretty sure Calvin won't be going to school here. We're hoping to hear something in the next few weeks.

What else? We were so busy! This week I worked on Amy's wedding video. Only a few more days until the wedding! Wow!

I made a couple good dinners-our favorites this week were meatless manicotti and ranch hamburgers. Let me know if you want some good recipes!

I'm so glad about my ring. It truly was a blessing that Calvin found it. He was sitting in his truck and just saw it out of the corner of his eye and just picked it up without even realizing what it was. He was so sweet, he wanted to surprise me, so he bought me a rose and gave it to me when I got home. I saw a little card taped to it, so I opened it up and found a ring! At first I thought he had gotten me a different ring to wear, then I realized it was mine! I was so happy.

Well,that's all I can think of! Camden is doing great. He's such a happy little boy and he loves to play. We are so lucky to have him.

FOUND

Calvin found my ring. He was getting into his truck today and happened to see me ring on the seat tucked into the back. I guess I must have put it in my pocket on Monday when we were going to pick up our neighbor's rototiller and it must have fallen out. I am so happy! I am never putting my ring in my pocket again.

Lost

My beautiful wedding ring is lost. I am so sad. I last remember wearing it on Sunday. I almost always put it away in my ring box or my jewelry box, and when I went to put it on Tuesday, it was nowhere to be found. I have searched every place in my house I can think of, with no luck. I remember Sunday night feeling in the dark for my box to put my ring in, but not finding it, so I don't know if I kept it on, or just set it on my night stand. Then on Monday, I don't think I put it on in the morning because I was doing some work and didn't want to wear it. So, it is gone. It makes me sad that it must be somewhere in this world (or my house!) but I just don't know where! I'm hoping that it will just turn up somewhere. Wish me luck.

Fall

Well, Fall is setting in with Winter creeping right up! We had a good week last week. We really enjoyed listening to Conference. Really not much happened though! This week, everyone has been in new beds. Camden got a new crib that he's been getting used to. I've been working on painting our bedroom, so Calvin and I have been sleeping in the extra room on a double bed. Calvin has decided it is much more comfortable than our own bed...so we'll see what happens when I get our room put back together. My mom came down on Wednesday, it was nice to spend some time together! On Saturday, we drove around listening to the second half of the BYU game and went to pick out some pumpkins. Camden fell asleep, so he didn't even get to pick his own. Oh well! So...not much else! Here are a few pictures from the week!

Camden and his favorite new toy from Grandma

New crib and new pajamas

Bundled up and ready to go get a pumpkin

Sleep-Laughing

The other night, Calvin and I were watching a movie together and he had Camden on his chest sleeping. He happened to cough and Camden started laughing in his sleep! It was the cutest thing ever, so I ran and got the camera. I'm so glad I got this!

Mission Reunion & Salsa Making

Tonight was Calvin's mission reunion. Calvin loves to go and see all of his old mission buddies and relive the great days with all of them. I go to support Calvin and let him show off his amazing wife and his adorable baby boy. Well, tonight I had Camden with me, and as nine o'clock approached, it was time for us to leave. Nine o'clock is Camden's bedtime. So I said farewell, and loaded Camden into the car. He screamed the whole way home. By the time I got off the freeway in Spanish Fork, it was so bad, I had to stop. I pulled over in the first parking lot I came too and quickly unbuckled him from his seat. I calmed him down for a while, then gave him a bottle. He finished that, and seemed calm enough, so I buckled him in and made the rest of the trek home. Then I put him to bed, and now I'm just waiting for Calvin to call and say he's on his way home.

On another note, I had my first adventure in salsa making and bottling yesterday. The whole thing went pretty well. I got 11 pints of salsa and all of them sealed :) When I first took them out of my pressure cooker, about half of the lids weren't sealed, and I was pretty disappointed. However, little did I know, that if you just let them sit for a little while, they will seal, and they all did. I think it tastes pretty good...if you want a jar, let me know!



Here's a little video of Camden and the new noises he is learning to make!