We're in Utah!

I should have put this post up long ago. We are in Utah! Camden and I arrived on December 7th, one week prior to our scheduled arrival. On Sunday, December 6th, Calvin told me he could take care of himself during finals week and that I should take the opportunity to see my family. It was hard to leave him there, but I think overall, he got a lot more done with the peace and quiet without Camden and me at home.

I called my mom to ask her if it would be ok for us to come and she said of course! We decided it would be so much fun to surprise my dad. So...the plan took shape. Brooklyn left school during her lunch hour to pick Camden and me up from the airport. My mom was out running some errands with my dad in SLC and they stopped for lunch at Olive Garden. There were some coverups made to explain why Brooklyn was in SLC too and would be joining them for lunch. We walked in the back door and came up to the table. My mom could see us coming but my dad's back was to us. I walked up and put Camden in his lap. He was so happy and surprised! It was so much fun to see how happy he was! I've never been away from my family so long, so it was a happy reunion!

We have had a great time, just spending time together. We were SO happy when Calvin joined us this Monday. Camden is having so much fun here, meowing at the cats, playing out in the snow, and seeing his grandparents. Next week we're headed for Nevada! I love family and I love Christmas! Merry Christmas everyone!

Thanksgiving Vacation Time!

We had so much fun spending time together as a family last week! We started off the week on Monday with our family pictures. On Tuesday, we went and walked around the mall to see the Christmas decorations, picked up yummy pastries and rolls from Guglhupfs and watched Angels & Demons (which we really liked). On Wednesday, Calvin took us to see A Christmas Carol in 3D. I had been wanting to see it, but I hadn't been able to justify the cost of a ticket to a 3D show. Calvin got us out the door in time for a matinee, so that helped! Camden had fun with the glasses at first, but didn't keep them on long. I really liked it!

On Thursday, we had fun making pies and rolls and relaxing at home watching Leave It To Beaver. The shows are on Netflix instant play, so we watch them from our computer on the TV. They are so funny! We then went over and had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner at our friends' house. We also took the missionaries from our ward along. Everything turned out so good! I made two pies; a pecan and lemon meringue. It was my first time making both, and with Calvin's help, they turned out great! We ended up with a couple extra pie crusts because I pre-baked all the crusts I made and then realized I need a crust that was not pre-baked. On Saturday, I made some chocolate pudding and used one of the extra crusts. So easy and so good!

On Friday, Calvin made an attempt at doing schoolwork and drove to school, only to come back about a half hour later to spend some more time with us. I think it was really good for him to have a break as well. We took Camden to play at a park, then came back home because it was way too cold and the only one prepared for the cold was Camden! I told Calvin, at least I could take care of one person in our family! He then told me we must only be having one child then! Hopefully I can improve so that we can have some more kids :) We brought Camden home for a nap and took him out to another park later that afternoon. Friday night, we went to Sams Club and really stocked up on some things for our food storage. We made a total sweep and got flour, sugar, rice, oats, powdered milk, canned fruits and vegetables, water bottles, dry goods, etc to make sure we're prepared for the approaching winter. We then got it all organized in our attic and written down with expiration dates to make sure we rotate correctly. It feels good to be prepared!

On Saturday, it was all about FOOTBALL!
We went to the last Duke home football game at Wallace Wade Stadium. It was my first time there and I thought the stadium was awesome! It wasn't as big or as full as Lavell Edwards Stadium, but it was a lot of fun! We got to go right down to the front of the graduate student section. Camden had so much fun cheering, saying "Go, Go!" and he even got a high-five from the Duke Blue Devil. He was so cute clapping his little cougar-paw gloves.

After the Duke game, we stopped and picked up treats for our own little BYU vs U of U football game party. We had some hot dogs, cheetos (which Camden loved), homemade fries, and our chocolate pie. We were so surprised and excited that BYU pulled it off! Needless to say, we were a bit skeptical (see last year's score...). What a game!

And to top it all off, on Sunday we put up our Christmas decorations! We decorated our tree (the top half anyway, to try to keep Camden from bothering the tree) and put up some lights and a few other decorations. I'm so excited for the holidays! Happy holidays everyone! We love you!

Family Pictures

Here are some of our favorites from our family picture photo shoot yesterday! They all turned out so great! You can CLICK HERE to see even more pictures. Camden did so great and we got so many good ones! Happy Holidays!

Happy Birthday Calvin!

Happy Birthday to Calvin today! He is 24 years old. We had a fun day. For dinner we had delicious penne rustica (our version of our Macaroni Grill favorite) with very good breadsticks. We followed that up a little while later with cake and ice cream. Camden had a very hard time waiting for the cake. He would go over to the counter where the cake was and open his mouth wide and yell "Ahhh" asking for a bite. He was definitely excited when we finally got to sing happy birthday and eat the cake. You can see him holding out his plate for his piece.

I tried to teach Camden to say Happy Birthday Daddy. He was very good at the Daddy part, but the happy birthday didn't sound as good. He did try though! It was very cute.

The birthday boy enjoying his dinner!

Camden enjoyed it too! He has a new booster seat and really likes to sit with us at the table.

The birthday presents-given in advance of course

(I'm not good at surprises, also, Calvin helped put the letters on the sign).

Kiss the cook!

We love you Calvin (dad!). Thank you for being such a wonderful husband and father. Good luck these next couple weeks with the finals and projects. You're amazing!

New Words

Camden is learning new words every day! It is so cute to see (and hear) him trying to say new things. Last week, Na Young was over and we taught him to say "thank you." Yesterday we were eating some popcorn and he said "pop pop pop." He likes to come in the living room and point to the TV and say "a show, a show" when he wants to watch a movie. Then if there is a scary part, he says "dee-ee" which means "scary." He will cuddle up or run over to Calvin or me and say "dee dee," it is so cute! He also says "juice" and is starting to say "mo" or "more." He'll say "uh-oh" when something drops on the floor (or when he throws something on the floor). It is so fun to have him communicating more.

Last week, we had a few days of rain, cold, and wind. The last few days have been just beautiful! Right now, it's 70's, blue skies, and sunny. I can't even imagine snow right now! (Which I hear they have back in Utah!) The leaves have been just beautiful. Most of them are gone now, but there are still some brilliant and bright ones. Instead of snow piling up on the roads, they have leaves! There are leaves and pine needles everywhere, you can see the two places where the tires of the cars go and then the piles of leaves and pine needles in the middle, just like it would look if there were snow piled up. The only problem is, they don't come and plow the leaves off the road!

Calvin is getting busy with finals and the end of the semester approaching. He also has a lot to do with his extra activities. We're proud of him for working so hard! I have been busy lately working on advertising material for the lodge (Calvin also helped out with that, thank goodness) and answering the calls resulting from all the advertising! Camden is usually a good little boy and plays all around at home! He just gets in to everything and climbs all over! He loves the phone and wishes he could answer all the calls that I do.

With all that's going on, we are definitely looking forward to December 14th, when we fly out for our 3 week vacation! Wish us luck and pray we can make it until then!

Spudnuts and Parties

Last weekend we had so much fun with Halloween, parties, and spending time with our friends.

On Friday night, we helped our friend with a surprise birthday party for his wife. It turned out so good! She was totally surprised. We're glad we were able to help put it all together! Happy Birthday Na Young!

For Halloween, we spent the morning at our ward trunk-or-treat. We dressed as cowboys/cowgirl. (Yes, I know my hat is goofy, it was all smashed from being in a box since we moved.) Camden was so cute! He wore Calvin's belt and buckle from when he was a little kid. The belt buckle was made by Calvin's uncle and has a "W" for Winder. Thanks to Camden's Grandma Eggett for the real cowboy hat.

When we got home, we started getting the spudnuts ready! They were delicious! The recipe is one from Calvin's family. They have some mashed potatoes in them-hence the name spudnuts. We made at least 60 spudnuts! Calvin was a champion spudnut fryer. It took a long time because we were using our electric wok, which didn't hold many spudnuts at a time.

Here is the finished product. They were so good! We had a lot of friends come over for our donut and cider party. It was a great night!

Here I am glazing the donuts, just being goofy!

Camden enjoying his donut with Arie (Na Young's husband).

Pumpkin Carvers

Look at the view from our back window! The leaves here are changing and everything is so beautiful.

Last night we had so much fun carving our pumpkins! From my radio win, I got a gift certificate to a Halloween store, so we got this fun pumpkin carving kit with all the tools, etc. I must say, it worked much better than regular knives and spoons for cutting and scooping!

Camden had fun sticking his hand in the pumpkin and feeling the slimy inside. He also liked trying to put all the different tops on each pumpkin.

The finished product! Calvin's is on the left, mine's the middle, and Camden's (also carved by Calvin) is on the right. I hope they last until Saturday!

Perfect Fall Getaway

On Tuesday, we decided to take a fun, spontaneous road trip! Calvin needed some time to clear his head and gear up to finish writing his paper. This week is the Fall break for the law school, so they don't have any classes, but the first year students have to use most of their time completing their writing assignment.

So, at about noon, I headed over to the law school to pick Calvin up. On the way there, I was listening to the radio, and they announced a prize you could call in to win. If you know me, you know I love to win things on the radio! I have won things on the radio at least 10 times. So, I have had a hard time winning things here so far because I don't know the phone numbers for the radio stations, plus I have to dial the area code, and sometimes that doesn't work out. Well, I decided to try and call, and after a few busy signals, I was talking to the announcer and I had won! I won a $50 gift certificate to this Halloween store here in Durham, and a $25 gift certificate to Papa John's. I was so excited!

We then arrived at the law school and picked Calvin up. We came home, ate lunch, and looked at the map and decided where to go. We headed for Roanoke, VA. It was a beautiful drive, off the main freeways, and through the country. We loved being able to get out of the trees and see into the distance.

As we got in to Roanoke, we stopped for a treat at Krispy Kreme (started right here in North Carolina)! We had some really good, halloween-themed donuts-pumpkin spice, halloween sprinkles, and a pumpkin shaped donut frosted with a jack-o-lantern face. Yum!

Then it was on to our hotel for the night. We had fun watching Aladdin on tv with Camden before bed time. In the morning, we headed out to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was so beautiful! We saw a couple of deer and a lot of pretty trees! It was so neat to be on top of the mountain and look out over the valleys. We marveled at the beauty of God's creations. Here are some pictures from our drive! It was a perfect Fall getaway.

Here is a cute little store we stopped at on the way home to buy some pumpkins! It was such a fun trip!

October Weekend

We had a fun weekend! On Friday, we drove to Garner (about 45 minutes away) and went to this fun corn maze. Throughout the maze, you had to look for 12 punch stations in 3 different sections of the maze which corresponded with a card you carried with you to obtain the letters to spell Ken's Corn Maze. If you know me, you know I'm not the most patient person. At one point, we came to the next section of the maze but we were still missing a punch from the last word. Camden was getting a little whiny, so I said, come on, let's just skip that one. But of course, Calvin said, come on Ash, if we came to do this, we're going to do it right. So we backtracked and found the missing letter. In the end, I'm glad we didn't come out of the maze one letter short! After the maze, Camden had fun playing on this monster truck. They also had a cute tractor just like this truck.

On Saturday, we walked all around the mall looking for some new shoes for Calvin with no success. We then drove up to Burlington (about 30 minutes from here) and went to their factory stores. Again, no success. We did find this cute Sunday outfit for Camden for quite a steal! We also enjoyed lunch at Steak & Shake, yum!

On Saturday night, we went to a dollar (and a half) theater in Raleigh to see Up! It was really good! Camden did so good throughout the whole show, we stayed in our seats the whole time!

Overall, we had a very fun weekend! Now wish Calvin luck with his paper this week! Hopefully he'll get done before the end of the week and we'll have some time to enjoy his Fall break!

Fun Fall Activities

Fall is here! We are definitely enjoying the cooler weather and getting excited to see the beautiful fall leaves. Last night we went to Calvin's last softball game. I tried to keep Camden out of the mud and puddles, but it was a losing battle, so I gave in and let him have some fun. He absolutely loved it!

Last week Calvin took us out to Wrightsville beach. He got out of class early, so we headed east! We had so much fun playing in the sand and the water. It was such a nice day! Camden loved his shovel and bucket. We also found a couple of sand toys that had been buried and forgotten. They'll be fun next time! After the beach we headed to Five Guys for some amazing burgers and fries. Yum!

On Monday for Family Night Calvin made this amazing cake! It was inspired by some recipies, but ultimately, it was his own creation. It included marshmallows, carmel topping, chocolate chips, toffee bits, pecans, and more. It was so good!

We really enjoyed conference over the weekend. Calvin is getting ready to write a big paper (memo) which will finish up his legal writing class until next semester. He has all of next week to work on it before it's due. Wish him luck! Camden and I are just having fun walking in the mornings, going to play groups, and taking care of things at home and with work! We hope you're all having a nice Fall too!