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!

Zac Brown Band

On Thursday last week we decided last minute to look for tickets for the Zac Brown Band playing 20 minutes away from here in Cary. I was able to find someone willing to sell them a little cheaper since it was the day of the show! It was so much fun to go and listen to thier music. Calvin and Camden enjoyed it too! Here's Calvin keeping Camden in line :) We saw the first show of their first headlining tour. Fun!

What a Catch!

Two great catches...Calvin...and this lizard! Haha. This week Calvin was so nice and brought home some flowers! He also took me outside and showed me this awesome lizard (we found out it is actually called a five-lined skink) and helped me catch it! Fun!I have a great husband!

Busy Day!

Wow! We had a very busy day yesterday! We started off by dropping Calvin off at school and then meeting up with our walking friends for the 3 mile loop around Duke golf course (hills with a stroller = a tough workout every time!). Then we went and waited while the car was serviced. After that, we went and met my friend Jenny at a thrift store by our house and found some fun things! We got this little popper-pusher toy for just 25 cents! The spring inside was broken, so I opened it up and fixed it! We got a few other toys, some books, and I got this really cute window frame I'm planning on using as a wall hanging in our bedroom. I want to add some pressed flowers to it, so I'll add some pictures later of the project. Here is Camden enjoying some of his new toys!

After the store, we came home and I was able to shower. Then we had to go pick up Calvin from school. When we got home, Camden took a nap and Calvin and I watched the new X-Men Wolverine movie. Then I had to go to a dr. appointment. When I got home from my appointment, we had to make some funeral potatoes for our ward social.

The ward social was fun. They had amazing southern bbq. Everyone brought "sterotypical mormon side dishes" including jello, salads, and funeral potatoes. I was lucky enough to win a prize for my beautiful dish. Thanks Winder's for the recipe!

After the social, we headed over to meet up with some of the LLM's from law school. These are the Duke Law students who are going to study in China next summer and some students from China who are studying at Duke for a year. We had more food and more fun. The party was held on a patio by a pool and Camden was going crazy wanting to jump right in the pool.

We then headed back home to get ready for salsa dancing! We got Camden to sleep and then took him over to our friends' house for a little sleepover while we were gone. Luckily he was out, so he didn't even wake up while we transferred him into a portable crib. Then my very nice husband took me to a club in Durham for Latin night! We learned a few salsa steps and moves and had fun trying those out! Calvin was very nice to do something that I really enjoy. We had a good time!

So, overall it was a jam-packed day! We're ready for a relaxing Saturday and a BYU game tonight. Go Cougars!

Park Day

Last Friday we went to Forest Hills park for Friday park days. We didn't come prepared to get wet, but once Camden figured out what it was, there was no stopping him! He had so much fun playing in the water! It was nice because it wasn't like the swimming pool where I have to hold on to him, he could just go play and have fun without me getting wet too!

Long New Post

Wow! Things are going great here! Calvin is working hard in his classes while still taking time to play with Camden and me. It seems like there has been just so much going on lately! We stay busy during the day with playgroups, walking in the mornings, and other outings (and also working...don't worry dad! I don't miss too many calls, haha, just kidding, I answer almost all of them and call the others right back). We've also been going to watch Calvin's law school softball games twice a week. All of the other students love watching Camden walk around making little noises, waving his arms, and clapping when everyone else does.

Calvin has also started his new calling as a Cub Scout Den Leader. Last week we got to go with him to a park in Chapel Hill where they caught little crawdads.

Last weekend we had a get together with some of the other law students who came from BYU. We made cookies and Camden had a lot of fun helping me...

After the law get together, we gathered a few BYU fans at our house for the amazing BYU game! What a game! I think we were all on the edge of our seats for the last quarter. It was awesome!

Yesterday, Camden and I went with our friends Jenny and her little girl Evey and our friend Nichole to the Durham Museum of Life and Science. We had so much fun seeing the newly hatched butterflies being released into the butterfly house, the native animals in North Carolina (alligators, opposums, owls, turtles, and more), lots of insects and bugs (all in cages except some spiders from Madagascar, scary! They were just out in the open with thier webs!), and lots of other cool stuff. Camden really liked the playground inside where he could climb up into this treehouse-type thing and put a ball in a track that wound around the room and then zig-zaged back and forth into a box. He is getting so big and learning so much! He could climb right up the ladder into the tree house. I was very impressed. Here's Camden pointing to some little birds behind the trees in the butterfly house.

Camden is also learning how to eat with a fork and a spoon. He absolutely loves it and won't eat without them. He still has a way to go before he figures it out, but he's doing good!


This weekend we're getting ready for the Duke basketball ticket campout. The graduate students can enter a lottery to get basketball season tickets if they spend the weekend camping out and if they are there for all of the checkpoint times. They begin at 6 pm on Friday and find out if they won the lottery at 7 am on Sunday. This means they are going to set up tents and sleep there and everything! On Saturday, they could sign up for a service project so that they can do the service project and then come home for a couple hours to shower and rest before they have to be back for the next checkpoint. Then Calvin was also able to get an exemption to come home at midnight on Saturday night so he can go to church in the morning. So...we are going to miss having him at home, but I think we'll spend some time there keeping him company.

Overall, we're doing great! We're enjoying being here in North Carolina and meeting new friends and seeing new things. We really miss our families and friends out in the West and hope this blog keeps you more connected to us! Post some comments so we can see how you're doing and see who is reading our blog! Love you all!