Calvin Stands!

Little Brother learned how to get up to standing position on his own today, and can stay standing for a good little while before he loses balance and falls over. We sure are proud of him! Way to go little buddy!

I sure love my boys.

 (Look Ma! No hands!)

Easter in Rexburg 2012

Since we were already visiting in Idaho for Kevin's graduation, we also got to visit our old ward and celebrate Easter with Kevin, his family, and my sister-in-law's parents (the Chiddixes. I know, best last name ever, right? We all were a little sad for Becca when she married Kevin and had to change awesome "Chiddix" to boring "Walker". Such is life!). After church we headed to the Chiddix home for an amazing dinner, followed by a walk to the nature park for an Easter egg hunt. 

I put together little Easter baskets for the kids too. 

We had a great Easter!

Calvin's First Birthday

Oh my goodness gracious, is my little baby turning 1 already? I thought time was going fast when we had one kid, once we had the second it seems like it is going even faster. Life is a never-ending race to catch up! I feel guilty that I didn't document every little milestone and discovery as I did with Malcom. I guess I didn't always have free hands to wield the camera to do so.. but I believe I have the most important things documented.

We were in Idaho on Calvin's birthday, staying in the Guest House in Idaho Falls. After waking up, we all showered/bathed, dressed, ate breakfast, and headed up to Rexburg for a small party we were putting together at The Craze (a family fun center in Rexburg). It was pretty much just family (and a few friends that we consider to be family). The kids played with the magnetic wooden train set they have there, as well as in the big tunnel-y indoor play ground. We chatted, ate pizza, sang happy birthday, ate cupcakes, and opened presents. It was simple and perfect.

Calvin mostly enjoyed tossing wooden railroad pieces off of the table. It's not really a habit I'd want him developing, but he's just so darn cute when he's cracking up... I couldn't help it. Besides, he's the birthday boy.. why not?

Calvin's cupcakes! Chocolate cake with yellow frosting, colorful ducky sprinkles, and a blue star candle on top. The cupcakes were from Broulims, and they were great!

Cupcake time! I'm lighting the candle, Calvin is directly below the cupcake, and cousin Caleb is  in the bottom right corner.

 It took a fair bit of coaching to convince Calvin to blow on the candle...

 Nom, nom, nom!!!!

Cousin Caleb loved the cupcakes so much he kept asking for more. :)

Time to open gifts! It was good thing that Calvin's big brother was there to help, otherwise we would still be at the Craze waiting for Calvin to do it. Crinkly paper and so many bright colors are quite the distraction for a 1 year old!

Poor Malcom was so tired from all of the traveling, I think he would have been happy to sleep through the whole party if there was a way to let him.

Cousin Caleb playing in the playground area.

After the party our dear friends Sarah and Becky accompanied us back to Idaho Falls, where we went to the Museum of Idaho. There was a dinosaur exhibit! The boys were enthralled! My favorite part was listening to both boys make dinosaur-growling noises through the whole thing. :) Unfortunately, we had gotten there just 15 minutes before closing, so we had to rush through it all. At least we got to see it!

Calvin and I at the museum. (It was too dark to get any clearer photos)

Malcom and Ben looking at Sue the T-Rex.

For dinner we headed to Jaker's! Jaker's is Ben and my favorite restaurant! Mmmmmm.... not only is the food AMAZING, but the service is beyond what you would ever expect. Prices may be a little expensive, but it's really not a bad deal for what you get. We were sooooo happy to get to go back to Jaker's!!!! And for dessert? Creme brule and the most amazing strawberry cheesecake you could ever imagine!!! Nom nom nom nom nom...... I guess it's a good thing we don't live near a Jaker's. haha.

Calvin now has 5 teeth with the 6th popping through any day. He's easily entertained as long as he's playing directly next to someone, or on their lap- he hates to be left alone. His favorite foods include yogurt and any kind of baby food with pureed meat mixed in it (We've been calling him "Calvin the Carnivore" since he was born because he has always been a biter/gnawer... so the fact that he loves meat so much does not surprise me). Calvin loves to follow his big brother around and do and play with whatever he's playing with. He's a quick learner! Calvin pops out new words every day- words so far include: car, truck, tractor, church, mama, dada, book, doggy, cat, chicken, drink, up, hi... among a lot of other words I can't think of. His first word besides "Mama" and "Dada" was "cake"! Haha, I think this was because Malcom had talked about his birthday cake for a week straight before his 3rd birthday, and Calvin picked up on it. Calvin is laid back, but he definitely has an opinion and lets you know it. Right now he loves playing with sticks, cars (he makes the "vrrrrmmmm" noise just like his brother! It's adorable!), and getting into things. He's also quite mischievous in that I can tell he does things sometimes just to push people's buttons, mostly Malcom's. I know this because he has this certain smirk he uses when he thinks he's being hilarious... haha. I love that kid!

Calvin is a joy to have in our family! I love that Calvin and Malcom are such good friends. When Calvin is crying or hurt, Malcom is the first to check on him, and Calvin follows his big brother around everywhere. I love, love, love it! Calvin is just a sweet, happy, smart, and funny little baby... It'll be a lot of fun to watch even more of his personality emerge over the next year.  We love you Little Brother! Thanks for joining our family!!

Kevin's Graduation

Easter weekend was a busy one! First, we headed up to Rexburg for my brother Kevin's graduation from BYU-I. It was a great ceremony, though I wish we had remembered the benedryl and rum for the little ones (j/k). Elder M. Russell Ballard was there and spoke, and he also went to Kevin's department commencement ceremony (so Kev got to shake his hand, as well as President Clark's). Here are some photos from the event:

My big bro, Kev, my nephew Caleb, and I after graduation.

Nephew Caleb biding his time during commencement.

Kevin shaking hands with Elder Ballard, President Clark (current president of BYU-I) is in the red robes

Kevin walking down from the stand.

I actually have a few pics of Kev and his wife and son together, but I swore to Becca (his wife) that I wouldn't post any with out her seeing them first. :) Promise kept- you're welcome Becca. :D   hehe  

Congratulation Kevin!  SO glad you're moving closer again! WE MISS YOU!!! Now, we just need to buy a car so we can actually come and see you guys... Love you! Congrats again!