Annual Melaleuca Picnic 2011

After my mud run we hurried home, showered (emphasized for the amount of effort it took to get clean), packed up the car and headed to Idaho Falls for the Melaleuca picnic. It was hot and crowded, but so much fun. 

Malcom had his very first popsicle! I popped over to the frozen goodies stand and got two popsicles, one for me and one for Malcom. He took one lick of his and then dropped in on the ground, reaching for mine. To be fair, his was just a vanilla-boring-something-or-other. How can you resist chocolate and nuts? I should have known better. Here's his victory face after I relinquished my tasty treat:

It was so nice just to hang out together as a family. The semester has just ended, so it feels even better to be able to spend time with Ben around. I love our family... I can't wait for school to be over! Have I mentioned we only have one more semester left? Yep. Sooooon.

Independence Day 2011

 We had a wonderful 4th of July. To start off the weekend, I ran in my first 5k race! 3.1 miles is a lot longer than I remember it being last summer, but then again I also just popped a baby out 3 months ago. Ha. Ben brought the kids and cheered me on. I think my favorite part of the race was just seeing them at the finish line, big grins on their faces. I love my family!!! (Here's me just before the race, and then crossing the finish line)

On Monday (the 4th), we headed to the Rexburg parade at 10am, followed by a stroll at Porter Park and a stop at Broulims for some last minute picnic fixin's. The kids napped, then we headed out to Egin Lake (it's about a 25 minute drive NW of here). Sadly, the state is making visitors pay $5 to get in. Lame sauce. It's beautiful though, and the water is only waist high at it's deepest. We met up with Ben's brother, Luke, some other kids from "back home" (Ben and Luke home, not mine, haha), their roommates and some of their FHE sisters. We didn't care. We love feeding people so it was great, even if we didn't know half of the people there. :)

Calvin enjoyed himself, parked under a tree/bush thing while we set up food and played. He's such a talkative little guy! Here he is just chatting it up and batting at the leaves swaying right above him. 

 Ben's brother took Malcom out for a kayak ride, which he loved.

After that, Ben started brewing up the rootbeer and BBQing some pork chops (with Malcom's help).

Here's a random pic of some of the friends and friends-of-friends that came (Calvin's in there charming the ladies, of course)

And then our friends Matt and Brittanie played a game known as "Toss the Malcom".

After the we were done eating and playing, we packed up our stuff and headed back to Rexburg for a change of clothes and fireworks. We went to our usual spot near the skate park and waited, waited, waited.... the fireworks didn't even start until 11:30pm! I guess the rodeo went on longer than planned.. it wouldn't have been so annoying if we didn't have two little kids up way past their bedtime. True, I could have taken them home and skipped it, but I'm too much of a traditionalist for that! What's an Independence Day with out fireworks??? 

4th of July, what a great holiday. Love my family, love our friends, love our country. Happy birthday America!

An Actual Update of the Parentals

Just a quick while the children nap!

I noticed I put a lot of pictures but no real updates on the last post. If you're here for pictures, skip to the next post! ;)  (don't worry, I won't be offended, I do it too)

* I registered for my first 5k last week! I know, right? I'm sure the distance won't be a problem since it's all pretty level, but I fully expect myself to be sloth-speed. Haha, Calvin's just 2.5 months old, so I'll give myself a break here. Really I'm just doing it so I have incentive to get back to running again... I loved it so much last summer because it was the only time I didn't have to worry about anyone but myself. Ahhhh, pure silence! It's been a big challenge getting back into the habit- Calvin's pretty needy at this age still, but Ben's been a wonderful support and pushes me when I get discouraged. Anyway, Liberty 5k, July 2nd, 8:00am, nature park. If anyone feels compelled to create big signs about my awesomeness, and make fun cheers about me and wait at the finish line, go riiiiight ahead. ;) (totally just kidding, btw!)

*I'm a hop, skip and a jump away from finishing my NYIP photography correspondence courses. It's been challenging and fun, I've learned a lot, but it adds up to more of a certificate than a degree... I'll have that finished with in the next month, which brings me to...

*I'm going back to school! It's official. BYU-I has an online program designed for former students to finish their degrees. How awesome is that? And guess what? I'm about 15 credits away. 15. No joke. Why has it taken me this long to go back? I have no idea. But I'm excited!! I'm all registered and everything. And do you know who else is registered for school...?

* BEN! It's is LAST semester in the fall. LAST. LLLLAAAASSSSTTTT!! Can you tell this has been a long time coming?? 'Cause it has. We both began our journey in BYU-I in the summer of 2004. Yep, he should be a doctor by now. lol... but he changed majors and the school changed catalog years/requirements on him, plus he took a year off when we were first married so we could both work and pay rent... haha. Anyway, it's just been a long road. I can't believe it's getting so close! He only has 1.5 required classes left (FA100 anyone?). He has a bunch of CIT classes he still wants t o take and can't seem to decide between. I love that he's such a nerd! I hope that our children will love learning as much as their dad does.

* Ben is going "hot shot" at Melalueca. That means he only has to work the last three dys of the month, 6 to close. He can also pick up whatever shifts he wants and will only get paid $1.50 less than he does now. It's a perfect schedule for him, right now. He's also looking into a possible internship with the city during this last semester. Hopefully it works out, we'll see. :)

*We're going to VEGAS the first week of September for the PSW conference!!!!!! The school is paying for Ben, and because I'm a student it only costs $150 instead of $600. How awesome is that?? We're both completely stoked. We're bringing along a babysitter too, since the classes and workshops go all day, every day, all week. It'll be hard for me to be away from my babies all day, but I know it will be worth it!

* We got new lenses for the "third child" (the camera). Haha. We bought a 50mm f/1.8 and a 55 - 300 f/3.8 (? I think, can't remember off the top of my head right now) Nikkor lenses. Holy cow, I LOVE my 50mm! The 55-300 is tons of fun, though I think Ben will get more use out of it than I will. I love how a new lens can make such a difference. Examples of the 55-300mm from the trip we took to the zoo last Saturday:

Was this a Macaw? I have no idea. I just think these birds are so pretty! I've always loved blue and green together. Pretty, pretty bird.

Silly baby zebra with his mama. 

This bird was in the back corner of his pen, his back to the front part where people walk by. I love how the overhang gave him that soft shadow. Aren't these birds gorgeous!?

Random bird feeder. It's shiny. I like shiny things.

I'm not going to post any from the 50mm since there's already a bunch of those from the last post, and it's the new main lens. How fun is that 300 mm zoom, though? Sorry, I promise we're not bragging, we just have to share our excitement. :)

*K, we've covered the 5k, school, work, PSW, lenses... is that it? I'll have to do another update to cover the  munchkins. They're just  too cute to bury at the end of a post like this! That's all for today folks! Maybe at some point we'll get our lives all updated. :) Loves!

Picture Overload

Baby blessing, grandparents visiting, birthdays... it's been a very busy month thus far!

Lately we have:

Watched and played with Thomas the Train, probably far too much, as evident by Malcom's sudden urge to make everything into trains...

(The following train is made up of two skateboards, a long board, evenly spaced diapers, and a toy puppy as the engine. And yes, it spans from our bedroom, through the hallway, and into the middle of the boys' room!)

Sadly, I forgot to get pictures of Mr. Calvin in his baby blessing outfit. I guess we had a lot going on... but it was a beautiful blessing, and a beautiful day to match. Thanks to all of the friends and family that made the trip to be there! Ben's sister, Betsy, mom and her husband made the looong trip up from Salt Lake that morning, stayed for dinner, then headed back to Utah/Nevada. (This is Doreen and Denny holding Malcom and Calvin on his blessing day)

 Those kids are way more hardcore then I'll ever be! :) My mom was also able to visit for a WHOLE WEEK! How fun is that? It probably would have been more fun for her if there wasn't as much napping/feeding going on in our apartment, but I think we still managed to give her a good time. Thanks for visiting mom! We love you!

Went for a walk to the park with my mom and the kids, but got stuck under the eves of a building as it started to rain. We were lucky enough to make it home during a pause, before it started really pouring! Malcom watched the the rest of the storm pass from the stairwell in front of our apartment.

Monday the 13th was my birthday! Woohoo! Quarter of a century. :) I was spoiled! Thanks for the birthday cakes, gifts, and well-wishes everyone, it was a fabulous day! Here's picture of my first cake that Kevin, Becca, and Caleb brought over:

Going to the splash park with cousin Caleb:

Carousel-ing with Grandma:

Cuddling with Grandma and and playing with family at the park:

Bahaha, Calvin's expression cracks me up!

(I told you he is a little obsessed with Thomas!)

This is my brother Kevin holding our baby Calvin. They were having the CUTEST little conversation! I love this picture. Such a great moment!

Gosh, I have so many pictures. I've been working on this ALL day because little boys need a lot of attention... maybe we'll just call this good for now. Whew! Love to all!!

Classy

 Classy. That is was I call this:

 Do you see the this-will-have-to-do-until-we-get-home-underpants? It's what happens when little boys have "accidents" while we're at someone else's house, and we don't bring any extra pants/underwears. This is parental creativity at it's best! *Note how happy Malcom looks to be modeling the garment.

 The cloth is an old receiving blanket, which is gathered together and safety pinned to his shirt in the front, the back held up with masking tape. I can't take credit, Ben is the genius behind it!

I know the lighting in this picture is spooky, but if you look closely you can see that his eyes are turning blue! Handsome little guy. We had a 6 week check up last Thursday (woops, I mean the 19th), and he weighed 10.10 lbs and was 21 inches  tall. He's still a little guy, but so was Malcom for the first few months. We'll see what happens. :) 

Funny unrelated story: so the 6 week check up was for me too, since our doctor's office likes to do the postpartum check and the well-baby check at the same time. They did the normal stuff, been there, done that. No big deal. And then the following Monday I miss a call from this office, saying they had test results for me. What?!? I've had the same stuff done there seriously 5 or 6 times, and they NEVER called me about any test results, right? "No news is good news", they say. So I try to call them back right away, only to find that they called me 5 minutes after closing, and the phone lines were already being directed to their answering service. UGH. I spent the ENTIRE night thinking the absolute worst, because that's what I do. I have cancer, oh crap. What happens now? I'm freaking out, and Ben's like, "Oh, they're probably just having the intern practice calling people. It's not big deal." I woke up super early the next morning and called in only to find out....*drum roll*... everything was normal. What the heck??! I could have died laughing at myself after that. I guess thee intern was just practicing after all!

It does make me ever grateful for my health though. That was definitely one of the scariest nights I've ever had. I kept looking at my little family thinking, "Oh no, what would happen if I wasn't there? I wouldn't be able to watch my boys grow up.." and then I'd burst into tears because that's a terrible thought. Anyway, *HUGE sigh of relief* I'm healthy, the boys are healthy, Ben's healthy... we're all doing well and there was never any doubt about it, at least as far as the doctor's office is concerned. Let's hope they never do that to me again! :)

Brother bonding time. hehehe

(I know, I'm going to have my hands full. I'm glad Calvin is a good sport!)

Earlier tonight Calvin cooed to get my attention, then gave me the biggest gummy smile this side of the Atlantic. He laid there, eyes staring up at mine, just cooing back to me and smiling for the longest time. I think this was our official first conversation, and it was wonderful. I just wish I knew what we were talking about. :)

 We went to Beaver Dick Park on Sunday and played around. There's been some flooding lately, so the park is half covered in water. Made for some good splash-fun for Malcom though! (The picture below is him realizing that his pants are wet).

Ben found this fun program online that we've been having a lot of fun with. What you do is bracket an exposure and then combine the three photos in the program, and it comes up with these fun dynamic effects. You can download a free trial version here . It's fun, you should try it. :)

This is a photo I took showing some of the flooding at Beaver Dick.

(It will only save as a jpeg image, with the tag on the bottom, just so you know).

I think this one turned out tacky, but it's just another example of what you can do with the program.

Whew, long post. I only have a few more things to mention. Last week we accompanied Ben on a field trip with his photography class to Bannack State Park in MT. It's just over the border really, 3 hours away. Sister Esplin overbooked the bus and encouraged the students to drive up with their families, but somehow we ended up being the only non-students there. Bannack State Park is a ghost town, and it is the first one I've ever been to. It was such a fun little place! I wasn't allowed to share our camera, since Ben was busy running around with it to finish all of his assignments there... so I don't have any pictures on my computer of the place. Trust me, it kills me not have been able to take the camera away from him. It would have been SO fun to run around like everyone else! The buildings were beautiful in that old-run-down way, there was a grand spiral staircase in the old hotel and an antique merry-go-round that Malcom loved. Ben and I have made a pact to go back, but this time I get the camera. I think it would be a wonderful place to take someone for portraits too... really, the possibilities are endless. *sigh* someday...

And last but not least, Ben took me on a little lunch date today. How sweet is that? He called some of our wonderful, dear old friends and they took our kids in at a moments notice. Happily! I don't know, maybe they were glad for the distraction from homework. Haha, but seriously, they're so good to us. We're really lucky for our friends! Anyway, Ben took me to Gator Jack's for a tasty sandwich and gator bites (mmmmm). It was nearly empty at that time of day, and so we sat in a little corner and just enjoyed each other. I love that man, so much. When I wake up before him, usually on the weekends, I still just stare at his face in disbelief that I've been so lucky in my life. If I had been able to create him myself, I don't think I would have done half as good of a job. He spoils me and oh, I could go on and on and on and on and oooooooooooon, but I'll spare you. 

It suffices to say that I'm just one lucky mama. 

And that's enough for now. Love to all!

10 Things From Lately

So it turns out that it's hard to find time to sit down and blog these days. I could blame it on the wee ones, but really it all comes down to prioritizing my time, and I guess blogging just hasn't been very high on the list lately.

In brief, here are some of things that have been going on around here lately:

1. Calvin is SMILING! I love, love, love it! I'v noticed that you can get him to smile by petting his head. Haha, funny I know!

2. I learned to look before I kiss... er, let me explain! I got up with Malcom the other morning, eyes super dry and not even half open. I stumbled into the kitchen with him to get him a cup of milk, and he held up his hand like he does when he hurts it and wants it kissed better. So I did... and then quickly realized that he didn't have an "owie", but that he had stuck his hand down his diaper and gotten poo on it and wanted me to help him wash it off. Yeah. That was about as  horrifying as it gets. Not going to make that mistake again!!

3. Started running again! Huzzah!! I'm back to only 2 1/2 miles, which is kinda sad but not as bad as I was expecting (I haven't run since October and I popped out a baby in the mean time, so, yeah... ). As much as I love it, I am finding it difficult to get back in the habit, especially with the unpredictable weather and lack of sleep/energy/ambition. Wish me luck! ...I'll need it...

4. Taught Malcom how to say "Love you" at bedtime today. I honestly can't express how sweet the moment was for me to hear those words from him. I think I melted through the floor... It's humbling and just wonderful to be a mother to these two little boys! Challenging sometimes, but the difficult times are microscopic in comparison to the blessings and the precious moments. I hope I never forget today, and what it felt like, what it sounded like... Gosh, I just love that little man child. I can't help but be proud mama!

5.  Calvin is 6 weeks old this Thursday! Has it really been a month and a half already? Has it only been a month and a half? It almost feels like he's been in our family forever, but I know cognitively it's only been a short time. He's growing like a porky little weed! We have our 6 week check up Thursday, so we'll have actual measurements then.

6. Next week we're going with Ben on a field trip to a ghost town in MT for one of his classes... I'm beyond excited and fighting the urge to dress the boys up in sheriff/deputy attire. Does that make me a nerd?

7. Splash park (and supposedly the new aquatic park... though I have doubts since it looks like it still has a long way to go) are opening back up Memorial Day weekend!! Hopefully that will make for some more fun blog posts.

8.   9.5 weeks left of the spring semester! Then just one more semester to go!! The light at the end of the tunnel is looking pretty nice about now. We can't stop dreaming of what life will be like with Ben home in the evenings and weekends, instead of always plugging away at school. It's a beautiful thing being so close, finally. I think we've been here so long that if we stayed another year they'd have to name a building after us!

9. Malcom broke the nose piece on my glasses yesterday. They're only 2 months old! I know I like to wear contacts a lot of the time, but I do enjoy having a nice pair of glasses. My last pair had the ear piece snapped off (also courtesy of Malcom), so I had to scotch tape it back together for a good 6 months before I got my new ones. Ben just laughs and says that moms aren't allowed to have nice glasses. Must be true. *sigh*

10. Hmmmm... the baby is fussing and now I can't think anymore. Shoot. Well that's enough for now. Love to all!!

Catching Up

I have enough time when both hands are free to either post pictures, or write a few paragraphs. I went with pictures. Can you blame me? Look at how handsome these two little boys are!

We had lunch with Kevin's family the Saturday before Easter. It was SUCH a BEAUTIFUL day!!! After we ate, I helped Becca "hide" easter eggs around our picnic table at the nature park. Malcom didn't waste any time in gathering them up. He did, however, accidentally share some of his goodies with the ducks...

 Cousin Caleb gettin' a little help from Kevin in the egg hunt:

After lunch we headed down to IF to get ourselves a double stroller. Life is so good! Malcom had a great time in the little kids play area in the mall. I love his expressions in these photos. 

Calvin just chilled in his car seat the whole time. 

Malcom and I made cookies a few nights ago, and I let him decorate his own plate full for the first time. Most of the sprinkles ended up in the middle of the plate, between all of the cookies. You can tell he had a good time sampling the frosting. I've taught him well. ;) 

We took a nice family stroll out to the park yesterday evening... we thought it was going to be warmer outside than it was. At least today is beautiful and sunny, I hope we can make it out after nap time! 

We're all doing very well. We've had Ben's sis Betsy here with us for the past week, and that's been great for me! (I wake up and she's doing our laundry and dishes, seriously! How amazing is she?!?!) It's been nice having the extra pair of hands as well, since Calvin always seems to get hungry right as I'm in the process of putting Malcom down for a nap or bedtime. It  can get a little hectic. We're still working on it. :)