The Caldwell Family

Golden Gate Bridge

2012-01-10T18:54:00.000-08:00

Owen is fascinated with bridges!

He zooms all over the world on our iPad via Google Earth looking at all the different bridges. Lately, we have been taking some fun family outings to different bridges around our area. We have visited the Jiboom Street Bridge in Sacramento (his all-time favorite) and the Foresthill Bridge in Auburn (the tallest bridge in California). Last week, we told him we were going to take him to the Golden Gate Bridge (another favorite). His face lit up with joy

It was the most BEAUTIFUL day in the City! It was warm and there was virtually no fog. We could see the Bay Bridge and the tall buildings in San Francisco. We were originally going to walk about half-way across, but Owen insisted on walking the entire way. We walked across to the Marin County side and had lunch. While we were walking, Owen would occasionally stop and look over the bridge to see the water and boats below. He was so happy!

After the bridge, we took the kids to Baker's Beach. They had fun chasing the waves (well, Wyatt was freaked out of the ocean) and writing their names in the sand.
It makes me smile inside knowing that Owen was so happy that day!

Such a fun family outing!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-23T17:11:00.000-08:00

Day 4

2011-11-03T19:45:00.000-07:00

We woke up in the morning literally unable to get out of the little town we had stayed in for the night. When we drove into the hotel the night before it was raining, HARD! Apparently it rained all night long and the Susquehanna River had flooded...in a major way!

After about an hour of driving around trying to find a way out of the town without running into flooded roads and freeways, we found some locals willing to take us through the back-roads and back to the freeway! We then made our way to NEW YORK CITY!

We drove over the George Washington Bridge and into Manhattan! Growing up the in the Bay Area and being to San Francisco so many times I can't even count, I thought New York City was going to be comprable! NO WAY, JOSE! NYC is ten times as busy and crazy as San Francisco!

We headed to Times Square (where our hotel was) and took in all that it had to offer... Then, we jumped onto a hop-on/hop-off tour bus that took us all over the city. One of our stops was the Empire State Building. We decided not to go to the top mainly because of the cost ($20 per person) but also because the line was super long! We settled for a photo!

After touring part of Manhattan on the bus, we got off and headed to a Broadway show, Mary Poppins. We had scored tickets that afternoon in the third row. It was a neat experience. I can now say I have been to a Broadway show. I probably will never do it again, but it was a good experience!

Day 3

2011-10-13T13:20:00.000-07:00

Day 3
We hit the road and left the country!!!

We decided that even though Niagara Falls was out of the way, we couldn't get this close and not see it!
Everyone who has been says "Go to the Canadian side. It is so much better!" So, we left the United States and ventured into Clarke's native land...Canada!

Niagara Falls is definately one of the natural wonders of the world! IT IS AMAZING! We parked in a parking lot that's weather forecast is "rain" 365 days of the year. The mist and wetness reaches places all around! Right away we realized why the Canadian side is so much better. The Canadaian side is down-stream from the falls whereas the American side is upstream from the falls. Much better view for the Canadians!

The Maid of the Mist is the boat in the river getting DRENCHED!

Here are Clarke and I one the Maid of the Mist BEFORE getting to the falls

Clarke and I as it is starting to get wet. Clarke thought he'd be "cool" and not put on his hood

After getting DRENCHED by the falls. As you can see, I WAS wearing make-up. I look like I have two very black eyes! You get so wet on the boat, our cameras couldn't be out to take pictures

All of us with the Horseshoe Falls and American Falls in the background

We were SO happy we made the trip to go to Niagara Falls.

It was spectacular.

Day 2

2011-10-09T16:29:00.000-07:00

Day 2

We headed to Palmyra, NY. This is the place where so much in our Church's History took place. Growing up in the Church, I read of places like Joseph Smith's childhood home, the Sacred Grove, the Grandin Print Shop, the Peter Whitmer Farm, etc. all my life. I knew these places existed, but to a California girl, Palmyra, NY seemed so far away!

We started at Joseph Smith's childhood home (above picture).

Here is a depiction of what the family's table would have looked like. There on the table is a Bible printed around the time of Joseph's life. Here the family would gather and read from the Bible each night. The Bible is coincidentally opened to a specific chapter and verse...any guesses? James 1:5

The Palmyra Temple is seen from Stafford Road.

This is the Smith "framed" Home. The family would have moved into this home later in Joseph's life. The home is beautifully restored with most of it being left original. The tree behind Clarke and I is a tree thought to have been planted in Alvin's honor after his death.

The Sacred Grove. AHHHHHHH! We were the only ones there that day. It was BEAUTIFUL!!!!! Words cannot describe how green and beautiful it was. What happened there changed the world! Powerful!

We then headed to Grandin's Print Shop. AWESOME!

The Church has actually bought all the land around the original shop and built the Visitor's Center around the actual building. Here we are in the back of the building. Again, private tour!

This is where the original 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon were printed. The ink spatter, yellow trim, wood floors, etc are all original. It was incredible to learn about how much work it was to make a book back then...let alone 5,000 of the same book

This is one of the original copies of the Book of Mormon. I saw on an Antique's Roadshow once that this is worth approximately $300,000 (there are 4 of them in Palmyra...I think)

Downstairs in Grandin's Print Shop

We also drove past the Martin Harris Farm. It is an old house now where missionary couples live. There are acres and acres of corn

This is the Peter Whitmer Farm. On April 6, 1830, the Church was organized here. It was headquarters to the Church for a little while as well. It is not that big, but definately room for the 30-40 people who were in attendance that day. Awesome!
All in all, it was an AMAZING day!

We are soooooo happy we experienced it. Being there totally strengthened by testimony!

East Coast Vacation - Day 1

2011-10-05T18:31:00.000-07:00

Clarke and I had the amazing opportunity to tour the East Coast with my parents in September. We left the kids home with Clarke's parents and my aunts and headed out. We were gone 11 days.

Day 1

We headed to Cooperstown, NY to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame. Cooperstown, NY is in the middle of NO WHERE! Surrounding Cooperstown are acres and acres of beautiful green farm land with fascinating old houses. It was so different than the dry, dead, brown of a summer in California. I was tempted many times to pick-up and move (but was reminded about their winters!).

Cooperstown, NY is dependent on the visitors to the Hall of Fame. Here is a little history about Cooperstown, NY.

The Mills Commission, chaired by Abraham G. Mills, the fourth president of the National League, was appointed in 1905 to determine the origin of baseball. The committee's final report, on December 30, 1907, stated, in part, that "the first scheme for playing baseball, according to the best evidence obtainable to date, was devised by Abner Doubleday at Cooperstown, New York, in 1839." It concluded by saying, "in the years to come, in the view of the hundreds of thousands of people who are devoted to baseball, and the millions who will be, Abner Doubleday's fame will rest evenly, if not quite as much, upon the fact that he was its inventor ... as upon his brilliant and distinguished career as an officer in the Federal Army

Abner Doubleday
Clarke was like a kid in a candy store! He loves baseball! I often joke that he can remember who won the World Series in 1967, but he can't remember to shut the closet door at home! (although he claims he shuts it every time!)

Old baseball gear

Clarke with Ty Cobb memrobilia

Ty Cobb was a pretty good baseball player...I know his name, but that's about it!

Babe Ruth uniform and memrobilia. I do know who Babe Ruth was!

This is some hate mail that Jackie Robinson received. He was the first African-American player in professional baseball.

Blue Jays stuff for the Blue Jays fan

The 1990's Oakland A's is are the teams I remember and grew up watching. Jose Conseco, Mark McGuire, Ricky Henderson, Walt Weiss, Tony LaRussa. I remember going to a lot of A's games during my childhood.

Clarke was THRILLED that Johnny Bench was making an appearance the day we were there. We listened to him for about an hour tell stories about his baseball years. Apparently he is the best catcher ever! Again, don't know much about baseball...I even called him Tony at one point. Clarke and Dad with Johnny Bench

Johnny Bench memrobilia

I am sure Clarke is going to look at this post tell me I missed half of the "cool" pictures. Oh Well!

It really was a great day. My mom and I even enjoyed ourselves. Baseball is part of our national past-time and I have some great memories going to A's games.

Jibboom Street Bridge

2011-08-18T12:19:00.001-07:00

Owen LOVES bridges.
He LOVES using Google Maps and Google Earth on the computer and finding all the bridges in a certain area.

For some reason, he zoned in on the Jibboom Street Bridge in Sacramento.

He loves the Jibboom Street Bridge. Everytime he was on Google Earth or Google Maps, he was never far from Jibboom Street.

Where is Jibboom Street? It is just off I-5 near Old Town Sacramento.

One day, after Clarke had spent the day with Lilly (Daddy-Daughter), we wanted Owen to have a special day too. So, we asked him if he would like to go to the Jibboom Street Bridge. His face lit up with excitement (which is something quite rare for a child with autism) and said "YES!" So we loaded up and headed to the Jibboom Street Bridge.

Owen and I took our time walking across the bridge together while the others waited in the car. He is in HEAVEN! He couldn't wait be on the bridge. His smile was ear to ear!

Considering he can't show emotion beyond a smile, the look in his eyes was priceless. He loved every moment of it!

1st Day of School

2011-08-17T09:01:00.000-07:00

It is 9:00am and the house is quiet. Wyatt is distracted with a toy (for the moment) and Lilly and Owen are at school. Wyatt's distraction will only last a few minutes, but until then, I have an unusually quiet moment to myself.

Okay, Wyatt is already done with his toy...that was short!

Here are few pictures of the 1st Day of School:

Lilly-2nd Grade

Owen-1st Grade

Here's to another great year at Rocklin Academy!

D-O-N-E

2011-07-28T18:49:00.000-07:00

No words necessary

Update

2011-06-18T19:37:00.000-07:00

***Insanely LONG post ahead***

I just realized it has been 2 1/2 months since my last post. To say our lives have been busy would be a complete UNDERstatement. So there, there is my excuse!

Kitchen:
The kitchen has been what has taken up most, if not all, of our free time. We are in the home stretch. We are still waiting on an appliance, finish the kick-plate, and still have to tile our backsplash. Other than that, we are SOOO close to being done.
Here are some before and after photos:
Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

So, there, that's been our HUGE undertaking for the past 3 1/2 months...

School's out:

The kids (and me) have been enjoying the summer. Owen graduated from Kindergarten and Lilly finished 1st grade.

Owen with Miss Williams--the best kindergarten teacher EVER! Lilly and Owen were both lucky enough to have her!

P.S. I completely embarassed myself and cried at Owen's graduation. We have worked so stinkin' hard at getting him to where he is today...regular kindergarten...and he DID IT!

Lilly with Mrs. Baker--she will be Owen's 1st grade teacher next year!

Cardinals T-ball:

Owen had a great 1st season of T-ball this year. He LOVE, LOVE, LOVED it! His smile was pricless every game and practice. Clarke helped with the coaching this year. They had a blast together!

I left out a bunch...but there's the short version of what we've been doing for the past 2 1/2 months!

Kitchen Demo

2011-04-09T19:47:00.001-07:00

Kitchen Demolition was a blast.

Tearing through sheetrock with a hammer was very theraputic! Even Lilly got to knock a couple holes in the walls. We put up plastic to encase the project so as to minimize the dust throughout the house.

We finished the texturing today and will finish painting tonight (if all goes to plan) so we can start installation this next week...more pics to come!

Kitchen Remodel

2011-04-02T20:35:00.000-07:00

We are still alive!

I realize it's been a little while since I've posted on this blog.

Here is the reason:

Yes, that is a bird's-eye view of our kitchen from the attic!

We are in the process of remodeling, and boy, is it a HUGE project!

Here are some before photos:

We are making pogress, slow and steady progress. This project is ALL DIY! We don't have the budget to hire anything out, so we work our tails off everyday and into the night. I'll post some progress photos another time!

Ung Drill

2011-02-28T19:21:00.000-08:00

I saw this at Ikea probably about a year ago.

It is Ung Drill (I'd like to know what that means in Swedish!?!?)

l
I bought it thinking I could come up with some creative something-or-other to do with it. Well, it sat under our bed for about a year.

Until yesterday...

I finally reached under that awful, never want to look, dusty, what the heck is lurking under there?, place and grabbed this Ikea beauty.

After a coat of spray primer, spray paint, and chalk board paint, here is the final result-

LOVE IT!

Unfortunately, I don't have any chalk laying around. Hubby was wondering why I decided to do chalk board paint in the middle. I told him I wanted to write him love notes. He laughed and said he'd have to see it to believe it! I might just have to steal a little piece of chalk from church on Sunday and surprise him with a love note!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T14:00:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

The kids woke up to heart-shapped waffles and heart-attacked doors.

After breakfast, it was off to school with their adorable Valentines designed by my cousin, Jill. She designs such awesome stuff!

Her web-site is: http://www.legacydigitaldesign.com/

Check it out! She is so talented!

Shout out to my hubby: HAPPY HEART DAY, LOVE!

Latest and Greatest

2011-02-07T19:43:00.000-08:00

Friday night, I decided that a month without a camera was long enough. Apparently, my decision came at a great time. The camera we decided to get was $100 off the price because Cannon has come out with a new model (with the exact specifications...just different numbers) and were clearencing the older models. AWESOME!

So, I get to upload pictures of my latest and greatest!

The first on my list is my new frame collection. I collected all the frames from garage sales and D.I. for a grand total of $14. I brought them home and spray painted them all the same color. I am going to have my cousin make profiles of each of us for the five frames. This project has instilled in me a love of spray paint (and my lawn has the color to show for it!)

Next on the list are my Valentine's Day decorations. Who knew that scrapbook paper and the Dollar Store could come together so cute!

Last, but certainly not least, my pride and joy-tall candlesticks! I cannot tell you how much I love these. Even Clarke mentioned that he liked them (now that alone is saying something!). Pottery Barn sells them for $49+ each. I couldn't do that! So, I found a blog (which I can't give credit, becuase I can't remember the name of it) that gave a tutorial on how to make them. Grand total=$30 FOR ALL THREE! Can you tell what they are made of-table or chair legs from Lowes!

I have also been working on the ledges above my TV, but those aren't done yet...pics soon to come. One thing I have learned about these projects-spraypaint is AWESOME!!!

Angels Among Us

2011-01-30T12:57:00.000-08:00

Lilly is part of Upstage, a sing and dance company. They had their Christmas show in December. Lilly, Aubrey (her cousin) and two other friends were asked to sing the quartet, "Angels Among Us." They did AWESOME! They were so adorable up there in their matching dresses singing their little hearts out.

Lilly has become quite the little singer and dancer. She is one of the best in her age group as she never misses a beat and dances each step to perfection. She loves to perform and especailly enjoys the extra time she gets to spend with her cousin, Aubrey.

Getting my CRAFT on

2011-01-26T19:59:00.000-08:00

I have been doing some simple crafting the past few days. You see, the boys have both been sick and we have been stuck in the house. What a great opportunity to get some projects done! My grass has spray-paint marks to prove it.

Unfortunately, we still don't have a camera. I know there has to be at least one person out there that wants to see what I've done (even if it's only my mom!).

So, to that one person (Mom), I promise to get pictures posted soon. I am actually quite thrilled with the end result of one project. Clarke even said he thought they looked cool...now THAT is saying something!

Until then, just know that the Caldwells are still camera-less!

Maybe I'll use Clarke's phone to take a few shots tomorrow!

Delay

2011-01-20T11:49:00.000-08:00

I realize it is now January 20th and I JUST changed the background for the blog from Christmas to everyday design.

Our camera took one too many drops on the ground this past month. We don't have hardly any pictures from Christmas or our little trip to Utah.

However, rest assured that we are happy, busy and enjoying "normal" life after the Holidays.

More to come in the near future...

Polar Express

2010-12-21T18:22:00.000-08:00

This year, we were bound and determined to get tickets to the California State Railroad Museum's Polar Express ride. Tickets are extremely hard to get...but we got 'em!

We dressed in our matching PJ's and headed out for the ride. None of us knew what to expect. As it turns out, it was SUPER DUPER AWESOME!

After boarding the train, we started on our way. We had tap-dancers dance their way through the cars followed by hot cocoa and chocolate chip cookies.

The announcer then read the book, THE POLAR EXPRESS to everyone. As he was reading, workers slowly made their way through the aisles with the book stopping at each kid so they could follow along for a page or two.

A short time later, we reached THE NORTH POLE!

We pulled our window down and stuck our head's out the window to wave to Santa Claus.

After turning around and heading back, we got a visitor in our car...SANTA CLAUS!

We were the first family he approached when he got to our car. He stepped in, looked at Lilly, and then announced: THE FIRST GIFT OF CHRISTMAS! and handed her her bell! It was AWESOME!

Then he proceeded to give a bell to each child. He was an awesome Santa. He stopped and took a picture with each child and never seemed to be in a hurry. He might have been the real thing?!?!?! Unfortunately, Lilly's little head got in the picture of Santa giving Wyatt his bell. We would have re-taken the picture, but Wyatt was a little unsure about Santa Claus!

The night was amazing! So much fun! After our ride, we wanted to take pictures in front of a real steam engine. As we lined up, we had a TV station approach us and ask us if we could be video-taped for their upcoming documentary about the Polar Express. Of course we said yes! We have yet to find out when we will be aired, but even if we don't see it, it was fun that they asked us to be a part of it!

We LOVE the POLAR EXPRESS!!

Family Pictures

2010-12-13T12:26:00.000-08:00

True statment: We have never paid for professional pictures to be taken of our family. The last time we paid someone to take pictures was our wedding day (and technically my parents paid!). I don't really see the need to pay someone when it takes an army just to get ONE shot of the kids actually looking in the right direction with smiles on their faces (that's just my opinion, others may see the benefit of multiple candid shots of their children looking in various directions...they can be cute if done right!)

My dad is a very good photographer. He doesn't have any formal training, just years of practice. Each year, we have him take our family pictures. This year we opted for a nearby park with a stream running through. We got home from church, changed our clothes and off we went. We only had about 30 minutes of sunlight remaining, so we went FAST! We did our family, the kids, my brother and his wife, my parents and then all of us together.

Pretty good if you ask me! They turned out good enough for the Christmas card too!! (which I finally put in the mail today...HORRAY!)

Halloween

2010-12-11T20:35:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are 2 weeks from Christmas and I am posting pictures from Halloween.

This year's Halloween was pretty low-key becasue it fell on a Sunday. We celebrated with a ward trunk-or-treat party on Friday and another party with friends on Saturday. We got pleanty of candy without trick-or-treating and the kids had a lot of fun!

Lilly was a cow-girl. We re-used her Sing & Dance costume from her summer show. I bought her a pair of cow-girl boots for the outfit...and other outfits too!

Owen was a firefighter...again. We got his costume at a garage sale this summer.

Wyatt was a lion. He re-used Owen's costume from a few years ago. He kept the hood on the entire time he was wearing the costume and walked around "roar-ing". It was very cute!
So, there you have it, our Halloween in a nut-shell!

Nibbles

2010-11-13T07:58:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, we were privilaged to have Nibbles, Lilly's class guinea pig, home for the weekend with us. I cannot tell you how excited I was to have a rodent in the house for 72 hours. It was awesome! (can you sense my sarcasm?!)

We got to bring Nibbles home on Friday afternoon. The teacher sends the guinea pig home on the weekends with families in her class so Nibbles isn't by itself during the weekend. I truly believe she has another motive in that she doesn't have to be the one to clean it's cage-that becomes the responsibility of the family bringing the pet home.

After cleaning the cage out while the kids played with it (and using countless Clorox wipes and other disinfectant products), we gave Nibbles a bath. Holy cow, that animal poops like mad when in the bath.

Wyatt loved Nibbles. I am surprised that the guinea pig survived our house. Three crazy kids running around trying to catch it, probably almost gave it a heart attack. Considering how many times it pooped, I think we were literally scaring the poop out of it!

All in all, the kids had fun with Nibbles and it survived it's weekend here at the Caldwell house!

100 Things

2010-10-17T20:41:00.001-07:00

In celebration of our 100th blog post, I give you 100 random facts about the Caldwell Family.
Warning: this could be a long post!
The house:
1. We are big-time DIY'ers
2. We now have kids on our street that our kids love to play with (especailly Lilly). They are normal, good people too, which makes it all the more exciting
3. I want to re-do the backyard, however Clarke will procrastinate that project as long as he possibly can
4. Clarke's honey-do list never gets any shorter. I just add to it!
5. We'd are going to gut our kitchen early next year and I can't wait!
6. Most of the furniture in our house is hand-me-down furniture
7. Our computer room is an ode to firefighting. It's pretty cool if I do say so myself!
8. Lilly's room is always the cutest (and cleanest) one in the house
9. We have closet organizers in everyone's closet. I couldn't imagine life without them
10. My shirts are hung in rainbow order. Am I weird or do other people do that?!
Lilly:
1. She is the best big sister anyone could ask for!
2. She isn't competitive at all, totally opposite me!
3. She loves collecting "things". Right now she has three random rocks on her desk
4. She still sleeps with her teddy bear. He doesn't have name, just teddy bear
5. Threatening to take teddy bear away because of her age produces immediate tears (she'll be an adult with that stuffed animal)
6. She LOVES school
7. She is very social and makes friends ANYWHERE she is
8. She still lets me pick out her clothes (HORRAY!)
9. She is a nurturer. She always helps others
10. She is quite the little singer and dancer
Owen:
1. He is an incredible reader
2. He loves playing computer games
3. He likes to push Wyatt when Wyatt has something he wants (we're working on that!)
4. He just recently started sleeping with a blue jay (for the Toronto Blue Jays) and a Flames teddy bear (for the Calgary Flames). Both little stuffed animals
5. He enjoys drawing slides and airplanes. If we had a penny for every slide and airplane he's drawn, we'd be millionaires, seriously!
6. He holds his pencil in the weirdest way
7. He loves jumping (on the bed and couch which constitutes a time-out)
8. He is very sensitive to sound. He will not go potty at school because of those dang automatic toilet flushers that he can't control
9. He loves singing
10. He is so special. Just looking at him is proof enough for me that there is a Heavenly Father who loves ALL his children! We are honored to be his parents
Wyatt:
1. His personality matches his hair color
2. He will grab a picture of my dad and walk around the house saying "Bepa, Bepa, Bepa, Bepa, etc."
3. He loves men
4. He still loves his ba-ba's (don't judge, he is still just 2. It would be weird if he were 4)
5. He still doesn't really sleep through the night. Our kids all have to be taught to sleep and we are just too lazy and tired to have the scream-it-out session with him. One day...
6. He loves jumping too (which gives him pleanty of time-out's)
7. He still takes pretty good naps which is awesome for our kids
8. His feet are stinkin' fat. I have to buy expensive shoes for him just so they fit
9. He LOVES his teddy bear, just like big sister
10. His new word is "nie-ik" for milk while signing milk with his hand
Clarke:
1. He is currently working a 96, which means he's gone for 4 days straight!
2. He is a perfectionist. I think my Dad's perfectionism is running off on him
3. He is very good at learning new skills. You should see all the stuff he's done around the house
4. He loves his new calling (membership clerk). He likes the investigation part of it
5. He is the best dad EVER! No one can measure up to him. The kids LOVE him!
6. He is the best hubba ever too. He is constantly aware of my needs and meeting them, and more
7. He never gets angry, which angers me! =)
8. He has a great relationship with my parents, which means a lot to me
9. He the golden child, on my side and his. What the heck?!
10. He does most of the laundry. I know, I am lucky!
Me:
1. I have to make the beds and do the dishes in the morning to start the day off right
2. I just found this new stuff called dry shampoo which allows me to not have to wash my hair every day. FREEDOM!
3. I love DIY projects
4. I love to work out in the garage with Clarke.
5. I love using power tools. They are super fun!
6. I am a big-time crafter
7. I enjoy sewing
8. I am the room mom for both Lilly's class and Owen's class. What's wrong with me?
9. I am a football junkie. I will watch football anytime, anywhere
10. DIY network is my favorite channel
Clarke's job:
1. He works in Tracy, CA. That's 100 miles away from home
2. The job of a firefighter allows that commute to be manageable. He only drives there and back once a week
3. He is #1 on the promotion list for engineer
4. Tracy is having it's firefighters take furlough days. Doesn't that just sound wrong to you?
5. He just finished with the annual pancake breakfast. We didnt' make it down there this year
6. He's the "floater" this year which means he is stationed where ever they need him on any given day
7. He doesn't like being the floater, he'd like to have a permanant "house"
8. He has learned to become quite a good BBQ'er
9. His schedule is 2 days on and then 4 days off
10. He calls me every night around 9:30 to see how the day was
Our family:
1. We are HUGE BYU fans.
2. We love Big Spoon frozen yogurt
3. We are S.L.O.W.L.Y making our way through the Book of Mormon
4. Our favorite meal is french toast for dinner
5. Our kids go to bed early
6. Therefore, our kids wake up VERY early
7. We love swimming
8. We decorate for every holiday and the kids have pillow cases for every holiday
9. He have never had our family photos professionally done. My dad takes them
10. We sing at least 4 Primary songs every night before bed
Random:
1. The AC in the van in broken which makes this really long summer nasty hot!
2. The sliding door on our van is acting up too
3. I really hate having to fix car problems
4. The shelves hanging in our family room are 1/2 inch off, but no one would know!
5. We have a guinea pig on our kitchen counter right now. She's getting returned to the 1st grade class tomorrow!
6. Our room is the dumping ground for piles in our house. Why is that?
7. We have carpet in our master bath. That should be out-lawed!
8. There is a pigeon that makes it's nest on our overhang in our backyard. Clarke, another reason to tear that thing down!!
9. I like watching Border Wars and Ice Road Truckers...I know totally random!
10. Lilly turns 8 on 11-11-11. Pretty cool, huh?! Maybe her baptism can be on that day?!
Our future:
1. Clarke and I are going to New York next year for our 10 year annivesary
2. We hope to get Owen potty trained...soon. We're getting there
3. We hope to get Wyatt potty trained soon too. We are SICK of diapers!
4. We're going to be getting Clarke a "new" car very shortly. The Saturn has been great to us, but she's on her last legs!
5. I'd like to get our Christmas photo taken in the next few weeks
6. A kitchen re-do is high our our "wish" list
7. We are going to Disneyland (thanks Grandma!) right after Thanksgiving
8. I'd like to get our chirstmas tree at Mt. Charlies in Santa Cruz this year
9. We'd like to go to Hawaii someday!
10. It would be nice to inherit a million dollars!

To all those who actually read all 100 totally random things about the Caldwell Family:
Holy Cow, you are crazy!
The end!

Framed

2010-10-05T21:30:00.000-07:00

My mom picked up this print for me for free at Education Week at BYU this year. It is an odd size so having it customed framed would cost a fortune!

Enter Knock-off Wood.

I found this tutorial from Knock-off Wood on how to make your own frames.
http://ana-white.com/2009/12/plans-barnwood-frames-1-and-10-minutes.html
I LOVE IT!

I made this one while Wyatt was napping one day and the other two were at school.

I got the glass cut to fit the frame. This project cost me under $20.

I think that's pretty good considering my grandma had the same print custom framed and it cost her $100!

I've already made two. They cost no less that $5 to make and they are fairly easy (the other one I made was free because I accidentally picked up a 1x2 at Home Depot that had no bar code, so they gave it to me for free!).

I might be turning into a woodshop junkie!

Woodshop

2010-10-01T15:24:00.000-07:00

Clarke and I found this amazing web-site called Knock-off Wood (http://ana-white.com/) which takes Pottery Barn (and other stores) furniture, breaks it down and gives you step-by-step directions on how to build it.

Considering we are not millionaires, we can't afford Pottery Barn, but we sure as heck can copy them!

We bought a new TV (finally!) and needed an entertainment piece to fit it. So we built our own.

We started with this:

Building the frame:

Without the doors or shelves:

With doors and shelves:

Stained top:

Starting the paint:

All finished:

In it's new home in our Family Room with the new TV!:

We are SOOOOOOO happy with the way it turned out. We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the color. And the best part, we spent about $150 on the entire thing!

Thanks Knock-off Wood!

BYU football

2010-09-30T12:49:00.001-07:00

It is highly possible that this post is just to help me feel better and deal with the fact that BYU isn't doing too hot this year (to put it mildly!).

BUT...

For the first game against Washington, we went all out! BYU flag flying, BYU earrings, shirts, blue and white jelly-bellys, seven layer dip made to look like the BYU football field, bows,

blue and white paper plates and napkins, THE WORKS!

Can you tell we are BYU fans?!

We're a crazy bunch!

Now that we have dropped to 3-1, the flame is teeny-weeny, but it is still there! Hopefully we can turn this season around!

Wyatt's 2nd Birthday

2010-09-30T12:30:00.001-07:00

On August 10th, Wyatt's actual birthday, we were driving home from Canada. We weren't really in a celebratory mood. Can you blame us?
A week later, we got the "Three Amigos" together to celebrate their birthdays. These cute boys were all born within ten days of each other. We're excited to see them grow up together.

We could NOT get the boys to sit together for a picture. So, we had the daddies help!

Wyatt wasn't too keen on the cupcake, while the other two dug right in!

We love Wyatt because:

He'll actually cuddles with us. Granted it is only for a few seconds, but it is a few seconds longer than Lilly and Owen would ever cuddle for.

He LOVES men! He has become completely attached to Daddy, Bepa and Brother Garrett. He'll chose them over me any day!

He has the personality to match the hair! He is one spit-fire, but we love it!

He actually naps longer than an hour. Now that's an accomplishment for one of our children.

Following in his big sister's footsteps, he LOVES his teddy bear.

He loves shoes. If he's in a bad mood, tell him to go get his shoes and he'll perk right up!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WYATT!

First Day of School

2010-08-30T12:02:00.000-07:00

I am a little late posting the First Day of School, but starting school is a crazy time of year (mostly for parents).

Lilly started 1st grade at Rocklin Academy. She has Mrs. B, the other kinder teacher from last year. Mrs. B is lucky she doesn't have to learn anyone's name this year. She already knew them all. Lilly is excited to have two really fun friends in her class. She is already learning about the globe, equator and sentence structure. Their class has a camping theme this year. Her table named themselves "The Woods."

Owen started kindergarten at Rocklin Academy. He has Miss W (Lilly's teacher from last year). It is great to already know her, how she teaches and what to expect from her. We're pros already! I am very grateful to her for being willing to teach Owen this year. She says he is doing great and can't believe how well he reads already!

As for Clarke and I, the trasition to having two in school has been super, yet wierd. We take Owen to school at 11:40, put Wyatt down for a nap, and there is actual silence in the house for a good hour to two hours. (I am blogging right now in complete silence) As odd as it is for us, we have been enjoying it and getting many things done.

The kids are having a great year so far!

Oh Canada

2010-08-19T20:50:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of August, we made the extremely long journey to Calgary, Alberta, Canada to celebrate Clarke's grandmother's 80th birthday. Grandma James is an amazing woman. There are not many people I would make this journey for, but she is one of them. When we pulled up in front of her house, our odometer read 1,600 miles (and that was just one way!).

The first full day we were there we went to the Calgary Zoo.

The next day we drove to Banff National Park. While there we stopped off at Lake Louise. This place is absolutely amazing. The views are almost unreal. The pictures do NOT do this place justice. No picture could. I kept telling Clarke it looked too good to be true. We walked the along one whole side of the lake and back (it isn't very large, just breath-taking!)

After Lake Louise, we drove to the town of Banff and hiked over to some waterfalls. Again, stunning!
Now here is where an explanation of the pictures is in order. Clarke and I are the BYU fans in the family. The rest of them are University of Utah fans (awful, I know). We think that every time we are together, they purposefully wear Utah junk, as demonstrated in the picture below. Well, Banff and Lake Louise are just too beautiful to be tarnished by these ugly red shirts.

SO......

We did a little doctoring.

(we are definitely amateurs with much room for improvement, but anything beats a beautiful picture with this awful "U" staring at you in the face)

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Much better! Now that is something I would put in my scrapbook
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Now look at that view! Absolutely perfect!

We were there for another two fun-filled days spent celebrating Grandma's birthday and touring Calgary (maybe for another post). We had an amazing time. Getting there and getting home, not so amazing. But, we survived and we are so happy we went.

As we pulled into our driveway at home, the odometer read 3,478 miles. Now that's a road trip!

(we have started a little war with the in-laws, but I won't post the photo-shopped pictures they came up with) We love you, even though you are U of U fans!

Summer-time

2010-07-26T20:16:00.001-07:00

Oh what do you do in the summer-time?

Here is what we do:

We go camping (and again this weekend)
We swim at Folsom Lake

We go to Great America

We run in the sprinklers

We celebrate Owen's 5th Birthday

We have a Tea Party with 12 little girls
We go boating

We swim at Mema and Bepa's A LOT!

We also get ready for our trip to Canada in one week! AHHHHH!

Those are just some of the things we do in the summer-time

We don't blog much!

Graduation-s

2010-06-05T18:56:00.000-07:00

Graduation at our house was yesterday, June 4th. Lilly graduated from kindergarten at Rocklin Academy and Owen graduated from preschool at Rocklin City Preshool. Of course both graduations were planned on the same day, at the same time. Lucky us!

We decided to split up, boys vs. girls.

Clarke, my dad, and Wyatt headed out to Owen's graduation.

(the handsome graduate)

(hugs from teachers)
(three of the BEST teachers we could have asked for)

Myself and my mom attended Lilly's graduation.

(beautiful little graduate)
(Miss Williams and Lilly)

(Mommy and Lilly)

FYI: Clarke took the camera and I took the video camera to capture the day. Thus, Lilly's graduation pictures are not the best quality (yet pretty good for a little video camera)

Can't believe I am going to have a first-grader AND a kindergartener next year! AHHHHHH!

Could it be true?

2010-05-21T20:45:00.000-07:00

Have we really finished Lilly's room?

Months later, the transformation has finally come to an end. I am happy with the way it turned out.
Oh wait...looking at these pictures makes me realize that I would like to re-do the bedding in her baby's basinet with some of the fabrics I used in her room. Tie it all it together, you know?!?! That's a project for July, that is of course if we can survive June.

2 Front Teeth

2010-05-21T20:34:00.000-07:00

Lilly is no longer the proud owner of two front teeth.

She lost each top, front teeth within days of each other. She is so stinkin' cute when she smiles and there is a gapping hole in her mouth. I love it! She also has picked up a little lisp because of those missing teeth.

Being as she is such a cautious child, we were lucky to get her to even let us yank them. The first one (where you can see her big tooth already coming in) was so loose, but she wouldn't let us pull it. We finally "tricked" her and told her we were just going to "see how wiggly" it was and "accidentally" pulled it out! OOPS! The other was a bit easier as she tripped while at the store and hit her chin on the shopping cart. The tooth was hanging on my a thread and bleeding, so we headed to the restroom. I barely touched the tooth and it was out! The tooth fairy faithfully visited each time and brought her a dollar per tooth!

I forgot to include this picture in the last post about the kids taking pictures. Lilly took this one of Owen and said, "Mom, he's flapping. Tell him to stop flapping." Sorry Lilly, I wish it was that easy. Owen flaps and flaps a lot!

While Mommy is away...

2010-05-21T20:27:00.000-07:00

...THE KIDS WILL PLAY

For the past few weeks, I have been steadily plugging along trying to finish random projects around the house.

While busily working around the house, the camera is a great toy to keep the kids entertained. Here are some of their snap shots:

Lilly's Testimony

2010-04-15T19:40:00.000-07:00

This year during General Conference, the kids filled out fun booklets filled with pictures, places to color, and a place to write their testimony.

This is Lilly's testimony.

We had no input whatsoever. She did this all on her own. She didn't ask for help with words nor ask for help with what to say.

It reminds me of the scripture found in Matthew 18:4:

"Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child,

the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven"

Help Wanted

2010-04-14T19:33:00.001-07:00

I need help!

The canvases I ordered for Lilly's room arrived today. I love, love, love the way they look abover her desk.

BUT

I would like to get some vinyl lettering for above the pictures.

This is the part I need help with. I don't know the saying should be. I would like to get something that has to do with the "I am a child of God" theme, but not necessarily that phrase. I don't want it to be overly-religious, but still make reference to who she really is-a child of God.

HELP!

Some ideas I had were:

Daughter of a Heavenly King
Daughter of a King
??????

Well, I guess that's it. Please chime in...

Top 10

2010-04-14T13:30:00.000-07:00

I found this in the "Mormon Times, " which comes along with the "Church News." I thought it was quite humorous and thought I'd share.
General David H. Petraeus spoke at BYU on March 25.
He gave the:
Top 10 reasons Y grads make great soilders:
10. They have alredy been on many a mission
9. Army chow is no porblem for folks accustomed to eating green Jell-O and shredded carrots
8. It's not a problem if they don't know what rank someone is, they just refer to them as Brother or Sister so-and-so
7. They never go AWOL. They just call it being less active
6. They will seize any objective swiftly if you tell them refreshments will be served
5. They know how to make things happen. In fact, if you ever need a base built quickly in a barren wasteland, stride out to where you want them to start, plant your walking stick down and say in a loud voice, "This is the place"
4. They have innovative ideas for handling insurgents--like assigning them home teachers
3. They always have a year's supply of provisions on hand
2. They are the world's most rliable designated drivers
1. They understand how far Iraq has come over the last seven years, and they think that Iraq's old spot in the "Axis of Evil" can now be filled by the University of Utah

Craigslist

2010-04-07T18:45:00.000-07:00

Our kitchen table was falling apart. The top had 2 cracks in it that seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. The chairs were literally falling apart. One day, Owen's therapist, sat down in one of the chairs and it literally broke right out from under her. She was quite humiliated, even though we tried to reasure her that it was going to happen to the next person that sat in it, regardless of who it was. She was still very embarassed. We only had four chairs left after that incident. There are five of us in the family. Each night at dinner (when Clarke is home) we'd have to wheel in the office chair. Clarke would have to sit on that chair throughout dinner.

We NEEDED a new table and chairs.

Enter Craigslist.

My sister-in-law found a table and chairs on craigslist that she thought would suit that family.

I looked at the photo, called the people, drove to Rancho Cordova in my Dad's truck with all three kids in the back, bought said table and chairs, loaded them in to the truck (thanks guy that sold them to me), drove home, and unloaded table and chairs. All without Clarke.

Let it be known that the table is Pottery Barn (still with $499.00 price tag on it) and the six chairs are a nice match, although not Pottery Barn (still with $169 each price tags on them). All this for.....

$200

Pretty good if you ask me. I am quite proud of my new purchase (Thanks, sister-in-law!). And they look pretty good too! Although I might paint the chair white. We'll see.

St. Patrick's Day

2010-04-03T12:07:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know, I am behind.

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day with our traditional Shepard's Pie for dinner with green jello, green milk and green rice krispie treats. We also had our once-a-year bowl of Lucky Charms for breakfast.

While we were on our cruise, Lilly had a family homework assignment of creating a Leprechaun Trap. Bepa and Lilly worked on it for a long time. It was the best trap! Leave it to Bepa to create school projects that are out-of-this-world.

St. Patrick's Day is the ONLY day I can get Clarke to wear a particular shirt I bought for him. It is celery green, but we refuses to wear it making the excuse that it is too "metro." It drives me crazy! At least he'll wear it one day out of the year!

Cruise Part 2

2010-04-03T11:37:00.000-07:00

It's been long enough, right!?

I actually have found a moment to sit down and record our second day of our week-long cruise. Wyatt is sleeping and Lilly and Owen are currently not fighting (although that could change in 2 seconds...we'll see)

On the second day, our port of call was Costa Maya, Mexico. We were actually quite disappointed by this port. It is probably a new "cruise" port therefore the city is only inhabitated by locals who commute in on days that cruise ships dock. When the cruise ships are gone, the city is vacant. When we got off the ship we hired a company to take us out snorkeling. We had our own private tour guide, Gaby, who took us out on his boat (which probably would not pass any safety rules in America). Once out at sea, we all jumped in with Gaby and we swam around and saw some pretty cool fish. Clarke was the only one who had never been snorkeling before, so he enjoyed it. The rest of us however have snorkeled in seas that were FILLED with colorful fish, turtles, coral, etc. Needless to say, we weren't that impressed, but we all still enjoyed it. After snorkeling, we headed back to the cruise port for some shopping and then back to the boat.

Here we are with the starfish that Gaby found on the bottom of the ocean. It was probably the coolest thing we saw on our little excursion.

Cruise Part 1

2010-03-20T19:21:00.001-07:00

I don't have nearly enough time to blog about our entire vacation, so I will start with Part 1:

We boarded the "Liberty of the Seas" on Sunday, March 7th. Monday was a day at sea. Our boat had so many fun things to do. There was a rock climbing wall (approx. feet), ice skating rink, Flow Rider (boogie-boarding and surfing), basketball, miniture golf, pools, and hot tubs.

Here are some pictures of our first day.

I did NOT mean for them to be this huge. Oops!

Cruise in T-7 days

2010-02-27T21:37:00.000-08:00

In a little over a week, Clarke and I will be going on a week-long cruise to the Western Caribbean. We are scheduled to leave on Saturday (can it really be that soon?!...so much to do still) from Miami, Florida.

All the excitement is starting to turn in anxiety for me. We are leaving our kids for

NINE days!

To prepare for our adventure, Clarke needed some new clothes.

After asking him to try on the clothes I bought for him for his birthday, he graced our presnece sporting this...

We are in for a fun vacation!

Thanks Mom and Dad (and all others who will be helping out) for watching the kids while we are gone!

French Doors

2010-02-27T21:31:00.001-08:00

For Christmas this year, Clarke surprised me with new french doors for the office.

I have wanted them for soooooo long!

After 1 1/2 months of waiting to be primed and painted, we finally called in Ruben to help save the day. We did not trust Clarke to paint them (not that he is a bad painter, but we really wanted them to be professionally done)

Don't they look fabulous!

Don't covet my doors. Although, I would if I were you!

P.S. Yes, they are missing door knobs in the picture. We have since installed them and look super! Maybe I'll post more up-to-date ones another time.

Destruction

2010-02-16T21:02:00.000-08:00

Wyatt has many nicknames. Some of them include:

Brute

Beast

Dude

Kamikazee

Stinker

and now...

DESTRUCTION!

Wyatt destroys anything in his path.

Picture #1

I LOVE Grape Nut Flakes cereal. I can only find it at Bel-Air which means it costs about $5 per box. I decided last time I was there to purchase two boxes so I have ample Grape Nut Flakes at my disposal. Well, that was until Wyatt got into the cupboard that we keep our cereals. He dumped the ENTIRE box of cereal on the floor, not once, but TWICE! Look at his face, total contentment. He wanted it and he got it! Good thing I bought two boxes!

Picture #2

Considering Owen is still learning the art of going potty in the toilet, we haven't engrained in him the need to close the lid and door after he is finished. The rest of us, however, are efficient in making sure the toilet lid and door are both closed after we are done. If we are not aware of Owen going potty, the door and lid get left open, and this happens. It has happened at least three times this week already, and it is only Tuesday! Good thing we get bulk TP from Costco!

PS I won't mention that his hands are wet from sticking them into the toilet and swishing the water around...YUCK!

Lilly's room continued-Part 2

2010-02-16T20:47:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I just uploaded some pictures of Lilly's room as it is now. There is still a lot of work to be done. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of some pink polka dot fabric I ordered on Etsy yesterday so I can finish her bulletin board. There are a few little touch-ups that need to be made as well, such as the dot of the "i" in Lilly's name above her closet.

I am really happy with how it turned out.

Now if I could just harness the creativity and continue it to the master bedroom.

Lilly's room continued...

2010-02-14T11:59:00.000-08:00

As promised, here are some updated photos of Lilly's room make-over.

We are ALMOST done!

Clarke's part is finished, it is just up to me to finish decroating.

Wait...I take that back, he still has to run electrical to her ceiling and install her new chandellier

We installed beadboard around the room, installed new closet doors, put in new moulding above the closets, sewed a new curtain, and FINALLY finished the pillow I made Lilly.

When I graduated from high school, my grandmother (Ireta) gave me a quilt she had made for me from scraps of material she had used over the years. Some of the material was even left over from dresses she made me. Others are very recognizable fabrics that grandma used all the time. After she passed away, I brought my quilt over to grandpa's house and went through literally dozens of bins full of fabric. I found some left-over fabric she had used on my quilt. Finally, after all these years, I took the fabric, along with new fabric I was using in her room, and created this yo-yo pillow. I LOVE how it turned out. I also love how it matches the quilt from Grammie Ireta and how when Lilly sees both, she'll be reminded of who she is named after.

Temple Square

2010-01-21T20:38:00.000-08:00

While we were in Utah, we were able to go to Temple Square to see the beautiful lights. It was a frigid night, but we bundled up and headed out.

The cousins loved walking around together looking at all the lights. We watched the Nativity reinactment together. They loved when the star appeared and watched for that star the whole night.

Despite the cold, we loved being together and sharing that time together.

Lilly's room

2010-01-21T20:23:00.000-08:00

The week before Christmas, we were pretty sure that Santa Claus was going to be bringing Lilly a new desk for Christmas. Don't ask how we knew, we just KNEW!

Well, to fit a new desk in her room, we needed to do some serious reorganizing (which I happen to LOVE to do!). We decided to get Ikea closet organizers, the same ones that we installed in the boys' room. With her closet space utilized much more efficiently, we were able to get rid of her dresser and free up an entire wall for her special present.

BUT...

Before we could install the closet organizers, we had to paint inside. We didn't want to paint inside unless we painted the entire room.

THEN...

We wanted to do beadboard in her room. This meant re-doing all the moulding in her room and adding a little extra.

Needless to say, that Christmas present has turned into a huge project.

Thanks Santa!

P.S. We are getting closer to being done. I am working on the decorating as Clarke finishes the mouldings, caulk, and painting.

Christmas all in one LONG post

2010-01-03T19:29:00.000-08:00

Christmas has come and gone (decorations started coming down at our house on December 27th), but I did want to "journal" our Holiday season this year.

Here's the run-down:

Gingerbread house: Lilly got a kit this year and really enjoyed putting it together. She didn't eat hardly anything off of it all season long, we just used it as a really cute centerpiece on the table!

Snow: Rocklin got snow. This does NOT happen very often (and we are extremely okay with this fact!). The kids really liked waking up to a blanket (1/2 - 1 inch) of snow and playing in it all day long!

Decorating for Christmas: This happened the day after Thanksgiving (I refuse to do it any sooner, but can't wait for Thanksgiving to be over to decorate for Christmas!). We had fun getting everything put up and amazed at how well all three kids did with having a Christmas tree and decorated dining room table. No one ever touched it!

Visit to Utah: I will blog more about this later this week, but wanted to mention our trip. We flew out to Utah December 18-22 to celebrate the Holidays with Clarke's family. The entire family was together for the first time in a long while, so we couldn't miss out! One of our excursions was Temple Square to see the lights and Nativity. So cool!

Lilly lost her first tooth: Lilly's tooth had been loose for some time, but she was quite freaked out by the "pulling it out" scenario. We finally held her down and just yanked it out, on Christmas Eve. She had two visitors that night: Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy!

The highlights of Christmas morning: This year Santa Claus was very good to our family. He brought Lilly a desk for her room (which meant we had to re-do her entire room...to be blogged at a later date). Owen got a 2-wheel bike, and Wyatt got a car to ride in.
Our Christmas was simple and sweet, with not too many presents, just the way we like it. We want to teach our children Christmas isn't about Santa and "getting" gifts, but about the Savior and His birth. We are so grateful for the Savior and His birth we celebrate at Christmas-time!

We wish you all a Happy New Year!

My best friend

2009-12-09T20:42:00.000-08:00

Is it any wonder that my best friend is the Swiffer Wet mop?

This is no exception! My floors look like this after EVERY meal.

Wyatt is the true culprit, although Owen does add to the mess 99% of the time.

Every meal, I want my children to sit on their bottoms all the way, facing their plates. I want them to use their utensils appropriately and chew with their mouths closed in hopes that these rules will eliminate some of the mess on the floor after each meal. I don't think that is too much to ask, do you? Yet, each meal, I find myself repeating the words: "Turn around," "Sit on your bottom," "Use your fork," etc, etc, etc. In their defense, Lilly does do a pretty good job, unless there is something going on around her that she is gawking at (she gawks a lot!) and Owen still has motor deficits with holding a fork/spoon and using them appropriately.

Wyatt is at that lovely stage of throwing EVERYTHING on the floor. He picks it up looks at it, and then chucks it. He does it so conniving too! He knows it drives me crazy, looks at me and smiles as he does it again and again. I love this age!

In an attempt to make lemonade out of lemons:

At least after meal-time, my kitchen floors are super clean!

Family Pictures

2009-11-29T19:35:00.000-08:00

On Thanksgiving day, we decided to attempt some family pictures. My dad took the pictures on my parents' street and neighbor's house. I am actually quite impressed with how well they turned out. Besides me in the picture (I think everyone can always find a flaw with a picture of themselves), everyone looks really cute and the background colors are fantastic! For a family who has an incredibly hard time sitting still, looking and smiling at the camera, HORRAY for us.

Fall

2009-11-25T11:19:00.001-08:00

We have a large tree in our front yard that we love. It gives our home so much shade during the heat of the summer months. It is beautiful, although I don't have any idea what type of tree it is.

The down-side of having our tree is the fall season. The leaves fall off the tree so quickly and clog the gutters and bury our planters. At certain times, we will rake in the morning and by that same afternoon, the whole lawn is covered in leaves...again!

At least we can have some fun too!

Ice Skating

2009-11-25T11:03:00.000-08:00

Okay, I am finally getting around to posting what we did for Lilly's 6th Birthday.

Since the kids had the day off from school (Lilly will never have to go to school on her birthday, pretty sweet!), we took the kids to the local ice rink.

We had a blast! The ice rink had buckets that the kids could use to help support themselves and keep from falling, what a clever idea!

Aubrey came too (when we told Lilly we were only having a family party this year, she happily announced that Aubrey could come too! She was right, Aubrey is part of our family).

The kids did fantatic!

We hit up Leatherby's on the way home. The ice cream quickly disappeared!

Lilly's 6th Birthday

2009-11-12T21:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was Lilly's 6th birthday

(where does time go?!)

We celebrated her special day as a family. We told her ahead of time that this year we were not going to have a "friend" birthday party (we'll only do those at special milestone years, namely 5, 8, 12, 16, etc.).

She got to wear a SPECIAL birthday outfit from Mema and Bepa covered in cupcakes! She LOVED it! Mema also made her a special cupcake necklace at the family reunion this year that matched perfectly!

We cannot believe how fast our little girl is growing up!

She was given some wonderful gifts, including a high chair for her Hayley doll, clothes for Hayley, some Gymboree clothes, a special day with Uncle Dustin and Auntie Landon, a tea set, an adorable weiner dog shirt, and a special pillow Mommy made for her bed from fabric that was Grammie Ireta's (Lilly's name-sake).

With her birthday so close to Christmas, we are very cautious about the amount of gifts she receives for her birthday. We definately do not want our children growing up with the expectation of huge amounts of gifts for their birthday and Christmas. That's not what Christmas and birthdays are about. We are very fortunate to have families that respect our decision and give gifts that are meaningful and thoughtful rather than a lot of trinkets and toys.

Thank you to everyone who called, sent gifts, came to celebrate, etc. to make Lilly's birthday such a fun occasion!

P.S. I'll post more about what we did after presents later...ice skating!

Headstands

2009-11-12T13:39:00.001-08:00

The other night, Lilly asked me if I could do a headstand. "Of course," I said. She quickly responded, "Show me!"

I quickly thought "Uh-oh! Can I really do a headstand anymore? It has been probably more than 20 years since I took gymnastics. Of course I can, it's just like riding a bike! It may not be pretty, but here goes..."

Here is what happened next:

What fun!

Halloween Pictures

2009-11-01T18:46:00.000-08:00

Halloween has come and gone.

We had a fantastic day yesterday (even the weather was fantastic). We started off the day with a trip to Fenton's in Vacaville where we met some friends. We stuffed ourselves with yummy onion rings and famous Fenton's sundaes.

We then headed off to Mema and Bepa's ward Halloween party, complete with trunk-or-treat. Then off to trick-or-treating around our street. We went around our circle once, hitting only about 1/4 of the hosues (we don't need the candy, but wanted them to experience trick-or-treating).

Here are the kids in their costumes. Getting a picture with all three of them smiling and looking at the camera is no small feat. I challenge anyone out there to give it a try! Between Owen's actually inablity to look at the camera and Wyatt being the wiggliest kid on the planet, I think we did pretty good.

Lilly was Ariel from Disney's The Little Mermaid (she got this dress-up last year from Santa Claus).

Owen was a firefighter (we had this costume on-hand from therapy) and Wyatt was a frog (I got his costume at a second-hand store for $6).

Pretty good for $6, huh!?!

We hope you all had a fun Halloween!

BYU vs. SDSU

2009-10-22T19:40:00.000-07:00

We happened to time our Disneyland trip just right with a BYU away game in San Diego.

For those of you who don't know, the Wheeler family is quite possibly full of the biggest BYU fans on the planet. My cousin actually mowed a "Y" into his lawn and spray-painted it blue and white. Needless to say, whenever possible, we will hit up a BYU game.

SDSU plays in the San Diego Chargers stadium. Looking around the stadium, BYU fans took up about half of everyone there! It was quite the sea of "blue."

We have indoctrinated our children that BYU is the best. In fact, they already know that there is a huge rivalry that exists between BYU and the University of Utah. And no matter how many times Clarke's family tries to tell her that Utah is good too, she sticks out her tongue and says "BOO!" That's our girl!

We really enjoyed watching our team and are happy we were able to go to a game this year!

GO COUGARS!

The Happiest Place on Earth!

2009-10-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

Last week, Clarke and I took the kids on our first ever "us only" vacation. Since we usually vacation with either my family or Clarke's family, we decided to do an experiment and go somewhere, just the 5 of us.

It was a huge SUCCESS!

We decided to take the kids to Disneyland. It had been a few years since we had last gone and felt they were at great ages to go. The look on their faces was PRICELESS! To actually meet Mickey Mouse himself was beyond their wildest dreams!

We spent five full days together, no computer, no phone calls, no callings, no therapy, no school, no interruptions. It was fantastic! To see my children so full of wonder and excitment was worth every dollar we spent (and we spent a lot...thanks overtime!)

I don't care how many times I have been to Disneyland, there is just something about that place that makes me so happy.

P.S. Disneyland offers children with Autism a special needs pass that gets the child and their family to the front of every line! That does add to the magic, don't ya think!?!

Joys of Raising Children with Autism

2009-10-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

In light of the government's recent announcement that 1 in 100 children will be diagnosed with autism (up from 1 in 150), here is something I was given:

A few Joys of Raising Children with Autism:
1. We get to enjoy our favorite move line quotes again and again and again.
2. Peer pressure- what's that?
3. If the defintion of humor is absure and unexpected responses-we have A LOT of good jokes!
4. I actually prefer all my measuring cups lined up end to end across the kitchen floor
5. There's untold job in finally toilet-training that 8-year old
6. Fresh perspectives on parenting, relationships, the gospel, and the history of steam engines.
7. Buzz Lightyear is actually a member of our family.
8. I have met more angels since my child with autism was born than most people meet in a lifetime.
9. I may have been compelled to learn it, but what better attributes than patience and compassion.
10. I know more about parenting than all the other parents I know combined; because they all give me their advice.
11. Living with a developmental delay is like watching child development with time-lapse photography-you can actually see the Lord's hand in it.
12. I love to end all of my sentences with "not-otherwise specified."
13. Chasing a totally unaware child the entire length of Disneyland and back burns roughly 15,000 calories-that's like 25 donuts!
14. When my child is displaying some echolalia, I just say out loud, "Mom, you are sooooo good lookin'!"
15. They say autism is complicated, but with a child who has no social awareness, "What you see is what you get"-could these children be more simplistic?
16. Children of few words rarely talk back.
17. It is the lessons we learn from teaching our "outside-of-the-box" children, that help us to be better teachers of all children
18. Could it be that my child with autism came here to lead me to the hand of God?
19. If flowers grow best when there is both sun and rain, we must be living in a lush rainforest!
20. Sometimes it's nice to be loved by someone who has never passed a judgement.
21. Are there references to autism in the Bible? Oh yes! --those who had no guile.
22. A child that doesn't learn deception until age 12 amd still isn't any good at it two years later is pretty easy to keep in line.
23. When you live with someone who interprets everything literally, "cashews" become something cows wear on their feet, and "notions" are people who have no shins.

All sooooo true!

Although very difficult at times, I feel truly honored to have been given a child with autism. Heavenly Father must give me a lot more credit than I give myself.

9-11

2009-09-11T12:03:00.000-07:00

Each 9-11, I go over in my mind what I was doing that Tuesday morning eight years ago.

My dad was taking me to the airport. I was headed back to Utah after a fun weekend home with the family. As we drove, and listened to the radio, we heard that one plane had crashed into the WTC. When the announcement came that a second plane had crashed into the WTC, my dad knew he was in for a long day.

My dad was on a USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) team. These men deploy within hours of a disaster of any kind, anywhere in the country, and assist in search and rescue.

My dad was deployed to NYC a couple weeks after the attacks. The stories he tells are filled with patriotism, love, comradery, hope, and unity. I will never forget his stories. If you ever have the opportunity to listen to the things he experienced while there, I highly recommend it. He gives a great fireside!

With permission from the FBI, my dad brought my brother and I back acutal pieces of the WTC.

As for my flight, it was obviously cancelled. Mymom, good friend, Debbie Nelson, and I spent Wednesday, 9-12, driving back to Utah.

May we never forget.

Tubing

2009-09-10T21:15:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, we made the long trek to Utah...again! Have I mentioned that I absolutely dispise the drive? =)

This time, we went to try out our "new-to-us" boat. Clarke's dad recently bought a newer boat and wanted to keep his old boat in the family. We were very hesitant about getting a boat as our family is still very young. We decided to go out to Utah and see how the kids did.

Well, we had a BLAST! The kids did great considering their ages. Wyatt was a marshmallow man in his gigantic life jacket and fell over at each attempt to walk around on the boat. Lilly and Owen loved it!

When we finally made it onto the lake the first day, Lilly was NOT going to go tubing. I, however, knew that she would love it once she did it. When it was her turn, she was huddled on Grandpa's lap screaming and crying that she did not want to go. I persisted and physically made her get into the tube and try it. I think my in-laws thought I was an absolutely terrible mother for forcing my child (literally dropping her into the water kicking and screaming) to do something she seemed to fear.

After the boat started going, we could not wipe the smile off her face.

(Although and awful quality photo, here is Lilly on the tube with a huge smile on her face!)

SHE LOVED IT!

My in-laws soon saw that I know Lilly like only a mother does. Once she is forced to confront her fear, and experiences something new, she has the confidence to do it again and again!

On a tubing ride with More Mema (Clarke's mom) and Auntie Abby (Clarke's sister)

I love to see the Temple...

2009-08-23T18:44:00.001-07:00

This afternoon, I loaded the kids up and headed to the Sacramento Temple. Sundays are awful long for us as we have Church 8:30-11:30 and Daddy was working today. There is a beautiful park like atmosphere on the Temple grounds with oak trees, grass, turkeys and of course, the Temple. We sat on the grass in the shade of the trees for at least an hour while Lilly and Owen collected acorns off the ground. We saw a bunch of turkeys, which quickly diasppeared when the kids "quietly" came closer. I took the opportunity to snap a few photos of the kids.

I absolutely love, love, love this picture of Owen. It seems to capture his sweet and happy personality.

Wyatt and Lilly were being so photgenic as well. Although, when I tried to snap some of the three of them, chaos ensued!

And of course, a picture of the kids in front of the Temple

We had a fantastic day today!

Pictures from the 1st day of school

2009-08-20T13:03:00.000-07:00

The kids had a fantastic 1st day of school.

Lilly - Rocklin Academy

Owen - Rock Creek Elementary

Good-bye summer!

2009-08-16T20:04:00.000-07:00

The time is here. School starts for Owen tomorrow and for Lilly on Tuesday. Our summer was so fun, but the kids are anxious to go back to school. I am lucky to have two self-motivated learners.

Owen will be going to Rocklin City Preschool on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and his special autism class on Tuesday and Thursday. Mind you, they don't start of finish at the same time, so I will always have to be keenly aware of what day of the week it is and what the drop-off and pick-up times are for the particular day.

Lilly will be attending Rocklin Academy. We just learned last night that she got in. There is a lottery system to get in, which took place in January of this year (8 months before the school year, is that necessary?!). We are getting good at the lottery system, should we try the California lotto?! HAHA. She has afternoon kindergarten, which is completely opposite Owen's schedule, of course, as well as different schools! I know Lilly will do fantastic in school and am just as excited as she is to jump into this new adventure.

Along with our new school schedules, we have therapy (always) after school for Owen and soccer for Lilly two nights per week. I volunteered to be the team mom for Lilly's soccer team, which comes with another full set of responsibilities. To top the whole new schedule of this week off, Clarke and I are getting custom master closet units installed Friday which means the contents of our entire closet are currently in our room. Needless to say, the chaos of our room is driving me insane. I am surviving on the vision of organization in that closet. I can hardly wait!

Wish us luck this week!

Wyatt's First Birthday!

2009-08-15T11:10:00.001-07:00

August 10th was Wyatt's First Birthday!
We celebrated his big day with a BBQ and swim party at Mema and Bepa's house. We kept it very simple (he's one year old and will have no recollection of this day in the future, why make it extravagant!?).
Wyatt was the first child that I let "dig" into his birthday cake. I didn't let the other kids as they were dressed so cute, I didn't want to ruin their clothes!. Well, of course, Wyatt didn't want any part of the cake. When he touched it, the look on his face was one of disgust. It was very humorous.

He had a lot of help opening his presents (even Lucy the dog helped!). Owen was not happy when he learned that the toys were Wyatt's and he'd have to wait to play with them.

We'll see if the walking comes with the aid of this push-toy. He is close, but I suspect it'll be another two or three weeks before he does it, maybe longer.

We are so happy to have Wyatt in our family. He has one spit-fire personality and keeps us moving all day, everyday. There is no such thing as sitting still for Wyatt. He is ALWAYS moving and getting into things he isn't supposed to get into. He tortures his big brother, Owen, and just sits and smiles when Owen has a tantrum because of it. He was definately the best (and maybe only) good thing that came from the year 2008!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WYATT!

Then and Now

2009-08-15T10:38:00.001-07:00

August 1st, we were able to make the trek down to Tracy and participate in Clarke's Pinning Ceremony. A Pinning Ceremony is when firefighters raise their right hands and take the oath of office as a firefighter (or whatever rank they are promoting to) and promise to uphold the Constitution as a sworn public safety officer. Then a family member has the honor of "pinning" the badge onto the firefighter. Firefighters come dressed in their Class A uniforms (what you would see public officers wear for funerals), as do other public safety officers in attendance. Considering this was Clarke's 3rd pinning, we old pros at it now! Clarke was pinned in 2004 as a Tracy Firefighter.

That was then...

About 3 years into his career at Tracy, an opportunity presented itself which allowed Clarke to be home and able to participate in Owen's therapy more by switching to another department. That "other" department provided us with Clarke 2nd pinning ceremony (no picture worth posting!).

Well, we are back at Tracy (thankfully, and for good!) and wanted to make it offical by doing the pinning ceremony again! I actually wore the same skirt and shoes I wore at his first Tracy pinning (just to put an exclamation mark on the fact that we are happy and part of the Tracy family for good!).

This is now...

I truly do love being a firefighter's wife. What more could you ask for than a husband that is only gone for 48 hours and then home for 4 days straight (96 hours!). I am so proud of Clarke for what he has done in the past 5 years to support us! Here's to 25 more years.

Hotel Caldwell

2009-07-31T20:29:00.000-07:00

Clarke and I made ourselves a goal this year that we would do lots camping with the kids.

After our first experience, we realized we needed a bigger tent. Clarke researched all of his options and came to this...

Yes, that is an enormous 8-man tent. We have dubbed it "Hotel Caldwell." It has a room divider, pleanty of room for two queen air matresses, a pack-n-play, and is tall enough for Clarke to stand. All that with LOTS or room to spare. It is is quite the "home in the dirt away from home."

We took the kids up last Sunday afternoon to a campground/lake just 30 minutes from our house. We wanted to experience camping with just our little family at least once. It was so neat to keep Lilly and Owen up late enough to see all the stars in the sky. A view like that definately puts things into perspective!

Although our trip was cut short by an overly-antsy 11-month old with 4 molars cutting through, we are so glad we went and can't wait for more!

Elder Wheeler

2009-07-31T20:13:00.000-07:00

Elder Chase Wheeler was called to the Canada Toronto East Mission. He reported to the MTC a couple weeks ago.

"Chasey" (as he is affectionately called in our home) is the kids' ALL-TIME FAVORITE cousin! Chase is the best! He loves playing with the kids and the kids can never get enough of him. He is wonderful with them. He plays games with them, swings them, throws them, and tires them out for Mommy and Daddy!

My favorite part about Chase is how excited he gets when he sees the progress Owen is making. One day after swimming, he sat on the hammock with Owen and just listened to him sing Primary songs. He is always aware of Owen's needs and does such a great job with him.

We will miss Chasey, but know he is exactly where he needs to be right now. We are so proud of him, and Clarke is especially excited because he is serving in Canada, where Clarke is from.

I hope my boys can be like Chase when they grow up!

Gymnastics Performance

2009-07-23T21:45:00.000-07:00

Lilly showing off her well-earned ribbons

This evening, my parents and I were able to watch Lilly perform two gymnastics routines for the Extreme Gymnastics Summer Show.

Lilly has very mixed feelings about gymnastics. On one hand, she loves going and loves learning new things. She is quite flexible and is getting very good at her handstands and cartwheels. However, on the other hand, she is EXTREMELY cautious about the equipment. To say she is terrified of the beam would be an understatement. She is mortified. We still haven't quite figured out what her hesitation is to it. Logically, she knows that if she falls off, she won't be hurt. She knows that it's okay to fall off, she won't be in trouble. Ususally, she opts to use the beam that isn't so high up during practices. That being said, she did absolutely fantastic tonight on her beam routine, the high beam even. We are so proud of her!

Because she did so fantastic, we ended the evening with a swim in Mema and Bepa's pool. What a way to tire out 3 wiggly, energetic kids.

Hidden Falls

2009-07-12T19:34:00.000-07:00

Clarke and I took the kids on a hike yesterday to Hidden Falls in Auburn, CA.

It was BEAUTIFUL!

We hiked three miles down-hill to the waterfalls. Once there, we got to eat lunch on a deck that the park service had just finished building. The deck was perched on the side of the hill overlooking the waterfalls. Looking over the railing, we could see straight down into the river below. It was quite a sight.

We definately want to go back. 30 yards from the outlook deck were some newly built stairs taking you down to the river where it pooled into wonderful little swimming holes. It was far enough away from the waterfalls which made the pools fairly calm. We would have loved to have our swimming suits with us. Next time!

The hike back to the car was up-hill, but the kids did it! Clarke had to take turns carrying Lilly and Owen up a couple of switch-backs, but overall our little family was able to walk the entire way. We kept singing "Pioneer Children" as we walked and walked and walked and walked! It was so neat to be surrounded by Heavenly Father's beautiful creations. However, it was equally nice to jump into a cool, air-conditioned car afterward and head over to Mema and Bepa's to take a swim. Oh, we also hit up 7-11 for free slurpees on the way home too!

Cruisin' Together

2009-07-12T19:14:00.000-07:00

Clarke and I were able to go on a 3-day cruise to Ensenada, Mexico at the end of June.

I picked up More Mema (Clarke's Mom) from the airport on Thursday night and gave her the 10 page instruction booklet. Early Friday morning, I headed off to Tracy to pick up Clarke from work and continue down to Long Beach where we would embark on our 3-day, no-kids, relaxation, sleep whenever we wanted, soak up the sun rays, adventure.

We enjoyed every moment of our little vacation to Paradise, which was also the name of our ship. We got extremely sun-burnt, read lots of books and magazines, ate lots of food, slept A LOT, and enjoyed spending time together alone away from the kids. Sure, we missed the kids, but we would do that again at the drop of a hat. We appreciate Mema and Bepa and More Mema for watching the kids while we were away.

Camping

2009-06-24T21:13:00.000-07:00

Our family had the opportunity to go camping a couple weekends ago. We went up to Scott's Flat Lake Sunday after church and came home Monday night (late...). The kids absoultely enjoyed every moment of it. As we drove away, Lilly and Owen were crying because we had to leave. Lilly had such a fun time with all her friends and Owen loved thowing rocks into the lake. In fact, he did that for the ENTIRE time. No joke, the ENTIRE time. Although Clarke and I did not get the luxury of sleeping (the only way Wyatt would sleep was in the car in our arms as we froze and could not get comfortable enough to actually sleep), we had a really fun time as well and plan to take the kids many more times this summer...as soon as Clarke gets himself a new tent!

Last Day of School

2009-06-24T21:01:00.001-07:00

Lilly and Owen had their last day of school on June 4th (I'm just a little bit behind, huh!?). What a fabulous year they both had. They both LOVE learning and are fantastic students. They are both reading...yes, reading and writting at an incredible pace.

Here are some pictures of their first day of school and last day of school:

Lilly's 1st Day of School

Lilly's Last Day of School

Owen's 1st Day of School

Owen's Last Day of School

First Bath...

2009-06-24T20:54:00.000-07:00

...in about 4 months!

PHEW!

The kids were so excited to take a bath as they have been getting showers since the bathroom has been under construction. This was Wyatt's FIRST bath in an actual bathtub. He LOVED it. Poor kids had been thrown in the shower and hosed off for the past four months.

Here's to bathtime!

Indoor Plumbing

2009-05-28T13:42:00.000-07:00

What a novel idea!

After 3 1/2 months of a bathroom under construction, we now have indoor plumbing in our bathroom. We still don't have the tub and shower hooked up, but at least you can got potty and wash your hands in the bathroom.

PHEW!

There is light at the end of the tunnel. Do I regret taking on this HUGE project? No, BUT, it has been a long and exhasting 3 1/2 months.

We'll post pictures when it is totally complete as well.

Open House (part 2)

2009-05-28T13:34:00.000-07:00

One week after attending Lilly's Open House, we were able to attend Owen's FIRST preschool Open House. He thought it was so cool to go to school two times in one day. HE ABSOLUTELY LOVES SCHOOL! He gets a enormous grin on his face and can't stop smiling all day, every day. It is awesome. He is learning so much and improving by leaps and bounds. Here are some pictures from the evening (Daddy had to work...again).

(Thanks, Miss Kelly, for scrapbooking for me! Here are some pictues of Owen at school in a collage)

Wyatt's First Time Swimming

2009-05-28T13:20:00.000-07:00

Last week, we were invited by some friends to go swimming in their community pool for Family Home Evening. We were hot, tired and sick of working on the bathroom, so we immediately dropped everything and headed out for a refreshing swim.

Wyatt love, love, loved swimming!

Isn't he so stinkin' cute!?

Open House

2009-05-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

(Lilly and her wonderful teachers)

A few weeks ago, we attended Lilly's Open House at school. She was SUPER excited to take Mommy, Owen, Wyatt, Mema and Bepa (Daddy had to work) around her class and show us all of the fun things they are learning about.

The entire class is ADORABLE!

The classroom was set-up so creatively. When we walked into the room, each child was given a guide to help them remember where to take their families and what to show us. TOO CUTE! Lilly was very adamant about following the guide precisely. We could not go out of order.

It is so neat to see her thrive in such a wonderful environment. She has learned words like oviporous, chrysalis, and incubator (do you know what those mean?!). She is reading all by herself and is constantly yearning for more knowledge.

And to think she is doing Kindergarten again next year!!

(Lilly and Boo, the Seal, the class mascot)

(Lilly in front of some adorable artowork)

(Lilly and her station which included all her journals, books and projects from throughout the year)

Mack Daddy

2009-05-08T13:36:00.000-07:00

We have been so blessed living here in California. California has the best services available to families with children that have disabilities. We have received services for 2 years now and have not paid one penny to anyone.

We have people in our home everyday who work with Owen. They have become part of our family as well. Usually we have one person per day, a couple time a week we have two or three. Every few weeks, we get them all here, 3 Tutors, 1 Lead and 1 Consultant (We also get the supervisor here a couple times per month, but she isn't pictured).

Owen certainly is the MACK DADDY when they are all here.

They all love him and Owen adores each one of them.

What boy wouldn't love being surrounded by 5 girls going goo-goo-ga-ga over him?

Mr. Wyatt

2009-05-08T13:13:00.000-07:00

Wyatt is turning into my busiest baby.

Owen just screamed all day, everyday at this age and Lilly was the first and did no wrong in our eyes.

Wyatt on the other hand is into EVERYTHING!

The other night we heard screaming and found him wedged behind the toilet in our room (yuck!). He NEVER sits still. Changing his diaper and getting him dressed is quite the ordeal. He is CONSTANTLY turning on his tummy trying to escape. I caught him standing all by himself a few days ago. He already has 7 teeth with #8 well on it's way. He is currently on a nap-strike and will only take two 45 minute naps, if I'm lucky. I know what you are thinking, "Let him cry it out, he'll fall back asleep." Yea, been there, done that. We have let him scream for 2 1/2 hours and he doesn't fall back asleep. I am hoping for my sanity's sake that this is just a phase.

The kid is only 9 months old (well, he will be on the 10th).

THANK GOODNESS HE IS SO DANG CUTE!

Bathroom pictures

2009-05-08T12:54:00.000-07:00

No, it's not done, but it is getting close...well, closer.

Needless to say, all of Clarke's spare time has been taken up by the bathroom project. One night, Clarke and I stayed up until past midnight tiling. Here are some pictures from that night:

We have now finished ALL of the tiling...HORRAY!

Now all we have left to do is:

grout, seal grout and tile, install beadboard (a.k.a. wainscotting), paint ceiling and walls, install vanity, paint mirror, install fixtures, install lighting, baseboards, shower doors, and decorate.

PHEW! Doesn't sound like we are even close at all when I look at that list.

I wanted to snap a picture of Clarke installing the floor tile and this is what I got:

I told him he looked like a goof-ball, and we tried again...

Even more goofy!

He is probably trying to make light of a seemingly never-ending project.

We are only on month 3!

We have started to grout and I'm taking on the task of painting while he's working for the next 4 days. We're getting there...

Easter Pictures

2009-04-13T18:27:00.000-07:00

We had a very fun Easter this year. Just a little preface to the pictures: we have 8:30 church (I secretly like this time because the kids are the happiest and we get home and have the rest of the day together...mostly) which means we have to leave the house at 8:00 am to get there on time and get "our" seats. That being said, I was pretty amazed that we even had time to snap a few pictures before we had to be in the car heading to church. I knew taking pictures after was going to be near-impossible because the hair and outfits just weren't going to look the same after three hours of church. So, here's what we managed to capture...they do look pretty dang cute if you ask me!

After church, we hosted Easter dinner, with all the fixings! We had 11 people here and it was quite the feast. The table turned out adorable. I love a cute, well-decorated table. I am especially proud of the Pottery Barn Kids Easter Tree which was delivered to the house the week before. I love this tree. I have been searching eBay everyday for it (they don't sell them anymore in the store) and I found it and immediately bought it. I didn't care about the price. When Clarke came home from work and saw what all the fuss was about, he said it was ugly. I told him to shut-up! It'll be up year-round at our house, so it was well worth the money (I justified it by using the money I earn for cleaning my Grandma's house twice per month).

We hope everyone else enjoyed their Easter as wll!

How to get your children to watch 8 hours of TV...only 2 weekends per year

2009-04-05T15:05:00.000-07:00

This weekend was General Conference (or as Lilly would say, "Stake Conference." We had to keep correcting her). I was extremely impressed at how well Lilly and Owen did. I had done a lot of preparation for this coming weekend so as to help them understand how important and how lucky we are to listen to the Prophet and His Apostles.

Here are some of the things I had for them:

Lilly wrote out the name of each member or First Presidnecy and Quorum of 12 Apostles and paired it with their picture and a candy that had a wrapper with their name and picture on it. As each member spoke, she got to eat their candy. Also, I had a paper for each member with interesting facts about them, a face for her to draw their features, a tie for her to draw their tie design, and other neat activities.

LILLY LOVED IT! She thought it was so funny to see which ones wore glasses, which ones were bald, and what color tie they were wearing.

I also had pictures of each member of the First Presidency and Quorum of the 12 Apostles as a boy and as they are now so they could see that they were kids once too. I put them on skewers and put them in a vase so the kids could go through them and look at each man as a boy.

The last thing was a Bingo card with different topics or words pertaining to the Gospel. As they heard each word, they put a cheerio on it. I was really impressed at how this made Lilly LISTEN to each talk.

Yesterday after the Saturday Afternoon Session, I turned the TV off and Lilly started crying. After asking her "why," she responded by saying she wanted to watch more conference. This morning she couldn't wait until 9am when we got to turn on the TV and watch more. She knows almost all of the General Authorities by name and wanted to know what they were talking about and whether or not they were bearing their testimony.

I hope this excitement about the Gospel continues well into her teenage years!

8 hours of TV well worth it!

"Party Hats"

2009-03-29T19:21:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, we celebrated my Dad's birthday at our house with dinner and a dessert-fest afterward (for all those non-Wheeler's...it's a get together where we eat tons of desserts and have fun together...I know you're jealous!)

Well, I put Clarke in charge of wrapping Dad's gift and he wanted to make is extra hard for Dad to open it up. He put the gift-cards in about 10 layers of wrapping paper, in a box full of easter grass, easter eggs, and diapers (playing on the fact that he is getting old and is going to need them soon!)

Well, as Dad was opening his gifts he stuck a diaper on his head. Lilly thought it was hilarious and decided to put one on herself.

We all followed suit and put on our own "party hats."

I think my 80 year-old Grandma looked the best! What do you think?

I couldn't help myself...it was so funny! Happy Birthday Dad!

Go wash your hands...

2009-03-29T19:14:00.000-07:00

We have been working with Owen on potty-training. He is doing a really good job far. He is getting good enough for us to say, "Owen, go pee-pee," and he'll run into the bathroom and go pee-pee all by himself. Well, the other day, I told him to go and he didn't come out for a long time. So, I went in there and stumbled upon this scene:

He was so proud of himself for washing his hands after going potty. The part I didn't capture on camera was that under his pants, he had forgotten to put his big-boy underwear back on. Comando style!

St. Patrick's Day Celebrations

2009-03-29T19:00:00.000-07:00

I know this is a little after-the-fact, but I figure if I don't post them now, it'll never happen...

I really had a lot of fun celebrating St. Patrick's Day with the kids this year. It is so fun to see the kids' faces when they wake up and have green milk in their cereal bowls and sleep on their holiday-themed pillow cases (I have made a pillow case for each kid for each of the holidays). This year, we had a St. Patrick's Day themed dinner: Shepard's Pie, bread, green jello and green water. Then for dessert, we had green rice-crispie treats.

The kids wore cute green outfits (I got them the day after St. Patrick's day last year 50% off) to school.

Lilly's class came out after school in their Irish-face masks. She was Lilly O'Caldwell. Too cute!

I got some other really cute ideas for next year too...

ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz

2009-03-16T20:31:00.000-07:00

Lilly stayed home from school today. When she woke up this morning, she was complaining of a sore throat and had a slight fever. As the day went on, she was acting totally normal and I figured she either felt better or was just being dramatic this morning (I wouldn't put it past her!). Well, later this afternoon, Lilly and Owen were watching "Baby Signing Time" and Clarke was catching me up on what happened the last couple days at work and we heard this noise coming from the family room. We both looked at each other and said, "Is that Lilly snoring?" Sure enough, she had fallen asleep and was snoring so loud. I had to capture the moment on camera as it was quite comical. She must have really been sick as she NEVER takes a nap unless she really doesn't feel well. Is that mean of me to laugh at my daughter's suffering?

Isn't that hilarious?! She does sound like a bit like Clarke's dad and grandpa. Must run in the family! One of her eyes was open ever so slightly as well. The purse and quiver in her lips is pretty cute too.

Crawling

2009-03-14T17:01:00.000-07:00

Here's a shot of Wyatt crawling to his favorite toy, the magna-doodle.

Partners in Crime

2009-03-14T16:53:00.000-07:00

Lilly and Owen are quite the duo. They can play for hours together playing made-up games and doing "art projects." Glue, scissors, paper, stickers, etc. all put together in one "creative masterpiece." One project after another makes it's way to the fridge where I let them stay for a day or so. Call me mean, but after being on the fridge a day or so, they make their way to the trash. They make so many, I couldn't possibly keep them all (nor do I want to...I am so NOT sentimental like that!).

Two Teeth

2009-03-14T16:48:00.000-07:00

Wyatt has had 2 teeth for a while now. He actually got his teeth at 5 months (which is the latest of all three of my kids). They are just getting so big now and he doesn't have anymore coming...YET! His hair is still strawberry blonde and doesn't seem to be changing colors. Will we have a red-head in the family? It wouldn't surprise me! Clarke's beard is very red, my hair was this color as a baby and we have some other relatives with red hair.

He's too cute!

FHE Magnet Boards

2009-03-14T16:39:00.000-07:00

Here's another cute craft project that I recently finished. Again, I didn't come up with idea by myself (I am getting really good at copying!). It is a magnet board and the pictures and assignments are all magnets as well. The total cost for this project was: $2.50.

Pretty good, huh?!?

Welcome to Holland

2009-03-03T08:51:00.000-08:00

I have been reading Jenny McCarthy's book, "Mother Warriors." The book is filled with stories of mothers who healed their child's Autism against all odds. There are many stories that remind me of our situation with Owen.

Last night, I read a chapter entitled "What a 'Trip'." She shared something I had read before, but reminded me of the wonderful "trip" our family is on.

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

(Emily Pearl Kingsley)

I love this analogy. Sure, our life with Owen is different than what we had planned when he was born. Would I change it? NO WAY! We have learned so much from him and about ourselves we would have never learned without him. One look at that little boy just makes all the endless hours of therapy, trials and challenges worth it.

He is doing soooooo good. He is talking more and more each day and it's getting clearer and clearer than ever. The other night at the dinner table, he kept spelling words (R-I-M spells rim, etc.). He would not stop and eat his dinner. We had to tell him, "Owen, stop talking and eat your dinner!). We both looked at each other and said, "Who would have thought that we would ever be telling Owen to stop talking."

At the rate Owen is going, Autism is going to be a distant memory in the near future!

Bathroom Update

2009-03-02T09:36:00.001-08:00

Are you wondering, "Well, it doesn't look like much has changed since the last update"? Well, the answer is yes and no. At this stage in the game, a lot has happned, it just doesn't look like it. We put up the cement backer-board and thin set in the seams, cleaned up the tub, and bought all the tile. Clarke has been really busy with work, church, scouts, etc., so things haven't gone as fast as we'd like. But, it is still a working bathroom...the toilet is still in tact!

Here's a layout of the tile for the tub surround. We're pretty excited, if only it could be done by now!

Boys

2009-03-02T09:28:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, my boys just looked too cute! I tried to capture the cuteness on camera, but due to the fact that all of them were "done" with being in church clothes and it was lunch-time (on Fast Sunday) and our camera had a little accident in the snow (ask Clarke...), the pictures didn't turn out that great, but I think you get the point.

St. Patrick's Day Decorations

2009-03-02T09:21:00.000-08:00

I really have enjoyed being more crafty the past few months. It's really fun to work really hard on something and have it turn out really cute in the end. Here's the latest for upcoming St. Patty's Day!

Didn't they turn out cute?!

Clarke's 30th Birthday

2009-03-02T09:12:00.000-08:00

Clarke turned 30 years old on February 17th (dang-it...we are getting old!). Lilly just had to get Daddy a badge that he wore announcing to everyone that he is now "30." We had a lot of fun celebrating together as family and friends.

We are so lucky to have him. He is the greatest hubby and daddy anyone could ask for!

Bathroom Update

2009-02-13T09:46:00.000-08:00

Here is what we've been up to on Clarke's last two 4-days

(he works 48 straight and then has 4 days off)

We took out the ugly, out-dated flourescent lighting box and wired electrical to the wall so we can have a pretty vanity light fixture.

Then we patched the sheetrock. I think I still have a layer of dust in the ENTIRE house from the sanding.

Clarke taking out the old vanity and couter-top and sink

Me taking a whack at the bathtub tile. That felt so good, although it was a lot harder than I thought it would

The current state of our bathroom.

The only bright side to having a bathroom like this is that people have to use our bathroom (which is just as 1980's and ugly) so I have to keep our room clean. I like having a clean room.

25 Random Things

2009-02-08T12:42:00.000-08:00

This has been going around for quite sometime, and I figured it was my turn...Enjoy!

1. While in college, I jumped the fence at LaVell Edwards stadium (BYU) at night and repelled down the back-side of the east-side bleachers.
2. When we are working of projects around the house, I love the demolition part, probably more than the final product. There is just something fabulous about taking a sledge-hammer to something...therapy I guess?!
3. We have a black, glossy, baby grand piano in our front room. It hasn't been played in quite a while. I can play, just not very well anymore.
4. I LOVE football. BYU Cougars and Oakland Raiders are my teams. Although, I watch anyone. It doesn't matter who is playing, I'll watch it.
5. I root for the BYU Cougars and whoever is playing AGAINST the Utah Utes. I don't care how logical it is, I will NEVER cheer for the Utes. NEVER!
6. Everyday, all the beds have to be made in the house and dishes done. If those things are done, regardless of what the rest of the house looks like, I feel better about the day.
7. I have some form of OCD. The legs of the chairs, sofa legs and table legs all have to be lined up on the lines of our hardwood floors. Things have to be symmetrical and centered on something. If it moves, I notice it!
8. I am very competitive.
9. I HATE the term "Mormon Standard Time." There is no such thing. If I am supposed to be somewhere at a certain time, I'll be there at that time. There is no "fashionably late" for me.
10. The term "eternity" freaks me out. There has to be an end. Right?!
11. I am a TLC and HGTV junkie.
12. I am getting fed-up with LOST. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but start answering some dang questions instead of posing more.
13. I only missed 2 days of early morning seminary all 4 years of high school.
14. My Senior year of high school, I coached the entire Varsity swim team. Our "coaches" were awful. I even seeded the meets.
15. It drives me crazy when doors and cupboards get left open (our closet...Clarke!).
16. I started snow skiing when I was 3 years old. I haven't been skiing, however, again for a really long time.
17. When I was little, someone told me to watch out for the rutter of the ski boat because my legs might get tangled in it. They were joking, but I still sort-of freak out when I am swimming by the back of a boat.
18. When I swim in a lake, I am scared that fish are going to touch me.
19. I need at least 8 hours of sleep to function happily the next day.
20. I enjoy creating cute things.
21. I don't allow my kids' toys to overrun the house. If they don't fit in the window seat, we have too many. When they are put away, I like the fact that you can't see them.
22. I love shopping and finding good deals. It's so fun to get things at least 50% off. It's even better when it is stuff from PBK or Gymbo.
23. Chocolate and caramel are my downfalls. Even better together.
24. Right after we were married, I worked for the city of Lehi as a paper shredder. That's all I did for 4 hours, shred paper.
25. This took me a lot longer than I thought it would.

Bathroom Remodel

2009-02-03T09:39:00.000-08:00

We bought our house knowing it was pretty 1980's ghetto. There was great floral wallpaper on the walls, geometric linoleum, shiny brass light fixtures, etc. We have slowly transformed this house one project at a time. "Why has it taken so long?" some may ask.

Well, the answer is simply...

We are doing EVERYTHING ourselves!

Yes, we have been in our home almost 4 years and we are just now getting around to doing the bathroom. If you ask Clarke, the real reason we are re-doing the bathroom now, he'd say "I can't justify getting a 50 inch flat-screen, HDTV until the bathroom is done."

So, here we go...

BEFORE

(Please note...this is NOT my decor...this picture was taken before we bought the house. It was the old lady, ghetto, 1980's decor. It even had one of those spongy toilet seats that when you sat down you slowly decended until you hit the actual toilet seat. Pretty disgusting!)

The start of our project

As I am typing this Clarke is in the attic installing a new bathroom fan, recessed lighting and vanity lighting.
There is no turning back now!

P.S. Thank you over-time and CPAT center for your generous contribution to our bathroom remodel!

Valentine's Day Decor

2009-02-03T09:16:00.000-08:00

I am not a creative person. I simply copy other people or magazines/stores. I enjoy finding something I like and making it, instead of simply purchasing it. So, my new outlet ("Sabrina time") is crafting. I find cute things and make them.

I have been doing a lot of Valentine's decorations lately.

Here are some of my latest creations...

(none of which I can claim as my idea...they are all copied)

(Okay, this one I meshed a bunch of cute ideas and came up with this. Does that make it a Sabrina original? Probably not, I am sure someone somewhere out there has done something like this!)

(Courtesy of a very creative girl in another ward)

(from the internet somewhere)

(another project from the creative girl in the other ward)

Maybe if I copy people enough, I might be able to harness some of the lost creative powers in my own head and have the uncanny ability to create cute stuff myself. Probably not, but whatever!