Trisha and I were able to leave the boys and the kids and head up to Spokane for dinner and The Phantom of the Opera. It was a great show. It is funny to see how many people were in "prom" attire. Big deal in Eastern WA! Phantom was the first musical that I ever saw back in junior high and is definitely on my list of favorite musicals.

Kelsi's hair

Kelsi's hair is insane. It is so long and thick (I wonder where she gets that from?), which is fun and cute, but I have to do SOMETHING to it everyday, or she can't see. Here are a few cute pics from this week.

LONG OVERDUE...

In July, John (with the help of a couple of his friends) built us a 10X10 shed. It is wonderful for storage. The dogs also liked to lean up against it for shade during the day. Everyone wins. Nice work John!

Kelsi did not help with the shed, but I had to include a recent picture of her. Her hair is SOOOOO long.

Standing for something

I have been extrememly hesitant to post anything about this years upcoming election and the issues that are before us. I have many friends that disagree and in some cases strongly disagree with my views. I am concerned that my views will be seen as hurtful to some, and that is not my intention at all. With that being said, I decided to "stand for something". I wanted to write a little something on Prop 8 that is being voted on in CA next month. About 7-8 years ago I walked door to door assisting a similar propostion (22) which passed and it stated that Marriage was to be defined as between one man and one woman. Recenlty the courts in CA have overturned the decision made by the people and once again the people will be voting on how to define marriage. I believe that marriage should be defined as between one man and one woman and anything else is not what our Heavenly Father has intended for us on this earth. If the prop fails to pass, I worry about the implications that it will have on our society. The effect that it will have on religious freedoms, what children are taught in schools and the intolerance that will arise over time for those that hold similar religious and moral views that I hold, etc. I encourage anyone who lives in CA to vote YES on Prop 8 because marriage is not just a temporal contract, it is a sacred. There are many websites that talk about the implications of Prop 8. One of the basic ones that give some light on the topic is :

www.whatisprop8.com

I love you all, those of you that really know me know that is true. I just couldn't sit on the sidelines anymore.

My sister Tamar has been telling me about her friend who makes the cutest bows and she has a contest! I checked out her blog and Tamar was RIGHT. They are ADORABLE! You can check them out at http://kimsprojectsandideas.blogspot.com/ and she has an etsy site as well at wishhappy's shop!

Road Trip

John no longer works on Mondays (YAY for 4-day work weeks!) so we took a trip to Western WA. We stayed with friends in the Bellingham area. I didn't get too many people pictures because we usually forgot the camera or one of us had to stay with sleeping Kelsi in the car. Here are a few of the pretty scenery.

Trees, trees and more trees. There was no shortage of foilage on our trip.
Deception pass that leads to Whidbey Island where John used to work pre-Karina.
View out to the Pacific from Deception pass
This is Kelsi on the way to western WA. She was SO Happy the entire way there. The way back was a different story. She was DONE with her car seat.

Tagged once again by Lacey

Ten Years Ago I Was...

1. I was a Freshman at Ricks College

2. Trying to figure out a creative way to ask someone to MORP

3. Experiencing life on my own for the first time

4. In a dead end relationship

5. Making some life long friends

Five Things on Today's To Do List...

1. Grocery shopping

2. Fold laundry

3. Touch up paint in my bedroom

4. Make every effort to go on a walk

5. Go to the gym

Five Snacks I Enjoy...

1. Chocolate Chips

2. nectarines

3. peaches

4. Chips and Salsa

5. Granola bars

Five Things I Would Do If I Were A Millionaire...

1. Pay off our school loan

2. Travel the world

3. Go on a service mission

4. Build myself and my family homes

5. Create a charity for auto immune diseases

Five Places I Have Lived...

1. Rexburg, ID

2. Fairfax, VA

3. Santa Monica, CA

4. Culver City, CA

5. Clarkston, Wa

Five Jobs I Have Had...

1. Tutor

2. Administrative Asst

3. Recruiter

4. QA Analyst

5. Mom

8 Things Tag...

8 Things I am PASSIONATE About...

1. My family

2. The gospel

3. Education

4. Friends

5. Music

6. Journaling/Blogging

7. Health

8. Finding old friends

8 "words" or "phrases" I say way to often...

1. What?

2. fine

3. Bum bum

4. babe

5. sure

6. Maybe later

7. No!!

8. KELSI!! (in a warning tone)

8 Things I want to do before I die...

1. Go on a church mission

2. Ensure my children know that I have a strong testimony of our savior Jesus Christ

3. Do something that scares me

4. Be completely out of debt.

5. Travel Europe

6. Learn to sew

7. Make a differance in the world.

8. Not take anything for granted

8 Things I have learned From my past...

1. Write down your goals and your actions to achieve them. If you don’t they are just dreams.

2. Never let anyone tell you that you can’t do something

3. Your parents are always right

4. Don’t try to be someone that you aren’t. The world will miss out on something great if you do.

5. Treat others with the same respect that you would want in return.

6. Don’t sell yourself short. Never settle, even if it is for a short time.

7. Heavenly Father answers my prayers too, not just others.

8. Don’t try to change people. It is impossible to do if they don’t want to change. Just be their friends.

8 Places I would love to see...

1. Italy

2. Greece

3. Andes

4.Cabo

5. Niagra Falls

6. Sacred Grove

7. Nauvoo, IL- pretty much the church history tour

8. Grand Canyon

8 Things I Currently Need or Want...

1. Kelsi to take her nap (she is so tired)

2. Health

3. A shower

4. Clear cut answers

5. a clean organized house.

6. peace of mind

7. Want to lose the last of my Kelsi weight

8. My family and friends to know that I love them

10 months

I was looking through my blog and I can't believe how much Kelsi has grown over the last month! She is a talking queen and she seems to have a lot of conversations with herself. The inflections in her voice are so cute. She says mama and dada and even though I am pretty sure she doesn't know what they mean, she says "k" and "peese". I say "please" to her all the time so I am hoping that she is copying me, but I know she doesn't know what it means yet. She just got up and started crawling a week ago. No army crawl, just straight crawling. She pulls herself up on anything she can and recently started to love the camera. Everytime I point it at her, she just GRINS! She also loves watching herself in the videos. I took her measurements today and she is 21 lbs and 29 inches long. She has 5 teeth and eats finger foods (finally)...even though she doesn't want to feed herself. BATH UPDATE: Thank you to all who offered advice, I tried so many of them (bubbles included...which she is afraid of by the way...I didn't realize that it would make a humming noise which scares Kelsi), and I am happy to say she likes her baths now. After 2 weeks, she just snapped out of it. She is out of the toddler tub and now loves to play and pull herself up. The only thing she HATES and whines at is when I rinse her hair, but I don't think that is super uncommon. YAY for little victories! We love our little Kelsi.

A little crawling action....

A little hello to the Grandparents!

Kelsi loves to clap. She learned how to do so a couple weeks ago and now she claps for no reason all the time...and sometimes says "ahhhhhhh" while she claps (to imitate my "yaaaaay"

Cutie McPretty

Kelsi likes to use her books as teethers lately....poor baby. For some reason blogger isn't let me add videos to this post...so I will try again in a new one...stay tuned!

My sister in-law Carri tagged me! It has been awhile since I have done one of these, so here it goes!

1. First name: Karina, as in Karina Smirnoff of Dancing with the stars






2. Middle name: Lynn




3. Last name: Calderwood - looks like there is a town called calderwood...






4. Age: 27




5. Place I would like to visit again: Aruba


6. Education: I have a Bachelors in Public Relations


7. Favorite vacation spot: Manhattan Beach, CA - it is my favorite beach in L.A. and it is also where John asked me to marry him.

8. Where I grew up: La Puente, CA - famous for the donut hole...you drive through and order your donuts!

9. Past pet: Dancer

10. Favorite Treat: Chocolate Chips

11. Worst Habit: Clenching my teeth

12. Mood right now: Antsy

I tag anyone that wants to do this, especially if you are bored! You just google your answers and pick the pictures that you want to use!

HAPPY BELATED ANNIVERSARY TO ME!

John said that he wanted Kelsi to have music in her home, so he bought me a gift. I have wanted one of these for a long time, but I don't like spending a lot of money. BUT John found a killer deal and I decided to be selfish and let him buy it for me. I LOVE IT! It is so shiny. I am a little rusty, but hopefully it will come back to me with practice. Thanks, John! You are the BEST.

Due to the amount of saliva in Kelsi's mouth, one of her new found talents is blowing bubbles. John caught her on tape and it is pretty funny when she realizes that he is watching her. Enjoy!

ADVICE WANTED

Ok, Mom's (or anyone else that wants to chime in)...I need advice because I am willing to try anything. Here is the situation: We recently moved Kelsi's toddler tub into the bathtub (we used to hook it into our sink in the kitchen). The first 2 times, she was just fine taking baths (as evident from the picture a few posts ago). However, Day 3 started the week of torture. It has been a full week and Kelsi SCREAMS during her whole bath. She tries to get out of the tub and just reaches up to us and SCREAMS. We have bath toys, we sing to her, we splash...all to no avail. I keep thinking "2 weeks makes a habit" so I was planning on trying it again for another full week to see if she just snaps out of it and starts liking it again. I feel awful watching her so scared and upset. I really didn't mind putting her tub in the sink because she LOVED it...I just got tired of having to wipe my floor down afterwards from all of her splashing, and she can't bathe in the toddler tub forever, right? So, if anyone has any tips or suggestions I am open! She is fine with showers, but since I give her baths at night (and John and I shower in the morning), I would rather just still give her a bath. Ready, go!

I WON!

Kelsi has always been a fantastic sleeper. She sleeps more than she is awake during the day. However, with the combination of teething and just being more active, we are starting to fight when it comes to taking naps. She whined and yelled at me for quite a while today, but did I give in? NO! When it was finally quiet, I looked in and found this! (I moved her into a better position, don't think I am that mean). This round went to mommy!

2 Birthday Parties and a bath

We finally moved Kelsi's toddler tub into the real tub. She doesn't enjoy it as much as the sink, but does OK. Next step will be to remove the toddler tub!

Kelsi was invited to two birthday parties this week. This one is from one of her friend's Madison. Kelsi and Madison used to play together every morning while I worked. Happy Birthday Madison! Madison was such a good host. She sat next to Kelsi for a good portion of the party and showed her all of her gifts.
Kelsi loved the tissue paper. Guess what I will be wrapping up for her birthday in a couple months???
Kelsi had her first cupcake at Madison's party. She thought it was tasty.
We also helped Ali celebrate her bday party. One last use of that summer swimsuit!
There's that tissue paper again!

Kelsi's little song

"Four eyes"

Yup, I am blind. Not really, I just have a small prescription, but nevertheless....I need glasses. John says that I am the worst patient in the world...he is probably right. "1 is clearer, no 2, no 1...wait...do it again". I asked John, "So, do I need them when I drive and when I read?" He said "umm...you should wear them all the time". Second opinion anyone? (just kidding, hun)The eye really disgusts me, which is ironic since I married someone who is fascinated by it. It would be nice to wear contacts...but John has to put eye drops in my eyes (while I protest) so...glasses it is! Tamar said that I look more like her with them....so that's a plus!

John and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary yesterday. The years keep getting better and better! Love you honey!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com