I'm 3, I'm 3!!!

Kelsi has been waiting to turn 3 for a long time. Mainly, because when I go to the gym, you have to be 3 and potty trained to go into the playland. She's been potty trained for a while, but turning 3 seemed so far away for her. She is very excited to be 3. I can't believe how fast time is going by.

I asked Kelsi what she wanted to do for her bday and she said "I want to have a PARTY!" I asked her who she wanted to come to her party and she named 3 friends and so I went to work.We did a very low key "party", but the kids loved it. We went to the Kroc center and had cupcakes and presents and then the kids played in the playland area. They had SO much fun.

We went home and Kelsi took her "birthday nap" and John and I took her to "Old McDonalds" for dinner (McDonalds).We had a second little party tonight with Grandma and Grandpa Calderwood and Aunt Melanie and her 3 cousins who live in town. We had more cake, opened more presents and Kelsi really seemed to enjoy herself. We tried to explain to her several times during the day that we were doing all these special things because it was her birthday....we don't want her feeling entitled, right??!!

and of course, we HAD to have balloons.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELSI LYNN!! You are such a joy. We love you more than words can say. If we could push a magic pause button, we would. Here's to many many many more years of laughter and joy.

Family Vacation

We went to CA to visit my family over the Thanksgiving holiday. It was the first time my side of the family has been together in over 5 years. It was nice to see everyone and it was even more fun to see Kelsi play with her cousins.

We did not have the best time getting to CA. Kelsi had an anxiety attack (I don't know what else to call it) on our first flight. She started getting agitated on the way to the airport and then it was just downhill from there. I had a whole arsenal of toys and snacks for her and she was not interested in ANY of them. She was so frantic, looking around and she kept saying " We are not falling, I want to go home and sleep in my bed". She kept saying that she needed to "squeeze me" and she would grab my thumb and just squeeze it repeatedly. 30 minutes into the flight she threw up ALL over me. Luckily, her clothes were on the plane so I could change her. Not so lucky for me, my clothes were NOT on the plane so I could not change. We made it to CA and I was able to finally change my clothes and freshen up.

We had a great Thanksgiving, we all ate too much. We also took family pictures. Here are a couple of shots.

On Friday, my sister and I went shopping and that night we went to the Los Angeles Temple to see the lights display. Unfortunately, they were having issues and the lights were NOT on. BUT the visitor center was recently renovated and we spent some time in there. It was pretty amazing.

I had just LOST it with Kelsi that night. We told her we were going to the temple and she got VERY anxious and started whining that "Jesus was not at the temple, he was at the church". I had NO idea what she was talking about, but once we got into the visitor center and she saw the large christus statue, she freaked. She thought he was going to "hit us". I am SO tired of Kelsi being afraid of EVERYTHING. I just don't understand. We decided that night that we were not going to take her to Disneyland. We thought it would just be too emotionally draining for all parties involved. Kelsi eventually warmed up to being in the same room as the Christus, but her daddy had to hold her.

After the temple, we went to one of my favorite places....Didi Reese!!

Didi Reese is a little cookies and ice cream shop in Westwood. When I lived there it was $1 for your fav ice cream sandwiched between 2 fresh baked cookies. They have since raised the price to $1.50...but YOU CANT BEAT THAT!!! Kelsi loved it...and yes those are stickers all over her face. She put them on in the car when I wasn't paying attention and didn't want to take them off.

We had a great time. Our flight was uneventful coming home. Kelsi was great (thanks for the prayers, mom). We had to circle around spokane for about an hour while they cleared the snow off the runway, but we made it in. I love my family and can't wait to see them again.

Thirty - what??

John turned the big 3-6 last week! Am I really married to a man in his "late" 30's? I'd prefer to say "mid-thirties"...I am sure he would too. John had a very busy birthday but said that he really enjoyed it. He went to work and came home early so we could do cake and presents (no pictures of that because our camera was MIA...so sad). Then we headed on down to Moscow for the BSU football game (or was it the UofI game?) I don't know...but it seemed like UofI never showed up.

We met up with our best friends the Evans and watched the Broncos embarrass the vandals. We saw a drunk get tackled by security, a fight almost break out in front of us and a throwing up penguin...which was also a little too close to us. After the game we went to dinner with our friends and then made the drive home while we read books to each other to pass the time. It actually was a really quick drive.

Kelsi and I are so thankful that John was born into this world! He is such a smart, handsome, funny, caring husband and father. We are blessed to have him in our daily lives. Here's to another 36, John!

Happy Halloween

I can't believe Halloween is over. October went by so fast, I still can't believe it. Kelsi and her classmates at Kindermusik were able to dress up this week. Kelsi is a cupcake and her friend is Dora! You may have seen pics of this little girl on our blog before...she has short curly blond hair so this wig cracks me up.

Some of her classmates...

Our little cupcake...

So cute!

I love this picture. I told Kelsi to go stand by Daddy and she ran over put her arm around him and said "CHEESE!" and then she was out of there. Such a poser.

Trick-or-treating at the church. We had a chili cook-off, games, scary maze and trick-or-treating of course!!

Hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween!

DC

John and I were able to go to DC for a few days this month. We left Kelsi with a good friend and with my MIL and while we missed her SOOO much, she didn't ask about us once. While that hurt my feelings a bit, I guess it is better than the opposite!

Well, our adventure started by heading to this hotel in Alexandria. It was nice on the outside...but a little dated on the inside....still..we had BEAUTIFUL views of DC especially at night. It was amazing.

The next morning we woke up early and got our comfortable shoes on and headed into the city.



We walked and walked and walked. My Capitol pictures are not uploading for some reason, so I will have to post those later. We started at the Capitol. We took a tour and then walked to the Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian (those pics aren't cooperating either). We then headed towards the national mall and here is a picture of the Washington Monument with the Capitol in the background.

The Lincoln memorial.

John and Abe.

View from the top of the Lincoln memorial.

We walked to the Vietnam memorial. The weather was PERFECT for sightseeing. Mid 70's and overcast. The sun came out for about 30 min and I was SO happy that it went away because it was pretty humid but bearable without the sun.

SO many names.

We went to the Natural History museum.

That's the Hope Diamond in case you are wondering.

We ate here. It is the oldest restaurant in DC, started in 1856. It was delicious.

The next day we headed here to our next hotel. We had a view of an electrical unit, but the hotel was AMAZING. I was originally planning on attending just two lectures (one on managing finances and one on staffing) but the lecturers were so captivating and energetic that I stayed for the whole series. It was very motivating and inspiring. It was great to meet with other people in our situation and we learned some great pearls that we hope to implement soon.



We also got to meet up with my cousin Chase and his wife for dinner our last night. We had a great time and I hope to upload the rest of our pics soon. Check back later!!

FALL FUN

I took Kelsi to the little farm down near our house where she could feed the animals. It's a cute little place and she loved it even more than she did last year. Kelsi ran straight for the wagons.

She pulled it around everywhere.

She got to feed this Horse a whole carrot.

There were chickens, turkeys, geese, rabbits, goats, sheep, pigs, ducks, dogs and cats.

We took our annual "sit on a pumpkin" pictures.

Kelsi and her friend Jane with their treasures.

These four kiddos are all in Kindermusik together.

Last year I couldn't get Kelsi to sit on these props. What a difference a year makes.

Jane got to pull Kelsi around while mom looked for her keys that she thought she had lost in the pumpkin patch. Turns out they were in her purse all along. Silly mommy.

Getaway

My friend's family has a wonderful condo up at Schweitzer mountain and she hosted a girls getaway last weekend. Below is the whole gang (minus Amy). It was so much fun. We all trickled in at different times on Friday and just hung out, talked and played games and stayed up WAAAAAAAAAYYYYY too late.

Saturday morning we took a morning walk/hike around the resort. It was so beautiful.
After our hike, we headed back to the condo and had a great lunch and then I had to excuse myself to make it back for the RS broadcast that I was singing in (well, the program before the program) :P With NO sleep and not knowing my solo I was pretty emotional and nearly had a nervous breakdown on the way home since I could NOT get one part of the song down. Miraculously it went well and I was in bed just after 8pm. It was awesome.

It was so beautiful. This was our view from the condo. Can't wait till next year!!