Monday, April 25, 2011

UTAH


Last week I was able to fly down to UT for Kaylee's graduation. When I arrived on Tuesday, this handsome guy picked me up from the airport!


I have missed his mommy very much. We worked together years ago when we both lived in Los Angeles and became great friends. We got to catch up for a bit, go to dinner and then get dessert.Sweet Tooth Fairy....I wasn't sure if it was going to be worth it...but it WAS. Moist and yummy.

Then Kaylee met up with us and took me to her apartment, where I stayed for the night. I got to re-live college life...in cramped quarters and with crazy girls not going to bed until all hours of the night (OK, I went to bed at 11pm...but they were LOUD!)




The boys apartments are across the quad...this cracked me up. Those kids are GENIUS! No wonder they got into BYU.


I loved seeing my parents. I miss them all the time.




We had a lot of laughs....and ate WAY too much food. I'm STILL not hungry.



I took Kaylee to get her FIRST pedicure. WHAT???!!! She's 22!!




Kaylee entertained us with her guitar skills and showed us all of her artwork. Can you say talent??




Graduation day was beautiful.



We took endless pictures, but we were proud of her!





We missed Tamar, but had a great time. I love my sisters!







3rd time's a charm!


6 months ago, I took Kelsi to Chuck E. Cheese's for the first time. It was a sad experience. She screamed, cried and clung to me the whole time. She wouldn't go near any of the rides, was kind of afraid of chuck e cheese and she kept telling me that she wanted to go home. 3 months later, I braved it again for another birthday party, and to my surprise, she sat on all the rides (except one) but wouldn't let me put any tokens in (baby steps). She was content to run around and play the games and sit on the rides. 3 months later (earlier this month) we went again, and WHAT A DIFFERENCE 6 months MAKE! Kelsi went on EVERY ride...even the dreaded helicopter ride (pic below). I was SO proud of her.


My friend Shannon taught her how to play air hockey.



and she had a great time!



Hooray!





Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Feb and March...a blur


Sadly, I don't remember much about Feb or Mar. I think I remember snow in Feb....and snow and then some rain in March. Something like that. I do remember that March was a hard month for me, especially the beginning. I was just down and I couldn't tell you why. I kept thinking of all my wonderful blessings...John, Kelsi, my testimony of my savior, my friends, my home, my health, etc, etc. I kept telling myself that my attitude is a CHOICE, but I just couldn't shake the blues. Even Zumba couldn't cheer me up. I confided in a couple friends who always know how to make me feel better. Another friend suggested Vitamin D....I bought some...started poppin' it and I don't know if my funk just passed or if there is some real truth to Vit D deficiency...but I feel SO much better. So...BA-BYE DUMB feb and march. BRING ON SPRING!!!!!

Monday, April 11, 2011

CATCH UP


A small tragedy has happened in our home. We found out recently that our laptop has a failing hard drive. Our programs on the computer starting shutting down one by one and a lot of my pictures have vanished. We took it in and the techies were able to recover a "few" of the pics, but basically everything labeled after the letter "H" is gone. Sadly, our wedding pictures, John's bday, Karina's bday, Kelsi, etc, etc are gone forever. Luckily, we have a few pics on our blogs and in books so they aren't lost forever. So, these next few posts won't be that fun to look at, but for journaling purposes I will still write them.


On January 25th I turned the big 3-0. I was not looking forward to it. I know all that hooey about age is just a number and I understand how I feel inside...but 30's???? Yuck.


Anyway, a few days before my bday while we were just getting up there was a knock on our door. John answered it to find a breakfast tray full of "apple jacks, apple cider, apple danishes and a card with a letter A on it that said "ABCDEFG since you're about to turn thirty HIJKLMNOP it's Happy Birthday from A to Z."


My amazing friends up here surprised me ALL day with things from every letter of the alphabet. I did have pictures of EVERYTHING they did, but sadly....they are gone.


That morning, I went to my regular zumba class and a few songs into the class (of 100 people), my zumba instructor pulled out a letter "B" and announced that the next song was dedicated to me for some major "BOOTIE" shaking.


After class I went to put on my boots and inside my boot was a big bottle of cranberry flavored water (for the letter C). Then when I picked Kelsi up from playcare, the worker handed me a box of "Ding Dongs" (guilty pleasure).


When I got to the truck, there was a writing all over the windows saying "Happy Birthday, Flirty Thirty, We love you, etc" and a note. The note read " Hope this does the trick, because "E" is for EMBARRASSING windows all decorated with a coloring stick." What I REALLY wished for is a picture of my friend Shawnte (who was 9 months pregnant at the time - she actually had her baby ON my actual bday) climbing into the back on the truck and writing all over it. I am sure it was HILARIOUS to everyone who saw.


When I got home from the gym, there was a BEAUTIFUL, HUGE bouquet of "F"lowers on my doorstep. Another note was attached that said "G"et ready to be picked up at 12 for lunch, we are going to..."H"erbies (a really good sandwich shop).


When my friends arrived, they handed me an envelope that said "I"nside you will find "J"ust enough coop coupons for a "K"elsi free "L"unch. We dropped off Kelsi at coop and headed to lunch. Once there, another friend handed me a big bag of "M&M's" (another guilty pleasure). When were leaving another friend handed me a envelope that said "N"otes "O"f a"P"preciation (aren't they clever?). Inside were notes from all my friends saying the sweetest things.


Then when they dropped me off I was handed another envelope that said "This is good for "Q"uiet time while you "R"ead with your new..... (I opened it to find a Kindle gift certificate).


Later that afternoon, a friend stopped by with a bath and body works gift set of "sweet pea" scents (my fav!).


Later, I received a text that said "T"ime for "u"nother (what a stretch) surprise! Right away, there was a knock on the door with the cutest little 2 yr old boy at the door with a big "V" taped to his head (his name is VANCE) and he was holding a "W"icked soundtrack CD.


Then another friend dropped by with a huge pack of Xtra gum that said "an Xtra surprise will show up around 4pm". At 4pm, my mia maids from "Y"oung Women, surprised me with value magnets that they had made for me and sang me happy birthday on my doorstep.


WHO WANTS TO GUESS WHAT Z WAS????? Here is the background....I knew it was going to be zumba. I mean, what else COULD it be??? I knew that my fav instructor threw private gigs and I had actually BEEN to a bday zumba private party before. The plan was that John told me we were going rock climbing for our date and that's why I had to wear exercise clothes, but as we were getting ready, my zumba instructor sent me a text that said she lost one of her contacts and she needed her fav doc to bring her one to parkside fitness (which is right by his office). Dead giveaway. So, we stopped at John's office, he picked up a fake contact and then we went to parkside, walked in and all my friends were there with a sign that said "Z" is for ZUMBA!! A few friends from Clarkston even drove up for the party! THAT was a true surprise. Then we had a fun night of dancing/exercising and then went back to a friends for cake. And....I have it all on video.



John later told me that he called my friends and said he wanted to do a zumba party for me. My friends were planning the A-Z thing so it would work perfectly. John said he tried to convince them to do it separate because he knew I would figure it out, but it was SOOOO fun. I LOVE MY HUSBAND and I LOVE my friends. I am VERY blessed.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

STORIES
Kelsi is FULL of energy and she is a true comedian. The other night, I was out and John came downstairs to see Kelsi watching "Horton" on her portable DVD player, only she was watching it through the mirror. He said that she watched the ENTIRE show like this. WHAT A SILLY GIRL!


A few other Kelsi stories:
Today after church, I asked her what she learned in Primary. She said they talked about all kinds of animals and Noah. I asked her what happened to Noah and she said, "He was on the boat with all the animals". ME: "And then what happened" Kelsi: And then the rain came, ME: And then what happened? Kelsi: And then the princesses came and helped Noah not be scared. THE END". HAHA! She is the best storyteller. I will have to get one of her many stories on video one of these days.
I almost typed another story...but I don't know if it is appropriate for this venue. Just ask me about it later if you want to know. It's pretty funny.
Now on a serious note....
Last week, I came down the stairs to see Kelsi flipping through the pages of my scriptures. I said, "Kelsi, what are you doing?" She said "I'm just reading scriptures about Jesus, do you want to read with me?". I sat down with her and she literally read (repeated after me) 12 verses in a row word for word. I kept asking her if we were done and she said, "No mommy, let's read some more!"
Today at church, during the sacrament Kelsi asked me what I was doing. I told her that I was thinking about Jesus. She then asked me for her "Reverent book" (one of the church books I bring for her to look at) and I heard her "reading" it. It went something liket his, "I think about Jesus, I think about flowers, I think about the earth, I think about Jesus and hugs". It made me think of the song I learned in Primary as a child, "....It shouldn't be hard even though I am small, to think about Jesus, not hard at all." While I have to tell her several times to please whisper and sit still during the meeting, or to get off the floor and sit like a big girl, there are several times, when I see her watching me and wanting to do what I am doing during the meeting...
"Mommy, what are you doing?"I am so blessed to be her mom. I hope I can be the example she needs. She is such a sweet girl.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Kelsi LOVES to pretend. She especially likes to play the "Big Bad Wolf" with John. I didn't get it in this video, but she will say in her "Big Bad Wolf" voice after she tries to blow his house down, "YOU BETTER RUUUUN!!!!!!" and then she chases after John with this SINISTER laugh. It's kind of scary....how does my sweet child make a laugh like that?

Monday, January 31, 2011

ZUMBA Blast!
I have been a Zumba fanatic for a year now and the fever is not going away! A few Spokane instructors held a ZUMBA blast at a nightclub in downtown Spokane. So my zumba instructor and 5 friends drove down and had an AMAZING time. 2 hours of zumba and I was dripping with sweat and in need of some food...but it was awesome.

A photographer from ZLife magazine was there and I happened to be in a lot of the pics. It was a TINY nightclub and 107 of us zumba crazies packed the house.












I won a door prize for being the only one wearing the new "party hearty" zumba shirt which supports the AHA. Too bad my door prize was a gift cert to the bar. WATERS ALL AROUND!! LOL!




ALSO - John threw me a SURPRISE Zumba party for my 30th bday last week! More on that once I get all the pics loaded!






Friday, January 28, 2011

My new gig

I've been looking for a hobby/way to bring in a little extra cash for awhile now. Last spring/summer, my friend introduced me to airbrush tanning....it is addicting and just makes me feel sooo good especially during the dreary months of no sun in the northwest. I don't do tanning beds...and the summer is short here.....so...I found myself wondering how the woman that tanned me got started. I found out from a close friend that her sister was a certified tan technician in Las Vegas and that I should look into it. I did....but was hesitant...long story short...I decided to go for it and have now been certified for just over 3 weeks. It is a lot of fun and I am so glad that I went for it.

Here's my tent!! I do this out of my house and also travel to others houses for tanning parties (which are my favorite - they are so fun!)


I have tanned about 30 people in the last 3 weeks and always forget to do before and afters...but here is ONE after picture that I took of these lovely ladies!

and....me next to my white little daughter. HAHA!

Visit my website at: www.endlessglow.com/KarinaCalderwood for more information! You can even purchase products from the website. Flawless faces is THE best (solution comes in a small hairspray bottle...WAY better than makeup!)
What a fun adventure!!! I am loving it.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

SANTA'S HERE!!!
We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and that you were able to share this season with those you love. We also hope that you felt the spirit of Christ in your Christmas.
Kelsi "got it" this year. It was so fun to see the magic in her eyes. She understood that Santa Claus was coming to bring her presents if she was good (we used this as a threat on a almost daily basis - and it worked). On Christmas morning, I heard her quietly playing in her room. I opened her door and said "MERRY CHRISTMAS!!" She got very excited, jumped out of her bed and yelled "Santa's here! Santa's here!" and made a mad dash for downstairs! This picture totally captures pure joy.

As she started downstairs, she asked "Where is he?" We explained to her that he just left her presents because he had to visit SO many children. This is a pic of her pointing to her pillow pet and saying "HE BROUGHT ME A LADYBUG!!!". She was THRILLED! She has been wanting a ladybug pillow pet for awhile and has been throwing mini tantrums (some full-on) whenever she sees one in the stores and I tell her that I am not buying it. Santa was nice enough to bring her one instead. She continues to say that it is her favorite gift.

She ran downstairs, looked at her presents and then ran at me saying "I'm SOOO happy!!"

I put her down and she jumped at John. The moment was perfect.



She loves her ladybug.



This is another Santa gift. My little diva loves to sing and this toy is probably a close second to being her fav.



Grandma and Grandpa C arrived shortly thereafter and we finished opening presents with them.


We feel blessed to live close to family. We have started a tradition for the past two years that Grandma and Grandpa C come over for presents and for a breakfast feast.



Merry Christmas to me! John fed my inner nerd by giving me a kindle so we can save room on our bookshelf.




Kelsi is SPOILED. But...she's an only child and I can't stop myself. December is a big month for her.



Santa also brought her some dress up clothes. She looks so darling. She says "Mom, I turned into a PRINCESS!" (On a side note - we took Kelsi to see "Tangled" on Christmas eve and she loved it...after she realized that the movie theater wasn't "scary")



My favorite thing at Christmas time....





Christmas evening, we went to John's sisters house for dinner.





The cousins opening up gifts.



Kelsi didn't know that she should have asked Santa for a remote control car. She played with her cousin Josh's' car and was in heaven.



On Christmas Adam (the night before Christmas Eve - for those a little slow), we got a early Christmas surprise from the Fire department. They brought Santa and handed out candy canes to all the kids in the neighborhood. They turned on their sirens and honked...we were trying to figure out what was going on and SO glad that we looked outside. Kelsi thought it was pretty cool.



I missed my family in California this Christmas, but am so thankful to have family so near. We feel very blessed and wish everyone a happy, safe and blessed new year!














Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Pre-Christmas dump
Christmas in Coeur d'Alene
Kelsi was a great helper with decorating the Christmas tree. She put all the red bulbs in one spot, and I loved it.
Kelsi only agreed to sit on Santa's lap at the very end of our ward's Christmas party when she brought her craft that she made to me and I told her to go show Santa. However, we could not get her to smile or take her hands away from her face. Cute line of the night was when Kelsi asked "Where is Santa's sleigh?" I told her it must be outside and she replied " I want to go pet his deer!" What a silly girl.
We took Kelsi to the resort to walk the boardwalk where they light up a number of Christmas light displays.




Ugly sweater parties...





Don't you love John's Bill Cosby sweater?





Hilarious




Time with friends...




And of course, CRAFTS! We had a craft week in October so luckily, all the crafts were finished or started then so I didn't have to worry about them now. BUT it was the worst week of the year. Too much stress for me. There are more, but some are gifts...so...too bad.




I love vinyl. After using a cricut...I want one.




Lucily, I had a lot of scraps from Kelsi's bed, so I didn't have to purchase my lumber.














Merry Christmas to all!












Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Stats


My big girl. Her official 3 year old stats are:
Height: 41 inches - OFF THE CHARTS
Weight: 38.5 lbs - 95%
Looks like she will be in the back row of all her school pictures!