So what have the Call's been up to the last month and a half?

Well, there was that little holiday called CHRISTMAS, which was wonderful. I'm only including a few photos because dangit, this will certainly end up a long post as it is :) Just trust that the kiddos were merry and it was a happy family day. A fantastic end to 2010...


Clara, all smiles :)

Caleb and his BYU gear

Jonah, despite the way it may look in this picture, was THRILLED to get his very own ipod. That boy loves his music!

Eli

Abram and Grandpa

Clara HATES sharing Daddy's lap with Isabelle. Usually some sort of battle ensues. Chris just eats it up :)

Zak

Mom and Clara

These are the sibling gifts to eachother. It's always a secret who the kids get, then everyone guesses after they open the gift. Nobody guessed right this year.

We spent New Year's Eve with the Bouck's. What fun! We played the Jelly Belly game where there are two jelly beans that look exactly alike - one is a yummy flavor, and one is a disgusting flavor (vomit, ear wax, dog poo...). You play with a partner and each grab one hoping yours is the good flavor :) SO MUCH FUN. The kids were hilarious.


Jonah and Chris

Zak and Lucy (oh how Lucy loves Zak). I LOVE this picture :)

Eli and Nick

Baylee and Isabelle


We spent New Year's Day with all of the Call's, the Whitings, and the Bouck's. After all, they are pretty much family, too.




Caleb did his science fair project. What can you do to an onion to keep your eyes from watering when you chop it? Yeah, that was my idea seeing as how I can't chop an onion without tearing up like crazy. Anyway, for those of you that are curious...soaking the onion in cold water actually does help? Who knew?!




Caleb and his best friend, Eric, made a Hobbit movie for English. Caleb is a stuffed Bilbo and Eric is Gollum. There was a ton of "parent" work involved in this project. After spending quite a few hours on it one Saturday, Caleb says, "I'm sure glad we are doing the movie instead of just doing a poster". WHAT?! YOU COULD HAVE DONE A POSTER?!!! I'm thinking he wished he'd kept that tidbit of information to himself :)




And this is the month where Clara decided she will only dress in either a church dress, or beautiful dress-ups. Period. If we put her in pants, she has a TANTRUM that makes it completely not worth the effort. Besides, one second later, she strips down and puts on a dress regardless of what I have to say about it. So, I've given up even trying and just let her wear those lovely dresses.





My fiesty, but oh-so-adorable Eli turned SIX in January. We had a Scooby Doo party and celebrated with lots of his friends. I'm telling you what, when this boy turns on the charm, he is a pure delight. May age six bring good things Eli's way.





Lots and lots of sickness. Blah. Stomach flu, fever, colds, coughs, sleeping all day, no appetite, and strep throat. We've had some miserable days and nights. However, that being said, we are thankful these are things that only last a couple of days!


sick Clara and Chris


We finally had a few sunny days so I built the kids some tiny sledding hills in our front yard to pass some time OUTDOORS! Hooray for the sunshine!! It did our bodies and minds some good, that's for sure. I don't think I've stepped foot outside in months for longer than three seconds before this week.


Isabelle

Jonah

Eli

Christmas coming, but until then...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
A stinking cute picture to start off 2010.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the New Year. I love making new goals and starting fresh and resolving to have a fantastic year. I always feel hopeful and excited for things to come!!

And dangit, 2010 shall be amazing. I will make it so.

I will do a Christmas break post soon. No time, no time, never enough time. Until then...!

Gingerbread Houses

We had a great time making our little graham cracker gingerbread houses. Two nights in a row (after making the houses), Abram got into trouble for who-knows-what and was told he couldn't have dessert. Well, both nights we found him with little sneaky fingers - eating as many candies off the houses before he got caught :) He certainly DID end up with dessert, and a few angry siblings. But I am pretty sure he thought it was worth it!


Caleb who thinks he is too awesome for pictures.


Isabelle


Jonah, who took the longest and decorated his with great care


Elijah


Abram


Cute Clara

Dance!

We spent the entire month of October gearing up for some major dance events. First, we had "Art with Heart", a benefit concert for Shriner's Hospital that Dance Impressions does every year. It is an amazing show for a great cause.
Just a few days after that, there was a big competition and convention classes at the Salt Palace. Isabelle's team rocked it and won first place in every category. Their "Bugle Boy" dance really stole the show.


The winning team!! Way to go!!


Belle's other dance, which also won first in everything, "Big and Bad". This is a larger group dance.


Clara spent the day at the Salt Palace with us, which was fun. She was a delight and made everyone smile :)


She takes her sister down!


Clara absolutely loved the costumes and would go up and "feel" all of the girls skirts :)

I had to throw this picture in. Most of Belle's team went to "Thriller" this year together and really enjoyed the show. However, the girls were geniunely freaked out by these "zombies". A few of them (Isabelle included) were actually trembling by the time we got to our seats. It was really funny! And see that boy in her class, well, he screams like a girl :)

Silver Lakes

In early October, we went up to Brighton to do some hiking at the Silver Lakes Trail with our great friends, the William's! I was kind of expecting lovely fall leaves, but to my surprise we were greeted with snow. It was SO GORGEOUS. Several times I stopped just to take a deep breath because it smelled just like Christmas. I would really like to try the hike in the summer because we never made it to the lakes, which I hear are beautiful.

All the kids were great troopers, but on the way down, Eli had a FIT. He was freezing and wanted to be held and just could not be pleased. So we had the pleasure of listening to him cry the entire hour back down the mountain.

Also, at the trailhead, the path follows a very small lake. It is a wooden path, surrounded by swampland. Well, my poor Jonah tripped over himself and fell right smack into the mossy, muddy water. See the picture at the bottom :) Even his UNDERWEAR were full of mud. I'm sure it made for a comfortable ride home!

All in all, a great time. I LOVE being outdoors!!


All of the kiddos

Chris, Britt, Kristi, Jason

Clara, Chris, Brittany, Abram

Clara

Clara

Caleb and Zak

Abram and Hailey

Isabelle and Whitney

Poor soaked Jonah (hehehe)

Isabelle

Beautiful Isabelle...
For dance we have to do a photo shoot with Hazen Photography. They do hair and makeup (yes, makeup, even for the tiny girls) and make you look like a supermodel. It's fun for one day. However, these pictures are stinking EXPENSIVE! So, with great sadness, I only bought the team photo this year and just came home and took my own pictures. Not professional, but still beautiful!