Colton is 5!

For journaling purposes, I am still trying to play catch up!


Colton turned five on August 30th. I can hardly believe it has been five years since we welcomed this little boy, as the first child, into our home. He can be very sensitive and sweet. He loves to snuggle with me for naptime, or before going to bed. He tries hard to please his sister, and is always telling me how cute she is. He has a great imagination, and is very inquisitive. We love how his energy always keeps us on our toes. There is never a dull moment with Colton around! We love you Colton!

We first celebrated with my family at my parent's house for a Sunday night get together. Jamie's son, Bryan, turned 7 on the 27th, so we had a joint celebration. We had dinner, cake & ice cream, and opened gifts. They each got their own little cake, courtesy of Jamie. Of course, Colton's was a train cake - his favorite ride at Disneyland is the train the goes around the park! Bryan had an army cake.

The next day, we went with my family to Makutu's Island in Chandler. It is a great indoor treehouse/playground, with gigantic slides, bridges, zip lines, etc. Kids and adults can climb and play. There is this one huge covered slide that is super steep, that even makes me a little nervous to go down, but it is fun. The kids had a lot of fun chasing each other through the treehouse, and racing each other down the slides. Colton scraped and bloodied his leg all the way from his knee, down to his ankle on a piece of grip tape as he was climbing a ladder. On the ride home he got this sad look on his face and said, "I never want to go there again. That place just beats me up." After we talked a little, he decided he did have a lot of fun, and would want to go back sometime. Jamie's kids got friction burns on one of the slides on a previous visit, and were prepared to come in jeans and turtlenecks. Jamie convinced them otherwise, being that it was August!



Thursday was his actual birthday and we had Nate's family over to our house. We did the same old dinner, cake and ice cream, and presents. This time Colton had a Spiderman cake. We used strawberry frosting and we tried to use food coloring to make the frosting red instead of light pink, but it turned out bright pink instead. Colton does ask me on occasion if it is okay if he likes the color pink, so he didn't mind the bright pink Spiderman cake. We enjoyed the night.

Colton had his 5 year well check with Dr. Chang. Health wise, everything was looking good. These are his stats: Height 43 inches (5oth percentile), Weight 37.8 pounds (25th percentile) and 20/40 vision. He is such a skinny little boy! He was a GIGANTIC baby though. Supposedly if he continues on this growth curve, the doctor says he will be 5'10" and 140 pounds as an adult. Sounds like he'll be just as skinny as his dad was in high school! We'll have to see if it really is true!

Weekend in Pine

Nate's family (minus 1 sister-in-law Becca, and his brother John's family who live in Germany/Iraq.)
Nate, brother Mike, great uncle Don, and brother Dan

The first weekend in Oct. we were able to spend a day up in Pine, AZ at Nate's grandparents house. His grandparents have both passed away, but the family still enjoys going up there and having fun together. The rest of Nate's family went up on Friday night, but we had soccer games and stuff to do around the house on Sat., so we didn't drive up until Sunday. It was general conference weekend, so we watched the Sun. morning session, and then drove up north between sessions. We had a great dinner up there. The kids had fun playing at the park down the street and roasting marshmallows with their aunt Becca (although they didn't care to eat the cooked ones!). Colton's highlight of the trip was shooting his uncle Dan's BB gun, with his cousins Kyle and Zach. Nate's great uncle Don, and his wife Carolyn, live in Payson and also spent the day with us. It was a nice time and we enjoyed being able to spend time with family.

Halloween Festivities

Colton: Red Power Ranger, Callie: JoJo (from JoJo's Circus)
Callie, Colton & Jamie's kids: Morgan, Dylan, & Bryan

This past Saturday was our ward Trunk or Treat. I had to work, but Nate was a good sport and took the kids. They said they had fun. I guess Colton discovered that he doesn't like cotton candy - kind of crazy because he loves anything with sugar in it. Nate said several comments were made about how cute Callie was (and of course how cool Colton looked). After the trunk or treat they headed over to a party Nate's brother, Dan was having. Colton said they watched the Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin show. He also had fun trying to eat a donut off of a string, with no hands. Nate said it was quite the entertainment. Between the two events, they had a fun filled night.

Monday we all went over to my parents house. We had pizza, took pictures of the kids in their costumes, and made and decorated sugar cookies. The kids seemed to enjoy the night. They love spending time with their cousins.

Tuesday, Colton's class rode the bus (his first time, he was so excited!) to a retirement home. They wore their costumes, sang songs for the residents, and passed out candy. He told me his favorite man at the retirement home was one who played the harmonica. He thought that was really neat. He also paraded around the school in his costume. He specifically asked his teacher to go to his "grandma's classroom". My mom was more than happy to let them parade through her classroom and sing "5 little pumpkins". He loves being at school with his grandma and great aunt!

Tonight, we are actually staying in our neighborhood, which is a first. Usually our past Halloween's have been spent trying to make it around to all the grandparents and my aunts houses, so they can see the kids in their costumes. This year though, they have already seen the kids dressed up, so we are going to be staying home. I guess one of us will stay home and pass out candy, while the other takes the kids trick or treating. Sounds like fun to me!

Callie - a.k.a. Busybody

Callie has been quite the little busybody over the last day. Last night she had taken my oven mitts, had them on her hands, and was calling them her "puppets". I was okay with this. Then the next thing I know, I look over at her, and this is what I see:

I just started laughing. I guess her feet were chilly or something! She had just had a bath so her feet were pretty clean, however my tile floor is a different story. I think I am going to be investing in new oven mitts very soon. (Don't mind that the mitts themselves were already filthy - I have been due for a new pair for a while now:)

This morning I was in shower and Callie comes in crying and saying, "nose, nose." She can't stand to have the slightest little booger in her nose, or be sniffly at all. I knew she needed a kleenex, but this was a problem because we were the only two at home, and I was in the shower. I proceed to tell her to get "a little piece of toilet paper" to wipe her nose. She heads to the TP, and a minute or so later, she so proudly says, "I did it! I did it mom!" She goes off on her merry way. I finish my shower and step out to discover this:

I couldn't get too upset with her, since I had told her to do it - and she was so proud of herself for making her nose feel better. (Note the empty toilet paper roll in the background. Disregard the dirty shower door!)

Callie has such a tender heart. She is always saying, "Oh, thank you mommy!" for things that I don't even expect her to say thank you for - like combing her hair, or putting a new shirt on her, etc. Neither of my kids have ever climbed out of their crib, which still amazes me because they both love to climb. I guess it never occured to them to try to get out of their crib. Well, Nate has been wanting to change Callie's crib over to a toddler bed for quite a while. I have been resisting because that means she'll have freedom - being able to get out of bed whenever she wants. (I mostly feared naptime.) However, we took the plunge a few weeks ago and she LOVES her new big girl bed! She still has been sleeping good at night (has yet to come out in the middle of the night!) and will still just go lay down in her bed and fall asleep at naptime. What a good little girl! She absolutely loves stuffed animals. Everyday she sleeps with a dog, horse, bunny, Pooh bear, Mickey, 2 sheep she calls "mommy" and "daddy", a burp cloth, and 1 or 2 blankets. I don't know how she even fits or has room to sleep with all those crammed into her little bed. She takes inventory every time she is going to sleep and definitely lets you know if something is missing. I guess it just helps her feel secure in her bed. What a silly litle girl she is!

Colton's School

Okay. I know what you all were thinking. I must have a dead blog. However, I have just been overwhelmed by the fact, that for journaling purposes, I need to do several months worth of blogging. I am going to skip to the present time, and sometime I may actually go back and blog about our adventurous summer.

Colton started an early learner's kindergarten back in August and loves it. The program is through Mesa Public Schools and is specifically for kids who have summer birthdays, or who barely miss the cut off for kindergarten but turn 5 by Dec. 31st. The kids do kindergarten curriculum and use the kindergarten report card, but the way they learn the material is different. They do more hands on activities than paper and pencil activities like a traditional classroom. Next year I plan on having him repeat and do a full day of kindergarten at the school by our house. Right now, he actually has a boundary exception to school in Mesa, where my mom is a 2nd grade teacher, so he loves being able to see his grandma every day before school. My aunt also is a teacher there, so he also gets to see her too! He has a great teacher and is enjoying making new friends. Colton is my active child, so the first few weeks we had some behavioral issues with burping every day at snack time and an occasional spitting or throwing sand incident. I think we are past that stage now though. He really isn't a terrible child, he actually is very sweet. He just tries to test his limits though. I tried to make Colton burp on command to see if that is what he was doing at snack time. He couldn't burp on command though, and told me, "Mom, you just don't understand. It is just my body." He has been known to tell his teacher the same thing. However, his burping starts the giggling at snack time and then other kids burp too. I did find that if he gulps down water, he will accidentally burp. So, we have had the discussion on just slowly drinking his water. I guess it really is just his body though! My Colton is such a true boy, and I love him for it!

Catch up time! All about Colton

I only get around to blogging about once a month, so this is my catch up post.

Colton loved going on the fathers and sons campout. They went to a campground about 15 miles east of Payson and Nate said it was a pretty nice area. I think the highlight of the trip was being able to roast his hot dog and marshmallows over the fire.


Mother's day was great. We celebrated a week early, due to the fact that I worked on the actual Mother's Day. I was able to sneak in a quick nap that day, while Nate & Colton baked me some cookies! Yum! I also was given a beautiful bouquet of tulips (they are my absolute favorite). That night, my whole family went over to my parents house for Sunday dinner and had a nice time. My little sis Chelsea compiled a bunch of pictures of my mom from all of us girls, and made a cute DVD for her that we watched that night. Of course she loved it. It's been a few weeks since then, and my kids still like to pop it in our DVD player occasionally and laugh at silly pictures of grandma! My Grandma Clement was also able to be there. We enjoy the times that we are able to spend with her also.


Colton had a mom's day at school. I had worked the night before, and had to go get his carseat from the babysitter before I went. I arrived about 5 minutes late, and Colton said, "Mom, I thought you would NEVER get here!" I was glad that I was able to spend some time with just the two of us. The kids sang a bunch of mom songs. Colton was able to style my hair with clips, headbands, etc. and then we had a picture taken of it. We also made a card and a cookie flower bouquet. When his teacher interviewed Colton about me, he said that I am 8 yrs. old, weigh 35 lbs. (wow, I'm skinny!), my favorite food is also lettuce (like Nate's, you would think that I must eat tons of salads, but I don't), and that my favorite hobby is walking (you would also think I love to walk on my treadmill). I interpret that as, he wishes I was younger and skinnier, and that I ate healthier and exercised more often :) I need to start living up to his perceptions of me!

Colton graduated from preschool this week. He looked so cute in his little yellow cap and gown! They marched in to the library were the ceremony was held, to the graduation music (Is it Pomp & Circumstance, or am I way off?) Then they sang a bunch of preschool type songs, ABC's, Color songs, America the Beautiful, etc. At the end, his teacher handed out candy bar awards to each child. Colton ended up with the PayDay award "for the student that loved counting money" and for always asking during show and tell, "how much did it cost?" His class would hide the show and tell item in a pillowcase and the other students would try to guess what it is. The teacher would hand out these little cards to each student that would prompt them to ask a specific question, like is it hard, is it soft, does it fly, what color is it etc. so each show and tell they would ask the same questions. Well, come to find out, no matter what card Colton would be holding, he would always ask, "How much did it cost?" (There wasn't even a card that asked that!) After finding this out, I questioned him about it, and asked it he knew how much the item cost, would he be able to better guess what it was. He firmly replied, "yes, like did it cost 4 dollars or 5 dollars or 80 dollars!" I guess he thinks he knows what different items cost. My dad and sister Ashley were also able to attend the graduation which made Colton very happy. We saw my dad later that evening and he said that he one complaint about the graduation: he had one of the songs stuck in his head all day. The song repeated the same over and over and over. Colton absolutely loved his preschool teacher, Mrs Snider. She was a wonderful teacher and he really has learned a lot and matured this year in school. Congrats Colton! The last day of school he had a field trip to Bounce U in Gilbert and had a blast.

Colton & Papa Colton & aunt Ashley Colton & his teacher Colton & his friend Nolan

One funny note: We came across this picture today. This was taken at the Newport Beach Temple when my cousin was married last summer. Our attempt at a family picture failed, as the wind blew up my skirt. Colton saw this today and said, "Mom, it looks like you tooted in that picture!" Referring to my skirt. What else could I do but laugh and laugh when he said that!

I spent all this time, updating my blog. I know I saved it, but somehow I managed to lose it all. I guess my story is somewhere in cyberspace! What a waste of time!

April has been a busy month! We have had 3 birthdays in the family, Easter, and father's day at Colton's school. Nate and Colton are headed to our ward's father and son campout this weekend. I don't know who is more excited to go, Nate or Colton.

We had a lot of fun with Easter this year. We colored our eggs while Callie was sleeping, which ended up not being such a good idea. After the Easter Bunny hid the eggs, we went out to find them. Colton was really into it, running around and collecting as many eggs as he could. We had to remind him to save the easy ones for his sister! Callie didn't care for finding the eggs at all. She kept telling me the eggs were "dirty" and would point to them and want me to pick them up for her. I would even set her basket down right next to the egg to make it easy for her, but she never picked up even one egg. My theory is, that she didn't see us coloring the eggs, and that is why she thought they were all dirty. She has this weird phobia of grass though, so it could have been that too. It still ended being a nice day, and I was actually able to get the 2 kids together, both smiling in one picture.

Colton had a FUDGE (friends, uncles, dads, grandpas, etc.) day at school which Nate and my dad (Colton's papa) were able to attend. They sang songs, put shaving cream on the dad's and shaved them with a popsicle stick, made cards, and ate ice cream sundaes. Colton thought it was absolutely great! They gave the dads a few momentos too, that were very nice. The best one was a card. They interviewed Colton and asked him questions about Nate. I found out that Nate is 2 years old, 100 pounds, has blue eyes and black hair, his favorite food is lettuce, and his best friend is his boss at work. It was quite a cute card with all the info on it.




HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY CALLIE!

I can't believe she is already 2! These past two years have flown by! We feel so blessed to have her in our family. She brings such a sweet spirit into our home. Colton said last night (out of the blue) "I have the best sister in the whole wide world!" It was very cute, and I think he truly believes it. (I will admit that they were fighting about 2 minutes after he said that.) Colton and Callie have always had a special bond. We were remembering the other day, when Nate brought Callie and I home from the hospital and took me to my parents house to pick up Colton. Colton held Callie (and it wasn't his first time to do so) and he looked at her and got a huge grin on his face and said, "She's beautiful." They love each other so much.

We celebrated the birthday festivities this last weekend with both families. Saturday was supposed to be a party at Freestone park with Nate's family. However, those of you from the valley know Saturday was unusually cold for this time of year. Around noon the temp outside was 58 degrees, so we scrapped the park idea and instead just had the party at our house. It was a nice time, even though we were missing a few family members. I was suprised that Callie knew how to blow out the candles on her cake. Staying true to her girly girl image, she blew them out with a very soft blow. Her grandma bishop just returned from visiting my brother-in-law's family in Germany and brought her a shirt that says "Girly". It is perfect for her. Later that day, when it warmed up outside, our little family went to Freestone park and rode the train and other rides. The kids enjoyed it. Sunday night we had my family over for dinner and party. We enjoyed more cake, ice cream and presents. It was a nice time to be able to spend the weekend surrounded by family. Today is Callie's real birthday. Colton said, "oh my gosh, we aren't going to have another party, are we?" when he found out today is her birthday. To his dismay, no we are not having another party. We will just quietly be celebrating by ourselves at home this evening.

The beginning of our blog

Summer Driggs (Decker) has inspired us to begin our own blog, in order to keep in touch with our friends and family. Nate has said that this can be my journal, saying that I will probably keep this more up to date than my actual journal. I can't argue too much with him about that.

This is how our story began:

I went on a date with a guy from MCC and he introduced me to his friends. Through those friends, I met more and more people, eventually having the opportunity to meet Nate. I wanted to get to know Nate a little better. One of my friends mentioned this to him, but he said he was at a time in his life where he didn't really want to date anyone. Needless to say, a few days later we had our first date and the rest is history from there. We were engaged about 3 months later, and married 3 months after that in the Mesa Arizona Temple in August 1998.

After we both finished college, we started our family. Both being Arizona natives, we have remained in east Mesa and enjoy being close to our families. We can't imagine ever living anywhere other than Mesa. Even though we haven't been good about keeping in touch with our friends, we do enjoy occasionally running into our friends at the movies, restaurants, etc. We feel blessed to be able to have both found jobs here in Mesa.

Nate is a custom cabinet designer currently working for Ellis Woods. They produce high end custom cabinets and furniture. They recently relocated their office near Falcon Field which has drastically reduced his commute. He loves his job. The rest of Nate's time is spent serving as a counselor in the Elder's Quorum Presidency. This is a new calling for him, within the last few months, and he is enjoying getting to work with the men in the ward. Prior to this he was the Cubmaster for a few years. This is a nice change for him.

I spend most of my time with our two kids. I think I must have the 2 cutest kids in the world. They definitely keep me busy, but it makes it all worth it to hear them say that they love me. I also continue to work every other weekend at the hospital. I enjoy being able to get out on socialize with other adults occasionally. The schedule works great for my family, and I can't complain when I only work 3 days, and then I get 11 days off. Nate does a great job with the kids on those weekends. I couldn't ask for a better husband! I really enjoy the work that I do. I currently am teaching the CTR-5 class in primary, which makes me Colton's teacher. He really enjoys this and so do I.

Colton is our energetic 4 1/2 year old. He is very curious, observant and has an excellent memory. He also is a climber. He has been able to climb, ever since he began to walk. He was probably 13-14 months when I one day saw him standing in the window sill behind our couch, grinning from ear to ear. Another time, shortly after I had Callie, I came out to find him sitting on top of the refrigerator (he was 2 1/2). He is currently in a preschool program through Gilbert Public Schools and enjoys every minute of it. He loves learning nursery rhymes at school, and can learn them very quickly. However, he has not become interested in letters yet, and so he can identify the letters in his name and write his name, and that's about it. It all is a matter of choice for him. His favorite part of the school day is definitely recess. He is looking forward to kindergarten this fall. An example of his good memory: I was at my parents house a few months ago and Colton said, "Grandma, I know where your blue dog leash is." We were all a little surprised, because this was not the topic of conversation. My parents dog had passed away a year prior to this, and they had bought another dog lease when Midnight was still alive, unable to find the blue leash (we are talking it had been missing for probably 2 years). Anyways, Colton said "I know where I put it," and proceeded to walk over to a decorative bird house my mom had, and said it was inside. Needless to say, it was inside and it was quite the task to get out, for he had stuffed the entire dog leash inside the little tiny hole in the birdhouse. It always amazes me what a 2 year old can think of to do. We love our "Sunshine" Colton, his beautiful brown eyes, and his snuggles.

Our little girl, Callie, will be turning 2 next month. It is so hard for me to believe that she is already going to be 2. We definitely see the differences in boys and girls. She loves to have bows in her hair, jewelry and sunglasses on, wearing everybody elses shoes, and can't stand to have her hands dirty. (My dad says that is my fault - I guess it is the nurse in me!) She is our little "sweetheart". She loves to give hugs and kisses. I took her a while to begin talking, but now she can say anything she wants and has become quite the little chatterbox. She will sit there for several minutes, just chatting with herself. One of her new favorite sayings is "Callie do it." She is definitely becoming very independent. We are amazed at some of the grown up things she already does, but she is just trying to keep up with her brother. They love each other so much and do pretty good playing together, most of the time. She calls him "Coco" and he calls her "Sis". Of course we think she is just adorable. She has an infectious smile. We have a hard time catching her smile on camera though. Every time she sees the camera she says "Cheese" and squints and scrunches her face all up, or she sticks her fingers in her mouth. Gotta love kids! We love both of our kids so much and love their individual personalities.

We feel blessed for each day we get to spend together as a family, creating memories together. One of my favorite times is family vacations, which we typically do with my family. It can be stressful at times, with 14 people, but it is a lot of fun. Our most recent outing was to Maui during spring break. Of course getting to Hawaii was the most difficult part. The day we left, Colton woke up with vomiting and diarrhea. Then when we got on the plane, somebody else was sitting in our assigned seats, that they had also been assigned to, and they had overbooked the flight by 20 seats. After a few tears, we did get on the flight, but the vomiting and diarrhea, made it an extra long flight. Even though it rained quite a bit, the rest of the vacation was great and it was just amazing to be in Hawaii. We really had a good time. Some of the pictures are from our trip.

Well here goes my first posting. I promise all my postings won't be this long!