New Years Eve

Today Ava and I went to Amanda's house to visit her and the kids! It was so much fun! Ava loves playing with her boys and someday she'll love playing with Lucy too. It was funny to see Ava try to "play" with Lucy. Since she Lucy is 3 1/2 months and Ava is 9 1/2 months it didn't work too well but someday that age difference will seem like nothing. Ava and Noah have a little thing going on though, so hopefully Lucy doesn't mind if Ava dates her brother. We are planning their wedding already :)

After the play date Dan and I went and got dinner at Texas Roadhouse (our favorite) and celebrated what a wonderful year we have had. It certainly had its ups and downs. I have found as the good in my life gets even more precious and sweet the down points get even worse and lonesome but that's life. We take the good with the bad. Someone told me recently that life is rather fragile. That is how our creator made it and intended it to be. The idea of life being fragile just got me mad but after thinking about it, because of the uncertainty we can cherish each moment. Thats one thing I tried to live by this year, live each moment to the fullest because each moment is a blessing.

Playdates

These little girlfriends are just 35 hours apart age difference (huge size difference though). We love getting together with Chloe when we are in town!I love my friend and their cute little boys :) (or as I call them, all of Ava's boyfriends) These are all of Ava and Shawn (Ava is 2 weeks older than Shawn)

I love babies

Ava and Marley :) Marley is 10 days older than Ava and they are such cute little friends. They play really well together! They both growl and like to chew on each other. Today we caught Ava chewing on Marley's toes (yes Ava loves feet) and Marley trying to eat Ava's bow!

Ava Shawn and Jaxon

I looked over at Lonna on Sunday while she was playing with Jaxon during church and then looked in front of her and saw Christina sitting there with Shawn in his car seat and thought "when the heck did we become moms!" Seems like yesterday we were in high school chasing boys haha funny thing is Lonna and Christina married the boys they were chasing after! :)

Anyway, I love getting together with these 2 momma's. Its hard to believe that at one point we were all pregnant at the same time with these babies! But lo and behold we have made it and these cuties are here. It was really fun to go throughout the entire pregnancy with Christina. She was due exactly 3 weeks after me (well 4 weeks after my c-section date). Turns out she had Shawn a week and a half early so Ava and Shawn are only 2 1/2 weeks apart!

So here's the break down:
Jaxon is just over 7 1/2 months and 23 pounds
Ava is 1 1/2 months and probably 13 pounds
Shawn is almost 1 month and (my guess b/c his dr apt is Monday) 10 pounds

Ava and Chloe

March 19th

April 19th

Here are Ava and Chloe! They are so adorable! Here's some fun facts about these 2 girls! Chloe is the daughter of my friend Tera. Tera and I met and we had no idea that we went to the same doctor's office however had different doctors. I was due on March 21st and Tera was due on March 23rd. I had a scheduled c-section all along for the 15th and since Chloe was breech she was scheduled finally scheduled for one on the 16th.

We never thought we would both make it to our c-sections. Well we did! However Tera went in and they found out Chloe had flipped so they induced her. She ended up needing an emergency c-section after being induced so she had Chloe 35 hours after Ava was born on March 17th! Oh and her doctor was scheduled to do the original c-section but since it was an emergency one the on call doctor did it who happened to be MY doctor! So Ava and Chloe were both delivered by Dr. Alperin (who I love, he's so sweet).

Anyway it was really nice to have Tera there in the hospital with us and it was nice to be able to take short walks down the hall to their room and vice versa! Its nice for Ava to have a little girlfriend and I can't wait to see them interact with one another. Oh and Chloe was 6lbs 4oz when she was born, Ava 7lbs 9oz, now Chloe is just over 8lbs and Ava is close to 11lbs! I hope Ava's not a bully because she is bigger :)

Christina's Shower

We celebrated Christina's baby boy who is due in April today! It was a fun day, I am exhausted!

Saturday Fun

I wish I had taken pictures but my tired self didn't remove camera from purse (oh but I stole this one that Romi took of Brindy and I)! I had so much fun going to Brindy's baby shower! She is having a little boy in a few weeks! I was so happy I got to see some of my old friends there!
After that I headed over to Christina and Charlies to hang out. The boys had gone to a gun show and got back and played games for awhile while Christina and I talked. Christina and I were lucky enough to get to go over to Lonna and Shane's to meet their new baby Jaxon!

I couldn't believe how tiny he seemed! 8 pounds seems so small and I can't imagine what a little 5 or 6 pound baby would look like. I was pretty nervous holding him (I don't know if I have ever held a baby that young) but he just lay there being cute! Lonna and Shane are such good parents!

To say the least I was exhausted by the end of the night. Dan and I got home and we watched Man vs. Food together and then I zonked out on the couch... he came to wake me up to move to bed.... He startled me and I started saying things that weren't words... Had so much fun that I couldn't even get out of bed this morning on time... :) oh boy!

Good week!

Amanda and her boys came down from Alaska! I can't wait for them to move down here for good!! This is a fun picture of Dan playing with her youngest, Alex!
Since I have had more free time, I have finally pulled out my new sewing machine and last Thursday I went to Enrichment where we were making Nursing Covers. This isn't the best picture but I like the fabrics of the 2 I made.
Today Dan and I went over to Lonna and Shane's for a BBQ with Matt, Christina & Charlie! It was soo much fun! I am so happy to be back in Arizona with my old friends!! I love them!

Anniversary

Seeing as our 1 year wedding anniversary is coming up in just over a week I thought it would be fun to look up about what people do for their 1 year anniversary. I found this site which had a list of the traditional and modern gifts for each year of marriage. 1st year is Paper, so I need to come up with something interesting to give Daniel. We have talked about getting a puppy as an anniversary/birthday present, but I would like to get something little and fun for Dan.

If anyone has any ideas, let me know!!!

Seeing as we just moved we haven't made any big plans for our anniversary. We will be spending about 10 hours in separate cars on our actual anniversary. Oh well, we will do what we gotta do in order to get our cars here! We did not save our top of our wedding cake, which doesn't bother me what so ever, we just will eat something yummy and fabulous!

We are going to celebrate our wedding anniversary and our 2 year anniversary of being together on July 4th weekend! I love Dan so much. Speaking of that weekend, I am also soooo excited that Amanda is coming into town from Alaska with her boys! Her 1st born, Brayden is turning 4 next week and I haven't seen him since before he turned 1. I also have never met her sweet little Noah and Alex! So I am soooo beyond excited to see her!

Moving

Dan turned in his final on Tuesday right after his last class! We were not expecting this so we were not planning on leaving until Friday! Wednesday came and we had nothing to do, so we went and picked up the Penske at 11:30 and brought it home. That was pretty eventful. We had PLANNED on towing the Honda behind the Penske, but that was vetoed pretty quick!

I drove the truck home with the full size dolly behind it (all four wheels would be off the road, instead of just 2 like we had ordered but they gave away)... I hit a curb on the way home and manuvering a 16 foot truck with a 12 foot (?) tow behind it was hard, I couldn't imagine it with a car on it!

We had some issues with the tow and as soon as we had it in our parking lot we just about destroyed it and immedately took it back! So now we get to drive 2 cars back from our sealing in 2 weeks :( not to mention its our anniversary and we will be spending 12 hours in seperate cars.... oh well, at least the day before we will have had a wonderful day! After that we had a few problems getting the ramp out of the truck because it was stuck... so the Penske guys had to come hammer it out of its wedged position... no fun.

Dan's friend Adam came and helped us pack the truck... he is amazing! He was like our go to guy when we needed anything done! He crawled over a ton of stuff and man we couldn't have done it without him! Mark and Kathy came over as well to help us pack the truck and to clean the apartment! It was so nice because it only took a little over an hour for us to clean the apartment!

We loved our first apartment because it was the first place we shared together, it was ours! We had some great memories there, but to say the least we are excited to move on and find another (bigger) place! This apartment will always be our first home and it still feels so weird that we aren't going back.

We hit the road on Thursday at 7:15. Our plan was to go through Saint George and Vegas and hopefully get to Tempe 12 hours later! I was pretty nervous about driving the big truck but I took the first leg because I knew I had to get used to it. We didn't realize how small the front seat was until Dan got in... His knees were up against the dash no matter what he did. I felt bad for him. He drove most of the way because it was more comfortable.

I was suprised that we ended up getting pretty good gas mileage. We were able to go the speed limit (I was nervous, poor Dan). We did have to make a detour through Laughlin Nevada/Bullhead City Arizona because we couldn't go over the dam in the truck. Thankfully we pulled into Tempe at 7:30 AZ time, so it wrapped up a 13 hour drive!

I was suprised but as soon as we got in, Dan wanted to start unloading the truck. My mom, Dan and I unloaded all of our boxes that were in the back part of the truck and left the furniture on. This morning we got up around 8:30 and the 3 of us pulled off the furniture! I couldn't believe we did it with just 1 guy! Dan's amazing!

Exactly 48 hours after we picked up the Truck, we returned her safe and sound to her new home in Tempe. We were glad to give her back, because we hated driving her! haha.

Today we spent most of the day unpacking (and sadly have made 2 trips to in n out burger).... I was able to hang out with Kate and then we went to dinner with Kirk, Kate, Marilyn and my Dad. It was a nice day, but I am tired!

Tomorrow I am helping Kate shoot a wedding for my friends Bryn and Jason! I am so excited!!!

Adam, our amazing moving buddy! He helped us move into apartment in July and was still willing to help us move out!

This is Penny the Penske with all of our furniture in. It doesn't look like much but it was hard to move and pack it.

Here is Dan saying goodbye to Lilac #65!After we had stuffed all of our boxes in... oh man were we exhausted! I was happy that the truck wasn't too full though. We ended up adding a bunch more bags in after this however.

This was the truck that got us from Utah to Nevada to Arizona in less than 48 hours from start to finish! Go Penny the Penske!

This is what I spent the most time working on today.... setting up our bedroom.

This is what Dan spent most of his time working on today....... setting up his media room! No fair!

Friday Night Date Night

Dan and I went to Ruby River last night! We haven't been out on a night on the town in a while because of our busy schedule but we made time for it and had so much fun! After Ruby River we drove to West Valley up near Salt Lake and watched our friend Brent race his car at the Rocky Mountain Race Way Midnight Race. It was sooo fun! We got to hang out with Brent and see him in his element! I knew Brent's car was fast but I didn't realize that he has one of the fastest cars out of what seemed like hundreds of cars that showed up to race. I was so excited when he first came up and by the time him and other car were at the end of the race way everyone was on their feet! He did the quarter mile in just over 11 seconds! It was fun!
This is Brent's video from the night! He ran an 11.5 against another really fast car. They were both some of the fastest cars out there. Not to mention, Brent bought his motor from a junkyard for 90$!!

The+Junkyard's+%2490+Motor+runs+11.5%40125

January Nights

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We spent the day at Dan's Parents house in Orem with his parents, Mark & Kathy, his brother Matt and his wife Kandace (who came down from Rexburg, Idaho) and my friend Mary!

We had a great meal and lots of fun! The boys have spent MOST of the past 2 days playing xbox and the girls have spent MOST of the past 2 days quilting!!! Kandace and I are in Kathy Calkins Quilting 101 for Impatient Beginners!!!

Saturday we woke up early and drove up Immigration Canyon in Salt Lake and went to Ruths Diner! We highly suggest it for anyone who wants to have a fun experience eating good food in an old train car! It has been a fun weekend and I am sad to see it end!

Calkins Weekly Update

We have almost made it to Thanks Giving!!! This week I have 1 class on Monday (and a million projects to work on) and Dan has 3 days of classes... We are excited to spend Thanks Giving at Dan's parents house with Dan's brother Matt and his wife Kandace and my friend Mary!!

A week and a half ago I had a cooking adventure! I made my first Pot Roast! I was pretty excited. I made it for a family in our ward that had a new baby... so I hope it turned out alright! I had to call my mom about 5 times to make sure I was doing everything right!

Before! After!

I have had a few other cooking adventures this week! I do have to say I am getting better! Dan and I had our friend Mary over so she could study on Thursday and I made STEAK for the 3 of us! Mary introduced me to the joy of broiling! It took us a bit to figure out WHERE our broiler was but turns out it was a drawer in the bottom of the oven!

I need to clean... all of this... because of STEAK!

Due to cooking skills increasing and nice Visiting Teachers that brought me some new recipes to try I made this calendar... we are really needing to eat at home like 99% of the time now due to decrease in income that will be coming soon (our choice, we aren't getting fired)... Other than cooking, we held a Recycling Focus Group at our apartment on Tuesday with Dan, Mary, Allyson & Jon! It was fun... They helped me to finish my project (well that section of it!)Tonight we fed the ducks at BYU's pond stale bread and we had a delightful evening around town and enjoyed spending most of the day together!

This week other than Thanks Giving I am going to get some school projects done/worked on and get ready for one of my classes Domestic Violence Awareness Day on Campus December 3rd in the BYU Terrace from 11-2!

Anyway thats all for now!

Giving Thanks

My sister in law Lisa sent the family an email this morning asking us what we are grateful for. She is giving a talk on Sunday on Gratitude... I have been in the dumps for the past few days (maybe even weeks) trying to make it through School, Work, Health and personal issues. Seeing Lisa's email helped me remember that there are so many things I can be grateful for!

I am a freak about Lists so in the spirit of Thanks Giving:

1. My adorably sweet patient and kind husband!
2. My Mom and Dan's Mom, both are willing to listen to me talk about what is going on in my life and give advice! (Not to mention Dan's Mom coming over to help me do dishes when I was freaking out the other day!)
3. Our siblings. I love my brothers and Kate as well as step siblings Scott & Penny and Steven & Mindy! I also feel like one of the great bonus' of marrying Dan was inheriting 6 more wonderful friends who have been through so much and I can learn from them and enjoy being around them!
   
4. The Gospel and the Atonement. This is what makes it possible for Dan and I to get sealed in the temple and what gives me hope for a better future. For the first time in my life I feel like theres no way I would want to miss church for any reason. Going to church on Sunday gives me a spiritual recharge to make it through yet another week!
   
5. My sweet little friends and cousins Chainey and Carley. They give me hope that someday I can have kids like them!
   
6. My friends! All of them! They support me and lift me up and make me laugh! I love them!
   
7. My education! As much as I moan and groan I am so thankful that I am nearing the end of my time here at BYU and I am so proud of myself for getting to this point and for making it to the end even though their have been times when I have wanted to give up!
8. My health!!! I am so quick to complain about my current health status but I cannot give enough gratitude to my heavenly father for the fact that my greatest health problem, (or what seems to me to be my biggest struggle) Pseudotumor Cerebri, was not in fact a brain tumor! Just a pretend one!
   
9. I am thankful for the Weight Watchers program because it has helped me so much in my struggle with losing weight in order to be a healthier person!
   
10. Ok this may sound dumb but I am so thankful for Blogging! It has been a great way for me to journal this year having limited time to sit down and write in a journal... instead this is something I can do between classes (during classes) and when I have a minute on the computer here and there! I also LOVE reading blogs! Its so much fun!
    

Game Night!

Last night we did a game night with the Cranes, Fillmores and Hubners! It was so much fun! Jon decided we were only true Americans if we had a blind democratic vote on which game to play. Like for Obama, the votes were predominately for the Celestial Companion Game. I was a little skeptic of a "Mormon" game but I have to say it was hilarious and so much fun. It was a good way to get to know the other couples better! We were in last place (by a third of a point)... But we had a blast!

Sweet November

It seriously feels like fall outside (and is starting to feel a little like winter.) I am trying to be optimistic about the weather although it is hard! This week was a fun filled week full of SCHOOL! It was the first week of November and all was well in the Calkins home!

This week on Tuesday I made this bold move:
Which led to this:

As lame as you may think I am because I had to do this (my mom suggested it) it is working for me! I mean my credit card is in a block of ice... not so convenient is it, but still around in case of emergency!

On Wednesday I applied for GRADUATION! I am walking in April graduation but will not finish my last 3 credit internship for my minor until the end of June... This is my last semester of classes. In January I start a 18 hour a week unpaid internship and will do that along side my 25 hour a week job!! I am really excited however to not have exams or classes to attend daily! (Internship location is still undecided).

On Friday this joyous miracle came into our lives:
It may not look like much (because we already had the frame and the sheets and quilt) but underneath it all is a brand new Serta mattress set by Vera Wang (who knew you could get a Vera Wang Mattress?!) It was a delightful way early Christmas present and I cannot tell you how needed it was... It replaced Dan's 10 year old Cali King which was broken on one side! However, in the hustle and bustle of the moving men trying to be as quick as possible, they did this little number to our bedroom door:It took the convincing of my Mother in Law and my Mother to get me to call R C Willey about paying for our door to be fixed. I really don't care that they broke it but my mom reminded me that I will have to pay to get it fixed when we move out because we will be charged. The wood is ruined and I can't re-screw... So yay... R C Willey gets to fix our door now... Poor guys they were just in too big of a hurry! Nice part was they didn't even say anything about breaking our door... just asked if I could sign the paper so they could leave.

Dan had a little mid quarter miracle of his own happen. For any of you who don't have husbands who love their XBox 360, this picture is a sign for Dan's long awaited game, Gears of War 2. He is so cute staring at the screen and well all I can say is, he has been a sweetheart by putting me first (doesn't mean he doesn't pout a bit about not getting to play 24/7). I will be honest though, since well before our wedding Dan really gave up playing video games, he kicked his butt into gear and got really into school and work and spending time with ME! He deserves a break from his horrid schedule so I am glad his game came! (I am however excited for him to beat it... then it won't seem so great!)

Also on Friday my dear friend Chelsea came home (for good) from her nanny job that she has been doing for the last 8 months in Stanford, Connecticut! We went to Sushi and it was sooooo good!

Thats this week in a nutshell. Aside from Obama being president elect and Ashley, Amanda and Kate having babies, this has been our week! OH and I successfully indexed 700 names this week... I was a little obsessed!

I am looking forward to an awesome Womens health midterm this week as well as a fun 4 couple get together on Wednesday with my dear friends Allyson & Jon, Rachael & Milan and Tonya & Kyle!

Congratulations Kate & Ben!

I had the pleasure of getting to know Kate my freshman year at BYU and I lived with her my sophomore year before she married Mr. Brady! Kate is so outgoing and loving and it has been so fun to see her get married and now have her own little baby! I remember when she told me they were trying to get pregnant, little knowledge to them, they already were! Archie Bernard Brady was born November 7th! He is the third baby to be born to one of my close friends this week!!! I can't wait to meet him!

Congratulations Amanda & Zach!

Amanda is one of my best friends from high school! She and her husband Zach got married in 2004 and now they have (as of Nov 3rd) three Beautiful boys!!! Brayden, Noah and Alex! Zach is currently serving our country in Iraq for the Air Force until early next year! Amanda and Zach have been stationed in Anchorage, Alaska for the last 4 years!

Congratulations Ashley & Don!

My friends Ashley and Don had their first baby November 2nd! Her name is Layla Bouge! I am so excited for them! I have been friends with Ashley since I started high school and Don since I started working with them at the bank!