David Scott: Age 34.

Oh, this David of ours. He's something special and we were all glad to be able to celebrate him and try to show him how much we appreciate him. I almost feel like I should write a blog post about him like I do about the kids. You know like "He hates red onions. He's really kind to bring home any work-related eating-out leftovers to me. He really likes his new sonicare toothbrush." But maybe it's better to just say that I love him, and the kids love him, and we are glad to be able to celebrate him in our lives because he's basically the best thing about our lives. 

Okay, I can't resist. Here are some things that I would write if I were writing an "age post" for one of the kids. 

Stats:  90% of his closet is made up of blue shirts, 50% of those are Aggie t-shirts. He has been cavity free for over 2 years. He wears size 11 shoes. 

Some things to remember: 

-He recently made cardboard castles for the kids in the basement. It was a huge project, and construction took several weeks on and off. They planned their castles out, collected boxes, He built the castles, and then the kids decorated them. When I say he's the best dad, I mean it. 

-His current favorite television shows are: ESPN (obviously), Random Acts, Shark Tank, Studio C, and whatever movie is currently on Hallmark. (I'm a lucky girl.) 

-In the past year he has traveled to Phoenix, Denver, and Minneapolis for work - and an awesome trip to New York with Lydia and I. 

-He's also become quite the foodie. (I tease him about this, but it's really true!) He eats at some pretty fun and fancy places and he likes all sorts of things like... bruschetta... and... pastrami. 

-As mentioned above, he does not like red onions. In fact, I might be so bold as to label red onions as the bane of his 33rd year. He also still does not like mushrooms, olives, or pickles. 

-Not only does he work incredibly hard at his job, and then come home and give us 100 percent as well - he has three callings at church. (Two of which are official, the other is unofficial but takes the most time and energy. I'll let you decide which ones those are.) +Assistant to the Primary President. +Elders Quorum Secretary +Stake Auditor. He's such a wonderful example of valiantly fulfilling a calling without complaint. He's supportive to me and does a great job with his other responsibilities. 

-When the garage door opens after he's been gone at work all day all of the kids will shout "Dad's home!" (including Caleb, who excitedly says "Dad. Dad! Home!")  and rush to greet him at the door. He comes in, and chases them around the family room. He's the favorite.

-We've recently realized that Austin is almost exactly 30 years younger than David. So if Austin is 4, David is 34. The kids love this about David's birthday. 

To celebrate this handsome man's birthday, we went to the Hale-Orem to see Anything Goes. Unfortunately, it was really awful. Although the costumes and production factor was amazing, the content of the play made me really uncomfortable and we ended up leaving at intermission. This is one of the things that I love very most about David in the whole world - that there is a standing rule that if either of us feels uncomfortable watching something, we turn it off - no questions asked. This is the first time we've actually had to leave a performance but it ended up still being a great night. We went to a local Mexican restaurant and spent the rest of the night chatting. It was lovely and a great way to spend his birthday. 

David, I love you. You are the brightest part of our family, and we are so lucky to have you. Thank you for listening to me talk, for letting me cry, for making me laugh. You're my best friend. Happy 34 years! 

Caleb Samuel: 18-19 Months

Oh Caleb, you little charmer, you. You smile at the camera every time, which is enough to make a mama forever grateful (and immensely proud) - unfortunately you start grinning as soon as you see the phone coming out and I'm usually too slow to get the shot of your cheesy smile. But it makes my heart happy, so I'll try to lock those memories away of your cheesy grin smiling up at me while I frantically try to capture it on film. Ha. 

Stats: Solidly 18 month everything, but sometimes I mix up his clothes and Austin's (2T/3T things) and you can't really tell a difference other than it's just a bit big. Four teeth on top, two on bottom. I still can not figure out what color his eyes are. Blue? Not really. Hazel? Not really that, either. More of a steely-grey, with a bit of blue and flecks of... I'm not sure. Ha. I've always had a hard time pinning down his eye color, we will see if it changes as he grows. 

Things to remember: 

-He started nursery this past month and he's done really well. He does better if David drops him off, and less well if I drop him off. Which works fine because Sundays are church are super busy for me and David basically takes care of all of the drop offs/pick ups, and everything else while he's at it. We are lucky to have such a great Dad for our family. 

 

-He says duck, puppy (bubbie), fish (ssshhh), and so many other little words. He'll repeat most things if you say them. 

-Can't remember if I've posted this before, but one of my favorite things is that when I chase him down the hall, he'll run away for a second - then nervously turn back toward me and run at me straight on. I hope he always has the bravery to face things head on. 

-He loves his Walker cousins (I guess, Haderlie cousins), especially his newest cousin, Baby Sadie. He might poke her a bit, and pat her a bit harder than she'd prefer. And one time I walked in to him full on suffocating her while trying to give her a kiss (yikes!) but it's all so good intentioned you can't help but think about what a sweet boy he is. 

-Speaking of on-verge-of-too-much love, Caleb is adored by his older brother. And I mean adored. These two make the perfect pair of brothers. 

-Not to be left out, our Lydia girl loves Caleb a whole cartload, too. I asked her what she thought about Caleb and she said "He's cute and funny". She's tried multiple times to convince us to let him sleep with her at night, and frequently comes in when I'm rocking him to put him to bed for one more kiss and one more hug (from him) and she always leaves him with a special stuffed animal that he can sleep with to remind him of her. It's sweet, and he's lucky to have such a great sister.  

Plus, He loves them both, back - so it's a win. 

-He's got such a fun and funny personality. He makes me smile every day. 

-He is starting to turn from "adventurous" into "troublemaker". Ha. Not really trouble - but he is getting into more and more things. He can push chairs and stools to get wherever he wants, including the countertop. Nothing is safe. Including the peanut butter, among other things. 

-Even though he's getting big, he's not too big for me to carry him in the baby carrier - for which I'm grateful. He still enjoys it and it makes things so much easier for me! Among our many adventures - we went fishing with my parents in Morgan and had a wonderful time. Caleb is starting to warm up to my dad more and more, and it's cute to watch them. 

-He absolutely refuses to be left out of anything that his older brother and sister are doing. Jumping into a pile of pillows at the bottom of the stairs, playing in the foam pit and trampolines at a trampoline gym, building towers for FHE in preparation of general conference, or homeschool STEM activities involving floating lego boats in a pool of water. If the rest of us are doing something, he's determined to be involved.  

-He loves his Grandma Peaden, and when we went to visit her at the hospital after a pretty serious sickness that left her feeling very poorly - he insisted on climbing up on the bed to snuggle with her. This picture doesn't capture how content he was just to lay in her lap, but it was the sweetest thing. Sue's health isn't the greatest, and she gets pneumonia on a regular basis, but this illness was worse - more severe - and we are so glad that she's feeling better. 

Oh Caleb-Love. You're just the best, you know that? You make me so happy and I feel so lucky to have you. (Oh, and I just remembered as I'm looking at this picture below - you chipped your tooth! We were at a print-shop and you accidentally pulled a rack of papers on top of yourself while I was checking out (sorry!). You were fine, but when I got home I realized that you'd chipped your tooth. It's not super noticeable, and it makes me smile when I see it because it seems to fit your personality so well. You're just interested in everything and you just roll with the punches. 

I love you.  

General Conference

There is always a balance between taking pictures to document and remember things, and just enjoying being in the moment.

This year for general conference, we just enjoyed the moment. We had a great conference. We did conference bags with the kids, treats, and loved watching the prophet, apostles and other church leaders speak.

There was a lot of hubbub leading up to conference about whether there would be any big changes or announcements since President Nelson announced so many changes last conference (Elder's Quorum and High Priest structures, and Ministering instead of Home Teaching). However, Shantel and I honestly were not even thinking about that, we were just excited to hear the words of the prophet and knew that they would encourage us to follow the Savior.

President Nelson announced that we would change to a more home centered, church supported learning and as part of that, change the church block from a three hour block to a two hour block. As he talked about it, I felt the spirit teach me how this could bless our family if we do our best to teach our children in the home.

Prior to conference Shantel put together a great family home evening on getting our tents ready to listen to the prophet.

We each got to build our tent and had so much fun.

As I mentioned, we did not have more photos from conference, but we felt the spirit and felt inspired to lead our family in love and righteousness.