Rockin Out the Rest of October

The last part of October has just flown by! I can't believe the Holiday season is just around the corner. I love this time of year, it is full of family, food, and traditions! Both Steve and my families have traditions, but we are always ready for new things as well.

The fall weather has been beautiful. Steve and I have taken several bike and picnic trips to enjoy it! We have found a gorgeous trail only a few miles from our house. This last trip we took Steve packed up a picnic and we had lunch near a bridge! It was fun to have a small get-a-way and spend some fun time together. It is one of our favorite dates.





Monica my cousin was able to come and visit us. Steve and I have not seen her since our wedding. It was so much fun to catch up with her! We did so much while she was here. After spending one day with us in Lakewood we drove her up to Loveland to see the rest of my family for a nice trip and mini reunion. All of my family on my mom's side was there. It was fun to get the cousins together again.

With Monica we went up to our Colorado cabin to have lunch and take a girl hike! The boys stayed at the cabin and did whatever boys do. The girls had fun talking, walking, picking flowers,swapping memories, and teasing each other! It was nice to have girl time!





Steve and I also enjoyed having more Eli time! We can't get enough of him. This picture of Eli and us is actually taken where Steve and I had our first kiss. We love the Colorado Cabin.

And of course we can't have the cousins get together without our traditional cousin pyramid picture. I still think we will be doing this picture even when we are all in wheel chairs!





It was sure fun to have Monica here. I look up to her in so many many ways! I am glad to be a part of this family.

Steve and I are preparing for Halloween. A friend of Steve's sent us some real Kimonos from Japan! Steve and I will use them as our Halloween costumes if we can figure out how to tie them. Steve and I will not be the only ones in style. Check out our side kicks!



Steve and I are so blessed to have such a great family, and to have each other. I would not trade it for the world!

Our New Discoveries!

I have made a new discovery that has changed my life...LIQUID FABRIC SOFTENER!!! My whole life I have never used liquid fabric softener, I have always just used the dryer sheets. Well the other day I decided that I would try it! Holy Cow have I been missing out! My clothes, sheets, and towels are so soft! I didn't even know clothes could be so soft. This discovery was like having Christmas in October!

Steve also made a discovery. We bought a pumpkin caring kit that you buy new every year because you feel like it is a waste to save for a whole year. (We finally started saving them this year; it seemed to silly to throw them away.) Anyway, Steve and I started to clean and gut our pumpkin. Steve asked me to get him a spoon to help and I handed him the orange scoop that has teeth on the end from the tool kit. As I handed it to him his eyes got wide. He turned to me and said "this is what this orange thing is for". He started to use it and said over and over "wow this is neat, this is so much better than a spoon!"



Yes, it is the simple things in life that excite us!

Life is just speeding by!!!

It seems like I just posted a few days ago and here it is almost a month later. Steve and I are enjoying our time that we have with each other. Both of us are busy with school, work, callings, and other responsibilities that we don't have as much "us" time as we would like, but then again, we never can have enough "us" time. Last week we drove to Utah for a very quick visit. We left for Utah late Wednesday and got in really late. We were there all day Thursday and then left EARLY Friday Morning. Even though it was a short trip we had lots of fun. Steve and I LOVE to take road trips with each other. I think some of our fondest memories we have had together have come from driving in the car. We can laugh, cry, talk, and laugh some more. We especially loved driving through the mountains, the leaves were just starting to turn. It was gorgeous!!!


Thursday was chalk full of activities! We started off going to Ikea with Heather. We picked up a book shelf and a few other things. You cannot go to Utah and not go to Ikea. This was the first time Steve and I went. We couldn't believe how big this place was. There was even a day care place to drop you kids off (you could tell we were in Utah). Anyway, the book shelf we go was just a few inches to big to fit in the backseat of our car or the trunk. So we had to reclined the front passenger seat all the way back and laid the self on top of it. It took up the whole side of our car. So the person not driving had to ride in the back. Needless to say we go some pretty funny looks on our drive back to Colorado. After our Ikea trip we meet up with Danny (Steve's brother) and Jordan (our Nephew...who just got his mission call for Mexico City, Mexico!!!) at Jay Dogs. I am usually not a hot dog person, but those were fantastic hot dogs. I think it is all in the "special sauce".


It was fun to hangout and see Jordan, Heather, and Danny and quote "Dumb and Dumber" lines. If you are in the Calley family you have that movie memorized! Then we went to the Provo Temple and did a session.

And after we went through a session we dashed off to Steve's Mission Reunion. It was fun to meet some of Steve's mission companions, friends, and his Mission President and his wife. It was hard for me to picture then as being missionaries at one time, all they did was tell stories of the "goof-off" times they had. It was fun to hear stories that Steve "forgot" to tell me about. After the reunion we went out for Ice-cream with his MTC companion who was his favorite and his wife.


I had meet them before and Steve has always kept close contact with them. We decided that we are going to take a cruise with them maybe next summer. They can get us a deal on tickets. It would be so much fun to go on a cruise and they are such a neat couple that it would be fun to go with them! After a late ice cream run with them, we went back to Danny and Heather's and talked for awhile. Then we fell asleep for a few short hours before hitting the road back home to Colorado! I can't believe how much we fit into one day. I have loved every trip that we have taken. Family vacations and small trips in between are a must in our family!

This weekend we went to our CORE training. It was our adoption class that we had to complete before we can become approved. We still are not officially approved for adoption yet, but we have just a few weeks away! We cannot be anymore excited! We will probably be approved no later than Thanksgiving! Steve and I are very ready to be approved! Although we still crave to have kids enter our home, I would not say that we are "baby hungry" anymore, but more excited to help a birth mom provide a safe and loving home for their child. We got to meet a birth mom and the training and I really enjoyed seeing adoption through her eyes. I have always prayed for birth mothers, but since the training my prayers have become more fervent and more frequent. I have a special place in my heart for all birth mothers. They are really putting their needs, wants, and sometimes their reputations on the side to best meet the needs of their baby. What an unselfish act adoption is! Adoption is a divine process, designed by our Heavenly Father. He does have a plan for everyone. No one falls through the cracks!