It's About Time!!

Well the title of this blog is for a couple of different reasons. The first is for the fabulous weekend that I had with my mom and sisters at Time out for Women. And honestly It was About Time I had a time out from the life here in Redmond. I know both Megan and Darcee have already posted this as well but here is my perspective.

Mom and I drove over to Portland Friday afternoon to meet up with Megan and Darc. Our plan was to get there a little early so we would have time to do a little birthday shopping for me. Well when you get two girls in the car who are not from Portland, well...you can probably guess. Mom was sure we were going the right way but once I started seeing signs for the airport I knew we were on the wrong path. But Mom reassured me she knew what we were doing. So, we ended up in Washington. OOPS! But, we turned around and soon found our way to our hotel. However, in my Moms defense she said there was a way to get to downtown Portland from the airport. After getting checked into our hotel we headed to the Lloyd Center where we found my super cool 80's shoes/boots. Thanks Mom for the birthday present!

I don't know if I will ever be brave enough to wear them with a shorter skirt but they are way cute with jeans. So, after shopping for a bit Darcee and Megan finally joined us for a gourmet meal in the mall. Subway and Chinese food was the assortment we had. After we stuffed our faces we headed to the convention center to start our Time Out experience. We had a great night filled with speakers and fabulous music. After the evening session was done we headed to Red Robin for a healthy snack of decadent mousse pie and Megan's request French Fries. We chowed down the Pie and minutes, and fought over the best pieces of it. Darcee even licked the plate clean :)

And of coarse there has to be a goofy pic of the sisters in here somewhere. I think I am the only one who really made a face...

After Red Robin we headed back to our hotel where we stayed up late watching Selena, and talked about old times. Saturday our day was full of great speakers who in each of their own ways had a message that was perfect for me. I love being able to be uplifted and rejuvenated to come back to real life. And what is a great adventurous trip without having car troubles. Well let me tell you it isn't one, so I am glad we got the opportunity to experience a shot clutch. It's even greater when you have four girls yelling in the car because we feel like we are going to die. Okay maybe not four girls but definentley two of us (Darc and me). But after hours of trying to figure out what we were going to do, we finally made it to Megans house. Mom and I had to rent a car to make it home the next day. It was another Memory to put in the books. Thanks for a great weekend Mom and sisters!!

The day we traveled back from Portland was my 25th birthday! It's About Time! We arrived home just in time for me to catch the last two hours of church and to see my boys who I missed so much. When we came home from church I was granted to opportunity to go take a much needed nap, since mom and I got up at 5:00 in the morning. When I woke up I went downstairs to find a decorated house by Chase.

He invited my family over for a wonderful Sweet and Sour chicken meal, and cake, that he also made and decorated.

Now one thing that I love about Chase is that I can trust him to go clothes shopping for me. He got me a cute outfit from AE and had it in the box so perfectly with all the layerings.

So with Chase making my birthday so perfect, I wanted to do the same for his which was the next day. However, I am afraid I am not much a cook so I didn't want to attempt the whole dinner thing. He wouldn't tell me what he wanted for his birthday so I had to find something, which he took back, and I didn't have time to decorate the house so he got the left overs from my birthday. We did however have a great dinner at Johnny Carino's and our favorite dessert, Italian Chocolate Cake.

So we both had great birthdays, I think mine a little better, but we are both one year older and hopefully a little wiser as we get into our old age. I am a quarter of a century now. I would say that is a pretty big deal!

About a year and a half ago Chase and I had some really good friends who moved away from here, and we were super bummed. I am always complaining that we have no friends and I have always been jealous of Megan and Darcee for always being able to go our with different couples. Well I am proud to say that It's About Time we had another young couple move into our ward who has a 11 month old son!!! YEAH!!! I had to come out of my shell and introduce myself to Keira because I was so excited that someone was our age. It's been only about two weeks and our families get along perfectly. Even weirder, Keira and I were delivered by the same doctor in Salem. I know, we were destined to be friends. Well last weekend Keira and I took Jaiden and Parker to the Pumpkin Patch, hoping for a good time and some cute pictures. Well we started off okay but then all we had were tears and more tears. All Parker wanted to do was pull the wagon around, and of coarse when I took it away he screamed. But boys will be boys. So here are a couple of pictures from out adventure.

So Sunday we had Keira and Brian over for dinner and so we could carve pumpkins. The boys did most of the work. Okay maybe they did all the work. I did have a pumpkin but it's hard to do more then 2 at once when you have 2 little kids in the house who require all your attention. So Keira and I stood back and watched while we tried to figure out what the pictures were on the pumpkins. We could not tell until after they were lit.

After the pumpkins were carved and lit, we had yummy carmel apples to end our festivities. We are so grateful to have new friends.

Oh one last thing. I forgot to mention Parkers new best friend. This best friend goes everywhere with Parker. He eats with it, rides in the car with it, and you better believe it is the first thing he grabs when he wakes up in the morning. So what is it?

Yup, that right a birthday balloon from my birthday. But, whatever makes the kid happy.

I was tagged by Darcee

THE RULES: You have to post the 4th picture in the 4th folder in your pictures folder. Then give a brief description before you tag a few others. So here it goes!

Well thank goodness it wasn't a scary picture of me. So this was the picture I found. The two loves of my life, Parker and Chase. I am not sure where we were going, so I don't have a fun description. Parker does kind of look scary though. I never thought he was an akward looking baby, but in this picture he kind of does. I tag, Breanne, Jessica, and Stefanie

Wedding Hair

I forgot to post this yesterday, but I did a girls hair for her wedding on Saturday, and I thought it turned out pretty good. I forgot to take pictures of it, which was stupid, so this is all I have.

Hats

Well I don't have a ton to write about this time, but I know my sister Darcee gets a little antsy pantsy when I don't update the blog. So if it is incredibly boring, blame it on the sister.

I have been back at work since the end of August and it has been pretty good. We lost 5 fifth graders last year, and they were kind of the life of the party. They always kept us entertained and laughing. This year we have a lot of young kids and it is a completely different vibe. I work with the same 2 kids almost the whole afternoon which can sometimes be challenging. Especially when I get frustrated, because I don't really get a break from them. Both of my kids are 3rd graders. One of them is just a sweet angel and she is pretty easy to handle. The other one, well he looks just about as sweet as an angel but does not quite act as one. He always wants to do what he wants to do. So getting him to work for me has been very tough. However, when he does happen to work with someone else he does just fine his work. I don't get it!!! Everyone tells me I am not mean enough, and that I am to sweet. Well I try to be mean, and I think I am being mean but he still doesn't listen. So that is work for me so far. I only work 3.5 hours and come home quite exhausted.

Chase is back in school full time. 1 year to go!!! The countdown is on. He goes to school M-Th, puts in time out at the fire station and has just started a new job. Drum Role........Chase is a new cashier at LOWE's. So if you ever see him tell him hi for me because I don't see him much anymore. But we are very excited he got the job because funds are quite tight now that he can't work full time. So really any job would do. However there is some rivalry in the Caldwell family now. Chase's dad and sister both work at Home Depot, and Chelsea is a cashier there. She claims Home Depot is a much better place, has much better costumer service and makes twice the amount of money Lowe's does. The only come back Chase had is that Home Depot has had someone die on the job.

So which is better, Lowe's or Home Depot? Really I could care less. If they give us money that is all that matters.

Parker continues to grow each day, and is such a blessing in our lives. It's fun to watch the new things he learns everyday. Some of the things good, and some of the things not so good. For instance he has learned to hit. We will be sitting with him on the couch and he will just hit us in the face. When we tell him no, he just laughs. Another thing he has learned about is a razor. Uh Oh! A lot of times Chase is gone in the morning so I have to get ready with Parker in the bathroom. Well the other day I was shaving my legs and Parker was playing with his toys so I didn't think anything of it. Well, Chase and I went to a wedding reception last night and Dropped Parker off at Grammy and Poppy's house. When we came to pick him up, my mom told us she had a funny story. She said Parker had gone upstairs and was really quiet for a while. Usually he doesn't go upstairs when no one else is up there. Well he came down stair with one of my dad's razors and was trying to shave his legs. Thank heavens he didn't cut himself. So Grammy took the razor from him and that was that. Well he went upstairs again and was quiet yet another time. Then he came downstairs with another razor and this time is trying to shave his face. Chase and I just laughed. So we tried to get him to do it again today so we could capture the moment. Yes that is shaving cream on his face, and yes he did try to eat it.

I guess we need to be more careful what we do when he is watching. I actually think he learned the hitting from me cause I like to hit chase on the arm when he is being a pest. OOPS!

He has not learned anymore words that I can think of. He does love to give high fives, wave goodbye, Blow kisses, and when we say all gone he shrugs his shoulders and holds out his arms. So cute.

Another thing Parker has been enjoying is hats. If he sees a hat he puts it on.

Yes he looks like a homeless child. But a cute one at that!

Go BYU!!

Parker loves his Uncle Tyler so much, and we are so glad Tyler is always willing to watch Parker.

Parker Loves wearing this life vest that Chase brought home from the fire station. He always puts it on and then we just laugh so hard when he falls and can't get up because the vest is so big on him. And of coarse you can't have a picture without a hat.

Here is another thing Parker likes to play dress up in. He especially loves the boots and always wants to put them on. Of coarse they are way to big for him, so yet he falls some more.

And last but not least, here is an example of what happens when you leave Parker and Daddy all alone.

He gets fabulous tattoos. Chase is really stressing the whole firefighting thing on the kid.

Beach Trip

For Labor day weekend we had the chance to take a little road trip to Waldport, OR. For those of you who have no clue where Waldport is, it is on the Oregon Coast. We met up with the Perdue side of the family minus Brady, Darc and Shane, to have a little reunion. Mom planned this trip way back at the beginning of the summer and thought it would be fun for the family to all be together before school started up again. One thing we didn't know was that we would see Megan and her family a lot during the summer. However, we still had a great time and it was fun to be in a new location. We stayed in a condo that was right on the beach. We had a beautiful sight. Now those of you who are not familiar with the beach in Oregon, it is not your typical warm beach. In fact, you are lucky if you have 60 degree weather and it is not raining. We happened to be pretty lucky. We had a little of rain but all in all it was great weather.

This was Parker first real experience of sand. We went to the coast last summer but Parker was only a month old so that did not count. I was a little worried how he would react, but he had a great time. He ran in the sand, wrote in the sand, fell in the sand and even ate the sand. Yup, he ate it all right. I just don't think he was very happy with how it tasted.

(Parker Running)

(Parker Writing)

(Parker eating the sand)

(The result of eating the sand)

(Parker Falling)

(Parker be pushed by Grampy, JK Parker falling again!)

Parker had a great first experience at the beach. He loved playing with adallyn and wanted to do whatever she was doing.

(I stole this picture from Megan)

(Playing on top of the sand castle before it was built)

He also had fun building a sand castle with his dad, uncle's, and aunt. Actually he mostly wanted to play in the trench protecting the castle. But when he could he got in on the action he would. When it was time to build the castle it was all business. Chad and Chase started by building the trench around the castle. Megan worked on the big pile of sand and making sure it was level to build the sand castle, Tyler, well to tell you the truth I am not sure what he did. He was building something outside of the trench and by his breathing and grunting every time he dug deeper into his hole, it must have been hard work. He did however leave a nice final touch to the sand castle. And that was by writing Mormon Mafia on the outside of it. He was pretty proud of that. As for me, well I just took the pictures. Yeah for pictures!!

(See look at Tyler he is working so hard on something)

(The finish product it was still there in the morning and there were people admiring it)

Besides the funness of building the sand castle, some of the braver ones enjoyed the water, we played frisbee, and the girls killed the boys at Taboo.

(Chase and Ty playing frisbee)

Thanks Mom and Dad for a great weekend.