Thursday, January 29, 2015

Bringing Back the Blog!

2015 Already?!
What an awesome year this is going to be. We have some big plans, including keeping track of what we're doing...so the blog is making a comeback. (Maybe.)
Obviously a lot has happened since we posted last...like a million years ago.
Let's just start where we're at right now.


Mitch and Callen 4 wheeling in the snow at Gma Bonnie's Christmas Party!


Mitch is off-track this semester and is still working for Moseley Custom Construction. He helps build the coolest homes! He really loves it, and we really appreciate how fantastic his boss is. Mitch is scheduled to graduate in July...yahoo!!!


Honestly...BEST JOB EVER.

I'm staying at home full-time with our little Cal Pal now. He's definitely the best thing that has ever happened to us. We got so lucky with this little guy--he's such a ball of fun! He's got to be the happiest kid ever. Seriously. He is smiling ALL the time. Even when he's upset. Although he does have a great pouty face that just melts your heart.




Callen's been learning so many new things so fast! He learned how to clap a few weeks ago and that's been his big thing lately. He claps at everything. While he's eating, after he burps, when he hands Mommy something off the floor that he didn't eat but really wanted to, or when Daddy comes through the door. For whatever reason he's also really good at clapping his head too. This was the first time we got the clapping on camera:







He's also started dancing...so cute! He bobs his head every time he hears music and will even get his whole body into it on occasion. He has an excellent arm and is super good at throwing things. This is really fun when he's playing catch with us or throwing a ball around to chase by himself...not so fun when its something like a tv remote aimed for your head.

CalPal's always LOVED playing peek-a-boo...especially if a blanket is involved. Lately though the game has gotten a little more intense. Basically its turned into hide-and-seek.
Or...Good-Luck-Trying-to-Find-Me-Mommy.
 For example, I walked in the other room to throw away a diaper and when I came back less than a minute later Callen had vanished. I found him here after about twenty seconds of confusion/heavy heart pounding.


He was even silent. That rarely happens.

And here's another one of his favorite hiding spots.
 And now...a few more pictures of our awesome little guy.


The day we discovered his first tooth! A top one. Callen's a super good eater. He loves finger foods and is pretty much always willing to share. Usually only after the piece of food has been taste-tested and Callen approved.

He got a new walker for Christmas and LOVES it. He cruises around the house and truly looks like a little old man. Well, a fast little old man.
 
Callen really likes helping with the laundry. Maybe I'll get lucky and this will stick with him his whole life. Except right now his version of helping is pulling all the clothes out of the basket, patting them really hard, and then putting them back...repeated 50+ times. This literally keeps him busy for a good half an hour.

His expressions are getting so complex! It is so fun to see him react to different things.
 We can't believe this little bugger will be 1 year old soon! Seriously, everyone says it goes by fast...but this first year FLEW by. Really...where did time go?!!?!?!


Oh and one more video for your viewing pleasure!

This needs a little explaining. Callen is SUPER good at copying things we do...particularly when it comes to sounds. Mitch always makes this "elephant" sound, and Callen usually ignores it. But this time, he did his own version of the noise. So, here's Mitch and Callen communicating like elephants.



And...that's all for now.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

101 Things We're Grateful For.....

(In no particular order.......seriously)
  1. steak
  2. Our baby boy
  3. Mitch's job
  4. Ana's job
  5. Ana
  6. Mitch
  7. health
  8. Idaho
  9. The United States of America
  10. Ice cream
  11. Freedom
  12. The Sommer Family
  13. The Nye Family
  14. Grandparents
  15. Technology
  16. Our cell phones
  17. Our apartment
  18. The gospel of Jesus Christ
  19. hunting
  20. Mitch's truck
  21. Ana's car
  22. Rexburg
  23. music
  24. sleep
  25. Our freezer
  26. The meat in our freezer
  27. shoes
  28. movies
  29. Date nights
  30. BYU-Idaho
  31. Our educations
  32. Modern Medicine
  33. doctors
  34. family
  35. Friends
  36. The Book of Mormon
  37. Running Water
  38. snow
  39. Disney
  40. Sour Patch Kids
  41. Fantastic bosses
  42. goals
  43. pudding
  44. remote controls
  45. candles that smell good
  46. Vacations
  47. Family time
  48. board games
  49. card games
  50. Our computer
  51. Our iPad
  52. Sunshine
  53. Boating
  54. Vitamins
  55. Chocolate
  56. Great coworkers
  57. Good books
  58. money
  59. Weekends
  60. Birthdays
  61. Holidays
  62. Visiting teachers
  63. Home teachers
  64. Coats
  65. Heaters
  66. Hot chocolate
  67. Sports
  68. Frisbee
  69. Opportunities
  70. Wholesome entertainment
  71. The Military
  72. ROLO COOKIES
  73. MISSIONARIES
  74. Siblings
  75. Good choices
  76. Washer and Dryer
  77. Toothpaste
  78. Dishwasher
  79. Internet
  80. Our new mattress set
  81. Founding Fathers
  82. Our trip to DC
  83. Happy people
  84. Hair
  85. Love
  86. Eyes
  87. Teachers
  88. Photographs
  89. Memories
  90. Socks
  91. Soap
  92. Cabela's
  93. Living Prophets
  94. Animals
  95. Grocery stores
  96. Guns
  97. Teeth
  98. Agency
  99. Q-tips
  100. Fudge
  101. Fall leave colors
  102. All 4 seasons in general
  103. Chances to count our blessings!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Our Poor Neglected Blog

 
 
Whoops....
Looks like time kind of got a way from us. We haven't been on this blog in so long that I almost forgot how to do it!
 
Obviously a LOT has happened since last November. I think that's why I've been putting off "documenting" it on here....there's just tooooooo much!
 
 
Pictures are worth a thousand words, right? So we'll go that route. Here's a little picture recap of the last 7-8ish months. :)
Haha kinda sad.
 

 
Quick detour to September...Mitch got a slug gun for his birthday!
We went to Salt Lake for Thanksgiving with my family! For some reason
this is the only picture I can find of that trip....

Mitch spent most of the fall hunting! Sorry, blurry picture of his camo attire.
 
December...hunting indoors with the Sommer brothers.
Our little Christmas Tree!
We kind of cheated and picked out our own presents from each other this year...except a few, like this one, were a surprise! Mitch got me my favorite movie and I didn't even know he knew it was my favorite! What a guy.
 

Mitch got a camp chef grill thing. And he was really excited. :)




He also got a carrying case for his camp chef grill thing...
(and let me tell you, we've already enjoyed this present several times this summer)
I got a new coat!

AND Mitch picked out two wedding bands to add to my ring!
Why two? I'm weird and thought one looked funny. But they are beautiful and I love them!
We also celebrated our 1st Anniversary December 23rd, right before Christmas.
(Can you tell basketball was rough on my knuckle?)
 
This was actually on our official 1st Anniversary!
I've never been happier.
We kind of went crazy baking this year around the holidays. These are caramel/chocolate covered pretzels. We also made a million homemade caramels. Yummmm.
We got some snow on Christmas EVE!
 
We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning in Rexburg with Mitch's family, and then we went to Pocatello to spend Christmas Day with my family...and then we started our journey to ARIZONA for my little baby brother's wedding. Temple Square is my favorite!
 
Temple Square, Salt Lake City

Beautiful!
Car ride to Arizona...what a drive.


Drove 14+ hours to get to Thatcher, Arizona. Cool place, huh?
  

Playing games in the hotel room the night before the WEDDING.
Getting ready for the wedding....hey look, Jeff does brush his teeth.
hahahahahaha.

MARRIED! Hard to believe my little Matty tied the knot.
SO good to have Brianna a part of our crazy fam.

They can jump.
In January, we went to Jackson Hole to visit the Elk Ranch.
Really, it was WAY cooler than I thought it would be! :) There were literally thousands of elk.



They take you on a tour of the ranch on one of these sleighs pulled by gigantic horses.
Seriously, so many elk!

Mitch at one of the look-out points by the ranch.
Then we went and got some lunch at some pizza joint. Very good.
In February, we took up cross country skiing and went to Soda Springs to try out some trails with Zane and Shaleece.
AWESOME.
Although I have to mention, a couple of weeks after this trip, they found a dead body behind that water tower thing in the picture and said it had been there since the holidays............SO GLAD WE DIDN'T GO OVER THERE!

Shaleece, Zane, Me and Mitch
Fun people! We're glad they like to humor us with our crazy ideas.

Skiing! Good work out. We also went out to lunch with Mitch's dad and Soda turned out to be better than expected. :)
Oooohh we also went to Lava to the hot pools. It was great!

Puzzle boy. Mitch really has a knack for putting puzzles together.
I put in two pieces and then have to take a multi-hour break.
 


Valentine's DAY!



In February, we also went snow-shoed up to Mesa Falls. It is EXTREMELY pretty in the winter and something I'd never seen before.

Once again, Zane and Shaleece accompanied us on our adventure along with Zane's brother!

Walkin...I decided I prefer cross-country skiin!
OK HOLY COW picture overload. At least I got to February, right? I'll update the rest later.
Life is good! :)


Saturday, November 10, 2012

Ana's Classroom

Life is so good in our neck of the woods!
I'm not just saying that either--things really do seem to be going well for both of us.
Mitch is really busy going to school and working (the end of the semester is slowly coming...then he only has 2 more if things work out!) and I am really busy attempting to teach first graders and keep our house clean at the same time. It is actually more challenging than I ever thought it would be.
 
Well, Mitch is off hunting right now, so I figured I would FINALLY post some pictures of my home-away-from home...my classroom! I meant to a long time ago when my sister-in-law asked, but then my camera went MIA. Yesterday when Mitch went to fix my flat tire, he found it sitting in our very clean (really it was) trunk.
 
So, here's the little tour of my room and what it looked like at the beginning of the year!
 
The Before:
(when I first walked in)
 
It is kind of intimidating to walk into a blank/empty/boring classroom!
 
Last year the teacher had 29 students...I'm SO grateful for my 21!
...and that I could get rid of the ugly brown tables....
 

The front of the room
 
 
Teacher's desk and computer stations
 
And then the after:
(End of August when school started)
 
The kiddos organzied tables and the apple job chart.
 

The "Word Wall"....there are actually words above the letters now!
 
I was so grateful for everyone who came and helped me! Particularly
Mitch's family! They were incredible!!!!!!!!!!
 
Front of the room....we spend a lot of time here. Sometimes too much.
But it is where the board and smart projector are!

A little more color.

Our Reading Beach!
 
And here are a few pictures of our classroom right now...after 50 days of school!
 
I'm running out of room to hang stuff on walls!


I'm so lucky.

See, the Word Wall now has words on it.
 
 
Birthday Chart and Stations Chart
 
The newest edition...I changed my beach to a fall reading corner...
this is actually unfinished...I should take a picture of it now