4th of july and camping

        We went camping in NH for the first time a few weeks ago. It was alot of fun, but different from camping in Utah. We were totally surrounded by trees, it was so great not to have the sun beating down on us. Ticks have been pretty bad this year so we were really worried that caleb would get one, but we still let him climb wherever he wanted. He has becoming very independent lately, he had to roast his own marshmellow for smores! He was such a good helper, he got water and firewood for us. We camped near a lake so we spent the evening swimming in the water, and the next day our friends, the Todd's came up and played with us( sorry we didnt take pictures with them when they came) .

      The 4th of July has always been a big holiday in the clark family and since we are on our own out we we did what we could. We had our own Bar-B-Que! Even though there was no backyard volleyball, it was still fun. We spent a whooping $10 on fireworks for the kids, and they had a blast with them!

Oh yeah how could I forget this picture!!  We are expecting our 2nd child Jan 24 2013!!!!!!! Caleb is so excited and keeps saying it is a baby sister, we'll have to see if he is right in a few weeks.

One Direction

So there is this band, maybe you've heard of them, called One Direction. We've heard a song of theirs on the radio multiple times and Caleb now recognizes it immediately. And he loves it! So we turned on the music video, we watched it half a dozen times. Running in circles is his attempt to fancy foot work, he is dancing.

Isn't his little bum just the cutest thing in those "Mater" undies!? (We were attempting potty training...it didn't go well).

We took a trip to the famous Hampton Beach on Saturday to see the sand sculptures. Here's a few:

Exercise

Excercise! Caleb loves to exercise with dad in the mornings. They're working out with a P90X video. Caleb will work out for a few seconds then sit down and say, "whew, sweaty! take a rest" He must've learned that from me.
Once Paul is finished Caleb quickly instructs dad to shower. Again, he must've learned that from me.

Happy 2nd Birthday

I know we've all said it about your own kids or heard it before, but I can't believe how fast Caleb has grown. It seems like a long time ago that I was a pregnant 21 year old, excited beyond words to be a mom, but at the same time it seems like yesterday I was snuggling my newborn baby as he nursed only half awake. Motherhood; what a beautiful experience.

You don't have to continue reading if this is boring to you, skip right down to the adorable pictures of Caleb! As for me, I keep typing to refresh my memory of the last 2 years and to make a journal entry.

Caleb is...what are the words? Two, a blue-eyed blonde haired beauty, defient yet sweet, whimpy, tender, polite, outdoorsman, he loves bikes and balls, very accellerated in language, and is now just learning the freedom that comes with a toddler bed.

I can't believe the kinds of things Caleb picks up on! Paul and I have cleaned up our language, not swearing of course, but no more saying "fart" or "oh my gosh" etc. It's sounds much worse coming from a two year old. We now say, "toot" and "oh my goodness".

Caleb can sing the ABC's, multiple primary songs, count to ten, and recite books. He remembers all the kids in nursery by name, even though we've never played with some of them outside of church. He knows very well the difference between a "good choice" and "bad choice" and chooses with full understanding which one he would like to make.

When dad gets ready to tickle Caleb, Caleb will say, "don't even think about it!"

Caleb sleeps with his "saucey", doggy, his white blanket AND his UofU blanket I made for him and refuses any other blankets.

When I get home from being away from Caleb it's the best thing in the whole world to hear Caleb run to me and say, "I missed you mommy! You came back!" followed by a tight sqeeze for a hug and a "slobber" kiss. What a welcome!

I feel as if I never want to stop having children. And I'm even typing this after putting Caleb to back to bed for the 4th time in 30 minutes. Motherhood is such a blessing, a blessing I get to keep with me for eternity.

Finally the pictures of my keepsake boy:

4 days

4 months

 6 months, first christmas

12 months with "saucey" which he still sleeps with

13 months, first camping experience

16 months

First look at the ocean!

Party!

Happy Birthday Caleb!

A visit from Utah

It's always great to have visitors. Not only because we love family but also because it's a great excuse to get out and do some touring of New England.
Paul's parents came for a visit and we definately wore them out. But we all had fun!

 First was to York, ME where we saw the Nubble Lightouse. One of the oldest lighthouses, still working. When it was first built they had to do everything manually and they lived in that little house on their own little island. They don't let poeple over there now.

Then we stopped at a small beach for a quick feel of the sand. This was Caleb's first time at the beach and he loved it! He was screaming with excitment and enjoyed running away from each wave as it came closer.

 We of course had to visit Fenway Park at some point in our residency in New Hampshire. So we bought the cheapest tickets possible, got a babysitter and headed to Boston Red Sox game all decked out in our Boston Red Sox shirts.

 Paul and I had free babysitters (grandma & grandpa) so we headed to the Boston Temple! What a beautiful building!

 We had only a few days of nice weather, but luckily we made it to Winnipesaki lake for a dip in the cold water but mostly fun in the sand. I'm amazed Caleb let us bury him like this, he's usually such a chicken.

 This is how grandma and grandpa play at the beach.

 There is a great place for ice cream just a few minutes from us, and they have their farm animals to pet and look at, plus a great big sand area with TONS of trucks. We enjoyed it all.

 We also celebrated Caleb's 2nd birthday, I'll post about his later. We walked through a dozen old houses built as early as the 1600's, visited the Joseph Smith birth place Memorial and of course ate lots of treats and took a few naps.

Calebs 1st hair cut

    It has taken Caleb two years to grow his hair, but we finally decided he needed a trim. He didn't enjoy it, he kept wanting to be all done. We had to give him a popsicle to get him through the rough two mintues it took to cut what little hair he had.

His hair is so blonde, so it's hard to see but it defitnetly needed to be cut.

Last week there was a carnival in town so we took caleb down there, and he had a blast. The rides were over priced but we let Caleb pick a few of them to go on. This is what he chose:

        The TRAIN

Mom and Dad both got the chance to ride it too...Caleb thought it was so fun.

  It took him a min to figure out that you could jump in this bouncy house just like a trampoline, but he loved it after that.

 This is only the beginning of our fun summer!

High Up in the Air

Caleb and I just returned from a great trip to Utah! Being back felt like I'd never left. It's been 6 months since moving to New Hampshire, and although we love it here, it felt like a long time since I'd seen family. It was just what I needed, and Caleb too. He was spoiled up the whazoo! Chickens, sheep, trampolines, hammocks, swimming, new toys, and best of all grandparents, aunts/uncles, and cousins to play with. We orginally were going to fly down just for a visit and then got wonderful news that Paul's sister, Salena was getting married. So we bought Paul a flight as well. Caleb and I stayed for 2 1/2 weeks while Paul came for 3 days during the wedding. Congrats Salena! We're so happy we could be there for her marriage! I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Liberty Park

City Creek Shopping

You can tell Sam is really excited to be shopping.

haha isn't this a great picture?!

Feeding Aunt Shara's 20 chickens! Caleb wanted to visit the chickens at least once/day. I was surprised how much he enjoyed holding them. He liked the grown ones more than the baby chicks, he also enjoyed talking about their poop. Hmmm.

Picnic outside, can you tell it's Caleb's nap time? Since when does my 2 year old boy just lay there?

Faster Sam! Faster! What a good cousin.

Layin' on the couch with Aunt Shanlee. Caleb didn't put that guitar down, he insisted he lay with it to watch a movie.

Popcorn in Grandma's popcorn machine.

String Cheese with "the girls". Anna, Becca, Cela and Sammi were such great playmates to Caleb. He loved getting all the attention from them. While the adults just overwhelmed him these girls stole his attention easily.

Getting ready for the wedding, 2 curling irons and make up at the same time.

The beautiful bride!

Caleb playing with the girls again. They'd hide under the blanket and Caleb would find them. They were all giggling and giggling!

The aquarium in Salt Lake.

Needless to say we had SO much fun! Caleb loved flying as well. He got bored quickly but in 3 out of 4 flights I was able to bring his car seat. The day after we got home he was asking for grandpa and the chickens...I just realized we don't have any pictures of grandpas and grandmas...oops, I'm going to have to work on taking more pictures. Thanks family for taking time to hang out with us!