4 year

holy smokes!  it's our 4 year anniversary!!

the number 4 is such a small number but when you REALLY think about it, 4 years sounds like a LONG time already.  i'm still super duper in love with my husband.  we're still learning things about each other and still trying to understand one another at times.  he's been the best teammate i have in the adventures of parenting.  he's my sweetheart whom i cherish and love soooooo soooo freakin much.  

so to celebrate our 4th year of marriage this day, brett went to work and i took everton to get his immunizations shot.  yay for everton!  then i plucked up some courage and drove ALL the way to salt lake city!  it takes about 40ish mins and i find that driving on the freeway is really intimidating.  but i REALLY wanted to go on a date with my husband and that meant braving the slc traffic.  AND I DID IT.  my palms did start to sweat as i drove on the freeway but i did it.  i'm a wiener i know. i thankfully made it to brett's office, we left everton with one of brett's coworkers, and embarked on our anniversary outing.  we went to chili's for dinner to be cheap then the cheesecake factory for dessert to splurge.

WORTH IT.

brett got that oreo filled cheesecake 

and i got the ultimate red velvet cheesecake.

and our anniversary celebration isn't over yet.  we FINALLY get to see the dark knight rises this sat and we're gonna try to get massages next weekend.  HOPEFULLY.

i'm still in love with my man, still bloated from all that cheesecake, and still crazy about everton.

life is AWESOME.

happy anniversary to my sweetheart. 

thanks for the great date!

a teeny update

it's been a little while since my last post.

we've had a few things going on here and there but nothing of monumental proportions.

well there was everton's 15 month appt where we found out that he now weighs 23lbs (90th percentile!) and is 31in long.  so that's good news to us that he's healthy and is continuing growing.  and that other time when i rummaged through a bag of random stuff that my mom had given to me back in april and found $60 from some 16th birthday cards and graduating from high school cards.  so that was pretty awesome. 

other than that, it's just been me and ol' everton while daddy's at work.

we've been busy watching micky mouse clubhouse, staying in our pjs, feeding our faces, reading the same winnie the pooh book that everton insists on over and over, and taking naps.  it's the repetitive life of this stay at home mom but i freakin love it. 

everton is growing right before our eyes.  and i'm so grateful i can stay home to see it.  besides brett, everton is my other bestie.  he's too smart for his own good, he can climb the couches and open the cabinets (we baby proofed the chemical cabinets.)  he's still not talking but he gives sloppy kisses, gives excellent high fives, folds his arms to pray, and we just recently taught him how to fist bump, yeah we're teaching him the important things in life.    

i lub him, he's too awesome.

"He was so deadly, in fact, that his enemies would go blind from over-exposure to pure awesomeness!"

name that movie.

pioneer.nursery.zebra.sparks.theater

take picture first, then save child.

holy hannah, where did the month of july go?  no clue.  last time i posted was the beginning of the month and we were celebrating the 4th of july.

living in utah, we get to celebrate another holiday towards the end of the month.

PIONEER-

i just may get used to living in utah where they have two holidays in the same month, which means we have two excuses to blow up fireworks.  i'm seriously not used to seeing so many firework stands all over the place. pioneer day is july 24th, tomorrow, commemorating the pioneers' trek into the salt lake valley (and brett gets the day off sa-weet!)  there's always a huge parade in salt lake city.  but in our quaint town of tooele we had our own parade on saturday and our primary class got to have our own float.

our float's theme was "building friendships," hence the construction hat.

NURSERY-

here's how our routine at church goes, 

first hour- brett and i wrassle with everton during sacrament meeting.

second hour- brett teaches his class while i wrassle with everton trying to keep him still during sharing time.

third hour- brett takes everton and wrassles with him and i teach my class.

as most of you know babies don't really go to nursery till they're about 18 months.  but a lot of my friends got their kids in a little earlier.  i was too much of a wimp to ask if we can put everton in nursery early so i just dealt with my squirmy child during primary.  then on sunday my friend, who is the singing time leader for primary and nursery, asked me if she could take everton to nursery.  at first i was like, whewwwww i'm freeeeeee!  then when i saw though the window everton sitting on the little plastic chair in nursery i cried.  and then i cried and cried some more outside the door.  

i think my face was like this...

he looked so much older.  he didn't really know what was going on but he was doing just fine without me!  which i honestly didn't mind, i love that once brett and i are out of sight, we are out of mind, and i don't want everton to be a problem for those who are watching him.  i think he'll love nursery-toys, snacks, and friends galore!  and it was great to see everton with goldfish crackers on his face and water spills on his shirt.  and when brett picked him up my friend said he did WONDERFUL.  i think him going to nursery now just freaks me out because he is not a baby anymore.  someone slap me, i'm about to cry again. 

ZEBRA- 

check out these zebra hotness shoes my primary teaching partner gave me.  sexay shoes can easily dry up my tears.  

SPARKS-

later that sunday evening, we went to a friend's house for great food and great company.

i was nervous that everton was gonna freak out with the fireworks but he was in awe.

brett said he felt like a kid again lighting up fireworks and i'm sure everton will be like one of the many other boys that were there, begging to ignite the bigger fireworks.  we did try to show everton how to throw firework poppers but he felt that either eating them or planting them in the rocks was a better way to go.

one of two faces he made while watching the guys light fireworks.

it was actually raining during the fireworks hubbub so everton and i watched from the garage. 

we tried to show everton how awesome sparklers are.  but are the sparkler manufacturers slacking nowadays?  when they lit the sparklers you had a 10 second time span to enjoy them.  that was not enough time to run around with them.  i remember them lasting longer.

THEATER-

just want to end saying how heartbroken i am for those who lost their loved ones at that fateful midnight showing.  i hate how nowadays you really do have to be careful no matter where you go.  the movie theater was a place that i could get away from the problems of the world for just a few hours.  of course what happened hasn't deterred me from going to the movies but it sucks knowing that what happened will always be in the back of my mind every time i go into a theater.  but i try try try not to live my life in fear, for that is not a way to live.  but thanks a lot A-hole for ruining everyone's lives.

the baby patriot

it's the day of our country's independence! 

we had some plans but they fell through.

but it's alright.  brett had the day off and staying at home sounded just fine.  as long as i have good food and my boys with me, it's a perfect holiday.

last night my cousin kim, her husband, will, and their ADORABLE son, landon stopped by and it was so great to catch up and to see how much landon has grown.

and did these two boys work together to make a mess.  seriously so cute.

then later on that night brett and i took everton to the drive in to watch what else, the AVENGERS!!!

love love love that movie.

and on this beautiful 4th of july we started with blueberry breakfast cake that everton lovingly helped me with.

recipe can be found here.

and it was delightful.

then after everton's nap it was time for a little caldwell cookout.

these, my friends, are filipino barbecued pork shish-kabobs.  nothing like celebrating your country's independence than eating foreign food.  i marinated these darlings for two days and they were AMAZINGGG.  don't look too close though, i should've cut them smaller cuz they look a little bit like worms.  but i told you, don't look so close. 

we also had grilled potatoes and kool aid.

then everton and i chillaxed outside while brett watched his texas rangers get beat at baseball.  sorry honey.

everton caldwell here to let you know that i'm proud to be a 'mercan.

and to show my pride, imma shake it like a salt shaker for you.

the gap of rohan

brett and i were able to go to the dentist (for the first time in an embarrassingly long time) a few weeks ago.

with all their cleaning and jabbing with their prison shanks they made something bigger...

the gap in my two front teeth.

when brett and i first moved here to tooele, the permanent retainer behind my two front teeth broke off as i ate a delicious breakfast bagel.

and since then the gap has grown bigger and bigger

and now i feel like it's gotten so freaking huge.

my lips get caught in it but yet i can make some awesome noises to entertain everton and it sure is easy to floss.

my gap makes me self conscious.  when i was little an idiot kid made fun of my teeth, which i'm sure if that kid said the same thing now he'd be getting a gap in his face. 

i had braces when i was a teenager and i was obedient with wearing my retainers.

so when brett and i had gone to the dentist recently, dr. S and i had talked about finally closing up my gap.

but he said that would mean clear braces.  but just the top row, for 9 months. that's a pregnancy time span!  i had braces back in middle school for about 15mos. 

i ALREADY DID MY TIME.  braces meant a lot of money we don't have and after the braces get taken off i would have to wear retainers for the rest of my life.

another dentist had suggested that i could get it filled in but turns out he's talking about veneers and dr. S that could damage my teeth.

i've been back and forth as to whether or not i should get braces.  and dr. S said he'll knock off $500 if i get em done before the end of the year.  so i feel a little pressured now.

i miss my smile when i look back at pictures so lately i've doing my own dental work via picture editing programs.

i'm a fraud i know.

i think to myself, well if i get braces now i could just get it over with and have practically perfect teeth forever.  OR i could save the money and keep filling in my gap with a paintbrush on the computer.  OR i could embrace my gap and not be so conscious of it, knowing that it's what makes me me and just leave it alone in pictures.

i've been noticing lately though that there are actually a lot of celebrities with gap teeth.   ex, madonna, anna paquin, models (even a victoria's secret model!) and eddie murphy?  david letterman? and let's not forget the wife of bath from the canterbury tales by chaucer.

and according to this article , gap toothed women are TOTALLY in.

gap teeth can be considered stylish or even sexay!

but it's not like i'm getting paid for my gap-y smile.  i'm so grateful for the fact that i even have teeth and that i live in a country that has great dental care. 

i just keep seeing this in the mirror.

when in reality this is what i see.

the decision for a brace face or a gap face awaits.

but i learned that gap teeth in france means teeth of happiness!

picnic prancing

everton and i had a picnic.

pb&js and frozen blueberries.
life is great.

life is grand.

and utah is starting to grow on me.

wtf.

father's day weekend @ bear lake

as a typical mommy blogger, my posts have mainly consisted of my darling baby boy, everton.  i'm with him all day and i love blogging about his shenanigans.  but i musn't forget about the other man in my life, the man whom i blogged about the first 2-ish years of my blogging career.  the man whom i forced to take lovey dovey pictures with me (and still will...forever.)  the hunk who who lets me put my cold feet on his warm legs when i go to bed a few hours later after he does.

i am so grateful to have him as a father to my son and to my future children.  i'm so grateful for the job he has now and for how hard he works so that i can stay home with everton.  i love him so so much and can't wait to have more babies with him.  happy father's day to my baby daddy.

and this past father's day weekend we went to beautiful bear lake for my niece maddison's mission farewell.    she'll be going to the tempe, arizona mission and she'll be a rockin missionary.

we first stopped by jamba juice and everton partook of his first jamba.  i got my mango monkey a mango a go go and he devoured it.  i had to keep refilling his cup.

this is where we must go every time we come to bear lake for the best shakes.

also if you go to bear lake you have to check out my sister-in-law cyndi's clothing store named "beach bum"

its on 55 W Logan Road in Garden City, UT.  it has the CUTEST stuff there and we're planning on going back sometime so i can get an awesome sweater i was eyeing.

my brudduh and sister-in law own a boat and it's become my most favorite thing to do when we go, besides roasting on the beach (which we didn't get to do this time.)

and it was everton's first time to ride!  except i don't really know how he felt about it.  everyone told me that babies fall right to sleep when they ride and as usual everton was the exception.  he would cry when the boat stopped and when the boat was in motion he just had this bewildered look on his face.

and i think he hated having to wear a life jacket as well.  but the life jacket pushed his little cheeks up making him look even chubbier.

my niece maddison LOVES babies!  it was so nice having all my nieces hold and play with everton, even though he was sooooooo clingy to me, more than he'd ever been in his life.  my sister-in-law said that it's just a phase, i hope!

my boys.

this was part of the condo we stayed at that my in-laws had rented for those who wanted to stay the night before maddi's talk.

and tati!  the condo had a telescope!  but i didn't know how to work it, darn it.

SO BEAUTIFUL

good luck to maddi as she embarks on her mission in july!!

we'll miss her so much.

everton was pooped trying to battle anybody who tried to hold him and from wearing that darn life jacket.  both everton and i endured the car ride home as brett listened to country music.  ehhhh