Malcom's 2nd Soccer Game: A Little Help from Dad

Ben and I knew that Malcom would have a rough time going into this game, given that his last game was   just an all around rough game. The first half of this game was spent with Malcom sitting on Ben's lap, near tears, refusing to get out on the field and chase the ball. Ben asked him how much longer he needed before he would get out on the field and help his team, to which Malcom replied, "...Maybe 5 minutes?" 

Luckily (for us), there was another little boy who was having a rough time getting out on the field. During halftime the coach came over and asked if the dads wanted to come help them play. It worked out perfectly! Malcom was so very happy to have his dad holding his hand on the field!

Ben, Malcom, and the other little boy, his dad, and the coach. There were two other little boys out there on the field on their team as well.

Getting ready to play!

 Big smiles!!!

 I love Malcom's face in this one, I think he had just kicked the ball. Even his coach is smiling!

Team huddle at the end. Malcom is obviously the youngest one on the team (he made the birthday cutoff by 2 days). I wonder if it would have been a good idea to wait until next year to try out soccer... Ah well, I just hope he learns to not be scared of the field, and to just have fun!

Heading off of the field.

I'm so, SO proud of this little boy for getting out there, playing, and having such a good time! I know I posted a lot of pictures that look kind of the same, but I can't help it; I love my boys! I can't help but fall in love just a little more (if that's possible) with Ben for being such an amazing dad. I know there's no way I could get out there, my big pregnant self, and run around with all of those 4 and 5 year olds!

We went out for "soccer ice cream" at DQ afterward, which is turning into tradition. Such a great day!

Calvin 's 2nd Birthday!

Calvin turned 2 years old this year! I can't believe it. We kept it pretty small (like Malcom's birthday, but maybe even a little smaller since he didn't really know what was going on). We kept saying "Happy Birthday Calvin!"... to which he would reply, "Happy birthday mama (or daddy, or Malcom, depending on who he was talking to)".  He didn't quite understand this it was his birthday, but that was part of the fun of it I think. 

Ben's brother Luke was in town for reserves training that weekend, and Becky came down for his birthday too! Malcom and I went to the dollar store and I let him pick out all of Calvin's presents. Malcom loved it (I'd say he did a pretty darn good job too!)! One of the gifts Malcom picked out was a package of dinosaur wall stickers. We decided that we needed to put them on his wall when Calvin wasn't looking, just to surprise him. It wasn't hard to find an opportunity- Calvin gets into something every day that warrants some bath time. :)  I think he was pleasantly surprised with his wall! 

Ben, Becky, Malcom and Luke made salsa, guacamole  and homemade pizza for dinner. Calvin occupied himself with another surprise from that day- a Mickey Mouse balloon.

 Perpetual booger nose boy. Happy with his balloon!

After dinner we packed up the kids and headed to a duck pond to, well, feed ducks of course! Unfortunately, these ducks are just south of the BYU campus. They were fat, lazy, and ungrateful (or there had already been mass amounts food thrown at them that day... either way, they weren't biting.).

It was pretty anticlimactic. We didn't want to waste the bread, so we headed to a canal behind K-mart. It's right next to a parkinglot, so not so picturesque, but at least the ducks were hungry over there!

 Heading home, we pulled out his cupcakes and cake! See the little hand trying to snatch a cupcake? That's Calvin. He took after his mama.

 Calvin's cupcake and antsy fingers.

 Blowing out the candles!

 Malcom and I got to help Calvin open gifts! He's still at that age where he opens one gifts and completely forgets about any of the others waiting for him. Luckily, big brother was good at keeping on task.

 Ben asked Calvin to smile, and this is what he got. Lol!

Such a silly kid. He's definitely got a personality on him, determined, silly, and stubborn personality. Calvin is also good and taking care of others (though mostly when no one is looking). Calvin adores his big brother... in fact, when Ben and I try to get alone time with each kid, Calvin always brightens up when he sees Malcom again. He will follow him around, imitate him both in words and actions, and any time Malcom is not in the room with him, he'll ask, "Where Malcom go?".  Calvin is also the instigator for a lot of wrestling and teasing, especially of his brother. He loves to push buttons to see people's reactions! (I blame Ben for a lot of his teasing and stubborn personality... haha). 

I'm so glad we have him in our family. Life is truly twice as fun since he came along!  

Love you buddy. Happy birthday!!

Easter in Nevada Part 3: Denny & Doreen's House

 After a great dinner on Easter Sunday, the boys and I headed out to Ben's mom and step dad (Doreen and Denny's) ranch. Spring time is a really fun time here! There was a handful of new lambs and baby cows to watch frolic and play about. Malcom and Calvin loved it.

Calvin, cousin Tanner, and Malcom feeding the lambs.

Calvin was sooooo excited!

Tanner feeding lambs.

We later went out to a pasture and flew kites (we bought them from the dollar store; they didn't last long at all! Note to self- spending a few extra bucks for kites that won't break in the wind is a good idea). We only had one out of four of the kites last long enough to fly it more than once. Cousin Sage got a turn.

Malcom flew his first kite ever! Good job buddy! Calvin was busy playing with dirt and sticks with Cousin Aspen. Those two are so funny together. 

A random hail storm cloud surprised us! Luckily most of the kids and I were already in the car (the wind was pretty cold). Ben was the most surprised out of all of us! haha

We left the pasture and Ben let Malcom and cousin Sage take turns steering the wheel and driving. Both were surprisingly skilled! :)

 Cousin Sage driving:

 Calvin and Aspen were in the back having quite the conversation. I couldn't understand much of it (I think I caught the words "black cow" in there somewhere), but they seemed to understand each other just fine. These two are only about 6 months apart and have very similar personalities. It's always fun when they get together.

 The next day was mostly devoted to doing laundry and cleaning/re-organizing the car for the ride home. We left shortly after dinner and got home about 11 or midnight, I can't remember. The kids were completely worn out and slept the whole way. It was wonderful! haha

The western part of Nevada is beautiful in it's own desert way. I love the wide expanse of skies, and the way the mountains change the way they look throughout the day depending on where the sun and shadows fall. I got a very few pics on the drive home, before it got too dark to see anything:

Near Sunnyside:

Rain storm coming through the mountains...

Same rainstorm, farther down the road. Not a great picture, but I think it's just cool to see how the rain was pouring down on the mountains. It reminds me of a giant jellyfish. :)

Easter in Nevada Part 2: Family Picnic

Ben's family has a tradition of putting together a huge picnic the day before Easter. Cool locations, lots of family, a feast of crazy good food, games, exploring, repelling, Easter egg hunts, and LOTS of dirt to play with... we had a great time! 

We dyed eggs the night before the picnic, which was a lot of fun but also a lot of mess. Malcom accidentally knocked over a green dye cup- picture below.  (We all had a good laugh over it). 

 On Saturday, we all caravan-ed to the chosen picnic location (it's different every year) in mass loads of trucks and SUVs. A fire was built, chairs set out, people wandered and explored the big rocks and mountainside surrounding the campground, and Ben took the kids climbing up some rocks as well (I sort of waddled behind on easier paths).  They ended up on a big boulder overlooking he campground and valley with Ben's brother Sam, his fiance Jessica, and cousin Sage. Malcom looked down off the boulder and asked, "How do we get down from here?" Sam told him they could climb down on a rope, and then  Malcom shouted down at all the family setting up the picnic below, "Hey! Someone get  us a rope! We need to get down!!". It might have been a moment that was only funny if you're there for, but it was hilarious. Of course, they just climbed back down the way they had gone up.

Sam later set up some repelling gear and a handful of people got to repel.  Ben helped at the bottom of the rope (I can't think of the term at the moment)... Malcom and Calvin thought it was the coolest thing ever.

In this photo, Calvin is showing me the rope going up the ledge... and then he realizes that I'm pointing a camera at him, and he stops to pose. :)

The boys and some other cousins plus Betsy waiting for someone to come down.

 Ben's sister Betsy climbing down.

I didn't very good pictures during the Easter egg hunt. I'll admit I was ready for a massive nap, and those kids are fast! I did get a few photos of Grandma Doreen helping Calvin find eggs. Malcom was darting all over the place, so I didn't get many of him.

The one fuzzy pic I got of both kids looking for eggs, and also a pic of the boys together. Look how dirty they are!

Ben repelled a few times after the egg hunt, first going down the normal way, and then going down the "commando" way (front first facing down... I wasn't a fan of that one: his face is too handsome to risk breaking it!). This one uploaded crazy blurry, but I'm too lazy to fix it at the moment. :)

After the feast was over and the repelling gear packed up, most people either sat around chatting, or retreated to a riveting game of horseshoes. Many of the kids played some t-ball... Malcom had an unfortunate run in with a plastic t-ball bat (or rather, the bat ran into him). I tried to get a good picture of the resulting bruise and goose-egg, but he was covered in so much dirt it was hard to do. 

See what looks like a patch of dirt above his right eye? That's actually a bruise/goose-egg from the bat. 

It's a good thing Malcom has such a great dad to comfort him. I'd need a good hug after something like that too!

After the t-ball bat incident, Malcom wasn't too thrilled by anyone or anything and really just wanted to go home to Grandpa's house. We were all tired anyway, so the boys and I (and Betsy) were some of the first to leave. 

Despite the end, it was a great day and I think we were all very happy that we were able to make it down for the family Easter picnic. It was a first for me and the boys, Ben hadn't been able to make it since we were dating. Hopefully we'll be able to go more often then every 6 or 7 years or so... haha.