Moab Picture Overload

Our friends invited us to go to Moab along with them last weekend. We left by 9 Friday morning in the middle of a snowstorm and arrived in Moab to temps in the 50s. Tucker is a bit obsessed with dinosaurs these days so Cody planned a little side trip to see some real dinosaur tracks. They were at Copper Ridge, just about 30 minutes north of Moab. This is an Allosaurus footprint. We filled in the footprint with water so that it would show up clearer for a picture. 

 I think my Dino man was a little disappointed that there weren't any bones or real dinosaurs around. He wouldn't let me take his picture. He is standing next to a Brontosaurus footprint. They looked like potholes on the rocks.

 See all the potholes. It is so amazing to me that these still exist and that there are so many in Utah. How many more haven't been uncovered? I mean, this place isn't on the beaten path. Kind of cool to think about.

 We camped in the Sand Flats Recreation Area. We actually got the same sites we were at last fall when we went with Cody's family last September. We saved the upper spot for the Jorgenson's and set up camp on the lower. Cole LOVES the outdoors, found a stick and pushed it all around in the dirt like it was a car. I had to laugh when the car didn't stop him from turning a different direction.

 Oh and can I tell you have much I LOVE sand in diapers.

 We made dinner for the group Friday night. We busted out the dutch ovens and did chicken and potatoes. It was delicious like always. Cody is a fantastic cook!

 It definitely got cold at night and the wind was blowing so we put up the walls to our shade tarp to help block the elements.

 Our campsite and me posing by Cody's new toy!

 Saturday morning we headed into Arches National Park. I drove all through it last fall but didn't get to do any hikes because all the kids were sleeping. We hit up Balanced Rock, the North and South Windows, Delicate Arch upper overlook, and Sandbox Arch.

 North Window.

 Blake's first time in the backpack. He was a trooper. He was actually sick the whole trip with some wheezy, coughing cold. We're awesome parents taking him camping anyway. : )

 Kate and Aubrey at the Delicate Arch overlook. We weren't sure if the kids would all be able to handle the hike so we opted for the 1 mile hike. You might be able to see if you zoom in on the picture that Delicate Arch is dotted with people. The whole trail looked like it was covered in ants from far away.

 The kids favorite part of the trip was Sandstone Arch, although they could care less about the arch itself, they loved playing in the sand.

Tucker showed everyone how to make sand angels.

 Cole got in on the rolling down the hill fun.

 Jumping off rocks into nice soft sand.

 Every time we drove past Baby Lions Back Cody would tell me he was going to do it with the truck. I of course insisted that he would not be doing it with me or the kids in the car. Well, he won out. We went up and I jumped out to take pics as he came back down. Cody said he was a little scary coming back over the edge because you couldn't see what was below you.

 It was much steeper than it looks!

 Ahh! I sure hope the brakes don't fail!

 Aubrey and Cole were asleep when we went up. Aubrey woke up on the way up and told Cody that she did not want to do this anymore. This was Cole's look of terror on the way down. He was clutching his car seat like his life depended on it.

 

When we got back to camp Laura watched our kids so that Cody and I could ride the Slickrock Bike Trail. (We traded and watched their kids the night before so that they could ride as well.) My first time was last fall and I actually improved this time around. It felt good to ride up an entire hill that some guys ahead of us were walking their bikes up.

 

We had a great time, but decided to come home after dinner Saturday night. The nights were just very cold and because Blake wasn't feeling well we didn't think it would be good for him to be sleeping in the cold. Plus, sleeping with a baby in your sleeping bag sure doesn't give you a nice night's sleep. We got home around 10:15 driving through a white out in Provo Canyon. We're sure glad it didn't snow down south! Here's our little Blake during dinner. I LOVE the batman hat! I found it at Walmart in Maryland back when I had Tucker. It fits perfectly and keeps our little man warm.

Tucker first sporting the look (although apparently we were missing a glove on this trip - thus the sock hand.)

Finally, my truck

 Finally!  After many, many years of wanting to buy my own truck, the day has arrived.  In high school, I badly wanted a truck, but didn't have the opportunity.  In college, well, I was way too broke and poor for a truck during those years.  Then dental school obviously put a hold on that wish while we lived in Maryland.  Ever since dental school I've been waiting for the right time to take that leap.  So, here I am at the age of 32 and I finally have my own truck.
I had been watching the dealerships and classifieds for a few months just waiting for the perfect deal.  A couple of weeks ago I found it.  It's a 2008 Chevy Silverado 1500.  It has everything I was looking for, the 4 door crew cab with the bench seat (our whole family of six seats comfortably in it), the 5.3L engine, 4 wheel drive, the tow package, low miles (36K), the short box so that it can fit in our garage, and it was listed for about $5,000 below blue book. 
It's kind of a midnight blue color, and it looks really good driving down the road.  One really cool thing about this model, is that it will switch from V8 mode to V4 mode when on the freeway and you don't need as much power.  It helps to improve the gas mileage.  With the truck fully loaded with our gear and our whole family in it, we averaged 18 mpg on our trip to and from Moab.  Not too bad for a truck. 
It's about time I returned to my hick roots.  Lisa won't admit it publicly, but she really loves having the truck too.  My red-neck ways are rubbing off on her!

Office Makeover

We began remodeling Cody's office last November. We painted, laid new hardwood flooring, put up new light fixtures, bought new artwork, made the counter top level to the desk so that you could actually see our office manager when you walked in the door, got rid of the water wall and had the tile fixed to match and last summer Cody also had a new logo for Park City Dentistry done. My part of this was to reupholster the waiting room chairs. We really liked the wood of the chairs, so instead of spending hundreds of dollars on new chairs, I decided I could do the task of changing out the fabric. This is a picture of one of the 6 chairs.
 

2 of them were so much uglier than this with completely outdated fabric. I picked out my fabric last November and had to special order 7 yards of it. Special orders typically take 2-3 weeks from JoAnn's. Well, not this one. For whatever reason my special order took 9 weeks. It was unbelievable how slow it took. I think I finally got it the end of January. Getting the fabric was only part of the battle though. I've never upholstered before, and it actually isn't that hard, there's no sewing involved, just a lot of stretching of fabric and staples. The hardest part is removing all of the staples in the chair in the first place. Hundreds and hundreds of staples that don't want to come out. My Mom came and helped me a number of times and we'd spend a couple hours on one chair removing the staples with a flat head screwdriver. Most of the time those staples would break in half and we'd spend more time using pliers to wrench them out. Oh and I couldn't believe that gum was stuck to the bottom of the chairs. People really do that?! I mean, there's a garbage can around the corner - use it! How would you like it if I came to your place and stuck my gum on your furniture?

(Notice all of the staples, we did not put that many back into them.)

 Anyway, after all that hard work - we could finally enjoy our completed project! The new and much improved chairs! I washed them down with Murphy's Oil as well to bring the nice wood shine back. They look fantastic and although I typically would post about this on my craft blog, I just had to show all of you because of how long this project took.

(By the way, the bottom of the back of the chair looks slanted because the piece of wood it's attached to is shaped that way.)

 Unfortunately I didn't take any other pictures of the whole remodel, so you'll just have to go to Cody's office and see how great it looks now.

Calderwood Kids

I took the camera out Sunday and snapped a few pictures of the kids. I have been really bad at taking pictures and blogging for that matter so I thought I'd document a moment in their lives. Tucker and Aubrey have been playing really well together lately. They'll build forts, color, play hide-and-seek, and not fight! Aubrey has finally mastered writing her name and Tucker is learning math at school. I had no idea they taught that in preschool. He's a smartypants as I like to tease him - he thinks that phrase is hilarious. I've got both of them signed up for gymnastics in a month and Tucker will also begin soccer. I'm looking for a dance class for Aubrey to take during the summer. Tucker is also doing awesome in piano. It amazes me what he can remember each time we practice. His favorite thing is to tell me that he's going to close his eyes and play his music. He does and no mistakes! 

 This cute kid still gets into things, but not as frequently. I mean it's still a daily occurrence, but I am seeing improvement. He still loves the outdoors and actually played in the sandbox the other day. Of course after doing that he thought he could take a trek through the mud to our neighbors house. I guess I'll be doing laundry a lot until summer hits!

 And then there is sweet Blake. He has gotten LOUD! Happy loud, but loud nonetheless. I'm actually sitting here typing this before everyone's awake because he decided to get up early and be loud. His hair is coming in, not that you can tell in the picture, and he'll be a little Blondie. He cut his first tooth a couple weeks ago and he's eating a ton. I'm hoping this is just a growth spurt because I feel like I am constantly buying baby food. He can sit up if you put him in the position and he's rolling around. I'm sure any day he'll begin to crawl, but I'm OK if he is a little slow with that. I'm having a hard enough time keeping the floor clean in his rolling zone, it's going to be that much harder when he can find that little toy or piece of paper in the next room.

Blast from the Past

I was able to clog at our Relief Society talent show last night. I haven't clogged in Utah for an audience in about 7 years, before our move to dental school. I did this dance solo (I wish Heather could have been their with me) and it was fun and felt great! I haven't gotten back into clogging here because of my posse of children. I love them and need to focus on them. There is a clogging studio here in Heber that I may contact someday, but until then, I'll just keep flying back to Maryland to teach and reliving my golden olden days!

Midway Ice Castles

 We had the opportunity to drive by and go through the Midway Ice Castles a bunch of times this year. Last year the castles were at the Zermatt Resort and this year they were at the town square in Midway (where Swiss Days is held.) I worked the booth and was the photographer on Thursday nights for the month of February. I worked with one of my friends and had fun in the ice! I took this picture the middle of January at the castles and it really is amazing how much they grew week to week. (Oh and I don't claim to be a great photographer, I just happen to have a nice camera.) 

My brother's family took some pictures of the kids when they went through at the end of January. Below is Aubrey and Mckenna racing through one of the castles you can walk through.

My Mom and a bunch of grandkids.

Tucker and Aubrey's preschool had a field trip to the castles. This is Tucker's class with his teacher, Miss Tonya plus Aubrey.

 An attempted picture with the kids and me in front of a castle.

 Tucker and his best bud, Skyler.

 If you live in Utah and didn't make it up to see them, do it next year. I'm pretty sure they'll be in Midway again, if not, somewhere in Park City. They are beautiful and unique!