In the snow

After a delightfully relaxing thanksgiving at Becca and Alan's new house, we headed out the day after for some Christmas trees!

We were on our way to the Kaibab when, just after passing Colorado city Dad encountered some car trouble. Flat tire? No. Out of Gas? Never! The entire back wheel coming off of the axle... sure! After scouring Colorado City for pins for a 1986 Suburban, he hooked the tire back on and we were off!
The drive was worth it and the kids got their first taste of snow for the season:
It pretty much wore them out:
Check out Leila's hot chocolate mustache:
I didn't realize till just now that I don't even have a picture of the tree! Well, you'll just have to wait till it's decorated and then I'll snap one.

Hello Baby!

Here's our first peek at baby #4, first the sweet little face:
Their little arm waving hello!
The little foot and piggies:
The little leg and side view of the foot:
Hi baby! You are growing so well! Look at your limbs all fully formed! I think you're a girl because of your dainty feet and smallish size. Daddy wants a girl but thinks you're a boy because the ultrasound tech said it was "very obvious" whatever you were showing us with your legs wide open. I guess we'll see who's right when you're born! For now, we love you baby, and we hope you keep growing beautifully :)

P.S. Thank you for not making me sick for very long... you're already my favorite... baby that's in my womb right now :)

The running continues.... and Veteran's Day

The first weekend in November Jesse ran the Snow Canyon Half marathon with Jessica and Nikki, Jesse's time was 2 hours 40 seconds (we also discovered the benenfits of liquid bandage! Sadly, it was AFTER the bloody nipples... sorry Jesse)
The kids playing after the Veteran's day parade:

At the Veteran's day Concert: Cute story about Amanda: At the beginning of the concert Mr. C comes out to say a few words and announces that he's stalling because he forgot his baton and someone is running to the band room to grab it. He glances off stage and says "not that one, the plastic one!" I'm thinking "sheesh! who's silly enough not to grab the right baton!" After a few minutes a hand appears from behind the stage curtain with the right baton. Mr. C glances at it and getting impatient motions for it to be brought to him. Amanda reluctantly emerges from behind the curtain and sheepishly tiptoes (as to not make noise on the stage in her peep-toe heels) over to hand off the baton. Cute Amanda, very Cute :)

And Sara with her choir peeps: A note about Sara in the concert: She sang with the choir and then changed clothes mid-concert to play with the band... not to mention she played in 2 parades that morning! Busy day for Band.. and Choir... and SARA!

Scary

This year we had a Skunk: A Princess: And, a Vampire: Let's not forget our Emo Daddy:Oh yes he did.

We also had Incarnacion and Nacho Libre:

Welcome Baby Ailee!

My newest niece arrived last week to proud parents Annie and Dave. I can't believe what an incredible experience the whole birth was, I am so glad I got to be a part of it :) Every time I witness a birth I am left amazed at the sheer miracle but this birth was extra special, and everyone in the room could feel the support and love around Annie and baby Ailee.

Annie and Dave did a magnificent job of communicating during the whole labor, and Annie was able to deliver unmedicated as planned. She was so happy to be done though!
Who looks this good after natural childbirth?!!! ANNIE!
Sweet Baby Ailee (pronounced eye-lee) breathed in so much meconium she had to stay in the NICU for 2 days while they monitored her oxygen, but I don't think any baby rocked those nose tubes as cute as Ailee could :)

I finally get MY turn!

And Grandma too... I guess.... gets a turn.
Mom and Baby are doing amazing and we spend our time together fighting over who Ailee likes and wants to hold her more. I think she likes my soothing voice.... right Annie? ;)

Tennis Graduate

Cooper finished his first Quickstart Tennis session. For being the youngest in his class he sure does have a good swing!
Leila thinks she's part of the class because she has a teeny racket and chases the tennis balls, so she snuck in the team picture.

Jesse's First Marathon

First of all, who has energy to do this: at the end of a marathon? Only Jesse.

And here is our sweet Miss Jessica (or just her bum) finishing strong:

Finish time for Jesse was 4:34! I'd say pretty good for his first marathon EVER!


I'll give Jesse the option of giving you all the mile-by-mile breakdown later.

Opposites Attract

I feel like nothing could be further apart right now than my present physical ability and Jesse's. I wouldn't have said that when we got married. Not that he wasn't a hunk then as now. But I was a kick-a climber (at least in my mind) and I attempted surfing once. We were on equal planes. Not now. Jesse trains every day for the Ironman and I.... well lets just say I'm dedicating my life right now to our 4th child and it feels like my life is slowly being squeezed out of my body.

Example: Jesse finishing the Kokopelli triathlon (olympic distance) and knocked 30 minutes off his previous time. And me? Well I almost passed out waiting 30 min. for him to finish.
P.S. This triathlon was 2 WEEKS before the marathon. He just said it was "part of his training" Congratulations Jesse on your 2:40 finish :) I vow that someday I'll be done having babies. That's my vow. (What? Did you expect me to vow to do an Ironman? No Way!)

North Timp Point

About an hour and a half south of Fredonia is the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, we like the view from North Timp Point so that's where we did our end of summer camp out. The original plan was to go with the Syphus family, but as the date grew nearer we discovered that the grand opening of the new Outdoor Outlet would be that same weekend! Luckily, all of the Callahans were willing to go so we didn't have to go alone! They brought out the 4-wheelers and we hooked up the trailer to give everyone a ride:
Grandpa helped out with the babies:

The view at sunset is always amazing!
Marshall rode the poles like a horse:
Leila has a killer grumpy face:
Cooper livin' on the edge:
Marshall along for the ride: I admit that I stayed in my sleeping bag or sitting by the fire most of the time... but it was worth the sickness.. if you know what I mean ;)

Cooper's First 17 Miler

This hike was incredible and miraculous to me for a few reasons:

• Cooper did it at 4 1/2 years old!

• My Mom did it! (on her 53rd Birthday... yay Mom!)

• I did it! (6 weeks pregnant!)

• Jesse did it! (this was his first time on this hike, he was a champ and carried other people's packs a good deal of the time)

• There were possibly armed and dangerous men all over that mountain and we weren't mugged, taken hostage or threatened in any way... more on that later.

For this hike we start in Grass Valley and hike up to Mill Flat (Day 1: 5 miles), then we hike from Mill up to the Browse overlook and down to Whipple Valley (Day 2: 5 miles), The last day we hike down Whipple to the Pine Valley Campgrounds (Day 3: 7 miles). So for now, here are some pics taken on our miraculous hike:

At the Trail head, packs on, ready to go!

A few miles in, Sara found raspberry bushes, she picked enough to cover the bottom of her cup and at for dessert that night we put them on Mom's birthday cheesecake:
The first day we hiked 5 miles from Grass Valley to Mill Flat, but it was nice to be done for the day!
I was just glad to take off my pack:
I brought freeze dried blueberry cheesecake for Mom's birthday cake and we sang, I even remembered to bring 1 little pink candle to stick in it for her! ( it was worth the extra .01 oz of weight!)
Sara packed up Monopoly Deal (our new favorite game) just so we could play a few games:
Cooper burned 3 fingers on the fire... I think he has a healthy respect for campfires now:
The 2nd day we hiked up to this outlook over Browse... breathtaking as always!
MandaSara at the outlook:
Jesse strapped on my mom's pack for the last 3 miles of the 2nd day. When he would put Cooper on his shoulders for a few miles he was carrying about 105 pounds! Woot Woot!
Mom Made it to the lookout too!
Mom hiking through North Valley:
Eating dinner in Whipple Valley:
Ready to go on the last day:
Every time Cooper stopped for snacks he had to take his cow out first:
Jesse: "I think I can see Pine Valley from here!"
Me: "I think I can see Central!"
Cooper: "I can almost see Jesus!"
All done! So after we finished the hike I saw a mexican dressed in work clothes just looking into the bushes, when we got home we saw in the paper that there had been a huge marajuana sting on the mountain while we were hiking and there had been gunfire as the police had apprehended 5 suspects. SCARY! Anyway... none of us got hurt and we all had a good time. Jesse can't wait to do it again with Leila :)