Hike To Ensign Peak

For Pioneer Day here in Utah, my dad had a great idea to take a hike up to Ensign Peak. Ensign Peak is known as the peak that the Pioneers came over into the Salt Lake Valley after their long journey across the plains. The same peak where Brigham Young famously declared, "This Is The Place".
I was a bit taken aback since my dad is probably the last person on Earth that would ever suggest we go on a family hike. The outdoors aren't really his thing. But it isn't too hard of a hike, only about 20 or 30 minutes. And it was gorgeous.

Calvin dressed in his patriotic red, white, and blue. 

Dad trying to take a picture with Cal in front of the view...

Dad: What gives?!

I live here, folks. 

Check out that view! 

Not to mention those amazing clouds. 

ANGIE'S BIRTHDAY SURPRISE.

Story:

David likes to plan surprises for my birthday. I always ask that he keep his clues & hints to himself because I prefer to be surprised. This year for my birthday, he kept saying how much I was REALLY going to enjoy my present this year. He told me he'd have to go to Salt Lake to pick it up. 

Since I didn't want any clues, I was guessing that maybe he'd ordered something on ebay & had to pick it up in SLC. I had no idea what was coming, folks. 

The day of my birthday started out with delicious breakfast & such. I really didn't have much planned for that day (This is Friday, by the way). We were going to my mom's house for dinner to celebrate mine & Calvin's birthday since my birthday fell on a Sunday this year. 

David went up on Friday afternoon with Calvin to pick up my birthday present. He then came to get me from home to take us all up to my mom's for dinner. 

He mentioned that my birthday present had taken up most of the front seat of the car... 

.... Now I had NO CLUE as to what it possibly could have been.

He had to travel to SLC to get it & it took up most of the passenger seat??

UH.

And as we entered my parent's house, sitting right there in front of me was none other than my DEAR OLD DAD! I was so surprised! I obviously had no idea he was coming and I totally started crying. Hugged him & we all ate dinner together for our birthdays!  Seriously, what a great present. 

I rather wish I'd taken pictures of this, but I was completely taken off guard. So you all just get to picture that in your little heads. 

Favorite Chompz.

Gyoza
Recipe by Lillian Wilkins...

It was probably the first dinner I ever attempted that 1) Tasted good, 2) Had us going back for second and third helpings, 3) has become one of our favorite things to have for dinner.
Coming soon, a video on how to make sushi by yours truly..

Yuuuummmmm

The Opener of Gifts.

Here's a video from early on Calvin's birthday. First thing, he woke up to some gifts from his grandparents and from us. He is definitely a fan of anything related to cars. Actually, anything with wheels on it will work.

Birthday Boy!

Okay, so this happened like a month ago...

July 13th, 2011.
HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY CALVIN!

We invited all of our family over for a day at the pool.
These pictures were all taken by David, by the way.
He's pretty good with a camera..

Cousin Noah

My sister, Ali. Nice half moon eyes, Al. :)

One EXTREMELY swollen diaper...

The Cake, made by David.

The cake, take two... being eaten by Calvin. 

Opening his gifts with his Abuelo

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KIDDO.

♥♥♥

A B C

Calvin (as many of you already know) has a pretty intense love for all things Sesame Street. As he started watching more of it, we noticed that he would start pointing out numbers & letters to us. He can now count all the way to 12 and can tell you any letter of the alphabet.

Thanks, Sesame Street. :)

Belated Blog Posts Galore!!

Alright, since the past few weeks have been a little busier than usual, blogging has been taking the back burner..
I've got tons of pictures to share so watch out...
Here they come!

Puddle Jumper

Calvin got this cool raincoat from his Cousin Joel a while back, and we didn't expect we'd really use it until fall because, lets be honest, Utah isn't exactly the most humid of places..
But this year, Utah has been experiencing more rain than usual in the early summer months. Actually, for most of June, the day would start out sunny and by the early afternoon, the sky would be overcast with some rain to finish off the evening. So things have been nice and green thanks to the extra moisture.

Anyway, the point is that we've had lots of opportunities this summer to pull out the raincoat! Calvin's been stoked at any chance he gets to go run in some puddles..