Six Years Ago...

...Christopher and I became husband and wife.
Today we will celebrate by visiting the
Mesa Arizona Temple where we were married.
Happy Anniversary, Darling!

Christmas Day

Kids make Christmas magical. Cal and Crewe were SO fun this year.

Santa brought Crewe a shopping cart and plastic fruit.

Crewe was completely unimpressed with his Santa goodies
except for the carrot.

Despite being on the naughty list a few times recently,
Santa delivered Cal the pedal car he has been eying.
Cal quickly declared "that's cool, I like it!"

Grandma & Grandpa scored big points with their Thomas the Train gift set.

And Crewe loves the monkey handpicked by Grandma.

On Christmas afternoon we went to the home of our good friends, the Maughans, for a delicious Christmas dinner. They went all out with the food.

Bob's turkey was a piece of art.

Crewe's favorite part was playing with the youngest Maughan, Bailey the dog.

Christmas Eve

Ahhh... Christmas baking on Christmas Eve. The boys were especially good assistants in the kitchen with their new "chef-wear" courtesy of Grammy. Wish I inherited that gene that would let me create stuff like that without a pattern.

The final product: goodies to deliver to friends tonight as we carol outside their front doors

Mom & Dad Calvert flew down from Denver to join us for the holiday.
Christmas wouldn't be the same without sharing it with family.

Christmas Eve dinner.

Singing Christmas Carols at the piano.

The boys after opening their traditional one Christmas Eve gift, PJs!

Christmas Quotables

In his nightly prayers:

"Thank thee for Caden (friend from church), frosting-the-snowman-the jolly-happy-soul, and pizza"

Playing with the little people Nativity set:

"Why doesn't baby Jesus have a crib?"







As I anxiously awaited the answer to the question "what would you like for Christmas?," this is the great gift idea that surfaced:

"What I'd really like for Christmas is for you to shave 15 minutes off of your getting ready time..."

"Hey! Chingedy ching,
(hee-haw, hee-haw)
It's Dominick the donkey.
The Italian Christmas donkey."

Cal wouldn't stop talking about this song after he heard it on the radio. Thank goodness for iTunes. Warning: Listen with caution! This song can easily get stuck in your head.

Season of Good Cheer

So much to be thankful for this season. Top on the list are friends and family. On Friday night we got together with some of the first friends Chris and I met when we moved to Phoenix: The Quintons and The Smiths. Back then we were a party of six at a restaurant. Now, just a few years later, we are a group of 13 doing take-out! We got to wish the Quintons good luck in their move to their new hometown of Miami/Ft. Lauderdale. They will be so missed.

The party of 13 (minus Crewe)

Friends Forever
_______________

Tonight for family night we put together and decorated a gingerbread house courtesy of Grammy. Cal was all about the frosting and candy. His moto: the more frosting, the more fun. It was one fun night!

Crewe was quite proud of each piece of candy he was able to pull off of the little house.

Cal may be putting up a wall right now, but what he's really thinking about is how he can get some more of that mortar/frosting.

Crewe's Leap

Crewe's condition has opened our eyes in so many ways, especially in how we think about and take care of our bodies. In October we learned about a fascinating approach to medicine the blends the best of western and eastern medicines. We took Crewe to Utah shortly after to learn more about the treatment options and see how he would respond to a few treatments.

Our main objective was to reduce the swelling in his face and neck so that his airway would open enough that he wouldn't need the trach. We had no idea that it would help his development. In the week (singular) following the treatments we saw a huge leap in his development. By "leap," I mean that he:

• voluntarily puts weight on his legs when in the standing position (first time in his life)
  
• started crawling on his hands and knees instead of just commando style
  
• immediately began signing 10-15 signs
• makes more sounds and can even say a few words
  

For the first time, Crewe is beginning to close the 50%+ delay in his motor skills. Every single one of Crewe's therapists (2 physical therapists, 1 speech, 1 occupational, and 1 developmental specialist) has remarked at how unusual his progress has been since the treatments. There are also promising indicators that the treatments may help Crewe overcome his food allergies.

We are so encouraged by what we've seen that we are in the process of making arrangements to spend two weeks in February with the medical doctor in Dallas who is pioneering this approach. More to come!

Dear Nana

Direct quote from Cal when he woke up from his nap today:

I like Nana. I want to go to Nana's today. I want to play airplanes and eat crackers with Nana. I LIKE NANA, NANA, NANA.

Nana, we wish we lived closer to you!

Frosting the Snowman

Calahan is convinced that this famous snowman is named Frosting instead of Frosty. And yes, he thinks we should eat cupcakes after singing the song!

ABC Song

Cal would have nothing to do with my attempts to teach him Christmas songs last night. Instead, he wanted to repeatedly sing the alphabet song "all by himself." For Grammy and Grandma...

Holiday Adventures Begin

There's something about Thanksgiving weekend that makes it one of the weekends I look forward to most throughout the year. I love to be with family, watch the holiday season unfold, and see the Christmas spirit come more alive. A few favorites this weekend:

• Decorating for Christmas
• Black Friday
• Holiday Lights & Pizza
• Movies
• BYU v. U of U Football Game
• Holiday Baking

Grammy's garland assistant.

While my mom and I were busy decorating inside, Chris was outside hanging lights and wreaths and.... creating a landing pad for Santa. This photo doesn't do it justice. It's so dang cute.

Shawna's black Friday purchase: her first ever laptop computer!

We went to see the lights at the Mesa Temple grounds only to find out that they don't go on until 8:00 pm the first night! So, no lights, just pizza at our favorite pizza place in Old Town Scottsdale, Nello's. Cal wouldn't leave Uncle Donald's side all night long.

Crewe telling BYU to "bite" the competiton. What a great over time ending - Go Cougs!

Brian starts some holiday "cooking," sharing his spinach, egg, cheese and magic toast combination. It was delicious. Reading with Grammy is always a favorite with the boys. She must have read "I Know an Old Woman who Swallowed a Pie" a thousand times.

Chris and I doubled with Brian and Shawna and saw this incredibly uplifting movie. It was definitely worth waiting for the 10:10 showing last night when the there were no more seats left together for the 8:45. A must see, for sure.

Thanksgiving Day 2009

Thanksgiving Day was all about good company, good conversation and good food of course. 2009 was the Bailey year and we hosted everyone who could travel to Arizona: Mom, Donald, Brian and his girlfriend Shawna.

We wove some unconventional menu items into our traditional spread this year. We substituted prime rib for turkey and key lime cheesecake for pumpkin pie. The traditional Moody drink (a delicious fruit drink passed down from Chris's grandmother Moody) was a hit with the Baileys. The food was scrumptious and a new family tradition was born with the key lime cheesecake that my brother Brian "whipped up" (took him two days and careful attention to detail to make it).

When we weren't nibbling on yummy food, we enjoyed being outside (a beautiful 77), talking about things we are grateful for (so many things), and watching football (go Broncos!). Actually, we did a lot of those things while nibbling on yummy food. The passionate discussion we had about health care at the dinner table seemed to fuel some appetites! A day to remember for sure.

Our Thanksgiving "turkey."

"This pilgrim hat is really giving me a headache!"

Grammy and her assistant making rolls.

Chez Brian with his cheesecake masterpiece.
Chris making his signature potatoes, yum!
Grammy tending the many pots on the stove.

The love birds.

Menu:

Starters:

Shrimp Cocktail
Cheeseball & Crackers
Mixed Greens Salad - Nordstrom Recipe

Main Course:

Prime Rib
Twice baked potatoes
Green beans
Homemade Pecan Rolls

Dessert:

Key lime Cheesecake
Chocolate Cake