Pajama Party

This weekend all of my siblings were able to get together for the weekend. It was my parents' 30th Wedding Anniversary so we swam, had a waterfight, played lots of games, ate good food, stayed up way too late every night, and went to my Grandpa's ranch in Medicine Lodge. It wasn't as hot as we thought it would be, and Grandma and Grandpa got to come, too! Sunday was my cousin Wade's farewell in Howe, so we were glad we got to be there for that. My mom bought all of the grandkids fun matching pajamas, so we had to get a picture! Jackson, Heidi, Emma, Aubrey & Madelyn



Emma's favorite way to hug her sister- dog pile style!

Dear Emma,

I'm sorry I didn't see this one coming,
That I couldn't stop your tumble down our stairs.
It really did break my heart to watch,
To pick you up and dry up all your tears.


Luckily it was just our front steps outside our house, but it was still so sad. Not the first bump, and won't be the last. It looks pretty bad, though. :(

Emma's First Haircut

Nothing too drastic, but she REALLY needed a trim. She loved sitting in the salon chair, and thought she was very "big."
BEFORE
AFTER

Sisters: 3 months and 17 months

Can't believe they are getting so old! Thought I better document a couple of things I want to remember...

Madelyn loves:
-Mom and Dad.
-Trying to talk.
-Her sister. She lights up when Emma is around. See that smile?
Emma loves:
-Her sister. She used to just take Maddie's pacifier away, now one of her favorite things to do is to give it to her. It is sweet.
-Her cowboy boots. When I say, "Go find your shoes," she brings me her boots. These boots have been through all of the cousins on Jared's side of the family. Pretty cute, huh?
-Balls. Right now, she especially loves her basketball. She is pretty good with it, too.
-Swimming. We did swimming lessons the first part of June and my friend Linda Lee has a pool at her apartment complex that we go swim at with her. This week, I even took Maddie!
-Kissing her sister. ALL the time. It is really adorable.
-Popsicles/ice cream truck.
-Blowing kisses. To everyone we see. She is a people person.

I.love.rolls

Leg rolls
Arm rolls

Neck/chin rolls
Pretty cute, huh? (Emma never really had any, so Maddie's are especially adorable to us.)

Sunday Afternoon Naps

Madelyn and Jared
Then I hopped in the picture, too. ;)

River Rats

Thursday night we went to Centennial Park and rented a canoe with some friends for an hour, then cooked some hot dogs and hamburgers. Emma did pretty well on the canoe, just didn't like being confined and not being able to jump in the water. It was a lot of fun!

Jared tried out a paddle boat for a little bit.

Emma and her friend Lydia. Lydia heard a plane and is showing me where it is in this picture. Emma was way too busy eating dirt to notice.

Then Friday night we went water skiing with some other friends. We were out on the river for 3 1/2 hours, and the girls did GREAT. Emma got in the water on a tube for a little bit and absolutely loved it. She had a lot of fun clapping and yelling for mom and dad when we were out on the water. When I was out knee boarding she kept blowing me kisses and waving at me. At one point Jared and I were double knee boarding and when we went down and they were turning the boat around, Emma tried to find us everywhere. She looked pretty relieved when she saw us again. Madelyn loved the rocking motion of the boat, and just hung out the whole time, only sleeping for a few minutes.
We definitely need a boat! I think we'd be content to be on the water all summer long. :)

Blessed

This week, this little girl truly changed my life. And her parents have be some of the most amazing people ever. I am blessed to be entrusted with two healthy, happy, beautiful children. I am blessed to have an amazing husband. I am especially blessed to know that I have all of them FOREVER.

Prayers for Preslee

This little girl(a friend of a friend) and her story have touched my life in a way I can't quite explain. Lots of you may have heard Preslee's story and if not you can read her updates and progress HERE.

She and her family have been so strong, but she is still in critical condition at Primary Children's Hospital. Please pray for little Preslee and her family.
You can help the family out by donating money at helpsullengers.blogspot.com, every little bit helps.

Relaxing Sunday Afternoon

Yesterday we visited one of our favorite local waterfalls and then went down to Centennial Park. (Of course I forgot the camera, so this was all we could get with the cell phone.)

Whew!

Last weekend, we:
went disc golfing
swimming
mountain biking
four-wheeling
bicycling
motor biking
horse back riding
golfing
tractor riding ;)
played badmitton
volleyball
field hockey
annie i over
cards games
board games
watched fireworks show
lit fireworks
ate roasted hot dogs
smores
homemade pizza
lunch at chili's with a friend
WHEW!! No wonder we are still dragging this weekend!! I did manage to snap a couple of pictures, though!

What I learned this week

#1: My house may never be truly clean again... and that's ok.
#2: I am a mother of 2 girls. Girls are emotional. Some days there will be lots of tears... and that's ok.
#3: Everyone grieves differently... and that's ok.

My Grandpa Callister passed away early this morning, and I have been thinking of him a lot today and in the last few weeks as his health was deteriorating. I guess you could say thinking of these things is my way of dealing with his passing.


Here are a few things he taught me:
Kindness: I always loved that my Grandpa had a pocketful of candy at church. That was especially great for me since I sat by him every week, but he also gave candy to any kid who came to see him after Sacrament Meeting. After Jerry Pancheri passed away(all of his sons still live in Howe with their families), Grandpa made it a point to give Jerry's grandchildren candy and make them feel like they had a "Grandpa" at church.

Love: I absolutely loved getting my Grandpa to talk about my Grandma. You could see in his eyes how much he loves her. Sometimes he would get a faraway look on his face as he told a story about them, and I remember thinking that was the kind of marriage I wanted to have.

Educating Yourself: He always made sure my grades were where they needed to be, that I was learning from my classes, and that I enjoyed learning. He loaned me books all the time. I read "The Work and the Glory" series in grade school because of his encouragement. He LOVED to read(seriously checked out 10 books from the library at a time- I rarely checked out a book from the library that didn't have his name on the card showing that he checked it out previously), faithfully did his crossword puzzles everyday and watched BYU TV often.

Hard Work: I worked with my Grandpa on the farm for as long as I can remember. I always thought it was cool to tell my friends(who were also mainly farm kids) that my 85 year old Grandpa was the one who traded me out on the swather, etc. And we didn't quit for the day until the field was completely swathed or cleared of hay bales. More often than not, he would look out the window and see bales on the field and either call my dad to see when we were headed out to haul hay, or just get on his 4-wheeler and come out to the field.

Faithfulness: Grandpa was always at church, smiling and happy to be there. He stood and bore his testimony often, one of my favorite memories of him. He sat on the front row of Sunday School and always had something meaningful to add to the discussions.

Determination: Anyone who has ever spent any time with my Grandpa would have learned this from him. He never gave up. He had a HUGE garden and was out on his hands and knees planting and weeding it, giving it great care, even when it was hard for him. We never finished Christmas tree hunting without a PERFECT tree, because we didn't give up until he found "the one". We didn't stop working on unplugging the header on the swather until it was accomplished, no matter how frustrated we got.

Independence: He has always valued his physical independence, and loved living in his own house and driving himself places. He also always taught me the value of financial independence and being able to provide for yourself. We often discussed tithing, investing and saving.

Honesty: Grandpa earned the Callister name a lot of respect over the years. If, after seeing that my last name was Callister, a person I didn't know asked if I was related to Rulon Callister, I never hesitated, but proudly responded, "Yes! He is my grandfather."

Humility: Although he loved his independence, I watched him learn to accept others' help gracefully, and return the favors in his own way.

To Love the Outdoors: Grandpa loved going camping, going on 4-wheeler rides in the hills, going for drives and going Christmas tree hunting. A couple of years ago we took the pick-up over Arco pass. In all the years he lived in Howe, he said he had never been over the pass before. It was fun to see how excited he was to see explore something new. There are very few canyons I explored without Grandpa.

To Exercise: Grandpa was quite the athlete when he was young. And he rode his bike and went on walks for as long as he could. He encouraged all of us to love exercising in whatever form it was. He rarely missed any of our home games. He always coached Kelsi and I in how to improve our basketball game. Somedays he would call and see if we could go down to the church so he could teach us some things. He would tell me what the other girls on my team needed to do, too. Finally, he just said, "Melody, go get ______(whichever girl he thought needed his advice)." Then he would give her his advice. Some of those girls were all state, amazing athletes, but they always enjoyed talking to him.

Personal History: Grandpa wrote in his journal often. I loved hearing his typewriter click clacking away while I was over cleaning his house or reading or whatever. But he also shared stories from his personal history with us, and I have learned a lot from him over the years. He also e-mailed all of us after we went off to college, so I got to keep up with him.

The Importance of Family: He was so proud of every one of his children and grandchildren. I loved hearing him tell me about a cousin who won a wrestling match or game or who was getting good grades in a certain difficult class. He kept track of them all, showing me when he got new pictures or gifts from them. He loved Aunt Grace's phone calls on Sundays and that Uncle Seth and his family came to visit him for conference. Family is important. And I am so grateful for mine.

As you can tell, I could go on forever with the ways Grandpa touched my life. He was one of my closest friends growing up and I am so grateful for the many wonderful memories I have of him. I will miss him, but I'm so excited that he and Grandma are finally together again! Love and miss you both!