The Call Family Blog

Jr Deer Hunt

2009-10-23T10:53:00.008-07:00

Eric, Jessica, Lance (Tod's Brother), Tod and Makaylee

Eric got drawn for the Jr. Deer hunt in unit 7 along with his three cousins Tyler, Jessica, and Trevor. Makaylee has decided that she would rather just go along for the ride rather than shoot a deer. Chase on the other hand can't wait until next year when he is able to go hunting. Opening morning Jessica and Tyler shot their deer. Eric saw and shot at several different deer over the next couple days but wasn't able to get one. After the fact we figured out that the scope was off on Tod's gun. Tod and the three older kids had a great time spending time with cousins and aunts and uncles. The best part of the whole thing was being able to hunt out of grandma and grandpa's house.

Soccer

2009-10-13T13:03:00.003-07:00

This year Chase decided that he wanted to play soccer. This is something completely new at our house but it has been a lot of fun to watch him play his games. The other kids really get into cheering him on too. He is on the same team as his cousins Coltin and Austin and thier dad Scott is the coach. He is number 11 on the Searpents (which is the name of his team). Leane came to visit one weekend and tooks some great pictures of Chase and his team playing.

New Pictures

2009-10-13T12:47:00.003-07:00

Eric--Age 12

Kaylee - Age 11
Chase-- Age 9

Camille--Age 7

Nathaniel--Age 3

Favorite Time of the Year

2009-08-25T14:21:00.004-07:00

Eric 7th grade

Kaylee 6th grade

Chase 4th grade

Cami-- 2nd Grade

Its my favorite time of the year again -- Time for the kids to go back to school! Don't get me wrong, I love summer time and spending time with my kids but at the same time I love the consistency and structure that the school year brings. The kids were just as excited to go back this year. I think the extra couple weeks of summer this year made all the difference in the world. Eric is in 7th grade this year and is really enjoying the majority of his classes. He is a student aid for the art teacher this year as well as still playing trumpet in the band. He has a new band teacher this year and this has been a little bit of an adjustment but he has decided to stick with it. Kaylee started middle school this year. The first day was a little overwhelming but she has really started to like it. She has decided to play the alto sax this year and came home today so excited that she learned how to play two new notes. Chase is in 4th grade this year. He has the same teacher that Eric and Kaylee had. He likes it so far. Another new thing this year for Chase is Soccer. He is playing on the same team as his cousins and is loving it. Cami is in 2nd grade this year and she loves her teacher and her class. Nate is still at home with mom playing with all the daycare kids. He is really looking forward to the day when he can go to pre-school. I'm not quite ready for him to go to pre-school quite yet. He is growing up way too fast as it is.

Big Hardy Reunion

2009-08-05T09:22:00.008-07:00

This past weekend we went to the Lower Log Campground in the White Mountains to go to the Big Hardy reunion. This reunion has been going on for the last 57 years and consists of My Dad's Grandparents, their 14 children and all their posterity. It can be a little overwhelming to someone who doesn't know what to expect but it can be a lot of fun too. This year all my brothers and my sister where there. I think this is the first time this has happened since we were kids. My kids had a ball playing with their aunts, uncles and cousins, wading in the creek, catching crawdads, playing dominoes and other games with grandpa and eating lots of good food. On Sunday they had primary for the kids. Kaylee took Nate and he was a mess. Then when we told them that it was time to go to church (they have a family testimony meeting) he wasn't very excited and he told me he was going to act bad just like he did in primary. He actually did really good though. I am so thankful for family traditions. It is a lot of fun to be able able to visit with extended family and to hear the stories about my great grandparents and thier children.

Nate didn't know how to play dominoes but he sure had a good time stacking them up and building towers with them.

Kaylee

Aunt Leane talked the girls into seeing if they could touch their noses with their tongue. My kids have inherited the Call tongue! I knew Kaylee could do it because she has been doing since she was little. Cami, though, was a surprise.

Nate and Austin wanted to hold the crawdads. Nate was a little worried that it was going to pinch him. Austin thought it was great.

On Saturday they had a horseshoe tournament, a volleyball tournament and carnival type games for the little kids. The kids thought this was great and had a great time participating in all the fun.

Chase playing in the creek.

Nate ( I love this picture)

Kaylee and Abby playing games in camp

Coltin, Austin, Kaylee, Eric and Abby playing in the creek

Summer Fun

2009-07-16T10:34:00.009-07:00

It hardly seems possible that it is already the middle of July. Summer is flying by and my blog has been severely neglected. The majority of our days are spent watching kids and playing with the kids that come for daycare. Kaylee has been babysitting a little for one of our friends and loves that she has her own spending money. Chase was able to get his cast off the second week in June. The doctor had to take his cast off to get a little game piece that Chase stuck in his cast out. After looking at the x-ray the Dr. determined that his thumb had good calcification and he didn't need his cast anymore. Just in time for Cub Scout day camp. This year Chase went three days in a row and loved it. The last day the fire trucks came and all the boys got sprayed by the fire hose. Eric attended scout camp for the first time this summer and loved it and then the day after he got back he headed to Flagstaff with Chase to play with cousins for a week. It was kind of odd not having all my kids home. There were times where I just had Nate and Cami. I almost didn't know what to do with myself!

Over the Fourth of July weekend we headed to Utah with the McGuires and the Sherratts to the Mountains by Cedar City. The Sherratts have a beautiful cabin up in the aspens. The grass was taller than Nate is and it was just beautiful. On one of the days we took the kids to Kolob Reservoir to play in the water. Other than that the kids spent the majority of their time playing games, exploring, catching frogs and playing with them by the little pond on the property. All the kids did great together. The food was great thanks to Paul and Lauri who sure know how to cook with the dutch oven.

In a couple of weeks we will be heading to the White mountains for the Big Hardy Reunion. My kids are really looking forward to this becuase we haven't gone for a couple of years. I'm looking forward to seeing my brothers and sisters and other family that I haven't seen for a while.

The Start of Summer Vacation

2009-06-15T11:07:00.004-07:00

The last week of school chase fell off the jungle gym at school and landed on his thumb. Tod and I thought it was just a sprain so we didn't do anything about it for about three days. By the third day the swelling still hadn't gone down so Tod took him to the doctor . It turns out it was broken on the growth plate of his thumb. We got to go and see an orthopedic Dr that specializes in hands and he casted it. What a way to start off summer! He has to wear his cast for a whole month. We go back tomorrow to have it re x-rayed to make sure it is healing right.

The kids are adjusting to being out of school and I am getting there. It is almost like they have to learn how to get along again. I'm not counting down to school starting again yet but I have a feeling that it won't be too long. I am enjoying all the help with the chores around the house. The kids think it is torture and I keep telling them that it builds character and that it is so nice to have a clean house. For some reason they don't seem to believe me.

We sent Eric off to scout camp on Saturday morning. He was very excited to be able to go to Camp Geronimo for his first time. There were four boys that went in their group and from what we hear the scout advisers are surviving so far. Tod will be able to go up Friday night and spend the night with Eric and help bring everyone home on Saturday.

Tod got switched from a 4 day work week to a 5 day work week this last week. He wasn't too excited for the change but from what we understand the company needed to do this to keep up with the accounts that they have. He is a little disappointed in the fact that he loses a day to get things done around the house but we are very grateful that we have a job.

We are looking forward to a family vacation in Utah at the beginning of July and a family reunion at the end of July. It should be a fun summer.

Memorial Weekend

2009-05-27T09:26:00.004-07:00

These are all the kids that were in camp this year

Memorial weekend we headed to Williams to go camping with the Mcguires and the Sherratts and a few other families. It rained all night the first night and the only person to get wet was in the fifth wheel (it had a little leak right above his bed). Cami and Janie slept in a little tent outside that night and luckily Lauri moved them underneath the awning and they didn't get wet. In fact they stayed in their tent all night long by themselves. It was quite the accomplishment by both girls. The kids loved building forts and getting stocked up on pine cones for their annual pine cone war. When it was raining they would all gather under the awning and paint each others faces. The kids also had fun swinging in the hammock and playing games. We had lots of good food thanks to Paul and Lauri. They sure know how to cook with a dutch oven. There were lots of rides on the four wheelers. Tod and I and Dan and Sue even got to get away for a little bit without the kids for a ride. It was a lot of fun. It's funny how fast the weekend flies by when you are having fun.

Top Left: Nate found a quad just his size. Top Right Kaylee and Nate in the hammock.
Bottom Left: Kaylee and Manda painting Cami's face. Bottom Right: Brenden and Chase swinging in the hammock.

Cami turns 7

2009-05-08T09:12:00.005-07:00

I know this post is late but better late than never! Cami turned seven last friday. She could hardly wait for her birthday to come. A week or two before her birthday she brought me a list of things that she wanted for her birthday. This list included books, a book light, a mp3 player and candy, gum, and make-up plus a few other things. I asked her to narrow down her list a bit and I thought for sure she would keep the mp3 player on her list but she was more interested in her books. She has been reading the magic tree house series and loves them. As you can see from the picture she got a lot of them. She was so excited. We also had the Mcguires and Sherratts over for cake and ice cream. These two families are like family to us and a birthday just wouldn't be the same without them. Cami ended up getting her book light, some dress-up clothes, 10 dollars from Grandma Call, A cute outfit from Grandma Hardy, some new flip-flops and summer clothes. Happy birthday my sweet girl!

Thoughts on Today

2009-05-07T11:51:00.007-07:00

Warning: The following post contains whining: Read at your own risk!

Have you ever felt like just when you are about to get ahead in the game of life something else comes along and pushes you 3 steps back. Yesterday as I went to start my car it wouldn't start for anything. Tod, of course, is in Kingman for the night because he has a big install in Needles California today. I called our mechanic (who is also a good friend) and he came to look at it. Turns out it is the fuel pump and they are not cheep. We have also had medical bills coming out of our ears from Tod's little scare in March and Kaylee's speech therapy that the insurance refused to pay as well as two kids visiting the orthodontist. Nate has been potty training and he keeps having accidents and to top it all of i feel like I have another cold coming on. It just seems like it never ends.

I often tell my children that life isn't fair and the sooner you figure that out the happier you will be. As I sit here and think about the blessings that I do have I realize that we really have been blessed. Daycare has been staying fairly busy so we have had the money to pay our medical bills and between our savings and the money that i make from daycare this week i will be able to pay the mechanic. As for Kaylee's speech therapy, the Dr was kind enough cut the origonal bill in half. We are also so blessed to have many good friends that live here in Chino who are so willing to help at the drop of a hat. Our mechanic showed up about 7:30 last night on one of his only free nights to look at the van and he had me called back early this morning saying the part was ordered and would most likely be here tomorrow. I have a loving husband that works so hard to provide for our family and good kids and a home to live in. Most importantly I have the gospel in my life and a knowledge of a Hevenly Father who knows me and loves me for who I am.

Ok, so maybe life isn't that bad but can't I just have a little break!

Fun With Daddy

2009-04-15T08:19:00.005-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I wasn't feeling very good so Tod decided to take the kids out Perkinsville Rd and down to the Verde River to play. It was a pretty warm day so he had the kids take their swimming suits so they could wade in the River. Nate asked Tod if he could drink the water and Tod told him no becuase the cows poop in the water. Tod figured that Nate would get the point and not drink the water! When they got close to the water the bank sloped down and Nate tripped face first in the water. Tod quickly pulled him out of the water and he was very upset because he had drank some of the water that the cows had pooped in. After that he wouldn't go any where near the water! After they were done playing in the water they found a place where they could shoot the guns. Cami was very proud of the fact that she could hit a pop can witht the 22 and Nate thought it was great to be able to do what the big kids were doing.

Cami got a hold of the camera and took a couple self portraits

Happy Easter

2009-04-13T08:26:00.008-07:00

This year the kids got to do two different Easter egg hunts. We did the first one in Winslow when we had my dad's retirement party in March and the second one we did at the Mcguires on Saturday. It was fun watching Austin and Nate this year because they understood what they were doing. The hats are what we used to decorate the tables at my dad's retirement party. Aunt Leane thought they all needed their hats on to do the egg hunt. At the Mcguires we did two seperate hunts. One for the younger kids and one for the older kids. Amanda and Leah hid the eggs for the younger kids and they did a great job. Sue and I hid the eggs for the older kids and we didn't make it easy. In fact it probably took them almost half an hour to find their eggs. They said they wanted it to be hard! We had a great time celebrating Easter with family and friends and remembering the One who gave His all for us. Happy Easter!

All the kids after the big egg hunt. Left to Right: Chase, Cami, Abby, Kaylee, Austin, Eric and Nate.

Abby and Kaylee

Nate finding an Egg in grandpa's wood pile

The kids behind the gate ready to go and find the Easter Eggs in my parent's back yard. We gave Nate and Austin a head start just so they would have a chance!

Cami, Nate, Chase, Brenden and Janie at the McGuires

Chase, Brenden, Cami, Janie, Amanda, Ava, Makaylee, Nate, leah and Eric

Nate Turns Three

2009-04-13T07:52:00.006-07:00

I know this post is a little late but here it goes. Nate turned three last Sunday. It hardly seems possible that my baby is no longer a baby but a big boy. He tells everyone that will listen that he is a big boy and that he is three while he holds up 4 fingers! (He hasn't quite mastered the art of three fingers yet). On his birthday we had some family friends come and help us celebrate. Some of his favorite gifts included a Diego truck with dinosaurs from Grandma Hardy and a card from Grandma Call with $10 in it. It was pretty funny when he opened the card with the two five dollar bills. He got so excited to see the money that he screamed "I've got two bucks!"and then he got even more excited when Tod told him it was actually $10 bucks. He's been around his older brothers and sisters too long.

We asked him what kind of cake he wanted and he told us a brown one. A boy after my own heart! If you can't tell, he put the candles on his cake this year.

A Party, A Scare and A Pinewood Derby

2009-03-23T11:42:00.007-07:00

The title kind of sums up our life in the past couple of weeks. On the 14th of March my brothers and sister and I threw my dad a surprise retirement party. Saturday morning my parents headed to Flagstaff to celebrate their 36th wedding anniversery and as soon as the coast was clear we all decended to set everything up. We invited his brothers and sisters and people from their family home evening group. We even had one of his best friends come clear from Utah for the party. My mom had a heck of a time stalling in Flagstaff and she could tell my dad was growing very impatient. He was very surprised to see everyone there when the garage door went up. We had a nice dinner and then everyone moved inside where stories were shared and people were able to visit.

The scare occured last Monday. Tod was driving to Kingman and had chest pain and left arm pain. He called me to have me set up an appointment with the doctor for Tuesday and when I did that they told me that he needed to go to an urgent care or emergency room as soon as possible. Well he decided to go and get all his emergency calls done and then go to the Urgent care. Once there the doctor did an EKG and then decided it would be better to put him in an ambulance and send him to the hospital. I left the kids with Sue and headed to Kingman. Before I left Chino Valley I called a good friend in Kingman and asked if he could go and give Tod a blessing at the hospital. Tod's parents ended up coming and staying with the kids Monday night and all day Tuesday. When Tod's boss found out what was going on with Tod he turned around and headed back to kingman to help give Tod a blessing. He just happened to be on his way home and had passed through Kingman about 30 minutes before he got the call about Tod. I feel like we were being watched over. By the time I got there the doctors had decided to keep him over night and observe him. When we finally got the test results Tuesday evening everything looked normal and the doctor released him from the hospital. Tod has some nice bare spots on his chest where they put the EKG tabs, and he has decided that he will never let anyone wax his chest. He has also had his fare share of needles to last him a long while.

Chase participated in his pinewood derby on Saturday. He didn't win one race and he handled it very well. In fact he sat there an cheered all the boys on and was such a good sport. He ended up winning the good sportsmanship award this year. Way to go Chase!

Kaylee turns 11

2009-02-25T07:53:00.003-07:00

I can't believe that my sweet girl is 11 years old today. Where has the time gone? Kaylee has been a joy to have in our home. She is a huge help to all her brothers and sister but especially to Nate. Saturday mornings, when he was tiny, she would get him out of his bassinet when he would cry and feed him, change him and put him back to sleep so I could sleep in. To this day Nate and her have a special relationship. He calls her his "sissy". Kaylee loves being with her friends and doing anything that has to do with crafts. She has really enjoyed going to achievement days and learning new things there. Kaylee does very well in school and has made the Principal's list (straight A's) every grading period so far this year. Kaylee is a lot of fun to be with. I love taking her with me to town on our little shopping adventures. Kaylee -- We love you and are so glad you are in our home!

Sweet Secrets of a two year old

2009-01-28T15:26:00.006-07:00

Last night as we were trying to put Nate to bed he told me that he wanted to tell me a secret. I had to laugh becuase what does a two year old know about telling secrets. Anyway he had me lean in and move my hair out of the way so he could whisper sweet nothings in my ear. I wasn't sure what to expect so I was a little cautious. You never know what the older kids may have taught him! It turns out he really didn't have a whole lot to say. He just pretended to whisper in my ear. What a sweet boy he is!

Eric Turns 12

2009-01-21T13:55:00.003-07:00

This past week has been a little crazy. On Wednesday the 14th Eric turned 12. Am I really old enough to be the parent of a 12 year old? Ok, so i know that I am, but it seems like just yesterday that I was taking him to his first day of kindergarten. Where does the time go? Eric is a very kind-hearted boy. If he sees someone in need he tries to help. He is also very free with his hugs when it comes to mom and dad. I hope he never grows out of that! He has done very well in middle school this year. His last report card was all A's except for 2 B's. We are very proud of him. Eric loves the scouting program and has a great love of reading. Eric is also a huge help around the house. On his birthday we had some friends come over and help us celebrate. Since the week before Nate decided to use a whole box of candles on Chase's cake I decided to use tall matches to light up his cake. It worked pretty good if you didn't mind a little ash with your frosting. Tod surprised Eric with a home-made knife that his friend Dave made and much to his dislike he got some more clothes. (The kid is growing like a weed. He needed them!). He also got some money and a new DS game. On Sunday Eric was ordained to the office of a Deacon by his dad with the help of Uncle Kevin, Uncle Lance, Grandpa Call, Grandpa Hardy, Bishop, Brother Sherratt, Brother McGuire, and Brother Plumb. It was a great day all in all.

Christmas Traditions

2009-01-07T10:35:00.017-07:00

One of our fun family traditions on Christmas eve night is to wrap the entrance into the living room and the window between the dining room and the living room after Santa has come and gone. The kids know they can't break through the paper until 7am or we won't be able to open presents until 5pm that night. It's great incentive! At 7am everyone gets to pose for a picture and then the fun begins. As you can tell Nate wasn't quite awake in this picture. Eric showed Nate how to start ripping the wrapping paper and after that it didn't take long for him to catch the excitment of it all.

The kids have really come to look forward to this tradition and mom thinks its great to get more than a couple hours of sleep that night.

Chase turns 9

2009-01-07T09:23:00.002-07:00

Chase turned 9 years old on Sunday. It seems like it wasn't too long ago that he was baptised. Where does the time go? Sunday night we had some family friends come over and help us celebrate his birthday with cake and ice cream. As you can see by the cake there are more than 9 candles on it. Nate thought he needed to help put the whole box of candles on the cake while mom wasn't looking. Chase was excited about blowing out that many candles so we just left it. Chase is such a good boy and out of all my kids he is probably the most even tempered. He loves to read his scriptures. He's helpful and he does very well in school. He is also very free with his compliments especially to me. He loves the outdoors and anything to do with hunting and fishing. In fact he is looking forward to getting his own hunting license in a year so he can hunt for his own elk or deer. I am so thankful that Chase was born into our family.

Playing in the Snow

2008-12-22T16:58:00.009-07:00

Cami, Tod, Kaylee, Nate Grandpa Call, Chase, Eric and cousin Trevor

Chase making snow angels

Kaylee & Cami being pulled by Tod.

Eric

Nate eating snow

This past weekend we decided to surprise the kids with a trip to Flagstaff to play in the snow. Grandpa & Grandma had about 18 inches of snow on the ground plus it was a great excuse to get out of town to visit with family. Grandpa and Tod spent the majority of the afternoon pulling the kids on sleds with Uncle Kevin's quads. I don't know who had more fun, Tod or the kids. Tod kept trying to see if he could make the kids fall off the sled. According to Tod, it was pretty easy to make Eric fall off the sled but Cami was another story. She would just hold on for dear life. The funny thing was when Tod did manage to throw her off, she would just shake her finger at him and tell him to quit making her fall off the sled and then she would just laugh. That was the case until she went over a snow bank face first and ended up with a face full of snow. By that time she was ready to call it quits. Nate wasn't too excited about riding on the sled so he decided to ride on the quad with Tod. When he was tired of that he tried to throw snowballs at mom. Most of the time the snow would stick to his glove and he would end up eating his snow- ball. We all had a great time and by the time we were ready to leave Nate was so tired we didn't even make it out of Uncle Kevin's drive way before he was asleep. It wasn't long before the rest of the kids were asleep too. Lets just say it was a very quiet ride home.

Beter late than never.....

2008-11-20T12:43:00.007-07:00

Sue McGuire and I took eight kids trick or treating this year. The little kids were able to keep up with the big kids for the most part. Cami and Nate pooped out near the end but they had a great time going door to door.

I love this picture of Nate and Tod. This is the first year that Nate really got what Halloween was about. He would go around telling people BOO and he definately got a kick out of Trick or Treating.

Here's a picture of all my kids in their Halloween costumes.

The Hunt

2008-11-20T12:19:00.005-07:00

This past weekend Eric and Kaylee had their deer hunt on the Kiabab. Opening morning Eric shot his first deer. It took 4 shots for him to get it down but considering he was over 350 yards away I think he deserves a break. If you look closely at this picture you can see that Eric is wearing some plastic gloves. He wasn't too keen on the idea of actually touching the deer and when it came to gutting it he told Tod that he thought he would be sick! He takes after his momma :). Then there was Chase who couldn't get enough. He wanted to be right in the middle of it all. Kaylee had a chance to shoot but she decided she wasn't ready to shoot an animal . She really enjoyed being out in the woods with her Dad and cousins. P.S. If you were wondering the date is wrong on the picture.

Sunday morning fun

2008-10-29T14:34:00.004-07:00

Sunday morning around 7:30 (sorry neighbors!) I heard all the kids outside except for Nate who was looking for his blanket and shoes so he could join in the fun. When I looked out the window a little while later all the kids had their blankets and were having a great time playing on trampoline. I love watching my kids play together especially when they are all playing nice. In my opinion it doesn't happen enough. It seems like these days we are so busy going one way or the other and I feel like we don't take the time to enjoy each other like we should.

Cami's earings

2008-10-03T09:34:00.002-07:00

Tuesday night we went to the mall in Prescot to meet up with Tod. Cami has been talking about getting her ears peirced for a while now but she was still reallly nervous about it. While we were in Clairs Cami decided she was ready. I was expecting all heck to break loose after the first ear was done but she surprised both Tod and I. She sat there and didn't even move. She said it didn't even hurt. She is so excited to have them done. She has shown almost everyone who will look.

Eric's First Band Concert

2008-10-03T09:06:00.003-07:00

Eric had his first band concert last night. He plays the trumpet in the Heritage Middle School beginning band. These kids have only been playing for about 6 weeks. They sounded pretty good for that amount of time. When they were done playing they got a standing ovation. P.S. To turn off the music on my page go to the end of the page and hit the speaker button.