The Move

This was an awesome way to move. Having done it ourselves a couple of times now, it was absolutely amazing having someone else do it for us! Glenn's company paid to move all of our stuff to Houston and it was bliss. Wednesday three movers showed up in this beast. No, we did not fill it. We probably filled 15 feet or so with our stuff and then there was plenty of room for Glenn's car. I mean, if they're going to move a car for us and we can drive together down to Houston then why not take advantage, right? The movers spent the day boxing EVERYTHING in the house. They left out our bed and Tate's crib so we could sleep there that night. We spent the day running errands, going to a movie (thanks Janelle for watching Tate-0) and going to the children's museum with the Cluffs. Tate loved the train set, (The train is through that window and goes around the ceiling of the museum. This is Tate's friend Lizzy, who he recently started calling "lizzy lou")the giant connect four game,
And the fish tank.

When we got home our kitchen looked like this:
our family room

our living room
Tate's room.
It was awesome. I kept thinking, "I forgot to leave this out so it wouldn't get packed away!" But then I'd remember that we're not moving across the country and we would be able to unpack everything in just a couple of days so it was really no big deal.

Thursday the guys showed up at 8 ish and loaded all the boxes and furniture into the truck. We took off to the outlet malls to get out of their way. They were all loaded by noon. The cleaners came at 2 and cleaned for a couple of hours and then we locked up our house, said another tearful goodbye, and drove to Houston. The Cluffs gave us a really sweet moving pack, complete with tissues (certainly came in handy), snacks, new trucks and books for Tate to play with (super thoughful considering all of his were packed away for a couple days), new grocery lists and baby sitter info sheets. It was perfect.

We stayed in a hotel Thursday night, woke up early Friday and as we were getting packed and ready to leave Tate went over to the door, grabbed the doorknob and said, "Home. Home. Go home!" Glenn and I just looked at each other all sad. Sorry buddy. We're not going back home. We're going to a new home. Poor kid has been so confused.

Then we drove to our apartment complex to sign contracts and get keys. Bad news, 18 wheelers are not allowed on the property. The guys were not happy. That meant they had to park the truck outside the gate and carry everything across the lot and then up three flights of stairs to our apartment. Sorry guys. SO SO glad we didn't have to move in all of our stuff up three flights of stairs. Seriously, how lucky are we? It would have been really bad.
We spent the rest of the day unpacking, throwing stuff away, and organizing our new place. Throwing out all the tissue and boxes proved a more difficult process than we had thought because our trash bin is across the complex.

It was seriously a heavenly way to move. Here is Tate checking out the view from his new room. I'll work on taking pictures of our new place today.

Dear Austin, We miss you.

We've moved. We now reside in Houston. It's been a crazy week and a very bitter sweet process. I've been actually categorizing the bitter and the sweet of this experience in my head this past week and this is the list I've come up with.
Bitter:
- Houston is not Austin. I've really grown to love Austin. There are so many amazing parks, cultural events and opportunities, places to swim and shop and eat out. It's big, but not too big. There are tons of trees and it just feels kind of cozy but we still have access to all the great big city perks. It's just a great place to live.
- Leaving so many friends who have become like a second family. Some really close friends. Some amazing people who I look up to and go to for help or just for company. People I completely trust to watch my little boy and little friends he asks for by name, sometimes first thing in the morning. It's so hard leaving that network I've worked so hard to build over the last two years and to start over.
- I miss our home. I have to not think about it or I just start to cry. I miss the beautiful neighborhood, the jogging paths, the swimming pool, the four grocery stores within a 5 minute drive, the outlet malls just up the street, the neighbors who were ready and waiting to help with any problem or question we had. My own space. My own garage. My own little world. The room we painted and decorated to bring our baby boy home to. The room where we paced the floors late at night with our crying newborn baby. The room where I played the piano and Tate danced around. The room where Glenn recovered from his surgery. The kitchen where I learned how to bake really good bread. It was our first home. The first place that really felt like ours. I have so many wonderful, tender, and precious memories in that house. I'm so so grateful for our time there. I miss it.
- I finally had Austin figured out. The freeways, the good places to eat, how to get around, and now I have to start all over in a MUCH bigger place.

Sweet:
- This move means we're on to bigger things in our lives. Glenn purchased a new car (more to come on that later. Good gracious I have so many things to record!). Glenn is finished with his masters degree. He is starting a fabulous new job tomorrow. A job that will be his career, his life for a really long time. It's wierd to be starting a phase of life that will be longer than a year or two. This is big and pretty permanant and it means a steady and comfortable income. That will be so crazy.
- Leaving Austin meant an excuse to see and spend copious amounts of time with great friends to "say goodbye". We only live a few hours away and we do have a house there so hopefully we'll be back for weekend jaunts. I had an extended girl date with my wonderful friend Lindsey, the Cluffs arranged a little going away partay where we were able to see lots of our favorite people, and we spent a few days hanging out with the Cluffs while the movers took over our house. It was awesome.
- It's comforting to look back on our experience in Austin and know that I will become familiar with my surroundings here eventually. I will grow to love this place for the experiences my little family will share here. It seems so foreign now, but so did Austin a couple of years ago.
- While I am so nervous about a lot of things this move means for me, I'm grateful for this time with my little family. Tate and Glenn and I have spent a lot of time together over the last couple of weeks and will continue to be alone a lot of the time until we get ourselves committed to various activities around here. I love the closeness that this experience brings us. We're really all we've got down here for a while. That's kinda nice.

Lake Powell 2010

Week three of our marathon vacation: Glenn flew straight home from Vegas to finish thesis revisions and I went back to Utah to chill with the fam on our fabulous Lake Powell vacation. Nanna and Grampa have a time share in a house boat and we've been every year since...well, for a really long time. This year was super fun because EVERYONE was able to come. Mal home from her mission, Cody and Aubry and their two girls, Adam and Camarie, of course Nanna, Grampa and Kenzie, AND Aunt Kimber with her three kiddos! It was a fantastic time.

We drove down on Sunday and got everything situated and unpacked and enjoyed a night in the slip with the AC. Then on Monday we took the boat out and found a great spot really close so it wasn't too crazy to drive back at the end of the week, a major concern for my dad, seen here snuggling with his favorite grandson. I can say that for sure because he's only got one so far.Those first couple of days were filled with tons of swimming out the back of the houseboat, great rides on the speedboat that greatly aided with naptime

A wee bit of tubing, (Adam showing off his skills, Camarie, and Kenzers)

and of course, feeding the gross carp at the marina store. Also known as "Whoa, Big Fish."Tate started throwing up on Tuesday night. It just kept coming. He probably let loose 6 or 7 times that one night and was up in the night to boot. I thought he was better the next morning so I gave him some juice. My mistake. He just barfed it all up and then after a minute or so he looked at my shirt, pointed his little finger at it and said, "agusting!" Yes, Tate, that was disgusting.

I really wasn't too worried for the first few days. He'd never really been sick. Never had a real cold or flu before so I figured he was due and it wasn't much to worry about. He just spent most of the time in a diaper or swimming suit so as not to get too hot and although his whining when we were eating and he couldn't was pretty sad, ("pancakes, eggs, french toast, cereal, please, please.") he was really a trooper.

The rest of the fam came on Wednesday so as not to miss a full week of work and school and Tate was in heaven with so many kids to follow around. He loved Mya of course and he constantly hit Maggie for some reason. And he found Janie and Charlie absolutely fascinating. In fact, we were at a car dealership this week (another story entirely) and he met a girl and boy in the toy area and he kept following them around calling them Charlie and Janie. So sweet.
The kids had a blast watching movies on the little DVD player, swimming, climbing off rocks, tubing, and jumping off rocks too. I was reminded how gutsy little Charlie is. It's kind of cool and also freaky that he has no fear whatsoever. Is that what I'm in store for raising my own little boy?Seriously, the boat had some kind of sleeping power over the kiddos. They all fell asleep minutes into every ride we took.

Little Maggie, swimsuit bummies don't get much cuter than this:Little man Tate continued to vomit everything we put in him and he got more and more snuggly as the week went on. Auntie Mallory loved it. He was just a limp, sweet, tender little kid after a few days. It was SO nice that he wanted to be snuggled all the time, but pretty sad that my active little boy truly didn't want to do anything else.We all managed to have a great time despite the fact that people kept dropping like flies. It was like we had our own little plague. Mom got sick on Wednesday. On Thursday night little Mya started throwing up. Every 15 minutes. All night long. Poor little thing. Then Kenzie tossed it too. I sat up thinking to myself, "Who is going to go next?"
Poor little Tate got really good recognizing when he was going to lose it. The first few days he just tossed it out and was surprised after it happened. But after a few days he would tell me when he was, "all done mom" after he'd heaved or thrown up a few times. So so sad. By Friday he looked like this:Days of throwing up left him totally exhausted and visibly thinner too. Friday was the first time I got nervous. He slept all day. His body was limp and loose and I couldn't get him to wake up and open his eyes for more than a few minutes at a time. All day long. It was scary. So we took him to the medical clinic in Bullfrog to have him looked at. The doctors were nervous and called in another doctor to take a look at him too. They said it might be wise to take him to the hospital, but they wanted to try to wake him up and get him to eat something while they watched for an hour or so. We hadn't been able to get him to eat or drink anything for a couple of days so we laughed at them a little but then Tate sat up, at a popsicle and kept it down for an hour and they told us that he had turned a corner and we should be fine. Mom and I didn't buy it and just waited for him to toss it all up again but he never did. He didn't throw up again after that. It took almost 5 days to get him to eat and drink normally, I guess I would be the same after a whole week of vomiting, but he's fine now.

We took him to the doctor here in Austin the day we got home. He weighed 25 lbs and 3.5 oz. at his 15 month visit and at his 18 month he only weighed a flat 25 pounds. He'd lost a few ounces from his weight a few months ago. Dr. was worried that it couldn't have all been from just being sick for one week. I just thought, "You didn't see how much he threw up then did you?"

Anyway, it was actually a great week. Just the right amount of sunshine to get a little color but not be miserable outside all day, the food and company were great of course, and it was just so much fun to be back there. We didn't get to go last year and I forgot how gorgeous it is there. It was wonderful just to be in nature, swimming every day, and lounging around in one of the most beautiful places God has created.

It was a wonderful week to spend with the fam. Thanks everyone for helping me out so much with 1 barfing little one and no husband. It was so great that everyone just jumped up and started grabbing towells and bowls and rags to clean up when they heard the gagging start. Truly amazing. That's love folks!

Vegas Baby

The second week of our marathon vacation Glenn and I left Tate with Nanna and Grampa and took off by ourselves to Las Vegas. We'd been trying to figure out how to financially swing a vacation by ourselves before he started his job. I watched my parents take couples trips while we were growing up and always looked at them feeling like getting away together was a great way to keep a relationship healthy, especially once kiddos are in the picture. Everything we looked at was either too expensive or just didn't sound like much fun and then we found an amazing package to Vegas that included tickets to a show and it sounded perfect. We've been to Vegas before. The shows are amazing. The filth is also pretty amazing, but we choose to focus on the good stuff.

We stayed at the MGM Grand and it was great. They had 5 swimming pools, a lazy river, a nice gym, and a great location within walking distance of tons of fun stuff. The first day I looked through magazines and found some crazy activities that I thought I should get Glenn to do to sort of celebrate his graduation. Helicopter rides, crazy roller coasters, indoor skydiving and the like. Glenn said he'd rather spend the money to see Phantom of the Opera again. We saw it in Vegas a couple of years ago and he really loved it. Did I pick the perfect man for me or what?

We bought half price tickets to Phantom the first night. It was spectacular. It's always pretty spectacular but there were even a few more spectacles in the Vegas version. And of course the music is simply gorgeous and romantic and leaves you singing it all the way home. I've seen Phantom so many times and I still love it every time. Really good voices. Christine, not my favorite, but the Phantom and Raoul were great in this cast.

The next night we saw Cirque Du Soleil's "O". It's a water show and the stage was this enormous swimming pool that could change shape and depth. There was diving, synchronized swimming, some of the most dazzling special effects I could ever imagine...in fact I don't think I could have dreamed up some of the things they did. I just sat there thinking, "Whose brain dreamed this up? And then whose brain figured out how to make it work?" It was amazing and breathtakingly beautiful.

The last night we saw "The Lion King" which was also spectacular. I guess we just saw three very different kinds of spectacle. I'd seen it in New York years ago but Glenn had never seen it. He loved it. The way they made the puppets look and move like the animals they portrayed was just so cool. And of course the music was neat.

I loved walking through the casinos. There is an obscene amount of money spent on making them look like fancy exotic locations and it feels a little disneyland esque in it's over the top re-creations. Except for all the dirty pictures of course... Disneyland doesn't have those.

Here I am at the Grand Canal in the Venetian.

Glenn and I in front of the fountain at Ceasar's Palace.

And here we are on a darling street in the Paris. Loved this one.

We walked by several of these projections in Vegas, most were on the floor, that reacted somehow when you walked on or past them. Glenn liked this one at the wall in Mandalay Bay so he ran/pranced in front of it a few times. The best part is that before this video, he waited by the side of the projection for a couple of little boys to stop running around in front of it so he could have a turn. Gotta love my man boy.

It was a wonderful trip. It was wonderful to know that Tate was taken care of by people who love him like I do so he wasn't a burden to them and I didn't have to feel guilty for leaving him. It was wonderful to have no obligations other than to relax and be in love with my man. I had so much fun just swimming every day, eating great food, sleeping in (gotta love those black out curtains), seeing amazing theatre, and spending SO much time with my sweetheart. It was perfect!

Callister Reunion

Tate and I just got back from a marathon vacation. Three vacations in one. It was spectacular. I think I'll write about them one at a time so it's not too overwhelming.
Glenn joined us for the first two weeks which started with my mom's Callister family reunion in McCall, Idaho. I'd been there once before when I was really young but I'd forgotten how gorgeous it is there. I couldn't stop thinking how much that peaceful little town by the lake reminded me of many places I've seen in New England. There were tons of beautiful ponderosa pine trees, a huge gorgeous lake to swim in, camping with tons of family members. It was wonderful.
We drove up and slept in an RV. It was cozy and a comfortable way to spend the 8 hour drive. Cody, Aubry and their girls slept in one end and Glenn, Tate and I slept in the other. One of my favorite moments of the trip happened one night while we were trying to get Tate to fall asleep. He kept crying, "Mya, Mya, Mya!" over and over. He just adores her and knew that she was right behind that door! Mya was going to bed too and said, "Mya wite here," as if she was trying to comfort little Tate-o and tell him she was nearby. So sweet.

Many a naptime were spent like this:

Zoned out in front of a disney movie. There was apparently just too much to see to waste time actually falling asleep. Silly mom.

We played on the beach with cousins,

(Apparently Tate was doing something terribly wrong in this picture! Mya was so embarrassed!) Spent some snuggle time with Grandpa.

and Auntie Kenzie.Witnessed our families' incredible talent at the talent show. Here is the Banks' rendition of "Put a Ring On It"And the Garvin family's synchonized swimming routine was so hilarious and absolutely one of a kind.Nope, this is not the whole Callister clan folks. This is just all of the kiddos in attendance under the age of two. Tate had so many people to meet and play with he hardly knew what to do with himself!He even got a ride on Uncle Ben's scooter! It was definitely a trip highlight. Uncle Ben let him push the horn button and he spent much of the morning wanting to push it again.We sure belong to a fabulous family. It was fun to see so many people again who I don't get to see very often. Crazy how fast we all grow and change and now we have kiddos who are doing some growing up of their own. We had such a great time.

On the drive home in the RV Tate started throwing a ball with Nana. He kept saying funny things like, "Nice!", "I got it!", "Awesome", all with an incredible lisp mind you. We didn't catch him on video at the beginning when he was super excited about it but I think it's still pretty cute.

Radiation

One year since radiation.

Thoughts:

1) Thank you, Ondansetron (Zofran), for making my three weeks of treatment liveable.

2) Thank you, Kim, for taking care of me. You have seen me at the lowest level of human existence... repeated vomiting until incoherency.

3) Thank you, Dr. Chopp, for taking your namesake literally. At least there was comedy.

4) Finally, thank you all for your prayers.

Several other thoughts:

1) Life is fragile.

2) Don't put off your goals in life for later. Do it now. Make it happen.

3) The people in your life are the most important thing in your life.

4) No one is capable of doing it all on their own.

5) Being sick sucks.

6) Crappy things happen. You may as well decide to be happy. Otherwise, life will suck.

7) You get a free rectal exam when you tell the doctor you think you have testicular cancer. Why? I don't know... but hey, it's free.

-Glenn

Buzz uh Woody

We have new friends at our house. Their names are Buzz and Woody. Tate has Buzz and Woody bath toys so he knows their names. Those guys are everywhere we look these days because of the new Toy Story movie, so he is getting really good at pointing them out at the grocery store on fruit snacks, cereal, and of course the toy aisle.
We finally bought him a couple of toys and they've been inseparable. He is constantly walking around saying, "Buzz uh Woody" (Buzz and Woody). We even took him to the movie last week and he sat through the whole thing, quite a feat for little wiggly Tate.
He knows that Buzz says, "Beyahhhhh" (To infinity and BEYOND), and Woody says, "Sake a Boot" (There's a snake in my boots). Last night a good friend of ours watched Tate while we went to a movie. The plan was for Tate to go to bed at their house in their pack and play but I forgot to bring his Woody. I didn't know he was that attached. Tate wouldn't go to sleep and kept crying for his Woody. So our friend brought him back to our house and put him in his bed. He got Buzz in one arm and Woody in the other and then promptly fell asleep.