A Week Off

Whoever said that husbands couldn't blog is full of it. This post is by Calvin--and others have been too.

Anyway, at my new job at TaxHawk we're not as busy during the summer as we are towards the end of the year, so they give us the whole week of the 4th of July as a paid vacation. Cool huh?

Well, Whit and I have tried to take advantage of the time off. The first part of the week I was off to Youth Conference.

We saw Goblin Valley:


Made dutch oven pizza (thanks to the Tylers):


And hiked some narrows:


Plus we went rafting on the Green River but I didn't take any photos of that due to wetness.

Anyway, after I got back, we helped the Larsens move into their awesome new home. We even had enough time left in the week to pack up all our things, load up everything we would need, and take off, even to such far-flung realms like...

Deer Creek:


Heber:


At any rate, it was great to have a week off.

Divine Design

My mind has been on fathers so much lately, for numerous reasons, but the most important is that I am so totally in love with the man that will be the father of our children.

Cal and I have been filling out plenty of paperwork lately. All of our 'free' time is spent on trying to help us get to the point of parenthood. Parenthood is something that we will cherish, with all of our hearts.

I can't wait to see Cal be a Dad. I can't wait to see him with our children. I can't wait to see him honor his Priesthood by fulfilling his Divine role as the Father of our children.

Today at church, I was once again reminded of the part in The Family: A Proclamation to the World that talks about Fathers, it says;

'By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families.'

What an awesome priveledge.

I have also really been reflecting on the teachings and love of my own Father.

After dinner with my family, we all got to sit together and honor my Dad. What an honor to be his daughter, and what an honor to have learned from him. I am grateful every day that he is my Dad, and that I am his daughter.

It is only by Divine Design that Heavenly father would 'lend us his children', as my dad said today, so that we could teach them the Gospel, protect them, cherish them, and love them. It will be so neat to be able to experience that, and watch Cal be a father.

He will be the best father!

Everyday I am grateful for the divine design that is fathers.

These Guys...

Moved to Illinois.

Cal and I are really, really sad.

Corey is getting his Master's Degree there.

It is a hard thing to know that your two most adorable nephews are going to be far far, or as Jack put it 'too far', away.



I will really miss Ash. Like really, really, a lot!

Although we are sad, we are so totally excited for them too.

What an adventure.

We miss them already!

Memorial Day Weekend

Our Memorial Day weekend started out, of course, with a trip to our favorite Secret Park.

Cal, Phil, and I got up early on Saturday morning to venture to The Beautiful Secret Park to have breakfast. With cantaloupe, kiwis, whole wheat bagels, apricots, and yes, even some cookies in hand, we were off to start our Memorial Day Weekend.

The pond was beautiful.

The ducks were out and about. They would just walk around the place, and then get back into the pond. Each time Phil was around, they would just start quacking and moving their wings around so fast, almost like they were warning each other that there was a problem coming their way.

Actually, maybe they just wanted him out of their pond!



We had so much fun at the park.


Later that night we watched what I deemed, "The Greatest Memorial Day Show around." It is called Taking Chance. It was a sweet, moving, emotional, and very touching show. I am pretty sure I was crying in the first 5 minutes. It was so good that we watched it Sunday night with my family as well.
It really fit with the feelings of the weekend, and honoring those that serve our Country so that we can enjoy the freedoms that we have. I don't ever, ever, want to take that for granted.

Memorial Day morning, we headed up to the cemetery with flowers in tow.
There was actually a program going on that morning to honor those that serve, have served, and continue to serve our Country. It was another great reminder and way to honor those that have died while preserving our freedom and also those that serve now, and continue to serve our Country.

We ended Memorial Day Weekend with a relaxing Dinner at Pizza Factory and conversations on the patio with My Dad, Mom, Audy and B.

We had a great Memorial Day Weekend.

My Dad's Dad

My Dad's Dad passed away on Easter Sunday. You see, he was my Grandpa, but did not exude any Grandfatherly characteristics. He was not very present in my Dad's life, or our lives. We grew up knowing about him, seeing him every once in a while, and knowing how he was, and who he was.

The way my Dad put it, was that he lived life according to him, and on his own terms.

Perfect description.

On Easter Sunday and the week following, I gained a new level of knowledge about my Grandpa. Attending his funeral was actually a neat experience for me. It made me really think, about life, love, family, our actions, and living life on our own terms and according to our own selves. I saw how that affected him, how it affects others, how it affected my Dad, his siblings, and the grandchildren. I saw the sadness in the faces of the ones who love him, and learned how to be, or more accurately, how not to be, because of him.

While my Dad's Dad was alive, I wondered about him. I felt sorry for him. I felt sorry that he missed out on my Dad. That he missed out on seeing him learn and grow. That he didn't get to see my dad make decisions, and help to teach him right from wrong. He wasn't there when my Dad graduated from High school or even College. He didn't get to see him be married, or watch him have children of his own. He never got to see my Dad teach us about the Gospel or about love, guidance and acceptance. He missed out on my Dad, and I feel sorry for him.

In his absence, my Dad learned how to be a man, a Dad, a man who honors his Priesthood, a man who is honest, diligent, a hard worker. A man who knows what is right, and teaches his children by example, something that my Dad never had.

The funeral was in Heber. We rode with my Parents and B. It was a neat day, one that I will remember, for numerous reasons.

I will forever remember the feelings of wanting to be enough to my family. Wanting to be there, wanting to participate in it all, wanting to support, wanting to love and learn, wanting to not miss a second of life with the ones I love.

I will never forget that my Dad's Dad taught me that it is more important to live for your family, than to live for anything else.

De-privatizing...

You may notice that our blog is no longer private. This is because we have a bit of news.

We are going to be adopting.

This is such an exciting step for us because we'll finally be able to start our family.

We hope our now-public blog might serve as a medium through which a prospective birth mother could get to know us.

We are working through the approval process with LDS Family Services and are really looking forward to what the future has in store for us.

Nifty Gadget: Eye-Fi

As a graduation present, I (Cal) got a cool little gadget from my wife that I have had my eye on for a while. It's called the Eye-Fi SD card:



Although the same size as any other SD card for your camera, this one packs the punch of Wi-Fi too! It was super easy to set up with our home wireless network and within minutes I was transferring photos wirelessly. Now, when we get home from an activity, all we have to do is turn on the camera and it automatically connects to the network, saves the new photos to a specified folder on the computer, then automatically uploads those new photos online to Picasa! On top of that, if the computer is off, it will still connect to the network and upload the photos to Picasa. Pretty nifty huh? Anyway, I can say like Kip that I love technology too:

Handy Man for Hire!

For the last week or so, Cal has come home sunburned, muddy, wet, and grass stained.
He has been hard at work for our Home Owners Association.

Fixing Sprinklers.

Digging trenches.

You know, doing the Handy Man thing.
And If I do say so myself, he is an awesome Handy Man!

BYU Adieu

This week was Cal's final week at BYU.

His Graduation ceremonies started Thursday afternoon with his Commencement Ceremony in the Marriott Center.

There were speeches given by BYU's President Samuelson, students, President Uchtdorf and Elder Nelson, songs sung and a couple of tears shed (by me of course).

[We hadn't even gotten to campus for the ceremonies and I was already teary eyed.]


Friday was the actual day of Graduation. It was a really neat day. One where I was very proud to be married to such a Handsome new graduate of BYU.






I am so proud of Cal, and all that he has accomplished in getting his degree. He has worked so hard, taken many tests, written and compiled many papers, assignments, flash cards, reminders, early morning study sessions, late evening study sessions [lets be honest here, ALL day study sessions], hours of time spent in math labs, talking with teachers, learning a new programming language, working on math problems that took hours and pages of work and solutions, and devoting the majority of his time to his studies and to being a student.


He never complained. He welcomed any challenge that came and could possibly come his way.

He was determined in every sense of the word.

Handsome, I can't possibly explain how proud of you that I am.

Congratulations!

BYU Senior Celebration!

Last night was Cal's Senior Celebration at BYU.

It was a really fun night.

Our night was filled with fun, music, basketball, an awesome performance from Noteworthy A Capella, a talk from BYU's President Samuelson, food, prizes, great dances and costumes from BYU's Living Legends , celebrating that this is Cal's last sememster (last few days, actually) at BYU, and his upcoming graduation.


This was such a fun way for BYU to celebrate their Graduating Class.

Cal and I had a fun-filled evening and we are so excited that he is almost graduated.

I am so proud of Cal and how hard he works, studies, takes tests, and studies some more.

We can't wait until he is no longer a BYU Senior, but a BYU alumnus!

Conference Weekend

We love Conference weekend!
It is one of our favorite times of the year.

It is tradition, after the Saturday Sessions, the girls head over to Pizza Factory to have dinner. Hills-a-Bills of course is our server. I love to do this. I love to have dinner with my Mom.

We enjoyed talking about anything and everything over our salad bar salads and veggie Margarita pizzas.

We enjoy our dinner, all the while holding a place for the Men for when they get done with their Priesthood Session.
When their session is over, they meet up with us, and take over the table we have been so diligently saving.

Our Sunday Morning session is of course followed by our traditional Conference Crepes brunch.

Between sessions, our weekend was also filled with plenty of this...

and of course this...

What a neat weekend. What a great Conference.

I love the time that we got to spend with family. I love to be so close to family so that we can have these traditions and be able to watch some of Conference with them.

I love to listen to the words of our Prophet and his Apostles and other leaders in our church.

It is amazing to me what I can learn and feel in one weekend.

My favorite part?

My favorite part was spending the whole, entire weekend with this guy!

What I'm going to miss...

Starting at 9:00 tomorrow morning, I will be working from the office.

This is what I am going to miss the most.
I wonder if I can bring him with me?

On the Hunt

Today we set out to find a park. A new park.

We had several in mind, and narrowed our choice down to two.

With the addresses in hand, we loaded our pup up in the car and off we went.

Within seconds of getting in the car, Phil fell asleep.

We found park number one and were less than satisfied.

Back into the car all three of us went, in search of the second park.

Park number two was hidden, and was very hard to find. We drove, turned around, drove some more, called for reinforcements on the address, and then ended up in a dead end.

Cal thought that maybe if we got out and walked, the park was just beyond what we could see.

We got out, and walked. And the park was just beyond what we could see.

Isn't this a beautiful entrance to our secret park?
We kept walking and the park kept surprising us.

This is the second view we stumbled upon.

It did not take long and our pup wanted to get in the lake.

The lake was practically ice, but Phil did not take our word for it. He had to try it out himself.

Who would have known that this secret, hidden, B.E.A.utiful park was waiting for us at the end of a dead end?


I'm glad Cal had us get out and take a little walk.

We will be regular visitors to our new found hidden park.

At Long Last!

I have been on the search for a delicious whole wheat bread recipe.

My goal is to make home made bread as often as we need it. Bread that we could have sandwiches on, bread we could enjoy fresh and hot out of the oven, bread that could be made with our whole wheat flour in our food storage, you know...that sort of thing.

I know it is a healthier option when I am controlling the ingredients, when I know they are preservative free, natural, and I know the amount of salt and sugar involved.

My quest started over six months ago. I found several recipes that I thought I would try. I don't have a very great relationship with yeast, so you can imagine the trials that ensued.

For several months, Cal and I had some very dense, very small, and sometimes very taste-less home made wheat bread.

It wasn't working.

I found a recipe that although the bread did not rise properly [due to my lack of yeast knowledge], it tasted good.
Now the hunt was on for good tips and tricks, and even different kinds of yeast.

I needed something that was resilient. A kind of yeast that did not care the exact temperature of the water it was being proofed in. I needed something magic!

Then, I found this. It is pure magic!

For the first time, I made delicious, healthy, natural, bouncy, well raised, whole wheat bread.


Although I am still tweaking the recipe a bit, I dare say, it was a bit magical!

Stormin' Norman

Our Sunday evening was spent at my Parent's house.

Enjoying each others company and Hawaiian Haystacks.

Part of our night was spent watching Norm out the window 'play' with the neighbor dog through the fence. He is so hilarious!

It was fun to watch their two personalities meet each other through the fence!

At several points, the other puppy had both his paws through that little hole.
They also about had that piece of the fence broken off all the way.

They were having so much fun together!


After quite a while outside, playing with his fence buddy, he came inside to enjoy the rest of his evening with his most favorite person ever.


He is such a lucky puppy!

Celebration Saturday

For as long as I can remember, Cal has worked on Saturdays. This even goes back to when we were dating. Every once in a while Cal will get work off, but it is usually for something that we already have scheduled.

Today, today was a marvelous day!

Cal had work off, because of some other commitments, and they fell through! However, I talked him into still taking the day off.

I had him all to myself, for a whole entire, lovely, sunny, happy Saturday.

It was heaven!

It was definitely a Celebration Saturday.

We pushed aside our normal Saturday activities that usually happen, and decided to just enjoy each other, the day, the weather, and the entire Saturday that we had to be together.

We started the day off with fruit filled crepes topped with real whipped cream and cantaloupe.

Next, came a trip to the park with our Pup.

After the Park we went to a Matinee! Yes, in the middle of the day, on a Saturday! Whoot Whoot!

After our matinee, we came home and enjoyed our home made whole wheat pesto and veggie pizza. One of our favorites!

Cal and I like ours topped with sliced avocado, lime, and crushed red pepper! Delicious!


Today was such a fun Saturday.
A Saturday filled with time with my Handsome!
I loved every minute of it.

I can't wait for Cal to be done with school, so that this can be a weekly occurrence.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It is Tradition in our Mooney Family to go to the St. Patrick's Day Parade.

You could say that we are parade going people!

It is always so much fun.

I got up early on Saturday morning to attend the festivities. I was really sad because Cal had to work all day so he could not come.



My most favorite parts of the parade are the 'Irish' dogs, the Clydesdale Horses, and the Bag Pipes!






My Grandma was interviewed for the news. My favorite part of her interview is when she told them that if you don't wear green, you will get pinched. She also said that you can pinch the good children once, but the naughty ones? The naughty ones, you can pinch them twice! Ha!




Happy St. Patrick's Day! We hope you wore green, and if you didn't, we hope that you at least were good, and not naughty!

Why we blog...

In the last several months, I have strongly considered not keeping up our blog.

The decision always comes back to the fact that we love having a record of our days, our thoughts, pictures of us, our families, our pup, etc. We love knowing that we can come back to our blog and look back on the last several months of our lives and see pictures of the memories that we hold in our hearts.

We blog for us. For our memories.

We love our lives. Cal and I feel that we have the best of blessings, each other, family, and memories. It is important to us to keep a record of our life, Our life that we love.

But, we wanted something tangible.
We wanted something that we could hold, and look at.
I searched several avenues. I looked up numerous ways to "scrapbook", to put your pictures together with words, and sometimes without words. I even spent several hours and several dollars on trying to put some things together with the pictures of the last couple years of our lives.

It all seemed okay. Just okay. We love having our blog, but we were having the blog for our memories... so that one day, our children would be able to see what we are like, what we did before we had them, what our families and friends were like, our feelings and admirations, what their lives were like.

We want a record of our lives. Something more than just a blog.

One of the avenues that I was looking into was Blurb. It was so neat, except it did not support blogger. I had signed up with them and had also tried several ways that I could get our blog into a book with them. It seemed to take so much time since they did not support blogger...I felt it was yet another dead end.

One day my friend Jen came over, she told me about how she got an email from Blurb, and that they now support Blogger!

I was so excited and quickly got to working on our
2007-2008 Whitehead Family Book.

It is now finished and arrived at our house today. We love our book.

Blurb is so extremely efficient and easy. I am so glad that they now support blogger and I am so glad that this is the route we took with our memories. (Thanks Jen!)

Our book definitely took time to get everything just how we wanted it. It does take time to tweek this, and move this here, and add this there.

It was worth every second!

Here is a little snippet of how our book turned out.





[It is hard bound, and each page is printed on heavy paper, the quality of the pictures are great. There are many choices to choose from, including size, colors, fonts, backgrounds, etc. You can also choose to have a dust cover.]

It was so easy, you just let the program 'slurp' your blog, and then you begin the 'tweeking'. You publish it, order it, and they mail it to you.
Simple, easy, and oh so beautiful!

We love our book so much, and will now make a book for every year.

Our book, our memories, our words, our thoughts, our children; these are the reasons Cal and I have our blog.

Happy V-Day Whit!

MY DEAREST VALENTINE WHIT
On this, our 9th Valentine’s Day,
I thought I’d write you poem,
And this is what I’d say:

You’re the love of my life,
You’re my reason for being.
I thank God you’re my wife,
And I hope you’re agreeing.

Through thick and thin,
Together, we get through.
When I take one on the chin,
It’s like you took one too!

I know one day soon,
Our family will begin.
Although, I’ll be a loon,
if we get Siamese twins!

For that I am sorry,
I was silly just a bit.
Life with you’s a safari:
the adventure won’t quit.


Now I must admit,
that if you’ll permit,
I’d just like to split,
and end all this writ,
but first, I submit:
our love—it’s legit.
The sheer size of it,
needs a building permit!
No, we’ll never split,
we’re so closely knit.
They can call me a twit,
make me take a big hit,
or be tossed in a pit,
I won’t throw a fit.
As long as I’ve got,
my true love: Whit.


Love,
Cal

Private-tizing

Please email us or leave a comment with your email address and we will make sure to get you added.

calandwhit@gmail.com

Thanks so much!