January 2010

Playing out all the wiggles before bedtime. Dance, jumping, running around the room after putting on our favorite hats will do it every time!!!

A post-church photo shoot out front

Caleb's latest thing is to pose for pictures holding up one finger (the index finger, that is).

I had plenty of tongue photographs. This was my favorite.

First month of karate class.

A Friday night at Chuck E. Cheese. We hadn't done this for about 3 years! The kids want to go back every week now :0

Breakfast time!

A rain spell lasted a few days. It was awesome.

More on Chuck E.....

Virtual reality?

Time to pick a movie from red box on the way home!

New Years' Bang!

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Next best...

Favorite Primary teacher...

First day as a Sunbeam....

Day 2...

Too much fun playing the Wii...

Day one of the aftermath...

Enjoying some frozen yogurt at the District in Henderson...

Town Square shopping center in Las Vegas with the Thomas cousins...

Happy Half Fam the morning of the accident (before)...

We were able to sneak out of town for a whole three days to visit my sister in Vegas for New years'. We ended up hanging out with my brother Wilson and his wife Jafeth and baby Ilyana who had arrived at the airport (from Panama) just as we drove in to town!

So after we rang in the new year, we were all sitting on the couch at Zully's house trying to decide what Netflix movie to watch next when Josh's friend (who had stopped by for a few minutes) was about to leave. As he was leaving Josh made some joke about the movie as Calvin had just taken a gulp of soda. He wanted to laugh, but instead held it in to avoid spitting out the soda onto the furniture and carpet. Well, when Calvin thought he had gotten the giggles under control, he attempted to swallow when another burst of laughter was about to erupt. He hesitated, then partially spouted some onto Carol's lap before deciding the best bet for a clean ending to a possible spit up (via the ears and nose) would be a mad dash towards the kitchen sink. As he stumbled toward the kitchen and we later figured he must have passed out on the way over because he doesn't remember anything after that? Everyone thought we was just messing around until he didn't get up. He just remembers waking up on the floor with voices of confusion all around him. "He's bleeding from his nose." He looked up to see Josh wiping up a pool of blood as he came to his senses and quickly figured up what had happened. He applied pressure to the cut and then iced it to keep the swelling down. After about 30 minutes it had seemed to stabilize and he removed the ice for good when within two minutes, it blew up to the size of an egg. It was impossible to sustain the ice to a swelling egg and we sped to the emergency room. Many sobriety and vision test were and ultimately a CAT scan but all probes pointed to a harmless new shiner. Our concerns were immediately to how people would react at church (he had to conduct that Sunday) and school (only three days later). The members were surprised but kept quite during Sacrament Meeting while the students on Monday didn't catch on for the most part until almost two days of wearing sun glasses (in class).

For Parents

Christmas 2009

It was way passed their bedtime, but right before they went to bed, we got some cookies and carrots for Santa and the reindeer and of course the magic keys for Santa to open the door because we do not have a chimney.


Every year for Christmas Eve we go to the Mejias and have dinner and Santa comes with gifts for everybody. This year Caleb got his favorite toy (nothing after compared) and Calvin got an old photo of him posing with Mike and Matt (the twins) when they were about 5 years old! It brought back such great memories for all of us :) This particular year Santa had a very important message for Caleb and I was glad that he paid attention and knew that Santa was talking directly to him. The message was that he needed to use the bathroom like a big 3 year old and that he was suppose to be a big boy and not forget to go potty! I was laughing the whole time and let me tell you it worked for a little bit!!!!!! But he is getting there, hopefully soon he will decide to just do it on his own!

Waiting for their names to be called.

We had our annual Christmas "Adam" dinner with all the Mckendricks and Merkleys at the Arcadia Building. It was a success as always and the dinner was delicious! We hung out with all the relatives and put on our traditional program in which all the children participated and look so adorable, especially one sheppard and one of the sheep. The kids also had their treasure hunt and found all the candy for all of us.

My boys and Lilly Rae. So adorable! My boys just melt when they see her and Lilly gets super excited when she sees them.

I had to take a picture, we were both wearing a dress and boots!!!

All of the (younger) grandkids (Calvin is the oldest) and great grand kids (Caden is the oldest) at the end of the program. It went quite well and they all look adorable.

So innocent!!!!!!!!

Again at Caden's class, right here they had a book exchanged and he got the Jay Leno book. Once he opened it, he said it loud and clear in front of everybody: "Mom I don't like my book." After we got home dad read the book to him and he was rolling around laughing and decided that he liked the book after all.

When i saw this letter my heart melted! Caden wanted a Nintendo DS so bad this Christmas but we did not think it was a good idea for him to have one. Last summer my mom bought him a leapster (which i love because it is more of an educational game for kids his age) and when we went to Hawaii we lost it :( My mom ended up buying him a new one anyway :) These Nintendo DS are popular but too expensive and if you don't control how much they play it can be bad! Calvin is not a big fan of video games, in other words my Caden did not get this DS for Christmas and he was not so sad about. Maybe when he gets older he might get one.

Busy, Busy Months

Looking on during the Pinewood Derby Races at the Merkley residence in November.

This boy has a fetish with flashing the number one or peace sign (adapted from our former exchange students).

Three years old (times two)???

Playing at airplane park. Wearing dad's Transformer cap.

These two pictures are the airplane park. the kids love this park, and Dad and I love it too. They use all their energy and are ready for lunch and nap afterwards.

We celebrated lots of B-days these past two months, and here we celebrated G-Grace's 77th birthday at Domenicos!

Here, we are in the emergency room with Caleb late Thursday night after he got into an accident at our ASB Christmas party. This big old-fashioned water pump fell on him as he was experimenting with other toys, trucks and contraptions with his brother and friend. After he fell back, he was complaining that his "baby" (belly) was hurting. It was scary because when I run to help him, his little leg was twisted and the heavy object lying on his tummy. We took him directly to the emergency room to get things checked out. After the doctor saw him, he said he was fine and we went home with a little more peace of mind. The doctor said if there had been any internal bleeding, he wouldn't have had much lateral movement and his stomach would've been swollen.

Caden decorating treats at school during the last week of Holiday activities.

We went to Caden's class a couple of times, here it was his Christmas program, and we also went for Thanksgiving. Caden loves when I go to his class and his classmates love when Caleb goes too.

This was an activity from his school at a nearby school supply store. Some kind of lab-experimental project they had and then read stories and gave prizes away as well.

Went to the City of Covina parade for a little bit (Calvin and I) then the kiddos stayed with Teenie and a friend 'cause Cal and I had to meet with other friends for a fun night!

This month we also made ginger bread houses with the McKendrick/Merkley clans (a long-time tradition). Our kids are getting so good at designing them and they just love it. We made 2 houses and one we donated to Caden's class and the kids were so surprised and happy to see a real edible gingerbread house. And of course, Caden was so proud to tell his classmates that he did it.

I wanted to post this picture and show you how happy Caleb was with his Helaman cake on his B-day. He loves Helaman (his favorite Book of Mormon Hero) so Grandma Grace made a Cake for him (upon his birthday cake request) and he was so happy and excited that that day to come just knowing she'd make him that special cake.

Random Pictures.....

This year is almost over and i am so grateful to have all of these people in my life. I am missing some pictures of the boys (my brother, uncles, grandpa and all of them together) but i just wanted to post this, because Calvin has been sooooooooooooo busy and he is in charge of the blog and i am getting bored of the old post!

My family. This was last month in Las Vegas. I love hanging out with the girls I wish we could see each other more often.

My boys, are the cuttest thing ever. They are so sweet! They are growing toooo fast!!!!

My big boy Calvin, as you all know he is the best dad ever!!!!!!!!!!! and Hubby!!!!!!!!!!

The Mckendrick girls. These girls are funny! I love spending time with all of them knowing we can have some major fun and no one can stop us.

Caleb Turns Three

Happy birthday Caleb!

Halloween in Vegas

Romy's baptism was a hit as was trick-0r-treating with the cousins on Carol's side of the fam.

Caleb kept asking, "Dad, can we go to Halloween yet?"

Josh's Elder's quorum party he organized went well even though the majority of the attendees were the Sabogal's. He had the most hilarious games we've ever played. It was perfect for all of the couples there. Games included the photo scavenger hunt through the casino, town plaza, and Blockbuster in our costumes; the newlywed game mixed in with "smash an egg on your head: raw or hard boiled?" And this bizarre orange race in which we had to knock the orange with another orange in a pair of pantyhose hanging from our waist.

One of the funniest things we heard on Halloween night was when one of the homeowners in the neighborhood asked: "Did you guys take a bus to get here?"

The First Two Days

We celebrated Caden's fifth birthday on the second day of school. The first day of school was pretty chaotic due to the disorganization of the admin. The A/C wasn't working in the cafeteria and they decided to give us an orientation after sending off the kids. Shouldn't they have done that like the week before? On top of all that, they said kindergartners couldn't have backpacks! Can you believe that? So here's a post that combines the first day of school with the 5th birthday.

Recruiting Trip

We had the privelege of spending a week or so in Utah last August to see family, recruit some future BYU students from our ward and welcome home our newest returned missionary. It was relaxing and as usual, a beautiful Provo summer. Here you'll also see a picture of Josh playing games with nearly all of he 10 grandkids as to keep adults sane. The organized chaos that the kids call playing is non-stop and they never complain until we have to leave:( I ran into my old Intramurals boss while my bother-and-laws and I were sticking true to one of our latest traditions of playing basketball. This time it was against the better part of the BYU baseball team. Another trat is that of going to Tucanos to eat as well as Cafe Rio. Stephanie really enjoyed the campus and tour taken from the Hinckley Alumni Center on the day of summer graduation exercises. It reminded me of two things: the first summer session I attended as a freshman when i was walking by the MOA when Pres. Monson posed to take some pictures with graduates. I walked right by them! Then there was my last summer in Provo when I graduated the day before Carol and I got married. Here you'll also see Robby Polo who served in New Zealand and returned with his parents on his birthday! It was a huge Sabogal-Polo turnout in SLC! Before that we got to sneak over to the conf center for a quick tour with polo & stephanie. We went on the roof and saw the most amazing gallery of art. It was all of the originals of the book of Mormon artwork! (the guy was like EVERY piece of art in the CC is original!) Dang! You've gotta see these things up close. There's things you can't see in print. The TEARS on Lehi & Sariah's face when they are on the ship on the way to the Promise Land as well as the view of the once powerful Nephite nation with Mormon (the bottom part that is usually cut off is pretty gorey). It had the quality of a French art gallery (Carol and I being expert critics and all, lol) and come to find out... the artist (whos name escapes me) was French.