Some Videos from Christmas - December 29, 2011

I cleaned off my phone's SD card and had such fun watching little videos from Christmas.  Enjoy!

"Jingle Bells" on Christmas Eve (:55 sec)

The Nativity (Mary swaddling Jesus) (:19 sec)

The Nativity (Joseph, an Angel and a star) (:38 sec)

Christmas Morning (:24 sec)

Dance Party 1 (:32 sec)

Dance Party 2 (:30 sec)

Nerf War 1 (:47 sec)

Duel 1 (Carter) (:32 sec)

Duel 2 (Deven) (:13 sec)

That was fun!  Let's have Christmas again!

Company! - September 30, 2011/October 5, 2011

We had some very last minute company early this morning.  Kim and Deven and family stopped at our house on their way to New Mexico.  They arrived at about 1 a.m. and left again at 6 a.m.  McKayla and Carter and Lincoln woke up long enough to say hello and take a few pictures but it was a quick visit.  So glad they could stop by!

Aunt Kim and McKayla and Lincoln

Carter and Lincoln - birthday buddies. Carter turned 7 on 9/9/11 - the day of Lincoln's birth. Next year, they'll celebrate their first and eighth birthdays.

Where do you put four extra munchkins? Lincoln slept in the port-a-crib in our room. McKayla, Carter and Bree shared the air mattress. Ellie started out on the couch and ended up on the futon with her parents in the guest room.

Come again! 

And they did - October 5, 2011.
We met up at the mall for a few minutes.The McCalvys (Dick, Sharon and Kathleen) were shopping for missionary clothes for Kathleen.  So Lincoln and I went to the play area and visited with the Davis' family.  The kids enjoyed their play break from their drive up from Albuquerque and Lincoln was introduced to Bree and Ellie (they slept through the last visit).

Aunt Kimi, Ellie and Lincoln

Bree and Lincoln

Carter and Lincoln

McKayla "interviewing" Carter at the News Stand.  There is a camera that plays on a TV screen so the kids can see themselves doing the news.

Bree and Ellie climbing on some of the play center features.

Thank you for making an extra stop at a random place to visit for a few minutes.  And thank you for staying a few more minutes than you meant to!  Love you guys!

Come again!  Stay longer!

Christmas in Idaho! - December 24-27, 2009

We arrived in Eagle on Christmas Eve. Just in time to give hugs to Clay, Kristen, Emma & Aspen on their way home. Then we talked Jed & family into staying long enough to open their gift from us. I love presents! (Stella, Jed, Zoe, Maria, Hallie, Tucker, Hannah)

Then a little visiting before heading to bed to wait for visions of sugar plums and listen for Santa's sleigh! And suddenly! It is Christmas!

Search through the stockings...

Play with toys (this actually wasn't taken on Christmas, but the kids did play on this little 4-wheeler a lot! and I love this picture of Ellie & Bree)...

"Pet" Uncle James... (McKayla & Carter)... When we arrived, Hannah (not pictured) ran out to say hello and give hugs. Then she ran back inside to tell her Mom that "UNCLE JAMES LOOKS LIKE NOAH!!!"

Whack a mole... It cheats.

Carter, Deven & McKayla....

Inspect the left over boxes and wrapping paper (Ellie)...

What did you get for Christmas? (James, Opa & Ellie)

And a long established and well-cherished tradition of skiing during Christmas - glad we did, the inversion was starting and it was so sunny, beautiful up at Bogus!

Happy Thanksgiving! - November 26-29, 2009

I'm grateful for extended family - this is Maebe, James' cousins Sage (in the background) & Rachel are her parents. We had dinner w/their family on November 15 - she's not afraid to tell you what she wants! And there was some serious chocolate cake! I'm also thankful for chocolate.
I'm thankful for technology. This appeared in a picture message from our friends Chris & Diana. Caught James napping in Sunday School. I'm also thankful for Sunday afternoon naps. Maybe next year they won't be during Sunday School? Did I already say how thankful I am to have James as my husband? Well, I am sooooooooooooooooo grateful for my James.

I'm thankful for a fabulous Thanksgiving Feast! James, Kathleen & I had turkey (smoked & roasted) at Uncle Roger & Aunt Lynnettes. YUM! I didn't have to cook a thing. We had tons of family - all of the Shuman kids and a friend of Chelseys. Glen & Nancy. Alan & Michelle. Keri and Marcus. Chad & Kelley and Kelley's Mom. Brett & Tammy. Craig & Ariana. Aunt Karen & Natalie. Granddad & Grandma.

My contribution was this "Thankful" tree. I punched out a bunch of little oak leaves, stapled ribbons on the ends and then put some on everyone's plate. We all wrote down our "Thankfuls" and tied them onto the branches. I'm also thankful for leftovers. Unfortunately, we're all out...

I'm thankful for Sunday drives with James. We drove up to Brighton after church & taking Kathleen to meet her ride back to Rexburg (I'm thankful Kathleen could spend the week with us - sorry if you were bored while we were at work. I'm still jealous of all that free time!). We made it just before dark and checked out the very light snow coverage. I'm also thankful for our reliable transportation and steady jobs that allow us to buy enough gas for random Sunday explorations.

I'm thankful for visitors from Idaho: Carter

McKayla

and Bree.

Kim & Deven brought their kids for a visit on their way home from Thanksgiving with the Davis'. I did get to play with Ellie at the Church History Museum, but she slept through our adventure at the park. I'm also thankful for sunny warm-ish days in late November so we could play at the park without being too cold. (I'd also be grateful if it'd get serious about winter and dump some snow already!)

And finally, I'm thankful for this cell-phone video of Carter - he makes me laugh! (Kim - I did try to email you this video - but I guess it was too big for the email system. I'll put it on a jump drive and bring it w/me at Christmas.)

Idaho Trip - March 13-15, 2009

I finally had to give Kurt's digital camera back, so my few random pictures from this fun, fun weekend are pretty late. You can see more pictures at Kim's blog, Kristen's blog & Mom's blog.


We got in late on Friday night, skied Saturday with the family and helped eat birthday cake. Then we went to church w/Kim & Deven and adopted Ellie for a few hours until we had to get back on the road. So fast! So fun!

Jake & James

Tyler

Carter & Christy playing in the snow.


Stella helping Opa cook his birthday lunch of hotdogs and brats.



Ellie and Deven just hanging out.


Happy Birthday Dad!

How We Met:

Jessi has been a ski patroller at Brighton since I moved to Utah right after high school. I even got to be a 'ski bum' for a few years and was paid to patrol! When my job with Life Flight changed from a 3-day-a-week position to a 5-day-a-week position, I switched back to the Volunteer Patrol, but I didn't lose my friends on the paid staff. They're always on the lookout for men who met my standards. In January 2005, whenever I was at Brighton, patrollers began to make comments like:

"Have you met James yet?"

"We need to introduce you to Jimmy Cordova..." (James' hometown is Cordova, Alaska and the patrollers at Brighton had nicknamed him Jimmy Cordova. It was several weeks before I learned that his real name is James McCalvy.)

"James would be perfect for you... he's Mormon, and he skis!"

Jessi was determined NOT to meet James at Brighton where a dozen interested patrollers would be around for a potentially awkward meeting. But where else to meet a man who was so highly recommended?

James was also getting comments from his new coworkers. James had only been in Utah since October 2004, and only began patrolling at Brighton in early January 2005. Almost from the his first day on the hill, he was hearing about Jessica:

"I know this girl - She's LDS and she skis, so you'd be perfect together. What else do you need?"

"You have got to meet Jessica..."

Our First Date: January 26, 2005. A Life Flight coworker, Cindy Hayes, gave Jessi a pair of Utah Jazz basketball tickets for that same night. Here was the opportunity for Jessi and James to meet at a fun event held away from the ski resort. I only needed James' phone number to see if he wanted to go to a last-minute basketball game. I called a girlfriend on the patrol, but had to leave Jen Homel a message. "I need James' phone number, I got Jazz tickets for tonight - do you think he'll want to go?" I was too impatient to wait for Jen's return call. I called another patroller. Brandon Dodge also didn't answer his phone, so another message requesting James' digits was left on phone mail. Now James was certain to get some teasing and some follow-up questions from the Brighton Patrol!

James and Jen were actually working on the same hill when Jen got the phone message. She turned the story around a little and worked on getting us together for the game. She asked James what he was doing that night and when nothing came up, asked if he wanted to go to a Jazz game that night. "My friend has two tickets for tonight, and I can't go, I thought I'd see if you could go." Trick Question? James knew right away that the friend must be the famous Jessica Simpson and gave permission for his phone number to be passed along.

Eventually, we talked on the phone and agreed to meet for the Jazz game. We parked several blocks away from the event center and took the opportunity to get to know each other a bit during the walk to and from the ball game. James played high school ball, so he was great for my "Why was that a foul!?" questions. The Utah Jazz beat the Seattle Sonics - 109 to 100!

Our first Valentine's Day: February 14, 2005 - Our second date was to a Harlem Globetrotters game - they also won! Of course, I don't think they've ever lost. James brought a little box of chocolates and a single red rose. Considering we'd only had one date and skied together for maybe two runs, that was a pretty bold move! It certainly opened the door for future dates!

Slowly Meeting the Family: James and I were invited over to my sister Kim's house often for Sunday Dinner. We really enjoyed visiting and playing games with Kim and her husband, Deven. They have two kids - McKayla (2 1/2) and Carter (7 months). Carter and James became really good buddies. Carter could always count on sharing some ice cream or whatever else James might be eating!

April 2, 2005 - My parents, my Uncle Neil, my sister Kristen, and her daughter Emma (age 2 - pictured with me to the left) came to Utah. They all stayed at my house in West Jordan and everyone (except Mom & Emma) went skiing at Brighton. You know he likes you when he'll put his arm around you while you're riding the chairlift WITH YOUR DAD!

Our First Kiss: In mid-March, James went camping with some friends in Boise. We had breakfast together the day he left and we almost said goodbye with a kiss. Almost. When he returned, it was with a bad cold and a couple days off work to recuperate.

April 6, 2005 - We went to a Utah Grizzlies hockey game. Turns out that watching hockey is not James' favorite pass-time, but since it was a date with me he even pretended to enjoy the game. I think the Grizzlies lost, but I definitely won because James kissed me good night!

Officially Dating: April 8 & 16, 2005 - James invited me to the Brighton Professional Patrol End-of-the-Season Banquet and the next weekend he was my date at the Brighton Volunteer Patrol Banquet. On both occasions James was thoroughly grilled by my "big brothers" on the patrol. Andy and Debbie Peterson even cut-in while we were dancing so that Debbie could meet James and Andy could get my opinion on how serious things might be with my new friend. Even though I didn't want to meet James while at the ski resort, we have really enjoyed the friendships, employment and skiing that we find there.