Winter has officially ended

Ok, lets be serious, "winter" as I have known it never really came this year since we are now living in the valley of the sun.  And although I am sad to see my parents and the many visitors we had leave, it was a glorious season.  I thought that I would miss the snow but I didn't.  Not one little bit.  So what have we been up to you ask?  Well let me catch you up.

Since my last post we discovered that Gracie is actually a boy and so we have renamed him Grey.  Yep, we are still creative over here.  He has actually settled down, is a pretty chill cat and we all really enjoy him.  

Ashlyn cuddling with Grey

 Over the winter we had so many visitors...and I loved every minute of it!  My brother came twice for work but extended his trips so that we could visit with him which was really nice.  One of these visits coincided with my parents coming in (they spend winters here) and I am almost positive that this was probably my mom's favorite thing this year.  

Then in December a friend that I met in the 9th grade, Pam, was coming through Phoenix with her family so we met up with them for coffee.  What a cool experience.  I hadn't seen Pam in about 13 years!  I loved catching up and meeting her husband and daughters.

Next up was a visit from John's brother Dave, his wife Gretchen and two of their daughters- Abby and Isabel.  Ashlyn was in heaven to have Isabel here.  She is easily Ashlyn's favorite person (and one of mine too!) Back in Utah we literally lived around the corner from them, I have definitely missed seeing them on the regular.

In January my friend Christina and her family came for a visit.  Her daughter and son quickly buddied up with Ashlyn and Jack, which was just how I had imagined it would be. Chrissy and her family are pretty chill (so unlike the Callisters) so they balanced us out nicely.  Haha.  I really enjoyed spending time with them, it was such a great visit!

At the beginning of March John's sister Isabel and her husband Brad came by for a really quick visit.  They flew down to Tucson for a few days and then drove up here, spent a day with us and flew back to Utah from Phoenix.  We had a great time catching up with them and even managed to celebrate Brad's birthday with a homemade chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and chocolate butter cream frosting...yum!  Love them so much.

a birthday cake for Brad

The last visitors of the winter were our sweet friends, the Kinghorns.  They are a darling family that we lived across the street from in Farmington.  Vaughn and Christie are easily two of the nicest people I have ever met, and I am so grateful to call them my friends.  Our visit with them was very organized (thank you Christie!) and so so much fun.  I enjoyed spending time with their 3 adorable kiddos too.

And although it is always hard for me to say goodbye, I tell myself not to cry because it is over but to smile because it happened.  

Other happenings this winter....

- In November we went on the Polar Express up in Williams, Arizona with the RBAZ group.  It was magical and so much fun.  The look on Daisy's face when Santa gave her the silver bell was one that I will never forget.

- For Thanksgiving we did our annual thankful turkey.

clearly Jack did not want to have his picture taken!

- In December we celebrated Ashlyn's 8th birthday!  She made herself a chocolate cake (because she wanted to!) and had a pottery painting party with her friends.  How is it possible that I have an 8 year old??

painting pottery at Burst of Butterflies

- Christmas was great this year because not only were my parents here, but for the first time in 5 years John was able to be home on Christmas morning and was able to see the kids open their presents.  He worked both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day but those few hours he was here in the morning meant so much to our family.

-In January we celebrated Daisy being cancer free for 2 YEARS!!  And to mark the occasion I made our annual twinkie cake.

celebrating Daisy being cancer free for 2 years

-Daisy started dance and loves it

- Ashlyn and Jack started taking Tae Kwon Do and are doing well.  They should be getting their yellow belts at the end of this month.  I am unsure as to whether or not Jack will keep taking it as we are having to convince him to go about half of the time.  We will see.

-We celebrated both my Mom and Dad's birthdays.  I cannot remember the last time I was able to spend both of their birthdays with them.  Truly amazing.

-John, Daisy and I headed to Salt Lake for a couple of days for an appointment for Daisy in February.  It was cold and it snowed, which Daisy loved. We were able to see most of John's family which was great.

snow in Salt Lake

-Daisy had another MRI/EUA combo in March and continues to be cancer free. We are very grateful that she is healthy.

- Jack started baseball in March and LOVES it.  This is definitely his latest obsession.

on first base

- Ashlyn and Jack started swimming lessons again.  We need to get this kids swimming on their own as pool season is coming!

- I baked.  A lot.  It is my happy place and it literally soothes my soul.

- I also started exercising.  No really.  Stop laughing!  I started out doing Insanity and am now doing Beach Body on demand.  I think that exercising helps me to be more even tempered.  It also helps even out me eating all of that baking I do.  And all of the candy I consume.  Maybe this spring I will be able to tame my sweet tooth...haha...who am I kidding?!  I love sweets!!!

- Just a few days ago John celebrated one year at Southwest.  I am so incredibly proud of him; he has worked so hard to get here.  Here we come second year pay, whoo hoo!

This has easily been my most favorite winter of all time, I am so grateful for this season of my life.  The kids, John and I are all healthy.  We were able to spend a lot of time with my parents and had some amazing visitors.  Our kids are doing well in school, have made some great friends and are enjoying their activities.  Life is good.

Welcome home Gracie

I am so incredibly behind on my blogging but I want to make sure that I properly acknowledge the newest member of the Callister Clan- our new kitten Gracie!  We named her Gracie for a very obvious reason- because she is Gray!  We are a creative bunch around here.

As for why we got Gracie... John and I promised the kids a new pet once we moved to Phoenix and on October 5th we finally delivered on that promise and brought Gracie home.  We found Gracie on a local Facebook site when she was 7 weeks old; she was part of a six kitten litter and the owner was looking for new homes for them.  We went to see the kittens and Ashlyn fell in love with Gracie so we agreed that she would be the one that we would bring home.  We worked out an agreement with the owner and the day that we returned from Utah (when Gracie was 10 weeks old) we brought her home.

Ashlyn bought Gracie this book with her own money, its called "Three stories you can read to your cat"

Since bringing her home we have discovered a few things about her.  First of all, she is very mischievous.  She reminds me so much of Sylvester.  If I'm being honest I was hoping for a little less Syl and a lot more Chevy in this cat, but that is certainly not the case.  Gracie gets into everything and loves to bite everything and chew on cords.  Does anyone have any tips on how to deter her from doing these things??  She also likes to scratch so we bought her a scratching post, which I sprayed with catnip.  Since buying it the scratching of other things has definitely decreased, fingers crossed that it stays that way.

Gracie loves to sleep in the circle on the top

Gracie has received so much love from the kids- in an overpowering, you will love me even while I smother you kind of way.  Daisy is pretty rough with her and treats her like a rag doll.  We are working on that, promise!  Ashlyn thinks that Gracie is her baby and is constantly directing whoever is holding her and Jack usually teases her until she scratches him and then comes and tattles on her.  Good times people!

Im so glad that we didn't get a dog.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Happy birthday Jackson!

So yes, this post is in fact quite late.  Jack turned 6 on September 30th but the very next day we headed to Utah for a few days and then I decided to wait until after his friend party to write the post.

We started Jack's birthday off like we start all birthdays off at the Callister household...with presents! Who doesn't like to open up their gifts while they still have crusties in their eyes???

This is pretty much what all of my 'opening gifts' pics look like

Jack and Ashlyn had school on the 30th so it wasn't a crazy busy day spent hanging around with the birthday boy.  After school we did take him shopping to spend his birthday money from Memere and Pepere but he couldn't find what he was looking for.  in fact, we are still on the hunt for it!  One thing about Jack is he knows what he wants, I love that about him!

Then we came home to eat dinner.  We always let everyone choose their own birthday dinner and this year Jack chose pancakes.  We always tease that he only loves foods that start with P- pizza, pasta and pancakes!  As long as the kids want me to I will make whatever food they request.  I take it as a compliment that they have yet to request a restaurant.

For his dessert this year Jack asked me to make him a Darth Vader cake.  Does this kid know that I am not the Cake Boss?!  I mean, lets be real.  I am a stay at home mom with moderate cake decorating skills.  So I told him to think smaller.  So he asked for a chocolate cake.  Haha...love it!

So here was the result:

The cake was 3 layers and had a surprise of m&m's hidden in the middle!

For his friend birthday party Jack chose to go to Xtreme Air, a trampoline park here in Chandler.  We invited his whole class but only about 8 kids were able to come.  With John working weekends we decided to have it during the week but luckily for us it is Fall Break so we could have it in the late afternoon.  Jack, Ashlyn and Daisy all  had so much fun jumping on the trampolines!  For the party I made Jack some lightsaber cupcakes and I also made lightsabers out of pool noodles for his guests as their take away.

Blowing out his candles at the party!

DIY pool noodle lightsabers

This was Jack's first real birthday party and I would say that it was a huge success.  Jack had so much fun and really enjoyed seeing his friends.  Thanks to everyone who came.  Happy birthday Jackson, I love you more than words can say.

Being a human is complicated, I'm ready to be a unicorn

Well hello there.  It has been some time since I dusted off the ole blog and I am finally ready to get back at it.  I really didn't intend to take so much time off but man, did life ever get in my way.  Lets get caught up, shall we?

Since my last post much has changed.  We did indeed sell our house in Farmington, Utah.  It sold in less than 2 days and we moved out of it in the middle of July.  Boom, done.  I loved most things about that house but I have found that the hardest things to say goodbye to are not really things, they are people.  In my case, this is my sister in law and brother in law who lived literally around the corner and my favorite neighbor family.  I miss them so much.  I miss my friendships with Gretchen and Christie.  I miss having Isabel over.  I miss seeing Lexi, Chase and Topher jumping on their trampoline (and us joining them).  I miss baking treats for all of them, especially Vaughn (he always welcomed them with open arms!)  And since I'm being honest, I'll admit that I miss seeing Topher give me a good surly look.  I also miss John's parents and siblings dearly.  Sometimes I wish that I could just drive 20 minutes up to my mother in law's house like I used to.  Thankfully I still keep in touch with all of them, that makes moving far away less painful.

As for where we landed, we found a great home in Chandler, Arizona.  It is a 10 year old two story home on a third of an acre.  It has a fenced in pool, a basketball court and a nice little lawn.  We even have three citrus trees!  It is just perfect for our family of five.

part of the back yard

John and Jack cleaning the pool

It did take some time for us to get here though.  Once we moved out of our house we lived like gypsies for almost four weeks.  We stayed with John's parents for about ten days and then we headed down to the Phoenix area.  The school district that we live in starts school at the end of July so we drove down the weekend before school started.   We also didn't close on our new house until August 2nd so we stayed at my parents place in Mesa for a couple of weeks.  John and I are both so grateful to have such generous parents.  Staying at their places made the transition down here so much easier.

Our first night in Phoenix! We ate at Whataburger

Now, the weather here.  The summer was insanely hot.  As in, 115 in the day and 103 overnight.  No, that is not a typo.  103 OVERNIGHT PEOPLE!!  So basically you just run from air-conditioned place, to air-conditioned place.  It is kind of like winter (as in you don't want to be outside) but instead of freezing you butt off you are burning it on your car seat.  Then in August they get these monsoons.  These consist of a few minutes of heavy, heavy rain (think flash floods) and it is really humid.  Again, not a typo.  Humid in the desert.  Very odd.  And still very hot.   But now it is September and the temperatures are starting to cool off- as in the high in the day is just under 100 but the overnight temps are into the 70's.  So it is bearable outside, we like that.

Last month we celebrated Daisy's 3rd birthday!  I can hardly believe that my youngest child is 3.  She is a sassy little spitfire who still sucks her thumb and puts her hand in my shirt for comfort.  And I wouldn't have it any other way!  To celebrate the day John and I took her out for lunch to The Olive Garden (her choice) then after we picked the kids up from school we went to a local bounce house where the kids jumped away two hours.  For her birthday dinner she chose pancakes and her only request for her cake was that it be pink.

Daisy's pink cake

Me and Daisy on her birthday

saying 'cheese' at lunch

In August we also welcomed our first Phoenix visitor, my brother Steve!  He had some work meetings to attend here but was gracious enough to come a day early to spend some time with us.  It was great catching up with him.

You have to love that smile!

As for the kids, they are all doing really well.  Ashlyn was struggling at the beginning of the school year; really missing friends and familiar things but now she is really enjoying her class.  She is taking a hip hop class and is back in piano lessons.

Jack was a total surprise.  He took to school like a fish in water.  He loves his teacher, rushes to do his homework, has a few close friends and is even reading some sight words!  This kid has really flourished in Phoenix!  We are looking at putting him in a martial arts class, he starts some private lessons in a couple of weeks.  If he likes it, we will enroll him.

 Daisy is also doing great.  She loves having mommy all to herself all day while the kids are at school.   She also met her new RB doctor and in August she had an MRI/EUA combo.  No new tumors!

me and D at the hospital for her MRI and EUA

John's work has also been going well.  He is on reserve (what else is new?!) but has been able to be home quite a bit which has been nice.  I should also mention that the heat doesn't seem to affect John nearly as much as me.  He goes running every morning, even if its 105 at 9 am.  I don't know how he does it!

As for me, things have been a bit rough.  While I am enjoying Phoenix, my anxiety has been really high.  As in irrationally so.  Since Daisy was diagnosed last January I have mostly been operating in crisis mode; leaping from one worry to the next. I am stressing about so many things.  And while some of these things are issues that require serious concern, many of them are not.  RB has totally changed my life.  In almost every way.  I worry so much about Daisy's health. And I'm pretty sure that I have aged about 10 years in the last 21 months.  But it has also helped me to appreciate things in a new way.  I am very grateful that my family is healthy.  I never realized how precious and precarious ones health is until this experience.  It isn't something to be taken for granted.

Taking time to stop and smell the oranges!  John and the girls looking at fruit trees 

So at this point in time I am most definitely ready for a slow down.  I want to take more morning walks during the week with Daisy (these totally help with the anxiety), enjoy the lunch outings that John, Daisy and I have been taking and relax while helping the older kids do their homework.  I want to enjoy more and worry less...and I'm working on it.

May madness

I can hardly believe that the month of May is almost over...it has literally flown right past me.  This is probably due to the fact that we have been super busy.  Here are some things we did in May:

Jack and I hit up his Mother's Day tea which was super fun.  He has had such a great preschool teacher this year, I will really miss her.  He made me many special gifts including this necklace.

This Mother's Day John and the kids all spoiled me.  Ashlyn and Jack both made 'about my mom' gifts (among other things) and they even helped Daisy draw me a picture.  And even though John wasn't home he sent me a beautiful flower arrangement with a very sweet card.

John's sister Isabel hosted a family barbecue which was really fun.  I enjoyed spending the day with a few of my favorite moms!

Next up was Ashlyn's dance recital and sadly I didn't take one single picture of it.  Ashlyn has really grown so much as a dancer this year, it was a real treat to watch her up on the stage.  Unfortunately Daisy was more interested in running wild than watching the performances so we spent the last 45 minutes of the recital sitting in the lobby.

A few days after that Ashlyn had her art gala at school.  This time I left Jack and Daisy with my sister in law so that I would not have any distractions and could focus my attention on Ashlyn.  She really loves art and was very excited to show me some of the things that she has worked hard on this year.

Ashlyn with her art

While I was running around with the kids John was busy getting ready for his many tests at Southwest.  He took his check ride on May 21st and passed so now he has a 737 type rating!  I couldn't be more proud of him; he has worked so hard to get here.

The next day he came home and we spent a couple of days as a family which was so needed.  We missed him so much!  Then yesterday he packed up and left for his very first trip as a Southwest Airlines First Officer.  The next couple of weeks he will be working a lot but then it calms down to a regular schedule of 3 or 4 day trips which our family is very familiar with.

Dressed in his SWA blues, ready for IOE!

We also found out some very exciting news yesterday.  As of July 1st John will be based out of Phoenix!!  I have an appointment next week with our realtor to get the ball rolling on putting our house up for sale so that we can move down there.

We also have a couple more events to get through before May is over; this month has seriously been crazy.  And now that we have a move on the horizon it won't be calming down much.  I will do my best to keep the blog updated.

Happy Thursday everyone!

Just riding the roller coaster

Sometimes I feel like life is like a roller coaster.  Ups, downs, fear, excitement.  Some disappointment (for those crazy thrill seekers) and elation to have your feet once again touch the ground (if you are a scaredy cat like me).  Sometimes you know what is coming and other times it is a total shock to your system.  Yep, sounds like life to me.

As you can imagine, last Thursday after Daisy's EUA I was thrilled.  Like riding high on cloud nine thrilled.  Then on Friday night John came home which made everyone really happy.   Then he left again Sunday morning.  Wait, do you know what I am even talking about?  Let me back up a minute.

As you may remember, John and I went to Dallas on April 5th for him to start his training at Southwest Airlines.  I came home on the 7th, leaving John there to complete his 6 1/2 weeks of ground school.  We thought that he would be able to come home on weekends but this has proved to be difficult as he has had to work a couple of Saturdays and in the next three weeks he only has 2 days off total and they are not even together.  So what this means is that since April 5th John has slept a total of 5 nights at home and we won't be able to see him now until May 22 or 23.  And then he leaves again on the 25th for 4 days, comes home for 1 day and works another 4.  His schedule is so crazy! So what this means is that in a 2 month period John will have been home for a grand total of 11 days.

So after the high of D's EUA and the enjoyment of having John home over the weekend I had a crash yesterday morning.  After John left I came into my room and had myself a really good cry.  I miss him so much.  I am sad and, if I'm being honest, even a little scared to have to navigate these next three weeks without him.  I mean, I love my kids but three kids 24/7 can get a tad overwhelming at times.  And not just for me, it is hard for the kids too!  We do our best to keep busy on the weekends (the week days are already total chaos between school, activities and homework) and since school is winding up we have many things to do this month.   Ashlyn has a dance recital and an art expo and Jack has a Mother's Day tea and preschool graduation.  Unfortunately, John will miss all of these events.  The kids get it though...Daddy is working really hard to get trained for his new job and soon we will all be together again.

Did I mention that John got based in Oakland, California??  We are hoping that by July or August this has changed to Vegas or Phoenix as we are not going to move to Oakland.  So our lives are still up in the air, wondering where will will land.  I tell ya, you can't make this stuff up!

One last thing before I go.  When times are hard and I am struggling I remind myself of one of my all time favorite quotes.   "The task ahead of you is never greater than the strength within you"  It is so true you guys.  When you are going through a hard time remember how strong you are and push through!  We will finish off John's training strong!

Have a great week everyone!

Daisy's EUA (exam under anesthesia)

As many of you may know, my anxiety has been at an all time high about Daisy.  I am always anxious going into one of these appointments but this  was probably the hardest one for me since her initial diagnosis.

The doctor came to talk to me before the procedure and I told him about my family member mentioning that they thought her eye was turning in.  He told me that it is impossible for an eye to turn in when there is only one.  Apparently it needs another eye to turn in further than in order for it to even be an issue.  One less thing to worry about I guess? 

Anyways, we once again have been blessed with great news...NO TUMORS!!  

I am so incredibly grateful for this day.  Thank you God for keeping Daisy healthy and cancer free.

Daisy in her hospital jammies