Where'd the summer go?

Yeah, we know, we’ve been pretty bad about posting to the blog. Life has been so stinking busy, it’s just one of those things that is falling under the category of “good intentions.”

So, we had the Rogers Family (Ace’s sister’s family) stay with us for almost a month in July. It was awesome. The kids got along great, and it was really a blessing to get to spend so much time with them. Dallas Jay and Ace flew down to New Mexico and drove back with them. That was really fun. Dallas Jay wasn’t scared at all. He loved every second of it.

We discovered that baseball isn’t as fun as soccer, at least for us as the parents. With soccer we got along with all the families, and it was a good time. We made some great friends that we still ski with, and we enjoy very much. However, with the T-ball, it just hasn’t been the same. Dallas loved it, so that was good. He was very fun to watch. He’s doing well catching, but swinging and focusing on the ball at 2 in the afternoon on a hot Saturday, is challenging for him!!! Next year we are going to do Football and Soccer, which seem to much more his alley because he likes to fall, still. If he wants to do T-ball as well, we’ll do that.

Did we mention that Dallas Jay decided he was old enough to move down to his own room? He’s downstairs all by himself, with the exception of the picture of the Savior that Liz and Dallas just got him for his 5th birthday (thank you, thank you, thank you). He said tonight that he doesn’t have to be scared now because he has the Savior with him. We are so grateful that he is developing a love for the Gospel, and finding assurance and ease in it. He’s an inspiration to us, for sure.

Sofi’s been fighting teething all summer. She was basically sick for the last year or so. Seems like as soon as her nose dries up for a few days, she’s back to the cold/teething symptoms. However, she’s finally come around, and she’s been so much fun. She likes to tell her big “bubba” where to stick it!!! That girl’s got some attitude. She’s enjoying having her own room. And even though the kids are definitely enjoying having their own space, they are always together. Dallas is a great big brother to her and his sort-of-sister Reese (their cousin that is 10 weeks older than Sofia). The two girls like to beat on him on a regular basis and he takes it and laughs. He's so good with them. Sofi’s finally become a good sleeper, which is a miracle because she’s been told time and time again that it may be on her head that she doesn’t have additional siblings!!! Guess she’s started listening!!!

Well, there’s so much more to list, but we just wanted to say thank you to all of those who are always there to support us. We were talking the other night that we have been so blessed to have such great friends and family. We love you all.


We wanted to share one more experience. This weekend was the Rail Jam at Barries’ Skis and Sports. Jyl and Dallas were in the store about a week before and Barrie had been visiting with them, and asked D to come back and ride the rail at the Rail Jam. (For those of you who don’t know, Jyl worked for Barrie for about 4 years as his Financial Manager, and we are very close to him. Dallas calls him Uncle Barrie).

Well, D talked about it non-stop since then. So, after the Ward Family Rodeo (round-up), we went over there fully expecting to never get Dallas’ skis out of the Jeep. When we showed up, there was probably 200+people watching as contestants from all over (even some from back east) battled over the coolest trick. Barrie saw us there, grabbed D, and got him suited up. Took him up on stage in the middle of the competition, and helped him ride the rail. The crowd went wild. We got it on video, but it's too big to download here, so unfortunately you'll have to go to our FB profiles to see it.

It was one of those times that made you tear up. Barrie probably doesn’t comprehend what it did for D, and how proud it made his parents. We were so shocked that he wasn’t scared by the crowd, wasn’t scared by the rail, and was totally cool with it. He’s definitely one brave little dude!!!!

Oh, and I almost forgot, Dallas Jay is being tutored by Edith Hunt, who is basically one of the greatest women ever born. She is so patient, and we have seen some real improvement over such a short time. He's reading some words and is excited to learn. Jyl is very good to do his homework with them. I am a lucky dude, for sure!!





Dallas Sr. went to pick up Andrew in Bolivia. They traveled all over South America, and had a great time. Andrew is a great example to all of us, and we are so blessed to have him home!!!

Jordanne and Jordan got married this summer. It was a great party, we had fun dancing, good food, and great family. Thank you to all those of you who helped make it possible. I would post some pictures, but I don't have any of the newlyweds. But Jordanne was beautiful, and it was a great day!!!

Well, this fall we have the CPA, the CPA, oh and did we mention, the CPA. Tax season is right around the corner, so when Ace isn't studying, we try and watch as much football as we can, and have fun chasing kids and awaiting the arrival of Roxie (Jyl's brother Jesse's family is expecting)!!!!

Summer has come!

I know it has been a long time since I've updated our blog. Between tax season and taking care of Ace's grandma's we've been busy! Dallas has learned how to ride his bike without his training wheels and has been working on swimming lessons. He finished his first round of speech therapy and loves going to school. Another year though before he goes to Kindergarten, a blessing for me and for him. This weekend Grandma ChaCha (Gina)took Dallas to the airshow here in town and he loved it! She also set it up so that she and D could ride around in the plane! I thought he would freak out, but she said he did great! How exciting. He had such a great time. He also competed in a kids bike race this weekend and loved it. It was so cute watching the kids race around the little dirt track, of course everyone got a medal, but Dallas is saying he won the gold! What a crack up!
I've been working on a project for work and evaluating how we are doing as a whole office. It's been tough, but really interesting. I love it. Sofia is hell on wheels. She loves to be into everything. She loves to pester her brother and she loves to play hide and seek. I love being with my kids so much. I feel so blessed to have great kids. Sofia also loves to be in the water. My Mom, Jordanne, and I took her and Dallas to the pool and she tried over and over again to get into the deep water without me holding her. Every time I would grab her or hold onto her she would kick as hard as she could to get away from me. She makes me laugh.
Funny story how life gets you back. When I was little I told my mom I would not go to the store if she wore her yellow shorts. The other day Dallas looked at my outfit and paused and said, "Mom, are you going to wear that today?" HaHa. Cracks me up!
Ace is doing great at work. He just got back from retreat where he was praised for his ability to work with clients,think outside the box, and his kindness and courtesy towards others. I am so proud of him. He's been working hard this summer with the CPA. We know this is the year for him! He just got done adding on to our deck, significantly, and making our yard beautiful. I am lucky I married such an amazingly talented man. No really, can't imagine life without him.
One more great bit of news, my brother Andrew is coming home from his mission in a week. I can't hardly stand it. Love that kid and I can't wait for him to see Dallas and meet miss Sofi.

Lots of Love!

Dallas Skiing

Last weekend Gina came up and saw us at the ski hill. She shot this video of Dallas Jay skiing. Too bad this is the last weekend!!!!

The Spring

I love Spring skiing! It is the best. Nothing like skiing in warm weather with the sun on your face. LOVE IT! I especially love getting to enjoy it with my son and Ace. I can't wait until Sofia is there too! We have been plugging along at our house. Ace is in the midst of tax season and working as hard as ever, which we truly appreciate, but miss him. I am doing a project for work to help track our success and efficiency (Yeah me!) and Dallas has started to take speech therapy. He is really enjoying going to school and is growing right before our eyes. Sofi is walking and her favorite thing is to talk on the phone. She gets so excited and yells hi and waves at the phone. She knows it's her connection to Ace and packs the phone anywhere I'll let her. She loves her daddy. Brooke took some great pictures at Sofi's birthday party (thanks Brooke). That is the jist of life at the call house. Laugh out Loud fun!

Sofi turns 1!!!!!!!!

Well, it’s been a loooong time since we’ve written, and I apologize. We’ve been super busy with keeping up with tax season, skiing and trying to keep Sofia under control! That girl is nuts! She has figured out how to walk, and she is all over the place. Typically wherever Dallas is, and she wants to play with whatever he is playing with, and wants to be right up in his face. Her favorite thing to do is to put her finger in his ear. Let’s just say, we’re blessed he’s so tolerant.

Yesterday was her first birthday. I can still remember waking up to go to work at four, not finding Jyl in bed, and thinking to myself…really…today huh? Jyl came in and told me she’d been having contractions, but that she was probably fine to go to work. I asked how far apart they were, she said….get this…8 min. Yeah, um, you’re in labor, and will have the baby soon, so I don’t think you really need to be working in people’s mouths with razor sharp instruments while you just “grin and bear it!” Needless to say, Sofia B Call came before noon that morning! And hasn’t really slept since! It’s our lot in life.

This tax season has been so much easier on me than the last because I’ve made a real effort to get up to the ski hill once a week. Dallas Jay is skiing so well and we’re really impressed with his progress. There’s something to be said for having passions in life, and I couldn’t fight the fact that I need adrenaline, and I love to ski. It’s been a real blessing that Jyl and I are able to now share this love for the sport with our kids. Next year we may even see Reese and Sofia up there! We’ll see how well Sofi gets at walking without falling first! Hahahaha.

Well, enjoy the pictures, and thank you Carrie for Sofi’s John Deere Boots. Very cute…wait…as D would say… “not cute, Dad, cool.” The picture of Sofia all messy is her birthday cupcake adventure. The picture of her with her hair done up was when D was supposed to be washing his face, and decided to help Sofi “have cool hair like me.”

A quick note

A quick note, Ok just some really cute pics of the kids. Dallas loves skiing and Sofia is taking a few steps on her own. She does great except everywhere she goes she runs! In this picture she totally reminds me of a young Audrey Hepburn. So adorable! In the other pictures Dallas is skiing and loving it! He especially loves skiing with his poppa!

Dallas goes skiing!

Today was the day. Ace got Saturday off and we were able to take D skiing for his very first time. He was so excited to go and wear his "parka" and show the lift attendant his pass. It was adorable. The first run down was good. We got on the chair no worries. Then we got to the top where there was flat light and we all know how "well" they groom the hill sometimes and we hit a little bit of a big slope and he got scared. We made it down the first time with a lot of frustration all the way around. But then came the next run and the next run and he did really great. By the end of the day he was turning and burning. He can stop and start and semi skate etc. I would get tired and need a little stop for a minute and he would get impatient with me and want to go. Finally he would say to me, "Are you ready to rock and roll?!" And then we were off again. He did awesome. It was so great to be back on the hill and with my family enjoying time with them. It doesn't matter if it was the aspen all day, it was great. The funny thing was he kept asking us for more and more runs down and then when we got home he rode his bike for awhile. I mean does this kid stop? What a great day!

Christmas 2009

I love Christmas with little kids. Every present that Dallas opened he would say, "Oh my word!" and get so excited. One time he did say, " Oh my hells!" that was pretty hilarious. We had to explain that we weren't supposed to say that, but lets just be honest it slips out from his mom and dad every once in awhile, what do you do. It was great watching him love every present, even the dull Sunday shirts that I bought him. I love kids at this age. Dallas has been talking about this whole girlfriend thing and now he knows that he can't have a girlfriend until after his mission, I know wishful thinking but you can't blame me for trying. The other night he asked Ace and I if after his mission he could get a girlfriend and have a life! I told him that he could have a life right now, but the girlfriend would have to wait until after his mission. He told Ace last night that he wanted to buy a horse and take his girlfriend for a ride on it after his mission. Ahhh he is always thinking that one.
Sofia has been struggling with ear infection after infection. I took her to the specialist and he looked at me like I was crazy for bringing her there even after I told him Dallas's story. Oh well. He said that she needed 4 in one year to do the tubes and well we've had two in a month, so I think we'll probably be doing surgery next year. Gotta love Doctors. Oh well.
She is determined to walk right away instead of crawling. She can roll anywhere and scoot and crawl backwards, but no forward crawl, very close though. Right now she just likes to walk from furniture piece to furniture piece. She loves her playtime with her cousin Reese and friend Jay.
My parents got us a day of skiing in Sun Valley for New Years. It was really fun. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed spending time with the family. Ace got to demo some fun ski's from Barrie and totally was amazing to watch ski. Thanks Barrie! Also, thanks Mom and Dad for the tickets.

Here's Ace: Well, we've started tax season already! Yeah! working from 5 am to 7pm every day. I'm going to work harder at being home more. So, here's my plan, make sure I leave every night at seven thirty, that way I'll be able to be home to read the kids their bed time stories and I'll be able to see them for at least a few minutes.

I'm going to also work harder on taking some time every Saturday to have some ski time, or do something with Jyl and the kids to have some fun.

And, I will be attempting the CPA exam again this coming year. I have the goal to be completely done and passed by next year. It's going to take some serious sacrifices, but it's worth it.

Well, Christmas was wonderful, the New Year great, and Valentines is coming. So, here we go. Hope you all had a wonderful Holiday!

Ahh the joys of parenthood

I know from the title it probably sounds like I have some ridiculous story to tell about my children, which they do make me laugh everyday with the silly things they do. In fact I cringe every time Dallas tells me about his drawings in church and what his teachers must think. This Sunday he told my parents that he learned Rock and Roll at church. Ahh yes... Rock and Roll. He was singing the black eyed peas song, "Tonight is going to be a good night". As the songs were being sung and prayers were being said. Oh my.
This morning I put Sofi in the bath and Dallas had the need to get out his guitar and serenade her with the Monday Night football song and then he sang her a song about being a girl riding a four wheeler. It was very cute.
Sofia is finally sitting in her high chair. She has been sitting on her own for awhile , it's just taken us this long to get it out for her. She is really wiggly and loves moving around, but alas is determined not to ever be on her stomach or crawl. She may just run for her first move. It is totally her style. I think she is going to give me a run for my money.
Ace as you have read previously is now studying for the CPA. I am proud of him for going to the library rather then coming home as we all wish were possible. But the sacrifice is totally worth it. We got to have lunch the other day. Since he is working further away now, it is a luxury. He also brought some beautiful yellow roses. What a keeper. That is life at the call house. Fun, crazy, and totally the best.

Happy Halloween!!!!!

So, we had a great Halloween. Dallas Jay was a cowboy, I know...stop the presses, never would have guessed that one, right? Liz and Jordanne sewed his costume, they made a set of chaps and a vest. It turned out great. He wore Uncle Andrew's scarf, and of course, he had his pair of six shooters! Sofia went as a bumble bee, which suits her personality, sometimes she's really cute, but man, when you piss her off, she'll sting ya! Jyl dressed up as a mom and I dressed up as a football player, which, I found out via Dallas Jay's instructions, was not correct. So, Saturday, I, also, was a cowboy! We even got Winnie a scarf and she was our cowdog!

Friday night we went up to Loveland's shop and had a huge Halloween party. It was great. There was hay bales all set out, and the kids ran and played. We had homemade soup, and then after the dinner, we sat around the hay bales and
the kids did a trick or treat walk. I must say, Liz and Steph looked great!

Saturday was a busy day, as we know no different around our house! We woke up and went out to the farm, Dallas Jay, Winnie and I helped Jesse and Dallas Sr. put a new gate on at the cellar. Evidently, there's some harvest workers that think it's OK to run their potato truck through a five-bar gate, turn around in the cellar, and then run it over on the way out. You know, in case they missed completely demolishing it at 30 mph! Dallas spun cookies on his power wheels four wheeler while we worked. Sr. taught junior how to crawl under a fence, and he brought home enough dirt in his clothes that we are going to have an increase in property taxes this year [accountant's joke].

Then it was up to drop off Dallas Jay at Grandma Baileys as he made sugar cookies with her and Aunt Steph. Mighty tasty! We then met some friends downtown and went through the slowest trunk or treat you've ever seen. It was probably 1,000 people, walking around two blocks to get candy from 6 stores! But, it is always fun to see Dallas Jay with his soccer buddy Cambell. What can we say, good company makes the time fly! Grandma Cha-Cha stopped in and walked through the madness with us.

Then we went to our trunk or treat at our church. It was great. Heidi and Scott showed up with Dallas' play buddy Emma. I wish I had the camera on me, because those two are so cute together. W e got to see a lot of our friends, and it was fun to walk around with Dallas. He was really more interested in playing with his friends than he was getting candy! We had a good time seeing all of our friends dressed up.

Then it was back up to Grandma Bailey's for the traditional Halloween Pizza and candy. It was fun to see Reese in her Duck costume. So cute.

So, Halloween is over, now it's time to put up Christmas lights...oh man, I can hear my Dad saying, "You ready Rusty?" Yes, that's right, it's Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, which, Jyl has outlawed at our house. It's not my fault that she is not more closely drawn to the finer points in life!

We had a great time with our friends, but now it's back to work for me. I have to get going on my studying for my CPA exams. I've got one in November, and one in January. So, if I'm a little incognito for a while, you'll know why. I was about to say that if I was a bit cranky....but, we know that I'm that way naturally! Hahahaha.

On to Thanksgiving....the best holiday of the year! Turkey, football, Turkey, parade, Turkey and...stuffing!

Happy birthday Dallas!

Yeah! Dallas Jay turned four! He is growing up so fast. We celebrated with chocolate cake and ice cream and then spent the weekend in Island Park. It was really fun. Dallas loved all his fun presents. We took him to Yellowstone and saw some beautiful elk and bison. It was really cold, but it was fun to see old faithful. As we were driving and Dallas kept questioning what we were doing every four minutes (must be something with the age haha), we kept telling Dallas that we were going to a national park to see the animals. He was first disappointed in the fact that we weren't going to a giant playground and then was disappointed when it wasn't like seeing animals at the zoo. Oh well. What can you do. So... we took him the the bear and wolf preserve right outside the gates! They have bears and wolves, like the zoo, and a play ground! Perfect! One of the most fun things was sitting by the fireplace in the morning and watching the snow fall, a lot of snow on Sunday. Dallas and Ace went on a bike ride, prior to the snow, and Dallas is almost as fast as Ace. He is fun to watch! So happy b-day to Dallas.