We Knew Him Back When...

We are so proud to say we knew him before he was so famous! Anyone that's ever been on a cruise or knows much about cruises will appreciate this video. The Dial Family Blog proudly presents Michael "Princess Pop Star" Christensen:

Rumor has it that while on a cruise, Mike entered the Princess Cruise Line's version of American Idol and won...making him officially "Princess Pop Star" We totally miss our days of chillin' with you guys while Mike makes up funny lyrics and songs! Ahhh...the good old days! :) Thanks for the laugh, Mike! Wish we had been there to see it in person! Next time!

Sandie and Manny

We were fortunate enough to have our good friend Sandie and her escort, Manny the Moose, visit us for two whole weeks! Sandie documented her trip using one of her many men, Manny. So in keeping with her tradition, here are a few pictures of things we did as told by Manny.

First of all, we played a lot of Dr. Mario on the Nintendo 64 and established that I'm still the reigning champ. :) Notice Manny checking out all the action and note that I'm on the left of the screen, Sandie on the right. :)


Of course we had to see the Alamo:


And try on Texas sized sombreros:


Do the boat ride:


Manny's newest friend:


But not as good of friends as he became with Caleb:

Caleb made sure that we took the moose everywhere with us!! Caleb was amazed that he could put an M&M on Manny's paw (do moosen have paws?) and he would eat it!

And of course, Manny had to raise a ruckus and get locked up:


He tempted fate by posing for this picture with the dinosaur:


We did lots of fun stuff that we didn't document with pictures too. We ate out WAY too much--PF Changs, Rudys (twice), Bobby J's, Taco Cabana, Chick Fillet, Chili's, Papa Johns, Thai Lao, Tony Romas, and those are just the ones I remember! We were also able to meet up with another USU friend, Mimi (who happened to be in town for a conference) on the riverwalk for dinner. We enjoyed Bunco night at Rachel's house--and Sandie (with an i-e!) the out-of-town punk even won! We visited St Mary's where Sandie did her undergrad work. We watched lots of movies. We played some games. We did tons of shopping. We went to the temple. And to end the visit, we drug her to Houston with us (see previous post!)

A couple funny Caleb stories that happened while Sandie was here. Caleb had just gotten up from a nap and we were finishing up watching something. So we hear Caleb rattling around in the kitchen and out he comes with three bags of chips, two sodas and a juice box. He hands one bag of chips and a soda to Sandie, one bag and a soda to me, and has the juice box and the last bag of chips for himself. What a little sweet heart!

Caleb would make sure EVERY DAY that Sandie had enough towels and wash clothes etc. He would also supervise her getting ready and make little cute comments as she described what she was doing and why. He was shocked when he walked past her room and it was empty after she left. He keeps asking where she went!

We had so much fun--thanks for visiting, Sandie!! We hope you will come again soon!

Houston Fun

This weekend we headed to Houston for some fun!

Friday night we hit an Astros game. Here is a video of some of our fun!

They lost big time. But that's ok. They're not my team. :) We even ran into the Davis clan! What are the chances? So fun to see them there!

Here Chris and Caleb are posing with a couple guys from the team:



Saturday we found some time for swimming. Here is Caleb chillin' poolside!

The water was surprising cold. But Caleb refused to admit it even though he was totally shivering the whole time. If you watch closely, you can see him shivering. Must not let that stop the fun, though, right?!?

Caleb loves to jump in the water--we didn't get a very good one on video, but you get the idea. We have a little fish on our hands. He LOVES the water! You can see that he also loves to say cheese and smile for the camera! :)

We were planning to hit the Aquarium, but we spent so much time at IKEA that we ran out of time! Man, that store is too much fun. Luckily, (or unluckily?) our car was already full, so we didn't get to buy much. Just a couple smaller things, like this rug for Caleb's play area where he can drive his cars. He's done it nonstop since we've been home!

(And, yes, in case you're wondering, he's moved on to his sun hat--he now has to wear that one everywhere we go. Even if it doesn't come close to matching what he is wearing. And at naptime too.)

Then Saturday night we went to see our favorite comedian of all time, BRIAN REGAN! It was so awesome!! He's totally clean and totally funny! A fun night also made better by running into Paul and Jamie who were there also! It was fun to see you guys again! Anyway, we weren't allowed to take pictures or video, but here are a couple funny clips from online :

Always Makes My Day

It really doesn't matter how much craziness is going on around me, this makes it all better:

Man we love our little guy. He sure makes life fun!

Highlight Reel

We've started early on Caleb's highlight reel for his college basketball scholarship:

During this particular video shoot, he was showing off for Nolan. Caleb has really become quite good at shooting hoops, kicking balls, hitting balls with bats and throwing and catching lately. Yahoo! I love it! So much fun!

And now for deep thoughts from my friend Sandie:--She was saying today that we should all learn to clap for ourselves like Caleb does--even if no one else is clapping for us. How true that is. :)

Random Caleb Moments

Apparently Caleb's bears needed to cool off a bit. I went to get something out of the fridge and was surprised to find two stuffed bears:



Caleb and I like to have movie nights with our blankets on the floor and popcorn. Caleb seriously gets giddy. He gets to pop the popcorn and pick out some snacks and some juice and the movie and sometimes we party while Chris is at school:



Caleb loves to watch Sesame Street, but his stuffed animals have to watch too.



Caleb and Nolan are best buddies. (Nolan is Jed and Rachel's cute guy that we get to hang out with during the day). They are starting to become really interactive and it just melts my heart every day to watch them. They just giggle at each other all day long! Caleb has also learned to swaddle his own bears and change their diaper and feed milk to his bears. Thanks, Nolan!





Caleb still amazes me with how much he likes to help. He is always asking to do the dishes or sweep or vacuum. I say, knock yourself out! Definitely don't want to discourage that habit!




Caleb loves to help outside too. Here they are planting some flowers:



Our friend Sandie is here visiting from Utah. After breakfast in the mornings Sandie tells us she is going to go shower and Caleb has to follow her upstairs to be sure she has enough towels. Quite the little host, huh?!?!



It has always been so fun to hang out with my little buddy--but it is even more so these days. His vocabulary is EXPLODING and he seriously cracks me up all the time. He is such a little ham bone. But he is also a sweetheart--here are a couple examples: The other day, he asked me for something and I handed it to him and he started to run away. But he stopped, came back, gave me a kiss and said, "Thanks, mom!" And then last night we accidentally bonked heads, but he came over and kissed it and said, "Sorry, mom" in the absolute sweetest voice ever followed by a big hug! We love our little buddy!