The Crall Space

The Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-22T23:07:00.001-05:00

It's down to 87 degrees now, which means, of course, that it's finally fall! The leaves are changing from dead (thanks to the 6 month long drought) to green; the morning air is brisk; Lorein's making roast for dinner tomorrow; and the pumpkin patch is stocked and ready to delight. As you can see, Caleb was excited for his first Halloween. I'm sure he's looking forward to sticking his hand into that Jack-o-lantern's guts and immediately putting whatever he scoops out into his mouth.

Carter found a pumpkin just his size. He's also at this fantastic stage where he's constantly making faces. Lorein thinks it's annoying, but it makes me laugh. Lorein says he's learning it all at preschool. She says he's a total ham, that he's always trying to get the other kids to look at him. Last class, one of the girls told him his face wasn't funny and Carter replied, "Yes it is." Then they got into a fight.

Welcome Fall! And Carter displaying his go-to funny face, which he learned from "The New Baby" by Mercer Mayer.

Now that's a picture for a fall catalog.

They had a great little train pulled by a riding lawnmower. And it was free! If there's one good thing about leaving California, it's that we're always pleasantly surprised when things end up being free.

We bought two small pumpkins for Carter and Caleb and then a bigger one to carve. It ended up being $8 even. Like I said, there are a few advantages to leaving California.

They also had a great (free!) hayride. Caleb really liked the hay part.

It was a fun day. Maybe in a month or so we'll actually have to be in pants and a sweatshirt.

Natural Bridge Safari

2011-09-18T15:57:00.007-05:00

My mom and dad came to visit last weekend. As you can see from their t-shirts and general glumness, Carter and Caleb were going through some heavy "papa" withdrawals.

I had to go to Charlottesville all week for some JAG training, but that didn't stop the rest of my family from having a ton of fun. On Monday, they went to the Natural Bridge Safari Park. I guess if there's one good thing about Texas, they don't stop you from getting up close and personal with the animals. Take that San Diego Wild Animal Park! (Note to Wild Animal Park: that was a joke. I have nothing against your conservationist, environmentally-friendly bent. Please don't take away my membership!)

Now that's a family!

On a related note, I came home to find three big scratches down the side of the truck. My mom says it's from the Dairy Queen Drive-Thru though, not from enraged animals.

First day of school! (sort of)

2011-09-18T15:52:00.002-05:00

Carter started preschool last week. There's a group of five women or so that are doing it. Each month, they trade of teaching. Right now, it's our next door neighbor. My favorite part is that Carter calls her "Miss Melanie." He even saw her today playing the organ during church, and he shouted "Daddy, there's Miss Melanie!"

Showing off his sweet backpack (it's Thomas the Train).

As you can see, he's learning a lot. Well, at least all the important letters :)

The happiest day of his life (almost)

2011-09-04T21:46:00.000-05:00

Well, I guess it wasn't THE happiest day of Chris' life, because that, of course, would be when he married me; outside of family events, though, I think this one is definitely at the top. What happened? The Army dropped this:

from the everyday uniform.
Chris absolutely hated the beret and was rejoicing when the announcement was made.
So now, he gets to look like this:

Instead of like this:

You can read some of the article here or click on the title to read the whole thing if you're really interested.

Army dumps beret as official ACU headgear
By Lance M. Bacon - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jun 13, 2011 8:08:04 EDT
The troops spoke, and the leadership listened: On Tuesday, patrol caps will once again be the official headgear for the Army Combat Uniform.
The beret change is one of several key uniform changes provided to Army Times by Sergeant Major of the Army Raymond Chandler.
The changes were prompted by feedback from “thousands of soldiers” through post-deployment surveys, social media and discussions with soldiers during base visits, said Chandler, who sees himself as a “scout” for the Army secretary and chief of staff and a “voice in the Pentagon” for every soldier.

Thomas the Teddy Bear

2011-07-16T10:05:00.000-05:00

Carter decided on a name for his bear that Grandma Shari and Papa Chris sent for his birthday. This thing is big. Really big. But I think I should just be grateful that Shari didn't send a puppy like her mother-in-law did for her kids one Christmas. Besides how can I complain about the size when the boys look so cute sitting on him.

Carter's Birthday - Number 3!

2011-07-09T19:18:00.000-05:00

Carter turned 3 on Thursday. We didn't have his party until Friday -- we've yet to celebrate his birthday on his actual birthday (last year, we did it 5 days early so I could be there before I went off to join the Army). Since we weren't ready to turn our house over to a bunch of screaming, sticky-fingered, boogery nursery-ites, his party was a small time affair. It was just our family and my Army buddy Phil (earlier in the week, I asked Carter who he wanted at his party. He answered 'Just me and Caleb and Mommy.' I asked if I could go and he replied, 'Oh sure Daddy. Sure, you can come too.' I'm glad he relented because I had a very fun time, and Lorein's cake was really delicious.)

We made sure he had a full day of fun too. He woke up to a big "Happy Birthday" sign and some balloons in the family room. Then Lorein took him for some donut holes. Donut holes are quickly becoming his favorite; they're like little baby donuts! Unfortunately, Lorein and I are getting addicted to them too. Then, they met me at work for lunch. We gave him the choice of McDonald's or Chick-Fil-A, but Lorein did some manipulative persuading so he'd choose the latter (she told him he could have ice cream if he chose Chick-Fil-A). For dinner, we had spaghetti and then, it was PARTY TIME!!!

I think he was in shock from his haul.

And a little giddy.

His Aunt Mary Ann really hooked him up.

What the what?! This better be filled with Dr. Pepper!

Hmmmm . . . cuuuupcaaaaake.

Lorein's homemade frosting is like a dreamy cloud . . . but only if the cloud were made of sugar instead of water vapor. I've always found that water vapor doesn't totally satisfy me. By the way, Lorein says the key is real butter and heavy whipping cream.

Caleb's Blessing

2011-07-08T14:48:00.002-05:00

On May 14th, we blessed Caleb in Temecula at Chris' parents' house. We flew down for the occasion and the boys and I spent almost two weeks in California. Both boys have been blessed in the Crall home and it's been a neat experience. Chris gave Caleb a very sweet blessing.

My parents were able to drive up from Las Vegas, and Cary and Mary Ann came down from Utah. Chris' Grandma Riley (GG to Carter and Caleb) was also there. It was a great family affair and we're grateful that Chris' parents were willing to host us and for everyone who came.

Unfortunately, the pictures of the group turned out really blurry - Dad, did you get any good pictures of the group? You'll just have to take my word for it that everyone was there. Sorry (or you're welcome) to anyone who's not pictured:-)

In case you couldn't tell, Caleb makes this sad face a lot (even when the sun isn't in his eyes).

We actually do get some smiles now.

The only decent picture of my dad and Caleb from the visit

One more try

2011-07-07T17:15:00.000-05:00

Well for the two people who may actually still check this or haven't deleted our blog from their reader, I'm giving it one more try (make sure you sing that last part like Timmy T). I know I've said this before but here is my reasoning this time (in no particular order):

It will help me remember to bring my camera places and to take more pictures. I know it's silly and shouldn't really matter, but if I know I'm going to be blogging I take more pictures and I take my camera more places. I think at this point in Carter's life we had at least 500 pictures of him. I don't know if I even have 30 of Caleb. Yep, he's already a victim of "second child syndrome.''

I need to do better at recording/documenting/keeping a journal. I think this will also help me appreciate my kids more and the opportunity I have to stay home with them. Being a mom of two has been kicking my butt and I really need the reminder. It seems like most days it's an accomplishment if I get a shower though, so I don't know exactly where I'm going to fit in the blogging. But as my good pal Tim Gunn always says I'll "make it work!"

Since Chris joined the Army one year ago (yep, it really has been a year - it was the anniversary on July 4th) we still have three years left in our commitment (could be more obviously if he decides to stay in longer). So we're going to live far from family and friends for a while and I want to have a place where we can reconnect (only if you want to of course).

So here it goes - another try at blogging!

At least Carter seems excited about the prospect.

Welcome Caleb Vincent Crall!

2011-03-16T20:05:00.000-05:00

My wife has impeccable timing. Over a month ago, she was talking with her mom, Phyllis, about her mom coming to visit for the new baby. Obviously, we didn't know when the baby would arrive, but Phyllis had to buy plane tickets before the airlines boosted prices. The two of them settled on the weekend before Lorein's due date (March 15). Phyllis arrived last Thursday and was a huge help cleaning and shopping and creating and quilting and just getting everything ready for the baby. Come Sunday, however, we were a little discouraged because Lorein wasn't having any contractions and it looked like the baby wouldn't come before Phyllis had to leave Tuesday evening. I was especially bummed because I've been worried about the logistics of this pregnancy ever since I learned we would have to deliver at Wilford Hall Medical Center on Lackland AFB. For those of you unfamiliar with San Antonio, Lackland is in the southwest part of the city, while we live in the northeast. In other words, it would be hard to find a place in San Antonio farther from us than Lackland. It takes 45 minutes to get there on Saturday morning with no traffic. I was super worried about Lorein going into labor during rush hour and it taking us an hour and a half to drive down there. I was also worried about what to do with Carter. If we had to make a late night drive to the hospital, who would watch Carter? Would he freak out if we weren't there? I was really, really, really, really, really hoping the baby would come while Phyllis was there. So, like I said, we were a little down but putting on a brave face.

We planned a picnic at Ft. Sam for Monday's lunch so Phyllis could see the post. When they arrived for lunch, they told me Lorein had been having contractions since about 11:00 that morning. I was excited because not only did it mean Phyllis might be there to save us major hassle, but I would also get to leave work early. After lunch, I went back to the office, tied up some loose ends, left, and got home around 3:00. Phyllis and Lorein were timing her contractions and they were about 45 seconds every few minutes. This alarmed me because that was the timing for when she had Carter -- she never made it to that magic one minute, one minute, or whatever it is. Because of the contractions, the belief (myth as it turns out) that second labors are about half as long as first, and the looming rush hour, I wanted to get to the hospital as soon as possible. I finally convinced Lorein and she labored in the back seat of the truck for the 40 minute drive (we hit no traffic, and I drove fast). The only snag was when we got to the base and the gate guard told her she had to put her seat belt on. This is ironic since the gate is literally right outside the hospital. Had he really never seen a woman in labor going to the hospital before? I told him she was in labor and we drove on without him offering a response.

At the hospital, Lorein did NOT want to go inside. She wanted to walk around forever, or at least until she was sure she was ready to pop. Again, we timed the contractions and they were about 45 seconds every two minutes. This persuaded me she was about to pop, and I convinced her to head up to the birthing center. On the way, she told me that if she was only a 6, she was going to kill me.

We went up to the birthing center and were told to wait. We waited for about an hour before we were put into a little curtained partition to (again) await the doctor. After being in there for about a half hour, the doctor came in and checked her (this was about 6:30). She was at a 5. Lorein did not kill me, although she did give me a very dirty look. Really though, she had no justification for killing because she said she would kill me "if she was only a 6," and she was only a 5, so she didn't even meet her own standard for murder.

We were admitted to a delivery room and Lorein labored and labored. I won't go into the details because I know none of the men reading this care. Maybe one of you ladies can convince Lorein to tell her story and then you'll know, but it won't come from me. Suffice it to say that Lorein finally had Caleb Vincent Crall at 2:05 in the morning and that he weighed 8 lbs. 7 oz. Oh, and that he was born on March 15 -- again, impeccable timing.

As for the name, "Caleb" because we like it, "Vincent" for Vin Scully, and "Crall" because that's our last name. Caleb was a name we'd always liked, but I originally nixed it because it starts with "Ca" just like Carter. We just couldn't come up with another name we loved, though. There were a lot of names that we thought were ok, but we couldn't nail one down. A few weeks ago, I decided that, who cares, we like Caleb so we're going for it. We also kept with our motif of using the middle name to conjure up somebody we like. Lorein chose Archie for Carter because Archie Goodwin is one of her favorite literary characters. I chose Vincent for Caleb because Vin Scully, simply put, makes me happy. Hearing him say "Welcome to Dodger Stadium, and a beautiful [insert day of the week here] to you, wherever you may be" is like dunking me in a seratonin bath. Besides, if you're gonna have an "Archie," you might as well have a "Vinny" too.

Carter was very excited to see the new baby. We've been reading books about families with new babies for the last couple of weeks, so we were hopeful he would be accepting of the new influence in his life.

What really sold him, though, was the fact that Caleb got him a present. Carter played with that train the entire rest of the day. This morning, he woke up and immediately went at it again. When I asked him where the train came from, he said "My baby brother Caleb. He got it because he loves me. And I love him too." Nice choice Caleb!

Again, huge thanks to Phyllis for all her help. She made my life approximately one bazillion times easier.

And, although he likes Caleb, Carter still wants to show him who's the coolest dude around.

Carter's last solo hurrah

2011-03-06T20:28:00.000-06:00

Since Lorein is due next week, this is probably Carter's last chance to get his own post. Hopefully it's a good one. Oh, and Carter is really stuck on calling the new baby "Octupus." Today, I suggested a different name and Carter got really sad. But then he brightened up and said "How 'bout Octupus?!" Maybe it's a nickname that'll stick. We do have high hopes for their relationship, though. He tells everyone in Nursery he's going to have a baby brother and he's a pretty sweet boy. I think he'll be a good big brother.

Grandma Shari and Grandpa Chris came to visit and took Carter to some of his favorite things -- trains and horses. By the way, the horse's name is actually Mr. Cowboy.

We also got to hit up the San Antonio Rodeo, which was a lot of fun. It's refreshingly stripped of pretense and diva-ism. They move from event to event without interminable fanfare, and, if the contestants fail, they just ride on to wait for another chance while the crowd applauds in an attempt to buoy their spirits. I left a big fan and hope we can catch a few more rodeos before we leave Texas.

As you can see, we all got into the cowboy spirit . . . which of course meant that Woody had to come along. And now Carter won't go to Church unless he's wearing his cowboy boots.

And lastly, Carter has officially become a little boy. He climbs all over the furniture, jumping from couch to ottoman and back again. He loves the swings and the slides (although he still has his mother's OCD since he won't go down the slide if it's dirty) and is really, really fun to be around.

Next likely post: Baby time.

Best Friend

2011-01-20T19:03:00.000-06:00

Lorein called me at work today so I could hear what Carter had been telling her all day. Needless to say, it made me feel pretty neat. I guess all that train track building is paying off!

San Antonio Zoo

2011-01-17T17:49:00.001-06:00

We went to the San Antonio Zoo today and had a great time. It's actually a really good zoo, despite the fact there were no giraffes or gorillas. The exhibits were well done, and the animals were close enough you could actually see them. Plus, the animals were out and about today (I've heard it's different on a 100 degree summer day). The reptile house was A+ and the train was well worth $3.00. The highlight of the day was when we were in the aquarium. We came up to one of the tanks, and Carter said, "It's a lionfish." And they were lionfish! I have no idea how he knows that.

As you can see, Carter loves elephants, but apparently the hippos were quite forgettable.

Administrative Law

2011-01-14T21:45:00.000-06:00

I officially hit two months in the office today, so I figured I should blog about the milestone, especially since people keep asking me what it is I do exactly. First off, let me say that I really like my job. On our anniversary a couple of weeks ago, Lorein turned to me and commented on how much happier I am this year as opposed to last. And today (which I had off since the Army turns all three-day holidays into four-day holidays!), I even spontaneously told Lorein how much I like my job. I know I've only been here two months, so things could change, but it's a good sign. All I know for sure is that I am so so so so happy I left the law firm. I did everything I could to avoid having to join the Army, but, as of right now, I'm really glad I did.

As for my schedule, I have PT (physical training) every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On those days, I report at 6:30, work out with the other Soldiers in my office until 7:30, shower at the gym, and get into the office by 9. Tuesday and Thursday, we have to be in the office by 8. The position I'm in right now, Administrative Law, lets me leave pretty much at 5 (1700) every evening. I'm usually pretty tired when I have to get up in the morning, but I actually really like being forced to work out. I'm getting into much better shape and I wouldn't have the motivation absent the push from my co-workers.

I'm attached to the Army Medical Department Center and School, which is where the Army trains all of its medical personnel. And it's actually being expanded to include medical personnel from all branches of the military. I work in the Administrative Law department; basically, we're the general counsel for the med school. Our main focus is on ethics -- conflicts of interest, financial reporting, training, etc. There's a lot of issues with the doctors getting invitations to speak, working in other jobs, etc. We also help draft and review all the contracts between the med school and other organizations, which means I dabble in fiscal law as well. The other big portion of my job is reviewing investigations to make sure they're legally sufficient. The med school has to get my approval to kick somebody out of the Army, hold somebody financially liable for missing/damaged government property, etc. In addition, I review all the investigations into misconduct to make sure they were done correctly. It's really interesting because I get something new everyday, so it's never boring. On the other hand, it can be pretty difficult because there's so many regulations I have to sift through sometimes to find the right answer. Luckily, my supervisor (who's a civilian attorney) has been doing this for awhile and can usually point me in the right direction. I was pretty excited the other day, though, when I got a call from a Major and I actually knew the answer to his question. At least it shows I'm learning! So, that's what I do right now. My boss told me, however, that I'll probably move this Summer into a trial counsel role, which means I'll be prosecuting criminal cases.

By the way, I get promoted to Captain next week, so I won't have to hear everybody call me "LT" anymore or see them smirk when they salute me. Plus, I'll get paid more, so that'll be neat.

I hope that answered people's questions, but if it didn't, tell me what you want to know and I'll try to provide an adequate answer.

By the way, the picture is meant to show how strenuous Army life can be :)

Christmas 2010

2010-12-26T21:11:00.000-06:00

Carter really got into the Christmas spirit. The other morning, we asked him what he wanted for breakfast. He thought for a moment and then very matter-of-factly said, "Ice cream."

And for those of you with a lot of time on your hands:

Christmas Eve 2010

2010-12-24T21:20:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas! It's Christmas Eve, and, as Carter will tell you, "Santa Claus is coming to town!" We have no idea where he picked that up, but he says it all the time.

Pondering the rain.

With his new Christmas Pajamas.

Two Stories

2010-12-05T12:37:00.000-06:00

Story #1:

On our drive through sparsely populated West Texas, our ears started popping as we gained elevation. Carter was whining a little, so Lorein asked him if he wanted a sucker and told him "it will help your ears." He said yes, unwrapped the sucker, and stuck it in his ear. I told him he could eat it, but he looked at me like I was an idiot and said, "No daddy. It's for my ears."

Story #2:

We went to church today. As we pulled into the church parking lot, the first parking spot was taken by a huge truck with a lift kit. It wasn't quite a monster truck, but it would be in a few years if it kept drinking its milk. The truck itself was an ad for a business. Painted on the side was a picture of a woman holding a small boy and a hand gun. To the side was written, in big letters, "Concealed Weapons Training" and "Protect Your Family." Welcome to Texas.

Frenzy

2010-12-04T22:16:00.000-06:00

Wow, it's been a crazy few weeks, but we're finally starting to get settled down. I graduated from DCC at Ft. Benning around noon on Wednesday, November 10 (that was one of the happiest moments of my life) and immediately hopped in the truck and headed west. My friend Steve Shim, who was stopping off in CA before heading to Korea, caravanned with me. We spent the night in Lafayette, LA and made it to San Antonio for lunch on Thursday. Thursday evening, I flew into LAX, making it to Temecula at around 2300 -- oh fine, 11:00pm. I spent a great weekend with Lorein and Carter, but had to fly back to San Antonio Sunday afternoon. I reported for duty on Monday, spent the day inprocessing and then searched Craigslist for houses Monday night. I did some more inprocessing Tuesday morning and then spent the afternoon looking at different houses. I put an application in on one and then sat back and waited. And waited. And waited. Multiple phone calls later, I finally learned Thursday afternoon that the owner of the house was returning from the Middle East in a couple of months and so decided to pull the house from the market. I quickly called one of the other houses, got my application and credit info from the first management company, signed a lease, and slept in our house Thursday night. That was good because Friday night, I flew to Vegas for Breezy's wedding.
In Vegas, I gathered up my family, went to the wedding on Saturday (which was very well done), and hit the road Sunday. We spent Sunday night in Tucson, Monday night in Ft. Stockton, TX, and hit San Antonio in time for lunch (there's a trend here) on Tuesday. Wednesday was shopping at the PX and the Commissary. Thursday was Thanksgiving, which we spent with our friends from Rancho Cucamonga who are now at UT-Austin. Black Friday and Charcoal Saturday were spent pretty much buying furniture, and Sunday we rested. Well, and put together Ikea furniture. So not really much rest at all. This past week, I've been at work while Lorein has put together one room at a time. She's really making our house look great, and, like I said, we're finally starting to get settled. In the end, just remember that we now have a guest bedroom (it's a second master!) with an attached master bath, so please, please, please come visit us. Just don't stay too long.

Our house in Universal City, TX

Hanging out with one cool dude in Temecula

Carter preparing for life in TX; maybe Santa will bring him a tractor for Christmas

M-16 qualification

2010-10-28T18:04:00.000-05:00

We spent this week shooting and qualifying with the M-16. The M-16 is fairly easy to handle, although this statement is based on my very limited knowledge and experience with firearms. It's made even easier by our "Close Combat Optic" attached to the gun (I'm going to use gun in this post because that's what most people call it; in the Army, though, if you say "gun", everybody will yell at you because you're supposed to call it a "weapon." Apparently "gun" means an artillery piece). The CCO has a red dot that you use for your sight. It doesn't shoot a laser onto the person like in the movies, but just shows a red dot for you to see. Apparently, if your target is within 150 meters and you put the red dot on the target, you will hit the target. Of course, if you line up the red dot in the middle of your optic, you'll actually hit where you're aiming.
For qualification, they have pop-up targets every 50 meters (yes, meters) starting at 50 and going all the way to 300. The targets pop-up for a certain number of seconds depending on their distance and fall down when you hit them. Sometimes two targets will pop up at the same time. Also, the targets are different depending on where they are. The close targets -- up to 100 meters -- are silhouettes of a head and shoulders and they barely pop up from behind the berms. The farther targets are green silhouettes of a person down to about the knees. To qualify, you have to hit at least 23 of 40 targets with only one shot for each target. In addition, you have to do so from different firing positions. The first 20 shots are from the "prone supported position", which means you lie down on your stomach and put the gun on some sandbags. The next 10 are from the "prone unsupported position", which means you take the gun off the sandbags and just hold it. The final 10 are from the "kneeling unsupported position", which means you balance on one knee and hold the gun without resting it on anything. The kneeling position is the hardest because it's really, really hard to keep the gun still. Your arms are moving all over the place and you basically just have to fire when you think your red dot is about to cross the target.
We did qualifications yesterday and I actually qualified on my first try. In typical Army fashion, however, it didn't go as planned. I was lying on my stomach wrapped in an extremely uncomfortable cocoon of body armor and "flick" vest (the flick vest is a vest that goes over our body armor and has a bunch of pouches for canteens, magazines, etc.) shooting at my targets when, after 10 targets, they stopped coming up. We were all waiting anxiously, looking around, trying to figure out if there was some hidden target we were missing when the control tower announced there was a glitch and we'd be started again in a few seconds. After we shot our 40, we went to the control tower to get our scores. There, we were told that the sensor didn't register our first 10 rounds , that that's sometimes how technology is. Basically, too bad. But not too bad for me! I had still gotten my 23, so I was done for the day. That was sweet. The only downside is it means I probably would've hit at least 30 out of 40, which would've made me a "marksmen" or something like that, but it wasn't worth keeping all that gear on to try again. (It wasn't until later that I realized it wasn't that the sensor didn't pick up our rounds. It was that the control tower messed up and put in the wrong program. That's why the targets stopped after 10.) People who had gotten close to 23 were pretty mad since it meant they had to go again even though they probably actually qualified.
The downside is that we spent the whole day today cleaning our guns. Can't they just let something fun be fun?

Flu Shots

2010-10-26T19:02:00.000-05:00

I forgot to mention how, on Wednesday, after we'd woken up at 0200 and been in the field all day, they took us to get our mandatory flu shots. We were a little perturbed since none of us wanted to be sick the next couple of days when we had to certify. The nurse reassured us though by pointing out that we would be fine if we just got a lot of rest and ate well. Of course, we formed up on Thursday at 0200 and ate MREs for breakfast and lunch.

Land Nav aka Hell in the Forest

2010-10-24T09:22:00.000-05:00

Land Nav is finally over, thank goodness. Although it's really only technically over because I still dreamt about it both Friday and Saturday nights. It was a nightmare, or as my friend more aptly put it, a "flaming disaster."
For your information, the land nav course is simply a large plot of land with posts stuck into the ground at various locations. The posts are about 4-6 feet high and have a number stuck on top of them. There's also a hole punch tied to the post. As a student, you're given the coordinates of various posts, from which you plot the position of the posts on your map. Then, you measure the angle and distances to the posts and head out to find them. When you find your post, you write down the number and punch your sheet with the hole punch from that post.
There are various difficulties with this, though. First, the posts are hard to see, since they're stuck in the middle of the forest, which amazingly has a lot of trees that tend to obscure the posts. This is even more true at night. Second, it's all guesswork. Your plot isn't exact since it's just you drawing a circle on a map. Your angle isn't exact since it's just you drawing a line on your map. The distance isn't exact since it's just you measuring your line against the scale in the legend. And the distance you've traveled isn't exact since it's just you counting your steps and estimating how many steps you take every 100 meters. Third, because of the inexactness, it's easy to go astray, which means you're likely to find a post that isn't the one you're looking for. But there's no way to tell since the posts are only marked with a 2-digit number. You can never be sure that the post you found is your post. And if it's not, the rest of your measurements are screwed up because you plot from point to point. So anyway, it's hard. To make it even harder, our cadre told us not to use the roads that traverse the course, but to take straight lines from point to point.
On Wednesday, we formed up at 0300 and started walking around the woods at 0500. Unfortunately, the sun doesn't come up here until about 0715. We had to find three points in the nighttime and had three hours to do it. I didn't find any. I shouldn't say that. I found two, but neither were what I was supposed to find. Then, we took an hour rest and started again in the daytime. This was easy. I found my three points in about an hour and spent the remaining two hours resting. I was fairly confident I would do okay for the qualification round on Thursday.
But then Thursday came around and turned into, as already mentioned, a flaming disaster. The land nav test course is fairly new and is huge. It's about 3 kilometers square or so, which means there's a long distance between the points. For the test, we were given 8 points and had to find at least 5 of them in 5 hours. It was such a flaming disaster that 82% of us failed (me included). Again, I found 5 points, but only 1 ended up being what I was actually supposed to find. There were two big problems on Thursday. First, the distance between the points was so large -- nearly all the points were 1000 meters apart, which, for all you measurement folks out there, is an entire kilometer -- that any minor deviation in angle or pace meant large deviations in location. Second, the area was an absolute jungle. It was dense. It was nearly impossible to take five steps in a straight line. And, as my same friend again noted, who knew so many plants had thorns? I always thought thorns were fairly rare, limited to roses and lemon trees, but it turns out nearly every plant has thorns. And vines. There were literally times were I was so entangled I wondered how I was going to get out. And we had to walk hundreds of meters in this stuff! Plus, much of it was in nighttime, so people fell into creeks, holes up to their shoulders, etc. Basically, there were two types of people who passed -- those who ignored our instructions and stuck to the roads as much as possible, and those who were significantly helped by cadre (which is limited to certain girls in our class, but that's a subject for another day). If you tried to do it on your own and in the way you were taught, you failed. I really can't explain the absolute frustration, despair, difficulty, and hellishness of Thursday, just let me say that I was struggling through places where not even animals had ever been.
On Friday, we had our re-test. Due to the horrifying experience of the previous day, cadre made some changes to the test procedures. First, we didn't start until 0600, so we only had to walk around in the dark for an hour or so. Second, we were told to use the roads. Third, we were allowed to talk to each other. Fourth, cadre drove around in trucks and would help us out. Fifth, and most importantly, they gave us a sheet of paper that listed all of the post numbers with their corresponding grid coordinates. Thus, when you came upon a post, you could figure out if it was yours, and if not, you could figure out where the freak you were. This time, most of us passed.
In the end, I'm really grateful it's over and glad I will probably never have to do land nav ever again (it's just not a high priority for JAGs). Although, I suppose if I'm ever told to go find a stick in the forest using nothing but a compass and a protractor, I can find the wrong stick.

The Weaver

2010-10-18T18:58:00.000-05:00

Last week, we completed the obstacle course, or "confidence course" as they call it. It was just like on tv except it didn't have any mud puddles to splash through. Most of the obstacles were pretty easy, but "The Weaver" kicked my butt. The Weaver consists of a bunch of beams about three feet apart in a pyramid shape. Like it's name suggests, you have to weave your way through, going over one beam and under the next. The trick is to wrap your body around the beam, then use your momentum to kick your leg over the next beam as you go under the first (look at the guy on the right in the picture). It left me with some pretty nasty bruises on my legs. We also did "The Tough One" and the "Inverted Rope Descent." The Inverted Rope was tricky because you have to climb up the ladder to the platform, but the ladder rungs are about four feet apart. So, you have to pull yourself up to each rung, which gets kinda scary when you're 40 feet up in the air. Unlike the picture, though, they had us descend the rope upside down and feet first.

We were also issued M-16s for the first time. It's pretty crappy because you have to always be holding them, and they get heavy real quick. Plus, you have to be super careful about not accidentally waiving the barrel past someone and always keeping it pointed at the ground. Luckily we turn them in every night, so we don't have to sleep with them. We did get to practice some firing positions, i.e. prone, kneeling, and standing, but we won't actually get to shoot until next week.
This week is land navigation. We spent today learning how to read topographic maps, how to plot points on a grid, and how to measure the angle and distance between two points. Tomorrow, we'll spend all day traipsing around practicing and then we form up Wednesday morning at 0200 to do it at night. I think we're up at 0200 Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. In order to pass the land nav portion, we have to correctly arrive at at least 5 of 8 points in a certain period of time. If I have the energy in one of these coming days, maybe I'll tell you how it went.:)

Combat Livesaving

2010-10-11T18:07:00.000-05:00

I am now a "Combat Lifesaver." I have a certified card and everything. It only lasts for a year, though, and then I have to re-certify. They loaded us up in buses Wednesday morning to take us to a faux "forward operating base" (FOB) where we were going to learn combat lifesaving techniques. As I mentioned, we had some tactical gear on and actually looked a little like real soldiers. As we got on the bus, my friend turned to me and said, "No matter what happens today, it will still be better than sitting in a classroom looking at PowerPoint presentations." Of course, as we got out of the bus, they directed us inside a huge room where they had us put our stuff down and take a seat. We then preceded to watch six hours of PowerPoint presentations.
The main skills they taught us were how to apply a tourniquet, how to seal a "sucking chest wound", and how to relieve tension pneumothorax (?) by sticking a needle into a person's chest cavity (this generally follows having to first seal their sucking chest wound). It was pretty heavy stuff and I was grateful their videos weren't working. The pictures they showed us were intense enough. I won't post any, but feel free to google images.

I spent my first Columbus Day weekend in Charleston and Savannah. It was a lot of fun, but I kept wishing my family were with me. Both cities have horse drawn carriages for the tourists, and when I'd see a horse, I'd yell "horsey!" Then I'd realize Carter wasn't there and get sad. Oh well. Only another month to go.

Ft. Benning

2010-10-05T20:59:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting here alone in the hallway of a barracks located at Ft. Benning, GA. It's 10 pm and I have an hour to go on my shift as "fire guard." Basically, I'm just supposed to sit here and make sure a fire doesn't burn everyone alive. Apparently smoke detectors do not fit into the military's multi-billion dollar budget. I'm alone because we have formation at 4:15 tomorrow morning (just like we did today) and so everybody else is asleep. I'm going to be very tired, but at least I don't have the 1-3 am shift.
I'm here at Ft. Benning for six weeks of Army training, which is really infantry training. Each week consists of a different skill. This week is first responder training, so we'll be out in the field with our tactical gear learning first aid, etc. Next week is the obstacle course and the third week is land navigation. The fourth is weapons certification (9mm and M-4) and the fifth is combatives (martial arts). The last week is mainly outprocessing and then I'll move on to San Antonio. The schedule here is pretty intense and it's very different being with infantrymen as opposed to the JAG officers who were in charge of us at Charlottesville. For one thing, they focus a lot more on killing. Our first morning, they took us out on a slow jog and had us singing cadence. One went like this: "left, right, left, right, kill, kill, kill; left, right, left, right, you know I will." And that was one of the tamer cadences they had us chanting.
The hardest part is that Lorein and Carter are back in Temecula. I guess Carter loves it because he finally has some space to play in and some toys to play with. On my part, however, I miss them a lot. It's made doubly difficult by the fact I hardly have any time to talk with them. Oh well, it should hopefully go by fast. As one of my friend says, it's only 25 business days, and 2 of them are done with! Plus, we get a four-day weekend this weekend for Columbus Day. It will be the first time this westerner has ever gotten Columbus Day off and I am looking forward to it. Man, I should've been in bed 2 hours ago.

In the Army now

2010-09-14T09:48:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been over two months since Chris joined the Army and I have to admit it's still a little weird seeing him in his uniform everyday. Maybe it's the beret . . . I'm not sure what throws me. Carter and I have about two and a half more weeks here in Charlottesville with Chris and then we separate. Carter and I will fly back to Temecula and go visit family and mostly try to keep busy, and Chris will head to Georgia for six more weeks of training. Then we will be moving to our final destination (well final for two years) at the end of November. I'm looking forward to that:-)

Here's what Chris looks like when he leaves for class everyday. Carter doesn't get to go with him but it's not from lack of trying.

Chris has PT (physical training - believe me the Army loves their acronyms) every morning before he goes to class. Below is essentially what he looks like when he leaves for PT. I don't think he would let me take a picture and frankly I doubt I could pull myself together at 5am to get a good one so you'll just have to imagine that this is Chris. Oh and add in a bright plastic neon orange belt. It's pretty classy.

Here's his uniform for formal events:

And what could be better than suckers with daddy after lunch?

Five Guys

2010-08-08T19:15:00.000-05:00

My family made it! I'm really glad they're here. Unfortunately, we still haven't been able to sync our schedules. They're still asleep when I leave for school and they're still awake when I go to bed. I guess that's the downside of waking up at 5:20 and going to bed at 9.:)

Charlottesville

2010-07-17T19:49:00.001-05:00

I made it through Ft. Lee and am now in Charlottesville, VA to attend the Army's JAG school at the University of Virginia. I'll be here for ten weeks before I head off to Ft. Benning, GA for six weeks of Army training. I'm excited because Lorein and Carter will join me on Wednesday. Also, I think the internet in my hotel here is a little bit better, so hopefully I can update the promised videos and pictures. Finally, I wish I had pictures from Ft. Lee to post, but Lorein has the camera, so too bad. I know other people took pictures, so maybe I can get some and put them up.

CS Gas

2010-07-12T17:07:00.000-05:00

I survived the gas chamber, but it really, really sucked. We started with our gas masks on and walked into a rectangular room about 20 x 15 with a tablet in the middle spewing out CS gas. Upon entering the room, we had to jog around a few laps and then jump and touch the ceiling 30 times. The purpose was to get us breathing hard so we couldn't hold our breath while being exposed to the gas. Once we'd finished jumping, we were told to lift up our masks. Let me tell you . . . it was terrible. It literally takes your breath away and you start trying to suck in air. Of course, this just means you inhale more gas. It also gets into your nose and eyes and burns like crazy. Even though you're prepared for it and know exactly what the effects are, it's really hard to not panic. After a few seconds, we were told to seal the masks again. Unfortunately, sealing the mask doesn't immediately help because you still have gas in your lungs. So, you're coughing in your masks and can't tell for sure whether you've re-sealed correctly or not. As for myself, I didn't hear the Chief tell us to re-seal until about the fifth time she said it, so I got a few more lungfuls of gas than others. I was coughing like crazy and trying to clear my mask when we were told to get down and do push-ups. I was coughing so bad I could only get out five or so. Once that was over, we lined up in front of the door with our masks on. When the Chief pointed at us, we had to take off our masks and give our name and hometown before we were allowed to leave. The whole time in line, I was just practicing in my head "Chris Crall -- Temecula, CA; Chris Crall -- Temecula, CA" over and over again. I probably started saying it before I got my mask all the way off, but I was allowed to leave.
You would think getting outside would be nice, but it was pretty bad. That's when you start to really be conscious of the effects since you're no longer bordering on panic. A lot of people get big strings of boogers hanging down from their noses. While gnarly, it's also pretty funny since they tell you to flap your arms around to get the air to flow around your body and take away the gas, so you see all these people running around flapping their arms with giant boogers flailing away. As for me, I didn't really have nose problems, but my eyes burned like nobody's business. I was trying to open them, but I couldn't. So there I was, flapping my arms with everybody yelling "Open your eyes! Open your eyes!" Finally, they realized I was trying and couldn't and a nice major from our class came over, grabbed me by the arm, and walked me around for a minute or so until I could see
Even once the immediate effects pass, though, your body still burns just like a sunburn. For me, it hit the back of my hands and my torso (it was a nice hot, humid day in Southern VA, so the gas just stuck to the sweat trapped inside our fatigues). It was a good twenty minutes before I was completely comfortable again. Of course, we were all still deathly afraid of touching our face or going to the bathroom :)
Anyway, it's over and I'm really glad I don't have to do it again. Well, hopefully. You never know with the Army.

In the Army now

2010-07-09T18:59:00.000-05:00

You'll have to excuse us for not posting -- this past month has been pretty crazy. We packed up our stuff and put it in storage, went to Cabo San Lucas with my family for a week, moved in with my parents, and then I left to join the Army as a JAG officer. I'm currently writing this from a hotel outside Ft. Lee, VA. Even with all that, I tried to put up some video of Carter riding a horse (it's a really, really cute video), but the hotel internet couldn't handle it and after a half hour, blogspot told me there was an error with my upload. Alas. Hopefully I can upload it shortly.
As for the Army, so far it's been mainly sitting in an air conditioned classroom watching powerpoint presentations on everything from the role of JAGs in the larger Army structure to prohibitions on "fraternization" (i.e. officer - enlisted friendships/relationships). We have had a couple of physical training sessions, but they've been mainly of an introductory nature ("this is the proper form for a push-up"). The worst part is that we have to wear our PT ("physical training") uniform the entire time. This consists of our gray Army gym shirt, our black Army gym shorts -- which are nylon and have netting on the inside like swimming trunks -- and a bright neon orange reflective belt. It's pretty easy to spot us since everybody else on base is wearing fatigues (actually "ACUs" or "Army Combat Uniforms" -- that's one thing I've learned so far, the Army is big on acronyms).
The biggest adjustment has been the relative lack of free time. I generally wake up at 4:40 a.m. (more on that later), end class between 1700 and 1800 (5:00 - 6:00 p.m. for all you civilians :)), and go to bed around 9. In between, I have to eat dinner and there's always some little thing I have to do, like go to the clothing store to work on my uniform, etc. I haven't been able to watch PTI all week!!
As for the waking up at 4:40, that's another phenomenon I've noticed so far -- everybody is deathly afraid of being late (and for good reason). PT starts at 5:50 and since we're 5 minutes from the base, it seems like we could leave at 5:30 and be fine. Except the student leadership wants us there at 5:30 so we can work on formations, etc. Then, we start to worry about getting through security at the main gate, so we decide to leave the hotel at 5. Of course, this means every morning we get to the training field at 5:10, sit in the car for 10 minutes, walk to the track, chill there for 15 minutes until student leadership tells us to form up and we get in line at around 5:35 or 5:40. Fortunately, I convinced my group to not leave until 5:10 tomorrow -- that will be blissful!
Tomorrow, we wear our ACUs for the first time and we have a visit with the gas chamber. I'll be sure to tell you about it.

Dinosaurs

2010-06-06T22:28:00.000-05:00

We hit the Thanksgiving Point dinosaur museum with Carter and his cousins. He was pretty scared of the dinosaurs themselves, but he enjoyed the hands on exhibits.

A budding Indiana Jones with Fiona and Moriah in the background.

Learning the ropes from Logan.

One happy dude.

I'm dreaming of a white . . . Memorial Day?

2010-06-06T20:13:00.000-05:00

I thought the middle of May would be a great time to take a trip to see family and friends in Utah. Instead, it rained every day but two and snowed the day we left! Yes, it snowed the week before Memorial Day. Details of our trip will be forthcoming.

What is this white stuff that's ruining my day?

Scraping the window in a sweatshirt and flipflops. Needless to say, we weren't quite prepared for winter weather.

The only way to eat Oreos

2010-05-14T00:06:00.000-05:00

Apparently Carter was born with the knowledge of how to eat Oreos. He pulls apart the cookie and scrapes out the white stuff and then gives the cookie part to me. What a sweetheart, right?

Handsome boys

2010-05-14T00:05:00.000-05:00

My mom bought this adorable suit for Carter's first birthday and it finally fits him (well it's a little big but it still works). It was perfect for Easter and a wedding we went to. Of course I figured a photo shoot was in order.

We couldn't get him to put down his old school puzzle

By the end he was really tired of my photo shoot

Dodgers Win!

2010-05-06T21:21:00.000-05:00

For my birthday, my parents took us to a Dodgers game against the Giants. It was good fun and the Dodgers actually won, which is saying something this year. Carter loved it. The best part of the whole night, though, was when this couple sat next to us and the woman was wearing a Giants jersey. She tried to talk to Carter, tell him he was so cute, etc., but he just shied away. I straight up told her we've taught him not to talk to Giants fans. I was so proud of him for not betraying Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, and Tommy Lasorda that I gave him the prize from my Cracker Jack's.

His first Dodger Dog -- he didn't finish it all

Three generations of fans

Good times were had by all!!!

San Diego Zoo

2010-05-06T21:16:00.000-05:00

My mother-in-law Shari recently went back to school to get her masters in social work at San Diego State. So during her spring break Carter and I met her down there to go to the zoo. As you can hopefully tell from Carter's expression he absolutely loved it. His favorite animals right now seem to be elephants and giraffes (at least those are the animals he gets excited about when we read Goodnight Gorilla, oh and the armadillos) we saw all those animals but for some reason I don't have any pictures.

Checking out the flamingos

The monkeys were jumping all over the place and banging on the glass. I thought Carter would get scared but he was just fascinated.

More flamingos

Petting the goats

After a long day of fun he was ready to curl up with his stuffed monkey and blanket.

Gymnastics

2010-05-05T20:30:00.000-05:00

I signed Carter up for a gymnastics class at the reccomendation of my good friend Lindsey. He loved the class. At first he just wanted to run around and do whatever he wanted, but he got better and better at listening to his coach and doing the designated activities. He had tons of fun and I'm glad we did it. The only problem is that now I have to avoid driving by the gymnastics place or he gets really excited and then sad when we don't end up going there.

Despite him being rather calm in this video, the foam pit was his absolute favorite part. He would usually go nuts jumping all over the place and would always cry when I had to take him out.

Grandma and Grandpa Diether come for a visit

2010-05-05T20:24:00.000-05:00

Back in February (once again) Grandma and Grandpa Diether came for a weekend visit. It rained all day Saturday but we still managed to have fun -- minus Mom and Dad's car getting towed from our complex. Yep, it was horrible and horrifically expensive to get it back.

But luckily Carter was around to cheer us all up

And at the end of a rainy day what better treat than Grandma's scones?

Aquarium trip

2010-05-04T21:18:00.000-05:00

Back in February we went with some friends to the aquarium in Long Beach. Carter absolutely loved it.

Checking out the sea lions with his friends

Trying to get the lorikeets to come closer.

Lounging with some sharks

Just cooling off

In his red high heels

2010-05-03T21:27:00.000-05:00

Carter loves my shoes. For a while there, that was his favorite activity. He would run to my closet and find a pair of shoes to try on and then come out and show me. He tried a lot of different types but he seemed to always come back to the red high heels. We know he has one thing in common with his cousin Sterling -- his love of shoes!

Mr. Clean Carter

2010-05-02T22:51:00.000-05:00

As of right now Carter really likes to "help" me clean. I know it won't last forever, and sometimes when I'm short on patience and time I have to remind myself that it's a good thing that he wants to help me.

For Christmas his Grandma and Grandpa Crall bought him a play Dyson vacuum cleaner. He loves it:

Fell off the wagon

2010-05-02T22:33:00.000-05:00

I know. I completely fell of the blogging wagon. But with the encouragement of Chris and other family I'm working on getting back on.

L.A. Story

2010-02-15T00:25:00.000-06:00

So, Lorein and I were watching "Southland" the other day (which is pretty much my new favorite show) and we had a true L.A. moment. The cops were talking to some rich lady and the shot panned out to show them going down the walk from the front door. At the same moment, Lorein and I gasped. It was the house of one of the partners from my summer job! I had eaten hors d'oeuvres on a little plate right on those very steps! Crazy.

-Chris

New Year's Eve

2010-02-14T23:50:00.000-06:00

As you can probably already tell, Carter is one spoiled kid. He got to open more Christmas presents at Grandma and Grandpa Crall's on New Year's Eve. Here are some of the details:

Just hanging around with dad waiting for the fun to start.

Helping Grandma Shari open one of her presents.

Carter opening one of his presents and me trying to get the boys on the couch to help take some videos.

Yep, these boys (we think that's root beer).

Hamming it up for the camera

Carter wearing my in-n-out shirt. Every Christmas the Crall's give us new in-n-out shirts. As you can see, this year's model generated a lot of excitement since it's black, not the usual white.

Carter's Great Grandma Riley gave him this super cute rocking chair. He loves to sit down and point out the train that's painted on it.

Who wouldn't want to spoil this kid??

Nevada Southern Railway

2010-02-14T23:17:00.000-06:00

While we were in Vegas for Christmas we drove to Boulder City and rode the Nevada Southern Railway excursion train ride. All of us had a great time. I'm really glad Driel came up with the idea.

Carter was a little concerned at first when we were in the open air car.

Moriah is showing Carter that it's not scary at all.

What could be better than a pile of rocks to finish out the trip?

Christmas Day football

2010-01-31T22:40:00.000-06:00

It was a beautiful sunny day so we went to the park and played some football.

Chris stretching because he knows it's going to be an intense game

Breezy setting up for the spectators and me carbo-loading

Moriah and Carter are getting warmed up

The teams were Breezy, Chan, Chris, Lorein, Carter and then Driel, Evan, Moriah, Grandpa, Justin, and Grandma and Fiona joined later when Fiona woke up from her nap.

Moriah really wanted to be on the cool team, but Breezy sent her packing

Chandler was trying to explain a complicated play to me here but I don't think I was getting it. (Notice Moriah is trying to be on our team again)

So Breezy sent her packing again.

During halftime (Moriah had an accident and needed a change of clothes so it turned into an extensive bathroom break - I'm not looking forward to potty training) there was a helicopter show.

Fiona with her game face on

Christmas morning

2010-01-31T20:28:00.000-06:00

Carter was most excited about the food and candy in his stocking.

Carter eating candy with Justin

Moriah was really good at helping people open their presents. She was very cute and so excited about everything. (Carter still eating)

Carter joined Fiona on the counter for some good eats

It was a great Christmas morning and I know it will only get more and more exciting as Carter gets a little bit older.

Christmas Eve

2010-01-31T19:57:00.000-06:00

I looked back and I have no pictures from Thanksgiving - not a single one. We had a great time with Chris' family. It was an especially good Thanksgiving for me since last time we had Thanksgiving with Chris' family I was pregnant and didn't know it yet. I thought the morning sickness was food poisoning and I was sure I was going to die. Alas, I survived but I sure was thankful not to be pregnant this Thanksgiving.

So moving onto Christmas Eve!

We spent Christmas with my family in Las Vegas. Every year on Christmas Eve we dress up and act out the nativity.

Breezy was the angel as well as the accompanist and Justin was the narrator

I was a wiseman and Moriah joined the ranks when she discovered we got to wear jewelry - notice all her bracelets.

Moriah bringing the gold to the baby Jesus

Chandler was a shepherd with my mom

Evan and Driel were Joseph and Mary

Carter was in charge of the manger

After the program it was time to open Christmas PJ's. My mom and I made them with some assistance from Breezy and donation of supplies from Justin. They turned out really cute, but you won't get to see pictures until the Christmas morning post.

Dance Dance Evolution

2010-01-24T18:47:00.000-06:00

Carter's dancing skills have started to evolve.

He started out with this:

And now he's at this:

Bring on the sun

2010-01-24T00:30:00.000-06:00

Growing up in Vegas we didn't get much rain, so when we did I can honestly say I liked it. Obviously it doesn't rain much in Southern California either...until this week. It rained from Sunday night through Friday. Cabin fever was setting in hard for Carter and I, so we all rejoiced when the sun was shining today. It wasn't quite back up to the 78 degrees it was before the rain set in, but hey we'll take what we can get:-)

We would usually get some 30-minute intervals where it was only drizzling/sprinkling and then I would race to get outside and let Carter splash around in the puddles. We also still took walks in the stroller and always came back drenched (well I did - I managed to keep Carter relatively dry). He even fell asleep on one of the walks; it was worth the extra laundry.

Here's a view of the rain from our balcony window

One of the intervals

Gotta check the mail

I must have told him it was time to go inside

Carter is positive they put this fire hydrant there to be his personal jungle gym.

So happy to be outside!

To celebrate the sunshine today, we went to the park and Carter also got to do some putting practice with dad after he came home from work (I know, it's Saturday!).

Best day of his life

2010-01-21T15:22:00.000-06:00

I'm pretty sure if Carter could recall his whole life (and put it into words) and you asked him what the best day has been so far he would say this day...the day he got a cozy coupe. Not only does he love the cozy coupe, but he loves putting things together so the whole process was heaven for him. We decided to give him an early Christmas present after we went to the mall and he played in one of the shopping carts with the car attached for hours.

Were we pushing the cart? Nope, it was parked at the station where you have to rent one. That didn't stop Carter though, and since we were sitting ducks we ended up getting into a long conversation with a proselyting born again. The topic of Joseph Smith of course came up and eventually his martyrdom. This was the account that she learned in "religion class at school": Joseph Smith was in jail and somehow a riot broke out and Joseph and Hyrum both started shooting and so the guards said what the heck, if they're shooting at us we'll shoot at them. Ha. I think my jaw dropped to the floor. I mean, I know there are a lot of misconceptions and ignorance about our religion, but wow. Chris responded that he had honestly never heard that version and of course told her the accurate version and she responded "Well, I've never heard your version." You mean the truth?? Obviously.

So we bought a Cozy Coupe! We bought it early in hopes that it would help distract Carter while I packed - it did.

St. George or bust

2010-01-21T15:01:00.000-06:00

Right before Chris started his new job we went on a vacation rendezvous with our fabulous friends Richard, Betsey, and Nora. Richard's parents have an amazing retirement home in St. George and they were kind enough to let us stay there. There were windows everywhere with great views. As you can see below our camera didn't really know how to cope with all the windows and I of course am not skilled enough to know how I could have fixed it. The kids still look cute though. Nora and Carter became fast friends. They played in the fountains together, toured the tabernacle, ate at Cafe Rio and ate lots and lots of apples.

I don't know what Richard said to get this reaction out of them...

After St. George, Carter and I stayed with my parents for a few extra days while Chris went back home to start work. We had lots of fun in Vegas with my mom and dad, but because I'm lame I don't have any pictures so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Carter's Birthday

2010-01-20T21:42:00.000-06:00

I know what you're thinking - wasn't Carter's birthday in July? As in six months ago? Yesiree it was. Did I blog about my only son's first birthday...nope. I know, it's a miracle they even let me still be a mom, huh? So without further ado, here is a post about Carter's birthday.

Carter was lucky enough to have three birthday parties! The first one was with my family in Vegas:

He had lots of chocolate cupcakes

Opened presents from Grandma and GrandpaHe got this fabulous suit and you can tell his cousin Moriah is envious
He rode on Grandpa's shoulders

Carter and Grandpa became good friends that trip

He swam naked in the little pool with Moriah

He spent time with Breezy and had a great time with my family

Of course the funny thing about every birthday party was that he HATED having happy birthday sung to him. He cried every time.

Then he had a party over Fourth of July weekend with the Great Grandma's in Temecula:

He had his first and very own Texas sheet cake

And finally the party on his birthday - I made two types of cupcakes: lemon with raspberries and chocolate with peanut butter frosting. The peanut butter frosting was a recipe from Barefoot Contessa and it was gooood. She sure knows her frosting.

Living with in-laws

2010-01-19T16:10:00.000-06:00

A lot can be said on this subject - like never do it. But when it's your best option, it's good to have in-laws like the Crall's. We lived with my in-laws from May (right after Chris graduated from UCLA law) until November - when he got a job and we finally moved. Overall it was a good six months and we're very grateful they put up with us. Here are some highlights:

Swimming in the new pool and playing in the fabulous backyard

Wiffle ball and mostly carrying around the wiffle bat

Attempting to cut Chris' "toupee"/hair

Riding his Little Einsteins bike - "We've got a mission!"

Playing with Creimer, the big golden retriever

Squeegeeing Grandma and Grandpa's shower during bath time

Creimer and Mungo

These two pets were a major highlight for Carter, but were pretty much the bane of my existence. I'm really allergic to cats and somewhat allergic to dogs. Fortunately Shari and Chris (the in-laws) bought me a Dyson Animal vac and it helped quite a bit with the pet hair as long as I vacuumed everyday. Also, the cat is a mean cat that would hiss and swat at Carter every time he would go near her, and she has a weird belly thing - it hangs down practically to the floor. So she's not even a pretty cat. Ok, I'm done. I just had to get that all out there. I don't have a grudge with Creimer - except when he steps on my foot. He's a really big dog.

I'll try to end this post on a happier note - Carter dancing in the freshly vacuumed living room:

Fight on

2010-01-19T15:55:00.000-06:00

My co-workers (thanks Kevin!) gave me a USC shirt before I left in May, and I've been meaning to post pictures (I quit working on campus in May, but I've been working from home part-time since then - didn't want to confuse anyone). I figured it was timely since USC's football program is in turmoil e.g., Pete Carroll jumping ship, hiring Lane Kiffin, and of course the Reggie Bush scandal/NCAA recruiting violations. Basically, they can use all the shout outs they can get right now.

Fight on SC!

(Note to UCLA fans - Chris is not a traitor. He did not endorse this blog post or me putting Carter in the shirt.)

Train Wreck

2010-01-19T15:07:00.000-06:00

Not to worry, the title of my post is not in reference to my life just the law conference that I've been working on since August. It took place on Friday, January 15th. Click on the title to go to the official website:

Train Wreck: A Conference on America's Looming Fiscal Crisis

You can even view videos of the entire event! I know, you can barely contain your excitement. It's riveting stuff.

I'm just glad that it's over. It was tons of work and much harder to do all the work from home than I thought it would be. It went off without a hitch. Apparently it was so successful that they're talking about making it an annual event. Yep, I am that good.

Hostile Takeover

2010-01-19T15:04:00.000-06:00

If you thought Chris' writing was witty and entertaining not only are you in the minority but you're out of luck...I'm taking over!! It's time for me to take this blog into my own hands. We'll see how it goes:-)

And you're right -- by definition it's not hostile, just a takeover.

I'll be going back in time to blog about stuff that we never blogged about, so there may not necessarily be a real order to the madness. Don't feel obligated to comment or even read any of it. Chris will probably feel much better about his blogging if you don't.

Rancho Cucamonga or bust

2009-12-06T19:52:00.000-06:00

I know I know. All I can say is that I've been busy. The problem too is that each blogless week makes it harder to blog again because there's so much I've missed. Suffice it to say that I passed the Bar and we moved to Rancho Cucamonga. We also spent a great weekend with the Hawkins' in St. George. At the time, I was planning to describe it all, but not, it will take too long and I've got to formulate a rant about TCU playing Boise St. in the Fiesta Bowl (heaven forbid we let the BCS look stupid by having two non-BCS teams beat BCS teams!). So, here's a video we took today of Carter, and hopefully I'll do better going forward (of course, Lorein can always post too.)

Halloween

2009-10-28T22:42:00.000-05:00

Carter got his first taste of Halloween at our church's "Trunk or Treat" party. He went as a leopard (got the costume for $10 at Costco -- I love Costco!). I took him around to all the cars, but I couldn't get him to actually say "Trick or Treat". That would've been a good story to have if those were his first words. He did get the hang of it pretty quickly, though. He has a real nose for candy.

So, what do I do?

I just let people give me candy? Even Bob Ford?

And then I eat it? I can get used to this!

I got a job!

2009-10-19T23:44:00.000-05:00

It's with a firm called Wood Smith Henning & Berman. They're headquartered in Westwood in the Helio building right on Westwood and Wilshire, but I'll be in their Rancho Cucamonga office. The entire firm has about 80 attorneys in offices throughout California, Phoenix, Vegas, and Denver. The Rancho Cucamonga office does mostly construction litigation, which I have no background whatsoever in, but it's always fun to learn new aspects of the law (and by "always", I mean "sometimes, depending on what it is"; and I think construction litigation will be one those things, unlike, for instance, the tax implications for the sale of securities under Sarbanes-Oxley). I start November 9 and Bar results come out two weeks later. My offer is contingent on my passing the Bar, so let's hope I did so.
I got an interview with WSHB through one of their attorneys who is in my parents' ward at church. He works in their Riverside office, but he knew an attorney had just left the RC office, so he sent my resume in. I interviewed on Monday and they offered me the job on Wednesday. Of course, I then had to fill out an 8 page application, including my job history for the past 10 years (which at this point in my life is basically full of three month summer jobs, which makes for a lot of writing) even though I already had an offer and had already accepted. During my interview, I was impressed that the people I interviewed with really did seem to like the firm. In response to my question about what they liked best about the firm, all four immediately answered "the people". So, that's positive. Obviously, I won't be able to form my own opinion until I begin, but it's an encouraging initial sign.
When I got the offer on Wednesday, I was excited, but Lorein was jumping up and down the hallway. Apparently she's tired of living with my parents.:) Carter's reaction, however, was priceless -- Also, when Carter heard the news, he immediately turned on his favorite song, threw off his shirt, and started dancing.

Unfortunately, I can't get him to dance longer because when he sees I'm taping him, he just wants to sit on my lap and watch. He doesn't yet understand there's nothing to watch if he won't let me tape him! Wow, that's a real modern day chicken and egg problem for you.

Summer Recap

2009-10-09T23:35:00.001-05:00

We spent the past three weeks housesitting for my aunt and uncle in Utah, which is why we haven't posted in over a month. When we got to Utah, it was 90 degrees; when we left, it was in the 40s, which got me thinking it's about time for a summer recap. So here's some pics from a fun summer (except for the first part of the summer when I was studying for the Bar. That part of the summer stunk):

To begin, and probably most importantly, Carter spent some time learning the intricacies of baseball from his uncle Skip and cousin Abby.

He also furthered his very complicated relationship with his cousin Moriah (we were lucky to get this picture amidst the pushing and biting).

He experienced the bliss of an ice cream cone.

Lest you think it was all fun and games, Carter also helped clean out the fridge.

Lorein taught him the importance of properly accessorizing . . .

and the importance of knowing how to flaunt what you got.

Finally, he realized how fun it is to ham it up for the camera.

Wow. I mean, wow.

2009-09-05T21:40:00.000-05:00

Holy Freakin' Crap!!! I was just hoping BYU wouldn't get blown out. Basically, I would've considered it a moral victory if they had only lost by two touchdowns. BUT THEN THEY FREAKIN' BEAT OKLAHOMA!!! THEY FREAKIN' BEAT OKLAHOMA!!! I'm so excited (and so is Carter).

Busy Boy

2009-08-30T22:43:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm done with the Bar and vacation's over, so there's just not much going on right now. We're pretty much in a holding pattern. At least Carter stays busy . . .

Vacuuming

Entertaining

Spinning

Still Spinning

Relaxing with some cake batter

So, yeah, Carter's life is hopping, even if his dad is a bum*.

*"Bum" in the sense of a Dodgers' fan (as in "Dem Bums!"), not in the sense of a hobo -- not that there's anything wrong with being a hobo.

Maui

2009-08-17T21:20:00.000-05:00

Alright Alright! Driel's already called me asking why I haven't posted pictures even though we've been home for two days. Apparently her life is so dull with only two young girls to take care of that she needs to live vicariously through us. The answer, Driel, is that I haven't blogged because we've basically spent the last two days sleeping. We had a red eye flight out of Maui into LAX, so we didn't sleep at all Friday night. That meant we slept all day Saturday, which totally screwed up our sleeping schedules, so we slept a ton Sunday. And then Lorein and Carter didn't wake up until 11:30 today! (to be fair, I didn't get up until 10:15). Anyway, here you go Driel.

The room at the resort was super nice. So nice in fact that Westin called them "Villas". I always imagined villas as being larger, but whatever. Lorein just kept saying over and over again "This place is so nice." Here's the view from our balcony:

We were a little worried about Carter because he hasn't been a big fan of the pool or beach in CA, and that's pretty much all we do in HI. Well, we needn't have felt perturbed because Carter absolutely loved it. From the moment we entered the hotel and he saw the koi pond, he was happy. Here's a quick slide show of Carter's favorite activities from Maui:

Oh my goodness . . . the hotel room had two kleenex boxes! Woo Hoo!!

The pool is always better when you can hang out with a hot babe.

He really enjoyed the aquarium. It's too bad Lorein's allergic to everything because Carter really loves animals. He spent a lot of time just pointing at the fish in the koi pond.

He really got into the beach. He loved playing in the sand and would even run straight into the water. He would laugh and laugh when we would pick him up over a wave.

All that playing wore him out though. Fortunately, he was able to repose on Westin's "Heavenly Bed". (Westin extensively advertises its heavenly bed, and, let me tell you, it was niiiiiiice.)

If only I could've slept on the plane like that.

Diether Family Reunion 2009

2009-08-06T22:45:00.000-05:00

As noted earlier, the Greater North American Diether Family Reunion (GNADFR for short) officially kicked off on Thursday but, due to a lame thing called the Bar Exam, I didn't make it until Friday afternoon. For details of any happenings pre-my arrival, check out Driel's blog.

I pulled up Friday around 1 and quickly realized that my family was totally different. First of all, my baby was suddenly a boy,

and second, my wife was suddenly a brunette.

Friday's highlight was the backyard carnival complete with cotton candy and snow cones.

As you can tell from Evan's expression, the fun was never ending.

Saturday, we hit up the lake. Carter wasn't a huge fan of the boat (although he did manage a couple of weak smiles and waves when Lorein was being pulled along behind). Fortunately, though, there was a pump around, which never fails to provide a good time.

Saturday evening ended with Diether Family Entertainment Night. In the words of General Conference . . .

pyramids were built,
songs were sung,
good times were had by all.

Sunday, we had family pictures. Here's ours:

Well, we're off to Maui tomorrow, so I can't say for sure when I'll post again. Let me remind you that Monk and Psych start tomorrow (it's Monk's final season). We'll be back Friday the 14th. Until then . . . Aloha.

She fell in love in the first place

2009-08-06T22:31:00.000-05:00

I know it's been almost two months since our last post, but, in the immortal words of The Verve Pipe, "I can't be held responsible". I mean, I've been studying for the Bar Exam. It's not my fault there have been no posts about Carter's three birthday parties (one in Vegas, one on the 4th of July w/ the great grandmas, and one on his real birthday), our trip to Vegas, or any of the other goings on. No sir. Not my fault.
But now that I'm back, I'll do a quick update on the Greater North American Diether Family Reunion (GNADFR for short) that was held in Utah July 30-August 3. Read the next post for details. I would also appreciate a few comments about how you all missed me so much and how you feel happier now that I'm back in your lives.

Carter Crall?...no Carter Walks!

2009-06-14T20:07:00.000-05:00

Cheesy title, I know. But it's still funny, come on you know you laughed.

Carter has recently been venturing off of furniture and is starting to take a few steps on his own. I've been trying all week to catch it on video and I finally succeeded.

Betsey, Richard, and Nora visit - YIPEE!

2009-06-14T19:54:00.000-05:00

We were lucky enough to have our fabulous friends the Hawkins come and visit us from Cleveland. We have REALLY missed having them around and it was so much fun to catch up. We miss you guys already and can't wait for our next visit!

Betsey and Nora even came and visited us at the Crall house. Carter and Nora are already fast friends.

We also got to see some of our other good friends from law school at a beach day hosted by the Hawkins. All in all it was really great to have them come. Come back soon!

Teething

2009-06-14T19:42:00.000-05:00

While Christopher studies for the bar, it looks like you'll be stuck with me keeping up the blog. My life is pretty riveting so hold onto your hats.

Carter has been teething for the past few weeks. He now has 3 teeth with at least one more on the way. I don't think it's a coincidence that Carter started teething just after I finished working. I'm considering it a tender mercy. We've had some pretty rough nights sleeping and I don't think I would have been able to handle it while working. I think things are starting to smooth out though.

You can see the top two teeth in this picture, but I promise there is a bottom tooth and another one coming.

Carter was helping clean out David's room, and this is what he came out with - a cool hat and a 'Vote for Pedro' wrist band.

More pictures please

2009-06-01T00:20:00.000-05:00

I told Christopher that I was tired of his wordy posts with no pictures. Instead of remedying the situation what does he tell me?? "You're welcome to post pictures anytime you want, Lorein." I couldn't really argue with that. So here are some pictures and videos for people like me...visual blog readers:-)

Carter loves his new kitchen sink. It's the perfect size for him.

This is his new funny face that he makes all the time now.

Here's a video of the new funny face in action:

And here he is trying to walk -

He's great at walking along stuff, but he still hasn't caught the vision of venturing away from walls and furniture. Although there was a little girl in church today that was walking circles around him and stealing his toys. He was getting a little upset so I thought it might be good motivation. So far no go though.

Souplantation

2009-05-29T22:12:00.000-05:00

Went to Souplantation for dinner tonight. I love that place. It has every food I love but rarely eat and all in one place. Beets, sunflower seeds, cornbread, honey wheat bread, sourdough bread, whipped butter, honey butter, baked potatoes, chili, clam chowder, jello, and frozen yogurt. The place is amazing. If it had Dr. Pepper instead of Mr. Pibb, it would be heaven (except for the whole salad thing, of course).

A moving story 2

2009-05-19T14:49:00.000-05:00

In preparation for moving, we wanted to get rid of a lot of furniture, both to make moving easier and because we had limited storage space. After a half-hearted attempt to sell it on Craigslist with no takers, I called DI to set up a pick-up. We decided to get rid of our huge entertainment center, massive big screen tv, overstuffed chair, kitchen chairs, nightstand, and computer desk. Over the phone, the DI lady told me the movers could not come up to the apartment, so I would have to take it down to the sidewalk. I informed her that I lived on a street that was all apartments and I didn't really want to take a bunch of furniture down to the sidewalk and leave it all day. She understood my concern and told me I could call the day of and get a three-hour window for when the DI truck would arrive.
So, Thursday morning rolled around and I called up DI to get my three-hour window. The lady said I was third on the list, which meant the truck would arrive around 10. With this information in hand, I started hauling everything down -- first the computer desk, then the chair, then the nightstand, then the kitchen chairs, and then the tv. That's when the fun began. Within three minutes of my putting the tv on the sidewalk, a truck pulled up and the driver hauled it away. He also took all of the chairs. I have no idea how he knew there was stuff on the sidewalk, but I'm not kidding when I say he was there within three minutes. Then, as I stuffed the first part of the entertainment center into the elevator, I noticed a family from the neighboring building carting the nightstand away. As I rolled the entertainment center out to the sidewalk, our building's maintenance man said he was moving into a new apartment and would love to take the entertainment center off our hands. Since he's really nice and I like him, I said sure and helped him load it into his maintenance truck. The meter maid who was writing a parking ticket for a car parked in front of the fire hydrant lamented, "Man, I should've gotten here earlier!" The only thing left was the computer desk, and just then the DI truck turned the corner onto our street. I told the driver the story and he laughed. He said, "I just like to think the people who got it needed it." With which sentiment I heartily agree.

Signs of the apocalypse?

2009-05-18T23:15:00.000-05:00

Wow, it looks like we left L.A. in the nick of time. In the two days since we've been gone, there's been an earthquake with the epicenter just south of our old apartment and a rapper was shot at the mall we used to go to! Holy mackerel!

A moving story 1

2009-05-17T23:25:00.001-05:00

Our move from Provo to L.A. three years ago was a disaster. We loaded our stuff into a U-Haul trailer we pulled behind my Blazer. By the time we'd gone an hour and a half, the Blazer's engine was not sounding good. We barely made it off the freeway into a truck stop in Parowan and a tow truck took us to a mechanic. The mechanic diagnosed the problem as "complete engine failure". The repairs -- which basically meant getting a new engine -- were going to be more than the Blazer was worth, so we sold it to him for $300. Lorein's dad brought their station wagon up to tow us to Vegas where we would get a moving van. The station wagon overheated outside of St. George, though. We somehow made it to Lorein's aunt's house in St. George where we stayed the night and got a U-Haul truck in the morning. But the U-Haul place didn't have the size we wanted, so they "upgraded" us to the 27' truck. It was HUGE! Although I will say it at least held all our stuff quite easily.
Well, as we made this move, we were determined that things would go better. I mean, we were only going from L.A. to Temecula, which is like 75 miles away. We also put into practice all the lessons I have learned from helping people move, the biggest one being HAVE EVERYTHING PACKED UP. I have been to a lot of moves where you show up and the people are still packing. It makes you want to say "I'll come back tomorrow when you're ready." Anyway, we had everything packed and were hoping to get out of L.A. by 11 so we'd miss any semblance of traffic. Some of my friends arrived at 9 to help out and we had the truck loaded by 10:15. After some light refreshments and a final look-around, we headed down to the truck at 10:45. Perfect timing.
Except I got into the truck and the key wouldn't turn. Not that the engine wouldn't start, but the key itself would not budge. I tried everything. I turned the key over. I pushed the brake as hard as I could. I put on my seatbelt. I locked all the doors. I turned the lights on. Nothing worked. I sat there with my head in my hands thinking this could not be happening. Not again. Finally, I had to call the Penske emergency hotline and they sent out a mechanic. The mechanic got there after about an hour and was stumped. He said he'd never seen anything like it. He took nearly the entire dashboard apart. He asked for one of Lorein's bobby pins. He made a lot of exasperated sighs. I realized we were probably going to have to get a new truck and re-load it. I couldn't believe it. But then -- miracle of miracles -- he got the key to turn and the engine started! The mechanic said he had no idea what he did, but I jumped in the truck and never turned the engine off until I dropped the truck off that night. We unloaded our stuff at my parents', a storage facility, and at my grandma's, and got gas all with the engine running (the whole time we were getting gas, I was praying the truck wouldn't explode). When I dropped the truck off, I turned the ignition off and then turned it back on just to see what would happen. It started right up. But at least we made it, and yes, we did spend the rest of the evening in the hot tub.

Grandpa Carter at UCLA

2009-05-12T00:25:00.001-05:00

My Grandpa Carter (who died when my dad was a teenager and who I, obviously, never met) attended UCLA in the 1930's. We have some old pictures of him around campus, and I met with a person in UCLA's alumni department my first year to try and figure out where they were taken because we wanted to take pictures of me in the same spots. Of course, we never did it until today, after I graduated. So, without further ado, here they are . . .

I really liked taking this picture. It was pretty neat to realize I was sitting exactly where my grandpa had sat 70 years ago.

We even got people on both sides of him (although my intruders are dressed much more casually than his)! Interesting to note that UCLA got rid of the steps at the base of the pillar and changed the brick steps. I wonder why.

This was the hardest location to pinpoint. The building behind us has an addition (I think it's an elevator) that is obviously much newer than the rest of the building. I think that addition is blocking the arched double window in Carter's picture. The windows on the long side all look the same, though.
My favorite thing about this picture of Carter is that it, like the one with him on the library steps, came from some magazine called "Undergrad" (that seems to have just done stories on the goings-on at a bunch of different colleges around the country), and so includes captions. I love how the caption calls his girlfriend "comely", which I think the writer meant as a compliment but which is pretty much an insult today. I mean, nowadays, you kind of have to go with "smokin' hot". It's also funny that the mag calls her a "professor", which she most certainly isn't.

Graduation

2009-05-11T23:36:00.000-05:00

I graduated from UCLA School of Law last Friday. While it was great to have so much family there, the ceremony reminded me of why graduations are no fun. Here's the thing: I've never been to a great graduation ceremony, nor have I ever heard anyone talk about what a great time they had at one. They're all way too long with too many speakers who take up too much time and you always have to sit in the sun. Why can't we just do away with all but maybe one speaker, read the names, and go home? That would be a great ceremony.
Here's a summary of the speakers and their themes:

- Dean Schill: basically talked about how much of a bummer it was to graduate into this crappy economy. Thanks for the pick-me-up Dean Schill!

- Ned: Ned's my friend (and teammate on our intramural champion football team), but it pretty much seemed like he hadn't planned anything ahead of time.

- Student Speaker: his opening line was, "One hot summer night, I lay in bed with my partner as the moonlight filtered through the window, delirious and blissfully unaware of the problems around us . . . "; um . . . TOO MUCH INFORMATION!

- Prof. Stark (Prof. of the year): great speech; very funny.

- Keynote speaker (D.A. of San Francisco): I'm sure she did well, but we were all tuned out by this time and I honestly can't tell you a thing she said.

Carter sums up how we all felt about the speeches

I will admit I liked at the end where the Dean had us all stand up and he said something to the effect of "By the power vested in me by the Regents of the University of California, I now confer upon you the degree of Juris Doctor". That was cool and made it all seem real.

Thanks to all who came! (Justin is taking the picture)

Noooooo!

2009-05-07T13:05:00.000-05:00

Manny Ramirez suspended 50 games for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs

I'm shocked. I'm honestly numb. I'm dumbfounded. Everything was going right for the Dodgers. They have the best record in baseball. Last night, the broke the record for longest home winning streak to start a season, a record set in 1911. And now Manny's suspended for 50 games.
I have a lot of different thoughts about it. To begin, I'm conflicted because I really like Manny and feel like I will totally embrace him upon his return on July 3. But then I remember how much I made fun of Giants fans for embracing Barry Bonds during his whole steroid scandal. Do I really want to be like a Giants fan? But then I think about all the differences between this case and Barry's: Barry went out of his way to take steroids and evade detection whereas Manny's positive test supposedly comes from prescribed medication he was taking for "personal health reasons" (of course, those personal health reasons could be that he couldn't keep up the pace anymore and needed some extra oomph; I mean, he is an aging slugger who hasn't yet really seen a decline in his production, which is the stereotype of the steroid user). Plus, Barry denied and denied and denied in spite of mounting evidence, whereas Manny has come out with a plausible excuse, accepted responsibility, and decided not to appeal the suspension. If Manny's story is right, he didn't even take steroids and it's a case very similar to J.C. Romero who bought a supplement at GNC that contained a banned substance that the supplement did not include on the label. In other words, Manny wouldn't be guilty of cheating, but guilty of idiocy for not making sure the medication wasn't banned, and nobody's ever accused Manny of thinking things all the way through. Furthermore, there's never been any suspicion of Manny using PEDs.
So, I guess in the final analysis, and barring further revelations, I don't believe Manny's a cheater. I think he's dumb for not checking his medication against MLB's banned substance list, but I don't think he did anything to purposely attempt to improve his game through illicit means. It sure screws up the Dodgers' lineup though. I guess Ethier will move up to third, but who's going to hit clean-up? Loney doesn't even have a home run yet, and Martin is still struggling. Kemp strikes out too much. At least they're in a weak division and they will probably be able to stay in the mix until Manny gets back.
This just in: early indications are that the medication Manny was taking was a sex enhancer. I suppose I would say "personal health reasons" in my statement too.
Further revelation: it appears now that Manny tested positive for a female fertility drug (hCG) that steroid users often take when coming off of a steroid cycle in order to re-start natural testosterone production. Bummer. Maybe he really is a cheater.

I'm done

2009-05-02T23:06:00.000-05:00

So, I had my final final this past Thursday. In other words, I am done with law school. It's pretty weird. It's also a little anti-climactic since I'm done with school, but I just have to start studying for the Bar Exam in a few weeks. Still, it's crazy. It's hard to believe we've been here 3 years. The weirdest thing, though, is how things have truly come full circle. I mean, when I was applying for law schools, part of my personal statement concerned whether the Dodgers should re-sign Jeff Weaver. They didn't. But then they just gave him a minor league contract before this season and called him up to the majors on, you guessed it, Thursday. Talk about eerie.
On a related note, we were really worried I was going to graduate jobless, especially since this recession has pummeled the legal industry, but last week I got an offer from Army JAG. While I haven't accepted (and won't actually incur any military obligation until I take the oath of office, which can't be before December since I have to pass the Bar first), it's good to know I at least have something. Now, for those of you who gasped when you read I am thinking about joining the Army, let me go through the pros and cons:

Cons
5 months of extra training including a modified boot camp
Possibility of deployment
Low salary

Pros
Every JAG officer I talk to absolutely LOVES his or her job
No billable hours
Generous housing stipend (tax free)
Free medical benefits
No billable hours
Food stipend (tax free)
I get to shoot a really big gun
Work 9-5
No billable hours
Chance to see the world
Retirement benefits
Tax credits
30 days paid vacation
Chance to work in multiple issue areas
Did I mention there's no billable hours?

So anyway, while I haven't yet decided that is what I want to do, it is our only offer as of the moment. And it's a pretty good job.

Watermelon Crall

2009-05-02T22:36:00.001-05:00

My sister Mary Ann has pretty much been calling me everyday to post some pictures of Carter, so I'll oblige.

It's the start of watermelon season and Carter is loving it! He crawls around the house with a slice (much to our chagrin) and was excited when we let him have some in the bath (he normally takes a bath in the tub, but he was playing in the sink and got mad when we tried to take him out). Unfortunately, he hasn't yet totally learned that the good part is the red stuff, not the green stuff.

LCLA -- the hot new fashion designer

2009-04-12T22:41:00.000-05:00

Since we're too lazy to do laundry every day (or even every week), Carter's been running low on pants. That wouldn't be a problem except that we've had a pretty cold Spring (you know, like only 60 degrees). So, the other day I brought the problem to Lorein's attention, who responded "What do you want me to do about it?" even though I posed the dilemma in a completely non-confrontational manner and in no way suggested she was culpable in the matter. Anyway, I answered that she should make him some pants. She said "I don't know how to do that!", and I left for school. She must've soon remembered her quilting prowess, however, because when I returned, she'd busted out like 200 pairs of pants from various fabrics she found around the house, including an old sweatshirt. Here's a sampling, juxtaposed against the brilliant background of our industrial carpet. Either way, I believe it proves that Lorein is freakin' incredible! It is also a great find in these tough economic times. If you would like Lorein to make you or your loved one a pair of pants from old fabric, just send us $25 plus $5 S&H, and she'll see what we can do. If that price tag seems a bit high, just remember that a large portion of all sales will go directly to helping needy families* in Los Angeles.

On a different note, my Uncle Skip, Aunt Michelle, and their two kids, Nicholas and Abby, came to Santa Monica for Spring Break. We wanted to make sure we got some pictures, but our picture card was full. So, Lorein spent some of the drive up to The Getty -- where we were going to meet them on a beautiful day, perfect for pictures -- erasing some of the crummier pictures to open up some picture space. Of course, we then spent a few hours at The Getty and didn't take a single picture. We did get some at the beach, but Carter wasn't smiling in the picture with Nicholas and Abby, so I'm not going to post it (unlike the Los Angeles Times, I exercise integrity in my publishing). Instead, here's a picture of him trying to get a tan despite Lorein's 19 layers of protective coverings (and look, he's wearing the pants she made him!).

* it may actually only go to one needy family

Hide and Seek (almost)

2009-04-05T23:05:00.000-05:00

Our lives are so busy that time flies by. I thought I just posted, but I got on here and saw it was a week and a half ago. Ay Ay Ay! So, since I don't have anything much to say, here's a video of Carter playing his new favorite game:

He also loves regular hide and seek -- you know, where he can't see me the entire time -- and he's getting really good at finding me and moving whatever object is obstructing my face. He's pretty much a lot of fun. Unfortunately, once again our industrial carpet is giving him rug burns on his feet and knees. Alas.

Carter's new tricks

2009-03-25T23:07:00.001-05:00

I know, I know, I've been a bad blogger. What's even worse is I haven't been reading other people's blogs, so I have no idea what's going on in any of your lives. But now I'm on Spring Break so I'm going to bang out a post. Without further ado, here's an update on what's going on in Carter's life, since I know that's all you people care about.

Carter started pulling himself up even before he was crawling. It was a problem at first because not everything in our house is entirely stable (No, I'm not talking about Lorein). For example, we have a little green Ikea stool that weighs half as much as him, but he's constantly trying to climb up on it. Of course, it falls over and he cries. Which leads to his other new trick, if you can call it that. If he falls onto his back and he knows you see him, he refuses to get up. He will just lie there on his back waiting for you to help him. If you don't, he starts to kick, and then he'll start to whine. I just sit there and tell him to get up, but he's a stubborn lad. The last time he did it, I covered my face with my hands as he looked up, so he didn't think I saw him and he just rolled over and got up. What a wise guy. Oh, the other thing he does now, as you can see in the picture below, is bite his lower lip. And talk about a drool monster!

Another funny thing he's started doing is yell to keep from falling asleep. He's always fought sleep by groaning as we rocked him, but a couple of weeks ago he started just opening up his mouth and yelling. It's really hard to keep from laughing when he's doing it. The problem, though, is that it's actually pretty effective. It's increased the time it takes to get him to sleep by a few minutes.

This isn't him at his yelling best, but it's the best video I've been able to get. It gives you the gist of his talent though.

Finally, we haven't been very circumspect with what we give him to eat. We're hoping if he's exposed to all foods now, we'll avoid the stage in four years where he won't eat anything but chicken nuggets.

Speaking of chicken nuggets, he loves them!

And he also loves Oreos!

Unfortunately, chicken nuggets and Oreos don't always mix well.

Another salvo

2009-03-18T23:16:00.000-05:00

So, it turns out Crest has taken a stand on the bottom vs. middle squeezers. My mom wrote about it in her newspaper column:

Click here -- Neutrality would have been appreciated

If you're gonna have a girl, name her Fiona (not Carla)

2009-03-08T23:51:00.000-05:00

Just watched the season finale of "Burn Notice" . . . FREAKIN' AWESOME! I can't wait until June.

The ICC

2009-03-06T00:04:00.000-06:00

Great news story today -- the International Criminal Court issued an indictment for Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir. The indictment alleges al-Bashir is responsible for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity in the Darfur region of Sudan. Soon after the indictment came out, Sudanese citizens flooded the streets of Khartoum protesting the ICC and the U.S. I read that and had to laugh. Sudanese protestors -- THE U.S. ISN'T A PART OF THE ICC! THE U.S. HASN'T SIGNED THE ICC TREATY! THE U.S. DOESN'T TRUST THE ICC AND HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT! But it's okay, you just keep blaming the U.S. for everything.
I suppose they do have a small point in that it was actually the UN Security Council that referred the matter to the ICC and the U.S. is a permanent member of the Security Council. The problem is that the U.S. didn't vote for the referral, it abstained. While it's true the U.S. didn't stop the referral by using its veto power, it's not like an abstention is a ringing endorsement of the action. It's basically saying "you guys just do whatever you want to do". So again, how 'bout some protests of the French, British, or Russians who pushed the referral? Furthermore, China didn't use its veto either (which is an interesting side note since China does a ton of business in Sudan and continuously used its veto to keep the Security Council from taking direct action on Darfur); where's the protests against China? Like I said, I just had to laugh. They probably also had thousands of American flags which they burned even though I don't know where I could get a single Sudanese flag, much less thousands of them. You know, assuming I had time to protest.

Holy crap he's so cute!

2009-02-27T23:25:00.000-06:00

Carter is a lot of fun, especially now that he's crawling. He absolutely loves it when we get down on the floor; I guess there's just something about people being on his level. The best part is that he'll follow us all around the house.

Unfortunately, crawling around on our industrial-strength carpet has taken a toll on Carter's poor little nose, but we think he's no worse for the wear.

Finally living up to his name....

2009-02-24T21:31:00.000-06:00

Carter took off crawling over the weekend. He's moving all over and pulling himself up on all the furniture. This stage is lots of fun but a little more hazardous. He already has more bumps and bruises since he started than his entire life combined.

Lucky in Love

2009-02-15T18:57:00.000-06:00

As evidenced by his receipt of multiple Valentines, Carter is pretty lucky in love.

Grandma and Grandpa Diether sent him some great Valentines. One of them was even a sticker. He was definitely excited about them.

He also received a Valentine from his future girlfriend Nora which he holds close to his heart.

He yelled at me when I tried to turn the Valentine around. I didn't think he would already be so territorial.

He was also lucky enough to have his Grandma and Grandpa Crall and his Aunt Mary Ann come up to see him on Valentine's Day. We had an early birthday celebration for Christopher's birthday and Carter was the life of the party. He was really glad they came and so were we. All in all it was a pretty great first Valentine's Day.

Because I'm a slacker...

2009-02-15T18:00:00.000-06:00

My beautiful and amazing sister Driel had a baby and I meant to post about it right when it happened, but, as often happens, life seemed to get in the way of my good intentions. Not a good excuse -- I know -- but here she is:

Carter's newest cousin Baby Fi (as I like to call her) but better known as Fiona Andersen.
Born on Tuesday, January 27th at 1:08 PM
6 pounds, 15 ounces, 18 inches long

Welcome to the world gorgeous girl!

A couple updates

2009-02-15T16:44:00.000-06:00

Lorein's brother Ammon had some good rebuttal arguments to my post about squeezing from the middle. Specifically, he said his wife, Kathy, timed him to determine how long it took to "convert a middle squozen tube into a bottom squozen tube" and it came out to be 3 seconds. His comment implied that such a time length is trivial and I should not get all worked up over such insignificance. I admit that at first this argument was quite persuasive to me, but then I got to thinking . . . 3 seconds a day is 18 minutes and 15 seconds a year. Assuming an average 72 year lifespan, that's 49,275 seconds I will spend from the moment I turn 27 (which is next Friday!) repairing the toothpaste tube. For those of you who cannot quickly convert seconds into minutes and hours in your head, that's 821 minutes and 15 seconds, or 13 hours and 40-something minutes. With those 13+ hours, I could be feeding the poor in South America or reading "Where the Wild Things Are" to inner-city kids. But instead, I'm stuck in the bathroom fixing the toothpaste. In other words, middle squeezers keep us bottom squeezers from making the world a better place. Does that seem trivial to you? Is that insignificant?
On another note, the pizzeria opened! I saw on Friday they had taken the plastic down from the windows, and then when we walked by Saturday night, the lights were on and there were people inside! I'm pretty stoked and definitely planning to hit it up in the next week or so. Nearly three years, and finally no longer "Coming Soon".

8.1 pts, 6.3 rbds, .7 assists per game

2009-02-07T17:37:00.001-06:00

Carter had his 6-month checkup on Thursday even though he's 7-months today. It was a disheartening day since we found out he's only 60th percentile for weight, which means his dreams of becoming an NFL linebacker are already dashed. On the bright side, he was 90th percentile for height, so maybe he's destined to accomplish great feats as an NBA center along the lines of Shawn Bradley and Detlef Shrempf!

Trying to bite his way out of his Pack 'N Play prison

I think it's in the Bible somewhere

2009-02-07T17:13:00.000-06:00

After Lorein and I married, I found to my dismay she's a middle squeezer. I, on the other hand, am more civilized and so squeeze the toothpaste tube from the bottom. It's quite obvious that squeezing from the bottom is better since it eases toothpaste retrieval near the end of the supply. There is also a direct correlation between squeeze placement and cap filthiness. Tubes that have been middle squeezed tend to have their caps covered with old, crusty paste, often precluding the tube from being closed, which of course leads to further crustiness and general hygiene erosion. On the other hand, bottom squeezed tubes are clean, orderly, and are well-known to lead to a higher level of happiness. Since all intelligent people understand this principle, however, I do not feel the need to elaborate further.
Anyway, even though I was a witness to Lorein's shame, I approached the problem as any loving husband would and bought my own toothpaste tube. After a short while, I was able to train Lorein in the ways of enlightened people everywhere, and we discarded the extra tube. Imagine my dismay, then, when I entered the bathroom and saw this:

Ahhhhh!! What fiendish ghoul entered my sanctuary to disrupt and sully?! After some investigation, it turned out it was Lorein! I was mystified -- why had she suddenly returned to her brutish ways? Was she mad at me? Had I angered her in some unknown way? I asked her, but she responded in the negative. Actually, she said "at least the cap isn't dirty". Again, as a loving husband, I felt I could live with that. I mean, Lorein has a baby to care for and is working part-time; I could adjust to a middle-squeezed tube so long as the cap wasn't dirty.
So again imagine my dismay when a few days later I went to brush my teeth and found the cap covered in old, crusty paste. And lo and behold, the crust was so thick it was impossible to close the cap. I didn't know what to do. I again asked Lorein what I had done to deserve such treatment, but she still kept her secret close. And so I ask you who know Lorein as your friend: has she deposited her secret with you? Do you know the true purpose behind this nefarious deed? Please inform me and you can quite possibly take credit for saving our marriage!
Oh, and another thing. We bought the six toothbrush pack at Costco. Under California community property law, three of those toothbrushes were rightfully mine, yet Lorein used four leaving me with only two! Why did she hork my toothbrush? Was it merely because it was pink? Did she think I would not want a pink toothbrush? If so, she's probably right, but she could've at least asked me. Oh, I am to be so pitied.

Night at the Roxy

2009-01-24T23:14:00.000-06:00

It's 9:15 on a Saturday night. I live in Los Angeles, one of the most happening cities in the nation. Most people my age are just beginning their nights, not to get home until well after midnight. Me? I'm already in my pajamas with my teeth brushed and the dishwasher going. Sigh. And it's all his fault . . .

You have to teach them good habits while they're young . . .

2009-01-23T00:22:00.000-06:00

Bollywood strikes again

2009-01-19T18:50:00.001-06:00

My parents have some pictures of my Grandpa Carter from when he was a student at UCLA in the '30s. When I decided to attend UCLA, my mom got really excited to take pictures of me in the same spots. We did a lot of investigating to figure out where they were taken; my first year, I even met with a person from the Alumni Association who was working on a book about the history of UCLA. Needless to say, I've now been at UCLA over 2 1/2 years, will graduate in 4 months, and we still haven't taken the pictures.
My mom came to visit today and we realized it would be a perfect day to finally accomplish our goal. We grabbed the camera and headed up to campus. First, my mom wanted a picture sitting in a law school classroom since she's always kinda wanted to go to law school. As I took that, however, I noticed the camera was almost out of battery. We decided there would be no more pictures until we got to our special spots.
As we headed over to the library where we would take the first picture, we could see there were some stretch limos parked along the street. And then I saw a big crowd holding signs and surrounding a bunting-clad pulpit. And then we saw the entire courtyard was roped off and had security guards blocking the sidewalk. They were filming a movie! And not just any movie, but a Bollywood movie! First of all, I thought the whole point of Bollywood was that they could make movies without having to shoot in L.A. Secondly, how ironic is it that we wait 2 1/2 years to take these pictures, and our attempts are thwarted by the filming of a foreign musical? It also begs the question as to whether there is an Indian equivalent of Lou Dobbs shouting about the outsourcing of Bollywood movies.
So anyway, our historical shoot was not to be. Maybe there'll come another day.

2009-01-07T18:04:00.000-06:00

Greetings from Carter on his 6-month b-day!

It's been a long time and I might be a bit rusty, but really, blog writing is like riding a bike . . . it's a lot harder when you're going uphill. I mean, you have to excuse me because I was in the middle of finals and then we had Christmas (I mean "Winter") break and I just wasn't in the blogging mood. I had better things to do, like wait in line for over an hour at See's Candies. Let me tell you, though, it was worth it. Usually we get chocolate Santas in our stockings, which are pretty ho-hum, but this year I went and picked me out some California Brittle . . . Ho-YUM! Anyway, sit down and relax and spend the next hour and a half reading this entry, assuming you read really, really, really slowly and at approximately a first grade level.

Carter's First Christmas Break
Both Lorein and I had two weeks off, so we stayed at my parents' house in Temecula for a good long stretch. It was great because they have stuff for Carter to do that we don't. I mean, our sink is way smaller than their's and he outgrew it a good four months ago! I think Carter also really enjoyed seeing everybody. He was so much happier than at our apartment and I think it's because he enjoys chaos. For example, Carter and I go on a walk everyday when I'm watching him because it eats up a big chunk of time. Our neighborhood is pretty happening seeing as it's all apartments and surrounded by busy streets, so I like to walk over into Culver City where it's chill and relaxed. I've noticed, however, that Carter doesn't last nearly as long on our Culver City walks as he does when we just walk around the neighborhood. He wants the noise (although he did cry the other day when the fire engine drove by with its sirens blaring). So, Carter really enjoyed seeing his aunt, uncles, and grandparents.
He also LOVED my parents' dog Creimer, which was unfortunate because Lorein's allergic. He played with Creimer the entire first day, but then Lorein immediately started itching all over and got a super runny nose when she fed him, so we had to restrict his access after that. He was only allowed to play with Creimer right before his bath. It was amazing how much he liked the dog, though. There were multiple times when he was totally crying that I would walk by Creimer and he would immediately stop crying and start laughing.

The real only downside to having Carter there was when it came time to open presents. In my family, we each take turns opening one present at a time. With Carter getting so many presents, and his relative inexperience in opening them, people were getting pretty impatient. On the bright side, it made present opening last a lot longer; I mean, it felt like Hannukah!

Here's a few more Carter pictures to show you what a good time he had:

Hanging out with Cary

Playing with Grandpa's hat

Taking a bath in his floatie

Eating rice cereal for the first time

Post Office Rant
Since we were leaving for two weeks and our mailbox is pretty small, I made sure the post office held our mail. We went down to the post office, picked up the form, took it home and filled it out, went back to the post office, waited in a long line, and gave the form to the post office lady. I assumed that would be sufficient to have our mail held while we were away.
After we got back, we headed over to the post office to get our mail. We waited in the special mail pick-up line which I think is special because it's way longer than the normal line and takes twice as much time too. Finally, the lady came out and asked for our slips. Since we were just picking up our mail, though, I didn't have a slip. What follows is the ensuing dialogue:

Me: I had my mail held and I need to pick it up, so I don't have a slip.
Her: Where's your slip?
Me: I don't have one. I need to pick up my held mail.
Her: Anyone with a slip? (person rushes over, cuts in front of me and gives her his slip)
Me: I just need to pick up my mail.
Her: Anyone else with a slip? (another person comes up and gives her a slip)
Me: I don't have a slip because I just need to pick up my mail.
Her: Why don't you have a slip?
Me: I came in two weeks ago, filled out the form to hold my mail and now I need to pick it up.
Her: Is this your slip? (pointing to a hold mail form in her hand)
Me: No, I turned mine in two weeks ago.
Her: Then whose slip is this?
Me: I don't know. That slip is from whoever gave it to you.

Her: What?! Get out of here! You're just trying to confuse me! Anybody have a slip? (another person comes up and gives her a slip)
Me: No, I'm not trying to confuse you. I just want to pick up my mail.

Finally, she wrote my address down and sent me back to wait with everybody else. After about twenty minutes, a different guy came out and said they didn't have any mail for me but that the lady was still checking. So, I sent Lorein back to check our mailbox. After another ten minutes, the lady came out and said there was no mail but I could call our letter carrier tomorrow. A few minutes later, Lorein arrived and said the mail lady was at our apartment and they hadn't held our mail at all. There was two weeks worth of mail crammed into our mailbox.
I can't really get mad at the post office for wasting my time since we should've just checked our mailbox on the way over. On the other hand, why did we fill out the form? It's not like it's a complicated, novel thing we asked them to do. In fact, it's so common they have a form right out there on the counter!

I just want some pizza
When we moved into our apartment in August 2006, the strip mall on the corner had a store with a "New York Pizza" sign. I was pretty stoked, but it turned out it wasn't open yet, but had a banner assuring me it was "Coming Soon". After a few months, the sign changed to "Mama's Pizza" but still "Coming Soon". A few months after that, a new banner appeared reading "Nina's Pizza Kitchen: Coming Soon". That lasted about a year until last week when the sign suddenly changed to "Johnnie's New York Pizzeria". Underneath the sign, though, the "Nina's Pizza Kitchen: Coming Soon" still hangs. Either way, it appears the pizza place is not coming soon and it angers me greatly. I am sure it will open the day we move.

Anyway, Carter wants to leave you with this GQ pose; just look at those lips!

A Triumphant Return

2009-01-06T16:04:00.001-06:00

After a near month long hiatus, The Crall Space makes it's long anticipated return on Wednesday, January 7, 2009. As eagerly awaited as GNR's "Chinese Democracy", but with rave reviews, The Crall Space is sure to please its fans with tomorrow's triumphant entry. Critics have called the new installment a "tour de force" and "the best new blog entry of 2009". Be sure to tune in tomorrow.

Double Double

2008-12-11T21:12:00.000-06:00

So, I have never ever -- not even when I was a strapping teenager -- ordered more than a Double Double from In 'N Out. Tonight, Lorein ordered A TRIPLE . . . AND TWO FRIES!! And she finished them!

Lollipops and Popsicles

2008-12-10T23:14:00.000-06:00

Carter has moved from sucking on everything to licking everything. It's funny because now when we go to kiss him, we have to be careful or he'll slip us some tongue. Watch out Nora Hawkins!!

Christmas decorations

2008-12-10T23:02:00.000-06:00

I'm pretty underwhelmed by my holiday shopping experiences. I was excited last weekend to hit the streets and do my shopping because I thought seeing festive decorations and sharing in the hustle and bustle would help me feel Christmas-y, especially in the absence of snow (insert your "That's not what Christmas is about" comment here). The new and improved Westside Pavilion had some decorations, but not many, and then 3rd Street Promenade was just lame. The only decoration it had was a Christmas Tree in the middle put up by Oxfam. We were pretty put out because we were planning to take some pictures. Oh well. Lorein said she remembered 3rd Street going all out, but not this year. Her theory is that the shopping centers feel there's no point in putting up a ton of decorations when supposedly nobody is going to buy anything. I think they should do the opposite though -- if you want people to buy stuff, then you have to get them in a happy, festive mood. Thus, decorations equals more money spent. Anyway, here's our picture in front of the lone Christmas decoration at 3rd Street.

Roll on Carter

2008-12-04T21:33:00.000-06:00

I don't know if Sterling gave Carter some tips over Thanksgiving or what, but Carter is now rolling over. He did it last night for the first time, and since then he won't stay on his back when I lay him down. Check it out for yourself.

Is this next video in fast forward?? Nope, he really is that fast!

He's also getting much better at sitting up by himself. He still falls a lot, but his skills are improving.

Thanksgiving in Vegas

2008-12-03T14:46:00.000-06:00

Here's a photo diary of our Thanksgiving trip to Vegas:

Carter meets his cousin Sterling for the first time.

Carter chomping on his hand.

Carter chomping on the couch (Such actions disgust his Aunt Driel).

Carter exhausted from chomping on things all day.

Logan and I planning our next knee football play.

Calvin and Evan preparing their defense.

A video of Carter and Breezy that Driel wonderfully produced. (If you want to see more pics from our exciting Thanksgiving you can go to Driel's post.)

That's it. As President Monson would say: good food was eaten; fun games were played; old friendships were renewed; great times were had by all.