All Things Darrah

The Zeum Carousel

2011-07-23T11:18:00.001-04:00

The Children's Museum in San Francisco has an awesome carousel ride. You get 2 rides for only 3 dollars! I went on it once with Caleb before Adam got there and then Adam went on it with him too. Caleb was a little scared to get on the horses, but he really liked the big "sleigh chair".

Visiting Ours

2011-07-23T10:28:00.004-04:00

I'm determined to finish blogging about our trip in San Francisco even if it does take me 6 months to do it.

We were able to see and visit lots of family while we were in California. We love our family!

With Grandma Nora in Oakdale. She also spent time with us in San Francisco.

With Grandpa Ray in his home office in Davis. Grandpa Ray and Nana gave us rides to and from the airport. Ray also came to visit us a couple times in SF.

With Nana in SF.

With Grandma Gaynell in Elk Grove. Also Grandpa Mike and the rest of the Hardy bunch.

With Uncle Scott and his iPhone.

With Uncle Johnny & Aunt Julie at their home

With cousin Hunter and his mom Bekki in Oakdale

Touring San Francisco with the Graves

2011-05-16T11:56:00.008-04:00

We have some pretty awesome friends from Tucson that drove up to visit us while we were in San Francisco. The Graves Family! They stayed in town for about 3 days and I think we did and saw more in those 3 days than we did our entire trip! We went to Pier 39, went on a Trolley Tour of the city, toured China Town (found THE best chinese restaurant ever, recommended by a local), went to Union Square (went to the bathroom at the Macy's with 7 floors), went to Ghirardelli Square (ate some chocolate of course), tried on some fun sunglasses (sorry, no pictures of that), bought jewelry from the street vendors, watched the Boudin workers make sour dough bread into cool animals, saw a little part of Muir Woods, went down Lombard Street - the windiest road in the world, saw Coit Tower and the amazing views from there, and really enjoyed seeing the Graves again!

Marsha and James Graves

Cute pictures of Mackenzie

The Fairmont San Francisco Hotel

Madison, Caleb, Quinn, Mackenzie, and Xander (in the back)

Mmmm, yummy!

Mother, daughter. Awww!

China Town

Lombard Street - the windiest road in the world

See, right there.

Caleb and Mackenzie, they got along really well.

Coit Tower

Views from Coit Tower: Alcatraz

Golden Gate Bridge

part of the city

Muir Woods

Fun Times w/ Amanda & Sherry

2011-05-04T10:28:00.008-04:00

Golden Gate Park - we took a picnic and visited the Dutch Windmill and Tulip Garden, which was gorgeous! We took a bunch of pictures of the kids! Then we went to the Golden Gate Park children's playground, which was probably the coolest park I've ever been to. There was a lot to do there, and the kids could have stayed there forever. I took a video of the park on my phone (well, Adam's phone) that I was going to try and post, but I can't find it, I think it's gone. Oh well.

We found an area with a really nice view of the Golden Gate Bridge

We also went to another awesome park in the city called Alta Plaza park. It was on top of a hill and there were views of the city from every angle. I didn't take my camera out there, I think I was burned out on snapping pictures.
We also had fun just shopping/window shopping, having lunch/dinner, and just hanging out. We loved our time that we had with them and we're thankful that Amanda took all that time and effort to come see us so often. (And we're thankful that we found close parking for less than $18 a day! :) )

Caleb & Sherry

2011-05-04T10:15:00.005-04:00

My very good friend Amanda, and her daughter Sherry live near Sacramento and would come visit us in San Francisco at least once a week. Sherry is just a few months older than Caleb, so they had so much fun playing together. Caleb was always excited when I told him that "Sherry and Amanda are coming today!"

They were pretty tuckered out here

Our View

2011-05-04T09:53:00.004-04:00

We tagged along on a business trip to San Francisco back in February and stayed in a beautiful one bedroom apartment in the financial district. We enjoyed stunning views from our 21st floor and were able to see some of the piers, the Ferry Building, the Bay, the Bay Bridge, Alcatraz Island, Angel Island, and Coit Tower. Here are a couple of pictures from our balcony.

San Francisco Pictures Coming Soon...

2011-05-03T21:46:00.002-04:00

Gardening Success

2011-05-03T21:31:00.003-04:00

I bought an earthbox (dummy-proof gardening container), determined to plant something this year. Then I got ambitious and borrowed a container from a friend so I could plant TWO different things: strawberries and romaine lettuce. Adam did a great job keeping them watered while I was at Toni's for a week and a half. I'm so excited that they're growing!

No title, just pictures

2011-04-15T16:53:00.001-04:00

I got a new lens for my camera.

2011-01-23T07:38:00.005-05:00

I think it will take me a little while to figure out the best camera settings, but I thought this was kind of cute.

First Snow

2010-12-21T18:24:00.009-05:00

Thursday December 16, 2010

This is Caleb's first time (that he can remember) in the snow.

Masters Graduation May 2010

2010-08-08T13:17:00.005-04:00

Dr. Dunkel, the professor that Adam worked with as his teacher's assistant, "hooded" Adam. Adam was too tall so he had to get on his knees for him to be able to reach him.

2010 University of Arizona Russian Masters Graduates

From Masters Graduation

Audrey, Sami, Adam, Jennifer, Ray, Nora, Grandma Marie

(my mom was home w/ the sick Caleb)

So Caleb was sick the whole time we had family in town. I didn't get ANY pictures w/ him and the family. This many family members at the same time and NO pictures! I'm still really sad about that. Besides that, we still had a really good time w/ everyone in town, and the graduation went great! We also got to celebrate Nora's birthday with her. It was so awesome and we felt so thankful to be able to celebrate Adam's graduation w/ so many loved ones!

Random Caleb Pictures

2010-08-04T14:54:00.003-04:00

These are for not posting in a very long time. Enjoy. Who knows when I'll post again.

Year 2: Caleb

2010-03-10T17:38:00.002-05:00

This is one of the Shutterfly books I made for family Christmas presents. A lot of these pictures have already been posted on the blog last year, but not all of them. Enjoy!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Happy New Year

2010-01-02T14:28:00.003-05:00

Seasons Greetings! We have been having a great Holiday Season. Caleb and I have been in California for 3 weeks now (Adam for a week and a half). Caleb and I came out early so we could get more visiting time in and so that Adam could better concentrate during finals week. My parents came out from Louisiana as well. This was our first Christmas to be around all sets of our parents. We've seen so many grand-parents, parents, sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. We feel very blessed to be around so many loved ones! We go home next week and that's when I'll post pictures. Eventually. Although I must confess I've been slacking off in the picture-taking department. But I have enough - hopefully. We hope everyone has had a great Holiday Season and we look forward to a new year!

Happy Halloween

2009-11-02T01:14:00.004-05:00

We all went to the trunk or treat at our church for halloween. Caleb dressed up as a scarecrow and the rest of us tried to match him. We had a good time going around to all the cars and Caleb kept picking out suckers when he could. He had a cute little scarecrow hat but of course that didn't stay on for more than half of a second.

Tucson Children's Museum with Gramma Nora

2009-11-02T00:29:00.005-05:00

Adam's mom came in for a long weekend to celebrate Caleb's 2nd birthday. We love that she is able to come visit so often. This time we decided to go do something fun for Caleb while Adam was in school on Friday. We went to the Tucson children's museum and had so much fun. I don't know why we've never been there before, Caleb loved it. We were afraid that once he saw the section with the trains, he wouldn't want to go anywhere else. But we were able to go through almost the whole thing.

Summer: Trip to Utah

2009-09-15T02:18:00.002-04:00

One more post from the summer and then I think I'm going to be caught up - but I'm never really caught up. Again, I started this post a while back, but you know how it goes.

We had planned to go to Utah after California for a family reunion. The reunion got cancelled but since we already had the tickets we went anyway and visited friends and family. We were able to stay with our friend Debbie who we use to work with. She's a really close friend and she really took us in while we lived there. Unfortunately I didn't take a whole lot of pictures while we were there. But we loved being able to see a lot of our friends and family and wished we had more time to see others.

Summer: 2nd Trip to California

2009-09-14T01:44:00.006-04:00

Although the date of this post says Sept 13, which is when I started it, it is now October 20th. I was starting to feel really really behind and then I went and looked up last year's summer post and realized that I posted that one on October 30th. So I'm actually improving! So here's the rest of our summer and then some.

A couple weeks after Adam was home from Russia, we took a trip to California so he could see his family. We figured it was the last time we could take a trip like this before school started and before Caleb turns two. We spent the first week at Adam's mom's house. She has a pool and Caleb absolutely loved playing in it every day. And Adam was so cute with him in the pool. Adam also was able to reconnect with some of his childhood friends, which he was really excited about. The 2nd week, we stayed with Adam's dad. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures while we were there. I think I was starting to get "pictured-out". Plus I had taken a bunch the first time Caleb and I were there. But we had a good time there as well. It's hard being so far away from all of our family, so this was a nice summer to be able to see them so often.

Vacation Bible School

2009-09-14T00:29:00.003-04:00

I met a lady at the gym who was the director for a vacation bible school at a local Methodist Church. I overheard her saying that she was needing volunteers and I asked her if I could help. She was thrilled and put me in charge of the pre-school age kids. I taught the daily bible stories and then was in charge of the games. There were six kids in our group and I had two helpers, Emily and Courtney and we took the kids to all of their stations each day. The Bible story that we focused on during the week was Moses helping the Israelites leave Egypt. It was great because the lesson plans were all laid out and it was really easy for the kids to catch on and get excited. It ended up being a lot of fun and the kids seemed to really enjoy themselves. I'm glad that I was at the right place at the right time and was able to participate and help out.

Summer: Girls Church Camp

2009-09-13T17:29:00.005-04:00

While my mom was here, she able to stay with Caleb for a few days while I went to girls camp to help out. We had 4 girls from our ward there and we all had a pretty good time. There were about 90 or 100 girls total. The church owns a nice big camp ground towards the top of Mt. Lemon, about 20 miles up and about seven or eight thousand feet up. You don't even feel like you're in Arizona when you're there. It gets freezing cold at night and the weather during the day was great, which was good because we had to wear pants. The girls did crafts, service projects, hiking, certifications in fires, cooking, and other outdoors things. The bishop came up one of the nights and brought dinner and we played games and had a really nice spiritual meeting. I think overall, the girls had a good experience and I enjoyed being there.

From Drop Box

Summer: Gramma Hardy's Visit

2009-09-13T17:22:00.004-04:00

My mom came to visit for a couple of weeks to keep us company while Adam was still gone to Russia. We had a really good time. We went to the zoo, we went shopping. We went up Mt. Lemon and got out of the heat one afternoon, that's where most of the pictures come from. I love it when family comes to visit, especially since we don't live near any family.

Summer: Delaware

2009-09-10T00:16:00.001-04:00

Caleb and I went to Delaware towards the end of May to visit Toni and her family. We had a fun-filled week and it was so nice to be able to spend so much time catching up with Toni, though we could always use more time! We went to Lancaster, PA and went to a few Amish shops. We didn't get any pictures there though. But we did have really yummy home-made lemonade and fresh pretzels. We went to the coolest children's museum called "Please Touch Museum". It was so huge and so much fun and all the kids loved it! Most of the pictures I have come from there. We also went to the Philadelphia Zoo, which is America's 1st zoo. I think we went at the same time that every school in the area had decided to take a field trip. So it was a little crazy at first, but we found the less traveled areas eventually and stayed around there. I also was able to take some pictures of Toni's kids and family, so I'll post a couple of them too. That part of the country is very beautiful and I really enjoyed being there.

If you don't think I put up enough pictures from the museum, you can check out Toni's post for more pictures: http://maxwellmemoirs.blogspot.com/2009/06/please-touch-museum.html

Happy Anniversary!

2009-08-17T21:04:00.005-04:00

August 17, 2002

August 17, 2009

I'm working on it!

2009-08-10T02:28:00.003-04:00

Arriving Shortly:
-Trip to Delaware to visit Toni and her family (probably a few different posts)
-My Mom's visit
-Girls' Camp
-Adam returns from Russia (he may put up a post with pictures at some point)
-Vacation Bible School
-2nd California trip (this time with Adam)
-Trip to Utah
-Whatever else happens between now and the time I put up the last post listed.

Busy summer, but we're all finally home to stay for a while now, so maybe I'll take some time and start updating.

California: The other Darrahs

2009-07-14T01:17:00.003-04:00

Lea, Ryan, Matt, (Caleb), Scarlet, Brooke. (Missing: Tyler)

Caleb and I got to go visit Adam's brother Matt and his cute family. We had a really good visit with them. The kids were so cute with Caleb and he had so much fun over there. They have such a fun house with lots of kid-friendly things to do, inside and outside. We're excited to see them again in a couple weeks.

California: The Darrahs

2009-07-13T01:34:00.003-04:00

We spent the last few days in California with my in-laws. Ray and Audrey moved to Davis, CA from Florida the beginning of May. So my visit was perfect timing. Although we're sad that we can't go to Florida now to visit them, it's nice to have them a little closer. We'll be able to see them more often now.

California: Amanda

2009-07-12T23:18:00.003-04:00

I spent a few days with my friend Amanda and her little girl. We had lots of fun just being able to catch up and spend some time together. We all went to San Francisco with her gramma on Saturday, and had a fun-filled day. We had an awesome lunch at a very cool restaurant (see above pictures). Walked around and took pictures on and of the pier. Then we went to the SF aquarium which was pretty cool. Too bad the kids were ready for their naps by then though. After they got a little shut eye in the car, we went to the beach by the SF bridge. The kids loved it! I freaked out a little when Caleb got sand in his face, mouth, ears, clothes, diaper, etc.. and haven't forgotten about it yet. Besides that little incident, we had a great time there. And a great time altogether. Thanks Amanda for the awesome time we had with you guys!

California: Great-gramma Hardy

2009-07-09T21:36:00.004-04:00

We had lots of fun with Gramma Hardy. We stayed at her house for about a week. We got to spend time with my sister, April and her two boys, Zack and Wyatt. And we also got to spend time with my two cousins, Cindy and Val and their kids.

California: Gramma Nora's

2009-05-10T02:01:00.002-04:00

Caleb has been having sooo much fun here. We got here on Thursday morning and after adjusting to the lack of sleep due to early plane flights, Caleb has been such a joy for everyone to be around. He has been warming up to everyone quickly and it's just so cool to see his cute little personality come out more.

Adam made it to Russia ok and is slowly adjusting to the time difference, he's 11 hours ahead of us. He has a Russian cell phone that we've been able to call using Skype for way cheap, like 7 cents a minute, and 2 cents a minute if we call his hotel land line. Oh, funny story: He's in room 54 and I was trying to figure out online how to say that in Russian so when I called the hotel, they could transfer me to his room. So I found a translation website that would also say the word aloud so that you could practice pronunciation. Well, I thought I would never be able to say it, so I went ahead and called the hotel. When they answered, I pressed 'play' on the word. So the lady put me on hold and called his room. Apparently no one answered so the lady came back and started talking to me. So I was like, dang it, I'm busted. She must have thought I was crazy, sounding like I could speak Russian and then saying, uh.. english?? So anyway, a guy who sounds American gets on the phone and says, sorry we couldn't fix your pipe. So I was able to explain to him who I was and that I was trying to reach my husband. I also tried to explain to him what I did, but I'm sure they all thought I was still crazy. Oh well. I did find out later, that Adam was asleep when I called. So it would have worked!

18 Months

2009-05-01T18:10:00.005-04:00

I'll find out measurements next week. He started officially walking on Easter Sunday (which was also my dad's birthday). He thinks he's so cool now! He's also coming out of his shell and becoming more outgoing. He loves going to child watch at the ymca and playing with "new" toys and other kids. He's a pretty happy kid and we are having so much fun with him.

Well, Adam will be leaving on May 7th for Russia. He received a scholarship to study with Duke University for 7 weeks in St. Petersburg. Caleb and I will be doing a little traveling as well. We'll leave the same day to go to California. We both have lots of family out there and we'll be visiting as many people as we can in 2 weeks. Then we'll be going to Delaware for a week to visit Toni and her family. When we get back, my mom will come out from Louisiana for 2 weeks. I'm very excited for all of the traveling. It will also help us to not be so lonely while Adam is gone. So I'm going to try to put up more posts so Adam can see updates often (and everyone else too of course!) but mainly for Adam :)

No need to spend money on fancy walkers!

2009-04-01T14:51:00.005-04:00

So Caleb is very close to walking on his own. In the meantime, he's been having fun being creative by finding all sorts of things to help him practice. It's nice that we have hard floors so his "helps" can slide easily. Oh, and ignore the mullet hair, he's getting a hair cut very soon!

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T21:51:00.005-05:00

I made this for Adam for Valentine's Day (with digital scrapbooking, I know. Me. Scrapbooking. But it was actually fun.) I put it in his office at school yesterday along with balloons and a rose when he wasn't there so he could be surprised. It was pretty cool.

From New Album 2/14/09 7:53 PM

Photo Shoot on the Bayou

2009-01-12T16:02:00.002-05:00

Christmas Parade

2009-01-12T15:47:00.005-05:00

Caleb and I went with my friend, Crystal, and her little boy to the Christmas parade in my hometown. It was lots of fun and brought back lots of memories.

This was my favorite float. You can see Santa in the back of the float in his red britches and suspenders. Look close.

Me, Caleb, and Elijah

A New Found Love

2008-12-30T22:40:00.003-05:00

A couple of days before we left for Louisiana, I was in the kitchen and Caleb was in his room playing and I heard a weird music sound. (This is where I wish I could upload videos from my phone to the computer.) So I went to check on him, and he had stood up by the piano bench and was reaching up and pressing some of the piano keys. It was so cute, his head didn't even reach the base of the keyboard. So when we were in Louisiana, that was his favorite thing to do, play the piano. Every time we would open it up and start playing some of the keys, he would get the biggest grin on his face and hurry over to the piano.

What a natural!

"I wanna play this song, gramma!"

New Things for Caleb

2008-12-30T22:26:00.003-05:00

I feel kind of bad because at home we don't really have too many "age-appropriate" toys for Caleb to play with. But at gramma's house there were all sorts of toys with buttons and lights and music and talking toys, it was great. He also discovered remote controls for the tv, which he somehow figured out how to turn on. And he just loved the Christmas tree. Gramma would turn on the lights and he would just sit there and stare at it. So lots of fun and excitement at gramma's house.

Back to the South

2008-12-30T21:59:00.006-05:00

Caleb and I were able to take a trip to Louisiana to visit my family. Adam was stuck behind studying for and taking finals. We got there late Wednesday night on the 10th. Caleb slept a lot on the plane and didn't want to go to sleep once we got home, he stayed up until almost 4am (3am his time)! He was also excited to be somewhere new to explore.

The next morning we woke up to snow. Lots of snow. I thought I was back in Salt Lake. It was crazy. I had never seen so much snow in Louisiana before. Once when I was 8 or 9 it snowed enough to make snow-men, but I don't remember this much snow. It was pretty watching it come down though.

These are my good friend's daughters Olivia and Liah.

The Zoo

2008-12-21T19:13:00.005-05:00

I took Caleb to the zoo for the first time at the beginning of December. We went with a friend and her little girl. Caleb loved it, it was so much fun watching him. And the weather was so nice too (December in Arizona!). No more snow. We ended up going back a few days later for "zoo lights" at night, which was also fun. We also ended up getting a season pass so we can go more often. So after the Christmas holiday, we'll have to start going more.

Next on Darrahnews: Jenn & Caleb's trip to Louisiana

Caleb's 1st Birthday

2008-11-27T14:20:00.008-05:00

Yes, of course Caleb's birthday was over a month ago, but come on, you guys know me by now. It's just how I do blogging. So Caleb's big day was lots of fun. Adam's mom and Jim came for the weekend. We had family pictures done (and as soon as I fix my scanner I'll post them). Caleb had yummy cake and ice cream and opened presents. We called my parents on one computer and Adam's dad and Audrey on our other computer and had a "virtual" birthday party.

Summer Recap

2008-10-30T13:22:00.006-04:00

Yes, I know that summer is long gone, but hey I got these pictures up before next summer! There are quite a few pictures so hopefully that will make up for my lack of posts over the summer. From birthday parties to weddings to family reunions, and lets not forget moving, we had a pretty fun and eventful summer. Sorry no pictures of the move (exciting as that would have been to see). We are really liking it here in Tucson, Arizona though. The weather is nice, no more snow or long winters. We're still wearing shorts! Adam's classes are going well, he's taking his first midterm today. We like our church ward here and we both have assignments now. I'm in the young women's program and Adam is teaching twice a month in the priesthood class. I'm really enjoying staying home with Caleb, it's been nice not to have to worry about work. We're looking forward to Caleb's birthday in two days. I'll put up a post on that later. Enjoy the pictures!

11 months old

2008-10-02T02:44:00.002-04:00

We went out to the park and took pictures today. Caleb is 11 months today and I can't believe it! I took over 200 pictures and these are the ones that came out, after a little editing of course. There are about 35 here in the slideshow. He now has 6 teeth, 2 on the bottom and 4 on top; he just got his front top two last Saturday. I'm not sure his weight and height measurements, it's been a while since he's been weighed. He's officially crawling as of Friday Sep 26th. Yea! He's been doing this army crawl for a couple of months now. It's been nice b/c he pulls his weight around the house by cleaning the floors with his belly but it'll also be nice for him not to ruin all of his clothes by doing that. He is also clapping now, and doing the sign for "done". He loves bath time even more now b/c he can move around and play with his toys. Although it's sad to see him growing up so fast, it is so much fun playing with him and seeing him enjoy so many simple things.

Happy Birthday Adam! (3 days ago)

2008-09-18T22:47:00.012-04:00

Adam's birthday was Monday and Caleb and I visited him at school with his favorite cake and ice cream. A lot of his classmates were able to come and celebrate too. We (well they) sang "Happy Birthday" in Russian. There were a few German students around so we invited them and they sang the song in German. We also had a few Asian students come by to share in the celebration, they missed the singing though. It was nice to be able to spend that time with Adam and his classmates at his school.

30 minus 1

Look at Caleb's fake smile. He's learning how to courtesy smile.

Some of Adam's fellow graduate students

Mmmmm...

Does he look ready to eat or what!

We went to Joe's Crab shack for his birthday dinner

Then we went to a family fun place with batting cages, air hockey (I won the first game, and he won the next 3 games), and ski ball. Fun times! It was an enjoyable birthday for the whole fam! Next year we're going to have to have a big birthday blow-out!

Seriously, what is taking so long?!?!

2008-09-13T17:48:00.004-04:00

Ok, for those of you who know me well, you know that the further I get behind on something the more I dread doing it and therefore, the more I keep putting it off. It's a vicious cycle! So I haven't decided yet how far back I'm going to post, we'll just have to see how things go. Just so you know though, I am working on it (in my head at least) and you'll see a new post soon. Maybe even later on today, but don't hold your breath.

What's going on?

2008-07-29T23:30:00.004-04:00

Well I think most of you know, but for those who don't, we will be moving to Tucson, Arizona next week. Adam was accepted to the University of Arizona where he'll be working towards a Masters Degree in Russian Language and Literature. He received a full-paid scholarship and will be a teacher's assistant in a russian literature class. Yay!! We're packing up next Wednesday the 6th and he and his mom will be driving down on the 7th. Caleb and I will be flying down on the 12th. There are some things I've been wanting to post but haven't had much time so I'll do updates after the move. We're so excited to be able to have a 2 bedroom apartment with modern conveniences (dishwasher, laundry room, etc.) and not have to walk up and down 4 flights of stairs! It's been good exercise but it's time for a first floor apartment.

More updates to follow... Well in a couple weeks or so.

A sign of things to come

2008-07-21T21:21:00.006-04:00

I took this a couple of weeks ago which was the start of his "explorings". He doesn't crawl yet but he has figured out how to get around. I wish I had a video camera, I could tape him doing his twirls where he looks like a little dog chasing his tail. It's very funny to see.

Not only does he love his daddy but he also loves his shoes. I'm not quite sure though that he'll ever get to his shoe size, not many grow to a size 14.

Aaaahh! TEETH! If you look closely, you'll see his 1st tooth.

I have mixed emotions about this little guy growing up and getting bigger. I'm excited to see him learn and progress but I'm also sad not to see him so small and precious. Well he's still precious of course, but you know what I mean.

Cute Caleb at 8 months

2008-07-05T00:20:00.006-04:00

Here are a few pictures that I've recently taken of Caleb that I thought were cute. It's the 4th of July as I'm posting this and I just realized that he has on red and blue. Very appropriate.

Happy Father's Day

2008-06-15T11:57:00.019-04:00

As many of you know (Adam, especially), I like to put things off. But as you can see, the date of publish is actually on Father's Day. So I'll take a little credit for at least starting this on time. Here are a few pictures that show how much Adam loves his son and how he loves spending time with him. Enjoy!

Nov. 1st, 2007: Getting ready to go into the operating room

(I don't know why the text is being underlined and I can't seem to get rid of it.)

In the ICU. Look how tiny! Adam was there every day as much as he could be there between classes and work. He loved being there close to Caleb and felt worried when he had to leave.

Nov. 16th: 1st day home from the ICU

(Ok, the text stopped underlining itself)

Some of Caleb's 1st smiles with Daddy

On Daddy's Graduation Day

Caleb's 1st feeding with Daddy

Awwww! My 2 boys!

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

Love,

Caleb & Mommy

Adam's Graduation

2008-06-06T19:54:00.014-04:00

So Adam found out in April that he could graduate at the end of the semester. He thought he had a few more classes he needed to take but it turns out he just had one more credit hour to finish and they're letting him finish it during the summer. Graduation was May 2nd. Nora and Sami were able to drive out on short notice to be here for the graduation. We were so happy they could be here for such a special day. Caleb decided to have the worst day ever though and Gramma Nora took him to the car and calmed him down and missed Adam's name being called out. Thanks Gramma! We are so proud of Adam for such a great accomplishment graduating from the University of Utah with a Bachelor's degree in Russian Language & Literature. During his time at school, he has come to love everything about the Russian culture. He has a great passion for continuing to learn and research Russian literature at a graduate level and is currently applying at the University of Arizona. I love and appreciate his passion for the Russian culture and can't wait to see what the future holds for us.

Scott's new house

2008-05-28T12:51:00.018-04:00

My brother Scott just bought a new house at the end of February - Go Scott! (Although we all secretly hate you for being the first and youngest to have a house). He has a nice new house in a new development in Denham Springs LA. It is a really nice location and an awesome house with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. We got the family with most of the near-by extended family together for mom's gumbo (mmmm..) and other yummy food. It was so fun to see everyone there: Me, Adam and Caleb, Scott and Amanda, mom and dad, Joe, Jessica and Isaiah, gramma, aunt Elaine, aunt Jenny, and Uncle Leonard and Barbara. It was like a mini family reuion.

Uncle Joe & Caleb Jessica & Isaiah

Gramma Brown

2008-05-23T00:08:00.002-04:00

I know it's been over a month now that I went to Louisiana but I'm finally updating the blog. Caleb and I were able to go visit Gramma Brown at her house in Praireville. Her sister Elaine was there also but had to leave before we remembered to take pictures. I love going out to gramma's house, she lives out in the peaceful country by the bayou with her son and her sister as neighbors on either side of her. We love Gramma Brown and wish we lived closer so we could see each other more often. It was nice to be able to go and visit her while we were there. The only thing I forgot to do is to get a 4 generation picture with all 4 of us. Next time. Love you Gramma!!

Caleb's Louisiana Baby Shower

2008-05-13T23:31:00.006-04:00

Gail Saxon from my old ward in Louisiana (one of my former youth leaders), threw me a baby shower when we were there. It was awesome! So many of my old youth leaders and teachers were there as well as friends that I grew up with. This is my best friend since the 5th grade, Toni. She's cute and pregnant with her 3rd and she's gonna kill me for putting this picture up. I took it with my phone so it's not the best picture anyway. And here's a link to her blog where she posted more pictures of the shower. Check it out! Thanks Gail and all the women who helped put it together, it was beautiful! It was so nice to be around so many people I love.

Jenn's Baby Shower

Louisiana... Home Again!

2008-05-12T00:11:00.014-04:00

I recently was able to take a trip back home to Louisiana for 11 days for my 10 yr high school reunion. The reunion wasn't 11 days of course, but I was able to take some extra time to visit friends and family, show off Caleb, and just be home. I miss Louisiana and was glad to be back. It's been 3 years since I've been back. Adam had finals that week but he made it for the reunion. I didn't take as many pictures as I should have but I'll put up the few that I did. You can look at Toni's blog for more pictures: www.maxwellmemoirs.blogspot.com. I'll put up a list of friends' blogs one day.

Weekend with Las Hermanas

2008-05-11T22:56:00.012-04:00

A month ago, I got to spend some time with some old friends from my mission. A few of us got together for lunch on a Saturday afternoon. After that, Carrie and I (with Caleb of course) took a trip up to Idaho to see 2 other mission friends. We went to see Kareena's 4th baby receive a baby's blessing at church. And we were able to stay with Rachel and her family that night. It was so fun to catch up with all of them and reminisce about the mission. I was blessed to serve in one of the best missions ever (the Dominican Republic) and had some of the very best companions and roommates who are still some of my dear friends. I love them very much and think about the mission often and how it has blessed my life. I copied these pictures from Angela's blog. She also posted some pictures from the mission if you want to see them. Pretty cool! (gradyandangela.blogspot.com)

Me & Carrie Sarah & Angela

(Above: Kareena, Me, Rachel, & Carrie)

Jenn's Photography

2008-04-20T23:17:00.006-04:00

Here are a few pictures I've been working on lately. Enjoy!

Caleb and Mommy

2008-04-14T12:36:00.005-04:00

Adam's step-mom, Audrey came to visit us for a few days at the end of March. We were showing her pictures of Caleb and she noticed that there wasn't one picture of me and Caleb together (probably because I was usually the one taking the pictures). So she made sure to take a few of just the two of us together. So these are the first pictures of me and Caleb together. It only took us about five months.

Me and my Mom

2008-04-06T19:22:00.002-04:00

I love my mom and I think she's a beautiful lady (although she'll probably kill me for putting these up). We were glad that she and my dad were here for Caleb's blessing. We don't have many pictures of just us two so we took advantage of the lady with the camera.

Caleb's Blessing Day - March 2nd, 2008

2008-04-05T14:04:00.002-04:00

More pictures from Caleb's blessing

2008-04-05T12:51:00.002-04:00

Caleb's 1st captured smile

2008-04-04T19:13:00.000-04:00

I wanna say Caleb started smiling around 2 months or so. I took this picture on my phone so some of you may have seen this one.

Life after the NICU

2008-04-04T18:33:00.004-04:00

We were able to have lots of family come and help out when Caleb was born. Adam's sister, Sami, was first to the scene. I went to the hospital on a Thursday morning and she drove out here from California in record time arriving that same night. We weren't sure when the baby was coming so she had to get back to work by that Monday. She was sad that she couldn't be there for the birth but we were so grateful that she was there during that stressful time. She was our comic relief! My mom was here about 4 hours after Caleb was born and left 2 days before he came home from the hospital. Ray and Audrey were here the day after my mom left and stayed for a few days. They were there to welcome Caleb home from the ICU. Adam's mom, Nora, came out the beginning of December and was able to stay for a week. That's her giving Caleb a bath at the kitchen sink. We are very grateful to our parents, they did so much for us when they were out here. My mom helped drive me back and forth to the hospital 3 or 4 times a day so we could be with Caleb as much as possible. Ray and Audrey helped us get the house all set up. Nora was a huge help for me because she would get up in the night and help feed the baby while I caught up on sleep. It was such a joy to have that time with each of the grandparents.

What you've all been waiting for...

2008-04-04T17:44:00.001-04:00

Well, Adam started this blog back in December after Caleb was born. It's been a few months now and I think we're ready to put up some new pictures - finally!! We don't have the internet at home (I know, we live in the dark ages) so that makes it rather difficult to post new blogs, but I finally got my act together and I saved a bunch of pictures to a cd and I'm at a computer with the internet. So now we'll see if I can figure this out and actually get the pictures on the site. Have fun!

Caleb's Story

2007-12-19T13:32:00.000-05:00

Caleb Adam Darrah was born November 1, 2007 at the University of Utah Hospital(GO UTES!) weighing in at 4lbs 6oz and 18 inches long. His due date was December 17, 2007, but like all of the Darrah men he was impatient and in a hurry and just wanted to get here. He spent two weeks in the New Born ICU and did very well. He did not need any assistance breathing and made us very proud by putting up with all of the poking and prodding that the nurses and doctors had to do. We are very fortunate to have him so healthy and relatively happy. Since he has been home he has learned very quickly how to get our attention and drive us out of our minds. In other words, he is a very normal and happy little boy.