Finally! Photos!

Calvin took a photo of his missionary tag with the "dork dot," (as it is affectionately called) which is a sticker each new missionary gets on their first day at the MTC (or Missionary Training Center). That way, if they get lost - or are looking around like they are lost - everyone understands that they are new to the MTC and will help out. After the first day, most missionaries take the "dork dot" off and put it on the back of their tags.

Because of budget cuts, the swim team at Harpursville was cut Calvin's senior year. Calvin wanted to stay in shape, so he asked his dad what he should do. His dad's answer? "Try out for the football team! You'll fulfill your goal of staying in shape and it doesn't matter if you play or not!" Mind you, Calvin hadn't played football at all except for some flag football with friends and some team football way back when he was in kindergarten. The good thing about living in a small school district is that your children get opportunities to play on sports teams that they wouldn't have if they lived in a larger district.  He practiced very hard, and though he only played about 5 minutes the entire season, he met his goal of staying in shape. We were very proud of him for doing something so hard.

Calvin made this page about his baptism for his scrapbook. I like the spiders and what seems to be an arrow coming out of the cloud thing. Calvin has always added his personal touch to things.

Calvin had to give a talk in primary 9/99. So he illustrated his testimony. It reads (starting from the book in the upper left corner):  "I know the scriptures are true."  "I'm glad the Prophet, President Hinckley, lives today." The two brown people are captioned: "I know Jesus lives," and "I know Heavenly Father lives."  The tall man in the middle is captioned: "I'm very glad that Joseph Smith found the Golden Plates." The kneeling man: "Lieutenant Stone with the Book of Mormon." I had forgotten his affinity for action figures.

One of Calvin's early comic book pages. I couldn't find the one with the dinosaur leaving one of the cells and the puff of dust.

This is the picture Calvin drew about baptism, and that I mentioned in my talk. As I said, Calvin always had to add his own personal touch to things.

Calvin was on the swim team for his school for 2 years - his sophomore and junior years. Both years the team won awards for having the highest GPA. Again, had he been in a larger school, he wouldn't have had this opportunity. His high school had a handful of boys who wanted to swim, so they banded together with 4 other schools and were known as "the alphabet team" ABGHS. They did really well. But budget cuts were deadly.

Calvin walking in the Sacred Grove the day we took him to the temple. We believe that the Sacred Grove is where Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ, in answer to his prayer when he was 14 years old. It is a place of much peace and great beauty.

You can see the Sacred Grove from the Palmyra Temple. Here is Calvin standing at a period replica of a fence by the Joseph Smith Farmstead Home, the day we took him to the temple.

We took this picture the Sunday before Calvin left for the MTC. Here, he's making fun of me for being so short. Silly boy.

Calvin playing his french horn in the pit at a stage production of "Crazy For You" in Bainbridge, NY. This was Calvin's first "paying gig" as a musician.

Calvin doing his homework with Ziggy, our pet rat. We LOVED our pet rats (we had to buy the cage in the background to make room for 4 rats)! Ziggy was a beautiful silver color. Rats are fun pets, by the way, in case you're curious.

One of Calvin's earliest trips to the Palmyra Temple. This temple was dedicated in 2000. You probably can't see this, but the sleeves on Calvin's shirt are rolled up to fit him, and I think his pants are held up by a belt that has a few extra holes bored in it.

Calvin and his younger sister Chantal again at the temple in Palmyra. His pants and shirt fit much better this time. I think he's 16 in this photo.