The Stevens Family

Ninjas

2011-12-09T07:52:00.007-07:00

Josh has been into ninjas for a while now, so that was what he wanted to be for Halloween. We borrowed a cute tiger costume for Connor, but he wanted nothing to do with it. I had a really hard time convincing him to let me put it on him. Then he said something about a ninja, so I told him yes, he was in fact going to be a ninja just like his brother, only he would be a tiger ninja. After that we did not have a problem getting the costume on him, as long as he was a ninja like his brother.

I don't know how Josh ended up with so many weapons in his possession!

Josh's silly face on the pumpkin.

He pulled off the silly face so he could carve the pumpkin and Connor helped.

The pumpkin that Josh painted came out of grandpa Wood's garden. He chose the biggest one he could find and I was relieved that he wanted to paint it rather than carve it. The rest of the pumpkins came out of our garden.

Catching Up

2011-12-06T10:27:00.000-07:00

I've been neglecting this blog for far too long and have been told it is time to update. I uploaded these pictures a long time ago, I just never finished the post. The past couple months have been a little chaotic for us, but things are going a little better now. We are expecting baby #3 to arrive around Gary and I's birthday in the beginning of June. I'm about 13 weeks now and was pretty sick, but since getting Zofran have been doing much better. I still get sick, but not nearly as bad. I'm just tired all the time.

During Payson's Onion Days we got to tour the fire station. The kids got to climb into the fire truck and ambulance and had a good time.

Josh even got to try on the fire man's helmet.

One of the things I really enjoy about the summers is being outside with Grandpa Wood. He is 95 years old now and enjoys sitting outside watching the kids play.

Watching Josh and Jordan play in the boat brings back a lot of memories from when I was a kid. My cousin Mike and I spent a lot of time playing in this boat as kids so it is fun to watch Josh and Jordan.

Josh learned to ride his bike this summer. He was really hesitant to try for quite a while, but once he figured it out I couldn't get him off it. I inherited a bike, and we started going on bike rides together and he really likes that. A couple times we rode bikes to and from school together.

Josh had a blast playing soccer with his cousin Jordan. The games were a lot of fun to watch.

Connor sleeping peacefully with all his little friends. Thanks to Grammy, Connor is never lonely when it is time to go to sleep!

2 Years Old!

2011-09-25T08:27:00.000-06:00

Our sweet little Connor turned 2 a week ago. He says and does the cutest things. Lately he's been using the phrase "oh, man" a lot. When he does something he knows he shouldn't, it is often followed by "just kidding." We're not sure where he picked that up, but it is cute.

It was hard work opening his presents. Good thing he had Josh to help him.

He got a little trike for his birthday and he took Clifford for a spin on it.

He got a doughnut for breakfast since we made him wait until the next day for cake.

Sunday after church we had everyone over for cake and ice cream.

Josh got to help decorate the bottom of the sail boat cake and I did the top.

Connor likes to follow me every time I go out to the garden to pick stuff. He stomps on my tomatoes and helps pick the green beans. He picks the cherry tomatoes and throws them all over the garden. He's so small he could almost disappear in the garden.

He loves driving the truck. When we go outside he will stand by the shed and yell "Truck out please!" until we get it out for him. He would be happy to live in the back yard with the dog.

Exhausted little guy getting some rest with Clifford and other stuffed animals.

My boys love to be read to. We keep a pile of books in the front room and Connor frequently will grab his favorites, throw them in my lap, and as he starts climbing up will say, "read please". If I don't start reading immediately he will keep saying that until I do. We are glad he joined our family two years ago. He has added so much happiness to our home!

Crazy Busy Summer

2011-09-15T15:48:00.010-06:00

I can't believe we've already made it to September. I don't know what happened to the summer. It went by so fast and we stayed so busy. I have a hard time keeping up with everything during the summer. Since we don't have a sprinkler system it is a pain to keep the yard watered and the garden is a lot of work. For some reason I planted six rows of green beans, thinking I'd bottle a lot this year and not have to do much next year. They weren't very long rows, but I will NEVER EVER do that again. Those plants produce like crazy and it seemed like I had to pick beans every other day in order to keep up. I thought I'd quickly post a few pictures and then do a birthday post since Connor's birthday is coming up.

Such cute boys!

Josh spent a lot of time swimming this summer. He swam in his pool on the deck, we went to the city pool a few times, and he had his first swimming lessons with his cousin Jordan. He took swimming lessons from a lady that teaches in the pool in her back yard. There were only six kids and two teachers, so Josh really learned a lot and is an amazing swimmer for his age. He is fearless and would stay in a pool all day if we let him.

While Daddy went to Scout camp, Josh and I had a camp out on the deck on the blow up mattress. We took the baby monitor outside with us and left Connor in his own bed. Josh was so excited about it that it took until 10:00 that night before he fell asleep. The boys had fun playing on the bed the next morning until I put it away.

I'm not entirely sure how Connor ended up with a whole container of animal crackers, in the front room, all by himself. He is pretty mischievous and sneaky. He has the ability to quietly disappear and go get into trouble but he is adorable and that is what saves him.

This was Josh's first day of school. I can't believe I already have a kindergartner. It seems like just last week he was Connor's size and now he's starting school. I can't believe how big and smart he is getting.

The same day Josh started kindergarten, Connor got to start sleeping in a big boy bed. I was expecting to have to chase him back to bed a hundred times for the first several nights, but to my surprise, the kid actually stays put. There was one day during nap time he got out a couple times, but he normally doesn't get out of his bed and if he does it is only once.

The Other Josh

2011-08-14T10:39:00.008-06:00

Since it has been over a month since I've posted anything, I should be posting about what I've been doing this summer with my boys. Instead, I'm posting about the other Josh I am a big fan of since I had a blast last night at his concert.

This is a picture I took standing about ten feet from where he was performing. I somehow managed to get two tickets on the floor, just 11 rows away from the stage, right in the middle. When the pre-sale tickets went on sale, I was sitting at the computer, credit card in hand. There were six of us going to the concert, but you could only purchase four tickets at a time. I got the first four tickets, about half way up the lower bowl, the second section away from the stage. Then when I went to book the other two tickets, the best seats available were on the floor, and I am still shocked that I was able to get them.

Mom and Melissa sat the first half of the show on the floor, and then traded Kristy and I half way through. Toward the beginning of the show, Josh walked down the isle next to them and talked to a kid sitting behind them for a few minutes. They were within three feet of him and Melissa took this picture with my camera. Toward the end of the show, he came back to talk to the kid again and take him on stage so Kristy and I were within three feet of Josh. It was awesome.

I'm pretty sure I could see the same concert many more times and not get sick of it. Diane, I blame you for my addiction to his music.

While we were trading seats, Josh got on a platform to do a few songs. We had to walk past the platform in order to get to our seats. Security chased us down to stop us, but when we showed them our tickets, they had to let us go. So we joined the other people standing around the platform before finding our seats. It was awesome being ten feet away from him as he performed. I doubt that will happen again!

I took this picture from our seats on the floor without using the zoom on the camera! I had a great time at the concert!

Summer Fun

2011-07-07T13:56:00.010-06:00

Since summer arrived I have been very busy! I have an especially hard time keeping up with everything during the summer since I spend so much time outside taking care of our yard.

I'm really late posting pictures of Josh's preschool graduation, but oh well. He was such a cute little graduate!

He was lucky enough to be in the same class as his cousin Jordan and buddy Griffin. Griffin lives a few blocks away and they know each other from church.

Josh tried T-ball for the first time. He thought it was great fun and I'd rather watch T-ball over major league baseball any day. These kids are so entertaining to watch since they don't really know what they are doing.

Josh on base with the baseman. You can't convince the basemen that they don't need to stand on top of the base, and sometimes the runners forget to run so you end up with three kids on a base. They all dive for the ball as if it were a football and fight over who gets it. There are kids standing on their heads, coach tripping over kids, and Connor running out to the field to play.

We go up to the Grotto at least once a week and this was our first trip of the summer. I've never seen so much water up there and it was a little scary. Part of the trail was submerged in water because of the heavy spring rain we had.

Melissa and Connor

Grandma and Grandpa come with us a lot. It is so nice to have them a mile and a half away!

Connor absolutely loves being outside. Every time I bring him inside he throws quite the tantrum.

Josh got to go on his first father's and son's camp out. Between work and school Gary usually misses it, but this year he was finally able to take Josh and they both had a great time. I sort of forgot that one of the tent poles was broken, but Gary was able to figure that out once they got to their camping spot. He had to improvise, and did a pretty good job considering.

We also got to go on a ward camp out and that was a lot of fun. That was Connor's first camp out and he loved it. It's been a while since we've been able to go camping but hopefully we'll get more camping in this summer.

Family Fun

2011-06-01T11:28:00.014-06:00

Jared and Carrie flew in from Illinois and stayed with us for a week. We had a lot of fun with everyone together and got to do some fun things!

We went to Andrea and Jordan's baby blessing.

We got to see Aunt Diane and Steve get married.

Me & my siblings outside the temple.

We got to meet Elise for the first time. Elise and Connor were playing peek-a-boo.

We got to meet baby Austin for the first time.

There were wagon rides.

There were four wheeler rides.

There were rides in Josh's truck.

It was cute to watch Connor and Audrey play since they are both close in age and both so small for their age.

So cute to see these pals with arms around each other.

We went to the Bean Museum. It was a little tricky keeping track of all those kids and making sure they stayed out of trouble.

Josh and Caleb got to go to a BYU baseball game. They managed to get a picture with Cosmo before he ran off away from all the rest of the kids that were there.

We also got to celebrate Jared's birthday while he was here and Mother's Day. Jared and Carrie sent Gary and I to a motel one night to use a free night stay they had. I think it's been at least two years since Gary and I have had a night alone together. My kids had a great time with their cousins. They loved having kids to play with all day every day, and Josh was pretty sad to see Caleb leave.

5 Years Old!

2011-05-02T09:36:00.001-06:00

As usual, I am a little slow getting Josh's birthday pictures posted but it has been a busy month! Just before Josh's birthday we said good bye to our 6 mega pixel camera with a 3 times zoom and got a 16 mega pixel camera with a 10 times zoom. I'm very excited to have a camera that can take some decent pictures!

I can't believe Josh is already 5 years old. It doesn't seem like it has been that long since we brought him home from the hospital. We are constantly amazed at how smart this kid is and feel very blessed to have him in our home!

Josh picked a rocket ship cake for his 3rd birthday and still remembers and talks about it. He decided he wanted another rocket ship cake for his 5th birthday. I realized that it wasn't really what the cake was as much as the fact that he got to decorate it that was so neat. So I started the decorating and let him finish it and this is what he came up with!

We had the cousins come over to open presents and have cake and ice cream. He got the hat at preschool when they celebrated his birthday and wore it for a week straight and still sometimes puts it on.

He got a new In-N-Out t-shirt. It is his favorite because he can match his Dad. When Gary is wearing his, Josh sometimes changes into his to be like his dad.

He was excited to get a new bike.

His birthday fell on the week of spring break, so he got to celebrate all week long with his cousins. The week started out with a sleep over at grandma and grandpa's. They were brave enough to have four boys sleep over and the boys had a blast. It was a little strange to just have Connor at home.

Josh got to go bowling on BYU campus with his cousins.

He also got to go to Jumping Jacks with his cousins.

As a family we went on a little hike to the P.

Sydney found a few mud puddles to cool off in. She was not allowed back into the van after that, so she and Gary walked all the way home from the P. Good thing that wasn't very far.

The top of the P.

Two boys worn out after a full week of fun!

Little Climber

2011-04-15T16:00:00.001-06:00

I wanted to get these pictures posted before Josh's birthday, but it just didn't happen. Hopefully in the next few days I'll do another post with pictures from Josh's birthday.

Shortly after I posted last, Connor figured out how to climb on top of the kitchen table. This was his first attempt and you can see how happy and content he is sitting on top of the table in the middle of a mess.

Too bad I had to rain on his parade by tipping the chairs over. As you can see, he was not a happy camper. Either I spend all day fishing him off the top of the table, or the chairs get tipped over. Connor knows that there is always a bowl full of candy on Grandpa Wood's kitchen table. One day he climbed up and was trying to help himself when Josh caught him. Josh tried to get him out of the candy and instead the two of them toppled off the top of the table together and were both in tears. Connor keeps me on my toes!

Connor did think it was fun to make a hide out with the chairs, so at least that made him feel better about not being able to get on top of the table.

If Josh needs something out of the fridge, Connor needs to step in the fridge too.

Grammy sent some new swords and shields Josh was excited about. You may not be able to see them all in this picture, but I think he's got 5 or 6 swords on him.

Since Josh likes playing with swords, so does Connor!

The great thing about living in Utah is that you may still get snow in April. Of course Josh and his Dad are thrilled to go play in it, but I'm ready for it to stay warm. It keeps going back and forth but hopefully soon it will stay warm!

Fun with the boys

2011-03-04T21:02:00.000-07:00

My boys have so much fun together. They especially like playing with their Daddy.

Whatever Josh does, Connor thinks he needs to do too. If Josh climbs on his dad or in the chair, Connor thinks he needs to as well.

These two pictures along with the weather reminded me of a book I've read one too many times. "The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play. So we sat in the house all that cold, cold, wet day. I sat there with Connor. We sat there, we two. And I said, "How I wish we had something to do!" Too wet to go out and too cold to play ball. So we sat in the house. We did nothing at all."

"Then, out of the box came Thing Two and Thing One! And they ran to us fast. They said "How do you do? Then those Things ran about with big bumps, jumps and kicks and with hops and big thumps and all kinds of bad tricks."

If Josh is in the tub, Connor wants to be in the tub too. He's been following Josh into the bathroom ever since he could army crawl. For the most part, they play great together and Josh is such a sweet big brother.

Connor is getting better at climbing. He's able to climb on most furniture now, which makes things a little more difficult for me. We tend to put things on the furniture so he can't reach them and it isn't working very well anymore.

Here I thought Connor had figured out how to climb on the couch all by himself, but his Dad reluctantly admitted to helping him and then leaving him unsupervised. He had this look on his face like, "Thanks Dad, I was ready for a snack. Mom never gives me enough food!"

He's a little kid, but is a good eater! A very messy eater too. Unlike his brother, he does not mind getting his fingers dirty. In fact, he gets mad at me every time I clean him up after meals. Sometimes he'll smear his dirty fingers in his hair. Often he needs a bath by the time he is done eating.

So cute getting into his brother's stuff!

It is rare to see Josh voluntarily getting his fingers dirty, but I guess a little chocolate cake mix does the trick. He grabbed the bowl, took it in the front room, and dug in with both hands while watching cartoons. That was until I stopped him anyway.

Josh is really into Lego's right now. If you look closely, on the top of this vehicle you can see these tiny plastic ninjas his cousins gave him. He has carried them around everywhere and they have become his most prized possessions. With his Lego's he has built them a secret hide out and a vehicle to get around in.

Christmas

2011-01-30T20:00:00.010-07:00

The boys had a fun Christmas in Richfield. This was our last Christmas in Richfield since Mom and Dad retired and moved to Payson. After 26 years in this house, they are selling it and looking to buy or build a house in the area. I'm sad to see the house go, and will miss weekend get-aways to Richfield, but it is so nice to have them close by.

It took them a while to open everything and was a mess after!

Josh got a Green Bay coat from Grammy and Grampy.

Despite all the new things Connor had to play with, he was more interested in unloading stuff in Grandma's cupboards.

Grampy sent Josh and Gary this Nerf gun that's almost as big as Josh. It's funny to watch Josh waiting to ambush his dad.

Connor standing on his stool, fingers in mouth, watching everything that's going on.

Josh and Jordan got new scooters they were excited about.

Sydney even got a sweater from Grammy. It kept her a little warmer!

Getting ready for Christmas

2011-01-20T18:22:00.001-07:00

The boys got to go to the mall with their cousins to see Santa. Every time I asked Josh what he wanted for Christmas he told me something different. It seemed to change by the minute. I guess it turned out ok because he didn't really have his heart set on any one thing and was happy with what he got.

Josh also got to see Santa at a party at the church. This was his first visit with Santa and he was nervous. He decided to be brave and was determined to let Santa know what he wanted.

I had lots of help putting the Christmas tree up!

The grin on this face shows how thrilled he is that there are boxes of Christmas stuff for him to get into. He is always into everything! We were in a waiting room somewhere and there were a ton of toys for the kids to play with. Connor wasn't interested in the toys. Instead he was getting into a baby carrier belonging to a stranger, playing with the lock on the door, and then marched into an office to see what was behind the desk. He's going to give me a run for my money. Some day I will have a beautiful Christmas tree, but I do not expect that to happen for years. It started out looking pretty nice until I kept moving decorations higher and higher out of Connor's reach. It wasn't long before only the top half was decorated. Josh kept finding ornaments that he really liked and carried them around the house. I found ornaments strung everywhere. Both boys pulled on the lights until they were on the floor. This picture was taken when Josh came and told me "I didn't mean to do it." I asked him what he did, and he told me me he bent the top of the tree. I asked him how in the world he managed to bend the top of the tree. He shook the tree, of course, until the star on the top fell over.

I still haven't figured out why under the tree is the optimal place to relax.

Connor is happy with the dump truck, though he has gotten creative with his uses for it.

Josh had so much fun at a family Christmas party making a candy train.

Connor started doing this cheesy grin that cracks us up. With a grin like this, who would believe how mischievous he is and what a little stinker he has become during church. He is my little explorer and does not sit still for a minute unless he's strapped down to his chair! I can't believe he is already 16 months old!

Let it snow!

2011-01-18T09:03:00.002-07:00

I don't know where the past three months have gone. I can't believe it is now January. My blog has been neglected more than it usually is and now I am going to try to catch up and do a few posts over the next week or so.

When it snows, I'm not sure if Josh or Gary gets more excited. Josh absolutely loves playing in the snow. Gary has just as much fun as Josh does. Connor has only been in it once so far, and not for long since he's still small. He seemed to enjoy a little ride on the sled and really liked being outside despite the cold.

Connor looks so cute in his beanie!

Gary bought Josh a sled and Sydney a harness and rigged it so she can pull Josh around on the sled. It's pretty entertaining to watch and about the only way I know of to wear that dog out. She has so much energy it is good for her and Josh has so much fun.

One morning we woke up to two feet of snow outside. It took forever to shovel the sidewalks and driveway.

He can't hardly move all bundled up, but is so cute wandering around like that.

Josh wanted to make a snowman and I found it was easier to roll the giant snowball down the side walk to clear the walk than it was to shovel. The snowball got a little too big though and I had to have help getting it off the sidewalk. That was as far as we got on our snowman.

Halloween

2010-11-04T09:44:00.007-06:00

This year Josh was really excited about Halloween. He asked me just about every day for a month when it was going to be time for Halloween. He was excited to carve pumpkins and even helped a little more than he has before.

Josh changed his mind about his costume several times before he saw a triceratops costume that he just had to have. He said that Connor was a stegosaurus, so I had two cute little dinosaurs. Josh named both the pumpkins we carved Charlie Brown and the smallest one Logan after his friend. I'm not sure if that's an honor or an insult to his friend!

Connor seemed to enjoy carving pumpkins too, except when his dad covered him in pumpkin guts. He didn't appreciate that too much, but insisted on sitting on my lap while I carved a pumpkin.

Goodbye Summer

2010-10-13T21:21:00.000-06:00

I really don't know what happened to the summer. It went by so fast and I can't believe the weather is cooling down already. I realized there are a lot of pictures from the summer I haven't posted so here they are. Some of this is kind of random! For this being our first year doing a garden, I think we did pretty good. I learned not to ignore the squash or zucchini for very long, or this is what happens. I think I picked about 6 zucchini, 7 or 8 yellow squash, and all those green beans in one day. I was able to can the green beans, but some of the rest of that had to be given to neighbors or fed to the neighbors pigs! Next year I will only do one plant each of squash and zucchini instead of 2!

I am not sure how this zucchini managed to grow unnoticed for so long, but this one was huge. It weighed pretty close to what Connor weighs. Something of this size I thought should go to Manookin's newest pig, who I call Big Daddy (don't know what they call him) and is in the picture below. The pig is huge so we went out to the farm and Josh got to give him the huge zucchini and we helped feed the pigs.

He seemed to enjoy being in the pig pen with the little pigs.

I was outside one day doing some yard work or something when Gary came home from somewhere. I thought it was pretty funny that Sydney and Josh seemed equally happy to see him since they both ran up to the door of the car to greet him.

Sydney jumped right through the window, so Josh had to get in the car too. Sydney loves going places in the car.

One nice thing about summer is being able to give the dog a bath outside! I end up almost as wet as her.

This is Josh and his friend Logan. I think they must be getting excited for Halloween or something. Logan lives a couple houses down and they have been pals all summer long. It has been wonderful for Josh to have someone to play with that lives so close. They get along great. Logan's parents just put their house up for sale though, and I'm not sure if I was more disappointed or if Josh was. Josh wants to sale our house now so we can move with them and still be neighbors.

Josh recently acquired a pillow pet (thanks Grammy!!) that he's become attached to. He and Connor each have one that they trade around. It has begun to accompany him where ever he goes and he even buckles it up in the car.

Over the past couple months, Connor has acquired some new hobbies. One of them is spending time with the dog. He seems to like to sit next to the dog whether we've got the door open to the screen or whether it is closed. Connor seems to like to visit Sydney and sometimes chat with her.

Josh figured out how to hang on to Connor's fingers and help him walk around the house. They both think it is great fun. Connor loves to walk around with help. He took his first steps a few days after his birthday and is getting better and better at taking steps. He'll let go of furniture and take a few steps to me without hanging on to anything and will giggle as he does it. He thinks walking is great fun.

Connor loves to get in my Tupperware cupboard. He's so small that he fits a little too perfectly inside. At night when I go to bed sometimes I think about what a great job he does setting booby traps around my house. There seems to always be a pile of Tupperware on the kitchen floor, and all sorts of goo accumulated on the floor around his high chair. Then there are various piles of toys strewn about the front room and other areas of the house. I can't seem to keep up with him and at the end of the day when I'm too tired to clean it all up, I think to myself that if anyone ever tries breaking into this house I feel sorry for them. Between Connor's booby traps and the Marine I sleep next to, a robber just would not stand a chance.

Connor thinks it is quite amusing to pull the wipes out one by one. He knows how to open the container, and did it several times before I finally started to remember to put the wipes away after diaper changes. I have to be equally careful with boxes of tissue because he does the same thing with that too.

Josh started preschool a little over a month ago at the elementary school. It's twice a week for 2 1/2 hours and since we live in a title 1 area, it is free! Josh never lets Connor near the whiteboard (which is good because of the markers) but one morning while Josh was gone, Connor had this grin on his face that just told me he thought it was great that he was finally finding opportunities to get into his brother's stuff while Josh is at school.

One Year Old!

2010-09-19T20:55:00.002-06:00

Friday was Connor's first birthday. I can't believe he's already one year old. It went by so fast for me!

Waiting for his cake.

Josh was able to light the cake all by himself (I keep the lighter hidden for good reason).

Connor got his own personal cake to destroy but this was his other cake. It's supposed to be fish in the ocean. Josh had fun helping decorate the cake. Josh was more than happy to help Connor out.

Connor was a little hesitant to put his hand in the cake to begin with, which surprised me. Whenever I feed him he's always trying to put his hand in the cereal or baby food and then he smears it everywhere. He complains every time I get out the wash cloth to wipe him down and doesn't mind being messy a bit. Once he got into the cake he really seemed to enjoy it!

Even Sydney got a taste of the cake. She normally doesn't get to come in and clean up after Connor, but since I was going to have to mop the floor anyway I figured she could join the celebration.

We met Gary at his work for dinner and to feed the ducks and open presents. I wasn't really sure what else to do for the birthday boy since he's not old enough to really care.

We seriously made it about two steps away from the parking lot before the ducks approached us for food. We didn't even go to the edge of the pond, which I guess is a good thing considering Josh nearly fell in last time. There were a few ducks that were not at all scared of us and were eating out of Josh's hand, nibbling on his fingers and of course he didn't even care. One duck kept grabbing full pieces of bread out of his hand and then would run off with it so the other ducks wouldn't get it. They were just like puppies and would jump up trying to get the bread from Josh. It was so funny to watch.

Connor had to be put out of the reach of the ducks. Gary was holding him and one duck jumped up and nibbled on Connor's toe. It didn't seem to bother him, but we didn't want to traumatize him on his birthday.

Pictures Re-done

2010-09-19T20:13:00.004-06:00

We had our family pictures done over since I didn't really like the other one that was taken. Connor was cranky the first time and they turned out much better the second time around!

Road Trip

2010-08-29T21:14:00.000-06:00

We managed to sneak in a road trip while Gary was between semesters at school. It was really nice to get away and we had a lot of fun. We drove to Page, AZ and stayed the night with Jordan and Andrea, then got up the next morning and drove the rest of the way to Phoenix. We stayed with Aunt Kimi for a couple days and then drove to Southern California. We spent a couple days there and then drove to St. George and spent the night before driving the rest of the way home. It was a lot of driving, but well worth it!

I don't think we could have survived the drive without the DVD player and head phones made it nice. The leap frog toy Aunt Kimi gave Josh also really helped entertain him for long periods of time too!

As soon as we got to Aunt Kimi's we jumped in the pool. Josh would be content to stay in the pool all day. Connor didn't last as long since he was pretty tired. Just before we left he got over an ear infection and had finished his antibiotic. I was packing up getting ready to go when I picked him up and found that he was burning with fever. We took him back to the doctor before we left and found that he had a sore throat, so for part of the trip he was pretty miserable. He screamed for about 45 min. of the drive to Andrea and Jordan's but after that he did really well in the car. We got to see Grandma and Grandpa Harkins. Last time we saw them, Josh was a baby. It was really good to see them again.

Everyone at Grandma and Grandpa Harkins house. We got to see Uncle Larry too. I don't have a picture of it yet but we also got to go to dinner with all Mark's kids. The last time everyone was together was before Gary and I were married so that was a lot of fun.

Four generations.

The kids and I got to meet Brad and Vicki for the first time. Gary hadn't seen them since just before his mission so it was good to see them too.

We went to the discovery center and Gary got to lay on a bed of nails.

Grammy had a really hard time convincing Josh to put his hands in the sand and get them dirty.

Poor Connor was so worn out but is such a little trooper. Despite being sick and not getting his regular naps, he was such a good baby. It was so nice to go on a little vacation and see everyone again. I wish we could do it more often!

Jared & Carrie's Visit

2010-08-06T08:57:00.000-06:00

As usual, I'm really behind on posting pictures. I'm a month late posting pictures from all the fun we had when Jared and Carrie came to visit, but thought I'd post the pictures anyway!

This is Connor meeting his cousin Audrey for the first time. She's a few months older than he is and had an endless supply of kisses for him. It was fun to watch them together. Audrey is going to love being a big sister!

We spent a few days in Richfield at Mom and Dad's. The neighbor remembered that everyone was going to be in Richfield when she heard the four wheeler going. She decided we needed to play with her Rhino too, so she brought it over. It was really nice of her!

After a couple days in Richfield we headed to Fish Lake to stay in a cabin one night. Gary missed out since he had work and school.

Fishing off the shore of the lake.

Fish Lake is so pretty. Josh seems to love the mountains as much as I do!

Connor and Grandma

We took Josh and his cousin Caleb out in the boat fishing. About two minutes after we put their lines in the water, Josh discovered the worms and that was much more fun than waiting to catch a fish. Caleb wanted the boat to go faster, so we reeled in their lines and took them for a boat ride. That was the extent of their fishing trip!

After Fish Lake, Jared's family stayed at our house for a couple days. Josh and Caleb had fun cruising around in his truck.

We all went to the zoo and this was the train ride at the zoo. It was super hot and very exhausting.

The kids had a pool party on our deck and we had a BBQ with the entire family.

Then we went to Zermatt Resort up in Midway for a night. Connor got to go swimming for the first time. His swimming suit went down to his ankles, but he didn't seem to mind. He liked the water even if it was a bit cold.

The resort had a little petting zoo set up. The goats were adorable and Josh really liked it.

Playing miniature golf.

Playing with the giant checkers.

To top everything off we did fireworks outside the resort. We had a lot of fun having Jared and Carrie come visit. It was a little vacation without having to go too far!

Family Pictures

2010-07-29T12:44:00.000-06:00

We had family pictures taken a few weeks ago. Jared and Carrie came out to visit from Illinois and it is the first time I'd seen them in two years, and the first time the entire family had been together in two years. Hopefully soon I'll find the time to post pictures from their visit. Until then, here's our family pictures.

The entire family.

All the grand kids.

Me & my siblings.

The boys.

The girls.

Mom & Dad

Travis & Kristy's family

Jared & Carrie's family

Melissa

Jordan & Andrea

My Boys

2010-06-24T10:46:00.014-06:00

Josh is great at entertaining his little brother! Sometimes when Connor wakes up from his nap, if I am in the middle of something, Josh will go play with him until I finish what I'm doing. One day I found quite a wide array of toys and Josh in the crib with Connor playing. They were happy and content for over half an hour, which made it much easier for me to get some things done!

I get such a kick out of the boys and the blue hats. They love them and Josh comes up with such creative ensembles. It cracks me up.

Every kid needs a cape and hat in order to eat a snack and watch cartoons!

Josh's stylish new swim suit complete with hat! We're ready for Grammy's pool now!!

All ready for church! Such a handsome little guy!

Our very own Oscar the grouch! He gets upset if I call him that. I'm not sure why one of his favorite hiding spots happens to be the stinky clothes hamper.

Our little Connor is already 9 months old! All within the past week and a half he got two teeth, started clapping his hands and waving, and is starting to pull himself up on things. I can't believe how much he is learning all of a sudden! Last night we had his well check and he weighed in at 15 pounds, 1 ounce and was 26.3 inches long. He's in the fifth percentile for his weight! It amazes me how much mischief such a little guy can get into!

If I turn my head for two seconds Connor has a tendency to disappear if he's not barricaded in a room. His travels take him under his swing.

I frequently have to retrieve him from under the table. He is overly helpful in helping me clean floors. I keep thinking I should strap a mop to his belly and my kitchen floor would be in great shape!

I find him behind the furniture. Despite my best efforts to put a road block so he couldn't go behind the chairs, he still manages to get through.

Even when an empty box falls on top of him and there's a toy in the way, he still manages to get to the plug!

Josh has always liked to lay down in Connor's way to block him from going somewhere, but it no longer works! Connor has figured out how to go over him. He tends to get high centered and then sort of face plants into the floor, but now he always manages to get past his big brother!

The Grotto

2010-06-21T10:33:00.000-06:00

So far it has been a very busy summer, but we are enjoying being able to spend time outside. It's nice to be able to go up Payson Canyon again. Sydney absolutely loves it and so do the boys. Here are some pictures from our Sunday afternoon walk up to the Grotto.

May Days

2010-05-30T22:26:00.000-06:00

I don't know what happened to the month of May. It went by way too fast. I intended to do another post shortly after I did the last one and it has taken me a few weeks to find the time. We've been busy! Josh loves being a big brother. He really likes to hold his brother and make him laugh.

I had a lot of help getting the garden planted. A little too much help in fact. We may have some interesting things pop up in the middle of the yard in the grass since Josh kept spilling the seeds.

Connor and Sydney gave us their moral support while we planted. Connor wasn't quite sure what to think of the grass and didn't much appreciate it when Sydney licked him. It is really nice that it is finally warm enough to take Connor outside!

I can't believe our baby is already 8 months old. He's still pretty little for his age, but he's such a good baby!

The little mischief maker in action with a chair stuck on his bum. He is all over the house. One day I went downstairs for a few minutes and started to panic when I came back and couldn't find him after checking a few different rooms. He was in his bedroom half way in his closet. He gets into EVERYTHING!!!

Who needs to play with the tupperware and measuring cups inside the cupboard when you can chew on the door instead! His favorite thing to chew on seems to be his big brother's flip flops. We've found that unless we're wearing them, all shoes have to be inside closets at all times!

A wiped out little kid after a day of causing trouble! A few weeks ago we finally got him eating baby food and cereal!!! I gave up trying to feed him cereal and baby food when he got sick. I gave him a week to get feeling better and then one day I was trying to feed him some peas. He kept grabbing at the spoon and I got tired of it, so I got another spoon so that he could hold one. Then he started eating baby food and cereal as if he'd been doing it for quite a while. It was like a light bulb suddenly turned on in his little head and after two months of fighting him, he finally decided that he was in fact ready to start eating baby food. Maybe holding the spoon made him feel he was in control and it was his idea, I'm not sure, but I'm very relieved that he's finally eating! It seemed like his appetite immediately doubled, like he finally figured out what it was like to feel full!

The little guy was supposed to be taking a nap, but instead was having a great time playing thanks to his big brother sneaking into his room and slipping him toys between the bars of his crib. Already the two of them are starting to gang up on me!

He seems to like sleeping upside down or sideways in his crib, because he doesn't seem to stay where I put him for very long!

Our independent four year old likes to do everything himself, so most mornings he picks out his own clothes. Sometimes he does just fine and remembers what bottoms go with what tops, but other days he has to change before we can leave the house. Lately he's really been into this orange fly fishing vest. When cousin Jordan comes to play they love wearing these wigs I got at a Jazz game we went to.

The Viking hat over the blue wig really accentuates the clashing green top and bottoms. The fly fishing vest and Winnie the Pooh back pack make the whole outfit complete!

Josh loves his new tent and sleeping bag. He's spent a few nights sleeping inside the tent in his room accompanied of course by Tigger and Eeyore sleeping in their corresponding tent and sleeping bag.

Josh stopped taking naps a while ago, but once in a while if he stops long enough to hold still, this is what happens!

Mother's Day Project

2010-05-10T15:26:00.001-06:00

Who would have thought I'd be this excited to look in my backyard and see a bunch of dirt! Ever since we bought our house three years ago, I have wanted to plant a garden. With Gary's deployment, crazy work and school schedule, and me being pregnant last summer we've never been able to clear the spot for the garden. Finally, this weekend we were able to get it ready for planting and it was a great Mother's Day present.

We still need to put in the dividers we got from my next door neighbor, and we'll have to put up the chicken wire to keep the dog out, and we still need to actually plant something, but we've made a lot of progress and I am very excited about it!

I wish I would have taken a picture of the area before we ever did anything to it, though I do have it on video. The previous owners put down gravel, then had some larger red rocks on top of the gravel, and then put some boulders to make a border on top of that. This picture was taken after the boulders and red rock were hauled away while Gary was deployed. The picture below is all the red rock we hauled away. The previous owners went to a lot of work to haul in all that rock because it sure was a lot of work to get rid of it all. This was taken a year ago when the lilacs were torn out and the wood fence was taken down so we could get the vinyl fence put in.

For our garden project, Gary rented a sod cutter to cut out the grass so we could remove it.

Then we brought in one truck load of top soil. Josh got out his little shovel to help Gary unload it and Sydney was content to lay down on the dirt in the back of the truck and watch.

As we moved the sod, Josh collected worms and presented them to me. Just what I'd always wanted!

Grandpa Glen convinced Josh to plant the worms in the garden.

This is the area the previous owners used for a garden. It was pretty small and between the fences and shed, really didn't get much sun light so we filled it in with the sod. There was a spot on the other side of the shed that was just dirt and also a spot over by the new garden that we filled in with the grass we cut out.

This is Gary tilling after we unloaded two truck loads of top soil and one truck load of compost. It has been a lot of work to transform our back yard over the past few years and I very much appreciate all who have helped! Thank you, thank you, thank you Gary, Dad, Melissa, and Manookin family. We could not have gotten the garden in and made all the improvements to our yard without everyone's hard work and willingness to let us borrow trucks and tools to do it. I feel so blessed to have such a great family and neighbors who are always so willing to help out and I am so grateful.

Also on Saturday I got a new kitchen table! It really feels like Christmas at my house! We ordered the table two months ago from RC Willey and they finally delivered it. There's a story behind it that I won't get into right now, but basically I will NEVER buy anything from RC Willey again. I'm very excited to have a new kitchen table. It was a great Mother's Day weekend!

Birthday Boy

2010-04-15T09:37:00.000-06:00

Josh's birthday was Tuesday. I can't believe he is already 4!

His birthday happened to be on a day we normally do preschool, so we had a little party for him at preschool.

In case you are wondering, the cake is supposed to be a triceratops dinosaur. Josh and I were looking at cakes on familyfun.com and this is the one he chose. The rice krispy and candy part were supposed to be done with fondant, but since I've never made fondant or worked with it before, I used rice krispies instead. I seriously lack cake decorating skills and could really use some lessons, but thankfully Josh isn't old enough to really care!

Josh and his dad testing out his new toy.

Grammy sent Josh a sleeping bag/tent set that he can carry around as a back pack. He loved it and is now ready for a sleep over!

The sleeping bag set came with a mini sleeping bag and tent that is just the right size for his Tigger and Eeyore.

Josh seems to like being a big brother. We put Connor in his walker so he can be with us while we're eating and Josh always insists on having Connor sit next to him. Connor has learned to scoot the walker backwards a little bit, and it really irritates Josh because he wants Connor to stay right next to him. He gets really frustrated when Connor scoots backwards.

Josh did not want Connor to go into the kitchen, so he dragged over a chair and tipped it over to trap Connor in the front room. It is really challenging to keep my floors clean at all times so Connor doesn't get into things that he shouldn't. Connor is guaranteed to find anything and everything that is left on the floor. Josh gets really irritated when Connor won't leave his toys alone.

Josh is such a good big brother that he wanted to make sure Connor had some toys to play with. He was nice enough to give Connor ALL the toys that we keep in a little basket in the front room. I walked into the room and all I could see was his little eyes peeking over the top of all the toys.

We are making absolutely no progress at all on getting Connor to eat baby food or cereal. It is a rather messy process. He cries every time I try to get him to eat, then he puts his fingers in his mouth to calm himself down. At first I didn't let him put the fingers in his mouth because of the mess it would make, but then decided that if he sucked on his fingers at least he'd swallow his food. Instead he just gets even more upset than he already was because putting his fingers in his mouth does not make the food go away. Then he smears his dirty fingers all over the place.

Connor likes Josh's sleeping bag too!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-06T21:53:00.000-06:00

We had a really nice Easter weekend! On Easter morning Josh got to see what the Easter bunny left him and find a few eggs that were hidden around the front room. Later on in the day he got to go on an Easter Egg hunt the Grammy Easter bunny sent. He was quite excited.

Josh was quite thrilled with his new Thomas the train he's wanted for several weeks. He's been playing with it non stop since he got it. Connor was content to play with Josh's tractor. I think he gets that from Grandpa Glen! Over the past month he mastered the art of rolling all over the place. He starts at one end of the room and continues to roll until he gets to the other end of the room. He's figured out how to move around to get anything he wants to get into. The past few days we've noticed he is starting to scootch and not just roll!

Josh had so much fun coloring Easter eggs. I thought it was pretty funny when he couldn't wash all the dye off his fingers since he hates having them dirty so much!

Our little preschool Easter bunnies. Preschool normally consists of Josh and his cousins Jordan and Carley and we take turns teaching. They have really enjoyed their little preschool. I've started babysitting two kids twice a week, so they got to join in the fun.

Gary made a cute Easter bunny too!

Over the weekend, Josh had fun cruising around with a friend.

Meanwhile, Connor was inside being tortured. He does not want to eat cereal whether I mix it with water, formula, or my milk. He does not want to take a bottle whether it is formula or my milk. He was not interested in baby food either. I even tried feeding him some of my milk in a spoon to see what would happen and he didn't appreciate that either. He wants my milk straight from me and nothing else. I'm not sure how I'm going to convince him to eat something other than his fingers. At his six month check up he weighed in at a whopping 13.3 pounds and was 25.2 inches long. He's a light weight for his age, so I'm hoping to convince him sometime soon that he likes to eat something other than me!

Gary got the brakes on the car fixed this weekend and he had lots of help!

I finally got the walker out of the basement and Connor loves it, though you can't tell from the picture. Josh likes to push him around in it. He looks so grown up sitting up in it.

We woke up to snow outside Easter morning and it has been snowing off and on ever since. Josh and Sydney both love playing in the snow, but we're ready for warmer weather so Connor can play outside too!

Spring Fever

2010-02-21T14:41:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything because I haven't had much to post! The past couple weeks it has been warm enough outside to melt all the snow and for Josh to play outside, but it's still been too cold for Connor to be outside. The past couple days it started snowing again a little bit, but not enough to play in so we're really getting spring fever. We're tired of being inside! As much as we've had to stay inside the past couple months, I certainly have not been bored with these boys to keep me going! I'd lose my mind if I was still working full time since I'm home all day and still can't get anything done!

Connor's hair likes to stick straight up in the back. I have a really hard time getting it to stay down all day, and his hair got so long that when he'd sit on my lap it would go up my nose! Grandma Karen gave him another hair cut. The picture above was taken after the hair cut and the picture below shows how long it got before it got trimmed! His hair is now starting to thin out a lot.

Napping with Daddy! Gary started working swing shift (3 p.m. to midnight) a month or so ago. It was kind of a tiring adjustment for both of us. I usually wake up when he gets home from work, then get up once or twice with Connor, and if Josh isn't feeling good I'm up once or twice with him as well. Being a stay home mom is by far the most demanding and exhausting job I've ever had, but I love it and it is well worth it! The swing shift is hard on Gary when he has to work late, then be to class in the morning, but overall it is working out better for his school schedule. Oddly enough, we've been able to spend more time together as a family this way and it is easier for him to get his homework done.

Josh absolutely loves to read stories. We visit the library on a regular basis. We usually bring home about 15 books and will have read them all within two days. Josh will read to Connor, the dog, his cousins, or whoever else happens to be around. Sitting on the couch in the laundry basket wearing goggles while reading must make the stories that much better.

Our cute little Connor.

Josh is such a helpful big brother. It is so fun to watch them together. Connor gets such a kick out of Josh. Josh is still the one to make him laugh and giggle better than anyone else. Sometimes when Connor wakes up from his nap if I'm in the middle of something, I send Josh in his room to entertain him for a few minutes. One day Josh even put his cars in the crib and climbed in to play with him while I was finishing what I was doing. Connor is such a good natured baby. When it's time for a nap or to go to bed at night, he still likes to be swaddled, but I have to make sure I leave his arm out so he can suck on his fingers. I swaddle him, lay him down, and automatically his two fingers go in his mouth. He loves his fingers and if he ever gets tired of sucking on them, he seems to think his toes taste just as good. After I lay him in his crib and leave the room and won't hear anything until he wakes up. Sometimes after he wakes up he'll play in his crib for 15 or 20 minutes before he starts to fuss.

Holidays

2010-01-13T18:24:00.001-07:00

We really enjoyed the holidays. Gary had a couple weeks between semesters, so it was really nice to spend time with him and he enjoyed being stress free. We spent Christmas in Richfield.

Josh was good to help Connor open his presents. He is such a cute big brother and can always get Connor to smile and giggle when nobody else can.

Andrea and Jordan flew in from Philadelphia for Christmas. They had a rough time getting here because of bad weather, and we were glad they were able to make it!

Connor opening his gift from Grandma Karen. He was content to play with the wrapping paper.

Grandma Karen made Josh a new bed spread for Christmas. It matches the curtains she made him for his birthday. Some day I hope to inherit Mom's sewing skills! Josh's room looks so cute!

Josh got some new swords for Christmas. I think Gary was more excited for them than Josh! Josh and Jordan had fun sword fighting, and Josh likes to carry his swords the way Sinbad does on the cartoon. It's funny to watch him try to walk with a sword down his pants and another down his back. For New Year's we were invited to spend the weekend with Randy and Erin Vail at a cabin owned by Erin's parents in Afton, WY. It was really nice to soak in the hot tub and play on the four wheelers and relax!

Josh will never get tired of four wheeler rides!

Josh enjoyed watching cartoons from the loft!

Josh had a good time in the jetted tub. Gary forgot that you don't need very much bubble bath in the water when you're in a jetted tub!

Fun in the Snow

2009-12-14T16:49:00.013-07:00

Josh and Sydney have been having a good time in the snow! Josh asks me all day every day if he can go outside and play.

They really are like brother and sister. Sydney follows Josh around the yard, and he gets annoyed. He does stuff to harass her too. Mowing the lawn with the two of them around is always a challenge to me because I always have to stop multiple times to get after Sydney for pestering Josh and Josh for pestering Sydney. They are entertaining to watch.

Sydney and Josh had a great wrestling match in the snow. Sydney had Josh pinned and then she kept licking his face.

Then Josh pinned Sydney. As many times as Josh has wrestled her to the ground she has never once even growled at him. She's very good natured to put up with him.

This is a good shot of how deep the snow was after last week's storm. The faucet for the irrigation water was almost buried.

The snow was so deep that Josh kept falling down when he tried to walk in it. Sydney kept bumping into him as she followed him around and kept knocking him down. While I was shoveling the sidewalks, Josh came walking up to me saying, "Mommy, I lost my boot!" With as much snow as we had in the yard I started to panic, thinking I'd never find it until the snow melted but thankfully he remembered where he was when it came off.

Who needs a hill to tube down when you can do it in the front yard!

While we're outside playing in the snow, Connor stays nice and warm bundled up snoozing in his swing with his hair sticking straight up. I keep the baby monitor in my coat pocket so I can hear him when he wakes up and it sure is handy.

Happy warm baby!

He loves munching on his fingers. Every now and then he sticks them in his mouth too far and gags himself.

Sleeping on Daddy's lap.

Traffic in Payson

2009-12-09T18:09:00.001-07:00

This is what you call a traffic jam in Payson!

We got hit pretty hard with snow with Monday's storm. It snowed all day. Tuesday morning, not realizing just how much snow was on the ground, I was going to take Josh to his cousin's house. I went outside and turned on the van to warm it up, went back inside and started getting Connor strapped in his car seat when I looked out the window and this is what I saw. A van was stuck right in the middle of the road. There was another van behind it that tried to go around the van that was stuck until it started getting stuck and ended up having to drive down the street in reverse and find another route to take. After the van had been stuck for a while, her husband showed up to help, but by then other cars were getting stuck. After seeing the van stuck in the middle of the road I decided it was highly unlikely that I'd even make it out of my driveway and even if I did I probably wouldn't get very far! The cars that were stuck were blocking me in my driveway anyway. I didn't think this guy would even be able to open his car door. I sat in my window for probably an hour watching various cars get stuck right outside my house. It was rather entertaining. I felt bad I couldn't do much to help, and instead I sat in my nice warm house and took pictures of the various vehicles that kept getting stuck. Josh and I went outside and had a good time playing in the snow. I'll have to post those pictures later!

Halloween/Blessing

2009-11-06T09:47:00.010-07:00

We had a busy weekend with Halloween and Connor's baby blessing. It was a lot of fun.

Josh had a good time trick or treating with his cousins. My knight in shining armor. It was kind of funny that his good buddy, cousin Jordan happened to be a dragon!

Our cute little Mickey Mouse. Josh picked out his costume.

Pictures after Connor's blessing.

Connor with his grandpa Glen and great grandpa Wood. These are the grandpa's he gets his middle name from.

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-26T13:36:00.000-06:00

We took Josh to the pumpkin patch in Santaquin and he loved it. He was so excited to go get more pumpkins and had a lot of fun picking them out. The hay ride to the patch

The pumpkins he picked.

Ever since carving pumpkins with Aunt Kimi Josh has been asking almost every day to carve pumpkins. Since he doesn't like getting his hands dirty, I end up doing all the work but this time I actually got him to stick his hand in and do a little. The finished product

Josh likes having his picture taken with his brother.

Most newborns don't stretch their legs out like this. Connor is quite comfortable stretching out like this to nap, probably because this is what he did while he was inside of me. He's still in trouble for the beating my ribs took before he was born!

I still can't believe how much hair he has. It gets a little out of control if we don't put something in it to calm it down!

Visitors

2009-10-18T15:07:00.001-06:00

Grammy Debbie, Grampy Mark, and Aunt Kimi flew in last weekend. It was a lot of fun having them come visit. Josh keeps asking when they are coming back. Josh loves reading stories!

We got to celebrate Kim's birthday while she was here. Thanks for letting us share your birthday with you. We hope you had fun!

Josh got to decorate a pumpkin with Grammy.

Here is the finished product that is sitting on our porch! He also got to help carve a pumpkin.

I'm sure Kim couldn't have finished without his help!

He had so much fun carving pumpkins he keeps asking to do more.

Grampy brought Josh his own power tools. Between that and the duck game Kim brought he's been busy all week. Grampy helped Gary install a ceiling fan in our living room. It looks great and I am so excited to have light in that room again! Thank you, thank you, thank you Mark!!!

Josh and His New Brother

2009-09-27T21:31:00.008-06:00

It's quite the adjustment having a newborn around, and we are enjoying it!

Josh is such a cute big brother. He really likes to help me. So far we've only had to have one discussion about not picking up the baby without help. He was just trying to put Connor in his swing. I was changing a diaper and Josh grabbed a wipe and jumped right in and started helping me wipe him down. He holds a toy that plays music up so Connor can see and starts singing the ABC's (though the toy plays different music). It's cute to watch Josh with the baby and so far Josh has really liked having him around.

The other day as the baby was sleeping in his swing, Josh said, "Mommy, is it ok if Connor snuggles with my Tigger?" I thought that was nice he wanted to share so I said it was ok and the next thing I knew Josh had thrown in the Scooby Doo and his skunk as well. I frequently find the baby sleeping next to stuffed animals.

So far, Connor has not cried very much at all. He's been such a mellow baby, but when he does cry, this is how Josh copes with it. Josh also does this during church when a baby cries.

Daddy with new baby.

Me and my boys (minus the biggest one)!

Connor Ferrin Stevens

2009-09-20T17:06:00.008-06:00

Connor Ferrin Stevens arrived Thursday (the 17th) at 7:47 p.m. He weighed in at 8 pounds 4 ounces and 21 1/2 inches long. I was scheduled to be induced at 7 a.m. but got a call from the hospital just before we walked out the door saying that they didn't have room for me and would call when they were ready for me. It wasn't until 2:30 that afternoon that they called and said they were ready and the waiting was pure torture. By the time I got admitted and they started the PIT it was 3:30 and I figured we probably would be in for a long night since I was in labor with Josh for 14 1/2 hours. I was absolutely shocked that Connor arrived a little over four hours after they started me on the drip. I was very pleased with my anesthesiologist. He did a great job on the epidural. My delivery nurse happens to live right around the corner from me and is really good friends with my aunts Sharlene and Marlene. She took really good care of me. Everything went really smoothly. So far Josh likes having Connor around and is a very cute big brother.

The final belly shot I promised, taken the day Connor arrived!

Random Stuff

2009-09-01T11:12:00.000-06:00

There was a lot of zucchini and cucumbers that were way overgrown and going to waste in Grandpa Wood's garden, so someone had the great idea of letting the kids carve boats out of them. After all that carving the boats needed to be floated somewhere, but there wasn't time to go to a pond or a stream. Grandma Karen decided to fill up the tub to float them in. I'm still not sure how Josh managed to remove all his clothing and jump into the tub without getting caught by any of the adults, but we all laughed so hard I was in tears. It didn't matter that the water was cold, he could have stayed in the tub all day with those boats and I'm sure it did great things for his skin. So if you're wondering what to do with excess produce from your garden there you go.

Josh and Grandpa Wood sitting outside. Sometimes Grandpa will take Josh on a little spin on his walker and Josh thinks it is great to play on. Grandpa turned 93 last week!

I wonder how many Marines would like to see Sergeant Stevens napping in a Cars bed snuggling with Snoopy!

Josh & Daddy playing basketball. In case you've noticed, any of the pictures Gary's been in for the past month he grew a beard. I can't say I was very fond of it, so this weekend I'd finally had enough and made him shave it off. I've missed seeing a clean shaved face!

It was $2 Tuesday at Thanksgiving Point so Gary and I took Josh to the Dinosaur Museum. Josh loves to read stories, and there have been a few about dinosaurs so Josh was excited about it. He had a good time at the museum.

Here's a belly shot for everyone that has been requesting it. Gary thinks the belly is cute (though I don't agree), and I tell him in order for me to repeat this process again I have to forget how huge I get and how uncomfortable it is. So I keep pictures to a minimum! This was taken a couple weeks ago and I'll take a final belly shot to post just before I deliver.

Walk in the Canyon

2009-08-20T22:33:00.000-06:00

I have been going through some serious camping withdrawals this summer. I've missed being in the mountains, so Saturday I made Gary drive us up Payson Canyon so we could go on a little walk to the Grotto. It was a lot of fun. In fact, Gary enjoyed it so much that we did it again Sunday afternoon! It was perfect weather and really pretty up there. Sydney especially loved it and surprised us by getting in the water.

We had to be careful not to let Josh get too far ahead of us because he wasn't afraid at all to cross the little bridges all by himself!

A cute picture of my boys getting all rested up before we went to the Grotto. Tigger is a nice touch too!

For Mother's Day Josh and Gary gave me this chair. Gary wanted me to have a comfortable place to sit and still be able to enjoy being outside during the summer despite being pregnant. It has really been nice to sit down and put my feet up while Josh swims in the pool or plays in the back yard. We've had a lot of sword fights at our house. I don't know what we'd do without Josh's swords or bow and arrow since those seem to be his most favorite things to play with. He was pretty smart to figure out how to use his belt as a sword holder all by himself! Last week I took Josh to the dentist. He really didn't enjoy the experience all that much, but he did pretty good for a three year old. For weeks he's been running around the house with an imaginary bow and arrows, and then I saw one at Walmart. In an effort to distract him from the not so fun dentist experience I took him to Walmart to get the bow and arrows and I have to say it worked beautifully. He has played with the bow all day every day since. Now I just need to find some spare arrows since he's already broken two of the three that it came with!

Summer Fun

2009-07-12T14:32:00.011-06:00

I thought that once I quit my job to be a stay home mom I might find more time to do things like update the blog on a more frequent basis. It has been just over two months since I stopped working and I haven't been bored for a single minute. It's been a busy summer, but we are having fun and I'm loving being able to stay home with Josh. Here are a few things we've been doing this summer.

Josh has had a good time swimming in his pool on the deck in the back yard. He's tried to get Sydney to join him, but she's not so much a fan of the water. Despite his fear of dogs, Jordan had a good time swimming with Josh and was surprisingly at ease with Sydney. They were entertained for quite a while just sitting in the pool and playing with the dog.

After they got out of the pool they were a little chilled so they bundled up together.

I found that sending Josh to Jumping Jacks for a few hours is a great way to exhaust him. He had such a great time going down all the slides and keeps asking to go back.

This is the tallest slide there, and Josh being the fearless little kid that he is wanted to go down it. Since he's so small and it is such a big slide, I sent Gary up with him. They got to the top and before Gary had a chance to turn around and sit down, Josh had already gone down the slide. We spent a couple days at Zermatt in Midway. It was a fun thing to do as a family before Andrea and Jordan moved to Pennsylvania. The boys had a good time making their own game with the checkers while the others played chess behind them. We also spent a lot of time in the pool while we were there. Josh loves to swim. We got to have a test run at having a baby around the house. We got to watch my cousin's baby a couple time and Josh really enjoyed having a baby around. He was such a cute little helper. It got us all excited for our baby to come. I'm at 30 weeks now. The pregnancy has gone really well. I'm really starting to feel huge as the belly gets bigger and bigger and I'm starting to lose a lot of energy, but thankfully we haven't had any complications yet! For the 4th of July we headed to Richfield for the weekend. The kids had a good time on the slip-n-slide. Everyone at the parade, ready to catch candy. Josh, Jordan, and Kristy riding the four wheeler. Josh absolutely loves the four wheeler. He knows where my dad keeps the keys and will go get them out and ask for rides. If he disappears we can usually find him in the garage getting a helmet out and sitting on the four wheeler.

Newest Addition

2009-05-18T08:28:00.007-06:00

We have a new addition to our family! This is our new puppy Sydney. Her mom is a pure bred golden retriever and her dad is a black lab. She was the only puppy in the litter to get her mom's coloring but she has a lot of the lab in her personality. She is three months old and is very full of energy.

We got Josh a puppy for his birthday, but didn't pick her up until a couple weeks ago. The lady we got her from was kind enough to hold her for us while we were waiting for our vinyl fence to be installed. Thankfully Josh is just as full of energy as his new puppy so they can wear each other out. At first he was a little nervous around her since she can get really hyper and is about the same size he is. She thinks he's a puppy too and likes to nibble and jump on him and he wasn't too appreciative. We've been teaching her and Josh how to deal with each other so they have a lot of fun together for the most part. He really enjoys having a puppy.

Josh wasn't too thrilled about picking up a new passenger!

I'm In Trouble!!!

2009-05-10T20:34:00.002-06:00

I went in for my 20 week ultra sound Thursday and we found out we're having another boy!!! I don't know yet what I'm going to do with three of them, but it will be lots of fun. We're excited. Everything looked good on the ultra sound and nothing came up that we need to be concerned about!

Celebrations

2009-04-20T13:19:00.000-06:00

Josh turned 3 the day after Easter, so we had a good time celebrating Easter and then his birthday!

I decided we should decorate eggs more often. Josh got to tell Gary and I what colors to turn the eggs in order to avoid a staining mess. Then when the eggs dried he got to decorate them with the stickers that came in the kit. He sat at the kitchen table until he had found a place for every single tiny sticker that came with the kit. It entertained him for quite a while.

He was really excited to see what the Easter Bunny left him, and go on his Easter egg hunts.

Josh was really excited about his rocket ship cake. I let him pick a cake I could make out of a book a few days before his birthday and then he wouldn't stop asking for his rocket ship cake. I wasn't entirely sure how I should decorate it, so I let him do it and he had a good time.

I took the day off work to spend with him. Gary had to work and go to school, so we decided to have a picnic outside Flowserve. We let Josh open presents and feed the ducks. I loved his face in this picture trying to open presents.

He was very excited about his new train tracks.

Playing with his new bubble toys with his cousin Kaitlyn. Grammy Debbie, Grampy Mark, and aunt Kimi spoiled him rotten and got him this John Deere truck for his birthday. He has been having a good time with it, but isn't so great at steering yet. Thanks Grammy, Grampy, and aunt Kimi!

Happy Birthday Grammy!

2009-03-17T14:55:00.000-06:00

Saturday Grammy Debbie, Grampy Mark, and Aunt Kimi flew in for a quick visit for Grammy's birthday! It was a lot of fun to see them. Thanks for coming!Josh got to surprise Grammy with the news that he is going to be a big brother. I'm at 12 weeks right now, due the end of September. We went to Disney on Ice and Josh got a Flounder hat. I've had a hard time convincing him to remove it before going to bed.

Relaxing after a busy day. I haven't posted much lately, partially because it's been too cold to do much, and partially because I haven't felt like doing much! Josh has had a good time playing in the snow this winter but we are excited that it is starting to warm up!

He likes to help his dad shovel the snow. He has his very own shovel.

Time to Update

2009-02-09T08:11:00.001-07:00

I've been told again it is time to update the blog! Josh and I have been sick so I haven't been very motivated. A couple weeks ago when I picked him up from the baby sitter's he ran up to me saying, "Mommy, mommy my neck hurts and I am sick." Then he cried and cried and cried. That's not like him, so I got him into the doctor that night. He had a sore throat and while we were waiting for the strep test results we realized that Josh couldn't turn his head side to side very well and couldn't go up and down hardly at all. We ended up having his neck x-rayed and everything looked ok, so then they did blood tests and those came back ok. We're not sure what happened but a couple days later his neck was back to normal. Then he ended up with a cough/cold which he was kind enough to share with me. Now we're both finally feeling better and hoping Gary doesn't get it!

Josh is getting smarter by the day. He knows where the treats are, and one day decided to get his stool out and help himself. So I put the treats on a higher shelf. He managed to get them while I was out of the room and I wasn't sure how at first. Then I caught him. He used the stool to get on top of the garbage can and then he could reach much higher. Another one of his latest accomplishments is that he has discovered that he can open the fridge/freezer all by himself. He is quite pleased with himself for this. I was in my bedroom getting dressed one morning when he came wandering in with some Dibbs saying, "Daddy got me a treat!" He took the lid off and started shoveling them in his mouth. 6:00 in the morning is a little early for treats but it was funny enough to earn him a few. I've had to rearrange things so he'll stop getting the ice cream and Popsicles out of the freezer.

Josh sporting his adorable new jacket Grammy Debbie gave him for Christmas. Josh and his new bed tent. I haven't convinced him to let me put it on his bed yet, but he really likes to hide. He has a balloon he puts inside his tent every night before he goes to sleep and also during naps. I guess that's where his balloon sleeps. Shooting some hoops with cousin Jordan. They are such cute pals. Early one morning Josh came into my bedroom and announced that he was going to Jordan's. I told him goodbye and he left my bedroom. A few minutes later he came back and told me he couldn't find Jordan's house. Jordan says stuff similar to this to Kristy. When I give Josh a snack he often sets some aside and says it is for Jordan. When he's playing by himself with his toys he also tells me which ones are for Jordan to play with.

Watching cartoons together.

Christmas Chaos

2009-01-08T13:56:00.002-07:00

This is the gingerbread man Josh decorated at a family Christmas party. When I saw what he was doing I came to the conclusion that Josh most definitely did not get any of my DNA! He is all Gary. Josh insisted on using all the same types of candy. He would not use M&M's or gum drops or anything else and he wouldn't mix up colors either. That is sooo like his dad!

I really don't know what happened to the entire month of December. It was a blur and we kept really busy. It was a struggle to get Christmas shopping done with my two year old helper. My first weekend that I finally had time to go Christmas shopping the month was already almost half over. Best Buy happened to be the second store Josh and I went to, and he threw the biggest tantrum I've ever seen him perform. I quickly got what I was looking for but carried him out of the store crying and we ended up spending quite a bit of time in the parking lot before I could get him under control enough to drive him home and put him down for a nap. As soon as he woke up and was fed I tried again thinking a full tummy and a nap we'd be good to go. We walked into Walmart, and it was completely packed with people. I had to search for several minutes before I could even find a cart and of course as soon as I found one Josh said he needed to go potty. Reluctantly abandoning the cart I worked so hard to get, I marched him to the restroom. He wouldn't go because the toilet automatically flushes with every move he makes and it scares him. Of course he ended up having an accident (luckily he was still in his pull up from nap time) and he was so upset about it we immediately had to go home. Things like this seem to be happening with more frequency and I can say without a doubt that Josh is most definitely in the terrible two's!! I thought I'd do a quick post while I have a few extra minutes at work because I don't know when I'm going to have time to post Christmas pictures. I am in the process of painting our front room and it has turned into a much bigger process than I anticipated. After pulling off wallpaper on one of the walls I could see that the wallpaper was put up when the house was built, and nothing has been done to that wall since then. I could not believe that the house is almost 35 years old and I am the first one to change that wall!! I'm so excited I don't have to look at the 70's wallpaper anymore! We ended up having to texture and prime that wall before we could paint. After preparing that wall, patching holes, sanding, and pulling down molding I called the paint store so they'd have my paint ready when I got there and they were closed for New Year's. After all that work I couldn't do anything for two days because the store I needed to get the paint at was closed! We should be able to finish the painting by the end of the week but for two weeks I've had a love seat in my kitchen and a lazy boy at the end of the hall way. My house is torn apart and it is a mess. I can't wait to finish so I can start cleaning and putting things back together!! In the next few weeks we hope to get new molding and a ceiling fan up and then I think I've had enough home improvement projects to last me at least until Spring!

Hats

2008-11-25T17:23:00.004-07:00

Have I mentioned how much Josh loves hats?

Doggie hat made at babysitter's Chef hat made at babysitter's

This is Josh's helmet he wears while running through the house pretending to ride motorcycles or four wheelers. It's also a great chair, stool, and bucket for toys. My shoes are a great way to complete the ensemble.

Marine Corps Ball

2008-11-09T20:17:00.000-07:00

This weekend we went to the Marine Corps birthday ball. I can't say I really enjoy the ceremony or the speeches, and the food isn't usually the greatest, but it was really nice to have a night alone together and to spend some time with some of our friends! The ball was at the Snowbird Ski Resort. It was really pretty up there. He looks so good in his uniform!!

Did I mention he looks good in his uniform? I couldn't leave out the picture of the poker game after because I WON!!! We stayed up until 1 a.m. playing and too bad we weren't playing with real money! I can't tell you which poker hands are better than others, and I can't keep straight which chips are worth what, and they had to explain poker terminology. I had no idea what I was doing, but with a little help from Gary I still managed to win. I guess I should be spending more time in Vegas!

Halloween

2008-11-03T15:37:00.008-07:00

Josh made a cute little pirate this year for Halloween!

He had a good time trick-or-treating with his cousins!

He really enjoyed carving a pumpkin too, although he would not touch the pumpkin guts with his fingers. He would only use the spoon since he does not like to get his fingers dirty, just like his dad!!

It has been a while!!!

2008-10-20T08:16:00.000-06:00

I started this posting weeks ago and never got around to finishing it. The pictures are a couple months old now, but I thought I'd finish this posting anyway. Gary is back in school now, so he's gone a lot and keeps busy trying to stay on top of homework. I keep pretty busy trying to stay on top of everything else so he can focus on school and it has been crazy! We just got adjusted to having him home when he started school, and then we had to start all over adjusting to him being back in school. We're getting into a better routine now so hopefully we'll be able to handle the chaos a little better!!

Josh loves to go to the park to play. He really has a good time on the swings and slides.

He also likes to feed the ducks at Salem Pond.

These next few pictures are from Grandma Wood's 90th birthday party. Grandpa is 92 and they have been married almost 70 years! Josh and his cousin Jordan are pals. Jordan was a great help getting Josh to eat his food. The party was at my cousin's house, and the kids had a great time swimming in her pool. Josh absolutely loves to swim. He kept jumping off the side of the pool to me. He has absolutely no fear. He wanted to jump in by himself without me catching him, but he's not quite ready for that. Josh and Jordan are so cute playing together. They get along really well.

Sometimes this is a great sight for me to see, Josh fast asleep with his Snoopy, bear, and dog. We went several weeks with very little sleep because Josh kept waking up every half hour to hour for hours during the night. Then he was very cranky and very difficult all day from the lack of sleep. After being up all night it was really hard for me to function at work and stay on top of everything around the house. It took me quite a while to figure out Josh's lack of sleep was partly because he needed to go potty and wasn't awake enough to tell me, and partly because he cries in his sleep when he's dreaming. Now he's sleeping a lot better, which means we get more sleep, and it is amazing how much better you feel when you get some sleep!!!

Josh is great at helping me keep the lawn mowed!

Camping

2008-08-31T12:05:00.017-06:00

This summer has been a very busy one even though it doesn't seem like we really did a lot. I can't believe it has been a month since I last posted. I've intended to post more pictures for about two weeks now but have been too busy, and we've all been sick!

This is our camping trip to Payson Lakes. I didn't get to go camping last summer since Gary was gone, and I didn't go the summer before because Josh was too small. I have really missed being in the mountains and was very excited to pull out all our camping stuff again!

It was so pretty up there!

Josh really enjoyed putting his feet in the water with Melissa, though he wasn't satisfied with just that. He wanted to get in the lake.

This was the path down to the lake that Josh ran up and down several times. I wish I had that kind of endurance in the high altitude!

He was entertained for the longest time sitting in his camping chair blowing bubbles.

He loved climbing on the big rock and jumping off it. We borrowed my uncle's kayaks and Josh really enjoyed riding in the "boat". This is American Fork Canyon. It was also a beautiful place to camp.

There were a few spots by our camp site that had run off coming down the mountain. Josh had a great time playing in the water, and after he was all wet fell down in the dirt and became pure mud. He really had a good time. He is a great little helper. We have to be careful where we set the hatchet or axe because he will pick them up and start trying to use them!

In the tent with Erin!

Erin and Randy

Josh very much enjoyed doughnuts and chocolate milk for breakfast!

When we got home, Gary was exhausted. I told him I didn't want him on our couch or bed until he showered since he smelled like camp fire and was dirty, so I came in the house to find him dead asleep just like this on the kitchen floor, snoring and everything. It didn't even phase him when Josh tried to play with the golf clubs.

Birthdays in Phoenix

2008-07-27T17:17:00.022-06:00

Our birthdays were a while ago, but I am a little behind and still trying to get caught up! Yes, I said OUR birthday because Gary and I have the same birthday and it is a lot of fun to celebrate together!

This is Josh wanting to try out our gift to each other. We bought a 2006 Toyota Sienna for our birthday gift to each other. We broke it in by driving it to Phoenix. Josh would have been content to stay in Grammy's pool the entire time we were there. Josh enjoyed shooting everyone with the water gun and didn't even really get scared when he fell off the toy and Grampy had to pull him out of the water.

We took Josh to the ostrich farm. Grampy Mark was the brave one to feed the ostriches first.

Feeding the deer.

Feeding the birds with Grammy. Gary feeding the birds.

One of the birds decided to nibble on my neck.

Josh and Grammy sharing an ice cream cone.

He looked a little more like Grampy by the time he was done. Rocking with Grammy after a fun filled day.

Doing a little shopping at the mall.

Aunt Kimi took Josh to Build-A-Bear. Every night he sleeps with the dog he made at Build-A-Bear, his Snoopy, and a Bear Gary gave him.

Grammy, Kimi, and Josh looking at the gator outside Rain Forest Cafe.

Checking out the elephants at the Rain Forest Cafe.

Just the guys.

Wedding Bells

2008-07-13T11:59:00.000-06:00

I've really been slacking on my postings to this blog. We've been keeping busy and it has been a little crazy trying to get back to normal life now that Gary is back. Over the next couple weeks I will try and get caught up with my blogging.

On May 23 my youngest sister, Andrea got married. She and Jordan were married in the Mount Timpanogos Temple. Congrats Jordan and Andrea!!

The whole family outside the temple.

The whole family at the reception.

Josh and Grandpa Paul. Melissa and Dad

Jared and Carrie moved to Illinois a few months ago. They flew in for the wedding and stayed with us. It was fun to have them at our house visiting.

Travis & Kristy's family. Just us girls.

Mom & Dad.

All the grand kids.

The bride. The groom.

Andrea and all the kids.

Formatting Issues

2008-05-27T12:18:00.002-06:00

I am having issues with formatting posts on this blog in case you didn't notice from the previous posting. In the screen I type stuff it looks right, and when I preview it before I post it looks right, but then I post it and it looks different. Does anyone know how to fix it?

Double Tagged

2008-05-22T08:48:00.010-06:00

I have never been tagged before and then got tagged twice, so here it goes: Tag #1 Five things on my to do list... 1. Buy a van 2. Straighten up the house 3. laundry 4. buy & plant flowers & catch up on yard work 5. grocery shopping Five places I've worked... 1. Nu Skin (my current job and I started two weeks before getting married) 2. H&R Block preparing tax returns 3. AccountTemps (while looking for a good job) 4. Flowserve (my first accounting job and my brother trained me!) 5. Nature's Sunshine Five favorite foods... 1. Lasagna 2. Cafe Rio chicken salad 3. fruit 4. fajitas 5. pasta Five places I've lived... 1. Monticello, UT 2. Richfield, UT 3. Provo/Orem, UT 4. Spanish Fork, UT 5. Payson, UT Five things you may not know about me... 1. I'm not sure what you don't know, my mind is blank on this one. 2. 3. 4. 5. Five things I would do if I was a billionaire... 1. Quit my job 2. Build a new house 3. Buy new vehicles 4. Go on a very nice, very long vacation 5. Share the wealth! I tag...now you're supposed to answer all of these questions on your blog--anyone who is reading this that has never been tagged!! Tag #2 A- Attached or Single?- Attached--four years now! B- Best Friend? – Gary C- Cake or Pie? - Cake, I'm not much of a pie person D-Day of choice? - any day I'm not at work E- Essential item?- Internet F- Favorite color?- Green G- Gummy bears or worms? both and any other candy to go with it H-Hometown? Richfield I- Indulgence(s)?- a nice hot bubble bath in a jetted tub J- January or July? –Something in between that isn't too hot and isn't too cold! K-Kids?- just Josh for now! L- Life is incomplete without?- my family M- Marriage date?- January 31, 2004 N- Number of siblings?- 4-Kristy, Jared, Melissa, Andrea, and I'm right in the middle. O- Oranges or apples?- both P- Phobias or fears -more things going wrong or breaking around the house Q- Quotes? - ask grandma Wood, she's always got one! R- Reasons to smile? - Gary is home and he is safe!!! S-Season? -Spring T-Tag 5 people?- Anyone who hasn't been tagged U- Unknown fact?- ??? V- Very Favorite store?- Walmart-it is close to my house and I can get about anything I need there! W- Worst Habit?- Gary could probably tell you better than I could X- X-ray or ultrasound? – Ultrasounds are fun if you're pregnant, but I'd prefer an X-ray if I wasn't! Y-Your favorite food?- Lasagna Z- Zodiac?- Gemini.

Weekend of Celebration

2008-05-18T18:31:00.012-06:00

Josh and I are very glad to have Gary home again! Josh steals his dad's hat every day when he gets home from the base, so Gary found one that he could keep and he loves to wear it everywhere. He is doing great adjusting to having his dad home again!

He was pretty worn out from all the excitement of his Dad's return and fell asleep playing in the head board of his bed.

He also fell asleep like this after finishing a Popsicle while watching cartoons.

Last weekend Gary didn't have to be at Camp Williams so we went to Richfield to spend the weekend with my mom and dad. Friday night we celebrated Josh's birthday, Saturday night we celebrated my sister Andrea's birthday, and Sunday was Mother's Day. We made Josh a choo-choo train cake and he had a good time blowing out candles. He blew them out several times. Daddy helping Josh open presents.

Grammy Debbie got Josh a new bike. Josh and Gary had fun putting it together. Andrea helping Josh get ready for his first 4-wheeler ride.

Grandpa Glen and Josh on the 4-wheeler. He had a lot of fun with grandpa!

Grandpa Glen put in a new dishwasher for us. Josh gets the tools out and fixes the dishwasher just like grandpa did. He even grunts while he's doing it and it's pretty funny to watch.

I made the mistake of leaving my checkbook sitting out on the desk. Josh picked up the pen and started doing exactly what he sees mom do with the checkbook!

Welcome Home!!!

2008-05-02T16:33:00.005-06:00

Gary is home!!! Josh and I picked him up at Camp Williams last night and we are very excited to have him home! It was neat to have the scouts come put flags all over our lawn for Gary. If you'd like to see the news stories on their arrival there are lots to choose from, but you won't see us in any of them! Here are some links:

Fox 13 News http://www.myfoxutah.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=6445315&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.2.1

KSL http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=3210656

Deseret News http://www.deseretnews.com/photo/gallery/story/1,5417,695275748,00.html

Daily Herald http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/264835/17/

Salt Lake Tribune http://www.sltrib.com/ci_9125237

Birthday Boy

2008-04-14T08:27:00.010-06:00

Yesterday was Josh's birthday. I can't believe he is already 2! I actually decided to postpone his birthday this year, since Gary will only miss it by a couple weeks. We will do a real celebration when he gets home. Yesterday I let him open a few presents to get him warmed up for the real celebration, and the rest will wait until his dad is home. It is a good thing I decided to postpone the real party because he got sick yesterday in the afternoon and it wasn't much fun.

Playing with the golf clubs Grammy Debbie sent.

Josh will have lots of fun playing catch with his daddy when he gets home.

Instead of eating cake, he got a doughnut and chocolate milk. We're saving the cake for later! He ate the frosting and didn't touch the rest of the doughnut.

Josh's cousins came over and helped him open the presents!

Easter was a while ago, but here's Josh with his Easter stuff. Grammy Debbie sent this chick that sings a song and flaps its wings. He was like that for a long time watching it sing the song.