Just Like Mom!

This was after a trip to our wonderful swimming pool! The pool is great, but the weather was only in the low 80's and within 20 minutes both kids were blue...literally. Steve and I were kind of enjoying the cooler weather...a break from the sweltering heat...but Stevie and Lilly don't have enough body padding to enjoy cold water. We played hard, got cold, drove home, and jumped into the shower!

Lilly wants to do everything that I do, only natural, and she actually has enough hair to hold the towel. But, we had to work kind of hard to get the towel to stay on Stevie's head. His constant bouncing didn't help either! Oh well, we got the picture!

Collecting Eggs

This was a fun day. We went to my Mom's friend Cindy's house and collected eggs. I thought for sure we would have raw egg everywhere by the time we were done or at least a lot of cracked eggs but to my surprise, the kids were very gentile! Even with a metal bucket! I do think we did end up with about five cracked ones from Lilly. I guess she's not perfect. What am I saying, of course she is perfect!!! cracked eggs and all!

This kid of mine had a blast this day!
Lilly was frightened at first, I think of the birds, but then she got the hang of it. We had to actually plant additional eggs for her to find. I think we found the same egg at least 10 times.

Anyone up for some good ol' fashioned chicken chasin'? Stevie loves to chase the birds...he chases them at the river, he chased our own ducks and so why not chickens? This last picture is his attempt to pacify his mother who wants some good pictures of our adventure. Oh well.

Dinasaur Bones!!!

This was so cool! My uncle and his scout troop and (if I remember right) another scout troop found dinosaur bones in the rocks of southern Utah.


We had a little bit of trouble remembering which red rock cliff the bones are buried in and this is Nana and Lilly looking around to see if we had found the right one.

There is one little piece peaking out.

Stevie is sure this is part of a leg bone. But who knows. This set of bones, as far as I understand, has not actually been reported to anyone yet so Stevie's guess is as good as any ones!

From left to right, Aunt Dorothy, Nana Great, Stevie, Aunt Joni, Lilly, and Nana!

I think Stevie was done taking pictures!!!

I think it is pretty cool!

Where's Stevie? The scenery down in this part of the country is absolutely stunning!!!

Can you tell Aunt Joni used to be a gymnast? She still looks great!!!

We went from exploring these dino bones to looking for cool rocks, shark teeth, and sea shells in what used to be an ocean...millions of years ago. We didn't find any shark teeth but Stevie and Nana Great brought back pockets full of cool rocks! And we found a few sea shells. I on the other hand left the camera in the car for this part of our adventure...dang it!

Just before we left on this trip, Stevie gave Nana Great one of his rocks "because he loves her!"

This is a picture of Stevie playing in a pile of corn like most children play in sand. It works...a corn angle!

Stevie's all time favorite thing in the world is riding on this tractor! I guess that makes him about normal! Ok Ok, I'm his mother and he is far from normal...being the smartest and the best... of course! :)

We always have a good time visiting Nana Great! Stevie is actually quite possessive of what he calls, "my nana great!" and has one of the sweetest bonds with her. The two of them write letters and talk on the phone besides enjoying each other's company. It really is a cool thing! We can't wait to get back down there soon for the next adventure that awaits us!

Party Aftermath.

After Lilly's party, the funeral, Steve and I getting horribly sick we really did enjoy the rest of the week with Steve's parents. Papa Charlie and the kids had a great time playing together!

Lilly has really taken to her Papa Charlie. I have heard that Charlie has a tendency to scare little kids. Not, Lilly. She seems to have successfully charmed her way into his heart and visa versa!

Lilly really has 2 mothers. My mom and I have both played the mother roll in her life sense she was 3 months old. I think I might have a little more sway than her Nana, but not by much and they definitely have a special relationship!

As a little side note, I swore before we had kids, that I would never be a mom that steered my kids to gender specific toys. You know boys and blue, cars, tools, balls and girls to pink, dolls, tea parties ect. I have discoved that kids really come out genetically programed to what they are going to play with iregardless of what thier parents want. Stevie came out wanting cars, tools any anything with an engine. Lilly's toys of choise are something she can draw with, balls and dolls. Not that parents don't have a big say in the matter, Stevie would love to play with guns, and video games. Those are toys that aren't allowed. He is too young still! Got to protect their inocense!!


This is Lilly stuffing her face with cream of wheat. I swear she is the cutest child ever!
TOO TOOT!

Again, I'm cussing myself for not getting more pictures. I didn't get one picture of Nana Karen and the kids. I have got to get better at the photography!!!!!

Lilly turned 1!

This was an awesome day. Steve and I were both feeling better, Steve's parents were still here and the party was a hit!

When I started Stevie in school I met a wonderful group of girls and we all became fast friends. One of them, Staci, and her husband, Jerry, own a restaurant in town called the white water grill and it is now one of my most favorite restaurants of all time. So naturally I asked if we could have the party in their banquet room. Jerry and Staci out did themselves with the food and we all had a blast.

My mom displaying the shrimp bowl! Yummmmm!

Papa and his birthday girl!

Leave it to Stevie and Steve to get the party started!

I was so dang proud because this was one of Lilly's first walks. She took 3 or 4 steps here and it was her birthday and of course being her mother I was ecstatic!

This is our friend Maggie. She, her brother Max who is Stevie's age came to celebrate with us. Maggie is about 6 months older than Lilly and is so cute with her.

Opening presents. Stevie had to help with each one. It is so hard to watch other kids open presents. He did a pretty good job of helping and giving her some room to open her own gifts. And I will emphises "a pretty good job" because he did have to help with each and every one of the gifts. Awww well that's what big brothers are for right?!?!

I love the smile on her face.

My cousin Kaleo, his wife Michelle, and their son Ellis joined us and these glasses are from them. I put them on her at first to kind of show her where they went but after that it was all her.

She loved them!
Close baby girl! This is still her favorite place to wear her glasses.

This is just like Momma, I always have my glasses on my head.

Her first taste of cake. It was so funny. When Stevie had his first one he shoved the entire head of frosting from the cupcake into his mouth. Not Lilly, she had a taste with her finger first, then two or three fingers at a time, and finally an entire handful. But she was kind of slow and careful about the way she was eating. What a lady!

Ok, that might have been just a bit of an over statement. By the end she was kind of shoving it in her mouth! Very cute though.

What a happy girl.
Our cousin Ellis throughly enjoying a cupcake. I don't think this kid eats a lot of sugar in his regular diet...but he really loved it here! Green frosting and such is why all mom's carry a baggie of wipes in their purse where ever they go. Which you can see on the table in the back ground!

I love this picture of us. My family! I love it!

My dear dear friend Tami! She is Maggie and Max's mom and we love them to death....and miss them terribly.

So that was the party. I didn't do a very good job of getting pictures of all our guest but Lilly had a good time and I think everyone else did too. That's what counts right? And now she is one. Let the attitude begin!

Oh so much has happened!!!

Holly crap it has been a very long time. I have no words for why I have been such a slacker! But oh well here it is. So I'm only 6 months behind and I'm determined to capture the high lights. There were some huge ones in February which is when this pic was taken. First there was Mardi Gras and then the best was Steve came home on leave. We got 17 entire days with him. What an event! Steve's parents flew in for a visit and Lilly turned 1!

This picture is from the airport picking Steve up and I can tell you that Stevie was beside himself. There wasn't any hesitation in running right up and jumping into his dad's arms. I'm not a big crier but that about brought down the house.

Lilly on the other hand needed some time to get used to him. In fact she was quite jealous of him around me. I remember distinctly walking over to sit by Steve on the couch and she crawled over, climbed onto my lap, started up into her Dad's face, patted me on the chest and said, "my momma!" It didn't take long for the two of them to start a relationship...he deployed on her 3 month mark. They are pretty cute together now!

The weeks that Steve was home was absolutely crazy with things happening. First, my uncle Jack died. I posted about that back in March. We picked up Steve from the IF airport and 24 hours later we were on our way to Salt Lake for his funeral. You know funerals both good and bad... it is so hard to morn the people that leave us but at the same time it is almost a celebration of family. Everyone is brought together. Steve was able to visit and see just about the entire family that weekend. 2 days after the funeral, we picked Steve's parents up from the Salt Lake airport and drove back to Idaho Falls. This should have been a wonderful reunion, but I was sick as a dog. Steve drove home and I crashed in the back seat. We arrived home just in time for me to be sick from top to bottom. It was actually hard to decided which end of me needed the toilet more. I'm sorry that was gross, but true. Steve, being a man away from his wife for 9 months, was convinced that he wouldn't get it if he only kissed me a little. RIGHT!! So he was sick for a couple of days after that with very similar symptoms. So Steve's parents were here for only a week and during that time, I was sick, Steve was sick and we had Lilly's birthday party which will be in my next blog post....I promise it is coming soon!