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!

Mardi Gras

What a night! What a night! Feb 1, 2008 we went to a Mardi Gras celebration held to generate money for Stevie's school. We had so much fun. There was a silent auction, a live auction, wine, mixed drinks, dancing, and to top it all off, no kids! We had a ball. Even my parents had a good time.

They are a handsome couple... if I do say so myself. Mom bid on two kind of odd plaques made of corks from wine bottles. Now, one of them is hanging in the kitchen and the other went to a garage sale. You really only need one odd cork thingy. And Dad didn't really want to go and I think he didn't want to go becuase he knew that he would bid on something. There is a picture of that something toward the end of this post.

The last time we took a pic like this was my wedding. We all looked damn good that night!

This is a picture of my girlfriends. Colleen is in the middle and Staci is on the end. We have become such good friends sense the beginning of the school year. And the awesome thing is that our kids play so well together too!

The fablous green wigged girl is Irinel and she is a freind too. She is the bell of the ball and also a ton of fun.

This shot took me back to the good ol' college days...we are taking a clevage shot and the only thing we acomplished to so look like weight lifter wanabees! Mom was in the shot to begin with and when she figured out what we were doing, she quickly removed herself. Too funny!

Dad won a sage fly rod this night and was very proud of it! And rightly so! This is rod is over $1000 dollar value and Dad got if for $500. They don't call him Lucky Lynn for nothing....but the bidding was really low that night over all and Dad thought he would just help the dollar amount go up by bidding just a little. I can't say he was disapointed when he won just a little surprised it sold for so small amount. Oh well, you can never have too many fly rods....right Dad?!?!

A little picture of me!

Play Dough!

These two love play dough. This is Stevie's new table he got for Christmas from his Nana and Papa...and the kids love doing projects on it. Go Nana! Go Nana...it was a perfect gift! Anyway, Stevie is into creating different stuff and then acting something out...like a snake that goes down a slide (that's what he is doing here) and Lilly is into eating it. So, the conversation sounded like this..."Stevie, what an awesome snake...Lilly take the play dough out of your mouth...Stevie that snake loves to slide...Lilly spit it out...Stevie what other animals are you going to make?...Lilly don't put the play dough in your mouth again...Stevie that is an wonderful bird...Lilly if you put it in your mouth again, you won't be able to play any more...Stevie, you just squished your bird and snake together...Lilly that's it you are done...Stevie I have to take your sister and wipe the play dough off and out of her mouth."

Anyway, you can see we had a good time. And really Lilly did get to play for like 20 minutes before I just gave up.

She is so intent on what she is doing. So serious and dang cute!

This kid has an incredible imagination and he loves to use it. I can't wait to read the stories he will create!

Five Years!

Steve and I have officially been married for 5 years this past Jan 11! I can barley believe we have made it this long...that is to say, I'm impressed that Steve has put up with me for that many years. Actually, truth be told, we are pretty well matched for each other.



My dear beloved hubby scored major bonus points this year because despite being thousands of miles away he sent me this beautiful bouquet! And let me tell you, it made my day...no week...no month. The only down fall was...he wasn't hear to celebrate it with me.




Isn't it stunning!



As a tribute to the man I love so much...let me count the ways!



1. Thank you for being an incredible father. It is nice to know the kids come first and that you do anything in your power to give them everything they need. They love and adore you!



2. Thank you for making your R&R trip home as good as it could be considering we had such a large audience. (I promise to post those pics asap!) I enjoyed being with you, our conversations and watching you interact with your kids. Most of all thank you for giving me the space I needed to get used to having you around again. You were sensitive and understanding...it meant a lot to me!



3. Thank you for being my partner, my friend, my confidante, my lover, and my spouse!



Come home soon! We miss you like crazy!

4-Wheelers

Ok I know I promised to go back and put in notes for the Christmas pics...but who are we kidding. I barley have time to keep up with all that I try and do. Anyway they are mostly self-explanatory anyway!

So now here are some of the cutest pics of Stevie and his best friend in Idaho Falls...Gabe! The two of them are very cute together. Gabe invited us to go 4-wheelin' and the two boys had a blast together! Thanks to Jerry, Lilly got a turn too!


All dressed and ready to go. It was nice of Staci and Gabe to lend Stevie a pair of goggles or "go-gles" as Stevie calls them so he could be just like Gabe!

Stevie is on the right sitting on the battery powered 4-wheeler. This thing is amazing because it will actually go on snow. Stevie was in hog-heaven because this is the exact toy he has wanted for 2 years now but I'm too mean a mom to get it for him. Gabe is on the left and sitting on a gas-powered mini 4-wheeler. He is an incredible driver...and that machine goes pretty fast!

Jerry was kind enough to take Lilly and it was a good thing too, she didn't want to be left behind. She was and still is in the "me too" phase. I have a sinking feeling that phase lasts a long time!

Gabe pulled Stevie on the sled. The two of them had such a blast! They did switch and Stevie drove with Gabe on the sled. Gabe is one tough kid...Stevie didn't quite have the hang of going at a steady pace and Gabe about got jerked out several times...but he hung on and they had a great time!