Little Lillie Lou

 

Steven loves to call Lillie “Lillie Lou.” Sometimes he’ll just call her Lou. It’s pretty cute.  Anyway, she is 8 months old now, and I wanted to post some cute pictures of fun times with her.  Particularly her loves for crookneck squash.

  

Some more catch up :) August, Darrell’s birthday, BYU season opener, and Labor Day Weekend

Even if you don’t want to do read this massive post, skip ahead to the post about Steven’s birthday. It was awesome :)

Anyway, the month of August was busy and fun!! We started out the month by going to Logan for our niece’s, Claire’s, blessing. I didn’t get many pictures, but she was adorable, and it was fun to lots of family! We did get to go swimming at the hotel with cousins, and Lillie got her first taste of ice cream.  Aggie Blue Mint. Yes, I waited till she could have the BEST stuff to experience her first ice cream :)

  

The second week of August, I was going to go full force with potty training, but after realizing Steven really is not ready, I had a random thought to instead FINALLY get Steven to give up his binky.  It was so much easier than I ever expected, and I wondered why I didn’t do it earlier.  Oh well. I didn’t and that’s that.  He, in turn, switched his binky for three new cars: Sheriff, Mater chewing bubble gum, and Doc Hudson.  This first picture he is saying “I don’t need binky anymooooooore!” Then I had to add the pictures of his cars and brag, because Steven took them all by himself.

Lillie turned 7 months old in August! She is so darn cute. 

My handsome husband brought me beautiful flowers for our anniversary. We also went to The Lion King in Salt Lake at the Capitol Theatre. It was amazing, but my computer won’t load the picture. Grumble grumble.

I ran my third 5K of the summer for the Wasatch Mental Health Wellness Run.  My sister works for Wasatch, so I was supporting her, and thought finishing off my summer with a 5K would be fun.  Running really has been a hard thing for me, and to run the whole thing was a big accomplishment for me. I ran the race in 33:09. It was so exciting for me to reach that goal of running an entire 5K, and I somehow don’t miss the 15 pounds I lost while training all summer.

Darrell’s brother Bryan and his wife,Kristy, came to Utah to bless their new baby, Savannah.  She is 2 months old, but still teeny tiny since she was only 3 lbs, 11 oz when she was born.  We’re so happy to have met her, seen family, and enjoy a beautiful day!  We love you guys! Steven even enjoyed “fishing” in the puddles after a beautiful rainstorm in Sugarhouse.

 

On August 31, I realized it was the last Tuesday in August for the $2 Tuesdays at Thanksgiving Point, so we headed to the Dinosaur Museum.  Steven was basically terrified of most everything, except the erosion table (best part of the whole thing), the baby elephant skeleton (shown below), and the sand box. We got him a 75 cent turtle at the gift shop, and he got free ice cream and my cone only cost a quarter.  For $3, it was a fabulous outing for us.

Darrell turned the big 28 on September 2!  We didn’t get to celebrate much, cause he’s been working a lot, but he got some new shoes, a new trimmer, a cheesecake for his birthday, and a great big kiss from his darling wife, and cute son.  Who could ask for more?

 

We headed to Richfield for Labor Day weekend to do corn and beans with my parents.  It’s a family tradition for my family, and we’ve been able to go every other year since we got married.  It was also the BYU season opener, so we were decked out in our BYU gear.  I attempted to take Steven’s picture in his new jersey, but he only half-cooperated.  I still got a good one though :)

 

My angel nephew, Parker, was stillborn 6 years ago on September 4, 2004, and is buried in Richfield. For the full story, and to read some of Jenny’s thoughts, you’re welcome to visit HERE.  Anyway, Daniel and Jenny came up with their cute little family to celebrate.  They just had darling twins, Ava and Wyatt as well, and we enjoyed time with them :) I only got pictures of Wyatt, but he’s the one I got to snuggle with at 3:30 a.m. and we’re buds now :) I’ll get pictures of darling Ava next time!

 

And on Sunday of Labor Day weekend, we went to Fishlake for church.   My mom is in an awesome choir, Aspen Heart, that does the Sunday School program every Labor Day at the Fishlake branch, so we got to enjoy that.  After church, we took Steven to throw rocks in the lake. It was super windy, so I think he maybe threw two rocks before was all done :)

Happy Blogging Everyone!

Steven’s Birthday Party

 

 

We had a birthday party for Steven on his birthday. He was definitely excited to have some friends and family come for cake and ice cream! We first decided to freeze everyone out by opening presents outside, then were nice and let them eat cake and ice cream in the house.  Steven got lots of presents, and has had a blast playing with everything!  He was really excited about a Dinosaur birthday cake, even if it didn’t turn out as awesome as mommy thought it should :)

  

Happy Birthday Steven!!!

I cannot believe Steven turned 3 years old on Friday!! He has definitely been looking forward to it being his birthday, and just kept asking me “Is today my birthday?”  It proved to be a fabulous day!

Some random and fun things about Steven:

• He loves to sing and dance around the house constantly
• He just told me his favorite song is “I am a Child of God”
• Lately, in his singing and dancing, every song ends in “On we go to vanquish the foe for Alma Mater’s sons and daughters” (Part of the BYU fight song)
• He can almost sing the entire BYU fight song by himself when he wants to
• After taking him to his 15-year old cousins football game, he likes to watch imaginary football games where he sits and cheers “GO JEFF” all the time
• He absolutely loves cereal, particularly Raisin Bran and Life
• He is obsessed with cars, trains, and taking toys away from his sister
• Despite always taking toys away, he loves to play with his little sister
• He absolutely loves WordWorld (PBS kids show)
• After watching any show in the morning, the rest of the day is usually spent re-enacting the entire cartoon.  We’ve gone elephant hunting, saved Rocket from Little Einsteins and built plenty of words this week
• He thinks it’s funny to ask you where our food is when we’re done eating.  When you say, “Where did it go?” and he chuckles and says, “It’s in your belly!”
• He has a little stick with a ball on it, and when he finds it, it becomes a baton and he begins directing the alphabet
• Every day when Darrell gets home from work, Steven runs to him and says, “How was work, dad?” It’s definitely cute
• When Darrell has to work late, and Steven has to go to bed, he gets concerned about his daddy, and says, “Daddy’s tired. He needs his blanket, pillow, and bed to go to sleep at work.” I assure him that Daddy gets to come home and sleep

We love you Steven! Thanks for making life exciting. You’re such a wonderful kid!!

The Best Two Years...to the second power

Four years ago today, Darrell married the most amazing woman he has ever met! And this story gets even better. Four years ago today, Janell married the most amazing man she has ever met!

:)

About 5 years ago, I started my first semester at Snow College (academically as a sophomore, age-wise a freshman). Before going back to Snow that semester, Darrell made the famous statement that he wasn't going to find a wife at Snow, because all the girls were too young. Pretty sure neither of us expected to find one another that year, but I'm pretty sure neither of us mind at all now!! Thanks Honey for coming along this road with me!

I'm so blessed that the Lord has changed almost every single "perfect plan" that I've established. He thwarted my "go on a Mission and go to BYU" by bringing my amazing husband into my life when he did. I then attended USU as an elementary education major, when originally I was an English and Music Major. He thwarted my "wait until I get my bachelor's degree to have my first child" as Steven arrived 13 months after we were married. (At least I got my wish of getting my bachelor's degree before baby #2, as I found I was pregnant with Lillie a week after my USU Graduation :))

Happy Anniversary to my amazing and wonderful husband!! I'm so blessed to be married to a man who works hard for our family, always makes me feel beautiful, and always tries so hard to make our children smile and laugh. (he's VERY successfull, by the way :)) It's been an eventful and exciting four years, that's for sure.

Thanks honey for staying up late while I talk your ear off every night!

Thanks for putting up with my experiments of healthy new fun recipes

Thanks for sitting on the bench with the kids every week in Sacrament Meeting while I play the organ

Thanks for taking Steven on elephant hunts when my brain is fried from a day of hunting

Thanks for traveling all the time with me to see family, see musicals, and check things off my bucket list

Thanks for supporting my desire to run

Thanks for being such a great daddy

Thanks for helping me want to be better each and every day that we have together!

I LOVE YOU!

I found these pictures hidden away, and knew they needed to be documented for posterity sake.