The little steven makes everything better!

Steven makes every day so much fun!! He has decided that he wants the quilt I just finished...we'll see what happens! :)He loves to put on my sunglasses and be a "cool dude"

Not sure what he was doing...but like always, he is cute! This is one of my new favorite pictures. Steven is showing me his teeth and cheesing it pretty good!

This is why Steven got a hair cut this week....

The other morning when I was doing my ab workout, Steven decided he was going to do it with me....this little video was just so cute, I had to share!

Jam Packed Thursday!

Every year around Christmas time, FM100 does mini-concerts at the mall around lunch time with lots of the amazingly talented people from Utah. When I heard on the radio that both Jon Schmidt and VoiceMale were going to be there on Thursday, I knew it was something I wanted to take Steven to! :) So, right when Steven was ready for a nap, we headed up to Sandy to enjoy the Christmas Spirit. We got there late, so we were in the back of all the people, but it was still a lot of fun! Steven really enjoyed listening to and watching Jon play the piano. I think part of his enjoyment was from being able to sit on my shoulders! :) Voicemale did a great job too, but I wasn't able to take a picture, because Steven was starting to get hungry, and I decided that I wanted to go talk to Jon while people were still enjoying the performance. So, I introduced Steven to Jon Schmidt, my favorite modern day pianist. It was cool for Jon to remember me from a shindig Spitty and I lined up when I was in 8th grade, and I was able to talk to him for a bit and get some picture. Shockingly, Steven wasn't afraid of Jon when I asked him to hold him for a picture! Jon and Steven

Then came Thusrday night - Date night! Darrell and I have tried to make going to the Forgotten Carols a Christmas tradition since we got married. We went both years we live in Logan, but didn't think about going this year. However, Saturday night, I was checking the stuff out online and found some tickets for the performance at Cottonwood High School for a great price, so we called up Steven's favorite babysitter, Aunt Sheri, and decided to make it a date night!

As I sat and listened to the beautiful songs from the Carols (and the beautiful tenor voice of Jordan Bluth), I realized it was this sort of thing that really helps me to feel the Christmas Spirit. It really focuses on the birth of Christ, and the importance of letting him into your hearts, bringing you peace, joy, and healing.

I would just like to leave you with some of the words to one of the songs.

Let Him in

Let the joy and hope begin

Let the peace on earth begin

And whether it be in your world today

or a crowded Bethlehem Inn

Find a way, make him room, let Him in

A lil' bit o' Steven

It's been a while since I've really posted, so I thought I would catch up a little bit. We had a delightful Thanksgiving in Murray with the Croppers, and Steven started to think he could become an expert on the stairs. He had so much fun going up and down Melanie's stair cases. Now we just need to help him learn he can't stand up when he's half way up , because he appears to want to topple over. He is just so cute and loves to look out the window and knock. He usually will knock and say "dad dad dad" when he sees the mailman outside. It's so cute. Steven has been officially walking for about 3 weeks now! This is a little video of him at the extended Cropper Thanksgiving dinner having a ball walking all around!

I'm not sure what title my prize for today should be...

The title of this book basically tells it all! :) And...I'm basically a super genuius

....you must hear the story....

I'm not sure if any of you read Amelia Bedelia books when you were younger, but I basically loved them! A running joke I have is teasing Darrell about is his ability to take things SO literally. The last time I did this, I told him I was going to order some Amelia Bedelia books in honor of him. So, I got checking out Ebay, and I bid for what I thought was a set of 10-books in a family album. So I'm thinking someone is just selling ten books that they've had in their own album. I won the bid too, and it was a fabulous deal. I was so excited!

So, the books came today, and I opened them up...and what do I find? 10 copies of the exact same book! And can we guess the title? "Amelia Bedelia's Family Album"

Looks like I'm the one with "Amelia" stamped on their forehead today!

Happy Black Friday!

So, this morning was my first time ever experiencing "Black Friday." I mainly went for the experience, because I've never gone, so I wanted to go this year. I was originally going to meet up with my sis-in-law at Walmart at 5 a.m., but she and her husband got caught in traffic till like 12:30 a.m., and then they didn't get home till really late...so I totally understand how she wanted more sleep. So, at 2 a.m. when I awoke to help Steven, I decided I really didn't want anything from Walmart anyway, so I decided to shoot for an hour later for Target, since they opened at 6, and there actually was something there on a great sale that I wanted to get for Steven.

So..my morning went something like this:

5:40 a.m. - wake up, change my clothes, go out to the car

5:48 a.m.- Park in the parking lot and experience a line something like the one you see in the above picture. I keep walking trying to find an end to the line, which was like 2 blocks long.

5:52 a.m.- Go into Old Navy, since they were smart and opened earlier than 6. I warmed up and checked out some merchandise, but didn't buy anything.

5:58 a.m.- get back in line, and with others by me, talk in wonderment about the people who were crazy enough to have been in line since 2 a.m.

6:00 a.m. - the line starts moving - remarkable fast

6:02 a.m.- Get into Target, where people do not stop speed walking/running. I opt to not follow the crowd and enjoy a leisurely stroll through the clothing department. Hardly a soul around.

(note, during this time, I was again amazed at people who would find the product they were looking for, and practically just throw it in their basket and not even look to see what they are buying.)

6:10 a.m. - find the item I'm looking for, and continue to stroll around non-peopled areas of the store (bedding, clothing, etc).

6:18 a.m. - Get into an express 10 items of less check out line

-wait in line-

6:38 a.m.- decide to jump into a "shorter" line with two ladies behind me that I'd been chatting with for a while.

6:42a.m. - Computer in the line we're in freezes up, so we're stuck in the only non-moving express lane for another while.

6:48 a.m.- manager lady comes to apologize and gives us a $3 off coupon for our purchases.

6:49 - Computer gets fixed and I finally get to buy my item, which already was on a great sale, plus the $3 off.. I ended up paying less than 50% of the original price. Can't beat that!

6:51 a.m. - Exit target leaving the masses behind me. I was smart and parked at the back of the parking lot, so it was an easy escape to the road and on to home.

Now I can say I've done it....it was fun. I may try it again...if I have someone to go be crazy with me!

Cute Cute Steven :)

Steven LOVES to open the phone and will "talk" to Dad. Of course, that's usually when no one is on the phone. If someone is actually trying to talk to him, he'll start pushing all the buttons pn the phone. Tonight, when I was talking to Sheri, I asked him if he wanted to talk to Aunt Sheri, and, of course, he did. It was adorable! He just stood in the middle of the room with the phone up to his ear and after a minute of just grinning, he started to jabber away telling Aunt Sheri about his day. It was so cute, I couldn't help but take some pictures! ( you might even notice Darrell's keys in his left hand)

Friends are fun!

The past two weekends, I've been able to travel down to Richfield for some good old times with the friends. Last weekend, it was great to get together with a lot of the friends from high school for a baby shower for Christie's baby, Lily (Who is cute and snuggly by the way :)) And then this weekend, Kacey Chidester had her mission report. That was a fabulous opportunity to get together with high school friends and my roommates from Snow College too. It was so much fun to be able to watch Tammy and the Bachelor with Kacey like old times on Friday night, then Saturday night just have a good old fashion visit with all the friends, and here great stories.

"You ain't got no eyebrows!" Ah, lof them! Here are some pictures

Me and Hobs(Robyn) Sutsa and me 2/3 of the roommates from Apt. 22! Robyn, Kacey, Janell, and Susan. Sarah couldn't make it, and Brittney is on a mission. we love them!

Some of the high school gang-o. Brice, Steve, Christie, Kacey, Janell, Andrew, Katelyn

At the baby shower with Christie

Seeing Kacey for the first time since she got home from her mission was fun!

At the baby shower: Janell, Steven, Christie, Lily, Kacey, Cambree, Tawnee, Katelyn, Sydney, and Brittany

Steven's latest discovery

Steven has been discovering he is a little more brave than he originally thought...he had a blast at Grandma Rowley's this weekend working on the skills!

A buzzzzy Halloween to you all!

Happy Halloween everyone!! I was so afraid Steven wasn't going to let us put his costume on for the day, but after a few trials of trying it on (literal screaming), he was okay when I put it on to go visit Great-Grandma and Grandpa Farnsworth for the actual holiday. He was a cute bumblebee, and I didn't take the time to find a matching shirt and pants, since we didn't go trick-or-treating. The costume is a size 2T, so it will get to wear it next year too, but it was still too cute to resist!!

Steven was having a blast playing with Grandpa Rowley, who came up for the State Volleyball Tournament He wouldn't actually smile at the camera for a picture, but this is him playing with his second cousin, Natasha. Had to get a picture of the back, with the cute little tail

I can fly!

About ready to have this crazy hood OFF!

This was just cute. He was having so much with this little doll that my Grandma Farnsworth has in a mini-rocking chair. He kept touching her nose and eye, and having so much fun!

We hope everyone had a safe, fun, and wonderful holiday!

Time Flies - Haircut #7

So, I sometimes can't believe how much hair Steven has. When he was a newborn, I imagined giving him his first hair cut on his first birthday...boy was i wrong. Despite him losing practically all his hair by two months, he's made up for it! This week after playing with his hair in the bath tub and realizing just how LONG it was, I decided it was time for another haircut, as you read, haircut #7 for this kid (I'll stop counting them sometime. I'm sentimental).

Anyway, here is a before picture... Check out this length! Awesome super long mohak!

Crazy hair!

And afterwards. It's actually slightly shorter than I planned, but with a super wiggly one-year-old, you can only do so much. At least he's not bald, right?

Mom's day off!

Life has been kind of busy lately, so I was kind of excited for Saturday to come. Since Darrell didn't get a chance to play with Steven at all last week while we were gone to Richfield, I decided this would be a chance for daddy/steven time. In the morning, I was able to go to a great Enrichment activity with our ward, and we had an excellent speaker that is a finance teacher at BYU talk to us, and she did a great job!

After Enrichment, I ran home, made lunch while Darrell got into the BYU Game, gave Steven some loves, then headed up for a trip to SLC to watch my good friend, Brittani (Willardson) Barton play her last home game as a Westminster Griffin. She has played volleyball for Westminster for four years now, and I have never been close enough to come watch her play. I was really excited to go!! Britt did an excellent job, and I forgot how much fun it was to watch a really good volleyball match. Brittani is the lone senior on the team this year, and she had a great last home match with seven kills, six digs, and 11 service points. It was also cool, cause they were having a breast cancer awareness day, so all their shirts for the game were pink. It was great!! Good Job Britt and good luck with the rest of your season!

October FHE Tradition

When Darrell and I were at Snow, and not quite officially dating, he invited me to come over and carve pumpkins with him. My favorite part of that was it took him like 20 minutes to get the guts to ask me to carve pumpkins with him. Anyway, since then, we have always carved pumpkins for an FHE in October. We were sad to realize Monday night that this was the first time since we've been married that we didn't carve pumpkins with our great friends, the Anderson's, in Logan. They are the best, and we miss them. Anyway, we decided to go ahead and do it just the two of us this year after Steven went to bed. It was still really fun!

Darrell got really motivated with his pumpkin, and did this ultimate BYU pumpkin with a cougar on top. You couldn't see how awesome it was without the light in it...but my camera wouldn't take a good picture. However, you can still kind of see what an awesome job he did! I went fancy last year (I did Strongbad) and decided this year to go for a simple silly face. :)

Deer Huntin' Weekend!

So, after such a rough football game on Thursday night (which I admit, I left the room mid-third quarter to read a book), it was lovely to escape to Richfield for the weekend for a wonderful weekend with family! Deer hunt is basically one of the times of the year I look forward to every year, even though I never go hunting myself. Steven had a great time this year with his cousins, aunt, uncles, and grandma and grandpa. (Thanks to Jenny for most of these pictures!!)

Saturday was the beginning of the hunt, and Sheri was great to play with Steven for a while so I could get ready for the day. When I got ready, I went outside to find Steven having a BLAST with Aunt Jenny and Aunt Sheri out on the tramp. While they were on the trampoline, the men were cleaning the two deer that they had shot that morning. Steven literally was so enthralled by what was going on. He kept just watching them and saying, "OOHH!" As is depicted in the picture below :)

My brothers Brian and Greg didn't hunt in Southern this year, so they were the lone bucks out by themselves in central. (If you can call hunting with 5 fun boys and two old boys lonely :))

Here is Brian with his deer

My brother, Trent, with his lovely two-point

Daniel and his deer

We took this picture especially for Darrell, since he couldn't make it down to Richfield with us (since we left while he was at work!)

Steven really did love the deer.

Darrell had a great weekend also. He hung out with his brother, Brad, all weekend, and on Saturday, they went with all their siblings to a ReAL Salt Lake soccer game. I borrowed this picture from Janae's blog, so you could all see how much fun he had!

I'm a winner!

So, the other day I was thinking that I never win anything. However, my luck changed tonight. WAHOO! We went to the Bronco Mendenhall Show at Ken Garff in American Fork. Not only did we get free dinner, but I won a BYU flag. Darrell was probably more excited than me, but I was still excited. And, now I can take "BYU Flag" off the list of stuff I can get Darrell for Christmas.

A few things I need to catch up on..

A couple weeks ago, we went up AF Canyon and had a picnic for FHE. The leaves weren't quite amazing yet, but I still was impressed with the pictures my camera was able to produce. Maybe it knows I want to replace it :) Darrell brought his trumpet home after we went to his parents for Conference weekend. Steven thinks it's pretty awesome, and loves to help push the buttons. Darrell got a banana chair for his birthday. At first, when we put Steven in it, he wasn't so sure how he liked it. However, now it's one of his favorite things. He'll climb up in it, kick back, and just relax as I rock the chair for him. However, in this picture, he wants the camera. He always wants the camera.

Mission Reunion and General Conference

Last night we got to go to my Australia Melbourne Mission Reunion in Park City.  It sure was great to see so many missionaries that I served with.  None of my companions were able to make it, but maybe I'll see them in 2 years at the next one.  We did have a great time visiting with others.  President Overton had a cake made referencing a great quote most of the missionaries had memorized from Australia:  "Good, Better, Best. . .Never let it rest until good is better. . . and better is best."  I love that quote.  

General Conference started out great.  I just wanted to touch on a few highlights that were impactful to me from the Saturday morning session.  Hearing about five new temples is certainly Awesome!  I also noticed that President Monson referred to a time when President Kimball had members of the Church pray that the gospel could be opened to areas where it previously not available.  He noted that miracles happened and the gospel was opened to many areas of the world.  President Monson likewise invited us to pray for more areas of the world to be opened to the gospel.  He said, "I urge you to pray for the opening of those areas that we might share with them the joy of the gospel." He said that as we Pray in faith, those miracles will happen again and the gospel will be opened in more areas.  I know that this will happen if we as a church do pray in faith for the gospel to move forward to more areas of the world!

Elder L Tom Perry said that we need to live within our means.  He said that well managed families don't pay interest.  They earn it.  I love that advice!  It blesses lives when we live within our means and let interest work for us instead of against us.  

I loved how Elder Oaks talked about the power of preparing for the Sacrament.  I can sure do better at this one.

Steven woke up during Elder Ucktdorf's talk, but I still heard enough of the talk to feel the power of hope in our lives.  Hope is an abiding trust in the Lord.  It is combined with Faith as we expect that prayer will be answered by the Lord.  

I look forward to hearing more profound words that are consistant with what has been shared before at general conference and what will continue to be shared in the future.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is True!