Bryson Football Season

Brysons first tackle football season, only won 1 game but they played great. Bryson is num. 11.They almost beat the best team in their league. the score was 24 to 25 Sooooooo close.

Ketchup

I know I haven't posted anything FOREVER, but I had to get this written down. So, today we met Chad for lunch at Wendys. I wasn't really paying attention to Claire (20 months) until I noticed her SUCKING ketchup out of one of those little cups as she threw back her head and said "MMmmmm... It's GOOOOD!" Hilarious. And disgusting. And so stinkin' cute.

Parker likes Pocatello

Parker (out of the clear blue!): "Mom, you know what? I LIKE Pocatello, Idaho."
Me: "Oh really? That's good. Why?"
Parker: "Well, because it SNOWS a lot... and stuff like that. That's why I like Idaho. Cause it snows a lot."
He's right. It does snow a lot. We woke up to about 6 inches of new snow this morning. I'm glad he likes it. :)

photo shoot

We celebrated Abbey's birthday last week. I know it sounds cliche, but I really can't believe she is 8 years old!! I can't believe she is old enough to get baptized. But here we are, planning her baptism... The other day she and I drove up to the Idaho Falls temple together and took some pictures of her all dressed up in her white dress. It was such a fun time with just the two of us. I love my little, growing-up-so-fast, girl. These are some of my favorite pictures:

Welcome to IDAHO

We have made it to Idaho. I don't know why it took me so long to realize that we were moving to the country, but the views out our windows since we moved in have made it very obvious...

So, yes, we really do have TWO COWS right next door!!! And a red barn with an old car. Seriously. Why didn't I notice this before? I have to admit though, I kind of like it! :)

This is a view out the back and to the side of our house. Abbey and her friend decided to dig a mud pit in our back yards. (Really.) Behind them? Two John Deer TRACTORS! Does anybody need some potatoes? :)

Final House Pics. I promise!

We are finally into our new house! The following several posts are some pictures of my favorite things (the front room, the kitchen, the entry). As it turns out, there are things I would change if I could, some major and some small, but there are also lots of things that I love. Overall, we are happy with it and are so glad to be reunited as a family and on the downhill side of months of "transition".

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and more...

kitchen cabinet installation

kitchen backsplash

painting (front hall)

tile install (master bath)

a few more house pictures

Our builder let Chad use his backhoe to move some rocks around for landscaping.




Framing...




Putting up rock...





Sheetrocking and more sheetrocking...

Some house pictures

We moved this week. I HATE MOVING. But it is exciting to finally be back together and to be in our house. There is so much to say about this whole experience. I could write long, exhausting paragraphs about every single picture, but I wanted to just post a few representative shots of our home-building summer. (These are all taken from the pictures Chad faithfully emailed me every night - since I couldn't see what was happening! Some are from his cell phone so they are not the best quality. I plan to add some more from my camera ...someday.)

This is a view from the back of our lot which is about an acre. I am excited for the extra space but a little nervous about that much land to take care of. Are we CRAZY?



The kids and I while the house was being framed. I went up about every 1-2 weeks.

The back of the house and the bonus room.

Claire and I picking out tile. I'm glad I took a picture of this. We spent many hours in those aisles.

...more to come...

Update

Well, I know we have been M.I.A. from the blog "scene" since moving to Utah. Life has been really crazy - even more than usual. So this is my attempt at a BRIEF update:

The summer has been fun and hard. Some things have been better than I expected (i.e. staying with my parents - they really have been great) and some things have been harder than I expected (i.e. staying at my parent's HOUSE - without my own stuff or space). I have realized -again - how much I really like being with my husband and how much kids need a Dad.

Building a house has been harder than I expected. I didn't realize how much TIME it would take ME to think about, research, and decide on SO MANY things. And it has been hard to do it while living in a different state. (Our house is basically finished, but our builder - because of the timing - wanted to put it into the parade of homes; so, we won't be moving until around Aug. 18th.)

Bryson turned 10 last week. That will have to be a separate post. Claire is crawling, and waving, and saying "hi"! Oh, she is adorable. That will have to be a separate post too. Parker LOVES playing cars with Grandpa (almost) every night after dinner and picking raspberries in Grandma's garden. Abbey has a really good friend that lives next door here and has already met an 8 year old girl who lives next to us in Idaho! Lucky girl. (although she still really misses her friends in ABQ.) Chad is surviving - literally - on Little Caesars $5 pizza and hot dogs from Costco. It makes me think he really might need me after all. :)

Here are a few pictures of our house. I'll try to post some family pictures soon. I just realized I only have these two right now... the kid's bath and the double ovens. (Chad took a picture of the ovens because he knows how much I LOVE THEM :)

Some thoughts...

Well, we made it to Utah (barely) :) We are still kind of in transitition mode, but I think (HOPE!) things will get easier as we settle into routine here at Gpa and Gma's house.
So, I really wanted to write this post to send a huge THANKS and WE LOVE YOU and (not "goodbye", but) WE'LL SEE YOU LATER to all our dear friends in Albuquerque. Let me explain this picture a little bit...
I love, love, LOVE the blossoms on the trees in spring. I especially love the light purple/pink ones. They really are one of my "favorite things". So, a few weeks ago we were driving as a family and we were talking about the beauty of the spring blossoms and pointing them out whenever we passed them. (Background). Fast forward to last Wednesday morning. As I left our hotel room to rush to our house to meet the movers by 8 am, I noticed that there was a bunch of our stuff hanging out the door of our car. As I got closer I realized that our car had been broken into and that our camera (the fairly nice one that Chad gave me for our 10-year Anniversary, along with our camcorder with tapes from when Claire was born, etc.) had been stolen. I felt like up until then I had been handling our move pretty well. I didn't even cry at Church our last Sunday (!), but after that I could not stop crying. I think it was just the stress of it all and the sadness at having lost those things . It was a tough morning. Later, while I was driving the kids to school we saw some pink blossoms on a tree. Trying to help my kids with all that was going on, I pointed them out and reminded them that we could still find beauty and good, even during hard times. I didn't really feel that way though. (This DOES have a point...)

That afternoon we started cleaning. So many people offered to help. So many people DID things to help. Michelle, Sharon, and Chelsey cleaned my bathrooms and closets, (etc.) and I NEVER could have done it without them. People brought snacks for my kids, loaned us cleaning supplies, offered to babysit, etc., etc. That night as I prayed, I found myself saying (and feeling) "I am just so grateful" and it struck me at that moment that all of you had been my"spring blossoms" on a really tough day. My sadness and stress and sorrow really was overcome with a feeling of gratitude for the wonderful people that I am blessed to know and associate with. THANKS to all of you. Really. Thank you so much. We are going to miss you, but we will always be grateful for your love and friendship and the time we had together. :)

Family Pics

A few weeks ago we went down to Old Town where our friend Heidi (from the ward) took some family pictures. I think she did a great job (THANKS Heidi!!). Too bad Parker was in kind of a grumpy mood... Here are a few of my favorites...

P.S. We ARE still moving (next week), just in case you wondered. :) That is occupying most of our time and energy these days...

My Boys

Bryson had another fun Pinewood Derby this year. I have to keep reminding myself how much I will miss this stage of silly, enthusiastic "boy" when he is a "too cool" teenager. It really is cute.

These are Bryson's good buddies Harrison and Cooper. (They are all in the same class at school.)

This picture just makes me laugh. It was snowing and Parker really wanted to go out and play in it, but he REALLY didn't want to wear snowpants (or ANY pants! just shorts) or gloves. So... since he is my third childand I have mellowed quite a bit, I decided to let him go out in it and I figured that as soon as he got too cold he could just come back in. So he walked out the back door and then proceeded to walk straight out into the middle of the yard and sit down. He was stuck! He tried and tried to get up without touching his legs or his hands to the snow, but it was impossible. I laughed so hard - and then I finally went and helped him out. It was so funny, and luckily he didn't cry!

HOUSE HUNTING

So if you haven't heard, we are moving to Idaho. Most people ask "Why?" I will tell you the answer. Mostly, it is so we can be closer to family. Chad and I met at BYU-Idaho and we have always loved that area (south-eastern Idaho). Chad's job has stopped moving people around very much and this position came open and he applied and got it and it is kind of a "now or never" type of situation. Overall I think it will be a good move, but in the short term it is just not fun. I love our ward. We have such amazing people. I have some really good friends and lots of girls that I haven't really got to know that well, but really like :) This week we have been in Pocatello (our new home town) house-hunting. You might think that being alone (kind of alone - we still have Claire with us) - just Chad and me, staying in a hotel, eating every meal out would be fun and relaxing, but you would be wrong! It is just such a roller coaster of emotions. And I have to keep reminding myself to be grateful for what I have and not want more. (It is embarrassing that I know this, but you know in High School Musical 2 where Sharpay (sp?) sings "I Want It All"? Ya, that's me.) So we think we have found the perfect place and then we realize that it's not, or we find out it costs more than we thought, or we look at a house in an area that we were sure we didn't want to live and find out that it is an absolutely beautiful area - it just doesn't have a lot of kids in the ward; etc., etc., etc. So we are coming home without having made a decision. This picture is not our new house, but it is representative of how I am feeling about house hunting at the moment... just a little bit blah.

Just a few cute pics

It's hard to write this because today has been AWFUL, but for the most part Claire is the BEST BABY. I know she came to us with a sweet, easy-going personality, but I also attribute some of her "easiness" to Baby Wise. I am %100 converted. :) And I am %100 in love with our sweet, squishy, adorable, little baby girl.

Christmas 2009

One of our Utah Christmas traditions is to go sledding "up the canyon". Pictures just can't do it justice; it really is so beautiful.

We "finally" got a Wii. FINALLY we are not "the only people in the whole world" (according to Bryson) who don't have a Wii! It was a fun Christmas - although not much of a surprise.

Thanksgiving weekend we also gave Allie and Abbey their first EARLY morning Black Friday, took a trip to Santa Fe, saw A Christmas Carol in 3D, and blessed Claire (in the dress my Mom made out of her wedding dress for MY baby blessing - pretty cool).

Wow, it's been a while...

I guess I haven't put anything on here since Claire was born. Oops. Things have been pretty hectic. So, here is some catch-up:

THANKSGIVING
It was so fun to have Mom and Dad Steiny and Allie come down for Thanksgiving. I loved cooking in the kitchen with my Mom and sis. (Notice the ADORABLE aprons on Abbey and Allie from my SIL, Amy... Thanks Amy! We LOVE them!)

Baby Claire. A few more pics...