Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was held at Robert's parents house this year. It was a small get together with the grandparents, Uncle Brent and Aunt Deb as well as their youngest daughter Sadie. We had a wonderful meal and enjoyed spending time with everyone. The kids were their usual bundles of energy. After dinner we got the privilege of listening to Sadie play the piano. She has only been taking lessons for about seven months but sounds like she has been taking for at least a couple of years. She is so talented!

The best part of Thanksgiving dinner at Mike and Vicki's has got to be the pies. There were 7 pies for 12 people! Vicki made the lemon, caramel, cherry, and pecan pies. I made my famous chocolate mousse and a pumpkin pie. Deb made her famous banana cream pie. Brent surprised us all by making his old fashion raisin cookies. They were all so yummy! (And yes I had a little slice of them all by the end of the day).

Of course, no family get together would be complete without the traditional Stephenson "cream" puffs. They call them cream puffs but I have never tasted cream like this! Hold on to your hats folks--the "cream" is a mixture of cheese whiz and miracle whip. The "cream" is then piped into a pastry puff and topped with icing and chopped nuts! Every year the family tells me I'll get use to them. Even after 10 years I still can't eat them. Yuck!!!

The highlight of the dinner was the turkey table decorations the kids and I had made. Even Grandpa Karren ate his! I just love the holidays!!

Happy Halloween! I know it's past but I didn't get my pictures posted on Sunday like I planned. This week was a little less stressful than last.


We carved pumpkins at Grandma's house on Saturday the 25th. Here is a picture of the kids in front of all the pumpkins. After carving pumpkins we headed to the ward Fall Festival and annual chili cook off. I made some chili with no intent of winning the contest. I just knew they needed more chili. The primary had sugar cookies for the kids to decorate. They thought it was great!

I thought it was fitting that we woke up Halloween morning to a bright orange sunrise. How lucky am I that I have a view like this from my front door.

Ellie dressed up like Cinderella (or Cinder-Ellie as I like to call her) and Micah was Anakin Skywalker. The weather was perfect for trick or treating. The businesses downtown let kids trick or treat at their stores during the day. I took the kids after picking up Micah from preschool. Micah could have walked up and down Main Street for hours getting candy. Ellie kept asking when we were going to be done. Next year I think I will take the wagon. Later that day we went to the ward trunk or treat. Both kids loved it and came away with a haul of candy. Micah's bucket was so full the handle broke!

Here's another picture of CinderEllie. I took this right after I did her hair and makeup in the morning. Yes I let her wear makeup. She was in heaven!

After the trunk or treat we took the kids to see all the grandparents. Ellie fell asleep on the way home. I couldn't resist taking this picture. It pretty much sums up the day.

Are you surprised I'm updating my blog!!!!

Holy Cow!!!! That is all I have to say. The last month has been the craziest month ever in my entire life. I can't even begin to tell you everything that has been happening. I'm just going to give you some highlights. At the end of September I was called as 1st counselor in the primary presidency at church. Shortly thereafter our ward split. My brother in law got married October 3rd and I am now done with course work at school. I started my internship this week. I will be completely done with my masters in November of '09. So yes, that means I will be in my internship for the next year. I have to complete a minimum of 1000 hours to graduate and I have to take a year to do it. I just discovered the world of Facebook this past week. I have been having a blast catching up with so many of my old friends. For those of you that have a Facebook page, look us up. Robert and I both have one. Needless to say, life is good but it's busy.

I was getting ready for the day when the phone rang. When I went back into the bathroom I found Ellie helping herself to my makeup bag. She loves to wear lipstick.

Our cute little family at the wedding.

Micah and Ellie had so much fun at the "party." They loved getting all fancied up!

First Day of School

Micah started kindergarten on August 25th. I didn't cry but I did have to hold back some tears. Ellie wanted to stay with him. Kindergarten around here is only 2 1/2 hours! Micah's preschool was longer than that! Anyway, Micah seems to be enjoying it. I didn't realize that they gave out homework in kindergarten. Public school has changed so much since I went. Here are some pictures of the first day of school. Micah had to have Spiderman shoes and a Transformer (Bumble Bee-specifically) backpack. He's growing up so fast!

I know, I know, I'm slacking again!!!!

So the last 6 weeks have been the busiest weeks of my entire year so far. Let me fill you in. I just got done with the most time consuming class of my masters program-Dependency and Addictions. It wasn't that the content was hard...we just had a lot of homework. We had two assignments due each week plus about 150 pages of reading each week. I learned a lot in the class but I am sure glad it's over. Two more classes left and then it will be time to start my internship!!!! I can't wait!!!!

So in the middle of my addictions class we took a vacation to Brian Head (southern Utah) the week of the 4th. For those of you who don't know Brain Head is a ski resort in Southern Utah close to Cedar City. Why go to a ski resort in the summer? For the fireworks of course! They had the most awesome fireworks display I have ever seen! (Erin- you guys will have to take the kids next year.) It was good to see my brother and his family and spend some time with my folks and my Grandma. My brother drove up from Arizona and my parents and grandma flew into Vegas and drove up. It was so fun! My parents were kind enough to watch the kids one day for us so Robert and I could go to Zion's National Park for some hiking. Zions was gorgeous and we had a blast hiking. On the way back down from the cliff it started to pour down rain. We got absolutely soaked! I wish we would have stopped someone to take our picture. I'm sure we looked like drowned rats. It was so much fun!!!

After our trip to Brain Head we had to return to real life. Robert took off for basically two weeks for a couple of business trips while I played the single parent and tried to catch up on some hours at work. Micah had swim lessons at that time too (which he loved). Also during the last six weeks I have been busy trying to get our yard done. Who knew that trying to hire someone to put in a sprinkling system and plant some grass would be so difficult! The phone had to be surgically removed from my head by the time it was over.

Now things have slowed back down to a somewhat normal speed just in time for me to get Micah ready for kindergarten in about three weeks. Where has the summer gone?? I didn't get near the things done I wanted to this summer. Oh well, such is life! Enjoy some pictures from our trip.

My nieces and my kids enjoying the 4th of July parade in Parawon.

Robert and I attempting to take our picture at Zion's (before it rained).

The beautiful Golden Columbines in Zions. We saw white Columbines at Cedar Breaks.

Zion's just before the storm.

Zion's after the storm.

Cedar Breaks at sunset.

More Guy Stuff....

Kind of looks like I need to do my own blog here. I never thought that I would ever have more to say than Heather. Oh well. Heather has been so involved with school projects, finalizing her internship, working a few days a week for a counseling center in Logan, and..... chasing the little hoodlems around. There is just no time.
The other night we put our weekly Netflix movie in and she was out in less than 10 minutes. Sleep is a luxury sometimes, even during Rush Hour 3.

OK, on to the guy stuff...


My brother Anthony and I took time off a few weeks ago to run down to the new Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele to watch the Utah Grand Prix. They have 4 or 5 different race series that compete all in one day. We got there around 9am and stayed until nearly 6pm. I don't know why watching cars race is such an addiction. Must be the tiresmoke-loudexhaust-180mph-racegassmelling male gene.

One of these days we are going to invest in one of the 3 day race-car-driving-schools that they offer there at the track. Let me emphasize invest. Last time I checked it was around 3 grand for the whole package. Ok you're right, I'll keep dreaming...

Here's a few photos and video of the cars and racing..

Race School Cars

Corvette from the American LeMans GT1 class

Audi R10 Turbo Diesel LMP1 Class

SCCA GT Class Racing

Ellie's B-day!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Birthday Ellie!!

Yes, it's true. Our baby turned 3 years old yesterday. We had a family party last night that included a Cinderella themed cake and too many presents. She loved all of her presents. My parents mailed her a Disney Princess sticker/coloring book, a wooden name puzzle, and a Hawaiian hula outfit complete with a coconut bra! We bought her a set of Disney Princess figures and also a set of just Cinderella characters and a Dora dress-up trunk. She was in heaven!!! Grandma and Grandpa Stephenson invited Ellie for a sleepover on Friday night. This is their tradition with the kids for their birthday's starting with 3rd B-day's. I think she was spoiled enough for one more year.

Yes, I'm a slacker!!!

Ok, I didn't realize how long it has been since I posted something. I blame part of it on my belief that I always need to post pictures with my blogs and I've been too lazy to transfer the pictures I've taken from the camera to the computer. I decided that you all would probably forgive me for not posting pictures if I would just post anything to let you know what has been happening with us lately. I wish I had some exciting news but I don't. I can honestly say that I'm ok with that. Sometimes it's nice to just live a normal, routine life for awhile. It's just been the same thing from week to week around here. School, occasional work, kids, laundry, ......that's what my life consists of. I did get some wild hair this weekend though. I decided to fianlly sew Ellie and Micah some play clothes from a bunch of old material I got from Roberts grandma last summer. I finally went to buy a pattern to make some shorts and ended up buy a pattern and some material for myself to make a couple of skirts. I'll have to keep you posted (maybe even with pictures) as to how my sewing kick is going. I haven't sewed anything else but baby blankets for awhile so this should be fun. For those of you who don't know, I just learned to sew about two years ago. My mom use to sew a lot when I was younger but never taught me how, mainly because I really didn't care to learn at that point. After getting married and having kids I decided I should probably learn how and you know what.....I LIKE it! (My mom is pulling herself up from the floor right now). Yes mom, I like it! It's fun to create something from a raw state. I like the feeling of accomplishment I have when I get done and believe it or not, I find it kind of relaxing to sew. I'm still learning and have to say that the seam ripper is my friend. Stay tuned to see how long it takes me to make everything.

Oh, here is an on going problem I have been struggling with...sinuses. I have been struggling with sinus infections since at least October. I am on my third round of steriods and antibiotics and the doctor has finally scheduled me for a CT scan this Friday. Most of the time I have been able to live with the problem but lately I have been having the worst sinus headaches! My head just throbs! It has been raining a lot lately and I can always tell when a storm is going to come through. I hope that the CT scan will tell them something. I don't care at this point if I have to have surgery, I'm just ready to finally get rid of this problem!

Guy Blog Continued...

Heather has been buried with her new job and the pressure of keeping up in school. So I will throw in a few additional comments to keep the blog rolling.

Anthony (my brother) and I had a guys day out last week. We had originally planned on going up to the St. Anthony dunes near Rexburg ID and riding 4-wheelers (Yamaha Banshees for those interested) in the sand for a few days. But we found out that the area was closed until the first part of May. So much for those plans...

Since we were determined to get our speed fix we drove down to SLC for an afternoon and went to the FastKart indoor speedway and raced go-karts for a few hours. It wasn't two days worth, but it was still really fun. We did a 40 lap race against some high school kids there on dates. There were 8 karts on the track at the same time. Proudly, Anthony and I pretty much dominated the race and lapped all of the other competitors twice. But in the end Anthony ended up winning because I got caught up in lap traffic. Another 10 laps or so and I could have taken him (-:

Below are the race result sheets. Anthony was Kart 2 and I was Kart 15. The lap times in boxes are the fast laps.

Time for a 'guy' blog

Hi everyone, this is Robert. I think it's my turn for a 'guy' subject entry to the blog. Heather does a really good job with our blog, putting up pictures and assorted happenings with our family. But I know that there are guys from our family and friend's list that look at our blog too. So I'm going to try and put my 2 cents in every once in a while. Hope you don't mind...

The photo to the right is our 'commuter' car. It is a 1994 Saturn SL1. Actually this was Heather's car when we first met, so since it was paid for it has just sort of followed us around for the last 9 years. I have to force myself not to complain about this car. (As a guy, I want 300HP+, a manual transmission, and 18 inch forged aluminum wheels, etc) This car has 80HP, a slushbox transmission, and 14 inch steel wheels with stock hub caps. If you need to pass someone on a two lane road, you need to plan 15 minutes in advance. Oh, wait I wasn't going to complain was I...

So, the good part about the car is it gets 35mpg consistently, has very seldomly stranded us, and as a recent miracle, passed 200,000 miles.

Since we really can't afford a new 300HP 'commuter' car, I just decided to give the car a gift for turning the big 200K...

...a Sirius radio to keep me company during the commute. Logan has no decent rock/alternative stations since they stopped broadcasting 94.9 The Blaze up here. Now I can finally listen to all of my Hair bands from the 90's. I love channel 20 'Octane' and 23 'Hair Nation' and no commercials on the new radio. Anyway...

So, other blog moms, have your husbands' chime in every once in a while. I would love to read about anything guy related.

Easter

Two posts for the price of one!!

So I didn't get my pictures posted last week so I'm posting twice today. Aren't all of you lucky! Above you will find a picture show of the Easter egg hunt we went to at a friends house last weekend. While the moms and kids were inside making bunny ears and Easter bags, the dads went outside and hid the eggs. Each family brought 24 filled eggs. The kids all rushed outside when it was time and ran around like crazy. They LOVED it!!! Micah and Ellie had a blast! (Thanks Merkley's for inviting us over.)
Next you will find pictures of the annual St. Patricks day dinner. I host this dinner every year for Roberts parents, brother, and grandparents. It's always a big hit. I think next year I will have to cook two corned beefs. We didn't have any leftovers this year. The kids even loved it!

Post #2

These are a few pictures of our annual St. Patrick's Day dinner. I cook dinner for my in-laws once a year and yes I do the whole dinner. We have corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, soda bread, green salad, sprite with green ice cubes, and some sort of a green dessert. It's a dinner we all look forward to every year. I love entertaining. I should do it more often.
Notice our lovely green tablecloth. It was a regift from my mother. Can you believe someone actually gave her that table cloth?!!? It's ugly but it works for St. Pat's Day!
Grandpa Mike decided to spoil Micah and let him sit at the "big" table while he sat at the bar with Ellie.

Working woman!!

Sorry no pictures on this post but I will add another post this weekend so stay tuned. I just had to let all of you that I GOT A JOB! It wasn't something that I intended to do until fall when I am suppose to start my internship but I couldn't pass up this opportunity. It's really a very strange story. I have been thinking about trying to find a place for my internship which starts in October. Back in February our Relief Society had a marrigae and family therapist come talk to us about keeping love in your realtionship with your spouse. I wasn't going to go but thought I'd better go just to socialize with the other lady's in the ward. Well after the MFT was done speaking, I went up and asked him if he took interns. He told me no but his son was an MFT and was always looking for interns for a program that he runs. He gave me the number and the next day I called his son Mike. (This was all before my Grandpa died.) Well then I went home for Grandpa's funeral and was gone for awhile. On my way home (actually in the Phoenix airport) I got a message on my phone from Mike. We played phone tag for awhile and then I finally got to talk to him. The program that he runs provides psychosocial rehabilitation counseling to at risk youth in the Preston Idaho area. We go into their homes and teach them coping skills, communication skills, social skills, etc... and the best part is that it pays really good!!! I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have at least part of my internship paid so I took the job! (By the way I talked to Mike and Paul-he's really my boss-both several times on the phone, never in person, and they still offered me the job.) That is the easiest job I ever got! The good thing about the job is that since the clientele are all school age kids they can't meet until school is out for the day. So it's in the evening and I can decide how many hours I want to work and when I want to work. Right now I have one client that I am suppose to spend 6 hours a week with. I go up to his house two times a week in the evening and have two three hour sessions with him. Last night was my first night with him on my own. It went ok but I'm having a hard time trying to keep him on task for three hours. His old case worker had one five hour session with him a week. I couldn't believe that! Anyway, we'll see how it goes over the next couple of months. It's a good experience for me if nothing else.

V-day

As some of you may or may not know, Valentines Day is the one day of the year that Robert and I buy a gift for each other. This is a tradition we started when we got married. Why did we pick Valentines Day? I'm not sure. It would make more since if we only bought presents on our anniversary but it's always just been V-day. It doesn't matter how much we spend, it's the thought that we put into the gift. It's kind of our way of saying to each other "Hey, I have been paying attention to you and I know what special gift will make you smile." Some past gifts that I have received are an hour massage, jewelry, cd's and I have given Jazz tickets, a flash drive, and a new razor. I think one of my favorite V-day's was when neither one of us could think of anything and we ended up giving each other a card. I made mine and listed "98 things I love about you" and Robert wrote me a nice message about how much he loves me and gave me some chocolate. Well, here is what we gave each other this year. (I know V-day was a while ago, but I've been busy). Robert loves his helicopter and I'm afriad I may have started him on an expensive hobby. I have been wanting my own MP3 player for awhile now. I have just been sharing Robert's but he's got alot of music on his that I don't care for and of course, his doesn't have some of the music that I like. Problem solved!

Dance Lessons Anyone???

I was glad to get home to some comic relief after going to Missouri for my grandpa's funeral. I can always count on my cute kids for a laugh. Here they are dancing while Robert plays the Bumble Boogie on the piano. Watch out Fred and Ginger! Here comes Micah and Ellie with some new moves.

In Memory of my Grandpa

My grandpa died on Tuesday the 5th at the age of 82. This blog is part of my therapy to deal with this great loss. My grandpa IS a wonderful man and I will miss him very much!!! This picture was taken at Christmas and was the last picture taken of him. I grew up around my grandparents so we are very close. Sundays were always spent at Grandma and Grandpas house. Grandma always made a big Sunday dinner and at night we would have popcorn and pop while playing games together. My grandpa loved card games! Another Sunday ritual was reading the comics in the newspaper. When I got too big to sit on Grandpas lap, I would kneel by his rocking chair while he read them to me. Often I would go on vactions with my grandparents during the summer. I've been to 39 of the 50 states and most of those I visited with my grandparents. As a young girl I loved to spend the night at my grandparents house. At night while grandma was washing her face, I would climb in bed with my grandpa and he would tell me funny stories while drawing pictures on my back. My favorite was when he would pretend to give me a manicure and paint my nails. Grandpa was also good at making up silly songs, some of them using the names of his grandkids. I recenlty found out that a lot of the songs Grandpa use to sing to us are actually popular songs from around the time of World War 2. Grandpa was always smiling and happy and loved a good joke. I loved to watch my grandpa laugh! I could probably fill a book with stories about my Grandpa. Micah asked me "How are we going to get another Grandpa?" Who could ever replace my grandpa? He IS definitely irreplaceable! I'm greatful for the gospel and what it teaches us about families. I know I will see my grandpa again! I love you very much grandpa!!

No more diapers during the day!!!!!!

Many of you have been wondering how the potty training has been going. I'm happy to say that it is complete!!!! Ellie was SO much easier than Micah. After a little push at the beginning, she took off an ran. She had ONE accident about two weeks ago. The other morning(around 6:00am) she actually woke me up and told me she needed to go pee-pee. So here is how we did it----every time she pee'd she got 3 peanut M&M's, everytime she pooped she got 5 M&M's, we also put a sticker on a potty training chart everytime she used the potty and she also got a sticker. I promised her that if she would use the potty at least twice a day, at the end of the week I would give her a new doll. I bought a Cabbage Patch doll back before Christmas on Amazon for $5.00. We put the doll on top of the tv to remind her of her goal. All I have to say is bribery works (or maybe it's just because she's a girl and girls are known to be easier to potty train).

Obviously, this is the potty training chart.
Ellie with her new doll. It came with a lollipop. When the lollipop is cold it makes the dolls face look messy.
I love Amazon and all their good deals! I can't believe I got his doll for $5.00!!!