Ohio, Niagara, and the Farm

I haven't posted for a month, and I have lots and lots of catching up to do! Stephen and I had so much fun visiting Kentucky! He and Savannah are best little friends and play together so well (most) of the time. We are so happy they're moving here in nine months, yippee! We stayed in Kentucky for three days, then drove up to the farm in northeastern Ohio, where we took lots of Gator rides, drove old tractors, petted the calves, and visited with our dear relatives, who took such good care of us! Aunt Elthie also took us on a boad ride on Pymatuning Lake in Pennsylvania where we fed the giant catfish and spotted a bald eagle - that was cool.

Then we drove to Buffalo, New York to visit Courtie Pie - it was quite the drive but well worth it. She made us three meals a day and took us to get some famous Buffalo Wings, except in Buffalo, they're called Chicken wings...they were mmm mmm good. We crammed five adults and three babies/toddlers in her one bedroom apartment for the night and somehow Savannah ended up all by herself on the queen bed with air conditioning in the only bedroom for the night...how??? Boo lives on a lake that has swimming, paddleboats, canoes, and a giant playground with a splash pad, it was the perfect summer afternoon. This was Stevie on the walk home.

That night we drove up to Niagara Falls. I put Stephen in his Monkey backpack, there were few rails, and the ones that were there had ten inch gaps...how it's safe I don't know, but my heart pounded the whole time! We took a few pictures and I held him with his ankle tightly in my grip the rest of the time. Court made us a delicious picnic we ate by the rushing water, well back like a 100 yds, but with toddlers it felt close enough!



We then said goodbye to our baby sister and left for the three hour drive to Kirtland Ohio.

None of us had been to the church historical sites in Kirtland, so we decided to make a day of it. Like most church sites, it was impeccably maintained and lovingly cared for by the sister and couple missionaries. They took us on a tour where we saw the Newell Whitney Store and his home, and a home where Joseph and Emma Smith lived. There was also the old sawmill, still works!, and ashery. It was hot and the kids were just a little exhausted after a week of lots and lots of driving, but they were troopers and we had a great time, capped off of course with a swim at the hotel, and pizza during a crazy midwest thunderstorm.

We stopped at the farm again on the way home to eat lunch, my Aunt Elthie is the best host, and let the kids run around, then stopped at my cousin Brenda's for dinner and a much awaited visited. She has three little girls with the most beautiful thick blonde hair you're ever seen and an awesome playset and swimming pool built by her husband. Stephen and Savannah didn't want to leave. We then drove to my aunts for the night, where Stevie and I set off the alarm full blast at two a.m....that was exciting...and headed home to Lexington the next morning, with a stop of course at the Pottery Barn Outlet outside Columbus. It's kind of odd to drive through the city you were born in, and really not know a single thing about it. We made it home by early evening, just enough time to throw all three in the tub, drink some milk and go to bed.



I'm so happy we went, even though it was last minute, and a lot of driving, and there were lots of milk spills, toy taking, and chapstick spotting, My dad would always say the phrase, "We're making a memory" And we would tease him because it was such a cheesy line, but now I say it all the time. It was worth every second of crazyness to snuggle, read books, make breadsticks with way too much parmesan, and throw the ball back and forth, back and forth, over and over again! Their giggles are contagious!

it was so fun to see Stevie experience so many new things and play with his cousins. And we snuggled and he slept with me almost every night, which I wouldn't change for the world. We arrived home and less than two days later, Barrett and I left to meet our friends for an awesome vacation in Switzerland...but that is for another post.

why stephen's excited...

Are these two guilty faces caught in the act or what?!

 

We're so excited to go visit Tiffany & Co. tomorrow, not in the least because Stephen becomes much more mischievous when he's around Savannah. Since they are moving here in June (yippee!) this may be one of the last times, if not the last time, going to Kentucky.  We weren't going to go because we already went in June, but then Tiff told us that she is going up to our Dad's family farm in Ohio for a week, and we couldn't resist! Stephen + cows + lots of tractors = fun fun fun!

Our Dad was born and raised on the dairy farm, as were many generations before him, the Logan family purchased the property in Northeastern Ohio after the Revolutionary War. We spent many summers there growing up; making homemade pies with Grandma, watching Grandpa tenderly feed the newborn calves, gardening, playing in the woods. It was a magical time in childhood, since we lived out west in the city, far away from lush green pastures. Our grandparents have passed away and it has been 8 years since I've visited the farm and my relatives there so I am super excited! My Uncle Jay has an amazing vintage tractor collection, and I am so excited to see the look on Stevie's face when they go for a ride!

                                                                      Stephen driving the tractor at Wheeler Farm 

Did I mention....

That we are having another one of these messy, adorable little creatures?


Well we are and we are SO excited! Even more exciting for us is that we aren't finding out the sex. I held strong at the ultrasound and lucky for me, have not the eye to decipher anything about the baby on the weird images you see. All I know is he or she is beautiful, wiggly, and ready to join baby stephen and b and me on January 2nd. (or hopefully sooner) 

Family Pictures

These are a little late, but they were taken in March and I can't believe how much Stephen has grown!  He loves to play outside, water the flowers and sidewalk, jump on me, say prayers, turn in circles, throw tennis balls...anything active that requires a lot of energy!  But he also does the '10 second snuggle' where he'll just come up and lay on me or run into my arms for five - ten seconds then giggle and go play, but I LIVE for those snuggles, however short they may be!

These are my three best friends, who just happen to be my sisters. I am so lucky.

Having a family picture taken was mom's Christmas present from us girls, we just had to wait until we were all together to take them! It was so fun - Last year, there was just one grandbaby - this year there were four - go mom!

teaching by example....kind of

Sometime last week, we went to pray before dinner and Stephen folded his arms.  On his own.  He quickly giggled then kept eating, but still, he folded his arms.  Then that night, he again folded his arms for prayer.  Within a few days, even at church, when someone started a prayer, he would fold his arms and keep them folded through the prayer!

I thought to myself, what an incredible experience in teaching by example,  I must be doing something right.  

But soon enough, he put me in my place.   I had made him scrambled eggs for breakfast - his favorite.  After a few bites he pushed his plate away and looked at me shaking his head no.  I asked what he wanted and he folded his arms and nodded.  We - I - had forgotten to bless the food.  And he knew it.  I said "Stephen, mommy forgot to pray.  Let's pray."  He gave me a big grin and head nod and kept his arms folded until the prayer was done, then he looked  up at me with his funny little grunt smile head nod thing he does and grabbed a huge handful of eggs and shoved them in his mouth.   As much as I think I'm teaching him, he's really teaching me, face covered in eggs and all.    

The Tulip Festival

I have yet to visit Holland in the spring. One can only imagine the majestic views of hills blanketed in tulips, smelling so sweet, and looking so fresh, peacefully placed there by our Father in Heaven for us to enjoy. As that was not an option for a Friday afternoon, we went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point - it did not dissapoint! It was a drizzly, windy, beautiful day and Stephen had the freedom to run, discover, splash, point, smell. Perfect. Thanks Daddy Mo for a lovely day!

Stephen's One Year Pictures (ok, he's 14 months, I'm a little late)

The amazingly talented Caroline Simmons took pictures of mon bebe this morning. She was FaBUlouS!!! She already posted a few of them on her blog. She was so good with getting Stephen to smile, look at the camera, and stay focused. Stephen and her little boy are one week apart and they're little buds already! She is a wonderful, kind person, excellent with kids and an excellent photographer, what more could you ask?! I'm so excited to see the rest! Thank you Caroline!

photograph courtesy of Caroline-Rebecca Photography

Easter in Palm Springs

For Easter weekend, we took a short family trip to Palm Springs to hang out with our good friends, Dave and Tara, and their two adorable little girls, Claire and Kennedy. Stephen had so much fun playing with princess Claire, swimming, eating at restaurants where there were way to many things to play with and going on two Easter Egg Hunts. He loved carrying his little blue bucket around, and at first he would pick them up and throw them, but then he put them in his bucket - or handed them to other kids...so thoughtful of him :) Dave and Tara were wonderful hosts and we had a fabulous time - thanks Thatchers!!

Easter egg hunt








Dave and Bay with their babies :)


Breakfast at Norma's - just as good as the one in New York and a must eat, it was at The Parker Hotel (decorated by Johnathon Adler in a 70s retro style) and surrounded by beautiful gardens and ponds - there were these adorable egg swings that Claire and Stephen played in forever









Swimming - Stephen and Claire didn't want to leave!

lesson learned

I should have backed up all of my photos on an external hard drive. I could have backed up all of my photos on time machine. I would have uploaded all of my photos on picasa if I wasn't a procrastinator......but I didn't, and now it's too late!   (luckily I took this adorable photo on my phone of baby stevie playing at the park) 

Last week, I heard a ticking sound when I turned my laptop on: I knew it didn't sound good. I rushed straight to the apple store, where they quickly told us it was indeed a hard drive failure.  They replaced the hard drive and gave us the old hd along with a card for some dudes who call themselves the Drivesavers.  We overnighted the hard drive to them...they called us yesterday; it is irreparable.  It was a hardware failure on the hard drive.  Happens one in every 1 million hard drives they make.  So when you hear that 'one in a million chance' and it has to do with breaking electronics, no doubt the odds are definitely in my favor. 

They said, 'just pretend it was in a fire or got stolen.'  They couldn't retrieve anything. Nothing.  Not one of my 12,500 pictures.  Our wedding pictures - I can track down our photographer. Honeymoon - who wants to see me in a bikini anyway.  Europe trips - the food's still good and the mountains aren't moving.  Study abroad in China - Jacqueline can send me pictures...

But, what I can't replace are all of Baby Stephen's first year pictures.  I was working on his one year album in iphoto - over 2,300 pictures and 100 videos of just him.  Clapping, kicking, cooing, looking around...we'd snuggle and watch his videos and he'd giggle at himself.  I so wish I had those pictures - I cried about it actually.  Silly I know.  Then I thought, no use crying over spilt milk....what can I learn from this? 

First,  I procrastinate way too much and on too many things.  (some of you know that about me a little too well :)) There is absolutely no reason why I shouldn't have backed them up, especially after all the time spent organizing and scanning and planning - I had all the resources sitting on my desk; it was one of those, "I'll get around to it" but never did.   I have a lot of those - time to get them done!!!  

Second, I need to turn my ideas into action.  Last fall, I scanned in a few thousand pictures from Barrett's childhood, mission, etc.  I had all of our pictures neatly organized in 'events' and albums on iphoto - I spent hours doing this - with the intent of putting all of our pictures on a hard drive, along with our vital information, in a firesafe box, so nothing could ever happen to them.  Good idea; didn't get it done.  How often do we (I) do that - too often (unwritten thank you cards, visits to nursing homes, baked treats...)

Third, be prepared!  This phrase was the theme for the back to school year for Stephanie Nielsen's children - she was listening, I have no doubt, to promptings to prepare her family.  I ignore spiritual promptings all too often and would be such a better person if I heeded them a little more often .  I was given an incredible gift at the age of 8 - the gift of the Holy Ghost, and I need (will) be more diligent in following, not just listening, but following promptings.  I've felt for months that I needed to get all the pictures on a hard drive and in a safe place, but I ignored them.  I will be better.  

 I am sad, but, they are just pictures!!! Last night as I was crawling in to bed, thinking about the pictures, I heard mon bebe start to cry.  I quickly went and picked him up.  I held him close as he nuzzled against my neck.  That sweet cool breath close to me, those cheeks warm against mine.  I rocked him, sung to him, patted his back.  Then took a deep breath and let out a few tears of joy.  Stupid, selfish me.  How could I be upset over something so silly when I have been so incredibly blessed.  Pictures - who cares!   I have the real thing.  

turning one...

One year ago today, my life was forever changed for the better.  Just like I heard it would, it went by the blink of an eye.  When I gave birth to Stephen inside our Minnesota igloo, I made a vow to myself and to him that I would cherish every second I was given with him; and, having heard countless parents say that they wished they'd spent more time with their children, I did not want to have any regrets. And I don't.  I don't know how I could have possibly spent more time with him!

I spent so many nights just cuddling him; letting him lay on my chest, putting my nose right next to his so I could smell his sweet carrot and peas breath.  Some nights were long, but when he'd cry, I'd remind myself how grateful I was he was there crying because it meant he was alive, and I'd hop out of bed to go rock him.  His poopy diapers meant he had food to eat and was going to bed on a full tummy.   I love when he wants to cuddle - those times are lessening. I'm prepared for him to grow up, but the phrase "I can't wait until...or for..." just isn't true for me, because I CAN wait, if I could capture him in a bottle and keep him forever in this stage I would.  I've thought "how could he become any more wonderful?"  And then the next stage is even more enjoyable than the last.  

I love being your mother Stephen.  I love every single thing about it.  There were times in my life where I thought about doing so many things other than being a mom.   I graduated in Economics and Political Science, and I wanted to go to law school, serve a mission, be a foreign diplomat....bla bla bla, nothing, and I mean nothing, could have fulfilled me in even one tenth of the way that you have.  I love you Baby Stephen.  

As I write this, you are playing in your crib, it's nap time, but you usually shake the maracas, eat a board book or two, drink your bottle, ring the bells, then lie on your tummy with your hands covering your eyes, faceplanted into the mattresses. The video feed is on my computer so I'm watching you on screen as I type this. Usually my eyes just well up with tears at how adorable you are. You are so smart and mischevious when you play by yourself. 

Every stage you've grown into has been incredible - smiling, touching your hands together, rolling over, grabbing your toes, sitting up, laughing, schooching, one arm army crawl, pushing up, crawling, pulling up, clapping, waving, standing, nodding, bouncing and rolling balls, and now 3-4 steps walking! 

You amaze me everyday at your happiness. If I were to describe you in one word it would most definitely be HAPPY! You smile at every single person you see, you'll even clap and wave if they wave to you. You love your mommy and daddy, and you love it when we hold you back and forth. You like to chase balls, or have us chase you, and you have this adorable, infectious, belly jiggling laugh, that makes my heart melt each time I hear it.  

I had one, and only one, new years resolution; make Stephen laugh, a real deep belly laugh, every day. If we laugh, our day is complete.   I love you to the moon and back, forever, for always, no matter what!!!

In one year, you have gone from this 

to this

I Hope you have a Berry Happy Birthday