July

I am the most horrible blogger in the world. We’ve done TONS of fun things this month and I haven’t mentioned one…Now you will all just have to be content with pictures and one or two lined captions underneath. So without further ado, I will start with the beginning of the month…actually that is a lie; I’ll start with the end of June.

Mason, Morgan and I went with Nana Strong to “This is the Place”. I loved the snake, and Mason loved the pigs (like, seriously loved them).

That weekend we went down to Fillmore to do some four-wheeling and camping for Rob’s birthday. Rob’s family came down also.

The next weekend we were down to Fillmore again for some swinging and my 10 year high school reunion (that is only about one-third of the class; some couldn’t make it and others had to leave before the pic was taken—Linds and Kristen we missed you gusy!):

Sunday my cousin Erica had her baby blessed, and then we headed to the cabin for a fun 4th of July in Oakley: they had greased pig chases, mutton-busting, and grab the cash off the cows! Mason wanted nothing to do with it…maybe when he’s older. We went to the Matheson reunion at Frank and Uma’s during the afternoon-- then hit the Oakley rodeo that night.

Jumping to the next weekend. We went down to Salt Lake on Saturday to wish Clayton/Grandpa a very happy birthday! We went for a hike around Silver Lake; it was BEAUTIFUL (please note the three generations of Stevens…)!

Aaaannndddd….the next weekend was our ward party, MY family’s reunion, and MY dad’s birthday. Except, I don’t have pics of the reunion part; just of us in the canyon. :)

Mason was bustin’ a move to the Beach Boys; I never get tired of watching him!

This weekend we did some fun backyard swimming and went the the STEVEN’S family reunion in Springville. It was SO FUN! I got to meet a lot of people I had never met before or only very briefly on one other occasion. Mason was absolutely obsessed with the big bubble blower; and the last picture is me trying to get Mason to perform “Do as I’m Doing”. We were supposed to do little skits with the kids, but Mason was pretty burned out this time of the day.

Now, for your viewing pleasure, here are just a few pics of the things we do on a daily basis around here:

Go to the Air Force Museum (Mason’s three life obsessions: bubbles, balloons, and FLAGS…note the middle picture)-

go to the Treehouse Museum-

play games with little brother-

swim and play in the back yard (we also did a brief, three day stint at diabetes camp, but alas I have no pics)-

and play at the park-

In other news; my little sister Sav has accepted an 8th grade English teaching position in Eager, AZ. She moves down next weekend. I wish her the best of luck and know she will do wonderfully!

It’s been a fun and busy summer; thanks for stopping by!!!

America! America!

Today a friend of mine told me a story that truly struck me. I write it here, because I am told repetition helps us remember things, and it is something I need to work on and remember. This is to be taken only in general, because I know things happen to us which cause sadness and frustration…but for the most part it holds true. (Please read w/o young children)

This friend was in charge of Young Women’s Camp for the stake this year. They had a special guest speaker who volunteers/works over in Africa. Over there, the speaker said, when you ask someone “how are you?” they don’t answer “fine”, or “I’m doing well”; they say “my status is negative” or “my status is positive”. This is in reference to whether or not they have AIDS. In addition it is a common held belief that if you have sex with a virgin, you’ll be cured of your AIDS. As you can imagine, a child’s purity does not hold for very long over there. One 12 year old girl in particular (whose name I forget) had an Uncle with AIDS. I’ll leave out the obvious, but when she was later tested and told her status was “positive” she simply said, “Well God has blessed me because I am still alive”.

I only tell this story because I think sometimes we tend to get into moods of self-entitlement, unaccountability, self-pity, and ingratitude…and we who live in America have no reason to. I know when it comes my time to stand before God, I will not be able to give him an excuse for any ungrateful feelings I may have had. Because I live in America I have more than any of his other children; more than anyone, anywhere in the world. We will all be held accountable one day for how grateful or ungrateful we have been. The last verse of one of my all-time favorite songs (and probably yours too) reads:

Oh beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years. Thine alabaster cities gleam, UNDIMMED BY HUMAN TEARS. I love that phrase. It is completely accurate. We who have been blessed enough to be born and raised in America have no real reason to shed tears. Because we live in America we can be whatever we want to be when we grow up; we can live wherever we want to live; we can make fun of our leaders and stand up to them and have no fear of being gunned down; we can worship as we choose; we can get the world’s best medical attention almost immediately; we can get an education. In short, we can answer the question “how are you?” with “I’m fine”. Thanks to all of those who have made this so...

Moments…

 

Ya can’t even go to the bathroom…

   

  

 

Washington and Rice and Cookies

Sunday was church and then fun in the yard with sand boxes, a pool, sprinklers, and just the great outdoors. That night Aaron built a fire for cooking s’mores and hotdogs. (I have to explain a couple of pictures: Mason got mad dad wouldn’t let him touch the fire, and Sav burnt her marshmellow to a crisp and then dropped her graham cracker into the pool).

Sunday was church and then fun in the yard with sand boxes, a pool, sprinklers, and just the great outdoors. That night Aaron built a fire for cooking s’mores and hotdogs. (I have to explain a couple of pictures: Mason got mad dad wouldn’t let him touch the fire, and Sav burnt her marshmellow to a crisp and then dropped her graham cracker into the pool).

Monday we went out to a place similar to Winder Farms. The kids climbed on tractors, rode a carousel, and some little planes, and we ate a LOT of free samples…so much chocolate, and icecream, and salsa and fruit and veggies…

Next we went to a splash-pad, although Mason would have nothing to do with it. He was starting to get sick and did not want to play much anymore. I’ll let Brit and Lyd post the cute, cute pics of their kids playing in the water :) Before we all left that afternoon we tried to get a picture of us 3 sis’s and the 3 grandkids:

and tried…

and tried…

almost. Maybe next time. Anyway,  A BA-JILLION thanks to Brit and Aaron for putting up with so many house guests for so long; it was a much needed, fun vacation and we are forever grateful. :) And many, many thanks to Lyd and Sav for making the journey. I’m sure Lyd and Brit will have TONS of cute pictures on their blogs soon so here’s the links:

http://stevens1007.blogspot.com/

and

http://thewinterhollerfamily.blogspot.com/

Now, I’ve noticed this post has gotten interminably long, so I will simply post a couple of pictures of what Mason and Morgan have been up to lately.

Morgan has been introduced to rice cereal:

and Mason is an AWESOME cookie maker!

Don’t worry. I was actually there helping him, but my outfit was so absolutely beautiful and glorious that if I were to post pictures of me with Mason here on this blog you would all fly at me with you claws and try to tear my eyes out from sheer jealousy...

And as always, thanks for stopping by!

Washington Part One

Over Memorial Day weekend Rob had some time off, so we packed up the kids and hauled them to Washington. We started about 540pm MST Thursday night, and made it to Richland, WA (aka Aaron and Brit’s house) about 230am PST. It was a long, long, long trip…but that’s ok; well worth it! Plus my darling, loving sis came along to help with the kids; because yes, you need three adults for every two kids in order to make the journey…

Friday poor little Logan was sick, we were tired, and Aaron was at work so mostly we slept. Aahh beautiful sleep. But Brit and June were troopers and made us beautiful pinkalicious princess cupcakes!

That afternoon we did manage to make it out of the house though and go on a little family walk to a nearby park (note: the woman in the pics is my sister Sav). I call Rob “Super Dad”. 

Saturday was absolute heaven! We girls (Brit, Sav and I) pulled a fast one on the men-folk and ditched the kids and went shopping. We went to Platos Closet, (holy cow I love that store now) PF Changs for lunch (ok, so we were supposed to meet the guys there and help with the kids; but by the time we got there they were all done and so left), and then to hobby lobby to buy flowers and jewels, etc for a craft night.  THANKS BRIT!

(Backing up a few hours)…That afternoon we went to another near-by park (lots of fun parks by their house!) where we met a new friend who let us borrow his motorcycle. :) And played hoops, on the swings, etc.

Lyd came that night with Paige. It was sooooo fun to have both my sisters and fun sister-in-law all in the same house! They may have felt a little overwhelmed, but I loved it!