Mother's Day

I had a pretty wonderful Mother's Day. I got to sleep in, listen to some heart felt talks in church, take a nap, and have dinner made for me! Trav bent over backwards to make sure I felt loved and pampered and it worked. And the sun was shining for all of it! 

It's still a little weird to realize I'm a mother. I mean....like when did that happen?! And yet, here I sit, with two of the most wonderful little boys I could ask for. AND a husband who takes an active role in raising them, all the while being loving and patient with the woman who struggles being both of those things. 

A while back I read a quote that really struck home to me.

 “The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. … I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less” (Loud and Clear [2004], 10–11). 

I can't help but get tears in my eyes when I read that because I know it's personally one of MY greatest downfalls. I live to check things off the list. I'm stressed unless my house is clean. I'm cranky when I'm sleep deprived. I'm short with my family when I feel like the day has been unproductive. Why does there ALWAYS have to be dishes in the sink, clothes in the hamper, toys strewn across the floor, a lesson unprepared, and fat on my butt?! And more importantly, WHY can't I just accept that that's how it's always going to be and be happy in spite of it?

My mom is the greatest example to me of a mother who simply loves being a mother. She was always so good to not get caught up in the "extras" of life. She will hold and rock a baby until the cows come home and KNOW that she was the most productive that day, for just doing that. She loves to spend time with her kids and her kids know they are loved because they are her first priority. I want to be more like my Mom. I want my kids to know at the end of the day that my family is always my top priority.

Mother's Day evening, we got to Skype with my family. You can even see me in the background of this picture. :)

I wanted to see my Mom open her present that was from all of us kids. I asked for everyone's help in putting together a book of our testimonies. I had seen a friend do this for her dad's birthday and thought it would be the perfect Mother's Day gift. I think she liked it. :)

It's a very simple scrapbook, but I loved putting it together. I couldn't wait for the emails so I could read what my siblings and their spouses wrote. Each one was unique and special, but we all wrote about the importance of families and the gospel. I know my parents aren't perfect and our family has gone through trials and hard times, but I was humbled by the unity I felt as I read these testimonies. It was a sweet reminder that all those {little things} like church attendence, prayer, scripture study, FHE, and just spending time together, pay off.

My heart kind of aches for my dad because (as he put it) he has had to, ".... after months of soul searching, step off a cliff and leave my career (just after finally reaching the “pinnacle” of 3 decades of a whole lot of work) and face the daunting reality of trying to re-invent myself in the midst of the worst possible economic conditions in my lifetime. Faith (or sheer stupidity), hope, perseverance, and maintaining a positive outlook take on a whole new dimension and meaning, let me tell you."

I hope he doesn't mind me sharing that piece of an email I got recently. When I think of my father I think of hard work. I've just really never met anyone that works harder than he does. He has thrown his life into a career that he felt he had to walk away from last summer and I can't imagine the emotions he's been going through since. To quote another part of the email... "If you think you’re being overly self-depreciative and introspectively critical now, just wait until you’re 49-ish! It’s like you suddenly wake up one day and ask yourself, 'so, what was it - exactly - that I actually did or accomplished with my life over the past 4 – 5 decades???'” 

Reading that, broke my heart. One the one hand, I can't imagine how he feels, but on the other hand- given our similarities in personalities- I think I know just how he feels. I would feel completely worthless, thinking that thirty years of blood, sweat, tears, and sacrifices had symbolically gone down the drain.

However...

 Dad, to answer your question.... over the past 4-5 decades, you've raised 7 children who idolize you and want nothing more than to be like you. You have 7 children, that because of the example of you and mom, have strong testimonies of the gospel and are doing all they can to live the gospel truths you've taught them. You have three children married in the temple. One return missionary and one on a mission. (And hopefully two more on deck.) We aren't perfect... far from it, but if we've done anything worthwhile with our lives, it's because of our parents. In that respect, we hit the parent jackpot. :)

So even though it was technically Mother's Day, I hope my Mom and Dad both know they are loved more than we can say. 

Trav is getting old.

This poor guy just went through a brutal week of finals. Even though I saw him at home plenty while he studied, I felt like he was still physically/mentally/emotionally gone for a week. A couple times, all he could say is, "My brain is mush" and I felt so bad! I couldn't imagine having to know all the stuff they are expected to learn! All the horror ended on his 28th birthday with his last 2 finals. Here he is with his traditional, birthday donut breakfast (still on his lap top studying).

 I had originally planned on just having a few friends over that night for dessert to celebrate. But then Denyse planned a big Cinco de Mayo fiesta to celebrate finals being over and it inadvertenly got switched to our house since so many amigos were able to come and her backyard was still a swamp from the many rains of April. That gave me some last minute motivation to clean out and spray down the garage. Trav mowed the lawn when he got home and we were ready to party! It turned out so fun. I was having nostalgia from the fiesta of last year.

Carolyn laid down on the blanket with her feet up and I guess Collin saw, plopped down right next to her and started kickin his feet. haha.

 Traci was so nice to hold the babers for a bit while I scrabbled around getting stuff done.

 Some of the yummy Mexican food spread...

 I found Collin running around with his food of choice, a lime.

 Check out the yummy margaritas that the Moellers made!

 Go Wayne. He brought his A game muchacho-ness.

 So I was in charge of dessert. Trav loves cheesecake and I recently acquired a spring form pan so it was time to try my first ever cheesecake! I got the award winning (literally) recipe from Megan and made most of it the night before. It was a time consuming recipe. Lots of steps. I was nervous it wouldn't turn out, but as I put it on the cake platter I gave myself a little mental pat on the back. It looked good. I had even whipped up a homemade strawberry glaze since Trav doesn't like regular pie filling as topping. (mushy fruit = gross, to him). I lit the candles then headed out the door, trying to shield them with one hand from the wind. When I got to the bottom of the steps, all eyes were on me as the candles blew out from the wind. Sigh. Travis was by the garage and quipped, "Hey, I blew them out from here!" My shoulders sagged, ever so slightly, and the next thing I knew, my cheesecake was on the cement!! Rachel literally screamed. I wanted to die! I couldn't believe it! And while everyone was watching. I was so embarrassed. And it couldn't just be a dumb box cake I spent no time on. It was the ridiculous cheesecake that took me hours to make! The metal bottom of the spring form pan was still underneath the cake, so it made it extra slippery, sitting on the glass cake platter. I shouldn't have even tried to walk with it. Trav ran over to hug me (he's the best) and I didn't know what else to do, so I went inside and had a mini melt down. I was just so tired. It was the last straw. All week I had felt overwhelmed and stretched too thin, with too little sleep.(But there was no way I could complain, given my husband was getting about 4 hours of sleep a night) So anyway, scratch that. I would have had a mini melt down if it wasn't for such great friends. Doug and Trav managed to scrape it off the ground, just leaving the topping on the cement and everyone ate it anyway!! Seriously, there were specks of gravel and blades of grass they were picking off of it, but everyone ate it anyway. AND they raved about how good it was. I have some pretty great friends.

 Trav was even willing to eat it straight off the ground. Now we'll always laugh about it being like the FRIENDS episode where Rachel and Chandler are fighting over the cheesecake and it falls on the floor and they eat it off the ground anyway! And then Joey walks up, appraises the situation, pulls a fork out of his jacket and asks, "So what are we eatin'!" Given my love of FRIENDS, you'd have thought I planned the whole thing! :)

 I had also made Funfetti cupcakes (Trav's other favorite), so here's Collin munchin away with the birthday boy.

 The {after} shot of the cake. Just a little mushed.

 The Shaws brought some Toblerone's for Trav (his fav candy bar.. boy you're learning lots about his dessert preferences) and while we were cleaning up after the pary, we chuckled at Collin trying desperately to dig his way into the wrapper of one. No one thought he'd succeed, but this kid's a scrapper! The next thing we knew he was trying to devour the whole bar. And oh so pleased with himself to boot!

HaPpy BiRtHdAy to my handsome hubby... now a big, bad senior! I can't believe he'll be starting his last year next week! Way to go babe. :)

A Little Bit of Everything!

These past few weeks have felt pretty busy! Always something going on!

My friend, Briste, was in town (her husband graduated dental school last year and they've since moved to Colorado) so we got together for a little playdate. Her daugher, Ivy, is about 3 months younger than Collin and they used to be such good, little stationary babies when Briste and I would go visit teaching. No longer! They had a lot of fun playing together, saying "No!", and chasing each other around the house. It was good to catch up with Briste. She made Rach and I a bit envious with her post-dental school, {income making} life! :) It was really good to see her!

 I made homemade bread for sandwiches and the kids ate theirs away from the mommas so we could visit!

 Dodging a kiss! She was being so sweet.

 For ward playgroup last week, we took a visit to the firestation! Collin LOVED it.

(Note: the band-aid isn't covering up a new injury... just the old one that wouldn't heal due to his constant picking!)

 One of the firemen got all dressed in his gear to show the kids it wasn't scary. Ha! Collin was fine to look from a distance, but the second I moved him close for a pic, he was hysterical! Lately, everything to him has been... "Gonna GET YOU!" .. while he extends his hand out like he's going to grab something. So for the rest of the day all he could talk about was, "Fireman, gonna GETCHU!"

(Marcie might also be interested to know that when Trav told him that you were going to visit, his eyes got really big and for the rest of the day he'd be heard muttering, "Marcie gonna getchu!" And since then I'll hear him saying it randomly about once a day. haha

Yes, I'm wearing a hat. No, I've never done it before. Since I didn't get too many people making "Newsies" remarks, I might do it again.

 Collin stayed in the truck for at least 20 min. Just sitting and playing with the seatbelt. 7th heaven for sure. I'm sure he didn't mind that Kadence was near either. :)

 He loved on that hat so much it was ready to visit the garbage can after just one day.

 In other news... we have this bugger of a bird's next by our back door! There is nothing creepier than a bird making like a bat out of hell, just as you're walking up the steps. Shudder. It seriously grosses me out. Only, I don't have the guts to take it down. (Shelley, why don't you come do it?! :) Looks like Trav has something to do on his week off! Nasty birds.

Well it looks like spring has sprung and it might not have been soon enough for Collin's PJ's. I think we got our $7 worth out of these Carters footsies over the winter! For a while, the routine was.... take a bath, go upstairs to get dressed and run in circles around the room for 20+ minutes. Trav would lay in the middle of the room and he's just circle and circle him. He counted 75 laps one time. Crazy kid.

 Almost every night we sneak in and peak at him sleeping before going to bed. Lately he's been shunning his bear (still loves his blankie though), and will wag his finger and say "no no bear" when I set it next to him. So I thought it was funny when I found him all cuddled up with it. Just playin' the tough guy to me, I guess.

 Now to the baby!! He loves to suck on his fingers and even got a hold of his thumb last night! This past week he started to get in the habit of going down for the night around 8pm, but he still wakes up 3-4x a night. I hear his cousin, born a couple days after him, is sleeping through the night. What gives?! And this kid is supposed to be my GOOD sleeper. Ah well. Still love him to pieces.

What's sweeter than a babe in a diaper?! (Well, a nakie baby I guess) But I can't help but snarf all over him when he's getting his clothes changed. He's so funny... always with his right arm bent up. Usually it's because his hand is in his mouth...

... as pictured here. He's so much more social now and gives away lots of smiles. I swear he gets a wary look on his face when Collin comes near though. It makes me laugh. Even though Collin tries to be sweet to him. I love my boys!

If it doesn't get all over the place, it doesn't belong in your face...

Last week I taught my Sunday School lesson on why children are the greatest in the kingdom of God.

And we discussed childlike qualities we should try to emulate.

Well I have a childlike quality that I don't think is going to get me into heaven any faster. (darn)

You see, I enjoy food.

I have previously shared that I enjoy it so much that I'm even known to lick the inside of my icecream bowl.

Well, lately I've been a bit careless.

And the food that is supposed to make it just in my mouth, tends to find itself on various places around my face. Or hair.

This has not just happened once or twice.

It's kind of a weekly (Ok, maybe bi-weekly... ok tri-weekly!) occurrence.

And having massively long hair has not helped.

Now, not only baby spit up clumps up my hair, but milk, icecream, gravy, etc. finds home there too.

I know, I'm gross. I'm Stephanie. I'm disgusting.

I believe it was last week that Trav walked in the door from school, took one look at me and snickered, ducking his face.

I immedietly knew to run to the mirror.

Yup, mac and cheese. Hanging out on my cheek. Like a whole noodle.

(You don't have to tell me I'm too cool for school. I know it.)

So when Collin was finishing up his lunch and I caught a glimpse of this:

(strawberry stem pressed to forehead and Oreo's lining his mouth)

I had to smile.

My son. My prodigy.

Ok, I know all children do this anyway. But I like to think he's trying to be like his momma.

So if you see me walking around church, playgroup, etc with food on my face, be a dear and tell me. I'll appreciate the gesture.

(That is, unless it's a little spot on my upper lip. That's a freckle. Frequently mistaken as Oreos.
If only.)

William loves Kate (what's currently written on my Magnadoodle sign in the kitchen)

I have been so FED UP with all this royal wedding nonsense. I mean, its been on the news nonstop. From speculation on what designer will make her dress to interviewing the bloody shopkeeper from her home town! I had had ENOUGH! To the point of going on rants at the TV, demanding, "What makes them think they're so special?!" Give me a friggin' break. (I still planned on watching the affair... I'm not from Mars... I just was tired of the pre-event hoopla)

And then I turned on the TV at 7am this morning and saw Will and Kate standing outside Westminster Abby and every girly particle of me melted! I watched, entranced, as he escorted her to the Cindrella-esk coach to go to Buckingham Palace. She positively radiated in her gorgeous lace gown as she {pageant waved} to the thousands of adoring fans. And the kiss on the balacony! Travis groaned and mocked as I swooned. Oh to be a princess!! And drip in jewels and beauty. And wear those fabulous hats!! Why don't we wear hats like that??!! I would LOVE a big, tilted hat that made it difficult to get through a doorway. Sigh.

I didn't know my heart could change so instantaneously. Travis wondered where his real wife went. He had previously had an ally in his British disgust.

To celebrate I wanted to have tea and crumpets, but when I googled crumpets they appeared to be just homemade English muffins. Not that exciting. And I've never had a good herbal tea, so hot chocolate and scones it was! Pinkies up! :) 

His One True Love

Ok, I know he loves me, but soccer takes a close second. VERY close second. And whattaya know... they WON the championship game last night! I think it may have been the shining moment of his life thus far. I just wish I could have seen the game. 10:30pm doesn't lend itself much to being a family affair. But it sure would be fun to get an "I {heart} Travis shirt", bring my Pommie Pom Poms, video camera, and scream my heart out for him. Who doesn't love a scene? :) Yes, I think it's a plan. I just hope I don't get bumped to {second} afterward.

Davy Love

Well I guess I couldn't let David leave on a mission without doing a post about it! My family had an open house Sunday night after his farewell talk and I guess it was quite the shin dig. I love these pictures of my Davy Love. Poor guy can't escape his childhood nickname, even though he's such a {cool kid} now.

I hear this picture captures most of what David did all night... enjoy his harem of girls. You'd think he was Mick Jagger with all the groupies always following him around. I can understand... it's hard not to love this kid.

I got home late from a baby shower Tuesday night, then Trav took off to his soccer game and I forgot my cell phone in the car, so it wasn't until a quarter til midnight that I could call home and find out when he was being set apart. Of course when I call, it's 15 minutes before they need to be at the stake center. So Marcie whipped out her lap top and everyone poured into her room so we could say our last, rushed goodbyes.

Marcie is so cute, she took our picture while we Skyped. Weston was quite the hit of the show. And even though we only talked for 3 minutes, I still managed to get emotional as I said goodbye and that I loved him and would miss him. To that, David quipped, "Wish I could say the same!" And when I tried to give him some advice he joked, " Hey, don't tell me how to live my life!" Oh David, try not to be so sentimental... you're too in touch with your feelings. Reminds me of a certain older sister you have. :)

Here is the gang after he was set apart.

 His plane left at 5am this morning. Since that made it 8am here, Marcie text me pictures of him leaving.

 After he left, they went to the roof and somehow found his plane and watched him take off. I talked to my mom later that day and she was having a rough time. I mean, it's the end of an era! (FRIENDS quote, anyone? :)  Maybe it's best I wasn't around... I would have been a crying mess. David is pretty stoic and unemotional and probably doesn't remember much of me in his life growing up, but boy was he a big part of MY life! I was 9 when he was born and I felt like I took care of him a lot. In some ways, I feel like he's actually my first child. And because of that, I will always have a special place in my heart for David, different than I have for any of my other siblings. Watching my parents send off their second son on a mission doesn't make me particularly excited to do it myself in 17 years. But it's for a good cause, right? :) Right. But I certainly will miss him.

EaSteR

A few Easter festivities...

My rabid bunny. :)

Collin made these {bunny ears} at the Family Room a couple weeks ago and was quite obsessed with them for a while.

 We went and saw HOP as a family last Saturday evening. Collin did pretty good- with a steady stream of snacks and candy.

 Weston's first movie!

I'm pretty sure I enjoyed it the most of anyone. It was delightful! But I'm sure you knew that given my fondness for personification. Plus it had a rockin' soundtrack. My favorite part was the end when the chick's body would dance involuntarily to the beat of the drum. Those that have seen it know what I'm talking about, right??!! Hysterical!

 The Reester Bunny came! Collin's first basket of goodies. It was much enhanced by the Easter package that Grandma Paula sent. He was thrilled with all the balls, snakes, and dinosaurs. Thanks, Paula! (And yes, another shot of one of his {faces}.

 When we got home from church we heard some scuffling at the back door and opened it to find two Easter baskets left by the "Easter Bunny" aka our next door neighbors. It was so sweet. Collin's basket was shaped like a basketball (which he LOVED and still won't let me put it away) and they both were filled with outfits, candy and little toys like a bubble maker. We lucked out with our neighbors for sure!

 We kind of started a tradition our first year of having a big Easter dinner at our house. I don't know why I sign myself up for these things because it always turns into a lot of work, but of course I'm grateful afterward for the good time. We hauled our beastly kitchen table downstairs and put the 3 extra inserts into it. This year we squeezed 15 adults around it! I'm also getting a soft spot in my heart for the missionaries now that my brother is one, so I invited both sets of Elders from our ward over. We had had them over for dinner earlier in the week and when I asked what their Easter plans were, they said they didn't have any and commented that holidays on the mission were actually kind of depressing. Sad!! So I had to fix that! I'm really glad I invited them. They thanked me a million times and were so excited to be there.

If you look in the middle of the table you can see the sad, little place cards I made. They kept falling over and were buggers to put together!

Here's a close up of one. They are made out of Q-tips so it's a cheap craft but I wouldn't recommend it!

 After dinner we dyed and decorated our eggs for the Egg Bash later.

 Here is the aftermath of dinner. I made the pinwheel banner as an Easter decoration and that's a craft I'd recommend! Cheap, easy, and cute! You can find the tutorial HERE.

Can't forget the lamb butter!! Someone asked if I made this. Haha, no I have not taken up butter carving YET. :) You can buy them at Wegmans during Easter. I love that the flag on it's back says Alleluia. The only problem is that when I pulled it out I thought it looked weird, then realized it didn't have EARS! What the?!

 I made this Yummy Berry Trifle for dessert and it's a seriously sinful indulgence. I got the recipe from Crescent and it's super easy so I thought I'd share:

1 c whipping cream (whipped)

3 (8oz) pkgs cream cheese (softened)

1 c sour cream

2 c powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

*Mix together above ingredients

1 large angel food cake (broken into pieces)

*Stir into above mixture

2 bags frozen berries (I combined raspberries and blueberries)

*In a trifle or glass bowl, layer 1/2 of the white mixture, then one bag of berries, then the remaining 1/2 of white mixture, then the last bag of berries.

I would recommend putting it together about 2-3 hours before serving so the berries have time to thaw a bit. It makes a lot but doesn't last well past a day so make sure you have enough people to eat it all!

(This is super rich and I love it... but I think next time I'm going to try substituting 1 pkg cream cheese for a container of cool whip and see how that goes. Maybe then I won't feel like I'm directly adding cottage cheese to my thighs)

 Ok, back to Easter... next we went outside for an egg hunt! Collin's first egg hunt and he did great. We have had untold amounts of rain the past couple weeks [our basement carpet is getting wet!! :( ] but the yard wasn't too bad. I didn't get a shot of all the kids with their baskets, but Megan did, so when I get that from her I'll add it in. In this picture you can see the Carter's little girl, Kadence, aka, Collin's first love. He adores Kadence. On Monday I was trying to coerce him into getting his shoes on so we could head to a birthday party and he wouldn't cooperate until I said Kadence would be there. I had previously listed a bunch of other friend's names, hoping to get him to cooperate, but it wasn't until I mentioned Kadence that he was excited to go. This is how it's been for a couple of weeks. He will randomly say her name and expect to get to play with her. She is the the calmest, most docile little girl, so I guess it's true... opposites do attract! :)

 Here are the missionaries chillin' during the egg hunt. They did help hide the eggs though!

 On to the Egg Bash. Super embarrassing.... I was running around like a chicken with it's head cut off Sunday afternoon, and I guess I didn't boil the eggs long enough. Some of them hit too hard and cracked open, oozing nasty, half-cooked {eggness} all over! Sick. I won't make that mistake again. Glad we had the sheet underneath or my carpet would have got it!

 Ryan was the winner! Funny, cuz all he had written on his egg was {Winning Egg} when he decorated it.

Elder Bryson was a close second place. The missionaries LOVED this game. I had told them about it earlier in the week at dinner and I guess they boiled like 2 dozen eggs and had a competition with their district later in the week. They all went on and on about how cool it was and how they were going to make it a tradition in their families too. It was cute.

Other events on Easter Sunday included my younger brother David, giving his farewell talk in church. (He actually left this morning! Shed a tear!) I was so sad I didn't get to be there to hear it, so my AMAZING cousin, Leah, took time out of her crazy Easter Sunday and went to the church in the Young Women's room and held her cell phone up to the speaker so I could listen!! She is the best! Her poor arm was probably dead afterward. It made my day to be able to hear his talk. I was in tears afterward. I can't believe my little, chubby cheeked brother is all grown up and going on a mission! We only got to Skpe for about 3 minutes last night before he was set apart and according to Travis's observations... he was "trippin'" :) I can't imagine how it must feel to know you are hours away from spending 2 years in a 3rd world country. Be good to him, Honduras!

 The day after Easter brought sugar guilt accompanies by the realization that we had not partaken of the Reester Bunny! Collin loved it. And no, we did not let him eat the whole thing.

 Here's Weston in his Easter duds! He had his 2 month appt. a couple weeks ago and weighed in at 10 lbs. 13 oz.

 I cannot resist these scrumptious cheeks! He's looking pretty chunky in this pic. He's such a love. I really can't get enough of him!