We spent the day in Colonial Williamsburg and had a wonderful time. I'll upload some pics later but I've got some major news: I saw fireflies tonight for the very first time! I have only read about them and wondered what they would really look like when I saw them for myself. Well tonight I got my chance. Walking back to the car from Colonial Williamsburg, there is a long stretch of grass and trees and that's when we spotted them. First we just saw little sparks in the grass and then we watched them in the trees. It was so fun! I was so excited and impressed with God's creations that I wanted to start crying - but I think that's just because I'm pregnant ;) (When I was pregnant with Stephen I cried at the Dolphin show at Sea World because I thought they were so beautiful.) After wanting to cry, I wanted to call my mom to tell her. Isn't that funny? I'm 35 years old and still want to call my mom when something exciting happens to me for the first time.
And one more interesting thing, while we were waiting to tour the capitol the mother of the only other family waiting with us looked familiar. When the guide asked where we were all from, they said "Utah." I said, "I thought you looked a little familiar" and then she said, "Yes, you are Julie Earley - we just listened to one of your speeches on CD the other day." How random is that for a coincidence?
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
Virginia Beach - 1st time in sand and ocean
We flew to Virginia Beach last Tuesday night. I was asked to speak at a homeschool convention and so we decided to make it a little family getaway. I lectured 5 times in two days which was a bit crazy. Finally, on Thursday after my last speech - we headed to the beach.
Stephen had a blast! He loved the sand and spent at least 10 minutes throwing it in the air which meant that it was all over him - always a joy to clean out later ;) His sunglasses worked perfectly to keep the sand out of his eyes - and he looked so cute with them on too ;)
The only thing that stopped him was seeing a little girl - always looking for an opportunity to flirt!
Since he was distracted from throwing sand, we thought we'd take him down to the water. He was so excited and babbled all the way. He never seemed to be afraid - he studied it at first and then he was all smiles and giggled after that. We had to hold on to him to keep him from diving in head first.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get the biggest laughs on video (that's always the way - isn't it?) but this one is pretty good.
This picture cracked me up! He got a little sand in his mouth and couldn't figure out how to get it out. So he just walked around with his tongue out for a while.
After we were worn out at the beach (it started a little windy and became very windy which made it not so fun), we headed back to our hotel to spend some time in the pool. Stephen wasn't quite as giggly as he was at the ocean, but he still had a great time ;) And I swear the water was just as cold as the ocean! By the end of our little afternoon in the sun and water - mom was ready for a nap!
Stephen had a blast! He loved the sand and spent at least 10 minutes throwing it in the air which meant that it was all over him - always a joy to clean out later ;) His sunglasses worked perfectly to keep the sand out of his eyes - and he looked so cute with them on too ;)
The only thing that stopped him was seeing a little girl - always looking for an opportunity to flirt!
Since he was distracted from throwing sand, we thought we'd take him down to the water. He was so excited and babbled all the way. He never seemed to be afraid - he studied it at first and then he was all smiles and giggled after that. We had to hold on to him to keep him from diving in head first.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get the biggest laughs on video (that's always the way - isn't it?) but this one is pretty good.
This picture cracked me up! He got a little sand in his mouth and couldn't figure out how to get it out. So he just walked around with his tongue out for a while.
After we were worn out at the beach (it started a little windy and became very windy which made it not so fun), we headed back to our hotel to spend some time in the pool. Stephen wasn't quite as giggly as he was at the ocean, but he still had a great time ;) And I swear the water was just as cold as the ocean! By the end of our little afternoon in the sun and water - mom was ready for a nap!
Monday, May 26, 2008
Little Announcement
The Disneyland picture below depicts our little announcement of a babe on the way and explains why I haven't been blogging for a while. I am due at Thanksgiving time. All of us are very excited. I, unfortunately, have been rather ill for a few weeks now. Disneyland may not have been my choice for the best location of a family reunion but I ended up feeling better than I had in weeks the whole time we were there. The minute we were back at the SLC airport I was back to feeling awful. Maybe I just need to hang out in California for another couple of months. ;)
And this also means that everyone needs to get ready because we will be moving our blog. "day2daywithstephen" didn't show a lot of foresight on my part. I decided that it was time to get a family blog and not be so first child centered ;) We're working on it and will have it up and going probably when I'm 20 weeks and we have an ultrasound to display. And yes, we are finding out this time!
So stay tuned . . .
And this also means that everyone needs to get ready because we will be moving our blog. "day2daywithstephen" didn't show a lot of foresight on my part. I decided that it was time to get a family blog and not be so first child centered ;) We're working on it and will have it up and going probably when I'm 20 weeks and we have an ultrasound to display. And yes, we are finding out this time!
So stay tuned . . .
Disneyland
We had a fabulous family reunion at Disneyland last week. Stephen was a little young to really catch what was going on but he still had a great time. His favorite thing was just being outside all day long and hanging out with his cousins. He also loved running about with his leash on. We were never going to be one of those parents that put a leash on their kids - now we know why parents do it! Luckily they make them cute like this one so you don't feel so guilty. Stephen loves having it on - he asks to put it on while he's playing in the house and becomes very sad when it's time to take it off to go to bed.
In this last picture we are over watching Dumbo go up and down (which the kids enjoyed far more than had we waited in the hour line to go on the dumb ride) Stephen's in the stroller with his cousin Gordon standing next to him and I've got my niece Ella. We were watching Taylor and Laura's kids while they had a nice adult dinner. We got lots of stares from people - I felt like Dan and I should have been wearing shirts that said - "Yep, We're Mormons!" We both decided that three children under two is insane especially at Disneyland ;)
Stephen's dancing moves
As I mentioned below, the house we moved into came with lots of toys - and "noisy" toys at that. We tried hard to avoid talking/singing/dancing/bright light toys for quite a while (mainly for our own sanity) but it's all the rage in this house.
One of Stephen's favorites is the piggy bank in the video below. He's figured out that if he hits the nose enough times it sings a long song and he can dance. His dancing has evolved but this captures it pretty well. Currently he has added a foot stomping part with this ho-down flair to most dances but I've never been able to catch it on film.
One of Stephen's favorites is the piggy bank in the video below. He's figured out that if he hits the nose enough times it sings a long song and he can dance. His dancing has evolved but this captures it pretty well. Currently he has added a foot stomping part with this ho-down flair to most dances but I've never been able to catch it on film.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Stephen and his new friend, "HUGO"
We went to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa Hansen a few weeks ago when the weather was nice. My grandmother uses a type of walker (which we call Hugo) to get around the yard because the lawn is a bit bumpy. Stephen thought Hugo was the coolest thing ever. At first he pushed it with Grandma and had a great time (I think he wore poor Grandma out!) Then Grandma showed him how he could ride on the seat - he thought that was pretty cool. But he finally decided that pushing it all by himself was the best. It kept him busy for quite a while. Our only job was making sure he didn't push it down a window well.
Stephen's Favorite Room
We moved back to Lehi a couple of months ago. Huzzah! Unfortunately, we didn't move back into our house :( but we live in a cute Victorian 3 blocks away. It is so nice to be back in civilization again. The first night we were here Dan asked me, "so do you need me to run to the store to get anything - because I can get there in about 2 minutes!" We enjoyed Eagle Mountain but it was just too far away from . . . well . . . everything!
The house we are living in belongs to some friends of ours who are trying to sell it. We moved in to help them do that. We made a website and flyer for them and we have to be ready to show it at any time. Always an adventure with a toddler.
Stephen has enjoyed this house very much because our friends left all of their toys here. He has been having the time of his life playing with all their toys and looking at all their board books. He had been growing tired of his own toys and books so it's been perfect for him.
There is one room in this house that Stephen loves above all others. We don't go into it very often but when we do it's never long enough for him. It's the bedroom that belonged to our friend's 10-year-old daughter. Many of her stuffed animals are still in the room and Stephen LOVES stuffed animals - especially pastel colored ones (much to the chagrin of his daddy!).
The house we are living in belongs to some friends of ours who are trying to sell it. We moved in to help them do that. We made a website and flyer for them and we have to be ready to show it at any time. Always an adventure with a toddler.
Stephen has enjoyed this house very much because our friends left all of their toys here. He has been having the time of his life playing with all their toys and looking at all their board books. He had been growing tired of his own toys and books so it's been perfect for him.
There is one room in this house that Stephen loves above all others. We don't go into it very often but when we do it's never long enough for him. It's the bedroom that belonged to our friend's 10-year-old daughter. Many of her stuffed animals are still in the room and Stephen LOVES stuffed animals - especially pastel colored ones (much to the chagrin of his daddy!).
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