The Stellar Stevenson Family

Scrapbooking

2011-12-24T16:45:00.000-08:00

Well after a trip to park city and to St. George, i finally feel like i have a hold of my scrapbooking.... well just as long as i don't take too many pictures this year. these were a few of my favorites:)

My little Monsters

2011-11-08T21:38:00.000-08:00

Halloween was fun. Kelty was sooo cute in her costume (which i sewed myself). Walker was cute too but a little violent when holding his sword...and Kennedy was the sweetest cow i've ever seen! I just love trick or treating, doughnut eating contest, the pumpkin patch, homemade rootbeer, decorating sugar cookies, and i especially love the colors of halloween.

Kelty is 5!

2011-10-28T15:58:00.000-07:00

We had an ice cream movie night for kelty's birthday this year. The kids loved watching a movie outside on a big screen...whatever happened to drive-in movies?!! We just might have to do the same thing next year cause the kids had so much fun.

California in a nutshell

2011-10-01T21:39:00.001-07:00

We started our trip to cali with a visit to Disneyland...we went on almost every ride because no one was there and the kids had a blast.
Then we drove to Carpintria beach for a family reunion with the stevensons. We camped for three days and the kids rode their bikes and played on the beach.

Lake powell, vivint style

2011-09-27T23:17:00.000-07:00

Lake powell this year was even bigger and better than ever!! We had four house boats full of beautiful vivint people and then one house boat full of our office. There was an amazing fireworks show, we had some professional cooks making all our meals, there was a full time DJ playing music in our little canyon non stop all day, the genius idea of the blob, we got to participate in a rigged volleyball tournament (kidding Nat:) and the only child in site was sweet little taytay! It was so fun and such a nice getaway from the kiddies. P.S. I will never go to lake powell without a hot tub again...soooo nice on those sore muscles...man i'm getting old.
This year at lake powell we had the blob for entertainment. People got thrown so high and twisted that one girl was coughing up blood after her crash landing...I did not participate in such foolishness.
Matt's ongoing excuse to have a mustache...
My favorite part of lake powell was all the quality time i got to spend smiling at Courtney's precious Tay Tay!!

Memories

2011-09-09T21:00:00.000-07:00

In our last days in Tennessee we visited Nashville and took the kids to this awesome water park. They loved it because it had tons of waterslides just their size and a lazy river for kids. We also visited the Temple there with our ward and walker broke his finger while i was in the temple during a session. It was a fun trip besides the broken finger.

Peachy king!

2011-07-25T21:10:00.000-07:00

It was pioneer week so we participated in some pioneer activities such as picking our own food, making our own ice cream, and churning butter. Thanks to courtney, the girls even looked like pioneers with their cute little bonnets.

Little pants

2011-07-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

Well, i have been sewing for the first time in my life and i think i am in love! All I can think about is what i could make and i just want to buy every fabric in sight. It all started with these little pants... my friend courtney taught me how to make them and i have seriously made like 10 pairs. These are the pants and the onesies i made for my sisters new little baby AND the cutest thing about them is that they are reversible! In the picture it is the back of the pants you are looking at, because the bum is a different color of fabric. The pattern is found in a book called Handmade beginnings.

Celebrate!!

2011-07-05T22:22:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely 4th of July this year...we went down town to check out the festivities and the kids played in the water fountains at the park and they played on some bouncy toys they had set up for the festival. Then, after the kids took a long nap we had a BBQ at the pool and then we had our own little fireworks show with the office. Thanks to grandma we had some fun accessories for our 4th of july pictures!

Little Track Stars

2011-06-25T21:33:00.000-07:00

This past month the kids have been training a couple of times a week to run in some races that are held at the university...They love, loved this. Kelty is VERY competitive and wants to win! I think she just loves the satisfaction of accomplishing something. She has a very hard time accepting anything less than first place but i think having her run in these races really helped her understand that participating is still fun even when you don't win. She actually really has a nack for running and she definitely has good endurance. Walker on the other hand is just happy with whatever...he just wants to be like his sister kelty, if she does it, he wants to do it just the same. They both ran the 50 yd dash and kelty ran the 100 yd dash. I think they both came in last for the 50 because they weren't paying attention to the starter and kelty got 5th place in the 100...i was just so proud!

Poolside Luau

2011-06-09T13:30:00.000-07:00

We have been playing a lot lately... at the pool mostly, because it has been hot hot! The husbands have been traveling far for work to Chattanooga and so the wives have been finding fun stuff to do as we pass (i mean enjoy) the time we have together. Courtney got caught up at walmart the other day and came home with decorations for a Luau! We drank Lemonade smoothies and the kids made their first attempt at the limbo...Ellie was so cute when she did it. After the party kelty kept telling me that it was the best party she has ever had...thanks to you court:)

little cuties

2011-06-06T05:24:00.001-07:00

Downtown

2011-05-25T20:50:00.001-07:00

These kids have been having the time of their lives with permanent friends to play with all day, every day this summer. Today we went downtown and checked out the city for a bit...the city is kind of small but it has cool waterfountains for the kids to play in and there are lots of cute shops and restaurants.

Knoxville zoo

2011-05-14T20:58:00.000-07:00

I can't get enough of yummy fresh picked strawberries this year, i've been making chocolate covered strawberries, strawberry jam, and i must have strawberries on my frosted mini wheats in the mornin!

Time for Tea!

2011-05-05T19:28:00.000-07:00

Kelty loves to have "Tea" parties, so the easter bunny brought her a cute little polka dotted tea set. I had brought the stuff to make the little paper baskets for easter but never got around to it...thus we had to use them for something important like a tea party... And Ellie looks really distraught in the picture because i told her she couldn't have any treats until she tried the egg salad sandwiches, now i feel bad looking at this picture court!

A few things...

2011-05-01T21:34:00.000-07:00

We made it to Tennessee!! We did suffer through a major hailstorm with golfball sized hail that ruined the face of our car but I scored this playground for walker's room at a garage sale for 40 bucks!

New lil' chick on the way

2011-04-13T22:47:00.000-07:00

I threw a baby shower for my sister Meg...my new camera is hard to adjust the lighting so the pictures look weird!

Crafting

2011-03-23T14:57:00.001-07:00

These are the cute neighbor hood kiddies, we will miss them this summer!

I went scrapbooking agian, i didn't get very much done and some of my pages were very simple but at least i'm moving forward.

This is just an invite i made for connor's b-day party. i liked how it turned out so i'm archiving it.

Walker is 3!!

2011-03-04T22:43:00.000-08:00

For Walker's Birthday party we went to the new Provo Beach Resort...we had cupcakes (walker's favorite part) and played games and played in the big playhouse.

Happy Valentines Day

2011-02-14T10:17:00.000-08:00

Lovely

2011-02-13T15:29:00.000-08:00

First picture is a craft that kelty could actually do (she started but quickly got bored)... you cut crate paper into little squares and then use the eraser end of a pencil and wrap the paper around the end of the pencil and dab some glue then stick it!
The second pic is kelty's valentines box she made at school.
The third pic is our table at craft night
The bottom pic is the result of valentines craft night! We made the usual stuff ....paper covered suckers, treat bags, cards, and paper wrapped candy bars.
Happy Valentines Day everybody!

Family night

2011-01-24T19:11:00.000-08:00

Mom says, " what can we do to make our home a happier place to live?"
Kelty says, " we could go to the store and buy the kind of toys that Brighton(neighborhood buddie) has, that would make me more happy."

Mom says, " so what did you learn from this lesson?"
Kelty says, " that it's not over yet!"

Costa Rica

2011-01-20T14:28:00.000-08:00

This was my 3rd time to costa rica and by far the best!! We stayed in Jaco the first three days in a really nice marriot resort. While we were there we drove to Manuel Antonio to visit the national park where we saw monkeys, sloths, raccoons, and snorkeled a bit. Then we drove to Dominical which is pretty deep into the jungle (the prettiest jungle i've seen in costa) and stayed in kind of a ghetto bungalo that was right on the beach and had the most happening disco techa party around. We went on the most awesome zipline tour (including tarzan swing)...then we took a boat ride out to cano island for some crazy snorkeling (swam with reef sharks, turtles, and the most fish i have ever seen!) It was seriously so fun (not really relaxing and kind of intense) but really fun.

Jack the Pumpkin king

2010-12-12T21:51:00.000-08:00

We went to Disneyland over thanksgiving and this was kelty's highlight of the trip! if you don't know kelty very well,... lets just say she is drawn to somewhat morbid ideals. I try to instill a love for princesses and such but her favorite things are monsters, bugs, villains, and secret agent stuff. For example: while we are watching sleeping beauty, I tell her that my favorite part is coming up (when rose is singing in the forest and her prince comes to sing with her) kelty then says, "that's not my favorite part, my favorite part is when she touches the spindle!"
So last christmas kelty made us watch The Nightmare before Christmas like every day (even christmas eve) until i had to lay down the law and told her that we cannot watch the show until next christmas! Needless to say, kelty loved the ride at disneyland and she loved talking to Jack the pumpkin king (she also told me that she will be naming her children Jack and Sally).

St. George girls trip

2010-12-04T12:56:00.000-08:00

The first week in november i went to st. george with some friends to scrapbook. I got a lot done and it is always fun to get away from the kids for a bit. i never get any good pics of us girls...probably because i don't want to scrapbook it.

My favorite fall

2010-11-16T15:24:00.000-08:00

We rode our bikes to Bridalveil falls before it got too cold outside...its a tradition i feel like we must do! It was beautiful and peaceful and it reminded me of when i was little riding up with my parents and buying a snack, back when Bridalveil was more of a happening place.

These are pictures of the kids playing in the neighbors yard. Kelty has a new bestest friend named Brighton (sort of a cousin i guess). The Millers moved in down the street while we were gone this summer and we just love having more kids in the hood! Kelty asks me all day long "when is brighton going to be home from school?"
I just love the colors of fall, the smell, the crisp air, the sound of crunchy leaves....I could never live anywhere else because i love the seasons so much.

Ghouls Night Out

2010-10-31T22:33:00.000-07:00

Halloween was long but fun... Kelty had a little parade at her pre-school friday morning then we had our ward party and trunk-or-treat on friday night then we had a party at our house on saturday. Kelty was insistent on being a blood sucking vampire this year despite my begging for her to be strawberry shortcake or Wednesday from adam's family. She did play the part very well and in her mind she was scary enough to frighten everyone at the ward Halloween party... She would walk up to strangers and scream BOO! everyone would give a courtesy jump and then she would laugh with pure satisfaction as the person was looking for the owner of the overly confident little vampire (lucky me). As for walker, he was spiderman so naturally fights would break out throughout the night and walker was found trying his superhero kung fu on the other kids in the ward (i'm half joking)....my kids are too cute and i love'em!

Monster baby shower

2010-10-28T21:37:00.000-07:00

I threw a baby shower for my little cuz Brookie! I wanted to do the monster theme cause the graphics i found online were so cute (and it is almost halloween). ANd BTW the little marshmallow monsters are actually really tasty, i will be making a scarier version of them for our halloween party (in case you want to try them:)!

Big red barn

2010-10-24T15:44:00.001-07:00

We picked our pumpkins at the Big Red Barn in Santaquin this year again...it is well worth the drive. The farm reminds me of my favorite farm in philly and the barn is full of fresh fruit, veggies, home made doughnuts, ice cream, apple cider, and did i mention the yummiest apples ever!

Bad to the BOne!

2010-10-18T20:57:00.000-07:00

Matt and i rarely take pictures of just us, and i rarely post them on my blog...matt always gets upset that i never take pics of myself or us together so here we are...thanks to the amazing camera on my iphone, we can take pics on the fly. So, we took a little date on the alpine loop and the scenery was amazing (plus matt looked kinda smoldering in leather and his handlebar mustache).

a BERRY special birthday!

2010-10-14T21:55:00.001-07:00

We had kelty's 4year birthday last weekend. She asked me about her birthday every day for the past month..."Is my birthday going to be after my nap?" because of so much waiting and anticipation she did not believe me when i told her it was actually her birthday...."is it really my birthday mom, are you just kidding?...i'm not really 4, your just joking," she said this all morning until it was her birthday party.
Kelty loves lots of attention and is such the social butterfly, so i couldn't help but throw her a party with all her friends. She would list all the people that she wanted to invite (it included all of her 2nd cousins, Ellie's grandma, and kids she barely knew) it was hard to condense her list of people she wanted to come but honestly she has too many friends for a 4 yr old!... it's because anyone she meets she becomes best buddies with (especially people who look like a grandma). Kelty had the time of her life at the party and is now asking frequently about when her next birthday party will be (hopefully this will die out quickly). Oh, how I love that yummy little strawberry!

Back to scrapbooking

2010-10-12T20:32:00.000-07:00

Went scrapbooking over conference weekend and although I am a bit rusty I got a lot done! Some of them are kinda repetitive (one for kelty's book and one for walk's book) but i need a digital copy posted of my favorites. (not digital scrapbooking BTW, i just take pics of the pages)

TImp cave

2010-10-07T21:58:00.000-07:00

Matt wants to turn our kids into extreme hikers so we decided to hike to timp cave last week. Kelty did the whole thing by herself (she actually has pretty good endurance) but walker only made it 1/4 of the way up and then had to be carried (it's a little harder for a boy that thick:). I have never hiked to timp and was pretty suprised at how the whole trail is on a cliff!!! Other than high risk for fatalities the hike was really pretty and the weather was perfect, and the cave looked like the inside of a persons ear full of earwax. If you haven't been on this hike i would highly recommend it but its like a refrigerator in the cave, so remember to bring a sweatshirt or you might have to buy a pretty sweet timpanogos cave hoodie from the gift shop.

Cool park

2010-09-28T22:12:00.000-07:00

These are some pics i took at the new AWESOME park in Spanish Fork. It's about time southern utah valley got a cool kiddie attraction.

Camping in moab

2010-09-13T13:30:00.000-07:00

My kids are always so full of energy (its exhausting for me) so hiking to the arch was easy for them. Walker hiked all the way there and almost all the way back...he did not want anyone to help him or hold his hand.
In the morning after a long freezing night's sleep i looked over at walker and found him with this big strawberry in his mouth, just staring at the fire pit (totally out of it).
These are some pics of my dad's first experiences rock crawling on the Razor. He did not understand the concept of going nice and slow up the rock so that you grip to the rocks...he gave it a full throttle kick and ended up riding up the rocks on just his back two wheels.
It was a fun weekend (not really relaxing) but fun. My children just love camping, hiking, getting dirty, and playing with bugs & flashlights.

Back to school

2010-09-08T21:21:00.000-07:00

It was kelty's first day of her second year of preschool. Kelty loves school, the poor girl is going to have to go to 3 years of preschool because she barely misses the deadline for kindergarten. She chose her curious george shirt to wear for the first day and she let me do braids (rare occasion). I will never forget my preschool experience...i still remember going to Mrs. Ginger's basement and fighting over the pink cup at snack time and singing the ice cream flavor song with my head sticking out of a big ice cream cone cut-out.

Mrs. Shaw

2010-09-02T22:31:00.000-07:00

Well, for the past 2 weeks I have been helping my little sister Megan (A.K.A. Mrs. Shaw) pull her classroom together. She got hired 4 days before school started so i came to her rescue and drew these cute animals for her room and i thought my theme "It's a Zoo in Here" was very appropriate for any Special Ed room with 13 students ranging from kindergarten to 4th grade and a first year teacher that was hired 4 days before school started! I have never had the opportunity to teach special ed students but Megan has roped me into teaching a couple times a week (since she does not like teaching in front of a class)...and i love working with meg's cute little students. Seriously it has been the most rewarding experience to work with them (I have cried occasionally because i care about them so much). If any one has some extra time on their hands you can volunteer to help her class anytime, cause she really needs the help! I think i really would love to teach my own classroom someday....and i will be taking my animals with me:)

Raspberries

2010-08-31T14:53:00.000-07:00

Picking fruit just never gets old...kelty loves it. Houston was too hot all summer so we never got to go berry picking, so the raspberry patch in Mapleton satisfied our berry picking needs.
Walker was such a mess afterwards that the owner of the farm just had to take a picture of him.

Beautiful bride

2010-08-31T14:46:00.001-07:00

I came home early from Texas to go to my cousin Jamie's wedding. I like to think that i was the one who brought this lovely couple together... last year at about this same time i invited Jamie to go boating with me and one of matt's sales buddies, thus on the boat that day was her future husband SCOTT(he is a red head BTW)!!! I am so happy for them and the lemonade served at the wedding was well worth driving home early for, i devoured 6 cups of pink lemonade. Congrats to Jamie and Scott, and welcome to the Little Bankhead Compound.

Waterpark

2010-08-14T20:53:00.000-07:00

The kids loooooved this! We went to a waterpark by our house and the kids went down this waterslide over and over. Kelty has become quite the accomplished little swimmer. She is very determined (competitive almost), she taught herself how to swim(she would not let me help in any way shape or form). The last time that the office dove for quarters she dove down and collected more quarters than i did!(I gave up after 50 cents) I was never a good swimmer so it was best that she learn on her own. If she would have learned from me, she would be plugging her nose and there would be no diving!

Goodbye Grandma...

2010-08-04T17:11:00.000-07:00

I went to my grandma's funeral today and it was beautiful...38 great grandchildren letting their balloons go in honor of Grandma!

Friends

2010-07-28T21:33:00.000-07:00

Walker and Kelty were in heaven playing with Ellie and Cody at the pool when we visited them last weekend. They were in desperate need of quality friend time!

Deep in the heart of....TEXAS!

2010-07-25T14:02:00.000-07:00

We visited my cousin in Dallas this weekend and got to see the REAL Texas that i had always imagined. The kids got to see the texas longhorns stroll down main street at the Fort Worth Historic Stockyards...then kelty got to sit on one and touch it's horn (walker chickened out on this experience)! I think the kids favorite part was the candy store. It was full of barrels of old fashioned candy (any child's dream).

Popcicle

2010-07-19T18:55:00.000-07:00

My kids beg for popcicles every day. I liked the middle pic...kelty's face shows pure satisfaction!

Happy 4th 2010!

2010-07-06T16:43:00.001-07:00

This 4th of July was awesome! because my family came to visit us again. Because the 4th was on Sunday we enjoyed holiday festivities for 3 days in a row...Saturday we went to a parade and went shopping. Sunday we went to church, had a BBQ, went swimming, and then went to a fireworks show. Monday went golfing, swimming, dinner and then did our own fireworks. It has been a busy week and i am sad that my family is leaving! After the 4th of july it is the hardest part of the summer for me, i get really bored and i want to go home already! So i will just have to head to Dallas and spend some of this miserable time period with my friend Courtney. Oh, and God Bless America!

Day at the beach

2010-06-20T21:40:00.000-07:00

For father's day we went to the beach in Galvesten. Walker went surfing with daddy and finally got to try the boogie board. It was a nice day.

Houston Childrens Museum

2010-06-18T22:27:00.000-07:00

Our day at the children's museum left to right...1. ambulance driver 2. grocery shopping 3. water works 4. water gun 5. detective/EMT 6. waitress 7. polka dot dancing 8. little chef 9. boats float 10. scary tiger 11. beep beep 12. china town... and that was that!

Rachel's Wedding

2010-06-08T23:50:00.000-07:00

We went to California this last weekend to attend Rachel's (Matt's youngest sis) wedding. It was absolutely perfect and beautiful in every way.
Thanks to Courtney i decided to copy her blog and make my pics bigger:)

Pool Party

2010-06-01T14:55:00.000-07:00

It's so funny when Matt is trying to explain the rules for his little games...all the salesmen want to debate the rules and it gets a bit out of control.
The traditional money dive was a little less exciting this year since the pool is 3 times as big as the pool we had last year.
500 quarters for 500 sales!

Orange hair, orange floaties, and an orange soda!

7 years down

2010-05-28T15:15:00.000-07:00

It's our 7th yr Anniversary on Sunday...so this is the only decent pic i could find of just us. Here's my shout out to the love of my life! He is handsome, funny, sweet, and i just luv'em to death!

Old Mcdonald had a Farm

2010-05-19T13:33:00.000-07:00

Today we went to Old Mcdonald's Farm in the country. It was kind of a random funny little farm with animals running all over the place including wild deer!
The goats ate right out of the kids hands, which i was a little nervous about but kelty said it just licked her hand and didn't bite her (well you'll never know till you try).

I wish you could have seen the look on walkers face when he rode the pony...pure joy!
I had to get a picture of the little "chicken city".

There was a big sand hill to play on... While the kids were playing a butterfly was trying to land on walker's head (i think it thought walker's hair was a flower).
Kelty got the butterfly to land on her bucket and then i got it to land on my finger! I have never seen a butterfly so friendly.

So the deer that roamed around the farm were kind of scary. Every time we started feeding the other animals the deer would run up and get right in your face because they wanted the food.
Well the kids had fun and i am glad i got some pics with the iphone because I was in need of a posting for grandmas.

Milo

2010-05-11T13:59:00.000-07:00

Kelty thinks that she has a new doggy. One of the reps has a dog that we walk every now and then, and the kids of course love it. She tells everyone about HER dog Milo:)

Little Celebrities

2010-04-24T20:25:00.000-07:00

I can't help myself...I was so bored today, i just sat and followed my kids around like the Paparazzi. And these stellar shades really made the kids look like little celebrities.

I was trying to capture the craziness that goes on when we visit the pool.

He didn't even see this snapshot coming.

Pool TIme

2010-04-21T12:55:00.000-07:00

Let the wild rumpus begin!!

The king of all the Wild Things is very satisfied with his new kingdom...our new pool is really awesome. Now all we need is friends to enjoy it with...kelty said to me on the car ride to Houston "I will get to play with all my new jersey friends?" then she lists them to me, "Ellie Peach, Ellie Pie, Cody, Brylee, Levi?" I had to break it to her that these friends will not be here this time...but we will be making new friends. She then proceeded to tell me that Nash and Levi are her boyfriends and Ellie Peach and Ellie Pie are her girlfriends.

Spring Tulips

2010-04-16T14:35:00.000-07:00

He almost picked this one, but I stopped him just in time.

Hunting for bugs.
For our last day here in Utah we decided to visit the tulip festival at Thanksgiving Point. There were only about 30% of the tulips in bloom today but we still managed to make these pictures look otherwise. The kids just loved running up and rolling down the hills over and over again. Kelty was on the search for bugs but sadly did not find any...she was playing with a whole family of potato bugs yesterday in the yard (she is very into bugs right now because she is learning about them at school). I have to beg her to not touch worms or spiders. Walker has to follow kelty's every footstep of course and so yesterday I had to stop him from picking up a wasp!

Hoppy Easter

2010-04-06T16:37:00.000-07:00

Easter and Conference was spent in st. george this year.

Just had to break out the scrapbooking one more time before i leave this summer.

Big boy bed!

2010-04-06T16:14:00.000-07:00

Here is Walker's new big boy bed (which is really kelty's old bed). He has slept every night all night in his new bed without any problem (unlike Kelty).
So I bought Kelty a new adorable pink bed that I found for a 120$ in st. George...i thought it was an amazing steal of a deal since her old bed cost 250$ and it is very poor quality. I also couldn't resist the night stand and a matching dresser for another $150 bucks...oh how I hate to pay full price for something and then later find something better for cheaper!
While i was taking pictures i had to take this pic of kelty's "treasures" that she keeps on the top of her bookshelf. She finds random small out of place toys or objects that she thinks are such a prize to find and she calls them a treasure. Every night she puts them on her shelf or "safe place" for keeping.
I had to take a pic of my cute pillows that i found at TJ max in st. george. My room colors are sort of a misfit combination but i am working on it.

Green day

2010-03-22T22:16:00.000-07:00

It was sunny on St. Patty's day so we had a picnic in the park.

Kelty got a Lucky charm graphing chart from school and she has done this little activity every day for the entire week! she loves lining up the marshmallows and then eating them.
Eating something green:)
Inside activities...coloring on the floor without pants on is so much fun.
We have had a few tea party's this winter season. They looked so grown up, i had to capture the moment.

Missing Tay

2010-03-17T21:40:00.000-07:00

My little bro left for his mission in February and I just miss him, he is such a sweetheart! He was always the peacemaker in our family... really he was the only normal person in our family. Today i just miss him!

When in Mexico....

2010-03-03T21:15:00.000-08:00

Can you see Mario and Luigi?

This is Eric Hill...he cuts his coconut open with a machete and spears his own fish!
This family is one of Spencer's converts from his mission. They made us an awesome authentic mexi meal!
This is the view from the top of the member's house (sad little house, amazing view).

When in Mexico...do as the mexicans do! We fit 16 adults in a 7 passenger van, thankfully i got to squeeze into the front.

We visited this corrupt government official's house that basically used the governments money back in the seventy's to build this house and traffic drugs from a hole dug all the way down to the beach. This house was complete with rotating dance floor, mirrors on bedroom ceilings, beds that hung from the ceilings, cages for tigers in the front yard, and a huge statue of the devil....very interesting.

The view from our bedroom window. Ahhhhh good old Mexico!

Scrapbooking and Birthdays

2010-02-23T13:52:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to Matt (turned 33!) and Walker (turning 2!)!!! Matt's birthday is the same day as his mom and his brother and my sister! can you imagine having 2 children on your birthday (kinda weird/cool). And, Walker was born on my dad's b-day....so Happy birthday also to Sandy, Brian, Megan, and Tom.

I went scrapbooking this weekend (not digital scrapbooking) in st. george with some friends and I got a lot done...These are a few of my favorites!

Valentine Craze!!

2010-02-11T23:09:00.000-08:00

Don't think I am crazy or anything but I made a lot of valentines this year... Starting with decorated beverage bottles...
Cute cards,
Sucker holders,
Candy bar envelopes,
Decorated close pins,
Double wrapped candy,
Wrapped candy bars and treat bags,
We had a valentines craft night with the Fam and neighbors... It was a lot of fun and i might of gotten a little carried away...but i didn't want to waste any supplies!

Shmelty Kelty

2010-02-06T12:51:00.000-08:00

My sweet girl is finally walking and her crazy emotions have been leveling out since she is now using her leg properly...as for her slight limping, i can only hope it does not last the rest of her life!

I am so grateful for a half hearted winter...the kids just love playing on their scooters outside. Luckily it has been surprisingly warm and so our sanity has been well kept this season. I am actually hoping it will be a cooler summer this year since Houston is well known for its sweltering heat!

Hawaii continued...

2010-01-28T21:39:00.000-08:00

I just had to post a few more of my favorites...good times.

Hawaii

2010-01-20T22:23:00.001-08:00

Hawaii was awesome! We went to Oahu and stayed at the Ko Olina resort. Matt surfed a little, we visited the North Shore, we went to the PPC, visited the temple, and saw whales, turtles & dolphins on our way to snorkeling. I think the kids loved the hot tub and shaved ice the most!

Happy Christmas

2009-12-28T20:21:00.000-08:00

We had dinner at our house with matt's family this year. I thought the reindeer rootbeers were so cute i had to take a picture of them on my table.

Kelty was so excited/surprised to get her princess vanity. I think she thought she was too naughty to receive any gifts from Santa this year...because we always threatened her any time she was bad (so sad). After opening presents she kept saying "I'm so glad santa really did come, i was only a little bit naughty and thats OK, right mom?"
Walker was overly stoked about his 4-wheeler...what 2yr old wouldn't be?

They both got horses on a stick...it is so cute to hear walker say "hee-haw" when he rides his horsey.
My little princess. What christmas could top this one?

My Scooter

2009-12-19T16:07:00.000-08:00

Christmas trees

2009-12-18T15:54:00.001-08:00

Walker's is the tree with no candy on it...

California

2009-12-04T21:31:00.000-08:00

We went to California this week and visited an old friend...the Beach!! In new jersey the kids played on the beach so much that they got sick of it and actually kind of started to hate it...so now that they hadn't been in a while, I think it was the most fun they have ever had playing in the sand.
We visited aunt Megan in San Diego. We had a bonfire on the beach and dutch oven food cooked right on the beach too (something we longed to do in New Jersey but fires were not allowed on the beaches there).

We also went to Disney land a few days...and this picture describes kelty's attitude most of the time...ha ha only kind of.
We went with our friends the Slimboski's and i think it really magnified the kids fun, having friends their age with us.

Walker saw minnie and walked right up with arms wide open for a hug!

Kelty got to meet her favorite princess Bell!! It was so sweet to watch her talk to the princesses.

6 days with little sleep and a lot of candy...perfect vacation.

Scrapbooking

2009-11-09T13:22:00.000-08:00

I love this picture of the kids playing in the leaves.

I went to St. George this last week with my mom and her friends to scrapbook. I got a lot done...these were my favorites.

P.s. It's not digital scrapbooking...its the real deal, i just took pictures of the pages (ya know, in case my scrapbooks go up in flames. i will still have a copy of my favorites.)

Words cannot describe...

2009-11-01T09:14:00.001-08:00

How cute my Nacho was!!!
and my witch!

He had to eat a lot of candy to fill out his costume.

I was nacho's girlfriend.
The winners of the costume contest....Megan and Sam.

Matt was also a Lucha Libre (mexican wrestler). he finally got to wear his mask he bought in cancun last year.
We had a fun halloween party this year...thanks to everyone who came and helped!

Chasing Chickens

2009-10-24T19:34:00.000-07:00

Have you seen the movie "Where the Wilds Things Are"? Walker went crazy chasing all the chickens and pigs. Those poor animals were all wound up after walker was done with them.

If this corn was only more edible...

It was so funny to watch walker chase the animals we had to go back one more time before we left.

The kids loved Hee Haw farms...and walker did finally get close enough to pet one of the chickens.

My little nice witch

2009-10-19T21:12:00.000-07:00

We went to a Halloween party at the library tonight so i spent all day making her costume. It isn't a very good picture but the skirt turned out to be really cute (thanks to my mom).

Witches

2009-10-17T07:57:00.000-07:00

Kelty wants to be a (nice)witch for Halloween this year... so she loved to see all the witches at gardner village.

Big Red Barn

2009-10-12T19:04:00.001-07:00

Braden wanted to taste a little bit of his pumpkin.

We went to the Big Red Barn in Santaquin to pick some pumpkins... i love fall activities.

Happy Birthday Kelty!!

2009-10-08T21:28:00.001-07:00

She's turning 3!! We miss living on the beach so much that we had to re-live the moments by having a beach party for her birthday!

My very talented friend Carly made these cute cupcakes for her party and they were sooo yummy!
She had a lot of help with opening her presents.
Kelty is so lucky to have so many cute little friends.

Next best thing to playing on the beach is swimming indoors at the Lehi Legacy Center...complete with palm trees:)

Wedding photos

2009-10-06T22:31:00.000-07:00

Just a few more photos of Megan's wedding when we were at the temple. Walker looked so handsome in his white shirt and tie...and kelty loved here cute little flower girl dress.

Baby shower

2009-09-30T22:11:00.000-07:00

This is what i did today...it was my first experience making a diaper cake and i liked how it turned out. If you ever want to make one I am now a pro.

Hooray for Meg and Rob

2009-09-30T21:59:00.001-07:00

We just got back from california and i was determined to post before I leave to st. george. Matt's sister megan got married and her wedding was absolutely beautiful!! Megan basically put together her whole wedding all by herself (okay her mom helped a lot)but...she made the invitations, she decorated the cake (sewed the little birds on top of the cake), she made the table center pieces and she helped make adorable flower girl dresses. She is so talented i am super jealous and the wedding was picture perfect. More pictures coming....

Lately

2009-09-20T21:37:00.000-07:00

I've been really bad (lazy) at taking pictures lately so here are a few iphone pics. We went to the zoo the other day and the kids loved it...They had a baby elephant, a baby giraffe, and a baby tiger. it was a good time to visit the zoo with so many cute new baby animals.

Friends

2009-09-01T21:15:00.000-07:00

We are finally home and we are missing our little friends so badly.

Summer

2009-08-26T11:16:00.000-07:00

Dear New Jersey,

Thank you for that bitter sweet feeling I've had all summer long. Your beaches were beautiful and well what else can I say... The people are mean here and they have a right to be!

Love,

Jessica Stevenson

123 Sesame st

2009-08-24T07:50:00.000-07:00

We went to Sesame Place this week with matt and the kids had a blast as usual.

Walker and Cookie monster instantly bonded.

Asbury Park

2009-08-21T14:16:00.000-07:00

Asbury Park is probably 95% Gay! so my husband thought it appropriate to buy matching tanks with his little buddies spencer and taylor. Needless to say they were quite a hit...after a gay couple saw the boys prancing in there matching shirts we saw them later buying the same shirts in the store.
I heart A.P.

Rain or shine

2009-08-18T11:51:00.000-07:00

It rains a lot here on the jersey shore so one day, (while it was raining outside) I ran into this store and found these adorable little raincoats. So now, when it rains we go outside on a walk because it is hard to stay inside all day.

I love when matt comes to the beach with us. It was so hot today, i actually got in the water... and i tried surfing.

Beach/Pool Party

2009-08-10T20:19:00.000-07:00

We started the party off with a sand castle building contest.
Nice try Steve...better luck next year.
Justin and Courtney's "Tomb of the unknown APX Salesmen" notice the butt cheeks in the back
.
We had a lifeguard judge the castles and the poor girl got hassled by a bunch of salesmen trying to sell her on why they should win.
And the winners are....Don't really know? They all just started combining their castles together.

Lining up for the swimming contest, Justin won by a hair.
Walker's favorite part of the party...PIZZA!!!

Fresh food!!

2009-08-10T20:02:00.000-07:00

I went shopping at Delicious Orchards market and bought every vegetable in sight. I'm not usually a real salad eater but these fresh veggies just taste so much better than regular grocery store veggies. I just had to take a picture because I was so proud of myself...eating so healthy and all. Okay so i did have some oreos and milk afterwords.

GO Yankees

2009-08-04T20:33:00.000-07:00

This year we are routing for the Yankees! but really our hearts belong to the Phillies. Our seats were awesome because we were in the shade and the Yankees won! so despite our two little tag-a-longs we had a good time.

P.s. walker was the best cheerleader, he clapped and cheered the whole time...and ate a lot of ice cream.

I heart floaties!

2009-08-04T19:55:00.000-07:00

This summer both Kelty and walker have learned how to swim with floaties and it has been such a lifesaver. I was so stressed out about watching the both of them at the pool all by myself, but luckily Kelty mastered the floaty skills and then Walker just had to follow his big sisters footsteps. Sometimes I do have to watch walker closely because he's a little top heavy and goes under if he runs full speed into the deep water...but he's been a really fast learner.

Hot surfer

2009-07-24T10:35:00.000-07:00

I finally got some good pictures of matt surfing. The waves were massive today... if you look closely you can see the fear in matt's facial expression on these waves.

Grandma and Grandpa were visiting this week. Every morning Kelty wakes up and runs to our balcony to yell for grandma to wake up and come take her on a walk.

Walker

2009-07-20T19:22:00.000-07:00

My little Walkie is such a sweetheart. He follows his big sister around all day and does everything she does. Lately he has been trying to learn how to ride Matt's razor scooter. He sees all the other boys riding them around and he MUST ride it too! He will not let me help him, he will not try kelty's 3-wheeled scooter and he cannot do it, so he basically walks around with the scooter crying in frustration hurting himself and then crying some more.

He also insists on swimming in the deep end of the pool like all the other children. Even though I have let him drown a few times, he still walks straight into the deep end with no hesitation. So, i have put floaties on him and he quickly learned how to swim!! well sort of... its more like he floats and then sputters a bit when he starts to tip, but he does stay above water without my help. Walker is turning 17 months in a few days and he already can do almost everything that kelty can, except carry on a conversation. Sometimes I forget how old walker really is and i treat him like any other 2 year old. There is definitely a special place in my heart for my sweet red headed walkie talkie:) And thank you kelly for taking these cute pics for me.

Mom's day off

2009-07-18T10:45:00.000-07:00

One Saturday we(Courtney, Erin, and I) got a babysitter for the kids and took a little trip to NY. We went shopping in this huge dept. store full of high-end name brand clothes for 1/4 of the price called Century 21, then visited a little sewing and fabric shop.

We waited in a long line to try one of the best cupcakes I have ever had at the Magnolia Bakery.

And then finally, we made it to the Garment District or Fashion District of NY... I never knew such a place existed, but there are stores full of every button, lace, trim, ribbon, thread, etc... right in downtown NY!!! We only made it into one store before everything closed for the night and it was overwhelming for anyone who loves to craft. This is a picture inside a store with every ribbon and button you could ever imagine.

Beach Babe

2009-07-16T10:31:00.000-07:00

Kelty's friend Bry Bry.

I'm so embarrassed that walker still uses his binky.

I love walking down to the beach with my kids...just hangin out watching daddy surf. Boy it is going to be hard to go back to reality.

Happy 4th of July!!

2009-07-09T18:10:00.000-07:00

This year we had a cute little parade for all the salesmen and techs. The kids decorated their bikes and scooters to march their parade route.

This is a picture of Hunter's little bald head. He is just the cutest!

My whole family came to visit us this year over the holiday...Kelty couldn't get enough of her grandma.

We had a BBQ with the office after the guys had a great day selling, then we played on the beach while we waited for the most amazing fire works show I have ever seen!!

I would have to say that this was my most favorite 4th of July I have ever had!.. living on the beach might have something to do with it:) This is a picture of the Grand finale fireworks show we saw right on the beach by our apartments.

APX Wives + children

2009-06-16T19:18:00.000-07:00

This summer we have 23 wives....

...and 20 kiddies. wow! (some day we will get them all in one picture)

Lets just say that it is sometimes difficult for all of us to get together in the same room because we are always out numbered by screaming children. So finally, we had a sunny day to gather at the park and mingle while our children played.

Kelty loved this playground...she was like a little spider monkey in this web.

Walker was enjoying the limitless food that the wives had prepared. I don't think he went one second without a cookie in his hand.

What a fun evening spent with so many friends.

iPhone moments

2009-06-11T20:24:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to go through my I-phone pictures and post my favorites... so here they are! I hardly ever bring my camera with me any more because I am sick of taking pictures, but there are always those moments where I am glad to have an i-phone that takes good pics.

The first photo was taken right before we left for new jersey... Almost every day when matt was gone I would take kelty and walker on a burley ride to the park. And when I looked back to see that both of them still had their sunglasses on I just couldn't resist a photo op.

This is a picture of kelty in her new fancy princess dress. Lately she had been to a few princess parties and I was a little ashamed of her princess (walmart special) attire, so when i was at the Disney outlet i found this dress for half off! Ridiculous! i know...but you should have seen the dresses that the other little girls were wearing.
This picture is taken at one of our favorite parks. I just thought that it was kind of sweet how all the kids in our group naturally flock together on the playground. We did not stick them all on the jeep...I just went looking for my kids and found them all playing together like this. Ellie, Kelty, Walker, Cody, and Levi(behind the jeep).

One of our favorite things to do in the morning is get a chocolate smoothie from the little breakfast cafe on the boardwalk. One day, on our way out the door from purchasing our smoothies, Kelty gave a long sigh (life is rough) and sat down in this chair to relax and drink her smoothie while we were in a stressful hurry to get down to the beach... the lady next to her started laughing so hard:)

After this messy incident, kelty and I eat our oreos after walker goes to bed. Sad, i know...but i promise he gets his fair share of sweets throughout the day.

There are so many charming little ice cream shops along the beach.

Walker playing with Harley, Sam and Lauren's dog.

I have countless beach pictures but I chose this one because I wanted to show off kelty's cute little dress that I bought in Cancun for like 8 bucks! I have been so excited for her to wear it.

Nicole's little baby is absolutely adorable!!! he has the most beautiful eyes.

When I go to sickles market I always buy the kids a sucker if they are good. Walker has been pulling the funniest faces lately.

This is Walker's new "CHEESE" face. Every time i have the camera on him he knows to say cheese!!

Found so brooms to play with at the park...

Finally, because it has been raining so much this week kelty has started building "sand castles" inside...she stacks her toys in little piles all over the house and calls them sand castles.

Strawberry Days

2009-06-07T12:36:00.000-07:00

Kelty has been talking about Strawberry picking all week!! She went straight to work when we got to the farm...I loved to watch her stick her tounge out as she picked the most rotten strawberries.

Walker, of course was in heaven!! The pictures probably describe his feelings about pick-your-own strawberries. ha ha

Good old Brusters:)

2009-06-03T05:57:00.001-07:00

My favorite thing about summer is all the trips to the ice cream shop. Notice that walker has his pants off (he jumped in the water again!)

My Heaven on Earth

2009-05-23T20:39:00.000-07:00

This is Dana, Erin's new little angel. She was so precious while we were taking pictures.

We just had to visit our favorite place that we went last summer in Pennsylvania, Winterthur Gardens! I enjoyed every peaceful minute... The kids couldn't stop smiling as they ran wild in and out of the blossoming trees. Looking at these pictures makes me miss my summer home last year in Chadds Ford, PA. I wonder if I will ever get the opportunity to visit this beautiful place again.

Saturday...the longest day.

2009-05-17T18:21:00.000-07:00

Walker in the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile, it fits him well. Saturday morning we went to a city wide yard sale. My greatest find was kelty's $2 scooter and a kitchen knife for 25cents. Unfortunately i did not buy the wienermobile.

Later on that day we went to our favorite park to play. Part of the park is actually a water park! It was pretty cold outside but that did not stop walker from playing in the water.

Living on the beach, this is pretty much how every day ends...the kids have stripped down to nothing, again.