This is a first!

I had never seen anything like this! It was getting late and Taylor wasn't feeling well so we had the humidifier next to her bed. She had filled it up with water and was trying to plug it in while holding the lid. Her hair got caught and spun into a wild mess. I heard my name being whimpered from the top of the stairs. As I saw what happened I couldn't help but laugh! Her tears soon turned to smiles. As I tried all ways to remove the swirled tangle, we giggled the whole time. Luckily, with just a little effort Tay's hair was smoothed back to normal. What a night :)

Taylor...we miss you!

Summer has been fun and there is more fun to come, but we are looking forward to having our Taylor home. She has been in Arizona and Utah for the past 12 days and she's flying in tomorrow! Yahoo! We all miss her sweetness and example. She is such a big helper. (I have noticed Jake stepping up and taking on the "oldest child" role and it's been a lot of fun to see.) The first week I always felt like something was missing. Good luck on the plane ride all by yourself big girl. We will be anxiously waiting!

PS. Dearest Tay, please don't ever grow up. We love you!

Sacrament Meeting Bread

Yes...almost exactly 6 months have passed since I have posted on this blog. Birthdays, a baptism, Thanksgiving in AZ, Christmas, ringing in 2010, an engagement, birth of a niece, are just a few events that have happened in the last 6 months. I am not going to mourn the loss of those posts, but I will continue right here and now!

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about our little 2 year old. He is growing up so fast and so much fun. But in the same breath I can also say he has his not-so-fun-but-still-gotta-love-him-2-yr.-old-moments. In fact he's supposed to be in bed right now, but just came up to me and whispered about 2 inches from my face, "I need to tell you sumping. What times it?" Then he gave me a big slobbery kiss. Even though he should not be getting out of bed, it brought a smile to my face.

Some of those still-gotta-love-him moments have been at church lately. Our ward has THE best tasting sacrament bread. Thanks to Bro. Miller! He makes his homemade bread each week for us all to enjoy. You know it's good when Matthew tries to take a hand full each week. I try to whisper softly in his ear before the bread comes, "now remember to only take ONE piece". Never works. His fist is full and a big smile is on his face. To add to this... lately he thinks he can take more than one cup of water. Two weeks ago he started reaching for his second cup...when I tried to stop him and take it away he got upset and threw it at the row in front of us. Water drops flying in the air. Sorry Stevens family.

So now he knows he can raise panic when he throws something at church. Last week in frustration he threw a lacing card and it landed by Bro. Plowman's shoe. Not so bad, but when he was trying to throw a bigger-ticket item I did start to panic, but luckily distracted him with something else. I can't wait to see what happens this Sunday!

Can Time Stop?

Tonight we got out all of the old family videos from the year 2000 to now. Almost 10 years! We didn't have time to watch everything, but we all laughed and smiled together at the funny lines and special moments. I seemed to RE-experience all of the proud and wonderful moments of 4 births, 2 college graduations, and our first home. I do think, no...I know, the most defining moments in my life have been that of becoming a mother (4 times). It is eternal. I just wonder sometimes if time could stop.

Just for a bit.

I want to soak it all in without any other distractions...soak it in before my kids are grown and have families of their own. Do you think it's possible?

Two Beautiful Nieces

Soooo much to catch up on, but I can do that later. The latest, greatest news is that on Sept. 19th Noelle had her 1st baby...a precious little girl named Sabrina. Then...6 days later on the 25th Katharine had her sweet Claire. They are gorgeous and I can't wait to meet them in person. Congrats to my wonderful "sisters" (and their families)!

Sag Harbor, NY

One of our favorite places to visit is Sag Harbor, NY. We love go and visit family, enjoy the beautiful weather and beaches. Well, this year Aunt Kay turned 90 and everyone was going to her big birthday celebration at their home in Sag Harbor. We all wanted to go, but the final decision was that just Sean and Austin would go. (We had to factor in the price of 6 tickets and that it was the 1st week of school.)

Taylor and Jake got to go White Water Rafting this summer in Colorado and Austin, being the 3rd child, sometimes...how else do I say this..."get's the shaft". T and J were not too thrilled about the decision. I believe their words were, "We got to go rafting for 2 hours and Austin gets to fly to NY for 6 days!" They got over it quickly. Overall, it was good that they didn't miss 4 days of school like Austin did.

Austin and Sean had an amazing time! The 90th birthday party was wonderful - Happy Birthday Aunt Kay! I would gets calls of excitement as they were at the beach, canoeing or crabbing (they caught 14 inch crabs). They would also tell me of the beautiful homes in the Hamptons, the beautiful yachts in the harbor and all of the great seafood. I longed to be there, but hopefully soon!

I'm so happy that Sean and Austin had father/son time. Amazing memories!

Three Cuties Starting School

A 4th grader, 2nd grader, and Kindergartner...wow! I can't believe my oldest 3 are in school all day! They are each ready and (mostly)excited, so I can't be too sad.

The morning of the 1st day Jake and Austin ran up ahead. I kept calling to Austin to "wait" because I really wanted to walk him to his class, but off they went. Taylor and I took our time. She went to her class and I knew Jake was fine, so I went to check on Austin in his classroom. He was already sitting at his desk ready to go. I stood at the doorway saying things like "have a great day" and blowing kisses! He hardly even looked over :( He seemed so grown up.

I walked home with feelings of sadness and excitement at the same time. How does the time go so fast??? (After a few days of school Austin said, "we have to do bubbles and duck tails all day". If you don't know what those are just ask).














































































Yep...this is what Matthew looked like on the morning of the first day of school.