High 5's and a little something extra

I really just adore being a stay-at-home mom. It is what I've wanted to do my entire life and there is honestly nothing else I'd rather do. I love being home to enjoy the funny little learning moments as they happen with my daughter. Today's was high 5's. She was in her high chair enjoying a chicken nugget when she stuck her hand up in the air. It looked perfect posed for a high 5 so I decided to try and start teaching her that. I hadn't planned on it making her giggle so cutely each time I hit her hand with a 'piew!' sound, so I ran to grab the video camera and try to catch it on film. I have a feeling that she is just going to really love this fun new game. What happened at the end of the video though could not have been planned (at least not with someone her age) and it was the funniest thing I've gotten on video yet. Around second 36 get ready to pay attention, and enjoy :)

**UPDATE**

Ok! So while I was waiting for the previous video the upload, Lily just started clapping her hands!! Out of no where!! She's always thought it was so fun when we'd clap our hands, but wouldn't even let me force her hands to do it. Now she just started all on her own. See what I mean? Being a stay-at-home mom is the best. I'm beaming with pride right now.

It's a GIRL!!!!

Haha.... fast forward to almost two years later!!! I guess I really meant it in my last post when I said I'm a terrible blogger!

So here's some of the things that have happened in the last almost two years:

• Tim changed his course of study to pre-physical therapy. He decided he wanted something a little more stable than landscape design.
• Chewy and Katie had a baby!

We miss our awesome neighbors so much!

• We moved into a house, and then had to move just before Christmas because the house sold.
• While we were in the house we found out we were pregnant!!

10 weeks, our first sight of our baby

20 weeks profile

• We spent Christmas in California with family. 
• Kaitlin and Brandon had their first little boy William Rulon Beckstrand. 

• Tim and Matt graduated from BYU-Idaho!!!

• I quit Dr. Thomason's office (hooooray!!), we moved to Utah for Tim to attend Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions, in Provo, for his D.P.T. We are currently living with Tim's Grandpa Ebert in Taylorsville. 
• I got very FAT! 

21 weeks

27 weeks

36 weeks

37 weeks

• Lillian Lurean Stevenson was born May 27th 2011. 6lbs 9 oz, 19.5 inches long, 100% perfect. I was 39 weeks and 5 days, drove myself to the hospital while Tim went to school. Waited for him to arrive then we welcomed our sweet little girl together around 6 pm. It took us a few days to name her, but Tim was the one who finally chose the winner. She was born with plenty of white hair, and Tim really wanted a flower name, so Lily just fit. And we used my middle name after my great grandmother for her. She was such an easy baby in the beginning!

Just before leaving for the hospital.

Ahhh sweet epidural!

Welcome to the world little angel.

Gettin her stats.

Pink bows from the beginning.

Already wrapped around her finger.

So happy to be going home!

Visits from Grandma, this is her first grandbaby!

• Tim's mom was here to help take care of things for a while, then my mom came with Matthew and Roxanne. 

Grandma Wendy and Lily

Uncle Matthew

Aunt Roxanne

• Robert, Deanne, and Matt were able to come back for Lily's baby blessing.

• Lily went on her first road trip with mama to see her Sawyer family in Vernal. We went on her first fishing trip, first hike, and visited Grandma Lurean Slaugh's grave.

First fishing trip

Lureans

First hike was hard work!

Great Grandpa and Grandma Sawyer

• Robert and Deanne left for China to teach english at a university in Xian (pronounced shee-on). We try to skype with them a lot so they get to see Lily as she gets so big so fast!

This is the group of teachers they are with.

• Lily was a 'Lilybug' for Halloween :) 

• We've had multiple visits back to Rexburg, as well as having Kaitlin's family come visit us. We love William and Lily's play dates, and they love each other.

Their first visit (without the bellys in the way)

So happy to see each other!

Every time they're together they get better at playing.

• We enjoyed Thanksgiving with Tim's extended family on the Stevenson side.
• Christmas in the North Pole!!!

 

Christmas in Ice

"Waiting For Santa"

They know he's the real deal.

• We got a puppy!!! Teddy is a cockerspaniel/poodle mix, and my 25th birthday present. He and Lily love to maul each other, they are both learning how to be soft!

Occasionally they play together really well :)

And that is our last 2 years in a nutshell!

The Happenings

I am a really bad blogger!!! And I know that Tim wants me to be better, so here is my effort. These are some highlights of what's been happing the last 6 months:

• For Halloween we dressed up as hillbillies and went out with Katie and Chewy (We love our neighbors!!)

• We spent Thanksgiving in St. George Utah with the extended Stevenson family

(I really love this family!)

• We survived another 2 grueling semester at BYU-Idaho (well, Tim's was grueling, mine was just fun - most of my work involved playing with the elementary school kids for my practicum)

• We spent Christmas with Matt and Tim's parents here in our little apartment, it was cramped but I still really enjoyed it

• We participated in a bowling league with some friends from school, and finished in the top 6 out of 50 teams

• I finished school!!! I will do my graduation ceremony this summer when my family is down from Alaska to visit

• Tim continued building his supply of golf clubs, buying and selling buying and selling...

• Tim went to Georgia for his second year participating in the PLANET AEF landscaping competition

• My older brother got married and we found out we will be getting a new niece/nephew soon! One of these day's maybe Uncle Tim will actually get to meet some of them :) Congrats Colt and Heather

And that pretty much brings us to now! Tim is back in school working hard as ever. Right now his plan for after graduation is to apply to physical therapy school, so he is working on all the prerequisites for that. I am working full time plus at North Fork Dental, and hoping that we hire some more people to help me soon! Rexburg is working up it's nerve to break out the warm weather and we are looking forward to lots of playing this summer. We plan on plenty of hiking, fishing, and tennis! Tim and Matt are going to be playing on a USTA tennis league so that will keep them busy. Hopefully now that "all I do is work" (thanks Matt) maybe I will be better at keeping our blog up-to-date!

Back in the 'Burg

After a long summer we have returned to Rexburg to finish school at Brigham Young University-Idaho. Though it was nice to be away for a while, we have missed this little town. It is a lot of fun to be back were we can spend time with Matt on the weekends. A few weeks ago we all went to the ice caves for the first time, it was a long drive but so worth it! We went with Matt, his roommate, and their dates; it was a lot of fun! After seeing the pictures though Sara was disappointed that no one told her how funny she looked with the headlamp on!

One of the best things about being back in Rexburg is being in our wonderful apartment! We love having room to stretch our legs out, and feeling safe to walk around barefoot again.

We have made a new goal to try to ride our bikes to school while the sidewalks are still clear of snow. We have both stuck to it and are amazed at how little we drive our cars these days. Tim the handyman husband even made a custom bike rack outside our door to keep our rides safe from the elements!

Luckily our neighbors don't mind that it is also right outside their door. Actually, we feel really lucky this semester that there are quite a few couples in our ward around the same age as us, also without children, that we can befriend and look forward to getting to know better.

As far as an update goes, we are both keeping very busy with work and school. Sara is back at the dental office where they have moved into a brand new building and she loves it. She looks forward to one final (hopefully easy) semester come winter, and graduating in April. She babysits whenever she gets a change, and has gotten an early start on her old lady social life by joining a monthly bunko group. One of these days she will get the sewing machine from Tim's grandma tuned up so that she can get started on that jean quilt she worked so hard to cut squares for.

Tim is working again as a teaching assistant on campus. This semester he added a pre-dental cluster to his Landscape Design major and Spanish minor, so he is working hard at the new challenge of diving into chemistry again. He has been playing as much tennis as he can, and was able to get in a few days of golf before the course closed for the winter. Hopefully he will get out fishing again too before the river freezes over! ;)