Some new cars from Uncle Brynne.
From Grandma Blevins. Ain't that the truth?
Happy Birthday to You!
It's chow time.
Garrett's birthday cakes. I made them.
Posted by Stefanek Fam Damily at 11:01 PM 5 comments
So I am sitting here making the invites to Garrett's first birthday party, and I am reminiscing about the past, and how quickly it has flown by. Garrett will turn a year old on December 1, and I cannot believe it. I am literally in shock! It went by way too fast. Some days seem like they will never end, and you cannot wait for the next step in life, and whoosh, it is gone in a flash. So I thought it would be fun to look back at the past at what the kids looked like as new babies, and also how young Adam and I were 8 years ago. Time flies while you are having fun, and it has been one heck of a ride!
The top one is us dating in 1999. And
this one is us 8 years later at my bro's
wedding.
This is Emma at about 6mths and this is her now!
This is Natalie at 3 mths and down below with her cousin Kyla. Natalie is in the white dress.
And her is little Garbear a day old and below on our recent trip to the coast.
Posted by Stefanek Fam Damily at 9:27 PM 5 comments
More pictures that I found. And here is a video of Garrett taking a few steps. He balances for quite a while but crawling is faster so that's what he wants to do. Which is fine by me!
Posted by Stefanek Fam Damily at 12:04 AM 4 comments
I am so jealous of all you die hard bloggers. I have the hardest time keeping updated. It takes me forever to update and post pictures, so you will be lucky if i get to it twice a month. Keep visiting though, cause you won't be disappointed!
Our recent adventures have taken us to the coast. Adam was supposed to work in newport on veteran's day, so we decided to make a weekend of it. I had to work till 5 on sat., and got home to find that no packing had been done when hubby promised he would help me. We finally got on the road around 6:30 with a stop at circuit city to buy another portable dvd player. We will not leave home without one and our other one got busted. Had to make a couple stops for potty breaks, and so got to Newport around 9:00. Most restaurants were closed so we finally spotted a place to eat and it was yucky! We finally got to our hotel around 10:00 and was given a room that was occupied by someone else. The kid had to find another available room for us, but one of the beds was broken so he had to bring up bedding for the girls. He then came up again to tell us that we were being too noisy and the people below us were upset. It's a hotel for crying out loud, not a flippin home on a remote island!! So I was peeved that I had to yell at the girls to keep quite and you all now how impossible that is to do.
Next day was moved into a bottom floor room, but it reeked of smoke and the toilet was backed up. Turned out the plumbing was leaking in the room beside us and was coming into our room. The staff noticed it before it ruined our stuff on the ground so moved us back upstairs to another room. We always have trouble on vacations. I don't know why I think I need to take them because they are more trouble and stress than they are worth. We got everything comped which was great.
We got to shop around, go to the beach, see the sea lions, and go to the aquarium. The next day the weather was awful so I forced the family to go up to the outlet mall and they were pretty good sports. Then home to actually relax. Quite silly, I think.
So, that was our weekend away and we won't be taking another one anytime soon.
Posted by Stefanek Fam Damily at 11:37 PM 2 comments
Posted by Stefanek Fam Damily at 6:03 PM 5 comments
So, many of you may be asking, what happened to Kretha? She has had the same blog for a thousand years. Well, I have been so busy and stressed lately, that blogging was at the back of my mind. Thanks to my sister, it is now at the forefront. I can't let her down, after all.
I have been busy with work, of course, helping Adam with his homework and taking on extra to help him get his schooling done, trying to help with our other house that we bought and are flipping. And, let's face it, when you have three kids to tend to, you can't be much help. Poor Adam.
I have had work meetings galore, laundry coming out my ears, trying to keep up on my workouts and keep all our appointments straight. And not to mention, helping in Emma's classroom which I have had to bail a couple times because of illness and being overwhelmed. Will I ever be able to cope with my busy life?
On to a better topic, we were able to attend our ward's harvest party where the girls got to play lots of games and get lots of candy, we were able to chow down on some yummy chili, and my mom and I even participated in a karaoke competition-which we almost won- and did a rousing rendition of footloose. It was a fun time.
Posted by Stefanek Fam Damily at 9:49 PM 3 comments
Well, it is official. Our house appeals to no one! We have had it on the market since the beginning of July and not even an offer. We've had it shown plenty, but no luck. So, now we are thinking with our spiritual minds and realizing that there is probably a reason for that. What, we don't know now, but I'm sure it will make sense one of these days. It will be so wonderful to not have to stress over keeping the house clean, and turning into a monster to my kids when someone wants to see the house in two hours, and it is a wreck. We'll see what the future has in store. We love our house so if we can afford to stay here through school, we will be so happy!
Posted by Stefanek Fam Damily at 11:39 PM 2 comments
I love Fall. I think it is the best time of year. I love the start of school, high school football games, the crispness in the air, and most of all, decorating for the holidays. Some of my closest friends know my secret obsession that starts in October with Halloween pending. I am obsessed with miniatures! I have always been, even as a little child. Doll houses were the best. All the little furniture and nicknacks. So when I got older, I was enchanted by those little Christmas villages and thought someday I would be able to collect those. Well, it has been going on 3 years now. Ever since Adam showed me some Halloween ones at Jerry's. I couldn't believe my luck! I have Halloween sets, Thanksgiving sets, and Easter sets. Ironically, I don't have any Christmas sets yet because the selection is OVERWHELMING, but as soon as I get over that fear of pairing the right ones together, oh, and having money as well, I will add to my collection. I look forward to arranging them just the way I want every year. I'm such a loser.
Posted by Stefanek Fam Damily at 11:12 PM 1 comments
Garrett is now 10 months old and on the move. His favorite place to be is on the stairs. Doesn't every baby go through that? So I constantly have to be watching him or he'll be halfway up by the time I get there. The kid can move! So, his punishment for climbing the stairs is being put in the exersaucer and he does not like that. I thought it would be funny to show the difference in his mood from one to the other.
Posted by Stefanek Fam Damily at 11:02 PM 3 comments
Dennis, as we affectionately refer to Natalie as, pulled another child-that-can't-keep-out-of-trouble move recently. It was a nice, relaxing Sunday afternoon, when I took the baby to my bed and we took a nap. Daddy was supposed to be keeping an eye on the girls, when he got too cozy in the recliner and fell asleep. You can never do that when Dennis is awake! She found the baby nail scissors, and proceeded to make her hair stylish. She cut the front clear down to the scalp. Luckily she didn't do it all, or we would have had to either shave her hair off, or let the mullet come back in style. Luckily she has some long bangs on the other side that can be swooped over to cover. She is a 3 year old with a comb over. Needless to say, we will not leave her unattended again!
Posted by Stefanek Fam Damily at 10:30 PM 1 comments
I just need to complain a little! I am at work right now, and will be 4 days a week starting October. Although we are extremely excited for adam's new venture, that means that lucky me gets to go back to work to get benefits and money. Yuck! I already have to work Halloween and I am not happy! For those of you who don't know, I work at an after hours medical clinic. So that means nights and weekends and holidays. It's the holidays that is the bummer! oh, and every saturday. I guess I should be thankful to have a job at all to help out, and I really am, but you all know just how much fun work is! The sacrifices we women make for our beloved spouses and children. I just hope they are very thankful for this someday. (And I know I shouldn't hold my breath!)
Posted by Stefanek Fam Damily at 3:48 PM 4 comments
Garrett is growing so fast! I can't keep up with that kid. One minute he is sitting up, then cutting teeth, then crawling, then pulling himself up on everything and standing. The kid is a maniac and seriously needs to take a chill on the growing up thing. I wish he could stay this age forever. My little man! He now has 6 teeth, fyi. With all his hair and teeth, he looks like a toddler already. Very sad!
Posted by Stefanek Fam Damily at 1:08 AM 4 comments
Adam is going back to school! For those that don't know, things in the family have been very bad since Adam's sister Alicia passed away. Because of everything, the family construction business is pretty much no longer. For years I have been wanting Adam to leave the family business and pursue another career and with everything falling apart, it was finally the time to make the plunge. He will be going to college to become a high school teacher and hopefully coach football. We have a long, difficult road ahead of us, but I know he will do great and we will be much happier not involved with the business. It is a scary time, but an exciting adventure that we can't wait to start!
Posted by Stefanek Fam Damily at 12:40 AM 2 comments
Emma is in Kindergarden(sp?). It is so crazy to think that she is old enough. It's been quite a change having her go to school every day, but she enjoys it and her two little boy friends are in her class, which is nice. I wanted to cruise up to Salem the other day and thought I could leave early in the morning to get a good day in, and then my plan was thwarted when I realized that I can't do that anymore because of school. Argh! Don't get me wrong, I am definitely glad she is in school, but that makes things not so spur of the moment.
Posted by Stefanek Fam Damily at 12:20 AM 2 comments
So, I have to brag a little now. Usually I don't, but this deserves it! My biggest accomplishment this summer was running in the Butte to Butte race. It is a 10K and the first time I have ever done that. Brynne got me pumped to start running in races, and it is really fun! The race was on July 4th, and was the day after my sister-in-law died, so I was emotionally and physically exhausted and had decided not to run. My husband encouraged me, and my sister stuck with me through the race, (which was awesome of her because she could have blown right by me from the start) and I finished! It was such a sense of accomplishment. I can't wait to do it next year, and I also want to start training for a triathlon sprint, or maybe a triathlon! Yeah right, i'll start with the sprint anyway.
Posted by Stefanek Fam Damily at 1:57 PM 4 comments
This summer was full of happy times, and sad times. The last two of my family got married this summer, which i'm sure mom is happy to be done. Although, there might be one more to come...
Anyways, the weddings went great and we were happy to be with Ryan and Ashley on their day in Portland, and it was very relaxing at Derek and Brittany's wedding at her parent's house. The girls were flower girls, as you can see. They were so adorable. Shout out to my sister for doing their hair so cute.
Posted by Stefanek Fam Damily at 1:01 PM 5 comments
Ok, so i was checking out everyone's blogs, and it seems pretty neat. So I thought, why not give it a go? The worst that can happen? I don't keep up on it. No, the worst that can happen is that no one checks it out! So you all better check me out!
This summer has been a crazy one for us. The house on the market-somebody buy it please! Having to keep a clean house with 3 little ones. That's a fun trick!
The worst news of the summer was that Adam's 19 year old sister, Alicia, passed away on July 3rd. That was the worst day and week, and weeks, and months of our lives. She was in a horrible car accident that she was never able to recover from. She left behind 2 beautiful children, a young husband, and a family that loved her terribly. I miss her every day.
Good news, Emma is a water dog now! We've all been in swim lessons and she can now go down the slide and doggie paddle to the stairs. It's awesome and I am so proud of her, especially because she used to freak out in water. Which made me think, this can't be my kid!
My kids are awesome and adorable. They are so fun and hilarious and difficult! You all know what I'm talking about. Emma is 5 and will start kindergarten. Yeah Emma! Natalie is 3 and my little stinker-literally and figuratively. Garrett is my sweet baby boy and he's now 8mths. Time has flown so fast! It needs to halt once in awhile!
Adam is good and so am I. We are ready to sell our house so we can start building. The days keep ticking by.
Posted by Stefanek Fam Damily at 1:54 AM 7 comments