Snow??

Yes, it snowed here last night. I hear it has in Colorado too. What's up with this weather? I know it is not completely abnormal though. The last time I remember it snowing this late in the year was 5 years ago on May 11th, right before we departed for Paris. Here is the proof in Mt Pleasant. Tyler holding Samuel.


Tyler looks almost exactly the same and still wears that outfit on a regular nightly basis. lol. But Samuel! It gets me a little choked up to see how much he's grown.

Life is good

Like father like son. (and like my dad). Did your dad do this when had a runny nose?

I'm feeling pretty good right now. I thought I should chronicle it.

Jocelyn is at a fun sensitive stage in life.

Cecily is so kissable, even at 3am. I know that sounds cliche. I am truly trying to cherish every moment with her. She could be my last, you know. And I want to appreciate her while she's so sweet.

I think I've finally dropped down a size. I am still much bigger than I hope to be but I'm making progress!

I found this documentary that I made about my Grandpa Stum years ago. I thought I had lost it forever.

We're almost all unpacked.

My etsy shop is re-opened. Not sure if I am ready. I'll be selling a bunch of supplies that I bought and don't really need. Keep checking back.

Samuel hasn't asked to play with a particular person in a week! I'll post about that later.

We started our garden.

The best news yet.....Tyler will be working here this summer instead of Denver!!!! I was really terrified and started prepping myself to be a single mom for 2 months while he interned out in Denver. But he found a job/internship here instead!!!! Yes! I was so worried about doing the garden, lawn and irrigation myself. Not to mention going to church alone (Nora, I feel for you), shopping with 3 kids and well, all of it, by myself!

Cecily's blessing

March 8, 2010
Mt Pleasant, Utah

It's a beautiful thing when a baby is blessed. She was perfect during the blessing surrounded by the beloved and supportive men in her life. We missed Grant (and some aunts) being there. I was a little startled with multiple siblings were mentioned in plural, like she'd have 1 more sister and 1 more brother. That's not really in our plans and I hope it meant Heavenly siblings :)

I was grateful that most of the family could be here to support us.

Jocelyn wore the same dress that Cecily is wearing. I made this out of the silk left over from my wedding dress. I like that it has that added sentimental value and I hope my girls will bless their girls in it as well.

There was certainly some snoozing happening while Gpa Stoehr was in town.

I am no Anne Geddes.

Now she's happy.

I love my little bug and the bigger ones too.

Sometimes it can be fun!

Okay, so unpacking is not really fun especially with a newborn (albeit, a cute one!).


But when you take pictures of it it seems to be easier.

And then you have to fit in the sleeping, playing and eating.

Cereal fort

I made these. Did you do this is a kid too? I didn't even show him how. It must be instinctual. Oh, and we don't eat sugar cereals very often. Special cereal day is on Fridays.

Steph in the MTC

I forgot to mention a couple things to my whine list (the non-alcoholic kind, get it? groan....)

The day my back went out we had to take our minivan into the shop for leaking steering fluid. That was an added expense and time without a car that made things a bit inconvenient. Also, Tyler's flag football team lost at the playoffs, oh, that's not that big a deal. I just couldn't think of anything else. Um, the move has been stressful on all of us and it's been expressed in the all the ways mentioned in the previous post. I hope we can pull back together as a family soon.

Onto other things.

I never blogged about Steph going on her mission! She is Tyler's sister whom I mentioned earlier who looks Asian and is consequently gorgeous. She has chosen to serve a mission like her two brothers and sister before her. She is serving in Richmond, Virginia and will be fantastic! I hope she doesn't attract too many weirdos with her charismatic personality.

Below are photos from the MTC (March 3d). We missed out on the homecoming due to a newborn and school but we were able to see her off at the entrance to the MTC.

Steve, my FIL, helped the kids make a snowman after we got dumped on.

We went to Kneaders for lunch. yum. Cecily is waving farewell to Steph. "Thanks for helping me when I was just born," she says, "I'll be huge when I see you again."
Read the pillow behind them. Kinda funny. "First God created man, then He had a better idea."

Steph and Emily, one of Tyler's other gorgeous sisters.

We miss you already Steph! But we love you!!!

Woe is me

When it rains it pours at my house. I had started a post about this but it was waaaay too long. So I am going to give you the condensed version.

We had to move. Our contract ended the day after finals (April 24). My cousin moved out of my Grandma's detached house at the end of March so we were able to move there!!! Huge blessing. But moving is a huge PAIN!!!!! So we decided to move before finals.

The week before we moved I got Mastitis (breast infection). Fever, chills, shaking, major headache, etc...I got on antibiotics. Then Cecily developed thrush and I got a yeast infection. More antibiotics, for both of us.

Tyler did not get the paid internship in SLC. darn.

We had to clean the new house before we could start painting/move in. Yes, we get to have color!!! Wahoo!

Painting is not easy especially with small children. We had to fill in all the holes, tape, wash walls, etc. I am a horrible painter, we found out. Tyler had to re-do a lot of my work.

We stayed up till 1 am every morning painting (2:30 one night).

Cecily still wakes up one to two times a night.

LUCKILY, we had a ton of help with the kids from friends. Thank you Marianne, Heather, Lori, Sarah, Mary and my Dad (who took the kids on a 12 hour car ride. Whoa! Bless his heart).

My back goes out the day we stay up until 2:30 am. Joy. Can't help move heavy stuff. Great. I walk like an old lady.

The move went well. Thank you to home teachers and my parents and Levi for helping.

We're living amongst a castle of boxes.

We get a call at 4 am. My grandma has fallen and can't get up. Scary but she's okay. That's why we're living here, to help out. No sleep again.

I am majorly sleep deprived. I am stressed.

Conference weekend, ray of sunshine!! What a wonderful weekend.

Jocelyn develops a fever that Sunday. I am rubbing her back while her head is in my lap. Samuel states that he too, wants to be "hibernated." In other words, coddled and paid attention to. Sure he has a great range of vocabulary just a lack of understanding in some of the words. lol.

Jocelyn crawls into bed with us 3 nights in a row. lack of sleep. We find out she has strep throat. Joy. More antibiotics. Hope no one else catches it.

Samuel is in trouble at school. Hitting and being mean to other kids. I did not intend to raise a bully. What is going on?? I am called to repentance for being to harsh on him.

Called the night before to substitute teach primary class, the first day in our new ward.

What else? It's snowed in those two weeks.

All in all, it's been a productive few weeks. We didn't have internet for about a week. It was nice to not have that distraction. Nor do we have cable yet. We're missing our shows!!

I'm exhausted and wonder if I'll ever be able to get caught up. My shop is closed for now. Our living room is still full of boxes. However, our new place is much bigger and I'll post about it later. We can breathe. The ceilings are taller and it has color!!

We are loving staying here. All the small annoyances of an old home have contributed to the stress but they're minor compared to the big things.

I hope my stress and anger levels will go back down once all the clutter is cleared. The old place is cleaned and vacant. The new place still has many projects to be completed but that will have to be done in due time.

Anyway, I just wanted to vent. It's been trying but educational. I've learned I need to be more patient and loving with my kids. I've learned that Tyler still can work together as a team and get things done. I've learned that I still don't' handle stress well but perhaps it's getting easier. Yay for antibiotics. Yay for helpful friends and family. Yay for a roof over our heads. Thanks for listening.