Our little family is growing!

 My sister, who I mainly write this blog for, has requested that I get back to posts that portray my life to be full of butterflies and fairies. So, without further ado I present the newest member of our family...

Well this is what I imagine he looked like many moons ago when my mom was pregnant with my brother Max. Who ever said ultrasound pictures were for the sole use of introducing an expectant new born? That trend ends here!


Max has been with us for a few months and for the most part it is going swimmingly  Allow me to share with you some of the perks to having your normally too cool for school kid brother come live with you.

    1. He is ALWAYS up for making a treat run for me.
    2. Sometimes I get babysitting out of him.
    3. I Implore him to help me trim down my bucket list.

My bucket list is pretty lofty. It includes things like  kicking a 30 yard field goal, traveling to the Galapagos Islands, and to be the first one to enter a Ross Dress for Less at their grand opening.
So far with Max here I have been able to knock off one of those.

Ross made its debut here in the St Louis area  this summer.  I recruited Max to camp  out with me. There is nothing like the sweet aroma of camping out for discount clothing.

Don't worry I had the classics on hand to kill time until the store opened.

 

 

 

Richard hates Ross, which I will not lie, it is a major source of marital conflict. Richy's beef with the store is this, he says he will go in there and find a good looking shirt, only to flip it around and reveal a gold skull or something equally repugnant. There is an alarming amount of gold skulls printed on other wise cute clothing. For the record I do not now, nor will I ever where skulls on any of my apparel!

 

After Max so nicely obliged to the Ross grand opening/camping excursion, I thought it was time to show him more of what the Midwest has to offer. So  we loaded up the kids in the car, I packed Richard's unmentionables  and we headed to Chicago for the weekend. The weather was awesome. We played on he shore of Lake Michigan.

 

 

 

 

Naomi began to cry when Richard went too far out in the water and like a good mom, instead of comforting her I tried to capture her sweet tears. 

 

 

Maybe my guilt of skipping class in high school when we were reading The Old Man and the Sea is what got to me when planning this trip. I wanted to take my family to see Ernest Hemingway's boyhood home, but my plans were met with swift rejection. My follow up attempt to go see some local works of Frank Lloyd Wright were not even acknowledged. My plans were replaced with requests for the sights of modern Chicago with its $38 parking to get deep dish pizza and to see "the bean". So, we were off to Millennium park.

 

 

 Levi's Zhu zhu pet Mousy had to be included in the pic!

 

 

 

Levi showing off his Spider man moves. Did I mention I love having a little boy?

 

 

 

 Although I did not get my way on everything this trip, I was able to achieve my #1 objective, shopping on Michigan ave and my #2 to spend quality time with our family away from the stress and boredom of school, work, and my never ending laundry pile. There was also a little love on the side.

 

 

 

who is blogging for anyway?

Blogging is for people with sublimely perfect  lives, and who have  cute, enlivened front porches to blog about..  This is simply not me right now.  I hardly have a front porch, and what I do have I share with an invidious lady who thinks we are conspiring to abduct her recycling bin, because in her words, "I keep a much cleaner bin than you". While there is a tad of merit to her suspicion, I will not glom her much cleaner bin.

.I am adjusting to many hard realities, such as  finally seeking professional help for some cconcerns I have about Levi, and Richard being in medical school means he often leaves before  the kids wake up. He returns home long after their pleads to stay up for just one more cup of water followed by one more drink of water (yes, I meant to wrote that twice). My plan has been to go back to work this academic school year, so that is what I am doing. It is in my contract that I not post where I work. What I will say is the Village People  have a song about my work that has revolutionized the middle school dance scene in this fine, free land. Work is giving me an opportunity to be  involved in the community,  while I work on new projects. I love it, but it is still work.


Right now I am missing the freedom of this summer, the trips, the visitors, and warmer weather (it was -4 the other day when Richard dug my car out of the snow for me).

Richard's parents came to visit us over the 4th of July. Our plan was to show them a good time in an attempt to coerce them to move by us. Our plan was thwarted by the fact that we live in Missouri,

 The first stop on his parents trip was a quick 4 hour jaunt up to Nauvoo Illinois to see some of our church historical sites. I really wanted my kids to have the memory of going to Nauvoo with their grandparents.

 

 

The Nauvoo temple has historical significance to our church, and although the original temple was destroyed in the 1850's the new temple is a replica that commemorates an important period of time. As I learn more about the early church member in Nauvoo I am full of questions and in awe at the things they were willing to do for their faith.

 

Our kids were not as into learning about the church history, but  don't worry I do not think they are wanting to become apostates.Their interest peaked with a wagon ride through the city.

 

We took tours of many of the homes of early church leaders, We saw where the Relief Society was formed. and where the Articles of Faith were written.

One of my favorite is #11

We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God

according to the dictates of our own conscience,

and allow all men the same privilege,

let them worship how, where, or what they may.

 

 

 

 

To be honest there are some questionable and even ugly things about church history/ I have kind of dismissed it for much of my life because of this. I am at a point now, where I can learn of the less flattering things, and still recognize the culmination of good and how it continues to blessed my life.

 

After about 6 years of residing in Nauvoo it became necessary for the members to leave. Many of the 12,000 began to leave in the winter of 1846. Their departure involved crossing the frozen Mississippi river  I am sorry for this history lesson, but this part always gets to me.

 

My departure our of Nauvoo also became necessary with the aberrant lack of vegan food options.

 

We made it home in time for the 4th of July celebration here in St Louis. It was awesome and free as so many things here are. We had a picnic under the arch while we listened to the country singer Trace Adkin perform. 

 

I am sorry about the opprobrious caterpillars above my eyes. My sister Emily says she has failed me whenever she sees my eyebrows in this state. Emily, the situation has been resolved!

 

I have been feeling wearisome lately, which does not make for good blogging. I have cute kids and a mildly hot husband, okay very hot husband, so I will continue to blog even though I do not fit the mold. 

 

  

Missing Summer

 

Here I sit in my gelid state, with my body stretched horizontally across our bed and my feet atop of Richard's night stand and my new space heater showing me what it is made of. Needless to say I am reminiscing about warmer days. We had a great summer full of travel, family, and  vegan barbequing. Since it is much too cold to go out side, I will blog.

The kids and I got the heck out of hot humid 100 degree St. Louis after Richard left for Air force shenanigans. We boarded a plane with the destination being San Diego for 3 weeks.

I've blogged it before and I will blog it again my naturally unruly, yet perfectly normal children are awesome travelers.

My sister bought a pretty posh house out side of SD, so it seemed only fitting that the kids and I  show up to her majestic abode and break it in. Much to my sister's dismay and my last nerve, the kids artfully created smudges by tiny sticky fingers on nearly every  surface.  It is fair to say the kids tapped into their inner Renoir when producing what only an impressionist would call "art". My sister is now living with the stains of their virtuosity, Sorry!

The resort style backyard kept my little Renoirs on the constant verge of a sun burn while they were in a continual state of bliss.

 The things Levi and Naomi will remember most!

Levi will remember the unbridled access he had to squirt guns, and I will remember wishing I had a real gun to destroy said squirt guns.

 

I         I 

I hope Naomi on some level will remember her time in the "yittle pool", translation Little pool, further translation seasonally heated hot tub.

Levi will remember ordering my mom to pull him around the pool

Levi and Naomi regularily bring up the popsicles they had at aunt Hillary's, and I regularily stress out about theur teeth.

 Despite my attempts to take Levi swimming here in St. Louis and putting him in swimming lessons to get him over his fear of water, it was aunt Sabrina who turned the crying Levi entering the water into the laughing Levi, who ask to be thrown in the water again and again.

 

It is hard to say which thing we had the most fun with in Hillary's backyard, but perhaps topping the list for Levi was his a tad early surprise 6th birthday party. 

 

 

Thank you to my brother-in-law Scott for photo bombing Levi's birthday pictures! I just learned that phrase and I cannot think of a more appropriate use of the phrase. 

Although my offspring had the time of their almost 6 and 2.5 year old lives, I think I had the most fun. I reverted to the age of about 10, which is pretty common for me. Hillary, Scott, my brother Cocky, his little lady Sabrina, Max, and I came up with  ridiculous pool games, which usually involved jumping off the diving board while sitting on an inflatable shark or trying to jump through the whole of a child's pool toy. Oh Summer I am missing you now. 

There was so much fn to be had in California. Another great days was spent at the San Diego zoo safari park.

Naomi wasted no time jumping aboard uncle Cocky's shoulders, while Levi held hands with Hillary and flirted with Sabrina. Did I mention that Levi has a crush on his aunt Sabrina?

Levi and Nay were able to see how they compare in size to a gorilla

 

We were able to see pink flamingos and giraffes on the train safari ride 

 Levi jumped inside this egg shell and announced to Naomi that this is what it was like when they were inside my "tummy". Not quite, but still very cute!

I think I speak for Hillary, Scott, Cocky, Sabrina, Max, and my kids when I say it was a great day. I loved getting to be with 3 out of my 6 siblings.I am thankful that so many of us were able to be in California at the same time.

I wish I had taken a picture of Naomi when I told her it was time to go, she was covered in dirt as she searched the ground for rocks. Being a 2.5 year old she was not ready to give up her exploration of the park. I her it was time to leave with me, in a stern little voice she said "Leave me alone. I will walk back to Hillary's house". Luckily I was able to lure her away after a struggle with the promise of a plastic tigar from the gift store.

My mom came down from Oregon for one week of our trip, it was great to see her and get to go to the San Diego temple with her. The temple is a very important and sacred part of my life. I love going there with people I love!

It was so great to see so many members of my family, and the family fun did not end there. Just by chance Richard's sister Katie was vacationing at the beach with her in-laws and in true Stephanie fashion I sort of kind, of maybe invited myself to crash the Garner family fun, and fun we had!
  Baby Mila is so sweet. I may or may not have had this  picture blown up to 24 inches for my living room. I have been told I am a bit on the creepy side.

It was so nice to see Katie. I miss when she and I  lived in Corvallis and not just because sometimes I could get her to go to Ross with me, but because she makes amazing desserts!

Back to baby Mila. I wish she did not live in AZ. I hate missing out on my nieces and nephews lives.

Beach pictures of kids are just the best.

I sent this next set to Richard while he was in Alabama to let him know he should have been with us!

All I wanted was to get a simple pictures of my babies looking at camera, but what I got was so much better.

Okay, so maybe this last one was staged, but I still love it!