Family pics are here!

Yes, I know my summer pictures haven't even made it up yet, but first things first. I was so excited to get these back and see if any of them turned out, I had to show the world! I don't know why Ashley looked like a monkey half the time, she has a really great smile, but I guess she said "cheese" a little too well? Daniel wasn't quite sure when it was time to smile in most of them, but you can always count on Kaylee to have her "princess pose" w/her shoulder attached to her cheek! :) Here are some of the good ones:

Happy Birthday to Matthew & Vince

Matthew turned 10 yesterday (18th), and Vince turned 33 on Mon. (13th). We had tons of fun Mon. night with Vince at home. We ate steak and shrimp per request from Vince, opened some presents and had some peach torte.

Then for Matthew's bday on Sat. we set up a geo-cache contest between two teams. 5 geo-caches, see how many you can get in an hour....then Kaylee got a high fever and we had to call off the guests so no one got sick. We ended up going out anyway, boys against girls, but the girls didn't last very long with one being sick, two in flip flops, three not really loving the bugs, then Ashley ended up having to go potty and got cut on the weeds! In the end, the boys won (no surprise) & Matthew had a ton of fun. We came home, had Eggo waffles for dinner, per request, and then opened presents and sang happy birthday with the birthday donut! :)

Pictures to come.....

New decorations

Some people don't have access to facebook, so I am going to post about all my new decorations. I have finished the girls room and my room (except for a few wall pictures) and have the boys room painted, but no decor. My grandma also finished the oil-painting for us for our living room wall. Here are some pics:


The lighting in the girl's first picture isn't great so the second and third are the true colors. Also, if you can't see it, behind the girl's bunk beds is a tiny little play area created by their princess draping.















I still need to get a few pictures up on the wall over my bed, but mostly its done.















We have some magnet boards and I would like to get a few wall shelves that we are going to hang for the boys and we may be getting a little homework desk in there between the beds.















Vince says his favorite part of the picture is the ground because you feel like you can step into it.

Happy Anniversary to Us

We have been married 11 years today. I am very excited because my parents are taking the kids to their house overnight and Vince and I get a night out in Salt Lake without having to deal with bedtimes! It goes by faster every year!

Day 20!

Kaylee has made it to day 20. I think we will be going to the mall in 10 days....I have been dreaming about this for a long time and it feels just as I thought it would!

Cousins come to visit!

We got to have Corinne and her kids out for a few days while they were on their way back to Virginia this July. It was great fun for everyone, Tay got to sleep in the girls' room and Carter got to sleep with the boys.

While they were here, we got a babysitter for the kids and had a fun girls' night out with Steph, me and Corinne--we were really bummed that Chelsea couldn't make it at the last minute. We got pedicures, out to eat and back to Steph's new house for a movie. It was great fun, but we only got one picture which I am probably glad I don't have!!

The big event for the kids was going to the water park near our house. Here are a few pictures of that fun outing.

Swimming lessons!

Gotta love that time of year when the pools are open! We signed everyone up for 2 sessions of swim lessons this year. Matthew actually did some private lessons first, then decided he preferred group. The other did two sessions of group lessons, one at the beginning of summer and one at the end. They were all at the Box Elder Hight School Natatorium. Its an indoor pool with great instructors! We never had to worry about it being canceled due to weather and never had to worry about too much sun. Here are some fun pictures from the first group lessons.

Kaylee is the one in the last picture on the left upper corner of the stairs. Matthew I don't have a picture of because he was in private lessons at the time.

Today is day 8

Kaylee has been dry for 8 days now! We have her on a fun incentive program, each 7 days dry=1 small prize and then when she gets to 30 days dry she gets her ears pierced and we can officially call her potty-trained. There were a few times we got to 5 or 6 days, but then had to start over. We are feeling very happy around here. Ashley is now no more in diapers at night either so all we have to buy now are some pull-ups for Kaylee at night! YAY!

Taking the plunge

We have finally switched over to Verizon from T-Mobile. I know that this may not be such a big thing to some of you, but my family (siblings, parents) have said we were going to switch for a long time, but no one ever has. So, Thursday I will be getting a new phone and starting with a new network! Same phone number, for all those wondering.

I am extra excited because we will now be entering into the world of text with our new plan. I am getting a phone with the slide out Qwerty keyboard, so it won't take me ten minutes to reply to someone! :) I will text everyone (who I know has text) when I get my new phone. YAY!!

Conversation at dinner.....

Dad: I have to get gas tomorrow before work
Boys: [bust out laughing]
Kaylee: Mom, do I ever get gas?
Mom: Yes Kaylee, everyone gets gas.
Boys: [more laughing]

I don't know, but I guess we have a pretty normal family if you look at it right. :P

Daniel's 8th Birthday

It was June 12th, while we were in Oregon, so we had to have a delayed Bday party for him. He had lots of his friends over for a Star Wars party. I made foam "lightsabers", we had an obstacle course, Jedi training and lightsaber duals. For dessert we had a cake and Yoda Soda (gingerale/lime sherbet) and Darth Malt (Red soda and vanilla ice cream). Here are a few pictures. I did most of it on video, so here's a few I did get. I think his favorite present was the lightsaber Vince and I got him, it lights up and makes real fighting sounds when you fight with it.

Naomi had her baby!

Cambry Elizabeth Baddley, June 19th, 11:57 pm, 7 lbs. 15 oz., 20" long

Our first 5K/July 4th

Vince and I decided to run in the Farr West 5K this July 4th, and it was really fun. We had a decent time (for us, not all you actual runners) at 31 min.! Vince could have gotten a better time, but he always stays with me and practically speed walks while I am huffing and puffing the whole time. Here we are before the race "warming up". One of Vince's good friends/co-workers was in charge of the pictures for the city's website, so he sent these to us.

At one point Daniel really wanted to run it with us, so I took him out on a few trial runs. He did really good, but on the third one he said "My feet hurt and my legs hurt and I think that it is my body telling me I shouldn't run in the 5K"! I think we will get him going on a Kids K the next time I see one. Here we are crossing the finish line, I just bolted at the end and Vince decided to hang back a little.

Afterwards, they had a few drawings for fun little prizes and I won a 12-pack of little gatorades!

The parade was next and we got to wave to Kaylee on the "Farr West Tumblers" float and Daniel on his decorated bike with all the other bike rider kids. Of course we don't have pictures because I forgot it with all the rushing to get there on time! We thought it would be fun this year to go to the park for the fireworks. It was our first time going to see them since I am a wuss when it comes to my children staying up too late, but it was worth it and the kids handled it well enough. They are all old enough so it will probably be our new tradition.

Vince got a new job!

He currently works at ATK, but there have been some issues with their current client (NASA)being able to keep things going. Vince decided to just put out his resume to see what was out there in case anything happened at work and 1 week later he had a job offer! We feel so blessed that the Lord has presented this opportunity when so many others are struggling for long periods of time without work.

His new job will be with Delloite consulting firm. He will be working for Delloite on a contract with the IRS, right here in Ogden! It will cut his commute by 30 minutes, and he will be getting some great experience along the way. After the IRS contract is done, we may have to move if nothing opens up here in Utah, but that is hopefully not going to happen!......really hopefully.

Grand Junction, Colorado

The Stewart side finally got together for a reunion for our immediate family. We all decided the kids were getting old enough that they may not know what a family reunion is if we don't do something soon! So, we met in the middle and had a great time in Grand Junction. It started Friday night and we all headed home Mon. afternoon. (Memorial Day) We went to Colorado National Monument, had some fun hikes, watched the movie in the vistors center (which happens to be the same one from 15 years ago that Marci remembered from her last visit!!) and we all just had a blast playing games and catching up.

Kids on the camera....

It happened again! The kids got ahold of the camera. On one hand I keep telling them to stop it, but I guess its kind of cute the things they capture. As you can see with Kaylee and Ashley, they just don't understand when the camera is turned sideways....:) Here they are: