Summer Magic

Did anyone love watching that movie? Ya know the one I'm talking about? Classic 1960's musical with Hailey Mills. "Pink of Perfection", "Ugly Bug Ball"....anyone? Really good - got to rent it. They sang a song in that movie called "Summer Magic" - sadly that song is the worst so I suggest listening to the first verse and fastforward to the end.

Anywho, we are in full swing of Summer here (YEAH!! It's here!! Finally!) and it's going by really fast, here are some of the highlights!

Swimming! Brigham was invited over to swim with some of his cute friends in their cool pool. Brigham had a really fun time splashing around & sliding down the slide. Brigs outlasted all the kids in the pool splashing until he was wrinkley.

He's a boy. He likes to play in dirt. It supposedly helps with the immune system. He's a boy. He likes to play in dirt....

This was the mantra that I kept telling myself while gardening (yeah Ryan got me to help him the garden). We were weeding and Brigs job was to put the weeds in the bucket and then he found the dirt...and then it was all about the dirt.

Oh how he played in the dirt - he would have stayed in the dirt if I let him...

Fourth of July. I wish that I had the camera earlier in the day at the parade. It was so sweet to see Brigs & Ryan sitting on the curb grabbing candy and pointing at the horses. The O'Conners invited us out to their place for a BBQ & fireworks.

Brigham's new word that day was "Cool". He loved watching the fireworks and the sparklers

It was a perfect night for fireworks...look at the scenery... out on the range (like P-Dub) It was great.

Summer is the time for haircuts and our baby boy got his First one. We buzzed his flaxen locks to a nice clean cut (and he didn't scream or cry - he was AWESOME!!)

              With his new hair cut our baby boy doesn't look like a baby anymore...he looks like a big boy *sniff*

Brigham...is getting Bigger

We had Brigham's 1 year old photoshoot a few weeks ago and I can't stop staring!! These pictures were taken by two amazing photographers Leah Planinz of (Leah Planinz Photography) & Stefani Sanders (Sefani Allison Photography). Leah has been with us from the begining taking pics of Brigs while he was in my tummy up to ...now, a one year old. Stefani is an awesome young woman in our ward that is "learning" photography. She has an eye. She has taken beautiful pics of Brigs & others.

Brigham's personality is coming through. He's dramatic (I have no idea where he gets that from). He giggles & laughs. He likes to dance. He is infatuated with dogs, when he hears a dog barking he has to "woof" back - watching 101 Dalmations is pretty loud. All he wants to do is go outside to swing, to play in the dirt & to walk around...yep! We are walking!!

We are also talking ...alot!! Top Ten Words:

"No" (said more often then I'd like)

"ca-hker" = cracker

"peeese" = please

"side.side" = outside

"weee" = swing

"cheee" = cheese

"Maaaama" = Me...and I love answering to it

"Da.Da" = Daddy

"Mehn" = Amen (he can fold his arms too - it's too cute!)

New Word: "wa-lalala-on" = watermelon

"Moo" "Woof" "Ba" - animal noises that are said when he sees their pictures

He is one busy boy! This morning I found him unloading the garbage in the laundry room. Gates are up & he has his cupboards he can get into. Ryan & I laugh that you can tell where Brigham has been because he leaves a "path of destruction" behind him. Blocks. Books (sooooo many books). Balls. Crayons. Clean folded laundry - nothing is safe.

It's going way too fast.....way too fast. I watch him every day in amazement at all he's learning and doing.

Toddlerhood is in full throttle here in the Steiny home. If anyone has any great ideas or wisdom for how to help a 1 year old & his Mommy stay sane during church that would be awesome!

Father's Day

I feel incredibly lucky to be raised by a loving Father. I am a Daddy's girl, through & through and that will never change. I've felt so blessed to have such a close relationship with my Dad and as I've gotten older I've been able to see past the "Super Dad" cape and see my Dad though big-girl eyes. My Dad can't beat up other Dads (his motto has always been "make love not war") and sure he has his flaws (hey, even Superman has his kryptonite), but that is what makes my Daddy special, what makes me love my Dad even more. This past year has been a "growing" year for our whole family (my parents divorced last April) and I've been able to learn more about my Dad and he has shared alot with me and I'm grateful for that. While marital status & living conditions may change - one thing is for sure, he's my Daddy and I love him from the top of his shiny, blad head to the botton of his extremely large toe.
Ryan, ryan, ryan. Not only is he a great husband - he's a GREAT Daddy! He's definatley the favorite around our house. I knew Ryan would be an excellent Father when we married and it's been a joy to see it in action. I hate to have to share Ryan, but I'm happy to share him with Brigham (I have no choice really, who am I kidding?)
Brigham is the spitting image of Ryan. People have said it, but if you saw baby pics of Ryan it would be hard to distiguish. They look alike - they act alike - they are definatly Father & Son.
My favorite moments lately have been when I'm laying in bed starting to drift off to sleep, on the right of me is the baby monitor and I can hear Brigs snoring quietly and on my left side is Ryan, snoring a little bit louder, but that is because he has a big boy nose. Together, snoring the same way - probably sleepin in the same position...it's the sweetest.

To Become

I was lucky enough to go to Time Out for Women this year in Pocatello. Wonderful, Sweet, Considerate, Ryan agreed to make a quick trip over to Pocatello (about 6 hours away) for the weekend so he could take care of Brigs while me & Shelley (my sister in law) could go to Time Out of Women.I was able to go to TOFW a few years ago and had a WONDERFUL time and AMAZING experience.
Well the first great thing was that since it was in Pocatello we were able to stay and Brigs was able to play with Uncle Chad & Aunt Shelley and all of his cousins. It was so much fun to have them interact together and the older cousins (Bryson &Abbey) were so great in playing with Brigham and helping him out. He had a blast with Parker and his cars (thanks for sharing Parker) and Claire. We were able to go to Parkers soccer game and I have to share - because it's the cutest thing and is sooooo Parker. He's not the most social guy. I loves being at home. He's taking part of a soccer team to help him expand a bit and it's definatley been a growing experience. We've been told that sometimes Parker won't go onto the field, but we were lucky and he went out a played a bit  - as long as he didn't have to touch the ball!

So here is my sweet nephew Parker, hands in his pockets, making sure the ball doesn't come to him. He's a boy after my own heart. I'll have to tell him one day of all the ways I got out of playing group sports in PE at school...maybe I'll tell him after he graduates :)

Me & Shell left from the soccer game to get to ISU's Holt Arena. We were able to score some great seats on the main floor. We were told there were 1600 attendies. We were welcomed with this challenge:

Open your heart to all of your possiblities

Our speakers where:

Jason Wright (the author of Christmas Jars & The Wednesday Letters)

Heidi Swinton (the author of Pres. Thomas S. Monson's biography) She gave a powerful testimony of our

Prophet Thomas S. Monson. She shared some great insights and stories of the Prophet and her journey in writing his biography. She told us, "Our bio will not be linear. It will be about the moments" Which really made me feel good about our family's blog (even when I don't get events, dates & the post about it up in a linear order - I do get the moments).

Another quote from her: "It's not the things we are doing, but the person we are becoming."

In between speakers we had our musical guest Jenny Oaks Baker who was UNBELIEVEABLE!! She is truely a talented violinist - it made me miss my viola! We were able to get a picture with her, isn't her dress gorgeous?

The next day got up nice and early and headed out for our second day of  insights, encouragements & spritual feeding. We were issued another challenge of : Not doing more, but becoming more we where then challenged to choose one thing to focus on & this quote from Richard G. Scott was shared:

"We become what we want to be by consistently being what we want to become each day. Righteous character is a precious manifestation of what you are becoming."

The speaker line up proceeded as follows:

Amanda Dickenson (yep, the radio personalisty from KSL 1160) Spoke to us about the importance of friendship. My favorite quote from her "Women gathering is divine" (ooooh so true).

Brad Wilcox (the author of The Continuous Atonment) SO GOOD. I'll try to share the best of the best of his quotes, but I have to say he is such a fun guy and a great speaker. So warm & so personal. He shared that the word redeemer means: To make us better and encouraged us to, " Look beyond Jesus's saving role & look at his redeeming role. He is building us & making us better than before." He then focused on the story of Jesus turning the water into wine and pointed out: Jesus has the power to change things, even things that seem impossible to change.

Macy Robison was next with a caberet act. Now, I know that I'm theatrical and I know that in the program it says that I will "need tissues", but caberet is a fifty/fifty bet on if it's good. It can be really good or really, really, bad and to put caberet into an LDS perspective......I was a bit worried that I would need crackers for all the cheese that I would have to sit through. BOY WAS I WRONG!! I was BAWLING by the end of it. Her story and the songs that she chose....rivers of tears. So relateable. So great. She has her act on CD called Children Will Listen . Everyone should listen to it. It made me reflect on my story, what songs would I choose? Could have a caberet act going soon...I'll keep you posted.

Maralee Boyack (author of In Trying Times Just Keep Trying) she shared this acronym...I think it's called an acronym (correct me if it isn't) to be:

B= Bold, E = Eternally minded, C= Creative, O = Onward focused, M = Meek, E = Enlightened

Kris Beltcher was our closing speaker (author of Hard Times & Holy Places & But Now I See) She has completely lost her eyesight to cancer and she has had some amazing points. What I liked about her was that she was Real. She didn't get up there and say, "I am so blessed to be blind" she told it like it is - that is was hard. That she would love to see, but shared how she is dealing with it. She gave this quote,

"Knowing {i.e. plan of happiness, life after death, blessings in trials, etc} doesn't take away the pain, but gives us hope" AMEN SISTER!!

It was an AWESOME experience and I'm so happy that I was able to go (Thank you Ryan!!) & that I was able to spend some time with my much-loved sister Shelley. It was great and I hope that we can do it again. (BTW isn't this a great pic of me? I look so tan and dewy and like I'm wearing make-up, but I wasn't & I'm not - but doesn't it look like I am?)

While I was out getting my batteries re-charged Ryan & Chad were home taking care of the kids. It was so nice to see Brigs hanging out with the cousins, so cute & sweet. So happy that good hygene is a priority :)

We are heading home and we aren't getting back into the car until July (for the big Bear Lake trip, yep...it's summer)

Peace out
p.s. If you want to read about our Utah trip, just look below!

Our Utah Trip in a Paragraph {and a few pictures}

The easiest way to condense a whole 9 {AMAZING} days into a consise paragraph...

Leaving all of my clothes on the bed - at home -. Dental appointments. New Toothbrush. Brigham learning to sleep sitting up (we are in the front facing car seat now). Gas being cheaper anywhere outside of Burns. Grandma & Grandpa Steineckert's. Aunt Allie. Family dinner. Talking. Tee times. Rain clouds. Shopping at Ross. New clothes :). Sleeping in. Grandma LOVES Brigham. "Socks & Shoes". Brigham is starting to talk. Purple Turtle. Date Night. Movie & Popcorn under $10 (the Watergarden's Movie theater all my UT peeps need to go!!). Cold Stone. Kissing. Refridgerator Magnets. Natalie's Wedding. The Group is together again. Beatle's songs. Construction. Becky's Bridal Shower. Homemade bridal shower gift. Pasta bar. Cupcake tasting. Memories. Kids. Grandma C's house. Brigham says "Grandma" & "Grandpa". Home. New haircut. Neices & Nephews. Cousins. My Dad's spaghetti!!!! Loud talking. Big dinner plates. Cardio Kickboxing. Heart to hearts. Noise. La Frontera. Brigham eating lemons. Logan. Nan. Bus routes. Walmart. Stairs. Memories. Yummy food. Royal wedding. Posting. USU. Aunt Rachael. Aggie Ice Cream. Beatles Rock Band. Old Navy clearance. Cafe Sabor. Photoshoot. Giggling. Packing. Driving home...............memories.

Hey there...

Life has been a bit crazy lately!! And the entire month of April flew by quicker than a guy in a wheelchair going down hill. We are doing well and staying pretty busy!! We are heading to Utah soon for Natalie's wedding and some work for Ryan in Logan {get to see Nan!!}. Then coming home to start packing! We sold our house....after three years of being on the market. Ryan still has a year and half with the Ag Center out here, so we will be renting for the rest of our time here in Burns.

Crazy what life will throw at you!

For your updating pleasure we have: Brigham's first birthday, Easter & Mother's Day.

So scroll down and have some fun! and hopefully my next post will be a little more timely.

Motherhood

If you asked me 13 years ago if I wanted to be a Mom I would have told you "No". I was planning on being a criminal prosecuting attorney for the state of Utah. There wasn't any time to have/raise kids. If you had asked me 6 years ago {when Ryan & I had just married} I would have told you, "maybe in five years". The thought of Motherhood scared me. To have a little human being 100% completely reliant on YOU. I felt that it would suck my life away. I felt that Motherhood was a career choice. Something that you gave your whole life up for....little did I know, I was very wrong.


August 2007. Changed my perspective. Changed my priorities. Changed my life. I am honored to be Emma's mother. I'm grateful for the lessons that she taught me. Motherhood wasn't a "career" it is a calling. The scripture "many are called, but few are chosen" came to be pretty personal to me. There were good days. There were bad days. There were days that I could hold a baby. There were days that seriously considered setting the baby section at Target aflame. If Motherhood is such a nobel calling why couldn't I have it? What was wrong with me? Why is it so easy for everyone else in this world get pregnant? {pictured above me & Ryan with our Emma}

Time

Patience

Prayer

Study

Patience

Time

Prayer

Pleading

Knowledge

Patience

Time

Faith

Patience

Time

Our first meeting. To say the sound of crying is the most beautiful sound in the world may sound wrong/strange. In this instance {the birth of Brigham} it was the sound I most wanted to hear. Once I heard it, I think I started to breathe for the first time. I was a mother. I knew that I was a Mother, but now I was a Mother to a child that needed to be on earth. I was instantly smitted. Who wouldn't be with that squashy little face?

I am a Mother. It's a calling. It's a characteristic. It's not the ball-and-chain nieve notion that I thought it was when I was young. To say that I am grateful is an understatement, but I can't think of another phrase, so...I'm grateful.

Two talks that I have heard recently that have touched my heart so much on the subject of motherhood:

A "Mother Heart" by Julie B. Beck

and

" Are We Not All Mother's?" by Sheri Dew

{that one had me crying before I could choke out an Amen}

I could really go on and on about this subject, but it's late...so I won't. All I will say is that

- you don't have to have a child to be a Mother.