Back Porch

After adding a storage/mud room onto the trailer, we were finally able to add some siding and steps.  It really makes the room more functional and hopefully all the muddy shoes will enter here from now on!  We bought some pine 2x4's and stained them a cedar color for the porch and steps.  It was a fast and easy project that we should have done ages ago!  I think they turned out pretty darn good.  We plan to re-stain our deck out the kitchen and our front steps using this we love it so much.  Here's to our bragging rights for the month, lol.

Fair



 

This year I decided it would be fun to go into and stay at the Sweetwater County Fair.  We got a camper space next to Zach's mom's and spent the week watching 4-H events and browsing the booths.  It was a nice break from the country life.  Zach had to work for half the week, so it was nice for him to be closer to work.

 





 

We took Stetzen up to a couple of the concerts and he seemed to love them.  He danced around to the music and fit in with all the funny drunks flailing their arms and dancing.  Too funny.



Stetzen also loved to go see the 4-H animals and Brands' steers were no exception.  His black steer was a little wild, but Big Red was as tame as an old dog.  This is a pic of Stetzen sitting on his back while Brands blow dries and styles Red's gorgeous ginger locks. 

When Brands was showing Red, a man that was sitting behind us made the comment that Brands and his steer looked good.  They both sported the red hair and nothing could be more stylish or cool.  it made me laugh.

Rachel and her kids also came down for a day.  Alyah and Caige both loved the animals and had to have a ride on the ponies.  Grandma got a good kick out of it. 

 

After each of the concerts over the weekend, they had fireworks.  This time, Stetzen seemed to enjoy them and even was entertained.  Overall, it was a fun week and a nice break from the country livin.





11 Months & Counting!

 

I can't believe how fast my little man is growing up!  Everyday I wish he could just stay my cuddly little baby, but then I enjoy the new things that comes with him getting yet another month older.  Today Ted is 11 months!  Crazy! 

 

 

Growth Stats:

Weight:  20 lb 5 oz

Height:   29.5 inches

 

Milestones:

New Word:  Uh-Oh!

 

This month has been fun and exciting.  It seems like my little guy has hit the toddler stage already.  I don't know if I am ready for that or not, but every day he gets more comical and I love him even more than you can imagine. 

 

For the especially great highlights, I would like to introduce two of Stetzen's favorite things, one 1) the kitchen oven and two 2) the couch.  If you ever try looking for him, these are the places to go.  It seems a little random that he loves playing with the rags hanging from the stove, but if that's what he likes, then that is cheap  entertainment for me to provide!  He also loves to sit on the couch.  He is my best cuddle buddy for movies or just any time.  Watch out ladies, cuz this little guy will melt your heart! 

 

Stetzen's new favorite word to say is "Uh-Oh!"  It is so cute!  He'll say it at the most random times and in reply to just about anything.  It's so cute to see him learning to interact with adults in an "adult" way.  I can't wait to hear what my little guy has to say!

And for a funny little story, I turn your attention to a sacrament meeting experience.  I will preface the story by saying that Stetzen loves a good bottle.  I take one to church for him to have during sacrament meeting because it falls in line with his daily bottle and nap.  Well, this particular Sunday, he was extremely excited to get his bottle.  As I was mixing it up for him, he began shouting, "Ya! Ya! Ya!" with the speed of a China man that they all blurred into one word.  It was extremely funny.  And to add to that, Tracie Westerberg thought it was so cool that she tried imitating him.  We all had a good chuckle over it. 

 

We also got to go swimming over the 4th.  Stetz is still a little undecided about the pool, but he loves a good hot tub!  I guess the cold water is for the birds, lol.

 

And once again, here is the official 11 month photo of Stetzen brought to you by grandpa's John Deere Tractor.

 

Fourth Firework Fun, Oh My!

 

This year we spent the 4th in Rupert.  I have many great memories of the parade and family festivities and wanted Stetzen to experience some of that.  We made it to the parade just before it started and Stetzen was the kid of the hour.  He had his Great Grandma Bessire, Grandma & Grandpa Bessire, Kate, Jake, Kurt & Melissa, his Great Aunt & Uncle Bessire, Great Cousins Kenz & Trevor, Ashley & Trent, and Brody & Hanni all to dote upon him.  He loved all the attention.  About half way through the parade, he tanked out.  Poor boy had too much fun!

After the parade, we went back to my mom's house and had lunch with the Bessire's and the Poz's.  As is tradition, we had a BBQ with hamburgers, hot dogs, and plenty of salads, fruit, and desserts! 

After the filling meal, we played Ping-Pong and volleyball.  Stetzen also took full advantage of Kate's tramp and loved every minute of it.  Later that afternoon, all the cousins went out to the old Jackson Bridge and floated down the Snake River.  I t was nice and relaxing and a great way to cool off from the hot summer sun.  I knew that I would be a fried tomato if I didn't put sunscreen on so I plastered it all over.  It still amazes me that I still came home with a pretty good sunburn.  I tried!

 



Not long after we got back, it started to get dark, so we brought out the pyro fun!  Zach and I brought a few fireworks from home to shoot off.  It was a good show and can I say I love the smell of fireworks!  I get made fun of for it, but it's true.  It's much like the smell of a gun after you shoot and even car exhaust.  It's amazing I don't have lung disease, lol.  I wish I would have gotten some pictures of the fireworks, but Stetzen did not like the sound of them and pretty much cried through them.  Poor boy. 

My Grandma Bessire also demanded that I get a generation shot of all the men (boys) in the family.  Even though Zach is not blood, needed it.  I'm glad I got a pic of all of them.  It turned out pretty good.

The next day, we went down to Lagoon and spent the day riding the rides while the parentals enjoyed Pioneer Village and ice cream.  We had a great 4th and loved spending it with family and friends!

10 Months & Loving It!

 

 

Growth Stats:

Weight:  20 lbs 0 oz

Height:  29 inches

 

Stetz loves play time!  He has found where all his toys are stashed and dumps them out on a daily basis.  He is getting so smart and figures a lot of things out on his own.  Just a few days ago, he decided there was no need to dump them when he can just sit and play with them all surrounding him!  It was so cute I just had to take a picture of it! 

 

 

He also loves to wave good bye to everyone!  Brands can't leave our house without having Stetz wave him good bye.  He thinks it's the best trick Stetz knows. 

 

Stetz also loves his new little puppies!  He loves to hold and play with them, but I don't know how much they like it.  He gets a little rough with them, but we try to show him what being soft and gentle is.  Hopefully he figures it out, but if not they will be tough little dogs.

And yet again, here is Stezten's monthly photo (which also is doubling as his 4th of July outfut!)

 

A Camping We Will Go

 

After all the trauma of the dogs, we decided to go on a short little camping trip up to Long’s Park.  By far this is my favorite place to stay and fish, not only because someone is almost guaranteed to catch something, but there seems to be fewer mosquitoes around.

 

 

We dropped our puppies off at Nancy’s house (which she thoroughly enjoyed) and headed up the mountain Sunday afternoon.  We took our horse trailer with living quarters to stay in and set up camp rather quickly.  We were bums and didn’t build a fire that night, but it was all fun anyway.  We went for a twilight drive and saw a herd of elk about a mile from our camp.  I've seen a couple of elk here and there but never that many up there.  It was neat to see, but Stetzen started screeching at them and the took off.  When we got back we made some sandwhiches and headed to bed.  

 

Stetzen's lovely hairdo after the sunscreen was applied by Dad.

 

Side note:  I was one that said campers were a big waste of money when tents are just as good.  But, having a baby changes your opinions.  I loved being able to have something to stay in that I knew he wouldn’t freeze or get nasty bugs everywhere. 

 

Waitin for some fishies...

 

Back to camping…The next morning we got up and made breakfast burritos and then headed to the reservoir to do some fishing.  As tradition goes with us, we have a competition when we fish of who will catch the first fish and the most.  I will preface this by saying we tied!  But, if you ask Zach he’ll say he won.  Anyways, we headed towards our usual place, but some little boys were there.  We debated whether or not to stay, but ended up sticking it out until they left.  Once they did, the real fishing began!  I think I had my line out for about 15 minutes when I caught THE first fish.  It wasn’t too bad on size, so I decided to keep it.  Sadly, though, I wasn’t quick enough to get Zach the camera to document it.  A few minutes later Zach caught one, and the race was on. 

 

My Second Fish...

 

In between all of this we were constantly wrestling Stetzen to keep him entertained.  If you didn’t keep an eye on him, he’d be playing with the worms or trying to eat the fish bait or even reeling in your line.  It was a little bit of a struggle to keep him excited about sitting in the chair with you.  As I was holding Stetzen, I felt a tug on my line and frantically asked Zach to reel it in for me, but by the time he got a hold of it, it got away.  Zach threw my line back in for me and recast his.  Not even two seconds after he did, he had a fish on the line.  I would like to think he caught the one I lost, hence beating me in his eyes.  After that, we didn’t have much luck in the fishing department so we went back to camp.

 

The fishing haul

 

 We sat around camp and ate some lunch, and then decided to go for a drive around the mountain.  I guess Zach got bored of having nothing to do, so we ended up driving down to his mom’s house and chilling there for a couple of hours.  When we headed back up, Brands wanted to go fishing so we took him with us and headed back to Long’s Park.  When we got up there the boys were back, so primo fishing spot was taken.  This time the battle was all won by Brands.  He was the first and only person to catch a fish that night. 

 

Here I am looking super stylish...lol

 

When all was said and done, we headed back to camp, started a fire, rambled on about funny nothings, cooked a delish dutch oven dinner, and headed to bed.  The next morning we packed up and headed home.  It was a nice little get away, but I wish we could have stayed a couple more days.  Last summer we didn’t go camping at all, so I wanted to get my fill this summer.  Hopefully we make it back again before the summer’s over.

Puppy Power

On June 7th Lillian had puppies!!  When Brands came over the other day he said he hadn’t seen Lils all day.  I hadn’t either, but I thought it was because she was with Brands or Allen.  We looked around for her and found her under the house.  When Brands peeked under there, he saw Lils and her brand new puppies!  He thought there were four there.  I thought that sounded about right because she wasn’t very big.  I thought she still had a few weeks to go because she wasn’t that big.  The next day I looked under there and counted five puppies.  After a couple more days, I was getting antsy and wanted them out so I could hold them.  I had to get a little creative to dig them out, but when I finally did I came out with a whopping SEVEN puppies!  They were all very cute and I instantly fell in love with them. 

 

After they were a little over a week old, I was getting ready for church when Zach’s dad, Allen came over.  I vaguely heard them chatting while I was getting ready for church.  Just as I was getting Stetzen’s clothes on to go, Zach came back in the house and said he had some bad news for me.  I guess earlier that morning while Allen was doing the chores, Lils got ran over and subsequently died.  At first, I couldn’t believe it had really happened.  I will admit I wasn’t the biggest fan of Lils because she was so rambunctious and full of energy.  She was a little more than I could handle, but she was starting to calm down.  After 30 seconds I started to cry!  Allen and Zach both cried and were devastated because she was a very smart dog and loved to go do chores and had just started to learn how to chase the cows on command. 

To top it all off, she had just had puppies.  In one day, I became a mom of eight instead of one.  We had to run over to the local farm & ranch supply store and bought all the bottles and powdered milk replacer.  When we first started to bottle feed them, they wouldn’t really drink anything.  I don’t know if it was because they couldn’t figure out how to suck from the bottle or because of the different milk.  We just hoped they’d figure it out soon and survive. 

After a day of trying, they finally figured it out and became little porkers!  It was fun to watch them grow, but being a newborn puppy’s mom was tedious and stinky, literally.  It was a good, sad experience. 

Nutter

Flash

 

Poe

Big Mac

Bandit

Teddy

Patches

Stetzen aka Chick Magnet at 9 Months

 

Goodness!  My little boy is 9 months already!  I'm starting to miss how small my little guy used to be.  Just the other day I was putting up some of his clothes he's grown out of, and I pulled out some of his newborn outfits.  I can't believe he was that small.  His tops are bigger than an entire newborn outfit!  It's crazy!! 

Growth Stats:
Weight:  19 lbs 6 oz
Height:  28.75"

Stetzen had a 9 month check-up at the doctor and it was nice not to have any shots this time!  I think Stetzen loved it more than I did.  When she showed us the growth chart, he was exactly 50% on all the measurements (Weight, Height, Head, & Height-to-Weight).  She made the comment that he was a perfect baby because his measurements were all proportional!  I had a little laugh and thought, "Ya, I do have a perfect baby!" 

At the end of the visit, she asked if he knew how to wave bye yet.  It wasn't something I had thought he should know by now, but apparently it is.  Well, we played with him and showed him how to do it, and waved bye to everyone when they left.  About a two weeks later he figured it out and loves to wave bye now!  It's amazing how fast he picks up on things.  I can definately see why we need to watch what we do and say because in no time he'll be doing and saying everything we do!  It's a scary, yet fun thought!

I also have to add that everywhere we go, Stetzen likes to shmooz everyone there.  I can't seem to go anywhere without someone stopping to see him and talk to him.  He loves every minute of it too!

Here are a few fun shots from the month...

We started feeding Stetzen 3rd foods.  He liked them all except for the meats.  I caught some of his eating in action...his utter love of the meats.

 

I thought this was just cute...I put him in his walker while I went out to change the water.  When I came back in, he was zonked out.  Too cute!

And lastly, we've come to his all-time favorite food!  ICE CREAM!  As you can see from his expression, he can't wait to get more.  He's just like his mom.  We're both lovers of ice cream!

And...the official 9 month photo!  This happens to be one of my favorites!

Happy Anniversary

Today is our anniversary.  It's been three wonderful years filled with love, hard work, a new beautiful baby boy, and the most joy I could have asked for!  It's amazing how much your life can change from one decision.  I'm blessed to be married to my best friend and look forward to spending all eternity with him and our children. 

This year I told Zach in leau of gifts, I'd just like a nice little date night together.  Well, I got my date night and probably the best gift I could imagine...a new washer and dryer!  It's something I've been wanting and I was a giddy little school girl when he showed them to me.  The gift I got Zach seemed a little dumb compared to mine, but he seemed to love it anyway.  This year I gave him a gift basket filled with 10 things I love about him.

Here's a few of the things I included:
I Love that You Comfort Me - New Sheets
I Love that You're Handy - Magnetic Level
I Love You Because You're My Honey Bun - Honey Buns
I Love You Because You're Hot - Hot Tomales
I Love that You're a Worthy Priesthood Holder - Purified Water Bottle
I Love that You Love the Outdoors with Me - Fish Bait

I wish I would have taken a picture of it all, but I didn't.  In all, it was a wonderful day and I'm glad I said yes in 2009!

8 Month Check-In

 

On April 30, Stetzen turned 8 months!  It's amazing how fast time seems to go when you've got a little one around the house.

Growth Stats:
Weight:  18 lbs 8 oz
Height:  28.5 inches

Milestones:
Crawling
First Teeth
Clapping

 I was grateful for the time when he didn't know how to crawl because I could pretty much set him anywhere and know that he wouldn't move too far.  Now he's a crawling beast!  I can't keep him in one spot for more than a minute.  He loves his new found freedom since he's figured out his mobility.

He also got his first teeth in!  He got both his bottom teeth in at the same time.  He did pretty well with them.  He got a little fussy at night, but with some oragel and a binkie, he got through it like a champ!  I've heard so many horror stories about babies getting in their teeth, but he's been a good (dare I say near perfect) baby since he was born.  He's not fussy, sleeps well, and loves to see anyone and everyone!

Stetzen also learned how to clap his hands this month.  It's so cute to see him starting to figure things out that we do and show him.  He's a smart little boy! 

And....for the official 8 month photo!