New Blog

Hey friends and family. I have some friends that have started a weight loss blog. You know, to help encourage us all to stick with the program and check up on each other. Anyway, it is a private blog but I thought if there were any of you who wanted to jump in on the fun, let me know and I'll send you an invite to the blog and you can participate. The more the merrier! It is called...

BATTLE OF THE BABY FAT!!!

Very cute, and very appropriately titled. It is geared to women (sorry guys) who are trying to lose the baby weight they gained during pregnancy. 

So if you are serious about getting into shape then let me know! 

A MOLAR!!!

Seriously Abby! How come you can't just stay a little teeny tiny baby forever! You have to go and start getting a molar. Isn't your chubby little face full of enough teeth already? I'm totally blaming the Stephenson in you for not staying my tiny little girl forever!

In other news...
Abby is starting to walk. I wouldn't officially say she is walking because she will only take little wobbly steps (I think she has made it up to 8 steps) when I stand her up and coax her to come to me. But she is well on her way. Yikes! I kind of am glad that she is starting because I really want to go camping a lot this summer (cheap, fun vacation) and having a crawler is no fun when camping. But still... all this growing up is just going to make me more baby hungry...

Oh, and you're probably wondering why I don't have any videos to show you. Well, Ryan has our little Sony camera that does video. Our actual camcorder doesn't upload onto our computer... why did we even by that thing, we always just use our Sony point and shoot for quick videos. *sigh* So as soon as Ryan gets back from Maine, I'll post a good video of these little steps Abby is taking. Until then... everyone just live in la la land like me and pretend Abby still looks like this...

While mommy is cooking dinner...

Sarah feeds Abby (and herself) the entire container of puffs. 

What a sweet helper...

Abby sure is luck to have you for a big sister Sarah!

Even if you spoiled your dinner...

Baby Blues

I love you!

You've gotta ask yourself one question...

Do I feel lucky?

Well, do you punk?

Fat Little Piggies

Doesn't this make you want to go "This little piggy..."

I love how Abby always crosses her legs, especially when she is napping.
Such a dainty little angel. 

A few more cute shots!

Of my little sunshine!

Mary, Mary, quite contrary...

How does your garden grow?

Well... we're a bit late, but it was something to do in the late, never-ending afternoon. 

My helper...

The Yucky weeds to remove...

Workin' hard...

Raking out the soil...

Abby even helped...

Sort of... I am pretty sure there is a leaf in her mouth or something...

All placed and ready to go...

The seeds...

Planting them...

Ta da!!!!

(Look Tiffany and Steve... your plants are still alive...for now). 

Missing Him

Okay... sorry, another post with no pictures {this is so unlike me}. But I stayed up late watching the Lost season finale with Ryan (via Skype) and decided I wanted to ramble a bit, isn't that what blogs are for?

Ryan left on Saturday to go learn how to be a research nerd in Maine... why he had to go clear in the heck to Maine, I don't know. He seemed pretty savvy in both the research and nerd realms to me, but what do I know...I digress. He will be gone on an all expenses paid for trip until next Saturday and I am trying to keep my sanity at home with the girls. It has only been two days and I have already resorted to a little craft therapy...

I wanted to just post a few goals that I want to work on while Ryan is gone (in no particular order).

#1 - Keep my sanity, aka don't lose it with the girls! Don't get me wrong. I love being a mother of two drama queens girls. But sometimes the whining/fussing can be exhausting and really get on my nerves. I want to try really hard to be more positive and fun while Daddy is away. Our days usually consist of me being bearable until about the late afternoon, and then I am just an ornery patch of weeds. But usually it is okay because then Ry gets home in the evening and plays with the girls and lets me take a breather (even if it is just to make dinner). *sigh* How am I ever going to survive his 3rd year of medical school...

#2 - Keep on track with my exercising. I am one or the other. I can either eat right, or exercise. I have a heck of a time doing both... and lately I haven't done either. I am borrowing Jillian Michaels 30-day Shred from a friend and am resolved to at least do that everyday. And some days I still go for walks with the girls. I still need to do better with my eating, but the exercise is a good start.

#3 - Try to read my scriptures everyday - I am the worst. I have the hardest time reading my scriptures. Usually because anytime I sit down with a book I just crash, but I just am so stubborn sometimes. I need to just buckle down and be more diligent in my studies, otherwise I'll jinx myself and Heavenly Father will send a big trial my way to knock some sense into me.

#4 - Keep up on the house (mainly the dishes) - I will be so good at keeping house for a day or two, and then I relax for one day and the dishes start to pile up... and the toys get scattered all over. And then the next day I can't get myself motivated to do anything and more dishes pile up, and the toys get spread farther around the house... and then the next day everything seems so overwhelming that I just leave the house and go to the park or something so I can avoid the inevitable... then eventually, before the child family services show up to take away my children,  I have to roll up my sleeves and hustle around the house to get it back into shape. Then I am tired from all that... and the vicious cycle starts again!!! So... keep up Liz... two days down and lookin' good!

Well, looking at those four little goals I am going to stop. right. there (especially since you are all seeing a side of me that this blog doesn't usually show... secrets out, I am far from perfect!). Hopefully if I focus really hard on these goals then I won't miss Ry so much, and the week will go by quickly so I can see him again. Until then, everyone say I little prayer for me so I don't strangle the girls...

PS - I'll try and do something fun so I have some pictures or something interesting to post next.

All Done

Poor Abby. We are feeding her more and more baby food and her little body is trying to figure it out.  {Sorry to be gross, but} Some days her little bum is explosive, but for the past two she has been a little clogged. She really is unhappy when she is trying to go, and just wants me to hold her and cuddle her {sweet, but I feel bad for the poor kiddo}. Almost everytime, she will start to go a little and the just fuss her sweet little half cry and say "Ah Da" {for "All Done"} over and over again. It is the sweetest, saddest little thing.

Lets see if the prunes & apple baby food help matters any.

Luckily big sister is around to try and make Abby laugh. She will even come over to me and Abby and give her pointers (because you know, she IS the potty expert now). What a good big sister.

Walks to the park are back!

And oh how happy that makes me!  Much better air at the park than in our stuff ole' house!

Sarah insists that she has to push Abby in the swings... and Abby adores it!

See... priceless!

Abby's look just shows how much she loves her big sister. 

Static hair is IN, haven't you heard?

Photo Shoot

Just havin' some fun. Thought I'd share. 

What a ham!

So sweet!

I can only imagine what is going on in that little head. 

Look at that fat lil' belly!

Perfect little nose, just right for Eskimo kisses!

(Check out how long Sarah's hair is getting!)

Abby has it too! 

Sarah was being so cute and cooperative...

well, sort of!

If you look close in this last picture you can see bruising around Sarah's nose (I softened it in the other pictures) she crawled into bed with Ryan and I (she's been doing that a lot lately... *sigh*) and fell of the bed and hit her nose... I was a little swollen, but now the bruising is showing more and more. 

I think if you click on the picture it will get bigger and you can see it better. 

50

Days... until my mom comes to visit!

And boy are we so excited!!! 

(I sent this to my mom in an e-mail and thought I would share the cute picture!)

All buckled in and ready to go!

Wait a minute?!!

I think not. Poor Kitty. Sarah decided she need to buckle the kitty into the carseat. 

The saddest part was that the kitty just sat there... who knows how long she would have stayed there. No resisting, just content for the attention I guess. 

Popsicle Anyone?

Stevie Film Festival (continued)

Some of these are older, but I figured you still might enjoy them. :)

*To turn off the blog music player, scroll all the way to the bottom.

Also, Let me know if you are able to see the whole picture. I know that I have made big, and it looks fine on my computer, but I have been to friend's blogs where part of their video is cut off. I'll try and fix it if I can. 



Abby pushing her toy around. She is much better at this now, but I thought it was so cute how she just looks and smiles on the camera... as if she was modeling it or something. Silly girl.


This was hilarious. I meant to post it right away... sorry.


This is a cool thing you can do at the Carnegie Science Works Center. A human Yo-Yo. Very fun, I wanted to try it, but I knew I would make a complete fool out of myself so I didn't bother.


I just loved how excited she was. Very happy girl.


This one shows a little better how good Abby is getting at standing up on her own.


Every night when we do our bedtime routine Ryan gives Sarah a horsey ride to that bathroom to brush her teeth. She loves it. Had to film some of the action while it was still a hit.

Oh and we were watching some dog event show thingy on TV, so that is why Sarah's eyes were glued to the TV. You know, where the dogs go through the obstacle courses and stuff. I love watching dog shows, call me a nerd!


Hope you enjoyed all the videos.

Walkin' with Daddy

This was just too cute not to post pictures of!

Sarah loves walking on this wall, every walk we take has to incorporate walking on it. 

She used to just cling to one of our hands, and now she balances all on her own. So Big!

Posing on the stairs.

{Mwah!} We love daddy!

It was a short walk because these were rolling in fast!

Lil' Stinker

Getting into so much trouble

Pulling out everything from my drawers...

and watching as she drops them on the floor!

Laughing the whole time... because she KNOWS she is a lil' stinker!

Thats what comes with the standing stage {I guess}. 

Change of Scenery

I was loving Sarah's loose braids {full of wispy fly-a-ways}and needed to capture the memory to share. Then the thought came to me about being stuck in a rut so I hollered in the house to see if Ryan could listen for napping Abby and Sarah and I headed out for a walk in our neighborhood. 

Those pits are begging to be tickled!

Always running! 

Oh, and if you look close in the background you can see a guy picking up a table from someone's trash to take home. I tell ya, trash day is like going to the thrift store around here. 

You never know what you're going to find (and sometimes it is in great condition too!). 

She had the cutest little pose going until she saw the ant crawling on the rock, and this is all I could get!

Every walk we take we have to go to this wall so that Sarah can climb and walk on it. 

(She is usually holding mine or Ryan's hand). 

Oh how I love watching this little girl run!

"Its the SUN!!!" - Sarah

Okay this is a crazy steep hill right by our house, if you walk up this hill you'd meet up with my street. It really doesn't look that steep in this picture. 

But to get up it you have to climb a set of stairs...

and from the top it looks pretty scary because it just drops off!

Sarah stood on the railing and then yelled "Look Mom! A whole new world!"

I guess she has watched Aladdin one too many times. 

 (the "whole new world" view)

Such a fun little walk, and of course after all of the climbing, running (with falls), picking up sticks and finding dirt we came home with dirty hands (and scraped up knees).