February: Libby's Birthday

Before we get to the birthday celebrations here is a quick picture of Libby after she finished her Sofia puzzle. Her little friend Mya gave it to Libby for Christmas. Libby loved it and was determined to learn how to put it together by herself. She would get it out multiple times a day would always get so frustrated that she would start to cry and would insist that Dustin and I finish it for her. But she stuck to it and learned how to do it all by herself. She was so proud!

She has some crazy morning hair!

Libby's birthday was on Monday but we let her open one gift the day before her birthday so that she could wear this amazingly cute dress to church.

When Dustin got home for lunch on her birthday he came bearing a few little gifts and one big one.

A helmet, a bell and a new bike!

Then since it was a little late in the day for pancakes and Libby's not a big fan of them, we had something more Libb's style, a big pink sugar cookie!

That night we had a party with all of the family. Libby requested strawberry cake with pink decorations.

The next day Libby took her new bike out for her first ride around the block.

She was a natural and figured it out really quick. And then she was gone! We had to make a lot of new rules about where you can go by yourself (only on the sidewalk around our house and in the drive way). She has a mind of her own and with her own set of wheels she was off to visit all of her friends by herself. Ahh! She is a handful.

Just a couple of days after her birthday we got a note in the mail that we had something to pick up at the post office. It was this super cute card from Jessie. Libby loved it. She asked us to read it to her all day long and didn't put it down for days.

Also in February we had this gorgeous sunset.

My Grandma June loved pretty sunsets! She would call us and make us go outside and see how pretty the sky was or she would drive up to our house just to make sure we didn't miss it. I thought about my grandma so much when I saw this that I just had to snap a picture. She wouldn't have wanted me to miss it.

January

We had a New Year's Eve Party at our house with the family. I didn't think of having everyone over until that day. I had a bunch of cute décor ideas centered around the theme of Chinese New Year. I LOVE Better Homes and Gardens and they had a whole spread on the year of horse that was so cute I was going to copy it. But all that I actually got to was red table cloths and Chinese food. Oh well next year.

Jesse, Meagan and Ryan.

My Dad, Heath, Amberlee

Trevin and my Mom

Kenny and the tray of New Years cookies he made for the party.

Me and Dustin with a letter from Jessie we were excited to read.

Laura and Libby. Libby had a bad lip-licking problem thus the red around her mouth.

Mckay, Emily and Curtis

Kenny found this cool idea for flaming Ice Cream. It looked so cool but tasted burnt and Libby lost all of her eyelashes after getting too close. We probably won't be trying this again.

 

Later in the month we got serious about keeping in touch with Jessie on her mission.

We also had arts and crafts day with all of the cute projects my mom gave the kids for Christmas.

Trev designed, built, and painted this castle (watch out Carter's Trev will give you some serious competition).

Libby liked to go one piece at a time.

Mckay and I were happy just to watch.

Also in January Trevin lost his first top tooth. This loss started off a trend. He lost three more teeth that month.

I finished three projects in January.

First was this table Dustin and I made out of a $5 lamp from DI and a $4 table top from Home Depot. We screwed them together and primed and painted it gold and Wa-La, a new table. I got the idea after watching an episode of Flee Market Flip, and some googling.

Next I finished up this blanket I started before Mckay was born. My mom found this furry white fabric when she was cleaning out my Grandma June's house years ago. She was going to throw it out but I thought it would be perfect for a crib blanket. I added some batting and chevron fabric and then attempted my first binding project and bound it with some heavy duty blue fabric I had left over from the piping on the yellow chair (slightly in the picture). I have a new respect for quilters! Binding is not easy!

 

The biggest project in January actually took the least amount of time but made the biggest impact.

I made a stencil with directions from All Things Thrifty (because there was no way I was paying $50 to buy piece of plastic with holes cut out if it).  Then I followed directions from a different web site (sorry I don't remember which one it was) to paint the stencil pattern on the wall behind our bed. While I completed this project Dustin was the new Jessie. He ran the house and occupied the kids all while keeping me company, listening to recorded T.V. shows with me, and telling me it was looking awesome and I was doing a good job. Dustin misses Jessie too.

I did eventually fill in the gaps on the top row with half a stencil.

I LOVE how it turned out. It was subtle enough that it didn't shock you but it still gave the room a good dose of character. I would highly recommend stenciling to anyone looking to add a little something to a room. I initially wanted to wallpaper this wall but Dustin vetoed that, I guess he grew up in a house with too much wallpaper and had to witness the painstaking removal.

December: A Whirlwind

First up in December was Trevin's Seventh Birthday! He was star of the week in his first grade class, the week of his birthday, so we made this chalkboard inspired poster (I love chalkboards right now) all about Trev!

Traditional birthday morning pancakes.

Next up my cutie little brother Heath and his cutier (cutier is so a word) wife Amberlee went through the St. George temple and then were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple.

 Lunch at Macaroni Grill after the sealing.

 We spent the whole weekend in Salt Lake after the sealing with my family and the Barneys. We took Jessie to do her last minute mission shopping, and went to a Jazz game (they lost, shocker).

 Before we headed home on Sunday the rest of the fam stopped by for the Christmas edition of Music and the Spoken Word. I had a gallbladder attack that morning and our kids are too young to go in so we skipped it and just headed home.

The next day I hopped on over to the hospital and had a quick out patient gallbladder removal. It had really really really hurt while I was pregnant and then a few random times it flared up. So I decided to just take it out and be done with it. I recovered super and quick and Jessie took control of my house while I was out. Jessie is like my kids second mom!

 

Next up was Jessie's Farewell! She gave a super good talk and so many people came to support her. We made this super cute banner and had everyone take pictures under with Jess. And we even made little glasses props so that everyone can look like "Sister Stephenson".

 

 And then she left. Cry, cry, cry. Seriously we cried a lot. I didn't realize how much she did for me and how much we talked with each other everyday! I am so lonely without her. 18 months is such a long time.

 

After we stopped crying and Jessie was safely on her way to the MTC Trevin had a cute Christmas Program and party at his school.

And finally it was Christmas Eve! We had the traditional family talent show at my parents house.

Trevin played his favorite "Up on the House Top"

 and Dustin and I played a couple duets from the same book Trev played out of, ya we have skills.

Christmas morning.

Libby had a phase where she wanted to sleep in the same room as Trev so she bunked up in the crib and Mckay bunked in with Dustin and I.

Trev and Mckay were ready to go early in the morning but it took a little convincing to get Lib out of bed.

In true baby fashion Mckay didn't care about any of the presents he just loved this box. He is trying to eat it in every picture.

Trev's in heaven, building new Legos in full Camo.

Libby is all girl. She loves new clothes.

Mckay looked so heathly and happy on Christmas morning. Right after this he got one ear infection after another and the stomach flu and colds. He had a really rough stretch. He became a really picky eater and didn't gain any weight for a couple of months. At his lowest he was in the .06 percentile for weight. But he eventually got over it and started growing again. We were worried there for a minute.

Dustin got me a new camera for Christmas. I needed one so bad. Our old one had been messed up for over a year. Our new one is so great! The zoom is so good that I had to show it off and take this picture of Heath and Amberlee from way across the room.

Mckay loves Libby's giant "Lambie" from Grandma and Grandpa.

Our tree

No matter what new fun stuff we get for Christmas, playing the Kindle with Grandpa is still everyone's favorite.

Trev is getting old enough that everything he wants is pretty expensive. So he gets a couple really big things while Libby and Mckay get a ton of little things. But he didn't mind at all because he loves this big truck, trailer and back hoe from Grandma Emi and Grandpa.

Libby can never have enough princess dresses.

Mckay finally left his box to try out this little car from Grandma Emi and Grandpa.

After Christmas Libby and I had a great time playing dress up with her new clothes and she even let me do her hair a few times.