The Stewarts

Summer Part III

2010-08-18T22:12:00.000-07:00

I almost finished up my summer posts before summer ended. But, I got distracted by a major blessing in our lives (coming in a future blog). Last 4th of July I made Rory a festive tutu - I was in my tutu stage. This year I decided to try my hand at korkers and a pillowcase top. I also spent a little time jazzing up $3 flip flops from Old Navy. The shoes were her favorite (she take after me). I had a lot of fun with all these projects and they were so easy and stress free. Even the top!

In Benson, we celebrated Independence day on Saturday the 3rd. I'm not sure why people seemed so surprised or upset; it's not like it doesn't happen every time the 4th falls on a Sunday. Landon and I even ran into each other at a 3rd of July party 6 years ago.

We started the morning at our traditional parade watching spot, my nana and tata's house. They live towards the end of the parade route so candy can sometimes be scarce at that point. But, they're yard is pretty perfect for watching and who needs a ton of candy anyways?

I thought Rory looked extra cute! After the Parade we went to our annual Sherwart hotdog lunch. It was a good time, as usual, until Rory got into a bowl of salt. She went to grab the bowl and took in a face full of salt. :( It was in her mouth, up her nose, and in her eyes. She even threw up, but she learned a pretty valuable lesson about grabbing at things on the counter.

After a much needed nap and a quick set of laundry (had to wash Rory's top) we headed to the park for fireworks. My family always watches them from the side of the Ramada. It's not really that packed and close enough that ash doesn't fall on you. This was Rory's first time. I felt she was old enough that she wasn't go to get scared. She didn't. She got bossy. She really liked to fireworks at first, but after a while got bored. As boredom kicked in she decided to continually tell the fireworks to, "STOP!" It was a pretty funny end to our day. :)

The rest of our summer was spent swimming. Rory still loves water and thinks she's an expert swimmer. She even jumps in off the side! I don't know how I ended up with such a fearless kid (I'm a worry wart), but I'm pretty sure she's going to give me a couple ulcers. ;)

Rory and Grammie.

Well, this rounds up our summer. Rory's birthday and my 'distraction' are still to come!

Summer Part II

2010-08-16T10:28:00.000-07:00

Ha! I'm already back and determined to finish this series! June brought many BIG moments!

My great grandma (Rory's great great grandma) turned 90 in June. We through her a surprise party at the park. She had recently broke her leg, so it was nice for her to get outside some. Rory really enjoyed playing on the playground and running around with her cousins. We discovered her LOVE for slides that day. lol.

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We were also able to go camping and fishing with my parents. It was a beautiful weekend and probably Rory's favorite part of summer. She loved that we never had to go 'inside.'

She also really enjoyed fishing. My dad brought my old snoopy pole that I learned to fish on back in the day. He put a mickey bobber on the line and would cast it out for her then let her reel it in. It was cute.

Landon actually caught a fish. He usually doesn't catch anything, so he was pretty excited. :)

Summer Part I

2010-08-15T22:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm sure we're all aware I am a terrible blogger and should never go into blogging for a living. I have this problem with NEEDING to catch up. I feel like I can't move on without getting some of the past. So this is the first in (hopefully) a quick series about summer.

We left off with Easter...

I made my first dress. It was supposed to be done by Easter, but didn't get finished till the next weekend. I had seen the fabric numerous times at Joann's, but finally found a reason to buy it. I think it came out pretty darn cute. My very talented MIL helped out a lot with the zipper and hem. So, really I didn't do much of the hard stuff.

While I was pregnant with Rory, Landon spent A LOT of time helping my cousin restore this boat. He painted it, worked on the electical, and what not. Being pregnant and afraid of boats I would get sooooo frustrated with him spending so much time on it. But now that we get to use it pretty much whenever we want, I'm so thankful he put in the time. It's a ton of fun!

We FINALLY took the boat out for the first time. We went to Lake Roosevelt. It was a beautiful, cool, overcast day. It took me a while to get over my boating fear, but we ended up spending a full 7 hrs. exploring the lake together. It was one of my favorite days of summer.

We had so much fun, we decided to make it our Sherwart Memorial Day Vacation 2010. The theme was 'Get it up!' because we spent so much time trying to get up on boards that weekend. It was a great time filled with Landon trying to drown me and a pregnant Nicole on a tube, me almost killing the boys on a tube, attempting to wake board, the boys learning to knee board, Landon almost drowning after strapping himself onto the knee board (lol), Jeremy taking a board to the eye, sandwiches on the boat, swimming, super loud mexican music late at night, sunburns, ants, and weird camp neighbors. :)

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Rory and I also spent some time at the zoo with her cousin Paige and Paige's mommy Amanda. We had a lot of fun and Rory really enjoyed seeing some of the animals. We even got to feed the Giraffe! Sooo worth $2. I really like the Tucson Zoo. It's kinda small, but the prefect size for small kids. Hopefully it will cool off soon so we can go back.

Easter

2010-04-20T09:02:00.000-07:00

The Easter festivities started on Friday for us. We spent the day dying eggs, decorating cookies, and kicking butt at an egg hunt. Some of Rory's cousins came down to participate in all the fun that Janice worked so hard on.

For some reason it never occurred to me that egg dying was going to be super messy. I mean I have a hard time keeping clean. I don't know why I didn't realize Rory was going to make a monster of a mess. She REALLY liked the blue dye and decided that the entire counter should be blue. lol. I didn't take any pics because I was too busy trying to help clean, but it was everywhere. She also really like cracking the eggs. She laughs when I crack eggs, so this was her chance to try it out.

After dying eggs we decorated cookies. Rory's Nana lent her this super cute apron that she didn't want to take off. Too cute. As usual she only wanted to eat the icing.

After cookies we did an egg hunt. I wasn't sure if Rory would get what to do, but she picked it up right away. We only had to point out a couple of eggs an she went on from there. She would get sooooo excited every time she saw an egg. She would rush over and then throw it in her bucket. I was amazed at how good she was. She had a ton of fun!

After conference on Sunday, went to my parents house after conference. Rory had fun running around outside and doing another egg hunt. I think Easter might be her favorite holiday.

I didn't get a picture of her basket, but she got a farm animal wooden puzzle, ABC by Dr. Suess, a bunny, m&m's, and some chocolate gold fish. She loved everything especially the book. I now have the entire book memorized. I get to read it about three times a day, so I'm thinking it's time for a new book already.

Why does Landon do this to me?

2010-04-20T08:20:00.000-07:00

I should know by now that whenever Landon wants to go on a simple picnic to somewhere I've never been, it's not going to be so simple. I love him very much, but I just don't understand why insists on terrorizing me. Landon had wanted to picnic out at Cochise Stronghold. Apparently there's a pretty shady area and river or something like that. I don't know because that's not where we ended up.

We packed our lunches, put some Robin Hood on for Rory to fall asleep to, and headed out in the general direction. After driving around some and not being able to find the trail that would take us to Landon's desired picnic area, we stopped to asked directions from a guy reading a book under a tree. Mistake. As he was walking over to our truck in his short shorts, I thought to myself it would be funny if he was foreign. Lol. He totally was and he was super creepy. Plus I'm pretty sure he was crushing on Landon which made it even funnier. He wanted to know where we were on our Arizona map. I thought to myself: Weird. Why doesn't he know where he's at? When Landon pointed out that we were in a certain square of the map, the guy corrected him and told him to turn to page 76 without even looking at the map. It was like he was wondering if we knew where we were. Weird again. Then he kept insisting that we park and take a walking trail to some peak. Needless to say we just wanted to get as far away from him as possible.

We drove around some more and then decided to take a trail that looked like it might head in the direction we needed to go. Never again. The trail soon began going straight up. It was crazy narrow (no way to turn back) and just rocks. I'm not much for off roading - especially when it's rough and high up. I think the high up part gets to me more because I have a somewhat debilitating fear of heights. I ended up having a panic attack and crying. Nothing new to Landon seeing as how he does this to me quite often. We hit a peak and I made Landon get out and look down to see where the trail led. We had a chance to turn back, finally, and I wasn't going to go any further if it was going to be scary. He looked over and said he knew where we were and coaxed me into continuing. We ended up here:

A place called China Camp. It was very pretty. I'm not sure I could deal with the drive again, but I did enjoy our picnic here. There were plenty of trees and concrete slabs that we sat on to eat our lunch. We took a little walk and explored the area some before Landon tried to take some other trails to see if they headed back the same way. They didn't seem to and were just as scary, so I made him go back the way we came. I kept it together a little better going down. I'm a wuss I know. Despite the creepy foreign guy and the crazy 'are we even on a trail anymore?!' trail, it was a very nice picnic.

Disneyland

2010-03-09T20:16:00.000-08:00

Yes. Yes. I do know how behind I am on posting. I actually uploaded these photos over a month ago and just haven't gotten around to finishing up. We took a trip to Disneyland Presidents day/Valentine's day weekend. Not the best idea if you're trying to avoid a crowd, but we were going to be meeting up with a friend from Landon's mission and his family on one of our days there. He's in med school and this was the weekend that worked for him, so we forged ahead. We left on Friday and had a brilliant idea to leave later in the day - around Rory's nap time to be exact. It worked out great!

Rory napped until dinner, watched some Sleeping Beauty on her little DVD player (best invention ever), and then slept till we arrived at the hotel.

We stopped in Gila Bend for dinner and ate at Space Age. Not the best food in the world, but it beats fast food. We spent a little time letting Rory run around while we were waiting for our food and then while paying.

Rory was wide awake after we pulled up to the Hotel. It was like 10:30! She was just soooo excited about everything! She was especially excited about the beds. It was too cute.

After her bath next morning she just wanted to lounge around. Lol. If she only knew what we had planned. I kept trying to tell her and would sing "It's the Mickey Mouse Club House! Come in side. It's fun inside." But she would just scream at me to stop. Weird. She usually loves my singing.

It was a little rough when we first arrived. Rory isn't used to having to ride in a stroller and was not having it. We picked the Small World ride to go on first. It's my least favorite due to it being especially creepy, but Rory seemed to like it.

Lunch was awesome. Expensive, but awesome. I think you have to expect to spend a ton of money on food. Otherwise, it will just make you cranky. I went for a hand dipped corn dog, Landon had fish and chips, and Rory had the toddler meal (forget what it's called) that consisted of a little yogurt, cheese stick, apple slices, gold fish, and a juice. I was surprised they had such a healthy lunch choice, but it is California.

We only stayed till 3:00 that first day. We had planned on coming back, but were too tired. We did stop for a picture with Goofy on our way out. Rory really like seeing all the characters. We pointed out Pluto ealier in the day and she started barking at him. Lol.

She was OUT after that first day. When we got back from dinner she slept through us changing her clothes and diaper. Crazy.

We arrived a little earlier than our friends the next morning so we decided to wait in line to get a picture with Minnie! We did have a huge family cut in front of us and everyone else because their time was more important than all of ours. I usually say something, but the mom was pretty scary looking and probably would have punched me, so I just left their fate to karma.

We had sooo much fun with our friends. Again, Landon know J.D. from his mission and I had met him and his beautiful family at a wedding we had all gone to a few months earlier. They live about 30 minutes from Disneyland and have season passes - lucky. Their little girl, Laura, is a few months older than Rory so they knew all the great rides and how to navigate D-Land with a toddler. I'm so happy we were able to meet up with them and celebrate Valentine's day.

Rory had a lot of fun on all of the rides. I wish I would have gotten a picture of her on the Tea Cups. She would not stop screaming and laughing on that ride. It was by far her favorite. She also had a blast watching Micky's Playhouse at California Adventure. It was a mix of Micky's Club House, Handy Manny, My Friends Tigger and Pooh, and Little Einsteins. They were just puppets that came up out of the stage, but Rory's eyes almost popped out when she saw them. It was like all of her favorite cartoons were REAL!

We ended the day with Landon and J.D. on the rapids ride at California Adventure. I thought they were crazy because that water had to be freezing, but they insisted. It was funny to see them soaked after they got off.

We had hoped, the trip back would be as easy as the trip up. It started out that way, but didn't last for long. It was worth it though. The trip was AMAZING. We had so much fun. I'm so happy we didn't listen to all the nay sayers telling us we were crazy for taking an 18 month old. Rory was the perfect child. I wish we could go back again and again. It was really the best vacation we've ever taken.

Valentine's Day

2010-03-08T12:03:00.000-08:00

We started our Valentine's celebration the Monday before. My mother in law invited us and Landon's sister and her kids over for a special Valentine's family home evening. It was pretty fun. The kids all got to make their own personal pizza - except Rory. Now that she's tall enough to reach things close to the edge of the counter, you have to push everything back towards the wall. Janice didn't realize this until we saw Rory walking around and stuffing pizza crust in her mouth. She ate the entire thing. She's such a carb monster. After dinner we had a small lesson. Rory did a good job of trying to hold picture up for us to see. For the Finally we decorated Valentine's day cookies. They were so yummy.

Rory spent her time licking the frosting off the cookies we helped her decorate.

We then spent most of the week getting ready for our Disneyland trip. But I did take a little break on Tuesday to make my mom and her coworker a special treat. I saw this super cute idea on how to use up leftover candy canes here: http://www.pleasant-home.com/2010/01/quick-and-easy-valentines-treats.html They came our really cute and I heard they were delicious.

Because we were going to be spending money at Disneyland, we decided to go giftless for each other this year and made our own cards. I was really surprised at how cute the one Landon made turned out. It was probably our best Valentine's yet. A Disney blog is soon to follow.

You can pick your nose and you can pick your friends...

2010-02-10T13:42:00.000-08:00

But you can't pick your friend's nose.
On a more serious note, I am so very grateful for our friends. January was a pretty hard month for us and I can't even put into words how appreciative I am for all those who helped, offered to help, lent us a husband, let us (or mainly me) vent, and took time to hang out with us and distract us from all the craziness. I'm especially grateful to have Jeremy and Nicole who we can call almost anytime and invite ourselves over for some cards or who will go blindly on our 'cultured/try something new' date nights with us. (Thanks again for joining us for the Dillinger Festival and watching Public Enemies with us at the Fox Theatre.) I'm sure some of them have not been that enjoyable, but they keep coming back for more. I guess the awesome ones make up for the failures. I am also extremely thankful for my very best friend - Landon. He has been so amazing and understanding this last month. I think all the craziness has even brought us closer together. I am so lucky to have him in my life and even luckier I get to spend everyday with him (even if I'm not feeling so lucky someday ;P). Just wanted to focus on something positive today and I can't stop thinking about what great friends we've been blessed with.

The BIG Move

2010-02-10T11:22:00.000-08:00

Back in May of last year we decided to let the house go. We could have tried a short sale, I could have gone back to work full time, Landon could have picked up more overtime, we could have sold the Jetta (to get rid of the payment), we could have rented out a room (the banks advise). But after much diliberation and advise from realtor friends, we realized it was a lost cause for us and stopped making payments. It came down to family being more important. And we were just so backwards in the house - for us it was more financially responsible to let it go. I'm in no way saying that I think everyone in this situation should forclose and start over, but I do think it is a necessary choice in many cases and was in ours.

We really didn't expect to be out on the 'street' so quickly. We've heard of people being in their house for 12 months or more after starting the proccess. I guess Fannie Mae thought our house was super special. That's right, Fannie Mae, who the government bailed out, bought our house with both houses on either side of ours for sale. I hope they have a lot of fun selling it. We were served with a letter dated December 29th on January 6th giving us until January 5th to get out. Fun. It was time for our plan to begin. A little sooner and quicker than I would have liked, but that's life.

Landon's parents have a mother in law suite and offered it to us for next to nothing a month. It wasn't quite ready for us and made the move and settling a lot more stressful, but it's getting there. The kitchen is now 98% finished and we've only got one box of stuff that goes on the bookshelves to upack. I'm debating whether or not to unpack it when I know we have another move in the near future. The space has it's own entry, a bathroom, living space with kitchen and room for a table and Rory's furniture, and a bedroom. It's separated from the rest of the house by the laundry room. It's really not that bad of a deal. It is a little close to the parents, but we're able to save money to get going on our own space and it's not permanent. I have to keep reminding myself of this.

So, we're saving money to get started on building a shop/living space on an acre of land we're buying from my aunt. If all goes to plan we should be moving in there 5-6 months from now. And after we're living payment free will be saving again to slowly build an actually home. It's going to be a rough road, but I know it's the right thing for us. Landon doesn't want to work at the railroad forever. I know that he would like to go to school someday and I would like to go back and get my masters. So many opportunities will be open to us without a huge mortgage - or any mortgage for that matter. It's nice to know that if all goes to plan, we will have an acre of land with a house and a shop on it in 5 years and NO monthly payment.

So this is where we're at right now and hopefully where we'll be going. It's been tough and I know it's just going to get harder. But, I also have no doubt that this has been the right choice for us and that this is what we should be doing. Keep us in your prayers and we'll keep you in ours.

December

2010-02-02T07:12:00.000-08:00

The holidays just flew by... actually all of 2009 just flew by. My parents used to always talk about how time flies. I now know what they meant. The month of December was pretty eventful for us. We didn't get to do everything we wanted, but it was still a great month.

We did get the chance to take Rory to see the Temple lights. I've only been once and that was back in 2004 before I was baptised. It was an experience that solidified that decision for me, so naturally I've been wanted to go every year since then. We just never had the time. I'm so greatful we snuck it in this year. Despite being tired, Rory really enjoyed being there. It was her first trip to the Temple and I'm pretty sure she can't wait to go back. :) Unfortunately, when I pulled out my camera to take pictures I realized it wasn't charged. :(

We were also able to make it to Winterhaven. Landon didn't really want to go, but he knew how much I wanted to and made time to take us. He such a sweetheart! We took Rory in her wagon. She had so much fun waving and saying 'Hi' to all the people passing by on the hay rides. She also love seeing the horses. I'm terrible with cameras, so I forgot to take pictures till we were back at the car. We took a couple anyways...

I made time to do a couple of small projects I saw on some craft blogs. They were super fun and easy and made great gifts.

These are super cheap pieces of ceramic tile that I mod podged with a picture and some scrapbook paper.

This was a Christmas card I made for my cousin. He wanted everyone to give him money, so I did.

Christmas was pretty good. We had Christmas Eve dinner with Landon's family then spent some time at my grandparent's house for my Tata's birthday. Christmas morning we opened presents just the three of us - a new experience that I insisted on. My camera has gone missing and the pictures along with it. But we did use our video camera to to capture Rory opening her presents. Santa brought her a play kitchen and a Sleeping Beauty baby doll. She also got a new book. I'm so thankful we didn't go crazy with presents for her because our family did. I was a little upset at the aftermath of trying to find room for all her new toys. She got another baby doll and tons of accessories for her, a play tent, a rocking horse, more books, a shopping cart, a rocking chair, her own table and chairs, and more. It was really rediculous. Next Christmas I'm just going to ask people to donate to a college fund for her.

New Years Eve was spent with Landon's family. We ate lots of fried food, cake bites, and played games. Rory decided to bite a couple of her cousins and has since been labled 'the biter.' We made it home 15 minutes before midnight, stayed up for the countdown, and then crashed.

I know it's late, but we hope everyone had an amazing holiday season!

Our Little Family

2009-12-22T20:23:00.000-08:00

We were lucky enough to have a friend take some family pictures of us. They are all so amazing, but these are some of my favorites.

Daddy trying to make things better.

I LOVE this one! It TOTALLY reminds me of a fairytale. :)

I especially love the ones she caught of us in the moment.

Thank you soooo much Rachel! You're amazing. Also a special thanks to Nicole and Jeremy for letting us take pictures at your house.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-17T06:24:00.000-08:00

So, I have let this blog get away from me yet again. Maybe I'll be better about it next year. Maybe that will be a new years resolution since I do consider this like a journal.

Thanksgiving was pretty relaxing, but felt a little off this year. My dad hasn't been in the greatest health lately. He's kinda falling apart. It started with him tearing something in his shoulder at work and needing surgery for that. While he was on workman's comp healing, he tore something in one of his knees that he's already had surgery on in the past. He has degenerative arthritis, so any little thing can set his knees off. While he was healing from that knee surgery, he messed up his good knee and had to have another surgery two days before Thanksgiving. He's still healing, so I imagine Christmas will feel off as well.

So, I want to join with everyone else and list some things I'm thankful for this year. I am thankful for the time we were able to spend with family. I'm especially thankful that we live so close to our families right now. I didn't always want to be that close, but it's really different once you have kid. Rory LOVES our moms and I'm glad our families get to spend so much time with her. I'm thankful for the fun date nights Landon and I have been able to have and I'm thankful I have a husband who still wants to 'date' me. :) I'm soooo thankful for Landon. I love being able to live with my best friend. He is such a great husband and father. I am thankful he has been able to put up with me and my highs and lows. He has so much patience. I'm thankful for my beautiful little girl. Rory is pretty much my favorite person. I love our dance parties. She never fails to make me smile, even when she's being a bratt. I hope everyone had a great November!

Our Little Monster!!!

2009-11-10T08:31:00.000-08:00

Halloween!!! So, I know this is crazy late. I really don't know how everyone gets so much done with little kids. Rory's new favorite thing is to bug me on the computer. Even when I'm not on it I'll catch her in the office moving the mouse around and banging on the keyboard. She's such a little (cute) monster these days. Which brings me back to HALLOWEEN! This is by far my favorite time of the year. I am one of those nerds that continued trick or treating all through high school. It's even more fun now that I have someone to dress up and take tick or treating - and I get to eat all (well most) of her candy. I'm also super lucky to have such a talented mother in law who is willing to make whatever costume we ask her to make. Last year Rory was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. This year, we decided to make it a little more challenging and requested Elmo. It turned out AMAZING! Everyone thought we bought it.

She also made Rory this cute Halloween countdown that had a fun treat in each pocket.

I can't believe she kept the hood on as much as she did. She only took it off when she was tired or showing off.

She got to be Elmo a few times. Fortunately, we have friends who throw a Halloween birthday party for their son. Rory had so much fun running around the Sherman's yard and jumping on their trampoline. My in-laws decided to have a little Halloween party on the 30th. It was just Landon's siblings and their kids. The kids all played games and won a ton of candy - or candy that hadn't been eaten by me, Jill, or Landon yet. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics of the cousins' costumes. For Halloween, we took Rory down to Benson to trick or treat at all the grandmas and grandpas' houses. She was soooo good, and soooo hopped up on candy. Great grandparents are the worst candy pushers. Rory had a bit of a candy hangover the next day. She tried to escape a couple of times from my Nana and Tata Mendoza's house. She was fascinated with all the trick or treaters that kept coming and going at their door.

'Trick or Treat!'

I made Rory a little diva candy bag. It has a sparkly owl that's kinda had to see.

Landon and I had a blast dressing up - as usual. My cousins always throws a HUGE Halloween party. They really go all out with decorations, food, haunted rooms... I'm so thankful Landon get's as excited as I do about dressing up for it. The first year I took him (when we were just dating) he went as Slash from Guns 'n Roses. I knew he was the man for me after that night. His costume was PERFECT! My entire family fell in love with him because of that costume. So we plan and talk about costumes for about nine months before the party each year. This year, we went as Evil Knievil and Kat Von D.

Us...

Evil Knieval and Kat Von D. See the difference?

This is my favorite of Landon. I wish I had gotten a picture of him riding a quad at the birthday party we went to ealier that day. He looked so funny with his cape flying behind him. It reminded me of Hot Rod. Cooooool Beans.

I had a lot of fun dressing up as Kat Von D. Landon thinks my costume was too easy because I'm already pale with dark hair, like wearing red lipstick, and have tattoos. I admit it wasn't too much of a stretch for me, but I had fun with my stars and neck tattoos. The fake sleaves were a little itchy.

Last, I had to post this pic of my cousin and brother. My cousin is 16 and too cool to dress up these days, but my brother's costume was hilarious. My brother is very particular about what he wears, so it was just too much to see him let loose as Officer Dangle from Reno 911.

I hope everyone had a super fun Halloween. I'm already thinking about Rory's costume for next year! Hopefully she'll still let me pick it. :)

Ice, Ice, Baby!

2009-10-23T11:29:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Rory and I went to Disney on Ice with my mom and Nana. It was crazy fun!! Rory was soooo good. She went back and forth between mine and my mom's lap. She pointed, laughed, and clapped the entire time. It was ridiculously cute and almost made me cry. She walked almost the entire way from the parking lot and back holding our hands and pointing at the kids wearing costumes. I know it meant a lot to my Nana. She loves going to stuff like this, but all of her grandkids are grown up now. Luckily she's got a super cute great grandchild to share experiences like this with. It really was an awesome day. Rory and I look forward to doing it again!

Me, Rory, and my Nana waiting for the show.

Patty, Pudge, and Tee.

2009-10-15T22:40:00.000-07:00

These our my little chatterbox's favorite words lately. She's really stuck on 'Pudge' in particular right now. Pudge is the name of my parents dog and Rory likes to call anything that barks this name. She says it ALL DAY LONG! If she gets close to a window - "Pudge!" If we go out side - "Pudge!" If she see's my parents - "Pudge!" This should be super cute and funny. I should be happy with her growing vocabulary, but somehow each new word makes me kinda sad. Not sad because I'm losing my baby. Sad in the sense that she doesn't EVER say 'mama.' :( She know's the name of my parent's dog (and the name for every other dog), but she doesn't know mine. Although I'm sad, I still want to celebrate all the fun new toddler things Rory's up to.

Let's go back to her talking. She can say patty, clap, and mark her hands playing patty cake. Every time she sees or hears the cat she can bounce, clap, and yell "TEE!! TEE!!" - this is how she says kitty. Cute, I know. She loves that cat sooooo much and is very good about being soft and nice when petting 'Tee.' Her first word was 'daddy' or 'da-ee.' She would yell it out the back door when Landon would go check on his garden. She only says it occasionally now. She also LOVES the word 'hello' or 'h-o.' She pretends to talk on the phone or anything she can hold up to her ear (I once saw her talk into a sock) and says 'h-o' in this funny, deap, serious voice. I've see her chase birds yelling 'bird.' She does say 'Oshi' alot when talking to me. I think this may be the name she has picked for me. This should also be cute, but it doesn't always sound like just 'Oshi.'

She's very expressive when she talks and likes to use her hands.

Rory loves to run around and sneak up on 'da-ee' with me. She even crouches into a sneaking position with me. She is getting speedier with her walking, but this leads to hard falls and lots of fat lips. I feel like her lip is always swollen and bruised. I was sure she knocked out her two front teeth a couple weeks ago. Thank goodness they're fine. She's also doing a lot of climbing. No big falls from that yet, but I know they're coming.

Last week we been spent a lot of time dancing around - it's less embarrassing with Landon gone. It was a big dance party for the two of us. She has so many different, funny moves. Her new fav is spinning in circles. I know they say TV is bad for your kids, but this is a move she picked up from 'Imagination Movers.'

Dress up is also a favorite around the house. Rory loves to get into laundry or her dresser and attempt to put clothes on. I caught her walking around with her bathing suit hanging down from her neck last week. She also likes to carry a purse with her toys around. Last week I was wearing a flower clip in my hair and she continuously tried grabbing at it. I finally put it in her hair and she just smiled and left it. This NEVER happens anymore. She hates her hair being messed with and pulls out barrets and pony tails. She snaps herself in the face with headbands. But that day, she left this flower clip in and liked it. Since then I put one in my hair when getting her ready and then move it to her hair when she's dressed. She does a pretty good job of leaving it in (most of the time). I'm going to take it as a compliment and think of it as she wants to be like me. This helps make up for my name being 'Oshi.'

You can see the shirt she's wearing on her arm.

She's getting so playful and is such a little copycat! I love it! She's getting pretty good at doing 'Five Little Monkey's Jumping on the Bed.' She pats her head at the bumping head part and waves her finger at the 'no more monkey's jumping on the bed' part. She surprises me everyday with something new and cute. Landon got to come home to her new trick of saying 'boo' when playing peak a boo.

Rory is so attached to my mom. They're best friends. LOL.

Rory is now 14 months and such a toddler. She's even looking like a little girl. She has such an amazing and outgoing personality. She's not afraid to go up to strangers and make them smile with one of her many cool tricks. I really am so thankful to have this spunky little person in my life. I'm so in love with her and amazed at what a blessing she is.

Projects and Babies!

2009-10-14T15:11:00.000-07:00

I haven't been get many substitute teaching calls since school started in Benson. It's starting to pic up a bit with sports and flu season, but I've still had a lot of time on my hands. This has led to me taking on some new hobbies and continuing with those I've already enjoyed. I've never been one for sewing or anything like that, but there are a lot of cute things I want for Rory and am not willing to pay lots of money for. So, the sewing machine has been pulled out of the closet.

I thought these little ear hats are crazy cute. They're so easy to make. I've also made one in camo to see what it would look like. I love it. I think I'll do a camo with pink stitching for Rory.

My little model and her 'bear' hat.

My cousin just had a baby on the 7th. I've been super excited to have someone close to Rory's age for her to grow up with. These are some of the projects I made for little Paige.

I heard her room is decorated with lady bugs and stuff, so I made her a lady bug tutu!

Here's a close up of the matching bow.

This 'bear' cap was so tiny. I wasn't sure if it would fit, but it was perfect.

Some of my non-slip barrets using my favorite ribbon and a little bling.

I also made a diva 'P'. It was so pink and sparkly. And every baby girl needs a giant flower headband with some bling.

I also wanted to try out making stacking blocks, but only got the big one done. Paige came a few days earlier than expected, so I still have to finish this project.

I've been thinking about making some stuff for boutiques that are held around this season. I feel like my head is all over the place wanting to try new things, so it's been really hard to focus on just a few things. Any suggestions on what I should focus on or what you would want to buy at a boutique would be greatly appreciated. I really want to try out a framed barret holder and some gift card holder ornaments. I'll post pics when I get them done.

Snowflake

2009-10-13T21:33:00.000-07:00

Landon's brother moved to Snowflake at the end of summer. We went to visit him and his family Labor day weekend. The drive was horrendous. Rory was crying half the time and we had to listen to "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz over and over and over again. I swear I've heard that song over a million times now. For some weird reason it calms her down. Always has. I even remember singing it to her in the hospital - maybe that's why. I'm not sure. Anyways, she did not enjoy being in the car that long. We packed a lunch and stopped at the civic center in Historic Globe to eat. We stayed for a while to let Rory stretch out some and play. She stalked and yelled at other kids and then came the swing. I didn't think we were going to get her out of it. She loves to swing and feel the breeze. She was definitely not exited about getting back in the car.

When we finally got to their house, we were greeted by their three year old Peyton. "Hi, I'm Peyton" and "Do you have any kids?" or "Do you have any other kids?" made me realize we don't see these kids enough. They were soooo excited to have us visiting. Landon and I changed quickly and left for the Temple. Jill and Cameron were kind enough to watch Rory for us. Thanks guys! Landon had just been to the Omaha temple the month before. He said it's almost identical to the Snowflake temple. It was definitely the smallest one I've been to and was COMPLETELY packed. They even had to bring out some folding chairs. It seemed like it took forever and I was super tired, but I'm happy we were able to go.

Rory did not want to sleep that night. She cried and cried and so did I until Landon took her for a 2:00 am drive. He really is the BEST! The next morning we were greeted by some yummy french toast. After breakfast, we headed to a desert race that Landon wanted to see. Apparently this was the 'real' reason we made the trek to Snowflake that weekend. We got there towards the end of the class he wanted to watch. I felt really bad that we didn't get to see more.

Before it started raining on us at the race. She's such a daddy's girl.

When we had to retreat to the car. It was fun getting to wear sweaters.

After we left the race, Landon drove around for a couple hours while Rory and I napped. We spent the rest of the day hanging out with Cameron and Jill and Jill's parents who were also visiting. It was a nice relaxing day. We stayed up late talking and sharing funny stories with Cameron and Jill. Rory didn't sleep again that night and we decided to cancel any near future road trips/vacations with Rory. We left the next morning and gave Rory some Ibuprofen beforehand. I guess kids get sore riding in a car for long periods of time. It makes sense. I was pretty sore myself. The drive home was much more pleasant. Rory caught up on sleep most of the way home. It was a pretty fun weekend and I'm thankful for the time we were able to spend with Jill and Cameron. Thanks again for letting us crash!

Catching Up

2009-10-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

It has been forever since the last blog. Time has completely gotten away from me. I would really like to keep this updated, so I'm going back in time a little to catch up. I wrote about Rory's birthday party, but completely forgot to write about her actual birthday. My in laws were in Utah the weekend of the 23rd, so the party got bumped a week. It actually worked out for us because it rained like crazy on her birthday. We got all dressed and ready to hit the town, but had to wait out the weather for a couple hours. After it stopped raining, we figured the temperature was nice enough to take a stroll around the zoo. Unfortunately the batteries in both my camera and phone were dead, so I don't have any pics. :( It was crazy fun. We got to see the anteater pretty close up. Rory's face was priceless. She looked so puzzled. She didn't really care to notice many animals after that until we ended at my favorite, the tiger. The big 'kitty' was pacing back and forth against the glass. We pushed Rory right up to it and her head followed the tiger's pacing. She was mesmerized and still looked a bit puzzled at first. After a while she started to scream (with joy) and point at the glass. I'm pretty sure the tiger was her favorite too. The zoo was perfect! Neither of us had been there for years and it's the perfect size for small children.

After the zoo, we went pinata shopping. I'm pretty sure party stores don't care if they ever sell a pinata or not. They keep them on the very top of the shelves without any visible pricing and nobody around to help. After we were done at Party City, we went to Fuddruckers. Rory had her first burger/slider. She only wanted to eat the bun. That girl loves her carbs! lol. I thought about having them sing Happy Birthday to her, but everyone around us was there for a birthday too. I decided to give their vocal cords and break and just buy Rory a sundae. We all shared it despite Rory wanting it all to herself. It was a perfect little day. I'm am forever greatful to have Rory in my life and can't wait to see what this next year brings!

Happy Birthday Rory!!!

2009-09-03T11:33:00.000-07:00

You only have your first child's first birthday once, so I may have gone a little overboard. Luckily I did stay on budget - for the most part. I made her invitations. Photo bucket has a pretty cool online editing program that's free. I had them printed at Costco for .39 cents a piece. I thought they came out pretty darn cute. Guests were asked to BYOT or Bring Your Own Topping for sundaes because it was an ice cream themed party. Our kitchen island was covered in every kind of topping possible. It was a lot of fun making sundaes to eat with the cake; however, we now have a lifetime supply of ice cream toppings because no one took them home.

I saw a sign like this on Etsy for $20. So, I pulled out my paints and created something similar.

My mother in law loves quilting and has been working on a birthday table runner. I thought it went well on the party table.

Rory got her very own cupcake to destroy. Again, I saw some super cute custom candles on Etsy and decided to try to do it myself. I just bought one of those plain number candles and gave it a face lift with paint and pink sparkle glue.

My very talented mother in law made the cakes. We had a banana nut, chocolate, and white cake. She's been working with fondant lately, and I was so excited to see what she came up with for the party.

The kids played pin the cherry on the sundae. They had soooo much fun. My mother in law and nieces created the sundae to match Rory's shirt on the invitations. I also got a pull string pinata so that Rory could be involved. It was okay, but a little dangerous. The kid who pull 'the' string almost had his head taken off when the pinata hook broke. I also rented a jumping castle that we didn't get any pics of. It was a purple and pink castle and fit perfectly in the back yard. There were a ton of little ones, so it saved my house from total destruction. Luckily they set it up a few hours before the party and we got to play in it with Rory before anyone got here. She had a lot of fun wrestling with the two of us in it.

We sang happy birthday to Rory!

She wasn't too sure what to do with her cupcake at first.

But, she figured it out.

Finally, Daddy helped her open presents! Thanks to everyone who came out and celebrated one year of Rory with us!!! We really appreciated it.

Rory Faye

2009-08-18T22:09:00.000-07:00

I took some quick pics of Rory to make her birthday invitations. I can't believe she's already going to be one on Saturday. Crazy. Any who, I just wanted to share some of the cute ones.

This one is totally my Favorite. She has such a cheese ball smile!

We love this girl like crazy.

XOXO

2009-07-23T13:55:00.000-07:00

Four years ago, on this day, I married my best friend. Landon is the love of my life and I'm so lucky to have him forever. He is so much more than I could have ever hoped for in a husband and he's an even better daddy. I've shared the best moments of my life with him and look forward to all that is still to come. He's made so many of my dreams come true and sticks by me in all my craziness. I love him so much!

July 23, 2005

We were sealed in the Mesa Temple August 19, 2006

He was such a great support when I was in school
and pushed me to keep going when I wanted nothing more but to give up.

We've been on so many adventures together.

We bought our first home together.

He lets me drag him to things like homecoming.

My birthday's are always a blast!

I let him drag me places like Mexico when I'm pregnant.

We get to be parents to the most beautiful little girl!

(yeah, I look terrible. 36 hrs of labor and a c-section will do that to you)

The good times just keep on rollin'.

Happy Anniversary!

Fun and Fireworks!!

2009-07-21T23:31:00.000-07:00

I was a little unsure of how 4th of July weekend would turn out because there's a little rift in parts of my family right now. We usually get to visit with all of my mom's cousins and their kids, but some of our favorite people were not going to be around. I was pretty sad at first and not all that sure I wanted to celebrate in Benson, but it was a pretty fun couple of days. My mom's cousin Jamie and her husband James had their annual 4th of July party on the third. There was lots of yummy food, desserts, and little ones for Rory to play with. She filled up on fruit salad and showed off some of her walking skills. The next morning we woke up early and got ready to go to Landon's parent's house for breakfast. I was really looking forward to some of Janice's homemade cinnamon roles... mmmmm.

I've gotten a little into crafting - especially tutu's.
It's weird for me, but Rory just looks so darn cute!

All ready to go!

After breakfast, we headed to my Nana and Tata Mendoza's house to watch the parade. I've been doing this pretty much my entire life, so it was a lot of fun to have Rory there with all the family.

Rory and my mom.
I think they look alike.

My cousin Daniel showed up in his new 'do.

Everyone in the parade, loved Rory's tutu!
She loved all the big snorts (fire trucks).

The parade ended with way too few tractors - one year I counted 28. We had hot dogs and ice cream at Jeremy and Nicole's house. They were nice enough to let us come over after spending the entire weekend before with us. Jayden really wanted to play with Rory. It was crazy cute. He wanted her to ride his quad with him and then wanted to watch Kung Fu Panda with her. We later stopped at my great grandma's house to hang with my mom's family. It was nice seeing everyone who made it down. Dinner was at Lan and Janice's. Landon's sister and one of his brother's were down with their families. It was a nice and laid back evening. Janice was nice enough to watch Rory so Landon and I could watch fireworks from the park. I was afraid the noise would scare her. We got to the park just in time to find my family at their usual spot next to the Ramada and settle onto a blanket before the show began. I love watching fireworks cuddled up with my love.

Me and my Tata Woods.

For having so many places to go and so many people to visit it was actually a really relaxing day. After church on Sunday, we were invited to another of my mom's cousin's house to go swimming. We only live 5 minutes from them, but rarely make it over to their house. Rory loved the water!!! Unfortunately I didn't take a camera. She went crazy splashing and getting herself wet. It was so much fun! Thankfully Rory's first 4th was a great one!

Califonia here we come...

2009-07-21T22:52:00.000-07:00

I know it's crazy late, but I'm trying to catch up since the last post.

We had our second annual 'adult' vacation with The Sherman's at the end of June. It was pretty fun, but exhausting. The boys had planned the Mexico excursion last summer, so Nicole and I took over planning this summer. Originally, we were going to leave early Friday morning, but Landon called in sick to work and talked everyone into leaving Thursday night. We left around midnight and spent the rest of the night in Yuma at the Microtel. You can tell it's pretty shmancy from the name. We all got ready that morning in the tiny room we shared and put on our Sunday best. When we left around 9:00 am, the temperature was already well into the 100's. We stopped to buy Landon a tie, and then headed to San Diego. We arrived in San Diego around the same time we would have if we had left that morning, but I guess our night in Yuma broke up the drive some. Nicole and Jeremy wanted to go to the Temple while we were in Cali and I'm so happy they did. Landon and I were a little unsure about it, but it was definitely worth the extra drive. It was soooo beautiful. We ate lunch there and then waited almost an hour to do a session. I guess it's pretty slow in the evenings, so they only do one session an hour. I could not get over how few people were actually there. Jeremy and Nicole got to be the witness couple. After, we took a ton of pictures that were all AMAZING!

This is my favorite!

The next day we went to Disneyland. We were there from about 8 am to midnight. Landon and I kinda led Jeremy and Nicole around. We usually go every summer on our own, so we have a routine. I felt a little bad for them - especially when Landon made them ride Pirates of the Caribbean a second time. It was a ton of fun though. I spent most of the day wet because they loved Splash Mountain and actually talked Landon into going on it more than once. Lines were awesome and the weather was great!

Landon and I on his favorite ride - Thunder Mountain Railroad.

We left the park to walk to Bubba Gump Shrimp.
It was totally worth the 10 minute trek.

We decided to skip Hollywood Blvd. and just drive home Sunday morning. The boys went West instead of East and got us lost. Luckily we were close to the ocean and decided to make a pit stop.

Jeremy and Nicole passed out on the way home.

It really was a great trip; however, I look forward to whatever laid back vacation the boys plan next year.

Walk Like a Rory Bear

2009-06-15T15:37:00.000-07:00

I'm just way too excited to wait to post this, so I'm doing it right away. Rory took her first steps today!!!! I still can't believe it and keep watching the video over and over and over. She'll be ten months old in a week! I guess the doctor was right. Thankfully she's not running around the house yet and is still a little hesitant to walk without some coaxing.

Unfortunately our video camera wasn't charged, so I just had to use the video setting on our regular camera. The picture is a bit dark, but at least we caught it on camera!

Nine Months!!!

2009-06-03T23:52:00.000-07:00

I cannot get over the fact that Rory will be one in three months! It's just too crazy. I can still remember the drive home from the hospital like it was yesterday. It was raining. I remember sitting in back holding Rory's head. She was so tiny and fragile. I wanted to slap Landon every time he hit a bump. He made a slight detour to get me some sushi. I cried when I saw the super cute welcome home sign my cousin and her kids made hanging on our front door. It was a beautiful, scary, emotional day.

I'm slowly watching that baby disappear. Every day there is something new and more mature about her. I'm so thankful for the opportunity I have to stay home and experience the world with her.

Rory just had her nine month checkup yesterday and she's such a big girl. She's in the 88th percentile for height and the 81st for weight. The doctor says she's pretty advanced and is doing things that an 11 month old should be doing. She predicts that Rory will be walking before a year. She's cruising quite a bit, but I still have a feeling it's going to be a while before those first step are taken. Maybe I'm just hoping for more time before she's racing around the house. She has eight teeth and some super swollen molars. I just bought her a real toothbrush and she's starting to really like it. She used to always bite my finger when I used a finger brush, so I love it. She giggled while I brushed her teeth last night. It was too cute. I hope these next three months go by slow.

She's such a goofball!

Our New Nephew

2009-06-03T23:41:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Crystal and Brian! We were able to go and support them as they adopted their son Hayden. He's a perfect addition to the family! They needed some more testosterone in that house. :) It was a super fun day! We're so thankful to have been a part of it.

No Doubt!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-05-25T01:05:00.000-07:00

My mother's day was amazing. I got to sleep in and Landon served me heart shaped pancakes in bed. I love him sooo much. Another great thing was that I got to pick out a gift for myself. I always love every gift Landon surprises me with. He's a really great gift giver, but I kinda wanted to pick something out this time. I chose No Doubt tickets. Best decision ever!!!!! I saw them about five years ago and they were awesome. Because they're my favorite band of all time, I couldn't pass up pit tickets this time. We were literally three feet from Gwen at one point. (I love her, but she really cakes on that makeup.) The night just plain ROCKED! The Sounds were great and Paramore was even better than the last time we saw them. I don't even know that I have words to describe how incredible No Doubt was. They even closed with my favorite song. It was hands down the best concert I've ever been to and I've been to quite a few. Thank you No Doubt for rocking my world!

We weren't able to get any good pics of Tony. :(

Water Baby!

2009-05-15T19:49:00.000-07:00

Because it's been a million degrees outside, I though it would be fun for Rory to play outside in some agua. Also, my mom bought her the cutest bathing suit and I wanted to put her in it. Landon was awesome enough to blow up the hippo pool we got her. It was the cutest day ever!!! She loves water and loves being outside, so naturally she had way too much fun. It was a bit of work getting her in the suit, lathered up in sunscreen, getting the pool ready, and then undoing it all, but it was soooo worth it. I can't wait to do it again.

This is my favorite.

She was so giddy!

She was checking herself out in the mirror after.

The Bear

2009-05-13T23:10:00.000-07:00

So Rory is getting to an age where she is becoming a terror. I really don't know what I would do if I was working full time. Most likely I would be tearing my hair out. Don't get me wrong, she is cuter than cute, but I just can't keep up. She's crawling (super fast... like lightning speed) and she gets bored super quick so I have to constantly be thinking of new activities for her in order to keep her out of cupboards and drawers (we're a little behind on baby proofing). Despite the non stop curiosity and occasional tearless yet not soundless fit she is still the most amazing thing EVER!! I love everything about her - even the stuff that makes her a terror. It cracks me up. Maybe not always in the moment, but always after. So for those who don't get to enjoy her company often, here is a tribute to Rory...

Cow Bear

Smiley Bear

Mustang Bear

Ballet Bear

Blessing Bear

Rolling Bear

Rubber Ducky Bear

Messy Bear

'Let's go!' Bear

Morning Bear

Again...

2009-04-30T18:57:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm going to try this again and hopefully keep up with it.

We are all good in the Stewart house. We just got over the cold that has been going around. Rory was sick for the first time (we've been super lucky) and she really wasn't that bad. Just a bit boogery, but still happy. She's such an amazing child.

Landon is still working at Union Pacific and his job is secure as of right now. He FINALLY has weekends off!!! But he's still working nights so it's lonely here most nights - luckily I'm sleeping. He's really into this HAM radio thing right now and is currently planning a trip to some desert race in Mexico (yes, despite the swine flu). He has also started a garden that we're all looking forward to. He took Rory and I to our first gun show not to long ago which was interesting to say the least.

I quit my job teaching abstinence education at the end of February in order to spend more time with Rory. It was hard, but I left it in good hands and even get to visit occasionally. Most of my time is spend playing with Rory because she doesn't like me doing much else. I get out of the house about twice a week to substitute in Benson and have conversations with words. I have come to the conclusion that teens suck and I'm really dreading Rory ever hitting that stage. My old job just contacted me and want to contract out to me during their busy season. Hopefully it will be fun. I'm scheduled once a week right now and get to work with an old friend that they're also contracting out to. We're headed to Willcox tomorrow.

Rory is now crawling!! And pulling up on everything she can, bonking her head when she falls, and getting into everything she shouldn't. I don't know what I'm going to do when she can walk - I can barely keep up with her now. She is a super cheeseball and loves to make you laugh. She sings, she screams, she babbles like crazy. The one thing you can always count on to calm her down is Jason Mraz "I'm Yours." She start fussing when anything else start playing. I can't believe she's going to be one in four months. It's rediculous.

Till next time...

New

2008-11-12T22:17:00.000-08:00

Well this is my first post... yea. I was a little bord tonight and honestly a little lonely. I mean you can talk to a three month old all day, but they're not going to talk back. So, even if no one reads this, it is still comforting to just get it out.