A Busy Week

What a week for the Stevens'! For starters, last week we had Riley's newborn pictures taken. My friend who runs Forever Photography down here in St. George did them for me. It was so much fun, and he was so good he slept through the entire thing. Then on Monday it was Holden's first day of school!!! Is it ok for me to freak out? The night before, Wade & I just talked and talked about life and how fast the last 10 years has gone. I can't believe he is in school now. It is the ending of an era, a little bittersweet. He had a really good first day though, whew, and when I asked him the best part of his day he said "recess," but then followed it with a hilarious story about the automatic flushing toilets at the school. I love that kid so much he always has something funny/interesting to say.

We started a few fun traditions with Holden for his first day of school. His favorite was the Schultute. It is something that they give to children in Germany on the first day of school. Schultute mean "school cone," and we filled it with school supplies and a couple treats.

Two Babies !?

During my pregnancy I was really nervous to have 2 children under 14 months. It was funny when we told our families, because people kept saying, "Another baby?" "Different than Paige?" Yes people, some of us don't have enough excitement in our lives, we need ANOTHER baby to spice things up. Just kidding, our lives were plenty busy, but heaven had something else in store for us. Since Riley has been home everyone has been extremely calm and cooperative. I have LOVED having 4 kids, and loved even more having 2 little ones. For a few days before the big event, I tested out the idea of calling Paige a "big girl," so that it would seem less scary, but after some more reflection I realized that it is ok for some of us to have.....
2 Babies. :)

Paige just says, " Baby, baby," over & over and tries to
kiss his head all day. I am really glad she likes him.

Riles at 1 week old. I swear I can already see what he is
going to look like as a little boy. Anybody else?

Newest Little Miracle

Well, it was sort of a lot of work getting him here, but it was worth it!

Riley Parker Stevens
Born on August 4th, 2011
5 lbs. 15 oz.
& 5 weeks early!

Everyone was VERY excited for him to come home.

This kid has already been super interesting. Riles, I can't wait to see what you do in life.

America the Beautiful!

Who else LOVES the 4th of July? Aside from the sweltering heat, I love everything about this day! I love the parades, the food, the fireworks, and the feelings of patriotism that stir in our hearts especially on this day. My kids are finally getting old enough to enjoy all of the festivities, and each year it gets more and more fun. We started out our day early with a parade down-town, followed by a breakfast, and games/rides/activities in the park. Then after naps, (whew! I don't know who needed it more, me or the kids,) we went over to our new friends house and had a good 'ol fashioned 4th of July Bar-b-que. We finished up with some simple but exciting, especially to the kids, fireworks. Here is a little visual documentation of our holiday.

The kids were super excited about the parade. Claire is funny about loud noises though
so she spent most of the time with her ears plugged.

Nice. This is how Paige spent most of the time. I'm glad
I know a good dentist.

Just a little sparkler fun. An artist, I am not.

Clairesie, again with the ears....

Well that was pretty much the extent of our day, but before I go I wanted to leave you with an inspirational thought for this inspirational day:

“What do we mean by patriotism in the context of our times? … A patriotism that puts country ahead of self; a patriotism which is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime." - Dallin H. Oaks

Blaaahg!

It has been so long since I blogged that I actually put off blogging and my problem just perpetuated itself. Well, shame be danged! I am actually doing a post. I know this doesn't make up for all the lost time, but I thought if I actually caught it before a whole year was past then it wasn't too bad right? Well, it has been a busy year for the Stevens Family. We moved..again! Bu this time it is permanent. And we are all a little bit older and hopefully wiser. Here are a few highlights. Enjoy.

It has been so great being a 3 kid family.

We spent an absolutely unforgettable fall & winter in Holden, Utah.

Enjoyed living in a house that you could literally sled out the front the door and down a hill.

We had a wonderful Christmas. (Anyone else?) I can't believe that was 6 months ago.

We also enjoyed some of the non-winter activities the town had to offer.

Then we moved to St. George where we were able to experience "Swinter." (This picture was taken in April when it was still snowing up north.)

Now we spend our days enjoying our new neighborhood and loving our sweet kids. I will try to blog again soon. (Hopefully within the next year ;)