Stefanek Family 5

Update on how my goals are coming along

2010-09-19T19:46:00.001-07:00

So, things have been going pretty well. I have been keeping a journal most nights, but my writing is so awful I don't know if I will be able to read what I've written. I have noticed the scripture reading and prayers have helped me to have a better attitude each day, at least I think so. My family might beg to differ.
I've been able to work out 5 days a week, whether it's been walking or weights. Luckily the weather was good for this. My friends and I meet at the high school track and walk for about an hour, which is so much more enjoyable than anything else. Once the rain hits hard, I will have to go to the gym, so I am outside every chance I get for now.
And my eating has been going well. I have been really disciplined until I went on and overnight camping trip with my girlfriends and didn't have my own food. But I resisted the sweets and only ate small portions of the food, and no pop. Saturday I had a cheat day because of breakfast at the campground and then a candle party, which I hosted. I made this pumpkin/ginger snap snack and could not say no. But today I was back on the wagon and will do my weigh in on tues. Wish me luck!
I am glad that I set these goals because it has helped me in more ways than one, and I know I will feel so much better about myself and my life.

Summer Fun

2010-09-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty relaxing summer. I had to work 3 days a week, so the kids were with Adam's sister a lot. We weren't able to do a lot or go anywhere really. We had a camping trip to Loon lake and it was a nice weekend, except for getting eaten alive by the mosquitoes. We also made a trip down to Grants Pass to check out the school in Ashland. We were thinking of moving there and now I wish we had given it some more thought, or I wish I was on board more. But there is a reason we decided to stay and I hope it's because I get into the program I am going to apply for.
The kids and I went on some nice hikes, we have a lot of hiking around our town, which makes it nice and the kids love to do it. And its a fun way for me to get a workout without killing my body.
We went swimming some, did crafts and basically just chilled and got ready for the start of the school year.
Garrett working on the potty training. He is doing so good now, and it is a joy to be off diaper duty all day long. We are still working on the nighttime routine. He is so happy wearing his big boy undies!

Natalie had an eventful month. She is our clumsy, accident prone kiddo and we deal with a lot when it comes to her. Adam was gone and she split her eyebrow open after getting out of the shower, so I called my work and they got her in. I wasn't sure if it would need stitches, but the doctor recommended it. And the dermatologist that is in our ward just happened to be at the clinic for one of his patients, so he did her stitches and it looks great! No one can even tell it was split.

She also lost 2 teeth, this on if for the first lost tooth. The tooth fairy forgot to come at night, but in the morning she found her money and a nice note from the fairy apoligizing for the mistake. The tooth fairy sure has a lot of trouble remembering to bring the kids money for their teeth! Oh, and she literally lost both of her teeth when she put the first one in a cup and Adam dumped the cup full of water in the sink, and when she lost her second one, went to put it in the tooth jar and dropped it and lost it. When the tooth fairy actaully remembered to bring her money during the night, she didn't even remember to look for it or that the tooth fairy was coming!

The summit of Spencers Butte, one of our favorite places to hike.

One of the crafts we liked to do this summer, paint rocks for yard decorations. We did these for my mom's birthday and it was super fun! We had some friends over and did some for our yard. Painting them was very theraputic for me and we will be doing this a lot more.

Races, and more races

2010-09-19T19:02:00.000-07:00

This summer I was able to work 3 races in, a half marathon, a 10K and a sprint triathlon. I had the half marathon goal in mind, and thought "hey, I will be in such good shape, I should work in an Olympic triathlon as well". That was a hilarious thought. First of all, the half training just about did me in. I was trying to run ridiculous amounts of miles a week (ridiculous for me, anyway) and really started getting some bad hip pain when I had just turned over a new leaf in my training, so I went to the doctor and had to back of the training to keep in shape so I could finish it. The half was in June, in sunriver, and was the most perfect conditions for a race and a wonderful weekend to boot. I had Adam give me a blessing for my hip to heal, and I doped up on medicine and was able to run the whole thing pain free, and no pain that whole weekend, when I can run 4 miles and be paying for it for 2 days. It was seriously a miracle. Brynne was all set to take off and decided to stick with me because I was able to keep running. That was a huge accomplishment for me and I have the proof of that on my car. We spent time with my brother Chris and sis-in-law Kim and niece Hannah, and that was fun. Also got to see my cousin Marlow and her kids who live in Louisiana because they were visiting my aunt and uncle in Bend. It was such a great time.
Brynne and I after the half marathon.

Me smiling afterwards-(side note- we wanted to shout out to Eugene so we bought these tye-dye tshirts and Brynne had drew wording and a picture on the back that said "Sole Sisters" with a running shoe. Everyone loved them and it was fun to represent Eugene.

I also decided a couple days before a 10K to run it, basically so I could hang out at this cool festival called "the Scandinavian festival". Lots of yummy food. I ran with my friend Stacie and it was a good run. Nice and flat course. Went back to the festival later for food and it was about 100 degrees that day. Yuck! Needless to say, we didn't last long!

Then was the tri in Forest Grove Oregon. Brynne and I convinced out s-i-l Kim to do it with us, and she did! It was one of the hardest races I've ever done! I don't think I was totally in shape to do this, and the course was so hilly. I hate to swim and so the 1/2 mile swim was hard, but I think I beat my last tri swim time. The bike was the hardest part. I wasn't used to steep hills, and just wanted that part to be over, when usually it is my fav part. Kim was on a mountain bike so we felt bad for her. We all finished, Brynne got first in her division, and I got first in my division-the big women division-but there were names under mine! So that was cool and we were so proud of Kim finishing with a big smile on her face!! What a way to end the summer!

Me getting close to the finish line.

This is before the torture, I mean, race started.

# 1 in my division, baby! It is amazing the limits we can push our bodies to and succeed in something that seems to unachievable. It is a great feeling!

I love this Day!

2010-09-13T00:10:00.000-07:00

I felt the need to post today about how it went. Today was a wonderful day. The sun was shining, the air warmed up, and I felt the Spirit so strong at church. I know it is because I have been trying to change my attitude, pray to my Father in Heaven more and read and ponder my scriptures. What a difference that makes in my attitude and outlook on life. I was happy today, social at church (usually I do my calling and avoid conversation), and enjoyed my kids-ok, except this morning when I was trying to work on my lesson for church and the kids kept coming in for "mom" this and "mom" that. Don't you realize you have a father as well? Sometimes I think they forget. Or maybe he happened to be hiding at that time. Anyways, the kids were good at church which makes me happy, and then my lesson went really well. I teach the 10 year old girls. We had good discussion and I felt the spirit. Oh, and the talks were awesome! A girl in my class' parents spoke and they did a wonderful job. After church we had the missionaries for dinner and we didn't know we had signed up, but I was able to make a dinner of fried chicken breasts, mashed red potatoes and it was a hit. So that felt good of course. And I loved having the missionaries over. We talked about getting more involved in missionary work and it was great to sit and talk with them about that, because that is what they do every day, of course. We really love our friends and family and want them to feel the happiness we do. So that was fun to get pumped up. Then after dinner we went on a walk, talked to the girls about their new school-they are in a spanish immersion school and I was so sick with worry over how Emma was going to like it, but she says she does, even though she doesn't understand much right now. It eased my mind to talk to them and we will continue forward for at least a month, and then reconvine.
I have been doing a good job journaling and that has made me very happy. I realized I hadn't written in Natalie's journal since Dec of 2008! Hello, mother failure of the year! I cannot remember anything that happened in the first part of 2009. Luckily I made this goal and can now get back on track with this. My hand got really tired though-what having a computer will do to you!-and so couldn't write for too long, but the little I did made me feel good.
I felt extremely happy today, and that was good because it has been a long time since I felt this happy. Hopefully I can keep it up for awhile. And lose some weight-that would make me
happy-er!

More to come

2010-09-11T10:38:00.000-07:00

Yes, I will post pictures of our happenings this summer and then talk about our lives as of now. Till then you wait on the edge of your seats with suspense!

Oh, the woes of digital cameras!

2010-09-11T09:20:00.000-07:00

Let me explain...I love digital cameras. They are so convenient, so accessible, so user friendly. But oh the amount of pictures they produce! I have 3 photo albums from my youth. Three! And my mom was amazing at capturing it. She is one of the most organized, with-it gals I know and I will never live up to that. She had all 5 of our memories organized into boxes, (not 5 memories, 5 kids' memories) folders for each year with our artwork, our achievements. All of us have baby books filled to the max, and we all have journals that she has keep of our lives as youth. Yes, that is right, all five of us!
So, the challenge I find nowadays, is the amount of pictures I have of my kids, and I only have 3! And the amount of family pictures to boot. My kids will each end up having about 10 big albums to their names with all the pictures I have. Or it could be more...And I am not a snap happy person. I see an opportunity, I take it, but am not taking a billion pics of everything. I recently, FINALLY, had some pictures printed out. Because what good are they if they stay on the computer, never to be looked at again? 50 bucks later, and 6 enormous envelopes of pictures, I have some, but still have a ton to print out!! And they just sit in a shoe box because I don't know what to do with them. Should I try to scrapbook, or just start buying the ridiculous amounts of albums to start shoving them in? I don't know, but I am slowly but surely on my way to something. What happened to the good old days when you had 24 precious pictures per roll? Sigh...

Turning Over a New Leaf

2010-09-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

In lieu of fall approaching, I feel compelled to start afresh. I am going to set some goals, to actually be achieved, goals that I feel are important to my health and well-being as a mother, wife, friend, and daughter of God. I was struggling this summer in my relationships with my family- constantly being rude to them, disrespectful, wanting to spend time apart from them. I always seemed to lose my patience at the smallest thing.
I went and saw that movie "Eat, Pray, Love" and had kind of an awakening. Yes, motherhood and wifehood are the hardest things I've ever done, I have droned on before about this. I do need to get this out right now for my own benefit. I was not born with the need to have a family, as my mother can tell you. I wanted to be an only child, wanted nothing to do with my family, thus making me not at all interested in having a family of my own. I don't know why I was this way, but that is how it was. I always wanted to be the cool aunt, taking my nieces and nephews for the weekend, spoiling them and returning them to their parents to be expertly taken care of, which I knew I could never do. It wasn't until I turned 21 that I felt the need for a family of my own, to take my own little ankle biters to the store, and cuddle up to my husband on the couch.
I am truly thankful that I had this change of heart, because I do love my family very much, I still struggle sometimes with the "ifs". After seeing this movie, I was jealous of the authors ability to just up and leave, not to leave her life, but to be able to go on a journey of self discovery but traveling abroad. One of my biggest dreams in this life, which it has always been, was to be able to travel the world. My dream job would be to work for a travel magazine and get sent all over the world and to write about my journeys. Well, since that will never happen, I have decided to go on my own personal journey. And the fact that I am writing it down will help me stick to it. It is a journey to finally accept and love myself, which I have not been able to do and which I know is a big contributor to why I have been so horrible to my family. I can't truly love them without truly loving myself. So here goes...
Oh, and my goals to achieving this:
1. Journal or blog every night-in my kids journals and mine-I am talking at least just a paragraph.
2. Reading my scriptures morning and night, along with prayer.
3. Exercising at least 5 days a week, and I am not talking grueling workouts every day that will burn me out, I am talking walking, hiking, cycling, anything that gets me moving.
4. Eating smaller, healthier meals and snacks
So this is it, wish me luck!

Fiddle Faddle

2010-05-16T22:22:00.000-07:00

Random Ramblings

2010-05-16T21:58:00.000-07:00

The girls' school had a fiddle player come and teach all the grades a little about playing, and at the end they put on a performance for their parents. I will post them playing because it's really cute, but the girls got to where they want to take fiddle lessons, so we are going to see if Adam's cousin could teach that and/or the piano, whichever one they take to. I would love to get a little family blue grass band going. Fiddle, banjo, it is my dream to play one of those! Hopefully we are on our way!

We had a big wind storm come through, and I was at work when I got a text from my neighbor saying our tree had blown down and was taking up half our street. The chick is never serious, so I totally did not believe her. We went back and forth until she decided to send me a picture on my phone. I still had about an hour to go at work! My sister in law was watching the kids and wasn't able to tell me, so this is what I came home too. I was so grateful that it hadn't blown down the other direction! The neighborhood kids loved playing on and in the tree until the city workers came and got it cut out of the road for us. And of course Adam worked late this night so didn't even come home till it had mostly been cleared. Pretty crazy!

The girls have been playing soccer again, with Adam coaching Natalie's team. He wasn't going to but no one else would coach, so we decided to team coach. I basically assist him. But it's nice because with my new work schedule, I can go to practices to help out and also to games, which I missed a lot last season. Emma's team is fun to watch because they have better concept of how to play. But I am proud of the girls getting out there and trying their best and having fun.

My sister, some friends, and I are doing a half marathon in June in Bend, so my sister decided I needed the experience of running a long race, so we signed up for the Pear Blossom race down in Medford and it's a 10 miler. I had to push my training up to get ready for this race since it wasn't too long after I started my training, but it went well and I was able to run with my sister the whole way. My mom came down with us and we spent the whole weekend with my grandparents and were able to visit with a lot of family which was great. We had a good time and I feel a little more prepared for the 13 miles coming up. This picture is us after the race. See how I am able to smile? It wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be.

Garrett and his new cousin Noah- born to Catrina and Charlie. This kids is so stinkin cute, I can't stand it. I mean Noah, but my boy is pretty darn cute himself, of course!

Seaside

2010-05-16T21:46:00.000-07:00

For spring break, we went to Seaside for the weekend. That place is really cool. The kids had fun going to the arcade and riding the bumper cars, well, most of them. We also splurged and got one of those old fashioned pictures of the kids. If I can get my scanner to work, I will post it because it is adorable!! Garrett was a natural at posing and the lady kept telling us "can I keep him employed here? He is perfect!" I was cracking up. It was a fun little escape, but quite a drive. We were beat!

At Fort Stephens State park. Really great experience!

We were so unprepared for this! We were walking the strip with no extra clothes, towels, anything and the kids of course got soaked. We had to strip Garrett down in front of a ton of people with just his semi wet jeans and natalie's coat to keep him warm.

Emma before the bumper cars started. She did not enjoy this at all. She couldn't figure out how to drive and kept causing pile ups. I could tell on her face that she was gonna lose it as soon as it was over, and she sure did. Crying and blaming us for letting her drive by herself. It was quite the scene!

Natalie swinging on the beach. How cool is that? You'd think we were down in Cali or something.

We had great weather for the most part, so that was a treat.

Another attempt

2010-05-16T21:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it has been about 6 months since I last blogged. Oh yeah, that long baby. And there have been plenty of things to blog about, I just couldn't seem to get the gumption. Sometimes I love the technology that helps us keep in touch, and other days I get overwhelmed. I mean, look at digital cameras. How many of us actually print out all the billions of pictures we take with them?
So, I am making another attempt at this blogging thing in hopes that my family and friends really do care to know what is going on with me and my family, and to hopefully be better about looking into your lives as well.
The next couple posts will be a brief update to get us up to speed and hopefully I can use the blog as a journal, etc. So, here goes...

Emma turned 8 on Feb 15 and was baptised on March 6th at 10am. Weird time, right? My mom was wonderful enough to make her a dress she could get baptised in. She made me help but I really couldn't complain. It turned out great and it's a wonderful keepsake. Plus she can wear it till she grows out of it. She is happy to feel the Holy Ghost with her and was happy to make this step in her life and progression.

In February, my parents rented a house in Sunriver for everyone to congregate in. It had 7 bedrooms and was perfect for everyone to fit comfortably but also have your own space. There was a huge hot tub that we hammered every day, and we had one side of the house for our family, since it's the biggest. There wasn't much snow but we were on a golf course and had snow on one side of the course, so the kids were able to do some sledding. The weather was sunny and wonderful and it was a great bonding time. We played a lot of Beatles Rockband thanks to Brynne, but not the drums which made me very sad.

This was not as fun for me as it looked. I used to like to ice skate but after this experience, probably won't feel the need to do it again. I looked like an absolute fool, especially next to my brother and sister acting like pair skaters around me.

Finally re-entering the blogging world!

2009-12-04T01:34:00.000-08:00

Hopefully you all didn't give up on me, even though it's been a couple months. Finally was able to get pictures figured out on computer. Don't ask, it's been extremely frustrating. So, here I am coming back to update the world on our happenings since September. There has been a lot to mention.
Adam has decided after not doing so hot in Calculus, that he doesn't want to major in math anymore, which means no more math teacher. He wants to get a degree in econimics and possibly still teach, but is also on a waiting list for a newer program in water conservation at the school. We just have to wait to see if he gets in for next fall. Then it would be 2 years to finish that. I was hoping to be able to be a high school coach's wife, but my dreams are shattered. :) I just want him to enjoy what he is doing and be able to support us at the same time.
After lots of soul searching, I took a day job at my same clinic because the night and weekend hours were causing me a lot of unhappiness. I had done it for about 6 years and felt that I couldn't stand to work these hours for 2 or more years while Adam is in school. I was scared about figuring out what to do for the kids during the day, but Adam's sister comes over to our house and watches the kids for us to make things way less complicated. And Adam is home a lot with them because of his school schedule. So for now, things are working out good and I get to be a part of the goings ons that I have missed for so long. No more not getting to do things because I work. My schedule is mon-wed 8am-5pm. I have a ton of time off built up because I no longer have to use it. It's great!!!
I also started a weight loss journey with some of my friends. It has been good to have the support because we all know how hard it is! We started in september and I've lost 21 lbs so far. Wish it was more, but it's been coming off healthy. Plus there's those weeks that aren't so great. But I feel way better, and feel like I can continue do lose the weight with support. Wish me luck!

Our whole family completed a 5K on Thanksgiving called the Turkey Stuffer. Wish I had pictures but wasn't smart enough to remember that. I was going to run it with my sister but she decided to sleep in instead, so as I was getting ready in the morning, my family was waking up and I said to Adam "Lets all go and walk this thing". So we all got ready and I signed the girls up there because they were free, and we were off. There were a lot of people and I got to see a lot of friends I hadn't seen in awhile. Most of my weight loss group did it so that was great! The girls were really tired but when we got to the 2nd mile, I was like "we are gonna run the rest of the way to the finish!" They were exhausted but did their best and ran more than I thought they could. It was fun to do as a family and also a great way to feel better about stuffing ourselves on Thanksgiving!
That is all I can think of right now. I will try to be better at posting more often, because I miss hearing from my friends! And I will be better about checking in on all of you too!

Halloween and the Pumkin Patch

2009-12-04T01:20:00.000-08:00

We all were in the spirit for Halloween this year. Even Adam dressed up, and that is pretty much a miracle. He was just supposed to be a doctor but put on the wig thinking it was part of the costume too. The night of Halloween, I took the girls trick or treating and left Garrett with my mom. Adam got to go to the Duck vs USC game with my stepdad, so it was just me and the kids. It was pretty drizzly so the girls weren't up for walking around much. Afterwards we booked it to the church because we had reserved it for my sister's 30th birthday party. Her hubby came up with the idea to have an old school dance party. It was fun but because of his and my poor planning, only family came and 1 friend. Thanks Kristy! It was really fun though. We had great food, great music, and great people to dance the night away. And she appreciated the thought and work. I took her to New Moon and dinner for her birthday present.

Every year when we go to the pumkin patch, we go to Johnson's farm. The owner drives the tractor for your hayride and takes you on a wild ride. If you don't hold on, you are flying everywhere! Plus he has all these scarecrows with pumpkins piled on there bucket heads and he lets you grab a bunch of gords to try to knock the pumpkins down along the ride. So fun! The kids love it. We went with our good friends and all had a blast. There was this pumpkin trick or treating bucket with the small opening hanging from a tree by a string. As we passed by, Adam threw a gord up and it went right in the bucket. If you saw this whole situation, you would realize it was a 1 in a million shot. That was pretty incredible. We decided later the guy should have given Adam a free ride or pumpkin for that one. What's up with that?

Kyla getting ready to tag a scarecrow!

Grandpa's 90th and first day of school

2009-12-04T01:02:00.000-08:00

This very dark pic is Natalie's first day at Kindergarten. Her very best friend, who happens to be her cousin, is next to her. She loves school and wants to try to read everything, and write everything. I am impressed at how well she is doing. Her teacher thinks she isn't a morning person, and told me she starts to wake up around 11. Which cracked me up because she is done at 11:50. Yes, mornings are brutal with this one. But she was put into our family to shake things up a bit.

Emma on her first day of 2nd grade. She seems to be getting more confidence, especially with reading and has really grown to love it, which makes me happy. Reading is my relief! She has made a lot of friends, but that never worried me because she is extremely outgoing and social. She got to participate in a singing group thru school called the Razzle Dazzle kids and loved it. She performed at the city holiday market and for Grandparents Day at school. If I had video, you all would be dying. This kid is animated and not shy! It was adorable.

My Grandpa celebrated his 90th birthday. The man will live forever. He golfs, he landscapes, he bowls, lets just say for 90, he is doing amazing. As much family from all over came down or up to celebrate with him so it was basically a family reunion. It was fun but I wish I could have gotten to talk to and know the rest of the extended family better. If anyone is interested, lets make that happen! This is all of us kids and spouses and grandkids of my Mom's. Chris got cut out but was there too.

Garrett and all the kids playing in the sprinkler! They had a ball.

Adam, my mom, and baby Hannah(niece) livin it up. Mom and her sisters helped put together a slide show and memory book of my Grandpas life. That was fun to see and hear. Thanks for all the hard work, Mom!

I'm glad we could all get together and enjoy the beautiful weather, company of family, and the making of memories. Here's to 90 wonderful years, Grandpa. I love you!

Wildlife Safari

2009-12-04T00:47:00.001-08:00

So this summer the kids and I had an opportunity to go with a Coburg Summer program to wildlife safari. I wanted to take the kids to the pool because it was supposed to be about 100 degrees and walking around outside was not my idea of fun. But I relented so we cruised down and had a blast!!! I highly recommend this to anyone in Oregon who lives close enough to go. The group rented a tour guide in an old, ghetto school bus but he was interesting and even though we felt like we were in a sauna, we learned a lot and got a lot of great pics. And luckily there was a lot of spray machines going so we got misted everywhere we went.

One of the grizzly bears. We saw so many cool animals. I was in awe.

The kids near the koi pond.

Natalie milking, er, watering the cow.

The cheetah. Up close and personal.

The beautiful flamingos. I'm telling you, this was one of the best trips I've taken, and I can be hard to please, especially when it is hot out!

Where in the world is Kretha?

2009-09-10T20:49:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are wondering, "Gee, haven't heard from Kretha in awhile" there is a logical explanation. Computer is busted and so still trying to work on that, and we currently don't have internet access at home for our laptop. So there. Hopefully we will get up and running soon but in the mean time, don't forget about me! I will be back soon!

Natalie's 5th Birthday!

2009-07-10T23:17:00.000-07:00

Natalie had her 5th birthday, and she got to have a friend party. I mostly posted these pics so you could see what an awesome mom I am! Or, actually, what awesome in-laws I have. The party was at their house, with a big blow-up water slide, pool, trampoline, and pony rides. The kids had a ball and it was an easy set up, plan, and execute party.

Kids jumping on the tramp. Please don't turn me in to CSD about all the kids jumping, parents were there and didn't care.

Natalie riding the horse with auntie leading. Grandma saddled up the pony as well because the kids were bombarding and they wanted to get more rides in. Thanks to auntie, grandma and uncle for doing this. It was a HOT day.

The waterslide was the hit of the party, and none of it cost me a dime.

This is just a random pic of us as we hiked Mt Pisgah. Adam came along on our adventure and it was fun, although after scampering up this tree for a pic, we saw a sign that said to leave the tree alone. It was a really neat tree but you can't tell from this picture.

I'm Baaaaack! And keeping it short and sweet.

2009-07-10T23:04:00.000-07:00

A few recent happenings:

Natalie ballet'd her way into my heart at her dance program. She loved wearing "adult make-up". The little ones got the biggest applause. Good job, Nat!

Emma played soccer for the first time, while Dad got to be her coach. Both fell in love with soccer.

Natalie and cousin Kyla had their preschool graduation. Now officially Kindergartners!

Brother Chris and SIL Kim had baby Hannah. She's older than this, just had blessing and stared and smiled at me while I was holding her. So precious! Congrats you guys!

Went to GP for Memorial weekend and boat races. Didn't even hear the f-15's fly over which was strange. Fun time had by all.

Shame, shame, know your name!

2009-04-28T15:54:00.000-07:00

Ok, so i'm a little ashamed to admit this. Ok, a lot ashamed. These pictures happened on Gen. Conference day. We were watching the afternoon session at home, when my sis-in-law came over to hang out. The girls were doing our hair, and Emma wanted me to pick a hair do that she had drawn for her do do in my hair. She asked how we could do one with color, and I said we can use markers to color their hair. So we all started coloring streaks in each other's hair, and then the girls started coloring on skin. Next thing I know, Teanna is drawing on my face, the girls are going to town on Adam's face, and we all look like a bunch of freaks. Thank goodness for washable markers. Adam's sis and bro-in-law stop by also, and Teanna tricked her out also. We were laughing so hard! Needless to say, we didn't get much out of the afternoon session. Good thing we recorded it so we could watch it another time. Just thought it would be fun to share. Have a good belly laugh at our expense!
The girls even colored in Adam's tatoos, and their uncles tats.
Some kind of hippy, man, rudolph kind of freak.
The girls getting in on the action. Their hair actually looked pretty cool. We'll have to color it again.
Cat is gonna kill me for posting this one, but it's classic!

Spring Break in Bend

2009-04-28T15:18:00.000-07:00

For spring break, we went to Bend to stay with my aunt and uncle. It was sunny but very cold. We walked everywhere so I was freezing. We had a good time. Aunt Helen showed us the town. The first day she took us to a couple parks so the kids could play, we bought cupcakes, and later that night they took us to a corner italian joint that was a fun environment. We stuffed ourselves and then headed back to put kids down. The next day, Helen took us to this ritzy downtown center. We went to this kid's museum and it was really cool. The kids pretended they were news anchors, shopping at a grocery store and working there. It was fun. They even had this phone system set up that you could call other areas. So someone at the vet's clinic called emma at the grocery store for dog food. Helen ordered a pizza from the construction area to the pizza parlor. I was cracking up.
After that, we headed to this place called Bouncing off the Wall. It is just a big, open wherehouse with tons of big bounce toys. I even played on them with the kids. There was this huge obstacle course and i was knocking Garrett around with these blowup pillars and the girls and I were racing through them. Great workout and so fun. Wish we were lucky enough to have something like that here. If I had the money, I would open one up.
After Ted got off work, we went down to Red Robin and chowed again. After that was really fun because we all sat down to watch Dancing with the Stars and American Idol. I had no idea they were into those shows like me, so it was fun to make comments and watch together. Thanks so much again for letting us stay and for everything, Ted and Helen.

The girls being news anchors.
Garrett dressed as a little amigo.
Aunt Helen and Natalie in Old Mill District
Natalie scurried right up this thing. I was in shock. Emma struggled and didn't care to go to the top.
The girls earning their keep. This was their favorite play spot.

To be (fat) or not to be...

2009-04-28T08:55:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm going to go on a rant right about now. I am what you call, quite curvy, and what is wrong with that? All my life I've been a bigger girl, even when I worked out like a crazy person. And I was mostly always fine with that. I didn't stress about what I ate, or what my size was. I accepted myself for who I was. Right now is not the case. I've been beating myself up lately for the weight I've put on in the last year. I had lost a lot of weight the year before and felt like I could keep going that way. But then came two moves, a new town, more stress. I just couldn't keep up the constant work outs, and I didn't want to. I got into a funk, and am finding it hard to get out of it. I wouldn't say I'm depressed, but I definitely haven't been as exstatic about my life as of late. I work a lot, Adam is constantly doing homework so I feel like a single parent when I am home, it's just been hard to get back into working out and focusing on myself. And it's not like I'm a sloth or anything, I do workout at least 2-3 times a week, more if the weather is nice. But losing weight? Forget it! I like to eat healthy things, just don't want to only eat them. I don't want to deprive myself of something I want, because that will make me want it more.
I've decided the solution to this problem is to realize that I am a worthwhile, special, talented person, no matter what my size might be at the moment. I need to be happy with my inside self, and not worry about what the outside looks like. And shame on media and society for making us feel this way about ourselves. We are just as great people being big, as others are being small. Our size shouldn't matter, as long as we still are trying to live a healthy life and be a good person, which I am.
So, I'm going to be happy with myself as I am right now. I may lose weight in the near future, but I'm not going to let things affect me as the have before and I'm not going to stress over being pleasantly plump. Because I'm good enough, smart enough, and doggonit, people like me!

2009-03-27T15:10:00.000-07:00

hopefully this works. I can't figure out how to put sound on my camera when I am filming, so you just have to enjoy his moves. Garrett is playing Guitar Hero and rocking out to the song "I wanna be Sedated". My friend came over one night while the rest of my family was gone, and we played guitar hero, and Garrett kept wanting "my turn, my turn". It was so cute. He didn't like getting booed though, so he would just quit. But we were cracking up.

I was thinking...

2009-03-27T11:46:00.001-07:00

Just my thoughts on this whole recession thing. I put that on my never be thankful list, but that is not entirely true. I have been able to find some good things about it. Before the economy was going to pot, my husband decided it was time to go to school-not back to school, but finally start school, from scratch. We had been living a great life. We owned two homes, and a lot behind one of our homes. We both had good jobs, which payed the bills and allowed for extra expenditures. There seemed to not be a day that went by where I wouldn't blow 100 bucks just on stuff, because I could. And to be honest, I think I had a little addiction to shopping.
After Adam went back to school, life changed dramatically for us. We had to sell both of our homes, and are renters now. Adam is in school either all day, or most of the day, so that dramatically reduces his income, and then there is all the money out now for school expenditures. I work quite a bit, but mostly to provide insurance, so I don't have much left over in my paychecks. Needless to say, I am very careful in spending money now. And I have actually been grateful for this change because I had been getting very materialistic, wanting nice cars, home, things. But now I focus more on what is important in life, to reduce the bills we have, just buy food, and most important, to focus on family and getting ourselves prepared for what lies ahead. It has been a great blessing to get the greed out of my life and be humbled. Yes, it does get very difficult, as most of us are influenced someway by the recession, but we were able to downsize before the recession, and be a little more prepared for the hard times ahead. Something to really be thankful for.

5 things I am thankful for, and 5 I could do without.

2009-03-10T15:44:00.000-07:00

I am thankful for...(in no particular order)
1. A wood stove
2. Preschool scholarships
3.Dane's healthy kidneys
4.Finding somewhere to play volleyball
5.The Ensign and the inspired words in there

Never will I be thankful for...
1.Barbie doll-like women who want to run everything and have people believe they are "the perfect mom" gag me!
2.A recession
3.The kids or "kid" breaking our Wii and the 60 bucks to get it fixed
4.Ants
5.Having to work and miss out on a lot of family stuff-although I am thankful to even have a job, just not thankful to have to work.

And on another note...
I have run out of books to read, since I haven't had any recommendations, so I have created a list of classics to read, you know the ones that we were forced to read in high school, that I wish I was actually into? I started thinking since I love to read now, it will make these books more enjoyable. I have stared with Wuthering Heights and it is pretty comically written. It is still hard for me to understand the language of the era, but I find it more enjoyable now. If anyone has a recommendation of a great classic book to add to my list, or just a great book in general, let me know. I would appreciate it. Happy reading.

One crazy weekend!

2009-03-10T15:24:00.000-07:00

Garrett on the snowmobile. Yes Aaron, that is yours. I'm surprised this pic turned out since they were whizzing by me.
Emma, Natalie and their friends under the cover to avoid the rain.
Ad and I before the concert started and our ears started bleeding.

The last weekend in February was crazy! I had gotten the weekend off to go to a Brad Paisly/Dierks Bently concert up at the Rose Garden, so we had planned on sending the kids with my mom, going up to Portland, staying the night, spending some time in Portland on sat. going to the temple and ikea, or wherever else we faniced.
We got all packed up, dropped the kids off, and headed up to the hotel to meet Adam's bro Aaron and his wife Teanna, who we were going to the concert with and staying the night with. We met them at the hotel a couple hours before the concert, got something to eat at quiznos -worst meal i've had in a long time, and I love Quiznos-then caught the max to the rose garden, since we were only a couple blocks away, but too far to walk. We had a fun time, but the concert was extremely loud. The first performer and Dierks couldn't get their sound right, and it was blaring. During Dierks I couldn't even hear myself scream. Then Brad came out and put on a fun performance and his sound was a lot better. We had fun, but lost our hearing in the process. The concert got over at 11, so we crammed onto the max with all the other concertgoers, back to our hotel, with ears ringing and head pounding. We were so tired that we all just went to bed. Adam and I got up early on Sat. to head home. I had wanted to go to the Temple, but we had decided that we would head up to his uncles cabin with some friends to show them a piece of land that Adam's folks are trying to sell. So it was sort of a business venture. We had to get home, get all packed for a night in the snow, and get groceries to eat, then grab the kids and go. I felt like a chicken with it's head cut off trying to think of everything to pack in the short amount of time I had. We got up there before dark so the kids were able to play a little, then dinner and talking and to bed. The next morning was raining all day, but that didn't stop the kids. Adam was able to get a snowmobile working so the kids all got a couple rides. We had lunch, then packed back up and cleaned the cabin, and headed home. It was a very busy weekend, one I would not like to duplicate anytime soon, and maybe someday when I take the weekend off, I can use it to relax and not cram a bunch of stressfull things into one weekend. Note to self...

Emma turns 7!

2009-03-10T14:40:00.000-07:00

Emma turned 7 on Feb 15, and my mom and sister had joint birthday party for her, my brother Ryan, and my Grandma (who came up from GP to visit). We had dinner and then dessert. Emma got a lot of presents and she made this funny face the whole time because she was embarrassed or something. I'm glad I caught it on film. It was fun to spend time with my family, everyone was able to make it, and especially my grandparents because we haven't seen them in awhile. The girls made bookmarks for Grandma and Ryan and cards. We all took family pics with the G's and that will be a nice keepsake. I also made this FABULOUS cake for Emma. My sister kept saying, "we are already making a cake." And I still insisted that I was making one for Emma. When they saw it, they realized why I wanted to make another cake. Emma is obsessed with horses, everything she brings home from the library is on horses and she constantly tells me about the horses she wants to get when she grows up, so I thought she would appreciate this cake. She did. I am bragging now because if you know me very well, I am very lazy, and don't go all out for things. My sister was very impressed. She's the suzy homemaker in the family.
I can't believe Emma is now a year away from being baptized. I am so excited for her. She has grown into a wonderful, helpful, obedient, smart, and fun girl and I am blessed to be her mom. Luckily she got most of her qualities from her dad. :)

Sleeping Angels-a reflection

2009-02-11T00:09:00.000-08:00

Thank goodness for sleep time or it would be really hard to feel blessed having kids. (I'm really just being dramatic.) I find that night time is the best time to feel love and awe for my children. After a day of Garrett dumping the entire contents of parmesan cheese out on him and the table, after Natalie trying to open my bad of sunflower seeds by my computer and causing an explosion of seeds and seasoning everywhere, after Emma sitting at the piano and bawling her head off about it being too hard, when she hasn't even tried and plays it almost perfectly when she does, after feeling at the end of my rope almost every night with kids, house, life- I like to go in an watch my kids when they are sleeping. It humbles me, gives me a renewed sense of purpose, and makes me realize how much I truly love and adore my kids. Thank goodness for those quiet times and the small things that make this life and our decisions seem so worth it.

Garrett and his Vesicoureteral Reflux

2009-02-10T23:52:00.000-08:00

Giving mom a smile before it is time to go.
Garrett watching cartoons before his procedure.

The end of December, Garrett had a procedure done to help end his vesicoureteral reflux, or reflux of the kidneys. That is when the urine backs up into the kidneys, which it is not supposed to do, and can cause infections, scarring, and kidney failure later on in life. The doctors like to catch and treat it early so there is a lesser chance of damage. Garrett was diagnosed with this en utero and for the first 2 years of his life was on a low dose antibiotic to fight any infections while the doctor monitored to see if it would heal itself, because they tend to do that with age. So every day I had to give him antibiotics which I didn't feel good about. He had to have two VCGU tests where they inject fluid into his bladder through a catheter, while he is strapped down, and move him around to take pictures. It is very unpleasant and it's hard when your baby is crying "mommy" for over half an hour and there is nothing you can do to settle him. So, long story short, one of his kidneys looked good, the other was at a grade 3, with a 5 being the worst. So his urologist recommended having a procedure done where they inject a bit of collegan into his bladder right at the urethral tube to cause a bump, making it hard for the urine to go past that back into the kidneys. So we scheduled that thinking that was a better way to go than actual surgery, and he wasn't as bad as some. We had to be at the hospital at 6am, and didn't go back to a room till probably 6:30 or 6:45. His procedure was supposed to be at 8:30, but they had to move him back because they had to put another pt in front of him, so we were stuck in this room with him till about 10. It was rough. Finally it was time and they gave him a sedative, that took effect pretty quickly. They rolled his bed away with his arms behind his head, just relaxing. I should have gotten a picture. So we waited for about an hour for the procedure to be done. At the new hospital, they have this board that you can see your patients number and keep track of what process they are in. Pretty darn cool. It turned out that I knew the pre-op nurse so that was cool to catch up. It had been years.
The doctor came out to let us know he had found something unexpected, which was probably the root cause of his reflux. He had posterier urethral valves that were supposed to digenerate when Garrett's sex was determined, because they are a female part, but his never did, and when he would urinate, they would poof up like sails, blocking a lot of the urine flow. So he cut those away, and hoped for the best. Garrett coming out of anthesthesia was hard. He is grumpy, in pain, stinking from the tube down his throat (and by the way, this procedure can be done in a clinic on adults but because kids can't stay still, they have to have this whole ordeal.) He was extremely crabby and all we had to do was get him to drink something and we could go. We didn't get out of the hospital till around 2. And since this whole thing, he has had two uti's or bladder infections, and has had to be on two rounds of antibiotics. I need to ask the doctor if that is normal or what is going on. So that was our whole crazy ordeal, and hopefully it will be over soon.

Christmas with the Kranks

2009-02-10T23:37:00.001-08:00

Garrett got train tracks to go with his birthday gift, and he loves putting the pieces together till this day. He is always setting it up in these random ways. It is very cute.
Self explanitory.
The girls in their Christmas dresses at Mom's for Christmas Eve dinner and program. We found cute, cheap dresses right before Christmas and I wanted ones they could wear throughout the year that didn't seem too holidayish. These fit the bill.
A cute moment I caught while singing Christmas hymns. It was very sweet.
Brynne made aprons and bought cookie stuff for the girls. So cute! And Aunt Kim made them crayon holders. Very crafty ladies!

I am a little late but hope the holidays found everyone happy and healthy and full of joy. We had a nice, mellow Christmas, mostly due to decreased funds, but it made things seem not so stressful this year. I am all about no stress. So we had Christmas eve with my family, we exchanged gifts and had our Christmas program which always brings a nice spirit. Emma read the scriptures this year which made me tear up. She is getting so big and smart! The next day on Christmas I was supposed to work but I had been getting sick, and was pretty sick that day. I didn't have to go in until noon so I got to wake up and do presents with everyone, but had to start getting ready for work. I called in to see if it was busy and the girls said it was completely slow and not to worry about coming in. I was so thankful. I went to bed until about 5pm. I felt bad missing out on the kids playing with their gifts and making Christmas more special, but I just was not feeling well. So, all in all, a good, laid back holiday.

New Blog

2008-12-08T22:58:00.001-08:00

As much as I didn't want to, I decided I better start a different blog so I could actually get comments and things would work right. So here it is and if you want to catch up on my original stuff, that blog address is steffam.blogspot.com but nothing more will be posted there. A lot of work but oh well. I miss hearing from everyone. Maybe I will be better at posting. (ha ha, are you laughing too?)

Special Events

2008-12-08T22:33:00.000-08:00

There have been some special things happen recently in the extended Stefanek Family. First was the sealing of our niece Kyla to Adam's parents. They were recently able to adopt her so they were able to have her sealed to them as well in the Portland Temple. Adam and I were the only ones from the family in there which was very sad to us, but the work got done any way and all I could feel when I was in there was that Alicia was there with them. It was an extremely spiritual experience and I am so glad we were blessed to be in there. The Temple president's home ward is Adam's folks ward, so they had him seal them which was really cool. The other special event was the marriage of Catrina(Adam's sister) to Charlie. It was a very fast courtship, engagement, and wedding. I think it was total maybe a little over two months. Crazy! They got engaged and then a week later were like, "we are getting married in a week and a half!" I luckily had gotten that day off from work for another event, but that day was so busy for me, I couldn't even fit in the original thing I wanted to do. The girls performed with their gymnastics class at a Santa's breakfast at the school, then I had to hurry home and go to a baby shower I was hosting. After that was over, we got ready to go to the wedding but everything was mostly done when we got there, so I just helped with food and serving. It was a big turn our for such short notice, and Stephanie (Charlie's sister) did an awesome job being the planner. Kudos Steph! After it was over, I had to break for home with all the kids to get Emma to a slumber party and was supposed to go see Twilight again with a friend from work, but I just wanted to crash. It was a crazy, busy day. Congrats to Catrina and Charlie! We hope you have a wonderful, and happy life together.

Catrina looked so beautiful, she wore Alicia's dress with some alterations, and my sis in law did her hair and make-up. Charlie looked dapper as well.
The kids in front of a fountain on Temple grounds.
After the sealing, in the garden room at the Temple.
Adam's parents and niece Kyla. She looked so adorable!

Kyla was so happy to see her cousins. They were happy to share in her special day as well.

One crazy thing that happened was we went to the temple right from the beach house and so had all our stuff in the car. When we got to the temple, Adam took out the basket that had all our video game stuff in it and put it into his folks car so while Gary Jr. watched the kids, there would be more room. Afterwards they pulled the stuff out and Adam put it on the sidewalk, and forgot to load it into the car. I had seen it sitting on the sidewalk but assumed that Adam had gotten it and loaded it back in. It had our Wii and everything that goes with it, our playstation with all our games and guitars, movies, games, video camera and digital camera. He forgot to put it in and we didn't see it because he had backed into the spot. So a day later, he calls me at work and tells me he left that stuff. I was sick. Hundreds of dollars of stuff, memories, etc. He felt really bad and of course the temple was closed till Tuesday so we had to wait until then to see if someone had turned it in. I was so bummed. The only thing that really gave me hope was that it was left at the Temple so I knew we should have a much better chance of getting it back. Anywhere else and it would have been sianara sucker! It was turned in so Adam's bro went up to get it and then decided to play a trick on me that some of it was missing. I was not amused.

Thanksgiving in Newport.

2008-12-08T22:19:00.000-08:00

For Thanksgiving this year Adam and I decided it would be fun to rent a beach house and invite all his family that helped so much with fixing up our homes, since we didn't make any money off of them to pay them back. So we rented one in Newport that a lady we know manages. It was pretty big, and open, could hold a lot of people and they didn't seem to care how many people there were. There were some big windows along the north side of the house, but there were trees in the way so you didn't have a clear view of the ocean. But it was a fun, relaxing getaway to spend time with family. We ate a lot, talked, watched, movies, played wii and guitar hero, and just relaxed. Luckily we had one good weather day so we went down to the beach and walked.

We found a perfect rose on the beach, so we were thinking maybe it was a proposal gone bad. We kept it for ourselves.
Here is Garrett gnawing on a turkey bone like an animal. It was pretty funny. I don't know why he is naked at dinner though.
Lots of yummy grub to eat. We stuffed ourselves which I am pretty sure is a requirement of Thanksgiving anyway. It is fun to have a day to really think about all our blessings and that we need to give thanks every day for the blessings Heavenly Father gives to us.

Spending time with my nephs!

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

My sister had her second boy recently, and Adam let me go up to help over night and for a day, which I was grateful for. She helps me a ton and it is one way I can try to repay her. I felt like I really didn't do a whole lot, since the boys were so good. For me, anyway. She just said she was thankful for the company, which I totally get. Anyways, here is new baby Dane. He is such a sweetheart and glad Brynne and Aaron got another good baby. That makes things a little easier to handle once you step into multiple child world. Congratulations Brynne and Aaron. Thanks for letting me come up and hang out, even if I had to wear a mask the whole time.

Baby Dane was quite jaundiced and was in and out of the hospital for a week because of it. He is doing much better now.
Me and Dane. He lost a bunch of weight, and of course looks even tinier next to my ginormous head.
I watched big brother Cade for awhile and it was just the two of us. I think he only likes me because of my kids, which I can't blame him. They are way more fun to hang out with. So I think he was bummed that they didn't come with me. Oh well, I love you lots anyway!

Halloween 08-A little late

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

The far left one is the pic from Halloween and trick or treating. The one on the right on the two below are from our ward Harvest festival.
Their costumes turned out cuter for the party, but that is because Halloween was such a busy day, that it was a miracle they came together to go trick or treating.
Garrett is a guppy and he hated his costume. Luckily candy made him forget his woes.