Look at this!! (by Stephan)

So it's been awhile since I have looked at our blog and I think I can officially say that Amanda has taken over the blog!  But...I am not complaining, I am glad she had found this new hobby.  I just want to say that unlike previously stated by my wife, I am not a "techno geek"!  I can't beleive she would say something like that, ha ha!  Ok for those who know me that I am a pretty big geek, it just cracks me up that I have chosen this path of "geekiness".

Peace and love to all our family and friends!

Happy Holiday!

Just thought I would post while I have a minute! We had a great Thanksgiving at Stephan's parents house and are super excited for Christmas! We are going to be in Arizona for Christmas visiting Stephan's Granny Gail and Aunt Victoria and Rose. We are really excited about this. The day after Christmas we are renting a car and heading to California! We have missed the west coast soooo much and can't wait to visit. Sam has a new obsession we started with Mickey Mouse, then Strawberry Shortcake, and then Dora, and now it is Caillou. Anyone heard of him? Kind of a funny show about a whiney bald preschooler :) It's not so bad. However in one episode they celebrate "The Holidays" and so she keeps asking me when we are gonna celebrate "The Holidays." It's pretty funny. Now I must go because I just found Sam lying on the floor outside her door (an hour after I put her to bed) she looked and me and said "Mom I'm just in a crazy mood tonight like Max (her Kitten).

Reason for Hunters Cast....

Hi everyone! I sure have had fun Blogging I had no idea what an assortment of blogs are out there. I neglected to specify why Hunter had a cast in my last post! My friend Erin told me to tell everyone it was a skiing accident which raised a few eyebrows however nothing that exciting. Hunter was born with a Club Foot here is a link that gives details on what a club foot is and shows a picture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_foot. (MAN I just published this and then tried the link and it doesn't work. You will have to copy and paste until my techno geek husband can fix it! Sorry!) So since he was born we have been battling with getting it straightened which mostly includes different casts that slowly pull his foot outwards. This last cast was on for a month because he had a tendonoscopy. Which means that they cut the tendon in the back of his foot and then seriousely twisted his foot like 90 degrees. It looked really crazy however I think it was more painful for me to look at then it was for Hunter. So know we are done with casts (Hopefully) and on to the shoes. They are a pair of White leather shoes with a metal bar in between them. They are quite annoying and drive both Hunter and I a little crazy. We are working on getting used to them as he has to wear them 20 out of the 24 hours in a day. So there you have it the story of Hunters Cast's :)

NO MORE CAST!!!

Hunter got his cast off today! He is much lighter and easier to carry. He now gets to wear a pair of shoes with a metal bar which he is not to fond of. He will wear these for an indefinite period of time.

I Won the Prize!

Soooo I love Halloween and I love to dress up! This year I scored big went to the thrift store and got a sweet Leather vest, some ugly brown bell bottoms, a sweet paisley shirt and platforms for $11.37. I was way stoked! In usual fashion Stephan refused to dress up which is always a source of contention for us :) I know sounds pretty trivial. But I just love dressing up. I won best adult costume at our Ward Halloween party pretty big event for me as my life consists of allot of barf poop and a sassy 3 year old. I'm always up for new Halloween costumes. I like to be a person. Like for a couple of years I was Mary Katherine Gallagher "Superstar" and one year I was Sher so if you have any ideas for next year let me know. This year I can't put an exact name to who I am but I'm thinking a cross between Dolly Parton and that bible lady on TV? Can't remember her name. Or I could be the Happy Painter Guy "Happy Trees" well maybe his wife? Anyways enough about me. Samantha and Hunter were a Caterpillar and a Butterfly. Of course I left Sam's wings at her Grandma's house. Cause I was so self involved but luckily they came later. Samantha loved Halloween and had a blast at the ward party and trick or treating the next night. Hunter was not so amused and was quite annoyed by his costume but he sure looked cute!

Pumpkin Carving!

Poor Max between Graeme and Samantha he has to practice alot of patience. Sam loves carving pumpkins (Well watching her dad). Stephan takes his pumpkin carving very seriously and I had to keep reminding him that it was Samanthas Pumpkin!

Samantha had a blast making Sugar Cookies for Halloween. She took it very seriously.

So I thought I would try out "mobile blogging" and see if I can't increase my posting frequency. More to come later if all goes well!

Sam and her new kitty Max

So I mentioned in an earlier post that we have a new cat named Max. Here he is! As you can see, Sam thoroughly enjoys having him, can't say that Max really enjoys her as much but he is very patient with her. The other day she gave too much food in his bowl and when we asked her about it, she simply stated "Max needs a lot of food because Sammy loves him sooo much". That makes for a nice kid and an overweight cat!

A quick update on Hunter. He had his akiles tendon on the back of his leg cut to allow the doctors to pull his heel down and continue to shape his foot normal. He will have this cast for another 3 weeks and then that will be the last of casting hopefully. He will then wear spacial shoes with a brace in between them to encourage his foot not to turn in. He will have this on indefinite until his foot does not turn in anymore. This will be a long-term commitment for us but we feel blessed that this is the only major problem he has! This is illustrated when we walk in to the Orthopedic office and see so many other kids with more severe problems than him. We count our blessings.

In the mean time, I am preparing to sit for a section of the CPA exam this coming winter. So that, plus work keeps me out of trouble. Amanda's life is pretty much being a Mom and keeping things together. She does a great job and I am proud to have her be the mother of my children.

That's all for now, I will let Amanda post the rest. Peace and love to all our family and loved ones!

A quick entry since it is late

Since it's late, this will be a short posting.  This past weekend we adventured out to Jordan Lake on our 1st camping trip with the kids!  To be honest, I didn't know if we were going crazy of having fun!  We'll I think we were having fun, at least Sam had a blast eating smores.  We forgot half our food, good thing we were only like 20 min from our house.  One of the things we love about Carolina is that you can do stuff like this pretty close to home.  Two beautiful lakes, only 20 min away.  In two weeks, we will attempt the ward campout at Falls Lake.  We should be pro's now that we have gone camping once...right?

I must be crazy!! (by Stephan)

This past weekend we brought a new kitten home for Samantha!  She has been wanting one really bad so we told her for her birthday (November 1st) that she could have one.  Of course once that was decided, it was all over, Amanda was on Craigslist searching all over the triangle for the "perfect" one.  We found him, according to her, and brought him home.  Sam is so proud of her new kitten and even named him Max.  For those who have known us for a while will know that when we first got married we had a cat named Max who died.  But Sam loves to listen to bed time stories about past pets so that's why we have Max Jr. now.  He is a orange tabby and only about 6 weeks old.  I will try to get a pic of him up soon.  

Life goes on with it's interesting twists and turns.  Hunter is doing way better and is much more delightful to be around now.  I saw that Amanda mentioned that I am 30 now, yes I am an old man according to her!  We went out to dinner with a few friends and that was about it.  Birthdays are not that exciting when you get old!   Graeme tells me that I am actually a 45 year old stuck in a 30 year old's body.  I promptly told him that he is a 16 year old stuck in a 25 year old's body, we called it even!  The funny thing is for those who know me fairly well they will tell you that Graeme is pretty much right on, oh well!  


We did get some fall pics taken of the kids, I will post more online and send invites to those who want to see them.  Peace for now, more to come later.





 

My Apologies!

Man I was so proud of myself for posting to our blog and then I see it has been almost a month! Not only that but Im posting at work so I don't have any new pictures! Which honestly is my favorite part of blogs. As for news Hunter is now a much happier baby. He smiles all the time and loves to talk. Still working on the sleeping but it has greatly improved. Samantha was given some Strawberry Chapstick by her Granny Gail. She call's it her Strawberry Shortcake Chapstick. She carries it everywhere. The funny thing is you would think she has had an allergic reaction to it because she always has her lips puckered but she is just really proud of it. She walks around with her lips puckered and even talks to us with them puckered it's pretty funny.
We celebrated Stephan's 30th birthday! He's an old man! The kids were supposed to spend the night at Mimi's to give us a break but an hour before we were supposed to take them to her house and head to dinner Samantha Barfed all over me. It was quite the fiasco. Mimi ended up coming over to our house and watching the kids while we went to dinner with some friends and then we came home to be with Samantha who of course claimed she was all better and needed some chocolate. We sure are greatful we have family that is willing to help us out like that. Im working on pictures and will have some news ones on soon!

The Time has Come!!!

Well the time has come for me AMANDA to write something in our BLOG.  I feel as though I have been in a dream (or Nightmare) for the last 11 months.  My pregnancy was not fun I was sick all 9 months and huge.  Then Hunter was born with a feisty spirit and we will leave it at that!  We have been really blessed to have family near by and family visit. It has been a big help.  Our ward was also awesome bringing us meals for a week!  I finally feel that things are coming together.  Hunter is sleeping more and crying less and I am starting to get the hang of 2 kids.  I wish I could get the hang of housework along with that!  But that will come with time.  Thank you to everyone for your kind comments on our Blog.  I love to read them. 
As for my perspective on Hunter he is Stephan through and through!  He looks like him and will definilty have the same personality as him.  So Sam is my Mini-me and Hunter is Stephan's!  It's pretty funny.  Hunter greeted me with a big smile this morning and started talking to me.  It sure is rewarding after so many sleepless nights.  Samantha is my little helper and my little love bug.  She always says "Oh Mom!  You need Hug? Sam make you happy mom!  Snuggles?"  It's pretty cute.  So hopefully things will continue to improve and I will be able to update our blog more often!  Love to all!!!!

Getting the hang of two!

So Samantha loves her new brother as you can tell! Having two kids has proven to be quite the challenge but we are already seeing the blessings. Plus, when you have cute kids, it makes it a little easier! Amanda is a trooper with them. She is a good mom and has the patience that I don't have. Good thing too since Hunter had reflux and Sam was already a "mama's girl" before Hunter came a long. Yeah, you can imagine how needy she is being...well multiply that by 2 and you will be pretty close to accurate to what's going on.

Welcome Hunter!

Finally, Hunter has arrived! He was born July 7th, weighing in at 9lbs 3oz. He had a few little complications so he spent 12 hrs in the NICU but he is fine now. Amanda is recovering well from the surgery and is up and about trying to get back to normal life. We are ever so thankful to have Hunter and that there were no major complications. A thanks for everyone's prayers and support.

So now that we are home, it has been an eye-opening experience in adding another kid to the mix. Samantha is very good with him but feels the lack of attention that she is used to getting. It will take some work, and that is the hard part. I like to call them "family growing pains". I think that sums it up for now. More to come later...

About two weeks and counting!

As Amanda grows closer (no pun intended) to her due date, she is even more ready to have this be over with and be able to enjoy our new son! We are about as ready as we will ever be so anytime is good for us. I guess it's just up to Hunter now to decide when he wants to come. Samantha picked out a little toy cow for me for Father's Day. I say that she was thinking selfless when she picked that one out! Sam gets bigger and bigger and continues to astound us at the things she says. We love her and can't remember what life was like before her! Especially when she tells us "No" all the time (saying that sarcastically)!

On the NC front, we are getting more used to being here now. We have enjoyed spring time, the greens and trees are spectacular here. We are grateful for the friendships we have made here and look forward to more time here with them. And a persoal note, finally had the chance to try out Golf for my first time, boy was it fun! I may be a fan, now I just need to work on getting a set of clubs.

I will try my best to keep this updated as we get closer to Hunter's arrival. And of course there will be more pics when he is born!

Nesting...getting ready for Hunter!

So I titled this post "Nesting" because that is what Amanda has been going through this past week. I must say, it has been nice. Anyone that knows Amanda knows that housekeeping is not one of her most favorite things to do so I am enjoying while I can! We are definitely feeling the "baby buzz" around the house. Amanda has been working hard at going through all of Hunter's clothes and organizing everything. There is really baby stuff everywhere. Amanda is hoping that Hunter comes early. We are praying that everything goes smoothly with the birth as Amanda had to have a "C'-section last time. We'll see how it goes...

Samantha continues to grow and astound us with the things that she says and does! As you can see from the video below, she loves music and loves to dance. We have tried to expose her to different types of music while she is young; we both believe that music plays an important part in the Gospel and in loving life.

We are ever so grateful to be parents and are excited to welcome Hunter into our home. More postings to come later!

April 15th come and gone, glad it's finally over!

So April 15th has come and passed...and I made it! We have had a busy month with Amanda being in California and my self going to Kansas to drive my Grandma out here to North Carolina. Finally, we are able to have a breather and get back to life as we know it. We even took a quick escape to the beach for some well needed down time.
Our next event is Hunter (July 4th), and preparing for him is our task at hand. So along with rearranging furniture and scouring Craigslist for baby stuff, we are doing pretty good. Samantha is getting to be more like a regular kid, that is in giving her parents a hard time! I always think how we are going to do with two of them but I guess you rise the occasion and do what needs to be done. Amanda has had a hard time being pregnant this time around. It has made her rethink the 5 kids idea!
I was telling one of Amanda's cousins sometime I still feel like I am 21. It's hard to imagine me having two kids and being the family man, kind of surreal. We are really enjoying the spring here in NC, lots of flowers, lots of green, and no humidity yet!
We hope everyone is doing well. I am still trying to get Amanda to take over and make some entries, no luck yet but maybe one day!

A can see a light at the end of the tunnel!

Ok, I have almost made it all the way through tax season, only one week to go! Amanda & Samantha leave for California tomorrow so I will be alone to battle out the last week by my self. It is probably better that way so that I don't feel guilty for not being at home with my family. I have to say tax season has been a learning experience for both Amanda and I.
Amanda is growing larger every day! She swears that Hunter is going to be a big boy, I don't know why she would think that! We are experiencing new antics from Sam. We are learning how to be good parents as we go and Sam is excellent training for future kids. Bye for now, hope all is well, I will write more later, probably after tax season is over.

A new additon!

As of March 15th, we have a new addition to our family...Erick & Lindsey had their little girl, Kaylie Ann!! We are excited to meet her and for Sam to get to know her cousin. Sorry, no pictures as of yet!

On the home front, Tax season goes on, only three more weeks. I have to say that it has been a whole new experience for me. It has been a good one though.

Happy Leap Year!

So once every 4 years we have this day to make up that extra 1/4 of a day every year and I must say that I never remember until the day of.  Amanda wished her sister Lindsey (who is way pregnant) would have her little girl today! 

Tax season is progressing, we're almost half done.  I have to say that I expected worse, but March could still prove to deliver the worst.  By the end of it, I will not want to hear about 1040's and 1120's for awhile.  Amanda continues in her pregnancy and mentions that Hunter is kicking all the time.  We are very anxious for him to get here. 

As always, we try to remember what the Lord has blessed us with and be thankful for what have.  I should be posting some pictures next time around.

It's a Boy!

Hello to family and friends! We are pleased to announce that this past Friday, we learned that our new baby is going to be a boy! If nothing changes between now and then, we are going to name him Hunter Elijah. We are very excited to welcome him into our family and to experience the joys of parenthood again. Amanda says: "what am I supposed to do with a boy?"! We look forward to the challenges and joys that come along with a little boy.

Tax season is going full steam ahead now. Long hours leave me with little time and energy to do little else but work, but I am grateful for this experience. Amanda has finally said good bye to mornings sickness and feels tons better. She is relieved to be able to function normally (within reason) again and be actively engaged in life's activities.

We plan to keep everyone posted as time goes on and we hope all is well with friends and family.

New video of Samantha!

Check out our new video of Samantha...

The calm before the storm...

With tax season coming up we are bracing our selves for a busy next couple of months. This past week, Sam was sick, hence the bowl and sheet on the sofa in the pic! However, as you can see she is still in good spirits after being sick. Amanda is still feeling the pains of pregnancy, although it is starting to taper off for her. We are anxious to meet the new member of our family and experience being parents of two! We are finally starting to feel settled here in North Carolina and getting into the "groove" of things. More to come later...

Snow, Snow, Snow!

Ok, so we got some snow, only about an inch, but we are excited because we hardly get snow in this part of North Carolina! Samantha is thrilled to see it as this is the first time that she has ever experienced it. Church was cancelled today because of the ice that froze last night, sacrament meeting is still being held for those who want to brave the roads. I know everyone from Utah is like "yeah right, this is nothing!".

Amanda still continues to be sick but is getting better overall. This week she adventures to a new clinic where we hope to be able to see the sex of the new baby. We hope it's a boy!...

Sad News...

We are sad to announce that my Uncle Mark (Shown in this picture) passed away early Saturday morning. He was only 46 and we know that it was complications from his Pancreatitis. Our thoughts and prayers are with my Nana (Grandma) who shared his house with him. We are thankful for God's plan of salvation and the Gospel to give some feelings of comfort during this tragic and unexpected loss.

Ringing in 2008!

The new year is here and we look forward to lots of changes this year. Of course many of you know that we are expecting our 2nd baby, that in of it's self, is probably the biggest thing we look forward to this year. We also look forward to see what the new year brings us living in North Carolina and as I further my career in public accounting.

Living here thus far has been a challenge, especially for Amanda as this being her first time away from the west coast. It is finally starting to feel like home though as we are getting all our pictures on the wall and accumulating more furniture. It has been a blessing to have my family close by to help with Samantha has Amanda has been very sick this pregnancy. I am trying to get Amanda to take over the blog as I will not have time soon due to tax season fast approaching. Hope everyone is well and we miss those who don't we get to see often.