This is what happens when parents are too soft . . .

1) Mom was willing to pay $3.00 at DI for a 2 foot plastic penguin when Lucy fell in love with it.
2) Dad was willing to let her take it to bed with her.
*I really thought she'd play with it for a few days and we could donate the ugly thing back to DI. Turns out, she loves it and we're stuck with it.*

Who's your Daddy?

Lucy was asked in a very silly manner: "Who's your Daddy?"
Lucy's innocent response: "Marc"

I could not stop laughing . . .

...When I was taking these pictures today of my baby boy's bum crack . . .

LDS First Presidency calls on members to help with Haiti relief

Find out how here

The Tudents!

Marc serves in a BYU Single's Ward and in an effort to get the young men to take the young ladies out, we have implemented "Steed Dating". The concept is simple: Sister Steed (me) makes a yummy dessert and all are invited to come partake. Your ticket in the door; bring a date from someone in the ward.
It has turned in to a very enjoyable tradition for our family and Lucy really enjoys it when the "tudents" come over. The boy holding her up is Charlie and I am quite certain she has a crush on him.

All Aboard!

We had such a fun time touring the Heber Creeper. You can actually take a 90 minute ride on the train, but I didn't think Lucy's attention span would last that long so I asked if we could just look around. They were so accommodating and even let us get on the train and look all around.

The men checking things out . . .

Our two little ones sitting on a real train. Lucy really liked the idea of being on a train.

We had it all to ourselves. I kind of felt like we were famous ;)

The family in front of a steam engine. These are apparently very rare and very expensive to repair. (And do you love how I coordinated my outfit to match the engine?)

Then Marc got a real treat when the engineer offered to take him on a personal tour of the machine shop where they repair all the engines.

It was a very fun adventure.

"My love her"

Lucy as my Mom was driving away today:
"That was fun. She is so fun."

My name is David . . .

I REALLY like to jump. Mommy says she is not surprised after how much I moved when I was in her tummy . . .
I like to eat my socks. Mommy has a hard time keeping them on my feet because I pull them off as soon as I get the chance.
I like to eat. Mommy says she does not feel like she can ever keep enough food in me.
Like I said, I like to eat. Mommy keeps trying to read these books to me, but I prefer to eat them.
I have never known what you are supposed to do with one of these pacifiers.
Pretty much I am one awesome little happy baby boy.

Hush little baby . . .

This video is so cute! David helped me with the taping so beware it's a bit shaky! You can also view it here.

15 hours in Portland!!!

At 12:30pm last Saturday I gave each member of my sweet family a kiss and headed out to catch my plane to Portland for Amber's reception and to see my second family, The Stahr's. Marc was so great to keep the kids and he even left me little love notes to find all throughout my trip.
I was literally only there for 15 hours, but I wanted to see as many people as I could. Tracey picked me up from the airport and since my flight was delayed, we had about 38 minutes to visit. But it was so fun to see her and her little boy.
Amber & Richies' reception was such a party! It was at The Benson Hotel (fancy), the band was incredible and the food was amazing! They looked so happy.
The Hunsakers with Brother Stahr standing in-between them. I grew up with their children. Such good people.
Rachel and me with our sexy shoes on. This little lady was 2 1/2 when my family first moved to Portland. She has turned into one beautiful young lady.
My very best friend in the whole while world!!! I know that must sound childish to say, but Rebecca and I got one another an engraved picture frame when we graduated high school that read: "Friends Eternal Apart or Together" and it has remained so TRUE!!! I love, love, love her!
Sister Stahr, I always feel loved when I am in her presence. She is so fun and she definitely knows how to throw a party!
Dagny, I used to babysit this hot chick! She is now 27!!! How and when did that happen? I feel OLD!
That young lady to the right is Georgia. She was our Young Woman's Adviser and we had so much fun with her and all of her sass!
Matthew and Jessica Taylor. I had not seen them in years and they look great. Matthew is now a Doctor, they have four beautiful girls and their oldest just got baptized. Yep, we are all growing up!
Little brother, Andrew. This guy will always hold a special place in my heart. I am always ready to hear one of his stories or views on life.
And our little Baby Stahr, Laurel. She was 6 months old when I first met her. This 20 year-old is gorgeous! We had so much talking through the night with her.
The Ladies' After Party! We high-jacked Kathryn from her family and stayed up way late for this group of Moms. We had a blast talking about girl things and laughing our pants off. Emily (far left) kept the conversation spicy and no shocker that Rebecca feel asleep mid-conversation (I promised not to post the close up picture).
I caught my plane the next morning and headed back to my dear family. I was back home by 1:15pm on Sunday! I came home to my amazing husband who: bought and installed a new stove, did a load of laundry, washed the dishes, cleaned the house and kept the children happy, fed and bathed all in the 24 hours I was gone. He is incredible! It was a wonderful adventure! (Oh and I was so ready to nurse David by the time I got back) ;)

Names have been changed to protect the innocent:

I just had to write this story down regarding my co-workers. Let me preface it by saying I work at a VERY conservative University and most of my colleagues are a good 10 plus years older than me:

Being that we are professors working constantly with young college-age adults, we tend to try to keep up with the latest fads. At a recent faculty meeting Professor Taylor was throwing out various texting terms such as, "LOL" and "TMI" at different parts of our meeting. His comments were often followed by laughter and at least one other professor asking what his latest set of initials meant.

The meeting continued and we were discussing a program several schools were using that we didn't feel they should be following. You could even say we were somewhat disgusted that this was happening in our schools. At which point Professor Taylor proclaims, "WTF". Myself and another younger professor gasped. Professor Taylor then said as innocently as could be, "Waiting To Fail".

Our gasps did not go unheard and we ended up having to very carefully explain why, "WTF" should probably never be used again in our setting. I love my job.

Cute things . . .

(What happens when Dad has to work late)

1) Lucy seeing Elmo at the library puppet show: "It's Elmo Mommy! I love him."

2) Lucy: "Mom, Dad you see the clouds?"
Us: "Yes, we see them."
Lucy: "I love the clouds." (she's got some of my Portland blood running through her).

3) Lucy to several complete strangers in the past week: "And what's your name?"

4) Lucy: "Mommy put that cute baby down here so my can play with him."

New Year's Day Sledding

We went to my parents for some fun sledding on New Year's Day. I'm pretty sure Marc and I enjoyed sledding way more than our kids, but at least we exposed them to the joys of of the great outdoors . . .

Marc and David heading down the hill. David would shake his arms and kick his feet as we went down

3 generations of ladies who like to have a good time . . .

Grandpa was good to entertain David while we played. At one point I am pretty sure I saw him feeding David snow off the hood of his truck. Oh well, I guess he's learning how to be a man . . .

Happy 2010!

New Year's

For New Year's Eve we went with our friends to a rock climbing gym. We tried to act like we knew what we were doing.

David enjoyed checking things out . . .

David is always so smiley-we love it!

Lucy had a blast running around with her little buddy, Zander

The pinata was fascinating to Lucy, but she didn't like it when the horse came back towards her after she hit it.
The next morning we all got to open a red envelope with a special treat inside (a tradition I picked up while living in Taiwan).
Then we were off to my parents for a little sledding (pictures to come) . . .

Top Ten for 2009

1) We had a son
2) We went to Disneyland
3) We went to Bryce Canyon
4) We went to Albany and everything worked out well
5) We got bikes and a bike trailer to have all sorts of adventures with
6) We paid off some serious debts
7) Lucy went to nursery
8) Lucy started walking
9) We got the playhouse
10) Veggie shakes and boot camp entered our lives