straw maze

Broulims, our local grocery store, set up a little straw maze in the edge of their parking lot, so last night we went over there to take some fall pics of the kids. Turns out Ayana is kind of a wimp and is scared of almost all the halloween decorations, but that is okay. She seemed to think it was pretty cool anyway and it was a fun little activity. We also got some family pictures taken yesterday, but both kids were pretty fussy, so we will see if they turn out. Luckily we found a photographer who charges only $5 so even if they don't turn out we won't be out much. I should have them back in about a week and will post any good pics when I get them. I also got a new haircut this week, I like it, but think that in a month or two I will go back and get it shorter. It was kind of an ordeal, first I went to the beauty school and hated the haircut they gave me, so after 2 days of trying to convince myself that it was alright I finally gave up and went to a different salon. She didn't really cut it how I wanted either, but it is much, much better and she gave me some nice highlights. I am sure when I get the family pics back you will be able to see the cut better. Here are some pics of our straw maze adventure!

Creations

So I am so pleased with myself because I recently undertook my first attempt at reupholstery and I think it was a success! Nothing terribly difficult, and I am sure that many of you could have done a better job, but it makes me feel so accomplished, here are some pics

They used to have off white cushions and while they were nice when we first got them 4 years ago they were definitely showing wear and tear, especially from our crazy 2 year old. Reupholstering them almost makes me feel like I have whole new chairs!

While I am at it, here are some pictures of a bow holder I made for all Ayana's hair bows a couple months ago. Again, it was super easy but I think it turned out really cute and it is so nice to have them organized and all in the same place. My current project is a Minkee quilt for Asher (first attempt at machine quilting-wish me luck) then on to his Christmas Stocking!

Elder Oaks on Religious Freedom and Mormon Messages

Elder Dallin H Oaks recently spoke at a BYU-Idaho devotional. I have read his talk several times now and think that what he has is very important and can help each us figure out what our role is in protecting our religious freedoms. If you are interested in reading this talk, you can find it here this is a news briefing about the talk that you can link to the entire talk from. Hope it gives you some food for thought!

While I am on that vein, have all of you seen the Mormon Messages channel on youtube? I hope so, I just love it. It is a site with a number of short video clips produced by the church. They are so uplifting and inspiring, taking the few minutes to watch one every now and then always puts my life back in perspective and makes my vision a little clearer. If you would like to check them out, click here.

Reunion Pics at long last

So it's been a couple months, but I finally got a copy of all the reunion pictures on CD and had a chance to put some up here. It was so much fun to see all the family. As you can see there were a LOT of kids, a little crazy but a lot of fun. Enjoy the pics.

Way to go Idaho!

Hey Mom, I think this bib is a little big!

All is well here, glad it is the weekend and I can get sleep and spend some time with my husband again. This week was spud harvest, which means they give all the kids a break from school so they can help harvest potatoes. Obviously it doesn't affect me much, but it makes me chuckle every time I think about it. Idaho, and particularly Rexburg, is such a farm town. I remember in the fourth of July parade there was choreographed Tractor and lawn mower driving. Sure is an interesting place. But I actually really like it here, it is a very family oriented place where they always welcome kids and have lots of fun places and activities for them. Ayana is finally starting to put words together. We still don't understand 85% of what comes out of her mouth, but she's getting there. She is such a sweet girl, the other day I swallowed wrong and started coughing, and she kept saying "you okay?" over and over while looking at me with those big eyes of hers. Also for the first time a few weeks ago, she said "I love you too" I am sure that you guys probably remember when that happened with your kids, it definitely melts your heart. Asher is getting happier every day. He loves to smile and laugh. He especially loves when Trever sings to him. We recently got the jumperoo out of storage and he seems to really enjoy that, as long as we stay close and help him jump in it. I sure am a lucky person, I have a great family and life. I look forward to the day when I average more than 3 hours of sleep a day, but other than that, my life couldn't be much better!

A couple new pics of our adorable Asher man

I am still working on getting some pictures from the photographer at the reunion up on here, but here are a couple of pictures of our adorable little man to hold you over until I do.

Update on the Stewart Family life

Hello all, Sorry it has been so long since I have posted. Life has been busy for us here in little Rexburg. Since the last post we had a wonderful visit from Trever's Dad and his wife, it was so fun to spend time with them. Also we moved to a new apartment, it is tiny, but nice. Also it is A LOT cheaper than the last place so that will be nice. Our goal is to graduate from college debt free, which means paying off our current debt as well as not getting any student loans or anything, so cheaper rent will make that easier to accomplish. I am always shocked when people graduate with 10 or 20 thousand dollars of debt. Although, Trever's books for this semester cost $680, so maybe it is understandable after all. The kiddos are doing fabulous. We are lucky to have such good kids that adjust well to change. Ayana is so fun and adorable, she is always coming up with new things to do and ways to entertain her parents. She is still pretty slow in talking, but I can hardly wait to hear what pearls of wisdom she will share when she starts using real words we can understand. She is a shoe fanatic, she loves putting on her shoes and wearing them around and anytime we go to a store with shoes she gets so excited and you literally have to drag her away from the shoe section! We just found out that she is like her dad and is missing her later incisor teeth, I have been wondering why she has so many fewer teeth than her peers, but that explains it. It is not something to worry about now, but guarantees us a future of expensive dental work, and it is likely the other kids will be missing the same teeth as well. Oh well, that's life. Asher is growing like crazy as babies do, we got him one of those bumbo chairs that helps young babies like him sit up and he seems to enjoy that. He is also pretty good now at rolling over. He is a very smiley baby, and very cuddly, he wants to be held all the time (which makes it hard to cook and clean, but that's okay) He always seems to save his biggest smiles for Ayana and she always has a kiss for Asher and loves to share her toys with him. He especially loves when we sing to him. Trever is back in school again and so far things are going well. It is going to be a tough semester with lots of hard classes, but he is smart and I am sure he will do well. He just had an eye surgery this week to help with his glaucoma, hopefully it will keep the pressures down for a year or two anyway, we'll see. For me it is pretty much same old, same old, just working and hanging out with the family and trying to squeeze in the sleep where I can. I had another one of those moments where you wonder when you became who you are today. We just bought a washer and dryer that will be delivered today and I am so excited to get them and to own my own washer and dryer. I remember when I told Trever that I would never ever be excited about an appliance or anything that represented housework. Funny how we change and grow. I had a wonderful birthday, I asked for only money so I could get some new clothes and Trever found a babysitter for the kids and just the two of us spent a day shopping and went out to dinner, it was a lot of fun and I got some new cute clothes too. In other exciting news, since my last post I have 2 new nephews! Congrats to Shannon and Yvonne. That's life in the Stewart house!