Streeter Family

2010-05-28T16:08:00.002-05:00

So I couple of weeks ago I posted on FB that colored recipe cards saved my life and I have decided to explain here. Two of Dallin's teachers have had a color coded system in their classes to let the kids know how their behavior is for the day. Green=good, yellow=warning and so on. Well I have finally put this in to practice at home and it has been AMAZING. I went a little further though because I wanted to encourage better behavior and not just be happy with good, so the boys can earn a purple card which means that they have done something to help me or they have been playing together well or whatever I decide is "purple card" worthy behavior. The boys really love earning their purple cards and if one of them earns it then the other wants a job to do to earn a purple card too. All it took was a piece of printer paper that I folded to make an envelope to hold their cards and they each have a set of colored recipe cards. They get to start the day on green which means good, then yellow is their warning, blue is time out and then pink is another punishment suited to the "crime" committed and of course the coveted purple card. I was feeling like I was constantly yelling with no results prior to starting this and immediately it worked to stop a lot of yelling. Dallin especially likes the feedback to know how his behavior is for the day/moment. It might just be because he is already used to it from school. I started to wonder if the boys would want more than just a purple card for the good behavior (i.e. treats, prizes), but they really seem to take pride in knowing that they are doing good and don't require anything more than just that good feeling which is such a great lesson.

2010-05-19T23:39:00.002-05:00

Well for those of you that know about Jared's heart condition, part of his follow-up care is yearly CT scans to check up on the repair work he had done in 2007. Jared had his CT scan in March and last Friday May 14 we meet with a vascular surgeon to discuss the results. The good news is that Jared doesn't have to immediate surgery, the bad news is that he will need more surgery in 6-12 months and it will be BIG and COMPLICATED! Once he has the surgery it will probably involve a heart surgeon and vascular surgeon. Apparently Jared has some kind of undetermined condition that is causing a dissection along the entire length of his aorta and in the arteries above his heart. The easiest way to explain what it means is that the inner most layer of his aorta has pulled away from the middle muscular layer creating two pathways for blood flow. The good news is that his internal organs are receiving adequate blood flow. The bad news is that the blood flowing toward the middle muscular layer is dilating his arteries and weakening them. This dilation and weakening of the arteries leaves him susceptible to aneurysms which is life threating if they burst. Most people have an aorta 1 inch in diameter Jared's is about 2 inches. Please keep us in your prayers. The surgeon said Jared has youth on his side since when they normally do this kind of surgery it is on someone twice his age, but we are still scared and uncertain as to what the future looks like for our family.

2010-03-21T10:54:00.002-05:00

The boys got the Jazz Bear and the Jazz player's autograph on this poster. Notice Dallin was sure to use plenty of tape to make sure it didn't fall off the wall!
This is Dallin with his teacher Mr. Davis from Silvercrest Elementary. Spencer was in Mr. Davis's class also so it was great to have him come and suppport this great cause. All the kids really love Mr. Davis, when he arrived you would have thought a rock star was at the fundraiser. Since Anna is so bald people asked me if she had shaved her head too, I just told them she is refusing to grow hair in support of Spencer! You will notice that there is a bounce house in the background. It was an amazing event. I could not believe how many businesses were willing to help by donating stuff like all the catering and items for the silent auction. The fundraiser was even on the Channel 2 news last night and they reported that the event had raised over $10,000! It was amazing to see what the people in our ward could do to help this great family.
Here are Dallin, Nathan (my little bro) and Andrew posing at home with their Team Super Spence T-shirts. Nathan and Andrew were not ready to take the plunge and shave their heads for Spencer. I am so proud of Dallin and that he put his friend before his vanity!

2010-03-20T23:12:00.002-05:00

Here is that last pic of Dallin with hair! The boys posing with Jazz player Wesley Matthews, he was kind enough to come to the fundraiser and sign autographs for the kids. Dallin even wore his hair in a mohawk Spencer Gooch style prior to getting his head shaved.

This is the helicopter that the Jazz player and the Jazz Bear arrived in for the fundraiser. The boys didn't have the patience to wait in line for the Jazz Bear after waiting in line for the Jazz player.

2010-02-18T00:52:00.002-05:00

Apparently all pics are posting in opposite order they are chosen. Okay so this is AFTER the baptism at the luncheon with cousins. Dallin is opening some belated birthday gifts from family.
Jared with Andrew and Dallin before the baptism.
What cute brothers.
Dallin with Uncle Spencer.

2010-02-18T00:23:00.002-05:00

Here are pics from Dallin's friend party. The kids had fun decorating cupcakes, much easier for me too!
Dallin got a lot of new toys from his friends and had a great night celebrating with his friends.

2010-02-17T23:14:00.003-05:00

Okay so these pics were posted totally out of order, but you get the idea this is Dallin's birthday party at home. He was a little disappointed you could tell with the gifts because nothing was really "cool" to an eight year old (clothes and books and scriptures). We knew he would get toys from the friend birthday party so we weren't too worried about him going without and really Christmas was just a month ago how many toys does one kid need?!
Anna being such a good helper!
Dallin loves getting gift cards, he even loves just having one even if it doesn't have any money on it. This one does though, courtesy of Great Grandma Gloria (my mom's mom).
The books "The 39 Clues" were recommended to us by a girl in Dallin's class at the school book fair. She loves them. I am REALLY trying to get Dallin interested in reading chapter books instead of picture books. So far not having too much luck. We are reading these at bedtime, but I am reading them to him. So far I like them we will see how he feels about them later so far it is hard to tell.

2010-02-17T13:27:00.002-05:00

Those that know me well know that I have high expectations; for myself, my kids, how clean my home is, my cooking, the holidays, just about everything. Well having a son with ADHD, ODD, and his therapist thinks some kind of mental processing problem (along the lines of Aspberger's syndrome) has a tendency to dash and sometimes destroy these expectations leaving me feeling frustrated (read: angry) and sometimes not as kind to him as I should be (read: yells A LOT). ADHD impacts every interaction you have with your child from the moment they get up or won't get up, to getting dressed for school or won't get dressed for school, eating breakfast, brushing teeth or not brushing teeth to finding their backpack and homework or ... well you get the idea. It impacts every interaction your child has with other children at school, sometimes these are not as good as they could be. Because of this I have often had a mental pity party (read: more than I should have) for myself when I see the way I "expected" things to be for me with other mothers and children. I also feel bad for Dallin when I see other kids having friendships that are how I "expected" things to be for my kids as they got older and had friends. Well my perspective on how things are "expected" to go has changed this month because of a friend of Dallin's at church and school that was diagnosed with a brain tumor and began chemotherapy yesterday at the tender age of 7. This family in our ward is going through something I am sure they never "expected" to happen to their son Spencer and yet they are handling it in the most amazing way. Holly, Spencer's mom even has the time and energy to blog about their journey through this experience. How she finds the time and emotional energy (she has two other kids) to be a mom, be up at Primary Children's with Spencer, be a wife and find time to do all the other things that life requires of us is beyond me. When Jared went through his heart surgery I felt like I was walking through a thick fog most of the time so how she can think clearly enough to write about and take pictures to document this is beyond me. I am posting a link on my blog to hers if you would like to follow along. Caution you will need tissues. LOTS!

2010-01-24T00:58:00.002-05:00

Well these pics posted in the opposite order. Above is the end of her cupcake. She was so upset when it fell apart she wouldn't eat any more. She was so dainty eating it she is the only one of my kids that didn't required a bath after their first birthday.

2010-01-24T00:49:00.002-05:00

Anna got this cute little stroller from Uncle Spencer, Aunt Tawny and Uncle Mike and Aunt Stephanie. She loves to push it around. So do the boys. As you can see above the baby doll has not been behaving.

2010-01-24T00:36:00.002-05:00

Jared and Dallin enjoying some Rockband time together Christmas morning. Jared wants to be a drummer so bad, but the boys always want to drum too.
The boys opening their Wii.
Anna and her new pink shoes. I love having all this fun girly stuff1

2010-01-23T19:48:00.002-05:00

Andrew loved his army underwear.
Daddy and Anna enjoying Christmas.

2010-01-23T19:43:00.000-05:00

One of Anna's favorite pastimes!

2010-01-23T19:28:00.004-05:00

This girl has so much personality. She is a blast to have. Something chocolate is all over her face!

Here are my goblins on Halloween. I made Anna's tutu all by myself, I am so proud.

2009-10-05T23:43:00.002-05:00

Anna smiling, she is so cute!

Anna and Andrew

Dallin and one of the many bugs he has found.

2009-10-05T23:21:00.002-05:00

Dallin took this picture of us on a bridge over the Jordan River.

Dallin on the tire swing at Spencer and Tawny's reception. This backyard had everything a kid could want; tire swing, pond with fish, fire pit, and a chicken coop. Andrew fed the chickens some apples that had fallen off a tree and he thought he was being so helpful.

If you have a Facebook account I apologize for the repeat pic, but I love this picture of Andrew flashing his own little preschool gang sign!

I like this pic of Anna and me together, just wish she was smiling, but she had just woken up so I can't expect too much from her.

Spencer and Tawny with all the nieces and nephews. I think all but one belong to the Streeters!

2009-10-05T23:00:00.001-05:00

Anna and I had matching toes for Spencer and Tawny's wedding. I hope she grows up to appreciate pedicures as much as I do!

Grandpa Streeter took the boys fishing again this year and they loved it. We cooked up the trout for dinner the other night and it was delicious. Andrew could have eaten all of it himself!

Anna sporting Mom's sunglasses. Hollywood here I come!

2009-10-04T22:27:00.010-05:00

In July we had a big wind storm that filled the neighborhood with tumble weeds and the boys collected them all and filled the back patio with them. They had a blast collecting them not so much fun 3 days later when they all had to be removed.
Dallin saw a picture of these strawberry mice at Harmon's grocery store and really wanted to make them one afternoon. They were delicious!

We spent the day at Pineview with the kids and Steph and Grandma Streeter. The boys had a blast trying to catch minnows all day, which would then be promptly killed by two little boys that can't leave things alone.

2009-10-04T22:19:00.002-05:00

We took the boys hiking up Adams Canyon for four hours one day in July and they still were not worn out when we got home. Anna was such a good baby just hanging out in the carrier and slept a little bit too.

2009-06-22T00:22:00.002-05:00

This picture sums up Anna's feelings about infant cereal. She never liked it, ever. I was beginning to fear that solid foods were not in our near future until we tried squash tonight.
Anna loved it!!!
This is her grabbing Jared's arm to get the food into her mouth faster. Notice the pinched flesh on his hand.

2009-06-22T00:08:00.002-05:00

What beautiful blue eyes!
Beautiful smile too.
All eleven grandchildren.
The three newest additions to the grandchildren, Owen Belnap, Noah Martinez, Anna Streeter.

2009-06-21T23:45:00.001-05:00

Anna dressed in her Sunday best.
Yummy!!!!

2009-04-05T23:25:00.005-05:00

These are our beautiful kids on Anna's

blessing day, March 29. Aunt Kimmie made her bow, so cute.

Thanks to Ikea and Grandma Pennington the boys have new bunk beds and they love them.

Apparently we like to line our children up youngest to oldest from left to right since that is how we arranged them on the blessing day also. These are pictures from Andrew's birthday, April 5.

I decided to try "ice cream cone" cupcakes for Andrew's birthday. They did not work out as well as I had hoped, but the boys still thought they were fun.

Dallin with his sunburned cheeks and his little brother.

2009-03-02T01:21:00.004-05:00

Here are a few pictures we took tonight. Anna had her 2 month appointment the other day. She is 11 pounds 5 oz. And 23 inches long. She is such an easy, happy baby. She is starting to smile and she likes to "talk" Its so much fun !

2009-02-03T12:25:00.000-05:00

2009-02-03T12:16:00.001-05:00

2008-12-30T16:42:00.000-05:00

2008-12-30T16:37:00.001-05:00

2008-12-29T13:44:00.002-05:00

Laura is doing well, just really tired. She went into labor Sunday around 1:30 but the contractions were consistently 10/20 minutes apart all day until about 9:30 that night, when the contractions started to come on faster and stronger. Anna decided at that point that she was ready to come out and see the world. She Doesnt know what she is in for with 2 big brothers :)

2008-12-29T13:22:00.002-05:00

Anna Kristine Streeter was born Dec 29th at 1:11 am. She weighed 7 lbs 7 oz. She was 20.5 inches

2008-11-28T19:33:00.002-05:00

Ok, so it has been marathon blogging to catch up the last two days. But I think I have finally covered the last few months. Some of the pics are not in the places that I wanted them to be, but at this point I just want to be done, you get the idea. The descriptions of the events has been brief, I apologize, but once again I just want to be done. Now I know Christmas is coming up and people will probably want to see pics right away, but I am warning you right now, I will be having a baby at that same time so I may need to pass along blogging responsibilities to Jared. He is probably going to have to do it anyway for those that are anxious to see pics of the new baby.

2008-11-28T17:50:00.002-05:00

Dallin and Andrew enjoying a beautiful fall day in Grandpa and Grandma Streeter's backyard.

Jared thinks he is sooo funny! I actually did laugh at this because Jared loves candy so much it is more like his holiday than the boys.

2008-11-28T17:34:00.002-05:00

Oops! These pumpkin pics should have been included in the pumpkin carving section. That's what I get for trying to cook, blog, and watch the boys at the same time. By the way, the very red headed boy is my brother, Nathan.

Dallin and some of his first grade class modeling their glasses from Miss Benson.

2008-11-28T17:11:00.002-05:00

Dallin with Miss Benson his teacher at Midas Creek Elementary. She bought these glasses for the whole class as a gift after they performed in the school Halloween program. She is a great teacher and has lots of fun with the kids.

Dallin was chosen from the audience at his school Halloween carnival to help the magician and he loved it.

2008-11-28T16:15:00.002-05:00

Pumpkin Carving

The boys had a lot of fun designing and cleaning out the pumpkins.

2008-11-28T15:46:00.002-05:00

Andrew loves to be silly so he is a sampling of some of his best. I don't remember whether it was Jared's or Andrew's idea to put this on his forehead, but how could we not get a picture of this.

Jared taught Andrew to make the "monkey face" by pulling his ears and sticking his tongue out. It is his classic silly face.

You would think from this sampling of pictures of Andrew that he is so easy to take for professional pictures. Wrong. He never cooperates with the photographer, but I guess they don't encourage silly faces.

2008-11-27T20:56:00.007-05:00

You would think by looking the picture of Andrew on the toilet that it was a success. Oh, you would be soooo wrong. We actually sat in the bathroom for an hour and a half waiting for Andrew to do his business and he is soooooo stubborn he held
it in the whole time.

Enjoying some snuggles with his dad.

2008-11-27T20:38:00.001-05:00

Just a collection of my cute kids dressed in their Sunday best.

2008-11-27T20:29:00.001-05:00

Dallin on his first day of first grade. I can't believe he is already in the first grade!

2008-11-27T20:06:00.002-05:00

Could the smiles on the boys faces be any bigger?! I think Grandpa has two future fishermen for grandsons.

2008-11-27T19:26:00.002-05:00

Grandpa and Grandma Streeter took the boys fishing (if you can call it that, these trout bite hooks baited with leather pellets) in North Ogden and the boys LOVED it. Dallin wanted to go everyday after that.

2008-11-27T19:14:00.002-05:00

Yes I know updating my blog appears to be a semi-annual event so before it is officially 2009 here are some of the events of our life the last few months. Here are the boys enjoying the splash park in Ogden.

2008-09-24T22:49:00.002-05:00

For those of you that checked the blog back on September 15 to find out what we were having, I apologize I had to reschedule the ultrasound. However, your patience has paid off. The ultrasound was this morning and SHE was much more cooperative today. You read right, it's a GIRL! We are so excited. The boys are excited to have a little sister too. My due date is December 30 so I am guessing rather than a white Christmas we will be having a pink Christmas.

2008-08-26T20:49:00.002-05:00

I had my first doctor's appointment yesterday and my ultrasound today and the news is......we don't know. The baby would not cooperate so I have another ultrasound in 3 weeks on Sept. 15. The tech thought it might be a girl because we couldn't see any boy parts from the side and the baby gave us a split second view of something that the tech thought might be girl parts, but we couldn't get a long enough look to be certain. So it could be a girl (or a boy). Check back in 3 weeks for further info.

2008-08-14T11:50:00.002-05:00

This picture is from CA going out for Japanese food with Pat's sister, Michele a.k.a. Aunt Mike. The boys only liked the rice. Surprise, surprise.
Andrew decided to make a hat out of diapers one day. He is so silly, he gets it from his dad.
Sorry this is all the new stuff I have for now. I will add more pics soon.

2008-08-12T09:51:00.002-05:00

Well I have finally decided to let everyone know, I am pregnant. For those of you that are thinking, but wait I thought you were separated from Jared. Yes we are still separated. Jared and I saw each other while visiting family in Utah during Dallin's spring break from his school in CA. For those of you that already knew you may go back to whatever else you were doing, this is old news for you. For those of you that didn't know and are in shock, you may pick your jaw up off the floor now. That has been a pretty standard response to the news, I am used to it now. It is estimated that my due date is the end of December. I have my first doctor's appointment on August 25. NO, I don't know what I am having yet, but everyone else knows I am having a girl. A girl would be great to bring some balance to this heavy male family, both immediate and extended. No offense to the MANY grandsons, two of which are mine. So there it is folks, the only people that should still be in the dark are people who don't check my blog and they probably don't care anyway.

2008-05-17T16:59:00.002-05:00

Is Andrew a Streeter or what?! It has been 100 degrees for the past 4 days so we have been playing out back in the sprinklers to cool off, but Andrew didn't like the feeling of a wet swimsuit so this is how he ran around, naked!

Dallin is pretending his butterfly net is a hobby horse and riding around the backyard. He caught a spider in this container and wanted me to take a pic. Notice his hair is a little shorter, I finally took the clippers to it myself to save some money. Did I do alright Steph? I haven't been able to bring myself to do Andrew's yet.

2008-05-15T01:06:00.003-05:00

Well it is one hour away from being May 15th which is my 9th wedding anniversary, but there is nothing and no one to celebrate with. Jared and I remain separated by much more than just miles which makes me sad in a way that cannot be put into words. It seems so unfair that I am in this situation and so immature of me to have this attitude. It is what it is and I need to deal with it, but how do you deal with it is what I want to know. Some days I think I do pretty good at pretending to be dealing with it, but I just try not to think about it. The boys and I are still planning on heading to Utah once school finishes for Dallin at the end of June. How the boys and I and all our stuff will get there is still to be determined. I hope to get a job and start saving for a place the boys and I can call home rather than the free loading off my parents we have been and will continue to do for the next few months.
There are so many times I ask myself where it (my marriage) all went wrong. What if I had done this? Why couldn't I be more like that? My bishop has advised me that it is counter productive to think this way, I just wish I could tell my brain and heart to stop. Today I read "A Matter of a Few Degrees" by Elder Uchtdorf from the priesthood session of last conference and it was amazing. It seems to me that is what happened. Our relationship some how got a few degrees off course and when we returned to our starting point we were 500 miles apart. Yesterday I read "Daughters of God" by Elder Ballard. This made me laugh and gave me hope. I want to do the best for my kids and be a good example to them and raise them in the gospel to be righteous young men and fathers. I want their measure of success to be great husbands to their wives and be the best fathers and providers for their children that they can be. I hope I am doing that, I feel like I fall short of the mark most days. I am trying more and more to "treasure the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less" as Elder Ballard put it. That is hard for a person who treasures efficiency. Well I had better get to bed since a day full of treasures lies ahead for me.

2008-05-14T15:53:00.002-05:00

I thought I would write a little about the boys because Andrew asked me today " Mom where's my tail?" It made me laugh so much I really wanted to share it with everyone. Andrew is always saying funny things and I rarely write them down so I thought I would at least put them in the blog. Dallin lately is really showing an interest in baseball and now he wants to spend the afternoons in the backyard with me pitching balls to him to practice batting. He can also throw the ball up in the air himself and hit it, but he really prefers to have me pitch it to him. I will try to get some pics of him doing this in the next couple of days and post them.

2008-05-14T15:21:00.002-05:00

This is our new favorite park in Woodland. It is called Ferns park and the boys love it. There is so much to do. These pics only show a small portion of it. It is like tree house and castle rolled into one with towers and stairs and leading up and down and all over.

Andrew fell asleep in this giant swing one afternoon so I just let him take a nap in it.
In addition to all the great toys to play on there is a water play area with rings that spray water and fountains that randomly spray water out similar to the fountains at Gateway in SLC. Dallin plays in the water for hours, but Andrew wants nothing to do with it.

2008-05-14T09:51:00.002-05:00

Here are more pics from Day Out with Thomas. Here is Andrew enjoying the view from the train.
Andrew is in the green car at the end. This is one of the rides set up at the event. Andrew did not like it at all and jumped out after only going around once.

Andrew is modeling his new Thomas PJ's grandma gave him and showing off his special train Grandma bought him at the event. It is a water tanker train that says Day Out with Thomas 2008 and you can't get it in stores so he was pretty excited.

Andrew didn't want to blow out the candles on his cupcake so Dallin and I did it for him. I thought this was such a cute pic of him. Notice his Percy tattoo on his arm, he loved it and even added more "tattoos" to his arms with rubber stamps they had out in the art area.

2008-05-12T13:05:00.002-05:00

Day Out with Thomas!
Andrew's birthday gift from Grandma Pennington was tickets to Day Out with Thomas and he was so excited. There were all sorts of train activities with the highlight being a train ride on Thomas the Tank Engine.
Here we are with a giant Percy train. Percy is Andrew's favorite so he was a little disappointed we couldn't ride on this.

Here are the boys on the train. They are covered train cars with big openings on both sides (no windows) and the boys could stand up and look out and wave to the cars we passed. They had a blast. Notice Andrew is wearing his Thomas shirt of course.

2008-04-14T00:46:00.002-05:00

Here is my first post Utah trip blog. It was great to see so many friends and family, but I think best of all was to see Jared again. The boys loved being with their daddy and that was great. Jared and I had a great time being together again and we are both hopeful to work things out. We will see what time, hard work, prayer and faith can do. Let's all keep our fingers crossed!

2008-03-23T21:51:00.002-05:00

Here are the boys doing our egg hunt at home. Sorry I forgot to rotate this picture of the boys with the baskets. Just tilt your head and you'll get the idea. Hoppy Easter!

Both boys in their church clothes. How handsome are they in their ties?! I love it. Elmo had to come to church with us on Easter. Dallin has the backpack with all the stuff to keep the boys entertained during sacrament if you are wondering what the red straps are. Steph I can't wait until you can cut their hair, they look a little silly with their crazy hair.

2008-03-23T21:20:00.002-05:00

These pictures are from our church Easter Egg Hunt at Pioneer Park in Woodland. The boys were so excited for this activity all week. I think it was all Dallin talked about. It was a great activity with fun games, food and of course we played on the playground.

2008-03-23T20:58:00.002-05:00

March Madness! The other night I put both boys in basketball PJ's totally on accident. I just had to get a picture of the boys in their tribute to March madness. This is mostly for their Dad who is crazy about college hoops!

2008-03-23T20:30:00.001-05:00

Everywhere we go Dallin looks for money, it has reached the point of obsession. However, last week on a stroll around the block Dallin found this dollar on the ground and was so excited. Dallin did find a $10 bill once walking home from the school bus stop so he just might be on to something!

2008-03-10T21:41:00.002-05:00

The boys found some plants in Grandma Pennington's yard that snails really LOVE! So for the last few days we have been snail hunting. These are some of our catch. Escargot anyone?!

2008-03-10T21:33:00.001-05:00

These are old pics from Dec. 1 in Virginia, but I came across them and I just had to add them to the blog. This is why I have not let the boys finger paint since this mess. It took a LONG time to clean up.

2008-03-05T01:31:00.004-05:00

Dallin has really started to have an opinion about what he wears and he likes to pick out his own clothes sometimes. We were going to visit some family friends and he picked out this outfit. He is wearing a striped shirt inside out with sweat pants and you can't tell in the pic, but he has his church shoes on. It was super funny, I wish the pictures really captured how bad this looked.

2008-03-05T00:47:00.002-05:00

Dallin celebrating his birthday in Virginia , Jan. 20, 2008.

Dallin's birthday in Cali. Posing with the presents, Grandma Pennington helping with the cake and candle and just chillin' with Uncle Phil.

2008-01-29T17:52:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone,
Well here is my first post for 2008 and unfortunately it is not a happy message. Jared and I have separated. Jared is still in Virginia working and I am in California with Dallin and Andrew staying at my mother's house. Dallin began his first day of school here at Willow Spring Elementary today. Unfortunately it is only a half day Kindergarten class and he is used to a full day program at Lake Anne. Hopefully I will find a job soon and start saving some money. I would like to go back to Utah once Dallin is done with the school year so we will be working toward that. We attended our new ward this last Sunday and hopefully we will meet some members and make some friends while we are here. I hope 2008 started better for everyone one else. I am now using my own e-mail account, the address is laurastreeter87@yahoo.com. The phone number here at my mom's is 530-661-3631 please feel free to e-mail me or call. I would love to hear from our friends and family.

2007-12-24T15:23:00.000-05:00

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

2007-10-17T15:09:00.000-05:00

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

2007-10-17T14:46:00.000-05:00

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

2007-10-09T20:18:00.001-05:00

This is Dallin's first day of school. He was not nervous at all. When we got to the school he did not want me to walk him to his classroom. He insisted he knew where to go and that he could do it all by himself.
I love this picture of Andrew looking up at his big brother.
Can you tell Dallin did not want his picture taken?
Here is Dallin standing in our "backyard" before we started walking to school. Our neighbor Coretta a.k.a "Auntie" walks Dallin to and from school everyday now with the group of kids she tends after school.

Andrew has a real fashion sense don't you think. You know it's cool not to match anymore. We were going through his clothes for the fall (Dallin's hand me downs) and Andrew just had to put these red shoes on. Never mind the pack and play in the living room, it was Jason's bed while Monica was staying with us.

2007-10-09T19:30:00.000-05:00

Grandma Streeter let the boys take a swim in her tub before we left and they loved it.
I bet you didn't know that once you get to the bottom of the slide you are supposed to eat your shoes! The funny thing is the is not the first time we have seen him chowing down on his flip-flops. EVERYTHING goes into his mouth.

2007-10-09T19:22:00.000-05:00

Dallin playing in the sand volleyball court near Grandma Streeter's house. I think Dallin has a bright future as a plumber, what do you think?
Ah, a rare moment when Dallin and Andrew are actually playing together nicely. I am so glad it was digitally captured as proof.
Jared, Andrew and Isaac admiring the kittens at Uncle Mark's in Idaho.
Dallin and our nephew Ethan climbing on the monkey bars. Can you believe that we actually found a playground where this ancient and dangerous playground equipment still exists?! Yes Dallin eventually fell off.
How cute is this?

2007-10-09T19:11:00.000-05:00

Nothing says I love you like a choke hold from big brother to little brother.
Well at least he gave a hug to make up for the choke hold.
Jared, Dallin and our niece Lucy at the Logan Aquatic Center. How do we get a daughter of our own?Hmmmmmmmmmm

Jared, Andrew and our nephew Isaac watching the Pioneer Day fireworks at Willow Park in Logan. Yes, that's Dallin in the background crying on my lap. Dallin HATES fireworks.

2007-10-09T18:52:00.000-05:00

Me and Andrew at Lucy's party at Grandma Streeter's house.

Jared with little sisters Monica and Stephanie. This was also at Lucy's 1st birthday party, but it was also the night before we returned to Virginia so it was both a fun, happy time and sad since it was our last time to say good-bye to everyone.

2007-10-08T19:27:00.000-05:00

Since we were the last people off the airplane in SLC they let Dallin into the cockpit. He didn't hestitate for a second to pretend he was the pilot.
Dallin getting his first ride on a scooter with Grandpa Fretz. He loved it!
I love this picture of the boys with their sweet smiles in front of the Salt Lake Temple.

I really like this family picture in Salt Lake City.
This was just too cute not to put on the blog.

2007-09-20T20:21:00.000-05:00

Well, for those of you that don't know, Jared had an aortic aneurysm on August 14th and these are his incisions from surgery. For those that already know here is the proof. Just a quick recap for those that didn't get the info the first time around or if you forgot: Jared was in the hospital from August 14th-20thJared went back into the hospital on August 27th to drain the blood around his heart and was discharged on August 30th.

He has been home recovering since then and can't return to work until October 15th. Things are a little busy around here now. Jared has lots of doctors appointments and lots of blood work he has to have done. I am trying to work more at Cradle & Crayon since we had to apply for short-term disability. Having my mom, Jared's sister Monica, and Jared's mom here to help over the course of all of this drama has been a huge help. It is amazing what an extra set of hands can do to help to get things done and lift your burdens. I am a little worried about trying to do it all myself after Kris (Jared's mom) leaves on the 25th of September.

2007-06-03T20:26:00.000-05:00

Saturday morning we walked from our camp site down to the beach and had a great time. As you can see Jared buried himself in the sand.
Andrew loves close ups! That's me and Dallin in the background. As you can see the sky is still blue, this is before the tropical storm came in.
Dallin loved finding dead crabs on the beach and throwing them back in the ocean. We actually chased some live crabs down the beach into the ocean also. The boys loved it. Me and Jared did too!
This is still Saturday, but as you can see the tropical storm has now arrived and we are trying to stay warm. This is along the boardwalk of Virginia Beach where all the tourists and resorts are located.

Dallin was the only one brave enough to get in the cold water while the storm is blowing in. Notice the grey sky. I think he played in the water for almost an hour. He kept trying to convince Jared and me that the water was not that bad.

2007-06-03T20:06:00.000-05:00

This is actually the view from inside our tent while we were camping at First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach. The top half of the tent is mesh and has a separate cover for rainy or cold weather, but it was so nice the first night we slept with it off. It was so nice to fall asleep under the stars and then wake up under the beautiful trees.

Here are both tents at our camp site. The boys did great sleeping in their own tent. On Friday night we had a racoon come visit and take the rest of Andrew's hotdog from dinner.

Here we are making breakfast Saturday morning before heading to the beach. We had neighbors right across the road, but it was still great!

Dallin and Andrew enjoying eggs and sausage cooked over the fire. Is there anything better?

2007-06-03T19:53:00.000-05:00

Andrew enjoying the beaters from making the chocolate frosting for my birthday cake. Really could I have anything other than chocolate for my birthday cake!
My 30th birthday! (uhg) I actually had a lot of things to do that day and Dallin came with me and he told everyone we saw that it was his mom's birthday and that she is "furty" years old.

Me and the boys with my birthday cake and ice cream.

2007-06-03T19:42:00.000-05:00

This deer came right up to our car!

This is the view of our camp site at Lewis Mountain in Shenandoah National Park. As you can see it is not really camping. We had a lot of neighbors!

Just a really cute picture of Dallin gathering sticks for firewood. He loved his first camping trip and still talks about going back to "bear country".

2007-06-03T19:33:00.000-05:00

The view from one of the 60+
scenic over look points driving thru
Shenandoah National Park at the Blue
Ridge Mountains. It is amazing!

Dallin and I enjoying our Smore's around the campfire.

Andrew coming in for a close up!

Me trying to stay warm! We did not bring enough warm clothes and we were freezing!

2007-06-03T19:19:00.000-05:00

Here is Andrew on his 2nd birthday opening his Elmo from Grandma Streeter. He takes it to bed with him every night now.
Andrew with his cake. Of course it is Grandma Streeter's carrot cake with cream cheese frosting!
He was actually a big grump. If you watch the video of us singing Happy Birthday Andrew is screaming in the background. I think it was late, I really can't remember. I am already losing my mind.

2007-06-03T17:04:00.000-05:00

Cinderella's Castle at the Magic Kingdom.

Jared and Dallin outside the Magic
Kingdom the last day of our trip.

This is Dallin riding in the front car of the monorail which takes you from the parking lot to the entrance of the Magic Kingdom. I read in a book that if you ask the attendants to sit up front, you can ride with the driver. Dallin loved it!!!! The view of Walt Disney World is amazing from the front car.

Dallin and Andrew hanging out with Minnie and Mickey. We got their autographs!

2007-05-13T20:54:00.000-05:00

Here are some impressive pics of Arlington Cementery. Dallin is "reading" JFK's speech in which he states, "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country".

The eternal flame that burns at JFK's and Jackie O's tomb.
This is the tomb of the unknown solider. This is where the changing of the guard takes place. One guard walks along the black path pictured above for one hour and then the changing of the guard takes place. The process is taken very seriously. Those present at the time of the changing of the guard are to remain silent the entire time. The tomb is guarded 24 hrs. a day 7 days a week rain or shine, snow or 90% humidity.

2007-05-13T20:48:00.000-05:00

Let's hope for Dallin's sake that Grandpa didn't have beans for dinner last night!!!!

Grandma became the designated reader while she was here and mommy and daddy enjoyed the break!

2007-05-13T20:26:00.000-05:00

Here we are with Grandma in the control tower at the Air and Space Museum next to the Dulles Airport (about 5 minutes from our house) This is classic Dallin, being silly.
You can watch the airplanes coming into the runway at Dulles Airport. Andrew loved watching them. He loves airplanes and helicopters. He still gets really excited everytime one flies over our house (which is quite often) He points up to the sky and says "airplane" or " helicopter" "fly, up in the sky"

This picture is just cute!

2007-02-04T23:06:00.000-05:00

Andrew and me trying to stay warm, it was much colder than we thought it would be. We were not prepared.

Yes, more pix out of order, but these are too cute. This is Dallin's first ride on a pony, he loved it! Look at all the beautiful trees in the background. The fall is amazing!

Andrew having a blast in the toddler Moon Bounce. Someone loaned us this hat for him, it blends in with the Moon Bounce.

2007-02-04T22:52:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know these are out of order, but I have been meaning to put these pix up
for awhile, but I had to get Christmas and birthday pix up first! Look at all the
beautiful leaves! The boys loved playing in them.

Here are pix of some of the girls Dallin plays outside with. He is the whitest kid I think they have ever seen! Dallin and Maya (the girl eating the orange) are really good friends.

just had to take a picture of this tree with all the orange leaves still on it. It was so beautiful with the sun shining through, which unfortunately the camera was not able to capture. I thought Kris would enjoy this the most!

2007-02-04T22:39:00.000-05:00

Snow! Snow!
Come out in the snow.
Snow! Snow!
Just look at the snow.
Come out! Come out!
Come out in the snow.
(You need to be well versed in your Dr. Seuss reading to understand)
Dallin's preschool canceled school so we spent most of the day playing. The boys loved it! I think we went out and came back in the house to warm up five times this day.

2007-02-04T22:18:00.000-05:00

Dallin and me outside the Hard Rock Cafe in Baltimore. It was such a beautiful day! We have had such cold weather, but it warmed up just for Dallin's birthday and our family outing.

This is the National Aquarium, isn't it beautiful?!

The breezeway on the far left connects to another building just like this one where the Dolphin show takes place. Inner Harbor in Baltimore is a fun and beautiful place to hang out.

2007-02-04T22:05:00.000-05:00

Andrew and me at the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch before heading to the National Aquarium in Baltimore for Dallin's 5th birthday!

Jared and Dallin enjoying a moment together before lunch arrives. The restaurant was busy and Dallin at one point asked the waiter what was taking so long for our food to arrive. That's Dallin, not afraid to say what is on his mind.

All my boys waiting for the Dolphin show to begin at the aquarium. The aquarium is definitely a must see for anybody wanting to come and visit us. We love to play tour guide (hint, hint)!

2007-01-13T12:42:00.000-05:00

Ah, Christmas morning! What fun with the two boys. Dallin could hardly wait to tear through all the gifts. Taking turns has never been his best quality. Andrew handled all the commotion very well and was excited to play with all the new toys. The boys really enjoyed the Shake 'N Go cars from Grandma Streeter.

Here are all my boys together. Of course my vanity prevented me from being in any pics since I had not showered yet and was still in my PJ's. I really don't like being preserved for future viewing looking my worst. Someone has to take the pics right?!

Dallin ran outside at one point during the morning and Andrew escaped as well in his PJ's wearing his backpack. It was too cute to not take a picture. Yes that is drool hanging down from his chin. Andrew drools like he is a dog rather than a little boy. I don't understand why, all his teeth are in. What can you do, he is still adorable.

2007-01-13T12:20:00.000-05:00

After our delicious ham dinner on Christmas Eve, Jared suggested we go for a drive to look at Christmas lights. This was the most impressive house we could find. Jared and I decided that when it comes to displaying your Christmas spirit with lights residents of Utah have Virginian's beat hands down!

Dallin was so excited to open his one present all day. So of course we made him wait as long as we could. While driving around looking at lights he would say "let's go home now and open presents and have dessert". He wasn't even disappointed when his present was PJ's.

2007-01-13T12:06:00.000-05:00

Andrew really enjoyed decorating the tree this year. As you would expect the tree was quite heavy around the bottom. We did have to redistribute the ornaments later, but the tree was remodeled by both Dallin and Andrew on a daily basis. Also four ornaments didn't make it to see Christmas morning, oh well. Good thing they are inexpensive and have no sentimental value.

Dallin has always enjoyed decorating the tree. I think he was more excited about that than asking Santa for presents. He is just starting to understand the concept of Santa Claus and that he brings the presents on Christmas morning. Since the only cartoons Dallin watches are on PBS, which has no commercials, he doesn't know that every kid on the planet wants a TMX Elmo or any of the other "hot" toys. That is perfectly fine with me!

We tried to get the boys standing by the tree, but good luck getting them to NOT run away, so here is part of the "finished" tree. You are lucky they are both sitting and somewhat smiling. Getting two boys to cooperate for a picture is a Christmas Miracle itself.

2006-11-19T22:21:00.000-05:00

Here is Andrew watching the ice skaters at the Reston Town Center. The Town Center is an outdoor shopping center that is across the street from us. The Christmas decorations are up and the outdoor pavilon has been converted to an ice skating rink. The cold air has settled in and it officially feels like Winter. Thanksgiving is this week and we are all missing our families. We did not neglect to take pictures of Dallin, for this particular outing it was just Jared and Andrew.

2006-10-28T21:34:00.000-05:00

Washington D.C.
March 29, 2006
If you never saw
our pics of the
Cherry Blossoms,
here you go. They
are amazing! Everyone
should come to D.C. at least
once to see them.

Andrew enjoying
a little ice cream.

Jared took this close up, isn't it beautiful!

2006-10-28T21:00:00.000-05:00

Lake Newport
Reston, VA
July 2006
There is a path around the lake
that we like to walk
around on Sunday
afternoons.

2006-10-28T20:25:00.000-05:00

Massanutten Resort
Shenandoah, VA
The boys playing at the
resort playground after
what was supposed
to be a 90 minute
time share tour, turned
into 4 hours! Oh well,
gotta love the freebies!

2006-10-28T20:04:00.000-05:00

Rehoboth Beach
August 30, 2006

Hurricane Ernesto
was rolling in on the
East Coast on the
day we decided to
escape to the beach!
The boys still loved it!

2006-10-28T19:22:00.000-05:00

Halloween Party

2006-10-16T20:35:00.000-05:00

If you open the

dishwasher Andrew

comes running!

He climbs on

everything!

Andrew likes to put anything on his head and say "hat, hat, hat".

2006-10-16T20:24:00.000-05:00

Here are a few random pictures

2006-10-16T19:56:00.000-05:00

This is Dallins first day of preschool