Matthew's New Tricks

Dancing to the tune of a dishwasher . . .

One Year Old!

Cannot believe my sweet baby boy is 1! Here is a video of how he's changed each day in the last year. I will post pictures of the celebration later.

Halloween Festivities

We have been partying it up this week in celebration of Fall and Halloween. We still have a big dinner coming up Sunday at Mary and Mark's, but I thought I should document the week's events thus far.At the Ward "Fall Festival" Tuesday night. The Young Women do a lot of the work for this night, entertaining the primary children, so I was busy helping with that. This is Joe and Eliza.

Eliza was checking out Matthew in the first picture and now it's his turn. They are so adorable!

Thursday night carving our pumpkins. Mark placing his pattern.

Mary hard at work. She and I chose very complicated patterns. We learned our lesson.

Trying to keep Matthew happy. He was having a hard time not being the center of attention.

I spent most of my time tracing my pattern. Cut out the spider before we had to leave.

Matt freestyling it. This is his intense look of concentration.

My little monkey at a Halloween party at Lindsay's. He hates being in his costume. It was a bit big for him - slows him down. He fussed and fussed until I took it off. I even waited to dress him up until the middle of the party for fear of this. At least I got one picture!

The finished products. Matt left to go to the Tulsa vs. Notre Dame football game with some of his law buddies. This is how I spent my night after putting Matthew to bed.

What beautiful jack-o-lanterns!

Come Rain or Shine

One of the perks of Matt's job is the opportunity to travel. Occasionally, Matt's office has hearings scheduled in Hawaii. Usually the guys at the top jump on those hearings and enjoy some time with their spouses in Hawaii. Well, Matt was the 5th attorney hired and after two years, I guess it was his turn to go (there are now about 30 attorneys at the firm). Matt had never been to Hawaii and it's been since high school for me so we were super excited for the opportunity. Being that it takes 13 hours from Pennsylvania to get there, I opted to take Matthew out to Utah before and after for a few days to break up the time on airplanes. I found a flight online from PA to HI that had a layover in SLC and then went directly on to HI. Perfect! So, we met up with Matt in Salt Lake.

First time at the beach.

Discovering the water

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The earring that mysteriously disappeared and then reappeared later that night in Matthew's diaper. Boy am I glad it went through his system without puncturing anything!

We walked almost 4 miles round trip to get to this bakery to try Portuguese donuts. They were good but not THAT good!

Matthew after eating the sand!

A morning walk. Stopped here to watch the surfers.

The LDS temple in Laie.

Checking out the beach in Kailua. It rained 50% of the time we were there, so Matt couldn't get the tan he was hoping for.

This is at the outdoor mall. They had hula dancers and a band playing.

Matthew makes for a better picture though :)

Before boarding the boat to see the USS Arizona Memorial.

The USS Arizona Memorial.

Part of the USS Arizona that can be seen above the water.

Reflecting.

On the train ride at the Dole Plantation.

Matt and I had both imagined pineapples to grow on trees. We were wrong!

A beautiful view on our train ride.

The Season of Baking

What is it about Fall that makes you want to bake? Apple season? Halloween leading to Thanksgiving and pumpkin? The change in the weather? I haven't quite figured it out, but I have the baking bug. In the last four days I have made apple pie, apple pie popcorn, and caramel apples. They have all been amazing.

This was my first attempt at apple pie and a lattice top. It was delicious!

Recipe link: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Apple-Pie-by-Grandma-Ople/Detail.aspx

Apple Pie Popcorn! So amazingly good! First you make caramel popcorn, bake it for an hour, then poor melted white chocolate on top and finally coat it with powdered sugar and apple pie spice. Delightful! Recipe link: http://distractedhomemaker.com/1405

Today was caramel apples. My friend Ashley came over and we went to work. We definitely aren't professionals, but we had a great time creating these pieces of work.

Baking seems so much more exhausting when you are trying to get things done and keep your little ones happy. We were able to get both babies down for naps in the process. A success!

Lititz Chocolate Walk

Saturday, October 9th

My mom flew back with Matthew and I from Utah just so she could come to the Lititz Chocolate Walk. We had been looking forward to this day ever since we found out about it in July when she and my dad were in town. Grace came with us as well and at the last minute Matt and MKSIV decided to join us too. So, the chocolate walk is an annual event, always on the second Saturday of October and has been going on since 2001. There are 30 stops around the town of Lititz where local chocolatiers offer samples. There were a large variety of chocolate including fudge, chocolate sandwiches, chicken wings baked in a chocolate sauce, ice cream, and mousse. I was in chocolate heaven! After the third stop, we all decided we had reached our chocolate consumption for the day. I know that sounds super early for those of you that know me and my love of chocolate. I decided that looking at loads of chocolate makes you feel like you've also eaten it. Luckily, we brought containers to put our chocolate in for the rest of the walk. I think this may have to be an annual tradition.

Mice made out of Wilbur buds.

The grandmas at one stop. We really enjoyed walking through all the boutiques in town.

Matthew loves to climb in his stroller.

Playing peek-a-boo!

He is a climber (I am in for it)!

Matt and I in front of an antique elevator (you pull on rope to go up and down). It still functions today. Not the best shot, but the only one I have of Matt for the day.

Finally reached the last stop after 4 1/2 hours!

Barefoot Farm

We went to the pumpkin patch today. Mary came up with the idea. I am so glad she thought of going. It hadn't even crossed my mind. It was a beautiful day and Matthew LOVED playing on the pumpkins like they were drums. He also enjoyed crawling around the straw fort.

Matthew's first encounter with a pumpkin.

Playing in an old Chevy truck.

Squishing the cheeks!

The hay fort - now this is fun!

The loot!

Gackie and Matthew

Matt snipping our pumpkin off the vine.

Family photo - the lady at the farm gave Matthew a tiny pumpkin to play with.

Aunt Mary and Matthew

First Steps

Matthew has been getting better and better at cruising around the furniture lately. He walks around pretty good holding onto us or furniture with one hand. Last week, we decided to start practicing walking in between us. It is so fun to see him get a hold of his balance and take real steps. He gets so excited at his accomplishments. I'm not sure he will take up walking too quickly as he seems pretty satisfied crawling around. I am in no hurry. I'm pretty sure as soon as he learns to walk, he will start running! He is already a busy guy and walking will just further complicate my job.

One of his first attempts:


After a bit of practice:

The Subway

It seems like an eternity since we've updated our blog. But it hasn't been for a lack of things to blog about. This has actually been one of the most eventful summers on record for the Steen family. We'll start with what for me is the highlight of every summer, the Subway hike at Zion National Park.

The Subway is an 8 mile hike through mountain streams, steep switchbacks, and beautiful emerald pools that double as toilets. This is not a hike for the faint of heart or flaccid of musculature. From start to finish, it's about 10 hours, depending on how often you stop to take in the scenery and how well you can handle the repels and technical areas. We were very grateful to Robyn's parents for watching Maffew while we hiked.





Robyn's brothers Matt, Jon, and Scott met us about 2 hours into the hike. They were going to repel down into the canyon at a spot called Das Boot, but they went down the wrong way. Luckily, we had no trouble finding them. They ended up being a huge help on the repel portion of the hike.


We all take a rest before resuming the hike.


Matt decided to jump into a pool of water instead of climbing down like the rest of us.


Mary and Mark


At one point in the hike, the constant stream of water has created a natural water slide. You fly down it into a shallow pool of water, as you see Robyn doing here.


This is the toughest part of the hike. It doesn't look like much of a repel, but if you're a greenhorn like we all were, it's a little daunting. Mary had her difficulties, but she was a trooper and didn't stop. We were lucky to have Robyn's brothers with us.


This is the most picturesque portion of the subway.




Evolution was occurring right before our eyes. In a matter of months, this tadpole will become a fully grown human.


Mary and Robyn ready to start the final ascent to the trailhead.