Maple Creek

We decided to head to the cabin for Memorial Day Weekend. Matt and I left in the early afternoon and we arrived about the same time as my parents who were driving up from Utah. Holly and Steve left a few hours later and ran into some problems with the lights on the trailer that was towing the four-wheelers back to the cabin (Steve borrowed the four-wheelers to go hunting over the winter), so didn't get in until 1 a.m.!

Saturday morning, Jericho woke up early thus waking up Matthew. Holly and I ended up in the car with Jericho and Matthew trying to fall asleep and having a hard time of it after Sienna and Capri decided to join us and were arguing with each other :) We decided at 8 a.m. it was safe to go back inside.

We spent most of the day Saturday riding four-wheelers and playing games. It wasn't super warm yet at the cabin, so our hands would be freezing after riding for some time. Jericho's favorite thing about the cabin are the four-wheelers. He calls them "yellow" since they are yellow. He was riding them almost constantly throughout the day as we all took turns taking him out. Sienna likes the four-wheelers almost as much as Jericho, so she spent a lot of time taking Jericho for rides.

I wish I looked as good as Kayla sans makeup! This is one of the best things about being at the cabin - you don't have to look pretty and you don't even have to shower if you don't want to.

Matthew and Kayla

Matthew figuring out how to wear headphones and look cool!

Jericho actually fell asleep while Holly was taking him out for a ride. His head was bobbing up and down with the bumps and poor Holly was trying to steer and keep his head from hitting the front of the four-wheeler! Unfortunately he woke up before we could get a picture.

Playing Settlers of Catan. I won almost every game!!! Skills or luck? Maybe a little of both :)

Saturday night, Jericho woke up at 2:40 a.m.! Unfortunately the walls in our cabin are not at all sound proof. Poor Holly took Jericho outside in the pouring rain, bundled him up in a blanket and sat him down on her lap and proceeded to slide down the wet stairs until they were at ground level and she could take him to the car. She went back up for pillows and sleeping bags and they stayed the rest of the night out in the car (Jericho falling asleep after playing the I-touch for an hour and a half). It got colder and colder that night and in the morning when we all woke up in the cabin we were trying to figure out where Holly was. We looked outside and it was snowing! We figured out Holly must have gone to the car with Jericho again. Matt & Steve went out at 8:15 to yell down to Holly that it was okay to come in.

We had our own spiritual meeting Sunday as the roads were too slick to go down into Franklin for church. There was a news report that it was to snow again that night, so while we had intended to stay another night, we decided it was best to leave Sunday evening while the roads were clear. Had to get our men back to work safely for Tuesday!

Not sure what Matthew is doing here, but I thought it was cute!

A Leisurely Bike Ride

Matthew loves sitting in the back of Jericho's bike. A few of us decided to take a bike ride through Holly's neighborhood and check out the duck pond. I rode right behind Kristina to make sure my baby boy was safe.

He did pretty well, except for the occasion when he'd stand up and I'd yell at him to sit back down. Kristina realized afterward that he may have been imitating her when she'd stand up to pedal the bike.

When we got to the pond, he made a b-line for the water.

Danielle, Matthew and Kristina

Aunt Holly caught up to us in the middle of our ride.

Jumping in for a Bath!

We were at Holly's house the same day we had gone to the zoo and Jericho had to take a bath that night. While we were all hanging out in the family room, Jericho came traipsing in sans towel. At just about the same time I'd been wondering where Matthew had disappeared to. Holly ran after J-boy to get some clothes on him and glanced over into the bathroom to find Matthew in the tub with all of his clothes on having a great time in the water!

The water was still dripping out of the faucet and he was filling this cup and drinking it.

When he saw us he promptly plopped down into the tub and then turned around and did a belly flop on the tub floor. He is a silly guy!

I found a sweater in the diaper bag to put on him. Here he is in one of his favorite spots - shhh . . . don't tell Grandma Karen that he just loves her computer!

Zoo Boise

My nephew, Jericho, had his 2nd grade field trip to Zoo Boise today. Jericho is autistic so his teacher asked my sister, Holly, if she would come to the zoo just in case things didn't go perfectly. She was supposed to meet him at the zoo, but he refused to get on the bus when it was time to leave the school, so she quickly drove to the school to coerce him to get into the car to go to the zoo. She found him at the computer looking at zoo animals and the conversation went like this:

"Hi Jericho," She said.

"Do you want to go to the zoo?"

"NO"

"Do you want to stay at school?"

"NO"

"Do you want to go home?"

"NO"

"What do you want?"

"Com-pu-tor"

He didn't want to go to the zoo, because he didn't want to miss out on his computer time. Silly boy! Holly and Miss Andrea came up with a plan to get him out the door. They let him play on the computer for 10 minutes. Miss Andrea set a timer and they put together a visual schedule. (A piece of paper that says what will happen next--like a list you can cross off.)

First--Computer

Then--Go to car with snacks

Zoo

School

When the timer rang, he crossed off computer. They showed him the list about every two minutes, as he worked on the computer. He looked at the next thing on the list, made some noises about how he really didn't want to do it. Then, he picked up his snack and walked to the car without one melt down!

Holly always amazes me with her patience and the way she is able to talk things through with Jericho and explain things in away that makes sense to him and motivates him to act.

Meanwhile, Matthew and I were getting ready to meet Aunt Holly and Jericho at the zoo. We had to drop daddy off at the airport first.

We made it! Zoo Boise isn't the greatest zoo in the nation. At this age, Matthew doesn't mind and in fact I am just happy if I can tell that he notices the animals at all. He was much more aware of his surroundings this time which was exciting!

The Jeep - one of the best spots at the zoo. Especially for little boys!

Matthew gets his turn to drive!

The giraffe slide - hot spot #2!

Jericho makes it down the slide.

Matthew at the top of the slide. He always held the line up as it took him a while to decide that he was really going to go down. I had to have the little girl behind him give him a little nudge to get going.

A visual of the huge slide next to my little man!

Loving Jericho's chew toy. This is a toy Jericho uses - it helps calm his nerves when he is in an unfamiliar situation or place.

Keeping an eye on that goat!

Decides he is brave enough to touch the goat.

Aunt Holly helping Matthew feed the goats.

Hanging out on the tiger.

Dipping fries in Idaho!

So, we now live in the great state of Idaho! I really never though I'd say that. I never imagined living here and I honestly felt sorry for all the people I met that grew up in Idaho. Like it was the middle of no where po-dunk state. Everyone I meet here has moved up from California. We didn't even take any pictures of us moving in. We had plenty of guys from our new ward show up to move us in and I seriously think it took less than an hour to unload the truck. They were wonderful and I'm sure highly motivated to get the work done quickly so they could go shooting for their Elder's Quorum activity. Yes, we definitely live in Idaho. Matt politely declined the invitation to go shooting although I told him he was welcome to go :)

Here are a few pictures of Matthew at Five Guy's dipping fries in ketchup for the first time. He would dip, dip, dip, and then suck the ketchup off the fry and dip again! One day he will learn that the fry is actually really tasty!

Bonding

Today my friend Tina helped me go get seed packets for a project I am in charge of for the upcoming Church-sponsored Youth Prom. Matt and I are sharing one car now. We have sold two cars in the last month, preparing to move to Idaho. I caught this picture of Kellan and Matthew in the backseat holding hands. So sweet!

These are the seed packets I created as party favors for the youth. They are filled with roasted/salted sunflower seeds and chocolate covered sunflower seeds. A line from a primary song is included inside:

Faith is like a little seed: If planted it will grow.

These took hours to create and I am so grateful to Tina, Ashley, Joe, and Matt for all of their hard work in helping!

Baby Bodmann!

Today we went with Aunt Mary to her 20 week ultrasound. We found out she is having a girl! The first granddaughter on the Steen side. We are super excited for Mary and Mark and can't wait to meet her in September!

We found a home!

Matt came out twice while we were out West. He flew out with us to Idaho and then he came back a few weeks later to Idaho to go look out houses. We decided we wouldn't buy anything unless we were totally in love with it. We really thought we would end up renting for our first year out here and then look for a home over the course of the year. We looked at a lot of short-sales, but decided we didn't want to play the waiting game with the banks. We happened upon this home which we both really loved. We had also met with a builder and I was getting excited about being able to pick out my own finishes and the thought of having a brand new home in a great neighborhood was really appealing to me. We decided to put an offer on a home and Matt and I agreed that if it wasn't accepted we would build. To our surprise, they accepted and only countered to change the closing date to a month earlier than we had anticipated moving out. We were able to work things out with Matt's work and our landlord in PA to move out the end of April.







We are really happy to have found this house. The home is basically a rambler with a bonus room above the garage. The previous owners spent quite a bit of money putting upgrades in and making the home look brand new. Neither of us were too keen on fixing up a home, so we are happy to have found a home that is move-in-ready.

Spring Trip Out West

Matthew and I spent a few weeks visiting with family and friends in Idaho and Utah. Here are a few pictures documenting out trip. I am getting super lazy at taking pictures :)

We went four wheeling with the Casos family. Matthew was a good sport hanging out back at base.

Capri and Matthew

Matthew just loves Jericho. He thinks he is pretty big stuff sharing the bathtub with J-boy!

In Utah now: Matthew hanging out with his cousin Ruby who is 4 months younger than him.

Big smiles!

Matthew hanging out with his cousins, the Proulx boys.

Heather's girls: Katie, Brooklyn, and Presley after making delicious chocolate dipped strawberries.

Yes, they were really good!

Had to get a picture with Grandma Shipley!

I was so excited that my trip coincided with my friend, Kristin's wedding. These are girls I worked with at Ann Taylor. Miss them so much!

With the gorgeous bride!

Celebrating Aunt Melissa's birthday at the clubhouse.

Melissa and Sam getting ready to blow out the candles. She's a beauty!

Dishing out the cake.