The Steens

Our First Big Snowfall (and Maybe Last)

2012-01-26T18:16:00.000-05:00

We have been waiting and waiting here in Idaho for some snow to play in. It finally came. I was getting really worried that we'd never be able to put to use that snowsuit I purchased for Matthew several months ago. As soon as Matt got home from his hearings, I sent him out to play in the snow with Matthew. Being pregnant, I wasn't going to fit into my snow pants and I figured it is just much easier for Matt to move around out there and build a snowman. Thank goodness he works from home, or I would have had no option but to go out. It started raining later in the afternoon and on through the night, so the snow didn't last long. That snowman started melting and falling over in less than an hour after they'd built it. At least we have proof that it snowed and that we (they) played hard!

The ski resort here, Bogus, had it's latest opening in 69 years of being open due to the lack of snow. I hope we get a few more good storms in before winter is over. I have to admit, I really enjoyed the rain the few days following this snow storm. It rarely rains here and so I was smiling all day as I drove in the rain. It reminds me of Pennsylvania and the people and beauty that I miss there.

Matthew all dressed for the snow. He was pretty upset to be put into all of that gear. Once he got out in the snow he realized Mom had good intentions after all. He got frustrated with the gloves and Matt eventually took them off so he could make better use of his hands.

Matthew and daddy rolling the first ball for the base of their snowman.

The finished product!

Maple Creek

2011-06-01T15:47:00.000-04:00

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

2011-05-21T15:09:00.002-04:00

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!

2011-05-17T23:59:00.000-04:00

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

2011-05-17T23:06:00.001-04:00

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!

2011-05-03T22:41:00.001-04:00

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

2011-04-13T22:22:00.000-04:00

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!

2011-04-12T22:14:00.001-04:00

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!

2011-04-08T21:56:00.000-04:00

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

2011-04-08T21:27:00.004-04:00

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.

Getting Acquainted With Snow

2011-01-28T21:06:00.004-05:00

We got plenty of snow this week. Not as much as we did last season, but definitely the biggest snow of the year. I decided to put Matthew's snowsuit to good use and go to the park during a lull in the storm. It was super cold and I bundled him up with two layers underneath his suit to make sure he was nice and cozy. His poor little cheeks, chin, and nose were so red that I couldn't bare to keep him out long.

What is with all this white stuff?

MKSIII & MKSIV

I think this was taken right after he stuck his face in the snow. He found out just how cold it is!

Matt making a big snow ball.

Matthew being pulled around on the shovel sled.

Mommy & Matthew

I think I'm ready to be done.

It was just too hard to walk in the snow, so Matthew decided to crawl in it.

14 Months

2011-01-16T21:39:00.003-05:00

It feels like we just barely celebrated Matthew's first birthday! Since then he has mastered the art of walking. He is into everything. He is getting pretty good at climbing up onto the couch, onto the bed, and is trying really hard to climb over his crib - I'm really not looking forward to the time when he figures that one out! Matthew frequently throws toys and other objects (including my cell phone) into the garbage can in the kitchen. After seeing mommy and daddy throw things in there from time to time, he's decided that is the thing to do. If only he realized that we are actually throwing garbage in there. Consequently, we have to check the trash several times a day to salvage the toys. He is obsessed with my VitaMix and Bosch mixer. Why are the real toys never good enough to play with? He has gotten really good at putting shapes into his shape sorter he got for Christmas. Matthew is constantly trying to imitate what we say. He is still biting us and loves to bite toes for some reason! The other day he bit me and I said, "Matthew, don't bite me!" He promptly said, "Bite me!" I was laughing pretty hard. This boy LOVES to eat! I really can't think of anything that he won't eat. He loves clementines and oranges. I feel like I am constantly feeding him. He is also at that stage where he will throw his food on the floor when he is done. Sometimes this little boy is a handful, but we sure do love him!

We haven't been very good about taking pictures since we stopped taking the daily photos. So, here is a memory from a year ago when he was four months:

This is my friend, Jessica (who has since moved to New Zealand). We were at Costco in Lancaster when we discovered that Matthew had a blow out! It was really tricky getting him all cleaned up and changing his diaper and clothes in the car while. We were laughing so hard!

Library Time

2011-01-13T21:30:00.000-05:00

We finally made it to library time. It is at 11:15 a.m. which is usually right during Matthew's nap time. One day when he decided not to take his morning nap, we decided to get ready and go enjoy reading time instead. There are two older ladies that have been doing this for years at our library. They did a great job of keeping things moving and keeping the kids involved. Matthew did better than I expected. He is quite the explorer and left to check out the rest of the library a few times. We came on a special day and got to meet Corduroy.

Matthew is not shy at all. He was very curious about this bear and was the first one to meet him!

Easily distracted!

Matthew's friend Eliza met us at the library.

Eliza checking out Corduroy.

Matthew's New Tricks

2010-12-13T20:53:00.003-05:00

Dancing to the tune of a dishwasher . . .

2010-11-17T20:25:00.000-05:00

One Year Old!

2010-11-16T18:21:00.002-05:00

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

2010-10-29T23:17:00.005-04:00

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

2010-10-22T09:58:00.008-04:00

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

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

2010-10-20T16:09:00.004-04:00

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

2010-10-19T11:45:00.004-04:00

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

2010-10-18T15:22:00.005-04:00

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

2010-10-14T11:34:00.007-04:00

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

2010-09-05T16:45:00.023-04:00

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.

Mt. Gretna Lake

2010-07-15T09:32:00.004-04:00

We headed up to Mt. Gretna today, near Lebanon for those of you that know the area. It is in the middle of no where, so it took just over an hour to get there from our house even though it's only 34 miles away. It is BEAUTIFUL. I've been up to Mt. Gretna twice before to go to the Jiggershop, an old fashioned ice cream shop and restaurant. I feel like I am in the mountains when I am there and that is why it is so endearing to me as I miss my Utah mountains. This is my niece, Sienna, in front of the lake. She is out to stay with us for two weeks. I am so glad she came! We are having a great time and she is so helpful with Matthew, doing the dishes, and even made us breakfast one morning.

Matthew swinging for the first time.

I think he likes it!

Matthew by the lake.

Me and Matthew - since I am always the photographer, it's hard to get a good shot of the two of us.

He snatched my glasses and is so proud of himself!

Sienna splashing into the water from a trapeze type rope swing. They also had a diving board platform and a high dive platform (minus the diving board).

Matthew crawling in the water. He kept trying to eat the sand.

Loving the beach.

Stats

2010-06-07T21:09:00.004-04:00

We took Matthew to his 6 month check today. He is now closer to 7 months, but since we had to go late to his 4 month check, it's just the way things go as far as scheduling with vaccinations and insurance. Here are the latest stats:

Weight: 19 pounds 9 ounces - just under the 70th percentile
Height: 28 inches - 80th percentile
Head Circumference: 45 1/2 centimeters - 80th percentile

So, he is slowly dropping down in the rankings. He is starting to thin out now that he is moving around more. He wants to be into everything. Time to baby proof the house! Poor guy had 3 shots in his leg today. He took it like a champ. The next check is at 9 months and he will have a break from shots unless the flu vaccine is available.

Rock Park

2010-06-05T21:31:00.000-04:00

We made a last minute decision to head to Rock Park in Maryland for another hike. This time we took the White Trail loop. It was set to be 2 hours, but we did it in an hour and a half.

I quickly got Matthew ready for the outing. We had to leave to take Grace to the airport. She is headed out to Utah to go with the Proulxs to California for vacation.

First stop: the King and Queen Seat. Mary and Mark brought Trixie along and she loved it!

The Steens. I carried Matthew the entire hike. I am proud to say that I even nursed him WHILE hiking. Now that is what I call multitasking. I love my Ergo!

Mark and Trixie checking out the view.

Matthew, Mary and me. He was such a good boy. He just loves being outside.

Strawberry Picking

2010-06-04T17:53:00.003-04:00

We headed down to Shaw Orchards on the border of PA and MD to pick strawberries. They charge $5 to take the tractor out to the fields (for anyone who can walk) and then they allow you to put that $5 towards what you pick. The strawberries were $1.50 a pound and if we were to fill the box pictured below we would have picked 10 pounds and have $15 worth of strawberries. This was our goal. It was near 90 degrees today and we did this at 2 p.m. Lesson learned - pick in the morning, they open at 8 a.m. Mary wore Matthew in the Ergo and he only handled a few minutes of picking before getting fussy. We were the only ones out, so I took him and fed him under some shade. I decided we had better stick to the shade since it was so hot outside. I kept him entertained for a bit and then Mary took a turn. Once he was at his limit and Mary had a sufficient headache from the sun, we decided it was time to go back. Our strawberries weighed in at just under 9 pounds. We ALMOST got our money's worth and we kept our sanity at the same time. I'd say that is a successful trip!

The fruits of our labors.

Mary and Matthew waiting to take the tractor out to the strawberry fields.

The crew heading out.

Mary doing her job in the heat of the sun.

Matthew and me hanging out in what little shade we could find under some apple trees.

Pool Time

2010-06-02T16:28:00.004-04:00

Matthew had his first experience at the pool today. We have a pool in our complex and it opened on Saturday. Last summer the water was freezing. It didn't seem so cold today. I'm not sure if they are heating the pool a bit this year or if it was warmer because it's been so hot here lately.
<

First dip.

Checking out the ledge.

Just before getting in.

Baby and daddy enjoying the pool.

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-05-31T15:37:00.001-04:00

We had a great Memorial Day Weekend. Saturday, we went to visit Matt's Aunt Barbara who was in a hospice to help manage her pain as she is suffering from cancer.

Grace and Matthew in front of the hospice.

Mary and Matthew hanging out.

Matthew enjoying the grass.

We came home and had the missionaries come over to teach Mary and me Spanish. This was our second lesson and we decided to have a barbecue afterward which Grace and Mark joined us for. On Sunday, we picked up Grace after church and headed to visit the graves of her parents and grandparents. It was a beautiful day and the scenery in Lancaster is breathtaking. We passed many Amish buggies and even an Amish guy on his scooter. That is always my favorite to see.
This is not the Amish boy I saw, but I wanted you to be able to see what I'm talking about. I guess bikes are too technologically advanced, so they use these scooters instead.

This is at the cemetery in Strasburg.

Grace's Grandparents' graves. This cemetery lets you plant flowers, so Matt and Grace planted three flowers in front of each headstone.

Volunteers at Strasburg Cemetery planted 5,300 American flags. Each flag represents a soldier that has fallen in Afghanistan or Iraq. This really made a statement and reminded me of how grateful I am to the men and women who have given their lives in service to our great nation.

Baby Matthew liked the flags too.
This is a covered bridge in Amish country on the way to the second cemetery.
Matthew in front of his great grandparents' graves.

Monday, we took the baby hiking in Maryland at Rock Park. Mary has those pictures, so I will have to post them later when I can get them from her. It was beautiful, just a quick 75 minute hike. Matt carried Matthew in the Ergo carrier and Matthew was just perfect. It was hot and humid, so we were all very sweaty. Matthew even fell asleep towards the end. We went back to Mary's for a BBQ of pulled pork and smoked ribs. It was excellent.

Matthew and Trixie were very interested in each other.

Half Birthday

2010-05-16T23:01:00.005-04:00

Today is Matthew's 6 month birthday! He got to sit on the grass for the first time. It was fun to watch him touch the grass and check it out. Luckily, he had no interest in eating it. He is adorable! He is no longer allowed to be on the beds unattended. We had a close call the other day. I was changing his diaper and he decided to pee just after I took the diaper off (second day in a row). I wen to grab a wipe from his closet and turned around to see him falling off the bed feet first! Thankfully, I bounded across the room and caught him before his head hit the ground. He was fine, just a bit freaked out I think. Matt came running into the room. I was trying to let him continue sleeping. I must have made a lot of noise jumping to save our sweet baby. That is his latest nickname "Sweet Baby."

He is working on his leg and arm muscles. We think he'll be crawling in no time. He just needs to figure out how to coordinate everything together. He still doesn't roll easily from his tummy to his back. Although, a few days ago he suddenly rolled like a bulldozer over to a newspaper to scrunch it up. I'm not sure how he did it, he hasn't done it since, so I'm pretty sure he doesn't know how it was done either. I think it must have been sheer determination.

He is enjoying eating his solids more and more. I was very surprised to find that he likes peas. He does seem a bit finicky. Some days he likes bananas, others he doesn't. This week I plan to make about a month's worth of baby food and freeze it. For the last six weeks, I've been making it daily as needed.

Matthew is a talker. He babbles a lot. He is happiest in the morning just after waking up and he will just talk and talk. I think he may be saying "dadadada" now, much to his daddy's delight. He is such a joy and we are so grateful to have him in our family and watch him grow and change every day.

Big smiles - outside the Bombay House in Provo.

Enjoying his new Jumperoo.
Daddy helping Matthew bust a move.

Matthew enjoying carrots for the first time.

Dents in the Cars

2010-05-14T22:40:00.000-04:00

We had a downpour today interspersed with hail. One day we'll own a garage to shelter our poor cars. I brought a big piece in to let the baby see and touch it.

Cinco de Mayo

2010-05-05T15:49:00.000-04:00

After having the St. Patrick's Day party, Mark and Mary thought it would be fun to have a Cinco de Mayo party. I am all about any excuse to make and eat good food! Mark made fajitas and I made Tres Leches cake. It was amazing! I got the recipe from my sister, Holly.

Gackie with baby Matthew. We have to feed him with his shirt off. When we put a big on him, he ends up chewing on his bib, too distracted to eat.

After slaving away all day, I present the finished product!

Tres Leches Cake

6 large eggs, separated

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease and flour a tall and round springform pan and set aside.

In the mixer, beat the egg whites on low speed until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually while the mixer is running and keep mixing until stiff peaks form. Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix the flour and baking powder in a seperate bowl and then add to the egg mixture, alternating with the milk. (quickly, so the batter does not loose volume). Add vanilla. Pour into pan and bake until golden for at least40 minutes, or until the middle is cooked and not jiggly. Take out of oven when done.

1 can condensed milk

1 can evaporated milk

2 cups whipping cream

Mix together well in a large pyrex liquid measuring cup. Pour mixture over cake (which is STILL in the springform pan). Let sit and cool. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours (if you want it REALLY soggy, let it sit overnight).

1-2 cups whipping cream

1/4-1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

zest of two limes

assorted fruits--we used blackberries, strawberries, and kiwi.

Whip cream, adding sugar and vanilla. When cream has reached the right consistancy for spreading, fold in the lime zest. (DO NOT add lime juice, as this will curdle the cream). Spread over cake (which by now is OUT of the spring form pan and on a nice plate). Garnish with fruit and serve.

Holly's cake looks much fancier. I didn't have all the fruit to make it happen. She always shows me up!

Farewell Party

2010-05-02T15:37:00.000-04:00

The night before we left, we got our families together in the Clubhouse at Trellis for a farewell party. Looking back, I feel bad that I wasn't very social. I was really excited about this game, cribbage, that my brother-in-law Mark taught me. We sort of secluded ourselves playing that game for most of the party. Why did I do that? I don't know if I was just burnt out of socializing. Maybe all the noise from the nieces and nephews playing in a small space was overwhelming. Maybe I was sad that I was leaving the next morning. Here are just a few pictures I took before I got so involved in our little card game.

Grace with Ruby and Mary with Matthew.

Me with the cute little babies.

Matt about to devour Cookie Monster! Mark found this cupcake at the grocery store and just had to buy it, thinking the little kids would go crazy over it. Matt found it first and just had to have it!
Dad playing his own crazy high speed version of Patty Cake with the kids. They all took turns on his lap. It was pretty darn funny!

Bombay House

2010-05-01T15:25:00.001-04:00

This is my FAVORITE restaurant. It is an Indian restaurant in Provo. Every time we visit Utah, I have to eat here. I always order Peshwari Naan and Chicken Tikka Masala. I am still trying to find the best recipes to duplicate these dishes at home.

Going back and forth between Grandpa Shipley and Gackie.

Hanging out with Aunt Jackie and Uncle Josh.

Matt and his family outside the restaurant.

MKSIV's Fan Club

2010-04-29T12:45:00.004-04:00

One of our favorite things to do while in Utah is visit with family and friends. It was fun to show off Matthew to so many people that love him!

Aunt Jean. We love going to Aunt Jean's house. She always makes the BEST food!

Uncle Dick. Matt could talk to Uncle Dick for hours. He always has great stories.

Nancy - our neighbor in Trellis. She LOVES Matthew and would hold him all day even he were screaming. She is one of the sweetest, kindest people I know.

Mandy (due with #2 on September first) and Asher met up with us at In-N-Out.

Brianne came over before we headed out to meet our Ann Taylor friends for dinner. Brianne usually doesn't like babies, but she LOVED Matthew.

Pam with Matthew - she was so nice to walk around the restaurant with Matthew when he got fussy. She got lots of attention from everyone admiring our sweet little guy.

Nicola withe her beautiful little Nicole. It was SO fun to meet Nicole. She is just perfect!

He is all smiles with Susan! Boy do I miss these girls!

The primary reason we flew out to Utah was for Joshie's baptism. He is the first family member on Matt's side to get baptized at 8 years old. We are so proud of him!

This is Kylan with Matthew. He is the son of our good friends, Leslie and Greg Friel. He is such a good boy. We were impressed by how well he ate at dinner - lots of veggies.

Bowling

2010-04-28T12:29:00.000-04:00

I'll let the pictures tell the story!

Matthew's First Trip to Idaho

2010-04-24T12:05:00.000-04:00

This picture was taken at a gas station on the way up. We stopped to feed Matthew. It was super windy outside and my mom had to walk Matthew outside for a minute. She put his swaddling blanket over him to protect him. I was laughing so hard. I love his eyes!
The Casos girls with Matthew - Danielle, Capri, and Kristina. The two older girls just new contacts just before we saw them! They were very excited and barely managed not to lose them the first day.

My girlfriend Chelsey with her baby Braxton and Matthew. We went to Tristan and Matt's house in Kuna for a BBQ and to meet their new baby, Beck. Somehow I didn't get a picture of them!

Uncle Steve and Danielle playing with baby.

Steve put Matthew on the Lazy Susan and he went spinning around and around.

The girls helping Matthew during meal time. Still getting used to eating solids.

The three younger girls showing me the dance they made up to Miley Cyrus's Party in the USA. That song was stuck in my head for weeks!

Sticking out their booties!

Meeting Miss Ruby

2010-04-23T16:47:00.003-04:00

Well, Matthew held on to the title of newest grandchild for as long as he could. In the Shipley family, that's never very long. Little Ruby is about 3 months younger than Matthew. She belongs to my little brother Jon and his wife, Jess. She is a doll. I can't wait to move back to Utah to watch these two grow up together.

Ira and Brooklyn playing with their replacements.

Grandma with Rubes.

Ira enjoying some birthday cake - we were at Heather's new house celebrating her birthday!

Matthew with his cousin Katie.

Grandpa entertaining Matthew.

Graeter's

2010-04-16T21:23:00.004-04:00

Matthew and I accompanied Matt on a business trip to Columbus, Ohio. While we were there I was having a craving for some ice cream. I put our trusty GPS to work and found a Graeter's nearby. This is my sister, Holly's, FAVORITE ice cream. I called her on our way to rub it in a little and ask for some recommendations. Her favorite - Black Raspberry Chip. We thoroughly enjoyed every bit!

My ice cream cone was about as big as Matthew's head! Matt got the same size cone and mine looked about double his. I think it's the biggest ice cream cone I've ever eaten.

Checking out of the hotel.

First Sleepover

2010-04-15T21:21:00.001-04:00

We had our good friends, Sarah and Ainsley stay the night. Sarah is a close friend of mine out here in Pennsylvania. I moved into the ward about two months before she was due to have Ainsley. Sarah and her family moved to Alaska in May. Her husband, Ryan went up early to start his new job and Sarah stayed behind to pack up the house and get it ready to sell while taking care of their 9 month old and dog. She is amazing! We decided to have a sleep over while Matt was out of town. We rented The Blind Side and got ice cream from Handel's.

Matthew and Ainsley taking a bath. Here, Matthew's looking quite happy and Ainsley's not so sure about this.

This was hilarious. I was in the other room for a moment while Sarah was watching them and I hear Sarah say, "No Ainsley don't touch that." Right after she said that Matthew peed - a common occurrence in our bathtub. We were laughing so hard. I then put the washcloth on top of him so that she didn't get too curious.
After both babies were all cleaned up we let them play. Ainsley was splashing away and Matthew was getting lots of water in his eyes. He's not used to that.

A little background on our friendship: Sarah worked up until about two weeks before she had Ainsley and she and I started hanging out about as soon as she stopped working so that she wouldn't go crazy with all of her free time. I really enjoyed getting to know her and we found out we had a lot in common. We went shopping at the outlets, to get pedicures, to eat ice cream (several times) and to relax at the pool. This was during the time that Matt and I were sharing a car. Matt was gone a lot for hearings, so Sarah ended up picking me up nearly every time we hung out. I joked around that she was my Taxi. I remember one time that Sarah had to stop at the store to grab something and she let me do my grocery shopping for the week as we were out of food and Matt was out of town. I think we were both needing a good friend at the time and praying to find a good friend. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father placed us in each others' paths. We sure miss our friends.

The next morning. Hanging out and doing some baby yoga!

The four of us at Sarah's farewell luncheon.

4 Month Check

2010-04-12T22:02:00.000-04:00

I took Matthew to his 4 month check on April 1st. He was so happy, rolling all over the table and laughing. He loved the sound of the paper underneath him. Little did he know the doctor was about to come in and poke him a few times! That is the worst part about these checks - immunizations. He weighed in at 17 pounds 4 ounces - 75th percentile. His height is 26 and 3/4 inches - 90th percentile and his head is at 44 centimeters - 90th percentile.

I told the doctor that he is still getting up 2 or 3 times a night and she said that there really is no reason he shouldn't be sleeping at least 8 hours at night. She encouraged me to start sleep training before he developed long-lasting habits of night waking. She also said that unfortunately, letting him cry it out at night is the best way as anything else is too confusing for baby. So, we started up on a Saturday night. His first waking, he cried 45 minutes before going back to sleep. Matt slept well that night with his earplugs, while I listened to our sweet baby struggle through it. It was tough, but the next few times, he only cried 5-10 minutes. He has progressively gotten better and better and one week later, he is sleeping through the whole night from about 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. It is amazing and I am so happy to finally be getting a good night's sleep. It's been a LONG time! He is also napping much better as a result and his 30 minute naps have turned into a minimum of 1 hour and sometimes 3 hours.

Doctor also told us that he is ready for solids! This is a whole new adventure. We started with rice cereal. So far he has tried bananas, pears, and apples. I want to make my own baby food, but the doctor suggested getting a few first foods from the grocery store so that I could get a good idea for the consistency. I ordered a baby food book from Amazon today and can't wait to get started! I did put a banana in the Vita Mix tonight and he ate the entire thing!

Some fun things about Matthew:

He smiles when I put the nose aspirator up his nose to clear his boogers.

He laughs when I clean his hands with a wet wipe.

He laughs when I whisper in his ear.

When he gets tired his lower lip juts out and a his cute cheeks sag.

He has learned to smile for the camera, even when he's tired, so I can't capture his tired face.

Matthew at 4 months old.

Matthew wants to sit up. He is getting closer and closer to being able to sit up by himself.

He got his first two teeth the day we flew home from Savannah. This is the first shot I took where you can actually see them.

Matthew all ready for his first taste of solids. He had rice cereal. I think he may have been more interested in eating his bib than the rice cereal, so for now we have decided to feed him with his shirt off. It is really messy, but he gets better each time! Tonight, he actually ate an entire banana that I pureed in the Vita Mix. He was so excited about eating it and was opening his mouth and making noises to let me know he wanted more. He sure likes the real thing better than the processed bananas he had from the jar.

I resorted to putting the bumper in the crib. The doctors tell you not to, but this guy moves around on his tummy and ends up bumping his head on the rails and getting limbs stuck in between.

Daddy posing with Mr. Baby. My boys sure are good looking!

Matthew is always happy after bath time - that is until we start putting on the lotion and getting him dressed. He still hates getting dressed and cries like we are torturing him. I can't wait until he outgrows this.

Ready to go hit the town in Savannah. It has been so nice to have some warmer weather out here. We hit 90 degrees two days in a row last week. He has outgrown his 3-6 month clothes and I don't have too many 6-12 month clothes for cooler weather, so we are really hoping the warm weather sticks around! And here's hoping it stops snowing in Utah because we are headed there in one week.

Matthew loves chewing on Sophie's legs. They are becoming fast friends!

He has really discovered his hands in the last month and loves watching them and putting them together. He also thinks that all 10 fingers should fit in his mouth at the same time. Hands and fingers provide hours of entertainment!

Matthew trying out his new travel cot. I ordered this so that we would have something lightweight to take on our airplane trips. He has been sleeping in here (with the side zipped up) for his naps the last few weeks so that he is used to it by the time we go to Utah.

Matthew is laughing more and more. It is one of the most delightful sounds I've ever heard :)

George Washington Reality Tour

2010-04-10T21:14:00.020-04:00

I recently became a huge fan of our 3rd President, George Washington. I read a biography on G-dub by Thomas Flexner entitled "The Indispensable Man," and immediately developed a man crush on the greatest American who ever lived. Being that we're so close to some of George's old haunts, the Steens decided to take advantage of the wonderful Spring weather and go on some mini road trips.

First stop: Valley Forge. The Continental Army encamped there (just outside Philadelphia) in the winter of 1777. It was bitter cold and there wasn't a lot of food. Good times were had by none.

This is a recreation of the little huts that Washington's troops made that winter. I think they look pretty cozy, but they probably weren't made as well back in 1777.

There really wasn't much to see at Valley Forge, but the place was teeming with deer. We counted at least 20 in one herd, or pack, or school, whatever they run in. I thought I heard the ghosts of starved Continental regulars whisper on the wind, "where the freak were those when we were starving to death?"

Here is baby Maffew hamming it up as Baron Von Steuben, the irascible German drillmaster who helped instill a little discipline and skill into Washington's rag tag troops. Or it could just be some generic cut out of any old soldier. Either way, baby is in perfect character for the hardship experienced at Valley Forge.

After Valley Forge we went to GW's old favorite inn: The Cheesecake Factory (courtesy of a gift card from my favorite sister, MARY). We had George Washington's favorite flavor of cheesecake: blood pudding and mince meat regalia. Awesome.

Last weekend was the real treat: Mt. Vernon. We first drove through Washington D.C. to shake our fists at the White House and see the cherry blossoms, which I found pretty overrated. They were nice, but they are just trees after all. There were so many people all over the place that we decided to just admire the trees from the car and head to Mt. Vernon.

For those of you who don't know much about Mt. Vernon, it was originally built by George Washington's brother and named for his brother's commanding officer, something Vernon. Then his brother died and George Washington got the place. Now some pictures:

The Sacred Cherry Blossom.

The Washington Monument. BOINNGGGGGG!!!!

Robyn and me in front of Mt. Vernon.

The weirdest part of Mt. Vernon was the video we watched in the visitor's center before touring the place. It was narrated by none other than Pat Sajak. The line to get into the house was huge. I waited patiently in line for over an hour while mom and Robyn entertained baby in Washington's front lawn, or "bowling green" as they call it. To the untrained eye Mt. Vernon looks like it's constructed of stone. Not so. It's wood made to look like stone using a technique called distressing (I think). The wood was cut into blocks the size of stones, then painted with sand thrown in. Looks pretty real, at least from far away. Pictures weren't allowed inside the house. The most interesting part was walking through his parlor where Washington liked to entertain and where he and his advisors planned the battle of Yorktown.

Out the back of the house was a wonderful view of the Potomac.

Washington had a huge estate of 8,000 acres. As mom astutely noted, "it's a good thing he had all those slaves to help out."

This was the original Washington family crypt. Washington in his will asked for a new one to be built because this one was in bad repair and probably because he knew he was too awesome to be buried in something that looked like a wine cellar. A few years after his death he and Martha were moved to this one:

The final resting place of the first American, the Father of his country, George Washington (on the right). On a still day, if you listen very closely, you can hear him spinning.

Baby's New Trick

2010-03-28T22:58:00.005-04:00

Matthew just started rolling over today! He has never been a huge fan of tummy time, so we don't torture him too often with that. I was a bit worried that he hadn't learned to roll over yet and that we weren't helping the cause, but he figured it out from his back to his tummy and is able to get back to his back some of the time. We will likely be putting the bumper in the crib now because he is hitting his head on the wood slats as he moves all around. We love our little boy!

Savannah, Georgia

2010-03-28T15:06:00.010-04:00

One of the advantages of my job is that I get to see many exciting and diverse cities all over the United States. Tyler, Texas, Binghamton, New York, and Fargo, North Dakota are just some of the exotic locales to which my job has taken me. Last week I got to go to a genuinely nice place: Savannah, Georgia. I don't have to travel out of state too much for my job anymore, but I saw this hearing on the calendar and noticed that all the regional attorneys down there were busy so I snatched it up.

The Forsyth Park fountain. It's supposed to be famous. The park where the fountain is located was full of hippies.

The most fun I had in Savannah was strolling down the streets admiring the 19th century architecture. Savannah takes a lot of pride in preserving its city the way it looked in the middle of the nineteenth century. But for the cars, telephone wires, and minorities roaming free, one would think it was the Antebellum South.

Robyn just completed her first month of P90X. She's extremely dedicated. She even brought the DVD's with her to work out on vacation. She set up the computer in the bathroom and worked out in there so as not to disturb baby Maffew, who was sleeping.

Baby Maffew gets a bath in the sink.

Baby with his new teething toy, Sophie the giraffe.

Talented

2010-03-24T21:49:00.000-04:00

There is a woman in my ward who is so talented in the art of cake decorating. Every baby shower we have, she shows up with these amazing cakes decorated to go with the theme of the shower or the theme of the baby's nursery. I asked her if she would teach me how to make cakes, so she held a couple classes at church to teach me and others how. We had two classes and these are the results. Maybe we will continue in a few months. I am hoping that I can at least be able to make neat birthday cakes for Matthew.

The first class we learned how to frost a cake. Normally, this would be an all day process, where you stick the cake in the freezer several times to get the result you want - nice and smooth. We did this is one setting, so it's not as slick looking. I was a good girl and did not have one taste of frosting or cake that night. I waited until my "free" day the following day to have a piece. It was REALLY yummy.

The finished product.

We practiced making flowers and borders.

The inside. I made my cake from scratch. In my opinion, cake is not worth eating from a box (unless it's doctored up).

For the second class we had to make our cake at home along with the frosting and bring it to class frosted so we could practice working with fondant. My friend Sarah came over and we spent around four hours making frosting and perfecting the art of frosting our cakes.

I originally wanted to paisleys all over my cake. That evolved to water drops and after, the fish and frog. I did not make the frog. Carmen made that as it was a bit above my level of artistry and patience! We died all the fondant.

Up close.

Inside - the doctored up cake recipe. Matt's favorite.

St. Patty's Day!

2010-03-23T12:00:00.002-04:00

I have a family tradition to do a green dinner for St. Patrick's Day. Normally, I dye different foods green to accomplish this, but this year I wanted to do things a little bit more natural. I started searching the internet for "green dinner" and found all sorts of links to "earth-friendly" green dinners. That wasn't quite the direction I wanted. I found an AMAZING recipe for chicken pesto pasta.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Phenomenal-Chicken-and-Pasta-in-Creamy-Pesto-Sauce/Detail.aspx

We had our favorite Pear Feta Salad. Grace brought Watergate Salad (a pistachio pudding based salad) and I found another recipe for Lucky Four-Leaf Clover Rolls. This may just become our staple St. Patty's meal. It was so good and I just don't know that I could improve upon it. Matt made Key Lime Cupcakes and Mary and Mark brought mint chocolate chip ice cream. Matt and I spent several hours preparing all the food and we all enjoyed eating it. Matt and I make a great team in the kitchen. He is always so willing to help and I really love that about him.

Grace showed up in a lovely green sweater and early so that she could help take care of Matthew while we prepared the meal.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/breads/lucky-four-leaf-clover-rolls/

*I'm pretty sure mine turned out about twice as big as they were supposed to - I may try to make the balls small next time. They are yummy either way.

Mary claims she doesn't own one green piece of clothing. Looks like we have some shopping to do for next year! Mark is licking his lips! I tried taking another photo, but unfortunately it was blurry.

Key Lime Cupcakes. We forgot to dye the frosting green because we were so anxious experience the deliciousness of these cupcakes. I had one later and at least doubled the amount of frosting on top - the best part of a cupcake in my opinion.

Our Big Baby Boy

2010-03-18T12:24:00.000-04:00

We left for Savannah, Georgia today (Matt will post more about this later). Matt had a hearing in Baltimore at 1 p.m. and our flight left at 5:30 p.m. So, Matthew and I went down with him and took a trip to visit Aunt Mary at work while Matt was in the hearing. He was a bit nervous about being in the hospital - maybe he has traumatic memories of his birth or maybe it was just all the unfamiliar faces, but he cried pretty hard a few times. He calmed down and then I put him on the scale and he really didn't like that either. I just had to see how much he weighs.

17 pounds, 9.8 ounces! That's with his clothes on, but I'd say he is a big, big boy for his little age of four months. We had fun visiting Aunt Mary and letting her show off little Matthew to all her co-workers!

Your Baby Fix

2010-03-13T21:14:00.009-05:00

Here are some pics of our adorable Baby Maffew to hold you over until you're lucky enough to see him in person.

For the last week or so, when we go into get Maffew in the morning we find him totally askew in his crib. We always lay him longways in his crib, of course, but throughout the night he somehow manages to wiggle his way down 90 degrees. I find it baffling how a 4 month old baby has the physical strength to move himself so much. He is starting to wiggle a little, but throughout the day I never notice him moving that much. It's kind of like the crop circles or the big statues on Easter Island: it's a mystery how it happens but you know there must be a logical explanation, right???

Maffew has really taken to sucking on his fists (and our fingers). Though in this picture it looks like another baby came out of nowhere and punched him in the mouth.

Baby and daddy take a nap, after which we both got diaper changes.

Is it any wonder where Baby gets his good looks? I told Robyn that all of Maffew's friends were going to tell him how beautiful his mother was. Her reply: "I hope so."

Cody and me relaxing on his couch.

Baby Maffew loves his play dates with Ainsley from the ward. He just lays there right now, but soon he'll be big enough to pull her hair and stuff.

Getting My Body Back!

2010-02-22T14:29:00.000-05:00

Today, Matthew is 14 weeks old. Time has flown by. A few weeks back (7 weeks back) I started attempting P90X. Being so out of shape, I figured doing three workouts a week was pretty darn good. After the first week of workouts, I was able to get into one of my Ann Taylor skirts for church. I was thrilled!!! I didn't have to wear the black stretchy skirt in size large that I picked up from Target in December because nothing in my closet fit. I also discovered that most of my skirts are very form fitting. Not helping the cause. I was feeling pretty sexy that week at church and received lots of compliments. That is great motivation! A few weeks later I found a scale at my sister-in-law, Mary's house. I got on and saw the dreaded news: 161 lbs. I had not lost a single pound since my 4 week visit to the OBGYN! How could this be? Well, it could be that I had been eating tons of junk food. We were snowed in twice and what do you do when you have nothing else to do? Bake the yummiest treats and eat. Still, I was really disappointed, so I gave up working out entirely for 2 weeks. This is not helping my self esteem. I feel horrible about the way I look. I can't stand it any more. So, I am taking a stand. I am going to get through 90 days of P90X even if it kills me! I have decided to cut out ALL sweets for six days a week and give myself one free day. The reason I'm doing that is I think it is unrealistic to cut out sugar entirely. I will never be able to keep that up long term and I am bound to slip up and give in to the deep temptation of chocolate. But, I know that if I look at my week and focus on one day where I can eat anything and know that day is coming, I know I can be really good and healthy the other six days. I have started a new blog entitled: My P90X Body Quest. I had Matt take pictures of me from all sides so I can track my progress. The pictures will never be seen by anyone outside of Matt and myself. Believe me, you don't want to see them. I am only posting this post on our family blog so that everyone I know well will know about my goal and ask me about it occasionally. So that I have to be held accountable. My goal is to get my body back to where it was just before I got married. Probably in the best shape of my life and about 130-133 pounds. I want desperately to fit into the cute shorts I wore on our honeymoon. Is that too lofty a goal?

Pizza

2010-02-16T22:13:00.000-05:00

I thought it looked pretty. Yes, I have a thing for taking pictures of the food I make.

SNOWMAGEDDON!!!!

2010-02-13T16:15:00.006-05:00

That's what our endlessly charming and fit-for-command president called the recent snowstorm that crippled the mid atlantic states. It's one of the few things we agree on. One weekend we got about 22" of snow, only to get about 18" more the next week. The previous huge snowstorm that I remember around these parts was around 1993. I remember having to walk to the doctor's office with my mom because the roads were completely unpassable. It was also so cold that my abundant nose hairs froze solid.

I managed to make it to my Richmond hearings on Monday morning after the huge weekend storm. I then drove to Baltimore-Washington airport to fly up to Erie, Pa. the day before the next storm. By the time I got to Detroit for my layover, Delta had already cancelled my flight home the next afternoon. The last thing in the world I wanted was to be stranded in Erie, Pa for a second longer than I had to, so I decided to drive my rental car to Harrisburg airport and have Robyn meet me there. It started snowing on my way home, however, and by the time I got near Harrisburg, it was snowing so heavily that we didn't think it was safe for Robyn to continue. So I had her turn around and I brought the rental home. There it sat all the next day until I finally returned it to BWI, where my car was sitting since Monday. It was a long, drawn out ordeal, and I was lucky that work was fitting the $371 bill for the rental.

Robyn and I had a great time being snowed in, mostly because when you're cloistered up in your house your first instinct is to bake stuff. Which we did. Again and again. I even got out of one of my hearings in Philadelphia on Thursday.

The view out our front door.

The back door.

2 months!

2010-01-26T13:11:00.007-05:00

Our little man is 2 months old already! Time flies. He gets more and more fun every day. He is becoming quite the talker. The night before he turned 2 months, I was inspired to start giving him a sleep routine to see if he would sleep a bit longer. I give him a bath, try to read him a book, but he's not really into that yet, and nurse him to sleep. He usually gets to bed sometime between 7 and 8 p.m. and if we're really lucky he sleeps until 3 or 4 a.m. Once he got up at 10 p.m. and I thought all was lost, but this was a one time thing. It's been nice for Matt and me to have some time together and if I could only get to bed earlier, I would really be benefiting from this as far as sleep goes. Matthew has figured out how to bounce his bouncer by kicking his legs. He has decided bottles are for the birds and we have fought with him to take it, but so far he is prevailing on that one. At his 2 month appointment, Matthew weighed in at 14 pounds, 1 ounce (90th percentile) and 24 1/2 inches (90th percentile). He head has gone from 50th to 75th percentile. He is a big boy and we are absolutely in love!
Matthew LOVES bath time. He will just kick and kick forever. I can't wait to take him swimming when the weather warms up.

Daddy and Matthew in a 0-3 month outfit his Aunt Jackie gave him. We tried to give it one last shot, but he's obviously outgrown that size!
Hanging out in his 2nd swing with his little tiger. He couldn't care less that the tiger is with him, but I thought it was cute. He looks so chubby here!
Matthew spends a lot of time in this swing. Worth every penny!
Sporting his BYU onesie given to him by Aunt Heather and Uncle Steve for Christmas. He has babylegs on!
Modeling his new hat. I have a slight addiction to a website - babysteals.com. Matt has set a rule that I can only order one item a month.

Big smile!
He sleeps in a Halo sleepsack every night. He hates being swaddled and kicks off every blanket we put on top of him, so this is perfect!

Beef

2009-12-31T22:16:00.000-05:00

When I was 15, I made a decision. I vowed never to eat another hamburger. This is purely a mental thing. It's hard to explain. It's just something I decided for myself after eating a hamburger at Burger King one day. In the 15 years since that time, I've rarely eaten hamburger meat or any red meat for that matter.

On Christmas Eve, I decided to take a HUGE risk and stop and In-N-Out with my mom in American Fork. At first we were just going to get fries. Upon seeing the ginormous line for the drive through, I decided what the heck, take the plunge. Here is the video as evidence:

I know, very attractive!

I have only had one burger since, at In-N-Out in Orem with my friend Mandy last month. Don't worry people, I am not totally sold on this burger business. Fortunately, In and Out puts so many toppings on and the patty is so thin, I can barely taste the meat.

1 Month Old!

2009-12-20T21:17:00.003-05:00

This picture was taken today. He is becoming so much more alert.

Time flies! It's hard to believe our little guy has been with us over a month now. I took Matthew to the doctor on Thursday and we found out he is a big, strong, healthy boy. He weighed in at 11 pounds 11 ounces and measured 23 inches. 90th percentile on both weight and height and 50th percentile for head circumference. We are headed out to Utah on Wednesday, the 23rd, for the holidays and I figure he should be about 12 pounds then. This means I have a 5 week old the size of a 3 month old! It makes for easier packing. I figure I will just wash and pack his 3-6 month clothes since he is actually at the weight and height for that size. I can't believe it. My baby boy is growing way too fast.

Note: Matt had an idea to take a picture of Matthew every day of his life for the first year. Afterward, we will make a movie showing each day and the progression of change. I thought it would be a good idea to do it on the Boppy so that there is an constant in the pictures to measure his growth by. Hence all the pictures of our sweet little guy on the Boppy :)

Matthew on the day of his 1 month check up.

I decided to dress him in 3-6 months clothes the day after his appointment, just to see how they look. The pants are a tad big in the waist and a little long, but other than that he is filling them out quite well. I hope he stays in this size for a while!

Dress Up

2009-12-19T22:11:00.000-05:00

Mommy loves to play dress up. Matthew doesn't. He hates having his clothes changed. His little arms are so stiff and he just cries and cries. I had to catch him while he was sleeping to get this little sweater on him.

He LOVES being in the bath, but dreads getting out and having to get dressed.

Daddy bathing baby Matthew.

Mommy drying him off.

Look who came to visit!

2009-12-13T21:34:00.000-05:00

Grandpa Shipley called us this morning to let us know he'd be stopping by in the evening to say hello and give us all a big hug. He had to come out to Washington D.C. for business for a few days. We were so excited to see him and have him meet Matthew for the first time. He was actually in town the day I went into labor. My water broke an hour after his plane took off. So, he was back out exactly a month later to meet Matthew. It was so fun to watch him interact with Matthew. He is so good with babies. He lulled Matthew right to sleep and put him down in his crib. Only problem was he woke up an hour later, but gave us enough time to play a game of Settlers :) My dad has VERY strong genes. So many of the Shipley babies look just like their grandpa. I was amazed looking at the picture of the two of them and noticing that Matthew's coloring matches grandpa's.

First Airplane Ride

2009-12-10T21:43:00.001-05:00

All ready for my first airplane ride. Dressed up in my "Little Pilot" outfit.
So excited for my first big trip!

We took a quick trip to Boston. It was quite the adventure. The week Matthew was born, Matt offered to take a hearing in Boston so that I could come and bring the baby to visit our friends Alisa and Eric. Matt has earned enough flights with Southwest that I can fly for free with him anywhere he goes. Matt was flying back from Louisville, Kentucky and didn't have enough time to come up to the house and get us and go back to the airport, so my sweet friend, Donna, offered to drive Matthew and I to the airport. Just before leaving, I decided to see if we needed any documents for the baby. I found out that Southwest requires you to bring the baby's birth certificate to prove that he is at least 2 weeks and less than 2 years old and also to prove that you aren't trying to fly away with someone else's child. Well, this was a problem because we had to send the birth certificate back as they had forgotten to put the "IV" after MKS on the certificate. After lots of phone calls and inquiry, Matt found out that we would be okay if we had an immunization record from the pediatrician. Luckily I planned an extra 30 minutes to get to the airport, so Donna drove us by the pediatrician to pick the paper up.

When we arrived at the airport, we found out our flight was delayed 50 minutes. There was a big snow storm in Boston that day and the airplane coming in was late. It seemed as if everyone at the airport was flabbergasted that we were taking a 3 week old on an airplane. We were nervous about it too, but hoping all would go well. After getting through security and waiting for daddy to get out of the bathroom so that we could find a decent place to feed the baby, we got onto the airplane only to find out that our flight was delayed another 90 minutes!!! So much for hanging out with Alisa and Eric that night. I was regretting coming, but after pondering the thought of going back home only to have to turn around to pick Matt back up the following night at the airport, decided to stick it out. Luckily, Matthew fell asleep. When we finally took off I was so worried about making sure Matthew was sucking on his pacifier that I put it in his mouth and kept moving it around to get him to suck. I wasn't sure if he was sleeping if his ears would be okay and didn't want to take any chances. After landing, we waited for the Dollar Rental Car shuttle to take us to get our car. We watched as 3 or 4 shuttles passed from every other rental company before Dollar's shuttle came by. Talk about bad luck! We didn't get to our hotel until almost 11 p.m. Side note: we realized it would be much easier to check the car seat instead of taking it to the gate.

When we checked in, the guy told Matt there would be a crib in our room. We got to the room and there was no crib. They finally brought the crib, but it looked pretty scary - very institutional. I opted to let Matthew sleep in his car seat and then near me in the double bed after he got up the first time. Well, we did get to see Alisa and her big boy, Tyler. Ty is 7 months old and in 18 month clothes! He is such a cutie! It was so fun to see Alisa. We went and had Thai food which I haven't had for so long as Matt is not a fan. Then we went back to her house. Eric was home for lunch and Matt pulled up just after we did with canolis from Mike's Pastry! We had a great visit (despite Matthew's fussiness) and Alisa even let me take a much needed nap. Matt and I went to Boston 2 weeks after Ty was born, so it was fun to be able to bring Matthew out at about the same age.

The trip back, we checked the car seat and made it to our gate to find out we were delayed 50 minutes. I guess you just have to expect lots of delays in the winter. We were grateful to make it home safely and agreed that the next trip would be longer than 1 day, but that it was worth the trip to see the Stoddards and to know what to expect before heading out to Utah for Christmas.

Alisa and me with our boys in front of their gorgeous Christmas tree. These guys will be good friends.
Matt and Alisa taking care of the babies.

Ty showing off his mad jumping skills!

Matthew's First Moments

2009-11-18T13:07:00.000-05:00

Matthew Kenneth Steen IV - born November 16th, 2009 at 5:37 p.m. 9 lbs. 7 oz. and 20 3/4 inches. He surprised all of us in his timing and his size!

Baby Matthew is here! We thought for sure we'd be waiting a week after his due date to be induced and welcome him to our family, but this boy has good timing. I started contracting on a regular basis at church Sunday the 15th (his due date) during Sunday School. I didn't really say anything until we got home and when I started timing things, contractions were coming every 10 minutes. Around 6:30, I realized my water broke while I was sitting on the couch eating a yummy dinner - Cafe Rio Chicken Salad. I thought I felt something strange and when I got up to go upstairs, realized that indeed, water was flowing down my leg. Thank goodness I was home! I let my mom and Matt know and they both started frantically packing their bags so we could get to the hospital. I called Matt's sister, Aunt Mary (who lives nearby and works in Towson, Maryland as a labor and delivery nurse - she's been nursing in L&D for 17 years). We had been texting about the contractions and when I called to tell her that my water broke, she was at work and telling everyone she had to go! They all knew that she had been anticipating this event for months and agreed she would go as soon as things were under way. She planned on meeting us at the hospital, but after contacting Cheri Gard, my midwife, I decided to stay home for a few hours to let the contractions progress. Around 9:30 p.m., we decided to head into the hospital. My contractions were every 5-6 minutes by this point. Matt was speeding. I had to give him a hard time. We take Route 30 into Lancaster to get to the doctor and the speed limit is only 55 mph. He always gives me a hard time for going too fast. He was going 80-85 the whole time. He said it was different this time and I was just praying that we wouldn't get in a wreck :) Mary and mom followed behind us in Mary's car. Matt dropped me off and I headed to triage. Luckily, Matt brought in all the bags and I found my I.D. to give them and was happy he had his insurance card in his wallet, because for some reason, mine was not in my wallet. After checking me, I was only dilated to a 1! I was pretty frustrated by that, but at least something was happening. The last few weeks of going to the doctor and being told that nothing was progressing was getting a bit depressing. Since my water ruptured, I was stuck in the hospital until Matthew came. They gave me a sleeping pill and mom and Mary went back to our place to rest up for the coming day. It was a LONG night. How is anyone supposed to sleep through contractions? I would lay down and get up every time a contraction came. Finally at 4 a.m., I called the nurse to see if I could try something else. She brought in a birthing ball and I sat on that and leaned on the bed for a few hours. Matt was sleeping through all of this, I'm sure not well, but I was glad he was at least in the same room, albeit envious that he could sleep. At 6:30 a.m. the nurse started me on pitocin. Meanwhile Mom and Mary showed up all rested and ready for the day at 7:30. I sat in a rocker and tried to breathe through contractions until Cheri showed up to check me. She came soon after 8a.m. She actually didn't check me, but told me she would come back around lunch time and look. I decided to get an epidural, which I got around 8:30 a.m. Contractions were evey 2-3 minutes by then. Wow - all I have to say is that epidurals are truly a blessing from God. Immediately, I felt SO much better and able to relax.

At lunch time, I was at a dilated to a 5. The nurse kept upping the pitocin - until I was at a level 16 and was consistently still getting 5 contractions every 10 minutes. At 2:30, the nurse checked me and I was at a 9 - so close! They told me to let them know when I was feeling pressure down that way and they would call Cheri to come in. Around 4:15, I called the nurse, she checked and I was fully effaced, ready to go, at a 10. I have never been so thrilled to hear the number 10 in my life! Cheri came in around 5:15. We got into position and after pushing for 15 minutes, Matthew arrived! It was amazing! I never thought I would opt for the mirror, but I was curious to see and I think it probably helped me know where to push and be more aware of how things were progressing. I had an incredible amount of support in the room. Aunt Mary, Cheri, Susan - a nurse at Women's and Babies who Mary used to work with, the nurse assigned to me, Bethany, my mom, and Matt. I met Susan a couple of times over the last few months and she actually gave me a private tour of the hospital. She came in on her day off to help me out. I am so grateful to have had such wonderful people with me. Matt stood at my left shoulder with his head nuzzled into my shoulder/the bed. He has a hard time with blood, so I expected this. I did see him peek up a few times to look. My mom and Mary were in charge of taking pictures. Here are some of the photos they took:

Matt and me before the big push!
Mary updating family on facebook. Baby Matthew getting his first look at mom.
The Delivery Team: Left: Cheri, the midwife; Susan, Grandma Shipley. Right: Aunt Mary, Bethany, Robyn's L&D Nurse, Matt
Proud Aunt Mary with Matthew. We've been waiting for him for a long time!
Me after the workout! Looking tired, but so happy to have Matthew here with us.
MKS III with MKSIV
Susan swaddling Matthew.
Our first visitors (besides mom and Mary) - Jessica and Cody. He was excited to meet the baby and anticipating being a big brother in May!
Matt helping Cody hold Matthew - and me thinking how fun this will be when we have our next little miracle.

Guess the Baby's Measurements, Win a Prize!

2009-11-15T08:16:00.000-05:00

The days of Robyn's travail are almost over. In fact, according to the scientific countdown clock on the blog, the baby should be born today! While that probably won't happen, it should be anyday now (we're hoping). Robyn is ready to have Baby Maffew evicted, but he is a stubborn hold over tenant to say the least. I thought it would be fun to have a contest, inspired by our discovery this week of Andes Creme de Menthe cookies. Whoever is closest to correctly guessing Baby Maffew's weight and length will win a box of these highly desirable cookies, shipping paid. Trust me, these cookies are awesome. The rules are simple:

* There shall be two prizes given: one (1) box for the person who correctly guesses the weight, and one (1) box for the person who correctly guesses the length. Should the same person guess both measurements correctly, that person shall win both prizes.

* In accordance with time tested game protocol established by The Price is Right, should a person be closest, but go over the official measurements, that person shall be disqualified, and the next person who is closest without going over shall be the winner.

* All entries must be registered in the comments section of this post and must be received before the arrival time of the baby.

* The official arrival hour and minute shall be that time established by the hospital staff.

* Amending entries is allowed, but only the last entry received before the birth of the baby will count.

*All readers, casual, loyal, or by happenstance are eligible for the contest.

* In contrast to other contests, family members of the Steens are eligible to compete, especially the parents of Baby Maffew.

* All measurements should be in pounds/ounces (if ounces are part of the guess) and inches. The length measurement should be rounded to the nearest whole inch. Entries given in grams or centimetres or some other Socialist scale will be immediately deleted and disqualified.

* In the event of a tie, the names of the person(s) with the winning guesse(s) shall be drawn at random. The person whose name is drawn shall be the winner.

Good luck to all participants.

A few pictures of my pregnant belly

2009-10-27T07:06:00.000-04:00

Many of you have been asking and I've been avoiding it. I mean, who really wants to take pictures of themselves at this stage of pregnancy let alone share them with other people? I am now 37 weeks and every week for the last few months, I have thought, is it possible for this belly to get any bigger? The answer is yes.

35 weeks prego.

In the car after seeing the doctor at 36 weeks. Yes, this is the same sweater I'm wearing in both pictures, different colors. One thing I will not miss about pregnancy - the limited wardrobe. I can't wait to be able to wear real people clothes again!

Kirtland

2009-10-26T07:18:00.000-04:00

Shortly after I came home from my trip out west, Matt had a hearing in Cleveland, Ohio. I wasn't sure if I was up to getting back in the car for another 6 hour ride there and 6 hours back after 1 day, but I haven't been to Kirtland before and I really wanted to be with Matt, so I decided to go. Matt's mom, Grace came with us as well. It was well worth the trip.

The Kirtland Temple

The front of the temple. The doors were actually green at the time of construction.

Matt in front of the fireplace in the School of the Prophets - upstairs above the Newel K. Whitney store. Joseph Smith lived in this building for a time and received 20 revelations here including The Word of Wisdom. This revelation came after Emma and Joseph became concerned about the tobacco smoke filling the room during meetings. It is said that when Joseph told the brethren of this revelation that they all threw their pipes and tobacco in this fireplace.

The John Johnson Home where Joseph and Emma were staying when he was taken out in the middle of the night by a mob and tarred and feathered.

Dear U.S. Airways

2009-10-25T09:50:00.000-04:00

Last week I flew for the first time in over a month. I had come to almost miss air travel a little. Then I was abruptly reminded why I should never be so foolish. You may remember my last "angry letter," to Delta. I never sent that one because I was admittedly overreacting and just having a bad day. This one, however, will be sent! So with apologies to my Uncle Bobby, who at the time of his retirement was the second longest tenured employee with US Air, here's my latest angry letter . . .

Dear U.S. Airways-

I am a very frequent flier, though not always with your airline. [Give yourself some cred by adding that you're no novice traveler!] This year alone I have flown more than 300,000 miles all over the country for work. Over the course of my travels I have gleaned a little knowledge about airline policies. And though I have more than once experienced delays or other aggravation as a result of those policies, I respect them as reasonable. [Add credence to your argument by letting them know you're a reasonable person!] I understand that those policies are in place for a good purpose that at times must transcend my personal needs and comfort.

This past week, however, I had an experience with your airline that defies justification. It was Wednesday, October 21st. I was flying from Philadelphia to Columbus, Ohio. I was coming from downtown Philadelphia after a court hearing that had run late. After battling traffic and waiting in one of the longest security lines I had ever seen [full of Frenchies and other foreigners!], I had to rush to catch the shuttle bus to another terminal. After exiting the shuttle bus, I ran at a full sprint to my gate to find the door closed. I have enough experience traveling to know what that means. It's too late to board the plane. I didn't even bother entreating the gate supervisor, Anthony XXXXX, [a man whose English I strained to interpret], to let me board, because I know those policies are hard and fast.

As I was resigning myself to the fact that I had missed my flight and would have to take a later one, on top of driving almost 2 hours afterward, I looked out the window and saw the flight attendant beckon to me. He asked if I was supposed to be on that flight. I motioned that I was. He waved me in! [Time to get a little dramatic, though I'll probably leave this out in the real draft]. I was saved! I would be able to board my plane after all because of the consideration of a flight attendant who was going above and beyond his call of duty. I told the gate supervisor what happened. "No," he replied. "You're not getting on this plane." I told him the flight attendant was waving me on. "The door is closed, we have to have this door closed 10 minutes before takeoff." This I already knew, but the plane still had 10 minutes or so before takeoff. Couldn't the rules be bended a little in the cause of customer service? I asked him again, pleading, never indulging in using a tone or raising my voice. His reply: "you had plenty of time to get here." I was taken aback. He rebuked me with the cold terseness of a grizzled schoolmarm. What was most offensive was his assumption that my lateness was my own doing. How did he know that? As I explained, I did not have plenty of time. Shocked at his rudeness, I walked over to the window again, this time to find the pilot motioning at me. He was waving me on board! Again I entreated Mr. XXXXX, but to no avail. Not only did he refuse me, he did so rudely and dismissively. At length, the pilot himself deplaned and walked down the jetway and asked Mr. XXXXX if he could not let me on the plane! "We still have 5 minutes before we're supposed to push," said the pilot. Mr. XXXXX said no and asked him to step into the jetway for a chat. As he disappeared behind the door, the pilot apologized, telling me he had done all he could. After Mr. XXXXX's departure, the young ladies working at the gate even apologized to me for his behavior.

And that's the subject of my letter. I commend the flight attendant and pilot for doing all they could. They could've done nothing and been justified since they were following industry policy. But out of human compassion and a committment to the passenger they tried to do the right thing. But I'm left to wonder, what harm would've transpired if the gate supervisor had opened the door and let me on the plane? Would he have had to do some extra paper work? Would he have had to swallow his pride and let someone on the plane whom he assumed had been careless in not giving himself time to catch his flight? One thing is certain, if he had let me on the flight, a passenger would have been exceedingly grateful at his compassion and would be left singing the praises of U.S. Air for their understanding instead of vowing never to frequent them again.

I am the first to admit that Mr. XXXXX was in the right. I know the policies and he followed them dutifully. But what harm would've occurred if he had flouted those rules for the sake of excellent customer satisfaction? Would any lives had been endangered? Would U.S. Air have been held to task by the FAA? Mr. XXXXX's commitment was to the letter of the law, not to the spirit of customer service. That was made abundantly clear by his actions and rude demeanor. Truthfully, I don't think I'd be writing this letter but for Mr. XXXXX's rude behavior at the gate. Even though I strongly disagree that my boarding the plane would have caused any problems, if Mr. XXXXX had explained it in a courteous way, I would have come to terms with it, even though I would have disagreed. I hope this episode is instructive on how not to treat your customers. Customer service is becoming a lost art in this country throughout all industries. Hopefully you can apply these lessons to future passengers. Unfortunately, it won't be with me. [Always end with a zinger!]

Yours truly,

Matt Steen

AACA Car Meet in Hershey

2009-10-10T21:07:00.000-04:00

I heard that there was a big car show in Hershey, PA this week. In fact it's one of the biggest held in the country. Those of you who know Matt, know his love for old cars - especially "muscle" cars from the 70's. He is still mourning the loss of his 1973 Pontiac Grandville (pictured at the top of our blog) which we traded in for a 2009 VW Tiguan. So, I figured he would be excited about going to a car show and suggested we go Saturday. I was surprised how much I enjoyed looking at the antique cars and admiring the details of each car. Cars of the past just do not compare to cars today. I can't imagine going to a show 50 years from now to see cars manufactured today. Older cars have a distinct smell to them and reminded me of the old Grandville. I really enjoyed watching Matt get excited about different cars. I managed to take a few pictures of a some of the cars he liked.

Dodge Charger (I think)
Ford Mustang
Chevelle (I think)
Another Mustang
This is a "house" car from the 1920's. I had never seen anything like it. They had it all decorated in period style inside.

This was Matt's favorite car at the show. It's a Cadillac. He just loves long cars. His dream car is a Lincoln Continental with suicide doors. We saw one while we were there, but it was driving out, so we missed our photo op.

Let the coupon shopping begin!

2009-10-10T20:54:00.002-04:00

My sister, Heather, has inspired me to start couponing (is that a word?). She is the ultimate bargain shopper. Since we have moved from two salaries to one, things have been tighter. Especially since preparing for MKSIV who will be joining our family next month. I figured it is high time I start figuring out how to use coupons to my advantage and shop the sales. Matt is all for it as long as I don't buy things that we would not normally use "just because I have a coupon." So, I have been frequenting "Pinching Your Pennies" over the last week and Heather was able to find me two blogs local to PA that list deals at the grocery stores close to us. I actually got a heads up this week on a Friends and Family 20% coupon for Babies R Us through the PPYP blog and was able to get a crib that would have normally been out of our price range. I had spent an inordinate amount of time searching for cribs online previous to this and had my eye on this one, wishing it were a bit less expensive. Very exciting!

Tonight, Matt and I headed over to Weis grocery store. We've actually been there just once or twice since we moved here. We didn't even have the savers card yet, so I sent Matt to the service desk to sign up for one while I commenced shopping. I am so proud to share that we saved 45% on our shopping trip between coupons and "Weis Club Savings." So instead of spending $101.31, we spent $57.31. It certainly paid off to plan a trip and look for the deals.

I signed up for the newspaper this week too so that I can start getting Sunday coupons. So far, I've just been printing coupons from coupons.com. I am so excited to be saving money. Thanks Heather for all your help in getting me started!

Pedicure

2009-09-13T20:46:00.000-04:00

My sweet husband gave me a pedicure. I was due for one and can no longer reach my toenails without feeling REALLY uncomfortable. I'd been telling him when I got to this point, I would have to go get a pedicure. His response was, "how hard can it be to paint toenails?" So, I told him I'd be happy for him to do it. So, he took off my old polish and clipped and filed my toenails. Then he put on a clear base coat, two coats of red polish and a top coat. He was so careful and particular about it all. He did an excellent job and will be doing the next one before the baby comes :) Thanks babe!

Endless Travel Finally Pays Off

2009-09-08T21:08:00.000-04:00

I travel a lot for my job. Flight attendants know me by name. They have my drink order memorized when they come to my seat. It's regrettable, but my job keeps me away from home a good deal. I try to equalize the ill effects of travel on my family life by laying claim to every possible benefit I can. For the past 10 months I've been racking up a lot of miles on Delta and Rapid Rewards credit on Southwest. Tomorrow, when I return from Jackson, Mississippi to Baltimore, I will achieve my 100th credit and secure a companion pass for Robyn. That means that whenever and wherever I fly on Southwest, she can fly with me for free! (subject to seat availability). This has been a long awaited perk. We hope to be able to take advantage by flying to Utah or Boise every now and again.

As I type this, Robyn is driving across the country with her mom in our new Tiguan. She loves it and is very glad, again, that my old car is gone. But let me stress the Tiguan will never take the place of honor in our blog banner.

Lastly, I'm in Mississippi today. I think I always say this, but we're hiring more attorneys around the country so the opportunities for me to travel this far are growing fewer. Right across from my hotel is a Shoney's restaurant. When I was a kid I enjoyed many a fine meal at the all-you-can eat breakfast bar. Though I usually opt for the free hotel breakfast to save on my per diem, I'm going to have to splurge and go for Shoney's!

End of an Era

2009-08-25T21:11:00.001-04:00

Last week when I was in Utah, Robyn and I found ourselves with a little time to kill. We decided to go to some local dealerships because we'll be needing a new car soon with the arrival of MKSIV. We decided to take my beloved 1973 Pontiac Grandville with us to see if anyone would give us a trade in for it. It's too old (or too experienced, as she preferred to say), to qualify for Cash for Clunkers, but we thought some dealership might be desperate enough to take it.

We stopped by VW to see what they had. Robyn had fallen in love with the Tiguan (a small SUV) in Pennsylvania. Long story short, the dealer gave me $2900 for my car, which is what I paid for it. We love our Tiguan, but it was very difficult for me to say good bye to my beauty. She was a faithful car and got me to wherever I needed to go in grandiose style. Here's a brief timeline of some memorable events in our time together:

July 2003: Still smarting from a tough break up with a 1994 VW Passat, Matt was perusing the classifieds when he spied an ad for a 1973 Pontiac Grandville. Unfamiliar with that model of Pontiac, he googled Grandville and decided to respond. As soon as he saw the car at Sally Fink's house in Millersville, Pa (aged 92), he instantly fell in love (with the car).

July 2003: While driving the car back from work, the heater core gave way, resulting in a flood of antifreeze on Matt's feet. ($220)

July 2003: Shocks replaced ($160)

August 2003: Matt had the car shipped out to him in Utah ($900)

March 2004: The transmission had to be rebuilt for the paltry sum of $400.

July 2004: While at Sonic car wash in Provo, the hood of the Grandville is severely damaged by the car wash. The windshield is also shattered. The car wash paid for all repairs.

November 2004: Heater motor gives out ($250)

February 2005: Radiator replaced ($230)

April 2005: Starter replaced ($200)

August 2005: While driving home one evening, the power steering suddenly gives way. The culprit turned out to be something called the power steering gear box. A replacement was finally located in Georgia at a cost of $300.

Late August 2005: Matt drives his Grandville 17 hours across the country to Tulsa, OK for law school with no problem ($275 for gas).

May 2006: Brake work totalling $250.

January 2007: After noticing a small hiccup in the car's acceleration, it is discovered that the valves need extensive work. The car is in the shop for a month at a cost of over $1,000.

April 2007: Battery and alternator are replaced ($125)

June 2008: While sitting in his car, Matt detects the strong odor of gasoline, which he later finds pouring out the bottom of the engine. Fuel pump is replaced for $250.

April 2009: Matt and Robyn move to Pennsylvania, leaving the Grandville in the covered garage of Robyn's parents' condo.

August 2009: After 36 years and 89,871 miles of loyal service, the Grandville is unceremoniously discarded for a newer, hipper, foreign car, much to the delight of Robyn. Like the Giving Tree, the old Grandville had imparted its all for the happiness of her owner.

I love you, Grandville, and will ever hold you in sacred memory.

I Made a Big Mistake

2009-08-16T10:44:00.000-04:00

This is too funny not to share. First, a little background. A little more than a week ago I was chatting via facebook with an old mission friend, Wade Bean. A few days later I got an invitation to view "Bean's blog." I was happy to accept the invitation. I visited Bean's blog, and noticed that it was obviously new. There were two posts, but I only read the most recent one, about their garden. The author wrote about the various vegetables growing in the garden: watermelon, cantaloupes, tomatoes, and, most notably, beans. The author wrote that there were "little bean plants" growing and that they would have "little beans anyday now!" Anyone who knows me knows I strive to make funny little comments on peoples' blogs whenever I see a good opportunity. So I left the following comment on the blog: "Wait a minute, I know what's going on here. 'Little bean plants??' 'We're going to have little beans here any day?' These are metaphors for saying you're PREGNANT!!! Congrats, Elder Bean!!!"

I was just so proud of myself for another witty showing on someone's blog. Then I noticed there was a comment from someone named Marian. I clicked on the name and it was my own mother-in-law! Well, the LDS Church often makes the world even smaller than it seems, so I figured that Marian knew Elder Bean's wife so I left yet another comment: "Hey, I noticed my mother-in-law posted a comment. Is your wife a sibling of my wife, elder Bean? I guess it's possible I could've missed you guys at family dinners." Another funny comment! I was on a roll!

I went back to the blog later in the day and decided to look at the other post I hadn't read yet. It was about a recent trip to Lagoon. And there were 5 comments, from Holly Casos, Danielle Casos, Kayla Casos, Capri Casos, and Sienna Casos. Now I was just totally confused. How on earth did Elder Bean know my entire family??? Then I got an epiphany. This wasn't Elder Bean's family blog, it was Kristina Casos's blog! My 10 year old niece, and I had left a comment saying she was pregers!!!! Embarrassed and mortified, I deleted the comments, hopefully before anyone saw what I had left. Ironically, this is why many blogs are kept private, to keep weirdos from posting things. Sorry Kristina.

Dear Delta Airlines

2009-08-13T22:46:00.000-04:00

I had a horrible flight last night (see below). As I was fuming on the airplane I thought about writing a scathing letter to Delta. Funny thing is, when I woke up this morning I was completely over it, but I decided to write the letter anyway just to see if my powers of persuasion were enough to get them to respond or give me a million skymiles for my trouble. I wrote the below letter on the plane today (ironically) on my way to Chicago. It is supposed to be as self righteous, indignant, moralizing, and condescending as it sounds. I make a few little notes in brackets. It's long.

To Whom it May Concern:
My name is Matt Steen, I am a frequent flier on Delta. My frequent flier number is ******8070. Before I get to the real purpose of this letter, I need to explain a basic legal principle that has bearing on my narrative. It's called the "eggshell plaintive rule." In short, the egg shell plaintiff rule holds that if a plaintiff's injury is made worse by the presence of a pre existing condition, though unknown to the defendant, the defendant is still held responsible for any harm caused as a result of his actions. A potential defendant, therefore, inflicts even a small offense at his own peril, for even a perceived small breach of conduct can yield costly consequences.

This fundamental legal maxim is relevant to my story because last night, as I boarded flight 242 from Detroit to Baltimore, I was in a fragile state. Though it was only the middle of the week, I was already mentally and physically spent due to stressful interactions with judges and an unusually taxing travel schedule that left little time for sleep. After my flight I had only a short turnaround before I had to awaken very early the next day and drive a considerable distance for work, only to turn right around and head back down to the airport to fly to Chicago [on Southwest]. The only flight I could get out of tiny Alpena, Michigan left at 4:30pm, followed by a 3 hour layover in Detroit and a late arrival in Baltimore. Under optimal conditions, with the drive home I would get home around midnight at best. At about 8:30pm, tired, frustrated, and frazzled, I boarded my flight [on first class, as Robyn points out], anxious to get home.

As the wait stretched out I slowly grew more dejected, because of my seemingly inescapable fore ordination that I be perpetually tired [poor baby!!!] and out of concern that my aged and easily confused mother [zing! My mom doesn't know where to find the internet, much less my blog], who agreed to pick me up, would make it to the airport alright.

It turned out our plane was in need of repair, and the 10 minutes expected to repair the problem grew to an excruciating hour. By the time I made it home, fighting to stay awake, I had only 4 hours until I had to pull myself out of bed the next day[wahhhhhhh].

If our delay had been caused by inclement weather or some other force majeure, you would be insulated from any blame. But, innocent or not, this seemingly minor breach of duty was your doing. Though it may seem small to you, it was a big deal to me [but I'm really over it now, not like it hasn't happened before]. and I write this letter to ask you to make due reparation. You are the world's largest airline, and I am one dissatisfied customer. Your market share wouldn't feel the tiniest ripple if I never flew Delta again [I have WAY too many miles to follow through on that one] and indeed, my cynical nature tells me this letter will go largely ignored because of your size advantage [reverse psychology alert!!]. But I am asking you to do the right thing, the honorable thing [I'm not beneath manipulation!]; admit your fault, acknowledge my letter [on Foxnews at primetime], and make amends in proportion to the harm incurred [which for my purposes, was colossal].

This isn't the proper forum for me to pine over the lost art of customer service, but I will offer a couple of my insights if you will bear them [time to talk down to you!] First, right minded customers, among which I count myself, do not expect things to always go perfectly. Secondly, and most importantly for our purposes here, is this: it's not the lapses in good service that distinguish bad companies from good ones, but how they react to those lapses. Every mistake, great or small, is a seminal moment for a corporation or business [waxing deeply philosophical now]. It is a great opportunity, one for the corporation or business to not only preserve trust, but bolster and grow it by providing surety that the company takes its stewardship seriously. When a good company makes amends, the previously aggrieved and disgruntled consumer is left with a profound respect for the company, and feelings of disappointment are replaced with appreciation and awe that the great paid obeisance to the one.

Even more pivotal for a consumer (and company) than how a mistake is perceived at the moment is how it is perceived ever after. I still often recount how at a Cheesecake Factory in Baltimore in 2001, my meal came out just a little later than those of the rest of my party. Though I was utterly unmoved by the event, so concerned was the manager that my meal was free! Many times have I retold that story with genuine admiration for the Cheesecake Factory and its manager, and as many times that admiration was shared by those who heard the account. The good companies find a way to make a customer almost glad he suffered an inconvenience, while the less successful company sweeps the matter under the rug with an obligatory form letter thanking the customer for his "valuable feedback." [YOU wouldn't do that, would you, Delta???]

So I commend this letter to anyone at your airline [CEO, COO, CFO, VP, etc] in the hope that it will find its way to a like-minded person. I hope to hear from you soon.

Cabin Trip!

2009-08-08T22:04:00.000-04:00

Well, it's time I update the blog. Matt has been threatening to shut it down, so I better get posting. It's been a long while. I spent the whole month of August in Utah and the first week of September in Idaho. Matt had a CRAZY schedule in August. He was gone in a different state almost every day during the week, so we decided I should get a good visit in before this baby comes (40 more days!!!). I really enjoyed my visit. I spent the first week with my friend, Kristin. She helped me make some things for the baby (pictures will be posted). Then, I headed to the cabin with my sister, Heather and her family. We went to the Rodeo one night in Logan. We got there an hour early for a "pre-show" which ended up being the tractor plowing the dirt and a few people riding their horses around. My brothers, Jon and Matt, and their families joined us Saturday and Sunday. It was so great to watch my nieces and nephews play together.

This is Brooklyn sitting across from me. She stared at me most of the way up to the cabin.
Presley stylin' in her sunglasses on the way to the cabin.

Presley and Katie pushing the mini carts at Lee's in Logan.

The girls watching the "pre-show."

Becky reading to the kids. She was amazing with them. She had them all draw pictures to post on the wall in the cabin for Grandma and Grandpa.

Baby I

Maggie enjoying the creek and the mud.

Me by the campfire.

Jess, Jon, Ira, and Beck.

We celebrated Ben's Birthday - he blew out candles on top of marshmallows to kick off the smore fest!

Ira and Beck enjoying their smores.

Steve, Brooklyn, Heather, Katie and Presley.

Matt's Brush With Death!

2009-08-05T22:23:00.000-04:00

No, not really. But it was a legitimate brush with discomfort and moderate pain. Sunday during church I started experiencing some chest pains. Nothing too bad, but they gradually got worse throughout the day. I decided to call my sister Mary and tell her my symptoms because she's a labor and delivery nurse, but all she could think of was to ask me how much I was dilated. She did tell me to go to the hospital, so Robyn and I went to the ER in York. The triage nurse gave me an EKG and showed the results to the doctor, who decided it was slightly abnormal and sent me back. There I was given an IV, which is horrible because I hate needles above almost everything. Then came all the questions:

Q: Do you drink alcohol?

A: No.

Q: Have you done any intravenous drugs lately?

A: No.

Q: Do you smoke?

A: No.

Q: Are you allergic to any medications?

A: No.

Q: You haven't been taking any drugs, right?

A: No.

Q: Do you have any drug allergies?

A: No.

Q: Are you taking any sort of male enhancement drugs?

A: None of your business.

I got a chest x-ray, which came out normal. Finally the doctor said that he was 99% certain it was an ulcer and that there was a 1% chance it was something called pericarditis, an inflammation of the heart lining. So we went home, he gave me a prescription for some tummy medicine and told me to take ibuprofen just in case.

The next day Robyn and I went to the airport. She to go to Utah for 5 weeks because my travel schedule this month is so crazy and to get tons of gifts from baby showers (she took along an empty suitcase), and I to go to some barren Louisiana town. Walking around the airport made my chest start pounding. I began to get really short of breath and couldn't even talk it got so bad. So I went up to the TSA agents and asked for a place I could rest until my sister Mary came and picked me up. They called the EMT's. They suggested I go right to the hospital, which I agreed to because by that time I was feeling really bad and couldn't breathe very well at all. In the ambulance I got another EKG and next thing I knew I was in the ER with nurses buzzing around me sticking needles all in me. But long story short, I had pericarditis, which is a temporary infection that can mimic a heart attack but isn't nearly as serious.

The story has a happy ending, though. The next day when I woke up, it was as if it never happened. I felt almost completely better. A lot of people were very concerned. Little Joshie, upon hearing that his favorite uncle and source of his bewitching good looks was ill, went promptly to the bathroom and said a prayer for me. It was no doubt those prayers that aided me in my fast recovery.

Idaho

2009-07-23T21:24:00.000-04:00

Matt and I were able to go to Idaho to visit my sister, Holly, and her family in Boise. In order to use points and credits on airlines to avoid paying $600 a ticket, we went out at different times. Matt left July 1st and came back the 7th. I went out on the 4th of July and came back the 15th. We had a great time swimming, setting off fireworks on the 4th, hosting BBQ's, making and eating delicious desserts, going to the movies, slipping out on occasion to go to eat sans kids, and playing games. Unfortunately, about the time I got to Boise, Matt came down with some kind of stomach virus. We LOVE spending time with the Casos family and are always sad to leave. Here are some pictures to highlight our trip (Kayla was took a lot of pictures with her camera - so when she gets back from girls' camp I will have to get those from her).

My girlfriends Julie and Lisa came up from Utah to hang out a bit. Tristan lives in Kuna (just outside Boise). We had such a good time - we met up at the Cottonwood Grille downtown. Tristan and I had some killer chocolate banana bread pudding.
We met up with my girlfriends' (minus Lisa) and their families at Zoo Boise. These are my nieces Kristina, Danielle, and Capri on the Jeep.
Jericho in the driver's seat of the Jeep. He is such a cutie! This and the slides were his favorite parts of the zoo.

Julie, me and Tristan in front of the fake elephants. Truthfully, this zoo is not great. But, it was nice to be out with friends and enjoy the sun!

That night we had a BBQ at Holly's house. The kids had a great time playing in the backyard and we enjoyed chatting. Julie, Tristan, Lisa, and me. Thanks so much for coming up girls! It was so great to see you!
We went out "camping" over the weekend 2 hours north of Boise. Steve and Sienna surprised us when we pulled up to a cabin. It was a really nice home their friends let us stay in. It was hilarious though, because some of the girls were really disappointed. Kristina kept saying "this is not camping, I thought we were going camping." I told her I'd be happy to help her put up a tent in the grass. Kayla planned the menu for the weekend and her comment was "we could have been eating lasagna." I was quite happy to sleep in a bed instead of on the ground in a sleeping bag and I even let Capri sleep with me. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over a fire built by Danielle. Holly and I made potatoes in the dutch oven, but unfortunately those weren't done until almost midnight, so we had them for breakfast the next morning.
The next day, we went to a lake and hung out on the beach. Steve and the girls biked to the lake from the cabin. It was really overcast that day, so none of the adults got in the water.
Steve sitting in his chair. He later fell asleep and he looked like a little kid hunched over in his chair. I have a picture on someone else's camera, I may have to snatch.
Unfortunately, we had some car trouble on the way up. The Suburban's fuel pump went out. We were lucky to get it all the way to Horshoe bend (20 miles from home) on the way back before the car gave out and we had it towed and friends came to haul the U-Haul back (which stowed all the bikes) and take half of the crew home. The girls and Holly took turns trying to lift the U-Haul. They were unsuccessful, but it was fun to watch!
My last night, we went to Harry Potter. We had watched all 5 movies over the few days prior to prepare ourselves for the big premier at midnight! I didn't get to sleep until 3:30 that night and had to leave for the airport and an 8 hour trip home via airplane. I was exhausted!

We had to sit in two's because the theater was so packed. Sienna and I sat together and managed to stay awake by drinking Cherry Coke and eating almost a whole bucket of popcorn. Those of you who know my track record with movies will be VERY impressed that I made it through a midnight showing. I was so tired all day before the movie and failed at my attempt to take a nap beforehand.

The manager for the theater came in to do some Harry Potter trivia and gave prizes to those that answered the questions correctly. Holly's Blackberry came through when she was able to answer that 15,000 girls auditioned for the part of Luna Lovegood.

Holly and Capri. The girls decided to dress up a little by putting scars on their foreheads.

Steve and Kristina. They even put the dark mark on their arms. I had to laugh because the girls were in the kitchen decorating their arms and Steve walked in and said, "What are you doing?" He sounded pretty upset (he doesn't like the girls marking their bodies - my dad was the same way). They told him what they were up to and he seemed alright with it. Come to find out, just before he walked in the kitchen he had looked up the mark on the internet and drew it on his arm! I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Thanks for a fabulous week (and a half) Casos Family! I can't wait to visit in September.

Living at the BWI

2009-07-21T20:26:00.000-04:00

I had a connecting flight from Virginia today into BWI--Baltimore Washington International--on my way to New York City. My 2:30 flight was overbooked so they asked for volunteers to be bumped in exchange for remuneration in vouchers. I am always willing to subject myself to all kinds of torture for free vouchers so Robyn can fly back to her old home and visit family, so I volunteered. Little did I know the subsequent flight, at 7:00 would be delayed . . . and delayed . . . and delayed. Scheduled departure time is now 9:40pm. So I ask you, our devoted readership of dozens, how much would you have to be given to make it worth your while to sit in an airport for 8 hours?

Brief Update

2009-07-14T22:29:00.001-04:00

As usual, we've neglected our blog a little, but we've been busy. I flew out to Boise July 1st. Robyn joined me on the 4th. I had to leave on the 7th for a hearing in Chicago while Robyn stayed out there another week. The last week without Bobs has been tortuously lonely and miserable. I can't wait for her to get home. We both had a wonderful time with the Casoses and thoroughly enjoy their company. Little MKSIV continues to grow and encroach upon Robyn's vital organs. Said Robyn to me last night: "he'd better be cute for me to be going through this." I assured her that I would do my part to ensure he would be a little cutie like his dad.

In other news, some gays held a make out fest in front of the temple after they had been drinking, became combative with church security and police, and had to be escorted off the premises. They, of course, painted a picture of them walking reverently past the reflecting pool and being sprayed in the face with mace for no other reason that having rainbow bracelets on.

On Monday my travels took me to El Dorado, Arkansas, the garden spot of "The Natural State," as it's known, for it's strict disavowal of modern deodorants and dentistry. Here's a picture of my hotel:

On Thursday I go to Providence, Rhode Island!

Baby Matthew

2009-06-28T19:42:00.001-04:00

Me @ almost 20 weeks. 20 more to go!

Friday we went to get an ultrasound of our baby to take measurements of all sorts of things and determine the sex. We had a full room. Holly (my sister), Mary (Matt's sister), Grace (Matt's mom), Matt and I all got up when they called my name to come back. I was happy to have all of them there. At my last appointment, the doctor said that the tech would not be able to tell us the sex of the baby due to a federal law. I was so upset about this, so I was just hoping we either got a really nice tech or it was so blatantly obvious, we would go away with no doubt. Both happened. It wasn't until the very end, after all measurements were taken that we got the view we had been waiting for. I was nervous we wouldn't be able to tell the sex of the baby because baby was keeping his legs tight together. The tech adjusted my bed so my head was below my feet so that hopefully the baby would move up and she could get a good shot of the tailbone and the sex of the baby. Finally, the baby moved up. The tech froze the shot and told us she wasn't allowed to "confirm" anything, but put her fingers up on the screen and said "these are the baby's legs." Sure enough there was something protruding in between and we all knew we had a Matthew Kenneth Steen IVth in there! We are so happy and excited to bring a little baby boy into our family. I don't know if I've ever seen Matt grin so big! We had such a fun time observing the baby. Here is some of what we saw:

Matthew practicing his yoga moves - stretching his leg out above his head

Showing his feet

great profile shot

This picture looks a little scary, but we caught Matthew in the middle of a big yawn!

Matt & me in front of the hospital after we heard the news

After leaving the hospital, we went to lunch to get cheesesteaks. Then, we went to Target and Kohl's to shop for our baby boy. Mary and Holly spoiled us! Thank you - we can't wait to try out all the new duds!

Washington DC with the Proulx boys

2009-06-23T21:20:00.000-04:00

We went with the three older boys to DC with their dad and Uncle Bennie. We started at Arlington Cemetery and from there bought tickets to take a tour bus around the rest of the city. This was great as we knew the boys would never have the energy to walk all around DC and we didn't have the energy to carry them :)

Jordan, Joshie, and Jadon waiting to go check out the cemetery.

The changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The guard coming up to inspect the other guard's gun. This was the highlight of the trip for me, to see this up close and witness the detail involved.

Marching.

They boys in their matching outfits.

Matt and me on our throne! This is the front of the ampitheater that is connected to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The president gives an address here every Memorial Day.

A funeral procession.

Jadon - looking like Abraham Lincoln with the other boys as his arm rests :)

Matt in front of the Lincoln Monument.

The Washington Monument.

The Proulxs visit PA!

2009-06-23T20:56:00.000-04:00

Matt's sister, Jackie, and her family came out recently for their family vacation. We were so excited to see them and share some fun outings!

Mary, Jackie, and I went with Jadon and Jordan to the Strasburg Rail Road to ride the coal-burning steam train. The Strasburg Rail Road was founded in 1832. In 1861, President Lincoln stopped at Leaman Place on his way to Lancaster for his Inaugural tour. In preparation for the big event, the Strasburg line purchased a passenger car to transport people to and from Leamn place for the President's 5 minute visit. Today, the Rail Road is strictly a tourist attraction. It runs for 4 1/2 miles or about 45 minutes round trip. The scenery from the train is beautiful. It runs past many Amish farms.

Jackie with Jadon and Jordan, boarding the train.

We were sitting in the front and whenever the train would blow it's horn, it was quite loud!

Waiting for the locomotive to turn around and hook on the back of the train to bring us back to the station.

Some of the scenery - two Amish men working in the fields.

More Costa Rica pics

2009-06-09T08:23:00.000-04:00

On the last full day of our trip we were driving from the coast to San Jose in order to be closer to the airport because we had an early flight the next day. On the way there we were detained by the Costa Rican police! We were driving down the road and a police officer stepped out in the road well ahead of our car. Not as sophisticated as chasing you with their car, and much more dangerous, but it did the trick. So the officer comes up to my window and starts telling me I was going really fast. He informs me that the speeding limit was 60 km and I was driving 100 km! Suddenly, I totally forgot ALL my spanish and was unable to communicate with him at all. He told me, while I feigned ignorance, that I'd have to pay a fine of 50 dollars if I paid it right then, and 70 dollars if I waited to pay at the car rental facility. I act like I have no idea what he's saying, so finally he asks if I have any money. In one of my pockets I had a few 20's, and in the other I had a few Costa Rican bills, which were worth next to nothing. I pulled out a few of the Costa Rican bills. He asked if Robyn had any dinero. I answered him in horrible, broken gringo spanish that she had "no dinero!" So, the policeman took the few thousand Costa Rican colones and said it was a "propina," or tip. And we were on our way! Fun times.

On our last full day in Costa Rica we went to do a canopy tour, which is when you go to the very top of a hill in a rain forest and take a series of zip lines all the way back down to the ground. Robyn wasn't able to go because of her delicate condition, but I was and it was a lot of fun. The zip lines went from one tree to another, and each tree was fitted with a platform. The zip lines and platforms were at least 10 stories above the ground.

New York City

2009-06-05T16:15:00.001-04:00

A few days after getting home from Costa Rica, Matt had a hearing in New York City. We took an Amtrak train from Lancaster to Penn Station. Matt treated me to see Marry Poppins on broadway. We had 8th row tickets, center stage. This is my favorite scene - "Step in Time."

The week we arrived, the city started an experiment to create a pedestrian zone by closing down Broadway street between 47th and 42nd. It was quite interesting - lawn chairs all over the road.

Matt standing in front of Times Square

Yeah for pregnant ladies!

2009-06-05T15:45:00.000-04:00

Look what we found on a recent trip to our Giant grocery store! Matt was very excited to park here even though I stayed in the car. Our ultrasound is scheduled for June 26th - 3 weeks from today. We can't wait!

Costa Rica!

2009-06-04T20:44:00.000-04:00

As a dual anniversary/birthday gift to my beloved companion this year, I took her to beautiful and exotic Costa Rica. Costa Rica is one of the top trendy vacation spots nowadays. That I chose to whisk Robyn away to such a wonderful place proves two things: that the Steens are really hip, and Robyn has the best husband in the world. Before we delve into the pics and such, I'd like to share a little vignete involving my mom that factors into our vacation. I decided on Costa Rica a few months ago because I knew that Robyn wanted to go there, but I wanted to keep it a surprise as long as possible. I only told my sisters and a few other people safely removed from Robyn. A few weeks ago we were at my mom's house when my mom blurts out: "So Robyn, I hear you're going to Costa Rica!" Robyn's eyes get really big for a moment and I look over at her and say "surprise!" Mom was mortified, but it was funny. On to the pics!

A scary one lane bridge on the way to the beach. Whichever lane made it onto the bridge first had the right of way while the other lane sat there and waited. We rented a car so we were able to go wherever we wanted.

Rows and rows of pointless palm trees.

This is the beach we went to, Manuel Antonio, about an hour away from our hotel. The beach right by our hotel was gross. The water looked like coffee with a lot of coffee mate in it.

Manuel Antonio National Park

Manuel Antonio National Park has a very large portion of rain forest. If you go in the morning it's teeming with filthy, disease infested, yet beautiful monkeys. We got there at the right time as they were all over the place and got pretty close to the pedestrian path. They were jumping from tree top to tree top. One even had a little one clinging to its back. If humans did that it'd be endangerment of a child. Fortunately for the monkey, it's not bound by the same stringent standards, but even if it were, they'd probably let it slide since it's Costa Rica.

Robyn next to the biggest bamboo tree you've ever seen.

After walking in the humid rainforest and gawking at monkeys, it was time to head to the beach, which is just outside of the rainforest trail. I wanted to get on these rocks, but thought better of it after realizing the waves probably would've dashed me against the rocks and killed me and I was the only one authorized to drive our rental car in Costa Rica.

A snobby-looking iguana. There were a couple running around on the beach. Robyn told me it got within a few feet of my head when I was dozing on my beach towel.

Robyn will post more tomorrow. I've got to get to bed. I have an early flight to Portland, Maine tomorrow morning.