Easter 2010

Whhops the last post I put March 2009, whoops. I was taking all the shots Easter morning, but these two were my favorites. Stone and his Dad just keep looking more and more alike. We had out hunt inside at G&G Thompson's because their was a thin blanket of snow onthe ground Easter morning, yuck! Stone loved decorating eggs. I think his favorite was the chocolate, the hot wheels and big bubble wand in his basket.

Adventures in Babysitting in Austin-March 2009

The beginning of March Justin and Janae flew me out to Austin to watch their four kids while they celebrated a be-lated 10th anniversary on a cruise. I was so stoked to be in a new place and out of the Utah cold. I had so much fun with the kids but a new found respect for single moms everywhere. I can never complain about one kid ever. Five kids under five is crazy, but it also can be way fun too. Luckily my brother flew Spence in for the weekend to help me out and also to show us Austin. Justin is always wanting us to move their and after being there I would seriously love to live there also. The town has such a cool artsy, hippy kind of vibe and I obviously think the music scene there is great. There is sooo much to do for families and I know the summer humidity sucks but I would take that over cold and snow anyday. I know we will be around Utah for probably at least another couple years unless other opportunities arise. I wish we could have seen Justin and Janae longer but the short time I did see them we cruised downtoww without kids, ate at the BBQ joint the Salt Lick and went to check out Lake Travis after their cruise. I only downloaded a few pics of the trip:Stone came upon Peyton's princess heels and had to give them a try. It was so classic to see him try to walk in heels. Him and Brock even wanted their toe nails painted when I was painting the girls nails. We used some more manly colors for them. Ever since that trip Stone loves to get his toe nails painted. I guess Spence is okay with it for now, he just said stay away from the pink...I did pink once and bought some orange, blue, green, etc after that.


Stone ready for some X-games. Justin has a cool little half pipe in the backyard..the kids love climbing up and sliding down it. Stone loves knee-pads, helmets, etc...I am so glad because this kid has ZERO fear.

Stone on his cousins big girl bike with training wheels and Dora helmet.


Stone is not scared of slides so this pic is hilarious.There are so many great parks everywhere in Austin even for those kiddos tired of shopping with their mommies...even parks in the strip malls, great idea. Watching five under five at the park and taking them to ice cream alone was no easy task, but I am glad we went anyway. I go crazy in a house all day.

At Zilker Park....in Austin....Amazing, they call it their version of central park. It is about half the acreage of New York's central park and obviously Austin is much less populated. They have people on the lake, kayaking, paddle boarding, there is an area to swim. They have a great park and train ride. If I lived here I would seriously go with my family there all the time.

The triplets on the train Aubrey, Brock and Caleah. I can't believe they start kindergarten in the fall.

We're baaaaaaaaack continued

Spence and I at a friends wedding in Vegas last November. I forgot to put in first post. This is a rare shot of just the two if us. We left Stone for the weekend with G&G thompson and stayed at the Tahiti Village for a screamin deal. The pool and spa were open for 24 hours so that was fun. We had fun at the wedding and I was loving the dancing. I stopped by the LV swap meet which I love and Spence and I accidentally came upon Wanderlei Silva's M.M.A. gym and we got to meet Wanderlei, who was sooo nice and surprisingly much smaller in person. So nice to get away with the hubster but I missed Stone after two days.


Our Karate kid, My brother Jason got this for me years ago on his mission I think. Stone seriously wants to "play fight" wrestle 24/7. Spence is definitely his dad.

Stone loves to help me bake, cook, unload the dishwasher, sweep, such a great li'l helper. He loves to get into the flour and especially loves salt. His body naturally loses a lot of salt so he literally climbs up to get the salt shaker at our house at G'ma's at restaurants...it is pretty funny.

Stone and I before a gymnastics meet at the U. We went with another couple it was so fun and Utah has an awesome team. Stone kept saying wow and cool at their moves.

This is a Sowards family tradition. An eskimo lady made my dad this coat for his future babies on his mission in Alaska in the early 60's. Everyone of his kids and grandkids have a picture in this coat. Stone looked so adorable but he was not so happy in it.

We're baaaaaack!

On the "train" at the This is the Place monument. We got to see real reindeer and walk around the mock pioneer town, see a live Nativity (live RATS included)...disgusting and drink some hot cocoa by the firepit. It was both Stone's and my first time there. I think it would be a fun tradition.


Our little trooper on Christmas Day! at Primary Childrens Medical Center. This is Stone on the mend from Kawasaki disease (totally un-related to C.A.H.) We were in the hospital basically the last three weekends of December...they kept sending us home with different diagnosis and Stone would seem well for a few days then backslide again. The last time we went we said we are not leaving until you figure out what he has...so by that point all the symptoms of Kawasaki were manifest. He had to get a heart echo because your arteries and surrounding areas get inflemed and can have a heart attack. He was on baby aspirin for a month after. So CRAZY! Once they did figure out what he had, he got an infusion of antibodies and was a whole new little boy. Yeah for modern medicine! Santa came to visit all the kids and gave them pre-made ginger bread houses, home-made blankets and a stuffed animal. They also gave the parents a free Christmas dinner from the cafeteria which actually wasn't so bad. Everyone was so wonderful there and made being there on Christmas not so bad. We celebrated our "real" Christmas on the 29th and had soo much fun with Spence's side of the family.

The only birthday shot we got for my 29th. I went to Princess and the Frog with the ladies in the fam and went to the Dodo for dinner with Aaron and Fitriah (Spence's bf growing up and his wife). When we got back Stone was still not well so about 10 p.m. we were off to the E.R. again and there to stay until December 27th...we were sure glad he was our only kid and he is still young so he didn't know it was Christmas.

Stone hanging out with some of his cousins after the Thanksgiving feast.

L-R Reef, Jaden, Mercedes and Stone

Some of my best girlfriends growing up. We were able to see Heather and Valentino be sealed in the Oakland temple a couple days before thanksgiving. It was so great to see her so happy and to see so many awesome friends and their kids. We did alot of park days!

So I quit my job at the Utah Alcoholism Foundation/House of Hope in November...and that is where I did my blogs from since it was a graveshift job. I was too lazy to go do it at my husbands warehouse and we finally have had internet the past six weeks so no more excuses. We are back on the blogging circuit and here to stay. I am way too overwhelmed to add a ton of commentary and pics from the last almost nine months, but I will give some high-lights so I can catch everyone (the two or three people) who read our blog, up to speed. Backwards post again. oops