The Stoi's Joys

Knock Knock Joke

2012-01-28T09:08:00.000-08:00

So LJ is very big into telling knock knock jokes these days. None of them really make sense, but they can be quite entertaining. The joke of the day came this morning and she was playing in bed with Mommy and Daddy. It goes as follows:

"Knock knock...who's there...dog...dog who?...dog go out the front door and make a woof sound!" This was followed by hilarious laughter at herself thinking she is just oh so funny.

Oh the joys of a almost 3 year old.:-)

On another note, Bubbs and I were cuddling the other day after his nap and I snapped a few pics...here is my favorite. And yes, his hair is getting a little red in it...crazy kid!:-)

Christmas in Chicago

2012-01-19T08:27:00.001-08:00

My parents moved to the Chicago area in October of this past year. Yes thanks mom for moving to our City...you are just 5 months late since our city is Indy now! No, we are extremely happy they are there and so close to Steve and Kori's family, who they are blessed to spend time with. But since they were there we decided to travel back to Chicago for Christmas. Unfortunately Lynette's family couldn't make it since it is quite a trip from Idaho:-( We had a wonderful few days though, staying with my parents then spending the days at Steve's house. On Christmas Eve we had a super tasty dinner with a huge buffet of yummy appetizers then we got the kids all dressed up and Steve read the Christmas story from the Bible while the kids acted it out. Lorilyn couldn't stop talking about how she wanted to be a butterfly, so naturally she got to be an angel:-) Danny kept his shepherds hat on for all of about 45 second, but luckily a got a couple pictures snapped in time.

The littlest shepherd:-)

Getting ready to be the pretty angel...AKA butterfly:-)

Grandma got to hold the star

Ryan was the Angel letting Mary and Joseph know that she would be having Baby Jesus

They are in a serious discussion...

Lizzie made an adorable Elizabeth, the cousin of Mary and mother of John the Baptist

Lorilyn patiently watching and waiting for her turn.

Emma made a wonderful Mary with Carter as Joseph by her side

Grandpa and the wonderful missionary brother that was visiting for Christmas Eve also made 2 oh so very wise men:-)

Presenting the gifts to the babe...

Tada! We are finished!

After the nativity was done we all got to choose our favorite Christmas song for us all to sing while the talented Aunt Kori accompanied. This was LJ's FAVORITE part. She waved her arms in excited conducting the entire time and sang at the top of her lungs.

Danny observing the sights...hopefully he'll be a little more apt to participate next year:-)

Christmas morning came around 7am as Lorilyn awoke to find the presents Santa had left under the tree for she and Danny...

She was so excited and couldn't believe Santa made it in Grandma's house even without a chimney! Santa is one sneaky guy!

She is a little excited to see the balance bike Santa brought her:-)

Enjoying her spoils from Santa:-)

After Church we went back to Steve and Kori's to open the rest of the family gifts. We were very spoiled and got some wonderful things from everyone. It was so fun to watch Lorilyn begin to grasp the Christmas Spirit and not only be excited about Santa and presents but love talking about Baby Jesus and His birthday. Can't wait for next year for Danny to join in too! Thank you Chicago family for such a wonderful Christmas!

What Will She Say Next?:-)

2012-01-07T09:07:00.001-08:00

I am really bad at recording the cute things Lorilyn says but there were a couple fun ones this morning I wanted to get down.

We were all having a lazy morning and the kids were playing in our bed when Ryan laid back down on top of LJ and I to give "big loves" as we call them. She started freaking out because she couldn't move, so Ryan sarcastically said "Where did you ever get your claustrophobia?" because there is no doubt she got it from me. Lorilyn laughed and answered "At the grocery store dad!"

Later I was changing Danny's 3rd dirty diaper of the morning so I said "Dude where does all this poop come from?!" Lorilyn then chimed it "You silly, it comes from his bum!"
Thank you honey, you did in fact answer my question:-)

We love you crazy girl:-)

Thanksgiving Part 2

2011-12-22T04:44:00.001-08:00

So on the Friday before Thanksgiving we took off from Chicago and drove to Ann Arbor to meet up with Ryan and spend Thanksgiving week with the Stoianowski's. The next day was the Nebraska football game we were lucky enough to go to and have a wonderful tailgate time as always with Papa and friends, and Nana was wonderful to babysit for us. Unfortunately Daddy had to drive home Sunday to work Mon-Wed so me and the kiddos just crashed at Nana and Papa's and I did my best to keep the kiddos occupied and out of the way since both of them work from home. Wednesday did finally come and that brought Ryan back to join us along with Unkie and Amy from Baltimore! Of course the next day being Thanksgiving was filled with cooking, laughter, eating, resting and more eating (plus much playing for the kiddos). The morning began a little rough as I had to take Danny to the ER because he was so sick and coughing he could barely breath. Turned out he had Croup so he was given a good dose of steroids and we were back home to help in the festivities. We had a delicious Thanksgiving meal at 1PM of course so the kiddos could nap through it and I could actually eat:-) Besides trying to take care of a very sickies baby, we had a wonderful day. Friday not only brought setting up Christmas decorations, but our own Christmas celebration! Since we will be in Chicago and wont be seeing any of them for Christmas we did our gift exchanges friday afternoon. It was so much fun setting everything up together and then we truly were spoiled with wonderful gifts for everyone. Saturday brought another MI football game to have a blast at. Unkie and Amy were kind enough to babysit for us so Nana came along and we were able to tailgate then watch a uber exciting game ending with a win over Ohio State, can't get much better than that! Unfortunately the fun did have to come to an end and we all parted ways on Sunday to go back to regular lives and enjoy the rest of the holiday season. I forgot my camera but I was able to take a few pics of the fun festivities of our Christmas Day:-)

After lots of fun in Chicago he was definitely tuckered out as we traveled to MI

On Tuesday Nana helped me and we took the kiddos to sit on Santa's lap. As you can see it was surprisingly a very decent experience!

Baron was helping Danny get the decorations out...actually Danny was trying to climb in the decorations...same difference for a 1 year old:-)

Look how the family is growing! More grandkids and things will get pretty squished up there!

Everyone helping with the tree...it was so fun to watch LJ this year. She finally "gets" the Christmas idea and couldn't get enough of decorations:-)

Amy helping her place some high ones...

Lorilyn definitely loves her some Amy!

Unkie helping her put the Angel on the top

Unkie was trying to help Danny put decorations on the tree but he wasn't quite as interested as Lorilyn:-) He seemed to prefer trying to destroy things.

Nana and Papa getting into the decorating

Brothers

The finished product...Look at all those presents!!

She doesn't look like she is having any fun at all:-)

Setting up the play grill that we got from Unkie and Amy:-) I think Dad was just as excited as the kiddos.

Danny says he's ready to learn all the grilling techniques from daddy:-)

Thank you Nana, Papa, Unkie and Amy for a wonderful Thanksgiving and Pre-Christmas celebration. It was so wonderful as always!

Thanksgiving Part 1

2011-12-07T04:33:00.000-08:00

So our Thanksgiving travels began the week before Thanksgiving with a wonderful trip to Chicago to visit my parents and Steve's family. Mom and Dad moved to the Chicago area in October of this year to be closer to family and it is already such a blessing to have close! I feel horrible because we didn't take ANY pictures. Guess we were just having too much fun playing and spending time together. It was wonderful to watch Lizzie and Lorilyn get along so well and enjoy each other so much. Being 10 years younger than my siblings I always worried that my kids wouldn't have cousins close enough to play with, but luckily that doesn't seem to be the case for Lorilyn. The 2 girls were so cute chasing around, playing and singing at the top of their lungs. I will have to admit I definitely took advantage of being with my mom and was able to rest more than I ever get to at home, especially since she is a wiz with toddlers and pre-school age children. One day we were able to go to the mall with Kori and Lizzie and we got to ride on the carousel, which LJ thought was the greatest thing ever. She would yell "Up and Down, Up and Down" the entire time:-) Kori was wonderful enough to snap a couple pictures for me of this...

The 2 little friends on their horses:-)

Danny wasn't as fond of the horse...

I love the pure joy on her face:-)

Thank you so much for letting us come visit! The second part of our trip was to MI for 2 football games, Thanksgiving dinner and even our own Christmas...that post to come soon!

Fall Visit to Nana and Papa's

2011-10-27T06:56:00.000-07:00

Since Ryan is uber busy lately with work and then his MBA program, the kiddos and I decided to take a few days away (let daddy take his midterms) and go see Nana and Papa in MI. It was a quick but wonderful visit. We got to do all the fun fall things like a pumpkin patch, playing in the leaves and carving the pumpkin. Unfortunately I forgot my camera but at least I had my phone, so sorry the pictures aren't the greatest quality, but at least we have a few of something for our memories:-)

Story time with Nana

Attacking Papa for his ice cream:-)

Since my favorite hair lady is in MI and Nana is always willing to help watch the kids I usually take advantage of being there and get my hair done. After going from highlights to blond then to red, I am finally back to natural brown...until further notice:-)

Aunt Melissa was so wonderful helping me out and playing with the kiddos:-)

Playing in leaves is so fun!

Love this kid:-)

Papa was so wonderful to help us carve our pumpkin!

LJ loved every part but touching the insides of the pumpkin. She cried until I washed her hands:-) As long as she could use a spoon she was good.

Exciting time ahead also! My parents (Grandma and Grandpa Bird) are moving to Chicago today! That means they will only be 3.5 hours away from us so there will be MANY more pictures and wonderful times with them in the near future!!

A little late but better late then never right?:-)

2011-10-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

Back in the end of August cousin/pseudo Auntie Erika came to visit us for about 5 days. It was so much to explore Indy with her. We went to the Indy 500 track, the zoo, Conner Prairie, and also just got to hang out around here. It was awesome having her to chill with for those days. She even took me out to Cheesecake Factory for my birthday. Thanks so much for coming to visit and putting up with us crazies for a few days! You're the best!

LJ trying to sneak into a car she wasn't supposed to...little stinker!

Look at that cute lady in the car!:-)

Chillin with the giraffes...

Scary snakes!

A tired bubby after the zoo:-)

Come back soon Erika!

My Boy is 1...Unbelievable!:-)

2011-09-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

So Danny this year had quite the birthday celebration. First, Nana and Papa came to visit us in our new home and since it was so close to his birthday we did a celebration here with them. It was a wonderful weekend full of delicious food and fun (as always:-). However about 10 days after that Ryan and I started talking and decided we wanted go to MI to spend the weekend of the first MI night football game as they played Notre Dame. We knew that we weren't going to go to the game but we thought it would be fun to be a part of all the tailgating festivities and spend some quality time with family and friends. So off we went for that weekend to (his actual birthday weekend) giving him another day of celebration. What a spoiled little Danny boy. He deserves it though, he is just so amazing and wonderful. Before I get to the pictures I want to list a few characteristics and things about my Daniel Scott:

1- He is truly his Dad's son because he LOVES food. I am telling you this kid can eat. He will eat forever if you keep the food coming on his tray. He can also do pretty amazing things with just the 2 bottom teeth. From steak to chicken nuggets and fries, he can polish up just about anything.

2- He is the smiliest boy I have ever known. He will give just about anyone a huge grin at just about any time.

3- He loves playing with his sister and is truly so patient as she steels his toys or pushes him down. He is just happy she is paying attention to her.

4- More than LJ ever was, he is my cuddler. Although he now prefers to drink his milk with his meals I have not wanted to give up his morning milk in my arms on the couch. He will sit there waking up and snuggling for 30 min. It is one of my favorite times of the day.

5- He is ALL boy. Eat, play and sleep is all he needs and wants. And he can find a way to destroy just about anything that is not locked in a cupboard.

6- He now says Mama, Dada, Bubba, Papa and Nana...and he says any of those things on demand when his sister asks him to.

7- He is sooo close to walking. He will take up to 8 or 9 steps at a time but then "pounce" to the ground and take off crawling. Nothing will stop him from getting where he wants to go. His favorite thing though is to stand up and walk with the high chair all around our hardwood floors and he thinks he is just such a big boy because he can walk around.

8- Any ball you hand him he automatically throws it. We haven't really worked on it at all, it just seems natural to him (this makes mommy and daddy so happy:-).

9- One of his favorite mischievous things to do is make his way to the master bath and turn on the bathtub water because the faucet is in a place he can reach. I have to always keep an eye out for if he has been in the bathroom or else the water will run for hours.

10- He was 19lb 10oz and 31" long at his 1 year old check up. He is our "long skinny fish" as daddy calls him. Barely any pants fit him because if they fit him in length they fall right off his waist. Lets just say he wears lots of sweat pants:-)

11- He has had acid reflux his whole life and even on medication has made our carpets a nice poke-a-dot pattern with all the spots hes made. As much as I have tried to keep up, it is practically impossible. Thank you so much Bubbs I really appreciate it.

12- He freely gives out kisses ALL the time. You ask for a kiss from this guy and you will get a nice wet one right on the lips.

13- Last but not least, he will always be our Bubba no matter how old he gets and what name he goes by. Daniel Scott is usually what comes out when he is making trouble, but he will always be the Bubba, Bubbs, and Bubby Boy of our family.

We love our Bubbs and are so happy he is such a healthy happy boy. He is such an incredible addition to our family, we don't know where we would be without him!:-)

Now on to some pictures from his 2 celebrations...

The first one was in August and it was HOT, so out came the pool and we had a blast...I think LJ was mad about something in this pic, just look at that face!:-)

Love this smile...

Chillin with Papa

He loves his loves from Papa...

Nana's chocolate cupcakes...Yum!

I do think he enjoyed it:-)

Now on to the pics from our MI trip.

Nana (with all her MANY talents) used to decorate cakes for a living. She was able to create the cutest cookie monster cake ever. Lorilyn is always Nana's biggest helper.

I had to stick this one in because I can't believe how old my baby girls is looking...shes not so much toddler looking anymore, and its crazy to me!

The finished product...Nana thought it turned out more like a sea urchant but I think its an adorable cookie monster...

Posing for the before pictures...

DON'T TOUCH MY CAKE!!

Getting going...

Posing with Papa

Kisses for Nana!

Nana, you are so funny!!

Now we are really getting into the spirit of things.

My GQ boy

I think he enjoyed every last bite:-) We had to now wrap him in a towel and throw him in the bath to get all the blue gone.

Happy Birthday Danny! We LOVE YOU!!!

Best Friends

2011-08-19T05:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Lorilyn randomly came up to Ryan and I, hugged us both and said "Mommy best friend, Daddy best friend, Bubba best friend, LJ best friend". It was her way of telling us we are all her best friends. She is DEFINITELY 2 and many days does anything and everything to push our limits and buttons but its times like that where your heart melts and it is all worth it. I knew I needed to get this written down so I can show her as a teenager that there was a time we were all her best friends:-)

The Time Has Come....

2011-07-28T06:27:00.000-07:00

For me to buckle down and start blogging again! I feel like I have made one excuse after another in my mind since we moved (over 8 weeks ago!). Lately we have been outside ALOT enjoying community pools and splash parks, but this week is insanely hot. So hot that its not even good to be outside. So instead I decided to use my time wisely and clean, interior decorate, play like crazy with 2 babies and now, as they are both asleep, blog. I know I mention this a lot, but truly we are so blessed. We were able to find an amazing new house that I am LOVING making into a home. We have a great ward and a wonderful neighborhood. Ryan has a great job and will soon be starting his MBA program at nights, so our lives are about to be REALLY busy for 3 years, but we are grateful for the opportunity. I guess I will start this post with a few pictures of our trip to MI for memorial day, about a week before we moved. We had a wonderful few days as always, getting to spend quality time with Nana, Papa, Unkie and Baron:-) Scott (Unkie) got an awesome new camera so I kinda went crazy with it since a nice camera and learning how to use it well is a dream of mine for someday. I will just show you a few, but I think I took over 300 pics in like 3 days. I'm crazy I know:-) Actually on second thought I will start with a few pics taken by Scott's camera on the 4th of July...then we will go to memorial day...sorry the post is long, we just had too much fun and captured a lot of it!:-)

Don't be surprised if this picture shows up on a Christmas card to you:-)

Our little family

Just messing around...trying to get even one picture with everyone looking was pretty much impossible!

Guess we love trees...

That was it for the 4th so now we go into the MANY pics taken on Memorial Weekend...

Our little teething snot nose boy:-)

Bubba LOVED Baron, Baron loved Bubba

Feel the love

He loved himself some ice cream. Actually he loves anything he can possible eat:-)

Who, me?!

Chocolate mouth

YAY!

This begins the pics of one fun night in the basement with the Gordon's

LOVES!

Playing with Unkie

Baron loves his Daddy!

Blackmail pic for the future:-)

LJ and her Nana

Me and some of the best people on the planet, Mary and Stu Gordon

Mary is wonderful:-)

Ryan began by staring Baron down then it turned into about 10 minutes of madness with Ryan rolling all over the ground and Baron going crazy:-)

The rolling continues...

Unkies not having any fun at all...

Nooo mommy I don't want to go to bed and miss out on all the fun!

Jiggy and her baby...I don't think my son will ever get that old...hopefully though when he does he will love me like these boys love their mom.

The happy couple being weird and crazy...like we usually are:-)

LJ doesn't love her Papa at all...isn't that obvious?:-)

This was one of the first breakthrough moments when she started to actually be ok around Baron and not screaming and crying...In this picture she is saying "A Baron, a kiss you" That is her 2 year old way of saying give me kisses Baron.

Little stinker

She loves her unkie lots!

Going on a walk

Leaves!

Peek-a-boo

Doing the horrible task of shelling and de-vaining shrimp...

Helping Nana water her plants...

Not too happy with the cold water in the pool

Happy now that Nana is holding me though!

Picking flowers for Nana

Buds

Hopefully now that we are more settled in there wont be as long between posts...the next couple months have some fun visitors for us so we are excited!

The Indi Stois!!

2011-06-16T12:54:00.000-07:00

I still have a crazy life with not much time at all to blog, but I had to update with our big announcement...we have moved! We are now in Indianapolis, IN. Ryan got a new job with Johnson Controls as an energy manager for Eli Lilly here in Indi, so we packed up and took off. We sure are hoping we don't move again for YEARS but we are so blessed and found a wonderful house here and are slowly settling in. I still need to update the blog with our Memorial trip to MI but as of now, I just needed to get the announcement out there, but I will leave you with a couple fun pics...

Life is GOOD:-)

Utah Trip:-)

2011-05-06T12:38:00.000-07:00

So we got back a couple weeks ago but life has been insane trying to settle back in that I am just getting to posting. I'm the worst aren't I? I say I want to post more often and I do for a couple weeks then...here are I go again. Although a funeral and a 2 week trip is kind of a decent excuse but still. Also there is something in the near future that is definitely going to take me away from posting for a bit but I'm not going to mention that now...big news to come though and no we are not expecting:-)...Anyways...back to the trip. It was incredible. The first couple days was filled with family as we all were there and attended Grandma's funeral. The funeral itself was amazing. The spirit was so strong as we celebrated the life of one of the finest women to ever walk the earth, in my opinion. Her 24 grandchildren sang "We'll Bring the World His Truth" and the spirit was so intense. The fact that she raised 5 children, has 24 grandchildren and 55 great grandchildren and they are ALL still working hard to stay strong in the Gospel is so inspiring and I am so lucky to be blessed to be counted as one of those. So after the weekend of the funeral I left with Lynette and family to spend a week in Rexburg, where she is living now. The week was filled with work for both of us, kids, ball games and normal life, but it was so wonderful to just live life with my sister. It has been 2 years since I had even seen her so every second we had was precious. Unfortunately we had so much fun that I barely took any pictures (yes mad at myself for that) but I have some from Easter with all the cousins and a few others so I'll share what I have.

LJ wanted to be like the big kids at in and out eating at the bar but she couldn't reach so she ate on a stool:-)

The first night there we were able to celebrate Aunt Kori's (AKA Aunt KoKo) birthday at The Mayan Restaurant. It is a wonderful place and we all were very entertained. Unfortunately my 2 babies had been up since 5AM and had traveled all day so they weren't the happiest, but we had lots of help (See Uncle Steve with Danny) so it all worked out well:-)

The next night we had some fun and yummy ice cream at Letherby's. Steve bought 2 ginormous sunday's for the kids and challenged them "Man Vs Food" style to finish them...they did:-)

LJ enjoying her cookie:-)

We came and we conquered:-)

Steve said if they finished he would do a dance in front of the place, so he did then everyone joined in:-)

Think I'm teething?:-) Look at that drool!

Happy boy!:-)

He is the king of the army crawl:-)

LJ and Grandpa

Danny loved him some Grandpa too:-)

Everyone pile on!

Eating golf balls on Easter...

Playing with the cousins

Look at my pretty Easter dress!

Love Jeffery's pose...so cool dude

Trying to wait patiently for the bigger kids to get ready to go outside and hunt for eggs

Everyone lining up

Almost ready...

Her first egg!

Kind of got confused in the madness of the hunt but she still did good:-)

A little help for the high ones:-)

What a great bunch of kiddos!

CANDY!

Megs helping out:-)

Don't bother me while I'm eating my candy!

The egg rolling contest...so fun!

Ryan getting ready to roll his egg

Here goes LJ!

All the excitement of Easter can sure tucker out a little boy:-)

After a dinner at Davids me and the kids headed with Lynette and family up to Rexburg to spend a few days. But unfortunately there are not many pics of it but here are a few...

Big Judds is a DDD spot where you can get some awesome BIG burgers!

See what I mean?! So yummy though!

You know you're in Utah or Idaho when fry sauce comes on the table with the ketchup:-)

LJ talkin a walk with grandma and grandpa

Lorilyn and Michael had a blast together...this was one of their favorite games. Jumping from a chair to the bean bag...so much enjoyment for a 2 and 3 year old! Of course it is much more fun with your blankie in your hand:-)

Down she goes:-)

So I have to explain this next picture first. It was Sunday morning and we were back at Grandma and Grandpa's condo. Me and mom were watching the choir broadcast just enjoying the music, LJ was QUIETLY playing (the quiet should have been my first clue) when I started to hear little sneezes...lots of them:-) Then grandpa comes in and says "You guys need to see this..." Lorilyn had dumped the entire salt and pepper on the table and was playing in it!:-) Seriously if a 2 year old is quite for more than a couple minutes you know there is something up.

Look mommy...salt! Yes honey we know:-)

So there it is...all the pics I have of the trip. It went way too fast but was so wonderful to spend the precious time with family. As for our big announcement that is going to take lots of my time for a while...stay tuned!

Grandma Jex

2011-04-21T14:48:00.000-07:00

On April 18th at 3:30AM this most special spirit left her earthly body and entered into the world beyond the veil. As I got the phone call my mind was literally filled with all of the reunions that were going on at that very moment. The biggest being her getting to once again be with her eternal sweetheart that she lived here on Earth without for over 35 years. Even though my heart was filled with joy for her and all she was and is now experiencing, it is still very heavy with the knowledge that it will be many years before I get to give her hug once again, although her legacy and example will still be in my life forever. Thank you Grandma Jex for giving me more than I could ever express into words. I can honestly attribute ever good aspect of who I am to you. You taught your daughter so incredibly who I was then blessed to have as a mother. Thank you for being the greatest example of a true daughter of God in every aspect of the phrase that I have ever known. Please give Grandpa a big hug for me since you get to hug him every day now for all eternity. I love you Grandma!

As a young mom with her family. Such a beautiful family!

3 Generations

4 Generations

Together Now Forever

I am leaving tomorrow morning for the funeral and spending much needed time with family. We will be back in a couple weeks so it will be a bit but I can't wait to post those picture:-)

Just Chillin...then Ridin

2011-04-01T07:20:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday Mommy and Daddy were watching basketball all day so the kids got a little bored and restless. After a while of not paying attention to them we noticed they had found their own way to just chill together...doesn't look too comfy to me, but they seemed to like it:-)

She thought it was so cool to lay under the TV...

A couple days later we were all having a crazy rough day so we decided to go upstairs to change up the pace. We ended up on the horse and had a blast. Here are some shots from our adventures...

He's very proud of himself on this horse...

Look at that hair of hers...

Oh the love of a sibling:-)

My little cowboy:-)

Catch Up on the Big Events

2011-03-23T05:30:00.001-07:00

So here we go. My new resolve is to blog more often so I don't have to have these big catch up posts on the major events of our lives, but since I still haven't done LJ and Ryan's birthdays I need to do one of those posts with lots of picture and little captions to give you an idea of all that went on. First though speaking of catch up (or actually Ketchup), does anyone else have a child that would probably drink it if you watered it down a bit and put it in a sippy cup?! Lorilyn if allowed can eat spoonful after spoonful of the stuff! She wants it with the usual stuff like french fries, but then she also asks for it with her breakfast nutrigrain bar or her yogurt for snack! Anyway, I digress, now without further adu we'll begin with LJ's 2nd birthday. Nana and Papa came to visit and we had a wonderful weekend full of LOTS of food, fun, play and football (it was super bowl Sunday:) Then the next weekend we had some of our cousins (unfortunately many from the family were sick) over to celebrate again and watch Jimmer play a game:-) Me being my forgetful self forgot to take many pictures of any of it, but here are a few cute ones...

Nana made a gorgeous princess cake and cupcakes to go along with it. Lorilyn LOVED the princess cake but more liked playing with it...the cupcakes however were devoured:-)

Look at the pretty frosting dress!

Yay for birthdays!

Look at my pretty yellow princess dress I got!

Nana and Papa gave me my own play kitchen and I LOVE it!

Waking up from my nap to find a new kitchen assembled:-)

LOVED playing with Nana in the kitchen.

Look at these handsome Stoianowski boys!

I love my Papa!

Here is a picture of all the food we made...yes this is just 2 days worth...we love food what can we say!

Saying hi to the camera:-) Such a precious face!

Unfortunately this is the only pic I got when the cousins were here. It was sooo much fun having them, hopefully we can plan it again soon!

LJ's first night in a big girl bed, since she is such a big girl, 2 and all:-) We got this bed from Aunt Kori. Her girls used it and now it was passed to us. Thank you so much Aunt Kori, we LOVE it!

Helping mom do some baking:-)

No we move on to pictures at Nana and Papa's for Ryans birthday weekend. Unfortunately Lorilyn had the flu so she wasn't herself, but she was a super good cuddler with Papa!

Look at that sad sick girl:-(

Danny had the time of his life rollin around on their super soft carpet...Daddy gave him a MI football to play with and he loved it:-)

Such a big happy boy!

Love this face...and the beautify blue eyes! I always wanted a blue eyed boy!

Feelin sick just playin with her dollhouse Nana gave her...

What you lookin at...so what my diaper is sagging!:-)

We had so much fun playing with Aunt Melissa!

Feelin a little better with Papa...she has a MI cheer leading outfit on...too cute:-)

One happy boy:-)

I also wanted to let you know that Grandma and Grandpa Bird sent Lorilyn a birthday package with 2 beautiful pairs of shoes that she adores. I took a video of her opening them and wanted to post it, but its not letting me today:-( I feel so bad that most all our picture are with just Nana and Papa and not Grandma and Grandpa Bird also. We miss them sooo much and can't wait until we get to go out to visit them in Utah in the summer!!

Where do They Learn These Things?!

2011-03-13T13:21:00.000-07:00

So yesterday Lorilyn found one of Dad's hard hats in the garage and brought it in to play with. We were sitting on the couch when she came up to us wearing it saying, "Boss, I'm da Boss!" Both Ryan and I looked at each other with the did you teach her that look. Ryan then asked her if the Boss is the one who wears the hard hat and she said "Yep, so I'm the boss!". I think there is something every single day that this girl just randomly says that we have no idea how she knows it. I absolutely love watching the process of her brain learn things. She amazes us every day.

She also LOVES her some crayons. Not always to color with, but just to hold too. Well we shortly found out maybe its just that she is not coloring on PAPER, but she is coloring with them. Its hard to see but if you look closely the helmet has her artwork all over it:-) Then she found a nice place to store the crayons when she was done.

So last night the storage area was the helmet...this morning she decided they didn't belong in the helmet, but the lamp instead...

Waiting with her "Church bag" in hand for Daddy to finish tying his tie so we could go to church:-)

Just thought I would add a couple more pics of the boy to end this post. He doesn't seem to have many interesting stories that I can share about (unless of course you like stories based around spit up and poop), but he sure does take some cute pictures!

One of my favorite things with this little guy is he LOVES faces. Whether you are feeding, playing with, or just holding him, he always find a way to get his hand up to your face and feel or pat it. I will miss his pudgy little hand on my face as he gets older and grows out of it, but for now I try and soak it in as much as possible.

My New Goal + Jesus and the Chicken :-)

2011-03-09T07:48:00.000-08:00

So I have this new goal, and I am determined to accomplish it. I have been thinking quite a bit about personal history, journal writing and scrap booking. All are amazing mediums to save your pictures, thoughts and stories for posterity. The only problem with these for me is that I am NOT good any doing any of them. I have always loved the gorgeous scrapbooks that so many women do, but as I have tried so many times to get into it myself it always turns out to be way more of a hassle and frustration than good so it never gets done. I have also had a journal my whole life, but it contains entry after entry that begin with "I know I haven't written forever"...So what do I do? Then I realized guess what I do have that I don't mind actually doing?...my blog. I have used the blog from the beginning as a way to make sure the major events in our lives were documented with pictures and small captions. Now here is where my goal comes into play. Instead of just the major events I want to record even the small ones, ones that I don't want to ever forget and would love for my children to read someday. So here goes nothing. Instead of the huge posts of big events I want to do posts more often with a few pics and sharing my feelings and stories with you. So I apologize in advance for my lack of writing skills. I have always been very good at writing the school essay because I could have a format that I could follow and include the researched information...however, the classes that I always struggled in most was anything having to do with creative writing...Im just not very good at it. I read some of my good friends (the amazing Jenny in particular) and I just love hearing how they can put their thoughts and feelings into such incredible words. Unfortunately, that is not me, but I will definitely do my best and hope that the true feeling of my words and experiences can somehow get across. Also, I truly hope someday that the pictures you see can be of much better quality in both camera and knowledge of photography. I have always been interested in it but have never had the means or time to really do it. Now I REALLY want to, but the means to get that kind of camera is unfortunately not here yet for me. Someday....On that note though here is my first post with my new goal in mind. (Truthfully I am behind with even the major events, Lorilyn's and Ryan's Birthdays) but I will catch those up shortly also.

You may be wondering what the title of my post could mean. It was something I just had to get recorded. My mother sent us this incredible calendar with some of the most beautiful and moving pictures I have ever seen. The March picture depicts Jesus in the garden during the atonement. Instead of leaning on the tree how we have always seen he is being held by an Angel. I saw the picture and was overwhelmed with the most wonderful spirit testifying of the truthfulness of the great sacrifice HE made for all of us and that I could never have ANY idea of what He really went though, but I am so grateful He did so He could take my hurt away from me and make me whole again. I love this picture because even though He is God's son, He is also Mary's, a mortal. He felt all of the pain he was asked to endure...and how would there not be Angels in His mist loving and holding Him? Well, Ryan and I were looking at the picture and talking about it when our little innocent 2 year old, who actually LOVES talking and reading stories about Jesus all the time which makes mommy and daddy so happy, came in, looked at the picture and said, "Look! Its Jesus with a pretty chicken!" Soooo innocent and adorable. We did however explain to her the difference between chickens and Angels, but it was just so cute I wanted to save the memory forever. Here is the picture...I hope it can touch your heart as much as it has mine...

And now I'll leave you with a pic of my little sunshine...can't get enough of this kid:-)

December 2010 and into the New Year

2011-01-13T15:20:00.000-08:00

My life is just incredible. I have 2 beautiful babies that I adore, an amazing husband, a wonderful supportive family both here in IL and then spread throughout the country, and many opportunities to travel and have wonderful times together. This December was awesome. We spent the first 3 weeks chillin at home with our kids and they kept us company with there ever evolving personalities (some evolutions we like more than others:) Then we got to go to Nana and Papa's house in MI and spend 11 days together eating LOTS of amazing food, jumping in the jump castle and overall just having way too much fun. Scott and Amy were able to join us for a couple days at Christmas and then back for New Years to ring in the new year and celebrate Ryan and my anniversary. Here is some of the month documented in pictures. Of course I forgot on many occasions (as I often do) to get out my camera, but you will get to see what I did remember to capture.

Early December and freezing outside, LJ found Danny's big Eskimo cover thing he wears in the car and thought she would try it on for size...

Lorliyn found this devil head band in her toy chest and thought that her brother needed to wear it:-)

Getting ready to go to our ward Christmas Party in a adorable dress we got from Aunt Kori.

Just another day of hangin out and goofing around. Lorilyn would wear her ballerina outfit (aka "lella lella") every single day if I let her...

Danny in his outfit from Grandma Bird getting ready to cheer on the cougars in their bowl game.

Me and my kiddos all in our Cougar gear ready for the game.

Now on to MI for our Christmas break!

The first day in MI Nanna took us to the mall to visit Santa. Danny was comfy and happy snuggled up in his arms...his sister on the other hand, lets just say this was the best shot we could get:-) Everyone needs their screaming on Santa's lap pic though don't they?

Seeing Santa Clause sure can tucker a little guy out:-)

Christmas morning with all our loot, we were all so spoiled! Lorilyn was a very sleepy girl because Amy had to leave by 9AM so we got up at 7AM for presents and Christmas Eve she was up playing until way passed her bed time. She shook it off though after a while and enjoyed the morning festivities:-)

We love our Papa and Nana:-)

Unkie and Danny...Scott is a great Uncle, he spoils the kids with lots of playing, gifts and most important is the first to volunteer to help me when I need it with the kids.

The aftermath...

LJ and her new Ariel trike from Unkie. What you don't know is it blows bubbles too!

The day after Christmas we spent some time in the snow...however Lorilyn refused to wear her gloves and the first time she fell in the snow and froze her hands she was done for the day.

The one trip down the hill we got:-)

Thank you so much Nana and Papa for an amazing time once again at your home!
Now we move to Jan pics back at our home in IL...

So we have an AMAZING lady in our ward named Jerriann Merideth. She is pretty much the 3rd grandma to our children and watches them for me whenever I need her to and wont accept any payment saying it is her pleasure. Well a week or so after our anniversary this year she offered to watch the kids overnight so Ryan and I could enjoy an evening together. it was so wonderful! The next morning when we went to pick up this kids this is how LJ's hair was done. It is a big deal for me because I don't even know how to french braid, let alone get it done on a wiggly 2 year old!

Our happy boy. This boy is so full of smiles. He honestly has a smile waiting for anyone who will pay attention to him. He's my little buddy and I'm so grateful for him!

Here is a little video of Danny's first rolling over:-)

There will be more of Jan to follow later, but here is a start. Life is crazy but we love it!

Months Flying By

2010-12-10T09:31:00.000-08:00

So all I have to say is my little baby is growing way too fast! I can't believe he is 3 months old already. I guess time flies when you are having fun. Truth is we couldn't be having more fun. Life with our little family is pretty darn close to bliss. I have a beautiful healthy baby (who already sleeps 9 hrs/night), a adorable little girl who is quickly entering the terrible yet wonderful 2's, and an amazing husband who works so hard for our family then comes home and is such a wonderful daddy! I'm one lucky lady that is for sure. November for us was mainly comprised of work, football watching and capped off with wonderful trip to Baltimore to spend Thanksgiving with Scott and Amy. The month definitely flew by but we took some wonderful memories from it!

Bubba (which is Danny's nickname now since LJ couldn't say brother and that is what it came out as) has been eating his spinach!

Daddy's little MI man ready to watch the game!

So now begins the pictures from our trip. We began the trip by traveling to MI first, spending 1 day there then driving the rest of the way to Baltimore. Oh my it is fun being in the car for 13 hours with 2 babies!:-)

So the first night we were in MI we had another one of our "Stoianowski Fry Nights". These nights are incredible let me tell ya. With our deep fryer we fried pickles, mozzarella cheese, zuccini, onion rings, fries and cod (I still might be forgetting something). This picture was taken AFTER us 4 adults ate until we couldn't eat another bite...So bad for you but so delicious!

Papa getting ready to watch the MI game with his grandkids...

These were supposedly the lucky koala ears but they didn't bring MI much luck that day...Ryan still wore them well though!

Nana and Danny

Having fun in the basement:-)

LJ and her Unkie...

Cuddles...

This was after our turkey dinner on Thanksgiving...I was taking my turkey nap (or at least attempting to with a crazy girl running around)

Baron Dog loved giving Danny LOTS of kisses!

Examining his new discovery...his hand!

In his STOMP outfit

Brothers...

Me and Amy

We had such a wonderful time Unkie...thanks for letting us and our crazy kids crash your house for a week!

Welcome Baby Danny!

2010-10-29T14:05:00.001-07:00

So this post is WAY overdue, but life has been so incredibly busy the past 8 weeks that I haven't had a spare second to update. I apologize now because this post is VERY long, but I wanted to be able to share all of the wonderful things that have happened since 9-8-10. So please bare with me and feel free to stop looking at all the pics if it gets too long:-) I am going to narrate the sequence of events and pictures under each picture. First off though I just have to say how incredibly happy I am. I think I have a pretty close to perfect life. I have amazing family surrounding me that does anything to help and love us, I have a wonderful home to live in, I have 2 beautiful children that bring joy to my life every day, and most of all an amazing husband who is my best friend and wonderful parenting partner. My blessings seem to be overflowing lately and I am so grateful for it. So now, without further adu, here is what has happened in the Stoi family in the last 8 weeks...

This is the picture I took the morning of my induction...ready to pop that is for sure...

Here is the first picture of me and my little man. The delivery went very well...it took about 14 hours to dialate to a 4 but then I went from 4 to having him in about 45min...

Pic of his ink covered foot after his foot print was taken...

First bath...

Daddy's little boy...

Aunt Kori and cousin Lizzie were our first visitors the next day. It was so fun to have them come, thanks so much guys!

First family photo...Nana brought Lorilyn the next day to visit...she was definitely not sure what to think of her new little brother...

Twins! Ryan has a mini me now...

Nana and her first grandson...she said it was like holding Ryan all over again they were so alike:-)

LJ was definitely more interested in the running water than the new baby in the room:-)

My little buddy...

On our way home...we all couldn't wait to go home and begin our new life together!

Checkin out the new addition to the house...

Papa and his grandson...Ryan's parents (Momma Jigs and Papa Stoi) were at our house when we arrived home welcoming us and staying with us for a few days to help out. It was wonderful of them and we had a wonderful weekend!

My 2 babies...I don't think I could be more blessed!

Danny can never stay awake with his Papa...he's just too comfortable!

Nana's pretty comfy too:-)

Our little MI girl with her own style...check out the shoes. She LOVES shoes and chooses which ones she is going to wear every day...I think we are in trouble for the future...

3 generations:-)

A happy daddy...he's been so incredible with this transition. Helping out with every step whenever he is home.

Lorilyn still wasn't sure about the crying...shes definitely used to it now though:-)

MI ladies!

Trying to give brother a hair band...will do lots of good on his bald head:-)

Sleepy boy...

Danny was blessed on Sept 19th at my brother's house in the evening. It wasn't possible to get everyone together for church so we had everyone come to Steve's. It was a wonderful evening which concluded with a beautiful blessing from his daddy. Thank you so much Steve and Kori for everything!

Daddy with his son...

Earlier that day Steve and Emma sang a version of "I am a Child of God" in church so they sang it right before the blessing. It was very beautiful...thank you guys!

The men Ryan asked to be a part of the circle...

Grandma and Grandpa Bird came to visit for 10 days to help out. It was so wonderful being able to spend time with them and have their help. You guys are wonderful, come back soon!

Grandpa singing to his little Danny.

Grandma and her Danny boy...

Are little froggy...fresh after his bath...

LJ is getting more used to her brother...

Sleepy boy...

Grandpa playing with Lorilyn...she loved her silly grandpa!

Grandma saying goodbye to her Danny Boy...he misses you so much Grandma!

The ladies...

We miss and love you guys so much, please come see us again soon!

What a peaceful boy...

So the next group of pictures comes from a 2 week vacation/paternity leave that Ryan got from his work. We decided to go to MI for the entire thing and it was an incredible time. We had so much fun catching up with family and friends and more than that spending some awesome quality time as our new little family. Having Ryan around 24/7 spoiled me so bad, it was so wonderful and we are so grateful we had that opportunity. Thank you family also for letting us crash for so long, you're the best!

We had been trying to wake him up for a while but he was not havin it:-)

So we took this picture because if you notice there are 2 blankets in her hands...she only had 1 blankie before the trip but Mom forgot to bring it when we went a couple days early so Papa rushed to Babies R Us and found a very similar one that LUCKILY she loved also. Then when dad brought the real blankie instead of ditching the other one like we thought she would she just decided she had 2 awesome blankies now:-)

Papa and his kiddos...

We received a baby jump castle from a good friend but have had no room at our house to blow it up. We took it with us and set it up in Nana and Papa's basement. LJ (along with everyone else) had a blast the whole time with it.

Papa got her now!

Nana's little shadow...

Family time in the jump castle...

Danny loves Papa...

Peek a boo!

Also while we were there Scott (Unkie) came to visit for a long weekend. We had soooo much fun, but not enough sleep! Well worth it though:-)

LJ's playing "Pssst" with her unkie:-)

One of Scott's gifts to Danny was a Popeye outfit...too cute!

LJ got to draw the face on the pumpkin before we carved it...she ended up having a little help but she did good!

Daddy and Unkie were awesome carvers...

She did NOT like the gunk inside the pumpkin...once that was on the ground she wouldn't come close to it...she actually gagged watching them take it out...silly girl.

Happy girl...

Finished product...good job guys!

Our little baker...she loved helping Nana in the kitchen.

Still sleepin...he is a very good sleeper:-)

He is also very studious...

Burrito boy! My little cuddle bug...

BIG HUGS!

Nana watched the kiddos so we could go to the game with Papa...thanks so much Nana!!

Ryan and our good friend BT

Another awesome tailgate...MI isn't doing so hot this year, but we are still undefeated in tailgating!

We just wanted to thank everyone who helped us out in the last few months. From moving to having our little boy and adjusting, we have been so greatly blessed with wonderful people around us helping us at every turn. We love you all and appreciate all you do! This is all for now but the adventures of Stoi's joys just continues so stay tuned!

Hospital Bound

2010-09-07T05:49:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to write a quick update to let you know I will be headed to the hospital tomorrow, Wed Sept 8th, to be induced and have our little baby Danny. This has been a much anticipated event in our lives (mine especially) and we couldn't be more excited to add this special spirit to our family. I know life just gets all the more exciting, with all the more or different challenges, as you add children, but we are so grateful he is about to join our family and look forward to getting to know his little personality. Lorilyn doesn't really understand about her baby brother yet, but she will soon:-) We thank Heavenly Father every day for the incredible blessings in our life and can't wait till we can post the pics of this little blessing arriving shortly! Here are a few pics from the much anticipated first weekend of football season. It lived up to everything we hoped. We fixed tons of food, watched lots of football (both UofM and BYU won!) and spent time at Steve's house with family. It couldn't have been much better. Hope all is well with everyone and we'll update soon with pics of the little guy once I'm home!

LJ in the morning sat on the couch and grabbed the football herself to watch a show with...Dad just had to document it!

This is our "Say Cheese" face...too cute...love the BYU uniform too...thanks Aunt Lynette!

Daddy and his football cheerleader:-)

Mommy will do her best to instill her own love for the game on the next generation:-)

Had to get a pic with the football in my hand and my little football in my belly...this pic is 4 days before arrival! Can't wait to meet you little boy!

Quick Catch Up

2010-08-19T06:09:00.001-07:00

I apologize for my lack of posting lately, but I wanted to catch up on what has happened in the Stoianowski family in the last couple months. First, as you can see I changed our background to football...the reason for this is here in the Stoi home we couldn't be more excited for Fall to arrive and along with that is the start of football season. There are so many wonderful things that we associate with that, from tailgates, to all day appetizer feasts, to cheering on our favorite schools. Football season brings so much fun and joy for our family. This year something even more special comes with football season...our little boy. Danny is scheduled to arrive on Sept 9th (I'll be induced if he doesn't come by then), so we'll see exactly when he decides to make his appearance. We are all ready to meet the little guy and move forward with our expanding family. This summer hasn't been the easiest time for us since it included the 9th month of pregnancy, a renovation and move to a 3 bedroom town home, and a VERY energetic 18 month old to try and keep busy and happy through it all. Oh yeah, and our second car we were able to get in March decided to die and the repair is worth way more than the car, so we are once again back to a one car family...good times! Thankfully, with the help of many wonderful people being so willing to help us, we survived and are getting situated in our new place and are really starting to feel at home. Now on to the next thing...baby time! (Hope he's listening:-) Well we did have a couple fun things sprinkled in to the busy hot summer I wanted to add a few pics to document. Truthfully I was so busy I barely took any pics, but here are a few of the ones we did get.

Just a fun pic thrown in to prove she's her momma's girl...we LOVE chocolate!

In July we made a trip to MI for a couple weddings. LJ had so much fun with Nana and Papa(as always). Riding on or in Papa's golf cart was one of her favorite things.

Riding with Papa...Weeee!

We got to go to Travis Pointe pool a couple times to get some swimming in. Chewing ice and floating alone...what a hard life:-)

Daddy and Nana chilling on the steps...

We got to go visit Bops while were were there...always nice to say hi...we can always feel he's happy to have us there.

She didn't want to leave:-)

This was in the middle of our hectic 2 weeks of renivating and moving...they were taking a break on the couch together...

Getting away from the madness of moving and spending some fun time playing at Burger King...opening and closing the door seemed to be just as fun as the play place:-)

We are now settled in our new home. (Note the purgo floors Ryan installed with the help of a couple guys from the ward...he was such a good handy man!) Little one got a dancing outfit from Nana and LOVES to wear it:-)

This is her pacing as she "talks" on the phone...its a very funny thing because her Daddy and Papa do the same thing:-) Guess she comes by it naturally.

Daddy and his little ballerina

We were able to go have another ultra sound of Danny to make sure he was in position, healthy and ready to go. He passed all the tests...head down, PLENTY big and super healthy:-) K its time to come see us now!

A wonderful woman in our ward is like a second Mom/Grandma to Lorilyn and offered to watch her all day so Mom and Dad could go to the ultra sound then get sum yummy grub for my birthday. We went to an outdoor mall and walked around for a while then grabbed some super yummy food at California Pizza Kitchen. It was wonderful to get an actual date with my hubby...we even got to hold hands as we walked around...oh the little things in life!

Thought I would add a belly pic just for the record....Yes I know I'm large, he's a big boy! This is at 36 weeks.

Lorilyn loves that there are bathroom drawers in our new house to open and empty every day...Mom just LOVES cleaning them up every day also:-) One good thing is multiple times a day she pulls out her toothbrush and brushes her teeth...glad she's already in to good hygiene:-)

Since we only have 1 car now, Lorilyn and I have been exploring more close to home and found a park within walking distance that she loves...she really can swing for hours!

Well I hope all of you have had a wonderful summer and we can't wait to move into fall to share our exciting stories of the many football games and baby pics to come:-)

Father's Day 2010

2010-07-06T10:45:00.001-07:00

So for Father's day this year we decided to execute a covert operation and go to Michigan to surprise Papa Stoi for the weekend. We enlisted Momma Jigs to secretly make sure he didn't make any major plans. It wasn't without some work, but all went according to plans and we were able to make it to the house Thursday evening before he got home from work. We parked around the corner at a neighbors and were able to be in the house when he came home. It was very fun and we hope he enjoyed our surprise. The rest of the weekend was filled with our normal lots of food, fun and relaxation.

This was not 20 minutes after we arrived...Grandma got out the ice cream and LJ got to sit in her Nana chair for her treat:-)

Friday evening Ryan was able to take Papa Stoi to the Tiger's game for Father's Day. They had to leave a little early due to some major storms, but the Tigers ended up winning and I think they had a good time:-)

In her Nana chair again for her favorite...Nana's mac and cheese...she can down a plateful in about 2.75 seconds!

Eating one of MANY popsicles in the sun...

Saturday we were able to go up to Travis Pointe's pool and do a little swimming. She wasn't too fond of the life jacket, but she got used to it after a while...

Not very happy that dad is making me float on my own...

We found Mr. Frog in the corner of the pool and Aunt Melissa was kind enough to allow us to play with it, since mom wanted nothing to do with touching him:-)

The family...

Me and Papa in my favorite crab pool...

Helping Papa cook...

I LOVED spending Father's Day with Papa!

Happy Father's Day! Thank you again Nana and Papa for a wonderful weekend!

Memorial Weekend 2010

2010-06-07T12:45:00.000-07:00

So this Memorial weekend was absolutely wonderful. We had Ryan's entire family at our house for 3 days, which went by WAY too quickly but was incredible while it lasted. Ryan's parents came from Michigan and his brother Scott and his girlfriend Jenny came all the way from Baltimore. Our little 2 bedroom townhouse was crowded, but we had so much fun together. We can't wait until we get to see them all again!:-) This is a pretty long post but Jenny was so wonderful to take tons of pics for us so I wanted to share a lot of them with everyone!

We started off the first day heading downtown and seeing some sites. We began our trip downtown at the planetarium because it has such a wonderful view of the skyline as you can see...

It was VERY windy here and little one just wanted to run, but we somehow got a quick family pic.

Unky Jigs was so much fun...this was just the beginning of the playing they did together:-)

Playing in the grass with Chicago in the background.

Unky Jigs entertaining again...

Run, run, run, its all we want to do lately.

I love my Unky Jigs! He's going to be such a good Daddy someday, such a natural...

Our next stop was "The Bean"...awesome place for some pictures, of which we took a lot:-)

Inside the bean looking at our reflection.

A picture of us taken through the bean...

If you look in the background you can see me taking the picture of Ryan...

Jenny doing what she loves and is amazing at:-)

You can see Jenny taking the picture on the left...cool how it all works...love the bunny ears though Momma Jigs:-)

My and Jenny...we had such a great bonding weekend, miss you lady!

Running some more:-)

Cool dude!

3 of some of my favorite people:-)

How do I look in Daddy's hat?

Loving my Papa!

Fun with Nana and Papa!

Silly billy!

One of her favorite games was walking back and forth over Nana's legs...

Getting the air out of the mattress was a family affair:-)

Riding Nana's "Pony"

Our favorite "Nana Chair"

Brothers:-)

Nana and Papa bought me popsicles and I LOVED them!

There is a story behind this running with the baby on his head, but you'll have to ask Scott to get the details:-)

Playing golf with Daddy and Unky Jigs

Nanna bought us a watering can that we played with all weekend:-)

Contemplative...

Look what I can do Papa! Like my crab pool?

More fun with Unky...

Helpin a girl out...

Mmmmmm...Nana's mac and cheese!

Everyone right before the weekend was over and we had to take Scott and Jenny to the airport:-(

Luckily Nana and Papa got to stay one more night so we could play a little more!

Pretty girl!

Just had to add this picture Jenny took of our Lorilyn...such a precious moment!

Thanks again everyone for coming, we loved every second and can't wait until we see you again!

"Buisness" Trip

2010-05-11T13:15:00.001-07:00

A couple weeks ago Ryan was sent to Madison, WI for a week long training for work, and since all his expenses were paid, LJ and I decided to tag along for a fun adventure filled week. We had a wonderful time exploring Madison during the day and then meeting up with Dad in the evening and trying out yummy restaurants and exploring the hotel pool. I apologize for the length of this post, but I took tons of pictures and wanted to document our fun times in Madison. We were blessed with great weather until the very last day so we got to walk all over and see many things. Our hotel room overlooked the capital, so we had a beautiful view outside our window.

View from our hotel window

View at night with reflection of the room in the background. Ryan was pretty proud of this pic he took:-)

Daddy and LJ in front of the capital.

Madison has a wonderful free zoo with 2 great parks outside it. We had fun exploring the zoo and then playing at the park. Lorilyn loved the Lions and kept saying roooaaarr...!

Her watching the sleepy lions...

This was her face at the next animal we saw....she wasn't as impressed as with the lions, but next picture shows why....

It was a HUGE dirty pig:-)

This was as close as she would get on her own to the reptile exhibits....guess she is her mommy's girl:-)

Although she was VERY intrigued by the turtles:-)

Us with Mr Polar Bear. While all the other bears either hid or slept, this guy was walking all around, gave us a great show:-)

After being very good in the stroller at the Zoo we headed out to the park to play. Of course we ran to the swings first:-)

Now another kind of swing...

It took her a while to adventure out with the other kids on the playground...

But once she decided to go, there was no stopping her.

Mommy had to go rescue her after she got to the top of this and had no idea how to get down:-)

Overall I think we loved our day at the Zoo:-)

This was the first evening, after our first yummy dinner, but we ended up going to the pool every night and had a blast swimming with daddy.

Splish splash:-)

Daddy's the best!

Her FAVORITE thing in the hotel room to do was wrestle/cuddle with all the pillows on the bed.

She would literally do this multiple times a day, loving the 6 lush pillows we had:-)

We were a little hyper that night, can you tell?:-)

We're glad such little things like beds and pillows can bring so much joy:-)

We also LOVE our blanky:-)

The next day we walked down state street and out to the Lake. LJ loved the duckies.

Madison is full of beautiful views:-)

This was a normal sight at the places we went to eat...Its amazing how you don't care what she's eating or where the food is going as long as she is quite for a few minutes:-)

So this was the first time Lorilyn ever tried ranch dressing. She began very daintily dipping her finger and testing it out...

But soon it was gulping and scraping to get every last drop...

Anyone who knows me and ranch will really just say, like mother like daughter...:-)

Yay for ranch and chocolate!:-) She's a girl who knows how to enjoy the finer things of life:-)

The floor as we were done...the waitress said she would clean it up but Ryan made her bring him the broom cuz we felt so bad:-) She was happy and content for 30 minutes though so it was well worth it!

Our new favorite thing is trying to put on every shoe we see...

The last evening we went to Ella's Deli, an amazing place full of fun for all. As you see in the background there were circus toys, flying elephants, mirrors, shells in the table, hanging bears... LJ was entertained the whole time just watching all that was going on around her.

This is just as you walk in the restaurant... Its a magical place for all ages:-)

There was also a carousel outside the Deli so LJ got to sit on her first horse:-)

Back at the hotel after a wonderful week exploring Madison. We feel so blessed we got the opportunity and can't wait to go back and visit that great city!

Its a Boy!

2010-04-30T10:32:00.000-07:00

We had our ultra sound yesterday and found out our new little one is a boy:-) The best part about it though was they also said everything looks great. He seems to be a very healthy little guy! We are so excited to welcome this new buddy to our family in a few months!

Here is a shot of his little feet:-)

Here is a profile of the little guy.

We loved this one because he looks like he is flexing his big muscles for the camera:-)

We feel so blessed to have another beautiful spirit join our family and make our little Lorilyn a big sister!

Trip to Utah!

2010-04-28T11:30:00.001-07:00

Lorilyn and I were given the opportunity to go to Utah to visit Grandma and Grandpa Bird and Great Grandma Jex. Ryan was a wonderful sport and stayed at home to work while his girls got to go play. We had an amazing time, eating yummy food, visiting lots of loved ones and always keeping an eye out for the curious little 14 month old trying to get into everything at Great Grandmas:-) It was so much fun watching Lorilyn get to know her grandparents more. By the end of the week if she couldn't get enough of them, especially cuz they took her outside to explore every day!

One of the many days spent outside walking (wondering really).

We got to go to Aunt Gloria's and LJ got to meet her second cousin Cole. It was fun to watch them play in the yard together.

LJ, Dad and I got to go to Kaysville to visit Zane and Chris Swim. It was wonderful too see these amazing people again!

Not the greatest picture of me, considering I look very white and bloated, but I had a blast hanging out with cuz Erika. We got to go to eat a couple times, shop for fabric and get pedicures! All while Grandma was so nice to take care of the little one!

Grandpa wanted to make sure we got a shot of LJ in her Grandpa's Girl pj's:-)

Grandma got a little carried away with the rollers:-)

We had lots of fun just hanging out at the house. Grandma got to bond with her littlest grand-kid...

Lorilyn talking to the Puppies...she LOVED these ceramic dogs in Great Grandma's yard and ran out to talk to them every time she got to go outside.

Another shot of her favorite dogs...

Lorilyn spent lots of time watching movies on the bed with Grandpa:-)

She is a Grandpa's Girl!

Me and my mommy...I am so grateful I got to spend some time with you!

One of my favorite pictures of all time. Great Grandma Jex and Lorilyn looking at each other. I love this woman so much and am glad she let us come spend a week with her!

Another Sunday Morning

2010-04-28T11:25:00.000-07:00

I just had to get a few shots of this adorable outfit Lorilyn had on a few Sundays ago. Once again, everything was thanks to Aunt Kori, but the hat just put it over the edge, way too cute! I now just wish I had a better camera to get some awesome professional looking shots like many people have now!

Looking in the oven at our reflection...something we often do:-)

We love the yellow flower, thanks Aunt Kori!

Fun on the Swings/18 weeks Prego

2010-04-14T11:57:00.001-07:00

Saturday was gorgeous so we spent some family time outside. Lorilyn has decided she loves to swing, and the higher the better. She only kind of likes it when you push her slow, but the higher she goes the more she laughs...crazy girl:-)

Higher daddy!

Thought I would add this pic of the 18 week belly. Ultra sound in 2 weeks so we'll keep you posted whether this belly holds a little sister or brother:-)

Easter Weekend

2010-04-07T06:21:00.000-07:00

Our Easter Weekend was of course wonderful, especially with it being general conference! The weekend started a little early since Ryan was able to work from home on Friday, so we got him here all day! There was lots of back rides and laughter. What a way to start a weekend!

We LOVE to ride on Daddy's back!

Nana Jigs gave Lorilyn her own SOLID chocolate bunny for Easter so we decided to let her go for it...here are the subsequent pics:-)

Just a couple bites in...

Oh I think we like it!...

Yes it is official, we LOVE chocolate!

Watching conference Saturday with Daddy. She was a very good girl and let us watch all 4 sessions!

Easter morning in our Easter dress, anxious to get outside:-)

Look at my cute green bow:-)

I love Daddy!

Can you see my curls?! Her hair has been strait ever since she was born, but the longer it gets off her neck the curlier it gets...too fun!

Finally we get outside to find some eggs...she had a great time picking them up and shaking them, but didn't really like to put them in her basket, just besides her basket...

Look at what I got!

How many can I pick up at once?!

I didn't get a picture on our camera, but later that evening we were invited to dinner at Steve and Kori's. We had a delicious meal and then got to participate in their tradition of egg racing...Thanks so much for having us over!

Our Week with Steve and Kori's Family

2010-04-07T06:02:00.000-07:00

Steve and Kori had the great opportunity to go to Salt Lake and attend a couple of the Sweet Sixteen games with Kori's family, so we got the great opportunity to spend some quality time with their kids! We had so much fun, each one of the children has such a wonderful personality. We loved having the opportunity to spend so much time and get to know them better. Here are a few pictures from our week:-) Thank you guys for the wonderful week!

The day after Steve and Kori left was Emma's Birthday so we got to celebrate all day, with songs at breakfast, Burger King playland for lunch, yummy pizza for dinner then ice cream with ALL the toppings that could fit in one bowl. Too much fun!

Since Saturday was the week before Easter we found a Park and Rec center doing an Easter Egg "hunt". Now when I say hunt, it actually turned out to be dumping a ton of eggs in the center of a circle and having the kids stampede to the middle and grab as many as they could, but it ended up being fun. Before the hunt we found the Easter Bunny and got a pic.

Lorilyn and Lizzy were in the first group. Ryan and I had to split up with them because Lizzy knew exactly what to do and took off for the center where even to get this picture I had to put an egg in from of Lorilyn. She was just having a blast being able to run around on the grass and could care less about the eggs:-)

Showing off her loot with Uncle Ryan...how cute can you be?!

The girls and Uncle Ryan after the hunt.

Carter examining the insides of all his eggs:-)

I somehow missed a picture of Evan and his loot, but here is the very patient Braxton who never actually got to hunt, even though on the flier it said through age 12, they ended up only doing to age 10. He was such a good sport and such a help the whole time though!

Dancing and goofing off at home:-)

Thanks again for the opportunity. We had so much fun!!!

Sunday Morning

2010-03-22T07:17:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Aunt Kori, we have some of the most adorable dresses and accesories for church on Sunday. This is how she was dressed yesterday and I just had to snap a few pictures of the "Pretty" girl. It is hilarious because any time you tell her she is "pretty" she sticks her hip out and poses...such a goof!

Thanks again Aunt Kori!

Visit to Michigan

2010-03-22T07:02:00.001-07:00

For Ryan's birthday weekend we decided to take a trip to Michigan and spend some time with family and friends. It was a wonderful time as always full of laughter and lots of love:-) I was actually having so much fun I forgot to take many pictures, but I thought I would post a few of the ones I got.

Grandma made some sour cream drop cookies that we thoroughly enjoyed, as evidence here:-)

Yummy!

Despite the snow you see on the ground, the weather was very nice so Lorilyn got to adventure outside for the first time since she could walk. Many laps around the hot tub were done that weekend.

She also LOVED to just take off running down Grandma and Grandpa's long driveway...freedom!

One of my favorite pictures ever...daddy and his girl...

Our wonderful friend Melissa took us to Travis Pointe's indoor pool so LJ could experience a pool for the first time too. It took a little getting used to, but by the end we were having a great time. She better get used to it, because with mom being pregnant all summer we will definitely be finding a pool to cool off in often!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a wonderful weekend...sorry I didn't get more pictures!

Baby Bump and Our Sleeping Beauty

2010-02-24T07:21:00.001-08:00

I thought I would give everyone the update on the growth of the baby bump. I am almost 12 weeks, YAY for the 2nd trimester!!! I am already getting a little more energy, which I am VERY grateful for, and so is Ryan:-) The first picture is me at 6 weeks. The next one is 12 weeks, and yes I realize I am practically in the same outfit, but it has been a month!:-) Because of high blood count and also my very quickly expanding belly the Dr initially thought I was having twins. But alas, just one is in there. Hard to believe when you look at the belly!

6 weeks

12 weeks, I seriously don't think I was this big at 30 weeks with Lorilyn! Ahhh scary!

I had to add this picture cuz I just thought it was so adorable. What you can't see is she is cuddled with her blanky at the top of the crib. For a while she would stand and play with it and then drop it and scream bloody murder until someone came to pick it up cuz she could never think of sleeping with out it! So daddy got a little tired of that and tied it to her crib. So now she just cuddles up at the top to make sure she is with it:-) Gotta love these precious moments.

Birthday Party #2 and Grandma Bird's Gifts

2010-02-24T07:10:00.001-08:00

One week after LJ's Birthday we were excited to have another party with the family that is close by. I so wish I would have thought to take a picture of the everyone here, but I forgot, so you just get the cake and Lorilyn's wonderful reaction! Thank you so much Steve, Kori and the kids for coming to our house and celebrating with us! We love you!

The cheesy cake I made, as you can see, I am no professional! But at least its yellow!:-)

Lorilyn was a little (understatement of the century) scared at the crowd of people singing to her. I had to capture the moment so I can show her one day how much she loved her first birthday!

I know it is odd, but truly our daughter loves to play with anything that is not a kid toy. One of her favorite things to do is pull down the dish towels from the oven and walk around with them, we call them her flags. I had told Grandma Bird about this so she sent more dishtowels for her birthday, and she sure loves them!

Grandma also bought her a camelbak water bottle that she absolutely loves. Really it is always close to her and she is always drinking it. She can down over 16oz of water a day. Thanks so much Grandma!

I love my Camelbak and I REALLY love my Grandma and Grandpa Bird!!

Introducing....

2010-02-11T11:04:00.000-08:00

Baby #2! Just had blood work and an ultra sound and everything looks great. I am almost 10 weeks along, and miserable as I guess I should be for the 1st trimester. Hopefully the next couple weeks moving into the second trimester will bring better things for me!:-) Well here is our little little one, think its a boy or a girl? Oh due date was first given to me by the Dr as Sept 10th but the ultra sound lady says Sept 15th, so we'll just have to see I guess!

I'm 1 Year Old!

2010-02-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

Lorilyn's 1 year birthday weekend was so much fun! Grandma and Grandpa Stoianowski got to come from Michigan and we spent the weekend playing, eating and watching the Super Bowl so you can't ask for much else! Here are a few pics showing the good time we all had:-)

Lorilyn playin shy right after Grandma and Grandpa arrived

Look at all those presents. Thank you EVERYONE!

Grandma took time and made an adorable teddy bear cake. Unfortunately it scared little one and she didn't want anything to do with it, silly girl!

Is this bear going to eat me mommy?!

However, later Grandma was eating a piece of cake and Lorilyn just couldn't get enough, so we let her dig into it for her birthday:-)

She LOVED the frosting, must be Mommy's girl!

She (and Mommy) also loved all of the sports equipment we got!

Yummy softball! We'll work on the correct use for it...

Yay for lots of books! We LOVE to read!

We spent LOTS of time reading the Big Hungry Bear with Grandpa.

Oh its good to be 1!

Waiting Patiently

2010-02-11T07:57:00.000-08:00

I thought I would share our girl waiting patiently for Grandma and Grandpa to arrive the next day. It was so funny cuz we told her they were coming and she literally sat down and waited on the couch for at least 20 min like this. Unfortunately for her she had to sleep that night before they would get here, but it was so cute:-)

Say Please and then Strike a Pose!

2010-02-01T09:46:00.000-08:00

Lorilyn brings so much joy and laughter to our lives we thought we might share a bit with you. She is such a ham and LOVES to perform. We have taught her how to say please though and now she says it all the time for everything, it is so hard to ever turn it down!

The Carb Monster

2010-01-20T11:41:00.000-08:00

Just thought I would post this little bit about LJ's new love...carbs. Anything carbs, from pasta to bread, if it is carbs we love it. Mom decided that she at least needs to be healthy with it, so she can't have any bread until all of her fruits and veggies are gone, and then the bread she has now is whole wheat. She doesn't care what kind it is though, as long as it is carbs!

Gratitude

2010-01-11T08:28:00.000-08:00

Gratitude to me encompasses soooo much in my life. Gratitude for family, friends, children, a warm place to sleep, food to eat, even down to the shoes on my feet to keep them warm and dry. And I have read many people's thoughts on their gratitude which seems to also encompass these things. As I thought about it though I realized once again that none of these things would be possible for me to have and be grateful for if it weren't for a loving Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ who have given me the opportunity to come to this earth, and placed me in a blessed family and situation to be able to enjoy these many things. People wonder how in the WORLD we could even think of giving 10% of our income back, especially when many times on paper it doesn't even seem to work out to have money to pay the bills, but really my thought is...how could I not?! If you can acknowledge there is a God, and because of Him you are blessed with the many things you have, how could you even think that the smallest 10% is too much to give in return? Really He has given you everything and you balk at giving Him 10%? I am sorry for being so forward, but so many times I have been practically laughed at for doing this, but truthfully I couldn't be more grateful to do it. The blessings that come to my life through Him and following His counsels are endless, and I am so grateful for them. As we just went through the Holiday season it gave many people time to reflect on all they have and enjoy, which is a wonderful thing to do, but no joy is grater than the knowledge that all of those things are given to us because of a loving Father in Heaven. From children, to houses, to a job to pay the bills, none would be possible without His love and blessings to us. So as I reflect on the importance of it all, I don't necessarily have to think about a baby in a manger, but I do think about all of my blessings and the whole reason WHY I have them. Many people are able to recognize their blessings, but if they take a moment to think of WHY they have them and acknowledge a greater power, they could feel the same joy (on top of the joy for their blessings), that comes through our Savior. I think people do feel that joy, but many times they just don't like to acknowledge it actually comes from above. The peace that comes with that understanding it incredible. I don't really know why my heart and mind were so full this morning, but I wanted to share with you some of my thoughts and express the "Gratitude" that I feel in my life during the holiday season and all throughout the year. I am blessed, and so grateful for it.

Christmas in Baltimore

2010-01-04T14:29:00.000-08:00

So that first picture was taken a couple days before we left, but I thought it was a pretty good pic of our little family so I thought I would share it. Well this Christmas we had the opportunity to travel to Baltimore to spend 9 days with Ryan's brother Scott (aka Unkie Jigs) and his wonderful girlfriend Jenny. Ryan's parents also came for a few days so it was wonderful to be with the whole family for little one's first Christmas. The trip started a bit rocky as the usual 12 hr journey took close to 16 because we drove through a HORRIBLE snow storm. My wonderful hubby was determined to get us there safe and drove the whole way. We arrived at 6AM after driving all night! We finally got to bed around 6:30AM when 1 hour later our lovely little lady woke up thinking that it was time for her day to start (even though she had only slept about 4 hours in the car). Needless to say it took us a couple days to get caught up on our rest, but we pushed through and still had a wonderful time! I will write more about our trip as I take you through it with pictures. Oh and by the way, I do wish that I was more talented at writing and this whole blogging thing...I read many of my friends blogs and they are so eloquent and come up with the best things and ways to write about. I am sorry I am not so fluid, but I do enjoy having a place to share our lives, as chaotic or random they may be:-) So thanks for hangin in there with me!

Lorilyn watching her DVD player...no joke, her eyes looked like this almost the whole time! We called it her own baby IMAX.

Eyes are a little smaller, but not much...mind you this was at 4:30AM...we quickly found out she doesn't like to sleep in the car!

This was LJ and Baron's first meeting at 6 in the morning...it was the beginning quite a relationship. They love each other so much they can't stand it. There was much laughter and crying, but overall I think they are the best of friends:-)

We were snowed in (by 22" of snow non the less) the next day so we got to just relax and hang out. This was what happened after spending a little too much time together. Baron makes Lorilyn laugh which then makes him super excited and he starts play nipping at her, which then makes her cry which then makes him run, causing her to laugh, and the circle begins again...so everyone needed a little break for a bit.

However they do love to share food:)

On Monday Scott and Jenny had to go to work so Ryan and I decided to find somewhere yummy to eat. We happened to come to this Pub type place called Mother's. It was SOOOO bad for us, but soooo yummy. This was my blue cheese burger, delicious, but Ryan's (of which I sooo wish we had a picture of) was called "Heart attack on a plate". Yes, it was a 8oz patty stuffed with cheese, then deep fried. The thing was at least 5 inches high with the bun and all. But yes, he did finish it all! Crazy kid!

Lorilyn enjoyed a feast of some of her favorites...crackers, fries, onion rings, and pickles!

Ryan's parents got there Tuesday night. After a couple hours of some entertaining games, we all retired to bed and arose on Wed ready to take LJ to meet Santa and the mall. I dressed her in her adorable Christmas outfit and we got ready to go (Thank you Aunt Kori for letting us borrow it!)

Look at that cute hat!

Unfortunately when we got to the mall Santa was hungry and at his lunch so there was a HUGE line and it wasn't moving anywhere any time soon, so this was as close as we got this year...guess we'll try again next year!

On Wed night Scott took the entire family to the restaurant Fogo de Chao. It is a Brazilian BBQ, which is where as long as your card is flipped to the green side they bring around all the meat you can eat of lots of varieties. It was amazing and delicious! Thank you so much Unkie Jigs, your the best!

Little one was so good for the meal, but towards the end was ready to run around so we took her to the front to do just that:-) Not only was the food delicious, but it was located along the harbor which was just gorgeous...what a great night!

Christmas Eve was nice and relaxing. We mainly just ate lots of yummy food (thanks grandma!), rested and played games. It was wonderful to just spend the time with the family though!

Jenny surrounded by gifts for her, and our family on Christmas morning.

It was a snuggie Christmas for the family from Ryan and I. Jenny was oh so kind as to model hers for us! Scott got a MSU snuggie and Grandma and Grandpa got a blue one!:-)

Lorilyn loved ALL of her gifts, here she is playing with her Turtle friend from Unkie Jigs. She didn't quite get the concept of opening the gifts, but after some help with that, she loved what was inside!

Riding on her awesome toy from Grandma and Grandpa!

LJ decided that Grandma's pumpkin pie was awesome, so she thought she would help grandpa out with his piece...oh and she cried when it was all gone until Grandma started sharing her with her too:-)

Man all that opening presents can really wear you out!

Scott's sink was just the right size for a LJ's own little bathtub.

Could you ever be upset at this face?!

Jenny is a Photographer and was so wonderfully going to take family pictures for us on Saturday, but it didn't stop raining the WHOLE day! We were all ready all day just waiting for our break, since it was not supposed to last all day, but our break never came!:-( This was Lorilyn's outfit, I at least had to get a picture of her in it...maybe next time! Thank you Jenny for being so willing though! Well we had an amazing time in Baltimore. Thank you so much Scott for opening your home to us!

This is our new bedding...Grandma gave us a down comforter for Christmas which finally gave me the excuse to get a cover and some matching bedding. Man that thing is comfy! We love it!

Sorry this was so long, thank you for sharing our Baltimore adventure with us. If you didn't make it down to here, I totally understand!:-)

Walking!

2009-12-15T12:47:00.000-08:00

Up until today, Lorilyn had just taken a couple steps at a time, but I guess she now decided she can do it, because now she can't be stopped! Oh how grateful I am to be a stay at home mom and get to be there for every one of these discoveries, I couldn't imagine missing these things! Thank you hubby for working so hard and allowing me to be home!

Destruction!

2009-12-07T07:12:00.001-08:00

Every stage of growth and development seems to come with exciting things. I think my new job of mother during this one is clean up lady!

All of these clothes WERE nicely folded or in the drawers...

How can you be frustrated at a face like that?:)

Thankful

2009-12-03T08:24:00.000-08:00

I wanted to write a few of my thoughts this Holiday season as my heart has truly been overwhelmed with all the blessings I have.

I guess the newest blessing in my life this year is my baby girl. As any mother knows, there are truly no words to express the love and happiness a child brings to your life. Lorilyn entered this world with big bright eyes, alert and ready for all the world has to offer. She is such an incredible part of our family. Ryan and I continue to say we have no idea how we lived without her. There is nothing that can brighten a day like the smile of your child. I feel so blessed to be able to be a say at home mom and be able to savor every one of those smiles, along with all of the new discoveries she learns every day.

I guess that leads me to my next aspect of gratitude I would like to express. The only reason I am able to be at home with her is because of an amazing husband that works so hard to provide for our family. He is my best friend and an incredible father. We both had to go through some crazy things to find each other, but I would go through it all in a heartbeat to be with him for eternity.

Speaking of eternity, I want to express my gratitude for my eternal family on this earth. I have 2 amazing siblings who have wonderful families that have shown me unwavering support and love my whole life. Now that Ryan and I are in Chicago we have the opportunity to be close to Steve and Kori, and we are so grateful for that. They have welcomed us into their home so many times with love and friendship and we feel so blessed to have that so close. Although I might be far away from my sister Lynette I am so grateful for the amazing woman she is and the friendship we share. I love our phone calls and look forward to every chance we get to spend together. And we wouldn't be here if it weren't for my parents. I was blessed to join an incredible family with 2 amazing parents. My father worked hard to support our family, and my mother is my greatest example of what a true women of God is. The service she has shown her whole life is unlike anyone I have ever known. Whether it is a family member, or a ward member, she is always serving others before herself. I am so grateful for such a wonderful mother who is now the best grandma any grandkid could ask for!

Although I was born into an amazing family, I was also incredibly blessed to be able to marry into one also. I truly have some of the most amazing in-laws anyone could ask for. They have loved and supported me from the moment we met. I also now have a awesome younger brother who's heart is as big as anyone's I've ever known, and is always good for a laugh (even if it is at my expense:).

The last couple years have just been filled with one blessing after another. I don't know what I ever did to deserve any of them, but I will forever be grateful. I have so many more, but wanted to take a second to recognize some of them today.

Thank you all my friends and loved ones for being the special blessings you are to my life!

Christmas Decorating

2009-12-03T08:03:00.001-08:00

I can't even believe how few pictures I took during the Thanksgiving week and our trip to Michigan, but I did manage to get the camera out Friday as we were decorating their house, so here are the few precious ones we got.

Grandma and her little helper. If Grandma was in the room, Lorilyn was at her feet, reaching for her hand to walk with her, or up to hold her.

Grandma tried to get her to help decorate the tree, but she didn't like the prickly branches.

However, she thought the ornaments were awesome!

Look at the big girl standing on her own with her favorite ornament:)

This picture is a little blurry but I had to add it because this is what went on ALL week. Anyone else has to beg for kisses from her, but Grandpa always gets them freely, multiple times a day!

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for a wonderful Thanksgiving week!!!

Trip to Grandma and Grandpa's!

2009-11-02T07:47:00.000-08:00

For a while we knew we were going back to Michigan for the Penn State game in October, but LJ and I decided that just two days there was not enough, so we jumped on Amtrak and rode there by ourselves, then dad followed a couple days later in the car. The train was an experience, but we made it and had a wonderful week with Grandma and Grandpa. I feel so blessed I have such wonderful in-laws that are so welcoming to their home. If fact I would venture to say I have some of the best in-laws anyone has ever had!:) Sorry if this post gets long, but there we so many fun things we did I have to tell about them all!

Here we are at Union Station in Chicago ready to board the train.

Right after we got to their house Grandma gave little one her halloween outfit which came with this awesome head band! Lorilyn loved it and never took it off!:)

Grandma was such a big help and fed us LOTS of food!:) Grandmas are the best when it comes to yummy food!

Grandma also let us come watch some of her dance class and so Lorilyn got her first dance lesson from Grandma! I am sure it is her first of many:)

We also got to visit Grandpa at work!

We went back to Milan to say hi to Bops:)

Grandma and Grandpa let Ryan and I go out on Friday night with some friends and watched the little one for us. Grandma had brought home Lorilyn's first costume and had to try it on her. Looks like they had some fun together!

The day of the game was rainy and cold, but we managed to have a wonderful time anyway!

This was a sneak attack caught on film:)

I just love this lady!

Unfortunately the team lost, but thanks so much Grandma and Grandpa for another wonderful day at the stadium!

Although this is a little early, and there will be more pictures to follow around Christmas, I just had to show the pretty Christmas dress Grandma bought for little one.

Grandpa and his little goblin girl.

Isn't this face awesome, it is like the same one as her shirt!

Thank you so much Grandma and Grandpa for a wonderful trip. We love you and can't wait until Thanksgiving where we can see you again!!

Our First Year of Forever...

2009-11-02T07:30:00.000-08:00

October 17th was the 1 year anniversary of Ryan and my sealing in the Chicago temple. Interesting how things work for we were only sealed in the Chicago temple because that was easiest for all the family, even though we lived in Michigan at the time. But little did we know one year later Chicago would be our home! I truly can't say enough about how incredible it is to be sealed to such an amazing man. He is such an incredible husband and now father. He works so incredibly hard to support our family and allow me to be at home with our beautiful little girl, making my lifetime dream of being a stay at home mom a reality. Watching him play with his little girl brings me more joy than anything I ever imagined. More than anything his is my best friend. It is amazing how incredible it can be just spending an evening on the couch watching football or something when you are doing it with your best friend. I am so grateful that I get eternity to enjoy this wonderful man!

Our bishop and his lovely wife and family offered to watch Lorilyn that evening so we could get a bite to eat. We ended up going to Buca de Beppo and having a delicious dinner.

This is how excited about our anniversary little one was:) Thanks Bishop and family for taking such good care of her and allowing us a little mommy and daddy time!

Adventures of An 8 mo Old

2009-10-05T12:35:00.001-07:00

Lorilyn just turned 8 months old today...I can't believe how the time flies! Here is a post to catch you up on a few things that have happened in her life in the last few weeks...

We LOVE getting dressed in pretty dresses for church (Thank you Aunt Kori), but aren't so keen on the whole 3 hours of being quite at church thing...we tend to spend about 2 of those hours in the hallway with mommy or daddy...

We absolutely love to stand up and play with our new favorite toy (also big thanks to Aunt Kori!). We can stand here for 45 minutes at a time playing with all the buttons being as happy as can be.

We just started crawling 2 days ago...

And finally.....

We LOVE LOVE LOVE dill pickles!:) She is definitely her daddy's girl!

Our Trip to Michigan

2009-09-14T08:29:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we were able to go back to Michigan to spend a little time with family and go to the Michigan vs Notre Dame game. The game was awesome as Michigan pulled it out in the last seconds. All of our voices were horse and we are all exhausted but it was so much fun. We also just loved being home with Grandma and Grandpa. Thank you so much for letting us come! We are counting down the days until next time! And as for all of those who might be worried, I will never forget my BYU Cougars, they will always be my number 1 but Michigan now is a close second:)

Carter's Baptism

2009-09-14T07:49:00.000-07:00

Carter, Steve and Kori's 3rd child was baptized Sept 5th. It is so wonderful to be living close to them now and get to be a part of many wonderful things. Grandma and Grandpa Bird came and stayed with us, which was so much fun. Lorilyn wants them back soon! We had lots of fun spending time all weekend with the Birds, and BYU even pulled out a victory for us against Oklahoma! Thanks everyone for a wonderful time...we love you all!

Almost There...

2009-09-03T14:19:00.000-07:00

Lorilyn is so very close to crawling...which means mommy is almost in big trouble trying to keep an eye on this little one! She already can roll to whatever she wants but I know it just gets crazier from here! It is so fun to see her grown and develop though. I am so grateful to have this beautiful little spirit in our home!

We Love You Bill

2009-08-26T06:01:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to take this opportunity to share my thoughts about our beloved friend Bill Corkin who passed away last week. He was truly more than just a friend to the Stoianowski's. He was family. Before I moved to Michigan I would constantly hear about evenings at the "side porch", and knew all about these wonderful people Bill and Diana. Then on one of the first days I arrived in Michigan we were invited over and I got to finally meet these people I had heard so much about. I couldn't believe how much love and hospitality I was shown even on the first day. It truly felt like I was meeting some of my new grandparents with hugs and kisses all around. Bill was never truly comfortable when he had people over because he was constantly making sure you had everything you wanted or needed, usually more than you could handle:) Bill was always good for a great big hug and then many laughs whenever you were around him. I couldn't even begin to count the times he told me how beautiful and special I was. Bill and Diana were also incredibly generous and showed it in many ways. For Ryan and I they let us stay in their condo in Marco Island, FL for our honeymoon. It was an incredible experience and we enjoyed the times we spent with them there also. Here are a few pictures from our honeymoon there...

Having us over to their condo for some appetizers and a beautiful sunset.

Dinner at the Marco Inn with the Corkins and the Gordans...what wonderful friends.

Their names down by the beach. Aren't they an adorable couple:)

They were just too cute. Bill made every lady feel special, especially his love Diana.

I took a set of pictures of Lorilyn in this golf outfit in the golf baby shoes Bill and Diana gave her. LJ only got to meet him a couple times but he loved having her around and saying PEEAANUT! She loved her Grandpa Bill, as did all of us. We will miss you Bill until we meet again...we love you.

Solid Foods:)

2009-08-11T13:33:00.001-07:00

We decided it was time to start the little one on some solid foods since she has reached the 6 month mark and she seems to want to eat everything around her:)

We started the first day with just cereal...

mmmm....tasty

Let me do it mommy!

I think we like it...

Squash face!

This was after peas and cereal...the peas took a few bites to get used to, but I think we are ok with them too:)

She amazes us every day with how much she wants to be a big girl and how fast she is moving into each phase...where is my baby going?