Jude is getting so big! He's such a happy baby.

One of our neighbors recently said "oh yeah! Should have warned you, your house gets seriously drifted in all winter long!" This day it was blowing so hard we couldn't even see the 3 1/2 foot drift blocking our driveway, so we ended up high-centered and stuck pretty well...Stratton loved the excitement of the whole thing. And Matt got a great workout digging us out. We had to drive around the driveway across the yard to get into the garage. So grateful for a wonderful brother-in-law and his backhoe who dug out our driveway-we owe you big Nate.

Stratton loves the snow!

Happy Halloween!

I was stuck in Palm Springs at an art show that was a total waste. These were two pumpkins I carved before I left, they are really withered in the photo but were still worth posting. Amy and Stratton were both pirates and had a lot of fun trick or treating both our neighbors, the trunk or treat and the grand parents.

Blessing, Birthday, and Boys

We've had a pretty busy summer so far, and it's not going to slow down. We moved to Idaho the end of June, and started looking for a home (still in the process). Jude was blessed on July 4th-he's getting big so fast! The next day was Stratton's birthday and the town celebration for 4th of July. He fully believes that the parade and fireworks were all for him. He requested a "black robot cake" which we assumed meant chocolate... Matt's sister and her family came from Michigan, and also his other sis and here daughters were here from Scottsdale. It was so great to get to see everyone. We spent most of July surrounded by family and having fun. Actually, Matt had to leave for 2 weeks for art shows, but the rest of us were having fun :)

Blessing Day

Emily's Matthew and Samuel, My Stratton and Jude, and Melissa's Jaxon and Likon. Six boys and counting.

Pictures for Emily

Stratton's favorite color is green, so of course this is his favorite outfit...he's starting to be quite opinionated about what he wears. Sometimes he insists on wearing gloves even though it's well over 100 degrees outside. He's so quirky and cute, I love it.

Jude's first smiles. I was so enraptured by the beautiful-ness I just stood there basking with the camera in hand not taking pictures. But here's a bit of a fading smile...

Stratton told me that he likes orange and Buzz likes red.

Rival Video

This is my rival video to Colman's yodeler guy. I admit that it is a voice over but seriously this guys singing voice is far superior. YaaaAA! Yeah ya yeah. Yadi yadi.

The last few weeks

This was my first physical undertaking since having the baby. We drove about an hour and a half to the worlds largest travertine bridge (or so they claim). It is about 180 ft high and 400 feet long. It was beautiful and had a little water fall. The hike was to the bottom and back up was pretty steep and slippery. Luckily my pride outweighs my out-of-shape-ness, and if Stratton could do it then I could :)

Stratton had so much fun playing with Samuel and Matthew. Thanks again Emily for all the help! You are amazing.

Matt, Stratton and Buzz Lightyear enjoying some PB&J before our hike to the land-bridge.


Some Sides of Jude:

Awake Jude

Baby Brother Jude

Overly-dramatic Hungry Jude

Lazy Tummy-Time Jude

And "thank you thank you" to Lynlee for the BEAUTIFUL afghan.
I love it. You are so great!

Hey Jude!

Jude Joseph Sievers has arrived! 8 and a half lbs. and 21 inches long, with a full head of hair. He already has a pacifier fetish where he won't let us take it very easily. Eating like a champ and it seems so much easier then it was with Stratton! We are all worn out and will post more photos tomorrow.

Our Spring Happenings

Matt's 1o week art show just finished and I'm so glad! He's done working 7 days a week and it's so great to spend some time together.

President's Day Weekend at Disney Land with Souths and Grandma and Grandpa Barnes. We had so much fun in California. We left Scottsdale Thursday evening, spent Friday at Disney Land, and headed back home at 4am Saturday morning (Matt had to be back at work). It was sort of a whirlwind of family and fun but we had a great time. Emily and Nate were renting this condo right by the beach and it was beautiful! Stratton had so much fun, he keeps asking to go back. I got him a little jar with a slit in the lid so he can save money for our next trip there-which Matt says is not for 10 years...I think Stratton enjoyed it more than Matt :)

At the Hyatt here in Scottsdale, they do these gondola rides at night on this little pond. We went with Greg and Debbie and some fam friends from California. Our gondolier (I'm not sure if that's right) had an amazing voice and serenaded us with some beautiful Italian opera songs.

Lots of pro baseball teams do their spring training here. We watched the SF Giants and Chicago Cubs play on Tuesday. It was fun to be out and enjoy the sunshine-at least for the first 2 hours. It was 88 degrees that day and we only lasted until the 7th inning and headed home for the pool. I don't handle the heat well normally, not to mention when I'm 8 months pregnant. Stratton didn't really care about the game but he loved sharing Grandpa's peanuts and lemonade.

I just think he's so cute here...

Baby Boy

So, it's about time that I officially announced this to our blog pals. We are expecting our 2nd son May 11th. We waited a while before really telling anyone because we sort of had a hard time getting this far along. We had a pretty disappointing round of miscarriages before we got to this point, and we really appreciate the prayers and kindness from those who went through it with us. I never thought I'd be so happy to have little baby kicks and punches keeping me up at night! So everything looks great and we're so excited to have another little boy join our family! Our scanner is broken, or I would post some beautiful ultrasound pics...

Christmas in Idaho, New Years in Mexico

We went to Rocky Point Mexico with Andy and Lauren for New Years and had a blast. The weather was beautiful, especially having come from nasty cold Idaho. It was a great way to wind down from a busy December. Looks like I ate a few too many tacos...or I could be 5 months pregnant (and eating too many tacos).

Stratton loved to push his bucket upside-down into the wet sand. Little air and water bubbles would gurgle out from the edges and Strat would laugh hysterically saying "Stinky bucket!"

Christmas morning at Emily and Nate's. What a good-looking couple of boys (Matt and Strat, not Em and Nate). The Holidays were so much fun. We hired someone to help out at the gallery and were able to be in Idaho Thanksgiving through Christmas. Matt and his dad went to Chicago and NYC for a couple of weeks to do art shows and everything went really well. We were so thankful to spend so much time with our family enjoying the Christmas season.