An update on Elder Derek and May

Derek and Paxton about 6 days before he left :) what cuties!

Us at Derek's farewell

So April ended with us saying goodbye to our sweet brother Derek! He left May 16th for the MTC for the Stokholm Sweden mission. Derek has been my best buddy since we were little. Me, him, and Jason were always best friends and did a lot together. I'm going to miss him SO much! I already do! He is SUCH a good guy. He has always been there for me. Really quick, sweet story about Derek..well similar stories all in one. Derek, in high school, would always tell me a lot about his latest crush. We used to stay up late at night on many occasions, and we'd talk. I remember one night in particular. I had just started running seriously and my legs and feet hurt really bad one night. It was really late and I remember I was so tired but wanted to talk to Derek. So I laid in the hall outside of the bathroom waiting for him to get out and then he came out and we talked till like 2 or 3 in the morning while he rubbed my legs and feet for me while he told me all about the girl he liked and what he liked about her. He is just so great to me. I look up to him a ton and am sad I can't text or call him for the next two years. :) He is what he believes and I admire that a lot!

 Good luck Der-bear!

We celebrated Trev's birthday with his family before Pax and I headed for UT for a study I'm in (we were gone on his actual birthday). Trev's parents got him new scriptures (which were much needed, so thank you), a Michael Buble music book, and a candy bar poster.

While in Utah we went to Krispy Kremes to get doughnuts for our grades

The weekend after we got back, Trev's family was gone so we had the house to ourselves so we did a birthday party for Trev with just us 3. :) I got him the piano/singing music for "Savior, Redeemer of My Soul" (the version from "17 Miracles"...can be heard here  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_ig_aM3zgw  . Some girl sang it at Derek's farewell and Trev said he'd love to sing it sometime...so I got it :)) 

We had DELICIOUS BBQ barbecued chicken, homemade chicken rice a roni (recipe is below...SO easy and DELICIOUS), and steamed carrots.

And Trev wanted Bread Pudding, so we made the caramel apple bread pudding from Ourbestbites.com...it was delicious!

Pax with his new cousin Matthew..about 3 weeks old

Pax's position for pooping..it's hilarious

Us watching Trev fish at a pond in Idaho Falls on free fishing day

My hot husband :)

A dead fish in the water right by us..disgusting. And the only fish we saw the entire time

the pond we fished at....it's a pretty good sized pond for fishing in Idaho Falls

It was windy and cold so Pax and I played in the car while Trev kept fishing.

HAHA Pax LOVES listening to things like General Conference and will hardly look away. I think he just likes watching movie things and hearing new voices, but it's cute anyways.

Some sweet Tie-dye cupcakes I made for Stacy

Going on a walk...

Pax pushing hard. HAHAH

It's been a good month and at the end of this week my last semester of school is HALF OVER. Yay! Only 8 more weeks until I will be graduated!

Recipe for Homemade Rice-A-Roni...SUPER EASY
Time: 15 minutes to prep and cook

• 1/2 cup raw spaghetti, broken into 1 inch pieces
• 3/4 cup raw white rice
• 14 1/2 ounces broth (any flavor)
• 2 tablespoons butter or 2 tablespoons margarine

Directions:

1. 1
   In medium skillet saute' broken spaghetti pieces in butter, stirring constantly, until the spaghetti begins to brown.
2. 2
   Add rice, stirring until the rice is well coated with the butter and the spaghetti browns a little more Carefully pour in broth.
3. 3
   Simmer until liquid is absorbed.

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/homemade-rice-a-roni-24476#ixzz1wCDhJG00

March and April

Okay, it's been forever...but in my defense I don't think my life has ever been so busy and...hard? Okay. That's a good word. For some reason I can NOT get on top of this semester. I thought it was going to be my easiest semester in a long time...WRONG. So, I just haven't gotten around to blogging even though I've wanted to...and even though I really should be working on my paper right now. Oh well. Well, I don't really remember March and April much but I have pictures.
But really quick about the things I DO remember....
-Pax turned 6 months old on April 14th.
-We moved in with Trevor's parents for the semester since Stacy (Trev's Mom) babysits for me about 20 hours a week....basically she is the only reason I am going to school this semester and am able to graduate in July finally. :) So we really really appreciate her and all of the Steiner's for making our lives easier by allowing us to live with them and for watching Pax all of the time for us. It helps us out a lot!
-Trevor is just about to finish up working for the USDA doing soil sampling like he did when we were engaged. Basically he gets soil samples in the potato fields all around here so that they can test for this infectious, microscopic work called a nematode. So yeah, the farmers are planting their fields now so that's ending and so he just found out he can actually renew his CNA here in Idaho even though it's been expired for 5 years, which is a HUGE blessing. So although we'd like to move to Utah for the next year, we will probably end up staying here in Idaho until PA school happens..hopefully next fall.
-I finished the biggest semester of my life. And it turned out well thank goodness. I ended up getting the scholarship that we NEEDED me to get so I could go this semester too! We're grateful for the many prayers that the Lord answered for this to be made possible.
-I got a week break and we were able to visit Utah and be with everyone, which we haven't done since Christmas, so we're grateful we got to do that.
-I started my last semester before I graduate!!! Woot woot! Seriously, I'm SO sick of school and having to leave Pax all of the time. But I'm so grateful to be getting my education done. I've also been doing my internship which has been a very interesting, but great experience. I am shadowing a Marriage and Family Therapist and also a Licensed Counselor here in Idaho Falls. It's been a really good experience that has helped me see what I want to do with my career someday when I go back and get my masters. I'm leaning more towards counseling now rather than Marriage and Family Therapy. This office works a LOT with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stess Disorder) and trauma in general and I'm finding that's what I'm really interested in doing someday. I still love the idea of helping marriages and families, but can do that as a counselor. I just really like the approach counselors take more. But that's just my opinion. :) So yeah, it's been really good for me! I'm learning a lot about how amazing people are, and how amazing people go through TERRIBLE things sometimes. They are great examples to me and it's so uplifting to be around such strong individuals who have been hurt in some of the most painful ways.
Okay...that's the update..now for the cute pictures of Paxton...

He does not like his Bumbo much after about 5 minutes...haha

We finally discovered he was getting teeth after he already had one in and had one about to break through...

haha. He would NOT let go of his toy for like 5 minutes, literally.

About to watch General Conference :) Which we LOVED

He loves his daddy. :)

Matthew Farrell Steiner was born early on April 22nd, at 8 lbs. 1 oz. He's a cutie. So Pax finally has a cousin on the Steiner side. (Here is Brad, the proud papa holding him)

We all went and visited after she had the cutie

Pax is such a happy cute baby. We are just so grateful for how good he is during this crazy time of our lives. :)

Pax LOVES crossing his ankles like this, especially when stretching his legs. It's hilarious.

Getting In Shape After Having a Baby

So, I have meant to share these videos on my blog for quite some time. When I had Paxton my mom told me about how she saw some morning show where they had a lady talking about her specialty of helping women get their abs back in shape after a pregnancy-and she was REALLY good. She could get women with amazing looking abs in like 8-10 monts? I don't remember, but it was awesome. Well I looked it up and found the video where she showed the 10 steps, but can NOT find it anymore. I've searched and searched. Anyways, I only saw it once and still remember some of the steps, but not all of them. Anyways, I found this video series of 4 different exercises which were the same 4 steps in this ladies video (and in her video she stressed the importance of the 4 steps and getting them down really well before moving on to the other steps). Anyways, I did these after having Paxton and they helped a TON. My abs were really stretched out and my back killed and this helped me get my abs feeling stronger and more normal-and to a point where I felt like normal crunches were actually helping and were doing something. So here is the first of the 5 videos (the first video teaches you how to breathe and flex your abs correctly so you can reach those very bottom abs with these exercises)-and just a warning, they seem too simple to do anything and just lame, but doing it for just 5-7 minutes a day helps SO much! I tried to get one new step down good every day until I had all of them and then did all of them for a while each day for just a little bit (and just for the record, I don't think these would just help after having a baby, but just anyone who wants to strengthen their abs-because these exercises strengthen the very inner abs that are important to strengthen)-so just suck up that they are boring and super simple and DO THEM! :)
Learning the breathing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQzjjNGIJuU&feature=related
Step 2-the first "move": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNOWNJiU0jE&feature=relmfu
Step 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU2h5xC3kKI&feature=relmfu
Step 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MybT85gUOus&feature=relmfu
Step 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtomWghScas&feature=relmfu

Well, I remembered two of the other 6 steps from the lady's video, and just found this other youtube video that shows the two I remember in his 5 ab workouts-the plank and the "stability ball roll out". These are really good, and I think he maybe does some of the other ones I don't remember from her video, but like I said, I don't remember-but they look like good workouts. So here is this guys video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI9Kvk_HMO8&feature=related

So I just thought I'd share those, because they've helped me to strengthen my abs (quickly and surprisingly) and my back doesn't hurt anymore! Actually, when it would hurt REALLY bad, I'd do these and they'd help me SO much-aka: they made it so I could actually sleep instead of trying to find a comfortable position in bed when there wasn't any because my back hurt so bad. And now I feel like I can do crunches and they are helping. So there you go! :)

An update for January and February!

So, an update on us and our lives. So Trevor graduated but decided to take Biochemistry this semester and work weekends. So that's what we're doing. I have a full load because of lots of credits, and Trevor has a full load because of how hard the one class is and how much time he puts into it. haha. So, it's like last semester all over again. But, it's going well and we're staying sane, barely.(Thanks to Heavenly Father who loves us and is always watching out for all of us!) But it's midterms, so it's half way over! Hallelujah! But things have panned out well and I got an internship for next semester. I'll be working at a place in Idaho Falls called Help, Incorporated where they do parenting classes to prevent child abuse, and then they also help children who have already experienced abuse. I'll be doing both ends, the prevention side for the first half of the semester and the advocacy side for the second half. It's a way cool place and I'm excited! Then I'll be taking my LAST 9 credits on top of that and then I'll be DONE!!!!!!!! I'm so stoked! I'm really tired of being busy for every minute of every day. Hence, I'm not using my time very wisely right now...oh well. So there is the update on Trev and I....and here is Paxton....(who turned 4 months old on Valentine's day)

Poor kid, so many of the pictures we take make him look like he has a unibrow..haha

I think he's one adorable boy in just a diaper...luckily, it's his favorite too :)

Waiting in the car for me while I'm in class...

He LOVES standing up. He has since he was like, I don't know how old. But he's always loved it.  Look at those strong (very chunky) legs. :)

Did I mention he has fat rolls everywhere now?

He's discovered his toes MAJORLY this week. It's So cute and he loves them!

Me with my buddy, who got lots of shots in those thighs for his 4 month birthday!
With very pretty bandaids! :)

Christmas 2011

Well, this is super late, and I really don't even have very many pictures...but here we go anyways.
For Christmas we were in Idaho Falls with Trevor's family. On Christmas Eve we had a family party and Kristen and Dustin came from Arizona. It was fun to be with everyone! We spent the night there and Paxton got lots of attention and presents! Here is a picture I stole from Taush's facebook of him...

And then here is me, Kristen, Kylie and Craig, Fuzz (Taushalyn) and Sara with Paxton. Christmas Eve is Craig's birthday, so Kylie made him a SUPER cute cake with the minnions from Dispicable Me on them. SO cute. And delicious!

Then the day after Christmas we celebrated Fuzz's birthday by going out to lunch with everyone and then we headed for Utah. We had a lot of fun with both families, but it was so great seeing my family finally. We hadn't seen them since my baby shower before fall semester started. So everyone got to see Paxton, and we got to see everyone. It was a lot of fun! Then, we blessed Paxton with both of our families there. Um...I didn't take any pictures apparently. So, just imagine us all together. BUT Trev's brother took some pictures of Paxton in his little outfit that my mom made for him from the extra material from my wedding dress. He looked adorable. But yeah, we don't have those yet....
BUT, I helped my nieces make some super cute noodle necklaces. haha. They're so cute. They turned out way cute and the colors they chose looked really cute together. Here are the little princesses:

But we had a repeat of last Christmas at my house. The stomach flu was passed around a little more each day. I got it, but Trev and Paxton didn't, luckily.
Then we tried to relive our childhood by doing rockets! My dad, I mean Santa, used to always get the family rockets that we would then go blast off with our cousins. It was a lot of fun! It was kind of cold, but not as bad as it was when I was little when there was lots of snow everywhere!

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The rocket was bent from hitting the ground so hard when it landed so we couldn't relaunch it.

Jeff and Micheal. Micheal was SO enthralled :)

The little kids took turns pushing the button to launch the rockets..

Derek, the best uncle ever, would race them to go get the rockets when they landed.

All of the cousins loved little Paxton, but Willy especially loved holding Paxton and wanted a picture! He held Paxton at least 3 times for about 20 minutes each time. He loved it! He's so cute!

 It was a good Christmas break that helped us gear up for our crazy busy semester!