Life at the Stansbury Patch (aka Becky’s Blog)

I’m Moving!

Mon, 3 Nov 2008 21:17:37 -0500

You can find me tomorrow (and the story behind the move) at threecupsofherbaltea.blogspot.com. Just click on the link and it will take you there!

Halloweens Past

Mon, 3 Nov 2008 15:19:55 -0500

I promised to post Trevor’s pumpkin carvings of years past and got looking through the photos and decided to post the kids in their costumes too. They’re way to cute! :)
2008
My camera did a terrible job of photographing the pumpkins this year. I don’t know what happened. To see the kids in their costumes, refer to previous post. Note the intricacies of Sleeping Beauty...Trevor wasn’t too happy!

2007
Note the theme for the year. The pumpkin in the middle was carved by Timothy himself. See how it corresponds with his clone mask? Not too bad for a 9 year-old! My favorite for the year was definitely Darth Vader.

2006
No theme for the year. However, you will spot a “knight” pumpkin to go with Jonathan’s costume. There always has to be at least one! Hannah was irritated that she couldn’t wear her ballet leotard that year. The dragon was much warmer and now I can say that all 4 of my kids have worn it!

2005
Again, no theme for the year (only more military and superheroes). Just fun pumpkins. I think it was Jonathan that wanted the shark and Trevor broke out the drill for the first time for the monkey. Look at that--Hannah was Sleeping Beauty that year too!

2004
This year was all things military (pretty much still is) for Timothy and all things Spidey for Jonathan. 3 of my kids have worn that spider costume. It’s one I’m saving for the grandkids! :)
Pre-2004 was pre-digital camera. I’m sorry, folks, I’m not digging out prints to scan them in. These will have to do!

A Week?!? of Halloween

Mon, 3 Nov 2008 14:31:37 -0500

How did a one-day holiday turn into a week? I’ll be honest. I can’t stand it. Only because of the amount of candy that finds its way into my house. Luckily, 10-12 pounds of it found its way out this morning! We started last weekend when Grandpa & Grandpa were in town (which you can read all about in the last post). Then, last Tuesday night was the Ward dinner/carnival/trunk-or-treat. Somehow I keep ending up with the booth for the Relief Society, which was a bit tricky this year as Trevor was out of town (surprise, surprise) and I had 4 kids wanting to go in 4 directions. Luckily, they pretty much stayed in the gym until it was time to go outside to “trunk-or-treat”. Can I just say it was like trick-or-treating in a neighborhood? There were so many people and my kids were loving every minute of it. Trevor and I usually dress up for the occasion, but I decided I wasn’t going to go it alone this year, so here are some of my favorites from the night:

Tate was the cutest little biker dude you’ve ever laid your eyes on! He’s also 17 months old and doesn’t want to stand still long enough to have his mugshot snapped.

Wilma, Fred & Pebbles Flinstone. The sad thing is, my kids don’t have a CLUE as to who they are. Cartoons just aren’t what they used to be! And my absolute favorite...

John McCain & Sarah Palin. Speaking of which, don’t forget to vote tomorrow!!
As for the 31st, Jonathan and Hannah both stayed home sick from school. Jonathan was up all night (I’ll spare you the details) and Hannah woke up not feeling well. I didn’t really feel like picking her up from school in the middle of the day, plus it was pretty much a day of parties and parades, so she stayed home too. You can bet, however, that they were both feeling just dandy when it was 6 PM and time to hit the streets! Trevor got his feelings hurt when the boys announced they wanted to trick-or-treat with their friends. I consoled him and told him it would be OK.

Here’s Timothy (I ran into him twice) with his buddies, Charlie, Fran and Tom. Jonathan was no where to be found. It was my year to do the honors of traipsing around the neighborhood, so Trevor stayed behind to pass out the goods. We ended up not getting our traditional photos, but this is what we were able to manage...

King Trevor with his Sleeping Beauty and her protector, the Dragon (please, please don’t confuse her for a dinosaur or she’ll be sure to correct you with her fire breath).

Two solid hours of trick-or-treating will knock the wind out of even the fiercest of dragons!

The Aftermath: it doesn’t look like much, but let me assure you it was a ton (I think he counted 218 pieces). We have a great deal going with our kids. They get to eat 5 pieces Halloween night (I’m sure they down at least 3 times that much), they get to pick out 10 pieces to keep (to be rationed out--2/day), then they trade the rest in for a prize. This year I spent a whopping $2.99 on each. I even ran out of time to get one for Timothy, so I offered him $3 in cold, hard cash. Thus, the 10-12 pounds of candy I hauled to Rachel’s school this morning so they can send it to the troops. May they enjoy every last M&M!

Weekend with Grandma & Grandpa

Sun, 2 Nov 2008 17:37:38 -0500

Just about every fall, Grandma & Grandpa make a month long pilgrimage to visit family all across the country. We were lucky enough to have them 4 days over the weekend. It was even better that the kids had an early-release day from school on Friday. It’s just a shame it rained the whole day! We did venture to the pumpkin patch in the rain so we would have pumpkins to carve over the weekend. Thus, no photos of the picking of the pumpkins.
Saturday was Grandpa’s birthday. We spent the day going to Hannah’s last soccer game, doing yard work and going to the “Spook-o-ree” at Cub World. What a production! The kids got to trick-or-treat, play carnival games and go for a hayride. We didn’t stay long enough for the haunted castle or the haunted trail, but I’m not so sure anyone in my clan would have enjoyed them anyway.

Isn’t my little dragon soooooo cute? Don’t be fooled. She’s also very capable of breathing fire!

We decided to take advantage of extra adult hands and carve pumpkins. This is definitely Trevor’s area. My job is usually to gut the pumpkins and bake the seeds. If it were up to me to help the kids carve them, they were all have triangle eyes, an upside down triangle nose and jack ‘o lantern teeth. There’s not much creative blood running through my veins. Trevor, on the other hand, is the master. I think I’ll devote a post to Trevor and his pumpkins of years past.

Everyone hard at work! Somehow, I escaped any part of it this year (with exception on washing and baking the seeds).

Hannah’s pumpkin was almost as big as she is! Trevor wasn’t too pleased with her choice of design this year--Sleeping Beauty. Try that one!

T’s into carving his own these days. He does a pretty good job, I’d have to say! This pumpkin’s eyes glowed--very cool.

I told you Trevor takes his pumpkin carving very seriously. Last year found him at Home Depot looking for more tools he could use to make his creations. I can’t compete with power tools.

Our Soccer Star

Sun, 2 Nov 2008 14:18:50 -0500

OK, truth be told, she isn’t much of a star on the field, but she certainly is in front of the camera. We ended up on a team (as usual) with a coach that has never coached before, so the kids basically scrimmaged at every practice. Not many soccer skills were learned this season. Good thing is, she had a great time!

Hail to the Chief

Sun, 2 Nov 2008 14:10:13 -0500

Several weeks ago, Trevor and I had the opportunity to see President George W. Bush give a speech in front of a relatively small crowd (200-250 people). I don’t care what politics you practice, it was a very cool experience. Seriously, how often do you get the chance to see a sitting President in person? I did have to arrange my entire day (babysitters for the kids, security at the event) around a 20 minute speech, but it was well worth it. Too bad there wasn’t a meet and greet. A photo with the President and First Lady (Laura was with him) would have made for a great Christmas card!!

I apologize for the “back of the head” shot, but I didn’t think it appropriate to stand on my chair!

Officially Over the Hill

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:48:42 -0400

It’s sad but true. Trevor turned the big 4-0 on September 21st and we can’t quit teasing him about being an “old man”. I had been thinking for months and months about what I could do for him to celebrate the occasion and it wasn’t an easy choice! As much as I wanted to throw him a HUGE surprise party, he hates both big parties AND surprises. I debated and debated about what he would like, even questioning him outright how he would like to spend his birthday. What he really would have liked to do was out of the question (to go back to Colorado and FINALLY conquer the 14,000 ft. La Plata Peak). Other than that, he was no good for suggestions. So, I opted for a tiny surprise party with a few friends the night before which turned out to truly be a party for an old-fart as everyone was gone by 9 PM. It was a tad depressing. However, the BEST part of our celebration came on his actual birthday when I presented him with 40+ cards from family and friends. A couple of the best were from a friend that Trevor knew in the 7th grade in Germany and another friend from Israel that Trevor went to graduate school with. We’ve been sending them both Christmas cards since we’ve been married and have never heard back. My desperate plea finally did the trick. Let me just say, ladies (and gentleman) that this was the best gift I have ever given my husband (thank you, Kathleen, for the idea). He bawled like a baby as he read through the cards and thought I was a hero for getting him in touch with some long lost friends. I would highly recommend the time and effort it takes for this one. The reward was priceless!

Our New Addition

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:52:54 -0400

So the kids (mainly Jonathan) have been begging us for a dog for YEARS. I’ve heard all of the promises of how they would take care of it and I wouldn’t have to do a thing. Since Mom always knows best, I knew it was best not to even think about it. My response was always the same, “When Mommy’s done having babies, we’ll get a dog.”
Rachel’s birth 3 years ago brought Mommy’s birthing days to an end which prompted the pleadings once again. This time my reply was, “When Rachel is potty trained, we’ll get a dog.” I figured this answer would buy me some time. Unfortunately, not so when you have a little smarty pants that wants to be Miss Independent and potty trains herself at 2 (I’m not kidding. She was 2 years and 2 weeks when we were done with diapers). I was thrilled with the no diapers part, but now I had to come up with another reason not to get a dog. I simply threw out a completely random statement, “We’re not getting a dog until Rachel is 5.” Why 5? I have no idea. It just sounded good at the time.
I knew I was done for last year when Jonathan’s pictures of our family began to include the dog we would get someday. Trevor kept threatening to just show up one day with a dog and I told him he would DIE if he did so. About 2 months before Jonathan’s birthday this year (his birthday is in April), Trevor came to me and informed me that he thought it was “time”. I grudgingly agreed to begin searching for a puppy that we could give him for his birthday and then it happened. I fell in love. I found these shi-poo (shitzu-poodle mix) puppies that were the cutest little creatures you have ever laid eyes on. I fell so hard that I begged Trevor for 2 of them. To make a long story short, the breeder sold the puppies when she promised we could have first pick, so I burned that bridge with an ugly e-mail I sent her (note: ALWAYS, ALWAYS wait a day before hitting send on an e-mail written in haste!).
I looked and looked for months and couldn’t find another puppy. I was heartbroken and frustrated when I came across an ad on the internet this summer. The litter was due August 1st, so I wrote asking how we could get the pick of the litter (not really having much faith that we would). The breeder wrote me back saying she would let me know when the puppies were born so we could come get one. A couple of months passed, I didn’t hear from her and truthfully, thought I wouldn’t. Then came the e-mail, followed with pictures. I sent them to Trevor and he said, “Let’s do it!” He took Jonathan out to pick out a puppy (they were only 5 weeks old at the time), then due to behavior issues we told the kids they could forget the puppy. It wasn’t happening. They were convinced and we decided to surprise them. Trevor got up early on Saturday, September 20th and drove out to get the dog while I stayed home and lied to the kids and told them Daddy had gone hiking (he typically does every Saturday, so they believed me). When he got home, he left the puppy in the car and came in to find me getting the boys in trouble for fighting (what else is new). As they tried to plead their cases to their father, Trevor looked at Jonathan (who was sobbing by now) and sternly said, “Jonathan, I don’t want to hear any more. Go outside and get my backpack that I left in the front seat.” After Jonathan went outside, we scrambled to the kitchen window so we could see his reaction. Needless to say, the situation was diffused and there were no more tears the rest of the day. Hannah even exclaimed to Trevor, “Daddy, this is the BEST day of my life!” Pretty good for someone who doesn’t care much for animals.

The kids out-voted me for the name “Bella”, so I make the boys crazy by calling her “Bella Dancerella” (that’s the name of some learn-at-home ballet videos Hannah has). My two choices were “Ginger” or “Lucy”. Doesn’t she look like a bunny rabbit? You should see her when she hops, I mean runs!

Everyone kept warning me it was like having a newborn. Are they crazy? This is a piece of cake! She doesn’t nurse, cry (too much), pees and poops in a designated place in the yard, I can leave her at home AND she doesn’t shed! Basically, I am head over heels in love (even though she likes Trevor better).

P.S. Some friends of ours adopted one of Bella’s brothers, Jack-Jack. He even has his own blog. You can see it here.

My Baby Brother

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 14:32:12 -0400

Isn’t he cute? My baby brother Brian (now that’s a mouthful) wed his sweetheart, Anne, on Saturday, September 13th. It was a wonderful weekend. Trevor and I flew out to California on the 11th (I kept trying really hard not to think about the date as we were on the plane) and then headed to Catalina Island on the 12th where the wedding was held. Friday night was the rehearsal and barbecue that I think all of the wedding guests attended. Here is a photo of me with my siblings, Brian, Greg and Jenny. It’s a very rare occasion for us to be together!

On Saturday, we just walked around Avalon in the morning (which really takes all of 10 minutes) and then went to help Brian with some minor alterations on his suit and with some last minute wedding preparations. Brian is never in a big hurry. This was taken of me, Jenny and our mom on the balcony of Brian & Anne’s hotel room. The view was gorgeous!

The wedding was at 4 pm and it turned out to be perfect. It was overcast and breezy for the ceremony (we were all grateful for that), then just before dinner the sun came out. We all felt like we were on a movie set! My dad (we nicknamed him “Reverend Russ” for the weekend) married them and did a great job. We were all a little worried that he would get off track, but Brian and Anne made sure he wouldn’t. See that little black book? It was a very detailed script of the ceremony and we were all proud of him when he stuck to it! :)

My family is a complicated one. I’ll try to explain it to you. Make sure you pay attention because there will be a quiz at the end (I think I’ve actually done this in a previous post, but you’re getting it again)! My parents are divorced and both re-married. Photo to the left (from l-r): brother Greg, hubby Trevor, me, baby brother Brian, new sister-in-law Anne, step-mom Leonore, Dad, sister Jenny and brother-in-law Matt. Photo to the right: sister Jenny, Mom, new sister-in-law Anne wondering what she has just done, me and baby brother Brian.

Photo to the left: brother-in-law Matt and step-dad John (it was hard to find a photo of him as he took most of the candids). Photo to the right: Brother Greg’s kids, Brian, Andrew and Lauren with their mom, Lisa (Greg’s ex-wife--I warned you this was complicated).

It’s time to pay very close attention...when my dad and Leonore got married, Brian was only 12 and lived with them most of the time. Leonore has 5 kids, 2 of which still lived at home at the time (twins, Chris and Nick, who were 10). Brian is probably as close (if not closer) to our steps. So, here goes...l-r: step-sister-in-law-to-be Monique, step-brother Loren, step-sister-in-law Mary, step-brother Chris (you can only see part of his face), step-sister Andrea, step-brother-in-law Nick, hubby Trevor, me, brother Greg, baby brother Brian, new-sister-in-law Anne, step-grandma Ivis, step-mom Leonore, Dad Russ, step-sister Donna (her husband Don was at home with their kids), sister Jenny, brother-in-law Matt, step-sister-in-law-to-be Reagan and step-brother Nick. To put things into perspective, when my dad gave a toast, he mentioned that Brian was gaining 2 nephews by marrying Anne (she has 1 sister with 2 boys). Anne, on the other hand, gained 21 nieces and nephews (with more to come)!

I had to add these photos of Brian and Anne’s dance. Just to let you know how detailed oriented Anne is, the wedding date was planned around a full moon. Pretty awesome, wouldn’t you say?

Trevor and I had so much fun not only attending the wedding, but spending a quality weekend with Jenny and Matt and Mom and John with NO KIDS around. It’s definitely something we have to do more often!! Here are Trevor and I on the boat back to the mainland the morning after with Avalon in the background.

Trevor and Matt recreating “Titanic”. I love these men!

Last, but not least, I had to share these photos of the toilet seat from the house where we stayed. Thought they were a classic. I guess the proprietors really wanted us to have the FULL beach experience!

Happy Birthday Hannah!

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 14:22:16 -0400

OK, so it was over a month ago. That’s how far behind I am! I can hardly believed she is 6. Where has the time gone? At the beginning of summer she spotted this Ariel doll in Target and pleaded for it for her birthday. I kind of blew it off thinking, “Yeah, right. Your birthday isn’t for several months.” Well, when I returned a couple of months later to get it for her birthday, wouldn’t you know, it was GONE! Trevor and I went to 3 different Target’s looking for this thing. I sure hope she plays with it for hours and hours on end! The new birthday tradition in our family has become going to Red Robin for dinner. The kids always get to pick where they want to go and after we went there for Timothy’s birthday this summer, both girls wanted the same place. Rachel is already talking about going there for her 4th!

We lucked out this night as the Red Robin himself made an appearance. I think Hannah was under the impression he was there just because it was her birthday. I’m so happy she is such a self-confident girl! :) The biggest draw to eat here is the free ice cream sundae that they get to eat ALONE. Timothy won this night because Hannah actually quits when she has had enough and he got to finish off her sundae!

After dinner we came home and had our now traditional ice cream sundaes for the rest of the family. The kids love the free for all. Half of it ends up going down the sink, but they have so much fun making them!

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart. I’ll try to be more prompt on your birthday post next year! :)