#rockstars

I don't really get #hashtags but I asked James what caption he would give this picture for this post and this is what he said, "#ilovethesegirls." I do love these girls and they love to get out. 

It's been awhile, so let me fill you in from the Stewart's

Thanks Aunt Traci for the matching dresses.
We love them.

Let's just start with the biggest news. MOLLY IS A CRAWLER!!! She started last night and she is so darn thrilled with herself, she does not know what to do. So she crawls and then crawls some more. (Crawl is a funny word. Say it a few times in your head.. it sounds funny to me.) All I can say is I have become so much more aware of what is on my floor at all times since last night. It's really a great thing, and I have wanted it for her for the last month or more. She really has been working so hard on this goal. You can see it every

 

time you set her on the ground. It's like she makes a point of practicing each time she was set down. She has a big sister to keep up with and she was determined to be mobile so she could begin to do just that. I don't think she knows the power she possesses quite yet because she gets very upset when we walk out of sight, not realizing that if she just crawled a few feet more we would be at her disposal around the corner. Regardless, she is getting there, and it's adorable. She is adorable. She is sleeping through the night now, with a 5:30 feeding that is quick and she will go back down until 8 am. It's a dream. She still sleeps in the bathroom, but it's really quite cozy in there. It's actually kind of off limits as far as your regular bathroom uses, so it really stays clean and it's dark. I think she has gotten used to it, and even enjoys it.
LUCY IS A TALKER!!!! Holy cow, this girl is putting words together and forming sentences like nobodies business. She says, "Come on Mom, play in closet!" The closet is her toy room. (Some people actually use their closet and bathroom space as it is intended... we like to maximize our use of these spaces to a new degree... ) She loves to play games, like connect four and memory. She will say, "My turn! Your turn!... And lots of other adorable things that I can't think of right now because she is asleep and not talking and I should be asleep not thinking. Her and Molly have both had runny noses and a little bit of congestion so we haven't really been able to get out much. It's been hot but really windy so the pool has kind of been out of the question, and so we pretty much stick to indoors. But we have lots of toys to entertain us. So life is good.
JAMES IS STILL IN SCHOOL! That really doesn't deserve all caps, but in keeping with the theme that's what's new in his life. This semester was a bit of a breeze in the beginning but we are getting down to crunch time, and he has been much more occupied. We see him a lot less, and he has been working on homework late into the nights so that he can spend a few hours with us after he gets home from school. He hasn't enjoyed this semester as much but it's because the focus has been on adults, and really knows that he wants to go into pediatrics, so he has found that it has been less applicable to his aspirations for future occupational goals.
LAURI NEEDS HER GALLBLADDER OUT!! That's about the most interesting thing that is happening in my life right now. I have now have insurance so now we can make that dream a reality. (Yup, it's my dream to have my gallbladder removed... it would be your's too if you ever experienced a gallstone attack!) I'm meeting the surgeon next week. Hopefully he's not so booked it can't happen in the next little while. I've known this needed to happen since January, when I had a gallstone attack. I didn't go to the hospital or anything, because I didn't have insurance at the time. I just waited it out for the most part. EXCRUCIATING! I have had a few set backs over the months, but as long as I maintain a healthy diet of good food, lots of water and exercise, I manage pretty well.
 In the last month I have also become a DoTerra essential oils believer and user. I was taking IB Profien almost daily for headaches that I was having from heat or not drinking enough water, and I was really tired of it. Since I got my oils a couple of weeks ago, I haven't had to take a pill for anything. I love them. I have kind of been experimenting with a couple of oils over the last couple of years, but I have been reading more about them and decided I wanted to show a little bit more commitment. I am so happy I did. They have helped myself and my family immensely just in the last couple of weeks. (I sound like I'm selling them. I'm not really, but it really has made an impact on my life and would love to share them with anyone).

Does this count as a first ponytail?
This girl's hair is unmanageable. 

On a complete side note; does anyone know the people that make the "I'm a mormon" videos??? It is my new dream to be in one of those. I love to go onto Mormon channel on youtube and watch them. They are semi-addicting, in a completely uplifting way. James and I have been talking about what our story would be, and what we would say. We even plan to make our own for family home evening one night. I have a testimony and I have had more desires to share it lately. So to my family who reads this printed in our family blog book, or anyone that peaks into this blog from time to time and actually reads all the way through, I have a testimony. I know that God LIVES and His son Jesus Christ came to this earth, died and was resurrected three days later and still lives today. I love Him for the sacrifice he made for me. I know that it is through his sacrifice that I can live with my family FOREVER! and I LOVE my family. All of them, my parents, grandparents, siblings, my husband and my two beautiful girls. I am having so much fun with them on this earth, and I want be with them after my time on this earth. I know that sometimes life is hard, whether because of choices we make or those of others, but I know that when I read the scriptures and pray daily, I can manage those hard times. The Book of Mormon blesses peoples lives. The only way to know it is true is read it yourself and pray to know it is true. I don't like to even imagine a life with out the gospel of Jesus Christ and I know there are too many people in the world that live with out it everyday. I would love to change that in every person's life if I could. We have a prophet on the earth today, just like Moses, or Noah, he leads and guides us according to Heavenly Father's direction and if we listen to him we will be saved. I know these things are true among many others. My name is Lauri Stewart. I love to cook. I love to laugh. I love being a mom. and I'm a Mormon.

May 15, 2013

Today James and I celebrated our 3rd Anniversary. Three years doesn't sound like very long but both of us agree it seems like a lot longer than that, because of how much we have accomplished in those three years together. We have two beautiful girls, a BYU graduate, and we have almost completed one year of graduate school on top of that. I worked full time to support our family for a couple of years and learned so much. I don't have a lot more to contribute but our girls are alive and happy because I am with them everyday, and I am better everyday because of the time I get to spend with them. We are as happy as we were the day we got married if not a hundred times happier. I can't even describe in words how much I enjoy spending my days with James. He makes me laugh and he laughs with me. I could not have imagined a better life than we have now. So Happy Anniversary! I love you!

Our tradition for the last three years on our anniversary is dinner and theater. Our first anniversary we ate at PF Changs and saw Secret Garden at the Hale Center theater. Our second anniversary we ate at PF Changs and saw Seussical at the Hale Center theater. This year for our third anniversary we ate at PF Changs and saw Billy Elliot the musical at the Smith Center. We decided next year we will change up the restaurant, but I don't know if we could top the show this year. IT WAS AMAZING! Billy Elliot is a fairly new musical with music written by Elton John. It is based on the movie, but with so much music and so much more dancing. The dancing, ... oh the dancing was phenomenal!!! The Smith Center was pretty incredible itself. Quite a big upgrade from the Hale Center theater. We had so much fun and realized that we really should get out a little more than we do. 

Back tracking: April

I am a little overwhelmed with all the thoughts that I would like to get down on "paper" right now. I will fill in with lots of pictures, but do my best to get something down worth reading.

Lucy's first time at Build A Bear. I.. I mean
she was so excited about her cute white kitty.

I have been enjoying my little family more and more lately. It was a stressful with two for the first six months, but now I feel like its just getting fun. Molly is sleeping better and that is probably reason number ONE why I am having more fun. I can count on her taking two naps a day. They aren't always very long, but an hour at least. She is also getting up only one time at night and it is usually not until 4 or 5 in the morning, which makes it a little easier to get up... (but it would be totally unfair for me not to mention that James gets up with her in the night the majority of the time... we have a deal. I get up with her in the morning and he gets to sleep in so it's not totally one sided). More sleep=happy mom+happy child, it's a win win win situation. Molly is also a little more independent these days. She loves sitting on a blanket playing with toys and will do so for a long period of time as long as there are people around her. She will panic instantly if you start to leave the room. She also loves watching Lucy play and the way her chubby ankles and wrists twist her hands and feet when Lucy is around, you can tell she is anxious to get in on the action. She sure is working at it too. Molly can now successfully get up on her hands and knees about 20% of the time. She will rock for a second or two and fall back down on her belly. She wants to crawl so bad, she is working hard at it everyday. She is one determined little girl. She is getting much better about eating solid foods. She won't eat a lot, but I think she is enjoying the experience more and more. She loves to practice getting puffs in her mouth, especially when she is successful. I am pleased with her progress.

On this morning Lucy consumed: 3 bowls of
cereal, a yogurt, three large strawberries and a
sippy full of milk. She's a growin' girl!

Lucy talks, sings, quotes books, all day long. Her favorite word is "No." but she does have quite a big vocabulary if you understand what she is saying. Sometimes we don't and those are the times I wish she knew a few more signs, but actually she has stopped using her signs completely. She even gets bored when "Signing Time" is on the TV. It's sad that phase of her life is over but I am so pleased that she is learning how to communicate using words. She is putting two words together a lot and occasionally a three word sentence is thrown in the mix. She will answer "yes" and "no" questions functionally but she is still having a hard time understanding how to answer other questions. We are trying to teach her to answer the question, "How old are you?" She will just repeat the question and repeat the answer as well.
She knows all letters, shapes, colors, animal, animal sounds, all body parts, and can do any puzzle, shape sorter appropriate for her age or beyond, but don't try and talk to her about potty training, it won't go well. She is content to poop in a diaper for now. She will tell us when she is poopy, but will also run away because she doesn't want a diaper change. I am sure she will be ready soon... I hope. If you have spent spent some time with Lucy you may be surprised to know that she really does know and do all of these things. She is quite the shy little duck. She won't say a word in front of others unless prompted and will basically avoid anyone but mom and dad unless, she is forced to play with others because we are not present. Lucy has also learned to jump. I think I've mentioned that in the past, but she will jump/hop all over the place consecutively. She just hops and hops and hops all day long. I would be so fit if I hopped all day long like her. Maybe I'll try it and then market it and get rich. "Hop the pounds away!" That will be my slogan. I'll give Lucy a cut in the deal too, since she gave me the idea. Anyway, I love her so much. She pays so much more attention to Molly now and it is so fun. She loves to go get her after her naps and repeats her name all day long. They will be the best of friends.
James' school is going well. He's had lots of breaks this semester which has been nice even though

James loves to create things out of card board
boxes for the girls to enjoy. I think they are
waiting for James to get the cars because they
look pretty bored. 

Watching Sesame Street. It's a ritual. 

I love that I can bath these two together now. 

She's getting so big.

So is she. 

Lucy loves the trampoline at Grandma's. 

Lucy is content to stay on the trampoline all day. 

Molly is getting a little attention from her cousins. This was
actually a very funny moment. I wish more could have seen it. 

it messes up our routine a little sometimes. We love to have him home. He had to spend a day with a disability for one of his classes. He spent the day in a wheel chair. His eyes were really opened to how accessible things really... aren't. (That's a terribly phrased sentence, but you know what I'm saying.) The girls loved to go for rides with him but he really couldn't take Molly on his own because she wasn't steady enough to sit on his lap while he pushed the wheels. The whole experience made me so grateful that he is not in a wheel chair and has a healthy body.
My life is pretty much the same. I enjoy being a mom. I love being a visiting teacher, and subbing in the primary every once and awhile. I really enjoy cheering James on in this whole graduate school process and I really am so proud of how well he is doing. I am grateful for fun little projects to fill my extra time, especially cooking. I haven't been very diligent about keeping my recipe blog updated but I think about it all the time and have dreams of the posts I will write when I find the time. I have really enjoyed cooking a little lighter these days. I have experimented more with some healthy recipes and really enjoyed some and others aren't worth even the few calories they contain to consume them.
We have made a couple of short trips to St. George the last couple of weekends and really enjoyed our time there. We got to see Tminus5 in concert, which was a blast! I'm not sure if it was just because they are so much fun, or James and I don't get out enough, or because I was overly tired, but we were both on one that night and we were the loudest fans in the small crowd by a large margin.
We have had some sickness in the last couple of weeks, but hopefully we are done with that for awhile. It wasn't fun at all. And that's about it. Enjoy the pictures and feel updated on our lives.

Musical Monday

On Sunday I subbed in Primary. The lesson was on D&C 25 when the Lord commands Emma Smith to compile a book of hymns. The lesson was really all about the hymns of our church. I loved the lesson. I took a lot from it, probably more than the two eight year olds that I taught. It was my turn for the lesson for Family Home Evening. I decided to share the same lesson and talk about music. I love music. I love the hymns and the primary songs of our church. I think it is one thing that I take for granted often because I have had them my whole life. I am also grateful for a mother who sat my sister and I down to sing by the piano so often. It is always a good memory for me. I want my children to love music as well. I have been impressed by Lucy over the last few weeks. I guess I didn't realize how much she really has taken in. James and I sing to her daily and every night before she goes to bed. And you know what??? She knows all of the songs we sing to her. She won't sing them out right, but you can stop at any word of the song and she will sing the next word. Amazing!
Anyway, back to Monday night. I brought out all the musical instruments I could find, and I made James play the trumpet and harmonica for us. The kids loved it.

This is what Lucy did yesterday while Molly was napping

One more year at Remington Canyon (that's our apartment complex)

Last month we signed on for another year in our apartment. We celebrated by finishing decorating, putting up curtains and a light that will turn on when we flip the switch in our room. Things we should have done ages ago. The complex also payed to have our carpets cleaned and we spent all of one night inhaling alcohol fumes as we cleaned our couches. It makes me more excited about staying in our two bedroom apartment for another year. It's treated this family well.