Colorado Trip

We have had a busy week! My sister and I loaded up the boys and drove to Colorado to see our grandma. We rented a van and were able to put all three boys in the second row. We drove to Vegas on Sunday (7/20) in the morning and spent the day with Jeanette and Brad. After dinner and baths we loaded the boys back into the van and drove to Cedar City for the night. The next morning we drove the remaining 6 hours to Grand Junction CO! We had a great time at the cabin. We gave the cabin and my grandma a workout! Grandma cooked us some great meals and we had a wonderful visit. Overall the trip was fun although there were moments when Louise and I thought we were crazy!! Micah had a hard time in the car, Matt was being very much a "2 year old" in public places and Luke was a handful at the cabin! The pictures are from the country club pool, and in the car. I think Micah's face sums up the trip!! We got home on Friday (7/25). This past weekend was filled with fun.
We spent a lot of family time together. Karl missed us and
we really missed him! We played in the backyard and went to a Jethawks baseball game. Matt loves Kaboom the mascot! I got a "get out of jail pass" and spent 2 hours on Sunday at Barnes and Noble with a coffee and book ALONE!! We are driving to Vegas again this weekend. The boys and I are staying to drive with Jeanette to the Schmid family reunion for the week. Karl will come home to work part of the week then meet us in Prescott, AZ for the end of the reunion.

Micah and Matt go Green

We made the switch to cloth diapers in the Stutelberg house! Matt is showing off his new AIO (all in one) diaper and Micah is modeling his cloth diaper with fancy diaper cover! This change has so many benefits! Not only are we saving money but the environment as well. Two great lessons to demonstrate to the boys! I didn't have a chance to post last weekend so I will give a quick summary! We went on a family hike on Sunday. We did a short 2 mile hike then had a picnic. It didn't feel like a "short hike" carrying little boys on our backs! We went to church on Saturday evening. It is more relaxed then and seems to work good with our weekend schedules. We will probably go on Sunday morning this week because we spent this evening (Sat) at my sister's. We took the boys swimming this afternoon. Matt loves to be thrown around in the water with Karl and Micah is fearless!! Matt is able to "monkey walk" along the side of the pool!
Micah officially waved "bye bye" this week on Monday (7/7) and is now on the move! He stared commando crawling this week and is so proud when he makes it to one of his toys!
Tomorrow Karl and I plan to take turns running in the morning then go to church. I have temporarily lost my running buddy, Dawn, because she just told me she is pregnant! Congrats to her family! Karl said he would write me up a training program to keep me motivated! I would still like to run and 1/2 marathon this year and now the hardest part will be to stay focused and motivated!

Have a great remainder of the weekend!

Matt's Song

Matt has a new favorite song. We saw it on Sesame Street this morning! He was excited about the guitar and the subject of the song!!
We just got home from the water park. We meet Louise and Luke there this morning. There is a great toddler play area. I think Micah enjoys it more that Matt! We played in the water for about an hour then had a picnic lunch under a tree. Matt and Micah were asleep before we got out of the parking lot! They both transferred into their beds and are napping soundly!!

Pictures from Minnesota

We spent the last week in MN visiting Karl's dad and step mom. It was a great trip and we all had a blast! We left on Saturday, June 21 and got home on Sunday June 29. The week went so fast! Now we need to recover and relax after our vacation!
Matt and Micah did great on the plane. Matt was so excited to go on the airplane and his eyes were huge as we took off!
Matt had been sick before we left and unfortunately had a minor relapse the first two days we were in MN. He was feeling better by Tues.
Tom, Andra, Karl, the boys and I went to Gull Lake for 2 nights on Tuesday. Gull Lake is about 3 hours North of Minneapolis. We had a cabin at a great resort on the lake. Karl and his dad had fun swimming and we all played in the sand, swam, and roasted marshmallows. Besides the mosquitoes, which we were told were not bad, it was a great time with beautiful weather!
Other trip highlights were the Como Zoo and Karl and Tom attending a Twin's game. Tom and Andra put on an open house so extended family could stop by and see the boys. We were also able to see some friends we met in Vegas who now live in Wisconsin. Jason, Karrisa, and their daughter Elizabeth drove out to see us. The last time we saw them was almost 3 years ago when we didn't have any kids...now there are 3!!
Our last morning in MN Karl and I ran an awesome 9 mile run to Lake Harriet. Tom, Andra and the boys met us at the lake and we went to the park and then breakfast. It was a great way to end the trip.
Tom and Andra, thank you so much for the wonderful time!
Check out the slide show below...move your mouse to the top of the box to adjust the speed or the bottom to view individual pictures. Enjoy!

Happy Father's Day in Ventura, CA

For Father's Day we spent the morning in Ventura, CA at the beach (Marina Park). It is a great beach with a jungle gym and grassy area right near by. We went with the Fitch's and the Schneider's so there was a total of 5 kids under 4 years old. We set up our beach sun tent compliments of Grandpa & Grandma Stutelberg and spend most of the time digging holes and making sand castles. We also flew some kites, played on the swings and slides, and had a picnic lunch. Matt was scared of the waves so we didn't go in the water. He also wasn't feeling to good (he is still not himself). Micah loved watching all the kids play in the sand. Both the boys fell asleep instantly on the way home. We had dinner at the Crane's which made for a busy Father's Day.

Cherry Picking

We went to Leona Valley to pick cherries this morning. The weather was beautiful! We went with my brother and met a friend's family there. Matt had a great time picking cherries. We gave him his own bucket and let him go! The only rules were to look for snakes (there was a large King snake roaming around the orchard for awhile until it was caught) and to have help if he wanted to eat some cherries! After picking cherries we grilled burgers and let the kids play.
Thank you to everyone who has been thinking and praying for my dad. He is doing MUCH better. He continues to take it easy but is up and moving around now. Hopefully in a few days he will be 100%!

Clark's Graduation

Happy graduation to Clark!! He is an official Quartz Hill High School graduate! Wow...that is something to brag about! He is off to Cal. Lutheran next year. Karl and I are proud and excited to see him attend our alma mater! We put together a little post graduation party at our home after the ceremony. Clark and about 10 friends came over and hung out until almost midnight. My grandma, mom, sister and Jon were also there. My dad wasn't able to come and Karl showed up late because he was with my dad...more on that later! Matt, Micah and Luke slept through the whole party!My poor dad came down with a horrible headache last Friday night. He lasted until my brother's name was called at graduation then had to go home. It turns out this was more that just a typical headache. He went to the ER on Saturday and had multiple tests done including MRA, CT scans, and a spinal tap. All test turned out negative. It turns out he is leaking spinal fluid. This was is probably what was causing the headache on Friday and since the spinal tap the pain has accentuated. Basically his head hurts so bad because there is not enough cushion for his brain. He went back to the hospital today and had a blood patch injected. This will hopefully "patch the leak." He may need 2-3 more. As of this evening he is doing a little better.
My parents and brother were supposed to leave for Italy yesterday. Obviously this didn't happen. They plan to work on rescheduling the trip for later in the summer after my dad is better. Italy in July or August will be more fun anyway...hotter, more humid and stinkier!!
Please pray for my dad. What he has is not terribly serious, just painful and could take a week or more to resolve.

Vegas Weekend

Sorry it has been so long since the last post! The video below was from Jack's birthday. Matt is really into blowing out candles and singing Happy Birthday! As Matt would say, "Only grown ups light candles!"
We spent a long weekend in Vegas, May 15-18. Karl took a course on Friday and Sat. The boys and I had a great time hanging around with Brad and Jeanette. We went to the park and the Springs Preserve. The Springs Preserve is an interactive museum and garden dealing with dessert life and conservation issues. It was really interesting and had great exhibits for kids. Matt enjoyed himself and wore Grandma and Grandpa out!!
Saturday evening Karl and I took advantage of childcare and went out after the boys were asleep. We went down to Fremont Street and saw Sugarland play for free! They were in town for the CMAs and put on a free concert the night before the awards show. It was a great concert despite witnessing two fights, a few drunken people and noting that Karl and I were among the few present with all their teeth! It was an interesting crowd! Karl and I had a lot of fun on our little date!
This week my grandma is visiting from CO and my aunt is coming to town from Northern CA for my brother's graduation. It is hard to believe Clark is graduating high school! He is attending Cal Lutheran next year. We are all so proud of him and can't wait to see what he does in the future!

Happy Birthday Jack

Happy Birthday Luke

We celebrated Luke's first birthday on Saturday. The party was at our home and went really well. Luke performed perfectly, as you can see from the picture!. The theme of the party was "bathtime." We had a bubble machine and Ernie's "Rubber Ducky" song playing at the front door. Luke had his own bathtub cake and the kids had a great time playing with bubble wands and bubble guns!
On Sunday we went hiking with some friends. Karl and I each carried a little boy and hiked up to an old fire lookout. We then went for a run. Karl and Bill did a 4.5 mile trail run and Dawn and I pushed the joggers on a 4 mile run around the campground. We then cooked hamburgers and hot dogs and had a fantastic picnic! It was a great family weekend!