I am alive....

My 3 sons.... I hope to be the only woman in their life. No woman will ever be good enough!!! haha

My sweet daughters. They look so different, but are SOOO similar!!! Love being their mama!


Oh Sweet Benjamin!!!!


Jackson age 5 1/2. He is the sweetest human being I have ever known. He has the BIGGEST heart


Lily age 7 1/2. This girl is seriously the sweetest little girl alive.... but BOY CAN SHE GO DIVA ON YOU!!

Porter age 3 1/2. This kid is going to be a heart breaker!!

Amelie age 21 months.... look at her hair!!


Ok, well I have really slacked on the whole blog thing, and I realized I need to be better at it, so I can actually get a blog book and have some good enteries!!! Anyways, all is well with the Stephens family. Kids are doing great in school, very social with the neighborhood and we are very happy!!
Milestones- Benjamin is 6 months old, 18 pounds, 27 inches long, rolling all over the place, gets on his hands and knees but just ends up taking a nose dive to the ground or he flips over and scares himself silly.
Amelie-Learning tons of new words, knows most of her colors, and loves puzzles. She has the curliest hair ever and her smile and laugh is very contagious. She loves to YELL names rather than say them... instead of "porter, give that back to me" its "POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORTERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR MINE MINEMINE" then she pounds on him and they wrestle. her favorite thing in life in her raggetty old pink blanket, and Elmo.
Porter-Doing great in pre school, knows literally every shape out there, I was shocked when he pointed to something and said "hey, that is a trapezoid". He loves to dance, sing, read stories, play the Wii, and making terrible messes.
Jackson-OH where do I begin... jackson is doing so awesome it brings tears to my eyes. He is READING so well, loves school, and is such a social butterfly. I am so proud of him and his accomplishments. He got glasses about a month ago after we were told "wow, this kid is blind!!!" haha WOOPSIE!!
Lily is AWESOME. She loves to read, and is GREAT at it. She is really into Justin Bieber (big surprise, she is SEVEN), loves to write and make up songs with her BFF Lizzie, some of her favorite things include her "oobies" if you dont know what those are... what planet do you live on? Her nitendo DS, she loves changing clothes and playing BIG GIRL dress up, make up and her wish would be to get a cell phone.... SO.NOT.HAPPENING!
I love my family more than I can say..... they drive me nuts, give me gray hair, and make me ask for forgiveness daily, but its so worth it.......


The best of the worst... do you know how hard it is to get a GOOD picture taken with 7 people, 5 of them being under age 7!

Long summer, busy summer..... is that fall?

Seriously Amelie, I love you!!

Porter tends to hide from the camera now, so this is him being caught off guard



Oh sweet Benjamin, I can just eat his cheeks!!

Jackson and his teacher Mrs Simpson

Lily and Jackson on the first day of school. She held his hand all the way to school, it was SOOOO cute!


The neighborhood kids getting ready to walk to school.

This was Lily's first day... the previous FIRST day pic was on JACKSONS first day of school


Ok, so I have been a slacker, but come on... I have 5 kids. Between 2 kids in school, 1 kid in pre school, 1 19 month old who is trying to kill me, and a 4 month old who wont stop puking....I am tired!!
Lily started 2nd grade and is doing awesome. She reads like a champ and I cant get her to stop. She loves Judy Blume which makes me happy, because I read those books when I was a kid!!She all of a sudden has become a 13 year old and cares about what outfits she wears. SO much for leggings and a shirt, or a simple sun dress. The shoes must match the out fit, and a hair style is needed. Dont forget the SILLY BANDS. My kids have about 500 sillybands, and thanks to Lily's B day party..... we have a BOX of them. I tell the kids daily, bring your bands to school and dont just TRADE them, GIVE them away!! wahooo!!!
Jackson started kindergarten and LOVES it. He is doing FABULOUS and I LOVE his teacher. She is SOOOO sweet and just the most kind person I have ever met. She has 2 sons who are Autistic and her heart is so welcoming to children with special needs. Jackson is going to speech therapy 2 days a week and is doing GREAT.
Porter is my pre school boy, man.... he needs to be in school all day. That boy is monster when he isnt BUSY with other kids or school. I am just THRILLED that he gets to take the bus to school starting in 2 weeks!!
Amelie is 19 months and has started the "terrible 2's" a few months early. But she is just so fun, and adorable with her red curly hair!!!
Benjamin... oh Benjamin. I sure do love this kid. He is SOOOO fun and loves to laugh, play with his toes, roll all over the floor. and bounces in the jumper like a pro!! He has a little issue called Pyloric Stenosis which causes him to become the exorcist child a few times a day. He has to get a Upper GI done, and a Lower GI as well to see whats up, and if he needs surgery =( Jackson had the same issue, but with medicine, and once he ate solid food, he seemed to be ok. He is 4 months old, 26 3/4 inches long, and 16 pounds 2 ozs!! TOTAL CHUNK! I love it!! But he is SOOOO tall, wears 6-9 month clothes and can fit in some 12 month onsies, depending on what brand they are.
I think its funny that when Lily was ONE year old, she was only 18 pounds, and my 4 month old is 16 pounds!! HAHA!!
Lily had her 7th birthday party a little late. She wanted to wait until school started so she could invite the girls from her class. We had 24 girls here... I repeat... 24! It was SOOOO fun! My friend Bethany came over and took pictures of the girls in their cute clothes, All the girls got some cute favors I bought from my friend Melissa and her company called BEING PETTI. My friend Kristine from KAKES BY KRISTINE made a cake that a BRIDE would adore. It was awesome (pictures below) It was a fun day and my little Lily had a GREAT time with her little friends. It took some time, but she has established some GREAT friendships down here and we just love it. Her "lehi best friend Lizzie" (must not confuse that with her "daybreak best friend Gracie") is here for dinner most nights and hangs out with Lily until I personally start to undress Lily into her pajamas. I am in trouble when Lily is a teen... I am sure she will be one of THOSE kids who wants to stay out late!!
Life is good, we are happy and are planning on staying here in Lehi for another 9 months until the school year is over. Then... who knows. Jake's current job has a opening in Henderson NV, and I am not sure if that is the BEST move for us, but it would be a pay increase, AND a change of scenery! SO we shall see what the next 9 months has to offer. Jake is doing great in school and its nice to see a light at the end of the tunnel, FINALLY! Well... here are some pics of the past few weeks or so....

Summer photo shoot for the kiddos

Ok, I know I am their mom, and of course even if they had a second nose, 4 eye balls and looked like shrek, I would think they were GORGEOUS, but MY KIDS ARE GORGEOUS!! Seriously AMAZINGLY GORGEOUS!! Here is the proof.....

totally random

OK, I dont think there is anything better to look at than a baby smile. Benjamin just started smiling and even gives a mini giggle every now and then, and I am even more in love with him every second I am his mom. I really truly have to thank my children for helping me become the woman I was meant to be..... a mom. With that... I love my kids, and today my house is a mess, laundry STILL needs to be folded from yesterday, there are dishes in the sink from last night, and I really dont care. Today is about my kids, and I am going to be a mommy and play!!

Wow, did July just fly on by?

I guess I am a slacker. I never thought people cared enough about my blog to actually ask me to post something!! It has been a BUSY July, and frankly I am thrilled July is OVER!! Bring on August, bring on a new school year. Bring on a 2nd grader, a kindergartner and a pre schooler!! I have 3 kids in school, am I THAT OLD? yes! I turned 32 this month (GASP!) And my husband turnd 37 (DOUBLE GASP!) July was busy, but fun. I am just REALLY tired and would like a break please!! I had surgery this past week, got my baby factory shut down. I am out of business!It was really easy!! The recovery wasnt so bad, my belly button is sore, but thats all! I needed pain meds for one day afterwards. When I bend over, I feel some tenderness, but all in all, I feel good!! NO stitches, and no scar!
Jackson is feeling WAY better, and his blood counts havent changed, so that is a good thing. They are still elevated, but are not in a dangerous zone.
Jake is back in school, so the evenings are a bit chaotic trying to manage a house full of kids, make dinner, clean up dinner, bath time and bed time. He does help, but some nights its easier for me to do it, I am faster!! I had a fun birthday. We went to Lagoon the week before with the kids and had a HOT, yet fun time. Then ON my birthday we went to Tucano's brazillian grill and had yummy food. Amelie yelled at the people for banging their drums at me for my birthday "no no NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" The only loud noises she likes, are ones she makes!
Today, we blessed baby Benjamin. It was really nice. My family is just amazing, its as simple as that. I consider many of my friends my sisters, and I was blessed to have them there with me. Bethany, Barb and Janie are seriously my best friends!! I love that we all have A LOT OF KIDS< and chaos is normal!! Between the 4 of us.....15 kids!! makes for a LOUD, yet fun day!! I am just really blessed to have such great friends.... =) Friends are everything. They are there when you need them and they are there when you didnt know you needed them. This year has been a rough one and with out ALL of my friends, I seriously dont know how I would have made it. Old friends, new friends, all of my friends. I love love love you!! Chatting on line with a friend, a phone call, a email, a visit.... means so much. Since I moved away from most of my friends it has been hard. I have truly been blessed with real friends, and I will never take them for granted, ever.
The baby blessing was great. My husband has a tender heart and it was obvious he really loves his baby boy.Even though I TOLD him (ahem.. wrote down what I wanted him to say) He did a great job. Benjamin looked adorable in his blessing outfit. I spent many hours on line searching for a WHITE NEWSBOY CAP for this kid!! And I FOUND one on Etsy! He also had these totally adorable hand knitted booties that looked like oxfords!! My mother in law made this way cute romper for him, and my cousin made a blue blanky. It was a nice day =) "cafe costco" catered the party afterwards, so I didnt have too much to do!! The food was super yummy! And totally random... I love AGAVE syrup. Have you had that stuff? HOLY YUMMINESS ON FRUIT!! mmmmmmmmmm! To close off July.... I GOT BANGS! And I really like them. I trusted my hairstylist Jocelyn (she has never let me down) and let her hack away!! Lily said "you look like one of my baby sitters". I sat there quiet and said "you mean I look young?" She said "yes.... you look like you are 12." I dont know if Lily likes them or not. hahaha
I had my 6 week post partum check up and all is "OK" with my kidneys. One is still being a little stubborn and causing some infections, but hopefully in time it will get better. I have had a heart murmur for about 5 years now, and the docs have said it wasnt so bad. But when I was at the hospital this week, the doctor said "Wow, you have a LOUD murmur, you need to see a cardiologist". So I did. I had a Echo Cardio gram and they did find a pretty loud murmur. So now I am waiting to see what he wants to do. I guess the "fix" would be surgery, and a shunt. The idea of open heart surgery does not excite me, but if it will make me get my energy back, and cure the Anemia and low blood volume... do it!! I will find out tomorrow or tuesday what the doc has planned.... seriously, if its not one thing, it will surely be another!! BUT, I truly believe that in order to truly enjoy the GOOD in our lives, we need to accept the bad. In order to appreciate all of our blessings, we need to experience pain. I am scared about my health, but I trust in many things. I have trust in my doctors, trust in my family, trust in my friends, trust in myself, and trust in God. With all those things... nothing can go wrong =)