Good Friends Come To Visit

A good friend of mine and her little boy came to visit and left a WONDERFUL piece of herself in our home! I have been friends with Jen since we were seventeen and both starting down the path of becoming firefighters. We have remained friends through the years...even though at times we have gone months and months without seeing each other. I just love her! :) She is the good friend, that it doesn't matter how long it's been since you've talked...you just pick right back up where you left off...without skipping a beat, as if you had just talked a few days prior. We have been trying to figure out what to do on Mati's wall, over her crib, to add something! I know, I know it's been a year and we are still finishing "the nursery". With the third baby...things don't seem to get done as fast! ;) I got an idea and knew just who to call! Jen and Collin came out and spent the morning with us. Jen paints and when I say "paints", you guys have no idea. She did Collin's room, all walls, an underwater Nemo ocean theme. Every inch of his walls covered with color. When you step into his room, you feel like you are in the ocean swimming with the Nemo gang. She is absolutely amazing...she looked at Mati's bedding that morning and went to work...painting! She did it all free hand and mixed her own colors to match Mati's bedding perfectly! I could go on and on forever...about how amazing she is! The pic's don't due it justice...you will have to see it in "the real"! Jen...we can't "thank you", nor tell you enough how much we LOVE what you did in Mati's room...every time I go in there, it brings a smile to my face! You are AWESOME girl!

Collin was a little shy in the beginning...hiding behind his cup and snack. It didn't take long for him to start playing with Gabriel and Mati, as Jen got busy working her magic in Mati's room!

And here is the beautiful painting she did...we just LOVE the attention to detail, like adding in the same flowers and butterflies that are in Mati's bedding.

Birthday Bowling Fun!

The past month has been CRAZY! We went from Mati's 1st b-day and party, to the start of school and then right into Anthony's b-day. With not a whole lot of time for pre-planning, we decided to put together a last minute party for Anthony. It turned out awesome! :) He wanted a bowling party, so bowling party is what we did...

It was the first time the kids had ever bowled...Anthony got the hang of it pretty fast!

But, Gabriel on the other hand, had a little tougher time with the balls! We just loved the alternative way of getting the ball down to the pins! Believe it or not...with this technique, he had the high score of that game.

Just love some of the poses that come out of bowling...


With all the fun the kids had bowling...we must not forget cake! :) With a mouth full of cake, Anthony and his friends were in a hurry to finish, beacuse they were so excited to end the party playing games in the arcade. Now, that was complete CHAOS! Anthony had such a good time with all his friends. Thanks friends for celebrating with us! "HAPPY BIRTHDAY Anthony"...we love you...you BIG *7* year old !

Thought I would throw this one into this post too! The night of Anthony's actual b-day, my mom came down and we all took Anthony out to the resturant of his chioce...he picked "Chevy's"! My mom took a "family pic" of all of us at the end of dinner...Anthony LOVE the hat!

Friends In Our Garden

Well, you guys won't believe the garden...it has changed so much! We have had a bit of a rough year...starting out with our first "foe", the four legged rodent, that was snagging our plants. And now the latest "foes"...aphids... YIKES !! Those "little stinkers" have nearly wiped out our "little munchkin" pumpkins on the kids tunnel. This year we did some rotating around of our crops and they are not liking there new places. The things that we have never had a problem growing, aren't doing so good. Everything seems to be so behind. The nursery said that everyone is having trouble with crops, because of the weather...cold, hot and then a few rain days! Oh well, things are still growing and we are still getting some things from the garden. Besides the "learning and discovering of nature" factor for the kids, makes it so worth it all! We have had many discussions about nature, and how we each (plants, animals and humans) need each other to survive and it is so cool for the kids to see this happen right in front of their eyes. They are so amazed and fascinated by it all! We love watching them discover and explore the world around them! :) Our favorite time to go to the garden, is for our early morning watering...right as the sun is coming up. All the animals are out...the air is crisp and clean and it is so peaceful and quiet out there. The boys like finding all our friends that live in "The Stiern Family Garden" and seeing if we have any new visitors! We wanted to introduce you to some of our friends, that live in our garden...

So, first meet "Charlotte"...she has made beautiful and amazing webs in between some of our tomato plants. When the morning sun hits them, the patterns are absolutely amazing!


And the "Grouchy Ladybug"! She has been very busy with lots of her friends, trying to take care of our aphid problem...she thinks they are yummy, yummy! :) But those pests multiply in mass numbers over night and we are having difficulties keeping them under control.


Now, this is "Barry" or actually probably more like one of the "Pollen Jocks". We have so many bees...it is so neat to see them in the big flowers on our pumpkin vines collecting pollen. When they go to leave the flowers, they are completely covered with pollen...so much so that you can no longer see black on them and they can barely take off for fight! This has been a neat lesson for the boys on "why we need bees!" and that it is not good to smash them in the grass when we see them...they have a very important job! ;)


Here are a few updated pictures of the garden...things are really growing and getting BIG !

Our tunnel is filling in with our "little muchkins", but has had some set backs with the aphids deciding to call our garden "home"!


These are a few of our pumpkins. The kids really like watching them grow, because they grow so fast! The last two are suppose to get to be a few hundred pounds...we will see, right now they are about 15-20 lbs.



Thanks for visiting "The Stiern Family" garden!

Friday Night Fun II

Anthony has been asking us for about a year and a half now, if he can race his dirt bike. Well, we finally checked it out 2 weeks ago! We had a BLAST...it was sooo fun! :) Anthony did AWESOME...he is doing so good with his riding...the apple doesn't fall far from the tree...Dad's taught him well!

The "pep talk" from "the pit crew", just before going in the gate! :)

All lined up! READY...SET....

and...GO !!!


In between races...Ant taking a rest! It is such a hard life...that being 7 years old, racing your dirt bike and having FUN!

Some of "the gang" hanging out in between Anthony's races.

Anthony's friend, Brookes and his family came out to watch Anthony race. The boys were being silly...while hanging out on the bleachers, in between races. LOVE the faces! :)

Anthony ended up placing 4th overall, out of 18 riders in his age group. We were very impressed, being his first race of the season, when all the other kids have been racing since spring! GREAT JOB Ant...we all are so proud of you! :)

Dave...you ROCK!

"The Dave Gang" made it to another concert last weekend in Fresno! We all were so stoked to see him this year...as always! :) This was the first year one of us brought a camera...the pic's are so funny and bring back great memories of "good times, with great friends". Hope you guys like the pic's...

Tod and I of course rocked out to him, the whole way down there...getting ready for the show! ;)

Once we all made it down there and checked into the hotel...we walked over to The Doghouse Grill...yummy, yummy...the food was AWESOME! Matt and Jesse...you guys are such goofballs...we love ya!

Mmmm...Midori Sour...my favorite! My husband was so sweet...this was my first drink in almost 2 years, between pregnancy and then nursing, I'm so out of practice. He promised he would take care of me, if I happen to have a few too many. Babe you're the best! ;)

And the whole group, right before we walked across the street to the concert!

Let the show begin...



Here he is "The Man", himself. Dave you ROCK!





Wendy and Bryan having fun!

Part of "The Dave Gang"...Matt you are so funny...love the face!

So we leave with this picture...I just cracked up when I saw this! Matt has got the be the biggest Dave Matthews fan, EVER. We don't think he stopped the whole concert...he is too much...he is so entertaining to watch! This picture says it all, for how pumped he gets...we love it! :)

We thank you guys for an AWESOME time...you guys are the best and we will never forget last weekend!