The Amazing Stephen Veater

I got tagged to do this post about my husband. So here's some stuff about Stephen that you probably didn't know!

1. What is his name? Stephen Kyle Veater

2. How long have you been married? Two and a half years.

3. How long did you date? We dated for about six months and then were engaged for another five months.

4. How old is he? 27

5. Who eats more? Stephen does.

6. Who said I love you first? I'm pretty sure it was him, but we were both thinking it!

7. Who is smarter? If it's about computers or anything technological, Stephen is for sure. He's also smarter at math and finances. I, however, had a better ACT score overall!

8. Whose temper is worse? Stephen, a little bit, but we're both very mellow.

9. Who does the laundry? Both of us! Mostly me, but he's great at throwing loads in and switching the laundry. I always fold for sure.

10. Who does the dishes? Usually me, but he does them a few times a week.

11. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He's to my right, so I guess that means he's on the right side of the bed. But it's changed before. He's always closer to the window, and I'm always closer to the door.

12. Who pays the bills? Always Stephen.

13. Who cooks dinner? Mostly me! Stephen is great at cooking certain meals though like chicken enchiladas, burgers, and pigs in blankets.

14. Who drives when you are together? Stephen.

15. Who is more stubborn? Maybe me, but we're probably pretty equal.

16. Whose parents do you see the most? Mine.

17. Who proposed? Stephen, in Hawaii!

18. Who has more friends? Me, but Stephen's might be better at keeping in touch with him.

19. Who has more siblings? I have only one sibling and Stephen has two. So he beats me, but we both come from small families.

I tag Rachel Gunnell!

The Wild Animal Park

I totally forgot to post these pictures from our San Diego trip! After New Year's, we went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park with my dad and my brother, Jakob. For the record, I like the San Diego Zoo a lot better than the Animal Park. It's bigger, nicer, and there are a ton more animals to see. But the Wild Animal Park is closer to our house and we didn't have a whole day to spend, so we headed there instead. And we did have a pretty fun time!

The Top 10 Things to do at the Wild Animal Park-
1. Take pictures (of course!)

2. See the very cool lion!

3. Enjoy some of the pretty trees and scenery.

4. Feed the lorikeets at Lorikeet Landing (which we didn't do this time, but it's pretty cool because they land all over you).

5. Go to the petting zoo area and feed some of the animals (which we also didn't do this time, since we ran out of time).

6. See the bird show and the elephant show.

7. See the gorilla exhibit and try to make them mad by staring at them.

8. See the flamingos and pelicans in their huge habitat towards the front of the park.

9. Find the little meerkat exhibit. They're so cute!
10. If you only do one thing in this park, go on the Journey Into Africa tour, where you get to ride a tram all around a huge open area and watch all the animals roam around and interact with each other. There are zebras, hippos, giraffes, deer, elephants, and tons of other animals and it's the most memorable thing about this Park.

Grandma Veater

This week we received the sad news that Stephen's mother passed away. She had pancreatic cancer, and it was only diagnosed about a month ago. They caught it too late to remove it surgically, and nothing would have helped. It all happened so quickly. She died a few nights ago at home, and we will be going to Utah this weekend for the funeral. Even though we were prepared and knew it would happen, it's still very sad. She was such a wonderful woman who had an amazing life, and we will miss her so much.

This is my favorite picture of her with Stephen as a baby. He was her first child.Stephen's dad passed away about 5 years ago, so I never knew him. I'm so glad I was able to spend lots of time with his mom and get to know her well, and that she was able to be there for our wedding.

We went on some awesome trips with her. She took me with her family to Hawaii, and that's where Stephen proposed to me. About a year and a half ago she went with Stephen and me on a Disney cruise. She had such a great time. This picture shows her with our waiter we had every night.

We're very sad that Kirsten will never remember Grandma Veater, because she was there for Kirsten's birth and loved Kirsten so much. We'll try to keep her memory alive for Kirsten as much as we can. She was such a kind, giving person and a wonderful example for Kirsten to look up to.

Happy New Year 2008!!!

We had a pretty fun New Year's eve down in San Diego. We got to spend it with Mom, Dad, me, Kirsten, and Lani and Jon and their four kids. We built a bonfire out in the backyard again and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. I wished we could have had it burning at midnight, but we did it earlier in the evening and then went inside to put the kids to bed. We spent the rest of the night playing games.

I was amazed that Kirsten didn't even pull this hat off her head! I took some fun pictures of her wearing the New Years hat and chewing on the noisemaker.

2007 was such an amazing year for us, with more changes than we've ever had in our lives by far. Of course the biggest change was having Kirsten join our family, and going through the complete roller-coaster ride of caring for a newborn. I think nothing will ever change your life more than the birth of your first baby. We were blown away! She still has fussy and difficult times and she still wakes us up in the middle of the night frequently, but it's gotten much easier. Nothing is harder than the first two months!

Our other huge change was buying our townhouse and not having to rent anymore. It was definitely crazy that we had our first baby and bought our first home in the same year!

Here are the King and Queen of 2007- Kirsten and Caleb.

Our best miracles of 2007:
-Having a beautiful, healthy baby and watching her grow
-Getting approved to buy our new townhouse
-Winning the $5,000 gift card to Pottery Barn from Centex Homes

I'm excited to see what 2008 has to offer! I'm sure it won't be as exciting as 2007 was, but that's okay. I'm looking forward to Kirsten turning one year old and learning how to walk and talk, and I'm excited to keep learning lots of new things, one day at a time.

Random Quiz Results

Yes, I stayed up too late taking these quizzes. Yes, I will probably regret it when Kirsten wakes me up at 4 or 5 am like she has been doing lately. And yes, I had fun anyway.

What Car Would You Be?
	You would be a Mini Cooper. Everywhere you go, you turn heads with your charm and charisma. You're no deep thinker, but taking life seriously can be such a drag!
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

What City Should You Live In?
	You should live in Rome. You avoid conflict and take life a little slower than most. Rome's sun, culture, food, and siestas are a perfect match for your easy-going attitude.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

What Type of Movie Would Your Life Be?
	Your life would be a Drama. You're rich in feeling and emotion. You constantly play life out in your mind, imagining the "ifs, ands, or buts." You constantly feel like the world is your audience, which might inevitably affect your sanity! While your passion is endearing, the over-dramatics may grow a bit too intense after a while.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

My Inner Characters

These are pretty funny and entertaining. I especially laughed at which Harry Potter character it says I am!

Which Office Character Are You?
	You are part Jim. You are personable, easy-going, and always socially aware. Your great sense of humor and impishness soften the blow of what might otherwise be a dark, cutting cynicism.
	You are part Pam. You are sweet and likable, but your shyness makes it hard for you to express yourself sometimes. Regardless, you are always there for your friends and will usually come out of your shell to help anyone.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Which Friends Character Are You?
	You are Rachel. You're very selfish and pay great attention to image. Spoiled when you were young, you were always the popular and snobbish kid. Although you hang on to your adolescent attributes, you grow more responsible every year.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Which Sesame Street Character Are You?
	You are Big Bird. You are something of an eccentric, and not everyone always gives you credit for your inventiveness and intelligence. You may not always know everything, but people turn to you for your sound, unique logic. Plus, you have a big heart. Really big.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Which Disney Princess Are You?
	You are Cinderella. You are hard-working and never complain, however, your trust is sometimes misplaced and people sometimes take advantage of you. Still, you are beautiful inside and out, and one day you will realize it and find true love.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Which Harry Potter Character Are You?
	You are Hagrid. You're an outcast with a heart of gold. Despite your own problems, you always find time to help those in need.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

First Trip To See Santa

This is the last Christmas picture, I promise! I hadn't planned on taking Kirsten to see Santa this year, because I honestly thought she would get really scared and cry immediately. But when I was at the mall up here in Seattle finishing my Christmas shopping, there was no line to see Santa so I figured why not try it? And I was amazed, because she wasn't scared at all! I got a cute picture out of it, and she didn't even get traumatized like she did at the photo studio when she was six months old. I was so shocked! After the picture was taken she just turned around and looked at him, and reached towards his face to touch his beard.

So here is Kirsten and Santa, at her first Christmas at seven months old.

Blue-Eyed Christmas Tree

Grandma Veater bought this Christmas tree costume for Kirsten, and she only wore it for about 2 minutes because she absolutely hated being inside it. It didn't fit around her face all that well, so it was pulling tight around her head. She probably felt trapped inside it! So all we did with it was take a few pictures before she started crying. She does look cute in it! If you click on the pictures to view them in a bigger size, you'll be able to see even better the way her blue eyes just pop right out of the tree costume.

Water Baby

Kirsten loves baths. She always has, and they're even better now that she can sit up in the tub and play with bath toys. About a week ago I was giving her a bath in the baby tub and wondered why water was pouring down the sides of the sink. Then I realized she had discovered the plug and pulled it! I usually put a large floating turtle toy in the tub with her now, to keep her from noticing the plug.

Here she is getting baths from Grandma and Great-Grandma in San Diego.
Cute bunny towel!

She's pretty quiet in the tub, even though she does have a great time. She doesn't splash too much or go crazy, but she enjoys playing in the warm water.

The Old Town Mexican Cafe

Living in Seattle, we are seriously Mexican food-deprived. It's not that there aren't any Mexican restaurants up here. There are tons. But out of the ones we've tried so far, nothing has stood out as being very awesome. We've tried some okay Mexican food in the Seattle area, but nothing that makes us really want to go back there again. At least whenever I visit San Diego I can go to my favorite Mexican restaurant... the Old Town Mexican Cafe! Old Town has a lot of good Mexican restaurants and I have tried others, but I keep coming back to this one because it simply is the best. I usually can't say much for the service there, but the food is so amazing! Here's the group... Stephen and me, Brandon, Carrie and Chris, Alyssa, Silver, (and Jakob was taking the picture). If you've ever been to Old Town San Diego, you'll recognize this restaurant because it's the one with the huge crowds always waiting outside and the one with the ladies making tortillas in the window. I almost always order a chicken taco and a cheese crisp quesadilla, and they're awesome because of the homemade tortillas. Go tortilla ladies!

Until I get to go back to San Diego, my mouth will be watering just thinking about eating here again. I miss it!

8 Months Old!!!

Kirsten is 8 months old today!

Her big new accomplishment this month:
Sitting up by herself! It started while we were in California for Christmas, and all these pictures were taken there. Now when we sit her up on the floor, she'll stay there for a long time and play with toys. She's getting very good at reaching for things, picking up toys, and dropping them and picking up new ones, all while keeping her balance in the sitting position. It's made bathing her much easier too!
Her favorite things this month:
Dropping things from the high chair or stroller and watching while I pick them up, Sesame Street (always a favorite, especially Elmo), being tickled, songs, snuggling up with her blankets while she's falling asleep, and holding onto our hands while we help her stand up.

Things she really hates this month:
Having her face and hands wiped off after eating solid foods (she cries every time!), trying to crawl but ending up scooting backwards instead, anything that pulls her hair even a tiny bit, getting a bib put on her (probably because it pulls her hair), falling asleep at church, and being stuck in the car seat when she'd rather be moving around.

Things she can't quite do yet:
-Crawl, although she's always trying!
-Get herself into the sitting position
-Pull herself up on things
-Fall asleep completely on her own

She also has no teeth yet! It's crazy that she's already 8 months old, and it's true that it does go by pretty quickly. But I'm not sad that she's getting older. I'm excited, because I love to see her learn new things and hit new milestones. What will be next? It's fun to guess!

Fun With Family

My parents definitely had a full house over the holidays! Besides us staying there, there was also my brother Jakob, my grandma and grandpa, and Aunt Lani and Uncle Jon and their four kids. Other cousins and relatives also came over frequently, so it was a busy, fun atmosphere! We got to play lots of games, and Guitar Hero III was a huge hit.

Here's my grandma with her great-grandchild Kirsten and her grandchild Caleb. She loved playing with Kirsten and rocking her.

My dad built a bonfire in the backyard a couple of times, so we all got to roast hot dogs and marshmallows out there. It was so fun! Eating s'mores made me want to go camping again! In this picture is me, my dad, Uncle Jon, and my cousin Emily.

Here are all the kids! Ashley, Emily, Andy, Kirsten, Blake, Rachel, and Caleb.

A Windy Day At The Beach

We still got to have some fun after Christmas was over. We had to take advantage of being so close to the beautiful ocean, so we took Kirsten to the Carlsbad beach, about 30 minutes from my family's house. It was VERY windy, and Kirsten's hair was blowing all over. It was tough to get a good picture with all the wind. There were also tons of rocks on the beach, as you can see from the picture. It's usually much more sandy than that. But it was still really beautiful, and we got to see two dolphins playing in the waves. I wished I could have gone in and swam with them! Even in the freezing cold water.My mom came to the beach with us too, and she saw the dolphins first. It's so peaceful to go to the beach in the winter just to walk along the shore, since there are no crowds and usually the only other people there are surfers.