Peek A Boo

If you can stand my annoying voice saying "Hey!" about 600 times than go ahead and watch this cute video of Ben. He was playing peek-a-boo with me, but when I went to get the camera he lost interest. But he is still CUTE!

Mommy's Helper - Take Two

Ben has been taking lessons from Grayson on being a good "Mommy's Helper" (See Sara's post). He likes to clean out the cupboard too! He hasn't quite gotten to the point of climbing in and inspecting, but I suspect we aren't far from that. Paige decided since Ben had cleaned everything out, she might as well get to work and start making dinner. What good helpers I have!

A Bunch of Brady

Say hello to Brady Oliveros Steed. He weighed in at 8 lbs 11.5 ounces (Mireille wanted to make sure that I added the .5) and 22 inches long. It was a great birth (especially since I didn't have to do it) Mireille pushed for about 25 minutes. Much better than the 2 hours and 45 mins for Evan. The Nurses were great and the celebratory cranberry, apple, ginger ale cocktail was delicious. Mother and Child are doing great, Evan is on the fence. There have been some tantrums but he has learned how to "pet" the baby softly. During Mireille's stay at the "Birthing Inn" Evan lasted about 5 minutes in the room before he would start yelling "walk" which was more like and open armed run towards the security doors. He was a favorite of everyone trying to walk up and down the halls. As you can see Brady is super cute and and loves to eat (4 diaper changes last night.) We both think that Brady looks very similar to Evan. Unfortunately for him, Brady's forehead and current hairline looks surprisingly similar to his fathers (Brett-in case you weren't sure). Mireille is hoping that Brady is a little bit tamer than Evan but the early signs are not looking good. She is currently researching some sort of rudimentary child leash. Thank you all for the calls and support. We can't wait to see everyone again and introduce in person the newest Virginia (soon to be Colorado) Steed family member.

Happy [Belated] 6th Anniversary Ali & Jeremiah!

Not to overshadow the posting you just put up, but I had to acknowledge - as you did for us - your recent anniversary. Even though this is late, I wanted to at least say something to commemorate your 6 years of marriage -- which seems to have gone by so quickly! It was so exciting to see the two of you come together. Who knew that Ali, the mild-mannered (well...somewhat) substitute teacher, would meet Jeremiah, the burly backcountry outdoorsman from Kelsey, and make a perfect match. Your engagement photo said it all.

And then there was your beautiful Oakland wedding - the long white dress, vibrant boquet of dark pink tulips and red roses, and then the rainy reception that night at the Shakespeare club (where Ali accidentally patted Matt Ward's butt when she thought it was Jeremiah HAHAHAHA!!!!). You two were so cute - so well matched.


Before we knew it, you had moved from your CP apartment to a Deer Park tract home. You guys singlehandedly (plus some help from family) tore that house apart (including Stephen's bedroom in the garage) and transformed it inside out into a lovely home for your soon to be growing family. And then all of the sudden, in June 04, little Paige came, cute as a little button celery. Not long after, you moved again, and you guys were busy transforming another house with some... uhh.. interesting features, into a beautiful, open home --which has been the site of many wonderful parties, holidays, get-togethers, ...UFC fights.. (had to throw that in). Regardless of which house you have lived in, you both are always more than willing to open your doors to friends, family, soon-to-be-family, and odd visitors, making everyone feel at home and like part of your family.

The last 6 years have brought so many changes and opportunities for both of you, and you've worked hard to achieve many different goals. It is hard to think of a time before you two were one. Congratulations on another year. Here's looking forward to many more.

Annual Trip to Sunset

We were able to take out annual Sunset State Beach camping trip to the Santa Cruz / Monterey / Carmel area a couple weeks ago and we couldn't have chosen a better week! It was gorgeous weather. Usually we get rained on, but not this time! We even had Jena, Jesse and Janie come with us and we got to borrow Dad's Rig (aka the van and trailer). It was very comfy!

To view all the pictures from the trip you can check them out here: http://byu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2165854&l=27093&id=17822834

Here are some of the highlights of our trip!

The beach at Sunset. We were all alone and it was a gorgeous day, just a little windy. But that didn't deter us! We played in sand, found shells, Ben took a nap in his stroller, played frisbee, etc. Paige and Jena even went in the water! Ben and Jeremiah enjoying the beach.

Sunset at the lookout

Carmel was BEAUTIFUL! We picked the perfect day to take a drive down and walk around. Everyone and their dog, literally about 1 million dogs, were on the beach. And there was a golf tournament going on at Pebble Beach.

All of our toes in the sand.

The Fam on the beach in Carmel.

We got to see the surfers in Santa Cruz and watched them from West cliff just as the sun was setting. Ben loved posing for the camera.
Mr. Ben and the Pacific

Miss Paige - isn't she cute?!

It was a great way to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary!

Ear Kisses

Benny Boy loves his ear kisses, especially when it comes from the Alpha Male Grandpa.

But Alpha Female Grandma is a close tie for first too!
(picture taken by Paige)

The longest shortest weekend of my life...

[Alternate Title - The Worst Day of my Life!]. Well, as many of you know, Tyler and I ventured up to the Santa Maria valley this weekend to explore the possibility of living and working there. We ended up leaving at 4:30 AM on Friday morning. Tyler visited a practice until noon, while I drove almost every city street in every direction, trying to get a feel for the place. I started to notice at that time that I was feeling the beginnings of some kind of cold or sickness--which made sense, as I had been coughed at by a very ill & fevered coworker all week (why would anyone come to work with a 102 degree fever???). We had lunch with the oral surgeon, and afterwards, we drove down to the windy, isolated city of Lompoc, realized there was nothing to see, picked up some Zicam from WalMart (where everyone looked like they were on Meth... but maybe that is every WalMart), and then drove right back. I was falling asleep at the wheel, and Tyler was already alseep in the passenger seat, so we pulled over on the side of the road in Guadalupe and took a nap!

After our power nap, we drove up the street, and stopped in at the Royale Theatre - the old historic movie theatre on Hwy 1 in Guadalupe that is owned and operated as a recording studio by Tyler's friend David from Visalia. We went to dinner with him and his wife & kids, and then came back and watched a movie in his theatre on the big screen - in BlueRay with a powerful 5-point speaker system. It was totally cool! But I was so tired - it was about midnight, and we had been up since 4 am. We stayed with them that night, and by the next morning, I was totally sick - achy, sore throat, coughing stuff up... So we decided to cut our trip short and go home.

We headed down Hwy 1, but Tyler turned off at Point Sal Road - just to "check it out". We drove down the road a few miles until we got to a gate with a "Road Closed" sign on it. After a brief discussion and change of clothes, we started hiking UP at around 10:15. Aside from the fiery burning in my throat, hacking attacks, wobbly legs & headache - it was just what I needed! Cool misty ocean air in my lungs, warm sun, being out of the car, blood pumping, and incredible soothing scenery. We were right on the edge of Vandenburg AFB (hiking along the fence). We reached a military lookout near where the road starts descending toward the beach and decided that was as far as we would go.

Back at the car, we headed toward the 101, stopping for gas and food and oranges. At this point, I really started feeling crappy. My face felt like it had been beaten in by a phone book and my body ached all over. I had the chills, and just wanted to go home and get in bed. I couldn't recline my seat because Tyler had a surfboard in the back. I was in a drooling- half-asleep daze. At around 2:45, we drove by Rincon, and I heard Tyler freaking out - the surf was going off! I told him to turn around and go out, because he would regret it if he didn't (and I would too). I had a blanket as well as the overpowering thought of stretching out flat on the beach and sleeping! So that is what we did. It was still sunny and beautiful, not windy, and I was much more comfortable than I was in the car. Tyler caught some good waves, but he said he felt guilty and came in after a little over an hour. So at 5 pm, we were back on the 101 heading toward L.A. But alas, 20 minutes later, we had to make a stop in Ventura...

Well, long story short, we hit major traffic in the Valley and on the 405, and didn't get home until after 7 pm. How does a 3-hour trip turn into 9 hours??? It was like one of those bad dreams, where you really need to get somewhere, but are endlessly sidetracked. Though I must say, I am glad we were spontaneous even if I was sick. We got to see and do some awesome stuff, and enjoy a beautiful day. It was much better than just staying in the car.

Plus, once we got home, Tyler took care of me and fed me soup and rubbed my sore muscles AND cleaned the house. What a nice guy.


View along Hwy 1 south of Guadalupe

Old barn along Hwy 1

Driving on Pt. Sal road. Everything was carpeted with green.


Looking down toward the closed gate on our hike. Our car is parked next to the road - on the far left.


Looking toward the western part of the Santa Maria Valley

Looking down on the Vandenburg side of Pt. Sal
I'm resting (despite the smile, I'm about to fall over)

Tyler/Pt. Sal

Rusted old lookout tower.

At Rincon, I happened to look up and see Tyler on a wave (not a very good picture).

Beautiful Santa Barbara scenery & Tyler coming out of the surf. You can see La Conchita (the tiny houses) on the right. I'm sleeping in the sand behind these rocks.

Father and Son

Is anyone else starting to notice that Ben and Jeremiah look really similar?

The Heat Is On....Literally

If you can believe it, we have finally finished our fireplace/pellet stove and surround! I mean, we only started in May 2005. I am glad for our procrastination in finishing this project, however, because that meant we were able to switch to a pellet stove (to save on our astronomical propane bills) and we didn't have to destroy any previous finish work - because there was none!

May 2005 - the brick has got to go!

June 8, 2005 - LoLo! Brick is gone, new wall board is hung

June 10, 2005 - taped and mudded

June 17, 2005 - textured and painted

October 2005 - Slate is down. That night we had our first fire in the fireplace we realized that fireplaces are more for show and ambiance. They do not add any real heat to the house

November 2006 - Jeremiah completed a mantel for me to hang stockings on, but we waited on the surround. Not long after this picture was taken, our glass fireplace doors shattered because we had such a hot fire going (remember the whole ambiance thing?). So - we realized we couldn't really stoke a HOT fire on cold nights.

January 29, 2008 - This is what it looked like after we removed the old fireplace insert. I will not miss all the ash, wood, dirt, and MESS!
February 2008 - Ta Da! We finished! We are done!

Here is a shot of the pellet stove. Boy does this baby kick out the heat. I think for the first time since we moved to this house, we are WARM in the winter. I no longer have to constantly moniter the thermostat because pellets are cheap in relation to propane! And the best part - we picked this baby up on Craigslist and Jeremiah just had to replace 2 broken parts - it was a steal!

So the moral of the story is: Procrastination may not be such a bad thing! (Maybe...)

A Video Clip

Return to Ice House

Jeremiah and his brother went in half-sies to buy a broken snowmobile that just needed a $15 part. It is not that old, and they knew they could fix it - so $125 later we share joint custody of - The Arctic Cat. We took it up to Ice House last Wednesday after we had a big storm dump a couple of feet of powder to test it out. After Jeremiah and his Dad had to tinker with it for about an hour, they got it up and running perfectly! It was so fun! And lots of powder to play in.

Driving into Ice House. It was a winter wonderland! There she blows. Ice House was frozen in certain spots, but we did see some guys taking their boat out. I couldn't believe it!

The road to Wright's Lake. You can see the stop sign on the left. Wouldn't it be fun to take snowmobiles back there?!

There's the Artic Cat, parked right where we went sledding last year. That is the parking lot we parked our cars in. The gate we walked through is at the left side of this picture.

Please disregard my gay stance, but that is the dam in the background and part of the lake frozen.

On our ride Jeremiah got an icy beard! It was sooooo cold!

Paige LOVED the snow this year. Remember last year when she DID NOT want to put on her gloves and she spent most of the day playing inside the van? Well this year she was ready to go! She loved going on the snowmobile with Daddy and had a great time playing in the snow with Grandma Judy and Mommy. I'm so glad!

If Ben could speak, I imagine he would say something like: "Dude. Are you kidding me? Why are we here in the freezing snow?" Luckily he was able to stay warm in front of the 2 heaters we brought. Worth their weight in gold!

Ben actually enjoyed himself. He got towed around on the sled with Paige and didn't fuss at all! Perhaps because Grandma Judy snuggled with him most of the day, he was just pleased with the whole experience.

If anyone makes it up to Placerville before the snow melts, let's do this again! And hey, when Steed Family - Denver Version is up and running, I think a little Colorado winter trip with snowmobiles would be awesome!