Boy, it's been a long time!

It has been almost a whole month since I have been blogging. I realize that my only excuse has been that my internet has been so sporadic that if I get to check my email then I consider myself lucky. I'm going to be working on getting everything back up to date. I am so happy that Prop 8 has passed and I hope that it will continue to stay in effect. I am glad that I was able to work on such a monumental effort to preserve the rights of Californians.
Our little boys have changed so much so hopefully I can show you all how things have changed.

Vote Yes on Prop 8!

Please send this email to any friends or family that you have in the state of California. Also, please visit the following websites to show your support to vote “YES” on Prop 8.

Protectmarriage.com

Preservingmarriage.org

Dear Friends and Family,

I’m sure that many of you know about the current Proposition 8 that will be voted on November 4, 2008 here in the State of California. I was able to attend last night a broadcast titled “The Divine Institution of Marriage.” Many things were outlined of the great importance of working diligently to help it pass. Proposition 8 would add to the California State Constitution that marriage will be defined as a union only between a man and a woman.

I have been working with the “Yes on Prop 8” campaign because I know and believe that marriage should only be between a man and a woman. I know this to be a fundamental principle of my faith and children should have the right to be born into such a union.

These are my concerns that would come to be if Prop 8 were to fail.

1. I would lose my freedom of how I could practice my religion because sanctions could be placed on me because I could be considered intolerant.

2. My children would learn at school that same-sex marriage is acceptable even though it is contrary to our beliefs.

3. Our churches could be penalized legally and lose their tax-exempt status because they teach doctrine different than what law dictates.

4. Religious adoption agencies who work so hard to place children in homes with a mother and father would have to either close their doors or provide adoptions to same-sex couples.

Please don’t misjudge my feelings as being intolerant. The Savior is tolerant, which means he loves everyone but he does not agree with some of their choices. I have friends who are gay and they will continue to be my friends but I do not have to agree with the choice in lifestyle they have made.

My final point is that my rights as a voter have been taken away by a court that should not be able to do that. When Proposition 22, which passed with 61% of the voters support, was overturned, our rights as United States citizens were encroached upon. The only thing that would change for same-sex couples is the definition of marriage. They already receive every other benefit that heterosexual couples receive, so none of their rights would be taken away, but so many of MY rights would be. Intolerance goes both ways.

Please let others know how we should vote “YES” on Prop 8 to retain our rights.

Sincerely,
Shanna Reed

New adventures with Little Steven!

A new fad is hat wearing at the Reed house. Of course it has always been a struggle to get Steven to wear his hat but now he goes to his hat box, picks one out and parades around the house. He is so proud. He also has learned to put on his own pajama bottoms, even though we are still working on getting him to pull them up. He also has started taking big kid gummy vitamins. I got the kind with sugar on the outside and he thinks he is just getting a treat. He takes it and over a 5-10 minute time frame he will lick off the sugar and then finally will eat it. It can be annoying but he really does enjoy it.

Little Steven Loves to take these little glasses, grab a bib and wear it and walk around the house. I think that he thinks that he looks cooooool. He is so cute and funny when he does this.

Little Steven has figured out that he loves popcorn. We went to a little street fair Saturday and got some popcorn for daddy and everyone. He immediately sat down next to Grandma (who had been working out in the hot sun all day long) and promptly went for the popcorn. It is actually a great motivator and helps him change what he is doing. Gotta love it.

On Saturday, Daddy got this old school table for really cheap at a local college auction. We think it will be great for the boys. It can be lowered down and as they get older it can be raised up. So of course as Daddy was lowering it, little Steven felt that he needed to help do the same thing and be right in there with his dad. Don't they make a great team.

Steven the King.

Here is Steven and his daddy. He loves to be outside and even more to be outside with his daddy.

You can't tell but Daddy is on the other side of the teeter totter. This was when a whole bunch of my family got together. There were 8 out of the 10 kids there (I'm the 10th). We had a great dinner and got to spend a little bit of time together. This was the most cousins that little Steven Has been around and they ranged in age from his on up to high school. I think that it overwhelmed him seeing all those kids playing , he just didn't know what to do with himself.

Stairs, Stairs, Stairs, Oh My!

Nathaniel is now officially a stair climber. He has started going up Grandma's large staircase. I am besides myself thinking that my little baby boy is just turning 8 months old and is doing this. Different house so of course a different set of skills learned. Also, Nathaniel has just gotten in his second tooth on the bottom. He definitely likes to chomp down on anything he can get a hold of, a toy, your finger, teething biscuits.

On a side note, I've started taking little Steven and Nathaniel to a baby story time that they hold at the local library. What a great idea. It is really short so you have to make sure that you are on time, but they read books and sing songs and then they can get up and play with toys all with children ranging in age from 6 months to 2 years. Reading will be so important in our house. I think this will just excite them so much.

This is crazy!

Nathaniel when I put him to bed tonight , (we're trying to get him to go to sleep on his own in his crib), and after some crying and remembering I needed to give him something for his new teeth coming in, was checked on by me and was found to be standing up in his crib holding on to the side. Now, I know that babies will do this, but this was his first time and it only seemed like yesterday that he was starting to rollover, let alone trying his hardest to stand up holding on to stuff.

Lil Steven was so adorable tonight with Nathaniel. He got down and started crawling and was wanting Nathaniel to crawl with him. If Nathaniel stopped, Steven went back to him (all the while crawling) and would coax him to get him to start crawling. What a wonderful big brother he is.

Teeth, Teeth and more Teeth!

We have been lucky in the Reed Clan to have both of our children cutting teeth at the same time. Lil Steven has gotten in 3 out of his 4 eye teeth and Nathaniel just today cut his first tooth. It is on his bottom right. This might explain the 3-4 times Nathaniel has been getting up at night and the small bit of whining lil Steven has been doing. Lil Steven has also started doing the look of "I'm not sure of that so I'm going to give you the confused look." But he has definitely developed into a little boy.

Our oldest is growing up.

Lil Steven sure has changed a lot lately. He has gone from a baby to a toddler to I think the start of a little boy. He can do so many more things such as climb up onto the dining room chairs, open and close the blinds and is saying words like "stop", and "don't". This is a trying time but I know we will make it through with a wonderful young man.

For the love of water!

Our little boy Steven, like many other little children has a fascination with water. He loves to play in it any chance he gets. When he hears it's bath time he immediately goes to the stairs and waits for me to drop the gate to go up. He also loves to go outside and take the hose and water mommy's plants because he can stand at the faucet and catch all of the extra water that's coming out from where the hose attaches to the faucet. He doesn't even mind getting his hands washed because it means he can play in the water.

Nathaniel, our Monkey!

Nathaniel is growing up at an unbelievable rate. Sunday, August 3rd he started crawling. He does a funky kind of crawling. He will crawl on both knees and then put one foot flat and push off and then at other times he puts both feet flat and will stink bug it. He loves following his older brother Steven around and will want to play with him. Lil Steven hasn't quite figured out how to handle this. He does love to be around Nathaniel and showers him with hugs, but at times wants to lay down on him and then pat his back.

Nathaniel is getting really good at manipulating things with his hands too. He is just starting to be able to pick up cheerios by himself and put them in his mouth and can drip out of a sippee all by himself. He went over to the stairs by himself and balanced against the stair. He of course doesn't have great balance but each day is getting better. We also think he is moving so fast with doing things too because at Grandma Reed's there is carpet which aids to crawling much better than does hardwood floors.

Visit to the Farm!

On August 6th we were able to go out to the farm and visit with my sister, and brother and their children. My brother's oldest two are raising animals for the Antelope Valley Fair which starts this week. We are excited to go watch them show their animals and see how well they do.

Steven hasn't been around farm animals at all and so this was a new experience. The cousins had to take photos with their animals and so went out with them and see the animals. They at first put the pigs into their little arena and were washing them off. Little Steven of course didn't realize that these animals were much larger than him and of course muddy (all pigs are, they don't have sweat glands except around their hoofs and snouts and so to cool off they roll around in mud). I could see where this little adventure would take us so he had to stay out with me.

His cousin Lucas who is a few months younger than him who is around the animals all the time of course went into the arena. As the pigs were getting washed off for the photos one proceeded to run over Lucas making him one muddy mess from top to bottom. Luckily time passes and mud washes off and it wasn't soon before he got right back to "helping" with the animals.

So we got to see Candy the horse who has been around since I was 14. By the way I turned 31 this year so not only am I old, but so is this horse. She has always been so sweet to the children.

We looked at the goats but Little Steven really liked the lambs. Maybe they remind him of dogs? However when they took two of the lambs out, one was left in the pen and it didn't really like that, so the lamb kept baaing very loudly and this did freak Little Steven out. Oh to have the bravery of a one year old.

Visit with Great Grandparents

We went over the first weekend of August to Kingman, AZ to visit Great Grandparents, The Johnstons. We had so much fun visiting, and playing with cousin Kolten. He is so ready to go to kindergarten. We enjoy visiting with the family and the boys really enjoyed themselves. Little Steven even got to play a little ball with Great Grandma. Nathaniel and Great Grandpa worked on his crawling and became a certified crawler before with left on Sunday. He crawled over to Great Grandpa. What a huge step in his development. He was only 7 months old.

Here I am with Grandma Reed

Great Grandpa Johnston and me.

Great Grandma Johnston and me.

Cousin Kolten and Steven.

Happy Anniversary

Well, Steven and I just celebrated our 9th anniversary of being married on August 14th. It has been such an amazing ride that we have been on and I know we look forward to all the great things ahead. We are lucky because every 6 months it is either our anniversary or Valentine's Day so we never have to worry about forgetting. We have learned so much and have had some wonderful experiences that we are truly grateful for. Never take your marriage for granted. It is tough work.

Pics, Pics, and more Pics!

Here are some pictures of Steven and Nathaniel taken recently.

Here is Grandpa and Grandma Johnston with the boys.

Here is Steven and me at the Santa Monica Pier Merry-go-round.

Steven and Nathaniel look so cute in their matching shirts.

You can tell that Nathaniel really enjoys his food.

Nathaniel enjoys laying out on the grass and seeing all the sights to see.

These two brothers are the best to one another.

Check out the great hair of Nathaniel. It has grown so much. We were so hot this day when we came in from outside I thought I'd cool him down a little bit.

What a sad face! Trying to crawl and not getting anywhere.

Enjoying watching TV just like his daddy.

These two things are Lil Steven's favorite past times.

Taking after daddy.


Steven wanted to go outside so bad this day and it was so hot we could only stay out for about 10 minutes.

Here is our big boy Nathaniel sitting up all on his own.

Summertime!

Hi everyone,
We have been off our blog for a while adjusting to out move to CA. So much has been going on and we have had so many new things happen with our family. Steven has been settling in to his new job and is having a wonderful time. He is learning so much and really enjoys the work that he is doing. It is nice to be back around family, but we still miss our friends in Denver. Our family has been adjusting well to the move. I'll tell you in another post how our move went to CA.

Here are some updates with the boys.

Steven is the same investigative child who has to see how every little thing works. He can take his sandals off by himself and put them away in his shoe box. He is so loving to his brother Nathaniel. He goes up and gives Nathaniel hugs and kisses and when he is crying will bring him toys or babble at him. It seems like he is saying "what's that," but we can't be for sure. He can climb up stairs and go down them now. When he gets up from his nap he hands me his puppy dog (stuffed of course) and his pacifier and is ready to be on the move. He loves being outside and really had a great time this weekend with his cousin Kolten. Steven loves to talk on the phone (whether it is a remote or an actual phone it doesn't matter). He loves to eat popcorn, and likes to have his own water cup with a straw. He is understanding so much more each day, so it definitely makes things easier. We have noticed though that he is a very independent child. He had such an easy time going into nursery for the first time at our new ward and loves to be in there with the other children. He just falls asleep after we come home from church.

Nathaniel is an amazing child. It seemed like we just moved but really it has been about 6 weeks now. Right before we moved he started rolling over really well. About 2 weeks later he could get up on all fours. Just last week he started scooting himself around and then on Sunday he started full out crawling. He can go get his toys now. He thinks so hard about his movement and before you know it he is where he wants to be. He gabs away and is the happiest baby. He also is eating very well and has tried a whole bunch of new foods. He really like sweet potatos, squash, bananas and cheerios. He has started grabbing towards things to pull himself up. This is such a fun time. They laugh and giggle and respond to you but it is before they can get into anything. The boys are so great together. They were supposed to come together when they did.

Cute things that lil Steven can do!

I am amazed at the learning curve of a child who is only 17 months old. Lil Steven learns how to do things so fast. He is saying more words like dog, and ruff (for what the dog says). He can also say fan, light, all done, and possibly flag. He was so cute today he was walking around with a squirt bottle full of water, pointing it at things and was making the sound the squirt bottle makes when you squeeze it. I just had to laugh. It was seriously funny. He is soooo smart. Maybe that is just because he is my child. Nathaniel now only seems happy if he is sitting up or on the go with me. He wants to see and be in all the action. He just doesn't slow down.

I know I have my hands full with both of them but I love this age when Lil Steven can give me hugs and kisses, and can fold his arms when we sit down to eat and then claps when we say amen. I could do without losing my toilet paper being unwound on the floor but they are both amazing children.

Nathaniel rolling over.

Nathaniel really can roll over, I'm not just saying it. He pops over now before I even realize that he has.

Little Steven Folding his arms

Little Steven has picked up a great habit. He can now fold his arms. He does it when we sit down to eat, and does it of course several times throughout the meal without being asked. We are very glad that he has started to do this. He can also put his shoes away in their box, loves to help Nathaniel by "giving" him his pacifier, and is very good at turning on and off the light switch.

Stacking sippees

I thought this was hilarious. I was trying to get Little Steven to show you how he can fold his arms but he just wanted to stack his sippee cups. This is a new thing in our house.

Radio Flyer Wagon

Daddy got our Radio Flyer wagon put together and took the boys for a little spin. Little Steven loves being pulled around and we can fit both of them just right. Little Steven and Nathaniel are outdoor boys. They could both be upset and fussy but as soon as we are outside all is well and they don't want to go back in.

Nathaniel is growing up! 5 months old!

I think it is so amazing how old Nathaniel is looking these days. He is wanting to sit up and be right in the middle of the action. He does not want to lay down anymore. He rolls over really well and has the best smile. However when I try to take his picture he instantly stops smiling when the flash goes off. He weighs 16 lbs now and is learning things so fast. It was so funny the other day, Little Steven saw Nathaniel coughing and so he started to cough. Copy catting will be a big thing in our house.

Memorial Day

Here is my dad and his mother around 1945. My dad served in the Navy during World War II. We thank all servicemen who have served and given their lives to allow us the wonderful freedoms that we have been blessed with in our great nation. May we always remember the great gifts they gave us.

Nathaniel Laughing

Here is Nathaniel laughing and giving a good ole little screech for us. I've been trying to get video of him rolling but he just seems more interested in interacting with mommy. He is such a sweet child and is always ready to smile and laugh. He has the most beautiful hair color and his hair has just come in so thick. His hair has several different colors from silver to light brown. It just shines in the light.

Walking! Yeah!

This video is a little grainy but see how much progress Little Steven has made in his walking. He spend about 60% of his time walking and 40% crawling. He goes too fast sometimes and ends up back crawling but... how wonderful it is to see him walking. He has gone at his own pace but that's alright. He was such a fast crawler it was hard to keep up with him then.

Swinging

We were outside swinging Sunday and Steven loved holding this flower as he swung in his swing. He was very gentle with the flower and would smell it every so often. I thought this picture was just so beautiful of him. He is a very happy boy!

Cute photos.

Here are some cute photos of us. Don't you think that we are handsome!

All about the thumbs.

Nathaniel sure does love to

chew on his thumbs. He is now able to hold onto toys and hold them and chew on them. He's growing up but he is still my baby boy.

Look at us!

Isn't it amazing to see our two boys standing side by side? Pretty soon they will be almost the same height.

Nathaniel has started rolling over just this past week. I can't believe that almost 5 months has just flown by.