Catching Up-again

I'm trying to play catch up from Oct-Dec 2010. This is a long post, but I want to remember all of it!

In the middle of September Brian had a PT test for school so he could graduate. Well, during the jumping part of the test he landed and hurt his knee. I kept telling him it was nothing and to "man up" and get over it and to prove my point I made him go to the doctor. It ends up I was wrong. They first said that he probably tore some cartilage and it would heal itself in a few weeks. A few weeks went by and he was still in alot of pain, so they did another x-ray and sent him to an orthopedic surgeon. There the dr confirmed that in fact he did tear his ACL and he would need surgery if he ever wanted to be a police officer. We decided it was best to wait until graduation was over and then have the surgery. We turned in the paperwork and set up a date for the Monday following graduation. We were just relieved that the school's insurance was going to cover most of it, then I received a phone call from the dr's office telling us that Brian's insurance was going to be cut off on Oct 15th, graduation day. There was NO way we could ever afford to pay for a surgery like this without the help of the insurance, so they fit us in for Oct 14th, the day before graduation. The surgery itself took only about an hour and a half, but the recovery time took almost 5 hours...what a long day for both of us. Thank heavens for my step-sister Kacie, who watched Hunter for us!! We got home about 5:3opm and some good friends brought us dinner, which was supper yummy!! They sent Brian home with what they call and drain tube. It's pretty gross, it's a tube inserted into his leg to drain the excess blood. I had to drain it once during the night and then again in the morning. Like I said it was pretty gross! The next morning we took him down to Pocatello(that's where his surgery was) to have his leg looked at and the tube removed. After that short visit we went up to the school and get him ready for graduation, he was heavily drugged so I had to do alot of helping:) I don't think he remembers half of it all. His niece Stephanie surprised him by coming all the way from Boise to be part of his special day! I am so proud of Brian for all his hard work and dedication! The recovery for his knee is going to take up to a year to be completely back to normal, but right now he is actually ahead of what the doctor expected. He is now going to the gym and working really hard to be able to go complete the PT test so that he can take his written test to have the certificate stating that he is certified to be a patrol/detention officer! We are planning for this to take place sometime at the end of January. On a side note, he did just apply for a job over by Boise so cross your fingers for us!!
This pic was taken right before surgery, he looks so nervous poor guy.
The day of graduation!!

I just thought this picture was cute, we were making home made pizza's. Hunter thought it was so much fun. Don't mind the mess in the background;)

We had such a nice fall this year. The temps were so nice, too bad it didn't last longer!! We have a tradition to pick our own pumpkins. Hunter had alot of fun, despite the rainy weather. For FHE we carved our pumpkins. I thought it would be fun for Hunter to paint a little one. He had a blast and now asks to paint everyday. This year Hunter dressed up as a lion, if you ask me I think he is the cutest lion I have ever seen:0 This year our ward put on a carnival and trunker treat. We all had so much fun and appreciate all the hard work that went into it!

I can't believe how fast the holidays came. We went to my Aunt and Uncle's house for Thanksgiving. I forgot my camera, but we had so much fun. We love them alot and thank them for always including us in their family!! They are so good to us, and they will never know how much it means to me.

Christmas this year was so nice. Hunter really understood "Santa Claus". He sang along to all the Christmas songs and always asked when Santa was coming. This year I was sick over Christmas weekend, but still loved every minute of it. My cousin Kristy gave us her kids' horse on springs. It's seriously one of Hunter's favorites! He thinks he's the coolest cowboy around. We want to thank all our family that helped put present under our tree and made this Christmas so special for all of us!

Some funny/some naughty things Hunter's been up to:

Pouring and full bottle of syrup all over my kitchen floor in a matter of seconds. Waking up and being so quiet and coloring with permanent marker all over our bathroom mirror. Stealing gum out of my purse and getting it all over himself. Telling us he wants to kick us in the bum when he gets mad at us. Coming out of his bedroom at bedtime crying and telling us we don't love him anymore because we won't lay next to him while he falls asleep. Singing songs. He absolutely loves church! A few Saturday's ago we saw Hunter's new teach for Sunday school(can you believe my baby is in Sunbeams) at Walmart, she was introducing herself to him and asking him questions. When Brian came back to the cart Hunter got supper excited and told him that he saw his sister, haha. When he woke up Sunday he kept telling me "I get to see my sister today". He's a funny kid and we love him to pieces!!

Hunter's 3rd Birthday!

"Ta-Da"

My sweet little boy turned 3 on Oct. 3rd. It was conference weekend, so I debated whether or not to have a party that weekend, but the weather was soooo nice. We decided to have a party at a local park on Saturday!! It was so perfect. We let Hunter pick out some decorations at Zurchers Party Store. He wanted a pirate party:) We bought him a plastic pirate hat and eye patch and all the kids got eye patches. They all had lots of fun and Hunter was spoiled rotten. We bought him a doctor kit and he plays doctor with the big bear he got from his aunt Patty. He is such a big boy now. On Sunday, his actual birthday we watched the morning session of conference and then went on our annual fall drive and listened to the afternoon session! It was so pretty. We drove up past Ashton, ID to Cave Falls and then over to the Lower Mesa Falls and Upper Mesa Falls. I love this time of year!!

Some of the fun things that Hunter is doing: He is potty training and doing really well(when I put him in his big boy undies), Singing along to his favorite toddler songs(If you're happy and you now it, Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars, Popcorn Popping, and Do as I'm Doing), Loves cartoons, He wants a puppy named puppy and much much more. He still is the worlds pickiest eater:( He loves Church and was sad that we didn't go on Conference. He loves all his nursery buddies!! I can't believe we have a 3 year old, where did the time go?!

Stellmon Family Reunion-August 2010

The whole clan! We were visiting the ghost town of Custer, ID.

My mom bought Hunter some goggles and he wouldn't let me take them off of him, silly kid!

My cute Grandpa!

My Great Aunt Sharon and Uncle Harve

My mom and her new hubby Joe!! We are so happy he is part of the family!!

My cousins little cutie, Malaya!

In August we had the Stellmon Family Reunion. It was lots of fun!! We all met near Stanley, ID. We stayed in 2 cabins owned by the LDS church. The air was so fresh and the views were fantastic! I love coming to Stanley! It was so nice getting all together(we were only missing 4 people). The last time we were all together was 6 years ago. It was lots of work pulling it off, but it was SOOOO worth it!!! I'm so glad everyone was willing to drive so far! I can't wait for the next get together!! Love you all!

Island Park

This past Saturday we went up to Island Park for the day. We had a picnic lunch in Harriman State Park. It was so nice to get away and just have fun!! It was the perfect temperature. After we had our lunch we went to the antique fair(it's kind of like a flee market) in Last Chance(right before Island Park) and then we stopped at the antique fair at Pond's Lodge, and then drove to Warm Springs to let Hunter play in the water. We bought him a life jacket a few months ago and he has wanted to wear it all over the house, but for some reason he didn't want to wear it in the water...silly kid! He threw a huge fit and kept trying to take it off. Brian finally got him calmed down and put him in the water and he threw another fit because it was too cold. His grandparents have spoiled him this summer by filling up his pool with warm water from the house. We ended up driving back up to Macks Inn and let him throw rocks into the water by the bridge. He had lots of fun doing that!! While we were there we left his life jacket on our trunk to dry and when it was time to go I told Brian to put it back in the car. Well, he forgot. He drove away with it still on our trunk, about 2 mins down the road he remembered. We turned around and came back. We thought for sure it would be in the parking lot, but it wasn't. Brian asked if anyone had turned it in and of course no one did. He walked up the highway looking in the grass and it wasn't there either. Someone took it:( It was a super nice one too. I can't believe that someone would really take a little child's life jacket. Other then loosing Hunter's life jacket we had so much fun!!

Swimming!

Running threw the sprinkler with Grandpa Payton and Daddy!!

Pouting :)

This summer Brian's parents have let us use their backyard whenever we have wanted to! Hunter has had so much fun back there. We bought him a sprinkler that is a long hose with little hoses attached to the big hose that go crazy and move all over when you turn on the the water. He didn't love it as much as I had hoped. I think it's because the water is so cold. Hunter wanted us to run threw the water with him, so Grandpa and Daddy took their turns running with my little guy. He loved every minute of that!!

A couple of weeks ago Grandpa and Grandma Payton bought Hunter a kiddie swimming pool. They even filled it with warm water from inside their house. He had a blast!! He would come stand by me and I would say "ready, set, GO" and he would run and jump face first into the water. He's a little dare devil. He loved it though and we all had watching him play in the water!!

Hunter's First Fishing Trip!!

Today we went up to the South Fork, near Ririe, Id, to take Hunter fishing for the very first time! It was soooo much fun! We didn't catch anything, but we saw the fish jumping and we could see them swimming by us. The water was moving pretty slow and was really shallow, so we decided to let Hunter out of his stroller to put his little toes in. He would walk in and walk right out and tell us how cold it was. Then he got brave and decided to run into the water full force and he fell over and almost went under, needless to say he didn't do that again. I think this is my favorite new spot to go!

BLAH!

We haven't been up to much lately. I don't even have any pictures to post. Brian is now in his second semester of Law Enforcement school and loving it everyday!! He will be done sometime in October. This next week he will be applying to a few different jobs across Idaho. I never really thought that we would have to move so far away from where we are living now, but he needs a job so we will go where the work is. One of the jobs is about 8 hours away and it's my 1st choice(I think). I have been researching the town and it is very small, but it is in the middle of a national forest so it looks like it would be soooo much fun for all of us. The other job is near Twin Falls and I'm not sure how much I would love living there, but we would be only a few hours away from family and friends so that's a big plus! We do know 2 awesome people that live in Twin so that would lots of fun living close to them!

Hunter has been such a big handful lately...he never STOPS. He is always on the go and he has been so crabby. I keep telling myself that it's because he has been stuck inside for so long now that he has just gone crazy;) He has his own personality now and it's been fun watching him grow and learn. He is always asking us "why". It's kinda funny at times and more annoying at others. He is talking so well now!! We decided to put him into a dance class for the summer. I'm hoping it will help with his energy level. He will most likely be the only boy, but I don't care. It's a creative movement class and my friends little girl took the class this past year and loved it. I think it will also help with his listening skills!! I just hope we don't get made fun of by the other moms;) Well that's enough of my rambling!! I hope everyone has a fun and safe summer(if it ever arrives)!!

Weekend Trip to SLC

*******WARNING LOTS OF PICTURES********

This past weekend we went down to Utah with Brian's parents for a fun filled getaway!! It was lots of fun and very busy. We first stopped at the Golden Spike Historical Monument. Brian and I have been there before, so we took his parents out to see what it was all about. It's about 20 miles out of Tremonton, UT. The last time we went was in the winter so they didn't have all the activities that they normally do, so it was fun for all of us! They had a re-enactment of the West meeting East on the rail road tracks. They had a few old men and women come wearing clothes of that time period, and the replicas of the steam engine that were there.

They moved the steam engines up and down the track to show us how they worked. We all thought that was pretty cool, Hunter was tired by this point so he was throwing a big fit but once they had the trains moving and blowing their horns he was pretty excited!

They also have a museum and a little movie. It was pretty interesting. Brian's Great-Great Grandfather on his mother's side was actually took part in the building of the train tracks, so it was fun for all of us to learn more about what took place in his family history.

After the Golden Spike we drove back towards Corrine, UT and we stumbled upon a NASA testing site. Brian and his dad were pretty excited about this, so we stopped and let them walk around.

After we this we went to the browning/train museum in Ogden, UT. We learned alot at the museum. Hunter really liked the trains and Brian really liked the guns...go figure;)

On Sunday we drove 150 miles south to see the LDS historical site, Cove Fort. We didn't realize how far it was, but it was sooo worth the drive. Pres. Hinckley's Grandfather was asked by Brigham Young to move from his home in Coalville, UT to build a fort. At this time there was a war going on and Brigham Young thought it was necessary to build a fort for protection. He excepted the call and packed up his family and belongings and went. It took them 10 days to go the 200ish miles. Their family lived there for some time and then once the war was over and a fort was no longer needed they left and lived in Filmore, UT. Pres. Hinckley and his family purchased the property a few years ago a gave it to the church.

This barn was actually re-built before the dedication took place. Pres. Hinckley wanted it to be like it was when it was first built, so he asked a few Amish people from back east to come and build the barn with the tools that they still use today. When they re-built it they used wooden pegs instead of nails, it was really neat to see that. They actually left all the tools they used and they are now on display in the barn.




My little pioneer:)

After the tour of the fort the missionaries gave Hunter a toy that the little kids would have played with. It's his new favorite toy!

After we saw the fort we drove back to Sandy, UT and went the aquarium. It was really cool!!! Hunter was so excited to see all the "Nemo's" They even had sting rays for you to pet. I got brave for 2 seconds and touched them, they were really slimy. They just added new penguins to the center and that was Hunters favorite. As soon as he saw them he started laughing and asking everyone around to "look at it". He was super excited and it was really fun to watch him be so excited!!


These little guys(sea horses) are my favorite!! They are have the size of the top part of my pinkie. Sooo cute!!!

On Monday Brian had a doctor appointment at the VA, so we decided to go the Hogle Zoo after his appointment. As always we had alot of fun seeing all the cool animals!! Hunter loved every minute of it!

It's like he was posing for me! He saw my camera and smiled :)
Mama and her baby

This trip was packed full of fun and we enjoyed every minute of it!! Hunter did so good in the car and even better with all the activities!