An Olympic Outting

The boys were super excited for the Olympics this year, I'd like to think that it was because they enjoyed watching it... but really I am certain it is because of the Wii Winter Olympics game that they got. I can dream, can't I?
The day before closing ceremonies we decided to take the boys to show them that the winter Olympic were actually here. We heard from a client of mine to take them to the Olympic Park Museum up in Park City (by ski jump) - I was a bit hesitant, didn't want it to be boring. BUT if you haven't been there... take your kids. It was super fun and the boys really enjoyed looking at the actual equipment, videos, uniforms and everything else that they had to see.

Preston trying out the Luge

Bryson on the Luge

Preston on the skeleton - out of all the Olympic events this would be the one I could see him doing. It is just crazy enough to fit his personality.

My boys in the bobsled, you can barley see Bryson and Preston's heads

A better view of the boys in the sled

Darren - OK, so I am sad to admit that we live in Utah and neither of us ski :( but if we did I could only imagine that Darren's face would look like this on his runs.

Darren a bit more serious

Bryson downhill skiing :)

Preston - apparently something caught his eye in the opposite direction of where he is skiing.

Weston, just doing what the big boys do.

The interactive Super G race the boys played

A slalom game the boys tried to play. You have to roll a lead ball through the course, it was pretty hard to be geared towards kids.

Darren taking a shot at it

Bryson and Preston lighting the Olympic Torch

The actual metals on display - they are much thicker then I would have imagined

This Olympic icon is made from Lapel pins... the picture doesn't show it well, but it fades in color from blue to red to yellow... pretty cool

Bryson loves the ski jump, we were hoping to catch them practicing, but no one was out today.

Bryson and Preston at the ski jump

This is the aerial hill, for practice purposes.. it is so super steep

But made a great sledding hill for the boys! Darren found this sled on the side of the building so he took it up the hill and down went Bryson

Darren taking a turn on the sled, Preston would not go down... it was too steep for him

What is snow with out a snowball fight?

By the bobsled which you cannot even see into so the boys were not interested ... thus the snow ball fight started.

Bryson taking a shot at Daddy.

After the Olympic Park we took the boys to McD's - official sponsor yah know - and then we were heading to the torch when we noticed we were short on time, Weston was asleep, so we skipped that part. We headed back home for Weston to nap and then took the boys over to the Olympic Oval for some speed skating. Bryson loves speed skating, he would really like to start doing that. The boys had a great time here, so much fun in fact that we credited our night and applied it to a family annual pass!

Bryson taking his first round on the ice, these little blue walkers they have are Genius... but they don't make them in my size :(

Preston on his first round... he is funny he basically runs on the ice picks

And Weston didn't like it!

Bryson and Preston out skating together

Weston and Me trying to get him to skate - it really freaked him out having the skates on the ice, he was good with them on the floor, not the ice!

More Weston, he made it about 50 feet before he was DONE!

Preston taking a rest

Darren learning to skate...

Weston, enjoying the night

This is what Weston did most of the 2 hours we were there.

Darren and Preston finishing up their lap

Bryson got brave and no longer used the blue walker, he does pretty good, but needs to glide a bit more. it is still more of a walk, but he is doing great!

Preston showing me how to skate and then slide!

Mascara AGAIN

OKAY - So I understand that I seriously need to not leave this child alone ... ever ... OR I need to put my make-up under lock and key. This is what he thought would be fun for today, but it seems that he is having a gender crisis. Trying to put it on his eyes and then giving him a beard - I love how this little guy makes me smile.

I wanna be a Cowboy

My boys wanna be Cowboys - there is nothing cuter than boys in boots... ok there is, watching them walk. Boots give a sway to their step that is adorable.

Preston recently discovered that he had cowboy boots. We had bought these originally for Bryson and Preston to wear for Halloween when they were cowboys. But now Preston loves them and has shown Weston that he has some too.

Preston and Weston showing off their boots

Close up of Weston's boots, they are so tiny and cute

Weston is loving morning picture time, He seriously looks so cute.

Cousin Night - AFTERMATH

The big boys have been begging for a cousin night for the last couple months and between the wedding and dad weekends we have had a hard time finding time to make it work. So we found a Saturday night that would work since our church starts at 1:00 for both Kari and I, I didn't have my RS meetings so we did the cousin night.
Darren and I went out to dinner and a movie that night and then went back and picked up Weston, I still don't think he is big enough to stay over. The boys had toys everywhere and were wired and super excited! ... Jason had to work that night so Kari did cousin night alone. The house sure feels empty when the boys aren't home and we just don't feel right not having them home with us. Sunday I went and got them around 10:30 knowing that any earlier they would have a fit.
We got ready for church and the boys, still being wound up were asked to have some quiet time to prepare for church. I walk out of my room to see Weston on the floor in the boys room passed out, Great I think... I love the late church schedule. So I go out to the kitchen when my eyes catches Preston sleeping on the chair, Oh good... were is Bryson I think... yep... passed out on his bed... did I mention that church starts at 1:30 and it's 1:15 when I find them all asleep.
Gotta love waking up the boys from a dead sleep to go over to church, Oh the joy of COUSIN NIGHT AFTERMATH....

Bryson at least got comfy on the bed

All snuggled up in the stuffed animals

Weston, completely asleep. These were the shoes he picked for church, no we didn't let him wear them.

My favorite part of this picture is the red stain from a Sonic Slushee on the carpet.

Preston curled up in a ball, he can sleep anywhere when he is tired

A better view of how much room he had.

Thanks for a fun cousin night Aunt Kari and Alex... the boys had a great time

Valentines Day

This isn't a huge event at our home, My Birthday was just 2 weeks ago so Darren and I usually combine the events or simply just go to dinner for Valentines day... it works out just fine for me. And with a house full of boys there isn't that desire to give out Valentines. Bryson was off track this year so we didn't have to make a box and get all hyped up - it was kinda nice :)
My mother had gotten us Bill Cosby tickets which was on Friday the 12th so we used that as our night out. He is seriously so funny and the relief of laughing is the best solution you can give to any problem. I would go see him again if I had the chance. We then went to Legends Pub and Grill, which is more of a family atmosphere, and are a good client at CEI... they have really good food, especially deep fried pickles. It was a fun night.
I did go get them treats at the store and they took them around to everyone at work on Friday. We hung out on Saturday and didn't really do anything particular with the boys, that night we took them out to dinner and got some movies.
Sunday morning I had my regular meetings for Relief Society so it was a fast quick breakfast for us and then I was off... This was my best attempt at Red Heart Pancakes


All dress up with sprinkles and syrup.... who says you need girls to get fun food.

Happy Valentines Day to all my boys... you are my life and I love you.

A Rottweiler is a lap dog... Isn't he?

So the dogs come in each night and play around with Darren and the boys... but mostly the two of the wrestle... seriously. You wouldn't think a mini schnauzer would want to wrestle a Rotti but he does and they play really "cute" (Darren would hate that I used that word to describe the dogs playing) together.
About 5 minutes prior to these pictures - little Taz was sitting up on Darren's lap and Tuff was having a fit about it. He was barking and trying to get Taz off his lap. As soon as he got down, Tuff jumped right up - as if to say "He is mine, back off" - Darren just started laughing. What else can you do when a 90lbs dog gets on your lap. Another fun night at the Steck home...

You know he's big when you cannot see Darren behind him.

Tuff trying to get comfy, Weston didn't like him on Dad's lap. There is a lot of "Daddy's mine" going on this evening at our home.

Here's Taz trying to get up and join the lap but Tuff had nothing to do with that.

Choo-choo... Weston turns 2!

It is hard to believe that my baby...

Isn't much of a baby at all anymore.

Time goes by so fast and I am confused that Weston is already 2 years old! He is so tall for his age and wants to be a big boy so bad. This kid has a hold of my heart, he is such a sweet happy little guy. I love this next year, while challenging as he trys to push buttons, I love watching how much they discover and learn.

We had a small party compared to what we usually do. This year we did cake and ice cream with just the grandparents, it worked out great and he doesn't know the difference anyway. I took Byrson and Preston shopping with me to get his presents, which was fun to watch them talk about what Weston would like. They are really good big brothers. Weston loves trains, a phase all my boys have gone through. He loves to watch movies, play trains and see trains... he says choo-choo so cute! All in all it was a really fun day for Weston... Happy Birthday YaYa

Keeping to tradition, the balloon fairy did arrive... really late in the night... but she got there. And decked out Weston's room for his birthday.

Balloons on the floor, wall and ceiling

He was a bit confused in the morning see all the baboos, but it didn't take him long to perk up.

Kicking the baboos was a fun game

Bryson came in and helped him play

Half yawn and half smile... its a smawn

Again, another sad attempt at a cake. It came out of the oven at 5:45, went directly to the freezer, out of the freezer at 6:30, grandparents arrived at 7:00

Weston was more excited about his choo-choo napkins than the cake, maybe because he had been told "don't touch" but just about everyone there.

Weston and his cake

The process of destroying the cake

Loving what he has created

Now he can eat it

Opening presents, he got some books, Thomas movies, cloths, Thomas train and a dump truck

Very curious about the whole day, and now he gets presents? It's got to be hard to grasp

After opening the Thomas movie, the first present, he didn't want to do any more... just wanted to watch the movie. So he is starting to get frustrated in this pic.

Presents at our house are a group event. This is the chunky car race track that the older boys picked out for him. Any yes, they play with it more than Wes does.