quick update

We are busy busy busy these days.

This weekend Dan was in the wedding of our dear friend Jason, which was beautiful and awesome.

We are both in school.

We have two small children.

I'm running at 5K this Saturday.

You know, the usual Stephens Family insanity.

But I am DETERMINED to get back to blogging frequently. I love keeping track of everything the boys are up to, and keeping our friends and family (the ones that care, of course) updated on the goings on of our lives.

So what is up with these little boys of ours?

*As of this last week, Jayden is now 2 3/4. Less than three months till we will be parents of a 3 year old. WOW. He is already making requests for his party. He is obsessed with guitars. Every person's house we go to, we inevitably here Jayden ask, "You have a guitar here?" He also loves basketballs and basketball hoops. He also asks everyone if they have a basketball (which he pronounces basket-ga-ga...don't ask me, I have no idea why). He loves snuggles, loves to play outside, and loves to do things "by self."

*Eli will soon be 20 months old. Man, is he a STINKER. This kid has a mind of his own. He is determined, deliberate, intentional. He knows what he wants and he's going to get it. He is obsessed with trash trucks and trash cans and Veggie Tales. But really mostly trashcans. Everywhere we go, he points them out. He is full of new words daily. He loves his grandma, grandpa, Uncle Matthew, and Stephanie. He is still a mama's boy, though, and that makes me happy. He went through a phase where he wasn't too into sleeping through the night. But we're on a streak of 6 nights of sleeping through so I'm hoping and praying he is back to being our champion sleeper.

We are enjoying watching our little ones grow even amidst all the other stuff going on. They are our such a joy and delight.

And just cause they're also STINKING cute, here's a couple pics.

OLYMPICS

We went to the Olympics! It was SUCH a wonderful trip. Next to our honeymoon, I think it is my favorite vacation ever. The boys did awesome, we had a great time, made great friends, saw cool sites. It was just PERFECT.

We flew to Seattle and spent the first night with our old Orange County friends, the Idols.

The next day we headed into Vancouver, where we had arranged to stay with friends of our good friends, Amber and Deric. We had never met them so it was a little nervewracking especially since we were bringing two destructo-toddlers into their home. They were AWESOME, though, and we liked them from the first second. They have a little girl on the way and we can't wait for her arrival and fun pictures. This is them, Aaron and Amy!

We spent 5 days seeing as many Olympic sites as possible, including taking in one hockey game, Czech Republic vs. Latvia. We also saw the Olympic cauldron, played in Robson Square (the social hubub center), etc.

This is the boys listening to a band we happened upon outside the Sochi exhibit house (its a venue where you can see pictures and previews of what's to come at the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia.
I just think he looks cute in his hat!!

In the above shot Eli had just woken up from an all too short nap. Isn't he cute all sleepy-eyed? His cheeks also got chapped from the cold. :(

My three boys...beautiful!!!

We wrapped up the trip with one more night at the Idols and got to see Lyndsey and Mark on Saturday night and then swung by the Trumans on Sunday morning before our flight home. It is always SO good to see old friends and reconnect. We finished our trip with our hearts and souls full for sure!!!

wow...BOOM

Ok, I am super lame with the updating these days. Life is just CRAZY, I guess. Dan is in full-swing with his new semester at school, the boys run run run all day, I'm training for a 5K race in March, and on top of everything else, I started a Chem class this week!!! WOW.

Plus...we had some super crazy "excitement" on our tiny little street last week. An early morning search warrant served on our neighbor's house turned into a "2 hour" evacuation while they searched. That turned into a full day of being evacuated. And since we were told 2 hours at the beginning, we took nothing with us.

Big big thanks goes to Tracey, my friend whose doorstep I showed up on, smelly and exhausted and near tears. We had just found out that we had to find elsewhere to sleep for the night and i was a bit panicked. She gave us a Pack N Play to borrow for the night, diapers, blankets, etc. THANK YOU TRACEY!!! You provided for us physically and also a much needed sense of welcome in the midst of our crazy day!!!

Our next big thanks go to Dan's parents (a.k.a. Oma and Opa) who let us sleep at their (new!) house that night. We really appreciated their hospitality and I think the boys loved their time at Oma and Opa's. Our only snafoo came when Eli woke up in the night and didn't have his "nigh-nighs" (his lovies he sleeps with) and wouldn't go back to sleep. So he and I headed home, hoping the craziness would be gone. It was. He promptly passed out in his crib and I passed out in our bed, resisting the urge to kiss the floor on my way!!!

What was going on, you ask? Feast your eyes on this shot my mom took mid-day (you can see our house at the top of the cul-de-sac. Its the two-story blueish gray one).

Our neighbor, who we've known collected guns for a long time apparently went a bit too far with his hobby, got some illegal stuff, some potentially dangerous stuff, and the cops noticed and got the search warrant. There was much more there than they originally thought and it took all day to search, detonate the dangerous stuff, and clear out. WOW. For those of you who have ever been to our house, you know we live on a QUIET cul-de-sac in Mar Vista. This was A LOT of excitement for us. If you want to watch the news story, you can do it here.

http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/news/local/explosives-firearms-found-in-mar-vista-20100204

More pics of the day we spent roaming through L.A. coming later (i.e. once I get them uploaded!).