The Bearclaws

The faces

2010-09-17T10:40:00.003-06:00

I love some of the faces Penny pulls

I am not choking her

The girl sneezes all the time.

Not so sure about that hair
Plus her famous sleeping positions.
This one is my favorite.
Oh, how I love her.

2 Months

2010-08-28T17:08:00.005-06:00

Penny is 2 months. On her 2 month check up she was 23 inches and 12 lb 10 oz and is in the 75th percentile in head, weight, and height. Here is a months worth of pictures... lucky you.

After bathtime

She loves momma kisses

We think we're funny when we do her hair like this

I think she's mad here.

Just nap time

Hanging out with her dad

Bored?

Being cute

So happy

Hmmm...

I just think this is the cutest picture ever. She was very happy to see Russell.

One Month

2010-07-27T11:18:00.004-06:00

Today our little Penny is one month old. We love her so much! She has been a good baby and we are so grateful for her. Here are some pictures of her first month:

Our first family picture. Please keep in mind we went to the hospital at 3:30 in the morning, and I hadn't slept for a day because of the contractions. I was tired.

This is all she did for the first couple of weeks. We weren't quite sure what to do with her when she was awake.

A "break your face in half" yawn.

She loves to scowl at us, and we don't know why, but it makes us laugh.

She loves her daddy.

I just love that face.

Here she is today.

Cutest little girl ever.

Penny

2010-06-29T08:34:00.009-06:00

On Sunday June 27th at 3:56 pm our world changed. Our little Penelope Ursa Bott came into the world at 7lbs 7 oz and 19 inches long, and has made us the happiest people in the world. She is perfect in every way. We have been waiting for her to come into our family for a long time, and she was worth the wait.

We have been feeling so blessed to have such a perfect little angle to care for and love. Our house has felt empty, and with her arrival our house now feels complete.

With her cute Mommy.
With Dad.

I'm Proud

2010-03-22T11:44:00.002-06:00

I have done a lot of thinking the last little while about what our children (and more specifically, this child that we're about to have) are going to have to deal with in the world in their years of growing up. A lot has me scared. There are a lot of scary and bad things in the world. But then I got to thinking about how many good things are out there. How many changes we've seen in our lives that will just be the "norm" for them.

I am proud today that the value of a man's life has finally become more important than the value of a dollar.

I am proud that having a black president or even a black princess will not seem abnormal to them.

I am proud that the idea of a woman president won't seem absurd. That a little girl will grow up with the same idea as a little boy that she truly can become anything she wants.

I am proud that if she chooses to be a stay-at-home mom that it won't mean that she's uneducated or untrained, but that she knows that a woman (or a man) can accomplish so much raising a child.

I am proud that if there is something that they disagree with the government on, that they can say it out loud, without getting shot in the head. That we have a government that allows us to voice our opinions.

I am proud that she will live in a country that she can disagree with another person religiously and it doesn't HAVE to turn into a physical war.

I am proud that we are not forced to be one religion or another.

I am proud that no matter what another person believes, we can still love that person for who they are.

Dizzy

2010-03-04T17:16:00.001-07:00

I just got a little dizzy watching that baby widget spinning around. I shouldn't have watched it so long.

Chad felt the baby kick for the first time yesterday. It was quite exciting for both of us. I'm feeling her kick right now.

I have a weird burny feeling in my stomach... not where the baby is, but literally in my stomach. It's weird.

I can't remember when 8 hours first started feeling like such a long work day, but it is.

Snow in March = Chad getting punched.

Introducting....

2010-02-16T08:34:00.002-07:00

This is a picture my brother drew for us to put in the baby's room. I would have put one of those cute little profile pictures up that you get when you get a sonogram, but the little stinker wouldn't do it for us. We are happy she wasn't shy about showing us her girl parts, though. The doctor said that he is 98% sure it's a girl.

We are very excited. She will have a girl cousin almost the exact same age as her. Still working on names.

Love you, baby girl!

Creepy

2010-01-28T12:13:00.003-07:00

The baby on our new widget looks kind of creepy.

Hopefully we'll be finding out the sex of the baby soon. My sister's friend works at the Provo Hospital in Labor and Delivery and if it's not busy in the next couple of days she'll check for us. We're really excited to find out. I'm ready to call it he or she instead of it.

As for me, I'm feeling lots better. Still throwing up a bit in the mornings, but the all day nausea is gone and I finally have some energy back. During the first trimester I felt pregnant constantly, now my constant reminder is the growing belly.

Trying to get pregnant while dealing with infertility

2009-12-27T14:30:00.002-07:00

This is not my usual style, it's going to be very personal and probably a little bit more information than you ever really wanted. But since getting pregnant we've had so many people say "I was wondering what your deal was"... not in so many words, but you get the point. So here is our story.

We got married about 6 years ago with the intent to wait about 2 years and then start having kids. I don't think there is anything wrong with wanting to know each other before you have kids and to develop as an adult. We do believe in using birth control and we did use it.

After about 3 years of not trying to have kids (notice I didn't say "not wanting" because I think we both have always wanted them) we decided it was a good time to start trying. We fasted and prayed and both felt it was time to start trying. I was quite sure that this was a thing that was going to happen right away for us, I felt the time was right and that it would come quickly.

After about 6 months of being unsuccessful I decided to call the doctor. I knew we couldn't get in saying that we'd been trying for several months unsuccessfully because you can't go in for that reason until you've been trying for about a year. (Un)luckily I wasn't having a normal period... or one at all. So I made my appointment, which was in 2 months, so by the time I saw the doctor we had been trying for 8 months. During the appointment, I also told him we were trying to get pregnant to see if he could help us out there. He gave me the usual speech about seeing what happens after a year and that true infertility doesn't get diagnosed until 2 years of being unsuccessful. I then told him my family history of how both my mother and sister have had the same problems and he decided it was ok to start me on fertility medicine.

Whew, that stuff made me CRAZY at first. I have always been so prideful about being in control of my emotions. But for that first 10 days... watch out! Luckily that was a one time deal. I started off on just a couple of pills. One to regulate my period and another to make sure I actually ovulated. Months and months of nothing. After about 6 months I got to go back in... still unsuccessful. That's when the fun testing begins. Blood tests were first. We found out that my body was telling itself "Self: you're lactating so you don't need to ovulate." My body is really dumb to tell itself that. Got a pill for that. Then it said "Hey, I'm still not going to ovulate." Got a pill for that. Then it said "Well I like sugar so I'm going to eat a lot of that"... okay, maybe that was me, but got a pill to help with that. There was a point that I was taking 7 pills a day (some being prenatal) but still, it seemed like a lot.

Then there was this fun time where I was playing night ultimate frisbee with the Young Men and Young Women in my ward and decided it would be fun to tear my ACL... again. So I had the surgery, which really was only supposed to set us back about a month, but shortly following the surgery was blood clots, which moved into my lungs and turned into pulmonary embolisms. Did you know that blood thinners were a category X drug? DON'T GET PREGNANT WHILE YOU'RE TAKING THEM OR YOU COULD DIE. Strong words from my doctor. He told me to get off of all of my fertility medicine and just take this for 6 months. By this time we'd been trying for close to 2 years, putting me in the official "infertile" category. Me=sad.

We had some time to think and prepare during this time. It was nice to not have the constant reminder that we couldn't get pregnant, but it was torture waiting that time. The 6 months ended and I went straight back to the doctor for some more pills. After a few months he ordered some more tests. There is one where they put die in you and x-ray your tubes to see if there is any sort of blockage. That one actually hurt. My x-ray technician almost got kicked in the face a couple of times. That one came up clear, which was a huge relief.

It seemed every time I went to the doctor I would get more nervous. Would this be the time that he told us we just couldn't have kids at all? Would he say that it just wasn't in our future? Would he hand me some pamphlets on adoption? This was an option I knew we may seriously have to consider, and watching one of my friends go through the process made me know that it would still be many years before we had that child that we longed for so deeply. And the ups and downs were probably even worse than trying to get pregnant.

The advice was endless. A lot I asked for, but a lot I didn't. I had standing on my head to "you're having too much sex" (that was my favorite). I laughed until I asked my doctor and he said we were. Every other day is the trick, not everyday. Give your man some time to reload :)

Months were still going by. I think every month was a bigger disappointment than the last. We then got a tip from our neighbor that a house in our neighborhood was going up for sale. We weren't really in the market for a house, but we knew we loved our neighborhood so we looked it over and fell in love with it. The house buying process was a very nice distraction from trying to get pregnant. I set aside all my calendars of when I was ovulated and when I was perioding (is that a word) and concentrated on that. About a week before we moved in to the house I was 5 days late (which wasn't an abnormal thing). I was frustrated though because the cramps were driving me crazy and I was super duper moody. I finally just bought a pregnancy test just to ease my mind to wait for it to come up negative like it had so many times in the past. I peed on it, threw it in the sink, and went to leave the room. As I did, out of the corner of my eye I spotted that positive. I dropped to my knees in disbelief. I think I sat there for a good five minutes before I realized I had to leave for work. I packed up the test and headed straight for Chad. We both couldn't believe what we were looking at.

I took another test that night, just to make sure. It was really surreal. My friend had come over that night and I couldn't keep it in and told her. After a couple of "are you serious?" we were jumping up and down and I was crying (please keep in mind that I'm the girl that NEVER cries... oh how that has changed).

I sit here 13 weeks 4 days pregnant. Still not sure of what to do and still so petrified that this isn't going to last. Every morning when I throw up is bitter-sweet. I throw up knowing that the baby is saying "I'm still here" but I don't like feeling like crap every day... but I'll take it. I do have to say that during the process that there was a lot of whining and "poor me's" going on. I have great friends, though, and I mean REALLY great friends. Chad was always so patient and understanding. I know we're not the only ones to have gone through this... and technically we haven't made it all the way through. It really was a hard process. It's hard watching people accidentally get pregnant and be disappointed, or watching people have their 3rd baby since you've been trying. It's hard not to think that the Lord doesn't trust you with one of his choice children or that somehow He's protecting you from being a bad parent. It's hard to smile when a comforting hand it patting you on the back and saying "it will happen, you just need to be patient." I can't say that I'm not a better person today though. Patience is definitely something I can say that something that I've learned. I've also learned that I don't have nearly the control over my own life that I thought. :)

New House

2009-12-05T13:01:00.004-07:00

It's been a while since we've updated. A long while. It seems like we've been busy with this-and-that.

We are officially home owners. We are so excited. We were able to find a house just down the street from where we were currently living. We really love our neighborhood, so this was a huge bonus to us.

One of our neighbors tipped us off that this house was going for sale. We didn't really think too much of the house before, but we decided to check it out. We fell in love with it instantly. We love the hardwood and tile floors. The previous owners did a lot of improvements on it.

Here are some pictures

This is our house. It has 2052 sq feet. 4 rooms (one technically doesn't count because it doesn't have a closet, but we still count it). 1 3/4 bath. Plus a bonus sun/study room for us.

The living room. I love the hard wood floors

Our Kitchen. Chad installed that dishwasher during Thanksgiving break. It was a lot more work than I thought, but he did a great job and we're happy for it.

Our basement. The ceilings are kind of low, but we love the extra space

The Fruit room. We love having a food storage room. Plus we have another storage room. We're not use to so much space.

Happy Anniversary

2009-07-19T15:16:00.007-06:00

6 years ago these two characters thought it would be a good idea to get married.

And...
8 bikes
6 cars
1 apartment
4 neighbors
2 knee surgeries
1 pulling over in bird's eye to throw up
3 cell phone companies
4 computers
1 trip to the Atlantic
1 trip to the Pacific
4 GPS's
459 Geocaches
11 church callings
5 jobs
1 trip to the emergency room
a few tears
and lot of laughs later... we are still going strong.

I would love to say that it has been nothing but love and bliss since... but since we all are aware of a little thing called "reality" we know it hasn't. But I have been very happy and glad that I made the choice. I don't think I could have found anyone better. I'm happy that it's eternity and I'm happy that it's Chad. I love you.

Look how confident this young couple looks

We were so tired of getting our picture taken at this point. Can you tell?

My family. My oldest brother Ryan had fallen down the stairs that day and was on some pain medication... can you find him?

Chad's family... minus his sister Jenny. We don't know where she was for this picture.

MS Ride

2009-07-03T15:08:00.005-06:00

Last Saturday, the 27th, my friend, Malinda, and my sister-in-law, Lindsie, and I went up to Logan to do a 40 mile bike ride for MS. This course was very similar to the course Malinda and I did a few weeks ago for Breast Cancer, we traveled on many of the same roads.

To be able to ride in this one, we each had to raise at least $250 to go towards the research of finding a cure for MS. Some of you remember getting my requests to help me raise this money. (A big thanks to all those who donated and thanks to all of you who wish you could have and sent me with your well-wishes). We all made our goal, and Lindsie made the goal and then some. It is a very good cause, and while it was a little hard to raise the money, I think it was worth it. We figure that with all the people riding and that most people raised more than the minimum $250 that the event brought in well over 1 million dollars.

The ride was FANASTIC! Knowing how windy it can get in the area, we were a little hesitant. But with a slight breeze and relitively flat ride (but not forgetting that we had a few good hills) we really, really enjoyed ourselves.

All of our husbands and kids (for those of us who have them) were able to meet us at the finish line. Lindsie's family was there, too, from Arizona. It was so awesome to see them all at the end. I don't think they know how much it meant to see them all after riding that 40 miles.

Here are the pictures:
This is Lindsie before the ride. She got that jersey for raising more than $600.

This is Malinda. She's confused what I'm doing. Oh... taking a picture.

This is our first rest stop. Lindsie is eating an orange.

Malinda
Lindsie's mom has MS. She wore her picture for the ride.

Funny story about this picture... at the rest stop Malinda had pulled out some sun screen chapstick so we were all putting it on. This lady comes up and asks if she can use some. Who does that? Anyway, we let her. We figured the least she could do after giving us some sort of unknown disease was take our picture.
After the ride, putting our bikes back on the car. Lindsie is back at the fairgrounds with her family.

Girls Camp

2009-06-28T14:57:00.007-06:00

Still playing a little catch up...

Last week we had girls camp in our ward. It was a lot of fun, but it was a lot of work to get there. It seemed like things just kept falling apart before we got it all put together. But, alas, it happened and we had a good time. We went down to a place called "Lake Hill" near Ephraim, which is really pretty.

Here are some pictures:

This is our camp site at Lake Hill. We actually had pretty good weather, for the most part. We had 8 girls 3 leaders and 2 priesthood. The site was plenty big for us.

Just another shot of the camp.

This is the lake of Lake Hill. It was right by our camp. It was pretty, but small.

Katie Biesinger doing my favorite girls camp craft... friendship bracelets.

The group working on Memory Boxes. They are boxes for the mothers who lose their babies in the hospital to put the memorabilia's in. It was a good service project. You may wonder if Katie Barnes (the one painting the box) knows where the camera is... I don't think she does, I don't know who she is smiling at. She was great to come down though, she's not in YW anymore, but she helped out big time. Thanks, Katie. Also, classic Sarah glare (front, red shirt).

Girls setting up the fire.

It started pouring on us Wednesday afternoon, so we decided to pack up and go home. We were going to go home Thursday morning, so it wasn't that much sooner. Plus the girls were complaining that their sleeping bags were starting to get wet. It worked out for the best because then we got the entire bishopric and entire YW presidency there for testimony meeting, which we held in one of the ward members back yard at their fire pit.

A view on the way down the canyon.

Save Second Base

2009-06-27T16:54:00.005-06:00

Well, I'm a little behind, but here goes...

On June 6th, my friends Regina, Malinda and I went up to Logan to ride a bike ride for breast cancer, Little Red Riding Hood. It was 46 miles on a relatively flat course. It is an all women ride, so that was fun, in and of itself.

The scenery was amazing and the rest stops were unbeatable (FOOD!) The first 20 miles of the race were quite enjoyable, it was a slight decline and I think the wind was to our backs. After spending a good half an hour at the middle rest stop (chatting with other riders, restroom breaks, and eating) we got going, and so did the wind. Just in case you don't know this, riding in the wind SUCKS!! There was a time that Malinda asked me how far we had gone since the last time she asked and I just had to respond with "don't ask" because what seems like miles is only mile.

But we made it through, and looking back, I do realize it was a lot of fun, despite the wind, and I would do it again.

We had some pretty cool shirts, on the front it said "Breast Friends" and on the back "Save Second Base." We had a lot of people tell us that they liked the shirts, people took pictures, and one lady asked if we had a patent on it. One lady told us that she thought we were mistaken, and we meant "first base." We then explained the "bases" to her and Regina gave her "the talk"... "When a man and a woman love each other..."

Here are some pictures:

The front of our shirts

The back of our shirts

Regina braiding Malinda's hair for the ride

Malinda and Regina

Us before the ride

Malinda and I at our 1/2 break/reststop

Malinda and I finishing the race? Where is Regina, you say? Well, she is taking the picture because she finished an hour before us.

At the finish line
Us at the end with the big, bad wolf.

At the end.

Lance and Brendan (Malinda's husband and son) surprised Malinda by being at the finish line. There was also a chocolate fountain there and Brendan is here eating some.

Biking

2009-05-25T07:13:00.004-06:00

Our new goal is to post something at least once a week. I don't know how well that is going to hold up, so there may be quite a few posts about nothing.

Last Saturday, Malinda, Regina and I took a little ride to get ready for our Breast Cancer ride that we're doing on June 6. We planned a 40 mile ride down to Payson and back. What we didn't plan for was the wind. I know I complained a lot more than I needed to (and I'm STILL complaining), but that wind did kick my butt. The ride only ended up being 35 miles, but we figure that the wind added at least 5 miles onto our ride. I couldn't move for about an hour afterwards. Oh, and I feel I need to mention that this ride was a stroll in the park for Regina, she took her kids out on her Rickshaw afterwards.

Here we are before the ride. You know it's before because we're smiling.

2009-03-01T21:26:00.004-07:00

Yup, I went to the MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice concert this past weekend. As you can imagine it was all the rave at UVU. It's not every day that you get to see to washed up rappers from the 90's try reinvent themselves.

I got some free tickets from a friend at work and for some reason Steph didn't want to go, I think it was because she didn't have hammer pants to wear. Anyhoo, the best part about Vanilla Ice wasn't when he sang Ninja Rap from TMNT Secret of the Ooze. My favorite was the guy dressed in a Santa costume and a clown mask that kept tossing water on the crowd from liter bottles, then tossing the bottles into the crowd. It was rather bizar.

I was really excited to see Hammer "Take it Back", but his performance wasn't as entertaining as Vanilla Ice's. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed his performance, but I'm still amazed at how each of his songs he is able to include his name some where, if not several times, into the lyrics.

All and all it was a fun concert and I had a good time, I just hope parachute pants will try to make a come back.

New Years Fun

2009-01-03T11:29:00.006-07:00

For New Years Eve we went over to some friends in the ward's house, the Stoddards. We had a great bonfire burning old Christmas paper and newspapers left over from Regina's Paper Route.

Brendan by the fire

The kids putting paper in the fire

Chad and Keaton

Malinda.

Regina being precious.

Regina taking a picture of the fire

Chad, Keaton and Brock
Brock and Keaton feeding the fire

Rosy
The fire
Most of us
Rosy and Brendan.
Fireworks

The Road flare that we were all fascinated by, for some reason

Robber's Roost

2008-12-08T09:28:00.005-07:00

Chad went to Robber's Roost with the Lifferth's from our ward the day after Thanksgiving and here are some pictures he took down there. After I started this, I realized I should have waited for him before posting this because I can't explain what the pictures are.

Dancing Queens

2008-11-16T21:44:00.007-07:00

We had a ward talent show and my friends Malinda Randall, Regina Stoddard and I danced to Dancing Queen.

Malinda (the one on the right) says she was the only one doing the right move at this point, but I think two to one says she's not.

Regina, Malinda, me.

Halloween Pictures

2008-11-01T08:14:00.003-06:00

Just some pictures from Halloween.

Chad is riding a chicken. That chicken has got some nice legs.

Stephanie as Helga the Viking Princess.

Momma Bird as one of the Bookstore Bees... or Bookstore B's.

Here I am with my friend Malinda Randall. She is a monk.

Chad giving rides at the Trunk-or-Treat to my friend Katie's little girl, Kendal.

Don't you hate...

2008-10-30T18:04:00.000-06:00

it when people put up a new post just to put up a post?

Heh heh heh

Sleepy Thoughts

2008-10-10T22:05:00.004-06:00

I (Stephanie) have a pad of paper and a pen next to my bed, so in case I wake up in the middle of the night with a thought I can write it down and not have to dwell on it so I can go back to sleep. It's also useful if I think of things before I go to bed, I can jot it down really quick and not have to worry about it until morning. It really is a good tool which I use often.

This morning I was sitting on my bed just before I headed off for the day and I glanced down at that pad and see something written on the pad of paper that when I went to bed was blank. I saw this:
I don't know how well you can see this, so I will translate my sleepy handwriting.

Friday
1:50 Wake up
1:50 Chad wakes up
Stretch out a little bit

Now, I have little to no recollection of writing this. I do have a tendency to talk and walk in my sleep, but this is the first time I have ever written anything.

I'm guessing what happened is that I woke up at 1:50 and thought that it was important to write that down. The motion of turning over and writing this down woke Chad up, so I thought I'd write that down as well. Then, as I have had a bit of a sore back/shoulder the last little while, did a little stretch, jotted that down, and fell back asleep. Oh, I also wrote down Friday, so I could remember when this all had happened.

This has made me chuckle all day.

My Worst Enemy

2008-10-02T08:51:00.002-06:00

People often say "I wouldn't wish that upon my worst enemy." Now I wonder what kind of things that have happened to me that I would or wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy.

1. ACL tear x2. I think I would wish this upon my worst enemy. I assume my worst enemy and I would have some sort of competition with athletics or something to that affect. I would want him/her down if I were too. Also, if I weren't down, that would be great to have them down. Plus rehab is no fun.

2. Trench Mouth. Okay, this one is even embarrassing to admit, so I have to explain it. When I was at basketball camp in high school we were all drinking out of the same water bottles and got this really bad case of gingivitis, or as one of my doctors said "trench mouth" (during the war people got this because they drank out of trenches). It wasn't because we weren't brushing our teeth, someone just had a virus. We don't know where it came from but we got blisters in our mouths and my glands in my neck got really swollen. So would I wish this upon my worst enemy... probably.

3. Blood clots to the lungs. This I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy... just because it's life threatening. It also hurt.

4. Hockey puck to the head. Depends. If it were like what I had, sure I would wish that upon my worst enemy. It wasn't that bad. If it were life threatening, then no.

So, in conclusion, I would wish pain upon my worst enemy, just not death.

10 Reasons I love my job

2008-09-26T15:50:00.002-06:00

Being off of work for two weeks has got me thinking about my employment. I've come to the conclusion that I really do love my job. Yes, there are parts of it I don't like, and, in fact, dread. But, for the most part, I am very happy to have it. I don't mean to brag, I am just feeling grateful for my job. So, here is my list of reasons why.

10. The fact that I am employed at all. After having nothing to watch but judge shows, I see how my life could be as an unemployed drunk who has lost total control of my life who blames everything wrong with my life on other people.

9. Challenges. I don't just go to work, do my work, and go home (okay, I do some days). But I get to challenge myself and learn new things on a regular basis.

8. I get to meet new people all the time. While a lot of the time when I actually get to talk to customers, they're complaining about something. But then there are those people who are really interesting and really fun to help.

7. Flexibility. I don't like to have to ask for things that aren't a part of my normal job, but I love that when I do, that I normally can have it. Like if I need to leave early one day of the week... it's not a problem. Or if I unexpectedly have to take a week off of work... it's not a problem. They're willing to cover.

6. Get to sit. Yes, I am lazy, but I am happy I don't have to be on my feet all day.

5. The person factor. I don't work for a faceless corporation who doesn't care about it's employees. I know all my bosses by first name, and they know mine. I also know where most of them live.... so don't cross me /shakes fists!!

4. Free Tuition for Chad. Really, you can't beat that if you're trying to get your husband through school.

3. I get too much vacation time. Too much vacation time? you ask. Yes, I know that's a strange concept, but listen to this. I get 5 hours per pay period of vacation, which equals up to 10 hours per month, which will equal out to 120 hours per year. Divide it by 40 hours (a week) and I have 3 weeks a year. It's actually hard to find time to take it all. Plus I have 2 days of personal time and sick time on top of all of that.

2. Insurance. Oh, how I am grateful for insurance. I know when I have gone to doctors appointments I have always been happy that I have it, but after having a $7000 surgery which was accompanied by some complications that could have cost us thousands more, I am very grateful for the insurance that we have.

1. The people. I love the people I work with... not all of them, but most of them. I consider most of the people I work with as friends and often see them outside of work.

Thanks

2008-09-19T10:53:00.003-06:00

I just wanted to put up quick note and thank everyone who sent me well wishes and visited me after my ACL surgery.

I am doing very well. The physical therapist has been impressed with my recovery. I am bending my knee well, can walk without a limp and can walk without my crutches (as long as I'm not on uneven ground). I will start on my stationary bike soon.

I am posting some pictures of my knee, mostly because I think it's cool. If you get squeemish at all, don't look at the pictures.

This is my knee the day after surgery

This is today

It's too bad, just some bruising.

Oh Memories/Embarrassing Pictures

2008-09-05T19:19:00.001-06:00

Sometimes I forget how cool I was when I was younger... now I or you will never forget.

This is my mom and I one Christmas. Note the awesome glasses and the super awesome coat.

Not sure if this is the same Christmas, but this was an awesome toy. I had a great perm.

This was my wall as a teenager. As you may have figured out, I loved Blink 182, No Doubt, and Freddie Prinze Jr.
This was my first dance. Can I just tell you how awkward that was when the photographer wanted us to hold hands.

This is my friend Traci... I most put this in here because I miss being skinny.

We all worked together. Adrianne is the one trying to put her arm around me. Aileen is the one checking the time. My hair is red.

This is me and Laura Cannon. This is our trip up to see No Doubt in Idaho. It was fun.

BONUS!!!

Can anyone guess who this awesome cheerleader is? Clue: If you have only known me for a couple of years, you have a good chance of knowing who she is.

New Post

2008-08-08T18:30:00.000-06:00

Not too much new has been happening here at the Bott household. But we thought we'd throw up a new post just for kicks.

I (Stephy) have torn my ACL... again. So probably around mid-September I'll be getting knee surgery. I have an appointment with one of the Jackson brothers on Tuesday to make sure it's torn, but there is a pretty good chance it is. I tore it playing ultimate frisbee (which is how I tore it originally) and I tore it on the same field we played on before. It's pretty awesome.

Chad is getting ready for his last semester at school, yeah! I think we're both really ready for him to be done.

Alaska

2008-07-20T20:38:00.000-06:00

We just got home from Alaska this afternoon. We're exhausted because we haven't slept for 36 hours, but we had so much fun.

Our group consisted of Stephanie (me), Chad, and Erin Fleming, my friend from work. Erin knows a lady who lives in Homer and Halibut Cove Alaska in the Summer. She owns two homes and has plenty of room in there, and she let us come up and stay.

We flew out of Utah on Sunday the 13th, and we were supposed to arrive early Monday morning and pick up our rental car. Well, the plane was delayed 3 hours, and the rental place closed at 2:30 am and opened back up at 5:30 am. Our plane arrived at 3:30. So we slept in the car rental terminal until 5:30. We then rented our car and started our 5 hour drive to Homer.

We started out by visiting the Anchorage Temple. Being from Utah, I had never seen a temple so small. Chad said that they only have one endowment room. It is a beautiful temple.

Along the way we picked up some Geocaches. Chad spent 2 years in Alaska on his mission and spent 8 months of that time in Homer. He knows the area very well. One of the reasons we wanted to go Geocaching was to find some places we wouldn't have otherwise found.
A stream that was flowing into a small lake.

Chad going through some trees to get to the geocache

Chad finding a Geocache.

There is a big glacier near by. You can't tell be the photo, but the water is very light blue. There are icebergs in this water. If you look at the top left corner, you can make out a glacier in the background.

Stephy and Erin.

A lake near the ocean.

When we finally made it down to Homer, we were amazed by the house. We didn't take any pictures of the house, but the view of the ocean was breath taking:

It was so weird to see the mountains and the ocean together like that.

Once the lady that we were staying in came, we got packed up to go to Halibut Cover, which is about a 15 minute boat ride from the docks. When she came we found out that she had some of her friends visiting as well, a couple who had 8 kids. This is when we started to get worried. We kept saying that we would stay at the Homer house so that there would be enough room for everyone. They told us not to worry about the space, that there was plenty. Besides that the water hadn't been delivered to the Homer home yet, so we had to go to the Halibut Cove house.

We started our journy towards Halibut Cove, still a little unsure of how we were all going to fit in there.On our boat ride to Halibut Cove. We didn't see the sun until the Saturday that we left.

Stephanie with one of the many children.

Chad is so cute.

Coming into Halibut Cove

This is what I was expecting to see.

But, what was around the corner was amazing:
Yep, this is where the jealousy comes in on your part.
As it turns out, there was plenty of room. Their "house" consisted of the big house and 4 cabins. Chad and I had our own cabin. There were two more girls that came later who took that last cabin. They were pretty full at that point.

While at Halibut Cove there was much to do. We went Sea Kayaking, Water Biking, shell collecting, star fish hunting, and hiking, where we found a little beach

Chad didn't catch these, we didn't actually get to do any fishing. But he's still cute.
Here is the little beach we found while out hiking

. Unfortunately, it rained for a day and a half out of the 3 days we were there. They had some fun indoor toys as well. We played Pool and Ping Pong while the kids played on the Wii. In our cabin there was also a 32" flat screen TV that came out of the foot of the bed that we watched movies on while we were hoping the rain would stop.

After the 3 days of staying there, we went back into Homer and stayed in the Homer house. We went out on the Homer Spit to do a little Geocaching, again.
Out on the side of the Spit, by the beach.

We were able to see some good friends from Chad's mission, the Pendeltons. They were really fun to get to know. They run a little B&B in Homer and are the Ward Mission Leaders, so all the missionaries love them.

We did some suvenier shopping and went to many a seafood resteraunts. I never got any seafood, but I always tried Chad's... it wasn't horrible.

On Saturday, the 19th Chad and I spent our 5th wedding anniversary by driving back up the Anchorage to the airport. It was a beautiful drive and we did some more geocaching on the way up. We saw the most breathtaking views, some wildlife, and yes, even some bears.

It was a great trip, and we were so glad and grateful to be able to come out to Alaska.

Girl's Camp

2008-07-11T20:38:00.000-06:00

Stephy just got back from a few days of girls camp. We went up to the Heber Valley Campground. Nice spacious cabins, close bathrooms, warm water, privacy for wards... I don't really know if I still clasify it as camping though.

The picture above is Stephy on the ropes course. You may notice the beautiful tie-dye shirt. Look closey and you may see some pretty tie-dyes right over the boobies. That's thanks to the girls because I didn't come to the activity.

I had a ton of fun up there. We had a lot of good laughs.

We're about to head off to Alaska. We'll post tons about that.

Home Insector

2008-06-01T11:05:00.000-06:00

Chad just finished his work, and is now a certified Home Inspector.

He got his certification through UVSC Continuing Education. It was independent study, so he worked on it when he had free time.

We're thinking about started up a small business for him to do this on the side.

Good Job Chad!

Alaska

2008-05-18T11:22:00.000-06:00

This July we are going to Alaska with Erin, one of our friends. We are going to be staying in Halibut Cove, across the bay from Homer. We are really excited to go.

I'm looking forward to some halibut and seafood, Steph isn't. We are hoping that we will be able to catch some salmon or halibut and bring it back home, but we will have to see.

Out Caching and Hiking

2008-05-17T08:56:00.000-06:00

We went out caching last night. Beautiful day! These pictures don't give credit for how steep this mountain was, but it was and we were "side-hilling" (hiking along the side of the hill) the whole time and we were tired by the end.

We're suckers

2008-05-16T07:17:00.000-06:00

We caved in. Everyone has a blog, so we thought we would, too.

We're not exactly sure what we're going to be posting on here, but I guess we'll see. There's nothing like an online journal, right?