Thursday, September 17, 2015

7 Things Hyrum Loves About Star Valley, WY

Fall is here, and Joseph has been back in school for awhile, but during our Summer break we made the most of all the days off. AKA we traveled west like a family of psychos and didn't come home until a month had passed. We kicked off the vacation with a trip to Star Valley, WY. Joseph loves it there. It's pretty much his Mecca, where he goes to find his center and get back to his roots. Like his father, Hyrum loved it too. That cute little farm boy could not believe his great luck: chickens to chase, horses to feed, and tractors to fulfill all his little boyhood fantasies. Here is a list of things Hyrum loves about Star Valley.  


Grandma. She spoiled him absolutely rotten. He learned a new word at her house, cookies. He started asking for them after we left Grandma's. The poor boy was disheartened to find that his own mother doesn't make cookies regularly. Grandma always had a kind word to say, and a snack to go with it.





Raspberries. Grandma's raspberry patch is like a little piece of heaven. The raspberries are thick and plentiful, but the true heavenly joy is the jam Grandma makes with the raspberries. I was trying to pick enough raspberries to make jam, but this cute little boy kept stealing and snitching. When we finally did pick enough berries to make jam it was mostly because of Joseph and Grandma.





Hyrum's face when the raspberries were gone






The free range chickens. Not only do they say "bock, boooock!" just like they should, but they're also really fun to chase. I was a little nervous for Hyrum until I saw that I should have been nervous for the chickens he was trying to catch. They were wise to run away. 


4-wheelers. I'm pretty sure by the end of the week, Hyrum was convinced that the 4-wheeler was his. He would wake up in the morning and point outside for his 4-wheeler. He would also get a little possessive when other people were riding it. He learned how to push the start button to turn it on, and he loved holding onto the handle bars. 










Horses. Hyrum started out a little hesitant, but he grew more confident each time we came to visit and feed them grass. Now he pretends to rip up our carpet and feed it to his toy horses and cows. He learned so much on the farm. 











Tractors. Hyrum wasn't actually allowed to ride on the tractor, because he kept on trying to steer, but he got to sit on them when they weren't moving, which was pretty much the greatest thing ever.



Playing in the creek. What's more fun than throwing rocks in the creek and coming back home sopping wet!?






Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Do You Want To Build A Snowman?

It's been freezing in Omaha this winter, but not very snowy so I was surprised when we had a blizzard in February. Hyrum and I almost didn't make it back from our Portland visit (which was a fabulous trip). Our flight was delayed several hours, and we got home just before it really started dumping snow. Luckily, Seattle Airport has a children’s play place. We spent most of our layover there, otherwise we probably wouldn't have survived.






I wanted to make sure Hyrum was able to experience real Nebraska snow, but it turns out that snow is rather shocking. We didn't stay outside long.




6 days later the temperatures took a rise for the better. It was balmy high 50 degree weather, the sun was shining, and the snow was melting. It felt like spring. A perfect time to build a snowman. 

We still ran into some winter challenges though. Hyrum didn't want to wear his mittens. He cried when they were on. But the snow was cold.  He cried when they were off.









So we let him take a break from the winter snow on his swing, and in his dad's arms. I guess I'm the only one who got to build a snowman.








Something Old, Something New

My mom keeps her scrapbooks piled in one of the dressers in her room. When I was little, I would sneak in and pull out every last one of them, but I was only going to look through my favorite book. The wedding album was white with gold lettering and a picture of a temple on its puffed cover.  I loved it. I would flip through the pictures, recognizing my relatives and loving their young-ness, but my parents were the most fabulous of all. My dad was tall and handsome in his white tux. My mother looked like an angel in her white wedding dress.




After my parent's wedding, my aunt wore this dress at her wedding, and then it was at my grandparents house in California for a long time. Just this summer my mother brought it home, and I got to see it at Christmas. Maybe it's the romantic in me, but trying on my mom's wedding dress was like seeing a fairy tale come to life. It was just as lovely as I always imagined it would be. 



Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Christmas at the Stokers

There are so many things to say about Christmas this year. It was awesome. I love my family. I love to laugh. I love to sing. I love Christmas minute-to-win-it. I love to dance. I love volleyball. I love to dress up. I love popcorn and movies, and I love this music video with my loved ones in it. 



This was Hyrum's first Christmas, and it was sweet to reflect on our Savior's birth with my own baby next to me.The miraculous event of Jesus Christ's birth has become so much more real to me after having a child. I'm sure Mary was exhausted. I'm sure she was apprehensive. But I'm also sure that she was so very very happy. I can picture the tears streaming down her cheeks as she met her little Stranger, an overwhelming sense of joy, peace, and love enveloping all gathered in the stable. 

Joseph painted this for my parents
And I know Santa Claus is not the reason for the season, but it sure is fun to dress up.