The Steele Family Adventures

GO COUGARS!

2009-09-08T11:02:00.002-06:00

Congrats to BYU for knocking off Oklahoma last Saturday night. What an amazing game! They are now ranked #9 in the country. Hopefully they can keep rolling.

So it begins...

2009-09-03T08:00:00.003-06:00

Izzy came home from her first day of school and said she sits next to a boy named Nicholas. She cam home from school yesterday and said that at recess she was holding hands with Nicholas. One of her friends from our ward saw them and asked if they are in love. Izzy and Nicholas were embarassed so they ran and hid and held hands.

What the freak!! She's in Kindergarten people! K-I-N-D-E-R-G-A-R-T-E-N! When she told Mollee the story Izzy didnt want her to tell me. I guess she knows already what dad thinks of his only daughter holding hands at recess. We had a little talk about it at dinner las night. Needless to say, if this continues the next step will be to visit with Nicholas ... in the dark ...with no one around ...

2009-09-03T07:59:00.002-06:00

Its been a while since we blogged. We need to get back into it. Weve had a good summer and are settling into Fall. Izzy started Kindergarten this week.

Night at the Museum

2009-06-05T12:46:00.004-06:00

We went to the Natural History Museum at the U of U last Monday night for FHE. Here are some pictures. Unfortunately, nothing came alive like in the movie. It was still pretty fun.

Izzy graduates from pre-school

2009-05-21T14:25:00.004-06:00

Izzy graduated from pre-school on Wednesday. There was a fun little ceremony where the kids got to sing some songs and Izzy was awarded the "Friendship Award" because "she was always friendly, quick to share and take turns, and very patient with others. " Izzy was very excited about the whole thing. When asked about her favorite part of the graduation, she said "the candy." She is very excited to start Kindergarten this Fall at the school across the street from our house. Although, she wishes she could take a bus to school.

Here are a few pictures from Graduation:

Chubby bubby

2009-05-15T09:08:00.002-06:00

JJ loves his own chubby belly!

Noah-isms

2009-04-21T15:43:00.003-06:00

We recently created a couple of "grow boxes" for our backyard garden. We told Izzy and Noah that one of the little boxes was for them and that they could plant whatever they wanted and that they would be responsible for it. I asked Noah what he wanted to plant and he said "chickens!" I explained that it needed to be a vegetable and that we planted seeds. I asked again what he wanted to plant and he said "brownies!"

Lately Noah has been saying "Welcome to Ida sodo." We had no idea what he was talking about. It was driving us crazy. After a few weeks of this we finally realized he was saying a line from his Thomas the Train shows, "Welcome to the Island of Sodor."

No PDAs for Noah

2009-03-30T16:17:00.004-06:00

Apparently, Noah is against public displays of affection (PDAs). Mollee and I were hugging yesterday when we got home from church and Noah didn't like it. He yelled at me saying "Youre not having a kiss with mommy!" Just to provoke him further, I said "Yes, I am," and gave Mollee a kiss. Pretty funny.

Rough week

2009-03-21T21:41:00.004-06:00

This was a rough week for Jeff. On Monday his dermatologist decided to freeze two pre-cancerous spots off his face, without explaining it would leave huge ugly scabs. Then he went to the dentist on Thursday to get a bone graft in preparation for a tooth implant. Not fun. To complete the trifecta, he's had a lingering cold all week.

JJ Turns One

2009-02-06T09:04:00.005-07:00

JJ turned one year old last week. We gave him a few presents - he liked the toothbrush and the boxes his presents came in the best. Then we gave him his first cupcake. He tore it to shreds and seemed to like the taste pretty well. Here are some pictures.

Facebook

2009-01-28T18:02:00.002-07:00

I just started doing the Facebook thing. I'm still a newbie, but already it makes me wonder if I will continue blogging. It seems like Facebook is kind of taking over the whole blog thing. It may be too much work to do both. What do you think? Are you on facebook? Do you also blog? Do you plan to continue with both? Why or why not?

Prayer update

2009-01-28T17:59:00.003-07:00

Just as an update to the last blog entry. Noah has done a 180 degree turn. Now he absolutely has to say every prayer. And if someone else says the prayer on the food or the family prayer, he has to say his own prayer for us immediately afterwards. He usually looks around the room and says "bless mom ..." while pointing to Mollee, "bless Izzy..." while pointing to Izzy, etc. Pretty cute.

The Choo-choo Prayer

2008-12-30T09:13:00.003-07:00

Noah has a hard time with prayers. He doesn't even like to fold his arms, let alone say the prayer. So we were surprised last night after our family prayer when Noah said he wanted to try it. Normally, when we help him say the prayer we supply the first part and let him fill in the blanks. For example, Mollee will say "Help us ..." and Noah will say "... choose the right."

Noah must have had an agenda last night, however, because the prayer went something like this:
"We're thankful for ..." "... choo-choos."
"Please bless ..." "... choo-choos."
"Help us ..." "... choo-choos."
"In the name of ..." "...choo-choos, amen."

At least he's trying.

Traditional Gingerbread House

2008-12-23T15:12:00.003-07:00

Here are some pictures of the yearly gingerberad house we did last night. Actually, Mollee and the kids did it. I didn't participate because I wrenched my back shoveling snow. Ok, that was only part of the reason. T he other part is that whenever I do the gingerbread house it falls apart and everyone yells at me. Who needs that at Christmas?

2008 Beecher Christmas Party

2008-12-23T14:58:00.005-07:00

We had the Beecher Christmas party last Saturday at Nan and Pop's. We ate dinner, played the chimes to Christmas carols, sang songs and, of course, had the kids reenact the Nativity. Everyone had a great time. Here are some pictures.

Izzy's dance recital

2008-12-16T10:59:00.003-07:00

Izzy had a dance recital last weekend. It was adorable. She did one ballet routine and one tap routine. We may be biased, but we thought she was the star of the show! It was probably her last one for a while as she has decided she is tired of dance and needs a break. Izzyhas really developed over the last year or so that she has been in dance. We've seen her improve to the point where she actually knows which moves come next and can do most of them, rather than simply mimicking the teacher. Pretty cute.

Here is a picture of Izzy back-stage before her ballet routine.

Yes Steele kids, there is a Santa Claus

2008-12-16T10:55:00.004-07:00

We recently had the opportunity to visit with Santa. Surprisingly, all three kids were happy to sit on his lap. We expected one of the boys to cry, but they didn't. Maybe they won't get coal for Christmas after all.

Mom's Chemotherapy

2008-12-16T10:51:00.002-07:00

My mom recently started chemotherapy. Although her doctors believe that they already got all of the cancer with her recent surgeries, they decided to put her through 6 treatments of chemotherapy. She had her first infusion at the beginning of this month and we are all extremely proud of how well she is handling it. Her positive attitude and peaceful acceptance are an inspiration to all of us. We will continue to keep her in our thoughts and prayers and support her in every way possible, and ask that you do the same.

We love you mom/Grandma Steele!

Izzy turns 5

2008-12-16T10:29:00.008-07:00

It was Izzy's birthday on December 6th. She turned 5. We can't believe she is so big! It seems like only yesterday Mollee and I were still in law school and Izzy was a newborn - small enough to fit inside a Christmas stocking (we have the pictures to prove it).

We gave Izzy the choice of either having a birthday party with her friends or going to Build-A-Bear. She chose Build-A-Bear. So the morning of her birthday we made a nice breakfast and opened some presents, then went down to the Gateway to go to Build-A-Bear. She chose to build a soft, fluffy bunny. We let her choose a few outfits for her bunny, which she later decided to name "Fuzzy." Izzy bought her bunny a "Hello Kitty" outfit. When we got home Izzy dressed the bunny in the Hello Kitty outfit and then put on her own Hello Kitty pajamas so they could match. It has been difficult to get Izzy out of her Hello Kitty pajamas ever since, even though they are not well suited for winter.

That night was the annual Beecher trip to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights. The boys weren't feeling well so I stayed home with them while Mollee took Izzy with the Beechers out to dinner for Chinese at Joy Luck and then down to temple square. Izzy loved it. It was a great way to end her birthday.

Anniversary

2008-12-16T10:21:00.002-07:00

Mollee and I recently celebrated our 10 year anniversary. Its crazy to think we have been married that long. But when we look back at how our lives have changed over that time, and at our three kids, 10 years seems about right.

To celebrate we left the kids with Tom and Monica and went and spent the night at Anniversary Inn in downtown Salt Lake. We went to dinner at Ruths Chris and had one of the best (and most expensive) meals of our lives - steak fillets and crab-stuffed lobster. The next day we did some Christmas shopping at the Gateway. It was a great little weekend.

We could say something cheesy here about how much Mollee and I still love each other, yadda yadda, yadda - but we wont subject you to that. We'll keep the gushy sentimental stuff in-house.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-16T10:16:00.002-07:00

This year we spent Thanksgiving with the Beechers. We rotate every year and it was the Beechers' year. We all had a nice time visiting and were treated to a wonderful turkey dinner with all the trimmings. We missed Ben and Blake and their families and wished they could be there with us.

Afterwards we all went down stairs and played Guitar Hero on the Play Stattion 2. Even Nan and Pop took a turn "rocking out." It was lots of fun.

Since it was Thanksgiving, we would like to express our gratitude to all our friends and family for all you do for us. You enrich our lives and we are grateful for you. There are so many blessings that we appreciate that it would be difficult to list them all here, but we want to express our gratitude to our Heavenly Father for the many blessings He has given us.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mollee's birthday/Beecher pie party

2008-12-16T10:11:00.003-07:00

Mollee's birthday was on November 25th. She turned 31. She opened some presents that morning before I went to work.

That night was the annual Beecher pie party. It was delicious as always. The next night we had Nan and Pop Beecher tend the kids and Mollee and I went to dinner and a movie to celebrate her birthday. It was a fun and much-deserved night out.

New Blogs

2008-12-12T14:06:00.003-07:00

Its been a while since we blogged. Its been a great but busy holiday season so far and we have lots to blog about but haven't got around to it. We will try to get some new blog entries up soon, so stay tuned.

Chubby Bubby

2008-11-04T14:40:00.003-07:00

JJ had a 9-month checkup this week and it confirmed what we already knew - he is a chubby bubby. JJ is in the 80% for weight and the 90 -95% for height. This makes sense given that he can already wear some of his older brother's clothes and they share the same diaper size. He may be chubby but we sure think he's cute.

Halloween 2008

2008-11-04T13:56:00.009-07:00

Halloween 2008 was great. We enjoyed some of the best weather ever for Halloween this year. It was warm out and barely rained at all.

Izzy dressed up as Princess Leia from Star Wars.

Noah dressed up as a dinosaur (or as he called it, a "dindosoar"), although he refused to wear the hood part of the costume.

And JJ was supposed to dress up as a greed dragon, but go so upset in the process that we gave up and had to give him a bottle to calm down.

After a traditional Halloween dinner of sloppy-joes, olives, carrots and chips, Jeff took Izzy and Noah out trick-or-treating while Mollee stayed home with JJ. Jeff and the kids would thank people for the candy and then Jeff would say "Happy Halloween." Noah didn't really get the concept and would say "Happy dindosoar." Noah only lasteed one street and then said he was tired and wanted to go home to go to bed. in his defense, we do have a lot of houses with major stairs in our neighborhood. After dropping Noah off back home, Jeff and Izzy went out for some more trick-or-treating. The kids had a lot of fun and didn't even put up a fight when hey only got 2 pieces of their candy before bed. When they got home Izzy went to bed and Jeff stayed up watching tv and eating the kids candy. He ate too much and got a stomache ache. Some things never change.

The Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-21T13:40:00.013-06:00

As is our Halloween tradition, we took the kids to the nearby pumpkin patch last night. The kids had a lot of fun choosing pumpkins, walking through the hay maze, and putting their faces in the cut-out picture stands. We took the pumpkins home and Mollee helped Izzy and Noah paint their pumpkins. They decided to give the pumpkins names. I named one Peter Pumpkin, Izzy named her pumpkin Wendy and Noah named his pumpkin Paco. When they were done, Noah was having too much fun and wanted to play some more with the pumpkins instead of going to bed. He kept saying "hold punkin - hold punkin" and "see Paco." It was pretty funny. JJ also had a great time at the pumpkin patch and blended right in with the rest of the orange heads.

First Snow Day

2008-10-21T13:23:00.006-06:00

We had our first snow of the Fall. Noah and Izzy got all bundled up and played in the front yard while Jeff shoveled the driveway. Who do you think got the better end of that deal?

Fishing with the boss

2008-09-29T10:02:00.010-06:00

My boss, Dave Hirschi, rented a boat up at Strawberry Reservoir last Saturday and invited me to come along and go fishing with him. His son, Jeff Hirschi, and I went up after work the night before and camped over night. We grilled steaks and sat around the camp fire. It was fun but very cold. We woke up to a very hard, cold frost which made packing up camp more difficult and painful. Then we drove over to the marina where we met Dave, his father Frank, another co-worker Aaron Waite and his son Michael.

We enjoyed a fun day fishing. The weather was about as nice as you get up there and the scenery was beautiful, especially the changing leaves on the surrounding hills. The fishing was hit and miss all day. 84-year old Frank outfished us all, catching the first fish, the biggest fish (which measured 23 1/2 inches) and the most fish. Although Frank never could get used to the regulations, complaining when Dave would throw fish back because they were in the slot limit. Frank made several comments to Jeff like "lets see if your father will et me keep this one."

I think we all caught fish and had a good time. However, Jeff Hirschi got skunked until near the end of the trip when a fish "surrendered" and actually swam right over to the boat and Jeff netted it for his only "catch" of the day. We gave him the award for catching a fish without a pole or hook. Michael seemed to have more fun with the crawdads then the fish, and enjoyed feeding them cheese-it crackers and chasing them all over the boat. It was a good time with good company.

Izzy starts pre-school

2008-09-11T11:30:00.007-06:00

It was with mixed emotions that Izzy started her academic career on Tuesday, September 2nd. Well, to be honest the mixed emotions were from her parents. Izzy was very clear on the matter - excited! Izzy goes to pre-school twice a week with Ms. Claudine and has already made new friends. She looks forward to school and enjoys doing her homework projects. Mollee has mixed emotions sending her daughter off to school. She enjoys being able to spend time with just the boys but misses her baby girl and hates to see her grow up so fast. Noah also misses Izzy while she's gone to school and asks where she is. Here are a few pictures of Izzy's first day.

Big Creek Backpacking Trip

2008-09-04T14:37:00.011-06:00

Jeff and his brothers Brad and Dan met up over the Labor Day weekend for a backpacking trip into Big Creek, which is in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness in central Idaho. Jeff and Brad came up from Salt Lake City, while Dan drove down from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Jeff and Brad got a late start, leaving Farmington around 4:00 pm. With a 6 hour drive to Cascade, and then a three to three-and-a-half hour drive over dirt roads to the trailhead, it was a long drive. We pulled in around 2:00 am. We were very anxious to find Dan, given that he had chosen a route with a 5 hour drive over dirt roads, the fact that he was driving alone, and the fact that there was some confusion over where we were supposed to meet up because we lost cell phone coverage at the worst possible time. After Brad and I pulled in we found a truck that we thought might be Dan's and I made Brad shine his light in the cab to see if anyone was in there. Dan bolted upright scaring us. Under the circumstances, it was a small miracle that we were able to meet up. We got to bed around 3:00 am, sleeping uncomfortably in the back seat of a car, the cab of a Dan's truck and the bed of the truck.

The next morning we woke up early and started off down the trail. We noticed a lot of bear scat (crap) on the trail. We had inquired from the Idaho Forest Service about bears in the area before the trip and had been told that there was a brown bear population but that no special bear precautions were required. Brad, who had worked with the UDWR to trap and track bears one summer said that he had never seen so much bear scat in one area as we hiked the trail.

After about three hours we climbed down off the trail and went dotwn by the river for a breakfast/lunch break. As we inspected the river we saw some huge Chinook Salmon that has run up the river to spawn. These fish easily pushed 3 feet long and were amazing. It was incredible to think how far they had come from the ocean to be here. Dan waded out for a better look and was a little scared when one of the larger bruisers turned and sped right at him. Fortunately both Dan and fish survived the encounter.

We decided not to camp there and to hike a little further. We hiked about another half hour before finding a nice area to pitch our camp. On the way, we found a huge dead salmon in the middle of the trail. It was few hundred yards from the river. We wondered whether maybe a bear had dragged the fish up to the trail and then been startled or scared away by hikers.

After setting up camp and resting for a while, we went fishing. We went downstream a few hundred yards from camp and fished our way back. The fishing was not as fast as we had hoped but the rewards were impresive. The fish were brilliant-colored cutthroat trout, and the size of some of them were larger than anticipated. We had hoped to make it downstream a little further to a confluence with another tributary where we understood the fishing would be better, but we never did. Brad and I both caught fish and Dan, who was fly fishing for the first time, missed a few strikes. It wasn't until we got back to camp that he realized he had been fishing with a fly where the hook had broken off. That will definitely make it difficult to cath anything.

After we got back to camp we cleaned up, made a fire and ate dinner. Dan worked at REI for a couple of months in the Spring and apparently spent all of his earnings on new backpacking gear, because he had all kinds of cool new stuff. Nothing was more appreciated, however, than his new tent. Shortly after dinner a storm rolled in and it got dark and cold real fast. By 9:30 the rain started and we retired to the tent. The lightning was close and the thunder was loud. It rained steadily until late the next morning. The rain was so hard that it woke us up several times. Dan's new tent was up to the challenge, however, and we stayed warm and dry.

In the morning we discovered that a bear had visited our camp. We found fresh scat at the outskirts of camp and the bear had apparently eaten our leftover scraps from dinner. We hadnt heard anything during the night because of the rain. It would have been cool to see the bear, and Dan claims he would have been a deadeye with his bear spray if necessary.

Because we had to go home the next day we decided that the drive in was so long that it made more sense to hike out that day and stay at a hotel that night, rather than trying to hike out and drive home all in the same day. So we cleaned up camp and hiked back out with a few stops to fish along the way. We noticed that the salmon on the trail the day before was gone and can only assume a bear ate it. By the time we made it out to the trailhead we were pretty tired. This is probably because we hadn't had nearly enough time to recover from the hike in. We drove out to McCall together and rented a hotel room. By the time we got out of the car we could barely move our legs. It was nice to take a hot shower and sleep in a bed. The next morning we separated with Dan going North and me and Brad heading South.

Some might think we were crazy to drive 16 hours or more roundtrip and hike another 7 hours roundtrip just to camp for a day and a half. They are probably right. But we sure had a fun time. Were already talking about where to go for next year's trip.

Davis County Fair

2008-09-04T14:27:00.003-06:00

We went to the Davis County Fair on August 15th. It was our third year in a row. We went with Tom and Monica Marchant and their family, as well as Tom's brother and his family. The kids had a great time. We ate dinner there and saw all the animals. Jeff did not get a free T-shirt from Dodge this year as he already has two. We made Izzy chose between cotton candy and going on one of the rides. She chose a ride. We later regretted forcing her to chose because we really wanted the cotton candy. Oh well, there's always next year.

Steele Family Reunion 2008

2008-08-05T10:37:00.007-06:00

The Steeles all got together for the first annual Steele Family Reunion over July 19 -22. This year it was in Bear Lake. We all rented a cabin together. Everyone had a great time. Highlights for Jeff and Mollee included playing tennis, playing games late at night and laughing with the adults, and playing in the water. Isabelle's favorite moments were Grandma's fun store, riding the tube behind the boat and playing at the beach. Noah loved playing with the water fountain with Caleb, learning new phrases from his counsins like "peace out," and using his shovel at the beach to throw mud at his dad. J.J. loved being held by lots of different family. And of course, we all loved the raspberry shakes, food and family. We did not like, however, the lack of slepp and cramming our family into a small room. Oh well, it was worth the pain. We missed Dan and Shannon and their family. Hopefully we can all be together next year.