Laugh Out Loud

We were watching Mary Poppins as a family Monday night and Addison turns to me and says... "Mary Poppins is hot." I couldn't help but laugh out loud or 'lol' as my hubby would say.

But who am I to judge. My celebrity crush is Bill Pullman. I looked it up and he's only 3 years younger than my dad, older than my mom. Hehe.

(A Christmas related blog coming soon. Promise.)

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

To be thankful, greatful, and appreciative is something that I hope I never forget to do. I'm greatful for my Savior, Jesus Christ. I'm so thankful for the atonement, to know that He understands my sorrows and regrets and has made a way for me to repent of the stupid sins that I have commited. Thank you. I'm greatful for Heavenly Father for sending me here to this earth, for the body I have, the family I've been born into and the one I married into. I'm greatful for my wonderful husband and best friend. Addison is truley feels like my other half. And I'm greatful for Alex. My hilarious, energetic and compassionate son. I never understood how anyone could fall in love so instantaniously until I met Alex. And my mother and father. You will never meet people more giving than they. They are the net that catches you when you slip. I love you Mom and Dad.
Now, for the superficial things. I'm greatful for cool nights under a thick quilt, a book that I get lost in for days on end, movies with happy endings, Q-tips, board games, the river trail I live near, wind, fishing, and much more.
Feel free to watch the video below. It's the link called 'In the spirit of Thanksgiving.' It's fun to think of the things that you are greatful for when you get to hear what others may be thankful for.

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

This Kiss

I love Alex, and he loves me. It's just a fact. But he does not love my kisses. I have been so informed, by him, that they are "Yucky." What?! I thought this wasn't suppose to happen until he was in school and his friends told him it wasn't cool to have your mom kiss you. But I kiss him anyway and they still continue to be "Yucky." Who can resist kissing a face like this though?

All the Single Ladies

I had a busy day today but still made time to get to the polls. I love voting. Maybe that's why I'm a poli-sci major. Anywho, I headed over to the local elementary school to cast my vote. When I drove up, the parking lot was dark and foreboding but I was determined to figure out where I was suppose to go. I drove around the school and found a bunch or cars parked near the gym. Delighted that I finally found everybody I headed towards the building. But something didn't make sense. "All the Single Ladies" by Beyonce was being played quite loud. I thought it was pretty weired to have back ground music at the polls, let alone that song... but whatev. I like the song and was about to start bouncing to the beat when I entered the gym and beheld about 20 elderly woman (about 65+ years old) all grooving and shaking what they had. It was an exercise group but they were doing some pretty hip dance moves. I left right away because I couldn't help laughing right out loud. When I'm their age, I hope I can be as awesome as they all are. So this is my shout-out to ALL the single Ladies. No matter how old you are... keep grooving!

Wardies

Growing up I had great friends. Friday night Addison and I were able to go on a date with some of the best girls that I know and their husbands. We went met up at my parents house because that is where we dropped off Alex for my Mom to baby-sit. It was kinda like weird deja-vu seeing everyone in my front room again.
We went to the Haunted Forest in American Fork. I have to say that I was 98% impressed. I had to dock off 2% because the tickets were extremely expensive for us poor students. Even waiting in line was entertaining. Addison got to make faces at Michael Jackson's thriller video, a huge pumpkin jumped out from behind a fence, Jack Sparrow was fighting like crazy to find rum and the ghost busters even made a cameo. And that was just the waiting in line. The haunted house and forest were fun. I kinda felt back for the tall people in our group because there was ALOT OF bending over. Hehe.
Here are pictures of us waiting in line. We weren't allowed to take any of them in the house or forest. Sorry.
The whole group. Ana (Malpica) & Addison Steinagel

Trent & Jen (Johnson) Harris

Courtney (Hensen) & Tyler Jarman

Seth & Heidi (Wadsworth) Larson

Three's a Crowd

There are times when you think that ... " When I reach this point, I'll know I've made it" or "When this happens, I know things are getting better." Not that things are bad, just that they can always improve. Let me explain.

When Addison and I were brand new newly weds, I had one of those moments. I knew that the day that we could afford real garbage bags would mean that things had improved. Does that make sense? I know it sound silly but for garbage bags we just used the plastic bags that we took home when we went grocery shopping. Boy did they fill up fast. I remember thinking how nice it would be to have a real garbage bag that didn't need to be taken out to the trash 3 times a day. Once a day would be great. Well, folks... the time has come again when I feel that "If only I could have 1 vacuum cleaner that could fulfill all my vacuuming needs, then things would be better." That's right, I own 3! One is for picking up small pieces dirt, one picks up string and one I use for the excellent hose suction to get into the creases of my couches and the cracks where the carpet meets the wall. I love that they were all free and they all fullfill there intended purposes. However; lately I find myself fantasizing of only owning 1. Aren't we always suppose to be aspiring to get more things and here I am wanting to get rid of them? Hehe.

So, until that day comes I, Ana Steinagel, am currently am a 3 vacuum cleaner owner and user.

It's about time...

It's about time that I post. I know, sorry. (I'm mainly talking to Courtney. J/k) Things were really crazy in August and I was really lazy in September so now it's October and I guess it's ok to post now. Hehe. I'm going to go really fast so try and keep up.

I'll just start from the top. It's going to be really brief because I don't want to wright forever. it would take forever! See this handsome man? This is Jordan Steinagel, Addison's little brother. He left for his mission to Santiago Chile. Before entering the MTC, were we got to drop him off, he stayed with us for 3 weeks. It was awesome. And Mackenzie and Taylor came over as well and we had a blast hanging out with Family! Here are some pics of the 3 weeks we spent together.

Alex also turned 2 in August. I was in charge of throwing him a birthday party and Addison was in charge of the present. You wouldn't believe what he bought him. A blow up bounce house! It's ridiculous! But the kids love it and right now it's set up in Alex's bedroom. It's huge but he loves it. It's his own Fortress of Solitude.

Then in September I took Alex to the petting zoo at Thanksgiving Point. Aunt Lindsey, Zoe and Grandma Anays (my mom) came. Alex hasn't forgotten the "horshies." He keeps asking about them all of the time.

And that's a really watered up version of what we've been up to since then. I'll be better about blogging now. (we'll see.) Until later!

Proof

Ok. Here's proof that I'm the nerd that I've always been. :D
I'm doing online classes at UVU for now. This allows me to be a stay at home mom, work and still get school done even though I can't actually attend classes. My professor e-mailed the results of our latest math test. I was pretty sure that I didn't do too well. I remember it taking me a bit of time. I was distracted because I needed to pick up Alex soon from my sister's house so he could get to his nap on time and I could get to work on time and I had about 7 out of 25 questions that I really didn't understand and I had to go back and recheck them or to try and figure them out. I'm one of those people who when they do a test I go through all of the easy stuff first and then go back to the hard ones. 7 questions to go back to was quite a lot. I was sure that I knocked my grade down just a few pegs. Sad.
Yesterday I received an e-mail from my professor. Here's a little snippet.

"The course grade posted in Blackboard reflects the result of homework assignments (Chapters 1- 8), quizzes and Tests 1 & 2.
Test 2 result: Highest Grade: 96
Lowest Grade: 13 "

I went to check my grades and I GOT THE HIGHEST GRADE. I kind of forgot what it felt like to excel in school. Last semester I got b's. B's are good but they're nothing like an A.
Ok, So I'm bragging and it's really not attractive and I'm sure now that I posted this I'm going to do horrible on my next test but I just wanted to say that the nerd is back.

3 YEARS BABY!

That's right. Addison and I were married 3 years ago today. And you should be jealous because he's beyond a fantastic husband and dad. I love you, Addy!

4th of July Celebrations

So, for the 4th of July our family had a BLAST! First we went to the parade and met up with cousins. That was super neat. We were only there for about 20 mins. I mean... How many of the same float can you watch go by and not get bored? Next stop was 7 peaks! Of course, my fish, aka Alex, loved every second of it. Addison and I were able to go on a couple of the rides while our friend, Janene, watched Alex for us. One thing I noticed is how much scary rides are when you haven't been on them for awhile. Seriously. I shrieked like a little girl... and Addison shrieked like the little girl older sister. ;) It was fun. And then for the evening we did fireworks. The fireworks we had were given to me last year from my friend, Holly, who had already had them for a year. So 2 years + this year = 3 year old fireworks! AAHHHH. But Addy was determined to use them. They weren't so bad except for the sparklers that weren't so much 'spark' as they were pure fire. yeah. But no serious injuries... and that's a lot coming from my pyro-loving family.

P.S. WE PAID OFF OUR CAR TODAY! It feels awesome. I love paying off bills. Maybe a bit too much. hehe.

I love my country.

"Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
—Emma Lazarus, 1883

Our 4th of July Celebration coming soon!

Protection

Aparently I get competative during board games. Addison felt the need for extra protection during Sunday night's scrabble match.
P.S. I started my work-out blog again. (for those who want to read)

I'm Back

I started the previous post back in April and didn't finish it until today and it's saying that I did it in April. Weird. Anywho, thanks for reading!

California --- knows how to party! & family pics

OUR FIRST FAMILY VACATION! It was super fun. The perfect amount of time, the perfect weather, the perfect family and the perfect vacation. We had a blast.

We left Utah on Friday morning and it was snowing. Yes, that's correct. Snowing. But we were not detered. Addison was confident that we would miss the storm. I was confident that we were heading straight into that sucker. Of course, being the wife, I was right. ;) We weren't even an hour on the road when woops, our car does a complete 180 towards trafic. I was too scared to even scream. Then Addison did some sort of manuever that he learned from a video game and we did another 180 now going with trafic. We pulled over to the side of the road and said a prayer of thanks. I know we were being watched after. It was seriously intense.

Once we got to California we stayed with Addison's wonderful Aunt Bethanie. Seriously, they were so sweet to let us crash at their place. And she's a wonderful cook and kept feeding us. We loved spending time with cousins. Alex was in heaven fallowing Lilly and Max everywhere. He had a better time with Lilly and Max than he did at Disney Land. :)

We visited the beach were Addison showed me that, yes, he knows how to surf and Alex discovered that he has a taste for sand. No joke, the kid was scooping it up and trying to eat it. Maybe it's a boy thing.

We stopped by the cliffs at La Jolla Beach. It was beautiful there. Alex kept trying to run off to play but luckily Bethanie gave us their kid leash. I don't care what people think, that thing is a wonderful invention. Here's a funny pic of Addy and Alex with it.

Disney Land was not a hit for either of my boys. Alex was not fond of the rides, lines, or the crowds. It was pretty hard to keep him happy. We're definately going to wait until he's a few years older before we try that again. Addison got really sick at Disney Land so we ended up leaving early and spending the rest of the day in the hotel room. Don't be sad for us though. It was kinda nice. It was a nice needed break. By then we'd been going and going for about 5 days and needed the stop.

Sea World was a major sucess. Alex LOVED it. He had a great time at the shows and just looking at the animals. Addison enjoyed it a lot too. We have to go back. And I've made a vow that next time I do I will sign up and swim with the dolphins. We got to watch people do it and I was so so so jealous. This is a picture of the two guys in an underwater tunnel. Yes, those are sharks swimming over their heads. Pretty cool.

And lastly, we got to visit family in Sacramento! This time we stayed with Addison's grandma and grandpa. I'm sad that I don't have any pictures from their though. Of course I misplaced the camera by then and didn't find it for about 2 weeks later. But we had a blast. Great Grandma and Grandpa even staged an easter egg hunt for Alex. So sweet. And of couse we go to see Addison's sister Mackenzie and her husband Taylor while we were there. We missed them so much. It was fun to see them and just to hang out.

So that was our vacation.

FAMILY PICTURES:

Here are some family pictures we took. This is my side of the family.

The whole group. We're still missing Kelly and his family that couldn't make it.

My Parents and their kids. (Top: Peggy, Mom, Dad, Lindsey, Rodney. Bottom: me, Kady, Nick and Rosemary.)

All the grandkids. As you can tell, Alex was not very excited about this.

And last but not least... US!

Auction

Saturday, as a part of my job, I ran an auction at the storage facility that I work at. When people don't pay for their storage for a while, I'm the luck girl who jumps through legal hoops to auction off their stuff so we can get our storage unit back. This month it was my turn out of us office girls to run this thing. We were auctioning off 4 units. Two outdoor spaces and 2 indoor. 3 of the units had cars in them. Aparently auctioning off cars is a hot and popular thing because I had probably close to 40 people show up. It was intimidating. I'm just not a huge fan of speaking in public and here I am, selling off people's personal things. Fun. Anyway, usually things don't go for very much. I've seen a car go for $25 dollars before. No joke. I told Addison to bid on the 1996 Ford Explorer but only up to $200. (who knows what sort of problems it has) The auction starts and is a bit like the movies. Only me as the auctioneer and its akward. It sounds something like this. "$50 dollars to #5. Do I hear $70? $70 to #8. Do I hear $90? $90 to # 3

Addison is #3. He bids at $100 and then at $150 and then at $200 and I was fine with that. You could tell he was having fun. I wasn't fine when he went to $300 and then $360 and then $400. When he hit $400 I gave him the dirtiest look I could muster. What the crazy!? He just smiled. Luckily someone went to $410. It's not that we don't have $400 but I wanted to spend that on our family vacation to Cailfornia. Not a car that I wasn't even sure if it ran well. Hehe.

I'm 23

I'm 23 and it's wierd. I swear I was just 16. Anyway, my birthday was great. Addison is seriously the best husband ever. He got me Hero's season 2, new shoes, some hair things and.... a book! I'm probably the worst bookworm ever. When I get a good book I don't put it down until it's done. It's a problem. I'm working on it. Actually, no I'm not. :)

Then on Friday my best friends, Alysse and Jentrie, took me to lunch at the Pizza Factory. Of course I didn't bring my camera but Jentrie did and took this picture for me. It's actually the only picture that I took for my birthday so there you go. The reason I like it is because Alex has gotten so big and you can really see it in the picture. Enjoy!

P.S. Kinda cool, but my English teacher is giving the class extra credit for blogging. At least I'll keep on top of it more.