Our secret is out

So for those of you who don't know the secret yet or the story behind it here it is. We are moving back into our home in UT. We have tried everything we could think of to move on from that home. But everything we tried failed. Well after one very frustrating day I finally told Ben "It all come down to that stinking house, maybe the Lord is trying to tell us something". So after some prayer and much thought we made the choice to move back into our home. Since we made this choice Ben has finally made some life choices of his own for him and our family. This is something I have been praying for for the last 6 months. We were planning on moving back before the girls started school in the fall and to take our time in finding a job. Ben started to have promptings that he needed to look more seriously for a job. Which we started to do. Well Ben talked to his brother/boss about all of this since he and his family have been such a great help to us these last six months and Ben wanted him to know first before the cat was fully out of the bag. His brother was very supportive of him but we really didn't expect anything less from him. Then yesterday night I got an email from our land management company that said that our renters gave their notice that they were moving out early. Way early, they only gave us a weeks notice. Now I was freaked and excited about this. I was excited because that would mean that we could really move back whenever we wanted now and I was freaked because we don't have a job yet and we still have a mortgage to pay. Due to our renters moving out we will be moving back the first part of May. Sooner if Ben is able to secure a job before then. Another way that the Lord has blessed us with all of this is we have been thinking of selling our van for a while and just this past Monday we were able to do that for a single mother in our Branch. Both Ben and I felt as though this was the Lord's way to start preparing our way back home. Then yesterday I got the email about our renters. So now we have set the date and are praying really hard that Ben will be able to find a job. We know times are tough for everyone and that finding a job at this time is really hard. We are sad to leave Iowa but really excited to go back home. That's our secret. I would like to ask for prayers for Ben to find a job and if you could also include our friend Danny Rico we would be so grateful.

My baby's not a baby any more!

This is Azlie when she was 1/2 hour old. Oh how things have changed!

Azlie Mariah Stewart had her first birthday yesterday. She got some really great toys from her sisters that she has had to fight to get to play with but that always happens when new toys are brought into our house. We celebrated by going to church, coming home and taking naps (mom and Azlie), having cake and opening presents. She loved the cake but I found it funny that she didn't like to get her hands all dirty. After she stuck her hand in the frosting she got all upset till Ben cleaned it off. Then she wouldn't eat any more till I got a fork and fed her that way. She also does this really cute dance when you start chanting "go Azlie it's your birthday, go Azlie it's your birthday". We are going to try to get it on one of our phones and post it. The weirdest part of the day is Azlie woke up and started to fuss around the same time that I went into labor with her and then I got her to go back to bed. Then she woke up a short time later which would of been the time we left to go to the hospital. Really I didn't need the early wake-up to remember that blessed day. I did tell Ben that I think I should get the kids birthdays off since I had to go through so much to get them here. I don't think he fell for it. It's really crazy to look back at the last year and to reflect all that our family has been through. A little not so good and lots of really good things happened. I am so thankful to the Lord that we all have our health and that we have friends and family that love and support us. Also I am grateful to my Heavenly Father to have a wonderful supportive husband that loves me for me.

I hate keeping secrets!

I have one, I can't tell, and please don't ask! Just needed to vent. Oh and on a side note I am not expecting nor will I be. the end!!!!

Yes it's been a while but there isn't too much going on in our house. I dropped our camera and now it either needs to get fixed or we need to buy a new one. I hate being without one but don't want to spend the money to buy a new one. So due to butterfingers there won't be any new pictures for a while. Aubrey got a her fist pair of glasses and she looks super cute in them. She is doing a great job taking care of them and it's nice not to have her a foot from the TV when ever she is watching something. Alex needs to see a cardiologist because of a heart murmur that she has had since she was two. I am not too alarmed since I know that really nothing slows her down and she is a strong little girl. Cecilia has been a little stinker the last little while thinking that she runs the house and so we are trying to teach her as lovingly as we can that we are the boss not her. Azlie has a nasty ear infection that is immune to any oral antibiotics so now she is getting a series of antibiotic shots to get it to go away. I am hoping that it helps because I don't want to find out what will come next if it doesn't work. She has been a trooper through all this though. But due to the pain in her ears she has stopped nursing much to Ben's delight and none of mine. She is just a couple of weeks away from her 1st birthday so I am not too worried about it. Ben has been working hard as always. Last week he had 12 hours off that he wasn't working or sleeping but it did help us get a little more a head of our bills. He's such a great guy. I took a family sick day this past Sunday since the kids were still running fevers, had snotty noses, and nasty coughs. I feel so out of the loop not being at Church. This Sunday should be very refreshing. Ben and I are both really excited to start to look towards the future and make plans for things to come. Now we are going to practice patience and wait till the right time to start to put these plans into effect. And for all you wondering a baby isn't in the near future. The Lord continues to bless us and we are humbled by all the ways he has blessed us.

It's great to be 28

Ben and I had our 28th birthday this week. Getting older really doesn't bug me too much. Last year was the hardest so far but over all I welcome the new age with open arms. Ben loves it when our birthdays roll around because for one day he gets to crack as many jokes as he can about me being old. I guess it's good that I had my older brothers to be mean to me or I actually might take what he says personally. For our birthdays we were pretty low key. The way I like things. On my birthday the girls gave me chocolate (lots and lots) and I got to pull "but it's my birthday" card all day long and got out of lots of stuff. The girls and Ben made me a red velvet cake and it turned out really great. Melissa and Jackson came over for cake and hanging out. We love when we spend time together. Then Ben made dinner for the girls and a separate dinner for me. I had baked pasta. Loved it. It was so dang yummy. On Ben's birthday I stayed up till 5:15 taking care of Azlie so he could sleep got 4 hours and then got up for the day. I did miss making him birthday breakfast but once he found out how late I was up all was forgiven. He spent the day playing a game that we bought him for his birthday and then we went out to run some errands. After we did that we went to his brothers house and we got treated to take out. I wanted Mexican and Ben wanted Chinese. We got Chinese but it was so yummy anyway I really didn't care. That was our birthdays. Nothing too fancy but had a great time as a family. I am so excited to see what happens this next year.

Happy Late New Year!

So the girls and I rang in the New Year at our branch party. Ben had to work and I was asked to be in charge of games for the kids which I loved. It helped me build relationships with the kids in primary and I am hoping that I will be able to be their friend along with teacher. I have to say that I really love my calling. Every calling I have had (except when I was in a singles ward) has been in the primary. I was sort of burned out for a while but not any more. I find that I am jazzed to do sharing time and plan activities for the kids. I also went and bought these really cute binders (that I am not expensing since I don't want to give them up when I get released).


We played Simon says, mother may I, sneaker scramble, bean bag target (just in case you are wondering chalk doesn't vacuum up that easy), animal charades, and a few other games. I was really happy with the response that I got from the kids. I was only asked to do games for an hour or so but the kids just kept asking to play more games so I was in there the whole night. Some of the parents came up to me later and thanked me for keeping the kids occupied while they had some adult time. Here's my secret, shhh don't tell. I actually like playing with kids more than adults. Kids love it when adults are silly and it great to be loved for that.


The reason why I wanted to post was because I don't make resolutions or goals every year but there are things that I would love to see happen this next year.
1. Sell our home in Roy and make some money off of it.
2. Buy a home here in our branch boundaries that we love and can make our home for years to come.
3. Lose 50 lbs. I know that's steep but 30 of that is weight that I haven't lost from being prego with Azlie.
4. Become debt free and stay that way.
5. Help in activating some of the primary kids that aren't coming.
6. Help strengthen the testimony of myself, family, and those I serve.
7. Be able to have a laundry fairy that comes and does all the laundry while we sleep. That includes folding and putting it away.
8. Help make someones life better.
9. Build stronger relationships with friends and family.

Temple in strange place

I was looking at the AOL news ticker that they have and one of the pictures they have was of one of the LDS temples. Now seeing our temple that has anything to do with AOL is strange to me but then the heading of the article didn't seem to fit "Ten great cities for salary growth". I clicked on it and then the picture made a little more sense. Check it out. http://jobs.aol.com/article/_a/10-great-cities-for-salary-growth/20081218103409990001?ncid=AOLCOMMjobsDYNLprim0001