The Stradlings

No pictures

2010-12-20T08:33:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that I do want to put some pictures up, but we just got a new computer and they are still on our old one. I will get to it soon! :)

2010-11-05T23:49:00.000-07:00

The kids enjoyed going to the harvest festival and getting candy. Ariana got her face painted and was so excited to get a picture with a "princess." Then they got hot chocolate with lots of whipped cream which ended up all over their faces!

2010-11-05T23:43:00.000-07:00

Carving pumpkins!

2010-11-04T10:22:00.000-07:00

Phoenix vacation

2010-07-21T18:52:00.000-07:00

Ronja is back in town

2010-07-21T18:25:00.000-07:00

Making cookies with grandma!

2010-02-04T11:41:00.000-08:00

Our messy little guy!

2010-02-04T11:34:00.000-08:00

More Christmas pictures!

2010-02-04T11:26:00.000-08:00

Ariana after we cut her bangs

2010-02-04T11:21:00.000-08:00

Playing doggie, their favorite game!

2010-02-04T11:10:00.000-08:00

2010-01-28T14:44:00.000-08:00

We had Jake come over and clean our carpets and furniture. The guy is a maniac! He worked so hard for about 3 1/2 hours, and you can see the finished product. Amazing Jake!!!!!!

2010-01-28T14:33:00.000-08:00

After

Before

2009-12-25T21:48:00.001-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stradling Thanksgiving Visit!

2009-12-20T12:45:00.000-08:00

Ward Thanksgiving Visit!

2009-12-20T12:41:00.000-08:00

We had loads of fun visiting with family for Thanksgiving. Aubrey came with baby Kyle about 2 weeks early and we had a blast! Shawn, Ryan and Briana got here later and it was so much fun. Dinner was awesome, pictures were horrible. All in all, it was a fabulous holiday!

2009-12-20T12:29:00.000-08:00

2009-12-20T12:21:00.000-08:00

Our little water lover!

2009-12-20T12:17:00.000-08:00

2009-12-13T21:58:00.000-08:00

Here is Ariana doing one of her favorite things. Singing and playing the piano with Papa!

Ariana and her daddy before church.

2009-12-13T21:56:00.001-08:00

This is Ariana before she went to church. It has been so hard to get pics of her lately because she never wants to look! These turned out pretty cute though.

2009-12-13T21:55:00.000-08:00

2009-12-13T21:48:00.000-08:00

2009-12-13T21:27:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas party was a blast. The kids got to see santa, and Ariana was THRILLED! She has been freaking out because she learned about the naughty list while watching Dora, and has become obsessed. It's pretty neat now that she understands what Christmas is all about, and she likes to tell everyone the Christmas story. Connor on the other hand wanted nothing to do with santa, he just looked down at his hands the whole time. He didn't smile, but it's better than last year when we could not even get him to sit there. He cried histerically when we attempted to set him down. Now he knows who santa is and he likes him as long as he keeps his distance!

2009-12-13T21:18:00.000-08:00

2009-12-13T21:14:00.000-08:00

We did another craft fair at the end of the street this weekend, and it was a total waste of time for me as far as money goes, but I had fun making all my stuff! (And quite a bit of stress too:) Here are some of the things I made.

2009-12-13T20:04:00.000-08:00

2009-12-07T15:39:00.000-08:00

I agreed to make a corsage set for my sis in law Kara, and here is the finished product. I have no idea why it is upside down, it would not work the other way. Lindy helped me with the corsage. Thanks Lindy!

2009-12-07T15:30:00.000-08:00

Our little ballerina

2009-11-04T11:05:00.000-08:00

Our Halloween!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-11-03T23:27:00.000-08:00

Cousin Brant looking so cute in camo!

This is the only picture I have of these 2 together!

Our little turtle man!

The kids had a ball trick or treating!

This was definately the kids favorite part of the night!

Could picking candy out of a huge bowl get any better?

Lovin it!!!!

Going fishing!

This was actually before all the crazy stuff started. It was not even dark yet and Ariana was exhausted. We had just left Bashas and she took a five minute power nap. That was all she needed for a night full of fun!

Ariana got to decorate a cake at Bashas and she loved it! I gave her a piece the next day with just orange frosting and she said "Mom, I need to have green and yellow frosting on my piece!"

Ariana's school halloween party

2009-11-03T22:56:00.000-08:00

A princess and her hair!

2009-11-03T22:43:00.000-08:00

About 6 weeks ago I decided to let Ariana grow out her bangs. During this awkward stage where the bangs just hang in her eyes, I took it upon myself to try out some new hairstyles to keep the hair out of her face. This is a huge deal for me because in four years, I think I have done her hair (I mean, really done her hair:) only a handful of times. She hated sitting to let me do it, and I did not want to fight with her, plus I didn't have any clue what I was doing. (What's the point of beauty school? No idea!) Well, she has only left the house a few times in the last 6 weeks without her hair all done up and I am one proud mama!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have tried all kinds of new things and here are a few of them.

2009-11-03T22:13:00.000-08:00

Making Flowers!

2009-10-15T10:57:00.000-07:00

Cousins

2009-10-13T16:47:00.000-07:00

2009-10-12T23:28:00.000-07:00

Baby Zoe's blessing day

Happy birthday Grandma!

Another temple picture

2009-10-09T11:26:00.000-07:00

We went to see the temple for FHE, and it is beautiful. This was taken on 9/26/09.

First day of school

2009-10-09T10:47:00.000-07:00

Ariana had a blast, and Connor was having so much fun he did not want to leave! She has been doing so well, and she is actually going on the bus! Fanfreakintastic!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-10-09T10:36:00.000-07:00

Our temple

2009-09-24T15:51:00.001-07:00

2009-09-21T16:47:00.001-07:00

I know I am a little late in this posting, but this was our Fourth of July. We went up to what felt like the very top of Mount Graham and went hiking. The kids all had a blast, although I didn't really enjoy myself because I was carsick all the way up, and then scared to death the kids were going to fall off the edge during the hike. It didn't help that the dads were attempting to be daredevels. I guess there's no balance in these things! We all had fun watching the fireworks except for Connor, who was terrified. And what a time to forget his blanky!

2009-09-21T16:25:00.000-07:00

We love our kids!!!!!!!!

2009-09-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

Our growing boy

2009-09-17T13:54:00.000-07:00

Connor has become so independent. He will not let me help him, and he just loves to create huge works of art. Art that mommy does not like!

What a mess!

My kids can fall asleep anytime, anywhere!

Look at his cheesy grin!

Poor little sick boy.

Having lots of fun!!!!!!!!

2009-09-17T13:30:00.000-07:00

Ariana and Rossi started posing for the camera while eating watermelon!

She just loves to play games on the computer!

Ariana had so much fun holding her new baby cousin Zoe for the first time.

Ariana broke her collar bone jumping off the couch at Rylee's house. She only wore this sling for about 2 days, and even that was next to impossible!

Ariana loves eating ice cream cones at Ice King, and we love the art work. Thanks Aubrey!

The amazing reception

2009-09-08T01:19:00.001-07:00

2009-09-08T01:11:00.000-07:00

Briana's Wedding

2009-09-08T00:58:00.000-07:00

Briana had the most beautiful wedding, and she looked amazing! Welcome to the family, Ryan!!!

2009-09-08T00:50:00.000-07:00

Aubrey's visit!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-09-08T00:45:00.001-07:00

Aubrey and Kyle came to visit us before Briana's wedding. We had a ball! Aubrey painted a mural for Ice King (the family business) She did so much more than these few pictures, but I will have to post more later. We had so much fun with them, and Ariana and Connor had a blast with their cousin. We love them so much!!!!!!!!!!

2009-09-08T00:35:00.001-07:00

2009-09-08T00:22:00.000-07:00

Kids will be kids

2009-07-01T22:10:00.000-07:00

Slip and Slide

2009-07-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

Happy July!!!!

2009-07-01T21:51:00.000-07:00

This has been an interesting month. Briana got married and so that was an experience and a half. Bryan is almost finished with his Associates degree. Amber has been working at Ice King in the new Oasis. She enjoys it and she enjoys getting out to visit with "grown-ups." The kids are doing awesome. Ariana broke her collar bone last week but you couldn't tell that by watching her run all over the yard. Connor is a typical 18 month old, he likes to wrestle with his dad.

2009-06-15T23:21:00.000-07:00

This has been an extremely hectic 6 weeks, and I mean way more than usual. In fact, I am somewhat surprised that I even survived such utter chaos and mad insanity, but here I am! So, Sister Monique Mullenaux left us to go to the MTC and it has been extremely hard without her, but she will be fantastic and be back in what hopefully feels like a jiffy. Ronja had to go back to Germany, which was very hard and we all miss her very much. She turned 18 on June 12, so everyone wish her a happy birthday! We love you and miss you so much, darling! Briana got married on june 12 (welcome to the fam, Ryan:) to a mondo stud who I just love! Aubrey came for almost 2 weeks, with major responsibilities (she had to paint an entire mural on the front of the Ice King) which I must say is unbelievable. A huge part of our family came from Utah and CA for the wedding, so that has been a blast. Bryan has been working ridiculous amounts of hours and putting in tons of time for school, so that has been a real challenge. I have been working at Ice King Oasis, which made me start to feel like a female version of my dad. Anyone who knows him knows that he almost never leaves his job, and I seemed to be following in his footsteps. I am just hoping that things will start to settle down soon, and maybe get back to "normal" whatever that is.

2009-06-15T23:06:00.000-07:00

amazing birthday parties, fun in the sun, mud monsters and playdough

2009-06-15T22:48:00.000-07:00

2009-05-12T19:16:00.001-07:00

It has been about 4 months since I last posted, and I feel pretty dumb. I decided I would at least give a few updates on what has been going on. We got a foreign exchange student from Germany, who has been so much fun. She came to live with us February 4, and we have had such a blast getting to know her. Her name is Ronja Gillmeister, and the kids are loving their new "big sister".

2009-05-12T18:42:00.000-07:00

Our Family

2009-01-30T12:20:00.000-08:00

2009-01-30T12:07:00.000-08:00

This is Connor's birthday party! We had so much fun, although he didn't seem to enjoy himself that much. Poor little fellow had an ear infection and a fever, so he was pretty miserable. Just look how excited he is to eat his cake! In fact, I don't think he took a single bite and there was definately no stuffing it in his mouth. The only reason he had frosting on him at all is because I tried to get him to stick his hands in it. If you look closely at the cake, you will see a little scoop out of it on the right hand side. That's because when no one was paying attention, Ariana was in the kitchen with the chips using the cake as her dip! Nasty! We crammed tons of people into our little house, and there was almost no breathing room, but it was great. Happy 1st birthday; Connor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-01-30T11:37:00.001-08:00

2009-01-26T16:53:00.000-08:00

I Just wanted to let everybody know, my little sister Briana is ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe it because I still think of her as a darling little 8 year old. Anyway, Ryan Reid proposed on January 24, 2009. They will probably be married sometime in July. Congratulations guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sleeping Angels

2009-01-26T14:55:00.000-08:00

Visiting the temple

2009-01-13T10:23:00.000-08:00

Things I made for the craft fair

2009-01-12T21:06:00.000-08:00

2009-01-12T21:00:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning! We all had a blast!

2009-01-12T20:52:00.000-08:00

2009-01-12T20:39:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve and seeing santa AGAIN! The kids got to open one gift from santa and Ariana got a crown and earring set, but Connor was so upset that he didnt even want to open his. Maybe he will like santa better next year!

2009-01-12T20:35:00.000-08:00

2009-01-04T23:17:00.000-08:00

We had fun putting up the Christmas tree. Bryan decided he wanted a real tree this year and it was so nice. It smelled so good and the kids had such a blast decorating it!

2009-01-04T23:10:00.000-08:00

2009-01-04T22:56:00.000-08:00

Here is the rest of us at the Christmas party; Mom, Ranja, Connor and Ariana. Ariana insisted on bringing her baby (she can't seem to go anywhere without it) and she had a blast playing with grandma's cell phone. She loved seeing Santa, and was absolutely thrilled to get a gift bag (which was filled with a clemantine that she thought was a tiny pumpkin, 2 pieces of candy and about 6 handfulls of peanuts) By the time Christmas came, she had already seen Santa 5 different times! This was the first year that she was not scared to bits of Santa, so it was nice to see her happily sitting on his lap and talking to him. We all had fun!

2009-01-04T22:46:00.000-08:00

2009-01-04T22:38:00.000-08:00

This was when Aubrey and baby Kyle came to visit us from Idaho for almost 3 weeks. It was so much fun! We had a blast hanging out, making bows and watching our boys (3 months apart) playing together and keeping Ariana from beating on them. It was awesome! We had a Christmas party for our ward and Santa came, and as you can see Kyle thought he was great, but Connor was utterly horrified! If you look closely, you can see Kyle looking at Connor like he's off his rocker and Santa is laughing behind his glasses. It was too funny! We miss you guys!!!!!!

2009-01-04T22:34:00.000-08:00

2008-12-28T22:18:00.000-08:00

I am so sorry it has literally been forever since I last posted. Well, 3 months to be more exact. We have been extremely busy, which is not really a good excuse, but it's all I have. So much has gone on and I have so many pictures to update that I decided to just do a few for right now because I am never going to be able to catch up. So these are pictures of us at the Lakeside Cabin. We went there a few weeks ago and had a blast. Except for the drive, and the fact that we all got sick, and that we almost died of smoke inhalation (we forgot to open the vent in the fireplace, and didnt realize for about 3 hours) but all in all it was really great. My sister Aubrey and her son Kyle came to AZ from ID for about 2 1/2 weeks, and we had so much fun! I will have to post pictures of them later, but for now I am going to bed. Good night!

2008-12-28T22:12:00.000-08:00

2008-09-24T10:56:00.001-07:00

Ariana loves to make Connor laugh, and he loves laughing at his big sister! It is so cute. This is the first time Connor took a bath in the big bathtub, and he had so much fun. After their bath, Bryan set Connor up in front of the screen door to look outside (something that he has enjoyed since he learned to sit) and Ariana came up and sat next to him. It was so darling, I could not resist snapping a bunch of pictures. Shocking!

2008-09-24T10:50:00.000-07:00

2008-09-24T10:44:00.000-07:00

To keep us from going stir crazy in the house, I handed Ariana a squirt bottle and told her to go spray the flowers. This has become one of her favorite activities! Grandma and Grandpa had a huge truckload of rock delivered to their house, and Ariana thought it was her own personal mountain. Here she is with her friend Jeffy climbing up and down, and getting filthy dirty! Ariana and Auntie Amy at her birthday party.

2008-09-24T10:35:00.000-07:00

2008-09-24T10:27:00.001-07:00

Our baby boy is growing up so fast! Here he is sitting in the grass for the first time and having a blast. I have been putting Connor in the grass in the front yard while Ariana plays in the rocks and uses her squirt bottle to squirt everything (including her baby brother) That is why his hair is spiked up because she came over and was squirting him all over his head. Connor and auntie Kara at Amy's birthday party. Happy Birthday Amy!

2008-09-24T10:13:00.000-07:00

2008-09-09T10:02:00.000-07:00

Harley Colt Brown was born on August 24, and is just a doll! Big sister Rossi is happy as can be with her new brother and is a big help. Ariana loves her new cousin and is excited that Rossi is a big sister, just like her. Congratulations Stephen, Julie and Rossi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-09-09T09:51:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Brenton!

2008-09-09T09:46:00.000-07:00

1st day of preschool

2008-09-09T09:32:00.000-07:00

Ariana started preschool on August 12, and goes Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. She gets to ride the bus, sing songs and learn lots of new things. She enjoys school once she gets there, but she does not like getting on the bus. She loves to come home and sing the songs she has learned, which she does at the top of her lungs! She also is going to another preschool on Monday and Friday, which she just started yesterday. She was very excited because we got to walk there instead of riding the bus, and I am happy because now she has something to look forward to every day. She has tons of energy and gets bored at home very easily, so this is great! We are still getting used to the very early schedule, which starts at 6:30 to make the bus at 7:15. Hopefully things will get easier!

2008-09-09T09:19:00.000-07:00

2008-09-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

Aubrey and Baby Kyle came to visit us from Idaho for a few weeks. We had so much fun! It was the first time Ariana and Connor got to meet their cousin, and us mommies had a blast taking pictures of them. We enjoyed beading and eating and reminiscing. My only complaint was that it went by too quickly! We miss you AubsZaugg!!!!!!

2008-09-09T08:51:00.000-07:00

Happy 3rd Birthday Ariana!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-09-09T08:19:00.000-07:00

2008-08-25T13:31:00.000-07:00

Connor is just a little doll! We are having so much fun watching him grow up, which is happening way too fast!!!!!!!! He is 7 months old today and he absolutely loves being able to move all over the place. He has been waking up a lot at night, and seems to fall asleep everywhere but in his bed. He is a wonderful baby and we love him to pieces!

Our baby boy

2008-08-25T13:15:00.000-07:00

2008-08-25T12:51:00.000-07:00

It has literally been forever since I last posted and I'm sorry for that. We have been very busy in the last 6 weeks. We have had Briana visiting from Utah, Uncle Jared and Tristen and families visiting from Utah, Aubrey and baby Kyle visiting from Idaho, baby showers, birthdays and a new baby, 1st day of school, and getting used to a new and very difficult schedule. All in all, things have been crazy and days full of chaos. Now that Connor is army crawling all over the place, things have become even more fun! Trying to keep him occupied and watching Ariana so she doesn't kiss him to the point of tears, and making sure everything is off the floor and out of his mouth has become a full time job. Ariana just loves her baby brother and is really enjoying running in circles around the room with a toy while he tries to catch up. She loves school and can't wait to get on the bus (except @ 6:30 am while I am trying to drag her out of bed) Now that summer is over and things are starting to get back to normal, I am hoping to keep up on blogging. I have a lot to post, so I will try to get it done today.

Ariana enjoying the summer

2008-08-25T12:26:00.000-07:00

Ariana eating ice cream and having fun taking swimming lessons. She got into some clowning makeup and got it everywhere! She also got her hair cut and now looks like a little pixie. We just love her!

2008-06-30T13:24:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pics of the kiddies. Aren't they darling? Ashley put Ariana's hair in braids and it was so cute! She looked like pippy long stocking! Ariana loves her brother and he just adores her. He smiles everytime she comes around. Even if she is being mean to him, he is just happy to be getting attention from her. They are doing great!

2008-06-30T13:01:00.000-07:00