Funny ... Me ...

This picture was taken on Halloween 2007. David is by far one of the cutest clowns I've ever seen. He was a whopping three (3) months old in this picture. He seemed very pleased to have his picture taken and he clearly didn't seem annoyed by Mom applying makeup to his face.

He has become quite a funny little boy. He loves following his big brother around. He and Cameron make quite a duo. When they are together, they rival the Tasmanian Devil. Their path of destruction leaves no doubt that they have been here. You've heard that a school of piranha can deskeletonize a cow in under two (2) minutes; they can destroy a house in just under three (3). Not quite as efficient as a school of piranha, but still pretty impressive. It sure makes keeping the house clean a difficult task at best.

Lately, the roles of their little "gang" have changed. David now seems to lead the pair on their conquest of demolition. Cameron seems more than happy to follow. The day will soon come when David will be considered the "big" brother and Cameron will be looking up to him.

David has recently developed a fun personality. If he's in an unfamiliar place, or with unfamiliar people, he clams up. But, when he's comfortable with his environment, he really comes out of his shell and shows off his true colors. Lately, he says things or does things that are hysterical and we all laugh, of course. After we settle down a little bit, he smiles and says with a laugh, "Funny ... me ..." And he is. He reminds me a lot of Riley at this age. I look forward to the next couple of years when he really comes into his own. What a cutie!

Is that Mowgli?

This picture was taken in May of 2005. This is a sample of Cameron's style of walking. He looked just like Mowgli from Disney's The Jungle Book. It was amazing He incredibly efficient he was at this style of mobility. He was very excited to be able to go places without scratching his belly (although, truthfully, he didn't seem to mind that so much either).

A couple of months after this picture was taken, he was whisked away to Phoenix Children's Hospital for open heart surgery to repair his ventricular septal defect. It wasn't long after his surgery that he was Mowgli walking again. He bounced back amazingly quickly. As soon as he was back to this style of walking, he started walking like a normal biped. It was quite interesting how he started walking upright. He would get in the Mowgli position and back himself against a solid object (e.g. wall, chair, couch, parent's leg, etc.). He would lean against the object and stand himself up. Then he could walk away from the object and take a few steps. He finally mastered the art of standing on his own, but it didn't take long!

Eggs for Sale ...

This picture captures a typical day in September of 2004 when we had our first batch of chickens. Brittney, in all her cuteness, would put on her trusty boots (apparently, pants were optional - boots, however, strictly required) and make the daily trip to the chicken coop to collect the days treasures left by our hard working hens. She was so adorable (all two-and-a-half years of her) with her little Dalmatian boots and curly blonde hair. She absolutely loved getting the eggs from the chicken coop each day and reporting back to Mom how many eggs there were. I believe at the time we only had three (3) chickens, but when we moved shortly thereafter we got rid of them and started fresh with a new batch of chickens.

Presently, we have one (1) full chicken laying an egg a day and we just bought fourteen (14) chicks that will start laying as early as August. Hopefully, we won't lose any during the raising process like we have in the past. This time we're taking extra precautions to avoid touching them. Some friends of ours said that they tried that and they didn't have any fatalities. It's worth a shot.

With this latest batch of chickens it'll be David that goes out to the chicken coop and collects the eggs. He'll be just as cute ... and we still have the boots!

CANNONBALL!!!

Riley hasn't changed much since this picture was taken (June 2005). He was at swim lessons with Dani, Brittney, and Cameron. At the end of each swim lesson, the kids are allowed to play around on the grotto faux rock slide. There's also a dive platform for the courageous few. Riley was one of those few. He decided to take this moment and quote a funny line from a great movie -- The Sandlot. He quoted Porter (the catcher/token fat kid) and yelled out, "CANNONBALL!" He, of course, included the subtle, prepubescent voice cracks for effect. Riley is quite a ham when he wants to be (more often then his parents would like and he typically picks the absolute worst time to do it). Ironically, Porter's nickname in the movie is "Ham."

We're afraid he's gonna turn out just like his dad. Time will tell. We're hoping he grows out of it.

It's Been Too Long ...

We must apologize for our absence, but we haven't been taking many picutres lately. (It's the great downfall of laziness ... and a lack of drive to purchase batteries for the camera.) At any rate, I figured we could post old pictures and reminisce. I'll try to do these as often as occasion permits.

This picture was taken in the fall of 1999. I absolutely love the look of this picture. This picture was taken by a lady that, at the time, had recently moved from our ward. She took the pictures with black & white film and then colored them afterward. What you don't know about this picture is that she had a massively fat upper lip. (It's barely noticeable even if you know about it.) Christine and I were at K-Mart with Danielle just prior to this picture being taken and she started to get a little fussy. I decided to turn my focus to her and allow Christine to finish shopping for whatever it was she needed at that store. I began "chasing" her around the one aisle in the garden section and she became immediately interested in this game. She would run around the corner and I would follow closely behind and "surprise" her. On this particular occasion, I waited a little too long (thinking that the more anticipation the longer the game would last and the more entertaining I would be) and, unbeknownst to me, she came back around the corner because she had become bored waiting for me. I decided that I had waited long enough and came around the corner at the same time. She saw me barreling around the corner and turned just in time for me to plow into her back and knock her down. She gracefully braced her fall with her upper lip and immediately started to cry (way to go, Dad!). I took her out to the car and cared for her lip. Christine was less than thrilled with me and wasn't sure if we could keep the picture-taking appointment. We ended up taking her to get the picture taken and we are sooooo glad we did!

Fruita, CO

We finally made it to Colorado to visit the Dares (it took us long enough - 2 years? 3 years?). Anyway, we had an absolute blast with the Dares (why wouldn't we?).

We played the Wii ...

We went to a farmer's market and saw a fire engine for an airport ...

Cameron lost a tooth ...

We went to the local reservoir and played on the beach ...

We also went to the mountains and watched a movie at a volunteer fire station. It was sooo much fun!! Thanks, Dares, for putting up with us. We'll definitely be back next year!

Four Corners

We recently took a trip to Colorado. Our kids decided it was in the Strader's best interest to stop by Four Corners. It was a miserable drive, but well worth the stop. Yipee.

Here's a portion of us ...

Here's the better part of us ...

And some solo shots.

Good ...

Better ...

BEST!!!!

If you ever decide to visit (which we recommend you do at some point in your life), take cash. The Bureau of Land Management charges admission and they don't take plastic. Grrrrrrrr!!

Newport 2009

We just got back from Newport Beach. It was a lot of fun. Here's a couple of pictures from the trip.

We're on our way!

What's a trip to the beach without being buried in the sand?

And, of course, there's the obligatory visit to an amusement park.

All in all, we had an absolute blast! Let's hope it happens again soon!

Happy Birthday Papa 2009

It's been way too long since we posted on our blog. We thought we'd start up again by singing "Happy Birthday" to Papa. I hope you like it. (David was too tired to join. Sorry.)

Square Foot Gardening

We decided to put in a garden this year. Since we haven't had much luck in the past with grass choking out our plants, we are trying a different method of gardening called Square Foot Gardening.

First we built our boxes and put cardboard in the bottom (so grass and weeds can't kill our plants again):

Then Brad and Grandpa made the special soil:

Next, put the soil into the boxes (with David and Cameron's help):

Now we need the grid on top to guide our planting:

Cameron is supervising

Brittney's quite the carpenterLook at all the helpers
All done!
Finally, we get to plant:

Making the holes for the seeds

Don't plant the rocks David

Very cute Dani!

Team work

Can't wait for the seeds to start growing!

David's First Snow Trip

Well, we figured it was time to take David to the snow. We went over President's Day weekend up to the Rim for some fun in the snow. We went with the Whitings and had a blast. We were quite impressed with how well David did in the snow for his first time.


We had to do the best we could with our "winter clothes." They were more like "spring" clothes, so we layered.

I especially like Cameron's gloves. Hey, "Eat it up. Wear it out. Make it do. Or do without." We made it work.

Here's the Dynamic Duo. They worked quite well together, although David definitely outlasted Cameron in the "tolerance-to-snow" department.

Here's the boys helping Mom make a snowman. I don't think Mr. Snowman ever actually came to fruition.

David and his cousin, Braden, are "chillin'" in the snow. Clearly, Braden was far more prepared for snow outings than David. Oh well.

Brittney and her cousin, Brianna, were sure having fun "boogey boarding" down the slopes.

Either Dani wet her pants or the snow did. Either way, it was time to change into the next set of dry clothes. Hi, Dani.

Go, Riley! That's a really good likeness of you. I think you made your hands with too many fingers, though.

All in all, we had a great time. I'm looking forward to next year. (Though, secretly I'm glad it's a whole year before we have to do it again.)

Dani's famous .... I think?

Dani's recently been the star of a hit video on YouTube.com called Kitten vs. Girl.



Gripping!

She was at her friends house and they put this together. It's pretty funny to watch this with Dani because she's laughing at them and we're laughing at her. Hope you enjoy.

Well, it's December and that means birthdays!

As you may know, we have three birthdays to celebrate before christmas in the month of December. First, we had Danielle's birthday party. It was a "Tie-Dyed" shirt party. The birthday girl and guests, with the help from Christine, made tie-dyed shirts. According to a report from one of the guests' mothers, "you have to use a fork to make a tie-dyed shirt." They also made flower barrettes using a silk flower, a brad, a bit of ribbon, and a barrette. One of the girls, a noted Tom Boy, didn't know what to do with the barrette. (She was wearing it practically on her forehead.) She had to be educated in the ways of wearing barrettes. Another report: This just in ... "Sister Strader is really talented."

Second, we had Brittney's birthday party. Christine had a great idea to have the birthday party at Bounce-U. It's a warehouse with a bunch of "bouncing castles" in them. Of course, they're not all bouncing castles. There're slides, boxing rings, obstacle courses, etc. It was a ton of fun and afterwards Brittney et. al. had cupcakes and opened presents.

Finally, Brad's birthday has been lost due to Brittney being born on the same day. So, he has to make an appearance where he can.

Happy Birthday!!