Matt, Christina, Quinn, Ava, & Ethan: March 2008

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Happy Birthday Daddy

Today would have been my Dad's 50th birthday. This is a picture of us singing happy birthday to him when we were younger. Ericka was always one for the dramatic, one of her nicknames was Hollywood when she was younger. We are so blessed to have such a great dad. There was nothing more important to him then his family. We love and miss you Dad, but we know we will see you again soon.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Our Anniversary

Matt and I celebrated our anniversary on February 23rd. He was in charge this year and since we are in the great city of Seattle which is where our courtship and proposal occurred, Matt decided to re-enact our proposal. The night he originally proposed he took me to Anthony's Homeport on the Kirkland waterfront for dinner, and then we went for a walk on the waterfront, and when we got to a dock out over Lake Washington with the lights of Seattle behind us, he professed his love for me and then got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was an absolutely beautiful night. Well, he did everything the same except when we got out onto the dock there was a bunch of guys sitting out there, so he didn't get down on his knee, but he did present me with this beautiful heart shaped diamond ring. As you can tell it is much bigger then my original ring. He's so cute. I love you Matt Stevulak, I'm such a lucky girl to have you.

QFQ - Quotes from Quinn

August 30- I was in the car with Quinn and Ava driving to pick up Christina from the airport. Ava was making a noise that was annoying her brother. Quinn informed his sister that if she didn't stop he would no longer be her brother. Ava came right back and said,"fine, i'll just buy a new brother that's nice to me." Quinn in sadder tone told Ava that he is her brother. Its amazing how quick they are with combacks this early in life.

February 1- Last Sunday Matt and I laid down to take a nap, and about 10 minutes into it we suddenly heard hysterical crying coming from Quinn and Ava. Quinn had gotten our gallon pitcher, completely full of lemonade, out of the refridgerator and dropped it. It was quite a mess and I think Quinn thought he was going to be in a heap of trouble. While we were cleaning it up Matt asked Quinn how he had dropped it and Quinn replied "Easily". I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes.

January 10- This actually happened a few months ago. Quinn has an Incredible Hulk action figure and one day he brought it to me and said "Mom, when I get bigger I want to have big nipples like the Incredible Hulk", it was so funny. Well, when we were in Seattle over Christmas Matt's brother Chris was there and he works out everyday for atleast 3 to 4 hours, so when we dropped him off at the gym Quinn would say "Uncle Chris is going to work on his big nipples?" Oh, man that Quinn's a riot.

August 5- The other day Quinn asked me where dad was, I told him he was at work flying an airplane. He said "Oh, he's flying an airplane sitting on his bum." Yep Quinn you pretty much got it, that's probably the hardest aspect of his job.

June 9-So we went to visit my mom and sisters and brothers in Denver last week and Quinn picked up a new word from his cousins or aunts and uncles, I apparently said something to him that was pretty obvious and he looked at me and said "Duh", the scary thing is that he used it so accuratley. This was definitley the hardest time I've had trying not to start laughing. That brings me to the other funny thing he has been saying lately. If you start laughing at something in Quinn's presence and he thinks your laughing at him he will say "don't be funny at me" in a very offended voice.

May 10th- Quinn saw Matt and I kiss and said "ooooh that's a nasty kiss" I said "Mom and Dad love each other Quinn" he replied "No only me". This apparent belief has been evident for most of his life.

April 28th-Matt "Quinn you better calm down or I'm gonna spank your bum red" Quinn "No, I'm gonna spank your bum orange". Then he started saying I'm gonna spank your bum and then said all different colors, it was hilarious, we were laughing so hard.

April 7th- Mom says "Quinn those are such cute dinosaur underoos you have on", Quinn says "No mom there cool." This has been the story of our lives lately, everything that I say is cute, or handsome or fun, Quinn says no mom its cool. Where did he learn this? I don't have a clue.

March 2nd- Quinn bore his testimony for the first time at church today. When I asked him if he wanted to go up and bear his testimony he was so excited. Then when it was our turn he went right up and told everyone (in a really loud voice) that he loved Jesus, and he loved his family. He did such a good job. I love my little Quinny the Pooh.

Feb 19th- I was getting ready to feed Quinn some breakfast when he stood up in his chair and started jumping up and down, and then he suddenly stopped and looked at me and said "Mom, I don't have a tail to bounce on." I guess we have been watching a little too much Winnie the Pooh lately.

Feb 8th- Quinn was eating Rice Krispies for breakfast and when I poured the milk on I told Quinn to listen to the snap crackle and pop the cereal makes. Quinn picked up his spoon and announced to the cereal "Im going to get you POP!"

Feb 6th-We were watching the news about this lady whose house is buried in snow and they said they need to use a PRIVATE tractor to dig them out. Quinn who has been learning about peoples privates said,"He's talking about peoples private penis!" I guess we need to explain the word a little better.

Jan 27- Christina walked into the bedroom and Quinn turned around and said "mommy I did mine and sisters hair", then Christina noticed the mint scented KY jelly in his hand. The hair do's didn't look that bad and at least their hair smelt good.

Jan 26- Quinn is learning the words that are not nice to say like "shut up". He knows he gets in trouble when he uses those words, so instead he likes to say "mom I won't say shut up anymore, okay?" and we'll reply "thats a good choice", but just to say the word he'll repeat the same phrase over and over again.

Jan 25- Quinn skipping his nap was a little tired at dinner. With Quinn being grumpy, christina said,"I know someone who needs to go to bed." Just then Quinn said "Mommy you don't say that word". Tawsha startd laughing and Quinn turned to her and Said "Tawsha your not funny".
Its amazing the phrases they learn and when they choose to use them.

Jan 21- Christina came over and gave me a kiss for making her breakfast and Quinn said "ew, thats a NAAASTY kiss".

Jan 19th- We were getting in the car and Quinn wanted to put his shoulder straps around him. He was wearing a big puffy jacket and his shoulder straps were still a little tight, so he was having a hard time. Getting frustrated that the straps wouldn't work with his big puffy jacket on, he exclaimed "THIS IS RIDICULOUS" as he started to remove his jacket to fit in his straps.

Jan 17th- Quinn came in our room eating a cereal bar and some fruit snacks. I asked Quinn if he asked anybody if he could have those. Quinn replied "I asked Annie". For those of you who don't know Annie, she is Matts parents dog. I then asked him "and what did Annie say?" Quinn quickly replied "she said WOOF WOOF, thank you!"

Date unknown- In the car Quinn has become quite the back seat driver. If you hop the curb, accelerate real fast or swerve the car Quinn loves to shout "SLOW DOWN GRANDMA!"