Our LIfe and Times

feeling crafty...

2012-01-20T07:45:00.002-07:00

last night I decided to be a little crafty. I saw this cute heart wreath on (you know where). It looked easy and I had all the stuff, so I pulled it off in about 15 minutes. It was super easy and cheap. What more can you ask for?

Christmas Break and other randomness

2012-01-09T10:37:00.009-07:00

Christmas Break was 15 days long this year and we loved every minute of it. We did so many fun things that I might just show in pictures. We took Dre to Jump on it and he loved it. He was running all over the place and jumping like crazy.

For New Year's we went up to Matt's school and played laser tag and let the kids ride their scooters.

We also went to the Downs' for New Year's. We ate, talked, and played a newly wed game. Keven and Melissa won.

Let me just say that I love my new camera. So these pictures are kind of random, but so cute so I have to post them. These were all taken during our break.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-03T10:22:00.011-07:00

Christmas just gets better every year especially with Dre. He really started to get the idea of Santa. HE was able to see 4 Santa's this year and he was not afraid at all. He saw one at Walmart, Cabela's, the mall, and the Downs' Christmas party. He really liked that Santa gave him a treat each time he saw him. The Thursday before Christmas we went to the Downs' Christmas party. We ate, talked, had a visit from Santa, and did the nativity. Dre was old enough to participate this year and he was a crack up. He was in the choir and was just suppose to stand there. He decided that was boring, so he ran around the stage with his arms in the air like he was flying. It was suppose to be serious, so it was hard not to laugh. All the other kids just stood there.

Christmas Eve we stopped by both families houses and just ate and visited. New Christmas jammies. We invited my parents over for Christmas morning, so they got here and we woke Dre up. He walked in and ran to his Batman race track and was like ohhhhhh! He sat right down and started controlling it. We kept showing him what Santa gave him and every time he was like ohhhhhh! He opened a few presents then got sick of it because he wanted to play with the toys he already opened.

He got so much stuff. Matt and I got new iphones. Matt got a new popcorn maker and a XBOX 360 Kinect. I got thisfrom my parents. I love it! My pictures are so much better and I won't miss out on special moments just because of my camera.

We went over to my parents house on Christmas morning for breakfast and more presents.

Tyler got the T-Pain microphone and Dre thought that it sounded cool. Dre got a Vtech camera from my parents and he was going around saying "smile" He also got an outfit, Ute pillow pet, and legos.

Then we headed over to the Downs' for of course more presents. Matt's parents got Dre a Mater remote control car, scooter, and a doctor kit. Dre loves to make you feel "better" as he puts things in your ears to check. It was a great gift.

That night Matt's parents came over to see what we all got. Of course we had to get a pic with grandma and grandma.

Dre's future job...

2011-12-15T08:11:00.002-07:00

Last night Dre brought out a couple of his stuffed animals and then ran back to his room. He came out with a diaper and said he was going to change goofy's diaper. Then he asked for his wipes, which were on the table. I gave him one and he started to wipe Goofy's bum. He kept saying he's poopy. It was so funny! The things kids pick up on is sometimes hilarious.

When you have a bad day...

2011-12-08T08:10:00.002-07:00

I love that when I have a bad day that I have two boys at home that can make it all better. The other day I came home early from work cause I was having a not so good day. I got Dre from the babysitter and we went home and he cheered my right up. I think he could tell I was a little off cause he kept giving me hugs and kisses and telling me he loved me. He was also being more silly than usual and making me laugh, which made me feel better. I had been wanting to do a little art project with Dre and his handprints that I saw on pintrest, so I took this little opportunity to do it since I was home early. I think it turned out pretty good and Dre loved to "pain". He laughed every time that I had to repaint his hand.
When Matt got home he brought me a shake. Sugar is always a good way to cheer me up. I love my little family and I feel so grateful for them. They are truly a blessing in my life and I don't know what I would do without them.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-28T11:41:00.009-07:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Break. It was so nice to be home with my little family for 5 days. We got a lot done, and had so much fun together. Dre is so much fun right now and is really getting the whole Christmas thing down. We have been telling him he has to be nice so Santa will bring him presents, so whenever we say Santa's watching he says "I be nice" It's so fun!

Wednesday Matt hung up our Christmas Lights and they look so good. It's always fun to watch him up on the roof while I'm down on the ground. We have one little section that is pretty scary but Matt always does so good with the whole thing.

Thursday was Thanksgiving at my house this year. We ate,relaxed, talked, and watched football for a few hours. It's always fun to be with my family. I think they are pretty funny!our little family
Dre and Tessa talking at the kid's table
me and my beautiful sisters
Matt, Dre, Chase playing with Matt's phone
eating the grub
Kelli, Brian, Lance, Ethen grabbing the food

Thursday night was obviously BLACK FRIDAY!! It started early this year at Walmart so we had to be there around 7pm. I decided to stand at the pallet of Wii games. This is what it looked like around 10pm right before they uncovered the games.

Now for the story: I was waiting in line with my sis in law Marina for like 2 hrs to get a couple Wii games. Right before they undid the packaging I told Marina to leave and go get in the check out line. I'm glad I did because I almost died. When they undid the packaging the whole place went crazy. I didn't even have time to grab any game. Before I knew it I was pushed into the middle of the games. They were on cardboard shelves, so those collapsed on top of me. People kept pushing back down every time I tried to move or get up. I had my glasses on and those went flying off my face cause people kept hitting my face. I honestly couldn't breathe. There were a couple other people down on the ground with me cause they were pushed too. We had been talking earlier and they knew the games I wanted. They had grabbed them so while we were on the ground under all this caous they gave me the games I wanted. Then I really wanted to get out and couldn't. Finally, out of nowhere a cop reached his hand in and I grabbed a hold of it and he pulled me to freedom. When I was out I couldn't stop shaking. I was in a panic. It was seriously so scary! I have heard of things like this happening just never to me, but oh my gosh it was scary. I'm not sure I like Black Friday starting so early. There were way to many people. It was nice getting home around 3 and being able to sleep.

Friday we put up the Christmas Tree. This is one of my favorite traditions at our house. We put on Christmas music and I love the way my tree looks. Dre was so funny! As soon as I got the tree up he got real close and looked at me and said "don't touch" I was like good boy! he is so good with the tree. He just sits and looks at it.

To top off the weekend we had the traditional ornament hanging at my mom's house. Every year my mom buys us all new ornaments and we get to hang up all our ornaments from years past. Her tree is so full its crazy. But she loves it and we do too! I've decided that I'm going to carry on the tradtion with my kids and buy them ornaments every year!

Family Pictures Fall 2011

2011-11-22T08:38:00.007-07:00

Back in September we got family pictures done with my side of the family. We did it for my mom's birthday. Kelli's sister in law Kristeen. I think we got some good shots and it was time for some updated pictures.

just for me...

2011-11-15T09:29:00.004-07:00

This post is just for me. Since I don't do monthly updates on Dre anymore I want to write down a few things that he is up to so I don't forget how fun he is at this age.

*so into Star Wars and loves to fight his daddy with light sabers or guns
*sings the Darth Vader song all day long...he will hum it, say da da da, or even sing it with words like snoop snoop snoop
*likes certain clothes on and will even change mid-day if he is not feeling the shirt anymore
*he does not like to listen to me at all...he will make a caw sound at me, but if dad says to do something he does it right away
*Matt showed him the old school nintendo and now he asks to play "games"...he doesn't really play but he thinks he is

*he will say anything you tell him to
*he runs around like a crazy person
*he chases Snoop around if daddy won't fight him
*likes to look at books and color
*sleeps in crib for 12+ hrs and still takes a 2 hr nap
*very picky eater...eats grapes, cheese, fruit snacks, baby food veggies, noodles, rice, and chips/popcorn without whining...basically everything else is a fight
*wears mostly 3T clothes
*hates to wear jackets or sweatshirts...it is a fight every morning that I win until we get to the sitter's, the second we walk in her door he is asking me to take it "on"...that's how he says off

He is definitely becoming a little boy with a mind of his own. He is so funny and silly and has the best personality. We are so in love with this kid it's not even funny.

Mom and Son Date

2011-11-14T13:21:00.004-07:00

This weekend I took Dre to see Disney on Ice. Sue invited us to go with her and Tate. These boys are getting to where they can play and talk to each other, so I thought it would be a lot of fun for them to get together. (it was nice girl time too!) We went to lunch at Chipotle first, then went up to ESA for the show. We got there early so we tried to get some pics of the boys. Dre soon got really sick of me snapping pics so the one with him crying is the end of my picture taking. We bought the boys cotton candy and it came with their cute mickey mouse hats. The show was pretty good. Dre loved the Lion King part. A lot of the scenes they did came from my era of movies like Alladin, Lion King, Little Mermaid, Snow White, Alice, and a few new ones like Tangled. Dre hasn't seen any of those except Lion King so he was into it for a few minutes, but then would get a little restless. Once I got the popcorn though he was good to go. He sat and watched it all. On the way there the boys were yelling and screaming and you could tell they were so excited, but on the ride home they were silent. It definitely wore them out. It was so fun to get together with friends. Dre loves being around kids, so it was fun to see him interact with Tate. Dre would lean over to Tate when something cool happened and say Ooh!!

PS My camera really sucks. Sue got better pics so when I get them I might exchange these ones for hers

Pocatello

2011-11-07T11:26:00.004-07:00

My Grandpa G was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's. So, we decided we should go take a quick trip up to see him and see how he was doing. It was so nice to see him and be with him. You can definitely tell that the disease is there and that he is struggling with it. I feel really bad for my mom. It has to be tough to watch your father go through something like this and know there is nothing you can do about it. It was really sad when I asked him a question and he just started rambling. You couldn't understand what he was saying except for a few words here and there. It was like he was speaking a different language. But, it was super cute to see Tessa take a liking to him so fast. Right when we got there Tessa started playing with my grandma and grandpa. She was taking their left over Halloween candy and giving it to them. Friday night when everyone went to bed Jami and I decided to head to the late movie. We met my cousin Cami and saw Footloose. It was a good movie and a lot of fun to be able to make a girls night out of the trip. I'm so glad that we went up there to visit. I love my grandpa and all the fun things I've seen him do. My favorite memories are of him building planes and watching him fly them and listening to him play his guitar.

HaPPy HalLoWeeN!!!

2011-11-01T12:32:00.005-06:00

We had a great Halloween this year! I brought Dre to school with me like I have the past 2 years. My students were so excited to meet him since I always talk about him. Dre was Buzz LIghtyear this year and I was his sidekick Jessie. Dre walked with me through the whole parade and did awesome. He did great all day for me. He was a big hit! There were a few other Buzz Lightyear's, but none of them had wings. Don't you think he looks adorable!!! Me on the other hand, not so much! Side story: I sometimes hate ordering from Amazon. When I went to order Dre's costume I spent 40$ because I thought it came with wings. I could have bought the same costume for 20-30$ but I wanted the wings. There was no description and the picture showed wings, so I bought it. When I got it it had no wings and it was the exact same costume as all the other pictures. I was so mad. I gave the seller a 1 star and said they were a complete scam and not to buy from them. It made me feel a little better.

Funny story: A mom came to help with the class party. SHe then told me that her mother is big on Halloween and is going to come in dressed up and give the kids a treat. I thought Great! Boy was I surprised to see this walk in. It's King Tut and her husband followed her in playing a King Tut song and she sat and grooved for like 5 minutes. It was hilarious!

I always have to have a picture with the girls from work. Love these girls!!!!

After school, we went to Matt's and my parent's house to show off. We got some pictures with all his cousins on both sides, so that was fun. Until next year, see ya!

October Fun

2011-10-25T09:54:00.005-06:00

So this past weekend was Fall Break. We had a good one! I didn't get anything done other then spend time with my family and I think that is just as important as getting things done. Thursday we were just sitting at our house, so I decided to take Dre to the park by our house. He loved the swing and walking around the playset. But when I would go to take hime down the slide he wasn't to happy. I think it was because he wanted to stay on the playset. Once he went down the slide he loved it.

On Friday, we went up through AF Canyon to look at the leaves, throw rocks into the lake, and have a picnic. Dre loved throwing rocks so much that on Saturday morning we ran down to the marina by our house to let him throw more rocks. Now he will tell us he wants to go to the water and throw rocks.

Last night was our 2nd annual pumpkin carving family night at my sister Jami's house. We had chilli and scones and the ncarved our pumpkins. Dre and I carved a stormtrooper from Star Wars (yes my little guy is into Stars Wars now...wonder who he got that from) It turned out pretty good! I'm pretty proud of myself because I did it all by myself! I've never done that before. It was just fun to get together with my family!

just cause...

2011-10-13T08:33:00.005-06:00

I LOVE HIM!!!!!!!

I had to prove that Dre does smile and is a very happy boy. Matt sent these to me while I was at work!

A mind of his own

2011-10-07T07:59:00.003-06:00

Lately Dre has decided that he will decide what he is going to wear. It is becoming a daily morning fight on which clothes he is going to wear. The other night I was getting him in his jammies and he started to cry and say that he wanted to keep his Lightening McQueen shirt on. He had been wearing it all day and didn't want to take it off. After crying while I got his jammies on I had to put the shirt back over his jammies so that he would stop crying. At first I thought it was cute and funny and now I'm not so sure I like it. I like him to wear cute things and now that the weather is getting cold I want him to wear warm things. Just this morning I put him in long sleeves and he was asking to take it off. He fought me the other day on wearing a jacket. I hope this phase doesn't last long or my boy might freeze to death.before he realized I had put the shirt back on
getting a little happier
pointing to lightening mcqueen and being a happy

Everybody loves a Slinky

2011-09-30T08:28:00.004-06:00

Lately Dre has been really into slinky's. Matt taught him a little chant about slinky's so now Dre sings it every time he is playing with the slinky. I haven't taken many pictures lately, so I thought I would snap some while he was playing with his slinky. And a video of him singing a couple of his favorite songs.

A Request

2011-09-26T10:03:00.002-06:00

I have had to change my email account that is associated with my blog, so I will not be able to access private blogs shortly. If you have a private blog and read this could you please re-invite me at bdowns2121@gmail.com I love reading your blogs, and would love to continue doing so! Thanks!

see ya, wouldn't wanna "B" ya

2011-09-12T07:57:00.002-06:00

It's official! Dre is off the binky! He calls it his "B", but it's gone. On Friday night I cut the tip off and gave it to him. He sucked it for a second, pulled it out and looked at it. And this was our conversation:

me: what's wrong, is it broke?

Dre: it's broke?

me: yep it's broke, let's throw it away. In the garbage. Dre follows me to the garbage and puts it in.

me: "B" all gone! It's broke!

Dre: looks at Matt and says it's broke

Matt: yep it's broke

Dre has understood the word broke for awhile now, so I thought this would be the best for him to understand. He is on day 4 of no "B" and he is doing great. He has asked for it a couple times and I just remind him that it's broke and he goes right down. His naps are little harder. He just talks for like a half and hour in his bed, but eventually falls asleep. He still has his blanket, so I think that helped with the transition. In a way it's a little sad because that means my little baby is growing up. He is such a big kid now. I'm glad to be done with it though. It was getting a little annoying!

Since we are on the topic of my son maybe I will do a quick update. Dre is so awesome. We tell him all the time how smart he is so his new thing is to say "I'm smart". He will sing his ABC's with you, the Barney song "I Love You", and really any song you start to sing he will try to copy. He knows most of his letters and sounds they make. He loves to do chants, so we make them up and he will chant with us. He tells us he loves us "uv eww". The second I get home from work he grabs my hand and takes me to his toys and he pulls my hand so I have to sit down and play with him. He does this all night. I spend the 3 hours I have with him playing on the floor. I love that he wants to play with me, but sometimes I need to get other things done (like dinner). Matt just reminds me how much Dre must love me to want me to play with him, so I need to remember that. He is fine playing by himself, but would much rather us play on the floor with him. He loves to color. He will sit and color forever. He just gets more and more fun and we love him!!!!

Midway weekend with friends

2011-08-31T08:14:00.003-06:00

This past weekend we headed up to the condo with our friends Garrett and Sue and their cute little kids. We had so much fun relaxing, visiting, eating, laying by the pool, going on a walk to visit the goats and ride the carousal. We each took some meals to make and I have to say Sue's meals were by far the best, of course! She brought some fresh veggies from her garden and I could not get enough of the cucumbers. They were amazing! Anyways, it was nice to get away and do something with friends. We don't do it enough. Dre had fun with Tate too! They would run around and laugh and yell really loud. It was pretty funny!

living up my last day of summer

2011-08-23T11:37:00.003-06:00

This past Saturday was basically my last day of summer. I wanted to do something fun. We took Dre to the Linden pool. I love that place. It is perfect for him. He loves to float now with a life jacket so we would just go around and around the lazy river. I thought he looked so cute drinking his juice so I snapped a picture.

Then that night I went to see the movie "The Help" with a few girls from work. I had just finished the book so I was super excited to see the movie. It was a lot of fun and the movie was great! If I have to be a working mom I'm glad I have these ladies to work with.

And today is the first day of school. It is going well! The kids are adorable and it should be a pretty good year. We definitely need to discuss rules already, but its' a fun, tiring day. Wish me luck for a great year!

2 year stats

2011-08-16T16:09:00.003-06:00

I took Dre to the doctor yesterday for his check up and stats. He is a happy healthy little boy.

Height: 35.75 84%
Weight: 26.23 28%
head: 19.25 56%

He is a very tall and skinny boy. The doctor was not worried about his weight. Even though he has not gained a pound since May. On his questionnare about what 2 year olds should be doing I was able to answer yes to ever question so he is right where he should be. He also got a shot. The nurse poked him and his leg tightened just a little bit. Then he saw the band aid and said what's that. He didn't even cry or really care about his shot. That surprised me! I'm so glad it didn't phase him. Made for a nice trip to the doctor.

AToYsTOrYpaRtY

2011-08-08T15:19:00.008-06:00

On Saturday we celebrated Dre's 2nd birthday. We had both sides of our family over for dinner and a party. I got pizza and bread sticks from Pizza Planet:) Then we played a few games with the kids: obstacle course, Pin the badge on Woody, and a pinata.

Then my niece Skye wanted to sing a song to Dre. She got shy, but Dre got up by her and started to dance. It was the cutest and funniest thing in the world. Then we opened presents. He got so many toys. Mostly Cars stuff. He also got a strider bike. Which is a balance bike that teaches kids how to balance. That way they won't need training wheels and can just go right to riding a 2-wheeler.
Then we had cake and ice cream. This was my favorite part. I thought the cake was so adorable!
I think Dre was getting the hang of what a birthday is. We were singing him happy birthday all day and by the end he was singing with us.

To my 2 yr old

2011-08-07T11:52:00.002-06:00

Dear Dre,

I can't believe you are 2. Where has the time gone? These past 2 years have been the best because you joined our family. You have become the best little kid ever. You are so smart, funny, and happy. I hope you never lose those qualities. Mom and Dad love you so much and are so proud to be your parents. You have brought so much joy into our lives. I can't believe all the things you can do now. You have learned so much this past month. Here are some things about you at 2:

Love to color. (you ask for your colors)
Love the movie cars (you got a tone of car stuff for your bday)
Love the letter movie (edders). You know the letters A B O
Says he is 2 when you ask him
Copies what you tell him to say most of the time
Says so many words it's hard to remember them (stink, bike, kong, Mater, Ker-chow, snack, K, hurt, Dre, eww, where's Snoop, mommy and daddy school,juice, hair, all gone, out, light, detector)
Feeds himself with a fork
Gives the best loves
Entertains himself
He had his own iPhone and knows how to work it
He goes crazy and screams and attacks you for fun
Obsessed with dancing

I can not tell you how much we love you Dre. We love spending all our time with you. Thanks for being such a great son! We love you

Love,
Mom and Dad

Camping...our style

2011-07-29T20:44:00.006-06:00

Every year the Downs go camping at the Uintas. This year was no different except we got a great campsite that had a ton of pavement for riding bikes. We do not camp, but since we have a condo in Midway and it was pretty close we decided to head up and stay at Midway but go up to the campground on Monday and Tuesday. We got to Midway early on Monday so we went swimming. Dre has been loving swimming and has wanted us to let him go, so my dad got a lifejacket for up at the condo and Dre loved it. He loved being left to float. It took him a little bit to get used to it but soon he got the hang of it and just loved it!

Then we headed up to the campground to meet everyone. When we got up there we went on a little hike to the lake which was super close. It was such a beautiful view. I had to get some pics

While at the lake Matt tok Dre down close to throw rocks into the lake. Dre had a ball doing this! Brody his cousin decided to join in on the fun and I thought they looked so cute with their hats on. They were talking to each other and showing each other rocks. It's so cute to see Dre interact with his cousins.

Then it was time for dinner and smores. I was so excited for Dre to have his first campfire. Matt ended up having to take his mom down to the hospital because she was having chest pain, but I wasn't ready to go because I wanted to see the fire. So Dre and I decided to stay for the night in the trailer since Linda and Kerry would be gone. As soon as they left I realized that I didn't have a lot of things since we weren't planning on staying the night. Mainly Dre's blankie. I knew Dre would not be able to sleep. I tried having him watch a movie but htat just got him wired so I turned it off and he was restless. He wasn't crying but I could tell he wouldn't be going down. All of the sudden I heard a car and knew it was Matt. I was so happy to see him. I actually shed a little tear:) Matt knew that we had forgotten the blanket and he really didn't want us up their alone so he was planning on coming back the whole time. We left and went back to Midway. We went back up their on Tuesday for a little bit and then came back and did some swimming and then headed home. It was a great quick vacation!Grandma had given Dre some plastic coins and Dre kept getting down on the ground like this to play with them

Sharing our love

2011-07-24T14:17:00.002-06:00

I was just reading the Ensign for August and I came upon something the prophet says is so important.

"Give your child a compliment and a hug; say, I love you more; always express your thanks. Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved. Friends move away, children grow up, loved ones pass on. It's so easy to take others for granted, until that day when they're gone from our lives and we are left with feelings of 'what if' and 'if only'. Let us relish life as we live it, find joy in the journey and share our love with friends and family. One day, each of us will be out of tomorrows. Let us not put off what is most important. What is most important almost always involves the people around us. Often we assume that they MUST know how much we love them. But we should never assume; we should let them know."

I loved this little piece of advice. I want my husband and son to know how much I truly love them. They mean the world to me. I love the time we spend together and the love they show me. Matt is such a great dad and I love the way those two are together. Dre is so special in every way. He is so sweet and loving! I'm so grateful these two boys are in my life. I want them to always know how much I love and adore them. I hope I can take this advice and never let a day go by without expressing my love for these two, and for all my other family members. I would hate to lose one of them and have a feeling of regret, wondering if they knew how much I loved them. I love my families so much and am so grateful to be in the families that I am.

Lately we've...

2011-07-17T20:14:00.005-06:00

gone to the zoo

deep cleaned the house
gone running in the mornings
gone to professional development classes
played baseball on the PS3
watched a ton of movies from the Redbox

got a new kitchen table

set up Dre's pool in the backyard

Our 4th and 23 months

2011-07-06T09:50:00.007-06:00

The 4th is always a good time. We always go to Matt's brothers house for a BBQ, visiting, and fireworks. This year was even better due to the aerial fireworks they made legal. Dre liked doing sparklers and poppers. When the real fireworks started he was ok until they started to whistle. He was scared from then on. He didn't cry just a little tense. He had fun riding bikes and playing around with his cousins. I had fun visiting with the sisters and mother in law.

Dre and his first sparkler
we looked over and Dre and Brody were riding this together. It was so cute! They are just starting to play together. They should be good little buddies as they get older
Matt teaching how to do the poppers
I held his face so he was looking at the camera
gotta love a 2 year during a pic
this is of all the little cousins minus the 2 new babies
I thought this was so cute of his cousin Zoey. She had her arm around Dre so he wasn't scared. Zoey really loves Dre.

23 MONTHS

One more month and Dre is 2. I can't believe how fast time has gone. It has been so awesome being home this past month. I've seen Dre grow up so much and learn so many new things. He is the sweetest little guy. He is starting to listen better but sometimes I have to put on my stern voice to get him to follow. He is so funny and does the cutest things. I don't even know where to start. He is very careful when climbing things. He takes his time or will ask for help. He is not a daredevil which I'm glad about. When he drives his 4wheeler you have to be right by his side. That is comforting because I know he won't go anywhere without us. He still loves his blanky and "B" (binky) I try to only let him have it at bed but he goes to his room and takes them out of his crib. He is finally able to have sippy cups without straws. He can now tip it up. I know its a little late but he just couldn't figure it out. I still feed him a sippy at night in my arms and he makes me hold it. It's our routine, so whatever will make him sleep. Since summer has begun he goes down at 7:30 and sleeps til 9. I couldn't ask for more:) He is obsessed with Snoop, Blue's Clues, popsicles, squirt bottles, and his cars aka. 4wheeler and pushcar. He is a good little helper. He is starting to copy words you say. He is learning his colors. His favorite song is itsy bitsy spider. (I'm trying to get it on film) He know what the A says. He has so many words, but rarely uses them in public. I don't get it. Our new favorite thing is to talk jibberish to each other. He thinks its pretty funny! He is very good at entertaining himself, but does love it when you will sit down and do things with him. Since I have been cooking more he is eating and trying new things and that makes me happy. He loves to be around other kids and is pretty good at sharing. he loves to wrestle, pretend to play nintendo, and run around like a crazy person. When you ask where his owie is he will show you is hand because of my hand. We love our little boy!

This was funny! I came out from the other room and I saw this. He was laying on the pillow with the covers over him. He was watching the football channel.
It was quiet and I went looking for him. I found him in his room playing with his stuffed animals and reading his books. Precious!!

another year older

2011-06-30T11:19:00.004-06:00

unlike Matt I have yet to hit the big 30. I turned 29 this week! It was a good day. I spent it with the ones I love the most so that was great. I got a lot of phone calls and texts that made me feel even more special. I woke up to Dre bringing me flowers and a card.

Then we got ready and went to Rod Works. I've been in the mood to add some new things to my house. I found a few things and then we got some lunch. My in-laws came to visit and bring me a gift. Then I ran to the only clothing store in Saratoga to see if I could find a shirt or something. No luck! Then I decided I wanted to take Dre to his first movie at the theater. We went to see Cars 2. Dre did awesome until the end, but I wanted to see what happened so I made him deal with it. He ate a lot of popcorn and had a little to much Sprite, but whatever will make him sit right? He loved the preview of the Toy Story short film. We had a lot of fun and I had a great day once again. Thanks everyone for making my day!this was taken during the preview of Toy Story. He would not turn his eyes away for a picture
Dre's first bit of carbonation. Uh oh!

Update on my hand

2011-06-20T14:20:00.002-06:00

I went to the doctor this morning to check on my hand. They took the splint off and checked to make sure I could move all my fingers. My hand is very bruised and swollen, but luckily I had no nerve or tendon damage. The doctor said that I was very lucky and must have been doing something right to not have it do more damage. He pointed out where tendons and nerves were and they went right across my cut. I don't have to where the splint anymore and I need to start moving my fingers more so that the cut heals properly. It still hurts when I bend my fingers and put pressure on it. I have to wear the stitches for 2 weeks. It has been so hard not being able to use my hand. You forget how important things are until they are taken away. It was nice to have Matt around so that he could do everything. I'm so glad I'm not in school. I wouldn't be able to write or do anything. here are a couple pictures I took at the hospital. These do no justice but you get the idea.

St. George-First Family Trip

2011-06-20T12:53:00.004-06:00

It's true! We have gone over night to the Midway Condo but never on a vacation as a little family. We finally got a chance, so we took it. We were able to go to St.George and stay at my uncles house. It's a gated community with only 12 other homes. It's got a pool, tennis court, basketball, park, and its just super nice. We had such a good time (even with one hand). We played at the pool, rode Dre's 4 wheeler, played at the park, went shopping, and we went to Vegas for the day. At night we played Dominoes. Dre did awesome on the drives except he didn't sleep much. Thank goodness for DVD players and suckers:) The only problem was sleeping at night. He didn't want to sleep in another room in his pack and play, so he ended up sleeping with us every night. I swore I would never let this happen, but there was nothing else to do. It ended up being kind of fun. I was worried that he would want to continue to sleep with us, but he is fine sleeping back in his bed. In Vegas, we went to the outlets, went to the aquarium, and ate at the Mandalay Bay Buffet. It wasn't as good as last time because they were serving brunch. It was a fun little getaway and one we need to do more often.

I'm waiting on the slideshow to work, but it not right now so for now here are a few pictures from the trip
swimming at the pool. We had it all to ourselves
a family pic at the Mandalay Bay aquarium
Dre loved driving his car around the park at my uncles house. We also had this to ourselves
This was Dre's first time eating a popsicle by himself. He is now obsessed and asks for one daily
had to throw this one in for memory sake. I think my splint looks great with my swimsuit. If you can notice my hair, it is Matt's attempt at pulling it up. With no sisters he never learned how to do a ponytail.

Yep, that's a sharp knife

2011-06-16T09:04:00.002-06:00

Yesterday morning was a little tramatic for me. I was cleaning up the kitchen and came to the pan of rice krispie treats. They had gotten hard so I started to dig them out with a knife. You can only guess what I'm going to say happened next. Yep, my hand slipped from under the rice krispie treat and went right into my right hand. We are talking all the way through. I freaked cause I saw so much blood and it was squirting. I called for Matt, told him I was going to die. Well, I wouldn't say told. I was screaming. I panicked and called the ambulence. Looking back that was stupid and embarrassing but in the moment I was in complete shock and freaking out. Matt knew right away to wrap it up and put pressure on it. The ambulence cleaned it a little and wrapped it up. We then went to the ER. They cleaned it out even more numbed it and stitched it up. The doc told me he called the hand surgeon and since I could move and feel my fingers that I probably did no damage to my tendons or nerves. Lucky me!!! They put a splint on it and I have to go see the surgeon on Monday to check to make sure everything is ok in my hand. To top it off I had to get a tetanus shot. This could have turned out so much worse. I could have had to have surgery. I'm still in shock about the whole thing. I can't believe I put a knife right through my hand. How stupid can I be? We were leaving for st George too. We decided to still come. We weren't going to let this stop our first trip together as a family.

Summer has just begun and we've already done...

2011-06-08T08:13:00.010-06:00

this

Last Friday I was able to go with my sister Jami to Les Mis at the Capital Theater. It was so fun! I had never been to see it and I'm so glad I went. It was fun to have a girls night with my sister. I will remember the guy behind us who yelled "nailed it" after a number. I will also remember us not being so smart at the end and having to wait in the parking lot for like 20 min trying to get out.

and this
the weather finally cooperated and we were able to get Dre's pool out. He loved it! He got right in and started playing with everything. His favorite was the water bottle. He would squirt Snoop and start laughing hysterically. It was pretty cute!

and this
I was starving the other day and we had a gift certificate to Texas Road House so I made my boys take me:) We had Dre sit in the booth with us and I think he loved it cause he was acting so silly and funny so I snapped this pic. I finally got a pic of him cheesing it. Isn't he adorable???

and this
I didn't get a pic (and I'm a little upset about it) but I met up with my besties in SL and had lunch at a park with our kiddos. It was so fun to get together. I don't see these girls enough and I love the time we spend together. They are so much fun! Hopefully we will get together more often this summer. I miss my girls! Our kids had fun too!!

and this
and finally we got some plants in our front yard. We have been wanting to do this, but I've been nervous because I didn't know what I wanted or how to do it. We just went for it and I think it looks amazing! It gets me excited for the rest of the yard.

22 months

2011-06-06T10:10:00.003-06:00

Dre is 22 months today. Almost 2 I can't believe it. I'm going to have a 2 year old in a couple of months. Dre has learned so much this month and has changed once again. I've always thought he was a mama's boy and this month he has changed my mind. He is obsessed with everything daddy. He copies him. He follows him. He wants him to do everything with him. I'm determined to change it back this summer since he will be with me so much. But it is pretty cute to see him loving his daddy so much and Matt loves it too! He has totally gotten into cars. He loves to drive them around and make the sounds. He makes you sit down and play cars with him on the ground and you have to drive them the way he wants you to. He is doing so much better with eating. He is trying new things. I found a sauce he likes Tereyaki. Crazy! He still sleeps like a champ 12-14 hrs a night without waking at all. He still takes a 1-3 hr nap depending on whats going on. He has 16 teeth including his molars. His 2 year molars haven't started yet so that should be fun;) He loves Snoop and they love wrestling with each other. Dre teases him pretty good with food. He likes to be outside. We tease him that Jessie (from Toy Story) is his girlfriend and he will smile and get all shy. He will tell me when he is poopy. His new words this month (the ones I can remember, he says so many now)

om ear (come here)
I stu (I'm stuck)
ocor (popcorn)
teeeee (three, I say one two and he says three)
air it is (there it is)
guys (he plays with army guys)
eat
treat
peas (please)
ovie (movie)
ets go (let's go)
re's car (Dre's car or whatever he is playing with is his)
basketball
football
baseball
JJ (his uncle)
co (cold)
is sare (it's scary)

Dre has the best little personality but he doesn't really show outside of the house. He talks so much at home but not really anywhere else. He is so active and loves to run around the house and dance. He is very loving and will give you a hug or kiss if you ask. he loves to show off his toys when people come to visit. He gets them all out. He is a really good boy. He already has timeout figured out and stays there when he has to go on it. Usually we just say the word and he will stop whatever he is doing wrong. He brings so much love and joy into our home and we are so thankful for our little guy.

Here are some pics of Dre

30 for 30

2011-05-31T08:40:00.003-06:00

Matt turned the big 3-0 yesterday!!!! Since it is a big one I wanted to do something special for him. I decided since he was turning thirty than I would buy him 30 gifts. To top that off I came up with little sayings to go along with each gift and labeled the gift with the saying. For instance, I got him a candle and said "You light up my life" a picture said "I can't picture my life without you" I got him a Ute decal and said "U" complete me some Mt. Dew that said I "dew" love you. I got a shark that grows in water and it said "I can't wait to grow old with you" anyways there was thirty of them and I thought I was pretty clever. Matt liked the sayings and that is all that mattered. Some of the gifts were pretty stupid, but the cost for thirty presents started to add up. I did get him some really nice Giorgio Armani cologne and a new wallet. Dre really liked handing daddy all his gifts and trying to help open them. We just relaxed yesterday and got Olive Garden take out. It was a fun day and I hope Matt had a good day cause that is what really matters. I love you Matt! Happy 30th Bday!!!!!

The last six years

2011-05-23T08:06:00.011-06:00

the day the world was suppose to end was our anniversary. We had a great time eating, shopping, and laughing. The past six years have been a whirlwind. I'm glad I'm married to my best friend and that he always keeps me smiling. He makes me feel so beautiful when I'm not feeling it. He is the best father and I love watching him with Dre. I'm grateful for these last six years and all the things marriage has taught me.

A look back on the last six years (sorry the pics are dull and blurry, back then I didn't have a digital camera so I took a pic of a pic)Dating Dec 2004

engagement pic March 2005

wedding day 2005

sorry its flipped. Honeymoon crusin in the mexican sun! May 2005

St George 2006

Park City 2007

camping 2008

circus 2009

backyard July 2010

April 2011

not again...

2011-05-16T08:20:00.003-06:00

Why is it that we made it through the whole winter/sick season without our little guy getting sick and then in the past few weeks he has gotten sick twice. A couple weeks ago I wrote about getting puked on. This time around wit was just fevers for 4 days. I took him to the doctor on Friday and it was a virus. So they couldn't do anything for him. I was going to freak out if the fevers were still there yesterday, but luckily he didn't have anymore. Although yesterday his eye was pretty swollen, so then I started freaking out about that. I'm the biggest hypochondriac, so this made me a little nervous. I called the oncall doc and the nurse said it was probably allergies. That made sense since there was so much wind yesterday. We gave him benadryl and when he woke up this morning he looked fine. Can I just say I hate when Dre gets sick because I just sit and worry and think of the worst that could be wrong with him. I also hate being a working mom when he is sick. It's so hard to leave him with someone else when all he wants is his mom But, on the other hand when he is sick he wants to cuddle and lay on me. I do love this time with him! I am glad to see that he is doing better so that I can stop worrying and just get back to normal.

Mother's Day

2011-05-09T09:21:00.002-06:00

Mother's Day was also this weekend, and I had a great one. Matt and Dre took good care of me and it was fun to be with them. They got me running shoes, sandals, and a book. We went to visit both grandma's too! I look up to these women so much and the example they are as mothers. They love their children know matter what and show their love all the time. They are also very good grandma's. It's fun to watch them with their grandchildren. I love them so much and am very grateful for them.

I would also like to say how grateful I am to be a mom. There was a really good talk in church that every woman is a mother whether you have children or not and I totally agree. Also, that as long as you are doing all you can, then that is enough for Heavenly Father. I'm always wondering if I'm doing what I'm suppose to be doing and if I'm a good mother, but Heavenly Father is proud of me for all that I do. It's hard to be a working mother, but I do feel like I spend more quality time with him at night because I work all day. I love being a mom with all the good, bad, and the ugly. It's been a true blessing in my life!

Happy 60th Birthday Dad

2011-05-09T07:59:00.006-06:00

My dad turned 60 on Saturday and to celebrate my whole family went up to my parents condo in Midway. Their condo is at the Zermatt and there is so much to do there in the summer. First Matt and I went to Park City to get me some running shoes for Mother's Day. Then we met up with most of my family at the condo. First, we went on the carousel. We went twice. I went the first time and it made me sick, so Matt had to go next. Dre loves carousel's, so this was really fun!

Then we went and fed the goats. They saw us coming up the walk and came running down the hill. Like they knew we had food or something. Dre didn't like feeding them he just looked at them and said "ooh" after we had no more food left the goats started headbudding each other.

Then we headed to the pool. I will save you from viewing photos of me in a swimsuit, but Dre had a blast. He thrrew the biggest fit when we had to get out. We all got a little sunburned. I guess it was a new experience to feel the sun, so we all forgot how good it feels. Dre is going to be so fun this summer in the water, but I know he will freak out when we are done.

Then we went back to the condo and opened presents. I gave my dad a golf book and a picture book about a dad and daughter. Then we took this cute pic of my dad with his grandkids minus Tyler. Then we went to dinner at a place in Midway. Nobody would pick a spot so I said the BearPaw Dance Cafe. It wasn't very good and the service was slow, but we enjoyed the company.

I just have to say how much I love my dad! He is the best dad ever. He does so much for my little family. He always calls to chat and check up and I appreciate him so much. He can be so funny sometimes. We have always been close and I'm grateful for our friendship. Love you Dad!

21 months

2011-05-06T09:14:00.002-06:00

I don't have any new photos of Dre to post right now but I wanted to write about his 21 month stats. Dre is a crazy little boy! He is all over the place and keeps me going from the time I walk in the door from work. I can not wait until school is out so I can spend all my time with him. It's so fun when I come home cause he is all mom for the few hours I get with him. He pulls me around all night to have me play with him. I love it! Although it is hard to get dinner going and house picked up cause he wants my full attention and I don't blame him.

He is loving cars and guns lately. Matt got a bunch of little guns so they chase each other around the house pretending to shoot each other. Dre makes the shooting sound. It's pretty funny. His new phase is "reach...sky" (reach for the sky) as he chases you around the house. Its' been so nice to be outside lately too. He loves it out there. He just runs around on the sidewalk and looks at things.

Here is a list of new words
Whoa! (when he is falling or rolling around. it started on the plane ride to Dland)
I fall
ov u (love you)
bye peepee (as he flushes the toilet. he is obsessed with flushing)
ocorn (popcorn)
eese (cheese)
cookie
ut's at (what's that)
ere it go (where it go)
side (outside while he is pointing and walking to the door)
snooooo (snoop)
itty (kitty)
eys (keys)
he is also starting to ask for things to eat instead of just pointing to them

he is starting to get familiar with time out. he is pouting and throwing tantrums all the time now. if something doesn't go right he will just start whining and getting so mad. So now i just say "time out" if he doesn't stop I put him in the corner until he will stop crying. The first few times he wouldn't stay and wanted me to just hold him, but i took him back over and over so now he is pretty good about staying there. I hope it continues to work. It's driving me nuts about his tantrums. they need to stop.

Dre is getting worse and worse at eating. He will only eat a few things and he won't try new things. Matt has to be right there and tell him to eat. I need help on ideas to try. The problem is I don't cook so I feel like he is not getting nutritious food. I'm going to try harder in the summer but I just don't know what to do. I feel like somedays he is starving. It's getting so hard cause he doesn't want anything really and then I get frustrated at him to eat. Any ideas will help.

We love him more and more every day and I just can't wait to be home with him all summer. He is a little stinker sometimes but then can turn around and be the best little cuddler and kisser ever. He is a mama's boy but loves to play with daddy. He is so ticklish and laughs so hard when you tickle him. It's so fun! We love you Dre!!!!!

I'm officially a mom

2011-04-27T10:22:00.002-06:00

No, I'm not pregnant again if that's what you were thinking. An official mom to me is one who has been thrown up on. I've heard a lot of moms say just wait until you are thrown up on. Well, it happened last night. Dre has never thrown up at all so this is a new experience for us. He first threw up at the babysitters yesterday ( all over her carpet). Oops! Butthen he was acting fine the rest of the day. I put him down and he woke up about midnight crying. I went and checked onhim and he was burning up with fever. So I changed his Jammie and brought him into bed with us. Right when I went to lay him down he lost it all over me and my side of the bed. I had to throw my pillow out:(. We let him fall asleep with us but then I put him back in his bed. I can't sleep with him in the bed. He woke up this morning with a fever but has not thrown up again. Probably cause we haven't given him very much to eat. I got a sub last minute and am nowhome with him. He is acting ok right now but we shall see as the day goes on. I hope it is just a 24 hr thing. I'm glad I can finally relate to all you moms out there but not glad that it is at expense of my son

Easter Weekend 2011

2011-04-25T08:14:00.008-06:00

We started Easter off on Saturday with Matt's family. We were going to do it at Melissa's house but with the weather being so cold we decided to move it to Matt's school. It worked out so well. The kids were able to ride around on their scooters and run around without being cold. Matt's brothers taught the little kids how to play kickball first.

Then we did the Easter hunt in the gym. I thought Dre would understand how to find an egg and put it in a basket. Ya, not so much! When he found the eggs he wanted to hold them and run around with them. When I told him to put them in the basket he got mad and threw the eggs. Well, since there was candy in the eggs and he found the candy he started doing that with every egg he found. He would pick it up and throw it to get the candy out. It was pretty clever, but not what I had hoped for:(

once he discovered he could throw the eggs and candy would come out.

Then we had ice cream pie that Melissa made. The girls mostly just talked and watched all the action. It was a great way to celebrate Easter.

On Sunday I was so tired on Saturday night that I didn't get Dre's Easter basket done. He woke up and I went and got him out of his crib. Matt was like are you not going to get his stuff ready. So I had to leave him with Matt real quick and go get it done. Dre got away and came in early so it was all a little messed up. We got him a lawn mower that blows bubbles, but it didn't work so that kind of sucked. He was mostly interested in the candy, but not eating it just carrying it around. He is not that into sweets, which is kind of nice.

The it was time for church. This is Dre in his Sunday best

Then we headed over to my parents house. My mom gave a nice little Easter scripture and then we had a nice ham an potato meal. They didn't have any Easter hunt or anything, but my dad needed help with the fourwheeler and trailer so I decided to take Dre for a quick ride. He loved it! My mom gave Dre a plastic sword and a patio chair. It was so funny because Dre knows exactly what to do with a sword and he started wailing on my dad. It was hilarious to watch cause my dad was getting into it and Dre was laughing. I love those moments!

I had to throw this pic in cause I love Tessa's face. Give a few more months and these two should be playing around!

Employee of the Year

2011-04-22T08:07:00.009-06:00

Yesterday afternoon was a very special day for our family and especially Matt. He was voted by his school and PTA as the employee of the year. It is a big honor and I'm so proud of him. His hard work has paid off and it's nice to know that other people notice how hard he works. He is very good at his job, and I'm so glad that he likes it.

We went to the district with about 8 other schools and had a luncheon. Then they went through each school and each award. I believe it was the principal and the PTA president of each school that wrote up a little note describing why that person deserved the award. Here is what they had to say about Matt:

Matt Downs, Head Custodian, has been at Fox Hollow since before it opened 5 years ago. Everybody knows and likes Matt. He has a positive and infectious attitude. Boys in the upper grades especially look up to Matt and love to help him with various tasks. THey respond well to his leadership and learn from his example how to work hard and take pride in a job well done. There is never a shortage of students that want to help him. Matt leads and organizes the efforts of a crew of custodians who work hard year round to keep Fox Hollow organized, clean, and safe for over 1000 students and staff. He is always willing to help the PTA too. He always makes time to understand what is needed for a PTA event, and makes sure our needs are met no matter when the event happens. Matt is a vital part of what makes Fox Hollow great!

I'm so proud of Matt and all he does to support our family. He works hard and he definitely deserves this recognition. I'm so glad I was able to share in this with Matt. I love you Babe!

during the luncheon. We haven't taken a picture of just us two in awhile.

while they read about him

accepting the award

a picture with all the award winners with the principal and PTA president

*a little side note my school was being honored too. I'm close with both the teacher and the employee that got awarded so I had to take a picture of them. Congrats Nelly and Donna!

spring break in where else...Disneyland

2011-04-19T08:38:00.013-06:00

At the last minute I booked a flight to Disneyland to surprise my family. They were all going for spring break a long time ago and I didn't think I would be going so hence the surprise.

Day 1 Monday
Dre and I fly out at 8:30 am and get to Long Beach at 9:30. We taxied to the hotel and I called Lance. He knew I was coming and was waiting to meet up with me. We went to meet up with everyone. They were in line for Toy Story. We thought we could wait for them and meet up in line, but as we walked passed the line my mom saw us. I guess she started to cry we couldn't see her that good. Since the line was so long we decided to go and find Jami since she was on the carousal with Tessa. As she came around Lance was holding Dre and he yelled her name. She looked and saw Dre and started freaking out like what is going on. Then I pooped up and she was so excited. We met up with everyone and went on the ride. I love that ride. Dre was just staring at everything. We ate lunch and Dre went down for a nap in the stroller. Then we went on more rides. That night we took the babies home and my mom stayed with them while they slept and we went back to the park. Dland is so awesome at night!

I got Dre a little leash cause I knew he would want to walk around and I didn't want to lose him. Also, he loved the huge mechanical Buzz that talked while you wait in line.

Day 2 Tuesday
Dre got up so early this day and the park doesn't open until 9 so everyone slept in. I had one day of early entry so I headed over to the park with Dre. We were able to hit Mr. Toads, Dumbo, Alice, and Autopia all in one hour. It was so fun to spend time with Dre and get so much done.I love how blue his eyes look in this picture

Then we met up with my family for breakfast with the characters. We were a little disappointed with the characters that showed up, but it didn't really matter for Dre. He wasn't that into them. He didn't want them close. At the end they played some music and you could dance with them. Of course Dre was all over that!

We spent the day doing what we normally do. Rides and food! When we were toon town they kids went on the roller coaster and Dre was not having sitting in his stroller so we found Goofy's backyard where there was a slide and places to climb and run around on. It was perfect for him and he loved being able to run around.

A few of us decided not to go back to the park that night so we stayed with the little ones and just chatted. We were trying to decide what to eat and there is a Mcdonalds by the hotel so we were telling Jami what we wanted and my mom was watching wheel of fortune and the answer was bottled mineral water. My mom answered the question just as Jami was asking her what she wanted and that is what she said bottled mineral water. Lance wasn't watching the show so he just says that's all you want bottled mineral water Mrs. Diet Coke. It was so funny and you probably had to be there but I needed to put in here for my own self.

Day 3 Wednesday
Again we got up early but couldn't enter early so we waited until 9 but people were still not ready so I took Chase and Dre and we went over and got on Nemo right away. THat is one of the longest lines and it doesn't move fast. I knew if I wanted to let Dre see it I had to go early. He loves Nemo and he loved this ride. Then just did the same old same old all day. We did go to ESPN Zone for lunch and shopped at the World of Disney store for awhile.Me and my sisters with silly hats!
That night we got fast passes for World of Color. Love that show!!!

Day 4 Thursday
We only had half a day because our flight left at 6. We started the morning off with Jami and Rany and Mom. We rode Buzz, the train, Space, and Autopia.

I got my favorite lunch a corn dog. Then we met up with the rest and did some major shopping. Dre was a champ the whole time except when we were in lines and they weren't moving as fast as he liked. He also didn't like getting off the rides and would start to fuss when they ended. Dre loved the carousal, autopia, and dumbo best. How I know is he laughed on all of them and screamed when we had to get off. My new love was the cotton candy this trip. I couldn't get enough!Dre got my hat on the plane while watching Nemo! He did so good on the plane. Lucky for us we got two seats both there and back to spread out!

20 months

2011-04-06T10:42:00.007-06:00

Dre's loves at 20 months:

food: cheese, pizza, bread, baby food veggies, goldfish, romen, grapes

toys: toy story figures, cars, balls, his new push car
, my phone

tv/movies: toy story, nemo, bambi, elmo, brady bunch, yo gabba gabba

activities: wrestling with dad, driving his car, dancing all the time (anytime he hears music he has to be dancing) I need to post him dancing. It's the cutest thing ever! playing outside, going down his slide into his ball pit,

running around the house, watching the machines outside working on building houses. He is finally getting the idea of prayer and he will fold his arms and whisper jibberish. It only last a few seconds but so adorable. When we say lets pray he knows to go into the front room and get down on his knees. It's perfect!he looks so old to me in this picture

new words: mommy! I love it! We say "I Love...and he yells mommy" its the best feeling ever. The other day I got home from work and shut the door. I was able to see it register in his head that mommy was home and I hear him so "oh mommy" and come running into my arms. It was the most precious feeling in the world. He tells me things on me are "pretty". "poopy" as he pats his bum.like in this picture "hey" "no you da baby"

he is definitely hitting the terribale two's and wants his own way. When he doesn't get something he screams out in a bloodcurddling scream and bangs his head on the floor. We have been doing time out where we put him in his room until he stops crying. He is not that bad though. He is a really good little boy and very sensitive and loves to give loves and kisses. We love our little guy more and more each day.I just had to throw this one in cause its so cute and who doesn't have a pic of their kid in adult shoes:)

WrestleMania XXVII

2011-04-05T08:03:00.002-06:00

On Sunday we had some of Matt's family over to watch WrestleMania. We had to order it on PPV. Matt's nephew loves wrestling and not to mention we did go to a wrestling event last year, so I guess we like it too! We had a lot of good food and company. The wrestling was okay, but I was more busy talking anyways. Here is some of us with our wrestling shirts on. Matt and Skye are doing a move that John Cena does. It means "you can't see me" The pic under that one is of Dre and Skye. Skye was the best babysitter that night. Dre was following her around and they played really good together. It was a fun night!Skye-Me-Matt-Casen

YOU'RE FIRED!!!!!!!!

2011-04-01T13:12:00.004-06:00

So, after lunch I checked my faculty box where we get important papers, mail and things like that. Inside my box was a bundled up paper that said, "Mrs. Down your fired for ever you are a bad teacher Apriol fools from Seth" OH NO!!!! Is this official? I asked the student if he meant it and he looked at me with a nervous look in his eye and said "NO" Should I be worried that all my students feel this way?

Brielle's birthday party!

2011-03-28T12:44:00.004-06:00

Dre was invited to my friends little girls birthday. It was a tutu party, but of course Dre did not wear a tutu. He was oblivious too. When we got there he found Bri's scooter and drove it around for awhile. Then Tinkerbell came to the party and Dre was wondering what was going on. He went and stood and stared at her. Then he got a wand that was meant for the girls and used it as a bat and started hitting the balloons. Then the kids got to go fishing for a toy. Dre thought that was pretty cool. Then right before we left I tried to get a pic of Dre with the birthday girl. As you can see from the pics its a little hard getting 2 toddlers to look at the camera at the same time. This is as good as it got! Thanks Jenni for thinking to invite us.

NEW CAR!!!!

2011-03-22T09:35:00.004-06:00

A couple weeks ago we went just to look at cars and we came out with a brand new Altima. We got such a great deal we couldn't pass it up. They also tinted it for us. It's black on black and has bluetooth, ipod hookup, xm, camera for backup, and you don't feel the shift. It's sweet. As you can see Dre loves it too! Ever since we looked for cars he has loved cars. He especially loves to drive this one. He sat in the car for close to an hour one day just driving.

Midway

2011-03-15T11:49:00.005-06:00

So, spur of the moment this weekend we decided to head up to my parents condo in Midway. We decided to go to the Park City outlets first and then head to the condo. We did some shopping at a few places and then left. When we got back to the condo we put Dre down for a nap and just relaxed for awhile. When Dre woke up we headed to the pool/hot tub. While we were in the hot tub Matt decided to turn on the waterfall thinking Dre would think it was awesome. Not so much! Dre freaked out and would not let go of Matt until we turned it off. As you can see from the pictures

After we turned the waterfall off we put Dre on one of the rocks to take a few cute pics. I love this little guy!

After swimming we walked around the Zermott and looked at the fish. Then we got back to the condo and decided that we didn't really feel like sleeping over. So we packed up and headed home. It was fun to spend the day up there and get out of the house.

19 months

2011-03-07T08:49:00.004-07:00

This will be short and sweet hopefully. I don't have any recent pics of my growing boy, but I just wanted to note things that he is doing now.

he is not talking in sentences or anything but he does say a lot of words. My favorites lately are: cars, bubbles, balloon, fish

he does a lot of pointing to get what he wants

we are trying to take the binky away besides bed and naps. He hasn't been a big binky baby until he started really teething. I din't hink it would be that big of a deal because he never really has it during the day anyways. But, I think he realizes that something is not right because we don't give it to him when he asks. He calls it his B. If he gets tired he will start calling for it. He also calls his blanket B so he wants both when he is super tired. It is harder than I thought it would be taking it away from him. I don't even want to think about taking it away from bedtime and naps! ouch!

my new favorite thing he does is when he wants something he will take your hand and pull you to what it is he wants. He loves to hold my hand and walk around

he loves to dance. Matt will put on the ipod in our room and Dre will hear the music come on and he will run in and start dancing all around. His dance is the cutest too! He also is learning how to jump. It's so funny to watch.

he is such a sweet boy. he gives the best hugs and kisses even if they only last for a split second. I love when he wakes up in the morning he will just lay his head on me and we cuddle for a little bit, same thing at night right before bed.

he follows really good directions (for the most part) I can tell him to get me something and he does it. Sometimes he gets side tracked and brings me something he finds. LIke the other day when I told him to go to his room and bring me some socks. He went to his room and came back with a book and he wanted me to read it. Also, the other day I was getting a little frustrated with Dre and Matt could tell so he whispered in Dre's ear to come and give me a kiss. Dre came running over and gave me a kiss. It was the sweetest thing in the world.

he is very curious of everything and very concerned with things. He can tell when things aren't going well and will give me little pats and loves to make sure I'm ok.

We just love our guy so much and are grateful everyday that he is in our lives. I get choked up just writing this because he is that amazing! He has brought so much happiness and love into our lives. I love to see him grow and learn new things, but sometimes I want the time to stop so that he can be my little boy forever. I'm so glad he is in our family! LIfe is good!!!!!

pet "shish"

2011-02-28T13:32:00.003-07:00

On Saturday, Matt decided that we needed to get Dre some fish. So we ran to Walmart and picked up some cheap goldfish and a starter bowl kit. As soon as we had it set up Dre went crazy saying "shish, shish" and pointing at them. But, after a few minutes he lost interest pretty fast. So, now when we show them to him he looks at them, points, says "shish" then wants to get down and play. Not sure how long we will keep these little guys cause I really don't want to take care of them, but I guess we will see.he was so excited!
had to get a closer look. This was the first thing he did as soon as he saw the fish
pointing the "shish" out

Diarrhea of a Worm?!

2011-02-25T07:59:00.003-07:00

So the other day one of my students came up to me and asked if I had the book called "Diarrhea of a Worm" I looked at him and tried not to laugh and said "Diarrhea of a worm, or Diary of a Worm?" He said "diarrhea" I was like no I don't have "Diarrhea of a Worm, but I do have Diary of a Worm" It was so funny! Kids say the darndest things!!!!

PS If you haven't read this book you are missing out. It's a cute one!

The Bean Museum

2011-02-22T14:31:00.002-07:00

On Saturday, I woke up and asked Matt what he wanted to do and he said we are going to the Bean Museum. At first I though he was joking and kept saying ok really what do you want to do. I didn't even know he knew anything about it. I definitely hadn't been there before and hadn't heard that name for a long time. I didn't even know what they had there, but I was all about something free to do. When we first got there Dre was a little bit scared of the tiger. But, after a minute he was all about the animals and was running around going oooh, ahhhh! and pointing at everything he saw. It was so nice because we just let him run around and he loved it. It was a great idea and I'm so glad we went. I'm sure it will not be the last time either.

Happy Valentine's Day to Us....

2011-02-14T11:23:00.002-07:00

So, I have been feeling a little down about myself and I decided I needed to change that feeling. I told Matt awhile ago that I wanted a treadmill so that I could start working out and feeling better. It was just a thought though. Then Matt said we should just get it with our taxes. So, that is what we were going to do. But, on Saturday Matt said let's go get in now and then just put the taxes back into savings. I was so excited to find a nice treadmill for a good price. It is a proform. I have already run on it the past three days since we got it and I love it. Matt said that I would use it for 3 days and stop, but I can't because I paid for it and I have to get my monies worth. My next step is to get a dvd player for the tv down there so I have something to watch while I run otherwise I may go crazy!Dre loves it too! I put it on the slowest and he walks on it and thinks it's so fun

Dre's Valentine's was yesterday because we wanted him to be able to play with his new toys. We got him the collector's set of Toy Story figures. The picture shows his face and how excited he was! He loves them all except that Jessie and Woody's hat comes off and it drives him crazy trying to put them back on. We might have to super glue them back on.

18 Months

2011-02-14T09:04:00.013-07:00

I waited a week to post about Dre at 18 months because we went to the doctor and we got his 18 month pictures done. His stats are 24.5 lbs. (31%) 33 in. (78%). He is still tall and skinny. He didn't have to get shots which was so nice. His pictures on the other hand did not go as well as I would have hoped. He didn't want to sit or stand. He wanted to run around. We tried everything. My mom bought him a Buzz and Woody doll to have him look at and smile but it didn't work. He would not smile for anything or anybody. It was so frustrating because I paid a lot for the pics. I think we did manage to get a few shots. But hardly any of him smiling.

Other things about Dre at 18 months
his new love is Buzz LIghtyear. he will watch the entire first and third movie
he says "Buzzzzzzzzzzz"
other words he says dan do (thank you) hiiiiiiiiiii (hi) fesssssssh (fish) shush (shoes) he says more but these are the cute ones
loves to dance to the song "you got a friend in me" whenever it comes on he smiles so big
while dancing to the song he will grab my hand and make me spin him around
sleeps 12+ hrs still
trying to break his canines but is still a happy boy
I don't feed him a bottle at night he will finally take a sippy with a soft nipple
loves to run around in his new shoes
loves to wrestle with dad and run and hide from dad. they have the best little relationship
he is eating a lot better, but most of the time I have to have him occupied watching tv to eat
loves his animal puzzle
loves his books
he is the happiest, cutest, little boy ever and we love him to pieces!

SuPeRBoWl 2011

2011-02-07T10:46:00.003-07:00

Matt reading with Dre. It was a Toy Story sticker book. I think I need to get him one of his own. He loved it!
The spread. There was also a whole other table.
We had our traditional Superbowl party over at Keven and Melissa's. There was food, family, and lots of fun. It was a little more interesting this year with an 18 month old running around. We couldn't enjoy the game as much, but we still had a blast. Dre was really good. Luckily Melissa had some books to keep him occupied. It's always fun being with family.

craft night

2011-02-03T08:54:00.002-07:00

So yesterday and today I have parent teacher conferences. That means Matt is on daddy duty all night for two nights. That also means that I will not see Dre for two nights because he goes to bed so early. So, last night Matt and Dre decided to make me a little craft. They got some paper plates and decorated them for me. They hung them up on the shower so that I would see them when I got in the shower. It was so sweet and I really needed it. I've been dealing with a cold and I'm losing my voice. It was nice to come home to that and feel their love. Matt also got Dre's lunch ready for today and his outfit already so that I could sleep in 10 min this morning. I love my boys and I love what a great husband and father Matt is. I love watching him and Dre together. I'm sure they had a great night together and another one tonight.

Starting Young

2011-01-25T10:26:00.002-07:00

First of all I just have to complain for a minute about how crappy my camera is. I'm missing so many moments of Dre and it bugs me so bad. The lighting is bad, it takes to long so Dre ends up moving, and I just hate it. But with that said the other day Dre say MAtt's hat on the table and picked it up and put it on his won head. Then he went over to his bat and ball and started swinging. We do want him to like sports so we try to start him young, but he did this all by himself. He made us proud!!! PS he has pretty good hand-eye coordination for an 18 month old

What the flu?

2011-01-21T08:06:00.002-07:00

For the past 3 days I have been so sick. I have never felt so much pain in my stomach then what I have been dealing with. I hate being sick ecpecially when throwing up is involved. I threw up at school on Tuesday but after awhile I felt better. That night at 3 in the morning it all came back and then some. I had the worst stomach pain. It felt like a huge knot in my stomach with some lower cramps and back pain. I continued to throw up or you know the other way to get things out the entire day. Then I was feeling better yesterday until about 3:00. Then I got that stomach pain back and this time it wad higher and right under my ribs in the center. I called my mom and she mentioned gallbladder. That kind of scared me so we headed to the hospital. At the hospital they hooked me up to an iv and gave me some pain meds to stop the pain. Theyran some blood tests to make sure it wasn't serious. Luckily all the tests came back normal. They gave me some pain meds and nausea pills and told me it was a bad case of stomach flu. I was glad to hear ut was nothing serious but felt dumb for coming in for the flu. Better to be safe than sorry I guess. It just hurt so bad and I had never felt anything like it so that is why I went in. We were able to drop Dre off at Marc and sunni since they live right by the hospital. That was a relief so Matt could be with me. It sucks to be sick ecpecially when you are a teacher. You have to find a suband get lesson plans. Luckily I have the best next door neighbor at school and one of my best friends to help me out. She has done so much for me this week and I can't thank her enough. It was nice to know things would be taken care of because of her. Thank you so much Alisha! I have a lot of making up to do. All I can say is what the flu? This sucks!

-17 Months-

2011-01-06T08:12:00.006-07:00

This kid just gets cooler and cooler. I can not get enough. Is it ok to be obsessed with your child. Being home with Dre for two weeks was amazing. I don't know if it was just him being 17 months or if I was able to just notice more, but he is talking up a storm. He has grown up so much this month its crazy! He is the best little boy and minds so well for the most part. He is already so helpful and when I ask him to do something he mostly understands. He is so sweet and gives the best hugs and kisses. He makes the kissing sound every time you kiss him. One of my favorite things Dre does is when I'm going to put him down we start to walk to his room and he has to look for Matt and wave or blow kisses to him. Every night without fail he does this and I just love it. He is full of life and loves to run around the house. He loves to read books and brings me books to read every night. He loves buzz and elmo right now. He loves to wrestle with his boy cousins, but mostly his daddy. He loves to make faces with daddy in the mirror He has the best smile ever!

Dre loves to talk on the phone. He will put his hand up to his ear if he doesn't have a phone and will say "hello" so cute! other words Dre is saying: hi, buzz, cookie (in a cookie monster voice) oh no (when he drops something), ball, socks, Dre, grandpa (once) moma, dada, no no (shakes his head), thank you (when you hand him something), he will pretty much repeat anything daddy says too. He also knows where his head, nose, eyes, and belly button are.this is my favorite pic of him lately.

Dre still sleeps like a champ. When we were on break he would go down at 7 and wake up at 9 and still take a 2 hr nap. That was heaven to be able to sleep in. He is still a picky eater. He likes to feed himself and he is getting better with a fork. If I let him hold a fork I can feed him too. He also likes to be watching tv while he eats and it helps distract him so I can give him food he doesn't like. He loves watching elmo, toy story, yo gabba gabba, and believe it or not the Brady Bunch. Don't ask me why??

I feel so blessed to be Dre's mom. He is one special little boy. I love my little family and loved spending two weeks with both of them. I love watching Matt and Dre play. Dre laughs so hard when he is playing with daddy.

New Year's Day

2011-01-06T08:04:00.003-07:00

the gang ready for laser tag
my nephew Tyson holding and helping Dre
the kids riding around
We had a great New Year's at the Downs this year. LIke always there is food, fun, and the dreaded games. I say dreaded because every year I bring a game and all the Downs boys plus Kerry (Father in law) start to complain. But as soon as we start playing they all have a great time. Kerry expecially! I think deep down he really likes games but portrays that he doesn't. I didn't take any good pics that night, so on to New Year's Day. Matt's brother had a great idea to go up to MAtt's school and play laser tag when it was dark. It worked out great cause all the little kids just rode around on their scooters in the gym, the sister in laws just chatted (which is so of my most favorite times) and the boys played laser tag around the whole school. It is fun to be together with Matt's side of the family.

Merry Christmas 2010

2010-12-29T20:16:00.009-07:00

I can not tell you how much I love having a child during the holidays. It makes it so much more fun especially this year. Dre didn't understand it all but he started to get the hang of it. A few weeks before Christmas he started saying ho ho ho which added to the excitement. A few days before Christmas we had the annual Downs Christmas party where we eat and have a visit from Santa. I thought for sure Dre would freak out and come running to me not wanting anything to do with Santa, but boy was I wrong. Santa just happened to come through the door that Dre was standing by. Right when he saw him he said hohoho! and started pointing. It was the cutest thing. Then he followed him around and was ohing and ahhing and saying hohoho over and over. All the little kids gathered around him and Dre was standing right in front of him. I tried to move him so people could take pics of their kids with him but he just threw a tantrum so I left him in front. I'm sure people will not be to happy that their pic will have a little boy's head in the way but oh well. Dre then started touching Santa's bells, and he tried to carry his bag, but it was a little too heavy. Then his name was called and I put him on his lap expecting to have to take him right off, but he just sat their for a minute so I could get a pic. I love the pic to because his little mouth is wide open like what is this man doing! It was a fun night and Dre was the life of the party!!!

Christmas morning was just as expected. Dre was adorable with all the stuff he got. He was like ohhh! over everything. Matt's parents and two younger brothers were able to come out and see Dre right when he walked in. It was nice to have the company. After we played with Dre's toys and opened our presents we had a nice breakfast. Dre got a motorized fourwheeler, elmo stuff, clothes, motorized train set, tee ball set (which he figured out right off the bat) books, laptop, and lots of other things from family. He was definitely spoiled. Then we headed over to my parents house. We were able to talk to Tyler on his mission and open each others gifts. My parents gave me pots and pans which was well over due since the only ones I had were from my roommate in college. Then we went over to Matt's parents house to visit with his whole family and exchange gifts. Dre was a champ the entire two days of fun. He did not fuss once and just went with the flow. He is such a good little boy.seeing what SAnta brought
trying out his four wheeler
getting a hang of how to open a present. he was a pro by the end of it
Uncle Stevie (Dre loves his uncles Steve and JJ)

It has been so nice being off for two weeks. I love spending time with my little family. It's nice too because Matt has my same time off pretty much. He has to go to work for a couple of hours a day and then he is home to play with us. We haven't done too much which is nice because it is fun to just relax. I have been able to catch up on my new favorite show Cold Case. I had like 35 DVRed so that has been fun. We did go to the Dinosaur Museum the other day. Not what I thought it was going to be, but oh well. Dre had fun looking at the dinosaurs and being able to run around. I was able to snag a few pics of this boy. He is fast when he wants to be.

Sledding?

2010-12-21T09:17:00.002-07:00

Dre had his first experience with sledding yesterday. (today would be even better, have you looked outside) We have a little hill in our backyard that was perfect for a 1 year old. We got a sled that has a pull string so we could pull him up the hill. We didn't have a snow suit so we had to improvise. I think he looked adorable. A little like the boy from The Christmas Story, but still cute. He wasn't to sure about the snow. I tried to get him to eat it but it spit it right out. He loved going down the hill and screamed and laughed the whole 2 seconds he was on the hill. Love this little boy!!!!!

SluMbeR ParTY (GNO)

2010-12-21T09:09:00.002-07:00

It was Jenni's birthday the other night and her husband was out of town so she decided to celebrate her birthday with a girls night out sleep over at her house. It was so fun! We had a great dinner, played games, and chatted about everything and anything. We stayed up way to late, but it was worth it. I'm so glad I have stayed in contact with my college girls. It's nice because we can go months without talking but as soon as we do we start right back up as if we see each other every day. I love these girls! Happy birthday Jenni, and thanks for the great night!!!!

Gingerbread house attempt

2010-12-21T09:03:00.003-07:00

awhile ago we bought a gingerbread kit from Walmart. Bad decision! It was the stupidest thing ever. The frosting was nasty and the gingerbread was to heavy to hold up. Next time I think we will just go for the graham cracker with homemade frosting for our gingerbread house. We ended up just throwing it away. Nice waste of 9$.

we had our friends Garrett and Sue over with their little boy Tate the other day. The boys got on the couch and started watching Elmo, so I thought I should take a pic of the two boys since they will be friends forever. It will be fun to look back on pics of them as they are growing up.

Dre visits Santa for the 1st time

2010-12-09T15:27:00.002-07:00

So, two days ago we took Dre to see Santa while we were doing a little shopping. I figured he wouldn't like him to much, but I still wanted to try. There was nobody in line which was nice to to fill rushed. We got him over there and put him on Santa lap. He did good for about 2.2 seconds and then he lost it cause he looked at Santa. The picture was the very first one they took right before he freaked out. It's so cute though. I love his hands. Like get me outta here!!!! They tried to warm him up but Dre just cried harder so we got the first pic and left. Classic!

16 months

2010-12-06T10:05:00.003-07:00

Dre is now 16 months and is getting bigger every day. He amazes me with something new everyday I swear. He is still the best little boy ever. I tell people that I'm not going to have another baby because I have the perfect child and I don't want to mess with perfection:) But seriously he is so awesome. He is the funniest little dude. He thinks he is so funny too!

Things about Dre right now:
loves Elmo still (he will watch an entire 1 1/2 Elmo movie)
makes the kissing sound when he kisses
runs around like a crazy person
loves to dance (we put on music and he will start dancing then if you turn it off he throws a fit, pretty funny though)
still not saying a lot of words yet (jibberish)
sleeps amazing 12+ hrs with a 1-2 hr nap
likes to feed himself and have a fork in his hands
obsessed with climbing on the couch and using the remote
right now he loves the train around our tree and christmas lights on peoples houses (can't wait to take him to Thanksgiving Point)
only one bottle at night the rest of the day he has a sippy
he follows directions very well
loves to make baskets and swing his bat (he holds it the right way but lefty)
loves to chase Snoop around the house
loves to wrestle with dad (I love to watch this. they are both laughing hysterically)
loves books and his disney shape sorter (he can even put the circles and squares in their holes)
He was wondering where the train went. He was loving this going OOOH! the whole time

Black Friday 2010

2010-12-03T12:42:00.003-07:00

Planning our Attack on the night

Black Friday this year was a success. I feel like I got a lot of things taken care of. And of course we had a good time doing it. This year was way better then in years past because Walmart had their doorbusters at midnight. We started at 9 and got everything we wanted into our carts. I wanted to get Dre a motorized motorcycle but I wasn't suppose to take it until midnight. Well, I did anyways cause nobody was watching:) All the other ladies saw that and did the same thing. OOPS! We were able to get our items price matched early too, so that was nice. Then we headed to the mall. Aero and the Disney store were opened. I found some clothes at Aero and then headed to meet my family at the Disney store. There was a long line that was not moving very fast. I had a couple of things that I wanted so I was in line with Kelli. Well about half way through the line it hit me that I had to pee. I've never been able to hold it that well and it has gotten worse with a baby. So I was standing there complaining to Kelli. Finally I asked the people where the bathroom was and they informed me that no bathrooms were available in the mall. I was about to lose it. I decided to have Jami stand in line for me so I could go to a gas station or something. (remember it was about 2 in the morning at this time). I left with my mom and of course there was no gas station open. Luckily Toys R Us was open so I drove there. When I got to the restroom there was a line with like 4 people. As soon as I saw that I dropped to the floor and started saying "I have to pee sobad I can't hold it Oh no!" I'm standing there literally crossing my legs and holding myself. Luckily the lady that was second in line let me go ahead of her. If not for her I honestly would have peed my pants.

Another little story was that we dropped Jami off to wait in the cold to get a snowboard for her husband. While in line a lady a few people back from her started getting into with Jami because she thought Jami was letting people butb when in all acuallity the girl had been there the whole time. Jami yelled back and stood up for herself. Black Friday isn't complete without a little brawl right? We ended our night of shopping with our trip to IHop for some breakfast. I love this tradition!

2 AM FuN

2010-11-30T10:50:00.006-07:00

This past saturday we went up to my parents condo in Midway. I don't know what Dre's problem was but he woke up at midnight wide awake. So for the next two hours we were trying to entertain him. Luckily Matt brought his laptop so we got out the photobooth and had some fun with Dre. At first we showed some movies that Matt had made of himself and Dre was cracking up. He thought it was the funniest thing ever. I love that laugh too!!! Then we decided to get him involved and take some pics of him. He was probably wondering what the heck was going on with his face, but we all had a good laugh.

Happy Birthday Zoey

2010-11-18T14:45:00.004-07:00

Yesterday was my niece Zoey's 7th birthday. We were invited to go to Chuck E Cheese to help celebrate. We thought it would be fun to take Dre since he had not been yet, and visiting family is always a bonus. Dre thought hte rides were pretty cool. At first he was trying to figure out what was going on and why he was moving all around. We gave my niece a really fun game that I play with my first graders. Since she is in first grade I thought she would like it. A few months ago she came over for a football game with her dad. I could tell she was getting a little bored so I pulled the game out and we played all night. She loved it. When she opened her gift you can tell how happy she was by the pic below. Her parents later told me that she had been asking for the game but didn't know what was called so they couldn't get it for her.

the rest of these pics were just cute of Dre at Chuck E Cheese. I love the pic with his Grandma Downs. Priceless!

stats update and cute pics

2010-11-12T09:13:00.003-07:00

I took Dre to the doctor the other day. He is a healthy little boy and learning and growing the way he should. So that is good. He was 22.5 lbs 26% and 31.5 in 71%. He had to get 3 shots so that was not fun. He has been a little grumpy the last couple of days. The doc also told me that I have to get rid of the bottle. So we have been trying that the last couple of days. Last night he would not take the sippy for bed so I reverted back to the bottle. I think i might have him have a bottle before bed for a little while longer and do sippy for the rest of the day. I just like our routine for bed and don't want to mess with it right now.

These pics are from a couple weeks ago. I had the day off so we went and visited daddy at work. Matt has an old desktop in his office so we put Dre in front of if and he started typing away. He thought it was the coolest thing in the world. I think a laptop of some sort will have to be on his Christmas list

Yo Gabba Gabba Concert

2010-11-10T10:07:00.003-07:00

yesterday we took Dre to the Yo Gabba Gabba concert. We bought the tickets back in June when he was really into it. Now that he is into Elmo we didn't know if he would like it. But, he loved it. We got there a little early so we had to entertain him. We had floor seats so we just let him walk around until it started. When it started he was loving it. They let out some confetti and that scared him a little. We would just stare while they sang and danced. A few times we caught him clapping and dancing a little. Right before intermission they let out balloons so that kept him occupied during intermission. When it got to a part with less action we could tell Dre had had enough so we left a little early. When we got in the car he fell right to sleep. A little to much stimulation maybe. A little disclaimer that my camera sucks, so the pictures were not as cute as I had hoped. Dre was also not in the mood to pose for pictures, therefore making Matt not in the mood. I will be getting a new camera for Christmas. I'm so sick of not getting good shots of my cute family!!!!unny story about this pic. This was when we were leaving and they had told us when we got there that we could get a family pic here for free. We decided to do it when we left. We ask the guy if we can still do a pic and with our own camera. He said sure. I then ask if he will take it and he said no cause its with our camera. I was so mad. Luckily, another worker was like I'll do it I don't care. Stupid guy!
Dre enjoying the show
during intermission with the balloons

15 Months

2010-11-08T08:10:00.004-07:00

It was very quiet so I went around looking for Dre and he had found my decorative CHAPTER BOOKS and was looking through them
Dre saw the escalator at the mall and wanted to go for a ride. Matt was a good dad and took him up and down!

Can I just say that I love being a parent especially to the sweetest, cutest, funniest little boy ever. Dre is so much fun right now. He is so smart. He is in a cuddly stage right now and I can't get enough. We love watching him move around the house and always wonder what is going through his mind.

Things Dre is doing right now:
*cuddle-when he sees MAtt and I cuddle he has to join in.
*he still takes a bottle and it has to be warm milk. Also, he will not hold his bottle, but that is ok with me because every morning and night I get cuddle time where we just get to relax together and I get to hold him
*running, walking backward, and spinning around getting dizzy. He laughs hysterically when he gets dizzy and I stop him.
*makes a basket in his hoop then claps for himself and runs to give us high fives
*watches Elmo just sitting in his chair (above pics)
*loves books-he will bring you a book and expect you to read it to him. He has a lot of the touch and feel and right now he is into giving the touchy things kisses.
*gives the best kisses- you can tell him to kiss someone and he will
*understands almost everything you say and will do it- like food, he will go to his high chair, bath he will go to the tub.
*when you say where is your eyes he will blink over and over
*where's your muscles he will flex and make a grunting face
*knows belly button and head
*words: hot, meow, roar, mom, dad, snoop, treat, letter D (these are all on occasion not repeated except for hot). I would say his first real word is hot cause he says it all the time. It's more like (ah)
*the one and only problem with this child is feeding time and food. It is mostly my problem. I run out of things to feed him and I never know if he is full. When I try something new he usually doesn't like it and that is because it is veggies. I still give him baby food veggies because I don't know what else to try. The babysitter is really good at making him eat so I usually send the veggies with her.
*one nap (at the babysitters for 1-2hrs)
*sleeps from 7-7 everyday and on the weekends he will sleep in with us until 8 usually. Like I said he is the best thing in the world letting us sleep in:)
*chases Snoop around all the time but then at other times will cuddle with him
*loves the big trucks across the street (they are building a house)
*loves driving his cars on the tile and pushing his animals across it too!

I go to the doc on Wed to get an update on his stats so I will post those then. All I can say is we love our little boy more than anything in the world and we couldn't be more happy right now as a family. I love my boys!!!

Halloween 10

2010-11-02T10:25:00.005-06:00

I love Halloween. I think it helps to be a school teacher and know that I HAVE to dress up. It is even more fun with a child. This year, like last, I brought Dre to school with me all day. I didn't have anyway of getting him to my parade and back so I just kept him all day. He was a champ. The kids loved him and he was loving it too. When I needed to do something I would put him in his stroller and turn on an Elmo movie. He also took a nap in his stroller. It was so much fun to have him and be with him all day.

I dressed up as Tinker Bell this year (thanks Jami). My first grade team all did a fairy theme. I really wanted to do a theme with Dre but nothing was working out and being a fairy was free so I went with it. I'm glad I did cause we looked awesome. I got so many comments on my shiny metallic leggings:)

Dre was of course ELMO. HE was the best looking Elmo too! He wore his costume so good. He did not care about the head on top of his head. He did get a little hot though. All the little kids in the parade were yelling MELMO. It was so cute! Then on Saturday we went and visited my house, Matt's house, and his Grandma Downs. It was fun to show Dre off to everyone. By the time we got to my mom's house Dre was done. You can see in one of the pictures. He looks drugged. He was so tired. He would just sit there in a daze. It was so much fun to see everyone and be with family.
I just loved these family pics!!!
Dre trick or treating at Matt's parents house
Tyller and Dre, Brody, Tyson, Zoey, Maddi, Skye, Casen, and Aspen in front
Griffin, Dre, Caleb and Tessa (she was the cutest little cowgirl ever) and Chase
Dre super tired

Pumpkin Fun

2010-10-19T13:21:00.002-06:00

My family all met at Jami's house last night to carve pumpkins and enjoy my dad's yummy chili. We got one pumpkin for Dre and we carved Elmo. It was a little harder than I thought it would be and since I have never carved before (that I remember) I was complaining a little. Matt came to my rescue and finished it off for me. Dre could care less and was just happy wandering around looking at everybody. It was fun to see people's designs but we couldn't stay for them to be lit up cause we had to get Dre back home for bed. I also didn't take any pictures so these are from my sister's blog. I need to take a pic of our Elmo pumpkin sometime. The Jazz pumpkin is my nephew Lance's. I thought it turned out awesome! I loved the pic of my parents so I had to add it. Side note to me: Don't go into Orem using the freeway anytime soon during rush hour. It took us 45 minutes and it was annoying!

Better late than never (Dre's first B-day)

2010-10-16T15:36:00.006-06:00

This is mostly for me to blog about and eventually get a book made of my blog and this is kind of a big deal. These are pictures from Dre's bday party back in August. We had a BBQ in our backyard. It almost had to be moved inside because of the wind but we made it work and eventually the wind stopped. It was just Matt and I's families. We had hamburgers, hotdogs, salads, fruit and veggies, and chips. Each person invited was suppose to wear a sports shirt or jersey which turned out super cute. Lance made the invite, but it was my idea (thanks to the internet)

The decorations would have looked really good if the wind had not blown them all around. We had balloons showing where people come and balls all over the backyard but they ended up along the fence. We had our BBQ, opened presents, and then watched him go at it with the cake. He was in heaven cause I don't let him have a lot of sugar. We payed for it later that night because he did not go to bed until 2. I think it was a combo of the sugar and the stimulation of all the people. Dre loved it though and we are grateful for all the presents and family who came. Dre won't remember it at all the pictures will show him how wonderful it was. The reason it has taken me so long is I asked my sister in law to take pictures with her awesome camera and we haven't been able to meet up and get the disc until now. Thanks Melissa!!

Zoo Day!!!!

2010-10-13T08:36:00.003-06:00

The other day we went to the Zoo as a family. Since Dre liked the farm so much we thought he would enjoy the Zoo. He liked some of the stuff. I think it was a little hard to see some of the animals and if they weren't moving around he was not impressed. It was nice to see the tigers moving around and the giraffe was right by us eating a tree so Dre kept pointing to it. His favorite was the Carousal. He would cry when we had to get off. I knew he would like it cause of Disneyland. It was a really fun day to be together and do something different. I love spending time with my family! Dre entertains us all the time and keeps us on our toes. He is now running around and can get to what he wants really quick. We had such a nice time just walking around the zoo. One funny thing was we thought it was going to be cold so we dressed warm. When we got up there we see all these people walking around in shorts and flip flops. We were like what were we thinking. Oh well! we had a great time anyways!

14 Months

2010-10-06T10:28:00.003-06:00

This month seem to fly. I have been so busy with school and things that I feel like I'm never able to breath. Being a working mom is hard and I feel like sometimes I'm not being the best mom to Dre. The next two nights are not going to help either because I have parent teacher conferences and I won't see Dre tonight or tomorrow because he goes to bed at 7 and I won't get home til 8. He is going to think I abandoned him. He is so much fun right now. He is walking and exploring everything now. He loves to just walk around the house and look at things (and grab too). We have a few bucket of toys that he grabs each toy looks at it and puts it down and grabs another. Some other facts about Dre at 14 months:

he is obsessed with Elmo. We bought a video of Elmo and he will watch the entire 50 min movie without moving.
he loves books especially Elmo books. He will bring you a book and want you to read it. Then he will act surprised over every page.
he is obsessed with his dad. I love watching the 2 of them play. It is so fun. Matt makes him laugh so hard and it's the cutest sound ever. They are into sword fighting right now and they chase each other around the house. I love the way Dre looks at his dad, like he is the coolest guy ever.
he still loves Snoop. They play chase to and they are so funny. They also cuddle and it's so sweet!
he is a very picky eater and I feel like a bad parent cause I give him whatever he wants just so he will eat. Not a ton of healthy things which is sad, but at least he will eat
sleeps 7-7 with one nap
trying to break a molar
walks like crazy and starting to run

the one thing that is driving me crazy about my cute boy is his tantrums. He is already got a mind of his own. When he wants something he gets so mad if you try and take it away. For instance, right now he is really into pushing our stroller. The problem is is gets caught on everything and he starts to cry. So I will push it along with him. Well, I get sick of that and try to put the stroller up and he will completely freak out and lay on the ground and bawl. I have tried a little time out but he doesn't get that so we have just been ignoring for now and distracting him. But even with all that he is the sweetest best thing that has ever happened to us and we love him to death.

Thanksgiving Point Farm Country

2010-10-06T08:12:00.007-06:00

The first thing you see at the farm are the sheep. He was loving it. He kept saying OOH! and pointing at everything. We had a blast doing something as a family!

Dre loved the pigs. He would bang on the fence. They were so active and running around
Dre started to make this face when the pigs were up by the fence doing the same thing. All the sudden Dre started doing it. It was hilarious!
love this picture! Dre usually doesn't let anyone hold his hand so this is precious

This is the pony ride. When we were done Dre threw a little fit because he wanted to do it again. Note: Do not go around with your kids in flip flops:)

first night alone

2010-09-27T08:26:00.002-06:00

This past weekend was a first for me. We asked Matt's parents to watch Dre over night so that we could have a night alone and a morning to sleep in. It was so nice! We got a new surround system that we haven't been able to fully enjoy because we can't turn it up all the way. We watched the new Robin Hood and it sounded great. We went to dinner at Red Lobster and did a little shopping at Kohl's. It was nice to be able to sleep in and not worry about Dre all night. He had a blast with grandma and grandpa Downs and we are so glad. They even said they would do it again! Yay!

Mickeyland

2010-09-20T10:23:00.007-06:00

This past week Dre and I went to D-land with my family. I love Disneyland and I love spending time with the fam so it was so I was in heaven. Dre was a champ the entire trip. He didn't fuss at all. He would just sleep in his stroller when he was tired and I let him out to walk around when we were stopped and waiting for people to go on a ride. He loved the carasaul and the buzz ride. I'm already going through withdrawls of Dland and the food.Our family in front of Disneyland and my mom's paver
For Mother's Day me and my sisters went in on a paver that goes in front of Disneyland. WE were so glad it was there this time to see it!
My mom's crowning moment! She was loving it!We took Lance's camera to take a silly pic but I guess the joke was on me cause Jami smiled perfectlyIn line for Grizzly Peak with Jami, Mom, and Lance's girlfriend Chelsey
Right before we are about to get soaked
This was after Grizzly Peak and we were soaked. I got so wet I did not dry off the rest of the day. It sucked!

13 Months

2010-09-07T11:44:00.007-06:00

Dre is officially walking! He started on Saturday. He will still crawl cause he forgets he can walk but when he remembers he stands up and takes off. If he falls down sometimes he will stand back up other times he will just crawl. I was really hope he would be walking when we go to Disneyland next week and it looks like he will be so that's good. Other things about Dre at 13 months: he is teething his molars, he could live off fruit and cheese, will only drink cow milk from a bottle and it has to be warm, loves to drive his cars around and can make the sound, loves to chase Snoop around and tries to hit him ( he laughs hysterically when he does hit him), sleeps 7 to 7 and takes 1 or 2 naps a day for about 1 1/2 hrs, loves to play on the couch, loves to push us over when we are on the ground with him and we pretend to fall over, if you say get him he will go over to that person and begin to wrestle with you, takes his blankie everywhere with him, he points at things he wants, and makes the sign for touchdown, he is usually super happy and fun to be around unless his teeth are bothering him. We had a little bit of a problem this past week getting use to not seeing each other all the time and he reacted in a negative way. he was hitting me a lot and acting mean towards me like he was mad at me. He was just trying to adjust I think cause he is loving me now. He makes me laugh all the time and makes the cutest faces. I love him so much and am so glad I'm his mom!playing with his ballshowing touchdown
watching dad play Wii (love his leg up, he does this all the time in the stroller or car seat)
Dre loves bath time

Lil' Ute

2010-09-03T07:58:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was the first Utes game so I had to get Dre all ready to watch it. We are Ute fans at our house so we were very excited when they WON last night. What a great way to start ooff the football season. Also, Dre was walking around our family room all day yesterday. If he has something to stand him up he will walk if not he crawls. He is sooooo close! It will be weird having him walk around instead of crawl and then add words to that and I will not know what to do. He will be a toddler soon:(watching the game!

What a way to start off the year

2010-08-30T19:07:00.002-06:00

so today we had an assembly for our fundraiser for the year. I was asked by the vice principal to participate. I didn't have any idea what i was going to bd doing. Turns out I had to play minute to win it. I love that show and actually thought I wanted to go on the show. But I have changed my mind. I did all the games in a minute but the first game I played was the toilet paper mummy. It's where you have to unwind the toilet paper around yourself. I got so dizzy. I fell down a few times. Then right after that game I had to eat a cookie starting from my forehead and move it to my mouth without hands. Then I had to put a puzzle together then play the game where you wear a pantyhose with a ball at the end and you knock over water bottles. Needless to say at the end I was not feeling to well and ended up throwing up in a garbage in front of my class. Nice way to start the year. This is all to go on top of what happened yesterday. I was in the garage then came in and started ceding dre. Then all of the sudden I got this really bad pinching sensation under my armpit. I started freaking out crying saying something got me and asking if I was going to die cause it hurt so bad I thought for sure a black widow got me or something. Matts yelling at me to take my shirt off cause it was still pinching me. I got my shirt off and matt started looking through it and sure enough it was a yellow jacket. I had s huge bump and it Hurt so bad. It's still itching today. I hate bees! Since matt and I have been married I have gotten stung by a bee every year. How annoying. I hate bees!!!

Here we go again...

2010-08-25T13:07:00.003-06:00

I can't believe I'm back in school already. The summer flew and I enjoyed every minute I got to spend with Dre. It's been a good day so far if you like running around with your head chopped off and talking all day. My class should be pretty good. I have some really cute kids. I have been so busy getting everything all ready. I'm already excited for the weekend so I can relax a little.

Side note, Dre is so close to walking. He took a bunch of steps yesterday. I'm so glad I was able to see them. Also, he is doing great for Marnee. He is not upset when I drop him off and that makes me feel good. He is sleeping in her crib which is nice. I was a little worried about that cause he was so comfortable in his own crib. I think it should go pretty smooth this year. I guess we will wait and see.

My son is a genius (I know that's what every mother says)

2010-08-10T20:11:00.002-06:00

Matt taught Dre the color green when I was out of the room. When I came in MAtt told Dre to find the color green. He did. I said I want to get it on camera. Dre kept playing and I thought when I filmed him he would forget about it. But nope he totally did it over and over. I wonder if he will remember tomorrow????

1 YEAR OLD:)

2010-08-06T21:31:00.006-06:00

winding down by watching yo gabba gabba and standing up alone

Playing peek a boo with mom and cuddling

Dre in side the dog cage
Dre walking with his walker and cheesing it!
Dre wishing he could play Wii

Dre is one year old and I can't believe it. I wanted to write on his day and it is getting late. We just got done with his bday party and pictures are coming later but we had a blast. All the families were there to help celebrate. Dre sure has a lot of people who love him and we feel so blessed for that. I've been thinking a lot about what we have gone through over the past year and how much Dre has changed our lives. He is the best thing that has ever happened to us. I feel so blessed to be his mother. He is the sweetest most special guy in the world. His personality is the best and he makes me so happy.

Some things about Dre at 1 year
*Walks with a walker, us, and along couches. He could probably walk but is afraid to take that first step
*Sits forward facing in car. I had to do this the other day cause Matt had the other carseat and he loved it so we just left him
*Sleeps from 8-9:30. That will be changing once school starts though. No more sleeping in.
*Eats 3 meals a day. Loves mac and cheese, quisidillas, fish sticks, sweet potatoes, squash, all fruit pretty much, toast. I do need more ideas on food though.
*loves loves loves balls. He crawls around with a ball in his hand. I think sometimes he forgets that its even in his hand.
*loves to push cars around the floor but gets frustrated when they fall over and they are not on the wheels anymore.
*has to knock down every tower we build with blocks. He does not like them stacked at all.
*when he gets mad he bangs his head on the floor. He hits hard sometimes and starts to cry from that. Double whammy:(
*he hits himself with his toys all the time cause he thinks its funny. He will do it and then laugh.
*Chases Snoop around and takes Snoops toys away from him but if Snoop takes his toys away from him he gets mad
*in the car he will dance to every song that comes on by either pumping his chest or head banging
*loves the remote, yo gabba gabba, and the animals on the phones still
*on the app we have flashcards for animals and he loves the lion on it and now he makes the sound for lion. In our bathroom we have a jungle theme and there are lions so whenever we go in there he automatically makes the lion sound
*when we get ready to leave and go through the room to the garage he automatically starts waving bye
*got a new tooth today. That makes 5 teeth total by his 1st bday
loves to just crawl around all day and talks to himself while doing so.

I just can't believe it has been a year already. It's crazy to think that a year ago I was holding him for the first time. I love him more and more each day and it just gets better and better. It's so fun to watch him grow but I wish it would slow down:(

Dre is turning 1!!!!!!!!!

2010-08-03T21:05:00.003-06:00

Dre is turning 1 on Friday the 6th. I got his one year pictures taken last week and I think they turned out pretty cute. The ones with the balls and things were not such a good idea cause he just wanted to grab them and throw them. He was pretty smiley but only when the camera was down:(

Dre's first Uinta Experience

2010-07-30T16:40:00.008-06:00

This past week Matt's family was up camping for the annual campout in the Uinta's. We decided to go up for a day and visit. When we first got there Dre was in heaven. He was loving the outdoors! He was all smiles. To bad that after a couple hours it started to pour down rain and our little trip was cut short.

You can tell by these faces alone that Dre loved being there. He was making all sorts of faces at us while he was sitting on the rock. He kept looking up and blowing out air and then would duck his head down and laugh. He thinks he is so funny!I had to get a pic with my little boy. He was having to much fun not to join in.This was on a little walk with dad. He is soooo close to walking! Again he is loving it!Uncle JJ caught a fish while we were waiting for everyone to come back. Dre thought it was pretty neat.
These last two pics were just so cute I had to add them!

It was so fun to go visit the fam up camping and watch Dre in the outdoors. Hopefully one of these years we will actually stay over night:)

One year ago today

2010-07-28T22:22:00.002-06:00

it was one year ago today that we moved into our house. It's crazy to think how fast this year went. We have loved having a home to come home and not hike 3 flights of stairs to get there (although I think my legs could use the exercise). Our favorite things about the house are the garage, yard, and basement. Things that have sucked are the problems we've had. Our air coditioner, dishwasher, landscaping company have given us problems but were all taken care of. Im so grateful for our house and it's been a great year!

Also tomorrow marks the one year mark for my nephew Tylers mission. We are so proud of him and his hard work.

Bridal Veil Falls

2010-07-26T15:19:00.003-06:00

We took a little family outing up to Bridal Veil just to get out of the house. It was nice to get out and do something out of the ordinary for us. Luckily, it is not a huge long hike to get to and its paved so we could just push the stroller. I have never really been to Bridal Veil except maybe when I was little. I have never hiked to the top (which I really have no desire to do) but it was cool to see other people up there. Dre thought it was pretty cool he kept pointing at the falls and looking at us like do you see this. I took Dre over to a little rock in the water. It was freezing. I thought my feet were going to fall off. It did cool me down though. I'm glad Matt had the idea and we were able to spend some quality time together as a family. I hate that the summer is coming to an end soon. The thought of leaving Dre is killing me already. He is so much fun right now. He is super close to walking and its so fun to seem him try and learn. I'm going to miss him so much it kills me.gotta love when you ask someone to take a pic for you!

Tessa Barbara Ohran

2010-07-16T11:10:00.002-06:00

We finally did it in our family. Our first granddaughter and niece was born on July 9, 2010. She weighed 6lbs 10 oz and was 18.5 in long. She is adorable and we are so glad she is here. Jami did great and everything was fine. the funny story is in the name Tessa. Tessa was not even one of the names on their list and when they saw her none of the names they had picked seemed to fit. Then Tessa came up and they were like no that's not the name but Jami kept thinking about it all night long and they decided it must need to be Tessa. The name fits her perfect. She has lots of black hair that has a curl at the top. Every time I showed Dre the baby he would smile and laugh. It's going to be so fun having a little baby girl around!!!!

The 4th Weekend

2010-07-07T09:53:00.006-06:00

We had a great 4th of July. Matt was able to get off early on both THursday and Friday and had Monday off. We went to the Lindon pool on Thursday and Friday. It was so fun to watch Dre in the water. He wasn't sure at first then he started to crawl around and splash. They have a lazy river, so we put him in this tube and he just floats around. There are two parts where water falls down and he does not like that. He cries for a few seconds after then he is fine. We really liked that pool so we will be back plenty more this summer I'm sure.

Then on Monday we went to Matt's brother's house for our annual BBQ. It's so fun when we all get together. I love spending time with his family. The sister in laws are more like sisters, I swear. We all get along so well and have the best time talking and laughing. It's fun to watch all of Matt's brothers together too!All the Downs cousins except Casen
the wives of four Downs boys
Dre and Brody are a little over a year apart. Hopefully this is the beginning of a great friendship
Dre loves to swing
first taste of corn on the cob. He loved it!had to add this picture. This is his I want something I can't have face. LOVE IT!!!!!!

Also one of the nights Matt and I got out our fire pit and had a nice quiet night next to our fire. It was so nice to just relax.

Last but not least this is our newest purchase. It completes our family room perfect. Now I just need to decorate it. It's hard to know what and how to so any suggestions would be great!

11 months

2010-07-06T15:05:00.003-06:00

My baby is not such a baby anymore. This past month he has grown up so much and seems to be more like a toddler than a baby. He is not walking yet but he pulls himself up on everything and doesn't like to cuddle as much as he used to. He always wants to get down and crawl around or pull himself up. His favorite thing to do right now is throwing balls on the tile and crawling over to them, picking them up and throwing them again. If I need a second I can still put him in front of Yo Gabba Gabba and he is content. There is a part on the show that says go crazy! go crazy! and now when we say it to him he will shake his head and body and open his mouth and yell. It's hilarious! He thinks he is the funniest kid around. When I take something from him or when he wants to do something that he shouldn't he scunches up his nose and makes a pouty face and pretend cries. So dang cute! (but I still don't give in) He gives the best kisses too! He loves music and will dance at any sound of music. It's pretty cool to cause he will be on beat. If its a fast beat he will move his body fast and when its a slower beat he will go slow. He jabbers on like he is really trying to talk and its so cute. He still likes anything that is not a toy and that we have. He likes balls, blocks (cause he can still throw them) books. We got him a walker to try and help him walk. He hasn't got a hang of it yet and doesn't really like it when I try to get him to walk with it. Hopefully soon though. He is eating a lot more solids and I have let up a bit on the choking thing. He likes ramen, mac and cheese, quesidillas, anything with cheese, squash, potatoes, toast, bananas, well pretty much anything I give him he likes. He is wearing 12-18 month clothes and sleeps really well still. I think he is teething so he will wake up some nights and will want to be held back to sleep, but once he is back asleep he will sleep through the night. I think we need to change his schedule anyways. I think he might put him to bed to early so we are trying to keep him up longer and hope that will help him sleep the whole night. Him and Snoop still chase each other around until Snoop gets annoyed and hides. He is so much fun and I hate the thought about going back to work in 5 weeks. I don't like that he is growing so fast but it is fun to watch him learn new things. I'm already planning his first birthday and its going to be so fun!!!

My birthday week

2010-06-30T15:30:00.009-06:00

Yes, that's right I have a birthday week. I love celebrating my birthday! It started Saturday by throwing my sister a baby shower. We are so excited because she is having a baby girl and that will make the first granddaughter on our side. She has a five year old boy and so we thought she needed a shower because it has been so long and she is having a girl. My friend Shannon had the idea to make a diaper cake so we went in on it and bought lots of cute things to decorate it with. Here it is and also the cute decorations and food along with a pic of Shannon and I.

me, Kelli, Jami, my mom. love these girls!!!

On Sunday we had a party at my parents house with a nice dinner of hamburgers and chicken with leftovers from the shower. I got some nice things from my sisters too!blowing out the candles (28 to be exact)
a birthday kiss from my baby boy (the best present)
opening up my presents
a family pic

Then Monday was my real birthday and Matt watched Dre so I could go and get a massage and pedicure. I got the pedicure with my sisters to that made it extra fun! Then when I got home Matt, Dre and I went to Tepanyaki for dinner and did a little shopping! I thought Dre might get a little nervous for the fire and smoke but he loved it.not a great pic of me but my boys look good!
Dre was watching very intently I had to snap a shotMatt also surprised me with these beautiful flowers and a sweet card. Thanks babe!

We continued the party on Tuesday by going to the aquarium. We were not impressed at all. If you have been to the aquarium in Vegas this does no justice. Dre liked the penguins and the tropical fish but that was about it. We were there for maybe 20 min. Definitely not worth the 18 dollars. I also thought it felt a little dirty. Like I needed to shower when I left that place. Sorry if any of you like it but we were not impressed. We were able to get a few cute shots of Dre though.

To top of my birthday week I went to the midnight showing of Eclipse last night with my sisters-in-law and mother-in-law. I don't consider my self that big of a Twilight fan, so don't ask me why I went. We had a good time though and the movie to me was the best one so far and I'm definitely Team Jacob all the way:)