Camping Trip Flying Solo!!

The boys and I made our first camping trip without Gary. My dad was going camping up to Woodland, and my sister and I decided to take our kids and tag along.

This was our set up. I was a little nervous about sleeping in a tent with 2 crazy boys, but surprisingly it worked out quite well. We had a nice little set up and the boys slept through both nights.

Jax was pretty impressed with our tent and kept calling it "Our House".

Bennett was a little unsure of the whole idea.

This picture made me laugh. My niece Lily kept collecting sticks and calling them her "Perfect Stick" she kept showing Jax these "perfect sticks". I love the expression on Jax's face. It is almost as if you can read his mind and picture him saying "Big Deal Lily"

Jax caught his very first fish with Papa.

Bennett was a trouble maker the entire time. He is the best trouble finder I have ever seen. He gravitates towards anything and everything that is messy.

It was so fun spending time with my boys! We had so much fun spending time with my dad, sister and neices. Despite having a lot of fun, we were very ready to go home and find daddy by the end.

Jax's Birthday

It is official my baby is 2! We had so much fun celebrating his Birthday. Jax loved soaking in all the attention and loved being spoiled rotten.

We took Jax to a Jump and Bounce place. He loved jumping and going down the slides.

By the time we got home from the jump and bounce place and had gone to dinner, Jax was exhausted and grouchy. We decided to wait till the next afternoon to give him his presents.

Jax finally got a bike! He has been wanting one for a long time. He opened his bike first and then wanted nothing to do with his other presents. We fianlly convinced him to open his other ones, but he had to open them sitting on his bike. Poor Bennett hated Jax getting presents. We had some serious jealousy and fighting. I think he felt pretty left out, and Jax did not want to share his new bike.

Jax loved being sung to. When my family was singing to him, he started singing right along. It was so funny and cute!

Cars Cake

Jax had been telling me that he wanted a Cars cake for quite some time. This is what we came up with.

Jax loved his cake. He was pretty impressed with the candles too.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAX!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday to my sweet little Jax! I can't believe my baby is 2 already! These last two years have truly been the best two years of my life. I am so lucky to be the mommy to this sweet little boy!

Dear Jaxie,

Happy Birthday little man! I can't believe you are 2 already. It seems just like yesterday that I held you in my arms and met you for the first time. These last two years have been the best years of my life. I am so grateful that you are my baby and I get the opportunity to be your mother. I am the luckiest mommy in the world. I live for your smile, sweet laugh, hugs and kisses. I could not imagine our family without you! I love you so so much!!

Love,

Mommy

FINALLY Complete!!!

Yeah we can FINALLY say our deck is complete! Gary has been working on this all summer. It will be nice to finally start new projects in our house and have Gary back with us! Here are some pictures of the finished project...

Now we have some serious landscaping a planting to do around our deck and the rest of our back yard.

My cute little model showing us how to sit on the deck stairs...

and this is how we go down the stairs...

and finally this is how we run on the deck!

We love our deck! It is so much fun making our house our home. Now on to the next project!

Hot Hot Hot!!!

We love summer!! The boys and I have been trying to find any way to keep cool and spend our days.
Jax and Bennett love the water and loved going to the splash park. It was so funny to watch them try and figure out which hole the water would come out of next. What a great way to waste some of their energy and wear them out!



So saying that we are addicted to popsicles would be an understatement.

(no I don't ussually let my boys run around in diapers, but seriously eating popsicles is a dirty job!!)

These 2 are so cute together, they are really starting to play well together and starting to share everything (yes this includes their popsicles! YUMM nothing like swapping slobber!!)

Operation Take Away Jax's Binki

It is official Jax has been binki free for over a week. Yaaayyy!!!!

You may be thinking oh yeah big deal! But really this is huge! Jax's binki (or Binks as he called it) was his best friend. He only had it when he went to sleep, but he could not go to sleep without it. It was one long week, with Jax coming out of his room several (15+) times at bed time and nap time, but we survived. He now will go to sleep just fine. RIP MR. BINKS!!

Funny story about the night we took it away. Jax kept coming out of his room, we told him if he came out again no more binki. Well he came out again. We told him he was a big boy and didn't need his binki and took it away. Several minutes later Bennett starts crying we walk down the hall and there is Jax with Bennett's binki in hand, holding it out for us to take. You could just see the thought process running in his head, if I don't get my binki Bennett shouldn't get his either. Too Funny!!!

Next operation... Take away Bennett's Binki!

Happy 4th of July!!!

Our 4th of July happenings.

Jax wasn't so sure about the fire works. He seemed a little scared and sat still for the entire time. I came to the conclusion that they need to add fireworks to church meetings so that we don't have to fight and wrestle with him to sit still.

Bennett was in awe with the fire works.

Just before the fireworks started.

Throwing snaps.

Jax may be a little obsessed with snaps. He loved them and went through several packages on his own.

For my birthday I got a checkerboard cake pan. I wanted to try in 4th of July style.

Jax doing sparklers. At first he thought it might make a yummy snack and kept opening his mouth to give it a try.

The DeVries Family Stay-Cation

Every year my family tries to go on a vacation together. This year it was decided that we should stick around Salt Lake and enjoy some of the things around here. We had so much fun hanging out with our family. Jax and Bennett loved being with their cousins. It was one busy, fun, and tiring week. Here are some pictures...

One night we headed up to the canyon and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows.

The crazy DeVries family. Our family is getting so so big.


On one of the days we went to the Salt Lake temple and went and saw the Joseph Smith movie.

I may be biased but I think I had the best looking boys there.

We also made a trip to Lagoon.

At the end of the day my brother and sister-in-law took our kids so that we could go on a few rides. They are so good with my boys. They even got Jax on Puff the Magic Dragon.

Our little family riding the train. Jax and Bennett both loved the train and got so excited to see the animals.

Jax was not so sure about the rides. He would freak out while we waited for the rides to get started, but one it was going he was fine.

One of the days we visited the zoo.

My little ground hog.

This is the cutest thing I have ever seen be hatched out of an egg.

We wanted to get a picture of all the grandkids. My dad now has 12. This was quite the chore, and surprise surprise my kids were usually the ones trying to escape and not cooperating.

We finally got one. Are they all looking? NO of course not! But at least they were all there.

Seriously I am so grateful to be part of such a wonderful family! I love them so so much. I am grateful that my kids are going to grow up with and be close to their aunts and uncles and cousins.

Thanks Jason and Shan for planning such a wonderful vacation! We had so much fun!

PAUSE!!!

I wish I could just pause life for a little bit. Time is going way too fast and my kids are growing way to big and growing way too fast. I wish I could keep my babies, babies forever. Each month that goes by I am realizing that I am getting old!!

Jax is now 21 months!
At 21 months Jax...
-Is becoming very emotional (he is either really really happy or very very upset) I think the terrible 2's are here. He is the king of temper tantrums.
-is a daddy's boy (he follows Gary everywhere)
-thinks he is a carpenter (he walks around with his toys pretending they are hammers, he has watched his daddy a little too much as he has been building our deck)
-loves to play with older kids
-faces forward in the car and is loving it
-is starting to put 2 word phrases together ("outside mom", "drink mom", "it breaked")
-talks and talks and talks. He is saying tons of words and seems to say more and more each day. Some of my favorites are: Ravioli (he calls them oli oli oli s), best friend, cupcake, time out and Bennie.
-loves to sing
-can count to 6

BENNETT is 1!!!
Bennett's 1 year old stats...
Weight: 22 lb 1 oz. (40th percentile)
Length: 30 inches (55th percentile)
Head: 48.5 cm (90+ percentile)
Height to Weight: (50th percentile)
At 12 months Bennett...
-says: mama, dada, papa, bye-bye, hi, baby, puppy, ball, uh-oh, Jax (sounds more like Ja), and whas that when he points.
-is constantly chattering and speaking jibberish
-is a professional walker
-loves to push things around (esp. my kitchen chairs)
-loves to find and play in water
-still refuses to fall asleep on own and wants to be rocked
-is starting to be very vocal about being angry
-is VERY VERY VERY STUBBORN and does not give up easily when he wants something.
-loves to watch and follow his big brother
-is starting to fight Jax for what he wants and gets very angry when Jax takes something from him (YES the fighting has begun!!!)
-has no fear when it comes to height (he would be okay just diving off of beds, stairs or couches if we allowed him.
-climbs anything and everything (including into and out of the bathtub)

Birthday Celebrations

Birthday, Birthday, Birthday!!!. Wow this kid is spoiled. We have had lots of celebrations, lots of presents, and lots of cake these last few days. WARNING!!! LOTS OF PICTURES!!!!

Gary's mom and husband came up to visit on Sunday. We had a yummy birthday dinner and he opened up a few presents, then decided that he was too tired and too onery. We ended up skipping out on the rest of his presents and cake and decided to wait till morning.

The next morning we continued the celebration and finished opening presents with Grandma and Grandpa Bill.
There is nothing better than cupcakes for breakfast.

Bennett did not mess around. He is just like his mommy and loves his treats. Way to not disappoint Bennie!

That afternoon we went to the zoo. Bennett loved the animals. It was so much fun. It was so nice spending time with our boys.

Bennett was right on the level of the meer cats. It was so cute Bennett was following the meer cat as it ran back and forth. He got so excited and would just giggle.

After the zoo we had my family over for yet another birthday party.

Surprise Surprise!! Bennett loves presents and loves showing off to his cute little cousins.

Bennett became quite the present opening fool!

Jax struggled a little with Bennett getting all of the presents and attention. Luckily Bennett is still fairly passive and allowed Jax to share in his glory.

ELMO CAKE!!!

My sister and I had a lot of fun making Bennett's cake.

Jax helping Bennett blow out his candle.

Bennett did a wonderful job destroying his cake, including decapitating and dismembering Elmo!

Bennett loves his cousins. He idolizes older kids! He thought it was great having everyone focus on him. He soaked in all of the attention.

The finished product!

Happy Birthday Bennett! We love you so so much! We can't wait to celebrate more and more and more birthdays with you.