Happy Birthday Damon!

Happy 30th Birthday Damon! We had a little celebration this afternoon before Damon had to go to work. He got off work at 5 in the morning so he slept most of his birthday away. The boys and I bought Damon things in groups of 30's. Thirty Reese's peanut butter cups (his favorite), 30 balloons, 30 cupcakes, and 30 things I love about Damon book. The best gift, we are going away for the week-end WITHOUT kids! This has NEVER happened since Shane was born and we are so excited. We hardly ever get date night because of our crazy schedules so a week-end without kids- we'll be in shock! My WONDERFUL friend, Julie, is going to watch the boys so we can get away which means she will have 8 kids for 3 days!!! Yikes, how do I ever repay her for this? Well, I'm sure I'll be watching 8 kids some week-end in the near future! Damon had no idea I was planning all this and is beyond excited. Nicole, my job share partner, is trading days with me too so we could get away. I have such great friends, thanks you two!

Our lovely cupcakes. We numbered them 1-30 which ended up to be a lot of candles and took me too long to light! Trevor was sleeping so he didn't get to join in on the party but has since woken up and enjoyed a few cupcakes!

Last night, after I put Trevor to bed I had an idea. I wanted to make Damon a mini book of 30 Things I love about you! I had a 6X6 album, these are the scraps from Shane's birthday book, and I was all set to make a book! At 2 a.m. I uploaded my pictures to Sam's Club and went and picked them up this morning and stuck them in the book right before Damon woke up! The only problem, when I work late and in a hurry, I have found a typo in the book! It is even a plural typo which was something we were learning this week in third grade! Oh well, I'll fix later. Damon was happy I finally made something for him and it really wasn't hard to think of 30 things! :)

Don't you just love this paper? Shane's Birthday Book is so cute too with this paper.

Happy Birthday Damon. I am so grateful to call you my husband and the happiness you bring into our family. Don't freeze too bad at work tonight and try to stay dry! It's raining and tonight he is trying to get robbed by going to the mall and leaving Coach bags in the car and wait for someone to break in! Crazy job, I'm glad he loves it!

Black Friday

One thing I love about Thanksgiving is BLACK FRIDAY! I love waking up and looking through the ads and plotting out my day! The only problem, this year I had to bring 2 kids along. Ever since Damon and I have been married we have done the wake up early and wait in line thing, but since he works on Thanksgiving he's a no go! When we started this whole thing when stores didn't open at 4 a.m. so it was a different story. I didn't wake up early since I didn't want 2 grumpy kids but we were at a store for my best find by 7:30 a.m.


We are bad. Once we buy our Christmas gifts Damon and I can't wait so here is our Christmas, a new laptop! We are so excited to not have to FIGHT over a computer. Damon can let me get my work done and he can watch as many police videos on u tube as he wants!

As for Thanksgiving, we have a nice quiet Thanksgiving. My mom made the boys the cutest Thanksgiving aprons. Shane loves helping out in the kitchen. He thought these green beans stunk!

Once again, Trevor slept through Thanksgiving. Before the meal started he enjoyed making a turkey sugar cookie. He loves putting on the toppings and then picking them off to eat. He never ended up eating the actual cookie but when he was done there was NOTHING on top!

Shane in his Indian goods. We made these at playgroup the day before. We had a little feast, some games and made some cute crafts. The kids always have so much fun together.

The only thing Trevor really liked about Thanksgiving was the yummy drink. His plate was left full but his cup empty. I don't know how her survives because he doesn't eat all day.

YES, you are seeing right. Shane ate a turkey lunchable for Thanksgiving! I bought all this food because Damon's family was coming out for Thanksgiving and decided not to come last minute. I made everything because it would go bad if I didn't. My boys didn't help eat a thing! I have enough food to feed an army still. Damon and I don't want to see anymore turkey! I did make turkey and dumplings tonight, yummy.

Swingin' Good Time!

If these pictures don't make you want to run to the park for some swingin' fun, I don't know what will! We had a fun morning on Friday at the park and I decided I haven't really taken any pictures playing at the park since Trevor was a baby so I better bring along my camera! The weather has been absolutely perfect and we are trying to take advantage of EVERY second of it because before you know it we'll be freezing!


Trevor loves swinging. We did our first swing together and it was so much fun! He just laughed and then snuggled into me as we swung forever. I was loving every minute of our snuggle time and kept thinking how perfect my life is. I'm so happy to be able to be home with my boys most days and have fun adventures together. I can't imagine how boring and pointless my life would be without them!


As you can see Shane LOVED the swing. He loves to be pushed high and then just kicks his legs and giggles as he goes back and forth. His latest and greatest comments besides the high pitched squeals is "AHHHH, that makes my wienie hurt!" Silly Shane.


We brought along our adopted brother, Gabe. Shane and Gabe absolutely love each other. They are together so much and for the most part don't fight. Last week Shane wanted to be a Frye kid and then Gabe keeps telling his mommy "Shane's my brother." Shane heard Gabe say this and now Shane tells people "Gabe's my brother." They are funny boys. I had to get some pictures in their matching outfits. As I type this I flash back to my matching outfits with my best friend days. Briti and I were a little too old for our matching SAILOR suits at 12 but these boys sure are cute!

This is my favorite shot of the whole day and of course it's not my kid! Look at how fun he is! They actually told me when they were done and wanted to go, which never happens at the park. They talked me into ice creams so I had 3 sticky faces to clean but cute little sticky faces!

The 2 big boys had races down the slides but never got going at the same time so they kept trying over and over!
When I took Trevor out of the swing he said his famous, "NOOOOOO!"

Looking at the weather we better take full advantage of this warm weather because it's going to be gone in the next few days! Yikes!

"MOM, Trevor's being naughty!"

I hear this phrase from Shane many times a day. Sometimes Trevor is not being naughty it's just Shane wanting Trevor away from him. Other times, Trevor is being naughty. I love that Trevor got into the shower with his jammies on. When I was about the same age I did the same thing. I was less considerate, it was at night after my mom had gotten me all bathed and jammied ready for bed and then I hopped back into the tub! Trevor snuck in the shower while it was waiting to warm up in the morning before I got him dress.

He loves the shower. He got his first shower just a few weeks ago, now the shower is extra crowded! I love how the water is dripping off him. Look at those cute pigs!
Tonight, Trevor colored on the wall with crayon. Damon was talked into buying this "magic" cleaner from a door-to-door salesman so I'll be busting that out! It really does work on crayon so I'm happy we have some or we'd be painting.
I love how Shane is putting a thumbs up in the background. Crazy brother! Trevor is loving his masterpiece though. He keeps going over to it admiring and patting it.

Tonight after Trevor made his masterpiece Shane says, "Mom, I love Trevor on time out, do you?" I guess Shane is liking that some one else goes on a time out besides him! However, Trevor doesn't get it and runs away!

Brite Blue Blessings

Damon and his missions buddies arrived back from Guatemala today. I don't know who feels more blessed after this trip, the sweet girls they put through school our Damon and his friends after seeing how these people live. We are all so blessed to live in this amazing country, we are given so many opportunities. I tear up looking at these pictures and seeing the joy we have brought into their lives. Thank you to EVERYONE who gave a donation. Without you we wouldn't have been able to put these kids through school. If you didn't donate, it's not too late! We would like to double the amount of kids we sponsored this school year so make a donation today to Brite Blue Foundation. Ladies from my ward, the school supplies were a hit! The kids loved everything. Look at their surroundings and you can see that these kids are grateful for even the smallest book, package of crayons, or paper. I love the little girl in the bottom left hand corner. In all the pictures she was just hugging her books and supplies. Damon said she wouldn't put down her new prized possessions all day.

As a teacher, I was in shock after looking at this picture. I will not complain at the "No" school supplies I think we get. This is the private school and the VERY best school around! Look how bare the room is and yet look how thrilled the girls are that they get to attend this school! The mother could not believe these white boys were paying for her daughter's school. She almost couldn't accept the donation. When they were paying the school all the mother could think about was that was more than her yearly wage!


The founders of Brite Blue, Mike, Damon, and Josh along with 2 of the girls now going to school because of an idea and help from others.
This is one of the girls kitchens. This is where she lives, dirt floor and all! It's funny, Damon brought back some gifts for the boys and everything smelled of campfire. I remember this smell when Damon came home from his mission. Most homes have a fire going in the middle of it so everything smells of campfire!
This was one of the nicer homes Damon lived in on his mission. It's cute, better then dirt floors and fires for a stove, but still no warm water!

I am going to have to go back with Damon. Guatemala is one big picture! Every thing you see would be the most amazing picture. Look at this family going home after a day of shopping!

Count your blessings tonight. Remember how blessed each of us are and pay it forward!

Picture Fun

We went to the park yesterday to take some pictures. We had gone shopping earlier this week and spent way too much money and now it was time to take the pictures. I wanted to take some pictures of GIRLS so my friend, Julie, was more then happy to supply me with a FEW girls! The kids were so cute making piles with the leaves and then jumping in them. At this point Trevor just wanted to watch. With all the girls around Trevor had about 6 moms helping him and taking care of him. It's nice to have help around especially since Damon is still in Guatemala. After we were done we found the cutest little ice cream shop (we were in Boulder City) and got ice cream. Julie and I had yummy chocolate bananas! Next time, we'll walk around downtown and get some funky urban pictures but for now enjoy these cute pictures!

Look at these cute girl pants and shoes!

This is Zoe, isn't she BEAUTIFUL! Those eyes are amazing and YES they are that blue, I didn't photoshop them.
Another beautiful girl, Emmalie. All the girls did so good and wanted me to take so many pictures!
All the girls for a dog pile! These girls are so cute. Shane told me yesterday that he was a Frye kid. I told him no you are a Young kid and he said, "oh." Someday we'll have more siblings for you Shane and you can have all the excitement like the Frye kids do. Only, not that much excitement I don't think Damon would ever be up for 6 kids!

The funniest part of the day, Shane. He had to go pee and we were at a park with no bathrooms. I told him he would have to pee in the wilderness and was going to take him somewhere after I was done taking the dog pile pose. Well, the girls just start laughing so hard and I turn around to find this! Not the best picture since I'm totally looking into the sun but oh my goodness. Right there in the middle of everything on a pretty busy street Shane starts to pee and he just stood there peed and laughed as we all laughed at him! I haven't laughed this hard in a long time, I cried I was laughing so hard! Crazy Shane.

More like a teenager

I have this little one year old who acts more like a teenage than a one year old! Sometimes I wonder what I am in for once he actually is 16!

He loves pizza- he can out eat me with how many pieces he eats
His new word "coooke" If he sees the red & white cup he goes over to steal a sip
He loves junk food.
He doesn't listen to Mom all the time.
He likes to stay up late and sleep in.
His favorite word is "no."
He loves loud music.
He dances in the car to rap and everything else one year olds shouldn't.

The only thing, I can still hold him in my lap and snuggle him. Which I know this little guy will out grow me by the fourth grade! He loves my hugs and kisses and brings so much joy into my life. Who knows what the future holds for this little guy but we sure are enjoying every second of our LITTLE Trevor!
Here is Mr. Trevor rocking out to some Eminem. His little tongue hangs out and he bops his head around, too funny! When I turn the radio up loud he just laughs and gets his groove on.

Project Time

I love having a creative outlet and doing projects. I saw this project on Becky Higgins blog last month and had to try the project out. I love it so much I think I am going to make one for EVERY holiday! A few friends and I got together last week-end and made the fall one. The paper is from the new fall line from Chatterbox. You have got to love Chatterbox paper! I think the brown leaf paper is from a paper pack I got at Joann's a few years ago. If you want complete instructions go to Becky's blog and you can see how easy and fun this project is!

When we were in CA last month I made this with my mom and sisters. We love having a craft to do and I thought this Christmas one would be a hit too! Once again Chatterbox paper, but this line is from last year and is hard to find anymore. Happy crafting!

***WARNING: If you have a 1 year old keep out of their reach! I have re-done my fall pictures 2 times!!! Trevor just loves to be helpful and ripe off the pebbles. It's ripped again and I must get more paper to fix it.

Pumpkin Bread

I love Fall, although we aren't really have Fall weather in Vegas but I am NOT complaining. I still am in the mood for pumpkin everything. The boys went to bed early and I decided to make pumpkin bread. So yummy, nice and warm!

1 can- 10 oz. pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1 2/3 C. Sugar
2/3 C. vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs
3 C. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. baking powder

In large bowl, stir in pumpkin, sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs until well mixed. Stir in remaining dry ingredients. Pour into greased loaf pans. I always like to use 2 mini loafs (to give to neighbors or friends) and 1 regular loaf. Just make sure to cut the time in half for the mini loafs! Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes.
** The best part of this recipe is this is my zucchini bread recipe too! Just substitute the pumpkin for 3 C. shredded zucchini.

Feeding the Ducks

For playgroup today we went to the park and fed ducks. As you can see the water in the pond is a little yucky. The mom's were trying to pick some one to jump in if a kid fell in and we came to the conclusion that if it's your kid you jump! If Trevor was by the water I was right there because I didn't want to go into that yucky water. Plus he's pretty adventurous so I could see him jumping in. The weather is perfect and we had a fun time.
Mr. Spikes, I love that I can spike his hair now. He looks so grown up and handsome! He even loves for me to do his hair in the morning which is a nice change from Shane!
Shane's best little buddy, Gabe. He just loves Gabe. He asks to call him on the phone, he wants him to come over to play EVERY day and wants to buy him toys when we are at Target! They are so funny to watch and listen to.
Shane didn't last too long feeding the ducks. He wanted to run around and collect pine cones and play. I didn't really get any pictures of Shane because I didn't want to take my eye off of Trevor!
Trevor wanted to touch the ducks so bad! He would scoot down on his tummy and reach out for them. He loves animals so much!
We ended the trip with a trip to Wendy's for lunch. I think it was more adventurous than the ducks. As I was getting seated a table by us got up and moved because Trevor was screaming, Trevor dumped an entire salt shaker, he spilt his chocolate milk down his shirt, and almost ran out the front door. He's a little monkey but he is full of little loves too. My friend, Kellie, has a couple month old baby and Trevor was just rocking him in the carrier and giving him soft loves. He's too sweet!

Feeling Thankful

Is it to early to be in the spirit of Thanksgiving? I don't think so, it's always good to be thankful. With planning November for school, reading my scrapbook magazines for November and Thanksgiving and now getting back from church and having a lesson on being thankful, I'm feeling thankful!

I'm thankful for my crazy Shane! He keeps me laughing with the things he says each day. He is a kind brother and keeps me going as he never stops!

I'm so glad to have a husband who loves his boys. I never could have imagined what an amazing daddy Damon would be to our boys. He lives for them and I love hearing them wrestle on the floor and play together. I don't really remember life without Damon. I'm so grateful he supports me in everything I do.

Look at that cute cowboy! I am so thankful for my sweet Trevor. His little personality is so determined and kind. I love every inch of this cute boy!

I'm thankful for kind parents and grandparents. They love our boys so much and they feel their love. Shane just went up to Grandma Stewie and gave her a hug and told her he loved her and just snuggled her for awhile. He knows how much all his grandparents adore him.

With this picture I'm thankful for 2 things: hot surfers (no just kidding) the wonderful country we live in and it's beauty and all our extended families. I love having our kids together, I just wish it was more often.

I know Thanksgiving isn't for awhile, but share what you are thankful for. Pretty soon I'll be really thankful for 2 sleeping boys. Sunday's are so hard with no naps and cranky kids!