Spring has sprung!

Our weather has been so crazy this year! First snow and now a late Spring for Vegas. Usually the weather is already warm by now and today we woke up to 50 degrees and rain! Before the storm, the boys and I went up to Floyd Lamb State Park yesterday while we were in the area delivering Piggies and Paws. If you have never been, go. It's fun and you don't realize you are in the desert with all the green, large trees, ducks, and peacocks running around!
At first the boys were a little scare of the huge birds following them around! Shane found a rock to stand on so he was at least taller than them! Trevor was crazy as he ran around screaming and then pretending to shoot the birds! He got pecked a few times but ended up laughing because that is just how Trevor does things. I love that he is pretty much the toughest little 3 year old I know!

We started the feeding with only a few ducks and pretty soon the entire park's population of birds were surrounding us! I should have brought more bread.

Mr. T loves a good adventure with his Mommy.

This is a classic Shane face. He is one silly boy too.

We always go with Damon to this park because you can fish there too. I felt so bad going while he was at work! However, I needed to take pictures of Shane for his birthday party that need to go out soon. Don't worry Damon we'll go back with you any day.

This picture is now a new classic. Look at the bird. Doesn't it look like the bird is right on top of Trevor's head? We were all laughing so hard this morning as we looked at it!

We had a great Spring day in the park enjoying a picnic, feeding the ducks, and each other.

Right from Heaven

We have been blessed in my family. A little piece of Heaven is now a member of our family and we couldn't be more thrilled. In his few week existence he has already brought us an abundant amount of love, hope, joy, and peace. He came into our family quickly and if you don't know the story of my new nephew Jace Ryan Jon see his adoption story written by his mommy, Tara. Click HERE. He is a miracle to us all. As soon as everything settled down for Tara and her family I took my 2 little boys on a trip from one desert to the next. I was so excited I forgot ALL the DVDs for the boys to watch on our journey. Don't worry I made a stop at the first Target I saw! Once I met my sweet nephew I couldn't put him down. I either had my camera in hand or Jace in hand while I was there. Sorry to everyone there if I was a baby hog! I love this picture because of his flakey skin and the blurred iris on his eye. I'm so happy I captures those beautiful newborn eyes. It's so fun to see one of my sisters with a baby in blue. Before Jace I was the only one to have boys. I miss him like mad already and hope they make it to my house in a couple of weeks!

Everyone was smitten by Jace. Shane gets so sweet and loving in his tone when a small baby is around. Today he was proud to actually hold a baby and feed him!

Besides a baby shower, shopping for baby stuff, and getting my fill on baby loves we had lots of fun too just being together. Here is the big sister, Allie, with cousin Shane eating Fun Dip from the Magic Bag. Grandma Stewie has a magic bag that is empty before you go to sleep and if you go to bed happy when you wake up it's full of something fun!! The kids love it!

Aunt Cyndi lives just a few neighborhoods away from the Bigler's so we all had fun together. It was fun seeing her little pregnant belly and her new house. She brought over Popsicles and Trevor loved helping her eat them up!

We went to McDonald's for ice cream and on the way back Trevor fell asleep! I would try to take it away and then he'd wake up! I guess we were having too much fun for this 3 year old.

Jace brought me peace as I held him knowing how much love he will be smothered with for his entire life. We have been waiting for this little man for a long time and he is here. We couldn't be more thrilled.

Ready...Set...Go!

Trevor turned 3 and celebrated in style with a race car themed birthday. His current obsession is cars and he loved every second of having everything about him! He woke up to both sets of Grandparents here and lots of fun with Grandma and Grandpa Stewie while I got ready for the party and Grandma and Grandpa Young went to Shane's tball game.

Last year I was featured on a few blogs and got some e-mails so this year I'm going into detail to help those Mommy planning a car birthday party! Trevor was beyond excited to have REAL Piston Cups in his house. There was a race car Piggies and Paws with a number 3 on this table too.

We had signs all over: Trevor Lane, Welcome Race Fans, and Young Raceway. Along with number 3 cars and tires all around too.

First thing to do was a "Pit Stop" in for some snacks. We drank Motor Oil (boxed drinks) and anit freeze (water). We ate dip sticks (carrots and ranch), Hot Rods (pretzel sticks), organic fuel (fruit), and Mac Wheels (mac and cheese). Trevor is simple with his food likes so these are all things he loves to eat.

My two boys could live off this stuff! With a broken microwave still my neighbor, Leslie, saved the day and cooked up 8 boxes of this gourmet food!I don't usually deal with the cake part of the party but I couldn't find anything to match my colors and theme so opted to make them myself. About 5 minutes before the party I realized I didn't decorate the cupcakes! YIKES! Maybe next time I'll just buy cupcakes.

So nice having an afternoon party and low stress. It was super simple decorations and food but full of lots and lots of fun!

I loved seeing Trevor loving all the attention. He just smiled all day long. Grandma Stewie brought her car mat for all the kids to play cars on. Trevor loved every second of playing cars with all his little buddies. I think counted around 20 kids from 1 to 11. I love having a full house with all the Mommies and their little ones. However, this time Damon took over the sitting at the table talking with the girls instead of me!!!

We played the classic of Red Light Green Light. Big Brother Shane had to start the game off holding the sign.

Green Light!

Trevor concentrates with his tongue out! He wanted to win this round of Red Light Green Light!

Look at these cute and crazy kids!

We played Tire Toss with cars. Trevor has quite the arm on him when he throws things!

At the end of the party we raced with Plasma Cars. It was so much fun with cones set up and a finish line. These cars are what Trevor plays for hours each and every afternoon. Here he is concentrating again with his tongue out!

Big Brother had a hard time having all the attention on little brother!

Trevor being so proud holding the Finish Line sign.

We actually had a real pinata and were able to put candy in it! Trevor filled up "Race Car" (for some reason that is what he calls him) full of candy and couldn't wait to hit him to get all that candy out!

Looking at this picture I'm SURE I had 3 candles in there and this is just and angle!!

This boy loves cupcakes. He just licks off all the frosting and then is on to another cupcake!

Trevor did start licking off all the frosting off each cupcake of the tower! Yum.

Everyone spoiled this 3 year old! He couldn't wait to dig in.

His Cars obsession goes with him everywhere. He has 2 of each car. He loves having a baby and a Daddy and if he's lucky there is a mommy too. His huge Mack is his greatest love. He loves lining up all the cars and then putting them in huge Mack. Then he gets tiny Mack and plays and plays. The next morning when he woke up with a lot of his new toys in bed with him he just grinned and patted his new boys. This boy was in heaven!

Happy Birthday Trevie!

Goodie Bags for all with bubbles, Cars fruit snacks, "wheel" mini oreos, and hot wheels.
We had a great day with our families and friends. We love to celebrate with those we love. Trevor tells people he turned 16 so I guess I still need to work with him on how old he is. He is growing up and becoming such a fun little guy.

The Blessed Microwave

Every day I would warm up hot chocolate for breakfast, chicken nuggets for lunch, and there is always some bean or veggie to heat up to in the glorious microwave for dinner. I did this not knowing life before the microwave. However, as a young girl I'm assuming around the age of 6 I remember when "this new place called Price Club AKA Costco" opened up and my parents brought home a microwave. I don't really remember much about life before a microwave and how hard it was until almost 6 weeks ago.

I was cooking those blessed chicken nuggets for a quick lunch for 2 hungry little boys when the door wouldn't open. I knew it was broke the second I hit it and moved on to cereal. I didn't know or realize I would soon become a real pioneer. Now left overs are always good in my house. Yummy food twice in less than 2 minutes, if you have a microwave. Look at my sink with 5 pots and pans to warm up left over Chinese food! Besides all the dishes it took almost 20 minutes to reheat!

This is a picture of our NEW microwave. For those of you who are familiar with my house this looks just like our OLD microwave and it is true. Built in's are pretty but a HUGE pain when you need to replace something. We special ordered a new microwave and waited and waited for it to come in and find out it didn't do it's job of warming things up instead it just spun the food around in circles. So we ordered another and waited and waited until yesterday.

Now I feel spoiled. We will be cooking from the microwave and no stove making up for lost time. After lunch today Shane told me our new microwave cooks chicken nuggets way better than the oven does! We can have popcorn again and I will enjoy less dishes. The blessings have come to my house in small form and never again will I under estimate the power of modern inventions.

Changed the rules a bit!

The following 6, yes six, people will get a handmade gift from me WITHIN THE NEXT YEAR! I have a few things in mind...


1. Lanae Monson
2. Kellie Yeates
3. Kerry Price
4. Julie Frye
5. Cyndi Broadhead
6. Karin Baker

I added a number because a). I'm like Karin and late on many things and b). I like even numbers much better! Don't forget to post a picture once you get it too!

Homemade by ME!

I've seen something like this on a few different blogs. The first time, I missed being part of the first five.

Here is the deal: The first five people to comment on this post will get something made by me.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.
2- What I make will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year.
4- You have no clue what it's going to be. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5- I reserve the right to do whatever I want!

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your own blog and offer the same deal to 5 of your own lucky blog readers. So, the first 5 people to leave a comment telling me they are in, win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it.

Let the games begin!

Honduras

The Bay Islands were amazing and quite relaxing but we wanted to get the real cultural experience of Honduras so we decided to stay a few days on the mainland. We started our journey back with a boat ride for a few hours. Then, onto a bus ride. Our taxi driver told us we were just going to make it on the next bus by just a few minutes. I had to pee so bad so as Damon bought the tickets I went to the bathroom. On my way in I didn't notice a man sitting outside the bathroom with little folded up toilet paper to buy. I will tell you I got the cultural experience I was looking for in the first drip drying minutes of being on the mainland!!

We had a bus ride and enjoyed fresh baked bread and fresh mango then relaxed in the hotel. After a nice sleep in a real hotel (I don't want that much of a cultural experience) we went to the market! I was so excited. Damon goes to these all the time so it was not a big deal for him except he was glad to be my barter man! Now this sweet girl will stay in my heart forever. We bought almost everything from her. She was so excited for us to be buying her stuff her hands were shaking. She even cut her finger with a knife trying to cut a string for me to get something. I gave her a few band aids and I'm sure she thanked me in her Spanish. Damon barters away to then give her the full amount at the end. As soon as we give her money she calls to a boy to go get beans and tortillas. Next thing I know she gives us a key chain of thanks and she is eating her first meal in who knows how long right before me. I don't think she would have eaten if she didn't get a sale that day. Throughout our morning shopping she would find us, smile and thanks us. She taught me compassion and to count my blessings.My favorite find of the day was a new apron. Damon's favorite find of the day was a hand carved wooden box. We had so much fun together.

We were just walking around looking at all the stuff with the sweet girl on the end in blue smiles real big and hold her hand like she is taking a picture. She wanted us to take her picture. I never turn down a will candidate and showed her how pretty she looked. No parents were around the kids were waiting around content and happy while their mothers were working at the market. These children taught me happiness and to count my blessings.

There were all these beautiful flowers lining the streets. Damon kept trying to buy me some but we were leaving the next morning so it was the thought that counts!

More kids wanting pictures and teaching us about happiness and counting our blessings.

Shane asked us to bring him back a pineapple but we couldn't so instead I told him a picture. The fruit was so fresh and so yummy. We saw miles and miles of Dole pineapple fields. We ate one on the island one morning freshly cut for only $1.50.

In the market there were ladies working away in a hot room making tortilla after tortilla. No air conditioning, I'm sure no breaks, no cushy pads to stand on just hard floors. These ladies taught me hard work and to count my blessings.

After the market we went to a museum and then the cathedral. It was beautiful.

If you are in Honduras and order a pizza this is what your delivery guy drives! So cool and would safe on gas!

Enjoying the park.

We had the best trip ever. We enjoyed every second of being together, alone. We loved the relaxing, the people, and the culture. It was an amazing trip I would like to do again. It makes you feel grateful for your blessings, your children, your life, and country.