August in pictures...

This has been a Great month! I know I've been a bad, bad blogger lately, so hopefully the following will get everybody back up to speed ;) We had a great final month of Summer! Here's what we did:

Cam has been learning to eat with utensils... he has done REALLY well, the times I actually let him use them, you see I have OCD, and seeing the mess that ensues after he is given a fork or a spoon is just too much. The funny thing is that he just picked it up one day and started shoveling!?! I had to teach Drew for months!

Drew took swimming lessons. He LOVED them! At one point, his teachers asked him to do circle arms (freestyle stroke) and he couldn't do it. I had one of those you-mean-my-child-doesn't-get-something-so-simple moments. I was of course, still proud of him. He wasn't afraid of jumping off the diving board and loved flying off of the slide!

We had a lot of play dates with our friends we met in Vegas-the Nielsons-and Drew got to play with his very best friend Emily. They always have such a great time together and their is NEVER any drama, it's incredible! I just love this picture of them, it really just shows what good friends they are and how much fun they have together.

I did a TON of scrapbooking. I finished Jessica Sprague's third scrapbooking and photoshop class (Digi: In Deep) and it was SOO much work, but I got so much done too! I did a whole 24 page album and I finished Cam's 1st year scrapbook (I did about 20 pages to finish it...I had NO idea I had that many pictures left to scrap when I made that goal!!).

My mom, my sister and the kids and I went to the Zoo and had a really fun time. Cam LOVED it and I think Drew liked it ok. I don't know why, but whenever we take him to a fun place like Sea World, San Diego Zoo, Disneyland, he get's into this awful mood and refuses to have fun and enjoy what we're doing. It totally bums me out!! Cam on the other hand loves everything. Kinda wierd huh? Anywho, the picture above is of Cam "moo-ing" at a Zebra, because in his world, all animals moo.


We went to Bear Lake two times this month...and LOVED every minute of it!! We had a lot of fun just hanging out together, jet-ski-ing, catching grasshoppers, working on the house, and watching the Olympics-go Phelps!!!



In all the years I've been to Bear Lake-all 28 of them-we've NEVER rented jet skis. We had a boat, and the jet-ski's are so, so expensive, but this year we decided to. It was the most fun I've ever, E-VER had in my life!!! I got some pictures of my brother Dallan, my sister Mandy and my sweetie...they all had a great time too.

A new Layout and birthday pics!!

I haven't scrapped in a while, but was challenged to do something that I have been putting off. I've been wanting to finish Cameron's 1st year scrapbook, but haven't yet! My goal is to finish his book in two weeks...only about 5-7 pages or so. Here is the first of those pages...

Click HERE for the credits for this page :)
And here are some pics from Drew and TJ's birthday...I didn't get many of teej, sorry babe!!
Here is a pic of the pretty decorations-sorry I had to throw an artsy type picture in :)

Here is Drew when he first saw all of his presents...including his new bike!!

Here is Drew opening his presents...he'd just opened his new Mac truck from the Movie Cars.

More presents...I LOVE this picture!
Here's Drews first ride on his new bike...without any help!

Here is Cam opening a present that Grandma Judy and Grandpa David sent him so he wouldn't feel left out.

This pic pretty much sums up Cam's feelings about not getting all the attention and presents, balloons...etc.

Here are some fun pictures from the party with his friends...
The first is of Drew, Ethan and Carter playing with a fun sprinkler, the second of all the kids posing, and the third of Ethan "bobbing for ducks"



On Sunday, we had our families over for a family party. TJ got some money towards his new iphone (that he can't even get 'til September) and a GC to Nielsens frozen Custard-his absolute FAV!!-and Drew got a Banana Chair from Grandma and Grandpa Stephens and a Leapfrog learning video game from Grammy and Poppa. Thanks to all of our cute family who came, we love you guys!!
Here is Drew blowing out the candles on his cupcake...We didn't have a real cake 'cause he or TJ don't like cake. We had TONS of ice-cream though!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TJ & DREW!!!!!!!

It is officially August 1st, so ....Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear teej 'n' drew......Happy Birthday...too....yoooouuuu!!
Four years ago, our sweet Drew made his entrance into this world...on his Daddy's birthday. They were born 15 minutes short of being exactly 24 years apart. Only TJ could be happy to share his birthday...he has to deal with Thomas the Train cakes, buttercream frosting, and everyone forgetting about his birthday for Drew's sake. I appreciate that he lets Drew have all the glory...what an AWESOME DADDY!!
Teej, I love you, and I hope you have a wonderful birthday! You are so special to me. You make me laugh, you help build me up, you work so hard for our family, your selfLESS, fun to be around and are my rock. I love you so much sweetie!!
Drew, you are my sweet, special boy. You amaze me everyday...mostly with your sassy little attitude (which I love...but get frustrated with!!) and your intelligence. I love your sweet attitude, your innocence, your sweet, gentle, tender heart. I love your big, blue, expressive eyes. I'm so glad your my little boy. Happy Birthday buddy!

Photo Blog

Hey all! I've made a photo blog to post all of my pictures. If any of you are interested, check it out here. I'll post more soon!!

shaZAM!!!

It's good to blog again. I haven't done it in a while because I've been pretty busy...excuses, excuses I know! Anyway, there's not much of an update. We're all doing well and having a good summer so far. We went to my family's cabin up at Bear Lake over the fourth and had a great time. We went up with my parents and my sister-mostly to do some work on the cabin, but we got to spend the whole day on Saturday down on the beach and we got ourselves some AWESOME fireworks in Evanston and then had a little show down on the beach too. Some good news....Cameron is in NURSERY!!!!! YAHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I'm sure TJ is much happier about this than I am because he is the one who usually watches Cam while I am in YW. Lucky for us, Cam has absolutely NO problem going into nursery-yay! One of the reasons for this post is to post to some pictures for a little drawing over at Jessica Sprague's blog. It ends tonight and if I get chosen I get a totally adorable camera strap from etsy-double yay!! For those of you who are interested, check out Jessica's blog for photoshop tricks. No worries if you have elements (like me), because they can be used in elements!
Here is the original:

And here is the shaZAM!! version:

Pinecrest Vacation

Last week Drew and I went on vacation to my favorite vacation spot in the world. I grew up going to Pinecrest, CA (near Yosemite) every year. I hadn't been back to the cabin since I was 14. My Aunt and Uncle have a 2 bedroom cabin. Their were 18 people there including cousins etc. My brothers Brad and Mitch and my sister Janelle came as well as my parents. Lindsay and Cameron couldn't come because the had to go to Violin Institute. We hauled a tent trailer that we borrowed from my uncle and towed behind my van, so that we had enough places for everyone to sleep. We couldn't drive faster than 65 mph so it made for a long trip. We ended up taking what was supposed to be a short cut that added 5 hours to the trip, so it took a total of 17 hrs to get there. On the way back, my sister Janelle, who is pregnant, was car sick so we had to pull over every 45 minutes so she could ralph. That also added about 5 hrs to the trip on the way back. All in all the trip was a blast. We did a lot of hiking and swimming. Drew and I went kyacking. It was just nice to relax and be with family. I went to high Junior High and High School in a small town just 20 minutes away called Twain Harte. We had a chance to go see our old house and school which was fun. Drew and I were able to bond which was a perfect way to spend fathers day.

Once upon a prayer...

So, tonight, while saying our prayers with Drew before putting him to bed, he had a sudden memory lapse about how to begin a prayer. We always discuss with him what kinds of things he might want to say in his prayer and right when all of our heads were bowed, arms folded and eyes closed (these are the three things that we always make sure he is doing :) he looks at me and says: "How do we say it...once upon a time?" It was pretty hard not to laugh and to be serious. What a funny little boy. I love the things that he is always coming up with!