Happy Birthday to ME!

Last Monday I turned 25. Chad really went out of his way to make it a special day for me. In fact he let me relax all weekend. Every time I went to clean he said, "No, let me do it. It's your birthday weekend. You can't clean on your birthday weekend." So I had 3 days of relaxation. I really do have a wonderful husband.

Chad took the day off Monday to spend time with me. We went to breakfast at our favorite place "Mimi's cafe". It was delicious as usual. Then we spent the day at the water park and had a blast. They have a kids area with a pirate boat, a tree house, and all other sorts of fun kid things. Devan had so much fun and Tristan is quite the swimmer! I held Tristan's arms and he just kicked his feet along like a natural. Chad worked with Devan and by the end of the day he was doing quite well with his swimming also. Before we left we decided to float tubes around a loop. Devan was so exhausted that he fell fast asleep on the ride. Chad rode through a waterfall, which woke him up for about 2 seconds and then he zonked out again.

Later that day we had a Coldstone ice cream cake (yum!) and sang "Happy Birthday". By the way, if you haven't signed up for the Coldstone birthday club, you need to. You get a free like it size icecream the week of your birthday! Devan has his own version of Happy Birthday. It's pretty much singing Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you a billion times in a row. It's cute though. He's been into singing lately. His newest songs are the Thomas theme song (surprise surprise) and The Wheels on the Bus. Tristan has been getting more involved with his toys and it's fun to watch him play. One of his favorites is a toy monkey on his excersaucer.

A new discovery...

So Devan the other day was sitting down eating dinner with us. He started giggling and laughing in his chair. For the life of me I couldn't figure out what he was laughing about. He would move his hands slowly over his tray and crack up. Finally, I figured out he had discovered his shadow! It was so funny. We probably spent the next 45 min. playing with our shadows and cracking up. I LOVE seeing Devan discover new things. Whether he's reading a book, dancing, jumping on the couch, or putting buckets on mom's head. He keeps himself pretty well entertained!

I've slowly, but surely started getting the boys room decorated. I've decided to have them share a room, so I can leave the other open for ya'all when you come visit! Devan has this obsession with trains. It started when grandma Sherry came in March. He watched Thomas the Engine for the first time and loved it. He had his own little dance to the theme songand everything. Seeing how much he liked it Grandma Sherry bought him some Thomas pajamas and a couple trains. Word spread to Washington about it and Grandma Iwalani sent him a Thomas tent. Needless to say, everything has been "choo, choo" since then. So, I decided I'd do a train theme for the boys room. These are the quilts I picked out. I'll eventually get to the painting and all that, but my hands are a little to full right now!

Tristan has just been growing like crazy! I've had a few different people at the grocery store and post office tell me they thought he was 6 months. They were shocked when I told them he was barely 3 months. He has been so much fun lately with his smiles and giggles. He is such a cuddler. I've been lucky to have him sleeping well at night. When he was about 6 weeks old he turned from his stomach to back. After the first time, he wouldn't do it anymore though. I think he had gotten to chubby! Well, finally he turned over again yesterday. He rocked and rocked until he got enough momentum to do it. It's fun seeing him doing new things. It seems like everyday he becomes more and more aware of his surroundings.

Chad celebrated his birthday by having some days of relaxation, which were well deserved. He's been working so hard! I was so glad he could take a couple days off of work. He got a fun new toy for his birthday as you can see from the picture. A new computer monitor, and a big one at that! OK, maybe not my idea of fun, but I can see why he would like it! We now have web cam and it's been fun having the kids chat with grandmas and grandpas on it.

We've been enjoying the warm weather this summer. Devan has loved going to six flags. He's quite the adventurer and likes the roller coaster and spinning teacups. It's so much fun to go and just watch him. He has a blast. There's a train that goes around the whole park that he loves.

Other than that we try to stay cool by running through the sprinkler in the back yard. A couple weeks ago, Devan and Chad tricked me into going out back and they got me with the sprinkler. Well, you know me, I don't get mad, I get even. I did however pretend to be mad. I then went back in the house, through the front door, and snuck into the back with another hose and got them back good!

I hope all you daddies had a Happy Father's Day! The boys and I worked on a project for Chad. I took their pictures in Chad's cowboy hat and boots and tie and framed them along with this poem.

Daddy's Boots


I want to be like Daddy

Someday if I can,

Mom told me when I fill his shoes

I'll be a real big man.



His hat and tie's no problem,

(I'll grow a good amount),

and I may be able to fill his shoes,

It's these boots I'm worried about!

I'm so blessed to have grown up with such a great dad and so many wonderful fatherly figures. I am proud to say that my boys will be blessed with the same!

Hopping on the blogging bandwagon

Well, I'm finally going to do it. I'm hopping on the blogging bandwagon. Being so far away, I think this will be a great way to keep in touch with everyone. I'm not very good at this sort of thing so I was looking at other people's blogs and thinking I might just copy theirs. It turns out noone is quite like us (thank goodness for that huh) ...so my plan failed. Looks like I'll have to do this one on my own. I would however appreciate any tips and advice from you more experienced bloggers!