Happy Birthday Devry!

December 28th was Devry's 26th Birthday! Having a birthday so close to Christmas is always a challenge. I really try to make sure the day is special, and avoid combining any part of it with Christmas. We had some of his family over for cake and ice cream on the evening of the 27th. It was a lot of fun, and the kids really enjoyed Payton's new ball pit.

This year I made Devry a basketball cake. It was really fun and easy to make!





The kids helped Devry blow out his candles.

It was a really fun evening. The next day, Devry and I dropped Payton off to a babysitters and went and ate lunch in Idaho Falls. We ate at Red Robin, Devry's favorite. Since it was his birthday, he got a coupon for a free meal, plus we had a $3 off coupon, so our entire meal was only $6! Such a good deal, and SOO yummy.

We ran a few errands in Idaho Falls then picked up Payton. We all enjoyed some more cake and homemade blizzards that evening. It was a fun day!

I was so happy that Devry didn't have to work that day. We got to spend the entire day together. Devry is the greatest husband ever! Here are 26 reasons!

26. He is thoughtful
25. He is the best dad
24. He makes me laugh, alot!
23. He is such a hard worker
22. He always helps with anything I ask
21. He does tons of things without me asking!
20. He goes out and starts my car before I leave for work when its cold
19. He always is appreciative of things I do.
18. He is working so hard to finish school
17. He is very attractive :)
16. He always knows when I need a hug
15. He puts up with my craziness
14. He fixes whatever needs fixed around the house
13. He plays with my hair because I love it
12. He is so self less
11. He is good at basketball
10. Payton and I are most important to him, and we know it!
9. He has the greatest smile
8. He is happy, and has such a great attitude
7. He changes his share of Payton's diapers, with only a bit of complaining :)
6. He works outside all day in the freezing cold, and it never seems to bother him.
5. He does most of the laundry.
4. He takes great care of Payton when I work
3. He gets up with Payton most mornings and lets me sleep in.
2. He loves me.
1. He is mine :)

Christmas 2010!

Christmas this year was great! Payton was old enough to open presents, and get excited about what was inside. We had a lot of fun with Devry's family as well.

On Christmas eve Devry's family (except Joe and Lisa who are in Ohio) came to our house for Dinner. We had Chinese food, played games, and decorated cookies for Santa.

Here is Trey and Macy with their fun Christmas accessories.

Payton had a turn wearing the Rudolf antlers and nose. He was so funny wearing it. He kept almost running into things because he was trying to look at the nose.
Decorating sugar cookies. Santa got lots of yummy cookies. So did Payton and Macy who ate everything they could reach.


After everyone went home, we opened our Christmas Eve presents. Our tradition is to receive new PJ's on Christmas eve. In years past the PJ's I bought Devry have shrunk and ended up to short so this year I made Devry and Payton matching John Deere PJ pants. They fit them both great, and were so easy! I may end up making them every year now. Maybe I'll make my own too from now on, since PJ pants being too short is a constant problem for me too. The ones Devry bought me we had to return.

Here is Devry and Payton in their matching homemade PJ's.

We slept great on Christmas Eve. I have always had a problem sleeping on Christmas Eve. I get so excited and can't sleep. This year I found a fix to the problem. I worked Thursday night and didn't sleep on Friday. So by the time I went to bed Christmas eve, I had been awake for almost 38 hours with only a 2 hour nap. I crashed and slept soundly all night. Devry even had to wake me up Christmas morning. This was shocking for my family to hear since I am ALWAYS the first one awake.

Payton woke up at 6:45 and we went to get him.

When he walked into the family room and saw the stockings, I don't think he knew what to think.




Then we handed him some presents, and he began to get the idea. He loved ripping off the wrapping paper, and oooo'd and ahh'd over everything.

Of course his favorite wasn't even a toy, or candy. It was an orange. He kept saying "wow"

After opening stockings. We went to see what was under the tree.

We opened presents for a long time. We let Payton open all of them, and help with ours. He was so funny to watch. He loved every minute of it! If it was a present he loved, he didn't want to give it up to open the next. If it was something a little less exciting (clothes), he would open the gift enough to see that it was clothes, then throw it and run and grab another one.


We helped Payton with opening some of his gifts. And he helped us open ours.

His last gift was set up in the play room. It was a ball pit. When he walked in, he didn't know what to do. He kept pointing at it from across the room saying "ball" and "wow". Finally he went and sat in it, and loved it!

The ball pit was by far his favorite. Even 3 days later, he keeps acting like its the first time he's ever seen it. When he wakes up, we hear him saying "ball" then as soon as we get him, he runs into the play room and dives into the ball pit. It's so fun to see him enjoy a gift so much!

We had a great Christmas. We were very spoiled by family, and received wonderful gifts. We had so much fun Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Devry's family. We skyped with my family, and let them see Payton open the presents they sent. I love Christmas, and more so now that Payton is starting to understand parts of it.

Here are a few pictures of us with Payton by the Christmas Tree.

Scary Santa

Yesterday Devry, Payton and I went to the mall to finish up some last minute shopping. While we were there we decided to take Payton to see Santa. While standing in line Payton was so happy, and kept pointing to Santa and acting really exciting. I thought he would love to sit on his lap. Well I was wrong. As soon as Devry set him down, he started SCREAMING. So I snapped a quick picture, and let Devry pick him up again. Payton definitely not a fan of Santa. Maybe next year :)

What have we been up to?

December so far has been pretty fun. We have had tons of snow, so our days are spent inside. Payton has found some interesting ways to keep himself entertained, as you can see in these pictures.



He has an obsession with putting on our shoes, and trying to put his shoes on our feet. What a silly guy.

This next picture is of Payton and his friend Twylie. Twylie's mom Hattie is a good friend of mine. We lived in the same apartment complex when I first moved to Rexburg, started dating 2 guys from plano about the same time, got married 2 weeks apart and had babies 2 1/2 months apart. They moved out to plano and live just down the road. It has been so great having them close! These two are getting to be great friends. They see a lot of each other! Hattie and Twylie came over the other day and these two climbed into the laundry basket together, we had to get a picture!


We have been doing lots of fun Christmas activities. I will post more about them later (some of them are gifts, and I don't want to ruin anything).

We made a gingerbread house, and it turned out great. Payton LOVED decorating it...although more of the candy he had ended up in his mouth then on the house.



I am excited for Christmas. Payton doesn't get what Christmas is about yet, but I know he will love opening presents! We have lots of fun things planned with Devry's family, and with our own little family of 3. I have to work christmas night, which isn't too bad since all the excitement and celebration will pretty much be over by the time I have to go into work.

Bye bye Binki.

From the time Payton was born, he became a binki baby. He ALWAYS had it in his mouth, and then 2 or 3 more somewhere close by. I really didn't mind him having a pacifier since he would have sucked his thumb instead if we didn't. He has slept great from the time he was born, and I think his pacifier has really helped. In July, when he turned one, I decided he was old enough not to have it with him at all times. So we put his binki in his crib and started telling him he only gets it at bedtime. He did great! It turned into a fun little game when he woke up. We'd pick him up and let him throw his binki (or his 4 binkis) back into the crib. He never had a hard time without it during the day. I was so nervous to take it away at night though. I wanted to when he was 15 months old, but he was getting premolars at the time, and I didn't want to mess with it when he was hurting so bad from teething. This past week, I decided it was time to get rid of his binki as well as his bottle. I had 4 days off in a row and thought I would need it to be up with him at night when he wouldn't sleep without it. Well, to our surprise it was SO easy. He has never taken milk out of a sippy cup, and all of a sudden started to this week. We put him to bed the first night with no binki, and he fussed for a couple minutes then fell right to sleep. He slept through the night, with no problems! It has been over a week and he has done great at nap times and bed time. I honestly did not expect it to be easy at all, and this was SO simple. I am so lucky to have such a great sleeper!

A few pictures of Payton with his binki.






This big step has been bitter sweet. I love that we are getting away from some "baby" habits like bottles and binkis, but I hate that he is no longer needs baby things because he is a little boy, not a baby He is starting to talk, and understanding so much. Where has the past 17 months gone?

Family Pictures

My friend Heidi is a wonderful photographer. For the past month or so, we have been trying to arrange a time for her to take our family pictures. Between our conflicting schedules, and uncooperative weather, it took a while. We finally snuck in a quick photo shoot last weekend. She did an amazing job! Payton was his usual crazy self, wanting to run around, making funny faces, and eventually loosing patience with us trying to make him look at the camera. 30 minutes of picture taking is about the limit for a 16 month old I think :) . Despite Payton's craziness, Heidi got some wonderful pictures! Here are a couple of my favorites.

I love this guy!