Happy Birthday!

It’s birthday time at the Rees household!  Maria and I turned 25, ha ha. But the biggest birthday was Deacon! He turned 3 on the 22nd. We celebrated by having a meltdown at preschool, going to the doctor and not having a meltdown (yay!). They were so nice and gave the boys a racecar.

Then we had lunch at Tucano’s (Terry’s favorite! All meat!) And a killer cheesecake for me. Deacon loves that place because of all-you-can-eat “cookies”, aka croutons (I have no idea where he gets these things!!)

Then we headed home for the big birthday surprise: A trampoline!! I loved my trampoline as a kid, so naturally we go Deacon one. Terry was a pro and had it set up in no time with minimal swearing

We had a party with the family, and they spoiled Deacon rotten. I decided to make the cake myself this year. It will be LAST time I do it!!

This is what it was supposed to look like.

Yup, nailed it.

Only 4 tries this year to blow out the candle!!

Deacon, we love you so much!! It’s been the best 3 years of our lives with you in them!!

Onion Days

It’s that time of year again: Onion Days! I started off the day bright and early running the city sponsored 5k. I haven’t been running as much at home, so I was pleasantly surprised at my time (29:51, 6 minutes faster than a year ago!) They printed out a cool little card for us to show our pace and placement. Payson, you rock.

Then we hit the parade, which was slightly more boring than last year, or maybe I’m just getting older?

Uncle Kevin spreads the love with cookies

Then we hit the carnival. Deacon can’t get enough of this ride!

Evan called it quits after the parade and missed all the rides

Another sign that I’m getting old? That merry-go-round went really fast!

We saw some friends and neighbors (my mom’s good friend Michelle)

We slept over at Grandpa’s

And the next day Deacon started preschool!

Ours go to 11

Anniversaries, that is (yes I’ve been waiting 11 years to say that). The big 11 was last week and the hubby didn’t disappoint.  He gave me a dirty card (typical) with cold hard $$$ in it. He gets so mad just giving me money, but I’m able to get what I want and everyone is happy, right? Right?!?! Then we went to eat here…

And ate this…

And this…

And this…

No picture of the happy couple. Terry is not blogger/camera friendly. He about died when he saw me pull the camera out. He begged me not to be one of “those girls” who takes pictures of every dining experience and then blogs about it ( I know I just offended everyone reading this. Sorry!) It was a lovely kids-free evening, and I seriously can’t believe we’ve had 11 of these things. That’s like saying I’ll have a 32nd birthday in 3 weeks, which is just plain crazy (I’m sobbing while I type this). Getting old. It’s going to take a while to get used too!

DIY

I finally got around to painting the boy’s dresser (Evan is 17 months old, I’m slow). I have no experience with painting or anything remotely crafty, so this was huge for me. I didn’t get an official “before” picture, so enjoy this one of Deacon asleep on the floor (it’s slightly blurry)

After!!

 

I have ZERO experience when it comes to painting, so I think it looks pretty darn good. My sweet mother-in-law helped me. A lot. She politely asked me if I had a drop cloth. Umm, no. Or trays to put the paint in. Again, no. (Did I mention I don’t have any experience painting?) Luckily she was well prepared!

I tried to “age” it, but it didn’t quite work the way I wanted.

 

Then I replaced the hardware

 

I hope in 20 years the boys like it and realize how bad this sucked to paint. But I guess by then they won’t want a red and blue dresser!

Then I got even MORE crafty and decided to dye some mason jars blue (EBay wanted WAY to much for the originals!). I bought some blue glass dye and went to work. It was pretty easy, but there are some streaks if you look close. Then I bought a mason jar holder from Wally World and made a silverware holder for family parties and get togethers. I’ve been through several and just can’t find one that I like. The silverware (ok, plasticware) always falls out or doesn’t hold enough so I thought this was a nice solution :)

My next project? Taking a nap!

Summer, part deux

Summer is in full swing and we've been busy!

4th of July pool party at the in-laws




Fireworks with the neighbors and in-laws


Evan LOVED the fireworks, Deacon not so much


Then we headed to the South Towne Expo Center to see the Day's of '47 float preview

My personal favorite, 'cause it's a cake :)

Evan is apparently NOT a fan of mermaids

Notice the name of the organization and the foundation, he he he



Evan was so tired afterward he fell asleep right in the middle of playing

Then we headed to Payson for a BBQ and rodeo!

Loving the slip 'n slide...

And the swings

Then we headed to Spanish Fork for the Fiesta Days Rodeo! It's an annual tradition. My Grandpa gets the tickets 1 year in advance so we can get great seats under the covered section. Thank goodness because it rained hard!

The whole family

And last but not least, playdates at Liberty Park. The streams start up further and converge into one pond. They're replicas of some of the streams in Salt Lake and the pond is the Great Salt Lake!

Ahh, summer. How I love thee.

PS- My one complaint. I bought a new camera and now when I put picture on blogger the quality sucks. Anybody else having these issues? Maybe it's time to go back to Livewriter.