The Rees'

Canada

2013-07-18T15:58:00.002-07:00

After 13 years, I finally made it back to Canada! This is a family tradition for us, but school/work/babies kept me away for a while. I finally decided that this was the summer to go back. After driving 14 hours (!) we made it!

Prince of Wales Hotel

The Mountie was more than happy to hold Mason. He has 13 grand kids of his own!

Hanging out at the cabin

Goofing off at the lodge

Hiking Red Rock Canyon

Deacon biffed it, of course!

Getting a little help from cousin Robert and Uncle Don

Grandpa and Lylia

Ice cream at the Big Scoop

Cameron Falls

Waterton Lake

Riding the ferryboat

The lodge where we stayed

Mama deer and her twin babies :)

Hopefully it does't take another 13 years to go back!

Introducing...

2013-03-21T08:57:00.005-07:00

Mason Carl Rees. Oh, the cuteness :)

February 20th, 2013, 8 lb 9 oz, 100% healthy!!

Time to try for a girl?!

Merry Christmas 2012!

2013-01-21T07:50:00.002-08:00

We were lucky to have my brother and his wife Jen visit from D.C! Christmas is always better when the whole family is here!!

Tracy family party

Had to hit up City Creek and Temple Square!

Maria got engaged!

Nelson family party. Another Christmas fat and pregnant...

We slept over at Papa Nelson's

Then headed home for their big surprise!

They got to use it once before the huge snowstorm...

Which made for awesome sledding!!

Now it's time to have a baby!!

Halloween 2012

2012-11-12T07:34:00.000-08:00

Halloween, one of my favorite times of the year! Here are the highlights:

Party at Grandma & Grandpa Rees'

Ward trunk or treat and cupcake walk

Syracuse City Pumpkin Walk

Who ever did these pumpkins, I love you!

Maria had her annual Halloween party too!

Deacon's preschool party

And last but not least, Grandma Jill and Papa Bill!

Halloween 2012 was a success!

Birthdays all around

2012-10-03T08:16:00.001-07:00

September is birthday month at our house! Me, Deacon and Maria all have birthdays, only 2 days apart. I love sharing a birthday with my son! I thought it was cool sharing with my sister, but having one so close with Deacon is pretty special.

We went to the circus

New bike and helmet! (He wears the helmet everywhere..)

Had a BBQ with lots of family

Had so much fun I forgot to get a pic with me and Maria!

September is the perfect month for birthdays :)

Summer of fun

2012-09-12T08:37:00.000-07:00

Summer has been busy despite me feeling queasy ALL THE TIME (it's actually gone now, hooray!) We've been doing lots to keep the boys busy.

Sleepovers and 4 wheeling with Grandpa Nelson

Cherry Hill

Lots of swimming with friends and family

Onion Days, Syracuse Days and Peach Days!

Always have to help Dad with the yard work

Lots of Lagoon! Yay for season passes

Celebrated 12 years of marriage!

And... It's a boy! We must be doing something right when it comes to raising boys. Can't wait for February!

Third time's the charm

2012-07-18T07:54:00.002-07:00

#3 is here! Well, not "here", but you get it. And I'm sick, sick, sick. So pray for girl. But either way, I'm excited :)

Overdue Visit

2012-05-29T21:05:00.000-07:00

We went to Washington, D.C. to visit my brother, who is going to law school there. Terry also served his mission there (15 years ago!) This was not a kid friendly vacation but the boys did great (Ok, Evan threw up. Alot.)

Waiting for Dad to park the truck

Poor Evan threw up when we landed

The boys LOVED the Metro!

View from our hotel

Uncle Spencer missed these guys a lot!

Union Station

Walking at night

Terry had to take the boys on a paddle boat

Jefferson Memorial

FDR memorial

MLK memorial

Zonked out!

Supreme Court

Museum of Natural History

Hope Diamond!

More diamonds...

Umm, so this snake is REAL! They found it in the Amazon, dead, but it had grown this big (that's an alligator in its mouth). Eww ew ew!

The Old Post Office. Apparently this was once thought to be the ugliest building in D.C. and was going to be torn down, but luckily historians intervened and saved it. Their are lots of yummy places to eat inside.

Arlington Cemetery

JFK grave. There were lots of people there, but everyone was so quiet and respectful, especially at JFK's grave. It was so quiet you could hear the flame flickering.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Iwo Jima

Playing around in the metro station

We got up early on Saturday and headed to the Eastern Farmers Market. Best blueberry pancakes ever!

The Capitol

Smithsonian Carousel. This was voted in the top 10 carousels in the U.S., but I wasn't to impressed...

Air and Space Museum

So...Terry grabbed the camera from me and ran off. He came back with this picture. See that black stuff on the guys ear? It's hair!! Like an inch long!

We rented a car and drove to Terry's mission area

His first apartment

The 7-11 where he spent a lot of time, lol

The meetinghouse

His second apartment. He said the area had improved from when he was there, but it still look pretty sketchy.

Evan was done... then he woke up, got car sick and puked! Poor kiddo

National Cathedral

Still making repairs from the earthquake

The Temple. So beautiful!

Roosevelt Island

We went to Spencer's house where he had dinner all ready!

Holocaust Museum

Some of the shoes of the victims. You could still smell the leather...

Bureau of Engraving and Printing. No pictures were allowed on the tour, but they let you see the workers actually making money. The have such a sense of humor. One of the signs in the work area said "Free samples tomorrow only!"

Smithsonian Castle

Spy Museum. Interesting, but not work $20 admission per person!

Sculpture Gardens (and me with no clean laundry wearing my tourist t-shirt)

Scary rabbit. Donnie Darko anyone??

Lincoln Memorial

FDR memorial

Vietnam Memorial

The White House

Lunch at Old Ebbett Grill. Best crabcakes! And free vanilla ice cream (traveling with kids does have its perks!)

Museum of American History. Dorothy's red slippers.

Such a fun trip and so good to see my brother! We miss you Jen and Spence!

Easter, puppies, and bumblebees

2012-04-26T08:46:00.001-07:00

Easter was great, as usual. The boys got new clothes and NO candy (I'm a scrooge, I know).

The hospital had an egg hunt...

The Grandparents had an egg hunt too...

We tried (and failed) to get a dog. He lasted 3 days before we remembered that we are NOT dog people!

We hit the Discovery Gateway for the annual BumbleBee Bash. Thanks Maria for the tickets!

Next stop, Washington D.C.!

Happy Birthday to you!

2012-03-15T12:34:00.010-07:00

Happy 2nd birthday to you Evan!! You have been such a blessing in our

lives and we love you. And once again, you were spoiled rotten!

Terry bought tickets to Toy Story 3 on ice. Pretty cute stuff.

The boys with their loot

The cake. Think it makes up for Deacon's disaster of a cake last year ;)

Still not sure about desserts...

My version of the birthday banner

New car!!

Gotta have the essentials! (And why is this underlining?!)

End of the party. Terry decides to plan our summer vacation and Evan decides it's just to much to handle.

Happy Birthday Evan!!

The Sickness

2012-03-05T07:44:00.001-08:00

Oh January, how I loathe thee. It started out like this,

then turned into this.

{Nothing says motherhood like sleeping overnight in the hospital in vomit covered clothes}

Evan got pneumonia and bronchitis, so we stayed at the hospital for a day and a half. The doc said to stay a second night, but by 6pm Evan wouldn’t even get on the bed or keep his oxygen on, so I took the chance and brought him home. He is back to his old self now, and by old self I mean wrestling with Deacon, strangling Deacon and doing everything to make Deacon cry {that’s our Evan}.

I have to say a big THANK YOU to all my family and friends. They are all so supportive and the love and support we received was overwhelming. The visits, phone calls, texts and facebook comments were so helpful! I haven’t had to cook since we got home, which was awesome :) Thank you, you know who you are!

Now we are back to this: staying home and watching lots of Team Umizoomi, Pocoyo and Yo Gabba Gabba. Summer, please get here soon!!

It’s Christmas

2011-12-28T14:08:00.001-08:00

We started the festivities with

Terry’s family Christmas party. We

play Jingo every year (“jingle bingo”,

get it?) I won Spam. We played more

games, and won more Spam.

Christmas Eve started with

breakfast at Warren’s with the in-laws.

Service was soooo slow, so we took pictures

of each other taking pictures, lol.

Then we headed to Payson. My dad and

Annette spoiled the boys rotten, as

usual.

We put them in their pajama’s from

Grandma Jill. (Like Evan’s? They’re

girls pj’s. Grandma has a lot

of grandkids to shop for!!)

Obligatory cemetery stop.

We all look so happy and I don’t know

why…

Then we headed to my

Grandpa’s house and waited for Santa.

He didn’t disappoint! This is my

favorite tradition by far.

The boys got the airplanes that they

had been begging for.

I got the new Kate Bush

CD that I’ve been not so patiently

waiting for.

Terry got a book

(graveyard shift has turned him into

quite the bookworm!)

The boys love their Aunt Kristy.

We are so tired by now!

Driving home…

Christmas morning…

I put out the gifts they had already

received. such a bad mom, lol

Yes, we had to wake them up!

I love their sleepy morning eyes.

More trucks from Grandma Jill.

Grandma Rees helps unwrap.

Evan can’t believe that there are more gifts.

Can’t wait for the next few years when

the boys really start to understand the

true meaning of Christmas. I want to do

all the fun traditions that my mom did

with me and my siblings. They’ll never

fully know how amazing she was, but I’m

going to try my best!

Christmas 2011, you rocked!

December means…

2011-12-21T08:02:00.001-08:00

Temple Square (unbelievably cold!)

Deacon's preschool Christmas program (they sang. I died.)

Chasing Santa through our neighborhood after seeing him on a fire truck. We followed him for 20 minutes! He threw candy to all the kids. Syracuse City, you rock. (sorry, no pics. Hard enough to drive and look for Santa.)

Sitting on Santa's lap at the mall. The boys didn't cry!(again, no pics. They make you pay big $$ for those!) I couldn't even be sneaky and take one of my own. Good thing he comes on Christmas Eve to Grandpa's.

Driving to the mall meet my friend and see Santa and getting into a car accident (not my fault). We're okay, the car not so much. Thank heavens for insurance!

And the Christmas card. Merry Christmas!!

Thankful

2011-11-27T08:23:00.001-08:00

I’m thankful for these two…

I love these two more than anything! They have made our life so wonderful. I wish you could hear all the cute and wonderful things they say and do all day. They make us laugh so hard!

And this guy. He’s working 3, (yes 3!) jobs to support us, so I can stay home with the boys. Pretty much love him to pieces.

And these people. My Aunts, Uncles, cousins and siblings. They are the best and I love them!!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

The most wonderful time of year

2011-11-01T11:52:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween, ya’ll! I hope you haven’t gorged yourself too much on your children’s candy (like I have, lol). I LOVE this time of year! The costumes, scary movies, candy, decorations, candy, parties, candy, candy… ok, I’ll stop. I watched two of my favorite Halloween movies, The Shining and Hocus Pocus,

and lots of Simpsons “Treehouse Of Horror”.

My ULTIMATE favorite scary movie is “Watcher in the Woods'”, but alas, it is very hard to find, especially when you cancel your Netflix account. Then we dressed up the boys and started partying!

Evan was a garden gnome and Deacon was “Plex” from Yo Gabba Gabba (I tried to sneak in an astronaut costume but Deacon saw Plex first. This is the LAST year for Yo Gabba Gabba!) Here is their official Halloween photo. Inkley’s does them for free!

First we hit up Black Island Farms for a good ol’ fashion hayride and some super slides

Then we went to Terry’s dad’s and had a “pumpkin hunt”

The family gets bigger every year!

Then we hit up the ward trunk or treat!

This guy had way too much fun…

Then we went to Maria’s. My Dad was loving the costumes more than the boys!

Maria works for the Chamber of Commerce, so we headed down there for a staff lunch with the other families.

And last but not least, we headed to Terry’s mom’s for some good soup and doughnuts and more trick or treating!

Finally the boys were able to devour their stash!

Don’t worry. I’ve already taken 3/4 of their candy for myself, hehehe. Can’t be a hygienist and let my kids eat candy! Don’t you know it causes cavities?! I’m so mean….

Family pictures

2011-10-23T19:58:00.000-07:00

We headed to the train yard in Ogden for some much needed family pictures. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday!

2011-09-25T19:17:00.001-07:00

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

2011-09-07T19:59:00.001-07:00

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

2011-08-29T13:20:00.001-07:00

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…

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

2011-08-17T17:01:00.001-07:00

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

2011-07-28T16:18:00.000-07:00

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.

Summer so far

2011-06-25T19:54:00.000-07:00

Summer has been busy and fun so far! Here's what we've been up to:

We finally got the other side of our fence in. Now the monsters are locked in, he he he

They get so dirty in the summer that this is the style they rock most of the time

Lots of jumping on the trampoline and swinging

For Father's Day we took Terry's dad to the Little America Hotel's breakfast buffet. Oh, the yumness (Evan ate that entire sausage. Seriously.)
Maria and I have made it a tradition to go the Farmer's Market in SLC the last few years. It never disappoints!

Yes, I resisted the urge and did not eat any of those (even the veggies!)

The rest of summer has lots of pool parties and birthdays ahead. Can't wait!!

All Aboard!

2011-06-06T08:51:00.001-07:00

Seeing as how Deacon is obsessed with trains, we definitely weren't going to miss "A Day Out with Thomas". The actual train ride was meh, but it's all for the kiddos, right?
*Warning-picture overload

The Thomas train

We snagged the conductor for a picture
The train cars are old but so cool. It went really slow (I guess so it wouldn't scare the kids) and only lasted about 15 minutes. Good thing they had other activities going on!

I love Evan's face in this picture :)

We met Sir Topham Hat (kinda scary in real life!)

We played some music

Then we went to the park to play before lunch

Maria got her slide on

Grandpa Ross shows us the art of monkey bars

Aunt Kristy loves Evan!

Walking to lunch. Awwww

We ate at the "Dairy Keen", I guess it's the local burger joint in Heber City. Can you say coolest place ever?! It was train themed for the Thomas Day's, and they had a train running along the entire ceiling of the restaurant.

The kids meals even came with train hats! But lets get serious. The coolest part of all was the soda machine.

I've heard of these but never actually used one. It's got a touch screen and you pick any soda you want, and then any flavor of that soda! I tried the Diet raspberry vanilla coke (yum), but I highly recommend the Diet orange coke. *Heaven*

The boys were so done with pictures

And completely done 2 minutes after we started driving home

It was a great day and I can't wait to do it next year!

Happy Mother's Day, love Bono

2011-05-27T07:29:00.000-07:00

Actually, love Terry. He totally came through for Mother's Day! I got to go see the U2 360 tour with my friends Marie and Liz. Can I just say I love concerts? And can I say I really love U2? This is my 3rd time seeing them live, and they didn't disappoint. Maria and I are concert buddies, we always go to shows together, but she already had tickets for the Minnesota show. Boooo. Hooray for awesome friends, though!

Had dinner with Liz (also a huge U2 fan)

Met up with my other friend Marie for the show (that darn sun was so bright)

Behold, the "Claw"

Bono, in all his glory

Larry Mullen escapes the drum cage

"One"

"Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me"

I saw them live for the first time waaaay back in 1997. It was their "Popmart" tour at Rice-Eccles stadium. It rocked. Literally.

It's impossible to see but some really awesome folks put a 2 next to the U (boo old school cameras with no zoom. Seriously, how did we go so long without digital cameras?!)

The "Popmart" set, before the stadium was redesigned (I'm so old)

The band came out of the lemon!!

I saw them again in 2005 for the Vertigo tour. Alas, no pictures, but here is the ticket stub to prove that I was there, and heard of them first, now how do you afford your rock 'n roll lifestyle... okay I'll stop.

If you're even a slight fan of U2, You NEED to see them live! They are one of the best bands ever, and it's amazing to see them live. Much thanks to my pookie for getting me the ticket. I love you!

Tulip Festival

2011-05-07T07:21:00.000-07:00

We headed down south for the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving point. It was the second to last day for it, so the tulips were a little wilted, but beautiful nonetheless! I haven't been here for years, so I was really blown away by everything they had. The waterfalls were amazing!! The old people in golf carts, not so much. Much thanks to the guy who took our picture but somehow managed to not actually take our picture. Twice.

They have a really cool play area for kids. This was a stream where you could send the toys from the top and watch it sail to the bottom.

The waterfalls were so huge!!

Only in Utah :)

My favorite color of all the tulips

How cool would a concert be here?

SNAKE!!!

Evan was loving the stroller

Lunch at Culver's. I guess it's popular back East, and I can see why! It was very good and the service is top notch (McDonald's could learn a thing or two from these guys!)

The weather was great. Such a perfect day with my cute little family!