Last Week in pictures

Keenan being a crazy little boy! He was playing with his Mr. Potatoe heads and came out with the green ones on, so I put the yellow ones on for him too!

I was trying to just get a picture of him but he was off!

Mendez's came into town this past weekend and stayed at our house, so we hosted a party for Edgar's roomates and friends because he wanted his moms cooking! It was nothing but exceptional as always! everyone walked away full!

We don't let the snow stop us! Juan cooked up some burgers for him yesterday in the snow!

Keenan doesnt really like to ride this, but likes to sit on it.

Do I see 28's in your eyes?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

This gorgeous sister of mine, my only one actually, is turning 28 today! I hope you have a great day!

Im so glad your my sis and I wish that we could have been closer growing up but that makes all the more part as we get older funner! Happy birthday to you you gorgeuos lady!

thoughts

I have has so many thoughts running through my head tonight. My big one?

I miss my family and home! We have been here almost a year in Rexburg! Dont get me wrong, I love being here. I love this time in our life. But I need my fix of hom I think again. Its only been a few months since I've been home, and Im thinking my few days at Wallowa lake this year, are going to NOT be enough! So mom, dad... You need to make a trip here SOON! Or go to Kira's we'll be there soon!

I love being here with friends! We seriously have thee BEST friends here! And thats saying alot! For a while, we didnt have good friends, and now, we have reliable friends that I know will be there for us whenever! Thanks guys!

I was putting Damon to take a nap this afternoon and I glanced outside at the rain falling, and looked up and there were trees! I know your thinking trees? yes, trees like you see in the mountains. The mountains are a beautiful place! We live in a beautiful place and love the weather regardless of what everyone says. I love change, and it seems like its always changing! I mean Saturday, we didnt need coats outside, and today, SNOW? inches of snow! Its all about finding the silver lining in everything!

I need a haircut but am so scared to get one because I havent found one I love! Andrea, I need you to cut my hair! Anyways, I want to grow it out, but everytime I go, it gets chopped! So I am getting shabby! (And I need to tan also) California is in the future, so I need to get tanned up!

Lame im sure for you, but thoughts for journaling!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a Praying Mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Been to the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa at the Louvre
20. Slept on a train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language3
7. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (a MUST-do for everyone!)
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55.Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Tied a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
7 7. Broken a Bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life-2x a week! donating plasma!
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Visited Italy

Birthday Man!

Juan's 24th Birthday is today, but we had a full day of celebrating it yesterday with a lot of people! Our gang of friends is expanding and we love it! We went out shooting and then came home for about and hour and went to eat at Texas Roadhouse in Idaho Falls.

Here is Ben and Kelsie and their kids, Stratton, Jessie, Eric and Eliza
Trevor and Whitney

Juan and I

Colby, Trisha, Skyler, and Aubrey

Juan's Birthday present. If you can't tell hes way excited! He had no clue whatsoever that he was getting this! Everyone was in on the surprise! I was supposed to go and donate plasma but i went to Trevor and Whitney's and got his gift all ready to go. It was placed in the back of the Explorer so that when he went to put up the back seat, it was there. He didn't quite get it at first and thought it was a joke, and the box was Skyler since he has the same gun! ha ha! It was a great surprise and something he will be able to use forever with my family and his friends here!

Here he is shooting Ben's 45 caliber hand gun

Shooting his new shotgun!

Here I am shooting Kelsie's 9

Getting ready to shoot the clay pigeons. Yeah I never got one!

Whitney and I are there for the pictures!

Trevor and Whitney









Nice Trevor!

Pistol shooting mama!

The Rex

Heres my shirt i got that they were giving to a few people! I was a lucky one! HAHA!

Well Friday David Archuletta had a concert in Idaho Falls and there was an after party at the Rex that he was supposed to be at. He NEVER showed up, but his family, band, and manager were all there though. BUt I guess it was a fun time to hang out with Kelsie. David Osmonds son, David Osmond was there and performed so we took a picture of him. Also David Archuletta's brother performed and we got a picture with him also.

My Baby's 18 months!

I cannot even believe where the time has gone! We moved to Rexburg when Keenan was about 6 months and now he's 18 months! My how time flies! He has been such a blessing in our family and makes us laugh everyday! He's so smart too. Just the other day, I told him we were going bye bye and he usually goes to the door and waits to leave. But this time, he started going there, and he went back to his room, and got his coat off the hanger and gave it to me. After we put it on, he pointed to Damon's coat and said, dede! Hes so fun! Now that hes got the coat thing figured out, were in Spring! He is also getting very good and saying his prayers! He will hold his hands together and then close his eyes and mumble. Don't know what hes saying and then he will say Amen (in a jibberish kinda way)! He went to his 18 month well-child appointment and this is where he stands.

20 lbs - 1%

height- 29.5 - 1%

head- 18 in - 6%

Yes he is a little guy, but Keenan means small and cuddly, so it fits him perfectly! We love you Keenan!

Piscados

We are the proud owners of fish! Yup thats right! Damon bought himself some fish! We found them on the bulletin board here and are excited to have them! The boys love them espeically Damon when the light is on. We have a huge sucker fish and about 10-15 other ones.It also nice because it came with a stand and didnt have to find a place to put them. I just need to put something around the bottom so that the kids dont climb on it.

The boys

Damon is doing great! With his Botox that he got about 3 weeks ago, he is much looser but he is also a lot more sore. He isn't used to being so limber and stretched so much, but its in the best interest for him. While we were in Salt Lake when he got his Botox, he also saw an Orthopedist who looked at some XRays he had taken back in November, and they said that he would most likely be getting surgery on his hips because people with lots of tone in thier muscles, thier hips usually get out of alignment and need fixed. So we will see where that takes us. We go back to Utah in June, for an update after the Botox wears off, and we also will be seeing about getting him nutrional info and getting a baclofen pump. So many things ahead of us, but its just one things at a time! He is doing great in Pre-school and loves riding the bus. He missed it the other day in the morning, but he got to ride it home and they said he was squealing and smiling just lovin' life!

Keenan is now 18 months old and is let loose by himself in Nursery! Ya whoo! He loves going there and now we both get to enjoy classes. He is a character! He's got a funny personality but it can't go without a little mischief either! He loves to make people laugh and he knows he funny or when he's got your attention. He will look at you and then move his eyes either up or down and then look back at you. He's a crazy little boy! He is still tiny as ever. We had a stake conference the other week and he was about the same size as a 10 month old. Poor boy takes after his mommy! Short! The other day he picked up the camera and said "cheese" took me by suprise didnt know he figured that one out!

Artic Circle

Damon enjoying his balloon and watching the kids play

Keenan and Noah

Keenan on top of the stairs


The guys, (Juan, Colby, Skylar, and Trevor) went shooting yesterday afternoon with all sorts of different guns up in the canyon. 22's, pistons, shotguns, you name it... I love Juan getting out with the guys and hanging with good guys! And wouldn't you know it, after spending time with Trevor and all this gun talk, he wants to get a gun! WE talked about next time going, and us girls going also! I can handle that! Trisha came over and we took the boys to Artic Circle to go play on the new toys. They are fun toys too because they are like an indoor playground like the park. Nothing like those smelly playgrounds at McDonalds. They loved it but Keenan was more about going up and down the stairs more than anything.

Massages...ahhhh

On Friday Whitney and I had made appointments to get 1/2 hour massages at the Sage Day Spa here in Rexburg! What a treat! Thats what Trevor and Whitney gave me for my birthday and it was so fun we did it together since niether of us had ever done it before. We were sore from working out the night before and so they really dug into us. I'm still trying to figure out if I enjoyed it a ton, or if it hurt more than anything, but I must say, it was totally worth it! It was very relaxing! So here we are before getting them done!

My Birthday

Juan gave me the best birthday this year, and its lasting all week long! I love it! Juan got me some new running shoes because I truly needed them! I was using some old shoes, and they needed to be ditched! They will be good camping shoes. He ordered them on Nike.com and they came early, so they were sitting in our room, but I couldn't look at them. He gave them to me early on Monday and so my birthday week began. Yesterday was my real birthday and it was a great day! I started my day out waking up to a voicemail from my parents singing to me. I thought that was a great start. Juan did tell me Happy Birthday also before he went to school.

Juan suprised me with roses after he went to the store to get me mollases so I could make ribs. This was so fun to get because I dont even remember the last time I got roses! Thanks love!

Here is Whitney making the cake. It was a Black Velvet cake. Funny story. It was a last minute decision to make this cake, so we ran over the thier house, got the recipes, cake mix and ran to the store. While we were reading the recipe at what we needed, it said chocolate curls! What? ok... So we call the guys to google it, and thier all chocolate girls? No... chocolate curls, and it even had a 90 second video how to do it, so they watched it for us, and told us it was a chocolate bar that was shaved to making them curly. Got it!

Some of the gang, busting out the Rock Band!

Whitney and Trisha making the frosting!

The Whole gang! Top: Juan, Damon, Ben, Keenan, Kelsie, Stratton, Elijah, Colby, Noah, Trisha

Bottom: Me, Trevor, Whitney, Eliza, and Eric

We all had enough to eat thats for sure! BBQ ribs, 2x baked potaotes, broccoli, pasta salad, rolls, pop and cake and ice-cream!

Keenan pulled the elcrtic beaters down on him, and made a mess!

Here are my awesome shoes! I love them! Thanks for all the fun guys! The fun nots stopping now, Whitney and I are getting massages and tanning tommorow! Oh the life of a rock star!

Thanks for the presents everyone! I loved them!

Spring soon?

From This

To This

I think that Spring might be making an appearance in the next couple months! (don't get me wrong, we still have a lot of snow places, but this, this is a good sign! And the top picture doesnt give it justice, it did snow a lot more than that!)

Dream

I had an amazing dream last night. I woke up feeling like I could conquer the world. My dream was I was taking a picture for the blog, (i know right?), but Damon was standing and I was getting him ready for school. He wasn't standing like nothing was ever wrong with him, and he didnt do it without me helping some, but for the most part it was all him. What an amazing experience, but only a dream. I do hope one day that he will be able to stand. I still have not come to full terms that I will be caring for him the rest of my life. Im a little selfish that way, in things we had hoped to do when we get older. Like going on a mission, or to travel. Heavenly Father knows our circumstances and I know he will make everything work out the way he is supposed to, and maybe this is all a learning experience. But some days I feel like I can totally do this, all the therapies, school, and doctor appointments, but toher days I feel so overwhelmed (not depressed) but I have a lot to do, and a lot of the things I do at home, will only reflect what his outcome is. I will take this "dream" with me everyday and try and make a better mom out of it!

We had a fun weekend. Our weekends are getting more and more relaxing and I love it! Friday we were able to go to a much needed temple session. It was great and thanks to Trevor and Whitney for watching the boys again. When we came back, we all went to dinner at Hard Hat, and back to our house to watch a movie and homemade popcorn! yummy! We borrowed a bootleg movie from a friend, for some reason i cant remember the name, but intense! The one where the daughter goes to paris and is sold into prostitution. Saturday was a chill day also. We had planned on spending the evening together and watch another movie, but Juan got a phone call from Trevor that a bunch of guys were going to IF to play phaser Tag, lits paintball but without the paint. He had told them no that we were spending the evening together, but after he told me that, I said he should go because he never gets to get out with the guys. He's so good about letting me get out, so it was his time! Im so glad he had a great time!



Keenan just thinks the world revolves around him. Juan went into the boys' room and Keenan was in Damons bed. Cute little snuggle bug!

While Juan was gone, I made this cape for Keenan, its a Superman, and batman cape! Way cute! We had him try it on before church.

We dont post much pictures of us on here, so here we are coming back from Wal-Mart on Saturday night, before he went out.