Camping Doheny Style! (a yearly tradition now)

Last year we took the boys camping down at Doheny and we loved it so much we decided to do the same thing again this year. Ethan was just a baby last year so he definately enjoyed running around and keeping up with his brother this year. We camped with our friends Owen and Britni, who are moving, and their daughter Mia who is James's age. We had a blast together, taking walks to the beach, barbequing yummy steaks, and roasting smores of course. The kids all played soooo well together and James enjoyed climbing trees, gathering, sticks, and peeing in the sand...shhhhhh. My unborn sister, Rachee, joined us later with her friends to enjoy roasting hot dogs, smores, and having some good conversation, it was so fun!

Lag Nig 4th Ward Valentines Party

We absolutely LOVE our new/old ward. We had so much fun going to our wards little Valentines party get together on Sat night. Cameron and I got there late because I baked some yummy coconut butterscotch brownie bars...mmmmm they were so delicious, but by the time I got home from the salon, baked, and got ready we were like an hour late. Thanks to my marge, we had a kid free evening together :) We played the Newly/Oldy wed game and needless to say we did not win, haha, It was so fun though we enjoyed it anyway. Getting to know more people in our ward was awesome, they're so real! love it! We never go out for Valentines day because I feel like it's kinda corny...no offense to any of you who love it. I just think that Cameron does so much for me every day that I don't need an official holiday to show it. I love the idea of Valentines day, "love" and being someone's "valentine." I just know that I'm Cameron's and he's Mine..... Every day!

Time Outs work in our house! Ethan goes right to it, thanks to his big brother showing him how it's done!

We have always done time outs, it seems like they don't work at first...but if you start them at an appropriate age and are super consistant, they really do work. (FYI we feel like we started James too early, we were encouraged by some friends to start at only like 10-12 months and we regret it! We suggest just going with your parental gut feeling on what age to start it, there's no wrong or right) Ethan totally knows the drill now, it's great..and James has outgrown timeouts now (he has to have consequences), but he still dislikes timeout so much that all we have to do is threaten it and he apologizes within seconds. It works every time! I also had to share Ethan getting "pantsed" by James, well more like being "diapered!" lol! Seriously, it's so fun having boys so close in age at times like these, hahaha

Just wanted to share this, I watch it often :)

Advice from Elder Bueshe site:youtube.com - Google Search

James turned 3!

Happy Birthday to James! James was born at 8:09 am so on his birthday we sang Happy Birthday to him at exactly that time and let him open one of his gifts, we are making that a birthday tradition for our boys, luckily ethan was born at 7:54 pm so they both have reasonable times to be sang to and feel special. He turned 3 on February 18th so we had some friends over with their kids to celebrate. James also got to celebrate at his preschool so I made him and his classmates yummy rice crispy treats with his favorite colors, blue and green on them. I seriously can't believe it's been 3 years since we had him...it does go too fast. He's super protective over his brother and such a buddy. We love him so much because he's just so funny and unique, definately saying things that make us laugh so hard we can't stop laughing, tears and all! James amazes us with his bright smile and willingness to help us all day, he's such a helper right now. I'm enjoying every minute of it because I've heard it doesn't last forever. He surprises us with his manners, he consistantly says "good job mom" or "thanks dad...so much" or "your welcome" through out the day. He's too cute right now. We love our little dude!

Ethan wants to be just like James, too cute!

Christmas 2008! Finally....

Well, we're playing catch up on our holidays, christmas was so great this year. Definately our favorite one thus far because James really understood, thanks to pre-pre-school that Santa was coming to town. Christmas eve was so awesome, we read twas the night before christmas and put out cookies, carrots, and milk. It was everything and more that I had imagined doing with my children when they got old enough to understand how fun it can be! Cameron and I loved staying up until 2 in the morning to wrap and tie bows and assemble the bigger gifts. Christmas day we decided to start our own traditions by enjoying staying in our pj's at home and just making memories by playing with all the toys and not rushing from this house to that. We did make it to my moms for a little bit to deliver gifts to all their little cousins, but then went back to our house where we enjoyed a nice candle light dinner. We had guests over and had such an amazing time together, it was the best!