The Horror

deakon loves his "night-night" so much

he thinks the purpose of it is to make holes and pick out all of the batting so he can roll it around in his fingers while he sucks his thumb. after choosing this blanket and insisting on doing this to it, my mom started patching it every time he would come over to be watched. it became a work of art. BUT... after being away from home for 9 months... with me, who has no desire to learn how to use a sewing machine, this became the fate of the beloved blanket:

AND... that picture doesn't even show all of the tiny holes for ones fingers to stick into. right after i took this picture, i ended up cutting the ratty ends off of the left end and thus invented what deakon calls "baby night-nights" and we are glad because they are great for traveling in the car with.

as soon as we got to utah, my mom started blanket project 911... but quickly determined that she could no longer just patch the holes. we picked out some fabric to replace the back side of the blanket and she went to work:

deakon was worried at first about his night-night not being accessible at all times, but quickly got excited for gamma to fix it. After it was all done, i am pretty sure he asked her to fix it some more a few times.

i don't have a great after picture right now because deakon is taking his nap, but here is a weird shot with it and in the post below you can kind of see what it looks like in his crib:



wonder what the actual blanket looked like before the abuse?
see: VIDEOS and watch the top one of Deakon waking up in his crib.

A little bit of randomness...

We haven't been up to much this week. Yesterday I was trying to put Deakon's clean laundry away and couldn't stuff them in so I pulled out a box and went through all of his clothes and put away everything that didn't fit anymore. I haven't done it since we moved last year so there was some tiny stuff in there. His little legs are so short so up until he turned 2, he could still fit into 12-18 month pants. It's funny because he was wearing 2T shirts at 18 months. I guess he can thank his dad for that long torso because it definitely didn't come from me. AND we all, or at least Danny and Becky know that Kyle has an extremely long one. :) The things you will do on a Saturday night with a measuring tape. ha ha ha

I also had to put away like 20 DVD's that Kyle had out the 2 weeks we were gone in Utah without him. Apparently he was kind of bored without us. AND... he doesn't think to put them back when he is done.

Bret and Eva are away for 2 weeks in BC for their official honeymoon and we are watching their cat Quiggy... ok, not really watching, just sticking him with sharp needles and making sure he has food and water. Don't think we are monsters, he is diabetic... just because we don't like cats doesn't mean that we would be mean. ;)

This past Sunday, we both got new callings- I am sure I will talk about them next week. We had quite the time with Deakon during sacrament meeting. It started out pretty well, and then during the actual passing of the sacrament, he started talking a lot and asking "Where Gamma go?" and I gently reminded him that maybe he should try thinking about Jesus to which he replied, "Oh..." and then quite loudly "Where Jesus Go???" Within a few minutes, and after throwing a blueberry stem at the couple behind us, a stringy banana peel piece at the guy in front of us, and me trying my best to hide my laughter, Kyle took him out. OH... the joys of having a 2-year-old in church...

I had some random pictures on my camera from the last few weeks so I thought I would share:

I found Deakon like this during his nap the other day. I have no idea how he reached the boot or toys. I am guessing he may have climbed out and then got back in? Oh, and yes, he sleeps with the blanket over his head. We have to go in several times after he falls asleep to yank it off, but it always goes right back on.

We ate some Popsicles outside last week and I kept asking Deakon to show me his so I could take a picture and he kept putting it right next to his face...
Here are more of my camera-timer skills:
The first night after we came home from Utah, Bret and Eva offered to make us dinner. Deakon was so excited to help make some hamburgers.

Ingrid

i seriously can't get enough of ingrid michaelson lately

especially "breakable"

her songs are dreamy.... and odd...

and i like them

Just call me prego...

when you go 3 years between being pregnant,

you really forget how fast things start happening.

i think i will be 5 weeks this week and already i am feeling it:

-so so so tired

-peeing every SINGLE hour

-my ta-ta's look HUGE

-my face has been breaking out for a week

-i look totally washed out

-my hair is already clinging on for dear life

(with deakon, my hair like stopped falling out and got out of control thick!)

-i feel soooo fat (although i haven't changed anything), my stomach just feels pokey

i have luckily had no nausea, which happened right at 4 weeks last time...

i probably just jinxed myself... now i will probably get sick tomorrow

just call me prego!

4 long years...

WOWSERS!!!

Seriously... four years.

BUT... how can you help yourself when you have a studly stud like Kyle to do it with?

You are the funniest guy I know....


I can barely try and describe my feelings for you....

You are just so darn sexy.... I love you so much...

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BABE!

The deadly cards...

since coming back from vacation, deakon has really had a tough time. i am not sure if he is just super bored or if the terrible 2's are really starting to come out. every morning when i get him dressed he asks if we are going to find the cousins or our friends. poor kid. i have been really trying to get out of the house everyday- going for a walk, going to the park, and running pointless errands. it has been helping... for now. before coming to utah, i lost some poundage and was happy to only gain a few back with all of the junk i ate while being there. so, the walks and getting out are good for me too. i have also been doing my new favorite/kill me now toning game that i learned about while in utah. you pick 4 of your favorite moves (squats, crunches, push-ups, dips, lunges, etc.) grab a deck of cards, assign each move to a different color/suite (we actually used rook cards) and then you go through the whole deck! it is a killer, but you feel so good when you are done.

you should try it!

I knew it...

tomorrow, we have been married for 4 years...

some years have been long

and others have gone by so fast we can hardly believe it.

Today we found out that we are having baby gerrie #2!

ok, let me clarify that...

today was the day that kyle mostly believed that there really is something growing inside of this belly of mine.

we took pregnancy test number 5... yes 5.

the first 2 showed nothing, although i was already late the next 2 showed a very faded line or "an imaginary line" as kyle would say when i showed him them. i made an appointment to do bloodwork and make me not feel like i was a crazy person, but this morning i talked kyle into letting me take the last test i had...and it was definitely positive! he is so excited...

i am too... but remember, I have known for awhile now. there is no denying the exhaustion i feel... although it is only week 4... or 5... not sure...

we are excited

i will not lie and tell you that i did not go peek

into my "newborn/maternity" box...

i totally did

For our BELOVED Becky-kins...

So... I still don't have pictures from the other days of the reunion. But they are coming. When Kyle read the first post I commented on how I forgot Becky, Lily, and Scotty... (hopefully nobody else!) and I knew that I would be looking for more pictures from the other days of the 3 of them. WELL.... Becky got a little butt-hurt about not having any pics, so I decided to show her why I did not post these! Hope you love them BECKY!!!

Becky, Judd my bud, and Sars:

NAPTIME:

AND... I did find a cute one of Lily and Scott SOOOO, here you go twinners:

SOME LIKE IT HOT : Part 1

welcome to part 1 of the "my family is crazy and i love them" series!!!

get excited...

from july 5-8th, the 2 parents, 10 children, 6 in-laws, and 12 grand kids rented out a bed and breakfast just outside of lava hot springs in IDAHO. And... wow... did we have fun!

these pictures are only from the first night and next morning when we were given our custom designed t-shirts. our theme for the reunion was "some like it hot" with the 10 reasons to be a DuPaix on the back. it's ok if you are a wee bit jealous that you will not be adding this to your closet. ;)

the first night we had dinner and sarah led us in the opening of our time capsule from Dec. 31, 2000. we decided now would be the best time to open it because we don't know when we will all be together again. we were supposed to put in an object and we filled out a questionnaire about how the world would change in the next ten years, and a table with the name's of the kids on one side, and a bunch of questions about each one along the top. (name of person they would marry, job, would they have a degree, how many children, etc.) we had a blast reading what we wrote and yelling out names of future spouses and if we were correct or not. my mom had also taken pictures of us that night and locked them in. we laughed a lot over those. kyle was a little worried at what my 15 1/2 year old self looked like, the things that i had written down AND probably the fact that he remembered that he was just shy of 21 at that time. can we say illegal? ha ha ha...

anyway, after the chaos died down and we tried to forget how love-birdy meri/shane and jeannie/brent were being engaged at the time, sarah pulled out a new, 3 page questionnaire for us to answer and open up in 10 years. should be fun to read!

stay tuned to read about our talent show, donut eating contest, candy bar game, lava hot springs Olympic water park, and many other thing we packed into 3 days!

Back of our t-shirts:

close-up of the front logo... sorry meri, that's your boob! :
joe, monica, and bryson:


crazy kitchen:


meri and shane:

dad, debbie, and meri :

kyle and deakon:

preview of some of the pics that will be in the new time capsule.

ethan:

jackson and cooper:

5 boys, age 2 and under,

judson, luke, ethan, deakon, and cooper:

mom and ethan:

time-capsule-time:

filling our the new questionnaires:

apparently more filling out.... repeat... sorry:

john, laughing at his picture:

Stake and mom checking out the old pics:

sarah and danny:

just a preview of our family fund:

meri and shane made up a song about the reunion:

dad and bryson:

ethan, brent, noah, and jeannie waiting for things to start:

debbie and luke:

joe and monica

t.j. and jackson

becca, maddy, and sarah

June Stuff...

as i was getting ready to post more pictures from our utah trip, i found these pictures from june 1st that i forgot to post. i joked about only putting these pictures of deakon up if Detroit won the stanley cup, but perhaps i jinxed them because they could not do it again this year. we had a blast watching last year (see: Hockey Party June 2008) and this year Deakon was so excited to try-on daddy's jersey and learn to chant "let's go red wings, let's go"

i finally figured out that my camera has a timer on it... duh...

anyway, we got a tent from some friends :) for our wedding and have yet to use it.... so deakon and i decided to set it up and figured out that a 2-3 man tent is pretty darn big. we promised ourselves that we would break it in this summer. wish us luck! here are some of my "timer" pics of us in the tent:

p.s. i can't get over the face that the above pictures are from just 6 weeks ago and my baby has grown SOOOOO much... wow... i think i just cried a little. ok, i did just cry... :( See how grown up he looks now:

Just for fun...

i am by no means, a great photographer.

sometimes, i wish i was... so when i accidently get a good shot (my definition of one) i can't help but share.

enjoy!

this bridge might be my favorite thing in cochrane.

every sunday i deliver flyers on the street that is on the river and i can't help but stop and stare. i am totally jealous that bret and eva took wedding pics on it.

i keep promising myself that we will get some family pics taken here...