Children's Museum

While we were in Tucson the boys and I got to go with Grandma Devereaux and Aunt Emily to the Children's Museum. I have never really been to this type of museum before, so I didn't really know what to expect, but the boys had a great time.

One of the first things that we did was get to get into the cab of a firetruck. Jacob and Ephraim thought it was really great! We even got Jacob all suited up to drive the truck. Isn't he cute?

Ephraim liked the fire truck too... mostly to push all the buttons and watch the lights flash. It was pretty cool because there was a projection screen inside the truck so it felt as though you were actually driving it!

There were lots of different rooms with activities for the boys to do. There were building blocks, magnetic waterworks puzzles, glow in the dark drawing rooms and all sorts of other fun things to do. One of their favorites was the train room.

Jacob like to push the button to make the train at the top of the room go around. Ephraim enjoyed watching the train and running through the tunnel.

Another favorite area was the pretend grocery market. Jacob had so much fun filling his cart with fruits and vegetables. There was also a cash register so they could buy their food and a play kitchen area.

Wouldn't it be fun to play grocery store like this at home too?

Ephraim even enjoyed pushing around his cart and getting play food. Isn't it cute that he has a baby riding in his cart?! (and did you notice that he and Jacob have on matching shirts?)

We spent quite a while at the play food market so the boys could have a turn to play with the parts of it they wanted. Jacob got to play in the kitchen and was cooking up some food. It was really cute!

It's a good thing that I had help with me because it would have been more difficult keeping track of both the boys, since they are so busy. I would be watching Jacob, and the next thing you know Ephraim would be headed off somewhere else!

The boys had a great time at the Children's museum playing with the toys and doing the activities. Maybe sometime we will have to go visit the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum in Salt Lake and see if it is fun too.

Train Time in Tucson

One of the fun things that we did while we were in Tucson was to go see a local train show. They had a bunch of trains set up at the V. A. Hospital, so we took the boys and went to check it out.

The trains were set up in a bit circle, but they had a little village, a train station, and lots of trains running. The boys thought it was pretty cool.

I had a great time practicing taking photos in low lighting. I especially like how this one turned out of Joe and the boys.

Ephraim is especially excited by trains right now. He loves to look at books about trains and play with the trains we have at home. Of course he loves "Momas". He had fun watching them and actually did a great job of not touching!

The boys had a fun time watching the trains with Mommy, Daddy, Grandma and Auntie Em.

Tucson Family & Anniversary

Every year when we are in Tucson, Joe and I also have our anniversary on the 27th. This year the 27th was on Sunday, so we didn't really get to go do anything that day. Instead we all got ready and went to church.

Since everyone was all dressed up, I decided to take some pictures of the boys by the cacti in front of Grandpa and Grandma's "other" house. I started out by trying for the impossible: a picture of both boys together.

Not bad, huh? We got a stool and tried a few more shots. With Joe's help I finally got one that I really like!

Aren't they just the cutest?

Then we did some pictures of each boy. We did the pictures before church, so Ephraim was hyper and happy. Check out this cute boy!

He's handsome, don't you think?

Jacob did pretty well too. Sometimes he tries too hard to smile, but occasionally you can get a natural looking smile out of him. Here are the pictures I like of Jacob:

I really need to get some of these pictures printed out! I think they are so fun.

I want to take some pictures of the boys in these same clothes, but in the snow. I think it would make a fun contrast.

We also took a picture of our entire family after church. These are the bushes in front of Grandma and Grandpa Devereaux's house. I think these pictures turned out pretty nice.

Since it was our anniversary we also had to take one of just the two of us. Aren't we cute?

After church we took pictures of Joe's family with the boys. So here are his Grandpa Sabey, Joe's parents Steve and Jane, and his little sister Emily.

Good looking crowd, don't you think?

Joe and I celebrated our anniversary on Monday. We spent the afternoon together and then went out to dinner. It was nice to have some time alone together to just do some window shopping and whatnot. The best part was that we had built in baby-sitters!

After dinner we got a phone call telling us that Ephraim wanted to see us. He had been walking around the house saying, "Mommy? Daddy?". So we went back and tucked the boys into bed. It was fun too see how excited the boys were to see us . It's nice to know that you are missed when you are gone!

Christmas in Tucson

The boys had so much fun spending Christmas with Grandpa and Grandma Devereaux in Tucson! Jacob was so excited for Santa to come and to get to open all his presents. Here is a picture of the boys in their matching jammies on Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning was tons of fun. Ephraim was the first one up. At first I thought we were going to have to pry him away from Jacob's Buzz Lightyear. But then we got him playing with the Little People Amusement park he got, and he loves it!

Jacob was still a bit sleepy when he got up, so it took a minute for things to register. But he was excited to get his Buzz Lightyear!

If only the elves at Santa's workshop hadn't strapped Buzz down with about 23 plastic ties! Sheesh! Were they afraid Buzz was going to escape or something?

Luckily Grandpa managed to get it out of the box.

There were so many fun toys for the boys to unwrap. They both have really enjoyed their RC cars! We take them to aerobics and the boys drive them around while mommy exercises.

There were tons of other great presents! There were so many that I know I will forget one if I try to name them all! They have both really enjoyed the bowling set they got:

The books they got have also been lots of fun as well as the fun dress up clothes, puzzles, paints, crayons, and other little cars and toys.

Jacob was really into opening presents this year!

We also had fun with the presents that we gave this year. I gave Grandpa Sabey and Grandma Devereaux several jars of our homemade jams. Grandpa Devereaux got the "Some like it hot" gift basket full of jalapenos, salsa, horseradish sauce and of course a pocket protector. (Because men who wear them are definitely "hot"!).

Joe and I also enjoyed the fun presents that we got for Christmas. I got some nice clothes, and Joe gave me an awesome lens for my camera! I was trying to surprise Joe with a nice workstand for his bike, but unfortunately the company shipped the wrong one! Darn it!

We had a fun and busy Christmas. Of course the boys had to play with their presents! Here is Jacob with his RC car.

Ephraim was fond of playing the piano while we were in Tucson. Sometimes he even played with Auntie Em.

Christmas afternoon was peaceful. Everyone was worn out from all the excitement, so the boys took good naps. Even Jacob took a nap!

Isn't he cute when he's sleeping?

Drive to Tucson (Dec 23)

Wow did I ever get behind on my blog! I guess going on vacation and taking tons of pictures will do that to you!

Just before Christmas I spent most of my time getting my neighbor gifts out and packing up to go to Tucson. Then on December 23rd we left very early in the morning (2:30 am-ish). The boys did pretty well on the LONG car trip.

The northern part of our drive was nasty to say the least. The roads were a bit snowy and it was really windy. We actually saw several vehicles off the road, either on their sides or completely flipped over. Scary, huh? The roads did not improve until we got close to St. George and then it was smooth sailing from there.

We managed the drive with minimal stopping. One of the stops we made was at the Joshua Tree National Parkway. I have been wanting to stop there for a couple of years, and we finally did! Here is a cute picture of the boys and Daddy by the Joshua trees:

I love the way the Joshua Trees look. They totally remind me of something you would see in a Dr. Seuss book. I took tons of pictures. This one is my favorite:

There were also lots of interesting boulders where we stopped. They look like huge pebbles that were dropped from the sky.

It was nice to take a short break because the drive ended up taking 16 hours because we lost so much time on the northern part. I am so proud of the boys. They were great in the car:

They enjoyed seeing some of the interesting sights like Hoover Dam, and it wasn't until the very end that Ephraim started to really get upset about being in the car so long. Good thing he was so tired that he passed out about then.


We were so happy to finally make it to Tucson!

Buzz Pajamas

This morning the boys were being silly on my bed. Since they looked so cute in their new pajamas, I just had to take some pictures.

As you can see, I have my wedding ring quilt on my bed this month. I put the quilt up every December... partially because it is our anniversary month and I got the quilt when we got married (nearly 7 years ago!) and because I want to use the quilt my grandma made me without wearing it out.

I love the way that Ephraim says "Cheese!" now when I tell him to smile. It is pretty stinking cute!

I love my little Buzz boys!

Ephraim the thinker

This week I caught Ephraim playing with the wire toy. He used to have trouble getting the wooden beads where he wanted them to go, but he is really good at it now.

Look at how hard he is concentrating. What a cute boy!

Neighbor Gifts

This past week Jacob, Ephraim and I have been delivering our neighbor gifts. It has been fun to pay a short visit to our friends and neighbors. I think the gifts turned out pretty cute, don't you?

I made dove and cardinal ornaments, and I think they turned out darling! I even kept some for us and the boys. (Jacob wanted a cardinal because red is his favorite color!).

Included with the ornament was a matching card and a poem that read:

Spread my wings and I will fly upon your Christmas tree,
bringing joy and Christmas cheer to your sweet family.

Happy Holidays from the Devereaux Family!

Buzzing around the Annual Heiner Family Christmas Party

Yesterday we drove to Logan for the annual Heiner Family Christmas party, since Jeanette and Greg generously agreed to host again this year. There were twenty-four of us gathered together, and it has been a year since we were together. We talked, laughed, opened presents, and had a fabulous time!

I seems another tradition is that it snows every time weekend we schedule the party. On our way to Logan it started to snow, and it snowed the entire time we were there. Our trip over Sardine Canyon was yucky both ways, but Joe did a great job driving and we made it safely. It was worth the yucky drive to spend some time with my family.

After hanging out together for a little while, we all shared a meal. Thanks to my Dad, the master turkey carver, we probably got every bit of meat off that turkey!

Good thing too, because some people were getting HUNGRY! (Not to mention a teensy bit rowdy!)

Dylan and Ephraim

The only place large enough for us all to sit together was the garage. With all those bodies, a few heaters, and a bunch of hyper kids we heated it up quickly enough! After a meal together we got down to the anticipated gift exchange.

So we all gathered around in a circle. Ephraim found the perfect seat:


The highlight of the day for me was watching Jacob. For months now he has been telling us that he wants a Buzz Lightyear for Christmas. You know, the 12 inch tall one that talks and has pop-out wings? We weren't really sure if he would play with a present like that for very long, but he was determined that this is what he was going to ask Santa for.

Some other people heard about how much he likes Buzz, and this is one of the first presents that Jacob opened:


A little Buzz Lightyear! Jacob could not have been more excited! Especially since Buzz is poseable and the wings pop out!


As soon as we got it out of the packaging Jacob was flying Buzz around the room. It was so cute! Jacob wasn't the only one who got a Buzz.

Ephraim was pretty excited about his soft Buzz too. Here he is showing Daddy how Buzz flies "to infinity and beyond!".

We had a great time opening presents. It was fun to take turns and watch everyone open their gifts. I was glad that everyone really liked what I made for them:

Every time I looked over at Jacob, guess what he was doing?

Yep. Playing with Buzz.

Ephraim has the whole opening presents thing figured out this year. He couldn't wait to get the wrapping paper off and see what was inside.

The boys both got their own water bottles, which will be really nice for when we travel.

Hmm... what's Jacob up to? There he is:


Jacob did take a break from playing with Buzz once in a while to open some presents.

The boys were both excited that they also got Buzz Lightyear pajamas! They are so cute and snuggly and warm.

Of course the boys got a few other toys. Here is Ephraim unwrapping a little dump truck (Jacob got a steamroller).

Has anyone seen Jacob? Oh nevermind... there he is!

Mommy and Daddy got some fun presents too. I got some nice necklaces and Joe got a rack for the back of his bike. Now he can put a bag behind his bike when he rides to work instead of wearing a backpack!


And where is Jacob? Oh, just Buzzing around the party.

Grandma and Grandpa Heiner gave the boys some fun frog blankets and an arm pillow for their beds. Ephraim was so funny. Instead of tearing the paper off the present, he was trying to pull the pillow out!

Shall we check up on Jacob. Nah! He's perfectly happy.

Before long it was time to go. We gave everyone hugs and said goodbye. The snow was still falling and we wanted to get home before it got dark. Our drive home was pretty scary, especially over Sardine Canyon. But by the time we got to Ogden, it was just raining and the roads were wet.

It was so fun to see all my family again. We had a great trip and two happy little boys.

Jacob, Ephraim and the Buzzes.

I can't wait for Christmas! I wasn't really feeling the spirit of Christmas until after the family party. Being with my family and watching the boys gave me a healthy dose of Christmas cheer. It is going to be so much fun to watch the boys on Christmas day!