cotton candy cupcake mix,
hair supplies and nail supplies! Awesome! I got an early birthday present, my beloved PINK Kitchenaide mixer and I thought thats all I would be getting, understandably since it such a big gift. But Darren threw another big surprise at me, a fully paid 1 year gym membership plus unlimited tanning! I was so happy especially about the tanning! My mother in law and I share a love of baking so I always look forward to the fun and unique baking supplies she gets me. This year it was a silicone mat which is used to roll out and cut dough on and a pop overs pan! Yeahhhhhh! My sweet dad bought me a birthday present a few months back, remember the sewing machine, but he also gave me money on my birthday which I used towards my Kitchenaide SWEEET! I also got some fun Bath and Body Works smell goods. My new favorite scent is Pretty in Prep and my existing favorite is Forever Sunshine! Hooray for smelling good! For my birthday cake all I asked for was a Red Velvet Cupcake Shake from Sammy's! Of course they were out of cupcakes until thursday so I had to wait. lol
Later that week I finished a project I've been working on! Kaiden's bedding! Okay it was just a comforter and a pillowcase but they look awesome! I'm thinking I'll attempt a matching fitted sheet once I'm done with Jaxton's bedding and room decor!
Not even 2 weeks after my big day, we drove down to my Aunt's house in SLC. She was having a big shin dig since it was her 50th birthday! We had a great time visiting our family and My Gma Nonie and Gpa Jerry even came into town. They were the biggest reason we decided to go down. We try to see them every chance we get and being less than 4 hrs away how could we not stop by!?
Grandpa Jerry!
Gramma Nonie getting our little boy a smilin and a laughin!
Kaiden playing cars on the front porch with Ashlea's cat, Maverick.
Derek even got his lilttle girl, Sadie one day. We set up lil pools in Stacie's backyard and tey had a blast. Kaiden mostly liked playing with the hose. Haha. 
For my aunts party I made my infamous cake bites which were a HUGE hit with everyone. Seriously gone within 10 minutes which was good because it was hot outside and they are not so good warm. lol. But my cake bites were no way near as amazing as my Aunt's Chocolate Raspberry Birthday Cake! ohhhh yumm!
And since we were in SLC we just HAD to go to the Cheesecake Factory! Yummmm! And as an extra bonus surprise, we even stopped by the famous Original Pancake House! My brother suggested I try pigs in a blanket done OPH style. They were good! (They were sausage links wrapped around their delicious pancakes. Not dipped in pancake batter like Darren assumed.) Those lil things were delicious and hearty.
"O" = The Original Pancake House!
Kaiden got a haircut from grammy Carrie. He looks so big everytime he gets one. This is why it is so hard to convince Darren that Kaiden NEEDS a haircut. lol.
The day after we got home from SLC my dad flew out again just for 3 days this time. Boy does Kaiden LOVE his gpa Mark! These 2 seriously have so much fun together! It was such a quick trip but we're thankful he even came since it is completley out of his way.
The last week of July and into early August we had Darren's adorable cousin Katie come stay with us for a week! We've only been talking about having her come visit us, since the very beginning of summer so we were ecstatic to have her! (and apparently she was just as excited to be with us. The night before she came to our house she couldn't even sleep, because of how excited she was. lol) I call miss Katie the "Baby Whisperer," because for a kid almost 12 she is sure great with kids! Kaiden took to her really quick. So much so that the first thing out of his mouth before waking up is "Katie!!?". He must get worried she will leave him while he is sleeping or somethin. lol
Katie arrived on Saturday and Saturdays in our house is the day we drive to IF for groceries and play! So we made a few errands, stopped by the mall and ate at one of my all time fave restaurants, Chili's! This girl had never been there before, but becuase she LOVES chicken strips, I told her she MUST try theirs, since they are so different and delicious! And I was right, she loved them! We also went to Sammy's and had one of their Oreo Pie Shakes. It was pretty good but doesnt measure up to their cupcake shakes. lol.
On Sunay we got up early for church and even made it early! Which is something big for us, we usually show up just in time. lol. We made peanut butter cookies (baking cookies on sundays is kinda our family thing.) We played a few rounds of Darren's favorite game, lol, Monopoly. We also watched Katie's favorite movie, Tangled!
On monday we went out shopping for some fabric! And we made Katie a pillowcase! Actually she did most of the work and did an AMAZING job!
While we were out earlier that day we saw a sign for a Street Festival! (Rexburg does have some fun events every now and then! lol) So we went to that at 5. We had a blast. It was an International Dance Festival/ Parade. There were some booths of people selling little trinkets and Katie and I got matching hot pink feathers in our hair! Too Cute!
Oops! I closed my eyes! These feathers are really popular right now. They are real feathers too, so you can curl, straighten and wash them!
Kaiden keeping himself busy. lol
For some reason Kaiden is drawn to these manholes. lol He just wanted to stand and dance on it.
and we got sno-cones and we watched the parade of dancers until about 15 minutes into it when we got rained out! lol. So we headed over to Craigo's for some pizza, but with Kaiden acting so crazy we decided to take it all home! lol We had a good time while it lasted though! lol
On tuesday we Tie Dyed T-Shirts! Oh mmmmmmmmy goodness it was a TON of fun! None of us had ever done it before. You have to let the shirts dry for 24 hrs so we just had to bundle them up and put them in baggies and see the surprise the next day. I am the worst at waiting when Im so excited for something. lol.
Katie said she loved dancing so, later that night I took Katie to my Zumba class! It was only my 2nd time going so I'm no where near amazing but its really fun! (Zumba is dancing to music.) I think Katie had fun, but she was done about 30 minutes into it. It is very tiring and they dance at a very fast speed. It's kinda hard to keep up as beginners. lol We also played the game Ticket to Ride, which may be Katie's new favorite game. We played a few rounds! lol
On wednesday we got to open our tie dyed shirts! Wow, they looked way better than I even thought they would! Not bad for first timers! Every one got a new shirt! 
While the shirts were washing we went and played at Rexburg's free lil water park. Katie and Kaiden had so much fun.
Katie was so awesome and took Kaiden down the big slide with her!
We went home and did piddly stuff around the house and at 6pm we all went to the BIG new water park that just opened up here in Rexburg. We had a BLAST! We even took Jaxton in his adorable little swimming trunks!
Kaiden and daddy on the Lazy River!
Mommy and Jaxton on the mini slide. Jaxton was indifferent about the whole water park thing.haha.
It even had a little part that was almost identical to the freebie water park in town.
Kaiden was done after just 1 hr because even though its the beginning of August, in lil ol Rexburg its still cold here at night. He couldnt stop shivering the poor lil dude. But we assumed he had fun because the next morning he woke up screaming "water park!" for hours! Katie was having so much fun, I wish we all could have played there longer.
On thursday we had a chill out day. Katie loved sewing her pillow so much that we picked up another project for her to sew. A lil book for Kaiden! We worked on that in the afternoon and later we ran errands and played around in the dollar store and bought some cheesy lil toys. We also stopped and got some pop and candy and had a movie night once Kaiden finally went to bed.
Friday morning we woke up and made some Red Velvet Pancakes with Cream Cheese Icing! 
(Sorry Dana! Darren keeps telling me sugar and cakes are not for breakfast, but it sounded so good!) Then we went and played at the free water park.
We took Kaiden's ball and he had the most fun I've ever seen him have there. lol.
This was Kaiden's favorite thing to do. Sit between the 2 slides and get splashed by the kids sliding down.
Katie and Kaiden went on the carousel ride and shared some cotton candy and on the way home we picked up some delicious sno cones. Later we also worked a little bit on the ABC book.
Saturday was lil Miss Katie's last day, we thought her folks would be picking her up in the morning time but they called us and said they'd be in Rexburg around 5 ish! Awesome! Another day practically! In the morning we finished the sewing project we had, a little ABC book for Kaiden. And since the International Dance Festival was still in town, and this was their last day they were performing in Smith Park for freesies! We stayed there for an hour or so and then played at the playground. Then we decided we were hot and hungry so we went to Mickey D's and let Katie and Kaiden play at the PlayPlace. It was so cute, Kaiden began playing a game of chase/ peek a boo with an adorable little blonde girl. He is a total stud for sure! Then we went hom and played one last time at the freebie water park. It sure was a busy week and month for that matter! lol As soon as Katie left Darren said Well I guess our summer is over." At which point I reminded him of my friend Laura's wedding in August. After talking for a minute we both realized that was this coming weekend! lol I sure love keeping busy, but it will be nice to be able to settle back into our home and get the boys back on schedules!
Speaking of the boys, here's a quick lil summary of this month. Kaiden is still talking more and more every day. And he's getting even better at the pronunciation of each word. His potty training had been going AMAZINGLY well especially considering how much we've traveled. At home he is 90% potty trained. I say this because he takes himself to the potty and doesnt even have to tell us! Just does it all on his own and lets us know afterwards. Occasionally he will have an accident, I mean he's not perfect. However he still wears diapers to bed. When we go out I would say he is about 50% potty trained. He only sometimes goes in the public bathrooms, hardly ever tells us he has to go and only sometimes stays dry the whole time we're gone. I assume this is because he doesnt quite have the independence he has at home. He has to TELL us or wait for us to ASK him. He cant just take himself. lol.
The week Katie was here we had the "Binky Monster" visit as well. Every day he bites a little bit off of the binky until he eats the whole thing! Again, Kaiden totally surprised us with how well he did! The "Binky Monster" was only here for 4 days and Kaiden didn't cry once or freak out or anything. In fact each day the "Binky Monster" took a bite out of it, the less and less interested he was in the thing. He still cuddles his lovey and asked only a few times for a binky but he has been soooo good! We're having a hard time thinking of what his 2nd birthdaty party theme should be, since he has actually taken an interest in the show Yo Gabba Gabba and the movies Cars and Monsters Inc. lol.
Helping feed Baby Jaxton
Cuddling with li brother and watching a movie. They sat like this for seriously 5 minutes before Darren picked up Jaxton.
Jaxton is a little weed that won't stop growing! We can't believe it. He still LOVES being swaddled and only wants his binky when he's ready to fall asleep. Any other time and he just spits it right out. lol. He began rolling over this month and towards the end of the month we even brought out Kaiden's old Jumperoo! He LOVES it! Within a week of using it he learned how to turn himself around in it and do a half jump.
He is still a VERY happy baby! He is so easy too! You just lay him down when he's tired and he will put himself to sleep. If we didn't have to set him down, he would probably sleep in our arms all day! He has been such a blessing. Can't wait to experience all the firsts again!
He has been holding his own bottle since the end of June!
Well, TTFN!
