The DeWaal Family

Photo's Finally!

2010-08-30T16:23:00.001-07:00

I have the best friends in the world!
They took these pic. of Ellie when she was only 4 days old. They do a fabulous job. Thanks Girls!!

New Arrival

2010-08-17T16:12:00.000-07:00

Well our bundle of joy arrived!!!
Tuesday August 10th at 9:45 p.m.
Our surprise was a little Girl! We are so excited and love her to pieces.
We named her Ellie Jean. She was born 5 lbs. 3 oz. and 183/4 in. long
Pictures coming soon.

New Pictures

2010-07-31T14:56:00.000-07:00

Updated pictures of my two really cute kids

My friend takes the cutest pictures. Thanks!

Glad this week is over!

2010-04-05T21:03:00.001-07:00

The Early Birthday Party
We had an early birthday party for Banx on Monday because some family was going to be gone and I didn't want to take up anyone's Friday night, so we had grandparents over and some family over to help us celebrate Banxton. Thank you all for coming and being such a special part of Banxton's life.
the big FOUR! my boy is getting so big!!!!!

He has been wanting the Black Spider-man ever since Christmas. He got one for Christmas ( a red one) and it broke a month or two later and I wouldn't buy him another one, I told him to wait till his birthday, and he did patiently.

Present time

Banxton's Birthday
Banxton's Birthday was on Friday ( April 2) We decided to take him and do something fun, so we took him to Kangaroo Zoo with his pal Abe. They all had a ball, then afterward we went and got ice cream. Not such a big deal, but I think he had fun anyway.

Don't ask me where he gets that attitude on his face.Big Slide

Gracie even warmed up to it and loved it, she kept wanting us to take her up on the big slides, eventually billy taught her how to climb the steep steps.

Buddies

Easter
Woods Cross City had an Easter Egg hunt for the kids and some fun little things to do and meet the Easter Bunny, so we headed over there to give the kids something to experience.

Gracie was a little nervous to see the Easter Bunny so, I held her and I got to be in the picture. Yeah!

Don't get me wrong this week was so much fun and the kids loved looking for their Easter Baskets on Sunday. and we all had a great time. It was just a lot to think about all in a weeks time and make sure I had everything for the different events. But It all worked out and everything went well.

We enjoyed this Conference weekend as well and are so grateful for the Apostles and Prophets that we have on this earth to lead and guide us today. I am so grateful for the gospel in my life and the knowledge that I have. I hope that I can follow the council that was given and raise my kids with the tools and love they need to be righteous children.

I hope you all enjoyed this Easter Weekend.

A weekend in St. George

2010-03-23T13:26:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, we went down to St. George with my dad and all my brothers and sisters and the day we got there it was 77 degrees, Yes you read that right, 77 degrees and it was SO nice. It was pretty warm the rest of the week, Friday was a little cool, like 64 but it beats the weather we've been having. It was your usual trip to St. George: shopping, eating, hikes, swimming, golfing, it's just nice to get out of the normal everyday routine.

Playing in the fountains over by Old Navy. The water was freezing, but what little kid doesn't love to get wet? no matter how cold the water is, it's always a game.

Swimming in the pool, the weather was perfect!!!

my little fish

Sidewalk chalk on the condo's patio, oh well :)

They had a ball sitting in the warm weather hanging out in their swimsuits.

And they loved spending time with their cousin, Talmage. They don't get to see him very much and I am sure Talmage is just fine with that, consider how they were all over him.

It was nice to have Jocelyn down for the weekend and spend some time with her and Talmage and enjoy the warm weather. Till next time Joc.

What its the middle of March?

2010-03-13T21:54:00.001-08:00

I officially consider myself the worst blogger ever! I guess nothing to exciting mentioning...well I guess I take that back, I'm sure you can tell that there's a baby ticker counting down. Yes we are pregnant and are having a baby in the middle of August. We're pretty excited, Banxton talks to my stomach (the baby) all the time. I am doing good just extremely tired, two kids might contribute to that though. We have decided not to find out the sex of this baby and have a big surprise in August, making it a little more intense I guess you could say. It should be fun!
We haven't been up to much with it being winter and all playing with friends, cleaning the house, watching t.v./movies. pretty boring, we can't wait for spring and summer! We go outside and go for walks or let Banx ride his bike on the nice day's and he is happy for that. Banxton has been in preschool and LOVES it, he can't wait each week to go, good thing it's three times a week. Gracie is just a cute little turd! she is into everything and loves to follow her big brother around and copy him as long as I am within eye sight or she has a break down. I have a hard time remember what it like going to the bathroom or showering without crying or banging on my door. She sure is a fun little turd though. Love that girl, she sure makes us smile.

What else is there to do on rainy days?

Trying out his spider-man umbrella, I can't tell you how long he's been waiting to use that, and grace is breaking in her rain coat!

Just being silly!

Another New Year!

2010-01-12T13:13:00.000-08:00

Well I hope everyone had a good Christmas! Our family had a great holiday, other than the black eye Banxton got on Christmas eve playing with some cousin's it was splendid. We were all better from our sicknesses that we had and were able to be around everyone. For Christmas we visited family and had a small christmas at home with our kids and then headed down to Fairview with billy's family to spend the New Year. It was fun this year because we were able to have Jocelyn and Cody here from Wisconsin and they brought there brand new baby Talmage, Yeah we have cousins on my side of the family now. Pictures soon to come.
Well hopefully this New Year I can be better at updating my blog, I know I enjoy looking at all of you guys and seeing how your family it doing so I can only assume it's the same for you.

2009-12-13T12:12:00.000-08:00

Well it's been awhile. Were just going through the motions of a very busy December. On the 1st I went with my mom out to Wisconsin to visit my sister who had her first baby, baby boy, Talmage Grant! He is so dang cute. It was fun to go out and see where they live and just hang out with them. I came home on the 5th to sick kids and I've been dealing with that since, now it's my turn, I think I have strep of something, it sucks! On the bright side I've helped with some christmas shopping, and made ginger bread house at the kids party on billy's side of the family, exchanged presents and watched a christmas movie. I am atleast hoping we're all better by christmas

Good Times

2009-10-20T13:04:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back we went to St. George for UEA weekend and had a fun time at the sand dunes with some friends. It was way fun to drive around, banxton loves to ride four-wheelers, any kind. So this was the greatest for him. Grace had a good time kicking back playing in the tons and tons of sand.

Born to Ride

The Fam!

I took the kids to Black Island Farms to pick out some Pumpkins and have a little fun. This place is so much fun and the kids loved it. They have tracker ride, hay rides, slides, mazes, farm animals, just tons of stuff to do, I highly recommend it.

Gracie was a little nervous at first, but she loved this tracker ride.

a kiddie "corn" box

Banxton loves to go down these slides, they have 3 or 4. I had him take grace, but she didn't like it so much.

It's Football Time!

2009-09-05T20:44:00.001-07:00

We are excited to start a new BYU season! We all get into it, and on game day you will see at least half of us in uniform if not all of us.
game 1: Oklahoma vs BYU
13 to 14 BYU
HUGE WIN against 3rd in the nation. We're so excited but there's still a long season a head of us, but I think were off to a great start!

GO COUGARS!!!

The beginning of the long haul

2009-09-02T20:25:00.000-07:00

Banxton started preschool this week! So far he loves it and is still excited about going! He has a great teacher that seems like she does lots of fun things with the kids.

First Day

I couldn't help but post this one of Gracie. She is so funny, she is always carrying around Banxtons things. She looks so dang cute. This one describes her perfect.

My LITTLE MONSTER!

What's new?

2009-08-31T15:05:00.000-07:00

Let see it's been awhile since I've been on here. We've had a busy summer, We've been swimming a lot, We've been up to our favorite place in the world ( that we've been to) Couerd A' lene, were we went swimming, boating, and shopping and hanging out with family. We've been up to our friends cabin, getting ready for a wedding( billy sister), going to the wedding, getting Banxton ready for preschool. After going to his orientation he has been so excited and can't wait. Gracie has learned to walk and is into EVERYTHING! and she doesn't babble she SCREAMS! all the time. But it's fun to watch her grow up. Billy's been busy with his church calling between all his camping trips, stake conference and activity nights. He's also been hunting and working hard. I've been there through all of it being the most supportive mother and wife as I can be. We're looking forward to the fall and all the fun holiday's that come with it. Banxton's already talking about what he wants to be for halloween.

photo shoot

2009-06-27T22:14:00.000-07:00

A few of Gracie's one year pictures.

Thanks Jana!

Happy Birthday Gracie!

2009-06-19T15:50:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my baby is ONE!

We celebrated at my dad's pool, swam, had dinner, cake and ice cream, and opened presents.
It was a blast, thanks for those that helped celebrate, Gracie had a fun night. I know because she slept great!

Opening presents

The cake eating

Our Trip to California

2009-05-26T09:44:00.000-07:00

So I am really bad at updating my blog and I am well aware of it but it still doesn't get me to sit down and post about our life. I am not a good writer so I'd rather post pictures and then put descriptions below them but I don't have any picture of what we've done, sad to say the least.

On May 8th billy and I went with another couple to Anaheim California for a trip long over due. Really it was to celebrate our 5 year anniversary which was in November but Gracie was to little to leave so we pushed our celebration back a few months and it turned out to be the best trip ever. Here's just a quick review. First off there was no kids which was NICE!!

Day 1 woke up early and on the road on our way at 6:oo a.m. got in california around 5:00 p.m.

Day 2 Went to Balboa Island and rented some bikes, rode around the beach for an hour, very fun. Had a delicious corn dog for lunch then layed out on the beach for awhile. Headed back to the condo had dinner then went to an Angels Baseball, I thought I would be bored but I wasn't it was pretty fun.

Day 3 Sunday, we were good little boys and girls and found a church to go to. When we got there it was a Polynesian ward and they spoke whatever language it was. They were very sweet people. It being mothers day they even gave Jana and I some lei's. One of Jana's was made of chocolate balls and by the end of sacrament meeting Jana started to smell real good. We looked at her shirt and she had chocolate dripping off of her collar and her shirt. It was hilarious. We had a big lunch at Applebee's, then later that night the boys went and saw Star trek and me and jana went and say 17 again.

Day 4 today was the day I couldn't wait for, a few weeks ago I wrote into Jay Leno and requested some tickets to attend a show and about 3 weeks later I got the tickets for Monday May 11th. I was thrilled because billy and I watch him almost every night and so now we get to go see him in person before he leaves the tonight show. Monday we drove up to Burbank and Ike had gotten Jana and I a gift certificate through his work to Bliss spa. So Jana and I went and had a a pedicure and a wax done. It was fun. Then it was off to stand in line for the Tonight Show. It was really fun. After that we went and visited some of my old family friends, they had us over for a yummy dinner and then we visited for awhile. We decided to drive to the Hollywood blvd. because Jana had never seen the stars on the sidewalk. Did that for about 20 min. and when we get back to our car we had a parking ticket ridiculous. Whatever such is life.

Day 5 DISNEYLAND it was fun, but it was funny how all of us had to dope up on ibuprofen so we wouldn't get motion sickness.

Day 6 DISNEYLAND Again and California Adventure. Thanks Ike for the Tickets!

Day 7 We did a little shopping before we hit the road home. We left Anaheim around 12:30 p.m. and drove to St. George where we stayed with Jana's very nice Aunt and Uncle for the night.

Day 8 woke up early and hurried home to our lovely kids and families.

It was a very fun trip we did a lot of things had a lot of laughs and made a lot of memories.
Thanks Ike and Jana for a wonderful and very unforgettable trip!!

Better Late Then Never

2009-04-14T13:07:00.000-07:00

Happy 3rd Birthday Banxton!!!

On April 2nd Banxton turned 3. He has been asking to have a superman party for I don't know how long, so we decided to let him have a party. He invited a few neighborhood friends his age and a couple of his cousins. We played a few games, which most of them didn't get and they all had a go at a pinata, they all knew what to do for that. It was pretty crazy with ten kids between the ages of 2-4 years of age. Thanks for the help Mom, Angie and Ricki.

I think most of them had fun just going to a party.

The Gang!

enjoying cupcakes

Opening Presents

Trying to play a game. Cake Walk

Opening more presents

Sweet Spring!

2009-03-20T14:29:00.000-07:00

The other day we went to the Park and it was WARM. It was so nice to be outside again, I wish it was this perfect weather all the time.

Banxton!

Gracie's first time on a swing. She loved it.

Oh Where Oh Where Have I Been?

2009-03-16T20:46:00.000-07:00

Wow it's been awhile since I've been on here, it's been one thing after another the last few months. First of the year Gracie had the chicken pox then she starts feeling better and isn't contagious anymore, then Banxton gets a cold and it just continues to get worse so after about five days we decide to take him in and we find out that he has RSV. We didn't know it was contagious and he was all over Gracie, so of course guess who gets it next. Yep! Gracie. With her being younger it is a little scarier. They told me to take her to the hospital and put her on oxygen, so instead we just had oxygen delivered to the house where we would monitor her oxygen levels instead of paying the big bucks at the hospital. So Sad!

So after that I decided to go with my mom and sisters to San Diego for a girls trip. It was really nice because my sister from Wisconsin flew in to be with us too. It was fun and relaxing! We did a lot of laughing, eating, watching movies, sitting in the hot tub and walking.

This is me and Gracie in our hotel room!

Gracie was a trooper. We only had four stops all the way to San Diego. We left at 6:30 a.m. and got there around 8:30p.m. (remember we subtract an hour) This is our stop in Las Vegas at In-n-Out Burger. She was so happy every time she got out of her seat. I can't imagine why :)

Us at San Diego Zoo. Gracie slept through most of it, but she enjoyed the flamingo's.
After all is said and done I am glad we're all healthy again. We're ready to play and most definitely ready for the Summer!!

Slide Show of the Kids

2009-02-03T16:01:00.001-08:00

Homemaker Wannabe

2009-01-21T16:01:00.001-08:00

For Christmas this year my mom gave me a KitchenAid mixer and I love it. I had to try it out on some homemade bread, Right! Well I just used a packet that I had which was gluten free for me ( I am allergic) so it was pretty easy. Everything went really well and it turned out looking beautiful and smelling good, but when I went to cut into it the middle was still a little doughy. Oh well I am excited to keep trying and making lots more loafs. Banxton was really excited about it to and he thought it was really yummy! (we ate the ends)

Chickenpox

2009-01-15T22:38:00.001-08:00

Our little Gracie got chickenpox last week and it's been so sad. All you can do is give warm baths and rub calamine lotion on them, Tylenol takes the edge off but doesn't do much. She's been pretty good about the whole thing. She's been a real trooper!

This is nearing the end, but I didn't put any of the nasty pictures on here because they look gross and that would be embarrassing to her. They were really bad around her mouth, on her head and her bottom. Poor girl!

This was within the first couple of days and they continued to get worse.

Flashback

2008-12-16T13:01:00.001-08:00

Wow it's been awhile since I've been on here. Well here's a little catch-up. Banxton and Gracie in their halloween customs.

Visit with Santa at Woods Cross Elementary. Banxton was a little hesitant, he wouldn't sit on his lap so we put Gracie there.

First fallen snow.

Making Gingerbread houses with Banxton's Aunt Tami. He had a ball decorating, he would sit there and laugh at how much fun it was. He would tell us over and over we couldn't eat the candy because it was to go on the house.

Our little Gracie, 6 months old on the 18th. She's finally figured out how to roll over from her tummy to her back. And she's putting everything in her mouth.
She can hold herself up for a few seconds at a time now as well.

Halloween Party

2008-10-29T19:37:00.001-07:00

On Monday my Mother -in-law took all her Grand kids to Blacks Pumpkin Farm in Syracuse for their Halloween Party this year and Banxton had a ball. Way better then the others. There were pig races that he thought were fun, slides all different sizes. He even went down this huge one (not posted) with his Aunt Mindy. I went down later and I thought it was scary. There was a tractor ride that he loved and went on 4 times. Then we went back to grandma's house for dinner where the husbands had made a dutch oven dinner for all of us. It was yummy! Thanks Grandma Ricki.

Gracie and I watching all the action

Banx with his Aunt Mindy, prepping him for the Big Slide

The Tractor/Train Ride. He loved it for some reason.

And the teeter-toter. How could you not take a picture with that face!

Today we made home made play dough. He's never played with play dough before, I don't think. He thought it was pretty fun.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-21T16:29:00.000-07:00

Gracie on her Nana's lap

This is the Pumpkin Banxton picked out all by himself!

We took Banxton to the Pumpkin Patch the other day to have a hay ride and pick out a pumpkin. He had a fun time seeing all the pumpkin's, but the part he remembers the most is when two boys with masks on(probably only 12 yrs old) jumped out and scared us. He didn't like that much, but I gotta admit it did scare me.

Mini adventure

2008-09-30T20:29:00.000-07:00

For Young Womens tonight we asked one of our neighbors if they would take us horseback riding. The girls were really excited to do this, they all did really well. Then I jumped on the horse and it wasn't so good. I'd ridden a little bit but not much and I guess it's not like riding a bike. This horse didn't like me or something it wouldn't work, they kept telling me to kick it in the side, but when I did that it tried to bite my foot or at least I thought it did. So they put me on another horse and I did a little better. I'll just say it was the Dark. Ha Ha Oh and I am NOT swearing in this picture I promise, come on I am at Young Womens! Over all though it was fun and I'd want to try it again sometime.

Brotherly Love

2008-09-27T16:20:00.000-07:00

The other day I told Banxton to go read Gracie a book so I could get some things done. I had to help him get situated, but he loved the idea of showing Gracie the book. He kept laughing at himself. It was cute!! To bad it didn't last longer then it did.

2008-09-20T12:24:00.000-07:00

The cutest BYU Fans EVER!!! GO Cougars!!

3 Cute Boys

2008-09-19T11:07:00.001-07:00

So I am finally posting some pictures because Jana came over and helped me. These pictures are from a while back but I thought they were so cute so I had to blog 'em.

Luke and Carson came over to swim with Banxton last month. Here they are enjoying themselves with some cool Popsicles.

Here are 3 cute boys

I'm ALIVE

2008-09-17T17:24:00.000-07:00

I don't know whats wrong with me! I am a really bad blogger and I don't know what I am doing so it takes me forever to do one tiny thing. All of my contacts have disappeared and it keeps telling me to get help! I definitley need that. Ha Ha. Hopefully soon I'll have some fun things to look, because we've had a lot going on.

2008-08-18T15:14:00.000-07:00

This is Banxton with his dad on the Wakeboard for his very first time. In July up in Couerd A'lene. I am not very current but it's all I got at the time.

2008-07-10T14:35:00.000-07:00

Wow it's been awhile since we've last Blogged. Every time I get the chance I figure it might be better to get some rest instead. So the kids are down for a nap so I thought it would be a good time to do a little catch-up.

We've been staying busy this summer in the water. I've had lots of help with banxton since I can't get in the water yet. He's comfortable with his "Muscles" so he thinks he can swim anywhere now. We went to the bubble the other day with his best friend Abe and he had a ball. He would jump in the water and yells "SuperMan" it's so funny.

The other really exciting thing for me anyway is that I had a huge dirt pile in my backyard and it finally got moved on Saturday. Billy's dad came over with his tracker and hauled the dirt away.

My mom and billy's mom also came to help to. Banxton helped grandpa with the tracker. Hopefully next summer we can make our patio a little bigger.

And this is our little gracie who is now 3 weeks old. I can't believe how fast time goes by. She's doing good, she's waking up every 2 to 3 hours during the night and is filling out nicely.
Well that's all I have time for, but I'll try and be a little better. I enjoy seeing everyones blogs.

Baby Grace Is Home

2008-06-20T22:32:00.000-07:00

Wow I am becoming quite the blogger, don't expect this to last much longer. Well we finally made it home. Ashley was getting antsy sitting at the hospital, so it came at a great time. Everyone is doing really well, Ashley just feels good being home. Gracie is eating good but we got to work on those poopies, she'll get there. Banxton is just loving his little Sis, he is kind of being a big pain in the butt, he just wants a little attention I guess, so we are being careful not to exclude him. Below is a slide show of some more pictures of the baby. She is much cuter (if thats possible) when you click on the slide show to see bigger pictures. ENJOY!! Give us a call if you want to come see her.

2008-06-19T22:24:00.000-07:00

Well as many of you already know, Ashley and I had our little girl on June 18th 2008 at 6:27 pm. Her name is Gracie May DeWaal and she weighed 5 lbs 10 oz and was 18" long. She was a tiny fart, but that is just the way we like them.

Ashley had a standard Dr. visit on the 18th which we thought nothing of it. The Doctor came in and did some checking and come to find out here amniotic fluid was a little low and so she figured why not, lets just have this thing tonight. So I got a call at work to hurry home and get the stuff and meet her at the hospital. When I got there they were just getting her situated in her room and moments later they put her on the patosum(sp?) and boy did it start moving quickly from there. She quickly went from a 2 to a 6 in about 45 minutes. We figured we had some time until she reached 10, boy were we wrong. Shortly after the nurse left Ashley looked at me and said "I think she just dropped". I said "no way" but she insisted on getting the nurse into check again and in about 15 minutes later we had our selves a little girl.

Everything went very well. She is very healthy and doing just great. She hardly makes a peep, which we certainly appreciate. The only concerns we ran into were her blood sugar being a little low and her body temp. but from what we understand that is pretty normal when a baby is that small at her age. She has recovered well and all of levels are looking good to date.

Ashley is also doing very well. She sure is a trooper and I am so proud of her. She is such a good mother and I am so excited to see her interact with her daughter. Banxton is so excited to have baby Grace in our family. When we brought him to the hospital to see her, he would not let her out his sight. He just wanted to hold her and kiss her and push her around in her little cart. I just hope that attitude stays there.

Well I better be going, it is going to be quite the day of over cautious driving when we bring her home, I am sure everyone knows what I am talking about. For a day or two, you turn into this 80 year old driver thats scared to change lanes. We want to thank everyone for there great support. We have been so blessed with great family, friends and neighbors. Thank You Thank You Thank You. Our friends in the neighborhood (you know who you are) have been so good to us and have been so anxious to do things to help and we are so great full for that. Our family and good friends have taken such good care of Banxton and have helped in so many other ways. It sure is a blessing to have those types of people in your life you can ALWAYS count on.

Again we love you all and thank you all again so much. We hope that you will come see our newest addition to our family. I will see what I can do to get some more posts up soon with more pictures.

2008-06-05T12:04:00.000-07:00

Well as most of you know we are trying to get ready to have a baby. One way we're trying to get ready is potty training Banxton. So we don't have two sets of diapers around here. boy what a fun job potty training is! He's actually doing pretty good. We got him some lightening McQueen pull-ups that he thinks they are pretty cool. We also told him that McQueen would be mad at him if he pee'd or pooped in him. That works pretty good even though we have had some accidents. Then the other day we got him some "special" potty treats that he only gets if he poop's in the potty. No matter if he's had breakfast, lunch or dinner yet. So far so good I haven't changed a poopy in two days yipee! It's far from over, but I think we have a good start.

2008-05-28T22:09:00.000-07:00

Well we're just getting started with this blogging thing and I don't really know what I'm doing so Hopefully I'll figure it out and wont look so retarded.