Ashton Family

Pumpkin Patch!

2011-10-24T15:36:00.001-07:00

After a long day at the soccer fields in the 100 degree heat, what better way to end the day than with a trip to the pumpkin patch, lol! Luckily, by 5:30 when we arrived, it was only about 95 degrees and we were ready for some fun! We invited the Simpson's along because would could be better than time with the cousins in a corn maze?

Before heading over to the corn maze, we took a ride in the barrel train, woohoo!!

Each of the kids then took a turn ringing the bell with the big sledge hammer...

... and they milked the pretend cow, it was super cool!

It was getting dark so we figured we better take a stab at the corn maze before it really got dark!

Zac with his favorite, Caroline!

The dads and the kids!

Mia was loving the corn maze...

Lovin my babies!

After the corn maze we went to the huge Air Pillow, where the kids bounced and bounced forever! Poor Kate was being tossed about like crazy, but the rest of the kids had a fantastic time!

California here we come!!!

2011-10-17T14:53:00.000-07:00

Last month I got to go to California with two of my best girlfriends {Wendy and Toni} for a quick trip! We headed out on a Thursday morning to see The Ellen Degeneres Show and The Tonight Show the next day!

This is the only shot I have from the day of Ellen - this was right as we were leaving the hotel room. We ended up having to wait in line for Ellen for 2-3 hours. It was sooo worth it though because it gave us plenty of time to flirt it up with the security guards and to dance and look AWESOME so that we could get good seats. And good seats are what we got - we sat on the aisle of the row that Ellen dances down - we almost touched her! {But we didn't because we didn't want to get kicked out, lol!} It was such a fun experience!

The next day we woke up and ate at Denny's - um have you tried the strawberry pancake balls??? Oh my goodness - those are GOOD! Then it was off to wait for Jay Leno! We were told that people line up as early as 9am (for a 3pm check in) so we decided to be there by noon to get a decent spot in line. We were officially numbers 9, 10, and 11 in line! Again, we pretty much spent the whole time talking to people - pretty much made the day of the Intern we talked for hours to. He loved us {too bad I forgot his name, sorry intern!}... He also told us he had no say in where we would sit, dang.

All was ok, as we were led into the studio around 4pm, we were seated in the 2nd row on the floor!!!!! Yeah, we rock! The front row was saved we were told for guests of the band, etc... Too bad regular people ended up sitting in front of us and we were way cuter than them, grr. Oh well.

Jay Leno is SO nice! He comes out to talk to the audience before every show. He asked if anyone had questions, so I raised my hand super high and he called on me, ack!!! I told him we were there for Wendy's birthday and we had her son's Flat Stanley and asked if he would take a picture with us. He said of course and so we ran down freaking out! We weren't allowed to use our own camera so a stage hand used a tiny little polaroid - this is a scan of that! He has his arm around me!!!

After the show we hung around the exit of the studio to catch a glimpse Hugh Jackman - in hopes of him taking us to dinner or something... Anyway...

Rickey Minor was happy to let us snap a pic of him with Flat Stanley!

Wendy flirted with the Paparazzi guy to get a pic!

I was trying to get the info from Security on when Hugh Jackman would actually be leaving {he apparently had no idea}.

Jay Leno leaving

The three of us after the show

Hugh Jackman's driver signaling to us that he had no idea when they would be leaving...

Hugh finally leaves {we might have waited around too long for this moment, lol!} Stupid people who crowded his car made it impossible for him to even ask us to go out with him, dang!!!

Sweet Baby Girl...

2011-09-27T23:00:00.000-07:00

(This should have posted about two weeks ago!)

Currently I am sitting in a hotel room in Minnesota, it's 3am and I just finished working for the night. The break from normal life is a bit exciting but I sure am missing my kids! I happen to especially be craving some loves from my little companion who normally never leaves my side... To feed that craving I opened a folder of photos on my desktop and found these beauties!

Mia is obsessed with this doll and poking it's eyeballs. Zac thinks the doll is scary and every time we put Mia down for her nap, Zac takes baby and highchair out of her room!

Oh my goodness, isn't she a doll???

For those who haven't seen yet, we painted Mia's room - finally! It used to have partially painted blue and orange walls {from when it belonged to Hayden and I never got it finished!} I am in love with her room now!

Mia is in a super fun stage - a bit clingy but fun none the less! She LOVES playing outside - luckily we had a day last week when it was only about 105 degrees so she got a little bit of play time outside!

Doggie

2011-09-07T00:15:00.001-07:00

{Check out the picture of him licking his nose!}

We have a pet, two actually... Twitch and Rosie our super cute Leopard Geckos. Hayden got Twitch for Christmas last year {well he got hermit crabs but we returned those for the gecko} Twitch had a near death experience when Andy squished his shoulder/leg with the edge of the ottoman. We nursed "him" back to life, it took a few weeks but "he" eventually grew strong enough to hunt "his" crickets...

A few months later, the Simpsons gave Brynley her own Leopard Gecko for her birthday - they took her to go pick it out, she chose one and named it Rosie. {We were hoping it was a boy as we thought Twitch was a boy and therefore, no baby making!!} Recently we discovered the Rosie is infact a boy - but Twitch is a girl, uh oh... We believe twitch is pregnant...

We love these little guys - the other night Zac and Brynley took turns letting Twitch crawl around on their heads.
Why the post title of Doggie you may ask? Because sweet Mia is OBSESSED with the geckos. She wanders into the office at least 15 to 20 times a day to stand on her tippy toes and watch the "doggies" she just squeals, "doggies!!!!" as she walks up to them and just watches them. She absolutely LOVES them! not sure why she calls them doggies...

Family Night Bowling

2011-09-03T22:47:00.001-07:00

Last week we went bowling with the kids. We always love bowling together - it's fun to see the kids actually improve each time we go {sine we go one or two times a year!} We had a blast together, even Mia didn't mind just hanging out!

Zac may have beat the other kid's scores but he had a little help ;)

Is it bad that the only picture I got of Brynley included her sckirt being tucked up inside of her undershorts? I couldn't help but post it!

Hayden had some SWEET moves, his form is priceless!
She had this little chip stuck to her lip for a about 15 minutes! It was so funny I didn't take it off!

This girl melts my heart...

2011-08-27T22:01:00.000-07:00

I cannot even explain the joy I feel every morning when I get Mia out of her bed. She lays in bed {for who knows how long as she is totally silent!} until I come in to get her - usually around 8:15 or 8:30 {oh yah!}... She greets me with the World's biggest grin and just cuddles into my shoulder as I pick her up. Wow... I feel so lucky to be her mama! She has been such a trooper lately as I drag her all over the place, often skipping a nap here and there - and yet she mostly doesn't mind one bit. I love the one on one time I get to spend with her, since she is my last baby I have to soak in every second of it!

Mia has a favorite blanket, she ADORES this thing. She loves to hold the corner and stroke her nose with it, and sometimes she even gives me the joy of the nose stroke as she reaches it out and strokes my nose for me! {Honestly, I'm not sure of the appeal for her as it does nothing for me, lol!} I have been stressed trying to find another similar blanket because I cannot even imagine what would ensue if said blanket were to get lost. Unfortunately, I got this blanket 6 years ago when I was pregnant with Brynley. Andy went on a hunt and finally found an almost new one on Ebay. We snatched it up and now we have two, phew! We pretty much bring the blanket everywhere as we know it will always make her happy! Even now, in the 114 degree weather, she is cuddled up with it in the car/stroller all day!

Her nose stroking reminds me of my cute Cousin Eric as a baby who loved to stroke his ear with the corner of a pillow - it's totally the same!

Mia had crashed in the car the other day and I wanted her awake as I really needed her to nap later. I figured if I laid her on the couch she would for sure wake up, but no. She was out!

Playing Peek a boo with her blanket!

Isn't she beautiful???? She is so happy {except when I'm trying to make dinner and all she wants to do is play with me!!!!}. Other than that, she might be the perfect baby. I can say that right? And I get to cuddle her all day long if that's what I want to do - if only I had the time to do just that!

Our First Pack Meeting!

2011-08-22T22:08:00.001-07:00

Hayden had his first pack meeting last week, it was so much fun! The whole family went and I am so glad we did.... I am new to the whole scout world and had no idea what went on at a pack meeting - there were different chants and flag ceremonies and awards. Zac and Brynley got a kick out of it and Mia just toddled around charming those around her.

I will say that Hayden was extremely lucky to enter scouts right before day camp. They passed off a lot of awards at day camp and were given those awards at Pack Mtg. In addtion Hayden earned a few things on our sabbatical and he earned his Bobcat! There was a little ceremony for the boys earning their bobcat, Brother Breinholdt told them they would have to drink Bobcat blood... Hayden's face was Priceless! {The first photo somewhat shows his face - click on it to see it larger!} Everyone was dying watching him shake and his mouth was perced in such a funny way. I sooo wished I had brought my camera, grrr... Luckily, my friend Joy took a few photos of Hayden and her son, but they do not do it justice. Hayden actually jugged the "V8", which really surprised me, but he thought it was pretty good!

Hayden is super excited to be involved in Cub Scouts and he has FABULOUS leaders {I hope they are never released!} I on the other hand, have no idea what I am doing and am kind of flying by the seat of my pants with this whole thing!

Zac Starts Preschool

2011-08-19T09:13:00.001-07:00

My handsome man all ready to go!

Zac has been super excited to start preschool and he finally started this week! He's attending at one of my friend's houses {Kim Keith}. We LOVE Kim! She was his nursery leader at church for the last year and half and I knew he would just love going to preschool with her. He is at school Tuesday and Thursday from 9 - Noon... The first day he did great, went right in and had a blast... Day 2 was not so good. He got super nervous as I took him in and by the time we got to teh classroom, he was hysterically crying. Poor little dude. Kim took him right on her lap and I left as he was crying out for me. I texted Kim to see if I needed to come back and get him and within about 5 or 6 minutes he calmed down and had a great time!

Zac does this every time he gets nervous or shy - he puts his hands on his face, it's so funny!

I have been a bit nervous for school to start, only because Zac had to be potty trained. With our sabbatical this summer and being on the road, we didn't really do much potty training. So, when we got back in town I knew I had about 10 days to get er done! It wasn't going as well as I had hoped until the day before school started and I think it finally "clicked", yippy!!! It has been 5 days now of no accidents and no diapers, woohoo!!!! *knock on wood* I think that means he's done, right?

First Day of School!!!

2011-08-10T14:25:00.001-07:00

Kindergarten - 2011

We have been anticipating this day for a long time! Hayden and Brynley were super excited to start school today. Hayden is in 3rd Grade with Ms. Turley {the teacher he didn't want but is now excited about!} and Brynley is in Kindergarten with Mrs. Silveira. They were both anxious to get up and get dressed after picking out their outfits last night - I wish I would have coordinated them for photos but I let them choose!

Neither of them were scared at all and just went right to their lines when the bell rang - they then headed inside. Well I assume Hayden did, Andy took him to the 3rd grade play ground and left. I guess Hayden was fine and said he didn't need him to stick around!

And this is the sum total of the photos Andy got of Hayden playing before school, what?

Mia just hung out waiting for school to start

Andy, Zac, Mia and I headed to the Farmhouse for breakfast but of course the line was way too long and Liberty Market was crowded as well so we went to The Good Egg. We had a fun time, just the four of us - there was no fighting at the table and we had a great breakfast! We then ran some errands and did some grocery shopping. By the time we got home, it was time for Zac and Mia to take a nap... Now the house is quiet for the first time in what seems like forever!!! I can't wait to hear all about how today went!

A beautiful day for a baptism...

2011-06-18T22:45:00.000-07:00

A handsome young man taking a huge step in his life...

Though the day before the baptism had us stuck in the Honolulu Airport - having a flight delayed and then almost canceled - we made it home from Hawaii with 8 hours to spare! I was a bit nervous that we wouldn't make it home but we rolled in the driveway around 2:30am, for a 10:30am baptism!

Thanks to Aunt Shelly for having the house clean when we got home and to Meredith for making cupcakes for the event and to Barro's Pizza for having 8 large pizzas ready at noon for us, and to my new friend Kim of Cakepops 101, and to the Booher Girls who made chocolate chip cookies for a fundraiser - it was a relatively un stressful day {all things considered}. I didn't have to make any food - yay! I had a bit of a hard time with the whole pizza thing {I would have had a much more elaborate menu} but Hayden requested it and so his wish was granted. And considering we were going to be in Maui for the 9 days leading up to the day - it relieved the stress considerably!

Andy and Hayden all ready to go

Some of Hayden's cute friends who attended today

A fun bunch of cute cousins {who are about to move down the street from us, woohoo!!!}

Hayden has had amazing Primary teachers, this is his current teacher along with his old teacher!

Lovin' my cute family! {Can you tell I got two whole hours of sleep!}

With Meredith's Family - I had only seen Mia for about an hour since getting back in town, I think she still wasn't sure about who I was!

With Dad and Debbie

So glad to have Andy's parents here!

With Aunt Shelly {our hero for taking care of our three oldest for 9 days!!!} and Uncle Joe and Grandma - who also helped but Aunt Shelly was the main caretaker!

I had notecard for the guests to write on for a memory book of the day.

Gorgeous {and tasty!} Cakepops courtesy of my new friend Kim from Cakepops 101 - these were a huge hit. Kim also teaches classes which I have convinced a few friends to take with me in a few months! We also had the cutest tiny white cupcakes with banana frosting made by Meredith - yum, some fantastic chocolate chip cookies and ice cream sundaes!

My sweet baby girl... Who was inadvertantly left in the car in the garage with the doors closed after the baptism... 15 minutes after we got home I was rushing around getting food read and I had a horrible feeling that something was wrong with Mia. I asked Andy where she was and he didn't know. I ran to the garage to find her in a closed - extremely hot - car. It was over 100 degrees outside. She was tear stained and panicking. I was a wreck for a few minutes but she seems to be ok!

Some of the kids eating before getting into the pool!

Eating our pizza feast, which included Barro's Pizza {our favorite!} and garlin butter from Papa John's! {Hayden's request!} Thanks to Uncle Steve who picked up 20 packets of the stuff from Papa John's!

Hayden was over the moon about his new scriptures form Dad and Debbie!

Aunt Shelly and Uncle Joe got him this cute picture and a tie tack. Grandma and Andy's parents gave him money for his mission fund, Jackson {Hayden's very first friend - got him a cute tie and the Myer's family gave him an awesome journal for recording spiritual experiences! It was a fantastic day! We missed a few friends who are normally staples at our events due to sickness and being out of town...

This is where we found Zac half of the time - in the toy basket - so weird!

Someone turned 8...

2011-05-23T23:09:00.001-07:00

Yep, that's right - we now have an eight year old!!! Hayden turned 8 last Saturday, and to celebrate we had a pool party with friends {and a few girls!} too! After the swimming and water balloons we had a BBQ and presents!

Hayden chose a bright surfer theme and so, that's what he got!
{I keep thinking it's a good thing I have some connections...}

These cookies were soooo good! My good friend Jill of Lil Darlin sweet shoppe made them for me for the party! I am so grateful to know talented people who are willing to share their talents with me! Thanks Jill!

In case you were wondering - the colored parts on the beach balls were made from Starbursts flattened out! Oh my, they were tasty! {I took a little break from my 7 weeks of no sugar to have one... or two...} It was worth every bite!

Lucky for me, Fry's always has these cupcakes in stock and they matched perfectly!

The boys {and girls} had a fun time with the canonball contest!

Thankfully Meredith and my Dad were both willing to come and help supervise - the pool made me nervous but these kids were so well behaved! We had the perfect number {3 boys who were supposed to be there had to cancel that day - I was kind of glad!}

After an hour of swimming the kids got out for some water balloon games!

After a little more pool time, Andy grilled hotdogs and they each got their own can of soda {and other food but Hayden insisted that we have "soda cans"!}

Birthday boy eating a cupcake and wearing a shirt from Kindergarten, nice.

Present time! Hayden loved all of the sets of Legos he got as well as the games and Bakugans he received!

My dad was super excited to give Hayden a Red Rider BB Gun! A few years ago I might have nixed the idea but I think this was a good bonding experience for them! He also got Andy an early birthday present and so the boys played after all of the guests had gone home!

A messy face on a pretty little girl!

An even messier face on a cute little dude!

Showing off her skills on the trampoline!

Oops - looks like another little present! {Zac did this all on his own and we had to get a picture!}

The night after the party we had our family party with a BBQ again - this time burgers instead of hotdogs! The Simpsons got him two cool hats - specifically with mostly flat brims - as that is the current style and he insisted he needed some!

Mom and Dad broke down and got him a Nintendo 3DS... We have been putting it off for years telling him once he was eight he could maybe get one... With our sabbatical coming up in a few weeks we decided it would actually be a really good thing!

We are really excited that Hayden has chosen to be baptized... The big day will be Saturday, June 18th! We love you Hayden!

The Surprise... Part Two!

2011-05-19T00:27:00.001-07:00

Disneyland continued...

Imagine my surprise when 2 1/2 days into our vacation, we were walking off of the Monster's Inc. ride and I notice someone wearing a shirt like my Aunt Shelly's. And wait, the guy sitting next to her looked like Uncle Joe. What the???? Yep - Andy and Shelly pulled off a second surprise - I had NO idea! The kids were ecstatic to see them there {and truthfully, Andy and I were grateful for a few extra sets of hands!}

Waiting for a Bug's Life ride with Aunt Shelly

Bumper Cars with Uncle Joe and Dad

Mia was THE BEST BABY ever! I seriously don't even remember her crying on this trip! Isn't she a doll???

I had to sit off Grizzly River Run with the young kids, Zac loved seeing them pass under us though!

Andy helped with the little surprise and somehow without me knowing, got Shelly and Joe a room down the hall from us at the hotel!

Even though it was pretty cool outside, we still got to play in the pools a little bit!

Zac was so cute in his little toga!

Joe in a tea cup with the three big kids!

Besides Pirate's of the Caribbean, the tea cups were for sure Zac's favorite ride!

Small World with Aunt Shelly!

Zac and Bryn got to meet Jesse while Hayden and I were on the "upside down roller coaster!"

Mia loved Minnie's nose!

Zac was super excited to meet Handy Manny but he was so shy when he got up to him!

I love it that the kids aren't afraid to do anything {for the most part!} I got Brynley on Tower of Terror and I'm pretty sure she will never do it again!

I will say that Zac only wanted to do the Matterhorn once, he was good after that!

As much as I think the food at Goofy's Kitchen is terrible - it's always fun for the kids to see so many characters in one place.

Brynley was thrilled to meet some of the princesses... I never wait in line to see them because it is always so long. We were lucky and only had to wait 30 minutes this time!

I love this picture! Not because anyone looks great but I love the picture of Shelly and Brynley behind me watching the fireworks - priceless!

We had the best time on this trip! We can't wait to go back in a few months {of course we got annual passes so we will be back at least two or three more times!} We were so glad that Shelly and Joe were able to be there as well!

Surprise... We're going to Diseyland!!!

2011-05-10T00:26:00.000-07:00

So I'm pretty sure we pulled off the best surprise EVER!!! We have been to Disneyland several times but it had been a few years and the kids had been asking to go for months... It wasn't really in the plans anytime soon as we have been saving for our sabbatical this summer. Well... Andy got an email for a great deal to stay at The Grand Californian Hotel {which is right in California Adventure} and he sprung the idea of maybe taking a quick trip to Disneyland. We decided to do it but we were going to do it right this time... we decided not to tell the kids!

The morning we were leaving, we had to leave around 5am. I packed the kids that night after they went to bed and we woke them up literally after the car was packed and we were heading out the door. We told them we were going to Idaho??? Not sure why but it seemed like a good destination... They had no idea... It wasn't until we got near Palm Spring that I thought our plan might be ruined! We had to stop at a car dealership to get something fixed on the under carriage of the car. As we waited in the lobby I saw Hayden looking at newspapers and watching the news, to my surprise, he didn't notice that California was splashed everywhere! As we drove through Palm Springs he made comments about the big white turbines and said how weird it was that they had the,m in Idaho, just like California...

Every time I saw a sign that said LA or California, I would hold up my pillow in front of me so Hayden wouldn't notice... Oh my goodness, the one time I didn't do it he saw a sign for Anaheim!!!! Ah... We convinced him that there is an Anaheim in Idaho - he totally bought it. Then he saw a little amusement park and mentioned that he had seen the same one near Disneyland... uh oh... The kicker was when we were REALLY close he saw a McDonald's wit ha California flag ans asked why there would be a CA flag in Idaho. We explained that the owner must be originally from CA. He said that was really rude. We were really close by now and decided to let Hayden look out the windows when he noticed the Tower of Terror! He was sooo excited and started telling Bryn and Zac that we were at Disneyland!!!!! He was worried that Andy';s Aunt and Uncle might be disappointed that we weren't in Idaho to see them, but he didn't really care too much!

The kids in the Hotel with their Welcome Balloons!

The Gorgeous sliding doors of the hotel

The kids asleep on our first night -they were out cold in a matter of minutes! All I can say is that it will be hard to ever go back to staying in the cheap hotels! This hotel is amazing!!! And so convenient....

The whole Family on Dumbo!

The boys in line for Peter Pan

The girls in line for Peter Pan... I might add that we never go on Peter Pan - it always has the longest line! But - When you stay at the hotel, you get some early entries into the park - so worth it for the rides that always have such long lines and no fast passes!

We never wait to see Mickey in his house but the line only had two people in front of us so we jumped at the chance!

Riding on It's a Small World

Outside It's a Small World - this was for sure Zac's favorite ride!

We got to see some princesses! I never stand in line for the Princess thing but we happened to be over there when the line was only 30 minutes long, yay~ Brynley was thrilled but a bit disappointed that she didn't get to meet Cinderella -oh well.

Hayden's first time on "the upside down rollercoaster". He was so excited and loved it!

Brynley and I on the Jumping Jellyfish!

Brynley's Dance Recital!

2011-05-08T22:22:00.001-07:00

I must begin this post by saying again how much I love Brynley's dance teacher! Misty is amazing with the girls and they love her so much! This year Brynley had two dances, the first was a cute dance to a song from Tinkerbell - it was so sweet! The second dance was to "My Boyfriend's Back" and boy did she have the attitude she needed during that dance! Her personality was amazing! She was so glad to have Grandpa there to see her perform as well!

She's already looking forward to dance starting again in the fall - we are hoping Misty will have space for her both in Tumbling and dance - she is dying to do both - we will see!

Disney on Ice!

2011-05-04T21:22:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to be able to take my girl Bryn for a mommy/daughter date... I kept it a surprise until the morning when she woke up, I told her we would be going to brunch with some friends and then to see Disney Princesses on Ice! She was so excited and I was glad to be able to spend the time with her.

Lucky for me I work for an amazing company {The TomKat Studio} and we had the opportunity to style a dessert table for a huge Disney on Ice charity event the same weekend... As a thank you, they gave Kim a block of tickets for the show and she invited us along! Below are two pictures of the desserts - this event was incredible - it was a benefit for many terminally ill children - oh my these kids were AMAZING!

Brunch at Sweet Tomatoes
All of the girls before the show! {with thei
Brynley and I waiting for the show to start!
Bryn and her cute new friend, Madison
Brynley loves posing for the camera - it's the same pose every time!
Mickey and Minnie started the show
One of our favorite moments...
And another favorite moment...
Brynley was waiting for Cinderella and Prince Charming to kiss

We had a fantastic time!!! Thank you to Disney on Ice and to Kim for letting us have this time together!

Temple Lights 2010

2011-04-24T17:10:00.000-07:00

We always love going to the Temple Lights - the funny thing is our pictures all look the same every year! The kids are aging a bit and we usually have different people with us so I guess I'll keep posting every year. The kids love seeing all of the Nativities - my favorite part!

Christmas Day 2010

2011-04-24T00:15:00.000-07:00

We had such a great Christmas this year... Honestly, I can't think of the last time we had a bad Christmas, but whatever! The kids woke up to open all of their presents from Santa. Some of the highlights included basketball hoop for Zac, Tech Deck ramps and skateboards for Hayden, Hermit Crabs for Hayden {which were later returned and replaced by the Leopard Gecko}, Bryn and Hayden both got iPod shuffles, and so much more!

I was able to surprise Andy {with a bit of help from his Dad} with an iPad! This was the best surprise ever and I was so glad I actually pulled it off! Andy and I were not doing gifts for each other this year - we never do - and yet we both end up somehow getting awesome gifts! Andy got me a gorgeous Nativity {I collect Nativities and this one is my new favorite!}, he got me a new point and shoot camera, and The Incredible Shrinking Woman on DVD! It was really a great day!

We had our annual Christmas brunch at our house - it was just as tasty as ever. We invited out cute neighbors Jeff and Diana over with their cute little baby Ty!

Ty and Mia together!

We spent the day being very lazy - letting the kids play and watch movies, playing Twister, until dinner which was a huge buffet of really awesome appetizers, etc...

I might add that Meredith and Steve were the only adults to actually play Twister!

After brunch we headed over to Aunt Shelly and Uncle Joe's house for more present opening! All of the kids wanted a pillow pet for Christmas and so Aunt Shelly delivered!

After we opened presents, Uncle Joe pulled out his annual bag of Christmas goodies! Each was labeled and we each got to choose numbers to determine what our gift would be... there was much trading and bartering with Andy ending up with the canned ham!
We finished the night with a rousing game of "Hot Rudolph" {Like Hot Potato only you play with a rudolph toy that lights up and when it stops playing music and lighting up, you're out!}
Pretty much Zac was the best player ever!!!

The night was capped off with a viewing of The Incredible Shrinking Woman, a perfect ending to a perfect day...

Someone had a Birthday!

2011-04-20T12:04:00.000-07:00

Our "little" Zachar Man turned 3 last week! He continues to melt my heart every day {even on days he's being naughty - like yesterday when I was making dinner and he apparently was squirting Mia with a squirt bottle from less than a foot away. She never made a peep but in the end was SOAKED!} When he woke up I had a surprise for him - cupcakes for breakfast! He had been singing happy birthday all week and was thrilled that we all sang it to him!

Eating his cupcake

He and Mia eating a cupcake and the mess they made!

What the heck? Seriously... Zac used to be the cleanest baby... Not so much now.

Just for good measure we better include a picture of Mia's dirty face!

Check out this post for some super cute pics

Remember this post from two years ago when we knew Zac would be going in soon for abdominal surgery?

And finally, I remember these days like they were yesterday...

Zac has come a long way in his short life.... He has gone from barely being on the growth chart at a year to being over 100% on height and weight! Amazing... I look forward to watching his personality develop even more! {Like today when we were out to lunch and then went outside to run around - there was a big huge fountain - Zac ended up fully in the fountain, nice!}

Love that guy!

Seriously? Don't be jealous...

2011-04-19T23:53:00.001-07:00

But I know you will be when you see the following pictures... Jealous about what you ask? The fact that I get to hang out with this beautiful thing ALL Day long! Seriously, Mia is a JOY and I just love watching her waddle around the house, her bum moving from side to side! She is one amazing little girl ad she just turned 9 months - holy cow!!!

(The pictures look bad, not sure why but if you click on them, they are a lot clearer!)

My only child who actually liked the pickle the first time we gave it to her!

The other day she was so happy just crawling around and playing - it made me happy too!

She managed to find someone's marker on the floor... Hmmm...

The first glance I had of the marker!

It's Official!!!

2011-04-04T21:21:00.000-07:00

For those of you not on Facebook... you may not have seen my official introduction on The TomKat Studio that was posted today. Go click on this link to see my picture and Bio! It feels so good to have people appreciate what I do! Anyway, click below to check it out and you can also see the amazing people I get to work with! http://www.thetomkatstudio.com/tomkat-team-meet-molly/

Christmas 2010 - Can I backtrack that far?

2011-03-31T00:02:00.000-07:00

I have had several posts I've been in the middle of.... I figured Christmas was as good a place as any to pick up from...

We were planning on having Christmas Eve at my house this year... when our super, amazing, awesome friends {Maddy and Dustin Rogers} invited us to come to their house with Meredith and her family, and Grandma of course! This sounded like a great idea {considering I had just had surgery 4 days earlier and wasn't quite feeling great yet!}

We had some awesome soups along with some equally awesome rolls {brought to AZ all the way from Utah} YUM!!! My mouth is watering thinking about them -anyone heading to St. George want to pick some up for me???

It was a perfect, low key evening - complete with a Nativity reenactment - probably the best one I have EVER witnessed! If you weren't there, you totally missed out. Especially when Nate was helping Brynley give birth!

(You must click on this collage and look a bit closer at the pictures!)

After the Nativity we had the kids play Left, Right, Center - good idea gone terribly wrong... It was an epic failure. Kids were crying right and left as their treats were being taken and given away. I'm pretty sure it must become a new tradition!

(This picture was before the massive bouts of hysteria!)

We then let the kids decorate cookies for Santa - they were really cute! And lastly, Santa dropped off some pj's at the door for all of them! Yay! They were all nice and tired when we left the Roger's house and went right to sleep when we got home!

It didn't take Andy and I too long to get the kids presents under the tree. Grandma was in town and helped get Christmas ready {hence the reason for Days of Our Lives being on the TV!}

It was a very relaxing and perfect Christmas Eve!

Valentine's Day 2011

2011-03-05T14:35:00.000-08:00

I know I'm a little late this year... Just wanted to post a picture of the kid's Valentine's they handed out. I am IN LOVE with them! I got the idea from my sister {Meredith} who made similar ones last year. She got the idea somewhere else on the internet, not sure where...

Brynley turned 5!

2011-03-04T21:14:00.000-08:00

Brynley spent at least two months counting down to her Birthday, the day couldn't come soon enough! She REALLY wanted her party at Chick-fila this year and so that's what we did - best decision I ever made! She still wanted a cutsie girl theme so she chose Alice in Wonderland {using TomKat Studio Printables of course!} The invites were sweet and it was fun making the cupcake toppers. I really wish I had gotten a picture of the favor bags. Each one had a thank you note as well as a circle with each girl's name. Inside was a Chick-fila cow, candy, and a fun hair applique!

Brynley headed out the door for school on her birthday!

This is the really awesome banner that came with our party package!

Zac at the party

Brynley and two of her sweet friends - Avery and Hannah

All of the party guests {except Addison who hadn't arrived yet}

It was a fun day filled with food, playing, presents, and fun! What made the day even better was the surprise visit from Aunt Shelly and Grandma Nadene. Brynley had no idea they were coming to surprise her on her birthday, it was so fun!
Alice in Wonderland Cupcakes

Mia wore a dress and headband to match her big sister!

The Sunday after her birthday was Brynley's family party. She got snorkel equipment from Grandpa and Debbie, dollhouse people and mini van from Grandma and Aunt Shelly and Uncle Joe, Polly pocket stuff from her brothers, clothes from Mom, and a certificate to get her own Leopard Gecko from the Simpsons!
The real surprise was the scavenger hunt to her BIG present!
All of the kids were super excited for the HUGE dollhouse! Brynley has been playing with it almost non stop since she got it!

Brynley made sure to invite Peanut {Lindsay's Hampster} to her party. Mia was obsessed with peanut and almost squeezed her to death!

What I've been up to lately!

2011-03-03T22:34:00.000-08:00

Life has been crazy lately but so exciting at the same time! The main reason for my lack of blogging has been my recent employment... I am currently working two jobs from home while trying to maintain the house and kids. I am a million times busier than I have been in ages yet I am the happiest I've been in a very long time. Don't get me wrong, I am generally very happy in my life but things are even better now. I have come to realize how much I have missed working over the last 8 years...

My first job is as an assistant designer at The TomKat Studio {the above cupcake toppers are part of the Alice in Wonderland Collection, these are from Bryn's B-day last week}
We create custom printable items for birthday parties, baby showers, bridal showers, etc... This is a DREAM job for me and I feel so incredibly blessed to have gotten it. Thanks to my amazing friend Toni {Who also works for The TomKat Studio} for putting in a million good words for me and to my friend Wendy for encouraging me to just put myself out there! I work from home most of the time except when I get to help Kim with a photoshoot which is also great fun! I look forward to working here for MANY years...

My other job {which was supposed to be pretty temporary but has turned permanent because I adore my boss Becki} is working for Whippycake. The above pictures show Mia and Brynley wearing some of my own creations similar to Whippycake stuff. I used to sew for WC but now I assemble each of the appliques. Again I get to work from home doing something I love, what could be better???? Thanks again to my friend Wendy for helping me get this job!

I also want to mention that neither of these jobs would be possible without the support of my amazing husband! Andy has really helped pick up the slack around the house. We have developed a great laundry system as well as a great partnership in all of the other household chores - We have always shared most of the responsibilites around the house but he is definitely doing a little more now!

Finally, tonight Andy and I went out by ourselves for the first time in a VERY long time! We went to The Keg to celebrate my 32nd birthday... We had a great night - it seems we have been so busy for the last month since I started working that it has been hard to have any quality alone time. We had a fun time just chatting away... I love it that we can still have such great conversations together!

I kind of feel like life is so good right now, perfect really... the only thing that would make it better is losing about 50 pounds... I will start that goal next week I think!!!

A new addition to the family!

2011-03-02T08:33:00.000-08:00

Back in January we decided to trade Hayden's Hermit crabs {which Santa brought to him} in for a Leopard Gecko. Hayden got to choose which one he wanted and he named him Leo. After a few weeks we changed his {her, we figured out it is actually a girl} name to Twitch because her tail would twitch really fast each time she ate a cricket! We have really grown to enjoy Twitch, though she is more Andy's pet than anyone else's as he gets to do the honors of coating the crickets in vitamin powder and diggin the meal worms out of their container. The pictures from when we first got her are not the best but if you look at the first few compared to the last, you will see how her skin coloring has changed a ton since shedding her skin twice.

It's been interesting learning about Geckos and how they need to be cared for. It might actually be a bit higher maintenance than a dog even! Twitch had a bit of a near death experience the second day we had her when Andy accidentally squished her with the leg of the ottoman. It was so sad, we thought for sure that she was dead. Her arm seemed to be broken for a few weeks but somehow we nursed her back to health and she is alive and kickin after a few weeks of practically having to hand feed her the crickets!

2011-02-03T14:07:00.000-08:00

December is always filled with a ton of fun activities. This year Hayden had a school Christmas play, Brynley ahd her Christmas dance recital and a preschool program.

Hayden was thrilled to be chosen as one of the "football dancers" in his play, and he had a speaking part! He did a great job and we loved watching his amazing ballet dancing skills! He was super excited when we found Andy's Junior High Football jersey for him to wear - it came complete with Ashton on the back! He did a fantastic job - his school has an awesome Music teacher who works really hard and takes great pride in the grade level plays. It was actually really cute! Hayden was so excited when Lindsay and Caroline said they would come. He loved having them there and I loved having Meredith watch Zac for me so we didn't have to chase him all over the place!

Brynley's dance recitals are always super cute. We love her teacher Miss Misty - she loves these girls and does such a great job with them. The Christmas performance is just a small one held in her backyard. Brynley was so cute! She knew the entire dance and hardly had to look at Miss Misty at all.

Brynley also had a performance at school, she talked about it for weeks! She was dressed as one of the angels during the manger scene - she did a great job ringing her triangle. The kids had several songs prepared and did a fantastic job. I can't believe how big she is getting!

Brynley with her cute teacher Miss Alison - we love her!

So much to be Thankful for!!!

2011-01-12T21:32:00.001-08:00

We headed up to St. George for Thanksgiving with Andy's family. We were so excited that the whole family was going to be together for a second time this year. Unfortunately, Kathy got sick and had to stay home but Mike still made it with his 3 kids. The kids had so much fun playing with their cute cousin, Noah.

A favorite activity was riding Plasma Cars down the driveway. Ashley and David brought four with them so each of the kids could use their own. I might mention that it was FREEZING and I'm surprised the kids didn't freeze to death!

Uncle Chris was a great sport and played outside with them a lot. Kolson (17) and Henry (13) also played on them with the kids. (Somehow I didn't get any pictures of them, dang!)

When it got too cold they would come inside to play with the marble works we brought, it was a huge hit!

The table ready for Thanksgiving dinner - don't be afraid to admit how jealous you are of that amazing view!

Mike and Ashley carving the turkey - it was perfect! (Even though it finished cooking about 2 hours early, no biggie!)

Most of the adults eating

Grandma sat at the big kids table with Kolson and Henry

The little kids table

Uncle Chris trying to enjoy some football after dinner with Noah, Hayden, Kolson and Henry

We brought a gingerbread house kit and had a fantastic time letting Noah and Henry help decorate it for Grandma and Grandpa. Actually, I'm not sure if Henry helped decorate, he may have just eaten the extra frosting...

This is our humble abode each time we stay in St. George - all three big kids sleep on the air mattress while Mia sleeps in the closet - it is really a perfect set up!

Imagine our surprise when we woke up a few days after Thanksgiving to snow! It never snows in St. George - what a gorgeous sight to see the red rock sprinkled with white snow - gorgeous!

Another view of the snow.

We had such a great time and were able to be there for an entire week. I think Sharon was a bit nervous about everyone being there but in the end it was a great holiday. Other activities included hikes in the red rock, movies, 5 Guys, shopping, swimming, an awesome museum filled with stuffed animals, Pirates Cove for pizza and games, and just relaxing by the fire! I notice I have only a few pictures of Zac and none of Mia - I promise we took her with us, she was probably just sleeping most of the time!

Old Tucson Studios

2011-01-12T14:48:00.000-08:00

We have made a goal to try to explore Arizona a little bit more the next few years. A visit from Aunt Shelly and Uncle Joe was a perfect time to check out something new. On Veteran's day we headed 1 1/2 hours south to Tucson for a day trip. 1 1/2 hours actually turned into almost 3 hours due to a horrible accident - Andy ended up off roading in the mini van to the frontage road in order to avoid who knows how many more hours... Steve was following us - not sure how he felt when Andy suddenly turned off the freeway!

We ended up at the Old Tucson Studios - This place was pretty interesting. Many old Western movies and television shows were shot here so it is filled with memorabilia including a walking movie tour.
The kids thought the old school house was pretty weird... especially the creepy "teacher" inside, look closely and you can see her in the background.

The kids had a little encounter with the town Sheriff, which landed them here...

Interesting fact - the Sheriff has actually appeared in several commercials including a Taco Bell commercial in Arizona!

We had front row seats for the town shoot out - it was actually pretty cool!

The kids (and Meredith) got to meet the outlaws!

Zac got along great with this outlaw - and wasn't it perfect that he has a cowboy on his shirt? Zac perfected the phrase - "yee haw" while we were there!

We had a fun time on the carousel, train, car rides and touring a pretend haunted mine. This was a fun little adventure which we capped off by driving into Tucson for some Mexican food. Meredith got a recommendation from a friend as to the best Mexican restaurant - um, it was terrible. Really. Next time we will rely on the reviews we found online!

Brynley goes swimming!

2011-01-12T12:23:00.000-08:00

Last November Brynley was dying to go swimming. I tried telling her all day that the pool was freezing but she didn't believe me. Finally I gave in and told her we could go out to the pool. I assumed she would just go and put her feet in... not Brynley, before I knew it she was in her swim suit ready to go. That girl is crazy - the video is pretty funny but I couldn't get it to work on here, dang! I am pretty sure the pool was about 50 degrees when she decided to jump in!

I think she's realizing it wasn't a great idea...

Camping in October?

2011-01-11T18:32:00.000-08:00

We spent a few days of fall break camping up near Pine! Our friends Dana and Marshall Griggs invited us to go up with them for a few days. We were so excited to take all 4 of the kids camping for the first time. We stayed for 2 nights and 3 days, it was the perfect amount of time and we all had a blast!

Dana's mom and dad and a couple of her sisters camped with us as well. It's a good thing because they had a lot of supplies and camping know how to help us novices!

Unfortunately it rained the second day we were there - we had left to go on an outing to catch crawdads and while we were gone the rain came rolling in... It was too bad that our entire family left their coats out on the chairs when we left - oops!

Luckily the rain didn't stay long and everything dried out pretty quickly.

Mia was quite the perfect camper. She slept soundly each night in her carseat next to me and generally just hung out around the campfire!

We loved camping so much - it's a ton of work - but so worth it. We can't wait to do some more camping this coming year!

Soccer Season 2010

2011-01-11T04:09:00.000-08:00

Both Hayden and Brynley were super excited for soccer to begin this year. It would be Bryn's first season and Hayden's 4th after taking a few years off. It was evident from the first game that Bryn's first season would turn out a lot better than Hayden's first three seasons. She actually hustled and kicked the ball and even made quite a few goals! We won't remind Hayden about how he spent his first three seasons chasing butterflies, playing in the weeds and falling down while the rest of the kids actually played the game!

Brynley's team was so cute and we just loved her coach.

Brynley loved playing with her cute friend Hannah (next to Brynley on the far right)

Brynley had a lot of promise in the beginning of the season but she seemed to get bored after about the 5th game and decided it was more fun to sit on the side and eat snacks or play with mom's phone! We will see if she decides to play again next year - I hope she does because she was really good!

Hayden played this year on a team that seemed to have a lot of experience compared to him! We were a little nervous that he wouldn't fit in and that he might have a hard time. It turned out that Hayden was the fastest kid on the team - he'd be from one end of the field to the next in a matter of seconds - it didn't matter that it was over 100 degrees almost the whole season!

Hayden had an amazing coach who knows and loves the game - we hope to continue on with the same coach and team for as long as possible.
Hayden decided to play goalie this year as well. He played at least one or two quarters in each game. I was terrified the whole time just thinking about him with his glasses being kicked in the face!
Hayden was pretty fearless and did a great job! He needs to work on his drop kicks (they sometimes went straight up instead of in front of him)

We are so proud of how hard Hayden tried and worked this season. He is going to play again in the Spring and we look forward to watching him grow in his soccer skills!

It's been too long...

2011-01-10T21:36:00.000-08:00

I have missed blogging, I have missed looking back on blog posts. I have one new year's resolution this year - to blog more! It is for me and my posterity after all so I better have something to show them right? And so the posting begins today - with Mia's blessing last September! Yes, I am behind but excited to catch up!

Labor Day Weekend 2010
Mia Bella Ashton was blessed

Mia - 7 weeks old

We were thrilled to have Grandma Nadene here from Oregon, as well as Andy's parents and brother, Chris, from Utah. Brynley made a special request that Uncle Chris come - we were so glad he decided to make the trip, it was fun to have them all here!

Mia with her Great Grandma Nadene - my kids are so lucky to have such a great relationship with their Great Grandma!

With the Ashton's

We spent most of the weekend in the pool, eating, going to movies, and watching football. It was a fantastically relaxing weekend, I couldn't have asked for anything more. Of course I don't have any pictures from the rest of the weekend, oh well!

Siblings by chance - Friends by choice

Andy gave Mia a beautiful blessing - though I couldn't really hear it due to the microphone being about 5 feet from him - grr, oh well. She was perfect during the blessing and slept most of the time during the dinner afterward at our house. In addition to the out of town company, Meredith and her family were there as well as our friends the Bernigers. We were grateful to be surrounded by so many people we love.

Mia was quite taken with Uncle Chris - it took him a minute to figure out how to hold her!

The whole gang!

Hayden's first NFL Game!

2010-11-19T18:39:00.000-08:00

Hayden was thrilled when Andy told him he had won tickets to an Arizona Cardinals game. Hayden has grown to love BYU football and Cardinals football, and guess who was the starting QB for this game - Max Hall (Former QB for BYU). Going to the game was all we heard about for weeks leading up to it. The morning of the game Hayden got dressed in his Cardinals shirt and hat and made a sign to hold up during the game.

The Cardinals happened to be going against Superbowl Champions the Saints and we didn't really think there was a chance of us winning. Well, what do you know - the Cardinals won!!! This was a great first game for Max Hall, even though the game was won mostly due to our great defense!

Hayden had a great time taking pictures throughout the game. He even got a chance to meet the cheerleaders before the game but he was too shy to get his picture taken with them.

Andy and Hayden had a fantastic time sitting in the end zone - thanks to Intel for letting them have these great seats and a little bonding time!

Never too young for a boyfriend!

2010-10-19T16:49:00.000-07:00

Our awesome neighbors, Jeff and Diana, had their first baby in August. There little boy, Ty, is just 5 weeks younger than Mia. They had their first "playdate" a few weeks ago when we had them over for our traditional conference brunch. It was so fun watching the two babies start to interact a little. Mia was getting fresh the whole time trying to hold his hand!

Isn't it cute, they are five weeks apart and almost the same size! We hope that These two get to grow up together but we have to convince Jeff and Diana to live here forever... Hmm, maybe if I keep inviting them over for dinner it will give them a reason to never move away!

3 Months Old

2010-10-19T13:44:00.000-07:00

Mia is 3 months old and finally starting to respond to us with smiles on demand. I still have to try pretty hard but she has the cutest smile when she finally lets one out! Mia is babbling a ton and loves to sit up and stand (with help of course). She is sleeping really well at night but will still only take a 45 minute nap at a time unless I am holding her or if we are in a moving car. I tend to plan my errands around when she needs to fall asleep since I know she will sleep well in the car! We love our little munchkin so much!

All dressed up for church

2010-10-05T18:32:00.000-07:00

I have been so bad about blogging lately and realized I have such a great pictures and memories I want to share. These are pictures of Mia her first Sunday back at church after the hospital stay. This is by far one of my favorite dresses I have for her. Isn't she such a doll? Oh how I love this little girl! These pictures were taken when she was 7 weeks old - what a cutie!

Trying really hard to smile

2010-10-05T14:37:00.000-07:00

Mia is not a smiler - at all. I try so hard to make her smile everyday and usually I get a few small ones. She's not unhappy or anything, she just doesn't smile much. I read in a book that this is actually not something to worry about, it just means she is always content - sure I'll take that. Her neurologist was asking me last week at her appointment if she is smiling yet, I told her not much. They worry if the baby doesn't smile at all but since Mia smiles some, there is nothing to worry about. As I told her doctor this, she picked Mia up and started talking to her, within seconds she turns her around to show me some big beautiful smiles! Little stinker!

So, a few weeks ago Mia was having a grand time smiling in her bouncy seat so I grabbed the camera. I tried desperately to get her to continue but she wouldn't. These were the best I got:

We sure love our little Mia... I know I complain about her a lot but really my only complaint is that she will not nap during the day in her bed. I am finally just trying to accept it and move on - she takes great naps in her carseat when we are out or in the Baby Bjorn. So, that is where she is taking many of her naps. It saves my sanity a little to just let her do it, eventually she will have to learn to nap in her bed, we will get there.

She also has a milk protein allergy so I have had to cut out all dairy from my diet. It has been hard... but it won't last forever and eventually I will be able to eat cheese and sour cream again, even if it takes a few months!

Cousins!

2010-10-05T14:19:00.000-07:00

We love living so close to cousins (wish the rest of the cousins lived here :( ). Meredith's and my kids have so much fun together - they are so imaginative and can play and be happy for hours on end. Zac is particularly enamored with Caroline right now, he loves Kate of course but he is always asking if Caroline can come over - it is so sweet because she is so cute with him! Anyway, a few weeks ago they came over to go swimming but a storm quickly rolled in and we decided that swimming was not the best idea with a lightening storm. So the kids did what they do best together - played dress up. They had some pretty great costumes!

Zac as the go-go boot wearing Chicken Little

Caroline as the fire woman

Lindsay dressed as I'm not sure what and Kate as Tinkerbell

Brynley as the Superman cape wearing Princess

And Hayden as the Coyote's Hockey player sporting rain boots and a Superman cape

I love watching these kids learn and grow together - we are crossing our fingers that they decide to move even closer to us - like bike riding distance, that would be awesome!

Oh the joys of a 2 year old boy

2010-10-04T14:17:00.000-07:00

Yep - that's our Zac! We can pretty much count on him looking like this after every meal, especially if he has a captive audience in his biog brother or sister. They think he is quite funny, I think he is quite messy. This instance however, he was by himself "eating" his cupcake when I come in to the kitchen to see his face covered. He literally was just wiping frosting with his hand all over his face - nice. Ranch dressing is another favorite face mask of his!

Zac just loves to color - on EVERYTHING! A favorite coloring spot (besides the back patio or outside wall of the house) would be the computer monitor. on 2 occasions he has taken a ball point pen or a pencil to the computer monitor while I sit nursing a baby in the other room. He also enjoys coloring on the tile or carpet or ottoman - you know, any surface besides paper of course! If Zac sees anyone writing or coloring he immediately is yelling that he wants to color too, it is super cute!

I love this little guy so much, he gives the best kisses and the sweetest hugs ever. If he or someone else toots, he immediately says, "Monster!" with a growling voice. This is because we would always call him a tooty monster and for some reason he picked up on the monster part!

Even though he almost floods the bathroom on a daily basis and does a great job of dumping all of the toys in the playroom, I cannot imagine a day without this sweet little guy. He is truly a joy and I am lucky to be his mom.

Last Night

2010-09-22T14:17:00.001-07:00

As we were driving in the car last night we were talking with Hayden about what he wants to be when he grows up. Well it started with him wanting a Lincoln Navigator and us telling him he has to make a lot of money to buy one. He said he really wants to be a police man when he grows up so he can help people. We then encouraged him to maybe be a doctor who also helps people. He settled on being a dentist... We shall see.

Brynley pipes in from the back, "When I grow up I want to be a mom so I can go to meetings!!!"

Funny Girl. As if going to meetings is all I do...

Payson, Arizona!

2010-08-25T14:53:00.000-07:00

Back on June 26th we headed up to Payson, AZ to celebrate my Dad's birthday with him. His wife, Debbie has a family cabin that they spend a lot of time at when it is so hot down here in the valley. When they extended the invite we were happy to get out of the heat for a few days! We had a ton of fun, between the clubhouse and zip line in the back yard, to fishing (and actually catching fish!) to the fun little nature walks and throwing rocks in the stream. Our kids spent the weekend pretty filthy but who cares, they had a blast!

The biggest highlight was the zipline. Luckily we had some strong dads to help the kids by lifting them up and giving them a good push! Andy got a little too fast a few times and fell flat on his face!

Their other favorite thing was the clubhouse right next to the zipline. They spent so much time up there, coloring, cleaning and decorating (they tied the pinecones to long blades of grass and hung them from the ceiling - so creative!)

Meredith and I enjoyed a few games of Scrabble - I was too huge and pregnant to do much else!

The 4 big cousins hanging out together! Love these kids!

Here they were searching for flat stones to try to skip in the stream. It was so nice to just be able to be out in nature enjoying the cool weather and water from the stream.

The kids loved Grandpa and Debbie's new dog Manny. He's a good dog even if he has stinky toots - the kids got a kick out of that!

We all went fishing together. Kate and Zac spent most of the time throwing rocks in the water. Zac started trying to pick up the largest boulders he possibly could, it was very cute. Luckily all of the kids were able to eventually catch a fish. I think Hayden ended up catching 3 or 4 (with a lot of help from Grandpa). Debbie had the honor of cleaning the fish while Andy fried it up for breakfast the next day. It was really good!

Brynley with her fish!

Hayden with his first fish

Hayden and Brynley with Grandpa and Debbie and their fish!

Towards the end of one of the days Zac was pretty tired so he camped out on this chair watching a movie on my ipod Touch. I loved his little jeans and white shirt look, such a cutie!

We had a great time in Payson and can't wait to go back some time!

Janie and Zac

2010-08-18T14:21:00.000-07:00

I have a great, amazing friend named Kristen. Well I have a couple of great friends with that name but this one in particular was an amazing blessing to our family over the last week. She offered to drive out from California with her cute daughter Jane (19 months) and help out around the house while I stayed at the hospital with Mia. She was such a huge help, she watched the kids any time we needed her to, did laundry, mopped the floor, picked up after the kids, etc.... Andy was especially grateful!

We (well I) have decided her daughter Jane will need to marry Zac. They were super cute together (and I only got to see them together a few times) but Kristen said they would just play and chase each other. She snapped these pictures of them watching DVD's together on the guest bed. They are so cute!

Monday Girl Date

2010-08-17T22:18:00.000-07:00

Brynley had been looking forward to our girl date last Monday while Hayden went on his boy date with Dad. Luckily for Brynley Mommy's take pictures on their dates, Daddy's not so much. Sorry Hayden - no pictures for you!

This is what Mia did while Brynley and I got our pedicures

Brynley getting her little foot massage

She was loving every minute of the pampering!

I let Brynley choose the restaurant for lunch. It was a hard choice but she settled on a
Mexican restaurant with her favorite bean dip, yum!

Brynley got to get her first real haircut (I have cut her a hair a few times but this was way more fun!)

It was a super fun day and I am so glad we had the chance to go out together!

Of course we all know how the day ended... Meredith took this picture for me after I had already left in the ambulance with Mia. Funny, as the paramedics, police, etc. were all huddled around Mia in my family room, I had this urge to take a picture and document it. Of course I didn't but there were at least 12 men and women in my family room, it was quite a sight! Anyway, Meredith had the same thought to document it so she snapped a few pics of the fire truck before it left!

Then Andy of course thought I was insane when I asked him to snap a picture in the ER...

First Day of Preschool

2010-08-17T14:15:00.000-07:00

Brynley started her 4 year old preschool today! She has really been looking forward to it and was super excited to be able to choose a new backpack for the occasion. She loved the one with "pirate" faces on it because she said Caroline likes pirate faces. (Skull and crossbones)

I helped her pick out her outfit a few days ago and thankfully Meredith came over to fix her hair for the first day. Andy has done a pretty good job with her hair but she needed something a bit special for the first day!

Striking a pose!

Outside with Kate heading to the car

Our cute neighbor Hannah is in Brynley's class, here they are together

Here they are in Miss Allison's preschool class. I am super excited for her preschool this year and I know she will have such a great time! Brynley didn't seem to notice that I wasn't with her this morning - glad she has an awesome dad and a great aunt to make her feel special today!

7 days in the hospital...

2010-08-17T11:47:00.000-07:00

... and she is more alert than ever! Mia has really started tracking objects and she seems to recognize voices and faces now. She is really growing up and it's all happening before our eyes in our little hospital room. She is getting cuter and chunkier by the minute!

A Little Perspective

2010-08-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

One Week ago today, Andy and Hayden were having a Father/Son Date at Sunsplash. Hayden was beyond excited and enjoyed a super fun day with his Dad.

One Week ago today, Brynley, Mia and I had a fun girl's date planned. First we took Zac to a friend's house and then we went to get pedicures, lunch and a haircut.

One Week ago today, we put Zac down for a nap, Brynley was watching a movie while I went in the other room to sew as Mia napped in her carseat.

One Week ago today, our sweet babysitter Jagen asked if she could come and hold Mia while she slept and so she did.

One Week ago today, Mia began to shake, her lips pursed, no air was going in or out, she looked at me with panic in her eyes and I couldn't help her. Liquid began to stream from her nose and saliva started oozing from her lips. I was terrified, screamed, begged the 911 operator to help her; that she was not breathing. I held her as she turned her head, went blue, and went limp in my arms.

One Week ago today, for a few minutes I imagined my life without one of my children in it. As I looked at poor Mia's lifeless body, I pleaded with my Heavenly Father to save her. I begged him, telling him that 4 weeks was not enough time for me to have her here and I prayed for more time.

One Week ago today, Mia took a shallow breath and I sobbed. She was alive. I thanked my Father in Heaven for saving her, for entrusting me with her a little bit longer. I did not know how I would go on if she has been taken from me. That is something I hope to never experience.

One Week ago today, I experienced the most terrifying event of my entire life. Our 4 week old baby Mia was rushed to the hospital after an apparent seizure and going 3 minutes without breathing.

One Week ago today, I spent my first night at the hospital with Mia. And here we sit today... still in the hospital for 5 more days but knowing that she is going to be okay and knowing that the seizure was apparently caused by a bacterial infection in her blood stream. An infection that began with no other symptoms, an infection that was detected 24 hours after entering the hospital when Mia spiked a fever and when her blood results came back.

Today I realize that had it not been for that life threatening event which brought us to the hospital, the infection may have gone untreated too long and Mia would have suffered severe long term effects. I am thankful for divine intervention that caused the events to occur the way they did that day. That brought Mia where she needed to be for the help that she needed to receive. She will be ok.

I am grateful for that day. For the fun that Hayden and Andy got to have and for the special day that Brynley and I shared with Mia. And for a Father in Heaven who answered my prayer, one week ago today.

Amazing Jakes!

2010-08-15T12:12:00.000-07:00

I started this post a few weeks ago and didn't finish...

About two weeks before Mia was born, we took the kids to Amazing Jakes! It's an indoor kids amusement park and arcade. Intel rented the place out so it was really fun because we didn't have to pay the crazy prices to get in! Hayden has been asking to go to Amazing Jakes forever... unfortunately the thing he wanted to do most - bowling - we didn't get to do because it was too crowded. Oh well ,they had fun any way.

They got a kick out of this ride that went around and around. I was sick just watching it!

Hayden loved the carousel!

Zac wanted to go on this little train over and over... notice how I hardly fit with my big old belly?

Hayden and Bryn on the teacups, Brynley loved making it spin super fast!

Zac and Daddy on the carousel

Hayden and Brynley waited in line for these bumper cars for almost 45 minutes. I was amazed at their persistence! Then I couldn't even get a decent picture, oh well.

Zac loved the miniature golf

Hayden did pretty well on the rock climbing wall. Unfortunately a lot of the hand holds were missing so he was doomed from the first step. He didn't seem to care too much!

Poor Bryn really wanted to try the rock climbing wall but she was wearing sandals. So we put Hayden's shoes on her, it was very frustrating for her and she was too scared to let go of the rope holding her so she couldn't grab the hand holds to actually go anywhere.

It was a fun night out with just the 5 of us before Mia got here!

First Day of Second Grade!

2010-08-11T23:59:00.000-07:00

Hayden started 2nd grade today! He is growing up so fast and has really matured a lot this summer. He has been so excited about starting this year of school. I was sad that I couldn't take him to school this morning as I was occupied at the hospital but Andy did a good job getting him ready for his first day. What a handsome guy!

Walking to the playground
Here is Hayden with his friend CJ ready to walk in.

Hayden got super nervous at the Meet the Teacher night last night and I was really worried about him going to school today, especially with all that is going on in our family. But... he did great! He had an awesome day and is excited to go to school tomorrow. I had to help him choose an outfit over the phone tonight - let's hope he gets it right and actually matches tomorrow!

1 Month Today!

2010-08-11T23:27:00.000-07:00

Mia turned 1 month old today! Unfortunately we are spending the day in the hospital, oh well, she is in good hands and we are just grateful to have her here with us. We love our little doll, and aside from the seizure/breathing incident on Monday, she has been super healthy and eating really well. She was starting to sleep pretty well during the night and even being hooked up to monitors at the hospital, she is still doing pretty well! Today she weighe in at 9 pounds, 8 ounces. She has gained almost 2 pounds since birth - she is definitely chunking up!

Mia's favorite way to sleep - wrapped up like a burrito on daddy's chest!
Mia - picture taken 2 hours before going to the ER

Her one month pictures

What sweet thing!

Happy Birthday sweet thing - we love you more than you will know!

Happy Birthday - 3 weeks is a birthday right???

2010-08-01T20:56:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post some cute pictures from this week...

2 Weeks old - taken just before going to the doctor

Taken after the doctor - are those the cutest, scrawniest legs you have ever seen? And look at the size of her hand - weird.

Seems like a comfortable position for sleeping I guess!

Now this is more like it - very cozy on Daddy's chest!

Or how about cuddling up to that cute two year old? Sounds good to Mia!

Today marks 3 weeks since Mia's birth and her first time going to church... Below is the best picture I could get of her with her eyes open.

Hayden loved that he sort of matched her!

Brynley before she was actually ready for church

Our very first family picture as a family of 6. Not too bad for an impromptu photo before church!
Me and my girls!

Today we also had to say goodbye to Aunt Shelly who has been staying with us for the last 9 days. The kids loved having her here and I certainly didn't mind! She got up many mornings with them so I could stay in bed which was heavenly! They got to do a lot of swimming and movies and playing together with their fun Aunt Shelly, I know there will be some withdrawals this week!

She's fitting in just fine!

2010-07-24T11:26:00.001-07:00

I worry about things a lot... Sometimes I even go straight to the worst case scenario... This change in our lives - the new baby- had me worried about al of things but mostly I worried about Zac. He has alwasy been a mama's boy and such a sweet thing, I thought this would ruin his life, I thought he might turn into a terror over night, I though he would hate me and the baby... to my pleasant surprise nothing like that has happened. Zac adores Mia, he wants to hold her a few times a day, he wants to kiss her head goodnight, he wants to make sure he waves to her when he is going to bed, and he even helps out with throwing away diapers, getting burp clothes, etc. We are almost two weeks in and I don't think I could ask for things to be better as far as he is concerned!

Brynley on the other hand... Loves her little sister, but has turned into a terror for her mom and dad. Poor Bryn has seen the inside of the bathroom a few too many times a day when she is sent to time out. She's got this attitude that will not quit! I am hoping that enough consistency on our part will help her attitude a little but I'm not holding my breath. At least she loves her sister.

These pictures were taken last week at 6 days old - we went on our first family outing to Costco. Brynley was thrilled to dress in a coordinating outfit to match Mia.

Hayden still loves his little sister and has gotten a little better at not smothering her all day long! He is really sweet to her and I am so glad that he loves her so much!

Last Sunday was Mia's one week birthday, Andy was trying to lay her in the sun to help with her jaundice and he quietly came and got me to see what was happening on the living room floor. I couldn't resist these sweet pictures.

A sneak peek at Mia's first photo shoot. Once I edit the pictures, we should have some pretty good shots!

If I had any doubts about having a 4th child, they have all quickly subsided. It feels like Mia has been a part of our family forever, she has found her place and we are thrilled to have her. I cannot imagine life without this sweet baby, I feel like our family is finally complete. I still wonder how we were so lucky to be blessed with 2 boys and 2 girls - all healthy and happy! Today would have been Mia's due date - we are so glad she decided to come a few weeks early!

Father's and Son's Campout

2010-07-19T15:01:00.001-07:00

On May 8th Andy and Hayden got to go on their second Father's and Son's camp out. They went up a day early with some friends so they actually got to stay for two nights rather than just one. Hayden was really looking forward to it and from what he said, they had a great time!

My two handsome campers. Is it just me or does my husband look hot all rugged and dirty???

Hayden with his ear plugs - they did some shooting. I'm not sure if Hayden actually shot a gun but I do know that he sort of walked in front of where the men were shooting and got yelled at. Poor kid sometimes just doesn't get it. You would think his mind would tell him - don't walk in front of guns, you could get shot...

In front of the campfire

Hayden was thrilled that there was a rope swing

Apparently Hayden was pretty miserably cold during the night, Andy had to snap a picture of the poor kid!

Brynley was a little sad that she couldn't go with them but I let her sleep in my bed for the two nights they were away. I guess that made up for it because she was just asking the other day when they were going to go camping again. I told her next time they go we can go as the whole family. She then said, no, they can go by themselves and I can stay up late watching TV in your bed again!

Four Days Old

2010-07-18T12:56:00.001-07:00

Be aware... Mia is most likely our last baby, therefore I am soaking in every second with her and thus taking a lot of pictures! This blog may turn into the Mia show for awhile, sorry!

I had to take Mia to the doctor for a weight check and to have her soft spots looked at (we have been worried because she doesn't really have one - the doc assured me she has a very small one so I am going with that and trying not to freak out and look at her head every day.) so I figured she may as well get a little dressed up!

After her appointment She got some good Daddy time

And a little nap for both of them!

Gila Valley Temple

2010-07-18T12:30:00.001-07:00

You may start seeing some posts I'm trying to catch up on, at least that's my plan... This is my family's journal and I love to have things recorded here so I am doing it for them...

Back in early May, Meredith and I decided to go to the Gila Valley Temple open house with our kids and husbands. It is about a 2 and a half hour drive so we left in the early afternoon for the trek. The kids were excited but didn't actually realize until we got there that they would get to go inside of the temple. (Once an LDS temple is dedicated, only members in good standing with a current recommend are able to go inside. Children will get the opportunity after they turn 12. So none of our kids have ever been inside and they always wonder what it's like.) Hayden lit up when we got there and he saw that we were going inside. The kids were all so cute and loved the beauty in the Temple. The light fixtures were truly amazing, so sparkly. Zac would point at every fixture when we walked into a room.

Andy standing outside with the kids

We tried for a family picture and this is the best we got, I'll take it.

The four big kids are looking up at the spire with the Angel Moroni at the top

Posing for a picture

Brynley was happy to take a picture with her big brother, Hayden on the other hand, not so much

After the temple tour we headed into Safford for some fantastic Mexican Food. I got a recommendation from a friend who grew up there and boy was she right - this was some good food! I can't remember the name of the restaurant unfortunately...

Andy driving home in the wee hours of the night

Zac on the drive home, we will call this before the meltdown...

During the meltdown...

Toward the end of the meltdown...

Poor Zac just could not close his eyes and go to sleep, but he was so tired. Eventually I climbed in the back with him and stroked his arm until he fell asleep...

This was such a fun little day trip with the family, I am so glad we got to do it!

Home from the hospital...

2010-07-14T12:44:00.000-07:00

Monday night, July 12th, Andy and I got to bring Mia home from the hospital with us. Of course I had a super cute dress with matching bracelet and headband all ready for her to wear home. The dress was a bit big but she looked so cute none the less!

Just waiting to be discharged...

Mia has been pretty good so far. She struggled with nursing for the first day we were home but is getting a lot better now. We had to take her to the doctor the morning after we got home for a weight check and to check her bilirubin levels. Luckily, her bilirubin is still within normal range so as long as she keeps eating well, we should have no issues with jaundice. The doctor was a bit more concerned with her weight loss, as she was 6 lbs. 12 ounces, almost a full pound below her birth weight. We will go back tomorrow for another weight check and hope she she is gaining!

The kids LOVE her - sometimes I think a little too much. They constantly want to hold her and I feel like they are all on top of me all the time. We keep having to talk to them about personal space and how even babies need their space sometimes!

Hayden is the one who wants to hold her ALL the time, he would sit on the couch all day holding her if he could, it is very sweet!

I didn't get any pictures of Zac holding her, but here is what he looked like when I was snapping Bryn's picture! What a cutie!

More Hospital Pictures...

2010-07-12T14:59:00.000-07:00

Mia is now 36 hours old and we are loving her more every minute! I can't stop staring at her and her cuteness - she is seriously a doll. We look forward to heading home in a few hours and sleeping in our own beds. We will, however miss the great hospital food - if you think I'm kidding, I'm not - this hospital has great room service!

Trying on her first headband!

Mia has had a lot of visitors - her brothers and sisters and cousins and Grandpa were all visiting yesterday and then were back again this morning. Kate was not so sure about Mia for the first little bit - when Meredith asked her where's the baby? She pointed to herself and scooted away from Mia. Eventually she warmed up to her a little!

All of the cousins admiring sweet Miss Mia

I love this picture!

And this one - so precious!

Finally a picture of Daddy and Daughter

The kids love the bathroom door in the hospital room, it's a giant white board. I'm not sure if kids are supposed to draw on it or not, but i loved my pictures and the kids were well occupied.

Baby Mia Arrives!!!

2010-07-10T18:21:00.000-07:00

After three days of hard work and on and off again contractions, we were finally admitted to the hospital on Saturday afternoon, July 10th. I was dilated to 3 cm when we arrived and after being admitted, had dilated to 4cm but wasn't progressing much beyond that. The doctor decided to break my water and get things moving along. Things didn't move along so well, so Pitocin was started around 7pm and...
5 hours in and not feeling too bad...

At least the glitter toes were still lookin pretty cute!

The epidural was started around 10 pm and labor continued... By about 12:15 I was able to feel horrible pressure like I needed to push. We tried upping the epidural to numb the feeling but it didn't work. Contractions were coming about every 2 minutes or less and with each contraction came the same horrible pressure. I clung tight to the arm of the bed, meanwhile squeezing my legs together so I wouldn't accidentally push the baby out! (Not that that would have actually happened but in my irrational state, that's all I could think of.) I knew I was getting super close and at 12:50 the nurse checked me and I was ready to go. For some reason it took another 20 minutes before they actually had me start pushing. 2 practice pushes with the nurse and my doctor was called in at 1:20. As he was getting suited up he had me push, only to tell me stop almost immediately because Mia was already halfway out, I think he barely caught her!

She came out screaming and ready to eat almost right away!

Before her bath and shortly after delivery

Sweet Mia Bella, right after being bathed

The kids came Sunday morning to see their new sister - they are all in love with her, even Zac could not stay away from her and wanted to hold her right away.

Mia Bella Ashton - July 11, 2010 - 1:24 am - 7 pounds, 10 ounces - 21 inches long

Dr. Layton - the best doctor ever! I seriously love him and am so grateful for the great care he has taken in delivering our last 3 babies.

Funny Comparison

2010-06-25T14:38:00.001-07:00

As I was posting the ultrasound pictures yesterday I kept thinking how much it looked like Brynley. So I scanned through some pics from the day Bryn was born and wanted to post a comparison shot of Brynley and Baby #4 still in utero.

Brynley - less than an hour old:
Baby #4 at almost 36 weeks:
Hmm, it will be interesting to see her in person and see how much they really compare but I think the resemblance is pretty amazing!

For Comparison here is Zac a few hours after birth:

35 weeks, 5 days

2010-06-24T14:02:00.001-07:00

Today I had what will probably be my last ultrasound during this pregnancy... the end is near... She is looking great and weighing in at 6 pounds, 11 ounces, the doctor thinks this is actually a little low and thinks she is closer to 7 pounds! She is very healthy and pretty much ready to come at any time, I am hopeful she will be here sometime in the next two weeks - I just need to talk my doctor into it! As I was driving today I noticed it was 112 degrees outside - yes I am ready to not be pregnant any more, the heat is killing me!!! Enjoy the pictures of little miss chubby cheeks!

The ultrasound tech gave me about 30 pictures as it is very rare for a baby to be showing off her face this far along and she was amazed at the pictures she was getting. I can't believe I will actually meet this little lady soon!

I'm thinking she looks exactly like Brynley!

10 Years Ago Today...

2010-06-03T12:11:00.000-07:00

I married a pretty great guy! Little did I know how great our lives together would actually be - I always dreamed of a fairy tale life with a happily ever after and I believe that 10 years in - I got exactly that!
This is one of our engagement photos:

And here we are today at breakfast:
Our life has certainly not been perfect and I am sure there are many obstacles still in our way but we are in it together - all of us! Andy continues to spoil me daily and is always beyond thoughtful when it comes to making me happy. I remember 10 years ago waking up the morning of our wedding freaking out - I thought for sure I had made a mistake, what was I doing? I was only 21, Andy was 26 - practically an old man! I remember walking into the Portland Temple and Andy was sitting there waiting with his parents, he had a huge grin on his face and I could hardly look at him - our lives would be changing forever and sometimes I don't deal well with change! Thank goodness I didn't listen to the butterflies and I went ahead with the wedding - because the rest of the day was pure bliss. And the 10 years since have been a wild ride that I wouldn't step off of for a minute!

Andy took us all to breakfast at one of our favorite breakfast spots - The Flight Deck Cafe at the Gateway airport. It was a nice way to spend the morning together.
Brynley thought we needed a picture of the two babies in the family:
Hayden - 7 years old
Brynley - 4 years old
Zac - 2 years old
And not to leave out the next member of the family - Baby girl at 32 weeks
Happy Anniversary Andy - I love you more today than yesterday!

End of the year dance recital!

2010-05-25T08:39:00.001-07:00

At the end of April, Brynley had her final dance recital for the year. She has been so cute at home practicing while singing her song! She did a great job but never smiled the whole time! We will have to work on that for next year - I think she was just really concentrating!
Hayden was very patiently watching every dance!

Bryn's teacher (Miss Misty) also works on tumbling and had the girls do a little bit of tumbling. Unfortunately, Bryn's cartwheel is not so good - Though I'd say she has at least 15 - 20 pounds up on all the other girls in the class so I'm not surprised that her little arms can't hold her up!

After the recital - what a cutie! (I think I'm starting to see some resemblance between the two of us!)

7 Years ago today...

2010-05-21T11:16:00.000-07:00

...our sweet baby Hayden joined our little family! He made quite the entrance and for those who don't know the story - I am going to give a quick recap of the day leading up to his birth:

It was Tuesday May 20th - the last day of school and my last day of teaching before having my baby. Hayden's due date was 3 weeks away and I was looking forward to a few weeks of relaxing on the couch before the big day! The kids were dismissed around noon that day at which point I went to work trying to finish packing up my classroom. I was really quite huge at this point but still getting around pretty well. Andy was planning to meet me at the school when he was done with classes around 5pm so we could finish packing up together. Once he got to the school I felt so sick to my stomach - I figured it was because I hadn't eaten all day and all I wanted was a steak! So instead of working, we left to go out to dinner, even leaving my car in the parking lot and heading to Black Angus.

When we got to the restaurant it was so crowded, why on a Tuesday night before 6 was it so stinkin crowded??? So I sat down to wait for our table, after a few minutes I really thought I would pass out because I was so hungry. Andy was feeling really bad and got me a loaf of bread from a hostess who took a little pity on me! The bread was wonderful, it helped me feel a bit better pretty quickly. After waiting in the lobby for about 20 minutes our name was finally called and I would finally get my steak and potatoes! We got about half way to our table when I heard a small pop, like a balloon popping and suddenly water was gushing down my legs. I sort of freaked out and told Andy I think my water broke! Meanwhile people are staring at us - I had a knee length skirt on so you could just see the water puddling on the floor as I tried to keep my legs together while waddling to chair I saw 5 feet away. I grabbed the chair and sat down. Turns out I grabbed the chair from a table where a very young couple were on a date - they looked at me pretty wide eyed!

The hostess didn't know what to do, neither did I or Andy - this had never happened to us before! Andy asked if they had any towels in the back and so she ran and got some. I started wiping down my legs and kind put a few between my legs as I stood up, another huge gush, and I sat right back down. How on earth would I ever be able to walk out of this restaurant??? Eventually Andy convinced me that I just had to suck it up and do it! And so a few minutes later we headed back out the way we came in - people were clapping and telling us congratulations, it was so unreal. As I walked out of the restaurant people were coming in saying, "Is it time???" We got to Andy's car and put a few of the towels (that the restaurant let us take) on the seat of the car before I sat down, then we headed home to get the hospital bag!

Andy called triage and they told us to come in right away even though I was having no contractions, but the water kept pouring out. I was measuring over 6-7 weeks ahead during the pregnancy and now we know why - I had huge amounts of extra amniotic fluid - it was amazing. The rest of the story is basically that I spent 17 hours in labor, in the hospital on pitocin before Hayden finally entered the world on Wednesday, May 21st! I was glad to have that surprise 3 weeks early - I totally didn't expect it! He weighed 7 pounds, 10 ounces. Here are a few pictures from the days after Hayden was born:

We are so thrilled with the young man that Hayden is becoming - he continues to amaze us each and every day! He is already talking about turning 8 next year and getting baptized - time sure flies!
Hayden was so proud last month to get his picture taken at BYU - he is totally set on going there - we cross our fingers that he will someday!

A break from bedrest... for a little concert!

2010-05-10T14:16:00.000-07:00

I was so excited back in February when Andy surprised me with tickets to see one of my favorite people in concert - Chris Daughtry! I have been in love with him since he first appeared on American Idol 5 years ago. He is such a great singer and he is quite the eye candy as well. I was equally as excited to hear that Lifehouse would be opening for Daughtry - the lead singer of Lifehouse is also quite a looker and the drummer is from here in Gilbert! Thank you to my doctor for giving me special permission to attend the concert even though I was on bed rest - he said I could go as long as I did not do any crowd surfing or mosh pitting....

Before the concert - eating dinner right by the arena

Lifehouse - they were fantastic!

Here I am with Chris Daughtry in the background!

Some pictures of Daughtry

I've posted a few video clips bellow in case you have no idea who these bands are - you will probably recognize the songs at least!

Thanks Andy for a great night!

3D Baby Pictures!

2010-05-06T21:23:00.000-07:00

A bonus to having complications to this pregnancy are the awesome ultrasounds and pictures that come with it! Today I had my first of weekly level 2 ultrasounds - technology is amazing! The perinatoligist said the baby could not look better. She is measuring a few weeks ahead and is already 3 1/2 pounds... Which they say with this type of ultrasound is quite accurate at this point. My doctor has been really concerned about my amniotic fluid levels but today it measured just a bit above the high end of normal so that is another very good sign! Still no answers as to why I am bleeding but as long as I have been on bed rest, the bleeding has pretty much stopped.

The baby's legs and feet

A profile shot of the baby with one arm by her face, you can see the other hand in the left corner

Another picture almost the same as above but she is almost smiling!

This picture might be a little much for some but I finally feel confident calling this baby a girl. If you can't tell, her bum is at the bottom of the picture, hand is between her leg with one finger sort of pointing to her girly parts!

The ultrasound tech apologized that she couldn't get better pictures, this baby would not stop moving, it was hilarious! What should have been a 45 minute ultrasound turned into almost an hour and a half in order to get all of the measurements needed.

Zac is 2!!!

2010-04-20T08:35:00.000-07:00

Zac had his second birthday on Tax day - April 15th! We let him open two presents that morning... err... he found two of his presents in a Target bag and really wanted them so I let him. He has been obsessed with Toy Story 2 lately and so it was fitting for him to get a Woody and Jessie action figure - he loved them and played with them ALL day!

I was trying to get a picture of him playing but he kept turning so I couldn't get the picture

Brynley loved playing with them as well!

Hayden asked his teacher to make a crown for Zac like she does for all the kids in the class when it's their birthday. He was super excited to bring it home for him - it was so sweet even if his name is spelled wrong!

As is tradition in our family, we took Zac to Red Robin for his birthday. Unfortunately - we got to Red Robin with only one of Zac's red Crocs - but not to fear, we happened to have one of his brown sandals in the car as well. He didn't seem to mind that he spent the rest of the evening in two different shoes - I, on the other hand, was mortified! And of course I forgot my camera. Zac was thrilled when they brought him his own sundae and sang happy birthday just to him - he loved it!

We left Red Robin to go to our other Birthday destination - Krispy Kreme - yum! For those who don't know - you go on your birthday and get a free dozen glazed donuts. Thank you Zac for having a birthday so we could all benefit!

Saturday was the day for Zac's party. Meredith's sister in law Jeannie was in town from Georgia so we decided to combine Zac and Kate's birthdays and just do a small, relaxing family party. We also decided to break in the pool for the season --- unfortunatey, the heat pump broke the day before the party, thus the pool was still pretty cold. Needless to say (most) of the adults didn't swim - except Andy who was needed to supervise Zac in the pool. He is one brave man - that pool was COLD! The kids had a blast - especially Zac who WOULD NOT get out of the pool. That kid is crazy --- though I am super excited that he will enjoy the pool this summer as he hated it last summer!

Please excuse the pink pacifier you will see in most of the pictures! He had just woken up from a nap and wasn't too happy at first!

I was cracking up when I looked down and saw him looking like this!

The kids spent all night outside eating and playing - it was a perfect night and my house hardly got messed up because of it!

We had a great barbecue - burgers, hotdogs, beans, potato salad, watermelon, chips, guacamole - YUM!, and plenty of soda to go around. I made the kids a Strawberry Shortcake Cake (Found on The Pioneer Woman Blog) it was delish. Although I should say the cake was less a kid friendly cake and more a cake for the adults - you can do that when they're 2 and don't know any better! I think most of the kids ended up with Popsicles!

It was a Barney (Kate's favorite) and Elmo (Zac's favorite) party! (these cake picks were the only reference to the theme other than the red and purple balloons!)

Opening presents

Kate with her new shades!

Zac loved the hat Grandpa got him!

They had a great time opening their presents by the end of the night we had a great time celebrating the two little munchkins!

Singing to the kids - this is right before Zac decided to blow out the candle without even giving Kate a chance!

He just noticed Elmo!

Zac's 2 year old Stats (Are you ready for these stats???)
Height - 36 Inches - 90th percentile
Weight - 35 Pounds - 110th percentile!!!

Zac barely weighed 18 pounds when he went in for surgery at 14 months - and was sitting right at the zero percentile. My how this kid has grown! The doctor was shocked when he walked into the room and saw him, he said it was the most incredible change he has ever seen!!! I am pretty sure Zac skipped 2T clothes all together because he is now perfectly fitting into 3T!

The Bird Whisperer

2010-04-13T14:27:00.000-07:00

We have a wreath on our front door - aka the door that is now off limits - due to the discovery inside of the wreath.

Look really close, do you see anything?

How about now? Do you see the nest?

Here is a closer look at our bird's nest, filled with 5 eggs... That's right 5! It must be a record or something.

The mama bird - who sits patiently on this branch any time someone comes to the front door and she has to flea the scene. Andy is quite the softy - I might have just moved the nest so as to not have to deal with the whole thing, but not Andy! Now, when these little birds are born - he gets to clean the bird poop off my front door!

We discovered the nest 2 or 3 weeks ago - now fast forward to last Saturday...

Andy was out taking care of the pool when he noticed this by the ladder of the slide:
Incase, you can't tell, it's a broken egg. Then he looks up at the ladder and sees a dove sitting on a rung, with an egg resting under her. Andy must have spooked her because she quickly flew away, knocking the egg off the ladder. But the Bird Whisperer came to the rescue and caught the egg mid-fall! He looked around to see that there was no sign of any kind of nest. So what do you think he did???

You guessed it... He came inside asking me for something to build a nest out of for a bird!

Can you see the mama bird in her new home?

A close-up shot of the bird in her "nest"

Notice the masking tape holding the nest to the ladder...

And the egg sits nice and cozy in it's nest!

Andy was afraid the bird might abandon the egg since he had touched it but nope - that bird seems to enjoy her man-made nest!

20 feet away, it looks like the papa bird met an untimely demise and crashed into the door! I guess Andy can't save 'em all!

Ashton Family Pictures

2010-04-02T08:58:00.000-07:00

While in Utah a few weeks ago, Andy's Dad decided he would really like some family pictures taken. So, he and Sharon drove up from St. George since the whole family would be together. We didn't have a photographer or anything, so we decided to use the old tripod/timer trick. We were planning the pictures to be outside but that particular day it was snowing so inside it was at Mike and Kathy's house!

The best group shot we got of the whole family - of course Hayden had to be sticking his tongue out. It turned out that when we went back and looked at them all, he was sticking his tongue out in almost every one! That's what we get for not having a photographer to keep everyone behaved! Even with the tongue issue, I think the picture turned out fantastic!

Apparently everyone got the memo that this was the goofy shot except Grandma and Grandpa!

Grandma and Grandpa with all of their grand kids. From left to right Hayden - 6 1/2, Noah - 4, Koleson - 16, Clara - 15, Zac - 23 months, Henry - 12, and Brynley - 4.

Uncle Chris with the two munchkins! Chris is the brother right above Andy - he is 8 years older than Andy - he doesn't have any kids and is recently divorced and my kids have taken quite a liking to him!

Trying to get a family picture of us with Sharon and Henry - Zac was about done!

Hayden, Henry and Clara goofing around for the camera

Andy's oldest brother David and his wife Ashley with their son Noah

Andy's second oldest brother Mike and his wife Kathy and their kids

I thought this was the funniest picture, I don't think anyone knew Hayden was behind the couch popping up in some of the pictures!

Yay for lip gloss!

2010-03-31T21:46:00.000-07:00

Zac was thrilled when he spotted Brynley's purse sitting on top of the bar. Once he climbed on the stool, he went exploring and found the coveted lip gloss! He was more than happy to show it to me and then show me how well he could put it on all by myself!

This might be the cutest picture ever taken of Zac, I love it!

Notice how well he is managing to get the gloss on his lips???

All dressed up for Easter!

2010-03-31T15:36:00.000-07:00

I always love trying to get the kids to coordinate for Easter. It usually starts with Brynley's dress and then we go from there. Hayden was less than thrilled with the opportunity to wear a "pink" tie. Then Dad stepped in and explained that it's not actually pink, in fact it is fuchsia. Thanks Andy - he didn't seem to mind it as much after that!

Dang glare on Hayden's glasses, ugh...

Our attempt at a family picture using the camera timer

The three kids outside - mostly cooperating - Hayden is a horrible picture taker - it usually ends up with us yelling at him to just smile - a normal smile!!! Then they still don't turn out, so we take what we can get!

Brynley was happy to be our little model!

Spring Break 2010 - or the longest blog post ever!

2010-03-25T10:54:00.000-07:00

What a great Spring Break we had. It took about a month convincing Andy that we had to make the drive up to Utah. He doesn't love road trips - especially long ones but in the end I think he was glad that we did it! I have missed Utah and just wanted to go and eat at some of our favorite restaurants, shop, go to BYU, and see friends and family.

Before we headed up to Utah, we spent a few days in Scottsdale with Andy's parents who were here for a medical conference. We went out (Andy and I) with Sharon and Henry to a very posh Steakhouse call Mastro's Steakhouse. It was divine - and spending time with the two of them without kids doesn't happen often enough!

The next day we took the kids to their resort for some swimming and dinner. Being March13th and all, it was a bit cold outside - even though the pool was heated, it was still freezing! Zac was happy to be wrapped in his towel for a portion of the time! This resort had some great water slides which I didn't get any pictures of but that's where the kids spent most of their time! After swimming we had a great dinner at one of the restaurants on sight. My kids love hotels so this is always a fun novelty!
(Not sure how I missed Hayden in the pictures I took. He was kind of off swimming on his own most of the time - meeting new friends.)

The next day we were off to St. George where we stayed a night and then headed up North to Utah Valley. We drove through Orem in perfect time for dinner at our favorite restaurant from the college days - Tucano's! Yum, that place rocks! It is a Brazilian steak house where they bring the meats around and cut it onto your plate for you. Zc was diggin it, he held up his plate every time a new guy came by. (Sorry, left the cameras in the car!) We then headed up to Salt Lake where we spent the week with Andy's oldest Brother David, his wife Ashley and their cute boy Noah.

Tuesday we went to a great indoor swimming facility. Andy forced Zac on the water slide a few times - he came down with a look of horror on his face both times until eventually he was dragging Andy out of the pool to take him over and over again!

Later that night we had a great dinner and invited Uncle Chris to come over - I think he has officially become the kids favorite Uncle! He is so good with them and he has the energy to run and play and throw them around, it's been really fun for them to get to know him better.

Playing after dinner

Wednesday we spent the day in Park City - shopping most of the time. I think we spent almost 4 hours at the outlet mall, it still amazes me that the kids lasted that long! We had dinner on Main Street and watch some skiing. Hayden thought we were watching the winter Olympics!

The next day we headed down to Orem/Provo. We stopped for lunch at our other favorite restaurant - Wallaby's. For anyone who lives in the area and hasn't been there - seriously, you have to go! It is the best pulled pork and mashed potatoes you will ever have. The BBQ sauce is amazing, we come home with a bottle of it every time. Zac was in a particularly bad mood, he had been up all night with a fever but we made the best of it anyway!

Zac was pretty much only happy when standing by the fish tank!

We then took the kids to the BYU campus. I remember as a student there I would see families bringing their kids to show them around and show them how they met, etc. - I thought they were so lame! Well, we became one of those cheesy families and I'm proud of it! Hayden is totally set on going to BYU - he asked us which classes he would take in each building - it was cute. Most importantly though, the whole family came away with new BYU shirts, including a jersey which Hayden proceeded to wear for 3 days!

BYU Campus from a 4 year olds perspective

LAter that afternoon we headed to Alpine to visit with some of our very good friends who moved from Gilbert last year. Following that visit we spent the evening in LEhi with some of Andy's friends from high school. There were 8 adults and I think at least 20 kids. Jeremy and Kelly were very kind to open their house to such chaos - it was so much fun, we had a hard time dragging the kids away!

Friday was our day to ride Trax into Salt Lake and go to Temple Square. The kids were beyond thrilled as it started to snow while waiting for the train!
Zac looks a little weirded out here on the train but he sobbed when we had to get off!

That is snow in Zac's hair, not dandruff!

You can't see it but we are standing in the snow as well!

After touring the Beehive hose and walking around the temple and visitor's centers we headed to the Tabernacle to see the old pipe organ. Hayden was fascinated by it and was wondering exactly how the sound gets fro the Organ and out the pipes.

Ah, sibling love... This is Hayden's half-hearted attempt to hug his sister after she gave him her roll from the Lion House!

The kids kept taking the camera - Hayden was excited to take some shots of the temple and got this great one!

Brynley on the other hand took 5 pictures of the window washers!

All toasty and ready to get on the train so he can go have a nap before family pictures!

The family pictures will be included in another post, on another day!

A conversation with Hayden...

2010-03-11T08:41:00.000-08:00

Last night while making dinner, Hayden says to my Aunt - "I have a photographic memory you know."

I freak out a little and ask, "Who told you that? Did Dad tell you that?" He responded with "No."

"Did you hear Dad and I talking about that?" He responds "No."

"What is a photographic memory Hayden?" He answers, "It's when you see something or read something once and then you can always remember it and it stays in your brain like a camera."

I bit later when it was just he and I, I wanted to investigate a little further so I asked him again.

"Hayden did someone tell you that you have a photographic memory?"

This was his response: "No Mom, I'm just reading a book about a child detective named Cam Jansen, but her real name isn't cam, it's Jenny. People call her Cam because she is like a human camera accept there is no film in her brain, just her memory. And so I was thinking that my brain is somewhat like Cam's brain because I can remember everything."

"Oh, yep, I suppose you're right!"

I worry a little about him going around telling people he is super smart with a photographic memory - you know, those were the kids who got made fun of growing up! But, we have known for a very long time that he has a great memory - for instance, he can look at his spelling words one time and always get 100% on his spelling tests. The only time he missed any was when he forgot to write two of the words down because he wasn't paying attention! I pray every day that his talents will lead him to do great things... you just never know...

Happy Birthday Sweet Pea!

2010-02-23T12:05:00.000-08:00

Brynley is 4 today! She has been waiting for months to be 4 so this day couldn't come soon enough! I absolutely adore this little girl and feel lucky to be her mom. She is the sweetest thing in the world and has such a tender heart - just last night I had gone to my room for some rest and had just gotten frustrated with Hayden and Brynley. A few hours later she came to me with tears in her eyes and a super sad face saying, "I am so sorry mama" as a tear rolled down her cheek. She does this any time she feels like she has been naughty or done something wrong - she genuinely feels heartache over it- such an endearing quality. Brynley always wants to make her older brother happy - even if it means giving him whatever candy or treat she has, she just loves making others happy.

She is stinker sometimes of course and I will probably be a very stubborn teenager - I can already see it! I love all her little faces and nuances - she literally melts my heart on a daily basis.

We celebrated Bryn's birthday on Sunday night with a family dinner (which consisted of our family and Meredith's family - my dad called in sick). She had a great time with her cousins!

She loved her presents - from the Simpsons she got a ton of girlie art supplies and from Hayden a Ponyville set. Zac got her a Fancy Nancy game and we got her a new bike and bicycle helmet.

Her face was priceless when she saw Andy turn the corner with her new bike!

The kids all took a turn riding around the island on her bike. Zac and Kate were hilarious as they spent the whole time chasing whoever was on the bike.

The cutest party guest!

Zac and Kate kind of stole the show for a bit as they played ring around the rosie. They were beyond cute!

Brynley with her cake

The next morning was Brynley's friend birthday party - the theme - Tinkerbell!

As the girls arrived we had some balloons for them to play with, here's a few pictures of some of the girls playing.

Each girl had a Tinkerbell coloring page with Tinkerbell crayons - the pictures later got sprinkled with pixie dust!

After the girls were done coloring we went on a treasure hunt outside! There were balloons hidden everywhere with clues inside - each girl took a turn popping a balloon with a magic wand. At the end was a treasure box filled with gold and sparkling beads!
This shows some of the girls making bracelets with the bead they found!

After bracelets were done it was present time! Brynley was quite spoiled and got a ton of Tinkerbell, Polly Pocket, and Dora stuff along with makeup and a fur real pet!

The girls were so cute helping her open her gifts

This was the cutest, sweetest bunch of girls ever! Including Brynley we had 10 3 and 4 year old girls at the party and it was so much fun! Little girls parties are WAY easier and better than little boy parties! They were so cute and listened so well - I loved it!

This picture shows all but two of the little girls

The Tinkerbell gift bags given to each of the girls when they left

Love you Brynley!

I think one of her best presents was finding out today that she is going to have a baby sister!

A day on the lake

2010-01-22T14:24:00.000-08:00

Aunt Shelly and Uncle Joe were in town last week and we decided that we really wanted to do something fun and different - so we headed to the lake! Meredith found out about this steamboat that takes you on a tour of Canyon Lake - the kids were really excited about being able to go on a real boat!

Andy getting everyone situated in their life jackets

Shelly and Joe with all the nieces and nephews except Lindsay - not sure where she went!

Zac mostly hated his life jacket but was happy as long as he had popcorn!

The only picture of our family - Meredith took it and said it looked great so she didn't take another one. Oh well, who cares that Andy looks mad about something!

Begging for more popcorn...

The four big kids - they all had a blast!

A little scenery in the background

Uncle Joe and Brynley

After the boat ride we headed a little further East to a small "town" called Tortilla Flats for a late lunch. The walls of the restaurant are covered in 1 dollar bills, I should have taken a picture but I forgot. People just leave 1 dollar bills to be stapled to the walls and ceiling - it is estimated that there are over 150 thousand bills on the walls! And this is after a fire burned the place to the ground in 1987!! The kids got a kick out of it.

Hayden and Brynley outside of the restaurant

This was definitely a fun adventure for a Saturday and we will probably do it again sometime!

That was one tough cupcake!

2010-01-22T13:07:00.000-08:00

I made some cupcakes a few weeks ago and left a few of them unfrosted. I sort of forgot about them for a few days and Hayden asked if he and Bryn could frost and eat two of the cupcakes. Sure - although I was pretty sure they may not be too good - they had been sitting on the counter uncovered for two days!

Not two minutes later, Hayden comes running into the office to tell me that upon biting into his cupcake, his tooth came out! He was ecstatic as he as been anxious to lose another tooth for quite some time! Enjoy the bloody picture!

One last holiday post!

2010-01-22T09:53:00.001-08:00

I know January is almost over but I wanted to get this post up - better late than never I guess! We always love visiting the Mesa, Arizona Temple Lights during the holidays. We almost ran out of time this year as life got extremely busy but we managed to get to the Temple on New Year's Eve.

The Mesa Arizona Temple

A quick picture with the kids!

Andy gets in on the action

Hayden and Brynley were so excited to see the Star of Bethlehem at the Manger scene

Zac and Daddy

Some more of the lights

This was a great New Year's Activity to do with the family - Dinner out, Temple Lights, Hot Chocolate and a movie! We are looking forward to a fun filled New Year!