our family - ashton reunion 2009

calamata olives

Mmmm, so salty. Please take note of the fork. These little babies pretty much went everywhere I did yesterday. Love them.

another day with Dora

We've had sick kids all weekend. Emily woke up Saturday with a fever, cough, and then threw up twice. Olivia followed suit with the fever and cough. Christopher and I seriously did NOTHING that day. Then the same on Sunday. The girls had nagging fevers, but seemed to be doing better. Yesterday they seemed almost fixed, but Emily more than Olivia. Today I sent Emily off to preschool and I had a reason to get out of the house myself for the first time in three days. . . when Olivia started throwing up.

Sigh. What's one more day watching Dora?

just go with me on this

I am probably the only person left in the world who watches (or admits to it) pagaents. I kinda love them. Last night Miss Universe was on. Christopher came in just in time for the evening gowns, and I tried to get him involved when I showed my disgust for the low score Miss USA got. (Let's face it, the judges are always harder on Miss USA.) He said to me, "I don't even know what they're judging! All she did was walk!" Hmmph. I tried to explain that they're judging her poise and how she moves with her dress and how confident she is. He didn't buy it. I guess I should be okay with that.



Last night for the first time in Miss Universe pageant history, the same country won two years in a row. Congrats Miss Venezuela; but Miss Dominican Republic was totally robbed. But, in all the excitement and jumping around between last year's winner and this year's winner came the highlight of the show. The two finally break up their hug, and Miss 08 grabs the giant, sparkely diamond and ruby crown, and just as she is about to put it on Miss 09's head . . . one moves and the other doesn't- and the crown DROPS TO THE STAGE FLOOR. CRASHES.



Cameras all the sudden take a wide view while Miss 08 fishes around on the floor to retrieve it. It was awesome. HOW COULD YOU DROP THE CROWN!?!?! I'm seriously laughing out loud while I replay it in my head. There must be a youtube video of it somewhere.



And then, much to my disappointment the Today show didn't show it. I watched the morning news just so I could see others laugh about it too. They showed the winner, but not the crown dropping.



It made my night. I hope they can top that next year.

12 weeks along

I don't know what it is about making this "announcement" that makes me so nervous, but I just don't like doing it. So, instead of trying to being clever or cute, I'll just say it. I'm pregnant. Due March 11th.

I hope getting to the 2nd trimester means the morning, afternoon, and evening sickness will go away soon.

boss

I like Em's school schedule a lot. It's Friday, but I feel like it's Saturday because she's home. And then she doesn't have to go back until Tuesday, so it's going to feel like I get an 'extra' day on Monday too.

Yesterday on our way back from school I was asking Emily what she had learned. She mentioned a lot of things, and then said there were two boys who weren't being very nice. I asked her if they weren't being nice to each other, or to other kids. She said to each other.

Then she said, "Don't worry Mom. I let the teacher handle it first, and then I helped her handle it after that."

Didn't take her long to show them who's boss.

Em, just being goofy.

ashton cabin 2009

Kate

We try to get some cool mountain air every year during the hot Phoenix summer. We have great friends who came with us for a few days this time. One of the families has girls the same (almost exactly) age as our girls, so we hardly saw the older girls. It was great. Lexie thought to bring crafts for the girls, so here they are painting these little figurines. They're outside, and still in their p.j.'s.


Then we moved on to our nails. With the help of some cute 'nail stickers', the girls were in HEAVEN.



And then, lastly, there were the crowns. The girls got to stick on little jewels, and they even wrote their own names. Not bad for three-and-a-half-year-olds!
On a nice morning walk... minus the red ants. :)
The best we could get with all the kids cause, well, they were all at a different angle. But in front is Ty, then Olivia. Then around the right side is Kate, Macie on her back, and Emily.


I love this picture.

overdue pictures

So, here's an overload of pictures from our Utah trip last month.
The girls in the car. They kind of hated it. We could hardly make it more than 2 hours before Emily would say "Moooommmmm! I just can't handle this anymore!" And we would find Olivia 'spread eagle' like this during most of the trip. She's a riot.

These are all in reverse order, but this is what Olivia looked like after we made her get out of the reflection pond at Temple Square. Not happy.


Carter and Emily.
Us with Christopher's grandma, Gerrie. Emily didn't want to get in the picture, even though she was there.
At the Oquirrah Mt. Utah Temple House. It was really bright. As you can see by the picture below. You'd think our girls would be used to the sunshine...

She's so cute. We stopped in a shady spot so she could eat her cookie from the visitor's center.
At the hotel with my brother's kids, Ella and Jamison. They always play so well together.

noteworthy

I guess I should post that AUGUST 17th was my 7th wedding anniversary. We were really low-key and went to dinner, then rented a movie. We ate at my favorite Mexican restaurant in Phoenix, El Encanto (although, technically it's in Carefree). Mmmm, it hit the spot.

But, aside from the food being good, the company wasn't bad either. I love my husband. Especially right now. He has to put up with a lot of feminine emotion in this house, and I think he handles it quite well.

Maybe we'll do a "golden" anniversary like people do with birthday's. You know, you have a huge bash when your age matches up to the numerical date of your special day? (ie; turning 19 on April 19th). For our 17th anniversary- watch out. It's going to be big.

miss independent

It's her first day of pre-school. We'll see how it goes when I pick her up at 1pm... (She's going to be awesome.)

fun in a laundry basket

new!

A new post! Hooray! We were in Utah, and then we came home to get ready for the Ashton party. And then we needed a week to just catch up. We're tired, but all is well.

The last few days my minds has only been on the fact that I have a long list of school supplies I need to purchase for Emily and her preschool. She starts next week. Her little school is on Tuesday's, Wednesday's and Thursday's from 9-1 pm. She's so excited she gets to pack a lunch. I kind of am too.

But this means I'll have some quality time to spend one-on-one with this little hooligan:

home again

We've been home from Utah since Sunday. We're tired and still recouping from the traveling (aka driving with two kids). Here's what we have going on/coming up:

Tomorrow Christopher's WHOLE family starts to show up for a weekend of fun.

It's hot in Phoenix; shocker, I know.

Emily starts her three-day-a-week preschool in two weeks, and a music class at the end of the month, and a dance class in September. I spent a few minutes yesterday with my calendar filling in all her 'events'.

Umm, and that's all I can think of. My house really needs to be cleaned, laundry done, but that's not anything new. :)