Matt's Birthday

Matt's birthday was Friday 6/3. We had fun celebrating his day. We ate dinner at Matt's favorite place Mongolian BBQ. We haven't eaten there in many years, it was before we had kids and we would get together with friends back in Boise. Then, we saw the movie Kung Fu Panda 2 and then headed home for cake and played some basketball. It was a fun evening!

Ashlynn's 1st Pedicure

Ashlynn has been wanting to get her nails done for a while. She used some of her birthday money to have her nails painted with some fancy art done on them. She sat in a fun butterfly chair and her foot bath water changed colors. She loved the whole experience and wanted to go back the next day to do it again.

I love the polk-a-dots and the cute flowers on her toes.

She has to show them to everyone she sees. She is very proud of them!

New wheels

The process of getting Ashlynn to ride a two wheeler has been two years in the making. We told her that she couldn't get a new bike until she could ride without training wheels on her old little bike. Well, the plan changed since her bike got stuck to the front of Matt's jeep and he was unaware until he headed down our driveway and her poor bike got smashed as it scraped its way down the driveway. So, we had to say goodbye to the little bike and get her a bigger new bike. The only catch was that we would not put training wheels on the new bike. She then was forced to learn and she has been doing great. She is still a little nervous and not very confident, but she will get better. She is pretty proud of herself and loves the new bike.

The Race is on...

Carter experienced his first pinewood derby race for cub scouts. Matt and Carter had fun making the race car. (Ok, the real truth Matt did most of the work if not all) but they still had fun together in the garage even if Carter was playing basketball while Matt did all the work.

We love to party...

Ashlynn loves to dance and show off her performing skills. She is very mature for her age with her understanding and calmness she has. She is always helpful and well liked because she is so easy going and has the funniest sense of humor of any little girl I know. We are so grateful she is part of our family!

Since, it can be difficult to get our two families together, we planned a evening with Craig's family to celebrate Sam's and Ashlynn's birthday. They each got their own cake and we sang to these crazy kids. Sam wasn't so much into being sang to and didn't want to blow out candles being that he is ten years old now. I love the picture of Ashlynn giving him a hard time in the picture.

Party time for Ashlynn! This year she wanted a Hawaii flower party. She also had a jump house that came with a cotton candy machine. The kids had so much fun jumping around and chowing down on the cotton candy!

They ate under an umbrella on blankets and Ashlynn handed out lei's to everyone.
The Pinata was a huge highlight of the party. Poor Matt was very nervous holding the pinata. I could just see the images being posted on U-tube or on America's Funniest videos. The kids loved hitting it, but no one could hit it hard enough so, Matt broke the flower apart and threw the goodies out.

Ashlynn had a great day celebrating her birthday! Thanks to Matt, Aunt Tracy and my friend Kristy helping with all the activities.

Grandpa Otis

We made an very short trip to Idaho (A day trip you could say) to attend my dear grandpa Otis' funeral. He was such a character and loved to be around children. He always had little gifts and gadgets for the kids when ever we saw him. Since, we moved to Utah he would send little packages to the kids. We are going to miss those little surprises in the mail, but we will always remember our dear grandpa Otis.

Grandpa Otis and Carter at his 1st year birthday party. Grandpa didn't look any older, but Carter has definitely changed through the last 8 years.

During our visit to Idaho we got to visit with most of our family there. We even took a little detour off our route and visited with my sweet grandma Elsberry. She is my last living grandparent left and we just couldn't leave Idaho without stopping in to see her. She was so excited for the visit from us. We had some good laughs like always.

We also appreciated our visits to our parent's house/grandparent's homes and saw them for a short time before we headed back to Utah the same day. It was a long drive with 10 hours of driving in one day, but it was well worth it to be able to see everyone and attend the funeral. We were glad that we could fit it in and be back to celebrate Ashlynn's birthday the next day.

Mother's Day

I am so lucky that I get to be the mother of these cute and adorable children. They teach me each day to take in the simple things of life. Our days can be busy and rushed but, they always seem to have fun and laugh a lot. Our favorite days are when we can spend time with each other being silly and having fun as a family.

They made me cards and dish towels with their hand prints on them and washed my car. It was so sparkling clean and smelled yummy with the new car freshener placed in it. I was mostly surprised by my new reading tablet. They get to enjoy it as much as I do.

I also would like to take a moment to recognize all those women who are inspirational to me and my kids even if they don't have children of their own yet. There are some great women that show pure love to me and my kids and are good role models for all. Happy Day to all women!