Birthday photos

Ashlen turns 2

She has arrived at the fun age of 2!!! She woke up on her birthday morning crying up a storm. She was definitely in a bad mood. I was a little worried, the terrible two's can't start immediately can they? We decided to take a long walk after taking the kids to school and that seemed to help. We went to the pond and saw the baby ducks, always cute, and by the time we got home she was very happy.


When Brent got home we had a little party with a cake and some gifts. She was pretty excited to see her cute girlie things. Brent rolled his eyes at yet another baby doll. You can never have to too many as far as i'm concerned. The kids were very sweet to her, she is so loved by everyone, she is a lucky little girl to have brothers and a sister so in love with her. Here are a few pictures of the event.

Ashlen swimming

Ashlen loves to swim in the hot tub. The pool is still a bit too cold. Lauren and I took her in the other day, she was hilarious, she loves to lay on her back and float.

Ashlen

For about the 10th time today Ashlen has emptied all her clothes out of her drawers. It is getting old, she does it daily. I taught her how to put them back in, so she is stuffing them all back into one drawer and then taking them out again. In out, in out, what will she be when she grows up, maybe a mail lady. She is so serious about her task as well. Here they go again, all dumped out on the floor. I am already tired and it is only 10 am.

This past week Austen received his tenderfoot and 2nd class award for scouts. Our church had a court of honor and they held it outside with a campfire and the 11 yr. old scouts dressed up as indians. It was a little weird for me, scouts is a bit much, but we need that Eagle according to Brent. I just don't get all the ladies that get into scouts, they were dressed head to toe in that ugly brown and green and they wanted to be one of the guys. Isn't is boy scouts for a reason. Hope I am not offending anyone but I just don't follow how hanging out with a bunch of men and boys doing scout stuff sounds like fun. Now give me girls camp anyday, i love that.

Peyten has a tournament is Austin this weekend and so just he and I are going. Lauren has a volleyball tournament here and so Brent will be here with the other kids. Hopefully Ashlen won't get lost in the shuffle. We could just stick in front of her dresser drawers all weekend and she would be occupied.

I filled up my bird feeder yesterday and today I noticed it was empty. Guess the birds enjoy it. It must be like having icecream to them after eating bugs and worms all the time. Yuck!!! I am glad I am not a bird, I think I would like to be my cat though. she has quite the life and everyone loves her. The whole street claims her as their cat. My one neighbor told me in the middle of the night my cat jumped on her in bed. She doesn't know how she got in her house and it scared her to death. Lily just wanted to snuggle. She is a bit upset with me cause I shaved her a few weeks ago and it always hurts her ego until it grows out a bit.

Dallas

Lauren, Ashlen, and I took a little trip up to Dallas to visit Shellee and her family. We had a great time. Lauren and Makenna have been around each other since birth and Shellee and her family are as dear to us as family. I also got to see one of my old neighbors Kathy Beck and even went to her son Travis' baseball game. It was fun to see how much he has grown. I do miss living in Dallas, but love Houston just as much. We didn't get home last night until 11 pm. We had a hard time dragging ourselves away from all the fun. The highlights had to be when Scott, shellee's husband, watched Ashlen and their son who is the same age, both friday and sat. night so we could go out without them. He fed them, bathed them, and put them to bed!!! I was very impressed!!!! Thanks Scott. Another Highlight was when Papa Burt made us a yummy breakfast sunday morning and Lauren told me she ate 6 waffles. The look on her face was one of pleasure and pain, with a bit of syrup running down her chin. Thanks Shellee for a fun weekend.

I must also Thank my sister Angela for keeping me safe on the way home. I was getting sleepy so I called her and we talked for over an hour, which got me home. I love cell phones, and I love that weekends are unlimited minutes.

other things that I love:

I love Ashlens smile, when she smiles big her eyes almost disappear and her little lips are yummy.

I love Brent, he is sooooo cute and sweet to me. He lets me do whatever I want and he loves eating cereal for dinner.

I love snuggling with my boys. Every morning Peyten crawls in bed with me while he waits for Austen to get out of the shower. I love to kiss his freckles on his nose.

I love Austens skinny legs and green eyes,

I love when the birds eat out of the bird feeder.

I love it when it rains in the night.

I love talking to my dad on the phone.

I love it when Lauren calls me on her cell phone right when she gets out of school to tell me hello.

I love my niece Olivia's cute little voice and her little butt.

I love all of my nieces and nephews, they are all such good cute kids.

I love all of Brents sisters, they are so great.

I love the way Donna cooks, and how sweet she is to my parents and putting up with them being so close.

I love that my brother Andy became a dentist, he is truly an inspiration and an amazing father.

I love that Rachelle married Andy and helped him become who he is today. I really admire their amazing marriage.

I love my PJ's.

I love my sleep number bed. My number is 35 an Brents number is 45.

I love being a Mormon, it is a great conversation starter here in the south.

I love donuts and Mexican food. I like it spicy, I like all things Spicy!!!!!

I love that I am still 25!!!!!!!

I love this blog

What a weekend...

It has taken me all week to recover from the weekend, and today is friday and it is starting all over again. Lauren had a huge volleyball tournament this past weekend. It was down at Reliant Stadium, where the Texans play, and there were 109 teams in her age group. There were also 6 age groups so if you can imagine a huge building full of about 1,000 teams. It was very loud!!! There were teams from all over the US there, Lauren and I watched the number one 18 yr. old team play,they were from Arizona and they were awesome. I was imagining Lauren playing at that level someday, hopefully. Her team didn't do so great, but Lauren gave it her all. At one point she served 14 times in a row. She has a wicked serve. All in all it was fun,my ears were ringing at the end of the weekend due to the noise of the whistles and girls yelling.

Peytens baseball team came in 2nd in their tournament again this weekend. He had a sweet hit to the fence that scored two runs and got him to 2nd. He made so great plays in the field as well, making a diving catch and throwing someone out at home. He went to church with eye black on his eyes, didn't notice it was still on until we sat down.

Austen had a basketball tournament and his team placed 1st. I didn't get to see any of the games due to the other kids games, but he played great Brent said. He is the point guard, due to his speed, but is also a great shooter. He also played in a flag football game as well and they won. He plays quarterback for the team, it is made up of kids on his tackle football team. I think the idea is to keep them thinking football and get them ready for the fall.

Ashlen is in the tub right now yelling for me to get her out. I think she has been in there too long. Lauren, Ashlen, and I are going up to Dallas to visit my friend Shellee for the weekend. The boys are going to Roundrock for Austens baseball tournament. I need to run and get ready to go. I am picking Lauren up from school early so we can beat the nasty Dallas traffic.

Chow for now

Strawberries...

I took Ashlen to the sitters today and got all geared up to pick strawberries at this big orchard about 40 minutes away. By the time I got there it was pouring down rain. I sat in the car for a while, got out and wrapped a towel around me, then decided that strawberry picking should be done in the sun and not the rain. I got back in the car and drove home. Guess I will try again next week. The season here in Texas is early so in about two more weeks they won't be good anymore. After that the yummy blackberries are ripe. I love to make freezer jam and have lots frozen and handy for when the kids want smoothies. I do miss Oregon and all the great produce that you can get there. I should take advantage of Ashlen being gone and get some stuff done around the house, but...

Ok, I forgot how funny it is when young kids first learn how to talk and they copy everything that you say. Ashlen likes to do this and the kids have caught on that she will repeat anything!!!! The boys have taught her how to say words like, Poo Poo, Pee Pee, basically words they think are hilarious. She goes around saying these words now, not so cute when it's been said 50 times in a row. She also makes hilarious faces and when she gives you a dirty look and scrunches her eyebrows down she looks like Oscar the Grouch cause her eyebrows are so dark and think. She is not even one yet and she has a unibrow I have to shave it every once in a while.

Pictures from our trip

It's about time to write another blog

Lots has happened in the last month so I will summarize:

We went to Utah and Idaho for spring break.

The kids and I skied one day at Snowbasin, well, I skied the kids snowboarded.

We got to stay with Angela and Mike in their new house in the Mountains. It is so beautiful there.

My kids love playing with their sweet cousin Olivia, she is so adorable.

After Utah, we drove to Idaho to see the Idaho cousins.

Peyten didn't change his clothes the whole time we were in Idaho except to go to church. I think he was too cold.

We stayed up way too late and ate way too much good food.

Easter was fun with the cousins, I especially loved watching Kru walk around in his new flippers he got in his basket.

For more info on the trip you can read my sister Angelas post, she is better at the details.

Back to reality here at home when we got back. I started working on getting my back stronger so I can do all the things I love to do, which is for now being able to function as a normal person. I want to be able to golf again and work in the yard and stand in line if we ever go to Disneyworld again. The pain is pretty much gone, except at night my lower leg will ache a bit, but not bad. That's the good thing about being in hellish pain, when you get back from it, you can stand most anything else.

The kids are really busy with their spring sports. Lauren has had a volleyball tournament almost every weekend and has about 3 left until summer league starts. She is playing well, her position is middle hitter and that is for sure her strongest skill. she can pound the ball when she gets a great set. She is fun to watch, I love her competitveness, it is exciting. Austen and Peyten are both doing well in baseball. Austen plays 2nd base and Peyten plays 3rd as well as 2nd. We still have a lot of baseball to come as the season is through the end of July. I am enjoying it more and more as the boys get better and the competition gets to a higher level. Poor Ashlen gets stuck with the babysitter most of the time. If I was to bring her to any of the games I wouldn't be able to watch a thing. I am sure she enjoys being able to stay home and play with her toys anyway.

Ashlen is sick for the first time since we have had her. I took her to the doctor yesterday and she has an ear infection. She just was very congested and not herself. She has spent most of the morning crying, now she is in the tub being happy. The weather is so perfect here, we will take a walk later.

Brent is out of town for a few days for the Spring Car show. Hopefully Ford can get it together and get some new products out that people will want to buy. They are coming out with a new SUV called the Ford Flex and it looks awesome. I am going to get one of those this summer to try.

Ashlen is crying again so I need to get her out. She hates the medicine that she has to take so that is a nightmare trying to get her to swallow it. Good thing she only takes it twice a day for 10 DAYS!!!!!!!