Riley kitty

This past Saturday was a very hard day for Deb. After many, many poop and pee dilemmas with Riley kitty we had to take him to the Humane Society and hope someone can adopt him. He has not adjusted well these last two years since we've brought home a new baby and dog. All he does is hide under the bed all day than poop and pee in crazy places just to let us know how ticked off he is. I've had him since he was just a new kitten and it was hard to make the final decision. I hope the Human Society can match him up with someone who had no other animals or kids, he is much better off being the center of attention.

Christmas Cookies

The finished product
So much mess to be made:)
Uncle Craig and Ash
Deb's brother came over and had Ashley help him make and frost some sugar cookies for Christmas. She had lots of fun and even took time to rearrange some of Mom's cabinets while she was sitting on the counter! She was very proud to eat her final product..however she was unable to finish it due to all the frosting/cookie dough dipping that took place during the process.

I'm a big girl now!

Here is a picture of Ashley sleeping in her new big girl bed. We put her down for a nap and that was it! She doesn't try to get out of bed and she is sleeping through the night. Now if I can just kick the binkie habit.......

Thanksgiving weekend

We enjoyed a very nice dinner at Deb's parents house with her brother Craig and his boyfriend Ian. Ian lives in London...so he flew a long way for my Dad's famous mesquite smoked turkey! On Friday Dave braved the Black Friday rush and went to Best Buy to purchase a new laptop computer for $350. He entered the line at 4:15am and it was already a few hundred people long. The store opened at 5am and Dave managed to get the computer he wanted, then waited another hour and a half to pay for it. Deb and Ash slept at home peacefully during all the madness. It is definitely worth losing some sleep for a laptop that is half price off, however Dave pointed out that people in general are so pushy and rude trying to get every last thing they want. It definitely ruins the spirit of Christmas:( Deb shopped off and on the rest of the weekend and we also managed to get Christmas lights up before the snow falls. Deb set up all the decorations inside and Ash took them down as quickly as she could reach them. Needless to say our tree this year has only 2 boxes of shatterproof ornaments, which are all clustered on the bottom right side of the tree right where Ash "help" put them. It's definitely not an entry for the Festival of Trees however it was fun having Ash help and you can't help but laugh every time you look at the tree!

Disney On Ice

Last week Dave and Deb's parents took Ash to see Disney On Ice downtown. Deb and her parents rode TRAX with Ash and Dave met us there after work. As you can see she loved sitting next to her Papa on the train. At every stop she stood up and said "All done!" thinking it was time to get off. The seats were great and cheap being opening night..only $12 a piece and we just passed Ash from lap to lap. We let her drink Sprite which I think may have been the highlight of her night other than seeing Mickey and Minnie. We had our picture taken with Woody and Buzz and we had to pry Ash off of them for one quick pic...she wouldn't stop hugging and kissing them everywhere. This was our second Disney On Ice production and it was lots of fun!

Ashley's 2 year stats

Last week was Ashley's 2 year check up. She is 36 1/2 inches tall, 95th percentile and 29 pounds, 75th percentile. She has been these pecentages consistently since she was born....thanks Daddy for the height!! She didn't even cry when she had her flu shot...she was more interested in taking the band aid off and on and saying "ow Mom". She is really a good kid overall. As any typical 2 year old, she wants to do everything herself and screams NOOOOOOOOO very loudly when I attempt to help in any way. She still loves to play peek a boo and her favorite videos are Toy Story 1 and 2 and Cars...which guarantees us 88 quick minutes of quiet when we need it! She is enchanted with the whole process of going potty, but mostly likes to do the motions just because Mommy and Daddy do it. She is still aways from connecting when she has to go to actually going on command. I've resorted to being one of those mothers that let's Ash watch cartoons on the DVD player in the car just so I don't have to hear "Mama" four hundred times a minute.....believe me my sanity is on the brink some days:) She is quite loving these days and loves to kiss and hug who ever she playing with at random...we soak this up as much as possible:) We still do Little Gym and she is adventureous, however she wants to do activities on her terms and isn't quite as willing as she used to be to perform on command during class. During the name game she refers to herself as "me"...cute. We are anxiously awaiting how she will react to her new baby sister in March...stay tuned!

Ashley's 2nd Birthday

Halloween

Fun Halloween activities

Feeding Dad cookie frosting
Baby goat trying to eat Ashley's costume

Gardner Village

Charly, Garrett and Ash

Trick or Treat!

We spent last weekend doing a few fun Halloween activities. We went Saturday day to our community Trick or Treat party with our friends Charly and Garrett. The kids ate lots of candy and burned it off with a long playground session. Later that night Dave and I took Ash to Garner Village to see the animals at the petting Zoo and take pictures with the Witch decorations...as you can see we have no Witch pics...Ash was not in the mood. Perhaps next year:) The petting zoo was fabulous! The animals..goats, pigs, bunnies, Llamas, dogs , donkeys, ponies etc. are all really friendly. One baby goat in particular thought Ashley had green leaves to eat on her costume and chewed any chance he could get! I think we will try to to go again to the petting zoo when it is not so crowded.

Ashley's 2nd year pics

Look at those eyelashes..still going strong!
Classic Ashley smile

So perfectly cute!!

Well here's few pics from our professional 2 year pics taken at JC Penny at Southtowne. Can I just say that now I remember why I never went back there after Ashley's 6 week pics. We went on a a Saturday and as I showed up they were already 45 minutes behind. I happened to run into a friend of mine who is scheduled ahead of me and still is waiting. Then she tells me she wants the barn background like me and Penny's told her as she showed up to her appointment that it was only available certain days of the week....now hold on just a sec. I scheduled my appointment online and it says nothing about that background being available on certain days. Not only that, when I scheduled I very specifically told them in the comments section which back ground I wanted (the barn).. Not only that but when they called to confirm they never said one word to me about my background not being available. So those of you that know me know that this was not going to fly and now I had my friend Trish on my side to back me up...her experience was just the same. As you can see we got our background but the photographers were super annoyed at having to spend 5 extra minutes changing the background...boo hoo. So we make it in for pics one hour after our scheduled time and Ash is just about to meltdown as it is close to lunch. We then have to wait another full hour before we get someone to help us view and pick our pics. Ash is really close to losing it at any moment and is touching EVERYTHING!! Then I go to check out and I had forgotten that Portrait club members do not get portrait sheets for $3.99, you must print the coupon off at home and bring it in to get that price. So I explained that I would come back later that afternoon with my coupon to re figure my order...$130 VS. $60 with the coupon. The girl helping me looked at me when I told her this and said..."seriously???" Do they really think I want to pay full price when all I have to do is go home and print out some dumb coupon to save 60% or more?? Needless to say this is why I prefer Kiddie Kandids even though their prices are way more expensive.

It's A Girl!!

Profile
Legs wide open...definitely a girl!

Last night we went to Fetal Studios and had an ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby. SHE was very cooperative and gave of lots of good images. Our heads are spinning a little at all the girly stuff that will overtake our home with two girls and Dave feels a little out numbered...but he is thrilled none the less! At least he still has Chaco and Riley on his side:)

Durango

Deb and Dave on the train
Train releasing some steam
Some of the beautiful Fall colors!

Dave and I took our annual Fall trip to Durango last weekend. We ride the steam train from Durango to Silverton every year, and the leaves did not disappoint. We flew into Grand Junction since there are no more direct flights into Durango and rented a Jeep. The drive is about 3 1/2 hours from GJT to Durango. You drive through gorgeous mountain most of the way. It was very cold this weekend but we were prepared and had lots of fun with just the two of us! It is amazing what 48 hours away from children can do to re-energize you:)

Disneyland!

Ash and cousin Alex
Alex, Gavin, Ash and Aunt Cathy ( Dave's sister)
Goofy's Kitchen
Cooling off in the splash zone

We had a fun trip last week to California. Ash and Deb stayed with Deb's Grandma who lives just 15 minutes from Disneyland. We met up with Ashley's cousins who are 5 and 3...it was their first trip to see the Mouse. We went on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Dave flew down Friday evening so he could join us Saturday, then the three of us flew home Sunday. It is so nice to go to the park off season!! The park is only open from 10am to 8pm but it is plenty of time because there are no lines! We did 2 character meals, one at Ariel's Grotto with Disney Princesses and one at Goofy's Kitchen for breakfast. I preferred Goofy's Kitchen... the food was much more fun for the kids than Ariel's Grotto. The best new ride is Toy Story Mania in California Adventure. Ash LOVES everything Toy Story so it was a big hit with her. She is almost 36 inches so we were able to take her on some big kids rides like the Matterhorn:) I wasn't sure how she would react, but she loved it and wanted to do it again. Ash is pretty fearless, with the exception of fireworks. She does not like any loud pops or bangs so gunfire and fireworks scare the heck out her and she cries huge tears. I'm sure she will grow out of it. FYI...Disney just announced that for the 2009 season you can go to Disneyland or Walt Disney World on your birthday for FREE!!! Who hoooo! You must actually go to the park on your birthday and show picture ID confirming your birthdate to get in for free. Go to Disney.com for more details and to register members of your family if you plan to go. When I told Dave about it he just rolled his eyes thinking about how many times we may end up going to Disney in the next year:)

POOP!!

Last night Deb went to work and Dave left Ash downstairs in front of Toy Story...her favorite movie. 15 or 20 minutes goes by and Dave goes downstairs to check on Ash and smells something funny...as he gets closer to Ash he realizes she has poop all over her hands and all over her clothes! She had very runny poop and put her hands down her pants to see what it was all about. Dave had to pick her up to get her upstairs to the bath and ended up with poop all over him! One hour and 2 baths later everyone was in PJ's and sleeping with no further pooping! Poor Daddy:)

Nana and Papa -Deb's parents

Nana, Grandma Gertrude, Ash and Deb
Grandma Gertrude age 96!!!

I spent last week in Seal Beach CA with my Grandma and my parents to celebrate Grandma's 96th birthday! She is still driving and living on her own...amazing. I hope I inherit those genes!

We even managed to squeeze in some time at the beach. The is a great inlet 10 minutes from Grandma's house that had no waves and lots of sandy beach. It is perfect for little ones' then they are not afraid of the ocean. It also has a great playground.

Ashley August 2007
Ashley August 2008

Every year we go to Island Park Idaho for a week long stay with Dave's family in a large cabin. Believe it or not we manage to share this cabin with 15 people and only one bathroom!! Showers are a rare luxury during the week:) Each year I've taken a picture of Ash on the backyard swing set to see how she has grown up....so fast! We spent the week fishing, swimming in Firehole River in Yellowstone, rafting Henry's River and watching lots of movies. We share cooking duties and clean up duties and we had a great time as always.

Exciting news!

Dave and I are happy to announce that we are having another baby! So far I feel fine, just tired. I am sitting on pins and needles until I hit 6 weeks because that's when the morning sickness hit with Ash. Hopefully I'll be luckier this time around! We are due March 28th 2009, but will schedule my C-section as soon as the Dr. will let me:)

Ashley's new toy

Last night while Deb was getting her hair cut, Dave bought Ash a kitchen set to play with and spent 2 hours putting it together. she loved it so much she threw a huge fit at bedtime when we made her quit playing and go to bed.

Weekend in Capitol Reef

We spent last weekend in Capitol Reef where Dave's parents have a cabin. On Saturday we drove to Calf Creek campground/picnic area to enjoy the shallow wading and swim with Chaco. Sunday we drove up the Boulder mountain to Donkey Lake and let Chaco swim freely after throwing the ball in the water many, many times! The cousins, Alex and Gavin came down Saturday so we had a FULL cabin Saturday night with 9 people..lots of fun.

Look at that face!

A rare moment of peace in the car! Mom was thrilled:)

4th of July

Ash and the cousins
Munching on a banana
Jenny Lake hike
The BBQ
Ash and Alex, our cowgirls

We had a great 3 day weekend in Jackson Hole WY with Dave's brother and his family. We shared a 2 bedroom condo and the kids had a blast! We spent the 4th just goofing off in Jackson then watching the fireworks that night at the base of the mountain. Ash cried loudly for the first 20 minutes then slept the last 10 min. She loved the fireworks at WDW 2 months ago...go figure. On Saturday we took a boat across Jenny Lake to hike to the waterfall then went to a covered wagon BBQ. The wagon, pulled by horses takes about 30 minutes to get up the canyon. You then are dropped off at an outdoor dinner theater to eat all you can and sing cowboy songs. It was so much fun to see the kids with the horses and we even saw a few wild Indians!! The only sad part to the trip was Deb felt achy/feverish the whole time. It ended Saturday night with a fever of 102.5 and 12 hours of Tylenol induced sleep. It was a fun trip I just wished I had felt better:)