March Madness!!

*Warning: this is a pretty long post!!

We had a crazy month!! March was full of events, and they all took place in the same week!!!!

Blake's Birthday

First, was Blake's birthday. On Thursday March 4th, Blake turned 6. That morning I packed up Damon and Ashlyn and we headed to Blake's school with cupcakes in hand. Blake was excited to see us and so were his classmates. (because we had cupcakes of course!) The class sang happy birthday to him, which he hated, (I know this because the first thing he said when he got home from school was that he hated it!) then I passed out cupcakes and the kids devoured them. (why is it that being in school suddenly makes you starve?) Anyway, that evening at 6, we had a birthday party at Leo's Place. He had alot of friends come. (Dallin, Cade, Carter, Hailee, Ellie, Drew, Lexi, Ashlyn N., Seth, Sydney, Charlie, Max, Ashton, all of their parents, Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Dad, Ashlyn, and Damon. And we wanted to invite more, but I was a slacker at handing out invitations.)If you look at this cake, then go and look at my post of last years birthday, you will see that it is the exact same cake. Once again he wanted a Star Wars theme, and this is the only cake I could find Star Wars.

Then to continue on Blake's birthday celebration, we had a "family party" on Saturday. We don't normally do 2 parties, but all of our family came into town that weekend for the baby blessing so we decided to have another. Once again at Leo's Place! (Idaho Falls just does not have alot of options) It was also my sister Aja's little girl Joslyn's 2nd birthday so we had a double celebration. We took some still photos with our new digital camcorder, but I have yet to figure out how to retrieve those photos so I don't have pictures from Saturday's party.

Ashlyn's Dance Performance

After the birthday parties, Ashlyn had her very first dance performance. She was WAY excited for this. She just barely started taking dance in February, and LOVES it! She practices her dances all day everyday, and will not turn down a chance to perform for anyone who is willing to watch. (So if you are in the mood for some cheap entertainment, come on over!) She was able to perform 2 dances. The first one is a jazz dance. (so cute!) Some how I did not get any pictures of her in this dance outfit. Also, Terry was incharge of taking the video of it, and somehow pressed pause right as the dance was starting without knowing it, so we didn't get the dance recorded either. UGH! Oh well, she has another recital in May, so we will be sure to get it then. The second dance is a ballet dance. This one Terry had to do with her. It is really sweet. Here are a few of pictures of our star performers after they did their dance...

I have been trying to upload the video of their dance all day long, and have finally given up. I don't know if it is too big of a file or what, but I am really frustrated now! Oh well, maybe Terry can figure it out for me and I can add it to this post later.

My sister just posted a new blog, and this picture of Ashlyn in her jazz dance costume was on it. Being the good aunt that she is, she must of snapped this picture of her, so I decided to steal it off her page. Thanks Jenna!

Damon's Blessing

Last but not least, was Damon's bably blessing. We were really glad that most of our family could make it down. Both of my sister's and their families along with my brother and parents were able to come. Terry's parents and one of his brothers and family made it, but unfortunately his brothers from Atlanta and Washington couldn't make it. We were able to bless him then come back to my house for a luncheon. It was really good to see and visit with everyone. Here are a few pictures from our day...

The man of the day with his Daddy.

My friend Jeni made this little tux for his big day. She makes and sells these for really cheap. She also makes them in black for weddings. Sizes newborn to 12 months. If you want one for your little guy let me know and I can get you her info.

All the guys who participated in the blessing.

Our family.

Us with our parents.

So, as you can see, we had a really busy week! It was alot of fun but I am glad it is over. It was stressful making sure not to forget anything for each event. Now in May we have Ashlyn's birthday and a second dance performance to look forward too.

Little things...

A friend of mine did this on her blog, and I thought it was such a cute idea, so I decided to copy her an make a list of the "little things" that I LOVE...

♥ I LOVE that Damon thinks everything is funny all the time.

♥ I LOVE that Ashlyn loves to sing and dance all day long.

♥ I LOVE that Blake "secretly" loves Damon when he thinks noone is watching.

♥ I LOVE that Terry has never minded when the kids wake him up in the middle of night cause they had a bad dream or a leg ache.

♥ I LOVE that my kids' most favorite thing to play is wrestling with Mom and Dad.

♥ I LOVE that I have sisters whom I have never fought with, even when I was little.

♥ I LOVE that I have a brother so much younger than the rest of us that we could dress him up in our dance costumes without fear of repercussions.

♥ I LOVE that I have been blessed with such amazing friends and family.

♥ The little things do matter most ♥

Random Pictures

If you can't tell by my lack of exciting blogs, we really haven't been up to a whole lot! I am happy to just stay at home and do absolutely nothing these days! Mostly because it is way to hard to venture out of the house with all three kids. Well, I have a very busy week this week, (Blake's birthday, Ashlyn's dance performance, and Damon's blessing) and I know there will be plenty to blog about after this weekend, so I thought I would hurry and post a few random pictures that have just been taken around the house. (otherwise they will probably never get posted.) So here are some of our random "doings" around the house...

My little ballerina!

Ashlyn just barely started dance class. She LOVES it! Right now her class is learning three dances. She gets to do a ballet, jazz, and hip hop dance. (yes, you heard me right, my three year old will be doing hip hop... I find this to be hilarious!) And they are also doing tumbling during class time, but they won't be learning a dance in that category. She is soo cute at her dance lessons. She has a huge smile on her face the whole time, and is always looking my way to make sure I am watching. And to top off her cuteness, I bought her a little pink leotard with a little sheer skirt that goes over it. Everytime we put it on her she says, "Daddy and Blake will think I am so beautiful!" BUT... the best part of all is, Terry gets to do her ballet dance with her!! HAHAHA! The dance is to a song that a man is singing about dancing with cinderella, so all of the dads have to be on stage and dance with their little girls. It really is actually pretty cute! When I was asking Terry if I could sign Ashlyn up for dance, I already knew that the dads had to participate, so I wasn't sure if I should let Terry know right away, but I decided I better tell him and believe it or not he has been a really good sport about it. I didn't have to convince him at all, he just agreed right away. (He has a pretty soft spot for Ashlyn!) Well the other night they had their first "Daddy practice", so I made sure to have the camera on hand. Below are the pictures I got of Terry and Ashlyn dancing... (Please ignore the picture quality! I have a pretty cheap camera, but can usually get decent pictures, so I am thinking that I must have had the camera on the wrong setting. Sorry!)

Damon's 1 month pictures

I took Damon to get his 1 month pictures taken. I was kind of disappointed in them. I took him to JC Penny's to get them done. I like going there cause they are really cheap, and I have gotten Blake and Ashlyn's done there before and they turned out great. But this time I was not impressed at all. I hated the background options, and I really didn't have much to choose from as far as good pictures. Although, Damon is not a very happy baby, so I can't really blame the picture options on the photographer. He always has this grumpy look on his face. So anyway, here are some of the pictures we got. The first one is my favorite even though he isn't looking at the camera. Maybe we can get some better ones at his next photo shoot!! (I still think he is pretty darn cute anyways!)

This was the only naked picture that I thought looked even a little good... He is about to cry in this picture.

Ashlyn's Handy Work!

So, I have been downstairs taking down all of the Christmas Decorations. Meanwhile, Ashlyn decides to get onto the computer without my knowledge, where my email is still pulled up. Somehow she manages to copy the information that was up, logon to my blog, (which by the way was NOT already pulled up), and paste the information that she has copied into a new post, and then publish the post! How do kids figure these things out?? I am just lucky, cause who knows what kind of emails she could have sent out!!! (By the way... disregard any weird or unusual emails that you may have gotten from me!!!) Below is the actual post made by Ashlyn. (yes, it is just a bunch of nonsense, but when I was her age, if I had stumbled upon a computer, the only thing I would have managed to do is push the button that turns the computer off.) And please, keep your fingers crossed for me that she didn't send any emails out!!!!

Juno Message Center: "Home Mail Address Book Loading ...
aubrey8676@juno.com Switch User
Your Weather Return to Classic Email Sign Out Check Mail Compose New SearchInboxDraftSentTrash (10)EmptyJunk MailEmptyMy FoldersAddMy FoldersAdd FUNNYInform...import...my res...pictur...recipe... (49)Create a New Email Address for FreeGeneralPersonal InfoRead /ComposeVacation ResponderJunk Mail"

Christmas 2009

We had a pretty good Christmas this year. On Christmas Eve we had Terry's parents over for dinner and to play games. The kids got to open one present. (Which were new pajamas. They get new jammies every year on Christmas Eve. Damon also got his very first Christmas Ornament.) Late that night my mom, dad, and brother Ricky came in to town from Utah. Then on Christmas morning we woke up around 7:30 and found all of the goodies that Santa left for us. We opened all of our presents and then had a yummy breakfast. Later we had Terry's parents back over to spend the day with all of us, and to enjoy our yummy Christmas dinner. We had a lazy, yet fun day. Unfortunately I didn't get a ton of pictures, but here are a few...

Here the kids are taking off the last ring for our Christmas countdown.

Excited to open their first present Christmas Eve.

Showing off their new jammies.

I had to get a close up of Damon in his.
Damon Christmas morning being attacked by the puppy Santa left him.

Ashlyn posing with her new things.

Blake with his.

Me with my favorite present!