Augason Adventures

Easter Pics

2011-05-01T11:28:00.001-07:00

Easter 2011

2011-05-01T10:28:00.001-07:00

This Easter was just as much fun as the last. Each year I really look forward to watching the girls run furiously to find all the Easter eggs the bunny has left. This year Ashley kept up with her cousins ages 5 and 7. I could barely get her to stop for pictures she was so focused. Maddie really picked up the idea once we pointed out where the eggs were...she insisted on picking them up herself or she'd scream at you.."Nooooooo!" This year all of Dave's family came down to his parents cabin (in Capitol Reef Utah). We rented a one bedroom cabin with a kitchen that is just at the end of his parent's property. The rest of the family opted to camp out in tents....in the RAIN and SNOW. Glad it wasn't me:) We drove on Saturday to a special place called the Donut Hole for a picnic and hike. You climb up the side of a steep rock, and when you get to the top you are overlooking a huge donut hole filled with the softest sand. You attach a climbing rope to the rock and shimmy down into the hole. Ash was so tough climbing all by herself to the top of the rock and Dave helped her shimmy down the rope. Dave carried Maddie all the way up the rock then helped her shimmy down as well. We arrived back to the cabin around 9pm and quickly dyed a few Easter eggs before the kids collapsed into bed. On Sunday, we started the egg hunt around 11am, then had a wonderful ham dinner around 2pm. All the campers packed up to go home, but we stayed Sunday night and made a leisurely trip home to SLC on Monday. We drove home via Goblin Valley and made a quick stop to see the funny looking rocks. It was raining so we opted not to take the girls out of the car for a quick hike.
We had a great time visiting with Mike and Katie and Baby Taylor. She is now 7 months old and loving her baby food. She is also very motivated to move and should be crawling shortly. She scoots on her tummy on the floor to whatever she wants. She is always so happy and smiley, and was so good all weekend.
Thanks again Grandpa and Grandma Augason for all your hospitality:)

Little Gym and Gymnastics

2011-04-30T15:49:00.000-07:00

January brought the close of Fall semester at Little Gym with Maddie and Mr. Braden our favorite teacher. It also brought the beginning a a 6 week community education tumbling class for Ashley. We bought Ashley her first leotard, and she changes into it almost everyday at some point. She did really well in class, watching a 4 year old try to do jumping jacks is good for laughter. Gosh darn it, she really tried!

Madison's 2nd Birthday

2011-04-30T15:30:00.000-07:00

I can't believe she is 2 years old already! I think she still has multiple personality disorder. One minute she is so happy and playing nicely...the next minute screaming wildly and throwing punches. She looks at me devilishly as she runs from me at the store, them screams like a banshee when I capture her and buckle her in the cart. She adores Ashley...as long as Ash let's her do whatever she wants and never steals her toys. She has become QUITE attached to her white blankie, "B" as she calls it "BB" for Binky. "B" gets dragged everywhere on the floor and accumulates roughly 2 pounds of dog fur daily, then she rubs her face in it and snuggles...ugh. When I try to steal it away to wash it she screams like a crazy person. I tried going to get a second one at Target, but they only had it in pink. I bought it anyway thinking the background color would not matter. I was wrong, evidently it is too clean, too pink and too pretty for her. Ugh again.
She is finally starting to eat well. She gained quite a bit of weight between 18 and 24 months. She refuses to use a high chair, so apparently food tastes better in a big girl chair with no bib. We are working to just use Binky at nap time and bedtime, so far 1 week in OK. Maybe total removal this summer:)
She has become enchanted with the training potty. When we are at home I put her in pull-ups with no pants and all she does all day is pull them down, sit on the potty, wipe with TP, and pull them back up....ALL DAY. No actual pee mind you...I suppose it is still too early.
I told Dave before she was born I wanted my second baby to be more snugly...now I'm eating my words. "Hold me" are Maddie's favorite words 24 hours a day. Makes it hard to get things done when she wants to snuggle all day.
Maddie, even though you can drive me crazy on any given day, you also make me laugh as you dance in circles with your eyes closed and sing your loudest to songs in the car and wave your arms like you are conducting a symphony. You are my sweet baby and I love you.
These photos are her professional 2 year pics from Foto Fly in Draper. For $80 you a get a CD with all the images to use as you please. They do a fantastic job!
The second slide show is photos of her party at our house with the family.

Valentines Day 2011

2011-04-30T15:11:00.000-07:00

Dave and Ash went to our annual HOA Daddy Daughter Date night at the community center. This year they danced, made candy bags and painted picture frames. Next year Maddie will be old enough to join them....Dave has always wanted a twosome;)!
Valentines morning we had heart shaped pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream...yummy.

New Years in Vegas 2010

2011-04-30T14:58:00.000-07:00

We always go down to Las Vegas for New Years. The weather is better and there is lots to do:)...This year the weather was COLD, and WINDY. We still had fun driving to the new Hoover Dam bridge, playing games at Circus Circus and visitng with Mike, Katie and Taylor since they did not come to SLC for Christmas this year.

Christmas 2010

2011-04-30T14:23:00.001-07:00

Christmas with both families close by can sometimes be CRAZY. Everybody wants time with us and the kids. We enjoy our families, however I want to start creating memories with just Dave and the girls....our own family traditions. This year we decided that for the 1st time we would stay home on Christmas Eve and just hang out in our PJ's, eat pizza and watch Christmas movies. Brilliant....until Deb got food poisoning. I started throwing up around 4pm and went to bed by 8pm and felt HORRIBLE. So much for our fun family night. Dave, bless him...set up everything for the next morning and was such a help. Thank you honey. By Christmas morning I was fine:) We had both sets of grandparents, Aunt Cathy and Grandma Gertrude up in the morning for breakfast, stockings and PRESENTS! The girls had a great time opening presents...and soon it was time for an afternoon snooze. After nap time we loaded into the car and headed to Dave's parents house for dinner, more presents and poker! We arrived home Christmas night around 11:30pm and happily slept late the next day, and stayed in our jammies all day.

Santa 2010

2011-04-30T14:09:00.000-07:00

We were lucky this year to visit Santa at Photo By Emilie's studio! He was there on a Saturday and we had our own 15 minutes with him while Emilie snapped some pictures. One week later we had a DVD of our pictures for $25 and some excitement for Santa's upcoming visit.

Christmas Activities

2011-04-30T13:42:00.000-07:00

My Dad works part time for Heber Valley Railroad, so were were able to ride the Polar Express Train this year during the dress rehearsal night before they open to the public. I bought the girls cute Christmas PJ's and we were off! Unfortunately it was about 45 minutes before the train left for the North Pole and Maddie was over the train seats in about 15 minutes. Even being able to walk around was not enough. We finally pulled out and they immediately brought out cookies and cocoa...a welcome distraction. A few minutes later Santa and Mrs. Claus appeared as we passes the North Pole..another welcome distraction. We stopped to tun the train around and it was downhill from there. Maddie was SO tired and cranky, I was coming down with a fever and a cold, and the train was so hot we had to pull the windows open. We left the train station to go get hamburgers for dinner then loaded everyone up and headed home. Maybe next year will be better:)
Ashley had her 1st preschool singing program. It was only 30 minutes long, but she participated really well and sang loudly...maybe Mom's passion for Drama is in her blood:)
We had a girls afternoon with Nana and Grandma Gertrude and frosted cookies for Santa right before Christmas. Maddie was more interested in eating the frosting by the handful than decorating. We had some great looking cookies that Santa ate right up Christmas Eve...way to go girls!

Thanksgiving

2011-04-30T13:31:00.000-07:00

We had a fun weekend with Mike and Katie and Baby Taylor coming up to visit for the long weekend. We ate dinner with Deb's family,then headed to Dave's family. Deb did a little Black Friday shopping, then we met friends for dinner at Cafe Trio without the kiddos. We put the tree up Sunday and, then the weekend was over.

Mickey's Halloween Party

2011-04-30T12:59:00.000-07:00

Ashley and I were lucky enough to fly down in October and go to the party at Disneyland. We stayed with Aunt Cathy (Dave's sister)and she joined us for the fun. When you buy the $50 event ticket it allows you enter Disneyland 3 hours before the event starts so you can have a little more fun for the price. The party went from 7pm to 12am, so we entered at 4pm. We rode a few rides, had dinner at the Golden Horseshoe, then headed over to Critter Country to get in line for the treats. Right at 7pm the candy lines open and you just wind you way between the candy stations and they give you huge handfuls at every stop. Not crap candy either...snickers, skittles, M&M's,twix...good brand name stuff....by the handful! We watched the special parade, visited with the princesses, then got in line for Mickey and Minnie. Then the fireworks started and so did Ashley's screaming. She has had a fear of fireworks all of her 4 short years, and tonight was no different. I immediate picked her and carried her over to a bench while Cathy waited in line to hold our spot. After 5 minutes of hysterical crying and screaming Ash looks at me and says, "Mom look how beautiful they are...they're not scary." And BAM, we are over our fear of fireworks. She watched the last 10 minutes, then we had our picture with Mickey and Minnie. Ash stayed awake until we left at midnight and fell asleep on the way home, what a trooper! Such a fun Halloween tradition, I hope we can go every year!

Halloween 2010

2011-04-30T12:41:00.000-07:00

We had lots of fun over the 2 day Halloween weekend. We went to Dave's work to trick or treat on Friday. Then we headed over to Atria to visit Grandma Gertrude and Grandpa Bill to trick-or-treat and parade in front of the residents. On Halloween day we made Dave's famous chili and had the grandparents and cousins over for dinner and trick-or-treating. As usual in Utah, it rained Halloween night and was about 42 degrees. We were chilled to the bone by the end of the night, but we had lots of great treats!

Fall Activities

2011-04-30T10:48:00.003-07:00

We did lots of fun things this Fall...my FAVORITE time of year! We saw the leaves in the mountains and hiked. We like to go to Silverlake right next to Brighton Ski Resort. It is beautiful lake with a neat wooden boardwalk that circles it. Makes for easy hiking with little ones who stumble easily. We went to Gardner Village to visit the witches,we also went to Little Haunts a kid friendly Halloween festival at This Is The Place Park. We went through a kids haunted house, heard a story read by a witch, petted baby farm animals, had our faces painted and trick or treated at each of the old historic buildings.

Ashley's 4th birthday

2011-02-28T15:33:00.000-08:00

This year I decided to downsize Ashley's birthday and only invite 3 other kids and their Mom's. It worked really well and it was nice to chat with everyone and not feel totally crazy with chaos. We had the party at Boondocks and we had a blast! We had Ashley's family party at home like we always do. This year she chose a Disney Princess theme...big surprise!
The big hit this year was the kid size jeep Dave bought for Ashley. He always wanted one when he was little and now that our red jeep is gone he has a chance to at least make the kids happy:)

View all

Get your own

Grandma Gertrude's 98th birthday

2011-02-17T17:17:00.000-08:00

We are so fortunate to have Deb's Grandmother living in SLC now. She lives at Atria in Sandy. By coincidence two of my old AXO girlfriends also have family at Atria Sandy AND Dave's Grandpa Bill moved there as well. It is a wonderful facility that gives elderly people the option to live in an assisted living situation or have their own apartment with different levels of help. I highly recommend this place if anybody is ever in need to find new housing for a loved one! Anyway we celebrated Grandma's 98th birthday this year, so exciting. We had a lovely dinner at my Mom's house and my Uncle Scott ( Grandma's son) and his wife Lucy came out from New Jersey to celebrate with us. The only people we really missed were Craig and Ian who are too far away in London:(

Ashley starts preschool!

2011-02-17T17:10:00.001-08:00

Ashley is starting preschool this year. She will be going to the Newcastle School in Draper on Tuesday and Thursday 8:30-11:30am. Her teacher is named Miss Debi and she has a daughter named Ashlee....what a coincidence!

London with Ashley

2010-11-14T11:39:00.000-08:00

How do I begin?? The trip over started with our flight from SLC to JFK. The in seat entertainment was broken...no kids cartoons. So I tried Go Go wireless on the laptop, it would stream for 15 minutes then stop for 15 minutes....aaargh. 5 hours, no kids movies, no nap. Flight from JFK to LHR. Ash falls asleep right after we take off. I mistakenly wake her when dinner arrives. All hell breaks loose, LOUD wailing, crying " I want to go home" " I want my own bed" " I don't want to go to London". One hour later still getting stares from other passengers...are you going to shut your child up anytime soon??? I finally lie to Ash and tell her that I will have the pilot turn the plane around and when she wakes up we will be back in SLC. We eat, she watches cartoons, we are only 3 hours from London and she only slept a total of 2 hours. I give her some Dramamine and she is out. I wake her when we arrive at LHR. More crying, wailing etc. " Hold me Mommy pleaseeeeee!" " I am so tired...my legs don't work!" We stand in the Customs line for 40 minutes before a kind Immigration Officer comes and pulls us to the front of the line. I think the other 700 people were tired of listening to her. Disaster.
Time change ended up not bothering her at all. In bed every night by 8pm, up at 8am no naps, just like home...aaaah:) My brother Craig cooked me wonderful meals every day. I drank wine with every dinner. Never had to wash dishes..I didn't want to come home:) We went to Legoland, rode the double decker bus, the tube, went to the playground everyday, the Sea Life Aquarium, visited Ian's sister and her family, visited Mark's Spencer Department Store and much more. Craig and Ian were great hosts and I can't wait to go back...perhaps just with Dave next time:)
We left one week later, flew from LHR to JFK. As we came closer to JFK to pilot announced were were going into a holding pattern...okay.....2 hours later "Well folks were are low on fuel so we are diverting to Newark to refuel, then we'll get new paper work and head back to JFK....thanks for your patience." Well we had a 3 1/2 hour layover in JFK....so much for that.
About 90% of the airplane missed their connection, we were all stranded until the next morning. Ash fell asleep again 20 minutes before we landed and I had to wake her up to get off the plane. More crying, more wailing....oh God here we go again. Yet again, the Customs Officials saved us by bringing us to the front of the line. I think the other 300 passengers were very grateful. We all shuffled over to Terminal 4 to find a comfy couch or bench. Once I had Ash settled she fell asleep immediately. 30 minutes later I felt so awful, nauseous, sweaty, yuck. I spent the next 4 hours running to the bathroom to vomit. Fortunately, I was next to lovely ladies from England who were willing to watch over Ash and our luggage, while I ran to the bathroom. They were true guardian angels.
Below is our slide show from London.

Legoland

2010-11-13T16:48:00.000-08:00

At the end of August I bid for a long (24 hour) overnight in Orange County, CA. It was over a weekend and the plan was to bring along Dave and the girls and visit Aunt Cathy (Dave's sister). After a horendous flight with Madison screaming for freedom, we arrived to sunny 72 degree weather. We piled into Cathy's car and headed to Legoland for some fun! After yucky traffic and a 2 hour drive to go 50 miles, we arrived. The rides are perfect for small kids and waits were not to bad for a Saturday. We left when the park closed at 8pm and both girls quickly fell asleep....sweet silence:) We stopped for gas right next to the hotel and Cathy's car battery died. She had it towed in the morning and all was well. Maddie still screamed on the flight home...just not as long as the way over. She is officially banned from airplane travel until she is two...unless she is traveling with Nana and Papa...they can have her:)

Katie's Baby Shower

2010-11-13T16:17:00.001-08:00

Back in June I hosted a baby shower for my fabulous sister in law Katie. She lives in Vegas so she came up for the weekend and we had the shower on Saturday the 19th. We had a great turn out of family and friends. Baby Taylor was born September 20th 2010, more pics of her later! We are excited to have a new cousin in the family, we love you!

Money

2010-08-25T13:02:00.000-07:00

This is a tough subject for many. We are spending around $1,000/month for food, gas, clothes and toiletries, diapers, cleaning supplies etc. Dave thinks it is too much. I want to know what everybody else spends per month and see if I am really overspending or we are about the same. If you feel comfortable leaving a comment for me privately I'd love some feedback on what your house spends...if not that's okay...Dave and I will still argue every month about who is right:)

Just a few random thoughts

2010-08-25T12:35:00.000-07:00

I very rarely blog about everyday life, but hey maybe someone out there wants to hear about it. Ash says funny things right now.." Mom don't step on cracks they break your back" She really does avoid every crack on the ground.. "Mom watch out for the muddles ( muddy puddles)" " Mom does she have ammonia (pneumonia)?" " Mom you are sooo beautiful" not funny but downright touching:)
Life has been a bit crazy with Ash starting preschool last week. She is in heaven and barely says goodbye as she bolts out of the car. She seems to be enjoying it so far and it is great for me to have some alone time with Maddie. I started Little Gym with Maddie yesterday, we are going to the same location I went to with Ash. The teacher, Mr. Braden is AWESOME and I think it is great for the kids to see a male role model for a change in this type of setting. I was practically in tears watching Maddie run around for an hour climbing on everything and smiling and giggling...she was so happy!!! Teething in my house has been rough the last 2 months. We are not giving her the binky like we did with Ashley to get through the day. Maddie only gets it at nap and bedtime...therefore my life is pretty much a scream fest all day long as she gnaws on her fist and even bites herself so hard she cries louder!!! Maddie is a screamer and I'm at my wits end!! Is it because she is the 2nd child and Ash picks on her all day or is it just Satan in my cute child's body and she has no control???
Here is a quick run down of our typical day on school days. I get up at 6:30am to shower and get ready, wake up ash at 7:15am, get her dressed, brush teeth and do hair ( but not like the Grinch she says..). Then I get Maddie up and dressed. We go downstairs, heat up 2 sippy cups of milk and feed the dog. We eat breakfast quickly so we can leave by 8:15am. I pick up Ash at 11:30am and we usually run one errand and get lunch somewhere. Maddie falls asleep on the drive home and I put her in her crib. She doesn't transfer well so she wakes up and plays until 2 or 2:30 pm then falls asleep again. I put Ash in her room to play quietly and watch a DVD while I nap for an hour and do any computer stuff I need to. Both girls out of room by 4pm. We have a snack and then I force them to go outside in the backyard while I start dinner. Some days they play really well outside together, other days they scream and cry every 5 minutes over toys. I feed the girls and eat with them around 5:30 or 6pm. Dave is home around 6:30-6:45pm. He entertains Maddie while I clean up the days dishes and load the dishwasher. I no longer do the dishes after every meal. I stack them during the day on the counter and load them all after dinner...this helps me feel like I'm not doing dishes all day in the kitchen. After cleaning up it's time to get the girls ready for bed around 7:30pm. Ash goes right down at 8pm now that we have cut out her nap. If your 3 year old fusses at bed time and doesn't go to sleep until 10pm it is time to give up the nap...I promise you that 1 week of cranky transition is worth it!!! By 10pm I am DONE for the day and go to bed to read for a few minutes before it's off to la la land.

Swim lessons

2010-08-13T09:31:00.000-07:00

This summer has lots of fun new activities for including swim lessons! We booked private lessons with Walkers Swim Kids, a company many of my friends have used. It's not cheap but we went 3 times per week for a month and 12 lessons later Ash is no longer fearful of putting her face underwater or floating on her back! She cried hard the first 2 lessons and screamed for me but I just turned the other way and by the third lesson she was over her fears. She even jumped off the diving board during a few lessons. I wanted to continue another 12 lessons but it is expensive and time consuming to do 3 lessons per week. We'll have to continue next year, then Maddie can do some lessons at the same time.

4th of July fun

2010-08-13T08:53:00.001-07:00

Well we did our annual trip to Jackson Hole this year for the 4th of July. My bright idea was to use our flight benefits and fly up to Idaho Falls both ways and have Dave pick us up there instead of spending 4 hours in the car with kids. The flight is only 30 minutes and the girls slept both ways. It is only another hour and a half to our condo in Driggs where we stay each year. I love free flight benefits:) The bad news about the trip is that both girls had bad colds and were pretty cranky the whole trip. The first night was very sleepless as Maddie could not be consoled not matter what. Ash kept saying "Mommy tell her to stop crying I'm tired!" We did manage to swim one day and ride the chairlift at Grand Targhee. We also did our annual hike at Jenny Lake to the waterfall, it is so pretty! The day of the 4th we went to Jackson to picnic and watch the fireworks. Maddie was dead asleep when they started but woke up and giggled and pointed. Maddie loved it......Ashley is still afraid. She didn't cry this time but she had earplugs in and sat with her eyes closed on my lap the whole time. We are making progress!

Maddie's BELATED birthday pics

2010-06-29T14:57:00.001-07:00

I know that she turned one on March 24th...however life gets busy and I'd still like to have a record of it on the blog. Enjoy. The following video is an example of why you never take cake from a baby on her birthday.....

Random kiddie pics

2010-06-29T14:36:00.000-07:00

I have so many fun pics that I've taken over the last few months that I wanted to share. Just a glimpse into our life with 2 girly girls who love each other one minute and are pulling each other's hair the next!

What happens when you let a 14 month old feed herself.......

2010-06-29T14:28:00.000-07:00

Let's just say that we do not get to eat yogurt or oatmeal in the morning if we need to hurry out the door...

Ashley starts softball!

2010-06-07T09:40:00.000-07:00

Treat time!!!

Throwing the ball

Learning some rules

Taking a "little rest"

We are super excited for Ashley to be learning how to play softball this year. She plays with her good friend Garrett and each week the kids rotate between stations for 10 minutes at a time and learn lots of fun new skills like hitting, running and catching. The last 2 weeks of the program will be a mock T-ball game, should be hilarious since all the kids are only 3-5 years of age.

Memorial Day Fun

2010-06-07T09:33:00.000-07:00

The Zoo

Allison and Maddie...7 months apart in age!!

We had a fun weekend without Daddy while he was camping in Canyonlands. We went to the Zoo on Sunday with Nana and then to the park. Nana hadn't been to the Zoo since we were kids and was surprised how much it had changed for the better. The weather was great and we even ran into Deb's friend from college, Alix. We had our friends Kate, Garrett and Allison over for dinner on Saturday.

Easter Pictures

2010-04-06T10:39:00.000-07:00

Last week I went and had a quick 10 minute session with a photographer that my friend Whitney recommended. They turned out great...so fun for the girls, and the bunnies were so mellow!

Toy Story and toy Story 2 coupons

2010-03-25T08:57:00.000-07:00

Hey all, go to http://disney.go.com/disneymovierewards/ and enter in your normal disney.com user name and password or just register if you don't have one. Then enter code 786936294507 to bring up a $10 off coupon for the toy Story blu-ray dvd combo pack. The code for Toy Story 2 movie is 786936294521. Toys R' Us has a sale this week that allows you to buy each movie for $16.99 if you buy both...use both coupons and walk away with the 2 movies for $13.98. Go to Walmart or Target with the Toys R' Us ad and have them price match if it is more convenient. Cheers!

$10 off coupon for The Princess and the Frog

2010-03-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

It's that time again, Disney is now consistently offering $10 off coupons for new release movies on to Blu-ray and DVD. Go to http://www.princessandthefrogcoupon.com/ and print off your copy! It is good March 16th thru the 21st 2010. The Blu -ray combo pack will cost you $16.99 with the coupon. What a deal!

Tubing at Gorgoza Park

2010-03-01T14:14:00.001-08:00

Little known secret..I love to tube when I'm not the one hiking up the hill! Yesterday we took Ash to Gorgoza Park in Parley's canyon for her first tubing adventure. You have to be a minimum of 3, so this is the first year we could take her. It was fairly warm up the canyon so the snow was slushier than usual , but perfect for Ashley's first time. They have 3 kiddie lanes for small kids ages 3-6 and 5 really long lanes for 6 years and up. Dave and I took turns going down the long runs which are quite a bit faster. Sorry Ash 3 more years till you can go faster and yell " Yee-Haw!"....Dave taught her that:)

WARNING: Video footage could make you feel sick:)

Potty Training success!

2010-03-01T13:56:00.000-08:00

Well I decided it was time to buckle down and get Ash out of diapers. She was waking up dry every morning and was telling me when she pooped and peed, but didn't ever care she had a messy diaper. Pure laziness on her part, sheer terror on mine to attempt big girl panties! A few random people recommended the book http://www.3daypottytraining.com/ so I took a chance and purchased it. It is a quick read and I decided that we would do it just like she recommended and see if it works. Well by golly this woman was right! In 3 days time we only had 3 pee pee accidents and no wet bed sheets!! Here we are 2 weeks later and we are officially potty trained. Ash took right to the the method of "keeping her underwear dry" and she is so proud of herself. Today we took a promised trip to IKEA where she could play in the kids play land for the 1st time now that she is potty trained. It was a quick hour that I spent with Maddie looking around then it was time to go get Ash. No accidents and she used their bathroom all by herself!! YEAH! I would highly recommend this method to people, she believes you can train kids as early as 22 months..so Maddie will get the same treatment this time next year..we'll keep you posted!

Daddy Daughter date night

2010-03-01T13:53:00.001-08:00

Here is a picture of Ash and Dave at our HOA's 2nd annual date night. Ash got a corsage, learned a new dance, decorated cookies and made a princess hat all with Dad's help. I think they had a great time and next year Dad will get 2 lovely ladies on his arm as Maddie will be old enough to go! Hubba hubba! Happy Valentines Day!

Highlite photos

2010-02-10T14:38:00.001-08:00

So I won a package from Highlite photography that included the sitting fee and 1 8x10 and 2 5x7 pictures. We had to redeem it by Feb 1st, so we used it to do family pics in December. The shoot went very well and the kids were great. We went back on January 4th to narrow down what we liked. As we finish narrowing down the pictues the gal says to me , "ok, here's our price list, the basic package starts at $599...." What the ???? I quickly reminded her that I won the package and was just looking to have just a few nice new photos of us. Long story short, we still walk out having to spend $192 for just 3 pictures, an 11x14 and 2 8x10's and 3 5x7's. Note to self...nothing is ever "free", they know you will get emotional seeing beautiful pictures of your family and then can stick it you by charging $50 for one 8x10. I think they take great photos...but a good lesson learned.

London

2010-02-02T10:46:00.001-08:00

Here are some of the photos from our London trip. Dave and I traveled over with my parents and we all had Business Elite seats on Delta from ATL to LHR. Talk about nice!! Lay flat seats, down pillows and comforters, individual toiletry kits with socks, earplugs, eye shades, lotion, toothbrush and toothpaste. For dinner we had 3 different appetizers, Crab Cakes and Steak and for dessert we had a cheese and fruit plate and an ice cream sundae. Warm rolls and nuts, wine, Mimosa's, you name it they had it. We ate like kings and then promptly fell asleep until they woke us for breakfast. The food was excellent and the service was terrible, but it sure beats economy!! I love my job perks!!
Once we arrived in London we took the tube (subway) to Craig's place where we visited and had a lovely Lasagna and salad for dinner. We crashed pretty hard around 9pm so we could get up early for our full day on Friday. We started the day at the Tower of London, where the Crown Jewels are on display and you can walk through a recreation of what medieval life was like in London. We had a great tour guide and the Crown Jewels are amazing. No crowds thanks to it being the off tourist season. Rainy and dang COLD at times! We headed over to Westminster Abby and Big Ben after lunch. We didn't go inside the Abby because it was another $18/person. We finished the day at Harrods department store. Dad and Dave headed to the pub in the basement while Mom and I ogled at all their clothes and weird specialty items. They have section called Pet Kingdom where you can buy a pet, its clothes, food, leash, potty, bedding, kennel pretty much anything you can think of. Crazy. Friday night we went to a great place called The Golden Hind for awesome fish and chips and mushy peas(not Deb's favorite).
Saturday morning we headed to the town hall for Craig and Ian's Civil Partnership ceremony. Sara, Ian's sister and I served as the witnesses and signed all the documents with the boys. It was a very short but touching ceremony. We then headed back to the flat for Chili, munchies and drinks. We then headed over to the British Museum for a few hours. It is so huge. It would take days to explore everything completely. We took a guided tour in the Ancient Egyptian Section and we spent most of our time there. The mummy's are fascinating. Later Saturday evening we met the wedding group (around 20 people) at Vinoteca for dinner. Craig and Ian has reserved the basement wine cellar and we had one large table all to ourselves. We drank and dined in candlelight until we could barely walk home. Good thing everybody walks in London, no need for designated drivers!! Dave went back to Craig's place until 4:30am ( does he think he is still 21???) while I crashed back at our room.
On Sunday I got up with Mom and Dad and we went to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guard. It is just one of the cheesy tourist things you have to do at least once. I probably would not go see it again but it was neat one time. Dave met us later in the day due to his late night adventures:) We then took a bus tour around the city which showcased the major highlights. It was about 2 1/2 hours but we saw everthing and got a great overview of the city for the next time we visit.
It is super easy to get around Lodon. The subway maps are very user friendly. First timers beware, there are no public toilets except in restaurants and museums. There are also no trash cans so you have to hold on to your trash until you arrive home or get where you are going. It is also not very kid friendly. Many subway stops do not have elevators, so you would need to carry your baby and the stroller up multiple flights of stairs. Hard work. I think I will wait to bring Maddie over until she walks fairly well on her own for long periods. Strollers do not work well here.
I just want to thatnk Craig and Ian again for all their hospitality and planning and advice on how to have great first trip...we did!! We love you guys and are so happy for you. We welcome Ian into our crazy family:)

Christmas Day

2009-12-30T13:08:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Nana

Look at all the Santa loot...wow are we spoiled!

Mom...hurry up..I want to open presents!

Ash at Dave's parents house

Christmas day at our house started around 8:30am thanks to the girls sleeping in late! We opened our stockings and had some breakfast then it was on to the tree for more presents. Ash was surprisingly grateful for all her gifts and it was joy to watch her open them. As the girls napped during the afternoon the adults watched Elf and cooked the turkey on the grill...yum yum. We stuffed ourselves silly then headed to Dave's parents house for more food and presents. Ash got a little restlesss waiting to open presents while the aduts cleaned the

kitchen...she is only 3:) We had lots of fun watching the 3 little ones open gifts and play with new toys. Then we headed to the basement for some serious Texas Hold Em. I never had a chance to play...perhaps next year! Maddie conked out about 9pm and Ash made it all the way until 10:30pm when we left. The day after Christmas is almost my favorite day because we don't shower and sit in frontof the TV all day in our jammies...bliss! That night we had a quick adult night out while Dave's sister Cathy watched the girls and went to dinner at Trio Cafe with some good friends of ours. I had the BEST cheese pizza, caesar salad and tomato soup EVER...a really great restaurant. We tried to hit a late movie but everything was sold out that night...so we went home and watched a video...again in our jammies:)

We are headed down to Vegas tomorrow to stay with Mike and Katie during the weekend this time WITHOUT kiddies!! My wonderful parents have agreed to watch them so Dave and I can have a little mini vacation without spending too much money:) Thank you Nana and Papa...we are so excited to sleep in for 3 mornings!!

Christmas Eve

2009-12-30T13:00:00.000-08:00

Reading the night Before Christmas

Look at those cheeks!

Oh joy...Santa is coming!

Yummy ribbon!

Playing trains with Papa

Christmas Eve this year was just like the last three...don't you love traditions?? We spend some time at Nana and Papa's before they go to church, then we head over Dave's Grandpas house for a turkey and ham dinner and a silly gift exchange. Then it is home to wait for Santa. Mike, Dave's brother, and his wife Katie alwasys stay with us and it is so fun to hang out together. After the kiddies were in bed we stayed up way too late watching the Hangover...very crass but very funny:)

Cookies for Santa

2009-12-30T07:08:00.000-08:00

Have you ever seen such pretty cookies???

Is it Rudolf or just Nana???

We had a fun night a few days before Christmas making cookies for Santa. Ash had a great time frosting the cookies and decorating them however she wanted. Santa ate both cookies we left him! It was a sucess:)

Halloween fun

2009-11-09T14:16:00.001-08:00

Cornbelly's
My sweet flower whose head is too big for the costume:)

Alex, Ash and Gavin or should I say Alice, Minnie and Iron Man

Our first pumpkin carving

Ash and Garrett

We did the annual trick or treat party at our community center with Kate and Garrett. We also had everyone stop by for chili and then trick or treating on Halloween. We actually ran out of candy at 7:45pm...I must be more prepared next year! We had one crazy adult dressed as Batman with his wife/girlfriend ring the door and the try to explain why he was asking for free candy on a kids holiday..I hope he doesn't live in our neighborhood...FREAK. We also had a fun Saturday at Cornbelly's with Whitney, Andrea, Cristol and the kids. The weather was so warm and wonderful..just really crowded because it was a Saturday. I actually lost Ashley for about 10 minutes and the kindness of strangers had me reunited with her at the information desk shortly. When I say shortly, it sure didn't feel that way as I am envisioning who took her and where she is going to end up dead...etc, etc. I was hoping to keep it our little secret till we came home and the 1st thing she says to Dave..." I get lost at Cornbelly's Daddy!!" Like she was proud or something..ooops. I had some explaining to do:)

More birthday fun???

2009-11-09T14:05:00.000-08:00

We has Ashley's family party at our house on Satuday the 24th. The kids were wild and she was completely obnoxious. She didn't listen to one word, had no interest in opening her presents and was as sassy as could be. Not exactly what I had pictured in my mind for her 3rd birthday. I guess you have good and bad days and this was just a bad one. Maybe next year will be better:)

Yo Ho Yo Ho a pirates life for me!

2009-11-09T13:52:00.001-08:00

Trying on our new outfits
Yummy cupcakes Mom

A visit from Captain Jack

Lookslike a party

Happy 3rd birthday!

We has a great afternoon at Pirate Island Pizza with out good buddies. It was pretty empty being a Wednesday afternoon. The food was good and the atmosphere was great. Thank you all for coming, we love all of you!

Binkie bye bye

2009-10-13T14:46:00.000-07:00

On a happier note, Ash gave up her binkie without a fight the day after we arrived home from WDW. The dentist told her it was bad for her teeth...thank you Dr. Dentist! She is still napping 2 hours a day and sleeping 10-12 a night..thank god one of my children needs to sleep like me! Mark my words...we will not go through this with Maddie's binkie...bye bye much sooner.

More sickness...

2009-10-13T14:43:00.000-07:00

Just when I thought 2 weeks was enough with sick kids, Maddie came down with a double ear infection. All the mucus from the RSV liked her ears evidently. We are on day 5 of antibiotics and are seeing some improvement. I JUST NEED ONE NIGHT OF SLEEP.....ahhhhhh:)

Sickness abound!!!

2009-10-06T16:51:00.000-07:00

We have been sick at our house now for 10 days running...pretty much since we came home from WDW. Ashley had croup and is now vomiting with diarrhea. Maddie was diagnosed this weekend with RSV. She has been so sick all she wants is to be held 24 hours a day..she barely has the energy to cry...it breaks my heart. She is choking on her mucus which makes her throw up her food, so it's been tough feeding her. Ash actually vomited on me the other day...whew I guess I'm due since this is the first time in her life she has thrown up!!! I've been lucky 3 years running:)

Snow White offer

2009-10-06T16:48:00.000-07:00

Hey all, my Mom clued me in to a great deal until October 9th. Go to www.snowwhiteoffer.com and print off a coupon that allows you to save $10 on the combo blu ray and regular dvd pack. Walmart is selling it for $20, so with the coupon you will only pay $10 for 2 copies of Snow White. Thanks for the tip Mom!

Father's Day

2009-08-21T20:47:00.000-07:00

Ash and cousin Alex

For Father's Day weekend we went down to Capitol Reef where Dave's parents have a cabin. On Saturday it rained almost all day so we took a long drive in the jeep and stopped to stretch when the weather cleared up. On Sunday Dave's parents watched the kids so that we could take out the ATV's for a little adult fun! This was Deb's first time riding one...what a blast!! Something about the open air on your face at 40 MPH is so exciting. We took a picnic lunch with a few adult beverages in the cooler and had lots of fun riding on the Sandcreek trail.

June Activites

2009-08-21T15:38:00.000-07:00

We spent the first weekend in June in Monticello taking a jeep ride one day with a nice picnic and frolicking in a creek the next. The weather was super cold for June...something like 50 degrees. The creek in Moab was much warmer. It was our first away from home weekend with Maddie...we didn't bring the play crib thinking she could just sleep with one of us. Needless to say she is very wiggly for just 2 1/2 months and we didn't really sleep either night!

Mother's Day

2009-05-13T11:02:00.001-07:00

Papa had so much breakfast he couldn't stay awake...
Grandma Gertrude, Deb, the girls and Nana

We spent Mother's Day at The Gathering Place in Gardner Village. They do a great buffet! We then came back to our house to open presents. Dave gave me a one hour massage...thanks honey! It was nice to have my Grandma up here. She just sold her place in California and we will be moving her up to SLC at the end of June. She will be living at Atria in Sandy, a senior apartment complex that cooks and cleans for her. We are excited to have her close by and see the girls grow up:)

Craig's graduation

2009-05-13T10:48:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to give my brother a big CONGRATS for graduating from the University of Utah last week. He majored in Gender Studies and minored in German. He just went back these last three semsters to finish up after being gone for 11 years. It has been a tough road to work full time and complete his courses..but he did it and on a full scholarship nonetheless! Here he is posing with his partner Ian. As most of you know he is getting ready to pack up and move to London to live with Ian. We are going to miss him terribly...thank goodness for my flight benefits:)

Happy Birthday to me....

2009-05-13T10:35:00.000-07:00

Ash and Aunt Cathy

The winner of American Idol 2009 is....

Playing on Pirate's Lair Island

Waiting for the gates to open.....

Ashley's favorite character

Ashley and Deb took a quick trip last week to Disneyland for Deb's 35th birthday. This year Disney lets you in free to the park of your choice for your birthday. So...Deb was free...Ash was free...we stayed at Grandma's house....free....flew down for free...what's not to like!! It was so nice to go the park NOT pregnant since the last 2 times I went I was pregnant with Madison. The weather this time of year is perfect and no lines since it was a Tuesday. Ash is now a stunning 40 inches tall so we went on Big Thunder Mountain 3 times in a row! She loved it. I had to beg her to go get food instead of riding a fourth time. Dave's sister has an annual pass and met us after work for the parade and a few more rides. I must thank Nana again for watching Madison so Ash and Mommy could have a little alone time together:)

Pee pee in the potty!

2009-05-13T10:31:00.000-07:00

Evidently it helps to be completely naked:)
The finished product!!! So proud!

Ashley has started to wake up with a completely dry diaper in the morning...we make a mad dash to the princess potty and here are the results! We are making progress!

Scrapbook Retreat

2009-05-13T10:17:00.000-07:00

The scrapbook room
All the fun gals, Deb, Cami, Jen, Whit, Amanda and Rachel

I love my husband. Just 4 weeks after the birth of our sweet baby he agreed to watch both kids for the weekend so I could go scrapbook with friends! We drove up early Friday and returned around 8pm Sunday. It was so much fun drinking, eating junk, hot tubing, laughing and oh yeah...scrapbooking! We go to a gals house in Eden Utah. She has a 6000 square ft house for the scrapbook retreats! The are enough beds for 8 people and she owns every scrapbook tool available for your use. Here is the link to her website http://www.darcysretreats.com/

Easter

2009-05-13T09:57:00.001-07:00

Playing with the cousins
Filling her Easter bucket

Dying eggs with Aunt Katie

Nothing like playing in the dirt!

Checking out Dad's new toy

Peep's yucky Mommy:(

Heading out in the jeep with Daddy

Ash and Dave drove down to his parents cabin in Capitol Reef while Deb stayed home with Maddie. I thought to myself..."wow a whole 3 days and nights with just the baby...what a breeze!" By Saturday I was having a major meltdown after 2 days and nights without any help! I forgot just how needy newborns are:) Fortunately my mom came to the rescue and stayed the night and did all the feedings so I could get some rest. Thanks Nana! Next year Maddie will be old enough to go down to the cabin and have some fun! The only down side to the trip is that Ash woke up with a fever Easter morning and didn't even want to search for candy and eggs. Dave said she lasted 30 minutes before the meltdown hit and she fell asleep at the cabin for 3 hours. She cried the whole drive home and felt pretty crummy for the next 2 days. The hard part was keeping her away from Maddie..Nana again came to the rescue and was in charge of Ashley so I could touch Maddie and not get her sick. Better luck next year!

New family pics

2009-05-13T09:07:00.001-07:00

Just a quick thanks to Whitney Fassio for taking such great pics!! Watch out for Madison's birth announcement coming soon:)

Who's who???

2009-04-01T13:22:00.001-07:00

Baby #1
Baby #2

No one believes us when we tell them that Ash and Madison look quite a bit similar...those of you who know Ash well should be able to make a good guess which baby she is. Needless to say both girls are completely adorable:)

Sweet Cheeks:)

2009-03-31T10:10:00.001-07:00

A few days ago I went to check on Ashley during her nap. I found a very wet diaper on the dresser, her pants on the bed and her sweet cheeks sleeping peacefully. She hadn't even wet the bed during her nap. when we woke her up she told us "diaper was soggy" so she just took it off! How do we get this idea to go forward into the princess potty??

Welcome Madison Avery!

2009-03-29T19:28:00.000-07:00

Dave's great welcome home sign:)

Sweet Face

Nana, Ashley and Papa

What a chunk compared to Ashley!

Hello world

Right before the c-section

Well our sweet baby girl has arrived! Born March 24th at 8:10am. she weighed 7lbs and 11oz and is 21 inches. She is 2lbs heavier and 2 inches longer than Ashley was! No wonder this child could push on my insides so hard:) Deb has a tough time recovering from the surgery..she was sick to her stomach almost all day Tuesday. By Wednesday Deb was doing much better. We came home Saturday morning and we had a nice quiet weekend with Madison while Nana and Papa took care of Ashley. Poor Dave has to go back to work tomorrow...we will miss him terribly!

Funny Ashley

2009-03-05T18:35:00.000-08:00

Tonight at dinner I said to Ash..."What would you like to drink?" Beer. " No Ash (chuckle, chuckle) what would you like to drink?" Coke. "No Ash...(third time's a charm) you can have milk, water or juice," Ashley, "Ok, water...nooooooo juice!"
What do you think Daddy has to drink at dinner???

Welcome baby Jax!

2009-03-01T13:27:00.000-08:00

Ashley holding her new cousin

New Holt Family

Uncle Dakota, Mandy's brother

Aunt Raechel, Mandy's sister

This is the newest Augason family member. Jax Kyle Holt. 7 lbs 13 oz and 21 inches. He is the son of Mandy and Kyle Holt, Dave's niece and her husband. Jax will technically be a second cousin to Ashley...but more like a first since they will be so close in age:) Mandy went in Friday morning the 27th to be induced, had an epidural by 2pm and had the baby by 7pm after only pushing for 30 minutes! What a great experience for a first time Mommy! When we went to visit on Saturday she wasn't even taking any pain killers...just ibuprofen. Ashley was very gentle as she helped hold the "tiny baby" as she called him. She stroked his soft little head and was very careful not to touch his face except to give him a quick kiss. I think she'll be a great big sister:)

Baby News!

2009-02-03T14:21:00.000-08:00

We are excited to finally have date scheduled for Deb's C-section. We will be having our second baby girl Tuesday March 24th at 7:30am. That way Deb can just wake up early and just go right in without starving for too long. We will be in the hospital until Saturday morning. We anticipate this delivery to go much smoother than the one with Ash, and we are very excited to meet our new little one:)

Disneyland

2009-02-03T14:10:00.000-08:00

We had a fun week last week going to Disneyland for Papa's birthday. As you know Disney's promotion this year is getting in free on your birthday...and we took full advantage. Nana and Papa flew down with Ashley Tuesday morning and allowed Deb to fly alone in bliss by herself later that day after her Dr.'s appointment. We went to the park on Wednesday and couldn't have had more fun! The weather was 72 degrees and sunny! It was the middle of the week so there were virtually no lines...we rode everything we wanted to. Deb basically served as photographer for Nana and Papa so they could enjoy the rides with Ashley. While Ashley rested Nana and Papa rode the big kid rides....Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones etc. My parents had a wonderful first visit to Disneyland with their first grandchild. Papa bought Ashley a cute Minnie Mouse backpack that she absolutely adores...we can't get it off her back! We look forward to a family trip we are planning to WDW in September 2009 during the free dining promo they run every year. During that trip we hope to have Dave, Craig ( Deb's Brother) and Ian ( Craig's boyfriend) join us:)

Sledding Fun

2009-02-03T14:00:00.000-08:00

We have had many blue sky days at our house thanks to our elevation...we always miss out on the yucky inversion. We took Ashley sledding on the mountain down the street and she had lots of fun. Chaco had a great time chasing his ball in the snow. Daddy was a trooper pulling Ashley up all the hills since Mom is basically useless right now for any kind of physical activity:)

Here are some pics and videos of our sledding fun.

Turtles anyone??

2009-01-13T10:13:00.000-08:00

My sister in law is trying to find homes for 6 baby turtles. If your family is interested in taking on a low maintenance pet, let me know:)

Vegas Vacation!

2009-01-12T14:32:00.000-08:00

Aunt Katie and Ash at Mandalay Bay

Deb and Dave headed out for their date night

Hanging with the boys while Deb and Katie shop!

Ashley helping herself to all the goodies on New Year's Eve

We love Vegas during the winter...60 degrees and blue sky everyday...no winter jackets needed for a whole 6 days...what's not to love!! We drove to Vegas on the night of the 30th and stayed through Sunday the 4th. We spent New Year's Eve shopping at the outlet mall during the day and having a small party at Mike and Katie's that night. Pregnant party pooper Deb only made it to 10pm before collapsing into bed. The next day we ate brunch at the Original Pancake House then the boys took off for a little guy time. On Friday the boys kept Ashley so that Deb and Katie could go shopping at the new Town Square shopping center. It's right by the airport and is a huge outdoor mall. Deb spent some serious time (and money) at Sephora, one of her favorite stores...makeup is so darn much fun!! The big highlight of Friday was the date night for Dave and Deb. Dave gave Deb 4th row seats to see Criss Angel Believe at the Luxor for Christmas....not cheap but SOOO worth it! If you are a Cirque de Soliel fan or Criss Angel fan you won't be disappointed. I'd go back and see it all again if I could! After a quick dinner we saw the show then headed out to Red Rock Casino for a little gambling. They even have a non smoking section for pregnant gals like me who need fresh air!! So cool. Deb played on $20 for about 2 1/2 hours and Dave walked away with an extra hundred in his pocket from the tables...not too bad. On Saturday Katie and Deb took Ashley to Mandalay Bay Aquarium and then over to M&M World and the Coke store. After MUCH sugar we drove home and took a nice nap to end the day!

Christmas

2009-01-12T14:07:00.001-08:00

One of Ashley's favorite new toys

Papa, Ashley, Nana and Uncle Craig

Before the Chaos!

Christmas Eve

We had another fun but Crazy 24 hour Christmas! Dave's brother Mike and his wife Katie arrived on the 23rd to stay with us. They live in Vegas and return the favor later in the week when we come down for New Year's Eve! We spent Christmas Eve with Dave's family at their annual dinner. We arrived home around 10pm and did a few last minute preparations before Santa could come to visit. The next morning Ashley woke up around 8:30 and Dave had to meet Deb's family at the bottom of the mountain and bring them up to our house. We had a ton of snow coming down and nobody besides us has a 4 wheel drive vehicle. Once Dave picked them up, they took pity on a pour soul who was stuck and they arrived back at our house drenched from wet snow as they pulled and pushed the stranger out to the road. We didn't open presents until about 10:30am. After a nap for Ash and Deb we headed to Deb's parents house for some fabulous mesquite smoked turkey. For those of you who don't know, Deb's Dad smokes the turkey on a charcoal grill with mesquite for 3 hours and the result is the most moist , yummy turkey you'll ever eat! We then moved to Dave's parents house around 7pm to open presents with his side of the family and play some poker:) We finally drove home..in more snowy conditions... around 11pm and collapsed into bed. We spent the rest of the weekend going to movies and eating out with close friends. Thanks to Nana and Papa for helping babysit so we could have some adult fun!

Riley kitty

2008-12-22T11:57:00.001-08:00

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

2008-12-22T11:50:00.001-08:00

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!

2008-12-22T11:47:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-02T12:55:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-23T13:05:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-23T12:50:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-06T17:31:00.001-08:00

Halloween

2008-11-06T17:21:00.000-08:00

Fun Halloween activities

2008-10-24T10:17:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-24T09:49:00.001-07:00

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!!

2008-10-16T07:29:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-08T10:16:00.001-07:00

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!

2008-09-25T08:44:00.001-07:00

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!!

2008-09-09T19:55:00.000-07:00

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:)

2008-09-09T19:47:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-09-09T19:38:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-07-31T07:27:00.000-07:00

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

2008-07-31T07:11:00.001-07:00

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

2008-07-31T07:02:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-07-31T06:58:00.000-07:00

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

4th of July

2008-07-21T19:42:00.001-07:00

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:)

I've learned the secret!!

2008-06-24T20:39:00.000-07:00

I am so excited to finally know how to customize my blog page! I spent a good chunk of time with Whitney Fassio (the craftiest girl I know) and she helped show me how to do this. Many, many thanks Whit:)

Time for free blogging!

2008-04-15T14:46:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody! I am working to start up our blog on blogger...just like the rest of the world:) I've used the easysite blog for the past year but I no longer want to pay $50/year for the service when I can do it for free. Easysite had some neat features and was easy to use..hopefully I can figure out how to use this site too! This week I am headed to CA with Ashley and my parents to visit my Grandma in Seal Beach. My Mom's brother and his wife from New Jersey will be visiting as well. I just checked the weather and it is clear and in the 70's...yeah Spring! Dave is flying in on Friday to join us and we will be going to SeaWorld on Saturday. Ash LOVES any animal so we are excited to take her.
In other news, Chaco our dog just came home from doggie boot camp. I found out about a service here in Utah that takes your dog for 3-5 weeks and trains the dog into a family oriented, non-hyper animal. Chaco is very smart but way too hyper...as labs usually are...and had very selective hearing as far as his commands went. But now...he is a new dog!!! We are thrilled with the results and it has been a real pleasure to have him back in our home this past week. The trainers guarantee their work for life at no extra cost if Chaco decides he no longer wants to listen to us. I had so much fun walking him and Ashley this week...something I thought I'd never be able to do at the same time! If any of you have dog issues you need fixed this company is worth the money. The boot camp is about $1,500, but they can also come to your house for $100/hour for more private sessions if you wish. Log on to http://www.whostrainingwho.com/ if you'd like more info. They are so great...I can't praise them enough!