Ashlie is growing up!

I dropped Ashlie off at Girl Scout camp this morning.  Yes, dropped her off.  She is about 3 hours away at Camp Cloud Rim.  Which is about 25 minutes above Park City.  I can not believe how fast time has gone.  I remember bringing that sweetie home from the hospital.  She is so excited for camp!  I was a bit damp eyed, while she told me "Bye Mommy, I've got it."  I know she does.  She will have new friends, adventures, and great stories to tell when she comes home Wednesday night.  This will be so good for her to learn independence, problem solving, and social skills.  Maxx was a bit confused that we would just leave his sis in the mountains!  What a beautiful camp.  Gorgeous lake, lodge, and mountains.  She even gets to sleep in a cabin with 7 other girls.  Ash has been convinced that this will be like the Parent Trap!  I can't wait to hear what she thinks.  The girls can't call home at all.  So no contact with her until Mom and I go pick her up Wed.  Toney took us to Park City yesterday after church so we would not have to leave so early today.  We got a hotel room, walked the streets of old Park City, and then did some swimming.  This morning off to camp we went.  I am really grateful for Toney, she does so much for our family and just showers the kids with so much love.  I lucked out with my in-laws big time!

Last week was not too eventful.  I studied like crazy!  I really want to get this course done by August.  Saturday Cathy had Ashlie come and play all day.  It was really nice to be able to get her camp shopping and packing done without her help :)  I splurged and got her a camera of her own to take to camp.  It is not expensive, but she was super stoked when Tony and I gave it to her.

We went to the splash park on thursday with the Peterson's.  What a fun time!  Tammy and her kids are so great and so much fun.  I am lucky to have met such a great family!  Tony even enjoyed socializing Brian.  He is usually not too social.   Brian enjoys sports, so this gives Tony something in common with him.

Sarah gets here in about 3 weeks!!!!  Woo hoo!!  Fun times to come!  I love her to pieces and can't wait to be together.

July 4th, adventures jet skiing

We have had an eventful month.  We went to Lava Hot Springs the 22 and 23 of June to stay with Grandma Sue at the condo.  She and Tony had their annual hot vs cold "battle" over the AC, always a fun rivalry.  We went swimming at the olympic pool but cut the day short because it was sooo hot and Ashlie and Maxx were sun beat!  Tony and I ventured to a concert on June 19.  We went to a Primus show.  Wow, it has been a long time since we hit a concert and we had a fun time.  It was a bit rowdy up front of the GA for me, so we headed to the back so I would not get knocked out!  Ashlie has been attending summer playground.  What a great free program for our kids.  She has crafts, games, water days, reading time, special visitors, etc.  1-5 each day.  She is really enjoying it.  For the 4th we watched the Logan fireworks from our church the night before with Cathy and her kids, along with Grandma Sue.  Before the fireworks we had pizza at my house.  Ashlie was in the Hyrum July 4th parade with the Girl Scouts.  She was so excited.  Maxx could not wait for her to come by and wave.  He got extra candy and was so sweet to share with Ash.

 On July 2 we had our extended family Family Home Evening at my house.  Our lesson was on testimony.  It is nice to see Ashlie's testimony beginning to grow.  She is a great example to me and her cousins.  She will be baptized in December and is really looking forward to it.  On June 30 we attended Emma Callahan's baptism.  Her Dad, David, did her baptism and confirmation.  Tony came with us.  I think that he felt the spirit along with the rest of us.  I caught some tears in his eyes.  Emma is Ashlie's neighbor buddy, and Ashlie had never been to a baptism.  It was a nice family day.

 June 29-30 we had the Girl Scouts camp over in our backyard!  What an adventure.  It was a lot of fun.  We did smores, a neighborhood treasure hunt, sang songs, etc.  They stayed up until 11:30 and woke up at 5:55!!!  Wow, was I exhausted!  This is totally out of order, oh well!

Last Saturday, the 7th of July, Joe and Toney took the jet skis out.  We headed up to Oneida narrows.  It was going great until...  Tony led Ashlie and I way up the damn to wear the river comes in and we got stuck in grass!  What a disaster!  Both jet skis were down, Ashlie was crying, and a storm was blowing in !  Thanks to some kind fisher folk we were able to be towed back to the main area to get a big boat to go back and get Tony.  He had to kick paddle himself and the jet ski about 100 yards to get out of the grass so the boat could get to him!  Anyway, it was fun all in all !

 Sunday was church, our speakers spoke about a change of heart.  A message that felt tailored for me.  Reminding me that Heavenly Father knows where my heart is now, and the things that I am trying to accomplish and change in my life.  I am thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Ash has Girl Scout camp next week.  She goes alone for 3 days.  She is excited.  She has a terrible rash/sores right now.  We went to the Dr this morning.  She is on antibiotic and an ointment.  It should be cleared up for camp.  

I am getting closer to finishing my medical coding course.  Then I hope to quickly gain a job an get earning some money to pay of our debt.   Sept 1 is my goal to be employed.

An eventful life, with  more to come!

June 4, 2012

The last week has been quite eventful.  Last weekend (Memorial Day) we went camping at Cub River with Toney and Joe.  It was a good thing that we had the motor home to endure the pouring rain and 40 degree weather.  We watched movies and I got reacquainted with Yahtzee.  I totally suck!  Ashlie finished first grade, earning the top reader in her class award.  We finished off Girl Scouts with a field day that included volleyball, soccer, squirt guns, and a year book.  I put the year book together and printed it off at work.  It turned out super cute.  It looked like all of the girls loved it.  The last day of school came and now we can have some slow mornings for a while.  On Wed. I hurt my back.  I seriously thought that I injured a disk it hurt so bad.  But, luckily, it is only pulled muscles.  Still painful and it will take some healing.  Maxx has been enjoying our little pool in this unusually hot weather this week.  90 degrees today.  Ahhhh!!!!  I have been studying, I need to get going a little faster to get this done and get working by fall.  Oh well, I will get remotivated now that this back is feeling better.  I can actually sit for a while and I even walked on the trreadmill today.  Can't wait to run and do Jillian Michael's Shred workout soon!  I took Ashlie and Kimberly Peterson to the Girl Scout cookie celebration in Farmington Saturday.  What a fun time!  I was able to just sit and watch them having sooo much fun.  It was great!  Had a great day on Sunday.  Church was peaceful and nice. I honestly have such great kids.  They are really good at church.  A few pesky moments, but all in all they are very reverent and respectful.  It was a good testimony meeting.  We have some great neighbors that I don't even know.  It is nice to learn about them and hear them share their beliefs and feelings.  I am going back to work tomorrow and hope my back does okay.  I know my big 3-4 hours might be hard, but we'll see how it goes.  I thought about updating twice a week, but I think one post a week is more realistic.  So,  until next week...  unless something really exciting happens!

A New Start

So my friend has inspired me to blog again.  Life has been quite a challenge for us the past 9 months.  The stress of Tony's job was weighing heavy on him, and therefore us, so we decided that he needed to resign from the police department to get into a new line of work.  Just as he was getting going on his job search he re-injured his new transplanted cornea!!  That put him out of commission for a few months.  Around Christmas of 2011 he started working again.  A few odd and end jobs, and now he has landed right back where he loved, Comcast.  What a blessing for our family.  I forgot how happy he is when he is doing what he enjoys.  The police officer job was not for  him, and it was hard on our family.  I have tremendous respect for police officers and their families.  I am still in the copy industry, currently at AlphaGraphics about 8 hours a week.  It is fine.  I am taking classes online to get certified as a medical coding specialist.  The goal is to work from home about 20 hours a week.  This will help us rebuild our savings and pay off some debt.  Ashlie is getting ready to finish 1st grade.  She is such a smart, kind, fun girl!  She took first place at the Science Fair for the K/1st grade levels.  She is dancing, and also a girl scout.  I volunteer as a leader for her troop.  We have had a lot of fun together doing that.  Ashlie will go to a 3 day 2 night resident camp, without me, this summer at Camp Cloud Rim.  She is very excited to hike, swim in a lake, and meet new friends.  Maxxwell just graduated from his preschool class today.  So cute!  I was so lucky to join up with 3 amazing moms and darling boys to teach a preschool this year.  Maxx has gained many social skills, coming out of his shell a little.  He is such a shy boy.  So so sweet.  I worry sometimes about how timid he is, but he will be okay.  He is trying to learn how to write his name, we still have one year to kindergarten.  He has a lot of skills to work on, I try to work with him each day.  He is very different from Ashlie academically, I have a challenge ahead with him.  I pray that he will be able to learn and excel as he grows older and gains more confidence.  I am teaching the Sunbeam Class (3/4 yrs) at church.  Those children as so sweet, and they love to learn about Jesus and Heavenly Father.  This is a real blessing in my life, teaching me more than the children.  Well off I go.  I am planning on writing 1 or 2 times a week.  Summer is on the way, only 2 weeks left of school!!!!  I am just as excited as Ashlie I think! 

New photos

Ha,

So I am really slow. But here are some photos. We are great. Pre school, dance, now we have added spring soccer, and Maxx is always there to enjoy the fun. We also have a new cornea in the family, Tony got a transplant on Mar. 17. It has been a crazy year for that eye of his. Anyway, enjoy the photos. Love!

Fall fun (oh, and Ashlie's new hair cut)

It has been a fun fall for our family. We have raked, and raked, celebrated Halloween for a week, raked, planted bulbs in our beautiful new back yard, played in the leaves that we raked, watched football (Da Bears, what up???), had new haircuts for the kids, and did I mention rake? We are enjoying our new home so much. It is so much bigger, but it is still cozy, and is officially our HOME now. Tony's eye is doing so well, what a blessing. Thanksgiving is quickly approaching and then Christmas! Wow! Enjoy the photos. Love to all!

BTW, if you go to my facebook page and to my photos, there are a lot more to see.

Autumn Drive to Tony Grove

We decided to go on a ride up Logan Canyon to see what leaves were left. Not many, but we did find enough snow at Tony Grove to make a snow man! It was a fun day. We then continued over to Bear Lake for a cafe burger and fries, yum! After getting home, Maxx napped while Ashlie and I weeded and tilled the rose garden to prep it for fall and some bulbs along the front of it. What a fun day! Love living in Logan so close to these mountais. Where else can you make a snowman and 30 minutes later put on shorts and prep the flowers.