In Memory of President Hinckley

For those of you who have read my sister Lindsay's blog, I completely agree with her that even though it was bound to happen, I never thought Pres. Hinckley would pass away. (At least not within the next few years.) We were at Lindsay's house for dinner when we found out, and I think we were all in complete shock. I think I would have believed it more if the news channels had talked about him being in the hospital or that he hadn't been feeling well (like they have in the past), but they hadn't said anything like that, so it really was a shock and didn't feel real. Once we got home though and we turned on the news, reality hit. I just started bawling. Like everybody else has said, he is the main prophet I remember so it is hard to see him go.

Even though I never met President Hinckley, I had the chance to listen to him countless times, many of which were in person at the conference center. Even though I was never close to him, I could always feel his spirit and the great love he had for our entire church. I think back on his 13 years as the prophet and am amazed at just how much he accomplished: The Proclamation on the Family, the 6 B's, the most temples built under any prophet, and the list goes on... My most vivid memories of hearing him are from when I was a struggling teenager, and his testimony always strengthened mine. While I'm sure we have great prophets still to come, President Hinckley will always have a special place in my heart, and I'm so grateful for the love and service he always showed to not only members of this church, but everybody. Last night, my family and I joked that he probably went straight through the pearly gates without even being stopped and up to live with God. I wouldn't be one bit surprised... :) -Ashlee

Growing Up...

In response to everybody wondering why I took off my last two posts, I did it because it was just too depressing to me and I want our blog to be happy! So that's why I took them off. Now, on to the happy stuff... :) It seems like our boys have been growing up so fast lately. They are just doing so many new things that I thought I'd better write about them before they become such a common occurrence that I don't even pay attention!

First, Tyler started walking! (And unfortunately, I don't have a picture of it because I just always forget! Plus, he gets going and then falls down so fast that I don't know if my camera would take the picture on time. So if I am able to get one, I will post it later!) He took his first steps a couple weeks ago and has only been improving since. My parents came up on Saturday to watch the boys while we went to the temple and by the time we got home, they had him taking 6-7 steps at a time! It is so much fun to watch. He just gets the biggest grin on his face and you can tell he thinks he's pretty cool stuff. :) However, he does seem to get tired after doing it a few times and then he just starts whining. He has also been so temperamental lately! He can be on top of the world one moment and then screaming and throwing a fit the next! It makes me wonder if I have a bipolar baby? I hope not! :)

As for Gavin, he is the one that really seems to just be growing up by the second. He loves Ty and is always so concerned about him. If he even hears the slightest peep from Ty's room while he is sleeping, he is always running in there to make sure he is okay (which always wakes him up... every mother's dream...). He is always saying stuff like, "Hi little brother! Why are you the cutest thing in the world?" :) Ha ha, I wonder where he gets that from! He has also taken on the task of feeding Ty lately, as you can see in the picture, and he's done a pretty good job! No messier than when I feed him. :)

Gavin has also picked up on his ABC's lately. I know, I know, he's probably a lot later than everybody else's kids (since he's behind on everything), but it's exciting for us! :) This is how he sings it: "A, B, C, D, E, F, G, [a big pause and a look of confusion, then he continues with...] Q, R, S, T, U, B, W, Y, Z, Now I know my ABC's, next time I won't sing with you." :) I have no idea where he picked up that last part from, but I think it's so funny that I can't correct him! I just laugh and tell him good job. He also knows his colors really well now and can count. It is just so much fun to see him growing up and learning! I know he will absolutely love preschool when he starts next year.

His most recent obsessions, besides Ty, is nickjr.com. His cousin Connor showed it to him one day when we were at my parents, and now he is hooked! He is constantly asking if we can play "puter games." :)

The only downer with Gavin is still potty-training. I finally stuck him in normal underwear today, only to find that that doesn't seem to motivate him either! After he had been in his 3rd pair for about an hour, I took him upstairs and had him sit on the potty for a little bit to see if he could go. He started freaking out, saying he didn't have to go and jumped off the toilet, bare butt and all. :) He then went downstairs to the kitchen, got up on the barstool, and peed all over it. I was so livid! So once again, I am asking for your help! :) If any of you have potty trained boys (since I hear they are considerably harder than girls), do you have any advice for me? I am so out of ideas, it's not even funny.

Well, we hope you are all doing well! Sorry there aren't more pictures in this post - I need to be better about taking them. Until next time! -Ash

A Much Needed Weekend Away!

Since life was so crazy around our anniversary and we didn't get to do anything all that fun for it, we decided to do a little getaway this past weekend. Greg's sister Jenny offered to take the kids, and Greg and I went and stayed in the Anniversary Inn in Logan. It was seriously such a nice change of pace! I don't know if this makes me a bad parent, but I can honestly say that I didn't worry about the kids, let alone even think about them all that much! :) We also had a great time going out to dinner with Kristin and Dan that night (see picture). We tried out a new restaurant called "Blackstone," which is in the old D.I. building! :) The food was FABULOUS - for those of you who live in Logan, you need to eat there! The only disappointment was that our waitor was ridiculously slow. We literally waited 30 minutes from the time we were seated until he first came over to order our drinks! (We then waited another 15 minutes after that for the drinks.) Hopefully, for the sake of the restaurant, the waitors will work out the kinks because the food was awesome! Overall, we had a great time and like I said, it was just such a nice change of pace. I came back feeling a little bit better about motherhood, which has really been on a downhill slide lately! Until next time! -Ash

P.S. I decided I just couldn't leave this part out because it was too funny to me. In our room at the Anniversary Inn, they had a book where you could write your thoughts about your stay there. Well, there was one guy on the very first page who wrote, "Thank you so much for the wonderful room. I shared the best moment of my life here with my new wife." Ewww! I was so grossed out! But then I couldn't stop laughing either... who writes that?!

Our Little Sunbeam!

Sunday was Gavin's first day in Primary (how weird is that?), and it went much better than I thought it would! I have been so nervous about this for a while now because Gavin is the youngest one in his class, and he still isn't potty trained. Plus, he loves nursery, so I thought it would be extremely hard to pull him away from all the toys and snacks, and make him sit still for 2 hours! But like I said, things went much better than planned. He sat through all of singing and sharing time without hardly saying a word! (And yes, that does mean he didn't sing...) He did look at me ocassionally to wave, but how can you get mad at your child for that? :) (For those of you who don't know, I'm the primary pianist.)

As for his class time, his teachers told me that he did really well. I guess when they pulled out the paper to make crowns (like the one Gavin is wearing in the picture), Gavin said, "Hey! You don't put paper on your head!" :) Leave it to a 3-year-old to be honest and reasonable...

Anyway, I am SO thrilled it went as well as it did and that Gavin now tells me how much he likes Primary! This has been a big stress to me for the past few months, but he surprised me and did well. Now the only stress left is that little nagging problem of potty training! :) Until next time! -Ash

Ringing in the New Years, Making Resolutions, and Searching for a Needle in a Haystack!

Wow... even though it is January now and life has slowed down considerably, it is still so hard to sit down and find time to write! So I'm hoping the kids will stay asleep long enough for me to write this... :)


We rang in the New Year down at my parents' house this year and had a great time! Greg had to work until 6:00 (of course), so we didn't get down there until about 8:00. We just hung out, ate pizza and lots of yummy desserts (by the cuter version of Martha Stewart - my mom), and watched some Brian Regan. (For those of you who have never heard of him, he's a funny comic and his humor is pretty clean. Here's a clip from youtube if you want to check it out - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cj9KUwSGKOs.) The guys then went downstairs to watch a movie, leaving us with three HYPER boys (Ty was in bed by this point). My mom and I decided that the only way to calm them down was to put a movie in... Ha ha, boy, were we fooled! That did NOT settle them down! If anything, I think it just got Aiden and Gavin more worked up! :) By 11:30, Connor and I were asleep... and the little boys were still going strong! Wow... Anyway, my family woke me up before 12:00 where we all said Happy New Years (as lively as we could for all being exhausted), and we rang in the New Year by drinking some Mormon bubbly and eating MORE of my mom's dessert! We then spent the night at my parent's house and none of us (not even Ty!) woke up until 10:00 the next morning. It was heavenly! I think the last time I did that was before Gavin was born...


As for my New Years resolutions, I feel like there is so much I need to change in my life right now that it was hard to narrow them down! But I think I have it down to 3 now, so here they are:

#1 - I am going to cook more! Fast food gets really old really fast, and my family is getting sick of frozen pizzas! :) Plus, there is the ever lingering 5 pounds on me, and maybe eating healthier will help that. (Or maybe I just need to get my enlarged behind on the treadmill again!)

#2 - I am going to FINISH getting organized. :) This was actually my New Years resolution last year, and I got about halfway through my house and stopped. So I need to finish! Especially because we will probably be moving this year and I refuse to throw random things in random boxes like I did with our last move. :)

#3 - Gavin is going to get potty trained! (And if I have it my way, it will be by spring.) I cannot even tell you my level of frustration with this child right now because he absolutely refuses to go potty in the toilet. I am feeling very out of ideas, but fortunately, I went to the Gavin's three-year check-up today and the doctor gave me some good ideas, so let's pray for a miracle!


As for what we've been up to since New Years, it's all a blur in my mind! All I remember is a lot of cars. :) Let me explain... Over the weekend, we decided to start looking for a commuter car since Greg starts his new job on the 14th. (And trust me, this car search was a whole new experience for us. We used to buy cars through our brother-in-law up in Idaho, but he and Greg's sister are getting dicorced now and we refuse to support his business. So this is the first time since we got married that we have bought a new car on our own.) Anyway, we just wanted to find a car and be done with it. The only problem is we were dead set on a 4-Door, automatic Honda Civic under 100,000 miles for a decent price. And after 4 days of straight searching, we came to the conclusion that this was seriously like searching for a needle in a haystack! We came across a lot of Civics that were exactly what we wanted, but since Hondas hold their value so well, they were always out of our price range. We seriously drove through car lot after car lot from Sunday until Wednesday, and I swear, if we have to talk to another car salesman again, I just might blow a gasket (wow, I'm even speaking in car lingo now, this is scary!). Well finally, Greg pulled up KSL's listings for the bazillionth time on Wednesday night and found one in Spanish Fork that was exactly what we wanted, even with leather! We really didn't want to waste gas driving all the way down to Utah County for the second time in one week if it wasn't the right car for us, but we both felt really good about it so we decided to head down there yesterday morning. And fortunately, it turned out to be great! No big problems to speak of and it was still in our price range. Plus, the guy selling it was a mechanic so that made us feel better since he had done an inspection on the whole thing. Anyway, there is a picture of it. And seriously, I am so happy to be done with it! I honestly think I may keep my Envoy for the next five years just so I don't have to deal with finding a car again... What a joke!

Well, that's all for now. Life is good, even somewhat boring now that the holidays and car search are over! But I'll take boring any day over driving through car lot after car lot after car lot......... Until next time! -Ash (I posted more pictures of New Years below...)

Tyler's excitement for the New Year (even though he went to bed at 9:30)! :)

What cute cousins! (Despite Gavin and Aiden's funny faces...)

Gavin and Aiden, still wide awake at 12:00! (While Connor sleeps in the background... smart kid!)