Happy 30th, Greg!

Well, it's official... my husband's a total oldie! :) Greg turned 30 yesterday and I have to admit that it's a little weird, considering I am still only 24! Unfortunately, he had to work from 7-5 but once he got off work, my family came up and we all headed over to the Solomon Center in Ogden so the guys could try out the FloRider (for those of you who are unfamiliar with this, it's simulated surfing... Greg is kneeboarding in the picture to the left). I think we were all a bit disappointed with the overall experience for a few reasons. First, when we initially walked in to watch, we were blasted with 90-100 degree heat with 100% humidity (or 200% as Kristin put it!). The humidity and heat was so unbearable, Gavin was bawling for me to take him out, so we headed over to Costa Vida and watched through the glass wall attached to the FloRider! It was much better... (Interestingly enough, the employees there even said it was the hottest it's ever been, so something in their ventilation system must have been off...) Then, Greg got so overheated and hot, that he had to sit out for the last half hour. It was kind of a bummer, and I wish the place would have given them back some of their money, but oh well! I think they still had a good time, despite some aches and pains today! :)

Now, this is the part where I should probably wish my husband a happy birthday and thank him for being such a great guy, but who am I kidding?! He doesn't read this! :) But I do have to say how lucky I am to have him and how proud I am of him and what he does for our family. He really is such a great guy and I am so lucky to have him! -Ash (I posted more pics below of the FloRider and the party we had for him a week earlier...)

A picture of me, Gavin, Ty, Aiden, and my mom sitting behind the glass wall in Costa Vida where the temperature was actually bearable! (Notice Connor with his shirt off - how would it be to be a boy?!)

The birthday party for Greg and Dan at my parent's house. Poor guys, they will probably always have a shared birthday party from now on because Greg's is on the 23rd and Dan's is on the 24th (today... happy birthday, Dan!).

Gavin was much more excited about the candles than Greg, can you tell?

Reality Check?

Around 8:15 this morning, I woke up from the half-sleep I was in to my phone ringing obnoxiously in my ears. I knew it was getting late and Ty had been talking in his crib for about an hour, but I was just not ready to get up. So when I answered Greg's call, I am sure I sounded anything but happy (even though his day starts at 5:30 every morning!). The first words out of his mouth were, "Did you feel the earthquake this morning?" My heart about skipped a beat as I jumped out of bed because I am so deathly afraid of earthquakes (or any other natural disaster for that matter). As I thought back in my mind over the past hour when I had been lying there half awake/half asleep, I realized that I had felt it but had brushed it off as a consequence of buying a house way too close to major railroad tracks. Granted, I had never felt a train shake our house like that before, but you never know... While I was relieved to hear that the epicenter wasn't even in Utah - it was near Wells, NV - I was still a nervous wreck about it. My first screaming thought was, "Get earthquake insurance TODAY!" :) Greg and I have been talking about getting this for the past year, yet we have just always procrastinated doing it and I have no idea why. So the next thing I knew, I was calling Lindsay to ask her about their policy, and immediately after that, I had Greg calling our insurance company to get it set up. Our policy price doubled, but to me, it's worth it just for the peace of mind. Unfortunately, it doesn't kick in for 30 days so please pray with me for no earthquakes until at least March 21! :)

As the day has gone on though, I still find myself worrying about the possibility of one happening here, earthquake insurance or not. It got me thinking that we don't have 72-hour kits, our food storage is about 10 months shy of where it should be, and we don't have an emergency family plan. So, as thrilled as Greg and Gavin are going to be about this, I decided that for the next month we are going over all of this in Family Home Evening, and doing as much as we can to get prepared. It's been quite the reality check for us, and I think it's finally time we do something. And even though I will still be terrified of earthquakes, at least I will know we're prepared. -Ash

Tyler's Messy Eating Habits!

Gavin and Tyler have really started to love the same things lately - cars, trucks, trains, planes, dinosaurs, and all those other boy things that I can't figure out! :) However, when it comes to their eating habits, they are complete opposites! Ever since Gavin was a toddler, he has hated messes. If he spills even the slightest bit of water on his shirt, he wants it taken off immediately and a dry one put on. Ty, on the other hand, well... let's just say the messier the better for him! I am a firm believer that eating for him is just a big party meant to drive mom closer to insanity (because I am a huge clean freak). He can even make a disgusting mess out of eating something as clean as bread! Sound impossible? Not with him! He just turns his sippy cup upside down and hits it on the highchair tray until a bunch of water comes out, then he mushes everything on his tray into the water which of course, he then promptly smears all over his face and into his hair. Mmmm, every mother's dream. Anyway, he did this today with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and I thought the pictures were definitely blog-worthy, so take a look! -Ash

How it all started - nothing too horrible, just a piece of bread mashed onto his forehead. :)

I then went to get something out of the pantry and turned around to see this. He now officially had what I think of as munchkin eyebrows (they are all orangey like the munchkins on Wizard of Oz) from where he had smeared peanut butter all over them. There was also peanut butter all throughout his hair. (And honestly, I don't know where that piece of bread went!) And look at that mischevious smile!

However, as cute and funny as the whole thing was, the clean freak in me finally took over and cleaned him up. Five minutes later (really), he was almost back to normal with only a touch of peanut butter left in his eyebrows and that mischevious smile still on his face! What a kid!

Our First Girls' Night... and Hopefully Not the Last!

My best friend Kyla and I decided about a month ago that we really needed to start a girls' night with old high school and college friends. Even though we don't all live close anymore, we all still live in Utah so we figured it shouldn't be that hard to get together every once in a while! So, last night we all met up at Gateway and had dinner together, and we had such a great time! You forget how nice it is to get out without kids - and even your husband! - until you actually do it. It was great to not be entertaining children until the food arrived, or shushing them so you can actually have an adult conversation (which usually revolves around the kids anyway!). What was even better was being able to talk about girl things to other girls who understand and actually care (unlike my sweet husband, bless his heart). Our conversation was all over the place from Mandy's growing chest (she's pregnant) to pimple-popping to abortion! Bizarre, yes, but we had a blast! We ended up just sitting at our table talking for an hour after finishing our food. I'm surprised they didn't kick us out! Overall though, we had a blast just being together. So, our plan is to do this every other month if we can, and we would love to have more of you join us. If you're interested, email me or leave a comment on my blog and we can include you next time. The more the merrier! -Ash

P.S. I just got thinking that maybe I should explain who everybody in the picture is - (starting on the left) Kyla Stevens, Lara Izant, me, Mandy Hagen, and Emily Sagendorf. Lara and I have gone to school together since Kindergarten (I still love that little 1,2,3 dress you wore in our Kindergarten picture!), Mandy and I met in junior high, Kyla and I met in high school, and Emily was me and Lara's roommate at USU.

Public or Private... That is the Question!

I have recently heard of a lot of people saying they are going to make their blogs private because of the potential for creepy things happening on the internet. I really don't want to make our blog private, because I want anybody to access it that wants to see it. So I was just wondering if any of you have heard specific stories of things happening to people who have public blogs? I personally haven't so that makes me lean towards leaving it public, but I just wanted to get everybody's input before making a decision. Thanks! -Ash

P.S. This is my second blog for the day, so feel free to check out my other post below this.

Tagged...

My sister Lindsay tagged me to do this. I know a lot of you probably think these are stupid, but I love them because they give me something to write about! But if you don't want to read it, my feelings won't be hurt... :) I tagged 5 people at the bottom.

10 Years Ago: I was in 9th grade at Canyon View Junior High. I was on Accutane for the first time, and for those of you who knew me then, you know the wonders this did for me! :) I was beyond boy-crazy. If you read my journal, that's all I talk about. And other than that, life was totally unstressful and it was great! Oh, how I miss being a kid...

5 Things on My To-Do List Today:
1. Go visiting teaching
2. Do laundry
3. Finish coordinating our first girls' night. Yay!
4. Go grocery shopping
5. Help Gavin finish his valentines

5 Snacks I Enjoy:
1. Oreos
2. Wheat Thins with garden vegetable cream cheese on top (it's good, I promise!)
3. Chips and Salsa
4. Cinnamon Toast
5. Dad's hot tomato drink

What would I do if I were suddenly made a billionaire:
Wow... that would be the day! :) I would pay tithing (what would that be on a billion dollars?! Probably enough to build a whole new temple!), build my dream house, donate, get rid of all my cheap Old Navy clothes and buy a whole new wardrobe, buy a loaded Suburban, go on a 2-week cruise and stay in the most expensive suite on top, and like Lindsay, I would pay somebody to finish restoring Greg's piece of junk... I mean, '67 VW Fastback! :)

5 Places I Have Lived:
1. Provo, Utah
2. Orem, Utah
3. Logan, Utah
4. Nibley, Utah
5. Roy, UT

5 Jobs I Have Had:
1. Piano Teacher
2. Customer Service Associate - Gap
3. College Writing Tutor - USU
4. Receptionist - Providence Inn B&B
5. Stay-at-home Mom of two crazy boys!

5 Things You Don't Know About Me:
1. I am the biggest Bill O'Reilly fan! I record his show every night.
2. I hate the summer. Actually, it's not so much the summer I hate, it's more the heat! I hate being hot and sweaty all the time...
3. Even though I was raised really close to BYU and my Dad worked there part-time for years, I am not a Cougar fan! :) And the best part is that I converted Kristin to my thinking! Now we just need to work on the rest of the family...
4. I ran for Miss Orem in 2001 and won 4th Attendant. Woopee! :) (Honestly, why do you need 4 attendants?!)
5. I hate the degree I graduated in - English with an emphasis in Literary Studies. Originally, I was planning on doing Secondary Ed and English, and I should have just stuck with it...

Okay, I'm going to tag Kyla Stevens, Lara Izant, Shelly Sommerfeldt, Jen Paxman, and Mallory Steele. Have fun! -Ash

SO Sick of the Snow!

Usually, I don't mind the winter too much and I hate the summer. I know, I know, I'm crazy. I just hate the summer because I am always so hot and can never seem to cool down. But this year, I am beyond ready for summer! These every-other-day snowstorms are getting really old. It's gotten to the point where I just don't even watch the weather anymore because it's just too depressing. I've been feeling this way for a couple of weeks now, but our experience last night only magnified my bitterness about this winter...


Greg had yesterday off, so we decided to head up to his parents' house in Idaho to celebrate his dad's birthday. We had a good time visiting with his family, but when a snowstorm blew in around 6:00, we decided it was definitely time to head out. And trust me, when I say this storm "blew in," I really mean it! For those of you who have ever been to Southern Idaho, you probably know that the wind blows there about 90% of the time (at least that's what my experience tells me). This can mean treacherous road conditions when it starts snowing, and last night, the wind was howling. I-84 had been closed off and on all day because of blowing snow and low visibility, so of course, it closed down again when this storm came through. We knew we had to get home because Greg had open his store this morning at 7:00, so we headed to Pocatello to take I-15, knowing it would take an extra hour to get home but feeling like we had no other choice. Fortunately, we drove out of and away from the storm on our way there. But our luck didn't last long... We got to the southern part of Pocatello only to be greeted by a construction sign saying, "I-15 Closed. Exit Now." So there we were, with no way to get out of Idaho, and I was a happy camper, let me tell you. :) Luckily, Greg's brother Jeff and his family live in Chubbuck (just north of Pocatello) and offered their little girls' room to us for the night. We were really grateful for that, considering the cheapest hotel room we found was $110. Greg was also able to find another employee to open the store, which was a huge help.


Fortunately, we were able to leave this morning at 8:00, and the freeway was open again. And as much as I hated not being able to get home last night, I'm glad we weren't on the roads then because even this morning, they were a sheet of ice in a lot of places. I know I should be grateful for all the snow we've gotten because it helps out our water supply a ton, but can't it just slow down a little?! It seems like everytime we have plans to go somewhere, the weather is horrible. Of course, now there's also the fear of where all this snow is going to go when it starts to melt tomorrow. It better not be in my basement! Oh well, at least it's February and spring is coming. Yay! (I will just try to remember that through this next batch of snowstorms coming in next week...) :) -Ash

My Love/Hate Relationship with Snow Plows...

Normally, I love snow plows in the winter. If I am driving in bad weather and am near one, I will drive behind it just so I don't have to deal with the snow. This winter, however, has been an exception. I'm getting the feeling that snow plows have something against me... Really! Our first bad incident happened back in December when we were heading down to my friends' Christmas party in Orem and got stuck behind 4 snow plows (one in every lane) going 5 mph! I am NOT exaggerating! (Needless to say, we were 1 1/2 hours late...)

Well, this morning I woke up to yet another 6 inches of snow on the driveway. In fact, the mounds of snow on the sides of our driveway are so high now, I'm having a hard time throwing snow up onto them! So I got on all my lovely winter gear and trudged out in the snow for the 2nd time in 3 days. I got 3/4 of the way down the driveway to the entrance part - which I always dread because that is where all the heavy, wet snow from the snow plows is - when I hit a chunk of ice. And trust me, this wasn't just any chunk of ice, which I realized as I cleared it of all the snow. It was about 6 inches deep and 4 feet wide (there are pictures at the bottom)! I then realized that there was another huge ball of ice right next to it, at least 12 inches in diameter, and neither of those were there yesterday. I would have noticed! :) The snow plows (that are secretly against me, of course) pushed them in there! But what can you do? So I started chipping at it with my shovel, but it wouldn't budge. I was so frustrated because I didn't have a clue how we would get in or out of our driveway with it there. Even in my Envoy, I probably would have scraped my muffler on it. So instead, I decided to take pictures of it for the blog! :) Hey, when you're given lemons, make lemonade, right? Fortunately, my cute 65-year-old neighbor and his son saw me and realized I needed help, so they came over and had it broken up and gone in 5 minutes! :) Apparently, holding kids isn't giving my biceps a good enough workout...

Unfortunately, I don't think my snow plow woes are over yet since there are 3 more snowstorms in the 7-day forecast! And with the luck we've had lately, I'm sure something is bound to happen! But I guess we'll see... :) -Ash

Here is the lovely chunk of ice (I didn't take a picture of the ball-shaped one). This picture probably doesn't even do it justice for how big it was.

Here's another view of it, with our huge mounds of snow on the side. They are probably over 4 feet tall now!