Seriously, So Funny...

So you all need to check out this blog: http://www.seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com/. I heard a story about it on the news today and decided to check it out... I about peed my pants laughing as I read it. It's a fictional blog from a young newly-wed that indirectly makes fun of all Mormon bloggers and it is seriously so funny - a little over the top, but I definitely saw hints of what we all do and you all need to check it out. Enjoy! -Ash

P.S. If you don't have much time, just check out one of her many hilarious posts - "What mite have been" (August 24th). Seriously, so funny! :)

One Totally Awesome Day...

I've had some pretty awesome days in my lifetime - my wedding day, the days my kids were born, graduating from college, and Gavin finally getting potty trained. :) They've all been awesome. And today, I have to admit, I think I'm having another one of those totally awesome days. Why, you might ask? Because my husband officially started his last semester of college today. Laugh at me if you want, but this is seriously one of the greatest days of my life. It all goes back to about 5 years ago....

I recall having this exact same conversation with Greg countless times:

Me: So, do you think you will ever finish school?

Greg: School is stupid. Just because you have a degree doesn't mean you are smart. I already have a good job and am making good money, so I don't see why I need a degree.

Me: Well, what if something happens with your job and you need to find another one, and they pick another candidate over you that already has a degree?

Greg: I will work two jobs if I have to to support us. School is just stupid.

Seriously, I can't even count the number of times I heard the phrase "School is stupid" come out of Greg's mouth. :) I eventually stopped bugging him about it and just put my faith in him because I knew what a hard worker he was and that he would always support us, but it was still a hard thing for me. So you would imagine my surprise when almost 2 years ago, he came to me and said he really felt like he needed to finish school. I was floored - I just never expected those words to come out of his mouth! And sure enough, he followed through with his word and now, I just can't believe he's almost done. Sure, I've still heard the phrase "school is stupid" come out of his mouth countless times since he has gone back, but at least he's working through it! He's even gotten all A's and 2 B's since he went back, so I am super proud of him, and just really can't believe this day is here! December 12th will top this by far (graduation), but for now, I'm just thrilled about today! :) -Ash

A Good Ending to the Summer

I can't believe summer is almost over! Even though I love fall and am excited for some cooler temperatures, I am totally disappointed because we really have had such a fun summer. But it had to end sometime, right? So we decided to live it up (as much as parents of young kids can!) this week. On Wednesday night, we headed back to Lagoon again with our friends the Jorgensens to use our Bounceback passes. Of course, Gavin was in seventh heaven and had such a great time going on just about every ride he could get on, while Ty and I watched since he was still terrified! :) The wives even let the husbands off the hook for a while and sent them on some "big boy" rides. Greg said that Wicked was "totally wicked" - pretty original response, eh? :)


Then, last night we headed down to a Bee's baseball game in Salt Lake. My dad called me about a month ago and invited us to go with him and my mom because he had been hooked up with some awesome tickets (that included dinner) from work. We knew we couldn't turn it down - a fun night totally free? Sounds good to me! Funny enough though, a couple weeks later my dad was hooked up again with something even better from work - an Alaskan fishing trip! (Yeah, he's spoiled... I know.) Unfortunately, it was planned for this week, but we still didn't let it spoil our fun. My mom - being the best mom ever - still offered to take us and we had a great time!

I don't have any pictures of the catered dinner because ironically enough (or should I say "appropriately enough"), I was shooing bees the whole time! :) But it really was quite good. After that, we took the boys over to the playground they have within the field and seriously, whoever came up with that idea was a genious. The boys loved it! In fact, it wore them out enough that when it came time for the game to start, they were actually tired enough to sit for a little bit and watch it (although Gavin was quite disappointed that Daddy wasn't playing - I guess he doesn't understand the difference between a young, professional minor leagues baseball player and an out-of-shape 30-year-old Church softball player!). :)

Greg really enjoyed the game and I enjoyed what I saw of it, but of course, the boys weren't super interested the whole time, so my mom and I did our best to entertain them (i.e. investing in some souvenir balls and treats, taking them on the little kids train, and meeting "Bumble Bee"), which definitely helped! And believe it or not, we actually made it through 5 innings! We had such a great time, so thank you Dad for the tickets (feel free to hook us up when Jazz season comes around!), and Mom for being the greatest sport ever and still taking us along! Now... what to do with the rest of the weekend?! -Ash

Ty on the slide. I couldn't believe the way he was climbing onto everything - he is getting so big!

Gavin with his best bud Nana.

Nana playing with Ty - one of the many attempts to keep him entertained!

Two silly boys with their outrageously expensive souvenir baseballs! :)

We Need A What?!

Just a week ago, we were all driving in the car when out of the blue Gavin says to me, "Mommy, we need to have a baby in our family." I turned to him with what I assume to be a horrified look on my face and asked, "Why?" He said, "I just want a baby in our family like Connor and Aiden." The only reply I could get out at that time was, "Well, one day..." and fortunately, the conversation ended at that. The last thing I wanted to hear from my child's very inquisitive mind at that point was the dreaded "Where do babies come from?" question, or "Why?". :)

Well, last night we decided to head down to my parents' house for dinner and we got to see little Cohen for the second time. While seeing him still didn't make me baby hungry, it reminded me just how much I love babies! There's nothing better than holding a tiny little newborn (and trust me, he's still tiny - he hasn't even broken 6 pounds yet!). Interestingly enough though, seeing Cohen also proved to me why Gavin wants a baby in our family right now. He seriously took such a liking to Cohen last night, I could hardly believe it. Everytime Greg or I would hold Cohen, Gavin would run over and pat his head, hold his hands, or talk to him. He would keep saying how cute he was and want to hold him. I just loved watching him adore his little baby cousin - it was the cutest thing ever. And while I still don't feel like it's time to have another baby, I'm glad to know that when that time comes, Gavin will be thrilled and love that baby to pieces. (Ty, however, is still a complete other story since everytime I held Cohen last night, he would start crying and beg me to pick him up. So it's probably a good thing for my sanity that baby #3 is a long ways off...) :) -Ash

The Reason We Go Through a Roll of Paper Towels Every Few Days...

Anybody willing to donate to my dwindling paper towel fund?

Our 'Stay'cation

This is the first summer since we got married that we have not gone on a vacation, and it's definitely been a sore spot for me! I have been going so stir-crazy in the house! So when our stake put on a Lagoon Day last Thursday, I jumped at the chance to just get out of the house and do something fun - a little 'stay'cation, if you will. :) Of course, Greg didn't exactly have the same feelings since he hates amusement parks, but he was still a good sport and came along. We met up with our friends the Jorgensens from our ward and had a great time!

I knew from the get go that Gavin would love it all, and I was right. He loved every ride (especially Dinosaur Drop which he is on in that pic), which still shocks me because he is our cautious child. Tyler, on the other hand, is our totally adventurous and daring child, but funny enough, you would never have thought that on Thursday. Even the train and the merry-go-round terrified him! Of course, we probably didn't help things much by taking him on Puff for his first ride. He was literally hyperventilating in my arms the whole ride. I felt so bad for taking him on it, so I didn't force him to go on anything more after that (except the train, because I knew in the end he would like it, and he did - the second time at least!). Overall, it was a fun day. Gavin had such a great time, it was so fun to see his reaction to everything. It also made me realize that I just need to buy season passes next year. We live close enough and if you go two times, they are paid for, so we might as well! -Ash

Gavin on his second favorite ride - the airplanes.

When we took Gavin to this ride, he wanted to be on Dumbo so bad. Lovely... :)

Tyler with his new favorite drink - an Icee. It even taught him the dreaded m-word. Do I dare say it? "Mine." Ahhh! I HATE that word! :)

Gavin and Preslee Jorgensen on the cars. It's a good thing we went with our friends or Gavin would have had nobody to go on the rides with him (since Ty had such a rough time)!

One Busy, But Incredibly Fun Day...

First, let me apologize for slacking off and not posting as often as I normally do (that apology is mainly aimed towards you, Dad, my most faithful blog-reader)! Life is just abnormally busy right now and I can never find time to sit down and write. Even now, I am thinking of a gazillion other things I could (and should) be doing right now, but oh well! I'm afraid if I don't sit down and write about our past Saturday now, it will never happen, so here goes...

We started out by waking up bright and early (I know, what were we thinking?!) to go to our city parade. Even though this is the third summer we have lived here, we have actually never gone to the parade, probably because Greg worked Saturdays then and I wasn't daring enough to take the kids by myself. So we decided to go this year and I have to admit, it ranked even lower on my list than the Rupert, ID parade. It was really quite interesting! It lasted an hour and a half, and there were a whole three floats in the whole thing. Every other entry was just cars and trucks driving by. Yes! They should have just left the road open and let us watch traffic - it would have felt like the same thing! Not that I'm bitter I woke up early for it or anything... :) But ultimately, the kids loved it, so I guess that's what counts! And we really did have a good time in the end because we sat by some fun neighbors and just had a good time talking with them. So I really shouldn't be complaining too much...

Then, that afternoon, Greg played in a regional church softball tournament out in West Point and I decided to go with the kids. They started at 3:00 in the afternoon and didn't end until 9:00 that night - all in 100 degree heat! Sounds pretty miserable, huh? But honestly, we all had SUCH a good time! Our ward softball team is incredible this year (in fact, the other players claim Greg is their "star" but Greg would argue against that, of course). They were undefeated the entire season and tournament, so they went on to the championship game. Unfortunately, at that point, they were all so exhausted that they lost by a couple runs. But it was seriously so much fun just having our kids running around entertaining each other all day, and making friends with the other wives there. I left feeling like I doubled my friend count! :) Awesome...

After the game, most of the players and their families went to watch the city fireworks, but our kids had had it, so we decided to head home and just watch them out Gavin's window. We seriously had the best view from there - I don't think we missed one firework! Plus, we were sitting on a nice, comfy bed. Sounds a whole lot better than the hard, cold ground! :) Overall though, it was such a fun day. I loved watching Greg play softball with this team - they are incredible and are thinking about putting together a city league next summer which should be a lot of fun! I can't wait! -Ash

Waiting for the parade - we were at the very end of the route, so we had to wait for quite a while!

Another parade face. At least this one is better than the one on the 4th!

Tyler's favorite (and extremely unsanitary) toy at the baseball fields.

And Gavin's favorite play spot - a patch of dirt under a tree. Ahh, boys... I'll never understand them!

The wives camped out... for 6 long hours!