Christmas 2007

I decided to write a post before we take off in the morning for the cabin at Priest Lake..... We drove down to Idaho for Christmas this year, left on Tuesday night and stayed in Missoula, then drove on to Rexburg first to visit Stephen's little brother Joel and his wife Michelle and their 3 girls. I sure like it a lot better when we break up the drive. But it still felt like we were never going to get there. We stayed for 2 days and had some fun. We watched Transformers and now I have a new favorite movie. I also got to visit a fun store and found a blessing dress for our little Paisley. I know it's a little early, but I knew that this store was there and this way I didn't have to shop on-line and end up getting something that I didn't get to look at up close. It was fun to see Joel and Mic and their girls, Beck always has fun playing with cousins and these ones he doesn't get to see very often. They're like his Hanna, Alizah, and Piper away from home. Then we took off for Burley Friday mid morning and made it in time for the ward Christmas party.

Our stay in Idaho seemed like it went quickly, we made a ginger bread house on Christmas Eve to coincide with our tradition of playing Bingo. My Grandma Mimi joined us for our party and finally won and took the dish towels as her Bingo prize. Beck got to pick out a little dog stuffed animal and I made off with a bunch of candy. Kalan was our Bingo caller and took his roll quite seriously and made everyone laugh and have a good time. We've been playing Bingo for Christmas Eve for as long as I can remember. The prizes are always really good too! Christmas Eve we also went over to my Grandpa Beck's and visited with my Aunt Patty and Uncle Gary and cousin Heidi who had all come up from St George, Utah. Grandpa got a new couch that he seems to enjoy and it was good to see him. Baby Beck had a hard time trying to understand that he couldn't open all the presents under the tree, he just couldn't comprehend the waiting thing. But Christmas morning he was up at 5:30, so him and I watched a movie until eveyone else trickled out of bed by 6:45. My little brother Kalan went and turned up the Christmas music until everyone else got up and then the fun began.

Beck really liked his "Queen" car, he had a tough time fuguring out what his trike was, he kept giving all his cars rides on it. After opening presents for a bit, he gave up, and didn't want anything to do with it for a while. I got a mini fridge to go up in my room because I am lazy and I don't want to go downstairs in the middle of the night to get Beck a sippy cup! Santa sure knows what I wanted! I also got some cute polks dot rain boots, but they are too big.... bummer deal. A cute green necklace from my twin and my mom also gave me a Lia Sophia necklace that I have had my eye on. In July we are going to stay in some tree houses with my family as a present to us. It will be fun to be able to see them all again and not just at Christmas time. Stephen spoiled me and we spoiled Beck pretty bad, he just kept opening presents that we had forgotten about. On top of all the ones that he opened before we left. We are sure going to try and cut back next year. Christmas at Grandma's was fun. We did a scavenger hunt for the great grandkids that ended with a $1 gift exchange. I think that they had fun and it kept them busy. Some of the clues made them name all their cousins' names before they could get the next clue or they had to run and get something from the basement and ask Mimi about it and if it had a story about it. It was fun to see the kids listen to Grandma Mimi talk about her old bowling trophy that Justin had brought upstairs as his "article from Mimi's basement." The day after Christmas Jakobi and I went shopping in Twin around noon and then my parents and Stephen and Justin met up with us by 3, we had fun just looking for a few deals and then we all went to dinner at Chili's. My older sister Britni who is due the week before me is on bed rest and it was frustrating to see her so bored and not be able to go anywhere with us. Poor girl. All in all, I think that Beck's favorite thing about the trip was playing with my mom's shizu dog, Zeus, that poor thing couldn't keep away from Beck. He also loved his cousins and playing with Baby Jax, Jakobi's son. He really liked to point to his eyes and nose and toes as we asked him, "Where's the baby's...?" I enjoyed seeing family and of course as materialistic as I am, I enjoyed the presents. I just love Christmas, the caramels, the wrapping paper, the nativity scenes, Bingo, family, warm coats, late movie nights, Christmas lights, and snow. I just love it all! Stephen even had a good time visiting his in-laws and mentioned that it went by kind of fast and that it didn't feel as though we had been gone for 10 days, so all in all, I say Chistmas 2007 was a success. Well, besides the fact that Beck threw up all over himself on the way home, luckily we were only about 40 minutes from Othello and he got to stop and take a bath at his Aunt Tiffanni's house while I washed his car seat..... and tomorrow it's on to the cabin to ring in the New Year!

Almost Christmas

When we went and got Beck's picture taken with Santa a few weeks ago, he didn't cry, but it did have this very sad and upset look on his face and we even got the pouty lip from him. He was just not too sure, but then Santa came to his school and he waved to him and yelled for him and sat on his lap just fine. Then Santa came to the ward breakfast this past Saturday the 15th where these pictures were taken and he sat on his lap and mumbled a bunch of words to him and even gave him a high five and "knuckles." It was pretty cute. He waved goodbye to him and now recognizes him in books and pictures. Last night we decided to open a bunch of presents, so that we didn't have to pack them all the way to Idaho for Christmas. We are taking a bunch of stuff down for other people from other people, so we don't have a lot of room. Beck had fun moving from one present to the next and ripping them open. If he couldn't find a way into one then he got frustrated and gave up and moved on to the next until Stephen showed him where to rip. It was so fun! I got to open up a big present from Stephen that was this big frame that holds 30 photos from Costco. I love it, he also gave me large scrapbook kit that I am totally in love with and can't wait to use! I think that Beck's favorite is his Disney Cars mat that he plays with all his cars on. He drives them up and down the roads. Stephen was trying to move it into the other room and he threw the biggest fit! He also knows who "Mater" and "Lightening McQueen" are, but I think that he is just saying "Queen." He will point to them is you ask him where they are. He also got a small garbage can that has Lightening and Mater on it and he is so funny trying to open and close it. It is for him to put all of his cars in because he is gaining quite a collection! He actually does really well keeping them all in one spot because he likes to line them up next to him while he is watching his Cars movie. One of his favorite words roght now is "movie," I have to fight him so hard not to watch a movie. We try and stay out of the house and go play at other places, so that I don't have to fight him because I have been so tired with this pregnancy that I really would sit on the couch all day and let him watch movies! I have said it plenty of times to friends, but I am so excited for Christmas. We got Beck this Lightening McQeen car and everytime he sees it at Wal-Mart he goes crazy for it. I can't wait until he sees it Christmas morning! If I don't get the reaction that I've been waiting for then I think that I just might cry! That's sad to say, but I really am excited for Beck to open more presents and to see family.

I'm BACK!!!!

I'm BACK!!! It's fixed, it's fixed, knock on wood.... My computer works! I am so excited! First of all, I spent a fun day shopping in Tri-cites with my friend, Bethany, and it was also her birthday and now I am back and writing a blog for the first time in what feels like forever..... and I get to add pictures and I ordered pictures from Costco and Stephen is bringing them home, there is still snow on the ground and all my Christmas shopping is done and there are wrapped presents under the tree and there's a really big one for me!!!! Can you see why I am so excited? So now to catch up;

It snowed November 28th pretty well, so well that Beck got to make his first snowman. Stephen went in to work late so that he could help us with the snowman and Beck had so much fun. When our work was done, Beck gave our new little snow guy a big hug. Then it got warm and by the after noon frosty had melted and fell over. The snow was gone, but now it's December 11 and it has snowed again, so there is snow once more.

Beck has little plastic "choking hazard" dogs that he gets out of the 50 cent machine at Wal-Mart. He calls them, "pup-pups" and he really only plays with them when he is wating because he likes to feed them food from his plate. It is so cutem he makes these little pup-pup noises and everything! We went and got our tree the day after Thanksgiving and I was so excited! I love the smell of Christmas trees. I am sad this year because we are leaving to go to Idaho next Tuesday or Wednesday and we have to take our tree down before we leave. Beck had a lot of fun putting the tree up in the tree stand with Stephen. He kept making these grunting noises trying to turn the little screw things in the stand to tighten them. He was laying on the ground with Stephen, it was so cute!

Here is my first prego pic that I have taken with baby Paisley. I am 23 weeks along. I know the clothes are tight, so try to squint past that, I am only trying to preserve memories for my posterity..... :) This pregnancy is finally a lot better. The morning sickness has finally gone away and I am getting bigger and bigger everyday. I have fun trying to organize all the clothes that I got from my sister, Kortni and my sister-in-law, Michelle. But I try to restrain myself from buying more. I just feel bad if the baby turns out to be a boy, which I will be equally as excited for, but I don't think that he will be happy with the pink baby scrapbook that has all his ultrasound pictures in. I don't really think that Paisley is a boy name either! haha! Beck points to my stomach and then his stomach and says, "baby" but whenever he sees a picture of himself, he also says baby, so we'll have to wait and see who the real baby is. :) Beck tries to be soft, but man, he sure does like to wrestle!

Viruses suck

Man, I know how to have a baby, I know what an LO is in scrapbooking, I can make a mean plate of boxed brownies, I can can peaches and make applesauce, I know how to pretend how to sing in a group, I am known well for acting like a kid when I am teaching to get them involved, and man, I know how to be grumpy in the morning, but when it comes to these computers I am completely dumbfounded. I love the internet, I got it for my birthday and I am hooked. I love blogging and keeping in touch with family and friends. I've even had people call me to look on the internet to see what prices are good for stuff or what type of illness they have, but now, I feel alone, I feel cheated, I feel like I have had something taken away that was very important to me. My internet is now as slow as, gasp! Dial up.... dum dum dum.... Turns out I got a nasty virus and now I have to wait for our hard drive that Stephen is going to order to come in and put everything on it and then rebuild my whole computer to wipe out this nasty thing. So that's where I've been. My pictures have been piling up on my camera for fear to download them to my computer, and I have been waiting for what feels like 3 days for my blog to come on my screen behind a bunch of pop ups guaranteeing me the best home loans and what college I should go to. So no pictures for now, and picture me cussing out this poor machine in front of me as I cry over my loss of communication..... Wish me luck. And promise to not use Pyzam for backgrounds. Alisha Wilkinson gave me a great a web site to use, look under my "HELP!!!" Post in the comment section for the link. Adios everyone and hopefully I will be back soon!

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alright, I'm getting frustrated. I tried to change the background on my blog to one from Pyzam and it deleted everything, but when I went back and added one from blogger, then they were (my posts and pictures) there again, but now i can't find where I re-add my links to other people's blogs. When I first did a background from Pyzam I had to re-add the section to other links to other blogs, but there has to be a way to not have to re-add them, can someone shed a little light on this subject? and where is the part where it says "add a page element? It seems to have dissapeared. PS I hate hackers and viruses.....

Getting Ready for baby Paisley

Yep, her name is Paisley and it always has been. When Stephen and I went on our first date, a Brad Paisley concert, I just thought Paisley was such a cute name. I always thought that if I had a little girl, her name would be Paisley. There really is no question and I am not even giving Stephen a chance. Poor guy, but he does get to pick her middle name. :) My older sister, Kortni, has 3 girls, the last one is Beck's age. She was gracious enough to give up all her girl's clothes, well, she kept the "special" ones, but look at the load we got!!! Beck was having fun jumping into the piles as I was trying to organize by size.

Stephen also got me a new camera, after I so crazily lost mine. I am so happy with my new one! A Canon Power Shot. I am only on page 12 of the instruction manual, but I've learned how to take a picture! I just couldn't wait until Christmas, I am a picture taking fool!!! And my friend, Rischel, that was gracious enough to let me borrow her spare camera was needing it back, so YEA, I have new camera! And I really like how clear that it takes pictures, and I am excited about all the capabilites that it has, just gotta figure out how to work them... This one takes a black and white picture, with only a color that I choose highlighted, now I just gotta figure out how to rotate the picture, so it's facing the right way before I post it. Hmmm....

Beck on the front porch with his Big Pumpkin

that I just had to have for only $10!! I don't

know why I was so obsessed with having a big

pumpkin this year, must be the pregnancy hormones.

This last picture is of Beck caught red-handed in the

middle of his first real mess that he made all by himself. Yes,

he's made messes before, but I have been pretty fortunate.

This one was a real, "oh wow, look at what this Baby Powder

can do" kind of mess, thanks to his cousin Alizah who

introduced him to it's possibilites the day before. And look

at that proud look on his face. Although he was a real sweetie and helped me clean up, singing his "guardar, guardar" clean up song in Spanish that whole time.

It's a Girl!

They said that they are not 100% sure, but don't they always say that to cover their backs? I am excited. You know Stephen, well, if you don't, he never looks excited, but says he is. So calm that guy. It was fun, Beck was looking at the screen like it was a kind of movie, but was also looking kind of confused. He's going to have a baby sister!!! Poor girl, let's hope we get him out of this wrestling habit before she comes along. Now is seems like I have to wait forever to actually soo her. I'm going to have to convince my sister Kortni to let me go through her baby girl clothes to keep me occupied. Pinks, man, so different than blues.....

I don't even want to jinx myself, but we are supposed to find out what the sex of the baby is on Monday. I never actually thought about there being a "complication," not like a scary complication, but like the baby crossing his legs or being turned wrong and I don't get to find out. I think that I would go crazy!!! Argh! I just don't think that I would be able to stand it. Beck keeps me pretty busy, but I still think about how far away this baby seems, I've got to have something to break it up. like oh, I dunno, shopping. If it's boy, I'm pretty set, but there are still a few things that I'd like to purchase, Baby Bumbo, Baby Bjourn, clothes, clothes, clothes. And if it's girl, well, my sister has 3 girls, 2 in the same season, so I pretty much am set there too, but I can guarantee that I will find something to buy!!!! :) So I will keep you posted "dear diary...." and wish me luck...

Halloween 2007

Beck was the most adorable bumblebee for Halloween. After I dressed him up Stephen was a little worried that he looked like a girl, so I put his suit tie on him, so that there would be no confusion. :) He had such a fun time Trick-or-Treating, running up to the door, knocking and holding out his Frankenstien bag. He was very polite and always waved goodbye, even blowing a few kisses at times! We only went to about 5 or 6 houses down our block and he was so upset when we headed back home, but he really enjoyed passing out candy to the Trick-or-Treaters that came to our door.

October pictures

A quick catch up of pictures from our October 2007... Of course I will have cute Halloween pictures to add soon! :)
Friends Trent, Jason, and Stephen all have birthdays within a few days of each other and even though it was the big 30 for Jason and Stephen they wanted a very low key evening, so we had games planned, but actually all we did was sit around and talk. It was nice. Jason's wife and my good friend Bethany made a cute cake and we fit 30 candles on it! Notice the flaming fire ball, center.

Beck absolutely LOVES Ketchup. It makes me quite sick to my stomach, but he is so cute when he "asks" for it. He points at the fridge and then points at his plate with his little grunt like noise, like "come on mom, I know there's Ketchup in there." He once tried it on cereal and I almost threw up, so I took it away and got to listen to screams and him hanging on the fridge for a while.

This is Beck's photo shoot for my dad's photo tie that we are gettin him for his birthday. The suit doesn't fit very well around Beck's midsection, but my dad loves pictures of Beck in his suit, so we had to squeeze him into it one more time. This is obviously not the picture that we used, but I coudln't resist his cheesy grin, so I stuck it in my blog. He is almost 21 months. My little man is growing up. This is Beck and his girl cousins, Piper, Hanna, and Alizah, here in Moses Lake at their primary program. He does have a lot more cousins, but these are the ones that he sees every day and that he is more than ready to say "Bye" to me and blow me a kiss if he knows that he gets to go with them.

Altoid Tin

Sommers, sorry this took so long to get to you. I had to borrow a camera, I cry every day since i lost mine!!! Argh! It was easier to blog it then send an e-mail, I'm still not to quick on the computer side of things..... Good Luck!! I took a class on how to make these from a gal named Tiffany at a scrapbook store called All 'Bout Scrappin that used to be here in Moses Lake, but I don't know her last name.... I changed it a bit and made it a month to month tin to see how Beck grew and changed each month. So that means that I added a lot more paper to the accordian fold and added quotes and things in between the pictures every now and then.

Use the old Altoid tin, some of the new ones have raised tops, you don't want that one. Measure your paper to the top, bottom, and sides of your tin, cut "templates" and then size accordingly. Using different coordination patterns for each. The inside template should be smaller and the top and bottom of the tin always seem to be different sizes, but it is quite easy to sand off any edges that are too big or hang off and you can't get it with scissors after you have already glues it down. Mod Podge (from Wal-Mart) the back of papers to glue onto tin. Mod Podge (glue) all papers on first, do not Mod Podge over top yet. Be careful when ModPodging sides and do not use too much, will rust the hinges on lid of tin in the back. You can scrape off extra ModPodge later.

Use (2) 12X12 papers for insert. Measure to fit inside and then fold accordion style, first in a long rectangle, you will round corners later to fit perfectly into the tin.
Glue one rectangle insert end to the other, this picture below shows a small hint of a line where papers connect, you can only use one 12 X 12 paper, but there won't be as many picture slots obviously.
Now use a corner rounder, if you don't have one get it at Wal-Mart, $3.88, use on the corners of folded accordion rectangle. It's easier to punch 2 edges at once.

Now you can "glue" Mod Podge in bottom of insert into bottom of tin if you want. Mine is not glued down, since i added pictures later, it was easier not to glue it down, so I could take it out o to work on it every month for Beck's new pic to be added.

Now there should be some "extra" paper that did not fit when you accordian folded your insert, this is where you make your tab, so that the pictures are easy to fold out and look at. I added a "tab pull." Now embelish the heck out of the little bugger and mod podge over top. Making sure to let dry before you close the lid or it will rust. Good luck Sommers and send for questions, these instructions are probably hard to understand!!!

ABC about Me

A-Attached or single: Attached
B- Best Friend: Stephen Ashton
C- Cake or Pie: Pumpkin Pie
D- Day of choice: Definitly Saturdays because Stephen is home and our family gets to spend all day together.
E- Essential Item: chapstick
F- Favorite Color: blue
G- Gummy Bears or Worms: neither unless they are the cour gummy worms
H- Hometown: Burley Idaho
I- Indulgence(s): hot baths, book reading, scrapbook night
J- January or July: July
K- Kid(s): Beck Nephi Ashton, 20 months, baby #2 due in April
L- Life is Incomplete Without: Beck and Stephen and bacon
M- Marriage Date: October 10, 2003
N- Number of Siblings: 5
O- Oranges or Apples: Oranges, that someone else peeled and removed all the yucky white stuff from
P- Phobias or Fears: Spiders... enough said
Q- Quote(s): I hope you dance....
R- Reason To Smile: knowing I get to take a nap
S- Season: Winter, Christmas is my favorite, family and friends, and well, I really like presents.
T- Tag Three +: Jakobi, Jenn, and Sommers (This means that you have to do this) (Sommers, I lost my camers, but I am going to borrow one to show you how to make the altoid tin) :)
U- Unknown Fact About Me: I had a toe nail removed 3 years ago and it still grows with a big crack in it
V- Vegetarian or Meat Eater: Meat, bacon is my favorite food
W- Worst Habit: chapstick
X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasounds , what's so grat about an X-ray, unless I guess you are an X-ray technician, but it usually only means you have to wear a cast...
Y- Your Favorite Food: bacon and cookie dough, not together of course. You can imagine what my cholesterol is
Z- Zodiac: Leo

I am domesticated...

I never cease to amaze myself..... Well, until I wake up and smell the Mountain Dew.... just kidding. Anyways, today we went to Tri-cities. Stephen had an appointment and I tagged along because I wanted to buy a pair of "nice, dress pants." It's a rule now that we don't get to wear jeans to teach at the school. I totally agree with it, but it just kind of sucks that I am 4 months pregnant and the only pants that fit happen to be a pair of jeans. :) Anyways before I drag on and on, I tried on about 25 pairs of "slacks" at 2 different stores and every single one of them were too long, except for the pair of shorts that were like slacks that I thought were cute, but Stephen informed me that they were "butt ugly." Anyways, normally I just wouldn't have gotten a pair, but I thought to myself, "hey, I made my own applesauce and I just scrapbooked the other night until 5 in the morning, heck, man, I can hem a pair of pants." And woola! (Is that a word or even close ot correct spelling?) I hemmed my very own pants! Don't look too closely, I ran out of black thread and used brown on half, I still can't figure out how to put more thread on the bobbin using the machine instead of doing it by hand. But if I say so myself, they don't look half bad, well, at least they are the same length!

Anniversary

Today Stephen and I have been married for 4 years!!! Wow! I know that people say it all the time, but it really has gone by fast. To think that we have known each other for 4 years and 4 months and trying to go back and think about how it was before without him in my life isn't even possible. Without being all lovey dovey, it just seems as though that part of my life doesn't even exist. So, it's either the euphoria of being happily married or a declining memory, but it sure does feel as though this is the only life that I have ever known!

I fixed it, I fixed it!

I am amazing, I tell you. There are some days when I think to myself, "Korbi, did you really just say or do that?" Then their are other days when I think, "Yeah, I could go to grad school..." Then I realize that it took me 3 years, a stint living abroad, and 4 colleges later to get an associates degree. My problem is is that I want whatever I can't figure out to be solved now, and I want it to be a click away, I don't want to have to search for the answer, and I don't want to have to wait for someone to find it for me. I want it done and finished and fixed NOW! But this time, I found the problem to my little "won't show all my friends and family's blog links at the same time" problem and I did it myself! Wow, I never cease to amaze myself, then I burn the mac and cheese.....

HELP!!!

Someone please help me! I keep trying to add people's blogs to my blog and only one will show up on my actual blog page, how do I get them all to show up? Hmmm... Technology, what a mystery to me....

Making applesauce

Today was looooonnnnnggg! First we planted about 200 bulbs, then Stephen had to go on an appointment and I finished and made a small retaining wall on the side of the garage for some of my special "Queen of the the Night" black tulips. Then I planted a bunch of hyacinths and by the time we got inside it was 3 pm and Beck was READY for his nap! While he slept I made applesauce and then canned it. Not the first time, the 2nd time, but this was the first time by myself! Stephen bought a box a fujis, I felt like I worked forever and I only got 4 jars, 2 hydrators filled with apples, that I don't even get to try for another 6 hours. Poor Beck woke up after an hour nap and just followed me around the kitchen whining as I was covered with sticky apple juice, so I couldn't pick him up for a while. Then I made enchiladas and stuck them in the freezer for Monday. What did we have for dinner tonight? Just chips and salsa, I got so into the applesauce and enchiladas it was 8pm before I finished. And now it's 11 Pm and I am creating a blog, someone stop me....

Beginning

In the beginning there was a girl, a girl who knew how to send e-mails, but didn't know how to attach pictures, thought that MySpace was the space that surrounded your body, as in a space bubble, and then for her birthday her husband got her the internet! And it all began....