My big kids

Last week before we left for Idaho I tried to cut Beck's hair, so today we had to go and get it fixed..... and now he's wearing chonies and does so well at making it to the potty! Whoo hoo! Pais loves her new skill of standing up and is getting so strong!

Elizabeth Mae Conley

She arrived this morning at 7:18. At 9 lbs 6 oz and 21 inches long, she is the cutest little chunk you have ever seen. Paisley was smitten and her older brother Jax was more interested in the balloons. Congrats to my sister, Jakobi, her hubby, and new big brother Jax. We love you baby Elizabeth!

We are in Idaho!

Me and the kids headed to Idaho to visit my twin Jakobi and hopefully put her into labor with her little girl. She is due on April 1st! We arrived at about 6 last night having left Moses at about 10:30 in the morning with only 1 stop in La Grande at the McDonalds to eat and play and 2 potty stops on the side of the road for Beck. Knock on wood the potty training has been going really well, even with a visit to the zoo today, no accidents! And as I said, Knock on Wood!! Last night was pretty crappy with the kids not going to sleep until late and up off and on for most of the night, but what you expect in a new place? But I did get to watch Twilight!!! This morning we went to the Boise Zoo and Beck was so excited and kept jumping in and out of the stroller that we borrowed to "see more aminals." He wouldn't stay too long at one before he was ready to move on, but I consider it a success by all of his smiles and excitement. I think that he liked the penguins the most and also "Marty" the zebra. He kept yelling at the giraffe to go back to Madagascar. Pais was just happy to be outside and very content with just sitting in the stroller. She was in love with the carousel. She kept making these "oooh" sounds as she went up and down. All the 2 hours of walking around did not put Jake into labor yet, only time will tell I guess. :) Poor thing, Beck was very intrigued by her big belly and said things like, "It's just too big, it needs to come out," "It's too hot," "It's this big!" holding his arms out as far as they would go. We are excited to be here visiting Jake and also we got to see my little brother, kalan, who came out for dinner last night and we visited his little "office" where he does his schooling after we left the zoo. Hopefully we will see him again, and hopefully this little baby girl Conley comes because Jake is uncomfortably quite large, and I can say that because I have been large and pregnant before. :)

Mutual at the Gym

Paisley is finally learning to eat with a spoon. I don't know why I hadn't given her one sooner, she's my baby I guess, but Beck is three and he's still my baby, so you can see that I have a problem... :) Last night a group from our ward had mutual at the gymnastics center. Paisley spent most of her evening showing off her new trick of going backwards down the edge of the floor. She thinks that she is pretty hot stuff. I also think that she likes to stand up because it makes her feel so big! My niece, Hanna, got to do some demos for the mutual kids ans she did really well. I am pretty sure that she loves to soak up the attention. :)yes, this is Stephen, him and his 31 years, just trying to be a kid in his slacks and all. Pais and her daddy....Beck is also pretty hot stuff down at the gym. He is in a mini hot shot class which he loves. He is the only boy, but I don't think that he has noticed yet. Yes, sometimes my heart does skip a beat when I turn and see this...The gym's story: I moved here in 2003 and began coaching at Bounce Gymnastics Center. Kortni was working there and running rec classes and trying to keep the team going. The previous owner had left due to a run in with the law and some parents had bought it, so that their daughter could continue competing there. Kortni got tangled up in it after agreeing to help out and teach a few classes. So then when I moved here I started too. I also took over teaching a Spanish playgroup in her living room, but then it grew too big, so we moved it to the gym and ran summer camps and a small class. The parent owners got out and 2 different parent owners and Kortni and Brandon bought it, then the other two parents owners got out too after our lease was up and we moved to where we are located now, bringing the school with us and calling it AIM School and Gymnastics. The school has grown to over 5 preschool classes, parent-tot, a kindergarten, after-school Spanish, and a gymnastics program of over 350 kids. Then it was a whole different group of owners in a gal named Kathryn, Kortni, Janell, and me. Then Kathryn moved and Janell got out, but still works there a little bit and coaches the Ephrata division, so now it's just me and Kortni and I just own a tiny little bit and that makes it ok because I don't have to live there and Beck and Pais can do any gymnastics or school that they want! You'd think after all these years that we'd have it under control, and we do what we can, but I think back to all that we used to do. Kortni practically sleeping there and me there when I drove over from Othello at 7Am attended classes and then to the gym until getting home after 10 at night. We always joke about not getting paychecks and working for kitchen appliances, but watching Beck run around last night and being so proud of his tricks and wanting to show his dad... Yeah, it's been a bumpy road, but memories aren't always joyful are they? :) (Kortni, did I get it all right?)
Speaking of not very joyful, this is my poor baby Beck's face that one day he is going to kill me for writing about this, but it is our life and this is my journal, but yes, we are still potty training and the last three days have been pretty successful, but the poor kid HATES going poo. He has really bad bouts of constipation and that is the only thing that he associates this bodily function with; pain. Poor guy, he just makes my heart break. He holds it and holds it and this is the face that I end up with and he thinks that it's my fault for making him sit there on the throne. I love you Beck and I promise that I am not trying to make you cry!

Scrap Quilt

Remember this post? How I won all those scraps from Miss Dana over at Old Red Barn Company? Well, this is what I came up with and I LOVE IT! I was totally going to give it to someone when I first started it, but I have a REALLY hard time giving stuff away when I like it so much, call me selfish. I love all the girly prints and bright colors. I have always wanted a mostly white quilt and now I have it! Now I just wish it was BIG! I had been working on a wonky log cabin pattern for Paisley, but now I gave her this one and will just make the wonky clog cabin one bigger for a throw for the couch or something......I also am obsessed with knitting and this hat I was also going to give away, I even had it in my church bag in case I ran into the gal, but it was cold when we left, so I stuck it on Pais's head and she looked so darn cute, well, I kept it. Now if she would just wear it. I have had a hat and/or bow on that girl's head since the day she was born, but now she has decided that she doesn't like hats anymore, good thing the weather is warming up! So this is Beck modeling her hat for me. Knitting is so calming, I love doing it while we are driving because Stephen drives, so I get to knit and don't get car sick from reading. Although it is VERY frustrating when I can't figure a stitch out and I have to keep starting over or something... or the kids need something and I have to keep turning around and stitched fall off or something! Argh!
Here is a video of one of Paisley's most favorite things to do. My mom made her this tin bucket with the buttons and she just thinks that it is the coolest thing. She is so good at pointing out what she wants, her little pointer finger gets a big work out everyday!

Lost

Has anyone seen Paisley's monkey blanket? I actually haven't seen it for a long time.... Maybe I left it at someone's house???

Wal-Mart gang initiation?

So I've been scared out of my mind today with rumors flying around Moses Lake and Othello about a gang related incident going to happen at Wal-Mart and schools being on lock down and shootings happening. So I've been on and off the phone with friends and one friend checked out Snopes.com and this is what she found, updated TODAY even... Check it out. Apparently all a rumor, still scary to me though, so we have been on "sick day" anyways with me and my kids holing up in the house. Pais with the flu...

Jackson Flight Center

Today for a field trip for my preschool class I organized a visit to the Jackson Flight Center. It was so much fun to be able to get in the planes and watch them land and take off. Beck was a little booger at first. I had taken his crayons from home to have the kids color some airplane pictures while we waited for everyone to arrive and the little guy recognized them as his and was so not into sharing his Spiderman crayons. So in the first picture he is totally forcing a smile.... But now he is so in love. While up at Priest Lake we have sat and watched the planes fly in and take off from the little hanger there, but for the rest of today every time he heard a plane he stopped in his tracks and was searching the sky. On a side note: Paisley has the flu.... :( Poor angel, the nights are the worst and her temp gets up to 103 and she is just very clingy and irritable, so you can imagine how big of a pile of laundry that I have on my couch.

Pictures from the last little while

Now that I am healed and back to life I wanted to post a few pictures from the last little while.This is what Beck wants to do every day, dye "eapster eggs." I made the mistake of doing it once last week before we took off to the cabin and now it's all I hear, but he did actually eat one, I was impressed, not the yoke of course.This is because, well, she's cute, and I wanted to showcase her bruises on her head that she in now starting to get because she is learning to stand and with that come toppling over.And well, she's cute. :)While at the cabin this past weekend and I was upstairs hanging out in the bathroom, Grandma Ann showed Paisley her i-Phone. Ann wanted her to play with the bubble game and "pop" the bubbles, but all Pais wanted to do was turn it on and off because she knew what button did just that. My kids are smarter than me. Stephen's i-Phone is the only thing that Beck wants to play with and he works it like a pro.Pais thinks that she's cool when Beck lets her play with his Leapster as he did on the way home from the cabin.

What a nice boy to share his toys....Today was our "Duende" (Leprechaun) visitor party at the school today. This sneaky little "duende" secretly trashed our room and left each of the kids "oro" (gold) Beck thought the little rock painted gold was so cool.

I know this video seems mean, but it was just too cute. This was taken a week or two ago, she is really getting quite good and took a step at the cabin, so any time now. Beck walked like the day before his 1st birthday and Pais turns one on April 3rd, man how time flies....

True Love

You know that your man loves you when he rubs your back as you are throwing up in the toilet ruining your weekend cabin getaway..... :)

R-E-S-P-E-C-T!

Please watch this... sooo funny and a lot how I feel right now... I have probably blogged about this before, but I have been having a tough time with a few people right now. Mostly those younger than me. I am trying not to chastise, because there are quite a few things in life that I to have taken for granted, so let me get started. #1 People older than me deserve respect: whether I am smarter, richer, poorer, have more teeth than, drive a white car or a small car, whether they work at McDonald's or I work at McDonalds and they come thru the drive thru, they deserve respect, whether they have wronged me, cut me off, or given me the wrong change, they deserve respect. I am amazed at the younger people who disregard me or others as nothing. I have seen younger people walk past an old lady in the parking lot struggling to push her shopping cart thru the slush and snow and laugh and point!!! Outraged I tramp over there with my kids in tow and I too struggle to help her as they continue to laugh. I am not saying I am a saint, far from, but respect people, at least I have the common decency to show respect! In running the gym/school with my sister I come across so many people/kids, okay I'll just say it, teenagers that show up late, back talk to me, and other adults, parents, kids, text and talk on their cell phone at work, I mean come on! You are being PAID to work, not talk to your friends. We are a very relaxed work environment, but seriously? I will admit to not being the most angelic teenager, but when I was at one of my jobs I showed so much respect for what I did and my superiors, and I EARNED my paycheck, I did not expect it to be handed to me. Don't get me wrong there are many kids out there who are great kids, I have had teenage boys open doors for me, and chase Beck down in the parking lot for me, great girls who watch my kids while I attend the temple, not all of them are inconsiderate, but I need some convincing on the other half of this rising generation..... So here's to all the "Yes mams" and "yes Sirs," you rock and I appreciate your kindness and willingness to be a great asset to this world and to the other half, get your head out of your bum, you have to earn this world or us older folks just might develop a drug to live longer and then we are going to keep it....

So onto a lighter note, we received a wonderful package from my parents, Maimi Dawn and Papa Goose. The spent almost 2 weeks in New Orleans and got lots of good loot. Beck loves his tools that he got

Looking for Spring

At my house we are looking for Spring. I actually don't mind the winter at all, I love the gloomy days the best, but Beck is really wanting to play outside all day and I just can't bring myself to do it. Last Saturday we did get the yard cleaned up and it was fun to be outside, Beck was in heaven, and we spotted lots of tulips poking through.
Paisley is loving her "nummies." Lately I have given her a chocolate chip cookie, a piece of Hershey's chocolate, and a tiny piece of taffy. I think that she is convinced that we are all eating all of this stuff on an every day basis because she is always trying to get what is on everyone else's plates.....Beck LOVES McDonald's. And at first I thought it was the food and the Happy Meal and the "choco milk," but after leaving the drive thru he was not satisfied, so I realized that it was the new playland..... dang it, now we actually have to go in..... oh, well, whatever makes them happy, right?

Avalanche

With no permission at all from my sis-in-law, Michelle, I stole this straight from her blog....

"The Avalanche
I have been debating whether or not to post this on my blog, only because it was such a scary, scary thing for Joel to experience and something to not be taken lightly. Last week he was up in our central mountains snowmobiling with his brothers, Stephen, Tony, Scott and a couple of their friends. They do this trip every year (it's up near Sun Valley) and stay at a really cool lodge for two days/ two nights usually. This last Tuesday afternoon, Joel's brother Scott was caught in this avalanche. He wasn't doing anything crazy or unusual. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Joel had even been up there before him (they all had) luckily though they were only going one at a time. By the time Joel reached him (he was at the bottom, watching, as they all were) they nearly had him dug out. They weren't sure where he landed so Joel and another brother had gone around a different way to look for him there. One of the friends saw his boot sticking up (luckily) although they all wear beacons, but I'm afraid in this case it could have been too late, so thank goodness for his boot showing! When the other guys had got him out of the hole he was not breathing, so Joel grabbed him and started doing mouth-to-mouth while another guy did chest compressions. It took awhile, but his brother Scott is actually just fine. I'm sure it was just a matter of minutes (if not seconds) and the story would have been a lot different. Joel talked to a doctor at church yesterday telling him about it and the doctor told him it was probably the CPR that saved him for sure. Joel luckily had had a "refresher" course lately in Young Men's on how to do mouth-to-mouth. Scott had a hard time coming to and was very scared. They realize how lucky they are to have found him and he did not have any broken bones. It truly is amazing. The same week there were 3 snowmobilers killed in one by Jackson Hole, WY. It scares me to death, although I am so grateful there were so many strong guys there who had the equipment they needed to get Scott out and were prepared in case this DID happen. So, anyway, I post this so that it may be a reminder to all to take precautions, be prepared, and give that loved one one last hug before they leave to go anywhere!"

(I wrote this part) Stephen and a friend were the ones that dug him out and I am so thankful that they are smart snomobilers and carry the equipment that they need; beacons, shovels, brains.... I gave Scott a big ol's hug when I saw him on Sunday and said, "good to have you around, glad you're here." and he said, "thank your Stephen..." and Man, I sure do, he's a smart, quick, ready to act and do what is necessary guy. They all are.

This is from the Tri-City Herald article....

Pasco snowmobiler survives avalanche By Drew Foster, Herald staff writer (Scott is pictured on the right)
Scott Ashton of Pasco, right, was saved by friends, including Sam Harker of Pasco, after being trapped in an avalanche during a snowmobiling trip Tuesday. While “high-marking” a slope near Featherville, Idaho, Ashton started an avalanche and was buried. Fortunately, his foot was sticking out of the snow and he was quickly found by his friends and brothers and revived.
All it took was 60 seconds.
Buried in an ice-packed coffin, Scott Ashton struggled to control his breathing. Unable to move, he concentrated on each gasp for air.
"I couldn't catch my breath," the Pasco man said Friday. "I knew I needed to slow my breathing, but I couldn't. It was like someone was sitting on my chest."
Trapped, upside down, unable to move and breathing out of control, Ashton faded out of consciousness in about a minute.
With a single foot sticking out of the snow, his brothers and friends were able to find him and start digging.
Every minute counted.
Ashton, a 33-year-old financial adviser, spent nearly 10 minutes buried in snow after being swallowed by a snowmobile-triggered avalanche in Idaho earlier this week. Unconscious, his colleagues dug him out and breathed life back into him.
"If they hadn't been prepared, I wouldn't have made it," he said.
Ashton was snowmobiling with four friends and three brothers Tuesday in Featherville, Idaho. After hours spent traversing Idaho's snow-blanketed backcountry, the crew began climbing a hill in the afternoon. For about 15 minutes, Ashton said, they took turns dashing toward its pinnacle.
"We just came to this one particular spot and didn't think too much of it," Ashton said. "I didn't think it was too bad."
He said conditions were favorable -- no drastic temperature changes, not too much fresh, unsettled snow -- so he decided to climb and followed the hill's ridgeline. He noticed it was wind-loaded, an area where snow blew over the hill's crest, accumulating in unstable piles.
"You want to stay away from areas where wind blows the snow," said his brother, Tony Ashton of Othello.
As his sibling rode, Tony said he watched the snow crumble behind Scott, saw the fast-moving avalanche envelope his brother. The rushing snow settled in two areas, one near the top of the hill, the other toward the bottom where Tony and the others -- Joel Ashton of Rexburg, Idaho; Stephen Ashton of Moses Lake; Dan Hatch and Sam Harker of Pasco; and Jim Hayhurst and Mike Cercheck of Pine, Idaho -- watched.
"My first thought is that it was a race against the clock," Tony said, adding that the group had about 10 to 15 minutes to rescue Scott. The thought of never seeing his brother alive again crossed Tony's mind, but didn't linger.
One group raced to the upper area. Tony, 36, searched for his brother below.
Six years ago, Tony was buried in an avalanche. Scott was one of the people who pulled his unresponsive body from the snow. Tony was prepared to do the same, but by the time he headed uphill, the others already had dug Scott out.
"The first thing that went through my mind is this can't be happening again," Stephen Ashton said. "When I realized it was Scott, my brain kind of stopped working."
Cercheck and Joel Ashton performed CPR, with Joel lending his breath to his brother's lifeless body. Stephen held his brother's head.
"When they got me out, they said I was in shock for about 10 minutes," Scott said. "I could hear myself screaming. I screamed for probably 10 minutes. I couldn't control my body. ... It was probably worse on the people digging me out than it was on me."
"It's still a little bit surreal," Stephen said Friday. "That part was pretty gnarly."
Stephen had trouble talking about the avalanche, looking at his brother's blue face, hearing Scott scream.
"It's pretty hard to get over," he said.
Sitting on a snow-laden hill in Idaho, with Scott fully conscious, the group prayed. They thanked God for saving their brother, their friend.
Again.
Scott, Stephen, Tony and Harker attributed Scott's rescue to preparedness. They carried beacons, shovels and probes. They knew CPR.
"I think anybody in the backcountry needs to be prepared," Scott said.
Stephen added that a little luck was probably involved too.
"As bad as it went," he said, "it couldn't have gone any better."

Utter cuteness

You know that you think they are cute too.... :)