My Family is home!!!

Stephen went straight for the lawn, it is nice to have my "professional lawn waterer" back... :)

And the kids and I worked in the garden, so that we could have "popcorn" (corn on the cob) for dinner....

I pretty much have decided that this is my view of the world. The top of my kids' heads. We have many good lessons as I stare at the top of these heads. We count, we decide what the difference is between a zucchini and a watermelon, we learn in church, we look at zebras at the zoo because my kids are always in my lap or standing right in front of me. I always am tripping over Paisley when I am trying to carry a full laundry basket because she is always trying to get in front of me, so that I will pick her up.... but they are pretty cute little heads, huh?

Beck SWIMMING?!#?!

Stephen took the kids to the cabin for the past 2 days (I had to stay behind for a gym staff meeting) and I have been missing out! Beck has been taking swim lessons with his "uncle Ralph" in Othello at my sis-in-law's pool. Now he does not love swimming lessons, he gets very worried on his way there and sometimes cries a lot. He does not want to jump in, or "go under" or "go in the deep," but he listens to and does everything that Ralph says. And this my friends is why I do this:

Yes, he has a life jacket on, and no, it is probably not really that deep, but my boy is SWIMMING!!!! I love Ralph the swim teacher.... ;)

NO, I am not pregnant!!

....and the next "innocent" person who asks me is gonna get a punch in the jaw. Come on People! It is left over baby "stuff!" Yes, my baby is almost a year and a half, but I still have the "jellies," and am constantly in search of what me and my sisters lovingly refer to as "tummy shirts." So seriously, quit asking, I am not pregnant. Included is a picture of me actually pregnant, so that we can stop confusing the 2. Hopefully there is a big enough difference between the 2 and if not, I seriously need to reconsider my work out regime. Thank you.

OUCH!

20 minutes into my first motorcycle lesson from my hubby and nephew, Taryn, I wreck. Dang it. Going, get this, like 3 miles an hour, went to slow down and pulled in the clutch and hand break, and it kind of fishtailed? out from under me and I landed on my shoulder. I kind of wish the crack I heard was from my shoulder, but nope, it was the bike, double dang it. I cracked my nephew's bike in 2 places, maybe like $700, not to mention the ER bill for the sprained shoulder, that even though it is just sprained, hurts like @#?!$@&** yeah, that bad, it's amazing how much you use a shoulder, so much in fact that your husband has to man up and put your hair in a pony tail for you. This little incident kind of puts a damper on my bike class I was enrolled in with my sis-in-law this weekend, triple dang it...

Idaho Quick Trip

This past weekend my very cute, red headed little brother, Justin, age 11, got sealed to our family in the Twin Falls Temple! We have had quite a few years with our little Justin in raising him as a baby and loving him and losing him and loving him and losing him again and again. I was about 16 when Justin entered our lives as a newborn and I remember caring him around in his carseat at the Dairy Queen and taking him to my games as I cheered, my sister Jakobi had him at soccer games and we changed his bum and watched him grow. He finally entered our family as the adoption became real when I was a Sr in High School. His biological mom is named Heather and she "married" a man much older than her and then came Justin. My mother at the time was taking care of Heather's mother who was losing a battle with cancer and then when she passed, Heather kind of got scared and gave us her little boy Justin, then just a newborn. Then off and on for years he was back and forth. The poor little guy, sometimes there were months where we didn't know where he was, but then he was ours for sure. And now he is ours for the eternities!!!! All the grandkids outside the temple waiting for the ceremony to be over; L-R: Jax, Paisley, Beck, Bridger, Broxton, Hanna, Branson, Alizah, Piper, Lizie, and my couisn Kaela one of the babysitters.

My little brother, Kalan, what a stud! and Paisley enjoying his child attending skills.

Beck and his great grandpa Beck who was able to join us in the temple.Stephen, Paisley, Beck, and J Weldon BeckBeck and his great grandma MimiStephen Ashton Family at the Twin Falls TempleFamily for Time and all Eternity; Jakobi, Justin, Kortni, Britni, Korbi; back: mom, dad, Kalan

Me and cousin KaelaMe and my mom

Me and my brother, Kalan

This is about THE ONLY moment that Broxton and Paisley got along

Afterwards we all ate at IHOP and made quite a commotion!Me and my brand new niece, Lizie.After the Temple and IHOP we raced to Boise to get Jakobi and her kids on a plane to Portland and Kortni and 2 of her girls (I kept Alizah) on a plane back to Spokane, we stayed in Boise and went to Pojo's on Saturday.After Pojo's we decided to get on the road and head back to Washington, but not before a quick stop to see "Bumblebee" from Transformers! We explained to Alizah and Beck how Bumblebee only transforms at night because he is shy.Beck was way super excited and kept trying to look Bumblebee in the eye and talk to him. Way super cute.....

My swinging bed

When I was growing up I had issues with beds. I really don't know what my problem was. I always ended up sleeping on the floor, until about 8th grade I decided to get rid of my bed altogether and I slept in a sleeping bag on the floor for about a year and a half. Then when I was in high school I took a month in the summer before my Jr year and went to Russia. My mom told me that she was going to redo my room and get me another bed, I told her fine, but anything but a daybed.... well, I came home to a forest green metal day bed. I slept in it about 4 times and then me and my friend Dugan decided to make a frame and hang the mattress from the ceiling. And it has stayed there until this day. We recently went home for my little brother, Justin, to be sealed to our family, and my mom announced that she was taking it down. Over the years she has replaced my wall full of pictures and posters with girly frames and ivy to cover the chains holding my bed up, but I think that she has had enough, "it's coming down and the "brand new" day bed is going back up." So Paisley and I slept in it one more time and yes, it was just as comfortable as I remember it. Thanks mom and dad for letting me hang my bed from the ceiling all those years ago...

Kalan

My little brother Kalan just got back from a month long stay in Europe visiting over 10 countries! Click here to view only a few of his amazing photos that he took: Kalan's Europe Photos He really is quite talented, he just graduated with his masters in Architecture and I wish him luck in all of his future endeavors!

Clinic Visits and Cousin visits

On one of the days of gymnastics camp, I went in a little early to get Beck and figure out the rest of our afternoon, not 5 minutes after arriving Lindsay (a coach, brings Beck over cradling him in her arms and he is holding his elbow) Some kid pushed him off of a mat and he hit the carpeted floor, don't get me wrong, Beck has done this to many other little kids, so no harsh feelings to the pusher :) Upon inspection, dang, it seriously looked injured and I thought even broke. There was a lot of swelling over his elbow and a weird bump under it, along with a few abrasions. I was pretty calm and quickly decided to run him to the clinic. I was thinking, "Well, this is it, we've made it 3 1/2 years without any major accidents, it's kind of about time." He wouldn't move it all the way to the clinic, but by the time I got there he was playing with my earrings and moving it all around, so the Dr didn't even take X-rays or anything. Now it just has this big yucky bruise and a carpet like burn.The next morning, Paisley was awnry! and if anyone knows Pais they know that she is not an awnry person, so I got her into the clinic and we left with a sinus infection.... she is doing much better.The "Beck" cousins are here even though they are all Nelsons, Widmiers, Ashtons, and the missing and well loved Conleys (they are in Oregon) My little brother Justin, the red head, is actually the only Beck, but they are Beck cousins cause they got Beck blood in them! (Those of you that didn't know Beck is my maiden name and that it why Beck is names Beck. :)
Pictured with much loved babysitters, Lindsay (who we will miss dearly! she is going to Arizona for school) and McKenna her younger sister.... Left to Right; Justin, Bridger, Hanna, Branson, ALizah, Piper, Beck, Paisley, and Broxton.

On Friday we took the boat out and had some chilly fun! Beck and Pais both went tubing and we didn't even get wet!

Really awesome super duper birthday!

I am not gonna lie, it didn't start out too happy. I went and worked out and felt crappy and complained the whole time... I really did wake up on the wrong side of the bed, then I came home to this..... that made me smile, then it went crappy for a bit more.....

But then I made it to the gym and it was good times after that.My friend, Lindsay, made this cake for, she MADE it! She was like, "yeah, I was watching Cake Boss yesterday and I was like hey, I can do that..." so she whips out this beauty all for me!!! I felt so special, AND I got sprinkle covered donuts, aren't I the coolest? There was no reason for me to have gone and worked out this morning, let's just say that... ;)
Then I stopped at Jenn's house and she had made me this wonderful piece of quilted yumminess, I just about died.... AND I got some more fabric too. Don't my friends and family know me so well????? Then off to the pool. Don't love the pool so much, but it makes the munchkins smile!

Then me and the hubby had dinner plans and my sis-in-law and her hubby drove in to meet us at Inca's and she kind of spilled the beans about some ice cream get together later??? huh? then while at dinner another sis-in-law called and wanted to know what time the party was???? Then I came home to this.....

A party for me.

All my family! plus a few others and minus a few, but surrounded by people I love and with more friends stopping by with a few lovely tokens of friendship (how did they all know that I needed things to organize my purse with??? I tell ya, perfect, absolutely perfect)and kids everywhere... smiling and laughing, I am starting to sound like a Hallmark commercial, but seriously, it was just that good.

and then after all the clean up and people gone, I got to finish up a sewing project a friend (Kellee) made for me. I just had to measure my stuff to sew the individual pockets to organize my purse, she had done it all. Along with a cute owl bag from Jessica, my purse is now the most organized on the planet, well, at least in the town of Moses Lake, and it looks way darn cute too! Along with some new work out tennis shoes (best in Moses Lake, according to Stephen) :) material, (all drool worthy) a bigger knitting bag (that was sssooooo needed) and many well wishes, Mountain Dew, b-day money, (whoo hoo!) my birthday perfectly rocked... thank you everyone. Jake, I miss you.....

Happy Birthday Jake!!!!

we hated this picture....

we cut each other's hair when we were 4
"Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny yellow polka dot bikini" tap dance
Powder Puff Football- high school sophomores

This lip was a result of riding the steer in the above picture in the ward rodeo.

Baptism
2 months old