Artichoke Buddy

I just thought I would put some pictures of Ashlyn eating an Artichoke. Ever since she was about 3 years old she has eaten Artichokes with me. I used to have to eat them when she was sleeping because she would eat mine and I would get less than half of one. Now that she is older we have to buy Ashy her own. She downs the whole thing. She eats the leaves and the heart. When she tells Mark to buy her a treat at the stor Mark will sometimes bring home an Artichoke and it is so funny because she gets so excited. Most kids would be dissapointed and be mad it was not candy. Not Ashy it makes her day. She won't eat any other vegetable but she loves an artichoke. Anyhow I get a kick out if it and here are some pictures of it.

Happy Easter

Easter for us started on Friday. The kids and I went to my friends house in South Jordan for a Easter egg hunt and picnic. Ashlyn made some new Friends that played with her and held her hand. She got to jump on a trampoline and play with a lot of girls. She had a great time until a bee landed on her sleeve. Then the panic attack came on. She was freaking. I thought she had broken a bone or something, but no it was just a bee that attached itself on her sleeve. She is definitely a girly girl. In the process of her freak out she spilled her bubbles and was upset about that. Julie's cute little daughter was nice enough to give her bubbles to Ashlyn. Josh did his usual and fell down on his head many times. Overall it was good times. It was fun to see my friends who and all of their cute little kids. When we were driving away Ashlyn asked if we could come again tomorrow.

Saturday we went to Marks families. They had a Easter egg hunt there as well. It is funny cause Ashlyn does not quite no what to do with herself in these. She kind of just stands there and spins in circles watching everyone else find eggs. I thought this year she would have been able to do it herself. I guess she is not quite there yet but there is always next Easter.

Sunday the Easter bunny came to our house. Ash came in our room and I told her to go downstairs and check all the rooms to see if he had come. So the next thing I hear is our front door unlocking and opening. I yelled down to Ash that it was in the house not outside. She was just going to walk out there in her t-shirt and undies. She is a character. Anyhow she came up about five minutes later to let me know that indeed the Easter Bunny had come and she was quite thrilled over this. She loved her new dress and as you can see they both look pretty good.

Yard Work is hard

We rented a Bobcat last Friday to move dirt and get out yard ready for grass. Mark put the kids in and they thought they were pretty cool. I wish I had a picture of Mark driving it because he was like a kid in a candy store. It was pretty funny. Here are the pictures.

Mark took the kids on a walk......

My dearest Ashy

I wanted to write about my daughter Ashlyn today. Some things get said around her that she has heard and then she asks me questions. I never want her to feel left out from not looking like us or me not giving birth to her. She is the the 5th born of grandchildren on both sides families and the second born as a girl. So this Blog is dedicated to her and how much we love her. Yes she is adopted but we do not feel she is any different than if she were born with our genes. She is still ours and she is a part of our family. In fact I feel that she is just as loved or even more loved from most of those around her because of her circumstances. So here are 10 things I love about you Ashy.

1. You are naturally the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.
2. You are so smart and know more than you should. You pick up on things that kids your age do not. Some things that I wish you wouldn't pick up on you do.
3. You love Josh and treat him so good. He just gets so excited when he See's your face in the mornings. Your a great big sister.
4. You say the best prayers ever. I am so proud of you that you love Jesus and are thankful for him.
5. You tell me that I am your BFFL all the time. I hope we can always be best friends and have a good relationship.
6. You love dad, Josh, and I 25.
7. You have a love for shoes just like mom and dad and you never get your shoes dirty.
8. You eat like a horse. I love that you will eat food that mom and dad love. I love how much you can put away in that small little body of yours.
9. I love how organized you are. I love how you put your candy into colors and types. How you always sort things out into shapes, sizes and colors.
10. Most of all I just love you and every little thing about you. You made mom's dream come true so that I could be a mom and that means everything to me.

Mom and Dad love you so much and are so proud of you. You are a great blessing in our lives. We feel like you were meant to be ours and we are so glad you are.

Kids being funny again

Its been a while since I wrote about the kids and the funny things they have been doing so I decided to do my next post about them. I will start out with Ashlyn. The other day we were sitting next to each other watching a movie and she said to me "Mom you are my best friend" I of course told her the same. I then asked her how much she loved me and she said "How much I love you is 25". I assume that is a lot. I am not sure she can count past that so as far as she can count she loves me. At night when I am putting Josh to sleep Mark puts Ashlyn to sleep. I always enjoy listening to their conversations and her prayers. Just the other night for the first time she said she was thankful for Jesus. I thought that was so cute. Back when I was sick last summer each night she would pray for mom to get feeling better. Even when I was feeling better she would say it and to this day every once in a while she will pray for me to get feeling better. She also says she is hungry once she is all tucked in her bed. Mark has decided to try and not give her food in bed anymore so he asked if she was going to eat it now or in the morning and she says that she is just going to save it for the morning. So mark says I will leave it outside your room. The other night she requested cheese. Mark said OK I will leave it out side for you and then Ashlyn says well it might get old, just cut it up and leave it in the fridge for me. She is quite bossy. The last thing that was funny she said that night was how long am I gonna sleep for and Mark said 10 hours and she said that's a long time but ok. And lastly about Ash is talking about this picture of her in this blog. The other day I was cooking dinner and I walk over to wipe the table and I notice Ashlyn has put blocks that are square only on each square on my rug. She does funny things like this all the time. She organizes her candy in colors and sizes and her crayons and Markers are all organized as such as well. I start to worry she might be OCD but then I remember how messy she can be and I realize she is probably just really smart and a little anal.

Okay now for Josh. His won't be as long but he is pretty funny himself. Josh's new words are: I Funny, I crazy, Yellow, phone, and Naughty. He laughs at himself all the time and says I funny. If I tell him he is crazy he says I azy for crazy, the other day Ash and I were saying yellow and Josh says Mellow. When Josh sees a phone he always says phone, and when he does something that is naughty he is the first to say that as well. He is such a talker. When Mark takes him outside he heads straight for the mud. He enjoys being outside more than anything. I can't wait till its warm all the time. The other day we bought Josh some Nike Shocks and he walks around staring at them like he is so cool. Josh also thinks he is so big. When I try to give him a sippy cup he won't take it. He wants a cup like mine with whatever I am drinking. Its kind of a pain. Well Josh's funny story of them all is when I was at Costco with Grandma Holley and we were walking by the clothes and there was a lady looking at the woman's swim suits. They are all on those plastic models. She ended up making like 10 0f them fall and it was loud. As we walked by Josh said "ice, ice, ice". That means nice for those that don't know. When ever he or Ash spill or do something we always so nice to them so Josh thought he should say Ice to the lady for dropping everything. Anyhow the kids definitely keep us entertained.