Key Family News

Some videos

2012-01-24T16:45:00.000-07:00

Not a whole lot going on right now. Prepping for Ashlyn's 8th birthday party on the 4th of February, shoveling snow, and staying warm. Here's some links to videos of our happenings :)

Sierra helping make her 4th Birthday cake (Dec 2011)

Sierra loves to try to swim in the bath! Swimming lessons, here we come!

5 Little Monkeys, by Sierra

Dogs and Booties: Always a funny show!

This is how B rolls!

Delishus vanilla (chocolate) frosting!


And since there's not much with Ashlyn in them....this is a picture of her and one of her favorite pastimes :) Such a good little girl!


Love it!

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-03T14:40:00.001-07:00

We'll start off the New Year with some pictures. Who doesn't love those? :)

There is a "scenic area" exit just between Silverthorne/Dillon and Frisco. I've been wanting to get a picture of the lake (Dillon Reservoir/Frisco Bay), so one day when I was by myself I decided to ~~be a tourist~~ get one! It's frozen over pretty good on the Frisco side, and there were actually people and their pets playing on the ice this particular day.

This is at the intersection near our house. There is also one for Silverthorne right off the interstate off-ramp.

I just wanted to share some of the scenery that we look at every day up here in the highest of high Rockies.

Christmas in Colorado

2011-12-25T18:39:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since we've spent a Christmas away from any family. But that's how it was for us this year. Which, with the coldness outside....I'm okay with not having to travel much right now! ;)

On Christmas Eve, we made a gingerbread house together. Even Matt --who was on cameraman duty so Kristen could be IN some pictures with the girls-- got in on the decorating as well. It was fun, and messy (okay, Sierra just wanted to eat ALL of the frosting and candies!), and it turned out SUPER cute!

Then we decided to have our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day. We didn't realize until Christmas Day that it thwarted our tradition of driving around looking at all the pretty decorated houses and Christmas lights. (OOPS!) But we enjoyed a nice ham dinner with rolls, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy.

We also let the girls continue with the tradition of opening one gift on Christmas Eve. Ashlyn chose a gift from Nana & Papa, which was a Jewelry [making] boutique, and which both the girls proceeded to design their own beads immediately! Sierra chose a gift from Grammy & Grampa, which was a baby doll and accessories made from Grammy, Gma Munro, Aunt Cindy and Aunt Sandra. We already have to perform a quick little surgery to reattach her head to her body, but she loves it (and tries to take Ashlyn's every chance she gets).

The girls made a plate of cookies and pecan pie bars, and a glass of milk for Santa; along with a couple of notes and a handful of carrots for the reindeer. (Shhhh, I forgot to get a picture.) Getting them to go to sleep was worse than any other night....we finally separated them, and Ashlyn fell asleep while Sierra watched Pirates of the Caribbean 4 with us until 11 or so, then she fell right to sleep once in bed!

Then Santa came!

Ashlyn and Matt woke up first, and Matt started a fire in the wood stove while Ashlyn checked out what Santa had delivered to our family. A new bike for her and Sierra, stockings full of candy and fruit and trinkets. And once Kristen and Sierra awoke, we started opening everything. Now the kids are all hopped up on sugar, playing with Playdough, baby dolls, jewelry making kits, Angry Birds, Rio on the Wii, having tea parties and building words w/ educational toys, riding their new bigger bikes in the barely-any-snow-but-still-a-little-icy-on-the-roads, sunny, 33 degree weather day.

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, and we thank everyone for their gifts! We hope that next year we can be with some of our family to celebrate/share this wonderful holiday. Maybe we'll be more in the spirit then too!

~Eleven Years~

2011-12-22T09:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Matt and I celebrated our 11th Wedding Anniversary.

Wow, it's been that long already?! It sure doesn't seem like it!

Here's a picture of us then:

And now:


Dinner at Quincy's Steakhouse in Leadville, CO (Photo taken by Ashlyn.)

Happy 11th Anniversary, and here's to many more!!

Ashlyn's Winter Program

2011-12-15T16:13:00.008-07:00

Today we were able to go to Ashlyn's school for their K-2 Winter Program.

Each grade sang a different song, some in Spanish and some in English, and some a combination of the two languages.

Here are some pictures and videos!
Enjoy!


The stage before the show began :)


The Second Graders (all 4 classes) singing "Jingle Jive". *Ashlyn's friend, and our neighbor, Isabella, is two over from Ashlyn.


They put this up on the screen so the audience could sing along!

Birthday and Vacation

2011-12-15T01:55:00.004-07:00

Quick update before the other half of December starts and we have even more to post about! Hahaha!

We celebrated Sierra's 4th Birthday. Her birthday requests were:

A chocolate Hello Kitty cake

Sherbet

A pink elephant

Wow....if only every child and every birthday (or any other gift-giving occasion) was this easy! She woke up on her birthday, got out of bed, and asked me, "Am I four?" She was quite happy when I responded, "Yep, you're four today!!"

After Ashlyn left for school, Sierra helped me mix and bake her chocolate cake. She helped me frost it, eat a ton of frosting, check the frosting, eat some more frosting, check the frosting again, eat some more frosting....wow, she had a TON of frosting!!

She requested Chicken flavored Ramen noodles for breakfast (no surprise there!), popcorn for lunch, and McDonald's for dinner. After opening her presents, she began to share them with Ashlyn. When we asked her what she wanted to buy with her birthday money, she replied, "Hats and scarves and gloves. For everyone." We told her that was very kind and thoughtful, but she could buy herself some gifts with her money....she replied, "A hat. For daddy." We will have to take her to a store and have her pick out something for herself. :)

Such a giving soul.

The weekend just after Sierra's birthday, we flew to Phoenix for a few days. It was a lot of visiting and driving packed into 3 days.


Ashlyn on the flight from DEN to PHX

We took the girls to Peter Piper Pizza right after we got into PHX, and some friends met us there to hangout and eat and catchup. It was a fun 4.5 hours and the kids all got their energy out for the day I think! We stayed the night at Jared's since it was getting late and we had to get up and drive 4.5 hours to Greer, AZ. There, we stayed in a log cabin (Little Colorado #5 thru the Greer Cabin Keepers), ate dinner at the Molly Butler Lodge, visited with Mrs. Claus, and then took a trolley (the Candy Cane Express) to the North Pole to visit with the Elves and Santa! This place was all decked out, with no detail left out. They started out with the Toy Hall of Fame where older toys were displayed that were created by Santa. Then they got a little lesson on the North Pole and elves. We followed the Elves into the workshop, where the kids all got to help "make" and test some toys. Ashlyn made a cheerleader bear, and Sierra made a cute little bear in a dress. They both got to test out some bomb rocket launchers, following which all the kids and elves starting shooting them all over the workshop! LOL! Then they were led over to a big table for some snowman soup and cookies, and sang a bunch of Christmas carols. After that, they went to a "classroom", with tables and benches and everything....Elf University (E.U.) They played "Elfman" (like hangman), and some other fun games. Then they were led into another room where they were given a paper and pencil, and wrote/drew out what they wanted to tell Santa what they want for Christmas. Then we stood there. For a LONG time. Probably around 30-40 minutes. 50+ people in one room. Heater cranked up high. Temperature rising. Sierra was getting tired and starting to fall asleep in Matt's arms. 5 minutes till we were with Santa. Then out of nowhere BLECK! No more snowman soup and cookies (and ice cream)....Matt and Sierra headed to the bathroom to cleanup, and Ashlyn and I went to see Santa and get her picture taken.


Ashlyn with Santa Claus

It was a long, stinky trolley ride back to the Lodge and another long stinky car ride back to the cabin (both were about 15 minutes each but felt a lot longer). Poor little B didn't get to see Santa, whom she'd been talking about all day and dying to see. The following morning Santa was to be at the Lodge to have breakfast with everyone....but he was only there from 7-830AM. (We didn't even get done with the North Pole Experience until 1030PM.) Needless to say, we didn't see Santa. But it did start to snow that morning on our way out of Greer. And what a sight to see Arizonans trying to drive in 1/2" of snow!


Sierra with Mrs. Claus

After returning to Phoenix, we went to Matt's brother's (Brandon) house they just rented in Florence. The kids played and we relaxed and ate and crashed late that night. Tuesday we took Matt's mom to lunch for her birthday, which was on Wednesday but we wouldn't be there to celebrate. Then we got Matt and Sierra some new shoes after their mishap. We went back to his parents' house for a few hours and visited (his dad just landed from Ghana on Monday morning for a few weeks). Then we went back to Brandon's and visited, packed everything up, and headed up to Jared's for the night. We went out to dinner with them, then crashed around 11. Wednesday was an EARLY morning, waking up a 5 to catch our flight at 830AM back to Denver. *The car we got from the rental company was supposed to be an Intermediate SUV.....we got a Jeep Compass....and it sounded JUST like a jetski/snowmobile!!! It kept us laughing the entire trip!


Sierra's mode of travel anytime we had the luggage with us!

We made it back home, picked up the pooches from the kennel, and were lazy the rest of the day.

Tomorrow, Ashlyn has a school Winter program, so we'll start some more events for the month of December.

More in November

2011-11-29T12:46:00.000-07:00

I posted about Thanksgiving, and then I realized I didn't post about things between Halloween and then! OOPS!
One day (Saturday, November 12th) the Denver Zoo had a Free Day, so we took the girls downtown. It was a pretty windy day, but there was still a lot of people there (as to be expected). It wasn't crowded though, like you would find in the Phoenix Zoo. Anywho...we rented a wagon and took a stroll around the Zoo, checking out all the animals we could see. I think the girls like the wagon more than the Zoo itself! Here's some pics from that day:


She loves shoulder rides :)


Can you spot the cheetah?


Sierra telling another Zoo visitor that those are elephants! :)


Bear Mountain (there were two bears)


Sierra REALLY wanted to pull the wagon, and Ashlyn needed a break from walking.


Silly girls


There were 4 tigers. Just beautiful.

The following Saturday was Matt's birthday. Ashlyn woke up and starting making leaves (for fall decor) and a "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" sign, and a cute card for him as well. I got up and ran some errands and grabbed a strawberry-rhubarb pie for him, since that's his favorite and I wanted to do something different. I also knew he likes potato soup, so my mom gave me my Aunt Sandra's yummy recipe to try out. It turned out pretty good for my first try!

He wasn't sure what he wanted for his birthday quite yet, but he just ordered some parts to modify one of his guns. Piece by piece and tool by tool. :)

Thanksgiving in Colorado

2011-11-28T11:11:00.000-07:00

This year we had our Thanksgiving at home -just the four of us- in Colorado.

Ashlyn had the menu all thought out:
Turkey

Corn

Green Beans

Mashed Potatoes

Gravy

Rolls

Pumpkin Pie

Chocolate Pie

Well, no green beans, but orange/cottage cheese salad instead! And no chocolate pie either. In fact, I didn't even plan on any pies. (GASP!) I know, I know....my mom is the pie-maker, and I didn't plan on making 1! Matt wasn't going to have that, so he and Ashlyn set out to make their own pumpkin pie. All from scratch. He found a recipe for a sweet crust in his "Cooking" cookbook. Then they used the Libby's pumpkin pie recipe for the filling -minus the cloves since we didn't have any.

The flavor is really nice, actually, with the sweet crust and the pumpkin filling w/o cloves. Not too strong. I'm not a pumpkin pie fan AT ALL, but I can handle a few bites of this one. :)

This year was nice to cook things, since we have double ovens. Turkey in the top one, pie in the bottom. That's just what every kitchen needs!

We missed being able to have some family around to share the holiday with, but maybe next year.

Halloween Festivities

2011-11-08T19:36:00.000-07:00

Ashlyn's school had a Halloween parade. Ashlyn borrowed a princess costume to wear. All the kids in the school went into the gym and then the music teacher put on some Halloween tunes and the kids walked around showing off their costumes. (Okay, so did the teachers.) It was cute, and I'm glad it was indoors!


Ashlyn's class in their costumes

After the parade, we went back to Ashlyn's classroom where her teacher, Mrs. Sherve, had some treats and activities and a Charlie Brown movie to finish out the day. The activity: each kid brought in a roll of TP. They partnered up, and one rolled the TP around the other, making them a cute little mummy. Ashlyn was the mummy. Her partner was Ycari (ee-car-ee) (not sure of the spelling). Sierra even got some treats from Mrs. Sherve, too, and she was SO surprised and happy :)


Ashlyn being "mummified" by Ycari (sp?)

That was Friday, October 28th.

On Saturday, the school put on a Halloween Carnival with food, games, haunted house, face painting, crafts, massage, a silent auction, and more. The girls dressed up again, and we headed off to the school for some warm, cute fun. They had fun and came home with some candy.

*No pics of the carnival* :(

On Halloween (Monday), mommy took the girls Trick-or-Treating up our street and down one other street. Not too much, but they got a lot of candy. (Some houses gave them a couple of handfuls of candy since they didn't have any other kids come.) The girls (and mommy) were FREEZING by the end of the street. But I'm sure they were happy they put on their coats, even though they were upset that "no one will be able to even see our costumes!".....oh the *joys* of living in COLD weather. Matt wasn't able to come with us because the phones and email and everything went out in the whole mountain area, so there was no way to get ahold of him or him us. :(

*No pics of the girls on Halloween either....my bad!*

We did get some pics after Halloween, with the girls dressing up in different costumes, so I'll post those.


Pretty princesses


Sierra as a skater princess (her words), and Ashlyn as Cleopatra.

I'm sure by the pictures that you can already tell what Sierra wore for Halloween. :) Ashlyn was a hip-hop girl.

Cluttered Mess

2011-10-28T08:10:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I decided to take and post some pics of the house with all our ~~junk~~ stuff in it. It's a bit cluttered and still a work in progress, but you'll be able to see the way it's laid out with our furnishings/toys/etc. Still no pic of the master bedroom/bath, since it's too crowded with the bed, 2 nightstands, and two dressers in it's small space!


Standing in the girls' doorway.


Girls' room (our bedroom door is across the hallway)


Main bathroom. (Our is used as a storage closet, pretty much! LOL!)


Standing at the front door, looking across.


Half of the kitchen.


Standing at the kitchen counter, looking towards the back door/dining room/craft shelves.


Standing at the kitchen counter, looking towards the wood stove/family room.


Standing at the kitchen counter, looking towards the front door/desk/play area.


Standing at the back door, looking across.

Next thing on my list is get the curtain hung in the girl's room, clock and pictures hung above the desk area, get the boxes by the front door put in the garage, and get the boxes by the back door stuffed full of packing paper broken down and to recycling.

First [measurable] Snowfall

2011-10-27T12:41:00.000-07:00

The weather forecasted 8-12 inches of snow for our area of the mountains. We went to bed to it pouring rain for a few hours, but when we awoke, it was a white snowy morning. The schools were delayed 2 hours, so the girls enjoyed playing in the 5-6 inches that were in the yard. It snowed throughout the day and into the evening and left a total of probably 8 inches. Guess I should measure next time! Here's some pics of the day (Oct. 26th):

Our patio.

The girls beyond the snowy tree.

Ashlyn in her "bed" of pine branches under one of the pine trees.

Our driveway, and front yard.

Standing directly in front of our house, looking towards the patio.

House Pics

2011-10-20T09:02:00.000-07:00

The house is still a mess from moving in...not many boxes left, but there are a TON of toys to find storage places for! Since it's still a ~~pigsty~~ toy-sty, I haven't taken any pics of it furnished just yet (almost 3 weeks into it). So we'll start with the unfurnished pics of the place! Mostly the living space, since it's large, and because the bedrooms are so small I can't get a good picture of either one of them! Let's just say the master bedroom is the size of one of the girls' rooms in the QC, AZ house! It's quite a change, but our furniture just fits in it, and the girls share a room and their beds just fit in theirs as well. (eek!)

Now on to the pics! LOL!


Standing in the front door, looking right.


Standing in the front door, looking towards the kitchen and back door.


Standing by the wood stove, looking towards the front door (laundry closet in hallway).


Standing by wood stove, looking at kitchen.


Standing at wood stove, looking at back door.


Standing at back door, looking towards wood stove. (That door in the pic is double-side locked so it's not part of any tenant's living space.)


Looking out the back door at the patio/front yard.

The doors on the house are oddly named, since the "back" door was originally the "front" door of the original house. But the stairs are wobbly, and the patio isn't covered like the other one, so it's called the "back" door/patio.

Random Pics

2011-10-20T08:50:00.000-07:00

Here are some random pics of what we've been up to since moving into our home.

Fall Colors


US 91 leaving Leadville towards Frisco

Looking up our street towards the school

Lake Dillon


Sierra learned to write her name!! (09/2011)


Lightning storm at the FHS football game that Ashlyn cheered at in AZ


Ashlyn atop the Continental Divide on Independence Pass CO


Beautiful Fall colors entering Leadville, CO


Matt atop the Continental Divide on Independence Pass, CO


The creek that's behind our house....about 50' away at most!

Welcome to Dillon

2011-10-17T17:04:00.000-07:00

We are now all moved in to our house in Dillon, CO, after living temporarily in an apartment in Leadville, CO. We are all happy to not have to go up/down 4 flights of stairs to get to our place! :)

Well to begin, we left AZ for CO on October 19th. The company (Freeport McMoRan) put us up in a furnished 3bd/1ba apartment in Leadville for a month. (Meanwhile, Matt and I had found a house for rent in Dillon....a lower elevation and a bigger town. Happy mommy= happy family. LOL!)

While in the apartment...on the third floor...Chloe learned how to go up and down stairs for the first time....THAT was interesting. I think she's glad--like the rest of us-- to be done with the stairs again! The complex had a playground that we went to nearly every day so the girls could climb and a get their energy out!

The first of October, we moved into our house in Dillon. It's actually kind of like a duplex (in a way)....it is one big house (4800sq.ft.) that is separated into 4 separate living areas. There is a 1bd "upstairs" by us, and our "middle" part, a huge studio and another (not sure of the size) living area just beneath us.

The company movers delivered our goods, and setup our beds. Boxes, boxes EVERYWHERE! Then the unpacking....so...just imagine what the aftermath of a tornado would look like...and that's what the house looked like for the first week! It's still a work in progress, but for the most part, things are unpacked. (Can we say TOYS?!?!)

Ashlyn started back in school about a month after we pulled her from the school in AZ. Lucky duck! :) (School started a month later here anyways, so no biggie!) We tried to get her into one of the higher rated schools here, Summit Cove Elementary, but the 2nd grade classes were already full. (Open enrollment.) So, we went with the school right up the street from our house (like a 5 minute walk MAX.), which is a dual-language school. English/Spanish mix each day. It's only been a week, and next week are the Parent-Teacher conferences, so we will meet with her teachers and see what they say and also ask them a few questions that we have so far.

The climate is definitely different than what we just came from in AZ. It's still close to 100 there...while it's barely making 50 here some days. It snowed a couple of inches the first week in our house, and the girls can't get enough of the cold white stuff! Chloe, once again, encountered something new (snow) and didn't know what to do so she just stood still when we would take her out to go potty. LOL She has now gotten used to that though, as well, even if it has melted for the time being. :)

Matt is liking his new job as the IS Supervisor, and is doing quite well at getting everything going that needs to be done at the mine. But he has been working a LOT to get things in place before the snow ~~flies~~ DUMPS...176 hours in the first two weeks we were here with him.

We have ordered a bunch of warm and cozy winter items (thank you L.L. Bean and Columbia!) so we should be prepared for the cold winter ahead....for the most part! LOL!

I have pics of the house inside and out, but it's still a mess in here with all the toys everywhere and a few boxes that need to be put in the garage (which is another story....it needs to be shelved and organized too). So pics will come on another post.

So long, Farewell....AZ

2011-09-22T11:36:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy 2 weeks at our house!

Prepping, cleaning, sorting, packing, cleaning, appointments, pet checkups, cheerleading fun, one last visit to Anthem, parent teacher conference, one last horse riding lesson....I'm SURE there's something I'm forgetting here!

Well, first, Matt left for Colorado at the beginning of the month.

Ashlyn had her last horse riding lesson.

Ashlyn also wanted to sign up for a cheer clinic and cheer at one of the high school's games, so we did that as well. (SO FUN!)

The girls and I met with Ashlyn's teachers. (She has two: one for Reading/Spelling/Writing/Math, and one for everything else....except extras like Art, Music, P.E., Library, and Technology...yes, it's quite confusing! They move around more during the day than high school!) She is doing great, as usual! She does have her own timeline sometimes for getting things done, which is Ashlyn if you know her! But she's a great student, and she has great teachers that we will miss. (I know...why do we have to move when she gets another good/fun teacher?!?!)

The pets got all their vaccs. updated and heartworm tests and preventatives. (That was an event for the cat, let me tell ya...)

The packers came and packed up our house and garage on Thursday, September 15th. Five men and 4 hours later, they were completely done packing :) They were GREAT! I was up most of the night before trying to be sick...and didn't get much sleep and still didn't feel well. They were so thorough and helpful and nice....it was actually (dare I say) Relaxing! :)

The loaders and driver came and loaded everything up the next day (Friday, September 16th). Four men and 5.5 hours and everything was loaded up in the huge semi. What a nice experience!!! We wish every move could be handled this way!

Matt saw this and told me, "I gotta get me one of those!!!"

Stay tuned for the continuation of this move while we get settled in our new place!!

Cute pics

2011-08-25T11:20:00.000-07:00

I just had to share a couple of cute pictures of the girls from the past couple of days.

They got some new clothes for our move to CO and the cooler weather so pants, leggings and long sleeves (or fingerless gloves/arm warmers) were the name of the game. :)

Ashlyn all cute for her 2nd grade school pictures (Aug.24th, 2011)

Sierra in her new dress w/leggings she picked out (Kohl's....CUTE clothes as always!!!)

Both of our cute girls :)

I can do it myself

2011-08-24T08:23:00.000-07:00

Bound and determined, each day and night for a week, Ashlyn wiggled her tooth trying to pull it out herself.

On Sunday, August 7th (2011), she succeeded!

WOW!

What a brave girl!
The tooth fairy left her a $1 bill....

and once again, left her all her teeth [she's lost].

No Trainers....

2011-08-21T19:55:00.000-07:00

....back on April 2nd, 2011!!
Okay, so looking back at the beginning of the year, I realized I didn't post something I wanted/needed to.

Sierra wanted her training wheels off one day.
She was only barely 3 years old.
Within 10 minutes of daddy pushing her to help her take off, she was on her own and doing GREAT!

She would even comment to mommy that she was "fearless"....which is what we've always called her!
She loves to ride off the curbs, and see how fast she can go, and see how sharp she can turn! She's already a little daredevil!

Again?

2011-08-18T13:47:00.000-07:00

The Monday after we returned from our Colorado camping vacation, Matt got a phone offer from the mine up there for a supervisor's position. Decent pay, a moving allowance, better bonuses, better schools and a new adventure in our lives....sure, why not?!?! LOL!

Ashlyn's been excited since we just visited Colorado, and has asked daily (multiple times a day) when we're moving there. Sierra just wants to see snow....boy, is she in for a BIG surprise this winter! :)
Three weeks later, on August 10th (2011), Matt got his official offer letter.
Signed and returned, we are officially moving to cold country again...just in time for the cold! LOL!
So far, we don't have a set start/move date, but we are told it will be soon...
like next month soon.

Now to find housing there....without breaking the bank.
Matt was headed to the mine (Climax Molybdenum) the week of August 15-19, so Kristen came along for a couple of days to go househunting with him. This was also the first time Sierra has spent a night away from mommy....and it wasn't going to be for just one night....but for THREE nights and THREE days. She did GrEaT!!! She and Ashlyn slept on an air matress in nana's room, and they went to bed when they were told, and they woke up around 630 each morning (odd....Ashlyn BARELY wakes up at 730 for mom!...and she has school at 8!) Each day, Sandi got them ready, took Ashlyn to school, entertained Sierra, picked Ashlyn up from school, helped Ashlyn with her homework when needed, cooked dinner, bathed the girls, braided their hair, and tucked them in each night. I think she enjoyed having the girls stay with her as much as they liked it! Ashlyn even stayed an extra night on Wednesday when mommy came home so she could sleep in :) (Thank you, Sandi!!) And thank you to Sandi for cooking dinner for us when I landed Wednesday, too! She was a lifesaver the past few days, for sure!
Now, back to the daily grind again.
The house we are currently renting has been put on the market as a short sale ($70k in case anyone's wondering, for a 1750sq.ft. 4bd/2ba/2car garage house). So I've got extra cleaning to do, along with packing and house searching from afar. (We didn't find anything in the day and a half I was there...surprise!....not! LOL!)
Will keep this updated on when/where we move to.
It will still be about 12 hours from Elko, roughly.

Second grader

2011-08-18T13:36:00.000-07:00

Ashlyn started 2nd grade this fall....ahem...on July 25th (2011).

Her teacher is Mrs. Christine Burnett, and she is fantastic!
Ashlyn loves her class this year, and is doing great (as always)!

She is reading at the 6.3 ATOS level, which is the 6th grade 3rd month difficulty. She comprehends & absorbs things really well.

Her math is great.

Her spelling is advanced as well.

She is a SUPERSTAR student and daughter!!!
WE LOVE YOU, ASHLYN!

Kristen's Birthday

2011-08-04T08:27:00.000-07:00

A little late, I know, but I wanted to get a post up about my birthday this year. It was a pretty fun and good one! I have a ton of Groupons and Deal Chickens and whatnot to do things with the family more affordably. We used a couple to do something different on my special day.

First we drove up to Gilbert to JP Pancake for some yummy, scrumptious breakfast. Their menu described things so well, that everything sounded delish, so it took us a while to order! Their house specialty is an oven-baked pancake, which sounded and looked REALLY good, but none of us ended up ordering one! LOL! I ended up ordering a very nutty belgian waflle (it would have been PERFECT with some caramel sauce, come to think of it!) and a side of ham....which Sierra apparently LOVES and ate pretty much all of it. Guess I should have ordered her one as well! LOL!

Anywho, after our late breakfast, we headed up to central Phoenix to the Arcadia Ice Arena for some ice skating. What a PERFECT way to stay cool in this terrible humid heat this summer! (And for $8 for all of us AND skates....couldn't pass it up!) Fun thing about it: I'm the only one who'd ever been ice skating....and that was a LONG time ago! haha! Matt took right to it, and Ashlyn eventually got the hang of it (she's been skating around on her roller skates in the neighborhood, so that helped her out). Sierra was actually doing pretty well, even though we did have to hold her hand the whole time....she kept a goin'! It was really fun, and the kids can't stop asking to go ice skating now!

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and being lazy at home. I had wanted to go bowling as well, but I think we were just content stating at home, since the closest bowling alley is 45 minutes away (like pretty much everything else). Matt and Ashlyn went to the store and got me a chocolate birthday cake and some cute cards....but I was too full to eat any of it, so the girls and Matt enjoyed some instead. :)

It was a great day and I'm glad we ALL had so much fun on it....that made it THAT much better!

Now to go enjoy the last year in my 20's!

(No pictures were taken on my birthday, unbelievable but true....I had my cellphone in our locker at the skating rink because I didn't want to drop/break it....which I knew I'd regret, but that's how it goes sometimes I guess! Which is why I needed to document it somehow!)

Last minute vacation!

2011-07-24T10:20:00.000-07:00

Since we hadn't been camping ALL summer, and Ashlyn starts second (yes, 2nd....that's another story!!) grade on July 25th, Matt decided we should take a camping trip. And not just to Payson or Greer or Woods Canyon Lake....nope....all the way to the Rocky Mountain town of Buena Vista, CO! It was a scenic drive (for the most part....have you ever DRIVEN through New Mexico?!?! LOL!), and the girls did really well. We split up the drive (to and from) and stayed the night in Gallup, NM. We camped out the remaining of the trip in our "Hilton" tent...a 10'x14' w/ a large screen room....oh, and our 2 queen sized air matresses. :D We put the doggies in a kennel (Preppy Pet Suites--they love them there after this trip) so we didn't have to worry about them while we were exploring. We toured around the little towns up there...Buena Vista (8,000ft.), Salida (7,000ft.), Leadville (10,200ft.), Climax (11,360ft.), Dillon/Silverthorne/Frisco area (around 9,000ft.). These are all near Vail and all those nice ski resorts (that we would know nothing about since we don't ski/snowboard! hahaha!). I've put together a few collages in Picasa to add to my "scrapbook" and to share on here some tidbits of our vacation. It was nice to get away from the 108 temps w/ mugginess for some 83 degrees which felt like 95 or more at those elevations!

Back to School

2011-06-09T10:10:00.001-07:00

Well, kinda....

I found a FAB deal on a couple of photo classes offered by a professional photography couple. So I signed up for both classes, fittingly named 101 and 202.

Last night was the 101 class (they schedule a few different times throughout each month).

We worked with our cameras, asked questions, did some hands-on shooting and experimenting, did some basic Photoshop editing, and just had fun with it all!

Here's a collage of some of my favorite shots I got during the class:

I am SO excited to continue on to the 202 class next week!!

Update with Picture collages

2011-05-28T15:17:00.000-07:00

Quick Pix

2011-04-26T11:02:00.000-07:00

Here's Sierra before we went up to Goldfield Ghost Town:

Ashlyn at her first private horse riding lesson (April 19th, 2011)

Matt's parents, Ervin & Sandi, Easter weekend 2011

(and their puppies, Prince & Bella)

Goldfield Ghost Town

2011-04-25T20:43:00.000-07:00

Matt's parents invited us to go along with them to Goldfield Ghost Town up in Apache Junction. Of course we accepted, and loaded up in their Explorer!

It's about an hour from our house (everything's about an hour here!), so not too long of a trip. And it's at the base of the Superstition Mountains, which are breathtaking!

Once there, we filled up on some yummy grilled food (girls: grilled cheese, me: hamburger, Matt and Ervin: bratwurst w/chili fries, Sandi: grilled chicken sandwich). Then we started moseying around and checkin' stuff out. We didn't get to see EVERYTHING there, which is fine, we can go back another time. But we saw quite a bit. Took some pictures.

Went through a reptile exhibit, which was nice to show the girls (and me!) what a REAL rattlesnake can look like (so many different colors!) along with other critters!

Took a {SLOW} train ride around the old town. Took some pictures.

Shopped around the fudge shop/bakery for a minute before going "underground". Sierra was {LOUD} to say the least, and expressed often how she didn't like it in the dark!

Took a tour of the "Mystery Shack", which is a house built slanting two different ways....makes you a bit dizzy! (Note: the warning sign stated those suffering vertigo shouldn't go through it, and the guide said that if you have to ask what vertigo is then you don't have it! LOL!---I'm thinkin' I shouldn't have went through it.)

There were also live gun fights, a blacksmith place, a church, horse rides, a jail, an antique photo studio, and lots more. But it was getting toasty, and we were getting hungry for some ice cream, so we loaded up and headed to Dairy Queen for some cool treats! :)

It was a fun day to be able to just spend time with his parents out and about. I'm sure we'll have more adventures with them in the future too!

Thanks so much for inviting us, Ervin & Sandi!!!

A Girl and her Horse

2011-04-13T10:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Ashlyn's very first horsemanship lesson.

It's at a place about 20 minutes from our house, which is GREAT.

(You can check out their website >HERE!<)

Her instructor is Christina (Chris) Semerad.

For the first 10 minutes, Ashlyn had a private lesson going on. And then a couple of boys showed up to join the class. So she got a little bit of a recap of the beginning of the lesson (which is a good thing, especially if you know Ashlyn!).

Chris starts with the basics....

Staying alert around the horse.

When the horse moves, you move.

If your foot gets stepped on/stuck, DON'T try to pull it out!....instead, push the horse or "pinch" the back of the leg so they pick up their hoof!

Hand on the butt! --when walking behind the horse (This phrase is used OFTEN!)

And so much more, I could list them all and be here all day!

She is VERY thorough, and demonstrates and has the kids demonstrate what they've learned, and praises and/or corrects them where/when necessary.

Another thing I liked was that she taught them using a smaller Pinto, named Pepper, so as to not intimidate them so much like the full size horses.

The kids each took a turn to lead Pepper around for a minute.

They learned to groom the hair and the hooves.

Then to the riding area....

Ashlyn was SO patient and waited, since she went last.

She got on Pepper and got all situated and listened to Chris' instructions.

VIDEO: Ashlyn riding Pepper 

And off she went, walking Pepper around the corral, turning her around when told, halting, "kissing" to get going. The kids even got to trot in small spurts and halt to a walk again.

 VIDEO: Ashlyn Walking and Trotting with Pepper

In one of Ashlyn's videos, you can hear Chris saying she heard giggling....it WAS Ashlyn's giggling!

She did FANTASTIC, and she cannot WAIT to go back next week for her first private lesson. I have a feeling she's going to want to keep riding for a LONG time!

First Catch x 2

2011-04-05T17:06:00.000-07:00

We decided to try the fishing thing again this past Saturday, and had MUCH better luck than the previous attempt! We got our Tonto Rec Pass (at a gas station on the way TO the lake....can't buy them AT the lake or anywhere NEAR it!) and headed up to Saguaro Lake again. This time, there was a bike relay going on, so they had shut down the road all morning. So we had to take a detour....and ended up fishing at the Salt River instead of dealing with more road detours/pilot cars/etc towards the lake. We stopped at a turnout/campground/hiking path/fishing area at Coon Bluff along the Salt River. We hiked down a little bit to get to the spot that we wanted, passing tent campers, rock-climbers and repellers, and obnoxious teenagers swimming. Matt was our "guide". He had planned from moment ONE that Ashlyn and Kristen would catch their first fish today. So he got Ashlyn all setup, and started getting Kristen's pole setup, when Ashlyn got her first bite....about 15 minutes into fishing (if that, really). She reeled it in, happy as could be! AWESOME!


Ashlyn's first fish (yellow bass)

Then we got her fish all hooked up in the water, and re-wormed her hook and let her go again. Finished getting Kristen's setup, and into the water hers went too. Matt was getting his pole all setup (mind you, these were ALL new poles, etc.) when Kristen got a bite. Once reeled in (what a PAIN in the BOOTY when you're left-handed and trying to reel it in with a right-handed reel!), we couldn't quite tell what it was....so once Matt got the hook removed from it's bone, he tossed it back (no biggie).


Matt getting the hook out of Kristen's first fish (unknown species)

By the end of the day (about 2 hours fishing total), Ashlyn had caught two Yellow Bass, Kristen had caught two Yellow Bass and an unknown, and Matt had caught an unknown as well. Sierra was whining the ENTIRE time (NO JOKE). So we finished up, packed up our 4 yellow bass, and .... took a swim???? Yep. The little girls were roasting (it was 90 degrees out), and so Matt took a swim with them in the river. He was a bit chilly, but the girls LOVED it and didn't want to get out. But we had to get some lunch eaten and so we headed back up towards the car, crossing the river one last time. We ate some lunch at the car, loaded up, and headed home for the day.

Can you guess what we had for dinner that night??? Yup....yellow bass. It was tasty. Everyone liked it. Even the dogs and the cat. :)

End of Spring Break 2011

2011-03-27T21:33:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day of Ashlyn's 1st Grade Spring Break. Yesterday we had plans to go fishing. So we got up, got ready and all loaded up, went to Walmart for one more pole, some worms, and our fishing licenses....well, we were next in line at the Sporting Goods counter, and the guy took off clear across the store with another person...so about 30 minutes later, they paged him BACK to Sporting Goods, and we proceeded to get our two fishing licenses. Back in the car (Durango) we went. Matt and I started chatting, and the next thing you know we're going straight when we should have turned left at a light. Dangit! That wasn't the bad part....the hitch pin that punctured our rear driver's tire was the bad part! Good thing: Discount Tire was 4 miles up the road! Bad thing: they didn't have our size tire in stock. Good thing: they were able to remove the hitch pin AND the latching "wire" and plug the holes. (AND the told us, since we had purchased the warranty on the tires when we bought them, the repair and/or replacement of the tire is free!) While waiting for our tire to be repaired/replaced, we headed across the parking lot to McDonald's, thinking: we'll grab a bite, let the kids play in the playplace, then pick up the car. Too bad the McDonald's is one of those NEW ones with Wi-Fi and no playplace.... :( We finished up eating, picked up the car, and headed North up Ellsworth Road. We passed the "Phoenix" mountain, so I got out and snapped a few pics, then we kept driving to Saguaro Lake. We found some really good swimming and fishing spots....and all had signs posted everywhere that read "Tonto Recreation Pass must be displayed or violators will be fined" (or something to that extent). Dumb thing: there was nowhere stating where to purchase said Rec Passes! So we just drove around the river and headed back to town for the day. 5 hours round-trip and no fishing accomplished.

BUMMER!

So today HAD to be a better day!

We headed up to Phoenix to the Children's Museum, since I had gotten a discount from DealChicken.com. The kids (and Matt) had a great time playing in "The Climber" ....a 3 story playground with a bathtub, tubes, bridges, and more! Then we went up to the second level and the Art Room, where the girls adorned blue smocks and began painting a castle with some other kids. Sierra wasn't too sure at first, but quickly caught on! We then went and let them ride the trikes through the "Tricycle Wash"...what a blast they had! The "Market" encouraged Sierra to scoop beans into a scale to weigh, shop for different foods, checkout, and even unload a "truck" and restock the shelves (Ashlyn did all this too!). Then to the "Pit Stop", where they raced little cars (like pinewood derby ones) on different tracks, and sat on an old motorbike, played with a vintage gas pump, and "drove" an old roadster. There was even an old Chevy truck bed that they had lined and upholstered....and would make a great little in-house theater cuddle-couch! (Should have gotten a picture, but there were too many people in the way!) Then we headed over to the "Noodle Forest".....a TON of pool noodles hanging from the ceiling. And on the other end of it was a "Desert Area", which had a cool little crank-toy that you velcro stuffed tarantulas and lizards to, crank up to the top and a bald eagle is "spinning" his wings and smacks them off. There is a sign posted stating: Watch out for flying critters. Too fun! It was a great time, and I'm sure we'll go back again and spend more time there.

We came back home and the girls played outside with the neighbor kids while I supervised. And Matt went and got his first massage....and signed up for the monthly membership (like I did back in January!). He must have liked his massage....but then, WHO DOESN'T!!!

Now it's back to school in the morning, and I know none of us are looking forward to that ---well, the getting up in the morning....I can do without the girls arguing, squealing, sqawling, whining, hitting.....and the list goes on and on :)

Spring Break 2011

2011-03-25T20:12:00.001-07:00

This year, at her new school, Ashlyn got 2 weeks off for Spring Break. How exciting, since there's so much going on here, and the weather couldn't be better! After getting some GREAT deals on some things to do here in/around Phoenix, I told Ashlyn I had some surprises for her for things to do over her Break. The first week was spent gaming, playing with the neighborhood kids, and sleepovers (one attempted next door, but she came home at 11pm wanting her Peanut Elephant and cuddling with daddy).

The first weekend, the Ostrich Festival was in town again, so we headed there on Saturday (12th). Too bad mommy forgot her camera, so we had to use the phones for pics and videos. (BAD mommy!) We didn't get to watch the Ostrich Races, but were able to see jousting, the girls rode ponies and fed/pet animals at the petting zoo, Mommy and Ashlyn rode a huge ferris wheel, and the girls rode some kiddie rides and loved it! Next year, we'll have to hit the Ostrich Races first! :)

Me and the girls headed up to Anthem on the 16th and spent the night at our good friends' house--the Garcia's. The following morning, the girls wanted to sell lemonade, so we got the table and chairs, cups and lemonade all setup on the end of the driveway. Ed then took out some of his old architecture papers, flipped them over, and gave the girls a bucket of crayons and markers to decorate their advertising signs. They did a FABULOUS job! The neighbor kids came over and bought some cups, and then one guy drove up and gave the girls a dollar and said "keep the change".....that was the highlight of their day!!! They made $2.50, and split it between the four of them. :-) After that, we ate lunch and the headed to the library for a little showing of "Megamind" (which me and the girls had seen, but it was fun to see again with our friends). They even had little individual bags of popcorn for the kids to snack on, and a coloring page at the end as well! We then headed up to the Outlets, played at the playground there, and then ate dinner after Christine got off her shift at work there. Then we headed home, oh so tired....both girls fell asleep the entire trip home! That would have been nice for mommy! :)

Friday brought cleaning and prepping for the next week's visitors and adventures. The Lakeman's were coming!!!! They arrived around 11:30 at night, and even though we were ALL exhausted, we chatted for another hour till we couldn't stay awake any longer. Saturday we mostly hung out, played Xbox (guitar hero), and enjoyed the weather....oh, and Kristen scanned some of her hundreds of negatives since mom brought her awesome scanner with her!

Sunday, we met up with Jared and the boys at the Renaissance Festival and spent the ENTIRE day there! WHAT A BLAST! It's its own little town, people dressed to play their part, good food (delicious chocolate strawberries!), fun rides and shows, jousting, falcons and other wild birds, even a Royal Family. It was a great day...a little cloudy, and cool at times, but not cold....and we all got a little red from walking around all day.

Monday, we recouperated from the walking and excitement of the previous days' festivities....and it was rainy and cloudy all day as well. We DID meet up with Jared, Victoria, and the boys at Chili's to eat dinner and catch up with them. We all enjoyed our Lava Cakes and Brownie Sundaes, and had a funny trip home with road sign humor :)

Tuesday was a beautiful day, and we headed up to the Desert Botanical Garden to see what it was all about. It has walking/hiking trails with different habitats and learning opportunities. We saw many beautiful plants, learned about different Indian tribes and their ways of living, and enjoyed the Butterfly Exhibit they have this time of year. The butterflies loved landing on Grampa! After taking in the beauty at the Garden, we drove all over Tempe/Guadalupe trying to find a parking place or a way onto the interstate...what a joke! We ended up whipping into an Arby's to eat some lunch, and Sierra was fast asleep sitting up in the booth while we all ate. She woke up at the end of lunch so we waited for her to eat hers, and then we loaded up in the durango and headed....slowly (rush hourS traffic) to IKEA for some browsing. By the time we were checking out at IKEA, Austin announces that it's 7pm....WHAT?!?! The day was done?!?! Time to head home.... when we got there, the girls ate ice cream cones, and the Lakeman's headed back up to Jared's to visit one last time before they had to leave. (They were planning on leaving on Wednesday morning, but Ashlyn* convinced Grampa to stay another day.)

Wednesday was supposed to be another beautiful 75 degree day, and they wanted to soak up some warmth before having to head back to cold weather. So we sat in the driveway and watched the kids play, came in a played Guitar/Band Hero/PacMan/etc., headed back outside for a while, then grabbed some yummy KFC for dinner and relaxed some more, watching American Idol till bedtime.

Sierra brushing Grammy's hair

Ashlyn and Austin = Best Buds

Thursday morning brought an early goodbye to the Lakeman's. We LOVED having them here (as we always do), and can't wait till next time.

We still have this weekend left of Ashlyn's Spring Break, and we have a couple more things planned, so I'll have to do another post for that.

Busy Little Bee

2011-03-10T16:05:00.002-07:00

I've been busy today just going through some photos in Picasa and making "scrapbook" collages.

One Muddy Mess!

2011-03-09T16:05:00.001-07:00

Last Friday, while driving home from "town" (aka civilization...aka Mesa), we passed a sign at a ~~dirt track~~ motorpark advertising "Mud Bogs & Sand Drags Saturday: Gates open at 4PM, races start at 6PM".

It didn't take much coaxing to get Matt to go, but the girls were a different story.

We grabbed some dinner and headed to the track.

It was a little slow at first, and the girls were bored (okay, mostly Sierra). But then it started getting muddier and louder and better! At one point, the guy at the starting line was trying to convince a ~~teenager~~ younger guy to NOT take his 2-wheel drive truck through, but wasn't successful....needless to say, the truck got stuck about 100 feet into the mud! It was quite hilarious!

We went by the sand drag races just before we left, but didn't stay long since it was terrifyingly loud (the 2-stroke quads). It went LONG into the night, but we had to leave to get the girls to bed, and feed them --- not the $5 and up food at the event. But it was super fun, and we will be going again!

a couple more collages

2011-02-25T08:58:00.001-07:00

Ashlyn & Alexandria Garcia

Sierra's 2nd Birthday

Our weekend

2011-02-20T19:29:00.002-07:00

We had a busy weekend, with travels to Anthem and then back again, for a birthday party and to visit with family. Here's our weekend in a "nutshell".

Alexandria's birthday party up in Anthem

(Ashlyn's BFF)

Matt's brother, Brandon, and his family came to visit too!

some more collages

2011-02-17T20:00:00.001-07:00

"Scrapbook Collages"

2011-02-15T11:27:00.001-07:00


Ashlyn's 6th Bday

Sierra's 3rd bday

Matt's work

Thanksgiving 2010

Christmas 2010

Ashlyn's 7th bday

a day at the park....

2011-02-12T21:34:00.006-07:00

Cute girls in BW

Cute girlies in bolder colors, brightened eyes.

Sierra in the sand
I did some editing to make her eyes stand out some more....they change colors in different light: sometimes blue/greenish, and sometimes green-brownish. She definitely has her daddy's eyes!

I also took some pics of just Ashlyn, but the sun was just right in the pics to blur it, or she was blinking, or something....I will work on editing those in CS5 as well to see what (if anything) I can do :)

Ashlyn on top of the monkey bars! :)

Party Time!

2011-02-05T20:50:00.001-07:00

Today we celebrated Ashlyn's 7th birthday at the main park here in Copper Basin.

The kids all had fun swinging, sliding, climbing, running, and chasing each other all over the park!

We had friends from Ashlyn's Copper Basin school (Natasha--her "First Friend" at school, and Madisyn), as well as some from her "old" Anthem school (Samantha and Morgan), and of course----FAMILY!

Jared brought the boys (Akris & Cyris) down, along with one of their friends, Parker. What a RIOT those three boys were!!! Tom (Sisouvanh) brought Arreya and Aleyda.

We played, ate fruit and veggies, sang "Happy Birthday" and ate chocolate-on-chocolate cupcakes, opened presents, and made cute little "Pascal" party blowers.

Afterwards, we came home and unloaded everything, ordered some pizza, and hung out with Jared and the boys for a while. Oh what FUN ensued!! Instantly, E-V-E-R-Y-thing became "the most dangerous sport"....for example, the Wii games baseball, boxing, tennis....along with hopper balls, jump ropes, and pretty much anything the boys did! Hahah! It was fun!

After they left, Matt busted out his balloon twisting skills, which NO ONE knew he had! He started making puppies for each of the girls, then monkeys on trees, swords, and the list is still growing! Amazing and Fabulous! We are going to have to get some decent balloons so he can expand on this new craft that we love!

HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY, ASHLYN NICOLE!!!

She got SO many crafty things that she will be making them forever!

DQ Blizzard Maker, Fashionista Barbie, Art Set, Claire's Gift Card, Earrings, Silly Bands, Writing/Diary Set, Art/Coloring Posters, Pottery Wheel, Glow Sand Art, Plaster of Paris, Model/Bake Clay, Airbrush Art Set, Puzzles, and more...I can't even remember it all!

Ashlyn turns....

2011-02-04T16:20:00.000-07:00

SEVEN!

Photo taken by Kristin McConnell

This year, Ashlyn's birthday fell on a Tuesday. Matt got sent to Tucson, AZ for the week for a Network+ class to get certified for work, so he had to miss being home for her actual birthday. But we were able to Skype with him every morning and evening, and he sang Happy Birthday to her the morning of, so she was all happy. Per her choice, she had me take little Fruit by the Foot snacks to her class to hand out. They all loved it.


Us girls after we finished putting her new Glow-in-the-Dark puzzle Ashlyn got from Grammy and Grampa.

That evening, she picked (you guessed it!) McDonald's for dinner and a little playtime. All was good until a little girl had a little tinkle accident on the slide and then proceeded to run around half-naked for 15 minutes in the playplace.... (ewwwwww!) Good thing there was also a TV with different Disney movies playing, because Ashlyn and Sierra were sitting and watching those when that happened (and until we left).
We are going to be having a party for her birthday on Saturday, and then I will have another post with pics on it as well.

On Thursday, I took the girls up to Icing by Claire's to get Ashlyn's ears pierced. She was excited and nervous/anxious, as to be expected. She got all excited, though, when I showed her all the choices for her first earrings set. She picked a "green" flower---it turns out it's more of a teal color---with a clear jewel in the center. She had one of her teddy bears with her, just in case, and she held it tight. But she did just fine, just like she does with shots, too. Just a little flinch, and it was done!
SO PRETTY!


I had to bribe her with banana bread and chocolate milk...

She then coaxed Sierra into hopping up into the chair to get hers pierced as well. She wasn't quite sure if she wanted to or not. But then after a few minutes, she climbed up into the chair and said, "Okay, mom, I'm ready." Silly girl. So she sat there and picked out the plainest silver stud out of all of her choices. Then they got her all prepped and had one lady for each ear, so she wouldn't totally freak out. She sat still until they put the "guns" up to her ears...then she scrunched up and they pierced her ears at the same time. She started to cry....a lot....then I picked her up and she kept saying, "owie, ow, OWIE!" But after a few minutes and showing her all the pretty earrings she'll be able to wear in a few weeks, she calmed down. We paid and left the store and she said to me, "Mom, I was a little nervous." Too cute!

So our girls got their ear's pierced!
They look SO CuTe!!

Kickin' off 2011

2011-02-03T12:54:00.000-07:00

Tooth 1 December 14th, 2010

Ashlyn started the New Year (Jan. 2nd) by losing another tooth, this time her bottom left one.

Tooth 2 January 2nd, 2011

Then, when I picked her up from school after MLK, Jr. day, she came running out with a cute little tooth necklace and smiled a big grin!!! She had been trying to pull her top right tooth out during school, and then she went to the nurse to get it pulled out so she could eat her lunch. How exciting!!!

Tooth 3 January 18th, 2011

After that tooth came out, the one right next to it started to wiggle itself free some more. We tried to convince her to have daddy pull it, but she wasn't having it. We tried one last time on Sunday (Jan.23rd) night, telling her that one little tug and it would come out, it was SO loose. But she refused. She wanted the school nurse to pull it out.
So when I picked her up from school on Monday, January 24th, she had another tooth necklace around her neck, and a huge toothless grin as she ran out to me (and Sierra). She's so silly.

Tooth 4 January 24th, 2011

But the Tooth Fairy has SPOILED her.
First tooth: $5 and a customizable power toothbrush.
Second tooth: $2 and a Large green/white lollipop.
Third tooth: $2
Fourth tooth: $2
And each time, the Tooth Fairy leaves Ashlyn her teeth. So she has all 4 lost teeth in a little plastic candy-machine container.

End of 2010

2011-01-19T12:08:00.003-07:00

Grammy and Grampa visited the last week of the year, and I had to share some more pictures!

Matt and I got them each a massage at Massage Envy....I think they liked it so much that it will become a tradition when they visit to go and get a relaxing massage!

We drove up to Glendale to visit my Great Aunt Ginny Sylvis (my dad's mom's brother's wife). She had her house all decorated --inside, outside, and upside down--with old and new Christmas decorations. She even decorates her miniature dollhouses (she has an ENTIRE town with cute little mice "people"). The girls behaved SO well, we were all impressed! She gave them each a tiny stocking with a candycane inside, along with a cute little mouse ornament she had made.
I got a picture of everyone (on my cellphone):

Sierra and Ashlyn loved their new roller skates, and wore them everyday. Ashlyn practiced in the kitchen, and then of course Sierra had to do the same! The boys took them to the park and they did great!

Matt's grandparents were down here for a few weeks as well, and it was great to see them and visit again! Sierra has this cute little southern accent when she says certain things, and "Grandma and Grandpa Neil" is one of them! It's TOO CUTE!

Also, Sierra and Ashlyn kept singing "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells" over and over (Sierra still does!), and I got a video of that as well. I love how Sierra says all the names!

(Dat-man, Raw-vin, Bat-mo-mil)

Christmas 2010

2011-01-17T10:03:00.000-07:00

Christmas-time has GOT to be the busiest time of the year for our family, which is wonderful! The Lakeman's come down from Elko, NV to celebrate and spend time with us and Jared. (This year, Austin wasn't able to make it down due to work, dangit!) And this year was extra special, because quite a few of Matt's family was able to be here as well!

Let's start with Christmas Eve.

We went to Matt's parents' house right up the road to visit for a little bit before we headed to Jared's house. The girls opened their presents from Nana & Papa: guitars and little tabletop art easels! Yay!!!

Afterwords, we headed up to Jared's house to open presents there and eat some yummy grub! While we were finishing up eating, Grammy and Grampa showed up! Yippee!! After dinner, we gathered around the tree and started opening presents. The girls got SKATES from Jared's family, and Victoria's brother's family got the girls a gift too: Ashlyn a Strawberry Shortcake RC car, and Sierra a Cinderella doll! LOVES! Sierra was a riot....anytime you handed her just the wrapped present she squealed and got SOOOO excited, just to HAVE a gift!!! She's so cute! Matt and I got massages at Massage Envy from Jared & Victoria--WAHOO!

We headed home around 1030 or so, and put the girls to bed so Santa could come to our house.

And apparently he did!

The girls were so excited, and had so much fun opening their presents from Santa, mom & dad, and Grammy & Grampa Lakeman! There were even scarves that Grammy brought down that Grandma Munro had crocheted for them---WAY too CUTE!

Even the dogs scored some treats from Santa! Chloe had to show Grammy her new chewy, and then when Grampa came out, she took it to show him too! It was the funniest thing!

That afternoon, we headed to Matt's parents' house for their annual Christmas dinner. Matt's dad, Ervin, was home on a 3-week leave from Ghana, Africa. Ervin's sister, Edna, recently moved to Apache Junction, AZ with her boyfriend. And Edna's daughter, Rachel, along with her husband and 3 boys flew in from Wyoming. And Matt's grandparents drove down from Wyoming. So it was a great family gathering on Christmas!! I forgot my camera, so I didn't get any pics here...and my phone was D.E.D. No Bueno! It was so great to see them, since the last time we did was when we went back to WY in 2008.

I have a TON of pictures, but I need to size them down and then I will be able to upload some of them.

Goals? Maybe.

2011-01-08T13:00:00.001-07:00

I don't know what it is about this year, but I have a ton of feelings of things that I want to do. Sounds kind of weird to actually have something like a "New Year's Resolution", but I will just call them goals.

(And these are in no particular order, just ideas that I have.)

Go to a Sun's game.

Get my Patriarchal Blessing.

Tone up!

Make that family trip to ID for Thanksgiving weekend.

See Cirque du Soleil (any of them).

Go snowboarding (a lesson of course!)

Set aside money each paycheck for Christmas and Birthdays.

Plan and cook more meals at home.

Go on more dates with my husband.

Get more organized--office area and kids toys.

And just plain RELAX & HAVE FUN!!!

Here's to a better and brighter 2011!

A Decade Ago....

2011-01-07T08:34:00.000-07:00

Matt and I were married!

I can't believe it's already been a decade! It's been quite a ride so far: ups and downs, near and fars, many many moves, babies and pets, cars and trips, and SO many memorable moments!

Here's to many more memorable decades!!!

I LOVE YOU, BABY!!!

Number One

2011-01-06T08:32:00.001-07:00

Hooray!

After about 3 weeks of wiggling and coaxing, Ashlyn lost her first tooth!
(We kept telling her that her bigger, permanent teeth were already in behind her baby teeth and they need to grow into place, or they'll be all crooked and she'll have to have braces.)

Matt's mom was over at our house for her birthday (December 14th), and while we were hanging out and chatting, Matt decided to try to pull on Ashlyn's tooth again....this time with a Kleenex. On the second try, out it came! (For those that know Ashlyn, she has NO pain tolerance and is totally FREAKED out by any amount of blood or the mention of it.)

She was crying at first, then calmed down, and then got all excited! She shouted, " MOMMY, CALL GRAMMY!!!" So, I handed her my phone and let her call and share all that excitement (on speakerphone hahaha!). She went RIGHT to bed that night, with her little tooth under her pillow, and a note she wrote to the Tooth Fairy that said her tooth was special to her and that she wanted to keep it. And when she awoke the next morning, she had a great surprise, and ran into our room and said, "That's weird....the Tooth Fairy left my tooth, took my note, and left me $5 and a new toothbrush!"

WOW!!!

When we lost a tooth, we got a quarter....and that was awesome!

I guess the Tooth Fairy realized how traumatic it was for Ashlyn to lose her first tooth, and spoiled her!

12,000+ feet

2010-12-31T09:03:00.001-07:00

Matt is SO good at what he does, and is FiNaLlY getting recognition!

His Regional Manager wanted him to go to Colorado to setup a tower. (I, of course, do not know much about all the specifics of the tower!) It was atop a mountain near Climax, CO. While he was busy working--setting up the tower, climbing it, and freezing his fingers off, some of the other workers took some pics (LOL).

Matt designed, figured parts & cost lists, and setup this entire thing from the ground up.

We all call him the "golden child" for Freeport! ;-)

LOVE YOU BABE!!!

I'm THREE!

2010-12-21T08:53:00.002-07:00

She has such a spunky personality.

She has two volumes: Loud and LOUDER.

She is a cuddle-bug.

She is a lover AND a fighter.

She is fearless.

She is hard-headed and stubborn most of the time.

WE LOVE HER UNCONDITIONALLY!

Sierra turned 3, and we celebrated at home this year. We don't know many people in our new neighborhood yet! Matt was out of town (state, really!) for work, but his mom was able to come over and celebrate with me and the girlies.

When I asked Sierra what she wanted for her birthday dinner, she said "CAKE!" Hahaha. Typical Sierra!

I ended up making tacos. And a super-delicious, mouthwatering chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. She didn't eat much of either. (stinker!)

She opened her presents and had a blast playing with them all.

Even Chloe played in the Dora Playhouse and decided to take a snooze in it as well!

When Matt got back from his trip on the weekend, he gave her one more gift:

Her and Ashlyn are constantly on these things daily! It's a riot!

Poor thing: the night of her birthday, she came down with a 103 fever for the next day and a half. Then she was covered in red dots on her torso. I forgot all about when Ashlyn went through the SAME thing when she was around 2 years old. Roseola. She felt fine other than her fever. Glad she was over all of it in a week!

Family Pics

2010-12-02T18:32:00.001-07:00


Everyone together :)


Sierra, Matt, Kristen, Ashlyn


Victoria, Jared, Akris, Cyris


Wacky!

More Pictures from the Trip

2010-12-02T16:18:00.000-07:00

Sierra, Paige, Ashlyn, Madilyn, Kiera, Schawn

Driving towards SLC and the Great Salt Lake

Attacking his steak!

Caitlin (6) and Justin

Ashlyn, Sierra, Hether, Zach (at the table)

Connor (6), Ashlyn

Ashlyn eating her cookie at 11th St. Deli

Timpanogos Harley Davidson Dealer

Lava's Home Motel had a HUGE mineral bathtub in our room!

Snoozin' on our drive from Lava, ID to Elko

Thanksgiving Vacation 2010

2010-12-02T16:11:00.000-07:00

We were very fortunate to be able to take a family trip up to see my side of the family for Thanksgiving weekend this year. We flew into SLC on Thanksgiving Day, and spent the day at my Aunt & Uncle Mangone's house. Ashlyn and Sierra headed straight to the backyard and played in the snow for a while. We then ate a scrumptious turkey dinner with all the fixin's, and my cousin Lessley and her family were there to share it with us too. That evening, two of Lessley's brothers and their families came over as well. We all had some yummy desserts, watched the kids play, and perused the Black Friday ads (over and over and over and...well, you get the idea!).

We then headed down to Lessley's house to stay the next couple of nights there. The next morning, Lessley and I ventured out (with Sierra in tow....little stinker!) to some of the sales to see what we could find. Target was a no-go (no items and Extremely LONG lines)....Walmart was quite productive and stress-free (appeasing Sierra with a toy works wonders!), and Kohl's was a breeze as well. After that, we were set. We went back to Less' house and went about the rest of the day....eating at Taco Time for lunch, picking up some cold weather sweaters at JCPenney's (once we found it---dumb directions on the GPS led us to a bridge in Provo at first!), replacing Matt's shoes with new Skechers at the outlet near the Mangone's house.

Then we met up at the Mangone's with everyone and headed over to Temple Square to watch the Temple lights ceremony. We grabbed some hot chocolate beforehand, but it didn't seem to help keep us warm---it was COLD ! The lights were beautiful, but we had to leave early since we were all completely frozen.

So, back to Lessley's we went for the night.

Saturday morning we headed up to Bancroft, ID where my Grandma Munro lives and where my extended family gathers for a reunion-like afternoon. We eat a big, yummy turkey dinner, visit and catch-up, watch the kids run and play, eat yummy pies and fruit salad (and new this year--pumpkin roll), cheer the kids on as they hit the pinata--this year: Spongebob.

Also this year, Jared was able to drive up and brought his fiance' Victoria and her two boys, Cyris and Akris. The boys absolutely LOVED the snow (couldn't keep them out of it, actually!), and it was great to be able to have all of us together for this annual family get-together!

That evening we checked into our motel rooms in Lava Hot Springs, and headed over to the hot pools. For Matt, myself and the girls, it was our first time actually going to the hot pools. One wouldn't think that going out in 20 degree temperatures into a hot pool then walking home in the same below-freezing temps would be a smart thing to do....but it. was. FANTASTIC!!!

We were so warm on our way back to our room that Ashlyn and Sierra wanted ice cream!

It was a nice break from the cold, that is FOR SURE.

There is one more tradition to finish off the day in Idaho: Pizza and Milkshakes at the local pizzaria (Royal Pizza). Yum. and. Fun.

Sunday morning, we woke up to about 4 inches of snow on our rental car (a fantastic 2011 Toyota Camry w/traction control: pretty much a car with 4 wheel drive!). So we decided to start heading to Elko in case the roads were bad as well.

Which, parts of them were.

But we made it.

Finally some blue sky right outside of Elko :)

And we headed straight out to Spring Creek to visit some of our friends out there: the Woinarowicz's. The girls bundled up and headed outside to play with their friends in the 8 inches of snow in the backyard. But when the older girls (Ashlyn, Madilyn, Paige, and Kiera) came inside, Sierra stayed out.

She absolutely LOVED the snow! (This trip was her first time seeing snow--since she was a baby.) She sat in it on the back porch and ate it, kicked it, and made snowballs with Schawn.

She had a blast!

L-R: Ashlyn, Madilyn, Sierra, Paige

We visited for a few hours, then ate a tasty ham & potatoes dinner and had s'mores for dessert. Chris came home from work around 7:30 and we stayed until 9:30 visiting with him, and letting the girls play their little hearts out!

(After the head count, there were 10 girls and 3 boys: me, Amber, Krista, Ashlyn, Sierra, Madilyn, Paige, Kiera, Kayla, Sylvia, Matt, Chris, and Schawn.)

L-R: Paige, Madilyn, Ashlyn

We headed back to Elko and stayed the night at my parents' house--which was pretty full, since Jared and his family were staying there as well.

Monday, we went to 11th Street Deli for lunch (of course!), then drove back out to Spring Creek to Matt's sister's house.

She loved her quesadilla, but makes the FUNNIEST faces while separating the tortilla and cheese! LOL!

Sierra as a "princess" with Caitlin's leotard and princess shoes on

The kids were in school, but the twins (Caitlin and Connor) were out at noon, and Zach got out around 2. So we chatted and the kiddos played together....inside with toys, and outside in the snow.

That evening, we went back to my parent's house for some pictures...in the snow.

:-)

After pictures, we headed to eat some grub at one of the local Basque restaurants, The Star. As always, it did NOT disappoint! What a great way to end any vacation!

We went to bed, and got up extra early to head back to SLC to catch our flight home.

We weren't too sad to leave the -2 temps that morning, and land in 60 temps here at home. But we will miss everyone up "north". It was a GREAT week; never a dull moment. (Ashlyn's nose, lip and chin are healing up from her unexpected encounter with the ice in Bancroft...just a little bruising left. All of the swelling has finally gone away.)

We love all of you, and are thankful for each and every one of you! And we are already planning next year's trip up north!

Long time no see!

2010-09-13T10:29:00.000-07:00

    While I haven't kept our family blog up-to-date, facebook is my lifeline it seems! I can't believe it's been so long since I posted on here!          Where to begin? .....
               ...... Let's see....

   We last left off with two little fish, Angel and Rockstar. Well, after a few months, and many cleanings (Sierra thought the fish needed baths with soap like we do!), they kicked the bucket. So no more fish for now.
   Ashlyn "graduated" Kindergarten! What a big girl! She's so excited to be a big FIRST GRADER!
   Matt graduated his CNC Machinist program at the MSC here in Phoenix, and got a job at a machine shop in Tempe. He loved that job....programming and working with metal---what man wouldn't! Haha!
   Sometime this summer, Matt caught a baby gecko in our garage....it was SO tiny---about 1.5" long including its tail!! We got it a cage and all the "necessities" (50 dollars worth!!), and proceeded to feed it tiny little crickets. We couldn't come up with a name, so Matt just started calling it "Lil Man" and it stuck. He is thriving and growing well!!
Me and the girls had MANY playdates with our friends, the Garcia's. Alexandria was in Ashlyn's kindergarten class and they were two peas in a pod! She has an older sister, Isabella (8), who just adores Sierra, who adores her just as much! It's so adorable! And me and their mom, Christine, have become great friends as well!!
   While working at Cox Reels, Inc. (the machine shop), Matt got a job offer from Freeport-McMoRan to work at one of their copper mines down in Miami, AZ. He accepted their offer, and started work the same day Ashlyn started First Grade (Aug. 16th). Miami/Globe/Claypool is located about 2.5 hours SE of where we are now (Anthem). He currently stays in his parents house in Florence during the week and comes home on the weekends. We will be moving closer to his work --somewhere in the SE valley-- in the coming months.
   I no longer work for Kohl's. My last day was Aug. 26th, and it's definitely weird not having to work anymore. It was a great experience, and the people were amazing! I will miss them dearly. But I did learn that I LOVE to merchandise, so maybe I can do that again sometime!!
During the summer, Ashlyn took swimming lessons, and passed each level with ease! She was so scared to put her face under the water before, but now she's a fish!! What a great investment!
We went camping a few times before school started up, and we all love it and plan to continue it as a great family activity. During our last trip, the diapers somehow did not make it (still can't find them!), so that was the beginning of potty training Sierra, which she did with confidence and ease! She was READY! Since then, she has gotten Hello Kitty panties, and stays dry all day and most nights as well! What a BIG GIRL!!!
Just this past weekend (Sept. 9-12) me and the girls flew to Rapid City, SD to celebrate my dad's parents' 60th wedding anniversary!! This was the girls' 1st time flying, and the absolutely LOVED it! It was a short, quick trip, but it was WONDERFUL to see my grandparents! The weather was perfect during the daytime, and the girls were able to play outside ALL DAY LONG! We don't get to do that here in AZ during the summer. They were also able to pick apples off their apple tree, which was HUGE! My mom, Austin, and I took the girls to Storybook Island there too, and they played and played for a few hours....what an AWESOME park!!! We didn't get to stay but a couple of days, but we are already planning a family trip back there.
I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting, and I have TONS of pictures as well. But this will have to do for now! Hahah! I have to go and chase a toddler now!

Dress Up Time

2010-04-22T17:03:00.002-07:00

My mom brought down an Avon box overflowing with Halloween costumes she had gotten for 90% off this past fall. I don't know HOW many different ones she got, but they're all sooo cute, and the girls love them already! They both tried on a couple the first day she brought the box in the house, and here's our little cuties in disguise!
(Ashlyn's doing her "arrrrrrgh" pirate pose, and her FABULOUS Gogo Girl Pose, while Sierra's just a cute little pirate!)

Family Fun!

2010-04-22T15:25:00.002-07:00

We were very fortunate to have some of my family come down from Idaho, Utah, and of course Nevada for the weekend last week. It was a great couple of days with the big group of us!

We had fun playing the Wii, eating, visiting, eating, watching some try to ride skateboards and ripsticks, eating, celebrating Gramma Munro's birthday, eating...

Oh, did I mention that we ate some food?!?! We went out to Olive Garden on Saturday to celebrate her birthday (Sunday April 18th). Then we all met up again on Sunday morning at the Good Egg to have a big breakfast before the Mangone's, Sandra, and Lessley left to go back home. And then Sunday night, we went out to dinner at the Persian Room....and Jared surprised all of us by having them bring some ice cream out to Gramma and sing Happy Birthday!

We really enjoyed having the opportunity to spend some fun, yummy time with family that we don't get to see all too often. They're all a riot, and I wished I could have gotten some more pics of different things. (So I'm counting on all of you to send me them!)

I know that we are planning on saving up and heading north on Thanksgiving weekend to share that special time with even MORE family, and can't wait to see everyone then as well!

Ashlyn and Sierra had a BLAST with everyone here, and especially their grammy and grampa!

Ashlyn is still Grammy's buddy, and Sierra just cannot get enough of her Grampa!!! She was his little shadow and followed him everywhere he went (except the bathroom, where she would patiently wait for him outside the door!). The days just flew by WAY too fast, and it seemed like they were only here for a couple of days. We can't wait until they can visit again!

Thanks again to everyone who came down and enjoyed our warm, sunny weather, and shared some special times with us as a family! You're all so supportive and wonderful and it's a blessing to be a part of such an amazing family!! We love you all!

What a cutie!

2010-04-14T11:00:00.000-07:00

Sierra doesn't have many *dresses*--she has a TON of skorts that were handed down from Ashlyn--but only 2 dresses that fit her....barely.
So, when I saw this dress, I HAD to get it (and for only $3.50 on clearance at Kohl's, who could resist anyways?!?!)

After I put it on her, I noticed that the colors matched one of the bows I had made to match one of her outfits from when she was a newborn, so I put it on a headband, and she LOVED it! She was SOOOO adorable!! And, we were just so excited to get a picture of her before she messed up her hair, or fell asleep, that we forgot to put her cute little white sandals on her to complete the outfit! OOpS! Oh well, she's still adorable as ever in this dress and bowband! (And there's NOT many times she's dressed in ANY clothing...and with her looking at cute, precious, and innocent in this, we HAD to capture the moment!)

Daddy and Sierra in their Sunday best!

AZ Science Center

2010-04-09T16:59:00.004-07:00

The girls at the "what does your face say/show?" (The can change each part of the face to show different emotions.)

Ashlyn climbing (with Alexandria waiting her turn)

Ashlyn sitting in the seat after pulling herself up using the rope/pulley--there were 3 of these on a "tree" for multiple kids to tryout

My group of girls on the "Balancing Act"--rubbery things that wobbled a lot (straight from the mouth of Ashlyn herself)

Ashlyn on the bus ride TO the Science Center =)

I was able to go with Ashlyn and the entire Kindergarten at Anthem Elementary on a field trip to the AZ Science Center in downtown Phoenix on Friday, April 9th. We had a pretty peppy bus ride downtown, and then I had to try to keep my four girls together with me. I did quite well...just had a straggler that liked to take off on her own sometimes! They did really well, and they all had a BLAST! The bad part of it was---there were 3 other schools having the same field trip the same day and time! Next time, I'm bringing headbands with little antennae on them for my group!!! Hahaha!
Anywho, there's four levels of the Science Center, and a HUGE planetarium as well. We had about 1.5 hours to go through the 4 levels---it was rushed, let me tell you....and then we went into the planetarium for a star-show/planet viewing movie. There's a LOT of cool and fun things for the kids in there, and they can touch EVERYthing in the building....hands on learning....it's awesome! We are going to go back as a family (with Sierra in a stroller!) to be able to spend more time and see more things.
Here's a few pics from our day (granted---my camera batteries didn't get charged properly, so it kept dying and I kept trying to get SOMEthing!!)

Green Day?

2010-03-17T16:43:00.005-07:00

Today I hadn't planned on doing much for St. Patrick's Day since both the girls have a cold, but I quickly changed my mind.

I decided I would put a little green in the girls' day today:

Green Milk
Green Eggs
and
Green Shamrock-shaped Pancakes

for breakfast!

I then picked out some clothes that had some green in them, and we all got dressed. I made some matching bows to put in Sierra's hair (Ashlyn wanted hers down). After I got the bows in her hair, I took a few pictures since she was TOO CUTE!--and then she took them out and didn't want them in today either! Oh Man!

We then went to one of the pocket parks here in Anthem, and the girls climbed, and slid down the slides, and glided on the "zip cord" as I call it. But since it was warmer than it has been (now around 80), and the girls weren't feeling 100%, we left only 20 minutes after arriving---Sierra was coughing up a storm and her face was so red from the heat and from running around everywhere! But they weren't sad. They got to play at a park they don't usually get to.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY 2010!

Little miss

2010-03-12T18:17:00.002-07:00

SIERRA
aka *B*

We LOVE to see her SMILE

And we LOVE to see her SLEEP

Today, she's ASKED for food! And certain Kinds of food, like cereal (froot loops today), and noodles--specifically, Macaroni and Cheese , and for dinner she brought me some leftover pizza (Barro's Meatball and extra cheese--YUM!).

It's AMAZING!
I hope she keeps it up!

Little Star

2010-02-26T20:27:00.003-07:00

Sierra can now sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" all by herself. Here's a video of her singing it (with a little help from mommy---she was getting distracted by her big sister). Don't mind the nakedness---that's her usual daily "outfit". The instant we get home from anywhere, the clothes come off and she's in just her diaper until we have to go somewhere! Silly girl!
Enjoy this cute little video!

Curly Sue

2010-02-26T13:47:00.004-07:00

Okay, so I've seen these things on other blogs, and even entered a giveaway to try to win some of them. Well, I decided to run (drive) down to Sally and get some and try them out on Ashlyn's fine, straight hair.

Yes, I'm talking about those infamous
CURLFORMERS
!!!!!!

I've read all the hype about how they work wonders on everyone's little girls' hair, and hoped that they would work the same on Ashlyn's hair. So one night after she was showered, I sat her down and put them in her hair....had a few tugs, but for the most part all was easy and good. Even Sierra had me put one in her hair (I only had 3 left from Ashlyn) and left it in for a few minutes!

I put Ashlyn to bed, and when she awoke and got dressed for school (the day of the patriotic parade), I removed the curlformers and VOILA!!! AMAZING, BEAUTIFUL CURLS!!!

No, she was NOT happy that her hair was curly and not straight!

And they stayed in her hair ALL day long! No hot curling irons, no chemicals...nothing...just these cool meshy-rubbery curlformers and a plastic hook! I'm definitely recommending these things to EVERYone with girls!!!

The finished look with her Patriotic Hair Bow for the Parade at school.

February's over?!?! WHAT?!?!

2010-02-26T13:05:00.005-07:00

Okay, so we had an extrEMEly busy month of February...obviously, because there's only a couple of days left in the month and this is my first post! Agh!

First of all, Ashlyn's 6th Birthday>>> What fun!!! We had a little family thing at the house on her actual birthday, and then on that Wednesday she didn't have school so we surprised her by taking her for an actual horse ride on a ranch out in Surprise, AZ (Victory Farms AZ). Daddy walked the horse around while I wrangled with Sierra so she didn't freak the horse out! Then Matt and Ashlyn both got to feed the horse some carrots....that was the horse's favorite part I think! He was a stubborn old thing, but Ashlyn absolutely LOVED it, and wants to go to their Horse Camp and learn to ride and take care of the horses!

Then we had a birthday party, with some of her school friends/classmates, on that Saturday....along with about 6 or 7 other birthday parties at the same park on the same day at the same time! Wow....what a fun time the kids had though! And Ashlyn scored some pretty amazing gifts and a lot of crafty stuff---which, if you know Ashlyn, she is in HEAVEN when she gets to do crafty things!
Ashlyn's new bedding, chair, and accessories!

Another thing that has been keeping us busy is work and school. Matt is going to school 5 days a week now to get done as fast as he can to start his new job in his line of schooling---CNC Machinist. Coxreels in Tempe pretty much hired him on when they saw his skills and his leadership abilities and whatnot, so that's good news! He's still working at Domino's right now, but when he's done with his school, he will start at Coxreels.
Kristen opened up her availability at Kohl's to work some mornings AND/OR evenings during the week, and so Sierra has had the opportunity to hang out with one of her friend we walk to school with every day--Gillian. (Her mom, Kristin, took our family pictures in December.) She does pretty good, and only goes there about once a week for a few hours and that's all. So it's not ALL the time---we know that wouldn't work for her! LOL!

We also got a *new* (to us!) car to replace/upgrade the 97 Corolla that had 223k miles on it! We now have a 2001 (same year as the Durango!!) Nissan Altima GXE Limited Edition with only 90k miles on it! It's a dream to drive---reminds me (Kristen) of my mom's Accord...nice and roomy and clean and comfy and whatnot! AND it was a 2 owner, older people, so it was taken care of (also, like our Durango that had only 1 older owner). Now, we can take that long trip to Idaho for Thanksgiving in a car and not be cramped....can't wait!!!
We also got the girls brand new mattress sets that are SOOO comfy....mommy might steal a few nights' sleep in them!

At Ashlyn's school, the Kindergarten classes got all dressed up for a Patriotic Parade for President's Day. They recited the Pledge of Allegiance, sang our National Anthem and "America". They then proceeded to walk through all the buildings in the school for their parade! CUTE!

OH, and little miss Sierra has graduated from her binky------FINALLY! LOL!
It was a struggle for the first week or so, but she's doing much better now (3 weeks tomorrow)! And she's talking SO much more and surprising us every day with what she knows! She can sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" as well (we thought we got it on video, but it didn't take or something, so we'll have to try again). Whew....what a month!
Our little "Explorer"

Family Pictures 2009

2010-01-04T17:53:00.002-07:00

This is just one of MANY great photos my neighbor/friend, Kristin McConnell, took while Grammy, Grampa, Uncle Austin, and Uncle Jared were all here together with us! You can check out the rest of the photo shoot at her site:

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/store.aspx?p=35723

Munro Moos 2009

2009-12-31T15:15:00.001-07:00

Key Family 2009

As this year comes to a close at a record-fast pace, I get to try to remember all that’s happened in 2009! Here goes! We moved from our Florence, AZ house into Jared’s Anthem, AZ house just after Ashlyn’s 5^th birthday. We are renting the house from him, which is nice for both parties since he needed a renter and we needed a place to rent! And the community is amazing! Once you see it, you’ll understand why! J Anthem has everything you ever need all in one area…parks, schools, library, stores, pool, community/activity center, and even just some open space to explore nearby.

Matt: Was working for a satellite contractor at the beginning of the year, but that didn’t end up working out, so he decided to look for a new job once we moved up to Anthem. He now works for Domino’s Pizza as a “delivery expert”, and makes pretty decent money in tips and normal wages, just working a few days a week. He is also going to school at Maricopa Skills Center, in the CNC Machinist program they have there. It’s a self-paced program and he’s loving it! In November he had his 30^th birthday, which was a big milestone for him. He reflected on everything he (and us) experienced in his 20’s….in which he was able to travel the world while in the US Navy.

Kristen: As I’m sure everyone knows, didn’t hold an actual “J.O.B.” until May of this year! Hahaha! I got my first retail job at Kohl’s at the beginning of May, and loves the atmosphere and second family there at the store. It’s nice to be able to get out of the house and have normal adult conversations with people my age! Also, in July I celebrated my 27^th birthday…not as big of milestone though, for me J. I have also been able to volunteer in Ashlyn’s Kindergarten class a couple of days so far as well, which is totally fun. Her teacher, Mrs. Schmitt, is amazing, to say the least!

Ashlyn: As stated in the beginning, turned 5 this year! She’s growing and learning so many new things all the time. She started Kindergarten this fall, and LOVES it! We started her only ½ days for the first week, and EVERY day wanted to stay for the full day…that’s how much fun she was having! (And we thought she’d miss us or get worn out! HA!) She was out sick for a whole week in October, and hated every minute of it…being away from school and all the activities they had planned for that week (like every week!). In November, they had a Thanksgiving program which was adorable. We were all able to make it to that, which was wonderful to share as a family. She also went on her first field trip (and first bus ride) to the Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium in December. She’s looking forward to Christmas and the new year when she’ll turn 6 (We can’t believe it either!). She is also starting to get a loose front top tooth (barely), but wants to wiggle it so she can lose it! Silly girl!

Sierra: Where to start with this little girl?!?! They grow, learn, and change SO much in a year between the ages of 1 and 2! She’s jumping, talking, climbing (on EVERYTHING!), and is her own little (monster) person! She turned 2 this December, and what can I say….time flies! She (and Ashlyn) are adjusting to daddy AND mommy working opposite schedules to take care of them, so they don’t have a babysitter. They love spending time with daddy, and he loves being able to spend more time with them!

The pets: We still have Daisy, who’s getting up there in age. We’ve had her since July 2001, and she’s still managed to behave herself enough to remain in the family! HAHA! We also still have Angel Bear (aka Meowy, Meow-pizzzow, etc.) since 2005 when she adopted our vehicles in Spring Creek, NV! (Yeah, she loves car rides too!) And our newest addition is Chloe, a purebred brindle Boxer puppy. She stole our hearts when we first saw her, but we thought long and hard about adding a new puppy since we hadn’t had much luck with previous dogs….but after 3 weeks, we decided to get her, and she was the last female left. So it was fate, in our eyes. She’s lovable and cuddly and doesn’t bark (Wahooo!). The girls love her and so do we.

And that’s our year for 2009.

We are so thankful for what we’ve been blessed with. We miss you all and are planning to make it up there to ID for Thanksgiving weekend in 2010.

Christmas Cheer

2009-12-27T23:39:00.004-07:00

Austin on Christmas Morning

Grammy and Grampa

"Beanie Baby" LOL!

*I love how her outfit matches her beanie and her microphone!*

Ashlyn and Sierra on Christmas Eve 2009

Matt and Kristen on Christmas Eve 2009

This year was busy for the Christmas holiday for us. On Christmas Eve, the Lakeman's were heading south from Elko to our house. Around the same time, we were heading south from our house to Matt's parents' house in Florence, AZ (about 2 hours south of us). This year is the first Christmas that Matt's dad has been home (Stateside) in a few, so we made sure to make it special for him to have family around. So we had a nice time at their house on Christmas Eve, and exchanged presents with them.

Matt's parents with their puppies
They got us a family gift: a Wii and some games to go with it as well. So we'll be adding to that for sure (Matt actually just went and bought himself a game--Call of Duty-- tonight)! We made it back home about an hour before the Lakeman's showed up at our house....good timing! And you'd think that after the long day that we all had had that we'd just go to bed....NOPE! Not until around 1:30 in the morning (except Ashlyn, who konked right out around 11 so Santa would come).

On Christmas morning, we had our traditional Christmas breakfast: Stickybuns! YUM!
This was AFTER, of course, opening the presents first! The girls both got a bike (trike for Sierra) from Santa and Sierra is totally attached to hers! Ashlyn got a ton of stuff, but she prefers to play the Wii (of course!). They both got a dress up kit from the Lakeman's and they both love to put on the dressed and shoes and pretend they're queens!

After all the presents were opened we decided to get ready for the day and then head down to Gilbert, AZ to Jared's house (about an hour away). We thought that everyone would be there but at the last minute they changed it to Christmas Eve since everyone was starting to get sick/colds. So we missed out on that family gathering, but we were still able to spend time with them for a few hours and then go to dinner at an Asian buffet (yep...just about the ONLY open to eat, but that's okay because they're Asian and we like Asian and American food that they served!) We couldn't stay too long after eating because Kristen had to work early the next day.
But on Sunday, Jared came up and we got family pictures up here since we're all together this year! We all can't wait to see the results...and how many Sierra actually behaved in! LOL! What can you expect...she's not a ham like her older sister who just kept posing for the camera when it was pointed her way! Too fun!
After pictures we went home and cooked a big turkey dinner, since we didn't have one for Thanksgiving with all the family. Jared, Victoria and the boys came up and ate with us, which is always nice. They always love eating good American food that we (Matt) cooks, and are planning on being back on Monday for the ham dinner we have planned as well!
We're just happy and feel so blessed to be able to have our families here so close at this time of year. We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and will have a Happy New Year!

Gingerbread Houses

2009-12-13T15:04:00.003-07:00

The front of her house:

So I was able to go to Ashlyn's class on Friday to help out with the making of the cute little "gingerbread" houses. It was so fun and so cute to see all of the kids decorating them in their own little ways! The sad part is....I forgot my camera! (Even after reminding myself all morning to bring it.) Thanks to another mom there who took some pics for me and emailed them to me, we have some memories to keep with us in print!

Mom and Ashlyn!

Building her house:

The back of the house:

Ashlyn showing us her completed masterpiece....only a few minutes before beginning the slow demolishing of the design!

Birthday Girl!

2009-12-12T18:52:00.000-07:00

Sierra is now two years old!!
REALLY?!?!

She has a few little friends her age up here in Anthem, but we decided just to make her birthday a small family affair. She IS only TWO !! =)

With that said, she's definitely a total opposite of her older sister, Ashlyn.
When asked what she wanted for her birthday dinner....she said "NO!"
So we decided to list off things that she might want to actually eat:
Nuggets? ....."No."
Pizza? ..... "No."
Cereal? ..... "No."
Sandwich? ..... "No."
Taco? ..... "No."
Quesadilla?? ....."No."
Tortilla??? .... "No."
Fruit?? ...."No."

Then we just started naming random items...food or not!!! But what she decided on was waffles! And after trying to change her mind (those darned sneaky parents!), we just ended up ordering a sausage pizza from Barro's. Sierra LOVED eating her "chicken" as she kept calling it (even though we would call it sausage!), and it was a little spicy....but she's too funny and would take a sip of her milk and then eat some more "chicken"!! She's definitely her daddy's little girl!

After dinner, we had her open her presents. Ashlyn helped her out, but not too much. I think she (Ashlyn) was intrigued by her sister's ability to do it herself! Sierra really likes Elmo and Tinkerbell for the time being. Actually, Tinkerbell is a more recent liking....after I had everything thought/picked out pertaining to Elmo!

After presents, we busted out the cake and ice cream and sang "Happy Birthday" to the birthday girl. This year, I made her a chocolate cake (since she didn't like her vanilla one last year!) with buttercream frosting. Not sure she's too into cake, because she didn't eat much of it again this year. But she LOVES ice cream....of almost any flavor! LOL!

Being as it was a school night, the girls played around the house for a bit, and then got all cleaned up and ready for bed. It was a nice quite-like evening, and sometimes it's better that way for the little ones' birthdays.

Happy Second Birthday, Sierra Elizabeth!! We LOVE you so much!

First Field Trip Fun!

2009-12-05T12:10:00.005-07:00

The flamingos (very nice picture!)

Yesterday, Ashlyn got to go on her very first school field trip! It was also her very first time riding on a bus too!

Ashlyn on her first bus ride ever! (December 4th, 2009)

All three Kindergarten classes at her school went on a field trip to the Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium, which is about 35-40 miles away from our house/school.
Mommy wasn't able to go because I had to work, but our neighbor and fellow classmate's mom was kind enough to chaperone and take lots of pictures of our kiddos at the Zoo! From the pictures and the stories Ashlyn told me, it sounds like they all had a great time with all the animals!
Enjoy the pics!

A huge old turtle! LOL!

Ashlyn, Michael Rose (neighbor friend/classmate), Dylan
eating lunch

Ashlyn petting a deer!

Thank you, Kristen Rose, for chaperoning the kids and taking these great pictures since we couldn't be there with Ashlyn to make these memories! You're a great friend!

Three little, Two little....

2009-12-02T14:35:00.007-07:00

One little Indian girl! :)

The Kindergarten classes at Ashlyn's school put on a little Thanksgiving Day program on November 17th at her school. Each class dressed up as different characters in the story. For example, her class was Indians (Indian boys, and Indian girls); another class was Pilgrims (Pilgrim boys, and Pilgrim girls); and the other class was Turkeys.

As Mrs. Schmitt (Ashlyn's teacher) narrated the story, the children would do/say different things-- kind of like those storybooks with the picture buttons on the side that make sounds during the story.
She told the story about the First Thanksgiving, and it was the cutest rendition we've ever seen! I got a few pictures, but they're dark and/or blurry....my camera started acting up go figure. And I got a video on our vhs-c camcorder, but it cuts in and out because the battery kept falling off the back.... : ( But it was cute, nonetheless, to hear and see the kids do there thing on the stage! All dressed up in their outfits.
I was a bit busy messing with the camcorder to remember everything that was said, etc. but some of them were the following:

Pilgrim boys: "A hunting I will go!"
Pilgrim girls: " Oh mercy me!"
Indian boys: "Big and brave!"
Indian girls: "Shhhh...baby's sleeping!"
Turkeys: "Gobble, gobble, gobble!"
All kids: "Pop, pop, pop" (Corn)
"Yum, yum, yum" (Dinner/Food)

Then all the kids would sing a song as well. And I'll have to ask Ashlyn what it was....because it's cute when she sings it! LOL!
Ashlyn and our neighbor (and friend) Michael. We walk together every morning and afternoon to school.

Little update

2009-11-22T15:11:00.004-07:00

Just a little update for the last few weeks!

Ashlyn is still loving school, and makes all sorts of cute little things to bring home and show us! She's doing great, and we're so proud of her! She also has a "loose" (very slightly) tooth up top in front as well, and she just keeps trying to wiggle it out of there....but it will be a while before it will be falling out that's for sure!

Sierra is talking more and more every day!! Don't know if that's a good or bad thing! Hahaha!
We can't believe that in just a couple of weeks she'll be 2 already!! Time sure flies!

Matt is still loving his school as well--CNC machining (learning the manual machines first, though, of course!). He's still working at Domino's as a delivery driver. And they just got bought out by a franchise owner, so they're no longer a corporate Domino's....still deciding on how we like it, but hey, it's a paycheck! Matt also just celebrated his 30th birthday---what a milestone! We didn't do a whole lot because he was feeling a bit under the weather that day, but we did end up getting a little (hahah) "gift" that evening.

Kristen is still working at Kohl's and liking it for the most part....I say that because I like working in the mornings better than closing at night. Better atmosphere, more life, and more conversation to keep the day going! I was also able to volunteer this month in Ashlyn's Kindergarten class....mostly cutting papers for one of their Thanksgiving booklets they'll be making this coming week. I also got to put together the placemats, napkin holders, and namecards for the turkey lunch I was able to eat with her as well! What a fun little time! I can't wait until next month to do it again!

Now, I am preparing this week for decorating the outside of the house with Christmas lights, and thinking about entering the contest here in our neighborhood just for fun. We'll have to see! But before I do that, and give thanks this Thursday for all we've been blessed with...
welcome the newest addition to our "all girl" family (except Matt, of course)....
CHLOE, the brindle boxer puppy

Trick or Treat!!

2009-11-02T10:44:00.003-07:00

This year was SO much fun going trick-or-treating with BOTH girls!
We taught Sierra how to say "kicko teet" (trick or treat), but she only said that a few times...she was happy just holding out her Elmo bucket and saying "Thank You!!!!"
Ashlyn was glad to have someone else to go trick-or-treating with....her schoolmate and our neighbor, Michael. We met up with their family (they also have a 2 yr. old Mason) and went around the block together, which was quite nice.
It was a PERFECT 75 degrees when we left the house at 6pm to start the candy-gathering. Most of the people passing out candy put up lawn chairs and tables on their driveways since it's so nice here. Up the street there's a culdesac and one of the houses had a fog machine that fogged up the entire culdesac, and also had spooky music to go along with it! Too fun! And we also saw a decked out, purple feather trimmed golf cart with a couple dressed up as well!!! Awesome! Wish I would have taken my camera to get a picture of it!

So, here's a few pics of the girls on Halloween this year!

Me and my adorable cheerleader!

Sierra so cute

Hooray!!

Mmmmm.....CANDY!!!!
(They only went to about 20 houses and got a TON of candy each!...as you can see, Sierra's Elmo bucket was overflowing!)

WHAT A BLAST!!!

How many tons?!?!

2009-10-05T09:10:00.005-07:00

My dad in front of the other guy's wounded truck (thanks for the clarification mom!)

My mom standing next to a non-wrecked haul truck

Last week my dad was involved in an accident at his work (the other guy's fault), and thankfully he wasn't injured too bad. I just wanted to show the enormity of the haul trucks he drives at the gold mine he works at--Barrick Goldstrike. My dad's truck was empty, and the other guy's truck had 330 TONS of waste rock loaded in it! I couldn't imagine being in one of these monsters and colliding with something, especially another haul truck! EEK!
Thank you mom for the pictures.

Other guy's truck

My dad's truck after the accident

My dad between the two wrecked trucks

Thank goodness you're okay, dad!
WE LOVE YOU!!

New Moon Tickets

2009-09-11T12:58:00.002-07:00

New Moon Movie and Twilight Movie

As of today, September 11th 2009, tickets are available at AMC, Harkins, and pretty much any movie theater around for this great movie series!!
Now....
which date/time to go and see it
because I'm not going to be there opening night with all the crazies! LOL!
Plus we will have to find a babysitter for the girls...hmmm....this could be interesting!
I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

Fun Times :-)

2009-08-30T14:57:00.003-07:00

Matt, A, and S on the double carousel at Superstition Springs Mall.

Sierra with her 'dasses' and her 'bebe bee'

Our little witch baby! LOL!

Ashlyn getting her first girlie time with mom and nana at the mall:

Getting pink fingers and toes, with cute little dragonflies.

Those are some pics from just last weekend. I'm sure that after *next* weekend, we'll have even MORE fun pics....since Matt's mom just got two new little Boston Terrier puppies --a boy and a girl! They're so adorable and fun...and little S is terrified a bit because they move fast (unlike her doggy Daisy who's old and lazy!!).

Key Family News

Some videos

Happy New Year 2012

Christmas in Colorado

~Eleven Years~

Ashlyn's Winter Program

Birthday and Vacation

More in November

Thanksgiving in Colorado

Halloween Festivities

Cluttered Mess

First [measurable] Snowfall

House Pics

Random Pics

Welcome to Dillon

So long, Farewell....AZ

Cute pics

I can do it myself

No Trainers....

Again?

Second grader

Kristen's Birthday

Last minute vacation!

Back to School

Update with Picture collages

Quick Pix

Goldfield Ghost Town

A Girl and *her* Horse

First Catch x 2

End of Spring Break 2011

Spring Break 2011

Busy Little Bee

One Muddy Mess!

a couple more collages

Our weekend

some more collages

"Scrapbook Collages"

a day at the park....

Party Time!

Ashlyn turns....

Kickin' off 2011

End of 2010

Christmas 2010

Goals? Maybe.

A Decade Ago....

Number One

12,000+ feet

I'm THREE!

Family Pics

More Pictures from the Trip

Thanksgiving Vacation 2010

Long time no see!

Dress Up Time

Family Fun!

What a cutie!

AZ Science Center

Green Day?

Little miss

Little Star

Curly Sue

February's over?!?! WHAT?!?!

Family Pictures 2009

Munro Moos 2009

Christmas Cheer

Gingerbread Houses

Birthday Girl!

First Field Trip Fun!

Three little, Two little....

Little update

Trick or Treat!!

How many tons?!?!

New Moon Tickets

Fun Times :-)

A Girl and her Horse