Mom's Graduation Party

Brianna with her cousins on baptism day. Brianna with her dad before her baptism.

This past weekend we celebrated my nieces baptism and my mother receiving her Master's Degree. It was a great day that we all spent together - (of course I am still a single mom while Jed is away for work, but with family around it all went well!) Anyway we had the baptism in the morning on Saturday then had lunch afterward. After lunch we all told mom that we were going to go see a movie. Instead we got on the freeway and drove up to my brother in Pleasenton, CA for a surprise BBQ/Pool Party!! It was a blast. He even had a cover so Ashlee could kind of swim with her cast so all had a good time. Following are some of the pictures:

Brianna with her dad before her baptism.

Brianna, Ashlee, Michael, and Hyrum with the newest member of the church!

Hyrum was soooo cold!!!

Ashlee with her Lobster claw cast...
Banka and Ashlee chillin poolside...
Hyrum strutting his stuff already - ladies man...
Grandma and brother Darin

Twilight Series - Midnight Run

So I just finished Breaking Dawn about 2 weeks ago and loved it. I have really enjoyed reading this series as it is light and funny. Well I heard that you could read an excerpt of her book the one from the perspective of Edward, I think it is called Midnight Run, so I went online to check it out only to read a depressing letter from the author on her website www.stepheniemeyer.com . I guess someone either stole a copy of the rough draft or something and so now she has decided not to right the book!!! If you go to her website you will find a 200 page copy of her draft as she decided to make it public for all. I was so sad for Stephanie Meyer - how horrible to have your work stolen like that. Anyway when I have a couple hours to sit in front of the computer maybe I will get the chance to read it it was such an exciting option. Hopefully she will change her mind in the future. I just thought I would put this out there for other readers to mourn with me the loss of one more Edward/Bella story. Too, too sad.

Crazy Day Part 2

And the verdict is in......BROKEN.....so I called the Orthopedic office and was told "We'll call you for the appointment." Finally spoke with them at 12:30 and was told no food or water for Ashlee until her appointment at 2:45 - did I mention it was 107 here on Friday???? Anyway we picked up x-rays and went to the appointment. The doctor comes in to report that the x-rays where the x-rays of an adult so Ashlee had to get a new set. She was such a trooper and just sat at the huge table with her little arm on the tray. They came back in and said the fracture was near the elbow and the bones were all aligned so no surgery necessary. They then asked Ashlee "So little one what color will it be?" Guesses anyone??????? Hahaha - if you know Ashlee at all only one color should be screaming at you - PINK, PINK, PINK. She has been such a good little girl and sat completely still for the cast and has only asked a few times for it to be taken off. The hardest was this morning when she got an itch she couldn't scratch and anyone who has had a cast knows what that feels like. So here is her picture in her cast.... - it comes off in 3 weeks!

One Crazy Day

Okay so most of you know that Jed has been away on business for awhile. So yesterday I got a little cabin fever and decided that today I would go and do!!! I just wanted to get out of the house! First off the cutest thing was after dropping Ashlee off at preschool I went and got Hyrum's very first haircut. It was well past time as it was uneven and long, but I just did not want to lose his curls. I asked the lady if we could just cut the top and leave it long in the back to which she gave me a weird look and I asked "Mullet" and she said yes so i just told her to cut it. Oh well, maybe one day I well get to see the curls again. He was such a perfect angel for the lady and she kept commenting on how well my little one sat for her. Below are the adorable pictures of during and after. She even gave him the cute little spike I love so much!
Isn't he cute?????

Okay so I proceeded to run a bunch of errands after this ( I won't bore you with the details) and then called a friend, Mariana, to see if we could meet at McDonalds for lunch. We got there early and Ashlee was playing and having a ball. I see her swinging on the polls and then the next thing I knew she is screaming and crying sitting on the floor holding her arm. I go get her and check for broken bones and find none so she sits on my lap crying for awhile. She had swung off and fallen on another poll with her elbow. Well her friends arrive and they are begging her to play and she just says no and sits on my lap holding her arm. This is very unAshlee like. She usually shakes things off quickly so I check her arm and find a lump is forming on the side of her arm. She is holding it still and any movement she says "Mommy don't hurt my arm!" So I end up taking her to Urgent Care where they x-ray it. Luckily as of now, no broken bones, but they gave us a sling and are going to have a specialist check the x-ray and call me back tomorrow. So needless to say this cabin fever mom left the house at 9:00 am and returned at 6:00 pm - so ladies be careful what you wish for!!!!! I am blessed with a bunch of little troopers though who just keep going no matter what.

My little happy camper with her XS sling!!

Utah Trip and Jett's Baptism

Sorry it has been so long since my last posting, but life has just gotten away from me!!! Anyway we just got back from a very fun trip to Utah. I packed up the two kids and joined my friend Sarah with her two kids for the long drive to Utah. As you can see the trip was very exhausting for the kids. I was so impressed at how well they all traveled. I must admit I was nervous that it would be screaming for the entire 12 hours, but they did really well.
Part of this fun trip was a visit with Ashlee's cousins. She got to see Jett, whom she honestly never stops talking about! We spent a few days with Jed's family going to Temple Square and The Church History museum. We ended our time together with a fun filled trip to Lagoon. Ashlee absolutely loved it there and Hyrum basically slept the entire time. Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Smith - we loved it!! Okay so I had way to many cute pictures so this is my attempt at a Smilebox. Let me know if it works for ya!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Jed is 30!!!

Jed officially turned 30 today. We had a fun weekend to celebrate this momentous occasion. Yesterday Jed and I went to San Francisco with my friend Tandra and her husband Mason. We walked around Union Square, ate lunch at the Cheesecake factory on top of Macy's, had Ghiredelli Hot Fudge Sundaes, and saw the sea lions at Pier 39. Jed had never been there before so he was very excited to see all of the "touristy stuff" (as he called it). There were several festivals going on while we were there so it was very crowded. I must say it was definitely an experience riding the public transportation, I was continually amazed at how many people could squeeze on those buses. After our fun time we then went to a Giants game at AT&T park. That was truly a fun experience. We were surrounded by die hard fans who were willing to fill us in on anything we didn't know about. The view was incredible as it sits adjacent to the San Francisco Bay. The big shocker was that the attendance at the game was 37,000 people which is more than the population of my home town!!!! Incredible! Sadly the Giants lost, but it was still fun to sit there and eat the famous Garlic French Fries. We really did enjoy ourselves. Invariably we would see a little girl or little boy and be reminded of our little ones, but it would pass quickly and we were glad we could spend the day together without having to chase after the little ones in all of that chaos.

Sadly I must report one sad thing....I woke up this morning to realize I did not have a cake mix in the house. I was so upset, because I wanted to do something for him. Well after speaking with my sister-in-law, the maker of Jed's very favorite cake (chocolate cake, hot fudge, and Snickers bars), I went to my trusty recipezaar.com and found a recipe for homemade chocolate cake and fudge. As you can see in the pictures the cake didn't quite come out of the bundt pan, but it still tasted good. We all ate it up. Hyrum is definitely a chocoholic!! Anyway - it turned out to be a good birthday for Jed and hopefully the next 30 will be even better!!

It's Circus Time!!

The circus is in town!!!! On Friday we took the opportunity of going to the circus with little Ashlee. We left Hyrum at home with a babysitter tonight so that we could be with Ashlee and not have to fight him at 9:30 that night. Let me tell you as we look at the mom's around us having to fight with their little ones, we were glad we left him at home to sleep. We sure did miss him though. Anyway we went out to dinner with my family and then went to the circus. When we first got there we were able to go down on the floor and see lots of the acts and animals prior to the show starting. Ashlee sat on Daddy's shoulders so she had the best view in the house. She LOVED the elephant and watching it paint was hilarious. We went up to our seats and watched a fabulous show. Jed of course loved the circle of death motorcycle act. (Is it just me, or is anyone automatically reminded of Wild Hearts Can't be Broken when this act is mentioned or shown!!! Maybe I am just a movie junkie but I just can't help it.) Ashlee loved the tigers and the "dancing girls in the sky." The cutest thing was when there were stars lite up on the screens and she started singing twinkle, twinkle, little star. She loved it and was so excited to be there. I loved watching her face light up with each new thing. We did relent and by here one of the severely overpriced elephant snow cones ($10) honestly is the thing made out of gold????? But watching her devour the thing was well worth the price...hahahaha! In the end we all enjoyed our time and had a blast being there. The very next day Ashlee woke up asking "We go to the circus again today?" I guess that means she really, really liked it!