Could FALL be here?!

I know Fall is around the corner. I just don't know how long we have to wait for it to arrive. I keep wanting to decorate for Halloween but won't allow myself to until I feel the feeling of Fall.
I just checked the 10-day whether forcast and - you won't believe it - everyday is set to be under 100! Low 90's and upper 80's. Can it be?

Ty, break out the Scarecrow.

A Happy Birthday for Ash!

A- Adorable
S- Special, our only daughter
H- Helpful in the kitchen
L- Loves outings and activities
E- Easily excited
Y- A yo-yo of emotions

I- Inquisitive
S- Smart

S- Strong-willed
I- Important
X- Xcellent!

Ashley is turning 6 this week! What a beautiful and fun little girl she is! For her party she wanted to go to the mall and ride the double-decker carousel with a few of her new friends from the neighborhood. The girls enjoyed dressing up with their necklaces and sunglasses and heading to the mall - like big ladies - and they were darling.

Ashley truly beamed all day long. I thought she looked so pretty and grown up. We have been so pleased with her development lately, she is making strides in every aspect of her life. And she is so happy which, of course, makes us happy!

Luke was the silly big brother with all these girls around. The girls vied for his attention and he entertained them with his antics - but it was the first of Ashley's birthday parties that he hasn't been in the group pictures. Times are changing...

The day was a success. Tyler topped it off with giving her a new bike - her first girl bike and it took the cake! We are so blessed to have Ashley, our little flower, in our home. And we are very grateful for her sweet presence in our lives.

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The sights and sounds of a 6-year-old little girl's birthday party. Didn't want you to miss it! :)

This Week

For lack of a cooler post, I'm uploading new pictures from my camera and posting them. We have several extra kids here tonight because it's our turn to have the co-op here (we trade Friday night babysitting with a couple other families, it's nice.) but I've found myself with some alone time (they all play really well together) and want to blog. So this is what we've been up to...

Went to a friend's birthday party that was set-up SO cute by her caterer girl friends. Delicious food, too!
Took my cub-scouts bowling at the Bowl-a-thon (fortunately no one captured a photo of me in my scout shirt - Drew about choked when we stopped by and saw me in it.)
Went to the school to help out and have lunch with the kids. Got the giggles when I looked over to the next table and saw my old BYU roommate and good friend Marie having lunch with her son, too. I just couldn't believe how fast time has flown by and that we are both now MOMS living in the same neighborhood and having school lunch with our kids! Too funny.

Made pizzas for dinner after finding some yummy, ready to go dough at fresh and easy.
Rode Pumba with uncle Drew at Walmart - lucky Jake.
Got Ashley her new birthday bike!! She's so excited!

Made some changes to the yard by cutting back some of the pool fencing - kept it safe, just not taking over the yard!

Grandma and her grandkids!

When we were all together a couple weeks ago we went to Target to have some pictures taken of the kids. My mom jumped in a couple and they turned out darling. The baby girl is my sister's daughter - the sister who married Tyler's brother - so technically these cousins share the same DNA. That's why they look so much alike! Crazy fun.

Crazy thoughts

Today I thought about where I will be in 10 years. It wigged me out. In ten years from right now,
I will be pushing 40 (what??!!).
Tyler will already be over the hill.
Luke will be 17!! (what?!)
We will be two weeks away from Ashley's (what?!!) SWEET SIXTEEN. Frightening.
Jacob will be passing the sacrament.
And I hope there will be two or three more little ones in the family.

Ty and I have been married for 10 years and it feels like one. Ten years from now will be here before I know it. ENJOY EVERY DAY, ANNE! (As I write this I am listening to Jacob's rendition of Jingle Bells (those being the only words to the song) in the shower.) Priceless.

But my other crazy thought is, see that word "Dashboard in the top right corner of the blog pages? Remember that show, John Q and that scene where they try to disguise words by saying them so fast? "Da-boad" -- dumb, but funny.

BIG ROCKS FIRST

I don't normally want to toot my own horn, but I will on this one because my friend gave me the idea - and I want to share it with my other friends (you!).

The week before school started I went outside and gathered up six big rocks (fist size), a few cups of pebble size rocks and some sand. I emptied out a clear plastic animal crackers tub and prepared myself a family home evening lesson. I marked on the big rocks: say our prayers, read scriptures, do homework, have Family Night, Choose the Right, and go to church. Then I gathered the kids up on the counter. I showed them the six big rocks which represented the most important things we should be doing each day/week; then the medium size rocks which represented the 'good stuff' we could be doing like swimming, playing with friends, cleaning our rooms, etc.; and then the sand which represented the 'extra/time filler stuff' that we can do like playing Wii, watching TV, etc.

I filled the bottom 4 inches of the tub up with the sand, told the kids to pretend like the tub was a day in our lives and that we had chosen to start our day out with all the fun/not so important stuff. Then I tried to fit all six big rocks into the tub and they just could not fit. Only three or four of them made it. So I dumped the sand out into a bowl and had them suggest a better way. They got where I was going with this and suggested that I start with the six big rocks first! So we did that and then we poured the medium size rocks in. Lastly, when the tub looked almost entirely full I said, now that we have all the good and imporant stuff done first, we can fill in the extra space/time with the fun/no-brainer stuff. We poured the sand in slowly and wiggled it down around the rocks into the tub. It just so happened that all the sand fit perfectly up to the lip of the tub and I was able to screw the lid on! So we managaed to fit everything into our day when it was done in the correct order! My kids LOVED it!



After this little demonstration I asked them to tell me what to write on the tub to summarize what they learned. Luke said "Do the big rocks first!" Ashley said, "We should Choose the Right" and Tyler reminded them of our motto "Work then Play!" I now keep the tub in the kitchen where we see it often as a reminder and we talk about what is most important on a daily basis. For instance, the kids are really grasping the fact that they ought to get up, eat, and get ready for school first before sitting in front of the TV and then running out of time to make it to school on time. It has really worked for us.

So that's all. A family night idea I guess. Hope maybe you can use it.

A surprise party for Luke

Tyler and I had a little surprise party for Luke on Saturday. We invited a few of his buddies from school over while he was gone to swimteam. When he got home I shouted for him from the basement to come see what Jacob had done to his room. He ran down the stairs and the boys jumped out from their hiding spots yelling suprise and sang Happy Birthday! The smile on Luke's face was precious, he loved it!

Then we threw everybody in the cars and drove up to Chuck-E-Cheese. We let them play games, have pizza and donut cake (Luke doesn't like cake) and open gifts. It was simple and perfect. Everybody was happy!

I still can't believe my son is seven. Where has the time gone?? I often joke with him about not being allowed to eat any more food or wiggle his lose teeth because he's not allowed to grow up. He likes it when I say that. I'm telling you all now, when his sweet little front-top baby teeth come out it's going to be one sad day for me because that's when you know there's no denying it - you're baby is growing up.

Trip of a Lifetime!

The boys got back yesterday - each carrying boxes full of 60 lbs of salmon! Tyler was so excited to show us the video footage and 300 pictures they took. It was incredible to see the beautiful area they were in in Ketchican, the wildlife they came across (threw fish to Bald Eagles and accidentally reeled in a small shark and a sting ray!), and to hear the fun stories he had to share. I am happy they were able to make this trip happen in honor of their wonderful father, Steve. We all love him very much and feel quite positive that he will never forget his special 60th birthday party!



I will have Tyler post some of his favorite pictures with his own commentary later.