happy 9th birthday ashley!

ashley turned 9 on september 23, 2009! ashley is so much fun to have in our house! she is so helpful with her 2 little sisters and she loves to hang out with her friends. ashley loves to dance, play the piano, swim, scrapbook, read, shop, hang out with friends, watch movies, and go out to eat!

A – adorable

S – sweet

H – huggable

L – loving

E – energetic

Y – young

ashley wanted cookie crisp & reese’s puffs for her birthday morning breakfast. she got to eat it in our new “red birthday” bowl since it was her special day! i think her favorite present was her pink ipod! J

this is the year of no birthday parties at our house, but clate and i decided we would have a lunch date with ashley & a few friends. ashley chose to go to Gecko Grill with abi cluff, lexi price, and katie becker. ashley got her usual, fiesta mango tacos! yummy! birthdays are always fun in our house because there are NO chores all day!

Happy Birthday Ashley! I love you

21 Day Challenge - Day 1

I love the Book of Mormon. I love it when I consistently read it. I struggle with that consistency. So, I have joined a 21 Day Challenge that my sister-in-law is doing on her blog. I'm a few days behind, but anyone can start anytime. I decided I was going to focus on my scripture study. This scripture spoke to me 2 days ago when I read it. Life for me lately has been overwhelming. I am trying to adjust to life with 6 kids, a high school student all the way down to a 10 month old. It seems like there isn't enough time for everything I want to do. I have realized that I need to follow the words of this scripture. I need to do that FIRST. Then everything else will fall into place. This crazy world of ours has so many *new* things that can occupy a mom's time. I need to be filling my bucket by feasting on the words of Christ so that I can be the kind of mom that Heavenly Father wants me to be.

$214.03

last night after a mask FHE "beach" party at val vista lakes, lindsay and i went to the apple store. lindsay has been saving her money for a new ipod touch. as we were driving to the store, she held on tight to her jar of money. she had it all: 1 $50 bill, 6 $20 bills, 2 $10 bills, 2 $5 bills, 6 $1 bills, many, many quarters, dimes, and three pennies. we talked about all the ways she had earned her money. she is quite the entrepreneur. i know exactly where she gets it from too! she earned her money from babysitting, being a consultant, selling hair clips, selling krispy kreme donuts at a garage sale, summer penny a page reading program, selling her old ipod to ashley, winning $25 for practicing the most minutes on the piano in one week, and saving, saving, saving. i didn't realize until last night how hard she has been working and how much discipline it took to save over a period of time. she TOTALLY thought it was worth it though.

as we walked into the apple store, a nice young man helped us. he was in awe that lindsay had saved up all her money. he told her over and over how proud he was of her. it was really neat that he was so sensitive to her because this was a BIG deal. so thank you nice young man that was working at the apple store last night. i know lindsay will always remember her experience! i probably should also say thank you again to the nice lady that was in line behind us. it took a few minutes to count out all the change. : )

lindsay i am so proud of you. thanks for your example! i love you sis!

happy 15th birthday clate!

today clate is 15 years old!  i can't believe he will be driving and dating in one year!!  clate is such a joy to have in our home.  he is so responsible, helpful, fun, hard working, respectful, honest, a good friend, loyal, intelligent, handsome, caring, and kind.  clate is on the freshmen high school football team, loves to hang out with his friends, look online for "stuff", text his friends, watch movies and play games on his ipod touch, and he has a laugh that is so contagious! 

clate, it seems like just yesterday that you and tanner were wearing your red pajamas for christmas and you loved batman and spiderman!  it is amazing how time flies when you are having fun!  i love being your mom.  i learn so much from you every day.  i am in awe at the dedication it takes to deal with diabetes.  you do an amazing job.  i know it is not easy, but i am grateful you work hard to manage it.  thanks for setting such a wonderful example for your younger siblings. i am so proud of the decisions you make and the friends you have!  i love you!

*C - cute & cool

*L - loyal & loving

*A - adorable & amazing

*T - totally fun & totally kind

*E - enjoyable & extra caring

i had fun bringing in krispy kreme donuts to your seminary class.  i wish i would have had my camera to take a picture of all the girls singing happy birthday to you while they were twirling you around on the table.  :)  it was also fun taking you and your friends to buffalo wild wings today.  i wish we would have ordered more of the honey bbq wings.  they were so delicious!  i hope the rest of your day is awesome.  you deserve it!!  *i love you *

#8 california week

i can't believe it's been forever since i've posted a thing!  school started and it has been fast paced ever since.  i still wanted to have a record of how the rest of our summer went so even though this is really old, here are a few pics from our trip to cali!   for week #8 we went over to california and went to the beach, disneyland, deep sea fishing, and shopping. . . of course!  we had a blast and loved it all.  here are a few pictures from our trip!