Happy Birthday Miss Ashley!

Ashley turned 2! Hooray, hooray, oh how we love our sweet, sassy, adventurous, cute, friendly Ashley girl!

We had a backyard water party for Ashley a few days early. We set up the slip n slide, some fun sprinklers, water table, baby pool, and water balloons and let the kids run wild. Ashley loves being with lots of kids, especially her cousins, so she had a great time. She also loved eating all the junk she wanted.

The cake was a little beach theme and it turned out pretty cute, although not as cute as the website picture, but pretty cute. Now I'm hoping that wasn't just in my mind because this picture doesn't look so fabulous to me.

Andrew loved playing with the super soakers and water balloons with the big cousins and friends the best.

Once it got dark we set up a big screen movie from Dave's work and watched Monsters Inc, (it's one of two movies Ashley is interested in), and ate popcorn. It was really fun!

Ashley's BDay Morning!

Good Morning Cute Girl! You're 2!

Poor Ashley had to spend a good part of her special day tagging along to Andrew's activities. I asked her what she wanted to do and she said 'Zoo' over and over so, we headed to the zoo...inbetween Andrew's two swim lessons first thing that morning, afternoon naps and a soccer game that night.

I can't get enough of her smile!

Ashley loves animals, especially dogs and cats. She likes the zoo animals too but, I think she really likes the zoo because she likes the carousel, train, and playground.

Lizzie, Callie and Andrew love the carousel too.

Andrew had his first ever soccer game that night. He really liked it and tried hard to never come out of the game. Once he understood what was going on he did pretty well. More pictures to come as the season goes on.

Ashley wasn't too excited about opening presents, but Andrew sure was happy to help. Her favorite present was a Fur Real dog from Nana and Papa. She loves him and says, 'he walks!'

Ashley is such a beautiful little girl. My list of why I love her would span the globe but, here are a few reasons she is precious to me. *a mama's girl to the core *loves to be part of the action *adventurous *obsessed with dogs and cats *sassy *sweet! *happy *goofy *a climber and a jumper *a fearless runaway *loves bubbles *a tease *friendly *playful *loving *good at sharing if asked nicely *can't stand when someone takes something away without asking *good eater *tiny *doesn't know she's tiny *loves accessories *great napper *loves to be chased *ticklish *has a great grumpy face and sassy face *loves kids *loves to ride bikes and be outside *laughs at toots *dances to hard core rap songs and says no to slow songs *wrestles Andrew *hates to have her teeth brushed  *always dumps everything out and laughs *reminds me to remove her bows at naptime *will say the same thing over and over again until she gets validation *refuses baby things like highchairs and sippy cups *loves to drink water *good at following directions *loves books! *has the Loudest voice *loves swings and slides *is a great hidder *has the most beautiful smile *loves to play in the water *loves tub time, blowing bubbles in the water, and laying down in the water *loves her crib full of books, blankets and stuffed friends *fast *busy *generally polite *a monkey *loves her toes *loves to run around naked  *loves horsey rides *loves Nana and Papa's house *independent *loves pickles and broccoli *my little buddy and companion and one of my very best friends *great sister *chatterbox *incredible, wonderful, straight from heaven blessing in my life. Happy Birthday Ashley Bear!

Good Bye Civic!

We sold Dave's dependable Honda Civic last weekend. We were actually pretty sad to do it because it is the best little car around. It never has problems. We listed the car and had several offers immediately and it was sold within 3 hours for a little more than what we'd asked. Apparently Civics are the thing. Dave bought the car brand new after his mission. We shared this car as a one car couple for over 3 years until Andrew was born. And now, with a 3rd baby on the way, Dave will take my Accord and I am getting a bigger car. Good Bye cute Civic, we really will miss you, especially at the gas station.

Summer Swimming

Andrew and his cousin Lizzie are swim lesson maniacs! They just finished the first session at Cottonwood Heights and had lots of fun each day. I feel like Andrew is my super experimental child with swim lessons. Last year he did lessons with Dive Utah and this year he's done a session at Cottonwood Heights. Now he and Lizzie are in a new session in a backyard neighborhood pool and also doing semi-private lessons at Westminster College twice a week through the summer. So, some days they go from one lesson straight to the next. Hopefully by next summer I'll know which we like best and we'll stick with just one.  

Last summer Andrew kicked and screamed at swim lessons the first several days. This summer he is a completely different kid! He's super excited about lessons most days and is doing awesome. He is great at retrieving toys from the bottom of the pool now and has become really comfortable. He has learned some good skills but, most importantly he is happy about it.

*Reasons to love Cottonwood Heights: indoor pool -no sunscreen, huge shallow pool - shoulder depth for little ones that goes on and on forever, warm water, inexpensive, we had a great teacher. *Reasons to not love Cottonwood Heights: The drive - it takes about 12 minutes but, I'd like a 2 minute commute, there were 4 kids in Andrew's class but they will allow 5, which is too many.

Spring TBall

Andrew just finished up Spring TBall. He is such a fun kid because, he really likes to do everything, and TBall was no exception, he just loved it.

He's a lefty, just like Dad!

Andrew and his cute buddy Ty from our ward.

Andrew's cutest fan!

We're #1!

Can't wait for summer TBall to start!

Go Bees

A Bees baseball game and Fireworks is just the perfect thing to do on a summer night.

   Ashley loved the Bee mascot when we were in our seats and while he walked around far away. She waved and said Hi and was excited about him. Then, in the portal we saw him and tried for a picture but, she was so terrified she just cried. She spent the rest of the game saying, 'No Bee!'. We've talked about it a bunch and now she says 'Bee not mean, Bees Nice!'. We won't know if she believes it until the next game!

 Andrew with a lucky game ball that came to Dave!

 

Even though the Bees lost, we had a really great time. The highlights were 'catching' a game ball, a huge snowie drink for Andrew and Ashley, being outside in warm weather and a long fireworks show that both kids loved (so long as their ears were tightly covered). Go Bees.

Dance (aka Ashley's Preschool)

Ashley goes to the cutest little Dance Class each week with Miss Christy. My favorite part is watching her enjoy it so much and try fun things and my second favorite is dressing her up in leotards and tutus! She's on the move so it's hard to catch a good picture!

She loves to jump around our house and say, "Up, Up", just like Miss Christy.

Andrew comes and participates too, because, well, he likes it and what else am I going to do? SO...we don't call it dance class at our house; we call it Ashley's preschool, which is really pretty close to the truth. Andrew enjoys it and doesn't notice at all. His favorite color is green so he make sure to always find the green drum, drumsticks, shakers, and whatever other toy or prop they are playing with.

Ashley and Andrew both like the parachute most, and the sticker and jelly bean at the end, of course.

Wrapping up Little Gym and Preschool

Andrew and Ashley have loved their 'gymnastics class' at Little Gym this Spring. It was every week from January through the end of May and they never got bored! Here is Andrew, Owen and their teacher Miss Crystal on the last day.

Look at these cuties (minus Ashley's grumpy scowl). Ashley, Ella, Andrew and Owen, all so cute and just the right ages. We're so excited that their next sibling is due within a week of ours! 

The kids really did learn some new skills and always had fun.

Ashley wondering what on earth Andrew is doing up-side-sown

These two boys are great partners in crime!

They always look so naughty but, so happy!

We also finished up Andrew's first year of preschool! I didn't take any pictures on the last day party at the park - oops! Andrew has LOVED the co-op preschool we did this year with 5 other friends from the neighborhood. He still has 2 more years of regular preschool starting this fall. The co-op was the perfect fit for him this year to make some great friends, learn and have fun.