Just Relaxing

This is the way that Daddy and Daughter like to unwind after a long day of hard work. Notice that Ashlyn is missing a sock and . . . her pants. What do you think she is staring so intently at?

Go BYU!

Tonight BYU plays New Mexico, so once again, we're sporting our cougarwear. Hopefully, it will be a great game, and by "great," I mean "winning."

We are looking forward to a busy day. Brad has already been to work at the MTC (and will go back in the afternoon) and I went with the Young Women all the way across the street to clean our church building. I was impressed by how well so many of the girls worked--we didn't have to get on their cases or anything. Scrubbing the toilets reminded me of my days as a custodian at the UPC building, and you know, I kind of miss that job . . .

Also, we have an incredible food storage lady in our ward who organizes things so that we can do canning at her home once a month. It has been nice for me to have her basically holding my hand through the whole food storage process. Every month we can something different and this month it will be wheat. So, for a couple of hours this morning, I'll be at her house.

Tonight is the General Relief Society Meeting (I'm sure everyone knows) and beforehand our stake Relief Society is having a dinner together. I think that most stakes do this, but it will be my first experience participating. For some reason, they didn't do dinner in single student or married student stakes (probably too many of us). So, I'll be missing part of the game, but I don't exactly watch that much of it anyway.

I hope everyone is having a great day! Enjoy your weekend!

Good Morning Sunshine!

If Ashlyn gets a really good night of sleep, she wakes up in a terrific mood. Well, she must have slept well last night because she has been all smiles this morning. She is getting much better at holding still for the camera and giving me her best happy face. In the last picture she is chewing on her tongue--something she does quite a bit lately. I love my sweet girl!

Just Typing Away

The other day Ashlyn woke up from her nap in a very good mood. She became even happier when I sat her in the computer chair. She reached right up to the keyboard and started typing away. After I took the picture, we pulled the chair into the middle of the room and spun it around and around. She couldn't stop laughing. I just love the way kids enjoy life.

Cougar Fans

This first picture is of Brad and Ashlyn before BYU's afternoon game. Brad went to the game with Bryon and Michael, but Ashlyn and I stayed home to watch it on television. The second picture is of Ashlyn relaxing on the bean bag as she watched football. So cute.

Hogle Zoo

We went to Hogle Zoo with Tiffany, Kyle, and Jaime today. Ashlyn had been once before, but I think she was too young to enjoy the trip. She seemed entertained today--by the people and the animals and I think it was a fun little adventure.

I thought that Ashlyn was watching the elephants, but on closer examination, I realized that she was actually staring at the man feeding the elephants!


Ashlyn has figured out how to wiggle herself out of the stroller when she isn't buckled in. Dangerous, isn't it? She tried this move several times during our trip.


Here is a group picture (minus moi). I guess it wasn't the best lighting.


This is a picture of Ashlyn at the end of our trip. She was actually quite happy and not as exhausted as I expected (considering her first zoo adventure).


Here is a photo of Ashlyn from the first time we went to Hogle Zoo. She was sound asleep by the time we were ready to go.


Well, now Ashlyn can't say I never too her to the zoo. These pictures are proof!

A Finn Going to Sweden

When Brad was serving in Finland, he met a wonderful member family. Well, one of their daughters recently received a mission call to Sweden, and since she doesn't speak Swedish, she had to come to the Provo MTC. We picked her up at the airport Monday and she stayed with us overnight and then we took her to the MTC . The first picture is of Heidi with Brad and Ashlyn in front of our home. Ashlyn was wanting me to hold her, so she wasn't particularly happy. Tuesday we drove up to the foot of the Y to show Heidi the view of Provo. A few of these pictures are taken from there. The last picture is of Heidi with Brad and another return missionary- they both served in her ward in Finland and both currently teach Finnish at the MTC.

Girls Camp Pics

Last night the Young Women had their final camp activity--scrapbooking their pictures. Everyone got a disc of pictures taken by the "camp photographer," so that is why I am posting these pictures now. Another leader and I went up for the last day to spend some time with the girls and to see how everyone was doing. The girls made us promise not to look to clean and fancy, so that's my exuse. Haha. While there, I participated in grueling activities like nail-painting, skit-watching, and testimony-meeting attending. The last picture is of our ward young women with the leaders who were there all week long. What beautiful girls!

New Church

Ever since we moved into this house there has been construction going on across the street. Well, the church construction is over and now we have a new ward building! We met there for the first time this past Sunday and it was fantastic. There was this feeling of excitement in the air all during the meetings. I guess it isn't that often that you get to meet in a brand new building! We love that it is so close and that our children will be able to look out their bedroom windows and see it whenever they want. I'm also happy that I just have to walk across the street to go to young women's activities on Tuesday nights!

Broken Window

I did the dumbest thing yesterday. I was in the guest room cleaning the windows and I decided that I was going to clean the window tracks too (they were disgusting). So I took out the window and popped out the track and cleaned it all up. Well, before I could put the track back in, I bumped the window and knocked it to the floor and it broke into 100 pieces. I just felt sick. What a waste. The reason why I'm actually able to write about this is, I took it to Jones Paint and Glass and they are going to be able to put new glass in (2 panes worth) and have it done by the end of today for $55. Now, that is still pretty much $55 down the drain, but I was expecting to buy a whole new window. So, believe it or not, I'm happy. Also, I am going to try and clean the rest of the window tracks without removing the windows.

Pictures!

Although Lorie's camera does not appear to be in working order, the memory card was unharmed, so here are some pictures from our Timpanogos Cave trip. Lorie took a lot more pictures of the gorgeous scenery, but I didn't think I should post them all! I am so thankful for the wonderful photographers in my life who capture such great images of Ashlyn. Thank you Lorie!

Timpanogos Cave

Today Ashlyn and I went to Timpanogos Cave with Tiffany, Kyle, and Lorie. The hike up was a mile and a half of pretty steep terrain, but we all thought the cave tour at the top was worth the effort. The insides of the cave were cooler than I expected (literally and figuratively), but holding Ashlyn in the infant carrier helped keep me warm. The kids were angels and I think we all enjoyed the trip. Lorie was taking a lot of cool pictures of the scenery, which I was going to post, but her camera got a little water-logged and may be broken! Hopefully not, but nonetheless, there are no current pictures from this adventure. The above photo was not taken by us, but shows "The Heart of Timpanogos" which is supposedly 5 1/2 feet tall and weighs over 4000 pounds. Crazy!

New Dress

Ashlyn wore this outfit from Grandma Cheney for the first time today. This isn't the greatest picture of it, but it was so adorable on her. The skirt was sewn in such a way that it flared out and looks so feminine and cute (check out pics from my "Nice Hat" post). In this photo Ashlyn is playing on the large bean bag in the family room while waiting to go to church. We've had 2:15 church since moving into this ward, but next week we will go at 11! We are so excited for the new time and also for a new building! They built a chapel directly across the street from our house and we will begin attending there September 9th! We feel lucky!

Nice Hat

After Brad had changed one of Ashlyn's diapers this evening, he put her diaper-covering underpants on his head. Of course, after seeing Dad do something, Ashlyn wanted to do it too. So, we put the underwear on her head. I think they made her feel like dancing. Too bad we don't have a picture of Dad wearing them!