Fireworks!

We had a very fun 4th of July holiday. My brother Colby, his wife Emily and their baby girl Martie came up from Arizona. We played a lot of Pinochle (card game) and lets just say that the Arizona team lost more than they won.

We had our annual fireworks display in my parent's front yard. It is much more tame since they outlawed the really good fireworks. But this year I was happy for that. Our house is still just framed on the outside and I spent the night watching to make sure that any stray sparks didn't sent my house or dead grass ablaze. Let's just say I wasn't very happy when my neighbor was shooting bottle rockets. But all is well.

Family Pictures

Well we finally got family pictures taken. It takes me about 3 years to convince Ryan that we need new family pictures since one of our children is missing from the last picture. He hates getting a family photo. I don't know why? It is just so much fun with three wiggly children, most of whom are screaming, shoving, running, and looking the wrong direction. Not to mention how expensive the pictures are. But we did get some good pictures and so in the end it was all worth it. By the way, these are good until 2011.

Happy Birthday Ashton!!

We have been celebrating Ashton's birthday this week. Tuesday we has his friend birthday party. We went to the Discovery Gateway children's museum downtown. It was fun and sometimes challenging. Ryan and I had to keep track of 6 kids, which wasn't too bad when they were interested in the same thing, but when they were in different areas it got a little scary. The worst was when we were looking at the helicopter and Ryan and I turned around and we couldn't find Maren. Well somebody had opened the door and let her inside and she had found puzzles to do. But she wasn't worried because she knew exactly where she was.

Then tonight (Thursday) we went to a park with Ryan's family and my family and had dinner and ice cream. It was really nice, except it was rather warm (in the high 90's). We played on the playground, played Frisbee and talked. Oh, and did I forget to mention PRESENTS. Of course that was Ashton's favorite part. Thanks for everyone who came and made it a special day for Ashton.

We've been telling him for weeks that he is turning "5," but I don't think that he believes us. He just tells us that he is not "5" he is "Ashton." So we will just have to take him at that. Also when he blew out his candles at our little party at home he wished that "we could all be together." What a sweet wish, I hope that too.

Congrats Megan

My cousin Megan got married in the Logan temple last Saturday. My parents and I got to go to the temple ceremony. Megan looked so beautiful and happy and Clayton (her new husband) seems like such a great guy. Even though I went to school up in Logan (Utah State) I had never been to the Logan temple so it was really good to go. Congrats to Megan and Clayton.

4-Way Inspection Passed!!!

4-Way Inspection Passed!!!

Well after 4 months of working on our house, we finally passed our 4-way inspection. For those of you who don't know what that is (and don't worry I didn't know either) it is when the city comes to inspect the rough plumbing, rough electrical, framing, and rough heating & air-conditioning. There is certain things that you are required to have done and they inspect those things and then make sure everything else is up to code. We had the inspector come Monday morning and he found about 8 little things that he wanted updated, then we had to schedule another inspection Tuesday afternoon and WE PASSED!!!

I must admit I did a little happy dance when I found out. What this means for us now is that we can start putting the stucco and stone on the outside of our house and putting the insulation and drywall in the inside of our house. It is very exciting and I am glad that we were able to come through it with flying colors.

Lagoon Revisited

Well we had the opportunity with my work to go to Lagoon again, and this time, I am happy to announce, I did not get sick. Of course, I just went with Logan and Ashton and they don't like the rides that make you sick, but still I didn't leave nautious. Ryan had to work so he wasn't able to go, and my parents took Maren, so that left the boys and I to ride the rides. It was so much fun!!!

Ashton's favorite ride was the Oddessy that is a new ride that flies around like the Dumbo ride at Disneyland but dolphins and whales on the side of the ride try to squirt water at you to get you wet. Well Ashton and I had done a good job at avoiding getting wet and then the ride came to a slow stop and stopped right in front of a killer whale that was still squirting water, RIGHT IN MY LAP!!! So while we are waiting for the ride to release the seat belts, I am getting soaked and Ashton is laughing his head off. The only revenge I got was that the whale got Logan the next time we rode the ride.


My parents took Maren on only one ride, but she wasn't sure that she liked it. We don't think she like riding by herself.