Happy Birthday Dear Ashelyn!

Ashie turned 3 today. My baby isn't so young anymore. I just look at her and wonder how my sweet baby girl got so big and independant.

For her birthday she insisted on everything red - red cake, red balloons, red pinata, and even a red play kitchen. So the theme was red. I couldn't do "just" a red cake so I made a red purse cake, to which she exclaimed "my pink purse cake!" and looked happily content. So I was safe!

I think it was funny that she chose her pink Minnie shirt to wear for her birthday party because she wanted everything red. I love the mind of a toddler!

We also made red (dark pink) cupcakes

and Trey made this red pinata and painted flowers on it for her (he seriously painted it himself!).
She said she couldn't turn three until her party, where her friends swam in our pool, broke the candy-filled pinata open, and ate cupcakes and icecream.

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Pony Tails

Ashie insisted on having her orange bow that matched her orange shirt, but couldn't have just one pony tail. I put one on top hoping she would just forget about it and after much protesting ended up with THREE pony tails. And the two on the sides just "had" to be right by her ears so she could see them!

I love how she enjoys being a girl!

The story of Trey's shoes

Treydon has this pair of shoes that he loves. He "had" to get them last year at the beginning of preschool. They are from target (and weren't on sale so I wasn't overly excited to get cheaply made shoes prices at $17.99, but I did anyway to make him happy). Since then he wore them almost every day to preschool (unfortunately his dad has a shoe fettish and also bought him a pair of shoes worth over $70 and those still look new). The shoe laces have broke (the replacements are free laces from Children's Hospital where Quin works) and they also have holes in the toes to which I said we were throwing them away. Trey decided to "fix" them up so he could still wear them and this is the end product.

He has since worn them to the library, play group, and even to my doctors appointment! He "loves" them and insists they look even better than when we bought them (before they attracted string and tape). He wanted to take a picture and as I was looking through my pictures I "had" to post this picture. It just shows the determination of a five year old!

Stake Pioneer Day in Fresno

Today our stake put on a good rendition of Pioneer Day, with a wagon parade, homemade breakfast, and races.

We swang at the park and even rode a pony.

But the favorites were the more modern treats, like snow cones and cotton candy.

After today I am not so sure I can handle three kids by myself, especially since each kid wants to do different things. I felt like I was in two different places at once. Sure hope this baby boy is willing to sacrifice his wants for others, or to just be a sweet angel!

Golfing

Quin was able to spend some time with us today so we went Miniature Golfing. The kids think this is the funnest game ever! I am serious. They ask to play it once a week atleast. (If only we were that rich. I wonder if they have monthly passes available!?!) Trey is usually overly honest in how many swings he takes and Ashie likes to hit all the balls whenever she can. I think it is well worth the adventure to see Quin get a little antsie as Ashie hits his ball further from the hole!

Runaways

We went to the movies today. It's like the highlight of the week for my kids! Here is Ashie with her counterpart, and friend "coco", who thought it was quite funny to drive this three wheeler together. I can't believe my daughter has already figured out what can make her dad mad! I guess Quin will be talking to his parents (as soon as he has a second)!

Happy 4th of July!

The day turned out more productive than patriotic since Quin pulled his 30 hr for the second time this week. Poor guy had to work through the 4th of July. But don't worry, the kids and I are getting used to this "ridiculous" schedule, and we were able to party without him, somehow.

Yosemite National Park

Now that Quin actually has a job, he doesn't get any days off. So when one rarely comes along, we take advantage. Quin had the whole day off so we drove to Yosemite National Park, which is about an hour from our house, to see the HUGE Sequoias. The kids enjoyed skipping rocks, hiking, looking at waterfalls, and finding really interesting trees. I wanted to take some really big pine cones, like Kate did in Jon and Kate plus Eight, but I figured I didn't want to get caught (could you imagine a pregnant lady in hand cuffs because of really big pine cones!).

This picture is for MyKell who insists that I don't look pregnant. Quin took this for you when I thought he was taking a picture of the kids! I promise some how this picture just doesn't justify how big and pregnant I feel, and he calls me "fatty"!

June's Wonders

June came and went! It was such a crazy month. We got our moving truck on June 1st and packed it up, left June 2nd and took two days of slow driving (of course the truck had to have a governor on it - no higher than 65 mph) and made it to sunny Fresno California on June 4th.

Now most people would have a house to be able to drive up to and move in, but not with our luck! We came out to Fresno in March and looked for houses, but couldn't find anything we wanted to buy. That left us with renting and we had found something we liked, but in the long run the lady was being really "interesting". We, of course, didn't feel it was the right place to move into until the day before we left for Fresno. So we booked the local hotel for a couple days and hoped things would work out. We ended up getting a cute house with a play strucutre in the backyard, which was perfect for our kids. Plus we are so close to everything here in town. So we consider ourselves lucky. We signed rental papers June 5th (yes, a day after we got here we found what we were looking for) and moved in the next day.

Quin's parents drove out with us to help, which was very much needed. Thank You! They took over watching the kids while Quin and I unpacked. Here are Treydon and Ashelyn with grandma in their newly furbished sand box that grandpa took care of (grandpa was off doing nine hundred other things while I took this picture).

6/8/09

After Quin's parents left and we were sick of unpacking we decided to take a day off before Quin had to start working. We went to Millerton Lake which is about 20 minutes north of us. It was a beautiful day for playing in the water and eating a picnic lunch.

6/10/08

May's Excitements

May brought on lots of different adventures for us!

While I packed (seeing as we were moving) Quin had the whole month off. So it was his job to watch the kids. Ashie loves doing her makeup while I do mine, but this day she got a little too carried away while Quin was "supposed" to be watching her!

5/1/09

Quin's Graduation from Medical School

5/14/09 - 5/18/09

We flew out to Kirksville, Missouri , where Quin went to medical school and we enjoyed two years of our lives. It was fun to see old friends and to enjoy the beautiful, small town of K-ville where Ashelyn was born and Treydon learned how to play all kinds of sports.

We went to our favorite lake and found a turtle crawling around in the rain. Trey and Ashie were so excited and had to jump out and protect the turtle from the rain.

Here is Dr. Quin after graduation. He finally made it!!!

Quin's parents, sister Roneen and her family all came to the graduation. We are so grateful to have lots of caring family. After graduation Quin got to pick his favorite place to eat for dinner and of course it was the Pear Tree (if any one is from K-ville they will know what I am talking about - it's this fancy restaurant in another town about twenty miles south of K-ville that has the most delicious food).

Here are the kids in an abandoned train wagon behind the restaurant.

Parker, Treydon, Devin, Wyatt, Ashelyn, Garrison, Miranda

Arkansas

We went down to Quin's sister Roneen's house in Arkansas for a few days, visiting church sites on our way down. We enjoyed their house one last time (atleast for now) before heading home.

Here is grandpa getting kisses from the two year olds - Ashelyn and Wyatt

Treydon (and Ashelyn's) Graduation

5/25/09

Treydon graduated from pre-k. We are so proud of him and all he learned! I cannot believe my little boy is going to go to "big kid" school now.

Here are Treydon's teachers - Miss Heidi and Miss KyLee (Quin's sister) - who also allowed Ashelyn to join preschool for the last month and graduate with Trey's class (the cutest part was all the kids treated her as part of the class and she acted the part too!). She just couldn't get enough of preschool and is now saying that Treydon wants her to go to Kindergarten with him. So I am not sure if those nice preschool teachers really did me a favor or not (cause I can't find a preschool for Ashelyn here in Cali - they are all full by now)! Treydon keeps reassuring her that she will get to go - what a thoughtful brother (now how do I break the news to her that she is only two!?!).

Memorial Day Weekend

5/25/09

We went and visited my brother Kayden at his grave. I am glad we were able to visit before we left. We left him some blue and white flowers (for BYU of course) and enjoyed the beautiful flowers all around.

The Boys

The Girls