Ashlyn's cake

For activity days this week Ashlyn got to learn how to decorate cakes. She even got to decorate her very own. There was also a VERY special guest that came & taught the class. It was her grandma Leishman. Ya can't beat learning from the best!

He really isn't a girl

I have a boy dog, but look how cute he looks dressed up as a little girl! Do you think I am scarring him for life when I do this to him or is it just helping him get in touch with his feminine side?

Our 10th anniversary May 13, 2010

I can't believe how fast 10 years can fly by. I must say that these last 10 years have been the BEST of my life. Yes, we have had good & bad times. And there are times that we drive each other crazy but at the end of the day we are happy! We love us! I don't think I could have found a more perfect husband for me. He is always trying to make me happy (even if I don't always see it) and he is an amazing daddy to our 3 little girls. I love Josh with every fiber of my being! I am so grateful to be his Eternal companion.

Mother's Day

How was your mother's day? Mine was wonderful! I have an amazing husband that tries very hard to make my day special. I woke up to a delicious breakfast and freshly squeezed orange juice from him. Then we went into the living room where I opened hand written letters from my beautiful children. Each of them did a survey on me and I wanted to share a few of the cute things they wrote: (Jayden & Ashlyn got a lot of things right so I will mostly be sharing

Kaylee's funny stuff)

Mom's height:

Kaylee's answer: 34 feet

Ashlyn's answer: 4 foot 8 inces

Jayden: 5 foot 3 inches

(I'm 5'4")

Kaylee's answers about mom:

Favorite color: Green-that's mine too

Favorite Food: Everything except what she hates

Favorite Book: Chester Raccoon and the big, bad bully

Favorite movie: Tad, because she likes me to watch it

Best Friend: Me

Job: She helps people and serves to get money

Then at the bottom she says, "I'll give you a foot rub for money"

What a funny girl I have. She brought a little purse to sacrament with lotion in it and said mom I brought this so I could massage your hands. So cute.

Josh gave me a box all wrapped up that weighed a ton. The girls were so excited for me to open it because they didn't know what it was. Josh told them to remember that money had been tight so he just had to make due. I opened the present and there were more gifts wrapped in newspaper. The first one I opened was Josh's soccer ball. He said it was so we could play soccer together. The next was a weight from our gym, he said it was so we could work out together and then I opened my old pot and of course that was so we could cook together. We were all laughing! At the bottom was a true gift wrapped for me. I got an ipod touch. WOW!!! Jayden looked at Josh and said I can't believe you got mom one of those! What am I too old???

Josh made us all lunch after church and brought out chocolate covered strawberries and bananas that he had made the night before. YUM! He did dishes, and showered the girls. It was an awesome day! I love being a mom more than anything!!!

"To Do List" by Hilary Weeks

Our Ironman

Our little Ashlyn ran the 1 mile Ironman kids fun run. She LOVED it! I love to see my kids being active and enjoying themselves while they do it.

On Saturday Josh took Jayden & Ashlyn out to the lake to watch the Ironman swim. Then that afternoon we all went down and watched some bikers and runners come in. It was so amazing & inspiring! At our furniture store we sell Ironman mattresses so we have a video that we play in the store of the Hawaii Ironman. We have all sat and watched it numerous times and it never gets old! I am amazed to see elderly people and people with no legs participate in this amazing event! I'm pretty sure I will never do an Ironman but it has inspired me to try harder. I want to be active and healthy! I want my kids to know the importance of exercise and the lasting effect it has on our bodies.

What do you want from me?

I love this picture! I have had it as my screen saver for a week and I still laugh every time I see it. I was thinking about how cute & funny it is when we see a little kid do something like this but if we as an adult did it, it wouldn't be so cute! But believe me there are times I feel like throwing my arms in the air and asking,

"What do you want from me?"

Las Vegas

We went to Las Vegas for a day over Spring break and had a blast! We went to the MGM first and they have a Lion habitat inside. WOW! I was amazed. The lions were sleeping but there is a glass walk way you can go through and see the lions right above you. That's where they were sleeping so it was cool to be that close to them. It was quite fitting because the reason we went down to Vegas in the first place was to go see the play, Lion King. If you get tickets the day of the play you can get a really good deal so Josh set off to find tickets and I took the girls to the M&M factory. It was really cool to see all the neat, EXPENSIVE stuff. I had to laugh when we walked out, because there was an oxygen bar. I wish I would have taken a picture for my gramps! He is on oxygen all the time and hates it and here sits some young kids at an oxygen bar. I'm sorry, maybe i'm getting old but I don't get it! I breathe just fine without paying for it. (Well maybe not in Vegas, but i'm still not paying for it!) We went and ate at our favorite place The Cheesecake Factory, went to the mall, then went to the play. It was a quick trip but we had fun spending time together, even if it was in dirty ole Vegas!

The Lion

Miss Ashlyn

The M&M Factory

The m&m's in this dispenser are $12.99 lb.

(sorry girls we'll go to Maverik for our's!)

My girlies with the M&M guy or girl

Jayden we would NEVER reject you!

Kaylee wanted her picture with green and when she walked up to her she kept rubbing her leg over & over! It was embarrassing! After like 5 attempts of my saying stop she finally did and settled for holding her hand for the picture.

Ashlyn was all about giving the peace sign that day.

AHHH...scary snake!

We didn't eat at The Rainforest Cafe just took a picture because the atmosphere is so cool!

See ya in another 5 years Las Vegas!

You are too dirty and too stinky for our family!......... and as

Ashlyn would put it; she likes her lungs to much to ruin them for a good time!!!

Where have all the rugrats gone?

We have so many cute kiddo's in our neighborhood! One day a bunch of us mom's were sitting outside while the kids were playing and all of the sudden there weren't any kids around. I walked into my garage and this is what I saw! Oh my gosh! SERIOUSLY!!!! How cute is this that my little Kaylee bugs is reading to these cuties all lined up in a row? I love it!

Just take 2 minutes

I bet a lot of you are like me and feel like it feels completely out of reach to do all that we should to teach our family about the gospel. Our family has mastered nightly family prayer but family scripture seems to be an off and on event at my house. (It's always easier with a challenge) Then there is morning family prayers. I have always wanted to implement this in my home. I mean really what could be better then sending your kids to school with a prayer to do well at their tests, to remind them to be Christ-like and to look for ways to serve others. I just never seemed to be able to get it down. Then about the middle of February I was looking on my bookshelf and saw the book, "When ye shall receive these things." I got this last year and "tried" to read from it every morning by myself. It has one scripture and then a little thought at the bottom. I thought PERFECT!!! This is what we need. So every morning I have been gathering my family together and we read the scripture & thought then kneel and pray together. It seriously takes 2 minutes of our time, and is worth every second of it!

The Temple

I'm so glad the Temple is re-opened. It's been a long 2 weeks.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my mom! She would have been 52 today.

You little devil.....

Oh you little devils! Why must you come each & every year and taste SO dang good? Will I ever have self control when you are around?

Feeling grateful

I am so grateful for the wonderful people I have in my life! Yesterday marked the 5 year anniversary of my moms death. A day I dread all year, I just really don't like that day anymore. Well a few days before my sweet friend Becky A. called me and said she & my other sweet friend Becky T. had it on their calendars that the dreaded day was coming up. She said that her plan was to take a day off of work (she is a school teacher so this is no easy task) and spend the day with me by taking me to the Temple. REALLY? You would do that for me? WOW! That alone to me was huge! I felt so loved by my sweet friends. Well the Temple is closed until next week so we couldn't do that but we set a date to go when it re-opens. So of course we choose the next best thing.......FOOD!!! We had an early lunch @ Cafe Rio and then (if we weren't already stuffed) went to Krave, a new yogurt place here in town and set on the couch there and ate & talked. It was awesome! Thank you girls for being TRUE friends to me in every possible way!

The night before our sweet Relief Society President brought me over some delicious cupcakes and a sweet note to let me know that she was thinking of me. I also got a lot of sweet messages on facebook from wonderful friends and family members. I think this is the 1st time in five years that this day wasn't too hard. WHY? Because of the love of my friends and family. I am so blessed to have all these special people in my life. I just hope that I will be able to return the love & kindness that so many people have shown me!

The delicious cupcake

My friends Becky A. & Becky T. got me a beautiful card, a bag of Sixlets (love em), and a cute green (all of our favorite color) shirt.

Becky T. snuck over to my house and planted me these beautiful flowers. This is the pot that she gave me last year on this date filled with flowers. How can you not look at beautiful flowers and just feel happy!

And of course Cafe Rio, my favorite!

Thank you x 10!

A hard day

My sisters and I looking at our mommy one last time.

5 years ago today my passed away. It was a blessing because she was SO sick and it was so awful to watch her suffer everyday but I sure do miss her! When we found out that the doctors could do no more for her I would lay next to her on her bed and say, "I love you mom, do you know that?" She would reply by saying, "Yes, and I love you, do you know that?" I felt like I couldn't say it enough because I wanted her to know how much I REALLY do love her. How do you even begin to put that into words when it will be the last time you can say it? I think she knew that I loved her and appreciated all that she did for me throughout my life but if she didn't realize that here on earth i'm sure she knows it now! I have felt reassured by the Spirit that all is well with her and that she knows that I love her with all of my heart & soul. The other morning I was watching a women's conference on BYU TV and someone made the comment that your heart needs to be broken before you can really let Him (Jesus) in. This is so true! I had a testimony before my mom passed away but nothing compared to what I had after she did. When you are with someone that is dying the veil is so thin and amazing things take place. I can never forget them, they have made an imprint on my soul.

D&C 42:45-46

45: Thou shalt live together in love, insomuch that thou shalt weep for the loss of them that die, and more especially for those that have not hope of a glorious resurrection.

46: And it shall come to pass that those that die in me shall not taste of death, for it shall be sweet unto them

I know with all of my heart and soul that I will be with my mommy again, and it will be the sweetest reunion. My hope & prayer for me and all of my friends and family that read this is that we will hug our loved one's a little tighter after reading this. Express your love to those you love. Don't wait, and do it often. We never know when it is our turn to be called home.

On Memorial Day of the year my mom passed away all of her siblings and some of her kids met at her grave with balloons. We had written notes to her and tied them to the balloons and then let them float up to her.

The back of her grave

I'm grateful for the challenge...

Jayden & I are reading the Book of Mormon together for her Virtue project. We were challenged by her YW president to do it before girls camp which means we need to be done by the 1st of July. We have been reading in the morning @ 6 on the weekdays. It has been very special for me to have this special Spiritual experience with Jayden. It's sad that it takes a challenge to get us to do this because you would think that I should just come up with these ideas to be a better mommy and to help my kids grow Spiritually. Life just gets busy and before you know it your kids are grown and then you're left thinking why didn't I do this or that? I am SO grateful for the young women's program and that it helps me to raise my girls in the gospel and to have these special moments with her that will last a life time!

This video is of Jayden & Lucky (our dog) We brought him in to cuddle this morning and read scriptures with us.

President's day

On President's Day I took the girls up to the Red hill for a picnic and hike. Josh was able to take a break from work and join us for a half an hour.

I love this cute picture

St. George is so beautiful! I feel so blessed to live here.

My girls always call this the CD/DVD player and they have to climb inside for a picture every time we hike on the Red Hill.

Kaylee bugs chillin for a bit

Jayden looks like she is in deep thought about something. Hopefully not about boys!

Cute little Ashlyn did her own hair for the hike and was quite proud of it.

My 3 beautiful girls!

Just because I love you

I sure love this little girl. She wants to be SO big like her big sister but she still feels so little to me! I love her big brown eyes and her darling mole above her lip. I love her cute glasses, her fingernails, her smile and her laugh. I love how thoughtful Ashlyn is. She always tells me how grateful she is for all I do for her. I wonder if she will ever know how much she has done for me by just being my little girl!

Kaylee lost another tooth

Kaylee lost her 2nd tooth on Thursday the 18th. It was so loose and was pretty much hanging there. I was helping in her class that morning and she pulled it out. (She's pulled both of her teeth out herself) It was so funny! All the kids got so excited. They all wanted to see her tooth and inside her mouth.

She is so stinkin cute!

Checkin out her tooth

The Toothfairy brought her $2.00 for her 2nd lost tooth!