The Circus Came to Town!

Featuring our tight-rope walker, Kylie. There were also lions, tigers, clowns, cowboys/girls and strong men.

"Getting cards in the mail...

...is the best", says Kylie.

Especially when it includes stickers and money.

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Gordon. We love you!

School Pictures = Bang Cut

Whenever we had school pictures, my mom gave us a bang cut (not trim) the day before. We decided to keep the tradition. Kylie got off easy:).

No, no, no!

Often we hear Ashlyn calling for help after she has fallen asleep and this is what we find: Last night, we heard her yelling, "No! No! No!" and thought we would find her stuck again. Instead, she was lying there talking in her sleep. David said, "This isn't good." We are sure she was having 'nightmares' of Kylie taking something or David teasing her.

Tagged!

3 Joys
1. the Gospel
2. Family
3. Exercise

3 Fears
1. Something terrible happening to my family
2. Drowning
3. Not being able to exercise

3 Obsessions
1. Exercising (duh!)
2. Being a good mother (I think I need to be more obsessed about this)
3. Sad to say - emailing

3 Surprising Facts
1. I love to mow the lawn
2. I hate being rejected by anyone
3. I saved my sister twice from drowning

8 things I am passionate about (really, I don't think there are 8, but I will try)
1. Living the Gospel
2. Learning
3. My husband
4. My children
5. Improving my running time
6. Feeding my family healthy food
7. Food storage
8. Not letting my kids watch more than 30 minutes of TV a day (that one is hard these days)

8 Words or Phrases I use often
1. Honey
2. We are running late (really, we are not, I just say that to get everyone out the door)
3. Ashlyn!
4. I am not sure
5. What colors do you see outside? (when we are driving and the kids are wanting to watch a movie)
6. Like I said (I do this in a conversation and hate it)
7. Please, stop
8. I know. I deal with it every day (when David is complaining about the kids)

8 Things I want to do before I die
1. Have more children
2. Run a marathon
3. Visit Venice, Italy
4. Be a Spanish Translator
5. Be a temple worker
6. Learn to really sew (I pretend to sew now)
7. Get a Master's Degree
8. Celebrate mine and David's 70th wedding anniversary!

8 Things I pray for:
1. Missionary opportunities
2. Faith
3. Patience
4. The safety of our family
5. The guidance of the Lord
6. My family's specific needs
7. Specific needs of others
8. To be a better mom & wife
(9). Forgiveness

8 Things I have learned:
1. Work, work, work
2. Be self reliant
3. Don't compare your life with others
4. It's how you train that make you a better athlete
5. Ummm...Gator football is a season and the best one (did you know that was a season?)
6. Live in the moment; don't always looking forward to the next day, month, year, etc.
7. Sometimes it is best to put myself in timeout when the kids are driving me nuts
8. If you put the Lord first, everything else will fall into place

I am now supposed to tag 8 people, but I can't assign anyone to do anything in fear they may reject the assignment (see above). But, I would love to read anyone and everyone's!

General Conference

We love being able to stay home and watch General Conference.

I am not great at capturing the Sunday morning breakfast of the Amazing Apple Pancake, fruit and hash browns, but I did catch a few pictures of the children. A children's choir sang in the 2nd session of Saturday. Kylie and Ashlyn were captivated by them. They watched in awe and sang along (I apologize for the video being so dark). What another fabulous conference weekend!

The Burrito Wrap Still Works!

That is until they realize that they truly cannot get out.

Really, we do love our children and we are pretty sure they love us:).

Adventures with Ashlyn

For some reason I think Ashlyn should be doing the same things now that Kylie was doing when Ashlyn was born even though Kylie was almost 2 1/2 years. For example, I was potty training Kylie when Ashlyn was 2 months old like Spencer is now. So, I have been trying to do so the past week. Each time I ask her if she wants to go on the big potty, she shakes her head and says, "Uh-uh. No." But, I put her on still, give her books and encourage her to go pee-pee. I have to take the toilet paper off the roll or else she undoes it all and blow her nose with it. The other day, I did my "putting her on the potty" routine and left the room for a minute. A few minutes later, I heard a splash and thought she had thrown a book in the toilet, instead, this is what I saw.... (that would be one foot in and one foot out)

...maybe I won't push the potty training or perhaps just not leave the room - the girl is ssssooooo unpredictable!

P.S. I really should start an "Adventures with Ashlyn" series, because they happen everyday.

6 Quirks...

Thanks for the challenge, Katy, it was much harder than I thought.

1. I only eat even numbers of things (i.e. I would rather go without a cracker if I could not have 2).
2. I am generally a nice person, but look out when I am behind the wheel - I am not Christy as you know me. Maybe not a quirk, just a fact.
3. I eat with baby spoons and teaspoons and out of miniature tupperware (my kids eat out of larger dishes that I do)
4. I have to exercise at least an hour each day (except Sunday) - not 58 minutes, not 59 minutes, has to be 60 minutes (or more) - Jamie can attest to this!
5. I read magazines from back to front.
6. I always have to have my children and myself dressed and ready for the day even if we are trapped in the house (hurricanes, illnesses) or have no where to go. I can't stand lounging in PJs all day - pretty sure I got that from my parents and pretty sure I disliked that when I was little.

Anyone else want to name your 6 quirks?

Oh...

my clean refrigerator how I love thee,
Let me count the ways...

1. No more black bean juice running down the side
2. No more moldy lemons
3. No more old leftovers
4. No more overbuying of things I already have and thought I didn't
5. No more crumbs


And I must give a huge thanks to Spencer for sleeping while I cleaned and to Ashlyn who actually helped.