Ashton is Growing Up!!

So, yesterday Ryan and I were cooking Sunday dinner and it had been really quiet for a few minutes, so I asked Ryan to go and find out what Ashton was up to.  He came back saying, Brittany you have got to come and see this.  Here is what it was.  Ashton had gone into his room and shut the door and if you tried to open it he would scream and try to shut it before you came in.  Here is a video of it.  Sorry that you have to turn your head during it, I am not known for my video camera skills.  But, this had Ryan and I cracking up, I thought we had at least a few more years before the door would get slammed in our faces.

This week!

So, this week Eddy, Michelle and Dax came to stay with us for a few days so that they could bring Eddy's brother to the MTC.  We had a fun time with them, eating out-the Indian food was the best!  Also, on Tuesday, the boys went snowboarding up at Solitude resort.  This was Ryan's first time ever snowboarding.  He said he did pretty good, but I will tell you, it is now Friday, and he is still extremely sore.  Too sore to go the gym or play basketball.  I think they had a good time.  While the boys were up the mountain, us girls got to go shopping with the kids.  We had a successful time.  But, we did miss our third Maurice's buddy, Joella.  It just wasn't the same without her.  After shopping, we met the boys to pick up the kids and us girls went to a spa where I got a facial and Michelle got a pedicure.  It was nice to have the quiet downtime.  I really needed the special treatment.  It felt great, and I almost fell asleep.  My last experience with a facial was when I was pregnant with Annika and was horrible, but this was a much better experience.  I think I even dozed off a few times.  The kids loved playing with Dax.  They both love him so much.  He is growing up quick and we miss not living in Las Vegas by so much family.  Well, here are some pics from their time with us.  Unfortunately we did not get any pics of the kids together.

Poor Dax came to our house and got a bad owie on his eye!  We all thought it would end up a lot worse than it ended up being.  

Here is Ryan snowboarding for the first time.

Easter Morning!

We had a great Easter morning and a great day at Church.  I love to go and feel uplifted and especially on Easter Sunday.  Here are the events of the day.

After a big day of shopping at Sam's, Wal-Mart and more and eating out to dinner on Saturday, we still had to come home and dye eggs after Ashton went to bed.  Here is the end result!

So this year for Easter we started a new tradition that I stole from my friend Kellee.  We took yarn and ran it from Annika's basket to her bed with tons of twists and turns along the way.  Then the kids have to twist the yarn back together in a ball from their bed all the way to their basket, it takes quite a while, but it is fun.  Next year we will do it with Ashton's basket too, but do his yarn a different color.  It was fun to help the Easter bunny put this maze together throughout the house, but it was really fun to see Ryan and I jump through it and over it to get back to our room, and get ready for bed.  Annika loved finding her basket and all the hidden eggs in the morning-Ashton liked playing in the yarn and eating candy.

This is what Annika woke up to-she called out to me, mom why is there a web in my room when she woke up-ignore the mess, as you can see from my posts, we have been crazy busy and cleaning has not been on the priority list!  

This is Ashton tangled in the web.

Here is Annika dressed for church!  Well, actually after church, by this point Ashton was undressed-sorry no picture of him.

My favorite pic!

The Saturday night before Easter, we went out to dinner as a family to a Brazilian Steakhouse-yummy!!  As we were leaving Annika grabbed Ashton's hand to lead him towards the car.  It melted my heart and I took as many pictures and videos as I could before the kids noticed.  Then as we approached the street Ryan grabbed Annika's hand to lead them through the road to the van.  It was the perfect chance for me to reflect on how precious these three are in my life and how much I love them all!  I am very blessed to have such a happy and healthy family and I need to remember my blessings more!

This just melted my heart!

Trip to Rexburg

So, my mom called and she was headed to Rexburg to see Grandpa over Spring Break and wanted to know if I wanted to come.  Our renters moved out recently and we had been trying to find a time to get up there and check on the house, so this seemed like a perfect time to go.  The first night we got up there Ashton was a big old grump.  I thought he just wasn't adjusting to sleeping in a new bed in a new room at Grandpa's, and I was getting frustrated.  Then the next morning he woke up with a ton of wax, blood and gunk in his whole ear.  I took him into our old pediatrician and his ear drum had ruptured.  We had to get him on an antibiotic to get him better.  We still had a great time visiting with a lot of family and we got to see some of our old friends too.  We miss them all so much!  The kids loved the chance to play with them and I could not believe the 4 foot snow drifts along the roads in Rexburg.  It still made me miss that place.  Of course I took a stop at Florence's the chocolate shop and I had a great time with my mom chatting and catching up-just like the good old days, except I had two kids in tow now.

This is where I spent a lot of my time.  I hung out at the house cleaning, patching holes in the wall and painting touch up spots.  It is in perfect condition now, if only it would sell!

Here is a happy Ashton with two binkies in his mouth at Grandpa's house.  We do not normally let Ashton hang out with pink binkies, but it is an old one for Annika that we keep with her dolls, and he must have found it.

Disney on Ice

We got to go Disney on Ice when we got back from Las Vegas.  We had been looking forward to this for a long time.  Annika dressed up as Snow White and loved the show.  The picture up above is from her favorite part when Tinkerbell went up high in the carriage and there were fireworks.  Afterwards we rode the train around downtown, which is probably not the best thing to do late at night in SLC, but the kids had been begging us to ride the train.  We were happy we got off safe and got back to our car OK.  We had a great time together as a family.

Annika loved the show.  I enjoyed watching her face, as she all her princess friends skate across the ice.  It really is magical to see a little girls face light up as they become real in front of her.  Notice the red mark in the middle of her eyebrows.  She ran straight into the BBQ while we were in Las Vegas.  It left a big mark.

Here are the boys enjoying the show, actually Ashton really liked all the lights and people everywhere.  He did pretty good.  Notice the guy in the background, it cracks me up-he looks kind of ticked off!

Easter Early in Las Vegas

So, we got to go to Las Vegas to go through the temple with Michelle for the first time a few weeks ago.  It was very special, and we are glad that we got to be there with her.  While we were down there, Annika played with all her cousins a ton, and we ran from place to place.  I even got to catch up with my friend Amanda that I grew up with that was in town from Florida, her little boy Jonah is a cutie!  Ryan's family decided to do their Easter early with us, since we have missed the adult money egg hunt last year.  Peter and Jenny were good stand ins, but it just wasn't the same.  They divide the money and place it in eggs all around their yards. These are not easy eggs to find.  In past years, there has been running, tackling, climbing on the roof and more.  This year, we won, I think that was a first.  We even got the bonus egg-yeah!  It was in the pop-up trailer, that was not popped up, in a ziploc bag, inside a roll of toilet paper.  It was a tough one to find.  It was a ton of fun, and one tradition we ALL love!  Here are some pics of the hunt. 

Since we did the adult hunt early, Grandma and Papa Urry had to do one for the little kids too.  Here is their hunt.

Annika loved the hunt, she really got into it this year.  Her eggs were all purple, and they were the hardest to find.  Thanks Grandma and Papa for a fun hunt!

Here is our cute cousin Dax (Daxie as Annika calls him), he had the easiest eggs of all.  It was cute to see all his yellow eggs in about a four foot radius.

Here is Ashton looking for a football instead of Easter eggs.  He did like the hunt.

Where have we been?

So, where have we been.  I have been getting pestered big time to post, and it is merely finding the time to post.  It seems my kids will not let me get anything done on the computer, so when they are sleeping I try to do it, but that is when cleaning, laundry, dishes, etc. come along.  So here is what is new with us.  We are officially Utahn's.  We had to register the van here, and every DMV is as ghetto as Las Vegas, except Rexburg.  We have been doing the same old life stuff-work, church, kids, yada, yada.  Ryan and I got called as ward missionaries, and we are excited about that.  We try to spend as much time outside as we can when it is warm.  We spend a lot of time on walks, bike rides, playing in the sand, and out on the slides and swings.  The kids, especially Ashton love being outside.  Here are some recent pics, and get ready for a ton of pics in the next few posts, we have been busy.

Ashton is getting such a fun personality.  He makes me laugh so much.  When you take out the camera, he squints his eyes, like he is saying cheese.  Here he is in one of his favorite places, the bath (he can even say bath).  He likes to roll over on his side, put his ear in the water and then turn over on his back and smile, no matter how deep the water is.  Even if he swallows water along the way he doesn't care.  He cracks me up!  He loves his daddy, and says da da everytime the phone rings, thinking it is him, I think it usually is too.

Here is Annika looking all cute in the car.  I think we were headed up the mountain for a picnic, sledding and playing in the snow.  Michelle told me that Kristin has been using foam rollers in Ryli's hair, so I have tried it a few times with Annika.  It takes a long time to put in, but it does turn out pretty good.  That is the only hope that Ryan and I's kids have of getting curly hair, doing it themselves that is.  Our kids will all have straight, brown hair, that is just our DNA.

I made this bag from a pattern I have had for years.  It took me one afternoon and I think it actually turned out pretty good.  Plus I did it by myself and with only one call to my mother-in-law and numerous looks through the sewing manual.  I was very proud of myself.  I think I am going to make it Annika's Sunday bag.  It seems the perfect size for a Book of Mormon and all that jazz.

I have been tagged-here goes!

So, I have been putting this off, since I am not very interesting, but here goes.  Michelle tagged me, so I have to respond. 

10 years ago:

I was junior at LVHS.  I was on the swim team, student council, national honor society and drove a SWEET Ford Festiva.  My husband reminds me of my sweet car every time we drive past one of the street.  I had great friends, we had such a fun time hanging out together, even though I think we were probably annoying to others. :)  We loved going to Macayo's and I think we were regulars at Applebee's by then too-we loved food!  And I Love U2

Snacks I enjoy:

Anything sweet, chips and salsa (especially Ryan's homemade stuff-the best!)  I love Yoplait vanilla yogurt, it is the best!

5 Things to Do On My List Today:

1.  Iron Ryan's shirts for the week (this is quite the task)

2.  Clean house (we are going out of town and I love coming home to a clean home)

3. Conquering the clean laundry-that will take a huge effort

4. Spend time with kids-maybe take a walk if the wind will die down

5.  Go to the gym-I am really trying, but it is hard to make it after the kids are asleep, I just want to be lazy and go to bed.

PS-I need to find a haircut too.  I am getting my hair cut on Saturday, and I would love any suggestions.

Things I would do with a billion dollars

1.  Buy the house, car, . . . .all that stuff

2.  I would pay off my Rexburg house and keep it forever as my weekend getaway.  I miss Rexburg, and I think it is so beautiful up there.  I would love to be old and live there in the warm summers. 

3.  I would go back to school and get a nursing degree.

4.  Save up most of it for my kids' college, weddings, missions.

5.  Go on huge family vacations, and travel the country in an RV!! 

Bad Habits:

1.  Judging others-I am really trying to work on this, because it always ends up biting me back in the end.

2.  Procrastinating-I will always get done what I say I will, but on my time frame, even if it means a 3AM morning cleaning or cooking or crafting or whatever.

3.  Not making time for myself-I need to make time to help myself grow.  I tried a new sewing project this week, and I am so excited about it, but it is hard to do things  and still spend the time with the kids that they need.  I need to learn to balance my time.

5 Places I have lived:

1-East Side of Las Vegas, NV

2-Provo, UT

3-West Side of Las Vegas, NV

4-Rexburg, ID

5-Riverton, UT

5 Jobs I've Had ( I am going to have to put down 6)

1.  Nevada Title Company-Receptionist, Escrow Assistant, Off and On from like 1999-2005.  I learned a lot.

2.  Secretary at BYU (Student job-it was great!)

3.  Baby-sitter ( I used to tend my niece Jessica, it was a lot of work, but I love her so much now after spending so much time with her, and it gave she and Annika  a permanent bond.)

4.  Graphic Designer-I did this part time for the Review Journal from home and created car ads.

5.  Melaleuca incoming call center rep-yeah!

6. Stay at home mom-finally I can put all my efforts into my kids YEAH!

Things people don't know about me:

1.  I am addicted to Code Red Mountain Dew.  I have recently switched to diet to watch calorie and sugar intake, so it is a real treat to get a real one now, but I love it.

2.  I am a chapstick addict too.  95% of the time, I have a mint chapstick in my right front pocket.  I wash them frequently in my washer.  You can usually always find one or two sticks also next to my bed, in my purse, in my diaper bag, and in my scripture case.  Crazy, huh?  That is a lot of chapstick, I told you I was addicted.

3.  To get a little personal-I have to have a completely empty bladder to go to bed.  This may mean like 8-10 trips to the little girls room the 30-45 minutes before I go to bed.  Just ask my husband, it is unreal, and a little psycho.

4.  I get lockjaw-that is for Michelle.  Especially if I have been clenching my teeth a lot (usually from stress) or eating with a lot of chewing like gum, taffy, chips and salsa, those kind of things.  

Probably more than most of you ever wanted to know about me, but there it is for you.  I am going to tag Megan and Tianna, because they are two people who's list I have not read.  Anyone else that reads this and has not listed theirs, please feel free to tag yourself from me so we can all learn more about you.