Easter 2009 April 15, 2009

Easter was a blast, although our far away family members were GREATLY missed! Of course it was a busy, busy day for all of us… we had 2 church services to offer everyone that day, with free family picture sessions in between, and then ended with a HUGE Easter egg hunt for all of the kids that had a little over 2,000 eggs stuffed with candy! (Lot’s of prep last week for all of the Easter events for the day!) After our big morning we went out to eat at Houston’s with Brett’s fam and my parent’s. It was the best meal we have all had in a long time… amazing! Ashlyn had awoken that morning to an Easter basket filled with candy and a bag of sand toys, the day before she had gotten a few Easter presents from Grammy and Poppy, and then after lunch on Easter she got some presents from Gigi and Papa too. Needless to say… the girl has quite the collection of candy right now. It was such a great day… ending with a nap and then some family time with just Brett, Ashlyn, and I. Big day… such fun!

Dance Party… April 9, 2009

Ashlyn loves to dance! Here are some pics of her having a dance party after Brett’s family party…

Resting after the dance party, while she looks for music she likes on Aya’s iphone.

Brett’s 30th Birthday! April 9, 2009

Well… Brett just turned 30 officially on Tuesday! He said that it was te best birthday that he could remember… we had a HUGE surprise party for him after church on Sunday and he had no clue it was coming! Jeremy and Kate made an incredible video of Ashlyn talking about her dad and his birthday… and we played that at the end of the service to spring the news on him! As of right now we are having trouble posting it online… as it is a finished DVD… but we are going to keep trying… the video was a riot and we would love for everyone to be able to see it. We had a couple hundred people at the party.. and the whole church and our families came together to throw the party together for Brett. We had food brought in… but tons of people in the church cooked and baked as well, and then we had a huge yellow cake with chocolate frosting… which is of course Brett’s favorite. Shawn Campbell made the signs and banners for the party and then sent them out to us… he used the theme of “More Cowbell” from Saturday Night Live… which Brett has always loved! It was an incredible party with tons of family and friends and Brett said he has a wonderful time.

Then on his actual birthday the staff threw a birthday lunch for him, with pizza and cake… and a birthday crown too. : ) Then that night we had a family birthday party at Bill and Margaret’s house and that was a blast! Margaret and Stef made Chicken Ritz… one of Brett’s childhood favorites, with green beans, corn, and rolls. Then we had an amazing dessert too. It was fun to celebrate as a family!

Brett says he can’t really believe that he is 30… but that he loved his birthday parties! I am glad we were able to make it special for him. He deserved a GREAT birthday!

Happy Birthday Brett; we love you!

Big Girl Hair Cut… April 9, 2009

Ashlyn got a big girl haircut with bangs… good times! She loves it… she keeps saying, ‘Mom, I love my haircut!” It makes it look fuller… which is good with how long it has taken her to get a full head of hair. : ) It is still long enough that we can do pigtails… it is finally starting to grow in!

Valentine’s Day Cookies… April 8, 2009

It is so fun having Aya and Undie… for those that do not know, that is what Ashlyn calls Brett’s Sister and brother-in-law… here to hang out with all of the time! They came over so that the girls could make Valentines Day cookies… and Ashlyn had so much fun! They turned out really cute!

Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone! (Late…)

Our Girl Is Growing Up! April 8, 2009

Well… our girl is now officially potty trained! For anyone walking down that road I highly recommend the book Potty Training in Less Than a Day… it works! She had 3 accidents that first day…. and 2 after that day… and that was it.. she is trained. We have not had an accident at night at all… which really shocked me! Anyway.,. huge blessing not to buy diapers… but freaking us out that she has gotten so old. We need another kid soon!

Here are some recent pics of Ashlyn… man she is a big girl now!

Gotta love H&M… I do not know how we lived without it in Colorado! Great affordable clothes!

Dress Up Fun… April 8, 2009

It is far more fun to let the kid pick the dress up clothes and put them on… cracks me up! I am not thinking that Ash will have a job in fashion one day…

Ballet slippers, Dorothy Dress, pink bag, and Cinderella tiara… all over the pajamas!

Red swimsuit over the clothes…. she looked like Little Miss Sunshine… cracked us up! Obviously I had not done her hair for the day!

Ashlyn Learns to Ice Skate… Sort Of… April 8, 2009

We took the Children’s Ministry on an outing to ice skate and Ashlyn could not have been more excited.. until she was on the ice. : ) She said that the skates hurt her feet… and it did not help anything that we were accidentally pulling her shirt up to show her tummy… she must have been cold! We will try again at a later date… with skates with double blades next time. She likes the idea of skating… so that is a start!

Poppy and Grammy in the City! April 8, 2009

They loved it… even though it was the Day after Christmas and so crowded that we could at times barely walk! Check out Macy’s the day after Christmas… and can’t believe my dad actually went in here… hating crowds, he was a good sport.

Who can actually shop in that?!?

Christmas…. I am seriously behind! April 5, 2009

So… blogging has not been my strong point as of late… but I am sure that there is grace where blogging is concerned as well! My father-in-law Bill has gotten so good at blogging! He does it everyday and it is wonderful… thoughts that make us stop and take your life in,  think about the journey, and where we are at… if you have not seen it yet I suggest you check it out. It is called Bill’s Front Porch and the link is off to the right of my page. Thanks for making us all stop and think Bill! And thanks for inspiring us all to blog more too!

Christmas was where I left off… since Christmas was a decade ago I will just say that it was a WONDERFUL first Christmas in New York. O.k…. I can’t just stop there… I have more to say too. Not only did we get to take in what a New York Christmas is like… which is REALLY amazing everyone… but we got to do it with family!!! Brett and I did not think we would be able to be with either of our families this Christmas… being so far away… but God is big and we could have never imagined that my parents would have moved here!!! Through different turns of events my dad is now on staff at Valley Stream as the new Family Life Pastor… and they moved here right before Christmas!!! We cannot tell you how blessed we are to have them here… and how amazing it was to experience our first Christmas with family! They have been here a couple of months now, as I write this, and are getting settled in. They seem to love it here… and of course we love having them here!

Now, we were not able to be with all of our family on Christmas.. so that was sad, but we were very thankful for what God did allow! We were not able to be with Brett’s family at all at Christmas… but we decided that we could handle that when God prompted them to also move out here January!!! I know… you are thinking… are you kidding me? So we now have Both my parents and Brett’s parents living out here and Brett’s sister and brother-in-law!!! God is amazing… and the second we try to put him in a box He reminds us that nothing can contain his power, ability, and knowledge. Sometimes it is hard to trust in him… but how rewarding it is when we fully give him control!!!! I cannot say enough about how blessed we are to have our families out here…. biggest blessing ever and we thank God daily for bringing family close to us!

Brett’s family took to NY right away… and you can tell that they cannot get enough of this wonderful city. Brett’s dad retired right before they moved out here and Margaret is working remotely with the company she was with in Vegas. Andrew has found a full time job in computers and Stefanie is feeling out her options… trying to decide between working and going to school. They are incredible and it is a blessing to have them here… a wonderful gift!

So we moved thinking Ash would never be around family… and look at what God has done. Incredible. So… yeah… Christmas was good… very, very good! Best gifts ever this Christmas.