Junior Golf and T-Ball

This summer Ashlee is playing T-Ball and doing Junior Golf. With golf they golf 3 holes from 150-200 yards out. The first 2 times it was so cold. The wind was blowing hard and not to mention we are out there at 7:50 am. Ash loves golf and is getting better and better every time. This week she shaved 12 stokes off from last week. This is her second year of T-Ball and I think she had more fun last year, because mom wasn't her coach. Adam got roped into coaching but with him farming I had to take over as coach. I've enjoyed it so far. Only had 1 parent so far yell at me for making her child sit an inning. (I sat her child because I have 15 kids on the team and can only play 10 kids at a time. So we take turns sitting out.)

Hole In One

Last Friday Adam went golfing with his cousin Lex. I received a phone call from Adam saying he just hit a hole in one. After they were done they told the people at the club house. Well in turn the club house notified the Times News and KMVT. There was a short write up in Saturdays papers and on Sundays sports newscast they noted Adams hole in one. Needless to say he thinks his pretty hot stuff right about now.

Ashlee Turns 5

Boy oh boy where has the time gone. Today Ashlee turned 5. I'm having a hard time with her turning 5. It means she is not a little girl anymore. She is growing up and soon will leave me for school. We have spent all day everyday together and to think that I have to share her with school makes me sad. I have loved our time together and would never change it for anything.
Ashlee 2 weeks old.

Ashlee's 5th birthday party.

To Grandmothers House We Go! And other places

We headed off to Yuma, Arizona to go see Adam's Grandparents. We last saw them about 3 1/2 years ago. They saw Ashlee when she was about one, but have never saw Peyton in person. We drove to Laughlin, Nevada the first day. What a drive! 10 hours in a car. The kids did great. We left really early so a lot of driving was done while they were still sleeping. The next day we drove another 3 hours to Yuma. When we got there the sun was shining and it was 70 degrees. It felt great, considering it was in the teens when we left Idaho. We went and saw Grandma and Grandpa Bray. We returned the next day to say our good-byes to them. That was hard. It was great seeing them and talking with them.

Grandpa and Grandma Bray


Then onto San Diego. Back in the car for 4 hours. The weather was about 70 but it was windy. We spent 3 nights in San Diego. The kids loved feeding the ducks. Every morning about 9:30 10-12 ducks would come to our camping spot and look for food. We also walked on the beach (which was about 350 yards from where we stayed), drove to various beaches and boardwalks and went to a Winery. We also went and toured the USS Midway We didn't do the theme parks because we did them last year when we went to Florida. By then it was time to head for home.

Feeding the ducks


Del-Mar Beach


The girls on an airplane on the USS Midway


Walking on the beach near our camp spot.


We then drove to Las Vegas (5 hour drive) and stayed the night. The kids were still great in the car. Thank you people that invented DVD players for the car, Leapsters, and coloring books and crayons. They were life savers. We kept telling Ashlee we would go to M&M World and we did. She was so excited. She had never seen so many M&M's in one place. We had to get a bag with some of every color in it. The girls both loved Las Vegas. "Look at this, look at that" they kept saying. Being in Las Vegas meant only 8 hours more in the car. After 30 hours in the car I was never more happy to get home. Don't get me wrong we had a blast but it was great to be out of the car.

Dad and the girls at M&M World


Oh all the colors of M&M's


Ashlee asleep in Vegas


Peyton asleep in Vegas

Gymnastics- Rec. Leauge

This year they started a rec. leauge for the 4 year olds at gymnastics. Ashlee loves it. They get to go into the big gym, as she calls it. They just had their Reindeer Games last week. They performed on the bars, vault, balance beam and floor routine with the help of Big Ashlee, their teacher. It was a mock competition for them. They were judged and then awarded ribbons for each event. After it was over Santa gave them a medal, their ribbons, and a present. Below Ashlee is doing a bridge. Ashlee with her medal and ribbons after the Reindeer Games. Ashlee's Rec. Leauge team photo (she's back row in the middle) and her individual photo.

Lights in South Hills

We decided to go see the Lights in the South Hills. The girls loved it. Peyton was overwhelmed by all the lights. The neighbors down the street had Halloween lights up at Halloween, so she calls the Christmas lights
"Halloween lights." She keep saying look at the Halloween lights. She could of stayed there for hours. This year they had a bunch of new lights and more lights then in the past.
Ashlee couldn't wait to see the camel.Peyton even let him eat out of her hand.


After we feed the camel carrotts he just stared at us. Later someone told us he eats 40 lbs of carrotts while he's there. I guess he wanted more.

Peyton's Birthday and Halloween

Hard to believe she is 2 already. Poor Peyton it seems when it comes to her birthday she has to get sick. Last year we thought she had H1N1, this year she had croup. Thank goodness for Mortin. She had a blast opening all her presents. Now where to put all the new toys. Guess its time to clean out toys.




I was pretty proud of myself this year. Ashlee decided she wanted to be Strawberry Shortcake and Peyton could be Strawberry's dog Pupcake. So I decided to make their outfits. I already had the outfits so I just had to buy felt, ribbon, yarn and a Strawberry patch. Got off easy this year. Everything only cost $6.00.

One Last Outing Before It Gets Cold

We took one last family outing before Fall hits. We decided to go to Dierkes Lake to fish. The kids all started out fishing but it soon turned into a swim day.

First Day of Preschool

Ashlee's first day of preschool.

Yellowstone & Bear World

Recently we went to Yellowstone with my in-laws. On the way there we had to pull over just outside of Island Park because it was raining so hard we couldn't see and the trailer was fish-tailing due to the standing water on the road. We had to wait about 15 minutes. We then headed off again. When we got into west Yellowstone there were trees blown over and roofs ripped off buildings, emergency responses had barely got there. We didn't think anything of it. We figured the building was being remodeled and trees fall over all the time in the forest. The next day we found out it was a tornado. Thank god we had to pull over or we probably would have been it. We then headed to Yellowstone Park. The girls loved seeing all the wildlife. Peyton called everything "eeellllllllllkk." It was cold (ran into sleet and were told one night not to be surprised to wake up to snow) but awesome. We took the girls fishing at Island Park Reservoir. It was cold and we didn't catch anything. Could of been we were only there 20 minutes because it was cold, rainy, and windy. Ash didn't want to leave. She would of stayed there all day if we let her. On the way home we stopped by Bear World. The girls liked the bears but loved feeding all the animals.

Update

We have since joined "Mom's Club." It's suppose to be activities and learning experiences for the kids, but I'm beginning to think it more for us moms to get out of the house and have adult conversation. The latest was fire safety. They had a fire truck and demonstration house for the kids. Ash didn't want her picture taken with the fire truck, so that's why she is not in it. One day we decided to go up south and drive around. We were gone about 4 hours and had to stop 6 different times just so the girls could go potty. No wonder I never go far or get anything accomplished in town. OK back to the story now. Peyton loved it because there were moo's (cows) everywhere and right beside the road. Ash enjoyed watching and seeing the hummingbirds up close. We dressed for summer thinking it was August so it would be warm. Boy were we wrong. Good thing I packed jackets, just in case, because we needed them. It was 54 degrees with about 30 mph winds on top of one of the hills. It was freezing cold.

Summer Pics

Just a few pictures since the last time I blogged. Peyton and Ash are starting to play really well together. Don't get me wrong they still have there sisterly moments but they are getting fewer and farther in between. Peyton figured how to get in the stroller and if she says "Ash push" long enough then Ash will give in and push her.

One day I was doing laundry, turned around and my laundry basket was gone. When I spotted it Peyton was inside and Ash was covering her up with a blanket. Ash pushed her around for most of the afternoon. They have a toy room and bedrooms full of toys, but would rather play with the laundry basket. Maybe I shouldn't buy toys any more.

I have been asking Ashlee if she wants her ears pierced and she always says no. So the other day Ashlee's cousin Lilly got her ears pierced. We asked Lilly if it hurt and she said no. But Ashlee still didn't want her ears pierced. Then Lillys mom said they had lots of earrings to choose from, even Hello Kitty. After that she wanted them done. This was about 4 pm on Wednesday. Finally at 11 am Thursday I couldn't handle her asking "Can we go pierce my ears now." Needless to say more they were pierced by noon on Thursday. She was so brave and didn't cry. They wouldn't let her get Hello Kitty becuase it was her first piercing and they weren't surgical steel or 14 k. gold. So she got blue flowers to match Lilly's pink flowers.

T-Ball

Ashlee started T-Ball last night. She was so cute. The first at bat she struggled hitting the ball far enough to be able to run to base. Luckily they let them keep hitting, they don't let them strike out. After that she hit fine. She got to bat 3 times, reached base all 3 times, and scored all 3 times. She was excited to get a uniform (a shirt and hat), as she calls it. She had so much fun and can't wait for the next game.