The BFG

Do you remember that book?  It was one of my favorites growing up!  I remember my teacher reading it to us in the 5th grade and thinking how funny it was. 

I saw it at the library the other day and had to check it out (for Kaden of course :))  I've been reading it to him for the last few days and I'm happy to say he likes it.  I was nervous because it doesn't have many pictures, but he at least likes it enough to let me read it to him each night and seems to enjoy it.  I think I'm definitely getting more enjoyment out of the book than he is but, oh well!

I also found another childhood favorite:  Twelve Dancing Princesses! 

I remember this one from the 3rd grade.  I was absolutely in love with it!  I checked it out too.  Its hard to tell myself I did it for Jo because even though the pictures are beautiful there's a lot of words too so I really doubt it'll keep her interest.  I know I'll enjoy story time for the next little while though!

The Blue Lion's

Kaden started his second year of soccer a couple weeks ago and its a huge success!  He is doing so much better this time around.  In case you don't remember my post from last summers soccer I'll refresh:  Kaden sitting on the sidelines or trying to escape to the playground.  Me chasing him away from the playground with tears in my eyes because Kimball was at Boot camp and I knew he would be the one chasing if he had been there.

This time around we are all happier.  Kaden is out there kicking the ball and having a blast.  Kimball is at every game practicing and helping out.  I am in absolute heaven!  I think about the contrast every game and am still amazed.  Jo is happy regardless, but she does like mooching the extra treats every game.

A Project

A little while ago my Aunt Ranee asked if I wanted an old chair that used to belong to my grandmother.  I was so excited.  Yes it was gold and old, but it was the perfect opportunity to try reupholstering something.  I love looking at decorating blogs and they are always talking about reupholstering furniture so I have been wanting to try it. 

I expected it to be a headache and take forever, but it wasn't until I'd been pulling out staples for a couple hours that I realized exactly how much time, brains, and blood (those staples can really get ya sometimes) this project would take. 

I mostly worked on tearing it apart after the kids went to bed.  Thanks Kimball for being so patient while I turned the family room into construction central for a week or two.  Then I took it over to my dads so use his staple gun to put it back together.  Thanks to you Dad!  Then I brought my stuff to my aunt's house so I could finish the project with some sewing.  Special thanks goes out to you too Ranee.  It was a group effort.

Everyone told me not to do stripes, but when I went to the fabric store all my favorite fabrics were stripes.  So you can guess what happened next.  Next time I wont be doing stripes.  That's all I have to say about that.

In the end I think I did a pretty good job.  A couple flaws everyone says they can't see (thanks for being kind).  The chair actually sticks out pretty bad in my family room.  Everything Kimball and I own is second had and falling apart slightly.  Putting a great chair like that in the mix makes me hum the song from Sesame Street:  One of these things just doesn't belong here...  As time goes on I plan to start replacing more of the old stuff though, so I'm not too worried about it.

Do you want to know my two favorite things about the chair?  One, it belonged to my grandmother.  It may not look anything like it did when it was hers, but that doesn't matter much to me.  It was hers and I think about her when I look at the chair now.  And two, total cost was only $24!  It could have been $18, but I made a couple first timer mistakes.  If you know me you know how much I love a great deal!  I wish I had taken more photos of the process.  I thought I did, but I have no idea where they disappeared to.   If you want to see the blog that taught me how to do this go to All Things Thrifty.  Its a really fun decorating site, that I've become a little addicted to.

Eclipse

At about 6 o'clock last night I got a phone call that made my day.  My sister had just been offered tickets to a private Eclipse party.  A neighbor of ours has a big premier party for all the Twilight movies.  I've heard how fun they are, but this was the first one I'd had an invite to so I was pretty giddy.  She goes all out: rented the whole theater, all you can eat ice cream and soda, t-shirts, tattoo's, body glitter, the whole shebang plus some!

My mom, Monica and I had such a great time.  They had a glitter station where we sparkled  up like a vampire (note to self: when dealing with body glitter a little less is probably more.)  And spray on tattoo's so we could be rebels like a werewolf.  I might have enjoyed my fake tattoo a bit too much, but for some reason I was really excited to get one and a little sad when it washed off in the shower.

And let's not forget the main event!  Our screening started at 12:15.  We got to go in a side entrance to get to our theater (I felt like a movie star!).  It was crazy looking in at the lobby of the theater.  It was midnight during the middle of the week and the whole place was PACKED.  Everyone waiting to see Twilight.  A crazy sight to see!  As for the movie, I'd say its the best one yet.  They managed to cut out most of the cheesy tendencies the first two movies had, which was a relief.  It was great!

Not that I didn't pay for my amazing girls night.  Stumbling into bed at 3am has its consequences, especially when your son wakes up at 5 and then 7:30.  Its been a long morning, but absolutely worth it!

Up To Date...At Last!!!

Kimball and Kaden are at a Father-Son Camp out tonight which means a night of blogging and sappy chick-flicks for me.  I am so excited for them, not just because I get an all girls night, but Kaden is sooo excited!  He loves to go camping, unfortunately neither Kimball or I are really into sleeping in the cold and being dirty.  I'm glad the opportunity to go fell in our laps, because I doubt it would have happened otherwise.  Kimball even said he was excited too before they left so I'm sure they're having a good time.

And since a post is always better with photos here's a few random pics I've taken lately.

In case any of you are wondering what happens when you come home from the 1 o'clock block of church let me show you.

 On a totally different subject I was making my bed the other day and left the room real quick.  This is what I came back to.

Do you think my kids are trying to tell me something?  Don't feel too sorry for her its not my fault they wake up at the crack of dawn after all.

ps. Don't forget to scroll down.  I did a lot of catching up tonight. 

The Birthday Girl

She's a Big Girl now!!

Of course if you ask Jo she prefers to be called my baby girl more than my big girl.  She went into a full fledged tantrum the other day because I insisted she's a big girl.  She loves to be the baby. 

We celebrated with spaghetti and ice cream of course.  What could be better from the eyes of a two year old.  Later we went to McDonald's to play with all the cousins. I brought my own cupcakes and we lit candles, both of which I'm sure were against the rules, but we had to blow out the birthday candles!

Jo really is a girlie girl.  What other two year old would be this excited to be getting clothes for her birthday?

She is such a sweetie.  The things she picks up on are always cracking me up.  We gave Kaden a little guitar for Christmas, but Jo is the one who plays and sings songs to us with it.  And her sweet little voice!  I know a lot of you may not have heard it before so let me explain:  Do you remember Beaker from the muppets?  Super squeaky, high pitched, nasal sort of thing.  That's my Jo!  I love her!!

 Happy Birthday Jocilyn, we love you!

Happy Late Easter!

No we didn't wait months to celebrate Easter, I'm just really really bad at staying caught up on my blog.  Each year my Aunt Ranee has an egg hunt at her house.  Too much fun!  This year the kids even hunted their own eggs.  Jo needed a little prodding, but not much.

 We dyed eggs too, but those must be on my dad's camera.  The bad part about not staying caught up on all this is unless I have the pictures I don't remember the cute little things that happened months before.

Just another reason not to fall behind again.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

A while back my cousin found us all tickets to a play for the kids down in Provo.  It was so much fun!  I wasn't really expecting much from the play, but it was really cute.   The stage was all super-sized to make the 6 foot tall "little boy"  really look little, complete with a 9 foot tall refrigerator.  Kaden loved the fridge.

The kids did great.  Kaden was mesmerized the whole time.  Jo got bored after just a little while, but she stayed quiet so it worked out.  Luckily the theater gave all the kids popcorn and candy.   All in all a really fun day.  My Aunt always took us to see plays when we were little so I loved taking Kaden to see his first one too.  I don't think this counts as Jo's first play since she really didn't watch much of it, we'll save that for later.

Some Silly Pics

Nothing but a couple cute pics of my kiddos.  I sure love them and all their silliness.

Cute Kaden

My aunt is in the primary at church with Kaden and sent me this cute email about sharing time last week.  We all know I love to gush about my kids so I couldn't help putting this up.

Last Sunday in Primary Kaden made everybody I mean everybody laugh.....this is what happened:

Sis. Malmrose was doing sharing time- we were playing Bingo about facts about the different prophets.  Kaden was called....and he drew a free card.

They put his card on the prophet Joseph Smith

It said a big FREE on it

At the end Sis. Malmrose said:  If we follow the prophet we will be FREE right?

Kaden said - No, I can't be Free

She said again - Yes, if we follow the prophet you can be FREE

He said really loud and with a lot of conviction.....But I can't be free because I am FOUR.

She was laughing so hard.  She concluded.....AMEN!  It was so funny, you had to be there to appreciate his humor......Everyone couldn't stop laughing.  He is so cute.

I love my little Kaden.  

A Trip to the Temple

A little while ago Kimball and I took the kids to the Salt Lake Temple.  Kaden was so excited!  This is the first time he remembers being there.  The whole way there he explained to us that it was Heavenly Father's house, and Mommy and Daddy were married there.

Once we arrived the cold rushed us through the grounds so we don't have many photos of the whole thing, but it was great!  Kaden had to stop at every fountain on our way to and from the visitors center, but other than that he was just sweet.  He was fairly reverent looking at all the different pictures of Jesus and I loved explaining to him what was happening in each of the paintings.

Jo was great too.  She insisted on walking all the way back to the car, but when big brother is running around looking at the water and lights can you blame her?

I had a great time and can't wait to take the kids back up...when the sun is shining.

Caught...

With her hands in the candy bucket.

In my jewelry box.

In my makeup.

Jo is starting to get really creative in getting her way.  Keeping things out of her reach is getting more difficult every day, and boy is she sneaky!  She now climbs onto the bathroom counter when we're not looking and dives into my makeup.  Today we were visiting my parents house and Jo snuck into Grandma's pantry, tried to shut the door behind her and then dug into the Oreo cookies.  I don't even know how she knew they were in there!  I do not remember Kaden being this sneaky, but I have a special knack for blocking out frustrating memories.

ps.  You have to excuse the photos.  I've gotten spoiled always using my Dad's equipment, but when I'm at home I miss his Nikon and Photoshop.  One day...until then I'll have to make due with our old camera which has served us well.

Take a Look!

I love to look at all the crafty blogs out there, and came across this contest they're having.

As for me, I'm cheering for All things thrifty; its a friend of a friend...of a friends blog that I absolutely love.  To be fair I've never been to any of the other competitors sites.  It should be fun to watch so I'm excited to see what they do once things start.

Guilty Pleasure

I have a guilty pleasure.  Late at night when all the good shows are over I love to watch the Timelife infomercials.


They are so good!  From Pop memories of the 60's to Romancing the 70's  I have so much fun.  My favorite one is Ultimate Rock Ballads (80's).  Kimball used to make fun of me when I'd watch them, but now he'll sit down with me while we laugh at the hair and clothes.  Its sad I know, but even though I've seen the 80's one more than a few times I still stop and watch every time its on.

This isn't exactly a recommendation.  I've never actually bought their CD's and don't really plan to, but the infomercials are a lot of fun.  How else would I know in the 60's this group was called Jefferson Airplane, in the 70's the were Jefferson Starship, and in the 80's they were Starship.  If that's not useful information I don't know what is.

Merry Christmas?

Well, I promised to have these up by Valentines Day right?  Christmas was great this year.  We kept things pretty low key with mostly homemade gifts.  In case you're considering it, make sure you start crocheting the many hats and scarves at least three months earlier, rather than two weeks like I did.  My fingers were so sore, but it was still worth it...I think.  Maybe you should ask the recipients of these not quite perfect homemade gifts if it was worth it.

I owe my family a lot for making this year special for the kids.  My Aunt Ranee had us over to make Gingerbread houses, Grandma and Grandpa took Kaden on the Polar Express to see Santa, and we did the Nativity at my Aunt and Uncle's house.  My sister-in-law also gave us a magnetic nativity advent calendar. The kids loved this!  Every day they'd be so excited to put a sheep or a wise man on the fridge.  Plus, it gave me an opportunity to talk about what Christmas is really about everyday with the kids.  I don't know where she got it, but I highly recommend it.

Kaden was a lot of fun this year.  Every year he gets more excited to have Santa come to our house.  We started Christmas morning with a timeout if you can believe it.  Kaden had gotten things mixed up and thought he'd wake up Christmas morning to have Santa waiting in the living room.  Not this year, buddy.  He was so upset to learn that Santa had left already.  We couldn't calm him down, which leads us back to the timeout.

Other than that it was a great day.  Kaden got a guitar and Jo got her first Baby Doll.  Kids definitely make Christmas 10 times better.

Here are a few pics of New Years also:

Our New Year was at about 8:30.  We celebrated by banging pots and pans.  The kids loved it!  Then the grown ups watched the new Star Trek movie and missed the countdown.  Oops!  It is a really great movie.

A Cute Kaden Story

On the drive home from the super bowl party tonight we had this little conversation:

Kaden: Can we go to Jesus' house?

Mom: When you're older you get to be a missionary and then you can go to the temple.

Kaden: Not the one with the picture, but with the real Jesus and Heavenly Father.

Mom & Dad: Not till your really, really, really older.

Kaden: Okay, I'm tired.  I'm a robot!

I love how Kaden can talk about such important, and for an adult, thoughtful things so casually.  His innocence and trust catch me off guard constantly.  I love him.

Did you guys know I'm a Great-Aunt?

One unexpected pleasure of marrying into a large family is I get to confuse people by telling them things like that.  Most of you know that Kimball is the youngest of 12 kids and if you didn't, well now you do.  At first I kind of laughed at myself when I thought about my nieces and nephews, the first of which is maybe 2 years younger than me, but now I just smile when people get confused or think I'm lying.  I love my in-laws, all 78 or so of them!

So yes, just call me Great-Auntie Ashley three times over and know that I love it!
 

My niece Clarissa just had a little baby and boy is he cute!  She was extra sweet for not only letting me gush and coo over him, but was very patient as I monopolized her time to take pictures of the sweet heart.  Thanks so much Clarissa!  You guys are an adorable family!  And if you ever need a baby sitter, Kimball and I would love to help you out.  I promise to keep him safe from my children.

If you want to see more photos of the cutie I put a bunch up on my photography blog: ashleyjonesphotography.blogspot.com

P.S.  In case any of you are still holding out for Christmas pictures, don't give up on me yet.  I promise to get them up soon.  At least by Valentines Day.