Seven, really?

Ashby celebrated her 7th birthday on Saturday. For those of you keeping track at home, yes all of our kids had their birthdays within one months time. I'm exhausted! I can't believe that Ashby is seven. I've said it before and I'll say it again, where does the time go? She went from this:

to this, in what seems like no time at all.

Ashby is a very good sport about her birthday being so close to Halloween. She likes Halloween themed things for her birthday. These were the cupcakes she shared with her first grade class.

This is Ashby with her cake, can you see the theme? We love you Ashby, happy birthday.

The wrath of the Jack-o-Lantern

Yikes.

Luke is 1!

Luke turned one today. I can't believe it. Time sure does fly. We love our little guy. He did a rather fine job eating his cake today. He was definitely not shy and he most definitely enjoyed it. I can hardly believe how much joy he has brought to our lives. Everyone is happier because he's here. We love you baby boy, happy birthday.

He was not shy and he's a shover. I think he thought it was a contest, who could shove the most in their mouth at once. You won Luke, you won.

And of course it's so darn good that you must lick the plate and then rub it on your head.

What do you suppose

we could do with this? It's for sale and maybe if we all pool our resources it could be OURS!

My vote would be a giant and fantastic game of Red Rover, Red Rover. What's your vote?

Did you know?

Roger and I watched a few minutes of National Parks on PBS the other night. I know the show is getting good reviews and I'm ashamed to say we haven't really watched it. Although in the few minutes we were watching they mentioned how a Joshua tree got it's name. Did any of you know how? Obviously I knew about the U2 album and have seen a Joshua tree, but I didn't know how it got it's name. Apparently Mormon pioneers saw the tree in their travels out west and likened the tree to the prophet Joshua; his arms lifted up in prayer. The name stuck. Now you know...

Why do I do this to myself?

I've had all kinds of things to blog about, yet I haven't, so now I have to play catch-up. For my own sake I wanted to record all this, so you are all free to tune out.....................................NOW!

Kevin and Kelly were here over Labor Day. Kevin motivated Roger to get a project done. I'm happy to say that our kitchen is finally done. Before: no quarter round.

After: lovely quarter round. (It only took 2 years)

I hate and I mean really hate acting, any kind of it, like role playing, acting out stories, you name it, I loathe it. I forget that the girls don't feel the same way. They love it. They acted out the story of Abinadi and King Noah for Family Home Evening, it was great. I definitely have them do that more often, as long as I can stay out of it! Avery is Abinadi in chains and Ashby is evil King Noah.

Avery celebrated her 5th birthday. Where does the time go? I love you my sweet Avs.

The day of Avery's birthday we drove to Virginia to see our friends the Ellsworth's, to visit with family and to go to the National Book Festival. We had a great time. The girls saw Arthur

and Ruff Ruffman. (by the way, may I just say what a lovely accomplishment this is on Ashby's part, she used to be horrified of people in costumes.)

Luke and Blythe became fast friends.

I had to include this picture because it's what I like to call, "Washington Monument you are much to tall to get good pictures of, but we tried and look at the awesome results"

We had so much fun in VA. Thank you to everyone. And Chris and Kim, thank you a million times over for making the trip and for finding those awesome parking spots, let's do it again soon.