Christmas 2010

This Christmas eve we gave the kids fuzzy blankets instead of the p.j. tradition. (since they were always fighting over mine)
Will was thrilled with his workbench.......
And Ethan and his rip rider and physics set.....
Then of course Emery and Nate couldn't be happier......they finally got a DS.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Graham cracker houses

About two weeks ago we went over to my brother and sister-in-laws house and made graham cracker houses. It has been a few years since we've done this and I think the kids had a lot of fun, I know I did :)

Way behind on posting

It's been so long since I've posted anything, that I am way behind. So I'm quickly catching up....

Will lost his first tooth.

Josh is in Africa and will come back on the 23rd. (hopefully no later)

Ethan turned 12.

Emery got the Chart your course award.

Will got the Chart your course award.

Ethan got the Chart your course award.

Will may have cracked his cheek bone. (probably not, but it looked bad enough)

The kids saw Santa at the ward party.

Ethan had an orchestra concert.Emery had a piano recital.



And I'm not doing a Christmas card again this year. (I tried and this is what I got)
The kids have had fun in the snow.

??

I really have no idea.....
But it entertained them for an entire weekend.

Wrapping up October

We got a terrible snow storm a few days ago. And since the leaves on our trees were still green, we had branches that were bending so low. I thought we might loose a few.

Sadly our neighbor lost their whole tree. It split 3 ways. The weight of the snow was just too much for it. :(

Ethan started playing the cello this year and really loves it. Go figure. He had a little Halloween performance on Thursday and did a very good job. He has been so excited about learning this instrument and doesn't ever complain about practicing, waking up at 6 am for his orchestra class, or even hauling his gigantic cello to and from school (yes even in the cold). He's even learning new songs on his own and figuring out more by ear.

We went to a pumpkin patch and carved pumpkins on Monday. The kids are getting so good at it that I don't have to help too much anymore.
Trick or Treating was cold, rainy and miserable. But we suffered through it (hahaha) and quickly ran the loop of our neighborhood.
Nate was a zombie from the video game Plants vs Zombies. Emery was a rock star. Ethan was Josh in Afghanistan. And Will was a Lego guy.

Tears and pipes

Last Monday, Will had his first day of kindergarten. He was soooo excited!! I dropped him off thinking "whoo hoo, last one" I was doing really well, until I saw another mom come out with tears in her eyes, and then I got all choked up. This is my baby, my last child to go to kindergarten. I thought maybe he would have a hard time getting up and going (like he did in preschool) but he is excited, loves to walk with the older kids and, so far, has a great attitude.


Yesterday, Nate went to get his cast on. Apparently his bones slipped a little and the Dr had to push the bones back in place. Not a fun experience for the little guy. They had to put a full arm cast on to keep the bones from slipping again. Luckily he has blocked that experience, and is now showing off his pipes!

Broken

Yesterday, the school called. Trying to locate me, they called Josh (who didn't answer)and my brother Bill (who is a nurse and was heading up to Primary's and was just about to turn around and get him) I was in the shower and when I got out I heard my phone and my cell phone going crazy with calls and messages, saying they were pretty sure Nate had broken his arm. (a tiny part of me thought...maybe it's just sprained....)

I got to the school, saw him sitting there, they took the towel off his arm to show me and I gasped! I tried not to but IT WAS BAD! His arm stuck out at a 30* angle. Nate put it best, he said his arm looked like Harry Potter's when Prof. Lockheart removed his bones.

He had fallen off the slide at recess. He said it was really slippery from the rain they had that morning.

I didn't even mess around with a clinic or other hospital and headed straight for Primary's. They took one look at him and knew with out the x-ray that it would need to be set, and that they would need to sedate him.

The Dr. told me I could stay in the room but that I needed to sit down so I wouldn't pass out, while they were putting his arm in place. Then the other Dr. came in and said, "nope, you need to leave". I'm glad I left! I peeked in the window at one point and just about lost it, and I can only imagine the sounds that went along with that sight. ......shudder......

5 hours later....I head home with a sleepy, grouchy (from the meds, actually really funny grouchy) Nate. Poor kid.

He was just feeling the effects of the pain meds and was saying all sorts of crazy things.

Uh......I don't think bones are meant to look like that.

Will's bday

I realized I forgot to post Will's birthday back in July. So here it is. I promised him next year that he could have a party with his friends. But this year was just the family. He turned 5 so will be starting kindergarten!! He's as tall as Nate and growing fast!

He's still obsessed with tractors.....

......but has added fire trucks...so at least we have diversity.

Emery reads, stands and kneels, walks around, plays with her toys and listens to her ipod all while hula-hooping. Her record is 30 min. (I can't even get it to go around once)

School

This year, our poor elementary school has 4 Ashton kids!! He he he...I know what am I going to do with myself? I'm sure I will think of something. ;)

(I can't figure out how to fix my camera...grrr...)

Stay-cation

This year we needed to save some $$ and decided to stayed home for our family vacation. The kids thought it was the best thing ever! So it worked out for all of us. :)

We asked the kids to name their top 5 things they have always wanted to do around here that we've never done or that they wanted to do again.

(oh and I forgot my camera so I didn't get any pictures :( and the few that I got are really bad)

Monday we went to the movies and saw Despicable Me, later that night we went on a hike to a lake, where the kids skipped rocks. (yes this was on there top 5 list, we don't get out much hehehe)

("it's so fluffy, I'm gonna die!")

Tuesday we had a picnic at the park where they tried to catch fish in the stream. Later we went to Cowabunga Bay. (they had a blast)

Wednesday we went to Kennecott copper mine. Surprisingly very cool!! I've always wanted to go out there, and didn't have any idea that they have a little visitor center out there. The kids thought it was really cool, even Ethan! Of course Will was in heaven. Later that night we went to Classic fun center and the kids jumped and bounced and climbed for hours.......

Thursday we were supposed to go camping. We were a little nervous because we had a monsoon as we were leaving. We came back home, waited out the storm, (which blew over in 4 hours) headed back up and camped till Saturday. It was a lot of fun!

Why is it that kids love to be in small tiny spaces with things piled up around them? They all argued over who got to sit in the back.....go figure....

The place we stayed had this weird little "fairy forest" you could hike to. People had made paths, painted rocks, made benches all over in this forest. It was strange but really quite amazing.

Someone built a mini Stonehenge

and a giant checker board....all in the 'fairy forest'

So for having to change our big family vacation, the kids were great sports and I think they had more fun thinking that we were having a "stay-cation". Luckily they are young, appreciative, and love doing anything with the family. I will have to say, we've got some great kids.

Raspberry jam?

Last week I went up to Idaho again! But this time I went to make jam. Josh's favorite jam is raspberry (well the only kind he likes) and so he was excited about me going up.

My uncle Clark has TONS of raspberry bushes, that he so kindly shared with me. My mom and I took the kids and picked till we were sick. And when I say the kids I really mean they came to eat and whine. (and we didn't even get 1/4 of the berries)

We took them back to my mom's where she helped me make jam! I've never done anything other than freezer jam, so I needed help! We ended up with around 43 jars!! We may not have much other stuff in our food storage, but hey! we have raspberry jam to last 2 years!!!!