Ethan turns two!

Yes I've got a two year old on my hands. It's seems the day he turned two, I started noticing that two year old mentality come out! Picky eater, fits, loves to say 'no', doesn't like naps...so lets celebrate this new stage of life shall we?

This was one of the funnest parties I've been to in a long time! It required all of us to become two years old again, because Mommy (me) made sure that we did all of Ethan's favorite activities!

Agenda:

-play with clay

-snacks

-bubbles

-open presents

-cake time

-dance party!!!

Ethan turns into a crazy nut when we we blow bubbles! Angie made a comment about eating the bubbles, so Ethan started crawling all over the grass in search tasty bubble treats!

We did the HOKEY POKEY! I purchased a cd from the party store with all kinds of fun party songs, Ethan ran around in circles while all of the rest of us made fools of ourselfs doing the hokey pokey and the chicken dance! It reminded me of those fun days at Skateland!

That's what it's all about...yeehaw!

My Favorite Twilight Quote

I FINALLY read these books in like a couple of weeks. It took me like a whole year to read a Harry Potter book so I thought I was a slow reader, but APARENTLY I was reading the wrong books!

              

I hate it to jump on any bandwagon, but I have to admit, I have created my own little obsession with this story and the fact that there's a movie opening this week, is just too much to handle!

              



Here's one of my favorite quotes from the story:

              



“Bella, I’ve already expended a great deal of personal effort to keep you alive. I’m not about to let you behind the wheel of a vehicle when you can’t even walk straight. Besides, friends don’t let friends drive drunk,”“Drunk?”“You’re intoxicated by my very presence.”

              



Edward is so confident, and as I was reading the books I had to snicker every time he made a remark like this to Bella. :)

              



(I'm going to this movie Friday, if you'd like to come, call me!!)

Our last few weeks:

We had such a great Halloween party at Grandma and Grandpa's house! We showed off our costumes, bobbed for apples, pinned the nose on the pumpkin (which was very dizziying I must say) and ate so many fun foods! Lots of fun and scares for everyone!

Barbie Dress up like a cheerleader. She was a little immodest in her short skirt, but as long as she kept her tail down, she looked great! Also, you can see Joe tried his luck at bobbing for apples, he got a little but wet! That dissoriented looking woman spinning around on the bat is me. I was the laughing stalk of the family as I hobbled around trying to pin the nose on the pumpkin.

My neighbor Tonya let me borrow this adorable Yoda costume for Ethan and it looked perfect on him. Joe and I taught him how to say, "Yoda, I am" in a low scratchy voice.

Trick or treating was SO MUCH FUN! I had way more fun that Ethan did, and that says a lot because he couldn't contain himself, he was having so much fun! He ran into someone's home because he saw their pet kitty cat and he chased after it yelling, 'meeeeeeeeooooowww!' There were several cat chasing experiences. Now he wants to Trick or treat every day. I taught him the 'funny' trick or treat song. "Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat."

We went to an air show/ all things boy this Saturday. There were planes, tranes, fire trucks, helicopters, blimps and automobiles up close and personal. He and daddy were in wonderland, and I had the camera rolling.

We all got to ride in the fire truck together. It had a bell on it that went, 'ding ding ding' and that's all Ethan can talk about anymore is how he road on the fire truck, and daddy was holding him, and it went 'ding ding ding!'
It was such a fun day, and the admission was free!

Afternoon Delight

I woke up this morning around 6:20am, went outside, and I actually felt a cool breeze blow over me! I looked at the temperature and it was 78 degrees. I had to smile knowing that cool weather is soon approaching for us here in Arizona.

Of course along with the cool weather is always college football season! Those who know me know that I really don't like football, at all, I'm not a fan. BUT since Joe bought The Mountain TV network, we're the only ones in the family that have the BYU games to watch. This Saturday, we hosted the game at our house. I have to admit, I made a touchdown of a dip! Here's the recipe.

FOOTBALL DIP

1 lb. ground beef
1 can Frito Lay bean dip
Small jar of taco sauce, medium or hot
2 c. shredded cheese
Nacho chips

Brown ground beef, drain. Put into 13 x 9 baking dish. Stir in bean dip and taco sauce. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until mixture is hot and cheese is melted. Serve with nacho chips.

All of it goes in the cute football bowl.
J

Twilight Zone Ashley

Okay, so I did a Twilight Zone theme to this photo, only because the look on my face says, "The world is going to be abducted by a giant alien and I'm in on it."

We decided to bring a blanket out in the backyard and relax on the grass for a while. These are some photos I took of my boys. Priceless. Then the ants started to come out crawl all over the blanket so we decided to call it a day.

This is where you'll find me on your typical day. I like to hang out on the floor with Ethan while we build forts or plays with cars. Barbie seems to find a way to wiggle herself into any nook or cranny that she can find on me. Silly girl.

We should have named her "Cinnabon" because she can curl up in the smallest little coils you've ever seen! Wow, that cinnabon makes me HUNGRY!

Pay Attention

Maybe I should wait until I cool down before posting this, but I am so angry right now at people who choose to hurt innocent babies, because they are just that, innocent. After having a child of my own, I become emotional anytime I hear about these things happening!

Barack Obama is the only presidential candidate who supported killing of babies who survived abortion. It's called infanticide and a woman can make the decision to be induced into labor, have the baby, and then the baby is left to die. These babies can survive for minutes or hours.

Below is a video that you can watch, if you are emotionally stable. The fact that this is real and is happening is reason enough for me to become educated.

We can stop this from continuing by voting 'no' to Barack Obama and 'yes' to life.

You can register to vote here: http://www.rockthevote.com/

And on another note 'Last year alone, U.S. law enforcement identified over 300,000 criminals who were trafficking in movies and pictures of young children being raped and tortured. Experts say that one in every three of these criminals has local child victims. Child pornography trafficking over the Internet has given us a trail of evidence that leads straight to their doorsteps, but the vast majority of these children will never be rescued because investigators are overwhelmed, outnumbered and underfunded.'

This was taken from oprah.com where you can take a stand on child predators that are trafficking pornographic photos and videos over the internet. This is becoming more and more wide-spread, and we can do something about it if we can urge our senators to vote
yes on Senate Bill 1738—The PROTECT Our Children Act."

The PROTECT Our Children Act will:

• Authorize over $320 million over the next five years in desperately needed funding for law enforcement to investigate child exploitation.
  
• Mandate that child rescue be a top priority for law enforcement receiving federal funding.
  
• Allocate funds for high-tech computer software that can track down Internet predators.
  

Go here: http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20080911_tows_predators for more information and remember that we only have a couple of days before it goes before congress.

Sometimes it's difficult to live and pursue happiness in a world where these types of things are allowed to happen. The only thing that appeases me, is to know that there's something that I can do about it, from my own little corner of the world.

Thanks for listening.

God Bless America

I remember where I was on this day in 2001 when I heard about the plane crashing in to the first tower of the world trade center.

I was living at my Mom and Dad's house in Mesa, just getting ready to leave for college, I was happy to spend a few more weeks with my family before I left. I was asleep when I was startled by my sister Aimee, who came in my room and told me that a plane had just hit the world trade center. I was very groggy and I didn't know what to think of it all, but I stumbled in to the living room and saw one of the memorable sites I'd ever seen. It was the smoke billowing out of the first tower.

My Dad is so smart and he was sort of narrating the whole thing for us all, explaining to us what may have happened and how this is going to affect the future of America. We all sat stunned in front of the television for quite some time, and then we watched again and again as they showed footage of the second plane hitting the second tower. I remember feeling like my stomach was aching and there was no way to fix it!

Then when stories of the plane hitting the pentagon and flight 93 came out later on that day we were so confused as to who would plan and carry out such an atrocity! So many people became heroes on that day, and so many people suffered great pain! All the while I sat in the comfort of my home with my loved ones.

Recently Joe and I watched flight 93 for the second time. (The first time I saw it, I was pregnant with Ethan and he literally turned in my stomach at the end) Well the second time we watched it, we were in the living room so we had time to discuss things as they progressed through the movie. And one thing Joe mentioned was, "The Islams have another thing coming to them if they think that they have virgins and riches waiting for them when they die." As true as that is, I feel that because they were taught these things from childhood, they had no choice but to follow through with them!

It makes me grateful for what I have and what I know. I know that the Lord wants me to be happy, and wants good things for me, and the tragic act against America by those men on September 11^th was anything but happy and good.

I just wanted to take the chance to say that I remember what happened on that day, I'm proud to be an American, and God Bless America.

Sheesh! There’s so many things I could blog about right now, and they always pop in my head at the most inopportune times, and then I don’t blog at all, because I can’t think of anything. But just sitting here typing feels so great, that I’m sure I’ll come up with something!

One thing I have learned is that whenever I’m around anyone who is remotely famous, I get the urge to go say hi and have a picture taken. I tried out for Arizona Idol this year (I’m to chicken to do the REAL one) and so anyway, Corey from FOX 10 news, the weather man, was hovering around my little group of people and I just had to say hi and strike up some cheesy conversation with him like, “so do you like your job?” Wow! Is that the most creative question I could come up with? I mean come on! Why couldn’t I have said, “So where are you from?” or something more personal? So he gave me some generic answer and started talking to the lady next to me who had more creative questions than I did.

Then we went and saw the play 1856 again this year and I just am in awe of Joseph Paur who's most famously known for the part he played in the movie Rigoletto! This man is SO talented and every note that comes out of him is genius! So I got to meet him last time I saw the play too and I couldn’t think of anything to say except, “You sing so well!” Wow, apparently I’m good at stating the obvious. Anyway, he is sort of a shy person to start with so it was awkward to say the least. So this year was going to be different, I had planned out in my head that I was going ask him where he studied music, but NO I said the same dumb thing I said last year followed by, “ You really should make a CD.” OH MY!! He just laughed and then we took yet another awkward photo.
During Ethan’s waking hours he runs all around the house, singing, dancing, playing, throwing, hitting, kicking, hugging, and jumping. During MY waking hours I sit in front of this computer screen, and clean here and there, but mostly my body wants me to just sit. I went to the gym two weeks ago for the first time in a WHILE and by the end of it all my body was SCREAMING at me! I’m getting wrinkles, and all that wonderful time in the sun, charring my skin while I was in high school is definitely catching up to me! It’s a little bit scary, I have to say! BUT thank goodness there are products on the market today that promise youth; a little poke here, a little Botox there, and you’re good. It’s makes me think though, if I had the energy Ethan had, and the mental capacity that I have, who knows what things I would be accomplishing up until now!
I have hoped for this stage in Ethan’s life ever since he was born. I have just wanted to be able to talk with him, not just to him! He’s finally starting to put 2 to 3 word phrases together and say things like “Barbie Go Potty!” and “My Turn” and “I Love you daddy” and my most favorite word of his, this is so cute, Instead of saying Marshmallow, he says Pompillow, and Joe and I think it’s so cute, we’ve been starting to call it that too. So hopefully he never learns it the right way!

Anyway, those are my thoughts for now, and I’m ready to be a better blogger. I found this quote and I think it fits perfectly with my theme for today:

Wiggly Wiggly World

New wiggles debut:

So I made the mistake of letting Ethan watch this show ONE TIME and now it's all I hear about! The sad thing is, I'm starting to like it too! The songs are so catchy, in fact, Joe and I find ourselves walking around the house singing toot toot chugga chugga big red car more often then we probably should. Every time I ask Ethan "What show do you wanna watch?" Among all of the other kids shows out there,I'm hoping he will say "The Wiggles!" And 99 perect of the time he does. Of course we can't ignore the stigma that comes with The Wiggles about them all being feminine, but I have to say, as many times as I have sat through the show I've noticed that 3 of them are wearing wedding rings, and one if them has a baby. The purple one, Jeff, does not wear a wedding ring, BUT he's purple, and it seems to be a theme through many of the children shows that whatever is purple; Barney the dinosaur, and Tinky Winky from the teletubbies is thought to be, well, gay.

Well I don't know either way if the characters themselves, in their personal lives have these problems, but I do know that these shows help me, as a busy mom, to be sane! If I can get something done here and there, then I'm all for it.

TTFN, ta ta for now!

Officialy Launched! Thecutestblogontheblock.com

Wow! It's taken a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get to this point but it's really happened. The Cutest Blog on the Block is now open and ready for business. :) So take a look around and let me know what ya think!

Oh yah, by the way, all of the new backgrounds now stretch the entirety of your monitor! Very cool!

Thanks!

I'm going to take one large sleeping pill and go to bed for the next week!

Slide.com, you got nothin'!

I love Slide.com, don't get me wrong, but I jumped at the opportunity to figure how to animate my own stuff on photoshop because now I can add just a little bit more personalization to my slideshows, kinda fun! Don't ask me how I know this weird stuff because, honestly, I couldn't tell you how I got from point A to point Z on all this, and I'm really still scratching the surface, but...like...totally cool!

ANYWAY! I thought our family should take some photos mid-year, because, why does it always have to be Christmas when we decide to take a family photo? Why not when you're rockin' your summer tan?

Beautiful Boy

I have a little talker on my hands! This child can say almost any word you throw at him. His newest is Helecopter. He's really not just a baby anymore. And I'm loving it! He's become my little buddy! He's helping me around the house, he's learning 'cleaning up.' And he laughs and smiles constantly. Honestly, it's such a pleasure being his mommy!

I'm starting a website for my Cutest Blog on the Block designs soon. This has been keeping me so busy! I've got so many facelift/card requests that I've hired on my sweet friend Becky as a partner. Poor girl had to learn Photoshop in a week! But she's been a real trooper, and now I have an office with two computers set up in my house, and when we're not chasing our children, we're feverishly designing things! It's a lot of fun!

Joe is loving his work with Ecolab, I'm so grateful he's found something that he loves to do!

I'm still in the Primary Presidency, loving it, and Joe is now Secretary in the Young Mens Presidency. We have started reading our scriptures together, and separately, and it has blessed our lives tremendously. I'm so grateful for the Brother from Elders Chorum who came into our home and reminded us how important it is!

:)

Wish Upon A Star

Oh my heck! I went to Disneyland! It really was a dream come true! My good friend BriAnne called me one day in January and asked if I wanted to go, and of course I jumped at the offer! So after roping my sweet mommy into babysitting, and my sweet sister into dogsitting, off we went! We had some problems finding the happiest place on earth (I hate navigation!!) but once we got there, we were like little kids again!!!

This is me outside my trailer! Okay, it's actually Cruella's!
This is Brianne and I the morning of the happiest day!!! We really were glowing with excitement!!!
We had so much fun riding Monster's inc!!
Okay so I didn't spend the $20 to buy the photo, but I took a picture of it with my camera. This is a picture of me in pure horror on the Tower of Terror ride, this is a picture of BriAnne in pure bliss, after having forced me to go on the ride!! I loved it after the 3rd time around. :)
Bri, thanks for the AMAZING trip!! I loved every second, even though we got lost on the way home too. I'd do it again in a second. Thanks for helping this mommy become a kid again for a few days! :)

A NEED for technology...

I MEAN WELL when I head to the laundry room to iron my husbands badly wrinkled shirts. I try to think about my grandmother and mother before me who slaved over a hot iron with a happy smile and a song to press their loving husbands shirts. I mean why not? The man of the house goes to work each and every day to earn the bread money.

But the end result is always the same:

WE LIVE IN AN AGE where rockets are orbiting into space, computers are the size of jelly beans, and your car can parallel park by itself! So why oh why have we not invented an easier way to remove a wrinkle from my husband's shirt!!!

Bumping in to things:

Ethan and his buddy Drake love to play together. They share everything, especially the cold/flu's that have been going around this season!
Recently Ethan discovered a funny new trick where he covers his head with a blankie and hobbles around the room laughing and running into things. He thinks he's funny! He taught Drake his new trick.
This shrounded figure is Ethan.
On a side note, talk about control, our dog looks like she might be well trained, but just you wait until I turn my back on her, she goes right for the crumpled up snotty tissues and any morsels that Ethan leaves laying around...
We still love her though. :)

Playing with Pictures

Ethan wanted to go out for a ride on his John Deer on the open road, so I said okay. The Paparazzi took this shot.
He often peers into flower beds pondering the meaning of life. :)