Mario Kart Racing

Sarah's favorite game on the Nintendo these days is Mario Kart. (A close second comes Guitar Hero) Today, when they were playing out in the water, she solicited the boys' interest in "playing" Mario Kart with her. They raced down our driveway, across the sidewalk and up our neighbor's driveway, then all the way back to the very end of our garage (the finish line). The boys happily and excitedly followed behind her pushing thier little toy cars. Sarah won most of the time. Once, Lucas was so far ahead of Sarah that she thought he was going to win. Unfortunately for Lucas, he didn't entirely grasp the concept of a "race" and he got distracted when he ran into one of the camp chairs. Sarah caught up and won the race. They had so much fun playing together and Sarah was elated that the boys would be so willing to play the game she suggested.

Alex and Lucas started out strong with Alex in the lead.

Sarah closed the gap with Lucas,

While Alex fell behind. (I think he got distracted)

And Sarah takes the prize! (Come on Lucas! A little faster!)


Audrey, being a little too small to ride bikes or push cars yet, had fun playing inside.

Grandma Kathy's Weekend Visit

Grandma Kathy left this morning after spending some time with us this weekend. Sarah is already asking when she can come back. We had a lot of fun visiting Grandma Dee Dee for her birthday celebration on Monday, and painting and visiting the park with Grandma Kathy on Tuesday. Here are some pictures of our fun adventures for Memorial Day weekend.

Here's Grandma and Grandpa sharing a celebratory kiss.

Blowing out the birthday candles. (There weren't 80 candles, but the ones on there were placed in the shape of '80')

Elizabeth and Anne. Anne was the one who organized the day and took care of the food.





Here are some of the guests. Ted, Linda, Laura, Dick, Jenny, Andrea, Scott, Kathy, Grandma and Grandpa, and our family were all on the list.

Back at our house, Grandma got comfy cuddling up to the girls. Aren't they all just so cute?









Tuesday morning started out with breakfast, then a story from the Friend, told by Grandma. No one wanted to be left out, so Grandma had a lapful of kids for her reading.






When Jeff got home Tuesday night, it was Subway at the park for dinner. Here I am relaxing after our meal and enjoying watching the young ones play in the beautiful weather.


Here's Audrey enjoying her dinner. She's grateful to Alex for letting her borrow his sweatshirt. Thanks bro!









Here are the shots of all the fun everyone had on the playground.





Jeff just had to take a break from all the fun he had chasing the kids down the slides and over the bridges and monkey bars. Apparently he forgot his sunglasses and decided to borrow Audrey's.


And the best shot of the weekend: Grandma Kathy relaxing at the park in her winter coat. She really must be a true Arizonan because it was 72 degrees out there with a slight breeze and sunshine, and she was a little chilly! We love you Kathy, and we're very glad you got to come spend some time with us this week. Thanks for coming!

New Blog - Ashleigh's Impressions

In case anyone who frequents this blog didn't hear, I've started another blog for myself called Ashleigh's Impressions. I'm putting some of the posts that are not really about my family there. It's a list of my random thoughts and analyzations all in one place. I'll probably also post some stuff about me there. (maybe photos of my projects, paintings, other stuff... I haven't figured it out yet.) Feel free to check it out. There's a link in the column to the right on this page under "Interesting Reading."

Springtime Fun!

The weather has been extremely nice lately. The kids have spent the last week playing outside in the sun and in the water. We have a small kiddie pool, and a cool sprinkler system that shoots water all around. The kids seem to like the pool a little better than the sprinkler, but occasionally we can get them to run through the shooting water. Here's some evidence of the amazing fun little ones can have with just a little fresh air, some sunshine, cool water and good friends.
Here's Sarah. We caught her running through the sprinklers on one of the few times she actually would.



Cute little Audrey when she hadn't taken her hat off yet.

And so engulfed in play with the empty sunscreen bottle.






Alex, sporting his cool new sunglasses, and so obediently removing his passie for Mama's picture. Thanks, Alex!
Lucas, eating up the little Golden Puffs he so graciously dumped on the grass for him and Audrey to share. Yum!
I even got in on the fun by washing the car. I had to be at least a little productive that day, right?









Of course, I had to help Audrey practice walking for a bit. Aren't we just so cute??

Here's Sarah helping make lunch after a long fun morning.

And here she is after she lost a battle with a milk crate. Poor Sarah! But she was such a trooper letting us put ice on her lip for a while.




Here are some more fun scenes and all the cute friends everyone got to play with for the week. They included the neighbor kids, Lily and Jack, their cousin James, the other neighbor girl, Jausylon, Sarah's friend from Sunbeam class, Deklan and his brother, Dallin.




P.S. If any of you are moms or relatives of any of these cute kids and want a copy of the pictures, let me know. All comments go to my email first, so feel free to leave me your email address in a comment and I won't post it on the blog.

Happy Mother's Day!

Yes, I know this post is late. Here I am after church on Mother's Day. Poor Jeff was feeling ill that day, but he still tried to make the day special. Being that it was a Sunday, it was a bit hectic and busy like every other Sunday was. The main difference was that I didn't have to do the normal routine chores like cleaning and making meals, and I didn't have to feel guilty about it, and we had chocolate cake. Mmmmm.... cake. Yep. Happy Mother's Day to me!

Comment Moderation

Sadly, I got my first inappropriate spam comment this morning from someone I do not know. I was trying to keep comments easy for everyone, especially since I have a lot of family that do not use blogger nor do they have google accounts. But since some people don't care whether they offend unsuspecting, innocent people, I am choosing to preview all comments before letting them become public. I just want you all to know that I will be publishing all comments from friends and family, and even the occasional visitor that stumbles upon my blog as long as they are appropriate and relevant. (meaning: Keep on posting comments because all comments submitted so far - except the one this morning - have been just fine and welcomed.) Thanks for browsing! I always love to hear the nice things most people have to say!

Key Discommode

Okay. After today, I can officially say that I locked my keys in my car. Believe it or not, I have never before locked my keys in my car before now. I almost did once in high school, but the back gate of the Dodge Colt Vista I was so embarrassingly fortunate to drive to school was left unlocked. I climbed through and got them out of the ignition.

(The one I drove looked very similar to this one. Only mine was a light bluish grey color and a little less boxy, I think... It's hard to remember)

Today, Sarah's friend Parker and his sister were supposed to come over for a playdate. Nicole (Parker's mom) called and said that her car wasn't working and invited us over there instead. This was a nice suprise for Sarah because she had been begging to go to his house to play on thier new playground in thier backyard since we told her they got one. When we left the house, it was cloudy, but not raining. When we got ther (less than 10 minutes later) it was practically pouring. My story is that the rain threw off my routine. And that's why the keys were left in the ignition and locked in the car. You see, as I was unbuckling and letting four kids out of the car and making sure they got to the front door instead of playing in the chilly rain in the middle of the street, I neglected to remove the keys from the ignition of the Durango. I had a big diaper bag on my shoulder, my purse hanging from my elbow, and a baby girl in a heavy carseat on my arm while I was walking around the car closing doors. I was about to close the front passenger door and lock it with our clicker (which is normally hooked to the strap of my purse with the black climbing hook) when I decided, rather than reach around and fish for the clicker in the pouring rain while carrying a total of about 50 pounds, that I would just lock it with the button on the door. So I did. And we played and had fun for 3 1/2 to 4 hours before I realized that we couldn't get home. Nicole was such a good sport about letting us crash her house for almost 6 hours today. We all still had fun, even though naps were disrupted and it rained on the kids' playtime outside. I really owe them big time for saving the day in my moment of oblivion. I do have to say, though, that I'm so sooo grateful that it happened at her house istead of while we were shopping or at the park or something. I mean, I love shopping and all, but 6 forcible hours of it with 4 tired, hungry kids is definitely not at the top of my list of life goals. The park may have been slightly better, but I still can't imagine 6 hours of it with no shelter, no real food and no boundaries! Imagine trying to keep 4 explorative kids corralled for 6 whole hours by myself! Thank you Nicole!! I swear: I'll never do it again!(It's not the most flattering picture, I know. But this is how I felt today!)

Have you ever locked your keys in your car? Do you know what Discommode means? (and no, it does NOT have anything to do with a toilet!)

Fun in the Sunday

I'm not one to usually enjoy Sundays much these days. It's more of a stressful and busy day than an sacred, relaxing day of worship. Naps get disrupted. Church is less than uplifting and edifying. Meals get put off until a later time. Schedules and routines are devoid. Crankiness is prevalent. That's what becomes commonplace with four young children who have yet to learn the concept of reverence and respect for the Lord during church and especially Sacrament Meeting.

Lately, Sarah is obsessed with Guitar Hero. She constantly enjoins us to "play the guitar game." She has learned the lyrics to many of the songs. Playing that game remains incessantly on her mind. Case in point: We were sitting in the pew during the passing of the Sacrament on Sunday, when Sarah softly begins singing, "I-I-I... Wanna Rock n' Roll All Ni-i-ight. And Party Ev-er-y Day!" What can I do? She's our little musician.

Audrey is getting more mobile now, which proves difficult in Church because she's not near old enough for nursery yet and Jeff has to have her throughout sunday school and priesthood meeting. She's usually hungry by the end of Sacrament meeting and is very restless until she gets a bottle. Usually, Jeff has Alex and Lucas on his lap, and I have Audrey on mine with Sarah right beside me. It's a busy day, but at least everyone has a chance to dress up nicely and look their most darling! Here's Audrey's Sunday attire this week (she's wearing her favorite pink sparkly shoes):

And here's mine (not my most darling, but I have makeup on for the first time since mid-week!):

This one's courtesy of Jeff: