Crown Center

Miracle of miracles....I have posted on the blog! Hooray! (problem is I think everyone has probably given up on me by now) : )

We went to downtown KC for our annual Christmas tradition of visiting Crown Center, seeing the Mayor's Christmas tree, and getting some of the most delicious fudge!

We had a good time although it was crazy busy. We also got to see the gingerbread house display. Here's a few pictures from our adventure.

outside on the play tractor underneath the tree

Mayor's Christmas Tree

The fountains were beautiful too!

Sparkly.... : )

Our attempt at a family picture

Crown Center

At the Crayola store standing by her "matching color" as she says...

Watching them make fudge at Chips Chocolate Factory...free samples? umm...yes please!

This was a great brass quartet playing Christmas carols

The gingerbread display

The kids loved the train that went around the whole display.

Our Little Man

Asher doesn't get much press on this blog it seems, I'm too busy kissing those chubby cheeks and keeping his busy hands away from things to get much writing done. But, I wrote down a few things he's doing right now for me to remember. We sure love him. He's our little sunshine. Always happy and good-natured ( well not always, but you get the idea) : ) So here's what he's been up to lately at almost 17 months.


: if you'd love a sloppy, open mouth kiss just tell him "Kiss, Kiss!" and he'll be happy to oblige

: I also must kiss him a lot ( who can blame me?) because he makes a mmmm-mah kissing sound whenever I come near his cheeks

: He still loves his binky and blanket ( although we're trying to break him of the binky)

: Anything he wants he points and says "neh-neh"

: If I don't respond to that he takes my hand and leads me wherever he wants me to go

: This boy loves to be outside and cries whenever I bring him back in. He also loves playing in the basement

: He's been walking on his tiptoes lately

: He is just the right height to get into the kitchen trash...which of course he loves to do

: He loves to help me wipe up things and sweep

Our little chef

: Likes to sit on his little spot on the fireplace hearth

: His favorite pastime is annoying his big sister by endlessly turning off the tv and changing channels. He also likes to bang on the computer keyboard, and if you're not quick enough he'll erase all of you "favorites" in your bookmark folder. : )

: He says hi to everyone and does an open hand "beauty queen" kind of wave. He is very friendly

: He loves Daddy's toy helicopter and goes looking for it in our bedroom

: Likes to sit at the "big kid" table

: He can make an entire room a complete mess in no time flat, he has a gift.

: He is into everything and must explore EVERYTHING! Explore= take out and throw on the floor behind him ( see above ) : )

: He LOVES puppy dogs and likes to bite on his toy puppy's noses for some reason

: My awesome eater had now turned into a pickier eater than even Aubrey! curses!

: He loves to spin when he dances

: He's gone down to one nap a day (sigh...)

: He loves to get on the couch and be crazy

: He's your man if you need a high-five

Rockin' the hand-me-down pink cupcake bib

He loves to read books

Loves playing with his sister

We put them to work young around here

School Days

Some of Aubrey's friends started school today, and not being one to miss out on the fun, Aubrey and I had a little "school" of our own today. Asher helped us do a patterns worksheet and then we worked on writing her name while he was down for a nap.

She got tired of writing letters freehand so I pulled out an old elementary ed. trick and got out the shaving cream. She had a blast! Then we printed out a personalized worksheet online to trace. I also mixed up some butterfly cutouts with the letters of her name on them and she would put them back in order. We had fun on our little school day : )

Cabin Fever

We've had had an extreme heat advisory here almost everyday for the past three weeks. We're dying! Temperatures today reached 107 without adding the heat index making it soar to 115!

The kids and I have just been great big blobs inside the house. It's too hot to do anything. I walk outside and immediately start sweating and you can feel yourself getting a sunburn on the way to the mailbox : ) I love summer and all, but we're having to stay inside as much as we do in winter and I'm not down with that. The kids get so flushed and sweaty the second we get outside that I've taken to only taking them out after dinner if we want to play.Even then last night it felt so pleasant, but it was still 95. It does cool off in the 80's at night though, but our AC has been running non-stop. (Good thing we got a new one last year, huh?). So sorry I haven't posted, I haven't done much of anything. : )

Anyone else have summer-induced cabin fever too?

Happy 29th Birthday!

Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you even though you're getting old. : ) Enjoy the last year of your 20's!

Love,

Kristen, Aubrey and Asher

Happy Father's Day

To my partner in crime, the love of my life, father of the year, and the cutest guy at the tea party...Happy Father's Day! We love you : )

Happy Father's Day to my own loving dad and father-in-law too. We love you!

Wedding Bells

My brother David came to visit Memorial Day weekend with his girlfriend Brittney ( they met at BYU-Idaho) and he proposed! They're getting married the end of August. Aubrey loves Brittney already and so do we : )

Brittney just graduated in Elementary Education and is doing her student teaching in Utah. David is doing an construction management intership in Texas. Poor things will be apart their whole engagement, except for a weekend to take engagement pictures and register, and then they'll meet up again to get married at the end of the summer. After that they'll head off to BYU-I again for David's last semester.



They're getting married in the St. Louis temple with a reception in Independence and her hometown in Michigan. David proposed to her in front of the soon-to-be completed Kansas City Temple. He went to pick out a pretty spot, but only made it about 5 feet from the car before he couldn't wait any longer and had to get down to propose : ) We're excited for them and happy to add a new member to our family soon.

Too close for comfort

This picture was in the newspaper today and my mom emailed it to me. First off, notice the freaky funnel cloud? Now see that house in the background? Move about 50 feet to the right and there's OUR HOUSE! Turns out we had a closer call than I thought!!

Taking a turn up tornado alley...

I just spent the last hour in the basement with the kids during a tornado warning.

I remember being in similar situations as a kid, and thinking they were exciting and interesting, but not so much when I had to little ones to think of and care for! I was talking with my sister and checked my email where I saw a weather alert for a tornado warning for our area and we were instructed to take cover.

I heard the sirens minutes later and hurried to put on my running shoes and grabbed Asher out of his crib ( he was asleep for a nap) and took the kids downstairs. Luckily we have a pretty decent spot in our basement with a large alcove that is underground cement walls on 3 sides with a steel beam across the top. That's where we keep our emergency supplies. We also have a large area rug down there and toys for the kids, so I got them situated and then ran back upstairs to very quickly grab a few essentials ( blanket, binky, diapers, wipes, jackets, shoes for aubrey, and change of clothes for Asher).

I couldn't get ahold of any of my family or Steve, but was able to get through to my sister in Utah despite intermittent service. She was a good support and was able to keep me updated. I stayed calm but Aubrey sure didn't like the sirens and wanted to know why there was "a tornado in this world". She kept insisting we go outside for a walk after the rain ended. : ) Asher was good for most of it, but got whiny towards the end because it was time for him to eat/missed nap, etc. But the sirens eventually stopped and we ventured up to patches of sunny sky. I guess there are more storms to come though...

A tornado actually touched down one main road away from my mom's work. Steve had to take shelter at his work, and my brother and his wife were in their basement was good-sized hail coming down. We didn't get much more than a good soaking but it was still nerve-wracking with the sirens constantly going off! The heaviest part of the storm ( that was producing the funnel clouds) was reported as being in Oak Grove, the next exit down from ours and heading 25 mi an hour in our direction, but somehow it missed us and went North of us I guess. What a blessing. I started doing a home inventory last night, but maybe I should beef up my efforts?! Anyway, definitely an "exciting" afternoon.

Cinco De Mayo and 5/5/05!

(college days)

(day before our wedding)

(Missouri reception)

(Daddy seeing Aubrey for the first time)

(Adding Asher to the mix)

6 years

2 kids

4 jobs

2 degrees

4 states

7 moves . . .

2 lucky people still in love!

I love you Steve!

Happy Anniversary : )