The Hunt for the Leprechauns

I was cruising around Facebook today and came across Ellen's Ireland giveaway. No-I won't post the link because if you enter my chance of winning goes down...
It says to tell them our story and I immediately thought of Ashlyn's attempt to catch a leprechaun.

Well for those of you who know Ashlyn, you know that her FAVORITE holiday is Leprechaun Day.
Last summer, my neighbor Taylor came over to babysit Ashlyn for me. When I came home, they showed me the Leprechaun House they had built in the backyard. This house withstood a lot of windy and rainy days. It actually stayed up for 2 months. We had the girls who mow the lawn mow around it.

Here is a picture of the house and a video explaining what she was up to...

Shocker...It's ME!

So I have been having major guilt for not continuing with my goal of keeping a journal (blog in this case) and after browsing through my friends blogs today, I have decided to make it a priority. Facebook can wait...life is passing me by.

The main reason I stopped blogging was because I was feeling overwhelmed having to blog every event. Well I've definietly gotten that out of my system and I'll just do the best I can :) And I'll see if I can catch up the past year (eek!) it's gone by fast!



So to start...I'll put up my new purchase that makes me laugh every time I see it...

If You Give a Mom a Toilet Wand...

If You Give a Mom a Toilet Wand
The Mom's Version of "If you give a Mouse a Cookie"




If you give a Mom toilet wand, she's going to want to clean the toilet. As she's cleaning the toilet she will find her daughter's dirty underwear secretly hidden in back. (Like I would never find it WAY back there!) The dirty underwear will remind her that she needs to switch the laundry from the washer to the dryer.

As she goes to throw away the lint from the dryer, she will notice that the garbage is full. She will want to take it out. As she's taking the garbage out, the phone will ring. She will answer it and find it to be a $##% Tele-marketer. Hearing the annoying recording will prompt her to Google the "Do Not Call List" on her computer.

Sitting in front of her computer will make her want to check her email. She might get carried away and also check on her friends' blogs...and their friends' blogs...and their friends' blogs.....

Time going by will make the sleeping baby upstairs wake up and want to be fed. Hearing the baby cry will shock Mom back into reality and make her realize she has been on the computer too long.

She will pick up the sweet baby and feed him. Feeding the baby will remind Mom that she is VERY thirsty, so she will probably ask for a big glass of water.....and chances are, if she drinks all that water....she is going to have to go to the bathroom!!....(didn't I start cleaning that darn toilet this morning!?)

This is SO my life right now!

I'm back...again!

So I promise I will update this thing! I need to do a month in review! But for now I wanted to share a new blog that was forwarded to me. So if you need new recipe ideas here you go: http://therecipesociety.blogspot.com/

All in a day...

Cole's cousin had this on her blog and I just had to share. Besides, I love Hilary Weeks!

Hilary Weeks--Favorite Things!

My favorite things too!

Fun times in Denver

We have been having a great time in Denver! Yes, we miss Daddy! Here are a few snapshots of things we have been up to. Blowing bubbles and playing with Madi

David and Kristin with Ashlyn and Madi on their shoulders. The girls thought this was hilarious.

Laughing Cousins

Swimming with Mom. We are getting quite the tans!

Ashlyn posing for the camera. She has discovered the kiddie pool and LOVES the fact that she can stand in it and Mom doesn't have to be right next to her. She is definitely a fish out of water.

We have been to a few movies as well. We went to see UP, it was darling! Ashlyn didn't make a peep during the movie and she enjoyed her kids pack of Sprite and popcorn.

I went with my cousin Missy to see "The Proposal", this movie is hilarious! We loved it so much, we stayed and watched it again. It was just as good the second time as the first! If anyone wants to go see it, I'm in!

We have also been shopping. Here is a picture of my new purse and wallet. They are Vera Bradley. I had never heard of her before, but they start to grow on you. When I first walked in I thought, "Oh, I'm not going to get one. I don't really care for any of them" The store and patterns were a bit overwhelming, but as I looked around I found one that I really liked. So I caved and bought it!

So there's an update of what we have been doing. I have loved just hanging out and taking Ashlyn Swimming. We have both had a great time!

Ashlyn and Time-out

My sister reminded me of this event that happened while we were in San Diego. We were at the Wild Animal Park and Ashlyn was throwing dirt so after a few warnings I put her on a bench in time-out. Well my Dad came over and sat on the bench by Ashlyn and she turned to him and said, "Papa are you in time-out too for not listening to Grammy?" It was pretty funny but it didn't get her out of her time-out. :)

100 Posts Already??

You read that right!! We are at 100 posts! Wow what do I say? Should I have written a speech? Hmmm...let me think.

Well first, the San Diego Highlights will resume once I return home to my computer and pictures. Right now Ashlyn and I are vacationing in Denver. We are having a great time swimming and napping and swimming and...you know, the typical vacation! Today we went and saw the movie Up! It was darling and funny. I recommend it.

So for our 100th post I'm going to give you some of the latest Ashlyn'isms. Here goes:

*See my cute little bum?

*It's my birthday in Octover

*There's the Tick Tock (clock)

*Wanna wear your Frocs? (Crocs)

*Mom, I like Rabirovis.

*Hold on a minute, geez Woman--this usually results in a time out.

*Is that a good idea?

*What doin' guys?

*Look at me Mom...then she pulls funny faces

*It's hot...whew!

*Is it in your belly button?

*I have a big idea!

*I just met a new friend

*She's my best friend in the whole wide world

*Dad, what you do at work?

*Hijah--as she kicks her leg in the air

*Give me a rock--rock fist

*She will say something and then say, Naaaahhh.

*I just kid about it

*Oh! My bum made noise

*Ashlyn said..."You little rascal" and when Cole asked her who taught her that she said, "Heavenly Father"....Right.

Well that's about all I can remember for now. She's acting like a typical 2 year old. Not sharing, always asking Why?, not listening, ahh the joys. She is smart and a lot of fun as well. :)

Day 5--San Diego Zoo

Day 5: Part of us went to the San Diego Zoo. The others were too tired to go.

Wow what a place! This makes our zoo look like a homeless shelter. Paige, Cole, Linda, Ashlyn, Julie, and Kristin
This is one of the sculptures as you walk into the entrance of the Zoo. So cute!

We decided we would take the bus ride around the zoo. You see about 70% of the zoo this way. Then we were able to figure out what we wanted to see. Since we had already seen a lot of the African animals the day before, we decided to skip those areas of the zoo. It was a good thing, because in the 4 hours we were there, we wouldn't have had time to see everything!

Cole and Ashlyn on the top of the bus

The Polar Bear. He was very active, which was nice to see, because usually they are asleep.

Here is one of the two Panda Bears that they have. It was really cool to see them.

Julie, Ashlyn, and Paige on the Hippo

Meet Otis the Hippo

Peeking out to look at us

He is HUGE! This is Ashlyn "petting" the Hippo.

Just as we arrived at the Gorilla exhibit, they were taking in the cute baby gorilla. We got to see him, but didn't get to take a picture. Then they let out this big Silver back Gorilla.

My mom was telling us about the Sun Bears. They have an orange patch on their neck. My sister got a great picture, but as was stated in an earlier post, she has yet to share her pictures.

Look close...you can see the orange patch. These two cubs were SO active! They were climbing the trees and pushing each other down the branches. They were fun to watch.

A brown bear. It was great that all of the bears were awake!

As we were leaving this peacock was strutting around. The picture doesn't really do it justice. It was beautiful!

So there you have it! Our day at the San Diego Zoo. What an amazing place.

Sea World!

I hadn't been to Sea World since I was 12. It sure has changed a lot! We had a great time.

Shamu

A Walrus

The Starfish Pond

Uncle Ryan helping Ashlyn get a starfish

Ashlyn Holding a Starfish. She thought that was pretty cool.

Waiting for the show to start...

We had so much fun going to the different shows and seeing all of the different animals.

By the afternoon, the majority of the group left to go back to the house leaving Cole, Ashlyn and me to explore the rest of the park. I'm glad we stayed, we had so much fun going to the shows and playing in the Sesame Street Playland.

We ended our night with another show of the Shamu Family Whales.

Day 4 of San Diego

Ok so I promised I would continue to blog about our trip to San Diego last month. The 4th day we were there, we went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. It is HUGE!! 1800 acres with 900 of it developed. If you walk the whole park (which we did) it is over 3.5 miles. So here are some of my favorite pictures from the day. I know someone has a picture of all of us arriving at the park, but no one has bothered to share their pictures yet (except for me of course)!

Here is Timone the meerkatThis is Ashlyn and a little girl she decided to make friends with for all of 30 seconds, then it was time for us to move on.
Here is a view of part of the park. They have set it up as a natural habitat for the animals.


Ashlyn waiting in line for the African Safari Train

My family on the train. Some people are blocked by poles.

Ostrich Eggs. Apparently Ostriches aren't too concerned about predators eating their young.

The Rinos

The Giraffes. While we were on our tour the animals were spooked by a new "ride" the park had just opened. It was the mule ride and the animals saw them coming down the hill and didn't know what they were so they all started running. I've never seen a giraffe run, it was pretty cool.

Feeding the ducks. My brother is pointing to a odd looking duck. See the next picture.

I've never seen a duck like this.

This is my mom's favorite animal. No your eyes are not playing tricks on you. This is a Okapi from Africa. It has the bum of a zebra, body like a horse, and a head and tongue like a giraffe. It's the weirdest animal I've ever seen.

The lions have taken over this Range Rover

We saw this mommy duck and her 5 babies as we were eating lunch. Aren't they the cutest little fur balls you have ever seen?

Next we went to the Elephant area. It was so cool! They had about 12 elephants including 2 babies. The elephants decided to play in the water. It was fun to watch them be so active.

This is a 3 month old baby. Too Cute!!

There's a sneak peek of the Wild Animal Park. We all had a fun time.