Pictures from Ashton's Birthday

Ashton had quite a birthday! Here are a few pictures from his big day!

All he wanted for his birthday was a laptop so that "he could study with Dad".

He was so excited when he opened his very own!

Every boy is so excited for the present opening no matter if it's their birthday or not!

Ashton couldn't come down from the stairs until all the presents were organized.

It's really hard to wait patiently, but he did it!

Word Travels Fast!

Well, the poll is officially over! 75% of you said I was having a girl and 25% said a boy. I really didn't have any thoughts either way. But today was the day of the ultrasound! And guess what everyone?! It's a .........girl! Can you believe it? Wow! I asked the lady if she was sure and she showed me how to tell. Amazing! Well, I will try to post ultrasound pictures when I get a chance, but life is busy, so hopefully it will be sooner than later.

Student of the Month

Calvin has a wonderful teacher, Ms. Lasse! She nominated him for Student of the Month for her class and he was honored in an assembly. He didn't know that was chosen and he didn't even see Ben and I walk in late to the assembly. So when they called his name I think he was pretty surprised. But Calvin's nature is to act "cool". So the whole time he stood there emotionless, but I knew that he was excited deep down inside. Everyone loves Calvin!

Above: He cracked a smile after it was all said and done. :)

This is what Ms. Lasse said about Calvin:

"I'm pleased to announce Calvin Richardson as my October Student of the Month. Calvin is an outstanding student and a great addition to our class. He's helpful, kind and considerate to both his peers and me. He's always eager to share his wonderful shell collection and willing to participate in all our class activities. Calvin is a super student and I'm extremely proud of him."

Happy Birthday Ashton!!

Today is Ashton's birthday! He is the big 5 today. He was so excited to have his birthday because he said that once he turns 5 years old, he will be bigger and smarter. I hope that his expectations are true for him. :) All he wanted for his birthday is a laptop. He sees Ben studying on his all the time and he said that he wanted to study too so he can be a scientist. That's what he says he's going to be when he goes to college. He is always conducting "experiments". So I found a laptop and he loves it. It's an educational one and doesn't really have any games. But he carries that thing around everywhere. When we walked the boys to school, he put the laptop in his backpack and rode his bike. Here are a few other things that you may or may not know about Ashton. He loves to go on bike rides. Everyday he asks Ben if they can go on a bike ride. He especially likes going on the hills in the golfcourse when it's getting dark and there aren't any golfers.
He loves practicing the drums that are on loan to us from my brother, John, while he is on his Mission. For his birthday dinner, the first thing that he said he wanted is a big turkey dinner, then he said macaroni and tomato and then finally he decided on a BBQ. Whew!

He loves to try to sound out words and spell them. He can already read a few books! He really, really loves the stories that his Dad tells to him at night. What can I say, Ben has a gift with telling stories. He also likes to study with Ben. He likes "reading" over textbooks. Especially the ones with no pictures he says. He was my fastest labor by far. He was born within 30 minutes of me walking into the hospital. He loves to take care of his little brother, Devin. Sometimes he may get a little rough, but he has good intentions. He always knows when I need a hug (even if I didn't know that I needed one!).

We are glad that Ashton is a part of our family!

We all love him and wish him the best during this next year!

My Savings...

For those of you who really know me, know that I love getting good deals! Especially living on a medical school budget. Well, I started using coupons again, and I mean really using them and I just wanted to share the super deals that I got! This is really exciting, so watch out! :) I went to Frys both times. One time yesterday (and saw a bunch of ladies from the ward) and then again with my mom today (and she got some super deals as well!

I spent $13.58 on the above picture.

I even bought mascara! I saved $77.18! $32 of that was in coupons!
This picture was yesterday. This was everything that I bought except the cilantro and serranos that I already put away (Ben made some excellent salsa by the way, he tried something new and it is delicious!) So I spent $3.96 and saved $58.22! $27 of that was coupons! Anyway, I was just so excited that I just had to share.
So my total spending was $17.54 and I saved $135.40! Yea!!!

Happy Halloween!

Our Ward had a Trunk or Treat. We had chili and hot dogs, carnival games and then the famous trunk or treat. The boys loved it!

Carson was Captain America, Ashton was Batman and Calvin was a Dragon.

Here are my pirates: Caleb and Devin. They are trying real hard to look tough!

Ben wore his dirt bike clothes. The boots are really made for walking so he was pretty sore after the night was over. I told him that it doesn't count as a costume if you wear it other times during the year. I was just happy that he dressed up at all. I'm usually the only one who wears the costume.

Here they are ready for the big night ahead of them...

And here am I. I was the cow. It was kind of awkward when little kids would come up to me and start milking me. :) The utters were just at their eye level, so what can I say!?

10 Year High School Reunion

Last month Queen Creek High School Class of '98 celebrated our 10 year Reunion.

It was alot of fun to see many of the people that we graduated with. There were about 80 people that graduated in our class and about 25 people showed up to the Reunion. We all ate at a resturant in Chandler and had fun talking. I am the one in the pink shirt. This is a picture of members of our class that were there. I was the one with the most kids (big surprise!!:) with 5 kids and 1 on the way. You should have heard the poeple gasp when they found out. It was really funny. Who would have known 10 years ago?

I'm not good at taking pictures, but I did manage to get Traci Hawley Fernandez to stop and smile with me. We'll just have to wait and see what the next ten years bring. (And you better be there Sally! ;)