Love in the air

We love to stretch out holidays around here, so why not Valentine's Day? We started last week with a fun hair-do for Clouburst (I found it here):
I don't usually do too much to her hair because of her beautiful curls, but this was fun. A few days later we had just a couple friends over and made some Valentine's cards.
The kids have a Valentine's Corduroy book that we read and followed (we made Valentines and then had cupcakes). We are still finding sparkles on the floor but it was fun!
On February 12 Cloudburst's school had a special pageant to honor President Lincoln's 200th birthday.
The gym was packed and Sunshine and Tornado had a great time running around in the back with all the other boys. They have no trouble making friends wherever they are.
And then it was time for Cloudburst and her class to dance the Virginia Reel! In this clip, Cloudburst and her partner are the head couple.



Now, a little trip into the past...................... about 6 years ago, Thunder and I planted a tree next to our house in Idaho Falls. After planting the tree and running errands, my wedding ring was lost! I searched high and low, made dozens of phone calls and tearfully told Thunder that I couldn't find it. Since then I've worn a lovely ring that my grandmother gave to me before she passed away. That is, until a few days before Valentine's Day, Sunshine came over to me with a small box and asked "will you marry me?" And inside was this!

I just love it!

For the actual day of Valentine's Day, we were able to drive up to our friend's ranch. What a nice break! R and M have a beautiful cabin in a stunning setting up in Idaho. Snow-covered hills stretch out as far as you can see, and it's wonderfully peaceful and quiet.
Thunder took all of us on a ride on a snowmobile and everyone took turns sledding and enjoying the outdoors. Cloudburst studied the snowflakes and noticed how beautiful they were up close....
Sunshine just preferred to eat it.....
and throw it. R and M also have two kids and they all played very well together. M is also preggo, about 2 months ahead of me, so we waddled around together. We had a great time, so thanks for some great memories!

The snow... and some lovely visitors

So today was a CaRAZY drive to school. Since Cloudburst is at a charter school, I have the lovely privilege of dragging everyone off in the car around 7:30 am. Today it was snowing again, but we have dealt with lots of snow, right? I learned to drive in the east, where we had ice storms and blizzards all the time. Hey, I even used to drive with my windshield frosted over (remember those fun times Amanda/Becca?), so a little snow should be no problem, right?

This is my lovely Nissan Quest. I really do like this car. But today, she couldn't quite make it up the hill to school. Cloudburst's school sits atop a fairly steep hill (behind the Timpanogos Temple, for those of you familiar with Utah). We started up the hill, and about half way up, the car in front of me started fishtailing, making me step on my brake. That was it. No more momentum. We were stuck- half way up the hill. "Go mom, why are you stopping?" Gee thanks kids... why don't I just go, it's just a little snow right? I figure I can't make it up the hill, so proceed to back up to turn around. I get stuck a bit more, and am now perpendicular to traffic. I can see the lady driving a Jeep behind me, and I just wave to her apologetically. I try to turn the wheel to turn to go down the hill, when the car starts sliding sideways down the hill. Towards that Jeep.
Ahhhhhhhhhh!
The jeep backed up a bit and I was able to get enough traction to turn and go down the hill. But I still had to get her to school. We drove all the way around to another road up the hill, a more traveled road (1100 East). We barely made it up this hill. I was on the side of the road, gaining traction from the new snow, getting slower and slower as we went up. By the end the kids and I were all shouting "go...go...go...GO!"
And then a big cheer at the top!
Cloudburst was about 15 minutes late, but she was not the only one. By the time school was over, all the snow had melted and the roads were clear. But what an adventure! Of course, Sunshine told me to try going down the slippery hill backwards. That would be fun, he said.


And here are a few random pictures of deer that have been in our back yard. We've seen them a few times poking around for food in the garden or on the bushes.
Now that the snow is melting we have discovered piles of poop around the whole yard!

Works for me!

While my 3 kids are in the next room vegging out from all throwing up this morning, I thought I would post some things that work for me. Ya know, some tricks of the trade I've learned.

Remember when we went through Sugar Detox and didn't eat sweets for a week? Turned out to be a good thing for our family. So now we have treats on Sundays and Mondays and no sweets during the rest of the week. There are exceptions for treats at school or special occasions, but for the most part, we are sweet-free. It's not too bad actually! We now have popcorn at night after dinner, and the kids love it.

And my new favorite jeans! Now that I'm 24 weeks, these are so comfortable that I wear them every day except laundry day. Seriously. The "Secret Fit" panel is like a giant spandex band that goes all the way around, with no tight elastic at the top. My mom-in-law found them at Kohl's and I have worn them all the time since Christmas!

And these are something else I wear almost every day... support socks (for the lovely vericose veins popping up on my legs) and $5 crock shoes from Wally World (=Wal-Mart). I was wearing red crocks every day until I found these normal-looking shoes. I just don't want to bend over anymore to put on shoes. Sometimes I wear them around the house when my feet hurt.

I put a gallon-sized ziploc bag into my diaper bag for miscellaneous trash and wrappers. That thing really gets used during church... and makes a great place to stash a nasty diaper when we're out.

And my new favorite place! DinnerMarket makes fresh meals that they then freeze and deliver to your house. It works out to be $11 per dinner for us. With the time I've put in for accounting and taxes lately (not to mention the kids), it's so nice to pull a dinner out of the freezer when we need it.

Sledding!

***First a note to all Spaghetti Factory lovers: Tomorrow is the last day of their 40th Anniversary celebration, which includes 40% off many of their entrees. Their adult meals are about $5 and kids meals are around $2 and all meals include ice-cream.
Anyway, back to sledding. We had a favorite spot up on the mountain by Cedar Hills, but this year they had it all blocked off. Well, I guess it did go over a tiny part of the golf course... so we ended up at a city park in Lindon.

It was pretty fun. The hills were not too big and the kids even played on the swing set while we were there. Someone had been thoughtful enough to build a jump half way down the hill... about 10 feet in front of a big pole. Let's think things through, people! But Sunshine still managed to get some great air off that jump! Thunder tried to find another steep spot on the hill, and just about cracked his head open to protect Sunshine when they both flew off the sled together.

Cloudburst decided that she wanted to do the monkey bars, even though it was about 15 degrees outside. She tried a few times, cried and got really upset and I told her it was OK to wait until summer! But she had it in her head that she MUST DO THE MONKEYBARS. So she tucked her hands inside her coat to warm them up, took a big breath and scooted across every last bar as fast as she could. I thought she was crazy, but was proud of her for sticking with it!

"Happy Inauguration Day"

We've been talking a lot lately about the President of the United States and how it changes every four years. We practiced saying the word "inauguration" and the kids all recognize President Obama. In fact, they think his name is fun to say. I volunteer at Cloudburst's kindergarten class on Tuesdays (thanks Bethany for helping with Tornado!) and the entire school watched President Obama take the Oath of Office. Pretty neat, considering her school is called the Lincoln Academy. What a marvelous celebration of American democracy.


Today Sunshine walked into preschool and told his teacher "Happy Inauguration Day!" She asked him if he knew what that meant, and he said Barack Obama is the new president. Then she asked what he will do now that he's president. "Make us pay taxes."

Super Reader!

Cloudburst has found a new love. I've seen her with this love at 10:30 at night, in the car, on the couch, in bed, at the store, in the kitchen and on the floor.
She loves reading! She has really taken off with reading in the last few months. Her kindergarten teacher just did assessments and said she was "embarrassed" that she hadn't moved Cloudburst up on her reading level. She put her in the 2nd grade level Take Home Reader books and said she may finish ALL the take home readers that they have for elementary school by the end of the year. So that day we drove to the library and picked out a chapter book called "Junie B. Jones." This is a whole series of books, and the first one is called "The Stupid Smelly Bus." So a concerned Cloudburst said she would whisper one of those words. :-) She is also enrolled in a dance class and will resume gymnastics this week. I figure I need to get her a few more hair bows or something. After all she is surrounded by boys!

These are the boys, playing while Cloudburst is reading on the other couch. Sunshine has been really interested in history lately, asking all about Columbus, President Lincoln and the pilgrims. Those are the stories we tell when we are all in the car on the way to kindergarten. Lately he says he wants to be a baseball player and a doctor when he grows up. That's fine with us! And Tornado has entered the "why" phase of life. He is having real conversations now, and answering questions with real answers. He learning a ton of words and is a big jokester! He'll come in the room and just make a funny face or noise to get everyone to laugh.

Here is Thunder working on a rocket that Sunshine got for Christmas. It was quite the project to get it together, but flew so high and so far that we lost it! He is staying busy in the Bishopric at church and of course at work. He still gets up early every morning to exercise, which I cheer on from the comfort of bed.
And this is me with a new haircut! I got it cut at a friend's house (Marissa Armstrong) and she did great! I've been working on the books for work, and that has been consuming a lot of time. Quarterly taxes are coming up! I've been exercising three times a week and so far my hips have been pretty good. I am now 5 months pregnant and feeling pretty good. Then again, I was at a choir recording for a Jenny Phillips CD, and the producer asked me if I had a few weeks left before I deliver... hmmmmmm. No, 4 months buddy! My cousin Tera said we Ashdown ladies are all blessed with big pregnant bellies. In the scheme of things, not too big a price to pay for these cute little guys we get to take care of.

Little Fish

Snow? Ice? Wind? Blizzards? Slippery roads? Bone-chilling temperatures? Let's go swimming!

No, we were not recently on a flight leaving JFK. With the arrival of #4 approaching soon (well, not THAT soon, I guess... I still have 18 weeks left), I decided that it would be better to do swimming lessons now than wait for summer.
Poor Tornado had to spend most days watching while the bigger kids got to swim, but on the last day I put him in a life jacket and let him play in the shallow section (I watched from the side). Cloudburst and Sunshine also got to play at the end of their lesson. Nothing like a little chlorinated water to add some sunshine to a cold day!

DETOX

During Christmas we had an abundance of treats, candy, sugar, pies, cheesecakes and sweets.... Mmmm doesn't that just sound fabulous? In fact, the kids would wake up in the morning and ask for treats! And wouldn't quit asking until bedtime! And half the time they would find the stash on their own anyway! Great right?

No, no! We are trying to eat healthier now! This week we are ridding ourselves of our addiction to sugar. Really! We have gone since Saturday with no sugary treats at all. And we are eating a ton of fruit. The kids are doing alright. But this is torture for me! I'm prego, I should be able to eat whatever I want! Give me a cookie!

Actually, this is good for me (grrrrrrr). I am usually over the blood sugar limit on my glucose test during pregnancy, so the Doctor will probably restrict my sugar in a few weeks any way. And I must say, fruit is simply delicious. But we have a pack of Rolo's in the pantry that always stares at me when I go in there. I really should get rid of those....

Happy New Year, Baby!

We rang in the new year last night with a family sleep over and having our friends Ryan and Julie M. over today. The kids each have a pull-out couch that they hauled into our room along with blankets and pillows. Then we watched a cartoon Spider-Man marathon until the ball dropped! Well, at least the East coast one... I'm not that crazy! Dad was the first to fall asleep, a side effect of getting in to work early to get out early, and the last crazy one going strong at 11:30? Yes, 2 year-old Tornado. "Turn on Batman mama!" He thinks all superheroes are called Batman. I turned out the lights and he kept climbing on the other kids, coming over to my side of the bed and asking for "more Batman." So he ended up in bed. Ah boys.

Speaking of boys.......

It's a boy!
We took Cloudburst and Sunshine with us to the ultrasound. They both did great. Cloudburst was a bit upset that she's not getting a sister, until the words magically appeared on the screen "I love my sister!" The baby said "Hi" to Sunshine too and they were both amazed that the baby can already "speak English." Thanks to a great ultrasound tech!

Merry Christmas!

To start, here is a fun song by the kids with a great ending- I promise it's worth it!

Click here to hear it

We have been having a wonderful time with family and friends. Thunder's brother, wife and 2 kids arrived on Saturday and we had a great time talking and hanging out.

We also got a massive snowstorm and had to take advantage!
On Sunday, Thunder's parents drove in as well. We had a great time being together. It was so fun for our kids to play with their only cousins. Cloudburst and Sunshine had fun getting their baby cousin to laugh- what a cuddly, cute baby!
We celebrated Christmas early with Thunder's brother, since they had to fly out before Christmas Day.

On Tuesday, Thunder's brother left and my sister flew in from Texas. Since I am about half way along in my pregnancy, I can't do some of the fun games with the kids we used to do. Thank goodness Aunt J came to visit!


On Christmas Eve, we attended a Christmas Eve service at a Presbyterian church. Then we came home and read the Nativity story from the Bible. The kids kept begging Thunder to be the donkey. Why? "Because it has to be a boy, and Papa is the Wise Man." So, being the nice Dad he is, Thunder was the donkey...

...and, then Papa was the donkey too.
We ate a wonderful Christmas dinner today with Randall and Michelle (with a smoked turkey- you've gotta try that!) We feel so blessed to be surrounded by family and friends and wish you all a very

Christmas Festivities

We've been busy getting ready for family to come for Christmas. Today Thunder's brother and family arrived and it's been great! Now that our kids are getting older, we've seen an increase in fun activities we get to do and watch.

On Tuesday, Cloudburst had her first dance recital. She just began taking dance a few months ago, and she has fun with it. She doesn't always remember the right steps, but she has a good time!

On Wednesday, Cloudburst had a kindergarten Christmas program.

We worked many days to get ready for her to sing a solo! She sang "Santa Clause is Comin' to Town." Thunder got it on our video recorder, and I'm still figuring out how to get that onto our computer... but she did GREAT! No joke, she got the loudest applause, and that's not just the mom in me talking. :-) We were so proud of her.
All the kindergartners were so cute and did several really fun songs together. Cloudburst is in the upper right corner.

Cloudburst had a good friend in Springville and we were sad when we moved away... but now they go to the same school!

Happy Birthday Thunder!

I am now married to a 31 year old! Yes, yes, he robbed the cradle to marry his hot, young trophy wife who is still in her late 20's (and who happens to be getting fatter by the day, oh well). We love Thunder and thought you might want to know 31 things about him:

We ambushed his car at work

31. He keeps his car scrupulously clean (wish I did that)
30. He faithfully goes to the gym pretty much every day
29. He loves to eat Cheezits
28. He loves to watch football- go Cougs and USC!
27. He is the First Counselor in our ward Bishopric
26. He loves to sing around the house
25. He knows more people in our neighborhood than I do!

Thunder got this from work- absolutely delicious!

24. He likes to go snowboarding
23. He loves being a Dad
22. He can be very stubborn!
21. He did his first triathalon this year
20. He works harder than anyone I know (except maybe his Dad)
19. He is very well-spoken

The kids carefully used their allowance to get Daddy's birthday gift- gotta love the Dollar Store!

18. He loves to wrestle around with the kids
17. He is fiercely loyal to his family
16. He loves to play practical jokes on people
15. He has got the longest toes!
14. He is great at giving back rubs
13. He likes to make caramel popcorn and chocolate/caramel treats

The kids "helpfully" unwrapped the presents before they gave them to Thunder

12. His favorite thing to do is relax with the fam
11. He coached JV football last year, and really misses it
10. He owns a scooter and took a bad spill on it this summer
9. He loves to have his feet tickled and rubbed
8. He loves to give nose kisses to the kids
7. He tries to figure out his presents before his birthday or Christmas

Blowing out all those candles- might need the kids' help here too!

6. He puts his dishes in the dishwasher every time he eats
5. He likes to fish here in rivers and also deep-sea in Cali
4. He is very thoughtful for birthdays and anniversaries
3. He secretly loves being married to a nerd
2. He would do anything for anybody
1. His family adores him!

Happy Birthday, we love you!

Cali part deux

On Tuesday last week, we took the kids to see
and they totally loved it! We adults (Thunder, myself, Nana and Papa) also thought it was pretty good for a kids movie. I'm pretty sure they didn't really understand what was going on (it's kind of like The Truman Show but with a dog) but it had fun music and moved pretty fast. And I didn't catch any fart jokes, horray!

On Wednesday the Riverside Convention Center was hosting a free program called Stories with Santa. When we got there, they also had several crafts for kids to do and the entire outside of the room was lined with beautifully decorated Christmas trees.
We all had a great time together! Thunder's mom is always so great at finding fun activities like this to do with the kids.
We found some candy Legos in San Diego and the kids loved building and eating towers! Thanks for the tip Michelle!
So I am a nerd and did not get any actual pictures on Thanksgiving Day- the whole reason for our trip! We had a wonderful meal and a wonderful time. Thanks again Nana and Papa!