Ashton!!!

This was so cute, I had to share!!

Update!

Hey there!   Here is what we have been up to.  It is a long one-so have a seat, and enjoy a good read!  I almost have Christmas done-YEAH!  We enjoyed a great weekend with all of Ryan's family here for a cousins wedding.  The weather was nice, at least for us Utahns, it was still too cold for the Vegas folks.  We had yummy Texas Roadhouse (the best ribs ever) and enjoyed a fun girls only, no kids shopping trip.  

This pic kind of tells you where we have been with Ashton lately.  Sorry, I know it is gross, I have to wipe it.  Well this picture is actually from a few weeks ago after playing on the playground.  He got over this a while back.  However, last Tuesday morning he woke up with a little cough, and by the afternoon he had a horrible fever.  No medicine would get it down, so Wednesday morning I took him into the pediatrician, who checked the usual-lungs, ears, throat, nose.  Decides it is just a cold.  I take my child who screamed the entire time in the doctors office home-he knows what happens there (SHOTS!)  He rests, we still can not get the fever down, until Thursday night.  The medicine will at least take it down for a few hours.  Friday and Saturday were pretty good.  I got to go out with the girls for dinner and to see the movie Twilight.  I loved it!  I asked Ryan if he would go with me to see it again, I got a big fat NO!  Ash's fever is gone, especially when alternating Motrin and Tylenol, just a little cough and pretty happy.  I mean the few days earlier he would get mad if Annika even looked at his cars, so this was a HUGE improvement.  Sunday morning, the fever is back.  Still really high after doses of medicine, so I decide to take him into quick care that night.  She checks everything.  She even takes an x-ray of his lungs.  Have you ever seen how they do that for little kids?  He is literally stuck in a plastic tube with his hands above his head, screaming so they can get the most air inhaled to take the shot.  Meanwhile I stand there, wondering if I am going to lose it, or try to stay strong for my kid.  I survived!  She takes a look at the pics, and says he just has a little cold, he will get better soon, but will call if the radiologist sees something else.  Well, Monday I had an appointment at the car dealership.  We got our brakes done there in June, and they have been making noises ever since.  I have stopped by before, but they can not duplicate the noise.  Do they think I make this up, or what?  I have two kids.  Do you think I like to come to the dirty repair shop and sit around for hours and make up problems with my car?  Whatever!  This time, I decided to wait around until the hear it, me driving, them, whatever.  Well, the tech heard something-YEAH!  What a relief, I am not crazy!  I did make sure to find a seat right by all the service advisors for over an hour to let them know that me and my annoying toddler were not leaving until I was satisfied.  So, they replaced my brakes for free!  YEAH, finally got that accomplished.  Well, I get home and the fever is gone for Ash.  I think the cold is gone.  I decided to go to Grandma's party (more on that later) that night, but I did not want to bring Ashton because he still has that cold.  So, I was going to drop him off at Ryan's work and they would head home, and then Annika and I could go alone to the party.  Well, on the way there, I received a phone call from the quick care saying that the x-rays did show Ash has pneumonia.  It is almost a relief.  After a week of a sick, wining child, spending many nights in bed with him, I was kind of happy to have an answer and a way to get him better.  So, we started him on antibiotics last night, and today, the fever is already gone.  I am hopeful he will continue getting better, and that none of the rest us of get sick now, so we can keep our Thanksgiving plans.

This pic is for Papa, because he got Annika started collecting PEZ's and has bought most of them for her.  Except now he can not remember which one's she has, so we decided to take a photo.  On Sunday she laid them all out.  She had a blast sorting them all.  She is up to 78!  WOW!  I had parent teacher conference for her last week.  I have to brag-she is reading at a first grade level, and her teacher called her the sight word queen.  She did well in everything.  I am so proud of her.  She even said she did not talk too much in class, which made me very happy.  In her progress report, Annika said that her favorite part of school is recess, she is good at cleaning her room without being asked (most of the time) and that she wants to get better at ballet!  What a cutie!

The other night we wanted to go see a movie, but instead decided we should just buy one for the same price, that we could watch over and over again, and have movie night as a family on the sofa bed with popcorn (of course not microwave, for you Ken, although it was yellow kernels) and julius.  Ashton was too cute in front of the big bowl of popcorn eating as much as he could and getting even more on the floor.  We had fun watching WALL-E!

Annika and I had the chance to go to my cute Grandma's 88th birthday last night and see lots of family.  I never lived close to my extended family growing up, and we usually saw them on holidays.  But, after living in Idaho for 2 years, and now Utah, we get to see cousins, aunts and grandparents so much more.  Less, of our immediate family though, and that is sad.  This outfit is what happens when your dad is a sucker for his kids, a sweet girl becomes girly in a Justice store, and they are having a huge sale.  She turned into such a diva wanting to try everything on, and acting WAY too grown up.  Last night on the drive home, she told me about how her best friend at school gave another girl a ring and not her, and then told me about how hurt her feelings were, and that she never wanted to be friends with her again.  We talked it over, and they are still going to hang out.  But, it reminds me of how big she is getting.  I am trying hard to keep her little and innocent for as long as possible.  I can not stand the thought of my babies growing up.  

And today . . . I am conquering the laundry so we can get ready for Thanksgiving!  This is only 2 of the numerous loads I have to do and put away today, UGH!

Hey there!

Well, not much is new with us, just kind of busy living life.  We have been busy getting ready for the holidays and enjoying the last of decent weather.  Ryan spent a week in Detroit for training, so that meant one long week of not much sleep for me.  I do not know why, but I have a hard time sleeping without him home.  I do miss him a ton when he is gone.  I stay busy going into Annika's classroom once a week, and then once a week, I watch another lady's children to swap for Ashton when I go in.  So, that keeps my on my toes.

This year for Halloween, we had a witch and a cow.  We enjoyed a community trick or treating event, a school carnival, ward trunk or treating and regular trick or treating.  Talk about a lot of dressing up and even more candy.  I got all 4 wisdom teeth pulled out on Halloween and my mom and dad came up to help me with the kids.  They got rained on as they went around for candy later that night.  Fortunately, I did not swell, so I do not have any good pics from the teeth removal.  I am still on a diet of soft foods like yogurt, noodles, mashed potatoes and Jello-YUM!  I am really getting sick on drinking ENSURE for breakfast.  I feel like an old lady with bad teeth.  But, this is the last step of my dental overhaul, so I will be happy when I am all healed and can have teeth that are not broken and do not hurt anymore-YEAH!  Here are the pictures of my cute kids.  Until next time . . . . . . .

Us!

This past weekend we had our first official snowfall of the season.  It has been REALLY cold ever since.  We got snow Saturday and Sunday and now on Monday, it is all pretty much melted, except for some in the mountains.  Here comes Winter.  Here is what else we have been up to.

Annika competed in the Reflections competition at school recently.  This is an art competition.  She chose to do a painting project.  It is so hard as a parent to sit there and not help.  Even though I have a hard time believing that some of the winners did it with no help!  She was glad she got a Participant ribbon.  The theme this year was "WOW".  As you can tell Annika painted a person out playing on a slide.  Her comment that explained her drawing and to go along with the theme was, "Wow!  Recess is so pretty with the outside sky in it."

I gave Ashton a real haircut the other day all by myself.  I hate paying to get the kids' haircuts, though sometimes it is necessary.  By a real haircut, I mean one that is not just buzzed and one length all the way around-my typical for him.  This time I borrowed an attachment from a friend that layers by itself around the ears, so that helped a lot too.  I think it turned out cute, and I found Garnier putty and hairspray together will actually keep the top standing up.  Now I tell him in the morning it is time to get your hair pretty, he comes and we style it for the day.  He looks so handsome even though once again he is not smiling in his picture.  He is starting to talk a lot.  He loves INE-INE (Einsteins), Manna (Handy Manny) and Ni-Ni (Mickey Mouse).  We watch a lot of Playhouse Disney in the morning to keep him quiet while Annika gets ready for school, and me for the day.  He can say "I Love You" with some help.  He is also good at-car, ball, please, sorry (it is always high pitched), mom, dad, ka(short for Annika), grandma, grandpa and many more.  He is good at sounds too-like animal and truck sounds.  

So, this time of year, I always get the sewing bug.  I do not claim to be good, I just enjoy trying to follow instructions, and come out with something good at the end.  I have made ugly things in the past, a REALLY bad apron, and the pajama pants I am working on right now for myself are not that great either.  But, I have been working on homemade Christmas gifts, yes starting now.  Ask any of my family, Ryan and I always start early, and try to be done before the craziness begins.  I like to enjoy the holidays home wrapping gifts, sipping hot cocoa, and since we moved up north-not going out when you slip on the ice and the roads are covered in snow.  So, I have been looking at this machine a lot lately, cutting late at night, and pricking my fingers a ton.  I am not going to share what I am working on, because some blog readers might be getting those as gifts.  I never thought I would make homemade gifts, but now I enjoy it.  They are actually turning out pretty good this year too.  YEAH!

Where Have We Been?

Well, where have we been?  Nowhere really.  Just living a busy life.  Ryan is in a new department at work and is working the night shift.  He works noon-9PM, comes home, studies for his huge upcoming test with a 15% pass rate, until like 2 or 3 AM, then he wakes up at like 10 or 11, gets ready and is off to work again.  I feel more like a single mom then ever, and am doing soccer games, trips to Costco, ward parties and more without him.  That is big for me, I do not like going to things like that without him, with 2 kids.  Annika just had her first track break, we filled it with a tour of the Sweet's candy factory, lots of Wii playing, last trips to the waterpark before it closes for the winter, playdates, and library trips.  I also baby-sat two older kids during the break, and 4 kids is a lot of work.  We are staying busy with life and here is a little of what has been going on.  

Annika started soccer.  It is so much fun to watch.  Some of the kids really get it.  Others, like Annika do not.  She stays in the back of the pack and turns her shoulder away from the ball when it is coming to her.  She can not kick it unless it is at a dead stop and the other day she asked me if they made shin guards for the whole body.  I am glad she is at least getting the chance to learn and play a little bit, but she does much better cheering from the sidelines.  She is really getting into music and I think we will start her up in ballet again after this.  I think that is more her thing.  She is so funny about songs.  Ryan is convinced she will be the girl who knows all the old music and we are doing our best to share that with her.  She asked me the other day if she could go to the Metallica concert coming to town.  She loves their songs.  Her two new favorite songs are Coldplay's-Viva La Vida, and Violet Hill which she sings along to.  She also loves Let it Die from Foo Fighters and lots of the Weezer songs too.  We love it!

Here she is at soccer!

Here she is getting her cast off, finally.  I am relieved that at least it was a water proof cast, so it did not slow us down too much.  She would not use her arm for the first 2 days, but now we are back to normal.

And, my Ashton.  My little guy is growing up so quick.  He is a crack-up to be around, everyone just laughs at him.  He has such great energy.  We went to an indoor pool with some friends the other day, and Ashton did the slide so many times, he could barely walk up the stairs anymore.  He would get up to the top, get dazed and confused, click back in and slide down and swallow more water.  He is talking a ton, but his favorite thing to say, or rather yell I should say is, "Go, Go!".  He is starting to ride Annika's old Radio Flyer trike everywhere and is such a doll with his daddy's smile.  He just had another ear infection, so bad that we had to go straight for the shot antibiotic so his eardrum did not rupture again.  He and I literally did not sleep on Sunday night.  We went for a drive at 2AM, and ate marshmallows and watched "Little Einsteins" at 3AM.  It was not a fun night.  This is his fourth infection in 10 months.  If we get one more before the end of the year, it will probably mean tubes for him, let's hope that does not happen.

This is frequently how Ashton wakes us up in the morning.  He plays in his room for a bit,and  knocks on the door, that he closes when he wakes up.  We open it and he has his dump truck full of as many cars, blankets and binkies it will hold, and he rolls it out, ready to play for the day.  The kid is insane with cars.  He lines them up and hides them behind the pillows on our couch.

A few weeks back we visited a get to know your city fair for Riverton, where we live.  Everything was free and they had big shredders to get rid of stuff.  That was nice because I had been holding on to stuff for years.  We brought boxes of old paperwork to save our little home shredder.  The kids had fun with free food, candy, games, inflatable toys and more. Later that night we went to a BBQ at some friends' house with awesome dutch oven and ribs-YUM!

Here is Ashton on the fire truck.  He loved going inside, seeing all the old cars on display and sitting in all the tractors.  Anything with wheels on it.  

Annika had to get her face painted.  She was in heaven, and she was the prettiest flower on the soccer field later that day.

So, after reading Cherine's blog a while back, I decided we should go visit Thanksgiving Point.  We did not have a ton of time last weekend, because we had a soccer game, but we had fun visiting farm country in the morning.  Ashton LOVES animals, so this is the place for him.  I am sure we will visit other parts of it soon too.  That night Ryan and I were able to get a baby-sitter and go out to dinner with some friends of ours from the ward-gotta love Wingers!  We even went to go see a movie afterwards, "Eagle Eye".  If you can get over some of the really fake parts, it is pretty good, even though it did not end the way I though it should.

My two cute kiddos by the ducks.

My beautiful girl sitting in the barn window-isn't she a doll!

Here are the kids on their pony rides.

Here we are on the hay ride as a family, minus the hay, just a horse drawn carriage.  Ashton really was enjoying himself, the grumpy face means he's happy.

Per Papa's Request!

Hey there!  I am sure most of you know that Annika got a buckle fracture in her wrist from the monkey bars at school.  What a way to start a school year? Anyways, her Papa-Grandpa Urry thought that we should post it on the blog so that people that live out of Utah can virtually sign her cast.  So, here are the pics of the splint she had on for a week, a picture of where the falling occurred and the new purple cast! 

What's going on in the Urry house?

Hey all!

We are busy around here.  Here is what is on the schedule.

*Dryer finally got fixed, that was money out of the pocket.

*Bought a 2nd car-YEAH!!  Freedom for me, that was money out of the pocket.

*Annika had a buckle fracture on her wrist from the monkey bars at school.  Splint for now until the swelling goes down, then a cast next week.

*Doctor appointments for Ash too, his soft spot STILL has not closed at 20 months.

*Help Annika with talk for Primary

*Make dinner for a family in the ward that just had a baby

*Found out I have to get a crown and all four wisdom teeth pulled, ASAP!

*Going to cousin's wedding tomorrow, that will be fun, I always enjoy seeing family.

*Get my house clean and catch up on laundry, no dryer means it backed up for quite a while.

*Still need to finish Breaking Dawn, am I the only one who is not through it yet?

*We finally found a girl to come and baby-sit the kids so Ryan and I get to go on a real date on Saturday for our 6th Wedding Anniversary-YEAH!

*What is up with there only being 1 Sephora and Ulta in UT, and they are all the way up in Ogden.  I am almost out of make-up and now I will have to order it through the mail and wait for it to come, that bites!

Well, we are busy, but happy.  Life is all about getting through things and learning along the way.  I learned a lot about fixing dryers from the repair man.  Anyways, just a glimpse into our lives.  I will keep you all posted and post pics soon too.

Summer in Review

WARNING-Photo overload!

We have had a busy last month, and I wanted to highlight a little something from each of our fun weekends.  It all started in June when we went to Vegas for Todd's wedding (I already posted about that fun time).  The kids and I stayed for a week, got home on Thursday, July 3, and the fun continued from there.  I hope you our enjoy our journal of our fun travels.  We have had fun seeing so many friends and family.  It is hard to not live by everyone anymore.  Enjoy our month in review.

On Friday of Fourth of July weekend, we went to our Ward Breakfast, and then headed out camping to Hobble Creek, in Springville, UT.  We packed way too much stuff, according to Ryan.  I always do, but we always end up using all of it.  The kids had fun playing in the dirt non-stop.  We did not catch any fish, and we did catch a few sprinkles of rain.  We had fun in the outdoors, with almost a  1/2 of a campground to ourselves.  Ashton enjoyed playing in the dirt with his wagon, getting messy and falling alot.  Annika enjoyed picking flowers, looking for animals and climbing on a log across a river.  We all cooled off in a nearby stream and had a great time together as a family.

The weekend of July 11, we were able to go with my parents and the Farnsworths to Bear Lake for an extended Moulton Family Reunion.  It was fun to see cousins I have not seen for a long time.  We hiked Minnetonka Caves and survived all 800 steps with the kids.  We played at the beach forever in the sand with the jet ski and paddle boat.  We enjoyed fun rides on the mountain in the Ranger and 4 wheelers with the kids eating dust the whole time.  We ate too much food, did some cutsie crafts and laughed away at our silly dancing little girls.  We stopped at a Springs in the Logan Canyon on the way home named after the Ricks side of my family too.

The weekend of July 18 we drove down for another quick Vegas trip to see Coldplay perform their Viva La Vida concert.  This is Ryan's favorite group.  We were able to go with my little brother Todd and his wife, the newest Heather Moulton.  The dinner was yummy, concert was good, the openers horrible, but a fun trip for us.

The one weekend we were home in July, the weekend of the 25th we were able to have Grandma Great Urry come and spend the night with us.  She was in town for a MOTAB concert and we had fun seeing the new temples being built around us, coloring and having a yummy breakfast by Ryan.

This past weekend we got to go San Diego for Grandpa Great Benson's 80th Birthday Party.  We flew to Vegas and hitched a ride with Eddy and Michelle.  Then we had a blast at the beach, eating way too much water and sand, and changing the nastiest diaper ever.  We had to throw away a towel with it.  We had a fun party with good food, lots of swimming, and pool volleyball and basketball for the boys.  Annika even started swimming without floaties-YEAH!  We got to go down and spend a night with my brother who moved there a bit ago and it was fun to see him and his family, and Ryan could talk Expeditor's the whole time!  Before we flew out from SD, we had a Urry family breakfast at Sea Port Village, that was a lot of fun too.

So Today . . .

(WARNING-Photo quality is horrible today because Ryan took the digital camera to Atlanta, and I had to purchase a throw away camera to capture todays memories!)

Today, I went to Wal-Mart with only one child.  Why, you may ask?  

Because today was Annika's first day of kindergarten.  I debated seriously maybe not letting her go.  I have had anxiety over it for more than a week, just ask Ryan.  I just was not sure I could let my precious, innocent, little girl out into the world, without me, subject to all those other mean little kids, because they are all that way, right?  No.  I was completely overreacting, and being way selfish.  Ryan reminded me so kindly that I needed to let her go and experience things as hard as it is.  He reminded me someday she will be able to drive and go on dates and such, and I will have to let her do that too. We will see about that.  She had two homework assignments due on the first day, we got them both ready, had a bowl of oatmeal with blueberries, loaded up Ashton and we were off to bring her to school.  And, I did it!  I left her and she survived.  Her teacher, Mrs.  Hanna seems so great.  I am excited that Annika has her.  

Here she is standing in line waiting to go inside.  She was a little nervous by this time, I could tell, and I was getting teary eyed, but she did great.  When I picked her up, her teacher could not say enough good things about her, and how much of a help she was.  Next we get to conquer the bus.  

My Hubby!!!

Today, I wanted to write about Ryan and brag about how great of a husband and dad he is.  This morning he flew out to Atlanta for the kick-off a Management Training program that he got accepted into at work.  Only a few people get in each year.  He has worked so hard for this and works so hard to support our family.  He puts in so many hours at work, and then comes home and puts up with me, I know I am kind a of a naggy wife.  He is great to help out at home cooking and cleaning.  He is also great at bathing and playing with kids.  I know that the next year of this program will probably be worse than the last 7 months at his job, but it will pay off in the end.  I am proud of him for being so dedicated to his job and excited that he took on this challenge, after two long years of school that he worked so hard to get through so fast.  I am also proud of all that he has accomplished and I just wanted him to know how much his kids and wife love him!!!  

My Little Girl Turned 5!!

I can not believe my little girl turned 5 yesterday.  I remember when she was born, and I was so happy to finally have her out, after all the complications.  It was much better for her, even though she was just over 6 pounds.  She has been a beautiful girl from birth and Ryan and I are so lucky to have her.  She is such a good little girl.  She is thoughtful, thankful, responsible, and has a great testimony of the gospel.  She says such sweet prayers and has a testimony of that.  One time she was praying when our battery died, just as she said the prayer, the car started.  She did not see Ryan with the jumper cables on the other side of the hood, she just said, "Heavenly Father started the car!"  She is a great example to me.  She is sweet when she plays with her little brother, and tries so hard to be a good example to him.  She is so smart, I am so nervous for her to start school, but she wants the challenge and to learn more.  She always tells me that Heavenly Father gave her to me since I am so forgetful and she remembers everything-literally.  We love having Annika in our family and we love watching her grow up.

We started the day with strawberry and whip cream crepes (Annika's choice).  Luckily we got them done before the power went out all day because of a truck that hit a power pole.  We did not get our cake baked in time.  We will save that for this weekend in Vegas, I guess!

The kids and I spent the entire day at Raging Waters Water Park with Aunt Shell, Uncle Eddy, Dax and Eddy's extended family.  We played together in the water and did water slides and toys all day.  It was too much fun and the best way to spend her 5th birthday.

We ended the day at Chili's for a yummy dinner where they even sang to her!  We came home and she got to play her new Diego Wii game and go to bed with her new Jasmine Barbie doll!  We had a great day!