Ode to Ashlee

Ok, there could be serious repercussions to me posting this, but it will be totally worth it! (I say this alot, huh? Maybe I like to live on the edge...) Anyway, I digress. This post is dedicated to my friend Ashlee. She was one of the MANY friends I had to leave behind when leaving Portland, and was one that was a daily part of life. Those of you who know her, TOTALLY understand what I am talking about. Those of you who don't know her, and live in the Portland area, should look her up! She's one of the most incredible people I know. Here's my pictorial tribute to Ashlee who I could go on and on talking about, saying all the things that make her so great (awesome mom, great hair stylist, incredible friend, etc) but I won't. I don't want to embarrass her anymore than necessary. :) So here's to Ash, who's far from us in distance, but not far from our hearts. (Please don't be mad Ash!! ) :)

It's My Eighties Ladies!!!

A pregnant Ash (Sorry Ash... I LOVE this pic, I couldn't not put it on!)

So the next two are not TECHNICALLY of Ashlee, but they are from a day when she was watching my VERY TINY Jack. Ava was SO cute with him, watch the next pic when she realizes he's crying.

How cute is that???? Look how it calmed him down! Ava's got the touch!!

Those of you who know Ash know that she is an AMAZING one when a costume is needed. She was stressed being quite pregnant at what to be for our costume party... Only she could have come up with this AWESOME of a costume...

It makes me wish I had a picture of the Valentine's party when we were supposed to dress up like a famous couple. We will leave that one to those that were there and their memories... :)

I wish you were here with us, but once your babies are a little more grown up, we'll fly you out to come on our adventures!!! Love you tons!!

Girls night. And morning, and afternoon, and evening...

WE DID IT! We finally got a weekend where the husbands could keep the kids (in Kristi's case, mother in law) and the girls (the Utah ones anyway) got to SPEND THE NIGHT at a HOTEL! WHAT???? I know!???!!? It's amazing, huh?

The location. Park City Utah.

The participants

Kenon, Whitney, Kristi, Jennie

The events...

Eating...

This cafe is the BEST! It was perfect food, perfect dessert, and perfectly priced! GOTTA LOVE IT! Spin Cafe, Heber City. You MUST hit it...

Let's be honest, there was alot of eating, but if I put pictures of everywhere we ate, this would be a painfully long blog entry...

Shopping...

Even a movie!!!

You'll have to check Kristi's blog for more pics... she had a camera OTHER than a cell phone... Thanks for an incredible weekend girls!!!

Need a giggle?

Every once in a while, you just need to laugh. I mean, tears STREAMING down your face, gut aches afterward, face hurts laugh. Here's my three current favorite youtubes.... Enjoy!

(Remember to turn off the music so you can hear it. Scroll down the the player and hit pause)

Wimpy Newsman...




Bi-Polar Dog



Meanie Meanie friend...

I LOVE THE NBA!!

Most of you know of my obsession with the NBA. I belong to an all male fantasy basketball league, (And have even won the season!), I have a MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR crush on LeBron James, (what?? He's legal now!) and think it's the most athletic and amazing sport to watch. SO. Imagine my giddy glee over finding this gem. I LOVE YOUTUBE!!!!

It even makes SHAQ seem like a cool guy... :)

TWILIGHT! :)

I know, these books are supposed to be for tween/teens... what does it say about me that I LOVE THEM!?!?!? Anyway, my niece and I were checking out all the "movie trailers" that are on youtube, but they aren't really the ACTUAL trailers. Frustrating... Anyway... we didn't find a real one (I don't think it's out yet) BUT. We found the movie poster!!! YIPPIE!!!!!!!

It's not the greatest quality, but we're living on crumbs here, so it'll have to do. :)

BLIZZARD!!!!

I know, I know, I was going to stop writing about the snow. But COME ON!!! A Blizzard??? Truly, it was an actual blizzard. 69 mile an hour winds, accompanied by snow, and my favorite, the powder snow that was lying around, being blown at 69 MPH!!! Really. I took pictures with my cell phone while I was STRANDED on hwy 92 for 2 hours trying to get 4 miles down the road to get David from work. It took me 2 hours to get 4 miles there and 4 miles back. (Mostly there, the way back was a quick by comparison 30 minutes...)

Now remember, this was taken at 4:30, mid day, NOT AT NIGHT!! It was impossible to see at some points, and little Jack is sitting in the back seat saying (repeatedly), "Wow! These are big storm clouds!" :) The stories I hear from people are insane, we were lucky. We actually got home. Alot of people didn't, including 165 ELEMENTARY KIDS! One of the schools kept kids over night because they couldn't get them home. These poor babies! It's K-6th grade!! The school but got stranded with kids in it. I felt lucky that we all were together, safe and warm at home after our adventure. Hope your weather is treating you better... :)

Friends

It's a crazy thing that happened back in 2001-2002. The Bethany ward in Beaverton Oregon had an influx of young couples moving in. There were quite a few of us, and we had a blast.
Exhibit A

There were ALOT of us that hung out constanty.

Exhibit B

We all had at least 1-2 kids, and were continually adding more to the mix...

Exhibit C

And life was good.

Exhibit D

But.... One by One, we moved away. Life went on, and things changed, whether we wanted them to or not.

Exhibit E

...And then. Strange but true, quite a few of us ended up in Utah. Life was good again, we got to see each other quite often. Not as often as we'd like, but let's not complain. Last night was one of those nights. We got to hang with 3 of our favorite couples in the world. The Taylors, Wakefields, Hughes and us went out on the town.

Exhibit F

A new pizza place in Orem was the location, and it was GOOD. I mean, really really good. Pizzeria 712 is the name, and it's a friends of Kenon's who started it. Being friends with the Chef didn't exactly help us get seated in the rather small (but cozy) dining room, but it was worth the wait. Wait is there to complain about? Good friends waiting for good food? AND, the added bonus of our kids being watched by sitters? The night was perfect, and awesome. Thanks guys for new memories placed in the vault. We will have so much to talk about when we're all at the retirement home together... :) Here's a couple more "exhibits" of us through the years...

Now, normally at the end of a nice story like this, I would say, "the end..." but lucky for us, it's just the beginning! Come on, all the rest of you that are in these pics... move down here! It could be Oregon, part II !!

Waterpolo....

Ok. There could be VERY serious repercussions for me posting this, but there have been requests, so I will take one for the team, and post this shot of David and his best friend Todd Nelson in High school Waterpolo. I believe they are 16 here?!?!?!? :)

HEhehehe... totally worth it...

*****POOR JACK******

Jack is a lucky boy. He has a big sister who LOVES him. But. She loves him to the point where occaisionally he comes out of her room dressed like this.

Note : He lOVES it! He wouldn't take off the Cinderella dress. We finally got it off him, but there was serious fit throwing invloved. The next outfit wasn't NEARLY as bad... Just some of Riley's clothes... At least they are green and not pink...

The rhinestones DO make me a little uncomfortable though... :)

The Dark Knight - Heath's Last Movie

So I loved Heath Ledger. He just seemed cool. Like, wanna hang out with him cool, not wanna bust up my marriage cool. Anyway, like alot of people I was saddened by his early death, but I am SO excited about his new movie coming out. He's going to be in the Batman Begins Prequel "The Dark Knight" and is playing the joker. How awesome is this Trailer??

I can't wait to see it! (To listen to it, hit the pause button on the music player for my page down on your left so you won't have music playing while you are trying to listen to it...)

PS- if you want a bigger version of this trailer, here's a link

http://www.atasteforthetheatrical.com/deathtrap/default.htm