Ashton's 3rd Birthday

Ashton had an extended version for his birthday. A few weeks ago we took him to Pump it Up. It has 8 giant inflatables to play on and in. We took a small group of his friends and then he also had 3 sets of grandparents including 1 set of great grandparents.

Peyton loved this car.

Peyton and Daddy going down the slide

Sorry, not great pics

Oops these are in reverse

Then Ashton got the Garfield Movie which has been on constant repeat ever since and also Lego Duplos.

On Ashton's actually birthday, 3/31 we invited his friends out to the park down the street and let them play, ate birthday cake and opened his remaining presents.

I love how Trinity is holding up 3 fingers.

There are more kids there, but they were too busy to come eat cake.

Brody was helping Ashton out. After all, Brody did pick that gift out for him.

Daddy had to help and stand guard cause Ashton kept trying to bolt. The playground was more fun then the presents apparently.

At one of the only stages I would imagine where it's cool to get underwear as a birthday gift

As soon as the presents stopped he was gone

Our new baby...

...is a SUV!!!



Even though we had an SUV before we couldn't fit 3 car seats in the backseat. Also, our Trailblazer was only 2 wheel drive and around here it just isn't good enough. Even on a little ice I would still slide around. Taylor's little Honda did better then my vehicle and my vehicle is the kid hauler. We started looking last week and it's a little complicated to agree on something even though this vehicle is for me, Taylor still has to approve it : ) He was completely against a Minivan and I had finally accepted it. In the end he won and I'm not complaining.



We now have a Ford Expedition Eddie Bauer! We got a great deal on it and we had the engine checked out before hand and it's in great condition. It has new rotors and the brakes are great. We even got new tires put on as well. Anything we wanted done we got fixed. It really was a nice car buying experience.

Our Trailblazer had leather seats and we really didn't want to give that up. Any messes the kids made it was so much easier to clean up on leather then cloth.

I love that I have a full bench as the middle row instead of bucket seats. I now have 8 seats!

One of my favorite features are these 2 little buttons that fold my 3rd row up or down.

This vehicle has great features and great reviews. It even has great crash test ratings which is really important to me now that I haul such valuable cargo : )

Oh one last thing. I think this is best gift a kid could get. We bought this on Ashton's 3rd birthday and he LOVES it!

Snow Day

Just pictures!

No More Diapers...

for Ashton at least!

We've been potty training Ashton for quite some time now. He would do great at home, but we would put him in a diaper when we left the house and for overnight sleeping. Early this week Taylor and I decided no more diapers for Ashton and since then he hasn't worn a diaper. So far no accidents while out and about and he's been able to sleep through the night without an accident too. Although he doesn't have a perfect track record for waking up dry it has been successful and I know he can do it now. I am so proud of Ashton and can't believe how fast he is growing up.

A New Calling

I'm really excited about my new calling. I've been called as the Assistant Ward Welfare Specialist. It's a new calling for our ward. It encompasses the callings of the Ward Employment Specialist and Ward Provident Living Specialist. Previously the wards welfare needs were being met by the leaders of our ward, but since that need is becoming so great they have called 2 of us to this calling and many more to be called to the committee as well.

Here is a definition provided by http://www.providentliving.org/.

“The stake presidency [or bishopric] . . . may call welfare specialists to assist the stake [or ward] welfare committee as needed. These specialists should be stake [or ward] members who can assist other members in such things as finding employment, improving nutrition and sanitation, storing food, obtaining health care, improving literacy, managing finances, and helping meet other welfare needs”

I truly feel called of God to serve in this committee. He has been inspiring me all week on ways I can serve and how to get this committee going. All this days before I was even asked by our Bishop.

Sister Duke and I had our first meeting yesterday as a committee and we already have so much planned for this month and next month. I can't wait to share the news with our ward, but for now it will have to wait. Other helpful tips I will also pass on to my family and friends. I may have to start a different blog, but I will let you all know.

22 Weeks

Today I had my 22 week checkup, but I also had another ultrasound. At my ultrasound at 18 weeks we couldn't get a good look at Kipton's spine so that is what today's ultrasound was for. It was also my 7th ultrasound for this pregnancy. I've had so many issues, but in the end everything is fine.



Sometimes it's hard to believe just how flexible babies are in the womb and it's also neat to get to see how the baby is positioned.



Below is a picture of Kipton curled up in a little ball. For those who aren't familiar with ultrasound pictures I'll explain it.

His head is in the center and he is looking up, his body is in the bottom right with his thighs over his body, his knees above his mouth and his feet above his head.

Everything is going well for this pregnancy. I am developing anxiety, a hormone imbalance, but the doctor told me it will go away a month or two after birth so that is good news. I just can't handle too many things on my agenda. If I have more then one thing to do it stresses me out to where I don't want to do anything. Mostly it still gets done, but I'm a nervous wreck the whole time. I'm also developing a food allergy which is not a pregnancy thing my doctor said so she is referring me to an allergist to look into that.

Other then that I am 22 weeks along, measuring 20 weeks and I've only gain 5 pounds. Great news there!

Denver Zoo

Monday was free to go to the Denver Zoo and Taylor was off so we decided to go. I don't think we will be going again on a free day, it was really busy and people and strollers were everywhere. As the day went on the people started to disperse out a little better, but when it came to watch any of the demonstrations or feedings we weren't able to get close enough. I took many pictures and decided to do a slide show of it all. The music I wanted I couldn't get so I finally just picked a song so I wouldn't have to stress over it anymore.

It was a lot of fun to go with Tracy and her son Brody. Ashton and Brody are becoming great friends. Grandma and Grandpa Guthrie also came out. I think Marianne had just as much fun as Ashton did pushing him around and chasing the geese. I didn't get any pictures of them and I wished I did. I started to get really tired from walking around after 4 hours.

I hope you enjoy it!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Results are in!

To start, who ever voted on the poll, you were all RIGHT. There were only 5 votes, but all for the same sex. Most of you know what I thought I was going to be having and turns out I was right. I am happy to say that too. Feels better then being wrong : )

We are having a healthy baby BOY!!!!

I had a pretty good idea that we were having a boy. Now that we've had one of each and Ashton and Peyton's pregnancy were very different I was hoping to be able to predict future pregnancies. Since the beginning of this pregnancy it has been exactly like Ashton's. I also have only been able to come up with one name which was for a boy.

The name we have picked is Kipton Taylor

Peyton and Boo

When Peyton lets me, I like to play with her hair and try different things. I don't usually get a lot of time though. I was taking a picture of her and thought she reminded me of Boo from Monsters Inc.

They even talk about the same too : )

Everything and Anything

I can't believe how sick my kids have been getting. Maybe we are catching up for all the healthy times we've had. To show you the timeline, Peyton got sick the first week of November with a double ear infection. I also got sick. 3 weeks later we all came down with Swine Flu. Ashton got a secondary infection and got croup the same week of the flu. Then we started getting better. Then both kids got a stomach bug with tummy aches and other tmi issues. Then Peyton got a secondary infection with croup which is now appearing to be gone. However, Ashton got a secondary infection a week after Peyton's croup. He at this moment has strep throat and nose. I am still fighting off something. I hope I can keep it away. Being a mom, pregnant, and sick is just awful.

Pregnancy is going fine. I am eating again so that is nice, but I still have food aversions and I don't like to eat anything sweet. I want the sour stuff and yes that includes pickles. I'll be 17 weeks tomorrow and in one more week we will hopefully be finding out what we are having. Although I have a really good guess to what we are having, but I could always be wrong.

Christmas was a lot of fun, but very busy. Here are some of the pictures we took.

The Guys

Scott Thompson, Scott Henderson and Taylor Flint

The Ladies

Chrystalee Thompson, Annedria Henderson, Shaundra Flint, Liz Flint, Marianne Guthrie

Family photo

Never perfect : )

All of Taylor's sisters, spouses, and kids

Opening Presents

Peyton got a cabbage patch doll and I like the look on her face in this picture. It was like Ashton was going to take it and she wasn't letting it go.

If your wondering how the transition with the cats is going, all I can say is it's okay and not okay. It's going okay with Sophie and not okay with Mimi. Here is a video of Bella and Sophie. For the most part they are fine. Sophie lets Bella into her personal space. Mimi on the other hand, Bella can just look at her and she will start hissing. She isn't social unless all the kids and dog are not around. Sophie will hang out most of the day with us and is a big talker. Sophie is exactly what I wanted. I am hoping Mimi will come around. Here is a video of Bella and Sophie.

This is what Christmas morning looks like after 15 people open presents.

I hope everyone had a Wonderful Christmas and hope the best for everyone in 2010