Ashley Update

This picture is from a few weeks ago while we were in Cedar City. Ashley wanted to donate a dollar to get her picture with a search and rescue dog. It was cute. ;)

So, I feel I need to take the time while Ashley is sleeping to let you all know that she is now officially walking! Yes! Finally! After all this time she's finally learned to do it. She's always kind of acted like she didn't care whether she learned to do it or not because she can get anywhere she wants by crawling, so why walk? Well, desperate times call for desperate measures and I did the one thing I thought would work even if it meant giving her a lifelong addiction. Yes, I admit that I bribed her heavily with M&M's. She only got an M&M if she would walk to get it. Within a week she was walking! I must say, she is her mother's daughter! There's not much I wouldn't do for chocolate... ;)

Ashley has always been a jabber mouth. Anyone who has endured a long car ride with her knows how she can babble! I'd so much rather listen to her babble than screaming so I'm okay with this! Her list of words/phrases include: "hi" "hi dad" (never "hi mom") "doggie" "what's that?" "wall-e" "WOW!" "uh-oh" "daddy" "moma" (said only when upset and crying of course) and a number of other words she says on occasion but we can never get her to repeat again such as: "fish" "fireplace" and "bellybutton." She even said "o-hee-o" once which we think meant "obispo" since that's what Spencer is constantly calling my dad who was recently called as a bishop of a University ward in Cedar City.

So I'm going to make a quick update on myself as well since I'm pretty excited about this. I've never been able to lose the weight I gained with Ashley and have since gained even more weight, almost enough to equal what I weighed right before delivery. It's been really hard for me and I've worried that I would just get bigger and bigger with each kid and never lose the weight no matter how much I exercised and how careful I was with food. I finally saw and endocrinologist this last week who informed me that my thyroid is very swollen and unusual in its texture and all that. He seems to think I have thyroid issues (which I was suspecting as well) that can cause all of the problems I've been having, being tired all the time, no energy, headaches, generally feeling crappy and depressed sometimes, and unexplained weight gain. I know it's weird to be happy that something is wrong, but I'm really excited because I get to go back and do some blood work to find out what exactly is going on and what medications I need to feel better. I'm so excited to be taking care of this! I can't wait to feel good again and I can't wait to finally start losing the weight that I've been trying so hard to lose! I'm really happy about it!

4th of July, the Obispo, and the Elder!

So I've been meaning to update for at least a week but haven't found time to do so because of all our adventures in the last week and because of Ashley's uncanny ability to ruin anything I'm trying to do on the computer. Her naps can be few and far between so it doesn't leave much blogging time. :)

Last minute we decided to spend the 4th of July weekend up in Boise where my Uncle John's family lives. From Vegas it's about a 12 hour drive I think (I'm not sure since we broke it up) and that's with traveling with Ashley. On Thursday the 1st we drove to my parents' house in Kanarraville, UT so we could be there early Friday morning when the were leaving. We didn't get out of the house until after 10 I think but hey, at least we got out of there. :) Anyway, we spent a really fun weekend with all of my mom's siblings and most of the cousins. It was really fun. On Saturday we had a pool party with my Aunt Michelle's side of the family followed by an awesome home firework show. On Sunday, the actual 4th of July, we of course went to church where my Uncle's ward sang a VERY rousing "The Star Spangled Banner" which made me think that all of our government leaders should listen more carefully to all of the verses.... and later that evening we played an impromptu baseball game (with a tennis ball for the safety of kids and windows...) and watched local illegal fireworks. The whole baseball/firework thing made me thing of the movie "The Sandlot" which I love and was pretty excited to reenact. We've got some pretty cute pictures to illustrate the weekend!

 Spencer threw Ashley all around the pool and she loved it! He can throw her much higher than I can and though this shot doesn't shower her going as high as he was able to throw her, she was delighted all the same. :)

Ashley also learned so surf in my Uncle's pool that weekend. She had a blast, had a few spills, and is ever braver in her attempts to surf in swimming pools.

Dad, Mom and Ashley, Uncle Dave, Aunt Kristin, and Aunt Barbara. They were happier about sitting and watching the chaos in the pool rather than participating in it. ;)

And my favorite picture of Ashley this weekend! Ashley loves dogs and I'm pretty comfortable saying that "doggie" was Ashley's official first word. :) My Uncle's dog, Shadow, was very gentle and was so good at putting up with Ashley's poking and prodding all weekend. I'd venture to say he even liked it. At least enough to sniff her ear and send her into a hysterical fit of giggles.

Our little family.

 My family, minus David who is on his mission, and Alan and Alexis who were not able to come that weekend.

And of course Ashley played a game of baseball with us! She took turns with each of us helping her to bat. She loved it! We're hoping she'll be a little athlete some day. ;)

Okay, that's all the pictures for this post. :) We drove home from Bosie all day on Monday for Spencer to be back into school on Tuesday. We left again on Friday night for another fun weekend at my parents' house. My dad was called to be the Bishop of a university ward and we wanted to be there for the occasion. The reason for the title of this post (the Obispo) is because "Obispo" is Spanish for "Bishop" and Spencer has been teasing my dad since before the call was even made by calling him Obispo whenever he got the chance. Now dad is lovingly known as the Obispo to us. Ashley cemented the name when she became bilingual and called dad "o-hee-o." We thought that was close enough. ;) We also were able to stay for Daniel that night when he was made an Elder. This was our last time seeing him until November and we wanted to spend time with him, especially to have Ashley see him. He's leaving today for basic training and we'll miss him lots but we'll sure be praying for him while he's there.

We're back home now fore a few weeks and Ashley is anxiously awaiting the arrival of Grandma Sorensen on Wednesday night. She'll be with us for almost a week and then next month we'll be spending our time up in South Jordan with them!