ASHLYN: When Ashlyn met her new baby brother Damon for the first time, she asked her dad, How long do we get to keep the baby for? We told her, forever, so she was pretty happy about that.

ASHLYN: Ashlyn's little mind was really thinking alot while I was pregnant. The other day she says, " Mom, will your baby be my baby when I get big?" I said, "No, my baby will still just be your little brother when you are big." So she asks, "So who will be my kids when I am older." I tell her that we don't know her kids yet because they still live up in heaven with Heavenly Father. And then of course she asks, "When will I get my kids?" So I tell her that one day when she gets married she will be able to have kids. So then, very randomly, she asks, "Where is my married ring?" (Obviosly she realizes that when you get married you wear a ring.) So I told her that when she meets a really nice boy, he will ask her to marry him, and if she says yes, he will give her a ring. I just think it is really funny the way little girls think. Blake would have never asked a question like that! But she is really excited to have a baby when she is older.

ASHLYN: Ashlyn has a favorite song on the radio right now, which is "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus. Everytime we get in the car this song comes on. She loves it and sings along with it everytime. Well we recently drove down to Utah to visit my parents, and both of the kids were asleep in the backseat. Suddenly Ashlyn's song comes on, and she pops right up and starts singing. As soon as the song was over, she was out cold again. And don't get me wrong, she wasn't just resting her eyes or anything, she was honestly asleep, woke up for that song, then fell right back to sleep. How funny!

ASHLYN: So, some friends and I somehow got on the discussion of some of the gross "bathroom" things our kids have done when they were younger, and it brought to mind a couple disgusting things that Ashlyn did when she was younger. And if you ask me, these are "hands down" some of the worst things ever!! 1. One Sunday afternoon, some friends of ours invited our family over for Sunday dinner. I would bet Ashlyn was about 18 months. We had finished eating dinner and were sitting around the table while the kids were off playing. We realized we hadn't seen Ashlyn for a while so we started looking for her. We then found her in the bathroom. Her face, hair and clothes were soaken wet cause she had been playing in the toilet. The worst part is, when I looked in the toilet it was full of pee. One of their kids had used the toilet and forgotten to flush, and Ashlyn had been playing and drinking it!!!!! YUCK!!!! 2. So, you know the toilet scrub brushes, Right? Well, you have the brush and then there is a little cup that you put the brush in after you clean that collects the liquid and stores the brush. Well one day I found Ashlyn drinking the liquid out of the toilet brush cup!!!! EEWWW! So you know its a mixture of toilet water, toilet "grime", and cleaning chemicals. Can it be any worse???

BLAKE AND ASHLYN: I just overheard Blake and Ashlyn "pinky promise" that they would always watch "Hot Wheels." (Hot Wheels is just a "boy" cartoon about guys driving fast cars. They happen to be watching it at the moment.) I just think it is pretty funny that they even know what a "pinky promise" is! -8/23/09-

ASHLYN: Lately Ashlyn has started coming up to us and saying that she needs to tell us a secret. She then comes up to our ear and whispers that she loves us sooo much. Isn't she sweet? -8/12/09-

BLAKE: A few evenings ago we had a church social that we went to. Terry and I were busy chatting with another couple while the kids ran off to play with the other kids. One of the ladies we go to church with has an English accent. She came up to me to tell me that she had gone over to Blake and his friend Drew to fuss at them for something that they were doing. But when she told them to stop doing whatever it was they were doing, Blake looked at her with big eyes and said, "Wow, you speak Spanish!?!" She said, "No." Blake said, "Well it sure sounds like you do!" Obviously Blake assumes that anyone with a different sounding accent must speak spanish. She thought that was just hilarious, so she had to come over and tell us. -7/31/09-

BLAKE: Terry's mom was telling us today that Blake said that his dad is the smartest man that he knows. So I asked him, "Who is the smartest lady that you know?" And he said, "I don't know. I don't know any smart ladies." Terry thought that was pretty funny! -6/3/09-

BLAKE: Tonight as I was putting Blake to bed, he gave me a kiss and said, "You know what mom." " I am so happy, cause I get to love you forever, because space goes on forever and ever." I thought that was pretty darn sweet! -5-14-09-

BLAKE: Tonight I was just thinking about a few things from when Blake and Ashlyn were a bit smaller. A couple of things that stand out in my mind are pretty funny now, but at the time I was horrified. When Blake was about 3 and Ashlyn was about 1, I happened to be in the bathroom and could here Ashlyn crying. It was strange cause it was really muffled sounding. So I go out to investigate. What I find is... Blake sitting on an upside down rubber storage container (which we use as toy boxes), and Ashlyn is trapped beneath it screaming her head off. Blake thought it was the best thing ever. I felt so sorry for Ashlyn cause she was terrified. Another time, when they were pretty much that same age, I once again heard Ashlyn crying in the other room. I go in to find Ashlyn being cornered by Blake and he is poking her repeatedly with a pencil. I was horrified. For a while I was really worried that Blake might actually hurt her. Thankfully that time, and no other time for that matter, did he cause her any harm, but there was a short time when it was clear that he did not like her. They get along great now and play really well together. I just wanted to write this down, you never no when this kind of information might be good in the future for embarassment or who knows what else! -5-14-09-

ASHLYN: Terry and I were just talking about this yesterday, and I figured I would post it so that we can remember it in the future...
When Ashlyn was younger she used to have what we called seizures. They would only happen when she ate things that were cold. The first time it happened I was alone with her. I was feeding her little pieces of crushed ice. Suddenly she would start screaming, her whole body would stiffen up, and she would just collapse. It scared me to death. I called and told Terry about it, but after, she seemed fine so we just kind of forgot about it. The next time it happened, Terry's mom was, again feeding her some ice. The same thing happened. We didn't have health insurance at the time, so we didn't want to take her to the doctor to see what was happening. So we just decided to stop giving her anything that was cold. Well, a little down the road, we were at a grocery store, and Terry happened to be eating a slurpy, and gave her a little taste, and once again she had another "seizure." So now we are really freaked out, and decide we need to make sure to NEVER give her anything cold. When we finally did get health insurance, the next time we brought Ashlyn for a check up, we decided to mention the situation with her doctor. He really didn't have any answers for us, and since we had not been letting her have anything cold for a really long time, we didn't even know if it was happening anymore. So the doctor said we should begin to give her cold things again, and to let him know if anything happens. So we did, and she has never had it happen again. So the only explanation we ever came up with is, that maybe that was just her reaction to "brain freeze". We are just thankful it wasn't anything more serious and that she doesn't do that anymore. Cause she really loves ice cream, and how sad would that be if we couldn't let her have any! -April 20, 2009-

Ashlyn: Ashlyn has a very "evil voice" when she is upset and does not get what she wants. This morning her and Blake were downstairs watching cartoons, me and Terry were still in bed trying to sleep in. Suddenly I can hear "satan's voice" downstairs screaming at Blake because he wouldn't put it on the cartoon that she wanted. She eventually came upstairs to try to get me to make Blake change the channel. When I told her that I wasn't going to, and that maybe she could have Blake put it on a different t.v. for her, her "evil voice" came out again. She could not believe that her mom wasn't going to give her excactly what she wanted. She sat on our bedroom floor throwing the biggest tantrum ever, along with the "evil voice." She kept saying "Momma, put it on Little Einsteins for me." (but of course she wasn't using sweet little Ashlyn's voice.) Anyway, this post doesn't come close to describing how "crazy" she gets when she is upset, but no words can describe it! Ashlyn will be 3 in 2 months. I don't know why they call it the terrible two's, because for Ashlyn and Blake, the three's seem to be alot more terrible (or should I say evil), than the two's.-3/21/09-

BLAKE: This was a while ago... One day, Terry's Aunt Sonja babysat the kids for us while we attended a Christmas party. When we went to pick them up, his Uncle Tom asked us who "Constan" was. We had no idea. He said that Blake told him his name was Constan, and that Grandpa ran over Blake with the four wheeler, so Blake wasn't around anymore and that he was Constan. How weird is that? Blake was only 3 at the time. For the longest time Blake insisted that his name was Constan and not Blake. -December 2007-

ASHLYN: Ashlyn wants to be just like her big brother. She is seriously a younger, girly version of him right now. Everytime Blake is playing his gameboy, she always has to go get hers. She likes "Star Wars the Clone Wars," although I'm not even sure if she has ever actually seen it, and everytime we pass any kind of sporting event while changing the channel on the t.v., she starts begging to watch the Cowboys. (that, of course, is her being like her dad.) I just think it is really funny how much alike they are right now. -2/20/2009-

ASHLYN: When we say prayers at night with Ashlyn, we obviously have to help her alot. When Terry tells her to say, "thankyou for my family", she will say, "thankyou for Daddy's family." We can never get her to say "my family." I just think that is really cute. -2/12/09-

BLAKE: When saying prayers at night, one of the things that Blake says alot is... "I love my Mom like a heart." or "I love my Dad like a heart." or "I love the whole world like a heart." I am pretty sure that what he is trying to say is that he loves, whomever he is talking about, with his whole heart. How cute! -2/12/09-