Be careful during play time

Preston is such a love! He is so fun and playful and loving.
However, just like any other boy, he is rambunctious and loud and hardly ever listens when we ask/tell him to do something!
Well, yesterday Nick was playing with the kids. I guess he was wrestling with Preston when Preston poked Nick in the eye. Normally, that wouldn't be a big deal, but 6 hours later when Nick still couldn't open his eye we decided to take him to urgency care to get it checked out. Turns out he had a bad scratch on his eye! He was given some eye drops and strong pain meds. He's hardly been able to keep his eyes open for the past 24 hours. Poor guy!


I asked Preston for a kiss the other day and instead he bashed his head against my nose. ugh. I'll be glad when this "phase" goes away! I want my sweet little boy back!

Last day of cooking Camp for Ashleigh

Thursday was Ashleigh's last day of cooking camp. Next week she'll go to Princess camp. Shortly after we left, I looked in my rear view mirror and saw that Preston had fallen asleep with his arm up like this. I just had to take a picture! :)
And here he is awake--we had just finished playing at the park before picking her back up.
Our neighborhood is called Silver Lake and this whole landscaped area is at the entrance of our neighborhood. I see people there all the time taking pictures, it's a really pretty area, so I stopped and told Ash to hop out so I could take a couple of pictures of her.

I love our neighborhood! :)

Visiting baby Amelia

After camp the other day, Ash and I made dinner for Kevin and Jana and brought it over to them and of course, had to stay for a while and hold the baby and see how she was doing.

Ahh....looking adorable! She slept for quite a while while I held her. I just love the new babies and the little noises they make.

Big sister, Teriesa....do you think they look alike?

Moving, allergies, and Playing

The other day, the kids and I went to my parents apartment to with the intent to help them unload their moving truck and help get them moved in to their new place. However, Preston is a BIG handful lately and so I wasn't able to help at all! I did watch everyone else move, and helped keep the kids out of the way, and tried to keep my allergies under control.

Here is Preston with a box--I think he was actually trying to push it back up, rather than help take it off. He kept getting under foot and was in the way a lot!


So, we went behind their apartment and Preston saw the basketball hoop. See how little he is next to the hoop? He stayed there for quite a long time!


Then the other kids came out to play and so they all went over to the playground. Preston, of course, had to follow them all!

Day camp for Ashleigh

I enrolled Ashleigh in 4 weeks of day camps. It's called the mother's survival camp. Ha ha. This week Ashleigh is doing Cooking Camp, next week is Princess Camp, then she'll have a week off, then Chocolate Camp, and finally Art Camp. It's 3 days each week.

Today was Ashleigh's first class. We got there about 6 minutes early. The lady at the front said that Ash could wait inside and they would walk her back when class started, but she squeezed my hand and told me that she wasn't ready for me to leave & that she was nervous cause she doesn't know anybody! So we went back to the van and waiting together for class to start. When it was time for her to go in, she gave me a hug, told me she was going to miss me and off she went...with no hesitations!

I was so proud of her bravery, but after she left, I was the baby and blubbered a little bit. I felt like my heart was going to come out of my chest it was so full of pride and love for my little girl. I can't believe that she is 5 years old and that she has only 2 months until she starts kindergarten!
Where has the time gone!?!

Oh- at camp today, they made Muddie Buddies (Chex, chocolate chips, pnut btr, powdered sugar, etc). Then they went out and looked at bugs... All in all, she had SO MUCH FUN!!! ;-)

More pictures of new baby Amelia

Ashleigh is very infatuated with Amelia. She is very loving and gentle-just as she was when Preston was born. It's so sweet!


Preston got a chance to hold Amelia too--I was worried though cause Preston likes to poke babies eyes, but he did good and seemed very interested in her and in how little she is.


Poor little girl--kept getting blinded by all the flashes going off in her eyes.

Amelia was so content after nursing---I love the little drugged out look they get after nursing! My mom was in heaven---Amelia's middle name is my mom's name-Suzanne!

Ah, so sweet! cute cute!


Ashleigh holding Amelia...she is so in love!

I love the looks on their faces--having a new baby is such a special time! I love the family bonding that comes from it!

How Preston entertains himself...putting a bug net over his head. Such a crazy/silly boy!

Scary/Sad day in Utah

Long story short---I was on my way to get my parents when I see a helicopter going back and forth in the sky--when I look ahead I see at least a dozen police cars, ambulances, fire trucks, news vehicles, etc. I was trying to guess what was going on... Later my dad heard on the news what had happened...apparently a lady was driving erratically on Main street in Lehi, a cop pulled her over and she shot him in the head (he is in critical condition). Other cops came and after a scuffle or something they shot her dead in the street. WOAH!!! Talk about a crazy thing to have happen around here!

I took this picture while I was driving so you can't really see what's happening, but all the cars you see are stopped--no one can go anywhere on that street and beyond those cars are where the police cars, etc are and the roads are blocked! Dang it-wish I had gotten a better picture!


Ok, here's the news story I got from www.ksl.com

A traffic stop in Lehi ends with a shoot-out, leaving one person dead and an officer critically injured. We understand that the officer is out of surgery and said to be in improving condition.

Lehi police got a call of a suspicious car on Main street at 8:46 a.m. A Lehi police officer, only identified as a veteran in the department, made the traffic stop. But that's when the situation turned violent, as the woman pulled a gun and fired two shots at the officer.

Lehi police Sgt. Darren Paul said, "As the officer was engaged in conversation, the driver of the Accord produced a revolver, shot two times at the officer, striking him in the head. Backup officers arrived shortly after the stop was made and were able to return fire. The female subsequently died on the scene. The officer is listed in critical condition at this time. He is with his family, and we are optimistic and hopeful for a full recovery."

The officer was treated at the scene and then taken by medical helicopter to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center.

We don't know a lot about the suspect other than she was driving a Honda Accord with license plates from Washington State. Witnesses say the officers fired several shots at her and she was killed.

Lehi Main street, just east of I-15, remains closed and likely will be closed for several more hours, as a special team of investigators from Utah County conduct an independent investigation of what happened here.

I have a new NIECE!!! :-)

I am happy to announce that I have a new Niece....Amelia Suzanne Ballard was born at 829pm tonight....she weighed 7lb 11 oz and is 20.5". She is tiny and perfect! Ashleigh and I were one of the first one's to get to meet her--I feel very privileged.

Ashleigh holding Amelia--1 hour old

Jana and her new baby girl!

Me and Amelia

Me, Amelia, and Ashleigh
(Ash tells us that she wished Heavenly Father had given her a little sister so I think she'll be very attached to Amelia)

Date night! Woo Hoo!

We decided to go on a date--first one in a VERY long time (except for temple night of our reunion). Kevin and Jana were so sweet to watch our kids for us so we could go.

Here is our date car...Nick bought himself a new Toyota Supra in March and we've used it mainly for dates, the occasional trip to the store, or just to cruise around.

Taking the kids to Kev and Jana's...they LOVE to sit in the back. It's got great bucket seats so it's like a car seat in a seat.

Just before we left for our date the power went out at our house--soon we found out that the whole neighborhood was out and as we were driving we saw smoke from a fire that we think affected the whole mountain--no one had power. The fire was probably a mile behind Kev and Jana's house.

After we dropped off the kids.... the fun begins! :) We went to see Get Smart at the theater. It was a hilarious movie, and oh man, it was so nice to be able to watch a movie and snuggle with out having children around.....

The whole street was filled with flags. I LOVE seeing the flags!


After the movie we got Cafe Rio. YUMMY. We picked up the kids, got them to bed and had our dinner. It was a GREAT date!
Ashleigh fell asleep pretty quickly--she was so pretty sleeping, I just had to take a picture!

The snake wrangler

Ashleigh came in from playing outside to tell me that there was a snake in our garage. A few minutes later when I came down I saw Nick in the back yard (no, we don't have grass there yet) and he had his blow torch. He was literally trying to use the fire to get the snake off of our property and back to the weeds in the field behind our house. I didn't get a picture of the snake, but I did get a couple pictures...ha ha he is so funny!

Fun time with cousins

We watched Kevin and Jana's kids for a bit while they went to a church meeting. This is Cooper and Preston...Cooper is 9 months older and so loving to Preston!

CHEEEEEESSEEEEE!!!!

Pretty much as soon as the kids arrived Sheridan asked if he could play X-box with Nick so off they went. I was sure glad they included Nathan--they both had so much fun! I think it gives him a glimpse in to life with Preston as he gets older.

Preston

We asked Teriesa to sleep over with Ashleigh and the next morning I took the kids to this new place called Jump On It. It's an indoor trampoline and fun house place for kids/young adults. This room that the girls are playing in has 14 trampolines all together for them to play in.

Of course-my son insists on playing basketball. The hoop was about 15 feet above the ground--ha ha it sure was funny watching him try to throw the ball up there.

Preston sure was upset when it was time to go...I'll have to take the kids there again later this week-it was Awesome!

I didn't get pictures from the rest of the day, but I took the kids to Snoasis after this place. YUMMY. We had lots of fun!!!