Things I'm thankful for this month

#1 - first and foremost, the Gospel, Jesus Christ, and Heavenly Father
#2 - A husband who loves his Country and is willing to serve and fight for other's freedoms!
#3 - the lady who gave my husband $40 in the airport and thanked him for serving
#4 - the sweet couple who bought us our Cheesecake Factory meal and thanked my husband for being willing to serve in the army.
#5 - Family!! and being part of such a HUGE family. And especially my Grandma Peck
#6 - The Holy Ghost and it's guidance and comfort in my life
#7- good friends that are always there for me when I need them
#8- the Parents God gave me...no matter how crazy they may be. My mom watches Aspen so often for me, I feel so spoiled. Miss you dad! More than anyone knows!
#9- a Beautiful home, food, and furniture!
#10 - Last but not least, my FUNNY little girl who says to me "I want to be a fat boy!" ha ha ha!!!!!!!!!!! (She heard this from a little boy at the park today and has been repeating it over and over. So funny!

I really am thankful for a lot this month, I've felt very blessed this month. It's not that I don't have the Holy Ghost with me...it's that I don't usually FEEL it that strongly, but this month, I definitely have had it closer by. Maybe I've been lonelier this month and needed it more. I don't know, but it's been nice to have. And we really have been blessed with Ashton being in the Army. Health insurance is SOOO much cheaper, and so nice to have. Love ya babe! Thanks for the sacrifices you make! And thanks to those of you who have stayed my friends through all my craziness, and Hermitting, and social retardation...LOVE you guys!

Ashton Home and Yellow Stone

Ashton got home Tuesday night, and we got up early Wednesday and decided to go up to yellow stone to see his family that had been up there since last Saturday, and were staying until Friday. So we packed up and headed out within an hour. We got there in time for dinner, (made a few stops along the way to see some geysers - very cool...see pics below. LOVED how the steam coming up was SOOO blue...it was almost unreal) and then we went to bed. The next morning we got up and went on a hike...not the prettiest I've been on, but it was fun. We played a lot of games with the family which was fun and ate a lot of ice cream. But the food there REALLY sucked. It wasn't good at all. But oh well. We stayed right by Old Faithful, and got to see the Old Faithful Geyser everyday we were there so that was cool. But sadly enough, I never even got a picture of it...I'm not sure how I missed that one. We packed up and came home today (Friday) and it's nice to be home. Ashton has to leave for Army again on Monday for 5 days...such is army life. At least I'm getting use to it. When all the "army leaving" began, I use to have breakdown's everytime, and whine and complain about them, but now I am so use to it, I dont' feel so affected by it. Although we obviously miss Ashton when he is gone. Aspen loves having daddy home. Aspen was surprisingly really good on the trip. A couple fall aparts...but that was to be expected.

We did have one thing noteworthy happen. We found this awesome swimming hole...it had a safe enough little spot for the kids to swim in, then it had a more dangerous area that rapids were running crazy through. We stayed against the rocks, and enjoyed visiting. We grew quite the crowd that saw how much fun we were all having and wanted to know if it was safe enough to swim there...so when we left, a couple other people had taken our spots. When we got up to our truck, I heard some yelling, and it kept getting louder and more urgent, then I heard someone say "He's going down the rapids" so I ran to see what was going on, and a boy had come flying through the rapids (Which were quite dangerous) right down to the little spot we'd been in. The new people there who took our place had caught him and pulled him out of the water. He was maybe 11 or so. And it was amazing that he hadn't gotten hurt or hit any of the huge rocks. Once I saw he was out, I turned to head back to the truck and heard more yelling. There were 2 people a little ways apart, just holding onto rocks, trying to avoid going down the little rapid waterfall. A dad (i think it was his dad...) and a brother had gone after him and they weren't so lucky not to hit rocks I guess. They were just holding on and a crowd started gathering. I called for ashton to come help, and when he got there, there were a bunch of other guys - someone had brought a rope and they were all holding on trying to pull this guy out of the rapids. 2 other guys fell down from the rapids pulling them down in the efforts to pull the man out, but they all managed to get out. But they had to call 911 to get the other kid, because they couldn't get to him because he was in a dangerous spot. When the polics got there, we all got kicked out of the area, so we don't know what happened, but it was pretty scary in the moment. Hopefully everything turned out ok. I'm still shocked that other kid didn't get hurt.

And of course I added in a picture of Ashton...who made everyone laugh when he took his chair out into the water to sit and watch everyone instead of sitting down in the water...that is until Alycia his sister started some water fight and he came in after her...then there was no sense in not getting in anymore.

Well, that's about it. Sorry not much exciting to read today, this is just for Journaling sake really. blogger won't let me upload all my pics, so I will have to add more later.

Thank goodness for great friends!

Ok, so I am NOT cut out to be a single mom. It's just not my thing...and I don't know that it ever will be. I need ME time sometimes! And thank goodness for my sweeter than sweet neighbors next door, Erin and Kenny, who have a sweet baby girl a year old, they asked if they could take Aspen to the park to play. It was so nice to have an hour to myself this week. I got the house put back together and spent some much needed thinking time. When they came back she said they didn't make it to the park because it was too hot, so they went to McDonald instead. And she said when they were leaving Aspen said "We can't leave without an icecream! That would be silly!" ha ha. That's my little girl! LOVE her so much!

It's been a bit lonely, but I've gotten a LOT done. I'm hoping to not go anywhere tomorrow. I feel like I've been on the run or had plans everyday, and I just want a day to NOT plan, and NOT go anywhere...I just want to be bored!

I've had a lot of time at nights though to spend some "Thinking time" which has been good for me. Sometimes I feel like I never think anymore...I just go through actions all day and I forget about me. I have a lot going on in my head, and a lot of things I'm working through and trying to make decisions on, so it's nice to have the quiet nights to just think.

Anyway, we will be glad to have Ashton back home. We miss him. Love ya!

Getting something done

Great day today! Where I live, it is sooo fun, the neighbors all have kids about Aspens age, and I love the parents. They are all so fun and kind. Today they invited us to a little group swim day just across the street from our house. It was so much fun, and Aspen was totally worn out by the end, and had a great nap. It was great to visit with adults!

While she slept, I got about 4 "freezer" meals prepped and my freezer rearranged and organized. I am on this new "Freezer meal" kick...because I HATE to cook, but I figured that if I make meals I can freeze, I won't mind it so much, so I have been washing, cutting, cooking, bagging, freezing ALL day. It was great! I feel so good and prepared. I know 4 meals won't get us far...but I plan to do more, and it feels great to just have a start. I don't think I will mind spending ONE day a week cooking...not nearly as much as I mind doing EVERY day cooking. And hopefully this will help us to eat out less. Which we desperately need to do. Geez...all the money that goes to eating out. It's crazy! Crazy how fast it goes and you don't even realize it. And I miss the days when eating out was special...

Army...and other stuff for journaling sake.

I will upload pics later or our fun little weekend. I'mm in a hurry to just get it all wrote down for now.

Ashton leaves for his 2 Week Army training tomorrow, and tonight he was spending a little time with Aspen trying to explain to her how long he'd be gone and to be good for Mommy, and she melted both our hearts by saying "But I'm gonna miss you!"

She is growing so fast and understanding so much. She hates when Ashton is gone at nights. She will always say to me, "Where is my daddy? He should be home from work!" and first thing in the morning she always asks me where "Daddy" is. She absolutely loves him.

She's been going through a little bit of a stinker stage, but I guess it's just being 3. She wants so much to make her own decisions and decide what she wants to do...like when she wants to eat chocolate for breakfast...etc. And she HATES being told no.

We had a good 4th of July weekend. We went up the canyon and took a family picture in front of the waterfall where Ashton asked me to marry him. It's not the best since we had to set the camera up, then run through mud and water before the timer went off. Kinda fun though. It was a fun day. Then we went to the fireworks with Ashton's family and had a barbeque.

Saturday my mom said my family was getting together at my brother Shauns house for dinner, so at 4 we all showed up at his house, and no one was there, so my brother-in-law Jack called and asked him where he was. He said "In Hyrum...where are you?" to which Jack replied, "at your house." and Shaun said "what are you doing there?" and Jack said "We were told we were having a family get together." Ha ha ha...turns out there was some miscommunication, and Shaun had no idea we were coming over. It was so hillarious. It turned out fine. Shaun and Kerry came home from her family get together, and we all hung out and ate. It was a good time. And we laughed at how it all played out. We got to see Shaun's beehive which was really cool. Shalee saw the queen bee and pointed it out to Shaun, and Shaun said "Where? point to it" so Shalee got closer and pointed to the queen, and sure enough, one of the bees flew onto his hand and stung him. Obviously he was a little too close to the queen. It was awesome to see the Honey Combs.

Sunday my family got together again (this time it was planned) at Willow Park for the day, and all but 3 of my siblings came. My Aunt Beth was there with two of her sons (she's from Arizona...my mom's littlest sister) We had a great time eating and talking. I love my family so much. I wish I got to see them more often...but with 11 of us, it's hard to get together.

Well, there's my long weekend post for my Journal.