Happy 6th birthday to my baby

Today is Aspens 6th birthday. It's hard to believe that 6 years ago I had a tiny preemie baby. She has been the best thing to happen to Ashton and I. We love the heck out of that little girl. She is the sweetest little thing and so stinkin smart she blows us away. I tried to make her shamrock cupcakes, but I failed, and turned them into nest eggs. haha. I will post photos. I had all these great plans I wanted to do like other moms do, decorations, awesome birthday surprise ideas, great looking decorated presents and cakes. I felt a little like a failure because I didn't get to do hardly anything really. We were getting ready to leave to St. George today, and when I went to the store, they only had easter things out, no st. paddys day...I waited a little too long to get them I guess. Next year I guess. We are going to the air show tomorrow in St. George with Ashton's friends Jim and Maggie. And tonight we went to Chuckie Cheese...none of us had ever been there before. Aspen had a blast. I just hope she knows how much I truly love and care for her. It makes me super sad my little one is growing up so quickly. It makes it worse that I only have one child. I miss having a little one, but I love watching her grow up and seeing how smart she is. I will post photos after our trip.

All I want for Christmas....

Is my TWO FRONT TEETH!

She lost both her bottom front teeth today, and I thought of touching up her photos so it didn't look like she was crying and like I was the mom who tortured my kid to pull her loose teeth out...but I kinda am...Her poor little loose teeth kept hurting, so I talked her into letting me just pull them out, and she said she wanted me to, but she got scared, and it hurt a little, but she was sooo tough and she felt better when they were out. I didn't think she would lose both of them together, but they were really loose. I can't believe I have a little girl old enough to be losing teeth! Time just flies!

video i promised

http://youtu.be/kJhHXW_OssI

let me know if it doesn't work. Funny thing is that after we stopped recording, she was still in awe and couldn't believe it. She finally asked us..."it's mine?" She just couldn't believe her wish had come true. She had been praying for this "surprise" for a while and we decided to give in. Now I'm not so sure...but she loves it!

Here for a laugh

So yesterday when I went to pick Aspen up at my moms house she had a bucket full of little bouncy balls. My mom informed me Aspen was earning money to pay for them and she was going to give one to each of her cousins for Christmas. When we got out to Ashton's truck, Aspen proceeded to tell us the story of how she ended up with so many bouncy balls. It started out something like this:

"you know how those machines at the car shop sometimes are broken and things will come out of them without a quarter? I wanted to see if this one with bouncy balls was broken, so I twisted it and a ball came out and I was like 'oh my hell'..."

Yes, this is where my mouth dropped open and I stopped her story. She said it like it was everyday talk, she didn't even miss a beat, It just came out. And I couldn't help it, I had to get out of the truck because I was busting up. I know it's terrible. I was supposed to scold her or something. Instead I couldn't help laughing. I didn't expect that to come out of her mouth like that. We don't talk like that at home, so I don't know where she picked it up. Ashton and I DID have a talk with her after gaining composure about it being a swear word and how it's inappropriate to talk that way.

Anyhow, you have to laugh at a few moments like that. Keeps ya young. I love that silly girl! The story continued that she twisted it again and all the balls started falling out of the machine, so I guess my mom paid for the balls for her. haha.

I will have to post more later. Computer is about to die!

Happy Halloween

We had a good October. It went much too quickly, we have enjoyed the Fall. I love the fresh, crisp, air. On Saturday we spent the evening at Altius Gymnastics where Aspen got to dress up and play on all the gymnastic fun stuff she could enjoy. She decided this year she wanted to be a BAT. She didn't want to be cute. She wanted to be a SCARY BAT. I love her! She is so funny. We enjoyed a lot of things this month. Pumpkin walk, yummy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, trick or treating, halloween parties, it's been one fun after the other. With one too many sweets. I hate the coughs and sniffles that come with the candy. But I love seeing her have fun! Tonight she trick or treated with her dad and I, then she went with my Nephew and his wife to more houses. She had a great time. Last year she was a little scared of the much decorated houses, and scary dressed up people, but she wasn't as scared this year. She did great and ran from house to house. Every time I would tell her she was cute, she would correct me and say "you mean SCARY!" What a funny girl. I love her more than life. Sorry the photos suck, phone photos don't do much.

STOMP

Ashton, Aspen, Grandpa Call and I all went to Stomp tonight at the Ellen Eccles. It was so much fun. I haven't ever seen them before, so it was awesome to see. Mostly I enjoyed watching Aspen. She smiled, clapped, and danced through the whole thing. She loved it! I LOVE LOVE watching her when she gets excited. She looks so pretty, so young, and so untouched by the world. I wish I could wrap her in a bubble and keep her safe from the world and the pains I know she will experience from life, like we all do. I have a video to post of her before the show started so you can see what I see. Problem is I don't know how to post my video, so when I figure it out, I will.

A day of Aspen

Aspen and I spent the morning taking photos of her...or at least TRYING to take photos of her. I wanted to do some nice classy cute photos...she wanted to play dress up for every photo. After butting heads and getting annoyed with each other, I realized why I never take her photos. I want it my way, she wants it hers. We are both extremely STUBBORN. She will stomp her foot, I will stomp mine, she will scream, I will scream, She will pull her hair out, I will pull my hair out. Then we are both just annoyed for the day with each other. With anyone but me, she will do what they ask her to for photos. With me, no way. I can take photos of any other children easily, but not my own. Oh well. We compromised and she got fun photos, I got cute photos, and we ended the day with a hug and kiss. And just a few tears on both ends. Glorious day indeed. Ok, just kidding about the tears on both ends. It was just me. Aspen won out because I didn't have the energy to make her do what I wanted. I will post some when I've dried my mental tears. That's the problem with being a perfectionist!

First Day of the Rest of Your Life

It seems appropriate to say it like that, because really...kindergarten is a HUGE step! It's the last time I feel like a parent gets of the "baby" years. It's when you realize that babies don't stay babies for long. It's when you feel a little ache in your heart at the thought of trusting a bus to get your daughter to the right place at the right time, safely. It's when I realized that I have just enrolled my daughter into government control. ick. I realized this upon sitting in on her class today for the parent hour and hearing the teacher say "your child can only have 5 unexcused absences." I was a little upset about that...I should have the choice to keep my daughter home, or take her on an extended vacation any time I want to without it making me feel like it means I'm a bad mom. Don't get me wrong. I realize how important schooling is. But it ISN'T everything. I am pretty sure that most of the stuff Aspen is going to learn in kindergarten, her dad and I have already taught her. (Well, to be honest, mostly her dad has taught her. I wasn't blessed with school smarts.) I am excited however, for her to learn the social aspects of school a little more. Learning discipline, respecting adults, respecting time. Not that we haven't taught her these things, but sometimes I think a child learns better from another source then from a parent when it comes to this, since parents aren't always considered the "cool" adult. I remember being embarrassed lots of times of my own parents (shame shame) but was so influenced by other adults around me. I hope she makes good friends and great memories.

And I will wipe away a tear and let my baby grow.

First Day of Kindergarten photo. I know it's crappy...had to take it on my phone...notice how she likes to accessorize? It took me 27 years to learn to dress cute and accessorize, and Aspen picks out her own outfits and accessories. She is big into necklaces right now, and if she doesn't feel cute enough, is sure to tell me she needs something cuter. She is so much fun! Love you little big girl!

Mom of the year award

First I wanna say how much I LOVE my baby girl. I always thought I'd have another baby by now, but since I don't, I have just had a lot of one on one time to enjoy Aspen. (And don't mind me if I hate you a little bit when you announce your pregnancy...it's really a love hate.) She is a fun little girl. She is full of love. She can be a little stinker. She is use to being an only child, so she does complain when she doesn't get her way with other kids, and she is not big on big groups of children. She does better one on one. Hope she does okay in kindergarten. She has made me a better person, and she has made my life worth living.

I don't know how many of you know, but when I was in high school something very special and sacred happened to me. I don't share it hardly ever, but I feel like it's a good thing to share now for some reason. I was having a hard time in life and I was not super active in the church. I wasn't in a great place in my life. I was living with my sister ShaMayne for 2 months in Oregon and her husband gave me a blessing. In the blessing he told me I would have a dream and that it would be important for me to remember that dream. I didn't think much of it, and I wasn't even sure I believed I would have a dream, but I did. It was quick, it was short, but it was different than other dreams I have. Just in the way it felt mostly-I can't explain it. There was a little girl in a white dress, and everything around her was white. She told me her name was Aspen -and that was it. Then as my dream was ending and she was disappearing, she said one word. Temple. That was it-then she was gone and the dream was over. And from that moment, I knew that I was going to have a little girl, and that to have that little girl I needed to be married in the Temple. From the moment I knew I was pregnant I knew it was a girl. No one could convince me otherwise, and I would feel really upset with people said they thought it was a boy. I am sooo thankful for this little spirit. I KNOW she makes me a better person. I KNOW she was meant to help me be stronger. I KNOW she is what has helped changed my life so much. I love her more than I can say.

On another note...

Aspen had a birthday party for her 5th birthday today. I was really excited, I actually decorated for it, made a cake and decorated it, provided little gift bags for the kids that came to the party (8 kids is a lot at a party) and got balloons - her special tangled balloon she requested, candles, gifts, I was AWESOME this year in the preparations (thanks to Miranda for decorating the cake and playing with the kids! She and Nicole helped me soo much I was so dang thankful!)

Anyway, for those of you who know me, you KNOW I am really not that creative and rarely prepared for anything. At least I don't make them fun, and I don't decorate. But this year I did! And by golly, I was gonna document it all. So I arranged everything nicely, took photos of it all, all the activities, decorations, friends who came, a group shot, the cake, it was all so nice and fun.

And then they all went home not a minute too soon. I was exhausted. Then I decided to be good at blogging too since my day has been so on it and so awesome. When I went to pull the photos off my camera lo and behold...no card in the camera, no photos, nothing documented, cake all gone, decorations already put away, kiddie bags gone. No 5 year old birthday girl photos. No blowing out the candles photo. And then I about started crying, except no tears came. Instead I bust out laughing my butt off, because I had been so stressed about it all being perfect, and being sure I documented it so I was a good mom and could blog about it, and it didn't happen. So as all you other awesome moms are posting about your kids birthdays because you were good enough to actually be able to capture it, I will secretly be cursing you lovingly under my breath, but Its only because I'm super jealous you have it more together than me.

Mom of the year award right here. I'm just that good.