My 2 year old is addicted to the computer!

This is pretty much how I've seen Ashton the last couple of weeks: Mike taught him how to use the computer mouse about 2 weeks ago and I haven't seen much of him since! He'll be on it for hours, playing all the little games on the different kid websites. I hear him yell as soon as he wakes up "I wanna watch peter!" At first I wondered who "Peter" was but soon found out that "Peter" is Ashton's new best friend, the computer. If we even just walk by the computer room when he is not in there, he yells "No, it's my peter!" then runs in front of us and gets back on the computer for another couple of hours. We tell him it's time to eat and he tells us "In a minute, I'm on the peter now." And we have to fight him to let us use it! Luckily I have internet on my phone and iPod to check email at least! It is nice that he will stay occupied for long periods of time, and he's actually learning a lot from it, but I think he's obsessed! This week I'm going to have to start cutting down his computer time! I just never thought a 2 year old could get so addicted to the computer!

Our Valentine's Day!

It's a tradition every Valentine's Day to see our gifts all layed out first thing in the morning.I got Mike a bunch of shirts because he will never buy them for himself - I'm sure it wasn't too exciting for him, but he loved them a lot more when I told him that I got all 9 shirts for a grand total of $25! Gotta love Old Navy!So I was going to make heart-shaped pancakes, but the morning got away from me so I toasted Eggos and cut them into hearts with a cookie cutter! Luckily the kids don't care if I cheat a little, they loved them!Later we hung out at the mall which for some reason the kids really love! (Lucky for me!) and they got to ride the carousel and have their favorite food for lunch - Panda Express and Sarku Japan. After that we went to Leatherby's for dessert!
I couldn't believe how big their small sundae was! Brayden barely made a dent in hers!And this was the kid's size! Ashton was in heaven! Marshmallow topping...mmmmm!!!Mike and I shared a yummy brownie sundae!And the grand finale, MY Valentine's Day gift....Okay, so it wasn't really officially my Valentine's Day gift, but I like to pretend that it was! We bought this 2008 Buick Enclave on President's Day and Mike hates that I call it my car. But it is the car I will have every day hauling around the kids, groceries, running errands, etc, so I think I can call it mine! We have actually gone about 6 years with only one car, so this is a huge deal for us! Happy Valentine's Day to me! :)

3rd news story on Emmalee - Her wish to be a potato chip taster granted!

Make a Wish Foundation granted our niece Emmalee's wish not only to go to Disneyworld which she got to do last month, but also to be a potato chip taste tester! Here's the news story:

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=5508060

Make A Wish...

Today we got to go to a party for our niece Emmalee that the Make A Wish Foundation gave her. It was really so neat I had to put up tons of pictures. They really do great things!

When we first got there we got a little tour of the Make A Wish building and they explained what they do there. Then, we were all given cards to write down something we wish for Emmalee, and we could write anything - unrealistic or not. Then, they took us into this room that had a really neat waterfall and the lights kept changing colors. There some could share their wishes for Emmalee and that is also where Emmalee got to declare her wish since it had been granted - she got to spend a week at Disneyworld and get all of the character's autographs. She also got to go taste test potato chips at Frito-Lay and meet Chester Cheetah! Here is a video of Emmalee declaring her wish:

Then we went into another room that was all set up with Disney stuff so cute to have cake and hear Emmalee's family talk about her wish being granted and the things they got to do and have cake. They did so much more than Disneyworld - they were treated like royalty! Make a Wish Foundation really did some amazing things for them during their whole vacation in Florida. It was kind of embarrassing for me while they were talking because in a totally silent and emotional room, Ashton started singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" (I guess there were too many stars around for him to be able to resist!) and then he kept yelling that he wanted birthday cake! He doesn't know how to be quiet at all!They had a guestbook for everyone at the party to leave a message for Emmalee. In the book were some pictures of her wishes come true.Brayden and Ashton under some of the pictures of kids who had their wishes granted.These stars covered the ceiling of the foyer. They represent all of the wishes granted at the Make A Wish here in Utah.This is Emmalee's star. It says, "All Wishes Come True" and her name. Here's Emmalee with her star.She got to raise it up herself to where all of the other stars are.

Her star with the others!Steve, Kara (Mike's sis), Matthew, Emmalee, and Crystal. (The little girl in the red in front I don't know but she joined them for the picture!)The kids with their cousin Crystal!Here is Ashton with his cousin Matthew. He wanted to touch the stars so bad!

Mike's Birthday!

Last Saturday, January 31st, we celebrated Mike's birthday! Mike is an identical twin, and an interesting story about Mike is his parents didn't even know he existed when his mom was pregnant with him! Well, she kept telling the doctor it felt like there was more than one baby in there, but the doctor kept assuring her that there was only one baby. So, on delivery day, Mike's twin came first, then soon after came another one, Mike! They went in sure they would come home with one baby, but came home with two! Mike's parents always talk about what a real surprise Mike was and I think it is such a fun story! I'm so grateful for Mike and for the wonderful husband and dad he is. He has the biggest heart of anyone I know. I love you, Mike, and hope we were able to make your birthday a fun one!

The presents!Mike with his Mississippi Mud Cake, one of his family's favorites! I was nervous about making it - I hope it turned out even half as good as everyone in his family makes it!The kids had so much fun making birthday cards for daddy!This one Mike is holding up is from Ashton - his favorite thing to draw right now is suns!We had Mike's parents, my dad, and brother Cameron with us to celebrate. Mike got a couple of team t-shirts and basketball shorts - all picked out by the kids, a DVD, a tortilla press my cook of a husband had been wanting, along with a tortilla warmer, and lots of money to have fun with!For dinner, Mike, me, and the kids went to Chilis. After dinner we dropped the kids off at home with my dad and Mike and I went to the movies. It had been such a long time since we had seen a non-kid movie in the theater! It was so nice! We saw "Taken" - it was really good, we'd recommend it!