Spring Ice Show

Aspen just recently passed her Snow Plow Sam 2 ice skating class! She is skating so well and it's so fun to watch her! She performed in 2 (numbers) at the Spring Ice Show last weekend! It was so fun to get her all dressed up in her costumes and put a teensy tiny bit of makeup on her (blush, shimmer eyeshadow, lip gloss, and hair glitter)! She totally loved it...she's such a princess!! I couldn't be more proud of her...I seriously couldn't stop smiling while I watched her!! I loved performing when I was little and I'm so glad she does too! I can't wait to start her in dance lessons...I don't know why it has taken me so long to do it! Anyways, here are the video's of her at the show...Enjoy!

Witch Doctor

Raindrops keep falling on my head...

Before the show...in her Raindrops costume...

Witch Doctor Costume...

The skaters...
Grandma Julie and Papa Mike gave Aspen flowers after the show...as you can see she was thrilled!! She hates taking pictures...but really she was excited to show everyone her flowers!

Thanks everyone that came out to watch her!! She loved seeing all of you there!

Visit from Gramma & Papa Doyle

My Mom and Mike came to visit us for a couple of days to watch Aspen's ice skating performance in the Spring Ice Show last weekend. It was pretty cool that they drove 7 hours just to come watch her few minutes of fame!! We went to feed the ducks...which is the kids' favorite thing to do with them! Here are some pics we took...

Clayton, Aspen and Papa Mike

Gma & Gpa with the grandkids! Amber, Rachel, Clayton, Me and AspenCutest little kiddos ever!!Mom's 'annoying' mini photoshoots!!
It's so hard to take pictures that capture the true cuteness of my kids!! They both hate having their picture taken...I swear they do everything they can to avoid it! As much as I love the candid photos of them not looking at the camera...I would love to not have to bribe them every time I want to see their cute face!

Easter

Here is a slideshow of a lot of Easter pics...We spent the day with our families! Had lot's of Easter egg hunts+ lot's of candy = some crazy kids and good Easter fun! The day was absolutely beautiful!

I'm hesitating posting this, but it's something I can't get off my mind...I had some time to think about the true meaning of Easter while reading a friends blog Easter morning. This family is going through something I can't even begin to imagine. My testimony is strengthened by their continued faith during such a heart wrenching time. I'm so grateful for our Savior and the many blessings he pours upon us all. I only hope that I can one day be as strong of a women and mother as Michelle is. Her family has been in our thoughts and our prayers a lot these last few weeks. I'm so thankful for the knowledge of the Resurrection and for our Heavenly Father's plan for each of us. It makes these tough times some how worth it when you know there is a Light at the end of the tunnel.

I hope you all had a nice Easter weekend!

Busy..busy...busy...

Things have been pretty busy around here...lot's of things going on. I take entirely way too many pictures of everything...but here are a few fun ones of what we've been up to...

This is a pic of Joey and his buddy KC! It was right before KC left for Iraq with Fox Company 2/23 (Joey's old unit). I'm really glad that Joey got out just in time not to have to go back, but I think it's hard for Joey not to be with the guys he helped train...we pray that they will all come home safe, and can't wait to hang out with KC soon!

I totally forgot to post these earlier...Last month I got invited to go down to Snow College for my drill team advisor's last showcase before she retired. So Tara and I brought the kiddo's and headed down south to good ole' Ephraim, UT! We were lucky enough to drop the kids off at 'Grandma Debbie's' house (Tara's mother in law) while we watched the show!
Kathleen is the blonde in the middle...performing a number from 'Mama Mia'! Old teammates...Me, Britni, Brooke, Tara, Shannon, and AliTara, Shannon, Kathleen, Britni, Brooke, Me and my monster!!Me and Tara with Kathleen...It was so good to see everyone that came!
Tara and I headed to THE Maverick to get fueled up on goodies and drinks for our 'sleep'-over...we didn't do much sleeping but we had a great time catching up! How often do you get to have a sleep over with your best friend once you are married and have kids? Who needs sleep anyways!! Thanks again Tara...we need to have another girls weekend soon!! Super Clayton!
Costume made up of PJ's...a piece of mommy's scrap fabric, and swimming goggles!!

Aspen drinking her juice...some serious concentration involved!! And I love her orange fingernail polish!

Joey playing in the All-Star roller hockey gameMe and Aspen goofing off in the curtains!This was me being crafty and deciding to make Aspen's Easter dress this year! I think it turned out to be pretty darn cute!She was a little hesitant to wear her 'home-made' dress...so i told her if she didn't wear it I would be wearing this dress out to breakfast...she opted to wear her dress instead!! (By the way...this was my Mom's actual prom dress...don't I look HOT!?!) Oh...and looking at all these pictures of myself makes me think maybe I should actually put makeup on when I'm at home...not just when i go out!! lol!One of my favorites...she looks so serious...and sorta grumpy...but this is such an Aspen look! Yay Amber! She ran in the downtown 5K this month! Totally inspiring...but not enough to make me want to do it!! Congrats though!!Aspen and her bestest friend Zoe making candy necklaces!!
Aspen had been saying for weeks that she missed Zoe so much...so we had to steal her for a playdate!!They are so cute!!At a Grizzlies game! Aspen and Auntie Stepho covering her ears after the Grizz scored!Me, my cheezer aka Clayton, Amber and RachelUmm...yeah...i don't know!! We're dorks!!So this was funny...we went to our friends house after their little boys baby blessing... Anyways, Aspen has known this little blonde boy on the swing since they were both basically babies...and they just adore each other! Aspen goes right up to Tyler (after not seeing each other for months) and asks him to hold her purse while she swang...and like an obedient boyfriend he held on to it! It was just so precious! Out of all her little 'boyfriends'...I would definitely approve of this one! He is so cute!! We always say that it would be hilarious if they ever dated...because we have about a million pictures of them together!We went to a Reunion BBQ with some of the Marine's Joey went to Iraq with. It was really nice to see everyone again and see how all our families have grown! We hadn't seen some of these guys since our wedding so it was really fun...probably a lot more fun for Joey, but I had fun too! Some of the guys had left before we took this picture...but here ya go...I couldn't even begin to name them all (most but not all) especially by their first names...and since Joey's asleep right now it's not worth trying!
Lastly, (at least for this post) The Dude is potty training right now!!! You all know how fun that can be! He has his good days...and his bad, but how cute are those X-Men boxer briefs on my little Man? Um...in case you were wondering...SO CUTE!!!! Also, he's showing off his recent haircut...i think we are up to about 30 by age 2 1/2!!
I'll do a seperate post for our Easter pics...but not tonight...Loves!

April 8th

So, I realize that I'm posting this a little late...but 6 years ago... April 8th was a pretty crappy day for the hubby! And I just want him to know that I love him...a lot!! And that I'm grateful for the many people that watched over him and kept him safe that day!! Especially our Heavenly Father! I can't even imagine the things he had to get through that day so that he could make it to the next...but he did and now he gets to put up with my crazy butt everyday!! And now it's time to go to bed with that boy that I love!! 'night...

Blue October

Me and my sister-in-law, Amber

March brought me two very happy things!! The new Blue October album, "Approaching Normal" and the Blue October concert at the Depot!! Two things that I've been looking forward to for months! I've been a huge fan!! Now some of their stuff can be crazy and dark...and I had to get the clean edited version of most of their cd's...but I just love them!!

Joey absolutely despises it all...so I had to find someone who had heard of them to drag to the concert with me! I took my sister in law, Amber with me and we had so much fun!! We were literally like 2 rows from the stage (thanks to our new TALL Canadian friends that let us stand in front of them!)...and they were AWESOME!! I loved every single minute of it...except maybe the two minutes we saw the couple next to us going at it...no seriously going at it!! It was dirty...and we all felt violated!! It was just wrong!

After the concert we stuck around to see if any of the guys would make their way out...and lo and behold Ryan Delahousaye (a wicked violin player!) came out and we got to meet him and have our picture taken with him!! He was super nice...signing everyone's autograph even though his "people" were telling him he needed to pack up and get on the bus! Amber even found a guitar pick near the stage!Amber and I with Ryan Delahousaye...the dude that rocks the violin!

A few minutes later we sorta ran into the guys from the band "Ours" that opened up for Blue while I was buying my sweet T-shirt! They were actually pretty good...and reminded me sooooo much of my brothers Isaiah and Jairus! It was crazy! (look for one of their songs on my playlist called The Worst things Beautiful...pretty cool).

So anywho, we headed out to our car when we spotted a group of people (including our Canadian buddies) by the bands tour bus. So we went to see what was going on...and we see THE Justin Furstenfeld (lead singer) and CB Hudson (lead guitarist) signing autographs! So we get in line and Justin says he will stay out until everyone was gone even though it had started to rain/hail/snow! So Justin and CB sign our gear and then Justin came around a huge tree/bush to take pictures with us (it took a couple tries thanks to a crazy drunk lady!)! He was sooooo sweet! And I now secretly have a thing for men that wear black eyeliner and nail polish! ha, ha! But really they were great and we had an awesome night!! Here are some pics and a video from the night...

Yay!!! Us with Justin Furstenfeld!

And if you've never heard of them...just try them out...I dare you! Here are some of my favorites...18th floor balcony, You make me smile, Sound of Pulling Heaven down, Calling you, A quiet mind, Clumsy card house, My Never, Should be loved, Kangaroo Cry, Jump Rope (Aspen and Clayton love this one!), Blue Skies, and Graceful Dancing...those are mostly the somewhat happier songs! And I have a lot of them on my playlist...I'm not preaching or anything...I just really like them! K...I'll get off my Blue October soap box now! :)