: :Bunk Beds & Cereal : :

Jonah & Lilly are now the proud owners of bunkbeds! Nate received an unexpected bonus at work and decided that the kids needed some new beds. He was right, of course. Jonah was using a twin mattress and box spring on the floor and Lilly was using the toddler bed that she inherited from Jonah. That poor thing was falling apart. So, the new bunkbeds have a full size bed on the bottom and a twin on the top. Jonah gets the top, of course. They both love to play on them and I love that I boxed up most of their toys and we can slide them under the bed for storage!

Jayne had her first taste of rice cereal the other day. As you can see from the before and after pictures, she wasn't too impressed. She had her 4 month doctor appointment this week. Jayne weighs 14lbs and is a little over 25 inches long. She's super strong and very healthy!

Bits 'n' Pieces

I just downloaded a few pictures of the kids and thought I'd share.


Jonah decided that he wanted a game from the front closet. Since he's totally into the 'big boy' mentality, he didn't ask for help. He just found a stool in the kitchen and went for it himself. That kid is so resourceful. I guess I need to find some higher shelves now. =)









Lilly's hair is getting so long! It's a pain to try to get it dry after bath time and before bed time. So we decided to make what she calls her 'towel hat' and let her wear it while she watches Muppets or part of a movie before bed. By bedtime, her hair is pretty dry.

Jayne is growing like crazy! She still hasn't figured out how to roll back over, but she stays on her tummy a lot longer before she starts fussing at us. I can't believe she's 4 months already!

Barnum Movie Review 'Taken'

As most of you know, Nate and I watch a LOT of movies. So I thought it might be fun to post our own little movie reviews every now and then.

Last night we saw the movie 'Taken' starring Liam Neeson. He plays a retired CIA agent who just moved to CA to be closer to his 17 year old daughter who lives there with her mom and ridiculously rich step-dad. The daughter goes on a trip with her 19 year old cousin, I think, to Europe and gets kidnapped by super bad guys who run a woman traffiking business. So, basically he goes there, finds all the bad guys and kills them and gets his daughter back.

As I'm sure you can guess, Nate picked the movie this time. He really liked it. It was very intense and definitely keeps you on the edge of your seat. I'm not a big fan of these kind of movies, too violent and dark for my liking, but as far as the genre goes it was well made.

So, if you like violent, intense, action movies where the good guy wins and kills all the bad guys along the way, you will love this movie.

"I hate the Snow Mom!!!"

Jonah gets more like his dad everyday! We all know that Nate absolutely HATES the winter and the cold and the snow. Well, this winter Jonah seems to agree vehemently. This morning we woke up to snowy weather and he started immediately. "I hate the snow Mom! I don't like winter time. I want it always to be spring time and summer time!" I get to hear this everyday during the winter from Nate and now from Jonah too. I must say though, that I think I'm starting to agree. I could finally see myself moving somewhere that is warm all the time, even Las Vegas. Too bad Les Schwab doesn't have any stores where it's warm year-round or we'd be getting a transfer. You could bet on it!

February Family Letter

I write a family letter every month to keep in touch with our out of town relatives and friends. Just thought I'd put it on here too.
February 4, 2009

Dear Family & Friends,

I don’t know about you, but at our house we are so glad to be one month closer to spring! As fun as January was, I’m glad that it went by fast.
Jonah celebrated his 5th birthday last month on the 21st. He got to take treats to preschool where they gave him a special birthday hat, a bag of goodies, and let him pick out a stuffed animal to bring home. He picked a soft, green frog. We had a family party on Saturday the 24th. Jonah had a great time! A big “Thank You!” to everyone who came and spoiled our little man with gifts and love!
Also last month, Jonah’s preschool class went on a field trip to the Museum of Natural History up at the U of U. I was lucky enough to be able to get a sitter and go with them. We had lots of fun looking at the dinosaur bones and their new insect exhibit. Jonah’s favorite was the T-Rex. Jonah is growing and learning faster than ever! His teachers have been doing testing at school and tell us that he’s passing them all with flying colors! He’s memorized the 1st article of Faith and is working on the 2nd.
We had a fun primary activity in January. It was a missionary activity where all the kids got to go on ‘missions’. We had returned missionaries from our ward come and be mission presidents for the kids. Each child got their own call and badge and came to our MTC. Then they went on an ‘airplane ride’ to their missions where their presidents picked them up. They got to learn about what it was like to be a missionary and about the place that they were called to. Nate was off work and helped us out as one of our presidents. Jonah went to the Philippines, Baguo mission and Lilly hung out with Daddy in the Mexico, Monterrey North mission. Everyone had a great time!
Jayne is anxious to get moving! She’s learned how to roll over and now she won’t stay still! Whenever we set her down on a blanket, she’s on her tummy within a minute or two. She tries to scoot by tucking her knees underneath her and pulling with her arms, but she’s not quite strong enough to get that tummy off the floor. She can’t roll from her tummy to her back yet. She doesn’t like to be on her tummy too long and she definitely lets us know it. I have a feeling she’s going to be hard to keep up with in a couple months.

Jayne still has her incredible, untamable hair. She’s got a couple of thin spots from where her head rubs when she’s sleeping or playing on the floor. But for the most part, she’s still got all her hair. I guess the third time’s the charm when it comes to having a ‘not-bald’ baby. =)




As for Nate and me, it’s just business as usual. Nate is working hard. He’s going to be eligible to move up one level closer to management in April. He was going to have to wait one more year, but one of the head honchos came to the store and saw him working and told his manager that they needed to push him through as soon as he’s put in 2 years. What a blessing! We’re so grateful that his hard work is being recognized and rewarded.

I’m keeping busy with the kids, primary, and volunteering at Jonah’s preschool. I did our taxes last week and can’t wait for the refund to hit the bank so we can pay off our hospital bills and some other things.

That’s all for now! We love you all and hope the first month of this New Year was kind to you!
Love,
Nate, Ashley, Jonah, Lilly, and Jayne

Roly Poly

Jayne has found a new favorite hobby....rolling over! We can't set her down for more than a couple minutes before she's on her tummy. She hasn't quite figured out how to get back over onto her back yet. She'll roll onto her tummy, lift her head up and look around for a minute or two, and then start hollering for someone to roll her back over.