Can you find the one that's not an Ashcraft?

Do you see him? That's right, It's DONNY OSMOND!!!!!We went to Build a Bear at Downtown Disney tonight with the DelBello cousins. Gian spotted him, Amy stalked him, I intruded on his family night and introduced him to my whole family, Amy took the picture then I took a picture of her family with him. He was very nice about it but I think we may have drawn too much attention to him since he and his family left very quickly afterwards. Thanks Donny for a Picture to remember. By the way, the kids had a great time tonight also.

Halloween Catch up

As the end of the year approaches, the panic of catching up on the years events has set in. Please bear with the out dated posts. Halloween was busy as usual. School parades, ward party, youth dance and trick-or-treating at Grammy and Nanas houses.
Hudson the boxer

Cassidy as Alice and Rylee as a Geisha girl

Camryn the gross DR.

Devyn the Flapper

Peyton the Cute Witch

Peyton loved knocking on the doors.

Bad Hair Day?

Are you having a bad hair day? This will make you feel a little better.

Peyton wakes up looking like this at least 4 or 5 times a week.

Thanksgiving 2008

This Thanksgiving we spent with my family. Its been 4 years since we've had Thanksgiving day with my family and I was really looking forward to it. It was a small group this year since Tara and Aaron are in Virgina,Scott and his family are in Utah, and Mike and his family made a trip up to see Scott and Christie. Even though they were missed we had a great time. The kids played all evening and the adults just got to visit. Dinner was great (although pati-sues stuffing was greatly missed)and the table looked beautiful. Thanks Mom!
I got to do a first this year. I was incharge of bringing pie, and usually I would just go and buy it, but instead I learned how to make a homemade apple pie. I've always wanted to learn but did'nt really know anyone who made them. Fortunatly, two of my friends also had to bring pies to their dinners and insisted from scratch was the only way to do it. We all got together on Wednesday evening and baked away. It was really fun and I found out that I'm pretty good at getting the pie crust into the pie plate. It was the yummiest apple pie. I will definately do it again. Thanks Meleah and Melissa.

Thanksgiving Gift from our little man

Hudson gave Drew and I a Thanksgiving gift. He was so excited to give it to us Thanksgiving morning.He gave us the sweetest letter and I have to admit, it made both of us tear up.

It says;
Dear Mom and Dad,
I want to thank you for being the best parents. One of the reasons you are the best parents is because you support me in my sports at every game and practices. I would also like to thank you for making me food and taking good care of me. Another good reason I am thankful for you because you always play with me.I am very thankful because you help me with my homework. The reason I am most thankful for you is because you love me. I am so thankful that I ended up with you for my parents.
Love,
Your Son,
Hudson
I am thankful for such a sweet and thoughtful little man inside that very loud and active little boy.

Thanksgiving Program

On Wednesday Devyn had her Kinder Thanksgiving Feast and program.The kids were dressed as Pilgrims and Indians. They had a feast in the Cafeteria then did songs and poems in the auditorium.
Devyn did such a great job. She had a part in the thanksgiving poem. Her group recited: I am a little Indian
I hunt with arrow and bow
If I see a turkey run by
Swoosh, my arrow will go.

Devyn with her friends Zoe and Lydia.

Happy Birthday to my Hun

His birthday was actually yesturday but it took till late in the evening to get the picture of him. I'd say he had a typical busy parent birthday. He worked all day, came home to see his birthday signs the kids made all over the wall, quickly had his favorite pizza(Eccos), rushed over for a basketball parents meeting for Camryn, went and visited his Dad at the hospital, came home, got a back rub then fell asleep watching Eli Stone. Not a super exciting birthday but he'll make it up a little playing golf on Friday.

Be more concerned what God thinks about you than what people think about you

Never have these words been more true in my life than right now. On Thurs. as word was being passed that our ward building was to be protested my first thought was I've got to have my camera for this, Second thought was I hope it's peaceful, third was I hope the kids don't get scared, and fourth (although I hate to admit it) I hope I don't run into someone I know. But as Sat. and Sun. approached my worries of running into someone I knew were gone. I remember as a youth being taught that as a member of the church we are called to stand out not to blend in. To stand up for what we believe in and not follow the crowd. As a teenager I just thought of it as having to living the gospel standards but now I understand that it means stand up and speak out for what is right.
Here are some pictures from the protest.

This is about 10:30am when it started.

Here's a few of the signs. The protest stayed peaceful and quiet except for some minor name calling. One of the protesters twisted his ankle while walking and some of our Priesthood went over to make sure he was alright. of course that nice act will never be reported.
This was one of our favorite signs of the day.
And yes it says Mormons: Americas Taliban. This was the first time I had seen this one.
And of course the Long Beach police dept. was stationed at each corner of the church along with some on bikes. Luckily they just got to sit and watch since there were no incidences.
10th ward is always interesting, exciting, and unpredictable.

New hair, new attitude

I finally got my hair done. It's been about 6 months since I've had a haircut and over a year a year since I've had a real change. The past 3 months I've been making exercise more of a priority and trying to eat a lot better. I've really been able to accomplish a lot more even with very little sleep.( thanks to a high-achiving overloaded teenager). I've been able to see a very slow but steady weight-loss but came to a point of just feeeling BLAH. In my eyes the weight-loss is barely noticable, my hair always back in a ponytail, I rarly wear make-up and I'm always in my mom uniform. I desperatly needed a pick me up. I put a new color on my hair and then off to Megan I went for highlights and a fresh new cut. I showed her a picure of how short I was willing to go and a picture of what I thought was to long and let her have free reign of the rest. As expected, I love it. It's just what I needed to get me freshly motivated to keep going with my new habits. It's amazing how a new haircut can really lift you up. Thanks again Megan!

Check out this giveaway!

Our friend Denise has her new party blog up and running. She is one of the most creative people I know. If you need a party idea, she's the one to look for. Anyway, She has a giveaway going on right now and if you hurry you can get in on it too. Click on Little Ant Design that you'll find under my favorite sites to visit and check out this cool halloween giveaway. Good Luck!

We're Coming Home!

We're packing up and moving home this week. Drew's parents are on their way home from their mission.They should be back sometime Saturday. So we are busy packing up, cleaning,painting,starting school,church activities,daycare kids are back,and getting our house ready to move back into this week. Luckily, Drew was able to take this week off to help move things and help get all the kids to and from school. I'm really glad we took the opportunity to help out Drew's parents while they served but I'm thrilled to be moving back to my own home. It may be quite a bit smaller than my in-laws but I really feel our family is closer and more loving to each other in our smaller house.Some people might think that sounds weird but for us it's true. Here's to a happy but busy week.

I saw this quiz on my sister-in laws blog so I tried it. Let me know if your agree.

Here's what the results say: You're as popular and relaxing as vanilla ice cream. You go with the flow, and get along with all sorts of people. You appreciate peace and simplicity, so you sometimes find crowds and loud noises overwhelming. You are a chilled-out, calming influence on the people in your life, and your friends appreciate how supportive and flexible you are.
Let me know what flavor you are.

I love this park

A couple of weeks ago I took the kids to Heritage Park. We had so much fun. My mom took me and my siblings there all the time when I was a kid.I hadn't been there with my kids in quite a few years. Watching the kids chase each other through the buildings and down the slides brought back such great memories. I do have to say, it's a lot better now then it was then. Here are some pics from our day:
the enter if you dare to have fun







I love this picture

Finally a new post

It's time to catch up a little bit. We have been living at Drew's parents house while they are serving a mission for the summer at Martins Cove.Tomorrow will mark one month of living there and we will go back to our house sometime during the beginning of September. Postings had been put on hold because all of my pictures have been on my computer at home. I'll try to catch up over the next couple of days. Here's a start.
The kids went to the Morrisons this past weekend and Peyton joined them for the first time. From what I hear things went well although Peyton wouldn't leave Rylees side for long.Here they are leaving. Peyton was all smiles till she realized I wasn't getting in the car too. She recovered quickly.

Saturday Drew had the opportunity to baptize Nekeela. Drew is her grandmas hometeacher and Nekeela had been coming to church with her. She was so excited to see him on Sunday at church and asked if she could sit with him during sacrament. I think he has a new friend.

My sister Tami had her baby shower Saturday morning.

The brownies Tara and I stayed up making Friday night. I love how they turned out!

She recieved cute gifts


The cute couple

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 14 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

It's about time for some street wiffleball

This has been the big backyard activity this past week.
Pitching, hitting and being the umpire.

Did you notice the bike helmet being used as the umpire mask? Camryn can probably only see half the pitches but apparently safety comes first for her.

After watching this for a couple days and many balls being hit to neighbors backyard(one by me),I figured it was time to go old school and play some wiffleball in the street.
Living right next to a high school, the kids rarely play in the street. This was a huge treat for them. We made bases in the street. We used the rules I grew up with(modified where needed). You get 5 pitches only( hit one or you're out), fly ball to neighbors grass across the street is an automatic out, ball rolls under car runner advances only one base, and you can peg out (throw the ball at)anyone 15 or over. Most important, if the other team has been up a really long time with only 1 out and Drew hits the ball on the neighbors porch across the street, it is an automatic 2 outs and 1 more when they are up next.
We played for well over 2 hours and had a great time. A few of us were a little sore the next morning.
The cheerleaders

The fans

These two got confused and thought we were playing gutter ball

The Awesome Teams


And of course, the game ended in a tie.

Look Who's Two!

May 21,2008

I can't believe Peyton's two already. Time is flying by with this last one. She must have known she turned two this morning because she started out the morning CRANKY. She perked up during the late morning when Sammy came over and all the kids went out looking for rollie pollies (sp?). Then two tantrums, happy, tantrum, a walk, tantrum, dinner, ice-cream and bed.

I think she introduced herself and us to the Two's perfectly. Drew had a few phone calls from me while he was at work, so he could listen in on the fits going on while I just laughed and gave him a play by play.

For all the whoopla that happend today I do have to say that 95% of the time she is just a lot of fun. She is a danger girl and takes great pleasure in making me worry. Examples; standing on the back of the couch and tipping from side to side, climbing up the slide, swinging from the top of the slide, climbing on top of the counters and so on while calling my name to make sure I am watching her.

She talks very well, counts to twelve, spells her name, loves having family prayer each night, just started saying her own prayers, is really coordinated(sp?), knows which sibling to go to for the best chance to get what she wants, loves to have her picture taken as long as it's not at a studio, is constantly calling people on moms cell phone, gets excited when she gets a new pair of shoes, loves the water and walks over to Aunt Meems (Amy-Sue)if she wants a hershey kiss.

playing guitar hero with dad

sisterly love

Happy 2nd Birthday Peyton Delaine