4th of July

For the 4th of July, we headed up to my parents house as is tradition to play with the Ashton cousins and watch the fireworks from the back yard.  Aside from worrying about all the wild fires that were burning all over Utah,  we had a great time.  We had our own Ashton Olympics in the backyard. Here's a recap.

Opening Ceremonies, with the official Olympic music while the kids marched around the yard.

Kimball, Jack and Tod we're done with the marching and wanted to get to the events.

Danny was enjoying cage fighting w/ his cousin Paisley... or just playing on the trampoline.

 First Event - Tug o' War.  I'm pretty sure the Olympics should add this to their line up next time.

 Tod's Event - the wall climb.  He's pretty agile for a 2 year old.

Second Event - the Egg on a Spoon Race.  Look at that focus!

Not as focused, but having a great time!

Was that egg supposed to stay on the spoon?

 Next Event - Backward race.  Notice the 2 that are contemplating the rules as my dad is explaining.

Closing Ceremonies.  My 3 champions!  Danny's cheering them on from his fight cage.

The competitors all enjoys the traditional Flag Rice Crispie Treats.  I don't know what my mom does to those rice crispies, but they are the best, and ever so addictive.

 New happiness for Danny... he's mastered the juice pouch.

 Jack's new best friend, his Aunt Abbey, because she has Angry Birds on her phone.

 A great Daddy/Daughter self portrait.

 Love this kiddo and that flag!

We then enjoyed playing in the backyard until it got dark, and then all enjoyed the fireworks that are shot off the hill behind Tod.  So fun!

Camping - Hafen Family Together (Out of Town)

Anyone that knows me, knows that I am not the most enthusiastic camper.  I call myself a "rookie" camper because I didn't do it much growing up.  So, I had a bit of anxiety about taking our family camping with Jason's family.  The family has a "reunion" every 2 years.  It's hard to say "reunion" with out laughing a little bit, because most of us see each other quite often because all of us, minus 2 brothers, live within 10 miles of each other. But, I digress... on to the camping adventure.  First, I need to thank Danette for planning this awesome trip, because for a "rookie" camper, I had a great time.  I've decided I really like camping when we are setting up tents on grass, right next to the paved parking lot, there are showers, a spigot of fresh Utah water, and a covered pavilion w/ lots of tables and chairs.  And, we were right next to this little lake.  Here's a LOT of pictures of our adventure at Palisades State Park near Manti, UT.

The first night, all the cousins had a glow stick party.

.

One morning, Aunt Kristen took the time to do some fancy braids on all the nieces hair.

Danny enjoyed jumping around on our air mattresses.

Tod looks how I feel in the morning.

Tod was sharing some of the apple sauce pouch w/ Danny, who preferred to suck on his finger.

So much for the protective netting around the new trees. 

I love people that wake up happy!

Danny bonding with Grandpa.

Danette and Aaron planned the Cousin Carnival for one of the days we were there.  It had a fish pond, darts, photo booth, ring toss and kissing booth... with prizes.  The kids had to pay with tickets for their turns at each booth.  It was a lot of fun!

Jack showing his dart throwing skills.  This was definitely his favorite game.

Should I be worried about her becoming a teenager?

Or him?

Jason and I's photo booth picture.  Batman meets random bearded guy.

Everyone else went to Manti to see the pageant, and we took the kids to go get an ice cream.  But they all looked like this w/in 10 mins of getting in the car.

Jason and his mini-me.

All in all we had a fabulous time!  Thanks Danette and Aaron! 

What are you looking at?

The month of June flew by.  Between trips to Utah, church callings,  (Jason in the Elders Quorum and me in the Young Womens) and me teaching swimming lessons this summer, things are a little crazy.  We try not to get too stir-crazy in the heat and make it to the splash park as often as possible.  I will get pictures one day, but until then, you'll just have to take my word for it.

After bath-time, Kimball was playing with the camera, and wanted to take a picture of Danny's eye.  That turned into everyone getting an "eye-portrait."  Can you guess who belongs to which eye? *Answers below.

 Eye A

 Eye B

 Eye C

Eye D

Eye E

Another favorite past time is to take all of their toys and bury someone in it.  Can you see who's hiding?

Answers:  A - Jack, B - Tod, C - Jason, D - Danny, E - Kimball

That's Jack buried in the toys on the couch, if you look by the orange car under the table, you can see his eye (compare to eye A).

Conquering Fears and Best DAD Ever!

After Jason drove the kids up to my parents house, he flew back home and it was party time with the kiddos and I.

 Kimball and Jack love this tree in my parents front yard.  

 Danny practicing his "monster" and coming to get me.

 

Looks comfy, doesn't it? Thank goodness for king size beds.

And then, I conquered a fear, and drove home from my parents house with all FOUR of the kids (4 years old and younger).  That's a 6-7 hour drive... and yes, I'm totally bragging about it!

 

 It's a bird, it's a plane, no - it's SUPER DAD!

To the best Father I could've ever hoped to tricking into marrying me and having kids with. Thanks to truly the best FATHER in the world.  The kids agree, but their faces were rebelling at the time.   

 

Summer Time and A New Niece

Summer is here!  To celebrate, we took the kids to the pool opening weekend to swim with some of their cousins.  We swam until we looked like this...

Notice purple lips?

It's even been relatively cool enough to play outside in the backyard.

This is Evey Marie Johnson, my newest niece on the Ashton side.  She was born 5/31/12.  This special little girl has truly brought such a strong spirit to this family.  Here's her story, as told by my sister Sam. "Evey is 5 weeks old and from the day she was born doctors have tried to unofficially diagnosed with several things including down syndrome and noonans. As she gets older and do more tests they keep ruling things out right now as they are still awaiting her genetics test but the docs are pretty sure that it's DiGeorge syndrome."

 

The day after she was born, and the doctors started noticing some of the problems, I offered to fly up to help watch Cally's other kids, as they were figuring out the next steps with their little girl.  I am so grateful for an amazing husband who helped me get out of town w/in hours and was able to still take Kimball for Father/Daughter campout and then drive up all 4 kids by himself a couple of days later, so that I could be there with my sister and help out where I could.  He is truly amazing!

As for this little girl, she had her baby blessing over the 4th of July weekend when all my family could be there.  I can't describe what it's like to watch this little one, and then hearing the blessing her father gave her and testimonies shared about the plan of happiness and knowing exactly where this little girl came from.  My sister and her husband are so strong, and have such a strong testimony of Heavenly Fathers plan.  What a privilege it is to get to share a little part of this little girls life, and to feel the strong spirit she brings to her parents and to our extended family.

Danny Turns ONE!!!

 Danny made it through his first year on this earth!  Woo Hoo!  He is such a happy boy, and is always trying to follow his big sister and brothers.   He has been such an easy baby, and now hopefully will be an easy little boy too.  LOVE HIM!

 He managed to play with a few of his toys before his brothers and sister came in to check out the presents.

 And, must be the 4th kid because all he got for his birthday was a cupcake.  But, he still enjoyed it to the fullest!

Nothing better than a chocolate cupcake!

My Funny Boys

 The boys have been very actively making messes and making funny faces.  Here's some examples.

 Jack has been loving his blocks a lot lately.  He puts them in his blue bucket and drags them around the house, and then stops to build.  He even brought them to bed and feel asleep in the middle of building.

Tod and Danny cleaned out my cabinet for me.  

I think Jack took this picture of Tod.  I love it.

Danny was finding it difficult to keep his eyes open as the camera flashed... so now I have a couple of pictures like this.

 

Jason and I went to go check on the kids before we went to bed, and we didn't see Tod in his bed.  This is where we found him after checking the other rooms and beds.  

A close-up to show that he actually feel asleep sitting up and hiding in the corner.

And... guess who's getting better at walking?