Wow...

Wow....it's been so long since I updated my blog that I almost don't know where to start! That is really, really sad. I guess that I can start out by saying sorry. Haha, I really do feel bad for my family and friends that want to know what's going on in our lives!

Life has just been really busy! During the month of January, we went to a lot of basketball games, played in the snow, and I ended up driving to Idaho to surprise and see my family for just over a week. It was so great. Living up here in Washington has really made me come to appreciate my family and my really good friends. Washington has proven to be a really good fit for Jared and us though. Jared loves his teaching and coaching job and I've been loving staying home with the girls. We have a schedule that keeps us sane during the week :), which includes a couple of playgroups and going to the library, also play-school and some really fun crafts that we do in an awesome craft room! Seriously though, it does get hard sometimes. I miss being a couple blocks from my family. I miss my perfect little house. I miss my friends and the establishment and security that I had in Rexburg. I miss being only 3 minutes from any store I needed to get to (here, it's at least 45 minutes to the nearest Wal-Mart/grocery store/Costco!). But I've also come to be a more.......responsible? mom I guess I would say. Jared and I have really had to rely on each other and I always knew and felt that he was, but now, I can really say that he is my best friend. Through everything, we'll always be together and we'll always have each other. Obviously, things change in life, even unexpectedly. I wasn't really expecting to move up to Darrington when we did, but it happened, and the only thing that stayed the same in my life was the fact that Jared and the girls are still with me. Adjusting has been hard, but good, and the Lord definitely knows what we need to do with our lives more than we do. Learning to listen to the spirit though has been hard too, but good for me.

Anyways, sorry about the spill :) Well, a couple weeks ago I started potty training Ashlyn which actually has gone really well! We just stayed home for 6 days straight and she ran around naked! (Well, with a dress on). It was awesome, and now, she wears her little panties that are so freaking adorable on her bum. She does still have an accident maybe once every 4 days, but other than that, she's doing really good! Marley is crawling around and eating everything. I've never seen a child that loves food more than her. Haha, seriously, she eats AT LEAST 3 times what Ashlyn does at any given meal, it's hilarious. And the great thing is, she loves ALL food. I haven't given her a food yet that she doesn't like. Downfall, she has gotten to the point where she almost refuses to eat baby food. She does have 2 teeth and loves Ashlyn sooooo much. Ashlyn loves her so much too and they are just best friends. Marley usually ends up trying to eat Ashlyn though :) The funny thing about Marley is that she is so sensitive. Anytime I take something away from her or tell her "no, no!" she gets the saddest look on her face like I've personally offended her! She has also started throwing tantrums where she scrunches up her nose and pokes her lips out and makes this buzzing/rattling sound that comes from her nose. Hilarious. Our "adopted" (foreign exchange student) son's name is Alan who came to live with us at the beginning of January. He absolutely loves Ashlyn and Marley and they share the same feelings towards him. Sometimes, Marley only wants him. Jared is doing really well and getting lots more rest now that basketball season is over :). He definitely misses it though, I'm glad that he's at least got college basketball and the NBA to watch right now to ease him out of it. He's glad to have more time to spend with the girls and me though, it was hard for Ashlyn to only see him for an hour a day.

So, I know that you really just want to see pictures so here are a lot of them!

Yes, I'm teaching Ashlyn to dance :) And yes, those are floral tights that I am wearing! haha.

Every morning Ashlyn crawls into Marley's bed with her, so cute.

Going to play in the snow, as you can see, Marley does not like this idea.

Our son going on a date (sniff) he's getting so old! :)

Yes, I am teaching Ashlyn Kung-Fu.

Hanging out around the house.

The yummiest french toast I ever made! Cream cheese, blueberries, banana's, and whipped cream with syrup. Ohhhhhh so delightful........I think we'll have this tomorrow now that I'm thinking about it......

Idaho

We went bowling while we were in Idaho and Ashlyn loved it! They even had shoes her size!

Sammy....so cute!!!!

As you can see, I won! 106 baby! Ashlyn got 69! Not bad for her first time bowling!

Taking baths at Halmoni and Grandpa's house.

Wyatt got a job working at Broulims bagging groceries, what a stud.

Ashlyn and Marley LOVED sitting in this bucket and being carried around by Co-co, Wyatt, or "Gampa."

Sammy really misses my girls, she loves them so much and they love her too :)

Playing with cousin Stevi at Leo's Place.

Oh yes, we fed the ducks.

Ashlyn loves McDonald's no matter what state we are in.

Jared was sooooo happy when we got back from Idaho! He missed us a lot, he didn't have hardly anything to do while we were gone!

Last basketball game of the season!

LOGGER POWER!

Oh Ashlyn, our little fashion diva. She still needs to learn a thing or two...socks with sandals, tisk, tisk ;) I love it!

Of course Marley is eating and of course she is still hungry!

Trying to walk!

Playing outside in the snow!

Small town life

So a lot has happened in the last couple of months! Washington is growing on me and we've had a lot of fun together as a family. I've gotten involved in a few things and kind of have a tentative schedule every week.

Monday: Stay home and play. Usually go out and pick berries.

Tuesday: Play group with a lady in Darrington who is becoming one of my close friends. Her husband is the JV Basketball coach so Jared and he already know each other.

Wednesday: Play group in Arlington (30 miles away) with some ladies in my ward. It's been fun getting to know them and talk about couponing!

Thursday: Stay home and play again:) Berry picking!

Friday: Library story time. So fun!

Haha, not the most exciting schedule but I really like it! It's not too much but just right because usually every other week I have a meeting for the Parenting Committee I'm on for Darrington. We plan Family Nights for Darrington once a month and we're also putting on the Homecoming Parade and Carnival this month. I have to go to trainings and everything, super busy! I'm also the Relief Society Activities Coordinator for my ward. So basically I'm in charge of every activity I attend :) I really like being involved though in Darrington. Even though all the girls at the high school drool over Jared, they know they don't even come close to matching me up ;)

One more thing, I have become completely obsessed with watching Project Runway! I also love watching America's Next Top Model. For all those who know me, this probably comes as a shock that I'm addicted to a TV show but probably not too shocked with the shows I'm addicted to :) Haha. Jared likes NCIS and I watch those with him sometimes. Totally random, yes, but we've never had any Cable or Satellite since we've been married so it's kind of fun!

Ashlyn and Marley are getting HUGE! Ashlyn is getting really good at speaking sentences and communicating what she wants. She has named her stuffed giraffe "Applesauce" (I don't know if I already blogged that) and takes him just about anywhere. Last night when we were trying to find him, I said, "Ashlyn, where is Applesauce?" and she said, "I don't know!" (As she throws her arms up in the air, then exclaims, "Oh, he pooping." Then just looked at me with her big blue eyes. Haha, it was hilarious. Anytime anyone has to go to the bathroom in the downstairs bathroom, doesn't matter who, she'll go pound on the door and yell, " (Name), pooping? Pooping (name)?" We've thought about starting to potty train her but I am just not ready for that commitment yet :)

Marley is growing like a weed! She weighs about 16.5 pounds and loves any type of food I give her. She loves to smile and has recently started making this Chewbacca sound in her throat when she's just laying there playing, so cute! She can sit up pretty well by herself but I still put the Bobby behind her. She loves to look at things upside down and LOVES it when I dance with her. And she still has to be swaddled to go to sleep! Oh my heckfrey, I don't know how we're going to break her of that because when an arm comes out, she screams and screams until we re-wrap her! Ahhhh! Haha, and I thought breaking Ashlyn of the Binki was going to be hard......

Jared is doing really well with his new job. He's teaching AP Calculus, AP Physics, Algebra I & II, and getting ready to start coaching here in the next couple weeks. He's really excited for the season and so am I. We've started taking walks together every night as a family (including Captain Underpants) and it's been so nice to have that wind-down time as a family. It's so easy to get caught up in all the little things we have to do.

I went on a cruise to Mexico! For a whole week! Without Jared! Or Ashlyn! Or Marley! Haha, it was hard to be away from them for that long, but it was soooooooooooooooo fun! I went with my sister Sammy, my cousin Heidi, and a long-time family friend Mauri. Oh my gosh, I totally recomment doing this ladies, your husbands will worship the ground you walk on when you get home from leaving them with 2 kids for a week:) My mom came up and watched the girls while I was gone and so I got to spend some time with her when I got back. I went zip-lining, hiking, swimming, tanning, and I even learned how to surf! And I read like 2 whole books :) Best time ever. Oh yes, our stateroom, you could stand in the middle and touch both walls with your arms. Haha, so small and bunkbeds! Loved it.

We went over to the Sherrill's house in our ward (Basically Jared's grandparents) and saw their chickens, Ashlyn loved them and Ralph loved carrying Ashlyn. Too cute!

Going to the first Darrington Loggers Home football game of the season! I painted Ashlyn's face and put her hair in pig tails with school ribbons, so cute! Marley is wearing the green and I'm wearing the gold :) Oh, and yes, that is Jared's Letterman's jacket....he was pretty proud....haha.

So Marley doesn't ever watch TV but one day I was just so tired of carrying her around while I was wiping off the kitchen counters so I put her down on the floor while Ashlyn was watching her one hour of TV for the day, which happened to be Elmo this day. Marley watched it for like 5 minutes! I was so happy!

Piggy back on Daddy!

Ashlyn still does this in the high chair, even when she's not pouting. This pouting was because we wouldn't let her have ice cream until she swallowed the bite of potato soup in her mouth:)

Haha, probably one of my favorite faces of Marley!

Partial Post :)

So I'm posting part of my post now and part later, mostly because I'm afraid my little brothers are going to kill me, so "Here's the freaking post, gosh!" Haha, gotta love Napolean Dynamite:) Ashlyn and Marley are growing so big! Marley is about 15 pounds and she's almost 5 months. So crazy! Ashlyn just loves her to death and is getting more and more sassy every day, I don't know what I'm going to do with her:) I guess just love her more and more. Her vocabulary is getting very extensive and we've discovered that Pop-pop (Jared's dad) will give her anything she wants. While we were at Lake Palmer this last week, Ashlyn would go up to him with big-ol' eyes and say, "Pop-pop, more. More cookies please! Pop-pop, more please:)" How can you resist that! So cute! Jared is getting ready to start teaching in a couple weeks and I'm getting ready to go on my cruise! So excited! I'm so excited to see my mom too! She's coming up to help Jared with the girls while I'm gone, can't wait! Love you mom, dad, Coco, Wyatt, and Sammy:)

Swimming at Lake Goodwin

Ashlyn and Gunnar butts, gotta love it:)

Ashlyn loves watermelon! Just like her mommy

Marley loves to be swaddled! I have no idea how we're going to break her of it! She looks like such an angel.

Picnic in the backyard!

"Where's Daddy's head? There it is, peekaboo!"

The best part of living in Jared's parents house..... the master bathroom with the huge jetted tub and ginormous walk-in closet!