More Zoo Time...

No....this is not a repeat of last post. :) This post is about another trip to the zoo. Kylie talks about the animals she sees at the zoo all the time, so we decided to head back last week. Betsy and Sophie ended up joining us this time. It was so much fun. We rode the little train they have there, along with the carousel this time. (The girls actually rode that twice.) It was a lot of fun and they were SO CUTE! I'm sure we'll go back to the zoo soon, but maybe I'll stop posting the photos about it and post something else. :) Anyway....here are the pics from our day...

We first went to the monkeys. The girls LOVED watching them all run around. They were HYPER today and just running all over. (The monkeys...not the girls...although the girls did have their share of running around too. :) ) I don't know if you can see in the 2nd photo, but the "grandpa" monkey came RIGHT UP to the glass and stared at the girls. It was SO CUTE. The girls just stared back, in awe.

Then we went outside to see the monkeys out there. There was a little baby monkey and it was SO CUTE! He was SO HYPER! He was running SO FAST all around, while mommy and daddy monkey sat there nibbling on grass (and to be honest.....looked so tired!). It was so cute to watch them.


There is this big metal elephant by the real elephants. I tried to get a photo with Kylie...but as you can tell...she wasn't too thrilled. :) That face....so funny. :) This elephant makes weird noises and it's a bit freaky. Kylie seems to like that part though.

There is a little tunnel you can walk under where there are 2 windows to watch the Rhino's in. Turns out...one was at the window munching on some grass. It was so crazy to see them so close. Kinda cool.


LUNCH TIME! I forgot to pack a lunch, so I grabbed some Wendy's before we got there. Kylie wanted NOTHING to do with her chicken nuggets and just wanted whatever Sophie was eating. It was SO FUNNY when Sophie started feeding Kylie her yogurt. :) I love how she shows Kylie how to open her mouth big and wide for a bite! :) Then Kylie grabs Sophie's apple and digs in. Betsy was the one with the "magic bag" this time. :) (Usually I have some snacks for the girls in my purse when we go out. This time...it was all Betsy! Kylie wanted everything that came out of their lunch bag. It was too cute! :) )

This train ride was TOO CUTE! Kylie was TOTALLY into it....as you can tell from the look on her face in that last picture. She would just look all around and try to figure out what was all around her. It was TOO much fun. In that 2nd picture...you might notice Sophie munching on something. We wanted to get a picture so we had Kylie take the Starburst out of her mouth. She handed it to Sophie to hold, and Sophie just grabs it and pops it in her mouth. It took Kylie a minute but then she started looking around noticing the bad deal she got. :) Maybe you had to be there, but Betsy and I couldn't stop laughing. It was so funny! Anyway: Kylie did NOT want to get off this train. She loved it!


After the train, it was on to the Conservative Carousel they just put in. All the animals on the carousel are endangered species. The money the raised building this (people donated $5000 to have a plaque with their name on it under each animal), I believe went to save these animals. Anyway: this was Kylie's first ride. She DEFINITELY did NOT want to get off. She loved it. Look at my big girl.....she's growing so fast!

Although I try....Kylie does NOT look at the camera when I get it out. So thanks, Betsy, for taking 100 photos to try to get one of her looking at the camera. Maybe one day! :)

Sophie was NOT happy that I made her look at me to take a picture. She was watching herself go round and round in the mirrors. :) But hey....she listened to me and actually looked at me! :) So thanks Sophie!

This is Kylie's second ride around. We went with a zebra this time. Look at my big girl!!!! (Again....so annoyed the camera was out!)

Look at these two! Ok...the most awesome thing about this day is that practically NO ONE was there! Usually it's so crowded, but it was GREAT having the place pretty much to ourselves! So these girls took advantage of it. They ran around like crazy. And how cute are they...holding hands and walking around. It was so cute! :) By the end of the day...Sophie was a bit sick of it, but it was so cute while it lasted! :) Thanks girls for a fun time!

Zoo (and more) Day!!

Brian took the day off on Friday for a FUN FAMILY DAY! Brian's parents were suppose to come visit us the end of this week and into next week and Brian had scheduled the time off. We found out his parents weren't able to make it, but he decided to take Friday off anyway so we could have some fun family time. We decided to take Kylie to the zoo. We told her all about it the night before and it was ALL she could talk about. She would walk around listing animals she was going to see. It was so cute. We'd hear her say, "Giraffe, Elephant, Lion," and on and on. Then she got mad that she wasn't going right then. She wasn't happy we weren't going bye-bye at bedtime! :) So we got her up in the morning, got ready, and headed out. It was a BEAUTIFUL day and Kylie LOVED her time there! After the zoo, we went back to our house for a quick nap for Kylie (while her parents wished they could take one too! :) ) and then woke her up and headed back out. Brian found new friends through an organization he's been involved with at work and they have had us over a few times to play games. So we went there Friday night. It's really fun and Kylie even was really good this time. She even played with other kids!!! (Anyone that knows Kylie knows she is pretty clingy to Brian and I and doesn't really enjoy playing with other kids she doesn't know. Once she knows them and feels comfortable with them...she's great. But she is pretty cautious at first.) So it was a fun day and night for all of us! Here are some photos to document our journey...

The first stop was to see the monkeys. She got SO EXCITED! She would watch them for a minute and then turn around to look at one of us and just laugh. She didn't want to leave this place at all! ...

As a parent, one of the things I LOVE is being able to show my daughter new things. So things like the zoo are so much fun because she gets to see all sorts of new things. We have seen zebra's in books we have and stuff, so when we showed her the zebra she knew what they were right away and said "ZEBRA!". It was so fun for her (and for us to see her!) to see them in real life. She got so excited!

(Yet again...I'm the one that takes the pics so it seems that it was just Brian and Kylie at the zoo. :) I was there! I promise! :) )

When we saw the elephants, Kylie tried to act like them. She puts her hand around her nose and makes this sound that I guess is what she thinks they do when they lift their trunk. It's so funny.

And here is my FAVE picture from the day. She would cover her mouth with her hand and just laugh! I think this PICTURE is SO DARLING!!! Her whole face is all lit up and I love it!

Kylie did have some fun moments with both her parents today and HEY! We did get a picture with mom! :) (After handing Dad the camera and saying, "Here...take a picture of Kylie and I please." :) )

So Kylie kept saying, "Go find Lion! Go find Lion!" We thought she really just wanted to see a lion so we were off to try to find her one. Little did we know, this is what she wanted. She remembered these from when we were here before....

She just needed a drink of water! :)

And our self-portrait for the day! I always hate having people stop what they are doing to take a picture of us. Especially when they are trying to take care of their own kids. : ) So I took a self portrait. Too bad it didn't turn out well. At least we are all together and that's what counts, right?! :)

By the end of the day....Miss Clingy to her parents turned in to Miss Independent. She was leading Brian and I around. I didn't let her go far from us AT ALL (of course) but it was fun to let her take the lead and take us just where she wanted to go. :) I just have to say....ISN'T SHE SO CUTE?! :) (Sorry....can't help it!!)

Hope you all had great weekends as well!

What's in a name?

So I did this "Name Meaning" thing. It's kinda fun. See what your name says about you! :)

What Ashley Means

You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic “Type A” personality. You are the total package - suave, sexy, smart, and strong. You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know. You don't always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don't have as much going for them as you do. You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out. Success comes rather easily for you... especially in business and academia. Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. You're a strong person. You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are a free spirit, and you resent anyone who tries to fence you in. You are unpredictable, adventurous, and always a little surprising. You may miss out by not settling down, but you're too busy having fun to care.

What's" Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Happy Birthday, Sophie!

Ok...I feel SO bad that I haven't posted lately. I had no idea it's been so long! Wowsers! I'll be better!

I wanted to post some photos, but I do apologize for the quality. I totally forgot my camera yesterday, so we used Brian's Blackberry's camera. But we went to Sophie's birthday party yesterday and it was so cute! She turned 3 and it was a cupcake birthday party. It was at a cute cupcake store called So Cupcakes in SLC. The kids each got to decorate (and eat!) 2 mini cupcakes, opened presents, and got a cute party favor from the store at the end. It's Sophie's birthday today so HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOPHIE!!!


When we got there, we saw a ton of birds in the parking lot. This is Kylie running off to chase them. She LOVES them and tries to catch them. She loves how when she runs for them, they all fly away in a big flutter. She laughs and laughs and wants to do it again. :)


These are Kylie's cupcakes with Daddy helping her to put the frosting on them. Of course she wanted pink frosting. :) She's very serious about her frosting. (That was actually the only party she would eat. She would lick it all off and then bring the cupcake back to Brian or me to frost again.)

Birthday girl in her cute cupcake birthday dress. She even has a cupcake necklace on. Too cute!

I was trying to get her to take a bite of the actual cupcake. She mostly just got frosting and preferred that anyway! :)

Adding some sprinkles.

Checking it out trying to see exactly where the most frosting is on the cupcake. :)

I LOVE YOU KYLIE! You are too funny! :)

Backyard Fun...

These pictures are a few weeks old, but I just realized I hadn't posted them yet. Better late than never. :) My best friend just moved from a few miles away back to Salt Lake City. (SUPER BIG TEAR!!!!! Even though it's not that far away, I'm SO SAD she won't be so close anymore.) Anyway: our daughters are best friends too and play so well together! We almost don't have to entertain at ALL which is FABULOUS! :) They came over for dinner right before I went on my trip, as a last little hurrah. We played out in the back for a few minutes until we started getting swarmed by the wicked mosquitoes that are here in West Kaysville! Anyway: here are some pics of the sweet girls...

They LOVE to play by the garden. They just walk around and around it and then when we let them, they love to pick stuff. It's precious.

My beautiful daughter! :) She's SO CUTE! :)

Brian and Kylie just planted this tree in our backyard (and they planted even more while I was out of town) and Kylie loves to go over by it and look at it. It will be crazy to watch them both grow over the years! (Speaking of which...parents out there...how do you keep from getting so sad at how fast these kids grow? Last night before bed we were saying our family prayer, and I just started crying over how big Kylie is getting! She's not a baby AT ALL anymore...she's turning into a big girl! It's a bit sad, I must say! Not that it isn't a blast watching her grow, but I don't want her to grow up!!! So sad!)

The best little friends "hugging it out." They love to hug each other and it's so cute.

After we played outside, we came in to have a treat. Here are a few pics of the girls eating them...PRICELESS!!! (You might notice a few differences in how they eat their cookies! :) )

A trip to myself (with 120 others!)

So I'm a bad poster, huh?! I'll try to be better! I'm SORRY! This will be a fairly quick post...I just wanted to document a trip I just went on. For the first time in what feels like FOREVER, I went on a trip ALL BY MYSELF! (Ok..not all by myself exactly...but all by myself meaning no family was with me.) It was an all expense trip paid by Stampin' Up! Why?! You might ask?! I won an award through them (along with about 120 others) that earned me the trip. They flew us all to St. George and we had FIVE DAYS to do very little. :) They had a few events planned for us, but most of it was free time/relax time. I had an AMAZING TIME! They spoiled us rotten and it was wonderful. :) I met new friends, got closer with other friends, hung out with SHELLI (the co-founder and President of Stampin' Up! and someone I admire GREATLY!), and just had a BLAST! I shared more of this on my stamping blog, but I wanted to document it here as well. I missed my family SO MUCH and couldn't wait to come home and give kisses and hugs to both Brian and Kylie. I think they both missed me a bit too. :) But they had some fun Daddy daughter time and Brian is SO AMAZING! I came home and he had the house spotless, some landscaping done, the garage all organized, other places in the house organized, and he had a gift on my pillow since I'd gotten so used to that while I was away! :) (Yes...every night when we got back to our hotel room there were gifts on our bed! SO FUN! :) ) Anyway: it was a great time, but it is good to be back. Here are a few photos...

This was on my door as I checked in to my room. What a fun welcome! :) We had the whole hotel, so Stampin' Up! kinda took over. They set up an an area called The Gathering Place and they had all sorts of comfy couches, chairs, LoveSac type things, and THIS! There were a few of these around the room, and you could just come, fill up one of the silver buckets with whatever candy you wanted. They kept this thing stocked the whole time. :) It was such a fun touch!

These were how the tables were set up for our first night welcome dinner. So pretty! I LOVE the pink/black/and white theme throughout the week!

Brandi (on the far left) is my upline and who I hung out with most of the week. It was GREAT to get to know her more and have fun with her! Wendy, in the middle, was with us a lot as well. She is darling too and so much fun to get to know! ("As we discussed"...thanks girls for a great time! :) )

This was one of our gifts that was left in our room. Probably my favorite! :) It had a new stamp set, some ink pads, and some ribbon! SO MUCH FUN! :)

Shelli is the one on the far left. I really do admire her for all that she has accomplished as a female in a "males business world." This is the 20th year Stampin' Up! has been around and it has grown SO MUCH! It's amazing, really...but I'll spare you the details! :) I'm SO impressed with so many things about her and I feel so lucky to get to hang with her a bit this past weekend!

In the Gathering Place they also had these comfy blankets to cuddle up in. We all wanted to take them off to our rooms when no one was looking. Well, Stampin' Up is SO NICE they gave us ALL one the last night we were there! They are FABULOUS! :)

Stampin' Up!'s manufacturing plant where they make all their rubber stamps is actually in Kanab. One of the days we took a trip out there. Shelli and Sterling (her husband) made this park for the city of Kanab. It's only fitting that the stuff under the playground equipment is leftover rubber from the rubber stamps! :) It's all shredded up, but you can totally find pieces of stamp sets if you look! It was SO FUN to play with and more bouncy than you might think. (I know..it's rubber. I still didn't think it would be as bouncy as it was!)

Our last night there they took us all out on buses for a destination unknown! :) Well, it ended up being at a Country Club up Snow Canyon. Actually...this is where High School Musical 2 was filmed. Anyway: they had a whole area set up for us with a big movie screen just for us, yummy food, a whole treat stand for us, and our blankets on each of our chairs. It was GREAT! It was perfect weather, and we just sat there under the stars and watched the movie, "No Reservations." It was such a perfect night and the perfect end to a fabulous trip. THANKS! It was truly wonderful! (Ok...this turned out to be not such a short post! Sorry!)

My cutie pa-tootie daughter!

I love just watching Kylie play and interact. My mom and dad just took Cameron, my youngest brother, to college in Rexburg, Idaho. SO....they are NOW empty nesters. They are both a bit nervous about this. I think it will be great though. :) I'm just freaked out that Cams is AT COLLEGE! Where does the time go? Anyway: my parents drove through Utah while taking Cams to school so they have been at our house a few nights. It has been so much fun seeing how much fun Kylie has playing with them. She LOVES Grandma and Grandpa Brown. She's always asking for them, calling for them throughout the house, and just is always making her attempts at getting them to play whatever game she wants to play at the moment. Anyway: Kylie was finally content playing by herself for a small portion of the morning, so I got some pics of her. I really need to take more pics....I'll get some of her with Grandma and Grandpa later today.

Here's my grown up little girl. She talks SO MUCH! She puts full sentences together...and has for awhile. She is always amazing me at how fast her little mind works. It's funny because she calls me "Mommy Ashley" sometimes too. She'll use my name especially if she is trying to get my attention. She say, "Mommy! Mommy!" Then she'll pause and say, "Ashley!" It's so funny. Last night she just puts her hand on my cheek, looks at me, and says, "Mommy Ashley." I love her little voice.