The Asay's

Carson survived!

2012-02-02T12:51:00.000-08:00

Carson survived 100 days of school! His class celebrated the 100th day of school Tuesday. They each had to bring 100 edible items to put in the pot for their treat (which is in the baggie he is holding) and got to meet Zero the Hero (a math character in their classroom) who brought them doughnuts! It sounded like a pretty good day to me! It has been so fun to see how much Carson has progressed so far this year. His teacher is great! We look forward to hearing about his day (what he can remember...) after school each day. Good job on your first 100 days of school, Carson!

On the same day that Carson was celebrating 100 days, Travis wanted to cook some food for Landon and I. We got him out the play food and fry pan and spoon for him, but then he informed me that he needed something to cook it on. Lucky for him, we had a box in the house that we turned into a stove. When you don't have girls to buy a kitchen for...you have to get creative!

Piggy banks

2012-01-28T06:03:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, the boys brought out their piggy banks and emptied them out. Carson's was getting pretty full/heavy so we thought it was time to empty it out and start fresh. They had so much fun looking at all the different types of money there was and how much they had. Today, we were able to take their money to the bank to have them count it. I was really surprised at how much each of them had. Travis' grand total was $120.01 and Carson had a whopping $233. 78 in his piggy bank!! After getting their money counted, we had them open up savings accounts and put the money in there. Now they can start over filling up their banks again!

All their money! They were some very happy/excited little boys!

Campout!

2012-01-27T09:43:00.000-08:00

This last weekend, the boys wanted to know if they could have a campout. So, a campout we had...in the living room. They wanted to sleep on a blow up mattress so we blew one up and let the boys sleep on it in the living room. We read scriptures by the light of one of the boys' play camping lanterns and then went to bed. They thought it was great and were so excited...I'm surprised they actually fell asleep at a decent time!

Bubbles!

2012-01-25T11:38:00.000-08:00

Landon's shirt says it all in this picture! Landon is such a drooly kid! Actually,we've started calling him bubbles because he blows some pretty good spit bubbles! We have had to resort to wearing bibs all the time so that his clothes aren't soaked through. Drool or no drool...we are still crazy about him!

Bowling!

2012-01-23T11:33:00.000-08:00

Saturday night, we thought it would be fun to head to the bowling alley for a little bowling. Apparently, everyone else in town had the same idea...we had to wait an hour to get a lane to bowl on!! We went with two of Christian's brothers and their families. It was lots of fun to hang out and do a little cosmic bowling. This kids had lots of fun with their special shoes and their glowing clothes and were convinced we were going to go back every night from now on!

Updates!

2012-01-19T11:25:00.000-08:00

We haven't been up to much lately, but I figured it was about time for some updates on the boys!
Carson:
Carson is loving kindergarten and is starting to read books! It's been so fun to see him progress this year and we look forward to listening to him read us his books each night. He's working on replacing the two bottom teeth he has lost. One is about half way in and the other one is just starting to poke through the gum.

Travis:
Travis got to move up from nursery to sunbeams in church and is LOVING it. We are glad we don't have to fight with him each week about going to nursery any more. For some reason, the last about 3 months of his time in there, he hated going. He said that nursery was for babies and he was a big kid. He seems to really like primary! He's a huge help to mom and LOVES his baby brother! He has a great imagaination. In fact, yesterday, he asked me if he could have two ziplock baggies for his hands. I replied yes and he ran and grabbed two from the drawer. A couple minutes later while I was feeding Landon, he comes and tells me, with the baggies on his hands, that he is preg checking cows! It was too funny to watch! He would bring the cows up, check them for babies, and then give them shots...noise effects and all! He's such a funny kid!

Landon:
Landon is growing like crazy and gets cuter every day! He loves to sit up and if he's reclined at all, tries to sit himself up! He's rolled over a few times, but nothing consistant...guess he needs to be on his tummy a little more! He loves to sit in his bumbo and watch what ever is going on. He especially likes to watch his wild and crazy brothers play. He's still sleeping great-about 8 hours every night, eats a little then goes right back to sleep. It's been amazing for his dear mom!!

Here are some recent pictures...mostly of Landon. My fave is the one of Travis and him sleeping together (don't worry...it was only long enough for me to go to the bathroom although Travis would have liked it to be longer).

We finally were able to catch Landon laughing the other day. Carson and I stayed home from church because he had had the flu. It's a pretty cute little laugh if you can hear it over Carson's whose is equally cute!

The BIG 3-0!!

2012-01-12T06:18:00.000-08:00

January 1, Christian turned the big 3-0! Since his birthday fell on Sunday, we did the usual go to church things, had dinner at his mom's with the grandma's, and then had everyone over for dessert at our house. It was fun to have everyone together to celebrate. We even got people to do a little Just Dance! We hope you had a great day, Christian!

Sledding

2012-01-10T18:00:00.000-08:00

The day after Christmas, Christian got to take the day off and used the sled Carson got for his birthday to good use. They decided to hook it up to the 4 wheeler and get pulled in the field in front of our house. Carson had a blast...Travis wasn't so fond of all the falling off, so he didn't last too long! Our dog, Opie, had just as much fun chasing the boys as the boys did riding on the sled.

Christmas 2011!

2012-01-09T15:12:00.000-08:00

This Christmas was the first Christmas that we haven't traveled home since Carson was born 6 years ago. Though we really enjoyed Christian having the week off between Christmas and New Years from work in the past, we really enjoyed not having to drive so much! Christmas morning, I got up with Landon around 6 and continued to get ready. The boys woke up between 7:30 and 8. We opened presents, had some muffins and then got ready for 10:00 church. We enjoyed a great sacrament meeting and were out in less than an hour! After church, we went home and the boys got to enjoy their new toys for a while before heading to Grandma Asay's for lunch and more gifts. After spending time with Christian's family, we headed to Powell opened gifts and then enjoyed dinner. It was a great Christmas and we were so glad to be able to spend it with our families!

Christmas morning by some of their Santa stuff

Carson and his leappad

Travis and the garbage truck he had been asking for since probably October!

Taking a ride on his new4-wheeler

Christmas at Grandpa and Grandma Asay's. The three older boys all got nerf guns for Christmas and it was a crazy place after the guns got opened!

Landon on his new pony!

Christmas at grandpa and grandma Foulgers

Carson and his army gear. Travis got SWAT team gear

Travis anxiously waiting for his turn to open a gift

Christian overly excited about his new knee board. I think he got on it everyday the first few days after he got it. I think he's a little excited to use it this summer!

The boys in their new gear. Uncles Jason and Jabin didn't want to miss out on the fun so they geared up too. The boys had fun sneaking up on eachother.

The boys got Just Dance 2 for thei wii from auntie butts and uncle Jabin so we all had to get our groove on to burn off dinner!

Christmas Eve 2011

2012-01-05T07:27:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve this year was nery enjoyable and relaxing despite most of us fighting a nasty cold. We spent the day with my family enjoying finger foods and some games. We headed back to Lovell for the traditional gnocci dinner with Christan's family, opening of Christmas pj's and the reading of the Christmas story. After the festivities, we went back to our house, the boys opened more Christmas jammies, and then it was off to bed! The boys were so excited for Christmas this year making it super fun for us. Travis was up within the first hour of going to bed to see if Santa had come and Carson woke up about 2 and informed us that Santa had been there.

opening pj's from grandpa and grandma Asay

The four older kids all got pajamas and a coloring book this year.

Pajamas at home

The boys and thier rock and roll pj's (Carson's pants are...you just can't see them in this picture)
Christmas Eve 2011

The bows Carson wanted us to wear

Christmas Program

2012-01-04T13:02:00.000-08:00

This year (December 13...I'm a little behind)was the start of many Christmas programs to come for us. The Lovell Elementary school hosts a K-3 Christmas concert every year. I was NOT prepared for how crazy it was going to be! Carson had to be there early so he could find his seat and be ready for the show and when we showed up "early" to get him to his seat, every seat in the Hyartt (where they held it) was taken! It was CRAZY! Luckily, my mother in law and sister in law were able to get three seats and were kind enough to give them up (they had to leave as soon as the kindergarteners were done)to me and my parents. Otherwise, we would have been standing out in the lobby with the many other parents who didn't have seats. Once we finally got sat down, I opened up the program to find that Carson had a speaking part...a total surprise to me...I had no idea and was kind of freaking out that I was supposed to have helped him memorize something. But, he did a great job saying his part, which was "We are very grateful for mittens and gloves." They sang three songs very well. Next year we will be prepared for the chaos of the Christmas program! I was just glad that I had the help of my mother in law and parents. Christian was out of town for work meetings and I'm pretty sure that I would have been a basket case by the end of it had I not had help! Sadly, we were so far away that I couldn't get a good picture with my camera and I haven't gotten any from my mom's yet.

Happy Birthday, Elder Asay!

2011-12-24T21:20:00.000-08:00

Some special little kids wanted to wish their favorite uncle Jared Happy Birthday! Christian's brother is serving a mission in Africa right now and we wanted him to know that we love him and are proud of him. Thanks for being such a great example to your nephews and nieces and we hope you have a wonderful day! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

A hunting we will go!

2011-12-21T09:13:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, my brother, Jason, called and asked if the boys wanted to do some hunting with him. Being boys, they were super excited at the chance to go hunting with their uncle! So that afternoon, Christian, Carson, Travis and uncle Jason, headed out to find some pheasants. My brother was the only one with a liscence, but they were willing to go along for fun and "help" him. It was the kind of hunting trip I really like...they didn't get anything, but all had fun! Thanks for the fun idea, uncle Jason!

Here they are with some tail feathers from a pheasant my brother got earlier that day somewhere else.

My brother also got a jack rabbit and it was huge...almost as big as Travis!

Holding one of Jason's pheasants. Not really sure why they wanted to hold a dead one, but they did. I guess it must be a boy thing!
The mighty hunters!!

Goodies!

2011-12-20T17:12:00.000-08:00

Last week was largely devoted to making Christmas candy. It took three days to make (with a ton of help from my mom) and a couple of days to get them all delivered. This year we made around 14 plates to deliver and got most of them delivered...only three ended up staying at our house because we could never find the people at home...and we really enjoyed them! :)

Landon hung out in the front pack one day and was quite content.

My toothless helper sprinkling nuts on top of the toffee.

The assembly line of goodies.

A finished plate ready to deliver!

And I just had to include this picture. I had to go gather some wood for the fireplace and asked Travis to come and talk to his brother while I went outside. I came back in and he was "reading" Christmas books to Landon. It melted my heart! :)

Crazy weekend!

2011-12-16T06:53:00.000-08:00

We had quite the busy weekend this weekend. We left Friday right after school to meet my mom in Billings for the weekend. Christian and I really needed to finish our Christmas shopping, so my mom was kind enough to meet us up there for the night so she could watch the boys for us. We met up with her and sent the two older boys with her while we did some shopping. While we were shopping, grandma and the boys went and saw Arthur Christmas, swam and had pizza. Saturday, my mom did a session at the temple while we got ready and did a little more shopping. She took the boys again after she was done so we could finish. While we were finishing, she took Carson and Travis to Build a Bear Workshop...something she has been really wanting to do with them for quite a while! I was sad I wasn't there to see them through the whole process, but Carson picked a dog with military clothing, and Travis picked the same dog Carson picked and dressed him as a cowboy...so fitting for Travy! It sounded like they had a blast building their dogs.

About 4, we had to head home so that we could make it to Greybull by 6:30 for Christian's work Christmas party. We enjoyed a steak dinner and dancing (well, we didn't dance but we listened) to the Cowley's Boys. The kids had fun running around with other kids and the visit from Santa!

Sunday, we had lunch with Grandma Asay and had another round of Christmas pictures of the little kids. Grandma got all the kids matching outfits and man did they all look so good! It was quite the task to get all the kids happy and looking in the same direction, but between 5 cameras, Jan was able to find a good one!

2 months!

2011-12-14T06:47:00.000-08:00

Landon had his 2 month check up last week. He's growing great and we love how he has finally started to fill out some! He has such a round little head that Travis LOVES to pet...I mean rub. We joke around (but it's really true) that Landon will probably be bald because Travis can't seem to keep his hands off his head and is going to rub off all his hair! At two months, Landon is 22 3/4 inches long and weighs 10 pounds 7 ounces. He's an awesome sleeper and sleeps through the night most of the time. He usually goes to sleep between 9 and 10 and then wakes up around 6, eats and then goes back to sleep! We are crazy about this little guy and so glad to have him in our family!!

Carson turns 6!!

2011-12-12T06:35:00.000-08:00

Last Monday (Dec. 5) we celebrated Carson's 6th birthday. It's hard to believe that 6 years ago I became a mom! Carson is a dream oldest child. He's caring, compasionate, a great helper and always strives to choose the right! Carson decided he wanted to have a Transformer party...so we did! We invited all the aunts, uncles, cousins and grandma and grandpa's from each side that lived close to party with us. We had pizza for dinner followed by cake! He got some awesome gifts like a watch, walkie talkies and work clothes and LOVES them all! He was so nice to let his little brother and cousins help him open each of his gifts and let them help choose which present to open in which order. We hope you had a great day, Carson. We are so blessed to have you as our son and love you more every day!!

Baby Ian even enjoyed the new sled Carson got!

Landon's Blessing

2011-12-06T18:41:00.000-08:00

This last Sunday (December 4), we were able to bless Landon in church. It worked out nicely with having my sister's reception the night before so that we had a good amount of family around. Landon was lucky to have both grandpas, two great grandpas (great grandpa Monk and great grandpa Foulger), two uncles (uncle Daniel and uncle Jabin) and the members of the bishopbric (Bishop McArthur, Bro. Thackeray, and Bro. Harvey) along with his dad in the circle to give him a name and a blessing. Christian gave a wonderful blessing. I'm so greatful for a husband that honors his priesthood and has been able to bless all of our boys. We are so thankful for the family that we have and for their support. It meant a lot to us to have them there!

Landon was very hungry after church when we decided to take pictures so it made for a sad/mad baby!

Carson

2011-12-05T04:08:00.000-08:00

Today is Carson's 6th birthday!! Carson is such a good kid! We have been very blessed to have him as our first born. He's a great example to his younger brother(s). He is always willing to help out, is very kind and thoughtful and has the cutest toothless smile! We are so glad that you are part of our family, Carson! Happy birthday and we love you!

It's beginning to look a lot...

2011-12-02T06:14:00.000-08:00

Like the Christmas holiday around here. We don't have any snow, but we have been busy doing some fun Christmas things. a couple weeks ago, my sister-in-law and her kids, my mother-in-law and the boys and I went and visited Santa and participated in some holiday crafts. They kids were so excited to see Santa and to tell him what they wanted. Carson told Santa he wanted a truck and Travis told him he wanted a tractor. After visits with Santa, the kids make some ornaments, got their faces painted and then enjoyed some cookies and punch.

The kids waiting to see Santa

Travis wasn't too sure about getting his cheeck painted so Grandma Asay helped him get his hand painted. After he saw his big brother get his cheeck painted then he wanted one on his cheeck.

Making some ornaments

The group getting ready to head out and after our fun!

Yesterday, my mom came over and helped put up our lights outside and put the tree up. Travis told her that him and her were going to put lights on the fence and I was going to put them on the house. We haven't got them on the house (and might not get there), but the fence looks really pretty at night. Good job Travis and Grandma Foulger. We put the tree up and the lights on it while Carson was at school and then waited for him to get home from school to decorate it. They had a blast putting all the ornaments on and keep saying how pretty it was. It was so fun to listen to them talk about how beautiful and awesome and pretty their tree was! After dinner, the boys had a dance party in front of the tree. They wanted to turn off all the lights except the tree lights and the ones in th window and jam out. They tried to get uncle Jacob to stay and dance with them, but for some reason...I don't know why...he had to go! :) They were funny to watch. Carson had done Zumba in gym early in the day and had requested the "Dynomite" song to dance to beause they had learned some moves to it in gym!

Travis helping separate out the different size of branches for the tree

Grandma Foulger and Carson sporting some pretty nice facial hair!

Grandma holding Landon while I put up the lights onthe tree

Travis and Grandma working hard on putting the lights up on the fence.

The boys decorating away. I had to go back last night after they were asleep and rearrange some of the ornaments so all sides could have some.

Uncle Jacob delivered our fresh wreath last night and hung it on the door for us and burned the garbage for us too while he was here! Thanks for being a good helper, Jacob!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T17:29:00.000-08:00

As always, our Thanksgiving was great this year. We (actually just Christian) started the day with working cows in the morning, lunch with the all of Christian's family, some pictures of the grandkids, and then dinner with my parents and two brothers. It was a beautiful day with lots of food and lots of family! The day after Thanksgiving, many people shop, but the Asay's are always preg testing cows and this year was no different. The guys worked cows most of the day and the rest of us got to hang out and chat at the house. Friday night, we made the rounds to all of Christian's grandparent's houses to visit. Saturday was a much more calm day. We stayed home in the morning and then took the boys to see the movie, Puss in Boots. They were pretty excited to get to go to the "featre" as Travis would say. Today, Sunday, we celebrated grandpa Asay's birthday. We enjoyed dinner and then some cake and ice cream. Happy Birthday, grandpa Asay! It's been a great weekend, and we are sad to see Monday roll around!

This year, the number of Asay grandbabies doubled from 4 to 8. Here are the four newest members of the Asay family: Landon, Ian, Janelle, and Britt.

All eight grandkids before heading out to take pictures.

Pictures by the tractor. Christian's family had family pictures on this tractor right before Christian left on his mission and we were supposed to have family pictures taken on it a two summers ago (10 years ago from when they took the original), but the tractor was being worked on. So, now that it is back, they took pictures with all the grandbabies!

Grandpa Foulger reading a book with the grandkids after dinner Thanksgiving evening.

Day after Thanksgiving preg. testing of the cows

Grandpa Asay and all his helpers on his birthday!

One little Indian!

2011-11-20T12:05:00.000-08:00

The Friday, the kindergarten classes went and sang some Thanksgiving songs and poems to the people at the nursing home in Lovell. Parents were invited to watch their students so the little boys and I loaded up and headed to the Senior Center where our parent letter said they would be at only to find out, 20 minutes later, that we, and a handful of other parents, were at the wrong place! We were supposed to be at the nursing home...not the senior center! So, needless to say, we were late and walked in just in time to hear them say the last three words of their last poem! We didn't get to hear them, but we did manage to get a couple pictures of our cute little indian. We had Carson sing us the songs in the car on the way home after we picked him up, so we ended up getting our own personal performance...even better!Carson's class filing out of the room after their performance.

Socks and Machine gun!

2011-11-19T12:33:00.000-08:00

On our way home from Logan last weekend, we stopped at Christian's boss' house to pick up two kitties. Since the time we left Lovell on Friday to head to Megan's wedding, the boys had been asking when we were going to get the kitties...they were super excited! We let Carson and Travis each pick out a kitten and name them. I bet you can't guess who's kitty belongs to which child? Carson picked out a black and white kitty, and named him Mr. Fluffy Socks (we call him socks for short). Travis, the crazy kid, decided to name his black, brown and white calico kitty Machine gun! We tried and tried to convince him of other names but he just wouldn't have it! So, we introduce the newest members of our family, Socks and Machine gun! They are pretty cute and we hope they stick around and do their job!!

Auntie Butts Gets Married!

2011-11-15T12:28:00.000-08:00

This last weekend, my beautifu little sister got married! We made the trip to Logan, Utah to witness her and Jabin be married in the Logan Temple. It was a beautiful ceremony and I'm so glad we got to be there to share in her special day! We traveled to Logan Friday and were lucky enough to get to have one of Megan's good friends, who was a bride's maid, travel with us. She was a huge help with the boys. I'm not sure she will ever want to have kids after this trip, but we really liked having her with us and the boys love her! Friday night after we arrived, we went to the venue where she was having her reception to decorate. After a few hours of decorating, we met up with a bunch of our family at the good ole' Chuck-o-Rama (it was the one of a few places that could fit 20+ of us together) for some dinner. After dinner, we went back to the hotel and had planned to take the boys swimming, but found that the pool was full of San Jose football players, so we opted to take a swim in the huge jacuzzi tub in our room instead. Saturday, my sister and Jabin were married at 10. The day started out rainy and just as they were coming out of the temple, it turned to snow and it snowed and it snowed and it snowed! It was crazy cold and very wet! After the wedding and a few pictures, we went back to the hotel, changed and then headed to the luncheon put on by Jabin's parents. Lunch was at the Firehouse pizza and we enjoyed some great pizza. After pizza, the boys all went back and took naps while I went and helped finish decorating. At five, we had to take pictures because of the bad weather and then at six, the reception started. There were lots of people that came to congratulate them on their day. That night we took down everything in record time and then went back and let the little boys finally swim in the pool. Sunday, we woke up to more snow but waited for the sun come out a bit to take off. We had really bad roads from Logan to Bear Lake and some over South Pass, but other than that the roads and weather were great. We are so happy for Megan and Jabin and excited to have Jabin as part of our family now!!

The Decorating

Christian had fun with the fake candles on the tables

My cousin Natalie rearranging the balls
Everybody working
My aunt Roberta and my mom's good friend, Cathy

Travis and Megan at Chuck-O-Rama

"swimming" in the whirl pool

Wedding Day! The boys waiting for their Auntie Butts to come out of the temple. They were such sports...wet hair and all!
The bride and groom!!

My parents at the reception. My dad suprised my sister and wore bright pink converse shoes to match the girls' shoes. Even my grandma wore pink sparle converse shoes!!

Not sure what we are all doing here, but I believe we were waiting to get pictures taken.

Our little family!

My grandparents.

Landon found his thumb while he was hanging out during the reception.

Travis and Landon. My grandparents took care of Landon for a good part of the reception...thank you guys!

The boys...looking good!

My three handsome boys!! Love their pink ties!

The weekend!

2011-11-07T06:32:00.000-08:00

This weekend has been a super busy one for us. For the last four days (starting Friday), Christian's family has been working on bringing the cows and calves home from their summer pasture. Christian has been helping as much as he can, and they should be done today. We all went out yesterday in the cold and dark so the boys could help.

Friday, Christian helped move cows, we had family pictures, and we headed to Billings for the night. My sister and her fiance, Jabin, flew into Billings late Friday night and then my sister took out her endowments Saturday morning. It was so neat to be able to be in the temple with her. We are so glad that she chose to do it in Billings so we could share in her day. We got to eat at Olive Garden and Texas Roadhouse...yum! Friday night, grandma and grandpa took the boys swimming. There were a bunch of older kids in the pool, so they opted just to sit in the hot tub. This weekend, we make the drive to Logan for Megan's wedding! We have been anxiously waiting for this weekend to come. In fact, a couple of weekends ago, We had a bubble gum stuffing party at my mom's house. We stuffed 400 little bags with black, white and pink bubble gums for my sister's reception. The boys had lots of fun and were actually a really big help!

Getting ready to swim. If you notice, Carson is wearing his dad's swim trunks! Travis' swimsuit got left at home (I'm such a looser mom) and he wasn't about to go swimming in his unders or pj bottoms, so we convinced Carson (he made 7 bucks out of the deal) to wear Christian's so Travis could wear his! In the end...everyone got to go swimming and was happy!!

Landon at 1 month! I can't believe how much he has changed. He has really started to fill out and his little face it getting round and squishy...I love it!

Halloween

2011-11-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

Halloween was a busy, busy day for us! Travis, Landon and I went to Carson's school to watch the costume parade. Each class got to parade across the stage dancing, to show off their costumes. It was funny to watch the kids dance as they were up there. I wasn't sure Carson would dance, but he actually did! I only caught the end of the dancing because I was taking pictures.

Afte the costume parade, we ran home for some short naps while we waited for Carson to get home off the bus. Afte he got home, we got dressed in our costumes and made our rounds to visit all the grandmas and grandpas...which is no short task! I don't know if I have ever unloaded the kids that many times in a hour span! We started wuth a visit to grandma Asay, then to great grandma Asay, grandma Dorothy, then to Cowley to see grandpa Monk and Donna, then we were off to Powell to trick or treat grandma and grandpa Foulger and have some Pizza on the Run! The boys had fun showing off their costumes to all their family!

The boys checking out all their candy!

Our family..if you couldn't tell the boys were a little hyper and didnt really want to cooperate...I guess that's what too much candy will do to you!

The boys decorated a cake that we had for dessert after pizza.

Jack-o-lanterns!!

2011-10-30T11:16:00.000-07:00

We (and by we I mean Christian) finally got around to carving pumpkins last night. The boys were really good about cleaning out their own pumpkins this year. They weren't afraid to get in and get dirty! Carson picked out a skeleton shape for his pumpkin and Travis chose a bat. They were pretty proud of their dad's handywork on their pumpkins.

Cleaning out the "guts"

Christian cutting the top of Carson's pumpkin off.

The end results

Two happy boys!!

Halloween Happenings 2011

2011-10-26T05:18:00.000-07:00

I love fall and it has finally set in here. The trees are changing and it's getting colder (the only downer to fall). We have been enjoying the nice weather we have been having lately. A couple of weeks ago, the boys went and picked out pumpkins from a lady in town who filled up the back of her truck with all the pumpkins from her garden and brought them to town to sell. It was the next best thing to going to a pumpkin patch since we don't have one around here (that I know of). Carson and Travis had a hard time picking out their pumpkins with all the options, but both found some good ones! We have yet to carve them...maybe this weekend!

Tuesday night, Grandma Asay invited us to come to her ward's Trunk or treat since our ward doesn't do one. The boys were overly excited about getting dressed up and getting candy, until we got there and it was dark, windy and down right chilly! We enjoyed some yummy chilly, scones and hot chocolate and then made our way around the cars and got some candy. They were happy with their candy load and are looking forward to doing a little more trick or treating on the actual day!

Travy the vampire

Carson the pirate skeleton...he was originally going to be a transformer, but changed his mind at the last minute and changed his clothes.

Our little pea...Landon. The poor little guy was drowning in his pea pod costume...but he sure was cute!

Grandma Asay was even festive and dressed up. Travis was pretty freaked out by her costume and didn't want anything to do with her!

Enjoying some chilli and scones!

Carson and uncle Jacob with Carson's hat on! Carson was helping Jacob hand out candy after he was done getting all he wanted.

Two weeks

2011-10-25T12:21:00.000-07:00

Landon had his two week appointment last week and is doing well. We weighed 6 pounds 13 ounces (we left the hospital with him weighing and even 6 pounds) and was 20 inches long. He's now just over three weeks old and as cute as ever. He's awake more now and his big brothers think that's so cool. They both love to talk to him and show him the things they are playing with or have made that day. He's still sleeping really well and is such a snuggle bug. Carson brought home some lovely cold germs from school and has graciously shared it with all of us including Landon...poor little guy, so we are trying to get everyone back to being healthy! Here's our little Landon at 2 weeks old!

Apple Cider

2011-10-12T06:07:00.000-07:00

For family home evening this week, we went to grandpa and grandma Asay's house for dinner and then to press some apple cider. Sunday, after lunch, the boys went outside and picked a cooler and a large bucket full of apples off the trees behind the house. Monday night, we took the apples with us to grandmas's house house. After some yummy soups and corn bread for dinner, the guys and the kids headed outsided to press the five containers of apples to make cider with. It was dark and cold outside, but they had fun doing it and then drinking their hard work! They made enough cider for everyone to sample and then take some home too!

Picking apples

Apple Pressin'!

Travis having some fun on the horse.

Tasting their hard work.

Emily and her kids made some yummy cookies for dessert.Our first family picture as a family of 5!

First week home!

2011-10-10T16:03:00.000-07:00

Well, part of this post was supposed to occure before I had Landon, but he came early so I never got around to it. So, for journaling purposes, it's late, but done! Here I am about 36 weeks pregnant...little did we know that just a week or so later the baby would be here.

If there was one thing I craved the most this pregnancy, it was fresh salsa! MMM! It makes my mouth water just thinking about it right now! I seriously could not get enough of it! I'm a little sad that the weather has turned colder and all the fresh veggies are now more scarce!
And now for the birth story. Sunday, October 2, my water broke just before 2 in the morning. It's one of those weird feelings where I wasn't sure if I had just peed the bed or if my water had broke. My water broke with Carson, so I was pretty sure that was what was going on, but still wanted some sort of confirmation. My contractions were pretty far apart (like 20 minutes) so I just tried to go back to sleep, but it was pretty much hopeless. All I could think about was all the things I still needed to do before we left for the hospital and how glad I was that the day before, I thought to put up the baby bed and get some other things ready for the baby. Around 7, Christian woke up and I asked him if he was ready to have a baby today. I'm not entirely sure that he thought I was serious, but I told him that my water had broke and we were going to have a baby today. We then preceeded to pack bags for the boys and for ourselves. Christian was anxious to get to the hospital because we had to drive 30 miles to Powell and he didn't want things to go as they did when I had Travis where I was dialated to an 8 when we arrived and just about didn't have time to get administered or get some drug relief. Grandpa Asay came and got the boys and they spent the day at their house. We arrived in Powell around 9, got admitted, and found that I was only dialated to a 4. We walked for an hour, got checked again, made a little more progress, walked some more and then the dr. and I decided to start pitocin so that we could get things moving a little faster. I was put on pitocin around 1 and after that, things moved REALLY fast! They were giving me my shot of relief (can't remember what it was called and even if I did, I probably couldn't spell it) as I was feeling the need to push. As soon as they were done, I laid back down and pushed through 5 contractions and at 2:35 p.m., Landon Foulger Asay joined our family! He had just a tad of dark hair and had some characteristics like both of his brothers! He weighed 6 pounds 6 ounces and was 18 1/4 inches long.

Proud daddy finally getting to hold his new boy for the first time!

Cute little nakie guy!

New big brother Travis seeing his little brother.

What excited big brothers!

Carson and Landon meet! Carson has been so excited to have Landon here and wants everybody to come and hold and meet him! He's a pretty proud big brother!

Travy and Landon. Travis has had a little bit harder time with the new addition. He loves his baby but has had a little hard time sharing mom!

Sunday night, we were able to have the majority of both our families come and visit us in the hospital and meet Landon. There were 18, total, of us in the room that night. Grandpa and Grandma Asay with all but one of their grandbabies (we can't wait until Matthew, Charlene and Ian are here to have a complete picture taken).

Part of the crew that was there to visit.

The other part of the crew! We are so blessed to have such great family that have helped us out SO much over the past week! Landon is one lucky boy to get to have all these people as his family!

All ready to head home! We had to wait, and wait, and wait to be discharged. Needless to say,we were more than ready to go home by the time they let us go!

Our first week home has been a good one. Landon is a champion sleeper, something my other two boys weren't unless they were being held...not that I'm complaining...because there is nothing better than snuggling a newborn!! He's good about sleeping in his bed when needed. He's eating great and gaining back the almost half pound he lost after birth. We got to have Sunday dinner at grandma and grandpa Asay's and had to have another picture of the cousins together!

Landon's first bath at home. He didn't like it at first, but once his dad picked him up, he was much more calm.

All clean!We've spent lots of time watching this little guy sleep. I love to watch babies sleep!! He loves his little bed and sleeps great in it!

Travy and his baby! He LOVES to rub his head and asks several times during the day if he can touch the baby or if he can pet the baby's head! He also thinks that Landon should sleep with a little bear that came with his bed. I will leave the room and come back to find that he has put the bear in the bed with him. I will remove it and remind him that the baby is still too small for a bear. If I leave again, and come back, the bear will be there in the bed with him...it never fails! He's so funny! He and Carson, both, sleep with a bear at night, so I guess he figures that Landon would want one too!

He's Here!

2011-10-05T09:56:00.000-07:00

Landon Foulger Asay arrived this last Sunday, October 2 at 2:35 in the afternoon...2 1/2 weeks early! He was quite the surprise, but perfect in every way and we love him to pieces! More to come later!

# 2

2011-09-29T18:52:00.000-07:00

Carson lost loose tooth #2 last night! He now has a gaping hole in his bottom teeth! It's a good thing corn on the cob eating season is over! The tooth fairy visited and took his tooth away, but left him another pack of gum wrapped in a dollar!! Have to love that toothless smile!! :)

Brown and gold vs. Big Red game

2011-09-26T08:42:00.000-07:00

This weekend, Christian and I got to spend the weekend away with our really good friends, the Blomstedts, from McCook. When we heard that Nebraska and Wyoming were going to be playing eachother in football a couple of years ago we thought it would be fun to go to the game...one, because we hadn't been to a UW game for a while and two, because we thought it would be fun to watch the Huskers play since we lived in Nebraska. When we moved from Nebraska, we told our friends that it would be fun to try and meet up in Laramie the weekend of the game and hang out so we could see eachother (we've kind of gone through Blomsted family withdrawals since we've moved here:)). We both tried to get tickets for it and found out that it was going to be pretty much impossible to get any. But, to our surprise, my dad was able to hook us up with four tickets from Pepsi the week before the game and so our weekend away with our friends was back on! The boys spent the weekend with Grandpa and Grandma Foulger and had lots of fun fishing, hot tubing, and playing at the park! Christian and I left Friday night and drove to Casper and stayed the night. Saturday morning, we got up, got ready and headed to Cheyenne for a little shopping. Around two, we met up with the Blomstedts and drove to the game together. We enjoyed some tailgating in the Pepsi tent and then watched the game. Even though the game didn't go in our favor, it was still fun to be with our friends that we miss so much! After the game, we drove back to Cheyenne where we stayed the night. We were lucky to get a room and even luckier to get to share it with our friends since their room accidentally got booked for a different weekend :)! We talked for a few hours after we got to our room, and enjoyed hearing about our branch and friends back in Nebraska. Thanks, Blomstedts, for making the drive to Wyoming to spend the weekend with us. We had fun seeing you guys. Sunday we headed home and picked up the boys in Powell on our way through. Thanks, mom and dad, for allowing our crazy boys to stay with you guys!!

Enjoying our lunch before the game.

Staci, Jason, Christian and I waiting for the game to start!

The beautiful sky during the game. It was a super nice day, making for perfect football weather!

Go WYO!

Staci and I. We are both actually expecting with in a few weeks of each other. She is expecting a girl in a couple of weeks and we are expecting a boy a couple after that! (please don't mind the pj's...this was taken just before they left and they were all ready for the day...I ,obviously, was not!)

Sibley Lake Adventures

2011-09-16T06:30:00.000-07:00

Last week, my mom had my dad take their camper up the Big Horn Mountains so she could enjoy a few days of camping before the season was over. My dad stayed Tuesday and Wednesday with her and then Travis and I decided to drive up and spend Thursday hanging out with her. We didn't get to stay too long because we had to be back by the time Carson got home from school. While we were there, we threw lots of rocks in the lake (Sibley Lake), and river, fed and watched the ducks, and just enjoyed the mountains. I wish we could have stayed the night and enjoyed it all a little more. Friday, my brother and his girlfriend picked the boys up on their way through Lovell and headed up the mountain with the boys to stay the night. Christian and I made plans to go to Billings for the night for one last get-away before the baby comes. We were able to do a session at the temple, eat Texas Roadhouse, and do lots of shopping. It was great to spend time with just my hubby! The boys had a blast on the mountain fishing, feeding the ducks, playing with sticks and being around a campfire. Lucky for me, my brother's girlfriend took her camera and snapped some cute pictures of the boys while they were camping so we could see what fun they had!

Thursday Adventures to the lake...

Camping with Grandma, Jason and Cassie!

Toothless!!

2011-09-15T06:53:00.001-07:00

Carson lost his first tooth last night (9-14-11). He has had two loose theeth for a little while now and I finally convinced him to let his dad pull out the more loose of the two last night. He kept telling me that we just just wanted it to fall out, but I told him that if he did that, then he might loose it and not have one to put under his pillow for the tooth fairy! He was so excited to have it gone and now I think he's working on the other loose one so it can come out now! The toothfairy showed up some time during the night and brought him a pack of bubble gum wrapped in a dollar...what a lucky boy! He left a note for the toothfairy requesting that she leave his tooth so he could still show it to people and she did. I sure love his toothless smile...it makes me smile!!

Labor Day

2011-09-06T06:32:00.000-07:00

This year for Labor Day, we were actually around for the annual Asay picnic at Sheep Mountain. Some of our group went for a hike up to the top of the mountain when we first arrived. We enjoyed yummy hamburgers and polish dogs cooked over the fire and various other salads and good food. After lunch, the guys...and even grandma Asay, shot some guns and then the boys took the kids to look for fossils. They came back with their hands and pockets full of Devil's Toenails and fossilized squid parts (not sure what they are called). After lunch was done, we loaded back up and headed back to the house. As soon as we got back, we changed into our suites and loaded up the boat and headed to the lake to enjoy what might be one of our last trips to the lake for the year. The water was full of moss but was beautiful! The boys each tubed, Christian skiied, and we took a little ride up the canyon. After a day of play, it was time to head home and get dinner and kids ready for bed. We had a very enjoyable day together with family!

Emily and Kasi enjoying the day.

The boys and the kids coming back from their hike up the mountain.

The whole gang!

Grandma Asay showing off her sweet shooting skills.

Looking for fossils.

Heading back to the group after fossil hunting.

Chilling at the lake!

The boys must have both enjoyed the day...they both gave me thumbs up when I was taking their pictures! :)

3rd Birthday!

2011-09-02T17:18:00.000-07:00

Thursday night we celebrated Travis 3rd birthday, and as our luck would have it, the weather was crappy! They had been calling for cooler weather and rain for the day of his birthday, but all day long it had been quite nice, so we were hopeful. When we got to the park at 6 to set up, the wind was blowing like crazy making it impossible for us to put up any of the decorations we had planned :(! We were able to manage keeping the balloons on the tables for about half the time, but had to wedge them in. Despite the crazy wind and chilly weather, Travis had a blast at his party! All most all of his family (a first for my boys) that lives close was there to celebrate his big day! We started with dinner, then sang happy birthday to the birthday boy, ate some cake...minus the ice cream because it was so cold, and then opened gifts. Travis was totally spoiled and got some really fun things for his birthday! Thanks to everyone who came and braved the wind and cold and celebrated with us. We love you Travis and are glad that you are part of our family!

Happy Birthday, Travis!

2011-09-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

Today is Travis' third birthday! Travis is our little fireball and keeps us on our toes! He's definately all boy! At three years old, some of Travy's favorite things are:
*anything having to do with bulls, rodeo, cowboys, etc... He can constantly be found on his stick horse yelling "okay boys, okay boys" like Lane Frost on 8 Seconds and dashing out of the shoot like he's riding a bucking bull

*he LOVES gum! This kid will chew a piece of gum for hours on end! His favorite kinds include pink band aid gum and green and blue gum his grandmas's have in their purses!

*He loves to play with his brother and mimics everything Carson does! They are pretty good little buddies and I'm sure he misses him lots now that school has started

*He can pick a fried chicken leg CLEANer than anyone I know. In fact, this last Saturday, he ate two chicken legs and wanted more but they were gone!

*He still sucks his thumb with no end in sight! He loves to suck his thumb and play with anyone's hair...mom's, grandma's, and even his little cousin's!

*He's kind of obsessed about armpits. Don't ask me why or how this came about, but he talks about them all the time and randomly inserts the word armpit into about every other sentence...crazy kid!

We love you Travis and are glad that you are part of our family! You make us laugh and keep us on our toes! Happy Birthday to you!!

First Day of Kindergarten

2011-08-30T10:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Carson's first day of kindergarten. He was pretty excited to go, but I could tell that he was kind of nervous when we arrived at school. There were lots of kids, parents and teachers all over the playground, making it a little overwhelming for a little guy...and for a mom! Shortly after arriving, he found a friend from preschool and tball and headed off to play...without even saying goodbye! Travis and I watched until they went in the building and then we headed back home. Travis made it until about 9:30 before he asked when we were going to go back and pick Carson up. When I told him we wouldn't pick him up until after naps, Travis told me that Carson might cry if we don't pick him up right now! I assured him that Carson was busy learning and wouldn't be sad. Today we made it until 1o before he asked when we were going to get Carson. Travis sure missed him and was excited to play with his brother again when school was done. When I asked Carson what his very favorite part was he said all of it, so it sounded like he had a great day and he said he wanted to go back again! Here's to a great kindergarten year!

Last Days of Freedom

2011-08-28T17:21:00.000-07:00

Today, is our last day of freedom as we know it! Tomorrow, Carson starts kindergarten, so our days of doing pretty much what we want when we want are coming to a close! Carson is excited to start...I'm a little sad that I'm loosing my helper! With school starting tomorrow, we have been tryingt to take advantage of our last few days of summer as much as we can. Last weekend, I was able to spend a girl's weekend with my mom, sister and her two best friends from Logan! It was the first time that I had taken a weekend by myself and left my boys behind. We got to spend the weekend wedding dress shopping with my sister, eating yummy foods, watching chick flicks while cheesecake factory cheesecakes and just having fun being girls! Here we are at a Japanesse bbq place where they cooked our food right in front of us.
We also were invited to a bbq at Michael and Emily's right before Matthew and Charlene had to head back to Washington for school. It was fun to be all together (minus Christian's brother Daniel who was working out of town and his other one who is on a mission) one last time! We enjoyed a yummy dinner and then made homemade frozen strawberry yogurt for dessert...yum!

Here the boys are taking their turn cranking the yogurt. They thought it was pretty cool to do it...non of the adults argued with their wanting to do it.

Yesterday, we enjoyed a beautiful day at the lake with my family! The weather was perfect and made for a great day on the lake. We even convinced Carson to try the kneeboard...he agreed to do it with his dad behind. Next summer I think he will be ready to do it on his own!

Christian learned how to slalom on his first try this trip!

Carson and grandpa Foulger hanging out in the water.

On Wednesday, my sister in law, Emily and I took our kids out to the lake to have a picnic and enjoy the beach. My boys always ask if they can go play at the beach when we are done boating, but by the time we are done boating, we are ready to head home so we don't usually play at the beach. Plus, with the water being so high this year, there hasn't been any "beach" unitl just recently. They kids had a blast playing with their cousins in the water and sand!

The older boys thought it was fun to get their splash bombs all wet and then squeeze the water on their younger siblings' heads. The little ones thought it was fun at first but quickly got over it!

We are sad to see our summer days go, but will enjoy the nice weather while we can...you just never know when it's going to turn cold...we do live in Wyoming!

A mystery no more!

2011-08-22T18:39:00.000-07:00

About half way through my pregnancy, I had a routine ultrasound that left us with no answer as to what gender baby #3 was going to be. I was quite disappointed for the first little bit, but then I became ok with the idea of it all being a surprise on it's birth day. This weekend, I was Salt Lake and remember a friend telling me that they went to a Fetal Foto (they do ultrasounds and body casts and other things) store in a mall down there to find out the gender of their baby. So, when we had a few minutes, I made an appointment. I showed up and not even 15 minutes later, the mystery was solved! Baby Asay #3 was going to be a boy! He was not longer being shy...in fact, he showed us all his bits and pieces! The lady doing the ultrasound said "this baby is definately a boy...a boy all day long!" We are excited to know what we are having...Carson was a little disappointed that it wasn't a girl, but they got to go with me to my ultrasound today and hear the heartbeat and he thought that was pretty cool, so I think he's over it now! We are excited for another little boy...now we just have to think of a name (which proves very hard for us to do for little boys)...

I had my 31 week appointment today and things are going great. Here I am at 31, almost 32 weeks pregnant!

Bear Lake Adventures!

2011-08-18T06:45:00.000-07:00

This last Thursday through Sunday, the boys and I had the chance to travel to Bear Lake, UT (well, actually the house was in Lake Haven, ID) with Christian's mom, grandma, Charlene and baby Ian. Christian's aunt is part owner of a lake house there and invited us all the come and play for the weekend...and playing is what we did! We arrived Thrusday evening about 5. Their lake house was beautiful and right on the water! There were six rooms in the house, so each of us had our own room and each of them had their own cute theme. Diane picked the perfect room for us...the cowboy room! We couldn't contain ourselves after we got the tour of the house and had to get in the water. Carson went for a ride on the jet ski and Travis and I mostly hung out at the shore playing. We enjoyed some yummy shrimp and steak kabobs that Christian's aunt, Diane, made for us for dinner that night. Friday, we played in the water in the morning until lunch time and then came in for lunch and naps and some card games. After naps, we went and shopped in a few little stores in town and then came back for dinner. That evening, Christian's other aunt, Renae and her son, Peyton arrived followed by my sister and her fiance, Jabin to make the party even more exciting! Megan and Jabin took all the little boys out for some rides on the jet skiies and they had a blast! We stayed up way too late playing cards that night! Saturday, we got up, ate breakfast, and then headed out to the lake, which is like 20 steps from their back door, to play. My sister came over from Logan again to hang out that day and Jabin came later that evening. Saturday was Renae's birthday, so we celebrated with dinner out, pictures by the bear sculptures, and cake and ice cream. My sister was able to stay pretty late Saturday night...and it was so fun to see and get to talk to her while she was here! Sunday, we packed up our stuff and headed home about 9:30. We had SO much fun and are so glad that Diane invited us all to come and hang out for the weekend! It would be so much fun to have all the boys be able to come next year and party with us too!

This is the view from the house we stayed at...beautiful!

Travis loved the fact that there was a hot and cold spicket for the hose outside. That kid would have showered in the hot water if we had let him!

Megan and Jabin taking all the little kids for an evening ride.

Jan, Charlene, Ranea, Grandma Dorothy, and Diane haning out.

Getting ready to head out on the tube.

Beautiful ladies...Grandma Asay and her two sisters: Ranae and Diane!

Hanging out on the dock catching some rays.

Picture time!

These next two pictures capture Travy's mood the entire weekend perfectly...he was kind of a pill the whole time!

We enjoyed a beautiful large moon at night.

The cowboy room we stayed in. It was so cute!

On our way home, we say two different groups of male big horn sheep. They were pretty impressive!

Fishin' the Big Horns

2011-08-16T18:21:00.000-07:00

My, oh my, these last couple of weeks have been crazy and it doesn't look like it will slow down for a while...but that's how we like it! Last week for family home evening, we finally made it up the mountaint do our first, and maybe only fishing trip of the summer. My boys have been asking all summer when we got to go fishing and we have just been so busy that we haven't done it, so we made it a priority to do it for family home evening that week. We didn't get a super early start, so we didn't get to fish for too long, but it satisfied the boys! Each of the boys caught two fish, Christian caught one, and our friend, Daniel caught three. After fishing up the stream until it was almost dark, we went back to the car and enjoyed some fried chicken, watermelon, potatoe salad and chips for dinner. Hopefully this won't be our last fishing trip of the season because we sure enjoyed it!!

Savage Family Reunion

2011-08-07T20:07:00.000-07:00

This last week, the boys and I traveled with my parents to the Savage family reunion. Every two years, my mom and her siblings, get together and have a family reunion. It's always fun to see family members we don't get to see often. This reunion, was held by my mom's sister, Janet, and her family in Drummond, MT. We enjoyed four days and three nights with lots of extended family (there were around 115 of us out of 160 something people), yummy food, and lots of fun activities. The reunion started Wednesday evening with dinner and visiting. The kids had a bounce house and a sand volleyball pit to keep them occupied a lot of the time. Thursday, we were up bright and early with breakfast duty (each family is in charge of preparing, serving and then cleaning up an meal). After breakfast, my mom and I ran to a surprise bridal shower for my cousin who is getting married in November. After the shower and lunch, my dad, the boys and I floated the river with a group of family. It was a really calm, 30 minute float, which made it nice for all ages. After our float it was time for the traditional games of indian leg wrestling and foot races. The highlight was the candy scramble where the kids had to look through straw to find candy and prizes...and they came away with some good prizes. That night we had dinner and then a dj came and played music for people to dance to. Friday, was the much anticipated Reunion Rodeo. My aunt's family owns a ranch and they arranged for some fun and exciting rodeo events up in their corrals. There was mutton busting, calf riding, cow riding, cow milking, and roping competitions, along with a chicken scramble and a race to pull off a ribbon from a calf...and even a rodeo clown! I signed Carson and Travis both up for the the mutton bustin' and chicken scramble. Travis whimped out on me at the last second for the mutton busting, but Carson rode. His sheep didn't want to go very bad, so he didn't get much for a ride, but he tried it! Both the boys did the chicken scramble and Travis even won! There were three chickens in a fence and the kids ran around and tried to catch the chickens. Travis caught the second chicken and was so proud of himself! After all the events, we went back and had a nap, ate dinner and then enjoyed a talent/story telling show and family pictures. Saturday, we said our goodbyes and packed up our gear and headed home. I am so thankful for the family that I have been blessed to be a part of. We might be crazy and a little weird, but we have fun and I love them all! Thanks Charlie and Janet and family for all your hard work in planning a great reunion and we look forward to the one in two years!

Floating the river.

Game time!

Carson was absolutley in heaven while we were there. There were tons of kids to play with and we had the entire campground reserved, so I hardly saw him between friends, riding his bike and playing in the sand! He loved every minute of it!

Candy scramble!

Dance time! Everyone was doing some sort of line dance!

Reunion Rodeo!

My cousin Adam being the rodeo clown

Travis enjoying some lunch after all the rodeo action!

Chicken scramble.

Carson came so close to catching a chicken like four times, but he just couldn't bring himself to actually grab one!

Travis and his winning chicken/turkey thing! He was so proud of himself!!

Family pictures...and no...we did not plan the corrdinating shirts! :)

This is where Carson spent a majority of his time...riding his bike. He loved that he could ride all around the campground and not worry about cars. He's never really had a chance to ride his bike much because we lived on a hill in Nebraska and now we live in the country on a dirt road and that doesn't work so well with training wheels!

The group waiting for the program to start. They pulled in a trailer to use a stage.

We ended the last night with a beautiful double rainbow!

County Fair time!

2011-08-01T14:38:00.000-07:00

The last week of July is always the Park County Fair that is held in my home town of Powell. It's always a fun time where you get to see friends you don't see around very much (I got to have lunch with two of my best friends from high school and their kids while they were in town for the fair). Wednesday night we took the boys over to Powell to enjoy the fair experience. We had taken them to a couple of county fairs while we lived in Nebraska, but none of them really compared to the one here that we grew up going to. We started the night looking at all the 4-H animals. The boys loved the sheep the best, but enjoyed all the rabbits, cows, goats and birds as well! After looking at the animals, we ate some good ole' fair food...my favorite part. The boys each had a slice of Pizza on the Run pizza and Christian and I shared a Navajo taco and some fresh squeezed lemonade. After dinner, we bought way too many tickets, and took the boys to ride the rides. We didn't realize that most of the ones they could ride only took 1 ticket and we had 30 to use! Chrsitian finally decided after about an hour that he would go with the boys to do the rides just so we could use our tickets up faster! Travis and Carson both loved the motorcycles and Carson's other favorite ride was the bumper cars with his dad. After we finally used all our tickets, we went back and let the boys each pick out a treat to end the night with. They both picked green snow cones (they didn't even care what the flavore was, just as long as it was green), and of course we all had to share a funnel cake...YUM. The only sad part about going to the fair is that it's a sign that summer is coming to an end, which make us all sad!

Friday, we had the opportunity to drive to Cody and pick up my sister who was flying into the airport with her finace (yep...that's right...Megan got engage this weekend) and her two best friends from college! We had a master plan to attend the Cody Nite Rodeo after we picked them up up because they were late getting in and there was only a handful of bullriding and a bunch of barrel racing left, so we opted not to go to the rodeo and have ice cream instead. Saturday we partied out on the lake with most of my family and our friend Daniel. We finally got a new prop for our boat and now it runs like a champ! We spent ALL day at the lake and managed to get ourselved pretty tired and sunburned, but it was a blast to be out there with everyone! Sunday, we had a bbq at my mom's house before my sister and her little group had to fly home. My soon to be brother in law is a pilot and flew them out here so they wanted to get home before the storms hit, so we didn't get to hang out as much as we would have liked. It was so fun to have my sister and her friends here. We are so excited to have Jabin join our family...congrats to you guys!!

Megan and her fiance Jabin! YAY

Cattle Drive Part 2...and then some

2011-07-24T19:56:00.000-07:00

Wednesday of this week, we made our way back into Dry Head to finish taking the cows to pasture. It was a beautiful evening, in that it wasn't blazing hot...in fact, when we were eating dinner it was a little chilly. We managed to finish moving cows before dark this time and were even able to enjoy some burgers over the grill when we were done. Carson rode the entire time by himself again and is getting pretty good at manipulating the horse to go where he wants it to go. Travis rode off and on through out the evening with different people. It was such a good trip with most of the family and we look forward to September when we get to go back in and round up cows and bring them home.

Christian brought our 4-wheeler in to help speed up the round up of the cows.

Grandma Asay with Stetson, Kandace and Travis. They were quite the trio!

Christian and grandma Asay cooking up some yummy burgers. They always taste so good up in the mountains!

Stetson and Carson both wanted to bring the cooler over closer to the fire where everyone was but were just canceling eachother out by pulling different directions. Travis thought it was a great place to get a ride.

Most of the gang hanging out by the campfire.

In other news...

This area had record amounts of snow this winter and rain this spring making for some major flooding issues once it warmed up and melted everything. Big Horn Reserviour is the highest I have ever seen it and is pretty amazing! This Friday, Christian and I drove up the Big Horn mountains to have dinner at Bear Lodge and when we went to cross the Causeway, the wind was blowing just enough that there were waves coming up over the guardrail and onto the road. When we returned a few hours later to cross back over it and head home, we were met by the highway department who was then piloting cars across because of all the water and debris (there were tons of good sized logs and shrubs) that was now on the road. There was so much that they were using a snowplow to clear out all the trash. It was pretty crazy and kind of scary to see. We were just glad that they were piloting car across and hadn't closed the road down because then we would have had to go back up the mountain and around to get home!

On Saturday, we went to Cowley, a small town near Lovell, and participated in their little town celebration. We watched the parade in the morning, hung out at the park, and then went to Christian's aunt's house for lunch. It was a fun day to spend together as a family.

Watching the parade and getting lots of candy!

Travis threw a huge fit while we were at the park because he wanted his shoes on (after he asked me to take them off). Uncle Daniel tried to make him better by picking him up but it didn't really work!

They boys ran in some leg races at the park that afternoon. Carson really didn't want to do it until his uncle Daniel bribed him with a dollar to race. He raced twice and then was done. Travis, who was all about the racing, biffed it in the first race and was totally done with them after that. They both decided that eating snow cones was a much better idea. We even got to watch uncle Daniel race in the big kid's race and win!! If you notice the huge grin on his face, it was because the elbowed a girl in the head while racing and just figured out what he had done!

Moonlight Cattle Drive

2011-07-19T18:11:00.000-07:00

Monday late afternoon, we helped grandpa Asay take his cows to their summer pasture in Dryhead. Usually, the cows get trucked one day and then the following day, the crew trails them all the way to their pasture. It's a long day that begins early and ends late, but is lots of fun. This year, things were done a little different due to truck schedules for the cows, work schedules and some other things. This year's trip started early in the morning with trucking all the cows to some corrals. About five in the evening, we took off and headed up the mountain. We made up the mountain and started moving the cows down the trail about 6:00 and ended the night a little more than half way to the final destination at 11:30 (and getting home about 12:30), hence the Moonlight cattle drive! It was a long evening, but things went pretty well. We enjoyed some fried chicken for dinner and Carson rode all by himself for the first time this trip. He has ridden by himself with either his dad or grandpa holding a lead rope, but this time he was on his own. Grandpa Asay showed him what to do and everyone was good about picking up his reins when his horse would bend down to eat and Carson wasn't be able to hold on to them. He was such a dude! Carson rode until about 11 that night after only taking a short break to eat dinner with everyone and to sit in the car for a bit...he was such a trooper! Today we get to go back in and finish taking the cows to their summer home, but it hopefully won't be another cattle drive by moonlight! :)

ER visit

2011-07-17T17:42:00.000-07:00

Well, our good luck streak came to an end this last week when we had to make our first trip to the emergency room. Last Tuesday, Travis slammed his finer in the sliding glass door at my mom's and sliced open his pinky finger on his right hand. Normally, we probably wouldn't have gone to the ER, but it looked like the nail had been pushed into his finger and it looked a little deformed. When we got to the ER, the doctor said he woud just remove the nail and we would be able to go, but after he removed the nail he discovered that he had disrupted the nail bed pretty good and decided to give Travis two little stitches so that the nail would have a better chance of growing back nicer. Travis was quite the trooper. He cried, initially when it happened, but after we him calmed down, he didn't cry again...not even when the doctor gave him the two shots to numb his finger! They were so impressed by his toughness (as were his parents)! Now, the finger is on the mend and we get to take the stitches this week. Way to be tough, Travis!

At the ER after the doctor was all done with putting the stitches in

Travis' stitches or " blue floss" as he called them when we was telling his aunt Charlene waht happened. Sorry about the nasty finger nails...we didn't get our weekly nail grooming done yesturday, I guess!

We went swimming the other day to a break from helping my mom get her garage sale ready and we didn't want his finger to get wet so we cut the finger off a rubber glove and taped it up tight so he could get in the water!

Independence Day!

2011-07-05T13:33:00.000-07:00

First, I just want to say how grateful we are to be able to live in this great country where we get to enjoy so many freedoms, and how thankful we are for those that have fought to protect those freedoms and this country! We spent our holiday celebrating with lots of family. We headed to the lake late morning with my parents to enjoy some waterskiing. We still are in the process of getting our boat registered and such in Wyoming, so my parents we nice enough to allow us to go with them. Later in the afternoon, we dropped my parents off at the dock so they could head home and we picked up a group of Christian's family and went back out for a couple of hours. After we were done at the lake, we headed to Christian's family's house for a bbq and then shot off some fireworks. It was a great day spent doing to of our favorite things: being with our families and being on the lake!

Carson was quite the ham in the tube this time. He would stand flex and do all sorts of funny poses!

I think Christian was enjoying his taquito a little too much!

When we told the boys that we were going to go to the lake, the first thing Carson asked is if we were going to have chicken legs for lunch out there. I guess he associates going to the lake with having chicken...and they ate it up!!

We saw a bunch of mountain sheep. They were fun to watch as they walked along the canyon walls.

The little kids had a blast with all the bigger kids around to light smoke bombs and snakes with them before we ate and got to the the "bigger" fireworks!

Mustang Days 2011!

2011-06-28T16:37:00.000-07:00

Last week was the eer-anticipated Mustang Days. It's a week long celebration for the the town of Lovell that consists of community performances, a quilt show, street dance to a local band, family fun night, class reunions, a parade, and fireworks. It's a fun week with lots to do, and we usually get to see lots of friends and family we don't see often. This year, the boys and I were gone most of the week, so we missed the Follies (a community performace), but we were there for the other major events. Friday night as soon as we got back from Utah, we took the boys over to grandpa and grandma Asay's so that Christian and I could go hang out with some of Christian's friends from high school at the street dance. It was fun to catch up with some friends that we haven't talked to in a while. Saturday, we got up and went to the parade. Christian's brother, Jacob, was on the Stake church float and his other brother Michael and aunt were on their class reunion floats. They little boys got a bunch of candy and the adults even got some ice cream sandwiches. After the parade, we got had yummy lunch at Daniel and Kasi's house and got to hang out with everyone. After some much needed naps, we went back into town to have dinner with Christian's friend and his girlfriend and then headed to the lake to watch the fireworks. We had never gone before and didn't really know what to expect. We waited for almost two hours in the crazy wind, but the fireworks were really good. We will know better next time what to expect and will bring teats and blankets! It was a great weekend and we were sad to have it over!

Fun at the parade!!

BBQ at Daniel and Kasi's. Kasi's mom and dad found these raccoons in one of their trees and gave them to their daughter-in-law's mom. They were at the bbq and the boys thought they were something else...I thought they were a little creepy and gross myself (I made them change their clothes as soon as we got home!).

Waiting for the fireworks to start. It was really windy which made it kind of chilly and we only had one blanket in our car, so we all four had to share. Next year we will be more prepared!

This was a cool heart firework...you can't really tell, but it is! :)

Aunual SLC trip

2011-06-27T14:22:00.000-07:00

This last week, we were able to take a trip to Salt Lake City with my mom and dad. My dad and brothers have work meetings all week, so we get the opportunity to go and chill with my mom and have fun while they are working. We left on Monday and got back Friday night. Monday, we spent traveling, Tuesday we did a little shopping (and by little I mean about 1 1/2 hours worth...definately not enough), and went down to Logan to visit my sister, Wednesday, we went to the zoo, swam for a bit, and then had dinner withmy family, my aunt and uncle and Eric and Mindy. Thursday we swam in the pool all afternoon and then enjoyed a yummy dinner that is put on by Asociated Food Stores. That night, we talked my sister in to staying the night with us and going back home in the morning before she had to go work, so we got to spend the evening hanging out with her and we are so glad that she decided to stay and party with us! Friday we had breakfast and then packed up our stuff and waited for my parents to get out of meetings to head home.

Enjoying some IN-N-OUT burgers and fries...and hats!

Playing at the park while we waited for my sister to get off work.

Hogle Zoo. They had a great dinosaur exhibit set up all throughout the zoo that my boys thought was just as good as the living animals! This was the first year that we rode the train ride...not so impressed! We waited in line for like 30 minutes for a three minute ride that took us to see buffalo, sheep and goats...all things we see in a car ride down to Grandma Asay's house!

Swimming in the pool.

Family pictures in the courtyard or "maze" as Carson called it. They boys had tons of fun looking for snail houses (snail shells) and riding the deer statues that are there.

Hanging out with Auntie Butts our last night in the hotel!

Mule Days

2011-06-25T19:14:00.000-07:00

Every Father's Day weekend, the town of Ralston is home to Mule Days. People from across the United States bring in their mules to show and sell and compete. For the last few years, Christian has wanted to go...he has a secret love for mules and always teases that he's going to buy one. This year, my dad had received some tickets for the Mule Days Rodeo and gave us the tickets to use. We gave what we didn't need to Christian's brothers and their families and so we were joined at the rodeo by Matthew and Charlene and baby Ian, Jacob, and Daniel and Kasi. It was beautiful day and we got to enjoy lots of mules participating in rodeo events, some that we had seen before and some we hadn't seen done before like the balloon shoot where they shoot balloons from their mules (the boys really thought that was cool). The highlight of the day, though, had to be the Rocky Mountain Oysters, or "texticles", as Carsons calls them!! They were selling them at one of the food vendor booths and so the guys all had to try some. My boys thought they were awesome and chowed them! I guess anything is good when you can smother it in ranch (although I could not bring myself to try them)!

The Asay boys very own Testicle Festival

Going...

...Gone! and so good!

Baby #3!

2011-06-17T15:54:00.000-07:00

A week ago, Thursday, I got to finally have another ultraound! I have been dying to find out what we are going to have. The baby looks and measures great and it's still a mystery what we are having! The ultrasound guy did a bunch of work with his 2D machine to get the measurements he needed and then used the 3D machine to try and get some fun 3D pictures of this little person. We got some great pictures (none of which I could scan because now our scanner is having issues so these are pictures of the ultrasound pictures...sorry for the blurriness). He got all done with the 3D ultrasound and told me I could get up and use the bathroom and I was like, "wait...did you see what the sex was because you never said?" He then tells me he forgot to check for sure...nice! So he gets out the 2D thing again to check and by that time baby #3 was tight-legged and he said he couldn't tell for sure...some times it looked like a girl, some times a boy but would give me a 60-65% chance it was a boy. So, we walked away from our ultrasound disappointed that we didn't know what we were going to have. I was really looking forward to shopping while I was in Salt Lake this last week. I will hopefully get to have another ultrasound so that we can find out...I can't stand the suspense! But the most important information was that the baby is healthy. I'm feeling it move more and more all the time and Christian has gotten to feel it move a couple of times too!

Here is baby #3:

Here I am at 22 weeks (hate to take these pictures, but they are always fun to look back on)

Picking asparagus

2011-06-17T15:51:00.000-07:00

There are many benefits to living out in the country where we are. One of them is being able to pick fresh asparagus! It's kind of like a treasure hunt...we never know where there is going to be some and when there is...happy day! There is nothing better than asparagus in the summer!!This last week, we went out and picked some. We got quite a good bag full to share with one of Christian's co-workers! The boys always enjoy helping their dad collect it. They are getting pretty good at spotting it now.

Why Christian insists on making this face whenever I try to take his picture, I may never know. But I still love him and all his goofiness!! :)

Whale pool!

2011-06-17T15:48:00.000-07:00

I am finally having sucess with my camera and computer again. I guess my computer didn't like all 3200 pictures I had on my camera card...so we got a new and we are back in business. I have lots to blog about, so be prepared for a bunch of new posts over the next couple of days. To catch up, we went to the whale pool here in Lovell one of the first days it was warm outside. We took our lunch to the park and ate and then the kids swam for quite a while...despite the cold water! I guess when you are with friends and cousins playing, you don't care how cold the water is!

Swimming lessons

2011-06-17T15:45:00.000-07:00

June has been a pretty eventful month for us with tball and swimming and some school for Carson, along with all the other everyday things! On Thursday, Carson finished his two weeks of swimming lessons and passed! Yee Haw!! So, next year he will be able to move up to the next level! While I did not enjoy sitting up in the "sauna" (the bleachers located above the pool) it was so fun to watch him. Both of my boys LOVE the water! I loved to watch his excitement while in the pool...that kid smiled like 90% of the time he was in there! The last day of lessons, they got to dive for pennies at the bottom of the pool. He was so proud of his little collection of money that he earned diving down! Now that June is almost over, so are most of our exciting things! I guess we will have to find other things to do in our spare time now!
(sorry about the dark pictures...we were a long ways away and my camera is not the best!)

T-ball

2011-06-15T06:22:00.000-07:00

Carson's first season of t-ball ended this Monday. It was a beautiful night, something that had been quite rare at the other games! He had lots of supporters come and watch him through out his games and had quite the crowd at his last one. Grandpa and grandma Foulger and uncle Jason, grandma Asay, Charlene and baby Ian, aunt Kasi, and Michael and Emily and their two kids all came to support Carson at his last game! It's so fun to be close to family now and be able to have them come and watch! It was so fun to watch him play this year and he improved quite a bit!

After the game, we had a bbq at our house with all our family that was around. The kids had so much fun playing with each other and roasting hotdogs and marshmallows over the firepit...my boys' new obsession(they ask daily if we can use it)! Thanks to all our family who came and watched Carson play t-ball! We love being close to everyone and are soaking up every minute of it!! :)

Pool Party!

2011-06-12T21:30:00.000-07:00

A week ago, my sister-in-law, Emily invited us over for a pool party. The kids had so much fun playing in the water, even if it was a little cold that day. Their uncle Jacob, showed up while he was waiting to finish up his Eagle Scout project and got the kids all rowdy. They tried their hardest to get Jacob wet, but just ended up with their buckets empty from running before they even got to him. We can't wait for it to get warm again so we can go back outside and play in the water some more!

Cattle Drive time!

2011-06-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, we (well by we I mostly mean Christian) helped with moving a group of cows to some new pasture. The boys are always in heaven when they get to help move cows and this time Carson and Travis both rode horses by themselves (with grandpa holding a rope). It was a really nice day, one of the few we have had lately, so it was really enjoyable!

Fun times!

2011-06-12T13:26:00.001-07:00

Well, my camera cord hasn't been working with my camera and computer, so I have been unable to upload pictures to blog. I finally got around to using my mother-in-law's computer to upload my pictures...so we are in business for a few posts!

We have been able to do som fun things last couple of weeks. First, we got to go to the aquatic center with grandma Foulger. The boys had a blast swimming in warm water! They enjoyed the slide, water spouts, lazy river and the moving obstacle course that reminded me of the Chinese game show where contestants are always falling off things! It was so funny to watch both the boys trying to moved across the pool without falling off. Carson did it over and over until he was able to get all the way through it without falling off. He was so proud of himself for doing it!!

Memorial Day, we made a family trip to Billings, MT to do some shopping and to take the boys to Chuck E. Cheese. Christian and I had been talking about taking them there as a reward for being so good while we were packing and moving. They absolutely LOVED it and I loved watching them! Grandma and Grandpa Asay met us there for dinner and some games and rides. Travis rode the motorcycle probably 10 times while we were there! They were so excited when it came time to turn in all their hard earned tickets. Carson choose to get a set of glow in the dark vampire teeth and Travis spent his tickets on a rocket you shoot off your finger.

Being a country boy is messy business!

2011-05-24T07:54:00.000-07:00

Sunday, the boys were playing outside while Christian was cooking our lunch on the grill, when all of a sudden I hear Travis crying and Christian saying, "Wait, can I take a picture of you real quick?" Hmmm... I immediatly grabed my camera and phone so I could capture what ever had occured outside! I went to the door and this is how I found Travis! He was covered in mud from head to toe and it was even in his nose. We aren't really sure what happened, all he says that happens is that he fell in a puddle! I guess when I told him that his new irrigating boots were now his get wet/muddy shoes (so we didn't ruin his cowboy boots that he wears everywhere!), he really wanted to test them out...crazy kid!! Christian came to the rescue and hosed him off with the hose, making things a little better, but I should have known that this was going to happen. We went through four outfits Sunday because he kept getting muddy or wet!

Rumble and Tumble Time

2011-05-23T07:44:00.000-07:00

This last Friday, my sister-in-law, Emily, called and asked if I wanted to take the kids over to Cody to the Rumble Park. It was a rainy/gloomy day, and I didn't want to do my much needed cleaning around the house, so we said we would love to go. We ate lunch at Burger King, first, then headed over to play. The Rumble Park is a huge heated shop (I know it sounds kind of ghetto) that has four huge blow up bouncy/slide things. There was one designated for kids 3 and under, which was nice for a more calm time for Travis, one with a place for the kids to bounce in and play basketball (and slide), one with an obstacle course (and slide), and the other one just had a quite tall slide. Carson LOVED every minute of it...in fact when we went to leave he says to me "why am I so sticky?" The poor kid's face was bright red and he had been sweating like crazy from running around so much. Travis was a little more timid, but after I went down one of the slides with him a couple of times, he was ready to do it on his own. He was mostly just happy to run around with a ball and play catch, but as soon as we got in the car he told me that that place was so much fun!

Let's Play Ball!

2011-05-17T11:34:00.000-07:00

Baseball season has begun and we are spending two nights a week watching Carson play t-ball. He had his first games last week and they have sure been entertaining to watch! The kids are hilarious as they spin around in circles, roll around in the grass, run the wrong directioin, leave the field in the middle of the game for this reason or another...you name it, we've seen it! My favorite was when Carson and another teammate were by second base talking with the other team's runner. When I looked at them once, the runner had his arms around each Carson and his teammate while they were talking...priceless! I clicked my camera a second too late and missed the picture! Oh the joys of wathcing 5 and 6 year olds...they are too cute!!

Our Graduate!

2011-05-14T08:25:00.000-07:00

Wow...two graduations in one week! Thursday was Carson's last day of preschool and also his graduation! After weeks of practice (he even showed my sister last weekend what you are supposed to do when you graduate) at school it was finally the day! They sang a few songs for us, recited the Pledge of Alliegance, got their diplomas, and then enjoyed some refreshments. Both of Carson's grandma's were able to make it, along with Travis and I. He took it pretty serious...we were barely able to get a smile out of him before they started their songs! It's crazy to think that next year, I will have a kindergartener!

When we moved to Wyoming, I debated wheter or not to try and get Carson into a preschool...if any would even take him. I finally decided that even though there was only two months left, that it would be a great way for him to get to know some kids. We were lucky to be able to get him into the VIP preschool, and are so glad that we did! Carson had the best teachers. Miss Carol and Miss Laurie are awesome! They made him (well, shoot, me and Travis too) feel so welcome. He made some good friends while he was there and will know some kids when he starts kindergarten in the fall! Congrats, Carson!! We love you!!

The kids walking out to their spots.

Oh, so serious!

Singing a song that they had learned that year.

Waiting patiently to receive his diploma.

Yay...he did it! Getting his diploma from Miss Laurie.

One good looking graduate!

Carson and his teachers: Miss Carol and Miss Laurie.

Carson and his two beautiful grandmas! What a luck guy!

Enjoying some treats together!

The Graduate!

2011-05-13T14:29:00.000-07:00

This last weekend, the boys and I were able to drive to Logan, Utah with my parents to witness my sister graduate from Utah State. It was so fun go back to Logan again and visit...it's really a beautiful place. We got to enjoy some Firehouse pizza Friday night, followed by some much needed swimming to wear the little guys out. Saturday was Megan's graduation. We watched her accept her "diploma", took lots of pictures, and then ate at a great restaurant. While the boys took naps, my mom and and dad and sister did some furniture shopping and then we joined them for dinner at Cafe Rio and did a little shopping, with some swimming again. Sunday, we enjoyed breakfast out IHOP and then worked on moving my sister into her new apartment. It was a great visit and we are so proud of you, Megan! Congrats, and we wish you luck in the next chapter of your life!

Waiting to get into Firehouse Pizza.

Graduation Day!!

Fun at the Pool!

The boys playing on grandpa and grandma's phones! They were lifesaves at keeping the boys occupied during graduation and the moving of my sister!!

Travy the unibomber! It was raining like crazy Sunday, so we bundled the boys up and Travis refused to take his glasses off and looked pretty funny!!

Visit to the "Funny" Farm

2011-05-11T11:48:00.000-07:00

Last Thrusday, Carson's preschool class had a field trip to the farm...or the "funny" farm as he called it because he thought all the animals were funny! They first got to check out some guinney (sp?) hens in the house and see all sorts of different sized/colored eggs that the chickens on the farm laid...there were some pretty crazy ones!

Once outside, the kids got to feed two very friendly sheep some crackers, look at chickens, more sheep and ducks. I think the ducks were the favorite!

Carson waiting to get his crackers to feed the sheep. He wasn't about to let the sheep eat it out of his hand, so he ended up throwing it on the ground. Travis, was brave and fed his cracker to the sheep with no problem!

The kids loved the visit, but I think my boys were a little diappointed that there weren't any cows or horses...after all, when they go to the farm, that's what they see! :)

Over night in Billings!

2011-05-02T19:24:00.000-07:00

Last Monday and Tuesday, the boys and I made an over night trip with my mom to Billings. My mom had doctor/dentist appointments both days, so we decided to go along just incase she wasn't feeling well after her appointment and needed someone to drive her home. It was so enjoyable to not have to hurry while we were in Billings. We actually got to enjoy the afternoon, Monday, eatting lunch and playing at the park, followed by some shopping, dinner at Texas Roadhouse, and then the much looked forward to, night in the hotel and swimming. Tuesday, we got up and had breakfast at IHOP, then took my mom to her dentist appointment while we ran to Target, ran a couple more errands, and then made our way home. It was such a nice trip to the "city"!! :)

Easter Weekend!

2011-04-24T11:02:00.000-07:00

Our Easter weekend has been a great one! The weather has been so nice and there has been lots to do! Friday, the boys and I met up with Emily and her kids at the Easter Egg hunt in town. There were quite a few kids, but both boys made out with a good amount of eggs filled with little trinkets and candy. After the hunt, they got to visit with the Easter bunny for a minute.

Saturday, we started the day with a little egg coloring. The boys each had a dozen to dye (well minus a few that Christian and I had to color). After the eggs were done, we took advantage of the nice weather and did some front lawn cleaning. We took a break for some lunch outside and then went back to work. We enjoyed a visit from Grandpa and Grandma Asay and Jacob that night who brought some treats for the boys and yummy cinnamon rolls...they were so nice to have this morning for breakfast, and last night before bed!!

Sunday, we enojyed a wonderful day at church, lunch with grandpa and grandma Asay and then dinner with grandma and grandpa Foulger. The Easter bunny even managed to find the boys while they were sleeping. The boys got mathcing suits for Easter this year and they looked so handsome! We hope everyone enjoyed their Easter!

I guess it was contagious!

2011-04-10T19:15:00.001-07:00

Right after we moved to Wyoming, I was able to attend my sister-in-law, Charlene's, baby shower. It was super fun to be with my SIL's and mother-in-law for the evening! This same weekend, Christian's brother and his wife announced they were expecting, making the total number of new grandbabies in the Asay house 3! How fun! The night of Charlene's shower, all four of us girls got together to have some pictures taken. The person that was taking the picture was joking that I should watch out because I was surround by pregnant women and it might be contagious. I laughed and said, "yeah, right. We are currently in transition right now (meaning Christian had just started his new job and such)." Little did anybody know that I already knew that we were going to be expecting baby #3! So...I guess it was contagious!!

We found out like a week after Christian had accepted the new job, that I was expecting, and it was kind of interesting how it worked out. After we got back from Hawaii, I thought I might be pregnant. We were still trying to decide if we were going to take the job in Wyoming or not at that time too. We decided that if I was pregnant, we weren't going to take the job right away (at that point, the company wasn't offering us any insurance). I took the test and it came back negative. So, we accepted the job, got our house on the market and proceeded with getting our selves packed to move. About a week later, Travis got sick and I got up with him a few times during the night. Each time I got up with him, I felt nautious...and the first thing that came to my mind was "oh man...this can't be!" I took another pregnancy test and, sure enough, it came back positive!

We were are super excited about our new addition. We told the boys the other night after I had had an ultrasound and Carson's reaction was the best. He said "I have been waiting for a long time for you to have a baby!" They both want a sister, but with our odds, I'm not so sure that is possible! I had an ultrasound last Friday to try and get a date. Thhe baby looks good and it was so fun to see it and hear the heartbeat. My due date is some time the middle of October. I'm slowly starting to feel not so sick...yay!

As I looked back at how the whole thing transpired, I couldn't help but think about how the Lord works in mysterious ways. I believe with all my heart that we were supposed to come to Wyoming, and having a baby wasn't supposed to stop us from doing that. I think that it was an answer to prayers that we had offered, in wanting to make the right choice for our family and know if we should move or not. I'm so grateful for the power of prayer and to know that my Heavenly Father hears and answers them!

The Last Hurrah(s)!

2011-04-01T08:21:00.000-07:00

Well, we have finally connected back with the computer world after a few weeks of no internet and now it's time to do some major catching up! We are alive and doing well!

Before we left for the big move back to Wyoming, we were able to spend some fun times with friends the last few days we were in Nebraska. The week before we left, our friends, the Larington's, threw us a little going away party with some of our closests friends. We enjoyed some yummy finger foods and cake, visiting and the kids playing.

A few days later, my good friend Sherry H., had playgroup at her house so the kids could all play together for one last time. They got to make fun pizzas out of tortilla shells and then played. I'm going to really miss our playgroups! We had such a great group of kids and moms! You guys are the best!! Do you think you can come to Wyoming for a playgroup?! :)

Wednesday, March 9, my mom and sister both flew in to help in getting us all boxed up and my house cleaned. They were so much help! My sister's birthday was the 10th and our great friends, the Blomstedts, had us over for dinner and we celebrated her birthday with them.

Friday (March 11), we loaded up our uhaul. We had GREAT help from the people in our branch. There were a total of 44 people at our house that night to help (like most of our branch)! We had the truck loaded (with NO room to spare) in under an hour and then enjoyed some pizza! Thanks so much to all those who came to help us! That night we spent the night at a hotel in town since all our stuff was packed and the house cleaned.

Throwing in the last few things. When we pulled up to the house with the Uhaul, I though we were going to have a TON of room! Boy were we wrong! we were full to the brim in our uhaul and in both the cars we drove...it was crazy!!

Carson enjoying some pizza with one of his (and Travis') favorite poeple, Rulon! He's like 12 years older than Carson but doesn't care one bit! He makes Carson feel like he's so cool and is a great example to my boys! He will be greatly missed by my two boys!

Saturday morning, we left McCook about 8:30 and made our way to Wyoming! It was the LONGEST trip of my life...15 hours from start to finish! Sunday, we unloaded all our belongings and then loaded up the uhaul with what was left in the house of Christian's grandma's and took it to her house in town. Lucky for us, all of Christian's brothers (well, minus Jared who is on a mission) were home for Spring break the week we moved back so they were all available to help up get stuff moved in! Thanks, guys, for all your muscles!

Yes, even Opie made the trip with us. We had decided that if there was room to take him in the back of the truck, he would get to go. Well, as you can see, we were pretty loaded, so he got the V.I.P seat in the front with Christian. And, much to our surprise, he has stuck around really well at the house. He has staked his claim around the house and runs off other dogs that come around.

The unloading process!

We had a roll of tape that didn't have any stick on it, so instead of letting it go to waste, my dad decided that we should use the entire roll around my sister.

Carson and Travis hanging out with their cousin, Stetson on top of our matresses.

This is what our boys did a lot of the first week we were in Wyoming. We were all busy cleaning/painting, so they got to watch a lot of movies.

We are just about all settled in now. We spent the first week in Powell at my parent's house while we worked on cleaning all the carpets and painting about half the house. After that was done, we started moving things into rooms. I think I have like 12 boxes that aren't unpacked yet and that's because most of them are boxes of things that need to be stored in a garage or shed. The boys have adjusted really well and are LOVING the fact that they have gotten to see some sort of family every day since we have been here. They love to play outside in the trees and yard and look forward to every night when grandpa and grandma Asay or Jacob come and get them to check cows, and playing with their cousins. We were able to enroll Carson in a preschool in town and seems to really like it! He has made some new friends already, but still says he misses his friends from his other school. Travis has been doing great. It's been so nice to have my mom come during the day and help put stuff away so he can hang out with her too while Carson is at school. We are working on no pull-ups at night and so far, we have only had one accident this week! We have gone to story time once since we've been here and are looking forward to more of them. He went to nursery like it was noting new, which I worried about because we just got him to go to nursery by himself not too long ago in McCook. He had no problems with it knowing that his cousin, Kandace was there with him!

Christian seems to be liking his new job. It's been kind of an adjustment going from a higher paced area in Nebraska to Wyoming, but he's really motivated and has a good attitude about it. I think he will be a great assest to their company and could really help them grow!

The time has come!

2011-03-04T10:29:00.000-08:00

Almost four years ago when we decided to move to McCook, NE our mind set was always when we get back Wyoming. We were far away from family, there weren't very many people we knew that were our age and had kids, espicially in church. In fact, the people closest to us in age were the missionaries in our Branch, and we couldn't exactly hang out with them! We had it in our minds, at that time, that we would be here for 3-5 years, get some experience, and then try to move back closer to our families. As time went on, we bought a house, made some great friends, and have really come to love Nebraska, and McCook. As a result, our tone changed from "when" we move back to Wyoming, to "if" we ever move back to Wyoming.

About a month ago Christian was approached by a company out of Greybull, Wyoming for an agronomy job. After much prayer, fasting, and pondering, we (well Christian) accepted the job and so we are on our way to moving back closer to our families! Christian's first day will be March 14. It has become a fast and furious move...like when we move, we will have had just three weeks to put our house on the market and pack up our house! We will be renting at first, in Lovell until our house sells.

I never thought in my wildest dreams that making a decision to move back home closer to our families would be a hard decision, not that it was hard to make, but it's been emotionally hard. We truely love Nebraska and are having a hard time leaving our friends...sure wish we could take them with us! We have been so blessed to have such great friends here and great friends for our boys. We will miss the playgroups, storytime, boating adventures and game nights that we have enjoyed while we were here. We have had great help the last couple of weeks with many offeres from great friends to watch our kids so we could clean and pack. Thanks to all of you for your support and help!

We are really excited for the opportunity we have been given and know it's the right/best thing for our family. It will be fun to be around so much family and be able to raise our boys with them around! We are looking forward to our next adventure in the Big Horn Basin!

Valentine's Day 2011

2011-02-26T17:32:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Valentine's Day three different times this year. First, we attended a Valentine's Day party with our playgroup, hosted by our friends, the Laringtons. The kids each made their own Valentine boxes and Valentine's for each of the kids before the party. Carson wanted to make a robot, and Travis...well, I made him a fire truck box. The kids enjoyed playing with each other, enjoyed a "hearty" lunch, and got some fun Valentine's too!

Next we celebrated on the actual Valentine's day. I'm not the biggest fan of this holiday, so we didn't do anything too special. My boys got me a gift certificate for a pedicure that I'm really excited to use. The boys got to share some special sweets for their gifts.

Carson had a party at school a couple days after. He did a great job getting all his Valentine's ready for his classmates. They passed out their Valentine's, had treats and then got to play some games...it made for a fun day at preschool!

The boys making their Valentine boxes

The finished products: a green robot and a red firetruck

Carson passing out his Valentine's

An older sibling of a playgroup friend gave out awards to each of the kids' boxes. Carson was most original and Travis won an award for the best made by mom!

Lunch time!

These were what the kids had for lunch. I just thought they were a cute idea!

Hawaii, part 2

2011-02-20T16:43:00.001-08:00

The last part of our trip was great. On Sunday, we flew to Oahu early that morning. Once we arrived, we grabbed some breakfast and were trying to decided exactly what we wanted to do when my mom threw us an envelope and said here were some things from the car rental people suggested we do while we were there. My sister opened up the envelope and out fell six tickets to the NFL Pro Bowl!! Boy were we surprised!! The game didn't start until 2 so we had a few hours to kill before so we made our way to Pearl Harbor. We spent a couple of hours touring the museums that they have set up, watching a moving and then rode a boat out to the sight where they have a memorial built over the USS Arizona. It was quite a humbling experience to walk over the top of that sunken ship. I can't even imagine the horror that the people felt that day! After we finished our tour of the ship, we made our way to the ALoha Stadium for the game. After driving around for quite some time and not finding a parking space, my dad and Christian dropped us off so we could go get sat down and they went to find a place to park (which ended up being close to where we were at Pearl Harbor...guess we should have stuck with our original instincts and just parked there). As we started to walk in, it began to sprinkle, and by the time we sat down, it was raining pretty good. So after about a half an hour of rain, I went and bought some ponchoes for everyone. And, as luck would have it, we wore them for about 15 minutes and it stopped raining! The rest of the game was perfect! We even managed to see a few famous people like Dog the Bounty Hunter, and Chris Leban, a UFC fighter. We had to leave before the game was over so that we could make sure to make it back to the airport in time to catch our flight back to Hawaii (it was the last one of the day).

Pro Bowl Tickets!!
Pearl Harbor

Pro Bowl Time!

Drizzling...

A little harder now...we had to put on our sweatshirts...

Poncho time and Rain!

Waiting for the game to start.

Goo Goo Dolls sang at half time and some American Idol guy sang the National Anthem (can't remember his name...all I know is that my sister was excited!)

Our delicious pizza for lunch! Papa Johns was a fave when we lived in Laramie and we were excited to see some at the game!

When went to eat at Panda Express after the game. Don't be fooled by the pictures...the food was amazing!!

It had been a long day by the time we got to the air port to catch our plane back to our resort and when we get tired we get a little silly!

Monday, we decided to go back to the beach to boogey board some more. The waves were tons better this time, making for some good rides into the beach! After a day at the beach, we went and played in some of the pools that had slides. We acted like we were about 5....and it was FUN!AFter we had had as much as we could handle on the slides, we took a shower and enjoyed dinner at Roy's (where I ate soy beans for the first time) with my brother and his little family.

We didn't know there was a gun show at the beach that day either! BONUS!!

Ah, the slides! We had a little more fun than we should have on them, but hey...we were on vacation!

Crocodile eyes!

we decided we would try going under the waterfall...it kind of hurt.

Wednesday, our last day there, we decided to stick to the resort and just played in the lagoon again. We rented kayaks and had races...I wasn't in a winning kayak once! :( After we were done with our fun at the lagoon, we went back to get ready and back our stuff up. When we were all ready, we did a little shopping and had dinner in Kona (where the airport is) at Bubba Gump's. We flew out late (like almost 10:00) Wednesday night and arrived back to freezing Montana about 11:00 Thursday. When we had loaded all our luggage, we dropped my brother off at my mom and dad's house and then made our way to Lovell to see our boys. We ended up spending the rest of the weekend in Lovell and traveled all the way home Sunday.

We were laughing because we were totally posed and ready to get our picture taken by the sign at the volcano and this old dude came and stood like two feet away from us totally clueless that we were going to take a picture...

Must have been a kodak moment!

The sunset the last night we were there.

The family learning how to do the hula!

Before the hula
My grandma and sister got a little island lovin' from the hula guys!!
Our last day!

Butts and I racing Christian and Jason in the kayaks....we lost!

Christian's giant sno cone!

It was a great trip and really missed Hawaii when we got back to the negative degree weather of Wyoming! We would have loved to have the boys there with us to play at the beach...maybe next time!

Trip to The Big Island!

2011-02-14T07:08:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I have tried to upload pictures for this post for a week now, and was not having any luck! Finally blogger and my computer decided to cooperate long enough for me to get some pictures up!

Our trip to the Big island of Hawaii, was an awesome trip! We flew out of Billings, MT on a Thursday morning and arrived in Hawaii around 6 that same night. The first evening, we didn't do much. After we finally made it to our resort, we unloaded our luggage and decided to do some much needed walking around the resort to check it all out and stretch our legs (we had a 6 hour flight from LA to Kona, Hawaii). It was getting kind of dark, but we still managed to see a good portion of the resort.

My mom and her pizza that looked like a face. You can't tell from the picture but it had to bubbles that looked like eyes!

Eating some sando's after finally arriving at the resort!

Dont' ask! Let's just say that it had been a long day of airports, planes and too much having to sit still for these two!

Relaxing on a hammock we found on our adventure around the resort the night we got there.

The next morning, we were up bright and early (they are four hours behind us)! We started the day with yummy breakfast and then made our way down to the lagoon at the resort. The lagoon is feed by the ocean so it was full of turtles, all sorts of fish, eels, sting rays, and who know what else there was that we didn't see! While we were at the lagoon, we snorkled, rode the paddle boats, did the paddle boards and enjoyed the sunshine! Later that afternoon, we enjoyed at bbq for lunch, went back and got ready and then enjoyed some shoppingat the local shops.

There were a bunch of these little black crabs on some rocks at the lagoon!

The guys getting ready to snorkel.

Megan, me, and our nieces enjoying the paddle boats.

Trying to master the paddle surf board.

Christian and I under the waterfall.

Day 3 was spent at the beach. Last year when my mom took the girls (and my two boys) over there, we visited two beaches and definatly fell in love with Hapuna beach, so we made sure to make our back there this trip. Being a Saturday, the beach was quite busy. We borrowed boogey boards from my uncle's family and the guys really enjoyed using them to catch some waves! After spending the morning and a part of the afternoon at the beach, we went back that night and enjoyed a sunset dinner by the ocean with all of our family.

Christian was so excited to drive jeeps around the island. We were supposed to have convertables, but they ran out...he had not problem accepting a jeep instead! They were lots of fun to ride around in.

Oh, what a special relationship Christian and my sister have! This picture pretty much explains it...WELL!

My mom and dad enjoying the beach...and eachother!

Me and my seester!

Chilling on the beach.

My brother, Jason, my sister, Megan, and Christian trying to catch a wave on the boogy boards.

Cheese!

After spending the morning, and part of the afternoon at the beach, we went back to our resort, got ready and then had a sunset dinner on the beach with almost all the family (we were minus my uncle Kent, aunt Lori and my cousin Sha and her husband, Brandon).

Each night as we would walk back to our room, we would find piles of rocks place strategically under the MANY statues that were there. Christian, couldn't resist the opportunity to do it either when he cam across a statue without any "additions". The best was a pair of dogs that had a pile of rocks under one and a puddle of water under the other!

After dinner that night, we made our way back to our room to find that two envelopes had been slipped under our door. Inside the envelopes were two plane tickets to island hop over to Oahu for the day. We were so excited to be able to see Pearl Harbor and Wikiki Beach, but we had no idea what was actually in store for us on our trip. The surprise will have to be in my next post though!

I Hope They Call Me On a Mission!

2011-02-08T17:37:00.000-08:00

I have a lot of catching up to do, so be prepared for a series of new posts! We returned back to McCook late Sunday night after an 11 day vacation to Wyoming, Hawaii, and then back to Wyoming again, and are still trying to get things back in order! :)

Wednesday, January 26, we made it to Wyoming to drop our boys off to stay with Christian's family while we went to Hawaii. It was also the day we said goodbye to Christian's brother, Jared who was leaving for his mission while we were going to be gone. Jared left a week ago, today, to serve a 2 year mission for our church. He has been called to serve in Zimbabwae, and we know he will be a great missionary! We are greatful for Jared's decision to serve a mission and for being such a great example to our boys. My boys really look up to their Uncle Jared and were sad to see him go, but are sure excited to tell everyone they see that their uncle Jared is on a mission in Africa! :)

(*Emily, I loved the pictures that you posted on your blog...so I stole a couple since we missed the festivities!)

Vegas, baby!

2011-01-18T14:30:00.000-08:00

Last week, Christian was invited to attend some meetings for work in Vegas and the company that invited him, invited me to go along too...I just had to pay for a plane ticket there (an alomost free week in Vegas sounded like a good idea to us)! My mom was kind enough to come and stay with the boys so we could go and enjoy a few days by ourselves. This was the first trip we had take, just the two of us since our honeymoon!! We left Tuesday morning and drove to Denver where we caught a plane to Vegas. Once we were in Vegas, we enjoyed a welcome dinner and then walked down part of the Strip. Wednesday, Christian had meetings until 1, so I had the morning to take my time getting ready and checking out the hotel. We stayed at the Flamingo, on the Strip, which was definately not the grandest of the hotels on the Strip, but it was nice. Wednesday after Christian got done with his meetings, we took a cab to an outlet mall and did a little shopping. After our shopping trip, we came back and got ready to go to BlueMan Group. It was a great show...very entertaining. We were on the third row, which included ponchos! We were a little scared about getting wet/dirty, but we left the show dry! After the show, we walked down the opposite side of the Strip and watched the fountain show at the Bellagio, and finished the night with dinner at our hotel. Thursday, after Christian was done with meetings, we walked the Strip some more, and that evening went and saw the show KA, which was pretty amazing to watch. After KA, we ate at Outback and made our way back to the hotel. Friday, we left our hotel bright and early (5:45), but in style (in a limo), to head to the airport to catch our flight home. It was a great couple of days with my hubby! We are so thankful to my mom for coming to watch our boys so we could go! This trip got us even more excited to go to Hawaii here pretty soon!!

The Strip

Christian outside our hotel.

We had to check out the flamingos and take some pictures so the boys could see them!

The representative that Christian works with from the company that brought him to Vegas, bought us tickets to the BlueMan Group along with transportation to the show in a limo! We felt pretty cool!! :)

All ready for the BlueMan show to start with our lovely ponchoes on!

Christian in front of our hotel.

Waterfountain show at the Bellagio. It was pretty cool to watch.

Christian gambling away his dollar. We both spent one dollar (I know...we were big spenders)on the slots. He won 10 cents...

...and I won 20 cents!

Christmas Day and more!

2011-01-15T18:46:00.000-08:00

Man, I am truely behind and really need to finish blogging about Christmas so we can move on to more exciting things! Christmas day was great. We all got spoiled!! We opened gifts with my family first and then enjoyed waffles with strawberries and whip cream for breakfast. When breakfast was finished, we got ready and headed over to Lovell for more gifts and lunch. After lunch and some visit time, we made our way back to Powell for dinner with all my family. Talk about a crazy/long/full day, and we want to say thanks to all our family for providing us with such a great Christmas!! We loved seeing everyone!!

Christmas Day Family pictures! I love when the trees are all frosty...makes me happy! The second picture is down the road to Christian's family's house.

Travis with Christian's gift from Jacob that was wrapped in duct tape.

Carson and Grandpa Asay got the same shirts for Christmas! What handsome looking dudes!

Dinner with the Asay's (well...some of them)!

My sister and mom Christmas night.

The grandkids on my side.

Grandpa Foulger, Christian and Carson playing with Carson's new hotwheels track.

After all the holiday happenings, we were able to relax a little. We enjoyed a day at the rec. center in Cody swimming,

Christian and I got to go snowmobiling with my sister and brother while grandma Foulger watched the kids. It had been 5+ years since I had gone, so it was fun to go again. We snowmobiled, ate some lunch at the High country lodge and then snomobiled some more!

Jason's crash...it took 3 of them to get it out!

Christian riding away!

And we also enjoyed our family! My boys hanging out with Matthew and Charlene!

Also while we were home, it was Christian's birthday, so we enjoyed a dinner and movie date to Topollo's in Powell and then on to see True Grit in Cody. We also saw Tangled, and we celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary! It was a fun-filled trip home and are so glad that we got to spend as long as we did there and enjoy all of our family!

Christmas Eve in Wyoming

2011-01-07T07:44:00.000-08:00

Once again, our Christmas Eve was a busy one, visiting both sides! We started with lunch with Christian's family where we enjoyed in the making and eating of gnocchies (a super yummy potatoe dumpling topped with a tomoato sauce)...a tradition we always look forward to.

Making gnocchies

Christian and Grandma Asay making silly faces!

Travis getting some snuggles in from Aunt KasiAfter lunch and some hanging out, we went back to Powell, where we stayed for the night, and enjoyed some more Christmas Eve festivities with the Foulgers. We enjoyed some yummy finger foods for dinner. After dinner, we watched The Grinch, opened our Christmas Eve pj's, listened as Grandpa read the Christmas story from the Bible, then headed to bed.

Horse ride from Auntie Butts

Opening pajamas

The little boys were super excited, if you couldn't tell! Travis even dazzled us with some Michael Jackson moves!

Everyone who was at my mom's for Christmas Eve (Christian, Carson, me, Travis, Megan, Jason, and Harley...my mom's dog).

A little brotherly love before bed!