**Happy 5th Anniversary**

Blake and I have been married for 5 years TODAY and it's amazing how quickly time goes by - I remember the day I realized he was home from his mission and I was so excited, however

there was one problem! I still lived in Utah finishing up Beauty School. I came home to visit often and was able to see Blake while at various YSA parties and being that he's so handsome and quite good at sports (not trying to brag) I figured he was a conceited guy with lots of lady friends. I thought to myself it would be nice to get to know him but didn't want to just be another girl who thought he was hot... as time went on and a few conversations later I realized Blake was the total opposite - completely humble and not a "jerk"... I had to get back up to Utah again and after being tired of school and finishing my requirements I moved back home in May of 2002 - that night my friends and I went to a YSA party and I was excited to see Blake still single! needless to say he called me 2 days later and we went on our first date, 2 days after that we went on our 2nd date... 7 weeks and 2 family vacations later we were engaged and 2.5 months after that married! We have had so much fun and I feel blessed every day that we ended up together! Blake is a wonderful father and husband and I couldn't have asked for anything more! I can't wait for our family to grow with more children and am so proud to be his wife! I love you Blake - Happy Anniversary... *PS - He got me roses and chocolate, arranged for a babysitter so we could go to dinner and a movie - and still make our friends wedding reception - am I lucky or what!

~LAGUNA BEACH~

We had such a wonderful time visiting Melissa and Gregg in Laguna Beach and hope to get back there more often! We made a few trips to the ocean, went to fun shops, and ate tons of yummy food- We were very grateful for the fabulous hospitality and tasty home cooked meals. we miss you already!!

First time to the ocean - perfect view!

First morning in Laguna - after going to all the fun shops

On our way to dinner

Dessert - after delightful swordfish and sea bass

Balboa Island

Melissa and Ashlyn
Saturday morning walk to the Market for fresh food

Watchin the boys surf

Blake (left) - Gregg

Sun setting on the drive home from our BBQ on the beach & surfing

This is the view from the church building - tempting huh!

Last day, we went to church and had a picnic at the ocean before heading to the airport

Me and Melissa

New News...

We have been doing great, just the usual day to day things to get done! We have been shopping around for a new car seat for Ashlyn as she has pretty much out grown her car carrier! At 9 months she is 18 lbs and 13 ounces (50%) and she is 28 3/4 inches long (75%)! We have found one that we like a lot and it reclines quite well as shown in the photo... we figure it will be nice to be able to recline it a little until she's about 1 year!! It also changes into a booster seat and you can use regular seat belts through the slots at the top. On to more fun news, we are off to Laguna Beach this Thursday to spend some time with Melissa and Gregg - we will be celebrating our 5 year Anniversary (in 2 weeks) and thought we'd get out of the heat for a few days. We'll tell you all about it when we return! Otherwise enjoy Ashlyn in her new little tank top that I couldn't resist from Target!

Wild and Crazy at almost 9 months

I'm so proud to start off with the exciting news that our Ashlyn has taken her first 2 steps, she was balancing on her own last night and wanted to get to Blake, it was so fun to watch! On the other hand here come more bumps and bruises from the falling a "walker in training" goes through! Our little "red head" hasn't had a hair cut yet but it is getting much longer and a little fuller on the sides... Ashlyn's shoes are starting to fit her now and she is very curious as to what the "big" things are on her feet but doesn't seem to mind either way as long as she can get around! At our nephews 3rd birthday party Ashlyn took to riding the tricycle around the house (with Blakes help of course) and seemed to show off more and more as time went on, she started out sitting then moved to her feet with knees bent and finally to her feet standing. We have installed our baby gates and they are a life saver if you ever want to get dinner going without a child tugging at your leg (i do put her in her high chair at times) and finally we went to lunch with my mom this week after her holiday weekend trip to Northern, CA! I'm so glad it's Friday, maybe we'll get a sitter and go see a movie or something! enjoy...

341 people with my name...

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**Friday night Camp Out**

Even though I had just gotten back from a week trip to North Carolina Blake wanted to get out of the heat and take a camp trip up north just above Pine and Strawberry! We left Friday afternoon and it rained almost the whole way up - we couldn't set up our tent until around 5PM and then started a fire and ate some dinner. Ashlyn did really well and we had a wonderful camp site that was occupied by about 15 elk as we pulled up. This was the view from our tent

Little Ashlyn hanging out by the camp fire with Blake

Blake and Ashlyn
Ashlyn taking a great nap in the tent (we forgot the pack n play so she had to sleep with us)

Me and Ashlyn - we had a great time camping and riding the quad

Karsen and Maeley loved to be swung in the hammock
My brother Steve's family joined us during the day on Saturday

Steve Bird

Ashlyn chewing away on her hat string, she enjoyed crawling around once my brother brought up a pack n play for us! Thanks again...

Kadee and Kensington

So I decided I'm a bad mom, Ashlyn had a hat on a lot of the day but one quad ride we didn't even think about sunscreen (it was a 5 minute ride) and she got her first sun burn - I am happy to report that it was gone the next afternoon but we still feel guilty! Today for Labor Day we are off to purchase a baby gate to keep Ashlyn out of the kitchen and then to our nephew Kyler's 3rd birthday party!!