Chel, Ash and Grace

Prayers

2011-12-17T23:11:00.002-07:00

Ashley and Gracie are really good at reminding me to say our prayers together at night. It's so adorable to listen to the things their 5 and 6 year old minds think of. When Gracie's praying, Ashley will whisper words to her like, "Remember to say that we won't be scared tonight." Lately they've been overly concerned with the house catching on fire while they sleep so every night they both pray for our house to not start on fire haha. Gracie's prayer tonight especially made me smile. Here's a few things Gracie asked Heavenly Father for tonight:

"Bless the babies in my aunts to grow healfy."

"Bless Matt on his mission that he'll find people who want to learn more about Jesus."

"Bless Mom to find a husband."

"Bless Mom to find a job."

"Thanks for Clayboy to flush our car." (Apparently she overhears conversations I don't know aobut- My uncle's auto shop flushed the heater core yesterday to fix the heater and now our car actually gets warm :)

"Bless us to be safe and not have bad dreams all night." (She slept in my bed most of the night last night because of her bad dreams.)

I feel very lucky to be part of my Gracie's prayers. I know hers have to go straight to the top :)

Timing is Everything

2011-11-07T21:45:00.003-07:00

I've been thinking a lot about timing lately. In relationships you not only have to find the right person, but it has to be at the right time. I never expected that finding the right TIME would be harder than finding the right PERSON! I've never really experienced the feeling of something being right, but with absolutely wrong timing before recently. It's been one of the saddest moments I've experienced. To know that nothing is wrong in a relationship except the timing is hard to swallow. Having that conversation was the hardest thing I've done in a long time. It feels like when Carrie was moving to Paris with Alexandr and Big shows up again and she has to tell him goodbye. That's hard stuff!! But I've felt more peace in my life. Being honest about my feelings has made a big difference, even though it's been very hard. But I'm feeling much better about where my life is now, and that everything and everyone is in the right place.

I know that someday will be the right day for me. And until then I'll keep being honest with the people in my life and I'll keep hoping that the right guy will fall into my lap at the right time. :)

Sunshine Academy

2011-06-18T23:34:00.005-06:00

Sooooo Gracie had one more preschool graduation this year. She was also a part of the daycare's preschool progrom on her off days at Little Tykes. Sunshine Academy is the best daycare I've ever seen, and I've seen A LOT! They have the best teachers - they're great teachers, friends, and they even discipline the kids appropriately. I can't even express what a blessing they've been over the past couple years. It makes all the difference to be able to trust the people I leave my kids with so often while being in school/working 50+ hours per week. Can you tell I just love them?! Well here's a few pictures and videos from Miss Characa's preschool class. Don' t you just love those little gowns?!

Preschool Graduation.... Round 2

2011-05-25T20:59:00.006-06:00

Gracie graduated from preschool for the second time today from Little Tykes Preschool. She just loves going to preschool! She loves her friends, teacher, and just learning in general. She's just awesome :)

While sitting and singing with her classmates, I was so proud!! She knew every word to every song and was so involved! I loved watching her- she just made me smile so much! During each song you can pick out her voice and she made everyone laugh at times too.

Gracie wanted a picture of her with her friend, Erika Gandolf. They're cute little friends!

We love Miss Sheryl!!!

This video is my favorite song she's learned this year. Whenever she sings it it brings tears to my eyes! It's just too adorable.

Time is the only thief we can't get justice against

2011-05-17T22:40:00.010-06:00

Man how time flies!!! I've missed blogging a lot of events in our lives lately because of school, but I'm going to try to give you the Reader's Digest version of the past few months.

Michelle: Is loving her 4 week semester break before summer semester. She just got her first 4.0 GPA ever during the hardest semester EVER :) And last weekend she went to St. George with most of the adults from her family. The craziness that comes with Egan Family trips is unmatached! My favorite!

Zions!!!

On top of Angel's Landing!!

Shooting!!

Ashley: She decided to cut her beautifully long hair a few months ago. In passing I had told her about Locks of Love for cancer patient wigs and she decided to donate. I'm proud of her, espeically because she LOVED her long "princess" hair. She's loving Kindergarten and is becoming the BEST reader! What a smarty pants.

Ashley turned 6!!!!

She really was doing this......

Thanks to Andrea, we have a ton of great Easter pics and I

just couldn't help posting pretty much all of them! :)

Gracie: Is just as crazy and as adorable as ever. She's doing great in preschool and is such a tinker with gadgets. She's kinda an electronic genius, you could say! She continues to make up noises and sayings to make us all laugh and I just love it!

I just love the way she writes her own name!! Even on the Easter eggs!

One of my favorite classic Gracie faces....

Mother's Day love :)

Oh and my brother Matt got his mission call! He's going to Chile Conception on July 20th!!

K I think that buys me another 3 months! ;)

Speechless.....

2011-01-26T21:44:00.002-07:00

These pictures Andrea took are some of my very favorite. I can't stop looking at them- they can bring tears to my eyes! I just love this gorgeous girl so much! She brings so much love and laughter to my life. I can't even describe how her quirky personality makes my life 3,000 times better every single day. Looking into her eyes every morning and every night just makes everything better. I am so very lucky.

Sick.... again?!

2010-12-04T15:32:00.003-07:00

So I got a little sick about 2 weeks ago, missed some hours at the hospital for my clinical and everything. Well a couple days ago I woke up again sick... but like 14 times as bad as last time! The even WORSE thing is that I can't miss anymore time at the hospital because the semester ends mext week. And finals are in a week, too, and I'm already behind in studying! Ugh...

Luckily today my parents and sister were thoughtful enough to take the kids to see "Tangled" (like I had promised them I would do today) and I got to stay home to rest.

Everybody cross your fingers and hope I'll feel better by class on Monday morning!

Gracie and Dixie

2010-11-17T21:12:00.002-07:00

Our family dog, Dixie, is crazy. She and Gracie are actually a lot alike. They both have endless energy and will eat almost anything. They run around in circles, jump on the bed, and don't listen much unless offered a treat. Maybe that's why they get along so well!

Dixie and Gracie together crack me up!

My cute girls!

2010-11-16T16:16:00.002-07:00

Andrea is such a trooper trying to take pictures of my girls! After about 20 minutes of posing and shooting... and some help from Photoshop, this is what we got! I think it was the only picture that Gracie wasn't making a crazy face and Ashley wasn't crying...

But I LOVE these girls!!!!!

Thanks Ange for your hard work!!

A Spooky Weekend

2010-11-07T11:15:00.006-07:00

Ah Sunday morning-- the best time to get caught up on blogging, while the kids are "playing" (AKA fighting over toys) in their room! Last weekend was Halloween and Gracie's birthday. Luckily my friend's halloween party landed the previous week while the girls were with their dad so I got to go- but didn't bring my camera :( But rest assured there were some great costumes and we had a lot of fun!!

On Saturday, Gracie's brithday, we went Trick-Or-Treating. It took months for Ashley and Gracie to finally pin down what they wanted to be. It varied from Petter Pan and Tinkerbelle, to Barbies, or Princess Tiana and Charolette, to finally.... INSECTS! Ashley was a bee (which is what I dressed up as too!) and Gracie wanted to be a lady bug.

They were excited to wear make up and Gracie requested that she get lipstick to match her dress! And Andrea came over and crimped their hair all cute, and then they were ready to go!

Ashley insisted on posing like this for her pictures.....

And yes, those are Gracie's pink rainboot. It turns out that we really needed them that night! We were prepared with rainboots and umbrellas, but it sure didn't keep up dry!

After about 30 seconds outside, their hair and make up was gone!!

Gracie's birthday party we had on Sunday. We found an awesome Halloween/birthday

cake for her, which I loved! Gracie doesn't smile a lot in pictures, but she

was pretty excited about the cake, too!

She got to open presents and loved every minute of it!

One of Gracie's presents was a pillow pet- which she's been asking for for months!

Her and Erika snuggled with it....

It was a fun weekend and we were exhausted! This is how I found the girls asleep that night...

And now it seems that Gracie thinks she gets to wear make up all the time! AND she gets to put it on herself.... YIKES!! I guess I better keep my eye liner hidden from here on out!!

Gorgeous!!!

2010-10-06T17:32:00.010-06:00

How much do we love Andrea?! The answer is .... A LOT. Because without

her we wouldn't get those awesome pictures!!! THANKS ANGE!!!

Ashley came up with this pose all by herself... shocking, huh?!

I love Ashley's serious faces.... I think she can pull it off!!

I love my girls!

2010-09-27T14:50:00.002-06:00

Sometimes life is really hard. Sometimes I feel like I cant keep up and that I'm doing everything wrong. Sometimes I feel like I'm not measuring up like I want, and that I can't get important things that I want or need- even though I try so hard and want it so much.

But all of it can go away, even just for a second, when I hug and kiss my girls. I'm so blessed to have such fun, loving, and sweet kids! The other day I was exhausted and I laid down on the couch and closed my eyes for a minute while the girls watched Dora, and Ashley came up and put a blanket over me. She's so sweet and thoughtful! And no matter how wild Gracie gets, she'll always stop for a "squeeze" and a kiss. I love them so much!

CrAsH

2010-09-15T17:00:00.002-06:00

Gracie is the kind of kid who never sleeps and has neverending energy. She's like a less-furry Energizer bunny. Her and Ashley have been having to get up at 6:30 every morning, and she rarely falls asleep before 9:30 each night. And I think it caught up with her today! One of her cute daycare teachers texted me this picture of her today. When she finally does crash... she crashes hard!

She Gonna be a Soccer Player!

2010-09-14T21:40:00.005-06:00

Gracie had her first soccer practice today! She was excited to wear her shin guards! We walked up the the park where practice was and she kept saying, "Where's my coach?" "I want to find my coach." "Oh there's my coach." haha Made me laugh!

Gracie was a natural with the soccer ball! She wasn't afraid to just get after it! She was stealing the ball from the boys during their practice game and score on them. She played defense awesome- blocked some goals! I was impressed!

She did great wih dribbling down the field - kick the ball and run!

GO TIGERS!!!

She has 4 games over the next 5 Saturdays. We'll see how they go! Good luck, Gracie girl!

Labor Day at the Fish Farm

2010-09-06T22:10:00.004-06:00

What a great holiday we had today!! My parents took the girls up the the fish farm in Kamas, where they used to take me and my siblings when we were younger! The girls were excited and I was happy that we knew for sure that we'd be catching some fish! haha

Ashley was the first to catch a fish- and it was a big one! She loved catching the fish, but when it came to standing within 3-4 feet of the fish- she ran away FAST!! For some reason the fish scared her!

Gracie was a little more brave with the fish. This bucket is where we kept the already-caught-fish flipping around.

Gracie's second fish was pretty big!

She wasn't too sure about standing so close to the big fish though!

And then the fish started flipping out while still on the hook and it kinda scared

her! You can see how she was surprised and tried to move away without falling into the pond!

There was this cute little swing that the girls got to play on while we got the fish all together before we left.

Gracie loved my hat... she also loves having pictures taken of herself.... haha Gracie got this little star ring at the fishing pond and she loved it- even though she kept losing it!

We were in the car a lot today and both of the girls got a good nap in :)

Back to real life tomorrow!! Wish us luck!

13.1

2010-09-05T10:10:00.003-06:00

It all started in May, while watching The Biggest Loser. I decided I needed something more to motivate me and to help me get back in shape! I decided that I wanted to run a half marathon this year. Running is one of my weak spots, and I figured training for the race would force me to make it a strong point. Lindsay offered to help me train and come up from Vegas and run it with me! I'm so glad she did! We had to wake up around 4:30am on Saturday to get up to the U to catch our bus to the starting line! I don't know how motivated I would have been to do that alone! She's my hero!

The first 4 miles were the steepest hills I've ever seen (Little Mountain in SLC). It was a killer! But the rest of the race was downhill- down Emigration Canyon, which was much better :) Miles 5-9 or 10 felt really good and I was running at a faster pace than my usual, even though I still took a few walking breaks :) But the last 2 miles were so so hard! My body started feeling like it couldn't go any further. When I had only .4 miles left, my legs were screaming at me- and I really felt like I couldn't go another step! The Linz pointed out to me that we couldsee the finish line and it was so close! So I kept running- and a few seconds later I saw my cute dad on the sidelines. Oh that made me so happy and I knew I could do it!! And then he motioned to people sitting over in the shade, and just then my girls came running out. It was so sweet! And I hurt SO much! But Ashley and Gracie came and ran with us across the finish line. And it was so cute and fun to have them with me!

When we were done, Ashley said, "Phew I'm tired from all that running!" Haha

We didn't have a lot of water stops on the course, so drinking up this super cold water at the finish line felt so good!

Me and Linz at the finish line. Thanks for the support! I loved

running that 13.1 miles with you, Linz!

I've never been more sore in my life! And I limp around like I'm handicapped- but it was a good experience- from May til now! I guess you really can acheive anything you put your mind to! :)

Ashley's in Kindergarten!?!

2010-09-05T09:37:00.005-06:00

Well this was a HUGE week for Ashley! After waiting for so long she finally started Kindergarten! She has been talking about Kindergarten everyday for at least 6 months! I was really excited for her to start, too. She's so smart and such a social butterfly that I knew Kindergarten would be perfect for her. Unfortunately, on her first day of class (and everyday of class for the rest of the year!) I had to be in class, too! I was sad to miss her first day- but thank goodness for my parents! My mom and dad took her to her first day of class for me! It made me feel a lot better :)

Gracie gets to start preschool this coming week and then all 3 of us will be in classes and have homework! Let's see how I do keeping up with all of it :)
Ashley and Gracie were being ballerinas before school..

Ashley would look in the opposite direction of my dad holding the camera when he would

call her name for a picture. haha classic stinker Ashley!

I love you Ashley, you little smarty-pants! You'll do AWESOME!

SLCC... Here I come!

2010-08-25T22:45:00.002-06:00

Well it's official! I'm back in school as of TODAY! And I must say, I already love Salt Lake Community College!! The campus I'm at is beautiful, my teachers are awesome, and so far I like all the students I've talked to. I can tell that at least one of my classes will provide some major information overload, but I'm still looking for ward to learning the human anatomy in much more detail and working in the hospital doing X-rays! I'll have classes 2 days per week and clinicals at the hospital 3 days per week. It'll be tricky to keep up my jobs, kids, and homework - but I'm sure I'll figure it out!

On another note- Ashley did her Kindergarten testing today and apparently did great! She starts classes next week!!! She'll be the cutest little kindergartener EVER!

Wish us luck!!!!

End of Summer 2010

2010-08-15T23:12:00.005-06:00

I can't believe it's already August! Less than 2 weeks and school starts

up again, for all 3 of us! We're all very excited :)

Last weekend my sweet Grandma Hansen let me stay in one of her condos for the weekend. My best friend since 6th grade, Tawnya Skidmore Nethercott, got to come with me! Her awesome husband watched her adorable 3 kids while we got some much needed stress relief in sunny St. George. Unfortunately it wasn't that sunny-- in fact in rained on us the entire weekend-

but we still had a great time!!!

This weekend was Alpine Days- which we always love. This year Ashley and

Gracie got to be in the parade with their daycare, Sunshine Daycare,

on this cute little train. It was fun to see them in the parade!

Erika decided to try on the pig mask Bank of American Fork

was handing out, she looks great, huh!?

After the parade, we went to Alpine park for a couple hours. They had a bunch of inflatable toys to play on - Ashley LOVED it! She has so much energy and I love to see her laugh and play.

Gracie liked to take pictures of Ash while she played. Here's Ash in a bounce house and

Gracie called her over, like a little mom, to get a picture of her :)

After a little while, Gracie decided she'd go on the inflatable slide- only if she got to hold Ashley's hand. So Ashley helped her up the stairs and held her hand the whole time and slid down the slide with here. What a good big sister!

After the park, we spent some time at the Highland Splash Pad- if you haven't gone there before you should try it! It's awesome- great for kids and FREE! But later that night the girls got to stay up late to watch the fireworks. They LOVE fireworks and we hadn't seen any together all year.

Ashley took a picture before me and Gracie were ready....

And Gracie took a picture with her finger in the frame, and of course Ashley wasn't looking :)

It's been a great weekend to get my kids back from Idaho!

Saturday in Idaho Falls with the Kiddos

2010-07-08T09:52:00.007-06:00

Half way through Ashley and Gracie's month long visit to Idaho, I went and spent the day in Idaho Falls with them . We first went to a little carnival where the girls had so much fun on little rides like a carousel and, like in the video, the airplane ride. But we made one mistake!! I went with them on the Octopus ride like this:
At first the girls were so excited to go on this ride, they had been asking me the entire time for me to go on it with them. I though they might be a little scared with how high up it went, but we loaded our little cart and they were all smiles for the first 30 seconds. After that it all went downhill! Little did I know that the individual carts spin like a Tilt-a-Whirl! So we're going up and down in a circle, while the cart whipped us around spinning back and forth. Even I was scared! Ashely kept screaming, "You have to get me off this thing!" She was so scared! And Gracie was scared speechless. She sat like a statue next to me. Once I hear her say quietly, "This is scary." So I was trying to calm them down and also trying to yell at the ride operators to let us off (we were the only people on the whole ride), but of course they couldn't hear me. Finally, after way too long, the ride stopped and we all exited and the ride operator asked Ashley, "Did you have fun?" and She pointed her finger at him and then the ride and said, "I'm NEVER going on that again!" hahaha poor girls. Bad choice by mom!

After our near death experience we went to the Zoo, which was a much better experience! The girls had me pull them around in this wagon up and down all the hills throughout the zoo, sso at least I got my work out in! They had some great animals in there, but my battery in my camera was almost dead so I couldn't snap many pics.

Then we had dinner at a Chuck E Cheese type joint in Idaho Falls, but as you can see, Gracie was done with taking pictures! haha

I'm excited for them to come home this weekend! Hopefully I'll have more to post once they come home and we can go do fun things here in Utah! I'll make sure to charge my battery for my camera, too :)

The First of Many Graduations

2010-05-31T17:14:00.003-06:00

Ashley and Gracie had an awesome expereience being in preschool this year. They loved being in class togetether, meeting new friends, and learning new things. But most of all they loved their teacher, Miss Sheryl. Sheryl is great with the kids and my girls have learned SO MUCH from her! I wish I had more pics and video from the graduation, but it just didn't work out! It's a long story.... :)

But we're excited for summer! And Ashley's so eager to start kindergarten in the fall (And I'm eager to go back to college in the fall) while Gracie gets another great dose of preschool. We're all growing up so fast!

Mother's Day

2010-05-24T21:16:00.003-06:00

In preschool Ashley and Gracie did a Mother's Day program earlier this month. It was so cute and so fun to watch the girls sing and laugh. They are such a great part of my life. Being a mom can be difficult on days, but little moments like these make it all worth it! I love them both so much and they bring me a lot of happiness and fulfillment in life!

I know some of these videos are a few minutes long, but I promise you'll smile if you watch them! Apparently Ashley didn't really like to sing much, and Gracie just loves the attention so most of the movies are of Gracie, but that's just because she was so charismatic that morning!

Ashley's such a little princess!

Gracie is an aspiring photographer...

"We're Happy When We're Helping"

"LOVE"

Mother's Day Poem

Mmm Whatcha Say

2010-05-23T23:04:00.004-06:00

Ashley's turning into a bit of an interpretative dancer. She's hilarious, just take a look!

Silly Gracie

2010-04-18T18:09:00.003-06:00

Gracie looked so cute getting ready for church today,

so I tried to take some pictures of her but this is all I got!

She's so funny!!

Birthdays Birthdays Birthdays

2010-04-07T16:18:00.006-06:00

Well spring time means birthday time for the Egans! My dad turned the big 5-2 last week, and Lindsay turns the HUGE 2-5 this weekend! Happy Birthday, Hopper! The we'll have the Ingersoll birthdays next month! Busy time! :)

The big brithday celebration for me was Ashley's 5th birthday. Turning 5 seems like such a huge milestone! She was so excited for her birthday, so we had a little party and had so much fun! Ashley LOVES playing with all her friends and she also LOVES being the center of attention, so her birthday party was heaven for her!

Here she is with her friend Lexi...

And here's Gage, Cambree and little Juli in the background....

Watching Ashley open her presents was hilarious! She would scream with excitement everytime! And say so sweetly, "Thank you sooooo much! I love it!"

I'm so luck to have a kid like Ashley. She's so smart and so funny! She loves making people laugh and does it constantly! She is such a girly girl but at the same time she has no fear!! She'll do or try anything! Except maybe wear jeans when it's snowing outside..... if so she HAS to wear a skirt over it. She says she" just looks so beautiful" when she wears skirts! That she does!

We had some yummy pizza- which Gracie downed pretty quick! I wish I would have gotten pictures of their daycare teachers, Olga and Mandi who were so sweet to come and want to be there for her birthday! Also, we missed a picture of Josh, one of Ash's friends from preschool. I say friend, but she says boyfriend! Apparently Josh is going to be my son-in-law someday! :)

And then is was my birthday.... turning 27 seems super old!!!

Especially since now I have a 5 year old child!! Yikes!

Even with me getting up there in years, we had a fun time at Olive Garden!

It was a great birthday! I love my family!!!!

Ash and Grace is ao funny! They love each other so much! And they were

telling everyone at their daycare that I was turning 17 today. HAHA close, girls! Close...

Gracie is such a busy body we couldn't keep her in the seats! So she just hopped around from person to person. But at least she looked at the camera for SOME pics this time :)

So I think I was getting ready to blink here.... and Gracie looks kinda freaky.....

But Ash looks adorable! I love my family and I'm glad I had them to spend my oldest

day yet with them!

Just a Few More....

2010-03-16T20:38:00.006-06:00

Oh and I went short and blonde again this week!

I always thought good photos were like good jokes. If you have to explain it, it just isn’t that good.

2010-03-08T16:08:00.004-07:00

Thank you Andrea!!!

Long Time No Blog

2010-02-24T20:26:00.006-07:00

I haven't even posted any Christmas pictures! CRAZY! We had a great Christmas and have had a lot of fun together since then! So here are just a few pics from the past couple months.

This is Ashley and Josh at their preschool singing presentation at the mall.

She's a little close to him, don't ya think....? ;)

Merry Christmas!!!

My family and I went to St. George for a weekend in January and had so much fun!

We spent one day in Vegas with Linds and Bran. Here's Matt at the light pole Tupac

was shot near and ALLEDGEDLY died. Don't even start with that.... :)

Here we all are at the Bellagio fountain show. Love it!

Gracie loves my parent's dog, Dixie. She's not afraid of her at all and

loves her kisses and dominating her!

Beautiful Gracie.

And here's Ashley playing dress up with her friend Court in preschool. She's apparently a

prego bride! Where does she come up with these ideas?!?
Ashley's decided she's going to be a doctor when she grows up. Even more than that

she says she's going to join the army and learn to fight bad guys while learning how to be a doctor- and she'll also get to jump out of airplanes for free. What a dream!!!

Gracie's ready for swimming!! And SO AM I!!

Unfortunately, swimming seems way far away! This is Ashley today waiting at preschool IN THE SNOW. She wasn't too happy about it. She didn't want to get her boots wet.. hahaha!

I promise to update again soon!

Ashley and Gracie's Parts in the Play

2009-12-27T12:35:00.002-07:00

Ashley says: Jesus is our Savior, his love shows us the way.

Gracie says: Jesus wants us to be happy, each and everyday.

Singing at Nativity

2009-12-27T12:24:00.002-07:00

Beginning of Nativity Program

2009-12-27T12:15:00.003-07:00

The Nativity

2009-12-27T12:06:00.004-07:00

Ashley and Gracie's preschool did a nativity play for Christmas. All 21 kids dressed up and learned lines to a poem about Christ's birth. It was very cute and very fun!

Gracie and Ashley were cows. They did a great job memorizing their parts! They were so excited! They did awesome!

Ashley's friend, Aleh, was Mary. I think she's just adorable and a perfect little Mary.

They love preschool! I'm so glad I found a place they love and look forward to everyday! Gracie is a little obsessed with her teacher, Miss Sheryl. It's pretty funny! She's great with them and I'm so grateful for her!

My Two Lovely Ladies

2009-12-09T16:37:00.002-07:00

How could you NOT love these two?! Thanks to Andrea for taking such great pictures! We love you!!!

Gracie is 3!!!!!

2009-11-04T14:58:00.005-07:00

I can't believe my baby is 3 years old!! She's such a blessing in my life- I don't know what I'd do without that girl! She makes me laugh everyday! Her favorite song is "Fireflies" by Owl City- and she asks me to sing it to her sometimes when she goes to bed. She loves to sing and asks me in the car constantly to sing with her -- even on the songs neither of us know! The other day for preschool I asked her what she wants to be when she grows up and she thought about it for a minute and said, "A MONSTER!"

Gracie was very excited to turn 3 years old! She had a great little birthday party at my Mom's. She opened all her presents in 1.2 seconds!!

Gracie is a little obsessed with Tinkerbell these days! Cute shirt!!

Gracie's faces are the best!! :)

Ashley is always supportive of her sister! Here she is belting out "Happy Birthday."
This little candle took Gracie 3 or 4 tries to blow out.

Happy Birthday Gracie! I love you so much!

Fishing at Strawberry

2009-10-12T16:39:00.005-06:00

Well we had our "annual" weekend fishing trip at Strawberry a couple weeks ago. I say "annual" because we haven't done it in 3 or 4 years! But that's what my dad calls it! :)

We roughed it on Friday night at the lodge. We had a fun sleepover! Ashley and Gracie LOVE sleepovers!

We got up and ate a delicious breakfast at the lodge restaurant and then out on the boat! It was soooo cold! Ashley was so excited that Grandpa let her drive the boat!!!

Ashley "caught" the first fish! Grandpa helped her reel it in! We had to throw back a lot of the fish we caught! (You can only keep certain sizes of cut throats and any size of rainbow- and we could only catch cut throats!!)

The dumb people we rented the boat from forgot to give us a net so awesome Matt and Dad had to grab the fish with their hands to bring it into the boat each time! They did an awesome job and didn't lose even one fish! One time a fish leaped out of Matt's hands and landed right on Gracie's feet and started flopping around like crazy. Gracie and Ashley freaked out!!!! You can just see the horror on their faces! Ashley said, "I never want to come fishing again!!"

They also hated that the fish would bleed when we got them on the boat. Once they realized they could sit on the back of the boat and not watch my Dad get the hooks out, they were fine! Ashley was a cute big sister and would say to Gracie, "Just don't look at it."
Gracie is the silliest girl in the world! She loves doing weird things like this -- sitting with Grandma and schmooshing her face all up with her lifejacket!

Mom was brave and caught a fish too!

I have the cutest little brother in the world!

My dad LOVES to fish! He has his cute little fishing vest and 2 sets of glasses to do what he needs to do! Thanks Dad for a fun time!!

We were on the boat for like 10 hours that Saturday. It was a blast! And Ashley and Gracie were soooo good! They kept themselves busy and laughing and just loved it! Every time we'd catch a fish Ashely would say, "Ah man it's a cut throat!!" And Gracie still keeps saying. "We like to catch Rainbow fish."

I was a lucky little fisherwoman that day! Sometimes my line would be in the water for 2 minutes and I'd get a bite! I had to throw several back, but it was so fun! I really don't like to touch fish... or eat fish.... but it's fun to catch them! Is that bad?!

Here's the whole fam (That came anyway - missing Austin, Erika, Lindsay and Brandon :( ) How can it be that we're all looking at the camera and smiling?! It's an Annual Strawberry Fishing Trip miracle!

Andrea FINALLY caught a fish at the end of the day. The poor girl hadn't caught anything in years. Too bad we had to throw it back - but not before a pic!!! Good job, Ange!

See ya next year (or in 3 years), Strawberry!

A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words

2009-09-07T22:47:00.006-06:00

Ashley's 1st Sport

2009-08-21T16:17:00.002-06:00

I just signed Ash up for a soccer league in our neighborhood. When I first asked her if she wanted to, she said, "But I don't know what that is. But I'll just practice then I'll know!" I love how willing she is to try stuff she knows nothing about! Her frist game is next Saturday. It'll be hilarious, I'm sure!

Fun with Dixie

2009-08-07T14:37:00.003-06:00

My parents recently got a new little puppy Doberman (yes - it's doBerman, not doVerman Linz :). They named her Dixie. She's super hyper and we love her! Even though she bites holes through my favorite pair of jeans and bites my knee when I'm trying to play with her. Ashley and Gracie love her too. Gracie's not afraid of her at all! She just gets right in her face! Someday Dixie will teach her a lesson about that, I'm sure!

Let Freedom Ring

2009-07-14T20:42:00.007-06:00

We had a great 4th of July weekend! It all started on Friday when we went to the zoo with Andrea, Austin, Erika and my mom. They can't get enough of the zoo! Although it was crowded - we went at the perfect time! All of the animals were playing around - the penguins were swimming, the black bear played in his little pool for a bit, the tiger was growling - it was cool!

For some reason it's tradition for us to get a family picture in front of the giraffes each time we go!

And who can pass up the carousel? Not my little girls!

Here's my own little Dora - always consulting her map :)

On Saturday we went to the Evergreen parade and carnival in SLC. We used to always go there when we were kids. (see Andrea's bloog for some sweet retro picks of that!) The girls had so much fun! Thanks so much to my parents and siblings for making it so fun. I wouldn't have been able to keep my head on straight without them there!

There were a bunch of little games the girls could play and win prizes. They especially loved the bounce house. Too bad it was too expensive ($3 each for only 2 minutes of fun!)

And to top it off they got their faces painted! I only had to wait in line for 30+ minutes, but it was worth it!

After the parade and carnival we went to my Grandma and Grandpa Hansen's house. that night we went to the Sandy City parade (to see my Uncle Clay), concert, and fireworks. It was probably one of the best firework shows I've ever seen! We had such a great day! No wonder it's my favorite holiday! It was the best 4th of July I've had in a very long time! Thanks to Mom and Dad for making it so great!

Summer Pics

2009-06-22T16:15:00.006-06:00

We've had a fun couple months! I'm a little retarded right now and can't get my pic in order -so you'll have to just look at them all jumbled! :)

I graduated from UVU in health education this spring. It was a great day! I couldn't have done it with out the support of my family - so THANK YOU!!!

The girls have gone to the zoo with my mom, sister and grandma. And Andrea has taken some cute pics of Ashley and Gracie.

Quiz Time

2009-05-16T17:21:00.002-06:00

It's been a while since I've done a quiz. This comes from my friend, Heather.

LASTS
1. Last beverage→ Water with lunch
2. Last phone call→Co-worker from KK trying to get me to work AGAIN tonight!!
3. Last text message→ Sara
4. Last song you listened to→ I’m listening to country all day at work, but the last one I listened to that I chose was I Told You So by Carrie Underwood
5. Last time you cried→ I dunno – a few days ago probably

HAVE YOU EVER:
6. Dated someone twice →Almost – but I dodged it!
7. Been cheated on? → Not that I know of
8. Kissed someone & regretted it? → Yup!
9. Lost someone special?→ Yes
10. Been depressed?→ Uh huh

LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS
12. Blue
13. Green
14. Brown

THIS YEAR HAVE YOU
15. Made new friends→ Ya
16. Fallen out of love – You’d think I’d say yes – but no!!
17. Laughed until you cried → Yup – that happens regularly
18. Met someone who changed you→ Absolutely
19. Found out who your true friends were→ I’ve already learned that
20. Found out someone was talking about you → Yes

TRUTH
22. How many kids do you want to have→ Oh geez that’s a tough question! I’m sure I’ll have more eventually but I’m definitely happy with my 2 for now!
23. Do you have any pets → Nope – but we’re all kinda wanting a dog lately
24. Do you want to change your name→ Yes.
25. What did you do for your last birthday→ Just hung out with my kids and fam
26. What time did you wake up today? We were up about 7:30 to get ready for work.
27. What were you doing at midnight last night?→ Watching TV
28. Name something you CANNOT wait for→ There are many things I’m looking forward to in life! One is getting into a better apartment.
29. Last time you saw your father→ Yesterday
30. What is one thing you wish you could change about your life→ hmmm – If I could just work 1 job
31. What are you listening to right now → Country music.
32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom → I couch a couple guys named Tom – so ya!
33. What's getting on your nerves right now? →Nothing

PERSONAL:
34. What's your full name → Michelle Egan
35. Relationship Status →Single
36. Zodiac sign →Pisces
37. Male or female→ Female
38. Primary School→Alta View and Alpine Elementary
39. High school → Lone Peak
40. Hair color →Brown
41. Long or short →Shoulder length – trying to grow it out still!
42. Height → To be exact 5 feet and 1 ¼ inches
43. Do you have a crush on someone? → haha no – “crush” is such a funny word! It reminds me of elementary school
44. What do you like about yourself?→ uh . . . That I can be independent
45. Piercings →Ear
46. Tattoos →None
47. Righty or lefty →Righty

FIRSTS :
48. First surgery → I got my tonsils out when I was 5 or so.
49. First piercing →Ears
50. First tattoo →Don't have one
51. First best friend → I have several – Heather, Megan Samson and Aaron Delahunty
52. First sport you joined →uh I’m not too sporty – but I remember my dad making me play Jr. Jazz. I sucked!
53. First pet → We had so many dogs – but the first one I remember is Shelby – Doberman at Tritoma
54. First vacation→ Disneyland is the first one I really remember
55. First concert → It must have been Tim McGraw and Faith Hill
56. First crush→ Probably Kevin Carter

RIGHT NOW:
58. Eating →Nothing
59. Drink → Water
60. I'm about to → Go home from work. Yay!
61. Listening to → Country music
62. Waiting for → Nothing really
63. Want kids? → I’ve been there done that.
64. Want to get married?→ Yes
65. Careers in mind? → If I don’t stay a health coach – I’ll do radiology and specialize in ultrasonography

WHICH IS BETTER:
66. Lips or eyes →Both
67. Hugs or kisses →Both
68. Shorter or taller → absolutely taller
69. Older or Younger → Either works
70. Romantic or spontaneous → Spontaneously romantic!
71. Nice stomach or nice arms → I don’t really care about either one.
72. Tattoos or piercings?→ None
73. Sensitive or loud → A little bit of both
74. Hook-up or relationship → Relationship
75. Trouble maker or hesitant→ A little bit of both

HAVE YOU EVER :
76. Kissed a stranger →Nope. I had hung out with him for a few hours so that doesn’t count, right? ;)
78. Lost glasses/contacts →I should use both!
79. Cried yourself to sleep→Yes
80. Danced in the rain→yep
81. Broken someones heart → Most likely
82. Had your own heart broken → Ya of course!
83. Been arrested → Nope
84. Turned someone down→ For sure!
85. Cried when someone died → Yes
86. Liked a friend more then just a friend →Yes

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:
87. Yourself → Yes
88. Miracles → Happen everyday
89. Love at first sight → Not really. That’s just infatuation.
90. Heaven → Yup
91. Santa Claus → Yup. That’s me!
92. Kissing on the first date → Sure. It depends.
93. Angels → Yes

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY:
94. Is there one person you want to be with right now? Well there are 2 actually – Ashley and Gracie.
95. Had more than one boyfriend/girlfriend at one time? → Maybe some small overlaps back in the day.
96. Do you believe it’s possible to remain faithful forever?→ Oh ya! Absolutely!
97. Where is your favorite place to vacation? St. George is my favorite now – but I really really really want to go to Hawaii
98. What's the one thing you cannot live without?→ My family
99. What is your biggest pet peeve? → mean people, bad drivers, fingernail clipping in public places,
100. One thing that most people don’t know about you – Probably the fact that I can’t wait to be able to go back to school – even though I just graduated college 2 weeks ago!!

Birthdays and Easter

2009-04-25T11:51:00.004-06:00

My Dad's big birthday bash was last year for the big 5-0. This year we all got together and had delicious Wingers food for the celebration. It was fun! There are so many things I love about my dad. He's a great example of diligience. He always does what he thinks is best no matter what others may say. He values education and is constantly searching for truth and knowledge. He has always encouraged me to continue education and I'm so grateful for that. He's a big reason why I'm graduating from UVU next week. He's so loving and thinks about others all the time. And you know what? He's a blast to be with. Whether we're watching Biggest Loser, playing cards in St. George, or driving around town, he always makes me laugh. I'm so luck to have him in my life. Here's to another 51 years, Dad!! :)Ashley's birthday is a couple days after Dad's. She had several days of celebrations! I'll be adding more pics of her birthday here in a couple days. But Ashley has been such a blessing in my life. She's brought so much love and laughter into my life the past 4 years. Despite all the challenges a 4 year old brings - there's even more happiness and fun. I'm finding out that the older they get, the more fun I have with them. She's just a giant sponge for information. It's amazing how fast she picks up on everything - good and bad. She teaches me to be better all the time. I honestly don't know what I'd do in life with her and Gracie. I love her so much!

Easter was a week later. Ashley and Gracie LOVED searching for eggs. The Easter Bunny came to our house Sunday morning then they also got to look for eggs at my parent's house. Ashley and Graice played with te eggs all day. One of them would run back to my parent's room and wait for the other one to hide all the eggs in the family room for the other one to come find. Theye had so much fun just togther! Ashley would hide the eggs under Grandpa's chin or under Austin's hat. Silly girl.

A couple days before Easter was Lindsay's birthday. Our spring is full of Egan birthdays! Andrea, Mom, Ashley and Gracie made Lindsay a beautiful cake together. The girls have so much fun while they're at Grandma's! Happy Bday Linz!

I have such an amazing family I have so many great people in my life that I just love so much! Thanks for everything, guys!

How Lucky am I?

2009-03-28T22:11:00.003-06:00

I'm so lucky to get to spend my days with these 2 cute little girls! They make me laugh everyday! I miss them so much and can't wait until they come back home again.

2 Years Olds

2009-03-28T22:07:00.003-06:00

We love going to my friend Sara's house to play with her kids. She has 3 kids and Juli and Gracie are only 1 or 2 weeks apart! This is us trying to feed them some dinner.

Video of Sad Ashley

2009-03-28T21:55:00.003-06:00

Here's a little preview of Ashley's acting skills.

Months of Pictures

2009-03-28T21:32:00.006-06:00

I never found my USB cord so I broke down and bought a memory card reader so I could share some of our recent pics!

Last month while I was working, Gracie got into my bathroom, the little stinker. Once I realized that they were being a little TOO quiet, I went out of my office to see what was up. As I walked into my bathroom the sceen just hit me -- there were clumps of beautiful red hair scattered on the floor and smudges of foundation, mascara and blush all along the bathtub, sink and toilet. YIKES! I just screamed and ran around looking for Gracie. I found her hiding in her room by her bed. She knew she was in trouble!! Hopefully it grows back fast . . .

I wish I had a better picture of how bald her head actually was!

My dad took Ashley, Gracie, and some neighbor girls on a ride on Digger and Lightning a couple months ago. They loved it!

Doesn't she look so small here??

Gracie was so hyper at lunch the other day . . .

Whenever she sees a camera she does this face

This is Ashley pretending to cry. She was mad that I was making her eat lunch or take a nap. Which she needed to do them both. She could win an aware for her performances!

My little brother, Matt, is a starter on the varsity lacorsse team at Lone Peak. We went to his game today and he was amazing! He scored at least twice and had several good hits. I love it when he goes into the "penalty box!"

This is just after his second goal!

Here we are, his loyal fans. There's Dad, Mom, Lindsay, Clay, Brandon and me. Andrea and Austin came later. (We missed you Er - hope you had a great time in Vegas!)

I love my brother!

Family Fotos

2009-03-25T19:16:00.004-06:00

Our wonderful photographer, Andrea, took me and the girls to Thanksgiving Point last week to get ourselves a new family picture. Well. Gracie lasted about 5 minutes. Then she got mad and very stubborn! It's not like she got distracted or anything - she just adamatly wouldn't look at the camera because she knew we wanted her too! So at least next time we'll know to only plan on 5 minutes!

Hmmm...

2009-02-09T14:30:00.003-07:00

I've been wanting to blog about several things lately - like my Dad taking the girls on a horse ride and Gracie's scissor incident :) but unfortunately, I can't find my camera USB cord to show ya'll the pictures! So I just wanted to post these cute pics from Andrea. They were all taken way back in October, but they're still worth looking at!

What To Blog About....

2009-01-24T17:36:00.004-07:00

I've been wanting to update my blog for a while no.w Unforteunately there hasn't been anything spectacular to blog about! So I've decided to dedicate this post to my favorite bachelorettes of The Bachelor. I love several this year!

There's Naomi.

And Melissa

And, of course, Molly

I think Jason and Melissa would make a very cute couple! And I love Molly's personality - she's so happy all the time! And Naomi is just cute and kinda exotic loking. And you can tell they all really like Jason! I'm excited to see what's in store on Monday's episode!

Merry Christmas

2009-01-01T22:44:00.003-07:00

Wow. We were very blessed this Christmas! Santa treated us well! We spent the morning with my family and ate crepes for breakfast with our neighbors. The girls got to play with their new toys all morning and loved it!

The Ingersolls gave Ashley and Gracie these adorable hats!

This picture doesn't show their excitement too well. I think they

were already a little sick of posing for pictures :)

The Whole Egan Clan

Thanks to the whole fam and all of our good friends for such an amazing Christmas!!

On Christmas Eve my brother Matt and I went sledding down "Killer's Hill." I haven't been sledding since middle school! It was a blast! Thanks, Matt for a sweet sledding night!

Egan Christmas Party

2008-12-24T22:14:00.006-07:00

We had our annual Egan Christmas party this week. It was so fun to have all our family come over to celebrate. We even had our family from Michigan and Arizona in town this year! My sweet Grandma Dee always brings us gifts and we play games all night. Getting my dad and his brothers together is always interesting and there is never a dull moment!

Gracie went through 2 or 3 shirts during the party. She spilled everything

from food to hot candle wax down her shirt!

This is our cousin Heather with Lindsay and Brandon.

Here is Grandma Dee with my cousin

Anne and her daughter Shannon.

Austin and Gracie

Mark, Melissa and Bella Gardner. Melissa's my

cousin who lives in Arizona who I miss so much!

Adorable Girls! Andrea, Erika and cousin Brittany

This is my dad and his brothers Clay and Drew.

Clay and Ashley hung out all night. Ashley loved

taking rides on his wheelchair! This is Ashley and Gracie

with Clay's grandson Jaycen.

Gracie loved her new baby from Grandma!

Ashley did too!

We had so much fun and can't wait til the next get together!

Back Into the Blogging World

2008-12-20T22:04:00.004-07:00

I have been out of the blogging world for a few weeks now, but now that things are settling down I'll start posting again. I know you all really really missed us :)

Here is a tag all about me. So enjoy. hahaha

I am Chel.
I know how to play the piano.
I want to feel the warm sun on my skin.
I have the best 2 daughters in the world!
I wish I had more time in the day.
I miss you ;)
I fear my daughters being in pain.
I feel like I'm a teenager again. Sometimes that's good and sometimes that's bad. :)
I hear the Channel 5 news team reporting on our horrible weather.
I smell garlic from the Chicken Scampi I just ate.
I crave a little bit of sugar after dinner every night.
I wonder what life has in store.
I regret cutting my fingernails this morning - I need to open something with them now.
I love my job!
I care a lot.
I always smile.
I believe I can fly higher than Lindsay. Tha'ts right, Linz!
I dance only when I'm alone. It's NOT a pretty sight!
I sing almost constantly! Christmas music is the best!
I don’t like being told how I feel.
I fight even when I know I won't win the argument.
I write in cursive sometimes just for fun.
I lose weight!
I win only when I get lucky - like when I got my great-grandma's watch last week! Sorry Sisters!
I never get sick of good tv.
I listen to Christmas music as much as possible!
I can do anything I want to!
I need more sleep!

Ashley's Dance Recital

2008-11-20T20:11:00.005-07:00

A few weeks ago Ashley had her first dance recital. She was so excited! She started taking dance in September and had the recital a couple weeks ago. She loves to dance and is already asking when her next class is!

Doesn't she look adorable in her leotard and tutu?!
This is her twirling before the performance started.
Ashley's friend, Cambree, was in her dance class, too!

Ashley always looked forward to seeing her!

Some of our other good friends, the Turpins, came to watch her dance

and little Boyce loved watching the dancers and dancing to the music himself!

She looked so cute and we had lots of fun watching her dance!

This video isn't very good, but you can see one of Ashley's

dances. She's the one on the left and Cambree's on the right.

The Picture of the Day

2008-11-17T22:06:00.001-07:00

Tag Time

2008-11-12T10:51:00.003-07:00

I love tags! At least it's giving me something to do while I sit here at work today! So thanks Ange! So here's how it goes:

1. Post the rules on your blog
2. Answer the six "8" items
3. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving them a comment

8 Favorite TV Shows:
1. LOST
2. The Office
3. Arrested Development
4. The Biggest Loser
5. So You Think You Can Dance
6. American Idol
7. 30 Rock
8. The Bachelor

8 Things I did yesterday
1. I went into the office.
2. I completed 3 health plans!
3. I went to Albertsons to pick up medicene for my sick family.
4. I cleaned the dishes and started laundry.
5. I took a 15 minutes nap!!
6. I went to the gym - power pump kicked my butt!
7. I went to Albertsons again because I forgot to get milk the last time (this happens more than it should)
8. I watched the Biggest Loser with Matt.

8 Things I'm Looking Forward to:
1. I'm already getting in the mood for Christmas! Christmas decorations, shopping and candy-making are already on my mind!
2. Thanksgiving! Being with family and eating good food.
3. I can't wait for the day I get to start working from home!
4. I'm excited to get Ashley and maybe Gracie into gymnastics.
5. The day Ashley starts preschool will be huge!
6. Owning a house!
7. Every night I look forward to falling alseep.
8. Someday getting a puppy.

8 Favorite Restaurants
1. PF Changs
2. The Butterfly
3. Olive Garden
4. Rumbi Island Grill
5. Wingers
6. Subway (hurray for healthy fast food options!)
7. Cafe Rio
8. Bajio Grill

8 Things on my Wish List
1. To be working from home right now!
2. To have 400 clients handed to me (at work).
3. To have Ashley and Gracie grow up being healthy, happy, and spiritually-minded in a growingly corrupt world.
4. Immediate alternative energy options to be available.
5. To someday buy a car with cash.
6. To buy my first home within the next year.
7. To go on a shopping spree!
8. To get more education.

8 People I Tag
1. Sarah Turpin
2. Heidi Polatis
3. Marianne Firth
4. Ashley Hanni
5. Mary McKee
6. Cherilyn Oliver
7. Melissa Gardner
8. Heather Dunlavy

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-02T20:44:00.004-07:00

We had a great Halloween! Ashley dressed as a witch and Gracie was a bat. Matt whittled a Harry Potter-esqu wand out of a branch he found. Impressive! She used it to change us all to snakes.

Gracie wasn't sure what a bat did, so I taught her to pretend to fly.

We spent most of the night in my parent's neighborhood, and they LOVED getting candy!

We hope you all had a very Spooky Halloween, also!

Birthday Party

2008-11-02T20:27:00.007-07:00

Thursday was Gracie' 2nd birthday. It was a crazy day! But it ended well because we had a little Halloween-themed birthday party for her that night. We had a lot of kids come over in their costumes and played some little games and ate cake!

This is Mark, Sarah and Boyce Turpin. Boyce was a lion.

This is Nicole, Ashlyn, and Afton Callahan "carving"pumpins. Ashlyn was Batgirl and Afton was Thomas the Train.
Lindsay and Erika were trying to help Ashley and Cambree design their pumpkins, too.

Here are some of the boys that made it to the party -

Brandon with Gage Thornton, Austin and Matt.

Here is my dad and my cousin, the fairy princess, Rachelle. Here is Lindsay, my aunt Marcie, and my Mom.And this is my friend, Tawnya with her son, the fireman, Griffin. Ashley and Cambree eating cookies.We had an unfortuneate mishap with the cake. It was actually cupcakes in the shape of a ghost, but it got dropped, so it didn't quite look like that when it got home :( But it still tasted delicious!

Thanks to everyone who came! We had a lot of fun and Gracie was definitely spoiled when it came to presents!

This is the birthday girl herself - all decked out in her bat costume.

Gracie has been such a blessing in my life! She's incredibly sweet and funny. Listening to her sing along with Jason Mraz, Ben Folds, and Death Cab for Cutie is awesome! There's nothing that makes her happier than singing! She has just learned how to say "I love you," which is music to my ears! She's obedient and loving. And she makes my life better everyday! I LOVE YOU, GRACIE!

Cookies and Carvings

2008-11-02T20:16:00.004-07:00

Every Halloween my family has a pumpkin carving contest. This year Lindsay, Brandon and Erika couldn't make it. We missed them though! This is a pictures of Andrea working on her masterpiece -- which turned out to be Sarah Palin!
This sad little pumpkin is Austin's "finished" project. He didn't quite scoop out all the insides or anything, but it still looked alright!

This is my finished pumpkin. I didn't get a completed picture of Matt's pumpkin alone just because it took him so long!And this is my brother, Matt's, completed pumpkin. It's simple but looks really cool lit up!

Here's how cool some of our pumpkin looked - Austin's, Andrea's, Matt E.'s and mine.

And this is the only picture of got of mine and Matt's pumpkins. Matt worked hard on his and it looks awesome!

The next day my sweet Mom invited me and the girls over to make and decorate Halloween sugar cookies! It was their first time, and they were really excited!

Ashley was very good at it because it's exactly like stamping - which she loves to do with me!

And here is our finished product! It was so much fun! The girls REALLY wanted to eat them!

Party Time!

2008-10-26T20:49:00.000-06:00

The annual Maughan party was a blast AGAIN! There were a lot of different costumes - we had snowmen, polygamists, cop and robber, batman and cat girl, a family of ladybugs, old people, Poison Ivy and The Joker -- and many many more.

Here is Andrea and Austin.

This is some of the girls that came.

We tried to break open an pinata and this was Andrea's first time hitting one!

Here's the entire group! I know it's hard to see, but you can get the main idea.

Too bad I didn't get a picture of just Matt and me.
I was a mummy and he was a vampire. Just so ya know :)

Gardner Village

2008-10-24T20:40:00.003-06:00

We took the girls to Gardner Village. We had a lot of fun! The best part was the petting zoo and the pony ride! They talked about it for days!

A Fall Hike

2008-10-18T20:53:00.003-06:00

It was a gorgeous Saturday today! We decided to hike up to Timpanogos Caves today with Ashley and Gracie.
They did so good on the trail! It's about 1 1/2 miles each way, and a 1/2 mile in the cave and Ashley walked about 90% of the time while Gracie was held about 90% of the time. (We had a Snuggly for her.)
This is us in front of the cave entrance. Ashley was so excited to go into a real cave! She told me later that she wants her birthday party to be in the cave!

This is while we were touring through the cave. Ashley and Gracie both learned a new word from another man on the cave and kept saying, "This cave is AWESOME!"

Car Seat Cover and New Beds

2008-10-18T20:43:00.003-06:00

A couple weeks ago our good friends who lived downstairs moved :( And although we miss them, we're very excited about the new bunk beds we got from them!

Ashley and Gracie love having the new beds from the McKees! It's kind of weird putting all our baby stuff away - our crib and high chair are no longer in our house! I guess we don't have any more babies in our house anymore!

Mary McKee is an amazing seamstress! Just before she moved away she helped me make this baby car seat cover for one of my friends who had a baby boy recently.

It was so fun to learn! They make great gifts! Thanks so much Mary for everything!!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

2008-10-09T13:51:00.006-06:00

My Mom's birthday is tomorrow, but we celebrated a little early this week. On Monday my family went to dinner at Olive Garden. We had so much fun! Thank goodness Andrea was there to snap pictures of some of our favorite moments!

My Mom is an amazing woman. She's an awesome example of hard work, selflessness, and love. She always supports us in whatever we do and encourages us to be better. She makes an effort to include everyone. We love her so much and wouldn't know what to do without her! Happy Birthday, Mom!

Hangin' with the Turpins

2008-10-04T17:06:00.004-06:00

Our friends Mark and Sarah Turpin watched Ashley and Gracie for me while I went to my Best-e-Grandma's funeral last week. The girls had so much fun there and some really great pictures were taken with them and Boyce!

Ashley keeps asking me, "Should we go to Mark and Sarah's tomorrow?"

Cute Pics

2008-10-04T16:54:00.006-06:00

Last week Andrea took Ashley and Gracie to AF ampitheatre to take some pictures with her new camera. I think she did awesome! Especially because Gracie was in a bad mood and Ashley isn't very good in front of a camera.

Thanks for taking their pictures and being patient, Andrea! Good job!

My New Job

2008-10-04T12:50:00.002-06:00

I'm so excited because I was just offered a job at

where I will be working with the

as a new health coach! I don't start training for a couple more weeks, but I'm really excited to begin! After training I'll get to work from home since all of my contact will be over the phone! It'll be perfect!

My Best-e-Grandma

2008-09-30T21:59:00.004-06:00

Well it's an end of an era . . . or at least a century! My sweet great grandma, Ingrid Marie Wedding Olsen, died last week at a ripe old age of 103. She broke her hip, had to get surgery over a week ago, and died after developing congestive heart failure in recovery.

She is an amazing person! I always looked forward to visiting her. She is the spunkiest little lady I've ever met! Even the last time I saw her, laying in a hospital bed with tubes and IVs everywhere, she was consistently making us laugh! Ashley's middle name is Marie, after Best-e-Grandma, and Ashley will have a great lady to look up to as a life example.

She came to America from Norway with her sister when she was 12. I think she married my great grandpa, Ingvald or "Ingo," several years later. He was from Norway too! They lived happily together for many many years, until Ingo died about 21 years ago. Best-e-Grandma has been living along ever since.

I was lucky to have the opportunity to take a little weekend trip with my grandma to arizona when I was 16. My Dad, Grandma, and I went to see my cousin Anne after she got home from her mission. Everytime I've seen her since that day, even last week, she would talk about our trip to Arizona and how much fun we had! That's something I'll never forget.

I know she's so happy to finally go home! I've been trying to picture how happy she is being reunited with her long lost husband in heaven. She touched all of our lives so much and we'll never forget her!

Accomplishing the Impossible

2008-09-23T15:19:00.003-06:00

Well for some it doesn't seem impossible, but for me it seemed like my college classes would never end and I'd be a perma-student forever! But I've finally seen that college does come to an end. On Friday I completed my internship and thus earned a bachelor degree in Community Health from UVU. And it only took 7 years, 2 kids, and 3 colleges to do it! Thanks to Matt for brining me these gorgeous flowers on Friday (the picture doesn't do them justice), and for everyone who helped me through! I had tons of awesome babysitters that I couldn't have gone to school without. So ThAnK YoU!

Ashley's First Dance Class

2008-09-23T14:56:00.004-06:00

Ashley is so excited to start her first ballet class. She's been talking about being a ballerina for weeks!

Gracie copies her dance moves. (And eats a chicken nugget.)

This is Ashley's friend Cambree Thornton. She's coming to dance with us. They're cute little friends and are both really happy about dancing together.

Their recital is in the beginning of November!

Tis the season!

2008-09-23T14:52:00.002-06:00

A bunch of guys from Matt's work got a flag football team together and a couple weeks ago the girls and I got to go to one of their games! Unfortunately, they got their little butts kicked by a much younger team, but we still had a lot of fun! I didn't many great action pictures, and I had just turned of fthe video camera when Matt got an interception!! Too bad I didn't get THAT on video!

Random Cute Pictures

2008-09-23T14:45:00.003-06:00

This is Ashley holding little Boyce Turpin. She loves this little boy and has so much fun with him when he comes over to play! Every time Sarah gets him out of his car seat Ashley says, "Wow! He's getting so big!"

I was going through my camera the other day and just saw these cute pictures I forgot I had taken!

This is the girls playing "Dress-up" with their own clothes.

My Favorites

2008-09-21T19:02:00.012-06:00

I know I've been a horrible blogger these past few weeks. I can't find my USB cord for my camera! I have some really cute pictures of Matt's last flag football game and Ashley's first dance class on my camera and can't get it from the camera to the blog!! So in the meantime I'll do this fun tag from my sister Andrea.

3 Favorite Last Purchases....
1- Ashley's halloween costume

2- Gracie's halloween costume

3- My newest swimming suit

3 Fears:

1- Public Speaking

2- Spiders
3- Heights

3 Favorite Movies... (they change a lot -- I'm on a chick flick kick right now)
1- 27 Dresses

2. Dan in Real Life

3- The N0tebook

3 Facts About Me:
1- I just earned my bachelor degree in health education from UVU.

2- I love living in Utah and will probably never move away.

3- Everything makes me laugh.

3 Things I Haven't Done Yet...

1- Traveled outside of the US, Canada and Mexico
2- Made a difference in the world
3- Run in a race

3 Things I Cannot Live Without
1- Ashley

2- Gracie

3. Online shopping

3 Things on Today's List:
1- Go to Pilates

2- Fold laundry

3- Balance my checkbook

3 Favorite Dishes

1- Chicken Scampi at Olive Garden

2- Pork Salad at Cafe Rio

3. Potatos and gravy with sweet corn

3 Places I have lived:
1- Alpine, UT

2-Rexburg, ID

3- American Fork, UT

3 Favorite TV Shows

1- Lost

2- The Office

3- Arrested Development

3 Last Places I Traveled...

1- Newport Beach, CA

2- Rigby, ID
3- St. George, UT

3 Favorite Desserts

1- Chocolate Chip Cookies
2- Anything my Grandma Dee makes

3- Cheesecake

3 Things I Would Buy if Money Weren't an Issue... (things I really want right now!)

1- Banana Republic "Classic Trenchcoat"

2- A bike with a trailer

3- Jessica Simpson's "Layla"

3 Wishes...
1- To end international (health) suffering
2- To raise a happy, healthy, intelligent, and strong daughters

3- and . . . . world peace

3 People I Tag...

1- Sarah Turpin

2- Marianne Firth

3- Ashley Hanni

Labor Day BBQ

2008-09-05T02:53:00.004-06:00

On our Monday off, we went to my parents house with my cousins, the Adamsons, and the rest of my family. We had so much fun eating and riding horses! All the kdis were so cute and so fun! Luck for us, Andrea brought her new camera to the shin-dig and got some pretty cute photos.

This is Matt and Gracie.
Ashley is still bragging about riding the horse all by herself!
This is my adorable sister Erika and our cute cousin, Natalie. Aren't they precious?
Erika and Natalie do EVERYTHING together -- including riding horses! It was a pretty crazy ride, though. My dad was throwing rocks at the horse's butt to make it run - and the girls almost fell off!

This is Andrea and our little cousin Melissa, who's 5. She's just gorgeous, right?

Here's where we all stood to watch the craziness! It was so cold that night!
Rachelle, another adorable cousin, was one of the main reasons we had a horse-riding event! She's been wanting to get on a horse all of her 8 years! She did awesome!

At the end of the night my dad got even crazier! Once it was his turn on Digger, he got her galluping and scared us all by trying to run us over! Fun ending to the evening!
Thanks Mom and Dad! We all had a blast!

Quiz, anyone??

2008-08-30T20:11:00.004-06:00

So I've been incredibly bored lately so all these quizzes and tags are more to alleviate the boredom than anything else. Here's a quiz I found on my cousin, Heather's. blog that I thought was fun. IT tells you which year you belong in!

You Belong in 1995

With you anything goes! You're grunge one day, ghetto fabulous the next. It's all good!

What Year Do You Belong In?

http://www.blogthings.com/whatyeardoyoubelonginquiz

That's funny cuz 95' wasn't my greatest year.

The Zoo

2008-08-27T23:13:00.005-06:00

My mom watched Ashley and Gracie last week when I had to work later than usual. She took them to the zoo with Grandma and Grandpa Hansen.

The girls loved the Zoo! Thanks so much to my Mom and my grandparents for taking them!

Another Tag

2008-08-27T17:27:00.004-06:00

Unfortunatley nothing camera worthy has happened lately , so I'm forced to do another tag. For this one, you put your iTunes on shuffle, ask a question, then push play and have the name of the song be that answer to that question. Here it goes!

1. If someone says, "This is okay." What do you say? Wild Pack of Family Dogs - Modest Mouse

2. What would best describe your personality? Lips of an Angel - Hinder

3. What do you like in a guy/girl? The Scientist - Coldplay

4. How do you feel about today? High and Dry by Radiohead

5. What is your life's purpose? If You Wait for Me - Tracy Chapman

6. What is your motto? Better Together - Jack Johnson

7. What do you think of your parents? Buddy Holly - Weezer

8. What do you friends think of you? I Can Still Feel You - Colin Raye

9. What do you think about frequently? Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town - Pearl Jam

10. What is 2 +2? Over You - Daughtry

11. What do you think of your best friend? Blackbird - Sarah McLachlan

12. What do you think of your spouse? Gracie - Ben Folds

13. What is your life story? Collide - Howie Day

14. What do you want to be when you grow up? Creep - Radiohead

15. What do you think when you seen the person you love? Australia - The Shins

16. What do your parents think of you? Still Fighting It - Ben Folds

17. What will be the dance at your wedding? Daughter - Pearl Jam

18. What will they play at your funeral? Say it Ain't So - Weezer

19. What is your favorite hobby? Fred Jones Part 2 - Ben Folds

20. What is your biggest secret? Bubble Toes - Jack Johnson

21. What do you think of your friends? El Sorcho - Weezer

My New Baby

2008-08-13T21:47:00.004-06:00

Meet the newest member of the family.

I think I'll call her Jet.

Image Tag

2008-08-10T22:19:00.010-06:00

I guess I'm tagging myself! I've seen this post on a few different blogs and wanted to do it to. What you do is put the answer to the question in a Google Image search and pick a picture from the first 3 pages of results. Here's what I found:

My first name: Michelle
I used to be obsessed with Michelle Williams because she was on Dawson's Creek!

My Middle Name: Egan.
Apparently this cat's name is Egan.

My Last Name: Cannon.
I thought about posting the obvious - a cannon - but I liked this picture of Cannon Beach better than a weapon.

My Age: 25
Well I don't really get this cartoon. Do you??

So far my favorite vacation spot was when I got to take Ashley and Gracie to Sea World.
But there are a lot of other places in the world I'd like to eventaully visit.

A Past Love: Devon Sawa
Holy cow did I love this boy!! I'm pretty sure I had this exact picture that I ripped from Teen Magazine or something hung in my room for years!

My College Major: Health Education

If I was going to do it all over -- I'd go to school to be an ultrasonographer.

Where did you grow up: Alpine, UT

Where do you live now: American Fork ,UT

A Past Pet: A Goat
Well, believe it or not, we actually had a goat for a bout a week when I was in high school. My sister, Erika, and I actually killed it. It was an accident- the poor little goat seemed to be getting ill and we overdosed it with Triaminic. My dad found it dead in the morning. It was really sad! No one should take care of animals when they really don't know what they're doing!! Too bad I don't even remember it's name.

A Friend's Nickname: T
I've called my friend Tawnya "T" for quite sometime. Her husband calls her that, too. It's just so much shorter than her real name.

My First Job: Kohler's
When I turned 16 I got my first job at Kohler's in Highland. It was horrible. I went to work at 3:30am until about 7, when I went home and slept forever. For the first couple weeks of the job, I was finishing up my sophmore year of high school. I was also the only girl on the freight crew, so I got hit on non-stop! It was really annoying back then - mostly because I was so shy. I also almost cut my whole finger off with a box cutter once. It wouldn't stop bleeding and my mom would keep waking me up during my morning nap to make sure I hadn't really passed out.

My Favorite Food: Chicken Scampi from Olive Garden
I love love love Olive Garden! Chicken Scampi is delicious! Especially paired with their salad and breadsticks! I think I know where I'm going to lunch tomorrow!!

My Favorite Color: Blue

But Ashley always says my favorite color is:

What I'm doing right now: Watching the Olympics!!
I love the Summer Olympics! Right now women's gymnastics is on! It's definitely one of my favorite events!

A Bad Habit: Staying Up Too Late
Well, I could really name several things here, but staying up too late and waking up too early is one of the worst! Especially when I'm staying up to do things like this post!!

GOOD NIGHT!!

Alpine Days Parade

2008-08-10T22:08:00.004-06:00

Finally we made it to a parade this year!! We had SO MUCH fun at the Alpine Days parade! we walked down to the parade route with the fam from my parents house and got a sweet spot right at the beginning of the parade.

Once the sirens started, Ashley covered her ears. She's not a fan of loud noises.

But they watched pretty intently at all the passing floats.

We had so much candy thrown at us. Candy as well as water!! Me and my mom and brother got sooo wet! But the girls love the candy we got.

You can't really tell, but this bag is chuck full of candy -- mostly taffy which we'll just throw away.

Gracie loved riding in the stroller on the way home

while Ashley liked sitting on Grandpa's shoulders and rubbing is shaved head.

AF Canyon with the Fam

2008-08-10T22:02:00.003-06:00

We love summer because we can go play in the canyon! Every few Mondays we go up and have dinner and hang out with my family, including Uncle Clay. We always go to the same camp site and Ashley loves to play on this rock.

Last week the McConnells came and brought a game of Horseshoes. The boys had fun playing it and Andrea had fun taking pictures of them playing it.

Here's my Mom, Erika, and Uncle Clay. Clay always goes up earlier than the rest of us and gets the fire all ready for our foil dinners. We wouldn't be able to do it without him!

More on Jay

2008-08-07T14:35:00.002-06:00

I have a lot of pictures on my computer and email right now of Jay and his family. I wanted to post just a couple of my favorites. In both of these first couple pictures I think Marcie looks so gorgeous and so happy with Jay.

This is probably the last family picture the Adamsons had all together because now Riley is serving in Sweden. He's being so strong, along with the rest of the family.

On Tuesday we had his viewing, and Wednesday was the funeral. Marcie and all the kids got up and said a little something at the funeral. It was beautiful and emotional, along with the rest of the service. It's hard to talk about because the emotions are still so close to the surface, but I think Marcie and the kids are amazing. I love them so much!

Uncle Jay

2008-08-03T10:11:00.003-06:00

On Saturday we got the heartbreaking news that Jay is gone. He went hiking in the Lakeside mountains on the west side of the Great Salt Lake early Wednesday morning because he was missing his son, Riley. Riley is serving an LDS mission in Sweden and has been there a total of 4 days now. This particular spot he went to was his and Riley's favorite spot. I found out he was missing on Friday morning when my Dad, Mom, my brother Matt and many others went searching for him. My husband, Matt, went out later in the day with men from my parents ward. They all searched so hard and so long without any results. Saturday morning came and there were even more volunteers to help find him. The news came in around 11am that someone had found his body. It appears that Jay had fall off a cliff very early on Wednesday morning. He still had all his water, insulin, and food untouched, although his mom said he had a candy wrapper in his hand when they found him. But since it was such a rugged, hot area, and his water was still sealed, his brothers said they believe it happened within 30 minutes of leaving his car. He had texted his wife, Marcie, that morning once he got to the top of the mountain to tell her where he was. Thankfully we know from that text where to look for him. Our hearts are breaking for his family of 6 children who will miss him so much. We're praying for Marcie to be comforted and to feel our love.

I'm very grateful today for the sealing ordinance that binds this family together throughout eternity. It's comforting to know that this is not the end of their lives together. I know that Heavenly Father's hand is in every experience we have and that He is watching over all his family and his friends right now.

Days of 47 Rodeo

2008-07-24T16:29:00.005-06:00

On Monday night we went to the Days of 47 Rodeo at Energy Solutions Arena. My Dad and his friend, Dave, were a team in the wild cow milking competition. Unfortuneatly it was over in about 30 seconds, so I didn't get any pictures. But it was still fun to watch even though they didn't win . . or even come close.

My Dad's Aunt Dawn came to see him along with my Grandma Dee and Uncle Clay. It was great to see them!

While Ashley would watch the Rodeo, Gracie would run around like a wild animal. We couldn't keep her under control! But thanks to my Mom for taking care of her!!

Trip to Idaho

2008-07-24T16:12:00.004-06:00

On our way up to Idaho last weekend we stopped sata 2 of Matt's cousin's houses to see their new babies. Unfortuneatly I didn't get pictures of Rob, Emily, and Isaac. But I did get some of the Lythgoes. This is their new baby, Brinlee.

Isn't she cute?!

Ashley loved her! She kept saying, "She loves me."

This is Chandler. He's Matt's sister, Jill's, new baby. He's such a good baby! I maybe heard him fuss once while we were there for the weekend.

We had so much fun at the Hulse's house! They have an awesome backyard with a sandbox, blow-up pool, and swingset. Not to mention the dogs and sprinklers that were going.

Gracie would hop back and forth betwee nthe pool and the sandbox. Water and sand make a mess! But she had a blast!

Ashley was hilarious on this little blue slide. She could never quite get her balance. She would fall to one side or the other - usually into the pool!

At Grandma and Grandpa Cannon's house they took rides on the tractor. One of Ashley's favorite things to do.

This was Gracie's first ride. She seemed to like it, but wouldn't do it again!

And of course, it wouldn't be a trip to Idaho without getting out some sort of motorcycle. And, unfortuneatly, Ashley absolutely loves it!

Gracie's hair was cracking me up on the swing! The trip was great and we even made it home in time to see my little brother Matt be ordained a priest in church on Sunday. I can't believe he's already 16!! Way to go, Matt!

Babies Babies Babies!

2008-07-14T12:21:00.003-06:00

This is Miles Taniguchi!! Isn't he cute?! My friend, Sara had him on July 2nd.

This is Miles iwht his older sister, Juli. How adorable!

And this is the whole clan! We ahve Juli, Miles, and Lexi. what good older sisters Miles has!

Matt's sister had a baby on July 7th, another little boy named Chandler. We're going to visit them this weekend, so I'll have some pictures of him posted next week.

Also, Matt's cousin Kenzie adopted a little girl almost 2 weeks ago, named Brinley - and we're going to give them a visit on our way to Idaho, so I'll get some pictures of them up soon, as well!

Long Lost Friends

2008-07-09T23:27:00.003-06:00

On Sunday, one of my best friends all through junior high, high school, college, and married life came to visit. Tawnya, Kirk, and Griffin were down from Logan for the holiday. They were only in town for a little bit, but we're so happy they came to see us.

Griffin is just a couple months younger than Gracie. Isn't he adorable??

I think Gracie really liked him. :)

"Today is the day . . we celebrate our Independence Day!"

2008-07-09T23:03:00.005-06:00

Can anyone guess the movie?? It's not a huge brain buster.

Anyway, we had a fabulous 4th of July. ti's by far my favorite holiday! I wish we could have made it to a parade, but hopefully next year. We did start the day out with a great ward breakfast eating, face painting, parading, and candy chasing fun. Ashley's been obsessed with flags this week (I think they learned about them at the daycare), so she got a cute flag painted on her cheek, and Gracie got and red, white, and blue star.

For lunch we partied at my Grandma and Grandpa Hansen's house. It was Grandpa Hansen's birthday so we always get together on the 4th and celebrate. This is my cousin Cherilyn's daughter, Lucy. Her and Gracie are only a few months apart. I can't believe we even got one good picture of them! They're little rascals! But cute.

Happy birthday, Grandpa!

Cherilyn and me

Don't they all look so happy . . . ?

After Grandma's we went on a drive through AF Canyon. It was really pretty and we loved being in the mountain air for a little bit. We went to the top of the mountain (driving) and stopped at Tibblefork and played in the water for a little bit.

Next came the fireworks. We decided to beat the traffic and stay home and put on a show ourselves. We had a lot of fun with the fireworks and sparklers. They were a little too loud for Ashley, though. But Gracie couldn't get enough! It was all I could do to keep her from touching the lit part of the Sparkler! Thanks Matt for putting on the show for us and the neighbors!

I had fun celebrating our freedom with my family today. I thought a lot about how many people have fought for our freedom and I'm very grateful to them and their families. I know there are a lot of families in the US that weren't able to spend this day together because of the current war. But, I believe all people should have the freedoms we enjoy and I'm proud of our troops who are fighting for the freedom of a people that couldn't fight for it alone. God bless them and their families for their sacrifices.

Happy Fourth of July!

Las Brisas and the Final Farewell

2008-07-09T22:37:00.008-06:00

Our last night in Newport, my parents treated us to an excellent meal at Las Brisas. It was really good Mexican/sea food. We all loved it so much! The restaurant looked over Laguna Beach.

Mom and Dad

The Ingersolls

The Maughans

I don't think I posted this pic of Ash earlier. Maybe I did, but I still think it's great!

Gracie was lseeping on Andrea's shoulder for most of our first trip to the beach.

Lindasy and Ashley waling to Crystal Cove Beach.

Thanks to my Grandparents and my parents for such an awesome trip!! We LoVe YoU!!

High School Tag

2008-06-26T13:03:00.003-06:00

1. Did you date someone from your school? Yeah - I dated several guys from my high school. Just about everyone I dated in or just after high school was from LP - Brighton, Brandon, Billy, Casey, and Adam.
2. What kind of car did you drive? I had a sweet 1985 Nissan Sentura with cow car seat covers. The AC and heat didn't work, but I LOVED it!
3. It’s Friday night...where are you? I was always with my friends and/or on a date.
4. Were you a party animal? I wouldn't say that. when I get hyper I like to party, but other than that I'm pretty chill.
5. Were you considered a flirt? Yeah I think so.
6. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? I rocked the band!
7. Were you a nerd? Some people thought I was, but I don't think so!
8. Were you on any varsity teams? No. I don't do sports.
9. Did you get suspended/expelled? Nope, but I probably should have senior year cuz of all the sluffing.
10. Can you still sing the fight song! Absolutely! I just did it at Erika's graduation last month!
11. Who were your favorite teachers? Mr. Birrell was my favorite by far! We was a grat teacher, expected a lot, and was so much fun!
12. Where did you sit during lunch? I don't think I ever entered the cafeteria. I ate at Quiznos or Taybo's Wraps.
13. What was your school's full name? Lone Peak High School - the school of pride.
14. School mascot? The Mighty Knights!
15. Did you go to Homecoming and who with? I wasn't 16 sophmore year, but junior year I probably went with Brighton and senior year with Jake Lott.
16. If you could go back and do it again, would you? Absolutely!!! I would change a couple of small things, but overall it was a blast!
17. What do you remember most about graduation? Well, I totaled my car on the way to graduation, so I was a bit shooken up. I was late and barely made it on time! I was sad to not get a lot of pictures with my friends, but happy that I was done with high school. I was also sad because I knew we were all going different directions and nothing was going to be the same.
18. Where did you go senior skip day? LAGOON!! I love Lagoon!
19. Were you in any clubs? No
20. Have you gained some weight since then? Yeah, too bad. :( but it's finally starting to come off.
21. Who was your prom date? Sophmore year I wasn't 16, but I got invited to Jordan's prom by Kevin Carter, but didn't go. Junior Year I went with Brighton, and senior year with Gabe Ghent!
22. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? Yeah probably. I don't see why not - if I know all my friends are going.

I TAG LINZ, ANGE, CHER, SARAH, MARIANNE, HEIDI, and MELISSA.

Sea World Rocks!

2008-06-26T13:00:00.000-06:00

On Wednesday we all went to Sea World in San Deigo. Ashley and I had been looking forward to it all month! Ashley walked around for over a week talking about seeing the orcas and feeding the dolphins. We spent all day there and it was a blast! We started the day feeding the dolphins, then went to the dolphin show. It was probably my favorite part!

The dolphins were amazing! they also had some Pilot Whales in the show. They had a little family volunteer to help with show, and the mom fell in the dolphin pool! Then she started riding the dolphin around the tank! Turns out -- she was actually a dolphin trainer posing as a tourist! It was hilarious! I TOTALLY got fooled!

Ashley and Gracie loved the show. Gracie kept yelling, "WOW!"

Our next stop was the Shamo show, "Believe." It was really cool, too. Austin, Matt, and Brandon sat down in the "Soak Zone" to get splashed by the killer whales. Don't they look tough?!

Austin was awesome with Ashley the whole day. They hung out together and pretended they were Dora and Deigo. It was really cute and really helpful for me.

Ashley was also really excited to see the sharks.

In the arctic part of the park, we saw penguins, beluga whales, and polar bears!

Don't they make cute little penguins?

Dolphins Rock!

2008-06-26T12:38:00.003-06:00

One of the best parts of Sea World was feeding the dolphins. We got to pet them and everything! It was a blast! Gracie, of course, was scard - as you'll see in the video - but Ashley loved it! She didn't want to leave!

Take me out to the ball game

2008-06-26T12:13:00.006-06:00

My parents are so awesome and took us all to a Dodger game on Tuesday night! Erika's friend, Brandon Vreeland (who lives in Cali) spent the day with us, too. Him and Erika spent the entire 2 hour drive squished in the back with Ashley. We had a rough time getting to the game through the traffic and everything, but once we made it, it was a blast, even though they lost! Thanks Mom and Dad!

We missed you, Matt!

Ashley

2008-06-26T12:10:00.000-06:00

Ashley's learning some fun new sayings here with my family. Can you tell what she's saying??

Huntington Beach

2008-06-26T12:02:00.003-06:00

This was my favorite beach so far! There was no seaweed to be seen! The waves were perfect! And we even saw dolphins! They were jumping in and out of the water, only about 30-40 feet away from the shoreline!

Gracie got really brave this trip and even let me put her down for the waves to splash over her legs. It was great! Hopefully next time we'll have even more time to spend in the water with her!

Oh, and Gracie LOVES to eat the sand!

Laguna Beach

2008-06-26T11:38:00.003-06:00

On Monday we went to Laguna Beach for the afternoon. Gracie got a lot more brave in the sand. She still didn't enjoy the water, though. Ashley didn't like to get in the water at this beach because there were enormous amounts of seaweed! Lindsay, Andrea, Austin, Brandon and Matt kept getting stuck in the seaweed while trying to body surf. When they got out there was seaweed sticking out of the their swimming suits every which direction! We're having so much fun here! It's perfect weather - about 75 degrees everyday.