Ashlyn's 6th Birthday Party!!

Okay, so a lot of people think that I am the one who wanted to have a "Twilight" party for my daughter. To set the record straight--Ashlyn LOVES Twilight and anything to do with Edward. It was her choice, her idea...and she had an awesome party!! She and her friends enjoyed the Edward cut-out more than I thought possible. Two of the posters pictured in these photos are now safely tucked away in her room where she can say goodnight to Edward every night. Who knew a 6-year old could have such a crush on someone--Yikes...makes me worry about the next 12 years!!!

Ashlyn and Edward

Nikki and I had such a great time decorating for this party!!

We made these great cupcake-pops. They were sinfully good!

The goody bags for all of Ashlyn's friends.

OUR NEW HOUSE!!!!

Okay, I am finally posting the long-awaited pictures of our house! We are loving it in every way. Heavenly Father has truly blessed us in so many ways--our family, our home, our friends--old and new. It's amazing how things work out according to His will. Enjoy the pictures. Sorry it's taken so long......We love you all!!!

The irrigation "pond" right behind our house.

Ducks, frogs and toads call it home--AWESOME!!

Our living room from the landing on the stairs.


The living room looking in to the dining room.



The dining room looking in to the living room.

Dining room.....

Kitchen...looking in to the dining room...

Kitchen....Love cooking in this thing!!!

Brenden's room

Ashlyn's room--she's girly-goth...who knew!!?

Brenden was recently awarded for his awesome learning abilities!! He made the "Principal's List" for having straight A's. We are so proud of him!! We moved to a new state, and he started a new school in mid-December. To achieve straight A's your first quarter at a new school is just awesome! Way to go, Brenden!!

Brenden and Ashlyn on school picture day!

Brenden looking "not so sure" waiting to get his Principal's List Award.

Brenden's teacher, Mrs. Perry and the Principal, Mrs. Melenbacher, gave Brenden his award.

Brenden with his fellow STRAIGHT "A" classmates!!

TWILIGHT DVD RELEASE PARTY!!!!

So, my niece (Madison) is totally in L-O-V-E with Edward from the "Twilight" movie. We attended the Hot Topic DVD release party. Brenden went with us--even though he'd never read the books or seen the movie. (It was sooooo cool to be in the mall after closing!) During the party we all entered our names in a drawing for a life-size cardboard cut out of Edward...and guess who won?? BRENDEN!! He looked at me and said, "What am I gonna do with that?" His first though was to use it for paintball practice, but I knew Madi would DIE if her precious Edward were used in such a fashion, so we (Me, Brenden, Ashlyn and Edward) made the trek to Moses Lake to take him to his new home. Now he has taken up a permanent residence in Madison's room. Oh, to be a tween.....

Visit to Elko!!!

We visited Elko in late February. The kids had a great time seeing their family and friends!!

Brenden, Joey and Lucas

The boys enjoying some pizza!

Ashlyn and Haven

Nee, Andrew and Kallista

"I feel pretty, oh so pretty...."

Papa and Brenden playing a mean game of ping pong!

Haven and Ashlyn were Grandma Julie's big helpers...poor grandma! :-)

Papa played marbles with Ashlyn for hours. Of course, he let her win every time...

Time to haul in some more fire wood....

Ashlyn LOVES helping her "papa".

Ashlyn and Kallista enjoying some home cookin'!

Wonder where that ping pong ball is headed.... poor Kallista!

ALEX the ALIEN!!!

Brenden had a school project due for Valentine's Day called "Monster Mailbox". He had to make a monster mailbox for his Valentine's to be put in, write a story about the Alien and draw a scene from the story....and so, he created Alex the Alien (with the help of his family). We had so much fun making his alien come to life. The story he wrote was so adorable--I posted it below the pictures, word for word!

Brenden did most of the work himself. Ashlyn helped paint the alien and Mom and Dad did the cutting with an exacto knife for his legs and mouth.

TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER!!!!

Ashlyn helped by holding her Hannah Montana light to help Brenden see where to put Alex's eight eyes!!


Alex begins to take form!

Brenden spent hours on the story, it is truly awesome!!

Alex the Alien

by Brenden Crouch

There once was an alien named Alex. Alex lived on the planet Zulthar. Alex had heard stories of a planet called Earth. Alex wanted to see if there was life on Earth. Alex was orbiting the Earth when he came too close to the atmosphere and crash landed.

He landed in front of a school called Canyon View. He was very hungry. He found a small red bird and ate it up. It had lots of feathers that got stuck in his teeth. Alex is a dwarf alien so he though Canyon View was a huge world and he went in to go find out what it was. When he got to Canyon View he saw another strange alien holding a box on a large rectangular table with legs. He jumped up on the table and switched places with the thing and got taken to something called a classroom. The classroom was C-3, Mrs. Perry's class. Alex got put on a desk and children started shoving something in his mouth called Valentines. He thought those were better than the red bird. So Alex held really still with his mouth wide open and ate 29 more Valentines. He was so full of Valentines he couldn't walk for a couple of hours.

Alex knew his mom and dad would be missing him so he left the classroom so he could repair the space ship. Alex finally got the space ship fixed and flew back home.

A year later he came back to Earth. He was not alone, he brought his family this time. Then all the little aliens switched with one of the fake things the people were carrying to their desks and stood real still. Each of them ate 30 Valentines. They were so stuffed that two of the aliens had to throw up twice. So did the mom.

When Alex and his family were on the space ship back to planet Zulthar, he knew he would not be able to come back to eat Valentines every year. So, instead he decided to make his own Valentines at his school. Alex would always remember the day he crash landed and ate his first Valentines.