Happy 9 Year Anniversary My Love!!!

Due to the fact that we just barely got home from an extensive vacation and our anniversary falls on a Wednesday, AND I've been feeling terrible lately with our third baby, this anniversary is more of a stay in and order carry out from the restaurant up the street than some big affair at an awesome hotel. But that's okay. In fact, that's what I would prefer this year. Going a week without Josh was enough to make me never want to leave him again so staying in bed all binging on movies sounds perfect to me! 

I still can't believe it was 9 years ago that we were sealed for time and all eternity and I look back on all of our blessings and adventures in awe.  And I thought I loved you then! And to add a new baby to our latest list is enough to make my heart explode! 

Josh, you are the love of my life and there will never be another. You are my best friend and my closest confidant. You drive me crazy with your anal ways and your insistence on being a total tight ass in the financial department. But I know my constant need for excitement and adventure drives you insane as well. So we will call it even :). 

Not every day has been easy, and I would be lying if I said I didn't think about running away on more than one occasion. However, if I could do the past nine years over again, I would do it in a heartbeat because I know that each hard year only brought us closer together. Cheers to many many more  days spent laughing and making memories with each other and our beautiful babies! I love you more than anything Joshua! Always and Forever.....

-Ash

 

Briana's Wedding Day

We drove straight from Utah to Logandale because my littlest sister is getting married!!! We spent three days and nights setting up for the big event and despite how stressful and crazy it was, the actual wedding was a beautiful event! Evie was the Flower Girl and Austin was the Ring Bearer. We also were able to incorporate Thomas's strange family into our own and the only glitch we had was when Nathan showed up in jeans and a T-shirt! Yes, that was annoying and Briana almost had a heart attack. But I was so proud of her for not letting his idiocy ruin her big day. My Dad didn't even bother to show up for my wedding day so I kept reminding her that it could always be worse. This was the first day I had seen Josh in over a week and my heart skipped for joy when he showed up! This might just be the pregnancy hormones talking, but I truly love this man!

Daddy and his little twin :). The kids missed him just as much as I did!

Briana wanted an outdoor wedding at my Mom's house which was easier said than done since my Mom has been a total wreck since the divorce in September (insert huge eye roll here). Luckily, Sadie came down two weeks early to get a head start on everything! Because I was constantly sick, I couldn't help as much as Sadie did so I was so grateful she was there! We all wanted it to be a special night for our little sister and nothing was going to ruin it! Not even my Mom who found it too difficult to get out of bed every morning. Again, the woman has totally fallen apart and it is so frustrating!

We got plenty of Baby Gracelynn time while we were there which was just what we all wanted! We are all obsessed with those chubby cheeks and it was so fun to see our kids interact with a baby. Perfect practice for when their own little sibling is born!

Watching their soon to be Uncle Thomas prepping the yard for the big day! They love Thomas and follow him around everywhere asking him all sorts of adorable questions and he is so good with them!

More baby loves!

None of us were wearing makeup and were exhausted from days of hard work, but we were all so happy to be there for each other! Our parents might be insane, but luckily we will always have each other!

Walking down the aisle!

Sadie and I were both the Maids of Honor

I am still shocked at how well the whole event came together!

Welcome to the family Thomas!

Siblings make the best of friends

And the three of us are just different enough to make it all work ;)

My kids adore their "Aunt Nana" and were so excited to have such an important role in her wedding!

Although my Mom drives us all insane, we were glad she was there and able to be present during the wedding! I can only hope that someday all the mental illness that plagues my parents will disappear forever....

Our Amazing Utah Vacation 2019!!!

We had this trip planned for months and sadly, Josh wasn't able to go on it with us because of his new job :(. It was a tough decision to go along without him because that's just sad and I was already not feeling well with the pregnancy. But I decided to push through and do it anyway! It's not every day we get to go visit that side of the family and a part of my heart forever resides in Utah during the summer. So away we went! I was sick each day and had to change plans or have the kids go without me to certain fun events. But it was totally worth it! Here's a collage of our trip because a picture is worth a thousand words. It was rainy and then it was sunny, and then it was hailing and then it was sunny again haha! So our daily activities changed with the seasons but we still managed to do so much!

Our first stop was at Uncle Nick and Aunt Jenn's house to play with cousins! Kate is going on a mission soon so we were so happy to get to spend time with her before she leaves!

Brandon will forever be Austin's favorite! He worships him and Brandon is so good with the kids!

Macy and Evie having a tea party!

Austin playing video games downstairs with Porter and Brandon.

Our annual fishing trip is the highlight of every summer! The kids can't wait to go fishing and we all love eating it for dinner!

The Fish Hatchery is always good to us. Its beautiful surroundings and you can't leave without catching multiple fish!

Grandpa was the star of the show this year because I couldn't go near those fish without getting nauseous.

I loved how the kids were so hands on this year! They loved holding the fish and proudly showing their catch!

There were baby ducks everywhere and I loved it!

We also went to the movies with Uncle Nick and the whole gang to see Aladdin! It was in 3D and the kids loved it!

Out of all those fun activities, sharing popsicles in the back yard while cloud watching was my favorite!

Well, that and reading all day while listening to the birds chirp and smelling the sweet smell of grass!

Grandma also taught us how to play croquet and the kids loved it!

I would kill for a gorgeous yard like this to play in! Money is wasted on the old.....

Grandma and Grandpa bought an air hockey table and we had a blast with it!

We also spent a whole day shopping!

I took the kids to visit Papa Art and put flowers on his grave. It is always so hard, but I want to make sure he forever lives in their memories.

The Clark Planetarium is always a good time!

My little astronauts blasting off to outer space!

"Bye Mom!"

I'm always nervous to visit my Dad, because you never know what kind of day he is having and it breaks my heart and ruins my day if it's a bad day. But I pushed past that and I am so glad I did! We had a beautiful visit and he actually invited us into the house! He has become a hoarder and he is embarrassed about it, so he never lets us in the house. But today was different. Today we sat in his overcrowded living room and talked while he gave away all sorts of trinkets to the kids who had a great time treasure hunting among the mounds of random things. Dad had bought Austin a child's size baseball bat and mitt because the last time we were here, I had told him that Austin loves baseball. I couldn't believe he remembered that and it meant the world to me.  

After visiting Grandpa Helm, we stopped over at my favorite burger joint that kept me fed in college! My Dad used to take Sadie and I here and then I continued on the tradition with my friends in school. Now I got to share it with my own kids and it made me so happy!

I still dream of those shakes and zucchini fries.......

After that, we picked wild poppies in the Avenues and placed them on Great Grandma and Grandpa Thayer's grave, along with Great Grandpa Gardner who is buried next to them.

My Great Grandma meant the world to me and I owe her everything.

So it means the world to me to be able to share this moment with my kids.

For Memorial Day, Grandma and Grandpa took the kids through Ogden and up to Brigham City to put flowers on all the graves! They stopped at multiple temples and the kids had a blast! I loved that Grandma brought treats and played trivia games with the kids about the family members buried in those graves. She's such a fun Grandma!

I was sick this day and stayed home, but it was fun seeing all the pictures and hearing about their adventures!

On our last day in Utah, Grandma and Grandpa took the kids to the Treehouse Children's Museum! I was super sick this day so again, I missed out. But they had a great time so that's all that matters! I'm so grateful to have in-laws who take such great care of our kiddos!

It was hard to say goodbye to our family and to Utah in general, but we had more adventures ahead of us and we had stayed over a week already. This trip was another one for the books and we packed sooooo much into such a short amount of time, being sick and all! I am so grateful to have married into such an amazing family! I forgot to mention that on the morning of our last day there, Janis and I got to go to the temple and to initiatories! I hadn't been to the temple in more than a year so I was very excited! We even spent the night before finding names from the Helm side of my family to bring with us so we could do their work! I've never done that before and it meant the world to me. I cried the entire time and felt so strongly the presence of my family beyond the veil. After that special experience, we went up to the celestial room where Janis and I sat on the couch arm in arm and talked. I expressed my gratitude to her for being the amazing Mother she is and for raising such a special man. I've missed Josh like crazy on this trip and have had plenty of time to reflect on how much I love him. I managed to not get sick at all during the temple but then could barely hold it in on our way home. Janis and Steve took the kids to the children's museum without me later that day while I recovered. Why does the first trimester have to be so awful?!! However, nothing could take away from the sweet, peaceful spirit I felt there in the temple and the gratitude I felt for the people who made it possible. It was such a beautiful way to end an amazing trip!