Anytime Fitness

From my sister Paula:

I am so excited about this. Carl and I moved here to Twin Falls for a couple reasons. Family was a big draw here, but we also wanted...Ok really its me...I have always wanted to own a fitness center. I have a big passion for fitness, I think it is so important to stay active in your life and so here we are. We are so close to opening our gym, I can taste it.

So BIG ANNOUNCEMENT:

MEMBERSHIPS ARE AVAILABLE!

We are starting memberships sales on 16 November 2009 at our great location in Lynwood Shopping Center (right next to Sakura, on Blue Lakes).

Come in and see us...I will be there to greet you and take care of your fitness needs.

Also, in light (I mean dark), of the "New Moon" release...

(Ya baby)

Anytime Fitness is having a Membership Kickoff Event on the 19th of November 2009. The first 10 people to come in and sign up for memberships, are getting tickets to the New Moon release (here in Twin Falls)....wish I could send you to LA.

We will also have a couple drawings for fun prizes including more tickets to New Moon.

Ok, so here's what you do: Come down to the gym (Lynwood on Blue Lakes), at 9:00 am until 10 pm...just in time to get ready for the premiere (with our 24/7 access, we never sleep either) and be one of the first 10 people to get a chance to get those tickets. Come sink your teeth into fitness and sign up for your health....we love good blood.

Ashtynn is 3 months old

Sorry, I don't have a picture with her eyes open, but she has been fussy today and I really don't want to wake her

She woke up and was really quite happy, yay!

Today Ashtynn turns 3 months old and I can not believe how quickly the time has flown, and yet how long ago it seems she was born. I know a weird dichotomy of thought, but it is true. I took her in for her 2 month appointment about a week ago, (If that isn't telling as to how well I am functioning with 4 kids, LOL). Anyway, we have another tall one here. I can't remember all the numbers, but she is 90th% in height, she weighed 12 pounds 1 oz, putting her in the 50th% in weight (so we got the eating thing figured out, apparently) and like her 3 older siblings she has a tiny head, in the 20th%. I now have 1/2 my volleyball team, we'll have to recruit a few backrow defensive players, but with my 3 girls, we have a middle blocker (Elise), a setter (Mollie) and my outside hitter (Ashtynn). What more could I ask for?

Last night, my mom was holding her and got her giggling, so I tried to capture a few moments, but by the time, I go my camera rolling, the belly laughs were done, and we got a few polite giggles, but it is cute just the same.

Happy Halloween!

About 5 years ago while Tyler and I were living in Pocatello, we hosted a Halloween party and invited some of my family to come and join us. Melanie, Jim and their kids, Dad and Mom, and Paula came and we had so much fun! We had a scavenger hunt, went Trunk-or-Treating at the church, ate pizza and had a lot of fun visiting! We talked about doing it again sometime, but until this year, it hadn't happened. With Halloween on a Saturday this year, Melanie decided she wanted to host a Halloween party at her home in Kaysville, so we went down there and had such a great time! We drove down Saturday, had dinner, sent the kids Trick-or-Treating with the dads, played games and got to spend some quality time with the family. EJ and Ashley, Mark and Jacque, Mom and Dad, and my family were all there. We missed Paula, Carrie, and Rachel and their families.
Here is the crew, Reagan, Elise, Mollie, my sister Melanie, her daughters Jenna and Alyssa

"It's me, Mario!" Reagan was so excited to be Mario this year, and he was awesome!

"Scooby Doo, where are you?" This is Elise as Daphne

Mollie was our little Thumbelina

Tyler was a stick figure, I was supposed to be one as well, but I left my black clothes at home, so he went solo on this one. It isn't as impressive inside the house, but when it was dark outside, it was the coolest costume. Those are glo-sticks, so all you could see in the dark are the glo-sticks and it was crazy. I tried so hard to get video and pictures of him, but my camera couldn't get it. I was so bummed, so just believe me, it was COOL!

Pre-costume Halloween clothes

Ashtynn is growing up so fast, almost 3 months old

Autumn in Idaho

This has been a really beautiful Autumn, the leaves are gorgeous, the weather has been great, knock on wood, and plain and simply I love Fall.
With that being said we have made a few attempts at enjoying it. The other night we took the kids to the CSI corn maze, this is the first year they made one and we decided to give it a shot. We let Reagan and Elise lead, Mollie was off in her own world hiding from the lions, (don't ask, we don't know), and Ashtynn was peacefully enjoying it while snoozing in Tyler's arms. After about 25 minutes of going in circles I decided it was time to go and started to head back toward the entrance. Oh no, that did not go over well with the boys, if we start a maze we are not ending at the beginning we will stay until we find the end, so we did, 20 minutes later. Not that big of a maze, but I'm pretty sure we saw it all. It was fun, and the kids loved it.

Since moving, we now attend church at 3:00 in the afternoon, which makes for very long mornings. It was a beautiful day this Sunday, so we decided to take a drive up through the South Hills and enjoy the foliage. Well, I think we were about 3 days too late. Most of the leaves had dropped, but we had fun and the kids enjoyed getting out of the house.

Notice the curlers in Elise's hair, too funny!

See, not much left, bummer, just missed it!

But we did see a lot of cows on the road, so I guess it was all worth it! HaHa

EJ and Ashley tie the Knot!

EJ and Ashley Morgan, what a gorgeous couple!

The weekend before last weekend, my little brother married Ashley in the Los Angeles temple. What an amazing weekend. When EJ first told us they were getting married and it was going to be in Los Angeles, we all wondered how everyone was going to make it, but believe it or not all six sisters were there and it was perfection. We were only missing 2 of the brothers in law. Carrie, Rachel and I brought our new babies, but all the rest of the kids stayed at home. (Thanks Rhett and Cassie for helping us out!)

All the Girls:
Jacque, Rachel, Paula, Ashley, Jessica (Ashley's sister), Jacque, Me and Melanie

My amazing parents!

Tyler, Ashtynn, Rachel, Ethan, Paula and I headed out of town Thursday evening for Los Angeles and drove through the night, well, Tyler drove through the night, the rest of us took cat naps here and there, I was so impressed with Tyler. We arrived at our hotel, the Westlake Hyatt (wow, that was a nice hotel, thanks Priceline!) and thankfully mom and dad were awake and ready to go, so we handed over the babies and slept for a couple of hours, before heading to the temple. The traffic was CRAZY, but we all made it there. Grandpa Morgan did the sealing, he has now married all 7 of us kids, Melanie: Logan Temple, Me: Idaho Falls temple, Carrie: Logan temple, Paula: Logan temple, Rachel: Salt Lake temple, Jacque: Salt Lake temple, and last of all EJ: Los Angeles temple.

Trevyn, Ethan, and Ashtynn

After the wedding we did pictures, and a luncheon, then headed back to the hotel and spent some fun family time hanging out. I was so excited that Saturday we didn't have any pans until the reception at 6:00 in the evening, so I got to sleep in. WOW! I forgot what that was like. It was so nice to have nothing to have to get up for. Tyler took care of Ashtyn for me, so I was able to. I love him!

We were not really wanting to head back in to LA and fight traffic so we stayed close to where the hotel was, and went to some outlet malls and to In 'n Out for lunch.

Had to In-N-Out Burger, and a big thanks to Tyler for letting me take this picture.

The reception was at Ashley's home in Moor Park, what a beautiful community and thankfully the fires were no longer burning or a threat to that area. Side Note: there were so many firefighters at the hotel we stayed in, sure appreciate all that they do! The food, decorations, cake, ambiance, setting and particularly the bride and groom were stunning!
I loved getting to sit at one table and visit with all of my sisters for the evening it was priceless.
Ashtynn was a dream, she was fun to have along and was really good the whole trip, including the 26 hours in the car. What a trooper.

Ashtyn Update

My sister, Paula is a photographer and I asked her to do a photo session with Ashtyn. I am now kicking myself that I never had these kinds of pictures taken with my other 3. I am in love with every picture she took and I want to print large 8x10's of all of them, but I am afraid my other kids will get a complex, so when I can finally decide which I love the best, I will go with that one, ok and maybe a few more.
Again for journaling, I decided to write a quick update on Ashtyn. She was born weighing in at a whopping 7 pounds 5 ounces. When we took her in at 3 or 4 days old she had dropped significantly to 6 pounds 7 ounces. I was worried, and the pediatrician recommended I supplement along with breastfeeding, so I did. We took her back the next day and she was up to 6 pounds 10 ounces, yay. We all were happy and figured we had given her the jump start she needed, so I cut back a bit on the supplemental formula. She seemed to be doing well, but was very fussy. Tyler and I figured she had gas troubles so we used Mylicon and spent a lot of time awake with her. At her 2 week appt, she was still only 6 pounds 10 ounces. I was a little panicked about that. So I put her back on formula, but not at every feeding. So this past Monday we took her in and she had just hit her birth weight, I got scared, I was starving my baby. So, she is getting a supplemental feeding each time I breastfeed. And now, she is doing amazing. She is not fussy anymore, she sleeps so well and she is wonderful. It kind of makes me sad to think she was fussy due to hunger.
I don't know why I had such a hard time accepting having to give her formula, somehow, the fact that my milk wasn't cutting it made me feel really sad. But I am ok with it and her health is the most important, so I will do whatever works. We will take her back in next week and see where she is at, but I am just glad to have a happy baby. I am head over heals in love with her.

Just look at these pictures, she is amazing!!!She has the most kissable cheeks!

Her toes are so long

Oh my goodness, she is like a little doll

It's like a cotton candy baby!

Look at her long arms, she's gonna be an outside hitter, folks!

She is still so curled up

Cutest baby butt ever!

Look how she is holding the stocking!

This is Tyler's hand with hers

I kind of think this one, (above) might be my favorite.

and this is just too cute!

So many changes...

Does anyone else think it is time for me to post again? Warning: This post is long and more for journaling purposes, so I am not promising entertainment, read at your own risk. I have heard many times the statement, The only constant in life is change and I think that pretty much sums up the last 6 months of our lives. There have been so many changes, some have been anticipated, others were sprung upon us, and the rest have come about based on the previous 2 kinds.

Change #1, Ashtyn is born
The first major change in our lives is the arrival of Ashtyn Scarlett. She was born on August 6th, which happens to be our 10th Anniversary. That in itself is crazy, I can hardly believe we have been married for 10 years, the best years and I wouldn't trade them for anything, Tyler is my best friend, an amazing dad, and the best husband around. I am excited for what the next 10 years will bring.

Me and Ashtyn

Tyler and Ashtyn

Cute little, pudgy swollen baby

Ok, back to Ashtyn, her delivery was really good, I went in to the doctor on Tuesday, Aug. 4th for a check-up, and learned I was already dilated to a 5, I think the doctor was quite surprised, but that has been pretty much par for the course with me. I was not in labor, so I came home to continue the waiting game. Thursday morning contractions started at 9:00 and by 9:30 they were about 2-3 minutes apart, but not really very intense. Knowing I was already at a 5, I figured we might as well go in, so we did. We checked in at 10:30, I was at a 7-8 cm, but again, not very strong contractions, so the doc broke my water, I got an intrathecal, (a one time pain shot) and Ashtyn was born at 1:51 that afternoon. She weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces, our biggest baby. She was 20.5 inches long and came out with a vengeance. Much like Elise, Ashtyn came out with a whole lot to say, she cried and cried for quite some time. I loved it. It means she's healthy, right? I felt really good after delivery and we were very excited to add daughter #3 to the family.

Ya, this bed was a little crowded this time.

All of the kids were thrilled to come and meet her, and despite my concerns about Reagan not getting a brother, he has absolutely fallen in love with her and couldn't be cuter with her.

Reagan and Ashtyn

Ironically, she was our biggest baby, but when we took her in at 4 days old for a routine check, she had dropped almost a pound, that was a little scary, but she is back up and doing great.

Her name is not a family name, we just really like the name Ashtyn and her middle name comes from my favorite book, Gone with the Wind.

She is still so curled up, it makes me laugh, she tucks those legs in as tight as she can.

What are you staring at Ashtyn?

Elise thought this was pretty cool the way she laced her fingers together.

Here she is with her eyes open again. Look how little she looks in my hand.

OK, change #2. Tyler is back in school.
Tyler was accepted into the CSI Surgery Tech program and begins on Monday. He will finish that up next summer and then we have about 2 or so years of getting some pre-requisites done, and then he will apply for PA school (Physician's Assistant), which is a 2 year Master's program. We are not completely sure where, but ISU is the most likely locale. I have had a lot of people give me sympathy on this, but truth be told, I am thrilled. Tyler's BS degree is in Human Resource, which has been great, but at this point, and with the economy where it has been, he felt like he needed a more specific degree. He took 15 credits this summer, and did awesome in them, and really enjoyed the introduction he got into the medical field. Best part of all, he is really excited for this career change. I am so proud of him and excited for what the next few years will bring.

Elise, Reagan, Ashtyn and Mollie, I love my kids!

Change #3, We are moving.
As mentioned above, Tyler is going back to school, full time. I am still working for IDLA, but this requires a little adjustment in our living arrangements. So, we are moving into my parents' basement. They have a basement apartment, that is awesome, and we will actually have more space there than we have been living in for the last 4 years here at our house, so I am really excited. My mom and I are best friends and so living there is really easy and fun. If all goes as planned, (knock on wood) we will be there about a year and then we will find a place to rent until after PA school.


Change #4 Elise goes to Kindergarten

My Elise

This one is a tough one, and just like Reagan, every time I think about it, I get very sad. Elise has been my helper and sidekick for the last few years and I am so sad to not have her around all day. She makes me laugh, she helps me with cooking and cleaning, and best of all, she is a great big sister. She is excited, but I can tell a little nervous. Reagan has been the best help of all to her, getting her really excited and talking it up. He loves school and will be a 2nd grader this year. They start on Monday and I miss them already.

Mollie Girl, I just had to throw this picture in.

So, there you have it in a nutshell, big changes, so forgive me, for having not been blogging, my mind has been mush for a while.