Asher's Birthday

Asher turned 5!

I feel like 5 is the age when they start to really seem older.

He's not a little kid anymore!

Just a "few" photos we took

A common Asher face

Another common face we see alot of - mischevious

opening presents

He decided he must have a ninja turtle birthday party.  

I don't know how he got so into ninja turtles, but they are one of his current obsessions.  Leo is the favorite, to be exact.  I really don't care for them all that much and won't be too sad when this phase, hopefully, passes!

Pretty happy with how his cake turned out, despite that one eye!

He was happy with it!

Birthday party craziness.  A whole band of boys played pin the mask on Leo, and became ninja's to get the bad guy balloons with their staffs and throw their ninja stars.  But lets be realistic, mostly there was alot of running and sword hitting and gun noises.

I think Emry enjoyed the cake too.

Asher got a sleeping bag for his birthday and so he and Kason camped in a fort that night

And a blackmail picture?!

A little bit about Asher:

-His big, bright blue eyes get me every time.

-He has a pretty happy go lucky, care-free attitude and can usually be seen with a goofy grin on his face.

-He is sweet and is my child who will randomly come up to me and give me a hug or kiss for no reason at all.

-Sometimes that care-free attitude manifests itself with...carelessness...obliviousness...forgetfulness to remember/pay attention to the rules

-He's still stocky - 50% for height, and 75% for weight.
-He goes full force, he floors the snowmobile, he rides his bike way too fast the first time.
-I never really know what hilarious thing is going to come out of his mouth. I'm nervous sometimes, but secretly excited to hear what funny thing he is going to come up with.
I asked him some questions:
-Favorite animal: Bald Eagle
-Favorite food: Alfredo
-Favorite color: Blue
-Favorite sport: Basketball
-What do you want to be when you grow up: a basketball player
-Favorite superhero: Hulk
-Who do you want to be like? Helaman
-Then he said, don't you want to know my favorite poisonous animal?  of course! Gila Monster

We love our Asher!

Rattlesnakes!

We got to go to a rattlesnake class!  

The boys thought it was one of the best things ever. 

 A friend of ours lives a little ways out in the country and always has this man clear out the rattlesnake dens near her house.  Knowing there were rattlesnake dens around would  probably be enough to make me move, but I'm glad she's tough so we could have such a fun class.

We learned about the rattlesnake that lives in Montana and what the rattle sounds like - it sounds like the scratchy bug noises you hear when you go hiking.  Now you can be as paranoid as I will be next time we go hiking.

baby rattlesnake - you can't hear their rattle yet very well, but they have just as powerful of venom

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We also had one beautiful day that felt warm-ish.  72 degrees doesn't really count as warm in my book, but it still felt great.  It has since snowed twice.  Oh well, it let us know that summer is coming!

The boys play basketball out back for hours at a time.

Easter

Before we get to Easter, here's a picture of Asher and Emry keeping occupied while Kason does school.  Emry puts this crown and skirt on every day and even wants to wear it when we go places.  It was her Halloween costume and she's just rediscovered it.  Also, notice the one sock on, one sock off look. This also seems to be a permanent fashion statement.  I'm always hunting for that other sock.

Easter was a special one this year.  We got to go to Isaac's Grandma's funeral and it really helped us remember what Easter is really about and what we are celebrating.

And we did dye Easter eggs too

His bald eagle.  The kid is obsessed with them.

A Little Bit of Everything

"Spring break" in Montana

I don't think we're anywhere near spring.

I don't know if I've ever been so cold as I was this day. 

It didn't get above 0 degrees and was something like -20, -30 with windchill.

Painful. Literally.

Thankfully, we got our stove working and we curled up with a blanket and a book...and a nap

Slowly waking up on a Saturday morning

We actually went on a little family trip! 

It was seriously so, so fun.

We went to my parents' time share in West Yellowstone for the Kids n Snow activities that were going on (free, even better) and had a great time.

Swimming, hot tub, sledding, king bed, Hunger Games, snowmobiling, and snowcoaching.

It was so fun to go do something together and have a little respite.

So excited to swim

 Snowmobiling.
 They had a kids' size one that they could drive around.  It was so cute and I'll admit, I was a little jealous.

Kason started off nice and slow, just like he was told to do...maybe even a little too slow.  Asher roared right off...a little faster than I was comfortable with at first.

concentration

Look at Asher's feet.  That's how he kept them his whole first try til we got him to put them on the foot rests.

sledding fun

We went in to Yellowstone Park on a snowcoach, bascially a big van with tank-like treads for wheels.

We saw a bunch of elk and got to get out and take a picture of this one...

...until he came right across the river to us and we had to get back in.

Bison.  

We learned that in North America it's correct to say bison and not buffalo

We actually got stuck behind some for quite a while.

And Asher's favorite: a bald eagle. 

 I wish I'd had the bigger lens, but it was cool to see one.  Our driver was awesome and took the time to help Asher see it, who was so excited once he did.  

Side note: Asher loves bald eagles and Emry knows that.  I guess we all know that.  One day Emry was downstairs and she wanted Asher, who was upstairs, to come color with her.  So, all of a sudden I hear her yelling, "bald eagle, Asher, bald eagle!"  Of course there was no bald eagle to be seen, but apparently she has already learned the art of fibbing to get what she wants.

And just back at home

Refused to take a nap in her bed, but happily zonked out when we made her a bed on the floor.

As long as it's a nap I'm not complaining.

SEVEN

Kason turned seven soon after we got back from the homecoming/wedding fun.

He was super excited to have a superman party.

We had a party with fun friends and played superman spider web to find kryptonite, pin the logo on superman and had cake and ice cream.

And opened presents, of course.

Kason is such a good boy and seven is starting to sound pretty old.

He's very responsible and mature.

He's pretty emotional and the tears can come a little too easily sometimes.

He loves to shoot hoops, play soccer, and watch sports with Dad. 

He has really come to love reading and I often find him on the couch reading one book or another.

He's a good big brother

Some questions I asked him and his answers:

Favorite color: orange

Favorite food: salmon and alfredo

Favorite sport: probably basketball

Favorite book:  Little critter

Favorite superhero: superman

Favorite scripture story: Moroni defends Zarahemla

Favorite school subject: I think math, I really like math

Favorite animal: I have two, rattlesnakes and cougars

Favorite thing to do with Asher: play football and play cars alot

What do you want to be when you grow up: a missionary

If you could have a super power, what would it be: laser eyes

Favorite candy: kit kat

Favorite vegetable: carrots

stats:

about 49 lbs., and 50 in tall

We love our Kas-O, K dizzle firizzle.