Ashlyn

Best buds

 Love, love love this sweet heart. It seems like she just decided overnight when she turned 2 to become a big kid! Wha?! Who said that was ok with Mama anyway?

As always, Ashlyn is doing so many cute things all the time. It is so cliche but so true that I just keep thinking every stage she's at can't get any cuter, and then the next one is cuter! (and by the way, I bet most moms out there would agree with me that I pretty much gave up trying to avoid being cliche when I became a mom!)

She now wants to walk EVERYWHERE. Pretty much refuses to let me carry her until she's aboslutely exhausted. I have a firm "hand holding" rule--meaning she has to hold my hand or she loses her walking privilege--because she is also a runner! Most times it works pretty good. A couple of weeks ago she walked through my entire Walmart shopping trip, which was like an hour long. Just held my hand and trooped along as I pushed the cart with one hand. (you can imagine how fun that was for me after an hour's worth of shopping's stuff got put into that cart!)

She also really likes to climb in and out of her car seat alone. I'm not always onboard with this because if she's in the mood to "stop and smell the roses" (i.e. stop and examine every little crumb she notices on the seat, or point and tell me all the colors of everything she sees, etc...), it can take FOREVER which we don't always have when we're trying to get somewhere. But it is super cute. I especially love when she finally makes it to the door to lower herself out of the car... standing from the side all you can see is these 2 little feet slowly, slowly lowering out from under the door until they finally make it to the ground. I really should take a video sometime, it is hilarious.

She has mastered her colors--all the ones in the rainbow plus brown, black, and white. She really loves to point out the colors of everything to me. It is so fun. She also knows quite a few shapes--star, circle, square, triangle, "kite" (diamond- ha ha) and likes to point those out too. She can recognize a few letters--A, B, Y, T and O I think. The other day she found a little scrap of paper on the floor somewhere shaped like a Y and she brought it to me, saying "y! y!" it was so cute and I was pretty proud! :)

I will probably post more about this another time when I can get some pictures up, but we have been going to a mommy-and-me gymnastics class! It's at the gym I used to coach at, and taught by my super awesome old boss. It has really been Collin's big idea to put her into gymnastics for the past like, 8 months, but I insisted on holding off until she was at least 2! Ashlyn is really active and pretty much never sits still so the idea was to have a positive outlet for her energy and also to give her fun ways to learn some coordination. The first couple of classes went AWFUL! I was about in tears when we left. Finally the 3rd time things turned around, big time! And it has been fun ever since. In a couple of weeks Collin will be home for spring break and then I definitely plan on taking some pictures when they go to class together!

Ashlyn is talking more and more. She surprises us all the time with new words she knows. She is just starting to put 2 words together, sometimes. I am working reeeaaallly hard on trying to get a second word tacked onto her infamous "mmmoooorrreee?" .... it is slow going! But the other day she did ask for "more bubbles" and she asks for "more juice" sometimes. I'm sure it'll be a little sad when she really uses "more" in a sentence instead of just her go-to for whatever she wants... but for now I am ready to hear it a little less!!!! Oh, and one other thing... her pronunciation of "fork" pretty much has us trying not to laugh all the time. It just sneaks up on me. I'm like, "what did you say?" ha ha
She really likes to point out things she sees if she knows the word for them. When we're driving in the car I will hear "tree!" "clouds!" "car!" etc. and that happens really everywhere we go. She'll keep saying whatever it is she's pointing out until I acknowledge it and tell her good job. :)

A big thing she does ALL the time right now is galloping! She has gotten really good at "hop"ping (or "boing" is also what she says when she hops), and she'd do that a lot, but she also really likes to run. So she figured out that if she hops while she runs it is the perfect combination! So now she gallops everywhere she goes. It is so, so funny. I also need to get a video of that!

Also, like a week after her birthday she all of a sudden decided she has to pick out what clothes she wears. Wha!? That came out of nowhere! But she will seriously throw a FIT if I try to put something on her that she didn't have a "say" in choosing. So I now let her "choose" between 2 choices for clothes and she is perfectly happy with that. Also, there is one shirt (that I was super excited for her to wear, so it is a bummer!) that she is terrified of (I think just because it has a character on it and she's never worn a shirt with any characters that I can remember?), so if I really want her to wear something I will just have that shirt be the other choice so I know she'll pick what I want! ha HA! {So, so sad that I'm proud to have outsmarted a 2 year old.}

Well, those are the highlights. We are having fun as a family and really enjoying having a little more time together after the busy wrestling season. I will just add some pics with captions for your further enjoyment! (all 5 of you who read this!)

A big fan of "cooking" but it has to be with Mom's real bowls and spoons!

Enjoying the BEAUTIFUL weather we had last week!

I never remember to take a pic of her hair when it's in the "Transition" between bathtime and styling the following morning?! Anyway, this one was a little extreme due to different things I wanted for the following morning  but it always looks pretty funny like this. We love it. She actually will spend a long time admiring it in the mirror herself!

One of my friends gave Ashlyn these pretty necklaces for her birthday..... so right up her alley! She loves to put them on and off and say "pitty neckshash"

This is the face I get when I ask for a "cheese"

Warm enough to play outside without a jacket! (notice the "pretty  necklace!")

Debating the importance of the "stay on the grass" rule for playing in the front yard...

Actually got a real smile!

Although when she's cheesing for the camera she  also thinks she needs to keep coming closer and closer! 

Best picture ever!!! These curtains are a favorite game!

New hairstyle---I'm working on learning some flat-twisting techniques and this was my maiden voyage :)

Looking pretty in church clothes

She has really gotten good at walking around in Mom & Dad's  slippers and shoes!

{Someday I will teach Collin to use the zoom...} Love this girl and I need more pictures of the 2 of us together.

The xylophone is a constant *pretty* sound around here!

Ashlyn and Addison--these 2 get to play together a lot while Mommies  hang out!

Playing games on Daddy's phone... I love this!

Enjoying some "legit" Dulce de Leche given to us from Uncle Alex's mission... can you guess what she said after this? {"mmmmooooorrreeee?"}

Bad quality pic but she had a great time chillin' and eating fries for like 2 hours at Big Al's with the BSU wrestling team family watching the Pac-10's.

{I LOVE her face in this!!}  I finally got her birthday pic framed and put up. I can't even express how much I love this picture! And I love even more when she points to it in the morning and says "Chisis" :)

A couple more birthday party pics.....

Is this not so cute?! Uncle Alex was so nice to spend so much time with her while we were over in IF. Loved it.