Miss Ashlyn

She will literally do this for over an hour. I have left her in there a few times and just checked on her while she plays. She is in absolute heaven. Except last time she dumped out the jockey box and middle console.... that wasn't cool.

Awesome trick she figured out--can stick a thin spoon handle in between her two bottom teeth!

Tried to get a shot of the fro in its glory. It is so awesome. 

Having a good time walking in the leaves

November 12 marked our 2-year temple anniversary. Crazy it has been so long, but also seems like it's been even longer.

We celebrated by meeting Daddy at the park to play and have Subways. I love her little fingers around my neck in this picture. 

We made a trip to the zoo a few weeks ago, she was really insistent that I take pictures of her at pretty much everywhere we stopped.

She loves walking Lucy. Lucy hates it, but is a pretty good sport. 

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit last weekend, Ashlyn was in heaven having someone to read her stories and entertain her. Grandma really is the best story reader!

She was absolutely enthralled with this little train setup at Toys R Us. After over 30 minutes I had to pry her away and lead her out of the store screaming. Sometimes 2 year olds are so fun.

We had our first snow! It happened to be a day I was gone all morning but Collin took Ashlyn out to play in it before it melted. We still need snowpants and snow boots, as you can see. But they had a good time checking it out. I think she wasn't sure if she liked playing in it or not.

Collin also took her to the zoo that snowy day! (like I said, I was gone. This is what happens when I'm gone! :) )  Looks like she was having a great time there too.

A couple of cute things she does before I forget....
She pronounces things with a "t" at the end like a "p." Like, for scoot she says, "scoop scoop" and for notes she says "nopes." It's so cute.
She has taken to calling me "Mom".... guess I better get used to that. I thought "Mommy" went away way too fast, and I was sad when she started saying Mom instead! Oh well. It's pretty cute, except for when she doesn't want to take a nap and I hear "Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!" for like 30 minutes straight coming from her room.
She loooves to play tag and anything that involves someone chasing her.
Whenever I go in to get her up in the morning or from a nap, she always says "I'm awake! My eyes are open! I'm blinking!" Where she got this I have no idea? It's pretty funny though. Like I was wondering about that stuff??

Honestly she has been a little stinker the past few weeks. I thought that after the first couple of months the "terrible twos" really took a big step back and things went pretty well for most of the year. But it's like all of a sudden she feels the need to challenge authority on everything again, but worse?! It has been really frustrating! Beyond all the work of taking care of a kid and house and being a mom/wife in the first place (not even counting job here as well), having a kid who throws a fit any time you try to get her to do anything really makes that stuff seem so much harder! Ugh! And I only have one kid to deal with! So, luckily she is cute and she pretty much sleeps through the night. But I have really been at my wits end soooo many times in the past few weeks. Sigh.