High School Musical

Kimber and I went with Tami, Hallie, and Tami's mom, to see the Broadway production of High School Musical. We were only willing to buy the cheapest seats so we ended up on the 2nd to last row of the theater. Which is VERY high up there. Luckily, we were able to grab some seats about 10 rows in front of us after the intermission, and it was amazing the difference it made. But how do you justify spending more than $30 on a ticket for a 6 and 7 year old?

Anyways a great time was had by everyone. We sang along to all the songs, I think Kimber wanted to get up and dance. They really enjoyed the singing parts, but had a hard time following the speaking parts. I was disappointed that it was so hard to hear what they were saying. A lot of it was over Kimber's head so she kept asking what?, why is everyone laughing?, what did that mean?

Here are some pictures we were able to take before the you-can't-take-pictures-in-here-guy stopped us.




This last picture is of the girl who played Gabriella and the guy who played Mr. Bolton. It's not the best picture, but the girls thought it was pretty fun to see some of the actors/actresses.

Tami and I thought we were doing pretty good, being great moms...I mean how many girls get to go to a Broadway play when they are 7. Well, we were wrong...the white car you see in this picture is actually a limo...no not for one of the actors, but for 4 five-years-olds dressed in shiny East High cheer uniforms (the school from the play for those of you who don't speak High School Musical). How could we beat that?????

Anyways it was great. I just wish we could do more things like that...we really need to be rich!

Trying to Teach Alli

Alli had on a pretty cute outfit the other day and I decided to take a picture of it. After I took this picture I asked her to pose for me.

She wasn't sure what to do so the girls showed her.

Here is her interpretation of their lesson:

Don't you love it? :)

Ask and Ye Shall Recieve

Thanks Tami!
A new date and sleeves! Look Konrad, you're taller! :)

(see previous post if you are confused)

Gotta love the dresses from back in the day....

So a friend of mine, who made me swear not to tell where the dress came from, gave this dress to Kimber last week. She wore it to a dance in high school...don't you love it???

The conversation started when this friend was asking what to do with her old prom dresses, I said "Sell them on Craigslist", she said I don't think anyone would buy them. Later that day when I was at her house she was showing me the dresses...I did have to agree that they were a tad out of style. But I said, "Watch this..." I then showed it to Kimber who fell in love with it immediately and really really wanted. So now this beautiful princess dress is ours. The dress lives on! If only she had kept the pretty pink bow/flower thing she wore in her hair (to hold up one side), Kimber would've been in heaven.

This made me think back to a dress that I wore my sophomore year to Homecoming. My mom made it, and did a wonderful job, but every time I look at the pictures I think to myself...why did I want a white dress? I look like I'm about to get married. I really liked the dress, I should have chose a different color. I think my mom even tried to convince me of that, but I was determined!

I should have went with Nick, the guy in white, we would've looked perfect!

This next picture I just had to post b/c I love it. I know, my sleeves fell off...oops!, but the background is REAL. I'm talking a real sunset, a real sailboat, real water. Isn't it gorgeous? Too bad I didn't go with Konrad to Prom (just in case Erik reads this...don't be offended, I'm glad I went to Prom with you...there was never a better Prom date or Prom King...yes ladies, you're looking at Liberty High's class of '97 Prom Queen :)), if I went with Konrad then I could display this picture. Maybe Tami can photoshop him in for me! :) Add some sleeves for me too, so I'll have less explaining to do to the girls!!!!

That dress was pretty weird too...purple at first glance, but then green if any light shone on it.

The dresses everyone wore when I was in highschool were very short, very strappy or strapless, and very sequeny (not a real word, but hey, you get the idea). So I always stood out in my longer dresses and thicker straps. The rule in our house was that you had to be able to wear a normal bra with the dress. I don't know what the rule will be in this house...

Come on ladies, let's see pictures of your Prom/Homecoming dresses....

Sam and the Salamander

Sam was at the Liechty's on Monday and they, or I should say SHE, caught this salamander. Apparently Colin was yelling at her "Don't touch it Sam, it might hurt you", meanwhile my little girl managed to grab the thing.

Fun in the Sun

We had some sunny, warm/hot days last weekend. It was great. Although I didn't get to enjoy it much b/c I was STUPID and sat in the sun on Thursday to read my book and COMPLETELY FRIED myself!!!! I have never been so sunburned (even worse the L.A. Michelle). Talk about pain. Anyways, the girls had a great time playing in the water.

Fun at Coulon:

(Sam was insane...you can tell by the look on her face that the water felt like ice water!)

Sprinkler at Gma and Gpa Crabtrees:

Hopefully there will be many more days like this to come!

Taco Soup Recipe

I've had a few friends ask for this recipe so I thought I'd just post it here for them to find.

1 lb ground beef
Taco Seasoning

Cook the beef just like you are making tacos. Brown it, then add Taco Seasoning and water. Just like the package says.

Put cooked meat in a crock pot (or you can just do it in a big pot on the stove)

Add the following:
2 cans tomato sauce
2 cans cream style corn
3-4 cans beans (I use kidney, black, pinto, and white beans)
more taco seasoning...I think I use about 1/4 c, but that's just a guess. (I just have the big container of seasoning from Costco/Sam's so I just pour some in)
1 tsp cinnamon

Stir it all together. If using a crock pot cook on high until warmed through. At least 2 hours. In a pot on the stove it doesn't take as long (probably a 1/2 hour), you just want to heat it up and let it simmer, to mingle flavors (wow, I could be Rachel Ray :)).

Once you are ready to eat, add sour cream, cheese, green onions, tortilla chips, avacado, salsa, whatever you want...to individual bowls (don't put it all in the big pot :) ).

It makes a lot, so you can either serve a crowd or freeze for use another time. I freeze it in the ziploc containers (not bags), thaw it out enough so you can dump it in the crock pot (can still be completely frozen, just needs to loosen from the container) and cook on low for 4-5 hours or high for 2-3 (my estimate...)

Pretty easy!

Tagged

Here goes:

5 things I was doing 10 years ago:
1. Just moved back home for the summer after my first year at BYU
2. Working at a daycare
3. Writing all my missionary friends who were on their church missions
4. Hanging out with my friend Katie, enjoying the single life...dances, movies, boys!!!
5. Deciding to change my major from nursing (couldn't handle all the chem I would have had to take)...to early childhood education. I almost dropped out of BYU to go learn how to do hair...but never did. I still want to do that...maybe someday!

5 things on my to do list:
1. Get my business license
2. Declutter my house...which is hard when I spend my weekend garage sale shopping to find stuff for preschool. I need some major storage solutions...if only I was super rich and could afford them!
3. Read another book (I've read two in the last two days...I love to read!)
4. Figure out how to entertain Samantha without having to call in reinforcements (i.e. Colin) :)
5. Figure out solutions for some Primary issues

5 favorite snacks/food:
1. Peanut Butter Chex Mix
2. Tex-Mex eggrolls
3. White chocolate chip cookies
4. Q'doba/Taco Del Mar/Cafe Rio bean burritos
5. Taco Soup

5 things I would do if I was a billionaire:
1. Pay off the Texas building and then forget about it
2. Go on at least 2 cruises a year, maybe 3...2 with just Konrad, 1 with the girls
3. Buy a house/cabin on a lake, and a boat of course
4. Open a big preschool
5. Shop in the front of stores...versus the back where all the clearance racks are :)

5 bad habits:
1. Using way too much attitude and a bad tone when I talk to Konrad
2. biting my fingernails
3. having the need to do everything by myself
4. telling my children no to silly things (like when they ask if they can play dress-up...or if they can play in the sprinklers...or if I'll read them a story)...I am getting better though
5. relying on my email/blog world a little too much...ooh and craigslist too

5 places I have lived:
1. Kearns, Ut
2. Holladay, Ut
3. Renton, Wa
4. Provo, Ut
5. Covington, Wa
(wow...I haven't lived very many places...that's all of them!!!)

5 people I tag:
1. Stephanie Dance
2. Stephanie Jones
3. Angela Leder
4. Stacy Lunsford
5. Merrilynn Hansen

For Shaun

I bet he never thought he'd see his son playing baseball decked out like this...

I guess that's what happens when your best friend is a girl! (the bat is purple too...gotta love it)

Too Much Stuff

So I came home from the Lakeland Hills garage sales feeling pretty disgusted with myself. The last few weeks I've really been trying to clear out stuff from our house. Why did I go buy more??? I honestly felt so guilty for spending money on stuff we really didn't need. Oh well, I'll do it again.

Here is how packed the car was. This is all the stuff that my sister, Stephanie, and I bought...




Can you believe that? (We were going to stop at Albertson's on the way home to get some 10 for10 dollar cereal, but we decided it wouldn't fit in the car!) Oh well. All the big things were my sisters. I came home with clothes and shoes for the girls...lots of them. They were happy! I did get the purple bike for free (Konrad might divorce me for bringing in ANOTHER bike into our already packed garage), a nice cooler on wheels, a nice duffel bag suitcase that has wheels, a car carpet for preschool, a few toys/crayons for preschool, a bulletin board and a few books for the girls. I did bring them home a bag full of Barbie stuff, but those were the only toys I got for them...they definitely don't need more toys. Infact they've been selling their toys on craigslist and making some good money. (well good money to a 4 and 7 year old)

Oh yeah, I also ended up going up on Friday as well, to the presale garage sales, and found the final 4 chairs I needed for preschool, some musical instruments for preschool, and a couple magnadoodles. I dragged the girls with me that day. They actually really enjoy garage sale shopping...it's me who doesn't like all the buckling and unbuckling it involves! Once Alli's in a booster we'll be all set!

Anyways, even though I felt the guilt, I'll do it again next year! I LOVE IT!!!!

Garage Sale Shopping

Anyone interested in doing some garage sale shopping on Saturday? It's the big Lakeland Hills garage sale...the sale of the year! There are ton's of houses full of all kinds of junk that we all REALLY need!

Just beware...I am looking for preschool supplies (craft stuff, a teeter totter (which I will fight for), a slide, animals, etc), if you are looking for something similar it might be better to shop a different street than me, I wouldn't want any bad feelings to come between us!

Let me know if you are interested. I think my car is full b/c I have to take out a seat so I can fit all my treasures in, but we can set up more cars to go.

A Bad Day for Ashlee

So today I was driving to Kimber's school, eating a butter toffee rice cake (which are very yummy by the way) and as I bit down it hurt my tooth. Nothing too bad, but just a little pain. Then I grabbed a pretzel (man, you'd think the school was hours away...I had TWO snacks...sad!) so anyways as I'm eating a pretzel I crunched on something REALLY hard. I thought to myself "What in the world was in that pretzel". But to my astonishment the next moment as my tongue runs across the inside of my teeth I notice a big chunk missing...yes, there is a big chunk of tooth missing from my back molar. Can you believe that? And to think I swallowed it. Gross. I'll go to the dentist tomorrow to get it fixed. It isn't causing any pain so I didn't feel the need to rush in today.

The second bad moment happened at the end of our family night. I was trying to bear my testimony about families and how important they are, etc., meanwhile the girls are bouncing around the floor and getting into the stuff we'd used during the lesson. So what do I do...I smack Kimber's hand (I should let you know that we had asked them SEVERAL times to stop). Yes, in the middle of bearing my testimony about how great families are I smacked my child's hand. Sad!!!!

Hopefully tomorrow will be better! (not that it was really a bad day...just two bad moments...the rest the day was great, mainly b/c it was SUNNY and WARM!!!!!)

Konrad

Many of you know that Konrad has been gone since Wednesday. He went to L.A. to watch the NCAA Men's Volleyball tournament....yes, he is that obsessed. Anyways, he actually worked as well, so it wasn't a complete vacation for him.

I have to share a funny story though...one about the dumb (sorry, no other way to put it) choice someone, who will remain nameless, made.

Once upon a time there was a little blond girl, who is 7 years old. She woke up Tuesday morning with a very goopy and very pink eye. (Yes..she got it AGAIN) Luckily, we already had some eye drops in the house so we started using them (at least we didn't have to go to the doctor again). Now sometimes, when someone around you has pink eye, your eyes start to itch and water and in your mind you think, "I have pink eye". Most the time you just ignore those thoughts and go about your day as normal. That isn't the case for one individual that lives in our house. His eyes started bothering him and "they were watering like crazy" (or so he said). So this person went downstairs and grabbed the only thing in the entire house that is completely contaminated with pink eye germs. Yes, you guessed it, the eye drops. This person made the decision, without any consultation, to put eye drops in his eyes, to 'prevent' him from getting pink eye.

Said person left early in the morning Wednesday.

On Thursday, guess who's eye was goopy? That's right. So now, he is in L.A. supposed to be meeting with 7 or 8 different hospitals, with a goopy eye and no doctor. Well luckily they do have doctors in L.A. so he was able to get some eye drops. He did have to do all his appointments from his hotel room, b/c the hospitals didn't want him coming in and giving it to everyone (mainly they were worried about any patients with bad immune systems). So he traveled all the way to L.A. to do what he could have done from the comfort of our own home!

At least he got to watch his volleyball!

p.s. He still claims (or did as of two nights ago) that he already had pink eye and the drops prevented it from getting bad as quickly, which is why it didn't show up until Thursday. Sorry bud...you gave it to yourself!