Ayres Insanity

  I saw the sweetest post on Facebook today, I assume by an older mom who's kids are all grown, and it really resonated with me. It read; My children each year ask me the same question. After thinking about it, I decided I'd give them my real answer: What do I want for Christmas? I want you. I want you to keep coming around, I want you to bring your kids around when you have them, I want you to ask me questions, ask my advice, tell me your problems, ask for my opinion, ask for my help. I want you to come over and rant about your problems, rant about life, whatever. Tell me about your job, your worries, your sig nificant other. I want you to continue sharing your life with me. Come over and laugh with me, or laugh at me, I don't care. Hearing you laugh is music to me. I spent the better part of my life raising you the best way I knew how, and I'm not bragging, but i did a pretty darn good job. Now, give me time to sit back and admire my work, I'm pretty p...

  The holidays are in full swing! Anyone who knows me knows that I don't love Halloween, but I actually enjoyed it this year. Dan decorated the house, and we're talking SERIOUS decorations, and we spent the evening handing out hot dogs and hot chocolate while the kids trick-or-treated. Next year I'll be doubling the amount of hot chocolate I buy since it was such a big hit!   Thanksgiving was fantastic as always, is there really anything better than a lazy day full of food and family? We got 2 for the price of one this year, my family on Thanksgiving and Russ' the following Saturday, and the bonus prize? We got to watch our beautiful niece Amber (LuAnn's oldest daughter) open her mission call to the Independence Missouri Visitor's Center mission. So happy for her and so grateful for an amazing family who are such good examples to my children. So so much to be thankful for!   Two of my kids have November birthdays, (mating season in our house is obviously ...

  We had such an amazing summer, but the weather is cooling down and school is back in full swing now. Taevin has Mrs. Rigby in 6th grade, Ryler has Mrs. O'Rourke in 3rd grade, Z has Mrs. Ed in kindergarten, and Aspen is going to preschool with Mrs. Sherry twice a week. It's hard to believe that all of my babies are in school! I thought I'd be getting some alone time this year but Aspen is in morning preschool, and Zoey is in afternoon kindergarten. I was a little bummed at first but I'm really enjoying the one on one time with each of the girls. They are all growing so fast and I can't seem to keep up. Before I know it, Aspen will be in school full time and I'll be looking for a job... which by the way, scares the hell out of me!   Anyway, So that dog I mentioned a few posts ago, umm yeah, that definitely didn't work out. She jumped on everyone and barked at everything and nipped at the kids and peed in the house and ate EVERYTHING, even our deck. I ...

  Today was a perfect day.    Last night my super awesome neighbor Erin and I went to the Dixie Chicks concert, her husband won them at work and we were the lucky recipients! We danced and sang our hearts out and had a blast! Since we were pretty late, the kids slept over at uncle Josh & aunt Jessee's house, so I had the house to myself, which in theory sounds amazing but I was actually a bit lonely without my littles at home. Anyway, I had the morning to myself, so I went and helped clean the church, then I baked and baked, then I grabbed the kids.   When Russ woke up, we headed to the lake for a fun-filled afternoon with the whole family. The grown-ups chatted, the cousins played, and the weather was perfect. It's a nice feeling going to bed happy and content.

  Just over a week ago I lost a long time friend, Pam Soloman. It was almost 20 years ago that she hired me to work at The Coverlook at the Fashion Place mall, it became one of my favorite jobs and I was blessed to have Pam as an example in my life.    Over the years I have continued to work for her in her own studio, and she has taken many pictures of our family, including the birth of our little Aspen.    It was just a few weeks ago that I saw her for the last time, I went in to work for her & we chatted about doing family pictures soon. How grateful I am to have had that last opportunity to see her.   Attending her funeral was difficult and heartbreaking, but inspiring as well. As sniffles filled the room, her 3 boys talked about their love for their beautiful mama, and to hear her husband Scott talk about his sweetheart, and his knowledge of their forever family, I left inspired to be better. To show more unconditional love as she did t...

  It has been my new goal to blog more often, I don't keep a journal other than this so I'm trying to keep this updated because, who knows, maybe someday someone will be entertained by our simple little life.    Anyhow... we got home from our summer vacation just a week ago and I'm not gonna lie, it was totally a blast! We stayed at the Out n' About Treesort in Oregon, it's this fantastic little place in Cave Junction OR on the border of CA where every room is a tree house, how cool is that? We left on Tuesday evening and drove all night so the kids would sleep, then went river rafting on Wednesday morning, after that we got lunch and checked in to our tree house. There were rope swings everywhere, an outdoor pool, and lots of fun things for the kids to do. On Thursday morning Russ and Ryler went zip lining, then after lunch it was mine and Taevin's turn, he and I were able to conquer our fear together! I made sure to spend time every day co...

Some pictures of the casa for your viewing pleasure... Mi casa es su casa... ok, actually it's just mine ;)  The sitting room, or as I like to call it, the visiting teaching room Were we picky about this stair railing? Yes, yes we were The heart of our home, and usually messy This island deserves it's own zip code. Impressive but awful to clean The great room where we spend most of our family time The master bathroom. I hear double sinks save marriages Who wouldn't want a chandelier above the tub? An antique from grandma and one of my favorite pieces The master bedroom would be more of a masterpiece if only I could keep the kids out Oh the love (and hours) I put into these puff quilts for the girls! And every other detail of this girly room, including the sparkly walls... They're SPARKLY! Superhero room, check (Russ & I refinished that dresser, he even hand painted the knobs. Snaz...

  We have been in our home now for 7 months and are feeling pretty settled. I love this house, everything in it was hand picked by Russ and I. We have been painting one room at a time and I have designed every inch to my liking and it is everything I've ever wanted, in fact I never dreamed we'd be able to have a home like this and I feel so blessed.    The weather was quite good in February, and my neighbors were, to put it mildly, anxious to get the fence up, so we were in a pretty big rush to get the yard going before the fence would make getting machinery back there much more difficult, so we got right to work on landscaping... and I have learned that it is not my strong suit. I can work miracles on the interior of a home, but sadly, I do not have a green thumb. We were referred to a fantastic handyman named Grant who we hired out to do the whole project. He poured a concrete patio with a fire pit on one side of the yard, built a retaining wall along t...

  It's hard to believe that we've already reached a new year! My last post was over 6 months ago... and a crazy 6 months it's been!    Z turned 5 in August and we had the option to send her to kindergarten or let her have 1 more year of preschool, after much thought we decided that one more year of pre-k would be great, especially with a big move coming up. She is enjoying school and is beautiful and feisty as ever. She loves dresses and all things sparkly, and though she challenges me every day, I love her to pieces.   Ryler turned 8 in November and was baptized, I still can't figure out how my little boy has grown up so fast! The house, as suspected, went a month over schedule so Ryler was baptized in Farmington with 3 of his buddies in the ward. He kept telling me that he was going to do a cannonball into the font, which wouldn't have surprised me, but luckily he never followed through. Ryler is the tease in our house but charming nonetheless.   ...