Update from the Past Year "2010"

Darren: He is still working at HomeFurnishingDirect as the Manager. He has been kept busy with work and also with Church Callings. In 2010 he went from being put in the Stake Youngmens as the First Counsler to being the President of the Stake Youngmens, also meaning he got made A High Priest, which also means he gets put on the high Counsel in our Stake. Then about in June he got put in the Bishopric for our ward. These different callings he has been given has help him to grow and be a better person.

Ashley: I still am staying home trying to raise our boys to be good boys. Which gets pretty hard some days. I had just served in primary this past year as the first counsler and just got released. I am hoping that now I can get Chase to attend Nursery since I don't have a calling yet. This past year has also been a good learning experience for me as well. Being that Darren has had to be gone alot more for his church meetings, I have been able to get the hang of being a single mother at church and at home. I have seen the blessing that have come to our family from Darren being willing to serve.

Mason: He has started Kindergarten and he loves it. He is learning to read, do math, spell, and count in all different ways. He says his favorite part of school is PE. He goes to school a full day 8:10am - 2:20pm. He also rides the bus which has been nice to not have to fight the school traffic. He has had to go to the Dentist alot; by getting a tooth pulled and then getting several teeth filled. He had to be put to sleep because he was so scared of going to the dentist and having to get the shot that he would freak out. So in order to get all the work done that needed to be done we put him under. But I think that we have finally got his bad teeth under control because it has been about 5 months and we are not seeing holes in his teeth like we used to. He also finally learned to swim by himself and not be scared. He has also been a big help to his mom with his brother. He played tball and soccer this year and did really good. He really loves sports. He also like to ride his bike up and down the street in the neighborhood with my friends that live down the street.

Chase: He had to get tubes put in his ears on April 9, 2010 right before his birthday. But that has been our life saver for him. He was not able to really talk the first of the year and now he can say sentences. He also is better behaved since getting the tubes in. Dr. Downs told us when he first saw Chase that by getting the tubes done Chase would be a different boy. We didn't believe him until we saw him change little by little which is a good change. Chase still doesn't go to nursery but hopefully that will change soon. He started a twice a month preschool that he likes to attend with his mom of course. He has also had different people come to work on his different issues he has like sensory. I think is getting alot better with that as well. He loves his brother Mason and wants to do everything that he does. He has started to ride a scooter to be like Mason.

This is most of the high lights I can remember from 2010 and we look forward to seeing what the New Year brings to us and our family.

SNOW DAY!

We woke up on Wednesday to find snow covering our grass and trampolin and so since it doesn't snow much you play with what you get.........

Then today Darren had his day off and we went up on Mingus Moutain to play in some deep snow!

We had alot of fun but did get really cold. We got on the mountain and played for about an hour and then were ready to go. It finally felt like Christmas with the snow every where.

Christmas Day December 25, 2010 Saturday

This year we decided to go away for Christmas since it fell on a Saturday and Darren wouldn't have to work the next day. Which only happens every 7 years.
MASON left a note for Santa (that he wrote by himself) it reads," Santa here are your cookies. love mason."
Mason must have been good this year because he got the drum set he wanted and Chase got a Fast bike....

Waking up at 5:30am and seeing what we got

Mason wanting to play his drum set but everyone was still sleeping.

FINALLY time for Presents

My Grandma & Grandpa Howard

This is my Grandpa Norton

All the cousins together

I was trying to get a picture of the boys at home showing off our tree and what they got for Christmas.

Mason got: Drum set, Lighting Mcqueen Laptop, Remote Control Helicopter,Punching bag & gloves, Scooter, Walkie Talkies, Puzzles, Clothes, View Finder, & The Mater Movie.

Chase got: a Fast Bike, Lighting Mcqueen Laptop, Remote Control Car, Woody & Jessy, Mickey Mouse race road, Puzzles, Clothes, View Finder, & Toy Story 3 Movie.

They also got a Trampolin!

Christmas Eve

We had this year the traditional Christmas Eve party at Derek and Becky Rapiers' (my cousins) house. Mason dressed as one of the 3 wise men and Chase was a Shepperd (which lasted 3 min).

Chase loves to give hugs and he is hugging McCoy his cousin. We have to tell him not to hard.

Here Mason is bring his gift to baby Jesus

We had enjoyed good mexican food before the Nativity and then we had a Pinata to finish out the party. The boys had alot of fun getting to meet new cousins. It also brought back memories for me as a kid enjoying these same traditions.

Zip Line

We stopped by Grandma and Grandpa Sparks on Christmas Eve to visit with them and their neighbors had made a ZIP LINE in there back yard. They were nice enough to invite us over to try it out. Mason getting ready to go............

Chase didn't want to go and then all of sudden he did. So Darren took him to the top....

Getting on......

Here he goes......

He went about 3 more times and then all of sudden he went and then just let go of the rope toward the end. Luckily he was almost to the end that it didn't hurt him to bad.

That was alot of fun for Mason and Chase. Mason said," I wish we had a big backyard to build one."

Meeting Santa one last time

We got invited to go to the "Wills" family house for a Special Guest! This time the kids did great!

Asking for a DRUM SET.....

We are all in SHOCK after the last time trying to see santa. Chase was a really big boy and sat on his lap!

He asked Santa for a "FAST BIKE".....

Then Santa gave them there presents and when Chase opened his and saw it was legos he said to us,"This is NOT a FAST BIKE!" We all just started to laugh.

It was alot of fun to have the boys be able to talk to Santa right before Chritmas to make sure that they were on the good list. Also nice to make sure nothing had changed with what they were wanting.

Things that have gone on lately

This month of December has gone by pretty fast... We had our ward party and they had the bishopric do a play about the 3 Wise Men. The primary kids sang Away in a Manger. Then it wasn't to long that we all have started to get sick. First it was Chase......

Then About the same time as Chase got sick I hurt my neck. It was so bad that Darren had to get my out of bed and help out alot. Mason wanted to try on the neck brace they gave me to help with not moving my neck.

He sports that brace alot better than I did. We also had Masons school do there Christmas program but we weren't able to get a good picture of him but he was dressed as an elf. We did get it on video. Now Darren is sick as I write this post and there is only 3 days till Christmas. I am just hoping that he is well and Mason & I don't get it so we can enjoy Christmas.

Chase and his scooter

Chase has started wanting to ride a scooter everytime Mason is riding his bike with his friends. Since Chase doesn't have a bike yet he is content to ride the scooter.

We are making him wear a helmet and this is the only one we have right now, which is a little big.