This sweet thing is now 5 months old. We feel so lucky to have her here with us and healthy! I think back at when she was born and the fact that she had to have oxygen for so long...and how grateful I am that she is healthy now. 

She definitely loves to cuddle. She will go to other people just fine, but if Dad or I are holding her when she sees someone she doesn't recognize she will cuddle right up next to us. 

Ashlynn has learned to take a nap wherever we are. She doesn't always sleep for a long nap and has a hard time moving from her car seat to her bed....but even when she doesn't get a good nap, she is still such a happy baby.

Looks like we have some random photos in here...here is Connor trying on his sisters slippers. We have also found him in the dress ups many times. I guess that is what happens when you have two sisters for siblings ;)

Kaylee and Connor weren't huge fans of sitting on grass when they were this age. Ashlynn could care less. In fact, she loves it. She will pull and pull the grass and then without fail the grass ends up in her mouth.

Another random post....Ha ha ha we were taking a picture of the hat Kaylee was trying on so she could see it and decide if she would wear it (we couldn't find a mirror). Didn't realize the background we chose ha ha

Ashlynn is quite an amazing eater. We haven't found anything she wont try. She loves baby food and is starting to eat it twice a day now.

She has also figured out how to scoot and crawl around. The kids are quickly realizing they have to keep their food up on the table where their sister can't get it

Ashlynn would crawl under the chairs and get stuck

This picture is random again...it goes with that story I told earlier about how Connor insisted he needed to wear socks with his water shoes

Look at those eyes!!! Ashlynn sporting her cute pink swim suit

Ashlynn will sleep from 7pm till around 4 am, eat and then go back to bed until around 7 am. We are still working on her naps. But she is taking a morning nap around 9-10 am and then another one at around 1pm and again at 4 or 5 pm (which is usually a quick nap since she goes to bed at 7pm).

 Our new ward (West Bountiful 2nd ward) had a field trip to Temple Square for all the primary kids. They had a sign up sheet for those that wanted to volunteer to drive the kids; but those that had Sunbeams coming were required to send at least one adult per family. I volunteered to drive and we only ended up with our kids and our neighbor Evie. I was a little nervous taking Ashlynn with on the field trip, but wasn't sure how I would work out having someone watch her since she would have to eat and I am still nursing her. So, I brought her along.

 They split everyone in different small groups where we each had a bag of treats as well as a scavenger hunt for the kids to do.

 After the scavenger hunt we all went and ate at the Lion House. The kids food was taken care of by the primary, but the adults had to pay for themselves. It was delicious! Everyone was so willing to help with Ashlynn while I got food and helped the kids carry their food. Don't get me wrong....I was exhausted taking Ashlynn and the three kids around the temple...but it helped a ton having others help!

 We then had plans to meet with Pumpkin. While the kids were waiting, they played hide and seek. ha ha it was funny. There was a tourist at the temple taking photos. She saw the kids hiding and kept laughing and pointing and then took a picture of them. She just thought they were so cute.

Pumpkin finally made it, gave us a hug and then had to leave soon after. I was worried because we had waited awhile for my dad to get there, and I knew my parking pass was only for 2 hours which we had passed while we were waiting.....but lucky us, when we went out of the parking they were letting everyone park for free! Sweeeeet!

We are getting closer and closer to having our new home built in West Bountiful. Everyday we took a picture of the house being built. Almost everyday there was something new which was so exciting to watch. People ask me all the time if I would ever build a house again....and right now the answer is No. 1- because we are planning on having this be our Forever Home and 2- it is SOOO stressful. 

Building the house was a rollercoaster of emotions. There were points where we were really excited and many where we were stressed, sad, and overwhelmed. They say building a house can be hard on your marriage. There were times we would disagree about something, but honestly- I think we did good at staying as a team which strengthened our marriage even more. There was one time that the builders said some negative things about me, and BJ jumped right up and stood up for me. It mean the World to me! Even though, it was a long and stressful road- I am grateful for the many things I learned about myself and the many things BJ and I learned about each other. 

We asked the builders to let us know when they lay the driveway so that we could come and put our hand prints in the cement. They didn't let us know ha ha BUT we had an amazing neighbor (Paige Bangeter) that called and let me know when they were there!

We attempted to have Ashlynn put her handprints in....but she just grabbed the cement

So, we did her footprint instead.

These kids were amazing throughout the building process. We toted them around to the carpet place, granite place, tile place etc... and they were such troopers. We are excited to make this house our home.

Ever since my knee surgery, my knees have been doing soooo much better. So, I decided to attempt a goal that I have set before but wasn't able to achieve due to my bad knees. I set the goal to run a half marathon in September. I found a 10 week training schedule that I decided to follow. It recommended being able to run 3 miles a few days a week consistently before starting the program. So, I started running and increasing my endurance so I could start the training.

One of the nights that I went running from the apartment it started to rain. It ended up POURING on my on my way home. It was harder running in the rain- but I LOVED it. It is so unbelievable being able to RUN. I am just sooo grateful that my knees were healed from that surgery. The orthopedic surgeon told me that I have arthritis in both knees, and running would just make things worse sooner. But since I have been unable to do a lot because of my bad knees for years- I just couldn't not go out and do those things I haven't been able to do... out of fear. I figure- I gotta enjoy it while it lasts!

My running time is slow, but I am not running the race for time. I am running to achieve a big goal, which I am excited to do!

We got Cherry Hill passes again this year! I was nervous since we now have three kids! But luckily, Ashlynn would take a nap at some point while we were swimming, and when she wasn't she loved  playing with Kaylee and Connor in the water. 

One day, the kids BEGGED to go swimming. We got all packed and ready and saw how cloudy it was outside. I tried and tried to convince the kids to do something else beside going swimming at Cherry Hill. It was windy and knew it would be cold. But the kids were determined to go!

Ha ha, so here is our stuff in the corner in my attempt to keep everything dry. 

I didn't even get in the water and had to put my jacket on it was so chilly.

The kids didn't even seem affected by the wind, and just played together in Pirates Cove.

The sun finally came out a little later and lucky us- the park was empty! 

The Dragon slide is still by far the kids favorite to do at Cherry Hill. Since Ashlynn is still too young to go down it, the kids would ask the life guard at the top to help them get on the mat- go down together- and then I would catch them at the end. They quickly mastered this, and then started going by themselves. By the end of the season they didn't even need me to catch them at the end. It was nice that they could go on their own- but I wished I had someone that could watch Ashlynn so I could go down with them! Dragon slides are the BEST!

It is definitely not ideal having three kids share a room and living at an apartment, but the kids always seemed to find the best in the situation. 

One of the biggest perks of the apartment was by far, the POOL! The kids loved swimming there, and it was so convenient just walking down the hall and down the elevator.

Kids being kids

The kids played a lot on the outside mini deck from the apartment. They made pretty good friends with a few different kids outside that they would go and visit. ha ha it was so cute.