6 Years....

Josh and I had a great weekend celebrating our 6 year anniversary!!! 

We spent Saturday and Sunday in Park city at Westgate and it was so relaxing and lots of Shopping!! 

Drove home and spent the rest of our Sunday with these two at my in laws. We love our boys so much! We are so blessed!! 

Our little family 

April 2012

April was so much fun! For Easter weekend we went camping, it was a little cool but as long as we stayed int he sunshine it was great! We went out in Tooele county just past Stockton ( i can't remember the name). My cousins have some private property where they run cattle and have made a nice little camp ground for family events. It was perfect, the kids could run and play as much as they wanted and we didn't need to worry about anyone bothering them. Josh's parents let us use their tent trailer and I swear that is the only way to go, trailer camping is so much easier than tent camping especially with little ones!! It was so nice to have a place for beckham to take naps in and be kept out of the cold. 

Tate absolutely LOVED the four-wheelers, now of course he thought he could drive them all by himself but luckily we were able to take him on lots of rides. 

I can't remember what he was doing here but it was hilarious, I am so glad I got a snap shot and the look on Taft's face is hilarious!! All the cousins had so much fun, we even got to watch movies in Matt and Ali's trailer and play cards friday night when it got cold out. It was so much fun!

Matt taking everyone for a ride in the (i can't remember what their called).... 

This is mater, the kids loved going for rides with Uncle Mike to moved dirt to make the four wheeler trails. 

Easter Sunday after church! All cleaned up from camping and in their new outfits! So handsome my boys!!!

 And this little man is so big!!! I love his chunkiness!! Tate barely had rolls but this little guy is covered in them and I just love it!! 

And he is on solids!! I know I waited a little while longer than I did with Tate but Becks has a very sensative tummy and gets diaper rash really easy so we have been slowly easing into. Sweet potatoes were a hit!! He also loves: carrots, peas, green beans, and squash. He loves fruit but he gets really bad diaper rashes with them so I am slowly easing into the sweet foods....

March 2012

March was a busy month for our family. Josh turned 29 on March 4th. We celebrated with going out to dinner and then spending Sunday (the actual bday) at his parents house.

March was a really nice month, we spent a lot of time outside riding bikes, riding horses and of course playing soccer. We got to go to Haylee's birthday party, it was a bowling party and Tate Loved it. I think he loves all sports. Once the music started up he was dancing in between his turns, it was really cute! He loves the spot light! We ended the month with a night at the rodeo with the VanVliets. Tate loved every minute of it. He now wants to ride bulls. 

Beckham turned 8 months old in March and wieghed 18 lbs. He is getting so big!! 

January & Febuary Update

We have been so very busy I don't even know where to begin. January came and went way too fast. We have the colds just like everyone else but we did get to make a trip to St.George and it was so fun. I had to go down there for work and Josh was going on a ride with his Dad in Nevada so Jess watched the boys for me. She was a life saver. Tate had an infection in his toe and even though he was on meds it started spreading up his leg so guess where we ended up one night at 10pm...yep good Dixie Regional Medical center ER, luckily Jess took Becks for me so he wasn't stuck there with us until 1am but they got his toe all fixed up and sent us on our way with a new antibiotic. I had them do a culture on the toe and it was staph again but not MRSA so that was good.
Tate and Becks had a lot of fun playing with the Bentley Bunch and TJ was so good to watch all the kids (6 total) so Heather, Jess and I could have a girls night (a much needed one!!). And we got to go see the Nortons, it was so good to spend some time with them, even though Mr.Tate was running around like a wild child. They are the best!!
Feb. brought on another quick trip to St.George but I didn't get to see my friends or family just work work work. But it was still so nice to go down and enjoy the nice weather. I love it there and wish I could visit more often. Febuary came and went faster than January, but we can blame it on the fact there are only 29 days...Biggest accomplishment of Febuary at our house....Drum Roll.... TATE IS POTTY TRAINED!!! He accomplished this pretty much all by himself, one day he decided I want to wear underware and that was it, a few accidents the first few days but it's been 2 weeks and he is a rockstar!!!
A few updates one by one:
Beckham: He is almost 7 months and I cannot believe it. He is a little chunker if you ask me but he is only in the 25% for height and weight (heavier than Tate ever was). He is rolling all over the place and is just starting solids. He had a pretty nasty virus last month but is all better and back to his happy self. He loves his brother and is such an easy going baby. We love him so much!!
Tate: Where to begin with this little ball of personality. He is so smart, too smart sometimes. He is hilarious and sweet. He is loud and full of life. He has his very own sense of style that I love so much. Currently as I sit here and type away he is running around in his white t-shirt, Cars underwear, 'soccer game socks' (aka babylegs) and his Gap slipon shoes. He loves his basketball shorts and his soccer game socks, every sunday after church he has to wear those two things and when we get to Josh's parents house they just laugh and laugh. Everything he loves has to do with Cars, Buzz lightyear & Woody, and sports. He is so active and suprises everyday with the things he says and does.
Josh: Josh is doing great, he didn't have a lot of work in the month of Febuary so he got to get a lot things done at home and spend sometime with the boys at home. He Graduated from Weber in December and is still working for Thueson Masonry, if you need brick work done give him a call. Its been so nice having him home in the evenings since there is no more school. I can't wait for this summer. Its going to be so fun! He is still playing soccer and riding his horse when the weather is nice. And I have lots of honey-do's for him when it gets warmer.
Ashlee: I have been very busy with work. I seem like I cannot get caught up. I have been working on special projects with some of the top executives so that has been really excited and really overwhelming. But I am so grateful for the opportunity I am getting. I also got called into the young womens as a beehive advisor and that has been fun. I am super excited to work with the young women and go to girls camp!

We have been so busy here in the Johnstun household but I am so grateful we are healthy and are all doing good.

Tis the season...To be Sick

Well the fall came and went and my family stayed pretty healthy, phew! thank goodness but it didn't take long for the month of December to bring all sorts of nasty bugs into my home.Wednesday Nov. 30th Tate started throwing up, by thursday night he was fine and all better. Friday night I started feeling not so hot, Saturday morning I woke up and was sicker than sick, I could barely move, freezing and weak and nasaues. So I stayed in bed all day and didn't get up until Sunday morning and I was feeling a little better but now Josh was down for the count. Monday came, Josh still sick..getting worse. Tuesday still sick so he went to the doctor, really severe strep throat. I decided to have Tate and Beckham tested, came back negative but Tate had a minor ear infection in one ear (where the tube is starting to fall out). So Tuesday night Josh spent the evening in the basement and me and the boys spent it upstairs.
Beckham spiked a fever Tuesday night but seemed to be doing ok so I took him to the babysitter. Tammy called around 1pm and Beckham wouldn't eat and felt hot again, temp 102!!! So I picked him up and took him to see our Pediatrician (who we love). Dr. Rose decided since he had a high temp, and his ears looked really infected to admit him and do some tests. They tried a spinal tap...twice...but couldn't get it. We are at McKay waiting for the cultures to come back tomorrow. When we first got here he was so lethargic and so spacey. It was really scary. But he started eating really well and he got some fluids and antibiotic in him and is looking much better.
Last night his white cell count was 19 and his CRP was 14. So we will watch him today and see how he does and then the cultures will be back tomorrow and they will do more labs but if all looks good he will get to go home. He is such a strong little guy!

Fall Recap 2011

We had a great fall season. A few highlights:

Halloween: Tate was the cutest little football player. He loves sports and was so excited to be a football player for Halloween. He actually really got into the holiday this year. I was sure if he would understand or not but he did.
Tate's favorite Halloween phrases: 'Spoookkyy' 'Happy Halloween'
Every time he would see a ghost or something Spooky he would say that and it was the cutest thing ever! He loved getting pumpkins at the pumpkin patch and of course loved all the Candy!!
Beckham wore cute Halloween Jammies, he was just too small for a costume this year. My mom came up and stayed with Beckham at the house so Josh and I could take Tate out. It was a lot of fun!

November:
Time Out For Women conference. My awesome Mother In Law bought us tickets to this conference in SLC and got us a room and the Courtyard Marriott. It was just us girls and it was so much fun! The conference was great and I learned quite a bit and wrote down a LOT of things I want to work on so I can be a better Wife, Mom and person in general. My favorite part was from Hilary Weeks and she talked about Negative thoughts vs Positive thoughts and by focusing on the negative you can become depressed and it will take over how you are feeling. But by focusing on the positive that will take over and you can become a happier person.
Thanksgiving: This year we visited both families but only ate once :) I drove the boys and my Brother out to Magna to hang out with my Mom, Grandma, Aunt and cousins in the morning. After visiting and playing we headed back to Clinton to have dinner with Josh's family. It was a lot of fun, all of Josh's siblings were there. Since it was such nice weather we got to ride the horses after we ate a delicious meal. Tate and Tucker played together like they were best friends it was really cute. After riding the horses we broke out the ads! I went black friday shopping just for the heck of it but got some deals at the mall, nothing major I just like going.
The day after Thanksgiving Josh and Tate went with the Southwicks to go pick out our Christmas tree and cut it down in Idaho. They left at 6am and didn't get home until 10pm, they had a very long day! I worked a little and then was able to go home and clean the house and spend time with Beckham, It was so nice.
The 26th was my 29th birthday. It was a great day! My mom came up and we took the boys to the salon with us so Josh could sleep. He was up all night doing finals. We had fun at the salon, and then headed home got some pizza and decorated for Christmas. Josh's parents said they would watch the boys for a few hours and so Josh and I went and did some shopping and got shakes. It was the best birthday spent with the Guys I love.

Organizing My Chaos

It seems like forever since I have sat down and wrote my thoughts, I don't really even know where to begin. Our lives have become so crazy lately and every weekend I tell myself I am going to sit down with a calendar and get our life organized so that during the week it won't feel so overwhelming or chaotic. But Friday night comes, and I try to get a start on chores or laundry or we run errands, then quickly Saturday morning comes and as Josh would say drill sargeant Ashlee kicks in and its clean clean clean until I realize oh shoot we need to go Grocery shopping (if it didn't get done friday night) because we have no milk, bread, or anything for dinner next week. Then we come home eat dinner (probably someithing we picked up on the way home from the store because why would I want to cook with all the food I just bought) bathtime bedtime for Tate, I feed Beckham and fall asleep snuggling him on the couch. Wake up and it's Sunday. How does time fly so quickly? I really need to get organized in my time, I have so many ideas and am determined on this upcoming long thanksgiving weekend to put them into play. I think if I was more organized I would feel so overwhelmed at times or feel like I am failing at keeping a tidy home or not being a good friend, sister or whatever else it may be at one time or another. I went to a conference this weekend and there was a lot of reflection on myself and I know that I am not living to my full potential. I am very blessed in my career, it seems everytime there is any chance for me to be layed off or placed in a different position I receive more repsonsibility and am given new challenges and I think it's time for me to recognize that as a little sign from my Heavenly Father that here is the path I am laying for you it is time for you to stop floating through it and being just mediocre, It is time for you to put in all your efforts and challenge yourself to be better and learn all you can about everything. So that is what I am going to do. My work just went through another merge and again I thought for sure I would be heading back to a store as a Front end Manager or something, which would be fine, working back in a store would be FUN! Especially this time of year, it is my favorite time of year in retail but nope I was told I will be staying and keeping up my responsibilities adding to 21 more stores to my current 26 and that I will be adding some pretty important roles to my already busy work week. At first I didn't want to have to learn more, I was nervous and not ready for the change but now I am grateful I look forward to this new challenge and yes I know it is going to require some long days and maybe even a little work on the weekends but I know this is part of my plan and my having such a great job I get to help support my family and I am very very grateful for that.
Other areas of my life I am working to improve, is the relationship I have with others, I have felt that my time at home is so limited that I don't put much effort or time in my relationships with my siblings, mom, Grandparents or even close friends like I would like to. Since I am away from my boys 5 days a week for 10-11 hours a day I am very selfish with my time once I do get home and on the weekends but I miss them I miss seeing my Sisters and Brothers and my Grandma who I love more than anything and my Mom and Step Mom my nieces and nephews. And my girl friends. So I am going to get organized in my week so that on the weekends we can go see those we love so much!!!