Happy New Year and New hobbies

I remember looking at all the crafty stuff my mom did when I was a kid, and never thought I would enjoy those same things. But ever since I became a mom, I feel so domestic and suzie homemaker "ish". I actually asked for a sewing machine for christmas and I have been busy learning how to do it. Here are my first attempts, thanks to Heidi, Katie and my mom for some great tutorials. I can't take all the creative credit. The bird mobile is inspired from Pottery Barn Kids and Anthropologie window displays, and the hostess apron is Heidi's pattern. Reupholstering my glider was a must and matches much better.

We had a wonderful time in Utah for christmas. It was so fun to see all the family.Thanks again to you all for being great hosts and for the many gifts you all piled on us. Kennedee loves her princess dress and "memo"(elmo) and Ryan and I haven't been able to get off ROCK BAND. It's addicting
.

Happy Holidays !

Since we are not sending a newsletter with our holiday greeting card, You'll have to get it here.

Ryan is still working with Countrywide or shall we say, Bank of America. After many layoffs, he luckily still has a job and that is all we can really ask for. He continues to stay busy with surfing, running, working with the young men, and being a great daddy to Kennedee.

I,Ashley, work 15 hours a week. I used to train 15 personal training sessions, but I cut down to only 8, but now teach 7 classes. It gives me an excuse to workout. I am teaching spinning, aqua aerobics, boot camp, Weight lifting, and pilates. It keeps me busy and I love to stay busy.

Kennedee is 21 months and is wild as ever. She loves to climb, run and just be silly. She is learning several words and is now just starting to watch a little bit of Elmo and playing with baby dolls. She just got her ears pierced. Ouch!

We are so grateful, epecially this time of year, for all the many blessings that we continue to recieve. We are ever grateful for wonderful friends and family and their support. We are grateful for all the wonderful accomodations we have. We are grateful for our health, for our freedoms, and peace in our lives. We are grateful especially for Christ and his love for our family.

We wish you all very happy holidays and all the love and joy in the world.

Love,

the Roberts

Christmas Stockings

If any one is interested. My Sister In Law is so talented and makes gorgeous stockings. She sells them on etsy.com. She can customize the size, the pattern, the colors, and even add a NAME. Please see some more of her examples here (http://emileeschristmasjoy.blogspot.com/.

My Own Font !

click here to see it. It is called "K*Rayn" . It is probably the 10th one down or so. If you would like to download it or other fonts click on download from the site. Then you must go into your control panel and choose "fonts". (make sure you are in classic view). Double click on the fonts folder. Chose File>Install new font. On the drop down list I chose C Drive> mommy(user)>my documents>fonts. Be sure the "copy fonts to fonts folder" is checked. Click on the select all button and click OK. (Oh, and I forgot, you first have to unzip your fonts before you can attempt to install them).

THis will make you CRY and choke up

*Just for this morning, I am going to step over the laundry, and pick you up and take you to the park to play.

*Just for this morning, I will leave the dishes in the sink, and let you teach me how to put that puzzle of yours together.

*Just for this afternoon, I will unplug the telephone and keep the computer off, and sit with you in the backyard and blow bubbles.

*Just for this evening, I will hold you in my arms and tell you a story about how you were born and how much I love you.

*Just for this evening, I will let you splash in the tub and not get angry.

*Just for this evening, I will let you stay up late while we sit on the porch and count all the stars.


*Just for this evening, I will snuggle beside you for hours, and miss my favorite TV shows.

*Just for this evening when I run my finger through your hair as you pray, I will simply be grateful that God has given me the greatest gift ever given.

*I will think about the mothers And fathers who are searching for their missing children, the mothers and fathers who are visiting their children's graves instead of their bedrooms, and mothers and fathers who are in hospital rooms watching their children suffer senselessly, And the mothers and fathers who are struggling to have a baby of their own.

*And when I kiss you good night I will hold you a little tighter, a little longer. It is then, that I will thank God for you, and ask Him for nothing, except one more day.............


this picture tells it all.




Scousins

My cousins (we call oursleves scousins) visited us this last week for dinner with my Aunt. Thanks for coming.

Ryan said he had to get Kennedee a basketball hoop for Christmas, but turns out he secretly just wanted it for himself. Here are pics of us all playing H-O-R-S-E with "K"'s present. And a pic of my cousin Richelle's little girl ABI. They are so cute dancing together.

adding on one more bad mom moment

Okay, this just happened today and is worthy of a bad mom moment. I had just gotten home from teaching a class and saw the garbage man pulling up. So I ran into the house, put Kennedee down, grabbed the trash, and took it out. It is crazy windy today and the wind blew my door shut with Kennedee locked inside. I had to call Ryan from my neighbors as I could hear Kennedee crying behind a locked door. I was able to knock on our glass patio door and get her to come by it, so she could at least see me. Ryan works close by, so fifteen minutes later I was back inside. Moral of the story, don't lock your door if it is opened, who knows if it will shut and lock you out. Thank goodness Kennedee isn't younger.

This is me being real-(Bad Mom Moments)

What do we usually blog about. Well of course, rainbows and sunshines. But life isn't always like that and I am not about to say that I am perfect, so I decided to make some confessions.
1. We were eating dinner at my mom IL's house and I was cutting up kennedee's food for her on her high chair. I finish and go ahead and sit down. My mom IL starts laughing and I look back to see that I have left the knife on the high chair and now "K" is playing with it. Ashley, where are your brains?
2. I was getting in the car to go train a client, ignition on, check mirrors, start driving..................I made it about 2 blocks, when I feel a little tap tap on my shoulder ("K" gives me the look that says, "uh, mom were you planning on buckleing me into my carseat?) I'm glad I hadn't gone farther. I told my sister about the incident and she confessed it also happened to her. Yeah, I'm not the only one.
3. From a little age we would build block towers and teach Kennedee to come knock them down. It was cute and we would laugh. But then one day when I picked up "K" from the kids club, the staff told me that Kennedee was knocking down all of the other kids lego towers and laughing histerically. Oops! Who knew the skills we teach her at home, don't transfer well into real life.

If you so wish to help me not feel like such a bad mom, please share one of your moments. (Not assuming that you have any bad moments).

QUESTION # 6
What was one of your "bad" or "funny" mom moments?

I commend many of you who sacrificed for something you believe in. I have been moved seeing so many people volunteering and taking much time to support a cause. The results are in, and yes on 8 has passed in California.

HaPPy HaLLoWeeN ! Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz

What is wrong with this advertisement?

Maybe you like this ad, but I was like, what the..........
The edge is torn and says, "Live Fast". I get that they are exaggerating and trying for an edgy ad, but c'mom. A rail thin chick who surely doesn't have a kid, running in high heels (not that I haven't run in heels before) with a NEWBORN. It implies that there is something way more important for her to get to, then finishing changing her baby's diaper in a proper way. Hey, you had time to put the heels on.
I'm not that worked up over it, but I think they could have done this more cleverly, still with humor, but don't use a newborn in this way.

Happy "31" Ryan !

It's Ryan's 31st Birthday this weekend so I was looking for this cool widget I found, where you can upload a photo of someone and then people can draw on that person's face. I thought you could make some fun of Ryan's face. Unfortunately this doodle sketch is all I could find. But you can still draw something fab to give to Ryan.

Pet peeves-what drives me nuts

Before reading on I have one rule. You CAN NOT get offended if you like these things. It's just my opinion and my blog so I'm posting about it, but it doesn't mean I won't like you if you like these things. Okay now we are ready.


1. bad teeth (this is a deal breaker)


2. Uggs. they are just not for me, especially when worn with the sweat pants


3. The foundation mask. match your skin tone please and fade into neck and most importantly, PLEASE tell me if I have one. I do try hard to avoid it.

4. Kevin bacon. There is just something about the way he looks that is creepy, not the acting.


5. Over doing the tan. A little tan nice, but when it's so much that you look like your under a fluorescent light then back off the tanning salon.

6. Overplucked eyebrows. You know the kind that is hardly there then drawn on with a very thin line. YUCK!


7. the family stickers on the back of your car. Why give complete strangers all that info, how many kids you have, and their names.



8. Cartoon characters on children's clothes. Now sometimes this can be pulled off, but usually not. If my daughter is begging me for a t-shirt with barbie on it, then I will consider barbie PJ's but not clothes.


9.Feeling sticky. I don't mind being a little dirty, but sticky makes me claustrophobic.


10. crooked rugs. They have to be straight and centered. You have no idea how many times I straighten rugs.


11. The women's onesie, AKA the romper or jumpsuit. They need to go back to the playground, they don't belong on adults. It's like wearing a denim shirt with jeans.
okay I'm done, just remeber not to get offended if you like these things. Now tell me......

QUESTION # 5
What bothers you. I'm really interested to know.

when to call the doctor

First I will start by saying that Kennedee is ok, but unfortunately it looks like she has asthma. A couple times this summer she was breathing rapidly and wheezing, but it only lasted a day, so I never thought too much of it. It happened again on Thursday but got worse and worse. She was really strugggling to breathe and extremely lethargic all day..........so I took her to urgent care at 8pm. They gave her 2 breathing treatments, but the Dr. felt she needed more than they could give so he said we should go to the hospital. I went to pull the car around and when I returned, the Dr. said her oxygen was still rather low and he wanted to have her transported to the hospital via paramedics. Here is where I got more worried. They continued her breathing treatment in the ambulance truck to the hospital. She was given some chest x-rays and some other medications. She definitely was breathing so much better when they discharged us at 12:30am and I felt better about taking her home.
The next day I took her for a follow up at her pediatrician. At first the Dr. thought me might have to admit her to the hospital, but she responded well to 2 more breathing treatments in the office. So they said she had bronchiospasms and asthma. For now, we went and purchased a nebulizer to continue giving her meds at home. She fought it at first, but now is getting better at having the mask on her face. We'll follow up on Tuesday to get a better idea of what to expect in the future.
Poor baby.

End of Summer

Summer is coming to an end (but unfortunately the heat isn't).

The MILESTONES

Ryan and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. I surprised him and took him to Solvang to shop, swim and hike. It's a cute danish town. Oh and Kennedee got to come too. She's easy to pack along and she loves vacations.

The VISITORS

Thanks for the visits from the Lytles, Roberts in Huntington, The Sines, The Hopewells. It is always nice to see good friends who live far away.

Ryan's Favorites

Ryan bought a scooter................and with 65 plus MPG he drives it all the time.

We went and saw Jack Johnson in concert in Irvine and spent the weekend with my all time favorite people Katie and Noah Lowry doing some mountain biking and golfing. I hadn't even been on a bike since I was like 15. It was kind of scary at first.

Ashley's "little sister"
I am a volunteer "big sister" to a 17 year old named liz. We spent days at the beach, shopping, having lunch, skirball museum, bowling, and painting and just hanging out. I am glad I can be a part of her life and hope that I can be a good example and mostly a friend.

~~F e A R s~~

Okay so I have some weird fears. #1 I am extremely claustrophobic. When I sleep at night my feet have to be out of the covers (or I feel entrapped). If I watch a movie where somebody is going through a tight space, I seriously have to turn my head....I CAN'T watch it. So as you can imagine I don't like cuddling too much. However, the hotter it is the more this fear shows itself, but when it is cold, it almost dissapears. You bet I'm cuddling for that extra warmth.
When I was younger I used to have these dreams (but I swear they seemed totally real) that my eyes were open and awake, but I couldn't move my body or even my mouth to yell to somebody. And after a struggle, I would finally break free. So I think this phobia links back to when I had these weird dreams.
#2 Bandaids. I don't care if there bloody and old or brand new. They ick me out beyond belief and if I have to wear one, it is off in an hour and replaced with a new one if necessary.
#3 I am scared of being pregnant. Now I know that sounds weird because getting pregnant and carrying a child is beyond exciting and full of joy........but I am scared the entire 9 months that something might be wrong. I worry every minute and over read the "what to expects". I am also scared of pregnancy because I really did not enjoy most of it with K. I was sick a ton, all food sounded gross, I got the most painful thing called "Gout" and I also had several kidney stones throughout, but didn't realize it until 7 months gestation when I went to the hospital a few nights with large stones. But with all this said, I know I'll do it again, becaue of the end result and of course those great moments during when you feel them moving.

Question # 4
What is your weird phobia? Or what just absolutely scared you?

Late Night Thinking

So when I was in Utah a week ago, I was talking to a friend of mine who was having some mother-in-law problems. As I went to bed that night at my sister’s house I sat and thought about the “all evil mother-in-law” and the “wicked step-mom”, because for some lucky reason when it comes to these commonly negative terms (think “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “Cinderella”) I have it really good. So here’s a shout out to my Step-Mom, Heidi, and my Mother-in-law, Cathy.

Heidi-Why I Love Her
1. She has planned some of the greatest family trips and activities. And when you are planning for 8 kids combined that is no easy task. Here is Heidi held by some of us at a ropes course. (never done one? Ask me about it)

2. She thinks about us even during her busy life. For example she was at Gymboree the other day and bought Kennedee a bunch of clothes cause she was thinking of us……(Oh, and she has great taste, so the clothes are DARLING)
3. I like to ask her for advice because I know she will be supportive and not judge and will listen well to whatever my struggle may be.
4. She has a fun sense of humor. She makes bets with my husband and lucky for him, she just can’t put down that diet coke and pays him out every time (smile). Here is Heidi caught in action right here with diet Coke at the baby shower she threw me.

Cathy-Why I Love Her
1. She is really creative with events and themes. She planned and threw my baby shower and always has the cutest décor and table settings for every holiday.
2. She is very genuine and really cares. There is not a holiday that passes by that she doesn’t send us a Happy dadada Card. And not a gift received without a thank you card sent.
3. I like when she buys clothes for herself, and then realizes she doesn’t like it on her……and then instead of returning the item, she gives them to me. So I’ve got a cute wardrobe from her mistakes (and she also has cute taste and it helps that we have the same size).
4. And she lives close by. Yeah for us. So she has us over for yummy dinners and watches Kennedee for us sometimes too. Here she is with me and her mother, Carol.

F i R S t S

It is so exciting when your baby has a first. This last week I went to Utah and "K" had her first trip to the zoo. The next day we went to Preston Idaho. Well before I was born my mom's side of the family goes to Preston Idaho every year and we
camp out by the Bear River. We pump up inner tubes
and float on down the River. This was her first time
camping. She got so dirty camping. We also went to
the parade for the Rodeo, again this was her first
parade and she loved it.

Gramma Colleen giving Kennedee a bath. She loves the dogs.

Braden and K with grandma on the trailer that

picks us up when we get to the end of the waterfall.

My beautiful sister Megan (left) married less than a year. My sister Katie who is 3 months prego with her second.
Yes! I dyed my hair dark. I am going back to my natural color. What you guys thought I was actually a blonde?

Can I Vent ?

Somtimes ya just got to get it off your chest. So here I go. Ryan sure doesn't want to hear it.

1.I went 7 years with no traffic tickets and then BAM, 2 this year. I got one in March because I had left Kennedee for the first time for a week, while we went on a cruise.........so I was excited to pick her up and was drivin' fast. Then today. AAAgghhhhhh! Ryan has been pulled over 11 times in his life and just got his first ticket last month. I tried to bat my eyes and just get a warning, but apparently I don't have the same charm Ryan has. The cop ticketed me............so betweeen the 2 of us we have 3 tickets this year.

2. Why can't I just have one grocery store to go to. I shop at 5 stores to get groceries, that's right, FIVE. I love Trader Joe's and Fresh and Easy for dinner ideas. And then of course you have to do your Costco run for the big stuff like DIAPERS, and target has a few stuff I gotta have, and finally Vons for anything left like ice cream. And if you know us, we have at least 4 different flaves of ice cream in our house at all times. Too many stops

3. Kennedee hates to sit in the shopping cart, so when she starts screaming to get down, I give in and let her run wild knocking stuff off shelves and then I regret letting her down. Well the other day I was with my mom-in-law and she made Kennedee just cry it out and sure enough after 5 minutes she shut up and stayed in the cart. Easy, right! Well today I thought "I am going to be tough". So she started crying to get out of the cart and I just let her scream and let all the other customers just stare me down........thinking to myself "just 5 minutes and she'll stop". Yeah, right! Kennedee knows I am a softy. If she cries hard enough, mommy is sure to put her down. But I stuck with it and 20 minutes later, quiet. Of course it helps when you grab a box of goldfish off the shelf and let her start eating it before you pay for it......but hey, I was tough and didn't let her down. Mommy wins........finally!

Need to get something off your chest? You listened to me , now I will listen to you. Share and read others and hopefully we can just laugh it all off.

My most recent hobby is photoshop, here is a slide show of some of the effects I've been testin.

I recently lost a friend who died suddenly at the young age of 30 with 4 children under age 7. This has made me think so much about death and specifically the atonement and God's Plan. We here on Earth cannont even comprehend that eternal perspective God has and I have now been feeling much peace since the funeral. This friend is someone I would love to be like, she listens well, and is interested in your life and remebers things. She never judges others, avoids gossip, and is a beautiful person who stands tall for what she believes. So here is my ...........................

..........................Question #2

Who inspires you? (it does not need to be too personal) What qualities do they have that make them a diamond in the rough? Please comment.

PLEASE READ and CoMmEnt !!!

I want to use my blog to be more interactive, rather than some kind of brag book. So I decided to put up monthly and sometimes weekly polls and questions answered by YOU so we can really get to know eachother and have some fun laughs

Poll/ Question #1

What was your child's first word? or share one of their famous quotes?

Leave a comment and view other's comments and hopefully we can all get a smile for the day.

ROAD TRIP !!!!!!!

We started with one day in Santa Cruz to visit Ryan's friend, Morgan. Then to San Fransisco for two days mostly for a wedding of good friends, Josh and Caitlyn, and of course to sight see. Then a long drive to Las Vegas for a day to spend with my mom and step dad. Finally our trip ended in Arizona at Lake Powell. This was an alltime favorite vacation spent swimming, boating, wake boarding and surfing, tubing................and some new found interests guitar hero, rock band, and sudoko. We went with my dad and all my siblings on a beatiful houseboat with 6 bedrooms. Thanks for a great vacation!!!

Okay, okay....I never responded to a tag because I thought I am probably too boring to share anything about myself, but I guess that the whole purpose it to get to know eachother better........so finally here are 5 things people don't always know about me.
1. I LOVE cleanliness. You don't understand, my house has to be show ready at all times, and not becaue I am always having guests over...........I do it for me and me only. I feel so less stressed when things are tidy.......even to the point that I walk behind Kennedee and clean up after her as she goes. I spend a big part of my day cleaning because it gives me some kind of weird twisted satisfaction.
2. I am really content. It seems in life we are always waiting for something (graduate, promotion,etc.), but since I had my daughter I feel like a better person and really content. I used to work as the manager of the "24 hour fitness" in simi valley and it was a tough , demanding job and I am sure quitting it when I became a mommy helped, but just being a mom brings more happiness than I ever imagined it would.
3. I hate romantic comedies. Well I shouldn't say HATE, because I do watch them and some are actually good and funny. So I actually hate "happily ever afters". I don't like predictable endings. I like the sad endings, where someone dies or something. Unfortunately I am just not romantic in general. Ryan really is good at this, and I am lucky, but he always outdoes me.
4. I am also pretty UNEMOTIONAL...........which explains #3. I think I like the realistic sad endings, because any story that can actually bring emotion out of me is awesome and I like to feel that. The only thing that will make me cry without fail is when I watch TLC channel's baby story. Every single time the baby is born, my eyes fill up fast. THere is nothing more heart grabbing then a baby being brought into this world.
5. I have alwys been really jealous of how my husband has a million hobbies. I always felt like mine was cleaning (can we say boring). But now that I don't work full time and have tried to get into more hobbies. In the last year I have picked up card-making, READING, blogging of course, photography and photoshop, home decor and home crafts, piano, ............and I am so happy to finally have my own little escape of things to do.
Well there you have it. That is me. But now that I shared I get to pick on a few of you to share 5-10 things about yourselves, so I tag Tiffany, Emilee, Katie Henrie, Colleen B., Karalee N., Jenna/Greg, Sine family,Jenny Dee and Richelle. Can't wait to read your posts.

"Dad, L@@k at ME!

This is Ryan's idea of watching Kennedee......letting her climb onto the furniture with food in her hands. I go out to have some "me" time and I come home to him obviously more in tune to the Lakers half time break. He wasn't really into basketball until the playoffs started, but now it is serious business ............GO LAKERS!!!!!!

Oh, when I say me time, I was actually on my first outing with my new little sister. I volunteered to be a BIG SISTER with the "Big Brother, Big Sister Program. I was matched with a 17 year old girl who currrently lives in a group home with 5 other teens. She seems really smart and I am really excited to be her friend, example, and well, a big sister. I am sure I will have pics soon enough as she will probably become a big part of my
life.