Catch Up Part 2

September

 Ashley turned 7! We did a sweet shoppe theme (I stole the idea from my friend... and pinterst) and these were the invitations we sent out.  It said, "Sweet little Ashley is turning 7!  So come on over for some sugar-filled heaven."

 These were the cupcakes I made to take to her school class.  So fun and SO easy!!!

 We lined our yard with lollipops made out of paper plates, dowel rods, cellophane, and tulle.

 This is how the guests knew they had arrived at the Wyne Sweet Shoppe.

 This was the happy birthday banner made with some adorable paper plates and tulle.  I thought it turned out rather darling.

The girls played "Pin the cherry on the cupcake"

 (Sorry I know this is a very blurry picture... my camera phone doesn't take very good pictures when the objects are in motion.)  They played musical chairs with songs such as "Lollipop" and "Sugar Sugar".

 They also played Toss the Bean Bag... although, the bean bags looked more like large pieces of candy.

 And for the yummy treats we had cake, ice cream, and then sent them home with an actual goody bag.

 The dining room was set up to look like a sweet shoppe and they were each given a bag to fill with whatever their hearts desired.  There were M&M's, candy cane sticks, blue sixlets...

 Dumb Dumb suckers, Starbursts, gummy worms, Razzles...

 And oh, so many choices...

 There were other decorations to go along with the sweet shoppe theme that turned out so stinkin' cute!  And the best part is they can be used over and over!

 And let's not forget the cake!!! I was so happy with how it turned out.  It was kind of a pain to find the swirly pops and unicorn twisty pops... but so worth the search!  (By the way, Zurchers carries them for a reasonable cost.)  At the end of the party after the girls had filled their goody bags we topped them off with a unicorn twisty pop or swirly pop and tied it of with some more cute tulle! 

My friend, Becky, was so kind to offer to take some pictures of everything... you can probably guess which pictures were taken by her and which ones were from my phone.  It was so fun to put everything together and hopefully it won't be the last Sweet Shoppe theme we have around here.

Here are some things about Ashley at age 7...

Best friend: Gracie Knight

Favorite song: Love Story, by Taylor Swift

Favorite food: Enchiladas

Favorite color: blue

Favorite pastime: play games

Favorite game: Candyland

Favorite book: Aristocats

Favorite movie: Barbie in the Princess and the Pauper

Ashley works very hard at her school work and tries to do her best in all she does.  She is the peacemaker in the family and hates for anyone to fight.  She is practically attached to Gracie at the hip.  They spend as much time together as possible, but she gladly lets her sisters join in the fun.  She is growing more and more every day and is finally outgrowing her baby chub.  I think we need to find another nickname for her other than chunkalunk.

Here are some random pictures of Ashley to enjoy...

 Kindergarten graduation and learning to ride her bike the same day as Gracie.

 At the City of Rocks as part of the Wyne reunion 2011... sitting on Papa Wyne's lap.

 Yes, those are chickens!

 2nd birthday (above) and 3rd birthday (below)

 Ready for the annual daddy-daughter dance on Valentine's Day

 She is sound asleep in the picture below... I don't know how she managed to stay in bed and tangled in the curtains without getting hurt.

 After her first haircut with the help of her older sister.



Catch Up Part 1

Since I haven't updated the blog much I need to do it in parts just to make sure no one falls asleep during a single post.  Here it goes...

May

Sammy and Ashley finished up the school year and Ashley graduated kindergarten.

 Here she is with her teacher, Mrs. Stallones.  What a fantastic teacher!!!

 And of course we have to have a picture of Ashley and Gracie together... the best of friends!



June

There are 2 cute teenage girls in our area that put together a dance camp for little girls.  They held it every week day for 2 weeks.  Each day was one hour long per age group.  And then they had a performance on the last day.  It was worth every penny!!!  Even though the driving back and forth and carpooling got a bit crazy since they were all in different classes they all LOVED it.  I have video that I'll post later, but here are a few pictures from Andy's phone.  This first one was the dance ALL the girls did... so cute!

 This is Sammy's group.  She is the one on the left with Capri pants and really long hair.  She decided she wanted to keep her hair long till after the dance camp.  (They did a bunch of hair flips and her long hair was perfect for those moves.)

 Here is Ashley's group.  She is near the middle/right on the back row.  You can see her blond bob hairdo.  She was super shy, but she did a great job!

 This is Katie's group.  She is on the left, front with long pants on.  They were all so cute to watch... Their little hips moving was my favorite.  :)

Katie turned 5!

 We debated if we should do a "friend" birthday party or not since our rule was once the girls were in school they could invite friends.  Katie being a summer baby it made the decision a little harder.  The two older girls encouraged the friend party so we did, but kept it very low key.  Katie really wanted a butterfly cake.  This is not my best work by any means... but it was certainly the easiest cake I've done and she LOVED it!

 Her friends Suzy and Courtney came over for cake and ice cream and then watched Mirror Mirror.  They all had a great time!

(Katie, Suzy, and Ashley)

 (Sammy and Courtney)

 Before the friend party we had a few other surprises for Katie.  We took her to see Brave in the theaters.  (We never take our kids to the theater... we hardly go just the 2 of us on a date.) And we let her bring her friend, Olivia.  On the day of her birthday we also treated her to some ice cream with BryLeigh, and Sarah... they are 2 of our favorite people!

Overall it was a fun celebration!  I still can't believe Katie is 5! 

Just for documentation here are some things about Katie....

Katie LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to dress up!!!  She has a style all her own and I adore it.  My little brother asked me one time if I would let her, "dress like that for school".  My response was, "Of course.  It's totally her and she can only get away with it for a short time.  Might as well let her live it up and have fun." Beside the fact that it's cute... she is so confident of herself.  Katie is always wearing some sort of frills.  If it's not flowers in her hair it's a tutu.  Right now we're even reading a book titled, All Tutus Should Be Pink.  Her favorite color is HOT Pink and sometimes blue.  Her favorite foods are probably mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, and tomatoes.  She will eat an entire case of tomatoes if I let her.  She is generally a very happy kid with lots of spunk and personality.  Sometimes she gets a little sassy, but it doesn't usually last long.  She is so helpful when her sisters are at school and has taken on the responsibility of unloading the dishwasher.  She still sings to everything she is doing and makes up the words as she goes.  When she is home with me she is attached to my hip which I don't mind.  She won't go downstairs unless I'm down there with her, but she's starting to venture away from me thanks to school.  And just for fun here are some recent photos of the cute, fun, happy Katie bug!

(Notice she's laying on a tutu?)

 Proof she is getting better with dogs.

 She still climbs into bed with us sometimes... Andy took this picture and texted me, "This is why we shouldn't have kids sleep with us."

 Love Becky's photos!  She took Katie out by herself for her birthday photos and let me be surprised.  She did a fantastic job!

 Showing off her Brave costume for Halloween.  She is so excited and even bought herself a Brave toy bow and arrow.

 Eating the small ice cream cone at Rupe's in Blackfoot.  Bliss!

 This outfit makes me smile.  She woke up in the middle of the night sick and threw up.  The next morning I had a surgery scheduled so my friend took Katie for a few hours.  She was feeling lots better, but I didn't want to risk getting other kids sick in her class.  However, since she had been sick I let her go in whatever she felt comfortable wearing.  This is what she decided on... tights, a swimsuit, boots, and a flower headband.  I did make her put on a sweater so that her shoulders were at least covered.  These are a few typical outfits for Katie.  I can't help but smile when I see her sense of fashion.  :)



July

We celebrated the 4th of July with friends and family.  We kicked it off with a bar-b-q at our house and then went to Boise to watch the fireworks.  It was a lot of fun!

Andy turned 33!  We kept it low key and celebrated with Tucanos and Sweet German Chocolate Pies.  Yum!  He usually wants German Chocolate cake, but not this year... He still has a thing for German Chocolate, though. 

Andy ran the Ragnar race with his family and had a great time.  It's kind of funny to see him get excited about running when he swore he wouldn't run ever again after our marathon last year.  I knew he would start to enjoy it eventually.  They all carpooled in a huge RV that apparently didn't have air conditioning.  Yuck!  Many family members were relentless on trying to convince me to run with them and fill the 12th spot.  I refused and both Andy and I were so glad I didn't go.  I had just started on a fertility drug that made me want to scratch someones eyes out just for blinking.  The first month was by far the worst, but it's not a breeze being on the darn drug.  Beside being moody (or the green eyed monster), I get hot flashes, it's hard to get a good nights sleep, and I've gained a bunch of weight.  I just have to keep telling myself it's all worth it in the end.  So far, nothing yet.

We had our 2nd Koenig reunion in Eastern Idaho. Nate and Emily were in charge of it this year and they did an awesome job! We stayed at this beautiful cabin near a lake and were able to go jet skiing for 2 of the days we were there. One day we spent at Yellowstone and others we hung out at the cabin. Unfortunately, my phone was on it's last breath and I was only able to unplug it for a few minutes without it shutting off. Therefore I only have one picture of the whole trip.  Katie was walking toward the stairs while looking in a different direction and ran right into the solid wood beam.  Her response was, "I guess I shouldn't look at the TV while I'm walking up the stairs."  She cried pretty good, but so would I if I had a big bump like that on my head. 

It was so fun to see the family, especially those that we don't see very often.  And in addition we were able to stop one night and stay with Troy and Amy, Andy's sister.  We don't see them very often either so it was fun to have a chill night with them.  Troy even set up the TV outside so we could have a drive-in feel movie night.

August

We had our annual Wyne reunion down in Utah.  Maria and Jason were in charge this year and did nothing short of an amazing job.  We stayed at a girls camp that was by far the cleanest camp I've ever stayed at.  The theme was Hunger Games!  We were each placed in districts before we arrived and with each challenge came a reaping for clean up duty.  It was great!  In addition to challenges we came up with we also did challenges provided by the camp.  One afternoon all the moms went and did a zip line.  We had to climb up what looked like a telephone pole and shimmy across a tight rope to get to the crows nest.  From there we were hooked onto the zip line and flew to the end while Doug video taped.  It was so much fun!  Later that night some of us took the younger kids to do a giant swing.  That was fun, but I should have taken some Dramamine beforehand.  I forget what swings do to my stomach.  We had enough time to catch the other group doing a zip line challenge.  There were still 2 slots open so Maria and I filled them and got to do another zip line.  At the end there was discussion on which zip line was harder.  The second one appeared to be harder since the pole wasn't stable.  However, it was the tight rope that made the difference.  Both Maria and I agreed that the first challenge with all the moms was harder.  Moms are tough chicks!

We always exchange our Christmas gifts at the reunion and this year we had the Brown family.  Dana requested that I make her a bag.  I was happy to since I had a new pattern I was wanting to try.  It ended up being one of my favorites!

 Andy didn't know what to get Bart and decided to get him another gift card to Cabela's.  He thought it would be funny for me to make him a wallet that matched Dana's bag.  This is what I came up with.

 I thought it turned out pretty cute and as a bonus Dana can use it with her bag and be completely stylin'.

The day after we returned from the Wyne reunion the girls started school.  It was a bit crazy!  Ashley is now in 1st grade and Sammy is in 3rd.  They both love their new teachers and enjoy going every day.

 Of course we have to get a picture with Gracie. :)

And for some reason I don't have a picture of Katie on her first day of school.  I'll have to check Andy's phone later.  (She started later that week.)  Katie is in kindergarten and goes all day every other day.  It's so confusing because if ever they are out of school for a day or more it messes up the schedule.  She loves her teacher, but it's hard when she's on an off day because her 2 best friends are on the opposite track.  ***Grumble***  The first day she came home and told me all about the book titled The Kissing Hand.  Sammy explained that Katie cried for a little while at the beginning and then was fine after she saw a familiar grown up face.  Katie then asked, "Mom, did you cry?"  I have to admit it was hard putting her on the bus since she is my little shadow.  I missed her but I tried to stay busy that day.  It's better now that we are getting used to it, but I still get a little lonely on days she's in school.

Other happenings in the summer

Ashley learned to ride her bike without training wheels!!!  She and Gracie learned the same night and as a reward were taken out for ice cream by Gracie's mom, Amy.

Katie was heartbroken that she couldn't go, too.  So the next day she woke up bright and early and immediately came in to me to teach her how to ride her bike without training wheels.  It was a perfect day to be outside riding bikes!  Katie rode her bike while I ran beside her most of the day.  She was determined and learned to go up and down the street all by herself before Andy came home from work.  She was excited to be able to get an ice cream reward, but ended up getting something better.  In the midst of learning she didn't turn her bike quite enough to avoid the curb and ran right up on it.  Her little bum popped back just enough and broke her seat clean off the bike.  We went to Walmart to find a replacement seat with no luck.  So she got a whole new bike instead!  I didn't get a picture of Katie on her bike just video which I'll post later.  Now we go on bike rides as a family and it's one of our favorite things to do.

Made another bag.  This one was for my sister, Merridy.  She picked all the fabric and I sewed.  Sewing makes me happy.  :)

 Sammy got her hair cut.  She's crying here because of the bangs.  I knew I shouldn't have let her have them, but I thought she was older and that her tantrums would be less... I was wrong.  I absolutely love the way it looks like this, but she hates it with a passion.  She wants to be be independent and never lets me help her with her hair.  More grumbling.

I canned like crazy!  This year I have done salsa, strawberry jam, apricot jam, cherry jam, peaches, pears, and applesauce.  In addition my mom taught Sammy how to do spiced nectarine jam and sent home a few jars.  Awesome!  It was my first time doing applesauce and now I can't wait to do it again.  My girls eat it almost everyday.  Andy was supposed to help me with the whole process and ended about a 4th of the way into it... he first cut the side of his thumb pretty good with the apple corer.  We got a band aid on it and shortly after he was saying, "Ah! Get a band aid quick!"  He tried to trim off part of the apple with a knife and ended up trimming off the top of his thumb.  He denies that he should have gotten stitches, but he really should have.  The whole rest of the day he sat in front of the TV watching football and holding a cotton ball to his thumb while elevating it.  It bled for 10 hours!!!  I told him, "If you didn't want to help me with applesauce you could have told me... you didn't have to chop off your thumb."  His sister said he was trying to be like his dad who is missing the tip of his index finger.  Andy said, "Yeah, but at least he cut it off with something cool... not cutting an apple."

I know that post was long, but there is still more to catch up on... Thanks for reading.

I just felt I needed to write a quick post in memory of our little baby... today was my official due date.  With everything going on my mind flutters to our little one that would have been in our home by now.  I still don't understand the reasons for everything that happened and hope that some day I will.  I still think of our sweet baby daily and long for the day I will be able to hold him in my arms and never let go.  We love you always and forever.  Love, mommy (and daddy).

Life continues to go on...

We are still here.  I've been told several times to please update my blog.  It's been hard to jump back into the blogging world since my last post, though.  I will say life continues to go on.  My heart still aches deeply for my baby and at times for no other reason I break down and cry.  I was released from my calling of nearly 2 and a half years in young women's.  I love them very much, but it was time.  With that being said, I hate going to Relief Society.  It's been about 6 years since I went to RS on a weekly basis due to my callings.  (I've been in YW and Primary for quite a  long time.)  I feel very awkward there and am not really sure what I'm supposed to do.  A few weeks ago I attended my mom's ward and the lesson was on parenting... that sucked!  It hit me very hard and I was sobbing in the back with my mom on my right and my sisters to my left.  It was embarrassing to go into the "ugly" cry.  After it was over I buried my head in my mom's neck and shoulder and wept as she clung to me.  I'm hoping that things will get better with that part of life, but for now I don't like going.

Andy has been great through this whole process.  It took me a very long time to even get out of bed and he not once was impatient with me or even complained.  For a long time he got up, got the girls off to school, went to work, came home, made dinner (or answered the door to whomever was bringing it that day), and got the girls off to bed.  In addition he would deal with neighbors, friends, and family and all their questions and concerns.  I wouldn't answer my phone, emails, texts, and especially the door.  People were very kind to respect my wishes and didn't take that offensively, but Andy still had to be the bridge between me and the rest of the world.  Here is the letter I sent to our RS president and then she forwarded it on to the rest of the sisters in our ward.  This is probably redundant to some of you and I apologize.  FYI, this is for my friends and family in the blogging world as well:

Dear sisters,

So many of you have done things for me this last month that if I gave each of you a hand written note it would take me a year to complete all of them.  I'm hoping you will forgive me and accept this general thank you note to all of you.  In addition I know a lot of you have asked about me and even my family and closest friends are unsure how to answer.  Thus the reason for this letter. 

As you know I miscarried for the 4th time and this one was by far the hardest.  We had already had a couple ultrasounds and heard the baby's strong heartbeat.  We were told that I only had a 3% chance of a miscarriage from that point on and were pretty much in the clear.  Things were going very well when I started to have a feeling something was wrong.  I spoke with a few of you about those feelings and even ventured the idea I might be having a child with special needs or a rare disease.  It didn't take long after having those thoughts that I knew that wasn't what was wrong.  The very next day I called my nurse and broke down.  She got me in that day for an ultrasound and my feelings were confirmed that our baby had died after carrying it for 16 weeks.  We had surgery the following morning and that was a hard thing in itself.  Many of you brought meals for our family which I greatly appreciate.  I was physically capable to do things, but emotionally I was not prepared for anything.  It was so nice to know that my family was being taken care of when I wasn't ready to deal with life.  We are so blessed to live in a ward that immediately steps in and helps when needed.  My children were so glad when someone came by to pick them up to play or to take them to ward functions.  I am so glad they were watched out for in their time of need as well.  They, too, experienced the loss and it was nice others were aware of them.  Many of you brought flowers or gifts and it was so great to look around and see my room looking like a floral and gift shop.  (Gifts is my love language. ) Many of you sent letters, cards, emails, and texts.  Even though I didn't respond to most of them I do appreciate them.  If I didn't respond it was probably because it was a particularly hard moment.  My days are getting better but I still struggle in a large crowd which is why I've been MIA... well, just hibernating in my house.  Please forgive me if I don't answer my door or phone... (Sometimes my family is "ignored" and a few of my siblings think I'm angry with them.)  I am much better with text or email and I am open for visitors for the most part as long as I know you are coming.  I know a lot of you want to come by but you aren't sure what to do or say in situations like this... quite frankly nobody does, not even me.  However, it does help to talk about it and it's healing in a way.  I am still grieving and it's something I have to deal with in my own way.  Thank you for being patient with me.  I love you all very much and am so grateful for all that you have done for me and my family.

-Ally Wyne

On a positive note, there were some very spiritual moments we have had within the healing process.  (Some of them are so very close to my heart that I won't share them to the public.)  For quite some time 2 members of our bishopric would come to our home and bless and pass the sacrament to me.  That showed me how much they care about our little family.  On a few occasions a friend of mine who is married to one of them said, "He (and I) felt the spirit so strongly in your home and it's been a neat thing to be there." Both Andy and I were given blessings by our stake president.  Andy was so grateful that he blessed him with discernment to know how to help, me mostly, to deal with everything.  In my blessing I had several questions answered.  It was one of the most unique blessings I've ever had and I felt that the Lord was speaking directly to me.  The last time I felt that way was when I received my patriarchal blessing.  It not only gave me answers to prayers but hope for the eternities.

It's amazing and sometimes frustrating to think that life will continue to go on no matter what.  I constantly tell my friends and family, "This is not something I will get over.  It's something I have to learn to live with."  I think of my baby every day and I don't know if that will ever change... I'm not sure I want that to change. For those 16 weeks I was filled with joy and even though I won't be able to cradle my baby in this life I believe I will in the next life and I want to remember the blessing it was in our home to have a spirit closer to heaven than we are.  The girls still ask in prayer to, "please bless the baby" which I find rather sweet.  They have hope and faith, too.

Here's a quick picture of the girls Easter morning.  My friend, Ginger, was so kind to take them to her house for an Easter celebration including an egg hunt... some even had money in them which is better than candy.  She then took them to church so that they didn't miss out on anything.  I thought they looked pretty cute!

There is promise the next posts will be more uplifting.  We've had a very busy summer and I will do my best to fill in the blanks... complete with pictures and maybe even video.