Blankie Bathtime

When I was little I had a favorite blanket. I still remember exactly how it looked and felt. It had yellow and white checkers with a turtle of multiple colored fabrics in the center of it. It had a yellow ruffled edge. I would drag it around the house where ever I went and would sleep with it every night. I wore it so thin that the batting inside disappeared completely. It was so cuddly and it made me feel so safe and happy. Oh, how I LOVED my blankie. Well, I have two little boys who are attached to two little blankies each. They sleep with them every night and bring them to breakfast each morning. They pull them around the house, inside and out. When Royce gets sad he runs to his room calling for his blankies. Jad has a strange habit of spreading his white one out over his pillow and laying on top of it, then covering himself with the blue fuzzy one. Needless to say, these blankies could use a wash just about every day. But because of the endless pile of laundry that accumulates at our house, I only get around to washing their blankies about once a week.

AND TODAY WAS THE BIG DAY...We call it GIVING THEIR BLANKIES A BATH. They stand by the washer and try to find their blankies swishing around inside. When the washing is finished they insist on switching their own blankies to the dryer to dry.Lots of giggling and random yells of "I see mine!" "There it is!" "That's mine!" "No, that's mine!" "No, that's mine!" so on and so forth...Finally, their blankies are back to their original color, they are warm, they smell nice, and they are fluffy again. Two happy boys with blankets and one happy mama.

A visit from Grandma and Gramps Asay

Grandma and Grandpa Asay came to Arizona to enjoy a relaxing week of sunshine and warm weather. Gettin' their daily dose of vitamin D...Jad and Royce soon became obsessed with "Gramps" (as they were soon calling him). They took tabs on where Gramps was at all times. A friendly wrestling match and a game of lift-me-up-high turned into a game of hide-and-seek as Gramps quickly found out the boys persistence and stamina could last all night. We found Gramps hiding in the pantry taking deep breaths and dripping with sweat... so much for the relaxing week in the sun.

We visited the school Science Fair one evening and enjoyed looking at Myla and Ashlee's projects among many others.

I remember doing a Science Fair project in 5th grade on how clouds are formed... I think I remember winning a table lamp for that one - some prize, ehh.Dinner at The Cheese Cake Factory...Bedtime stories with Grandma.

We love you Grandma and Gramps! Come visit us anytime.

She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy

We've been living the "white trash" lifestyle for a few months too long... so this weekend John decided to rent a tractor to help speed up the endless list of "to do" items for finishing our garage... I think by doing this, he wasn't helping our "white trash" image out at all... I was terrified as I watched him on this big blue muscle machine... flash backs to the last time he attempted to do yard work on a bobcat... long story short, he rammed a hole in the side of our house. I was sure the tractor could do far worse damage than the bobcat... possibly knock our house completely off its foundation... The boys were mesmerized as they watched dad go to work on this machine. I'm sure a blue tractor is now on both of their wish lists...

This picture was taken just after John told me to stop taking snap shots of him on the tractor... apparently I was embarrassing him and he couldn't focus...(snicker)

79 degree weather, plenty of dirt and mud, tons of rocks, several of their favorite cars and trucks, and a tractor side show... HEAVEN for two little boys!

This would be my nice, new drive way cut down the middle to connect sewer and electric to the garage...

Our water line was cut when they dug the trench for power and sewer so this is our new water line nicely laying out in our front yard...

I'm sure our neighbors just love us...

Good news...it gets painted today!

Ya! Finally all painted and looking more like the rest of the home...

Can't wait to get all the clutter out of my house and up on to my new storage shelves... Well, no major injuries or accidents from the tractor to report... so I'd have to call it another good, happy, productive Saturday at the Durling home.

Over the river and into the snow...

We woke up early the day after Christmas to drive to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Alpine Utah. 12 hours later we arrived...

This is the view standing on my parent's back porch... one of my favorite, most peaceful places to sit and just be...

It wasn't long before our kids wanted to be in the snow... so the long process of putting on snow clothes begins...20 minutes later Royce is ready to play in the snow and dad is beat....This is Lucy. She is almost 3 yrs old and she is one of the funnest little gals you could ever know...I took Lucy and Royce out to build a snow man or rather rebuild the snow man that Dan helped them build a few days ago...Sooo much fun and sooo cute!It wasn't long before Jad was out pushing a sled twice his size up one of the hills in the backyard...It took him 10 minutes to push his sled to the top...and 1 second to sled down...Uncle Johnny to the rescue...Much more fun with Johnny's help.Royce liked to eat the snow...Jad liked just being in the snow.Sydney and Ashlee - two little snow angels. The other kids decided to change the snowman around a little...Then inside for some hot cocoa...A ping-pong tournament is a must whenever the guys get together...Some controlled chaos in the gym... I don't know what we would do without the gym; this is where the kids can let out all their energy and it keeps some sanity throughout the rest of the home. Byron and Myla play a game of shuffle board.BOWLING... yeah, baby!

Sydney, Ashlee, and Natalee wearing their fancy bowling shoes...

All the little girly cousins...We tried getting the same type of picture with all the boy cousins... no sign of Nate anywhere, Ryan and Jason where sleeping, Royce just would not cooperate. Needless to say, it didn't work out. On a positive note...we found a perfect time-out spot for Royce.SLEDDING AT SOLDIER HOLLOW... Jad and Royce didn't leave these tubes until we were done sledding for the day... There was relief for the rest of us though...once our tube was attached to the rope pull we sat back and relaxed while it pulled us up the hill... Royce hung in there till the end... Jad went back to the lodge a little early due to some frozen little toes or maybe he just wanted to sit by the fire and sip on a gatorade... Everyone joined soon after to warm up...Ashlee and Sydney were inseparable throughout the entire trip.Uncle Matt puttin' out the vibe...All tuckered out. That was a fun day!NEW YEARS EVE... some fireworks for the kiddos... All the grand kids except for one... We miss you Liam!!!A cousins slumber party at Grandma's... A few of the little ones made it back to the comfort of their parents room in the middle of the night. At some point I ended up sleeping down here next to Jad. I guess he was a little scared but still wanted to be down with all the "big" kids... Oh, my aching back. NEW YEARS MORNING... John had a brilliant idea to pull the kids around on a tube behind the 4 wheeler. Caleb was recruited to make some jumps... Matt tested the track out on his snow board...He even caught a little air...Soon all the kids where dressed in their snow attire waiting for a ride on the tube...They had great fun!Jad couldn't get enough... Some of the girly girls stayed inside to make pretty paper covered notebooks with Grandma and Aunt Emily.One of the highlights of the trip for me was to be reunited with one of my very best friends, Kim (Dickerson) Taylor. I attribute staying out of too much trouble growing up to the good friends that I had. We were inseparable in our younger years. I hadn't seen Kim for probably 10 years before this trip. We got together with our families and it was so much fun to see our husbands and children interact with each other...Little did we know that we each had a 7 year old little girl, Ashlee and Paige, who seemed to hit it off automatically. I have wanted to get in touch with her for so long but was afraid of what to say... there is so much joy in finding an old friend and welcoming them into your life again! Ok, I cringed about 8 times while going through old pictures to find one of me, Kim, and Katie together... man, I wish someone had introduced me to a set of tweezers about 10 years prior to High School...whew, I have some pictures that just need to be burned! This is us in High School - we were quite the catch... hahaha! Sometimes I really miss the good ol' days.