"Oh, that's my purple"

Ashley is convinced that whenever she sees something purple it automatically belongs to her. So for the Big Three, a purple birthday soiree seemed fitting for my Doodle. She started off being very excited about her cake....until she saw the GIFTS! She just couldn't wait to dive into that pile of presents.

Purple party goers.
Stacey & Brinley, Me & Ash, and Sarah & Ayla.

Ashley couldn't understand why we keep taking a zillion pictures.

Lukey and Ash playing Kinect Adventures.

Pizza Time
She wanted to sit at the counter her daddy.

And finally..... Presents!

It took her a minute to understand that all the gifts were for her. I would tell her "This one is from Brinley." and then she would say oh, and try to take it over to Brinley to give to her. Soon she realized she just had to say thanks and commence ripping open the gift.

She ended up with loads and loads of handmade items from Sarah and Stacey. They spoiled her rotten! Well maybe me a little too, because now her bow holder if chuck full of beautiful flowers.

And the surprise gift, a girly trike just for her.

Now for the moment you have all been waiting for...The cake. This years creation turned out so fun. Of course being the feminine lady that she is, Ashley is infatuated with jewelry. So my mom and I topped her cake with a swivel jewelry box filled with ring pops and candy necklaces. Ashley couldn't wait to get her neck around that candy. Best of all she now has a stylin' box to put her all her treasures in.

A little nervous with everyone staring at her.

It tasted as good as it looked.

Ayla was very proud of her "Popsicle" creation

She keep riding around on her bike with her jewelry box in hand.

Finally she stopped to try some of her purple and pink cake.

I just love having a girl,
and I love that that girl is you, Ashley!

I think the best part of any birthday party is the morning after when you get to test out all your new merchandise. Here she is sporting her new necklaces, an apron, not one but two Tutus and to top off her look, a purple feather boa.

That girl is gorgeous!

Happy Birthday Sis! Mom and Dad love you.

The rest of our Halloween Spooktacular

Pumpkin Carving Time

Ashley's Boo ghost, Noah's hairy monster, and Luke's fire breathing dragon.

Noah studying the Party City ad...."I want to be the guy with the sword." (Snake Eyes from G.I. Joe). Ashley desperately wanted to be a princess again, but I convinced her that a Pretty in Pink Witch needed to be her costume of choice. And Luke, following his 10 year plan, has been planning on being Iron Man since two Halloweens ago.



Ashley was really excited to wear makeup for the first time. Check our her beauty mark mole on her cheek.

Trunk-or-Treat

They raked in a good haul again this year.

Ashley couldn't make it home without crashing. So once the boys were down. John and I got to spend our night raiding their candy and watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

LA Wedding

My brother got married! Kat and he decided to tie the knot in Los Angeles on October 24th. So in one very rushed and crazy weekend John and I headed out for the big trip. We stopped and stayed the night in Arizona where we left the kids with Aunt Rhonda and headed off to LA the next morning for the wedding.

The Girls Car
(with Anne of Green Gables on continuous play)

The Boys Car
(with arguing about navigation
and I'm sure lots of flatulence)

You know you are in California when you see miles of these stretched out in front of you.

The Newlyweds

Mom and her Boys

Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Monument for Johnny Ramone of the "Ramones"

After stuffing our faces with a delicious five course meal after the ceremony, we congratulated the happy couple and headed up to Griffith Observatory where it was cold, rainy and too foggy to see anything. (So much for sight-seeing.) We all went back to the hotel and collapsed, and at that point I was really grateful not to have kids with us. I don't know about other children, but mine are always, always, always hyper in hotel rooms and it takes a lot of work to get them to calm down and fall asleep.

After a good night's rest we had to get up and head back home. Due to "traffic congestion" (or the need to not have to stare at the back of the Intrepid all the way home) we got separated and ended up eating at different restaurants for breakfast. The girls ate at this awesome little deli with the most delicious french toast known to man. And the boys found the diner from of the movie "Can't Hardly Wait" (yes, I was a little bit jealous of that one)

We made it back safe and sound to our little ones who we missed very much. They had an amazing time with their Aunt Rhonda and all of her grand kids. (Thank you again Aunt Rhonda and cousins, for taking care of my babies.)


Luke was really excited to get to play with "Camping Brody". Amy sent me this cute picture of them drawing with chalk in her driveway.

They loved playing with grandmas new play kitchen.

We also got to see Eric and Andreas new house and meet Melanie's new little Taylor, but I didn't get a picture of them. But here is a picture of Lydia and Emily showing off their talented "tongue touching nose trick".

It was a really fun trip, even with four days straight of seven hour drives.

Congratulation Todd and Kat!

We love ya!

Halloween Party

Another successful Halloween Party has come and gone. We ran out of couch space this year! I didn't get a individual picture of the Milligan Family, but they were all dressed up as bumblebees...So cute.

Little Red Riding hood and her posse.
(Handmade costumes by Stacey)

It's easy finding a grandma costume,
when you are living with your grandma.

Sarahs homemade Frankenstein costumes.

Noah thought Landon was a pretty cool kid.

Ashley was just excited to have a girl her age to play with.

Time to decorate cupcakes

This is one serious Big Bad Wolf.

Noah went a little wild with the sprinkles.

Happy Halloween from the RonJohn Clan!

Feeling the "Burn"

I was having a little nostalgic moment and decided to take my family to the Burning of the the "E" this year. It was fun going back to the same stadium that I preformed at so many Friday nights. We were crammed in there with five billion other El Pasoans and sat back to enjoy the show.

Ok so, terrible picture but here were the Trooperettes with their legs coming out of a super high kick.

Of course you can't have a burning of the "E" without a 15 minute forever long folkorico routine. haha

"I liked the part when that big "E" got burned up."
said Noah

Caught red-handed

Meaning:

To be caught in the act of committing a misdemeanor, with the evidence there for all to see.

I love that Luke was willing to sweat to death under his cover for a chance to play his video game just a little bit longer. Crazy kid