Over the weekend we got to go on a fun little road trip.  We headed to Salmon to go see Bryce (Brian's little nephew).  He was graduating from high school.  Brian's parents were also going to be there.  We were hoping for good weather, but just kind of knew that it wasn't going to happen. 

We went out to eat at some amazing restaurants while we were there.   It was really fun to see his family again.  Carson and Kelton learned to be a cowboy.  They got some cowboy boots, and learned how to lasso.  Good times.  We ended up coming home around Dubois.  I have never been that way before.  It is really out in the middle of NO-WHERE-VILLE. 

But when it was all said and done we ended back up in Heaven.  Here is my little Heaven.

Too Much Fun

The only model I have around the house is little Coop.  I can't get anyone else to pose for more than 5 seconds so I can practice taking pics.  I LOVE it so much.  Super fun.  I think they turned out pretty cute.

Hair Cut for little Coop

Cooper woke up the other day with a big wad of gum stuck in his beautiful long hair.  Where in the world did he get gum at 9:00 o'clock at night?  Does he have it stashed under his bead frame? 

Well, the gum was not coming out no matter how much Goo gone I applied.  Whiters was up visiting so she was nice enough to give him his first official toddler hair cut.  It has been a LONG time for this little dude.  He looks so adorable now.  Like a little boy - not a baby!  Thanks mom for catching these priceless photos.  Big shout out to Whit for giving Coop such a cute boy haircut.

I don't know if he seems too happy about this.  Where is my hair? 
SIDE NOTE:  Carson hit a homerun at his baseball game.  Kelton was named best catcher out of all of the kids playing in his leauge.  Amazingly talented boys I have.  Not to brag or anything. 

Baseball

Carson had a game last night that almost brought me to tears.  Do you ever get that proud feeling of being a parent?  It was so great to see him in action.  He pitched an amazing game.  So fun to watch.  Way to go Cars - we are so proud.

Nature Walk

It was a beautiful weekend.  I got to work and was so happy to go in just because the weather was great.  I am pretty sure that good weather is my Prozac.  Sunday, evening mom and dad called and said they wanted to go for a drive.  They headed to our little homestead.  We headed to the canyon down below us for a little nature walk - DON'T FORGET the cameras. 

This has got to be my all time favorite.  I love how little Coop is looking up to his grandpa.  Looking for some kind of kid advice.  So sweet.  Can't wait until my next nature walk. 

A day at the park

I have been so busy working on the computer getting odds and ends done for Kelson and Bella Rosa.  Coop and  I needed a break so we headed down to the local park for some r&r.  It was fun to meet up with Kelly.  She has a super duper camera too.  We are learning how to take pictures together.  Man, it's amazing how many features a dang camera has.  Practice, practice, practice is what my mom keeps telling me. 

Last night Carson had a baseball game.  It was so fun to see him pitching.  So much action!  Kelton's game is tonight.  He is usually catcher, but wants to try pitching also just like his big brother.  Wow, they grow up way too fast.

Shot this cute pic of my sista and my little nephew Bodin.  So cute.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was awesome.  I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful day.  The boys and Brian made delicious breakfast with dipped chocolate strawberries.  YUM!  They also did all the dishes.  WOWSERS!  We went to church and sat through a wonderful program ending with more chocolate.   YUM!

Little Cooper wore his daddy's little vest from when he was a kid.  Charlotte made it for him when he was about Cooper's age.  He looked so adorable.  We came home and played catch on the lawn before heading to moms for a barbecue.  Everyone had such a great time.  We even ended the day in a little more chocolate.  WOWSERS!  Hope you all had an amazing Mother's Day. 

Practice

Brian has been coaching Kelton's baseball team.  It is fun to see him with all those kids.  He does such an amazing job.  What a great memory for Kelton. . . . and Brian.  On our way to practice I found a few fun places to take pics.  Here are a few shots from todays travels.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated. 

So I have been practicing taking pictures.  It is so much fun.  I am needing some serious help from the masters. . . MOM/CORT/WHIT.  Let's get together and shoot some pics.  I am in LOVE.  For some reason they didn't come out very crisp.  It must be a setting that I am still trying to figure out. 

The boys are getting so sick of posing for me.  They didn't last long, but long enough to take a few

Along our journey we ran into a small abandoned barn.  In the barn there was this amazing little nest.  Inside the amazing nest was this little blue egg.  Where is mama bird? 

Baseball and Bruises

Coop wearing his new tee from Born Ready

Brian has volunteered to coach Kelton's baseball team.  He is so amazing with all the little kids.  Tonight is their first game.  Hope all goes well.  Last night Carson had a game and the wind was blowing 100 miles an hour.  How do kids get to be so dang tough.  I sat out the game in the car shivering to death.  Rousers . . . . when is this weather going to turn? 

Brian hard at work in his welding shop

Brian crashed again on his bike a couple days ago leaving him all banged up.  Broken or bruised ribs, nasty knot on his knee.  I think he finally realized that he is not 20 years old anymore.  It hurts a lot more to crash now-a-days.   He has been out in full force building bikes.  He has fallen behind a little bit due to the lack of motivation in the weather.  Just think how green the grass is going to be after all this snow and rain.  YIPPEE!

AWESOME!

So mom and dad came up to visit today.  It was so fun to see them.  They took us all out for yummy ice cream at the local parlor.  It was great to have them at our home. 

Oh what a happy day.  I got the most amazing camera, and now I am absolutely infatuated with taking pictures.  I was so excited that I went down by the river to take pictures today with the boys.  Kelton is also infatuated with taking pictures.  He was so cute out there tracking down the perfect shot.  We had so much fun, and saw some pretty amazing things while we are there.  Happy, happy day.  Here are a few of my favs.

Busy

It's crazy how last week we were out of school early for a snow day and today it is 75 degrees.  What is going on around here?  Brian and I have volunteered to coach Kelton's baseball team.  So many hours, so little time.  How are we going to make this happen?  I think it will be a lot of fun!  Carson has been so busy lately.  He went to early morning track, afterschool track, and baseball.  He is only 11.  I wonder what will happen when he turns 12.

This is what it looked like last Tuesday.  Wow!

SO HAPPY

Brian headed to Salmon to do a little fishing with our neighbor Blair.  He has been super busy working that he hasn't had any time to play.  I was happy he was able to go.  I posted this on the bella rosa blog also, but had to share it in my journal.

What the . . . . ?

So 6 months have past since my last official update on the blog and so has winter.  I guess it must have been the long winter months that made me a blogaphobic.  The only problem with not blogging is that my kids are growing up so fast, and I am missing out on so many important events.  I guess it's just a matter of taking the time, and who the heck has the time?  I don't even know where to begin.  Let's just do a rundown of the winter months

NOVEMBER:

• Brian started getting pretty sick with abdominal pain.  Landed him in the E.R. several different times.
• Hosted my 2nd Thanksgiving by having my family from Rexburg come up. 

DECEMBER:

JANUARY:

Starting to fit in with the Ashtonites.  Got our first snowmobile.  I guess it's a good thing to have when you have 6 months of winter.  The boys sure seem to LOVE it. 

FEBRUARY:

• Took Carson up with his 6th grade class to teach them snowboarding.  Had a blast.
• Brian had several tests done to find out if it was his gallbladder.
• So many birthday celebrations.  I turned a whopping 36 years old.  Not sure if I like the idea of being 40 soon.  Kelton celebrated his birthday by turning 9.  __________________________________.  Cooper turns 3!  What a great month of exciting adventures.
• Brian gets surgery to remove his gallbladder.  Thanks to Dr. Heather who knew it from the very first moment!  I won't ever let Brian forget it either.

• Carson and Kelton were involved in basketball.  They really seemed to enjoy it.  This was Kelton's first year actually playing basketball.  They did awesome.

MARCH:

• Spent most of the month of March having a herniated disc in my back.  Yousers, I was a grump.
• Brian turns a whopping 37 years old.  Crap, where has the time gone? 

APRIL:

• April 2-6 spring break.  It just snowed and snowed for spring break this year.  I VOW next year to not be around during spring break.  We will LEAVE for spring break - somewhere warm. 

So that is a quick rundown of life in the super fast lane at the William's house. 

COWGIRL UP

So yesterday my neighbor Cris called me up and asked if I would like to go out on a ride with her. Now, I was thinking bike ride, but she was thinking horse ride. I hesitated for a moment and said "SURE"! Now if you know me well you know I am no where near a cowgirl. It takes some serious flexibility to stradle it yet alone have the cordination to guide the animal where it needs to go.

I HAVE A NEW NEPHEW!

Ash and Cort just had their third little boy yesterday. Carson and Kelton were so excited about it. They kept saying ....."NO WAY". He is one cute little fart. I think he looks a lot different then the other two. Ash is a pro at the whole giving birth thing. She makes it look so easy.....even though I know it really isn't at all. Way to go girl. You are AWESOME. I am so excited to see the litte guy. I just LOVE new little babies. So innocent, sent from above. I can't wait to meet you little Henry. See you soon.

Shut Up and LISTEN

Because this is my personal journal I will document an amazing experience that happened to me last week. Due to the fact that I can only remember things for about 24 hours meant I better document it NOW. I know we all have days when we just need a little extra help from above. You know, God. So I was on my knees giving thanks and also asking for forgiveness of all the many errors I make in life. One specific thing I asked for that night was for the Holy Spirit to be with me. For many, many years I haven't asked for this specific thing, but I felt like I needed to. I don't remember many times of the Holy Ghost kicking me in the butt to say "LISTEN".

I was on my way to work the next morning for our annual inventory day. This meant waking up at 4:30am and heading out the door at 5:00am. I was driving down the main 2 lane highway on my way to the big "BURG". It was lightly snowing outside with a brisk wind blowing the car. I was going my normal speed of 68mph. I always drive 68mph - no less, no more. About 15 minutes into my drive I get this overwhelming feeling "SLOW DOWN". It was almost like someone grabbed my foot and lifted it off of the gas pedal. "SLOW DOWN"! I slowed down to about 65mph. I just kept saying to myself......that's weird. No more than 30 seconds later I came round a corner bend and a car was just passing a large semi on a double line. I couldn't see the car until it screeched to make it around the semi.

Now, if I were driving 68mph I would have been hit by the car and possibly KILLED. It is hard to explain the feeling you have when you know for a fact that it was the Holy Spirit with me that morning. It took me 35 years to really understand what the Holy Ghost was all about. Well, today I found out. So all I want to say is that you just need to SHUT UP, and LISTEN!
I hope you are all doing super duper. Talk soon!

GIVE-A-WAY TIMEE

Hey my 4 followers, there is a "Born Ready give-a-way. Go here http://www.aubutfamily.blogspot.com/
Happy day.

POTTY TRAINING

Last week we decided that it was time for little Coop to grow up just a bit. I know I have been wanting him to be a baby forever, but that is just not possible. He is now two and a half years old so I guess it's time. We made a special trip to Wallymart and purchased some sweet big boy undies. Oh how I love a little cute butt in big boys. We took them home and talked to him about how he needed to be big like Caillou. Well, I had no idea he was SO ready to grow up. After about 2 accidents he was a pro. POOING and PEEING like a champ.

Brian had taken the boys out to eat at Frost Top while I was at work the other day. He went to pay the bill and asked Carson and Kelton to keep an eye on Coop outside the restaurant. Well, he came walking out and little Coop had his pants dropped - whizzing in the flower bed (with an audience). So PROUD.....SO PROUD!!!!

Hunting season is in full blow. Brian has been off scouting the area for his big game winner this year. For male ego sake I hope he gets one. Carson hangin' with Uncle Griff at the shop - we miss you guys.

Terrible TWO'S.....No WAY!

Little Coop feeding the dog his bag of cereal. What a nice boy!

Wowsers! Can anyone invent a time slower downer machine? I need one. Life has just zipped by. The boys have been off to school for a bit now and they are really enjoying it. Carson does complain every now and again about some of his "have to" classes, but I think they like it for the most part. Carson is still playing soccer with the 8th grade team. Yeah, he is only in 6th, but was asked to play up with the older kids. Kelton went to Carson's practice and was brave enough to ask the coach if he could play with the kids. The coach put him in and can I just tell you how impressed they were with him. He would NOT back down to any of the older kids. He stole the ball, played the field and made some goals. Yeah, Kelton is in 3rd grade. They couldn't believe their eyes. Kelton is their new mascot. Helping out at the games and volunteering when someone gets hurt. What amazing kids I have.

Coop has been keeping me busy at home. I LOVE being able to stay at home with him. We have been baking cookies, going on walks, and making play dough together. It makes me sad to know that in a couple years he will be out the door too. WWWWAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! TEAR!!!!!!

I know I say this over and over but it has been so amazing to have my husband work from home. I get to see how awesome he is and he makes me do the WOW factor on a daily basis. He has been working hard on many projects for the building. Find out more here http://www.kelsonbikes.blogspot.com/. Currently, he has built his first carbon lug cross bike. It is so radical words can't describe. Teton valley will be running a story in their magazine for next summer. They are coming here next week to do a photo shoot. Pretty exciting stuff! I am happy for all of his hard work and talents. He ROCKS!
I have been having fun working here and there at the hospital. Just enough to get out of the house. I know I am lucky to be able to do that and feel super blessed. I have also been busy designing a few more tees for "Born Ready" and working on projects here and there. One of the new and exciting projects is a women specific bike company. I am currently writing up business plans, researching the market, and developing some products to sell online with the bikes. The company is called "Bella Rosa". I think it will be a fun time, and look forward to the adventure. Life is so busy, but again I am so greatful for being able to live in such a wonderful world with amazing family and friends.