The Big "3"!!!

I'm not quite sure how my baby is old enough to celebrate her third birthday already! But she is... and she did on May 14th!

I was really worried that Ashlyn would end up having an awful, lame birthday because it was the day that worked out best for everyone to head down to California. I had to keep reminding myself how lucky she was that she was on her way to Disneyland for her birthday.

Most of her gifts were things that would entertain her as we drove in the car. So, I think she had lots of fun playing with her new toys and activities and watching her new movie.

She kept saying "When we get to my birthday, can I..." I'm not quite sure what she was envisioning as "her birthday." Playing along with it, we decided that we would take a dinner break at a park in St. George and call it "her birthday."

Ashlyn ended up sleeping for several hours of the drive. That made me feel a little better about having her buckled into her car seat for 7 hours.

She had a blast at "her birthday" at the park. We stopped at McDonald's and got her a happy meal. We ate, played on the playground, opened presents and had melted, smashed cake (she didn't seem to mind!)

Here are a few things about Ashlyn at 3...

*Her favorite color is yellow. She is fiercely loyal to this color.
*Some of her favorite foods are string cheese, hot dogs, and anything spicy (she loves putting Tabasco sauce on things!)
*She's not a big TV watcher but if she had a favorite show, it would probably be Dora.
*She can't say the "r" sound. It is the cutest thing ever!
*When she was ready, she did awesome at potty training. She even wears underwear all night with no problems.
*Her best friends are her cousin Raylee, Katelyn Hintze, Jack Owens, and Landon Stott. We often catch Landon and Ashlyn walking down the sidewalk together holding hands. Whenever Raylee and Ashlyn get together, they always run and give each other a huge hug.
*She calls Mickell "Kelly".
*She is a night owl. She can stay up later than anyone in our family (not that I let her stay up by herself). She is also really good at sleeping in. There have been a few times that she slept in until 11:00! Morning preschool may be rough this fall!
*Her favorite toys are her snap n style dolls and her princesses. She also loves playing Barbies.
*She has the vocabulary of a twelve year old. Here are a few examples...
One day she was fighting over something with Hailey. She ran up to me and said that she got the thing away from Hailey. I asked, "How did you do that?" She responded, matter of factly, "Just normally."
Another day I was getting some things in my closet. She came in and asked if I could get something down for her out of our birthday gift box. When I didn't respond, she said, "I need you to get that down... seriously."
One night Baylen and I were watching Everybody Loves Raymond. Ashlyn was sitting on the floor playing toys. At one point she looked up at the TV. Ray and Debra happened to be giving each other a kiss. At the top of her voice, Ashlyn yelled, "EEEEEEWWWWWWW they're kissing on the lips."

She really is quite the comic relief.

*She is a very polite little kid. She almost always thanks me for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
*She has a couple nick names. Raylee calls her "Ashes". The name has kind of stuck. Several other people call her that now, too. In fact, she just came in from outside. I told her I'm writing about her right now and asked what she wants me to write. She said, "Ummm, Ashes."
We also call her buggy and buggy boo.
*She still has very cute curly hair. However, it's become more of an issue now that it is longer. It is always tangled. She HATES getting her hair done because she knows that means I'm going to have to get the comb through all the knots.
*She does an extremely cute "best friends forever" cheer. She holds hands with Raylee, Hailey or Mickell (or whoever she's doing it with), and jumps up and down while saying "best friends forever".