It's amazing to think that next year Ashlyn will be turning 12 and joining McKenna in young womens...wow! Sunday night before Ashlyn's birthday, Kenna could hardly wait for Ash to fall asleep. She had plans that once Ash was fast asleep she would carefully tape yarn from the ceiling to the floor around her bed and then she made the cutest little signs that, when put together, read "Happy Birthday, Ash!" McKenna couldn't wait until morning to see Ashlyn's reaction...what a great sis! Monday morning, dad called to wish Ash happy birthday and then so did grandmas and grandpas and cousins. Later in the day, Wyatt and I took Krispy Kreme doughnuts into her class and then made our traditional candy-gram to embarrass her at school, she's never really embarrassed, but it's still so much fun! The real treat was that a few weeks earlier, dad was given all 6 company tickets to the Jazz game on the night of her birthday and dad thought it would be pretty cool to let her invite 3 friends to go with her to the game and dad & I would tag along. That was the plan, but the night before, G was needed out of town for work and wasn't able to join us...I asked Ashlyn who she would like to go and she immediately smiled and said "Aunt Whitney!" Luckily aunt Whitney was able to make it work and we had such a fun night! Four of the seats are right next to each other and the other two are an isle away. Whitney and I had fun watching the girls, watching people and talking...we really only watched the last five minutes of the game because it got to be so intense. We agreed not to tell our husbands that we didn't watch the game...in fact for one quarter of the game we just sat outside the arena talking but mostly laughing as we tried to take just one good picture of the two of us together...we laughed about how hard it was to get one we both liked of ourselves, finally we found one that worked for both of us! We made signs for the girls to take so hopefully they would make it onto the Jumbotron and it worked! They had a great night laughing all night long, eating way too much ice cream and pizza...it was fun to see Ashlyn in her element with her cute friends Brinley, McKenzie and Julia. Ashlyn is always smiling and so much fun to be around! She received clothes, music, a motorized yellow helicopter, body wash, perfumes and jewelery...I think her favorite piece of jewelry was a blue heart necklace from her friend, Chase. Such a fun night!!
P.S. I have to write this down before I forget...a few days after Ashlyn's birthday is Breanne's dad's birthday. Ashlyn spends a lot of time at the Bitter's home, she and Breanne have been friends practically since birth. She loves their whole family and they just adore her. I guess dad mentioned to Ashlyn that President Bitter's birthday was coming soon and on her own she remembered the date. The morning of his birthday, she called his cell phone to wish him happy birthday...little did she know how much that would mean to him. He later shared the message with Garrett and me and said he was never going to erase it and that he would find a way to get the recording for us so we could have it for our family history. It was that special to him! He mentioned that he was having a pretty tough day at work and then noticed a message on his phone. He was overwhelmed that sweet Ashlyn would take the time to remember his birthday and then call him and not just wish him happy birthday, but tell him how much his family, especially Breanne, means to her and how much she loves being at their home. It's the sweetest message ever...what a great kid!
