Ashton's 8 ... Time to Celebrate!!

In the spirit of her 8th birthday here are 8 things that make Ashton special:
1. She has beautiful blue eyes with gorgeous long lashes
2. She still has ringlets that form around her face
3. She is incredibly tenderhearted
4. She loves to sing and is very good at it
5. She is a good friend and well liked
6. She has a thirst for knowledge
7. She loves being a big sister to her little brother
8. She shares her birthday with her Grandpa (Steve's dad)

Well, her birthday was actually on Sunday, but with our schedule these days (last week of school and swim team every night) it's taken a few days to get around to posting. Poor Ashton - her whole life has been like that! We didn't get our first digital camera until the Christmas after she was born so when I look back and try to find photos of her first 6 months they are few and far between ... or lost. I can't even find a photo of me in the hospital with her or holding her in her blessing dress. I have blessing photos, just none with me in them - not necessarily a bad thing given the photos that I DO have of Ashton as a baby. *sigh*

Ashton was our Memphis baby. I remember her looking so much like Brinley those first few months and then she started to change ... next thing I knew she had blue eyes and curly hair!! Oh, she's always been a cutie, but it was fun to see her morphing into something that resembled her father a bit more than Brinley ever did ;) Now we call her "little Steve." I remember Steve coming home from dropping her off at preschool one day - the first time Ms. Beckie had met him. Apparently she opened the door, looked at Steve and said "Ah, NOW I see where Ashton comes from" (or something like that)!! Looking at her baby pictures now we see Cougar ... kinda fun to have 2 of each mold!It's kinda hard having a birthday on Sunday. It ends up getting mixed in with meetings, church, and an inability to REALLY go out and party. No Red Robin for us that day ... hopefully on Friday once we are in California and can leave the other kidlets with Grammy and Paca ;) We had decided the night before that presents would have to be opened after Steve got home from his 8 A.M. meeting rather than before (although all of my critters are up with the sun). I got up and made monkey bread for everyone ... always a hit! After Steve got home we got straight to the presents - she HAD been waiting for over 3 hours at this point!! She got a salon chair for her American Girl doll, Hotel for Dogs on DVD, a new Puppy in my Pocket, and a new game for her Nintendo DS. Along with that she got loads of cash from grandparents and is planning to buy a bed for her American Girl doll like the one Brinley got for her birthday!She also got her very own set of scriptures with her name on them - green, just like she wanted (because they are the color of her birthstone). Funny story ... We went to buy them and when we were putting her name on them went back and forth ... middle name or no middle name? What had we done on Brinley's? We couldn't remember! We opted to NOT include her middle name (Elizabeth) because it seemed so long. Came home and checked Brinley's - they have her middle name on them! We decided when we buy Kendyl's in a few years we'll use her middle initial ;) Of course she asked why her middle name wasn't on them, too! We told her it was too long and didn't look right ... not a total lie. Steve and I also had the debate about "timing" - should she get them for her birthday or her baptism (on June 6th)? We couldn't remember what we did for Brinley (would have been useful if I had been blogging when Brinley was baptized). We decided to give them to her on her birthday. She opened them and Brinley said "I had to wait until my baptism to get mine!" TOTAL FAILURES as parents in the "Baptism/8th birthday Traditions!!!"After a fabulous 3 hours of church - complete with NOT blowing out another tire by hitting a curb like I had done a week before on Mother's Day - we came home and watched Hotel for Dogs ... they love that movie! Really is a cute one :) Ashton had requested steak for her birthday dinner. Yes, STEAK (did I mention she turned 8?!?!)!! I started the grill and came back in the house to prepare the steaks. Thanks to my dad for teaching me the trick to the ultimate steak. Steve came down to throw them on the grill to find the flame had gone out - NO MORE PROPANE ... and it's the Sabbath! OY!! We start discussing our options. It is almost 6:00 P.M. at this point and just about anything else will take an hour since I have no other meat thawed. Steve starts talking about waffles. I'm thinking "IT'S HER BIRTHDAY!!!" I suggest that maybe we could call our dear friends the Wilsons to beg for use of their propane tank if they aren't using it themselves. A quick phone call and not only are they NOT using it, but they have an extra for their food storage! Crisis averted, we carry on with the original plan of steaks for dinner and all is right with the world ;)What kind of cake did she want this year? I was a bit worried that she might expect me to attempt something grand after the Lightning McQueen cake that I worked my magic on for Cougar, but her request was simple ... Lemon Cooler Cake from Costco. Not only did I not have to DECORATE it, I didn't even have to BAKE the darn thing!! I think it tasted even better for that very reason.She is now looking forward to having all of her grandparents in town in a few weeks for her baptism and is really hoping to get her ears pierced when we're in Califonia this weekend. We love this girl so much!!