Impromptu Trip to St. George, Utah

Nainy called on Friday and said she needed to go to St. George that same day for a special birthday party of a friend. She asked if Matt, myself and Ella would go with her. We threw our things together, booked a hotel and hit the road. Well....it took us 2 hours to travel from Clearfield to Layton (under 10 miles). There was a terrible accident in Bountiful and they had closed the highway. We hopped off the I-15 and took back streets until we were in front of the jam and we were on our way.

We drove non stop until we reached Beaver, Utah where we stopped for gas and some dinner (at 10:30 pm). At the gas station I saw a sign declaring that Beaver, Utah is the birthplace of Butch Cassidy, one of Matt's ancestors.




We pulled into St. George at around 12:45 am. We spent the night at the Ramada Hotel/ We had brought Ella's portable crib from home in hopes that she might sleep through the night even in an unfamiliar place...no dice. She woke up all through the night. We awoke exhausted on Saturday morning and hit the free breakfast and then the hotel pool while Nainy shopped up a storm at the HUGE T.J. Maxx in the Outlet Mall.




After swimming we dropped Nainy off at her party and Matt, Ella and I headed to visit Great Grandma and Grandpa Ahern in Santa Clara. We had a wonderful visit with them and even came away with a book of Grandpa's poetry and some gifts. They really enjoyed watching Ella play and seeing her little mind at work. We only wish we had had more time to visit with them.




After picking up Nainy again we visited some local Historic sites including the oldest Relief society building and the St. George Temple. Ella was asleep so Matt stayed with her in the car while Nainy and I went through the Visitor's Center.





We then headed home. Ella was so great in the car and never fussed or cried. She sang along to CDs and looked out the window and bit her own leg to pass the time. Here are the 2 backseat warriors!

We had a wonderful time and I am so glad that we went!

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The Hearts of the Children Turn to their Fathers.

One of the Relief Society mid-week groups I have started up in our Ward is Genealogy. A sweet 85 year old Sister, Beth Porter, is the Coordinator. We had a meeting this past Tuesday where the Stake Genealogy Specialist came a spoke with us about where to start and how to dive in to finding our ancestors and preparing their names for Temple work. I was inspired.

I came home that evening and started to research a line I had tried to research once before (while at BYU) with NO success. I was seeking a line of my Maternal Grandfather's. I knew their last name was Folts and that they lived in Herkimer, New York. I had a very patchy pedigree chart with 3 names on it which my Aunt had previously worked on. I got onto the Internet and within a few hours was able to fill out 3 or 4 other names. I was ecstatic! I thought I found a family of 2 parents and a child to do work for. Then I looked at the birth dates and there had been an error in my Aunt's information, making 2 of the names incorrect. I was hit with a wave of discouragement, but decided to plow on.

Over the next 2 days I continued to spend any little bit of free time researching the Folts family and was able to correct the error and replace it with the correct names. Doing this suddenly opened up a world of undiscovered names of parents and children, entire families, that had never had work done on their behalf. I worked and worked and this morning (just 3 days after starting) I took my names to the Family History Center and prepared 65 individuals for their Temple Ordinances. What a merciful Heavenly Father we have who made those names found to me so these little families could join together once again.

I have begun to coordinate a family Temple day when we can go the the Logan Temple and knock out a large portion of this work. I have felt so blessed to have begun searching for these people, even when my life seemed too busy, and to find them.

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Playgroup Photos

Since this Playgroup at Layton Park Ella has begun a new-found obsession with Ducks. She points out ALL types of birds and says "Duckth!"

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An Artist is Born

This really has been the week of toddler experiences. Last night Matt and I were trying to coordinate our church calling schedules since we both had to be at the church at 6:30 and neither of us could take Ella with us. We finally decided we would have to take her and switch trade her back and forth between our meetings. In the middle of all of this stress, we realized Ella had found a pen and had drawn all over her own legs. We quickly changed her clothes to hide the scribbles and headed off to our meetings. Seems like bumpy times ahead!

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The Naked Truth.

Well...Ladies and Gentlemen...we have stumbled into a fantastic toddler milestone today.

I put Ella down for her nap a bit early since her crankiness suggested it was time. I went down to the basement and turned on the baby monitor so I could work on the computer while she fell into a deep sleep. The only problem? She didn't go to sleep. For a few minutes it was quiet....then giggling...then the squeak squeak of the crib springs signaled jumping on the bed and then a series of "uh-oh's". Matt had called on his lunch break from school and while I was speaking to him I finally went to check on her.

Imagine my Mommy horror when I opened the Nursery door and discovered her standing in her crib....butt naked. That's right....no clothes and NO diaper! All items which had once been on her body had been removed and tossed over the crib's edge. Of course the scene wouldn't be complete unless I included that the sheets on her crib were soaked with pee-pee.

When I told Matt what had happened he couldn't stop laughing and Ella also seemed incredibly proud of herself and giggled away....The only thing is...I'm not laughing! In my mind's eye I can invision this new talent popping up at dinner parties and during church. OY!

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Ode to Liz Ahern.

So, I try to update this website often. It's kind of a pain, but I tell myself it's worth it since we are keeping our family updated on our lives. Well, it's been about a million years since we received a "comment" on this site and I really began to wonder...."Is anyone actually reading this?" I started asking my family members if they have read our BLOG lately and they all responded with a "not really". Was all of my time and effort in vain??? Today I found out I have one loyal fan, my beloved sister-in-law....Liz Ahern.

Jon and Liz called today to say they were having a BOY! Hooray! And Liz commented that she reads our family BLOG every day! So this post is dedicated to Liz Ahern...our biggest (and maybe only) fan! It's nice to know someone out there is checking up on the goings on of our little family. Now I just have to convince her to get a BLOG herself so we can stay updated when she gives birth to their first little chicken. (I'll check your BLOG every day Lizzie! )

Want to show you care too? It's EASY!

Here is a tutorial on how to leave comments:
-At the bottom of each post you will see a place that reads "0 comments".
-Click on that and you will be given a new screen where there is a box where you can leave a comment.
-Write what you want and be sure to include your name in the same comments box.
-Below the box are options to "sign in" "other" and "anonymous" click anonymous.
-Now your comment is recorded and the Ahern family knows that you love and care for them.

First family member to leave a comment on this post is the big winner!

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Happy Birthday to ME!

I had a great birthday weekend! We headed to Logan on Thursday (my actual birthday) and we went out to dinner as a family and had a really fun evening. On Friday we had a nice relaxing morning and then Nainy and I went out shopping and got a new "Gospel Art Kit" as well as Primary clip art for our Family Home Evenings. We then went to a new European Bakery in Logan and bought a million fun desserts for the birthday dinner that night. I just wanted Pizza so we ordered from Dominos and then had our amazing desserts. It was so fun because everyone tried all different desserts and shared so we all had a little bit of each thing.

after dinner we went over to Kezia and Paul's house and I visited while Paul and Matt installed my birthday present...a CD player for my car. It's heavenly to not have to listen to tapes any more (especially since I only had 1 tape). It was a great Birthday!

On Saturday Nainy and I head to the Scrapbook Expo and then to the conference center to see the General Women's Meeting!

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Little Turn-Coat

Ella said her first compelte sentence this morning. When I heard she was awake and went into her nursery to get her up she saw me and said in a VERY firm tone...

"No! I want Da-Da!"

Ahhhh...I'm all warm inside! Wait a minute...aren't I supposed to be the center of her world??? LOL! She's always been a Daddy's girl and now it's official. I can't wait to put this one in the baby book!

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Photos from this weekend

These are some photos from the last few days...

At the Tax Return/Birthday Dinner in Salt Lake City (9/16)



Playing piano with Grandpa Ahern (9/17)



Trying to walk in Daddy's shoes (9/17)

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My Ancestors

I have signed up for a mid-week activity with my church to search my geneology. The first meeting is this Tuesday night. In preparation I started looking up a family from my Maternal Grandfather's side which I had worked on once before. I was working on a family who lived in New York State in the 17-1800's. Their info is difficult to find since it was so long ago. I spent about an hour on the internet and found 3 men who I think are all connected...it was so exciting. I will take that info to my class so we can double check it.

I was supposed to make a LO for a Challenge I am running for scrapbook.com as well as use my supplies from the "Scrappy Giraffe Kits" September kit. I was so inspired by all of the ancestor findings I decided to scrap a layout featuring some of my ancestors. This time they were my Paternal great-great-great grandparents. I journalled everything we know about them and I found myself feeling comforted to know that these people were decent, good people. I felt I could tell by their photo how happy they were. Here is the layout and a link where you can view it and read the journalling which is hidden under the photo.
Click here for full image and journalling.

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1st Official Day in NURSERY

Today was Ella's first official day in Nursery. Let me start by saying that our church begins at 1:00 pm (just in time for Ella to miss her nap). By the time Sacrament Meeting is over she is an hour past her naptime. You can just imagine what the 2nd hour of Nursery is like.

We dropped her off together and when Matt left she melted down. I stayed in the room for almost the first entire hour before sneaking out. When I went to pick her up, on the stairs on the way up to the Nursery Room, I met a different Nursery child who said to me, "Your baby just cried and cried...a LOT!" When I reached the room Ella's face was a red, blotchy mess. She apparently cried for an hour and when a kid took her toy away she finally laid down on the floor and went to sleep.

Here's hoping next week is better.

Outside Our Church Building


All ready to head on in!


Playing Ensues before Mommy slips out.

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