Holiday letter

Ok so I am late on this & we have apparently disappeared but I promise I will post Christmas pics & a new post sometime this week!



Here is our letter- sorry if you didn't get it & sorry if you did & have to re-read it!

Hello again! Wow where has this year gone! I swear it was just 2007! Time flies when you are having fun! We have lived in the Phoenix area for a year & survived the summer, Phew! We moved into a new house in June, bigger & closer & more of what we wanted in a house. It is 2.5miles from Kevin’s work & that has been nice with only having one car!

Kevin reached his one year mark in the Air Force in May of this year & has decided that working around the jets is not as fun as it may seem. He has gone from being on day shift (anywhere from 6am-4pm) to working swing shift (anywhere from 1pm-3am) and loves the new schedule. He is the motorcycle safety rep from his AMU (aircraft maintenance unit). He spent a good part of the year working on his CDC’s which is a large training test. He had 5 booklets of between 200-500pages & he had one month to study each & memorize what was in them. At the end of each month he took a test so that he could get the next booklet. After he had all 5 he had another month to study ALL of them &take a larger test. He passed with flying colors in September and is now a “Level 3”. He can now get called to work on any aircraft. He has also taken back up his pastime of mountain biking. He doesn’t get to ride much but loves to have a hobby! This next year he is looking forward to Below the Zone & the possibility of sewing on a new rank!

Brok is still growing like a weed. We have had quite the year from him. In January at his 9month appointment, we were told he had autism though both of us knew he was too young to officially diagnose it. He was definitely slow to progress as far as sitting up and talking but we never imagined… That led to an evaluation in early February from a developmental specialist who ruled out autism and was diagnosed with a muscle issue called hypertonia. Basically his muscles have always been flexed since he was born so he was overly toned. He finally started early intervention therapy in June & started physical therapy & occupational therapy in August.. He has since progressed to the point where he is crawling like a pro & stands on any & everything. He has learned to cruise the furniture and climb the stairs so our goal for the next bit is to WALK! He loves to eat- anything & everything, total boy! He loves water & has learned that the bath is a fun place! He is a total ham & we love it!


On October 3, 2008 Lukas Eli Beal was born! He weighed in at a pound and a half smaller than Brok, 7lbs 3.5oz, and was an inch shorter, 20inches! He is a very happy baby who enjoys eating, sleeping & pooping as well as snuggling and crying. He is on a schedule… if you call it that. He will sleep for 2hr chunks only but at least it’s a start. He is our tiny guy, but has a personality that is something else! He hates being dirty whether it’s diapers, clothes or no baths!. We didn’t know how much love we could have! Brok adores him & seems to be concerned when he cries. He also wants to play with him already, steamrolling and wrestling with him. I can’t wait to see how they play once he is a bit bigger!

I spent the majority of this year pregnant from… January to October so I was extremely pregnant through the HOT, HOT summer here! I started the year still nanny-ing for a family of 3 boys but when I had “morning sickness” she decided to stay home & so did I! I was pretty bored being at home all day (most of the time stuck at home with no car out in the middle of nowhere) so I took up a hobby that quickly became a business… I am now the owner of BabyBug Creations LLC. I started with making custom nursery letters and have since branched out into the burp rags, tutus & crayon roll arenas! I can’t say it has been easy or very lucrative but it helps pay the bills & keeps me from going stir crazy! I attended my first boutique a few weeks ago & hosted my first as well. I have had time lately to read which has always been a favorite pastime for me! YAY for books! I am looking forward to possibly finishing my degree (hopefully) & to watching my boys grow this year!

As for the dogs, they are same as always, fat & lazy! The dogs spend their time hanging out upstairs with us or outside basking in the sun!
They LOVE the Phoenix heat!

Check out our family blog www.kevinandashley.blogspot.com

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!Kevin, Ashley, Brok & Lukas (& Patches & Zumi too

Merry Christmas!

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Another week, another post...

So this weekend at the boutique was quite... interesting... I did not do well. It was a good experience & I learned a lot but wasn't really worth my time. Besides the fact that there was more than one vendor with the same items (definately a no-no), there had been little to no advertising. It was so SLOW... Friday there was a total of probably 30 people that came through & I sold one set of burp rags for $15 & a custom name- to a lady who was working there! Saturday was even slower... At least until we vendors decided to take the advertising into our own hands. WE ended up making HUGE signs & for the last few hours a lot of traffic came through. I ended up only selling 4 rags saturday... Not a total bust but not the best... Part of it was due to another couple ladies also selling burp rags, who by the way left @ noon on friday & didn't show up til 2 on saturday, & theirs were more expensive so the lady who was hosting the boutique was promoting theirs more (hello more money for her) within the first 15 min of being back on saturday, they had sold $100 worth... yeah crappy! But as I said, I learned a lot & am now going to host my own on Dec 19 & 20th!

Other than that, we are all feeling better, our car got not only a new A/C compressor but also a new radiator... I also had to get a new phone... it radomly decided to stop charging & then when ?I went to check why, the port is coming loose... & when it shut off & turned back on, iut was just a blue screen... So i get a new one! I bought a Palm Treo off ebay...

I have a play group this week @ my house for the early intervention kids. IT should be fun... I am not really sure how it's going to work but hey- ya live & learn...

& I apologize for the scatterbrained-ness of this post, I am extremely tired & my fingers are freezing... it hsn't gotten too cold here yet, like 40s but we haven't turned on our heater & strange as it is, the heat doesn't rise! My loft is SOOOOO cold all the time!

auto pilot?

so i was definately not paying attention just barely & i put brok's diaper on lukas... it's sad when you go on auto pilot from changing diapers!

What in the world?

Where oh where has time gone! I am usually so good at posting at least once a week! This past couple of weeks I have to admit, I have been BUSY!

A few highlights:

• Brok is cruising on anything & everything now, he LOVES it.
• Lukas has started to smile & talk to us
• Kevin feels better :)
• I feel better
• We got to go home for Thanksgiving!
• Everyone got either the flu or food poisoning...
• I have a Christmas Boutique this weekend!

Brok has found that he can get around better if he cruises along the furniture... Which is nice for us except he has now entered the terrible 2s and we can't have ANYTHING on the couch we wouldn't want him to reach! Just yesterday I was feeding the baby & Kevin was in the bathroom & we came out to find that he had found this old loaf of crusty french bread (it was supposed to be hard & crusty) and was snacking on it... Wierd child!

Lukas... where has the time gone! It has been almost 2 months since he joined our family & I still can't remember what it was like without him! He is a doll (except for when he doesn't sleep at night!) and such a good baby! He is content to lay on the floor or in his pack n play & hang out there! Brok loves him too... or loves to steam roll him... He has such a personality... He HATES to be dirty in the least... Brok & I like to hang out in our jammies during the day but he has to be changed right when he wakes up or he gets so mad! & sometime throughout the day he will get really fussy for no reason & I change his clothes & he is content! It is hilarious! He also LOVES the bath! He is getting to where he will talk to us & I love to sit & listen to him!

Yes, it's true, Kevin is feeling better... It still hadn't gone away on Thursday so I made him go back in & they did a CT scan... Nothing in his brain but the doctor gave him some medication that made him feel tons better... it was like speed or something! I took a nap for less than 2 hrs & when I woke up he had the whole downstairs cleaned, dishes & all & had done the whole garage! It was really funny!

I am feeling better... I can actually account that to Kevin being off work for 3 days with this headache & allowing me to take a 2-3hr nap... oh I love sleep!

I was pretty bummed this year... I wanted to go home for Thanksgiving to spend time with both our families & I really really didn't want to cook a whole dinner for just the 3 of us or go out to dinner... But with the financial situation from paying for all the car repairs it wasn't going to be possible... That's when my sister decided to offer to pay for half our gas & since gas has gone down so much (now we are paying $1.75 as opposed to when Lukas was born $3.15) it was going to be perfect... & then my old boss gave us $50 for a gift from having Lukas & everything was perfect! We left late Wed night & drove to Vegas for Thanksgiving with my family & then Friday headed to visit Kevin's family Friday afternoon. It was a good trip & we had a blast! Thanks to Mike & Jen for letting us stay @ your house! You are great! While we were visiting up there however, we were driving down the freeway & we hear this noise that sounds like rocks hitting the underside of the car... It was like half mile keeping hearing it & so Kevin decided to pull over, I get out & the car is SMOKING! I freaked out thinking something was way wrong! Well Kevin gets out & sure enough there is a belt shredded! The A/C compressor went out & on our car, there is an external pulley that connects to the power steering pulleys & it runs it all. The A/C compressor has a clutch that disengages when it is off & the pulley spins freely however since it ciezed (I have no idea if that's how it's spelled) it was stuck not spinning therefore shredding the belt. So kevin luckily was able to drive it off the freeway to his friends house who is very mechanically inclined (once again, thanks so much Mike!) & they figured out the issue. We ended up just using the car with a belt made for a non-A/C car & it works well jsut no a/c... I guess if it was going to happen, it happened at a good time! We were able to get it fixed easily, drive it home & it is winter so we don't need the A/C. It is covered under our warranty so we have an appointment to take it in next week!

We all ended up getting sick though either from the flu or food poisoning... Kevin & my grandma got it first on Friday morning & then it progressed through everyone else. I got it Saturday & it was awful! I feel much much better today!

I found an ad on craigslist that was a lady who does vinyl lettering & so I visited her site & found out she was having a Christmas boutique this coming weekend. Normally she would charge a $35 fee but this time is free so I decided to try my hand at it! I am so busy this week preparing but here is a preview of what I have done! I am proud of myself & I can't wait to see how it goes! I made burp rags & holiday letters as well as recipe & coupon boxes & frames!

Let's see how the rest of the week goes!