who lets their kid out like that?!?

OH DEAR!! I have been noticing an unusual pattern with Katelyn as she leaves the house. She finds the most random accessories and dress ups to fancy herself up. At first I tried to encourage her that she didn't need any of that, it might get lost, or persuade her with treats. She is pretty convinced that she looks so awesome and will not budge. So this week, she wears whatever. Hopefully this behavior doesn't worsen through life, yea right! Pick your battles eh! I do love my fancy little girl, she is awesome for sure!
This is her at Target tonight. She told me she is a China rock star! Notice the shoes - she is not webbed foot!
She wore this to my mom's birthday dinner, luckily she didn't bring that hat in. And no I did not buy this hat, she won it in a dance off at Preston's work party.

An Ashley Steel Favorite

I have probably told some of you about my love for this blog, but I want you all to know it's greatness. It is called Seriously So Blessed; it is a fabricated blog about an LDS Utah County blogger. She has tons of acronyms, typos, and things only a LDS person would know. I laugh so so so hard every time I read it, this anonymous person is so genius. If you haven't read it go back a ways and read - you will get a big kick out of it! Here is one of my faves on how to snag your own perfect man:
Do's:

• Mascara, mascara, mascara. When ppl say you have tarantula eyez, it means your SO hot even a hairy spider couldn't resist! Dang!
  
• avoid wearing sweats, BUT, if you're gonna wear sweats, MAKE SURE there is something sassy written on your bottom.
  
• TEXT IN CHURCH. This will make you look even cuter and way less boring...if you can do this with tonz of gum, EVEN CUTER!
  
• put out...not tonz (HAZARD IN THE HORIZONTAL!!) but definately enough that they can taste your lipsmackers, which should be either super-shiny berry or Dr. Pepper flavored. Trust me, guys HEART that.
• Make SURE (DEAD SURE, canNOT emphasize this one enough) you have a darling mom. Guys scope HER out to gauge your FP so nothing personal but the two of you might want to get a buddy pass at Golds. In a pinch, borrow a friend's cute mom. Had to do this with JJWT for like three months while my mom had weird adult acne. Remember the rhyming mantras: "if I'm to find my EC, it is up to me. It's not a lie if it catches the guy." Repeat thrice, preferably in the meer with a hand on your hip.

DON'Ts

• do NOT wear long sleeves. Seriously, they make you look uptight and like forty. Cap sleeves are best, TRUST ME, way more shaved-arm available to tickle in movies.
• do NOT get a short haircut and/or make your hair one color (BOAR-RING!). Long and multi-colored is your best bet (but, don't bet, it's practically porn).
  
• WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT GO TO MORE SCHOOL, unless you want people to start calling you Yawnette. Think about it! Serious! How often do guys whistle and yell "Nice degree!" or shake there heads and say "What adorable knowledge"? EXACTLY.

Your welcome girls!! Good luck!!

Girls Getaway...Sorta!!!

Every year my mom and my sister go down to the St. George Parade of Homes for my Mom's birthday. We stay in a hotel and go to all the homes and just relax and do what girls like to do without kids. This year Preston and my kids also came down also but stayed at The Steel's, so they didn't crash our party! We had a great time looking at all the homes, shopping, eating and staying up late talking driving my mom crazy. St. George is so beautiful this time of year, it was a nice little weekend for sure! And Happy Birthday Mom, love you and don't know what I would do without you!
This is my mom's best friend and our second mother Rep, my sister, Grandma Lois, my mom, and yours truly in front of an extravagant home.

Be MINE!!!

We had a really great Valentines Day this year just hanging out and relaxing. Katelyn reminded me today that "Valentines is about letting people know you love them"...this was after I made her and Tate stop throwing crackers at eat other in the car and she thought that wasn't nice. But she was right, that is what is all about. We had a yummy heart shaped pancake breakfast. We watched a few Valentines shows and made some yummy treats. Preston was a good husband and worked on our kitchen backsplash most of the day and it looks great! We also did a week of Valentines and each day we found something in our little mailboxes. Preston surprised me and Katelyn with roses and me a new ipod..woohoo! The kids loved all of it and I did too. It is a cute and fun holiday to spend with your family! Happy Valentines Day to you all!!!

Love Day Party

We had a fun little Valentines Party with some cute girls in our neighborhood and Paige and Gabe. It was really last minute but super fun. We did a few little crafts. I modgepodged these cheap frames for them to put some art work in. Then we decorated cute little valentines mailboxes; the crafts were perfect for this age group. We then played heart, heart, love (duck duck goose), had a scavenger hunt, and stacked the conversation hearts until they came crashing. I had a few more games but ran out of time. It was a really sweet and simple little party for all.

My little girl I LOVE..

I just wanted to post some fun pictures of Katelyn. I was trying to get a good picture of her and then one with Tate for Valentines. She loves to have her picture taken so she was being quite the show-off. Here are some of the best ones.

And then today while Tate was napping and Katelyn was playing in her room I went outside to shovel. About 5 minutes later she came out decked out with her choice of snow clothes from our entire family's collection. She looked so cute. And she found the perfect sledding hill - our driveway. This was her 4th out of 8 outfits today. Does anyone have tips on breaking this habit of changing outfits so often?

laugh your head off

The other day Tate was splashing his milk in his cereal with his spoon; he thought it was the funniest thing ever. Once he starts laughing he can't stop himself and then starts to hiccup. I love his little giggle, he is such a funny boy!

I LOVE TO SEE THE TEMPLE

Our little family in front of the new temple
Our finished masterpieces

We were able to get tickets to the Draper Temple Open House this week. We began the week by having a fun FHE lesson on temple and building cute little temples with sugar cubes. Do you remember doing this when you were little? The kids loved it! We told them that we were going to visit the temple and they were stoked. So today we went on our tour. We had a lot of fun - it was definitely a great family activity. I don't know if the kids really cared much, but they had fun. When we asked them their favorite part Katelyn said "the water bottles at the end and the place where Jesus was baptized" uh what, I think she is meaning the baptism for the dead font? And Tate said "the bus" - you have to take a bus from a nearby chapel up to the temple. Well I guess they learned a lot and had a very spiritual experience!

wedding song of the year...

I love this new song by Leona Lewis. I loved it when Avril sang it, but this is even more fabulous. I am not sure if the music video is that cool, however it does have Chace Crawford in it so you really can't go wrong. Maybe just show him a little more frequently right! I love her voice though!

This is Katelyn during American Idol

We are loving all the good TV lately, especially our all time favorite American Idol. Last night, from SLC, there were some dandies. We are definitely ready for the good singers to start up. These people that try out...Seriously?!?

I am not sure what the glasses and butterfly wings are about, she wears unusual accessories all day long, they vary from day to day.