My Beautiful Baby Boy

1 day old

3 days old

1 month old

2 months old

3 months old

Tommy is now 3 1/2 months. He is growing so fast. He now loves to make all sorts of happy noises, especially if I smile at him. He just started laughing this month. Baby laughter is the most beautiful sound. He has also discovered his hands and how to put them in his mouth. He loves to suck on two fingers at the same time, his index and middle finger. Hasn't figured out the thumb thing yet. He is sleeping through the night most of the time. Sometimes he will sleep around 9 hours at a time. He is so easy going and pleasant and now loves to smile at his Mama. He also thinks his big brother is pretty funny. He has adorable little dimples in his cheeks when he smiles. I've got to get pictures of them. His eyes are changing color. They are turning green with some brown specks. I'm sure he will have hazel eyes like mine. He also has a flat spot on the left side of his head. It was very pronounced last month, but it is rounding out. That is the side he loves to sleep on. All I have to do is rub in between his eyes and down his little nose to put the kid to sleep when it is his nap time. What a great little boy! I love love love my beautiful little Tommy.

Happy Memorial Day & quick update

A picture I took a few years back at Arlington Cemetery.

Thank you to the military men and women who give of themselves to serve our country.

Hello everyone! I know I've been quite absent from the blogging world. Sometimes it is nice to have a big long break. Especially if that break comes right after having a baby. So here are some things that have been happening in our lives:

• I had a baby and he is beautiful and I love him. My boys make me so happy!
• Matt and I had birthdays. We are now in our "late twenties." It kinda freaks me out. I have been feeling so old lately.
• My sister-in-law, Sarah, had a baby too! Finally, someone in my family who can relate to my stage in life. Little James is perfect and I know him and Tommy will be best friends.
• Matt blessed Tommy at church in May. It was nice to have all the family over to celebrate him.
• I went back to work to finish the school year. My students did so well at the regional science fair and have flown all over the country to compete in several national and international science fairs.
• I quit my job....and then I changed my mind. If that sounds familiar, it is. I did the same thing last year. I just love what I do and I am lucky enough that I work at a school that is so flexible and understanding. I don't think it is possible to find a job that I only have to go into work 6 times a month for only 2 hours each time and do the rest at home through email. It is so rewarding to help mentor my students with their projects.
• I watched the biggest loser finale. A-maz-ing!
• Matt has been working on the basement like a madman! It should be finished next week!

I have a plethora of pictures to post of all the fun things going on these last couple of months, so keep your eyes open.

Best. Christmas. Ever.

Wow. Christmas is so much more fun with children. This was the first year Parker understood what was going on and it brought me back to my childhood a little. In fact, I was so excited for Christmas this year that I could sleep Christmas eve. I woke up around 1 am and didn't get back to sleep until around 4. Well, part of that was excitement, the other part was anxiety. I woke up having braxton-hicks contractions every 5 minutes. How terrible would it be to go to the hospital on Christmas eve? It would ruin Christmas. I ate a little something and took a nice warm bath and finally they slowed down after about an hour.

I was a little stressed because my family was all coming over for a big Christmas Breakfast, then we were meeting up with Matt's family to go sledding, and then a big Christmas dinner party that evening with them at my house (not to mention I hosted another Christmas dinner at my house just days earlier). It was a big, busy and wonderful day.

Parker loved all his presents. He is such a spoiled boy, being the only grandchild on both sides of the family.

The breakfast was delicious. I made this french toast, but added homemade orange syrup (recipe from Amanda). There were no leftovers.

Then we took Parker sledding for the first time up Big Cottonwood Canyon. He LOVED it. He also discovered the joy of snowballs. He would pick up a handfull of snow and yell "SNOWBALL!" as he threw the chunk at us. Then Matt decided to go down a bigger hill and snow flew all over poor Parker's little face. Matt tried to take him down that hill again, and Parker just looked back at me with his arm extended and said "mama" as if asking me to save his life. Poor kid is always tortured by his daddy.

Here are some fun Christmassy things we did this year:

• Made an advent calendar and counted down 'till Christmas
• Went to a live nativity with Grandparents
• Went to temple square
• Made an ornament to represent our year
• Did a service project for those less fortunate
• Had french toast for breakfast on Christmas morning
• Went sledding
• Sat in Santa's lap
• Made gingerbread houses
• Listened to lots of Christmas music and drank lots of hot cocoa

A New Addition

This must be the year of love because there is another marriage in my family. Not only is my brother Casey engaged, but my sister-in-law Rachel just got married! Her new husband, Spencer, is great. She deserves to be treated well and Spencer is just the guy to get that job done. Welcome to the family Spencer!


They let me take their pictures, so be sure to check them out at photography-by-ashley.blogspot.com and let me know what you think. I love feedback.

Casey is finally engaged!!

My brother has been dating a wonderful girl named Sheralee. She is perfect for him. Sheralee is kind, talented, and spiritual...and she rock climbs. So obviously, a perfect match. They are going to get married July 30th and I'm so excited. Sheralee, welcome to the family!



They let me take some picture of them. Check it out at photography-by-ashley.blogspot.com. I have a lot more time now that school is almost out and I've been doing a lot of photography. Let me know if you are interested.

Photography Blog

In keeping with my theme for the week "Updating the Blog," I have also (finally) updated my photography blog with some sweet pictures of the Salt Lake Temple. Let me know if you like them. If you don't like them, well, don't let me know. I prefer to hear only positive feedback :)

Here is just one of the many pics I've added.

Check it! www.photography-by-ashley.blogspot.com

St. George Adventures

Matt, Parker, and I went to St George from August 6-8 to have some awesome adventures. As many of you know, being in a car that long with a baby can be an adventure, so we drove in the evening when he would be sleeping. We are lucky enough to have Matt's sister, Sarah, and her husband, Eric living in St. George. They are kind enough to let us stay at their home and they planned an awesome weekend for us. Matt's whole family came down, so it was a ton of fun.

Friday, Matt, Jesse (Matt's brother), and I got ready early to go rock climbing at the Black Cliffs. It was pretty fun to climb on Basalt. I decided to be brave a lead a 5.9 and was surprised that I could redpoint it (climb without falling or resting). The hardest climb I could lead before I had Parker was a 5.9 and this was my first redpoint of that rating. I was super excited. At the beginning of the year I made a goal to lead a 5.10 (one grade harder than 5.9), but thought it would be impossible once the summer started. Now I'm working towards that goal and hopefully will be able to do it before it snows. Matt and Jesse climbed too. I just think my accomplishment was more interesting then anything they did;).

Matt leading a 5.10b

still leading the 10b

this is me redpointing the 5.9: Entropy

clipping in on Entropy (5.9)

the scary part: I'm starting to climb above the bolt

Friday afternoon Sarah and Eric took us on a beautiful, short little hike called Canaraville Falls. Canarville is just south of Cedar City. It took us up a small stream and into a slot canyon to some waterfalls. I was having fun taking pictures so I didn't notice Matt climbing up a rickety ladder with Parker on his back. I was mad. I was mostly worried about the climb down, but I know Matt has some mad climbing skills and would be able to safely transport
Parker down the ladder.


The next day Parker went boating for the first time. He didn't really care for it. He was content exploring the boat, but didn't even seem interested in the fact that we were surrounded by water. He did have some fun on the beach, crawling around in the sand. Matt and I went wakeboarding a little. I would like to try it some more some time.

It was such a fun weekend! Thank you Sarah and Eric for the good times!

Grand Canyon Trip

Matt, Parker, and I went to the Grand Canyon with my family from June 22-26th. It was so much fun! This was Parker's very first camping trip and he did pretty well. It was cold at night, so he would wake up all angry, but he was happy when we were hiking around and loved looking at all the new sights.

The first day we spent mostly driving. Seven hours. Parker was pretty good, amazingly. We then went on a small 1 mile hike to Bright Angel Point at sunset.
The next day we went on a 10 mile hike on the Widforss Trail. Matt was tough and carried Parker in the backpack most of the way. My brother Cameron helped out on the last couple of miles. Parker was amazing, again. He loves the backpack. It was a little challenging because I was still nursing him, so I had to stop and lean against a tree to feed him while trying my hardest NOT to notice the bugs crawling on me. Toward the end, he fell asleep. This hike had some beautiful view points.
On the drive back from the hike, we noticed some nice boulders so we came back to the area for some rock climbing. Parker just hung out while we made up our own boulder problems.

The next day everyone went mountain biking except for Kara, Parker, and I. It was nice to take a nap with Parker. I tried to go running on some trail I found, but quickly discovered that running hills (or more acurately, mountains) are hard. Too hard, in fact. I came back and Kara taught me how to play some card games.
The next day we drove along the rim and hiked many trails. I took my share of carrying Parker around. Well, a very small share. We did this really lame hike that didn't go anywhere and the trail was overgrown with thorny bushes and there was little shade because most of the trees had burned down. What a waste of 4 miles. Oh well, the rest of the hikes that day were much better.
The last day we broke down camp and then the group (except Parker and I) went on a bike ride. They loved it. I went on a little hike with Parker and then spent the rest of the time reading a book. Then we went home.

Quite the adventure!