Warning: Graphic Content (not suitable for children)

A couple of days ago I posted some pictures of Matt's black eye. Well, that was nothing. Now I have pictures of what he looked like when he came home initially. He did warn me though. He called and said, "Ashley, get the camera ready." "Why?" I asked, knowing that I probably didn't really want to hear the answer. With some prodding he tells me that he got in a "little accident." I don't know why people are always so paranoid about us rock climbing. Matt gets into far worse situations mountain biking. After we washed him up, we realized it wasn't too bad. That is fortunate for him; if it was any worse, I probably wouldn't let him mountain bike anymore. But the good news is that the bike is OK!

Poor Matt! He looks ready for Halloween.

Poor Ashley! Her husband's a monster.

Nice Bike! The Specialized Enduro

Angel on Earth

I have a very special sister-in-law. She has a very strong testimony of Jesus Christ even though she can't verbally share it. In fact, she doesn't speak at all. She was born with a rare condition where she is missing part of her brain, the corpus callosum, which is responsible for the communication between the two hemispheres of the brain. This has left her innocent and child-like even though she is now 17. She can do few things on her own. She can crawl, eat, mimic a few words, clap, and is learning to wheel around in her wheel chair.

Celeste at the pool

She does enjoy playing games with others. One of her favorites is pushing someone and seeing their exaggerated reactions of spinning out of control or falling down. She loves hearing funny noises like burping. Also, she loves receiving applause in which she reacts with clapping and a loud "Yeah!" and then she expects others to repeat. This cycle of clapping could go on forever if you let it. Sometimes we feel bad stopping because she seems to enjoy it so much.

Celeste playing with her brother, Matt

She also loves some toys -- some pretty unconventional ones. Although she likes Barney and talking stuffed animals like most children she also adores carrying around a bottle of Windex. I don't know why, but there is something about that swishy blue water she enjoys. And most unusually, she loves to carry around a picture of Jesus.

Celeste Playing With the Talking Puppy

I'm not sure that she even recognizes my own face, but she will spend hours a day staring at the face of our Savior. Her parents never pushed this on her. She just found one of her mom's church handbooks and saw a picture of Jesus and ever since she looks for His face everyday. Because she drags it along with her where ever she goes, her parents have found that in order to spare them replacing the picture semi-weekly, they have glued the picture to a piece of wood. This last significantly longer, but they do have backups in case one is lost, which sometimes happens. If Celeste wants her Jesus and can't find it, all heck breaks loose. She starts screaming. She is VERY attached to Jesus. For fun, I sometimes try to pull the picture of Christ away from her (I know I'm cruel), but she just holds tight and pulls it close. She has quite the grip! Sometimes she is just content to hold it, other times she eyes it from all angles, but it is almost always in her possessions or nearby in case she needs it.

Celeste looking at her picture of Jesus Christ

Knowing Celeste has strengthened my testimony of our Savior and of His love for each and everyone of us. Seeing Celeste look at the picture of "Christ in a Red Robe" is enough evidence for me to know that Christ knows us and we, undoubtedly, knew Him before we came to Earth. Like I said, Celeste isn't completely aware of everything around us. She didn't recognize Matt when he came home from his mission, but she recognizes Christ from the pre-mortal life. I'm sure all of us, like her, must have had a very strong bond with our Savior and elder brother. I wish I had those memories, but I must rely on my Faith in Jesus Christ and in His Love and Atonement for us.

Black eye and $100

To finish the story I started in my last post, Matt and I went to the state treasurer office and found out we get $100! Whoo, hoo! Over two years ago, Matt and I taught swing dancing at an event for the University of Utah. They were going to mail us the one hundred dollar check for our services, but I guess they never got around to it. I received a phone call about 1 year ago from them asking for my new address and I gave it to them and eagerly waited for the check...it never came. So, in conclusion, 29 months later we get our money.

I promised to post pictures of Matt after his accident. Well, this shows the black eye he developed about 5 days after the accident. Matt got a new mountain bike for Father's Day (he is spoiled!) and the first day he gets in wreck.

Free Money?

So my cousin called my mom who then called me to notify me of some free money. Apparently my cousin saw my name and address on a list of people who have unclaimed money or assets in the state treasury. I looked it up and I sure do. Of course they don't tell you how much until you actually go into the office with the correct forms and identifying documents. It is probably from some $50 bond I got from my grandma that I never actually got the cash for, but maybe it is from some distant long lost uncle who left me 100 thousand dollars in his will and they couldn't notify me so for some reason it went in the state treasury until now....or not. It probably is just $50, but hey that's a free $50!

Hiking with the Girls

Last Saturday I was in charge of taking the Young Women of my ward on a 5 mile hike. Next year I don't think they will put me in charge...I chose a hike that was a little over 5 miles and beautiful: Lake Blanche in Big Cottonwood Canyon. I guess it was a little steep too. I didn't really think much of it since, you know, it is hiking and is not supposed to be easy. Well, it was a little too hard for most of the girls. Three girls never made it to the top and the rest of them took 7 hours to finish it. There is no reason it should have taken 7 hours to do that hike unless you stop to rest every 15 minutes, which I guess they did.

I unfortunately didn't go all the way to the top because I had to take a couple of girls down, but (just to brag for a minute) I could have easily made it to the top in less than 7 hours and I am 6 months pregnant. Well, that was a little boost to my ego that even pregnant I am in better shape than most 13 year old girls.

Other than taking too long and the few that had to turn back, we had fun and it was beautiful!!

I should also note that I am married to the best man on Earth. Matt helped me out and came against his will even though he suffered a major mountain biking crash the day before (pictures to come). The girls loved him.

Big Belly

Well, I'm huge. At least it feels that way. I'm now 24 weeks pregnant and it is strange for me to think that there's a little person kicking around inside of me. A little boy to be exact.

The next question I usually get is "do you know what you are going to name him?" I have over 3 months until I have him, so I figure I'll wait until the last minute to figure out a name, since procrastination has worked well for me so far... Seriously though, how am I going to come up with a name for my little boy? Something that he will be called his whole life? Something that I will end up saying thousands of times in my lifetime? It is quite the daunting task. And anyone who knows me knows that I am indecisive. I can't even make up my mind about what I want for dinner, let alone the name of my child. That being said, I have started brainstorming. I do have a list that I'm slowing narrowing down. . .I think it is about down to 20 names.
By the way, I wear those pants it seems like everyday. Maternity clothes just don't seem to fit me very well and my other pants definitely don't fit me, but these pants are heaven. I wish I were wearing them now, but they do have to be washed every once in a while.

Photography by Ashley

I spent this weekend with my sister, Kara, while my parents, brother, and husband went on a biking trip. We thought it would be fun to do a photo shoot with my new camera that Matt got me for my birthday.

Kara is quite the little model and I got to get used to my camera and its settings.