Tomorrow I will be braving the friendly skies with the Ash Man. Don't expect much action over here for the next week. But I will be doing a little guest spot over at Bloom in the semi-near future, so stay tuned for that.

In the mean time, I posted some more pics from the wedding I did earlier this month.

Check out this awesomeness.

flying alone with a one year old

On Thursday Asher and I are flying to New Mexico to see my parents. I'm feeling a bit nervous. Asher has flown several times but it was all before he was mobile and I always had Jared with me. Luckily we have a direct flight and it's only an hour and a half. But.... I'm still nervous.

What tips do you have? What trick should I have up my sleeve to keep him happy and not crawling as fast as he can down the aisle?

family pics

All summer I've been meaning to get pictures of the kids and somehow get one of all us. We were going to do it when we were with my family, but Asher wasn't cooperating. Then my friend Danielle was going to take a few but we couldn't get our schedules coordinated. Finally on Friday some friends came over for dinner and were willing to snap a few pics of all of us together. Earlier I had taken some of the kids. We were very short on time, so they aren't perfect. But we managed to get something Christmas Card and picture wall worthy. These were all taken in our backyard.

You may have noticed I changed the picture on my sidebar to this one:


I also like this one:


And then here a few of the kids:

downer

After many, many months without it, these past few months since it's return have reminded how weird and annoying periods are. Oh and messy.

On the other hand, it's good to know my body works and regularity has returned as well. For that I am grateful.

farewell fair mullet

Sunday night we decided the mullet had grown long enough.

It was just too long and fluffy, and the curls I was hoping would appear, never really did.


So we cut off the ceremonial baby hair lock and then pulled out the clippers and daddy had a go at it.
Don't look too closely though, Asher was super wiggly so its not very even, but he doesn't have much hair anyway so its hard to tell.

Hopefully now it will all grow out more evenly.

He's not much of a baby anymore these days. :-(
Next time I think he wants to cut it himself.

hogle zoo

Amy and Sam were kind enough to invite us along to see the baby animals at the Hogle Zoo this week.


We saw the most adorable baby elephant. These pictures cannot do it's cuteness justice.



This sweet little giraffe.




And there were three new baby tigers. They were hard to see and even harder to photograph I'm afraid. But if you look closely you can see two of them here with their mama.

We also saw the big daddy tiger who came right up by the fence.


Then there were our two little monkeys.

And no trip to Hogle Zoo is complete without a drink from the Lion's mouth.

i recommend

If you live in the Salt Lake City area, I recommend...

The Blue Chip Group for bulk food items and food storage. We stopped by their store today and got wheat, brown rice, and few a other items. So nice not to have to order it and wait for it to come. Definitely a perk to living in Utah, the land of many Mormons who do food storage. Thanks for tipping me off to this place, Trina!

Au Naturale, a new restaurant in Sugar House. On our way home today we saw it and were intrigued so we stopped in for lunch. Its actually fast food and even has a drive-thru but everything is natural and fresh. We got a Veggie Burger and the Veggie and Goat Cheese Wrap, plus sweet potato fries and acai berry frozen yogurt. Everything was delicious!!! The frozen yogurt was by far the best frozen yogurt I've ever had! The fries were good enough to rival Guru's, a place famous for their yummy sweet potato fries. And they even had Blue Sky Rootbeer in the fountain drinks. Any good New Mexican knows that Blue Sky Soda is the best. Jared is very picky when it comes to restaurants and he even gives Au Naturale 5 stars! Check it out!

14 months

My happy baby is 14 months old!




He sure is a hoot. He still won't walk, but he does love to stand and sit and stand and sit over and over again. And if there is music playing he dances. Its adorable.


I love this boy.

good read: The Duggars: 20 and Counting!

I just finished reading The Duggars: 20 and Counting and have to say that it is really good! I have always been pretty fascinated by the Duggars, a family with 18 going on 19 children, and have seen several of the TV shows about them. I really admire their thrift, family values, and faith in God. This book just increased my admiration for them. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are very frank and honest about answering questions and telling their story. Plus, they explain how they stay organized and run their household. We all have something to learn from them.

I was especially impressed by how Christ centered their lives are. They truly do put God first and are wonderful examples of good Christian living. From everything they talked about, they seem to be extremely Christ like and are teaching their children to be so also.

They also live completely debt free and save up for everything... including cars and their house, which they built mostly themselves.

And their children are all so well-behaved and happy... I'm very impressed.

While I don't plan on having even close to 19 children... we already have a large family by modern standards and do plan on having more children. Sometimes that seems overwhelming, but seeing that the Duggars can happily manage such a large family, gives me confidence that I can manage mine.

I'd like to share their list of family guidelines. I would love to implement more of these in our home.

1. Always use soft words, even when you don't feel well.
2. Always display kind actions, even if you have been mistreated.
3. Show joyful attitudes even when no one is looking.
4. Have sincere motives with no thought of self-gain.
5. Think pure thoughts.
6. Always give a good report of others. Never tattle-tale unless physical harm will come to someone.
7. Never raise a hand to hit.
8. Never raise a foot to kick.
9. Never raise an object to throw.
10. Never raise a voice to yell.
11. Never raise an eye to scowl.
12. use one toy/activity at a time.
13. Never let the sun go down on your wrath.
14. J.O.Y. : Put Jesus first, Others second, Yourself last. Make serving family a priority.

then there's this one

This one is actually $70 (still pricey for my budget) and its bigger, but is it too big? I like the "vintage" feel it has about it and that is nice solid leather, but I don't want something too bulky.

worth the price?

This is the closest purse I've found to what I want. Not sure if I want to spend $60 though. I'm still looking.

soccer season

Olivia and Grace are both playing soccer this year and last week they had their first games. Both girls' teams won! This morning I missed their games because I had choir practice.... but it also meant I had time to post this. The girls are having a lot of fun and its really nice to get out on Saturday mornings and enjoy the ever cooling crisp almost Autumn air.

I've also learned that I am definitely NOT a sports photographer and have no aspirations to become one. I'll stick to portraits and flowers for now.

Liv's Game


The victory tunnel...




Grace's Game


I forgot to take a picture up close of Grace. :-( I'll have to take one next week.

And here a couple of cute Asher in his little sweater. He looked so cute.



Asher and Mommy

more friends!

We capped off this friends-filled week with a visit from Eleanor and Calvin. Eleanor and I served together in the Relief Society Presidency of our BYU singles ward about 4 years ago. She is hands down one of the coolest, most talented, and stylish girls I know. (Check out her Etsy Shop!)We hadn't seen each other since we both got married and had baby boys a week apart, so it was WONDERFUL to catch up. She and her darling boy, Calvin, came over for a late lunch and a walk to the nearby park.

Unfortunately, I'm lame and didn't get a picture of all of us or a good one of Eleanor. Next time. But here are the cute baby boys getting ready to walk and playing on the playground.



Asher's latest thing is climbing. He was really trying to climb into Calvin's stroller.


How cute can one boy be?