Sunday at the Park

Since we will be going internet-less starting tomorrow I thought I better put up some recent/adorable pictures of Asher before we get out of touch with the modern world for a while. I'm sure we'll find means to blog every now and then-which is more than I have in the past:)

Timp with the Colemans

So my good friends Becky and Noah hiked Timp last week and I decided to join them for a photo.

Daderpiller

Asher has a close encounter with a giant daderpiller.

Going's On

Yesterday Asher surprised us by taking his first step:) I wasn't really expecting him to since he had been on strike against standing up on his own, but he just crawled in the kitchen and free stood up about 5 times then took a little step for me, it was very exciting! We're still a little while away from full on walking around, but that's ok with me. I don't have a video yet, but I will try and get one soon, the only problem is it will have to be sneaky and impromptu because if I try and persuade him to stand and walk he will probably go on strike again for another month or two.

In other news Kelly is done with school for the summer-Hooray! He'll be working long weeks now at his drafting job, but the fact that he can come home from work and not have to do homework is awesome. I'm very happy for him, and thankful that he is willing and happy to work so hard.

Since Kelly's final review for his big semester project was on Tuesday (April 24th) and he was completely out of it by the time he got home due to staying up all night and working on stuff, our anniversary was postponed until Friday. We went out to Stansbury so my Mom could watch Asher, then we got a quick bite to eat and went to see the Hunger Games, ( which was really good). It was really fun to go out and overall a good celebration.

The marathon is coming up faster than I thought it would (June 9th). Training has proven difficult as I've been feeling really fatigued, but thanks to the fact that I've wrapped so many other people up in it I'm not going to quit. My friend Becky and I may end up walking a good part of it, but we are determined to finish, and you know, even walking 26.2 miles is a challenge that I'd feel good about completing, so we'll see how it goes. Despite feeling a bit under prepared I am still excited, the race day hype and excitement is really fun.

Here are a few pictures of Asher's latest doings-chilling in his chair watching some Baby Einstein; waging war on the blueberries-how dare they sit up there on the table looking down on everyone-Asher was victorious in the end in bringing them down; and wearing his first tie-I couldn't get over how cute he looked, he couldn't get over how annoying it was .

One

Ok, at long last, thanks to the prompting of Mary I decided I don't have any excuses for delaying the birthday pictures any longer. We had a family party at my mom's house on Sunday the 18th. Asher had a great time- He loved the balloons, the wrapping paper, the presents and the cake, which was pumpkin chocolate chip-strange for a one year old, but he loves that stuff:) The next day, his actual birthday, he had fun playing with all of his toys and is still doing so. I see the look on his face sometimes as he's playing happily and I think he is thinking, "Man, it's great to be One!"

Ready to get the party started

It's become a tradition that my Grandma Morris gives each of her great-grandchildren a little chair for their first birthday. So far they have all loved them and Asher was no exception. He got a really nice and adorable Winnie the Pooh and Tigger armchair that he loves to climb, sit and stand on. When he first opened it and he climbed on we all started clapping so he stood on it and did an awesome happy dance, it was great! After the presents it was cake time...

He really enjoyed messing up the cake and actually ate a lot of it (minus what went to Sparky there in the background). Surprisingly Asher didn't get any in his hair, but I'm not complaining. When he had his fill he just took hand fulls and waved them around joyously, sending frosting and cake flying in all directions; Sparky was almost as covered as he was by the end of it-but that's what you get for begging from a one year old. 

The ball popper machine was a huge hit, the first few times he was a bit overwhelmed I think, not knowing how to dance to the music, catch the flying balls and put them all back at the same time, but he's getting the hang of it. I have a funny video of his initial reaction, but blogger is being dumb with videos so maybe next time.

 

Happy birthday little happy guy-we love you!

Little Boy

I can't believe Asher is going to be One in less than a week. Time has just flown by-the days seem to just blend together. I've been looking at pictures and videos of Asher from the past year and it's so wonderful and heartwarming to see how he has grown and developed. He has been such a happy, easy going little guy and I am so grateful for the incredible joy he has brought to our family and continues to do so each day. Sure there are rough days and nights, but they are quickly forgotten in place of past and present happy moments and hopes for the future. I'm sure I'll post more along with first birthday pics next week. But since I'm in the mood to write I'll just bring you up to speed on his life.

Asher is a Little Boy. Little because physically he is about the 5th percentile for height and weight, meaning 95% of boys his age are bigger than he is, but he's all proportionate and dang cute so I don't care one bit and neither does he. Obviously he is a boy, but it's fun to see typically "boy" traits starting to develop. He has had his first taste of dirt, he loves knocking things down, making strange but funny noises, yelling at random just to make noise, finding very tiny and impossible spaces to navigate and squeeze into just for the challenge of it, and escaping from his clothes whenever possible. In addition to being "Little Boy" he is loving food. He's been a fantastic eater from day one (thank heavens). His current favorites are bread, strawberries, cheese, meat, and more bread. He makes good use of his 8 teeth and I think he is planning on adding a few more in the next few days given the increase in biting and waking up in the middle of the night- hooray! Asher absolutely loves crawling, he is very speedy and effective, which is probably why he has no interest in walking any time soon, at least not that I can see. He likes to pull himself up and cruises between furniture and he can stand on his own if he is distracted and doesn't know he is doing it. He's got the balance and muscle for walking, but doesn't really care to, and honestly that is perfectly ok with me. He'll get around to it eventually. In the meantime he's putting holes in the knees of his jeans from crawling around so fast everywhere. He has also started dancing. I love the baby dance:) He will dance as my mom says, to anything, even a ticking clock-I will have to get a video up.

Behind the TV stand, he can play in that 1ft. space for a long time.

 

Kelly was watching Asher one morning and dozed off, when he woke up Asher was trying out the toga look and philosophizing on the logic of rattles.

Walking is overrated, some kids go straight from crawling to driving.

Asher enjoys a nice Spring snowfall.

And then, not very long after, he enjoys a nice Spring sunshine.

 Anyhow, that's about it for this summary, I'm so excited for his Birthday, so I'll probably break my trend of posting once every few months and post next week again:)

Money, money, money

It's pretty amazing how much of daily living and decision making is influenced by money (or the lack thereof). Learning how to control it is a struggle sometimes and a new challenge when you're young marrieds, graduate student and parents with another on the way..totally kidding on that last bit:) If you've ever talked to Kelly or I about money we've probably mentioned Dave Ramsey. Well, I'm going to mention him again, with high praise and recommendation. I started listening to Dave a few years ago, a little bit before Kelly and I got married and then he jumped on the boat and started listening too. We just really liked his philosophy. When he was our age he made millions in get rich quick real estate and then lost it all-really all of it. After being so horribly broke, he and his wife started over with a new philosophy-common sense and hard work and they are now millionaires again with no worry of losing it. We know the basics of hard work and common sense, but sometimes it's nice to have a guide. So, a few weeks ago, 2/29 to be exact, Dave's Financial Peace University Online course went on sale for $29-in celebration of Leap Day. We've always really wanted to "attend" the classes, but it normally goes for $100, a little more than we could or were willing to spend, but $30, that was doable. We felt like we got our money's worth after the first lesson (there are 16 total with about 3 segments each) and to be honest, I would have found a way and paid the $100 if I had known how good it was. We are on lesson 4 and so far it has been really fun, informative and motivating.  I understand it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but if you want to check it out here's the website:

https://fpuonline.daveramsey.com/index.cfm?event=displayFpuOnlineJoinNow

You can watch a free segment from one of the lessons about getting out of debt. And if, like us, $100 is a little too much, he does put it on sale every couple of months, usually around holidays and such so you can check his website if you're interested. Anyhow, this has been a total plug and advertisement I know, but I promise I'm not getting paid to do it, and just wanted to share a good thing:)

Asher attempts loading himself into his car seat.

They don't get much better than this!

Asher Makes a Break for it

So we were sitting in the living room folding laundry and Asher crawled into the kitchen. A few seconds later we see him making a break for the back door.

Dog gone it...

It was a fairly normal afternoon at home. Asher had just gone down for a nap and I was taking advantage of the moment to hurry and make Kelly some lunch he could grab when he came home from work for a few minutes before rushing off to school. With no bread on hand and the fridge looking a little bare I finally had a resourceful thought for the leftover hot dogs and biscuit dough-Pigs in a blanket hooray! So there I am standing in the kitchen heating up hot dogs and flattening biscuits, feeling rather happy with my idea when I hear an anguished cry coming from what seems like the nursery. I stop and listened to be sure, because I've never heard Asher cry out like that before, and then I hear it again. My heart is racing and I rush into his room wondering what could possibly be wrong or what could have happened to him. There he is, sleeping peacefully, so much so that my barging in didn't even disturb him, which it normally would. As I back out of the room trying not to ruin my good luck of not waking him I hear the scream again and wonder if its some poor person or even an animal outside. I run back into the kitchen and listen. Then I realize its a dog. A hot dog that is. That poor tormented hot dog in the microwave was crying out in agony at being re-heated. I didn't feel bad for it though, mostly I just felt dumb. The End.