Our Adventures

Crafting

2012-02-09T15:07:00.003-07:00

I have New Beginnings on Sunday. As the giveaway we are giving the girls a "Standards of Personal Worthiness Survival Kit." I got the idea on a website somewhere. I can't remember where. I was putting it together this week and wanted to make a little bag to put them in. Pinterest saved the day and I made the cutest little bags. See? :) I'm feeling pretty proud of how they turned out. They weren't that bad to make, especially since I was making 15 of them. Good times.

First Haircut

2012-02-03T19:32:00.002-07:00

Spencer got his first haircut today! Funny thing about it? He hardly even noticed we were doing anything except when we did his neckline, then he kept cringing. It was funny. Since he's a blondie, it's kind of hard to see the difference, but here's before and after:

Oh geez, this kid is cute. Yay for finally growing some hair!

Belated Birthday Pics

2012-02-03T19:30:00.001-07:00

Spencer loved his birthday cupcake. It took him a bit to get started, but then he was all over it. We didn't really get a very good picture of how covered he was, but he ate every little bit of it he could.

Spence got a bunch of books for his birthday plus a dragon my sister made. That's right, she made it! So talented. Spencer loves it, as you can see. :)

Happy Birthday to Us!

2012-01-23T10:11:00.004-07:00

Saturday was a great day. It was both Spencer's and my birthday and we had a fantastic day. Of course we forgot to bring our camera to the birthday party, so I'll have to wait to get pictures from my dad and sister, but trust me, it was great.

Notable events of the day:

1 - Spencer gave himself his first bloody nose by falling out of the love sac onto one of his books. Not the best start to the day, but he survived.

2 - Spencer ate his first cupcake, loved it, ate every molecule he could find, and thoroughly enjoyed wiping it all over himself as he ate. :)

3 - Spencer got a bunch of books for his birthday, as requested, and is loving all of them. He's quite the little reader. You know, he chews on his books, flips through the pages, throws them at me. It's all good.

4 - We celebrated mine and my brother Greg's birthdays as well, since our birthdays are two days apart. Lots of great presents were given and we had an awesome time at my grandparent's house. Thanks for hosting!

5 - We got what was essentially our first real snow of the winter that was not winter, right as Bill and I headed up to Sundance to celebrate our anniversary and my birthday at the Tree Room restaurant.

6 - Dinner was AMAZING. It was totally worth braving the snow. The only picture we got from that? Us in the car on the way out. Oops.

7 - We drove between 20-30 mph all the way back down the canyon in quite the blizzardy conditions. Here's to the Jeep in 4WD!

8 - That's it. Seven notable things in a day. That seems like enough. Ha!

Cookie Thief

2012-01-14T10:00:00.003-07:00

There Bill and I were, minding our own business chilling on the love sac before I had to leave for a young women's activity last night when we hear a crash and wonder what the heck Spencer just pulled down. I'm racking my brain, not coming up with anything that was left out in his reach. Bill went to investigate and what did he find? A cookie thief! I had left the tray of cookies I was taking to the activity within Spencer's reach by the front door and he took full advantage. We came in to find the cookies spilled on the floor and Spencer eating one as fast as he could. :) So funny!

And in other cute news, the other day Spencer fell asleep on Bill. It was so presh.

Walking for Real

2012-01-11T18:48:00.001-07:00

Spencer's been half cruising/half walking for ages, but it seems today he's finally decided he's walking for real. See the proof:

11 Months

2011-12-23T15:41:00.001-07:00

This kid is almost 1! I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. Spencer's life these days consists mostly of crawling and walking. He walks everywhere he can, and crawls if it seems too far. He particularly likes to walk while touching walls, couches, toys, people, whatever he can reach. He can walk on his own, but he's still a bit timid about it at times. He's getting more and more daring though and he's already decided walking is way better than crawling.

The next thing he does all day is climb. He's not so good at getting up on things yet, but that's not going to last long. He climbs all over me and Bill, his toys, the love sac, up from that onto his dad's desk, etc. He's learned that he's supposed to go backwards to get off things, though the finer point of actually looking where he is going hasn't occurred to him yet. :)

And of course he loves to put things in his mouth. We recently discovered he has molars coming in, though it's super early, so he's trying to chew on everything in sight. My shoulder is a particular favorite, though not for me. He took a big bite out of the foam roller a minute ago.

Spencer dearly loves putting things in cups and pulling them back out. Big cups, little cups, it doesn't matter. Our laundry hamper is just a big cup to him. He pulls out as many clothes as he can reach and then puts them all back in. It's pretty funny to watch. At least he puts them back!

He loves to throw things on the floor when he's eating. Crackers are meant to be thrown, right? I wouldn't say he's the best eater I know. It seems like he immediately spits out most things before we coax him to taste it for real. Half the time it seems like he's surprised when he does like it. I'd love to know what nearly 1-year olds will actually eat, as I spend a lot of time trying to figure that out every day.

Spencer's really starting to develop a sense of humor. He's so fun to interact with these days. He loves to laugh, and he thinks pretty much everything we do is funny. It's quite gratifying. What a fun little guy he is!

Family Christmas Letter

2011-12-19T20:42:00.002-07:00

This has been such a great year. As I look back I can't believe how many things we have packed in.

Spencer made his grand entrance on my birthday in January. I can't believe it's been less than a year since he was born. He's filled up our world in so many ways. These days he's learning to walk, exploring everything in sight, and generally enjoying life. He's a happy toddler most of the time. He loves everyone, but particularly Mom and Dad and Grandma Jones. He has the best smiles and laughs and we love him to pieces.

Bill has spent the year going to school, continuing his studies in civil engineering at BYU. He conquered two of the infamous 300-level math classes this summer and is generally enjoying his program. It keeps him incredibly busy, along with working as a TA for one of his professors. He graduates next December, so we are looking into grad programs and are happily anticipating finishing school. Bill is working with the scouts in our ward as the Scout Committee Chair and is currently helping to plan a Klondike Derby for them in January. Bring on camping in the snow!

I also went to school for the first part of the year, finishing my graduate degree in Public Administration at BYU in April. That was quite the feat with a 3-month old baby along for the ride. Spencer came to a lot of classes with me and generally charmed everyone who met him. I worked throughout the summer for my department and was pleased to be hired on as staff for the Fall semester to help a professor out with one of his executive MPA classes. Mostly though I am a stay-at-home-mom and love every minute of it. It's delightful to have so much control over my time and the ability to slow things down a bit. Though that time appears to be ending as I was just called as the Young Women's President in my ward and I imagine life will get a little crazy now. I'm so excited for the new calling though. I've been in Young Womens for a year already and this new calling will be fantastic.

We're still trying to go hiking and do some of the other things we enjoyed before Spencer entered the scene. It's a little different with a baby, but it turns out that with a bit of planning we can still do a lot of outdoorsy things. Spencer adores being outside, so that works in our favor.

Here's to another great year. We love you all and hope life is treating you well too.

Family Photos

2011-12-07T23:42:00.001-07:00

My SIL Miriam is a fantastic photographer and she took a few pictures for us while we were at Thanksgiving. We may or may not be giving them to a few people for Christmas, so I'll only share the ones we didn't pick, because we got a few really awesome ones to pick from, but here's some of the ones on the way to getting those. :)

Look at their eyes. Exactly the same shape. I've never noticed that before.

Hey Daddy, it's time to go play!

I have no idea what's with the leg...

Let's blow this one up big and put it on the wall!

Slouching. And Spencer is looking a little crazy. Oh, and my necklace is backwards. I didn't realize that until about 10 shots later. :)

Nice, but we got better ones!

The smiles are getting a bit weird.

Oh dang, closed eyes!

Spencer's far off look is pretty amazing here.

Let's just say Spence and I were fighting over whether we were taking more pictures.

Again, dang that slouching. It's cute otherwise.

Spencer was so done. He was trying so hard to get down off my lap. But this is the only one where he's remotely smiling. Ah well. You can't have it all.

An Idyllic Day

2011-12-05T21:42:00.001-07:00

I babysat my downstairs neighbor's two girls this morning for a few hours. It was fun. And crazy. And hectic. I didn't get a single thing done until they left. It made me seriously wonder how it's possible to do anything with more than one child. Ready or not, here we come here soon enough. (No, that's not an announcement. :) ) We had a good time though. Then it was time for Spencer's nap and I cuddled with him for a bit reading a book beforehand and it was such a huge change from the chaos of the morning. It was just delightful. In the evening Spencer woke up from another nap just when Bill came home tonight, so we cuddled up on the couch and read the latest REI Christmas magazine ad while Spencer played with my hair and my eyelashes and the Christmas tree next to us all before noticing Bill. Then he got all excited and tried to grab Bill's glasses like he does nearly every time he sees him. It was totally normal and yet so idyllic. It reminded me of why I enjoy being a mom so much.

Spencer snacked on some Apple Jacks while Bill made dinner and I practiced some songs I'm playing for our Young Womens in Excellence on Sunday. He apparently prefers the green ones, as he ate every single on of them before touching the orange ones. I felt immensely proud of this for some reason. My 10-month old can tell the difference between colors already and has a preference. Oh, and he's not color blind. Why this fills me with pride I have no idea, but it does and I'm happy about it. :)

I love how such simple things bring me so much pleasure. I've had lots of years to do lots of things and my life has been exceptionally busy in past times. It still is, but I have enough time now to enjoy the little things and that is just great. Here's to more moments to remember how great life really is.

Donut Falls

2011-12-03T16:51:00.001-07:00

The day before Thanksgiving we decided it was high time we went on a winter hike. Well, Bill decided several days earlier and I followed along because after all, that is a great idea. We almost didn't go because we were trying to get all of our stuff school and work stuff done and it took longer than expected, but thank goodness we did because this was a fun one! It's called Donut Falls and it is in Big Cottonwood Canyon. It's not very long. It was a bit over an hour round trip, but that was good for us since it was rather chilly and we're trying to get Spencer used to hiking in small steps instead of going all out. Supposedly in the summertime this waterfall comes right out of the center of a rock, thus the name, but it was covered with snow when we went so we didn't get to see that. It was still really pretty and a fun little hike.

This is how Spencer was pretty much the entire time until he fell asleep. He just looked around and grinned. He knows how to appreciate nature. :)

At the Falls. Notice Bill's mustache. I'd say it's a pretty good speciman for No Shave November.

The Falls that didn't look like Falls.

Cutting Down a Christmas Tree

2011-12-03T16:39:00.001-07:00

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we headed down to Ephraim with some friends and then up into the mountains to find ourselves a Christmas tree. We had a great time! I liked what my friend said on her blog about vetting Christmas traditions. We definitely try different things each year to see if we want to make it a continuing tradition. This one has definitely made it onto the list!

Our day involved quite a bit of sliding all over super snowy roads in a huge truck, tramping through snow for over an hour to find the perfect tree, which we did indeed find, and generally having a great time with our friends and their family.

Spencer loved it. He thinks being carried around in the hiking backpack is one of the best things ever. And who wouldn't like wearing a barbalute suit? Can anyone guess that quite obscure movie and/or reference?

So here it is. The perfect tree. You can all give up because this is it and we've already got it. :)

10 Months

2011-12-02T13:28:00.001-07:00

My little guy is a heart throb. That's all I have to say. :) Well not really. I can and will say lots of other things. He did not like being put in the boots. This is the best picture of the lot.

So let's see, what has Spencer been up to lately? He finally learned to crawl on all fours instead of army crawling during Thanksgiving. It's just in time to learn how to walk, which he is also doing right now.

Lately if I'm not paying enough attention to me he'll grab my face and turn it to his and then put his face really close to mine. Then it's like he's not sure what to do so he let's go and heads off to play. He also plays really well on his own still, but he comes and finds me every once in a while to get a hug. He loses it whenever I leave the room. Not always, but anytime he's tired or hungry mostly.

He likes his dad now. For a while he wasn't so sure, but now he thinks Bill is the best. He likes most people these days. He'll smile and talk to anyone who notices him. He loved being in a big group at Thanksgiving with tons of people to play with him.

He's a big fan of eating anything I'm eating, though he's kind of snooty about it if he doesn't see me eat it first. He'll totally turn away from so many good foods sometimes. What a goof. Aside from Kix, he pretty much doesn't know the meaning of feeding himself. He'd much rather sweep everything off his tray. Apparently that is much more fun.

Probably my favorite thing about Spencer is he thinks the world is just a delightful place. He is always smiling and laughing at everything. It totally makes my day.

This is the best video we have of Spencer walking so far, which isn't saying much since it looks more like he's falling. But he really can take several steps at a time without just falling forward. Sometime we'll actually get it recorded.

Catch Up Days

2011-12-01T21:39:00.001-07:00

28. I'm grateful for my comfy bed. I'm currently laying in it blogging and the memory foam topper is just heavenly.

29. I'm grateful that Spencer is learning to walk. Call me crazy but I'm excited for him to come running after me instead of crying because I'm going too fast.

30. And lastly, I'm grateful for things that make me stretch. I've got some new things coming down the pipe that are pushing me and though it's a bit scary, I'm excited for the growth.

Thanks

2011-11-27T07:44:00.001-07:00

23. I'm grateful for my cute sister-in-law Miriam who took some family pictures for us this week. They turned out great.

24. I'm thankful for wonderful in-laws. We had a fantastic Thanksgiving up in Park City with almost all of Bill's family.

25. I'm grateful that Spencer started crawling for real this week. He's been army crawling for 5 months and finally decided hands and knees is fun too.

26. I'm grateful that we got to go cut down our own Christmas tree yesterday. What a great time! This is going to be a new tradition.

27. I'm grateful that I get to teach the young women in my ward. They're so much fun to be around. Love them!

Day 21 and 22

2011-11-22T13:08:00.001-07:00

21. I'm grateful for sunshine. That gets a little scarce in Utah in the winter sometimes, but it's beautiful outside right now and I love it.

22. I am grateful for three-hour naps. Spencer recently decided he wanted to take really long naps, and it is amazing how much I can get done.

More Thanks

2011-11-20T13:28:00.001-07:00

18. I'm thankful that my grandparents moved to Utah. They had the most amazing place they lived up in Washington, but it was so far away we couldn't see them very often. It's nice to have them just a few miles down the road.

19. I'm grateful for my mommy friends. There are a bunch of us who have kids similar in age and it makes for instant friendship. It's so nice to have girls to talk to that totally understand the kid thing.

20. Dare I say it? I'm thankful for Facebook and blogs and all those other avenues that make keeping in touch easier. I'm totally a techie, not going to deny it. :)

Day 17

2011-11-17T11:37:00.000-07:00

17. I'm grateful for Spencer's walking toy we found for $8 at Kid to Kid. Seriously, it's a lifesaver. He wants to walk so bad and this helps him get so many more places for the moment.

Day 15 and 16

2011-11-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

15. I'm grateful for mountains. Oh how I love them! I grew up in Colorado and now that I've lived in Utah for 10 years, these ones have really grown on me. I will dearly miss them if we move somewhere flat.
16. I'm thankful for baking. I spent the evening baking delightful things and it was just so relaxing. Banana bread, granola, and some beautiful white bread because I love the stuff and hardly ever indulge. Yay!

Month of Thankfulness

2011-11-14T22:24:00.000-07:00

I keep seeing entries from friends who are posting something they are thankful for each day and I love the idea. I wanted to do it, but I kept thinking it was too far into the month. But that's not a good reason! So I'll just put my first half of the month all in one post and it will be great. :)

1. I'm thankful for Bill. Best husband ever. I know, I know, everyone says that. It's true though. He is.
2. I'm thankful for Spencer. He's the cutest thing ever. He makes me smile constantly and I love being his mom.
3. I'm grateful for all my family that lives close by, both mine and Bill's. They are all so supportive and spending time with everyone.
4. I'm thankful for the gospel. What would I do without that rock in my life? Seriously, it makes everything make sense and is completely who I am.
5. I'm thankful for good friends, both here and scattered around the country. Living in Provo, a lot of friends come and go, but they're never really that far gone what with all the ways we can keep in touch. It's wonderful to be surrounded by wonderful people.
6. I'm grateful for the house we live in. It is seriously the best deal. We're not moving until we leave Utah or settle here for good, whichever one ends up happening. Still don't know on that one.
7. I'm grateful that Bill is going to school. He is working so hard to finish his education and is doing a fantastic job. This really is a great time in our lives.
8. I'm grateful for my several jobs. I wish at times I didn't have any need to work , but for now that is still the case and the jobs I have offer me flexibility and quite a bit of satisfaction.
9. I'm grateful for a strong, healthy body. I've gotten back into exercising after far too long a hiatus what with school and baby and other things, but it is so good to be working out again and seeing my body respond. It feels good to be in good shape and taking good care of myself and I find a lot of satisfaction in working on that aspect of myself and my life.
10. I'm thankful for the degrees I got from BYU. I have loved every minute of my time at BYU. I'm done now as a student, but I still get to work there and enjoy the amazing atmosphere. I'm very blessed to have had this time in my life. In a year or two when Bill is done, we will be gone and I'll definitely miss this phase in our life.
11. I'm grateful for my father-in-law Doug. He's been living with us for a while as he and family transition up here and it is so awesome to have him here. He's such an easy person to live with and truly enjoyable to have around. Spencer thinks he's pretty fantastic too, and we all know that counts for a lot. :)
12. I'm grateful for the down time I've had in the last few months. I'm still pretty busy, but nothing like the 15-hour days during my grad program. I'm getting close to the end of the 13-book Wheel of Time series, which I've spent the last three months reading. It's amazing to have time again to do that kind of thing. I'm relishing the lower key schedule now that I am at home most of the time.
13. I'm grateful for having time to rediscover my love of cooking. Again, the added time in my schedule recently has helped that happen. Bill and I both enjoy cooking, but we don't always do it. I've realized lately just how much satisfaction I find in making good food.
14. I'm grateful for all the possibilities still up ahead for me and my family. We aren't doing all the things that we filled our time with in the past, but new good things fill the space, and the future only holds possibilities for more or the chance to circle around and get back to old loves.

Peel Banana!

2011-10-30T19:08:00.000-06:00

I want to like Halloween. I really do. I like the part where people have cute costumes. It just turns out that I almost never do. Lack of imagination maybe? Well this year the day of the ward trunk or treat and Halloween party Bill and I had a bit of a busy day with an all-day test for Bill and teaching in Salt Lake for me. So we forewent costumes ourselves. However, you can't not get a costume for your baby's first Halloween. It would just be criminal. :) Thankfully DI came to the rescue with an adorable costume for all of $1.50. Behold, Spencer the banana!

One of our friends gave him a Kit Kat. We gave it to him, figuring he would suck on the wrapper. Oh no. He chewed through the wrapper and inhaled the whole thing. And he screamed anytime I took it from him. It was hilarious. The kid likes chocolate. He's a smart one.

Lately he's been doing this funny thing where he opens his mouth huge and sticks his tongue out as far as it goes. I managed to get a picture of him doing it yesterday.

Our "new" house

2011-10-28T13:17:00.000-06:00

I always like posting pictures of the new places I move. This one is a little slow in coming, since we've lived here for three months now. It really feels like we've lived here forever though. We had an amazing opportunity fall into our laps in the form of the opportunity to rent this house. It's inexpensive, bigger than anywhere we've ever lived, in our same ward, and in a great location. It will do just fine for the next couple years we are in Provo. Since moving has become quite the affair these days, this is by far the best part. So here goes. Behold, our house.

Here's the living room from every angle. My sister and BIL were nice enough to give us their old couches when we moved in here, plus let us babysit their piano. It definitely gives me piano envy. So beautiful! I love the huge front window, except for the part where it's freezing in the wintertime. Nothing a little plastic window covering won't solve.

Here's the hallway.

The bathroom.

Our bedroom. We're in the process of installing a fan. We have to get into the attic to brace it, so thus the "in the process" status.

The office. This was the only place our lovesac would fit, but I actually love it in here. This also plays part time Bill's dad's room. He stays with us sometimes since they're in the midst of moving here.

I love that Bill and I both have a desk. It makes life so much easier.

This is Spencer's room. It has serious need of some wall hangings, but the layout works well. The red carpet here and in our bedroom is classic, leftover from the owner years ago. Not so pretty, but really soft. I'm looking at the bright side, you know? :)

This is the kitchen. It's so big compared to all the other places I've lived in! I could go for a bit more counter space, but it's definitely good for now. Oh, and a dishwasher. I will really appreciate one of those when we get one again.

The dining room. Yes, a real dining room! Yay! Here's to living in houses not apartments where that seems to be optional. The washer/dryer is in a closet between this room and the living room.

And the view of the living room from the dining room.

And there you have it. Our house. I didn't take a picture of the yard because well, it's cold outside. I'm only so ambitious. Just imagine plenty of grass and a big gnarly bush that is coming out in the Spring. Woohoo!

9 Months

2011-10-26T22:29:00.001-06:00

I completely missed my 8-month post and now Spencer is already 9 months old! We went to his checkup today and he's health and well. 17lbs 11oz, 29.3 inches tall, big head. He's still our bobblehead baby. He's in the 70 and 80% range for height and head circumference and the 8th for weight. Someone I know coined a new name for him. He's my lollipop baby. So funny. Really though, he is growing like a weed.

He's pulling himself up and cruising everywhere he can and has been for a month now. I forecast walking by Thanksgiving or not that much after. He is in love with moving. He still only army crawls unless he doesn't like what he's on; then he will get up on all fours.

He's still just so expressive. He finds everything funny and laughs all the time. He thinks it's hilarious if I say 'boo' to him, so I do it on a regular basis. His favorite game is for me to crawl away from him around a corner and he'll chase me and then when he comes around the corner I yell 'boo' and he jumps and laughs and laughs. Then we do it all again.

He's chewing on everything. He has six teeth--four upper teeth and two lower. He seems to be teething again, as he's chewing on everything in sight. He loves food. He eats most anything I give him. He wants anything I'm eating now. I'm still trying to let go and just let him go at food and get crazy dirty, but it'll come.

For a while he thought it was hilarious to buzz his lips, though mostly he just ended up spitting all over everything. He's now moved on to opening his mouth as wide as he can and sticking his tongue out as far as it goes. What a goof! He especially loves doing both things when we will do it to him and then he mimics us back.

He babbles all the time. He loves to say mamamamama... though he will also come out with dadadada sometimes too. I don't think he is calling me specifically that, but when he's sad, that's what he says until I come pick him up. I imagine he really is calling me mama and smile every time. :) He talks all the time. He is not a quiet child, that is for sure.

He is super curious. His favorite thing is to go to a new place so he can go exploring. He of course tastes everything new he finds, even if it means getting flat on the floor so he can suck on a doorstop. Gross, but amusing. Hopefully that curiosity will become more constructive as he gets older, but I imagine I will find him in lots of places I don't want him along the way.

That's all I can think of for the moment. Yay for 9 months!

Hello world!

2011-10-26T22:00:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone. I disappeared for a month. But not really. I'm still here. It's just that Spencer chewed on my computer power cord and it stopped working and I ordered a new cord and it took two weeks to arrive. What the heck?! Nothing takes that long to ship these days. Then when it got here it was cut in a couple places. So it's going back and I will have to wait another while for a new one to arrive. But for now I can upload pictures and blog and feel happy using my mac instead of my husband's PC, and life is good. :)

So what has been happening lately? Lots of stuff! We went camping for the first time. How has it taken us this long to get out camping with Spencer? Oh well. Water under the bridge. It was so fun. We just went to a state park campground outside of Midway, but we went with Bill's dad and cooked cobbler in our dutch oven, consumed some of those huge campfire marshmallows, cooked outside and therefore the food tasted amazing, slept in a tent, and generally had a great time.

Oh, and I cut my hair. Bad picture but good haircut. I like it. Spencer can't pull it as often. It's super easy to style. Good times. I'll probably grow it out again now. :) Speaking of Spencer, he has been learning lots of stuff.

How to stand up

How to do pullups

How to climb stairs

How to stuff his face full of food

How to pull off all the toilet paper on the roll

You know. Important stuff.

Oh, and I got a job. The MPA department at BYU called me and asked if I would come back and be a teaching assistant for one of the professors for his statistics class in the Executive MPA program. I was flattered. I said yes. Now I'm one step closer to my dream of teaching college. It's fun.

So yeah, that's mostly it for the moment. Life is good. We're good. Bill just discovered he has two instead of three semesters left. Joy! Things are going well.

Toy Box

2011-09-21T17:20:00.000-06:00

I was so excited to move into our new house at the beginning of August because it's so much bigger so that meant I'd be able to build more stuff, since our apartment was totally maxed out. Well, sort of. I did build a pantry. But it turns out that even with an extra bedroom, a real dining room, and a bigger living room, we didn't have need for much of anything new, except for one thing: a toy box. Since our living room has become Spencer's playroom, I felt the need for a place to corral the toys, at least at the end of the day. Plus, I really wanted to build something!

I used the extra plywood from the pantry and a plan from ana-white.com and went to town. It's taken quite a bit longer than I expected because I've been busy with other things and could only really work on it while Spencer napped, but I finally finished it today and I love how it turned out.

I might add some letters on the side that say TOYS, but we'll see

I got to use my new jigsaw to cut the curves for the bottom. I love getting new tools

Standing

2011-09-21T14:09:00.000-06:00

Spencer wasn't going to sleep as fast as he normally does when I put him down for his nap today, and eventually he started screaming more than normal, so I walked in to see what was the matter. He was standing up in his crib. Oh boy! This is going to be exciting. I tried to put him back down and watched him through the crack in the door. He pulled himself right up his little mirror attached to the side of his crib and then cried piteously for me. When I didn't come in he tried to grab for the end of the crib without moving his feet and wound up falling face first into the slats on the end of the crib. So bring on the standing. Hopefully he learns to move his feet a little before he gets too many head injuries. The child is fearless.

Why do babies hate sleeping so much?

2011-09-13T09:45:00.000-06:00

Spencer is currently laying in his crib crying piteously "ma ma ma ma ma" while he kicks his feet against the mattress or the sides of the crib or the wall, whichever way he happens to be turned at the moment. Albeit endearing, I wish he would just go to sleep. He's much happier when he sleeps, yet somehow he acts like I'm torturing him when I put him down for a nap. I don't get what's so bad about it. I would love to sleep for hours during the day. :)

So I realized I have taken significantly less pictures of Spencer recently, and he was wearing the cutest new outfit today, so on a whim I pulled out the camera. Did I get any good pictures? Uh, no. At least none smiling. He is generally such a happy little guy. He laughs and smiles all the time. But when I pull the camera out, total stone face. See the proof?

Rest assured though, he is generally smiley and happy. I think he's teething. Actually, I know he is since he just pushed through one of his top teeth. Not his front two. One of the side ones. He's going to look like such a jack 'o lantern when it comes in enough to see it. He's already got his bottom two middle ones. We didn't even know he was teething until it came through, but now I think he must be working on more because he's been super fussy for the last couple days.

In other news, he's started pulling himself up! It's so fun to watch. It opens a whole new world of interesting things to play with. Bill and I are definitely his favorite objects to pull up on. See?

Oops, fell down!

And if you're still reading this, I had to take a couple pictures of him sitting to prove that he can indeed do it, even though he generally refuses to. Who does that? He won't bend his legs, or he'll push back against my hand until he's laying down. He just likes to crawl. Sitting is boring. What a goof. But he's my goof. :)

7 Months

2011-09-09T13:09:00.000-06:00

I nearly missed it! Spence is halfway to 8 months now. He's still growing like a weed. He's so tall compared to other kids his age, and he's finally starting to fill out a bit. He's been eating solid food for several months now and just loves it. When he particularly likes something he says "mmmm" every few bites. It's cute. He's got pretty strong opinions about some foods. Green beans are not his friend. Neither are carrots or peas. He'll eat any fruit though as fast as I can get it in his mouth. The other day I fed him some avocado and black beans from what we were having for dinner and he was in heaven. He's also learned to feed himself cereal. At first he could get it in his hand but couldn't figure out how to get it to his mouth, but lately he's learned how to pick things up with his thumb and pointer finger.

He's still army crawling like crazy. He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks a bit, but then is off like a rocket army crawling. He doesn't care to take the time to learn to crawl normally since he can move everywhere he wants on his stomach. His clothes are showing a bit worse for wear, but it's all good. He just learned on Wednesday how to pull himself up on things, and he thinks that's the bees knees. He loves being in the middle of things. If we leave him on the floor playing too long, he comes and head butts our legs until we pick him up. He really is fantastic about playing on his own though. It's great for me because I can get lots of things done. As long as he can come find me every now and then, he is good to go. Well, unless he's tired. But that's understandable.

Sleeping has been quite the interesting issue the last few months. He has struggled a bit, but he's doing better now. He take two or three good naps a day and if I get him totally full before he goes to bed he'll sleep until about 5 or 6AM. He still wakes up a lot in the middle of the night though. We're working on that.

He's talking up a storm. He keeps trying out new syllables. So far he says 'g', 'b', 'w', 'm', and lots of 'ahs'. So cute. He'll talk to us or his toys or just to himself. I just love my little guy!

Painting

2011-09-09T12:45:00.000-06:00

Painting. Yup. That pretty much sums up my last month. See, my parents hired Bill and I to redo their deck. This is not just any deck. It's one of those decks with a slatted roof over the top. Read lots of details, so lots of sitting on the hot roof painting 2x2s. We have been working on it since the first of August and just about finished the first coat on Wednesday. Now we've got to do it all again for the second coat. Thank goodness that should go way faster. The wood was so dry that i just soaked up the first coat like crazy and took a long time to paint. Oh, and 6 cans of paint. Wow. I'll have to post a picture when we finish, because it looks fantastic now.

So since we're doing all this painting at my parent's house, what did I decide to do in the rest of my time? Build a pantry and paint it too! Genius.

Actually, I really love how it turned out. We have lots of cabinets in our kitchen but no pantry, and I've never been a fan of putting my food in cupboards. The kitchen cabinets are that old '70s pale oak wood color that matches nothing, so Bill and I decided to go a little crazy on the color we painted the pantry. Nothing was going to match, so we picked a fun color: yellow! It's definitely a conversation piece. So fun. I got green covers for the shelves, so this is definitely an eye catcher.

Some vids of army crawling

2011-08-21T21:01:00.000-06:00

Spencington is getting so good at army crawling. He's starting to get up on his knees too, and even toes sometimes, though he doesn't move at all yet when he does that except to push off. He's also starting to get more independent. He and Bill do this cute thing where they go on an adventure together. Here's a couple videos of them doing it. Sometimes Bill leads, and now Spencer is starting to lead, or just head off on his own completely. It's cute. Of course I think everything he does is cute, except for throwing temper tantrums when it's time to go to bed, but nobody is cute when they do that. :)

Finally a minute to breathe

2011-08-07T23:02:00.001-06:00

The last few weeks have flown by. We have been so busy I haven't been able to stop and document any of it. See, first we went to Island Park, ID for a family reunion. That was fantastic.

We spent two days in Yellowstone while we were there and it was incredible.

Then we came back home late Saturday night of that week and moved into our new house the following Monday morning. Since then we have been unpacking, I've been teaching a class, Bill has been going to his summer class, and Spencer has been growing a couple teeth. Oh, and then yesterday we took a quick trip down to southern Utah for a family baptism. It's been insane, but I finally have a moment to breathe and relax. It feels nice.

To sum it all up, the family reunion was tons of fun and Yellowstone was amazing. I would love to go back there again but this time camp and hike.

I love our new house except for the mosquitoes that got in while we were moving. At least that's what I am hoping. We killed about 15 of them before we went to bed last night. We're still renting, but having a yard and a washer/dryer, and a bigger place than our old apartment is wonderful. I love the class I'm teaching. I would love to keep teaching college classes. Here's hoping I can make it happen. Spencer is as cute as can be with his new teeth, though I refuse to get my fingers anywhere near his mouth now because that child bites hard!

He has started pulling all sorts of funny faces and cheesy smiles. They are adorable.

He's moving now too, everyone beware! So that's the last three weeks in fast forward. :)

He's on the move

2011-08-07T21:44:00.000-06:00

Watch out, Spencer will soon be coming to your neighborhood. He has figured out he can move. Nothing will be safe in our house ever again.

6 Months

2011-07-22T17:53:00.000-06:00

When did my little Spencer get this big?! It blows me away how fast time goes by. He is six months old yesterday and just so much fun. He's doing lots of new things all the time. He's trying all kinds of new foods and has yet to encounter anything he won't eat. I don't think he's in love with the turkey baby food I gave him, but he totally ate it today on the third try. Bill and I were a bit worried that he wasn't really an Ashman if he didn't like meat, but he calmed our fears this evening. lol. He has decided recently that he wants to help with the feeding process, so his face is usually covered with food by the time we're done.

He's scooting along like crazy. He puts his head into the floor and pushes with all his might and actually can move pretty far. He's a pretty content kid though. While he can roll and scoot now, he only does it to get to something that interests him, then he's content to hang out there for a while. He loves his high chair. Thanks Aunt Debbie! I can stick him in it with a few toys and he's good for quite a while.

He's starting to express opinions about things and not just reacting. He is teething and he has had a bit of a hard time going to sleep lately and he will straight up refuse his pacifier if we try to give it to him. He clamps his mouth shut, starts kicking his legs into the bed and throws a little temper tantrum. It's pretty hilarious. He also will dissolve into tears if he thinks we took away his spoon when he's eating and will refuse to eat anything else. Also somewhat amusing, but I'd rather he just ate.

He's started to discover his deep voice. He is starting to kind of growl at us. He's also kind of hoarse from the bedtime temper tantrums, so mix that in and he sounds a bit like a smoker. Pretty much he just makes us laugh all the time with his talking.

He is still a cuddle bug. I'm a huge fan of that. He does everything he can to get my hair. He's about to push his first tooth through and is subsequently chewing on everything from his dad's big toe to my shoulder to anything else he can find.

That's about it for the update. This adorable little guy has pretty much changed our lives. I never realized how smitten I could be by such a little person. Cliche I know, but it's pretty awesome.

Where has the month gone?

2011-07-15T16:51:00.000-06:00

I can't believe it's halfway through July already. This month has flown by. We've just been doing so many fun things, I haven't had time to document them. Here's a few of them:

We went to Stadium of Fire. It's my first time even though I've lived in Provo for the better part of 10 years. Brad Paisley came and it was totally worth the wait. He is a fantastic performer. He ended the night by jumping into a lighted pool going across the back of the stage. Yeah, that's just cool.

We left the very next morning for a family reunion on Bill's side on the Oregon coast, a mere three miles from where my family had one four years ago. It was fantastic to go back there. Good food, good times with family, lots of Spencer-loving done by grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Grandma Suzanne got to feed Spencer.

We took family pictures.

We went running on the beach in the biggest headwind I've ever run in. Bill's comment, screamed at me over the wind so I could hear, was classic, "I've never had to lean so far forward to run so slow!"

Speaking of running, I got Bill a pair of Five Fingers minimalist running shoes for his birthday and a pair for me to match.

We haven't been too many times, but they are fantastic! I was skeptical of them, since it's kind of the in thing right now to run barefoot and I'm not a huge fan of following trends like that, but this one might be legit. I'm still getting used to running more on my toes. It makes my calves and shines super achy, but it feels so good to have so little on my feet. Bill loves them too. We went running together for the first time in like a year with Spencer in the jogger a few weeks ago and have gone several times since. We looked like a cute little jogger family. It kind of made me laugh.

I think I've said before that Bill and I celebrate both his and my birthday in July for his since we have so many events in January when mine is, and just added another with Spencer sharing my birthday. So Bill gave me my birthday gift too. He got me tools! A jigsaw and a Kreg jig to make pocket holes in wood.

Plus a children's songbook. He knows the way to my heart. :) Since we're moving to a new house that is bigger than our apartment in a couple weeks, I'll actually be able to build a few more things and I'm so excited! The tools will allow me to do that. I'm going to build a pantry, since the house doesn't have one, an entertainment center tailored to the projector we have, a toy box for Spencer, and maybe some boxes for all the blankets we have. This will be over time of course. Oh, and some sawhorses so I can not kill my back doing all this.

On the Spencer front, as that's who I spend most of my time with, he will be six months old next Thursday. When did that happen?! He decided this week to do a bunch of new things. He's still eating like a champ and eats anything we give him. He is getting his first tooth finally! Bill found a little tooth nub yesterday.

He's been somewhat unhappy today, and it's pretty obvious his gums are sore, so hopefully it will come through soon and be done. He has started to move too. Here's a video showing a bit of it. (or I can't get it to load no matter how many times I try, so that will just have to wait.) He started that two days ago and now is either moving or rolling all over whenever we put him on the floor. I swear he is going to get rug burn because he doesn't know yet that he should lift his head up when he pushes with his legs. But he's moving and he's enjoying it. And that's our month for the moment. Super busy, lots of fun, and more good things to come. :)

Prunes anyone?

2011-06-29T12:43:00.000-06:00

We fed Spencer real food for the first time yesterday and then again today. It was awesome. He has been diving after anything we're eating for weeks now, so I thought it was about time he tried some of his own. All I had to mix the baby cereal with was prune juice that he utterly refused to drink when we bought it a while ago. Turns out if you mix it in cereal, it's a complete winner. What fun! I didn't get any pics today but here's a few from yesterday's first foray into the world of solid food. Oh, and it is very important to stick out your tongue while feeding a baby. It makes it go better. :)

Hi, my name is Spencer and I have food all over my face

This eating is a serious matter!


I told Bill to smile. This was what he did

First time in 10 months

2011-06-27T22:56:00.000-06:00

I kept my promise to myself and went running tonight! I've put it off for two weeks, but it turned out that it felt great! Well, my lungs kind of burned and I felt like all my body was stretching and getting used to all the bouncing around that goes with running, but it felt so good to be going somewhere fast. I ran about 2.5 miles I'd guess in somewhere between 20 and 24 minutes. So that's either a really good mile pace for the first time back out, or a not bad one with plenty of room to improve. I need to actually look at my watch and remember what it says the next time I go. Or use my stop watch on my iPod or watch. You know, all that technology I love? I should actually use it. :) Ah well.

I didn't stop either, except to cross a street that had a bunch of traffic. That's one of the things I love about running. I felt far from great out there, but I was able to push through and tell myself I'd run the whole thing. It always gives me a feeling of accomplishment when I push through like that when I won. Simple little pleasures. I think Spencer is teething right now, and feeding him is quite the trial for the both of us at the moment, so it felt really good to run away from those feelings for a few minutes. I completely agree with my friend Rachael when she commented on the good feelings running brings. Here's to many more good runs and hopefully a little less pain in the lungs. :)

This and That

2011-06-26T17:45:00.000-06:00

We went on our first hike not on a paved trail last night. It was just up Rock Canyon, but we've got to start Spencer on something so he can get ready for the big mountains, right? :) It was beautiful. The river was running higher than I've ever seen it. Spencer fell asleep almost immediately. This is what he looked like most of the hike:

We were about down when Bill said to me that my water bottle was dripping on his foot. I went to tighten it but it was already tight. My sister looked at him and was like, "um, is that something yellow running down Spencer's leg?" That's right, look close. Spencer peed out the side of his diaper and onto his dad's foot. It was hilarious! He was so proud of himself.

I've decided it's high time I stop putting off running, so tomorrow is the day people! First run in about 10 months. Should be fun. I've officially experienced all the benefits of losing baby weight and nursing and my body is now telling me I have to actually work out to be in good shape. Rats! jkjk, it will be fun.

We're gearing up for our 14-hour road trip to Oregon next week. Yay for family reunions on the Oregon coast! Here's hoping Spencer travels well for that long. It's going to be a long day if he doesn't.

Speaking of Spencer, he's finally decided he knows how to roll and doesn't cry anymore because he can't get over his arm. Watch out world, this baby is moving! He's ever so interested in our food these days. I'm about ready to start him on solid foods, as he's trying to swipe ours any chance he gets. Don't worry, the camera will be ready.

Running

2011-06-11T12:23:00.000-06:00

I used to be a runner. I think I was a pretty good one. I ran a lot of races and started to do pretty well in them. I got a lot faster over time. I want to be one again. My more recent running experiences have been more painful than enjoyable, so now that I've had Spencer, taken a racquetball and tennis class during Spring term to help me get back in shape, and am now getting ready to start again, I'm a little nervous.

I went to cheer on my friend Lizzie of theMotherRunner in the Utah Valley Marathon this morning. She qualified for Boston! Yay, Lizzie! It reminded me of the goal I made a few years ago back when I ran Boston that I wanted to qualify and run it again, but this time knowing the course. I want to feel like I owned the course instead of being owned by it like last time. Don't get me wrong. It was an amazing experience, but that was a rough race at the end. The thing is, training to run a marathon doesn't sound good right now. I don't have enough energy. A half marathon sounds like I goal I could get my head around, though. I think I'll start with that and work on getting my speed up again. Right now I feel pretty heavy on my feet, and that's not going to get me to Boston.

Just going to the race to cheer Lizzie on gave me a rush. How fun is that. I love competing and I forget about that sometimes, until I'm reminded at an event like that. Not even kidding, I was just a tad emotional when I saw all the women runners coming in who finished fast enough to qualify for Boston. Call me crazy, but it's a really good feeling to cross the finish line. All the pain feels really worth it.

Here's the question though. What are some things I can do to enjoy running again? I'm not getting nearly enough sleep, though it's getting better. Last night was the first night since Spencer was born that I didn't have to get up with him in the middle of the night. Bill got up I think once, and I woke up, but was able to go back to sleep. Hopefully that trend will continue and Spence will actually sleep all the way through and skip the wake up crying routine at 2AM. He's getting way better every day, which is fantastic. What are good ways to have enough energy? Food tips? Training tips?

4-Month Stats

2011-06-09T15:27:00.000-06:00

Weight: 14.7 lbs 26th percentile
Height: 26 inches 74th percentile
Head size 43.82 79th percentile
Conclusion: We love our long string bean bobblehead baby!

We love him and he loves his goon!

Cute Photo of the Day

2011-06-09T15:17:00.000-06:00

Out on a Drive/Walk at Diamond Fork in Spanish Fork Canyon. The blue eyes kill me every time. I love them!

Drumroll please!

2011-06-02T18:48:00.000-06:00

We did our new and improved bedtime routine for the third night in a row last night and rather than crying for an hour and a half like he did the previous two nights, Spencer went right to sleep without a peep. Could be an anomaly. He might scream tonight again. But I don't even care. It was so awesome!

He also is rolling both ways these days. What a rockstar. He's growing so fast. He weighs well over 15 pounds now and we measured him today and he is 25 inches long or tall or whatever you call it. Somehow we got a tall kid. At least for the moment. I'm not sure how we pulled that off, but I'll take it. :)

Spencer's first ride in the backpack. He LOVED it. He couldn't stop looking all around at the mountains and trees. It was awesome.

He loved it so much he fell asleep in it.

4-Month picture

Poor little blog, so neglected

2011-05-23T08:26:00.000-06:00

My blog hasn't really been feeling the love lately. Maybe it's because not a ton of interesting things are happening at the moment. Life is great, though not hugely noteworthy just now. We've just been going to class, working some, looking for a summer job, and oohing and ahing over all of Spencer's new exploits. He's finally big enough for the baby backpack, so we should get to go hiking this summer. We just picked up a family-sized tent at Target the other day so camping should be happening too. Bill hasn't found a summer job yet, which could be stressful, but mostly I'm just really enjoying that we get to spend a lot of time together. He's so busy during the school year, so that has been really nice. A bit of money would be nice too, so hopefully something will work out on the job front soon, but I've decided I might as well enjoy the moment instead of getting buried under stress. That's totally not worth it.

I played the organ in church today. It went well, but I got last minute notice last night that I would need to play since all of my organists were out of town or I couldn't reach them. I didn't have time to practice on the organ, so I couldn't play the pedal part, but I just played without it and it went fine. I taught Young Womens too and I actually felt like the lesson went pretty well. The girls are pretty hard to get to comment, but they got involved a bit today and that was nice.

We took naps tonight and they were wonderful! Of course now it's super late and we need to go to bed, but oh well. :) Anyway, here's a couple fun pictures from recent days.

Spencer fell asleep after enjoying a little light reading :)

We are ready for some hiking!

Spencer is a big fan of playing airplane

Enjoying our new tent. Spencer thinks it's fantastic :)

Spence likes to play with our faces. It's cute.

Good News

2011-05-06T10:05:00.000-06:00

I babysat for a friend in my ward yesterday. I played in the yard with her kids for a couple hours. Bill even came along after a while to enjoy the sun. Just a simple little thing, but we came away with more than we expected. See, we have this cute apartment we live in, but it's not really that big and it doesn't have a washer/dryer. We are going to be around Prove at least 2 or 3 more years and we love our ward, so even without the washer/dryer we expected to stay in our apartment until Bill finished school. That is, unless we found a better place still in our ward. It's only 3 blocks by 2 blocks big, so the chances didn't seem high that would happen. Except that after the little babysitting trip yesterday, it looks like it has! See, it turns out this family is going to be moving and their house will be available. That's right, I said house. Not apartment. It's a 3-bedroom house with a yard and a washer/dryer in it so we don't even have to buy one. Oh, and did I mention that it costs less for rent and utilities than our current rent alone? Yeah, that's right. Bill and I are pretty much ecstatic. We'd really love to be able to buy a house, but that's not going to happen for several years, but this is a definite step up in the right direction for us. Yay!

Oh, and in other news, Spencer's hair is officially long enough for him to have woken up this morning with bed hair. I tried to take a picture, but it didn't really show. Just think mini faux-hawk. It's so cute. Here's a few pictures of his favorite things to do these days.

1. Hold things

2. suck on his fingers

3. Sit up

4. Drool

And a four generation shot from Easter(s) :)

Clothes Shopping

2011-05-01T16:10:00.000-06:00

Bill was so nice and spent the afternoon yesterday with me clothes shopping. He gave me money for Christmas and I've gotten some graduation money that I am using to get myself a new wardrobe. I looked in my closet the other day and realized I have three short-sleeved shirts. Summer is going to be a problem if I don't do something about that. So we went shopping and I picked up several shirts and a couple sweaters that were on huge sale at the moment. The shirts I got were cute, but they were seriously the only ones we found. We went to pretty much every store in the mall and the clothes at the moment are just not calling to me. Why is it that whenever I actually have money to spend, I don't find anything I want to buy? I'm trying to branch out for t-shirts and jeans. I'm pretty tired of that look. Where are good places to get cute clothes?

I'm graduated!

2011-04-25T00:36:00.000-06:00

Thursday and Friday was graduation. Bill and my parents came. Spencer slept like a champ or was in a good mood the whole time, and it was fantastic. It's a little bittersweet to not see all my friends in the program anymore, but for now it's just awesome to be done.

This makes my day

2011-04-20T09:28:00.000-06:00

Update

2011-04-12T23:49:00.000-06:00

The classes are over. What a strange feeling. I don't know whether I have any more organized schooling in my future. PhDs sound interesting, but not for a long, long time. For now I finished my last class of my foreseeable college career at 8:15 PM tonight. It even got out early. How nice of the professor. Great guy. He's the Utah State Treasurer and I thoroughly enjoyed his class even when I had a hard time focusing because it was in the evening and I was suffering from a severe lack of sleep. I know a lot more about how to manage cash in a public entity now. I spent every minute from 11:30AM to 6:30PM tonight finishing the final project for the class, but it's done and I'm done save for a law final and a quiz. I still have a couple programming projects, have to figure out my summer job and Bill needs to find a summer job, and I have to close off the details of Spencer's delivery bills, but things are looking a whole lot more doable now that classes are over and that project is done. Maybe I'll even find a way to fit exercising in my schedule this week. How awesome would that be?! I'm ready to get back into shape and working out again.

In other news, Spencer is still adorable as ever. He's smiling and laughing up a storm. I'm so excited to have a bit more free time to spend playing with him. It's been a bit rough on both of us that I've been so busy these last few days. He's starting to fall into a schedule, doing better at sleeping at night, and slept a whopping 9 hours in a row last Friday. That's not normal, but it's getting steadily better the rest of the nights too.

Doesn't he look like a mushroom from Mario Bros in this hat? Love it!

Modeling his rather large but adorable Italian outfit from Hillary tonight

2 weeks

2011-04-06T21:05:00.000-06:00

I'm barely making it here, peeps. 2 weeks to go. Hopefully by then my summer job will be worked out, Bill will have a summer job, I will have finished all my projects so that I can graduate, we'll figure out what we have to finish paying for from Spencer's birth, I might get a bit more sleep, the social venture competition I'm working on will be over, I'll have gotten to the programming project I told my adviser I would do for her and the website project, we'll be able to decide if we're going down to Las Vegas for Easter and the Cancer Walk thing, we'll take my cousins to a movie, go to a baby shower for another cousin, and anything else that comes up in the meantime. Hopefully I'll see you all on the other side.

Videos

2011-03-25T08:10:00.000-06:00

We got a sweet new video camera yesterday and have had a great time already taking a few videos of Spencer. It's similar to a Flip, but from Kodak and it is waterproof to 10 feet and takes a memory card, so we're only limited by how the size of memory card we happen to have. Here's a few videos of Spencer. He's mostly just smiling and waving his arms, but at this point that seems pretty amazing to us, so we have to get it on video. :) He's a social little guy, surprise, surprise, so we have tons of fun talking to him and getting him to smile and talk back. It's not that hard, to be quite honest, but oh so rewarding.

I just love this little guy!

Looking towards graduation

2011-03-15T19:27:00.001-06:00

Wow, the last few weeks have just been crazy. It is not the easiest thing to have both Bill and I in school plus learning this parenting thing. Good thing Spencer is so cute because it really makes it easier to do all the work it takes to take care of him. There is only one more month of school left and the idea of being done with school for the near future gives me mixed emotions: 1. I'm very happy for a little bit calmer life that will be coming; 2. I'm sad because I love school and learning in that atmosphere; 3. I'm so ready to be done with this crazy time with both Bill and I in school; 4. I'm uncertain what I'm going to do once I graduate with work. This is round two for me and it's still weird. I like the being married with a baby part though. It's much better than when I graduated with my undergrad. :) I probably need to work, plus I want to do stuff with some of the things I learned the last couple years. But really I want to be a stay at home mom and maybe work on the side and that means I'll have to go out and market myself and that part isn't so fun. Hopefully the work I'm doing in my department will help me have a good resume to find some stuff to do. We shall see.

In the meantime, we took some new pictures of Spencer. He's as cute as ever. He's discovered his hands recently and likes to suck on them. He is also smiling like crazy. He grins at me all the time and I love it. He's cooing all the time and starting to sort of half laugh. I can't wait for him to full on laugh. Pretty much he melts my heart. Bill came to take him home tonight while I went to my evening class and I totally didn't want to let them leave. I just wanted to walk right home with them and spend the evening together. Today was the first day I put him in the stroller without his carseat. It was awesome. He's getting so big! He can hold up his head really well these days, though sometimes he gets tired and he doesn't want to anymore and he slumps over. That's pretty funny. He loves to stand and gets so mad when we hold him laying down. He only likes that when he's tired now. I exercised for the first time besides walking yesterday. I've been wanting to for weeks but have been so busy, but I finally started with a Jillian Michaels workout video. Let me tell you, I am so sore today! That's more because the video is harder than any other workout video I've ever used than because I'm that out of shape. If you want a challenge, definitely buy one of her DVDs!

And of course, all the fun Spencer pictures. :)

Spencer likes to sit up, but for some reason he didn't like this much. He hates it when we leave him alone, so that's probably why. He's so social.

Look at that stylin' outfit he had for his blessing! And those sunglasses of Vince's might be just a tad big. :)

All the wonderful family members that came for Spencer's blessing. Yay for family!

These are Spencer's first pair of jeans. I think they're pretty much the cutest thing ever! And the sweater just makes me happy.

So funny. He thought it was hilarious.

Love this little face. So cute!

And those eyes! I can't believe how different he looks from when he was born. I just love how pretty his eyes have turned.

He worked really hard to get his hand out of my swaddle to suck on it. Apparently it tastes pretty good.

Smiles

2011-02-26T14:42:00.000-07:00

Spencer has started to smile a lot. Last Saturday I had a girls day with my mom and sister and we took a whole bunch of pictures trying to get him to show the cuteness. He has such great expressions, smiles and normal looks alike. Here's the results:

We like to do things a little bit different

2011-02-22T14:01:00.000-07:00

So lots of people take monthly pictures of their babies next to a stuffed animal or something like that to chart how big they are getting. Bill and I thought that sounded nice, but stuffed animals aren't nearly exciting enough. We have all kinds of plans to introduce Spencer to the great outdoors and all the fun things we like to do, so we thought it would be apropos to show his growth next to something having to do with the outdoors. So behold, Spencer at 1 month, cuddling up to Bill's mountaineering boot. :) Well, not yet, but he will sometime!

In other news, yesterday I made these adorable booties for Spencer from this pattern. I copied the ones my sister made out of the same pattern and they turned out pretty awesome. Don't look too closely at the soles, as they are really strange shaped, but they totally fit Spencer and they don't fall off.

Our Bald Little Monkey at 1 Month

2011-02-21T18:26:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, inexplicably, all the hair on the front half of Spencer's head fell out. It's still long in the back, so it looks rather strange. I'm betting it all falls out and comes back in a different color and curly. That's what I want at least. :)

Spencer is so much fun these days. On Saturday I had a little girls day with my mom and sister at my mom's house. My sister was playing with Spencer, doing "baby exercises" with his arms and legs, and he was smiling like crazy! I took at least 50 pictures trying to get it on camera, and I got some great shots, but they're on my dad's camera so I'll have to post some later.

He is officially 1 month old today and growing like a weed. He weighs 10.8 pounds according to our home scale. He is starting to interact with us and smile and just generally be more interested in the world around him. He's out of his newborn clothes and diapers and getting bigger all the time. He's sleeping in 3 or 4-hour stretches at night, which is wonderful. Now we just need to get to bed before midnight so we can take advantage of those long stretches. He has spent a lot more time awake the last few days, which is fun and at the same time makes it very hard to get anything done. I think we'll keep him! :)

We put up this little stuffed animal net to get them out of the crib so we could use it. Yes, I climbed up on a stool while holding Spencer in a sling. It was awesome. It's amazing what you can do with those things.

His eyes are lightening up and getting so much clearer. They're so pretty!

Some quality father/son time here. Spencer was out about 2 second later.

Spencer needed that WHOLE blanket to keep him warm. :) It's our favorite blanket, so why not let him enjoy it too? It's lamb's wool kind of stuff on the black side and filled with down. Talk about amazing.

Valentine's Fun

2011-02-15T10:02:00.000-07:00

Bill came up with an awesome idea for celebrating Valentine's Day this year. He got the idea from a blog he follows. We did a little world tour via a 4-course meal he prepared for us Sunday night. It was fantastic! We had this tasty salad, which Bill and I decided was the best part of the whole meal. We'll definitely be making it again. He used to have this same thing when he was on his mission in Peru, and it reminded me of salads when I was in Russia. They didn't use any lettuce there, so salad was more a mix of vegetables.

The next course was grilled tuna steak over spinach. It was also really good, though the spices didn't come out nearly as strong as we expected. Then we had pork chops with another kind of spice on it. It had the same problem as the tuna, but it was really good anyway. The dish originally called for lamb, but we could not find any at the few stores we went to, so pork chops worked well as a substitute. We finished with a dessert of homemade vanilla ice cream and mini cinnamon rolls made from biscuit dough. Bill discovered how amazing those are last week when he made some biscuits for another dinner and used the extra dough for cinnamon rolls. They are divine and so much easier than raised ones. Those will also be on the menu in the future.

So Bill is pretty much the best husband ever. The first couple years of our marriage have been wonderful, and now that we have Spencer too, it's even better. Bill is a fantastic dad. He does so much to help take care of Spencer and it makes me love him all the more. Yay for families! And speaking of Spencer, here's a couple more cute pictures of him. Oh wait, all his pictures are cute. :) I'm not biased or anything.

He doesn't quite fit into this yet, but it was hilarious to try! Can anyone say A Christmas Story?

Isn't that a fantastic hat? Bill's dad got it for Spencer, and it's my favorite. Whenever he's wearing it, when we get to wherever we were driving, it is always twisted around so the Y sign is over his ear or even farther back. So funny.

Bill's aunt Ann got this blanket for Spencer, and it is wonderful! He sleeps like a champ under it.

This is the quilt my sister made for Spencer. It is beautiful! Spencer seems to like it too.

At the moment Spencer occupies this little place of honor at night. It's so much easier to nurse him at night when he's right there, and it's not like our bed isn't big enough. Hopefully he'll start sleeping a little longer at nights and then we'll move him to the pac'n'play or his crib. For the moment, he seems to be enjoying the memory foam. :)

The Many Faces of Spencer

2011-02-14T23:04:00.000-07:00

Indifferent, but wearing awesome shoes

Hands to the face

Worried

Almost smiling

Kind of pleasant look

Totally relaxed

Falling over

Sucking in his lower lip

Hey what's over there?

Wide eyed

Just chillin' on mom's lap

Yelling at me

What the heck are you doing to me?!

Hi, my name is Spencer and I'm just chillin' here on the couch...

Thinking look

Daddy mimicking the thinking look

Hey mom, I'm kind of tired of sitting up like this. Can you put me down now?

A Fun Picture Shoot

2011-02-02T13:42:00.000-07:00

My sister-in-law Miriam came up with Bill's parents this last weekend to welcome Spencer here. She is a junior in high school and also happens to be a fantastic photographer. She doesn't have but a tiny bit of experience shooting baby pictures, but Saturday night we had some fun and took a bunch of shots of Spencer. Some of them turned out really fantastic. Thanks for taking them, Miriam!

I love that you can see the little skull on his onesie here. It's red with white skulls on it, and so adorable.

This isn't entirely in focus, but I love his chest wrinkles and the hand getting in the way and his glowering brows. He gets his hands in the way all the time. Those eyebrows are just like mine. So cute!

Again, slightly out of focus but I can't get enough of that face. I hope he excuses us for laughing at him when he makes it. It's not a happy face, but it's so cute beyond cute that it gets a different reaction than he might like.

He's pretty skinny still, but I love his double chin in this picture!

So there you have it. Our newborn photo shoot with Spencer. He didn't always like it, but we sure had a good time!

Story of Spencer's Arrival

2011-02-02T13:21:00.003-07:00

Feel free to skip this post if you like. It will be long. I wanted to write up the details of Spencer's delivery and this is as good a place as any to save it, and who knows, maybe some people will be interested.

Spencer's due date was January 22nd. They tell you all these things about what to look for to tell you the deliver is imminent. Dilating, effacing, the baby dropping, etc, etc. Looking at my pictures from 36 weeks to 38 weeks, he dropped somewhere in there. I carried him low all pregnancy, so I couldn't believe he could get any lower, but indeed he did! Aside from the backache it gave me, I'd say that was fantastic because I had so much less distance to push when he it was time for him to come. We had a bit of a crazy Christmas and New Years. I was 37 weeks pregnant January 1st, so full term, but two weeks before that we headed down to Las Vegas for Christmas and on to Phoenix for a family reunion over New Years. Bill and I were worried that he might decide to come in one of those places, but we needn't have bothered. He was perfectly content to wait.  I'd been dilated to a 1 for a couple weeks and had progressively gotten more and more effaced, so I knew my body was ready, but he certainly came when he wanted to.

Tuesday the 19th I started having contractions late in the evening. I'd been practicing the Hypnobabies method for the last couple months, so was excited to get going using the techniques. They really helped me to relax and I was able to deal with the contractions just fine.    They were pretty constant anywhere from 2-5 minutes apart for about 5 hours, but I decided I didn't want to go to the hospital at 2AM in case I got sent home for some reason. Instead I tried to get a bit of sleep, figuring since they had been so steady that they would continue and I'd have a baby in the morning. I honestly didn't think I'd be able to sleep. Turns out I could and the contractions totally petered out. I was so disappointed! They definitely didn't feel good, and now I'd had a taste of what they were like and wasn't nearly as excited to have him!

Fast forward two days. Nothing happened in between except for making and eating super hot yellow curry Wednesday night that didn't have any effect at all. Thursday night came and I had the same curry and headed out to my Young Women's activity, going bowling at BYU. About the time I arrived, 7PM or so, I started having contractions again. They weren't super close together, maybe every 5 minutes, so I just continued to go bowling. I actually got a pretty good score for me, 112 or something like that. :) Apparently labor is good luck for bowling. I came home and called my mom just to let her know things might get started again and we might be calling her in the middle of the night. The contractions got a little closer together and harder at around 9:30PM and I started somewhat timing them, or at least consciously thinking about them. Timing contractions can be somewhat pointless I feel, since they can go on for quite awhile without anything actually changing. My mom told me that at some point they would ramp up and I would just know it was time to go to the hospital. That time came about 12:30PM. I had probably 5-10 contractions right in a row only a minute apart. I started shaking all over even though I wasn't cold. What a weird sensation.

Bill and I headed out to the hospital and they put us in a room with monitors on. They wanted to see if I would dilate more, so they observed me for an hour. I was at a 2 when I came in, and hadn't changed after an hour, but they were nice enough to let me stay awhile longer. After close to 2 hours, they checked me again. I had just gone to the bathroom, and right after that had the same thing happen where I had a bunch of contractions in a row and started shaking. When they checked me I was at a 3, so they admitted me. It was about 2:30 or 3AM. We got put in this super nice room. Can I just give a shout out to Orem Community Hospital. What a great place to deliver a baby! They are so wonderful. I won't deliver anywhere else if I have more babies in Utah. Anyway, I got checked in and just kept contracting. Bill played some cards with me and I tried sitting on the birthing ball and then on the bed, then walking around. I wanted to have this baby natural if possible, but I was really just open to whatever happened. The contractions felt different from Tuesday. They were in my lower stomach and back like Tuesday, but I also had pain coming from underneath that was similar to gas pain. Sorry if that is too much information. Essentially they just hurt a heck of a lot more than Tuesday's and despite all my Hypnobabies tools, I was getting to the point where I couldn't relax anymore. I was dilating, but super slowly, and each time I dilated another centimeter it seemed like I had a bunch of those huge contractions and then shook all over. Not exactly fun. I finally decided at about 5:30AM that I was done with all this and asked for an epidural. I just couldn't imagine going another 9 hours with these level of contractions. I took a shower in the meantime and that helped, but dang, those contractions were heavy duty!

I got my epidural at 6:30AM and I don't think they could have done a better job. My legs felt tingly, but I could feel them and I could move myself around. I felt the contractions as pressure, but no pain. It was perfect. My midwife came in at that point and broke my water. She wanted to see if that would help me keep going even though I got the epidural, which could slow things down. We waited another hour, but I slowed down, so they started me on a bit of Pitocin. Things went at warp speed from there. We had decided not to call my parents in the middle of the night and instead called them when I got the epidural. They came over at 8 or 9AM and sat with me so Bill could sleep. He was so amazing all night long! He would apply counter pressure on my back during the contractions and I swear that's all that got me through at the end.   Those contractions were crazy! So I talked to my parents and Bill slept while the Pitocin got in my system. I totally started shaking again. I'm sure it was because things sped up so fast. It was weird to be shaking but not feel the contractions, but know things must be happening. Sure enough, they checked me about an hour later and I was dilated to a 10! I had been at a 5, almost 6 when they gave me the epidural. My midwife had been floating around the whole time, though not actually in my room since I had gotten the epidural. She came in to supervise the pushing process. This is where it was amazing. The epidural was light enough that I still felt some pain pushing, but I was totally okay with that. I started pushing at 11:05AM and Spencer arrive a mere 15 minutes later at 11:21AM! It was fantastic! If I can have that kind of delivery for my future children, I will be in heaven. And knowing how long this one took and how it felt, I might go longer without an epidural or not do one at all. I was totally okay with it, but if labor was shorter, I might not feel a huge need.

I ended up with a second degree tear, so I had to get a bunch of stitches, but I didn't even feel it happen. They brought out a mirror so I could see what was going on while I pushed, and as weird as that sounds, it helped out SO much! It was so amazing to see him born. They plopped him on my stomach after wiping him off a bit and I got to say hello, then they took him over to get cleaned up a bit and my midwife took care of me. I have to give another shout out to using midwives for a delivery. The tone in my room was just fantastic the whole delivery. The nurses were wonderful, my midwife was wonderful, and it was just so personal and fun to be there. They made my delivery all the better because they were so supportive. After I was stitched up and Spencer was weighed and all that good stuff, they brought him back over and put him skin-to-skin on my chest. It was so amazing to finally get to meet him and just look at him while he laid there. He totally recognized my voice and calmed right down when I held him and talked to him. It was a precious moment and one I will not soon forget. Now I know what they mean when they talk about bonding with your child.

It took Bill and I a couple hours to decide what we were actually going to name him. Months ago we had narrowed to Spencer, Luke, or Lucas, but had no idea what he would really be named. Luke is a special name for us because Bill always had a friend growing up named Luke. Different boys, but always the same name. I've liked the name Spencer for years, though I don't have a particular reason. It's just a good name. Lucas was an extension of Luke that we kind of liked. We looked at our baby for a couple hours before finally deciding he was a Spencer. So Spencer William it is. Spencer because it fit him, and William after his dad.

Of course I think he's perfect in every way. He has Bill's cleft chin and mouth, my family's ears and shape of face, my toes and toenails, and who knows what else. We still can't decide what color his hair is. I think it's light brown for the moment, but when it falls out and comes back in I bet it will be blond. As much as he looks like Bill, and he REALLY does, I pulled out my picture album and one of my first pictures could totally be him. We'll see what he looks like as he gets bigger, but for now all I know is he is my little handsome man and I'm so glad he's here. After 14 hours of labor, we were so glad for his safe arrival. Oh, and did I mention the best part? Spencer was my birthday present this year. Best birthday I've ever had.

Week 1

2011-01-29T15:54:00.000-07:00

Bill enjoying some daddy time Sunday after we got home from the hospital.


Spencer likes the lovesac. I'm a pretty big fan too. We took a bit of a nap together there and Bill joined us after taking the picture.

I love this picture. It's in the bouncer, which Spencer loves. We swaddle him up and strap him in and he's good to go for a while.

He's not so sure about laying in the boppy pillow. He's just not fat enough yet. He slips down through it. I took a series of pictures of this trying to get a good one, but I thought his face here was just hilarious.

Grandpa Jones was sick when I delivered Spencer, so this was the first time he had held him Wednesday night. I think they're going to be fast friends. :)

My MIL Suzanne flew up Wednesday night and brought this beautiful quilt with her for Spencer. She's been so much help since then. We'll miss her when she goes back home tomorrow. My mom spent the first half of the week with me and I'm pretty sure I can actually nurse Spencer totally because of her advice. Thanks, Mom!

Suzanne is holding Spencer here. I love the little folded hands!

For inquiring minds

2011-01-24T21:32:00.000-07:00

Spencer William Ashman was born at 11:21 AM on January 21st, which also happens to be my birthday! Best birthday present ever. He weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and is 21 inches long. My delivery went really well. It was long, something like 14 hours, but I only pushed for 15 minutes at the end and that was just fantastic. I'll post more details later and more pictures when I upload them to my camera, but those are the deets!

No Need for Words

2011-01-23T12:15:00.000-07:00

So many things to post about, so little time to actually post them

2011-01-11T19:42:00.000-07:00

I've had so many fun things happen lately, but just haven't gotten around to blogging about them. I use my blog somewhat as a journal, so I've missed writing on it. So here's a bit of a laundry list of some of the things I want to remember from the past month.

1. Christmas was AWESOME. Bill and I spent it with his family in Henderson and it was just so much fun. We got to go do a few things while we were there. We took a trip down to Nelson, NV to take some pictures with Miriam, my SIL. It's right by the Colorado River, so is very pretty.

We also took a day trip out to Death Valley. I've never been there. It was a pretty fun day, albeit a bit longer than expected. What a cool place, though.

I don't have any pictures of actual Christmas morning or anything else while we were there, but we had a fantastic time with our family and it really was a great vacation. We spent more than two weeks there and it was really nice to relax and rejuvenate a bit before this semester starts, the baby comes, and life gets insane again.

2. Bill's mom and aunts threw me a baby shower at the end of December. They were so generous and seriously spoiled me. This little guy has a serious amount of clothes and blankets and diapers and toys. He is going to be stylin'. :) I really do have fantastic in-laws. I couldn't ask for a better family to have married into.

3. Over New Years Bill and I headed down to Phoenix for a Jones Family Reunion. My family usually only gets together for weddings or funerals and we haven't had so many of those lately so it's been awhile since we've seen everyone. My aunt generously offered to plan and sponsor a 2-day get together and it was fantastic. Several of my siblings weren't able to make it, but most all the Jones cousins made it and we just really enjoyed a couple days of food, games, catching up with each other, and just having a great time. A few highlights:

My brother-in-law Kelly is magic with the kids. He had them all sitting in a circle around him ready to play a game minutes after he arrived.

Playing Kubb with my parents, Bill, and my sister. It's a highly entertaining lawn game Bill made a set of for us this summer when we lived in Henderson.

Bill and my cousin's 3-year old son Gabe chatted for like 20 minutes one day while Gabe told Bill about everything from his toenails to whatever else he could think of. Adorable. Three years from now that will be our own son.

The last event was a family memories session where all my aunts and uncles shared memories of their parents, both of whom are gone now. It was so awesome to hear about my grandparents from their kids' points of view.

4. My little guy is working his way towards actually gracing us with his presence. I've been having braxton-hicks contractions since December, but lately it seems like my body has gotten into gear to make this happen for real. As of my appointment today I am 1 cm dilated, 60% effaced, and the baby's head is at a -1 station. He had a bit of an irregular heartbeat back in December, so I have been doing weekly non-stress tests this month just to make sure all is well. I did one this afternoon for an hour and he passed with flying colors. Seems like he's healthy as can be and will arrive when he so chooses. People keep giving me advice for how to make him come, which I find entertaining, but I think I'll just let him come when he feels like it. Based off of all the kids at the family reunion over New Years, it seems Jones girls do pretty well having babies, so I think I'll be just fine. :) It would have been cool if he came today, 1/11/11, but no such luck. He has definitely dropped.

Me at 36 weeks

Me at 38 weeks last Friday.

5. I'm back in school and enjoying my semester. It's going to be crazy when the baby comes, but this is my last semester of grad school and I'm trying to enjoy it. I don't have definite plans to come back to school and particularly BYU, so even though this is going to be a crazy semester I want it to be great. I have good classes, good jobs (that's right, jobs), and Bill's schedule is great too, so I'm trying to make the most of it.

6. My sister, soon to be sister-in-law, and mom threw me a baby shower on Saturday. It was also fantastic. My family gave me a super generous gift too. The only picture I have for the moment is the super cool method of delivering part of the gift. How cool is having my very own hot air balloon to deliver it in? :)

7. I finally got around to getting my very own purse from my sister's Etsy shop. It arrived yesterday and I love it! It's a clutch purse with a flap, but it's in this material: http://www.etsy.com/listing/64487548/handmade-business-card-holder-or-small I can't wait to use it. You have got to go look at her site and buy one of her purses or little card holders or anything else she sells there. She's pretty much amazing and totally self-taught to sew.

I think that's about it for the moment. Maybe the next time I post I'll have a baby to announce. How fun would that be?! :)

Sewing Projects!

2010-12-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

I spent the first few days here in Henderson tying up loose ends with my TA job. I'm still doing that really, but now it's just the final projects. The last big project is about done. This week I've finally been able to really relax and do a few things I want to do. And what are those things? Sewing! I've been waiting to get down here to work on a bunch of projects for the baby that I didn't have time to do during the semester. The last two days I have made two car seat covers, two receiving blankets, two covers for my boppy pillow, and I still plan to pretty up some cloth diaper burp cloths. I would like to make a baby carrier as well, but I'm waiting for my parents to bring the pattern down next week on their way down to Arizona. I conveniently forgot it among the rush to get out the door last week. Oh, and I'm going to try my hand at a cute moccasin pattern Tori made and put on her blog. That will be so fun too.

My projects all turned out so well! I haven't really been able to sew anything for a very long time and I forgot how much I enjoy it. I'm mostly done now and I totally wish I weren't.

Anyway, onto the projects. The first two are my boppy covers. The green polka dot one is out of minky. It was a beast to sew right, but it works perfectly on the pillow and I love it. I wanted to do a second one just because, so I used cotton to make it, and it didn't work nearly as well. It will be fine as a backup, but since it doesn't stretch, it doesn't fit nearly as well. The material is adorable though. Those bugs are so cute!

These are the two receiving blankets I made. They're flannel and different material on either side. The red material is actually cars. Kind of hard to see, but so cute. The blue on is trains. The yellow side is yellow with brown animals and the green is just a random pattern that Bill found and both of us really like. They're so soft and they were ridiculously easy to make. I found a blog post online where a lady put ric rac around the outside edge, and that was super cute. I might have to do that for a gift sometime.

These might be my favorite of the projects I did. Two covers for our car seat. You can buy these things on Etsy for anywhere between $40-$50. I can't believe how expensive they are. They are SO easy to make. The first one is hands down my favorite. I love the colors! The turquoise fabric has green turtles all over it and then I just love the lime green on the flip side. I just used velcro for the straps and it works perfectly. Suzanne was nice enough to let me use some of her fabric for this, so it was free except for the velcro. Yay for that!

This bug fabric was Suzanne's as well. Since it's winter, I wanted to make another cover that is warmer, so the bug fabric is cotton, but the blue fabric is corduroy. Hopefully that will keep the wind off a bit better. Bill and I picked up the corduroy for less than $10. Such a good deal for this very useful little cover.

And last but not least, our super cute car seat. I absolutely love the hounds tooth pattern and the green trim is fantastic. I can't wait to have a baby to put in this next month! My guess date is one month from today. Yay! I'm getting more and more uncomfortable as the days go by. It's nice to be on vacation though so that I can do things at my own tempo. This vacation is fantastic. I haven't had so much time off in a row in a long time and it is just really nice. Hopefully I'll be rested and ready for the crazy marathon of a semester by the time we get back to Utah on the 3rd. Here's hoping!

December Happenings

2010-12-22T13:40:00.000-07:00

December has been a blur. Blogging has definitely taken a backseat to everything else going on. Finishing up final projects, grading projects for the class I TA for, and finals took every last second I had for the first half of the month. I haven't stayed up so late in years working on school projects or grading. Thank heavens the projects and finals are over. I am still grading final papers for my class but that is not nearly as big a project as all the others.

Bill and I managed to get most everything done and we were out the door to come down to Las Vegas at 7PM on the 15th. Talk about cutting it close. We wanted to drive down that day, but it's a 6-hour drive, so we weren't sure we'd finish everything in time to leave that day. I ended up taking three finals that day to make it happen, one of them as we drove down to Henderson. It was pretty crazy, but we made it through. We arrived in Henderson safe and sound at 12:15AM and just crashed. It feels so good to be away from school and relaxing.

The Monday before we left we did manage to get in a trip up to Temple Square. I always love doing that. The lights were gorgeous as always.

Also, a new picture of my ever growing belly.

I haven't gotten much bigger lately, which is a plus. He's growing well. I did have a bit of a hiccup the day before we left when I went to my midwives appointment. The little guy has a bit of an uneven heart rate, which is not unusual before they are born, but my dad has major heart issues that he has had since birth, so anytime any of us kids have any problems or our children do, the doctors always take major precautions to make sure everything is well and good. I ended up over at the hospital for 2 or 3 hours getting a non-stress test and an ultrasound. Good news? He is moving like crazy ALL the time and looks healthy all around except for the slight uneven heart beat. I did get to see him again in the ultrasound and he's cute as ever. Can't wait to meet him in a month! I do have to do a non stress test weekly now just to make sure he's good, but he seems to be developing just fine. That chunk of time was what triggered me taking three finals the next day, but I was glad to find out he is healthy, so the time was worth it.

That gets me to Henderson. I've been doing some fun stuff here, but I'll put that in a separate post. Suffice it to say I am so happy to be on vacation finally and am thoroughly enjoying the few weeks off from school.

Cleared for Travel!

2010-12-01T12:01:00.000-07:00

At my midwife's appointment yesterday I got cleared to travel over Christmas! Two weeks or so from today Bill and I will be heading down to Henderson for several blissful weeks of vacation doing absolutely nothing but hanging out with family, eating good food, and playing in general. I can't wait! I don't really want to contemplate the sheer enormity of the list of things I need to do between now and then. I vaguely can't imagine how I'll have enough time to fit all the hours of work and projects in, but it has to happen, so it will. :) Yay for Christmas and vacation and family and all the good things that happen this time of year!

Battle Creek Falls

2010-11-28T13:57:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I posted the list of things Bill and I want to do this season before Christmas or shortly thereafter. One of the things is go snowshoeing. We made an effort to do that Wednesday on our first day off from school for the break. The weather didn't cooperate with us, but we did end up doing a very pretty little hike. I haven't been hiking since we got back to Utah. The altitude change had quite the effect on me being pregnant, so my exercise routine severely diminished. The weathermen predicted a blizzard of epic proportions on Tuesday and Wednesday. Having actually experienced a blizzard or two in my youth in Colorado Springs, I was pretty skeptical that the few inches of snow forecasted would really count as a blizzard, but I was hopeful that it would happen. I love the snow! Well, when we woke up Wednesday morning to find Utah County had been completely missed by the snow, I was rather disappointed. Ah well. It happens. It snowed today, so I got my wish just a few days later.

Anyway, Bill did a service project a couple weeks ago at Battle Creek park and heard there was a pretty waterfall nearby that was worth hiking to. It was a tiny little hike, only .6 miles up to it. We decided to do it, hoping for some snow to snowshoe in. There was about 1 inch of snow on the ground, so snowshoes were definitely not necessary, but we still had a great time. I didn't know the area he was referring to as Battle Creek until we were in Pleasant Grove heading up the road to the trailhead. It was then that I recognized where we were going and knew what waterfall he was talking about. I'd been up there in the summertime a number of years ago and so I got really excited to see it in the snow. We were not disappointed. Here's a few of the shots we got on the hike and at the waterfall. The elevation change the last few hundred yards got to me pretty good, but it was totally worth it. The coolest part, besides the half frozen waterfall, was how the river had frozen in parts. It was still running strong, but there was a thin layer of ice over a lot of it. It made really cool shapes. What a great little adventure!

Calling #3

2010-11-28T13:40:00.000-07:00

I love my bishop. We've had several meetings with him lately between my callings and tithing settlement. Every time we come in, he sheepishly says they usually try to keep things pretty light for their pregnant and new mothers so they can handle everything happening in their lives. Then he proceeds to ask me to do something new in the ward. It makes me smile. This happened when I got called as the music chair and it happened again last Sunday as he asked me to do something new. I'm so excited about it though. I got called as the Mia Maid advisor. We only have 8 young women in our ward, so it is going to be tons of fun. The first question I asked was if that meant I'd get to go to girl's camp. I think it might have taken my bishop aback a bit, but I've always been excited about having young women's callings because I love the girls, but also because I love girl's camp and want to go. :) This year I'll have a 6-month old, but that will work, right? We shall see, but I sure hope so!

Speaking of my 6-month old, this weekend marked my 32-week mark. According to the little floating baby app on the side of my blog, I have 55 days left. That would be impressive if I actually delivered on my due date, but I think at this point I can safely say I will deliver in less than 2 months. Woot! I can't wait to meet this little guy. Time is starting to go super fast. It's fantastic. Hopefully we'll be ready by the time he makes his big debut. Or at least have all the gear we need, that is. I'm not sure we'll ever be ready for the changes that are coming, but they're going to be great regardless. Here's what I look like these days. Bill always ends up cutting off my head when he zooms in, but you just really want to see the baby anyway, right? lol I don't actually feel that big most of the time, though when I see these pictures I'm always surprised how big I look.

This is what we woke up to this morning. Well, minus the shoveled path.

That's courtesy of Bill. Our managers are out of town for Thanksgiving, so we don't know where the actual snow shovels are, but Bill's doing a great job with a normal shovel he found. Yay Bill!

Loving the holidays

2010-11-14T16:29:00.000-07:00

Being in school makes it so easy to totally miss the Thanksgiving and Christmas in the rush of classes, tests, work, etc. I hate it when Christmas Break arrives and I realize I haven't even noticed until then. So in an effort not to miss the season this year, Bill and I just made a list of some things we want to do in the next few weeks or month and maybe in January too. It goes something like this:

-see lights on temple square
-drive around and see people's Christmas lights
-go caroling
-making homemade apple cider
-go snowshoeing
-LOTR marathon
-board games with fam and/or friends with tasty treats involved

Hopefully this list will expand as we think of other fun things to do, but I think it's a good start.

10 weeks left or 3/4 done

2010-11-12T21:13:00.000-07:00

Our new glider rocker!

As of today I am 3/4 of the way done with my pregnancy. That also means I have 10 weeks left. Somehow 3/4 done sounds so much better than 10 weeks left. That still seems like a long time. But I'm a glass half full sort of girl, so I'll go with 3/4 done. :) Plus, it's only two weeks until Thanksgiving and I have three weeks of school after that and then Christmas break comes and I will technically be full term on January 1st and he'll come sometime after that and it will be great.

He's moving so much these days. It's pretty fun minus the occasional sharp pokes. I can feel that it's his elbow or foot now rather than just a general bump from the inside. He's seemed more like a little alien than a baby until recently and I really like this change.

And this is what he's making me look like these days.

And for comparison sake, this is me at 16 weeks, the first picture I have that I looked any kind of pregnant. It's amazing what a few months will do for you. :) I thought I was showing a lot at this point in my pregnancy.

The question now is how content he is to stay inside me all the way through the holidays. Bill and I want to go to Las Vegas and Phoenix for Christmas and New Years, but we don't want to deliver a baby in either of those places. I think we'll be able to go, but we will have to see in the next month. Here's hoping!

Midwives Appointment

2010-11-02T13:02:00.000-06:00

So I went to my midwives appointment today and met with a different one than I usually see. She was nice, but way more worried about everything in general. The one I've been to before seems to think I actually know what's going on and this one was less that way. She did need to familiarize herself with my medical history, but she was all worried about me measuring big and made sure to totally emphasize to watch for pre-term labor and she almost ordered an ultrasound because I'm still measuring 2 almost 3 weeks ahead, but the fact that my baby measured totally on schedule at my last ultrasound despite me being big didn't seem to matter. Oh and that I'm 5'2" tall and carrying all in front. And that I haven't had any complications my whole pregnancy. And that my mom had the same type of pregnancy 7 times where she got big early and I've generally followed in her footsteps my whole pregnancy. I guess none of those really matter if I have complications now, but I think things are fine. The little guy is kicking up a storm most all the time and seems to be doing fantastic.

I did have one hiccup this week. My glucose came back measuring high, so I have to go do the 3-hour test on Thursday morning. That's no fun, but hopefully I'll pass it. I would rather not have gestational diabetes, that is for sure. We'll see in a few days!

Halloween, Talks, Callings, etc

2010-10-31T17:44:00.000-06:00

Bill and I are on the activities committee in our ward and we had a ward trunk-or-treat last night. It was pouring when it was supposed to happen, so we set up all the people in classrooms around the church. I kind of killed the decorate your trunk part, but all the kids still had a great time. There were games and food in the gym and the kids kept doing circuits through the rooms around the perimeter accumulating mass amounts of candy. Fun times. We had wanted to come up with some great idea for a couple costume that would incorporate my pregnant belly, but everything we thought of took more time, effort and particularly money than we cared to put into it. Tori saved the day though. She told me about her costume last year and said I was welcome to copy it. So we didn't have a couple costume, but we still looked pretty good. Bill went as a cowboy and I went as a magic 8 ball. I even had pieces of paper in the pocket I made between the 8 and my shirt with all the responses on it, so people could come up and ask me questions. It was fun. I've historically not had very good Halloween costumes, and this one turned out to be a hit, so way to go Tori for saving the day. :)

Bill and I gave talks in church today. They went really well. I probably shouldn't admit it, but I really like to talk in church. I like giving lessons too. I like to teach in general. This semester I am teaching the lab for the class I TA for and I love it! I get pretty good feedback from the students on my teaching abilities, so that makes me feel good too. Way back in the day I decided not to go into teaching because I don't care too much for the lesson planning process. I've come to find out over the years that most teachers don't like that part. Funny how that works. :) Who knows, maybe sometime in the future I'll be able to get to teaching. Bill is also interested in teaching at some point in his career, so maybe we'll end up at a university together or something like that. How cool would that be? PhD anyone? lol, not anytime soon. And I don't even know in what subject, to be perfectly honest. But the thought does cross my mind when I think about how much I enjoy teaching. I need to find an area I would love to research in too and then I would be set.

I got a new calling today to be the ward music chairperson. I'm pretty excited about it. I'll still be on the activities committee, but do this also. I always love music callings and this is one I've never had, so it should be great. It's probably better with the little guy on the way because there's already a couple ward organists, a choir director, and a ward chorister, so my part won't involve doing one of those things every week. Maybe I'll put together a music fireside or something like that though. That would be so fun.

And for the standard prego picture, here's what I'm looking like these days at 28 weeks. People keep asking me when I'm due. Either I look farther along than I am, or just so pregnant they're not afraid to ask anymore. :) lol

Third Trimester

2010-10-21T21:33:00.000-06:00

I'm 27 weeks tomorrow and so happy to be in my third trimester. 13 or so weeks left and I can't wait! Bill laughed at me last night because just last week I said I was totally content being pregnant and was enjoying it. That might have been before the 3 nights of interrupted sleep due to waking up with an ache in my side every couple hours all night long. I've slept pretty well up to this point, but apparently I'm getting big enough now that sleep is getting harder. Ah well. I still do enjoy being pregnant, but I'm getting more and more excited to have my little guy here and get rid of the stomach. Here's some of my more recent pictures for all of you who want to see how pregnancy is treating me.

This is me and most of my MPA friends at ICMA this weekend in San Jose. It was a great conference, though I am very happy to be back home now.

We took this picture for Bill's cute aunt's birthday who gave us this adorable outfit among others. It still seems a bit big though. :)

22 weeks

24 weeks

26 weeks

And yes, I have been the same size for like 5 weeks. It's pretty sweet. I'd be okay with staying the same size for awhile longer. My back doesn't hurt this way. It's fantastic.

Thank Goodness for Volleyball

2010-10-05T17:16:00.000-06:00

I've noticed lately that I have a really fantastic memory of some things I learned as a teenager or right at the beginning of college, but have completely forgotten some of the intermediate things I've learned between now and then. Like programming. I took a couple programming classes in high school and several my first two years of college. I haven't programmed since 2003. This semester I'm taking an Excel Visual Basic class. I don't remember the specific programming languages I used before, but I totally remember all the logic and the basis for programming and all that good stuff. It's making this class both doable and really enjoyable whereas some of my friends in my program just dropped it because they didn't have a clue about programming.

Today I was grateful for all the years I spent in middle and high school playing volleyball. I may not have reached the goal I set at 14 to play in college at BYU, but learning to roll without hurting myself all those years ago really helped this morning in tennis class. I was rallying back and forth with a classmate and came up to the net as part of it. He hit a ball way to my backhand side and I twisted and lunged to get it. I haven't really noticed a difference in my equilibrium for the most part, but I totally overbalanced and ate it on this shot. As I was falling my thought was how to do this without smashing my stomach. I chucked my racquet, hit my hands first, but then tucked my right shoulder and rolled over it and back up to my feet with about as small of an impact as I think possible in the circumstances. It was awesome. And by that I mean it was awesome that I didn't smash my stomach and hurt myself and the baby. Like I said, thank goodness for things I learned so many years ago.

My Talented Sister

2010-09-20T09:52:00.002-06:00

My younger sister Tori has always been creative and in the last year or two she has turned her talents to learning how to sew. I know how to sew, but she has taught herself to sew really, really well and she can make some really beautiful things. Her most recent project has been purse making. She opened an Etsy store to sell her purses this weekend and I highly recommend heading over there and taking a look. She has made these adorable clutch purses that can double as a wallet and small purse that you can toss into a bigger bag or just take as a clutch. She blogged about her new store today if you want to see some more pictures.

My First Six Bags

I happen to know that she has a bunch more purses on the way in the next few days or weeks, so go back often.

Fall Colors

2010-09-19T20:51:00.000-06:00

There is a somewhat little known fact that Squaw Peak Road continues far past the little make out point all the teenagers go to and actually goes all the way over the mountain down into Hobble Creek Canyon. Bill and I decided it was imperative that we drive the whole road to see the full extent of the changing of the fall colors this year. Last year we just went a little ways up the road in my car, but this year we took the Jeep. It was awesome. A little bumpier, or a lot bumpier, than I we would have liked, but the colors were beautiful and if you're up for a 30+ mile 2 or 3 hour drive, I would recommend it. Only if you have a 4-wheel drive vehicle though. This is not for low clearance cars. We saw some and wondered how in the world they made it. Here's a few of the pictures we got. Not a one of us in the bunch, just pretty colors.

Laying on my stomach

2010-09-17T21:19:00.000-06:00

One of the things I miss on a rather frequent basis being pregnant is laying on my stomach and my back. I used to go to sleep on my stomach but wake up on my back every morning. Now if I wake up on my back it is accompanied by a serious lower backache. If I lay on my stomach it just feels terrible. Well the other night Bill built me a nest of sorts with all the pillows on our bed so that I could lay on my stomach without squishing the little guy. It was awesome. He's the best.

As of today I am 22 weeks. According to my midwife at my appointment yesterday, I am measuring 27 weeks in size. The wee one isn't, just me. Gotta love it. There's no question as to my pregnant state these days. I feel cute though. I think it's fun to be pregnant. There are plenty of somewhat annoying aches and pains and I'm sure by the time it comes to a close I'll be very happy to just have this baby, but I love how excited people are for me and all the fun conversations I have with friends and random strangers. Babies just bring out happiness all around and I think it's great.

Free Baby Clothes!

2010-09-11T11:45:00.000-06:00

Some people in the Marriott School put on a free kids clothing exchange every year and Bill and I went to it this morning. It was amazing! We came away with three bags of baby clothes that are in fantastic shape for free. How cool is that?! The entire gym was full of tables with clothes for every age of kids. Apparently they spend the whole year gathering donations from people and then Kid to Kid also donates a bunch of clothes to help the student families invited to attend. Talk about generous!

Our favorite find of the day? Crocheted chuck taylors. Score!

One Week Down and Halfway There

2010-09-04T09:03:00.000-06:00

Here's to a successful completion of my first week of school. It was busy! Classes weren't such a big deal, but adding a TA job plus my standby transcribing one makes for some busy days and late nights. For the most part my classes are great. I have one I'm still trying to get into and one I would rather drop, but we'll see how that all goes. I'm taking an intermediate tennis class and by sheer luck I have the assistant BYU men's tennis coach as the instructor. He is awesome! It's essentially like getting tennis lessons for free. He has already tweaked a couple things in my technique that were causing me problems and my strokes are working out so much better. I love it! It's a two-hour class twice a week, which seriously wipes me out by the end. It's only for the block so hopefully I will still be able to play reasonably well by the time it finishes. The little guy is growing like crazy so we'll see how big I get in the next two months, but I'm having a great time with it.

Our apartment is close to 1.5 miles from campus. Bill and I decided that we would walk to campus every day. If we have a reason to go back a second time then we can drive, but the first time walking is it. It's really having a positive effect on our exercise habits, but with that plus my tennis class and Bill's volleyball and racquetball classes, both of us are really tired today. We did our best to stay in shape in Las Vegas, but the hot weather definitely slowed us down. It's definitely a fast way to get back into shape. :)

Today is officially the halfway point of my pregnancy. I'm so excited! I can't wait to see this little guy. So many things need to happen between now and then, and I have a feeling the time is going to go so fast. I did just jump over one huge hurdle, figuring out who I want to go to for prenatal care here in Utah and how I want my delivery to go. There is a midwives clinic attached to Orem Community Hospital that I just learned about. They have access to everything doctors do at that hospital, but are also midwives so are very supportive of letting me make my decisions about induction, pain management, epidurals, etc. My sister delivered at that hospital and I was really impressed with them, so I'm super happy with this information I now have about the midwives clinic. I am going to schedule an appointment soon and I'm hoping for the best with it. I just don't care for the idea of cookie cutter birth plans that so many of the OBs in the area have where when and how I deliver is so much more about their convenience than what I want or what is good for me and the baby. This feels like a way better option and I've gotten great recommendations about this place.

Purple is 18 weeks, blue is 20. Apparently I haven't grown any these two weeks.

Ultrasound Pictures

2010-08-20T20:07:00.000-06:00

Watch out friends, but this little boy is a cutie. A bit alien, but we like our little alien. :)

Chilaxing with his hands behind his head and elbows poking out. I love it!

He had his thumb in his mouth right before they got this shot. That is really cute.

He's waving at us.

Definitely a boy. No question there. Can I embarrass him before he is even born?

If you look close you can see his lips are the famous big Ashman lips. I love it!

He's got his hand right next to his face. Just posing away.

What can I say? I'm in love. :)

It's a boy!

2010-08-19T14:53:00.001-06:00

The ultrasound was this morning. The tech asked us if we wanted to know the gender and we said yes. She turned the machine on and bam! there was a cute baby bum with a definite presence of boy parts for all to see. The tech made this sound of surprise and snapped a quick shot to show us. It was so funny. We are most definitely having a boy and apparently he did not want us to have any doubt. It was so fun to watch him flip around as the tech got all his measurements. He is measuring right on schedule and performing like a champ. He was super active and just the cutest thing I have ever seen. Now just onto coming up with a name...that is going to be interesting.

So much traveling this weekend

2010-08-15T23:09:00.000-06:00

Bill and I drove 800+ miles in 24 hours. It was insane. But we got the majority of our possessions moved to Utah and got to celebrate Bill's sister's graduation from BYU while we were there. We head back to Utah for good next Saturday. I'm excited for it, but I will be so glad when all this driving is done. Three trips to Utah in 4 weeks is just too much driving on the same road.

This is going to be a great week. My ultrasound is scheduled on Thursday morning. I can't wait to find out what I'm having! Bill thinks it's a boy. My old roommate has had something like 20 old roommates have babies and all but 3 were boys. My FIL and one SIL thinks it is a girl. And what do I think? I have no idea. Early on I thought it was a girl, then a boy, now I haven't a clue. Since we don't have really any boy names in mind, that probably means that's what we're having. :) Although today I told Bill about my many greats grandpa whose name was Absalom Wamsley Smith. He had 5 wives and 32 children. How about that for some posterity? Absalom Ashman has quite the ring, right? Just kidding. Apparently Bill has a many greats grandpa with around the same number of posterity. Oh how we love our crazy Mormon ancestors. I'm rambling now, but I just can't wait for Thursday. Woot!

Fun new sensation

2010-08-09T12:18:00.003-06:00

I can feel the little nino now if I focus. That's so awesome.

By Popular Demand

2010-08-06T12:41:00.000-06:00

My SIL politely requested that I put some pictures up of what I'm looking like these days since she lives in California. It's funny because until Bill took the picture last night, I didn't realize just how much bigger I've gotten in just the last couple weeks. I can still wear a lot of my clothes, though I had to say goodbye to some of my fitted dresses like two months ago. No surprise there. I have zero dollars I care to spend on maternity clothes at the moment, so here's hoping my rubber banded pants will last for awhile longer. Can I just say thank heavens for the current long shirt styles? It really helps to have so much material to cover everything.

10 Weeks:

12 Weeks:

14 Weeks:

16 Weeks (today):

So there you have it. I imagine I am going to get quite a lot bigger before I look like any of these pictures again. :)

Good Times in Utah

2010-08-05T09:30:00.001-06:00

I've spent the last week in Utah at a family reunion and looking for an apartment. The reunion was great and I found an apartment on Tuesday night, so I would call that a successful trip. It's been so nice to be in Utah. I stayed at my sister's house and we have had tons of fun together. We had a girl's night we my mom last night and went to a Bees game afterward with my brother and fam. Fun times!

Last night we had the sweetest thunderstorm. It actually rained off and on while we were at the game, but not enough to be too much of a problem. I got Bill a sweet DSLR camera for his birthday last year that we haven't put to near enough use, but last night while we were talking on the phone he talked me through how to use the remote we have with it to catch pictures of the lightning. Some of them turned out so sweet! Here's a sampling:

I'm heading back to Las Vegas today. Hopefully the weather will be good. It rained and thundered all night long last night. So sweet.

Fun and Interesting Prego Update and Other Randomness

2010-07-29T22:56:00.000-06:00

I had my OB appointment this morning. Apparently I am measuring three weeks ahead of schedule. No wonder I suddenly popped out recently. At least it feels like I did. I still don't look that big but you can definitely tell I'm pregnant or just seriously gaining weight only in my stomach. :) Maybe one of these days I will actually post a picture. The PA was so surprised she started searching for a second heartbeat just to see. No worries folks, none was found. It did prompt her to have me schedule my ultrasound before I go back to Utah, three weeks from today. I'm so excited! I can't wait to find out if it is a boy or a girl.

I had this memory of something like that happening with my mom, so I gave her a quick call after the appointment. Turns out I was remembering right. She always measured big, so they always made her go do an ultrasound. Apparently when she was having kids ultrasounds were not automatically scheduled. She would always tell the doctor that this was normal but they would schedule the ultrasound anyway to see if her due date was wrong. It's kind of fun to find out I seem to have inherited that same trait, at least for this first pregnancy. I did not inherit her pattern of being so sick she was almost green for the first three months for which I am grateful. We shall see if I get as big as she did early on. She hit her biggest size at 7 months and stayed that big all the way to the end without gaining much more weight. I could do without that, but it wouldn't be the worst thing. Mostly I'm just excited to be so close to finding out this baby's gender.

In other news, we're off to Utah for the weekend for a family reunion. I'm so excited! It's for Bill's family, and then I am staying longer with my sister to find an apartment. I can't wait to see everyone!

I learned the fine art of dehydrating fruit this week. I successfully dehydrated strawberries, apples, bananas, mangoes, and some nectarines. They are so good! Here's a few pictures. Bill's parents kindly let us borrow their dehydrator. That is definitely on the list of things to purchase sooner than later.

And finally, the finished dining room that I have been posting about all summer. One beautiful table, six chairs, and a console table. I'm a bit biased but I think it's a good looking room. :)

An annoying symptom

2010-07-23T15:04:00.000-06:00

Does being pregnant include having a headache EVERY DAY for anyone else? I drink enough water, try to eat when and what I'm supposed to and it doesn't seem to matter. I've always gotten headaches easily growing up so it shouldn't be a surprise to me, but it's getting old.

In better news, I finished the last coat of polyurethane on my last two kitchen chairs. Inexplicably, the back rest on one of them is a little crooked. No idea how that happened. Yay for DIY! Maybe that will be the chair that gets pulled out when we have guests instead of always being around the table. I am so relieved to be done staining and finishing wood items. I am not a fan! It is really hard to finish a piece well. I've heard painting is way easier. Maybe I'll go that route the next time I feel like building something. I didn't take pictures of the chairs, but I do have a picture of how our table turned out. I love it. The chairs match it and it looks great. I made a couple cute placemats with material I had left over from a runner, so I'll take a picture of the finished project with it all there and post it the next time I have my camera, am at home, and actually have internet.

Random Things

2010-07-21T14:51:00.000-06:00

I haven't posted in a couple weeks because I honestly haven't thought of anything worth posting. It's been a bit boring around here lately, but that's all good... Here's a few of those not too interesting things :) :

1. I played the organ in sacrament meeting for the first time in four years on Sunday. Loved it. I kept sliding off the bench that was too high. They always are. Skirts have no traction on them. It might have helped if I had my organ shoes but I left them in Utah and my feet were a bit sweaty from nervousness. Oops. Sorry whoever played after me. :) My playing could have been better. I blame it on sliding off the bench. Maybe I'll get called to be organist in my new ward in Utah if we are actually in a church. I would love that calling.

2. I also taught Relief Society at church on Sunday. It was the Jolena show all day for the ladies. The lesson went well. I love all the wonderful women in my ward. I will not miss the heat, but I will miss how accepting and fun and lovable these women are. Most of them are old enough to be my mother or at least a significantly older sister, but they are just fantastic.

3. I finished the table I posted about the last few times I blogged. Sorry, didn't take a picture, but I will sometime. It's beautiful. I have one more coat of polyurethane to put on the last two chairs and then my carpentering plans for the summer will be complete.

4. I read the entire Harry Potter series in, I think, 5 days. I definitely won't be able to do things like that any time soon after we go back to Utah. Two crazy semesters and a new baby might fill up my time just a bit. :) Loved it. Book 7 is much better than I thought the first time I read it. I missed half of the interesting stuff that time because it had been too long since reading the others and I was trying to read it so fast.

5. Found out Bill's aunt is going to give us a bunch of her baby stuff. Can I just say that is the nicest thing in the world?! Thanks Debbie!

6. Bill left the light on in the Jeep the other night and the battery died. Oops! The heat is not helping it come back to life. We have jumped it a couple times, but it is still struggling to fully recharge. Cross your fingers it's not dead. I'd rather not buy a new car battery, but we shall see.

7. Will be moving back to Utah exactly one month from today. Have 2 trips planned there between now and then. I'm so excited! I will be sad to leave my ward and in-laws. They've been wonderful to be around this summer.

That's about it for today. Anyone know of any interesting things to do to pass the time that don't involve spending money, going outside in the 110+ weather, or internet? I'm running out of ideas.

More Work on Projects

2010-07-07T19:51:00.001-06:00

My MIL kindly let me use a piece of fabric from her VERY large collection of fabric to make a tablecloth for the console table I made. I finished it today and it looks great! I won't have the plants on it when we go back to Utah, but it will still be so cute.

I also finished staining the kitchen table and it looks amazing! I just need to de-rust the screws, hopefully get new wheels, and put it all back together. It's going to be gorgeous.

The Little Squirt is Active

2010-07-02T14:37:00.000-06:00

I had my first real appointment with my OBGYN yesterday, and got to hear little squirt's heartbeat. So cool! The first thing the doctor said when his PA was trying to find the heartbeat was, "There it is! Oh wait, this kid is active!" No surprise there as Bill and I are the parents, but apparently the wee one was doing somersaults while we were trying to hear the heartbeat. Good times. It feels just slightly more real now. It amazes me how unreal it feels to be pregnant right now. I'm just feeling strange and sometimes nauseous and expanding in interesting directions. But that doesn't signal to me that I have a baby growing. Yesterday made it a little more real.

Next Step: Staining

2010-07-02T14:32:00.000-06:00

I woke up earlier than normal this morning so I was able to get out working at the same time Bill left for work, around 7AM. It was great because it gave me more time to stain before it got too hot for it to work well. I stained all the table parts save for the back of the tabletop with one coat of stain and all the parts that you can see I even had time to get a second coat on. It worked out almost perfectly with the amount of stain I had left. I had to scrape the bottom of the can to finish the last table leaf. I did realize that I missed one inside edge of the tabletop, so I will have to get some more stain to do that, but I have two more chairs to make anyway, so that is fine. Here's the results:

And here are what my feet looked like afterward. I had already washed my hands and arms so I couldn't take a picture of those. Staining is messy work!

Next Step in the Kitchen Table Redo

2010-06-30T14:40:00.000-06:00

I just finished the stripping/sanding part of the kitchen table redo. It looks good! The wood is a really cool color underneath the two or three layers of paint and stain it had on it.

This table has seen some serious use. This is what the back of half of the table top looked like. Pretty gross. I couldn't get the wood brace all the way off because one of the holes has a plug in it so I just had to let it swivel around while I stripped and sanded.

These are the finished base and table top pieces. Well, finished with taking off the old paint and stain. It looks like the table was originally a light oak stain and someone stained it darker red brown at some later point. Then the table top had the brown paint on it too.

It was quite the job getting all of that off. The table top was the hardest part. I used stripper a couple times, but it didn't get all the paint off. It did loosen it up though, so that was nice. I didn't want to be near the stripper as I was worried about the fumes, so I did it outside and put it on really quick then stayed away while it did its magic. After I used up the stripper I decided sanding would probably have better results and the wood is solid so I wasn't worried about it taking too much off. Sure enough it worked like a charm. Well, a very long and time consuming charm. I worked on this all morning and it's 1:30PM now. I don't really want to add up how many hours that means I spent sanding. :) The good thing is that it is essentially done now. There is a curved wood piece that goes on the underside of the table top that I have not finished, but all in good time. I'm done for today for sure.

Kitchen Table Redo

2010-06-29T16:23:00.000-06:00

I wish I had a beforehand picture of the table, but I neglected to take one. Bill's parents gave us a table they had picked up at DI several years ago. It's a sturdy nice-looking table, but the DI people put packing tape on the top of it and when my FIL went to take it off, the varnish came off. So annoying. He tried to fix it by painting the table top, but he used the wrong kind of paint and it ended up being really sticky. It's been sitting in their garage for years and they said we could have it. I've never refinished something, but it seemed definitely worth the effort. I took it apart this morning and started the stripping process. I think Las Vegas temperatures were a bit too hot for the stripper, so it only kind of worked. I'll have to do it again, but at least some of the paint and polyurethane came off. I want to finish it in the ebony stain we did everything else in. The original stain was beautiful, but it doesn't match our chairs and the table top is a problem as I mentioned.

The table is round with two leaves that will let 6 people sit around it if we put them in. It is solid wood. No laminate here! It was rather old and dusty when I took it apart and the screws are pretty rusty, but it will finish nicely with some effort. Hopefully it works out like I am planning because if it does than we are totally set up furniture-wise when we go back to Utah. Well, for us at least. Add the baby in and that's a different story, but we'll cross that bridge in a few months.

Here's the base and the underside of the tabletop that I dismantled. If you click on the picture you can see the color the tabletop was painted.

Here is one half of the tabletop that I am working on stripping plus the two leaves.

About those Projects

2010-06-29T15:23:00.000-06:00

We've had a bunch of unfinished furniture floating around our laundry room and extra bedroom for weeks now waiting to be stained and finished. I finally decided to work on them this week and get them done. I have to say, I hate this part of building furniture. It is so hard to get it perfect. Not that it is ever perfect, but I at least like all the visible surfaces to be fairly smooth and varnished evenly.

Bill and I hit a real snag when we had varnished the chairs and he went at one with the polyurethane. The stain is so super dark that everything shows up on it. I love how it has turned out, but on this chair Bill did, for some reason the polyurethane made whitish grey streaks all over the chair. Hideous. And we have no idea why. So we set it aside and finished some of the other staining. The next morning I tried again with a similar result, though on a smaller scale. I think the polyurethane must have gotten left out in the heat and is bad now. Very annoying. I went over a picked up a new can from Lowe's and kept on going. Apparently it is not just the polyurethane, but something with the varnish as well. I don't really know. You can see it on the picture with both nightstands on it. The drawer on the left has some grey streaks on it too. I decided it was not worth redoing anything over, and the few places that ended up a bit streaky are not super noticeable. It's do it yourself anyway so it's supposed to have character, right? :)

Anyway, I am just super glad to be done. These are all the completed projects: two nightstands, an end table, 3 chairs, and a console table I designed myself with plans I had for a bigger one. I'm pretty proud of that. I wanted to use the scraps we had since we have nowhere to put them when we go back to Utah. I was able to design and build this with only 2 boards purchased. It cost $4. :) I wanted a place to put our plants besides our kitchen table and then it will get used as an entryway table in our apartment in Utah for keys and purses and such. We have one more chair built, but it's the one with all the grey streaks, so it is going to get stained and refinished again before being put to use.

Console table. The plants will go on it once it is fully dry and I have a cloth to put on the top so the plants don't hurt the finish.

The end table to match the one I built earlier this summer.

The nightstands. I love the knobs and they will look fantastic in our bedroom.

The chairs. I have two more with all the pieces cut out but not put together and one that needs to be re-stained to fix the funny grey marks for a total of six. I think I'm going to make some cushions for these chairs. Maybe in bright yellow or lime green or even turquoise. I haven't decided yet. I love super bright colors these days.

You know what the real beauty of all this furniture is? We don't have to buy these things when we go back to Utah and need to furnish an apartment! I figured it out and with all the furniture we made, the total price tag came up to a bit over $300. That doesn't include the sander and saw we bought, but those are going to last forever. Bill's parents gave us a kitchen table that I have just started the process of refinishing. When that is done, we will have a table and 6 chairs, 2 end tables, a coffee table, a console table, and 2 nightstands. Not bad for $300. And now I have some serious carpentry skills that I plan to use for many projects in the future. Some of these are going to last a really long time. Others probably not so much just because of the low quality of wood we chose to buy. I'll do that differently in the future. I think the chairs will be the first to kick the bucket, but hey, they're pretty now and they work.

Why I Haven't Blogged Lately

2010-06-29T14:00:00.000-06:00

I keep thinking I should sit down and write a blog entry, but every time I do I wonder what in the world I should write about. This blog has historically been a place to share projects I've done, adventures Bill and I have gone on, and other entertaining things that make our lives amusing. The fact is, lately things have gotten rather boring around here, and the things I am doing don't seem so interesting to share. I read a friend's blog post today though, and it inspired me to write about something different.

I have been struggling lately with being content. There are lots of reasons for this. I'm in my first trimester of pregnancy and dealing with all that comes with that. I can't even really complain about it because my symptoms aren't that bad. I have not thrown up, I have only gotten close a couple of times, and most of the time I feel pretty good. But there are times every day that I don't, and they are frustrating. Maybe if I was super busy and the days were passing quickly I would not find it a problem, but time is moving very slowly right now. I am starting to expand in areas I kind of wish I weren't, though it's really only me that can see it. Call me crazy since I wanted to be pregnant, but hey, every pregnant girl goes through it.

It is very hot these days in Las Vegas. I think it hit 113 degrees yesterday and that seems to be the norm for around 5PM these days. I can bare the heat enough to work outside on some of my building projects until about 11AM or noon. That is when the shade goes away on the back porch and the varnish starts drying too fast or I am sweaty beyond belief and can't deal with it anymore. In my friend's post I linked to above, she talked about getting married so young that she had not yet defined who she was, so now she wonders who she was before she was Simon's mom. I didn't get married young. I had plenty of years to find myself and I feel pretty good about what I found. I love the outdoors. I love to be active. I like playing sports and hiking and rock climbing and those kinds of things. Adventures make my life interesting and that's why this blog is mostly about the ones Bill and I have. This heat is seriously cramping my style. Oh, and being in a new place without good friends and people to do things with. I have felt more isolated this summer than I have in years. I think it is the lack of interaction with people during the day and the lack of things to do. We came to Las Vegas because Bill got an amazing internship that pays really well and we were excited to be near his family. They are wonderful. It is really fun to live near them. But in the process I sacrificed a number of excellent internship opportunities of my own and nothing much has surfaced since we got here. It does look like I have found some volunteer opportunities with the city, so hopefully some good will come of that. I just got a phone call about it yesterday so I do not know the details yet.

Below it all, I have some huge uncertainties about the future. I'm so excited to get back into school in August. At the same time, I only have one year left until my college education ends for good. I just don't see a PhD in my future, so this looks to be the end of the road for full time schooling. I imagine I will take classes in the future, but never a full time program again. The fact is, I love going to school. I adore learning and having projects and papers and things that I feel like i have accomplished. Coming back to grad school after three years in the workforce was a dream come true for me despite not having a clue what I was going to do with the degree or what path my life would take. I am a firm believer in the value of education whether I am making big bucks from it or not. But now that I see the end in sight, it is bittersweet. I'm having this baby the first month of my last semester. How the heck is that even going to work?! I have no regrets over being pregnant now, but I am trying not to think about how hard those first three months are going to be. Then when they are over, I'm trying not to think about what it will be like to be done with school and not have a clue what to do with myself. I'm sure wonderful things will come with starting motherhood and having an infant to care for, but I still wonder and worry and particularly as my level of contentedness this summer has swiftly diminished over time, I just think about the future and hope something changes in me between now and next summer.

This has gotten a bit too serious even for me. :) I'm not doing terrible, but I do have these worries and fears that I am dealing with and writing about them helps. I know I'm not the only one out there who has thought of these things and wondered how they will survive and be happy and content. Things will work out, and in the meantime I'll keep trying to find interesting things to do despite the blasted heat. I have never been a fan of Las Vegas, but I made a valiant effort coming down here to give it a fair chance. It really is a nice place, but this cramping of mine and Bill's lifestyle is driving me a bit bonkers. Mountains and trees and beautiful hikes and mountain vistas, how I miss you! Bill is going to have to get one seriously amazing job offer for us to come back to Las Vegas for good or go to Phoenix or some other place this hot in the summertime. It really should not be allowed. I will do my best not to complain about temperatures in the 90s ever again. That is cool people!

The news is out

2010-06-16T12:18:00.000-06:00

For all those lovely people that read my blog now and again, it's time for my announcement that has made me unable to think of anything to blog about for the last month. I'm pregnant and due January 22nd! I finally had my first appointment today after having to reschedule and they agree, I am most definitely expecting. :) Things are going well other than a touch of morning sickness these days. I know lots of people that have had it far worse, so I can't complain that much. I just get to eat all the time now to avoid the sicky feelings. I'm not particularly showing yet, though my stomach sure doesn't look the same as two months ago, but that should come soon enough. Yay for babies!

Great Weekend

2010-06-01T09:38:00.000-06:00

Memorial Day weekend was awesome. Wish I had some pictures to show for it... We had a big family breakfast Saturday morning, then spent the rest of the day lounging mostly. That was great. Bill took me out for a baked potato at Jason's Deli. It sounded so good to me, so we headed over there. They are so huge! We split one and it was still super filling. That evening we watched Shrek Ever After. Funny movie. I recommend it.

Sunday we had a pizza palooza to celebrate my BIL Vince's birthday. It's a family tradition. We all go to Bill's parent's house and his dad makes a whole bunch of amazing thin crust pizzas. He's got pizza stones, even a pizza paddle, and the process down to a science. They made 16 pizzas. Probably 20 people were there so we ate a serious quantity of pizza. :)

Monday Bill helped his dad with a procedure at his dental office. He worked for him as a dental assistant as a teenager, so he helps sometimes on family procedures when we're here. The rest of the day we spent building. Bill put a coat of stain on the nightstand I had already built and I assembled the second one. I screwed one of the boards on half an inch higher than I was supposed to and didn't realize it, so I ended up cutting a bunch of the boards shorter to fit before I realized what had happened. Not a big deal. It looks great. I just got to use my saw more. :)

We went out to Thai food with Bill's aunt and uncle Monday night. They took us to this restaurant up in northwest Las Vegas that was amazing! Bill's uncle went to Thailand on his mission so he knows good Thai food. He ordered in Thai and everything. It was pretty sweet.

Good weekend overall. It's finally starting to get hot here during the day, but thankfully is still cooling down at night. I think it hit a 100 degrees for the first time this weekend. The worst is when it only gets down to like 90 degrees in the evening. That's what I'm not looking forward to, but so far I've really enjoyed the weather. I used to think Las Vegas was ugly, but I kind of like it now. It's definitely dessert, but a pretty one.

Anyway, I've got to get going on my day so I'm off. Hope everyone else had a fantastic weekend too!

Nightstands

2010-05-26T19:59:00.000-06:00

I just finished making the first nightstand. It turned out so well! It still needs to be stained and finished, but my part is done. Bill will do that. Now I just have to make a second one so Bill and I can both have one. :)

2 Tables

2010-05-24T10:50:00.000-06:00

I'm currently sitting in my in-law's living room wrapped up in a blanket. It is freezing here today! Well, freezing in Henderson terms. We went to a friend's wedding reception last night and I wished I had a jacket. It was so windy and cold. I just checked and it is 63 degrees outside. That's insane! It was 95 degrees just three days ago. I'm definitely not complaining. I do think you get used to the heat really fast though. 95 really doesn't feel too bad these days. We'll see how it goes at 20 degrees hotter than that.

Bill finished two of our three living room tables last night. I built both of them, and did most of the staining part, but he finished it off. He has taken over the staining and polyurethaning of our furniture building for the summer. I build it, he finishes it. It works pretty well. :) Here are the two tables we built, one coffee table and one end table. I love them! Bill is going to do the other end table all himself, so that will be finished sometime later in the summer.

Next on my list are four chairs and two night stands for our bedroom. Bill's parents are letting us take an old kitchen table they have. It's really good quality, but not the color we want, so it's going to get stripped and refinished too this summer. Should be awesome! I think that's going to be the end of the building for now. I'd really love to build a storage bed, but I don't want to transport it back to Utah at the end of the summer and even though it's way cheaper than buying one, the wood will still probably cost around $200. We have other things to spend that money on these days. I'll have to find something else to fill my time after I'm done building those. I'm sure it won't be that hard. :)

Building and Camping

2010-05-16T14:56:00.005-06:00

The last few days I spent my afternoons cutting, drilling, gluing, and putting together the new side table and coffee table. Bill and I went camping and hiking Friday night, and when we got back, he got in on the party and helped cut out the boards for the second side table and started putting it together.

This one I did only needs a couple coats of polyurethane on it and some putty to fill the screw holes and it will be done. I think it turned out well. I'm not sold on the ebony stain quite yet, but I'm reserving my judgment until it's completely finished. I thought I would love it, but it's a bit darker than I expected. I think it will turn out well, but we shall see. It is so fun to build! I could really use a table, as our saw sits on the ground to cut when we need it and my back is feeling the effects of that, but it's been really fun all around to make this furniture. I'm excited to keep going.

Bill and I headed out Friday night to go on a little camping/hiking trip to Keyhole Canyon. It's only about half an hour from our house and such a cool place! This was car camping at it's best. We made ourselves some tinfoil dinners and got wood from his parents' house and we were off with our gear. We hit a bit of a snag when we didn't have tinder and kindling that lit as well as we thought it would. The canyon has quite a wind coming out of it, so I started to get worried we weren't going to get the fire lit. Then we came up with a genius idea to light Bill's little denatured alcohol soda can stove and set up the wood on top of it. Worked like a charm! It burned long enough to get the wood started and we were able to get a fire hot enough to cook our dinners on the coals. They were pretty much the best tinfoil dinners I've had. It was so fun. We did some exploring Saturday morning and scrambled up and down a bunch of rock falls. It was quite fun. Definitely a great weekend.

And the building begins

2010-05-13T16:16:00.003-06:00

When Bill and I got married, we moved into a furnished apartment. Rather than spending all of our wedding money on furniture, we instead got bedding and nice kitchen things and couch covers and that kind of thing. Well in August when we move back to Provo, we will most likely move into a normal, unfurnished apartment, so I have been thinking a lot about what I'm going to do to furnish our place. I've already mentioned that I'm going to be building some tables and things this summer, and last night was the start of it all. I've been busily browsing for tools and building plans and other such interesting things over the last couple weeks, and we went to Lowe's to buy our supplies last night and then today I picked up a couple tools at Sears that we decided to purchase. It feels like Christmas or getting married again or something like that!

My living room is currently home to all the building supplies. The wood is for two end tables and a coffee table. I'm so excited to start them today! Bill can only help me in the evenings, but since I got started so late today, he gets to be there when he gets home from work tonight. Woot!

We purchased a miter saw so that I can cut all the wood I need to, both straight and angled cuts. Also a sander and various random other tools. We already own a drill, so with those three we'll be well on our way to awesome DIY furniture. I will most definitely be posting pictures of our projects.

We also randomly did not own a vacuum until about 1PM this afternoon. Our apartment had one, albeit a very poor quality one. I never thought I'd get so excited to buy bring something home like a vacuum. Apparently I haven't owned enough things in my life, because all this acquiring of necessary things really gets me excited. :)