Mommy & Me

I think this year I'm just pretty much going to let the pictures speak for themselves.  I am blessed beyond words to be the mama to this little guy and so grateful that Marcus and I, with our little Asher, are a forever family.  My thoughts are feeling too jumbled and blocked right now...too many of my close friends are struggling with infertility, pregnancy loss, and heartache right now.  All I can say is that I know it is truly a miracle to have Asher in my life and one that I will never ever take for granted.  I love you baby bear.

Thanks to my friend Christine for capturing these sweet little moments.  

Escalante

This year we had our biggest group yet head down to Coyote Gulch in Escalante.  The ten of us left early Wednesday morning and started on our hike later that afternoon.  We had an amazing time with everyone and had absolutely perfect weather.  It was windy and cloudy at the trailhead but the rest of the time we had sunshine and blue skies.  

At the Trailhead:

{Jake & Kate} {Rilee & Tommy} {Dan & Shalane} {Sam & Marie-Reine} {Me & Marcus}

First you hike through thick sand and then over red rock.  It looks pretty barren and you can't really imagine where you are going.  After a few miles you get to a cliff, and are overlooking the most beautiful view.  You can see red sand, rock, a river, and an arch.  We lower our packs with a rope and then hike through a crack in the wall to get down.  From there we hike down a sand hill which is steep and quick, which means it is pretty brutal on the way back up.

The kitchen set up:  It is pretty awesome but the boys do 99% of the planning and cooking of the food. This year we tried a few new things.  Tommy made some delicious quinoa with lentils and Marcus impressed us all with an amazing homemade pizza.  

We camp in the best overhang.  We sleep out on the sand (although a few couples brought tents this year) and have lots of room to hang out, play card games, and of course cook.  

We hiked all day long on Thursday and loved hiking through the river, up and around several waterfalls, and finally came to the Coyote Gulch Natural Bridge.  Sam and Marie-Reine turned around before we got here so it was the eight of us at this point.

We kept hiking up and reached Jacob Hamblin Arch.  It is huge and so pretty.  There was just no way to capture the size and beauty of this arch with my camera.

Friday we headed down to the Escalante River.  There is one scary-ish part to cross here but it is my absolute favorite part.  It is gorgeous.  You are crossing the red rocks and below you is a deep green river, pooling up in deeper areas and surrounded by lots of red boulders.  

Stevens Arch:

The Pughs and Browers headed home a day early and left just after we finished swimming in the Escalante.  The rest of us continued exploring the river and finding more places to swim for the day.

Saturday morning the rest of us packed up and hiked out.  That sand hill is a killer and it was hot but it was also gorgeous and somewhat exhilarating hiking out of that place.

{This picture is kind of crazy of me and Marcus...I was a little freaked out that Marcus was going to trip and fall off the cliff (that wasn't all that close to us) as he ran back for the picture before the timer went off.  I was trying to get all ready to catch him.}

This year was such a fun trip - thanks to everyone who came and made it so fun!  I really do love the feel of roughing it, getting all sweaty and smelly and not having showers, having very few clean clothes, and carrying everything we need on our backs.  It makes me feel strong and grateful for my life, body and where I live.  I feel so lucky to have a good group of friends who love it as much as we do.  We had such a good time messing around with everyone and just enjoying being out exploring nature.  

Read about last year's trip here, and three year's ago here. I can't believe this was my fifth trip down there, and even more for Marcus.  We love it here and I'm sure this won't be our last.

The Stomach Bug, Nursery, & Our Newest Addition

Asher had his first case of the stomach flu and man was it bad.  I've always known that I'll be the mom that can't clean up her kid's puke - and this gave me the chance to prove it.  It was rough.

Then don't you feel like when you (or your baby) are sick, everything falls apart, and it's like one big giant pity party?  Am I the only one?  I start thinking how all plans have to be changed and EVERYTHING IS RUINED.  (Dramatic?)  I was supposed to host a girls night at my house tonight but I'm sure no one would want to come to my (germ infested, throw-up) house, so we had to switch locations.  And why in the moment does that seem like the end of the world?

Anyway, Asher was pretty miserable for a few hours, but luckily it only lasted a day (and only bad about 8 hours) and he was really sweet and cuddly for those few hours.

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Asher has now been going to nursery for almost four months.  Don't ask me where the time's gone.  I just want to remember how he's done with going and I'm sure if I don't write it down I will forget.  Well he loves talking about nursery.  All week long he talks about "ne-ne" and what he does there - "play," "Jude, daddy, Manny" (his friends whose names he can say, Jude, Kylee and Mady), "mmm" (eat/snacks) and "popcorn" (popcorn popping.  he is obsessed).

So.  He talks about it all week.  But when we walk into that little room, he freezes.  He clings to my legs and all he can say is "no" over and over.  The poor kid gets so nervous and suddenly doesn't care about friends, toys, snacks or popcorn popping.  After a few minutes I leave, he cries, and I stand outside the door hoping he calms down.  He always does, about 30 seconds or less after I leave.  Of course when we pick him up he is excited to tell us all about it again.  Last Sunday I walked in, plopped him down on the blanket (and he wasn't clinging to my legs) and I quickly snuck out.  Hooray to week one of no crying!
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We got a frog.  Not only have I managed to keep Ish alive for five whole months, we are now up to two pets.  I think Asher is pretty set on naming this poor frog Apple.  When we got it, we asked him, "Asher, what do you want to name your frog?"  "Apple"  Seriously.  This kid is obsessed with apples.  We thought maybe he didn't understand what we were asking, and there's no way he really wants to name his frog Apple, so we let it slide and forgot about it.

Last night we said to Asher - "Asher, we need to name your frog.  What do you want to name it?"  We started listing off names (boy names, because I assumed it was a boy frog).  As Asher said no to each name we suggested he got a cute little smirk on his face, and said, "Apple".  So after confirming it with him again this morning, his frog is indeed named Apple.  And I guess that makes his frog a girl.

Ish & Apple:

Mother's Day

I had a great Mother's Day this year. Marcus was so sweet and let me sleep in and made me delicious breakfast in bed. We were able to Skype with my little brother on his mission and spend the evening with my mom and family. I am so grateful to my mom, for everything she has taught me and all the love she has always shown me. I know that I am lucky to have such a wonderful mom.

Like usual I have lots of thoughts on Mother's Day and where I am in my life right now. Lots of days I feel like life is just too good to be true and like I might just burst from happiness, as dumb as that may sound. I had pictures taken of me and Asher again this year because I loved them so much last year. I will post them soon with all of the words and thoughts from Mother's Day 2013.

Socks on Rocks

Asher's newest obsession:

I never want to forget how happy this boy is.  He finds joy in the most simple things, like jumping off this rock over and over again.  He is so happy to do it by himself and is so proud of himself even though he falls every. single. time.  

SUNshine

There is just something about sunshine and vacations that never get old.  We were lucky and got to head down to St. George again for the end of March and enjoy some warm weather and lots of relaxation.  We didn't do a whole lot because of Marcus' sprained ankle, but we did lots of swimming, a little shopping and eating out, and some four wheeler riding.  Marcus' parents and his younger brother were there as well and we had lots of fun spending time together.  

Asher probably would have spent all day in that swimming pool. 

While we were down there he got a little cranky, didn't want to go to bed, and started tugging at his ears...classic symptoms of another ear infection.  We were able to take him to a doctor down there and get him on antibiotics before they got too bad.  Poor little baby!  We definitely wore him out.  One day we were driving around and I could tell he was getting sleepy.  I handed him my lipgloss to play with in hopes of keeping him awake.  The next thing I knew he was out, with the lipgloss sticking right out of his mouth!

He absolutely loved exploring on the rocks and wanted to do it all by himself.  He was totally freaking me out as he was running down the rocky trail, jumping off rocks, and falling right and left.  I tried to hold his hand, but he would push it away and say, "No, Ay-ya".  That means he wants to do it himself. I didn't know that started this young!

A trip to St. George wouldn't be complete without meeting up with my good friend Jamie, her husband Adam and their baby girl Millie.  They had us over for dinner and then just Jamie and I got to go do a little shopping.  That was definitely a treat!

It was a fun getaway but it was actually really nice to come home to fairly decent, sunny weather back home.  I'm so happy to welcome warm spring weather!

20 Months

It is hard for me to believe that Asher is already 20 months.  That is way too close to two and it freaks me out just a little bit.  I remember people telling me "to just wait until he gets older" and then it gets really fun.  I feel like this must be the age people were talking about.  Asher is so sweet still and relies on us so much for everything, yet he understands what we are telling him and is so much fun.  A few things I want to remember about Asher at this age:

-He is talking so much and saying so many words.  My favorite new words of his are "happy", "otter", and "hole".  He is starting to put words together too, like "Asher (ay-ya) happy" or "bye daddy".  Melts my heart!

-He is getting to be a little cuddler!  Before bed or naptime he will let me hold him and just rest his little head on my shoulder while we rock in his chair. 

-He is usually so happy, still drools up a storm, and loves experiencing new things.  

He loves:

being outside, 

animals (especially ducks, birds, geese, dogs, fish and bunnies at the moment), 

riding his bike, 

trucks (he always says "wow" when he sees or hears one),

airplanes,

apples,

mommy and daddy,

readings books,

chasing the ducks in our backyard,

helping me with whatever I'm working on, whether it's cleaning, cooking, watering plants...,

shoes

Asher is seriously a dream and we are such a happy family of three.