Meeting My Hero

I had an incredible experience yesterday.

I got to meet Sister Julie Beck.

It was amazing. She is one of the most incredible women I've ever met. She just radiates love from her... pure and genuine.

For those of you who aren't LDS Julie Beck is the General President of the Relief Society, the women's organization of the church. She has been the General President for a good portion of my adult life and she has been such an influential person in my life. It seems like every time she opens her mouth to speak she says something that heals a hole in my heart.

I went to go talk to her about the book, The Gift of Giving Life:Rediscovering the Divine Nature of Pregnancy and Birth, that I am working on. The other authors all live out of State and so it was just me who went. We'd been feeling prompted for months to contact Sister Beck and let her know about our project but kept brushing the thought away because it seemed ridiculous. I mean really you don't just call up and invite yourself to talk with Sister Beck! But when a another highly respectable person suggested that Sister Beck might really like to know about it... we figured it wouldn't hurt to just try.

I was really surprised when her secretary contacted me a week or so ago and told me that Sister Beck had read my email and really wanted to connect with us. So yesterday I went to the Relief Society building on Temple Square which, for all of you who haven't been inside it before, feels like a palace. It really is stunning inside. I had to wait for her for awhile because the RS Presidency was in another meeting. When they came out I got to meet them all and shake their hands! Then Sister Beck took me aside and I got to go talk with her for about 20 minutes about the project and what we are trying hoping do. She was so kind and gave me a lot of really wonderful stories, ideas and, suggestions for the book. She told me to keep doing what we are doing and to go forward with inspiration... and to keep loving my babies.

Then she gave me a hug.

Wow. I could have floated away right then.

She truly in my hero. I don't think there would be anyone else on this earth I'd rather have met (okay the prophet would have been pretty good too). This morning I was thinking about the scripture in Alma 48:17 about how if all men were like Captain Moroni the very powers of hell would been shaken forever. I think that it would be fair to re-write that scripture and say, " Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all [WOMEN] had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto [SISTER BECK] behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men."

Really what an amazing woman. When I look at the picture it just feels surreal that I was even there. I feel so incredibly humble that she took time out of her busy schedule to talk with little ole unimportant me. God works in mysterious ways.

And just in case you were still thinking you'd like to submit a story for the book here is a list of he type of stories we still need. If you feel prompted PLEASE don't hesitate to send us a story or get your friend or sister to send us one.

Meditation - How did you meditate during your pregnancy? How did meditation prepare you for birth/motherhood? Share any growth, insights, or anything about meditation.

Preparation - What ceremonies/rituals did you participate in to prepare you for birth/motherhood/letting go of maidenhood? How did you spiritually prepare for the birth? Physically? Mentally and Emotionally? What would you write on a spiritual birth plan? We are also looking for stories about preparation and agency/consequences as they relate to pregnancy, birth, and beyond.

Healing from Sexual Abuse - How giving birth helped you heal from sexual abuse?

Your Legacy - How knowing your Mother's (or another person's) story affected your birth.

Constant Nourishment - How your nourished your body, mind, or spirit during pregnancy, labor, motherhood.

The Spirit/Mind/Body Connection - How did your mind affect your body, or your spirit effect your body?

Re-birth - Whatever that means to you.

Unity - We are looking for stories about unity with your partner, unity with caregivers, unity with baby, unity with God, and any other kind of unity.

The Atonement - Any stories or essays about pregnancy and birth and how it relates to the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Experiences with Medicated Births - We're short on these. We aren't sure why. We know birth can be spiritual no matter what, but for some reason, natural birthers are more excited to talk about their experiences. So if you have had spiritual Cesarean births or spiritual medicated births, please share. Birth is a miracle no matter how babies come. The point of this book is to bring that back into primary focus.

Please send us your story as a word document or in the body of an email. Try to keep them somewhat short. I know it's hard. Please don't send links. Also, this is a spiritual birthing book for LDS women, so please do not edit things of a spiritual nature. Don't worry about being a fabulous writer. We are good editors.

We can't promise we'll use them, but we can promise to get your final approval before we publish them. So sit down and writer yours today and send it to me at ldsbirthstories at gmail dot com.

"Melon" Discovered!

When Jon and I were in Jordan the hotel where we lived served the most delicious melon every morning for breakfast. It was a type of melon I'd never had before; it tasted like a super sweet cantaloupe but with the texture of honeydew melon. I loved it and looked forward to it every morning. But when I asked Arab waiter at the hotel what type of melon it was he just looked at me strange, said something in Arabic, looked a the other waiter who just shrugged and then realizing the name wasn't going to translate, told me "Melon, it is melon". Not helpful.

When we got home I searched for anything remotley similar to this "melon" but couldn't find it. I finally figured that "melon" was just something (like the amazing Arabic spice za'atar) that I'd have to wait to have again till I went back to the Middle East. In the meantime, Jon and I never let an opporutnity pass us by to tell people about our amazing "melon" experience, hoping they'd know what type of fruit we were talking about.

It had been several years since we'd last tasted this delicious "melon" when on Saturday Jon and I went to the Farmer's Market and bought one of these

a crenshaw melon

and guess what

it was a "melon"!

We had no idea when we bought it what a crenshaw melon was or what it tasted like. So imagine our absolute glee when we cut it open and discovered our beloved "melon"! It was every bit as wonderful and delicious as I remember. Jon and I are thrilled to be reunited with our long lost "melon" and are even delighted that it can be grown where we live! I just sort of wish that it had a more romantic name, "crenshaw melon" just doesn't seem to do it justice. "Cantadew", "honeylope" or even "juicy fruit of heaven" seem like more appropriate names to me. I wonder what the real Arabic name for it is? Hopefully it doesn't sound anything like crenshaw. Maybe we'll just keep calling it "melon".

If Your Parents are Divorced, You Might Relate to this Post

After almost 6 years of being divorced, both of my parents got remarried this summer.

In July my Mom got remarried to Wayne.

They are a good match for each other and seem really happy together. I wish I had more pictures from their wedding but I was running the video camera and didn't take very many. But my sister-in-law took a whole bunch that I am excited to see. But here is Asher climbing all over the chairs before the ceremony.

Then just a week ago my Dad got remarried to Janie

whom we all really like and who makes my Dad giddy like a school boy and glow like a glo-worm.

Janie also has a little girl, Hannah, who is just about the spunkiest, cutest, and capable ten-year-old I've met.

Doesn't she have the most amazing blue eyes?

She is pretty cute and fits perfectly into a family where all the girls either have to have a name that starts with an "H" (Heather, Hilary) or be named Brittney (my littlest sister and sister-in-law).

(Wow, look at how much air my brother gets, I didn't do too bad myself!)

They had the most beautiful reception at Janie's sister's house.



Complete with flaming crepes... totally cool.



It was classy and romantic... it felt magical... like something from a movie.


(I was relieved when I saw this picture that you can't even tell I'm nursing Rose!)

I am genuinely incredibly happy for them both. I've been praying for years that they would both find someone to start over with. Both my parents are wonderful people and it really is a miracle and a huge blessing that they both found people to love again.

BUT

despite my being thrilled for them, it has been a hard transition for me. I think I was a little naive about how it would feel to have my parents get remarried. I was sure that because I am grown up, happily married with two little kids of my own and live hundreds of miles away from them that I wouldn't be emotionally involved. But it has been harder on me than I expected. It isn't that I don't like Janie, Hannah or Wayne, in fact I really love all three of them, but it is kind of hard to see your parents-- who for most your life were married to each other-- make vows to someone else.

I won't go into the specifics of why my parents got a divorce (that would fill a whole blog in and of itself) but it has been a hard 6 years with lots of twists, turns and ups and downs. My brother, sisters and I were just starting to get used to life how it was and had started to be at peace with our parents being divorced. Now our family life is all shook up... again. Not necessarily in a bad way, we really love Janie, Hannah and Wayne, but it is a change-- a big change-- and it is going to take some getting used to. We have to re-learn how to be a family and figure out how we all fit together.

Still, I know that having Janie, Hannah and Wayne in my family is an answer to my prayers. Over the last several years I've prayed so hard that my parents would find stability and happiness, and that my brother, sisters and I would stay close friends. I know that God has helped to make the best situation possible out of the crazy mess of my parents divorce. I also have faith that if He was able to take a hurt, broken and divided family and piece them back together once before, that He will have no trouble in taking a happy, loving, somewhat shaken up family and make it work. I know it is going to take time, and I'm sure there will be some tears shed (we are going to be putting two semi-teenage girls together in the same house), but I have faith that everything will work out for the best. And when it comes right down to it this new family arrangement just feels right ... even if it is kind of hard.

Published! At last

My essay "Abraham's Tent" just came out in the BYU Studies Journal this month! So now I am officially a PUBLISHED AUTHOR... wow. It is kind of an empowering feeling. Especially after all the time and heartache I put into it.

For those of you who don't remember-- this is the essay that won 2nd place in the BYU Studies Personal Essay Contest last year. I wrote a little about what the essay means to me here. As I went back and read the essay just a little while ago it brought back all the struggles I had in writing it. For about a month this essay completely consumed my life. I felt driven to give voice to what was burning in my heart. The problem was that whenever I tired to write it down it always seemed inadequate. I really came to understand why Nephi (and other prophets) ask us to forgive them for the weakness of their writing. There are just some things so spiritual and near to our hearts that words will never be able to do them justice. About a week before it was due I still hadn't gotten it all pulled together, and I knew I had to. I decided that I was going to start a fast and wouldn't end it till I had finished the essay, or at least had something I was proud of. It took me almost two days but it got finished, and I really felt that I had captured a bit of what was in my soul.

I initially wrote the essay for the Elie Wiesel Essay Contest on Ethics-- it made it to the top 60 (which I don't mean to brag-- but I will-- is REALLY fantastic because they receive several thousand entries) but it didn't win. I'll be honest, I was a tad bit devastated. I thought for sure that after all I had gone through to write it God must have intended it to change the world or at least win a few thousand dollars:) After the contest was over I didn't really know what to do with the essay, all I knew is that I REALLY wanted it to be published. Then my wonderful Aunt suggested I submit it to the BYU Journal; I did, and the rest is history. What a great feeling it is to see a bit of my soul out there in print, for other people to read and think about. They put my email address at the end of the article and I really, really hope that I get some responses back about it!

My high school journalism teacher had a quote on his wall that said "All writing is an act of ego" and after seeing my name in print I think I have to agree. It makes me want to write for publication more and more-- and you know I think I will. I just have to figure out what to do next! Anyway, for those of you who are interested in getting a copy of it (mostly this is for my family) you can buy a copy of it here. It is in the January edition-- even though it came out in March... go figure. Also I have a link to a google document of it which you can access here, but you have to get my permission first before you can view it.

Chicken Day!!!!!!!!!

At 4:16 PM yesterday afternoon I became the proud mother to these eight little ladies...

Lets just say I am in love.



The chicken lady (Cindy) at the farm store called me yesterday afternoon and told me that my chickens were in and could be picked up anytime. When Jon got out of school at 4:00 we went straight to the store to get them. I was SO excited, I felt like a little kid right before Christmas-- which was fun because it has been along time since I've felt like that! Cindy got our chicks out of the brooders (where they were with about 300 other chicks and turkeys) and put them in this cardboard "Happy Meal" (that is what it looked like) box for us to take home. I didn't end up getting the Silkies or the Frizzles (sob) because they don't hatch till the end of April (double sob) and it is really hard to mix chickens of different ages-- an established flock doesn't take kindly to new additions. So instead I was going to get Marans-- which lay really really dark brown eggs, but when we got to the store Cindy told me that the Marans didn't hatch out and wouldn't come until the end of April. So we decided just to get two other types they had extras of-- a Buff Orington and a Barred Rock. I'll have to try Silkies next year. I'm over my disappointment and am really excited about these new types we got. In fact, I was just thrilled to finally be getting chickens! I was almost giddy. I tell you it was like being six years old again.



Me with the best "Happy Meal" box I've ever gotten in my whole life. Except the chicken in this box was a bit more wiggly than the type you get at McDonald's.



We got the little girls home and put them in their super duper fancy cardboard chicken box in our basement. They seemed to like it right off and immediately began to peck and explore each other. Chickens establish a "pecking order" (yep that is where the phrase comes from) of authority from a very young age, and these chicks wasted no time. Actually, the reason they are under a red heat lamp is because if one of the chicks gets pecked and starts to bleed then the other ones will peck it to death, but if the light is red they can't see the blood and won't peck at each other mercilessly.



It took us a few attempts to get the heat to the right temperature, they need it at about 90 degrees because they don't have feathers yet-- just fluff.



They have such personalities already, there is one who is a HUGE bully and I think has already worked her way to the top of the pecking order. One who is super lazy, in fact we thought she was sick or something because she just laid on the ground all the time. She would even lay right in front of the feeder and eat instead of standing up like everyone else. But we've discovered that she isn't sick, just a snoozer-- so that is what we call her. There is also one who likes to jump and will hurdle the other chickens to get where she wants to go. I'm sure they will all develop more personality as they get older. We could spend hours, and have, just watching them and laughing. They are such cute babies.





Asher is fascinated by them. He doesn't understand that he needs to be soft with them and sometimes he gets too rambunctious. Actually, one of the very first things he did when we got them in their box was to throw a rock in a them-- I think he thought he was sharing it with them! It is fun to see his face light up whenever they are around, and how he tries to make chirping noises back at them.







Oh, really... I am in love. Every once in awhile as I'm doing other things in the house I'll hear one of them chirp and I get happy tingly feeling just thinking that I have a box full of little chicks in my basement. They have been so much fun and I can't wait till they get bigger and start laying eggs! I kind of feel like a new mother again, because I am always worrying about them and have to go and check on them at least every hour or so-- you know-- just to make sure they are still breathing. Jon got some great shots of one of the chicks (Goldilocks) trying to jump out my hands. She nearly did too! These really aren't the most flattering pictures of me, but well... no excuses sometimes you just don't look your best :) But the chick sure is cute!







Stay tuned.
I'm sure there will be more adventures later:)

The Best Sound in the World

Is this...



My new baby's heartbeat!
(Don't worry the cry in the background was Asher, not the new baby!)

Baby Bird
(this is the womb name)
is scheduled to make his/her appearance in this world
around September 1st
give or take a few weeks!

Jon and I are SO excited about this new little
spirit that is coming into our lives. I'm sure Asher
would be too, but I don't think he has any idea
of what is going on or how his life is going
to change in 5 months! But I'm sure he is going to
love to have someone to play with.

I am almost 16 weeks and am finally past the yucky
sick stage and am feeling great. Yesterday I pulled
out the maternity pants because I was tired of feeling
squished into my jeans, and Oh how nice it feels
to have pants on that fit!

I've been a lot more sick with this baby than I was
with Asher-- I can tell already they are going
to be way different children. But now that I am feeling
better I am really enjoying the amazing
privileged of being pregnant. Sometimes I can't believe that
there is a little life growing inside of me. It is amazing.
I am so glad that God thinks we have been doing an okay
enough of a job with Asher that he thinks we can
handle another one!

I am still a little overwhelmed at the idea of having two kids
under the age of two (at least for a few months--
they will be 21 months apart).
But my brother and I are two years apart and
it was SO much fun growing up together.
And babies are life's greatest blessings-- no matter when
God decides to send them. I know our lives will be blessed
by this new little spirit.

It might sound strange, but I've been expecting this baby for awhile.
Only a day or two after Asher was born I had
the distinct impression (and have had it many times since)
that I was going to have another baby
sooner than I was planning. I remember thinking
"Ha, whatever I just had a baby, I can't be thinking of another one."
But ever since Asher was born I've
been feeling like there was another spirit telling
me he/she was ready to come, and would be coming soon.
So despite my worries about handling two little ragamuffins,
I am feeling such great joy and peace about this
baby and can't wait to meet him/her!

The Sound of Hope

Last week Asher and I watched the inauguration of President Obama-- I thought he should be present for such a momentous event even though he was much too young to have a clue what was going on-- And while the whole inauguration was beautiful and inspiring, I especially loved the musical number which was played right before the President took the oath of office, Air and Simple Gifts by John Williams, performed by Yo Yo Ma on the cello, Itzhak Perlman on the violin, Gabriela Montero on the piano and Anthony McGill on the clarinet. (And just as a note-- they "lip-synched" the whole piece because it was too cold outside for their instruments to be tuned properly.)



I simply LOVED this piece, it was amazingly beautiful and it pierced me to my soul. I think it perfectly captured the beauty, the peace, the grandeur, and the significance of America transferring power peacefully to the our first black president. We really take it for granted what a miracle it is that every 4 or 8 years we turn control of the most powerful nation on the earth over to opposing parties with absolutely NO VIOLENCE. In a world that is rife with political turmoil, it is really quite remarkable and is a tribute to our nation.

Even a week later, this music is still lingering in my mind and my heart. It seems incredible to me that there was once a time when blacks and whites went to different schools or when they couldn't even drink out of the same drinking faucets. I can't imagine a world like that. And it makes me SO grateful that my son will think it incredible that there was once a world where the idea of a black man becoming president seemed impossible. Hopefully he will never know a world where someone is discriminated against for the color of their skin. I loved the part of his speech where President Obama said something about 60 years ago he wouldn't have been allowed to sit in a diner with white people, and now he is President of the United States. What an amazing change in so relatively short a time, it gives me hope that in another 60 years we will have made many more such positive changes.

That is what this song captured for me, the beauty and the peace of HOPE. The hope that the world can be better place and that it can be kind, loving, and just. I can't help but wonder what other changes will happen throughout my son's lifetime. What other "miracles" will happen that I can't even imagine? Even though the world may get darker, I have faith in the good and that it will increasingly get brighter. I hope you enjoy this music as much as I do.

Announcements

Asher can crawl up stairs! He is really proud of himself and claps every time he gets to the top. It makes me nervous, because while he is good on the going up part he hasn't figured out how to go down. Janet, he might be ready for "stair lessons" now!

Asher has two teeth. The front bottom two came in this week. I swear for each tooth there were about 50 fits of crying that went along with it. And almost as many missed naps. Please tell me that he will take a nap again SOMEDAY! Sob.

Asher is FASCINATED with my dad's dog Mickey. The poor dog has been poked in the eyes about 10 times in the last day. Asher just crawls along behind, chasing her all over the house and trying to talk to her. She's a very patient dog.

Asher went on the trampoline for the first time. He loved it.

I've been busy making apple sauce, apple butter, pear sauce, pear butter, plum syrup and grape juice. Pretty good for a girl that didn't know how to can a year ago! It is SO satisfying to eat things that I've "put up". I might have to practice my syrup because it is a little thin. Next time I'll boil it longer. I owe all my new found abilities to this book, the best DI (thrift store) find of the year.

This wonderful book tells you how to freeze, can, pickle, smoke, and cook any food you can think of (including meat). It also has helpful tips on how to make your own cheese out of a pig's head (um... yuck), make butter, and how to preserve eggs ( I didn't even know you could do that). Yep, I'm basically a pioneer woman.

Clapping and signing

Asher learned how to clap his hands this week! I don't think anyone even taught it to him, he just figured it out himself. Genuis I tell you, pure genius. He did it non-stop for a couple of days and then must have gotten bored of it, because I haven't been able to get him to clap at all the last few days.

He also did his FIRST SIGN, on purpose, this week. For the last few weeks I've been trying to teach him the sign for "more" (touching the tips of your pinched fingers together), but I didn't think he was even paying attention. THEN, last week when I was feeding him dinner he made the usual grunting noise that means "Hey Mom, give me MORE!" and then followed it up by clapping his hands together. I wasn't sure if he was just clapping or if he was signing, but he did it again and again. I was SO excited. I think I have a genius baby. Here is a video of him, crawling, eating grapes (don't worry I took the skins off and smooshed them) and signing "more". Oh, and did I mention he has learned how to throw tantrums.

My Job Just Got Harder

Watch out! Asher is now a mobile quadraped. Yes, you should be scared. He may be slow moving, but once this kid has his eye set on something you better not get in his way. He has been known to hurdle Mom's body in one lunge, grab the calculator right out from dad's nose, and take off with cell phones before you can say snuffleupagus (can you believe the spell check didn't pick that one up-weird). He is a master of floor swimming, tippy toe scooting, and army crawl wiggling, and is working on the advanced skill of hands- and- knees- one- leg-toe- scooting. He has single handedly forced the evacuation of interesting items off the lowest shelves of the bookcase, and was last seen tipping over the garbage can. Beware, he is coming to a cupboard near you!
Here is the latest footage of the quadraped, just so you know what to watch out for. Don't worry their not very long ;)

The Master of Floor Swimming and Toe Scooting!



The fine art of hands- and- knees- one- leg-toe- scooting

Introducing Drew and Brittany Thomas

It is official. My wonderful baby brother got married on Friday in the Idaho Falls Temple. It was an amazing day. Everything went wonderful. His bride looked beautiful and I've never seen my brother so happy. They are really so sweet with each other and I can't think of anyone I'd rather have as a new sister than Britt. It is so much fun to get in-laws! At least I've been really lucky so far and LOVE all of mine. The only downside was that it was windy-- but it is Idaho-- what do you expect!



Asher was Drew's best man, he got to wear a tuxedo. It even had a little cummerbund! He got more attention and kisses from all the bridesmaids than any other best man I know of.

You know marriage is really such a funny thing. One minute you don't have any responsibility to each other, and then with only a few words you make eternal promises. It is amazing how powerful words are. The best thing about getting married is that it just gets better and better. It is a crash course in love, and I think it helps us learn to love like God loves. I am thrilled for Drew and Britt and wish them all the best!

Hobo Heather

I've been hoboing it for the last week with Asher, and man... it is hard to be homeless with a baby. It has been an amazingly crazy week.

It started with our move, which went REALLY well thanks to wonderful family and helpful Elders Quorums. But I've decided that I own WAY too much stuff. My friend mentioned that humans are like goldfish, whatever size "bowl" you put them in they grow to fill it. When Jon and I moved from our one bedroom Provo apartment we only had a U-HAUL trailer and a suburban. This time we barely fit in a 17 ft U-HAUL and truck! Uggg. There is something really humbling and overwhelming about seeing everything you own in the world sitting out on the front lawn, and then trying to stuff it into a truck.

After the move, Jon went back to Valmy, Nevada for the whole week to work on the pilot water treatment plant they are setting up out there. (Just for your info, Valmy is the middle of nowhere northern Nevada, by Winnemucca and Battle Mountain-- in case that means anything to you). I went up to Logan to work on the house, but since our house is in various stages of demolition, I stayed at a friend's house. They are living in SLC for the summer. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday I tried to paint the house with a baby strapped on my back. It worked fairly well, but I am SO grateful for my cousin who came and helped me for two days. By Thursday night I was BURNT out and I had to call Jon and complain and cry for awhile. In classic guy manner he tried to fix the problem, but I told him that all I wanted was for him to tell me "I love you, I'm proud of you, and MAN YOU ARE ONE HOT SUPER MAMA FOR PAINTING THE HOUSE WHILE TAKING CARE OF A BABY ALL BY YOURSELF!" Yep, I'm glad he's home and I'm glad his work had pity on me and isn't making him go back to Nevada for another week!

Okay, enough of my sob story. Now the exciting part. Asher says "Mama" and Jon and I both swear that he knows it means me. He's been babbling "dada" and "ma ma ma" for awhile now, but the other night Jon went to put him in his crib before I'd fed him for the night, and as soon as Asher saw me he started crying "Ma ma ma ma" and reaching for me! I think he knows that is me. So we are officially counting that as his first word. I'm not sure if he knows "da da" yet. I really want his next word to be "kisses" but that might be too hard:)

Other exciting Asher news. A few days ago during his bath, I was SO surprised to see Asher lean way forward, grab the side of the tub and pull himself up! I think he was really suprised too because then he almost dive bombed it over the edge! He hasn't done it again, but he is trying SO hard to move, crawl and stand up. I sure hope we get this house cleaned up before he can start moving all over.

I might be really sporadic in my blogging the next couple of weeks because life is going to be B-U-S-Y. This week Jon is here (yippee) and we are going to finish painting (in shalla-- Arabic for "God Willing) and then go up to Idaho for my little baby brother's wedding! Only a few more weeks of hobo heaven... or hell... depending on the day :)

MASSIVE OVERLOAD OF PICTURES

Yippee! I finally got some pictures downloaded so here are all the pictures I have been storing up-- yes and most of them are of Asher. I'm a crazy mom like that.

First time biting his stroller-- okay actually it is like the 100th time, he does it all the time!



First bag of cotton candy-- no I didn't let him eat, what type of mom do you think I am!



First time sitting in a shopping cart-- the belt was broken so I strapped him in with my sling



First time at the Shakespeare festival, and unfortunately NOT his first mowhawk



First time putting his hand on Wiiliam Shakespeare's leg



First time on the Merry-Go-Round at Lagoon




First time backpacking with Mom



First time sleeping in a tent--man what a rough night! I kept wondering what someone walking in the woods (in the middle of the night) would think if they heard a baby crying way up in the mountains.



This is my FAVORITE picture! Asher LOVES hiking and camping--I've never seen him so happy!



Zonked ou from all the strenuous hiking--really how can anyone fall asleep like that!


First time trying on glasses. Dad was getting a new pair- not these ones, though he almost did--really!It was a hard battle but I won.

Happy BLOG-IVERSARY to me!

Today is my first blog-iversary! Exactly one year ago today I resurrected my blog from its inactive state to become the glorious creation you know behold! What an AMAZING year this has been. So much has happened. On my very first post last year Jon and I had just graduated from BYU, we had just moved into the apartment we are in now, and we had just barely announced that Buster (Asher's womb name) was going to be born in December. Now one year later, Buster-- Asher-- is here and almost 6 months old, Jon is starting graduate school, I am getting certified to be a doula, and we are buying a house in Logan! Wow! I can't believe how much changes in one year. It will be exciting to see where my life will be this time next year. It just seems to keep getting better and better.

Thank you to everyone who has participated in my blog (especially if you leave comments!). It has been SO wonderful to be able to share my ideas, my life and my adventures with you and to hear about yours in return. I want to say thank you to all my loyal (or not so loyal) readers by holding a drawing.

So if you want to be in the drawing for a gift certificate to Barnes & Noble leave me a comment (make sure you put your name on it) telling me who you would meet if you could spend 15 min with any person (real or fictional) in the history of the world. I will randomly choose a winner's name from out of a hat on Monday morning!

Just to be fair I'll tell you who I'd meet: Eve, I'd like to get her version of what really happened in the garden. I think it would clear up quite a few things.

A Solid Experience

We gave Asher solid food for the first time this week. After this whole biting thing (which he has pretty much stopped doing- whew) I decided that he was probably ready for something a little more substantial. We tried giving him some avocado when we went out to eat for Anna's graduation but he didn't really like it. I think that there were two problems 1) we didn't mash it up enough and he kept trying to gag it out of his mouth and 2) we were trying to use a HUGE metal spoon and I think it was too much for him to handle.
On Saturday we gave him some rice cereal and he LOVED it! He kept trying to attack the spoon and wanted to grab it and feed himself. I think he is going to have that "Mom, I can do it myself" type personality! It was really funny to watch him eat, more of it got on his bib than in his mouth and his face kept getting lower and closer to his tray when he ate. It is really a whole lot of fun to feed him "real" food. Today I think I am going to try giving him some bananas.

Hilary's Graduation

Sorry that I haven't posted for awhile but I've been in Idaho with my family. For Memorial Day we went up to our cabin to eat WAY too much junk food and to play some INTENSE ( and I really do mean INTENSE) games of Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride and Rook. I think we scared my brother's fiance is a little bit with our crazy competitiveness about board games! Jon went back to SLC after Memorial Day but I stuck around a couple of days to see my little sister's graduation from High School. I can't believe how grown up she is! I am WAY proud of her-- she is an AMAZING woman and is so smart, strong, kind and basically drop dead beautiful! I am really excited for her to go to BYU next year. She'll be living in the same dorm that I was-- yeah Taylor Hall!



Asher handled the graduation really well. He was totally obsessed with trying to eat the program, it kept us all really entertained. Then by some miracle he happened to fall sound asleep amidst wild cheering, cow bells, fog horns and the band playing "Pomp and Circumstance". Sometimes I really envy him.



Funny note: After the graduation the little nursling needed a diaper change so I started to head towards the girls bathroom so I could use the diaper changing table. About half way there I remembered that there wasn't a changing table and was a little upset-- I HATE it when bathrooms don't have changing tables. I was just about to complain when it donned on me that I was in a HIGH SCHOOL and that it would be rather sad and embarrassing if the girl's bathroom did have a baby changing table!