My Snow Angel

Trying to eat his cereal with his gloves

Monkey see Monkey do:)

Tis the Season

It's that time of year where I get my craft on! I'm not naturally the most crafty person, but I'm good at copying and I enjoy it! I stole this idea from thebrassyapple.blogspot.com which is another blog that I love. Anyway this is my gift for my mom and mother-in-law who's birthdays both fall on the same day next week (and no, neither of them blog so I'm safe:) Anyway these are super easy, they're just made with oven burner covers from the dollar store! I just painted, then mod podged some cute paper and voila! I love Mod Podge! Anyway here's the finished project!

To Every Season Turn Turn..

Another fun Halloween has come and gone, and unfortunately we don't have any pictures of me and Frank but I do have some cute ones of Parker and his cute cousins:) Me and Frank had a blast at our friend's party on Friday. We had a huge scavenger hunt around American Fork which was so much fun! We were split up from our spouses which allowed us to get to know some new friends, and once again we both lost, but hopefully next year we'll have a fighting chance! On Saturday we went to Frank's parents house and had soup and carved pumpkins, although we left before the pumpkins to go see my parents. Sunday we had my sister-in-law Shaylee's wedding dinner. On Tuesday all the girls went and got a pedicure which is always fun, and on Wednesday Shaylee got married at the Timpanogos Temple. It's been so fun to share all these things with her, she went through the temple last week which sadly was the first time we've done a session in a long time. I've been remotivated to be better about going. The first few times I went I always felt so intimidated because I felt like I didn't know what I was doing, and now I'm ok with not knowing what I'm doing:) J/k I enjoy learning more and more every time I go and it gives me such clarity in my life. I'm so excited for Shaylee to be married, but it's such a sad fact that we all grow up! I've been having this reoccuring feeling of how much everything is changing and I think her wedding is what started it. I'm sad that she will no longer be at church with us, or at my in-laws every time we go there. Did I mention I don't like change? J/k Anyway if I were a better writer I could probably properly explain myself, but as I am not I'm going to stop while I'm ahead. Needless to say life has been busy, and won't be slowing down anytime soon. Frank's birthday is on Saturday and I still haven't gotten him anything, and the list goes on.

Can you tell he was tired?

These two are inseparable

Rough and Tough..

There is no doubting that Parker is all boy..although my mother informs me I was just like him, she also is quick to remind me as he's throwing huge tantrums, and being a big stink, that I was just like that. Anyway these are some pictures of the cute stink!

He starts out here

and ends up here, waiting for me to push him around the neighborhood:)

How NOT to clean your house..

So pretty much every Friday is the same around here, I clean while Parker destroys. I'm not sure how anyone keeps their house clean with little ones. Parker can take apart the house faster than I can even think of cleaning. So needless to say every Friday feels like a marathon and this is what it looks like..

At least the floor is clean;)

I know your jealous of my blue carpet:) He later dragged this horse into the bathroom and proceded to hop on and ride it in the middle of the bathroom, good thing he's so cute!

Honestly this is nothing, this is after picking up most of it and then deciding I should take pictures.

San Diego..At last!

After much begging and pleading, or maybe it was more nagging and threatening it's hard to remember:) I finally convinced Frank to go on a vacation and it was well worth every penny! Our plan was to drive through the night, but after 4 hours we ended up in St. George and called it a night..haha I still laugh that I actually thought Frank would make it. We literally walked in set up Parker's bed and crashed. We got up the next morning to find a pretty pathetic "continental breakfast" and decided to head across the street to Denny's for breakfast instead, it was a tough decision;) Anyway we headed out and drove the rest of the way to San Diego. Parker did awesome, I'm still in awe that he did so well! We found our hotel really easily and realized quickly how centrally located it was to everything which was great! Besides the bed being super hard, we couldn't have asked for more. It had 2 large rooms which worked perfect with Parker and it was relatively cheap compared to most everything else. Anyway Saturday night we just kinda hung out, went to dinner and had a smoothie from Juice it up (I think that's what it was called) which ended up being almost a nightly routine. The next day was Sunday so I didn't plan much we just went to Cabrillo Monument and walked around up there. Monday we went to the Wild Animal Park, which was a lot of fun, I only wished they had more animals, but it was nice to not be as crowded as the zoo probably was. Tuesday we went to Coronado which is a little "island" off of San Diego. They have a big bridge that goes over the ocean to get you there (not as neat as it sounds) but we hung out at the beach which Parker loved. I was really sad because I had planned on cooler weather and didn't pack accordingly, so me and Parker were in pants, but he still loved it. We walked around down town in some of their shops. On Wednesday, we originally had planned to go to a Padres game, but they changed the time one us and we weren't sure how Parker would do anyway sitting the whole time, so we actually took a tour of the field which was really cool. Now after the tour we wished we really would have gone to a game because for $5 they have a park you can sit out and watch and they also have places where you can actually go stand behind home plate or for $10 they have bleachers and a sandbox for kids to play in. I guess that we'll have to be another visit. Then at night we went to Seaport Village and got dinner and walked around. It's a stretch of little shops and restaurants down by the marina which is really cool to see. Thursday we packed up and headed to La Jolla to the Cave Store. La Jolla is known for their sea caves all of which are only accessible by kayaking or boat, except for one and it's through this store. You pay $4 to go down into this cave, I thought it was kinda cool, Frank wasn't easily amused. After that we headed out and back home for about a 13 hour drive after a couple stops, one of which in St. George to get some dinner and our favorite Orange Peel! If you've never been there it is A-MAZING! It's kind of a juice/smoothie shop, the best part is they're all dairy free which is great for me, they use coconut's milk instead, and it is delicious!
Anyway besides San Diego not a whole lot going on here. I have to give a talk for a baptism of a little boy in my primary class. I don't think I've given a talk since I was like 12! Yeah, that's right I lucked out on the new move in talk and never had to give one thanks to Frank being called as the secretary and everyone thought of us as being in the ward forever since it was already his home ward, so we'll see how it goes! I think that's it!

lighthouse at Cabrillo National Monument

Parker found a lizard to chase

Coronado Beach, beautiful!

Padres dugout!

Parker's new Padres hat, along with his goofy smile:)

La Jolla's cliff caves (not my favorite picture, but Parker wasn't wanting to cooperate:)

Summer Days

So not a whole lot new in our home. We made our first St. George trip last weekend. Frank has only ever been there for basketball and I've never been there at all so it was kind of a new experience for all of us, but after going I can't say I'm planning another trip there anytime soon..jk it wasn't that bad just not a whole lot to do especially since we had Parker with us. We went to the St. George temple which was kind of fun, I didn't realize it was so big! We also went to Tuacahn not to watch a show (they don't start until 8 which doesn't really work for a sleepy child:) but they had a little farmer's market and a pancake breakfast, we shopped a little neither of us are big shoppers, and we swam not at our hotel pool because it was an ice box but at the city pool which was probably the highlight of the trip. I think if we are to go again we would rent a condo or town home or something with a nice pool! Needless to say St. George didn't cure my traveling bug I still really want a good vacation, even a good camping trip sounds good right now. We just haven't been on a good vacation since before I was pregnant with Parker and it's killing me! Anyway enough of my whining.
I just took Parker to his 15 month check up, he's getting so big and it makes me sad! Not that we have plans but it will be hard to make the transition to 2 kids because I'm so use to giving all of my attention to him! We've been having so much fun this summer taking walks in the morning and stopping at the park to play, swimming, and hopefully there is more to come! Anyway that's our life for now, hopefully we'll have many adventures to come this summer, but only good ones!

Parker helping me clean out the fridge:) Big helper!

Parker enjoying his toilet paper he just unrolled everywhere

What a cute little girl he makes:)

Frank's happy St. George picture, he's not a big picture person can you tell?

Swimming in our new kiddie pool

My favorite part of swimming, the 20 lb. diaper! I'm too lazy to put on a swim diaper;)

Thinking Out Loud

So this is just kind of a think out loud kind of post, I'm not even sure If I'm really going to post it or not, it's just nice sometimes to put things in words. So off and on lately I've been feeling awfully bored and discouraged. To be honest I really know this is just Satan working on me. I've really been trying to be good and read my scriptures and even do family home evening, which are two things I've wanted to get into the habit of doing for a long time. So I know this is just Satan trying to discourage me and make me feel like I need more out of life and that my life is boring. Anyway so I've really been trying to sit down and set goals, and maybe ideas of things to do, but then the thought of money pops into my mind and realize I can't do all these things. I think my biggest thing is I tend to be a bit of a loner, which I'm ok with to an extent. Ok I don't know if loner is the best description, I'm shy and I have hard time putting myself out there to make friends. I have casual friends, but no one I'm comfortable enough to just call up. So don't feel bad for me, this isn't a wallow session or a please call me kind of thing I'm just putting my feelings into words allowing myself to realize why I'm really feeling like I'm in a slump and what I can do about it. Anyway please don't feel bad for me I'm assuming everyone goes through similar feelings I'm just saying it out loud:O.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Parker was soo dirty after this, but it was worth the fun:)

This ones called mom making dad watch Parker and this is what happens

One of Parker's newest spots to get into

Helping mom with the laundry

Playing with our favorite puppy

Spitting out the flower he just ate

Helping in the kitchen

Finding mom's chocolate stash

And another one of Parker's favorite things, next to the toilet paper of course:)

As you can tell Parker is into everything these days:) Everyday I'm amazed at the things he learns and how much he's changes everyday. He's just started standing up with out the help of anything and is soo close to walking, he just doesn't have the guts yet:) Just today I was amazed to watch him crawl around the whole backyard. Usually he sticks to the cement patio, but today he was all over. Of course he decides to do this right after it's rained. Yes, I'm an awful mom and let him play outside today when it was kinda cold, but it makes him so happy so what the heck! So this is how we spend our days around here lately.

The Stats Are In..

Parker had a bit of a growing spurt only in height though.. He is

30 1/2 in. tall 75%
21 lbs. 25%
and his head is 46 cm 30%..I think they measure them in cm.?? sure sounds good:)
and still just as cute!

1st Birthday!

My baby grew up over night! Seriously I swear he turned one and all of a sudden seems so much older. His naps are getting shorter he's becoming more of a character it's so fun, but makes me sad that he can't stay this age forever! My sister-in-law recently had a baby and unlike most women who get baby hungry all I could think is I don't know if I'm ready to start back at the beginning! For those of you who have easy babies may not understand, but if you have a baby like Parker who didn't sleep more then 3 hours until he was 6 months old, or who was chronically constipated which meant a crying baby every morning because he was miserable and I had to sit and debate whether to give him a suppository or not, or a baby with major reflux, and not just the I spit up baby, but the silent reflux where he just swallows it and cries in pain and you don't know why, or ongoing thrush that wasn't caught for months and I didn't know why he wouldn't eat and didn't know if I was just not producing enough breast milk, and breastfeeding was a whole other topic because of the thrush and reflux was extremely stressful and I was terrified to switch him to formula in case it would constipate him even more and the list goes on! I hate to say he was an awful baby, he has always been very sweet and lively baby, but I'm a stressful person over some things and this was one of them, and the lack of sleep didn't help. either! All I can hope for is that after being through all of this I have learned and can relax on the next ones:) I have to thank those who came to my rescue when I was feeling down and made me feel better and gave me suggestions I was very fortunate to have some good friends to help me out, I really appreciate you guys and you know who you are:)
Parker is full of life these days. He finally figured out how to crawl. He worked on it all last week and I would say officially he really figured it out on his birthday. He pulls himself up to everything and pretty much gets anywhere he wants which makes him much happier. Lately he's been a bit of a silly with not wanting to go to sleep for naps. I think now that he can really get around he doesn't want to stop to take a nap. I miss his 2 two hour naps, lately they're both only about an hour which makes me sad. He's been such a spaz lately, full of life. He's really grown up this last month. We've been thinking about taking a vacation, but trying to plan a trip with him seems a little overwhelming. Maybe I'm silly, but does anyone have any suggestions? He always naps in his crib so I don't know how he'll take to driving, but what really concerns me is sleeping arrangements. We were going to rent a condo in St. George but that fell through. But really what do you do with sleeping arrangements? I don't feel like going to sleep at 7:30 but to rent or pay for 2 rooms is expensive. I know most would probably say leave them with parents but I still worry, and I kind of think I want him to get use to traveling and I can't always do that especially once we have more kids. So what do you do? I love to travel but am coming to the realization that it may not be as possible now with a kid and one day kids, physically and financially. I think I'm just sick of winter and being cooped up and ready to get out and do!
Parker's birthday was a lot of fun. I did everything in St. Patrick's day colors, it turned out really cute and he was completely spoiled! Sorry for all the pictures but I couldn't resist:)

My cute sign I made him:)

My makeshift cake stand, I think it turned out pretty cute

Blowing out his candle, or Daddy blowing it out for him

Loved his cupcake! It took him a minute he was just licking the frosting but once he figured it out he went to town!

Trying out the new toys

Chillin' in his new chair with Dad

Love this picture with his cute cousin Hadlee!

Fun pictures

just out of the tub..love naked babies!

One of Parker's favorite things is unloading the dishwasher..all over the floor

Loves his spaghetti..yes I know he's outgrown the shirt but they work for under his long sleeve tee's:)

Scooting all over the floor..still hasn't figured out how to crawl but he can army crawl all over..he's so close to figuring it out.. it will be a toss up to see if he walks first

He's getting so big, I can't believe he'll be a year old next month! He's been so fun these last few months.. minus the few weeks of teething which are no fun, and the cold he's got right now while teething:) The poor thing is so miserable and everything I do to try to help makes him have a melt down..so not fun! Other then those things he's a very happy fun baby. He's been sleeping through the night since the beginning of the year which has been wonderful! I didn't know if I'd ever get a good nights sleep again. He's a pretty good eater, sometimes he's kind of touch and go, but I think as he get's more teeth that he'll do better. He's had two top teeth pop through within the last few weeks, the funny part is they're not the middle one's but the incisors (I think that's what they're called) He looked kind of like a jack-o-lantern for awhile, and now with the second one popping through he'll probably just look like an old man..jk I still think he looks cute, you can't really see them anyway:) He just had his second hair cut today..3 weeks after the first one. His hair has just grown like crazy. This time it's a lot shorter so he probably won't need one again for a little bit. I always miss his hair when we cut it, I always love playing with it. He just started clapping..I know it's a little late for most kids, Parker likes to take his time on everything, but it's so funny because he'll be crying and clapping at the same time, and he's been doing that a lot this week with being sick:( And last but not least hopefully in the next week his new car seat should be coming, yay! I haven't decided yet if I'll put him front facing yet. I might try and see if he'll be happy just in a bigger seat still rear facing, but I doubt it. I'll just be excited to not drag a car seat in and out all the time! And that is the short and sweet version of Parker at 11 months:)

My New Blog

So as most of you know I started a new blog. Kind of corny but I've always thought it would be fun to do a recipe book, and well this kind allows me to do that. I kind of hit a after the holiday slump and was trying to find a new hobby and if you know me at all I'm not the most motivated person (at least I'm being honest right:) I'm not lazy by any means, but there are few things I really get into and stick with. I really enjoy cooking, but I've also tried to start exercising again and sometimes they kind of counteract each other. Anyway this blogs just allows me to enjoy cooking and share it with others, which is the real reason why I love cooking. So if you get the chance please check it out, its ashleeskitchen.blogspot.com

First Haircut

It's official, my baby is getting soo big! Part of me is sad, but at the same time looking back those first few months were REALLY hard! Well anyway, last Friday Parker got his first haircut. It was getting really long which honestly I still thought it was cute, but it drove Frank nuts. If Frank had it his way his hair would be butched as short as his! Anyway here's his before and afters!