Merry Christmas!

I'm a BIG SISTER! (Coming July 16th...) : )


Merry Christmas!

(yes, it was planned...)

Lil stinker

So i have a climber on my hands. This was a few weeks back, i was letting her eat some tortilla chips and rice. I had to wash some dishes and when i came back i found Emma helping herself.
Never a dull moment...






So last night i was getting bath time ready and came out to find Emma and Brad cuddling playing with the ring tones on my old phone. it was a kodak moment. Also you can see Emma has a beaded necklace on, her new thing is putting my necklaces on and carrying around a bag or purse on her arm (and she holds her hand out like a total diva). I definitely have a little princess in the making. i don't know where this is coming from too cause i never wear jewelry anymore or carry a purse, just the diaper bag. Guess it's her great Gma. Ashley blood.

The Fun Never Ends!

So we've finally invested in a potty chair for Emma. I figure it's worth a shot trying now and maybe end up saving money on diapers if she takes to it. So for the past week or so I've just been letting her get used to it being around and helping her understand what it is. Then on Saturday we'd been stuck inside all day and things were getting pretty boring so i decided we'd try out the potty. So armed with sippy cups and cell phones Emma and i march into the bathroom. After about 20-30 min of Emma sitting there drinking and playing she finally starts getting restless and wants to get off. So i casually walk into her room to grab a clean diaper (my first mistake) and when i come back i find her squatting on the floor in front of the potty peeing on the rug...oh well you can't win them all.



So yeah this is from the other night and it doesn't really catch how crazy and funny this monkey was being. As soon as the camera comes out she's more focused, thus we lost a lot of the craziness. I was cleaning up after her bath and she came running into the bathroom chattering away, leaning to the side, dancing, throwing her head back and laughing and just being Emma at her best. I was cracking up and yelled to Brad to get the camera. This really doesn't do her justice to how funny she was being, but it'll give you a small idea. Oh and a shout out goes to Eddie and Co. Emma LOVES the Biz's Beat of the day that you showed forever and a day ago on your blog. Now she's constantly beat boxing whenever we go over to the comp. I put a link at the bottom for those of you who forgot what that is.

Elliot John Ashley

So i was going to try and post this on the risser site but couldn't figure it out. So here's the newest little addition to the Ashley clan. Elliot John Ashley! He's beautiful! Funny story, i got to be there when they were bathing the little guy and as the nurse was combing out his hair she says, "should we comb your hair like your daddy's?" she then pauses to look up at jacob's long disheveled hair and then looks back to Elliot and says, "Nevermind." Jacob and i had a good laugh over that one. Any who, if any of you rissers can figure out how to post the pics on the risser blog please do. These are the only photo's i had to work with.
18 1/2 in 7 lbs 6 oz.

The best mom EVER....

So it snowed a little for the first time a couple of days ago, and being the great mom that i am, i take emma out to experience it for the first time. SOOOO what happens next was totally an accident... i swear!



you know you laughed too!

Happy (belated) Halloween!

So Halloween was super fun! We went up to be with Grandma and Grandpa Newbold for the weekend and had a blast being with family. We went up friday afternoon and when we get there what should i realize i'd forgotten? My camera! Of all things to forget i forgot that. SOO SAD! So these are pics Katie kindly took that i grabbed off of her facebook page.

Emma showing off her Joey!
K, on a side note, i got this costume at an AWESOME price back in like the beginning of Sept. and i've been SUPER careful to keep it nice and clean. SO Friday Rheanna calls and wants me to bring Emma by her work so she can see the costume. Well when we were leaving Rhea's work i let Emma get into the car and was climbing in behind her (we only have a 2 door car) and she was playing with the center console like she always does. Well when i picked her up to take her costume off and put her in her seat, there's black grease stains all over her pouch and joey. I was so sad and rushed home to see if i could get it out with soap in water. No such luck...it didn't even fade it slightly. I was SO bummed. SO my mom called and i told her my problema and she recommended using WD-40. I guess she told my dad to use it on a grease stain he had a while back. So after i talked to my dad about how it went i nervously gave it a go. IT TOTALLY WORKED! So now you know how to get out black grease stains (oh, so i sprayed the spots, scrubbed with a toothbrush and then washed with soap and water).


So normally i'd throw out a pic like this, but it totally reminded me of those sensory camera traps that nature photographers set to catch pictures of animals.


My little roo!



Trick or Treating...and holding up the crowds. Izzy came along as a lady bug.


Family Photo





So like her Daddy, Emmers couldn't wait to eat her candy, wrapper and all. She was SO sticky!



Within the first house we went to Emma had a poopy diaper, and it STANK. Hence after only 4 houses we hurried home.


K, so for those who i talked to on Halloween know that my morning didn't start off so great. Anywho, part of it was because our basement apartment is infested by spiders. Most look something like this bad boy. So Emma's down for her nap i'm trying to pack and organize what to bring up to the Newbolds (cause we took a family photo on Sat) and so i try on a red dress coat to see if i should bring it. I take it off and toss it back on my bed and am looking over my clothes when my eyes come back to the red jacket. Low and behold what comes running out of the sleeve but this large brown spider. It pauses and then bolts across the bed. Normally i'm anti-killing bugs, but this one had no hope. Yeah, i don't know how he didn't get squashed when i put the jacket on, but what a Halloween experience no? Ugh...

Here's to you Lawrence Welk

Here's a shout out to Grandpa Lindsay's favorite variety show and to all you poor kids born with baby doll hands. Hope you enjoy!
(sorry about the 30 sec commercial)

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Brad's Talk

so brad gave a talk today in our new ward. he'd been thinking on it for the past week, but really didn't write stuff down until this morning and put it together in about an hour. he was asked to go off of elder nelson's conference talk on eternal marriage and address how prophets help us fulfill God's plan for us, etc. here are some condensed thoughts from it:

1) family and His children are so important to God that He has asked us to address Him as Father, above all other titles. think about that. all the innumerable miracles and wonders He has performed, all the glorious titles He possesses, and the act and role He wants to be known for is that of a Father, our Father. especially in the most intimate of circumstances as our one-on-one personal prayers, it's always Father first.

2) the family is the most basic and fundamental unit of society, both here in mortality and in the eternities. societies that are not founded upon the family unit will eventually fail. here's a lesson from d&c 49 addressing the shakers. they were a religious group who arose out of the same great awakening as our church, but they believed that Christ had come again in the form of a woman named ann lee, the leader of their group. they tried to build a utopian society where they were forbidden to eat meat, baptism was unnecessary, and they were forbidden to marry or have families. section 49 is a revelation of the Lord basically calling them to repentance and was read to them, but it was rejected. the lesson, though, is that because of their disobedience to the commandment of marriage and family (the first commandment given to man) and their failure to gain new converts, their group fell apart and the shakers went extinct. hopefully our society won't come to that, but we can see, beginning in western europe, that families are dying out at a remarkable rate.

3) the sealing of families is of utmost importance to the Lord. the prophecy of the coming of elijah and the hearts of the children turning to their fathers is the only one that i know of that is quoted in each of the 4 standard works. it must be pretty important. often we only think of sealing in one dimension--that is, to our own families, our descendants and ancestors, forward and backward. but what the Lord wants is a gigantic 3-dimensional web, not just a single-link chain. we're to be sealed to our own family by blood, to other families by marriage, and to the Lord by spirit and covenant.

more text will come in a couple of days when brad has time to write details...


Our friend Cami came to play and visit for a bit at the beginning of the month, it was fun catching up and see you Cami!


So Emma's on WIC (a gov't thing that provides a little bit of food for kids 5 and under) and they give you dried black beans. So i finally took the plunge and made some and i think by the looks of the photo they were a success.


So this is emma's new winter hat (courtesy of grandma, thank you!) anywho, i love it, and emma doesn't seem to mind it too much.


So yeah, this wasn't the most comfortable position for me. I was texting brad that emma was standing on my head. And emma only has one pigtail cause she'd just woken up.


So Brad and i took our first trip together since the july before emma was born. We left Emma with Brad's parents (and she did GREAT) and off we went. Another graduate brad's friends with was teaching a class that dealt with the people that lived in four corners area and at the end of the class they take a trip to Chaoco Canyon and Mesa Verde. He'd asked Brad if he could be a driver/chaperon and so Brad said sure and asked if i could tag along. So it was basically a free vacation, all we had to pay for was dinners. It was an AMAZING trip and it made me love the south west all the more. Camping out was so fun and the stars were breathtaking! I definitely went through quite a Emma withdraw, but i survived;)


Hiking to the top of the cliffs to look down into the valley





i didn't have a hat to shade me, so i just used my light weight scarf, it worked great















The top of Mesa Verde. To the left was a herd of "wild" horses. I don't know they didn't look too wild to me, but that's what the ranger said.





















Emma is crazy and that's why we love her. It was bed time and i was getting her ready and cleaning up when i heard Emma cracking up in the front room. This is what i found her doing.




I sent her to retrieve the hangers, i quickly cut off the video because Emma was heading for Sammy's water dish.




Acrobats with Grandma. Brad was probably holding his breath the whole time;)

Silly Video for your enjoyment

So this was on our way home from Grandma and Grandpa's and i found it amusing. Even more so is journey in the back. That was ALL Brad...



yeah i don't know what she was doing other than being silly. She was watching her "Baby Signing Time" video at the time.

Party Party!

So we went up to Brad's parents the other weekend to celebrate Brad and emma's birthday and had a good time, we only wish we could be closer for more frequent visits!

Watching the BYU football game as a family


Opening presents! Thanks Carol for the Care Bear!




LOVING the forward facing car seat!!!


My simple cake. It had a fruit roll-up tongue that i applied right before it's destruction.


Yeah so i was a little disappointed, i thought for sure Emma would tear right into the cake, but she was so excited i don't think she knew what to do. So i had to help her.


Emma always wants to share her food with anyone nearby!



So my best friend Melissa has a whacky sense of humor. She was visiting us one day and decided she wanted to make Emma look like the prophet Joseph Smith, now that her hair is long enough. Blow up the pic of her for greater detail and be the judge.


i share a closet with Emma, and one day when i was hanging clothes up i left the room and came back to this.


First time going alone on the big slide. She's such a dare devil. I think it was more of a rush for her than fun. Does that make sense? Like she'd get really animated and want to do it, but she wasn't smiling. She's crazy, and practically fearless.


We decided to get emma her own chair for her birthday. It was A LOT more expensive than i thought it was going to be but it has proved to be a great investment and she LOVES it.




playing in the toy box!


This is our new friend Steven! He's the eldest son of my Visiting Teaching companion. He's the sweetest person i think i know. He's probably in his late 50's and is mentally handicapped. He LOVES children and likes to come see Emma. The other day i had just got Emma down for her nap when i hear what sounded (almost but not quite) like a motorcycle pull up in our driveway. I thought that was odd since i knew that our neighbors didn't have one. A few seconds later there was a knock on our door and there stood steven with a huge grin on his face and told me he'd brought his tractor by to show Emma. I told him Emma was asleep but that i would love to see it, so he sat and talked with me showing me all the neat things on his tractor until Emma woke up and then he proceeded to show her. It was so sweet.



So brad thought it would be funny to clip my phone on to Emma's back and call it with his. It was on vibrate so when she squeals that's what's happening. Fun was had by all.