Brad & Chelsea

To Halloween and Beyond!

2011-11-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

Oh baby BABY!

2011-10-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

Our friends son had a superhero themed birthday party and she took some pics of the kids in their costumes. As you can see, Emma is totally following in her great grandma ashley's footsteps ; ) The other pic is of all the baby's of friends of ours that were born within 2 weeks of each other AND there were 2 other babies that were born too but not at the party. Yeah...guess there's not much to do in pullman ; ) XOXO

You had a baby?

2011-10-04T13:18:00.000-07:00

Ok so bloggers new picture dealio is screwy to me so sorry if things are messy. Plus i have a screaming baby in the other room so i'm a bit distracted and in and out trying to get him down. but here you go some pics at last. Sorry i'm not the best at blogging but i do try when i have time and remember : )

Emma started swimming lessons in August and she loves it! She does pretty good too

Sooooo this picture goes with a story that happened back in July i think. I was making some scones to take to a recipe group that i occasionally participate in and i had a friend over to have a playdate with my kids while i made them. She has 3 kids, a daughter, Ali, a couple years older than emma and twins that are a few months older than jude. Plus at the time we were both 7 mos pregnant. Anywho, my friend and i are chatting away as i make the scones at the table when Ali comes running in, "The babies got a hold of a black marker and are coloring everywhere!" I run into the kids bedroom to find Jude and one of the twins with guilty looks on their faces and marker on the walls, doors, mirror, carpet, blankets, each other etc. Needless to say i was a little flustered. So i sent them out of the room and started to try and scrub the marker out of the carpet while i continued chatting with my friend. (Now mind you this whole story took place in the matter of no more than 5 min from beginning to end). Ali again comes running into the room yelling, "Jude's getting into the food!" So i drop my sponge and run out to the dining room took find Jude stuffing his face as fast as he can with the chocolate i'd grated to put in the cones. I took it away and put it up on the counter where his greedy little hands couldn't reach it shooed him away to go play with toys and went back to scrubbing the floor. Again Ali comes running in, "Jude's got the butter!" Again i run out to find him squeezing what was left over of a cube of butter i had out for the scones, i take it and him away as well as all my other baking goods so that there would be no more temptation for the little man. So "cheerfully" i go back to scrubbing the marker out of the carpet (did i mention i was 7 mos pregnant...in july?...) when Ali come running in AGAIN to exclaim, "Jude's eating the butter!" I was like SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?! I swore i'd taken everything way and put it out of his reach, WELL i'd left the package of unopened butter out on the table still, and as i come around the corner i see Jude just as greedily gnawing away at a new cube of butter has he had the chocolate. I mean seriously you would have thought i was starving the child. Anyways, the pics a little blurry but you can see his little teeth marks on it. Crazy kid...

So everyone and their mom decided to have a baby this late aug early sept so i was kept super busy trying to make baby shower gifts (one week i had 3 baby showers in one day...). I know how to knit and knitted most of the gifts but saw this pattern and decided i needed to take up crocheting too. I'm REALLY liking it. Anywho, this was my first hat and the link to the pattern is here.

practicing being mommy's

Meeting baby Brother

Day we left the hospital and Eli's first photo shoot

Mr. Burns

Emma's first day of preschool, Jude had to be in the photo shoot. He was devastated he couldn't go

Emma's birthday. We celebrated it on her birthday but didn't have cake until the next day because there was a stake activity on the night of her birthday and Gma. Ashley was flying in the next day so we waited.

Emma wanted a dragon cake for her birthday. I really want to make it a tradition that the kids get to decide what kind of cake they want me to make for their birthdays. Well emma was determined to have a dragon cake. All i can say is thank heavens for the internet! The tutorial for making this cake can be found here. The little girl next to Jude is Emma's new best friend Bailey. What's ironic is she moved into the same apartment that her best friend Cody moved out of.
As for the birthing story i'll try and write that in my next post...3mos from now... : ) xoxox0

Summer Fun

2011-07-25T13:50:00.000-07:00

Enjoying Daddy on a Saturday : ) Oh summer please don't come to an end and take our daddy away...

we brainwash them into loving baseball while they're young

She's actually got a pretty good swing. We're thinking T-ball next year...

Feeding the animals at Sunnyside Park

They called me out to look at them. Emma said they were leopards lounging in a tree : )

Pretending it's bedtime. I love watching them play together. I've started trying to brainwash them (as my friend Kelly calls it) that they are each others best friends. Luckily it hasn't been much work since they already love each other. They sleep in bunkbeds now and when they were not going to bed we said whoever misbehaved would have to sleep in the baby's crib. We ended up putting Jude in the crib and they just cried for like 10 min calling out for each other. It melted our irritated hearts into not following through with our threat, but they ended up going to bed after that : )

4th of July festivities. Picnic in the park with friends and water time.

He was in HEAVEN

my sweet sweet little emma. i love that goofy smile.

Story time at the library...Jude would rather do his own thing

Carrying on with the Ashley tradition of being able to choose your birthday meals we had donuts for jude's breakfast. Look at that face...how can you not love it!!!

A grateful sister who can hardly wait for her Birthday

Jude's 2nd "Birthday Party"

Pioneer Day Primary activity

Hitching a ride with papa bear, walking is for chumps!

I love my babies...most of the time ;)

2011-05-19T13:57:00.001-07:00

Easter. He was really cute and i made him a bow tie to match emma's skirt but he threw up on it at church and i was forced to change him : (

Couldn't keep her still

"We are friends!"

ok so for my side of the family is this not a jacob smile or what?! She does it all the time!

in love with baby mckay.

Gma and Gpa Ashley and cousins

Gma and Gpa Newbold

Discovering the bassinet

Saying goodbye to her best friend Cody who sadly moved this month. I don't know what she's going to do without him. And i sure do miss his mama ; )

so the kids are growing crazy fast. I can hardly believe that Emma was Jude's age when he was born. I love these two crazy kids, and i love how much they truly love each other. Emma is still her sassy i've got an opinion and you will hear it self. But she is a huge helper to me and so smart. She's been doing preschool for a couple hours two days a week and has absolutely loved it. She cracks us up with some of the crazy things she says and some of her come backs. She loves dinosaurs, dragons, snakes, lizards, horses and wrestling, but can play princess for hours on ends if you'll oblige her. We really feel blessed to have such a strong headed little girl in our home.
Jude is our therapy puppy. He's usually all smiles and love. He too cracks us up with all the crazy things he does. He loves to laugh and dance. He loves cars and motorcycles and when we let him, to get dressed up as a princess too. He's OBSESSED with any child that has chubby cheeks. He's notorious for stalking children in nursery and pinching their cheeks if the let him. He's in love with one little girl in particular who is just chubby goodness all around. He's been known to gently push her down so he can poke her chubby legs and ride her like a horse. He's our silly little man and we sure do love him.
Brad has finished yet another semester at WSU and never ceases to amaze me with how hard he works researching and learning. It's been fun to learn things from him even though most times they're way over my head. Every day i consider myself SO SO SO blessed to have him in my life.
As for me, for those of you who don't know, i'm pregnant with a baby boy due September 5th. It was a planned pregnancy and we know there are still more children to come to our home. As challenging as being a stay at home mom is most days, i wouldn't change it for anything. I really do feel so blessed to be able to watch my babies learn and grow. They teach me so much. I truly am one lucky girl.
All in all life is good on the palouse. There is always something going on but we are definitely enjoying the ride. We love and miss you all and hope all is well in your neck of the woods! XOXO

Cuties and Cannibalism

2011-03-31T13:33:00.000-07:00

Gasp! Could it be?! 2 post in one month?! Take that suckah's!!!

batman didn't stand a chance

consider me the turtle

2011-03-28T15:48:00.000-07:00

Halloween

2010-11-07T16:45:00.000-08:00

So our internet is slow so i'll have to try and post video and other earlier pics later. But i figured i'd post these before my mother and sister start calling me names...yeah that's right i said it! (i love you girls;)
Happy (belated) Halloween!

Note how in every single picture jude has food. gotta love it

wish i'd taken more pics of emma, but i figured i'd take them at the ward activity, then last minute she decided she didn't want to be sleeping beauty but a dragon because her BF cody was a dinosaur.

Nacho Libre if you couldn't guess. i had to make the tights and cape which were more of a pain then i ever imagined, but it was worth it. He was a hit:)

Not your Mummy's meat loaf. i got this idea from a friend of mine who has a fabulous food blog, check her out here

Jude's first haircut

like father like son;)

Mas fotos

2010-10-13T15:05:00.001-07:00

Maybe someday i'll go back and add captions, but for now this will have to do:)

to fully appreciate the beauty of the patterns on the trees you need to blow up the picture it was truly breathtaking!

pics

2010-10-11T20:43:00.000-07:00

So i'm posting these real quick before i get in any more trouble and be accused of being "too lazy" i'll post more later. Real quick, this morning Emma said a prayer for breakfast and it was really sweet:
"Dear Heavenly Father, please bless judes broken collar bone that it will get better. Please bless mommy that she will have energy and more muscles. Bless the missiomaries that they'll have the spirit. in the name of jesus christ, AMEN!"

i thought it was pretty cute

these 2 pics of jude took the course of a few min

IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-09-15T22:01:00.000-07:00

We're baaaAAaaaAaAaAaAckkkkkkk-iiiiiiiishhhhhhhhhhhh ;) Ok so in my defense people, our computer died, we moved back to pullman than took off for utah shortly thereafter and then when we got back we moved again and school started. Something like that...it's funny cause i'm not really on the computer that much but when you are without it you realize how much you depend upon it. I've missed you all. Brad just barely got our new computer up and running and it's a little after 10pm so i thought i'd post just to let you know i'll post pics as soon as i can figure out the computer.

We're all doing good besides a bit of sickness as of the moment. Brad's plugging on through school, but enjoying it. He was also recently called to be a gospel doctrine teacher (his secretly coveted calling...well not anymore i guess;) He's a great teacher and i love his deep and insightful knowledge of the gospel. He's amazing! Emma's the spitfire she's always been. We love that little girl, and we've started to work with her on french and spanish vocab and are impressed with her ability to pronounce the various words. She cracks us up with all the little things she says and does and tries our patience with her determined independence and strong opinions. She's a great help to me though and has become somewhat of a little mommy to Jude. They really are pals. Jude is a riot and i often hear people saying, "i want a jude!" Sorry suckers, he's MINE! Bwahahahaha! He really is a good baby and has such an easy going, always happy, loving nature. He's quite adventurous and has began picking up signs and select words pretty quickly. At his last check up he was in the 99th percentile for height. I can't wait to post pics so you can see more of this little man's BIG personality. As for me i'm kept pretty busy with the kids, my relief society calling and training for my half marathon in moscow next saturday. Ever since Aunt Sydney started doing marathons it inspired me and i decided one of my life goals would be to do one. (thanks Syd!) I'm hoping to do it in under 2 hours but i've been averaging 9:24 min miles for my long runs which i'm happy with too. we'll see.

Well that's a quick update for yall. All in all we're happy healthy and feeling SOOOOOO incredibly blessed with amazing friends and family and everything in between. We hope you are all doing equally well and apologize about our lack of keeping in touch. We may not be the greatest but we think and pray for you all daily. Hugs and kisses all around and pics and video to come soon!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

a weeks worth of uploading pics little by little...phew!

2010-04-06T10:55:00.000-07:00

ok sooooooo i don't know that i'm really gonna comment on the photos cause there's just too much to do but, we've been having fun. Next blog i'll post some videos. All in all we're doing good and enjoying seattle. we love you all and feel so blessed to have so many wonderful family members and friends!

Jude vs. The Stroller

k you need to blow this one up. I accidentally shot this with the dog in the background...resembles emma. k maybe i'm a nerd and just think it's funny

what happens when daddy comes home...my babies turn into potatoes;)

7 mos

niagra falls

For those who have not heard the story from my mom, we went to palmyra and the visitor center. The sister missionaries asked emma who this statue was and emma smiled and said, "Jesus." They then asked her who Jesus was and again emma smiled and confidentially replied, "My husband." Yeah no idea where that one came from.

Joseph Smith home (did you know back then babies bottles, including the nipple, were made of lead! Scary)

Kirtland

Erie Zoo

Musical chime thing kids jump on to make music

the saddest gorilla i've ever seen

silly

for grandma;)

Easter

gee em what's in your mouth?

Feb

2010-02-21T20:33:00.000-08:00

Soooooooooooooooooooo i'm sorry i'm slacking YET AGAIN. I started this post forever ago but never got around to finishing so i figured i'd just post it and try working on another one. Thanks for your patience:)

Sleepless in Seattle...no really...

2010-01-20T10:06:00.000-08:00

We made it in a mad dash to seattle, and we're enjoying it, but we miss our pullman friends :( Poor Jude and emma haven't been sleeping well lately, and once jude got sick this past week, we REALLY haven't been sleeping well. As soon as he's better, we're hoping to turn things around. I'm rambling. well, here's me playing catch up once again. hope you enjoy... sorry so late

Emma pushed jude over and squeezed in beside him so they could play together...or maybe cause she wanted to play on the mat during jude's turn...you know...one of those two

who wouldn't want to sit down and have a drink with this guy

"this is for all my lady friends out there, check out this keg!"

so emma and daddy decided to play with my knitting divider rings. When we asked emma what she thought she said, "I'm a lady!" i wonder what that made brad...

Kodak moment

4 mos

one of the first snows and so emma and daddy played out on the deck

daddy went to wake jude up...

First try of solids...

He took a while to warm up but now he's an eating machine : )

Megawoman

breaking in emma's toy stroller...see video at end...hmmm wonder how jude feels about this whole thing

Jude watching the first presidency's christmas message

Playing with daddy's snow gloves

BFF

chillaxin

my lil pups watching the snow

5 mos

playing dress up

Don't make me finish my cookie, mommy, i'm so tired.

daddy having fun

i think emma likes the UW huskies

Emma helping make chocolate covered pretzles for FHE...i think she enjoyed herself

no chapstick is safe in our house...sigh...

hee hee hee

so we were trying to take jude's 6 mos photo and emma insisted on joining in...gotta love the face

So we decided to go explore and find the Seattle temple and they had a beautiful forested area with paths by it and so we took a stroll. Emma had fun finding all the blackberries, and plants, and mud, and mushrooms, and...

ahhhhh i love my kids

Trying to train emma to wear footed pajama's

So i was getting the kids ready for bed before brad got home and this is what happened. emma started doing this all on her own so i ran and grabbed the camera

So as i've said before, Emma LOVES listening to the Ting Tings. So we went to spokane a while back and picked up this toy microphone for $1 at target and emma rocked out in the car

When we left Provo, Josh gave emma this stroller as a gift, well josh, it's being put to good use : )

This one's for aunt Rhea ; )

As noted before, emma loves the ting tings. Well one night to try and distract the kids while i got dinner ready, we turned music on and danced (well, jude jumped) and then every night or meal time thereafter emma has asked for the ting tings and dancing. EVERYONE has to dance or feel the wrath of the emma-nator. Good, good times.

Happy Halloween

2009-11-02T13:15:00.001-08:00

so this is gonna be brief 'cause i haven't really been feeling well lately, but i figured it might be good to get my halloween pics up before thanksgiving and christmas get here ; )

So Old Navy had a super big sale on their halloween costumes. i went to get a dragon costume for jude and something else for emma, but emma saw the dragon costume and that was the end of the discussion. I LOVED the fact she wanted to be a dragon for halloween : )

Jude got the next best thing... : )

SOOOOOO this is how emma takes care of her baby. I see a great baby sitter in the making. (P.S. I'd been wanting to get emma a toy kitchen but they're pretty pricey, and then one day as i was leaving for walking group, what should be out by the dumpster but this lovely toy kitchen. After walking group it was still there so emma and i lugged it home and i washed it. that's not gross is it? Waste not want not : )

mmmm tasty ; )

so i've decided to start a tradition of making ghoulish meals the day before and day of halloween. Here's what i made friday night... both meals came from kraftfoods.com

Ghouls-in-the-Graveyard

2 pkg. (7-1/4 oz. each) KRAFT Macaroni & Cheese Dinner

1 pkg. (8 oz.) KRAFT Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

2 eggs, beaten

1 pkg. (16 oz.) OSCAR MAYER Wieners, cut crosswise in half

1 tsp. yellow mustard
HEAT oven to 350ºF.
PREPARE Dinners in large saucepan as directed on package. Stir in mozzarella and eggs. SPOON into foil-lined 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Stand wieners, in 4 rows of 5 wieners each, in Dinner mixture for the ghouls.
BAKE 20 min.; cool 5 min. Add small dabs of mustard to wieners for the ghouls' eyes.

pumpkin carving

She was so proud of her pumpkin, she didn't want to go to bed

making a pudding graveyard for Jodi's Halloween party

1 pk Oreo cookies
2 pk Chocolate INSTANT pudding
3 cups Cool whip
4 oz Rectangular white cookies
Topping:
Cool Whip
Licorice
Candied corn

Directions

Place cookies in zip-lock bag and crush using a rolling pin

. Make pudding as directed and let stand for 5 minutes

. Stir in the cool whip, and 1/2 the cookies.

Spoon mixture into a 13"x9" baking dish.

Sprinkle with the remaining cookies.

Refrigerate 1 hour.

Decorate using rectangular cookies as tombstones, etc.

Use cool whip to make ghost-shaped blobs on the top, create swirls of *ghosts* on top, use pieces of black licorice for the eyes.

Place the candied corn around the top.

Being a cool russian spy with kyle and suzi at jodi's halloween party

Spaghetti and "Oozing Eyeballs"
2 lb. ground beef

1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken

1 cup water

2 eggs

1 jar (26 oz.) spaghetti sauce, divided

4 sticks KRAFT STRING-UMS String Cheese, cut into quarters

4 pitted large black olives, cut into 4 slices each

1 pkg. (1 lb.) spaghetti

HEAT oven to 375ºF.
MIX meat, stuffing mix, water, eggs and 1/4 cup spaghetti sauce. Shape into 16 (2-inch) meatballs. Insert 1 cheese piece into top of each meatball, with end of cheese piece just showing at top. Place on baking sheet. Top each with olive slice to resemble eyeball.
BAKE 20 to 25 min. or until meatballs are done (160ºF). Meanwhile, cook spaghetti and heat remaining spaghetti sauce as directed on package and jar.
DRAIN spaghetti. Serve topped with meatballs and sauce.

Halloween 2009
Some friends gave us the idea of having "The Office" themed halloween and so i was the NBC peacock and brad was Mose Schrute (Dwight's odd cousin)

Emma with some of her friends Cody and Ellie

This was our church's halloween party and the kids trick or treated at the classrooms. A couple in our ward went all out and decorated not only their door but the whole room. it was a lot of fun and went perfect with emma's costume

not quite sure why this photo won't turn but this was jude at the party

Wanted to post jude's halloween outfit. Thanks Rhea for the shirt and Ashley for the socks!

GO, GO, GO!

2009-10-26T11:29:00.000-07:00

so apparently emma is slightly afraid of flying kites, but her friend Codi has no problem with it. fun was then had by all.

tummy time

YAY!!! Becky was great enough to do my first 5k with me in years. thanks becky!! It felt so good to be running again : )

...yeah... the hills sucked... but becky is like super woman and didn't break a sweat ; P

and we finish : )

Jude did a great job during the run... and he and emma both won pumpkins for their troubles.

When emma saw me uploading these she pointed at jude and said, "Christmas!" need i say more?

yeah, we're back to potty training again. I'm working myself up to this hardcore potty training in 3 days routine... not really looking forward to it...

They play so well together ; )

he looks like grandpa ashley in this one.

wrestling... emma always wins

Jude 3 mos

So Becky was so kind as to teach me how to make bread (which was SUPER yummy--let's hope i can replicate it again) and she held a fussy jude for me for a couple of min and he totally passed out. i thought it was pretty funny

there's a park here where there's a little farm next to it with sheep, goats, pigs, and llamas. There's a video of emma feeding the llama at the end. The pig's grunts kind of freaked her out.

Emma insisted on wearing a halloween shirt that was meant for jude

I was making lunch one day when i came out to find emma sitting on her couch "reading" her Gideons bible that was so kindly given to us. i thought it was pretty cute. The other night Brad told emma she could only choose one book to read since it was past her bedtime. after looking over her books she chose the Gideons bible. Brad laughed and could only reply, "Touche."

So Old Navy's halloween costumes went on sale for super cheap and so i got a couple for the kids. Well, this is supposed to be jude's (size 0-6mos) but emma insisted on trying it on. pretty funny, no?

WSU has a falconry club and they hosted a "raptor safari" this past saturday. We got to see a lot of BEAUTIFUL birds up close and emma loved it. I forgot to take picks till the end when emma was getting tired. so i didn't get the best pics.

some fun chatter with jude with a guest appearance by emma

Soooooooooo it's true what they say about how kids imitate what they see...there's been a lot of angels baseball going on in our house.

my little couch potatoes

emma meets the llama

Happy (belated) Birthday!!!!!

2009-09-28T14:20:00.002-07:00

Yeah... this blog entry took FOREVER. that's what i get for procrastination... true ashley style ; )

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY BRADLEY!!!! that's right he's an old man now ; )

Emma stole some of Brad's thunder and so brad wanted me to make cookies instead of a cake for his birthday. Look how excited he is.

emma... being emma...

So for emma's birthday i tried to recreate jamba juice which is her favorite. This came from a WIC cookbook and it was goOoOOooOooOd and EASY to make too. Here is the recipe:

Fruit & Juice breakfast shake

1 ripe med banana, peeled
1 (6oz) can pineapple juice
1/2 cup low fat plain or vanilla yogurt
1 cup strawberries, rinsed and stems removed

Break banana into small pieces and put in blender with pinapple juice, yogurt and strawberries. Secure lid and blend until smooth. Serve immediately.
(i found refrigerating the juice and strawberries made it better. you can also use frozen strawberries, which gives it a stronger strawberry flavor).

The officially 2 year old birthday girl! thanks gma and gpa newbold for the present!

She loves the book she got!

So here's some of my beautiful walking group! I love these girls! We do about a 3 mile walk every morning through the brutal hills of pullman. i took some pics to give you an idea.

There's a mini hill before this beast hill #1

hill#2

hill#3

hill #4

and there's a mini hill before this last beast hill #5
this last killer hill is forever long. these pictures really don't do these hills justice
Thanks ladies for the butt shots ; ) you're troopers!

afterwards we let the kids play at the apartment playground. for emma's birthday we brought cupcakes and sang happy birthday.

the aftermath : )

Ava cracked me up!

still emma's birthday, and she got to choose her afternoon snack. Notice the change in clothing, a birthday shirt from her birthday package.

yeah... she didn't want to share : (

So gma and gpa newbold heard about emma getting into trouble by stealing my chapstick and eating it... so they sent her her own. She's good about not eating it, but she's very much into the layering it on like her aunt rheanna ;)

(last change of clothing ; ) ) and so ends the birthday with pizza (her choice), cupcake, and ice cream. We love our "spirited" child and can't imagine life with out our little fireball. She continues to amaze us with how smart she is. she's really talking up a storm these days. Some recent things that made us laugh: "Jude, go time out!" - as jude sits there doing nothing; "phew, emma's poopy"- what she says after running around... she's mimicking me saying "i'm pooped;" "mom! come find emma's bed! Emma sick! Emma need medicine!"- one last try at getting out of going to sleep 45 min after daddy had put her to bed; "Mom (pointing finger at me), be nice!"- after i told her to get her hands out of the trash can; "Jude, pumpkin head!" and "Jude! Wake up buddy boy!"- what she says when she goes in to wake him up. We know there are more, but we can't think of any at the moment. She cracks us up. Oh and she's a BIG fan of the Ting Tings and can sing along whenever we have them on.

(Sooooo we don't mean to offend anyone, but brad and i stumbled across this 3 mos photo of emma and couldn't help but laugh. Little did we know how prophetic this photo would be.... note what the bib says and the finger she's displaying on pup pup.... we're just sayin....)

So i tried to find Jude a doll for his 2 month photo he could grow with but apparently they don't sell big stuffed animals out here... so the pup pup tradition continues : ) now, which one's jude and which one's emma.... hmmm....

hanging out

first time i did buns in emma's hair, and she kept running to the mirror to look at her "balls"

she insisted on getting dressed up after nap time. it amazes us how well she can walk in heels

once again caught playing indiana jones with jude

playing with the wsu cougar

playing in emma's crib

how jude REALLY feels about his sister when she's not looking

Par-tay in emma's crib! HOLLA!!!

Our happy lil boy. we all just love him SO much! he has been such a good baby and tolerates emma sooo well... like when she purposefully screams to make him jump so she can have a good laugh...

our newest find in our storage unit

Apple, plum and pear picking last saturday! SO much fun!

So this is what happened shortly after we opened a letter from Gma Ashley in which she sent kung fu panda stickers. It's her favorite movie.

All in all we are really loving washington. We have made some friends with some wonderful people and truly feel at home here. We miss you family, come visit soon! : )

(Videos to follow)

The Emma-nator vs Judicus Maximus

2009-09-05T13:40:00.001-07:00

GASP!!!! Can it be?! Did i really just do two postings in under a month? ; ) i realized i haven't really posted many pics of Jude and figured some of you might be wondering how emma and jude are getting along. Truth be told... they hate each other... TOTALLY kidding. They actually love each other and do great. Emma can calm him down, even, when he's upset. She really is a good mommy. And as they get older i worry for anyone who dares to pick on emma's little brother/baby boy.

Jude LOVES bath time. It cracks Brad and i up cause he'd just happily float in the tub forever if we let him.

Emma's hair is getting long enough that i can braid it. It was funny cause this pic was the first time i'd braided it and emma kept running to the mirror to look and would happily point and exclaim, "Girl!" Glad she's starting to realize what she is.

I was rushing around getting things ready to head out the door when i came across emma and jude playing indiana jones.

Doesn't it look like their on a roller coaster?
P.S. Sorry Dee's mom, i know emma's not wearing her matching bottoms, i put pants on her cause it was cold : )

Our handsome little man. We all love him SOOOO much!

So here are some neighborhood friends Brad and emma discovered one night while playing outside. A "breeding pair" of great horned owls (according to Brad). They are HUGE and beautiful. We've been seeing and hearing them a lot lately, and we LOVE it!

So all in all, we are LOVING washington. We've already made friends with some really great people who have made the transition go a lot smoother than we'd anticipated and are so grateful for them. We miss all of our family and friends though and can't wait to see you all soon? Oh and if anyone has any connections to cheap housing in the Seattle area come January, give us a heads up : )

So i LOVE it when Brad puts emma down, because when HE does, emma will read with him. When i do it I have to do the reading. She's such a smart little girl, and she makes us so proud!

Playing major catch up...

2009-08-25T19:05:00.000-07:00

K, i know it's been awhile and Jude is almost 2 mos, but please cut me some slack, we've been just a tad bit busy the past few months. Some have been asking for the delivery story, so i'm gonna try and be quick 'cause i need to get to bed.

So I was supposed to wait for a call from the hospital who would call me between 6:30 and 9 am. My Dr. said if they hadn't called me by 9 to give the hospital a call. So time keeps ticking and we decided to go for a walk, and while on the walk 9 comes and goes, so at 9:30 i call the hospital and they say they're super busy so just go eat something and they'll call me sometime that day. So slightly disappointed we decide to take emma to the park. MAYBE 5 minutes had gone by when my phone starts ringing. It's the hospital and they're ready for me. So we drop emma off at Dee's and head to the hospital. By 11:17 i'm finally hooked up to the pitocin, and the contractions start (the not painful kind). Oh and i was already dilated to about a 3.5 and 80% effaced when i got there. So an hour passes, and i'm like a 4 and the nurse says my dr's gonna come soon to break my water. SOOOO i decide since the contractions are getting stronger i'd get the epidural before they broke my water. Even though i knew what it was like getting an epidural i was still scared for some reason. And of course right before they get there to give me it, brad had to go home to put emma down for a nap. But it all went well and the epidural was AWESOME. So by like 2 they come to check me, and i'm at a 9 and ready to have a baby!!! i was in shock. i thought they were joking. I'd totally planned on it taking awhile to pop the sucker out. The whole time i'm in labor i was texting family play-by-plays, all chipper and happy. And then in 3 or so pushes (less than a minute) he was out. I think the first thing i said to the Dr was, "Did i seriously just have a baby?" i can't believe how night-and-day this labor and delivery was from emma's. I really felt so blessed because i'd been praying that the Lord would help me out because i had SO much to do after Jude was born. The Lord has truly been mindful of our family in blessing me with such a speedy recovery so i could get things ready for this move.

That being said, we are now in Pullman, WA home of the annual Lentil Festival (which we sadly missed...no really, we were bummed we missed it). It really is beautiful here, and we're gradually getting settled in. There are lots of little kids in our complex and it was seriously 2 weeks before we saw any other white kid. Emma's made friends with kids from Egypt, Pakistan, Lybia, Japan, Africa (we're not sure which country yet) and have no doubt she'll meet other cultures. it really is going to be an amazing and cultural experience living here. We miss our family dearly, but we're excited to see what the future holds. We're still trying to get settled but i thought i'd take a quick break and give an update. We love you all and want to thank you for all you've done to support our family. we truly feel richly blessed with the amazing family and friends we have!

This was in June, so i was 8 mos right?

Rheanna wanted to take some pics of Emma and Elliott so she could make a present for father's day. Emma just loves elliott so much she just wants to SQUEEZE him all the time :)

Emma taking advantage of her soon to be little bro's bassinet...except she thinks the undercarriage is the bed...hey, could this work as a bunk bed dealio? cause that would save me A LOT of money...

Heading up to see uncle daniel who just got back from his mission to spain in june. i was still pregnant with emma when he left so we were really excited to see him!

On a family vacation with the Newbold's in the mountains. Emma wanted to go swimming in the pond, but it was cold and rainingish, and i don't think she could have even if it wasn't.

Happy Fourth of July! Posing with Grandma

Excited and anxious to get the show on the road

What daddy did while waiting. (We'd gone almost a full year without tv.)

I'm pretty sure this was taken right after i had Jude, but this is pretty much how i was the whole time. It was AWESOME

Jude getting his tags

Just after his hospital sponge bath

"You, me, staring contest, NOW.....you win...you always do..."

Emma gives being a big sister a thumbs up!

Passed out eating for the first time. See video at end of blog

Jude's first bath. My child fake-bakes

Shout out to dee's mom! Thanks for the pj's :) And look it's ALL matching! ;)

My little man is already trying to pretend he's a super hero

Emma is obsessed with putting on everyone's shoes now and even sometimes insists on wearing some of my clothes. She's actually scary good at walking in heels, and she's not even 2!

One of our last outings with Josh :( We miss you guys!!!!

These next few photos are just little candid moments i was able to catch after Jude's blessing. This one is with grandpa and great grandpa Newbold

great grandma and grandpa Newbold

Great grandpa Newbold

Aren't they cute?

everyone who helped with the blessing :)

The grand-daddy's

The fam

Smiling with a proud papa

fish face kisses :)

Great grandma Newbold

Singing and jamming on Rock Band

we were all busy unpacking while emma watched tv and i found she'd passed out. Poor kid was so tired from lack of sleep during the move

Saying good bye to grandma and grandpa ashley who were absolutely AMAZING in helping us pack, clean, and move. i KNOW we couldn't have done it without them. We love you mom and dad! thanks for everything!!!

Emma playing indiana jones... if indiana jones wore hot pink ghetto shoes

this was a week after jude had come home and emma was having the time of her life playing with aunt katie that morning. Mind you emma rarely falls asleep anywhere other than her crib, so i was SUPER excited when i noticed she was doing the head bob at lunch.

So this is emma singing along to a song her uncle daniel gave her. i thought he might be proud ;)

Back by popular demand

2009-06-04T13:09:00.000-07:00

So just for the record, i'm missing MY nap time to do this post...i hope you're happy all you demanding people who are obsessed with my child! ;) you know who you are... I really have been just too tired to do anything when i have time to do things. I'll blame it on my unborn child. Anywho, we're all doing good and the dr is probably going to induce me on July 9th so that Brad will for sure be home and everyone who's going to help me can organize their schedule's (Brad's probably heading back out on his dig as soon as i get home from the hospital). Any ways here's some pics and video for your enjoyment!

Emma decided she wanted to try out izzy's kennel

my cute girl

sporting some new sunglasses at the park

getting up close and personal with a horse for the first time. She was excited but didn't want to get too close.

So Emma like NEVER falls asleep in the car so it was fun to catch her while i could

eating lunch with aunt katie...or i should say stealing aunt katie's lunch because emma didn't want her own.

This slide was HUGE and emma was a champ and took the plunge!

Rhea took us to the park this day and they were both trying to climb up the slide when emma slid through her legs. Can i just say i have the best sister EVER.

Playing at the temple

So for those of you who don't know Emma by a freak accident chipped her front left tooth over memorial day down to the nerve. After we were FINALLY able to get her in to see a dentist 2 days later the dr decided it had been exposed too long and she needed to have surgery asap to have the tooth removed. So she was put on amoxacillin (sp?) till surgery to prevent and kill any existing infection. She did awesome although separation was somewhat traumatic for all parties involved. She's been SUPER clingy ever since but so far everything looks good. She's our toothless little hill billy now:)

Finally getting to play with josh:) prince charming is always trying to put her shoes back on

SO we're finally at the "MINE" stage of toddler hood. This was probably Emma and Josh's first real fight over something. So before intervening i of course had to take a picture;)

Playing in Josh's bed, a favorite

Pool Time!

So this is from today. I'd given Emma some plain spaghetti noodles and went into the kitchen to grab something when i returned i found her sharing with Elliott.

So here's Emma doing silly faces. She also surprised us while we were at Mom and Dad's when Dad sat down and held up fingers for her to count. No joke she almost did it perfectly from 1-10. Brad and I were totally floored. We count with her and read number books but never had we held up fingers for her to count on her own. Every day she amazes us with how smart she is.

So i caught this after she had been saying Snoopy really funny but at the end it's pretty good.

So i FINALLY was able to catch Emma singing on camera. She often likes to make up her own songs and it's so fun to watch. She loves singing!

This is from forever ago but i only just found it. Neither Brad or i remember this but we had a chuckle watching it.

Getting around to it...

2009-05-06T15:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's taken a bit, illness hit our home once again and emma and i were out of commission more or less and Brad was no where to be found while finishing his thesis...which he passed:). So here's a blip of what's been going on.

Playing in momma's boots

Little kodak moment i caught while i was getting bath time ready. Emma loves to read my old parenting magazines cause it's full of pictures of baby's.

This is why i hadn't updated...

Chillaxin before church.

7 mos preggers

So to commemorate summer Brad's doing the buzzed look again. Although he tried to seduce me with the bozo the clown perv look...it almost worked...those sexy pouty lips...

Cheese! BFF

So the following videos are from a ways back. Emma decided to bust out a performance when Grandpa and Melissa stopped by. Hope it doesn't make you too dizzy, but grandma has been demanding in her needs of pics and video. Hope this satisfies you for the time being;)

Spring? Well, almost

2009-03-21T15:38:00.000-07:00

So alas Emma still can't get enough of Elliott and insisted on sitting on brad's lap while he was holding him. She LOVES taking care of Elliott. It's pretty cute. And can i just say look at those cheeks on Elliott!!! LOVE IT!!

So Emma's been dying to wear her sandals that we got and it was finally warm enough to let her (key word "was") but i also tried to get her hair in a pony tail and to see if she could stand a head band. The head band didn't work, but her hair is getting SO long!

Another Potty moment on St. Patty's Day. She was asking to go and then recently hasn't wanted to. I'm not going to force it on her but it's fun when she does.

Enjoying the day with josh. Except their Frisbee got stuck in the tree. Emma tried to get it down but to no avail. It's so fun watching these two grow and learn and take things on. Especially when Josh decided he wanted to eat dirt...Dee LOVED that;)

Visiting with aunt Rhea and St. Patty's Day

Being a silly monkey and going "night-night"

On a walk with the BFF

She insisted on holding hands.

Josh's Daddy was nice enough to give the tots a ride on his bike. Emma LOVED it and looks distressed because the ride was over.

Playing at the park. I love this cause i told her to smile and this is what i got:) Oh and BIG shout out to Ashley and Parker who seem to keep my child in style. They recently sent us these ADORABLE dresses and Emma immediately wanted to wear them. Thank you SOOO much, love you guys!

This is a special message for our friend Parker! We love you!!!

That which we hold dear...

2009-03-14T20:19:00.000-07:00

The following video and later statement is a message from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints about the sacredness of the temple in our faith. The video is about 3 min and offers insights from members of other faiths as well as our own about temple worship. I would just like to add my personal testimony that i know that temples are sacred houses of the Lord. How grateful i have been to be able to go there and meditate and feel the spirit of the Lord. I know he loves all his children, and i know he has established his gospel on the earth for our greater happiness. He is truly a loving Father who watches over and cares for us all. He is no respecter of persons, but like any loving parent, has established commandments or rules for our protection and happiness. I love his gospel and his son Jesus Christ. How grateful i am for his atoning sacrifice and the peace and comfort it has brought into my life. I am not ashamed of the gospel and its teachings and promise greater joy and happiness to those who will seek to learn more of Him and His plan for us. I love you all and hope you can take a few minutes to watch this video. Thanks!

SALT LAKE CITY 9 March 2009 Like other large faith groups, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sometimes finds itself on the receiving end of attention from Hollywood or Broadway, television series or books, and the news media. Sometimes depictions of the Church and its people are quite accurate. Sometimes the images are false or play to stereotypes. Occasionally, they are in appallingly bad taste.

As Catholics, Jews and Muslims have known for centuries, such attention is inevitable once an institution or faith group reaches a size or prominence sufficient to attract notice. Yet Latter-day Saints – sometimes known as Mormons - still wonder whether and how they should respond when news or entertainment media insensitively trivialize or misrepresent sacred beliefs or practices.

Church members are about to face that question again. Before the first season of the HBO series Big Love aired more than two years ago, the show’s creators and HBO executives assured the Church that the series wouldn’t be about Mormons. However, Internet references to Big Love indicate that more and more Mormon themes are now being woven into the show and that the characters are often unsympathetic figures who come across as narrow and self-righteous. And according to TV Guide, it now seems the show’s writers are to depict what they understand to be sacred temple ceremonies.

Certainly Church members are offended when their most sacred practices are misrepresented or presented without context or understanding. Last week some Church members began e-mail chains calling for cancellations of subscriptions to AOL, which, like HBO, is owned by Time Warner. Certainly such a boycott by hundreds of thousands of computer-savvy Latter-day Saints could have an economic impact on the company. Individual Latter-day Saints have the right to take such actions if they choose.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as an institution does not call for boycotts. Such a step would simply generate the kind of controversy that the media loves and in the end would increase audiences for the series. As Elder M. Russell Ballard and Elder Robert D. Hales of the Council of the Twelve Apostles have both said recently, when expressing themselves in the public arena, Latter-day Saints should conduct themselves with dignity and thoughtfulness.

Not only is this the model that Jesus Christ taught and demonstrated in his own life, but it also reflects the reality of the strength and maturity of Church members today. As someone recently said, “This isn’t 1830, and there aren’t just six of us anymore.” In other words, with a global membership of thirteen and a half million there is no need to feel defensive when the Church is moving forward so rapidly. The Church’s strength is in its faithful members in 170-plus countries, and there is no evidence that extreme misrepresentations in the media that appeal only to a narrow audience have any long-term negative effect on the Church.

Examples:

During the Mitt Romney election campaign for the presidency of the United States, commentator Lawrence O’Donnell hurled abuse at the Church in a television moment that became known among many Church members as “the O’Donnell rant.” Today, his statements are remembered only as a testament to intolerance and ignorance. They had no effect on the Church that can be measured.
When the comedy writers for South Park produced a gross portrayal of Church history, individual Church members no doubt felt uncomfortable. But once again it inflicted no perceptible or lasting damage to a church that is growing by at least a quarter of a million new members every year.
When an independent film company produced a grossly distorted version of the Mountain Meadows Massacre two years ago, the Church ignored it. Perhaps partly as a result of that refusal to engender the controversy that the producers hoped for, the movie flopped at the box office and lost millions.
In recent months, some gay activists have barraged the media with accusations about “hateful” attitudes of Latter-day Saints in supporting Proposition 8 in California, which maintained the traditional definition of marriage. They even organized a protest march around the Salt Lake Temple. Again, the Church has refused to be goaded into a Mormons versus gays battle and has simply stated its position in tones that are reasonable and respectful. Meanwhile, missionary work and Church members in California remain as robust and vibrant as ever, and support for the Church has come from many unexpected quarters — including some former critics and other churches.

Now comes another series of Big Love, and despite earlier assurances from HBO it once again blurs the distinctions between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the show’s fictional non-Mormon characters and their practices. Such things say much more about the insensitivities of writers, producers and TV executives than they say about Latter-day Saints.

If the Church allowed critics and opponents to choose the ground on which its battles are fought, it would risk being distracted from the focus and mission it has pursued successfully for nearly 180 years. Instead, the Church itself will determine its own course as it continues to preach the restored gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world.
http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/the-publicity-dilemma

Visits and a taste of what's to come...

2009-03-11T08:55:00.000-07:00

Aunt Katie came and visited us last fri and sat and we LOVED having her to play with:)

So Sara is back at work now and we get to watch Elliott a couple days a week. Yesterday was our first day and we had lots of fun. It's definitely given me a taste of what it's going to be like...a little crazy, but i'm still excited. Here's Emma enjoying his car seat. One of the rare moments in which she isn't all over Elliott.

Tickling his feet:)

So this is from last week when Emma was sick and doped up on meds before bed time. Thus the extreme giggles. This sound is music to my ears and i'm glad i was able to catch it. (Daddy was being silly and throwing a Kleenex up and catching it. Emma thought that it was hilarious)

Blueberries and Pumpkins

2009-03-05T11:55:00.000-08:00

Can i just say i've been doing pretty good at keeping up with the blog lately? Well this past week's been a little rough. Emma came down with a nasty cold on Saturday and then Monday we found out that Josh (emma's best friend) was being admitted to the hospital for RSV. Needless to say we've been holding our breath that Emma's was just a cold and not RSV. So officially today she is RSV free and just has a bad cold. Josh finally got out of the hospital yesterday and is doing good. Poor little guy had to get his nose and lungs suctioned out ever 3-4 hours and was on oxygen:( We miss the little guy.

So I gave emma blueberries the other day and then she kept asking for more "booby." I was cracking up and ran to get the camera. So on this video she only says it once at the very beginning and then starts calling them "boboos." It was just one of those funny moments. She's a great talker and will try and say anything you ask her, so it's fun

So this is from last night, she got out her Halloween pumpkin and was walking around with it on her foot. We sure love our little emma:)

Numa Numa & Sunny Days

2009-03-02T13:38:00.000-08:00

So for those of you who don't know, Numa Numa (that's not the actual name i don't remember what is) is some European club song that is really silly. By accident i came across a yo gabba gabba episode with elijah wood in which someone had dubbed this song over so it looks like elijah and co are dancing to this song. Anywho, Emma LOVES it and LOVES dancing to it. Here brad was watching the actual music video and laughing at emma dancing to it.

So the weather has been fairly spring like these past couple of weeks and we've been trying to get out as much as possible. Last week we made it to the park with Josh and had some fun!

Feeling the love:)

So my dad told me i should post this. It's basically Rheanna getting a kick out of annoying emma. I was trying to write a recipe for Rhea and so she was playing keep the camera away from emma.

little videos

2009-02-28T07:45:00.000-08:00

Jett pulling Emma

These are emma's first time on a sled. She got more comfortable the longer she sled.

Who's really having the most fun in this video?

Boy oh boy!

2009-02-26T20:47:00.000-08:00

So it's official, we will soon have a little man joining the clan and we couldn't be happier! As rough and tough as Emma is, she will be more than suitable as a "big brother" role model and yet her desire for girly clothes and things may lead this little man into embarrassing "drag" photos for later years. Either way it'll be a fun adventure! Feel free to give us ideas for boy names:)

"hi mom!"

"I'm trapped in a nutshell, how did i get in a nutshell?"

"hi-yah!"

We're starting early at embarrassing this one:)

his back

"This is my good side" ;)

coming July 16th:)

Playing Catch Up:)

2009-02-23T07:37:00.001-08:00

Ok so i know its been awhile. In part the delay has been a computer memory overload preventing me from uploading pics. Morning sickness and just plain sickness (hey i know i shouldn't complain this pregnancy is LOADS better than the last). And yeah we've been busy too. So here's the catch up and i'll try and load some videos later on in the week.

We had just gotten pics taken with santa and Emma decided to hit up the jewelry store.

Ok so it was like the first REAL big snow and i didn't have ANY real snow gear for emmers so here's me improvising. I know, ghetto fabulous right? (first layer)

Second Layer (those are my socks over her shoes (which are also covered in plastic bags)...poor peoples version of boots:)

Grandma and Grandpa come to the rescue and get a snow suit...boots followed a couple days later :)

Santa (aka uncle gordan)

Aunt Katie brought back a belly dancer hat from egypt for emma for christmas...she's still trying to figure it out

So i was bored and went a little crazy with the hair...

Playing with her favorite uncle...seriously she's always been obsessed with nick

Emma's first bubble bath...don't think she knew what to make of it, but daddy sure had fun:)

I had been cleaning and emma was playing with the duster when daddy decided it would be fun for emma to joust on her horse with it. As soon as the camera came out she decided she was done, wish i got better pics:(

Sam thanks for the dress, emma really does love it!

So i was doing laundry one day and daddy thought he'd have some fun with emma...

needless to say she LOVES being in the bag. Strange child i wonder where she gets it from?

Teaching emma the true way to eat olives

Every now and then i find her playing in daddy's shoes

Emma decided her swimming diapers were really hats. Here she's posing with her cute girl face, she came up with it all on her own. She can be quite the charmer. Just last week she got the old man behind us at church to give her (AND let her keep) his watch. I tried to give it back but he wouldn't hear of it, it was hers now...sigh...watch out little boys of the world...

This is Emma and her best friend Josh on Valentine's Day. He brought a valentine (the red card on the floor at their feet) and cookies to celebrate. It's fun cause usually when they first see each other they hug and kiss.

Bath time with daddy:)

Caught in the act! She's taking after her dad and digging for treasure! hahahaha...cough....ha...

The past few days have warmed up so i've been trying to get out with emma. In the back you can see the remnents of the snow man we'd built a few days earlier...now emma takes to cannibalizing him.

I often find emma hiding behind the rocker and changing table quietly reading a book. She loves to read:)

Ok so this is more for my mom. Here's 3 mos preggers

and 5 mos. We find out wed what we're having:) Post to come

As for Brad he is hard at work trying to finish his thesis in time for defending it on march 5th. And for those of you who don't know, we'll be heading to Washington State University in aug for Brad to get his PhD. It's kind of weird. We'll be heading to the same school my Dad got his PhD at and likely living in the same housing. Plus we moved there 6 weeks after i was born (July 1st) and our baby is due July 16th. What are the odds of that happening? We're looking forward to the adventure of it all!

Preggers song

2009-01-23T14:29:00.000-08:00

So this is Kimya Dawson from The Moldy Peaches, they did most of the soundtrack for juno. Anywho i came across this song and thought it'd be a fun post. Sorry i haven't been posting. Lots of excuses none very good but hopefully we'll improve:)

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-26T15:49:00.001-08:00

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

Merry Christmas!

(yes, it was planned...)

Lil stinker

2008-12-05T12:32:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-25T20:00:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-18T19:22:00.000-08:00

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....

2008-11-07T13:34:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-03T10:09:00.000-08:00

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

2008-10-27T13:23:00.000-07:00

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)

value="http://www.hulu.com/embed/Ehx5rv4H2X8P37EooR3hWQ/0">

Brad's Talk

2008-10-26T20:02:00.000-07:00

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.

2008-10-21T18:43:00.001-07:00

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

2008-09-24T13:50:00.001-07:00

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!

2008-09-16T09:28:00.000-07:00

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.

Happy Birthday Emma!!!

2008-09-09T09:52:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMERS! I can hardly believe it's been a year! We love this little monkey so much and wouldn't trade her for anything! She is such a joy to have around and LOVES making new friends. She enjoys reading, eating green beans, being outside, chasing dogs, being chased, making messes, giving hugs and never stays in one spot for very long. She's proved to be quite a smart little booger and is quite determined and stubborn. She is so fun to be with and we love her SOOOO much! WE LOVE YOU EMMA!!!!

September Couple hours

Sept a couple of min

Oct 1 month

Nov 2 months

Dec 3 Months

Jan 4 months

Feb 5 months

Mar 6 Months

April 7 Months

May 8 months

June 9 Months

July 10 Months

August 11 Months

Augustus Gloop

2008-09-01T20:12:00.000-07:00

Apologies once again for the neglect. We had some more technical difficulties with the internet, visits from family, really good books from the library, and then some lame excuses about not having time. All in all it's been quite a busy and fun summer, and I'm sad to see it coming to a close... except for the fact that I finally have my husband back for more than just the weekends. I know there's a lot of photos, but that's what blogs are for, right?

So these first three photos somehow got lost and should have been put in during a July blog entry before Rhea's wedding. Anywho, my best friend Kimmie was out visiting her mom and dad who are serving a mission up in Salt Lake, and so we finally got to meet her beautiful little boy Lincoln who's a couple months younger than Emma. It was so much fun getting to play together. We miss you guys and wish you'd move out here already! ;)

Baby kisses!

Beating yet another child into submission...

Chillaxin...

Happy 11 months Emmers! She now likes to carry this stuffed animal (it's a dog) around with her wherever she goes.

I seriously only had my back turned for 2 seconds

So my mom came to visit for a week on her way out to CA and brought her dog Sammy with her for the trip. Emma was in heaven having Sammy around. If any of you haven't caught on by now, Emma LOVES dogs no matter their size and has NO fear of them. Although Sammy hasn't really been around babies, she did GREAT with Emma and put up with all her poking and proding and squealing. It was funny 'cause Sammy would quite willingly go behind the child gates to escape the Emma-nator.

Teaching the dog her place in the house. Note the look of submission and a broken spirit in Sammy's eyes.

Giving Sammy a rub down before the long trip to CA

Smile for the camera Sammy!

I know this is terrible but i can't help but laugh EVERY time I see this picture. I know, I know, I'm a terrible mother. Oh well. She really was only throwing a tantrum cause she wanted the camera so this is really only a fake cry, but I captured the moment beautifully don't you think?

This is Rheanna's old roomate Lawanna who is amazing with Emma! We went to visit with her and were reminded of how much we love and miss her!

Playing with Lawanna's bean bag!

Taking advantage of the beautiful weather! Winter's gonna be here soon, so I'm trying to be out and about as much as possible with her before the hibernation begins.

Brad was trying to fix Emma's closet door and Emma decided she wanted to help and so she climbed up the ladder.

Trying to be like Daddy. Now that we live so close to Brad's work we usually walk him to and from work. Emma loves going to Brad's office cause he'll let her play on his computer. However when it's time to go the screaming and tantrums begin, and the building is so old it just echo's like an old cathedral and everyone feels the wrath of Emma.

She was hugging him real tight before she saw the camera. She's quite the cuddler

So I love this photo cause Emma will do this ALL the time, especially if she's up to no good. She'll look at you through the corner of her eye or even straight on and walk to wherever she's not supposed to be going or whatever she's not supposed to be doing.

So this wiffle ball appeared out of nowhere one day on our lawn, and Emma has become quite fond of it. Brad and I were trying to teach her how to throw it, and she was laughing until Brad pulled out the camera, then she threw a tantrum 'cause she only wanted the camera. It's getting harder to take fun candid pics of her.

I FINALLY got my date night... like for real date night since... I don't even know when... maybe even pre-Emma. Needless to say I was pretty excited all week long. We ended up hiking the "Y" and then ate some french cheeses and baguettes and drank cranberry juice. It was fun to get out although it REALLY made me realize how out of shape I am.

Pigtails and Pianos

2008-08-08T14:23:00.001-07:00

So i'm trying to do better about keeping up with this, but Emma is running around like crazy (literally) and keeping me on my toes. So we've had a fun week and i wish i had taken more pics. We got to hang out with both sides of the family and had a lot of fun doing it.

Warning: The pics are in reverse order. I wasn't paying attention till the last photo. Oh well...

Playing a duet with Grandma

The next Mozart! Emma and i went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Newbold and family for a few days this week. Emma discovered her new love, pianos!

squinty smile!

So i came down with some flu bug friday night and was out of commission for the weekend. Luckily Brad comes home friday nights and was able to watch Emma while i recovered. Well after bath one night Brad was in the kitchen cleaning up after bath time and i was out resting on the couch and all of a sudden Brad's like, " Emma NO NO NO!" (that's usually my line) and comes running out of the kitchen. Emma had opened her tub of eczema lotion and was eating it. Luckily i thought quick enough to take a pic before he cleaned her up.

We got to hang out with Enola and Jett last friday cause Don and April went on a motorcycle trip. A funny little incident happened while we were there, as many of you may know, Emma is in love with dogs no matter what their size is. Well, i had to go to the bathroom and asked Enola if she could keep an eye on Emma for me. Well i come out and Emma is no where to be seen (she's a quick little monkey, even more so now that she's walking). I run to the bottom of the stairs with Enola and she's already climbing on up. When i grab her i notice she's got something in her mouth, as i scoop it out what should i find? Dog food. Yep, she loves dogs so much she's trying to become one. What i don't get is she won't eat any food i offer her, but she'll eat dog food. Yuck!

My first shot at pigtails. I just laughed and laughed! She looks like a little martian, it was cute though!

Growing up FAST

2008-07-30T14:19:00.000-07:00

Sorry folks that it's been forever since we've posted. As always life has been a bit crazy. First we moved and that in and of itself is crazy, but add a baby and a new apartment that wasn't really clean and had plumbing (our tub drain was clogged and the plumber said he found what looked like underwear down it as well as things i didn't want to know about...) and internet problems and that makes life all the more fun and interesting. SO we're still getting settled in and only just got the internet issues semi resolved. Then we had Rheanna's wedding and Brad off on another dig and playing lots with a new friend in our new neighborhood and then once emma's down for the night i try (when i can) to get more things cleaned and organized in our new place. It's a slow process. Anywho, now you'll understand why there's so many pics to post.

SO this is the morning of the 4th of July. Emma and i went to a parade and she loved the horse's and then when we got home decided to have a party with the Kleenex box.

Then we went to Don and April's for a BBQ and birthday fun. Enola is a great help and loves playing with Emma

I don't know if this cat is Gretta or crackhead, but she's such a sweet cat and wasn't even bothered by Emma

April at work. These onions were SO good!! She sauteed them in a little balsamic vinegar and we get snacking on them so there wasn't a ton when the burgers were actually done. yummy!

Emma and her now ex-boyfriend...she took it better than i thought she would;)

Don hard at work

I LOVE THIS PIC! Brad was a good sport and played ball with Jett. I made him get close to Jett so i could take the picture close up...as you can tell he wasn't too keen on the idea.

Playing with aunt Rhea

Attacking yet another innocent child.

The kids and co. throwing fireworks at Jacob's bum

Rheanna's BEAUTIFUL birthday cake for me, sara, and America. It was SOOO yummy!

Helping dad get ready for the big moving day!

I had been cleaning the old apartment and then brought some more stuff back and it was near Emma's nap time. I didn't want her getting in to things so i put her in her jumper while i put things away and she fell asleep jumping. I have a great video of it on the video camera but alas i don't know how to put it on the computer.

So randomly one morning (i think cause it was a new environment) Emma wakes up at 5:30am with no intention of going back to sleep so i half awake drag myself out of bed and end up nursing her for 45 min to get her to go back to sleep and then pulled her into bed with me so as to not wake her up.

KIMMIE WAS HERE!!! Kim is one of my best friends and she had lincoln a couple months after i had emma. They were out visiting and she cut my hair for me. I LOVE IT!!!! And i love kim (Wish you were closer!!!)

We celebrated Rhea's birthday and because i didn't have and b-day candles kim and i thought it would be funny to use one of my big candles.

Somehow Emma got her head stuck in the strap of the diaper bag. Brad and i were cracking up but she was none too pleased.

Finally the day of Rhea's and Doug's wedding arrived. What my friends doesn't belong in the picture above?...CHRIS!!! He's up top farthest to the left in case you missed it. He thought it would be funny to jump in a picture of another family who was getting married that day. You'll go down in history Chris.

The BEAUTIFUL couple! They really are perfect together.

Ben, Leigh and Tristan were able to come down for the wedding. I FINALLY got to meet my first nephew!! Isn't he beautiful?! It was so good to seen Ben and Leigh, WE MISS YOU GUYS!!!

Playing in the tree's with dada

Group photo!

Didn't have time to bathe Emma so i threw her in the shower for the first time with Brad. Don't you love his farmers tan from his digs...i wonder if he'll be bothered that i'm posting this...

Emma LOVES the camera

First encounter with a sheep

Happy 10 Months Emmers!

So Dee and her little boy Joshua are our new buddies. Dee is Katie's (Brad's sister) best friend and we just happen to live down the street from each other now (coincidence? i think not). Joshua was born like 3 days earlier then Emma so we have fun playing just about every day now. So we decided to take the kids to Botany Pond to see the new baby ducks on Pioneer Day. Aunt Katie came down later and we went to a little festival and then went swimming. I meant to get pics but forgot:( it was Emma's first time in a big swimming pool too!

Babies and momma duck

Josh and Emma at times were more interested in breakfast then the ducks we came to see. It was so funny cause at times the ducks would get to close for our liking to our babies, and so Dee would chase them. It was awesome, if i was quicker i would have gotten it on video

So i don't know what it is but emma is so aggressive with other babies. Poor josh is a tough guy and doesn't really complain but emma is always tackling him!

It was funny because Emma's walking but Josh is still learning so Emma gets frustrated (as you can see in her face) and she would strain and try pulling him up to stand it was SO funny! I'll try posting a video of it later.

Emma is obsessed with computers. Dad was trying to get stuff done on his laptop but Emma gave him no rest.

Try as she may she never did get the computer, Grandpa is just too quick

So this had been a particularly rough day and i was in the kitchen trying to clean up stuff before bath time and feeling a bit down about things. Normally Emma would be yelling at me behind the child gate to come pick her up, but i was so caught up in my thoughts i didn't notice till i saw something run past the door out of the corner of my eye. When i walked over to investigate this is what i saw. I quickly grabbed the camera and started recording my little monkey. Needless to say, it helped end the day on a good note. One reason i'm grateful to be a mom;)

Story Time

2008-06-26T19:29:00.000-07:00

The final pic of the mustache...i'm speechless...

So, as i told you in the last blog i had an interesting flight home. For those of you who don't know i was PRETTY nervous about flying with Emma. I was worried about how she would handle things and if i would be next to baby haters etc. Yeah, i know i'm so optimistic (i'm working on it people). So the flight out was great. Emma did great, the people were great and we made all in one piece. Well the flight home i was a little more comfortable since Emma had done so good on the way out, but i was nervous cause it was a packed flight which meant emma would be on my lap the whole time. Well we get to the airport and i feed her before we board and as i'm waiting in line with a TON of other parents and their young babies and children there's a woman at the gate desk looking posh and none too pleased. I didn't really pay much attention too her cause i was about to board. Well i get back to my seat and am trying to get situated with my bags (mind you i'm on the side of the plane with 2 seats) when i look up and posh girl is coming at me still looking irritated and says, "Um are you sure you're in the right spot?" and i reply with a smile, "yes." Then looking at Emma she says, "Isn't she suppose to have her own seat?" By then i'm getting nervous and so i kind of laugh and explaining how she's sitting on my lap cause i didn't want to pay for another seat. I then asked if she was the number of the seat next to me and she was. What she said next made my stomach drop, "Well i just want you to know i don't do kids, i don't like kids and i don't have kids for a reason, so..." Like what do you say to that?! I half expected her to tell me to find another seat. I was so scared and caught off guard at how blunt she was that i nervously laughed and said, "Oh, well, i'm sorry. She's usually pretty good, i'll try my best to keep her quiet, ha ha ha (nervous forced grin)." Yeah how awkward is that!
All in all it ended up being a good flight and she actually turned out to be a nice girl and she even admitted that Emma was cute and had won her over, but man alive she scared me at first! So yeah that was my interesting experience. Crazy huh?

So this was from a couple of weeks ago when emma officially began crawling.

Since we're moving Emma's been watching me do a lot of packing so i'm not sure if this is her trying to copy me, but its funny watching her chat away with daddy.

Home Sweet Home

2008-06-22T19:13:00.000-07:00

So we've been home now for almost a week. Brad got back the 10th and i got back the 11th (funny story about my trip that i'll share soon) and then we stayed with Mom and Dad Newbold till the 16th. It's nice to be home again although we're looking for a new place to live since this one has gotten to be too expensive due to greedy little real estate people...but i'm not here to vent about that;) Anywho, we got home to a massive pile of mail that i was only able to JUST finish getting through yesterday and in that pile of mail there was an anonymous letter from someone wishing me a happy mothers day and a money order check for a substantial amount of money. Now i don't know who sent it, but from the bottom of my heart i want to thank you for your INCREDIBLE kindness.
I am (and have been) truly humbled by the kindness and generosity people have shown us with the birth of Emma. SO many of you have sent things just when i was wondering what i would do because she REALLY was too big for the clothes she had. You have been constant reminders to me that Heavenly Father loves and cares for his children. You have been his hands, and for that i really do thank you. I don't know that you'll ever really know what angels you have been to us.
I'll try and post some updates soon on how things are going and of my interesting flight home. We love you all so much!!!!

So now that emma's more mobile it's a bit more difficult to take her monthly photos by myself. But it sure makes for a funny photo:)

Fun in the sun!

2008-06-06T07:57:00.001-07:00

So i can hardly believe its been about 6 weeks since we arrived in PA! It's been so fun and so nice to be here that it's bitter sweet knowing we're leaving in a few days time. Here are some pics from the last week or so of Emma and the good times.

She had just taken a bite of food when she sneezed and then promptly wiped the remnants all over her face. Obviously she thought this was great fun:)

Emma is all about the recycling of paper. I need to start a pile when i get home.

Emma, like most babies, loves phones. This was an old one mom and dad aren't using anymore and has thus become a toy for emma.

Grandma and Grandpa just got this cute little pool for Emma and since it's FINALLY warming up we went out for a dip in it yesterday. She had fun and was so cute! Luckily we can deflate it and bring it to UT with us for some more summer fun!

And i thought she had loaded diapers when i got her up in the morning!

All done:(

Brad's Adventure Part IV

2008-06-03T13:54:00.000-07:00

2 June 2008
Well, our final week in Petra is here, and it’s laid out like this…. Tue: final day of excavation, Wed: process artifacts and human bone analysis, Thu: field trip to Jebel Haroun and the Tomb of Aaron, Fri: Church, Sat: final processing and analysis, Sun: pack, Mon: travel to Amman , Tue: fly home.
The whole excavation has gone quite well, and we’ve gotten a lot done. We’ll be finishing up the last cist grave in my tomb tomorrow (which seems to be pretty well looted). My major task of the field school, aside from supervising the tomb excavation, has been training and supervising the students in human bone analysis. Each cist grave was dug by a pair of students who are then responsible for the complete analysis of the artifacts found in their cist, from bone (human and animal) to potsherds to beads. Most of the cists contained quite a bit of scattered and fragmented human bone (some near 1000), and so the learning curve for the students has been quite steep. There were probably only 3 or so out of the 24 who had any familiarity with human osteology, and so for each group I had to orient them on the whole process of dealing with and analyzing human skeletal remains (which got quite tedious and repetitive). But to their credit, almost all of the students have worked through the ordeal and become quite proficient at the whole thing (although I still wouldn’t use their data in any real publication or anything). ; )
In fact, it’s been a great training ground for me, as well. I’ve found it to be true with archaeology and other aspects of life, that the best way to learn something well is not only to do it and practice it, but to teach it to others. I definitely have had to be on my toes with all the questions and problems that I get bombarded with each day for hours on end regarding the bones specifically and the archaeological method in general. And after dealing with a few dozen whiny undergrads for the 3rd year in a row, it’s still what I want to do. I guess that’s a good thing.
Congrats again, Nate, on graduation. Nick, happy b-day, again. Hope everyone, especially Mom, is continuing to heal well and take it easy. I’ll either email or call regarding my flight home. We get in about 10:40pm on Tue the 10th.

Love you all—

BRAD

P.S.
Brad posted the following as a reply to a comment but in case you didn't see it here's the new GPS stuff:

"sorry about the coordinate mix-up. i was using a different system. ancient downtown petra is located at 30 19' 47"N 35 26' 24"E. we're working along the large canyon that runs northwest from that, and the bedouin town where we're living is just to the northwest as well."

Brad + Daisy, BFF

driving Miss Daisy (really her name), she was surprisingly easy to ride and control

Dushara block with Dionysius medallion, combining Nabataean and Greek religion

headless lion fountain, water would've run down the channel and out it's mouth

horned incense altar (think Solomon's temple)

resting at a shrine with a dam for a giant cistern

Scott, Holly, & assistant recording a niche

students waiting around before hike

The Soldier's Tomb, our monumental tomb is modeled after it

Brad's Adventure Part III

2008-05-27T07:04:00.000-07:00

Another week’s come and gone. Happy Memorial Day. We’ve only got about a week of excavation left, with a couple of days of processing artifacts, and then we’re on our way home. It seems, though, that many of the students are already there. Field school sure does weed out the true archaeologists from the hobbyists and others. From the past 6 field schools, only about 5 students out of the average 20-25 each year actually go on to grad school or some kind of employment in an archaeology-related field. The Jordan groups actually seem to be less, maybe 2 or so. The exoticness of Petra and the Middle East becomes the attractor, not the archaeology, so there will always be those who’d rather be tourists than archaeologists. I really don’t care, as long as the work gets done, and done fairly well. However, it still is a “school” with a fairly steep learning curve, so it takes some time to get going.
As for my tomb, we’ve got 4 cists left, and Scott (another crew supervisor) and I will probably have to dig 1 or 2 ourselves, which isn’t bad at all. It’ll probably take us a day and a half to do one compared to the 3-6 it takes the students. Nothing really spectacular has been coming out of the graves—possibly because the families were less wealthy or because of looting. We have found a small crescent bronze medallion (corroded green), lots of potsherds, decomposing fragments of wooden planks, and lots of almonds (for some reason). But I’m more interested in the bones, the analysis of which I’ll probably have to pick up the slack also.
By the way, for those who are interested, our sites are located along the northern slopes and “tributaries” of Wadi Mataha (wadi roughly means a wash or arroyo, the verb mataha means “to draw water from a well”). I don’t have the exact UTM coordinates for my site, but the sites are all pretty much located between 736000-737000 E and 3358600-3358700 N—so a strip about 1km E-W x 100m N-S. Umm Sayhoun (“Mother of Plates”), the Bedouin village, is on a large ridge just to the north of Wadi Mataha, and Wadi Musa, the tourist town, is in the head-valley of the next canyon to the south/southwest that leads down into Petra . I’ve seen some satellite images that clearly showed Umm Sayhoun, but I can’t remember if they were rendered from Google Earth or not. Hope that helps out some of you who were wondering.

Wadi Araba (the Great Rift Valley) that divides Jordan and Israel, just south of the Dead Sea

classic Nabatean deity niche with columns, platform, and blank block representing the deity Dhushara

melting soft sandsone typical of the area

monastery on Jebel Haroun (Mount of Aaron), the traditional tomb of Aaron

still some green in such a desolate area

The Great Temple, Petra

The Monastery, Petra (the largest construction in Petra)

wall foundation and platform floor in front of our monumental tomb

plaster fresco and missing gold medallion (all of Petra was white & gold)

reconstructed neolithic house at Beidha (they were short in 10,000bc)

shrine at Little Petra

water channel flowing over a deity niche giving the water supernatural powers

Learning to walk!!!!

2008-05-25T15:55:00.001-07:00

So i was messing around with Emma the other day and was trying to see if she would stand on her own when all of a sudden she takes 2-3 steps towards me. i was shocked! So yesterday Mom and i went to visit Paul and Anita and see the baby and she decided to perform again for the people. I thought many would want to see this (especially her daddy..we miss you!!!)

Charlotte is such a beautiful baby and SO tiny! I can't remember Emma being that tiny! Anywho, it was so fun getting to see them and aunt toni and uncle stephen. All in all it was a good day.

Toni and Charlotte (grandbaby #14!!!)

Thank you Aunt Toni for the cute little outfit! Look how tiny Charlotte is and how chunky emma is! They grow so fast!

Doesn't Anita look GREAT?! Seriously Anita i was/am envious. I wish i looked half as good as you do when i came home with Emma.

The beautiful little Charlotte!

The Adventures of Brad Part II

2008-05-19T12:00:00.000-07:00

19 May 2008

So, the work continues in Wadi Mataha (the canyon where we’re digging). The crew working in front of the monumental tomb is uncovering large cut-stone walls that are extremely straight and perpendicular along with a large doorway and interior platform area made of fitted sandstone slabs. They’re also finding broken ceramic sherds literally by the thousands, but that is to be expected with Nabatean sites. Another crew is starting up work at a small shrine of some kind. I’ll pass on more info when I figure out exactly what they’re doing there.
O ur crew is about halfway done with our 12-cist tomb. All of the cist graves, so far, have been filled with scattered bones of multiple individuals, from infants to the elderly. We found a fragment of an upper jaw in one cist that only had one only well-worn tooth left, as all the other incisors and premolars had fallen out and their sockets had grown over. Other than the skeletal remains, nothing too special has been coming out of the graves, though—only a few ceramic sherds here and there, the rocks that once covered the bones, and fragments of wood on which they were probably laid. However, there is one cist that has shown some exceptional preservation, where we’ve found a large textile fragment (probably a burial shroud) with blue dye, a small blue glassware vessel (probably from Egypt), wooden planks with remnants of wooden pegs, rope, and a large portion of a body that had its decomposition arrested. We lovingly call him Mr. Fleshy, and he and the dirt around him smells like death. For some reason he wasn’t allowed to completely deflesh and was buried with some soft tissue still attached to the bones.
Other than the work in the field, I’m kept plenty busy supervising the analysis of all the human remains we’ve uncovered so far. Every cist is excavated by a pair of students who are then responsible for the analysis of its artifacts. Some cists only have 100 bones, others over 1000, but all of them need to get analyzed here before we leave the country. Speaking of which, tomorrow we’re busing down to Ma’an, the district (state) capital to extend our 1-month visas. In the past we’ve been able to send our passports to the police station in Wadi Musa (the tourist town outside of Petra ), but since the US has required fingerprinting of foreigners, other countries have retaliated with the same. Apparently Ma’an isn’t a happy tourist town, either, so we’ll see how it goes.
PS--The good news for the week is that we've found a wireless internet signal on the roof of our house, so that has automatically become the new hangout. So much for going incognito in third-world countries. Oh, and I'm growing a mustache for fun. I'll keep you updated.

mustache after 2 weeks

The Adventures of Brad

2008-05-19T07:39:00.001-07:00

So for those of you who didn't know Brad is off on adventures with archeology in Jordan during the 6 weeks Emma and I are in PA. I thought I'd post pictures he's sent along with commentary from his emails. Hope you enjoy!

7 May 2008

Overview of large tombs

Large tomb facade and platform

Fox kits across from Brad's tomb

North cists in Brad's tomb

Outside of Brad's tomb

So, here’s my super-exciting trip so far. Things have been fun once we got to Petra, but getting here was slightly complicated. The flight over was way long. The food was no so bueno. The in flight entertainment was lacking. You had to pay $6 to watch a movie on the Delta flight and all the selections were R except for one kids’ movie, and on the Jordanian flight they had 2 movies that bombed at the box office, and I don’t even know what they were called. So I slept most of the way. 3 people lost luggage, which we finally picked up Mon, and customs confiscated our super-expensive surveying equipment, again which we finally got on Mon. The customs fiasco was basically a manager on a power-trip who said he needed a paper from “the Ministry” but didn’t even know what the paper was supposed to be or which ministry it was supposed to come from, and even though we’ve brought this equipment here a couple times before. Then getting the paper was the biggest bureaucratic goose chase and run-around I’ve ever seen and heard of. Luckily, I didn’t have to deal with the second half of it in Amman. Basically, everyone either didn’t answer, said to call someone else, contradicted themselves, or had no idea what was going on—or some combination of the above. We watched the Antiquities guy here in Petra on the phone for over 30 min with customs and Antiquities in Amman and not have a conversation for more than 2 min. Then, according to those who went to Amman to pick up the equipment, they had to visit with a dozen different people and get signatures from 2 dozen. Yes, some people had to sign it TWICE! In any case, were fine and good times were had by all. We’re staying in the same house that we were in 2005—a large 3-story cinder block house owned by an old friend of the project director. His family does the cooking, cleaning, and laundry for us, and we buy snacks and souvenirs from his son’s shop up the road. We’re in a little Bedouin village of a couple hundred or so with a couple of paved roads and plenty of dirt ones full of trash, donkeys, camels, dogs, goats, cats, their droppings, and tons of super-cute little dirty barefoot kids who know more English than I do Arabic. As for this year’s excavation, we’ve got two areas going right now and a third to open later. The other crews are working in front of a large tomb carved into the sandstone and are clearing off walls that surround a large entryway platform. My crew is excavating a small tomb with 12 cist-graves also cut into the sandstone. The cists are pretty messy, with looters, animals, and Bedouins paying visit through the millennia, but we’ve come down on a good layer of scattered human skeletal remains, rocks, and potsherds near the bottom of the first cist. So, I’ll be supervising the excavation of the tomb and the subsequent analysis of the human remains.

Love,

BRAD

12 May 2008

Bedouin village of Umm Sayhoun, our house is far left

In front of the Treasury

Main Street Petra- shops, temples and palaces on both sides (find the UFO in the sky!)

Overview of upper Petra tombs

The high-class BMW model (you'll probably need to blow up the picture to get what he's talking about. Look on the forehead of the donkey)

So work continues this week as usual. We’re still plugging along in the same first cist grave that we’ve been in. Things just slow to a crawl when you have to photograph and draw 200+ bones in place and take them out one-by-one. We’ve decided that we’ll experiment with this cist as to methods and practice—which are most efficient—so hopefully the next ones will only take 2-3 days instead of 5-7. I still need to get some photos of our work in progress. In this grave alone, we’re probably dealing with hundreds of bones from 5 or so different individuals—all secondary graves, where they let the body rot clean and then bury the bones or move them around as they need (like Joseph’s bones taken back to Canaan in Genesis). Another good thing is that there’s probably enough bones here for a possible dissertation project at my next school, so we’ll see. We toured Petra on Friday, and I’ve attached some photos. They’re pretty much the same ones I took back in 2005, but now that I’ve got a digital camera, I won’t have to ration them. I also got took some video, but they’re way too big to send on (I think I’d have to keep them to 5 sec clips in order to). It’s been somewhat of a different experience, though, now that I’ve been here before and am a bit more familiar with everything—people, work, culture, food, language, living arrangements, Petra, etc. Last time was quite a culture shock at first. Well, I hope everyone’s well and Mom’s recovering quickly.

Love

BRAD

Forgot one

2008-05-15T07:32:00.000-07:00

I forgot this one. This was only a few days after we got here. One night Emma was SUPER talkative and even though its a super old dictionary she's on, it looks like one of those really old family bibles and she appears to be preaching. i love that chubby baby!

Thank you Eddie!!!!!

2008-05-14T16:59:00.000-07:00

So i've always had to keep my video under a minute because anything larger under the blogger format isn't doable. But thanks to Eddie's post and a few trial and error run's i think i finally got it and now know how to upload You Tube stuff! Hizzah! SOOOO here's some video of Emma doing silly stuff during our time here. Hope you enjoy!

Here Emma is trying to bark back at the dog. She's her new pal.

Emma now likes pears but it took her a few tries. Note Grandpa's wheezy laugh in the background;)

So this is a funny thing Emma has been doing since we got here and it cracks us up EVERY time. She tenses her whole body and makes these "Oh no Mr. Bill!" type faces. It's great!

Back at home...well at grandmammy's and grandpappy's ;)

2008-05-11T17:15:00.000-07:00

So Emmers and i made it safely back to PA. The picture above is from months ago but i found it on our old camera that we don't really use since the new one (but i'm using it now cause brad took the good one with him) and thought it was a nice trip down memory lane. Anywho i don't have much time, but just wanted to post some pics for the family and give you a quick update. Still no knee crawling but Emma gets around just fine and as you will see gets into EVERYTHING. I love it though, and we're having fun. I'll try and post a blog for Brad who is on a dig in Jordan. He's emailed some pics so i'll try and get those up when i get a spare moment.

Bath time and a new robe!

Getting acquainted. Emma loves the dog (actually i'm finding she likes any dog, even if it's madly barking at her and would likely eat her if it got a chance)...from a distance or at least on her terms. The dog could care less about her except when she thinks she has food or when my mom is giving the baby attention. The cat doesn't want to be bothered and is quite vocal about emma leaving her alone, luckily emma doesn't care about her and only has eyes for the dog.

it's been so fun watching my dad interact with emma. she's always making him laugh. if you look closely at the picture dad's face is getting red from laughing at Emma who was riding his knee like it was a pony. For the those of you who know my father very well it has been most enjoyable watching him get red like a cherry as he does his wheezy laugh and wipes tears away from his eyes. i love you dad!

obviously they have become the best of friends

climbing on a napping grandma

she's obsessed with pulling paper out of the recycle basket. She's being distracted by it while i write this post

This one was just last night. She helped grandpa wash the dishes after dinner and got incredibly wet doing it. She has a measuring spoon she's holding and she would scoop water up and sip it out of the spoon. Doesn't she look like Ben in this photo?

Emma and i celebrating mothers day

Is this not the cutest sundress? Grandma picked it out and Grandpa the shoes.

*just a side note, i always have her arms and legs covered because if i don't her eczema flairs up and she gets rashes all over...just in case anyone was wondering;)

We love you all and miss our family and friends back in UT, but i'm sure we'll all be surprised how fast the weeks will fly by. xoxo

Shout-outs!

2008-04-19T10:04:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to do a post thanking people for being so kind and, really, being answers to our prayers. Babies definitely aren't cheap, and with Brad going to school full time and me being at home full time ;) money's a bit tight. So I just want to thank everyone for their love and support and thought I'd post some pics of the clothes you've gotten Emma.

Thanks Aimee, everyone at church loved her in this dress!

Ash, you're amazing... and parker too ;) Thanks for sharing your talents with us!

Rhea what more can I say than I love you.

There are many other outfits, etc. that either Emma's already outgrown or that we don't have pics of yet. So all you others who have donated to the Emma Fund, know that your contributions have been put to good use. Thanks again!

So we just took this today 'cause this is the first time Emma's seriously attempted crawling. I have no doubt by the time we get back from PA she'll be a pro.

Been awhile...

2008-04-08T14:11:00.000-07:00

So Brad noticed that it's been a while since i posted anything since my april fools joke. Sorry, things have been a little crazy. I have a post i want to do, but i need to get some pics for it so hopefully i'll do that soon. For those who are interested, Emma's definitely now reached the separation anxiety phase of babyhood. She is officially my leech...no really. Like she's been fussy the past couple of weeks when ever i walk away or am not laying/sitting right next to her on the floor, but now it's even worse. Before she was pretty chill about taking naps and going to bed. I read her a couple books, sing a song, put her in her crib and she puts herself to sleep. No problem. Well this week she FREAKS out every time it's nap time and i really can't put her down for too long. As much as i love the kid...it can be a bit overwhelming at times. Yes yes i know that i was (and still am) a leech...but really, was i this bad? Sigh, i suppose i should count my blessings, before i know it she may be a teenager that won't even let me hug her. As for Brad, he's plugging away to get his proposal finished HOPEFULLY by the end of the semester. His intermurals soccer team is doing great and they keep winning (he has a game tonight, wish him luck). Me...i'm learning a lot right now. And i just finished reading "The Hobbit" (the only novel we really had aside from "Bourne Identity" which didn't really interest me) and will begin reading "Goose Girl" by Shannon Hale and "Mere Christianity" by C.S. Lewis. Both were highly recommended by Katie who is kindly loaning them to me (thanks Kate's!). Anywho, hopefully i'll post again soon if leech baby lets me;)

So we were at the mall (getting Rheanna's wedding dress..YAY) and decided to window shop. Well we went into Children's Place (i think that's what it's called) and they had these awesome sunglasses. I had to put them on her, she didn't like them to much so i had to hold her hands while Rheanna took this picture with her phone. How about that major double chin action going on!

Calling my bluff

2008-04-02T08:55:00.000-07:00

yeah aimee called my bluff. Syd actually called my mom. No i'm not pregnant, it was just april fools and i thought it would be funny. But i honestly didn't think anyone would buy it. It was funny too cause i dyed the milk purple and Brad thought some bacteria had infested our milk. That made me laugh too. Oh you gotta love it!