Lauren the Grad!

Its official- I'm old! My baby sister graduated high school today. Not only did she get her High School Diploma, but she also graduated with her Associates Degree. Congratulations Lauren!

Oh- and this picture of the four of us? This is the first time my family has been together in over 2 years! It was a great day!

Memorial Day

We had a great Memorial Day! Justin was lucky enough to have the day off, so we were able to take it easy and enjoy our time together as a family. We decided to take advantage of the sunshine and go hiking! We found a great little hike up Logan canyon. It was high enough that there was still snow on the trail, and even though we found ourselves in knee deep snow at times, we had a great time!

As we were walking and Justin was pretending to be Bear Grylls, we found this tree. I couldn't resist taking a picture. There was a little plaque by this tree describing how it grew this way. It said that most of the tree must have died from snow or something, but one of the branches kept growing. This makes me the biggest nerd, but I find that completely amazing!

Sammy

Our "do nothing" Day

I have gotten to the point where I look forward to Sunday's more than almost any other day of the week. Its the one day that we get to hang out at home or with family and I don't have to feel bad about not cleaning and being lazy. I love that we are never rushed and we can just take it easy and play together. Our new tradition, as the weather gets warmer, is to take walks around our neighborhood. Sometimes we visit Justin's brother, his wife and their son (who is just three months younger than our Sammy) and other times we find ourselves walking along the Logan River Walk just a block down the street. Its great to get out!

I am amazed at how time has flown by recently. I guess time seems to pass us by a little bit faster when we are busy, but I can't believe my Sammy is almost eight months old. He is doing so many exciting things right now, and everyday he comes up with something new. I love being a mom and watching him grow and learn and take every single thing in. Some new things in the past little while:

Sammy loves the solid foods! His favorites are sweet potatos, peaches, avacado, green beans, and the occasional cracker

Sammy now weighs well over 20 lbs. He was 19.8 lbs at his 6 month appointment, and when he was sick a few weeks ago he was 20.5 lbs. That means time for a new carseat. Mom just needs to decided which one..
He rolls and rolls and rolls and rolls and rolls. He loves it!

Sammy has a tooth! We noticed it last Saturday. One of his front bottom teeth finally came in, and I think he is working on one up top too.

Besides a couple nights when he was sick, he is now sleeping through the night. It is great!

Have you seen the hair? Its just like Justin's- curley! The faux hawk is our new favorite thing!

Sammy is so curious. He has his hands on anything and everything, and more often than not it ends up in his mouth.

He has also become a pro at finding his binki and putting it in his mouth by himself.

We are so proud of our Sammy and love watching him grow and grow and grow! Everyday is a new adventure and I love every single minute of it!

Had to share....

Sammy and the Kitchen Sink

Sammy fell into the sink tonight. He was sitting in his Bumbo trying to grab anything and everything in sight. I was cooking dinner and Justin was on his computer. All the sudden I hear a crash and I turn around and Sam is face first in the kitchen sink! After shedding a quite a few tears and a bump the size of a quarter on his little forhead, he decided he was okay.

Justin and I decided it was just the first in a whole bunch of bumps, bruises, scrapes, cuts and more.

Six months old! Can you believe it!

For Sammy's 6 month birthday, we gave him his first real taste of solid food- Bananas!

Some other milestones we are proud of

• Sammy can sit up by himself.
• I'm pretty sure he weighs more than 20 lbs. We will find out on Friday at his 6 month check up. That means a new carseat.
• Sammy loves to be thrown around. Anything that involves being up in the air or upside down puts the biggest smile on his face.
• Sammy loves pickles. Anyone suprised?
• Sammy really laughed for the first time just a few days after Christmas. He only does it every once in a while, but its the best sound in the world.
• Sammy is almost sleeping through the night. Last night he slept from 9 to 7:30- not a peep. It was amazing!
• Sammy loves his Bumbo. His favorite spot is on the counter while I'm cooking dinner and Justin's on the computer.
• The spit-up is getting better. It really is. I promise. Just not when other people are around. :)

Happy 6 months Sam! We love you!

Keith Urban

For Justin's birthday, we went to the Keith Urban concert at Energy Solutions Arena. We had a great time! It was so much fun! I didn't realize that I knew so many songs, and Keith is a great entertainer! It was also great to get out and just be us for a night, as hard as it was to leave Sammy with Justin's parents for the evening. We had dinner at the Gateway, walked around a little bit, and then stopped at Ben's Cookies (a tradition!) before the concert began.

Keith Urban sings "Memory of Us" which is our song. It was the highlight of the night when he sat down with just his guitar and sang our song. It made me think of the past three plus years and how far we have come and how happy I am. I have a wonderful husband who puts up with me everyday, and we now have the cutest baby. My family, for now, is complete.

Happy Birthday Justin! Hope you had a great one!

Samuel Marvin Ashby

July 24 2009- probally one of the days we will remember for the rest of our lives. The day our little family grew with the addition of our little Sammy! Here is our story...

I had been contracting for a good three weeks, with no progress! Late the night before, my contractions started to get stronger. It was a really rough night, and I finally decided to get up around 4:30 and start timing them. Justin got up and ready to go to work at 6. I really wasn't sure if I should call the hospital or just wait it out, because I had been at the hospital the week before and they had sent me home. I really wanted a reason they couldn't send me home, like my water breaking or something! Eventually, Justin convinced me that I should just call and see what the nurses had to say. So I called and they told me to come in!

We arrived at the hospital at about 7:30. They checked me- I was already at a 5 and completely thinned out. They hooked me up to the IV and it was then I realized that I was staying and this was really happening. This moment we had looked forward to for the past nine months was finally here. They gave me a half dose of phentynol and it really eased up the pain. I was able to get up, brush my hair back into a ponytail, wash my face, and brush my teeth.

At about 10:30 my doctor came in to check me and see how I was progressing. I was at a 7, moving right along. He broke my water, and that's when the contractions really started coming. They were all the sudden one after an other, and they were getting more and more intense. That's when the other half of the phentynol became handy. That eased up the pain for a bit, but really only took the edge off.

So- I had been on the fence the whole time about getting an epidural. I really wanted to have a good experience, but I wanted to be in the experience and not just go through the motions. the nurses knew this, and kept asking me how I was doing and if I wanted that epidural. By now we were coming down to the wire. The anesthsiologist was on call, and it would take him a half hour to get there, 20 minutes to set it up and another half hour for it to kick in. By then I was already an eight. So, we decided to wait and see what the next couple contractions brought and then make the decision. Well, after that couple contractions I was almost a ten and things were moving very quickly- making the epidural pointless. After literally pushing my way to a complete ten- we were ready to do some real pushing. They pulled out all the trays and baby stuff and called my doctor. The nurse pulled out the mirror and was able to show me that my baby was right there, almost ready to crown. It was amazing to see he was so close! After 45 minutes of pushing and my doctor getting there just in time to give me a small episiotomy, catch the baby, and untangle his legs from the cord, my Sammy was placed onto my chest. It was the most amazing moment I will never forget. The whole time I knew that there was this little baby inside me, but I didn't KNOW it until that moment. All the sudden this tiny baby was in my arms and I was a mom.

Sammy was 7 lbs 15 ounces, 20.5 inches long and born at 12:56 pm.

I have to give a shout out to Justin. He was a trooper and was by my side the whole time. He held my hand and breathed with me, didn't leave my side for one moment. I couldn't have done it with out him and am so lucky to have such a great support in my life!

2 years! Can you believe it!

Justin and I celeberated our 2nd anniversary on July 21st. Well, we really celebrated it on the 24th because we both had to work on the 21st. We went out for dinner and then watched fireworks from our roof while eating ice cream. It was perfect! Here in Utah the 24th is Pioneer Day, a major holiday. Kinda like Christmas in July, and the park right next to us had a fireworks display. We had the best seats!

It was a great way to celebrate our anniversary!