November update

Here is how our November went :)

Adam: He has spent the month working and going to school as well as applying to jobs. We've had no luck so we prayed for guidance of where we should look or what we should do. In this, I kept getting the feeling that we were pushing moving too much and that we needed to stay in Utah a bit longer. The only problem was that Adam's jobs at BYU had already hired new people. So we waited, kept applying to jobs elsewhere, and tried thinking of backup plans. Then last week Adan was talking to the program coordinator for the class he teaches and found out that the person they wanted to hire had to be approved by the First Presidency (all full-time faculty at BYU have to go through this process). However they will not be meeting until January. So they asked him to teach again next semester! And there's a chance BYU online may need his help as well because there are a few other TAs that won't be able to work full hours. So we are staying until April!

Ashley: I'm still at home with Eli and just helping him grow. This month I taught a couple cloth diapering classes for my ward which was fun. It is so much easier than people think and I love sharing that :) My days are usually filled with doing things with Eli and keeping up the house. We like to go for walks, chase each other around the house, and all the babywearing haha. My free time usually consists of reading, watching Netflix, and doing my nails. Life is good :)

Eli: is 15 months old! He has eight teeth now and is a very active, independent little boy. He had his check up with the pediatrician and he is nearly 21 pounds. Still a very skinny boy. He loves running around, giggling, and he recently disovered twirling. Now he knows when we sing ring around the rosie that he spins, but still doesn't understand the falling down part. Instead, he waits for us to push him down which he then laughs really hard. He learned how to tickle people and he is learning to use silverware. Now he prefers to try to feed himself which makes dinner time quite entertaining. He is actually getting more affectionate by cuddling more and sitting on our laps. He is having a bit of a sleep regression which isn't fun but for the most part he sleeps well :) he is getting so big and is definitely more toddler than baby :)

walking around the Provo City Center temple; playing with his little friend Elliot; 15 month check up; amazed by our little Christmas tree :)

Thanksgiving

We stayed here again and did thanksgiving with my sister. We split up the dishes and gathered at her house. The meal was delicious and even Eli ate a bit of everything! We ended the evening with watching Finding Dory and pie :)

Playing with his cousin Anders while watching the movie :)

October Update

Time for another update!

Adam: He has been hard at work with his Evaluation class, the class he teaches, his prospectus, and applying to lots of jobs. He got his first rejection but we are still very hopeful :) There are lots of options out there for him and there continues to be new jobs added. In his spare time, he has been playing Orem city league Ultimate and intramural kickball. He has playing on some intramural team pretty much every semester he's been at BYU and in his last one, they finally won!! If you win an intramural tournament, you get bragging rights and a snazzy t-shirt. He was so happy coming home wearing it :)

Ashley: I have been very much enjoying the fall weather and I try to take Eli out at least once every day which he loves. Earlier in the month, I helped organize activities for International Babywearing Week for our local babywearing group. It has been so much fun helping teach people how to properly wear their baby and all the benefits of it. I've also been trying to get out of our rut of usual meals we plan. Adam and I came up with a fun idea for menu planning that has really helped. He comes up with the protein, starch, and cooking method while I come up with a recipe to fit it. It has worked really well so far and it is fun to experiment with cooking :)

Eli: is 14 months old now! He loves being chased and tickled, playing fetch, walking outside, going on the slide at the park, and watching mommy and daddy cook. He has 7 teeth now and can both climb up and back down from the couch. We are trying to teach him the signs for "more" and "all done" which sometimes he does but I don't know if he knows what it means. He doesn't sign it but he definitely knows the sign for milk. If I do that, he walks over to the kitchen and waits for me to get a bottle of milk. Then he promptly walks to the rocking chair in his bedroom knowing that it's nap time. It's so cute :) He doesn't talk much other than "mama", "dada", and "yah".

Halloween and my sister visiting!

This last week my sister Jessica came to visit!! We had lots of fun going to Cornbelly's on Saturday. I was expecting just the usual corn maze and pumpkin patch but it was like a carnival! So much to see and do :) The corn maze was shaped like the Peanuts characters and they had a bingo game throughout it. On Monday, we hiked the Y which Adam and I haven't done since freshman year. It was cool to say that we did it especially since it'll probably be the last time before we move. Then that evening Eli went trick or treating for the first time! He eventually got the concept of walking to people's doors but he kept wanting to take the candy out of his bucket and hold it in his hands haha. He didn't last very long but it was fun :) On Tuesday, we also went to the outlets in Park City and then lastly to Temple Square before dropping Jess off at the airport. I'm so glad she could come even for a short time and I hope some day we will all live close together again :)

September Update

Another month gone!

Adam: He finally got to start of the semester on the right foot (last semester my grandma's funeral was during the first week and the semester before that I had a baby). He only has one class, Intro to Program Evaluation and so far it is going great. He is working on revising his prospectus and gathering data so he can evaluate the course he created for his project. He has also started applying to jobs. Since I have more extra time than he does, I have taken on the task of searching for jobs. I am so happy that there are quite a few that fit his qualifications and are in areas that we are hoping to live. We are aiming for him to start a full-time job at the end of the year and then he will complete and defend his project by February.

Ashley: This month hasn't been too exciting for me. Mostly I just take care of Eli and find hobbies to do. I got the supplies to make a bag but I have yet to find time to sew it. I have been exploring more about nail art. Also, one of my best friends Kayla and I are doing a autumn bucket list since both of us are stay-at-home moms (and they live right upstairs). We've planned all the things we want to do this season and started our own little book club which has been fun so far. And of course, I've been enjoying volunteering as a babywearing educator. I also turned 25 which I guess is exciting haha. We had breakfast babyless with our friends on Saturday and then watched the BYU game that evening. On Sunday (my actual birthday), Adam made dinner, we played games with friends and had ice cream cake :)

Eli: He is 13 months old now! He is officially off formula and has 4 (nearly 5) teeth. He has learned quite a few things this month as well. He now knows how to clap, wave bye-bye, climb onto the couch (oh dear...), reach the TV, and open his dresser drawers. We've been trying to teach him how to give high fives but he often gets it confused with clapping haha. He LOVES going outside. Any time we start putting our shoes on or I grab my purse, he immediately runs to the door. He has gotten a ton better at walking and he enjoys being a big boy and walking to the car with mommy and daddy. He is definitely getting more independent and opinionated. He does not enjoy when mommy and daddy stop him from pulling books off the shelf, close any door, or take anything out of his hands that he wants (phones, daddy's glasses, a random piece of garbage he might find, etc). With every stage, there are good and bad things. Yes, sometimes he screams when he doesn't get what he wants but other times we play and laugh until our face hurts.

Sleepy boy is a tummy sleeper like his mommy; trying on a hat from cousin Anders; not thrilled to go visiting teaching with mommy

August Update

Here's how our last month went:

Adam: He defended his prospectus and it passed with just a few revisions!! This means that he can keep going with the project he's been working on. After making the recommended corrections, all that's left is finishing his project and then defending it in April. He also started a new semester! He is taking his last class required for his program and project credit so hopefully that'll be easier. He is no longer the TA for IHum 202 but instead he'll be working with IHum 240 (the BYU Online class he helped create for his project). He also started teaching DigHT 215 again. Amidst all of that he also plans to look for full-time jobs that he can start at the end of December :)

Happy baby being worn :)

Ashley: I passed my skills assessment to become a certified Volunteer Babywearing Educator with Babywearing International (BWI)! This means that I have the authority as an educator in my local chapter and if we move somewhere without a BWI chapter, I can start one myself :) I also got an accidental early birthday present from Adam. Accidental because he didn't realize Amazon would deliver it in its own box rather than an Amazon box haha. But I got a sewing machine!! I'm looking forward to all the projects I'll be able to do with it :)

New sewing machine!

Eli: is now one year old!! He has three teeth now and learned to walk this month! He took his first steps a couple weeks before his first birthday and now walks all over the apartment. There have been quite a few rough days this month due to him cutting his two front teeth (one of which he is still working on xP). Other than that he is a pretty happy boy in general. He always wants me to play  with him which does make it difficult to get things done around the house. But I'm trying to enjoy it since he will only be this little right now

(from left to right) happy baby climbing on the futon, playing at the splash pad, concentrating on some serious play time, grumpy teething boy

Special events this month

We had a little party for his birthday at a nearby park :) we were able to have a good amount of friends and family join us including a few of Eli's little friends :) he very much enjoyed eating one of the cupcakes I made and he LOVED all of the new toys he was given. He still plays with them over his older toys haha. We are so blessed to be surrounded by a few family members, some great friends, and an awesome ward (LDS church congregation).

Yummy chocolate cupcake!

Homemade Baby Puffs

So Eli tried puffs a couple months ago and he LOVED them. He would often prefer them over purees sometimes, especially fruit ones. I wasn't a huge fan of the added sugar in them so I wondered if I could make a homemade version. Then started the Pinterest research. There were less recipes out there than I thought and most of them were super complicated with a bunch of ingredients and requiring things like separating egg whites or two different baking temperatures. Ain't no mom got time for that!! I found one pin that was just a picture, not a link, that had a simple 4 ingredient recipe. With some tweaking, I think I perfected it! Best of all, it uses up baby cereal and baby purees (because I'm sure like me you guys have some extras of those laying around). These don't melt like the store bought kind but they kind of fall apart in there mouth and Eli (and his friends at church) have enjoyed them. So here is a cheaper and healthier version of those baby puffs!

1/2 cup baby cereal

1 tsp baking powder

4 oz baby purée (I used apple)

2-3 tsp coconut oil (I preferred somewhere in the middle)

Mix and put in a ziplock bag. Snip the tip and pipe little puffs on some parchment paper. Make sure to give them height while piping so they turn out puff shaped. Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes :)

July Update

So here is what happened this month!

Adam: He started off the month with his 27th birthday (which you can read about below)! He also finished his prospectus!!! For those who may not know what that means, it is a 35 page researched project proposal for his Master's thesis project. His next step is to defend it in front of his project committee and hopefully they will accept it. If they don't, he has to find something else to do which would be very tough since he's already had to do a lot for the project. With the nature of how his prospectus turned out, it looks like he may not graduate until April. The reason for this is that the online class he designed for the project will have its first semester this coming fall so he may just need time to actually assess how it did. However, graduating in April won't necessarily mean that we will be sticking around until then. He will finish his last course this fall and will only need to take thesis credit during winter semester. So we are planning for him to look for a full-time job no matter what starting the end of December. If the job happens to be out of state, he will just fly back for a few days to defend his thesis. Sooo...the end is in sight!!

Ashley: I am still at home taking care of Eli and finding ways to fill my time. I have decided to read through all the fiction books we own alphabetically (by author). We have 100+ books so it will take me awhile to get through them haha. I also finished my skills assessment to become a babywearing educator. I had to record videos of me teaching how to use all the different style of carriers (wraps, slings, mei tai, buckle soft-structured carriers, etc). I think I did well so all that is left is to wait to see if I passed. Some people may wonder why I would want to become an educator. Well, I want to be able to share my love of babywearing to others and teach them how they can do it safely and comfortably. I am involved at my local chapter of Babywearing International and once I get certified as a Volunteer Babywearing Educator, I can be more involved with leadership-type roles :)

Eli: is now 11 months old!! It is crazy that he is nearly one year old. He is still not walking but he is getting better and better at walking while holding one of our hands. He mostly just gets super excited about it which makes him lose his balance. He got his third haircut earlier this month and one of his top teeth has just barely broken through! He's been working on that for over a month which has not been fun for baby or parents. He loves to play with other babies/toddlers at church, he knows how to play peek-a-boo, and his favorite thing to say is "yah". Adam and I entertain ourselves by asking him crazy yes or no questions which he always answers with a confident "Yah!" hahaha. We are starting to introduce to him more table food and he is getting better at learning how to chew. He also learned how to use a straw! Its fun to see how he learns these simple skills that we take for granted :)

Adam's Birthday/Fourth of July Weekend
We were lucky to have some of Adam's family here! First, Seth and his wife came through for a short visit on their way up to see Sabrina's family. This was exciting because he was the last sibling to meet Eli! Then Adam's parents came to visit. They very much enjoyed their time with Eli and we were able to play lots of games (key part of any Lloyd gathering). We also were able to go through the Provo City Center temple with them (thanks to my sister for babysitting)! It was very busy being a holiday weekend and a Saturday but a very cool experience. It was especially special for them because they knew it so well as a tabernacle. We had a low key birthday for Adam with cheesecake and dinner with some of Adam's family and mine. I got him a new soccer ball and the two latest Star Trek movies. We didn't end up going to see any fireworks due to a crabby teething baby but hopefully next year we will :)

June Update

Here is what our June looked like!

Adam: He is SOOOO close to finishing his prospectus. He only has to add a couple more things and then it is done! The next step after that is for him to defend it. Hopefully, they will approve this project he has already been working on for the last year. If they don't approve it, he has to find something else quickly. But if they do, he will finish the project and do his last defense in December and then graduate!!

Ashley: The biggest thing I've been working on this month was the Climb Out of the Darkness event which you can read about below. Other than that my days have consisted mostly of taking care of the house and Eli, which is a handful haha. I have also been experimenting with making homemade puffs which has been fun but unsuccessful so far. I also finished my application to become a Volunteer Babywearing Educator for Babywearing International. Hopefully, I'll be able to do my practical skills assessment some time in July.

Eli: He is 10 months old!! This last month he got his second tooth in and we're pretty sure he started working on his next one (and still is working on it xP). He is still very social but occasionally gets a little shy around new people. The shyness usually consists of shyly smiling and cuddling mommy. He has enjoyed lots of summer water activities such as friends' swimming pools, the local rec center, and the local splash pad. He is very adventurous with water and always wants to just dive in head first haha. He is still not a huge fan of solids but he does enjoy puffs and cheerios. His favorite activities are climbing on anything (especially mommy and daddy), holding onto our hands and walking around the house, and playing with things he shouldn't.

(from left to right) playing with toys at the library, biting a sling ring (used in babywearing), baby selfie!, and playing with cousin Anders

Climb Out of the Darkness is an annual event put on by the non-profit organization Postpartum Progress some time around the summer solstice. The purpose is to raise awareness for maternal mental health and to symbolize the journey those who suffer take. They hold individual climbs all around the world and I ended up leading the one in Provo this year! So I worked on spreading the word about the event and (attempting to) raise money. Then on June 18th, moms and their families and friends met at a park up Provo Canyon for a short hike to Bridal Veil Falls. I was really happy with the turn out! I was really nervous it wouldn't seem put together enough but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves :) I don't know if I will lead again next year if we are still in Provo, but it was a fun experience :)

Meet the Convertible Onbuhimo!

So those who know me know my latest obsession is babywearing. It really helped me with my postpartum depression and it is super convenient. I currently own a baby k'tan, a mesh water ring sling (Beachfront Baby), a woven wrap (Ethos Cascade Mint size 6), and a mei tai (Infantino Sash). I have yet to own a soft-structured carrier (SSC) being poor students so I thought it would be fun to put myself into a drawing to be a tester for a brand new carrier from my favorite babywearing company Ethos! This is a local Utah company and for every wrap they make, they donate part of the proceeds to different causes :) Another reason why I love them is that they are super interactive on facebook and they even put together fb groups for wrap design ideas that customers come up with! So cool :)

Anyways, I am hosting this patent-pending brand new carrier by Ethos for a week. Meet the Convertible Onbuhimo! It is a two-in-one soft-structured carrier and onbuhimo (waistless carrier)!

Top is SSC mode and bottom is onbuhimo mode. The buckles midway down the panel tuck in, the strap buckles clip into the waistband buckles and the waistband just tucks in between you and baby for the seat.

At first I had a difficult time adjusting it to fit me but I think it is because it's a traveling carrier and it is my first time doing more than just briefly trying on a SSC. Once I got it all adjusted I found it to be very comfy. I could hardly feel him on my back in waistband mode.

I was excited to try it in onbuhimo mode as well! It was a bit difficult getting Eli on my back without Adam's help but I'm sure it would be easier with an older baby. Being 10 months old, he is fully safe in an onbuhimo because he can sit unassisted and has full upper body control but his legs are still pretty short. Once I got him up there, I was surprised that I didn't miss the waistband like I thought I would. I felt more free to move and Eli LOVED it (he was more free to move too). It just felt like wearing a backpack :)

After wearing it a few more times, the only issues I had was that I didn't have much room to tighten, especially in onbuhimo mode. I'm not super petite (about 5'6 and 175 lbs) so I was surprised by this. It would definitely be comfortable for more plus-size parents.

*Later edit: After the testing, Ethos fixed this ^ issue.

After testing is completed, Ethos will have the Convertibu available for purchase at Ethos Babywearing either using their wraps or your own to convert. I can't wait to see how this takes off!

*I am not paid for any of the affiliated links. This is just my honest opinion :)

May Update

Here's how the last month has been!

Adam: is grateful to be done with classes and finally have time to work on his prospectus. He is also trying to get as many hours as he can with BYU Online and preparing to teach DigHT 215 again. The biggest thing he's been doing is playing on every intramural team our ward is participating in. That means games for coed ultimate, coed softball, men's softball, coed kickball, coed soccer, or men's soccer every week night. We've begun the tournaments for all of these and so far coed softball, and coed kickball are done. It has been fun for him to hang out with the ward and be active.

Ashley: has also been doing intramurals. I was on the ultimate team but then I got roped into doing softball as well because of lack of girls. It's been fun! I'm getting better at ultimate and playing softball brings me back to the days of playing baseball with my dad in our yard. The rest of my time has been consumed with keeping up with Eli which is getting harder and harder to do :) 

Eli: is 9 months old and constantly on the move! He is crawling fast and getting into EVERYTHING. We've worked on baby proofing everything which has helped but then he learned how to pull himself up and cruise. Now he constantly wants to climb all over us or any uneven surfaces. He also has decided he does not want his diaper changed because it means sitting still for more than a second. So changes usually involve crying and us pinning him down with our legs haha. He is growing so fast and we can see him walking any day now. He has one little tooth and we think he's getting another one soon. He's a crazy little guy but we love him :)

Fun things we did this month!

Adam and I went on a date on the anniversary of our first date! We went to Provo Beach Resort and played croquet and arcade games just like we did 5 years ago. We had also collected enough tickets from the past few times of going that we were able to get one of the nicer prizes. Adam was extremely excited about our new wireless headphones :)

We also went to Scandinavian Days in Ephraim, UT with Stephanie and Anders. Luckily it only rained for the first bit after we got there. It was fun eating Swedish meatballs and seeing all of the fun booths. Utah is all about their festivals. It seems every town has their own "Days"! Steph and I want to try to go to more this summer if we can :)

April Update

This is how our April went!

Adam: finished the semester!!! Even with getting sick right before/during finals week and having a fever of 102 degrees, he managed to pull out a good finish. He ended with an A and an A- (and a W for the class he withdrew from awhile back). He is very excited to finally have more time to work on his Master's project and just his jobs. He will be working full-time during the summer for BYU Online and he is going to be teaching Digital Humanities 215 again in the fall! After going further in his program (especially taking a class on assessments), he is looking forward to applying his newfound knowledge to this class. He is also looking forward to the spring Ultimate season and has joined every intramural team our ward is participating in.

Ashley: I have been kept busy this month planning our two trips, recovering from the trips, taking care of things when Adam was sick, and being sick myself. All of these things made this month fly by and its hard to believe its already May! One of the biggest goals I have right now is getting healthier and losing weight. I didn't gain too much weight from being pregnant with Eli but dealing with postpartum depression did add some pounds. Also one of the medications I was taking made me hungry ALL the time which didn't help anything. So I'm tapering down that med, trying to exercise more, and eat a bit healthier. I feel like I'm surrounded by people telling me how the only way to lose weight and get healthy is [insert expensive weight loss program]. Being poor college students, I'm going to stick with good old basic exercise and eating healthier. This is actually fine by me because I wanted to get a routine that would be easy for me to maintain without requiring me to keep spending money in order to keep the weight off. So we'll see how this works out ;)

Eli: is 8 months old! I feel like this month he has developed in leaps and bounds. One of the biggest changes is he crawls! This means that we've been working on baby proofing which is an ongoing process. Mostly we see that he can now grab at certain things and we have to figure out how to change the access to said thing. There have also been times where it almost sounds like he says mama and dada. I don't know if he fully understands what they mean but he knows we like hearing them haha. He usually says dada when he's happy and mama when he's sad (although it usually sounds like mum mum or mem mem). Its hard not to melt when he crawls onto my lap with a sad face going "mem mem mem". He is also enjoying standing up and can balance pretty well while holding something like the couch or coffee table. He's been working on learning how to pull himself up but he hasn't quite gotten the hang of it. We gave him his first haircut which turned out better than we expected haha. He is loving solids a lot more and will now happily eat peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, and bread. While we were in Texas, he also liked mexican rice haha. He definitely is keeping us on our toes now that he is a lot more mobile but every change is fun to watch :)

Special events this month!
We began the month in Seattle!

We went to Texas! Read about that here!

Trip to Texas

Last week we went to Texas! Both of Adam's sisters and all of his nieces and nephews are there so we've been meaning to go for awhile. Thanks to a nice tax return and finding super cheap plane tickets we decided to finally go!

Day 1: Monday started off a little crazy because we were supposed to leave in the morning but our flight got cancelled and rebooked. We were originally going to have a layover in Houston but with the crazy weather there, we instead had a layover in Denver and left in the afternoon. This turned out to be a silver lining because the now 5 hour layover allowed us to visit Adam's parents. So when we got to Denver, we headed over to their house in Broomfield.

It was nice to have that time with them and Eli enjoyed playing with their toys. Adam's aunt Joanne who lives with them and hadn't met Eli as well. It was instant love :) We ate an early dinner with them from a place called Infinitus Pie, a really yummy pizza place. We hung out for awhile before they drove us back to the airport. Eli enjoyed high-pitched squealing on this flight which was not fun but we made it and finished off the evening heading to Adam's sister Ruth's house in Fort Worth.

Day 2: We had a low-key morning with Ruth and her two youngest kids (ages 2 and 3). We surprised her middle son (3rd grade) at lunch and decided to take him out of school to spend time with us. We met up with Adam's other sister Sharon and her youngest boy who is only 6 months older than Eli and we all went to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Fort Worth is one of only two places in the country that print paper money. It was cool to see all that went into the process. There were some areas that the windows were covered because they were printing new money, which we later figured out that it was probably the new Harriet Tubman $20 bill. After this we went to a local Thai restaurant for lunch. I was pleasantly surprised at finding good Asian food in Texas haha. That evening we had a big hamburger and hot dog dinner with both families and had Family Home Evening together. It was so fun to be around all the kids and Eli loved all his cousins. It brought back memories of getting together with all of my cousins when I was little (except multiply the number of kids about 3 times haha). We gave the lesson and a couple of our nieces made yummy treats. A thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Day 3: Adam was still finishing up his last project for the semester in the morning. After that, we went into downtown Fort Worth to see the Water Gardens. The Water Gardens are different kinds of elaborate fountains and waterfalls in this big city square. I really liked the one you could walk down into so you were surrounded by waterfalls.

For lunch, we went to a yummy Mexican restaurant that had a beautiful outdoor sitting area. We went back to the house so the littles could nap and I ended up napping too while Adam finished his project. Once they all woke up, they played together until dinner. After a tasty family dinner, Sharon picked us up to take us over to her house, where we were staying for the rest of our trip. Eli went to bed as soon as we got there and the adults stayed up late talking which was nice :)

Day 4: On Thursday we went into Dallas for the first time. I always enjoy seeing new downtown areas with their new places and people. We went up the Reunion Tower which has an observation deck with a great view of the city.
After this we wanted to go explore Dallas more but then I started to not feel good. So we headed back to Justin where Sharon lives. On the way, we stopped at this cute French cafe called La Madeleine which had french language audio instruction playing in the bathroom. The food and pastries were delicious. Later, we went to our niece's gymnastics place to see a bit of her practice. She was so good! It was fun to see our nieces and nephews enjoy all their various passions. We took her out of practice a little early and went home to eat dinner and chill for the rest of the evening.

Day 5: Friday, we had plans to go to Mckinney to see a friend but I woke up feeling awful, so we mostly just hung out at the house. In the afternoon, we went to a park with the kids and in the evening, we all went out for dinner with Ruth and her family. We went to a BBQ place which was very Texan haha. It was fun to have all of the family together again and the kids loved playing with Eli.

Day 6: I was still feeling crummy so we called off our meet-up with a cousin of mine and I spent most of the morning resting and packing. Adam and Eli were able to go to our nephew's basketball game which was fun. Eli loved seeing his Auntie Ruth again and watching the boys play. Before we left for the airport, I did Sharon's girls' nails which turned out way cute.
It made me feel good how excited they were about it especially since I hadn't spent too much time with them since getting sick. We then went to the airport and took our first leg to Houston. Eli has done pretty good on the flights we've taken this far but this one he high-pitch squealed the whole time. Luckily it was a short flight but it did make me worried about our 3 hour flight to SLC which would end just before midnight. We were blessed however because he fell asleep during take-off and woke up when we landed with no complaints!

Overall, I loved this trip but it did leave me wanting more. There were so many things that I we didn't get to do because I was sick but we will definitely keep our eye out for cheap flights to Dallas/Fort Worth in the future ;)

March Update

Our exciting March!

Adam: mostly spent the month preparing for his presentation in Seattle. Between that, work, school, and family time, he stays pretty busy. I feel so blessed that Adam loves to spend time with Eli. Even if sometimes it is to procrastinate homework haha. They have such a great bond and it makes me so happy to see them playing together.

Ashley: My days mostly consist of taking care of Eli, doing daily housework, and working on small projects. My projects this month have consisted of loom knitting a blanket and going through tons of clothes (thank you baby and PPD weight). I try to get out as much as possible if the weather permits. Luckily this month has been gorgeous so there have been lots of walks and play groups at the park with people in our ward.

Eli: is 7 months old! He is so happy and loves to smile at everyone everywhere we go which makes him lots of friends. He is not full on crawling yet but he gets on his hands and knees and rocks a lot and he can slowly scoot and roll himself where he wants to go. We're thinking he might've started teething because he's moved on to the biting everything stage as opposed to sucking everything. He's been drooling like crazy since he was a couple months old so everyone asks if he's teething. No signs of a tooth sprouting yet though. He's a really good sleeper and usually either wakes up once or not at all. He's still not a huge fan of solids but he loves peas haha. He's such a sweet boy and although he is not much of a cuddler unless he's super tired, it's so cute when he runs his fingers through my hair  and touch my face when I feed him. It helps me know that even though I'm not breastfeeding him, we can still bond during feedings. He has also learned how to shake his head no but we're pretty sure he doesn't know what it means at all so it's cute :)

Events this month!

Easter was a bit dampened because Adam was sick so that meant church alone. But I was blessed to give the lesson in Relief Society (a time on Sunday in the LDS church when just women get together). I talked about the atonement and there was a wonderful spirit in the room. I love my calling! Later in the day, we went over to Stephanie's place to have dinner. We had yummy ham, scalloped potatoes, and green bean casserole. For dessert, I made golden oreo truffles in the shape of eggs. It was fun being able to hide Easter eggs for my nephew now that he is old enough to enjoy it :)

We also went to Seattle! See that post here

Trip to Seattle

We just got back from a very fun trip to Seattle! Adam was presenting on a panel at the Association for Asian Studies international conference and we decided to make it a family trip. So we all flew down on the 30th and came back today. We decided to get City Passes which I'm SO glad we did! We were able to do all the fun things we wanted to do for way cheaper! I highly recommend them :) So here is what we did!

Day 1: Wednesday started kinda rough with me forgetting Eli's birth certificate 10 minutes into our drive to the airport. That plus a really long line at security made us miss our flight. Luckily they just rebooked us on the next flight a couple hours later no extra charge! We were very grateful. Eli did great on the plane ride getting hiccups when going up and down, falling asleep for half of it, and making friends with everyone around us.
Once we landed, we got our rental car and headed to our hotel. We were a bit early for check in but luckily they had a room available for us. It was nice and big with a really awesome view. We took it easy that day and just ate at the Whole Foods around the block for dinner so Eli could take a solid nap.

Day 2: Thursday we walked down to the pier to go to the aquarium. Eli really liked all of the fish and the otters. There was a worker in a scuba suit feeding the fish in the big tank and Eli got super excited when he waved at him. He flapped his arms, laughed, and said "hi!" 

Then we walked along the pier for a bit and then went up through Pike Place Market. We ate lunch at a little Indian booth and had delicious lamb kebab wraps and samosas. After that, we walked back to our hotel room so that Eli could get a nap in and Adam could go to class remotely. The class didn't work out sadly but once Eli woke up we went back to the pier to go on a harbor cruise. We got to sit on top of this nice boat and have a guided tour of everything around the harbor. It was a gorgeous day and it was so fun to learn interesting facts that we wouldn't have otherwise known. Eli had lots of fun looking out on the boat. We even saw some sea lions hanging out on a buoy! After the cruise, we had dinner at Ivar's fish bar on the pier and then called it a day.

Day 3: On Friday, we began the day by going to the Woodland Park Zoo. Eli was really tired so he didn't enjoy too much of it and he fell asleep part way through. He did like to see the big cats like the jaguar and the ocelot. Mostly he enjoyed watching all of the older kids around him get excited haha. For lunch, we decided to go to Redmond to a British shop we had been to before called The British Pantry. We had yummy Lancashire pasties and some of our favorite candies. After that, we drove back to our hotel for a quick rest and nap for Eli then we walked to the Space Needle. Adam wasn't a huge fan of the elevator ride up because it was made of glass but once we got to the top, the view was great :) Once we got down, we took the monorail to the retail district so we could get some more formula at the Target there and then we walked the long way back. We did tons of walking while we were in Seattle which was exhausting but a fun way to see the city. However, there were TONS of smokers. Yes we came from Utah so any is a big difference but we counted 8 along 1 1/2 city blocks! I grew up around Portland so smokers and even the smell of pot isn't too new to me but I think having a baby makes me extra aware now. Anyways, we knew we had a big day the next day so we went back so Adam could practice more on his presentation.

Day 4: On Saturday, we started the morning with a walk to the Convention Center where the Asian Studies conference was being held so Adam could check in and get a feel of where the room was he was going to be presenting in. Once we got back to the hotel, my parents, sister Jessica, and her boyfriend Brad came! My parents were especially excited to see Eli and give him the toys they brought. We then walked to the Chihuly Garden and Glass over by the Space Needle. My mom had been looking forward to go to that for awhile since seeing a special about it on TV. The museum was AMAZING! The artist blows glass to make the most incredible sculptures.
After finishing that, Jessica and Brad went back to their car to feed the meter and my parents, Adam, and I took the monorail to the retail district. Then I wished Adam luck and he split off to go to the Convention Center for his presentation. Other than a video clip not working, it went really well! He was grateful for this experience to teach him what to expect at other international conferences. Anyways, the rest of us met up with Jessica and Brad at Pike Place and we went down to the pier to have dinner at The Crab Pot. Most of everyone had the crab cakes and I had a delicious salmon burger. Eli thoroughly enjoyed a piece of honeydew that Brad fed him haha.
It was very funny to watch him eat that melon so ferociously haha. We walked back up to Pike Place after that and looked at some of the booths. Adam met up with us and we all walked back to the hotel. Then we drove over to the Columbia Tower (the tallest building in Seattle) and went to the observation deck on top. The view was even better than the Space Needle (which looked very small from up there). We even could see the Seattle Sounders soccer game haha. We then went back to hang out at the hotel for a little bit, get dessert at Whole Foods, and then say goodbye.

Day 5: On Sunday we checked out of our hotel to go to a different cheaper one closer to the airport since we had a very early flight. We checked in and then dropped off the rental car and took a shuttle back to the hotel. The rest of the day was low key which was good because Eli was extremely tired and sick of being away from home.

Day 6: Early Monday morning we flew home!

I was so glad Eli and I got to join Adam for his conference so we could have a bit of a family vacation. It was also a great opportunity to see my family again! We are happy to be home and get back to normal although things will get crazy again in two weeks because then we're going to Texas!

February Update

Here is our February!

Adam: has been working hard at school and work. Independent Study decided to throw some extra stuff on him that he needed to complete asap for his master's project, so sadly he had to withdraw from one of his classes. Luckily he already fulfilled the graduation requirement this class would fill but the information would've been useful. But we figured that doing a good job on his project was the most important.

Ashley: is loving taking care of our little man! I have finished dating and labeling my digitized home videos which was a very fun project. I also purchased a woven wrap which I've been playing with a lot. It has been fun to look up tutorials on all the different carries I can do with it and Eli has enjoyed being worn a lot. I've been loving the nice weather so we have been going on lots of walks and trips to the park :)

Eli: is 6 months old!! He had his first cold the latter half of the month which wasn't too fun but with lots of love and care he is getting better. He also started solids which he is unsure about. He's not a big fan of purees but he likes fresh food so we might try baby led weaning. We've also started signing to him! He can't do any yet but we're pretty sure he understands "milk" because he gets really excited and opens his mouth when we do it haha. He can now sit up unassisted! He likes walks, going on the swing, tickles, and whenever Daddy is home :)

Fun events in February!
During Valentine's day weekend, Adam's parents came to visit! It was fun spending time with his family playing games, eating yummy food, and going to the Church History Museum. The main reason they came was so we could all go to the Provo City Center Temple! It was amazingly beautiful and I can't wait to go through it once its dedicated. Although that might be awhile since I'm sure it'll be super busy. We even heard that it was booked for marriages for the next year! Eli enjoyed looking around although he was very sleepy. He fell asleep after we left the Celestial room so I think he just wanted to be awake to see it ;) Also some old friends came to visit and got to meet Eli! Their son Rhett and him are already BFFs and we're already
planning for them to be BYU roommates like their dads :)

January Update

Here are the big things that happened last month:

Adam: started a new semester! He is taking 10 credits (3 classes), which is a lot of work. 9 credits is usually full-time for graduate students. He is taking a class on assessments, one on product development (lots of programming), and one on project management. He keeps busy with those as well as continuing his job for BYU Online. After talking with his advisor, it looks like he may aim to graduate in December of this year rather than August. This will allow him plenty of time to finish his master's project and do a good job on it.

Ashley: is enjoying being a stay-at-home mom! Our lives are a lot simpler with me being able to take charge of Eli and the house during the day. I know Adam is a lot less stressed which makes me feel better. I'm finding little projects to work on, like making cloth wipes and organizing and labeling all of the digitized home videos that my dad just sent me :) It's been so fun to see me and my sisters when we were little and compare them to how Eli acts. I am loving being able to watch Eli grow and develop daily!

Eli: will be 6 months old in a couple weeks! He is growing so fast! He is a very happy, smiley baby and loves peek-a-boo and sucking on everything. He rolls from back to tummy and tummy to back constantly which is how he gets around mostly haha. He tries to scoot as well but hasn't gotten close to crawling yet. We are working on him learning to sit up on his own which he can do for only about 10 seconds. He is such a joy to us :)

Major Events of January
The only big event this month was our sudden trip to Washington. Sadly, my maternal grandmother passed away on New Year's Eve. We traveled with my sister and her family for the funeral the first week of January. I was very grateful that we could be with my family at this time because this was such an upsetting loss. I was very close to her all my life and I was devastated that I couldn't say goodbye. We knew what was coming towards the end but she deteriorated very quickly in only about 4 months. So much of my family were able to make it to the funeral and many I hadn't seen in awhile. I know that my grandma loved watching our sort of family reunion. Also, my parents got to finally meet Eli! They enjoyed getting to know him and he charmed everyone :) I'll miss my grandma but I am so grateful to know that I will see her again.

My mom's side of the family minus a few