December Update

Here is how last month went for us:

Adam: finished off the semester and got a well deserved THREE WEEKS off from school! It has been glorious for all of us :) He got an A in his one class even with being sick right before finals week. So last update left us at staying in Utah for another semester and Adam teaching next semester. That would only take up 8-10 of his 25ish available hours to work. Adam checked with BYU Online to see if they had any available TA hours to spare but there were none. Then out of the blue, the Humanities professor he had worked with for the first three semesters of BYU Online emailed him with a job offer. The position would be as kind of an overseeing TA for the big on-campus Humanities GE course and would also include instructional design with making the course more blended (more online elements than just lectures) and converting the current Learning Management System (LMS) to Canvas. An LMS is the digital platform the course material is on. This is HUGE! Most of the job openings we had looked at asked for experience with LMS, particularly Canvas. All I can say is that Heavenly Father knows what he is doing. We didn't know what to do, he told me that we should stay, so we said ok, then jobs line up for Adam like THAT *virtually snaps fingers*! So beyond grateful :)

Ashley: I've spent most of the last month preparing for Christmas and being a mom to Eli. Within that I've also worked on some of my favorite hobbies. I've explored and tried new nail art, hosted traveling baby carriers, and cooked lots of new made up recipes. Actually this month has been pretty great :) I am glad that I do monthly updates even if no one but me reads them. After Christmas, I got in a bit of post-holiday doldrums and within that I looked back at each day with gray glasses. I sometimes feel that because I don't have tangible evidence of substantial things accomplished or progress towards a greater goal, that means I am doing nothing (a very common thought for stay-at-home moms). But Eli is growing and developing (maybe a little too fast for me to catch up haha), I get to spend time with my wonderful husband, dear friends, and my older sister who lives close by. I have a handful of hobbies that I enjoy continually expanding. And I have loads of evidence this month to help grow my testimony that God loves me and directs my little family. Life is good :)

Eli: is 16 months old! He cut his first molar this month which was difficult at times but surprisingly nowhere as bad as when his two front teeth came in. This brings his total to 9 teeth! The only words he says are "mama", "dada", "yah", and "tickle" haha but he does understand a lot and occasionally signs "more". Now when we say things like "go get the ball" or "do you want more water" or "its prayer time", he will respond correctly (except for "don't touch that" which we're still working on...) He has officially transitioned to one nap (mom is still adjusting to that). He experienced his first time playing in the snow as well as a Christmas that he could get semi-excited for. He has also learned that he can climb on more things than the couch, like the coffee table or the rocking chair. That sure has been an adventure haha. As for play time, he has enjoyed all his new presents and is deep within the organizing and sorting stage of toddlerhood. He loves blocks the most and putting things inside other things or putting things in piles. Our laps are usually filled with an assortment of toys as well as random magpie-like places around the house. We are so grateful for our smart, healthy, loving little boy :)

Christmas and our Anniversary

Enjoying a beautiful white Christmas

Christmas Eve we spent with my sister Stephanie and her family going into Salt Lake City. This year wasn't quite as fun because it started raining a ton. But we went back to Steph's house, ate dinner, and watched a The Snowman. Then, we came back home and excitedly put Eli to bed. Nothing brings back the magic of Christmas from your own childhood like creating the magic for your child. I was SO excited to see Eli come out Christmas morning and after being distracted by 3-4 random things, he finally noticed the tree. Then he promptly took off as many bows as he could haha. He showed joy with every gift that he opened, spending a bit of time playing with everything. One of his favorite new gifts however was not given by Adam or me. His fellow toddler cousin gave him a little remote control car that he is obsessed with and he can actually make it move! That I was surprised about haha. We got a fresh blanket of snow overnight and Eli did not want to stop playing in it. Then we had dinner with Steph's family that night. We also celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on the 29th going to do sealings at the Provo City Center Temple and then going to eat at Station 22. We hope that maybe after Adam graduates we can do additional celebrating by going on a night away somewhere. New Year's Eve we spent playing all of our new games from Christmas with our friends the Shepherd's. We stayed up as late as we could now all of us are parents haha which is much earlier than past years.

Eli and his best bud, Elliot Shepherd, just chilling with their sippies on New Year's Eve

We can't wait to see what 2017 has to bring us :)

Some spiritual thoughts on parenting

Out of everything I've experienced in my life so far, parenting has taught me the most about our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Here's my most recent example.

Lately, Eli has been in a climbing phase. He will climb anything if he can get something high up. Today I found him on top of two big plastic bins that were stacked by the window sill (he climbed on the rocking chair and then on top of the bins). Needless to say, it freaked me out. He doesn't understand though. If I try to stop him or take him down, he gets upset. It has led me to wish that he would climb and then fall and hurt himself. Not badly, but enough so he would realize the danger he puts himself in.

When I first thought that, I felt like a horrible mom. How could I hope for my baby to get hurt? Then I realized that's exactly what Heavenly Father does. Just like Eli, we have our agency to listen or not to listen to directions. When He can't teach us the right way, maybe he waits for us to experience the danger directly by possibly getting hurt. Just because we experience something hard doesn't mean that He doesn't love us. Maybe we aren't listening. Maybe it is the only way for us to learn.

I'm so grateful for the spiritual things I learn from being a parent. It truly gives me a small glimpse into what Heavenly Father and Christ feel for us.

2016: Year in review

Here is what our year has been like!

- We traveled to Washington for my Grandma Crocker's funeral and my parents finally got to meet Eli.

- Adam started his fourth semester of grad school.
- I got a woven wrap which led me down the rabbit hole of babywearing haha.
- Eli learned to sit unassisted.

- Adam's parents came to go with us to the Provo City Center open house.

- We traveled to Seattle and had lots of adventures including sight-seeing, Adam presenting at an international education conference, and my family coming up to spend the day with us!

- Eli learned to crawl.
- We went to Fort Worth, Texas to visit Adam's two sisters (with a brief layover in Denver visiting Adam's parents)!

- Adam went crazy in the spring and did six different intramural sports.
- Eli learned to pull himself up and started the neverending joys of teething :-/
- I led the Climb Out of Darkness for postpartum depression in Provo.

- Adam's parents came to visit for his 27th birthday.
- Adam finished and defended his prospectus!
- I became a certified Volunteer Babywearing Educator!

- Eli learned to walk.
- Eli turned one and we had a birthday party! :)

- Adam started his fifth semester of grad school.
- I turned 25.
- My sister Jessica came to visit and Eli got his first trick-or-treating experience :)

- We decided to stay in Utah for Adam's last semester.
- We celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas in Utah.
- 5th wedding anniversary for us!

Its been a busy year and we can't wait to see what 2017 will bring! We know that the biggest thing will be Adam graduating from graduate school and then who knows where we'll end up :)