The Ashdown Family

Abby's four!

2012-01-14T22:02:00.011-06:00

Okay, she has been for awhile. I'm so far behind I'm not sure I'll ever catch up! Here are some highlights:

We decided we've have a couple of Abby's closest friends over for some cupcakes a few days before her birthday since we were going to be in Hobbs on her actual birthday. The night before we started to prepare the cupcakes!

The birthday girl the day of the party

The only thing Logan did at the party...maybe he was mad it wasn't about him :P

I'm surprised how beautiful this chick is, she really had her genes working against her :P

Getting ready to blow out the candle!

Here we go!

MOMMM! I can't believe you didn't get a picture of me blowing out the candle!

Mmm cupcakes!

This chick helped me out a lot. As soon as she got there she jumped right in frosting cupcakes and pouring water, whatever I needed...thanks Susan!

Yep, he's still goin'.

My friend Aleha was able to come with her two kiddos, Ty and Addie!

Goodness.

I had to put this picture on here because it's too funny not to :P

Ryan and Abby are besties!

I didn't get a good photo of all the kids but here are Susan's kiddos, Savannah and William!

Even the moms got some play time! What a great party!

Silent Wings Museum

2011-12-03T12:15:00.004-06:00

The same day we went to see the F-16s it also happened to be Veteran's Day and next door to the airport here in Lubbock is the Silent Wings Museum. Because it was Veteran's Day, admission was free so we figured it was a good opportunity to pop over and see what it was all about.

This plane held a jeep so when they landed they opened the front (as shown) and just drove away!

We narrowly missed a scheduled speech by a local veteran. Would have loved to listen but with two small children I'm afraid we would have been disrespectful!

I found this going through some newspaper clippings. Shout out to my hometown! :)

They're Navy? We'll forgive them. :)

2011-12-03T11:38:00.004-06:00

Vic's dad was down in these parts at the beginning of November and while Vic was at work we went to go see the F-16s that were in town for the football game. It was a cold and very windy day so we didn't stay very long, but it was neat to see them up close.

Trunk or Treat

2011-11-28T22:52:00.003-06:00

Waiting for the fun to start!

I ask for a smile and these are what I get.

My shy guy. :)

Hanging out, eating candy in the back of the car after it was over!

We invited our friends Ben and Aleha and their adorable kiddos! Ty is wearing an awesome flight suit! :)

One of the only pictures I will get of Vic in his flight suit.

The truck next to us brought some awesome carved jack-o-lanterns! What an awesome Halloween!

Halloween

2011-11-28T13:49:00.005-06:00

Better late than never right? We did a couple fun things for Halloween this year. The Mahon Library here in Lubbock had some fun activities for the kids.

What a cute little monkey!!

I had a hard time convincing Logan this was a good idea.

He realized how fun it was and ran to do it again and again! I couldn't keep up with him!

Apple Country

2011-09-25T18:48:00.010-05:00

A few weekends back we decided we'd be a little bit adventurous and head out to Idalou in search of some apple orchards. Okay, that's not all that adventurous but to our family that's pretty out there. We'd heard about them from friends who had gone in years past and decided it was time to see what the fuss was about.

The man under the tent was roasting some peppers although I couldn't tell you what kind they were.

What does that sign say? Well I'm glad you asked! Fresh apple turnovers and Blue Bell ice cream! Mmmmm....

Look who we found! Not entirely sure what she was doing there though...doesn't she have 7 men that need feeding at home?

All Abby wanted to do the whole time we were there was go on "the bouncy thing". Well, she got her wish.

It wouldn't be Texas apple country if you didn't have some bluegrass playing in the background.

What the...

Look Mom! A goat!

Next, it was a trek through the orchard.

The apples were actually pretty small this year.

It's always nice to turn an ordinary Saturday into something different, away from the house and outside in the sunshine!

Dads are fun.

2011-08-28T21:12:00.004-05:00

It seems like every time we have some extra boxes laying around, Vic likes to create things with them. First there was Abby's house made out of the box that her big car seat came in.

And then there's this.

I guess when you have no money you have to do what you can. :P

Lubbock is where it's at.

2011-08-25T15:00:00.006-05:00

Well, we're all moved back into an apartment in Lubbock. We decided to get a 3 bedroom/2 bath instead of our last 2 bedroom/1 bath. Not only does it have the extra bedroom and bathroom but the square footage for the living room is a bit bigger which is nice. As soon as I can get this place cleaned up I'll post some pics! I was also hoping that moving to the other side of the complex would help with our rude/thieving people problem but when I got up this morning and went outside to exercise, I noticed someone tried to take my Air Force ribbon magnet off of my car. It's been so hot around here that it basically melted onto my car and because they couldn't get it off, they just tore it in half. Nice. I'm so sick of people that don't respect others. I'm also trying to figure out why us? We're nice people who keep to ourselves and pay our bills on time and are quiet...why do people like to bother us? I love Lubbock and the friends we've made here but I will be VERY glad to leave. More because I'll then have enough money to live somewhere that isn't inhabited by thieves, criminals, and thugs with no mothers.

Anyhoo.

School started for Vic today and I'm anxiously awaiting for him to come home to tell me how it went...just like the last 10 semesters I imagine. This is our last year though so I'm actually quite excited about the next 2 semesters. Vic is the most upper level POC (not sure if I described that right) which basically will have the same effect on him like being a senior in high school did. I think he's going to develop Big Man On Campus Syndrome. :P

The kids are great and if anyone decides they want a 3 year old and a 1 year old, I'm selling them for cheap. :P Abby chooses not to listen to anything I say and Logan has begun to scream and throw fits (complete with dramatically throwing himself on the floor and actually banging his head on the floor) when he doesn't get what he wants. However Abby decides sometimes she wants to please me and does what I ask and can be a really good helper. Logan has begun to give the best kisses EVER and gets really excited when you ask him for one. So they kind of balance each other out, right?

Oh dear.

2011-07-31T18:28:00.003-05:00

Life just kind of smacked us in the face as of late and it's been hard to remember to care about blogging. The last year has been really hard on our family and sometimes I get into these ruts where I just want to gripe and complain and feel really sorry for myself because I think that it will make me feel better. It doesn't. Not only do I realize that but my loving husband is really good at telling me that. I actually made a list of the bad things that have happened to our family in the last year which included things like:

-Car break-in
-House break-in
-Cancer
-Forced extra school semester
-Failed flight physical
-Crummy bosses/jobs

As soon as I showed Vic my list he immediately scolded me and told me that we are extremely blessed. I just need to look for the blessings instead of concentrating on the tragedies. Well, that's really hard to do since the bad screams a lot louder than the good does. So he made me make another list. This time I included the good things that have happened to our family in the last year:

-My dear sweet Logan boy (okay it's been more than a year but he's so darn cute!)
-We've been safe through our break-ins
-Despite our bit of bad health, we have been healthy before and since
-We GET to stay in Lubbock for another semester (which I actually kind of love)
-Vic got a pilot slot to begin with and is looking to get his eyes retested
-Because we had to quit one job, we were able to get another that fit us a lot better
-We get to spend a lot of time with family on a consistent basis
-My babies are smart, healthy, and love their mom SO MUCH it makes me want to cry everyday (the good kind of crying) :)
-We have good friends who care about us
-Despite being so poooor we always seem to have enough money

Life will almost always hand us the bad....and if we're looking, it will always be there. I need to practice looking for the good. Sometimes it's a bit harder but the more I strive for it, the more I'll come to realize that it is also always there. Our family is actually quite blessed. How thankful I am.

Lazy bones

2011-04-03T22:35:00.009-05:00

I've discovered that I'm the type of person that when things get a little hectic, instead of trying to keep up I shut down. Hence, my blogging. I think I'll just hit the high points.

This is more what Logan has been like lately. I blame his 14 teeth.

February came and went with fun things like gymnastics class

Abby went with her buddy Addie to her gymnastics class cause they had a sort of "bring a friend" day. This picture is too cute, love these girls!

We had some sort of sickness that rendered our family pretty useless for a couple weeks. At least there were plenty of snuggles!

March began with a certain baby boy turning ONE!

This one was taken at my parent's house a week later. We took approximately 4 pictures before our camera battery died. Figures.

I have to throw this one out there cause he looks so OLD to me in this picture. Wah.

We spent 10 days over Spring Break at my parent's house hanging out, playing with cousins, and generally just spending time together! We had a lot of fun, but of course didn't get many pictures. Here are a few.

Matchy Matchy

2011-01-27T12:15:00.002-06:00

Every year for Abby's birthday Grandma Robyn makes her a Christmas dress and since Logan is brand new to the whole Christmas idea, she made him a bow tie too.

They are so cute together.

I feel a whole lot of matching outfits coming on! :D

Man oh Man

2011-01-25T21:54:00.006-06:00

I'm such a terrible blogger. The holidays came up on me and we got so busy I actually forgot about the blog for awhile, and when I realized how much I had to post I kept putting it off. So here I am trying to figure out the best way to wrap up the last 2 months. I think I'll just give you the shortened version.

November-- We wrapped up the month with a short (and long) but wonderful trip to Cedar City, UT for Thanksgiving. Vic's grandparents live there (Ashdown) and it had been so long since he had been there it was nice to visit. While we were there we celebrated Abby's 3rd birthday (YEY!) which happened to be Thanksgiving Day. Because we're such cool parents we didn't bring our camera with us so we have no documentation of the event. But I can tell you we had an ice cream cake with daisies on it and Abby had a slice AFTER her bath while in her pajamas. Yeah, that wasn't very smart. I can't believe my baby is THREE!!

December-- This might have to be the REALLY shortened version. It was my parents' turn for Christmas this year so we headed to Hobbs a few days before Christmas and had a wonderful time talking, playing games, and eating good food with our whole family for 10 whole days! Not only did we go, but my sister and her family live there, and my brother and his family came all the way from Nebraska too! My parents have 5 grandchildren and Abby is the oldest...so as you can imagine it was pretty crazy around that house for awhile. Not only that, but my mom's parents (who live in Idaho) SURPRISED us a couple days before Christmas! We were so shocked we didn't know what to think for awhile! It was a very wonderful Christmas and we are so thankful for the wonderful gifts and games and laughs we enjoyed while we were there. Oh, and we HAVE pictures of this event!

I think that last picture looks like we need to be in a catalog, HA! :P

January-- Not too much to report here. We came back from vacation after the new year and a new semester of school started. We got back into the swing of things rather quickly and here we are! Thanks for bearing with me! :)

Quilting Projects

2010-11-20T15:54:00.005-06:00

I've been hard at work the last month or so on some quilts I decided I wanted to learn how to make. The first one was made for Abby's bed.

How am I supposed to get any work done with this guy hangin' around? :P

The next one I made was for my friend Angela's new baby boy. Love these quilts!

Poor Baby

2010-11-12T16:08:00.005-06:00

Logan got his first big injury a couple of weeks ago.

We had a standing fan in Abby's room and while we thought they were playing peacefully in her bedroom, she pulled it on top of him.

I think something breaks inside a Mommy's heart when her baby gets hurt for the first time (and subsequent injuries for that matter). Sadly, I'm going to have to prepare myself for bigger incidents in the future. Now, for some cuteness. :P

Look Mom, no hands!

Down! Set! HUT!

Par-tay!

2010-10-29T22:11:00.008-05:00

My friend Dani had a little Halloween party at her apartment for the kids and we got some pretty cute pictures of everyone's costumes.

Abby and her bestie Triston

Cute kids!

Obviously Abby went as a bunny.

Logan was Linus from Peanuts. This is the best full-outfit picture I have of Logan except his blanket is nowhere in sight.

The game of throw the candy corn in the bucket went well except I think most of the kids ate the candy instead.

My gorgeous Dani-friend teaching the kids how to do a "Candy Walk".

I got a picture of Abby doing the walk but she got bored VERY quickly and decided to watch instead.

Logan is so much younger than the other kids, it's a good thing he's a loner. (Notice his blanket though!)

Ahhhh...such sweetness.

Dani made cupcakes and let the kids decorate them themselves. Notice the eyeball and finger! haha

Logan did eventually feel left out.

I cannot believe how much I love these kids.

Thanks Dani for the great party! We had a blast!

Taa-daaahhh!!

2010-10-22T12:38:00.004-05:00

The top is done! Actual quilting coming soon...

Oh, and here's some cute pictures for good measure. :)

New project

2010-10-16T17:53:00.003-05:00

Vic has practically been begging me to find a hobby and I think I've found one.

I've always wanted to make a quilt, really just to say that I could make one but I've found that I've really enjoyed it so far! This is going to go on Abby's bed. I'm so excited!

First feeding

2010-09-09T20:55:00.007-05:00

The perfect setting

Dad explaining to Logan what's going to happen next.

"You're kidding me, right Mom?"

Love this kid.

Best Buds

2010-08-29T21:59:00.003-05:00

For some reason I thought I had posted these pictures and it turns out I haven't. I was doing some cleaning a while ago and I walk into my room to find this:

I can't wait until he's old enough that they can play. That will be a special day.

5 1/2 months?

2010-08-19T23:48:00.005-05:00

Well, I was doing good for awhile there. We've had a crazy August month so I'm just now getting around to posting Logan's 5 month pictures. More like 5 1/2 months. :) First let me say that we are very glad that Vic's family got to come and stay with us for a week. Vic graduated on August 7th with his Bachelor's in Business Management and we had a whole lot of family here including Vic's parents and 4 siblings and my parents as well. As a graduation present, his parents gave us this:

Awwwwwesome camera. Which brings me to this:

As well as this:

He is so handsome I just want to smother him with kisses all day. Is that weird?

Thanks Mom and Dad for the amazing camera! :)

Summer Skies

2010-08-01T23:10:00.002-05:00

These pictures are probably from a couple months ago but I just remembered I had them and wanted to share. If I were to make a list of things I like about Texas (and it would be a long list), Texas skies would be near the top.

4 months

2010-07-11T22:03:00.004-05:00

Logan is:

rolling over back to front (one way, to the right)
drooling like crazy
possibly teething because of said drooling
laughing more and more each day
at least 2/3 as big as his sister just from pure SIZE

He also:

smiles every time he sees his mama
follows her with his eyes everywhere she goes
thinks his sister is hilarious
gets mad when he rolls onto his stomach but won't quit doing it
has formed a new habit of kicking his legs and gets quite a workout doing it

Grandma's House

2010-06-13T22:59:00.009-05:00

Many if not all of you know that me and the kids have been staying with my parents in Hobbs because Vic is in Alabama for his AFROTC Field Training. He'll be gone for a total of 4 weeks (3 weeks left, WAHOO!) and not being able to talk to him on the phone, we're missing him like crazy. We are of course taking full advantage of being at Grandma and Papa's house by doing a lot of swimming, playing with cousins and friends, going and getting french fries at McDonald's... You know, the usual. :P

Getting stuck watching "Spongebox" on my parent's 61-inch flat screen TV

I'M thinking we need to go swimming again Mom!

Logan lookin' cute!

Grandma's house tuckers me out!

I was brave and let Abby try to take a picture of me. She had a hard time holding the camera up high enough while pushing the button. This is me trying to compensate for it, haha.

We decided to take a picture to send to Vic in a card for Father's Day this week. Happy Father's Day sweetheart! We love you!

3 months

2010-06-07T15:27:00.005-05:00

Yikes, I don't know how time goes by so fast. First I'm going to start with a picture of Abby when she was about 3 months old:

And now here's Logan's 3 month picture:

Look familiar? I can't believe how much these kids look alike. I just love them so much, so here's a few more! :o)

Memorial Day

2010-05-31T23:35:00.002-05:00

Well, our Memorial Day celebration got off to a great start this morning with a 1st Annual Lubbock Stake 5k Run! I had to push the double stroller for the first half so that Vic could run it (cause he can actually RUN the whole time) and then Vic came and took the stroller and I half ran/half walked the rest of the way. It was my first 5k and I came in at a pathetic 52 minutes. The only direction you can go from there is up I guess. Vic of course got FIRST PLACE when he came in at an amazing 20:01!! It's really crazy how good he's gotten in just a few short months. I must say, I'm very impressed/proud of him.

After the 5k we went home to get the kids fed and changed into our swimming suits because our friends Jake and Andrea invited us to go swimming at the community pool near his dad's (our Bishop's) house. The pool was nice and even had a kiddie pool for Abby...but did she want to stay in it? Nope, of course she wanted to be with the adults in the big pool...which makes it difficult when the shallow end is 3 feet at it's smallest. We even put Logan in the pool with us for a little bit, in his onesie since he's so small we haven't even thought about getting a swimming suit for him yet. The pool was a nice temperature and it was so hot outside, it was a great day to go swimming.

After swimming we all came home for a nap. Well, all except for Mom who took a shower and went with our friend Stephanie to the store to get food for our barbecue we were going to have. Once I got home, it was time to clean up a little bit and get the food prepared. Stephanie and Addie came over about 6:00 and we ate about 6:30. The food was amazing...hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, pork and beans, potato salad, deviled eggs, and chocolate chip cookies. Wonderful friends and amazing food. What more can you ask for, really?

At 8:45 I headed over to my friend Chelsea's for our weekly game of Peanuts. We still had a good turnout with it being a holiday and as usual, I had a lot of fun. Did I bring a camera to any of these events? Of course not. That's just how I roll I guess. Today was an amazing day filled with friends, food, and laughter. We closed our day a little sunburned, REALLY tired, but incredibly happy. Life in Lubbock is wonderful to us.

Kiddos

2010-05-23T21:57:00.003-05:00

I'm sorry that all I ever post about is my kids. But when you have such awesome kids, what else are you going to post about? :P

This video made me laugh...Abby spun "I Am a Child of God" into some kind of techno rap. Hilarious.

Ready for church!

2010-05-16T22:04:00.002-05:00

How in the world do you pick just one picture?? I never can.

What a stud.

Two Months!

2010-05-09T21:52:00.003-05:00

You don't realize how fast time goes by until you have a kid. Case in point: my two month old. :o)

I've tried everything I can think of and I can't get him to stop growing! Anyone have any ideas?

Random

2010-05-09T21:41:00.004-05:00

These are just a couple random pics I wanted to share.

I bought strawberries at Walmart recently and they were HUGE!! I put it next to my iPod for a comparison...but then I realized that it probably wouldn't help if you didn't know how big an iPod is haha.

Look how huge this kid is!! I don't think he was even 2 months old yet when I took this pic. You gotta be kidding me. :P

Military Ball

2010-05-02T22:02:00.003-05:00

A couple weekends ago, Vic and I attended our first Combat Dining Out for the Air Force. My mom came over from Hobbs to baby-sit for us (thanks Mom!). It wasn't quite what I was expecting, but we had a pretty good time anyway. I got to meet a lot of Vic's friends and they fed us too! :) PLUS....we got to dress up!!

I bought a dress online and my friend Christi did my hair (thanks Christi!). It's been so long, I had forgotten what it was like to get pretty for a night!

You should be in pictures!

2010-05-02T20:49:00.003-05:00

Warning! This is a blog of Abby and me playing with the camera. Read only if you're as bored as we are.

I'm lookin' for my friends!

2010-04-25T22:00:00.008-05:00

Abby and her cousin Carson are really good buddies. They are only 6 months apart in age and since they've gotten a little bit older it's fun to get them together and watch them play. Now that my sister and her family have moved back to Hobbs they can get together and play a lot more than they used to.

What kid doesn't like to play in the dirt? Especially with a dump truck!

Sidewalk chalk is also a big hit. This is the two of them with Carson's sister Lily and their Papa. What a softie.

Milk break!

Riding the trashcan like a pony? Whatever keeps you happy I guess.

I guess playing can make you pretty thirsty.

Second best

2010-04-22T21:41:00.003-05:00

Today I told Abby that we could go to the park in our complex and swing. By the time she woke up, I got her changed and dressed and got ready myself, I walked outside and noticed the ominous clouds. I quickly checked the radar and went back outside and by then it was pouring rain. I thought, "Oh no, Abby is NOT going to be happy about this" but she was actually receptive to the idea that because it was raining it made everything wet, and we can't play on wet things. Our plans ruined, we decided to do the next best thing.

What a character.

Pretty typical. Buy the kid a toy and she only wants to play with the box.

She insisted I take a picture of her feet. Look at those adorable toes!

It's been a month?!

2010-04-11T22:16:00.004-05:00

Well we are past a month now but it's certainly flown by.

This is a picture I took of Logan on the day he turned a month old. I can't believe how much he has changed already.

It's hard to believe how much I love these kids.

Logan's Blessing

2010-04-05T22:27:00.002-05:00

My parents and grandparents were able to take the 2 hour trip to Lubbock last Sunday for Logan's baby blessing. Abby wore her Easter dress since Easter was the same week as General Conference. Vic gave the blessing along with my grandfather and some close friends of ours. After church everyone came over to the apartment and ate fried chicken, potato salad, and pork and beans that my mom brought, and an awesome cake my grandma brought. It was a wonderfully inspiring day.

Logan Laurence

2010-03-11T11:37:00.003-06:00

Our baby boy decided in the early morning hours of March 5th he was ready to grace us with his presence. My friend Chelsea graciously came over to be with Abby until my mom could get here (thanks so much!) and Vic and I headed to the hospital. I was admitted and the contractions were getting strong so I immediately asked for my epidural. The resident who did it had to poke me several times but did end up getting it to work. My right side was always numb but my left side would only work if they "flooded" my system with the drug. Fine by me. We waited and waited and finally was told I was ready. After only 10 minutes of easy pushing, at 2:26pm he was born. Vic made me laugh while I was pushing and I think I freaked the doctor out haha. He was 9 pounds, 2 ounces, and 20 inches long! How in the world was I carrying such a big baby? Abby adores him. She likes him so much she's always jumping on him so we've had a hard time getting her off of him. :P So far he's really been a good baby, he just sleeps all the time. We've had some trouble getting him to sleep in his bassinet because he really enjoys sleeping with us in our bed. Gonna have to break him of that right quick. He looks so much like Abby to me! He is also changing so much everyday. We are so blessed.

Hormones?

2010-02-10T22:11:00.002-06:00

Okay so I have a problem. Not a large one by comparison to sickness in the family or financial struggles or marriage trials, but rather something that won't stop plaguing my thoughts.
I have a baby coming. Like, soon. My due date is in 3 weeks. Everyone talks about the absolute amazement and wonderment that comes with expecting a child...how much love and happiness come from that bundle of joy. Why don't I feel it? I actually think I remember feeling the same way with Abby. People would ask if I was excited and I would say, "Oh yeah! Totally excited!" but didn't really feel it on the inside. The only excitement I get is knowing that in a month this will be over and I won't be pregnant anymore. And I actually get anxious in a dreadful way thinking about having a new baby in the house.
Is this normal? I mean, I know you can say that my hormones are just messing with me and that once he gets here and my hormones go back to normal that it'll be okay...it just seems that my hormones would swing me the other way, ya know? That I'd be so caught up and emotional at the thought of having another child I would just want to bawl with joy. Instead I think about what I will have to go through in order to get him here, how my husband is never home, how financially secure we are not, how this summer he will be gone for 6 weeks severing all contact he has with his family, and how much I really do not want to do this alone.
I guess I'm just nervous. And anxious. A lot's going to change in my life very soon and I just hope I have the strength and energy and sanity to keep up with it all.

ABCs

2010-01-26T21:09:00.002-06:00

The reason why I'm doing these all at once is because I took them all at once. I guess I could have spread them out but I couldn't wait to show them to everyone.

Abby is learning her ABCs and is getting pretty darn good. Well, see for yourself.

In case you're wondering what she's looking at, the only way I could get her to sing for the camera is if I turned the screen around so she could see herself while I recorded. No, I don't have Vic holding cue cards off-camera. :P

Such a funny girl

2010-01-26T20:45:00.003-06:00

While I had my camera out taking my big fat pregnant picture (see below post :P), Abby really wanted me to take a picture of her, so I took a few.

I then decided to take a video, which is something she didn't realize and makes the video that much funnier. She's pretty smart if she knows that the camera is supposed to make a noise when a picture is being taken, and thinks something is wrong when it doesn't happen.

Are we there yet?

2010-01-26T20:39:00.003-06:00

Here are my 34 1/2 week pictures haha. My sister-in-law Katie has been bugging me to post some "preggo" pictures (of which I am not a fan) and so I finally decide to oblige her. I still have 5 weeks left, why do I already feel like I'm going to pop?

Christmas

2010-01-10T19:17:00.004-06:00

Well, I figured I might as well go ahead and knock out the Christmas blog! This year we went to Riverton, Wyoming to spend Christmas with Vic's family who moved there a little over a year ago. His family was very generous and wanted us to come so much that they paid to fly us to Denver, Colorado and then came down and got us and drove us the other 5 hours. They did more traveling than we did! The holidays were really nice, filled with talking, laughing, games, crafts, skiing, roller skating, caroling, Christmas parties, hot tubs, and cousins playing! They also bought a little plastic sled so that Abby and her cousin Asher could slide down a little hill they have in their back yard.

Apparently Abby did not enjoy landing face first into the snow very much.

A herd of deer that often comes through the Ashdown's back yard (it's actually a golf course)

We really enjoyed our time there and can't wait to go back!

Exhausted

2010-01-04T12:48:00.004-06:00

One day last month, I put Abby down for her nap. She was silent in her room but little did I know, she did not sleep. I went into her room 2 hours later to get her and we had a rather difficult afternoon. Around 5:00, she told me she was hungry so I gave her an apple to eat. I proceeded to fold laundry and when I checked on her, this is what I found.

Now for anyone who knows my daughter, they know she does not just fall asleep in odd places. She only ever falls asleep in her room with the door shut. She'll scream and yell and she and I will fight until I put her in her room, but she never just falls asleep. Imagine my surprise when I come across her sound asleep in her high chair. Of course, I had to take pictures. Vic came home shortly after and then this is what I found.

My two narcoleptics.

Baby It's Cold Outside

2009-12-13T22:27:00.005-06:00

What is this cold white stuff on the ground? It's not snow...it's ice! One very cold morning, Vic let me sleep in and he dressed Abby up very snuggly and took her outside to explore the icy wonderland that appeared overnight. She very much enjoyed stomping around in her new boots we bought her for our trip to Wyoming.

Shrimp and Corn Chowder with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

2009-12-12T18:46:00.002-06:00

Due to the suggestion from a friend I am posting the link to an absolutely AMAZING soup I made the other night. You can find the recipe here.
Because I'm a simple person, I also like my recipes to be. So when I made it, I actually left out the sun-dried tomatoes (cause I don't really see how they add a lot to it and I'm cheap) and the chives (not a big chive fan). I also like cheese (just ask my husband, I put cheese on/in EVERYTHING) and because I had leftover mozzarella I threw it in for good measure (everything evens out, see?!). :P Anyway, the recipe ended up being amazing and I definitely suggest it to anyone who is craving something warm on the cold night.

Look what I did!

2009-12-05T20:14:00.001-06:00

Got another one!

2009-11-22T23:11:00.003-06:00

Okay so I think this one is my favorite. He feels a little awkward taking a picture by himself in his uniform so I made Abby take the picture with him, which she was happy to oblige. :)

Sorry the pictures are a little blurry. We've gotten into the habit of using our video camera to take still pictures because we don't need batteries for it. It's not very good at it either.

Fall is here!

2009-11-15T22:10:00.010-06:00

Since I decided to change my blog a little bit, I thought I'd better post the new pictures we took too. :) This picture was the entire reason behind going to the park to take pictures. Our days have been really nice here in West Texas temperature wise and we have been taking advantage of it. Abby and I were at the Buddy Holly Recreation Area and came upon this beautiful tree. I knew I wanted to go back and take a picture and decided to bring Vic with us for some family pictures.

My beautiful baby in a tree. Haha, she loved it too.

This bridge made me so nervous! I think it was built a long time ago and needs to be redone! :P

I made sure to include Vic in the picture so our parenting skills weren't raised into question.

My Manly Man

2009-11-12T16:32:00.002-06:00

I finally got it!

Vic finally sat still long enough for me to take a picture in one of his uniforms. Sorry about the quality but this is all he would give me. :P He has 3 different uniforms he wears and I'm going to try to get a picture of them soon. Wish me luck!

Fall Festival

2009-11-04T14:43:00.004-06:00

I know I'm sneaky, you don't have to say anything. :P Here are a couple pictures that were taken by some friends of mine at the Fall Festival last Friday (thanks guys!). I'm terrible with remembering to grab my camera and Abby happened to be in a couple pictures some of my friends took...so I stole them. :P

Abby jumping in the bouncy thing (does that thing have a name?) with friends Tristan and Bentley.

Abigail and her best friend Adelynn (isn't she the cutest little Dorothy?!) loved jumping when it was just the two of them.

We tried to get Abby and Addie to take a picture together but for some reason Abby didn't want to. Even when Daddy tried to make her feel better, she still wasn't having a good time. Luckily for her, Addie was by her side the whole time. Hey, what are best friends for? ;)

Halloween 2009

2009-10-31T17:34:00.003-05:00

I know it's a little early to post on Halloween, but since I think Abby is still a little too young to trick or treat and the fact that we have Stake Conference tonight, I'm going to go ahead and post about our Halloween.
Abby and I went to the Science Spectrum here in Lubbock on Thursday morning for a Halloween activity they were doing and it was a madhouse! A LOT of people showed up with their kids and I was sort of happy to leave, haha. Too many people for me! Plus, Abby is so little if I turned around I would lose her. Scared me a little bit. Naturally I forgot my camera, but since it was SUPER cold and rainy I didn't dress Abby up in her costume because she would have been way too cold...it wasn't a big loss.
Last night, Vic, Abby, and I went to the Fall Festival our ward was putting on. We also invited our friends Stephanie and Addie to go with us and it was pretty fun. They had bowling, "bobbing" for apples (which they gave the kids sharp objects to "bob" for them...interesting), pumpkins to decorate, donuts on a string, one of those inflatable bouncy things, and they had a costume parade. Nick Sorensen was a good sport and filled in for the bishop for a "Cream Bro. Sorensen" activity. Did I bring my camera? Nope. For some reason my brain doesn't turn to camera. It's amazing I have pictures of Abby at all.
So because of my camera amnesia I gave myself more work and dressed Abby up in her costume again today so I could take pictures. She doesn't sit still very well so these are the best I have.

Abby posing as a pretty ballerina

Trying to get Abby to twirl

Why so scared?

2009-09-27T22:08:00.002-05:00

Abby has the absolute weirdest fears. The DVD player tray, the bathroom scale...and we have discovered another.

Just a coupla kids

2009-09-27T21:54:00.003-05:00

These were too cute not to share right away. Vic got our camera out tonight and he and Abby decided to have some fun. See for yourself.

And of course they have to get one with Mom. Hey guys, Mom's on the phone do you mind?? :P:P:P I love these guys.

Okay last one for now

2009-09-16T20:55:00.002-05:00

This video was taken a few weeks ago. I was sitting in the living room and I realized Abby had been quiet for some time. In my house, that's rarely a good thing so I went to investigate.

Tickle Monster!

2009-09-07T18:51:00.002-05:00

Okay maybe not quite. My friend Stephanie came over one night with her daughter Adelynn who is the same age as Abby. While in the high chair, Abby started tickling Addie's feet. It was so cute that I wanted to take a video of it but of course once I got out the camera, it was hard to get her to cooperate.

Upside down

2009-08-30T20:40:00.003-05:00

I'm sorry this video is upside down. I think when Vic took it he didn't realize that videos aren't like pictures where you can turn them around when you're done. The thing I noticed about this video is how old it is. Abby is talking SO much more now, it's crazy. We can almost hold conversations with her. Not full sentences, but conversations. Her favorite sayings now are "What are you doing?" and when you make her laugh she calls you "funny".

It's Been Awhile...

2009-08-23T19:28:00.002-05:00

I have some videos that I would like to post on here but seeing as how I'm fighting with my video camera at the moment trying to put them on the computer, I suppose they will have to wait. I'm also battling with my toddler right now because while I want to type out a blog to let you guys know what is new with us, she seems to want to kiss every square inch of my face, head, neck, and arms. I know, what am I complaining about, right? She's a sweetheart. Either that, or she just really wants to get close to the laptop.

We have survived the summer with only minor bumps and bruises. Vic worked all summer at Cowamongus while I stayed home with Abby most of the time. We made a couple trips to Hobbs, including one over the 4th of July and a most recent one last Sunday to see a friend come home from his mission. Vic's parents came last Thursday and stayed with us the better part of the weekend. They also came for our mutual friend's homecoming. We did a lot of fun things while they were here too. On Friday, which happened to be my birthday, we went to the mall where Vic's parents bought us a nice propane grill and then we went out to lunch. On Saturday I stayed with Vic's 9 year old sister Celeste while his parents, brother, and himself went to the temple. Afterward we all went to the Science Spectrum which was nice because I haven't been there since I was a kid. That night we decided to break in the new grill and so we cooked us up some nice hamburgers and hot dogs. It was a really nice vacation from the normal and we enjoyed spending time with them.

Abby had a bout of sickness recently that rendered her unable to eat or drink much. It's always scary when your child is sick, but even more so when they also aren't eating or drinking. We're still not sure what it was, she never had a fever but couldn't keep anything down. We're just glad she's over it. She has all four of her canine teeth now and it's strange to look in her mouth or at her smile and see a full set of teeth. She's definitely more rambunctious than ever and she's learning new words and talking more everyday. My baby is not a baby anymore. :( How sad.

In other news, we are expecting our 2nd child on March 5th and we're excited to give Abby a sibling to play with. While I have been pretty tired and sick and say that through gritted teeth, I promise that the end result is what I'm after. I'm willing to go through some hardships for the joy it brings my family. Just be sure to remind me later. :)

That's about all for our little family. Vic will start school again this week and it's off to the races once more. The only difference is that he's starting his ROTC program so it'll be interesting to see what that brings us. I'll keep you posted.

Wyoming

2009-06-19T09:57:00.004-05:00

Well I figured it was about time I posted about our trip to Wyoming. I know it's been a month since we've been back and I'm sorry! I don't have an excuse. Well, we drove all the way up to Riverton, Wyoming from down here in Lubbock, Texas and it was a LONG drive. We took 16 hours to drive up there (stopping a few times) and only 14 on the way home. By then we recognized how long it was and really didn't want it to take longer than it had to...we only stopped twice. We spent a lot of time hanging out with family and talking, we went swimming a couple times at the local high school, and we got in the hot tub a couple times at night while we were there. The weather was beautiful and the mountains were too! The temperature was nice enough we could have dinner out on the patio a few times and the mountains still had snow on their tops! Much better than the blazing heat we get down here.

A couple other things we did included going to Martin's Cove. We walked a small part of the trek, pulling the little kids in a handcart. Vic's cousin Jessica was a trooper! She carried her 6 week old the whole time. We also went through the visitor's center and watched a short video about Martin's Cove. Click here to learn more about it!

We also went to Sinks Canyon. A major river in Wyoming comes to a cave and disappears underground. Because of dye tests, they can say it takes 2 hours for the water to come up again but it comes up only 1/4 mile away from where it sinks. There, it's called "The Rise". Kind of a cool thing to visit. All in all, we had a really great visit and we can't wait to see everyone again!

Lubbock Arts Festival

2009-05-01T22:46:00.006-05:00

Julie Willingham and I had a girl's night out tonight that was a lot of fun. Everyone that we invited couldn't make it on a Friday night so it was just the two of us and it was really fun anyway. We started by going to the Lubbock Arts Festival at the Civic center and it was really cool.

They had a whole section just for art from nearby schools. Several vehicles were decked out in different ways including hand painted ones, a van that had probably several hundred pounds worth of brass objects glued to it, and a car someone had sewn over with yarn. There were booths that sold different kinds of art like watercolor, photographs, and jewelry. I even spoke to a woman who told me about the South Plains Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.

Well apparently you can volunteer there and since I love animals, I might look into it very soon. I didn't even know it was there! I seriously need to get out more. I've lived here for three years and I'm still discovering all these cool things about Lubbock. Which brings me to...

The Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts! I'm telling you, I'm in awe over here. Julie and I talked to this woman about taking a class called A Taste of Clay: A Three Hour Experience with Clay. They hold a three hour class every Thursday night and teach you how to work with clay, first free-styling and then THROWING clay. That sounds like so much fun I could tinkle. :P

On a different note, I am now an aunt of four! That's right ladies and gents, Lily Allana Cochran was born 8:29am (MDT) on Wednesday April 29, 2009. She weighed in at 6 lbs., 15 ounces and she's a cutie! Which reminds me, I have a picture.

Doesn't she just make you want to have one of your own? Just me? Ahem, nevermind. :) Okay, that's all for now. If any of you who actually read my insane blog want to volunteer at the Wildlife Center or want to take a pottery class with me, let me know! I'd love to have a buddy come with me.

Are we done yet?

2009-04-26T20:53:00.006-05:00

With another semester almost over I can't help but feel we still won't be done for awhile. Since Vic has joined the ROTC program at Tech we have another 2 1/2 years before we are done. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we have a plan now but it hurts to think we still have so long to go! Vic and I will be married for 3 years this Tuesday and it doesn't feel like it's been that long. My mom and grandparents came to Lubbock yesterday and I went to the temple to do a session with them. My grandma went through the temple for my Aunt Gwen who passed away January of last year. It was nice and the Spirit was really strong while we were there. I know that she is happy now. Abby and I went swimming on Friday at the Rec with our friends Angela, Noel, and their baby Grace. The pool is indoors which is nice to not have to worry about sunscreen but they had too many rules. Apparently they don't allow any kind of floaties in the pool so I had to hold Abby the whole time. AND they wouldn't let me wear my t-shirt in the pool (WHY NOT?), which I really needed seeing how I don't have a swimsuit that fits me very well. So I'm definitely going swimsuit shopping this week because I'd love to go again and I know Abby loved it.

Abby playing outside of our apartment

Abby tempting the prairie dogs. Can you tell we're awesome parents?

Crazy hair!

2009-04-19T22:01:00.003-05:00

I always try to put some pictures in my blog posts because I know that's what I like to see in other's blogs! We were just goofing around with the camera taking pictures the other day, so I thought I would share them. The first picture I was trying to get Abby to take a picture and she didn't want to. I have ahold of her arm off-camera. Haha, she wasn't too happy. I'll post again soon and let you guys know what's going on in the life of the Ashdowns!

Easter!

2009-04-13T13:26:00.007-05:00

Here are a couple pictures of Abby's Easter dress. She looked sooo cute and we got a lot of compliments on how cute she looked. :) Not that we're trying to teach that that's important, but it's nice to look nice! :P

Also, I took a short video of her in her dress. I'm posting it because in the video, as she's walking past me you can hear her tell me "hi". That is something she's doing a lot these days and I think it's so cute! Hope everyone had a great Easter!

Spring Mosaic

2009-04-05T22:26:00.003-05:00

These things are so much fun I can't stand it. :P This is my mosaic for spring. By the way Carrie, I'm so glad that you do these too because I would feel like a goof doing them by myself. :P You said I was artsy and that put a lot of pressure on me I'll have you know! I hope you like it. :)

Yeesh! A month?!

2009-03-29T20:50:00.004-05:00

Wow, I'm getting really bad at this. Alas, I will continue to try. Here is a picture of our Abigail sitting in her new favorite spot...in the drawer under the oven. I don't know why though, that can't be terribly comfortable. However this is just another example of what we do on a daily basis. Not too terribly much. :P

Party time!

2009-03-01T19:55:00.003-06:00

This is a quick video of a birthday party we had for a friend (and girl I work with). We're playing Rock Band and Abby is DIGGIN' it! :P We had a great time and definitely think we should do it again!

It's a wonderful Ashdown life

2009-02-23T16:09:00.002-06:00

I sort of got scolded yesterday for telling my husband that we lead boring lives. When asked why I don't write more on what is going on with us as a family I responded with a laugh and explained that we don't do anything interesting. I think I might have hurt his feelings a little bit but I have now decided to write more on what is going on in the Ashdown family.
I think I'll start with Valentine's Day. I woke up Saturday morning and fixed Vic a special breakfast with blueberry muffins and french toast with "I" "♥" "U" made with powdered sugar on top. We spent the middle part of the day with my parents who came to town to see their lovely granddaughter. That night Vic fixed me an awesome 3 course meal. Peaches, mango, grapes, blueberries, and apples were the appetizer along with whipped topping for dipping. The main course was lamb with sweet potatoes and asparagus (my favorite!). For dessert he bought a New York Style cheesecake with strawberry topping (also my favorite!). All in all it was a pretty great Valentine's and I definitely felt appreciated and loved! More in the life of the Ashdowns to come! :P:P

Journey

2009-02-22T16:58:00.003-06:00

For the last 5 Wednesdays or so we've been babysitting a 19 month old girl named Journey for a friend of Vic's. It's been nice to have a playmate for Abby.

Christmas morning

2009-02-08T22:33:00.005-06:00

This is a little late, but here are a couple pictures from Christmas morning. In the days when the wrapping paper roll is more fun than actual presents. Oh, and I promise we usually dress her more appropriately. The no pants one sock look is just a white trash thing we were trying out. Didn't go over too well actually.

Dad finally nailed her down though to try on her new Christmas pants!

Abbi's new favorite past time.

2009-02-01T20:22:00.004-06:00

Note: this is not a picture of Abigail's high chair. This is a picture we took capturing her in action over Christmas with the high chair my parents keep at their house.

Despite Abigail's wonderful climbing techniques (you know, the ones she uses when she's climbing on the couch, the chair, the windowsill, YOU), she has also started to push things. In example: her high chair. What a wonderful pushing contraption, it has incredibly skinny bars for legs and wheels that make pushing so easy. Ahhh this is the good life.

Spreadin' 'em out

2009-01-26T01:02:00.005-06:00

I guess it's been another week and I should post some more pictures. Since we didn't take that many, I'm spreading them out a little bit. :P

Abigail is so hilarious when it comes to my parent's dogs. They have 2 miniature schnauzers and Abbi just LOVES them. She follows them everywhere wanting to pet them, play with them, love on them. She likes it so much that we have a picture of the bigger dog, Sadie, passed out on the couch from exhaustion. This is a picture of her with the smaller dog, Muffin.

This picture is great. This is Abigail with my dad and Abbi is wearing a hat that my dad used to wear when he was a baby. It's obviously a boy hat and she kind of looks like a boy with it on, but it's so cute! She's obviously not having a great time. :P

We're in big trouble

2009-01-21T23:20:00.002-06:00

Abigail has reached a point in her tiny childhood that when we open the fridge, it doesn't matter what it is, she automatically wants something from it. Because of this fact, I took a brownie from the pan on the top of the refrigerator and snuck it into the living room. Realizing I got away with it, I happily sat down in my chair and began enjoying my delicious homemade brownie. It doesn't matter what we're doing or how long we're gone, Abigail follows us around the house and this was no exception. She followed me into the living room and realized that I had something. She climbed onto the chair with me and found out exactly what it was I had. She sat very politely and very patiently in front of me, and when she realized I wasn't going to give her any of my brownie, she kissed me on the nose. At that point, I all but lost it. I laughed so hard I cried and what could I do but give that sweet adorable girl a piece of my brownie?

Christmas 2008

2009-01-20T09:46:00.006-06:00

Sorry this is way late. I just finally got the pictures we took at Christmas and I realized we didn't take very many. Bummer. Here are a few.

Putting the lights on my parent's Christmas tree. It's hard work! I'm so glad mine is pre-lit. :P

Abigail being cute. My mom was trying to clean out the fridge in the laundry room and Abbi decided to help.

Abbi's a Guitar Hero rockstar mama!

We had a lot of fun at home and we wish we lived closer to our families. More pictures to come!

Oh, the holidays.

2009-01-08T21:55:00.002-06:00

I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to write. The holidays were somewhat stressful and I'm just now feeling normal again. Our vacation was kind of long so I'll start with our first trip. Abigail and I went to Hobbs, NM on December 14th to go spend time with Grandma and Grandpa. We were there until December 19th when Vic could join us. We went shopping, cooked dinner, played games, painted the front living room (Vic even helped my dad re-side the shed), and just enjoyed each others company until the day after Christmas when the three of us drove home to Lubbock. Before our second trip, we spent time unpacking, repacking, and cleaning (Vic was actually at the temple the whole time this was going on :P) until we went to bed early so we could get up at 3:00am Dec. 27 to drive all the way to Kyle, TX, just outside of Austin. There we spent time with Vic's parents and siblings. We went to San Antonio where we went to the Japanese Tea Gardens, the San Antonio Zoo, and the Alamo before finally deciding we were tired and wanted to go back to Kyle. The rest of the week we played Wii, Texas Hold 'Em, and other games while just sitting back and enjoying the time we had together. We hadn't seen any of them in a lot of months so it was nice to get some time together.
Now we're back in Lubbock and Vic just started school again yesterday and we're getting back into our normal routine, which I have to say has been pretty nice. While vacation is always a lot of fun, it's always nice to get a vacation from your vacation. Abigail is becoming such a sweet baby I just want to eat her up. She has begun to give hugs. While that is cute enough, she gives them to everyone! Not complete strangers obviously, but friends of ours, other children...she loves to give loves! Who would have thought we would have raised a sugary sweet child. :P She has 4 new teeth since the last time I posted. She got three of her molars at once while we were in Hobbs (yeah, that was fun) and she just had another one of her top front teeth poke through. My baby is growing up and I don't know how to stop it. It makes me really sad to think she's not going to be my baby much longer. I want to cry thinking about it. Time to have another one I guess. :P:P:P Kidding! Please no one yell at me for that. :) I'll try to post some pictures later, but I'm on the laptop right now and the pictures are on the desktop. Just wanted to let everyone know that we're doing okay! Thanks goes out to all my Lubbock friends for welcoming us back with open arms. :):):) We love you guys!

Guess who's one!

2008-11-28T00:19:00.004-06:00

That's right, yesterday our sweet baby turned a year old. Is there medication for this kind of thing? :P We had a great time with cake and family and friends and Abbi got to stay up 2 hours past her bedtime! What a lucky girl.

Tag you're it!

2008-11-14T10:46:00.003-06:00

Well Amanda J. picture tagged me so I guess I have to do it! :P This is a picture of my sweet Abigail lifting up the tail of my other friend Amanda F.'s dog, wondering what was underneath. How exactly do you capture such things on film? :P Oh, and I tag Scott, Katie, and Erienne!

Reflections of Christ

2008-11-06T22:21:00.003-06:00

Christ's life and mission are truly amazing. I have a hard time bearing my testimony in words but I know what I feel. The pictures in this slide show are on display in the Visitor Center in the Mesa, Arizona Temple. They are amazing and I love the beautiful song that accompanies the slide show. I cry every time I watch it and I know it will help me show you guys how the gospel of Jesus Christ is supposed to make you feel. Make sure you are alone and that it is quiet in the house so that there are no interruptions...the Spirit will testify to you.

Leaves are falling all around

2008-11-02T20:16:00.014-06:00

Fall really is a beautiful time of year. The leaves are changing colors and are falling off the trees but nothing looks dead yet, like winter does. It's still getting in the 70s here though and we're left wondering if it's ever going to get cold. On Tuesday we took Abbi to our ward's Fall Festival where they had games and Trunk or Treating. I made her into a bunny in only a couple of hours but I think she's the cutest bunny ever. Texas Tech knocked Texas down a few pegs in our home game on Saturday which was an AWESOME game. We don't have cable but we do have rabbit ears and I'm SO glad it was on ABC. Oh, and the power went out in our church building halfway through our fast and testimony meeting today. The brother that was giving his testimony said he thought that meant he should wrap it up. Abbi crawled up onto our bed today. You read that right, OUR bed...the one that's 3 feet off the ground. We had an empty box in our room (away from the bed mind you) and she pushed it over to the bed, climbed on top of the box and then pulled herself onto the bed. We were like, ohhhh great. She's also getting really close to walking. Check this out:

Amanda's Mosaic (thanks Carrie!)

2008-10-27T22:57:00.003-05:00

I stole this from a friend's blog. It's called a Mosaic. I had quite a lot of fun making it. If you want to know how I did it or what it means, just ask! :)

New Goals

2008-10-12T22:28:00.006-05:00

Life gets kind of hard sometimes if you don't stay on track. Vic has so much going on all the time it's difficult to remember the other little things that are also important. Even I have a hard time wanting to do things I should. So Vic and I are going to try to help each other remember our goals and actively pursue them. So far I'm 100% with mine and I'm looking forward to another week of gratifying goal achievement. It's really nice to have a companion, I can say that much. I was thinking about how I would feel having to come home to an empty house and not be able to have that close companionship and sharing with another person and it's difficult to imagine. I'm very grateful and very blessed to be where I am in my life right now and I don't have a problem acknowledging it. I'm also blessed with friends. Tonight we had a few people over for dinner/dessert/games. Haha, a little of each actually. The Conrads were over for dinner and Chelsea came over with Bentley for a little bit of dinner as well. They all stayed through dessert and then Chelsea left before the Morris' came over for dessert/games. The Conrads left before games so it was just the four of us for Scattergories and Golf. By the way Grandma, Vic loves Golf and he's been obsessed with it ever since you taught him! What a funny guy. Today in church we practiced for our Sacrament Meeting program in Primary and they're concentrating on singing mostly this year. There are a few speaking parts but not a lot. Anyway, with my 10 five year olds I had to have 2 other adults help me reign them in everytime they got bored or out of hand. I don't think I'm cut out for this job. It's been raining a little here which is a nice change to our still hot weather. I've also been trying to figure out what to dress Abbi as for her first Halloween so if there are any ideas, please let me know! She also kind of took a step today! I was messing with the mini-blinds and I turned around and she was just standing there, not holding anything...staring at me. Ha. And then she turned around, took a step and grabbed the chair. I was like ohmygosh! Anyday now...

I can't help it! Somebody stop me!!

2008-10-03T20:34:00.003-05:00

Oh my goodness do I enjoy videos of my child. But I guess if I didn't we'd have a problem, eh? Vic and I went on a date tonight for the first time in quite a few months. We went to Freebirds because we've never been and man do they have huge burritos! We took Abbi with us and she was pretty good. I think she gets tired of not being able to run around and her attention span at the table is getting shorter and shorter. She is getting SO GOOD at moving from furniture to furniture that sometimes she just lets go to reach the next one. She's never done that before and it's scaring us! Haha! Vic also bought me some roses tonight which was very sweet of him. For those of you who don't know, I only get flowers for Valentine's Day so this was quite a shocker! He's doing the best he can at being a sweet husband and going to different lengths and I love him for it. What a wonderful husband, father, and friend.

Bad habits starting early

2008-10-02T16:40:00.002-05:00

Just a quick video of Abbi jumping on her bed. She's still at an age where I think it's terribly cute but I need to watch myself because habits like this shouldn't be encouraged. :)

When it doesn't work the first time...

2008-09-28T22:41:00.014-05:00

I really wish I were better at this, although I guess I won't get better without practice. The last couple weeks have gone by without incident. I gave blood to the United Blood Services blood drive the church was having last week. Vic would have too except he didn't realize how long it had been since he gave blood last. He still had 10 days until he could give blood again. My mom came and picked me up on Thursday and brought me and Abbi back to Hobbs with her. Abbi and I hung out with Grandpa on Friday and then went to the Hobbs High School football game that night. We were creamed, 42-20 or something like that. Hobbs never had a good team. Then on Saturday we took a trip to Roswell, NM to see my sister Katie and her husband and child. What a chunk! He's at least as heavy as Abbi if not more! It was good to see them again. After our short visit we drove all the way back to Lubbock where we went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner (of which we weren't impressed...45 minute wait for our food and when we finally got it, they were kiddie sizes!) and then bought Mom a cake for her birthday. All in all, a pretty great weekend. I love spending time with my family. Abbi finally cut that 2nd top tooth so she's a little more evened out now. She's got a pretty good gap of which we blame her father for. :P She stood up today which was pretty spectacular in itself. Usually she'll grab on to a piece of furniture and then maybe let go for like a second. But she was playing on the floor and decided to stand where she was! It wasn't wobbly and she stood for probably 5-6 seconds which was great! Vic and I both had to pick our jaws up off the floor. She's growing up so fast and we don't know how to stop it! The Jacksons come over tonight for a few minutes to drop off some cookies and talk. We're very lucky to have such great friends in the church. If only we had time for more get-togethers! Talk to Vic about that.

The Beginning

2008-09-13T16:53:00.006-05:00

I'm gonna start this blog off with a picture of our pride and ultimate joy, Abigail Ashdown. It just seems like a good way to start. We've started our 5th semester here at Texas Tech in Lubbock, TX and still have a long ways to go. Vic is taking 19 hours this semester which might be borderline overkill. I don't doubt he'll be able to handle it though. He is also President of the Dr. Bernard Harris Premed Society, volunteers at the temple every other Friday night, and teaches Seminary every weekday morning at 6:30am. That might do it. I on the other hand work around 10 hours a week and stay at home with Abbi the rest of the time being a mommy and a housewife/homemaker. Doesn't really compare. I do teach the CTR 5 class in Primary every Sunday which is a feat in itself. Abigail is 9 1/2 months old and can't sit still for anything! She's trying to stand on her own and walk but she still might have a little to go. She's cut 3 teeth and we're anxiously awaiting the 2nd top tooth which is so close! She's a total joy in our hectic lives and a joy to those around her. What a beautiful blessing.