Bye, Kyle!

This is the last picture we got of Kyle with Ashton before he left. It was taken at his missionary farewell party. He's headed for some crazy fun in Nicaragua for the next two years. It is weird to think that the next picture I get of them together will be when Ashton is 3! That will be interesting, especially for Kyle. We'll miss him!

So Silly

It's weird to me that Ashton was just a little blob of baby last year, because now he is so crazy! He has his own specific personality and even a sense of humor, and it's just so cool that such a little boy can already have so much going on inside of his head. Here are some of the funny things he's done lately:

I left the laundry basket out a while back (which is not uncommon for me...*blush*) and Ashton got one of my bras out and was swinging it around. I told him, "Honey those are for mommy's, not for little boys!" And he looked right at me and (very deliberately) hung it around his neck.

He walked around with it like that for quite a while and had a fit if I tried to take it off of him. What a stinker!

Another night we were sitting in the living room and Ashton found a basket somewhere and carried it over to Tyler. He thought it was funny, so he said something like, "Oh Ashton are you going to be like Little Red Riding Hood and carry a basket with you?" And Ashton thought that was so funny that he kept running (almost skipping) around the room carrying that basket.

Blankets have also become a particular favorite lately. Not really a certain blanket. Any old blanket will do. I first started noticing this when Ashton decided it was more fun to lay on his blanket and drink his water than to sit up. He dragged the blanket out of the diaper bag and brought it all the way into the living room, then he spread it out all by himself (which took a while!) and laid down very satisfied with what he accomplished. We now have blankets all over the house thanks to him.

What silly things kids do. I wonder if I ever did strange things like this...

The Big Move

The end of June came way too quickly, and suddenly it was time to move to out new house! But first things first--we had to pack up. You never know how much random junk you have until you have to pack it all up and move it somewhere. And it seems like every time you move there's more stuff than the last time! I do not like packing. Neither does Tyler. But Ashton enjoyed the plethora of boxes we had lying around, so at least someone was having fun.

And here it is...our beautiful new house!!!

We absolutely love love LOVE it! We had lots of help moving from Tyler's family and a few people in our ward that we'd never really met before but came to help anyway! It was so nice to have so many people working with us, and it went way faster than we thought it would. Ashton really likes all the space in our house. He runs around and around and explores everywhere he can get into. Here he is running at top speed past our jetted tub. (Did I mention it's jetted!?!?)

But after the joy of moving in comes the joy of unpacking--not so bad as packing it all up, but still gets old pretty fast. Once again, Ashton is about the only one enjoying it...

Oh well, things are mostly done now, and it's looking good and feeling great to have a place of our own. The neighborhood is nice and the people in our ward seem pretty cool, so we're looking forward to being here indefinitely. Yay for owning a house! It's like we're real grown-ups and everything. :)

The First Cookie

Didn't get my camera out fast enough to catch him eating it, but I did catch his reaction:

I'd say he liked it!

Can-Opener Kid

That's what Grandma Becky calls Ashton-- "The Can-Opener Kid." Because Ashton can and will open anything with his teeth. And he'll probably do it faster than you can blink, too. He has opened bottles of face cleaner, Tums, aspirin, lotion, baby powder--you name it and he's probably opened it, child-proof or not. Those have to be some crazy strong teeth he's got, because he opens things that I can't even open with my big, grown-up hands!

Anyway, one night as I was talking with Tyler, I mistakenly left the diaper bag unattended and within Ashton's reach. I cut off mid-sentence because I realized it was way too quiet to mean anything good. And I was right. Ashton had some fun with the can of formula. Have a look for yourself. :)

One Year Old!!! Part Three--The Doctor

The day after the big birthday, it was time to head to the one-year check-up! Ashton has always enjoyed the doctor's office for some reason. Maybe it's all the cupboards to get into...

...or the new places to run...

...or the purple chair that's just his size!

Well, whatever it is, he sure enjoys it! (Except for the part when he gets his shots. But who would enjoy that???) He's now 19 lbs and 1 oz, and he's 29 inches long. And now it's official: my little, sweet baby is now a big, strong boy!

Sad day for me... :)

One Year Old!!! Part Two--The Pictures

The day of Ashton's real birthday. Woohoo! I dressed him in his new birthday outfit and we ventured outside for some pictures...except he wouldn't look at me for pretty much any of them! He was all about playing with the dirt and rocks and random garbage pails. Well, I tried. I really did. But this is all I came up with in the end. :)

And there still weren't any good smiles once we went back inside. He was too busy breaking into the fridge for some yogurt. :)

Oh well, at least I got one really good smile!

One Year Old!!! Part One--The Party

We had Ashton's birthday party the night before his birthday. (It worked better for everyone, and he didn't know the difference.) We went to his Grandma/pa Hinton's house to celebrate. We ate hamburgers for dinner and had cake and presents, and it was a grand old time. Check out the spread of presents this kid got! Talk about spoiled...

This was the big Winnie the Pooh cake. It's pretty handy that Becky works at a bakery. She made a funfetti cake from a box at home, but then had her friends at the bakery decorate it cool! (Funfetti, yum!!!)

And this was his personal smash cake.

We started out with dinner, and then it was time for presents! The first one was...

...a colorful stacking toy thing! (Yeah, we all had one, but I don't know what they're called exactly.)

(He loves it a TON!!!)

Then he had to take a quick break to wrestle Bryant's head.

He also got...

...a book!

(He looks so disappointed.)

And...

...a new shirt! (For his one-year-old pictures tomorrow...)

And another wrestling break.

I think he started getting the hang of this present thing. He opened this one totally on his own--even opened the box and everything without any help!

A nice new outfit!

He also got...

...a Mickey and friends sippy cup!



And...

...some Winnie the Pooh bath toys!

We should've just given the kid a balloon... :)





And then it was time for cake!

He wasn't too sure about that cake at first! But giving him the spoon eventually did the trick and he dove right in.

For some reason he kept spooning it onto the table. Wierdo.





He did try a bite or two, but I guess he just doesn't like cake. (Kinda like me!) He was happier just playing in it.
















Sharing a bite with Daddy.





Time to get cleaned up!



And time for a drink!




It was all way too much fun--when we got home that night he just laid on the bed, exhaused!

It seems to me like the first birthday party was a success! I'm not sure how much he really understood about it, but he got to rip lots of paper, destroy beautiful presents, and play with a big mushy cake and a bunch of new toys, so I'd say he felt pretty special.

Happy Birthday, buddy!