Stuck

Ha! That'll teach him not to take his clothes off! Well, hopefully...

A Vegetable Miracle

Seriously, a miracle has occurred. Ashton has been kind of picky about what foods he will eat. This surprises me, because he loved ALL kinds of baby food. But take the same foods in their real form, and all of a sudden they are the scum of the earth. I always offer, but usually vegetables end up on the floor. Until today! I was making a salad, and I handed him a piece of tomato. And he ate it! And he wanted more!!! Yay!

Later on I gave him a cucumber, and he liked that, too!!!

I am so surprised, because I detest tomatoes and cucumbers, so he definitely gets this from his father. But I don't care! Now there are two vegetables he will eat! I feel like a success as a mother! For today, at least.

Ashton the Builder

This kid is getting sneaky. I put something he wanted on the counter, because I knew he couldn't reach that high. Well, he took matters into his own hands.

What a stinker! I guess I'll have to be on my guard from now on.

Sleepy Boy

Ashton refused to nap one day, so I let him stay up. That night Daddy sat down on the couch, and Ashton came to give him a hug or something. Well, he must have been hanging by a thread, because he fell asleep right there--standing up, right between Tyler's knees!

Poor guy. He tried so hard, but he just couldn't make it all day!

The (Actual) Surprise!

Well, the surprise was AWESOME! We left early to avoid the crazy concert traffic that always piles up at the Usana Amphitheatre. When we first got there, we went behind the main stage where they had the "Water World Plaza" set up. It was like a little festival with a couple of things to do (like fishing boat video games) and a smaller stage. We got to see Josh Thompson, Easton Corbin, and Steel Magnolia. None of them are super famous, but I did know some of the songs and it was a nice way to pass the time, since we got there so early. Then we enjoyed the carnival food for dinner (nachos, mmm...) and went to find our seats for the main event.

Cell phone pictures aren't the greatest, but I didn't want to risk my fancy camera when there were sure to be lots of dancing, stomping, drunk country fans. (And I turned out to be right! A totally wasted lady crashed into me in the middle of a song and almost sent me flying! Oh boy...) But, anyway, our seats were much, much closer than they look. We could see the people perfectly.

Justin Moore did a small set to open, then Darius Rucker came and sang a bunch of songs. I think all of his songs are so good! Then Brad Paisley came out and sang for FOREVER! It was a good kind of forever, though. He sang pretty much every song he could have ever thought to sing. He even came way out in the crowd, right in front of our section, to sing a couple songs. He was so close! That's him in the bottom right of the picture (above). Though, as I mentioned, the cell phone makes it look a lot farther away than it was...

At the end we were so tired, but I had a lot of fun. I think Tyler enjoyed it, too. At least, I hope so! We tried forever to find our car, and then waited even longer for the traffic to get out of the parking lot. I was fine to wait, since there were way too many drunk people, and I was sure some of them were out there driving. I'd rather follow far behind that kind of scariness. So, anyway, we are sitting there waiting and the biggest monster truck I have ever seen comes roaring around us. It was so loud and so close I thought we were going to be crushed, but we were fine. It sped around and tried to ram its way into the line of cars that were leaving. Well, this incredibly brave, tiny, fragile-looking car sped right in front of it and cut it off so that it couldn't cut in line! The big monster had to slam on his breaks, and I thought he would smash right into him, but he didn't. Came close, though.

That is one brave driver! I would never pull in front of that beast! It was too funny (and scary) to see!

Well, that is the great surprise. I loved it all. Thank you, Tyler, for being wonderful to me! I love you!

The Surprise: Answers

In case you're still wondering...my surprise is: the H2O World Tour!!! Basically a concert of Brad Paisley and Darius Rucker, probably the two best male country singers right now. Woo hoo!!! I am so excited!

Here's what all of those clues meant that Tyler gave me. (At least, this is what I think they meant!)

1) Salt and Pepper Shakers -- Salt is white, as is Brad Paisley; Pepper is black, as is Darius Rucker. And they dance a bit, hence the shaking.

2) Fresh Water Fish -- Brad P has lots of songs about fishing. And it's the H2O Tour...

3) Mixing Alcohol -- Brad P also has a few songs that involve alcohol. Not my favorite ones, but what male country singer doesn't have a drinking song or two?

4) Tie-required Event -- Ties with paisley on them are rather popular now. (I'll be honest, this is the only clue that didn't quite make sense to me...)

5) History Presentation -- Darius R has a song called "History in the Making," and Brad P has one called "Welcome to the Future" that also talks about history.

6) Greek and Roman -- The concert was at the Usana Amphitheatre. Classic Greek/Roman architecture.

7) Grass and Concrete -- There's lcots of grass and concrete at an outdoor amphitheatre...

8) 30s and 40s-- Darius R is in his 30s and Brad P is in his 40s.

9) Mud and Water -- Brad P has a song about mud ("Mud on the Tires") and a song about water ("Water").

10) Sewing Machines -- "Singer" is a popular sewing machine brand. Which is what Brad P and Darius R are. This is Tyler's most clever clue, in my opinion, and the first one I figured out!

11) Saturday Night on Friday Night -- Brad P has a song called "American Saturday Night," which would be sung at the concert on Friday night.

12) Chemistry -- Every good concert has plenty of pyrotechnics.

13) 12 to 12 -- It was an all-day extravaganza that required us to leave at noon and not get back until midnight.

14) Babylon in Zion -- They aren't Mormons, but they were coming to Salt Lake? I think. Not sure...

15) You Like, I Don't -- I like country music. Tyler does not. This is why he is my hero.

See how hard that was to piece together?! Man, Tyler is tricky, but he is also a saint. What husband would buy tickets to a concert he probably wouldn't like very much, just because he knew his wife would love it? A very good one, that's who!

15 Month-Old Check-Up

Well, Ashton's 15 month-old check-up came, and with it an irrational fear of doctors. Up until now he has always been so brave. He never seemed to care what they were doing to him. I thought it would still be that way at first. We waited in the room and he sat on the table so nicely, showing me his ears and eyes and toes. And his head...

...and his tongue...

but then the nurse came in and he had a giant melt-down. Now, for whatever reason, the mere presence of a nurse or doctor sends him into screaming fits. It came totally out of nowhere! Like he went from one extreme to the other in an instant. Oh well. From now on there probably won't be anymore cute doctor's office pictures of him, since I'll be too busy keeping him from running out the door...

15 Month Stats:

Height-- 31.25 inches (56th percentile)

Weight-- 20.5 pounds (5th percentile)

Youth Conference 2010

Tyler and I got the awesome job of organizing the Youth Conference every other year at church! It was way fun to do! Our past EFY experience came in quite handy, I'll just say that. Due to some budget constraints, we could only do one day, so it was an all-day Saturday extravaganza. We started the day with a lovely introduction to the theme by the Young Women's President, Julie Bird. (I should also credit her for the pictures...we were too busy to take any ourselves!) The theme the kids chose was "Fight for the Right." After her remarks, we had them play a strategic game that was kind of like Risk, but involved lots of balloon popping and being tied together. They basically tried to conquer as many lands as possible on a map, while still passing hidden challenges that tested their integrity. It's hard to explain, but they all had fun and I think it worked well...though some of them had a hard time with the tied-up part!

After that the kids all ran off for a service scavenger hunt. They performed a lot of great service for people in the neighborhood and it was a lot of fun.

After the service, there was a small break for lunch, and then we headed over to a super cool ropes course in Provo. The kids first started out with "low course" obstacle courses that made them work together and think creatively. It looked really fun.

Then they moved on to the "high course" activities. (They did not look fun to me at all!!! But I am afraid of heights. :) I was surprised how all the kids were so brave and actually wanted to do all the scary stuff!) The high courses included climbing to a big zip line...

...swinging off a giant swing...

...and jumping off of a really tall platform!

We just sat back with the other leaders and "supervised." Ha ha...

Once that was over, the kids were hot and exhausted, so they met with their leaders back at the church and enjoyed a little reflecting discussion and popsicles. Meanwhile Tyler and I were busting our backsides getting dinner set up and ready. There wasn't enough money to have it catered, so we did it ourselves. Which meant it was yummy, but a lot of work! We got a lot of comments about how good it was, especially the "special punch" we served...which wasn't anything but kool-aid! It was so funny.

The night ended with a lovely fireside by the Young Men's President, Justin Libberton. And then it was clean-up time. It went fast, because almost everyone was really helpful. Although some not so much... :)

Can't wait until 2012 so we can do it all again!

Dancing King

Ashton is the King of Dance. Any time there is any kind of music, he stops and dances. It is too funny. Even if he is half asleep and there is music he will spring to his feet and start dancing. He has an assortment of moves, including stomping his feet, swinging his arms, swaying his hips and/or head, or just bouncing in general. Here are just a few samples of his skills...although I've never been able to get him to dance as crazy for the camera as he does in real life.

He also dances to celebrate, even when no music is involved. Like when I gave him not just one, but two balloons to play with. He was so overcome that he burst into a dance of joy.

Who knows, maybe we have a future super star in our midst...

Love. This. Boy.

The Surprise: Clues

Remember way back on Mother's Day when I said one of my presents was a surprise? Well, I finally figured out what it is! I'm quite proud of myself. Tyler has given me a new clue and two puzzle pieces every Sunday since Mother's Day, and those clues are hard! I thought for sure I'd just have to figure it out from the puzzle or just figure it out when we get there. But no! I figured it out! So here are all of the clues. See if you can figure it out...

1) Salt and Pepper Shakers

2) Fresh Water Fish

3) Mixing Alcohol

4) Tie-required Event

5) History Presentation

6) Greek and Roman

7) Grass and Concrete

8) 30s and 40s

9) Mud and Water

10) Sewing Machines

11) Saturday Night on Friday Night

12) Chemistry

13) 12 to 12

14) Babylon in Zion

15) You Like, I Don't

Well, good luck!

Happy Birthday, Tyler!

Tyler is now 26! Yay! We celebrated on the day of and the day after, because we spoil him like that. On his birthday I made his favorite dinner (roast and mashed potatos) and his mom made his favorite homemade rolls, and we had a lovely family dinner. The next night we went on a date. We had dinner at the ever-crowded (but so worth it) Texas Roadhouse. They made Tyler sit on the saddle and give a "Yee-haw!" for his birthday. You can tell he was thrilled about that...

Then we headed down to BYU to see a concert of the one and only Brian Stokes Mitchell. He is on many of our Broadway CDs or DVDs, and we have seen him a few times in Salt Lake, but we have never managed to get his autograph. Well this time you better believe we did! On like four different things, too. He was like, "Wow, all this?" It was pretty funny. :)

Happy Birthday, Tyler! Hope it was a good one! We love you!

Ashton Loves Hats

And I love him in them. :)