Christmas Day

We were so blessed this Christmas. It just made us realized how many wonderful people are in our lives. Cooper was so much fun. He loved getting his new toys and "helping dad" put it together. We had a great time with the Buttars family and the Rich family.

Helping Dad



Coop's Christmas




Snomobiling with mom and Michelle



Coop loves his new bike!

Christmas Eve

So, it's been a struggle between Brad and I to figure out a way to spend Christmas with both families. They live close enough together that we can see both, but balancing our time is hard. If anyone has suggestions, let me know. This year we went to my cousin's house and had dinner on Christmas Eve. We had a good time and then my parents rented two snowmobiles to play around with until Wednesday. Eddie, Michelle, Brad and I stayed out until 11:30 playing snowmobile dodgeball. Hopefully that will become a new tradition. Thanks mom and dad!

Buttars Family



Michelle & Eddie



Naughty Cooper



Christmas PJs

Pre-Christmas

Christmas was so much fun this year. But, before we get to that...I thought I would post a bunch of pictures from before Christmas. We had a good time sledding, going to parties with family, and just relaxing!

Latest Tricks...

So, Coop has decided lately that his toys are no longer fun. He thinks that mom's "toys" are way more fun now. It is so hard to keep your house clean when a little one is running around like this opening everything. I guess it doesn't matter really, and I'm trying to just enjoy every minute of him at this age.




Does anyone also agree that bundling up a little one is a pain? I love winter and being warm and cozy, but it's hard to get them in their coat staying warm. I thought this was a cute picture though.



Last, but not least....I turn twenty five today. I can't hardly believe it! A quarter of a century. It seem strange that ten years ago I was in ninth grade. I wasn't driving yet..I was still working on the farm..and living in Lewiston. All of this seems so crazy. I am so grateful where my life is now. I have a wonderful family, extended family, friends, home, and so many blessings I can't even count. Thanks to everyone for being a part of it!

Coop and I delivering Christmas gifts to neighbors:

Christmas Cards...

So, as you all know, it's that time of year again. As usual, I'm a little late in getting around to the Christmas cards. Please email me your address so I can send you one. Thanks! My email is ashleyrich23@gmail.com. Have a Merry Christmas!!

A Year Has Passed...

It is so much fun to look at old pictures and see how much Cooper has changed. We had four of us that were due within a weeks time. One of those couples was Mick and Tiffany Simmons. Right after Coop was born, we went to visit the Simmons because they had their little girl Addy five days after Coop was born. She emailed me these pics and I can't believe how much they've changed!

A few days after they were born:



A couple months ago at Lake Powell:



Last Wednesday:



This pic was also at Lake Powell..I just thought it was cute!

Sunset

Last night our sunset was amazing. I am constantly saying how much I miss Logan and the scenery, but this sunset I have to say, was comparable. I hurried and took these pictures out my back door. I guess that we do have open space behind our house, but I still miss Logan!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving with the Rich family in St. George. We even got in a little early birthday party for Cooper. He turns one tomorrow!!! I can hardly believe it. Time is just flying by!

Climbing the rocks in St. George




Hiking Zion's Rivertrail




Early Birthday Party

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope that everyone gets stuffed full of great food today. Enjoy it! We are down in St. George at my sister-in-law Julie's house. I love Thanksgiving with the Richs! They have some of the best food! What is everyone else doing?
So, I was thinking about how much fun the holidays are and all the fun things that we do year after year. I want to find out other people's fun traditions! One that our family does, which was passed down to us from the Rich side, is PJs on Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve they got to open PJs which they all put on and wore for Christmas. I think that is such a fun tradition to continue with our family. They also act out the nativity with all the nieces and nephews, which always ends up being such a treat.
Another tradition that was started on my side of the family is a children's book each Christmas. While we were growing up, my parents would give us each a children's book. They would also write the year inside so we would remember what year we got the book. I love looking back at them.
Well, hope the holiday's are treating you as wonderful as they are treating our family!

Yuck

Okay, so I didn't think it was possible but I found a reason why it is crappy to be a mom with little kids. Before anyone freaks out, hear me out. Last night around ten I got sick with the flu. No sleep at all during the night and throwing up once or twice everyhour. Still haven't slept at all. I couldn't even take naps today for some reason so I'm running on no sleep. Anyway, it is so hard to be so sick and have to take care of a one year old who is constantly wanting to play and get into things when all I want to do is lay there. I'm kind of a baby and revert back to a one year old when I'm sick. Coop should have been taking care of me!! :) I wish my mom lived next door! Even though it is hard and I have just felt like complaining. I would never give up the experience of motherhood. It's amazing even with all the struggles!

I'm a hypocrite!

Okay, so we have all heard the stories about people who accidentally get locked out of their car by their kids. Well, I've heard the stories and thought to myself, that would never happen to me. Come to find out I was wrong. Brad and I headed to the carwash today and while we were waiting for a bay Coop was in the drivers side seat because he likes to play with the steering wheel. Well, next thing I know Brad is telling me Coop hit the lock button and we are locked out of our car at the carwash. We have no spare and I admit I panicked. I also blamed Brad...oops. Anyway, luckily my nice red explorer (sarcasm) has a key code on the door but...we don't know it!! Well, when we bought the car Brad's father Bill knew the previous owner. Come to find out he made himself a copy of the keycode...and was home at the time so he could look it up. We were able to get back in the car in about five minutes time. A record! Coop had no idea what was going on. The whole time he was just hitting the window and pulling faces....gosh if they weren't so dang cute! I won't be so quick to judge anymore! :)

Car Seat

So Coop turns one on the 27th and that means that we have to get him a forward facing car seat! (YEAH)!! I am excited because hopefully that means he'll be happier in the car. So, I have looked a little bit..but I know the best way to find a carseat I would like is to ask people that have already bought one. So, if anyone has opinions on what kind of car seat to get let me know. I want to make sure I like it because it will be around for a while. Thanks!

Family Pics

Today we had some pictures done by a friend of Brad's from ETrade. I was a little nervous because he really only does photography as a hobby and does mostly action shots. Considering all of this and the fact that Cooper has no attention span..I think that some of them really turned out. They haven't been fixed or photoshopped or anything..I'm still trying to decide which one I like the best...so help me pick! Oh yeah...the white bra deal will get photoshopped out...oops.

Camera

Okay...so I have a question for everyone. Since I'm done with school Brad said that I could get a camera for graduation. I'm not sure what I want...so I am posting to get suggestions. I don't need anything really fancy because I don't know a lot about cameras. I was thinking something with a really good zoom lens (around 10x zoom) and also a high megapixel...but I don't want to spend a thousand dollars. If anyone can help me let me know!

Happy Halloween

Our family had such a fun weekend. Friday night we dressed up and went to our ward party. We have a really young ward, so it was just crazy the whole night with little kids running around. It makes it fun. Saturday night was another party. Our friends Melissa and Tom decided to have a Halloween party this year and they went all out. Their house looked amazing in all the Halloween decorations. She spares no expense and gave out door prizes where I won a cute Cookie Lee necklace and earrings. We had so much fun at their house with all our friends! Thanks for hosting another fun party Melissa!

Our dressed-up family!



Calder Family



Soren in his cow costume

Time for a Haircut!

We finally gave Coop his first "real" haircut with the clippers. We were going to be taking pictures (which didn't happen) so we decided to cut it. Well, I'm glad we didn't take pictures because I couldn't believe we cut it so short. He is still the cutest though. He's also started doing these cheesy grins and so we had to take a picture!

Before:



After--along with a grin!



Smile!

Little Skunk

So, I decided to be really prepared for Halloween this year and buy Coop his costume early...the only problem is I have to wait so long to put him in it! Well, I decided to take some pics while grandpa and grandma were here. The black nose made of mascara didn't work too well this time, but hopefully I'll have it down by Halloween!

Girls Night Out

Okay, so being married is great and everything...but how much fun is it to get away with all the girls? This past Friday night I headed up to Park City and met up with five of my best friends. We stayed over at Deer Valley and had such a great time. We got in the hot tub, did facials, and stayed up until three in the morning...something I haven't done by choice forever. Saturday we went shopping at the outlets and finished it off with a trip to TJMAXX!! We decided to make sure we do something like that every year, which is great but....it was so much fun I think we might do it more often!

NCLEX

Okay, so today I finally took my NCLEX-RN exam. Yes, I was done with school in December and I am just getting around to it. I wasn't in any rush because I'm staying home with Coop, but I needed to get it done. Well, the tests are hard and I have been studying and I am so glad it's over!!! No more nursing books! I don't know if I passed until next week, but I'm hopeful.....
Oh yeah, I also found my phone! They had delivered it to the wrong address and the girl finally brought it to me on Satuday....yes...I'm grateful, but I was so stressed!!

Cell Phone

Okay, so it's kind of strange for this to be my first blog post...but it has been bugging me all day. I left my phone in Logan last weekend and I haven't had it all week! Let me just say that you have no idea how much you will miss a cell phone until you don't have one. Well, Bill sent it in the mail on Monday...no phone. We called the post office and lucky for us...(kind of)...Bill had put insurance on the phone for $100. BUT...the phone was marked as having arrived on TUESDAY. Yeah, so I'm a little upset at the thought of never getting my phone back!!! We all know $100 doesn't cover that much of a phone and it stinks to know that if I had just remembered to get it I wouldn't have to worry about it. Anyway..my postal carrier either doesn't know what they are doing, or has a nice, new phone with all my numbers and pictures..basically my whole life!!