6 Months

I just love this cute little face! I love Austin's chubby cheeks and his sweet little smile. It makes me giggle every time I see him! He is such a happy baby and just loves to smile and laugh. Austin turned 6 months old on Dec. 15th, but I just got him into the dr. for his well-baby visit this week. The dr. and nurses always laugh at his cute chubbiness!

Stats:

Length - 28"

Weight - 20 lbs. 8 0z.

90-95% in everything

A little about Austin:

Austin is sitting up on his own and loves to play with anything and everything within his reach. He loves to put everything in his mouth. His favorite toys are Dora Teething Keys, a round rattle, Pooh Keys, the exersaucer, and his new jump-a-roo. He loves to make noises and jabber. He has a cute little growl that he does and then switches to a high-pitch scream. He loves to play and stand on your lap. He is a great eater and I haven't found anything that he doesn't like! He loves to play with Ashley. She is really good at making him laugh when she sings and dances for him.

A New Start

I haven't updated our blog in about 2 years. I originally got into blogging as a way to update family and close friends, but with the craziness of life it quickly fell to the way-side. I found that I needed a bigger motivation for keeping it updated.

I have been watching my friends blog for the last 6 months or so. My friend is so good about updating her blog multiple times a week if not daily. What I noticed is that she keeps it as more of a journal about family. I am absolutely horrible about keeping a journal. I was never good when I was young and I'm not good at it now. I like to pride myself on my memory and for the most part I do a pretty good job of remembering events and details. However, as the years move on I am finding that I don't always remember the funny little things that Ashley says, or some of the silly little day-to-day things that we do.

So what I figured out is that I'm really good at talking about my kids and telling stories and I'm really good at sitting on my computer every evening (well, not quite every evening). I might as well start using our blog as a way for me to journal everything. I can't promise that I'll be as diligent as my friend, but hopefully I'll be better than before. :) After all, who wouldn't want to see pictures of these cute kiddos!

Happy Birthday Ashley!

Yesterday was Ashley's birthday. I can't believe that our little baby is already 3 years old. She is getting so big! Here's a look at her happy day:

We started off having her favorite breakfast consisting of Pancakes, Sausage, and Fruit.

Then it was off to Toys R Us, where she picked out a couple presents - A Pink Umbrella and V-Tech in Motion (kind of like a Wii for kids). Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!

Then she enjoyed her yummy cake - a Princess Cake, of course!

Ashley had alot of fun and got tons of energy out running around Escapades - they have slides, tubes, and other things that you crawl all over.

She had such a great day and got great gifts - so thank you to everyone!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHLEY!!

Sledding!

BEWARE: The following post contains ALOT of pictures. A few pictures just doesn't do justice!

Over the last couple days, we've received several inches of snow. We decided to take Ashley out to play in the glorious powder. We found a park that had some pretty good hills and took Ashley sledding for the first time! We had a great time and Ashley loved it, of course!

Ashley was a little apprehensive, at first...

Dad was so nice to pull Ashley up all the hills!

After the first ride, all Ashley could say is "let's do it again!" She insisted on going by herself the rest of the time.

Ashley decided that she needed to be fair and tried to pull Dad up the hill. Unfortunately, she did not get very far. :)

I think someone is starting to loose their steam...

Nope, still enough left for a few more rides!

Now, I get a turn to ride!

Thad took Ashley down the BIG hill as the last ride for the day. Her face says it all!

We had such a fun time and Ashley can't wait to go again!

Merry Christmas - a little late

Alright, so I guess I have been pretty terrible about updating this little thing - better late than never, right? I'd like to say that I'm going to be better, but I really can't make any promises. I had planned to give an update with some pictures from the fall and Halloween, but the pictures are on my laptop, which died and is at the shop getting the hard drive copied (so I can hopefully savage everything), and well... now you know that part of the story. Anyway, no big deal - you'll just have to wait for those pictures. So instead I thought I would start with Christmas.

Oh wait, before I start with Christmas, I'll at least give everyone a quick update. Thad officially began working as a dentist in the middle part of July. I think it's definitely been an adjustment (you know, having a job, being the boss, and everything else), but he loves with he is doing - which is a relief. I mean, you don't want someone to go through all that school just to find out that they don't like it. It's been really nice having him home in the evenings and spending more time with him. Thad is also serving as the Young Men's President in our ward. So between work and church he is still staying quite busy, but loving it.

We started Ashley in a preschool/learning center this fall. She attends three days a week and just loves it. In the beginning it was hard for her to have me leave her, but now she loves it. She's made so many friends and loves her teachers. I also think it's been really good for her. It's been amazing to see how much she has grown. I don't know that I can really describe how she's grown. I've seen such a change in the way she interacts with other kids, her reasoning, verbal language, that sort of thing. I'm seeing her personality come out more and more. We've always known that she loves attention, but I am all of a sudden seeing this extremely goofy side - she's kind of the class clown. There was one day I went to pick her up early from school and they were eating snacks. I peaked in the door and she was doing goofy things and making goofy faces and all the other kids were laughing - she was happy as a clam just etertaining them. She loves entertaining people and being the center of attention. Today she wouldn't leave church until she gave her favorite young women/babysitters a concert. She sang "Holly, Jolly Christmas" and "Do Your Ear's Hang Low". She's such a little hamm! She's coming up with all sorts of crazy things to say every day and we love it!

Now with Ashley in school three days a week, I'm sure you're all wondering what I've been busy doing. Well, now that Thad is done with school, I have gone back. We really just can't seem to get away from the school life. I am currently taking the prerequisite courses for the nursing program and will apply this April (keep your fingers crossed). School has pretty much taken up any free time that I had. I'm really enjoying being in school and feeling like I'm accomplishing something. Ashley and I still get in plenty of play time and love visiting the zoo, Children's Museum, and hanging out here at home. Anyway, enough about us... so how have you been? :)

We hope that you all had a fabulous Christmas. We decided to stay here for Christmas again this year. We stayed home last year and really enjoyed it. It's been kind of fun starting our own traditions. Christmas was alot of fun this year because Ashley is older and really got into it. Back in October she picked out a bike that she wanted. I told her that she would have to ask Santa for the bike, and boy, she did not forget. Several times a week she kept telling me that she needed to ask Santa for her pink princess bike. I thought it was so cute! At our ward Christmas party, we of course had a visitor and she finally had her chance. She was so excited! Anyway, Santa delivered... The only bad part is the fact that she hasn't had the chance to ride it outside because of the snow.

Well, now is the part that I'm sure you're really interested in... pictures. Enjoy!

HOORAY!!

Today, Thad graduated from dental school. What a huge accomplishment and we are so proud of him!! Now it is on to real life... Some of you may be wondering what lies ahead for us. We will be staying here in Indiana for two more years. Thad will be working in Muncie which is about 1 1/2 hours from here. We are currently in the house hunting stages, but will be leaving Indianapolis and moving closer to his office. Thad is scheduled to begin work the middle of June. In the meantime, Ashley and I are so happy to have him home and we will all enjoy some R&R and family fun-time.

To all of our friends who are leaving... we will miss you all! We have valued the friendships that we have built here and will cherish the experiences and memories that you have all been apart of. We wish for you only the very best!!

Alright, so enough of the sappy stuff :) Today we are celebrating a special day, Thad's Day (and all the other graduates). He did it, you all did it! HOORAY!

Most of the LDS Guys

Thad & JB

Thad & JM

BR, TE, & Thad

Thad, RB, JJ, & JM

Me with some of the other wives

Thad & his clinic director

Thad with other dental friends

The Proud Moment!

Congratulations Dad!!

The End is Finally Here!

Four years ago Thad and I moved to Indianapolis so Thad could begin dental school. After our first year I began counting Fast Sundays (there were still 36 to go) and I felt like the end would never come. This past Sunday I checked off our last Fast Sunday (we have Stake Conference this week). The end is finally here!

In nine days Thad will graduate from dental school. I have watched and admired Thad as he has worked so hard for this accomplishment. We are so proud of you and love you so much!

Way to go!!!