Gma & Gpa Ashmore's New House

Grandma and Grandpa Ashmore moved out of our basement a few months ago. They headed to Arizona to purchase a house. They have been living with Joel and Rhonda during the last little while and they are moved into their new house. They asked me to post some pictures for them, so here they are...

December snow finally came

Luke finally got the snow he had been wanting. It snowed an inch or two back in October, and I pulled him around the front yard on his sled. He loved it, but the snow melted away a few hours later. He has been wanting some ever since. He finally got his wish mid way through December. We scooped the snow off the driveway and built a ramp. More snow equals bigger ramp. Bring it on!

Little Man Tate

Happy two weeks to Tate coming up...cake and ice cream at our house Tuesday with 2/52 of a candle in the cupcake. You will only be allowed to enter once you have sung atleast one X-mas carol on the front porch. Not just any carol, though, we have an approved list for you to choose from.

Shop with a Cop

Today was the "Shop with a cop." It was a lot of fun. At about 0530 hours, we met at the Little America in Salt Lake City. We were assigned a kid and ate breakfast together. Then at 0700 hours, we headed out to our cars. The kids played with our lights and sirens for about ten minutes. Then we drove from Lil America to 9000 South to the K-mart in West Valley. Santa landed by means of the UHP helicopter in the parking lot. We shopped with our kids, visited Santa, then dropped off kids to their parents at the exit doors. It was alot of fun and look forward to doing it again next year. Isaac was fun to shop with and wanted lots of toys.

Way back when?

The X-mas theme this year at the Governor's Mansion is items to do with Public Safety or Heroes. There are alot of Firefighter and Police items throughout. Mrs. Huntsman also arranged for a station in Salt Lake to store this in front of the mansion. It is on display during the day and then driven back to a nearby fire station where it is permanetly on display. Pretty cool.

I wanna hoad him...

Luke loves Tate very much, but is protective of mommy. Erin was nursing Tate when Luke walked in to see what was going on. Luke climbed up on the bed for a better view and said, "Tate, you no bite my mommy on this...ok."

New Arrival

Tate Williams Heywood was born on 12/02/2008 at 2112 hours. He was 7 pounds, 11 ounces and 18 inches long.Mom and baby are doing fine.

Flashback

Woh. All Luke needs is a patch over his right eye. No, we didn't get lame glasses like mom and dad did for me. These are toy glasses. Dude, cracks me up. I also love the placement of his watch.

Disney On Ice

We went to Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake (where the stinkin Utah Jazz play) to watch Disney On Ice. I think we all had a blast, especially the kids. Cousins on the steps of Energy Solutions Arena Luke was totally focused the entire time Some of Luke's favorites: Woody, Buzz, Jesse More fave's : Nemo, Dori, Bruce

WITH HONOR AND RESPECT

NSL officer, injured in car chase, dies late Friday By Lindsay Whitehurst The Salt Lake Tribune Article Last Updated: 11/08/2008 03:05:53 PM MST Posted: 3:02 PM- A North Salt Lake City police officer critically injured during a chase this week has died, the department and his family announced Saturday. Charles Skinner, 30, suffered head injuries when his police cruiser skidded on a rain-slickened road and spun into a business sign while pursuing an alleged car thief at about 4 a.m. Monday. Despite undergoing surgery, Skinner did not regain consciousness and was taken off life support Friday evening, North Salt Lake Sgt. Mitch Gwilliam said. Funeral arrangements are pending. Four weeks before his death, Skinner became a father of twins, a boy and a girl, and had recently bought a house with his wife Kaitlyn. "He felt like he had the perfect life," said his father-in-law Gary Koehn, who is a Bountiful Police sergeant. When his daughter first brought Skinner home to meet her family, he was difficult to get to know because he was so quiet. But he blossomed after becoming a North Salt Lake police officer in May. "The simple task of putting on his uniform made him happy every day," Koehn said. Skinner grew up in South Salt Lake and had served in the Salt Lake City Police department for about a year before moving north. He was "ecstatic" about being a first-time father, Koehn said. When his newborn daughter came down with a respiratory problem, Skinner insisted on staying in the nursery with her so she wouldn't be alone. "His children will always know their dad was a great man, respected police officer and a hero," said Koehn, his voice breaking with emotion. Skinner was the first North Salt Lake Police officer to die on the job, Gwilliam said, and the loss has been painful for the department. "It tears us apart that we have to go on," he said, knowing one of their own "gave the ultimate sacrifice for his community." Gwilliam remembered that when Skinner was issued his equipment for the first time, he asked if he could drive his police car out to show his family. "He was so proud to say, 'This is a police car, and it's mine," he said. "'This is what I get to drive.'" The alleged car thief, meanwhile, was identified as 30-year-old William Fisher of Salt Lake City. He rolled his car and suffered minor injuries as he tried to exit Interstate 15 during the pursuit. The case is being reviewed to decide if charges related to Skinner's death will be filed, Gwilliam said. Donations to Skinner's children can be made at an account in his name at Zions Bank.

Grape Juice Beware!!!

So a few years back when I worked on the BYU Grounds crew. Wait, it was 6 or 7 years ago. Dang, I am getting old. Anyway, I often packed a lunch. We were living in the basement apartment of Erin's Grandma. She had some grape vines along her fence and the side of the house. Every summer she would pick the grapes, steam them, then bottle the juice. She would bottle them in one and two quart jars. At this time, I had been around the Williams family for about 6 years(four years dating, two married), so grapejuice was in my blood by this point. It was at nearly all the family occasions, and it was so delicious. Anyway, I packed my lunches for work and decided to take a jar of the lovely grapejuice. I was laying pavers near the front area of the entrance to the MTC. It was about an hour or so after lunch, and I all of a sudden felt sicker than poo. I didn't feel like vomiting, but my stomach had that deep pain, like a massive fart was building up. I got so bad, I had to go home. Upon arrival of my residence, the door was locked. Grandma was not home, and I now knew I had to get to the toilet or there was gonna be trouble. Thank goodness it was summer time, with no A/C. Our bedroom window was open. I kicked in the screen, dove in the window, landing on our bed and scrambled for the bathroom. It was like a firehose out my colon. Remember the diarhea scene on Dumb and Dumber? This was pretty similiar. Well, it turns out that the one and two quart grapejuice jars are pure grapes. They have not been diluted yet. I had only drank the juice out of a pitcher before and just assumed it was a few jars in there. But no way, JOSE! Ya gots to add water and a little sugar first. So I had just drank one quart of natures Ex lax. Not good, not good at all. Well, the jars you see below are from our garden. Erin picked them, steamed them, and bottled the juice. So now I know to dilute those pupppies before swiggin em.

Happy Halloween

Grandparents Ashmore in Arizona

For those of you who don't know. Grandma and Grandpa Ashmore moved to Arizona this last weekend. We loaded up the truck on Saturday, and headed for Page, Arizona. I drove the 24 foot truck while Gma and Gpa Ashmore followed in their car. Along the way, I listed to the second half of the BYU Football game. I almost lost control as the final minutes ticked away from another close game. It was awesome. I high fived the TV strapped to the seat next to me. Sorry, Grandparents. Hopefully it still works.On Sunday, we headed the rest of the way to Maricopa, Arizona. Joel and Rhonda live there, and Gma and Gpa Ashmore will be temporarily staying with them until they can find a house. I was served a fabulous dinner at Gabe's lovely house. I later headed over to Erin's house with her fam, of course to watch an episode of Amazing Race. Erin treated us to Root Beer floats. After returing to Joel and Rhondas at about 1100 or so. We played some pool upstairs and layed the smackdown. I first beat, Ryan. Then Joel. Then Rhonda. Will have to return a later date for a rematch. I flew back Monday, just in time for work.

Pumpkin Patch

Last year we went to the pumpkin patch in South Santaquin. We liked it so much, we went again this year. We went with some of Erin's siblings and their kids. We rode a large wagon of sorts pulled by a tractor to a large pumpkin patch. Then, you pick your pumpkin and ride it back to the barn. After the ride, we headed inside for some goodies. They have quite a variety of stuff: ice cream, fudge, donuts, apple cider, etc... It was alot of fun.

Fire Safety

Erin's brother is a Firefighter / Paramedic for Orem. Every year they put on a Fire Safety event. Here are a few pics of that. Luke went with his cousin Jackson, Tiff, Erin and I. This was a few weeks ago, but have been busy and forgot all about this.

UPDATED ELK HUNT

On Friday, Joe traveled up for the weekend. We went out again in search for spikeys. Joe paired up with Dad and Eric paired up with me. Joe and Dad spotted a heard off in the distance but had no luck. Eric and I saw absolutely nothing. On Saturday, I opted to stay home and then go to the BYU football game. Joe and Dad went out again and had a little luck. You will have to inquire from them the details, but they did spot a few herds. One with 27 cows and one mature bull. The other did have a spike in it and dad attempted to take it down but missed. I believe he got off four shots from about 450 yds. On Monday, My dad and I headed out again. I work Tue, Wed, Thur so it was my last night. We decided to go somewhere we have not gone before which was suggested by Joe. It is a lookout point called Devil's Kitchen. A short walk along a paved trail from the parking lot ends on a wooded deck platform overlooking some Red cliff structures. We headed to that deck and from there decided to head over to a ridge off the paved trail. My dad went one direction, and I went another. As I headed off the paved trail headed down the hillside. I only got about 20 yds. and came upon a man laying under some pine trees. As I got closer, I observed it was a suicide. He had shot himself in the head with a handgun. HUNT was now over. I had my dad go take my cell phone and head down the canyon until he got service. He called Juab County Sheriff while I stayed to protect the crime scene from anyone coming to the lookout. By the time we finished with that incident, there was very little light left so we headed home again with still no ELK.

Elk Hunt Oct. 2008 - Part 1

The hunt officially started on Conference Saturday. Eric, Dad, and myself got a few hours in before the first session and got rained out. It was cold, wet, and miserable. So for me, Monday was the real first day of the hunt. Padre and me spent the whole day out in the mountains. No Luck today. We saw a few off in the distance, tracked a few. Saw some bear tracks and took several naps, but no spike elks in sight. Don't expect high quality pics from me. I only have a small Canon Powershot S230 with 3.2 megapixels. Back in its day it was top of the line. But is awesome because its compact and lightweight. Enjoy!!! Sunrise Stealth hunter Bear Claw Dad snoozing Check back for updates!!!