you're invited!

Hey Family and Friends,

     We put the tramp (thank you Smiths) up this week due to the lovely, and  I do mean lovely, weather we are currently having.

So... with that being said, this is YOUR official invite to come over and entertain us with your sweet trampoline skills. We appreciate front flips and back flips and really tricks of all kinds.

So come jump and we'll have lunch or at least a snack to pass the time.

8 months

Siri

Miss Siri is 8 months today. 

She offically Crawls but would rather stand and try to walk.

She walks along our couches.

She talks more and more and tries to repeat the sounds we make. Especially when we sing or hear people singing.

She still laughs the hardest at Chamberlain. Although Grandma Chamberlain can get her laughing pretty good when we skype her. Maybe its cuz grandmas eye look so big with her glasses on so she can see us!

She has two teeth that we see all the time.  

She has a great laugh.

She still has blue eyes with a little hazel to them. 

She is a great baby and is just happy happy happy. 

Chamberlain can pick her up and move her from spot to spot which he does all day long, and Siri just smiles. 

She loves being bathed in the sink.

We love her. 

Chamberlain wants 5 more babies just like Siri.

ouch.

First black eye. 

He got in a fight with a basketball standard and it won.

I'm sure there will be many more to come.

how many men does it take

to plant a tree?

Apparently a lot!

We looked out the window this morning to find several men from BYU replacing our Apple tree in our yard.

I tell you there is nothing like BYU replacing something in your yard. 

They go above and beyond that's for sure.

Not only did they replace the tree but they raked the leaves, weed whacked and mowed the lawn. 

We even told them that all of that was not necessary and that all we needed was the tree to be replaced.

But they insisted and cleaned up our yard nice and neat.
Although its not an apple tree its a crab apple tree, but its a lot prettier than the tree we had before.
Thanks BYU.

There is nothing like a nice spring snow storm to start your day followed by a warm sunset to melt it all away.

cougar life on 700

{all 3 of us with our cougar pride waiting patiently for the Jimmer show to begin in 2 hours}

Its been exciting living across the street from campus. Especially on days like today. You can feel the excitement in the air.

Looking out our front window we have seen lots and lots of students walking to campus with their school pride on. 

Even Ms. Siri is in on the cougar onsie action.

When I picked Chamberlain up from preschool today at Allison's {who may or may not live across the street from the house of rose} had all her BYU clothes on complete with pink tutu. Even Allison's mom and dad had BYU gear on. Then as we were walking to the car a few boys in the neighborhood came out to play hoops with their BYU pride on also.

Its exciting to see people in their cougar blue. 

Last Thursday Chamberlain wore his Jimmer shirt to school for the first tournament game. Allison said; Hey, I  know a song about Jimmer Fredette and busted out with "teach me how to Jimmer."-Priceless. 

They are 4 years old and here they are sitting at the table making bird crafts discussing the coolness of Jimmer and his crazy shots and how he is a winner. Awesome. 

Yesterday Josh upgraded our cable just so we could watch the game tonight. 

You could say Jimmer is everywhere here, in all conversations and all over the place. 

I went to the grocery store today and the majority of the workers all had on BYU shirts. 

What a great sense of togetherness there is in the productive city of Provo.

I'm glad we get to be apart of it. 

What a great time to be a cougar.

Whether we win or lose its still such a wonderful time to be cougar. 

Rise and Shout 

jet packs

Chamberlain insisted that he needed a jet pack this morning. Not just any jet pack, a jet pack just like buzz light year. This is my attempt at a jet pack.  Might I add that the turquoise duck tape we have had since the first year of our marriage. It just keeps giving and giving. I hope it NEVER runs out. 

This is my fave. I love the shadows.

I'm sure the jet pack will be right up there with the rice hat. 

He also got a shout out (go buzz light yeaarrr) from some college kids driving by on our walk to meet Josh at school.

At that point he got embarrassed and almost took the pack off.
 Sometimes I see so much of my personality in him.

i think i can cut hair

I am not a Hair Stylist, and yet I find myself thinking I can cut hair.

I dislike so much when I get in these moods, I think I can do anything when I get in these moods. but really I just think that I can and really I can't.

I noticed that Siri's hair was getting a little mullet-e and yes for some people that is so in right now, but not for me. So I think about her hair CONSTANTLY and how I need to cut it. I think about it so much so that I decide to cut her hair on a whim.  Like this morning in the shower, I think to myself, I can cut her hair right now... and I did. I had josh hold her while I snipped away. 

Why I don't just wait and take her to someone who can cut hair, is beyond me.

I have no idea what I am doing when I cut hair. However if you want a buzz all around I can do that...kinda.

I guess I think about it because I am not sure how to style her hair everyday. I usually just let it go with the wind...

Below are the before shots taken on Sunday after church. Yes she went to church with hair unbrushed. I can't help it, we have church at 9am and its hard for us to get their on time. I just simply forget to brush her hair.

 see what I mean when I say "go with the wind."

I think if you look closely you might see a rats nest growing in there.

Now for the afters.

Its totally uneven and I probably could go a little shorter. Like perhaps more of an A-line cut but at least it didn't get all tangled today. 

Now that I got that out of my system I hope I wont do it again. Next time I'll just take her to a professional.

I think hair is hard for me,  I had short hair mostly growing up and I can barely do my own hair now, so I might struggle in the hair department. It's going to take some time to figure this out. 

PS. Chamberlain had hardly any hair and the hair that he did have was blonde blonde blonde!

talking peanuts to paper chains

What a week we had last week.

Siri is offically crawling as of Saturday.

Its awesome. I don't think she will be crawling for long since she likes to crawl to the wall or couch and pull herself up and try to walk.

So the video will not download so a few pics will have to do for now. 

Sage was here all week (practically) to witness Siri crawl along with checking out hair schools and I think she picked one.

Lots and lots of shopping because we all know thats what 17 year old girls like to do...they shop!

In our almost 6 years of marriage I have made Josh a Carrot Cake for his birthday every year.  Although his actual day was a week ago I couldn't let that pass, plus its his favorite.  This year Chamberlain helped and decided on blue frosting complete with sprinkles. 

Yum.

We have gotten into making our own peanut butter. 

We love to slather it on a piece of whole wheat toast with a few banana quarters and a drizzle of local honey. 

Delish!

So today we roasted our own peanuts. The smell is amazing. I loved that I could roast them to my own taste. Did you know that when peanuts are cooling from being roasted they talk. Rice Crispies have nothing on roasted peanuts. They cracked and hissed for a good while and Chamberlain enjoyed listening.

 

Paper Chain. 

We kept busy this afternoon with water color. 

I had chamberlain paint a bunch of lines of packing paper and then we cut it into 10 strips.

I loved how it turned out. I also loved that he ventured outside the color blue. 

We have 10 days till Huddy Buddy arrives. 

Chamberlain can't wait.

Its been too long my Arizona family too long. 

I cant go on living this far away from you guys. 

Its just too far. 

rice hat

One of the reasons we made the quick and wonderful trip to California was to retrieve some boxes of stuff. Yes stuff, and mostly Chris's stuff, but there was one small box of Josh's stuff.

And in the small box of stuff were things from his mission like the rice hat above.

It was fun to sit outside on our front porch and rummage through his high school formal dance pictures, a notebook full of stories he made up as a young boy.  Sandi always told him that he was a story teller.  She bought him a notebook for him to record those stories, and he did. A short story about Tropical Paradise. I guess Josh has always had a thing for Hawaii. We found pictures of his freshman year in Hawaii.  Jill and Micah you still look the same so young! We found wood carvings from his mission to the Philippines and the pictured above rice hat, which Chamberlain has been wearing ever since. He calls it his golf hat and he is going to wear it this summer to play golf. 

He has also wore it all around town and to and from our walks to campus. 

Its become a regular part of his wardrobe this week. 

I love it.

I am totally comfortable with him wearing it everywhere, and I do mean EVERYWHERE.

It makes me giggle every time he flashes me that handsome smile of his.

He thinks its awesome. 

I think that he is great.

Dear Missionary Josh,

Thanks for bringing home this awesome rice hat.

Little did you know that your son would think this hat is the coolest thing on earth and sport it around town with such pride. 

I love it.

I also love that you served a mission.

Thanks for setting that example for our kids. 

~Ash

15th street.

After our traditional trip to the swap meet we took the kids for a stroll on the beach.

What a perfect day.  

I think Sandi ordered the most perfect weather for our stay. 

I didnt want to come back it was so nice. 

We drove over to 15th street beach. Such a childhood memory for Josh. I enjoyed hearing Sandi reminisce of the days when she would pack up all 5 kids and head to the beach for the day.  The ward would meet at 15th street every Tuesday and they would go every week. Once we got there I can understand why, there was so much to do, from roller hockey to volleyball there is also a playground right on the beach. 

The weather was windy but a nice wind and there were sailboats galore out on the ocean. 

Such a beautiful sight.

Again, this is where I found myself saying, I could live here. 

I never thought I would say that, never!

 First time in the sand for Ms. Siri.

She just kept looking towards the ocean. 

I don't think she liked the sand much.

 I love the joy on Chamberlains face. 

Pure happiness. 

Priceless.

Again, I could get used to life on the beach. 

I think every dad has joked of throwing their son in the water. 

Whats up with that. Its like a its in their DNA.

I have to hand it to Sandi she is a trooper. She was with us the entire weekend, from the time Chamberlain got up (6:30 AM) till the time we (Chamberlain included) went to bed (midnight). 

She has such a love for all her grand-kids. 

I think she is one beautiful lady, especially, in these shots with Siri and Josh. I wish you could see Siri's huge smile but her darling cheeks get in the way.

Again, I find myself thinking I really could get used to that life, on the beach with the nice weather and happy people. 

quick trip

Where do I begin with such a fun, packed, quick trip to Irvine. 

The more we visit the more I find myself thinking I could live there. 

I could really get use to the sunny weather, flowers, proximity to the beach and the exceptional produce. Did i mention that its sunny like all the time, as in NO snow!

This time we took Chamberlain to Disneyland for the first time. 

We were lucky to have both Grandma and Grandpa Burgess and Angela, Eddie and all their lovely girls. 

We had such a fun time that we want to go every year, and with our awesome tour guides. 

Fun!

We went after lunch and didn't leave until midnight. 

Chamberlain was a trooper and Siri was perfect. 

Couldn't have asked for a better day!

Here is our day in pictures.

 

First things first. Off to get our 1st time badges!

 

The unsure look of getting on Space Mountain for his first Disney ride ever. 

 Siri was happy the entire day. She really was just like this all day. Smile Smile Smile.

(front)

Grandma Burgess was so great! She is so the best and got Chamberlain his first set of ears complete with his name on the back along with a shirt and most of all her excitement was priceless.  Chamberlain was all smiles all day hanging with Grandma. 

I love that lady.

 

(back) 

The three amigos with their grandparents. 

Madison is the best tour guide she knew all the good rides.

fireworks- my favorite.

 

this was taken like 2 seconds after he sat down in his snug chair. 

Off to Disney dream land he went. 

 Siri's first Disney Character thanks to Grandma.

Chamberlain did not like space mountain, Indiana Jones or the haunted mansion all that much. However, he loved Big Thunder mountain.

That was his favorite.

When we woke up the next morning I asked him what was his favorite part of the day at Disney and he said playing with his cousins Maddie, Jaquie, Brookie, and Sutton. 

Gotta love that.

Thanks so much guys for making it happen. 

I so want to go again.