Wicked!

As a Christmas gift, Justin's parents took the family to see the musical Wicked at the Pantages theatre in Hollywood. It was so much fun!! The musical was really good, and a lot funnier than I thought it would be. I'd have to say "Popular" was my favorite song. It was fun to go out as a family and enjoy a night on the town!
Here's a little picture of me and Justin outside the theatre after the show, it was great!!
Here's all the Ashton's lined up and waiting for the second act to begin.

Christmas with the Ashtons

Our Christmas time with the Ashtons had lots of events! We had a Christmas party with Justin's dad side of the family, and there it was determined that Justin and I are a great ping pong team! The only time we lost was to each other, which I have to say, makes me feel pretty victorious! On Christmas eve we decorated some sugar cookies with his family, and some of the boys judged the cookies to determine which cookies were decorated the best. Although I absolutely adored my white Christmas tree cookie, it didn't place in the top three, nor did it receive an honorable mention!! I still feel a little robbed, but I guess theres always next year.














The night after Christmas we had a Christmas party with all of Justin's siblings and his mom's side of the family. We had another ultimately tasty meal for dinner, and then opened presents and spent some time together. That day Justin and his brothers received remote controlled helicopters as gifts, a they really put them to work. Justin pretty much can focus solely on his 'flying' and not notice anything else going on in the room! I haven't seen him this focused since his fantasy football league! But he loves flying his helicopter for Brody to watch, that little guy can be quite focused as well, hmm....















He're some family pictures of us at our various parties, and I love Brody's face in this one of the two of us. It was so fun picking out presents for Brody, and it was great that I didn't have to hide his presents around the house!

Christmas day with the Hatters

Since Justin and I are from the same city, we always have two families to share Christmas with. Although traveling between the two families can be a little tricky, it's fun to see everyone and share the holidays with lots of family.
Justin is showing our little display of Christmas presents. As you can imagine, the biggest package is for Brody. With Justin's helped Brody opened all his presents, and was very excited to learn that paper makes lots of noise! His big present is his new stuffed monkey, which at present time is bigger than him, but we're hoping that will change in a few months. Brody was also lucky enough to receive some applesauce and squash from Santa, yum!

Later that afternoon we headed over to my parents house for some festivities. My mom made a super yummy Christmas dinner which was absolutely superb! Afterwards we opened some gifts, and like every year my mom got a toy gift for everyone, this year it was these guns that shoot out little nerf balls. It's always fun to see all the adults act like kids for a little while. Justin showed that his shoot and duck skills. Obviously he grew up in a family with boys, us girls never quite learned the "technique" of playing with nerf guns!

Our trip to Utah

After Justin finished his finals we decided to take a trip to Utah to visit with friends and family. Whew! It was quite a week. We took a browse through the byu bookstore (nothing interested me there!), became expects at guitar hero at Mike and Ryan's (we even knocked Mike off some of the charts!), dined out at Tucanos and the Mayan, visited the lights a temple square with the Jessops and Robinsons, had lunch at thanksgiving point with Elissa, Justin went snowboarding with Josh, I went shopping with Katelin, and Brody upgraded from rice cereal to baby food. All the while we had to stay bundled up to stay warm. It was a fun trip and hopefully next time we can catch those we missed!

Holiday cheer!

Holly tagged me so I get to share what I love most about the holiday season, so here goes:

I love the smells of the season, christmas trees, fireplaces, cinnamon, and freshly baked treats!

I love Chrsitmas music! I'm one of those people that get excited by chirstmas songs playing in October. I can listen to the same Christmas cds over and over (by the way I love Hilary Week's).

I love the Christmas weather. I know everyone from out of state is laughing at me, but to me Chrsitmas is always sunny and warm enough to try out the brand new bike you got earlier that morning.

I love watching people try to be sneaky and hide presents around the house. Much to my parents dispair, I knew where their hidding places were and I do admit to mild snooping, but its so fun to walk into a room and watch another person jump and say "Hey your not supposed to be in here!" Sorry mom and dad!

I love the magic of Santa's visit. There's nothing quite as exciting as waking up to see if Santa got you the one gift you truly wanted. What kid and adult still doesn't hope for that?

I love holiday decorations. Triming the tree, bells that jingle, garlands that garnish, and candles that flicker, I love it all. Our home is almost put together enough to add the Christmas decor!

I love to be with family! Although our numbers will be very few this year, I love the fact that you'll always find time to get together, talk, relax, and eat!

I love nativity sets. I love to see the different takes people have on the Chirstmas story. I love to see how Mary and Joseph's faces are portrayed. And I'd love to have a larger collection of nativity sets!

I love to contemplate the miracle of Christ's birth. How He came in such a humble setting, to be greeted by His earthly parents, stable animals and then by shepherds and wise men. I love to think how such a simple beginning created something so great, a Savior for every person that comes unto him.

Ok, here comes my deep dark secret: I love when my husband is able to get me the perfect surprise present. So far he's always gotten me really great Christmas gift, always something unexpected but perfect! It might worry him to read this, but I can't wait for Christmas morning!

So thats what I love about Christmas, I pretty much love it all! So to everyone who reads this, I tag you to share what you love most about Christmas...merry christmas!

The boxes are back...

Well Justin and I are on the move again! It's our fourth move in a year and a half, and I think we are officially exhausted by the moving process! Our apartment is loaded with boxes to fill (good thing we never actually get rid of the boxes) along with piles of things to pack up. Regardless of the work to do these moving boxes always cause me to stop and think of all the changes Justin and I have recently experienced. There's the obvious, we had Brody and now we're parents, no longer in the "newlywed" stage of life. Rather we spend our time acting silly and making weird noises in hope that Brody will elicit a smile. Justin started his second year of dental school, which allows him more hands on time, longer hours, and more satisfying days at school. I no longer have a class of 15 to teach, but just one little guy who gets my undivided attention, and sometimes can be more fun and more work than those 15 combined! But then there are changes in other areas as well. With so many members leaving the area, our ward was dissolved and combined with other wards (so I don't want to hear anyone complaining about their ward being too big!). We have pretty much the same callings, but now have new people to work with and get to know. The dynamics of our friendships have changed as we've watched several friends marry, start their families, or pursue different interests. Apparantly we're not the only ones with new experiences! All in all, whenever the moving boxes are back, it always causes a moment of reflection on the change -or changes- that are taking place. As much as I love predictability, routines and schedules, the past little while has been anything but. The good thing is I love where its taken us and wouldn't change a thing.

Happy Halloween?

We got a really cute grizzly bear costume for Brody, but when we put it on to go trick or treating he got so upset (as you can see)! Well we immediately took it off and figured we would be spending the night in.

As luck would have it I remembered a little basketball outfit that would be a perfect costume. We put it on him, and this was his immediate response! I guess he really wanted to be a baller!



















We went trick or treating to both grandparents, and to some great grandparents. Brody was so good the whole night, its hard to believe that he went from being upset to thrilled in just a matter of minutes!

Whew! An evening of trick or treating can really wear a kid out! Overall the night went well, and Justin and I even ended up with some candy to take home!

Play time!

So Brody isn't the biggest fan of tummy time (I mean it's soo exhausting) but a friend of ours gave us this surfboard tummy time mat which Brody seems to be excited about.






His style of play has definitely changed in the last couple of weeks. He's starting to really observe and think about things more. It's really fun to watch him explore, and see the little wheels turning in his head as he checks things out.



I try to show Brody pictures of himself on the computer, but he doesn't really seem all that interested. However, once he seems himself in the mirror he's all smiles! I think he knows he's pretty good looking!







One of the parents in my preschool class gave me this little outfit for Brody, which is so cute. What mom wouldn't love this shirt? I had to take some pictures with it because I'm sure he'll grow out of it soon. I do think Justin's a little jealous of the shirt, unfortunately all the I love Daddy shirts and purple and pink. Sorry daddy!
Brody's just holding tight to his favorite toy. The funny thing about this picture is that Brody's shirt says: 2007 Drool Session. It's so true, he's like a faucet! I can't imagine what it will be like when he starts teething....

The Hello Game

Here's a little video of Justin and Brody playing a little game together. It's a really cute video, but obviously I'm going to say that!

Brody's Baby Blessing

Last Sunday was Brody's baby blessing! That morning he woke up so excited and happy, we think he knew what a special day it would be for him. He looked so cute in his white outfit. After the blessing we had a little luncheon at the Ashton's. It was really special to have so many friends and family there for his big day. My nephew Jordan is probably one of Brody's biggest fans. He kept asking to hold him and wanted us to wake Brody when he was sleeping. It was a great weekend to be with friends and family but we definitely missed those who couldn't make it.

Brody's Favorite Things

The best part of Brody's day is definitely his bath! He loves to relax in his little bath tub, and be completely taken care of. We've learned that when Brody's taking a bath you'd better take cover, when he gets excited he starts splashing water everywhere!

Hmmm... It's not too hard to figure out what these two are up to! The real question is: are they watching a baseball, football or soccer game? Either way Brody loves to sit in his little lazy boy and take in a game with daddy!

Wow, I'm actually in front of the camera rather than behind it! We're just relaxing and 'talking' together. Ever since Brody's started cooing, its been fun to have little conversations together.

Just a little tummy time! Brody looks a little surprised to have his picture taken, but when you're this cute, you just have to get used to it! He's usually not a fan of tummy time, and actually uses the time to scoot around rather than work on his neck muscles. Talk about going the extra mile!

One month old!

On our first family trip we headed down to Vista for the wedding of Justin's cousin Amber. We decided it would be a perfect moment to take our first family photo together. Brody didn't particularly enjoy our photo shoot, but we finally got a picture all together.

Since it was a wedding, we decided to dress Brody up for the occasion. He looked so handsome with his collared shirt, but still was cool with his rolled sleeves. Of course he's got his fists in the picture, he's still gotta look tough!


The past few days Brody has been trying so hard to smile, and we finally got one of his best efforts on film! Along with working on his smile he's also trying to laugh, which is quite cute!

Brody Meets His Grandparents!

Brody and Daddy Hang Out

This is it: Justin's famous hold! Brody loves to sit like this with dad! Justin and Brody have become instant buddies and hang out together every night. I just don't know if Brody likes the fact that his dad smells like a dental lab, that just doesn't seem quite as soothing as mom! Every kid loves bubbles! Brody's mastered blowing bubbles all on his own. As new parents we of course find this adorable. Just taking a little nap on daddy.

Our family went on our very first walk together so Justin broke out the Baby Bjorn for the occasion. Before we were halfway down the block Brody was already fast asleep! It was great to be out and about as a family.

Every morning Brody does his morning stretches to get the day going. But watch out, that fist could really hurt someone! For a newborn Brody sure is tough!

Say Hi Brody!

Brody has come home

Brody is finally coming home! And he loves to sleep in his car seat (we think that's great)!
Brody likes to find a soft pillow and curl up to sleep.

Introducing...Brody Jay Ashton

Little Brody is finally here! He was born on July 17th at 11:35 pm. He weighed 7 lbs. 12 oz. and measured 20 in. long.

Hungry Wife

What happens when a husband doesn't feed his hungry wife...

Baby Brody is Almost Here

Eight months pregnant is no problem for Kim!