Reading

Our dreams have come true already! Asher has started reading to himself! (we are easy....if our kids can read and write, we will be happy ;)

Helping in the Kitchen

Getting stuff out of the drawer to "help"

Keeping his highchair clean - Yum, leftover baby food on my safety belt

What do you need Mom? I will get it for you!

Using the Cusinart just like Mom

Hi Baby

I still think of Asher as a baby, but then when I saw him next to my friend's baby, Christian, I realize he is quickly becoming a toddler. All Asher wanted to do was poke Christian's eyes, nose and mouth. He will be such a tender big brother someday :)

I promise I am being good Mom!

Hey Christian, your stroller tastes good!

Shamu

On Saturday we took Asher to see Shamu!!! Disney seemed overwhelming to us in September, but Andrew and I were both super excited to take Asher to Sea World. Asher has loved any aquarium he has seen, plus with Shamu and penguins being black and white we figured there was a good chance Asher would actually be able to zone in and notice the animals. (I think zoo habitats are hard for babies to spot the animals.)

One of the many "Shamu's"!

About to get a Shamu splash! Thankfully, Andrew protected Asher and I and took the brunt of the splash. Such a gentleman! (although he did pick the splash zone seats :)

Checking out the Polar Bear. Asher couldn't be bothered to look, as he was nursing away, half asleep. Gotta love the Ergo carrier!

Doesn't this guy look like he has the life!

It was an awesome time together. Though he was short on sleep, Asher loved checking everything out, especially the Shamu show and the saltwater aquariums. He even got to touch some of the animals as several exhibits were the hands on kind. Sadly, he slept through the Penguin exhibit, but Andrew and I both got a kick out of a little penguin that reminded us of "Happy Feet". It didn't stop dancing the whole time we were in the exhibit!

There was one fish that kept "playing" with Asher. It was so funny to watch the fish dart all over in front of Asher and to see him reach out to get the fish, but be blocked by the glass. Asher never got tired of looking at the aquariums...We had to pull him away to see other stuff!

The otter and Asher checking each other out!

Flamingo's really are weird birds! Asher wasn't too impressed.

Watching the Dolphins. If you look closely it looks like the Dolphin is smiling at Asher!

Getting to feel a Bat Ray. He had no reservations about diving into the water to feel the ray!

We thought about making this our Christmas card - At the same time we took this, my family was being slammed with almost 2ft of snow in Virginia!

It was a perfect December day in San Diego without long lines or crowds! The best part though, was that Anheuser-Busch very kindly lets all active duty military and their dependents into their amusements parks for FREE! Thank you Anheuser-Busch, we greatly appreciate it!

Wahoo!!!!!!!

Andrew is on Christmas break!!! We are on day 3 of break and neither of us can believe we still have DAYS left where he does not have to go to class, fly or work on projects. Lots of fun photos and stories to come!

Little Bear in Big Bear

Thanksgiving weekend Andrew, Asher and I drove up to Big Bear to hang out with his Aunt and Uncle. Andrew had a lot of work to do, but wanted at least be off base for his "break". (he was at work Thanksgiving morning and worked on his laptop the whole drive up to Big Bear- he had a lot to do!!!) Thankfully, Mark and Dinah said we could escape to their place. I had no real hope that we would get any snow, but was happy just the same to be in the mountains and see green "things" when I looked out the window. We enjoyed an amazing meal with them and some of their friends Thursday night. Friday, Andrew worked all day and the rest of us played with Asher (aka Little Bear - our new favorite nickname for Asher)!

Playing with Aunt Dinah

Cousin Maggie and our friend Trinity

Saturday morning we woke up to 6+in of snow!! It was awesome! While Asher was taking a nap I even got to go for an ATV ride in the snow with Mark. You can literally ride right out of their driveway into the National forest. Saturday evening, our friends Adam and Kellie and their daughter Trinity came up from base and stayed the night with us. Andrew's cousin Maggie was so excited to have a playmate older than Asher and one not covered in fur.... (Her dog Rocky and our dog Boots are good sports though when she wants to play pretend with them and cover them in necklaces!)

Saturday night it snowed even more. It felt like an early christmas present and for a moment I forgot that I actually live in a DESERT! It was wonderful to sit by a fire and watch the snow fall while hanging out with friends and family. I even took Asher out in the snow for a little bit. He wasn't quite sure what to do with it and unfortunately didn't have the right footwear to really play in the snow. (leather robeez aren't exactly waterproof!)

Checking out the snow

He is such a cute snow baby!

Mark, Maggie, Dinah and Rocky...One of their potential Xmas card photos

Waiting for Santa to arrive on the Big Bear Fire Truck...Asher has what I like to call, the "stuffed sausage" face:)

Maggie and Mark

AVT'ing with Mark

Being a big boy, eating at the counter!

Though Andrew barely got to lift his head from his books and computer, we had a great time and I especially treasured being surrounded by the mountains and snow!

Thanksgiving...

Can you believe we had 2 Thanksgiving meals and I didn't get one picture of Asher?!?!?! It was his first Thanksgiving and I missed photo documenting it! The horror! The first meal was with our friends from TPS. He tried deep fried turkey, green bean casserole and mashed white potato's for the first time, all of which he loved. (poor kid - because of my issues he will have to go to a friend's house to have white potato's) The second meal was with Andrew's Aunt and Uncle in Big Bear and we enjoyed it after he was asleep:)

So instead of a photo of Asher this year, I leave you with one of me and him last year. My tummy had been the after dinner entertainment for the kids ;)

Asher's 1st Birthday party

Tuesday was Asher's first birthday! Though I love my child very much, I was not up for a big party and with Andrew's crazy schedule, "normal" party times were out. Thankfully we have an indoor pool on base and after much begging and pleading, they agreed to let me have a lunchtime pool party for Asher - Lunchtime is not "open" swim time but was the only time Andrew could make it.

We made it!!! First year is done....It's all downhill from here, right?!?! ;-)

Party food compliments of Subway and Pizza Hut. I did make the cupcakes myself! (thanks to a box:-)

The Birthday Boy! The hat lasted about 2 seconds!

Modern Technology! Skyping with my family in VA, so they could take part in the party for a few minutes! The little boy is Ari. Asher and he love to give each other hugs! It is the sweetest thing!

Getting ready to try his cupcake....After one taste of the icing, he wanted nothing to do with it! We kept trying, but he just turned his head away...We have it on video as proof!

Reading his birthday card that his friend William made him

Some of Asher's little friends eating lunch

Maddie

Ava Claire

The party worked out perfectly! We had about 16 people, kids included and had the whole pool to ourselves! (plus I had no cleaning to do to get ready and could throw everything away when the party was over - that was the best part to me!) I made a video slide show of Asher's birth (skipping everything to do with the actual birth) and first 2 days of life. To go along with the slideshow we pulled out a couple of Asher's first preemie outfits. Absolutely shocking to realize how much he has grown! God is so good!

The only picture I didn't get that I wish I had, was a whole table of Dad's and a couple other guys looking rather intense and manly in their flight suits! Pretty funny to see at a 1yr olds birthday party!

TPS 09A Graduation

Saturday night was our Senior TPS class graduation. (TPS=Test Pilot School) It is hard to believe we are halfway through this crazy program (thank the Lord!) and are now the Seniors! Our Jr. class starts classes just after the New Year. Congrat's 09A you have made it through the "best year of your life that you NEVER want to re-live"

This is the plane Andrew would like to work with after TPS

Since we are the 09B class, the guys chose the bee as their "mascot"...Wives are the Queen Bees and the kids are the bumblebees. Their tagline is "Data, the sweet honey we make"

Missing 7 people, but here is the 09B TPS class- looking sharp!

Our class, sans a few people and the many munchkins:)

Andrew and his Crossfit buddy Adam, doing handstand push-ups next to a Russian MiG!

Happy Birthday/Anniversary Sweetheart!

November 21st was Andrew's 28th birthday and our 4 year anniversary of being engaged! (hard to believe Andrew is only 28, considering I am about to turn 30! Aaah! and that we are just coming up on 4 years of marriage. Seems longer in a good way!) All Andrew wanted was dinner at a fancy steakhouse like Morton's or Ruth Chris and a French Press to enjoy great coffee in. Love how easy going he is! Asher "got" him the French Press and I got to take him out to dinner!

Several weeks before Andrew's birthday his grandparents found cheap flights out to Vegas again and it just happened to be over his birthday weekend. My only requirement for going again was staying in a better hotel! Andrew readily agreed and we ended up with an awesome room in the newly redone Golden Nugget! (King size beds are awesome when you are a co-sleeping family!) The great thing about going to Vegas for the weekend was I no longer had to worry about finding a trustworthy babysitter for when we went out to dinner! The weekend came with family babysitter's built in! Thanks Aunt Dinah and cousin Maggie!!!

After asking several people which steakhouse was better, I decided on Morton's. It was a good decision! They had custom menu's for us with "Happy Birthday Andrew" printed across the top, our waiter came to the table already knowing our names and wishing Andrew a happy birthday and our fabulous molten chocolate cake was on the house as a birthday gift! Andrew got oysters on the half shell, a 20 ounce New York Strip that was phenomenal and then this decadent mac and cheese side dish that had 7 different kinds of cheese in it! I had an iceberg wedge and Chilean sea bass. We split the yummy desert :)

My anniversary present came the next morning, as Andrew took Asher for several hours and let me sleep in! It was heaven! Definitely a win, win weekend on all fronts!

Happy Birthday my Love! Thanks for asking me on this journey of life together! Looking forward to many more good dinners together ;)

Girly time...

My friend Jessica came over the other day to do my make-up. Though I rarely put the effort into putting on make-up myself, I LOVE it when other people do it for me! If I could be a "practice face" for make-up artists I would! (they would have their work cut out for them, covering up my tired eyes and dark circles!) We were heading out to Vegas that afternoon so it was the perfect excuse to play around and then actually have a place to "wear" the make-up to.

Getting started

Trying to zone in on the cool eye make-up...Liquid eyeliner = not for the inexperienced!

All done and ready to go

Make-up, friends, wine...the only thing missing was chocolate which we fixed by pulling out Nutella! It was a fun, girly afternoon. I only wish it could happen more often! Thanks Jessie!