Happy Birthday Asher!

Asher's birthday falls only a few days after Christmas, so we celebrated with the fam in Georgia. I figured this event deserved its own blog entry, especially since kids with almost Christmas birthdays often have a complex due to the non-separation of the two events. We can't have that, not even on the blog!

Corey and I have decided that kids birthday parties are the best. All the fun things you can buy to celebrate...you just pick a theme and voila! This year Asher turned 2, and he has taken to Elmo a little more lately. Actually he calls him "Melmo", which must not be too uncommon because his cousin Austin called him the same thing. So, this year it was a Melmo Party!

Everyone humored us and wore their party hats, sang and ate cake. I think Asher enjoyed his special day, and I KNOW he enjoyed his little chocolate cake. We gave him a TMX Elmo (the souped-up version of the old Tickle-Me-Elmo), and he thought it was pretty fun, but....the adults were even more impressed with the moves this guy was pulling off!

Balloons and chocolate cake. Mmmm.

Looks like he's going to blow it out, right? This was taken right before he extinguished the flame with his bare hands...much to his surprise, the fire was hot!

Check out these party animals!

And now for a performance from our party sponsor:

I can't believe my little guy is 2 years old already! The time really does seem to fly by. Happy Birthday Asher, we love you so much!

Christmas in Georgia

After being home for two days, we headed off to Athens, Georgia for a southern Christmas with the Reitz'. It was especially great since everyone was able to make the trip. When you get this family together, there is never a dull moment...especially with the brothers. Too many inside jokes, too fast, and once they get going it's a real trick to get a word in (not that you'd want to because you are laughing so hard).
We had a nice Christmas Eve and Day eating and opening presents. In recent years, it's become a tradition for Rick(Corey's Dad) to make omelets on Christmas morning, although the boys are still hanging onto their favorite one, Cinnabons. It was fun for Asher to be able to hang out with his cousins, Austin and Tyler. Asher and Austin are close in age, so they occupied each other a bit, which was nice. I think we will miss Austin's little voice outside our bedroom door in the morning asking for "Dacker." Little Tyler was too sweet with his endless smiles and sweet temperment, what a good baby!! Asher received some "Cars" stuff for Christmas and is an instant fan. I just want to know what secret ingredient Disney uses to get kids to be so obsessed!
We had a great time eating, visiting, and checking out some of the Georgia sites. These are some of the highlights from the trip (Brace yourself, it was a 10 day trip, so there are quite a few pics.):

The Atlanta Aquarium: The largest in the world...and judging by the crowds, its not a secret!

All the pretty fishies.


I held the camera over my head for this one...there were so many people there, complete insanity. This place is not for anyone with even mild claustrophobia. Yikes.

Stone Mountain: A sort of theme park centered around this small mountain, complete with a train, steamboat, tram, shopping village, plantation with a farm, and a waterpark in the summer.


The confederate generals carved in stone.



Stuffing hay into the poor, overfed goat's mouth.

Asher loving 'Billy Bob', a 200 pound sheep. Seriously, this kid should have been born on a farm.

Grandpa, Asher and Corey on the steamboat. Grandma and Grandpa Reitz on the train.

The rest of the happy train riders.





More pics from our visit:

Feeding the psycho, aggressive ducks at the nearby pond (Corey was seriously scared of these guys!).

Opening presents on Christmas morning.

Corey, Austin and Tyler. Bath time for the boys - Jared just put them through the 'carwash' to get them in and out fast! Yeah!

Cute lil' boys.

Our visit to 'The Varsity' - practically an institution for college students there. Burgers, fries, you name it. Notice the chicken nugget in Asher's hand...one of the few things that made it into his mouth on this trip. Ugh.

Our little traveler. I loved these headphones, and thank goodness, so did he!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Winter Wedding Bliss

Alas, the days of the Pettit weddings have officially come to an end as the youngest sibling in the family tied the knot last Tuesday! Kayla and Jake were sealed in the Timpanogas Temple in American Fork, UT. It was great to see all the family, and Corey was able to come this time since his finals are over now for the holidays (backup was definitely required for Asher's naughty wedding ways). It was proven for yet a second time that Asher DESPISES weddings in every way. Honestly, I think he is in one family picture that was taken, and Jake's brother held on to his flailing body for the rest of them (thanks again!). By the reception, the tie was off, the hair was messy and when he wasn't constrained in his stroller watching a DVD, he was running around the tables, weaving through people's legs.
The day was lovely and the rain and snow held off until that evening. Kayla looked beautiful in her dress, and Jake looked pretty snappy too. Congratulations to the happy couple, and.... sorry about the unruly child.
Asher loved hanging out with all his aunts, uncles, grandma and grandpa. He started talking a ton during our visit. It's so fun to see his personality coming through. These are some of the fun pics from our visit:

Asher's true feelings for weddings comes shining through.

Wedding prep.

And now for some of the random pics from our visit:

He couldn't resist the white stuff.

Above: Loved this. He made the most of the bath toys at hand...line up the princesses, then knocked em' all down.

Below: He took all the dishes out of this cupboard, and stuffed himself in. My mom and I couldn't stop laughing. He did eventually figure out how to escape.

P.S. My sister, Laurie was misssed greatly during all the wedding festivities. But...at nine months pregnant flying out was a big no-no. She had her baby 3 days before Christmas though, and we are all so excited that adorable little Allyssum (like the flower) has finally arrived! Congratulations you guys! Finally a baby girl in the family.

Revenge of the Thanksgiving Day Influenza

Our little cutie crunching the leaves.

We were looking forward to lots of good food with Corey's family this Thanksgiving holiday. What we didn't factor in was a case of the flu that would knock us all out! Our little family had this particular virus the week prior to everyone coming to visit. Asher was sick for 9 whole days, and I thought I'd beaten it myself when it reared its nasty head right after I came home from work the week before Thanksgiving. NOT a fun experience, ...but the flu never is. Corey never officially came down with it, although he did claim feeling weak to his stomach (sympathy pains??). So, when the family came to visit we gave them fair warning, and they took heed and stayed with Aaron and Meagan for a few days. We were feeling better and the house had been sufficiently (or so I thought) cleaned and doused in Lysol. We figured we were free and clear of this vicious bug.

Thanksgiving day arrived and we were cooking and getting ready for the big meal (which did turn out pretty good in the end I must say). By the time we ate at 2:30, we were down by one: Claudia was sick and suffering upstairs. By 8 pm that evening we were down by two: Adam didn't quite make it home from his buddy's house without an unfortunate incident while driving back to our place. We though Rick had been spared, after all he'd had his flu shot, right? By Friday at 7 pm we were hurrying home from a restaurant: Rick would soon be down for the count too. Corey's poor dad had to travel home to Georgia (flying/driving) the next morning feeling TERRIBLE. I honestly don't know how he did it because I didn't even want to move when I was sick.

So there you have it. Our holiday was ravaged by a microscopic virus. Needless to say, pictures were at a minimum, as opportunities were slimmer than usual, just another of the casualties of our Thanksgiving. Our deepest apologies go out to our poor unsuspecting guests. I only hope Corey's parents will still let us come visit for Christmas, we will need another visit to redeem ourselves! We love you guys and really hope you are all doing better.

Corey and Adam.

Grandma Reitz and Asher(stealing yet another cell phone).

Grandpa Reitz showing Asher his new laptop.


Aaron and Meagan. (By the way, they'd already had that nasty flu about a month ago, and so were spared). Congrats on the new house you guys! It's beautiful!

I hope all of you had a very Happy Thanksgiving!

TAG! You're It...

So, I have been 'tagged.' I guess the deal is I have to write 6 things about myself, then tag 6 other people who will have to do the same. Here goes...

1. I've recently gotten interested in family history and found some interesting things! If you go back on my family lines I am related to a Pilgrim, the Plantagenets (Old English royalty), and further down the line...Charlemagne. I thought it was pretty cool.

2. When I was a little girl, I dreamed of being an Olympic gymnast. Mary Lou Retton was my hero! I did do gymnastics, but I started a little too old I think to ever be really great. I did love it though, and I guess it helped with cheerleading in the end (and some of my back issues now can probably be blamed on both!).

3. Dill pickles are my FAVORITE food. My palate is a little discerning as to which ones are the best though. My sister Jen makes some killer homemade pickles. Yum yum yum. (I hate sweet pickles though. Yuck.)

4. I dream of going to Europe. I look at vacation rentals and places to visit all the time, and maybe someday I will actually get to seem some of those amazing sights!

5. I was valedictorian of my college class. I think I am currently losing brain cells though (do pregnancy and motherhood make you dumber, or do you just feel that way sometimes?). Not all dumbs are blonde:)

6. I wear glasses from the kid's section. My face is small and narrow and regular adult glasses look ridiculous on me most of the time, so I am forced to look in the children's selection sometimes. The ones I have on right now are 'Mary Kate and Ashley', I am NOT kidding!

Soon-to-be-tagged bloggers: Alisha, Effie, Kayla, Danna/Ry, Jessica, and Aaron/Meagan!

Puppy Love and Pumpkins

This Halloween, Asher was a puppy aka "Goggie"(if you asked him). What a little cutie, floppy ears and all. Tuesday night we went to a Trunk-or-Treat for our ward. He understood the whole concept of begging for free candy pretty fast. He wasn't really into saying "trick-or-treat", but was good at extending his jack-o-lantern bucket up to the nice people giving him candy. If they weren't fast enough, they had to try to put the candy into the moving target that was his bucket. Not until we passed the last car did he really understand what was in there. A wrapped taffy caught his eye and he dropped to the ground right then and there and started rummaging through his loot. One saintly person was giving out little boxes of raisins, and believe it or not I think that was one of the first things he devoured. He just loves those shriveled up little grapes.

Checking out the hard earned loot.

Halloween night was much the same. He loved his puppy costume, and did get to trick-or-treat at a few of our neighbor's houses. Corey told me all he wanted to do was to go inside their houses or pet their dogs. Hmmmm. I am glad he's so friendly, but I may have a bit of work to do in the "don't-talk-or-go-with-strangers" department. He loved it when our doorbell rang. He'd run to the door and knock back to the kids on the other side. Then he helped give the kids candy. Thanks for all the help little buddy!




Oh yeah, we finally carved our poor pumpkins! They have been patiently waiting for us to turn them into the works of art they were destined to be. Okay, 'works of art' is a little much, but hey, we did pretty good for using paring knives! (Where are those pumpkin carving knives we used to have??)

These last few are from a fun night we had with some great people we have been friends with since we all lived in "Mormon Manor" together. (A bunch of cheap, old apartments that a lot of the newly-wed mormon couples lived in...for those of you who don't know). The night was full of food, homemade root beer (great idea Chris and Jess!), great conversation, and our kiddos running around. Fun times.

P.S. All this candy, at an arm's length away, is much to close. Somebody stop me! What kind of dental hygienist am I??