Christmas

This year we spent Christmas in Montana. Here are a few of the highlights.

Alex in the adorable Christmas dress her Grandma Brady made for her.


My brother's doing something strange on the ice in our creek out back. For Stephen's Birthday we had a snow day.



Alex LOVED the snow, but even though it was 20 degrees out, it was so windy and cold we didn't stay out very long.

Alex's first snowangel



On our way to the sledding hill in the back yard.

Alex and I in our matching homemade Christmas pajamas.

Our Christmas Eve meal. We tried layering drinks which is actually pretty easy. You just slowly pour the lighter fluid (cranberry juice) over the back of a spoon and onto the heavier (orangejuice). Very cool.

Tyler pulled Alex and I all the way down the lane to get the mail. I got kicked off on the return trip.

A hilarious pic of Alex and her uncle Stephen.

We put the Christmas tree on top of a table, but Alex could still stand and reach the bottom branches. She loved going for the glass bulbs.

Asay Family Pictures

In the midst of a dozen freezing and snowy days, we all made it outside to get a family picture taken. These great shots were done with the timed setting of a camera on a tripod. I'm pretty impressed!
In the picture are.... (L-R)
David(my littlest brother)
Mom
Stephen ("little" brother)
Me and Alex
Tyler
Danielle (sister in law)
Michael (Oldest brother)

Advice Please

The other day I went in to pick Alex up from her nap, and found this......


At first it was adorable. She has gotten quite good at pulling herself up with the couch, and trying to crawl up the stairs, she is growing up so fast! Since then, it has become less than cute. Now that she has figured out how to stand in her crib, as soon as she wakes up briefly, she stands. The problem with this is she hasn't figured out how to sit back down. I normally ignore her for a little while and she will finish her naps, but now I have to go in and "save" her while she frantically screams because she is stuck. Everything I have read has said to either ignore her and she will figure it out, or to "teach" her how to sit. I can't quite figure out how to do this. Any idea's? What worked for you guys?
We tried putting this "sleep sack" on her to constrict her legs, didn't work. We lowered the crib as low as the mattress could go and she still somehow monkey's herself up. This is even more incredible, because she hasn't figured out how to sit yet. She can go from laying on her back to standing, but I have yet to see her work a sit in there. We finally used a mixture of lowered mattress, sleep sack and mittens on her hands. It is working until she figures out how to take the mittens off.

Pictures

So as I've mentioned, it is cold here. It hasn't been in the positive digits since Saturday and it's suppose to be like this all week. When you walk outside your boogers freeze in your nose and your skin just hurts! It's so dry as well that we are all chapped from head to toe and it's just awful! Since it's been so cold, the creek froze over. This means that the cows and horse have no way to get water. Tyler went out with a sledgehammer yesterday and clobbered the ice for a good 10 minutes until he had a hole big enough for the cows to drink from. He said that it was hard at first, until the hammer froze to him gloves so he didn't have to grip it anymore. At one point he broke through on the edge of his hole and so he had to quit early because he was wet and afraid of frostbite through his 3 pairs of gloves. Sorry Lindsey, not trying to scare you off!

I think I mentioned the fantastic and easy dutch oven bread that Kate and I made this summer. Well, now that I have a great, easy to use in the house, dutch oven of my own, I've been bread crazy. There is nothing like hot stew and hearty bread on a way below freezing day. If you are at all interested in making it, check out the link, it is soooooo easy and fantasic, no kneading at all. It practically makes itself. http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/2007-12-01/Easy-No-Knead-Dutch-Oven-Crusty-Bread.aspx




Here is a picture of me in my new apron with my fresh out of the oven crusty bread loaf. mmmmmmmmmm


This is one of my favorite pictures. Alexandria and Archie with their Great Grandparents. Now we know where Alex gets the "look" from!


Grandpa Brady in his new chair with his two newest grandchildren. All Alex wanted to do was grab Archie.



Grandpa and Alex reading her favorite mag... Loghome living.




Grandma and Alex sharing carrots.

first steps here in the Arctic

When we left for church this morning at 9 am, it was -18 degrees (without windchill). Right now at 3:30 pm while I write this, it has warmed up to a balmy -6 degrees. Today when I tried to get Alex to take a nap in the mother's room at church, it was about 5 degrees (exaggeration, but not by much) in that room, not surprisingly I was the only mother there. It snowed all day yesterday and so there is snow everywhere. But the wind blew as well so it was the nasty dry cold snow that you don't want to play in. I'm pretty sure we will be having a white Christmas this year.
Yesterday Alex walked from me to Tyler, and then from me to the Christmas tree! It was only 4-5 steps either way, but we were excited. Alex is using everything she can to pull herself up to a stand and getting very brave when it comes to walking. Whenever I turn my back she has put something new into her mouth, and has also gotten very good at clenching her jaw and not letting me extract it.
When I became a mother I thought that all my adventures were at an end. I didn't realise that they were just changing form.

Vomit and Christmas gifts

Today I was very happy because Alex had been eating so well, and had been pretty happy all day. I was sitting down at the computer to write an email when I heard Alex choking behind me. I turned around and picked her up and started fishing in her mouth for whatever she had put in it. Not 2 seconds later she threw up all over my pants, then again all over the floor and then again into my hand which I had finally put up to catch it all. As I was sitting there stunned, trying to figure out what to do first, Alex excitedly reached out and grabbed a handful of her vomit and put it back in her mouth.

gross.

So before we left Utah after Thanksgiving, the Brady's had our family Christmas party a bit early so we could all be a part of it. It was a lot of fun and we got some GREAT gifts. My sister in law Natalie got me a flirty apron! I was very excited, I had been wanting one for at least a year now. I'll post a picture soon. We also got a dutch oven, but one for indoor use. This was also perfect because I had been pricing them at every single store I went to over the last 3 months. Tyler got this great book titled "Trauma Junkie: Memoirs of a flight nurse" which is pretty good so far. We got Monopoly and Alex got some great toys which she LOVES. Grandpa Brady made these jigsaw puzzle nativities that are just incredible. pictures later. I think my favorite gift was the juicer I got. So this summer when I was obsessed with finding the perfect lemon juice recipe, I tried a lot of different ways to juice a lemon. I ended up borrowing a juicer that Grandma Jake got for her wedding about 60 years ago. Well i finally returned it and Grandma said I could have it!!!! I don't think anyone will ever realise how much that meant to me. I can't even express the awesomeness of that gift, and I hope Grandma knows how unfathomably grateful I am.

Alex's odd sense of humor

Alex laughs at the weirdest things. For example......

What I Am Thankful For

While there are so many people and things that I could talk about in this post, I am going to focus on the one thing that I am the very most thankful for, especially this year.
I am so grateful for Tyler and the million little things he does for me every day. How he wakes up in the morning and gets Alexandria so I can hold on to those last fleeting moments of sleep. How gladly does all the little chores that I dislike and even makes them seem fun. I am thankful for the way he listens to what I have to say and knows when he should and shouldn't respond. I love the way he plays with Alex, and takes care of her. I simply adore the songs he sings, and look forward to bedtime every night so I can hear the newest verse to some strange song. I am grateful for the ever increasing number of daddy daughter days and dates that Tyler insists on, so I can get things done. I am thankful he willingly lets me finish his piece of cheesecake when he knows I want more, or eats the food on my plate so we aren’t wasteful. I am grateful that he is always the one to strap Alex down in the car seat, and get her out again, and then carry her around when we are out and about. He never complains about these things although I am sure they are annoying and tiresome. I love how our individual quirks melt together or completely contrast in such a harmonious way. I am grateful for how he still tries to throw me around and wrestle in the kitchen even though it hurts his back. I am so grateful that he worked so hard this summer to take care of us. I know it couldn’t have been easy to leave his new born baby and go camping for 6 months. I am grateful that he is so smart and driven and has the desire to work hard to provide for us. I couldn't imagine my life any other way, and am glad for such a hard working stud of a man. My heart is overflowing with these and so many other little things He does that I can not even put into words. Alexandria is lucky to have such a wonderful father and example in her life.

Top 10

So I feel like in my last post, I left out most of the "flavor" of the last week, so here are a few of the great moments that are had when taking a 8 month old on a week long road trip. In no particular order.
1. So on our ferry ride we were standing outside on the deck when we heard the announcement....."Attention passengers, a frog has been found. If anyone wants to claim said amphibian, please do so". HILARIOUS.
2. The most delicious lamb curry I have ever dreamed of. It was even good eaten cold and with my fingers for breakfast the next day.
3. At one point in the car Alex was being unusually quiet. So I turned around to find that she had somehow gotten a hold of the salt and vinegar pringles, opened the can, dumped it out on herself and proceeded to eat them. She was covered from head to toe in salty chip residue, and had vinegar breath. I am still finding chip pieces in the car seat.
5. Apparently during the off season you can barter with hotel clerks for the best price possible. I think we only paid full price once, and all we did was ask, "So do you have any other discounts" after telling them we didn't have AAA.
6. We had a ton of fun hanging out with Alice and Bill in Seattle. It was so nice to have some other people who knew the area, and had a sense of humor, to play with.
7. So we would get up at 5:30 with Alex (when we changed time zones, she didn't.) We would raid the continental breakfast and then drive for a couple of hours. Then we would let Alex into the front seat and try to feed her while she played with the steering wheel and dashboard and had the time of her life.
8. Tyler was so wonderful and cooked all the meals for me! He would sit outside with the camp stove and cook our Mountain house freeze dried meals (actually very tasty), while I watched Alex. He even did the dishes! It was wonderful!
9. When we were at the tide pools looking at starfish and looking for crabs, Tyler noticed that the "driftwood" we had been staring at were actually seals bobbing up and down! They were only like 20 feet away, it was so cool.
10. One of the 5 or so things I really wanted to do was eat a great seafood meal. We tried a few restaurants and surprisingly we couldn't find ANY with Crab on the menu. We finally found a place with an ocean view that were willing to make a meal just for us. So Tyler and I ordered a pound of crab legs and made a mess eating them at this fancy place surrounded by rich ladies out for lunch with their friends, and men out for lunch with work. They had a treasure chest with toys that we looted for Alex after lunch. It was great.
11. Driving on the beach was really fun but a bit nerve wracking as well. We were never sure when we were going to get stuck, it was great.
12. The beach. Hands down my favorite place ever. I loved looking for treasures and walking in the water. I only wish we had made a sandcastle.
13. Visiting my Aunt Kathy in Idaho and watching 'Cars' in the hot tub. Their house is built on a hot spring so the floors are heated and the water has to be cooled instead of heated. Sometimes the toilet seats get hot from the water!

Least favorite moments
1. Traveling with a crying, won't go to bed, and wakes up at 5 am baby
2. So much driving.
3. Having to leave.
4. Sand in baby's hands.
5. Sand on baby's face.

Awesome Anniversary Trip pictures

So Tyler and I have started an unofficial tradition of going on a vacation every year for our anniversary. This works out because it is on the 18th, and close enough to Thanksgiving that we are usually traveling anyway. So this year Tyler and I decided to go all out because of the little extra money he made firefighting, and the fact we hardly saw each other for 6 months. We decided a trip to the coast would be the most feasable and so for the last few months have been anxiously awaiting our week on the Oregon coast. This is going to be a long, and probably boring, post for most of you, but the pictures and stories are for the grandparents to enjoy.


This was Alex's first real encounter with the sea, and my favorite picture of the whole trip. We were in Seaside Oregon.


This is my second favorite picture. We were sitting on a big piece of driftwood and Tyler is the one taking the picture. It was a cold day on the beach at Proposal Rock.


Ok, so we started our Trip out by driving to Seattle to visit my friend Alice. We had a great time there, riding the ferry, going to the locks, eating fantastic Indian food, and visitng the zoo. If we would have had more money, we would have stayed there for another week! Alice and Bill were fantastic tour guides, between them and our GPS (which saved our lives this trip) we never got lost. I can not express how much fun we had there, I only regret that we didn't go to Pike's market or to see the troll, guess we will have to go back. This is us at the zoo.


Bill and Alice on the ferry. We had great weather the whole trip, it only rained on our last day on the coast when we were leaving anyway.



The picture is a bit blurry, but I thought the back ground looked so great!


Here we are at the locks. That was pretty cool, and they had these weird sculptures we posed with.





We visited a lighthouse in Newport (pictures are not in order). This is a picture of the tide pool beach from the top.







Alex and Tyler looking at starfish at the beach.



Beach and off the the right, proposal rock.








Tyler's favorite part of the trip was driving on the beach, and listening to the Eragon series of books on tape.


I loved visiting the cheese factory in Tillamook. These guys are watching the cheese get packaged.


In 10 years probably the only thing I will remember is all the adventures we had trying to feed Alex in the car.



This picture was taken about 3 minutes before Alex covered her lower half in sand and then face planted. She had sand all over her face and hands and I felt terrible about it! So we ran back to the car and cleaned her up and then bagged the beach for the rest of the day.


Alex and Tyler on Ecola Beach.


Alex loves to "walk".





We ended the coast trip at the Newport Aquarium and got to see all sorts of cool things!





So after about 2 beach trips, Tyler was worn out from hauling Alex around and walking in the cold water, and I still couldn't get enough of the beach. So at one point we decided that Tyler would stay in the car with the sleeping baby, listening to Eragon, and I would go to the beach. I had a great time and found all sorts of treasures, (including the starfish that we eventually threw back) and had some fun playing in the sand.