Everything at once

So much has happened in the last month, exactly a month that Tyler and I havent had a moment to breath it seems. Thanks to all of you for your warm wishes and thoughts, they have ment more than you will ever know. I am pretty sure I can count everyone who might read this blog on one hand, but just in case there is someone who doesnt know, this is our story......

On Saturday the 21st of July, Tyler and I found out, after taking 3 home tests, that we were pregnant. This was quite unexpected and a bit of a shock so we decided to wait until Sunday to tell our parents. Sunday after church I called home and my Dad answered, we talked a bit about church and some other silly stuff I can not remember and then I told him to share the line with Mom because I had some news. Mom had just woken up from a nap so was out of sorts and while I didnt hear Dad's reaction, mom was more disoriented and confused I think than anything. Tyler's fully awake family took the news well and they were all very excited, Tyler and I were still scared and nervous.
Monday July 23rd Tyler left me to go Fire fighting for 2 weeks. This is a lot like the time he proposed and then left the next morning. I would later find out that this is the day he almost got knocked off a cliff by a rolling boulder, which instead hit and smashed the leg of the guy standing right next to him. Two near death experiences in two summer of wildland, you can see why I do not plan on letting Tyler out of my sight ever again.
Wednesday the 35th of July after some confusing phone calls wth my mom, my brother and Danielle showed up at my house and we all receive the phone call that my father had collapsed while on a YW Camp rafting trip and had died. This was by far the worst moment of my life. I had just found out I was pregnant, my husband was on a mountain somewhere out of contact, and my family was two states away all alone. My mom had tried to call the Brady's but couldnt get ahold of them, the details were unclear and all we knew was that Dad was dead and we had to get to Montana asap. I had no way to reach Tyler so i got on the internet, typed in 'Lone Peak Hot Shots' found a number and called a stranger who happened to be standing right next to Tyler. I let him know and he said he was on his way. Meanwhile the Brady's showed up while I was packing. Tyler got home, and we all crammed into the car and left at 10 pm that night for Montana. I've driven the Utah- Montana stretch more than I can count, but this was the only time it was ever done in silence, no radio, nothing but the sounds of sobbing.
We made it to the Ranch on Thursday just in time to meet at the funeral home to make arrangments and see dad. We found out that they think it was a heart attack, which seemed so unlikely at the time. Dad was in the stake presidency and we had the stake president there with us, as well as Grandpa Asay. Watching grandpa cry was the second hardest thing ever. We got to see Dad though, he looked so alive, so real. He had this grin on his face like he was about to tell a silly joke, or open his eyes at any minute. That was very hard for me.
Friday and Saturday were chaos. Flowers were comming all the time, everyone was always crying or laughing and we were frantically trying to plan a funeral and write an obituary. Tyler and I took the lead with the obituary and Michael and Danielle helped out a lot with the funeral program. David just lay around, that was hard for mom, to see him not crying or anything. Things still had to be done, and Tyler took care of the animals for us, and did a lot of chores.
Sunday all the relatives showed up and we sat around sharing all the funny stories about Dad. When he was about 30 he had written his own autobiography and it was amaizing to read. It had all the funny childhood stories, his friends names, his favorite spots, everything. What a treasure.
Monday was the funeral. There were over 1,100 people crammed into the stake center and police there to block off the traffic on the way to the cemetary. It was the best funeral I had ever been to. The spirit was so strong, the talks made your cry, made you laugh, and made you know that Dad was ok and we would see him again. It was fun to see all of Grandpa's brothers and Dad's old friends.
There were hundreds of people there who were not members and we found ourselves compforting them. We knew it was his time, we knew we will see him again, I can't imagine not having that hope.
Dad collapsed while climbing up to a cliff to jump off of into the stillwater river. There was an ER nurse and a cardiac nurse who were right behind him and started CPR within 30 seconds. He received a priesthood blessing within 2 minutes and he never regained conciousness. It was his time to go. A year ago Dad redid his life insurance, which has made it so Mom can have some peace of mind for a bit. This summer there was a family reunion where he got to see all his relatives one last time. A few weeks before he died, the whole family got together in Utah and we had the best 3 days ever, full of biking, and swimming, caves, and fun. Dad was worthy of his temple recommend, he was righteous and barely an hour before he died he had the chance to bear his testemony to the Young Women. I believe if Dad had been able to chose a way to leave, this would have been it to the tee.
While looking through his computer fils I found a list of life goals. He had completed everything he needed to do and all the rest was icing on the cake, things like become a millionare and get re-earn his pilots license. He had been able to see his two oldest children get married in the temple within a year, and found out he was going to be a grandpa.
Now, a month later, the tears still come, but it is hard to be truly sad when you think about Dad because you know he was suppose to go. The lord needed him, it was his time.
We left back for home on Thursday, Danielle had a test she had to take so we had to leave. Friday and Saturday Tyler and I bought a new car. Traded in the red truck for an x-terra and some debt. Sunday i started getting sick, morning sickness all the time. We were going to keep the pregnancy a secret, just in case it didnt carry through, but it sort of got announced at the funeral, so it's no longer classified information.
This saturday David sold his pig at the fair. EMBS (where Dad worked) said they would buy it, but a few other nice people had their hearts set on doing a favor for the Asay family as well. They all bid each other up until that 244 lbs pig, sold for 11 dollars a pound. thats about $2,600. The next highest pig was $6, and the average was $2.75.
Wednesday I started my job as a Second grade teacher, and I believe that I will enjoy it. I just have to train the little wildcats to be still first and then we can learn.

D. Scott Asay
D. Scott Asay returned to his Savior, suddenly but peacefully, while enjoying an outdoor church activity on Wednesday, July 25, 2007.
Scott, a self-proclaimed mountain man, cowboy and trapper, was born Feb. 21, 1957, in Worland, Wyo. He was raised by a nurturing mother and delighted in the many adventures that came with having a veterinarian father. Scott, who was brought up in the Gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, earned his Eagle Scout rank and served an honorable two-year mission in Boston. He graduated Summa Cum Laude and received a Juris Doctorate and an MBA from Brigham Young University. While receiving his education, Scott found the love of his life, LeAnn Sanderson, married her in the Salt Lake Temple and began a family.
From his youth in Wyoming to his life in Montana, he sought constantly to better himself through education, service, work and recreation. Using his great skills and knowledge, Scott enjoyed a successful 19-year career with EBMS. Although he loved his work and interactions there, his heart was always at home on the ranch or in the mountains, where he taught his children the value of a hard days work. Scott was, by definition, a renaissance man who enjoyed the adventures of the outdoors just as much as reading the classics and writing his own.
He will be remembered always for his diligent service and leadership in his family, church and community. Scott's passing leaves a tremendous void in his home, family, work and church. His pleasant personality, quick wit and integrity will be greatly missed by all who knew him. Truly, his life has been a legacy of honesty, hard work, service and love.
He is survived by his eternal companion, LeAnn C. Asay; his parents, Dave and Char Asay; his brother, Mark (Kristin); his sisters, Cindy (Dave), Kathy (Ward) and Susan (Jim); and his children, Michael (Danielle), Kristen (Tyler), Stephen, David; and many aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews.

Pre- 4th Celebration

Tyler and I have been planning the ultimate road trip for months and months now. It started out as an all inclusive Western states, 2 week long, see all the attractions, extravaganza. As the summer started the plan started trimming down due to lack of vacation days, and lack of money. Well Tyler was able to get 7 days off in a row and we trying to decide between going to Montana or the Grand Canyon. Turns out we did neither. But don't worry, we still had a blast!!

The Saturday before 4th of July there was a big Asay reunion in SLC so Tyler and I went up to see everyone, including my family who had driven up for a few days. It was a whole lot of fun, although Tyler and I were the only "adults" who got soaked right along with the kids with the squirt guns and water balloon launchers. I've found over the last 7 months of marriage that it's no use fussing over getting wet at the dinner table, because all the Brady's have a sort of fetish with water and throwing it at their loved ones, (although Ben is by far the worst).

Sunday was spent at our house. My parents and two little brothers came over as well as my older brother Michael and his wife Danielle. We had dinner here and then spent roughly 4 hours quizzing each other on trivial pursuit questions. A pastime that like water fights to the Brady's, seems enjoyable only to Asay's.

Monday Mike and Danny had school and Mom was dying to go do genealogy in SLC, so Dad, Tyler, the boys and I went to Timp Caves. That hike was a LOT worse than i remember it being. Our tour guide used the words "general" and "specific" about 100 times and it soon became a hilarious joke, so much that we could not stop laughing at the end of the tour. It was 102 in Draper, so after stopping by to say a quick hi to Sam, Natalie, Nicholas, and Christian (Tyler's brother's family who before Monday i had never met or spoken with, and who are visiting Utah for a month), the four kids (Tyler, Kristen, Stephen and David) went to Seven Peaks Water Park for 4 hours of fun. It was a blast and felt great! We all met up for dinner at cracker barrel and more family fun.

Tuesday was our last day together so we decided to do something big. Everyone had brought their bikes so we drove up to Park City and bought mountain biking passes for Deer Valley Ski Resort. Riding the lifts up and biking down is Michael's favorite pastime and he was so excited. My dream on the other hand, for the last 4 years, was to ride the Alpine Slide, so while all the boys and Danielle rode up the lift to the top, Mom and I rode the lift to look at the scenery and then took David (after he had gotten a run in, and decided it wasn't his thing) and went to Park City Mountain Resort. Mom and I are scared of heights so we both made a pact to ride both the Alpine Slide and the Alpine Coaster. We did it, and it was sooooo fun.

After a weekend of ridiculous fun and adventure we were all sun burnt red and tired. It ended up being a great vacation right in our own backyard!

Finally, a real job!!!

After months of waiting I (Kristen) just found out that I got the second grade teaching job at Ivy Hall Academy!!!!! This was great news until I found out that the teacher dress code was dresses and skirts everyday. I looked through my closet and realised that for a college grad, i had no adult outfits. Then when trying to find a decent picture of myself for the school bulletin board, I realised that every picture of me for the last 2 years was of me doing something ridiculous in front of the camera, had me with Indian stripes on my cheeks or in a wedding dress. I was finally able to find one that I photo-shopped enough to pass for a teacher portrait. I think this year will be a growing one for me and the 18 seven year olds.

Our marathon ride

Yesterday Tyler and I felt the need for an adventure. It was about noon when we decided to go and see the Oceans 13 movie at the theatre in the Riverwoods shopping area. Unfortunately the movie started at 12:30 and so we grabbed a backpack, threw some old granola bars in it and rode like crazy. It only took us 20 minutes to get there but we were sure hot and sweaty when we arrived. After the movie (which was really good, the best of them all) we rode our bikes up the river trial to Vivian Park (the end, or beginning, of the river trail). This only took an hour, which is surprising because of how slow we, I, was going. We stopped at the park for awhile and then rode straight home. All in all it was an 18 mile trip, (easy to figure out because of the signs posted every mile along the path) and we were exhausted at the end of it. Most likely because we only ate a waffle each for lunch/breakfast. After the ride Tyler made dinner and then we went out with Cavan to watch a movie after Tyler beat me once again at domino's.
So far our bikes have been the greatest summer investment, and once gas hits 4 bucks a gallon, I'm sure we will even be riding our bikes to the grocery store.

The energy of a 3 year old

I recently applied for a nanny job where i would watch 3 kids a few hours a week. I thought this would be nice for the money and for the experience which would help me get ready to teach second graders. The mother brought her kids over today to meet me and so she could ask me a few questions. The second they stepped in the door the 3 and 4 year old started running everywhere, opening every door and slamming every drawer they could find. I couldn't ditch the mom and frantically round the kids up so i had to be content guarding one room at a time while the mother asked me questions. I thought i had been able to keep the damage to a minimum, a few broken magnets and such, but when they were about to leave the little girl kept saying "fish food" over and over. I thought she wanted to feed them and i said maybe next time. Well, i went to check on the tank after their departure and found that the little angel had dumped the rest of a large bottle of fish food into the tank. I was sick at the sight and could only watch them gorge and hope none died of over eating. Needless to say i have a new respect for mothers and daycare providers.

Goblin Valley / Little Wild Horse Canyon

This "weekend" (the Wednesday and Thursday Tyler got off instead of Saturday and Sunday) Tyler and i went on an adventure to Goblin Valley.
The drive was mostly in the pouring rain which made us a little uneasy seeing as the next day we were planning on visiting a slot canyon notorius for flash floods. We made it to the valley and ran ourselves out exploring the goblins and climbing on everything. If you havent been, you really should go once, it was amaizing and so much fun ( although on our way out Tyler remarked that he wished Cavan were there, apparently it was the kind of adventure where Cavan would have trippled the fun.) We had planned on camping right by Goblin Valley in the campground but there was a big wind storm and the campground was completly full of Boy Scouts. This fact helped us decide to drive to the nearest town and get a hotel, which was a treat because we got to watch Tv and go swimming.
Thursday morning we got up early and drove to little wild horse canyon and bell canyon. I was bummed out when halfway down an out of the way dirt road, we became the last in a line or 9 cars headed to our destination. All boyscouts, 46 of them to be exact. It was still windy when we started out, and we didnt have to go far before we entered the canyon. The lure of this particular canyon is that the mouths of two canons intersect at a Y. You head down one then you can hike a few miles over and come back through the other, making a nice 9 mile loop. Little wild horse canyon is one of the best slot canyons in Utah, as is Bell canyon.
Suprisingly we only ran across the boy scouts twice and had the canyon to ourself the rest of the time. It was my first slot canyon and it was great, there were times where you had to turn sideways to get through and most of the 2 miles in wild horse were pretty darn narrow. There were little lizzards everywhere that Tyler chased around everywhere and in the end he actually caught one! I was taking pictures of everything and tyler was jumping and climbing on all the rocks and up any wall that would let him. Overall our time in the San Raphael Reef was great and we only got a little sunburned.

Memorial weekend

This weekend I (Kristen) got the chance to tag along with Michael and Danielle back home to Montana. We left Thursday made it to Billings a day before expected, the only problem was that Tyler had to work all weekend and so he couldn't come.

This trip home is one that i don't think we will forget for awhile. Friday we had all sorts of fun, including seeing the worlds tallest horse, a 7 foot (to the shoulder) monster named radar. Saturday we drove up to Red Lodge to participate in the opening of the beartooth pass. This road is probably the most beautiful in the world, 20 miles of steep switchbacks taking you straight up a mountain. Well, it just so happens that Red Lodge was trying to set the world record for the biggest number of snow shovels collected at one place. As you can see there was no snow, but we did set the record, because there was no previous one. In the picture above my family is in the front right. I'm behind and to the left of the lady in white and David is right next/behind her and michael behind him etc. We ended up on the front page of the newspaper, and on the news for quite a bit.

After the festivities we drove up the pass and watches people skiing down crazy drops on the side of the road that went down thousands of feet, and then had to hike back up. We had a snowball fight and made a snowman and then headed home. Monday we went to Grandpa's farm in Wyoming and did some 4 wheeling and dirt biking. Quite fun.

From what i gather Tyler spent all his time sleeping and working and then on Monday got to spend time with his family, doing fun gardening and a dinner. Overall it was a great weekend!