Welcome Ivy

We are so excited to welcome baby ivy into our family. She's an angel. Ethan loves her so much already and wants to touch and kiss her any chance he gets! There's more details to come, but here are some photos to start. She's such a big girl! These pictures look like she's already one month old, but she's only 4 days old in these photos!

The Wheel of Responsibility

During this pregnancy, Joe and I have been spinning the wheel of responsibility to determine who does the daily duties around the house. It sure makes life easy for me.

Okay so we really haven't been using it, but I thought the idea was funny. I mean, I'm the one who 'gets' to be pregnant for nine months. Joe always tells me he would gladly be pregnant for me if he could. BUT knowing all that comes along with pregnancy, I'm not so sure he would stick with that agreement for very long.

But seriously, my due date is in 3 days. If Ivy doesn't come by then, there's a scheduled enducing Thursday. Thank goodness. I can't wait to get on with life with a new baby. I'm sure she can't wait to come out too because she does the hippie hippie shake on top of my bladder any time she gets the chance!

Here's to an exciting week!

My baby brunch

I had fun designing this invitation for my brunch, so I had to show it off!

Thanks to my sister Aimee for taking these pictures, I have felt horrible for forgetting to take any pictures at her shower the beginning of this year, and yet, out of the kindness of her heart, she took pictures at mine!

Mommy and me.



Me at the breakfast table. There was lots of yummy treats.

The party went really well! Many of the ladies brought their kids and let them play at the park while they snacked and socialized. There was so many adorable handmade gifts, I can't believe the creativity of the people around me! Baby Ivy is going to have a headband to wear for every day of her bald headed life. :)

The weather was great too, a little warm, but nothing to complain about. The problem was the bees. We sprayed them with poison, but they kept coming back for the fruit! Thank goodness no one was stung!

Thanks to Mom and Aimee for throwing the shower, and thank you to everyone who came. What a treat!

Halloween Party at The Ferguson's

Joe and I got dressed up for an evening of fun this month at our friend's house just down the street. He's the Milkman and I'm the knocked up house wife. It was cool to really be knocked up!

Meet Jacque Ferguson. She decorated her house to the T for this spooky Halloween party. She's a professional painter, and crafter, so you can see why it looks so cool! This was the treat table.

This was the table where we all ate steaks and chicken and a bunch of other Halloween themed food. Look at the close attention to detail!

This was the photo backdrop. Such a cute and creepy idea to have it a chop shop theme.

The flapper couple and the old geezers. (Brett, sorry to say you looked like a child molester!)
The 3 blind mice (they brought their adorable baby that I almost sat on) and the boy/girl swapped couple.
The 80's couple and Dog the bounty hunter and his wife. (Those Jubblies on Leslie were show stoppers to say the least!)

We played some really fun games and laughed a lot. It's so fun to have such cool friends that live nearby.

Boo!

Anniversary party for mom and dad!

We had a secret party for my moms and dad's anniversary this year. Aimee decorated her house so cute for the event. She also blogged it a lot better than I would have, so I'm posting her blog on here so I can remember all the details later:

"My family has always been slightly unconventional. Ask anyone we were raised with. If there was ever any fireworks going off in the neighborhood, or random events, it was usually my family behind it. But we have never fallen short in the "good times" category. 32 years of marriage, is a really big deal, by any standard. But it seems the stresses in life, have always presented themselves around the fall, these last few years, so we haven't thrown my parents a timely anniversary party. You know, for the big, monumental years. And regardless of the amount of decades, it was time for us kids, to honor my parents, and make THEM the center of attention.So we kept this party secret. Invited Mom and Dad over a few times for dinner with my little family, trying to keep it casual. They had to reschedule, and then at one point my sister had to reschedule, and we had to move it around again! I was telling little lies all over the place, to keep it under wraps. We had babysitters lined up for the kids, and had to coordinate every one's schedules to pull it off. But finally the night came, and every one was in. All the Cutright kids and our spouses were pacing around, waiting for the happy couple to arrive. Running around, and peeking out dark windows. And finally they did. We hid, and then hit them with a bunch of shiny confetti and screamed "Happy Anniversary!" They were so shocked!And in true Aimee Teerlink fashion, I had our camera all prepared, and ended up getting 4 shots of the whole night. I am sooooooo disappointed! But I am lucky, that the food wasn't disappointing! We had stuffed puff pastry hors d'oeuvres, pesto tortellini, salad and french bread, roasted baby carrots, and cheese cake. All completely health conscious foods, and low in fat...

We asked Mom and dad a bunch of questions about their dating and newly wed experience. It was a riot. Dad told us about how poor he was as a kid, so he and his friends (the Rosedale Ruffians, as the neighborhood called them) would go down to the cemetery and wait for the funerals to finish, and they would go and steal the roses off the grave arrangements, to give to their dates! I mean, we laughed so hard! But it comes from knowing the destitute situation my Father was raised in. How mom thought that Dad was a snob when she was first introduced to him at Skags (a grocery store), because he wouldn't look her in the eye. Come to find out he was petrified of girls, and was just afraid of her. How dad told mom their first date that he was interested in finding a wife, and that if she wasn't looking for a husband, that he would probably not ask her out again. And that conversation led to their first make out... on their first date! And we learned that Dad had been engaged 2 times in his life!! Never before revealed. And about what a schemer my mom was. She really played the game well. How my Dad's best friend Rod, called at 6 am, the morning after their wedding, to ask if he and his wife could live in the basement of my parents new home. A lot of priceless memories.

Then we each prepared gifts for them. Angie went first, with an amazing short story she composed, full of analogies, and memories of my parents marriage, and their effect on her. It made us laugh and cry. She is a very talented, and passionate writer, and we LOVED it! Jordan and Brittany made a slide show DVD for mom and dad including all their bloopers. They sang songs, and hosted through out the slide show, and had us rolling on the floor with laughter. Ashley found Tim Tams for mom and dad, as her special memory of them, when we all lived overseas. And I bought them a Zim Zam. A game we all used to play years ago, together as a family. All gifts that they could enjoy together, or would be something meaningful to them.I am just so proud today, of my siblings, and their spouses. I could not have imagined a better outcome for this weekends party, after all the work it took to get us all together! I love my family so much, and am THANKFUL, for this experience."

Ethan's Pledge :)

This is so fun for me to watch. My little boy goes to preschool 2 days a week, and they have an American Flag in there and the kids say the Pledge of Allegiance every morning. Well one day he started pointing out American Flags wherever he would go and just start spouting off the words to the pledge. We helped him a couple of times, but he really memorized it at school. So cute!

Car Bed Magic and Musical Chairs!!!

Ethan's almost three years old and we've have had him in a crib since he was a baby. Being the careful boy that he is, he's never once tried to crawl out so I figured it was best to keep him behind bars as long as he would stay there! With the baby sister coming end of November/beginning of December, I knew some changes needed to happen with Ethan's sleeping habits. So I started looking for a new 'fart sack' for Ethan (as Daddy calls it).

I happened upon this Little Tikes car bed on craigslist. Gently used, complete with Cars Movie bedding, and matress for $65. What a steal it has turned out to be! Ethan tells anyone who will listen about his cool car bed. Not only does he sleep in it, but he also uses it as a trampoline/jungle gym. It has proven to be a hit!

On a side note, we've been playing musical chairs with the rooms in our house these past few weeks. All rooms/closets have been gutted. We sold a couch, treadmill, and dining room set on craiglist (what a gem). So now the baby will be in Ethan's room, Ethan is in the office, the office is in the dining room, and the dining room is obsolete since we NEVER used it anyway! So with the extra money we have from selling things, we are finally going to fix our golf ball hole masacred windows. Yay! I have to give a shout out to my mommy for coming over yestderday and spending 5 hours with me decluttering and organizing. She's such a trooper.

In other news, Barbie escaped this evening for a few hours to romp the neighborhood/golfcourse. I came home to our front door ajar and we drove the streets yelling her name and whistling. Ethan had fun 'pretent whistling' to try and help. We were sad to come home dogless. Then I parked my chair in the front yard for a few minutes and out of the corner of my eye I saw her mosying up the sidewalk. She'd been doing who knows what on the golf course for a few hours. She came home looking a little roughed up and was missing her collar. It was a happy reunion! I missed her more than I thought I would if something like that happened. She's very tired now. If it weren't for her breathing, I'd think she was dead.

I woke up this morning feeling like 'All is good" and I think that's how the day will end. :)

Leaving public access behind... (going private)

Hello,

I'm going private soon. I've sent an email to those of you whom I have your email addresses. Otherwise, please send me an email to huntsnlove at hotmail dot com if you'd like to be added to my blog.

After reading this blog post: http://www.brookemartin.blogspot.com/ I feel that, if nothing else, I can do my part to stop the pervs from taking my own innocent photos and turning them into something gross!

Thanks all, for your cooperation!

Ashley

First of many firsts!

Okay so I know Ethan has already had several other firsts! The first time he walked, talked, ate solid foods, pooped on the potty, ect! BUT today seemed like one of those big time 'firsts'! One of the first 'firsts' of his journey to being a big boy!

We've been talking about it with him a lot. We even picked out the coolest backpack ever with Lightning McQueen on it! I've known it was time for a few months now since he's been so interested in learning his letters and numbers. We spent the morning getting 'dapper' for the big day. Then when I dropped him off, he had tears, and so did I. I didn't expect that for preschool.

He had a great day! When I went to pick him up he was learning a new song and I felt so much joy! He's a big boy now. I hope the moments don't pass too quickly!!

You've got to giggle!

These are a few things that Ethan's imagination has cooked up over the past few months. There's so many more of these little gems, so as I think I them I will try to record them. Some day, when Ethan is big boy, I hope we can get a kick out of thinking back on these days!

Kitty Shaver: This creature has long feet, long tail, long beak, long sharp teeth, it has dots on it, and it comes in your room and shaves your back when it gets hairy. Ethan came up with this one day, we have no idea where it came from, but even during his turn to say prayers he often whispers, 'bless the kitty shaver."

The Duck: One morning Ethan wakes up hysterically crying. I run in there and ask him what's wrong, once he composes himself he tells me there's a ducky in his room and it's making the sound, "raaaaaaaaar, reeeeeeeer, raaaaaaaaar, reeeeeeeeer." So I sat in there, comforting him, listening for the sound, nothing. I tried to calm him down telling him "there's no ducky." He just kept insisting that there was a ducky gonna get him. So I brought him in to see daddy and went back into his room. Finally I heard it. His fan that we have had in there since his birth was on it's last leg and randomly made the 'ducky' sound. I showed Ethan the fan and tried to explain to him that the fan is broken and that's where the sound was coming from. Ethan still had a hard time believing that there was no ducky. A few hours later Joe took him to Target to get a new fan, and we threw the old one in the garbage can and that seemed to help ease Ethan. Weeks later, he still loves to tell the story of the ducky in his room. He always starts with, "Once upon a time..."

Hows your 'birth'day goin? Well we're definately into the question stage at 2 1/2 years old. For a long time the broken record question that Ethan would ask is, "what are you doing?" Well that got old after a while so then one day he started asking, "how's you're birthday going?" For I while I went a long with it, but finally Joe and I had to tell him to ask, 'How's your day going?" because it wasn't anyone's birthday that day. So now the repeated question is, "How's your day going?" He asks all day long. He asks strangers while we're out and about too. It's so fun to know he cares!

Stomping Alligator: This one remains a mystery. I was having a shower while Ethan watched cartoons in our bedroom, and when I got out he insisted that there was an alligator in our house. I asked him where it was and he pointed outside of the closed door. I asked him if he saw the alligator and he proceeded to show me how he heard stomping on the floor, and it was an alligator stomping. He wanted me carry him around the house for the next hour or so...

Owl down the street: Our neighbors down the street have placed a plastic owl on their window's ledge to scare away the birds from pooping on their house. One day, while Ethan and I were on a walk, I pointed it out to Ethan and told him why that owl is that their house. He insists it's a real owl though. Well knowing Ethan's past, he has a real fear of owls ever since he saw one in a cave on his favorite show, "Go Diego Go". But as he's gotten older, he has more of an admiration for them. He's even perfected the sound they make by rolling his tongue. So now, when we drive by the owl, we have to slow to a stop and let Ethan tell us why the owl is there. He feels so proud of himself!

Monkey Brushes: One of Ethan's most memorable experiences was the first time he went to the carwash with daddy. He was absolutely terrified and talked about it for weeks. After freaking the child out many times following that, Joe decided to take Ethan to the "blue" car wash instead of the 'red' one. What a difference that made! Ethan came home and told me that there we're silly 'monkey brushes' at the 'blue' car wash, and that they go round and round, and he giggled while he talked about it. For weeks he couldn't resist telling everyone he ran into about the 'monkey brushes'. Now he likes to have deep conversations with Joe and I about how he likes the 'blue' car wash better than the 'red' carwash. He begs daddy to take him every day, and Joe looks forward to taking him on the weekends.

Preggers and other things

These next few months are going to be bitter-sweet for me, mostly because I have the best little 2 year old a mom could ask for and spending time with him has been such a joy for me. Just the two of us, while daddy is at work, and then when daddy comes home, we have even more fun. It's really starting to feel like a family unit. I keep feeling like I'll be a little sad to add another addition to the mix. I feel like the family dynamic will change. Ethan's roll will change from being the only child, and sole receiver of all attention, to being big brother. He's already so helpful, he wants to do everything he can to gain more independence, so I know he'll be a big help. It's just going to be difficult for me not to look at him as my little baby boy anymore! I'm sure I'll immediately snap out of it when the new baby comes because of the joy and love I'll feel with both. I'm sure I won't be able to picture my life any other way. So I really can't wait for that day. :)

I'm so happy to finally feel less sick these last few weeks! Besides a little bout of the flu I had this week, things are getting back to normal! It's such a blessing that the things of pain in the life are for but a moment when you look back on them.

In the meantime, we've had lots to do and time marches on!

Joe has been spending lots of one on one time with Ethan lately since I've been laying around the house with nausea. He took him to a Dbacks game recently and Ethan had such a fun time dancing to the music and watching the game.

Joe and Ethan had a blast at father and sons together. Funny story, the two of them were sleeping in the tent together and of a sudden Joe gets woken up by Ethan saying, 'Daddy, stop making the trimmer noise!" Joe realizes he's been snoring and Ethan thought it sounded like a trimmer so that's the only way he could describe it! They did all of the fin camping things like roast marshmellows and throw rocks in the river. Too fun! Oh I failed to mention I had a fun girl's night that evening!

We spent some time at Lehi Days with the Allen family after a LONG dry spell of missing them. They are so fun and so easy going to be with. Crew and Ethan enjoyed each other's company too! I'm always sad when the Allen's leave town because I know it will be a long time until we see eachother again!

The greatest performer!

Well I'm very sad know that Michael Jackson passed away this past Thursday. What an amazing man and performer. I remember watching this superbowl performance when I was 10 years old. There's never been a better half-time show since! I think this is the way I want to always remember him. :)

Baby on the way...

Sadly, I've said goodbye to my Michael Jackson blog facelift. ::sheds a tear:: But on to bigger and better things! We have been blessed recently to find out we're expecting again! I would do a happy dance but then the nausea would kick in stronger and make me do things I don't want to do. Despite the all of the fun pregnancy symtoms (nausea, heightened sense of smell, weird cravings, sleepiness, lazyness, gas??) we are all very happy! Ethan can't wait for a little brother or sister. I would love to find out the baby is a girl, but I know I'll be happy either way!

I've got plenty of other things to share, but seeing as how sitting at the computer makes me feel sick, we'll see how well I do at posting over the next few weeks.

If I had to...

If I had to choose one artist that I could only listen to their music for the rest of my life, it would be easy for me! The King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson. I used to go to my room, close the door, flip on 'They don't care about us' and rock out!

Last night, American Idol had 'Michael Jackson' night and it seemed to stir up all my memories of dancing in the living room to 'Thriller' and 'Man in the Mirror' with my sisters.

You can say what you want about his personal life, but when it comes to performing, he's number one! Dance, song beat, energy, he has it all! He always does something crazy when he performs live on stage. One of my favs was when he came together with Britney Spears in '02 for 'the way you make me feel'. Two of my favorite artists!

And who can forget Captain EO the 3d movie at disney land for all those years! So awesome! I hope he never stops making music and performing. I would die to go to one of his live concerts! Anyone hear about one coming anywhere near AZ, you must inform me!

Thanks MJ!

I hear wedding bells!

Yay! My little brother just got back from his mission is Novemember and his sweet peach girlfriend Brittany waited for him. When he came home, they started off right where they left off, and now they're getting married in March. Jordan and Brit are such a perfect couple. You can't be in the same room with them without feelin' the love! She's amazing and we'll be so happy to call her sister!

Yay!

So I recently designed some ads for one of my favorite clients. Lora Jenson, little did I know, she's a genius, so here's what one of the ads looks like:

Well I designed the ads, and chose the slogan "Easy, fun, you're done." and went about my daily life again putting Ethan in diapers just fine. Well then Lora so graceously sent me the Ebook. So I thought I would try it! WOW! A week later Ethan has gone a whole day without having any accidents! Was it easy or fun? No! Did it happen in just three days? No! But am I done potty training Ethan, YES! I am so happy that I did it. And I'm so grateful for my husband who didn't let me quit when I tried like 10 times! He just kept telling me it would be worth it. And the relief I feel right now is amazing!

I'm a busy mom, like most, and I think in the beginning I did not put as much focus into my child as he needed in order to complete the task in 3 days. Now I know for my next child what needs to be done. I wish I could send the Ebook to all of you out there, but I need to give credit where credit is due, so go to here site and purchase the Ebook: http://www.3daypottytraining.com/. You'll be happy you did!

On a side note, Joe and I played twister last sunday while Joe's brother Jeff called out the next move for us, I think he had it in for us, however because look at this horrendous pose we were forced in to:

We laughed until we cried, and then fell down. (I love how one of Ethan's cars is in any photo I take inside my house anymore, they're everywhere!)

Christmas Through your eyes

I had fun designing this year's Christmas Card. Here's the final front.

Inside Spread.

Back. The paper was a glossy cardstock. So cute!

This year, Joe and I decided to take the lights off of our old pre-lit tree so we could put new ones on. Hours and several severs to the hands later, we vowed never to do that again. I think we'll try a 'real' tree next year. It was a great bonding experience though. :)

We did the luminaries down our street and through part of the neighborhood this year. It's such a fun activity for Christmas eve! All of the neighborhood kids look forward to helping me fold the sacks and put the sand and candle in.

This is the beautiful Christmas lights Joe put on the house this year. I just love them! Ethan took one look at Daddy's Christmas light extravaganza and said, "It's so beautiful!" He could have stared at them all day long.

This is our Christmas lights on drugs! Much cooler!

Ethan on Christmas morning! When we went to visit Santa at the mall, he told him he wanted toys for Christmas, but I don't think he really expected to wake up one random morning and see all sorts of fun toys and gifts. I woke up Chistmas morning feeling SO SICK! So I got to be the photographer. :)

Ethan and his Christmas spoil of sorts!Barbie apparently has something against Santa Claus.

What's left of Santa!!