One year old! (About three weeks ago)

It's hard to believe that our little one is a year old. In many ways it feels like we just left the hospital a few days ago, but our sweet boy has been with us for a full year now.

His first birthday was spent in southern and northern Utah so family on both sides could join us in celebrating his first year. Unfortunately it also included about a four hour car ride - he didn't like that part very much. He did a fine job smashing his cake, and he has a real knack for shoving frosting into his mouth by the handful. (We do have some photos of his assault on baked goods which we will probably post sometime around Halloween given how infrequently we update this blog).

Asher is a happy little boy who loves to give us hugs and always greets me with a smile when I come home from work. He loves to read, play in the bathtub, make a mess of his room and his meals, and takes special pleasure in helping unload any basket full of laundry he can get his hands on. He also loves to be around his cousins and friends, our friends love him as well - can you blame them? He has a cute laugh, the Parrish family gap between the front teeth, and another trait that Jill assures me is pure Pugmire.

For me it has been wonderful to take him to football games (see the photo above), watch him grow and progress, read stories to him, listen to him sing himself to sleep, watch him grow into his mischievous personality (he's going to give us headaches and belly-laughs aplenty), and to see how happy he is when he is with his mother. He's a great kid and I'm grateful to have the chance to be his dad. I don't always get a lot of time with him, but I treasure every moment we do share.

Happy Birthday, Stink-O-Potamus! I love you!

No More Binky...

So, we went to Durrant's parents house on Friday night to have a sleepover with the nephews and to give Marilyn and Bryce a break with all the boys. In my haste, packing, I left the binky at home and didn't realize it until bedtime.

The dilemma, buy more binky's, or cut him off. We went with cut him off. Hmmmm.... It only took an hour to get him to sleep, then when he woke up at 2:30am to nurse, he didn't go back down until 4am. Yeah, I was ready to shoot myself in the head.

Fortunately, Saturday went a little better. We were in the car during nap time, which helped immensely. For bed, he went down in less than an hour, and didn't get up until 6:30am. Being in his bed in his home probably helped, but I'm not complaining.

Today, he refused to take a nap even though he was exhausted, so I put him down early. It took him about a half hour to finally give in. Not sure how Grama is going to feel about this tomorrow, but I hope it goes okay!

I have to keep telling myself that this is for the best. And, I have to admit there is a certain amount of freedom knowing my life is no longer dictated by whether I have a little piece of plastic anymore. In the mean time, I'm learning to live without sleep again. ;)

Latest pic of Asher

Our awesome friends are really in to photography and have taken some really cute photos of Asher. These were taken at our tailgate for the Utah v. Air Force game. My little boy will be a Utah fan whether he wants to or not, I'm afraid! :)

For some reason Asher is fascinated with nature. He LOVES being outside and is always content when there. Part of this is his love for leaves and grass. Here he is extolling the virtues of leaves.

My niece, Hope, (6 mo older than Asher) was here about a month ago and was doing this same face. They could honestly be twins. With Asher it is usually acompanied with an "Ooo" with a look expecting me to know exactly what he is saying. I don't, but I'm getting pretty good at guessing. ;)


This one is my favorite. I know I'm biased, but I think my son has the cutest face! Serious, yes. But dang cute!

Facebook Addiction

So, I think I owe you all an apology. I complain about not posts, then I don't write anything for a month. I would like to take responsibility for this, but I think I will probably continue to blame others. This particular victim is Facebook. I am hooked totally and completely to that stupid website. Actually, it's probably the games on the website more than anything. My current favorites are Mafia Wars and Cafe World. I play Farmville as well, but I'm losing interest.

Anyway, I thought I would update everyone on what has been going on here at the Pettey Household. Asher started crawling and is currently into everything. He also broke two teeth on Halloween (a penguin growing teeth, just think about that for a minute...) and is currently practicing how to use them on anything and everything he can get his mouth on. He is a pure joy and delight to Durrant and I, we are having the time of our lives.

So far, we have approximately 3 dozen jars of applesauce completed, and about 5-6 more boxes to empty. Yeah, gonna be doing applesauce for a while. I'd really like to do cider, and apple pie filling, but not sure how and haven't done enough research to find out. So, I think I will probably just get a big stock of the sauce and then get creative with canning next year.

The house is nearly done. We have narrowed the box mess down to one room, and things are finally starting to have homes. We still have a lot more to do, (i.e. hang pictures, base boards, overall organization), but we are getting there slow but sure. The plumbing is still an issue, but the plumber is supposed to come on Thursday to get the metal snake out of my floor. Then, at least, I will be able to move the toilet from the middle of the floor back to it's home.

Other than that, we are just plugging along. We LOVE the weekends, when Dad can stay at home and play with us. And we are grateful for the weekdays that give us the sustenance to live.

Thank You!

Okay, thanks for all the comments. I promise I won't complain anymore. You guys are awesome. :)

Hello? Anyone there?

Okay, this might seem silly to you, but I am having serious doubts that anyone is actually reading this blog. As evidenced by the number of comments (ZERO) in the last few posts, I'm ready to call this my own personal journal. Not that I am expecting everyone to write on every post I have, but seriously? Nothing?!?!?!?!

No big deal. But I warn you that you may not like what you see, if you ever do return. ;)

Licorice, Football and Mud

I was working on a deposition the other day and Asher was getting impatient with my inattention to him. Finally, I decided to give him a piece of licorice so I could complete things. This worked like a charm and I continued to work with my focus on the computer screen. When I next turned around this is what I found. No worry about choking, this kid wasn't going to let anything come between him and his first piece of candy. Yeah, we will be hiding all candy until after dinner from now on.



Utah's first home game this year was with Utah State. As much as I love the Utah games, I will be an Aggie until the day I die. And, as the one who gets our son dressed, I chose the apparel for the day. Asher and I both wore blue in our season ticket seats, much to Durrant's chagrin. But, as you can see, we got an adorable little hat to show his Dad's colors. Our little hybrid was the hit of the game, everyone loved him.



This picture has a story with it that will hopefully be a lesson to me for a long time. When we were in So. Utah for Labor Day and my birthday we stopped by the farm to pick some corn. As we traveled from the house to the field where the corn was I didn't want to put Asher back in his car seat. It was only about a hundred yards, and he hates his seat, so I gave in and put him on my lap. After we picked the corn we went to Heidi's house to pick up some papers, and in fear of getting caught I suggested we go the back way through the farm. I didn't think that the road would be wet due to the irrigating of the fields. Poor Durrant was left to try and drive a very muddy road. This was the result.

Fortunately, I have a fantastic brother who is capable of handling my foolishness. A few minutes with a tow rope and we were out. Hopefully, this will be a lasting lesson for me that it is just better to put the kid in the seat. However, I won't promise anything... :)