Havasupai Indian Reservation

we went to the Havasupai Reservation this last week and had an amazing time! we drove down Wednesday afternoon and arrived at the rim of the canyon just in time to start hiking (about 5 am). it was a ten mile hike from the rim to the campgrounds and we had amazing weather. we went to Havasu Falls first and cooled off in the water by climbing up under the water fall and jumping off cliffs through the waterfall... very cool! Next, we headed to the campground to pick our spot and we waited for our bags to arrive on the pack horses. They didn't come as early as we'd hoped so some of our group headed to Mooney Falls a few miles down trail. The descent to the bottom was pretty wicked, but so cool! You basically use chains and anchors that are placed in the rock and make your way down the rock wall. (Mom, this is the part you wouldn't want to see!) what a rush! we found a rope swing and played on that for a while and swam under the small falls to a little alcove. We didn't swim to the main falls because it's 200 ft. tall and makes quite a wind and tide away from it. we headed back to camp to see if the bags were there yet (we were starving!), just to find out that they weren't there. we waited a bit longer and they showed up so we set up tents and made a late lunch. some people fell asleep (Jeff was out for the count!) and some of us went to a fun rope swing to play for a while. we ate dinner, hung out around the camp and then finally crashed. the next morning we set out for Beaver Falls. it was a beautiful hike through green valleys and floating down the river in the canyon. we played a while on the way, at a rope swing,Jeff tried to do a back flip and couldn't quite figure it out. It was on this leg of the trip that Mandy got swept down a little waterfall and Jeff went down after her. Needless to say we got pretty beat up. Mandy got it the worst. She was quite the trooper however and finished the hike and the rest of the trip in stellar fashion. On the way to Beaver Falls there were many other falls that we jumped off and had a great time. We finally made it to Beaver Falls and Mandy ended up having to jump off a 25 foot cliff to make it to the other side. She again did great! Most of the guys ended up jumping off the big cliffs at the fall. After all the excitement, we started to hike back and didn't have any more incidents. The next day we went to Navajo Falls and by now Mandy's scrapes were really painful. But she was a good sport and we climbed all over the falls. Up through pools and trees... very cool! We ate lunch at the falls and stayed there most of the day. We headed back to camp and ate dinner and got organized since we were leaving very early the next morning. In the morning, Mandy realized why her toes had been throbbing and painful the whole trip... she had 1/4" blisters under her big toes so she couldn't put her tennis shoes on. She hiked out in her Teva sandals and barely made it, but we persevered and made it to the top just when our bags got there. We packed up and headed out. We stopped and Denny's for breakfast (we were famished!) and made the long haul back to Utah. It was not a great trip for Mandy considering she lost 3 toenails and gained some good scars in the process (while 10 weeks pregnant), but Jeff can't wait to go back! (Mandy wants to go too, only she'll take the helicopter in this time!)

Misc photos and videos to catch up!

this is old... mid-July
here are some photos and videos that i love. they're not in order as far as dates go, but just some i'd like to share. we are having so much fun with asher! he amazes us everyday. he loves to be outside and play. he's walking very well now and can almost run. he's learning his first word, moon, which he pronounces mmmaa... so close! he's up to six teeth and has a few more on the way. his hair is growing so much and is still very curly. lots of people say it's getting blonder too. he loves to play with cars, trucks, jeeps, motorcycles, etc. pretty much anything with wheels. he makes a great sound when he plays. if you haven't heard it, check out our post from Yellowstone. we have a video of him playing in the campground with his jeep and he makes his noise. he loves to climb the ladder in his play room up to the loft. the video is about a month old, so he's faster at it now. he loves to give big hugs and will squeeze really tight and grunt! he gives kisses too. he's so loving and holds our hands while we pray (well, our fingers anyway!). we love our little dude so much and are so thankful for him in our lives.

Yellowstone July '08

We went to Yellowstone for the 4th of July weekend! What a blast! Asher had such a great time and loved sleeping in the tent. We left Thursday evening and stayed in the west at the Madison campground. Asher loved seeing the stars (he usually goes to bed before it's dark enough to see them). He slept in his own sleeping bag and was such a trooper. Our airbed had a slow leak so we had to refill it several times throughout the night... not fun! The next day, we tried to swim at the Firehole River, but the river is running too high so it was closed... bummer! We were really looking forward to having Asher swim in the river again. Maybe later this summer? We headed down to Old Faithful and got some great photos there. Asher took a nap in my arms inside the amazing Old Faithful Inn and then we headed to the Lamar Valley. We stopped on the side of the road on the way and saw a black bear (that was brown). It was relatively close and it was fun to see. We got to the Lamar Valley and stopped where some people had pulled over. There was a Brown bear (Grizzly)! It's pretty rare to see one of those and it walked closer and closer to us. We got great views of it and even took photos through a spotting scope! We headed to the Pebble Creek campground to ensure we got a spot and set up camp. I had decided that we should pack breakfasts and lunches, but to eat out for dinner. I just don't like having to wash all the dishes in the freezing cold sinks and make sure you get all the food off to not get eaten by a bear! So we headed out the northeast entrance to Cooke City, Montana and ate at a restaurant there. Asher made lots of new friends (as always) in town and we enjoyed our time there. We headed back to camp and on our way, we saw two bison in the road. Jeff stopped the car to let them pass. Well, they passed all right... about one inch from our side mirror! Jeff almost touched it, but I wouldn't let him! Close call! Asher got so excited when it was time for bed. He crawled all over Jeff and me and giggled like crazy! He sure loved the tent. He tried to eat my nose, cheeks, forehead... whatever he could get his mouth on! He finally settled down and we all slept well (except Jeff... he's a pretty wimpy camper! =) ) The next morning, Jeff woke up early and went out to see the wolves. He went to the normal spot and nothing was happening so he headed back to camp. On his way, he saw 3 wolves off the side of the road... very rare! He rummaged through the car trying to find the video camera and they started howling! Two more wolves popped up out of the grass and he still couldn't find the camera! He raced back to camp to wake us up and we all headed back. We missed the roadside show, but saw them through spotting scopes. They are amazing animals and we've been lucky to see them as much as we have. We headed back to camp, ate breakfast and packed up. There wasn't any action on our way back through the valley so we headed to our next campsite. We stayed at Bridge Bay campground and we got a good spot with a view of Yellowstone Lake. We set up camp and let Asher play around. We took a walk through a meadow and into a forest on the other side. It was a great day and we enjoyed the sunshine. Asher and I took a nap and then we headed to dinner at Lake Lodge right by the lake. We hung out there for a bit and let Asher meet new friends. We had a fire back at the campsite and headed to bed. Asher had another hyper session and crawled all over until he collapsed in exhaustion! We woke up fairly early, had breakfast and packed up. We wanted to spend some time in the Tetons on the way home. Unfortunately, we caught the traffic of everyone else headed home so it took longer than we expected. We picnicked right by Jackson Lake and had a great view of Grand Teton and Mount Moran. We headed home... what a drive! It took us 6 hours total! We were very ready to be home and shower up! All in all, it was a great trip and Asher is a true camper... good thing he got my genes there! Just kidding Jeff! We love Yellowstone and feel very blessed to live so close. Love to everyone, MK

Quick update

this is by no means adequate for all that has happened since my last posting, but i've promised people that i'd get photos and videos up, so i'll just do a quickie and fix it later. love to all, MK

London post #2

Note: some of this was written by Mandy and some by Jeff so I hope it’s not confusing!?

We are on the train to Scotland right now and are blown away by the beauty of this Country. Farm land is beautifully divided by hedgerows or rock walls and the forests are very dense. The train ride is quite relaxing and we finally have a second to update the blog. I think we will take it from the second day since the day we arrived we just sort of hung around the flat and we’ve described what we did that night. See previous post for exciting news about Asher’s milestone!

5-3-08
Asher was still teething and had a fever but was still a little champ traveler. We got on a double-decker guided tour bus that took us all over London and pointed out important sights to see and gave us a brief history of all the sights. We saw amazing buildings, more luxury cars than we have ever seen in such a small radius and experienced a wonderful atmosphere. Our family, Lisa and Pedro, Scott, Maggie and Marli all hopped on the bus and off we went!

We were of course amazed at Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London; the list could go on and on. We caught the bus at Victoria Station and rode west through a really nice part of town called Chelsea. I recognized names from Jane Austen books and had fun picturing the history there. We saw Marble Arch where lots of executions took place. We passed Kensington Palace, museums, and other amazing things before we got off in Notting Hill. Scott and Maggie showed us where they used to live and showed us their favorite pub. It was a fun neighborhood and we walked to another bus stop to continue the tour.

We had a great live tour guide on the next stretch and learned a lot about the city. We passed the famous Madame Tussauds museum, Oxford Circus and Regent street (crazy shopping area with SO MANY people!!!), some places famous from Beatles songs (Jeff loved that!), and got off at Trafalgar Square. We spent some time there and Asher enjoyed playing on the grass in front of the National Gallery and seeing the pigeons. We took some photos and videos there with the birds and the lion statues. Maggie took Marli home after that because she was tired and hungry but the rest of us carried on.
We had a terrible tour guide this time! Hard to explain in text, but I felt really bad for him! We saw some cool stuff though… #10 Downing Street where the Prime Minister of Britain lives (not much to see), St. Paul’s Cathedral, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, etc. Our tour included a river ride down the Thames so we hopped on the boat and floated down to Westminster. Our guide on the boat was hilarious and he made the few drops of rain we had well worth enduring. From there, we headed home and enjoyed Maggie’s gourmet cooking!! YUMMY! We had a nice relaxing night and poor Asher was still teething, but what a great sport! Announcement: ASHER WALKED TODAY!!! See previous blog for details! On to the next day…

5-4-08

We had a splendid time at Camden market today. What a mad house (and that’s an understatement!). There were so many people… I mean shoulder to shoulder people. It was really funky stuff and I (Mandy) loved it!! I wish we had something like that locally! We found a great purse and cool sweater for Mandy’s mother’s day gift. They were made in Nepal and the man who owned the store was so nice. Mandy got information from him and will hopefully be able to import some jewelry and other products to sell here at her shows and to friends.

A highlight for me (Jeff) happened after the market. Scott, Maggie, Marli, Mandy, Asher and I went to get our picture taken on Abbey Road. When we found the famous street, I have to admit I was quite disappointed, in that there was not any hype around the crossing. I guess I was expecting to see major Beatles memorabilia around the site. All that was there were people walking across the street getting their picture like us. You can see ours on the slide show. Not a lot of different things happened today because we got a slow start and spent a lot of time playing in the market. We were pretty tired from walking around the market and it was a bit of a walk from the Tube station to Abbey Road so we headed back to the house and chilled out. Asher needed some time too. He was still teething! Poor thing!

5-5-08

On the 5th we went to Windsor Castle. This was my favorite place (Jeff) so far. What history, elegance, and… drum roll… the queen was there. Unfortunately we did not get to see her but she and Prince Henry were there. I guess Prince Henry was receiving recognition for service in Afghanistan. The Chapel at Windsor was breathtaking. It was cool to see where the Order of the Garter met and where the members sat. Intriguing society! There was a great large dining hall that had all of the Knights shields on the ceiling with their crests, and those that had betrayed the Monarchy or had done something else wrong, their shields were blank reminding people of their dishonor. We found out that Prince William will become the 1000th Knight in June.

The castle also had wonderful works of art from Van Dyke, and the famous self portrait of Renoir in a flat black cap. The doll house in the castle was also very cool since I like miniature things. It was a replica made for a queen. It had all the bedrooms, the dining room with real silver plates on the table, all the other rooms and even a room with bars where the crown jewels were kept! Amazing how they miniaturized everything to the detail! In the rest of the castle, there were really cool weapons, treasures, and gifts in the rooms. I liked the door lock which, if fiddled with, had two pistols that would fire. Most people miss that item. Beware the queue. We saved hours by jumping in a tour group that was going through. Sneaky!

We ate at a fun restaurant across from the castle called the King _________. We had a great view of the castle and enjoyed fish and chips… yummy! Asher was starting to feel a little better.

The funny event of the day is when Mandy decided to get some candy from a vending machine minutes before the train came. The machine on our side of the tracks was broken and so she crossed over to the other side. As the train arrived she was still making her choice on the opposite platform. She thought that the train would be there for a few minutes so she crossed quickly, but as she was coming through the building, some kids were blocking the door. As the train was starting to close the doors Mandy was coming through the gate. The door in front of me closed so I went down a door and started to get in thinking Mandy was going to be able to get in. The train pulled away from the station and Asher and I peered out the door window at Mandy standing at the terminal. As brief anger passed I was left laughing at look Mandy had on her face as we passed. I just waited at our destination in Waterloo station for a half an hour for her. (Mandy’s version…) I was craving something sweet because I had after taste of fish and chips so I ran across to grab some candy. I hurried, but when I missed the train, panic struck! I didn’t have any money, my ticket, a phone, any identification or anything. The next train didn’t come for ½ hour so I asked the attendant if there was anything I could do to get to the destination any faster. I also didn’t know if they’d let me get on the train without my ticket! He said I’d be fine, but I’d have to wait for the next train to come. I was FREAKING OUT! I went to sit down to wait and found Asher’s blanket on the bench where Jeff had left it. So I guess it was meant to be and it all worked out. I caught the next train and I’d check each stop in case Jeff had gotten off to wait for me. I met some really nice guys from different parts of Africa. They were concerned that I didn’t know where I was going since I kept checking each stop. We had a great conversation and they helped me realize that the situation was quite funny and that everything would be fine. They walked with me to find Jeff to make sure I was fine and we all had a good laugh.


5-6-08

Today was a great day. We took a tour to the Cotswolds, the City of Bath and to Stonehenge. Our tour guide/drive was so great. He knew a lot about the history of London and all the areas that we visited. Everything we experienced today was fascinating. On the way to Bath we stopped at an amazing village in the Cotswolds called Lacock. There was a beautiful house there or small castle that was just breathtaking. Unfortunately we could not go in as we only had twenty five minutes to experience the whole village. The village had great little homes that had limestone shingles and some thatched roofs.

When we arrived in Bath we were greeted with a beautiful Abbey. This Abbey had an amazing facade. It was very detailed and was in great condition considering how old it is. We had a few hours to wander the city and enjoyed it a lot. I (Mandy) loved seeing all of the dancing halls and old houses. I love Jane Austen novels and she writes about Bath in some of her books. It was fun to imagine her characters and herself around the city. We went to the Roman Baths and were amazed at the technology they used to make the baths from natural hot springs. It was incredible how they piped the water in and cycled it through to keep them clean. Next, we wandered around and found a place to eat. The weather was incredible that day and we enjoyed sitting outside catching some rays. We walked around a bit more and then had to catch our tour bus and headed to Stonehenge. It’s quite a ways from any town and is amongst some beautiful green fields. Our guide pointed out some mounds that were actually burial sites and he told us lots of interesting things about the area and about the history. We only had 45 minutes so we had to rush, but we got some great photos and enjoyed our time there. We headed back to London and Kris had arrived so we had a good time that evening relaxing at the flat.

Big day!

(written on May 3rd)
we've had a great time so far in London! first of all though, i have an announcement... ASHER WALKED TODAY!!! =0 we knew he was so close to walking so we kind of didn't push it so that he could take his first step in London. He's had a couple of really rough days because he's teething, but after an especially long day, he took his first steps in Scott and Maggie's flat! he kind of pivoted first and we weren't prepared with the camera so we had to wait so we could get out the cameras. he took a few more steps and then practically collapsed because he was so tired (not from the few steps, but from a very long day.). that being said, let's find out why he was so tired...
well, our trip didn't exactly start out well. jeff had set his alarm for 6:15 pm instead of 6:15 am, so luckily he woke up at 6:40 or we wouldn't have made the flight! jeff's brother trevor took us to the airport and since we hadn't left when we'd planned, we hit a bit of traffic, but not much. we had trevor drop us off at the international terminal... well, little did we know that you can't check in at that terminal, so we had to run back to terminal 2 to check in. so i limped on over and we tried to check in at the kiosk, but we couldn't because we had an infant in arms. so we rushed up to have someone check us in... mind you we had less than 45 minutes before our flight left. the clerk was all put out, but got us checked in. jeff suggested that i should go back over to the intl. terminal and stand in line. so i hobbled back over quickly and just as i was walking in the door, jeff called and told me that the clerk needed the tickets to finish up... yep, you guessed it, i had the tickets. so i ran back and gave them the tickets then we all ran back to the intl. terminal. we had 1/2 hour now! jeff told the security guard our problem and he pretty much said "too bad, so sad." so jeff made an announcement to everyone in line that we were totally late and asked if anyone had a problem with us cutting in line. everyone told us to go ahead so we butted in and got through security. we were at the last gate in the terminal and made it just in time. pessimist jeff said, "90% chance our bags won't make it on the plane." jeff! think positively! we had to shuffle seats with some people so that we could sit together, but they were nice so we had aisle seats across from each other... in the last row of the entire plane! oh well, we made it and we took a deep breath and tried to relax. asher was great. he slept for a while and was fine the rest of the time. we flew into newark and switched terminals, went through security... again, and went to eat in the food court. we had lasagna and the guy at sbarro was really nice and gave us a plate of spaghetti for asher at no charge! we ate and headed back to our gate. there was an open area with no seats for asher to crawl around (i know... gross, but he needed to move and we washed his hands afterward!), so we let him play for a little while. we loaded up had great seats on this flight. people were nice again and moved so that we could have 3 seats together. we were told by the pilot that we'd be off shortly because they were still loading luggage into the plane. then a few minutes later he informed us that there was an emergency situation on an incoming flight so we'd be a little later. then he told us that we could finally start taxiing, but that it would be 45-60 minutes before we could take off... are you kidding me!? once we took off the flight started out okay, but oh my, it went downhill! asher struggled getting to sleep and he'd scream, so we'd let him play some more so that he'd stop crying, but we'd have to do it all over later. finally, i gave up in frustration. jeff stepped in (what an AWESOME daddy!) and took him into the lavatory to let him scream it out and he finally wore himself out. he slept for a few hours until we landed and dozed in our arms until passport control. he was fine after that... for a while. we got on the gatwick express to victoria station where we planned on meeting scott. i didn't know if he'd gotten my text and my cell phone doesn't work over here, so we wandered around trying to find scott. we didn't see him anywhere and we debated asking someone to borrow their phone to call him. i went to a payphone and was trying to figure it out when scott showed up. yea!
we headed to scott's on the tube and were delighted to have 2 more hands to help with luggage. we made it and were relieved to be there. we hung out with scott, maggie, marli, lisa, and pedro (who had flown in the day before). maggie fed us yummy food and we hung around for a while chatting. jeff got asher to sleep and lisa, pedro, maggie and scott went to the market while jeff and i crashed! asher woke up screaming and had a hard time getting back to sleep, but jeff is a great daddy and took care of him. he had a pretty bad fever (stupid teething!), but slept for a little while longer. when we woke up, we all got ready and went to the London Eye. We walked up out of the tube station and Lisa told me to look up and whoa! there was Big Ben! it took me by surprise and it was really cool. we walked over the bridge and looked at all of the cool buildings... we're in London!!! very cool! the Eye is really cool because you can see so much. Asher really enjoyed being able to walk around in the pod and loved looking down. the pictures are funny because you can't tell that the glass is there so it looks like he's just standing at the edge of a platform or something. he's so cool! anyway, after the Eye we took photos on the bridge and walked over to Westminster Abbey and then on to Victoria Station... long walk! but it was a really nice night and we had fun seeing the city.
ok, i'll end this one and start a new one for the next day. i'm a few days behind! love to all, MK

We're off!

well, we're off for london in the morning... i should be sleeping right now! we're so excited to see scott and maggie and to meet marli! wahoo!! i'll update from there as well, so watch for cool photos and summaries of our adventures. check out this cool website i found: http://www.elephantart.com it's really amazing what animals are capable of. i love them! hope to visit these elephants sometime in our travels. love to all, MK

Asher assorted swimming videos

i realized today that i don't have any videos of asher "jumping" in the pool on the blog, so here are a few. asher is in his second session of swimming lessons. we did one in october when he was six months old (i would recommend this to people because he is very comfortable in the water because of it) and one this month. the sessions last 4 weeks with lessons on tuesday and thursday. his last one is this thursday and i'm sad that it's over. he really loves the water and has such a great time! but we'll be up at my mom's a lot this summer i'm sure. she sets up a pool in her backyard and it's really nice to cool off in the heat of the summer. asher loved it last year (i'll include some photos of him last summer). i hope i'm not overloading people with blogs, but this is really fun and so easy to do that it's hard not to share with others. i know my family appreciates it (especially heidi!). enjoy!

Zeus visit

we visited our puppy-to-be, Zeus, yesterday and oh my, is he cute!! he's already so big and i just wanted to bring him home! he came to me when i called him (i told the sellers what i'm naming him, so they've been calling him zeus for me.), and played around with me. he is the biggest of all the puppies (yea!) and he's very gentle. he played with asher... no biting, no climbing, no scratching. he just nudged his bum and played with him gently. then he proceeded to climb into my lap and fall asleep! it was very precious and we (ie. me) are very excited to bring him home. he'll be huge by the time we get him. he was born march 11th (that's my dad's birthday... it's a sign) so he'll be 2 months old when we pick him up on may 12th. here are some photos and videos of him. hope you enjoy! love, MK Jeff and Asher

Asher's First Birthday

Yea! Asher is one year old! we had a great time at the party. i had a jewelry show that morning... bad timing! so i didn't get home until about 2:30 and the party was scheduled to start at 4. thank heaven, my mom and my sister lisa and her husband pedro helped out lots and we got most things done at a reasonable time. i made a teddy bear cake for asher and it was a nightmare to frost! i had a special frosting tip to look like hair and it wasn't as easy at the picture made it look... surprise, surprise! but it turned out okay. we actually had sunshine and warmth, finally, so we set up outside and enjoyed the afternoon sun. asher didn't feel like taking his afternoon nap... bad timing again. so he was a bit ornery some of the time, but considering the circumstances, he was great as usual. as long as he had his favorite toy (an old orange hammer of my mom's), he was okay. you'll notice it in lots of the photos. he wouldn't even put it down to drink his water! we dressed him up in his designer duds (kenneth cole) and took some photos while he opened presents... okay, okay, i did most of the opening.
everyone brought such nice gifts and he'll love them all. he got a sandbox from daddy and some sandbox toys from mommy including his first tonka trucks. and also a small push-along 4-wheeler from both of us. baba gave him some clothes and a cool shape-sorter truck. heidi and tony had given his gift when we went to washington... seattle seahawks and seattle sonics track suits and a cute birthday crown. scott and maggie sent some cute clothes... thank you! lisa and pedro gave him some great clothes too. pedro picked out an oufit with a surfing print and he will be asher's surfing uncle. mat and rachel's family planned on coming, but samara was sick and rachel wasn't feeling well either, so we'll celebrate with them later. mat's birthday is april 13th and india's is the 15th so we'll celebrate them too!
Jeff's family gave nice gifts as well... Darcey and Gregg gave him a great Levi's outfit, some scooby-doo slippers and some money for his savings account. Grandma and Grandpa Hansen sent a cool jacket. Brandy and Navie gave him a safari bus that sings and came with a lion and tiger. and kiley and amy gave him a bat and ball for us all to play with. my friend heidi feser came too and she brought some cool books. one is a "petting book" with animals and another is shaped like a bumblebee and has a handle. awesome!
thank you so much everyone! you made it a really special day for us and we appreciate your support. we got photos of our puppy too, so i'll post them as well. i may be biased, but i think he's soooo.... cute! can't wait to pick him up and bring him home. asher loves animals and "kisses" (usually bites) his stuffed animals. i think he's going to have a blast with Zeus! take care and keep in touch. love to you all, MK (and Jeff and Asher)
p.s. i'm attaching some photos of Asher's latest swimming lesson too. he sits on the edge and falls to me and goes underwater. he loves to swim! i'll get some videos on youtube soon as well.

April 9, 2008

Here is our first attempt at a blog! How exciting... hopefully I'll be better at updating this than I am at sending photos through e-mail! Here is the e-mail I sent out earlier today for a quick post:
my mom, asher and i took a trip to Washington state the first part of March to visit family. we had a great time! we saw my sister Heidi and her husband Tony and his daughter Savannah in Kirkland, headed up to Mt. Vernon and saw my grandmother, her friend Sparky and Shamora, then headed to Wenatchee to see the Bakers. We went back to Heidi's the next weekend and then home. lot's of driving, but lots of fun too! here are photos of that trip, asher playing with his daddy when we got home (they were inseparable for days!) and also some of Easter and a day we played in the snow.

asher is growing up so quickly! he'll be one year old on saturday... can't believe it!!! he's so much fun. he has two teeth now and is very close to walking. he pulls himself up on everything and can stand by himself for quite awhile without holding onto anything. he has a walker toy from jeff's mom Darcey that he pushes around too. he loves us to chase him or he'll chase us and he laughs!! when jeff comes home from work, asher and i hide around the corner and 'scare' him when he comes in the door. that's one of his favorite games. he giggles while we're hiding and i have to tell him to be really quiet so we can scare jeff! he loves animals... my mom's cat gracie is his favorite. he'll crawl up to her and 'head butt' her and pet her. he chased lisa's cat prince all over lisa's house the other day... poor prince! and when he sees dogs or cats he makes little squeaks and reaches out or points at them.

so we have an announcement... we're getting a puppy!!!!!!! WAHOO!!! can you tell i'm excited?! it's been 3 years since my dog zeta died and i've been begging for a puppy ever since. we're getting a male golden retriever. jeff finally caved in and zeus will come home on may 12th (the day we get back from london). we're going to london to visit my brother scott, his wife maggie and their little girl marli (who we haven't met yet). lisa, pedro, my mom and our family are all going to visit. we're going to take a trip to scotland for a few days and tour london and the area as well. people told us that it was good that we traveled before we had kids since we won't be able to do it now... well, we've done more this year than we ever had before we had asher! we've been to yellowstone twice, puerto rico, new orleans, washington, and now london. as well as small trips around utah, to rexburg, etc. he's not slowing us down! we love being parents... more than we could ever have imagined. asher brings us so much happiness... his name is fitting, it means happiness. thank you all for your friendship and support. we are living the high life here in mendon. we are so thankful for all of our blessings and you all are included in those! love to everyone and i'll try to keep up better (do i say that everytime?), MK