A little this and that

So I've been running again, and I'm starting to get to the point where I like it. When I first start, I HATE IT, pretty much more than anything else. It's like a self-inflicted trial, and I try to avoid such things like the plague, so it's basically torturous those first few weeks. Then finally, after about a month of consistent running where I'm up to about 5-ish miles, I start to actually like it! This is where I am now... I have to admit, I'm pretty excited for about another month from now when I'll start getting my runner's high. A marathon is on my list of goals before I have another baby (which gives me A LOT of time, since I always tell Adam that I'm waiting until Hallie can babysit to have another one, ha).
Ashton and Hallie are doing quite well, I realize I haven't posted many pictures of Hallie lately, it seems as though Ashton's getting all the love, so I will try to do better about not picking favorites. Our camera has been sapping the life out of all of our batteries though, so pictures may have to wait.
Finally, Adam continues to enjoy his internship and hate the commute. We're (or maybe just I'm) getting a little nervous for our prospects for work after we graduate, as Vegas has seen a major hit in the downfall of the economy and it's getting really hard for recent college graduates to get jobs anywhere. I know that the Lord has helped us out so much in every trial we have faced together so far though, and I know that He will lead us to where we are supposed to go. What a blessing it is to have the gospel! I would be a nervous wreck without the anchor of the Savior in my life. I'm grateful to be able to feel of His love for me and my little family daily. I know He's watching out for us!

A little bit of Ashtonian

Well well well,

I've finally sat down to throw Ashton love on the blog. He's a pretty cute little dude, and I figured he needed a little representation on the Blogosphere.

So here we go:

First, little Ashton, watching some Bron Bron:



Here's a few videos of the little guy, he's starting to coo, and gurgle, and smile quite a bit. It's pretty fun/fascinating/amazing to watch as these little ones progress. Seeing a young child smile for the first few times is nothing short of priceless...and then when he/she starts to giggle AND laugh, well that's just a little bit of heaven.

Well, unfortunately, the uploading of videos is not going so successfully up here Iceberg, ID...must be the polar winds or something =]

Linkies:

Here is the little guy, just hanging out:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/xFMmLF9m4Z0GzpUjwLZzvg?feat=directlink

Haha, so we got Hallie this little toy stroller...this is almost priceless, enjoy:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/roMwDj84IWFCy7XfwazG-Q?feat=directlink

And last but not least, a little bit more of the wiggly little dude:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/uoKydOdEJ1DoY3jjSm6a7g?feat=directlink




If this doesn't make you smile, you have little life left in you!



As for me, just doing taxes and listening to the Count of Monte Cristo during my commute (I'm enjoying the tax season thusfar and LOVING Monte Cristo...you can get audiobooks for free at librivox.org). Better yet, I get to spend the majority of my free time with my family, instead of with my books...so even though my time is pretty well used up, it still feels like a vacation.

Quick Update

I've been a little slow on posting lately... life just seems to get crazier all of the time! We still love living here in Rexburg. The winter has been pretty nice to us and it's wonderful to be with family for a little while. Ashton and Hallie are doing awesome. Hallie asks to play with cousin Tate every day and Ashton is happy as long as he is well fed and rested. Adam's only complaint is the 35 minute commute to work every day, but otherwise, he's loving the experience. We just found out that Adam gets to graduate in June instead of August, which we're really grateful for (hopefully he can get the studying he needs to do for his CPA test done sooner)! We also got to make a trip down to Utah to see the Cavs annihilate (or win by 5) the Jazz and get really frustrated with our car inspection... which we will NEVER do at Jiffy Lube EVER again. Finally, I made a baseball field cake for Nathan for his 10th birthday. You can look at those pictures on my cake blog.


Almost 4 months old! And definitely the cutest boy I'VE ever seen :)

Somehow Ashton ended up in Hallie's doll stroller...

Adam and I at the Cavs game.

Ashton snoozin' while I'm getting ready for the day... I used to do this with Hallie, but she NEVER fell asleep. What a good guy.

Hangin' out with Kels, Nate and Tate and Blast-Off in Idaho Falls.

And we're back!

It's been quite some time since I last posted. We moved up to Rexburg at the beginning of the month only to find that we were internet-less. I really thought Adam might die. There was no way that he could fix it either, since was a problem with the company. Three weeks later, we finally have the internet back and Adam is regaining his sanity (fortunately he did have the internet at work, so he didn't completely lose his mind). We love it here so far. My parent's basement has proven to be quite comfortable living quarters and Hallie loves having 10 times the amount of toys she's used to. She also LOVES playing with her cousin, Tate. They have become good little buddies despite their occasional knock-out sessions. Adam is really enjoying his internship and is getting some great experience. Ashton is just content with life, no matter where he is (what a champ). And finally, I am really enjoying being close to family and I even got to make my first wedding cake a couple of weeks ago (and I actually felt like it was a success)! I am hoping for some more business and remain a very busy mother! Here's some recent pictures of our happenings...

Another Move

We had a wonderful Christmas down in Las Vegas visiting Adam's family. The kids did much better than I anticipated, and Hallie LOVED opening her presents. She didn't quite understand the whole Santa thing, but she knew that she was supposed to wait until Christmas to open all of her presents. The toys Santa brought her were a success, she loves them! Santa also treated Adam well with a new iPod touch and Whitney got lots of new clothes :) We got back into town on Saturday and have been packing and cleaning ever since. It feels like all we do is move anymore... and we still have a couple more moves to go (back to Utah in April, then to Vegas in August... we hope). We'll be moving up to Rexburg in the next few days, which we're excited for (minus the wind and snow). Adam has a great internship lined up with my uncle's accounting firm in Idaho Falls, which should give Adam a decent feel for what it's like to run a tax practice. Hallie's excited to play with Tate every day and Ashton is excited to have his own room. We are going to be quite spoiled with our living quarters seeing as it's at least twice the size of our apartment, has a playroom for Hallie, we will be getting meals 3 times a week, and it's all free99 (as Adam calls it)! Anyway, back to cleaning for now.

Mario Cake!

So I'm on a posting palooza this week... but I HAD to show ya'll my latest and greatest creation for my dear husband's birthday (yes, Hannah Montana is bringing out my inner southerner). The pictures uploaded in the exact reverse order that I meant for them to upload in, but I'm feeling a little too lazy to fix that :)

1. 

New Car!

So Adam and I just made our first car purchase in our married lives. We will be heading up to Rexburg this winter and wanted something that would drive better than Ola (a CAR named OLA, get it? Car-olla... hehe) [Disclaimer: Contrary to some popular belief, the Toyota's true name is Yota...as in To Yota or NOT To Yota...others have called it "The Maggot" -Adam]. We'll also be done with school for good in August and will be needing a second car anyway. Since our family is growing, we thought it wise to get a bigger car so we could keep it longer. After much research, we settled on the Honda Pilot. She's a beauty. Thanks to Adam for finding us such a great car for an amazing price!

The Holiday Hussle

So this past week has been insane. Adam has had so much to do with school, and I've been at home with the kids trying to pack, get into doctors before we're off our awesome insurance, make a sweet birthday cake for Adam and finish up Christmas presents for parents and other family members. I feel rather frazzled, and I'm really not cut out for the part of motherhood that involves lack of sleep. Normally, I would just sigh and hope that the next week would be better (after a bout of tears). However, it really bothered me this week because as I've been doing all of these things for Christmas, I haven't felt much of the usual Christmas Spirit. Today at church I realized that I haven't enjoyed the holiday season much this year... it just feels like I'm always running on empty, scurrying to get things done. This coming week isn't looking much more promising, but I'm hoping the week of Christmas will be glorious and make up for all my recent "scrooge-ness". As for now, I will try to be more like Tiny Tim and count my blessings, even when they're the ones that demand all of my care and attention :)

Cookie Cutters

Around the Christmas season Whit likes to bust out the cookie cutters. Well, I've come to the realization that this sort of behavior extends beyond baked yum-yums. Apparently she uses a cookie cutter in other aspects of her life.

Below are pictures of our two little cookies, can you guess of whom each picture is?

Make your guesses on pictures 1-7, Hallie or Ashton?

Adam got 74663D

Welcome to the Adam Morris edition of "TAGGED"...electronically known as "74663d"

8 TV shows I love to watch:
1. Cleveland Cavaliers Basketball
1a. NBA Playoffs
2. Cosby Show
3. Ace of Cakes
4. Everybody loves Raymond
5. BYU Football (when they're not under-performing)
6. This is a lot of TV
7. My computer
7a. Mickey Mouse ClubHouse
8. I love my Lappy

8 favorite restaurants:
1. Lucilles
2. P.F. Changs
3. Buffalo Wild Wings
4. Tucanos
5. King's Fish House
6. Outback Steakhouse
7. Cheesecake Factory
8. Chilis

8 things that happened yesterday:
1. I breathed
2. Went to lunch with my Dad to Ottavio's
3. Went to Den meeting with 3 little hellions, they're parents should be proud =)
4. Went to the park with Hallie and my Dad
5. Played Settlers:Cities and Knights online at 1AM with Ashton
6. Went to bed before 10pm!!!!!
7. Talked with my wife for quite some time
8. Watched segments of Fishies, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Monsers with Hallie

8 things I'm looking forward to:
1. Christmas at home with my entire family
2. Ashton's blessing on Sunday
3. Playing Basketball
4. Preparing taxes full-time this winter
5. Not having to do homework at 2AM
6. When Ashton can smile and starts to laugh
7. Even better, when Ashton starts to interact with us (especially Hallie)
8. Seeing a picture of my face when I get my birthday present next month [clueless] S^)

8 things on my wish list:
1. A motorcyle (a nice Honda Shadow or maybe a couple rides on a bullet bike)
2. A sweet Mario Cake for my birthday
3. Making millions of dollars with my fleet of Oompah Loompahs
4. A decked out, $1,000,000 computer rig...all I want is to play on it for a couple hours, no need to purchase
5. Passing the CPA Exam on my first Attempt
6. An old-school Smash Bro.'s session with Thomas, Jake, and another worthy oppoenent [le sigh]
7. More time
8. A Googleplex of children of happy, healthy children

I hereby Taggeth Thomas, Jake, & Roy...if you so choose to accept this quest.

Tagged

I've been tagged by Kari! I've been tagged before, but this is my first time actually following through. So here goes nothin':

8 TV shows I love to watch
1. Cosby
2. The Cavs dominating any team in the NBA
3. Ace of Cakes
4. Food Network Challenge
5. Good Eats
6. Oprah
7. Everybody Loves Raymond
8. Hannah Montana (as of late)

8 favorite restaurants
1. Cheesecake Factory
2. P.F. Changs
3. Buffalo Wild Wings
4. Outback Steakhouse
5. Chilis
6. Olive Garden
7. Cafe Rio
8. Baja Fresh

8 things that happened yesterday
1. Got up at 2 to feed Ashton
2. Got up at 5 to feed Ashton
3. Got up at 8 to feed Ashton
4. Actually got up for the day
5. Fed Ashton at 10
6. Fed Ashton at 1
7. Cried because I feel like a cow being milked all day
8. Went to bed and actually got 4 1/2 straight hours of sleep thanks to a fantastic husband who... got up to feed Ashton!

8 things I'm looking forward to
1. Not feeding Ashton so much
2. Ashton's blessing on Sunday
3. Thanksgiving in Rexburg!
4. The holidays... although I have already started celebrating :)
5. Grandpa Morris heating up the pool over Christmas so Hallie and I can go swimming
6. Moving up to Rexburg next semester
7. Ashton sleeping through the night
8. Seeing Adam's look on his face when he gets his birthday present next month

8 things on my wish list
1. That Ashton will start sleeping through the night... NOW
2. Skinny jeans
3. Getting back in shape so i can fit into those skinny jeans :)
4. A haircut
5. Graduating and getting a real job
6. Moving close to my family
7. A cute house
8. No more kids (if Adam would ever fall for it!)

People I'm tagging... hmmm, I'll go with... Shiloh, Breanne and ADAM :D

Artsy what?

Confession time...
I took every art class offered back in high school. I loved all of them. I loved my teacher and a couple of my best buds were in all the classes with me (yay Julz and Ahdom!). Then I went to college. I knew I had some natural talent, but I didn't feel like I had enough to go into an art major. Julie and Ahdom were both voted artist of the year (and rightfully so, they are quite amazing) and I think I just felt like I could never be as good as they were and I didn't want to feel inferior in every college class I walked into. I was also "encouraged" (ha) to find something that might be a little more promising financially, in case I ever needed to support myself. So I forgot about art. I went on with my life and majored in Exercise Science (which I really do love). Then about a year ago my grandpa and grandma Linda asked if I had done any artwork recently. I told them I had not done anything in quite a while, that life just got too crazy, but I would like to pick it up again someday. From that day forward, I missed it. I wanted to do something, but I wasn't sure what. My dear husband bought me some really nice paintbrushes for mother's day, but I was scared to use them... I didn't know if I was ready to jump into painting after a 5 year break from it! So I've started at the most basic level... drawing. I did this picture for my brother in law for Christmas. I know it's nothing crazy outrageous, but I was happy with it for how long I've been out of practice.



Who knows? Maybe I'll go out on a limb and do COLORED pencil next time :)

Tricks or Treats

We had a fantastic Halloween! We started off the week by carving pumpkins. Adam and I like to go a little crazy and opt for designs a little out of the ordinary...




Adam's beloved John Wayne only lasted about a day... but he was still pretty cool! Tigger lasted through Halloween, but then started to shrivel and die.

Hallie made an adorable Minnie this year, compliments of her grandmother. She LOVED trick or treating, and Adam even got her to say trick or treat at a few of the houses before she started looking for the suckers in every bowl. Ashton was a champ, he guzzled a bottle and stayed nice and warm in his blanket in his momma's arms as we all walked from house to house.





Adam and I have decided that we're officially a family... and officially old. Not only do we have 2 car seats in the car, a house and a car that looks like it's constantly being bombarded by children, but we also have a child that is old enough to appreciate Halloween. Pretty soon our teeth are going to start falling out.

Finally, no post would be complete without a picture of Ashton, so here he is :)

What a handsome little guy!

Answered Prayers

I have to admit, I was pretty nervous before Ashton came along that life would become impossible. Hallie was a pretty hard baby and demanded LOTS of attention. I thought Hallie might beat up on little Ashton and try to pick him up (only to drop him) when I wasn't looking. I was planning for the worst and hoping for the best. Thus far, Ashton has been a gem compared to Hallie at this age. He's awake for almost 3 hours each morning and night, sometimes a little bit in the afternoon, and he just sleeps the rest of the time, unless he's hungry :) He's a fantastic nurser and Hallie is so nice to him. She shares Minnie, her blankie, her binkis and even her bottles with him. Our only troubles come when she wants to give him fives, sometimes she misses his hand and lands on his face, but he's been a good sport about it.
We've really appreciated the meals from our ward, Adam's mom for coming out last week, and I'm really excited for my mom to come in today! I've never been a passionate dinner-maker, and I think having my second baby has completely extinguished any small flame of desire to cook anything anymore. I've been watching the food network every day to hopefully rekindle some desire to make dinner for my family again, and I'm just grateful for the service of others so that we're not eating frozen pizza every night! We're hoping things continue to go as smoothly as they have our first 2 weeks... so far, so good!

More Ashton

More recent Ashton pictures! Sorry we haven't posted much info lately... I'll put something up soon.

World's cutest baby!

 

Ashton James Morris

Well well well...a bunch of contractions and a few hours later, and Ashton (Lebron) James Morris was born into the world. I'd save this entry for Whitney, b/c she is a little more eloquent than I, but she's all shacked up in the birthing suite (it's actually REALLY nice) at Orem Community Hospital, and wireless isn't working for some reason. So, you're stuck with me =)

I'll jump to the details, Whitney started contracting regularly around 9 o'clock while I was playing some basketball down the road. She called me home a little over an hour later and we rushed to the hospital after Jessica & Brad so graciously came over to spend the night with Hallie. We arrived, and some what disappointingly, we found out that Whitney hadn't dilated any more since our last visit (she was a 4+ then). So, we had to wait an hour while she continued to contract so they could check her again. 60 minutes and several prayers, from ourselves and many of you (thanks!), later, she was dilated to almost a 6!

So, they made her official and relocated us to one of the nice rooms. Luckily the anesthetist was already there, so Whit didn't have to wait too much longer for the epidural (for which we were both grateful). A couple hours and a few naps later and she was ready to push! It was easy-cheesy from there. Whitney only had to push for about ten minutes! 3-4 sets of pushes and the little guy was born. He had quite a bit to say in the whole matter. We were a bit worried about his lung development because he's almost 4 weeks premature, but he let us know that his lungs are juuuust fine.

Ashton was born at 4:15 AM of Oct. 15. Coincidentally enough, he measured identically to Hallie (perhaps except his head). He is 6lb 7Oz & 19in long, and he has the cutest full head of blond hair...the CUTEST!

Well, enough of my jabber, here are a few snapshots of the little guy, enjoy!




Awwww, look at the little guy...he's a little upset because mom told him he was 'cute'...not a very manly thing to say to your son.



You can't really tell from the picture, but he was going to town on his fingers!



LOOK AT THE CUTE LITTLE DUDE!



Juuuuuust snoozin' =) ...so far, this is what he likes best.



Check out that blond hair!!!

A little sweet and sour

So we'll start with the sweet... our favorite word Hallie says is "porcupine". See for yourself (the one at the end is a little better).



Also, I'm off bed rest! Wahoooooo!! It's been wonderful... but the "sour" part of the whole deal is that I HURT like crazy. This baby is putting so much pressure on me that it makes it miserable to move much anyway. I'm getting really close to being full term though (37 weeks), so hopefully this baby won't stay in too much longer, we'll keep you posted!

Oh Baby

I went back into the doctor both yesterday and today to get things checked out. I told him about my hospital visit and he wanted to do a different test to find out for sure if I was leaking amniotic fluid-- turns out I'm not, whew! However, I am having a lot of discharge that contains a ton of white blood cells. This translates to an inflammatory response which in turn means that there's some sort of infection going on inside of me. The doctor doesn't feel comfortable with delivering the baby now (and neither do we), but I'm going to be watched closely over the next week or so. I just worry about possible birth defects that can be caused by the infection. Keep us in your prayers, we're just a little anxious.

Update

So today I thought I had a reaaaally slow leak, and especially since I'm so dilated, I figured I'd go in to check it out real quick. I really didn't think it would be any problem, it was so slow and it seems like all sorts of funky goop comes out at this point of pregnancy, but I thought I might be a neglectful mother if I didn't at least find out for sure. So I go in, they ask me about 5,483 questions and then they finally swab me. Well.... the nurse couldn't tell if it was positive or negative. So she calls the doctor to ask him what to do, and he tells her to wait an hour and do it again. So I hang out and then 2 nurses come in to check me the second time. Same results... it was just too hard to tell. So they call the doctor again and just decided to send me home. Before I left, they checked my cervix again and I'm still at a 4, but my sac is bulging out... so basically i could explode any second. So I'm resolving to do better about my bed rest for the next week. I haven't been terrible, but it's just hard with Hallie. I'd really prefer this baby to stay in a little while longer, but it's a pain in the neck to have to stay down all day long. I still need to get this baby something to sleep in too, so it would be nice if he would give us some more time :) Anyway, we'll keep you all updated as things progress. Happy Conference weekend!

Bed Rest

So I went to the doctor's office today for my 34 week ultrasound. The technician was telling me that the baby was sitting surprisingly low and asked if I had been having any contractions. I told her that I've had more with this baby than with Hallie, but that they weren't painful, just uncomfortable. She thought it might be a good idea for me to meet with the doctor just to get his opinion on the matter. I explained to him what had been going on and he asked if I wanted him to check to see if I was dilated at all, but he didn't seem too worried. I told him that I would be interested in knowing, just for fun :) It turns out that I'm nearly 4 cm dilated!! That's almost half a labor! Fortunately, I'm 34 weeks along so I don't have to sit in the hospital for days, but he did put me on bed rest for the next two weeks (too bad my bed isn't as cool as the one in the picture). I'm sure I'll survive just fine, I just don't think Hallie will be too happy. If any of you have any fantastic self-entertaining ideas for children, PLEASE let me know!

It's all about the kids

So my life has transformed in the last month quite dramatically. For the past 18 years (or so) of my life, I have been going to school and getting my education. I got married after a couple of years of college, had a baby a year and a half later, and still went to school, despite the odds :) I finally finished, and now, I'm officially a "homemaker". No school, no work, just a house to clean, cooking to do, Hallie to take care of, and a pregnancy to survive through... amongst other random tasks of homemakery. I really like it a lot, actually. I thought I might lose part of my "identity" once I was done, but I haven't felt any loss thus far. I'm really liking the lower stress levels, in fact. Because I have more time to enjoy Hallie, Adam and I have been able to capture some fantastic moments of her young life. Enjoy! :)




Hallie takes after her mother... some of her favorite foods include peanut butter...

and sour cream. YUM

Hallie's sweet kicks... she's already attempting to whip her little brother into shape.

Motherhood

I always enjoy being Hallie's mom (ok, there are some rough days when I just can't wait for her to go to bed, but they aren't super often)... but some days stand out more than others. Today was one of those days where I just basked in all the glories of motherhood. I woke up to Hallie wanting to crawl into bed by me to drink her milk, which lasted the typical 3 seconds before she wanted down. We had bathtime which is always fun and she was awesome during our grocery shopping trip. Then I came home to put her down for her nap and she just wanted to rock in her chair and have me sing primary songs all day long. After about 10 or 15 minutes, I decided she really did need to go down for her nap, and she was pretty sad that the "wocking" and songs were over, but I promised her more after her nap. She woke up singing songs to herself in her crib, and we played for about an hour before running more errands. After those were through, she wanted to go to "schoo" to visit daddy, so we made the trip over to the Tanner building (we're trying to reinforce this love for school, hopefully it lasts for many years to come). She was delightful the rest of the evening... and I was one happy mom. I know this probably means she'll either be awful tomorrow or something traumatic will happen tonight... like going into labor 8 weeks early without insurance, but as for now, I think I'll just continue to bask in my joy :)

Trip to Zion

I would have to agree with Roy that Idaho is, in fact, Zion. There are parts that are a little more "zioned" than others, with Rexburg topping the charts in my opinion (it does help that all my family lives there now). We were able to visit my parents new home up by the temple this past weekend and just hang out with everyone. The house was gorgeous (but I didn't expect anything less, as this is my mom's dream home) and the company was superb. We had a lot of fun going up to my grandpa's cabin in Island Park and trying to keep Hallie from destroying Tate. Our first stop was at Bear World, where we got to experience a grizzly bear charging our car :) We also got to pet the dear, hold the fluffy chickens, and Adam had the opportunity to abuse an arthritic pig (ok, this information was provided after the encounter). We then went to Island Park and floated down the freezing buffalo river (luckily the three of us were in a canoe), and then we just hung out at my parent's the rest of the weekend. Here are some photos of the events...

Doesn't get a whole lot better than all the sisters petting a goat.

The original Webb girls... I think we're a pretty cute bunch, despite my melon of a stomach.

Breakfast with Hallie and Tate... one of Hallie's better moments with her cousin.

The gorgeous Rexburg temple at sunset. The sunset was actually better a few minutes before this, but the temple wasn't lit, so you couldn't even see it in the pictures. This picture was taken right outside my parent's house. What a view!


We had a great time! It was nice to break up all the moving and just relax for a few days. We're back into the swing of things now... Adam's started class again and I'm doing the best I can to get us all moved in. I really don't believe pregnant women are made to pack and unpack though, I think I've had to bend over about 5,234 times. Oh well, just one more room, one more trip to the storage unit and some wall hangings left and we'll be all done, wohoo!
-Whit

In case you were wondering, here's a little bit of the Hog's Wart encounter (just finished Harry Potter 7 for the second time)... I wish I was a wizard, my patronus would be a spider monkey.
-Adam

P.S. Turn up your volume for the full effect =)