A year in the life of Asher...

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Ok, so it's really his only year so far! :) Today is Asher's first birthday! I can hardly believe that it has been a year since he was born. And what an amazing year it has been. Asher has brought so much joy into our lives, and it is amazing how much we have fallen in love with him. Sometimes I just sit and watch him, and I can't take how cute and precious he is, I just want to squeeze him he is so cute! He has been growing so much and definately showing signs of getting older. He is such a little jabber mouth, he LOVES to talk. He of course thinks that he has his own little language that only he understands, but it sure is the cutest little language I have ever heard! I will have to get him doing it on video sometime today, so that I can post it with the rest of his birthday stuff.

Anyway, we feel so blessed to have Asher in our lives and can't wait to see the boy and man that he will become. We love being parents, and can't wait to meet all the children that will come into our little family. I put together a little montage of Asher's first year of life. It is always so fun to go back and look at pictures when they were younger. It is amazing how much and how fast they change. I have to say though, that he has never been cuter than he is right now!

Happy Birthday to Asher, we hope that you have a fabulous day!! :)

My new doo...

So, it's actually been a few weeks since I did this, but I haven't shared with you all. But I am now a blonde. Well, the under part of my hair is still dark, but me and Ash decided that when we do my roots, we will add more blonde. I did this at the insistent requests of my husband Nate (as if you don't know who Nate is) he has wanted me to go blonde forever. Well, he wants me to be like platinum blonde, yeah, I don't think so. I was really nervous, but Ashley (my sister just younger than me) did such a great job. I love the color, and she did such a good job blending. She is such a natural at color. So anyway, here are a couple of random pics of me and my new hair.

ok, I'll do it too!

I usually don't do stuff like this on my blog, but I thought it would be fun...

places I've worked
1-central ut clinic imaging center
2-new haven residential treatment center
3-home assistant for joyce bunderson
4-trainer at DI (one of the funnest jobs ever!)

movies I can watch over and over
1-pride and prejudice
2-you've got mail
3-father of the bride 1 and 2
4-october sky

places I've lived
1-sacramento, ca
2-provo, ut shipp 115
3-provo, ut
4-and provo, ut

favorite tv shows
1-so you think you can dance?
2-the office
3-grey's anatomy
4-hell's kitchen

places I've been
1-british isles (england, ireland, scotland)
2-germany, austria, switzerland
3-France and belgium
4-mexico and hawaii...and new york, I love new york!
5-sorry, I'm cheating...turkey (so cool)

favorite foods
1-pickles
2-baked popcorn
3-chips and salsa
4-cafe rio salads (oood, that sounds so good right now!)

majors I've considered
1-nursing
2-occupational therapy (that's more of a career, not a major, oh well)
3-dance
4-exercise science
and some how recreational therapy won out over all of those! :)

places I'd rather be
1-relaxing on the beach, prefferably either in Santa Cruz with the fam or Hawaii with my hubby!
2-new york city, with loads of money to spend on shows, good eats, and clothes!!
3-in the bath...I LOVE baths!
4-a cabin in lake tahoe...only one week til we go! :)

Ok, there you go, little insights into my soul! If you feel so inclined, tells us a little about yourself!

Hi, my name is morgan and I am an addict...

65%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Saint Louis Singles from Mingle²

Not too bad. I admit that I love the blogging world. I think it the best way to keep in touch, plus it is just down right fun! Are you addicted? See for yourself!

Puppy+baby=disaster

So, today has been one of those mornings, and it's only 7:30 am. I actually had a fabulous night sleep. I didn't wake up once, when usually I am aroused multiple times do to Nate's snoring (so annoying). But this morning, I only woke up once at 6 am to let the dog out. Then I went back to sleep for a little while until Asher woke up around 10 to 7. Totally fine. So I feed Asher, let him play, etc etc. Let Annie in to play, and this is where is all begins. Now mornings are always the hardest with a puppy. She has been locked up all night, and now only wants to run, play, and chew, oh, and go to the bathroom! So I begin with my usual routine of telling her no and taking things away from her that she is not suppsed to chew, aka Asher's toys, giving her her bone or chew toys instead, only to have her back chewing something else 2 seconds later. This morning was particularly annoying for some reason. So anyway, I get on the computer to check my email and some blogs, and we have wireless so I am sitting right here, watching everyone, still stopping every minute or two to correct some puppy/baby incident. Then I get up for some reason, I can't remember why now, and walk into the kitchen, and in walking, I pass Asher. I do a double take and realize what he is playing with....POO!!! SICK SICK SICK SICK SICK SICK SICK, I cannot say SICK enough times.

Obviously it is Annie's poop, although she had already gone once this morning, and hadn't eaten yet, so she normally wouldn't go twice until eating, so I wasn't watching for her to need to go. Anyway, needless to say I freaked out that Asher was touching poop like it was no big deal, like it was play-dough. I took him straight to the bathroom and scrubbed scrubbed scrubbed. Annie is still outside whining. Supposedly puppies don't know why you're punishing them unless you catch them in the act, so you're not supposed to do it. I don't even care, in my mind, she needs to be punished, even if she has no idea why. Oooh I was so mad. I was actually mad at both of them, as if Asher knew what he was doing, but seriously, does he NEED to touch EVERYTHING?! So, I'm sure those of you who have thought about getting a puppy will think twice now. Which you should. Seriously people, it's not the easiest thing in the world to have a baby and a puppy, and personally, I would take the baby over the puppy anyday! Ok, so there is a lovely picture for you to start your day with. Hope you enjoy it.

PS I still love both of my babies, but man, they can be little pains in the my rear sometimes, especially when they are working together!

and the way it ends is....

... Don't worry, I would NEVER do that! So, I just finished the final Harry Potter book. I, LOVED it!!! I really did. It was so captivating from start to finish. Whenever one stressful event ends, another begins. Just when everyone starts to get comfortable, something goes wrong. The end was A-MAZING! I cannot wait to see how they portray it in the movie. I have to say though, I am so sad that it is over. I just finished the book tonight, and I am already missing Harry Potter. There is a little empty place inside me...sadness! I know, pathetic, right?! I don't even care, I'm with Jillian, perfectly willing to admit my Harry Potter nerdy-ness. I love all of the books. This last book is my fave, so intense, totally made me cry. I don't remember when I have EVER cried that much in reading a book, JK Rowling really did well. So anyway...that's all, I just needed to tell you all that I love Harry Potter, and that I already miss his guts!! :)

Happy Birthday Dad!

My dad's birthday was on Wednesday, and since I have been such a slacker-blogger, I didn't do a birthday tribute for him then. So it is a couple of days late, but better late than never. I am actually not exactly sure how old my dad is, but I think he would probably rather me not say anyway!! :)

I love my dad soooo much. He has always been so fun to be around. He has a very dry sense of humor that makes me smile. Dad has always been the best example to me of having a true love and testimony of our Savior and Heavenly Father, and has always encouraged me to seek the truth for myself.

My dad loves everything outdoors. He has hiked mount Shasta several times, hiked all over Yosemite, up to falls in Kauai, and countless other adventures. One of the craziest things that my dad does is do a paperroute at 4 am every morning with my little sisters. Yes, he made me do it as well. Starting from my Freshman in highschool, all the way til I graduated. He is such a stud. Our dad also recently just ran the odgen marathon with me and my sisters. Yeah, we totally slowed him down, but he was a good sport to stick with us.

My dad loves his 6 daughters. I have to say, that I think we made him a little nervous through the dating years, as will my younger sisters in the next few years!! :) Thanks for being such a great, fun dad, and for being such an amazing example. I hope you had an amazing birthday. I love you!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Fourth of July

So, this is embarassingly late...but I thought I should still do it. We had such a fun 4th of July. Asher and Annie and I went over to Ben and Whit's with Doug and Jackie, and a couple that I met there, the Allers who were great fun! We had a bring your own meet BBQ and then some delicious desserts provided by yours truly and Sara Aller (who by the way, I could totally empathize with as she was like 8 months prego in the middle of the summer. I do not miss that!!) I made the trifle (which you can't really tell is a trifle, but it was yu-mmy!!) Sarah made the cheesecake which was also delicious! I am not ashamed to say that I had full helpings of both!



Asher kept pretty busy by playing with this ball tossing toy for like 30 minutes. It was awesome. I have to say, that he was not the only one that was amused by this toy, and I am not talking about the other children that were in attendence!
I really wanted Asher to see some fireworks for his first ever 4th of July. This was his reaction to the fireworks...

...was it worth his being off his sleeping schedule for a whole week after that (due to keeping him up so late) I'm not so sure. But I have to say that he looks so stinkin' cute in his tight pjs, sitting in the monkey chair.

After all the kiddies went to bed, we continued on with our own "parking lot of fire" with the fireworks that the boys bought. We had some near explosions when they tried to set off several flowers at the same time. I think they intercepted and it did not go well. But we had a fun time. We could even see the huge fireworks show from the Stadium of Fire pretty well, so we watched that, which I was not thoroughly impressed with. Oh well!! All in all, is was a pretty successful evening full of food, laughs and fire. I don't think it gets much better than that!

Our new baby!

Well, we have some exciting news...I got a puppy!! :) We actually got her a few weeks ago, but I have too busy potty training the little thing to have time to blog about her! ;) So here's the story: My mom's dog Mandy, who is a miniature dachsund, had puppies, and my mom really wanted to keep one of them in the fam. So I said that I wanted one. It was actually a really hard decision for me because Nate didn't really want me to get her and it is a lot of work, and I wasn't sure if I was up for it. But I thought it would be nice to have a dog when Nate is gone and for the kiddies. Plus, she is a snuggly girl, and I like that. But the most important reason is that she is so stinkin' cute and little, I love it! It has been a lot of work, and I am still working on house breaking her, which is really frustrating at times, but she is getting better. If anyone has any tips on housebreaking little puppies, I would love that! I named her Annie because she is red, so I was thinking little orphan Annie. I have to say, I do get her and Asher's names mixed up quite a bit.

Little Joelie LOVES dogs. He came over to see her when she first came from CA, and he just gave her tons of hugs and kisses. She was really scared to be in a new place with so many new people, so she was shaking and kind of sad. Joel kept saying "it's ok puppy, it's ok" and "puppy's sad". He would get this really concerned look on his face. It was the cutest thing. Asher has been having a lot of fun with her too. He has never been afraid of her. In fact, the first day, he practically mauled her to death, grabbing her ears and tail and head. But now that she is more comfortable and playful, he has to run for his life if they are ever on the floor together. She just wants to play with him by licking and jumping, but he's not such a fan of that kind of play. I think he still likes her though. All of Nate's brothers think she is really cute, especially Mackay. It's kind of fun to see a softer side of grown men when they are holding a little puppy! And I have to say, I think Nate is even starting to warm up to her. So I'm sure as life goes on, you will see more posted about our little pup. For now, here are some pictures and video clips of her first few days here with us.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Chocolate Kitchen

Many of you know that I like to bake. Just as much as I like to bake, if not more, I love to make the things I bake look beautiful! So two weeks ago, I started a cake decorating class at Robert's Arts and Crafts. I have started a new blog, The Chocolate Kitchen, to not only share my progress, but to keep as a baking/cake decorating blog to share all my projects, recipes, tips, etc. I am so excited about it. I am especially about the new banner, as I really wanted it to be a super-cute site that people would want to come to. Thanks SOOOO much to Lindsay (Slade) Daniel for putting it together for me in Photoshop, helping to make it look good on the blog, and for being so patient with my indecisive-ness. You're the best Lindsay!

I hope you'll all check it out and add it to your favorites. I am going to try and be really good at keeping new things on there, so check back often!!

Asher's new tricks...

Asher is getting bigger and learning new things everyday. We think that he is hilarious and so fun and of course, so cute! He has recently learned to pull himself up to a standing position. The first time he did it was in his crib when he was supposed to be going to bed. So for the whole next week after that, it took him forever to go to sleep because he was so pleased with his new trick, he just couldn't get enough of it. Now he is all over the place. These are his two favorite places in the whole house. He spends like 90% of the time that he is awake and in the house in these two positions:






























This is a cute video of him standing and trying to get down from a standing position. He gets very frustrated when he can't do what he is trying to do. But he prevails in the end.

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Asher has since mastered the art of just kneeling down to get down from the standing position. He spent about 15 minutes this evening going up and down, up and down on the bench you see pictured above. Silly kid!

Here's Asher standing in his favorite place in the kitchen, looking cuter than ever!


Here's Asher waving to everyone from his favorite place at the bench in his bedroom!

Asher's new cuddle toy...

The other day, I put Asher down for his afternoon nap. I still had his mobile up in his crib because he had just barely learned how to stand up in there and didn't think it was a big deal. Well, when I left the room, I noticed him playing with but thought it would be fine. Then as I listened to him play, I heard a small noise, that I thought was just him shaking the railing or something. I thought I would hear crying or something if he had pulled the mobile down (which worried me a little, cause it is a strangling hazard you know...yah, all 3 inches of string! But hey, you never know). So I just left it and went on with whatever I was doing. So a little while later, I peeked in to see if he had fallen asleep, and sure enough, there he was, cuddled up with his mobile. I did gently remove it from his crib after the picture, who knows what would happen if he had gotten a little wild in his sleep! ;) But I sure thought it was precious!

Nate's book tour

So as I have mentioned in a previous post, Nate finished his book, Championship Contest Fiddling, that he has been working on for about 2 years. He is SOOOOO excited about it. I cannot emphasize this enough. He really should be excited about it though. It is a huge accomplishment, and a one of a kind book in the fiddle world. A couple of weeks ago, Asher and I accompanied Nate to Boise Idaho for a book tour (which was really just a fiddle contest where Nate was able to sell a bunch of his books!:) We were his groupies. Although it was a rather pointless trip for me and Asher (he was not a very good boy on this trip!), it was fun to be with Nate, as well as visit with Amber (Jensen) Crowley and her husband Mike, who were kind enough to let us stay with them and put up with our child crying for hours into the night. :(

Which Jane Austen heroine are you most like?

Take the Quiz here!

You are Elinor Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.

I was a little surprised by my results, but I think that I am actually pretty similar to Elinor in some ways. However, I do think I am a little more outgoing and fun that she is, at least, once you get to know me!

Duffy and Tessa are married!!

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On June 26th, Nate's brother Duffy got married to Tessa Stimpson in the Mount Timpanogas Temple. The sealing and recpeption were all beautiful. It was so fun to have the whole family in town and be able to visit. I took a lot of pictures, especially of all the Olson grandkids, so I thought I would make another montage to display them. Enjoy!