"Here's Daddy"

One of the fun parts of being a parent is being shocked by the little ones understanding of what is going on around them. Today, I had an experience that was both heart warming and a little bit surprising.

Setting
Ben: Working at the computer on my final term paper/project for the semester.
Cameron: Rolling on the floor with his toys.
Kevin (Wendy's Brother):  Upstairs in the grandparent's living room
Arden (Wendy's Dad): Absent from the house

Experience
Kevin needed his dad to help him with something. Channeling his inner toddler or teenager instead of looking for his dad Kevin repeatedly cried out, "Dad! Dad! I need you, Dad!"

Little Cameron dropped his toys and ran over to me and with his happy voice called, "Dada!" As he often does when he wants to take me somewhere he grabbed me hand and pulled me to where he wanted to go.

Cameron pulled me across the room, up the stairs, into the living room, and up next to Kevin. At that point with a content look on his face, Cameron looked at Kevin, looked at me, yelled "Dada," and looked back at Kevin.

In summation
Cameron:
Heard Kevin call for Dad.
Recognized Kevin's voice.
Recognized Kevin's location.
Knew that I was "dad."
Took me to the person who needed "dad."

Isn't that the cutest thing ever? Happy fuzzy, Dad feelings.

Building and knocking down towers

Andrew and I spent the morning building towers for Cameron to knock down.

"Nose!!!"

When I was putting Cameron's pajama top on this evening, I asked him where his hands were. As soon as his hands were thought his shirt sleeves he popped up both his hands and showed them to me. Oh. Appears Cameron know what and what  his hands are. Just to play I asked him where his nose was...

"Nnnsse!" Cameron happily points to his nose.

"Where is your mouth?"

"Mmmmthhh!" Cameron happily points to his mouth.

Appears Cameron has been learning anatomy without me realizing it. Wonder what else he is learning that I have not tested yet.

Lots of lights...

We are trying to see if we can set up an infinite white background for pictures and videos. We will see if it works.

Touchdown!

I have been able to stream a lot of the BYU, USU, and U of U football games these past couple of weeks.  Andrew has been my football buddy.  This week instead of watching he joined in with his father with chants of , "Defense!"  "Offense" and the celebratory "touchdown!"

He knows just what to do when our team scores.

A few of my in-laws joined in watching football with me and Andrew.  Karoline and Kevin have watched the last few BYU and the last Utah games with me.  Yesterday, before the Utah game started I received a text from Kevin asking if I was going to watch the game. I celebrated! There may have been successful in converting an Ashton into a sports fan!

Wendy disabused me of that notion fairly quickly.  She suspected that the interest was driven by Karoline.  Suspicion confirmed once Kevin worked on his laptop during the entire game.  I felt slightly disappointed. On the plus side, at least Kevin married a sports fan so I have someone interested in sports to watch football with.

My dreams of photoshop...

I have always been fascinated by composite pictures created by Photoshop.  I love the composite pictures in which children are placed into fantastical or wondrous environments.

As part of my tuition for the University of Utah I have access to the entire creative cloud from Adobe including light room and Photoshop. I have mainly been using Lightroom to organize and tag our photos. Recently I have been trying to learn more about Photoshop and how to use it.

Wendy was able to get discounted access to a stock photo distribution website. I felt that with access to stock photos and access to Photoshop, maybe,  I should make an attempt at creating a fantastical composite of my own. This is my first amateurish attempt.

Come explore with me!

My kids like to share...diseases.

I am proud of my two kids for being good "sharers." Next is teaching them to NOT share diseases such as hand/foot/mouth disease. Especially to their daddy.

As a special FYI, it appears the sores can develop on the uvula.

Quiet Time Activities

It was a sad day when we realized that Andrew no longer needed his two hour afternoon naps. This was especially distressing for Wendy who often takes her own afternoon nap.

In an effort to maintain Wendy's naps we still have "quiet time" for Andrew. That means Andrew no longer needed to get into bed and sleep; however, he did need to stay in his room until quiet time was over. Playing with toys, reading books, building with blocks, and running train tracks - all approved activities.

This worked swimmingly for a couple of months. Recently, a new wrinkle appeared in the process. Daddy, is gone for school and work in the afternoon. There is no one awake and in the house to enforce the "staying in room for quiet time" rule. Wendy, due to being deaf in one ear and sleeping on her good ear, does not hear much when she is asleep.

I am sure you can tell where I'm going with this. What does a 3 year old do in the middle of the afternoon while the parent on the house is knocked out?

You climb into bed next to her with a favorite book...and take a nap.

You dump your Cranium board game cards/pieces and a bucket of blocks into the bed next to her...and take a nap.

I suppose that there are worse things that Andrew could do while Wendy naps.

August Family Pictures

Last year we accidently ended up taking family pictures on our anniversary. We liked it so much we went ahead and did again this year. I found a few pictures to fill in some of the gaps. It's funny to see how much we've changed in the last five years.

2010

  

One and One (Eharmony - August 17th)

We did not have a family picture in 2010, but we do have two pictures that are important in our family history; our eharmony profiles. We were first matched on August 17th. Ben took his profile picture in his townhouse with a self-timer and a tripod.  Wendy's profile was taken at a the Living Planet Aquarium while on an excursion with siblings. 

Ben's Eharmony profile picture

Wendy's Eharmony profile picture

2011

Two (Married! August 1st)

This might be the most plentiful year for our "family pictures." Between the multiple engagement shoots, the wedding shots, and the reception shots we have many nice pictures of the two of us. 

At the Salt Lake City Temple

2012

Three (Andrew's Blessing - September 2nd)

Andrew joined us 11 months after the wedding. Unlike the previous year we did not take many family pictures during August.  We have a metric ton pictures of Andrew, a lot of pictures of Wendy, and a fair number of pictures of myself.  Few pictures contain all three of us.  This picture is from Andrew's blessing. 

With Andrew right after his blessing at the Brookshire Ward

2013

Three (August 17th)

Surprisingly, 2013 was even worse than 2012 for family pictures. The only full family picture in August was a random picture taken outside of my work. Yes, that is me with scrubs and an earpiece in our family picture. Less than ideal.

Work pictures are so...flattering

2014

Four (Accidental photo - August 1st)

Cameron  joined in the family picture fun this year. On a whim we visited the site of our reception (there are only so many places you can take a two month old!). Thanks to lot of trial and error using a tripod and a 10 second timer, for the first time in three years of marriage, we finally had a formalized family picture.

2015

Four ("Stuart Photography" - August 1st)

For 2015 we decided to forgo the self-timer and have someone else behind the camera. The Stuart parents and Debbie accompanied us up to Jordanelle. We tried bribing my father by paying for a hamburger joint; instead he payed for us. I am not proficient at bribing. We spent the night before giving all of the boys in the family a matching buzz cut. It was Cameron's first real haircut. I hardly recognized the little boy as my Cameron he looked so different sans curls.

Bonus timer picture

2016

Four will be Five

We plan to continue the tradition of taking our pictures at Jordanelle Reservoir next year.  Excitingly, another member of the family will join us for that photo shoot. The storks pictured below are two months into their nine month flight to bring us our new little one.

Estimated Date of Arrival: March 18, 2016

While the grandparents are away...the children play

The boys and I decided to crash at the Stuart Grandparents house (or in Andrew's words, "Amber's house." while they were away visiting other relatives.  Grandma's...or Amber's...house has a lot of toys that the boys do not get to play with often.  This led to both boys happily playing for an extended period of time without requiring parent interaction or prompting.

In response to this, I did what any parent would do when the kids were happily playing with or around each other. I took a couple hundred pictures. I have this dream of being a good photographer so I am trying to find more opportunities to practice.

I have included a "few" of the resulting pictures from the session.

Choosing a puzzle

Baby, playing with babies

I loved playing with these trucks

The balance of a 3 year old

Playing with photoshop

Rain is falling all around...

Sunday (May 24) I slept in after working late on homework. Wendy had planned to take the boys out into the backyard to play, wiggle, and get some energy out before the three hour church black. She was disappointed when she noticed rain pouring down from the sky. During breakfast Andrew told Wendy that he just needed a hat and ran off towards his room. He reappeared with a hat and one mitten. He didn't want to put shoes on, but Wendy was able to eventually convince him. Andrew also made Wendy go get his "noculars" (binoculars for those who don't speak Andrew).

Andrew's rain style

Andrew exploring the yard during the rain shower.

Cameron is not one to be left out if there is any fun to be had. He complained as babies often do, by screaming, until Wendy let him out into the rain to play too.

Babies don't need coats or shoes!

The coat and shoes did eventually get put on Cameron. The two little boys and their mother spent forty five minutes wandering around in the rain on the porch and in the back yard.

Going on a bear hunt!

I was not aware of this but since Christmas after Grandpa Stuart did "Going on a bear hunt" with all the grandchildren Andrew has been asking Wendy to do it with him.  Wendy didn't know the words or the actions so she ad libbed and it became "going on a lion hunt" and included rowing across lakes in a boat.

Andrew asked me to do the "lion hunt song." I wasn't sure what he was asking for until Wendy showed me her rendition. Very cute! However, Andrew wanted me to do it. I am many things; a good ad libber is not one of them. I immediately called the expert, Grandpa Stuart, for help.

Grandpa graciously demonstrated the song for us again. Andrew loved it; Cameron even got into the action - mostly by slapping his legs.

Looking for a bear

Stomping through the forest

Moving aside the tall grass

"Peacock ate my lunch!" A day at the Tracy Aviary

A year ago we bought a membership at the Tracy Aviary. We realized recently that the membership was going to expire soon so we better get at least one more visit in. On Saturday May 23rd we visited the Tracy Aviary.

Getting ready for day trips is an expedition in and of itself with two little boys. We had to make sure that we had lunches, snacks for everyone. That everyone's bags were packed with their necessities: Andrew's bag with snacks, Cameron's bag with diapers, Wendy's bag with everything that is normally in a girl's purse, and Ben's bag with a camera.

All packed up and ready to go

The duck and pelican pond was an instant hit with the two little boys. The cutest part was watching Andrew and Cameron trying to lean over the rail at the lake to see the Pelicans. Andrew explaining which duck was which "Daddy duck"  "Mommy duck"  "baby duck" and when other ducks came into view "Moooore! Ducks!"  Cameron kept reaching desperately down for the water so he could splash in it; he doesn't quite understand distances as of yet. 

Later Andrew and Cameron found two ducks to follow around. They tried to lose him but he would not be shaken. Cameron toddled around as only an almost year old can. 

Taking a breather

I am impressed with Tracy Aviary. They have a lot of fun little activities and things for children and parents to do besides the birds. There's rocks to climb, stepstones to jump on, benches to rest on, instructors who teach about the birds, bird shows. It's a nice place to go for a small morning trip.

Andrew loved to point at all the birds

The stork brought both my wife and my baby!

Before we left we ate our lunch. A peacock became interested in the possibility of food. It appears peacocks have no fear because it was coming right up to the table. I had to eventually chase it a hundred yards away because it kept coming back. Andrew spent the rest of the day and the next morning talking about the peacock who tried to eat his lunch.

It's a good lunch to protect

The peacock lunch thief