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

Swimming in Lake Washington

I cannot specifically describe the moment in which my love affair with water began. Brad Paisley can pretty much describe how I feel generally about water.

"Inflatable pool full of dad's hot air
I was three years old
Splashin' everywhere
And so began my love affair
With Water...
All you really need this time of year
Is a pair of shades...
And a place to sit somewhere near Water"

Brad Paisley "Water"

This love of water has continued unabated into today. When the Ashton clan was in Seattle recently for the marriage of Keven and Karoline we stayed in a house on Lake Washington. As soon as I heard the descriptions of the house and it's location I knew that I would love it.

I mentioned to my extended family that I  intended do go "swimming" in Lake Washington.   They could not believe that I actually wanted to get into the water of Lake Washington. I'm pretty sure that most of them thought I was joking when I first mentioned it.

To be fair I probably should have clarified that when I said "swimming," I meant "splashing around in water." I had no intention of going out into the middle of the lake and swimming a mile or two.

Let's go swimming!

My audience

Wading in

Swimming

Father in Law ready with a towel

Getting out

Friday Jan 3rd. A day in our lives.

6:45 AM

Wendy and Ben wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast.

The light in our storage room

Fruit 

Easy breakfast

Everyones milk

Checking the Internets

7:07 AM

Wendy finds her lost American Express Card in her coat pocket.

7:08 A

We wake Andrew up, scrape the car windows, and drive to the bus stop

7:19 AM

Arrive at the bus stop

7:29 AM

Wendy gets on the bus. Andrew and Ben start the drive to Grandma Stuart's house

7:56 AM

 Wendy arrives at the Church History Museum.

 Andrew and Ben arrive at Grandma Stuart's house.

8:05 AM

Ben leaves Andrew with Grandma Stuart and starts the drive to Primary Children's Hospital

Bye Bye!

08:20 AM

Wendy makes sure the Norman Rockwell paintings are ready to be shipped back to Texas. 

Dollies

 Andrew starts doing laundry with Grandma. 

08:29 AM

Ben arrives at Primary Children's. He goes to the ER and helps families and kids stay entertained and tummies full while at the ER.  Ben will not have many picture updates during this time due to privacy laws.

Wendy sits down at her desk.

08:38 AM

Andrew has a tea party

09:12 AM

Wendy loads the crates onto the moving truck. She breaks one of the dollies that you saw earlier :).

09:16 AM

Andrew has breakfast with his Aunt

  

10:40 AM

ER slows down so Ben starts cleaning toys

10:48 AM

Andrew plays the piano

11:16 AM

Andrew takes Amber for a walk

Getting the leash

Putting the leash loop on

Let's GO!

11:52 AM

Wendy goes out to eat with her co-workers at Blue Lemon - none of them had brought much lunch.

Andrew investigates Grandma's backyard

12:00 PM

Ben leaves Primary Children's.

12:33 PM

Ben picks up Andrew from Grandma Stuart's house. Andrew didn't want to leave.

He was having to much fun.

12:41 PM

Andrew put in car seat

12:50 PM

Andrew starts sucking his thumb

12:54 PM

Andrew out cold

1:02 PM

Ben and Andrew arrive at home. Andrew laid down for a nap

1:05 PM

Ben starts reading a book in bed

2:30 PM

Ben falls asleep and takes a nap

4:45 PM

Wendy leaves work and goes to the bus stop

4:55 PM

Ben and Andrew wake up from their naps. Andrew gets a snack

5:30 PM

Ben and Andrew pick up Wendy from the library. 

Wendy checks out  seven more library books.  

The twenty library books we had at home were getting lonely.

06:23 PM

Wendy, Ben, and Andrew meet up with the Canfields for swimming

07:22

Wendy, Andrew, and the Canfields get dressed

07:25

Ben finishes his swim workout

07:45

Ben gets distracted by the Orange Bowl Football game on the gym's television

08:45 PM

Ben starts to cook dinner

08:54 PM

Ben takes out the garbage. Yes, there is photographic proof!  Andrew eats dinner.

09:51 PM

Wendy and Andrew do the last 5 minutes of the interrupted 10-minute workout with Tony Horton

10:30 PM

Andrew goes to bed. Ben and Wendy read books. 

Both Ben and Wendy stay up too late reading.