My friend had this on her blog so I'm sharing with you what makes me feel like a good mom...

When he gives me hugs



When I'm patient with him during thoes times it takes everything I have to be patient with him

I take him to go do/see new things

I take him swimming because I know its something he truly loves

I feed him nutritious foods
I see him so happy with his dad because I'm reminded I chose a good one!
I don't have pictures of the last 3 but they are:


when I lay him down in his crib at bedtime and all he does is smile and say "buh bye!"
when I hear him say his ABC's and
when I read to him.

Physics and pottery

So I subbed today at Laramie High School and kinda liked it. There's always the things you don't like (having to be showered & ready by 7:15am, not my cup of tea, AND the fear of the unknown, because every time you sub its a different situation, but it was o.k. today. I sat in a physics class and learned about mars and Albert Einstein, plus I got to go to a pottery class, kinda cool. The most interesting thing though is to see all the kids and realize how little I was when I was in high school, even though I felt so "big." AND I realized how much easier life was in high school than when you have to grow up and have grown up responsibilties. If you're reading this and you're in high school, LIVE IT UP!!

C-R-A-Z-Y

As I was riding my bike home from the half acre TOTALLY minding my own business, I see this VERY concerned guy start talking to me.

Crazy guy: STOP! YOUR TIRE!!

Me: (afraid for my life, I stop thinking maybe its a flat tire?) what?

crazy guy: Your tire!! Its round!

me: (starting to realize this guy is c-r-a-z-y) o.k... (as I start to pedal away)


crazy guy: No really, its round, and it has black stuff all over it!

me: o.k. thanks

crazy guy: Make sure you get that taken care of, o.k? (with a huge grin on his face)

me: (peddling away a little faster, still afraid for my life) o.k. I will.

1st day of school

As requested by Jan, here's a picture of Michael on his first day of school this year. Stetson might have been a little more excited about it than Michael.
This is the delectable cheesecake Michael made last week.

Back to school

There's excitement in the air. When I went to Wal-mart yesterday and watched all the moms/moms and dads with their soon to be college freshmen getting groceries, new bed sets, towels, and all the other necesseties of college life, I remembered when my dad took me to Rexburg for the first time and we made the same trip. I love living in a college town because I feel like I get all the perkes of a college student without being a college student, but when I rode my bike to the half acre on Thursday, I felt a little bit jealous that I wasn't one of the soon to be college freshmen wandering around campus with their parents trying to figure out where their classes were, etc. Even though I bawled after my dad dropped me off and I begged him to come back and get me, I'm glad he left me there in Rexburg 7 years ago because I came out of it with my degree, friends to last a lifetime and experiences I'll never have again. I wish that when I was in highschool/college I would have "soaked it in" more instead of hurrying to the next stage in life. I think we try to hurry every phase in life, instead of savoring it and living in the moment. I know there's days I wish Stetson were older for certain reasons (no more diapers, he could communicate with me better) but most days I savor every every second that he is a 1 year old, because he is so stinkin' cute!

I love weddings!!

Well there is much to day. First of all, thanks for all your congratulations and well wishes on my blog--I never felt so popular wiht my record high 22 comments. :) And now I can finally talk about it on my blog!! I've been wanting to vent about it but we were keeping it a secret. I feel really good now, the first trimester (when we were in Indianapolis) was rough. Thankfully it didn't last though. My first appt. was last Thursday and everything looked great (perfect according to Dr. Keeler). The baby is 3 inches long right now. We could see the little head and the spinal chord. It was hard to make out anything else. It was reassuring to see the baby and hear a heartbeat. At this point in the pregnancy I don't really feel pregnant because I can't feel the baby move yet and I'm not showing very much. Anyway, my next appt. is September 11th. Last weekend we went to Matthew (Michael's younger bro) and Charlene's wedding in Billings, MT and it was awesome. I love going to temple wedding. They were married by Pres. Wilkes (temple pres) who was the pres. of BYU-Idaho right after Elder Bednar was called to the quorum of the 12, so that made it extra special for me. Anyway, we had a great time and are excited to see Jan again this Saturday when she comes to help Matthew & Charlene move.Waiting for Matthew & Charlene to come out...
So cute (THANK YOU AMBER!!)
Right after they came out of the temple
Bride & groom plus their parents
All the Asay brothers minus Daniel (on mission)

3 generations
Stetson, Carson & their beautiful grandma
Asay fam
The wedding line
Have you ever seen cuter boys in your life?? Stetson wasn't so into the human pyramid so he opted to pose in the background.
Michael and Stetson proudly displaying their cucumber boats Michael made

Letter

Dear Grandma & Grandpa,
I'm writing you this letter today, because I have something very important to say!!
We've been waiting and waiting for the time to be right,
to tell you that from now on, I'm not going to be the only one waking up mom and dad at night!
When I find out what mom's having I'll be sure to tell you fast, but we won't bet on one or the other from experiences past.
So mark your calendar for February 18, plus or minus 11 days,
And remember I love you forever and always!

Your grandson,
Stetson

"Beautiful place"...

Nauvoo is a hebrew word meaning beautiful place or situation. We were lucky and got to stop by Nauvoo on our way back from Indiana and I'm so glad we did. It's probably my favorite place Michael and I have ever gone together. If you haven't ever been, go if you get the chance. Its really a special place. The first thing e did was drive to the temple. We actually stumbled across it because we didn't really know where we were going, but we were driving at the end of main street and saw these black gates and thought maybe that was where the temple was, and as we came around that corner and the temple came into view, I just about started bawling it was so beautiful. Its amazing how good you feel just looking at the temple, wihtout even going inside. It was a great experience. We saw a lot of neat things on our trip. Our first stop was to the Visitor's Center to get tickets for the buggy ride we went on and the live matinee called "River boats and high hopes." It was a musical based on events that occured in Nauvoo around the time Joseph Smith was martyred. I LOVE the Christus statue that they have in the Visitor's Center so of course we got a couple pics of it.
This is an original sunstone that was hand-chiseled in solid stone. They are part of the Nauvoo temple, and symbolize the Celestial Kingdom.
This is what we've been doing a lot of lately; chasing Stetson
There were the most beautiful flowers in front of the Visitor's center.
I was a little excited about getting pictures in front of the flowers because they were "SOOOOOOO pretty." Really they were. :-)
This the quarry where men worked to get rocks for the temple from 1840-1845.
We took this pic because if you look close you can see the tip of the temple in the background. We took this on our way back from the quarry.
Probably one of our favorite things we got to do was go on a buggy ride. There were 2 men (both serving missions in Nauvoo) one to drive the team of horses and another who narrated and told stories about the places we saw. This is "inspiration point." The tour guide told us that this is where Joseph Smith would go to send off missionaries and greet returning ones, and that Joseph Smith would come here for inspiration. This is also one of the widest points of the Mississippi, approx. 2 miles across.
A close friend of Joseph Smith's, King Follett, died in a well accident, and it was from that experience that one of the greatest sermons in the history of the church was given--the King Follett discourse. They erected this well in memory of him.
When we came out of the visitor's center they had this band playing and I embarrassed Michael because I started dancing.
This is the seventies hall, which was used as a missionary training center and a chapel. We also got to go inside Lucy Mack's house but we didn't get pics of that. The houses looked big on the outside but were pretty small when you actually go in. A lot of the homes are owned by the Community of Christ church--if we'd had more time we would have done the tour thing so we could go inside.
journal excerpt from George Q. Cannon (my relative)
All of us in front of the Mississippi
Another picture of the Mississippi river. Pretty, huh?
Michael's only request when we got to Nauvoo was to walk down parley street. He remembered Pres. Hinckley mentioned in one of his talks that if you ever go to Nauvoo, you should walk down Parley street, so thats just what we did, and the feeling there was awesome. I've never been to a place so calm and peaceful. Down Parley street there's something called the "trail of hope" where they've displayed various people's journal excerpts including feeling they had about leaving Nauvoo.
This is the Mansion house, where Joseph Smith and his family lived for a time and where his body was brought after he was martyered. It was also used as a hotel for travelers.I almost forgot. We ran into some friends of mine from Santa Rosa, the Fredericks. L-R: Gail, Adella, Emily & Amber. Well that wraps up our Nauvoo trip. We got home last night about 9:30ish and it feels great to be home! We're excited to take off on Friday for the big wedding!

Today's mood:

Tomorrow morning at 6 AM (at least thats the plan) we'll be saying farewell to Zionsville. We couldn't have asked for better hosts, but I miss my own house in Laramie (among a million other things). Michael's coming home early today to help pack and everything so we can get on the road asap. We're going to drive the 5 hours to Nauvoo tomorrow, visit the sites (I'm waaaaaaaaay excited about that) and then drive the rest on Sunday. Then we'll spend almost a week in Laramie then hop in the car again on Friday for Matthew & Charlene's wedding. Well thats about all the exciting news I can tell you today. I cannot belive how summer flies by, but surprisingly enough, I love seasons and am excited for the changes.

Quick shout out to some super cutie pie kiddos.

L-R:
Dallen 5yrs. Dallen was SOOOOOOO full of life. You wouldn't belive how excited this kid would get. I loved it. His favorite things to do were go swimming and look for slugs. :)
Xavier 12 yrs. Xavier was HUGE help and I'm glad he was there to help me. He was great with Stetson and helped take the edge off when things got crazy!
Meghan 8 yrs. Meghan was my sassy little comedian. We'd be driving to Dallen's soccer practice, and as we'd be pulling into the parking lot, I'd hear a sweet little voice say, "Great job, Emily. You're a great driver!" See Michael? I AM a good driver. :-) And when I'd cook something for dinner that looked yummy to her, without fail, with a smile on her face she would say, "Mmmm I've never had that before!" (Even though I'm pretty sure she had). Little girls like Meghan are angels sent from God and I'm glad I got to meet her.

livers and limos?

Last Thursday night, Michael got to fly to South Carolina on a learjet with a surgeon to get a liver. Once they arrived, they went to get the liver in a limo because apparently a limo was cheaper than sending an ambulance. Michael said he never thought his first limo ride would be to get a liver. :) On Saturday we were looking for low budget things to do, so we went to this new waterpark (free admission) they have in Zionsville and packed a picnic. I forgot spoons to eat a jello with and Michael's drink, so Michael told me I'm not a very good picnic packer. Better luck next time. It was still fun though. This lady from the Zionsville paper was there and asked for a pic of Stetson to feature the new waterpark, so we'll see if he's in the paper on Wed.

6 quirks

1. With the exception of raisin bran and wheaties, I like my cereal slightly soggy

2. I love mopping my floor--mostly because it gives me great satisfaction, like the rest of my house could look like a sty, but if my floor is mopped, life is good.

3. When I'm home, I usually dilute my juice with water because I don't like it really sweet

4. I can't go to bed without chapstick on (or socks if its cold)

5. When I'm talking to my dad or michael on the phone and I start to cry, I don't say anything for a long time because I'm embarrassed to talk when I'm crying. One time Michael hung up because he thought I wasn't there anymore! lol

6. I have to use a pick to comb my hair when I get out of the shower. Yesterday when I got out of the shower I couldn't find it and I looked for like a 1/2 hr and finally had to use a brush and my day just wasn't the same. :)

There, now you all know how nuts I am, you do it too!

I tag EVERYONE!!!!