Fun in the Sun

In celebration of Asher's first birthday we bought a little pool for our backyard so the boys could enjoy the hot weather in style. A few days ago the water was warm enough and the sun hot enough to justify an afternoon of water play. Our friend Regan and her baby, Colby, came over to enjoy the pool with Bryant and Asher. Asher absolutely LOVED the pool and sat in the water for probably 40 minutes before he was a little chilly and ready to get out. He crawled around and dumped cupfuls of water out of the pool on to my lap, it was adorable. Colby had a couple of scares all involving her head going under water and justifiably wasn't interested in being in the pool, but rather observed from the side. Bryant, as to be expected, had fun with his tractors, sending them down the slide into the water and using the watering can to make sure his brother didn't get too dry! :-) (That's what big brothers are for!) All in all it was a really fun relaxing day in the pool! Hope you are all having a safe and happy 4th! The pictures of the kiddos in the grass are particularily funny to me, notice Asher has his left leg in the air in both pictures? He sat like that for quite a while...I think he was trying to subconscienously pretend he wasn't really sitting naked in the grass!

Asher's First Haircut

His big brother is a pro, but last week, Asher had his first very encounter with the Barber. We go to a great barber here in Sisters and he is great with kids and hardly charges a thing. Asher did really good until about 3 minutes into the ordeal and then he fell apart. Just wanted to share a few pics of the memory!

Asher Turns 1!!!!!

Can you believe it? Baby Asher is already 1...it seems unreal to me. I can remember like it was yesterday the full events of the day he was born. He has been such a joy to our lives and Bryant is truly loving having a playmate, he is a great big brother. Asher makes his way around the house like a pro these days and although he isn't showing many signs of walking, he is strong and getting good at climbing the stairs.
We kept Asher's birthday pretty low key. I bought a plastic pool at the hardware store today and we were going to have a little family pool party, but the water was a little too cold, so maybe tomorrow! :-) I don't think Asher has his mommy's sweet tooth, he really wasn't that into his cake. He loves it when we sing happy birthday to him and lights up with a huge smile each time we break into song, which I did a bunch today, just for the smile factor!! Bryant loves that his brother got some new toys for his birthday, in fact, I think Bryant has played with them more than Asher. Ahhh, the perks of being the big brother! We just returned from a family reunion gathering for Jeremy's side of the family in Salem and we had a great time. Asher didn't sleep (literally, not at all), so we ended up leaving late Saturday night in an effort to get one good night of sleep in before the week begins, but it was so much fun hanging out with cousins and playing basketball, full access to a great playground any time of day (by far the highlight for Bryant) and even swimming. Jeremy's cousin Rich had his Harley there and Bryant got to sit on it and rev it up, (Asher even got a turn) it was a blast!!

Sweet Laughs - Cousins having fun!

We spent some time about a week ago at my Mom's house so I could travel a bit for work. This video is Bryant, Asher and their cousin Cortlyn, having a blast together. I was about to put a stop to the bombardment of stuffed animals on the baby, but Asher was so thrilled with the attention, I decided to pull out my camera and record it instead. The laughing truly is contagious!!

Little Fawn

We are blessed to live in a beautiful area of Oregon, tucked in the Mountains with amazing snowy winters and beautiful, hot summers. Today we had a little fawn wander into our yard with her Mama and Jeremy was able to capture some cool pictures of this tiny little wonder. We are guessing the fawn is 2 days old, barely walking, but moving around some. Enjoy!!

Asher Crawls

That's right, Asher is officially mobile and loving every minute of it! Bryant loves that Asher can move around and although he isn't a very fast crawler, he is definitely getting the hang of it. Very cute!!!

Fun in the Sun

We have had some beautiful weather here the last week or so and time outside is a must with two little boys. Daddy made a great gravel play area for Bryant and he spends his afternoons with tractors and shovels digging and being a boy...he really is in his element outside in the dirt. My fair haired little Asher loves to be outside, so I bring out a blanket (he does NOT, like the feeling of grass and it will downright ruin his day if he is forced to touch it!) and a few toys and he is happy. Just thought I'd share a few pics of outside playtime.

Asher Swinging at the Playground

Life in the Davis House

Well, what can I say, but if you are still checking our blog for updates...bless you! Between work, taking care of two sweet little boys and keeping up with the house, there is no time for anything extra. Much has happened in the months since our last posting, as I am sure you can well imagine. Bryant just finished up swimming lessons with my friend and running buddy Ashley, and he loved every minute of it and he has actually picked up quite a few skills along the way. We will need to spend some time in the pool this summer to make sure he retains what he has learned, so I will have to sacrifice and spend some hot summer days in the pool, darn!!! :-)

Asher is doing fantastic! He has another eye appointment in Portland at OHSU in July and we will get him new glasses and a new perscription. I am amazed the glasses he is in now have lasted this long, but he is doing great with them. Asher has grown 4 teeth in the last 3 weeks, and hated every minute of it, but he is doing great with solid foods and really prefers to feed himself to having mommy spoon feeding him. He is trying really hard to crawl, but so far he does a lot of rolling around and scooting backwards. We call him rolley polley because that is how he gets everywhere right now, but hey it works!! He is such a mellow happy baby and I think he is just content to let his brother take care of him and relax, no need to crawl or walk when someone will take care of things for you!

Jeremy is very busy with work and we are extremely thankful for the busy time. He has two guys working for him this year and that seems to be adequate for now.

Work is busy for me and juggling the mommyhood/work thing hasn't been easy, but I am really getting the hang of scheduling out my day to make sure I can take care of the necessities. The boys keep me very busy, but they also play really well independently, so that makes it a lot easier for me to get things done.

Warm, wonderful Spring weather has descended upon us the last couple of weeks and we have been outside enjoying every minute of it. My treadmill is in need of repair, so I am running outside with the boys in the double jogger most days, great workout, but really exhausting! My Mom came over for Mother's Day and we all had fun hanging out shopping and going for walks. Last weekend we hit the high 80's, so Bryant got his first taste of playing in his little outdoor pool and he had a blast. Asher spent his time playing on a towel in the grass and we all enjoyed the sunshine. I will try my best to update this blog a little more often, once you get this far out of date it is easy to just let things go!

Road Trip

As some of you know, we were blessed with the opportunity to take a vacation with Jeremy's parents, his sister and her family and his brother and wife. We just returned a few days ago from a whirlwind vacation that took us down to Indio California (Palm Springs area), Oceanside California, and home through Reno Nevada. We opted to drive the 1000 miles down to our vacation destination in lieu of flying with 2 small kids (we decided it was the less stressful of the two options.) The kids were amazing in the car. We took 2 days to get down there and 3 days to come home and all-in-all, they did really well with all the sitting. Our hotel in Indio was beautiful and included a private hot tub on the balcony overlooking a golf course. The weather was fairly cooperative, with only 1 day of rain during the entire week. We visited the Living Desert in Palm Desert which is an animal sanctuary with some really cool exhibits including Camels and Big Horned Sheep and they had a petting zoo where the kids were able to brush goats (this may have been their favorite part of the whole park!) After 4 days in Indio, we drove to Oceanside CA, which is on the coast directly between Anaheim and San Diego. This was Bryant's first trip to the beach and despite the cooler conditions (high 60's) he really had a fun time playing in the sand with his cousins. A trip to the LA area isn't complete without a visit with Mickey, so we all took one day and drove to Anaheim to the happiest place on earth (or the worst, depending upon how patient a person is with waiting in line.) We had assumed with it being a random Thursday in February that the park would be on the quiet side, but I think everyone else had the same idea. Disneyland was packed, and when we asked some employees about why it was so busy, they were baffled. Disneyland even decided to remain open past the planned close time of 9pm to accomodate all the extra visitors. It was a beautiful day, nearly 80, so maybe that brought out some of the locals. Although I know Bryant won't remember the trip, he really did have a great time and went on all the ride's his height would allow, including the Matterhorn, a roller coaster in toon town and Pirate's of the Carribean (twice). He loved the thrill rides and didn't tire of the lines or the rides. Asher even got to go on a ride, I took him with us on It's a Small World which was just rennovated and reopened this month and he was squealing and smiling, it was adorable.



On our way home from California, we stopped in Reno to spend a night with my Uncle Bill and Aunt Shirley and visit my cousin and her family. Bryant managed to pick up a bug towards the end of our trip, so he wasn't feeling too well, but he was a trooper as was Asher with missing naps, sleeping in new beds and adjusting their schedules to meet the needs of the greater good. All in all it was a fun and restful trip and we are so thankful for the chance to get away as a family and even though Jeremy, Asher and I have all managed to get sick we are all very happy to be home!

Brother's Having Fun

We got our first taste the other night have how much fun Bryant and Asher will have growing up together. This video was taken at dinner time and although the quality isn't great (I had a smudge on the lens) :-), you get the idea of how much fun these two were having together!!

Christmas and the End of 2008

Christmas 2008 has come and gone and I have to say I am always a little saddened when the Christmas season comes to a close. I love having the tree and Nativity up and sitting by a warm fire while it snows outside, there is nothing more calming. Christmas in the Davis household was truly a lot of fun this year. We talked to Bryant about Jesus' birthday and explained the Nativity scene to him practically daily...Murray(known to many as Mary) and Baby Jesus were easily identified by Bryant and by the time Christmas rolled around, he was even able to tell us that they were in the stable because there was "no room", "all full" (referring of course to the Inn that turned away Mary and Joseph.

I have to say that I have never had more fun than watching my boys, okay mostly just Bryant :-), open presents and spend the day playing with everything. My Mom came over for the week and despite some nasty winter weather, was able to make it over thanks to a ride from Jeremy's brother Jeff and his wife Necia. (Thanks again!!) We had a wonderful week of shopping, cooking and sitting around visiting. On Christmas Eve we got a pretty decent amount of snow, and as I was turning off the lights and heading up to bed around midnight on Christmas Eve, there was these amazing, huge snowflakes coming down outside and just the Christmas Tree was lit and there was a fire in the fireplace, there was just something so amazing and quiet about the whole scene, and a wonderful sense of peace. I had a chance to truly reflect and be thankful for God's gift of Jesus and the sacrifice he made for each of us.

We were blessed to spend time with both Jeremy's family as well as my Mom. There were many wonderful photo opportunities and I wanted to share some of the fun memories with all of you. We hope your Christmas was wonderful and wish you a Happy New Year!

The deer picture was taken from our back door on Christmas Eve, we received about 2 feet of snow when all the storms of the week rolled through, and I just thought this was a really beautiful shot.