ashdown get together

My parents came into town a few weeks ago for my brother's graduation. We had originally planned to go to Cancun, but planned to stay and play in Arizona because as you can imagine, money is tight for grad students! My parents were gracious enough to give up their beach vacation for the desert. Unfortunately, my little brother was not able to come down, but we did have the rest of the family together, which was great. First, we spent a few days in Tuscan, where my brother, his wife Elizabeth, and daughter Harper lives. They had planned a little day trip to an outdoor wildlife zoo. We were able to see some wild cats, humming birds, too many reptiles, and an assorted other animals adapted to live in the desert. It was hot as you can imagine, but the babies did so good in their strollers, munching on their veggies. It was fun to be able to see that there are so many animals who live here.

After Tuscan we made a trip to Sedona. I already mentioned when Ben and I made a trip up there about a month ago. It was just as beautiful as before. I loved the red rocks with the dark green trees. It is such a different climate up there, with such different scenery. We spent some time swimming, barbequing, staying up late laughing at games, eating a ton...and going to slide rock! The much anticipated slide rock. I was so excited to go. We were warned to have grungy clothes, as they would be ruined from the rocks, so we stopped at a thrift store and loaded up on grungy clothes, including some sexy Coors beer swimming suit shorts for Ben. We were just trying to fit right in with the crowd. We stuck the babies in the pack n' play on the side of the river. They loved playing with their toys (still learning how to share) and watching all the people go down the river. Come to find out, we were overly grunged out and would have been completely fine without the clothes. The water was so stinking cold, but sliding down the rock was so fun! It almost took a slip on the rock to actually get yourself in the water, or in my case Ben to hang on tight to. 

We stayed at the river for so long. The babies were completely exhausted. As you can see, Macee fell asleep in the baby carrier on the walk back to the car. It cracked me up!

We were in Sedona for two days. We spent the rest of our time together in Maricopa, staying at our place. We had a barbeque with my cousin's family and uncle. It was great for my parents to be able to see them and catch up with their lives. We swam and played disc golf. My parents were nice enough to take on both of the babies so we could go on a date. It was a much needed date. We saw Hunger Games, and completely loved it. Ben and I also planned to see the Sea Life Museum. It was really neat. There was a variety of sea life to look at. Macee really loved watching the fish, as you can tell from the picture.
The babies are finally old enough to really notice, and want to interact with each other. It was so fun to watch Macee look up to, and watch Harper. They played great together, until sharing became an issue or Macee realized I wasn't close. She's had a mamma's attachment issue lately. It is amazing to realize how different two babies can be from each other. They are five months apart and are at similar stages, but their temperament is completely different. Macee is a wild woman. She lives large, moves fast, and gets what she wants by being as loud as possible. Harper stops to breathe. She notices details, stays calm, and is content with anything going on around her. It makes me wonder how there can be such a big difference when they're cousins!

It was sad to see my parents leave and to know that the next time the family gets together will be in a long time. Brady and Elizabeth will be moving to Seattle, so planning times together will take more work and money. However, both babies were ready for their schedules to be back to normal with their own cribs. Macee had a hard time recognizing and getting used to grandma and grandpa, because as I mentioned before, she has an attachment issue to me. I think that was hard on them, but I do still know she loves them! It was much better when we could be home and Macee was in her own environment with the change of people around her. We will be seeing grandma and grandpa again in two months and I can't wait to see what stage Macee is in then. She just might be walking. I'm so glad we were able to get together and can't wait to see everyone again!

one year

One year ago today Ben and I packed up our few things and moved our growing family to Arizona. It took a lot of prayerful thought and consideration. It was difficult to leave familiarity, our families, and our friends. It seemed like too much of a grown up decision for us. We were moving on complete faith, with not even a job or insurance to pay for Macee's delivery. Looking back on that decision, I can confidently say that the Lord was directing our lives. He had a plan for our family. Ben and I could not have done this alone. We have come to love Arizona. We love the scenery of the desert, with the warm weather. We love the community we live in. We are comfortable in, and absolutely love, our ward. We love the relationships that we have built with my family members living close. Both Ben and I have jobs with security that we enjoy. Ben was able to get an amazing education which will continue to help him in his career. Ben and I have grown closer during this stage of our lives. We have learned, and are continuing to learn, stronger communication skills. We have learned to lean on each other for every support that we have needed. We quickly learned what real life was without our parents. And among many other things, our testimonies have been strengthened in the Gospel. Don't get me wrong, there are many days where I wish with all of my heart that I could be sitting in the living room with our family watching them love on Macee. There are many times when I wish that I could be there this minute to see what they are doing or to be more involved in their lives. It does hurt at times to know that we may miss fun or important moments in our family's lives. But, I do know that this experience is irreplaceable.

We are looking forward to Ben reaching his many goals within the community, including teaching at the community college, continuing therapy, coaching wrestling, and serving in the Elder's Quorum. I am looking forward to raising Macee and becoming the best mother I can to my beautiful girl. We obviously hope that we will continue to get many visits from family and we hope to continue to visit them often. Our family and friends are still extremely important to us, but it has been a wonderful experience to know that Ben and I are growing and developing our own family that will be strong together. The future may bring different moves to our family again, but for now we are loving where we are and are recognizing our many blessings here.

graduation and the harding visit

Finally, the much anticipated graduation post. I have been anticipating this for months. It was a fabulous day! Ben's parent's came into town on Thursday evening. We spent that evening catching up on the happenings in the Harding home, mainly the big important stuff like Crystal's engagement, then got ready for the graduation. I think I ironed more clothes that night than I have ironed all year. Ben tried on his graduation gear and we were ready to go! Ben had his last day of a therapy training (for him to start a new therapy group at work, which is another cool story) in Phoenix on Friday. His parents hung out with me and Macee all day before we had to get to the commencement ceremony. I had Macee's naps planned out perfect for the day so she would be great at the graduation, but she had other plans. We got to the graduation and still no afternoon nap had been taken...by 4pm. I thought we were in for a disaster because a tired Macee is a mad Macee. Amazingly, she did fabulous and just showed off for all of the people sitting behind us. It was also such a help to have grandma and grandpa close to hand her off when my arms needed a break from her hyperactivity. The graduation went awesome. The speakers were short and to the point, the names were called, a few jokes were told, and the ceremony was over. Awesome. Ben looked great in his graduation get-up and I was so proud of him when they called his name to walk across the stage. I just couldn't believe that we had made it to this point! I felt like we could accomplish the world! Anyway, after the graduation Ben's parents took us out to dinner and we really had a good time relaxing at dinner while Macee...still no nap, ate her cookies and played with wrappers. It was a great way to end a great day.

Saturday was also really fun with Ben's parents. We woke up early and got straight to playing disc golf before it got too hot. Ben and Tim had a lot of fun playing while Peggy and I hit up the close garage sales. We got home and went straight to the pool. Unfortunately, the water was a little bit cold, but they were still able to see a little bit of how much Macee loves the pool. We for sure have a water baby on our hands! We gave ourselves a little break from the sun for a few hours and then took off for the movies. The boys saw Avengers, which they said was awesome. Peggy and I browsed around at stores, killing time while they were in the movies. I don't think that a movie would be great with a baby, especially a wild one like Macee. The Hardings left right after church on Sunday to make it home for Ben's brother. It was so fun to have them here. I loved watching how much they adored Macee. It was also nice to have four extra hands to help with her. The trip seemed way too short and we were sad to see them go. boys saw Avengers, which they said was awesome. Peggy and I browsed around at stores, killing time while they were in the movies. I don't think that a movie would be great with a baby, especially a wild one like Macee. The Hardings left right after church on Sunday to make it home for Ben's brother. It was so fun to have them here. I loved watching how much they adored Macee. It was also nice to have four extra hands to help with her. The trip seemed way too short and we were sad to see them go.

cottonwood/sedona

Ben and I took a relaxing vacation last weekend as a reward for him finishing his classes. Ben's really good friend, Ryan, grew up in Cottonwood (about 1.5 hours north of Phoenix) and invited us up to spend the weekend with him as he house sat for his parents. We spent some time in Cottonwood playing disc golf, relaxing at his parent's house and eating out. On Saturday Ryan took us up to Sedona to check out the different attractions to do there. Sedona is similar to Park City, in that it is a richy, touristy town. It is really beautiful with the red rock mountains.

After Sedona we took a quick stop in Jerome, an old mining town high on the mountain above Cottonwood. I loved the old history there with the old buildings and tourist shops. There was mining shaft that we stopped to look at. It was amazing! Basically the entire town is sitting on a hollowed out mountain because of the extensive mining that took place. We stood on top of a glass covering to the shaft and was able to look down at how deep it was. 19000 feet to be exact. That's more than 1.5 Empire State buildings deep! We dropped a rock down the shaft at it took more than 5 seconds to hear it hit the bottom. We stopped in a shop called Nelly Bly and Ben completely fell in love with it. He was like a little boy in a candy shop looking at all of the different kaleidoscopes. The trip ended up being so fun and we were so glad that Ryan had invited us up to see the different beautiful parts of Arizona.