Keeping me company

The last two nights have been pumpking carving nights. They were supposed to be "family" pumpkin carving nights, but my family totally abandoned me, leaving me to carve pumpkins on my own in the garage. I carved Jonathan's last night. He made the design and intended to carve it, but there were kids playing outside and they held more appeal. Tonight I carved our second pumpkin. Although my family had better things to do, I still had a couple of visitors... My neighbors' cats.

This guy visited me last night until Jonathan accidentally let the dogs out, and well you can guess how that went. I didn't think we'd see him again for a while, but he came back again tonight. This kitty also likes to guard our front porch (actually, I think he just likes to sleep on our doormat).

This little guy is very adventurous. In addition to visiting me while pumpkin carving, he walked right into my house like he owned the place this morning when my visiting teacher came over. Fortunately for him, I'd already put the dogs away because they're a little too affectionate with visitors. By the way, Rachel, do you have a name for this little guy yet? He is now known by the neighbors as being your cat so you might as well name him. ;)

This is the pumpkin I carved tonight. Jonathan's is currently at the school for the pumpkin parade so we'll have to get a picture of it later.

LeeLou Launch Party

Children's Museum

This top picture is for Aunt Kerri.

First of all, if you haven't taken your children to the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum, you should. It is such a fun place! I have tons of pictures to post, but they're not great. Nobody wanted to stop moving long enough to get a good picture.

Rachel - I did see McKay, but he wasn't in our group. Funny story: when McKay got off the bus after the field trip he made a beeline for his classroom. Apparently he felt the same way I felt about a busload of rowdy kids.

The museum is super organized and split us into 2 groups and kept us on separate floors. All the kids wore either red or green vests and the adults wore either red or green tags identifying them as chaperones from the school. This field trip was so much less stressful than the zoo last year. That might also have something to do with the 3 kids in my group. They were awesome! I didn't have to worry for a minute about anyone running off and getting lost.

You'll notice the faces of the other kids are covered. That's not because I don't like their faces, but they aren't my kids and I didn't want to post their pictures without their parents' permission.

There were two areas that I almost had to drag the boys out of and the construction site was one of them.

Next was the grocery store.


The TV station was so fun. In front of the desk there are teleprompters and behind those there are TV screens where you can see the kids on TV. There was also a weather station. This was the next place I almost had to drag the boys out of. The helicopter. Outside the second floor they have a life sized helicopter and a control tower. This picture is of Jonathan spent most of his time in the control tower. They have speakers so the kids in the control tower can talk to the kids in the helicopter.This is where Jonathan got tired of my picture taking.After the museum, we went to Liberty park for lunch and a little more play time. This is Jonathan and two of his regular partners in crime. They were all in the same class last year and have been split up this year. (I wonder why?)As predicted, I was worn out after spending a day with these little balls of energy. Oh how I wish I could have some of that energy.

Amish Friendship Bread

Do any of my neighbors or coworkers want an Amish Friendship Bread starter? I have 2 left and I'm tired of mashing the bags every day.

Scarecrow Festival and Karate

For family night this Monday we went to the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point. We chose this because it was cheaper than the other Halloween / Fall activities nearby. Let's just say, you get what you pay for. But Jonathan had a good time and that's what matters. Personally, I think he had just as much fun at Gardener Village and that was free. One thing I liked about the Scarecrow Festival is that they didn't skimp on the inflatables. They had a few obstacle courses, several slides and several more jumping castles. Jonathan was scared of the slides so Russ had to go with him on all of them.
Another inflatable was a basketball game which none of the kids could reach without a parent holding them up.
Fast forward to today... Tonight at Karate, Jonathan received his solid yellow belt. This is his second belt promotion and he is way excited. Coming up tomorrow: 1st grade field trip. If I'm not too exhausted to post pictures.

Indiana Jones and the WHAT?

That's right folks, Walmart is selling a new release: Indiana Jones and the Temple of DOO. Hurry in and get your copy today!

Our spooky day...

Today we met the fam for the costume parade at Gardner Village. I wish I had gotten a picture of our whole group. Some of the adults even dressed up and most of us wore fun witches hats. As much as I hate having my picture taken, I regret not getting a picture of all of us. Here are the pictures I did get.

Here is my little Luigi.

When Jonathan crossed the stage at the costume parade, the Witch announced him as Joe the Plumber.
Baby Kazree. Isn't she a cute little witch?



If I were a witch, this is the kind of witch I would be.
He just found out he lost his retirement in the stock market.Jonathan and cousin Ben.Jonathan and KathleenTo plunge or not to plunge? That is the question.So true... Does this pig remind you of someone?Me too! Look at those bellies!And here's Jonathan at home with our witch Hagatha.

Dad

Jonathan has never called Russ Dad. I don't know why that is since he does call me Mom. Today Jonathan decided that he is going to act more "grown up" and call Russ Dad. So, he's been saying Dad instead of Russ and it just sounds so weird. In a way it is kind of sad because that was something unique about Jonathan that he is letting go of. Of course, we'll see how long this lasts.

Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket.

Okay, yeah there's a little problem of Utah not having a lottery, but you have to hear about my luck lately. Early this summer we went out to Applebees as a family and got a free dinner. I guess they randomly choose a table each Friday night and give them their meal FREE. As if that wasn't enough, last month I went to Chili's with the coworkers. We had to wait nearly an hour for our food and then they got some orders wrong (but not mine) so the manager gave us ALL our food for free. So yesterday I went to lunch at Olive Garden with some ladies in my ward and guess what happened again? Basically a repeat of Chili's, but with different people. That's three free meals at three of my favorite restaurants in just a few months. Now, who wants to go out to lunch with me next?

What's my motivation here?

At work every Holiday season we have a little contest called Health for the Holidays. The requirements are to get 30 mins exercise 3 days a week and meet a goal that you set at the beginning of the contest. Most of us are smart enough not to make our goal "lose 10 pounds" or "run a marathon". Our goals are "maintain weight" or "exercise 3x a week". Anyway, for this contest we have to form groups of 4 and you can only win if your group all does their part. You also have to choose a team captain. I thought all the captain had to do was turn in the entry form so I volunteered. Turns out, they want me to motivate my team. And if I am the most creative and consistent at motivating my team I get a $50 gift card. So here's the problem: I am the member of my team who needs the most motivation! Okay, that's just one problem. The other one is that I need creative ideas to motivate my team so I can win 50 bucks. Anyone have any good ideas?

My Sweet Boy

This happened a few days ago and I had forgotten about it until tonight. Jonathan was having trouble falling asleep and I didn't know how to help him. I asked if he wanted me to sing to him, even though he's never really liked that. Surprisingly he said yes, so I sang a couple of the songs he is learning in primary. My voice has been pretty much absent and was just coming back so I didn't sound good. Before he went to sleep my sweet boy told me, "Even though your voice is gone, it's still beautiful."

Sometimes I wonder if Jonathan and I would have the same relationship if I'd been able to have more children. I love my parents dearly, but I don't remember being so close to them that I would say something like that. He is so open with his feelings and showing love for Russ and me, which is something I wasn't good at until I had my own family. I have no doubt that Jonathan was meant to come to our family. He is such a blessing to us.

Adoption

Please visit our new adoption blog at:
http://russkimandjonathan.blogspot.com/

We also have a new adoption button linking to the new blog.

<a href="http://russkimandjonathan.blogspot.com"><img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b88/kimmiesue1106/findbabycopy-1.gif"></img></a>

It's about time I updated this page, don't ya think?

We are the Ashdowns; Kim, Russ and Jonathan. (And Pie and Dolle, our dogs.) Almost 8 years ago we were blessed with a miracle baby, our son Jonathan. Since then we have not been able to have any more children on our own. We believe that the Lord has another miracle in mind for us, but the next baby will come to us through someone else. So we are embarking on the journey of adoption. Russ and I are very excited to bring another child into our home and Jonathan constantly asks me when he will have a brother or sister.

If you are interested in getting to know us better, please feel free to read our blog and email Kim at kimmiesue1106@msn.com

Thank you so much for all of your support. So many of our friends and family have given us (mostly me) a shoulder to cry on during our ordeal with infertility. We appreciate anyone who is still willing to come along for the ride as we begin a new journey.

Love,

Eight

Eight favorite TV shows

This is hard because I don't watch a lot of TV shows regularly.

1. American Idol (laugh if you will, but this is one that I do watch regularly when it is on)

The next four are just shows I watch if I happen to catch them.

2. Anything on HGTV

3. Law & Order (any of them)

4. The Office

5. Deal or No Deal

6. Super Nanny

The rest are Disney shows I watch with Jonathan that I actually kind of like.

7. Hannah Montana

8. Suite Life

Eight favorite Restaurants

1. Olive Garden

2. Applebees

3. Wingers

4. Chili's

5. Cobble Stone

6. BYU Creamery (I'm gonna steal this from Rachel's list because, even though I've only been there for ice cream, it is so yummy.)

7. Costco Snack Bar

8. Panda Express (I add this only because it is one of Russ and Jonathan's favorites. I don't really like it myself.)

Eight things I did yesterday

1. Woke Jonathan, made his lunch and took him to school.

2. Went to the Texaco for my diet coke fix.

3. Volunteered at the book fair

4. Spent money at the book fair

5. tidied the LR and kitchen a little

6. Got Jonathan dinner and went to get cash to pay babysitter.

7. Went to the Adoptive Parent Training dinner.

8. Went to bed semi-early so I could get up early for the Adoptive Parent Training today. (BIG thanks to Rachel and her family for watching Jonathan today. Our regular babysitters went to the *gasp* Utes game in Wyoming.)

Eight things I love about fall

1. The colors

2. The clothes. I LOVE fall and winter clothes. It's one of the few redeeming qualities of cold weather.

3. The cooler weather, but not cold weather. I like a gradual shift.

4. No lawn mowing! Gotta love that!

5. School. I love helping at Jonathan's school.

6. Halloween

7. Looking forward to the holidays

8. Corn maze, haunted houses, craft boutiques, etc.

Eight things I look forward to

1. Going to Oregon for Thanksgiving. We haven't been there since Jonathan was almost 2.

2. Christmas in Tucson. (I'm dreaming of a brown Christmas;))

3. Adopting a baby (I'm trying hard not to get my hopes up on this. I know it could take a while.)

4. Jonathan's birthday in February. This is bittersweet because my baby is growing up so fast.

5. Work. I really do enjoy my job. Who wouldn't love playing with babies and getting paid for it? Well, I guess some people wouldn't.

6. Christmas shopping. I always look forward to shopping.

7. Spring and no more snow. I know it hasn't even started snowing yet, but I hate hate hate the cold so I'm already looking forward to spring.

8. Russell's week off. We always look forward to this.

Eight things on my wish list

1. A baby

2. Either a house with bigger bedrooms or the basement finished (I stole this from Rachel too, but it is so true. They designed the bedrooms in these houses for elves.)

3. A Digital SLR camera. So not going to happen. That's why it's a wish list.

4. Mini Van

5. New kitchen cabinets and countertop

6. New carpet

7. A good economy

8. A laptop

Eight people I tag:

1. Brook

2. Suzette

3. Sarah Anne

4. Sarah Jayne

5. Kelly M.

6. April

7. Amy

8. Cindy

9. Heather

Parent Teacher Conference

Parent Teacher Conference was tonight and I thought I'd share some of Jonathan's work that she had on display. His teacher had a basket filled with folders that had the kids' work in them for parents to see. There were also some things hung up outside the classroom.

What are you going to be for Halloween? In case you can't see it at the bottom, it says Luigi.
The top color of the rainbow is his favorite color. He also seems to think his hair is orange and I don't know what favorite food is yellow. Maybe macaroni?

All by myself I can dance. But I need a friend to play the Wii.

Stats. Where it says "How many people in your family?" I think he is counting the dogs.

This is what he thinks Russ does while he's at school. In case you can't see it, he thinks Russ flies a Rocket Ship.

And this last one is a picture of my favorite time of the day. Picking Jonathan up from school. I love watching him run out of the school with his friends. They are just so cute and a little too grown up.