A Year in the Life of Kimball

Here's a slide show of her past year... I'm a rookie at slide shows, this is my best attempt.

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY KIMBALL

Time flies when you're raising a kid! Jason and I can't believe that she is a year old already. Last night after her party, we were sitting in bed, reminiscing about what we were doing exactly a year ago. It was about 10pm as we were talking, and I realized I was probably in transition about ready to get her here. People try to tell you how much you'll love your kids, but it really is something that has to be experienced. I know this is so cheezy and the typical sentiment from parents... but I can't believe how much joy she brings to our life.
We celebrated her birthday with any and all of our family that lives in town. She enjoyed her cake (though she refused to get messy eating it). And THANK YOU ALL for the gifts (even if you all disobeyed me.) She had a blast playing in the water features with all of her cousins (that's why all the kids are in swimsuits.)

Jason is trying to get her to dip her face in the cake. Guess who won?

An outside July birthday is only possible at a park with water. Kimball loves all of her presents.
Thanks again everyone!

4th of July and Ashton Family Reunion

I love the 4th of July. It's a time I get to be with my family and celebrate our country which I love so much. This year I felt especially proud of my country and my family because my oldest brother is on his 2nd tour of duty in Afghanistan. He was the only one not there (even his wife came w/ her 4 kids...brave woman). For our family picture my parents made sure that he was not forgotten (not that he ever could be) by placing an empty chair with his name and the American flag. He and his wife are both amazing. I'm so amazed at Josh's willingness to serve his country, and amazed at his wife who has to be a single parent to her 4 kids while he's away, and who handles it much better than I ever could. They are both huge examples. They really make me proud to live in this country... and makes me feel all that more patriotic as we celebrated the 4th of July with him on the battlefield.

The rest of this post is going to be all about the pictures...because that's become a tradition for us Ashtons on the 4th. Jason, Kimball and I headed up to Midway, UT where my parents are kind enough to let us all crash at their house. Then, as a tradition that my mom orders t-shirts for all of us and then we all try to look at cute as we can for "posterity sake". Here's the result of this years family picture session.

Yep, this is the whole Ashton clan, or the "A-team" as my dad loves to refer to us.

This shows all the new Ashton grandkids born this last year. Kimball is the oldest of this bunch, and Owen, who was born 6/7/08 was the latest addition. My mom and dad started out July 2007 w/ 13 grandkids, and this year, now have 19. And yes, I am pregnant w/ number 20 in this picture.


We even managed to get our own little family picture. And Kimball getting her own private photo-shoot.




But, then she was done. Enough is enough. So, that sums up an Ashton family photo-shoot.

After the photo op, we all got to hang out, eat, chat, wrestle with all of the nieces and nephews. The greatest part is the Midway firework show. It may not sound like much, but this little town puts on a great show. And, the best part is that the fireworks are shot off of Memorial hill which is literally across the street from my parents house. We all get to just sit in the backyard and look straight up. We're so close that we can feel the "boom" in our chests and hear it echo off of the mountains of the valley. It was a great weekend!