Wyatt John Silva arrives!

Ash planned a normal day of play with Anthony (she's a nanny), and they stopped by for lunch. She complained of a lot of pressure, but after a doubled over jab of "pressure," it was obvious [to me] this was baby day - 9 days early! She was not thinking along those lines so it was a bit of a surprise to begin mapping out the pains ... timing ... putting Bobby on notice and prioritizing the rest of the day.

She played with Anthony outside and he wondered why she kept walking in circles. She would be home about 5pm and I thought it might be a nice treat to have a pedicure before things escalated too far so scheduled one for 6pm. Didn't happen. Baby was coming with a vengeance and labor was all in her back (not her strong spot) so a pedicure lost all its lustre and at this point, who cares about toes!

This is last belly check pic - in between contractions and throwing up.   On the way to the hospital ... life will never be the same!

a new family!

Born March 9, 2011 at 1:42am ... 6 pounds 10 ounces ... 19" long 

He's happy in this position - back in the womb

Nothing better than to snuggle and welcome a new baby to the family at 2am!     Feeling the love from Heavenly Father and His blessings upon our family, especially Ashley and Bobby at this time.   It is a special privilege to be a mom and a grammie!   Again, counting blessings!  

The hospital photos are a huge improvement from our day.  They used to be like your drivers license photo - one shot and the worst they can capture.   Not any more!   She patiently took shots, let us outfit change and then put them all to a slide show on site!  Impressive!   Unfortunately we didn't buy because I shot everything she did.  So fun!

Since he was to be a St Patty's baby, this was his coming home outfit - a lucky charm!  It is a newborn size, still big on him since he dropped to 6-4, but check out those mitts and look how short the sleeves are.  A sign of lanky arms and a lifetime of shirts not fitting properly!   

Auntie Brooke happy to snuggle this anticipated lil one

March Madness Begins!

Brooke is so athletic and fun to watch at volleyball.  Even tho it's church ball, it can get aggressive and Brooke doesn't relent!  Fun games - we ended up with 2nd place

Steve and I got to babysit the twins and it was double the pleasure!   We had the easy shift because we went home for a good night's sleep (well, sort of).    Twins are a LOT of work and Justin and Emma are earning their medals of perseverance in parenting!   What a treat for us to share in the joys!

Belly check 3-6-11  soon for Ash!

the ABCs of a Baby Shower - So much fun to celebrate a new baby boy coming soon to Ashley and Bobby. The sisters put together a fun day to help get the nursery started and share in the joy.


Since the invitations were ABC, we continued with that theme and had fun with the alphabet

C is for Coconut Cupcakes (thanks Barefoot Contessa!)


D is for Donut holes (9 dozen)




T is for Tulips

spring baby = tulips and daffodils

Since Haley Mae is our only girl and getting so big, she got to have girls day with us and share in the baby fun

They are adding baby #4 to their family in May and Haley is praying for a sister

Heather, Brooke and baby Brooklyn

The twins made their  debut - Emma is a new woman and happy to be out of the house!

Mentioned to Heather last week I was gathering goodies for us to make a diaper cake when she got in town.  She was NOT on board and thought we should upscale the shower a bit.   After sending her a few online pics she agreed it would be a fun centerpiece, but thinks it needs a serious name change for appeal.

We've lived here long enough to have friends that have watched Ashley grow from a toddler and it was an absolute joy to celebrate with them on this new milestone for her.

 Life truly is a blink and we look back with gratitude for the many friends and strong family that bless the journey with their love and support.

Love ya'll!!!  xoxo

Finishing February

first lil frog of the season!

Brookie turns 17!   Crazy how fast this year has flown by!   We had a  family party with her favorite salmon dinner and grasshopper pie ... looking forward to a fun friend party in a few weeks!   Happy Birthday sweet one!!!!

We took Tanner and Caleb on a field trip to Home Depot.  Check out the crazy look in Caleb's eyes to drive ... happy this is adult trickery and he really can't control the wheel!    

cuddle time

the wolves are restless waiting to be fed

belly check 2-21-11

We had tickets to the BYU/TCU game and were excited to support the Coug's (Jimmer) in Texas.   Heather was a bit anxious to sport a simple tshirt and just had to dress it up a bit with a collared shirt :)

February Fun

the Beib


Heather's been giving Tanner the Bieber comb over and he may even work on becoming a child prodigy

Zoo Daze    We are zoo friends and scoot over there as often as we can. Springtime at the zoo can be most entertaining!


 Heather didn't expect us to have an 80 degree day (welcome to Texas!) and didn't have many clothes options, so we raided my closet at the last minute. Tricky because we are 3 sizes or so apart, but being her creative self, went to the zoo Heather style - fashionable!

Heather loves elephants and this one decided to show off for her

Whew! A big day and grateful to ride the train back to the beginning

Haley Mae had a special invitation to sing "I Love to see the Temple" at YW's New Beginnings. She dressed up like a princess and sang like an angel! We weren't the only ones with tears!

 Such a special spirit and testimony of why the scriptures encourage us to be humble as a child.
I love you Haley Mae - inside and out!!! xo







Valentines Day

I work hard to show love every day, but still fall victim to the commercial lures of Valentines Day!  It's fun to gather do-dads to send Heather a box of pinks and reds and remind her love spans the miles.  We miss her so much!

We decided to give the marrieds a date night out and we'd keep all the little people.   Destination - Freddy's.

Buckling up the tribe is the worse part! Don't get me wrong - it is a good thing - but what a pain! We are the pre-carseat generation, our crib rails were too wide, fed you peanut butter and honey - how did y'all survive? I am grateful you are a more educated generation and our little ones are so protected, but also happy ignorance was bliss in our day!

The manager of Freddy's was impressed we had the tribe under control and all eating. It's amazing how chocolate ice-cream dangled in front of you keeps the teeth chewing.

By the way, notice what a good helper my valentine is :)

Let's play "LOOK"

We wanted to go to Lowe's next but were deterred by the time it takes to buckle in/out!

 It was a fun outing and much easier than when we took them all swimming at Lifetime a few weeks ago!  Swimming, showering, drying, dressing AND buckling the 5 of them was an optimistic endeavor!  Love em to pieces!  xo

Girl Scout cookies & milk?
Caleb is happy to be big enough to share the tower with Tanner making kitchen time so up close and personal.

Night time routine - splish splash in the tub, cookies n milk (if you eat your dinner :)), story time, prayers and nightie night.  We love when Tanner calls us and Brooke for family prayer!

Superbowl party! Caleb (the youngest on the arm rest) was rocking out to the half-time show! We loved the commercials and the kiddos all wanted to watch the music in the middle.

Haley loves babies - especially Caleb!

Monitoring growth - Ash is 7 weeks out and Chris is 15 weeks out (I think)

We got the frigid cold temps that were predicted (as well as the rest of the nation), and those wonderful ice storms that leave you nothing to play in. Finally we rose above the teens to get some snow and an invitation to dig out the toys.

We had 4 days off of school and seminary!  :)

This is the original Zinger the kids all grew up on and as you can see, still love! Steve has been rebuilding it lately to get it to run better for the next generation.

Tanner tried his snow skills with the battery 4-wheeler - not too bad!  Needs hand warmers!