July 2011

July Happenings
So July has been filled with lots of fun. Every year my moms side of the family has an annual family reunion by Hawley Lake and they rent out a private lake called Cyclone Lake and I have to say this was the best year yet. Branson was tons of fun and it reminded me of how thankful I am to have a family that was raised in the Gospel and has kept this tradition for over 50 years. This year was filled with lots of yummy food (as always) reminiscing with family, bears, boats & haunted cabins. Even 3 trips to the Showlow hospital for 3 separate family members (all fine now) Here are a couple of pictures below.

Forest and Branson in the back of our RV

Branson in Grampy's (my dads) truck with his cowboy hat on

My aunt Sharman picked this up for Branson, it was like a candied pacifier on the other end and huge and Branson would not let it out of his mouth.

Branson was moving literally the entire time up there and he would go and smell the flowers

Me, Branson and Cody (my sister Tera's baby) hanging out in front of the RV

And here is the trusty Bounder (our RV) it has proven to be so much fun and quite reliable for our annual reunion

Besh Ba Gowah
I hope I spelled that right. We headed to Globe one day to meet a guy and me and Forest have been talking about going to these Indian ruins for a long time and so we finally stopped and it was really cool and just $5. These are the ruins behind us and you could even go inside and climb up to the 2nd story. That same day we went to the Globe swap meet which looks completely ghetto but we have had a lot of success there in the past. We picked up an ice cream maker (we've been wanting one) for $5 and a jogger stroller in perfect condition for $15. It was an awesome day!

Fun times with cousins
One of our favorite things lately with the nice weather from the monsoons is taking a late afternoon ride in the ranger. SO MUCH FUN!

IT'S A GIRL
Well we found out this month that we are having a girl! We didn't care either way but I am excited to finally know. I had a feeling just because my body is so much different this time around. Our official due date is December 3rd.

20 weeks pregnant

Oh our Branson Boy
Lately I have been feeling overwhelmingly blessed to have this guy in my life and even more blessed to be raising him with someone that is on the same page as me. I can't imagine how different my life would be to raise a family with someone other than Forest. He really is amazing and helps so so much all of the time. This last week camping one of my younger cousins who is like 15 commented to me "Ashley, he is like the best husband, he does everything for you" and he is totally right. He is the best husband and dad I could ever ask for.

We went to Superstition Ranch Market in Mesa (my favorite place to get super cheap produce) and Branson was so tired he stayed asleep on me the whole time, something he rarely does)

Branson is turning out to be funnier everyday. We are always laughing at the funny things he does and the pictures above are one of them. Whenever me or Forest leaves our spot on the couch or go to sit back down he races to the spot we were sitting in and sits there before we can get there and just laughs.

A new thing Branson has been doing is folding his arms. We say the word prayer and he will drop whatever he is doing and fold his arms then at the end say "amen" and clap at himself

Branson in his "little sisters" hat from aunt Tera

YEAH FOR COUSINS NEXT DOOR
My sister Tera lives next door so Branson has been climbing up the couch and watching his cousins play out the window