In 2008...

I was going to post about our weekend in Vegas, but I felt a little funny putting that post after the President Hinckley post. And earlier today I was reading over some of my favorite quotes from President Hinckley and I came across this one...

“All of us ought to pause once in a while and just stop and think. … We are prone to talk too much and do too little. I think it is a wonderful thing to just indulge once in a while in moments of introspection and see what we are doing with our lives and what contribution we are making and where we could do a little better than we are now doing. I feel we would all benefit from that”

I am very guilty of talking too much and doing too little. If you've ever had a conversation with me you know that I am always jumping around from subject to subject and barely make out a complete thought or sentence between subjects. My mind goes so fast that my mouth can barely keep up, so I'm just confusing to most people. Although I do have a few friends and family that seem to make sense of it all. Anyway, my point is that I need to pause and stop and think once in a while. See what I mean?

Two weeks ago I started this post about my resolutions. I never finished it because it was getting too long and I know what I wanted to do in my head, so I didn't need to try and write some sort of inspiring post about it. But after I read this quote I thought I should finish it up, inspiring or not, it's just for me and what I need to do with myself.

Warning: This is a boring post. I need to do it for myself though. So if want to see a picture of Anna, scroll down, or wait until the next post.



Instead of making a big long list of hopeful resolutions, I decided to pick a word (or 2) that would encomposs all of my goals for the year. I know a few people did this last year, and my SILs did it this year, and I think it's a good way to go. That way, instead of keeping (or losing) track of specific goals, I can just remind myself of this word(s) and regain my focus. I've been thinking about words all year (all 2 weeks of it) and it is quite fitting for me that I can't decide between two. That's the story of my life. I can't decide, so I'll just do both! They can be sort of similar, but they bring different emotions out of me.



1. grow ˈgrō\, verb, to spring up and develop to maturity; to be able to grow in some place or situation; to assume some relation through or as if through a process of natural growth


Based on what we have ahead of this year, I know 2008 will be a year of lots of change. With change comes new opportunity, for me, it's an opportunity to GROW. If I would have had a word last year, it would have been ADAPT. I felt like life suddenly moved so fast, all I could do was adapt. Adapt to having a baby, being a mother, work, church callings, events, disasters, etc. Oh yeah, then that newborn baby starts changing and guess what, it was time to adapt again. I am sick of just adapting. It's a given that you need to adapt in every new situation, but I want go beyond adapting this year. I want to GROW with each situation and challenge. I know that if we move, there will be lots of challenges for me: meeting new friends, being away from family, new ward (church), figuring out a new city, etc. It's all kind of scary, but I think I can (and need to) GRoW a lot from all of this to come.

Another way I want to GROW is spiritually. Although my church calling continues to challenge me, I learn so much with each lesson preparation. This year, I hope to worry less about what I'm going to say and how to fill the time and worry more about how I personally can GROW from the lesson and hopefully that will result in a good lesson in itself and an increase of faith and testimony for me. And all the while GROW closer to the Lord and our Savior. I also want to GROW spiritually so that I can always be a spirtual strength and pillar for Anna as she grows.

I also want to GROW closer to those around me. Sometimes I get too caught up in my own life that I am completely zoned out from what's happening with my friends and family. Again with the potential of our move, I want to keep strong relationships and hope to GROW closer even with distance. I am going to look for ways this year to grow closer to all my peeps and to not be afraid of strangers. (except for the Brian David Mitchell looking ones)

There are countless other ways I want to apply this word in my life. I obviously don't want to grow bigger in size (quite the opposite actually), but I want my physical strength to GROW. I want our finances to GROW and not shrink. You get the idea...And to take this quite literally I would like to GROW something! I love beautiful flowers and gardens, but I am clueless about the whole botany thing. I have planted the same flowers and bulbs in our front yard every year because I don't know how to do anything else. Depending on where we end up, it might be a nice flower bed, or possibly (and more likely) just a small plant in a window, but I want to GROW something to help remind me of all the other ways I want to GROW this year.


2. embrace \im-ˈbrās\, verb, to take up especially readily or gladly; welcome; To clasp or hold close with the arms, usually as an expression of affection; To avail oneself of; Eager acceptance

If you read my post about "Embracing the Benefits" then you already know a little bit about the importance of this word to me. That Relief Society lesson has really stuck with me and I am really trying to incorporate this into my life, no matter how many times I fail at it. I can not only EMBRACE the benefits of the challenges that may happen, but I think I can apply this verb to every aspect of my life.

I want to EMBRACE who I am. Sometimes I feel like with my job and being a new Mom, I forget who Ashley is and when I do remember myself, I am really hard on myself. I need to EMBRACE who I am, for what I am (with the potential to GROW). I am certainly not perfect and I can't do everything, so I just need to EMBRACE the good things, the quirky things, and the bad things about me, and just like me and be the best me that I can.

I want to EMBRACE motherhood. The giggles, the stinky diapers, the cuddles, the runny noses, the learning moments, the sleepy moments, the messy floors, the sweet smiles, the naughty looks, ALL OF IT! I just want to soak it all in because I can't believe how fast this first year has flown by. I'm excited (and a little scared!) for this next year of Anna's life because she will really start growing from a baby to a full on kid. Lots to learn and do (for both of us) and I don't want to take a single second for granted. This means embracing the mess and realizing that this is just a season of life. My house will be messy for a few decades, but I am grateful to be blessed for the reason for the mess. Cute babies are way more fun than a clean house ever could be!

EMBRACE serving others. EMBRACE receiving service from others. (I'm really bad at that!) The EMBRACE theme could go on forever. I don't need to spell out every situation, I just need to readily welcome all things in my life. EMBRACE the benefits, EMBRACE life. That sums it up. Why did I even write all of that other stuff?

So those are my words, my resolutions, if you will. If you catch me in a rut sometime this year, please remind me of my words and hopefully that will help. I am setting my sights high, but honestly I would be happy even with the slightest progress. In moments throughout the year I will try to pause, once in a while and just stop and think to see what I am doing with my life and where I could do a little better. And hopefully I benefit from that.

Stand a little taller

Last night while I was giving Anna her bath, Dave was watching TV and I could hear the sound of his show faintly behind Anna's splashes. I heard the interruption of the breaking news intro and then I heard Dave say my name. For some reason I just had this feeling that I knew what it was. Maybe it was the way he said my name, I don't know, but I just had this sinking feeling and I actually did a big parent no-no and walked out of the bathroom and said, Please don't tell me it's President Hinckley. I had never been so disappointed to be right about something. (President Hinckley was the leader of our church, and prophet, for any non-LDS readers out there) After a big hug with Dave and rushing back into the bathroom to make sure Anna hadn't drowned in my neglect, I suddenly felt peace instead of sadness. I know how happy he must be to be with his sweet wife again. While driving to work today, I heard that song, "I can only imagine" and I got chills thinking of what great reunions President Hinckley is having right now. It's so sad for us to lose him, but so great for him to have accomplished so much in his life here on earth and to have a sweet reunion in heaven. I never met President Hinckley in person, but I feel like I know him. I loved hearing him talk on any occasion because he has a special gift to combine inspiration and humor in everything. He had more quick wit at 97, than I will ever have! He was genuinely a kind, happy person. And a humble, yet powerful teacher. I will miss his humble sweet words and smile, but I am so grateful for all of the good and service he gave during his life. He was truly a remarkable man and prophet. He has left a great legacy and accomplished so much as a prophet and in his life. I can never truly pay tribute to him with my random ramblings. There's too many emotions for my brain to grasp, but I know that I will have respect and love for this sweet man forever in my heart.

"Let us all try to stand a little taller, rise a little higher, be a little better.

Make the extra effort. You will be happier."

- President Gordon B. Hinckley

So to try and honor him, I am going to try to stand a little taller and be a little better today, and hopefully every day after that.

Need a little Christmas? in January?

Yes, this Christmas post is just a bit late, and I'm tempted to just skip it, but why not string out the most wonderful time of year as long as possible, right? I must admit, our tree is still up, but at least I finally took the rest of the decorations down 2 weeks ago. While I was putting the Christmas stuff away, I saw my Valentine's stuff and thought I should jump start on the next holiday. So now I have a Christmas tree and Valentine's decor in my house. It holiday-palooza over here until Dave's home to help take down the tree. I guess I should just try to do it. How do I always digress? Ahhh! Back to my Christmas post!

Instead of a long winded narrative about our Christmas season, I'll just post some pictures. The only motivation for me to do this is that these pictures will probably never be scrapbooked and so this is my only documentation that our family did in fact celebrate Christmas in 2007.


Surfin' Santa

One of my all-time favorite pictures of Anna!

This was my outfit when I was a baby. My mom played dress up with her while she was babysitting and did what she does best, had a little Anna photo shoot. Doesn't she look adorable? After all of the posing, she needed to get some wiggles out, so out came Surfin' Santa! If you don't know what a Surfin Santa looks like, just imagine a little santa in a red one-piece swimsuit and sunglasses, swaying his hips on a surfboard catching an awesome wave all to the tune of the Beach Boys' Little Saint Nick. Surfin Santa can't ever be thrown away because it is a favorite among all of the Boyack grandkids. Here's a little video that shows off her sweet surfin santa moves.

A Christmas Tea Party

Anna had her first tea party with the SLC Kelly cousins and both Grandmas. Anna didn't partake of any tea or hot chocolate of course, but she sure loved the finger sandwiches and the chocolate mousse and fruit. She loves doing anything with her grandmas and cousins, but it's more fun when you get dressed up and pretend to be fancy. I love this little tea party. I think it's so cute and charming. If we stay here, I want to make this a tradition for sure.

Beautiful little ladies - Romey and Anna

BFF!

After tea, it was story time by the fire

And then Anna begged Finn for a Skittle

And we danced to the grand piano's Christmas music. Anna loves to dance!

She's already driving the boys crazy

This picture of Josh Stohl was too cute to pass up. This picture will be cute in their wedding video one day.

Cute Cozy Cousins

Anna's other BFF Caroline getting cozy at Grandma's in their special chair.

Our Little Snow Puff

One of the benefits of Dave traveling around so much is that in Chicago, he was right by the H&M. Like the good husband he is, he went in and picked up a few things for Anna. My favorite is this adorable hat. He also got her the matching booties. This seriously is the only hat she'll actually keep on for at least a little while. And I must say that she looks pretty darn good in it!

A visist to Santa

Last year when Anna was only a few weeks old, she met Santa at Gateway. She really loved him then. When we went back again this year, she was not quite as content with the man in red. As soon as we walked over by him, she immediately turned her head and buried it into my shoulder, almost as if she was trying to hide so Santa wouldn't see her. Since a single shot with her and Santa was impossible, we made it a family pic. She kept her head forward the whole time and did not dare to even look at him. Then of course once we were done and a few feet away, she wanted to check this guy out and see what he's all about. Trust me Anna, this guy has got some good connections. You want to be on his good side!

7 Years

Dave and I celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary. Yes, 7 years! And yes, we did get married young. (that's what everyone says when I tell them how long we've been married) Grandma and Papa watched Anna so we could go out to Fresco's and see my new favorite movie, Enchanted. There is such a thing as happily ever after...well, most of the time. ;)

Another Birthday Party

We celebrated all of the December birthdays with the Kellys (Anna, Mary, and Finn) so Anna got to celebrate her bday again! For every Kelly's 1st bday, it's a tradition to do this little test to see what the baby will go after and value in life. The choices are: Toys, the Gospel (Scriptures), Food (the cake), or Money (piggy bank). Everything was set out and then we put Anna down to make her choice. I totally thought she would go straight for the cute rocking horse, but instead she just sat there for a minute like, what are you guys looking at? Then she went for it...hesitated a little...and grabbed the piggy bank! Uh-oh boys, she's after the money! (Truth be told, I think she really just likes pigs. She always goes for the pig in any farm toys) So it looks like we better start saving our money. We had another fun party. Even with Anna not feeling so good.


Christmas Eve

After the Santa visit, Anna started to get sick. I'm not saying Santa gave her the bad cold, but maybe it was just payback. He's a tricky man. So poor little Anna was not too happy over the holidays. She was still a pretty good sport, but I knew she didn't feel well throughout it all. You can see it in her eyes, but she's a trooper and she still managed to have some fun at the Kelly and Boyack festivities on Christmas Eve.

First stop was the Kelly Christmas party where we had a yummy dinner and did the traditional nativity story. You really missed out on a good one, I mean, check out Dave as a wise man. You don't get better than that! Anna was baby Jesus, but it took some convincing for Crew and Titan to agree to this since she isn't a boy.

Next stop was the Boyacks. We had another yummy dinner and then we had a special guest. Santa! (Does he look kind of familiar?) It was only Caroline and Anna this year, and neither of them were very excited about this as you can tell. Santa was a good sport as always! ;)

Anna recovered from her Santa trauma when she opened her presents.

Christmas Day!

We started off the morning with Anna by our tree at home and tried to get her to open her presents. She was so sick, all she wanted to do was cuddle, and I was glad to cuddle her right back.

Then it was on to the traditional Boyack Christmas breakfast. Shredded Wheat, honey, whip cream, and warm milk. Sounds weird, but it's really good I promise. I've had this meal on Christmas morning for as long as I can remember!

Later that evening, we went to have a Christmas Feast with the Kellys at the Grand America.

This is how Anna felt about it at first. Although, this is before she saw her cousins and before she tasted the bread pudding!

Family photo by the tree

What a cute little package I found under the tree!

And we finished with dancing to the piano again. Anna loves to dance with Romey.

For the love of Bowling

A few days after Christmas, Ryan and Darcie invited us to their traditional bowling night. They go bowling on this day every year to celebrate their first date. Isn't that fun? Bowling was our 1st date activity too. And we were just shy of our 1st date 12 year anniversary by a few days, ours was the 23rd, but if you ask my mom it was the 27th. (She didn't know about the first one...oops! Sorry Mom.) See what a little game of bowling can lead to? Some pretty cute little girls, that's for sure.

Whew!

I am kind of ashamed to admit that I was kind of relieved when Christmas was over this year. It's sad because I have always la-la-LOVED Christmas. I think with everything going on and Anna getting sick, it was just kind of exhausting. As you can see, Anna felt the same way. I know with kids, it get busier, but I really hope I can always enjoy this holiday with our family and not get too stressed out. The traditions and spirit of the season are too fun to get uptight about. We did have a wonderful holiday season though and I am grateful we got to share with our families that we love so much.

And now we just want to take a nap!

Anna's First Year

Now that I've survived this past week that got swallowed up by that dumb animated graphic, I can continue catching up my blog! (Yes, it's that same graphic that I complained about in my previous whiney post. Just to finish the whining...this same graphic kept me up until 1:00 am Sunday night and 2:00 am Monday night! Isn't that ridiculous? I don't get paid enough for this! OK, no more venting. I'm done.)

If you have approximately 13 minutes to spare, here is a video I made of the first year of Anna's life. I intended to have this completed by her birthday, that didn't happen, but at least it was ready for Christmas. Dave has been bugging me to post it here. I guess it's a good back up in case our computer busts and I lose the file. It's kinda low-res, but here ya go...Here's to our sweet Anna! Thanks for the best year ever! We will treasure these memories forever.

Snowball Fight!

My cute and funny SIL Darcie sent this link out to our family and I laughed so hard I just had to share. Those Boyack cousins sure make cute elves and have a pretty good arm too.

Boyack Snowball Fight!

The Doctor is In...and Out...and In...and Out

I think I blogged awhile ago about how I was getting ready for this roller coaster of a ride of life that we had coming up. Well, we're living the craziness right now and I am truly just trying to hold on. I hope this post doesn't sound like a long complaint, because I truly am supportive, and this is for Dave's future career and our family's future, but it's just the straight facts. Plus it doesn't help that I've had a crappy day and am just in a bad mood, so negativity seems to be oozing out of me at the moment. This is our life though and as with all of my posts, I want to journal about it.

Let's take a ride on the ins and outs of (the future) Dr. Kelly. So if you recall, Dave left in mid-October for NC. Between then and December 22nd (our anniversary, Happy 7th Baby!) he was home for a total of 9 days. Yes, at least we were together for a week over Thanksgiving on our trip. But still 9 days during the busiest (and fun) time of year. Here's where his adventures took him: 1 month in North Carolina, 1 day after we got home from Paris, he headed to LA to take part of the Step 2 medical boards, from LA he went to Richmond, Virginia to interview at VCU, and then he got home the night before Anna's birthday party. Just in time! Then he interviewed here at Utah (for the General Surgery program), Seattle, Cincinnati, Washington University (St. Louis), Northwestern (Chicago), and UC Davis. Most of these interviews are 2 days because they have a social the night before. And then at last he was home! We got to enjoy him (minus a few study days) for a whole week of Christmas fun! (Christmas post will come soon, Dave has the laptop with all of our pictures on it) And it all started up again on January 2nd when he left for Columbia, Missouri, then it was straight to Wisconsin. He got home in time to attend my lesson in Sunday School (only the 2nd one he's been able to come to!) and then he left on Tuesday to Rhode Island to interview at Brown. He's still there, but he leaves tomorrow to go to Ohio to interview at Case Western, and straight from there he goes to NYC for Mt. Siani. Then he's home for 2 days before he goes to WakeForest (NC), then straight to USC (LA) and back here to interview at Utah. Are you tired yet? He's home for a few days and then he goes to the OC to interview at UC Irvine and then he'll head to Vegas for an interview there too. It finally starts to slow down and he's deciding whether to cancel the 2 he has the following weekend in NYC at Columbia/Cornell and NYU. His last one is mid-February at Michigan State. Whew! That is a lot of interviews don't you think? (Yes, we have him enrolled in a frequent flier program, and yes, we have to pay for all of this travel!) We do feel lucky to have so many opportunities to interview. The more places he interviews, the better chance he has at matching somewhere. He actually had to turn down 8 programs because they like to interview on the same days as others, so they make you choose. Yes, so I recognize that this is a good problem to have, but whew! I'm tired and Dave's tired. I will be glad when this interviewing frenzy is over and I can go at least a month without driving to the airport. If you've seen me lately and you think I'm acting kind of crazy it's because I am. I seriously am. I am going to lose it soon I think. Anna is at hard stage for me right now. And I know all you veteran mothers will say, just wait for what's coming and wait until you have more kids, etc. I know, I know. But I am just feeling very challenged with her right now probably because she usually is pretty good. And I think I need to set up some sort of playgroup or Little Gym because she's so happy being with other kids and I think she gets sick of being stuck at home with me while I'm trying to work. Oh, and work. Yes, did I mention that I hate it? Thursday is technically supposed to be my day off, but instead, I have my daughter in front of Barney so that I can be on a conference call where my client is yelling, "Where the F- is my animated graphic!? Without this graphic everything else is SH-!" and so on. And for some reason my boss tells her that we're delivering it tomorrow which is nice of him since he hasn't done anything on this project and is cluesless and I have it scheduled with our vendor in LA to deliver on Tuesday. Nice. So you might be thinking this must be a really important cool graphic that is needed so desperately. Well, yes, it's very exciting. You see, it's an animated graphic that tries to explain the Extended Enterprise. It is being presented at a sales conference on Wednesday and then used by the Verizon Business sales force to try to convince people that they need to use Verizon Business to secure their enterprise. Wow. That is pretty darn exciting and important. I'm so glad that I got cussed out over that. This could save millions of lives after all, or maybe even cure cancer. Sorry, I told you I was in a bad mood. And I don't know how I even got on this tangent. Oh yes, I am going crazy. You see? now you have proof!

OK, now back to the subject of this post. Dave is interviewing all over the place for Residency next year and we sure hope he matches somewhere after all of this! I think he will, but he always cautions me that it's possible not to match, so I'll just be cautiously optimistic that he will match. But where? That is the question. I think that is also an underlying stress of mine because it's a weird feeling not knowing where you will be spending the next 5-7 years of your life. So, I have a poll in my side bar and you should vote on where you think we will go. The winner of the poll will receive the satisfaction of being right and all participants are invited to visit wherever we end up.

Sorry for the bad attitude. I'll try and be in a better mood tomorrow when I post my resolutions. And Dave if you're reading this on the road, I love you and good luck with your interviews! Sorry that you have a mental wife.

baby steps

I just need to document that Anna took her first steps tonight! There's no pictures for proof, but I saw it with my own two eyes. I can't really quite classify it as walking yet because she would stop and crawl after about 2 steps, but she still took those steps on her own and it's a definite milestone. It's funny because she is really quite cautious about the whole walking thing (wonder where she gets that trait from?!) Yet for some reason, she can ride around in a shopping cart like she's on a wild bull without any fear. I don't get it. Anyway she's on her way 2 steps at a time. That's my little girl!

Anna's 1st Birthday

I can't quite believe it, but our little baby girl turned 1!
This called for a party of course! We had all of our in-town family come over to celebrate. Anna had an "A" Birthday Party. I was so excited to throw her a birthday party and I got carried away with this little theme. I started about 20 projects and with just getting home from our trip, getting over our colds, and Dave being gone (he got home in time for the party), I only finished about 2! Oh well, most of it wasn't necessary anyway, and it probably turned out better to keep it simple so I could enjoy it. I'll have to keep this in mind for her future birthdays too since whenever I say I'm going to keep it simple, I try to do too much. I loved this day and I think Anna did too!

So what do you do at a 1st birthday party?

1. Eat!

The "A" Menu

• "A" cup of soup
• Asparagus
• Artichoke dip
• Apple cider
• Almonds
• Apple Pie
• "A" cake
• And "Anna" cookies for favors (those yummy ones from IKEA)

And I forgot to get the Animal Crackers. Oh well!

2. Open Presents!

I thought that Anna would not really get the whole present thing this year. Boy was I wrong! When we gave her the first present to open, she did not want to let go of it for anything! I was trying to take the bow off for her and it was an all out battle of tug-o-war! It was good entertainment for the rest of us. Her cousins showed her how to open the presents and once she realized how to rip the paper, she got really into it. I was so surprised. She scored some fun presents: a cute keepsake box from Aunt Sue; a new book, a cute 1st year dolly (even named Anna), and a walker toy from Grandma G and Papa; a musical walker from Uncle Colin; a pretty bow from Aunt Amy and Uncle Wes, and a book and wagon from GrandMary and Grandpa. The best part is that it seemed like she truly was so excited about each present. She got so happy when she saw what it was and wanted to play with each one.

3. Make a Birthday Cake Mess!

Anna got out of her clothes and into her birthday suit for her first taste of cake. She wasn't so sure at first, and just dipped her finger in the frosting. She became more curious as time went on and you know how the rest goes...one birthday girl covered in frosting! She didn't like it when it got stuck on her hands though and would try and flick it off. A few innocent bystanders got hit in the line of her frosting fire.

4. And lastly, and most important, Be Together!

Although we had lots of fun with the food, presents, and cake, the best part is just being together with our family. Anna absolutely loves being with everyone and getting to play with her cousins. She is pretty lucky to have fun cousins that love her as much as she loves them. Anna loved getting pushed and pulled around in her new wagon by her cousins. I thought it might be kind of chaotic to have so many people crammed into our small house, but it actually seemed to be kind of cozy and I am glad that everyone could be there together. Especially since this will probably be our last year home for 5-7 years!

Anna's party was actually the day before her real birthday. (which still seems to count as her birthday to me since I was in labor for all of that day too!) On her actual birthday, we spent the day together with just our little family. We had fun with just the 3 of us!

Good Morning Birthday Girl!

We took Anna to the Cheesecake Factory for her 1st Birthday lunch.

I think she loved it as much as we do!

She had her own plate of bread and bananas. Her favorite!

They brought this little sundae just for me?
They sing too? This place is awesome!

Happy Birthday Sweet Anna!