So sleepy...

This is how I know my little man is ready for bed.




The little head turns to the side and tucks into my neck and chin.

I'm really trying to let him lay in bed and fall asleep so we don't end up putting him to sleep every night, but...

I can't lie. I love it. He's my little snuggler. It's the freaking best.

Asher conversations...

Ash: Is captain America scary?
Tom: I don't know but we'll turn it off if it is.
Ash: or if it has boobs and bums.

Mostly funny cause I have no idea where he heard that. We've never said it.

Another completely random convo that I have no idea what prompted it:

Ash: if two boys get married is that weird?
Me: well most boys marry girls so it is a little weird for boys to marry other boys.
Ash: should I marry a boy or a girl do you think?
Me: whatever makes you most happy.
Ash: I think I want to marry a girl.

Just funny because it was so random. I've always known I would love my boys no matter what they choose, but I didn't think we'd talk about it at age four!

Growing up...

Ash started preschool today! He wasn't so sure he wanted to go at first. He kept saying he'd just go another day... not today, but as usual he was fine as soon as he saw all the fun stuff. I think he's going to love it!










His daddy works the late shift today so we both got to take him this morning!

Favorite dad pics...

Here are some of my favorite pictures of my dad and Asher. They were so cute together. You can see why Asher loved him so much.







And the one his obituary picture came from:

The obit...

Rick A Christensen

Rick A Christensen passed away peacefully Monday, August 22, 2011, surrounded by his family after a courageous fight with cancer.

Rick was born to Shirl and Wanda Christensen on September 30, 1953, in Payson, Utah. He was raised in Layton, later moving to Syracuse. He married the love of his life, Mary Thurgood on April 18, 1975.

Rick worked at Lagoon for 40 years, starting as a sweeper at 18, and eventually becoming the Construction Manager. He was a skilled craftsman and could figure out any job. He was an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed both hunting and fishing. His favorite times were his weekends spent in Idaho, down at the fishing ponds, surrounded by his family, friends, and best friend Dennis Parsell.

Rick had a special bond with all of his grandchildren. A strong and tough man, he turned into a complete teddy bear at the sight of his grandkids. He is adored by all of them.

Rick was preceded in death by his father, Shirl Christensen. He will be thoroughly missed by his mother, Wanda Christensen, his wife, Mary, and his children, Stacy (Thomas) Davies, Tyson (Crystal) Christensen, Brandon (Elissa) Christensen, and Christa (Sergio) Garcia, and eight grandchildren.

Graveside services will be held Saturday, August 27, 2011 at 11 a.m. at Syracuse City Cemetery. Friends may visit family Friday from 6 to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 9 to 10 a.m. at Lindquist’s Layton Mortuary, 1867 No. Fairfield Road.

The last of the good ones...

On Monday the 22nd my dad passed away.

I still can't believe its real. It seems like a bad dream.

Since this is my scrapbook and journal that I put into books for posterity... here is what I want to remember...

On the Friday before we had gone to Costco together. He had wanted a blood pressure monitor they had on their web site. I'd felt bad because I needed a few things and made him walk all over the store with me. He was in good enough health to do it, but I still felt bad making him walk so much. At least I got to see him in good health one last time, and he got to see Ash and Em one last time.

I talked to him on Saturday day and he said he was tired. He'd done a bunch of stuff that morning and I told him he'd probably wore himself out and to go take a nap. He said he was going to.

On Saturday night Brandon called me to say he was at Davis Hospital. Dad had been in horrible pain and unable to move, so they ended up taking him by ambulance there. I'm still attached to the baby (he's breastfeeding), and I didn't want to take him there, so I told Brand to update me as soon as they knew anything.

Davis diagnosed him with a kidney stone. Pretty minor. Brandon called LDS to see if they wanted to see him and they said yes, when he's stable have him transferred up here. Thank God he did that. Brand figured he was in good hands and left him with my mom.

At LDS they not only didn't find a kidney stone, but Davis's report that came with him didn't mention it. LDS found pneumonia. They admitted him to ICU right away. This was in the middle of the night. In the morning this had gotten progressively worse. They had to put in a breathing tube to help relieve some of the stress of the body because his heart was having a hard time pumping.

I immediately went to the hospital. He was covered in IVs, had a breathing tube, and a feeding tube in his nose. It was horrific to see him covered in tubes, but he was awake and could write things down for us since he couldn't talk. I ran back and forth between the hospital and home to feed the baby all day. Nothing had changed and he was hanging in there, so about nine I went home to feed the baby and decided to sleep for a minute. As I was climbing in bed Brand texted me and said come right now. That's it. No explanation... just come.

The panic was instant. I couldn't think. I got dressed and ran out the door. Showed Tom where I had some formula for emergencies. Called Brand as soon as I was in the car and he said Dad had gone into cardiac arrest (his heart had stopped). They had gotten it started again, but he was non-responsive. In a coma.

We spent the rest of the night huddled around his bed. He had two more cardiac arrests... the third one took 23 minutes to restart his heart. This was about 1:30 Monday morning. We were all in shock and mostly sobbing.

The docs said most people come out of the coma in a day. After that the chances are pretty slim, but if they don't by three days then it pretty much isn't going to happen. They will need the machines to live forever.

His favorite doc came by late Monday. He filled us in on the bad news. We were at the 24 hour mark and he was still in a coma. And the worst part was that he had tested his neural responses and found none. Meaning the cardiac arrests had taken their toll on his brain and he was severely brain damaged. {Something my subconscious knew after 23 minutes of CPR... I just didn't want to face it.}

Then came the hard part... what did we want to do? We could wait another few days and see if he came out of the coma, but he would not be himself, or have any type of normal life. Anyone who knows my dad knows this is not an option. He was already upset he couldn't function at full speed and he was still able to drive and function pretty normally.

Another option was to wait for another cardiac arrest and order them not to revive him.

The last option was to pull the machines keeping him alive.

Far and away the hardest choice to make. The answer was obvious, but impossible to make. We all agreed. Pull the machines and see what happens. I secretly hoped he'd just be fine, but my mind knew better. Luckily my dad's family who lives around here was also there at the time, so we pulled them in and they agreed.

I called Tom and let him know it was going to happen and he said he was on his way. We called my uncle to give him one last blessing.

The tech pulled the dialysis machine (it was functioning for his kidneys). They said we would have a few hours at this point, but his heart immediately started dropping. This was before any of the medicine was stopped. My dad was ready. He didn't even make it another half hour. My uncle and Tom both missed him. I think he was pissed and ready to go.

The rest is a blur. Prayers. Goodbyes. Tears.

I still can't believe it. I drove past an old man painting his railing on his porch and thought "my dad will never get to enjoy being retired, and puttering around like that. How unfair."

It all just seems so unfair. Such a good guy. His dad had said he was "one of the last of the good ones" before he died last year. It's true. I can't imagine the rest of my life without him.

Ash wanted to know if Grandpa took an airplane to get to heaven. I hope he's there relaxing and enjoying things. Chatting with grandpa. Talking about Ash and Em with Tom's dad. Maybe puttering around like he would down here if he got the chance to retire and relax. I hope so.

Introducing Em...

Emrick Foster Davies

August 2, 2011
7 pounds 14 ounces
Born at 8:30 am











Tom and I had been debating over names forever. We couldn't agree on one. Tom liked names like Teegan and Jasper, and I liked Cohen and Jack. We had already agreed on the middle name though, Foster... like uncle Rory's middle name (which I think was Tom's dad's uncle). I was pretty much settled on naming him Cohen and Tom had pretty much given up and said I could name him whatever. Two days before I was supposed to go have him, Tom said he just couldn't name him Cohen. We had to find something else.

So we had a day to pick a name. Something we hadn't been able to do for months. We literally spent like three hours throwing different names out. Nothing was sticking. The closest we got to a consensus was Rizen, but we didn't love it.

I started thinking of names that incorporated my dad's name, Rick, in a more modern way. I asked Tom about Emrick and he was instantly like I love it. We bounced it around for a few hours and it just stuck. We finally figured it out. I love that it's strong and unique, and it has some family meaning. Best of all... Emrick means "immortal", which is awesome!

My delivery was scheduled by c-section on the 2nd at 7:30. My paperwork said it would actually start about 2 hours later, and to call at 5:30AM and make sure the time would work. I called at 5:30 and they said be here at 6:00AM. Yikes! I had just rolled out of bed and was determined this delivery would be better than the last. I wanted my hair at least decent and a mild amount of makeup on. I told the lady she would have to give me 20 extra minutes.

When we got to the hospital they told me I was actually supposed to be there at 5:30 and the c-section was supposed to happen at 7:30... so they started rushing me through everything.

They took me to room 12... and I cracked a few jokes about thank heavens it wasn't 13 like last time. I mean what hospital even has a room 13? It's crazy. I started getting dressed and a nurse came in and said I was in the wrong room. They had already set me up in room 13. I was like you are joking? You heard me joking and now your playing a joke on me, right? Nope. I thought about it for a few minutes. The c-section happens in the surgery room, so it wasn't like I was actually going to have much happen in room 13, so we moved.

From there... it's kind a blur. They took me in the surgery room, gave me the numbing block, and got started. I was really nervous because last time I wasn't numb and could feel everything. I kept wondering if what I felt was normal and I was just a wimp? But it turns out this time I was really numb and felt hardly anything. I kept telling Tom to look over the curtain and see what was happening because I couldn't feel anything. He wouldn't of course. He didn't want to see any of that again.

The anesthesiologist got a kick out of my story. I told him after Asher was born I told Tom that the anesthesiologist was so sweet. He had been rubbing my hair and telling me that I was all right. Tom was like... ummm, that was me. I was pretty out of it at that point.

The baby came and it was very weird to be so aware of everything this time, vs being knocked out (they eventually had to knock me out last time because I could feel it). It was great to see the baby right after and watch Tom bond with him.

Emrick has been a great baby so far. Asher is in love with him and always wants to hold him and love him. He likes to have him lay in his bed with him for a while at night, and he will show him books and read him stories. It is very sweet.

We are so lucky to have two such cute boys!

Asher conversations...

It's funny when Ash messes up words because he talks REALLY well normally.

Some funny ones he says lately:

If he wants to pretend to read the "instructions" he says "let me see those constructions..."

He's fascinated by the rattle snake and scorpion bite calls that Tom gets and he always says, "tell me about those corpion bits."

Ash has adjusted to being a big brother pretty good so far. I had kind of been warning him how the baby eats so it wasn't a total shock, but the first time he saw me breastfeeding at the hospital he said "let's just not look, ok dad?"

I'll get some pics of the baby up soon. I don't know where the time goes everyday but it just seems to fly by.

The farmer's market...

We took Ash to the farmer's market a few weeks ago and he was being pretty cute:



We had fun walking around and sipping on the best limeades I've ever tasted. We got lunch at the Sudanese stand, which I had been craving since Tom tried it last year. So yummy.

Ash asked me to take his picture by these little bears...


silly bean

The prego belly...

I didn't dare ask Tom to take a picture of my belly. He's not a fan of it anyway. But I still wanted a picture just for the baby's book, so I gave my camera's remote control a try.

They aren't the greatest pics... but at least the belly has been memorialized for when its gone!

Here I am at 38 weeks.



a big ole bowling ball of fun...

Summer stuff...

We have been doing lots of fun stuff for the summer. Tom has been home on the weekends so we often get to do fun things with him too.

Ash's daycare went to the zoo on a Friday. It was a big deal to the kids, so I couldn't let Ash miss it, and decided to tag along with them. They broke the kids into groups of 4-5, and Ash's best buddy Gerritt was in a different group, but his second favorite Emery was with him.


She's a cutie.

Tom has been doing lots of work in our yard. Ash loves to help... and of course by help I mean make a big mess... but they always have fun together.


For the fourth of July I asked Asher what he wanted to do. Go to a parade? No. His choice... fishing. He so takes after his dad.



We didn't take him to fireworks. He doesn't like loud noises and has always hated fireworks... and it wouldn't be worth all the effort of parking and driving. We saw some from the house and Ash was like wow for about two seconds and then he was over it and hated them again.

And my dad is finally home from the hospital. That was a great day! We went over to see him and he was doing so much better than he had in the hospital. It's a mental thing to be home and free from cords and machines... and let's not forget clothes... no more hospital gowns to arrange and rearrange to make sure nothing is hanging out. He's moving around more... in fact... that day he was hanging around outside. Brandon and Ash were chasing a water snake around the yard and my dad walks right up to it and picks it up.


That's so my dad. Back to normal.

Thomas conversations...

This is a text convo between Tom and I after my last doctor's appointment:

Me: Doc says baby is a-ok.
Tom: What about contractions?
Me: Sit and hydrate when I get them. More than six an hour then call.
Tom: Why are you so big? Did you ask?
Me: U suck. And no.

I really should take some pictures of myself for posterity's sake. I am easily as big as I was with Ash when I delivered and I still have a whole month to go (the month the baby is supposed to just pretty much gain weight). Yikes.

Maybe I'll get my loving and supportive husband to take a few pics of my wonderful belly.

Four came so fast...

Ash has been saying for weeks that his birthday was coming and he would be TEN... No way buddy... FOUR is bad enough. I can't take how quickly he grows.


My child is so CUTE. Adorable. I can't get enough of him. He talks like an adult and he is so FUNNY. Take for example the day his grandma Noralyn took the kangaroo to daycare and then he got to leave early with her. What does my child say to all the kids as he leaves? "See ya suckers!"

He is a riot.

Favorite Toys at 4:
- soccer ball and goal
- wii or iPad
- nerf guns
- superheros
- dirt and shovels

Favorite Foods:
- McDonalds Nuggets
- Corndogs
- Spaghetti
- Toast (but only the Bountiful Basket bread)
- Special K Bars

Favorite Treats:
- Peanut Butter Cups (he still loves em)
- Caffeine Free Diet Coke
- Licorice
- Vanilla Ice Cream
- Airheads

Favorite Activities:
- Reading books (especially from the library)
- Playing video games
- Helping his dad in the yard
- Riding his four wheeler
- Sleep over parties

For his birthday he woke up and asked if he was taller. He thought he would actually get bigger since it was his birthday. It was very cute.

We had his birthday party on his birthday and it was actually sunny this year. Small miracle. It has rained every year.

He started things off by riding his four wheeler around...



Addi was here and jumped on for a ride.



She looks like such a little lady already. She walks around with a little purse now. She's adorable.



Ash had wanted water guns for everyone to play with, so we got a bunch for all the kids. And some adults. They had a blast with them.


Ash is such a kook.




Ash opened his presents. He was completely spoiled as usual. He got a big Captain America from Uncle Rory that Ash called a "nerd". Even though he loves it. He picked it for show and tell this week which means he loves it.


We got him a Wii game and the Squinky skull dispenser (he earned money doing chores to buy the superhero squinky's last month). He got so many great presents from everyone. He loved them all.

Ellee was hanging out jumping on the tramp:


I had asked what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday, and of course he chose a superhero... Batman. We also got some cute Batman cupcakes. Ash was very excited to eat them (mostly just the frosting... he doesn't love the cake part).



After everyone left he played with all the toys. We let him stay up late to play for a while. It was a fun party and he told me it was "so so great". We are so grateful for everyone for coming and making it an amazing day for him.

I can't believe it's time already...

class of 2011...

Honestly... I remember four years ago looking at a sign at Tom's white coat ceremony (his induction into the Pharmacy program) that said "Class of 2011" and thinking "oh my lord that is SOOOO far away."


I didn't think the day would ever come when he'd be done with school. This was us back then... September 2007... almost three months after Ash was born:


And Tom and Asher...


Fast forward to now...


GRADUATION DAY!!!
Finally here. Holy cow.

It was so surreal to be in 2011 remembering back to that day thinking it would be so far away. I'm sure Tom has different feelings... with all the time and effort he put into school it probably felt like forever.

Oddly... the speeches at Tom's graduation also felt like forever... YIKES! It was only like 30 minutes, but throw in an active three year old and you have an eternity. He walked up and down the aisles, visiting everyone...


Took pictures with me...


Played my phone... until finally it was time to send everyone across the stage...


They called Tom's name and we all cheered...


They gave Tom his diploma and then he had to walk across the stage and shake hands with a bunch of people and get a scarf thing put around his neck.


It got a little quiet while he did this, but Asher kept up the cheering. He found his way to the steps at the back and shook his clapper the entire time. Everyone thought it was a little funny and after a minute or two a little laugh went through the audience because he just kept cheering.


Here is Tom after holding the sign Rach helped Ash make that Ash held up as Tom was walking in and out...


Tom and his family...






After graduation we went to dinner at the same place we went after the white coat ceremony.


Lots of Tom's family and friends came.



(including cutie Addi... who I adore)


I don't know who started the shots, but they were followed by a few rounds of beers... and since Tom had stopped drinking about a year ago... he was a little bit of a light weight. By the time we left... well... let's just say it was an unpleasant ride home with a few puke stops along the way. A well deserved chance to cut loose, but one that probably won't be repeated for a LONG time.

Tom told Ash that now he is graduated, Ash has to call him "Dr. Dad". Asher... being the little comedian (just like his dad) said "well, I haven't graduated and got papers, but you have to call me Dr. Son." So there. A family full of Drs apparently.

Tom was really lucky and even though his work offered to keep him there, he also was offered a job at Poison Control as a full time pharmacist. He decided with the stability and all the benefits Poison Control offered it is the best place for him to take care of his family. So you never know... please bless you never have the need to call, but if you do... rest assured there is an AMAZINGLY TALENTED pharmacist on staff to help you and your loved ones!

We are just so excited to have a pops who is around more and can enjoy more fun times with us. We are truly blessed to have him as a husband and dad. XOXO Sweetie.