Thursday, May 28, 2009

Allison & Jack's Wedding

This past weekend we were in Maryland and DC for Auntie Allison's wedding to Jack!

We flew out of Phoenix Thursday morning (thanks Anessa for the ride), and spend Thursday night at the Queen's house.  We ate some great food and saw a lot of people who we don't get to see every week.  Also many people there were able to meet Thomas for the very first time, including Don's Grandmother, Teta.

Friday was a split day because Jenn spend the day with the other bridesmaids and got some work done on their fingers and toes, while Don and Thomas went on a school visit to go see the school Don used to work at.  It was fun seeing students who had grown in a year, and teachers that were still up to their old tricks.  Everyone also loved seeing Thomas, obviously!

Friday evening we were all at the church for the rehearsal (which went well), and then we had an amazing rehearsal dinner downtown at Fogo De Chao, thanks Mr. & Mrs. Holloway, it was sooooo, good!

Saturday was the "big day" so all the bridesmaids came to the house and they all got their makeup and hair done, which Don and Thomas did not enjoy being a part of.  Then it was time to change into our nice wedding clothes and drive over to the church.  The church was pretty packed and it seemed like there might have been one or two more people sitting on the Ash side than the Holloway side, but I didn't count.

The wedding ceremony was perfect with both people saying "yes" and no on standing up yelling, "I object!", so that was nice.  Afterwards we took some pictures with the family and Thomas made it very clear that he did not want to be in any pictures (he was crying like a baby, what can you do?).  But the rest of the family looked great and so hopefully the pictures will turn out well.

The reception was downtown at the Wardmen Park Hotel, and we had a little cocktail hour, and the flowers were blooming and the sun was shining, it was very nice.  Finally the hour came where we headed into the ballroom for dinner and dancing.  We saw people dance, and give toasts and there was a cake cutting and all that good wedding stuff.

Finally at the end of the evening, when the reception was over, a bunch of people (wedding party, bride and groom) decided to keep the party going and headed down to the hotel bar!  It got wild, that's all that I'll say!

Sunday was great because my parents had some of the family and friends over for a brunch, and they had me run to the store and buy some Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, it was amazing.  But it was nice to sit around with some cousins and relative and just relax and enjoy the day, oh yeah, and eats tons of doughnuts!

Monday was fun because Jenn and I ran down to Bethesda to see an old friend and I was extra excited because I was able to show Jenn one my favorite restaurants, the Moon Gate!  It's a Chinese joint, and it's goooood!  The rest of the time we really just hung out with family and relaxed, it was sorta sad because every day more and more people were leaving to go back home, so on Tuesday, Jenn and I started packing up.

Our flight left Baltimore to Salt Lake and then to Phoenix, so that Tuesday night, we were all back home and back to the grind.  Overall we had a fantastic trip and the wedding was oh course great, and Thomas can't stop talking about how excited he is about his new Uncle Jack.  Congratulations go out again to Allison and Jack and we'll hopefully get to visit them soon.

Check out some pictures from the trip!



Monday, May 18, 2009

Campy-Camp-Camp

This past weekend was very woodsy.  Jenn, Thomas and I drove down to Mt. Lemmon on Saturday morning to meet up with several of our friends.  The drive itself was interesting considering that we didn't have directions based on the fact that we were going to follow some friends, but then just drove down alone.  We called the camp site and asked if there was a GPS address we could punch into the GPS and they said, "No, just look for mile marker 20, you'll be fine."

Eventually we made it down there, and met up with our friends.  We walked around the woods and did a lot of eating and drinking.  We played games and roasted marsh-mellows and pretty much all that good camping stuff.

Special thanks to Cousin Rosie and Gramma Katie for letting us borrow several sleeping bags and camping pans.  Jenn and I kept checking the weather before the trip and it said, "highs 85, lows 55".  So when you're sleeping outdoors, 50 degrees can feel pretty cold, and the 80s felt great considering that today the temperature got up to 107.

Here are pictures from the trip:

Video of Thomas at camp site:


Once we got home and unpacked everything, Jenn and Thomas had some laughs and Don got it all on camera, enjoy:




Monday, May 11, 2009

Thomas is 4 Months Old

Our little tiny baby Thomas is growing so quickly.  Monday morning we took him to the doctors for his 4 month check up.  The doctor was impressed, and said that of the thousands of babies he sees everyday, ours is his favorite!

If you couldn't tell, I'm joking with you, but overall the checkup went very well, and for those who are interested here are Thomas' 4 month stats:

Weight - 16 lbs 4 oz
Height - 26.3 inches
Head Circ. - 17 inches

Also at the doctor's office Thomas got 4 shots, and so here's some pictures of the little guy when we got home.  He cried for a minute and then was cool again!



Later that evening when Jenn got home from work, I was happy to have a Thomas break, and so as I was in the kitchen going through mail, I heard laughter coming from the bedroom.  Knowing that I was not in the bedroom, I wondered what everyone was laughing at, so I grabbed the camera and here's what I saw!



You Tube Version Here!

Monday, May 4, 2009

San Diego Weekend

This past weekend was pretty fun because we jumped in the car and headed to San Diego California.  The occasion was to introduce Thomas to his Auntie Laura, and also because Laura's boyfriend Ernesto was having a birthday!  Just for those who don't know, Ernesto goes to school in San Diego, and Laura moved to Connecticut in November for her job, so they don't see each other often and Jenn and I figured it was easier to see Laura in San Diego instead of going to Connecticut.

5 o'clock on Friday, Jenn and Leia finish with work.  Thomas and I throw them in the car, and the 4 of us are on the road by 6pm (when you have a baby, everything takes longer).  The drive to CA went really well because there weren't many cars on the road, and the border patrol lines were short and around 11:45, we arrive at the hotel.

Saturday was our busiest day by far mainly because it was the only whole day we were there.  So we woke up early (thanks Thomas), and had some breakfast, and then Jenn, Leia, Laura, Thomas and I hit the town (Ernesto was writing papers, because he's in school, remember)!  We first went to Balboa Park, which is right next door to the zoo (we voted against the zoo because $35 tickets is a lot too much).  The park had gardens and museums and the weather was amazing so we took lots of photos and had a good start to the day.

Next we went to Seaport Village, which is an area on the water with a lot of restaurants and shopping!  We got a lot of use out of the stroller and the girls found things to buy, it was a win-win.  As we were getting ready to leave Eddie and Melynda Hache (cousin) showed up, and so we all piled in the car and drove across the big scary bridge to Coronado.

Coronado as I'm told by locals is the "nice" area and so we walked around the beach and even checked out Hotel del Coronado.  As I mentioned before the weather was nice, but down by the water things got a little windy and everyone found out that Don is the wimpiest when it comes to the cold (which is surprising).  Jenn was extra excited because she was able to show Thomas the ocean and get his feet in the sand*.

*Fact- Don's first ocean/beach experience was also in San Diego.

After the beach  we all needed to go back to the Hotel (not located in Coronado) and rest and re- coop before going out to dinner to celebrate Ernesto's Birthday (pretty certain he turns 28).  At the hotel was bumped into some friends Daniel and Holly Poty who were also ready to help Ernesto party.

Ernesto picked a seafood restaurant (woo-who) for dinner, and then afterwards we all went back to the hotel and partied.  I'd go into detail but I don't want to embarrass all those who perhaps have a fuzz memory of the night.  We had a good time, non the less.

Sunday we all woke up, packed the bags into the car and headed over to the farmers market.  Ernesto kept going on and on about this farmers market, and so we had to see for ourselves.  They sold veggies, fruits, food, flowers and hippies (just kidding, but we saw a lot of Birkenstocks).  We all got a little to eat, and then the Hache's and Poty's left (to go retrieve their children), and the rest of us went to check out Ernesto's apartment.

Ernesto's apartment is very unique.  Being a young college guy, Ernesto explained that he doesn't need a lot of room or furniture or video games or TV or dishwasher.  Apparently the guy just does homework and talks to Laura on the phone, geeezzzz.  It was cool to check it out and hang with Ernesto and Laura, before getting back on the road.

As we drove out of San Diego, we made one final stop to my first home.  If you didn't know, I was born in San Diego, but I had never been back, and so we stopped to see the house my parents and I lived in while we were there.  I obviously don't know if the house has changed and I didn't try and go inside (I was a baby when we moved away), but it seemed like a nice place and area.

The drive back through the desert went pretty smoothly, and it was more interesting driving during the day to see the US/Mexico wall and check points and sand dunes, and pretty much Jenn went crazy snapping photos.

Overall we had a great weekend, and I hope you enjoy our photos.



Here are some videos from the trip.  One is of Laura meeting Thomas and the other two are snapshots from the beach!