aprils goings on

Lets see here, we have been so busy this month. I wonder where the month went.

Went to the Dinosaur Museum with the Claybaughs and uncle Truett. We love you guys.



went golfing

with my dad (and mom not pictured since I was taking the pictures!)



Painted Grandmas house

Planted flowers at the Moqui Cave

Played at the Park

Showed off the Coral Pinks to the Villa family (this is what we like to do down here for fun).




Fixed the rock wall with Grandpa.



all in a days work!

Can't wait to see what next month brings!

easter

I love Easter time as I am sure that everyone does. Whats not to love, the flowers, eggs, everything in bloom, great weather etc... This Easter we got Chamberlain his first suit and I think he looked quite handsome, but then again, what mother wouldn't think her son is handsome, especially in a suit. I have decided that suits are the standard now for church, for chambs, no more casual stuff. Our Easter went pretty well. We spent Saturday night coloring eggs for an Easter egg hunt that never came. Can you believe that we forgot to have an Easter egg hunt. No Joke! We had church at 9 so the morning we spent getting ready for church. I woke up extra early because I was affraid that Chamberlain would not want to wear his new suit and tie, so to get used to the idea we woke at 7. Josh was not feeling well and came home early from church. So when I got home both were already out of
their Easter clothes which I got them

matching or I mean Cordinating ties. I searched high and low for matching ones, and if I would have found them you bet I would have bought them. But hey, I am limited in southern Utah, and I tried my best. I also had to get working on the Easter Dinner, or shall I say poison the dinner ( refering to my last post about sunday dinners where I tried to kill eric.) Once I got dinner started I remember that I did not have any pictures so I dressed Chamberlain back in his suit which he was willing to wear again, and had a photo shoot. I think the pictures turned out nice. Oh its tradition in my family to do easter basket. After all I am my mothers daughter (which my mother-in-law would say) and I couldnt settle for just any regular basket, it had to be creative and have a purpose. I found a huge Butterfly catcher, stuffed it full of new spring clothes and the best toy of all. I would highly recommend getting this toy. Josh and I have found ourselves playing with it on occasion. a glittery bouncy ball. They are the best bouncy balls ever! So all-in-all, I dont think Chamberlain mind not having an Easter egg hunt. Oh, you can also see how nicely his dog bit is healing.

sunday dinners.

Sunday dinners are always very colorful at the Chamberlain house hold. These past few Sundays have been the most eventful I'd say, since living here. My parents are very social. I guess you could say that Sunday dinners are our biggest meal of the week. We ALWAYS have people over for dinner. Which I quite like, it tends for great conversations and neighborhood friendliness. Plus I get to try out my new recipes. We have the usual's, Grandma and Grandpa Laycook, their dog Honey girl (marshalls girlfriend), Sue and Buck, and on occasion when he isn't visiting his fiance (she lives in Pennsylvania) Eric and his dog Shrek.
Shrek is a rescue dog from Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, where Eric works. A few Sundays ago we had are usual's minus Sue and Buck and added Brother Salter since Sister Salter was out of town. The Bishop (my dad) thought he might like company for Sunday dinner. Oh and Mama Jubes visiting from Spanish Fork. Shrek usually stays outside for dinner but this Sunday we decided to let him play with the other dogs Marshall and Honey. We had great conversations, much laughter and delicious food. It came time to for one of our guest to go and we (as in Josh and I) lost track of Chamberlain. He had crawled under the table with all 3 dogs. That can only mean one thing... trouble. We soon heard a bark, followed by a very loud Scream. Josh quickly pulled him out from under the table and we soon realized the blood running down his face. Luckily, Brother Salter is a doctor. and was able to help Josh with Chamberlain, as I had to literally leave the house and lay outside on the cold concrete so I would not pass out. We were really lucky with the cut by his eye, we didn't need to get stitches, we just used durabond (great stuff). If it would have been any closer it would have most likely punctured the eyeball. Also the bite on his lip and just below the nose did not puncture completely. The dog responsible for the attack was Shrek. Poor Eric was almost in tears he felt so bad. Josh and I know that accidents happen so we didn't kill the dog, which surprisingly was the first question people asked when they saw the after marks on Chambs. Anyway, to make my "sunday dinners" story more interesting, yesterday, as in, Easter Sunday, we had people over for dinner. We had Brother and Sister Salter, and Eric minus Shrek, he left him at home. Well Eric is allergic to eggs and most vegetables, odd I know. So I plan the menu to fit his needs. I made Honey Glazed Ham, Rosemary and Garlic potatoes, Rolls, Deviled eggs (which he didn't eat) and a tasty pear and feta Salad with Champagne vinaigrette dressing, yum! Oh, and did I mention that for the salad I made candied walnuts. As our dinner comes to an end we are having an intense discussion about Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. And I am noticing that Eric, is either not liking where the conversation is going or needs to throw up, just then he excused himself and went out the back door and you guessed it... As I am going over in my head what I made thinking there is nothing that he could not eat besides the deviled eggs, which he did not partake. When I remember, to candy walnuts you use 1 frothy egg white. oops. Lucky for us, again, that Dr. Salter was there and made sure that Eric didn't die! Shortly after Eric recovered and was able to join us back at the dinner table. I then made the comment; "I was just getting you back from last Sunday! We all had a good laugh. So, my advice is, if you are going to spice up your Sunday dinners and invite lots of people make sure invite a doctor.


I will be posting Easter pictures of Chamberlain tomorrow. There you will be able to see his great recovery. Oh, and you think an attack like that would put a healthy fear in him of dogs. Nope once Eric arrived his first question to him was "where's Shrek?"

to the birthday girl

To the BIRTHDAY GIRL!
Oh how I wish I was up there with you to celebrate this exciting day.
Even the sun is wishing you a happy day.
I know exactly what we would do.
First we would start the afternoon off at lunch with the girls, followed by dessert at your newly favorite (thanks to your uncle's in-law?) RED MANGO.
Which then we would proceed to some fancy little place to get our finger nails and our toe nails rubbed down and freshly polished.
And to go out with a bang on your 27th day we would invite ALL your family and friends over for Cake and Ice cream, and a round or two of your favorite game. Which would last until the wee hours of the night.
I hope you have a delightful 27th day and don't have to wear once, today, the apron I sent.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
Much love and kisses
-ash-

all work and no play

This is how we keep Chamberlain entertained when we go to work at Moqui Cave. We play dress up. This time it was cowboys, next time who knows. I just love the way the Cave shows in the pictures. Its great for photo shoots (even the photogs for anthropologie (my favorite place/store/eye candy etc...) came the summer josh and I got married and wanted to "someday" use the cave in a shoot.) and as soon as he recovers from his dog bite (which I will be posting later) we will get Easter photos done (cross my fingers.) I guess I should mention the the bollo tie Chamberlain is wearing is Vintage, its made out of turquoise and other precious gems. My grandpa made it for my dad when he was a little boy. And yes, if you visit the cave today my dad still wears it!

$@%# happens!

This is how I started my day.
Chamberlain is "Potty Training" and doesn't quite get it. He went in his diaper first then ran to the bathroom, stripping down on his way. What you don't see is, the whole role of toilet paper unrolled scattered throughout the house. At that point he then yells, "Mom come wipe my bum!"

This is how it ended.
Shoveling Manure for our garden! on my family's land we started a Community Garden last summer. Its really rad because people from ALL faiths are coming together, gardening! Especially, during these tough times, people are and will, really benefit from this. In fact there is a 12 year old boy growing this year. 12 years old. The sad thing is, this is what his family is going to live off and depend on for food this summer. Other growers are growing for the Kanab Care and Share which is constantly running out of food. There is just not enough to go around. For FHE we decided to get our garden ready. I have never gardened (is that a word) before. I am so looking forward to this, the whole night my mouth kept watering just thinking about the corn, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, and sugar snaps that would come from the poop! It was a fun night we worked till the sun went down.

The picture with Chamberlain in the Wheelbarrow, yes, that is where we would shovel the poop and then we would haul it over to the plot and rake it in. Chamberlain would jump in for a ride back to the poop pile. All night long he kept saying "mom, can we play in the poop" and I would answer "yes we can son!"

My name is Ashleigh Burgess and I am a Pack Rat!

Let see this last week went by so fast. We finally sold our house after 9 long months. Great, however we had been using our house as a storage unit for all our lovely things. You think that I would have been slowly packing things up now and then with our trips to Utah County, but, of course that would have been the easy way out! We had from Monday to Thursday to pack everything. In those 3 days I discovered that I might show signs of being a pack rat. I KEEP EVERYTHING!!! I don't like to throw things away besides old and moldy food. I realized that for me everything had either a memory or it might just come in handy one day, or better yet, my kids might want it for their homes. CRAZY, I know. I just like old things. I realize that I would rather get something old with meaning then something new. I just couldn't throw anything away. It was really hard, to see this sick side of myself. I didn't realize that I had this issue until it came time to hall my grandmothers car off to the scrap yard. Its a 1989 Grand Prix LE. I wanted to keep it, even though it hasn't run since 2006, and when it did run it didn't go over 35 MPH, you had to keep jugs of water and oil in the car because it had a crack in the radiator and the oil had a mad leak! Yes, Josh and I have been hauling (i mean we paid people to tow) this car around to the 4 different houses that we have lived in in the past few years. I even went as far as, well, we can just get a tow with the uhaul and let it rest in the parking lot of Moqui Cave. I mean this car has memories people. Its the only car that I know of to date that has made it to the TV towers and floated down the creek, and still ran like a gem. Not to mention all the other random things its been through, we, as in my siblings minus Sage, all drove the car in high school. Except when Shelbie and I drove it, it was in its glory perfectly running in fact the smell was of my grandmothers perfume, Beautiful. She wore it by the bottle. It was great for us, it was this cute little sports car that held just enough people. And for my brothers it became the "Timmy" on Rod Dyrdeks Fantasy Factory. They destroyed her. Then Josh and I bought it from my father for a dollar when we were newly married. She was ours and yes josh drove it to and from work at 35 mph from Provo to Draper. The only thing I have left of her is her License plate. That is all we have left, and I have already hung it in the trophy room.