Crazy Thanksgiving Weekend!

We had three (that's right...3!) thanksgiving meals this year. Philips mom was in town so we had our first meal on Wednesday night with the Boyers (everyone was there...even Levi's great grandma and the Longs!). It was a nice meal and the kiddos always enjoy playing with their Uncle Philip and Levi.

Kamryn is a cutie full of energy!

Kadin playing with a stamp...make-up remover did the trick ;)

Kynlee loves to be Levi's little mommy she "helped" bathe him

...and she loves to hold him


On Thursday we had lunch with my Mom's family then dinner with my Dad's. This was probably the most laid-back Asher family Thanksgiving ever and the food was really good this year! We just all relaxed, chatted and napped after the meal.

Everyone enjoying the yummy meal

Levi enjoying the bouncer during the meal

Dessert...do you think 4 pies and a cheesecake was enough for 13 adults?


The Knochel side is always a little more hectic because there are many more people usually. This year was at my Aunt Cindy and Uncle Mark's house, which is extra fun because they live on land and have fun animals to look at. Levi was a real trouper and did great being passed all around from family member to family member!

Cousins Ellen, Tory and Ali were three little baby hogs! (I remember being just that way when they were babies!)

Big Boy CousinZane holding little Levi

Aunt Cindy and cousin Lauren show Nora a donkey named Jenny (they also saw chickens, pigs and cows...and dogs of course!)

To top the weekend off we went to the TTU v Baylor football game at Cowboy Stadium on Saturday night. We met my Mom, Dad, Auntie Anne, Uncle Mickey, Aunt Mary and Uncle Buddy at the game. We had a lot of fun and although it was closer than we would have liked we came out with a win and got to see the stadium in action...wow is that screen huge and distracting!

Levi spent about half of the game sweetly asleep :)
The adults after the win

The kids (ok...i guess since we have a baby we have to be the adults too!)


ending with a random fact: there are 2 men named Levi in the lineage of Jesus...I learned that this week, cool huh?!

4 Months Old and First Zoo Trip!

Today Levi turned 4 months old! I will say it again, I can't believe how quickly time is passing and how fast he is changing! He is such a wonderfully sweet little boy and I love him more everyday...somehow! It's hard to believe that he will some day be a pre-teen that sometimes drives me crazy, but I know it will happen.

Here are some new things Levi can do since last month:
sleep for up to 6 hours at night (usually just 4-5, but this is a big improvement!)
roll over from his tummy to back
grab things with both hands at once and bring them to his mouth
enjoy a nuk pacifier (yeah! no more soothie!)
add new sounds to his coos such as ahahah and mmmmmm
enjoy watching and moving his feet on purpose

This afternoon Levi and I went to meet his friend Evie and her mommy Erin at the Fort Worth Zoo. We had a wonderful time. The weather was perfect and there were lots of animals out playing. Evie enjoyed the animals a lot more because she is 16 months old and was so smart pointing out all the animals! Levi just enjoyed being outside and taking a nap in the stroller. We are planning on going again once Levi is a little older and can appreciate all the animals more. Thanks for planning a fun day Erin! You mean so much to me!

Levi in his cute monkey outfit with me in front of some monkeys (the dark blob to the left and above Levi's head is one)

Evie and Erin with one of the Elephants

Evie pointing out the really cool and cute swimming penguins

All four of us enjoying the sunshine with a rhino in the background

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! This year I am especially thankful and more aware of my wonderful family and friends...us Boyers sure are blessed!

All About Philip!

Today was Philip's 27th birthday. In honor of his birthday, this blog entry is going to be all about him for once. He is out of town all weekend on a really neat/hopefully fun hunting trip with his Dad at a preserve called Hagerman where all you can use to hunt is a bow. I sent him off with cookies and candy since we would get to be together, boy does he have a sweet tooth!

I'm going to take this opportunity to brag on Philip. I don't think he ever even reads the blog, so I'm pretty sure he won't see this, but I feel so blessed by him I just have to share :)

I'm convinced that God placed Philip in my life and that He knew that Philip would be a wonderful balance for me and give me great help and joy in life. I really think he is neat and am so proud that he is my husband. He may not be perfect, but he is certainly a wonderful husband, father, and man. Philip is one of the most relaxed and calm people I know (most of the time) yet at the same time he is also one of the most hard working determined people I know. He is passionate yet restrained. He often knows just what to say when I am stressed out or at the end of my rope (such as during a 30 hour mostly medication free labor!). Philip really knows how to enjoy life and loves to laugh, play, be active and try new things. He has helped me to be more adventurous and to relax and not take things so seriously all the time. He has helped me to learn that God really wants us to enjoy our life here on earth and to bask in all the amazing things God places around us. He makes me smile everyday and laugh most days and I know that he loves me no matter what.

He believes he can do anything if he works hard (I'm not exaggerating, he really thinks this) and usually he is right. I don't even think I could list all the things he does, but here are just a few: hunting, fishing, running/triathlons, cycling, brewing, cooking, backpacking/hiking, camping, gardening, building things (tools, furniture, smokers) etc...etc. He is smart, funny, handsome, kind, loving, playful, motivated and full of faith. I am so glad he is here with me because he makes my life better. If you are reading this, Happy Birthday, I love you so much! As always I'm going to finish with some pictures;

Here he is with Levi the night he was born. He cried for about 6 hours almost non-stop with me nursing him about every hour. We had been without any sort of sleep for about 2 days at this point and the nurse said to stay awake with Levi if he was awake and to let him sleep on his tummy but that one of us needed to stay up and watch him...Philip let me sleep for about an hour while he somehow propped his eyes open and watched Levi sleep on his tummy! What a trooper and how great it made me feel that he was willing to sacrifice like that for me! Being parents has made us so happy and really brought us even closer!
Philip loves to do tricks with Levi and he is so confident that Levi doesn't mind the stunts one bit...he actually enjoys them...notice in his picture that Levi is actually mid-flight! I really enjoy watching the way Philip loves Levi and interacts with him, I can't wait to watch their relationship grow!

The following pictures are from one of Philip's recent adventures; making homemade sweet and hard apple cider. He built (or should I say engineered) the apple grinder (yes, that's a clean garbage disposal) and also the press. It made some really yummy cider and the hard cider is still fermenting. As you can tell, Philip was having a blast. He loves to make things, especially when he can eat or drink them later!>
Thanks for reading and for putting up with all my wifey bragging!

A Week in Pictures

Well...there is actually a lot to talk about since my last post, and since I take so many pictures I decided to just post pictures with captions to get you all up to date :)

Levi can roll from his tummy to his back and also can push up really well while on his tummy so "tummy time" has become a lot more fun-


Nora loves her pacifier "NeeNee" and is interested in trying to help Levi get his. They both really love each other and smile a lot when they are together. This makes Kate and I very happy. We can't wait to watch their relationship grow-


Here they are taking a bath together at Moe and Pops house. Since Philip and my Dad were both gone hunting over the weekend, Levi and I went to spend the weekend at my Mom's house. Nora and Kate came by for a visit too. Thanks for hanging out with us all weekend Moe...we love you!-


Levi is also getting pretty good at sitting up on his own. He has to be positioned and only lasts a minute, but it's a great start-


Our dog Penny has become a source of entertainment for Levi lately, he can watch her cross the room and sometimes she gives him kisses...much to Momma's dismay. Levi also loves his exersaucer, and this gives me some much needed hands free time while he is awake instead of just during naps-


Bath time is a favorite for both Levi and Momma. He loves to be naked...he also loves the water as warm as possible and to wiggle himself down as low as he can into the water and really relax. His singing frog that lights up is his favorite bath toy-


We just got our images back from Levi's first photo shoot when he was 12 weeks old. Jonnye Bower took the photos during her "mini sessions" special and they turned out beautiful! Here are my three favorites:

Gran's 90th Birthday!

My wonderful Grandmother on my Mom's side, Gran turned 90 this week! We had a big party for her this afternoon with a whole bunch of my extended family. Gran has always been quite the cook and used to give us "tea parties" at her home while we were growing up. I have such wonderful memories of helping her prepare for the tea and the eating all the yummy creations. So, for her birthday we had a tea party. Each of the families brought a dish and we had three varieties of tea. Gran also collects tea pots, so my Mom and her sisters (who organized the party - and did a great job I must say!) decorated the tables with the teapots and pansies (one of Gran's favorite flowers).


Even though there were 8 kids under the age of 7 at the party none of the china saucers, plates or tea cups we used were broken (we were all pretty impressed!). It was so nice to see everyone and spend time together as a family to celebrate Gran's birthday. She means so much to all of us and we are very blessed to have her in our lives. It was interesting to me to think that none of us would be in this family...and most of us would have never been born without her.


One of Gran's oldest friends Mary also came to the party. They lived together while they attended the University of Texas (Gran graduated from there with an degree in Education in 1942). It was neat to see them together and I hope that when(if) I'm 90 I will still be in touch with the wonderful girl friends I made while I was at Texas Tech. I am blessed with 5 wonderful friends from Tech that I am still close with!!


I have such a wonderful family and such an amazing woman at the head of it. Gran is a truly amazing woman who has seen so many things in her life and been through many joys, and trials. I have learned a lot from her and hope to continue to learn from her. She is a wonderful mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She has shown me what true love from a mother looks like and I know she would do anything for her family. I love you Gran! I'm so glad and proud to call you my Gran!

Levi's Verses

I'm reading through the Bible this year (along with several other members of my church) and it has been very uplifting and interesting. We are reading it in chronological order. I had always assumed it was in chronological order...but it's not. I was up to date on the daily reading to the day before Levi was born but I have fallen a little behind. I just finished the Old Testament. I read these very neat verses a couple days ago and it is about God's covenant with Levi. I love these verses and am thinking of some how getting it framed for Levi's room:

Malachi 2 - 5 "My covenant was with Levi, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him; this called for reverence and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. 6 True instruction was in his mouth and nothing false was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many from sin."

I didn't know these verse before we named Levi, but I really hope he learns them one day. I think it makes his name a little more special. Just had to share. Here are some pics of my little Levi from this morning...he was in a great mood :)

Levi's First Halloween

Every year we pick one Tech football games to go to and this year we happened to choose the TTU v KU game which fell on Halloween. It turned out to be such a fun way to spend Levi's first Halloween, especially since he is not big enough to trick or treat yet. We always enjoy going back to Lubbock and spending time with our good friends the Fellers, but it was extra fun this time because we also got to see my brother Seth who is a freshman at Tech and this was Levi's first trip too!

Uncle Seth and Levi hanging out before the game

The Fellers and their family always have a great tailgate before the game, during half time and after the game and they are so nice to bring us a long! Seth got to meet us there and Levi was happy to see his Uncle Seth (and so were Philip and I)!

Philip and Seth enjoying some tailgating :)

Right before the game we put the babies into the Halloween costumes to be extra festive! Levi's costume worked wonderfully because it was a little chilly once we were in the shade and it kept him snug and warm. The other fans seemed to enjoy the costumes...but they often couldn't tell what the babies were...Mollie was called a cow and a dinosaur, Levi was called a bug and a teletubie. Some people even shrieked "how cute"...it was fun/interesting :)

slee-pea during half time


The cutest little pea and giraffe in Lubbock!


Not only did Levi have fun at the game looking around and taking naps in his pea pod, but the Raiders won 42-21! It was a great game and we were pleased that everything went so well :) Plus...the Fellers had extra tickets so we got to sit up close in some great seats with good friends...could it get any better! We could even see Seth sitting on the front row of the student section (there was a big yellow banana right behind him that help us find him!) and Seth could see Levi in his bright green pod!

The Tech flags after one of the touchdowns


After the game the babies were sure worn out! Levi's hair was crazy and wild from his costume and getting sweaty in the car seat on the way back to the Fellers after the game (Mollie and Levi were both sure to let us know they were ready to go home during the car ride).

wild child in his Halloween onsie

Sunday morning we all went to our old church, Westminster Presbyterian, and Seth even met us there! It was a nice service and Sunday school and then we headed over to Orlando's for some yummy lunch! Thanks for hanging out with us Seth!

We were also really excited with how well Levi took to the travel. He did great on the way to and from Lubbock in his car seat (thanks for the hand me down car toys Aunt Tamara!) and he slept well in the pack n' play. I have to say though he was one grumpy and tired little guy once we got home and he took and quick bath and went straight to bed.

Overall, we had a wonderful first Halloween as a family! I can't wait 'til next year when Levi is walking and we can go trick or treating as a family! Kameron, Jason and Mollie, thanks so much for yet another wonderful time in Lubbock...we love you guys!