Happy Birthday Ashlyn!!

A few things I love about Ashlyn:
- I love the way she grabs my face with both hands on my cheeks when she really wants my attention. The other night she wanted to watch Finding Nemo, and I was watching the Jazz game, and she kept grabbing my face and making sure that I was looking directly at her instead of at the TV, and she would say "Nemo . . . Nemo . . . Nemo". I couldn't resist; we watched Nemo for the 4th night in a row.
- I love how she is so loving with everything around her. She loves to give hugs and kisses to show her affection. It doesn't even have to be a living thing, it can be inanimate objects like flowers, books, bananas, blankets, anything.
- I love how smart she is. She can already count to 10 on her own, and she can identify almost all of the letters in the alphabet.
- I love the face she makes when she is sad. She has a frown that makes me melt. She doesn't have to cry, all she does is frown and say 'hug'.
- I love how she has last minute requests which we need to follow before she is happily going to bed. "banky" (blanky), "prayer", "hug", "kiss", "love you".
- I love her laugh and her smile.
- I love her cute little running form.
- I love her dancing (and she is even starting to sing a litte).
- I love her energy.
- I love how she wants her independence and wants to do things her own way.

Two years ago today we got the call that she had been born. I wish I had written more at the time, but this is what I found from my journal -

March 29: The baby was born and our lives were changed forever. We were still calling it ‘it’ because we didn’t know if it was a boy or girl. Andrea and Tyler invited us to visit them at the LDS Hospital the following day (Thursday). The news of the birth brought some of the best feelings we had ever had (along with the announcement telling us that we had been chosen). I was hoping that we were going to have a girl. The time that I had been spending with the girls track team really made me want a daughter of my own.
March 30: Stefanie picked me up from the boy’s day of the Super Meet (track) at Davis High a little early and we impatiently drove down to the Hospital - where Stef had spent the day working. It took some control on Stefanie’s part to not find out any details about the baby. When we arrived at the door to Andrea’s room, we stopped for about a minute to really prepare ourselves. Going into the room and seeing the pink blankets and the pink signs, we knew that we were parents to a sweet little girl. It felt like a dream. We were able to spend a few minutes holding her, and she was the most adorable, innocent, beautiful, perfect thing in the world. I remember holding her and not being able to take my eyes off of her. I know that we were talking to Andrea and Tyler and their family, but the only thing that I could focus on was the baby’s cute little face and hands and breathing and everything else about her. We left the hospital feeling so wonderful, but still a little nervous about placement the next day. We were definitely anxious to bring her home. We had decided to call her Ashlyn Michelle. I actually wanted her middle name to be Elizabeth, but I am glad that we went with Michelle–it is both Stefanie’s and Andrea’s middle name as well.

At the hospital - March 30, 2006. One day old.

1st Ride in the car seat on the way home from the agency - March 31, 2006. Two days old.

We are having a Girl!

March 21st - We found out today that the baby is a girl. The ultrasound was pretty exciting. I have to admit that I was thinking it would be a boy, but Stef was sure it was going to be a girl. I am glad we are having another girl. I think Ashlyn is going to love having a little sister.

When we found out, I sent out a mass text “We are having a GIRL! Couldn’t tell if she has red hair. Now all we need is a name.” These are the responses in order:

“Name her Seth” - Seth Gutzwiller
“I knew it! I am so excited! You can have ‘Grace’ if you want, that is how much I love you guys. Yay! I can’t wait.” - Dianne
“YAY! CONGRATULATIONS STEF AND COACH TALLEY.” - Erica Christensen
“Melissa” - Jeff Agnello
“Aww! That is so exciting. I hope she does have red hair! Do you have any ideas at all for the name?” - Corinne Johnson
“YEAH! Another girl! I am so happy for you guys.” - Darcy
“Congrats!” - Joel
“Congrats! Rogina sounds good.” - Buhrley
“Congratulations! She’s gonna be a cutie.” - Kelsey Valentine
“Jan . . .” - Spencer Anderson
“. . . ette” - Spencer Anderson
“Oh really! That is way exciting! Congrats! I will give you permission to name her Marissa. Ha ha just kidding. I have no idea, when is she due?” - Marissa Eddy
“Congratulations! There are so many good girl names.” - Kim Eddy
“No way! That is so exciting! You have 3 choices for a name: Youlondia, Crasanthimum, or Elizabeth. Just kidding.” - Lizzy Wallin
“Talley!!! Congratulations again!!! She should be called ‘red girl’ after her father :) I like Shaylin or Shandra though.” - Ryan Thomas
“It’s a girl! Name her Jami!” - Jami Dixon
“BROOKLYN!!!” - Brooke Jensen
“Matty” - Matt McFadden
“Yay Talley!!! If she has red hair, I vote you name her Lauren :)” - Lauren Johnson
“Isabelle, Kimberly, Kaylee, Elizabeth . . . that’s all I got right now.” - Erica Petty
“Awesome Dude! Let’s get together and celebrate with you!” - Bob Evans
“Oh that is so so exciting :) You should name it Brit. Ha ha. JK.” - Britin Storey
“Congrats. Bradiffer, Bradalina, Bradgirl, Bradnotboy, Bradjan, are available.” - Brad Anderson
“Oh that’s so exciting! Congratulations :) Sandee Rae Talley like I said :) Ha. Or Sandee could be a middle name!” - Sandee Stapp
“Lisa, Michelle, Alyssa . . . “ - Erica Petty
“Congrats. You should name her Davis :) JK” - Jamie West
“Name her Caleb!” - Caleb Ward
“Hey, so I thought you couldn have a children? Congrats though!” - Jeff Agnello
“Josie. Congrats.” - Joe Wilson
“Thanks for the text! Congrats on the girl. We are excited for you.” - Robbie Allred

Ashlyn's Cousins

Ashlyn and Izzy after a dizzying game of "Ring around the Rosies". We like to sing it: "Ashlyn, Ashlyn, we all fall down."Gabriella is almost ready to run around with her 2 older cousins.

Here we are at Finn's 1st birthday party. (Ashlyn says "Hinn"). The cake was pretty tasty.

This kid is not a cousin, but he has a cruel dad, and I couldn't resist posting the picture.

Trip to San Diego

Stef and I took Ashlyn on a quick trip to San Diego. We drove down to St George, stayed a night with Lyn and Jill Bridges (parents of some of my former athletes), drove the rest of the way to San Diego, spent a few days, then drove back to St. George for 1 more night, then made it back to Layton in time for Parent Teacher Conferences. After 26 hours in the car in 5 days we were still a happy family. This must be true love. Ashlyn was a surprisingly well-behaved traveler. I think I was much more fussy about being in the car than she was. Of course, she had Elmo, Big Bird, and some Care Bears to keep her entertained. Stefanie and I created this numbers game where we had to find numbers on signs or license plates in order from 1 to 50. It took us all the way from San Diego to home (we got bored at times and put the game on hold). I gave up around 38, but Stef finished it up to 50. The game was more challenging than I thought it would be. Our only rule was that we couldn't use the mile markers.
The Bridges were excellent hosts. Some day they are going to make the best grandparents (they loved spoiling Ashlyn). Ashlyn had a great time playing on their stairs, eating their yummy food, playing with McKay, and playing with McKay's dog, Stone.
Going to SeaWorld on Saturday was the highlight of our trip. The weather was perfect - a nice change from the Utah weather this winter. Ashlyn wanted to swim in every pool we saw - sharks, killer whales, and polar bears didn't scare her at all. We also saw fishies, penguins, Shamu, the dolphins, beluga whales, walruses, turtles, clydesdale horses, birds for chasing, and lots of other kids (Ashlyn loves giving hugs to random kids). One boy kept kicking her when she would try to hug him, but it didn't phase her at all. When we were watching the Shamu show Ashlyn kept saying "Ashy" which is what she says when she wants something. We weren't sure if she wanted to keep one of the whales or just jump in and ride the whales.
We were going to go to the zoo on Sunday, but it was so rainy that we decided to sleep in and then do some shopping instead. We will have to save that for another trip. We are happy that she is so interested in animals.
Here are some pictures from the trip:

This is Stone - he's got the deepest bark, but Ashlyn made friends with him right away.

Ashlyn with Lyn and Jill

On the Bridge's stairsLucky for us, her nap time was during drive time each day

While Stef was asleep . . .

I got bored and played with the camera.

This bed is perfect size

Ashlyn after swimming

Stef and Ashlyn at 'Old Town' in San Diego. Felt like we were in Mexico.

Stef liked the way Ashlyn wrapped her blanky around her like a cape

Arriving at SeaWorld

Getting ready for the Shamu show

Would have been a better picture if Shamu were jumping out of the water right then

She was pretty captivated by the whales

Ash and Dad with the Horsey

Ash and Mom with the Horsey

I know this picture is dark, but I love the grin she is giving

Looking at the white beluga whales

Good thing there was glass here. The polar bear would not have appreciated Ashlyn scratching its behind

This walrus was forever long

Ashlyn wanted to get in and swim with it.

In the polar bear cave

She had a lot of fun chasing the pigeons; we brought this one home with us.

Ashlyn actually wasn't that fascinated with the penguins like we had hoped

Going into the Shark cave

Going deeper into the Shark cave

Difficult to get her to smile

We took Ashlyn on the sky ride overlooking the bay

It was really high and scary

We tried to pet the dolphins

but they got us all wet.

Actually, Ashlyn got it in the face and I got it in the back. I was holding her, and turned around so that the splash wouldn't hit my face.

Her favorite souvenir was this dolphin bath toy

At TGI Fridays on Saturday