Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!
We'll the verdict is in...
50% chance its a girl, and 50% chance it's a boy.
Good to know, good to know. Our ultrasoundist wouldn't give us better odds since our little fetus kept his/her legs properly closed the whole hour. We feel pretty strogly it is a girl, however, Brock watched the ultrasound pretty closely and saw no evidence to the contrary, so that's what we're telling people if they ask. We're scheduled for another ultrasound in January, so we will let you know if we're wrong.
Here are some fun pictures. I still need download our pics from our Thanksgiving dinner at my Grandmas, and from our visit up to Bakersfield. I'll post those later. Here are a couple good eating shots and a few from our trip to seaworld with Jared and Missy Fox and fam.

(smiling with a mouth full of pasta is no easy task)

Brock captured some pretty incredible shots of Shamu. I was pretty impressed. Ashlyn loved seeing the seals, sharks, dolphins, fish, polar bears, walrus, etc. The flock of pigeons flying around during the Shamu show was especially exciting for her. It was fun to have the Fox family visit from Utah. Their little boy Cade had a laughing/screaming match with Ashlyn on our way out of the park they had a great day holding starfish and seeing the animals. Ashlyn also had fun with their baby daughter Macey. She'll be a good big sister.

It was a fun hair day today, and Ashlyn had a good time at breakfast. Usually breakfast is the biggest meal of the day for Ashlyn. She isn't a big eater at dinner time. This morning it was eggs with cheese and shredded squash inside with a half a slice of toast and a cup of strawberry applesauce. She is doing pretty good with utensils, and gets most everything in the vincinity of her mouth. When in doubt, just use your fingers. Sometimes she will eat her whole bowl of cereal in the morning with her hands...very talented.

If you look closely we did finally get pigtails into Ashyln's hair. It is amazing how two rubber bands can make someone look so much older. We were carving pumpkins the day before Halloween with the Plumb cousins. Ashlyn took the scooper and started eating the raw pumpkin pulp. YUM
Cruel and unusual punishment #1
Brock thought that feeding more pumpkin pulp to Ashlyn might be funny...she ate it.






Cruel and unusual punichment #2
Emily thought it would be great fun to climb inside a 77 lb pumpkin. Ashlyn did not and gave us a her "very confused/offended" look. She was shocked we made her get all slimy...The fact that Cinderella rode in a pumpkin did not make any difference to her.




The Plumb cousins on Halloween night. Rachel was the only one not too distracted by candy to actually look at the camera. I kept having to be the mean mom that night in wrestling tootsie rolls and other candy (graciously given to Ashlyn by her cousins because she said please) out of Ashlyn's hands.

Trick or Treat

Ashlyn’s log: Day 559

Friday I discovered this strange custom called trick or treating. At first I didn’t know what to make of it. It was dark, and lots of other kids were running around. People kept putting stuff in my bag. Finally Bob let me take whatever it was in my hand and then wanted me to put it in the bag...I wasn't born yesterday. It was candy, and I knew if it went in the bag I would never see it again. However, when we got to the next trunk I found it impossible to take the next piece of candy with the Hershey bar in my hand. The marshmallow/gummy eyeball was too enticing, so I surrendered the chocolate to the bag. Bob/mom finally let me suck on a Dum Dum given to us by a girl that looked like a BYU cougar cheerleader (go cougars!) and eat some popcorn while we watched a costume parade led by a man dressed in a kilt.

When we got home we were pleased with our loot. I was generous enough to offer the marshmallow/gummy eyeball to my mom...she wasn't born yesterday either. She had bartered for a few Almond joys as her fee for the evening. When the photo shoot was over the candy was slipped back into the bag and placed in the middle of the kitchen table. My Kermit jacket was removed and my parents proceeded to get things ready for bed. When they left the room I seized the opportunity (quietly...maybe too quietly) to climb up on the table get my loot back. It was my cute face that had gotten the candy in the first place right. I decided to get up, and stand up for my rights. Unfortunately, I've discovered that wrappers are a little tricky, and I only managed a few sucks on a root beer dum dum when I was caught red handed. I ran for it, but no mercy was shown. Life's not fair folks.

Ashlyn's log: Day 560
Managed to get my hands on a box of Dots. I'm long and lean and I always surprise my mom by what I can reach.

I thought this was a cute little scene. Ashlyn is picking up coloring, and loves little books. She adopted (confiscated off of Brock's desk) a small little spiral notebook and likes to scribble in it whenever she finds a writing utensil. When Brock laid down on his stomach to color with her, she kept trying to copy him and lay down too. I don't think she ever really got comfortable laying there on her stomach because she kept getting back on her knees. But then she would look at Brock and try again. A great Daddy/Daughter moment.

Wikipedia defines Oktoberfest as a German celebration at which beer, brätwurst, hendl (chicken), käsespätzle (cheese noodles), and sauerkraut, along with such Bavarian delicacies as roast ox tails are consumed in large quantities. My definition is F U N! What better way can a guy spend a Saturday afternoon than by watching his wife and daughter dance to music played by a guy in lederhosen while he stuffs his face with free spicy sausage. Life is good my friends. Life is good!

Pictures of this event will not be submitted because we felt that lederhosen might be a little too risqué for our younger viewers. However you may get your Ashlyn fix by viewing two new videos (#11 and 12 - found under the "links" category on the right). These are from the end of July, but you see the start of her "talking". Now she can say shoes, please, ball, bubbles, baby, etc. adding new words each day trying to parrot what we say. We'll have to capture some of her real words on camera now.

What every parent should teach their child #2
FASHION! FASHION! FASHION!
This is the hat of the future. Everyone will be wearing colanders on their heads by the year 2010. We're thinking of solidifying our position in the market by selling them now for the low price of $19.99. Act now and we'll give you free shipping and handling.

Ashlyn's End of Summer Highlights:


First time in a swing and a shark cage



Finally got to meet the missing Uncle Riley who returned from his mission in Colorado (warmed up to him later) and mom stumbled across the worlds largest sand crab down in Baja...an incredible zoological discovery.

AND we got to see my brother or sister who will be born April 13th, 2007 who currently measures 6cm. :)

Too much excitement to handle.

What every parent should teach their child #1

I am a firm believer that teaching your child to stick out her tongue and make "throw-up" sounds is essential for proper psychological development. It will help them not to overreact in the case of a real throwup experience. It also makes for good laughs when your child does it at social gatherings. If you're lucky you might hear someone say "wow I wonder what she ate".

For just $2 at the wild animal park you can by a cup of nectar that will make the Lorakeets go crazy and land all over you. I had one on my head for a little while, and the one on my shoulder was pretty ticked off because the bigger birds boxed him out so he decided to sqwak right in my ear until they were done. We were some of the fortunate people that did not get pooped on. check out our new videos over in our links section.

It is amazing that one so small can already have such strong opinions on how life should be. For instance..."my cousin Bronson should NOT be eating my bucket!" The tongue sticking out adds more emphasis, and sometimes if we are napless and really frustrated it helps to throw ourselves on the floor, scream, and then start laughing. We are all developing wide ranges of emotions, which makes life that much more enjoyable.

Here's Brock swimming through the mud at the Camp Pendleton Mud run (more info in the posting below). Ashlyn and I were so proud. He only let one 70 year old woman lap him, but she had his number from the beginning.

Another cool thing that happened recently was our trip to the zoo resulted in a great polar bear encounter. Previously we had only seen the bears sleeping up on the rocks, but this time we went at 7:30pm and they were going crazy swimming and tackling eachother, and we watched them for almost an hour, it was awesome. Unfortunately we forgot our camera at home so the picture here is from the zoo website, but this is really how it was, so we are no longer thinking of suing the zoo for false advertising. I think there is an uncanny parallel between picture of the bear and the picture of Brock...what an animal.

Here's a Solano update...Brock and Branner ran the 10k camp pendleton mud run on Saturday June 17 and lived to tell the tale. I had to soak Brocks clothes for three days and wash them twice to get all the mud out. The sole of his shoe came completely off and it was very entertaining to watch Brock and Branner swim through mud. They are looking to get a team together to run it again next October if anyone is interested. Ashlyn learned to jump on the trampoline while we were house sitting this last week and a half. Her Plumb cousins came over and played a rousing game of crack the egg with Uncle Brock as the Crackin. Will and Kari moved out here from Buffalo after finishing dental school, so we are up to 7 local cousins, and we had one more born abroad. Jesse and Cami's little boy Ezra was born on July 4th and they are still up in Henderson. The last picture above is with Aldy, and as you can see, as Ashlyn's older cousins lose more teeth she gains more. If you want to know anything else concerning Ashlyn give us a call because she now likes to talk into the phone and likes to have her say in conversations. She answers all the questions in Sunday school and now makes elephant and bear sounds.

Wow Ashlyn, you seemed to eat those delicious green beans extraordinarily fast...

Lots of things have happened since we last posted. The least exciting among them being that Ashlyn discovered one morning how to take her diaper off. It was May 17th, 2006 at 8am. I was pretty excited that Ashlyn was sleeping in allowing me to get a few chores done in preparation for our week-end trip up to Utah. The house was quiet...too quiet. I peeked my head into Ashlyn's room to discover that I had made a monumental mistake in not buttoning up her onsie the night before...let us end this sad tale by saying that no, the diaper was not clean. Our little poopsmith was having a great time.
Brock finished out his second semester of his program on the same disasterous day mentioned above (and did quite well I might add without his permission). We left for Utah the next day breaking up the drive by spending the night with Jesse and Cami (Cami's "little" boy is due on July5th, but we hope he comes sooner for Cami's sake) in Henderson, and stayed until Wednesday... poor planning as we barely missed seeing Katie and Eve Davis during their trip nor did we get to participate in Warren's slumber party. However, we had a great time visiting with friends and family up in Utah and drove home with Becca in time to attend the celebration of Jennifer Sabin's wedding (Becca's best friend and our sister-in-law's little sister). It was awesome. My brother Will and I had a joint Bday party that weekend and later that week Will's wife Kari came down with their 10month old boy Bronson who Ashlyn was excited to meet for the first time (notice thay are the same size, but he's heavier).
We then had the opportunity on June 5th to go to Cabo San Lucas with Brock's parents. Grandma and Grandpa Solano wanted to spend some time with Ashlyn, and Brock and I reaped the benefits. Good food, great company, gorgeous beaches, warm water, more than comfortable resort and speedy golf cart drivers...need I say more. It was a great vacation. Ashlyn added some more animal sounds (duck and tarzan) and latin dance moves to her repitoire of cute things to do to make people pay attention to me and we all came back a little tanner. Now it is back to reality and back to blogging. I'll start teaching my summer school art class on the 26th. 40 high school kids for 4 hours a day for 3 weeks. woohoo. Should be an adventure. I'll post some more pictures in another post because it won't let me do it here so they'll show up above.

Being at the cusp of entrepreneurial genius, Ashlyn has decided that when she grows up she will we raise Alpacas in order to support her family while attending elementary school. Brock says he is going to hold her to that commitment.

May is here. We said farewell to aunt Becca (as you can see in the photo, Ashlyn was distraught by this) who went back up to BYU for the spring/summer and said hello to some warmer weather and the beach. Ashlyn doesn't eat sand, but she loves putting the smooth round black stones (no matter how big) in her mouth. mmmm salty.

As finals week approaches, Ashlyn loves it when dad takes a study break to come into her room and play.

Every once in a while she checks for a heart beat and then will get back to the toys.

Coming into graduate school I was worried about never seeing Brock, but he is an incredible husband and father who works like crazy and has kept a mind numbing schedule so that he can still spend time with Ashlyn and me. The first year is almost over; last final is May 17th, and then summer will be a breeze with only 6 credits and the psych GRE looming in the future.

The results came back from JC Penny picture studio that indeed Ashlyn is pretty cute (even if mom forgot to glue a bow on her head). She was in fine form when we took her in to get her birthday portraits done, and put on all her great faces. She is now walking about 80% of the time and surprising us with her speed.