Arrival of John Austin Herrick Feb 26th, 1997

Isn't this a cool sign. Whitney drew it for her brother. I thought it was the perfect beginning to a perfect baby boy. I reminded him that I went into labor on a Wednesday evening just like tonight after mutual. I stayed up all night in pain & didn't go to the hospital till Thursday at about 3 pm. My water broke in our van on the way to the hospital & he would have been born 5 minutes later but the nurses kept telling me to breathe and not push. Yeah right! So I held off (was also waiting for a Doctor to arrive) till he was finally pushed out at 3:40 pm on Thursday Feb 26th, 1997.


Another beautiful, perfect, dark complexion, ton of black hair, baby boy. Aren't newborns beautiful? Yes, they are.

Here he is on his second day home. He's four days old here. Getting a sponge bath. You forget how little they were. How is it possible they were so small?

My muscle baby. Showing off his pecs. Funny huh?

This is one of my favorites. This was taken on the Sunday he was blessed. Our little man.

Love this pic with his Uncle Ryan. See Ma-Key & Poppa's blog for the updated version of this.

This is out of order chronologically. Sorry. I call this my fuzzy wuzzy bear. Playing dart guns with his daddy. They were shooting at Craig Franklin who was shooting back. So cute!!!!!!!

Oh my handsome little boy. We sure had fun dressing him up for church. He seemed to love all the attention, obviously.

"Hey Mom - I fixed the sprinkler for you"

Our blonde little boy on our family vacation to CA. This was at the observatory in LA.

Austin's first steps in the ocean. He kept falling down in the waves. How could he not they were so much bigger than he was. Great memories.

At Disneyland waiting in line with his Poppa to go inside the Haunted House. Love that hair!

Thumbs up for the carousel ride. I think this was one of maybe five rides he went on.

Unfortunately this was how he spent much of Disneyland. That's why we have to get back there. He was just too little & slept through most of it.

Austin discovered the water in the toilet. Note the wet floor. Good thing he didn't fall in.

If looks could kill. He didn't want his picture taken. Duh!! This was the Herrick Family Reunion in 1999 in Utah right before we moved to Arizona.

Look close & you can see what their beverage of choice was. Not much has changed in 10 yrs.

Austin loved to play in the warm rain while in Tucson Arizona. My cute little brown bear!

Oh here he is holding baby Mason the day of Great Grandpa Pen's funeral. This is also the sweet little boy who drew a picture for his Great Gpa & placed it in the casket. He wanted the picture to go with Gpa to heaven.

Got this bike for his bday & still loves to ride his bikes.

This is one of Austin's favorite pictures. He's holding his cousin Dallin.

Baptism day! How great to be able to have his Daddy baptize him.

Baptism day too! Was he proud or what to be wearing his very first suit.

One day soon he'll be driving this tractor all by himself. He's had some great training!

Ma-Key is forever saying "I love you" in sign language to the kids. They took this pic and sent it to their Ma-Key to remind her they love her.

Look at how carefully he's placing that pinewood derby car on the track. This was the year he took 2nd place. In fact he took 2nd place every year except his last when he finally took 1st. He got it finally right on the last try.

Driving his go-cart is one of his most favorite activities. He even drove it this winter. He just can't wait for the snow to melt. He'd drive it everywhere if he could.

Peace Dude! Austin loves to snowboard. Mom hasn't been to Mission Ridge this year to take any pics as he rides the Link bus to and from the ridge with his friends. He's gotten real good!

This Jan 1, 2009, Austin wanted to make the bday cake for Daddy. He spent hours at the store picking out the fondant, decorating tips, stands, etc. We won't mention what this cake cost. He baked the cake, both double layers, rolled out the fondant and did an excellent job decorating the fondant with smiley faces and other notions. He spent at least five hours making this cake. He sure was proud & so was his Daddy. It even tasted great! Austin found a new talent.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUSTIN! We love you & are so proud of all your accomplishments these past twelve years. You are growing up & are a handsome young man now!