8 Months and Counting...

Exactly 30 days til our little guy is due to make his debut...
Can I just tell you we are soooooooooo excited!!! Yesterday I got a bunch of his clothes washed--he's going to be so little. I keep trying to imagine what life is going to be like in a month but I realize thats totally impossible because of everything new that is ahead. I think Bry is equally as anxious as I am...what gives me this impression...well, every night he grabs my stomach and tells me he just wants to "hold the baby." There are lots of other things he does but I'm pretty sure he would not appreciate me divulging his secret personality.
My mom left this morning to head back to Wisconsin. It was so fun to have her here and to have her see me pregnant.

Today is my last day of work at the Health Center. It's a bittersweet feeling leaving everyone. I was kind of reflecting as I drove to work about everything that has happened in my life to get to this point. There were some days during these last years that I never thought this day would come...I can't express my gratitude to Heavenly Father that it is finally here.

....1 day til our big move to Califonia. Pray this baby hates Nevada and refuses to be born there. :)

April Showers

Saturday we had my baby shower up in Ceder Hills at Katie's beautiful home. The day was just perfect! It was so fun to be with all my friends and family to celebrate our little boy. To everyone that was able to make it--thank you for being part of the day--you made it so special for me!!!

My wonderful friends from the ward that threw the shower: Carly, Steph, and Katie. I cannot thank you girls enough!! You are the best!!The shower group: Friends from the ward and work, and family.
An "action shot" before the games began.
Amy's little boy Ethan--apparently my sister thought he was quite entertaining because she took at least three pictures of him like this.
Mom and Auntie Leisa.

My mom was able to be part of the shower day! It was so nice to have her here.

The Fam: Chelsey, Erika, Mom, Leisa, Brenda, Me, Aunt Maddie, and Grandma Zelda.
The adorable blanket that Carly made for me--I'm a little obsessed...but not as obsessed as Bryan...pretty sure he's going to ask her to make him a full sized one for him.
Opening presents. Everyone was sooo thoughtful! Heather and Emily from work. We played Build-A-Baby Phipps for one of the shower games. Everyone had to pick which characteristic between Bryan and I that I would choose for my baby boy. (Like...brown or blue eyes, brown or strawberry blond hair, etc)

Apparently Erika also felt the need to document what the food looked like. It was delicious!!!!!!
Little guy converse and a rocker shirt--loved it!! Amy and Me. I look like a beached whale next to her. All the pregnant girls at the shower were laughing about how when we look in the mirror everyday we think "okay this isn't sooo bad," but the second we see a picture of ourselves we think "who is that?!?"
And then as I'm uploading all the pictures from my mom's camera this one pops up. This is me and Bry a week before we found out I was pregnant. It seems like so much has happened since then. We have truly had blessings showered on us this last year. I cannot express my gratitude enough. (And I wont lie--This picture also made me hope that I look like this again some day.)Earlier in the week I was able to get together with a bunch of girls that work or have previously worked at the Student Health Center. Lots of us are leaving Provo and we wanted to have a little "reunion." I feel so lucky to have had this job solely for the incredible friendships I have been able to make the last three years. I'm pretty sure half of my blog list is friends I have made during these years. These girls--and lots of others--have had such a profound impact on me. I'm so thankful for each of you! Two last things: I learned to cut Bry's hair! I'm quite proud of this accomplishment for lots of reasons. First being that he is the most picky person in the world. After every hair cut he comes home and spends the next 3 weeks trying to fix it himself--leaving little hair clippings all over my clean sinks. And yes I mean the two upstairs sinks AND the downstairs sink! When he asked me to do it I was a little nervous--but in the end he loved it so now we are all happy! Last night we had a going away dinner with the Andersons, Dovers, and Pauls at Cafe Rio. We are going to miss you guys all so much this summer. As always the night was full of laughs--a few including dodgeball stories. I think us girls are missing out! Bry managed to sustain yet another injury in dodgeball.....

Promise--this is the last thing! I found a perk of gestational diabetes at my last doctors appt. The doctor told me that I would for sure have my little boy here by May 24 because they don't let diabetes patients go past their due date! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our little Calvin

Click it to make it larger :)

Bryan tells me the other night that he wants our little boy to be just like Calvin (from Calvin and Hobbs). Then today I get sent this comic--how perfect! If our kid has any of Bryan in him he will definitely be like Calvin. What a dream come true. :)

Thank You Oh Wise One...

Bry started finals yesterday. On his way out the door I was telling him good luck on his test. He gets this very serious look on his face and says very dramatically,

"Ashley, isn't every day a test?"

Thank you Bryan Phipps for that spiritual reminder and for always being a sarcastic little punk.

Later he proceeds to tell me, "You know how the baby has been kicking you so hard lately. Well while you were sleeping a few nights back I taught him Tae Bo."

...Great! Glad to see he is such a quick learner. Once again, thank you Bryan.

Book Tag

This is what you do:
1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages).
2. Turn to page 123.
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the 5th sentence on your blog.
5. Tag 5 people.

This is so geeky but I'm reading a book from my BYU Family Finance class called for Love and Money. The author does an excellent job incorporating the gospel into our finances. Since money management is an area that I thought I needed to work on I'm reading it. You can laugh at me...but it's actually really, really good.

Line 5: "Maybe if I wore a hood ornament, you'd spend as much time with me as you do with that car."

...haven't gotten to this chapter so now I'm curious...sounds a little bitter. :)

K, I tag: Andrea, Kelli, Lesley, Lindsey F., and Steph P.

As of Late...

Bry and I have just been enjoying every second we have together before the "minor" life changes come. You know...little things like law school finals, moving to a new state, starting a new internship, and having a baby! No biggie. Conference weekend was wonderful. I loved President Monson's incredible spirit during these sessions. Back when I was 12 one of his books was the first I read from an Apostle that really touched me and helped my personal conversion--I have had such a great appreciation of and love for him since. This weekend Bry and I also went to Trafalga's arcade to play. I got brutally beaten in air hockey, but held my own in ski ball. :)

Here are some more up-dates in pictures...that are really dark...sorry!! Bryan painted the nursery. I am in love with it. I go in and just stare at it at least once a day. :)
Trying to take a picture with Bryan of the finished product was impossible. He hates pictures lately. This was the best I got...him acting like I hit him. Lovely.
We also got our crib put together...Not that the baby will be sleeping in there for the first 2 1/2 months of his life but it's ready for him in August. We still have to get colored sheets and bed skirt but this is the basic idea. We just had to test it out and make sure it all matched.
And here are the cute window treatments...Last week we also got to go over to my Aunts for a Birthday party for my grandma. Unfortunately she got really sick that day--but all the cousins still all got together and celebrated. We got to meet my cousin Brenda's little boy Hayes. He's adorable...and got us so anxious to meet our little boy. Lastly...who is this guy?!? Where is the collared shirt?!? In our 2 1/2 years of marriage I have never once seen him wear running shoes...and rarely does he wear a t-shirt...all in the same day...something must be wrong...like finals coming up.
Oh and on another exciting note: I officially have 14 days of work left before I retire!!!!!!!!!! Hallelujah! (Although I will miss the wonderful girls I work with.)

Shoulder Dislocation #482

Every Tuesday night Bryan meets up with the guys in our ward to play dodge ball. From the very beginning this has caused me to be a worried wife because of his pathetic excuse of a shoulder. He assured me that he would not throw the ball hard enough to dislocate it. Well last night his shoulder decided "to not come forward with the rest of his body" and was dislocated for the 482 time in the past 3 years. The best part was that he tried to hide it from me--but hello-- when you are walking around with your arm locked against your chest at a 90 degree angle, can't get your shirt off, and whine like a little girl when you accidentally bump into something I might get a little suspicious. Don't worry though folks...he got named the MVP/sniper for the night because he kept playing with his left arm and had a mean spin on the ball.

I thought you might all enjoy the Tale of the Dislocated Shoulder:

March 2005: The beginnings before my time.
Bry was playing goalie for an intramural soccer team with all his buddies. He gets nailed in the shoulder and it's dislocated with his arm above his head for over 3 hours. He spends the night in the ER...apparently he was rather entertaining between the shock and heavy drugs.
Summer 2005:
Playing first base in intramural softball. Dislocates it.
Fall 2005:
I jump on him to wake him up; He flinches too hard dislocating his shoulder. It won't go back in for over an hour. Whoops...won't be doing that ever again.
Winter 2005:
Playing church basketball. 2 minutes into the game he throws a bounce pass and dislocates his shoulder. That season ended all too soon.
Summer 2006:
Boogie Boarding in Santa Cruz. Gets hit by a wave and dislocates his shoulder. Getting pretty pathetic huh?!? :)

...okay you get the point...his shoulder is out of commission but yet he still thinks he can do it all. Maybe when we can afford surgery "sniper" will be in full force again.