Every Who Down in Who-ville (Kristen and Bryan)

Liked Christmas a lot...
But the Grinch,
who lived just north of who-ville,
DID NOT!
Long, Long ago on a cold October day I came home to my King Henry Apartment to find pictures of this on my door...

Now back then I didn't consider myself the Grinch at all. But when you are best friends with someone who believes the Christmas holiday starts the day after Halloween, who loves chipmunks Christmas music, and who has a green and red paper chain around the house that consists of far over 30 links...I tend to appear like the Grinch who stole Christmas. Then I get married and think this nickname wont last but much to my dismay it did. Bryan isn't quite as extreme as dear Kristen, but the second Thanksgiving is over he too is blaring the Christmas tunes (usually Jackson 5) and begging to buy a tree. Even though we'd been given all sorts of cute ornaments I could never justify buying a tree if we weren't even going to be home for two weeks of Christmas break and so I remained the Grinch.

I'm not sure what came over me this year but I decided I was done being called the Grinch. As always Bryan turned on his favorite Michael Buble Christmas CD and I sang along; He asked for a tree and we got one!!; I even splurged on new ornaments, set up our manger set, and am counting down the days til Christmas!

And what happened then...?

Well...in Who-ville they say

That the Grinch's small heart

Grew three sizes that day!

And the minute his heart didn't feel quite so tight,

He whizzed with his load through the bright morning light

And he brought back the toys! And the food for the feast!

And he...
...HE HIMSELF...!

The Grinch carved the roast beast.

Decorating the tree...

After dancing to our first Christmas song...

The day after Thanksgiving we were in search of a tree topper. We found nothing that we liked and came home empty handed and disappointed. Then we picked Megan up from the airport and she handed us a little toad from mom. Isn't he cute? It's magnetic so we are using toadstool as our tree topper this year. :)

Lastly, the triple chocolate cake Bryan made me. Delicious. He's the best!

Feeling Thankful

I left for work this morning and as always kissed Bryan goodbye. He was still completely asleep today when I left. I tell him I love him and as I'm leaving the bedroom I hear, "I love you too, but we need to talk about a long term plan." HUH?!? "Recycling only saves the earth if we do it for 10 or more years Ashley." Ooookay Bry, Bye-bye.

With Thanksgiving tomorrow I wanted to take a minute and say how thankful I am for the life I have been blessed with. I am so grateful for a husband who talks gibberish in his sleep. I am thankful for family and friends that are truly incredible. I am grateful for the gospel and for a Savior who is my best friend. I am thankful for our home and ward. I am thankful for Bryan's schooling and for a hopeful future. And this year I am extremely grateful for our little baby.

I hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Tagged...

Katie tagged me to list six facts or habits about myself so here goes:

1. I DETEST cereal and eggs. By detest I mean I cannot stand to look or smell these two foods; I literally gag when cereal is in my vicinity. Growing up I would always have breakfast with my dad and brother who aren't freaks of nature like me. I had to put up 2 cereal boxes to guard my eyes from seeing what they were eating.

2. I am a hypochondriac. Since working at the Health Center so closely with the doctors in Urgent Care my condition has greatly worsened. I see all these young students with scary symptoms and I automatically start having them for fear of dying. One doctor told me a kid lost a leg from a blood clot from the same meds I was on...instantly my leg hurts. Appendicitis patient: my side hurts. On and on...it's truly pathetic.

3. I LOVE, love, love California. Growing up it was always my favorite vacation spot; I would dream about what it would be like to live there with the Mediterranean homes, the ocean, and the year round sunshine. When I came to BYU and people would guess that I was from California or say that I dressed like a California girl it was the biggest complement ever. :) Then I married Bryan who is from Cali and equally as obsessed with the state as me. I now get to spend most of our holidays there and have a hope of some day becoming a true California girl.

4. I am a huge girly girl. I love pink; I danced ballet; I love clothes and shoes and shopping; AND I run like a total girl! I played basketball from 5th to 8th grade. All my friends made fun of the way I ran, but because I was faster than them I didn't believe I ran funny. Then I saw a tape of it...my arms would bend at the elbows and swing side to side like I was doing a little tap dance. Needless to say I never lived that down. As a result of that and everything else that makes me girly I was voted most feminine in both our 8th grade and senior year who's who section of the yearbook.

5. I am completely in love with my husband. He is my best friend and my entire world. I always wanted to believe that whole "someday you'll find someone and they will feel like your other half" but as I was dating in college I was having a hard time believing this person existed. Then I met Bryan and right away I knew he did. Which is probably why I was engaged after less than 3 months of dating him. Every single day I look at him and feel like the luckiest person in the world. He always makes me laugh to the point that I cry; He is so witty and intelligent; He is humble and so giving of his time; and he makes me feel like I am his world with his small acts of kindness. I am so proud of him. He is working so hard in law school and is going to make an incredible father!

6. I absolutely cannot wait to be a mother. I am sooooo excited! Although I can't feel my baby I still feel so close to it already and love it very, very much! Maybe my closeness is because my family has a thing with nicknames and my poor baby already has one. Because I was on a high dose of fertility drugs Bryan's fam and mine were very worried about us having twins. My little sister on the other hand thought it would great for naming purposes. Her favorite combo was Luigi and Mario. After we found out that there was only one baby Erika was distraught. She and Bryan were discussing it at Sunday dinner and Bryan says "well my favorite Nintendo character was always Toadstool anyway." Since that fateful day my poor baby has been referred to as Toadstool by everyone! All I can say is that if it's a girl...she's doomed.

I tag: Emily, Heather, Janelle, Jenna, Kristen, and Valerie :)

Sharing Our Joy!

Bryan and I are beyond elated to share with all our friends and family that we are HAVING A BABY May 24!!!!!!! Words could never express the happiness and great gratitude we feel for this blessing. We are just So HAPPY!!!! As most of you know this has been a very long time coming for us. We can't thank each of you enough for the countless thoughts and prayers that have been said on our behalf this past year and a half. We are so blessed to have you all in our lives. Thank you!

I will officially be 12 weeks on Saturday, but we just got back from our doctors appointment where we were able to hear the baby's heartbeat; the doctor told us we were in the clear to share our big news with everyone. We found out that I was pregnant September 15 which honestly seems like an eternity ago. When I looked down at the test that day the tears just came. I was extremely overwhelmed with gratitude and love for a Heavenly Father who truly knows what is best and wants us to be happy. When Bryan came up stairs after I took the test he saw the mascara running down my face and automatically wrapped his arms around me and says "It's okay, have faith it will happen for us next month." I was crying so hard I could barely tell him it was really positive. He didn't appreciate the deception. :)

Because of the past two miscarriages our doctor was very pro-active with our care, which I was so grateful for. He had us come in immediately to do blood work which came out very positive. It was a good way to start but my nerves were still very on edge. We were also able to have a viability ultra sound at 7 weeks. I have never been so scared or nervous in my entire life. I think Bryan had to carry me in that day because I was shaking so hard. The sonogram tech had to tell me to look at the computer screen because I was too afraid to. Seeing our little baby was one of the most incredible moments of my life. Seeing its little heart beat was absolutely surreal. All the trials and enduring to get to this moment were not easy, but it was more than worth it for that moment. Since then we have been praying and waiting for our appointment today. Hearing the heartbeat again overwhelmed me with that same joy and peace. Like I said...I really cannot express the amount of gratitude we feel for this blessing of a child in our lives.








(I realize you can't really tell what's going on in this ultra sound but it's our baby's first picture--and we're excited!)

If you want the "real" story of how my pregnancy has been going (or if you just want to laugh) you can read Bryan's Counterpoint:
http://phippscounterpoint.blogspot.com/
Thanks again for all your prayers--We love you each so much!
Love, Bryan and Ashley

Happy Halloween!

Saturday Bry and I decided to carve pumpkins! True to Bryan's personality just carving them on our own wasn't good enough; We had to get the special carving tool kit. As much as I harass him--he was right--it was more fun. I was quite impressed with my pumpkin choosing skills. Bry kept picking out the ones that tipped over so I took over and found two monster, perfect standing pumpkins. We took them home and Bry so graciously scraped out the insides for me.

















Bryan decided to take on one of the more advanced carvings. I'm sure you can guess which one is his. It took him a bit longer than me to finish. However I'm sure his defense will be that he did all the hard work on my pumpkin. :) After we finished we waited for it to get dark so we could test them out.

They turned out pretty cute huh?!? I'm quite fond of my little bat. I don't think I have carved a pumpkin since I was in Girl Scouts back in about 3rd grade. It was a really fun thing to do together!

Miracles

I stole these picture from my cousin's wife Katie. I just cannot get over what a miracle this is. My Aunt and Uncle Sabin's home was literally just barely spared from the fires in San Diego. In all the devestation that happened last week this is such a huge blessing.

I love Mail Deliveries!

Yesterday I came home from a looong day of work to find MAIL! Something about it just totally brightens my day. I love the surprise. Yesterday was especially great because I got three packages! I'd ordered some of Shannon Hale's books a while ago and they never came. Finally yesterday I got Enna Burning AND Princess Academy which I am so excited to read! And to top it all off I got a sweet little box from my best friend in Boston! Thanks Kri for the note and toothpaste :) I can't tell you how much I miss you!! Anyway...maybe I'm extremely pathetic for blogging about mail...but it's the little things that make life so good, right!