At the park, and a beard competition!

September 12th-

For the last month or so Justin has been part of a beard competition at work. It's been fun to see the various stages in the growth of his beard! (Although I can't lie that by the time he shaved I was way ready to have a clean shaven face to kiss!) Well, on Friday we took these pictures and then he shaved his beard off and then on Monday- the day of the judging for best beard- Justin sent in these pics and HE WON!!! Way to go babe! His prize is a gift card for $60 for a professional shave!

During Dad's ultimate frisbee game...

August 13th- Justin has been playing on an ultimate frisbee team that was put together at work. Me and the kids have LOVED going to the games. It's been a relaxing and fun summer family activity. We love cheering for Daddy's team!

SUPER fun news!

Yep, that's right we just found out last week that in June we will be moving to Baltimore, Maryland for Justin's next rotation for his job with BD Medical. We are so excited!

I live in Nebraska?!

I still picture our home to be in our little apartment in Orem, Utah. Sometimes, I wake up in the morning and think we are there. At the grocery store, the gas station, or the pharmacy I keep thinking I see people that I know- family and friends from home- and then I remember... that it can't be them cause they don't live here.

It just doesn't feel real to me yet that we live here.

I live in Nebraska.

For years now, I have had this "Today I feel..." magnet on our fridge. It cost me $1 in the dollar section at Target. It's silly, and I probably wouldn't have kept it for this long except Maddie seems to really love it whenever she has come to visit.

Maddie: "Ashley, how do you feel today? Hungry? Fat?! Ha, ha, ha." (As she proceeds to laugh hysterically.)

I just love it.

So, this picture is for her.

And, here is my answer these days Mads- I feel ZANY.

Absolutely and completely zany. I guess it is from the move. My life just feels in a constant state of "newness?" (I don't know how else to describe it?)

Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad thing. We really like it here. So far, I really like it here. For the next year Columbus, Nebraska is our home and so far there are quite a few things that I really like about it. So, I decided to make a little list.

10 things that I LOVE about Columbus, Nebraska: (so far :) )

#1- The first thing I noticed and automatically loved about Nebraska is all the trees. There are no mountains, or hills, or absolutely anything like that here, like Utah, but there are tons, and tons, and tons of beautiful, huge trees. They line the streets and fill the neighborhoods and I think they are gorgeous and a very enjoyable part of Nebraska.

#2- There are lightning bugs here! There are definitely no lightning bugs in Utah. I love sitting outside at night with Justin and Keat and watching for lightning bugs in our yard. I also have really enjoyed when we have been driving at night and I've been able to look out into all the farm fields- there are tons and tons of lightning bugs out there! It's fun and makes me happy for sure.

#3- We have air conditioning here! Which is a very 1st for us since we have been married. It was almost torture in our last apartment with how hot it would get in the summertime! On the very worst days our temperature gauge in our apartment would read anywhere from 90 degrees to 97 degrees!!! I honestly don't know how I did it?! Having central air is a dream. :) It is quite humid here (as my hair can attest to), and because of the heavy humidity having air conditioning (in my opinion) is just that much better.

 #4- We have a dishwasher! Need I say more? We have never had a dishwasher before either.

#5- (This is kinda a silly one, but nonetheless...) Our mailbox is right outside our front door. At our old apartment we had to walk around the block to get to our mailbox, and although that isn't the worst thing ever :) it is quite convenient to have the mailbox so close by. Plus, it also means that we have a walking (for lack of a better word?) mailman, which I happen to think is quite fun.

#6- There are bunnies hopping around all over the place here- in our backyard, at the parks, and in the fields. It's so cute! I keep telling Justin that he needs to catch one for Keaton to have for a pet. :) He says that would be really hard and won't even try for me! (We also see lots of squirrels, and  lots of noisy birds in our yard, which Keaton loves.)

#7- We have the Disney channel! (I've already mentioned this before, but I think it's worth mentioning it again.) We have Disney, Disney XD, and Disney Jr. I love, love, love it. It makes me happy daily. And, since we are finally unfinished packing and all settled in, I finally have a little extra time to watch all things Disney. (Which usually happens during naptime. Justin is a stink and won't let me watch the Disney channel once he gets home from work.) Having the Disney channel also means we have cable. Another 1st. And, although Justin won't admit it, I think he is enjoying watching movies and tv shows with me that we wouldn't be able to watch otherwise, plus I know he will enjoy watching sports in the future. :)

#8- It is quite fun to live in a house. We have 3 floors and so, so, so much room. (It might take me quite a bit longer to clean than our teeny, tiny apartment, which is a negative for me, but it may be the only one. :) ) It's weird, to have so much space, but I've grown to love it already. It's a new, fun, good experience. Plus, it is in fact a cute little house, in a cute little neighborhood, in quaint little Columbus, (emphasis on the little) Nebraska. :)

#9- We can hear the "choo-choo" trains... Okay, so this isn't exactly a "love" about Columbus, Nebraska thing. The trains are close to our house and go by quite frequently all the while blowing their horns as loud as possible- particularly at night. We learned the hard way that it isn't a great idea to leave our windows open at night. (between the trains all through the night and the noisy birds starting at the crack of dawn...). We are getting more and more used to the trains everyday, but there are still nights when I wake up to the sound of the trains horns blowing, and blowing, and blowing all through town. It isn't as annoying anymore (as long as our windows are closed, of course), but it does sometimes scare me a little- like I am waking up from a scary dream just to realize it's just another train. On a more positive note, Keaton gets super, super excited when he hears the trains and looks around and says, "Oooh!" and "Choo-choo." :)

#10- (I am going to kinda combine 2 things in this one.) I am 100% a stay at home mom now. It is amazingly wonderful and I can't help but hoping that is lasts forever. :) And, I have a husband now!
He, he. Just kidding. That is probably not very fair to say. But, with Justin only working now, Keaton and I see him so much more which is so great. We get to do so many more things together as a family now- family dinners, bike rides, walks, movie nights, just purely spending time with Keaton, and we even got gym memberships at the YMCA (which has free daycare, not that Keaton will like it- it is much too much like nursery... we'll see how that goes!).

Happy, happy, happy. That's what all these things make me. Which is good, cause as much as I like it here so far, it is still an adjustment. I have never lived so far away from family and friends, in such a small, unfamiliar place. But, Columbus, Nebraska it is quickly growing on us. And, all these things I love so far, daily put a smile on my face.

P.S. (Instead of adding a #11, but would be very wrong of me not to mention) EVERYONE we have met here- everyone in the branch, our neighbors, Justin's co-workers- has been extremely nice and welcoming to us. We have already made quite a few friends. :)

Columbus, Nebraska feels like home more and more everyday and in a year I fear that we will love it here so much we won't be ready to leave! But, for now, we plan on livin' it up and just enjoying every second of our time here because, like time frequently does, I'm sure it will fly by much too fast!

Welcome to Nebraska!

 Okay, so let's re-cap:

Friday, June 1st- We left West Point at 5 am to make our way to Nebraska. My parents and Maddie came with us enable to stay the weekend and help us get our house all clean and ready to move into. :) We arrived to our new home in Columbus, Nebraska at about 8:30 pm that night. Honestly, it all just felt so surreal. Our house was just empty so we went to Walmart for a couple of things, came back, set up our air mattresses to sleep on, and went to bed after a very, very long day of driving.
Saturday, June 2nd- My parents and Maddie helped us clean, clean, clean. Justin mowed the lawn. We went to Walmart again, got a few things at Dollar Tree, and ate dinner at Applebees.
Sunday, June 3rd- We went to church at our new branch. It was very strange being in such a small church with so few people. I think there were 8 woman in Relief Society and almost half of them were just visiting. But, the people were all very nice and we felt very welcomed.
Monday, June 4th- We said goodbye to my parents and Maddie. :( It was very sad. I wanted them to stay longer! And, Justin started his 1st day at work at the Columbus, Nebraska BD Medical East plant.
Tuesday-Thursday, June 5-7th- I patiently waited for all of our stuff to come as Keaton and I quickly went insane in a house full of N.O.T.H.I.N.G.
Wednesday, June 6th- We did have a little "excitement" in between waiting for all our stuff to come- on Wednesday night as I was helping Keaton up the few stairs that lead from our mudroom into the kitchen he fell and dangled in mid-air while I was still holding onto his right wrist and it twisted his wrist and I heard it snap... I told Justin right away that I thought I had hurt Keaton's wrist while helping him up the stairs (I felt so extremely bad.). And sure enough, it started to swell up pretty quickly and Keaton would cry and cry if he tried to use it or if we touched it at all. So, off to the emergency room we went.

The doctor did x-rays and then came in to tell us that Keaton had what is called a "torus fracture" in his right wrist a.k.a it was broken and he would have to get a cast. So, they wrapped his arm all up and referred us to a doctor to go to after 5 days and the swelling had gone down so that he could get a hard cast.

Well, over the past 6 days Keaton has adjusted pretty well to his wrapped up arm. He didn't let it bother him too much (Except he really hated it when I wrapped a bag around his arm to take a bath. Yeah, that wasn't fun.). Then today we took him in to the bone doctor to get his hard cast and SURPRISE! The doctor said his arm would heal just fine without the cast! Yippee! Happy day!

Goodbye job, project apartment redecoration round 2, and scrub a dub, dub!

This morning I worked my final shift as a phlebotomist at UVRMC. It was surprisingly bitter-sweet. I have really enjoyed my job, it has been such a good and growing experience for me, I have had the opportunity to work with some really great, fun people, and yet, I am so very excited to not have to worry about working "on-call" anymore, AND, the greatest part is I now get to be home with Keaton again ALL THE TIME. :) It's very exciting.

My tray. All stocked up and ready to go. Tubes, needles, syringes, bags, tourniquets, transfer devices, gauze, alcohol wipes, and tape, etc.- the works.

If ya look closely you will see a repeated symbol on many of the products on my tray- BD! Yep, Justin has been an intern for and will soon be a full-time employee at BD Medical, which ironically makes most of the products I have used as a phlebotomist for the past [almost] 8 years (8 years!? Can you believe that? Never thought that would happen- my college job becoming my somewhat "career" for the past 8 years?! Weird. And, a little sad? ish?)!

And, since I was once again up all night my only tactic for staying awake during the day to take care of Keaton was to clean- clean like a mad woman! The perfect sleep deprived activity. Ha, ha. And, I gave our apartment redecoration a 2nd shot. So, after some creative thinking I was able to find a much more realistic set-up for our family room. Don't ya think?

Justin still hasn't seen it yet, but I think he will be pleased. Plus, since we will be having family over the next few days for graduation I thought it was a good idea to have not only a clean apartment, but a normal looking one as well? Ha, ha.

And, well, I normally don't scrub the tub each time I clean, but since there is a good chance Justin's parents will be staying the night with us tomorrow night and using our bathroom to get ready Friday morning, I decided it was high time to do some deeper cleaning in the bathroom. The tub/shower was NASTY. Sadly, and honestly it's the truth.

And, even more sadly, after taking these pictures and uploading them to the computer I have realized that they make the tub look even dirtier than before! (If that is even possible?!) So, out of the irony of how much I scrub-a-dubbed our tub I decided to post these pictures anyway. I was thinking it would be fun to post how proud I was of how clean our tub and shower looked... oh, well! Such is life.

Like always, it feels AMAZING to have a nice, clean home. I LOVE it. (Probably a little too much, actually... Shh, don't tell!)

Anywho... Justin has big graduation events both tomorrow and Friday. Super exciting! I can't say enough how excited and proud I am of my most amazing husband!!!


So, Ani, (probably the only person out there that might actually read this ENTIRE crazy, silly, most likely to most people- incredibly boring post) thank you for being THAT kind of friend. :) And, can we please get together multiple times a week now that I no longer have to worry about work and especially since Justin will be gone for a WHOLE week starting next Friday for the hybrid race car "stuff," pretty please??? I am feeling like I am going to have loads of free time! Oh, and p.s. when is your final theatrical presentation for school? I want sooo badly to be there!




[It's 1 a.m. now. Keaton has been asleep for hours and I am exhausted. AND, Justin is still at the school. Of course. Wow. Wow. Wow. I REALLY need to get some sleep. I think I am going C.R.A.Z.Y.! Will this post even make any sense in the morning? Ha, ha. Goodnight!]  

Let the countdown begin, and a sad little story!

10 more days till Justin graduates! It has been a very, very BUSY (to say the least) the last couple of semesters for Justin. He has been working so very hard and in just 10 days from today it will all be over! Justin will be graduating from BYU with his degree in Mechanical Engineering. I am so proud of my wonderful, hard working, extremely smart husband! He has worked so hard for this and has learned so much and will be a great asset at BD Medical as he starts his career out in the real world.

 And, only 1 more week and I will be done working! (Possibly for the rest of my life?) I am very excited about this! I can't wait to be just a stay at home mom. (I am a little sad to leave my job, I have really enjoyed working at Utah Valley Hospital and I have especially enjoyed working with my co-workers. It has been a great place to work!)

And now, for a sad story. This is my new wallet. I say new because I had to buy a new one yesterday because on Saturday night while shopping for shoes for Keaton with my mom at Payless my wallet was stolen! Along with all my stuff inside it! ...debit card, credit card, checks, gift cards, movie tickets, check balance book, important receipts, my old BYU ID...and much more! Grrr! It has been maddening to say the least! I can't honestly believe that someone would just swipe my wallet while it was literally right behind on a little bench while I was kneeling on the floor trying shoes on Keaton.

So, yes this is my new wallet. Although I'm not really sure I even need it at this point since all it has in it is my temporary drivers license, (I had to go and pay to get a new one!) and a couple dollars cash. That's it. Sadly, the two super cute pairs of shoes my mom ended up buying Keaton (since I clearly couldn't buy them!) weren't worth the price of my wallet getting taken!

ANNOUNCEMENT, ANNOUNCEMENT, ANNOUNCEMENT!

 After quite a few long years of hard work and dedication Justin's journey through school has just about come to an end, and as weird as it feels for us the next chapter of our lives is about to begin!

Here's how it all happened-
*So, back in October of last year Justin started applying for and interviewing with many different companies that he would have liked to work for after graduation, and back on November 8th- my birthday!- Justin was offered what is called the MDP position with BD Medical! (The same company he did an internship.) This position is one we were both very excited for especially since it is a rotational program where we will be moving once a year for the next 2 years to any of the many BD plants that are across the United States and on the 3rd year will end up back here in Utah.
*Then- On November 30th Justin (and I :) ) accepted the job offer with BD Medical! It wasn't too hard of a decision, but it was a BIG decision (maybe even one of the biggest decisions we have ever made since being married) and after lots of thinking about, talking about, and praying about the offer we decided it was the best thing for our family.
*And, ever since making our big decision we have been impatiently :) waiting to hear just WHERE we will be going for Justin to work for his 1st year in the program. (It's kinda been like waiting for a mission call! Ha, ha.)
*Finally, on January 26th we received the call that told us where we would be going... DRUMROLL PLEASE...

After Justin's graduation in April and starting at the beginning of June we will be moving to...

COLUMBUS, NEBRASKA?!? 

Are you thinking what we have been thinking since we found out... I mean seriously, Nebraska? What in the world are we going to do in Nebraska? Ha, ha. Our initial reaction wasn't the greatest, but now that we have had some time to think it over we are very excited about our move. It will be quite the adventure we're just sure of it!