Going Away Party

Our friends had a going away party for us. It was fun to see everybody and now looking back I'm going to try not to start crying as I write this. I'm starting to feel a little lump in my throat even now.

We LOVE our friends. Each and every one of them has touched our lives and our hearts. We are so sad we will not see you all as often, but we do know it's not goodbye forever. So many times over the years we have all reflected and we have said and other people have told us that it is RARE to find so many amazing quality GOOD friends. We watch football with you, go camping, go to the beach, have Bible Study, laugh, cry, watch each other fall in love and get married, then watch each other have one and sometimes two kids....It saddens me knowing that the road is much longer between all of us, but please always remember that you are still often in my thoughts and prayers. Also know that it will just take a little more effort to hang out. I think the last few years we have taken for granted the short drive it takes to hang out and spend time together...life happens, kids happen and it is longer and longer in between the times when we see each other. These are all things I couldn't really get out that Sunday night because I was crying...but you are all so amazing and we love you. I can't wait to see you each again soon. Please don't forget to tell us about things like our annual camping trip and beach trip because we will try and come. We are used to making the drive to see family out here and like we have said many times...you are not just our good friends but our "Pennsylvania family". 

Our friends made us a big framed picture of several pictures of all of us over the years. I love it and it will be treasured always. They also wrapped up a box of Kleenex but instead of Kleenex it was filled with cash they had all put in. You are so generous and it was put to good use since moving is so expensive. I can't thank you all enough...but it is one more example of how God has provided for us in this crazy journey.

Brooklynn had to put the moves on Levi right before we left. They were playing SO cute together.

Annual "Beach Day"

So this year our Beach Trip happened at a pool. We still might go this weekend. But the day we had planned was supposed to rain all day, and there was a hurricane going on so we couldn't swim anyway b/c of the riptides. I didn't take a ton of pictures but I did manage to get a few cute ones in.

Jasmine Turns 30

Happy Birthday, Jasmine!

Baby Shower in PA

This last Saturday we had another baby shower with my friends here in PA. What a great time we had! Thanks everyone for coming and for showering us with gifts!
All the girls to the left of me think we're having a boy, and the three girls on my right think we're having a girl. We'll see who's right!

Playing "Baby Taboo" My team won. :)

This is how big they think my belly is...

We got some great gifts! We feel so grateful and so blessed that all of you are in our lives. Not only for your generosity of the gifts you gave to us, but for the time and energy it took to plan this shower for us and also for everyone who was there just showing love to us and our baby who isn't even here yet! We love you all and can't wait for him or her to meet you all!

Trip to the Midwest

My employers out out of town for 6 weeks so I decided to make good use of my time and take a trip home to visit family. I got to be home for 11 days! It was great! As usual I squeezed in tons of things; but I also did have some nice relaxing times. I spent several days going through tons of boxes in my room and boy did I get rid of a lot of stuff! It looks maybe twice as big in there!

My sisters and my mom threw me my first baby shower! It was so fun to see some old friends and to celebrate our beautiful baby. I can tell this child is already so lucky because it's loved by so many people and he or she is not even born yet!




After the shower we had some good old fashioned Ashley family bonding time! It's always so great to be around my family.

I headed down to Fishers to stay with Andi & Marc and Janelle and her two boys came up for breakfast!
We had a surprise very early 30th birthday party for Josh while we were home, because we will be such new parents around his birthday, and probably won't be able to go out to celebrate. He was definitely surprised! At first he wasn't sure WHY he was being surprised, which was funny. (His actual birthday is Feb. 3) Either way it was fun to be together with the Beans and celebrate Josh.

Later in the week I had another baby shower, this one was thrown by Josh's family. Here are some pictures of the highlights. I loved all the bee stuff. (For those of you who don't know already, we're having a bee nursery theme. I have always LOVED bumble bees!)

On the way home I drove to Toledo to stay with Diana & Jacob to cut a couple of hours off my 10 hour drive. I got to meet their new cats, Bella & Bird. They're adorable! It was also great to see them again. I haven't gotten to see their apartment since their wedding weekend so it looks different with all their new things.

I made it home safely, but I had such a great time getting to be home for 11 days! It was really nice to be more leisurely and just relax. I'll have to start doing this more regularly. :)

It was great to see everyone!