Holidays

Well, it was like 25 degrees today so it is definitely starting to feel like the Holiday season, except if you are used to Arizona. Ashley and I had a great Thanksgiving break. It started out with another awesome Turkey Bowl in which I scored the first 3 TDs of the game and then played tired the rest of the game. I am officially getting old and can now understand why Dad only runs routes on occasion. I even found myself staying in and blocking a few times on offense to give myself a break. That's what I get for working everyday and going to school full-time without having a chance to do any exercise, I guess. I did play some tough Defense though, and had 5 picks as a shut-down safety. (I am still waiting for the Kanab-Fredonia Turkey Bowl highlights/pics, Derrick).

It was nice to have Ashley relaxed for a few days before her finals came (she begins two weeks of finals tomorrow and is totally stressed out). Her parents flew into New Jersey (that is where Steve is from) and we ate our feast with his family. We had the football games on and I got sleepy on the couch like a true Thanksgiving day. It was great. We then spent the night at Ashley's uncles house on the worst bed I have ever slept on. With the football game and the terrible bed, I was extremely sore from head to toe all weekend. Ash's family came down to our house on Friday and we showed them the King of Prussia Mall. The next day, we went to a place called Shady Maple, which we just discovered and is the most amazing buffet in the world. It is in Amish country and the building and parking look like Disney Land because it is such a famous tourist place to go. We went for breakfast and it was amazing. They make your omelets, pancakes, french toast, etc. the way you want it and you can keep going back. It was awesome. We got more full there than on Thanksgiving morning and it was all for like $8.00. After that, we took them to another famous place in Philly called Longwood Gardens. It is supposedly the best garden place in the nation and it really was amazing. They had all the winter/Christmas lights up and a bunch of indoor gardens and it was really cool (These are the pictures). To give you an idea of how cool it was, Steve and Lori said it was better than those Gardens on Victoria Island that are so famous that they have also been to.

So, we had a great break and are now back to school for a couple more weeks. Ashley has like 10 finals so we are praying that she can make it through. I am finishing up all of my big projects and have given 4 presentations in the last week. We can't wait to be done with this semester and to come visit AZ for a relaxing vacation. Love you guys!

Poem for mormon women

I was sent this poem today about mormon women and all of the overwhelming things they feel they need to do. I'm feeling really overwhelmed right now so I really liked it. So I wanted to share it with all of the girls. -Ashley
Vickie Gunther of Redlands, California, wrote a hilarious poem, Dr. Seuss style, about how much LDS women try to take on. David B. Marsh used it at Women's Conference, and Vickie has given permission to share it.

The Girl in a Whirl by 'Dr. Sue' (a.k.a. Vickie Gunther)

Look at me, look at me, look at me now! You could do what I do If you only knew how. I study the scriptures one hour each day; I bake, I upholster, I scrub, and I pray. I always keep all the commandments completely; I speak to my little ones gently and sweetly. I help in their classrooms! I sew all they wear! I drive them to practice! I cut all their hair! I memorize names of the General Authorities; I focus on things to be done by priorities. I play the piano! I bless with my talents! My toilets all sparkle! My checkbooks all balance! Each week every child gets a one-on-one date; I attend all my meetings (on time! Never late!) I'm taking a class on the teachings of Paul, But that is not all! Oh, no. That is not all! I track my bad habits 'til each is abolished; Our t-shirts are ironed! My toenails are polished! Our family home evenings are always delightful; The lessons I give are both fun and insightful. I do genealogy faithfully, too. It's easy to do all the things that I do! I rise each day early, refreshed and awake; I know all the names of each youth in my stake! I read to my children! I help all my neighbors! I bless the community, too, with my labors. I exercise and I cook menus gourmet; My visiting teaching is done the first day! (I also go do it for someone who missed hers. It's the least I can do for my cherished ward sisters.) I chart resolutions and check off each goal; I seek each "lost lamb" on my Primary roll. I can home-grown produce each summer and fall. But that is not all! Oh, no. That is not all I write in my journal! I sing in the choir! Each day, I write "thank you's" to those I admire. My sons were all Eagles when they were fourteen! My kids get straight A's! And their bedrooms are clean! I have a home business to help make some money; I always look beautifully groomed for my honey. I go to the temple at least once a week; I change the car's tires! I fix the sink's leak! I grind my own wheat and I bake all our bread; I have all our meals planned out six months ahead. I make sure I rotate our two-years' supply; My shopping for Christmas is done by July! These things are not hard; 'tis good if you do them; You can if you try! Just set goals and pursue them! It's easy to do all the things that I do! If you plan and work smart, you can do them all, too! It's easy!" she said and then she dropped dead.

Martha Stewart

So I finally have time to write a blog about my trip to Martha! After having two weeks of exams almost every day, I decided to skip the last exam and go to Martha Stewart with four of my friends. Well worth it! The tickets were free...so that was a plus. We left for New York City on Thursday and stayed over at a Hilton right outside of the city. We took a bus in and went to eat in Little Italy. Then we went to time square and had some dessert at a cute diner. The servers were performers as well and while they weren't taking orders, they would grab a microphone and sing a song. These people were seriously amazing! They could all win American Idol. Well, we were having so much fun that we accidentally missed our bus so we ended up taking the next bus...at 1:00 a.m. On the bus, there were people coming back from a Mets game (so the bus was full). A forty-something year old..uhh...shall I say...hooker girl decided to make out with two different, random young guys on the bus and expose her chest! And... I won't say more because it's kinda gross (but, you can ask me if you really want to know). We told her she was being disgusting, but she didn't seem to mind. So that was our fun New York night experience :). Well, we went to Martha in the morning. She gave us a little yummy breakfast. There was a super funny comedian who entertained us constantly (especially during commercials). He told the audience that if we were loud, he would give out prizes. So, of course I made a fool out of myself and got some candy for it. The show was sooo fun and Martha gave the whole audience a colander, apron, a box of pasta and......a digital camcorder! It is a Pure Digital camcorder. It's a little bigger than the video Ipods. It's really cool. Oh, and Ruben from American Idol sang on the show. He did awesome. After the show, we went shopping and ate at the Serendipity restaurant for lunch and had frozen hot chocolate. You all must try it! It's delicious!
So I decided that I would skip school every Fri. to go to shows in New York City...but, Tyler told me that my idea is probably not practical. Maybe next year when I'm not so busy. Well, I miss you all! I can't wait until Christmas!- Ashley

Happy Halloween

Obviously, these are not our kids, but they are our friends kids right before they left to go trick-or-treating. They were pretty funny. Hope everyone had a good Halloween.

I love Arizona

Yeah the summers are hot, but nothing beats the weather down there this past weekend. It was so beautiful. 90 degrees with a slight breeze. I loved it! We figured out that it has been 7 years since I got to work at Dad's tournament. I really missed it. It was so great to be able to come down, watch some baseball in perfect weather, and have lots of fun with my family. Summer went into labor, Casey started saying "Tyler"--What else could I ask for? The only thing missing was my wonderful wife who did not get to come. It made her feel better when she heard about Casey giving kisses to her picture when we tol d him to "Kiss Ashley." She also felt better about my trip when she got invited over that weekend to go with a group of her friends to see Martha Stewart's show being taped. (I'll let her tell you all about it when she finally gets a chance to blog). I just wanted to tell you guys how great it was to see everyone. I really miss being around everyone. T, you are getting so old and mature. You are a million times more mature and grown-up than the High school juniors I sub for. It was a lot of fun hanging out with you and doing your history homework on Sunday. Ashley and I are sooo excited for Christmas break (and it isn't just because this terrible semester will be over!) We can't wait to see you all again and see the new baby. Love you guys.

House furnished...Sort of

We still haven't painted our walls, but this is how our house looks now. You can see our new tv, couch, and bed. It is so fun to have our own place. We love it.

GOLF!

I finally got a chance to go golfing on Wednesday. It was funny because I went with a friend of mine who told me he wasn't very good, so I thought we'd be on the same level. Turns out, he is really good. I was pretty embarrassed, especially because we were put with another twosome that we didn't know. I got a little nervous and actually drove my first three balls on the first tee straight into the water! Eventually (probably around hole #8 or so), I settled down and started to play better. I had some nice drives, iron shots, and putts. Chipping was atrocious. I even had one drive on a dog-leg left that I overshot the fairway as it turned left, drilled a huge tree, and had the ball bounce back on the fairway, setting me up perfectly for my next shot. It was awesome. The course we played on was beautiful and is less than five minutes from our new house. I'm glad we got out and played that day because it has been pouring rain ever since. Looks like another crappy-weather weekend.

General Conference

I just wanted to say how wonderful conference was this weekend. I thought it was so fun to be able to sit at home and watch the whole thing on our laptop computer. Technology does have its good uses! I have to say that Jefferey R. Holland's talk at the end of conference was the most powerful, wonderful talk I think I have ever heard. Ash and I had a great weekend listened to the prophets while sitting on our new couch in sweats. The spirit was so strong and I just want to be a better person after listening to their words.

The weeks keep cruisin' by

Sorry it has been a while since my last post. This past couple weeks flew by without me even realizing it. I had to take a few days off from subbing this week so that I could get a TB test to student teach and also to officially clean out our old apartment. We got the apartment all clean and turned in the keys, which means we no longer have two addresses. I turned in all my stuff for my student teaching application and should find out where I will be assigned within a couple weeks. I am hoping I can do it at the high school that is like 2 blocks from our house. That would be really nice. The private baseball lessons are going really well with Mason. He is 14 years old and a pretty good ballplayer. I know it sounds funny to all of you who know me, but I am working with him a lot on his swing (just because I couldn't hit doesn't mean I can't teach him:)). Ashley had a huge test this week and she ended up studying forever and got an A on it. She is doing awesome in Dental School. I'm so proud of her.

Pottstown Ward

Just thought I'd write a little bit about our new ward. When we first looked at our new condo, we actually thought that it was still in our old ward. After we fell in love with it, however, we realized that it is just on the other side of the boundary--it is actually a completely different stake (I realize that doesn't sound weird for you west-coasters, but out here the stakes are ginormous). So we are attending a new ward in Pottstown, PA. So far, we are loving it. It is a smaller, quieter ward with more families and less students. Everyone was so excited to have us in the ward. There are a few young couples, but only a couple are dental students (unlike our last ward with close to 20 dental student couples). We made friends with another couple that moved in the same day as us from the San Diego area. He was transferred here to work and commutes to Philly everyday. They invited us over for a BBQ and it was a lot of fun. We are excited to serve in our new ward. Ashley was already given the same calling of Primary music leader, except now she has double duty as the nursery music leader also. I don't have a calling yet because we technically aren't in the ward yet. One guy in the ward found out I played baseball and I have a private lesson with his son tomorrow. We're so excited to be in a new house and a new ward.

Life is Crazy!

The time with my wife is few and far between. On Monday and Thursday, we only see each other enough to read scriptures and say prayers before bed. Working and going to school full-time is tough. We are surviving though. We bought a new TV last week (just in time for the football season) and a new couch. We are going shopping for a new bed tomorrow. The house is starting to come together, slowly but surely. We will have to send some new pics of what it looks like with some furniture in it. Sorry the blogging is a little bit slacking, but I just read everyone's blogs and everyone seems to be doing great. The picture is another one of Ash and I at a lighthouse in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Love you guys!

Still no internet

I am blogging this time in between my two night classes at Cabrini. I apologize for the lack of blogs recently, but we do not have internet at our new house yet, nor do we have much time to think, let alone blog. Both Ash and I started school this week. She leaves at about 6:30 every morning (the price we pay for living far away from the city), and gets home around 5:00 at night. I have class from 4:30-9:45 on Monday and Thursday, so that means we pretty much won't see each other on those two days. On Tuesday I have class from 7:15 to 9:30, so we at least get to eat dinner together. That leaves Wednesday and the weekends for our time together. As you can probably tell, we are not all the way unpacked yet and are feeling the stresses of a busy school year coming already. The nice thing is, after this semester I will student teach in the spring and be working in the fall. Ashley will have a year of he-- but it will be much easier after this one is done. Let's hope we can just make it through these next few months. (Our internet should be in soon so you can expect a lot more blogging from me). Love you guys!

Da Beach

Alright, the last three days have been spent on the beach. The water is really warm and the waves are great for boogie boarding and body surfing. It has been beautiful outside and we are having a lot of fun with the other people here. Sorry about the lack of pics, mom. I'm gonna try to post a bunch right now and also see if I can post some video of Ash and I boogie boarding.

Wright Brothers and lots of Volleyball!

This morning was a little cloudy so we all went to the Wright Brothers National Park/Museum in Kitty Hawk. It was really cool! I guess I never really knew how much science and planning went into their first flight. It was a pretty fun place to visit and from the top of the hill you could see all of outer banks. We came back and in the afternoon we spent hours in the backyard pool playing hoops and volleyball. Ashley was the only girl to play and she was a dominating presence. She even rejected the guys numerous times and gave them facials on some amazing spikes. That's why I married her! I was very impressed. The guys kicked the girls' butts at Cranium tonight. It was a fun day. Enjoy the pics of Kitty Hawk, NC (10 minutes from our place).

Outer Banks North Carolina

Ash and I made it down to Outer Banks today. We are in this freakin' awesome house with five bedrooms (there are 5 couples here) and a nice pool (see picture from the third floor of our deck). The trip down here was amazing. We drove along the Atlantic coast through all of Delaware, the eastern edge of Maryland and the outer tip, peninsula part of Virginia. We had to pay 12 bucks to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel, which was the coolest bridge ever. You couldn't even see the other end of it so it felt like we were driving into the middle of the ocean. Then, it would dip down under the water into a tunnel. It was crazy. As you can tell, we have internet here so I'll try to keep you bloggers posted on the fun we're having.

We're tiiiiired!!!

Wow! We are in our new house! Our first official night! This is Ashley. I have to specify since I haven't written anything on here yet. :) Well today has been a very long day. We woke up this morning by a phone call from our Refrigerator/ dryer guy. This was at 7:30. We are still on AZ time so this is like 4:30 a.m. Well anyway, I decided to go back to bed :) and Tyler went to our house to unlock the door. A couple hours later, Ty went to U-Haul and they didn't have the truck we reserved. So an hour later, we were given a 26 foot truck that was a stick shift and a diesel! Luckily, our friend said he'd drive. And...the U-Hall guys told them they had to have the truck back in four hours. Well, I was able to get a lot of the packing done, but ran out of boxes to put things in. I started using pillow cases and things.
We finally loaded up the truck and weren't able to fit everything. Meanwhile, there was a guy waiting to pick up our huge player piano that we couldn't fit in our condo. So we helped the guy load the piano, unloaded Austen's stuff and unloaded our stuff. We celebrated with pizza, pop and Rita's ice cream (the best ice cream on the east coast!). One of the guys that stayed in our apartment while we were gone this summer told us that he had two pianos and could give us one. So we were really excited about that. Let's just hope it fits! So there is a lot more to the day....but.....we are super tired and have to go to bed. We are leaving for Outer Banks (North Carolina beach) in the morning for a week. We're getting that one last fun week in before the dreaded school starts again. J/K we are excited about school. Ok, now that this is officially the longest blog ever....have a good week everyone.

Back in Philly! (For a few days)

Well, we got back to our apartment last night and I took Ashley over to see our new house. We were a little surprised to see that the walls weren't very clean. I remembered them being nicer, but Ashley pointed out all the painting that needed to be done. I thought she was upset about it, but she told me she's just excited about doing some projects. We're really excited about our first house and we decided that we weren't going to stress out about it and just work on things little by little. Today, a lot of stress was relieved when we were able to buy a fridge and a dryer at Lowe's for a good price with free, next-day delivery. We were also able to schedule the carpet cleaners to come tomorrow, which is great because our place smells like cat pee really bad. Hopefully they can get rid of that because it is nasty. On Saturday we will move all of our furniture in and we will be leaving for Outer Banks, North Carolina on Sunday. We are trying hard to enjoy our last summer break for a while.

Supermodels!

The other day, Trevor, Tiff, Derrick, Ashley and I decided to make a guest appearance at the local water park (Water World). The people working there, recognizing our beauty, asked us if they could take pictures of us going down the slides and riding the lazy river for their upcoming promotional brochures. We agreed to be models for the day are were rewarded with 10 free passes to come back another day. The rest of the day was spent mostly in the wave pool, where Trevor and Derrick laid the smack down on the 14 year old kids and tossed the rest of us through the water like bowling balls. Ashley even threw me so hard through the water that I scraped my forehead on the ground and have a nasty scab now. It was a fun day!

Our New House!

Alright, here we go with the blogging. On July 28th, Ash and I closed on our first house! We're so excited. To make a really long story short, we had some last-minute problems with our lender that had been promising us that everything was okay for months. After a week of stress and lots of prayers, we were able to get a loan from a different lender and everything worked out better than we could've ever imagined. We obviously haven't moved in yet because we are still in AZ for another week, but we can hardly wait to get all of our stuff in when we get back. The house is actually a 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo. It is on the second and third story of the building and has a big living room area and a family room in the loft. We love it. Here are some pics so you can kind of get a visual. (Oh yeah, and by buying a house Ash saves like $12,000 dollars a year in tuition, so that helps us like it even more).

This is a blog test.