Holidays!!!

Pictures will follow after I get them off of my camera someday.

So, Emma and I went to her parents' place for Thanksgiving, and it was wonderful. I really enjoyed getting to relax, spend time with her family, and especially just be with Emma! We did black Friday, but nothing crazy- we picked up a few movies and a set of bath robes... We also drew names for giving gifts this Christmas, which is a tradition for Emma's family. When we got back to Flagstaff, we were really excited to pick out a real live Christmas tree, and decorate it for Family Home Evening. The experience was completed by the vinyl record player and Christmas albums we played. The whole house smells just like Christmas now!! I'm really excited about the holidays, and in no way do I regret that sizable iTunes download of Christmas music a few weeks ago.

Mostly, I'm just really excited for Emma and I to spend our first Christmas together. I set up my work schedule during winter break today, and I will actually have time to relax!! WOOHOO! Emma might not get to relax quite as much, but she will definitely be enjoying the cookies I crank out for the next month :)

47 Minutes Late

Yesterday{ish} I was grateful for cute shoes and crunchy leaves.



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Beautiful Things

I'm playing catch up again. But I'll still keep it short and to the point.

1.I am grateful for the color red. I don't know why but red things just make me very happy.






2. This one also relates to the picture above. I love these flowers! They are red gerbera daisies and I love them more than roses by a long shot. And also isn't that vase with red ribbon cute? I think so. :) And the red ribbon was all me!

3. Service. The other night I got off of a long night at work and Race wasn't home from cleaning yet so I made dinner (this doesn't happen very often). Meanwhile Race was out "cleaning" when actually he was running to the store to get me these beautiful flowers. Isn't he sweet?! It is hard to learn to put each other first in our marriage especially when we are both so busy and tired all the time but I think we got it right this night! :)






5. I am grateful for pictures! This is our super cute picture wall at our house. It's not completely finished but it will be soon. We have a couple cute quotes to put in the last two frames. But I love our picture wall. Eventually we will switch out some of our wedding/engagement pictures for pictures of our families but we don't have much to choose from right now.






6. The final thing I am grateful for today is SPACE. We have sooo much space in our home now and it is such a nice change. I'll show you two pictures. First the one of our old apartment and it's messiness and tinyness and then one of our new super spacey apartment.









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Four Days' Worth of Gratitude

I am four days behind so here are four things I am grateful for.

1. Having a job. I am really grateful to have a job that helps keep Race and I afloat and leaves us some room to have fun. My job is incredibly hard at times but I know that right now we need it.

2. I am grateful for the cute babies I watch. They are always doing something to make me laugh or smile and they make hard days not quite as bad.




3. I am grateful for a house with an awesome heater that keeps Race and I warm during these cold Flagstaff nights. (I am also grateful for our house but I don't want to blog about that one until I have more pictures).

4. I am grateful for cheap clothes from clearance racks. I loooove shopping and I would not be ableto afford it if it weren't for clearance racks. So I am definitely grateful for clearance. And just so everyone knows most of my clothing is off of the clearance rack. So you can have good style for cheap.

That's all for today! I am happy to be alive and to be blessed in so many ways!

Sisters

Today I am grateful for sisters. My sister Helena is my best friend and I love being able to talk to her about everything. I miss being able to be there for her when she needs me and having her around when I need her. :) Gelsey is the best youngest sister to have and it is always fun to chat with her on the phone and to get letters from her in the mail. Also I am grateful for all of my sister-in-laws. It's so exciting to have more sisters since I've grown up around so many boys. I love getting to know my sister-in-laws and I hope someday we can all be really close. I believe that sisters really have a special bond and I am so glad I have so many wonderful sisters in my family.






Photo by Jessica Downey of sierrastudiosphotography.com

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{Popcorn&Apples}

Today I am grateful for random family traditions. In particular with food. I came home today and was really hungry but Race and I have not yet gone grocery shopping since we've moved. So we had very little food to eat. Then I saw some apples. And I looove apples. But they aren't so very filling. The next thing I saw was popcorn. Popcorn and apples have always been an Olmstead family quick "meal" when we either don't have the time to make anything else or we are just a little lazy for the night. But, it is one of my favorite quick snacks. The quick snack that Race's family has that I am grateful for is peaches and toast. We had it a few weeks ago for the first time and it has quickly become one of my favorite go to easy snacks or lazy meals. I am very grateful for yummy, super random family traditions.

I couldn't find a picture of popcorn and apples so it must be a little bit more out there than peaches and toast...but they are equally delicious!

Good Health

I have been debating in my head all day whether or not it was appropriate for me to be grateful for good health since I have been sick the last few days. But I finally decided it is definitely something I am grateful for right now. It makes a HUGE difference in my everyday life and although I don't recognize that when I am healthy I sure am realizing it now! So for today, I am grateful for that and I can't wait until I am healthy again! But, Race has been taking good care of me and making sure that I am getting lots of rest, any medicine I need and he's learning that sometimes all I need is to be held...or tickled....or for him just to be around. So really what he's learning is that I can be pretty demanding. ;) ESPECIALLY when I am sick. He's getting a lot of practice though and I'm sure he'll have it down in no time!

Also I am grateful for delicious healthy foods like the ones pictured above...I should eat more of those. :]

{2 Months}

2 months ago today Race and I were sealed in the Mesa Temple for time and all eternity. So today I am grateful for temples.








Photos by Jessica Downey of sierrastudiosphotography.com.

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Gratitude

Inspired by this blogger who was inspired by this blogger I have decided to post things that I am grateful for for each day in the month of November. Married life is busy and hard so I thought this would help me keep the right perspective and focus on how blessed Race and I are in so many ways. And since I am starting two days late I will start out with two different things that I am very grateful for. 

First of all I am grateful for this man:

He does so much for me. From our last post you found out that we are moving. He did so much to find us this new place, to pack up, and then to get us moved in. And right now he is in the living room arranging and rearranging our living room so it can be just the way I want it. Everything he does is to make me happy. :] I am so grateful to be married to him. 

The second thing I am grateful for this month is my family. And by my family I mean the Olmsteads and the Ashbys. 

Mostly for our parents but also for everyone else who has supported us in our decision to get married and helped us with everything these past few months. Mom and Dad Ashby have done so much to help us get moved into both of our places and they have always made sure that we have everything that we need. Mom and Dad Olmstead drove up to Flagstaff today just to help us move in. It was just the extra help that we needed and we were able to get so much more done than we would have been able to. Our parents have done so much for us in the past few months. I don't know how we would have done anything without their constant help, support, and most importantly love. 

So those are the first two days and I am excited to get back into the blogging world by posting all the things in my life that I am grateful for. I love this upcoming season of gratitude and hope that I can continue to see how blessed I am throughout my life. 

Moving Out!

So, I know it's been a really long time, but if Emma's not going to write it, I am: WE'RE MOVING!!

Ever since we got married, (two months ago), we've been living in the world's SMALLEST apartment. This place has really been home for us. We like to joke about how you can reach the remote from anywhere in the apartment. Really... almost literally... anywhere in the apartment.

So, we've loved it, but we were recently accepted into on-campus family housing. We were really excited about that phone call.

My other exciting news is that I quit Coldstone! The pay and opportunities for advancement were not at all ideal, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that the real reason I quit was because the boss is a complete bone-head. And maybe because growing up has been on my to-do list for a while.

So, I'm working on campus now, and we're going to be living on campus as well. I'm thinking that after this semester, we're really going to be calling NAU home...

The best part about moving out was probably how it took about five minutes to find someone to take over our lease. Craigslist is among the more awesome inventions known to man. We've been working on moving out ever since. We'll definitely be working harder on updating the blog.

He Makes Me Happy :]

The next couple of weeks are not going to be super fun...

Race and I both work at Coldstone Creamery and for the next week and a half or two weeks we are on completely opposite schedules...which means we NEVER get to see each other.

I know this is life but it's still not tons of fun.

This morning I called Race before he opened the store just to say good morning.

He had me get out of bed, walk downstairs and open my door...

And, right outside my door was...

MY BIKE! 

Yeah, yeah I'm sure you were all expecting something super romantic but let me tell you about this.

Race and I decided to have him drive to work in the morning and then I ride my bike there for the evening shift and then he rides it home so I have a car to drive home when I get off at night.

So yesterday we did that except we forgot to throw the bike in the back of his 

truck before he drove me home. 

I was kind of upset because it is a long hot walk to Coldstone in the afternoon. 

So Race brought it over for me and left it outside my door with the key and a cute note taped to the seat.

I love this boy!!! 

And here is the cute note with my crazy morning hair. 

He is so dang sweet :]

Engagement Photos :]

Some of our engagement photos are up on this site! Check them out! We are very happy with how they turned out and we loved our session with our photographer Jessica Downey. She made us comfortable enough to just be ourselves so the shots turned out really natural and fun. :]

"If I..."

Race's Answers to "If I..."

If I was a season, I’d be winter.

If I was a piece of furniture, I'd be a lazy boy.

If I was a country, I'd be Switzerland.

If I was a food, I'd be a hamburger.

If I was a flower, I'd be under a rock.

If I was a song, I'd be a one hit wonder.

If I was an instrument, I'd be a piano.

If I was a color, I'd be green.

If I was a letter, I'd be an A or a W.

If I was a book, I'd be anything nonfiction by C.S. Lewis.

If I was a time of day, I'd be 9 in the afternoon.

If I was a drink, I'd be Cherry Dr. Pepper.

If I was a holiday, I'd be Thanksgiving or St. Patrick's Day.

If I was a store, I'd be Best Buy.

If I was a word, I'd be "Whatever".

If I was a person, I’d be Elliot Stabler (from Law and Order: SVU).

If I could know the future, I'd want to see His face.

Emma's Answers to "If I..."

If I was a season,I'd be Spring.

If I was a piece of furniture, I'd be Rachel's couch.

If I was a country, I'd be the U.S.

If I was a food, I'd be potatoes.

If I was a flower, I'd be all kinds of wild flowers.

If I was a song, I'd be "Swan Lake."

If I was an instrument, I'd be a piano.

If I was a color, I'd be red.

If I was a letter, I'd be an A... for Ashby.

If I was a book, I'd be "Hannah's Gift"- Maria Housden.

If I was a time of day, I'd be nighttime.

If I was a drink, I'd be water.

If I was a holiday, I'd be Christmas.

If I was a store, I'd be Target!

If I was a word, I'd be "smile."

If I was a person, I’d be Race's Wife.

If I could know the future, I'd want to see Race and I chattin' it up when we're old fogies.

Race and I just filled this out for fun after seeing it on Kylie Pond's blog. It was fun guessing some of each others' answers and also learning new things about each other. :] Pass it on!

66 days until we get married!

Engagement photos this weekend! :]

Wakeboarding

The institute in Flagstaff does Wakeboard Wednesdays every week. Race and I had never gone to one of them until last night because of work, Race's face, and other things coming up. But, last night we went and it was so much fun! We headed over to Lake Mary around five so that we could spend some time enjoying the sun on the "beach" (it was just a ton of rocks--not too comfy). We laid out on some towels and talked and played DoodleJump (a fun game I have on my phone). Later we headed over to where people from the institute were meeting and we got on a boat with four other people and stayed out on the lake the whole time! (I don't think this normally happens but our boat driver was awesome :]) Anyway, Race went first and it was his third time every wakeboarding. He is so good!!! He made it look so easy and fun, of course. :] Then all of the other people on the boat went and finally I decided to try. I jumped in the lake with all the gear on and they told me what to do. I didn't get up the first time, or the second, or the third...well actually I don't know how many times it took me to get up. Haha. But a few times I did get up but then fell right away. Finally, on my last try I got up and stayed up for about twenty seconds! I know it doesn't sound like much but it was a lot of fun! It's quite the rush once you get up and get going for a while. So, Wakeboard Wednesday was a success for me and I can't wait to go again and work on getting up even better and staying going for a while. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of Race or me so I don't have any of those but here is a picture of beautiful Lake Mary where we went. It was also nice to just be in such beautiful surroundings for the evening.

Race and I will actually be taking some of our engagement photos in an area like this in a week from Saturday! We will be taking them at Lake Marshall, which really isn't a lake but it does have the beautiful trees and sky and long grasses. So it will be very pretty as well. Ten days 'til we take our engagement photos and 71 days 'til we get married!!! :]

Race's Face Day 5

Here's day five of Race's face. It's not nearly as swollen but there is a nasty yellow bruise if you can see it.












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Race's Face

First off I'd like to say welcome to the new blog! :) Race and I are excited to share our future with all of you! Now on to more interesting things. Race posted a little bit about his surgery earlier this week. I just wanted to put some pictures up so you could are how he's doing. :) I hope it's not too embarrassing for him!

Here is his face the day of the surgery:





Here is day two:




Here is day three (doesn't his hair look nice?):




And finally day four:




My poor lover. Haha. He's getting better slowly but surely! And I promise I'm taking VERY good care of him. :)
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Race's First Post!

Well since this is for both Emma AND I, I might as well do my first ever post. This week I had a tooth pulled and a bone graft. During the surgery, Emma sat in a corner of the room playing solitaire on her phone and watching. As soon as it was over, Emma started taking care of me. Let me just explain that I have the world's best fiancee ever. She has been taking such amazingly good care of me all week. It's funny, because she likes throwing in things like "you'll have to take as good care of me when I'm pregnant." Of course I will, Emma! Anyways, we're hoping that I'll be less puffy by the time we decide to take engagement photos in a few weeks!

And the date is...

September 3rd, 2010!

Race W Ashby and Emma Frances Olmstead are going to be sealed for time and all eternity at 9 am in the Mesa Temple!

So basically what that means is I am going to be Mrs. Race Ashby! :]

P.S. The reception is going to be a couple weeks later...

we have not set a date yet but I will put that up soon as well. 

P.P.S. 84 days...I think. Haha.