It begins...

http://ashleylosesweight.blogspot.com/

Coming Soon

I know a few women who have started "weight loss blogs" and I think its a fun idea. I guess the main reason for it, is to make yourself more accountable, which makes sense to me.

So... I'm going to start a blog that will be dedicated to my goal of losing weight and becoming more fit. I will be posting tips that I learn about, and healthy recipes, along with my progress. Maybe you'll be interested in following along, or maybe you would rather poke your eyes out than read it, but either way... it will be fun for me to track my progress (or lack thereof), if nothing else.

So here goes...

Oh crap, now I really have to stick to this. See? Its working already!

This is the transformation I'm going for. Just kidding. Poor Jessica. Give her a break! People gain weight! I mean, I don't... but I know some people who do. :)

Hmm...

I guess 2009 is off to a rocky start for us. Last week, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals (Nate's employer), made a big annoucement. Well, it wasn't an announcement for us, because we had known it was coming for a few months, but anyway...

They announced that they would be doing some major downsizing ... mostly in the sales force, which happens to be Nate's line of work. So, today was the day. About 50% of Pfizer's sales reps across the country received phone calls from their managers that they were being laid off. And Nate was one of those poor souls.

When we heard about these layoffs back in October, Nate knew that his chances weren't good. He's only been with the company since Spring of 2007. We are bummed, and kinda nervous about not knowing what the future holds, but what are you gonna do, ya know? Life's a B****. Just kidding.

Anyway, we have been applying to lots of jobs for Nate this week, and he has already had quite a few phone calls. I really believe that he will have a good job in no time. At this point we have only applied in the Northwest (all over WA and OR) because we really like it here, but who knows what will happen. We could be coming to a city near you! :)

Nate is actually excited about this because he is really hoping to break into medical sales, instead of pharmaceuticals, so that's our goal. I mean... his goal.

So wish us luck on this new adventure! Eek. Its kinda scary. But exciting.

Family Time

Nate and I have had a nice break from life the past few days. Nate had Monday off for the holiday, and then he took a couple days off from work, so we have been able to just relax at home together, which I'm so thankful for. I don't feel like getting back to normal life just yet.
I'm realizing that Paige is a lot more perceptive than I ever thought. I can tell that she is always paying attention to our moods and the way that we interact. Yesterday I laid on the couch for most of the day because I was in a lot of pain, and she kept coming up to me with a concerned look on her face, and giving me hugs over and over. It was so sweet. I am so thankful for her. She brings so much joy to our lives.

Thank You

I just want to thank you all for your sweet comments. It really does help me to know that so many people are thinking of us, and that others have gone through the exact same thing. Experiences like this help me to realize how much love and support I have from friends and family. It makes everything so much more bearable. So thank you.

Our Baby

My testimony of the power of prayer has definitely been strengthened over the past couple weeks.

The day after our first ultrasound (2 weeks ago) my doctor called to say that there were some abnormal collections of fluid around the baby's organs, and that he wanted to check the baby again in 2 weeks. Since that day we have been praying that the baby would be healthy, but also that we would be able to feel peace and comfort no matter what the outcome was. I was really upset and stressed out for a few days. But then I realized that Heavenly Father has always taken care of us, and I knew that everything would turn out OK, even if the outcome wasn't what I wanted.

Today we had that second ultrasound, and we learned that the baby stopped developing about 2 weeks ago. There was no longer a heartbeat. Even though I had prepared myself for bad news, it was still very hard to hear that the baby was gone. I cried for a few minutes, and we just sat in the room by ourselves for a while. My doctor and the ultrasound tech were very nice and understanding. I'm thankful that I had a couple weeks to prepare myself and to accept that things might not work out as I obviously wanted them to.

Of course this is difficult to deal with, but I really do feel like Heavenly Father has helped me to see the bigger picture. It is comforting for me to know that our baby is back with Heavenly Father. I know that everything is going to be OK. I am so thankful for the gospel, and the knowledge that we have of an eternal plan. I still have some hard things to deal with because the baby has not come on his/her own, but I'm hoping that it will go as smoothly as possible.

If I were the Bachelor...

I WOULD BE DECIDING BETWEEN THESE 2 GIRLS...

Jillian... cute, fun, low-maintenance.

Melissa... cute and fun, but maybe a little young for him?

AND I WOULD GET RID OF THESE 4 ASAP!!!

Shannon... Oh my gosh. Are you serious? Is she ridiculous or what?

Is anyone else watching this season? Its a good one!

This is the start of something good...

When Paige wants me to pick her up, she says, "Hold you?" Isn't that adorable?

Today was Paige's first day of nursery, and she loved it! She didn't even notice when I left. I think church is gonna be a whole different story for us now.

P.S. Do you know anyone who still has their Christmas tree up? Me neither. :)

Scary Story

Ok, are you sitting down? This is kinda freaky. So at about 4:30 pm I was driving to the temple by myself. I was about 15 minutes away, and I suddenly realized I needed to change lanes because I was in a "turn only" lane. I put my blinker on, looked over my shoulder and saw that there was a big space between two cars, one of them being a gigantic truck. So I quickly started to move over, but as I did, the huge truck sped up because he obviously didn't want to let me in. So as a result, I guess I cut him off. As far as I saw, I totally had room.

So the man (loose interpretation of the word) in the truck laid on his horn for a LONG time. It was the loudest horn ever, by the way. I was like, "Ok, I get it. You're pissed." Then, all of sudden, he sped up really fast, and swerved around me so that he was right next to me with his window down. I've never seen a giant truck move so fast. He was so close to my window and that's when he yelled "F****** B****!!"

Ok, now this was not your average man. He was the devil himself- so full of rage. He was HUGE, with thick, dark hair and a beard. And he was wearing a grungy flannel shirt. So basically, try to picture what the devil would look like on steroids, dressed as a lumberjack for Halloween. He looked at me with so much hatred I was shocked! He seriously looked like he wanted to kill me. I just looked back at him with a confused face. The weirdest part was that I wasn't really scared, I was just really shocked. Was he seriously that mad at me?

So then he got back behind me again, really quickly. And he proceeded to follow me!! FOR A LONG TIME! After the first couple minutes, I was like, "He's not seriously gonna follow me. Who would be that psycho? And what does he plan to do once I stop?" (gulp) Then Nate randomly called to see if I was at the temple yet, so I told him the story. He told me to keep heading to the temple and just see if he really follows that far. The temple is not close to any business or anything, so I would know if he was really following me. I stayed on the phone with Nate the whole time. So finally I was approaching the temple and I knew he was definitely following me. So I drove right past it and headed home. I GUARANTEE he would have followed me into the parking lot, and I was not about to stop with him still behind me. Nate said he would stand outside our house with his gun, ready for this lunatic. I was like, "He probably has a gun too, and he will probably shoot you."

Anyway, when I was less than 10 minutes from our house (which is probably 25 minutes from where the "incident" happened!), he finally decided to get a life I guess, and he turned around. Phew. I was pretty bummed though because I missed the temple session. I was pretty scared after I thought about it for a while, and I didn't want to go back either. Satan sure has a way of thwarting my plans. He even has his followers dress up as road-raged psychopaths, and terrorize innocent temple-goers. So beware.

So the moral of the story is: hmm... wait for it.... I'm still deciding.
What do you think the moral is?

Popcorn Popping

Fun idea!

I just found something I really like! On the Target website, they have giant murals that cover your wall. I think its an awesome idea! Here is the one I like the most.
And this is how happy you can be with a wall mural of your own!

Just an update

So, I've been feeling better for the most part lately. There are still days that are rough, but I'm definitely not as sick as I was with Paige, so I'm really happy about that. I had an ultrasound yesterday to finally determine how far along I am. I am 9 weeks, and due August 12th. It was such a relief to see the little heart beating.

I keep referring to the baby as "she" on accident. I really don't care whether its a boy or girl. I would be thrilled with either, and so would Nate, but I'm just convinced its a girl for some reason. I think its only because that's what I'm used to. Having a boy would be really different for me, especially because there are 4 girls in family and just 1 boy. It will be another 9 or 10 weeks before we find out. I've decided that 9 months is a really long time. But I know its good to have all that time to prepare for it.

Here is our little alien baby. How sweet. :)