It's cold and Wintery in Utah!

This post will comprise our updates for November and December 2010. I have been busy and not made the time to sit down and post. I have a few quick minutes and am writing to get this done because before I know it, January will have concluded and it will be time to write again.

November was a mild introduction to winter in Utah. Cold but not unbearable. I hate snowy winters. Chan loves them. He is a snowboarder and loves 4 distinct seasons in his life. Alas, Arizonians, never will we live amongst you. :)

Chan has been snowboarding a few times already this winter. He has a friend in the snowboard industry so he just got a new board at a great price. Beyond that we have been watch football and football some more. I keep telling Chan he misrepresented himself when we were dating. I had no idea how much he enjoys a football game and I, on the other hand, hate it. Mostly it's the background noise of the crowd I hate but I've been pretty good about finding something to do so that he can watch the games he enjoys. Chan was busy as could be trying to get his sales numbers where he wanted them for the end of 2010. Being married to someone in sales proves stressful month after month. He says he loves it. I have to take his word for it.

As most of you know, I broke my foot on Thanksgiving evening. I took the boot off on Christmas day. It does not feel great but I couldn't take wearing the boot another day. Work has been continually busier which is a blessing and a curse. We are smack in the middle of organizational restructuring in my department. Some of the entry level team members are moving to report to someone else. I'll be keeping the top-tier support guys. There are some team members pleased with the changes and others that are down right angry. We'll see how it shakes out by the end of the month.

We visited my family and Chan's Uncle in Arizona during December. It was wonderfully warm and sunny. Coming home to gloomy cold was kind of depressing for a few days but I have re-accepted winter. I am now longingly awaiting Spring.

Hope to see posts from others soon!

November & December from Ashbrook Circle

The last few months have been all a flurry. Dad and I have been working hard to take better care of our bodies. We have begun an exercise program and are eating better. Dad has lost 50 pounds and I have lost 25 pounds. We haven't worked at losing weight since Thanksgiving - just maintaining our progress. After New Year's Day, we are going to see if we can't keep moving those pounds out of our lives. We are so glad we have done this because we feel a lot better.

We had a crowd of over 35 people for Thanksgiving. Arizona, thankfully, has wonderful weather for Thanksgiving, and we hosted the party outside. We did it on Friday because of my work. But, next year, I think we will shoot for Saturday. Uncle Doug has the lighting of Glendale Glitters on Friday and since Uncle Rex lives in Glendale, they like to go for festivities. Saturday would allow Aunt Marcy and her boys to stick around longer. As it was, we had a wonderful feast. Each family brought a bit so that no one was overwhelmed with the whole dinner. Since we live right across from a park, we attempted games (including football). Not everyone showed up in time, but hopefully, there will be more early arrivers next year.

December was filled with a wedding, sickness, and Christmas. Grandma, Dad, and Rachel have been sick the last month. Rachel was able to kick it quickly with amoxicillin. She usually is sick forever. Dad has had two colds. He stayed home from church today because of his second cold. Grandma has not been able to kick hers. She also developed an arrhythmia in her heart these past two months. We welcome your prayers in her behalf.

The wedding plans were fun. Megan was our wedding planner and did a lovely job of coordinating everything. Beth arrived early to help with the final preparations. It was so pretty. We couldn't have done it without all the help. Uncle Mel provided us his yard, which is always a beautiful backdrop to receptions. Troy's mother, Cary, and Aunt Ann ironed 100 chair covers that they loaned us. They put them all on the chairs for us. Ben & Raina made the wedding cake. It was red velvet cake, which was perfect with Beth's colors of cranberry and plum.

The day of the wedding Beth was a gem. We forgot to take her wedding dress with us to the temple. She took it all in stride - not one word of regret or distress. She called Dad and had him bring the dress so that she would have it to wear when she came out of the temple. She wore her temple dress for the marriage ceremony and was as lovely as could be.

Jake had eye surgery the Thursday before the wedding. Which isn't why he wasn't there - too far and the Army just isn't family friendly. We would have loved to surprise Beth as we did Jake for his wedding, but getting the time off was sketchy at best.

The day after the wedding, we had a late breakfast with Victoria and Chan and the other kids who live here in town. Granny also came. We had a fun visit with them. On Friday before the wedding, Dad and his sons-in-law went golfing. Ben was working and Andy was sick. It was Dad's first time golfing. He has a really good time. If you ever want to go golfing when you are in town, give him a call.

Christmas was nice and actually quite peaceful after all the hub-bub of the previous few weeks. We had the Christmas party at our house. In addition to our immediate descendants, we had Granny & Grandpa, AJ, Gina, and Alli. Jimmy (Michael) Miller also stopped by for a few bites of good food. The kids did a memorable pageant of the Christmas story for us - Raina was the author, director, and producer. She was awesome. After everyone left, we had our Christmas because I was supposed to work on on Christmas. Christmas morning dawned so peaceful and quiet. I got up and got ready for work and listened to carols. Just as I was leaving, I got a call that I could stay home until 11 a.m. At 10:30, they told me to stay on call, but that I probably would not be needed at all. At 11:10, I got called in. I took 2 admissions, but they were pretty simple and straightforward. The only difficult part of the way was the young man who was admitted to another nurse and coded shortly after his arrival. He died in spite of our best efforts. It was draining because of his age, his life choices, and that it was Christmas. It was nice to see the day end and get home to the quiet and peace of my own home.

We are excited to read everyones postings. Beth and Troy will have to tell us about rainy Catalina and COLD Alaska. Our prayers are for all you. Love, Mom, Dad, & Rachel.

November in Idaho

November was pretty eventful.  I had a bit of a melt-down on the theater kids, and then suddenly the play came together pretty fast.  So we're a week and a half from production.  We've run through a couple of times and should be able to run through probably 7 more times before production, so when we get props up there... we'll be golden.  :)

I also had my bridal shower, which was lovely.  Lots of friends and family were there, and it was perfect.  I got tons of great stuff, too.

Troy was also offered the Alaska job, so we are moving December 29th.  For Thanksgiving, we went to his Dad's.  The day goes so much more quickly, the older I get.  No time to just sit and eat and eat and eat all day.  Lame.

I got all the flowers and miscellaneous items for the wedding.  Hopefully I remember to bring them all to Arizona...  I ordered a ring for Troy, so hopefully that comes before the wedding.  I'll be in trouble, if not... 

I am almost done with The Hunger Games Trilogy.  It's been really good.  I definitely recommend them, still.

Well, that's about all I can remember from the last month.  My brain is fried.  :)

October: Head Family Adventures

October was a fun month for us! We started the month by flying to Wisconsin with Katie (Chan's sister) and Mike (her husband). We went to celebrate Octoberfest. There are mini-Octoberfest celebrations here in the West but they simply do not compare to those in the Midwest. We attended the Octoberfest parade which lasted 3 hours (TOO LONG). We hung out with a number of Chan's former high school friends. I met several friends who I had never met before. There was a group of 6 who had recently gotten an old band back together and we went to see them play bluegrass. They were really good so it made for a great time.

On October 16th we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. All together we have been together for 10 years now. It definitely doesn't feel like 10 years!

To finish out the month, Chan was home for Halloween (for the first time in I don't know how many years). We decided to stay home and hand out candy since we're somewhat new to the neighborhood. We were impressed w/ the Trick-or-Treater traffic. They sported great costumes and we got to meet more of our neighbors.

Winter has arrived in Salt Lake City and I have already been bundling up. Fingers crossed for a mild/short winter!

October in Idaho

Well this month was pretty hectic.  Surprise!  The highlights of my October were as follows:

1-I got a root canal.  It took four hours and I was high as a kite on laughing gas.  It was pretty exciting.  While recovering, I also got the stomach flu.  It was an AWESOME week.
2- Troy and I went to Alaska for his interview.  It went well.  We'll know next week if he got the job.  Anchorage is GORGEOUS.
3- I had the best salmon of my life in Alaska.   It was at a restaurant called Glacier Brewhouse, and it was BBQ Bourbon with spinach & garlic potatoes.  It was INCREDIBLE.
4- I missed Frightmares for the first time in about 4 years.  It was a severe downer.
5- Troy and I went and saw The Social Network.  It in no way made me feel any different about Facebook... except I feel more bad for Mark Zuckerberg that these people felt like they did ANYTHING.  That's all.
6- I read the Hunger Games.  It's wicked good if you're into those types of books.  I'd recommend it.  I'm halfway through the second book now.
7- This happened in November, but I got my bouquet last night.  It's pretty.

Other than that, we've just been pickin' away at the play, and I got everything done for the wedding that I can do from Idaho.  Except I still have to get Troy's Wedding Ring.  :/  Any ideas, Jake?

Well, That's about it.

Have a fabulous November.

September at the Head Home

September was an exceptionally busy month for Chan and me. We can hardly believe October is already here.

At the beginning of the month we saw a band called The Avett Brothers play at Deer Valley Mountain Resort, which is a beautiful outdoor venue just past Park City. Oddly it was not as cold as most of the other outdoor concerts we've seen this summer.

Toward the end of September Chan and I headed to Wisconsin to attend Octoberfest with his sister and her husband. We were gone a total of 9 days and it was mostly a lot of fun. It is always interesting to observe the Wisconsin culture since it is so completely different than anything I've ever experienced. If it weren't for the uber-chilly winters and complete lack of outdoor recreation, I think I could buy into the idea of moving there. The people are probably the friendliest I've encountered when traveling. We attended the Octoberfest parade in Chan's hometown and saw a little bit of live music at the fest grounds. I saw oodles of old men in Lederhosen along with their wives in traditional German dresses. It was the LONGEST parade I've ever attended and near the end (3 hours later) it bordered on ridiculous! At any rate, I met some old friends of Chan's who I hadn't met before; all very nice folks. I'll put a few photos up on FB in the next day or two.

Not much else to report from this neck of the woods. Love to all.

Our September

September has gone by in a blur. I can't believe it's already almost October!

It was a lot of fun to have Beth and Troy come down to visit. We enjoyed having Troy stay with us, although I still feel bad that all he had was a couch to sleep on!! It was great to spend a weekend doing fun things with family, I feel like we get so busy sometimes and forget to take a break.

Our most exciting news is things are still going well with our little one! We went to the doctor last week and his/her heartbeat is still in the higher range (160's) and everything looked perfect! We get to find out what we're having on October 21st so we are very excited. Everyone will have to put in their guesses before we go :)

We were blessed with a great new job for Andy this month as well. He is still working for Bank of America, but now he is working as a Personal Banker in downtown Mesa. He is really excited to have a job where he can interact with real people instead of a computer screen all day!! We love that he works so much closer to home and that we get more time together in the mornings and afternoons now too.

School is pretty crazy for both of us this semester. If anyone's felt like we've disappeared lately, that's why!! Andy is taking math and public speaking right now, and starts a history class soon. In his last class, his teacher assigned everyone a topic and gave them 2 minutes to prepare a speech. Then they had to get up one by one and give their speech in front of 30 people! It's definitely not my type of class, but Andy is really liking it.

Nursing school continues to surprise me every day! We are studying Labor and Delivery right now, which is sort of freaking me out! I've been doing clinicals in the PICU (Pediatric ICU) and get to do one in the NICU (Neonatal ICU) soon which I am super excited about. I had a patient last week that was diagnosed with "Rabbit Fever" which is a disease that supposedly comes from rodents. The doctor believes a mosquito bit a rodent, and then bit our little guy and transmitted the disease to him. So I guess West Nile isn't the only thing we have to worry about!! It was interesting to get to take care of this little guy because there are only 100 cases of Rabbit Fever diagnosed in the United States every year!

We are really happy that October is coming, hopefully with cooler weather. We're going to try and get out of Mesa on Columbus Day weekend, hopefully to Greer or Sedona.

That's all that is new with us!!!

Love you all,

Annie & Andy