The Adventures of Steven and Ashley Hall

Merry Christmas 2011

2011-12-11T13:18:00.002-07:00

Photo Card

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Clutch Number 2

2009-11-14T21:55:00.001-07:00

The clownfish laid again! We were hoping to get a video of it this time, but they laid while we were at Walmart! Maybe next time! I did get to see the little tubes they have to deposit eggs and sperm. They stay inside their body until its time. The girl part was out before and after our errands, and the boy part when we got home. Probably gross to you, but pretty neat for me! We have the majority of the supplies we need now. Hopefully we will have the rest by the 23rd, which is when I think they will hatch. We will keep you updated!

Ashley

hatched!

2009-11-08T14:59:00.001-07:00

The clown fish eggs hatched last night sometime after 1230. I checked about every half hour from 900 until I went to bed. Never saw any hatching, but they were all gone this morning! It makes me wonder if the adults know they hatch, or if when the lights come on they are like oh no they're gone!

We still have to get all of the stuff set up, and figure out where we are going to do it. We will have to have like 5 tanks, and the only place I think we have room is in the loft, but that will be in the way when guests come.

Hopefully they will lay again this Wednesday!

Ashley

Egg Update

2009-11-04T18:08:00.003-07:00

The clownfish eggs are coming along nicely. They should be hatching Saturday night. I tried to take a picture, but the camera won't zoom in enough to be able to see them. The eggs go from bright orange to salmon pink to grayish pink to grayish silver. I couldn't get a picture after they were not bright orange anymore. Today they are in the grayish silver stage. The silver is the reflection off of their eyes. Since I couldn't get a picture of it, I found a few on the internet just so you can see how cool it looks.

Ashley

Black Clown Fish Eggs

2009-10-30T19:37:00.002-06:00

Our black and white clown fish FINALLY laid eggs after 18 months! It takes 8 days for them to hatch, so we will have to see what happens next Saturday. They appear to all be fertile. I will try to stay up to date with picture taking (not that you really care!) so you can see the changes as they go.

If you feel like you are playing Where's Waldo, they are bright orange eggs, sort of centered in the pictures.

View from the front of the tank.

View from the side of the tank.

Mom and Dad.

Big mama. She is in charge of guarding the nest.

Proud papa. He is in charge of keeping water flow on the eggs. He will fan them with his fins, and also touch them with his mouth.

Dad.

Cleaning those eggs.

We have 8 days to decide if we want to raise this clutch. We don't have everything ready, so it may have to wait until next time. After they start to lay eggs, they do it every 12 days. Should be pretty exciting!

Ashley

New Vehicle

2009-08-10T19:48:00.003-06:00

Our lease was to expire in October, but our mileage was going to go over early so we decided to get a replacement early. Our new ride is a 2008 Nissan Xterra. We broke it in this week with Britt and Manny in town and took it up Pikes Peak and up Guanella Pass a jeep trail in Georgetown Colorado to go shooting guns for the day. That was fun.

Here is our new ride

Dirty in the Mountains:

All cleaned up after the abuse:

Weekend Getaway

2009-07-31T01:16:00.009-06:00

It wouldn't be summer without a camping trip and last weekend we were finally free to get into the mountains. We left friday after work and got setup in daylight. We have a favorite camping area that we like to frequent and I believe this time we found an unbeatable site. We like to find somewhere we dont have to worry about the dogs being free so the more isolated the better.

This was our view, a perfect view of Longs Peak

Ashley did a stellar job with the food as I put her in charge of the menu and she also did all the cooking. Highlights included bacon, egg and cheese muffins with coffee for breakfast and steak and fried potatos for dinner.

Lilliann and Tinkerbell had a blast and 4 days later have finally picked up a toy at home instead of sleeping all day, they were worn out to say the least. They are great campers and the 4 of us make it cozy in our 1.5 person tent haha.

The weather didn't cooperate but we still had a great time. Saturday it poured, hailed, and stormed real bad for around 2 hours. It then let up and sprinkled long enough to make a fire, dinner, and s'mores. Then we headed for the tent for the night, it continued to pour through most of the night. We were both worn out, Ashley read some and we crashed. It was a great weekend spending quality time with my wife.

Here is a slideshow of the pictures, trying out new features.

This is funny for me

2009-07-27T21:11:00.002-06:00

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

-Steve

Taking the Plunge

2009-07-22T17:15:00.002-06:00

In my career field, you can take a test to get certified to be a Clinical Laboratory Specialist in Cytogenetics. If you don't have a degree in Cytogenetics, you have to have a Bachelor of Science and work in the field for one year before you can get certified. I was on track to take my test after one year, but then I got sick and put it on hold. Then I thought I wanted to be a nurse and not do this anymore at all. I decided that the pay raise was enough to take it anyway. I was still struggling with being stuck doing this forever, and my specific job being the only place in Colorado. Most certified people sit at their microscopes forty hours a week, and the uncertified people work in the lab. I don't like the microscope, and I am a born lab rat, so I don't want that to happen.

I had a conversation with my Operations Manager about two weeks ago, and she is thinking of making a new position, and she wants it to be for me, but I would have to be certified to do it. The job would be sort of an all around laboratory overseer. Not really a supervisor and not really a manager. But I would be in charge of everything that goes on in the lab. I pretty much already do this, but there would be more involved. We had a person that was a Lab Supervisor, and she quit, and they hired an Opperations Manager, but she is way to overwhelmed and has too much to do. She said she really wants me to be in charge of the lab since I know so much about it. It is nice when your manager thinks you are so good at something! I brought up my concern about being at the microscope all the time if I got certified, and she said she wouldn't let that happen because I am so skilled in the lab. Wahoo!

So two weekends ago I filled out all the applications, got my transcripts printed, and wrote the check. All I needed was my supervisor to fill out her part. Unfortunitely, it took her two weeks... All she had to do was write my hire date (August 7, 2006) and my job description (which we have on the computer at work). I thought it should take about 5 minutes... Anyway, she finally got it back to me and I mailed it in today!

I stood in front of the mailbox for a good 30 seconds before I dropped it in :) I know being certified doesn't mean I HAVE to do this, but it sort of feels like it. It takes 6-8 weeks for them to approve your application, I'm not sure why since its not a very big field. Once you are approved, you have three months to take your test. It is a two hour multiple choice test, where every question has more than one right answer, and you have to choose the best answer. I don't like that very much. You have to have a 75 out of 99 to pass. Of all the other people I have talked to, no one has ever known anyone that has failed except one lady at my work. So hopefully it won't be too hard. I studied for it a few years ago, and will probably wait until my three month window to start studying. No reason to cram now if it is going to be another six months.

Please pray a whole lot for this!

Ashley

Mountain States Genetics Conference

2009-07-20T11:13:00.002-06:00

This past week was the Mountain States Genetics Conference here in Denver. It is a yearly conference for all states that have the Rocky Mountains in them. The top presentation this year was called Positive Exposure. It was fantastic! Everyone wanted to quit their jobs and work for this cause.

The presentation was given by a top fashion photographer that has photographed people like Cindy Crawford and Nicole Kidman and worked as Revlon's photographer for many years. He was always around beautiful people, and it had a certain impact on what he thought was beautiful. One day he was walking on the street in NY and saw an albino girl waiting for the bus. Even though she didn't meet what the fashion industry viewed as beautiful, he thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He knew she was albino, but didn't know anything about that genetic disease. He went straight to the library and got every book he could find on albinism. All the pictures he saw in the medical textbooks were awful. He contacted a NY albinism group and said he wanted to photograph some people. He published a few magazine articles of beautiful albino girls, and worked with the group to expose albinism in a positive way. It had great impacts on the albino community and gave them more confidence that they could still be beautiful even though they had a genetic disorder.

A few months after his magazine articles did so well, another genetic disorder (trisomy 13 or 18, I forget!) asked him to come and talk to their community, to show that they could be beautiful too. He looked them up in medical books as well, and found the same awful pictures. Most textbook pictures have a child/adult in their underwear, against a white wall, with a black bar across the eyes. How can people be confident with their disorder if they are viewed so badly? He presented his albino pictures to them, and took their pictures as well.

Many genetic disorders started to want him to come and speak, and organization Positive Exposure was started. He gave up fashion photography, and now only photographs genetic disorders. He travels all over the world to give positive exposure to genetic disorders. To see come really awesome photographs, go to http://www.positiveexposure.org.

One of the best and saddest stories he shared with us is about albino kids in Tanzania. They are hunted for their bones. Tanzanian witch doctors can make a special potion for you, but it requires bones of an albino child, the younger the stronger the potion. The kids are literally hunted. There is a school for the blind that is highly protected (fences, guards, etc) that parents will send their albino children to when they are born. (A lot of albino people have vision problems, but not all. The version that African people get, usually has blindness.) They teach song and dance at this school, as that is an important part of African culture. On the website there is a video of these children singing that is amazing. He asked them if they had ever competed, and they said "no, we are disabled." He was like that doesn't matter, you don't have to be able to see to sing! He entered them in a competition which they won. The video starts with the first time they sang for him, then practice before their competition, then the competition. The first time they did amazing. The practice you can tell they are really scared, but then they get into it. The competition is VERY moving. I got all teary eyed, and I never do that! They start out slow, then get more comfortable. When people start to applaud and cheer, they are TERRIFIED. They have never heard an audience before, and since they can't see, they didn't know there were 40,000 people there, and when they heard them clapping and cheering, they didn't know what that noise was! It is so sad and awesome at the same time. They freeze and start panicking, and their teacher has to go on stage and tell them what is happening. Then they get really excited and start singing and dancing, and getting REALLY into it. A really really great video!

This was a really awesome presentation, and I really recommend the website. They have traveling art exhibits, and you should definitely go if they ever come to your area! They are also working with medical schools to form a teaching curriculum and a few other things. It is a really great organization!

Ashley

Funny Article

2009-07-17T14:21:00.003-06:00

Steve and I read a funny article last night about the biggest risks of doing things outdoor in Colorado. I thought I would post it on here since a lot of our family is very concerned every time we go to the mountains. Funny but true!

The original article is at http://www.gazette.com/articles/afraid-58603-camping-let.html, but I also pasted it below.

Ashley

CAMPING: WHAT YOU SHOULD REALLY BE AFRAID OF!

Let’s face it; spending a night out in the woods is kind of… scary. It’s dark out there. It’s lonely. Big creatures with sharp teeth and no regard for social norms lurk in the shadows. Who hasn’t felt the hairs on the back of his or her neck stand up at the cold feeling that something out there is watching? But consider this: Statistically, a person is more likely to be killed by mouse droppings or mosquitoes in Colorado than by bears and mountain lions. It’s not that there is nothing to be afraid of out there. It’s that we are often afraid of the wrong things.
We’ve busted out our own Out There Threat Down (with apologies to the “Colbert Report”) so when you’re lying awake in your tent, you can be sure you’re scared of the right threat.

THREAT NO. 1: THE Y CHROMOSOME

This tiny tangle of DNA that separates the men from the women is the most dangerous thing in the backcountry. It makes the hairier gender do really dumb things, such as climb mountains in thunderstorms, ski avalanche-prone slopes, and say things like, “Get a picture of me trying to ride this mountain goat.” Statistically, having the Y chromosome makes men three times more likely than women to be injured in the outdoors, and eight times more likely to be killed, according to a study by the Colorado Department of Public Health. Just to round things out, guys are also five times more likely to be killed biking, seven times more likely to be killed kayaking and 17 times more likely to be killed by an avalanche. The Y chromosome may also be a factor in Threat No. 2.

Best defense: Listen to your lady friend.

THREAT NO. 2: DRIVING TO THE TRAILHEAD

In Colorado, about 540 people die every year in traffic crashes. Almost half of them happen in highway like driving, where no intersection or stoplight is involved — exactly the type of driving most people do just before they go hiking or camping or biking.

Best defense: Slow down, pay attention and, for Pete’s sake, no texting while driving!

THREAT NO. 3: CLUMSINESS

The leading killer of people in the outdoors in Colorado is falling down, usually at a high rate of speed (say, from a mountain bike) or from a high place (say, a mountain), perhaps because of unrealistic assessment of abilities (see Threat No. 1). These fatal falls account for about 30 percent of all outdoor recreational deaths in the state.

Best defense: Accept that you are mortal, know your limits and act accordingly.

THREAT NO. 4: TREES

These pulpy predators are misleading because they appear not to move. Yet somehow they manage to hit skiers with alarming regularity and disastrous results. Skier-tree collisions are the leading cause of death at ski areas, making up about 7 of the 13 skier deaths in Colorado every year, according to the Colorado health department.

Best defense: See No. 3.

THREAT NO. 5: LIGHTNING

Colorado is one of the top states for lightning-related deaths. We get an average of 16 lightning injuries and 3 deaths annually, according to the National Weather Service. Statistically, people are more than twice as likely to be struck dead on a weekend afternoon in July than at any other time. Men are more than eight times as likely to be killed by a strike (see Threat No. 1).

Best defense: Do not hike or camp above tree line, on ridges or in open areas after noon if there is even the potential of a thunderstorm.

THREAT NO. 6: MOSQUITOES

West Nile surfaced in Colorado in 2003. Since then, the disease, spread by mosquito bites, has killed 83 people in the state. Only one in five people bitten by an infected skeeter will develop symptoms, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And only one in 150 cases will be severe. But a severe case can mean stupor, convulsions, coma and death. So, you know, best to take precautions.

Best defense: Long sleeves and lots of bug spray.

THREAT NO. 7: MOUSE POOP

The seemingly harmless droppings of deer mice can carry Hantavirus, a respiratory disease that is fatal in a third of all cases. Since 1993, it has killed 25 people in Colorado, according to the CDC. It mostly affects people in enclosed, droppings-rich buildings, but the CDC says anyone who comes into contact with mouse dropping in any setting can contract it.

Best defense: Look first before unrolling your sleeping bag. Do not hang out in areas that show signs of abundant deer mice, such as mouse droppings.

THREAT NO. 8: GUYS WEARING ORANGE

On average, hunters in Colorado accidentally kill 1.3 people a year and inadvertently wound an additional 12 with guns, arrows and other gear, according to the Division of Wildlife. Almost all incidents are hunter-on-hunter, and their kill rate is higher than that of mountain lions and black bears combined. Yikes.

Best defense: Know the hunting seasons and don’t dress like an elk — or a hunter, for that matter — during those times.

THREAT NO. 9: MARMOTS

OK, these chubby little alpine rodents have never killed any hikers, but in some areas they have been known to crawl into the wheel wells of cars parked at alpine trailheads and chew things. Sometimes it’s just the coolant hoses (the little buggers are said to like the sweet taste of antifreeze). But sometimes they chew the brake lines. Not such a good thing when heading down Pikes Peak.

Best defense: Always check for marmots — and working brakes — before driving off.

THREAT NO. 10: MOUNTAIN LIONS, BEARS, AX MURDERERS, TARANTULAS, FALLING INTO ABANDONED MINE SHAFTS, HILLBILLIES WITH BANJOS, ETC.

Statistically, people are more likely to die falling into abandoned mines than to be killed by a bear or mountain lion, or any creepy crawlies or creepy people. Most bear attacks involve bears looking for food and accidentally taking a bite out of a sleeping camper. According to the Division of Wildlife, 27 people have been injured by a bear in Colorado and one killed in the past 20 years. Keep food and cooking gear in a separate bag hung in a tree away from your camp. For lions, avoid hiking alone at dawn and dusk. Keep close watch on small children.

Best defense: Make yourself look as large as possible and slowly back away.

Tickle Me Pink

2009-06-29T15:55:00.002-06:00

This post is mostly for me, so I can go back and read it when I start to forget, so don't feel like you have to read this one!!

On Saturday we went to the Tickle Me Pink concert at the Gothic Theatre. They are one of my top two favorite bands, so I have been excited for this since we got the tickets in March. There were 4 bands playing, and tickets were only $12! The other three bands were Hearts Like Lions, Life in Electric, and I Hate Kate. The first two are other local bands, who I had never heard before. I had heard of I Hate Kate, but didn't really like them.

We got to the Gothic an hour before the doors opened. We were maybe 20-30 people in front of us, so I was pretty happy about that. The time went pretty fast. When we got in, most of the people went upstairs to sit at the balcony, but we went for the stage. We started out 3 people from the stage, about one step to the left of the microphone. I firmly planted my feet, I was not moving! We never strayed from one step to the left of the microphone, but I did get in the second row! There was only one little girl between me and the stage, and she was about 4 feet tall, so it was like she wasn't even there!

Hearts Like Lions (http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=327378076) were pretty good. The drummer looked really out of place and a little uncoordinated. After the first song they said it was his first concert with them, he joined the band the day before! I felt bad for him after that. He actually did very very well for only being in the band one day! The guitar and bass player kept going over to the drums and trying to help him. Poor guy! They are changing their name soon, so they threw all of their t-shirts (about 50 he said) into the crowd, and I actually got one! It was kind of ugly, and a medium, but that is okay. About an hour later some kid a few people away from me was trying to trade with some other guy. All I heard was "I don't wear a small," so I yelled "I'll trade for a small!" He gladly traded me, and his shirt was better looking than the one I started with.

Life in Electric (http://www.myspace.com/lifeinelectric)was awesome. I will definitely be looking for their CD. It was a millions degrees in there, and the lead singer had a blanket wrapped around his neck. It was much bigger than a scarf. I don't know how he wasn't sweating to death like everyone else. They actually have a clip of the concert on their website, and I would point myself out to you, but its too hard!

I Hate Kate (http://www.myspace.com/11040954) was way better than I expected. I have their CD (got it just because I knew they were opening) and didn't really care for it. They were great in person though. Might have to give the CD another try. I ended up with a guitar pick at the end of the show that was on the ground by my foot, and I think it was from their lead singer/guitarist.

Tickle Me Pink (http://www.ticklemepinkrock.com/) was AMAZING! They way way way exceeded my expectations. I knew I would love them no matter what, but it was fantastic! I was happy with everything! since I was in the second row, I was very close to the singer the whole time and the guitarist when he came to the front. They both liked to put their foot up on the monitor, which was about 6 inches from me. The Gothic has the only stage I have ever seen that doesn't have some type of barrier between the first row and the stage. VERY CLOSE! I even got to touch the singer, Sean Kennedy. I mostly did it to tell a girl at work who is in love with him and wants to marry him. So today I was like ha I touched him! She was very jealous. She was also jealous that when he was head banging, sweat flew off his hair into my mouth. Kind of gross, but she was mad she didn't go with me like she was going to!

Their bass player died a year ago (a year and 2 days from the concert) and Sean played his favorite song, Tomorrows Ending. It is about making the most of your time here on earth because you never know how much longer you have. He did a great job, and even cried at the end! He said it was a really hard day for him, and it showed during that song. He took over the bass, and played the first half of the songs. He is the type of singer that likes to walk around and jump around while he is singing, so I could tell it was hard for him to stand there and play. The second half they had a friend play the bass, so Sean got to move all over the place, and you could tell that was more his style. The songs seemed to be better when he was moving around. They ended the show with a Rage Against the Machine cover. It was fantastic!

I am so glad we got to go to that, and recommend to anyone who is still reading this to see one of their shows if they are ever near you!

Ashley

Hardcore Prayer Request

2009-05-12T11:38:00.002-06:00

This morning Tuesday May 12, I got laid off for a "Reduction in Task Force" Can't say I didn't see it coming as I haven't been billable the last month. One employee got laid off two weeks ago, I knew I was next as I'm the youngest/least experienced left. Well it happened, and now my world has turned upside down.

Who knows what Im going to do as Architecture is a horrible occupation to be in right now, finding a firm that is going to hire someone new is going to be impossible.

Please keep us in your prayers as it's going to get interesting...again.

a LITTLE color

2009-05-11T12:56:00.004-06:00

Steve decided a few weeks ago he wanted to paint the living room. I thought about colors for a few days, and decided I wanted something bright like teal. We went to Home Depot, and I picked a color called Mermaid Treasure. He looked at it and said no way! We took about 10 different color choices home (a little of everything) and hung them all up on the wall. One by one we took down the colors we didn't like. We were left with Mermaid Treasure!

I wanted to do the TV nitch and the plant shelf a shade darker than the main wall, so the shade darker on the card was Peacock Feather. Steve wasn't so sure about it, but we got them anyway.

Last Sunday we did the TV niche and really liked it, but it made Steve even more nervous about painting the main wall.

He also took the opportunity to hide the flat screen wires in the wall. Nice job!

I did all the rest of the painting on Saturday while he was out. (Except about the top 4 feet above the fireplace because I'm too short even with the Little Giant Ladder!) I love it! Steve is working on it :) I think it will be even better if we ever get hard wood floors, which has also been in discussion. Here are some pictures.

The camera was being kind of stupid, so they are kind of blurry.

Ashley

We are running!

2009-05-11T12:40:00.004-06:00

Steve is running, I am mostly pretending to run, knowing it might be actual running one day if I keep at it :) We went to Runner's Roost and had a foot analysis to find the perfect running shoe for us. It was really neat. They tested us on about 8 different things (9 if you are female). My results were perfect on everything, and Steve's were all messed up. Kind of funny since he is the runner. We both got the shoes they recommended. We are thinking of running the Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half Marathon in August. With my 2 weeks of "running" I don't think I'll be able to, they will close down the course before I am done! My training plan starts on May 18th. We will see how it goes!

Ashley

Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail Hopping Down the Bunny Trail...

2009-04-12T13:12:00.002-06:00

The Easter Bunny was very good this year :)

And we colored eggs too!

My Awful Picture in the Newspaper

2009-04-12T13:00:00.004-06:00

A few weeks ago the Stapleton Front Porch newspaper came to our work to do a little article about us moving into the city. I got picked to sit for a picture. Before you look at it, I have to explain the awful picture! I was REALLY tired that morning, and I begged Steve to let me stay home. He said no way I couldn't stay home just because I was tired. Then I cried, and I NEVER cry. That was how bad I wanted to stay home, but he still said no. So that was a horrible start to my day! Then it was around 1:30 and I didn't have time to have lunch yet, and I was going to do a 5 minute thing on the computer, then eat. So I sit down and the photojournalist comes and wants to use me in the "big picture." You can't tell in the photo, but my face is about 5 inches away from the computer, and my head is turned at a 45 degree angle. He said he knew it was uncomfortable, but would look good in the photo. I don't look good, but at least I don't look like my face is practically touching the screen! I then had to hold this perfect pose for an hour and a half while he got all the lighting right. I thought my neck was going to break. He joked saying there was a chiropractor on the first floor if I needed it, but I didn't find it very funny. So I finally had lunch around 3:00 that day. So THAT is why I look so mad in the picture :)

Baby Blanket

2009-03-28T13:25:00.006-06:00

I went to my first baby shower after teaching myself to crochet, so of course I wanted to make a blanket! It was for a baby boy, so I wanted to find the perfect blanket that wasn't too babyish. I did lots of searching online, then I found a cute blanket on the Michael's website. http://www.michaels.com/art/online/projectsheet?pid=e06355 I looked online at the baby registry to get color ideas. His parents didn't register for anything blue or babyish. His bedroom is going to be natural colors, and sheets were white, green, and brown. I picked green, brown, and grey for the blanket.

The directions called for a type of crochet hook called a speed hook. It is HUGE compared to normal crochet hooks. The red on is the speed hook, and the gold one is what I usually use!

It took some getting used to, and kind of hurt my wrist at first. It was also hard to get used to using three strands of yarn at one time instead of just one. Since it was my first one, it was a little messed up. I decreased by two rows about four inches from the beginning. I thought about restarting, but didn't really want to. I put my label right on the messed up part, so it kind of looks like it is supposed to be that way?

Overall, I think it is a pretty cute and cuddley blanket! His mom was pretty surprised I made something :)

Ashley

Prayer Request

2009-02-26T13:31:00.003-07:00

Steve and I lost a close friend very unexpectedly yesterday morning. She was only 32 years old, and leaves behind a husband and three very young children. They are the kids we babysit a lot, so you have heard about this family many times from us. We still do not know what happened, but will hopefully find out soon. Please keep this family in your prayers, as it is an exceptionally hard time for them. We will miss you Gabe!

Sometimes Things Don't Work Out As Planned

2008-12-21T20:39:00.003-07:00

I didn't feel good this morning and really didn't want to go to church, but since it was Christmas service, Steve drug me out of bed. I made him stop at Starbucks on the way since I didn't feel like being out. The gas light came on, and I told him to stop at the gas station by Starbucks, but he didn't want to be any later to church.

After church we asked Don and Patty (our small group leaders and pretty much adoptive parents) if we could treat them to lunch. Patty said she had put a roast in the crock pot, but going out sounded much better. We were going to meet them across town at Jim and Nick's Barbecue. Of course we went the wrong way and got lost, because that is what we always do! We went in the general direction, but ended up being too far west, when uh oh, we run out of gas! We had passed about five gas stations on the way, and every time I told Steve we should get gas. He kept saying he didn't want to get gas yet and make them wait for us any longer since they were probably already there and we were still lost.

Steve got out of the car and tried to push, but after about ten feet decided that probably wasn't going to get us anywhere. Then he decided to run up to the next intersection to see if there was a gas station, while I called Don's cell to tell him we were going to be very late. Unfortunately, I left my phone and purse at home, and Steve only had their home phone number in his phone. When he got back to the car and I told him we didn't have their number, he decided to run back the way we came to the last gas station we saw. I sat in the car watching him run away in the mirror, waiting on Don to call when he realized we weren't coming.

After fifteen minutes, Don finally called. He had to call the Pastor who had to call someone else to get our cell number, because he didn't have ours either! He asked if I wanted him to come, but since Steve had been gone so long, I figured he found a gas station. He did, two actually, but one was diesel only, and the other was closed even though there was a "We're Open" sign in the window! Don called back about ten minutes later, and said since Steve wasn't back, they were coming to find us. I had no idea where we really were, but they found us pretty easy. Steve got back to the car empty handed and frozen about 3 minutes before Don and Patty got there. Patty sat with me in the empty car while Don and Steve went to a VERY close gas station that we never would have found. They had called their son to get on the Internet and find the closest one!

By the time we put the two gallons of gas from the can ($22 for a gas can and two gallons!), then went the the station to fill the car up the rest of the way, Patty just invited us over to eat the roast. It was 2:00 when we finally had lunch! So much for eating lunch at 12:30! We had very good roast, watched the Bronco's game, and had cheery pie. We finally got home at 5:30!

So it didn't really work out for us to treat them for lunch. They ended up having to rescue us and feed us! We are very lucky to have friends like them!

Ashley

First Solo Night

2008-12-19T20:52:00.002-07:00

Tonight (right now actually, I have 8 minutes left) was my first night volunteering by myself. The other two times I was shadowing someone. This time I was all on my own! I was really nervous before I arrived, shadowing two people didn't seem like nearly enough. On both times, no one even came to the playroom, so I did puzzles to waste time.

When I got in, the first thing I do is get a census sheet from the nurse station. It lists all the patients on my floor. Then I go around to each room and tell them the play room is open if they want to come play, or want me to bring them anything. After that, I went back to the playroom and cleaned up a little bit, then decided to color some Christmas Tree ornaments for a little girl I heard as her very own Christmas Tree in her bedroom :) While I was coloring a little boy and his dad came in. He colored some ornaments with me! My first time getting to play!! I had to hold the ornament while he colored with his wrong hand because it was all bandaged up. He got some on the ornament, some on the table, and a lot on my hand! I talked with his dad a lot, and he greatly appreciated me volunteering. He said I am not only beautiful outside, but inside too. When it was time for the boy to go to bed, his dad whispered for him to give me a hug and tell me Merry Christmas. That is exactly what makes this a wonderful experience, the exact reason I am doing this! :) Totally made my day!

After that I finished my ornaments, played cards by myself, then talked to a mother while her son used the computer. A few other kids came and went quickly, just checking out what the room had. A total of 6 patient visitors on my first night! And one of the best hugs ever :)

Ashley

BURR!!!!!

2008-12-15T19:38:00.002-07:00

This will be a very short post, as it describes itself rather easily! It was -18 last night, -7 on the way to work this morning, and a high of +17 today. That is all the explaination you need!

I do feel really bad for the dogs though. They pee really fast and want to come back inside without pooping. When you stand there a few minutes to give them the idea they need to go, they start standing on 2 paws. Then they start crying! It is so sad! Lilliann wouldn't even come back up the stairs tonight because stairs required all 4 paws on the ground. I had to push her to get her to go up! They need some booties!

Ashley

ER Trip

2008-11-19T18:30:00.002-07:00

As most of you know, I have had a dry cough for about 8 weeks now. I only cough when I am at work. I will go all weekend without coughing, and as soon as I get to work on Monday it all starts again. One day last week when I was sitting at my microscope it seemed a little hard to breathe, but I figured it was just from sitting like that all week at work. Last night when I left orientation at The Children's Hospital, I noticed it again. It lasted all night, and into this morning. Kind of a tightness like I had a belt around my chest and could only breath as far as the belt would let me go. Once I got to work it started to get worse and worse. I told my boss I was having trouble breathing incase I started to do anything weird, she would know how I had been feeling. Around 10:00 I started to feel like I was going to hyperventalate because I coudln't breathe. I couldn't even sit still because it made me think about not breathing. Finally I told her I thought I was going to have to go to the ER because I was starting to get a little dizzy from not enough oxygen. She walked me to the ER (a block from my work) and stayed with me until they called me back.

I got a chest x-ray and EKG to make sure nothing was going on there. I don't have any kind of upper respiratory infection or tumor or anything. I also did a breathing treatment of Albuteral and Epinepheran. The Epi made my EKG a little crazy, and they had to call my Cardiologist to fax over an old EKG to compare. It ended up being okay.

The breathing treatment didn't help as much as it should have, so that ruled out asthma. The doctor thinks I am allergic to something at work. He gave me an inhaler to use every 4 hours for two days, then as needed after that. He also said to take Benadryl or Claritin before I go to work and see if that helps, and to wear a mask when I am there. Luckily we move in January, so hopefully I won't have it any more after that. I don't want to wear a mask at work forever!

He told me to take the rest of the day off, and when I got home my heart was really pounding from the Epi. Laying in bed I could feel my heart beating in every place you can feel your pulse. Very weird feeling, and kind of scary.

We will see how tomorrow is at work with my Benadryl, mask, and inhaler!

Ashley

Relaxation

2008-11-14T13:05:00.004-07:00

After 7 months of learning how to do woodwork, trimwork, acrylic work, glass work, Aluminum work, plumbing, and electrical work, I get to sit and relax. Besides the initial glass tank EVERTHING was do-it-yourself. All the DIY projects are done with the exception of repainting our front entrance. (long story) Here are the end results. Saltwater fish tanks are so relaxing, I sit and stare for hours. Ashley did all the staining and polyurethaning. She also did the rockwork! Thanks babe!

Financial Gripes

2008-10-29T12:45:00.003-06:00

A while back we did a financial study by Rick Warren in our church small group. We cut a lot of things out of our budget and decided we were going to work to become debt free. We completed the study and the computer software calculated 3 years to get completely out of debt. (not including mortgage)

Well life isnt that easy, just after deciding we would use no more credit cards Ashley became very sick, one thing after another. Heart problem, heat problem fixing itself still being medicated, and bad migraines. Long story short she didnt go to work much and her paycheck reflected that. So needless to say we fell back to credit cards. Hardcore! To be honest I dont know how we didnt lose everything as we had no money $2000+ short each month for about 6-7 months. Craigslist became my second full time job unloading everything not necessary. It tought me a lot about how much money we spend on stuff that wont change your life.

Anyhow, like most I have been getting a craving for a house to get out of our condo. The market is a tease unless you are currently renting. We looked at a 3000+sqft house with 3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, full finished basement, and a huge fenced in yard. I only looked at it because it was a HUD house and figured it would be trashed anyhow and we wouldnt want that. Well the house was immaculate and when I asked what the estimated payment would be it was cheaper than our 1 bedroom 1 bath condo payment. I wanted to cry.

I knew it would never happen so I dont know why I do this to myself. The next day I called my lenders to ask to lower my interest rates as the economy is shot and its not fair what I am paying. Their response was I would need to refinance, but since we owe more than its worth it couldnt happen. Lovely..

I didnt really care before the realtor told me I could be living in that house for the same cost a month. I knew I was getting ripped off with interest but it never really hit home. Now the odd thing. I spoke to the lender for the hud homes. He spefically told me flat out if its just in your name claim bankruptcy and walk away. Great advice from a lender. Why not just drop my interest rate and collect what I owe. Its in both names so that isnt an option and I dont really like that option anyhow.

So back to the financial study. This was the first month that we didnt use a single credit card. Finally back to phase 1. I was online today checking all the bills and 1 looked very odd. I didnt use my card and the payment was $30 more this month compared to the month prior. Apparently I was rewarded for not using my card and my interest rate went up 3%. Not happy I decided to call CITI CARD. I asked why out of the blue it was raised and the nice lady's response was we altered your terms didnt you get the letter. I answer NO. She then said let me look when we sent it to you. Followed by we didnt send it to you. I then asked, you bill me for an interest rate you never notified me of, shouldnt this be applied to the next bill if I wasnt notified? She responded No, we altered your terms. I followed this up with I dont use my card one month and you jack my interest up, can I please have the previous rate back? She let me know I could get one for 2.75% more but not what I used to have. Well Citi Card Im not paying it. I rejected the rate increase and told them to close the account. Two birds killed with one stone. Cant use the card and got the original rate back.

Nice doing business with you.

Thanks!

2008-10-14T22:08:00.002-06:00

Thanks for the hats! It is nice when "Santa" comes unexpectedly. Every day when we get home from work, Steve opens the door and says "Did Santa come?" He did today! His is too big, of course, with his little head :) Mine is perfect though! I actually have had it on all night since I tried it on! I will probably wear it in the morning too! Since I don't dry my hair my head has been a little cold the last few mornings, but it isn't cold enough to wear my TurtleFur hat with the ear flaps. This one will be perfect! Sorry no pictures. We tried to take a picture of each of us in our hats, but we weren't being very photogenic at the time :)

In other news, I am on call this week. My first time in my two years of being at CGL. I get to have a pager from Tuesday until Monday. After hours or on weekends I may get paged by hospitals or doctors about patients and samples. During the week there aren't too many responsibilities. Just call back people who page and check the messages on the main phone line before I go to bed. Nothing during the week is critical enough to have to go into work. The weekend could be different however. I have to go in Sunday for at least an hour, but I could get paged and have to be there for longer. It is really scary, but people say nothing usually happens when you are on call. But we have all these procedures and stuff in case! I will tell you all how it goes! I really don't want to have to talk to any doctors! I know I will be like "Ummm..this is my first time on call I don't know what to do!"

~*~ Ashley ~*~

What a bad, horrible, aweful night!

2008-09-26T20:45:00.005-06:00

On our way home tonight from work, I asked Steve if we could use one of our coupons from the new Gold C Book to order pizza. He agreed, so when we got home, I called them up. I wanted to use a coupon for by one medium pizza, and get a second one free. He told me it would be $15! I was like FOR ONE MEDIUM PIZZA? And the guy didn't see anything wrong with it. So I changed to fewer toppings, and it was still $11! I was like um never mind I'll order from somewhere else. Then I saw a coupon for the same place that was two 2-topping large, an order of cheese bread, and a 2-liter of soda for $20. So I called back and ordered that. Luckily, it was a different person, or they would have thought I was weird.

So while we waited the hour for the pizza, we went to do some things in the garage. I was putting a fourth coat of stain on the new fish tank stand, and Steve was going to drill something. So we are working away, and in about 30 minutes, the pizza guy drove by, so Steve was going to go inside and meet him at the front door. THE GARAGE DOOR WAS LOCKED!!!!! This is the third time this has happened, except the first two times I was in the house, so no big deal. Now we are both out, the dogs are inside, the pizza guy is on the porch, and we have NO KEYS! We should have probably learned the first time this happened, but no. I even thought about this a few days ago. Hmm, if that door ever locks, we can’t get in. Did I put a key outside somewhere, NO!

We were rattling the door trying to get the lock to maybe wiggle to the open position, and we could hear the doorbell and the guy calling my cell phone. (Both phones were inside by the way.) Eventually I went and told him we were locked out and the money was inside, and he said he would have to take it back. I felt kind of bad, but he was nice enough to say he hoped we got in. So now what do we do? I suggest asking a neighbor to use the phone and call a locksmith, but Steve said that was too expensive. He suggested putting on his climbing shoes and climbing up the outside of the house because the bedroom (second story) and loft (third story) windows were open. No. Then I suggested using a large drill bit and drilling through the lock. I read too many books, this doesn’t work. We ended up totally tearing apart the door handle for about an hour with the drill, screwdriver, hammer, and dremel. It FINALLY opened, but we for sure have to get a new handle. Oh well, cheaper than a whole new door (we thought about just busting through) or the locksmith I guess.

So I called the pizza place to see if they would send it back. I told him what happened, and he was like you should have called I would have just given it to you! Oh man! They did send a new order, just got it at 9:00 pm, and ate a piece real quick before starting this paragraph! Luckily, all three times I called today it was a different person, and two different delivery people. I guess we just weren’t meant to have pizza tonight…

What remains.

Box of parts we ripped off.

Trying to drill through the lock doesn’t work.

Pretty doorknob.

What if looked like when the knob came off.

Common Sense

2008-09-17T10:16:00.007-06:00

Another rant... I dont generally complain about everything but the more money gets tight the harder it is to earn my business, and the more businesses fail to meet my expectations.

I have been dabbling in DIY projects and have started to build a stand.

I was convinced to order cabinet doors instead of making them myself because you can buy them for cheaper than the materails and save a lot of time and energy.

I bucked up and bought 6 cabinet doors. I needed 2 doors at each dimension. The doors arrived in 11 business days, which is right in the time frame they gave me. I busted open the crate they came in to find out the dimensions I gave them were not the same as recieved. I over reacted like always and was pretty ticked. After measuring every side of every door, I came to the conclusion one door wouldnt work as it was 1/4" short. That too could have been fudged if it wasnt one of the two that was on the front of the stand and thus once mounted leaving a 1/4" gap in the middle of the doors. Im not sure how you mess up someones dimensions when you do this everyday. If I was doing this in the garage I would almost expect it and accept it but not when Im paying you to do it.

My second gripe is that two of the doors are very small. 12" x 7 1/2" these still require 2 sets of hinges which I paid extra to have the holes drilled for. So where do you think these holes are? Put door in your jig and drill press the hole, turn around do the same. Yeah that doesnt work with eurohinges genius. I have 2 holes centered in the door about 1/8" apart. Do you even look at what your doing? Any third grader would know that wouldnt work. Now I will have to buy the Forstner bit set and redrill the holes to where I can actually put two hinges.

I called them this morning not very happy, and he said they would replace the door that is 1/4" short. Which is nice, but is now holding staining up. Common Sense and a tape measure would come in handy for this job.

Follow up Email in response to the above photo. Replacing those doors as well. I personally enjoyed the common sense comment as I did not make mention of that to the owner. Im glad they are making it right!

"Steve,
I am truly sorry for the problems and unfortunately I can't watch everything that goes on around here. Sometimes when new employees are being trained, the trainer takes it for granted that "common sense" will prevail. Obviously by your photo that would be a false assumption. I'll have the doors remade and shipped out right away. Your disappointment is my disappointment but as long as I have employees I'm sure they won't fail to disappoint at times so again, I'm sorry for the trouble......thx"

We need two trampolines!

2008-09-10T14:56:00.002-06:00

How dumb, but totally funny if you have ever been around boxers. We need two of these things!!

Dog On Tramp @ Yahoo! Video

Do It Yourself

2008-09-02T15:15:00.003-06:00

We haven't updated in awhile, so I feel the need to update even though nothing has really been going on. We have just been working and doing our normal everyday routine. Steve has been hard at work on our new fish tank stand, which is coming along very nicely. I am still reading away down my list of books. I am currently reading every book James Patterson has ever written, about 10 more books to go. I recommend "Suzanne's Diary to Nicholas."

A few months ago I posted all the cool things I learned in "Green Housekeeping." I have been cleaning our house the green way (vinegar, baking soda, olive oil) for a few months now and love it. It cleans better, doesn't dry out your hands, and costs a whole lot less. I will be trying to run the dishwasher and washing machine the green way in a few more weeks. That book recommended "Natural Beauty at Home" to make your own soaps, lotions, etc. I read it this weekend and there was some pretty simple stuff in there. Last night I made face wash, cold cream, and lip gloss. I need a few more ingredients before I can make the shampoos and a few other things. LOVE the face wash the 2 times I've used it. Been using the lip gloss all day and love it. Not so sure about the cold cream yet. It seems more like an intensive care lotion. Beware come Christmas time, I may be giving you Ashley Made Beauty Products!

** After work I took an electric mixer to the cold cream, and the consisteny is much more cold cream now!

Finalized!

2008-08-12T14:39:00.002-06:00

It is Finalized, you will never hear of this again! Wahoo

Denver Hotness!

2008-08-01T08:35:00.007-06:00

Denver has set the hottest summer in history yesterday as it continues the streak of consecutive days over 90.

Its a nice hot where humidity is pretty much unnoticed and is bone warmingly hot. Surprisingly we havent even gone to the pool through this weather, cause its too hot, and that seems to be everones thinking as there is usually no one there. Today is supposed to reach a cool 101. Yikes. I dont really mind hot weather here, and when we want to get out of it the mountains are ALWAYS nice! The hot weather also does something for how clear it is and the mountain views have been spectacular this summer. Sunrises and Sunsets are breathtaking out here with pinks and purples and the sun falling behind the front range. I stood outside for probably twenty minutes yesterday just loving where I live.

The only downside to all of this is our electric bill. Keeping our house at 72, lets just say that this July compared to last July tripled.... Ouch!

I love Colorado! It was well worth the wait

Quick Update 3:06 GMT

2008-07-28T15:06:00.002-06:00

We no longer have an Infiniti G35x as of 7:00pm July 28, 2008!!!!

Another Prayer Request

2008-07-28T12:17:00.003-06:00

Tonight we are taking the Infiniti G35x to a dealership that contacted me through craigslist about purchasing the car for a client. He sounds pretty serious and as long as he likes the car we could be done with it as soon as Wednesday.

This car has been an eye opener and a humbling experience. The moral of the story is I should listen to Ashley, and not be so materialistic.

Please pray that we get rid of this and can start paying off debt and putting something into baby savings.

Job Hunting

2008-07-14T21:13:00.002-06:00

Of the 41 jobs I have applied for, I have my first interview this Wednesday at 5:30. My job title would be Professional Research Assistant, and I would be working in the Pathology Department of the University of Colorado. It would be very close to my house, so that would be really nice. I would be researching Prostate Cancer. I would try to stop the spreading of the cancer using plasmids, viruses, and other pharmacological agents. After a year of figuring out what works, I would try it out on mice that I give tumors. I know that is not nice, but sacrificing a few mice to save people is okay with me. Steve said "what did the mice ever do to you!" This is not a huge passion of mine, but sounds pretty interesting. I will take the job if it is a pay increase. One thing I am weary about, it is only a promised 2 year project (then the funding is cut) so there is no guarantee I would have a job come Spring 2010. Steve did point out that would be a perfect time frame for Nursing School. We will have to see if they like me on Wednesday!

Ashley

Saving the World, One Burning Field at a Time

2008-07-05T00:18:00.004-06:00

Tonight at around 11:38 pm I took the dogs out to go potty one more time for the night. There is a big field across the street, and there were some people shooting off fireworks. I watched the fireworks while the dogs went. Tinkerbell pulled on the leash a little bit, and I turned around. As soon as I was looking away from the fireworks, I hear "FIRE! FIRE!" I turned back, and the grass in the field was on fire. It looked to be about 2 feet by 2 feet from where I was standing (maybe 100 yards away). I ran upstairs with the dogs and told Steve a fire just started to call 911. It took me maybe 10 seconds to go up the stairs, tell him, and go back down. By then the fire was about 20 feet by 20 feet, just in those few seconds. Another reminder to everyone that I live in the desert! In about 3 minutes the fire was huge. Steve came out with the camera, while talking to the 911 dispatcher. I took this picture: reference the Subaru Outback for size reference.

That car was full of teenagers. They ran around like crazy for a few minutes picking up fireworks and whatnot before they drove away. Steve being a detective, ran over to the scene of the crime with the camera and took a picture of their license plate before they left. They didn't even notice him since they were running around. I won't post the license plate for you, but the Denver Arson Investigator is coming to pick them up on Tuesday :) Steve is hoping for an honorary badge...ha ha.

When the fire truck got there, we let them put out most of the fire before we went up and told them we were the ones who called, and we had PICTURES of license plates. They laughed and said "wow you really zoomed in." We aren't sure if firefighters and police like when people try to help out, or if it annoys them. I will let my firefighter sister Dorian answer that question for us.

We heard the one firefighter calling in the scene, and he said there was about 400 feet by 50 feet of damage. It is just an open field, but it could have quickly spread to nearby houses. It is VERY dry here, and the wind was blowing pretty hard. This is the last picture we got before the firetruck arrived:

I doubt the kids will get in trouble since the land had no value (nothing was harmed but the grass) but I hope they get a little visit from the Arson Investigator to scare the crap out of them. Fireworks are totally illegal in Denver, not even allowed to have them in your house. They should have known the grass would catch on fire!

Ashley

HAVE to find a new job

2008-06-26T10:40:00.001-06:00

My work is being torn down in a few months, and we have been trying to find a new building for about a year. Everything falls through at the last minute. They think they finally found the place we will go, and it is in Lakewood, which is 25-30 miles from my house. So now I HAVE to find a new job by September (when we move) because there is no way I am driving that far for a job I hate. Pray for me!

Ashley

Nursing School

2008-06-17T16:39:00.003-06:00

I have been thinking about nursing school since about January (even though I didn't tell anyone that early). Today I met with admissions of National American University. She told me all about their 2 year RN program, and showed me around the nursing "campus" which is 1 floor of the building. The classrooms were nice, and they even had a pretend hospital wing and pretend doctor's office. The hospital part was pretty funny. There were about 10 hospital beds with manikins in gowns. They also have 2 robots that they can program to do things like have a heart attack, stroke, code blue, etc. They can be filled with fluid for practicing taking their "blood". The female robot even gives birth to a baby! They even have a locker room where I would keep my SCRUBS!

Before I could start the program, I would have to be a CNA (certified nurse's assistant) which takes 80-100 hours. If I did that, I could work at a hospital or doctor's office while going to school. Children's Hospital even has 2 of those positions open right now. There are also 5 prerequisite classes, 2 I took already in college, and 3 that I would need to take (College Algebra, Anatomy and Physiology I and II). If I got certified and took these classes, I would be ready to start the nursing program next June.

Financially I can't do any of this now, but Steve says maybe in a year I can start. I am so excited! Pray with me that this is what God wants me to do, and I can start my prerequisites and get certified next June!

Ashley

Bye bye Migraines?????

2008-06-11T11:57:00.004-06:00

I have been having migraines like crazy the last few months, and my friend Kathy recently told me about MigreLief (www.migrelief.com). It is a vitamin supplement for the prevention of migraines that one of her friends swears by. At this point, I will pretty much try anything, so I drove to Lakewood yesterday to pick some up. There is only one pharmacy within 30 miles of Denver that sells it. It was a little pricey after tax, so I think next time I will order it online. I can get 3 bottles online for about the same price I would have paid for 2 at the pharmacy.

MigreLief is a combination of B2, Magnesium, and Feverfew. My dad had tried the B2/Magnesium about 10 years ago, but they sell them at the store in such small concentrations, he had to practically take half a bottle a day, which was pricey. I just have to take 2 MigreLief a day, and I get about 250 mg of each. I looked up Feverfew because I didn't know what it was (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feverfew), and it is a cute little flower. I would eat flowers whole if I knew it would work!

I took my first pill last night before bed, and my second this morning when I woke up. Today I feel fabulous! It may just be a coincidence that I am having a good day, but I am hoping it is working. I wouldn't expect it to work after just 2 doses (it says it can take up to 3 months to build up enough of the vitamins in your system) but it would be great if it was. It has 2 side effects: diarrhea and yellow urine. The pharmacist said if I take it with food or milk I shouldn't get diarrhea, so I have been taking it with milk. But I would rather have diarrhea than a migraine anyway! When I went to the bathroom this morning, it was BRIGHT BRIGHT BRIGHT YELLOW. Like someone poured their neon yellow highlighter into the toilet. Definitely not what I was expecting! Probably not something you wanted to know about either!

Keep hoping this will work wonders for me!

Ashley

Jobs

2008-06-09T20:41:00.001-06:00

4 of the 12 jobs I applied for on Friday are marked as "Route." So at least I didn't get declined right away on any lol. Here are the lost of terms they use on the website:

Applied - You are a current applicant and have successfully applied.

Screened - You are being screened by the recruiter to see if you have met the minimum qualifications of the job you have applied for.

Route- You are a top candidate and your resume has been sent to the manager for review.

Declined- The manager has identified another candidate that best meets their needs.

Hold- The hiring manager is not accepting any new applications at this time, or has decided not to hire for this position.

It is really nice you can see what is happening with your application.

Ashley

The Children's Hospital

2008-06-06T15:37:00.002-06:00

I have decided to look for jobs at The Children's Hospital. I would really like to go to nursing school sometime down the road and work at TCH. Since nursing school isn't in the financial calendar anytime soon, I think I will try to get some kind of job there, to at least get my foot in the door.

I am tired of being stuck in a lab or at the microscope with no human interactions! I don't know if it is just because I have been in solitary confinement for 2 years, or I am just getting older and my maternal/nurturing instincts are kicking in and making me want to be around people.

The higher ups at my job now are mean and don't care about you or anything as long as the work is getting done. I know your managers aren't supposed to be your friends, but they shouldn't be the enemy either! I am also tired of mandatory 15 hour overtimes every month.

Just pray I can get a job at TCH if that is what God wants me to do! I applied for 12 jobs today at TCH in Aurora, which is only 12 minutes away. Later this weekend I may apply for some TCH jobs in Denver.

Ashley

Evacuation

2008-05-28T10:34:00.003-06:00

So I got the 5th, 4th, and 3rd floors evacuated at work today. We just got allowed back after about 2 hours... I feel like such an idiot, but it was only 50% my fault. I just want to go home and go to bed now!

I won't get into all the chemical details about what happened. I will just say someone else at work poured 1 chemical where it should not have been, and me not knowing, poured the chemical that was supposed to go there in with it. They mixed together and made chlorine gas, which is deadly!

Oopps... What a bad day so far!

Ashley

Wedding Vows

2008-05-09T14:20:00.002-06:00

We recently did a marriage study through our church called "I Promise" by Gary Smalley. I highly recommend it! Throughout the study, you were supposed to write a marriage constitution to hang in your house to see every day. It made me wish I had my wedding ceremony written out to hang up as well. So the past few weeks I have been telling myself to e-mail the Reverend that married us, because I thought he told me he kept a binder of all the weddings he does. I finally remembered to do it today, and when I went on his website to find his email, I clicked on his blog, remembering looking at it before my wedding. I went to June 2006, and there we were, vows and all! It was a lot easier to find them than I thought! I liked the little paragraph he wrote about us:

This weekend I performed a wedding at the Cincinnati Club. The Cincinnati Club is a very old institution in Cincinnati dating back to the 19th century. The rooms are opulent and the service is exceptional.The Bride and Groom, Steven and Ashley, looked great in the full wedding regalia - she in a beautiful strapless gown that sparkles like stars in the sky. He in a pin stripe tuxedo with white shirt and black vest. They were truly a wonderful couple and the photos will look great.They had the cutest Flower Girl as well. She is about 2 or 3 years old, dressed in a mini wedding dress of white, and she tossed flower petals on the aisle for the Bride to walk on. She ran out of petals half way down but still acted like she was throwing them on the floor. She was SO CUTE!!!

If you want to see the whole thing, http://yourweddingyourway.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_archive.html

Ashley

Scary Maps

2008-05-02T18:41:00.003-06:00

Tonight Steve showed me how scary http://maps.live.com/ can be. If you have been to our house, you know there is a large spot out front with no grass where the dogs pee. If you type our address in the map, it shows that spot!

The red arrow is the dog pee. The yellow arrow is my Trailblazer! I also typed in my mom's address and my dad's address, and all their vehicles were there too! That is kind of scary!

Ashley

How to Clean Green

2008-05-02T14:57:00.002-06:00

I've decided once all my household cleaning supplies are used up, and I am going to try to "clean green." It focuses on cleaners made of nontoxic substances that you most likely already have in your house. I am not really doing it because it is green (which is nice) but mostly because it is supposed to be a ton cheaper, and we have no money!

Here are some things I found that I will be trying in the next few weeks. If you try something, or do any already, let me know!

All-Purpose Cleaner: In a spray bottle, mix 1/2 cup vinegar, 1/4 cup baking soda, and fill with water.

Bathtub and Sink: Spray with vinegar. Sprinkle on baking soda. Rub with a damp sponge. Thoroughly rinse with water to avoid leaving a hazy film on fixtures.

Coffee Maker: Fill water reservoir with vinegar and run as you would to brew coffee. Rinse by filling reservoir with water and run as you would to brew coffee.

Drain Cleaner: Pour 1/2 cup baking soda down the drain followed by 1/2 cup vinegar. Wait 15 minutes (overnight if bad clog) pour in hot water. Repeat if needed.

Floor Cleaner: Mix 1 cup vinegar in a bucket of warm water.

Furniture Polish: In spray bottle, mix 1 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup lemon juice, 1/2 cup vinegar, and fill with water.

Microwave: Clean with a paste made from 3 tablespoons of baking soda mixed with water. Scrub with a sponge and rinse.

Mold and Mildew: Use white vinegar or lemon juice full strength. Apply with a sponge. Do not rinse.

Oven Cleaner: Sprinkle oven with baking soda and spray with water until very damp. Let sit overnight. Use a spatula to get under large food deposits. Rinse clean.

Shoe Polish: Combine 1 teaspoon olive oil with a few drops of lemon juice. Apply to shoes. Leave for a few minutes; wipe with a clean, dry rag.

Stainless Steel: Clean with a cloth dampened with undiluted white vinegar.

Toilet Cleaner: Pour 1/4 cup baking soda and 1 cup vinegar into toilet and let sit for 5 minutes. Scrub with a brush then flush. Clean the outside surfaces with a rag dampened with vinegar and sprinkled with baking soda.

Walls: Use baking soda applied to a damp sponge. Rub gently, then wipe and rinse.

Windows and Mirrors: Put 1/4 cup of vinegar and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice in a spray bottle and fill to top with water. Spray on surface. Rub with a lint-free rag.

Ashley

Break In?

2008-04-24T13:15:00.003-06:00

I am home alone this week while Steve is in Cincinnati for work. I have always been super scared to stay by myself, but the past 2 times I have been a "big girl" about it, and wasn't too scared to where I would lay awake all night.

I think someone may have tried to break in last night. The screen is pulled out of the screen holder. Either someone pulled it out, or it decided it needed to come apart.

We always have the alarm on, have two big scary (but nice) dogs, and a gun. And since Colorado has the "Make My Day" law, we have already agreed we would shoot someone if they came into our house. I decided to hang this up on the window in case the person decides to come back.

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Two New Additions to the Family

2008-04-19T16:39:00.004-06:00

We don't have names for these little guys yet, but they are Black and White Clown Fish. They still have a little orange on their faces, but this will eventually become black too. They are living in their very own 10 gallon tank we set up yesterday. We are hoping to breed them to sell to fish stores. We had to drive an hour just to get these. They are in that flower pot because supposedly it will be like there little home and they will want to lay eggs in there. The female (always the bigger of the two) is supposed to always chase the male (always the little one) out of the pot, and one day, let him in to breed. Our female instantly took over the flower pot, and is chasing him out already!

This is a temporary location for the tank on our kitchen table. Steve will be busy making a stand in the next few weeks!

Ashley

Everybody Else is Doing It!

2008-04-15T12:00:00.013-06:00

Since everybody else is showing off their loom knitting masterpieces, I thought I would show what I have crocheted so far. This is all by hand, no cheating with a loom!

First I made a scarf. When I originally made it, it turned out too short and fat, so I took it all out and did it again. The second time I made it skinny and very long. I hate when scarves are too short and you can't wrap yourself in them quite enough.

So I made it 4 inches by 9 feet :)
My next project was a huge blanket for Steven. He picked out the yarn and everything! He wanted it to be 6 feet by 8 feet, but unfortunately, I didn't know about gauging before I started. It will end up being 5 feet by 8 feet. I guess I will have to make him another one sometime! Currently, it is only 5 feet by 2 feet! I worked on it nightly for 2 weeks, then took a 2 week break to read some library books that were due soon! I think I did a pretty good job for teaching myself with a book!

Ashley

SOOOOO EXCITED!!!

2008-03-19T11:58:00.003-06:00

Wahoo!!!!!!!!! Brittannie comes to visit tonight! For some reason I am super excited. Tomorrow I am taking her up to Ft. Collins so she can visit Colorado State University, show her around town and poison her for three days straight with Colorado Love.

Who knows maybe in a couple months I will have a sister right up the street!

**note to the rest of the family... Colorado is where its at!** :)

Prayer Request

2008-03-09T13:57:00.002-06:00

We were contacted by a hotel in Boulder CO that wants to change their candles in the bar and restaurant to soy. They would regularly require 500 votives a month. We made them a bulk deal of $0.50 a votive, instead of our normal $1.00 a votive since they want white unscented. This would be a steady extra income of $250.00 a month, which would be wonderful. We will be sending them a few samples tomorrow, so pray that they love our candles and chose to use us!

Ashley

Monica's Trip to CO

2008-03-08T12:51:00.003-07:00

This is a few weeks late, but my sister Monica came to visit for a week. She is the first person in my family to come and visit. I didn't get to spend a ton of time with her since I had to work, but we got to spend each evening with each other, and the whole day on Thursday. I also got to meet her great new boyfriend, and they are perfect together!

On Thursday I took her up to Flagstaff in Boulder where we seem to take everyone that comes for a visit. The road was closed so we had to walk up and up, but the view was beautiful. We also think we saw a mountain lion print in the snow!

After that we went to the Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory, which was pretty awesome. I had been wanting to go, but wasn't sure if it would be fun. I had a good time though! We got to taste about 20 different kinds of tea, go into the Mint Room (boy was that strong!), walk the assembly line, and got a free sample of tea to take home. It was pretty cool. My favorite part is the "Bargain Bin." When the machines get backed up, they kick the boxes off tea off the line onto the floor. These boxes go into a bargain bin, that is $1.00 for a box of 10 tea bags, $1.50 for a box of 20 tea bags, and $2.00 for a box of 40 tea bags. I got 3 boxes of 20 tea bags for $3.88! Who cares if they fall on the floor! They are already in the box and wrapped in plastic, so it isn't like they are dirty or anything. I think every time I go to Boulder I am going to stop in Gift Shop just to raid the bargain bin!

I had a really great time she was here, and was really glad she got to come out. I haven't seen her since my wedding night! I hope she enjoyed my beautiful state!

Ashley

Quick Math

2008-02-22T13:43:00.008-07:00

10 birthday cupcakes divided by 5 co-workers =

The answer is 2. Where and why did you think it would be ok to eat 4? Sure its my birthday and thus the reason there are cupcakes in the kitchen, go ahead and eat both yours 1 of mine and 1 of someone elses.

:( Jeesh

Thanks Ashley for making me cupcakes like a little kid for my birthday!

God sure has a sense of humor

2008-02-20T09:05:00.004-07:00

If you notice the date on my Enterprise Rent a Car post you will see that it was Monday 2.18.08. Yesterday (Tuesday 2.19.08) I had to travel to Loveland Colorado for work, which is about an hour north of Denver. I knew that I had to take the Trailblazer

which was not a problem. I slept in to avoid rush hour traffic and took off the ski rack to save gas mileage. It was a nice drive with scenic mountain views and a beautiful 60 degree day. I got to Walgreens with no problem and got in and did the work I needed to do for the upcoming renovation work that I would be providing Construction Documents for. I got back into my car and was debating where to stop for lunch before heading back to Denver. God had other plans for my day. I started the car and the check engine light comes on, which I have grown ignorant of because everytime I drive to the mountains the light comes on as the car doesnt seem like the steep inclines biggest fan! Well normally the light stays on til I am back in Denver but this time... a second light came on and the car completely died. The runtime was about 1-2 minutes. I didnt expect this to happen so I was that idiot that is usally driving a manual for the first time stalling at every stop sign. I looked under the hood and tried to tighten all the connections thinking maybe its just a computer glitch. Then I unhooked the battery for a while and then started the car. Bingo I fixed it! Wrong, what I did was turn off the light for a millisecond. When I didnt see the light I figured I was good and got on a main road to head back home. I called Ashley told her it was fixed and then BAM car died. Not good. Finally I figured there was no way I was getting home in this car and I caved and called GM Roadside Assistance. A tow truck picked me up and took me to the closest Chevrolet dealership. Meanwhile I am sitting next to the driver panically praying that everything be covered by GM as money is tight and there is surely nothing to pay for a huge car bill. Ben my discipler mentioned prayer needs to be specific so God can know your heart and exactly what you wanted. I was making sure he knew I couldnt pay for this! I sat in the waiting room praying constantly that GM would pick up the tab. At that point I didnt care I was an hour away from home or how I was getting home. I was thinking there is no way I can pay for this and still be able to pay our bills. About an hour after sitting in the waiting room the service advisor came over to tell me the computer malfunctioned and everything would be picked up by GM as there is an 8 year warranty on the part. Phew, Thank God!

Phase II. See How God Laughs.

The next thing the service advisor said was your car obviously can not be driven home, so I have set you up with a rent-a-car company that GM will also provide for you. A day after stating I would never use Enterprise again who do you think I was set up with? Enterprise.... Well not to say I wouldnt have rather taken the car from them but I effectively did not give them my service. You see, I was stuck in Loveland and needed to get home, so I was like well its not my money I guess I have no other choice. Well, Enterprise requires a valid drivers liscense.... which I lost mine in September. So Enterprise could not rent to me. Kind of made me happy but an inconvenience none the less. Ashley came up to Loveland to pick me up and we'll have to make the journey with both cars when its finally fixed. But Enterprise wont get paid!

Loveland is about an hour south of Wyoming so Saturday when we are going to get the car we are going to check off another state we've been to. We havent decided what we are going to do but its going to be fun, our ideas include parking 10 feet from Wyoming and having a race to Wyoming, Ice Cream in Cheyenne or we are still looking for a real reason to go.

It was a long day and Im glad it is over, and Im glad it isn't going to cost us!

Update: 2/20/08 Car is complete. Power Terrain Computer Module went bad and I dont owe 1 nickel!

Enterprise NEVER Again!

2008-02-18T11:11:00.002-07:00

This is a rant and you dont have to read, I just need to blow off steam.

I hate Enterprise Rent-A-Car and will never again use their service. After fighting with them for 6 months over an issue I feel I did not cause I was charged for it today. I wish I would have been beating this car to death as thats what your "supposed" to do with rentals. I couldnt have been babying this stupid Jetta anymore than I was and coming home from work 1 day the tire just went down. Well apparently this piece of garbage car I had was completely out of alignment and shook all over the place. The thing rode like crap since day 1 and the car was filthy when I picked it up. Thats what happens when you get a car friday 4 minutes before they close. When they contacted me I said how can I be blamed for a car when you didnt even inspect it before you gave it to the next renter? To which the lovely, helpful, understanding lady replied "Sir I wouldnt have accepted a dirty car" Oh yes maam because at 4:56 you were so willing and helpful to give me what other car on the lot that wasnt rented out. Thats right, that sweet Jetta was my only option. And by the way you work for Enterprise genius of course you can be picky. If I wanted a car and didnt want to miss more work over this event then yes I would have stuck it out and waited for a clean car. Next time I will, I will also bring my camera and document the garbage you are giving me. By the way lets all do the math. 2 months of renting a VW JETTA.... Yeah I probably paid 8 months of a car payment if I owned the thing, so when normal maintenance comes up on the cars in your fleet, lets make renters pay for it, a great business model. And also a great way to keep customers coming back. (please add sarcasm)

Fernanda I thank you for spending countless hours and meaningless conversation with me over this issue. I enjoyed talking to you over cold dinners and you making me so angry I shook. You were so comforting by calling me a liar, a destructor and an idiot. Thank you for telling me that if you had to pay for tires for all your cars you would be out of business. Thank you also for being on your toes when the fifth time I told you the same exact story you accused me of changing the story.

Thank you Scott for calling me 5 minutes before Fernanda asking the story and saying thank you for telling us we just wanted to follow up on the car. Thank you Scott for lying to my face, next time dont waste your time being friendly, come out and say we are blaming you and you will be paying.

Thank you Enterprise for providing me a piece of trash car, raping my wallet and then making me pay for someone elses cover up or normal car maintenance, however you want to look at it. I will surely be back to your friendly counters just as soon as I can. And please, keep giving away the free smiles, your customer service is a delight!

Eye Exams and a Visitor

2008-02-18T08:19:00.002-07:00

Steve and I went to the eye doctor this weekend, and both got glasses and contacts. He is -7.5 in each eye, and I am -1.5. I have been able to tell the last 2 years my eyes getting worse and worse. Now I am like wow they were really bad! It took me 45 minutes the first time I put in contacts, 13 minutes the second time, and only 3 minutes the third time. Maybe by the end of the week I will be able to do it on the first try in about 10 seconds lol.

I also found out yesterday my sister Monica is going to come and visit the 25-29. I am very very very excited. This will be the first visit for someone in my family, and I can't wait for her to see my new home!

Ashley

Almost Feel Like A Normal Person

2008-02-14T11:05:00.002-07:00

I just wanted to do a quick update on how my doctor's appointment went. He took my blood pressure about 20 times in a variety of positions (sitting, laying, standing) and decided to take me off of Toprol XL which is a beta blocker. I have been on this for 4 years, when I was originally diagnosed with POTS.

Tuesday was my first day not taking it, and I instantly felt about 50% better. Wednesday I was about 75% better, and today I am probably 95% better. I almost feel like a normal person! I have only been dizzy one time today, and that was when I first stood up out of bed.

I also have a heart monitor for a month. Luckily this time, I don't have to wear electrodes for a month. The monitor is about the size of a credit card, and is basically a portable Electro Cardiogram machine. When I feel dizzy, I just press it to the middle of my chest, and it records. It can hold 6 recordings, and when it is full, I hold it up to the telephone and send it right to the doctor's computer. So far in 3 days, I have only recorded 4 times. On my medicine I would have recorded 20+ times a day!

Originally they told me I would grow out of this condition. I am hoping that my medicine doing the wrong thing means I have grown out of it.

Thank you for all the prayers and dinners that we have been getting. We sure do have some great friends!

Ashley

Prayer Request

2008-02-05T09:45:00.000-07:00

Please do me a favor and keep Ashley in your prayers. As most of you know Ashley has POTS http://www.dinet.org/pots_an_overview.htm

The last month Ashley has been feeling horrible, she has made it to work about 1 to 2 days a week. The other days of the week she is really lucky to get out of bed or off of the couch. Usually having to lay down to prevent passing out. January and what has been of February has been unusually bad for her. Even when she did make it to work it was quickly followed by the feeling she was going to pass out. It is as if her medicine has had no effect on her whats so ever. She has a cardiologist appointment on the 11th where the dr will again take a guess at what will help her. Please pray for her health, it would be much nicer if this was to just work itself out of her system.

On a side note it would also help us out a lot if she could get back to full health as she is hourly.....

Please keep her in your prayers!

Taking a Little Time Off

2008-01-23T16:18:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to give a brief update and let everyone know we are going to cancel our HOME TELEPHONE and INTERNET for a little while to help save money. The two cost us about $100.00 a month, that could be put to better use elsewhere. We will still have our cell phones, and we both have internet at work. I will try to update this site from work from time to time, but just know, we are still alive!

~*~ Ashley ~*~

National Stock Show Kick Off Parade

2008-01-15T19:07:00.000-07:00

Today at lunch I walked downtown to watch the annual Stock Show Kick Off Parade. If you remember last year we attended our first rodeo, this year we found out there was a parade to begin the big week and definately had to go! Well, Ashley didn't get to come down but since I work right behind Union Station I could make a lunch of it. It was pretty fun I guess I followed the famous longhorns about 10 blocks trying to get a good picture. Keep in mind, this is a "cattle drive" right through the heart of downtown Denver!

Above is the Governor of Colorado Bill Ritter Riding a horse in front of the Longhorn heard. It is kind of neat that our governor actually gets involved in large events and can be seen in the public.

New Addition

2007-11-23T22:09:00.000-07:00

We got a new addition for our saltwater fish tank today. She is a Mandarin Goby. I call everything else in the tank "he" because I am unsure of the sex, but I know this one is a girl, because the boys have a spiky fin thing that the girls don't have. Her name is Doby. Hopefully she will do well in our tank. These fish only eat live food, so they will not eat the flakes, pellets, or frozen food that most other fish will eat. She only eats tiny creatures that live on the rock. So hopefully, our rock has lots of little creatures.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-23T18:48:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Steve and I had our own little feast of turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, rolls, and pie. MMM! Our turkey was close to perfect! Steve was a clean-platter for once. He even said "That was the most food I ever ate since I was born!" Which was pretty funny!

12 Hours of Overtime

2007-11-11T14:27:00.000-07:00

At work we have mandatory overtime yet AGAIN! From November 2nd to the 18th we have to do 12 hours. This time, they are letting us take our microscopes home over the weekend so we don't have to come into work. Of course I had to take a picture, being the science nerd that I am :)

~*~ Ashley ~*~

World Series

2007-11-03T21:37:00.000-06:00

This post is a week late, but here it is!

Steve's Uncle David works for Tops, the baseball card company. He called us Friday night and said he had two VIP MLB World Series tickets with our name on them if we were not busy. What could you be busy with that you wouldn't drop to go to the World Series for free?!?! We were very excited! I don't even like baseball, and I thought I was going to throw up when he told us. It is one of those one in a lifetime things that you just have to do if it falls in your lap!

The next day we had to go to Walmart and buy Rockies shirts because we didn't even have any. I really like mine, but Steve isn't too happy with his. We met Uncle David about 2 hours before the game and got to talk to him for a little bit until his baseball card clients came to meet him for the game. There were SO many people outside the stadium looking for tickets. I wanted someone to offer me money for mine, just to see how much they were actually going for, but no one did. We got a free Rocktober towel to wave around when we walked in. We bought some nachos and a pop, and had brought a bag of peanuts with us from the last Rockies game we went to.

The Rockies ended up not winning, but we had a blast anyway. The whole stadium was cheering like crazy the whole game. I was even cheering, and I am usually too shy to cheer. It was the World Series though! Gotta make it fun while you are there :) By the 8th inning my throat was killing me. I really wanted some hot chocolate, but the hot chocolate guy never came back after the 2nd inning. It was definitely the best sporting event I have ever been too. The atmosphere was great with everyone so excited. Thank you Uncle David!!!!!

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Denver Disappointment

2007-10-16T16:41:00.000-06:00

Well, for a change I am posting (Steven). Many of you know I have been training for my first marathon since approximately February. I had only one goal and that was to qualify for the Boston Marathon. After months and months of training the day of the Denver Marathon had come.

Friday after work I went to the Adams Mark hotel to pick up my race packet, and wonder around the expo. I wasn’t particularly interested in staying there for long as it was just making me more nervous for the race. I picked up my number, got my shirt and made one lap around not really stopping at any of the booths. I then went home and was pleasantly surprised to come home to my mom and dad and little sister. Apparently my wife had made secret plans in august for them to come out. I pretty much stood in the family room with my mouth to the floor in shock. Thanks Ashley for putting that together.

Saturday we laid low as I didn’t want to do anything that would jeopardize my performance on Sunday. We ended up going to Crocs to watch the Ohio State Football game and then going home for more rest and relaxation. I apologize to my family for it being such a boring weekend, as we didn’t leave the couch for most of it.

Sunday morning came and it was finally time to run my first marathon. It was pretty cold and rainy as we drove downtown. Ashley was going to drop me off at the Capitol and then proceed to Coors Field where they were going to see me. After I was dropped off I ran around and stretched before the race, the normal race preparation.

The gun went off and here we go. I tried to control my pace, as I knew if I went out too fast I would be toast in the later miles. Well, that didn’t go over so well. I passed mile 2 in 12:00 not good…. I was already 2 and a half minutes too fast and figured I would be paying for this later. I was running with a group of women that seemed to have a comfortable pace. I later found out these were the elite women that I couldn’t even compare too. Haha oops. I ran with them until mile 5 where they pretty much took off. We ran all over Denver and really I had no clue where I was just watching for water and the mile signs. I was actually feeling very good and besides being a little cold I was doing much better than I expected. At mile 12 I once again saw my fan club, (Ashley, mom, dad, and Britt) mile 12 was pretty rough on me. I was craving these candies that were supposed to be with Ashley to give me a little energy. Well rushing 5 people into our 1 bathroom the candies remained in our kitchen. I wasn’t so happy at that point. Mile 13 came and I began to feel much better, I am guessing 12 was a little hilly and boring and that made it kind of rough. So there I was at the half marathon mark I checked the clock and my pace band and I was 12 minutes fast! What a great feeling. However, I was hoping I wouldn’t later pay for this. Mile 13 to 18 I was really just looking forward to water and watching for signs. They seemed to come and go and my time seemed to be great. Mile 18 still 8 minutes ahead of pace. I was watching my watch as I knew all my mile times and where they should be and I continued to be way ahead. I never worried about not qualifying. I was feeling pretty good for being at mile 18, 19, and 20. Mile 20 is when things started to get fuzzy and go unbelievably bad. When I reached for the Gatorade at mile 20 the volunteer asked if I was ok, to which I answered yes. He then asked if I wanted to stop, um no! I’m good thanks. As I ran off he yelled at me your health is more important than a race. I really had no clue what he was talking about so I just ignored him and kept running. Somewhere after the mile 21 sign a woman asked if I was ok, I said yes, just getting to the finish. She then replied I will alert first aid for you. I didn’t know why she had said this and my instinct was to bark back NO! I’M FINE. Mentally I was perfectly fine and was still keeping my pace, but countless people were making comments to me about being ok. But why? Apparently when that woman got to the next water station she must have alerted them to me. I grabbed a water at mile 22 and was off. Somewhere in there I must have been stumbling all over the place or something and some man stopped and put his long sleeve dry fit shirt on me, gave me some jelly belly energy beans and told me to get help. I still didn’t think anything was wrong and wanted to keep running. At that time a bike paramedic greeted me. He asked if I was ok and I said yes. He asked me to come with him and I kindly replied I’m finishing this! He then seemed to ok it and said he would ride beside me for a while. I didn’t care what he wanted to do I was still 5 minutes ahead of pace and I was getting to Boston. After about 2 minutes of him keeping conversation with me my body shut down. Apparently everybody knew what was going on except me. Hypothermia….. I tried to continue but he wouldn’t let me. Between my stumbles he kind of bear hugged me and put two space blankets around me and then taped them very tightly to me. I still tried to continue and half crying half passing out told him I was finishing the race. He lied to me to get me to go into blockbuster to warm up and then he would let me finish the race. Once inside blockbuster any hope at finishing was gone as he had called EMT to come pick me up. I wasn’t very happy with that guy!

I was then taken to the finish emergency tent and stripped of all my wet clothes and wrapped in space blankets, blankets, heat packs, and laid on a cot next to a heater. I really didn’t want to be there and was angry as I watched my training go right out the window. I didn’t even know what was technically happening. I laid there while the volunteers continued to monitor me and try to take my temperature which wasn’t working. Apparently that can get too low not to register so that was fun. Now my only concern was how am I ever going to find my family while I’m in here? After about 15 minutes a Dr. said Mr Hall? Your father is outside. They wouldn’t let him back where I was and all he knew was I had a half hour to regain normal body temperature or I would be going to the emergency room. Long story short after about an hour and a half they let me go. I have never shivered so violently my entire life. In retrospect I was pretty out of it.

Mentally I couldn’t write off what happened to the cold. I didn’t understand if I was running how I would get cold enough to get hypothermia. I still doubted myself more than the weather until my wife searched for hypothermia on wikepedia. We are guessing I was at stage 2 hypothermia as those symotoms match. Not a great day for a run!

Thanks Ashley, Mom, Dad, and Britt for everything!

Freaky Mushroom Arms

2007-10-08T21:04:00.000-06:00

This weekend we started a saltwater aquarium. We bought "live rock" to build a pretend reef. Live means it has things growing on it like algae, bacteria, etc. These are all very good things for saltwater aquariums. The guy at the pet store said we were in luck because the rocks we choose had Green Mushrooms growing on it (see above picture). At first I thought they were fungi like most mushrooms. Then I noticed they opened and closed when the water pressure would hit them, so I thought they me be animals. Lots of things in the ocean that look like plants are actually animals. So I looked them up, and yes they are animals - they are really called the Green Mushroom Anemone. It said they mostly survive from photosynthesis of the algae that live off it, but can be supplemented with live food like brine shrimp. I didn't really know how to feed it shrimp. I mentioned this to a guy at work, and he said the belly button looking thing (I think it looks like an outie belly button) was their mouth. When I went to feed our 4 fish tonight, I decided I would try to put a shrimp into the belly button. It didn't open and eat it or anything, but ARMS came out from underneath and GRABBED the shrimp. Steve and I were totally freaking out and kind of grossed out. So then I was putting shrimp by all the anemones and watching their arms come out. TOTALLY CREEPY! Just freaking weird!

Steve also noticed this purple and white thing come out of a hole in the rock that looked like a fuzzy pipe cleaner. It also ate 3 shrimp. Not sure what the heck that thing was...

Kebler Pass

2007-09-30T16:24:00.000-06:00

This weekend we took a road trip to Kebler Pass, which is about five hours west. Since we live in the desert, you have to drive far away to see trees that change colors in the fall. They call it "the changing of the Aspens," because the Aspen trees turn gold. We left Friday around noon and drove drove drove. I really wanted to take a nap in the car, but I couldn't because I didn't want to miss anything since we have never been that far west in Colorado. It was very very pretty! When we finally got to Kebler pass, it is just a 50 or so mile gravel road with no houses or anything. We are not really sure why it was ever made, other than a scenic road. We stopped about every 3 minutes to take pictures of the beautiful trees. The pictures definitely do not do the colors justice!

Our main goal that day was to find a place to camp, so about 12 miles down the road we picked a spot. We set up camp and had Velveeta shells and cheese for dinner. We also noticed at this time we didn't have a can opener for our beef stew, so that was going to a goal for the next day! We went to bed pretty early because it was cold and dark. It took me about an hour to get warm, but after that, it was the best sleep I have ever had in a tent.

The next morning I made breakfast burritos and coffee. Boy was that coffee good and hot! It was pretty cold the whole time we were there, so the hot coffee was perfect. Good thing we just bought a camp stove and a coffee peculator! Our plan was to drive the rest of Kebler Pass, and camp in Crested Butte, so we packed everything back in the car. We stopped again about every 3 minutes to take pictures, so it took all day. Definitely worth it though!

When we arrived in Crested Butte, we were shocked to see it was a little crappy hole in the wall town. We had two goals for Crested Butte, one to get a can opener so we could eat that night, and two I wanted a Crested Butte shirt. I think that is a silly name for a town. It reminds me of "Crusty Butt", and I'm sure other people thing of similar things, so I just don't understand why they would name a town that! We found a can opened, and I got a cute shirt. Since the town was a hole in the wall, we had to drive back to Kebler Pass to camp. We ended up camping in the same spot, so too bad we had packed everything up!

We had beef stew for dinner, and made a huge roaring fire. The wind kept blowing and almost catching us on fire. It was very very cold out, and if you moved about two feet away from the fire, you were too cold. Even the dogs sat by the fire, and they are usually scared! I think we ended up going to bed around 8:00 (not much to do in the woods when it is freezing and dark!) and I never ever got warm. It was the worst night sleeping in a tent ever! (Best night followed by worst night!) The best part, is when we woke up there was SNOW on the ground! I have never been camping in the snow. It was so cold I didn't even want to make breakfast, just get in the car with the heat on!

We drove back home the same five hour way we got there, and I wanted to take a nap the whole time again, but this time I couldn't get comfortable. I finally took a little nap from Vail to Idaho Springs, which is maybe an hour :( We got home okay, and everyone had a bath or shower. Now tonight we have to do all of our weekend things (Steve run, grocery store, etc.), because it is back to work tomorrow!

Make sure to look at the 269 pictures!

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Camping/Dog Park

2007-09-02T21:19:00.001-06:00

This weekend we went camping with a couple from church (Rich and Jamie) and Jamie's family. I'm not exactly sure what the name of the place was called where we stayed, but it was on National Forest Land near Estes Park. Not many people know, but you are allowed to camp for free anywhere you want on National Forest Land. I really liked it because you had the amenities of car-camping (PILLOW, real food), but the feel of back-country-camping. There are not actual campsites, you just park your car where ever you want and set up camp. It was about an hour away from our house, and I hope we go there often!

There were 4 dogs on this trip (Lilliann, Tinkerbell, Tritan, and Peanut), so we decided to see how our dogs would be off leash. They did really good, especially Tinkerbell. She was off of her leash 95% of the time. Lilliann we had to keep on her leash most of the time, because there was a 3 year old with us, and she would most likely knock her down. Now we know they can be off their leashes in this type of setting without running away, and they actually listen to us for a change!

One really weird thing about the National Forest, is people can pay to raise their animals on the land. So the animals just roam around wherever they want. While we were driving on the Forest Road to find our camp-mates, there were suddenly a bunch of cows in the road. Steve yelled "Holy cow what are those?!" and I said "COWS!" We had to inch forward until they moved out of the way. A few minutes later, we came over a little hill, and there was another cow laying in the road. Steve didn't seem to see it (it was dark, and the cows were black) so I yelled "COW! COW! COW!" and he finally slammed on the brake about a foot away from it.

All that night I heard mooing close by, so I knew the cows weren't too far away. That morning I was awaken to Jamie yelling "Tritan! Tritan! Tritan!" and cows mooing like crazy. The cows had been a few feet away from the camp, and Tritan got a little too close. He got kicked in the neck by a mom cow with a baby. That made Tritan very mad, so he chased the heard of cows about a mile away. Jamie had a hard time to get him to come back! Luckily, that is the last we saw of the cows.

On the way home today, we stopped by a dog park in Estes Park that had agility equipment, and a lake to swim in. The dogs didn't care much for the agility stuff, we only got them to climb up a triangle. I'm not sure if they liked the water or not, but they did get in. Lilliann ran right into it, but Tinkerbell never got very deep. Neither of them actually swam. They seemed afraid to take their feet off the bottom. It sure was funny to watch though. I put up a million pictures of it if you want to take a look!

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Home Alone

2007-08-25T19:12:00.000-06:00

I usually have a million things I want to do, even if they are small things like organize a cabinet or read a book. But since I am home alone today, I don't know what to do with myself! I am usually content sitting reading a book for hours, but not today! I read two chapters, and just couldn't sit still anymore!

Steven and Brittannie left this morning at 8:00 am to climb Longs Peak. I slept until about 10:15, then was excited to do a bunch of stuff today. I couldn't think of a thing to do! I took a shower, read two chapters of a book, made a few candles, and paced around the house looking for something to do!

I did meet up with Aunt Laura for a little bit in the afternoon. She was in Denver for a layover. We took Tinkerbell and Lilliann to Greenway Park Dog Park. We were probably there two hours, but I wasn't keeping track. It was pretty hot out, so there weren't too many dogs. Maybe 20, whereas there is normally about 100. There was a 1.5 year old boxer there named Bella, and a 6 month old named Lola. We are never the only boxers there when we go! Afterwards we had dinner on the patio of Panera since we could have the dogs there too.

Now I am home alone again, and don't know what to do! I think I may straighten up the garage a little bit, but that won't take the rest of my night. Maybe I can give reading my book another try. Plus there is always studying for my certification exam, aahh! Tomorrow and Monday I am laying by the pool!

~*~ Ashley ~*~

We ARE alive!

2007-08-07T18:13:00.000-06:00

I just wanted to do a quick post to let you all know we have not fallen off the face of the earth! There just isn't really much going on here to tell you all about!

I have started to study for my certification exam, so that takes up a whole lot of my time. Today was actually my 1 year anniversary at CGL, so I can technically sign up to take my exam now. I think I will put in a little more studying time, then fill out the application. So some time before the year is over, I should be sitting for my exam.

Steve has been training for his marathon, so that takes up his time. He got caught out in a really bad thunderstorm on his long Sunday run (14 miles this week) and I had to send out a search party to find him. I had looked myself for half an hour (drove the route he was running, through all the hotels and restaurants to look under awnings) and didn't see him. So I called our friends Ben and Megan to see what I should do. They volunteered to drive around too, and luckily found him hiding in a car wash. He had seen me drive by a little earlier, but didn't realize it was me until it was too late! At least we found him!

If anything exciting happens, I will be sure to post!

~*~ Ashley ~*~

New Website for Pictures

2007-07-19T17:07:00.000-06:00

Yahoo Pictures will be closing soon, so I had to move all my pictures somewhere else. I didn't really like any of the choices (Yahoo would automatically move everything for you), but I settled with SnapFish. It has two downfalls, which hopefully won't be too big of a problem. One is that you have to be a member to look at my pictures. Sorry everyone, but you will have to create a log in name. Two is I would have to email you every single time I added pictures. That is a real pain in the butt, so I made this "group room" that should get around that. I think if you just go to http://stevenandashley.snapfish.com/snapfish or click "Pictures" to the left of this paragraph it should work. You will still have to put in your own password, but all of my pictures should be there. You will all have to tell me if it works or not!

~*~ Ashley ~*~

1 Year Anniversary!

2007-06-23T22:13:00.000-06:00

For our 1 year anniversary we went to a restaurant called The Fort. We had gotten a gift certificate as a wedding present from Kenny and Kevin, and it was about time we used it! It used to be a house built out of mud. It was really cool. They also have a tee-pee and other fun stuff outside. I had cow filet mignon and Steve had buffalo filet mignon. They were both excellent! We even got free chile chocolate cake for dessert since we were celebrating. They also put these awesome hats on us and took our picture. It will be on their website in the next few days! Steve is wearing the top part of a buffalo head, and I am wearing a coyote skin hat. The feet were hanging down, and had claws and everything still on them! It was a very fun place to go!

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Candles

2007-06-16T12:03:00.001-06:00

I have been talking to a lady through e-mail this week that wanted to smell some candles. We were originally going to meet at Starbucks or Panera, but she wanted to smell too many to carry! I just let her and her friend come over to our house. I have been running around like mad the past 2 days trying to get all the candles made that she wanted to smell. As a result, I tripped carrying hot wax, and burned the crap out of my hand last night. The picture above doesn't show the burn as red as it really is. I had to sleep on the couch last night with an icepack and wet washcloth on my hand. I laid there trying not to scream until about 3:00 am when it finally stopped burning so bad. I went in bed at 6:00 with no icepack, and had to get up at 8:00. Boy am I tired now.

The lady and her friend got here at 11:00, and bought $103.85 worth of candles! That is our biggest sale at one time so far. AWESOME! I am doing a mission trip fundraiser for our church on June 30th, so hopefully we can sell a lot there too.

~*~ Ashley

Goose Creek

2007-06-10T14:37:00.001-06:00

We did our first family hiking/backpacking trip this weekend. We left Friday after work and drove about 3 hours southwest to Goose Creek. We got lost about 5 times on the way; we can't seem to get anywhere in Colorado on the first try :( We finally found the sign that pointed to the Goose Creek Trail Head, and had to drive on a narrow dirt road for about 15 miles or so. The more and more we went, I was getting more and more scared! Talk about a secluded area! If anything bad were to happen out there, you would be out of luck!

It was dark by the time we got there, so we had to hike the first half a mile or so in the dark. We finally decided we went far enough, and went off the trail into the woods to find a flat spot for camping. We felt like we walked way up into the woods, but when morning came, we saw we were about 20 feet off the path! The dogs slept surprisingly good in the tent with us. We were worried since it was our first time. I only woke up about 5,000 times thinking there was a bear :) Needless to say, I was exhausted in the morning, and my passing-out-problems are strongly influenced by the amount of sleep I get. I felt pretty bad the next day. We had granola with blueberries and scrambled eggs for breakfast. They were pretty good for being freeze dried.

We packed up the campsite and started off down the trail. I already felt like I was going to pass out, and the 25 pound (I'm guessing, it was probably less) backpack was not helping. We hiked maybe 10 minutes, and I decided we had to set up our second camp. We found a really awesome spot way off the trail this time. We set everything up and took off hiking again.

We walked and walked and walked. A lot of it was up hill, very steep, even for Steven. I had to make us keep stopping when we got to the top of a hill. Finally when I didn't think I could do anymore, I made Steve go on ahead a little to see if he could figure out how much further to our destination. He went maybe 10 more minutes, and someone told him it was 20 more minutes from there. They had wanted to put in a reservoir there, and our destination was the switch house. They never did put the reservoir. When he got back to me I decided it wasn't worth going to with how dizzy I was. We walked the 3 miles back to the tent, luckily downhill this time :) We were all exhausted from the 6 mile hike, so we decided to go to bed. I have no idea what time it was, but we were hoping around 8:00. With how long it was light outside, it was probably more like 5:00! I slept a lot better that night.

In the morning we ate breakfast, packed everything back up, and hiked the half mile back to the car. Since we had hiked the first time in the dark, it was interesting to see it in the light. This part of the hike was part of the 2002 Hayman Forest Fire, which was the biggest forest fire in Colorado history. All that is left of the trees are burnt trunks. In the dark our brains automatically filled in the missing spaces, and we felt like we were in a tight forest. To our surprise on the way back it was very bare!

We packed up the car and drove the 3 hours back home. We stopped at the first Wendy's we saw because we both had to go to the bathroom unbelievably bad, and I was craving a nice big juicy hamburger! Definitely the best hamburger of my life, and the freeze dried Chicken Stew and Chicken Teriyaki with rice wasn't even bad.

The first order of business when we got home was giving the dogs a bath, and a shower for us. We were all very dirty! The picture below shows what happens when you are hiking in the woods and don't feel like you need sunscreen...

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Conference and Research

2007-06-10T14:25:00.000-06:00

Two weeks ago, I got to go to the Association for Genetic Technologists 32nd Annual Meeting. It was in Denver this year, so my work sent 2 people from each department. No one else in my department wanted to go, so I took up the offer. I figure if this is what I want to do for the rest of my life, I should get as much exposure as I can! It was from Wednesday to Sunday. I was there on Thursday from 1:30 am -530 pm, Friday 7:30 am - 5:30 on, and Saturday from 7:30 am to 10:00 pm. I won't bore you with all the seminars I got to go to. Just know I thought it was really cool! It was a great opportunity for me, and I hope I get to go again. 2008 it will be in Houston, and 2009 in Jacksonville.

I signed up for a neck and shoulder pain study with the Applied Neuromuscular Lab, which is another part of the University that I work for. They are studying what your neck and shoulder muscles do when you are sitting for long periods of time like at a computer (or me at a microscope). Last Tuesday was my first day to see if I was eligible for the study. They did lots of different tests to my neck and shoulders for about 2 hours. They said I was definitely eligible, so my muscles must have been bad! I go back this Thursday, and I think once a week for 4 weeks for "training". They will put electrodes on my neck and shoulders and monitor my muscle movement. When my muscles are too tight, the computer will tell me to relax. If I don't relax, the electrodes will shock the muscle and force it to relax. After I have my "training" to learn how to relax my muscles, I will take the electrodes to work with me and get shocked there. It will pay me $150, and I figure I am going to be sitting at work anyhow, might as well get paid extra and learn how to relax!

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Bolder Boulder 10k

2007-05-28T20:02:00.001-06:00

This is a picture of our friend Kris Williams. A photographer for the Daily Camera took a picture of her cool sign. We got the picture off the Daily Camera website. My head is to the right. She got lots of good comments about the sign, and people even told them their name to put on next year!

I dropped Steve off at the runner drop off around 6:20 am. He had written me directions to get to the part of the course I wanted to watch from. Of course every street I had to go on was closed! Some of the larger signs said road closed starting 7:00 am. Since it wasn't really 7:00 yet, I just drove around the road closed signs. Probably a bad idea, but all the cops I passed didn't say anything! I was literally the only car I saw on the roads! For 10 minutes it was just me! Then I got blocked into the closed parts and couldn't get around any of the barriers. I drove under the 8.5 km banner, and went to the nearest parking spot, which wasn't even a block away. I had wanted to be at the 8 km mark, but 8.5 was perfect. The way the course wrapped around, 2 km was at one corner, and 8.5 km was one block down on the same road. So I went to the 2 km first, but unfortunately I didn't see him run by that time. Each wave of runners (76 waves total) was anywhere from 45 seconds to 1 minute behind the other. So at the beginning there were just zillions of people running by and I missed him :(

After I was sure he had passed, I walked about 2 minutes to the 8.5 km mark and waited. The leader passed me at 7:28 am. Steve ran by at 7:32 am. I cheered for him when he ran by (so did Troy and Kris who luckily got there about 2 minutes before he ran by). I looked at my clock, and tried to calculate how much longer it would take him to finish, and I came up with about 10 minutes faster than his goal time. I was about right. His official time was 39:03, 9 minutes under what he wanted to run.

We hung around maybe 2 more hours cheering for some friends from church. We got home at 11:30 and took an hour and a half nap. Getting up at 4:30 for a race isn't very fun! At 2:30 we had friends over from church for a little cook out. It was a good day!

~*~ Ashley ~*~

2007-05-26T17:35:00.000-06:00

By popular demand, here is a picture of my new haircut. It is kind of being stupid today. Plus I took the picture myself, which never really looks good!

On a side note, for all of you short haired people out there, I found a styling product that I really like. I don't like to use moose, gel, or hairspray because it makes your hair hard and not movable. So you can't go out in the wind, or touch your hair all day, as it will be messed up. I have been Garnier Fructis Texture Paste. You put it in your hair wet and style it like you want, and it stays. You can go out in the wind, or run your fingers through your hair, and it goes back to how you wanted it. I think it is pretty awesome. So if you are looking for something different to try, this one is good!

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Little Update

2007-05-19T17:32:00.000-06:00

We started off our Saturday by getting 9 inches cut off my hair! WAHOO! It started to bother me on Monday, and I have been dieing to cut it off since then. It is right about at my chin now. I was kind of bummed when we left the salon though. The lady told another lady that if I would have had one more inch, I could have donated it all to Locks of Love. If she would have told me that when she originally measured how much she was cutting off, I would have said to go ahead and cut off one more inch. It would have been a little shorter than I was planning, but it would have been okay since I would have donated. Oh well. Maybe next time.

Next we drove to Boulder so Steve could register to run the Bolder Boulder 10k on Memorial Day. He wanted to be in the 4th wave of runners, so he had to qualify by running on a treadmill. For the 4th wave, he had to run 2 miles in less than 13:56. So he set the treadmil to do that. He said it seemed really slow to him, so after the first mile, he set it to go faster. The 3rd wave had to have 2 miles in less than 13:32. He was doing really good, but I could tell he still wasn't pushing himself, so I made him speed up even more. I was getting nervous that he wasn't going to make it when he had .2 miles left to go, so I turned it up even faster. I'm a great coach. The second heat had to run 2 miles in less than 13:01, and he did it in 12:43. So he will be in the 2nd wave, and he only wanted the 4th. There are 76 waves by the way! There are going to be about 90,000 people running/walking in the race, which makes it the largest road race in North America.

After that we went to the Boulder Running Company so he could get some new shoes. The ones he has been running in are about 5 years old. He picked out the same pair, and they made him run on a treadmill and they videotaped his feet to see if the shoes were good for how he ran. They weren't! His left foot was doing something funky (I don't remember what it was called, but they said it all technical). So they picked out a different pair, and he rain again, and it was perfect! I thought it was really cool how they could do that, and I think all runners should have that done. It was pretty amazing. We will have to see how he feels after he runs in them a few times.

Now it is time to make some candles!

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Not much happening

2007-05-16T15:08:00.000-06:00

Hello everyone. I thought I would give a little update, but there is not much going on around here. Our days are made up of working and coming home to make candles! It is going good so far, and is a lot of fun. If I ever get the garage organized, I will take a picture to show you all our little workshop. Right now it looks like a tornado went through there! I am doing a fundraiser on June 30th for the church to raise money for the mission trip to Mexico. I am already busy making a lot of candles to take there. Hopefully it will be a big seller since part of the profits will go to the mission trip.

We got a call and email from a women's show in Denver in the middle of August. Thousands of people go through a day, so we would get a lot of coverage. We were really excited about it, then we saw the registration price. A little under $800 for the smallest booth they had. We definitely won't be doing that! That price alone isn't TOO bad, but we would also have to spend $1000 or more just to get enough glass and stuff to make a zillion candles to take with us. It sure would be a great opportunity though!

I am now an official member of the Association for Genetic Technologists. That makes me excited, haha. It's all official sounding. In August I will be able to take my certification test. Then you can call me Ashley M. Hall, CLSp(CG). Won't that be exciting!

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Hall of Candles

2007-04-19T18:25:00.000-06:00

As some of you may know, we bought a candle company off of a friend of Steve's family. We will be picking up everything from them when we are in Ohio next week. Our website it coming along nicely, but is still a work in progress. Check it out by clicking on the link to the left called "Hall of Candles." We are hoping to start taking orders on May 1st!

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Happy Easter :)

2007-04-08T20:27:00.000-06:00

Happy Easter everyone! Our church had a record 289 people in attendance today. We usually have around 120! We delivered 6,000 plastic Easter eggs with an invitation in them the past 2 weeks. It paid off! But we are still a little short of the 600 seats the high school auditorium holds. After church we went to Olive Garden with about 30 other Orchard Church members. We got home around 4:00 and watched the Pursuit of Happiness. It was pretty good. Now I am sleepy and ready for bed. Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter, and a good week!

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Graduated!!

2007-03-12T20:47:00.000-06:00

I don't know how they did it, but both our pups graduated from Intermediate Class tonight! In the class they learned heel, stand, standing stay, go to their bed when told, and touch. For their test they had to do a standing stay, go to their bed when told, and come when called with distractions. They did a lot better than I expected. They act a little better around each other, but they think it is play time 24/7. Today I took them both on a walk all by myself and they were both good. That shows you how improved their are! I never thought I could walk them both by myself. I am going to try to do this every night with them now that it is still daylight when we get home. So maybe they will improve a little more!

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Guess who got a tattoo!?

2007-03-06T20:59:00.000-07:00

Steven did! Since he has started training for the Denver Marathon, he has been complaining about his ring getting loose while sweating, and playing with it the whole time he runs. He was afraid during the actual marathon it would make his finger bleed. He had the idea to get my name tatooed under his ring, so when he took it off, he still had something to show for being married. A friend at church just has a ring tatooed on his finger, so he told Steve a few places to look into. I was home sick today, and Steve was late getting home. I called his cell phone and asked him why he was late, and he said "I had some things to do." I got kind of mad at him, because he wouldn't tell me what he had been doing. When he got home, I persisted on tellng me why he was late. He held up his finger with my name on it! I knew he wanted to do it, but didn't know he was going to do it today. It is a little bigger than we both envisioned, but looks really cool! The pictures don't really do it justice.

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Testimony

2007-02-25T19:41:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, my pastor called and asked if I would give my testimony in front of the whole church Sunday night because there was going to be a communion service. They only do communion a few times a year to keep it special. I immediately said yes. When I hung up the phone, I was like "oh my gosh what did I just do!" The shyest person in the world is not meant to talk in front of the whole church!

I have been nervous since Thursday, and sick to my stomach the whole time. On Saturday I sat down and wrote it all out so I could take it up with me in case I got too nervous. I ended up being way to nervous, so I just read the whole thing. About half way through, my voice got all shaky, and I had to stop and take a big breath to calm myself down. Of course I took it right in the middle of a sentence and messed it up, but oh well.

Here is what I read so you can also hear my testimony:

I have wanted to be a scientist since I was 4 years old. My whole life I surrounded myself with textbooks and scientific journals. I found it easier to believe in science because it can demonstrate, whereas you just have to have faith in religion. Growing up my parents never took me to church, so I never had the opportunity to learn the great things about God.

In high school on a few occasions, I went with my best friend to church retreats, but I thought of it more as hanging out with my friend, not a religious experience. In college, I took two religion classes: Introduction to the Bible and Comparative Religions. It opened my eyes to a world I did not know, but I still did not have the desire to seek Christ.

After Steve and I were married, we talked about going to church, but were not active in looking for one. I knew I wanted to raise my children in a church to give them the opportunity I did not have. One Saturday morning we received an Orchard Church door hanger, and I told Steve we should go the next day. That was a huge step for me, because I had never had the desire to go to church. The Holy Spirit definitely had a part in that. We went that Sunday, and I loved it. We have been almost every weekend since.

After talking to Pastor Doug about my strong scientific background, he recommended the book “The Case for a Creator” by Lee Strobel. If it was not for this book, I do not know if I would be saved today. It really opened up my eyes that I could still be a scientist and have God in my life. They do not have to be at two ends of the spectrum.

On December 25, 2006, Steve and I went to Pastor Doug’s house for Christmas lunch. Doug and I started talking about where I was toward being saved. I told him how I thought I was ready, but I was not sure what I needed to do. Just saying, “okay, Jesus I believe in you and the reason you died” seemed too easy. Doug sat down with me and drew the picture that you have probably all seen where you and God are separated by sin. The picture really put everything into perspective for me. Doug asked me four simple questions, which I answered yes to all, and told me I was saved. I had such a strong physical feeling in my body at that moment, I think I would have fallen down if I had not been sitting.

I wanted to be saved because my whole life I have kind of felt like something was missing. After I got married, I thought I would feel whole, that I just needed a lifetime companion. When I still felt alone, I thought maybe going to church would help, that I needed something no one on this earth could give me. After my first visit to the Orchard Church, I kept saying to myself, “I want to be like these people, I want the relationship they have with God.” You can tell when someone is a good Christian, and I think this church is full of them. Now that I am saved, I feel whole; I just needed Jesus in my life!

This first communion means a lot to me. I have come so far in the last four months, from a nonbeliever to being here doing this. It is amazing how much God has changed my life in such a short amount of time. I am so excited to see my life change even more, and grow as a Christian.

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Happy Birthday to Steven!

2007-02-23T10:57:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVIE!!!!!

Sorry it has been so long since I have updated. Not much has really been going on. Mostly just working and sleeping! Work really wears me out by the end of the day. I need to get to bed at 9:00 in order not to be tired the next day.

My new cardiologist put me on 25 mg of Zoloft, and it really seems to be helping. Zoloft is usually used to treat depression, but can also be used for panic disorders and obsessive compulsive disorders. I am using it like a panic disorder, because my symptoms are similar to when you panic. I have a lot more energy, and my brain is more focused. So far so good!

Dog class has been going pretty good. We learned heel (which they kind of understand), stand (Tinkerbell gets this, but not Lilliann), and go to your bed (Lilliann gets this, but not Tinkerbell). We have been trying to take them to the dog park every weekend. Lilliann hasn't been good in class lately when it is play time. She gets in the dogs faces and scares them. So we are hoping more play time at the park will help her.

I need everyone to pray this weekend for God to give me strength. Pastor Doug called yesterday and asked for me to give my testimony this Sunday in front of the whole church. I quickly agreed, but when I hung up the phone, I was like oh no what did I just do! The shyest person in the world is not meant to talk in front of the whole church! So, God give me strength!

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Baptism

2007-01-27T18:58:00.000-07:00

I was baptized on January 21st, but I haven't had time to post it! There are more picturs on our website, taken by our friend Yianni.

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Nation Western Stock Show and Rodeo

2007-01-15T13:23:00.000-07:00

On Saturday night we went to the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver. It was totally awesome, and I encourage everyone to go to a rodeo at least once in their life! I put up 113 pictures on our website, so take a look! Since most of you probably don't know much about rodeos, I made a list with discription of everything we saw!

*Bareback Riding - You have to stay on a horse without a saddle 8 seconds, only use one hand, and do certain things with your spurs.

*Saddle Bronc Riding - You have to stay on a horse with a saddle 8 seconds, hold on to the reins using one hand, try to stay securely seated in his saddle, and can't touch any part of the horse or or yourself with the free hand. This is supposed to be like when cowboys have to break a horse in real life.

*Tie-Down Roping - A calf runs out then the horse runs out. The cowboy lassos the head of the calf, and the horse is trained to come to a stop. The cowboy jumps off the horse (which was funny because the horse stopping and the cowboy jumping happened at the same time and they would like fall off and fall on their face), runs to the calf, and body slams it to the ground. Then he hog ties any three of the feet together. The whole time the horse is supposed to pull back hard enough to eliminate any slack in the rope, but not so hard as to drag the calf. One time the horse drug the cowboy and the calf about 20 feet and it was funny.

*Steer Wrestling - There are 2 cowboys on horses. First the steer runs out (which weighs 2-3 times more than a cowboy), then the two horses run out. The horses try to keep the steer running in a straight line. When the cowboy on the left reaches the steer, he jumps off the horse (while it is still running), hooks his right arm around the steer’s right horn, grasps the left horn with his left hand, and wrestles the animal to the ground. He has to make all four of the animal’s feet face upward.

*Team Roping - There are 2 cowboys on horses. First the steer runs out, then the two horses run out. When the cowboy on the left reaches the steer, he lassos is either around both horns, around one horn and the head, or around the neck. He turns the steer away from the other cowboy, who attempts to rope both hind legs. If he catches only one foot, the team is assessed a five-second penalty. The clock is not stopped until there is no slack in the ropes and the horses face one another. This is what they do in real life to catch a cow that needs shots or branding.

*Barrel Racing - This is the only girl event at the rodeo. The horse crosses the start line running as fast as it can, does a cloverleaf pattern around three barrels, then runs as fast as it can back across the finish line. They said not many horses can turn that fast and narrow.

*Bull Riding - You can only use one hand to stay aboard, hopefully for eight seconds. The other hand cannot touch the bull or the cowboy. He is not required to do specific things with his feet/spurs, like the two types of bronco riding. They are basically just judged on staying on, not form.

*Mutton Bustin' - 5-7 year old's under 55 pounds cling to the sheep as hard and as long as they can. It is the coolest thing I have ever seen.

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-26T13:03:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of all four of us with our presents on Christmas morning. We couldn't get the dogs to both look at the camera, but this one is kind of cute because they are both looking at the stacks of presents. We opened our presents, then had to hurry to make red herbed potatoes, spinach dip, and a pumpkin pie to take to the pastor's house for Christmas lunch. We ended up being about half an our late, but a lot more people came after us! We played games, and ended up not getting home until 10:00 at night. We were there almost 10 hours! It was really fun.

AND, December 25th can be thought of as my NEW birthday, because I was officially saved by the pastor at his kitchen table :)

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Blizzard!

2006-12-20T13:29:00.000-07:00

If you click on the picture, it will make it big, and you can see what it is!

So I knew it was supposed to snow last night, and since I am home alone this week, I was worried about driving. I woke up every hour last night to see if it started, and it never did until around 4:30 am. When I got up at 6:00 there was maybe 3 inches on the ground. By the time I left around 7:00, probably 5 inches. Driving to work wasn't TOO bad. The highway was about 20 mph, and it took me 45 minutes to get there. As soon as I walked in the door they had already established we were closing at noon and not being open tomorrow. I thought that was odd because it wasn't too bad yet.

When I left at noon, that was another story! It still only took me an hour to get home, which wasn't bad. You couldn't go any faster than 20 mph without your tires spinning, so most of the time I went about 10. The highway had about a foot of snow on it, which makes it hard to drive!

So I get home and I am all excited like YES I MADE IT! So I turn in the parking lot and go about oh 40 feet or so, and nothing. The car is stuck! Right in the middle of the drive. I tried to reverse and forward for a few minutes, and there were like 20 guys with shovels outside, but they didn't seem to want to help. So I got my stuff and left the car there. Steve will kill me when he finds out... But I don't really know what to do! Walking from the parking lot to our garage the snow was up past my thighs! Talk about hard to walk in! Plus the wind is blowing super hard and all the snow goes in your face and you can't see where you are going. So I am struggling through the almost waist deep snow (Did I mention there were like 3-5 inches when I left this morning?!) then I FALL DOWN! Somehow I did make it thought the parking lot and into the garage. I had to take my pants off in there because they were covered...

So I put on my snowboard clothes to take the dogs out. I open the door (the picture above) and snow is a foot there! I will take some more pictures once the snow isn't so in your face outside. Needless to say, I am super stressed out now! I shouldn't be because I made it home safely, but I am because the car is stuck and there is snow up to my crotch and I have to take the dogs out for 2 days until Steve gets home! haha

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Let the Baking Begin!

2006-12-17T21:17:00.000-07:00

These are all the things I had to get at the grocery store for all my Christmas baking. I am not going to tell you all what I am making, but just showing you my ingredients so you know you have something, a lot of somethings, to look forward to. Since Steve is out of town this week, I am going to come home from work and bake every night to keep my mind off of being by myself! Wish me luck!

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Lilliann - Large Breed Beginner Class

2006-12-12T11:19:00.000-07:00

Last night we took Lilliann to her first class at PetsMart. We had warned Jessica, the trainer, that if she thought Tinkerbell was bad, she was going to hate Lilliann. So Steve basically dragged Lilliann through the door as she was trying to get away and see the people. Then she was freaking out like she always does when the trainer came up. We got a "gentle leader" which is a harness type thing that goes around the dogs nose and back of the head (we don't have a picture of her with it on, but above is a good example of how it fits). When they pull, it puts pressure on their head, and makes them stop pulling. So Jessica made Lilliann walk around the store with it on for probably 45 minutes, and Lilliann was definitely protesting the whole time. When they pull, you pull straight up on the leash, and it makes them sit. She would just walk a few feet, then pull so Lilliann would sit. After 45 minutes she finally calmed down a little bit and would walk like a normal dog. Our homework is to put the leader on her when people are over, and no one can talk to her, look at her, or touch her unless she is being a good girl and sitting/laying and being normal. So everyone coming for Christmas, be ready to help us with our homework! Hopefully she will calm down in a few weeks. Jessica said she is just so excited she can't keep her mind straight, let alone listen to what you are telling her to do. We are going to put the leader on her every time she goes outside, in hopes she calms down a little bit before I am alone with her for a week. She is too strong for me to take her outside, and pulls me down the stairs and all over the place. Keep your fingers crossed she gets better!

Vail, Colorado

2006-12-10T16:20:00.000-07:00

Friday night after work, we packed up the dogs and drove about two hours to Vail, Colorado. The main purpose for going was to see a Counting Crows concert, but I added in celebrating six months of being married so we could make a weekend out of it!

We went to bed around 11:30 pm, and were rudely awaken at 2:45 am to the nice sound of a fire alarm. It didn't sound like any fire alarm I have ever heard, so we were not really sure what the noise was. There were no strobe lights in the room or hallway. Every one came out of their rooms and stood in the hall, but no one was really sure if it was a fire alarm or not. Some people went out to the parking lot, but most just stayed in because we didn't feel in danger. Finally after about 15 minutes the alarm went off. We started to go back to sleep, then saw that Tinkerbell peed in the bed from being scared of the noise. Luckily we had 2 beds in the room!.

On Saturday we got up at 9:00 to have a "Continental Divide Breakfast" which wasn't very good. They didn't really have much to eat there. Then Steve got ready for snowboarding, I drove him to the slopes. I came back to the hotel and cuddled in bed with the two dogs until 1:30, then I went to pick Steve up. The plan was for Steve to board in the morning until about noon, then I would go and join him. I ended up not going because he said it was really icy and I wouldn't like it, and I was happy not to go! We went back to the room and had some snacks and watched TV for a little bit. Then we took a shower and got ready for the concert! I wore snowboarding socks, 3 pairs of pants, 2 shirts, 2 coats, a hat, and gloves!

We drove to Vail Village and ate dinner at Joe's Famous Deli Sandwiches or something like that. It was pretty good. Then we walked to the concert. We got there about 20 minutes before the gate opened. We stood in line, then when the gates opened, I walked as fast as I could to the stage. It was general admission tickets, so whoever gets there first gets the good seats. We were the third row back, right in the middle. I was really happy! Usually I am too short and can't see anything, so it is not as fun. The opening act was a DJ, and it was cold and no one really cared what he was doing. So we just stood there forever being cold. All of a sudden I got really hot and dizzy, so I told Steve and took off my hat and one glove. The next thing I know a cop is carrying me to an ambulance! I guess I passed out and Steve caught me and put me on the ground, then everyone started ripping my clothes off because I was really hot. I can vaguely remember someone yelling "I know CPR! I know CPR!" and being worried I was going to loose my hat that I took off, and not worrying about my other glove. Then I started crying because we lost our seats... They put me in the ambulance and did 2 EKGs, 2 blood pressure tests, and a blood sugar test. Everything was normal. The blood sugar was a little low, but not really. I felt fine after that, so they said I didn't need to go to the hospital.

We went back to the concert (the DJ was STILL playing) and had to stand to the side of the stage about 20 people back. I could see for most of the time, but not nearly as good as when I was in the third row. For the most part we were not very cold. The first to get cold was our toes, then our fingers. Everything else stayed warm though! We ended up dancing the last hour or so because that was the only way to stay warm! My fingers were hurting so had I thought they were going to break off. When it was over and we were walking back to the car, I couldn't even tell if I was lifting my leg up high enough because my feet were frozen!

We went to Denny's by our hotel, but didn't end up eating very much. I was still feeling bad, so I went to sleep as soon as we got back. I think Steve watched TV, but I'm not sure! I woke up at 10:00 this morning, but Steve had been up since 7 with the dogs. We packed up the car and started home. There is a big horned sheep look out on the way, and we stopped there for a few minutes. We saw 4 sheep - 1 ram and 3 ewes. It was really cool. They have 4 telescopes you can put a quarter in, but the Wildlife Foundation was there with a bunch of binoculars and 2 telescopes, so we didn't have to pay. Plus they told us a lot of cool things about big horned sheep. If those people weren't there, we probably wouldn't have seen any!

We are home now and unpacked. The night holds lots of fun things like laundry and grocery shopping!

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Graduation

2006-11-30T21:32:00.000-07:00

Tinkerbell graduated from puppy class tonight! Unfortunately for her, we are making her do it again! With Lilliann this time. Tinkerbell is good in class, but forgets it all when Lilliann is around because they just play. So we thought taking them to class together might help with that. Lilliann needs it really bad anyway! There are more pictures of the graduation on our pictures page.

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Christmas Time!

2006-11-25T19:32:00.000-07:00

We got our very first Christmas tree last night! We were anxious to get one, so we went last night around 7:00 to a little tree stand across the street from our grocery store. We brought it home and started to decorate, but had to finish today. Last night we did the star, skirt, lights, and bows. Today we did the bulbs. We had to arrange the living room really dumb, so those of you that are coming for Christmas, beware!

On Thursday, we had Thanksgiving dinner with 3 other people from church, and that was really nice. Friday Steve went snowboarding. Saturday I went to a crochet party with some girls at church (too hard for me!). Tomorrow we are going to church, and hopefully the grocery store! We also have to find a way to hang up our Christmas stockings. Other than that, we are just having a relaxing Thanksgiving holiday!

~*~ Ashley ~*~

2006-11-19T18:28:00.000-07:00

Before I do the weekend update. I have to comment on these hilarious pictures of Steven. We got these sour ice breakers candy, and I was reading on the back and it said "Caution: sour may cause irritation to the mouth." Steve said no way, he could eat the whole container (53 candies) at one time, because they were not that sour. So I dared him to eat them all at one time. The first picture is the "hey look at me, I can eat them all!" Then he was about 5 minutes into it, he had to spit them all out on his plate, which picture number 2. Then he thought he was going to throw up, and couldn't feel the inside of his cheeks (the irritation!) and that is his sick face on picture three. Boy was it funny!

Now for the weekend! Friday after work Steve went out to dinner and a movie with the guys from church. The movie they were going to see ended up being really late, and he didn't get home until 1:30!

Saturday I had a Ladies Brunch with the church girls. There was a lady there to teach us how to make "4 meals in 4 minutes". But really it was a 4 minute preparation per meal, plus all day cooking in a crock pot. She was selling little packages of spices. So you just mixed the spices, meat, and a can of soup in a crock pot. Kind of dumb! While I was there, Steve took Tinkerbell for the rest of her puppy shots. Now she doesn't have to go back until next November. I got home just in time to change into my Ohio State jersey and watch the game with Steven. I might have slept through some of it... After the game we went to Target and Walmart to get our very first Christmas decorations. YAY! I am so excited for it.

Sunday we got up and went to church. We came home and had lunch then watched the NASCAR race. I have to leave in about 15 minutes to pick up Megan for her Bridal Shower. I offered to drive her since she just has a car, and I have an SUV we can pack full of presents!

I had my first abnormal case at work this week. It was called a Robertsonian Translocation. That means one 13 chromosome and one 14 chromosome were attached. The man didn't have anything physically wrong with him, but his wife wasn't able to get pregnant (the reason they came in) so that is most likely why. Sad to find out, but at least now they know. I am back in the lab for this three day week. It has been a long time since I've been in there! Just as I am starting to feel comfortable reading cases, they take me away!

~*~ Ashley ~*~

SMART puppy

2006-10-30T21:10:00.000-07:00

Ice cubes are the only "people food" our dogs are allowed to have. So Tinkerbell thought it would be okay if she helped herself! We were eating dinner tonight and we heard something that sounded like water running. She had accidentally tried the button on the right which is that water. She obviously isn't allowed to do this, but we HAD to take a few pictures before we yelled at her! She never hit it hard enough to get an ice cube to fall out, but it sure was funny. That is one smart puppy!

On Saturday we took 2 very big naps, and didn't do anything else really. Sunday we got up and went to church, then ran some errands. They really weren't errands, mostly just shopping. We went to the mall, a ski shop, a frame store, and Barnes and Nobles. We got some knew clothes, I got some new snowboard boots, some picture frames for a project Steve has, and actually left Barnes and Nobles without buying anything! We didn't get home from "church" until almost 7:00! We also got to meet some neighbors that live directly across from us in the same unit. They seemed to be a lot closer to our age.

Today after work we went to a Christian store and got our very own Bibles. I have never had one, and Steve wanted one that was the same version we use in church (NKJV). On Wednesday we are going to the small group meeting for church. We already know a few people that will be there, and will hopefully meet some more! The small groups are supposed to be the younger people, so we will see!

Pastor's House

2006-10-24T18:39:00.000-06:00

Last night we were invited to our Pastor's house for a Welcoming Reception. We left our house at 6:15, and it should have been there by 6:30. We got SO SO SO lost! After driving around for 2 hours, we finally arrived! YIKES! We were just going to knock on the door and tell them we were not going to stay, but we didn't want them to think we were blowing them off. There were still six other people there, so they told us to stay. We ended up not leaving until 11:00! It was mostly just getting to know each other, but at the end when it was only the 4 of us left (Pastor, his wife, Steven and I) we got the drilling of religious questions; mostly me! Not growing up with a church background, he was very curious on all of my thoughts. I told him the truth about what I really think and feel, even though I'm sure in his head he was going crazy. We talked a lot about the connection of science and religion, and he even let me borrow a book that uses science to answer a lot of religious questions. I also told him how this is something I really want (even though I couldn't give a good explanation on why!) and I was ready to work really hard to accept Christ. One thing I REALLY liked was he told me that people never want to seek out God on their own, that God gives them that idea that they want to. That no one just decides on their own, God has to first decide he wants them. I really liked that. He didn't think it would mean anything to me now, not until I had found Him. But it made a lot of sense to me, and kind of put me at peace a little bit for some reason. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it all day! I am really excited to have a relationship with Him! :)

Last night I had a little trouble sleeping, because something right under my rib was hurting. Today at work it was awful, and everyone said it was my spleen. A guy that works in the same room as me had mono a few weeks ago, and he said his spleen hurt. I feel like there is a grapefruit under my last rib pushing on it. OUCH! Hopefully it won't be like this tomorrow...

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Short Weekend

2006-10-22T17:56:00.000-06:00

This weekend went by very fast. On Friday I fell asleep on the couch around 8:00 pm. Kevin called at 9:00 to see if we wanted to go out with him and his sister. Since I had already been asleep for an hour, I didn't really want to go, so Steve went by himself. The pups and I went to bed early! When he got home around 2:00, he asked if I wanted to go snowboard with him and Kevin at Arapahoe Basin. I need new boots (mine are a little small) and my binding got damaged during the move, so I not ready to go on such a short notice. I stayed home and read a lot in a book. He said it was really crowded and they only went down the mountain one time, so I am kind of glad I didn't go. They did see two big horned sheep however, and I have been wanting to see those since we moved here!

Today we got up and went to church. I really like it there. We got a hard time from every one for not going on the hay ride/bonfire tonight. Tomorrow night we are going to the Pastor's house for a new member welcoming party. That should be fun. We met a few more young people, and they actually live across the street from us. Maybe in the next few Sundays we can get to know them better. It would be nice to make some friends!

I think I might actually be starting to get home sick. Not really for Ohio, but for people. It stinks not knowing anyone, and having anyone to talk to. I was really excited about maybe going to New Hampshire for Thanksgiving, but we don't have anything to do with the dogs. Guess I will have to wait for everyone to come here for Christmas! I am already really excited for that!

That is about it for the weekend. This week is going to be no fun at work. I am only in the lab TWO days this week, instead of four. So I will probably be cranky all week :)

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Finally the Weekend

2006-10-14T13:59:00.000-06:00

This week started going really fast, then came to a crashing halt around Thursday afternoon! I learned two new things at work this week: batch staining and C-banding. I'm not going to describe them because they are not all that exciting, but I do like to learn new things, so it was fun for me. I got kicked out of the wet lab on Fridays so I can read cases. "Reading" is what we call when we are looking at someone's chromosomes. So Friday all I do is read. I have done three real cases now. All three didn't have anything wrong with them, so that was good! At this point in my training, I feel like I will only know if they have an extra or missing chromosome. I don't think I would notice if just one band was missing. But everyone says "Oh you will know!" So we will see! They said it doesn't really matter if I know which band is missing, just as long as I know it doesn't look like it should. On Friday I voluntarily gave blood to help with Quality Control (we have to test all of our products before we use them on patients) so I will get my chromosomes read for free. It costs around $2,000 if you get it done through your doctor. I am kind of scared, what if they find something wrong?!?! But they said that has never happened, and they test two employees blood every month. I will put a picture of my chromosomes up when I get them :)

Thursday at puppy class wasn't as beneficial as the first week. We mostly learned loose leash walking. We were also supposed to learn sit, but the puppies all already knew how to do it, so we didn't. Instead she taught us "spin" which we both thought was pretty stupid. Maybe next week will be better!

Today we took Tinkerbell to get her third set of shots. We also found she has a yeast infection in her ears. Since we brought her home, her ears have a ton of dark dark brown wax that smells. When we took her to the vet last time, he didn't notice though. The vet today gave us 2 ear medicines for her. We might use it on Lilliann too, because she always scratches her ears. She said it will only take three to five days to get rid of the infection.

Today's plans are to clean the house, since I have planned on it the past three weekends, but kept putting it off. Then tonight we are going on a date! Dinner and a movie together. It will be fun! We haven't done that in a really long time. I hope everyone has a good weekend!

~*~ Ashley ~*~

Puppy Class

2006-10-06T19:03:00.000-06:00

Sorry I have been slacking with the blog! Not much has really happened since my last post. Working, eating, sleeping, and going to church on Sundays! I will mention a little bit about church last weekend. It was their one year anniversary, and they fed us a great lunch. We sat at a table with 2 other couples, and ended up talking for 2 hours! We looked at the time and realized we had been at church for 4 hours and didn't even notice!

Last night Tinkerbell had her first Puppy Class at PetsMart. It was really fun, and she actually learned a lot her first day! They gave us one of those little metal "clicker" things that you click to tell her dog they did what you wanted. I had never really thought that would work, and always thought it was kind of stupid, but Tinkerbell caught on VERY quickly! The first thing was to "load the clicker" which was pretty funny. You don't say anything to the dog, just click and give a treat, click and give a treat. We probably gave her 20 treats (pieces of Lilliann's food) while loading the clicker. This teaches them that when they hear the click, they get a treat. I am now her best friend, because she associates 20 treats from me in about 5 minutes! Next was to teach her "look at me" which is supposed to be the best thing to teach your dog. You hold the treat in front of her face, then hold it out. She stares at it, and you say "Tinkerbell look at me" and she is supposed to look you in the eyes. So the very second she makes eye contact, you click the thing, and give her a treat. She does it every time! I even tried this morning without a treat or the clicker, and she did it! Even though she really didn't learn much in class, she listens a whole lot better now. Just one hour class has helped a ton. I am excited to see what all she learns.

This is a picture of both dogs looking at the treat before I said "look at me."

~*~ Ashley ~*~

The Orchard Church

2006-09-24T12:12:00.000-06:00

This morning we visited the Orchard Church, which meets at the rec center right down the street from us. They had put a flier on our door yesterday, so we thought we would give it a try. I had a really good time, so we may even go back next week. They will be celebrating their 1 year anniversary. They said they have a regular attendance of between 80 and 90, and there were 109 people there today as a result of the fliers. They had a contemporary band with bongos, drums, bass, and guitar. The pastor even played the drums! Most people there seemed pretty young, a lot even younger than us. If you would like to see their website, it is www.orchardchurchonline.com.

~*~ Ashley ~*~