Big News

We have had a few big announcements these past few weeks that we are excited to share.  First, the long awaited and much anticipated match day occured for us in the middle of March.  For those of you who don't know what match day is it is where all 4th year medical students across the nation find out where they will spend the next 3-6 years of their lives for residency (depending on what program they choose).  We ranked our programs in February and hoped and prayed we would get into the right place for our family - the match is a binding commitment so once you are assigned there is no turning back.  We were THRILLED with the outcome!

Phoenix Children's Hospital here we come! We were so happy to not have to move and it was our #1 pick.  We start 12 days after graduation on June 11th.   We were especially happy to not have to move since our second big announcement is Baby #3 will be joining our family in October! We are so happy! I am especially happy that I have now finally reached my 2nd trimester and am feeling a lot better.  Those first few weeks were pretty rough.  Right before residency starts we should find out what we are having.  I am trying not to think about it so I don't get my hopes up to high either way but mainly I am just praying for a healthy and CALM baby as I have yet to be blessed with a calm child :) My hopes for that were slightly shattered though at our ultrasound at 10 weeks when I watched that baby in there moving like crazy.  Even my doctor kept watching it and said "This is so entertaining.  I have never seen a baby this early in pregnancy be this active!" YIKES! I am not sure how I am going to do it with a super busy husband.  It will all work out though. 

At the end of March we celebrated Ava's 4th birthday! I can't believe she is that old.  She is as crazy as ever but has become so helpful and sweet.

 

 

Here our some favorite quotes from our little 4 year old:

"I have a question" - all day long and the things she says after are never questions :)

"I need to ask you somephin"

Prayer: "Please bless the food we're not eating...Please bless I'll be a princess...Please bless that I can give Jesus a hug."

Prayer: "Bless I will get married and daddy will buy me a ring and take me to the Temple."

Prayer: "Please bless mommy to feel better and bless the baby in her tummy to not be grumpy." -when I was so sick with morning/all day sickness :)

Prayer: "I love daddy! And he went to work and he doesn't leave me and he'll be home later because he's not afraid of the dark and he scares away monsters."

"Mommy can I be 3 and be baptized?" - she is really into being baptized

Nightmare - The Incredibles spanked her bum :)

I apologized to Ava for yelling at her for making a mess.  Ava said, "it's ok Mommy.  I'm sorry I yelled too.  You yelled louder but I'm sorry I yelled too." :)

Stands on her chair after dinner telling us she is getting bigger and going to break the house. (like Alice and Wonderland)  If only she would actually sit still and finish her food.  That is our struggle with her - it takes her an hour to finish dinner.  Mainly because she talks our ears off during it :).

She is such a beautiful little girl and we can't imagine life without her.  She is the life of the party where ever she goes and has no fear of anyone or anything.

 Our little Ella is our more timid little girl who's afraid of everyone and everything :). Not really but she does like having mom or dad close by.  She is the silliest little girl though and makes us laugh all day.  Most people don't get to see the Ella we see because she is more like her mother (reserved until she knows you really well and then is as crazy as can be).  At the store when people try talking to her she gives what we call the "grump face." Most people probably think she is grumpy but she is far from it and runs around our home being crazy and silly all day long.

 Some of our favorite 2 year old Ella quotes:

"Aba did it!" -normally true

"Hold you" - when she wants to be held

"Aba hit/pushed me." - normally true too but sometimes she just says it :)

Lately her 2 favorite quotes she repeats throughout the day are:

"What's that noise mommy?" - and whatever I say it is she normally tells me no it's a firetruck.

"What's that called?" - This is in reference to people, things, you name it.

 She has also mastered the tantrum throwing! She throws herself to the ground and tries to bite it or bite whatever is making her mad - not such a good thing.

 She LOVES brushing her teeth and following Ava around saying "come on Aba" to get her to play with her.

She has the cutest little voice ever and we love hearing her talk.  She says the cutest things and is so funny to watch try to fold her arms and close her eyes for prayers.  She normally has one arm folded and the other eating her food.  Sometimes she even likes to help Ava say her prayers and tells her what to say like, "Aba bless the foodies." We also have to be careful not to laugh to much at the things she says and does because she gets really embarrased.  It is very cute to see her get all shy and embarrased but we always want her to be able to be herself around us because she is so precious and so fun!

We love are crazy and fun little girls!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Birthday, Happy Everything

So it has been a crazy few months here at the Ashby household.  A week before Thanksgiving we headed out to Dallas, TX to spend a month with my sister while Dave did a rotation at the hospital out there.  It was both fun and crazy having 5 kids and 4 adults in a 3 bedroom house but I think it went way better than expected and was lots of fun too.  Here's some pictures to prove the fun :).

 My sister's 3 daughters with Santa

 You gotta have the crying baby picture right?

Ella was happy once Santa gave her a candy cane...

We returned home about 5 days before Christmas so it was crazy getting all ready decorating our house for the festivities but the girls loved it and especially loved the presents Santa brought.

 Traditional Christmas eve pajamas

 Ava REALLY wanted this pillow pet that makes stars on the ceiling.  Good thing Santa brought it!

 She was so happy!

 Ella really liked opening presents...

 But her favorite part was the candy.

 Ava and Ella really love their new purses from Texas Grandma and Grandpa sent all the way from Cape Verde.

I especially loved my presents as well! Yes I am that excited about a new vacuum.  I did just turn 32 so maybe I am just getting old... but check out that carpet! It's never been cleaner.

 Ava's cool tricks she loves showing to people.

 Christmas evening we headed down to spend time with Dave's family for dinner and more presents.  We love our family!

Sorry Mike! Someone had to post it though :) We had a little white elephant gift exchange too and here's Mike showing off one of the awesome gifts.

 A few days after Christmas we headed up to visit my grandpa, Granky, who turned 93 the beginning of this year.  He is such an amazing man and example to me.  He goes on 3 mile walks every morning, goes to the gym a few times a week and works in the Temple twice a week.  Not very many 93 year olds could say that.  He is amazing and I am so glad he is my grandpa and has set a great example to me of how to live life. What a good looking man :)!

 My parents who are serving their mission in Cape Verde, off the coast of Africa, were also able to come visit us at Granky's.  My mom had a horrible ear infection and was sent to Salt Lake to receive treatment as the care in Cape Verde is not so great.  They had been there for almost 6 weeks and my mom was finally starting to show improvement so they made a quick trip down to Vegas too.  It was so fun to be able to see them before they headed back to their mission a few days later.  They are also great examples to me and I love them so much.  I am surrounded by great examples and people I need to be more like!

I love all of these people so much and it was so fun to be able to spend a few days together.

A few days after we got back and my parents had returned to Cape Verde, we were Skyping with them and realized our children were being pretty quiet upstairs.... This is what we found.  That is permanent marker just so you know.  Luckily it was only on them and a white board and not all over our walls... Ava decided she wanted to be a cat so she drew some whiskers.  I am actually pretty impressed of how good of a job she did with it.  Ella just wanted to draw on her arms and all over the board.  It all came off eventually so that was good and I know they had a really fun time doing it although Dave and I didn't have as much fun cleaning it.

 A few weeks ago we headed over to the Wildlife zoo close by our home with some friends.  Dave's mom was so nice and gave us a bunch of free tickets from her work.  We had never been to this zoo before but had so much fun.  Unlike other zoos this one let you actually get really close to the animals and even feed some.  Ava chickened out of feeding the giraffe and I would have too.  Chris was the only brave one.

 That is a huge crocodile behind us! Yikes!!

 Ava got a little tired and decided to take a nap on the ground...

 This little girl LOVES friends and had so much fun with McKenna and Adyson and we had so much fun with the Fowlers and so glad they could come with us. We unfortunately forgot to get a group shot...

 Ella and I both celebrated birthdays recently.  Mine was on Jan 28 and Ella's was on Feb 2.  We celebrated with cake down in Mesa with family and had a great time.

I can't believe our baby is 2!!  And yes she is still in need of a constant binky.  That little girl just loves it and I don't have to heart to take it away nor does my sanity.  Yes both of our girls will probably need braces when they get older but that is the price I am willing to pay to not have screamers.

 For Family Home Evening this last week we made some delicious caramel apples.  The girls loved them!

Ella loves showing us the food in her mouth especially when she finds things she isn't supposed to have so she will come and show us and then run away.  She is crazy but so are the rest of us :).