No Time = No Blogging

I have had zero time this past week for blog updates...and unfortunately it doesn't look like I'll be getting any spare minutes in the future either. Life is one crazy mess right now. So I won't be blogging for awhile (unless for some miracle I get caught up with everything). I know you are all completely disappointed (those of you who actually do read this thing) but it is for the best.

So for now...

Goodbye Blog Land.

Sweet Success!

Those of you who are fortunate enough to endeavour through the pregnancy glucose test (and who pray like crazy that they pass it so they don't have to take the three hour test) will be happy to know that I, Ashlee Hatch, have passed said test (THANK GOODNESS!!!).

It's really not that bad...I would just rather pass it the first time. :)

Hooray for not having gestational diabetes!! I'm adding that to my "Blessings" list.

All the Best.

Memory Lane

Memory Lane was open for me all this weekend while I was cleaning out our second bedroom for baby Jack (thanks Bernadette for the help!!). I was able to look through a bunch of old things (ie: journals, photos, quotes, clothes, etc.) I had acquired over the years. So here is a little glimpse of the great memories I happened to stroll upon.

A photo:

Our first Thanksgiving together as a married couple.
November 2007

And a poem I fell in love with...again:

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self centered.
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful you will win some false friends and some true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you.
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight.
Build anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough.
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway.

--Mother Teresa--

I had a really great (and much needed) break. I'm glad I was able to spend it with some great moments of my past...and hopefully I have many more to come.

All the Best.

Husbands Make Everything Better.

I never publicly thanked my husband for cheering me up on a day where I thought all was lost (it must've been a hormonal, pregnancy thing). After a tearful phone call, and before Bart had to go to work, he took this picture to cheer me up. What a cutie!

Thank you baby for always sticking by me. :)

I love you.

Retraction

So my sister Kristi and her husband Nick have given me a lot of crap for posting the funny picture of their family at Peyton's blessing. I personally thought it was cute...especially of Nick (see here for details).

But, in order to make them happy I will post the picture (otherwise known as the boring one) that was taken right before the other.

Ahh, what a beautiful family. :)

All the Best to Kristi and Nick.
(I hope you're happy now :) )

Have You Ever...?

Have you ever had a nightmare where you accidently tucked in the bottom of your skirt into your underwear after going to the bathroom, and you didn't notice until it was too late?

Or have you ever seen this embarrassing moment acted out on a commercial, TV show, or movie?

Well I have...and today my horrible nightmare came true...at work.

The good news: I don't think any person saw.

The bad news: As I turned around to confirm this horrible realization I think I flashed the security camera. Oops. :)

So ladies, always double check your skirts before you walk out of the bathroom. Better to be safe than sorry.

All the Best.

Note to Son

Dear Jack,

I'm so excited that you are becoming more active everyday, and that I get to feel you all the time now. I just know you're gonna be a handful when you finally get outta there. But Jack, my bladder is off limits, so please use some other organ as your trampoline.

Lots of Love,

Mom.

My Motivator

As you can see I can't focus.

Oh, don't you worry...I have plenty to do. Just look at my inbox. Yet for some reason all I can think about is my aching muscles, how HOT it is in the office (I knew I shouldn't have worn this long sleeve shirt), and how much my stomach is stretching. Let's just say I'm lacking in motivation right now. Since my motiviation needs a boost, I have decided to count my blessings and make a list of all the great things I have in my life. So here goes...

Ashlee's Motivation List

• I have a wonderful husband who loves me.

• I am pregnant with a healthy, wiggly baby boy. (who's gonna be so stinking cute when he's born!)

• I am healthy and strong. (No crazy pregnancy side effects for me.)

• I have a job.

• My husband has a job.

• Bart and I have wonderful families.

• I have the gospel in my life.

• I have a savings account.

• Thanksgiving is two weeks away.

• I have great friends who help relieve stress.

• I have a great ward family.

• I can eat whatever I want, whenever I want. (I'll face the consequences later.)

• I have no debt.

• I'm working on our food storage.

• I can find great deals on just about anything.
  
  

There, that helps!

All the Best!!

Sister Update

My sister Paulette is doing a lot better since Sunday. She is still in the hospital, but the doctors are saying her lungs are now healing from the pneumonia (thank goodness!!).

Thank you to all of you who kept her in your prayers!

All the Best.

Scared.

My oldest sister Paulette is in the hospital right now with pneumonia...in critical condition.

I'm scared of loosing her.

So anyone who reads this...please keep her in your prayers.
Thanks.

All the Best.

My Newest Niece!

Peyton Michelle was born to my sister Kristi on September 8, 2009. Last Sunday was her baby blessing. Besides taking up three (Yep, three) whole benches during sacrament meeting, my family was also able to hear my sister speak and then invade her home for a yummy luncheon.

Before eating I was able to snatch pictures of the family and baby Peyton in her beautiful blessing dress that my mother made. Here is what I was able to capture.

Kristi's family at it's finest.
(their tradition is to take a funny picture after a formal picture...to keep the kids sane)


My wonderful parents and Peyton.
(look at that dress...wow!!)
I think my parents look awfully cute together.


A very brief, private session with mother and daughter.


Proud mamma and her beautiful baby girl.

So cute!!

It was really fun taking photos of this little one. She really is a beautiful baby girl (but I could be a little partial)!

All the Best!!

Hatches.Heart.U2

Here is the awesome U2 concert (10/20/09) in pictures (these were taken with our point-and-shoot camera so no judging):

Bart and I anxiously awaiting the start of the concert.


The ridiculously gigantic stage that took 4 days to put together.
(and cost the same ridiculously gigantic amount of money to build)


Will.i.am!!!
Surprisingly the Black Eyed Peas were really good live.
Best song they sang: I've Got a Feelin'.


Bono!!
And (if you can believe it) I saw him without glasses on for two minutes!


The Edge!!!
Lead guitarist for U2.


One of the many things the magical stage did in order to entertain us. It was pretty awesome!

One funny story about the concert before I end this post. Unfortunately I had to go to the bathroom multiple times during the concert (Pregnancy called). The first time I really had to go...bad...and I couldn't find a bathroom. I finally spotted a talk black guy with an earpiece in and thought, 'he must know where a bathroom is'. I guess as I was walking up my hand was on my belly (like it almost always is) and when I was about to ask him frantically where the ladies room was he looked at me with a concerned face and asked if I was 'OK'. I quickly assured him I was great, just need the restroom, if he could please point it out to me. He then proceeded to do so when I quickly thanked him and rushed off. As I was half walking/running to get to my much needed destination he yelled, "Don't go having that baby on my now, ya hear?"
Bahaha, I nearly lost it right there. :)

Lastly, a million 'thank you's to John Peterson for taking Bart and I to the concert. I've never seen Bart so happy in my life...except for when we got married...and when we found out I was pregnant. :)

All the Best.

Made of Money

I am blowing through clothes like it's loose change! I have never been this big before and I'm growing out of clothes that used to fit perfect a couple of weeks ago. Yikes! How am I gonna feel when I'm eight months preggo (and where am I gonna find more clothes to wear without spending a fortune)?

Posts to come:

• Black Eyed Peas and U2 concert.

• Carving pumpkins with Andy & Brittany.

Here's a sneak peak of our pumpkin...it's pretty awesome!

Craving of the Day: Toasted Turkey sandwich (Yum!)

All the Best!

Patience

A virtue I'm desparately trying to acquire.

Every time I think I've grasped it, I drop it...and then I'm left picking up the pieces of a concept I once thought I knew. Is it bad to say I'm being impatient about my lack of being patient?

Just another thing I have to work on I guess.

(baby steps Ashlee, baby steps).

Craving of the day: Blue cheese (weird, I know).

All the Best.

Ready to Rock.

I have felt a huge increase in movement from baby Jack-Jack this week. The best part is that Bart was finally able to feel him moving too!

Ever since our last ultrasound Bart has been trying almost every day to feel our baby boy moving but with no luck. I hated seeing his sad face everytime he would put his hand on my belly and feel nothing. So when yesterday morning (10/18) came around, it seemed like it would be yet another sad day for Bart, except after his disappointment he put his head on my belly to see what kind of reaction he would get. Well, that did it!! The extra pressure made Jack go crazy and he started kicking Bart in the head. :) Bart was so excited he kept laughing everytime he felt him kick or squirm.

After that it seems like Jack hasn't stopped moving! It feels great to know that my baby seems to be doing well. I think this is a preview to how active he is gonna be when he's finally out of my tummy and ready to rock.

Speaking of rocking, Bart and I are going to see U2 in concert tomorrow. Bart is completely stoked (since U2 is quite possibly his "favorite band of all time") and I am excited to see how happy he is going to be when we are there. :) I hear their concerts are awesome.

Lastly, my cravings have definitely not stopped even though my nausea has. This week's craving that I can't seem to get enough of:

Doughnuts!

All the Best.

My New Favorite Shoes.

Yep, I got them...and I'm totally stoked. For those of you not in the loop, read this. And don't you worry, I definitely thanked Mr. Taylor as I walked out of Journeys.
(Oh, and don't mind the belly in the photo...it comes with the territory.)

Sorry to cut the post so short, but I gotta go pick out my outfit for tomorrow. And you better believe it's gonna revolve around these beauties. :)

All the Best.

Our Baby's Story

We had our second ultrasound on October 1, 2009. We had been waiting 30 painfully long days for this ultrasound...because on this day, we would find out the gender of our baby. I was so sure our baby was going to be a girl. One of my sister's just gave birth to a little girl in September, and my other sister (who happens to be due 10 days before me) is also having a baby girl, so I figured our little bundle was destined to have double X chromosomes. (Side note: for those of you who don't know, I have 22 nieces and nephews...soon to be 23 with my pregnant sister's baby. Out of the 23 grandkids my parents were blessed with, 16 are granddaughters and 7 are grandsons. Needless to say we are not lacking in females in the Kitchen line).

So when the ultrasound tech placed the camera on my belly and I could immediately tell this little baby was a boy, I was a little shocked. So shocked in fact that I looked over at my husband to see if he saw the same thing. The look of shock and triumph I found on his face confirmed my suspicion. Now at this point in the game our tech was not giving us any hints as to the gender of our baby...she was getting the important stuff out of the way first (which I was very grateful for, being an already worried mother). She checked the baby's heart, brain, and spine while making sure I was progressing and developing the way I should. Thankfully, all is well and our baby was right on schedule (being a little bigger than average as we came to find out later).

So after all the vital measurements were done, she turned to Bart and I and asked if we wanted to know the gender. We pretty much already knew, since our baby was sitting on the camera when we first saw him, but we both muttered a breathless "yes" as we plastered our eyes to the T.V. screen one more time. So she introduced us to our little one through different camera angles and pictures she was able to take. She immediately said our baby was not shy, since he was posing so beautifully for the camera. I told her our baby definitely got that from his Daddy. Bart is not a shy guy. Here is what she showed us (Another side note: I have never used our scanner before, so please excuse the scanning job...I'll do better next time I'm sure):

Our baby's profile: you can see his cute little button nose, his mouth (which was moving at the time), and strong chin. His hand is right by his face.

This is our little boy staring straight at the camera, hence the small skull you see in the upper left part of the picture. He's getting ready for Halloween a little early. :)

A nice shot of our baby's foot. It looks like he has all five toes (what a relief!!). After this picture our little guy quickly moved his foot away from the camera. The tech laughed saying he had ticklish feet. Now that trait he inherited from me. :)

And last but not least here is one out of three pictures she was able to take confirming that yes indeed, our baby was a boy. In the first picture he had his ankles crossed, which was a little bit of a challenge for her to determine. Then, after the first picture was taken he uncrossed his ankles, giving us a picture perfect view of the thing between his legs (Please see the above picture: the view is him sitting on the camera...again). She then proceeded to take one more picture confirming our baby was a boy (like we really needed the proof after the above picture) and wished us both "Congratulations" as she flipped on the lights and handed us our pictures.

As I took the pictures from our ultrasound tech, I stared at Bart with tears in my eyes, grateful that I was blessed with a wonderful baby boy. He, having a huge smile on his face, gave me a big hug and we both laughed together until we finally found our way to the door. We went back out into the waiting room (since I had my monthly check up right after) and Bart immediately went outside to call both sets of parents, siblings, and close friends to give them the good news. I was fortunate enough to stay in the waiting room and contemplate over the greatness of our little boy while I stared at his pictures. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I am pregnant and we will have another person joining our family in four very short months.

So that is the story I give to you, introducing our oldest son, Jack Wayne (or so his name is now) into the world.

All the best.

Pregnancy Update Preview

I have now come to the conclusion that there is nothing hotter than a pregnant woman wearing elastic-waisted pants in search for chocolate...which is why my husband is so attracted to me right now. :)

I have many updates to post, but they include pictures that are not ready yet (ie: ultrasound pictures that I need to scan, and a belly picture I need to prepare for). But I figured I would let everyone know that Bart and I are now part of the "in" crowd when it comes to baby genders.

We're having a boy!!!

It seems like everyone who is pregnant right now (at least the ladies that I know) are having boys, which is great because that means our little bundle will have friends to play with. My next post will be all about our ultrasound, and how Bart and I came to find out that the little human inside my belly is just like his daddy...in more ways than one. :) I can't wait to share his story with you. It's a great one.

All the Best.

What I'm thinking about...

If only...

The Baby Bump!

18 weeks and counting!

Our Love Story: MFEO

Warning: Long post ahead!
(I've always wanted to say that.)

I've been thinking a lot lately about me and my husband's history together, and decided to blog about it. I hope you enjoy our story...I hope I don't bore you too much...but I guess this post is mainly for me anyway.

Bart and I have known each other since middle school. Our families have been in the same stake since our oldest siblings were young. I remember one particular Sunday a LONG time ago (who knows how old I was) my mom pointed Bart out to me and said she wanted me to marry him someday. She thought he was an awesome kid and would make a great husband.

Fast forward to the middle school years (I was in 7th grade, Bart was in 8th). I walk into my social studies class and there was the boy my mom had betrothed me to, sitting by my teacher's desk as his student aide. To tell you the truth I thought he was pretty hot for being 14 (even though we both were in our prime awkward stages). I didn't like the class much (and I hated my teacher) but I loved seeing Bart. We kept eyeing each other all through class and I remember finding random smiley faces on my test, which I know were not from my teacher.

The next year is when we really hit it off. I was still in middle school but Bart had moved up to our high school, Shadow Mountain. During this time we would pass notes back in forth (using my sister and her boyfriend as carrier pigeons). My birthday came and he gave me a vase of yellow tulips, which were beautiful. Another year went by and I moved up to Shadow. We still talked on the phone and hung out (I skipped a class to eat lunch with him...I was completely scared and Bart still laughs about the plan I devised to get out of class).

Then the crucial day came...the day every mormon girl (and mormon guy who likes the said girl) waits for...the day I turned 16. I'm proud to say that Bart was my first date. :) We went on a double date with Rob Campbell and Jenny Rojas (now Coleman). Our plan: dinner and a movie...classic! Dinner was at Outback Stakehouse and the movie was Ice Age (I know, that was a long time ago!). He held my hand during the movie.

Our 2nd date: Prom. Since Bart was a Junior he was eligible to go to prom and therefore asked me to go with him. We had a blast! We had dinner at Bart's house with my future mother-in-law as our chef (and it was wonderful, of course). Then we danced like crazy at prom and finished out the evening by getting pulled over (thanks to Eddie Ford's fish tail skills right in front of a cop). Oh, and then we watched an illegal copy of Spiderman at Bart's house. I know...bad to the bone! :) Out of the three years that I went to prom, that was the only professional picture that turned out great. The 8 x 10 picture is hanging up in our apartment.

A little time after that I remember listening to the prophet saying that the youth should not be exclusively dating. I knew that my situation was included in this category and felt like I needed to do the right thing. So I told Bart that I did not want to exclusively date anymore. Well, he was not too happy about that. Many things were said (that I'd rather not repeat even if I could remember them) and our feelings of love interest quickly changed to anger, disgust, and sadly, dislike.

Bart keeps telling me that he was able to get over our little "tiff" a lot earlier than I did. I guess I can agree to that, to my dismay I have a bad habit of holding grudges. And to make me even prouder of my actions at this time, I completely went back on the prophet's council (and my reason for breaking up with Bart) and started dating someone else exclusively for a year-and-a-half (I know...don't get me started).

Needless to say, things did not go well between me and Bart for the next two years. Every time he would try to talk with me I would be nothing but cold. And I had no problem slandering his name whenever it came up in a conversation (what a vicious girl I was!). Eventually I calmed down. And to show you who the better person is in our relationship, the day of Bart's farewell he came up to me and apologized for all the crap that happened between us. It hit me that day how awful I had been acting...not only to Bart, but to others who I felt "wronged" me. Who was I to think I could treat people like that?

Well Bart headed off to Canada for his mission with no regrets, while I was left at home to do some soul searching. I dated a couple of people here and there but no one too serious. I still kept thinking about Bart and how easily he had forgiven me (and all of his other awesome qualities that I could not get out of my head). At this point and time we were writing back in forth, but nothing too serious...until I violently shoved the letter writing into said seriousness. Bart could tell you exactly when this effort happened, because he started receiving letters like crazy from me. No, there was not talk of I love you or you're the only one for me or I can't wait to marry you...at least not in these letters. :)


But, as most of you may know, Bart broke his leg during the last half of his mission in Alberta and had to come home for surgery and recovery (another blogworthy story about how it happened and my reaction to him being home, but that will have to wait another day...this post is way to long already). Well needless to say our relationship progessed to the level where I believed he was the guy for me. And then Bart headed back out to Ontario to finish up his mission.


We continued writing, I continued waiting, and the rest is history. Granted we did have a few shaky moments that made us both rethink our relationship, but in the end Bart got the girl and I married the man of my dreams. :)


Well, congratulations! You made it to the end of my very long post. Again, I hope you enjoyed it and I promise to not give you that big of an information overload for awhile (at least not without breaking it up with pictures!).

All the Best.

Confession

I don't like cooking.

I really, really wish I did but alas, I was not blessed with that talent.

And now an apology to my husband for marrying a woman who can't cook:

I'm so sorry honey!

There. I feel much better.

Surprise!

Look what greeted me when I came home from school tonight:

And yes, that is definitely my husband's truck. I'll keep you posted.

My Awesome Wife

Hey~
Bart here for a rare but true blog post. my wife is the best, this whole pregnancy thing had me all worried. worried about money, worried about the health of Ashlee and the bundle of joy, but i was really worried about the whole pregnancy food mess. i have heard all sorts of horror stories of weird pregnant lady cravings. from ice cream and pickles to even sidewalk chalk (i dont beleieve that one).but my awesome wife this last week has re-enforced the reasons why i love her so much. tuesday rolls arround and i am home from work and naturally playing some precious call of duty:
only i play it on x box... anyway ashlee calls me up and says "Im really hungary!" so i say "ok what do you wan?" she says " Pizza!" i agree to that..... so she tells me that all i need to do is go and pick it up. she wants to order it and that is fine by me. so 30 minutes later we are munching on 3 medium pizzas.
im so down with this craving thing.
so wednesday is upon us and Ashlee is again driving home and says "im hungary for pasta salad today and im going to make it!" i smile and say that sounds good. so my perfect wife goes to the store and gets a small frozen lasagna and makes from scratch a perfect pasta salad with those cool little bowe tie pasta things!friday i am telling my funny wife craving stories to fellow coworkers and they in turn relate their horror craving stories, i think that this can not get any better. as my day is winding down. i get a call from Ashlee and we talked about what we were going to be doing that night, so the conversation turned to dinner. i knew it was comming, a wierd craving day. but to my joyus suprise she happily announced that she was craving :off we went to have a marvelous dinner with leftovers to eat tomorrow for lunch from pei wei. hmmm i do love that woman that is my wife. i think i can after all handle this whole pregnant lady craving thing. not so bad after all. thanks honey, i love you.

July 4, 2009

Bart and I had a wonderful 4th consisting of...

It was awesome.
Now I just have to recover from this weekend...


All the Best.