Catch up

Blogging has taken a back burner this past year. I don't feel I have much of anything insightful to share with you, but I think I am going to try and get involved again.

New house: Not so new anymore. We still don't have furniture for all the rooms and we still have lots of to-do projects, but we love it.

Pippa: most fabulously cute puppy ever. She is a hooligan. The end.

Jeremy: Work and grad school. That is all he does. He is working on his masters of youth and family ministry and has about 1.5 years left. He works so hard.

Kelly, who has worked with Jeremy since with beginning is now gone as of September 29. Him and his wife Kelci are moving the Brazil to be missionaries. We are so happy for them.

Jeremy is more than capable of handling the work on his own, however, I do not feel that he should have to. It is still being decided if they will hire someone else. We are praying they will, or else I won't ever see my husband!

RN world: Work is always challenging and rewarding. I feel like I have grown a lot this last year as a nurse. I am currently studying to take my CPN test (certified pediatric nurse) with some girls from work. I find that it is hard to get back into the groove of studying. It confirms to me that I am not interested in going back to school at this point in time!

I got honored this year by our doctors by being selected their inpatient Nurse of the Year at Children's. I was both very surprised and honored.

And Finally..... And Most importantly.....

VACATION

Jeremy and I just got back from a fabulous week in Marathon, Florida with my family. It was restful and relaxing. However, I needed another month or two to fully recover and get rested up.

I plan to try and update more regularly again!

So this is long over due, but I feel like it is time for me to come back to the blogging world!

I realize that my life if probably not the most exciting, but I feel as if I need to update you to what's been going on!

Lets see:

New House (first house!)

The previous owners had literally painted every room. UGLY colors! Who likes burnt orange, brown,mustard puke yellow, and green walls?

Seriously? No one. 

I sure like my neutral tan now. EVERY SINGLE WALL. It took FOREVER. Thanks to my mom, Danielle and mom-in-law Vicki for helping out!

The previous owners also were gracious enough to paint all the doors and baseboards black. Who knew that painting them white would not be possible?

Thanks to Dave Ramsey we are being smart and not financing the new ones we are planning on buying.....So I am being patient while we ever so slowly save up the money to replace them.

But seriously. I hate the black.

We did get to put new carpet in and let me tell you. I LOVE new carpet. It makes the house feel new.

I feel like I should have told you this before, but we bought a "fixer up-er: house. 

While at times I wish it were just done. It has been fun to fix it up and make it what we want. 

My newest project has been doing our cabinets. They were painted black. (Go figure right? What was up with these people and their obsession with black??) So I decided that they needed to be chalk painted and antiqued. I have officially finished our bathroom and the guest bathroom. My next project will be the kitchen. But that will be a huge project to attack...so it will have to wait until after thanksgiving! Don't judge the ugly black doors and baseboards. I can't do anything about them yet!

Needless to say, both bathrooms are looking better.

Also new, and really lets be honest, this is awesome...
We got a PUPPY!! Her name is Pippa and yes, she is the most adorable puppy ever. You can say your puppy is cuter. But it really is a lie. Pippa is adorable.
How can you not love this little face?

Like I said. I realize I am partially biased seeing as how she is my puppy baby and all. But seriously. We could win awards with her cuteness. She is a Cock-a-Poo. Totally cute and totally spoiled. I don't even care. I love her.

Jeremy is still a fabulous, drop dead gorgeous husband. Who doesn't love a guy in a tux?

We have been happily married for almost 2 1/2 years! I can't believe it!

I am still a RN at Children's hospital. Believe it or not, I am what you would call and "experienced nurse" now! I am thankful for my job!

Anyway, I suppose I have updated enough for one night. I am sure there is plenty more to tell you about. But I will make you anticipate my next entry!

I do promise to try and be more consistent. My poor Dell has bit the dust though and Jeremy is having to share his Mac with me. 

Have a fabulous week :)

Oh So Good Brownies!

Moist...Delicious...Just plain Yummy!

Apple Sauce Brownies courtesy of Susan Fulks

1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons cocoa
2 eggs, unbeaten
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups apple sauce

Combine all ingredients and beat. Pour into greased 9x13

Sprinkle over top:

2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional, I left them out)

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes

Fabulous!

Yes...I had to take a bite. I should have waited for the picture...but who can say no to warm brownies??

Summer Time!

Summer time means Pool time!

I am happy to admit I have been spending hours at the pool, re-reading The Harry Potter Series.

No....the pool at our apartment complex does not look quite like that, but it is what I would like to imagine!

I am currently on book three and must read much quicker if I plan to finish before the last movie comes out!

We have been so busy since the beginning of March. It is beginning to wear on me. No joke or exaggeration: We have been out of town every single weekend that I have not been working. Only to rush back home Saturday night for church.

June/July/August is full of great stuff for the youth group. However, that means Jeremy and I have zero free nights together to take a break; between camps, VBS's, mission weeks, lock-ins, sleep overs and my work it's a high anxiety time for Ashley!

Jeremy does a lot better with the busy schedule than I do. I get this horrible suffocating feeling in my chest if I think about it too much!

I am looking forward to this summer, but I am going to need a lot of prayers to not completely freak out and lose it!

In the meantime, I am going to dream of the beach, and getting away from everything for a nice long break. Maybe dreaming will make it real!

Anniversary

Well it's been a year now! I cannot believe how fast it flew by. 

What a wonderful blessing to be married to my best friend. We could not have had a more blessed year together. God has given us so much.

Things I have learned about being married:

1. It is so comforting to come home to someone you love. 

No matter how bad the day was, they will make it better.

2. Just because you can eat only a grilled cheese for dinner doesn't

mean he can.

3. It is hard to agree on what time is a good bedtime, especially if he is a night owl.

4. There is such thing as life without cable and Internet, and it is survivable.

5. You don't have to do the same thing. You can read your book, while he watches sports.

6. There is someone there to finish the wet load of laundry that always gets left in the washer.

7. You can both do chores. Splitting them up makes cleaning faster!

8. Boys CAN cook. Despite what they try and tell you. My husband can make a mean omelet. 

9. You don't have to look pretty all the time. You can go to bed with your wet hair in an ugly bun and they will love you no matter what. 

10. Being married is the most wonderful time of your life. 

Please forgive me as I do a little reminiscing of the wedding. It was the most wonderful day! 

Royal Wedding Dress

I don't have much to say about it, and I just watched a few clips here and there.

But let me tell you I LOVED her dress.

It was beautiful. I guess I am a dress snob. When I go to a wedding, that is by far what I think is most important!

Obviously the actual marriage is the most important. But I am talking about the physical/unimportant but fabulous wedding "details".

I loved my wedding dress.

I thought I would never find "that" dress. I looked everywhere, and found stuff I liked, but I nothing that I loved. I guess I had been expecting the earth to move or something when I finally found it. That feeling never came, months of trying on dresses, store after store. I was beginning to wonder what was wrong with me.

Until I found my dress. Now, don't take me for a crier. I did not cry. In fact, I did not even get the dress right away. But I came back, a few times, and kept trying it on. Until I knew. This was it!

Now, don't get me wrong. I could not have been happier with my dress, with my wedding, or with my marriage.

But sometimes I am sad that I will never get to pick out another wedding dress again.

It is still fun to look!

Here are some of my new favorites:

After the Royal Wedding, what do you bet sleeves come back in on Wedding dresses??

Happy Wedding Dress looking!

Lately

So a lot has been going on at the Robertson household as of late.

Most impressively, Jeremy completed his first marathon!

And although he was not thrilled with his time, he did very well! He ended up with a pulled hamstring on mile 18 and some other severe leg injuries/leg bleeding that really slowed him down. He was going to break his goal time of 4 hours until the injuries. He still finished, but had to walk the last 8 miles due to the injuries.

BUT HE FINISHED.

Not to mention, he still finished faster than 1/2 of the other marathon runners!

(Allow me to brag a little)

My stubborn man is already looking for the next one to run because he was so upset with his last time.

We picked up motorcycle riding

Just kidding! We stopped at the Harley Davidson store in Dallas. He knows I would never allow him to get on a moving motorcycle. I would kill him faster than the motorcycle would.

This is as close as he will ever get. Sorry sweetie.

I have also been reading through a Christian book series call "The Mark of the Lion" series by Francine Rivers. WOW. It is so fabulous. I am currently working my way through the last of the 3 books and I am in love with all of them!

It really gives you a peak inside what the world was like for Christians in the time right after the death of Christ, during the reign of the Roman Empire. Reading it makes me understand more about the persecution the New Testament talks about. They are fictional books, but they have given me a little bit more understanding related to what those in the New Testament faced daily for their faith.

I highly recommend them.

Work has been going....nothing really new with that. I highly anticipate my days off!

Spring Retreat with the youth group was awesome! We took a group of over 80 students and talked about what it is to have your life Remade by Christ. Jeremy and Kelly did a great job reaching out to our students. It is so encouraging to see the youth group finally starting to take a hold of the ideas that they have been teaching all year. God is allowing them to do great things at the EYG!

OH!

Guess who was right about my car starter being broken??

That's right. ME!

Take THAT Mr. rude car man!

He should have done it for free after all that!

Just so you know, I was very nice when we picked it up.