Nine Months

Well I am officially 9 months pregnant and I can't believe it! Time has flown by and I am amazed that in a few short weeks my little one will be here. I still have four weeks to hit the 40 week mark but it feels surreal to know he could come at anytime. We are quickly trying to make our way through the check list of things to do and finish up the nursery. My mom is coming tomorrow and we are going to work on the bedding! Because of Nutcracker and working so much many things had to be pushed back until December to be completed. But it is all coming together I just take it a day at a time. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures of the nursery once it is completed and before our little guy arrives!

33 Weeks and our little one survived his first Nutcracker!

34 (1/2) Weeks and all dressed up for a Christmas Party


Christmas Day and almost 36 weeks

Our anticipation is building daily and I can't wait to hold our blessing!

It's A Boy!

This is long overdue but our little one is a boy! We are so excited and can't wait for his arrival!

It is hard to imagine what he looks like now as this seems so long ago. I do know that I am getting quite familiar with all of his little bumps and thumps and rolling around. I still don't mind it all but I know that may change as he gets more and more crowded!

One of my favorites from the ultrasound of his foot! I am amazed at how you can see all the little bones! He actually waved at us with his hand fully open during the ultrasound but unfortunately the nurse was not able to catch it in time.


I hope to post some pictures of the nursery over Thanksgiving. It still has a ways to go but Mr. Wonderful has been hard at work getting the room ready.

To Grandmother's House We Go

Right now I can barely keep my eyes open and am overwhelmed by the thought of facing 100+ cast members tomorrow from 9-4pm in our first run through of Nutcracker. All I can think of is how much I wish it was Wednesday night and I was sitting on a bar stool in my Grandmothers kitchen talking about anything and everything. She only lives 3o minutes away but Mr. Wonderful and I will spend the night there and then I'll get to help with all of the preparations for Thanksgiving when our loud and crazy family will all get together(there are a ton of us!). I love nothing more about this time of year then waking up in her house having a cup of tea and enjoying a few moments with her before the craziness begins. I don't get to see her much these days because of the my crazy life which makes me look forward to this week all the more. Plus there is always something new to learn from her!

My lovely Grandmother the day of my wedding...I've discovered by doing this post that I don't have any picture of us! This is such a shame and something I will have to fix. I know we've taken pictures together so they must be on other people cameras.

My sister, Grandmother, and I celebrating her 75th birthday!

Well now that I have taken a moment to think about the wonderful things to come...I'll take a deep breath...and brace myself for tomorrow.

In the mean time I am now 30 weeks! It is so incredibly hard to believe I only have 10 weeks left! It feels like this time of being pregnant is flying by!

The Summer of Dreams

Wonder of all wonders another dream is coming true! Come January 25th, Mr. Wonderful and I will welcome our very own special little bundle.

13 Weeks

We are thrilled and overwhelmed with the blessing this little one will be and knowing how our lives will forever change. We pray the Lord directs us and gives us the grace and guidance to do all we can to love him or her in the way He leads.

15 Weeks

A Glimpse

Since I have been on a blogging hiatus for months I thought I would give a brief look into various things that have been going on!

Finally made the curtains to go in my living room. (Thanks mom!)

NYC wedding, my husband was the best man, it was an Indian wedding and one of the highlights was getting to wear a sari for the first time!

I took over 300 pictures of this amazing wedding, but choosing what to put up was overwhelming!

Natasha, was of the many amazing people we met and helped me be confident in carrying off the look. She completed it by giving me a bendi(the jewel they wear on the forehead)

We had an amazing snowfall that resulted in an actual snow day instead of an "ice day."

The backyard...I know for my family and friends in the north east this is nothing compared to what you got, but for us it was pretty monumental. I think it was the most snow in 20 years.

Took the plunge and got bangs! (That's my beautiful sister!)

Visited my brother in Colorado...love him...miss him

Met our niece in Pennsylvania

Hayley is so sweet and we love her dearly!!

And we also saw our 1 year old niece Selah. It was so fun to see her run around and explore. Plus she would just run up to us and sit in our lap or let us hold her. Being the long distance uncle and aunt this did our hearts good. In this picture she had discovered Auntie Alissa's boots. I think we have fashonista in the making!

And we had our very own peonies bloom in our backyard!! The day it happened I had full intention of dedicating a whole post just to these beauties(we had about 12 in all), but it was right in the middle of production and that is just not a reality. They were miracle flowers really as they are not supposed to bloom in Texas due to the lack of winter. Well a week of the temperature being in the 20's and my dear husband's idea of putting ice on top of them resulted in some amazing flowers that I had all over my house for a little over a week. It smelled heavenly!!

That catches me up to April...from here on out I hope to do more individual posts about the goings on of our home.

Surprises and then some

I absolutely love surprises! Even when I know one is coming and the suspense is killing me...I still love them! Thankfully I have a husband who likes to surprise. What he doesn't like is when I spoil it (not intentionally of course!) like I did yesterday. I did this by discovering before I even left our driveway instead of when I opened up my suitcase at my hotel in Houston hours later.

It seems that was the first of surprises and I wonder if they will continue through the week. I'm in Houston, Tx right now attending a Dance Intensive(workshop) where I get to dance all day with people from around the country and learn from amazing artists. The first day has just ended and I am blown away...it has been a breath of fresh air just what I have needed for some time-INSPIRATION!! To move and learn and experience is an incredible thing. My other surprise I referred too happened in the last class of the day (am-ballet, afternoon-modern, and then two electives finishing around 6:15pm). It was was all about dance in a Church Ministry setting given by Michelle Leaney, the director of the dance ministry of Hillsong Church in Australia and she has done it for 18 years. To go to this specific elective was a last minute decision because I had planned on going to one about "Faith in a professional dance community" I thought it would be applicable because I'm now working in a dance department of a secular college.

So I attended the Church Ministry session and it was really good-even thinking about getting her book because I love how she thinks outside the box! In the last 10 minutes I felt like my heart breathed again in a way it hasn't in a while...I've just been tired spiritually and feeling a little dry I guess, without a whole lot of energy. It was a moment of revelation where 'head stuff" became "heart stuff" because no matter how many times you tell yourself something it isn't until that light bulb turns on, heart beat quickens, and you can't figure out why on earth you are on the verge of tears that you realize there is so much more than simply knowing the right thing to say. God wants the word to become flesh...real...tangible...something you can taste, that makes you want to come back for more. He wants to inspire, engergize, and breath life into dry bones because with out that breath of life we, I, am nothing, simply a shell that walks and talks.

After everyone left and I asked a question to Michelle that moment came...followed by her looking me in the eye and speaking truth. I don't think I was supposed to go to that class and just hear about church ministries (I'm not even currently in one!), but rather to have my heart awakened to the truth that God has placed me where he has me and THAT is my ministry-secular or not. I may not pray with my students before class, or use Christian music persae, but living my life in a way he has called me too is a ministry to Him and hopefully inturn will cause an influence on those around me.

Walking out of that studio in tears was not what I expected at all, but I'm thankful for last minute decisions that really could have been little urgings from the One who knows me best. Surprises truly are a good thing. So for the rest of the week I would like to expect the unexpected and see what happens and what each day may hold.

It's funny to me because when I started this blog never did I see myself sharing, better yet baring, these parts of me. That is typically not my personality-it would be too personal. I had planned on posting about fun(or sometimes not so fun)projects, house stuff, cool finds, or visual inspiration. Maybe ever once in a while posting something about dance and my great life with Mr. Wonderful, but heart stuff? Would never have dreamed! Maybe it's part of the process for me right now because when I got back to the hotel all of the sudden all I could think about was somehow sharing what had just taken place. Maybe there is more to this than I realize...Well for those of you read or have stumbled on this I hope you don't mind a glimpse into my journal(because that is basically what this entry is!) So there it is for all to see and amazlingly enough I feel a little freer for writing it! Have a great night!

What's A Girl To Do

While my dear husband is playing plumber and doing a pretty good job at tackling our waterless kitchen sink, I find myself getting all contemplative and maybe nostalgic. (i think those are good words to describe my mood) You see in just two short weeks my life is going to change. My new job will start and I will go from a relatively carefree day to day schedule to one that is based on many to-do lists, phone calls, and plunging into the unknown of directing a studio.

Don't get me wrong, I'm excited and looking forward to the challenge as it has been a while and I'm ready to dive in. It's one small detail that has me feeling a little lost...what is a modern dancer supposed to do in a ballerina world?! I love ballet (most of the time-sometimes it kicks my tail and I'd like to throw in the towel!) and being on pointe, wearing pretty tutus, and the discipline of training my body. But in all honesty...I never feel more alive than when my hair is down, my feet are bare, and I can let my heart take over. Even sitting hear thinking about it makes me want to move...to release myself from the constraints of classical ballet! I will forever endorse classical training and technique-it truly is the foundation of all dance, but when I want to feel alive, to share my heart...I wouldn't touch a pointe shoe with a 10 foot pole.

So what will I do? How will I find a way to not only dance myself, but create/choreograph as well in the midst of thinking about glissades, jete's, and fouettes?!

I hope you'll pardon my rant...somehow I needed to let my thoughts out so that in the next 15 minutes when I am trying to fall asleep, I won't be laying there thinking all these thoughts and getting myself worked up into something that can't be changed at 11pm. (that already happened once this week)

Ultimately it comes down to trust...God provided this job, this opportunity and He know me best. In that I find peace and will have to actively, day-to-day, depend on Him for this area and then take the chances He gives me when they come. sigh. I think I'll try to sleep now...put these thoughts to rest for today. goodnight

More of the Beach!

One of the best memories from the week at the beach was a surprise planned by my sister and brother in-law. Every night a different couple would make dinner for everyone and for Jonny and Alissa they made homemade pizza. Amazing! Afterwords they wanted us all to go on a walk and when we came back Jonny would be ready with dessert. So we headed off to the beach and when we came over the dune this is what we found....

The Masterminds!



Sister-in-law Tina and niece Selah


Nate, Tina, & Selah

My wonderful in-laws!

We had such a great time hanging out...and stuffing our stomachs with s'mores! I didn't even mind missing So You Think You Can Dance and to make up for missing "my" show, the Mr. let me do this....I am one lucky girl to have such a wonderful man who will let his wife put him through so much. He even had a little sunburn! And this is one of the many reasons I call him Mr. Wonderful!

Stuck in Currictuck

I tend to be someone who likes to do things in order, but transferring pictures from my laptop to our main computer is proving to be a little difficult today and I am getting impatient! So much to my husbands dismay....I am going to post one of our more memorable mornings.

It was our second to last day in the Outer Banks ad we wanted to do one last exploring trip (we had already gone south and visited the Cape Hatteras lighthouse a couple days before) and see the northern part of the island. Plus if you drive far enough there is an where they have 4x4 cars only. We took my SIL Subaru and headed out!

One of the many AMAZING houses we saw on our drive

It was beautiful in the Duck/Corolla area and I would definitely love to go back there someday. I loved the community feel it had with everyone out riding bikes, walking, and running.

Another incredible house

Well we headed to Currituck, also hoping to see wild Mustangs! It's awesome because the road curves and suddenly you are on the beach!

Neither one of us had ever driven on the beach and my husband's first words were, "This is nothing like snow!" I don't think I have ever said this, but he is obsessed with driving in snow...not just a little bit either- a whole lot! Every winter he talks about missing snow, driving in snow, wanting to be in snow....you get the picture!


It was fun until all of the sudden our car wasn't going anywhere! One moment the sand was hard and compact and the next it had given way to a deep, none forgiving, felt like quick sand, ruts of sand.

Now I get emabarrassed pretty quickly, so I'm moaning and wanting to sink into the car seats never to be seen again, all the while he is telling me "Ashlee it's not so bad!" Then we got out and realized the sand was literally all the way up to the undercarriage of the car and the wheels were just spinning! One guy stopped in his Humvey only to tell us good luck on digging ourselves out! "You too little Missy!"(his exact words) He then went on his merry way....still can't believe he stopped only to tell us what to do. To make matters worse all of these SUVs and trucks kept driving right by! Surely one of them had a tow hook or something, either that or they just thought we got ourselves into it so we'll have to get ourselves out. So the Mr. got to it and jumped out in my flowy white skirt, strapless shirt, and pink nails and started digging!

Hey those pink nails came in handy...letting air out of the tires!

Another guy did stop and tried to help push, but that didn't help and then finally someone(guy with yellow shirt) with a nice big truck and hook stopped and had us out in a jiffy!

Now for all who may doubt....my husband is an very intelligent and savvy when it comes to things like this...so the fact we got stuck did come as a surprise. But hey, it can happen to the best of us!

Thank you Mr. Nice man who saved us from calling a tow truck and paying a ton of money for it!Free of the sand and heading back! (remember I am wearing a strapless shirt so I do have clothing on)

Sad to say our venture too see the horses was cut short and we turned around and headed back to the pavement. In the end I loved every moment of it! I love exploring new places and even the unexpected that can be, at the time, embarrassing, but that is how life works! And with our extra time we went shopping!! No complaints here;)Shopping at Tim Buck II

And then some sustenance at The Roadside!

Mr. W's yummy fish sandwich(and I don't even like fish!)

My first time trying shrimp and grits...it was so good!

And this great produce stand called "The Tomato Shack" next to the restaurant

All in all a great day...we got back to our house and lounged by the pool with the rest of the fam for the afternoon!