I can't believe another year has flown by. This year was very bitter-sweet for me.. But I want to remember the year that I grew so much as a person..
January- Ash starts Paramedic School and is continuing to work Full-Time
We started off the year knowing that the possibility of us conceiving a child on our own was slim and that we should look into advanced medicine or adoption. January was a month of research and pondering.
We also celebrated Ashley's 27th birthday with family and friends! I am so thankful this boy was born and love celebrating his day of birth!
February- Ashley and I enjoyed a nice weekend away with dinner, a movie and a wonderful stay at Grand America!
We celebrated 1 year in our home!
We celebrated Sophie's 1st birthday!!
We choose In-vitro fertilization. We choose a doctor and begin the VERY long process of paper work..
March- We speak with the doctor and find out that we will begin the IVF process in August.
April - Finished up the ski season
Ash continues paramedic school. He went to class every weekday that he did not have to work at the station. There were multiple weeks that he would work Saturday and Sunday then have class Monday - Thursday and then work Friday & Saturday. He continued to pick up extra shifts at the station which kept him very busy.
May - MOAB! We went with the Lewis Family and took our motorcycles to Moab for a very much needed vacation! We stayed in a beautiful 3 bedroom condo and enjoyed riding through Zions, playing games, hiking and enjoying time with family.
Begin working on the back yard!
June- I am anxiously counting down the weeks until we begin IVF.
Work for me starts to pick up again and the Conference/ Wedding Season begins.
Ashley finishes paramedic school
July- Celebrate 4th of July watching Ashley in the Park City Parade.
Lots of time spent in Coalville at the Blonquist Ranch.
Motorcycle Rides
Ash takes the national paramedic exam and PASSES!
All of the medication for IVF arrives.
August - WE BEGIN IVF! All of the medication is overwhelming. Shots, pills, patches, etc.. I feel anxious and am so nervous that I am going to miss something. Lots of ultra-sounds, blood work and doctor visits..
Ashley starts another semester of college. He will graduate this year with a double bachelors!
September - The hardest month of my life. We find out on September 6th that I am not pregnant and our IVF cycle failed. I was at work when the nurse called to give me the results from the blood test I had taken that morning. Looking back those minutes when she told me were all a blur. I've NEVER cried so hard in my entire life. Luckily, I had told my boss that either way, good news or bad, I would need the rest of the day off. (I wasn't productive that day anyways.. I was very anxiously waiting for the phone call) I immediately called Ashley and went straight to the station.. I looked a mess.. I had mascara running down my face and my eyes were already puffy.. And the station is only 5 minutes from my office.. My sweet husband just held me while I cried. He then told me he was leaving the station for the rest of his shift. (That is not like my husband to leave work in the middle of a shift with no one coming in to cover him).
We went home and I cried the rest of the day and night. Ashley is the best man. I know what I was feeling and I can't even imagine what he was going through.
October - My wonderful husband and I celebrate 5 wonderful years of marriage on October 4th!
We celebrated apart unfortunately. The Bachelor was filming at Canyons and it was my event! So I was at a private concert for The Bachelor with Clay Walker!! (It is going to air on January 16th, 2012) - What a fun event to be apart of!!
I turn 25!! I spent the weekend with my mother-in-law shopping, seeing Dracula, having dinner and staying at Grand America! At work my friends and I all went out to lunch and Ash brought me flowers to work! I was spoiled!
November- Ashley and I finally celebrated our 5 year anniversary with a 5 night vacation to San Francisco and Oakland! We went to movies, out to dinner, shopping, site-seeing, and to the Oakland Raider Football Game.. We had 3rd row seats at the 40 yard line right behind the Raiders!
December - Busy! Busy! Decorating our home for Christmas.
New York!
Ash went to Denver for the Denver Broncos football game with a friend
I work on a huge Columbia Event and get LOTS of free Columbia gear!!
Lots of family time and parties
I feel that I spent the most of 2011 counting down the weeks/days/ hours until we began the IVF process. That is one thing that I am not going to do this year. I want to enjoy every minute of life. Don't get me wrong.. I enjoyed everything we did January - July but I feel that I was always checking off events which made us closer to beginning.
I have not talked about our experience very much with IVF - I think it is due to embarrassment and disappointment that it didn't work. We had been told by doctors/ nurses and others that the since we "were so young and healthy" IVF would work.. I never really thought that our IVF cycle would fail.
Overall, 2011 treated Ash and I very well. We grew so much as a couple this past year and learned more about each other every day. I would not have wanted to go through 2011 with anyone other than Ashley. He is an amazing man and I am so lucky to call him mine!
2012 has already started off as a wonderful year and we are very excited for the year ahead!
I have THE BEST in-laws EVER!
For my Christmas present this year I got the opportunity to go to New York City with my Mother-in-law.. Some people might think this is weird and they could NEVER go on vacation with their mother-in-law..but that is not the case for my family! My mother-in-law is amazing and I love spending time with her!
Day 1 - The TODAY Show!! It was so much fun! We watched part of the today show and stood in the crowd. We saw Charlize Theron! 
The NBC Store was right next to the show. The NBC Show had shirts, mugs and games from almost all the NBC Shows (The Office, Friends, Law & Order, Mad Money, Seinfeld, Park and Rec, Minute to Win It and much much more!)
Rockefeller Center had the beautiful Christmas Tree all lit up.. It was beautiful!
We also went to the New York Manhattan Temple. It was amazing! The feeling of this temple was so peaceful! One minute you are standing on a busy road with lots of people, traffic and noise and the next you are inside the temple. It was so beautiful and I am so thankful we took the time to do a session in this temple! It is a memory I will never forget!
We went to New York with Anita's (my MIL) friend from High School and her daughter who is also named Whitney.. :)
Street performers!!
The 9/11 Memorial was very special. I had a really heavy heart when we were there. All of the names of those who were lost due to this tragic incident were placed around the infinity pools. It was very beautiful. The Museum was still under construction while we were there but I definitely will be back to walk through it!
We went to the Financial District, Little Italy, SoHo, China Town!
Day 2:
We went to the Rockettes! WOW! These women have such talent! The performance was amazing and definitely put me in the Christmas Spirit!
Next was the Empire State Building.. It was SUPER busy! The view from the top was breathtaking!
Day 3:
Day 3 was my favorite!! First on the agenda was a Carriage Ride around Central Park! Central Park was breathtaking! It is SO big and was busy even at 9AM on a Sunday in 40 degree weather!
Next was FAO Schwarz.. SO MUCH FUN! They had HUGE stuffed animals that were practically looking me in the eyes.. (Well, I guess that is not hard since I am only 5' tall.. )
The BIG PIANO from the movie BIG was HUGE. It was really cool. It carries a price tag of $250,000.. so unfortunately, I do not think I will ever have the opportunity to have one in my home.. BUMMER!
Times Square was SO FUN! The atmosphere and the energy there was Exciting! And YES.. We did find a 4 story FOREVER 21.. And yes.. I did shop on every level!!
Last but not least was:
WICKED!! Wicked was SPECTACULAR! I loved every minute of it! The talent, the stage props, the costumes, the story, and the company was perfect! I am SO glad we were able to do that!
We were able to stay in this very clean and cute apartment in Brooklyn. It was very easy to hop on the subway and get to any destination.. If we ever were lost or needed to get someone FAST we would just hop in a Taxi. It was an amazing trip. I loved every minute of it.
I am one lucky girl to have a mother-in-law who is fun, sassy, trendy, smart, beautiful and an amazing mother. This was a Christmas Gift that I will never forget!
I put my cute little Sophie in a Dog Show this summer!! She did so good!
Here we are getting ready to leave for the Dog Show.. Sophie has been groomed, had a new collar and was ready to show everyone how pretty she is! :)
Here is her Costume.. She is a little spoiled and "kind of a BIG deal" in the Lewis House!
Here are some of her ribbons, toy and trophy!
Last week we went to beautiful Moab!!
We put the motorcycles in the toy trailer and hit the road! We stayed in a beautiful 3 bedroom condo with a huge downstairs and upstairs patio! It had a nice kitchen and family room!
Monday we rode to Arches National Park. It was so pretty. The weather was warm but there definitely were some dark clouds hanging around. We rode for about 2 hours or so and then the storm broke.. We were caught in a hail storm.. WOW! It hurt! The hail was like little pellets aiming for my legs..
Brandon flipping the camera off.. He loved me taking pictures of the whole trip!
The storm finally stopped and I was drenched! So we headed back to the condo, got showered and changed and went to do some shopping. When we got home Ashley made the family a delicious shrimp pesto pasta dish.. It was amazing.. He sure is becoming quite the Chef.. We were all very impressed.
After that it was game on for Monopoly.. It started out well.. I had successfully gathered some good property and then it went down hill fast.. It was a constant battle of trading and buying property from each other.. we are all very greedy.. In the end... Kyle won! He put up a good fight..
Tuesday we drove to Monument Valley since the weather was not that great... Monument Valley was beautiful! We ate a great lunch looking out over the area. We visited John Wayne's Cabin since he filmed a lot of movies there.
Wednesday we went back out on the bikes. We rode and followed the Colorado River. It was amazing. The sun was shining and it was so nice. Then it was off to Dead Horse Point. I had never been there before. It was breathtaking.
Wednesday night we grilled hamburgers and chicken.. had delicious grapes and watermelon and enjoyed the evening.. After dinner it was date night for Ash and I.. We went back on the motorcycle, rode around the city of Moab and then went and saw the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie.. I can't tell you how much I love my date nights with my hubby!
On our date night we discussed how glad we were that we made the purchase of the motorcycle. (Even if it was MY idea that we get a motorcycle!) We have really enjoyed it! It is nice to hop on and go for a ride after a long day at work or take it on our date nights! Plus my honey looks so good riding it! :)
Ashley and I had a wonderful time with the Lewis family!! It is always fun to be with those you love..
Up next.. My little sister Lacey's graduation and spending the afternoon with my family!
Love, Love, Love him!
He is the one that I call when I am having a rough day.. and it amazes me how hearing his voice can instantly make me feel so much better!
Wow.. It has been such a long time since I have updated this old blog.. I love looking at other's blogs because their lives seem so interesting and exciting. From new babies, to toddlers to funny stories... Things in the Lewis Household have been wonderful! Here is a quick update about us: Ashley- is still in paramedic school. He studies, studies, studies.. He is anxious to get into our yard work projects for the summer. :) We have been on 1 motorcycle ride because the weather has decided it wants to stay winter a little while longer.. Me- Work, work, work! The winter season at Canyons is finally coming to an end and life will be more mellow in my small world for the next 6 or 7 weeks. I am very excited for the break and to catch up on my much needed work projects. Sophie (The puppy)- Well.. she is in trouble today.. She ate my shoe! My very cute, gray colored shoe with the cute design on the toe.. Yep.. Chewed a hole right through the toe.. She NEVER chews on shoes and I don't understand why this morning she was suddenly bored out of her mind and decided that my super cute shoes looked like a toy.. For a personal side note: We have made great progress with our infertility struggle.. We now have a plan and a date to begin the next steps.. More to come on that later.. For now that is all..
With it being the "love" month.. I've seen some friends post the "how we met" stories.. I love em! I will always remember mine because it was so fun and I became one of "those" girls who "just knew" the moment I saw Ash... So here it is... I was the Relief Society Secretary in my Young Single Adult Ward and became close friends with the President who was a few years older than I. She would make comments about how I needed to meet her friend who served in the same mission as she did. (She served in Mongolia..) She would tell me how wonderful he was and that we would make such a cute couple.. She would make this comment quite frequently but I always seemed to have another current interest and wasn't convinced about a blind date set up...
Each Wednesday a bunch of friends and I would let out our inner cowgirl.. by going country dancing in Provo after Institute.. Kind of sounds lame now.. but it was really fun! I was pretty consistent with my Institute attendance but this particular one Wednesday night chose to stay home.. I received a text from a very good friend of mine that stated.. "You need to come down here.. There a few very cute boys here tonight.. plus I want you to come country dancing with us." So I decided to get ready and go down to the church and wait for Institute to end.. I walked into the Relief Society room.. Made "my scan" around the room to find these supposedly cute boys and who was there but a tall, blond with blue eyes.. We caught each others gaze.. I gave a quick smile and turned away.. (I know.. kind of mean.. but I all of a sudden was soo nervous).. A group of us then proceeded to leave Institute to go country dancing.. ALL without speaking to this mystery blond..
I filled my car with friends and we made our way to Provo. I sent a quick text to my mom saying that I had located my future husband.. I received a quick response back that simply said, "YEAH RIGHT.." But that night I knew.. Ash told "our mutual friend" that he wanted to go where we were going so she brought him to Provo to come dancing.. (HE HATES DANCING).. So there he was standing by the side watching me dance with those boys who knew how to country dance and he just stood there looking good.. Once the slow 7th grade song came on he made his move.. He is excellent at moving his feet side to side in a slow motion.. We talked and formally introduced ourselves and discussed the basics.. "What do you want to be when you grow up, Where we went to school, where we worked, and grew up." In that conversation I learned that he was from Coalville, served a mission to Mongolia and had been back for 1 year, was single, going to UVSC studying finance and wanted to be a firefighter... WHAT A FIREFIGHTER... Yes please..! Ash was tall and I found myself having a hard time looking into those beautiful blue eyes without blushing.. As the night ended we talked throughout the night and as the group of us left and was splitting into the original cars we came in "our mutual" friend yelled.. "Love you Whit" and Ash yelled, "I love you too." (I KNOW he was soo forward..) Just FYI.. he denies it every time you ask him but it is a true statement.. he did yell it..
After that I was worried because he hadn't asked for my phone number and lo and behold I received a text from "our friend" later that night that simply said, " I gave Ashley your phone number.. :)" This next part just might make you cry.. Ash did not call me for 2 weeks.. WHAT. I was shocked.. I made my sisters text me every so often just to ensure that my phone was working.. Well, when he did call I was SO excited.. I remember, I was at a Miss something Pageant and I tripped over the camera man trying to get out to answer.. He asked me out for that weekend... I will save our "First Date" story for another time because it was so funny but deserves it's own post..
After that Ash and I were inseparable. We spent the summer going to St. George, four-wheeling, boating, making tin-foil dinners, parades, rodeo's, demolition derby's and drives up the canyon watching movies in the back of my dad's truck.. We were engaged the end of July and married October 4th, 2006..
2010 was a GREAT year for Ash and I. We had a lot of positive blessings and a lot of blessings that we had to work through. Below are some things to remember:
* Ash turned 26!
* Our beautiful home was completed and we were able to move in
* I brought home little Sophie (LOVE HER!)
* VEGAS!
* Doctor Appointments
* Prepared for our fantastic trip
* Visited the beautiful country of China
* Visited the amazing country of Mongolia
* Learned more about my amazing husband through our trip to Mongolia
* 6 rounds of Clomid
* Boating with my family
* Motorcycle rides
* Sawyer Brown Concert
* Wendover!
* Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome
* Rodeos
* Derbys
* I turned the BIG 24
* Celebrated our 4 year anniversary
* School, school and more school
* Hunting Trips
* Four-wheeler rides
* Thanksgiving with family
* Christmas with family
* A very good year blessed with jobs that we love
* Church callings
* Making new friends
* Enjoying friends
I can't believe that 2010 is over. I am so blessed to have the amazing supportive husband that I do. He was by my side this entire year, at concerts, rodeos, doctor appointments and with family. I love him more than anything.
Our family has also been so incredible. They too have been supportive and are excited for the new adventures we are going to embark on in 2011.
For Halloween, The Canyon's had a party and it was fun. Decorating was fun, the band was fun and the food was great! My friend Kasey and I decided to save money on costumes this year and dig through our closet for an idea... We came up with- CONTESTANTS from the BACHELOR!!
It really was soo funny! We were dressed with a TON of make-up, curly hair, lots of BLING and cocktail dresses! We carried around red roses and champagne flutes all night and took pictures with "Bachelors"- Kasey smeared her mascara so it looked like she was crying- we laughed all night long! LOVE YA KASEY!
I came home from work one night kind of late and this is what I found... Ash and Sophie sound asleep on the couch! He loves his little puppy!
This handsome husband of mine is going to be the BEST father one day!
We spent her birthday evening at dinner at Applebee's with all the girls. My Dad and Chad had a campout so it was a girls night. EXACTLY what we needed! My sisters are the best!
My Mom, Cami and Grandma.
I love you Mom! I hope you had a GREAT birthday! It seems like my birthday never ends!! (I LOVE IT!)
We went to my parent's house to celebrate my birth about a week after my birthday. It was so much fun. My mom made dinner, a cake and brownies!
Lou was so excited to give me my perfume. It is Ed Hardy.. She told me it is the "hottest thing right now".... She is so cute!
..... WAS MY BIRTHDAY!....
I love my birthday. Poor Ash thinks that I am still 5 because I love my birthday so much! AND.. I love others birthday's too. I think birthdays are important! It is a day to show the birthday person just how thankful you are that they are in your life...
My birthday, 10-20-2010 (cool huh!) was amazing! I have the best family and friends ever! First off, my co-workers covered my groups for the morning so that I could sleep in! I was awaken by my phone and it was my awesome family singing happy birthday! Soo cute! Then Ash and I made breakfast and he gave me the most beautiful necklace and earrings from Sundance Resort! I love them!
Then.. it was time.. OFF TO WORK I WENT!
The drive in was absolutely beautiful. The weather was perfect and my drive to Park City didn't fail- BEAUTIFUL!
At work, I received a bouquet of flowers inside a pumpkin from my wonderful co-workers.. LOVE THOSE GIRLS! I also recieved cards.. one of them was a sound card that had MR. ROGERS on the front and you pushed different buttons and it sounded just like MR.ROGERS! I loved it.
I also received flowers from my in-laws! And.. A DELICIOUS MADE FROM SCRATCH... fun fetti cake! It was soo good!
I worked throughout the day and into the evening. I got home about 9PM and Ash bought me flowers, a card and a gift certificate! I received lots of texts, calls and facebook messages! My day was perfect! I get to spend Monday with my family and celebrate AGAIN!!! WAHOO!!
Flowers from my honey!!
Thanks everyone for wishing me a happy birthday! It was a great day!Once we returned from our trip to Mongolia, we (Ash) were all set and ready to work on the yard. Ash worked so hard. We went on lots of motorcycle rides looking for ideas of what we both liked. Ash even spent time looking online for tips and ideas.
The finished product makes our house look as if it is really lived in. It is amazing what landscape can do to the look of the house. We still need trees and bushes but I think it looks amazing. Thanks honey for working so hard!
Of course, it would not be Ashley's work without horns... :) Gotta love him!
And of course, it wouldn't be fall without the hunt! Ash shot an elk on the 2nd day of his hunt.
And here he is working hard to skin it.
October was homecoming for Pleasant Grove High School. I cannot believe that Lacey is a senior. She is all grown up and beautiful. Her and Braydin are captains of the cheerleading squad and their half time routine was awesome! I love watching her cheer.
And then there is Brooke! Isn't she a beauty as well! She is the assistant coach for the cheer squad!
Ash and my dad were in the stands while Chad and Cami were playing with friends, which is why it is just my mom, Brooke, Lacey and I in the picture below. I love my sisters and mom so much! They are amazing and my best friends. They are always there when I need a friend, or need to tell my funny stories, or cry. I love them!
Cami turned 11 on 10/10/10! She is growing up so fast! 
