We've got some BIG news!!!

I am waaaay late in posting this but Jason and I have amazing news! This June we'll be expanding our family!! We started trying in August and we're quite surprised that it happened so quickly. Jason turned the big 3-0 on October 14th and we had a party for him on the 15th. I desperately wanted to give Jason a positive test for his thirtieth- thought that'd be the best gift I could give him. Tested Friday (his bday) and got a negative, tested Sunday and got a negative again (my friend Whitney got a positive test this day and texted me about it)- I was super happy for her and hoped that I could share in her happiness...nope! After I tested Sunday and got a negative I literally looked in the mirror and told myself 'Ashley, you are NOT pregnant....quit testing or you'll go insane!'. I told myself that if I didn't have my period by Friday that I'd test again. Well Tuesday, after bunco on my way home, I felt nauseous and my chest was VERY tender. Came home and tested with a cheapie from the $1 store (without telling J)...and saw a line or I thought it was a line- I was worried that I wanted there to be a line so badly that I was seeing things. While he showered, I ran up to one of our closets upstairs and got out a book called 'The Expectant Father'. While we were getting ready for bed he mentioned needing new reading material so he wanted to go upstairs and get a book from our bookshelf. When we got into bed, I told him to close his eyes. I said how about this for some reading material and handed him the book I had gotten from upstairs. His reaction was priceless. His eyes got huge and he was like 'really? Are we pregnant?' I told him I wasn't sure but I thought I had seen a line and showed him the test- he agreed that he thought he saw a line and we decided that we would confirm with a digital test in the morning with FMU. Well there is our story of how we found out that we were expecting. Wanted to get it documented before we forget- truly doubt that will happen since it was one of the best days of our lives but still wanted to share it.

We've been very busy lately....June-November

I am the world's worst blogger, and quite a bit has happened since I last posted in June.


In June, we went to Gatlinburg, TN with Jason's extended family. We drove with Jason's sister, her fiance, Jared, his mom Debbie to TN in Marylyn's new SUV. It was a long drive but wasn't unpleasant. The drive was gorgeous and we passed through several states and the scenery was just breathtaking. Jason's grandparents were very gracious to set up a very nice cabin high up in the mountains for us to stay for the entire week. While the view was gorgeous way up there, the drive getting there was nothing short of a heart attack every. single. time. So much so, that we would do whatever we could to only have to make that trek one time a day. It was very steep, with little visibility. But oh the view.....pics to come. We also went white water rafting (which was amazing by the way!) and repelling. Marylyn couldn't do either because she was expecting our nephew (though at the time she didn't know it was a boy) but she was a great sport. When we returned from TN I started doing a bootcamp in our neighborhood. I had actually won a free month at our neighborhood summer luau which was perfect because the girl who runs it and I had been emailing back and forth about me joining and I just happened to win. I really enjoy the class, its fast paced, we never do the same thing and I've lost inches and weight. Her site is http://www.mycommunityfit.com/ Jason also went skydiving with some friends and he was on a high for about a week afterwards. He literally could not stop smiling when he was telling me all about it! I was so happy for him but nervous at the same time. My man is a daredevil. Lord help me if we have boys!



In July we went on our annual river trip to New Braunsfels. We stayed in a nice little house that was right on the water. Next year we hope to possibly get the 8 story (no lie!) house that was directly next door. Floating the river has been a summer tradition for Jason and I for the longest time. We enjoy the relaxed atmosphere with a cold beverage in hand. Oh the memories!



In August, my neighbor (and good friend!) Liz and I went on a girls only trip back to the river with some of her work friends. It was very fun and drama free- my kind of trip! Just a couple weeks later, school started back up for me and we've been going non-stop ever since we started. I have a great bunch of kiddos this year, they're very sweet and thoughtful. I'm not quite as stressed teaching science this year since I have a year under my belt but I'm definitely not a veteran teacher yet. I've got a lot to learn still.



In October, Jason's sister, Marylyn, had a gender reveal baby shower. We were asked to wear blue or pink depending on what we thought the baby was. We all had been thinking she was having a boy this whole time so we all arrived at the party wearing blue. Actually, Jason didn't have a clue one way or the other but that boy would go naked before he would wear pink, so he wore blue as well. The cake they had made was so insanely cute, and as they cut it open the cake was dyed blue. Kaden Mitchell Byrd was on his way! Jason and I ran in the 10 for Texas race that is held in The Woodlands on October 8th. Its a ten mile race that we both had been training for. Jason finished before me but I did continue running the entire time and I was very pleased with that. Jason turned 30 years old on the 14th. We celebrated by going to Taste of Texas with our friends Kyle and Lindsay Silvio, and Brad and Amanda Jones. It was very good food, and even better company. We had a get together at our house with family and friends the weekend of his birthday. We had a great turnout and its just amazing to see how loved we are by so many people.


So thats the latest with us from June through November. Hope I didn't bore you to death! Stay tuned for more....hopefully!

Life Lately

Well I'm excited to say that I've survived my first year of teaching!!! I have been so blessed to work at Grangerland teaching sixth grade science. My team is amazing and I've built some great friendships from it. I honestly don't know what to do with my new found freedom!! I know I want to get this house in order and organized. The nursery has unfortunately become our drop zone for all things crap! We have several things in there that we'd like to sell on Craigslist and I need to go through the closet and get rid of stuff. So my mission this summer is to organize and remove unneccessary/unloved junk from each room. My goal is to remove 100 items from our house, whether it be little or big, 100 things that we can trash, donate, or give away. I'll keep you posted with pictures!

House Tour Continued~ Dining Room and Entryway

So I'm continuing the house tour, moving towards the front of the house.

In the dining room, I wanted to go with a warm yellow color and literally played around with 5 or more shades. It looked crazy when we were building the house (we were fortunate enough to get Jason's painter to paint the entire house all the different colors that we liked). We ended up going with Golden Lab by Benjamin Moore, I think its the exact shade I was going for. We got this table from World Market, and we've been really happy with it. Its great quality and we've gotten a ton of compliments on it. Got a great deal on it and all the chairs/bench too! There is a sideboard/buffet that I'd like to get to go on the back wall. I'll put our china and other large decorative pieces in it to free up some cabinet space in our kitchen. I've been collecting white dishes/serving platters because I'd like to hang them on the wall above the sideboard. Maybe a lamp and a wine caddy too. The curtains are from Ikea, they're a white linen and I like how they're nice and long. I also like how they pool on the floor though Sawyer thinks they're a nice pillow for him. Ugh! Plus they were free! Yep, you read that right! Free! They were in my cart at Ikea and I looked at the receipt on the way home and saw that she never rang them up. Oh well, her mistake and that place is WAY too far away for me to drive back there. I think I may want to do some wainscotting or maybe board and batten in here to keep it light and airy with the yellow walls and white curtains/chairrail/plates on the wall. I just don't want it to get dark in there with the table and sideboard. The rug is Pottery Barn and came from my lovely husband, he's got great taste!

The entryway is just really simple but I've been wanting this bench and shelf for forever now! We got the baskets as a wedding gift so they had been sitting around for 2.5 years. We use it to hold shoes, magazines and other odds and ends. Im sure it will be more full with stuff once we have a baby. For now, it serves as a dropping off spot for friend's purses or diaper bags. This rug came from Pottery Barn as well, Jason got it for me! He loves me!

House Tour

So last August, Jason and I moved into our new home. We were very fortunate to be able to have Jason build it through his company. We were able to make any changes that we wanted to the house and it saved us like 50K, Holla! We both have LOVED this floor plan since we first started dating and Jason started working with this company. I'm so blessed to now be in it almost a year later. Dreams really do come true!

Here are some pictures of what we've done so far to the house.

This is one of the guest bedrooms as you first walk into it. Jason's mom sleeps in here when she comes to visit.


This is our new dresser from IKEA, it was fun putting it together because IKEA doesn't include any words in the directions, just pictures. No...really, I'm being serious! It was quite the adventure because I'm super anal and wanted to make sure it was done correctly!


I'll have to download the rest of the pictures of the house onto the computer, I wish I knew how to do like a slide show or something. I guess if I spent more time on this blog then I would know how to do that. More posts to come of the different parts of the house....patience people, two posts in ONE day is miraculous!

Our sweet Goddaughter, Brianna Madison

Jason and I were asked to be the Godparents of Brianna at our housewarming party. We were so shocked and honored to be asked to do that. We love Brianna so much and proudly tell others, "we're her Godparents!". Brianna decided to come a little early, she wasn't due until around November 7th, but decided she was ready to come October 28th. She is just gorgeous and we love her to pieces!


Here is a picture of Brianna when she came to visit one night. We wish we could keep her overnight more often. She's growing too fast!

Has it really been almost an entire year!

Goodness, am I a horrible blogger or what?!?! I can't believe its almost been an entire year since I've made an entry. For the longest time, all of the blogs I've read have been of friends of ours who have children, crafting/decorating blogs, or recipe blogs. I have thought for the longest time, "why would I want to blog, I have nothing important going on in my life, no kids, etc" so essentially I didn't blog. Boy, have I been wrong. Since my last entry I have moved into a gorgeous home, graduated from college, celebrated three wonderful years with my amazing husband, become a Godmother to the sweetest baby ever and plenty more. So here is to a new change, a change of me blogging more than just once a year. So, here we go~!