need an update up in here.

So sorry I've been so delinquent in updating lately (not that anyone reads this besides my mother). I've been busy busy busy. Still no job (don't get too excited), but working away on that there little wedding of ours and it's putting right along. Let's see...where did we leave off? Nov. 5th? Okay.

We got our engagements done (can be seen on facebook or our wedding website) and they turned out amazing. Our photographers are so nice/funny/laid back/reasonably priced!! I love them more every time I look at their work. They're so excited to come down for the wedding (they're based in Gilbert) and we're equally excited to have them.

our spooky porch

Christian has been taking test after test after test. He had a string of like three weeks where he had a test every single Friday. It sucked. Poor guy got pretty dang stressed out. But he's doing well on the exams and pulling through. A lot of fellow classmates and people on his student-doctor forum online say that this first year is the hardest, mostly due to getting used to the schedule and taking some of the tougher classes. If this is as bad as it will get (as far as material goes), I think we might be able to handle this med school thing! I'm super proud of him. He has an exam tomorrow (yes, on Saturday...he can test Fri-Sun) and then his schedule looks like this: Thanksgiving week he's off on Wednesday (so am I!) and goes back on Monday. Then that next week he has has an anatomy exam, the week after is one last neurology exam and he made it though his first semester!!!! His last day of the semester is December 10th. Then he has jury duty December 12th (what the heck) for which he will kindly explain that he can't be chosen for a jury because...he's getting MARRIED the next week!!!! That is how close we are...29 days. It's really nuts!

my horse friend

Christian's mom, Ethan, and Savannah came up to Phoenix last Friday for some hang out time. It was so nice having siblings and a mom to hang out with. We went out to dinner and saw Megamind (sooo funny). I love it when our family comes to visit. December 11th is when Lindsay and Reese get here and I'm SOOO excited to see them. Chris stayed in Phoenix with his family, while on Saturday I took the car down to Tucson to go to my friend Denise's baby shower. Denise and I have been friends since the 6th grade, so it was really fun celebrating this new adventure with her. She looks so beautiful and she and her husband are going to make amazing parents. Can't wait to meet you, Baby Terrance. :) The rest of the weekend was spent in wedding overdrive. Ordering, making decisions (that seems to be the hardest) and trying to tie up some loose ends. Then, on Sunday night, I was having sooo much fun hanging out with my dear mom that I insisted she came up to Phoenix with me for a few days. We had so much fun (and got a few things done, I guess)! We took care of bridesmaid's gifts, ordered sparklers for our 'getaway' and bought a few accessories for my dress. We also took some time to go to the Phoenix zoo (it was my first time!) and it was fantastic. It's really spread out but they have a lot of neat exhibits. And a petting zoo! With a pretty white horse that I befriended. She was so nice to come up and keep me company/help me with wedding stuff. And she showed me how to scrub out my bathtub the right way (I couldn't seem to get it clean for the life of me). What a nice lady. :)

me and mama at the zoo

Coming up next for us: a weekend in Phoenix for once, thank goodness. We went to Harry Potter at 12:01 AM (yes, it was amazing!!!) and spent much of today catching up on sleep. For the evening, I've been cleaning up while Chris studies for his test. Frankly, we spend a lot of Thursday/Friday nights this way...kind of embarrassing...we are incapable of acting our age. BUT: my house smells like lemon furniture polish and the Pandora Christmas station is ROCKIN'! And you can't ask for much more than that. For those of you that don't know the joys of Pandora, get with the program! Pandora.com will take you to Pandora radio where you can pick a station based on genre, a particular artist, or song and it will play song after song like that. And their Christmas station is bomb. Just sayin'.

Well, I think that begins to scratch the surface of what's been up with us. The next few weeks will be so insanely crazy. I think I'll try to do my best to blog so that I can keep it all straight (and have a record of our last few weeks as not-married people!!!!!!). Wow. Kind of reminds me when we bought our wedding bands, the lady told me to she wanted to fill it out with my married name so the protection plans are in our correct names. SOOOOOO WEEIIRRRDDDD! Good weird, but weird just the same. :)

Love you all. Thank you for your help/support/patience while I try (and my mom tries) to keep from going nuts.
MWAH. XO.
Ash