"Hearts Bound Together"

James & I loved our lesson today on the importance of genealogy and how we can all be Saviors on Mount Zion to our kindred dead by attending the temple regularly and taking in names with us.

I was touched by President Eyring's counsel when he said:
"When you were baptized, your ancestors looked down on you with hope. ... They rejoiced to see one of their descendants make a covenant to find them...As you decide, remember that the names which will be so difficult to find are of real people to whom you owe your existence in this world and whom you will meet again in the spirit world. When you were baptized, your ancestors looked down on you with hope. Perhaps after centuries, they rejoiced to see one of their descendants make a covenant to find them and to offer them freedom. In your reunion, you will see in their eyes either gratitude or terrible disappointment. Their hearts are bound to you. Their hope is in your hands. You will have more than your own strength as you choose to labor on to find them."

Na Ka'ahanui

Thanksgiving Deliciousness

Our Thanksgiving Holiday came at such a perfect time. Break from school, great weather, good spirits & fun family memories. We had the entire meal course split between my mom's oven and mine. So the turkey was cookin' on Naniloa Loop while the ham was sizzlin' in TVA. 

Mom & Hill came over EARLY Thursday morning, my apartment really smelled delicious!

Here's Hill "lomi-ing" the potato salad, lol, she had to make a lot

 As a tradition, we turned on the Macy's Day Parade!

Just in time for Jessica Simpson

This ham filled my whole apartment, I kept picking at everything!

Yummy Yummy deviled? eggs :)

Did you know that yams sold out everywhere the day before Thanksgiving! All the shelves were totally cleared out & people were buying cases of them, geez.

Thanksgiving Day was very busy w/all the preparations going on, but Im happy we started early. I was also able to put a load in and clean my apartment. After we finished all the dishes & desserts were transferred to my parent's house.

It's so nice spending time with your family and eating home cooked meals. I'm grateful for my husband & the health of our first expected baby, for my parents, my siblings and the gospel :) Im so happy for these family traditions that my parents have established, I look forward to continuing them w/my own! Even when James & I move to Auckland, I told him we're still celebrating Thanksgiving haha.

RELAXATION!!!

I was soo excited to get this in the mail!

 

James & I decided to stay home and to my surprise have a Facials Night!

I wanted to try out all the new things I got in the mail

and James seemed just as curious :)

This product is pretty expensive, but I was able to score a DEAL!

It's very gentle & does the job!

I stopped by Walgreens today & this was on sale!

Famous Queen Helene's Mint Julep

Try this out guys, feels WONDERFUL after :)

WAIT

Before we started, we ordered pizza

and popped in the new

Jim Carey "A Christmas Carol" dvd

Here we go:

1. Mask

(James tied a cape bc he thought the mask would stain his white T)

2. Exfoliate/Cleanse/Rinse

circular motions to get rid of all the 'impurities'

3. Moisturize :)

Yes to Carrots smells so yummy, plus its organic!

This was such a fun night + dinner & a movie

ALL found at the comfort of your home
Next is pedicure night...lol

Midterms Stress

MIDTERMS ARE OVER!!!

Messy house, loose line paper everywhere, stacked textbooks, etc...

We're soo glad that our midterms are over

Plus we had to fit in a baby appointment in between classes

Get to work to make money

And clean for Saturday's White Glove Check

It was definitely a busy week!

James was a superhero, while I was an emotional mess :)

Pregnancy hormones + school stress + unsatisfied cravings + limited sleep

EQUALS=

Grumpy, tired, Ashlyn stuck w/a huge tension headache

(not able to take any medicine!!!)

while my poor husband has to endure me "going off" 

about how dumb TVA is for having cleaning checks

until my headache finally allows me to fall asleep

leaving superhero James to spend the whole night cleaning our house!

Everything was spotless the next morning, & our RA passed us!!

Thanks to James <3

It was also my little sister's 20th birthday

Family get-together's w/close friends are the best kind of birthday parties

Especially the home cooked meals & cake
Now on to another full week...at least Christmas is around the corner!

heaven is family

"I wouldn't know how to speak of heaven 
without my wife or my children. 

It would not be heaven for me."
--Elder Holland

Grateful. is how i feel because i am sealed to james.

& our little one to us...taste of heaven to come

What a beautiful Sunday today has been, for resting, for family time & for worship.

Some of my Relief Society sisters shared beautiful thoughts today in testimony meeting:

 "When I'm most grateful, I find that things will fall into place."

 

I'm glad that I forced myself to be reverent and to pay attention in church today

It's hard sometimes because I keep fidgeting to find comfort

or the hunger pains start to roll in

But today was wonderful, especially when James & I kept laughing 

at my struggling efforts to stop the wind from blowing my dress over my head!

James also laughed at a little gift I got him:

I stopped by the Country Sister's Craft Sale just across the temple

There were so many beautifully handmade crafts for your home

Yes I bought a ton, especially to decorate for Christmas

Anyways this "Honey-Do List" caught my eye & I had to get it!

“Love your companion. Make him a part of all you do. 

He may be short or tall, thin or fat, handsome or homely-but he’s all yours.”

--President Thomas S. Monson

Good-bye October!

Halloween came & left soo fast! Here was how James & I celebrated our Halloween weekend together:

13 weeks!

As a family we visited the Laie Temple Open House Saturday morning. Bro & Sis Mata'u were our guides and they were awesome. Only if everyone could see the temple's beauty...even without its dedication, you could feel the spirit.

If you live in LAIE you know that majority of the residents are predominantly LDS (Mormon). Therefore, since Halloween was on a Sunday this year, our town trick-OR-treated on Saturday to observe Sunday's reverence :) Yes Mormon's are the bomb, even the less active ones too!

My Dad & I set up this walk-thru castle & other blowups for my mom. The little kids LOVED it, seriously. Some of them forgot to get candy, they just wanted to walk through. IF your kids didn't stop by, they truly missed out. My Mom gave out caramel popcorn balls, toys, saltwater taffy from Utah & pumpkin bags for little kids that only had a Foodland bag for their candy LOL.

the whole setup, get your candy from the witch, walk thru & then look at all the blowups. moms took a million pictures.

I TRIED to be a geisha, LOL...eh, my Dad kept calling me Mulan! I got this sheer top for like 2 bucks at Jean's Warehouse red tag sale, it's actually 3X!! I had to double wrap the strings around my waist, but it added to the Kimono-ish feel :) The fan was actually a wedding favor from my friend's wedding.