Friday, April 29, 2011

{Breakfast}

Im not usually a big breakfast person. Usually I will eat a piece of toast or something very small. Lately though, I have been really enjoying making & eating breakfast! This morning I made breakfast Couscous.

To make Breakfast Couscous {My way}:

{Butter, Couscous, Coconut, Agave nectar (or sugar) milk & Sliced Almonds}

In a small Saucepan, Combine about 1t. butter, {I used homemade butter} & 1/4C. Agave Nectar.


Once Butter & Agave Nectar are completely melted & combined, add 1C. Couscous.


Mix in Couscous, & Lightly brown. 



Then, add 1 1/4 C. Boiling water & remove pot from heat. Cover Pot & let sit for 5 minutes.


Once Couscous is done, transfer a good amount of Couscous to a bowl & top with Almonds & Coconut flakes. {I used unsweetened}


Serve with a little bit of milk poured over the top. Enjoy! 









Thursday, April 28, 2011

{An old friend comes to visit}

My husband's best friend in the whole world is a great guy named Jeremy. Jeremy is always at our house hanging out with Willy & me. He is basically Family! We Do everything together.
{In Chandler after our weekly brunch!}

Any who, Jeremy has an older brother, Brandon. He is one of our best friends as well! About two years ago, Brandon moved to Washington to try to venture out & do something new! We have been constantly trying to convince him to come back because we miss him so much!  & every time we talk to him he says he wont be back for a long time. 
Well, the other day, Jeremy came to our house, just like he normally would. He walked in, we shut the door, & Immediately began talking about goofy stuff. Then, all of a sudden the door bell rang.We were all confused, we weren't expecting any one. I opened the door, & who was standing there???? BRANDON! I could not contain myself!!! I was screaming and so was everyone else! It was such a wonderful surprise! Brandon is just visiting for a few days, but we will never stop trying to get him to move back home :) 
{Me & Brandon}

{The Boys}
 {Believe it or not, this is the most normal picture I could get of them!!} 

WE LOVE YOU BRANDON!!! :) 


Oh, & I got a new hair cut a couple of days ago. Im not really sure what I think about it yet. Still trying to get used to it :) Tell me what you think!! 



Monday, April 25, 2011

{Yummy Body Scrub}

Today Im going to show you how to make a very yummy Body Scrub! {Original recipe found here }
Here all all the necessary ingredients:
In A Cuisinart mixer {Or blender, i imaging it would work just as well!} Put in {2 packets of oatmeal.}Pulse the Oatmeal just a couple of times. Don't do too much! It should look like this:
Add to the ground Oatmeal, {1 Cup of white sugar} 
Also, Add {1/3 C. Brown Sugar}
Pulse the oatmeal & Sugar mix 2 times. Then add {1 1/2 C. Coconut oil} & {3/4 t. Almond extract}

Put the lid on the mixer & Mix all ingredients for about 20 seconds. It should look like this once its done!
Put the mixture into cute Jars & Give to your family & Friends! {Or just keep it all to yourself :) } 


* I have been using this Sugar scrub on my slowely growing belly, keeping it moisturized & soft! 
{I use it on the rest of my body too, i just focus a little more on my belly & Anywhere proned to stretch marks, yuck!} & It smells pretty good in the shower too! 

Enjoy! 

Oh! Almost forgot, here is our first belly photo! {Not really much to show yet}  The baby is the size of a small coffee bean right now :) 
{5 Weeks} 








Sunday, April 24, 2011

{Happy Easter!!}

Praise be to the God & Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.." 
{1 peter 1:3} 

As our pastor said this morning at church, "This is the greatest day in history.."
As christians, we celebrate easter because it is the day our Lord Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead, after dying on the cross for our sins. ALL of our sins. Even the sins we haven't committed yet! {crazy to think about}. At church, we sang the song "Happy Day" by Steve Fee. Today is a Happy day indeed!
I Love Easter, it is always a great time to get together & fellowship with family. {& there's always great food too, cant forget about that!} We spent the day all over the place! Church, then Williams aunts house for his families easter celebration, then {last stop} My mothers house for her easter celebration. Busy day, but a great day! :)
My sister Sarah & me

She still cant believe there's a little baby growing in my belly!
{Frankly, neither can I!}

The Love of my life :)  

Saturday, April 23, 2011

{Guess what}

This is the gift we gave our parents last saturday:



Yes! We are expecting :) & we are completely overwhelmed with Joy!
 As of today, I'm 5 weeks. 
This is only the Beginning :) 

Friday, April 22, 2011

{Family}

Today for us was all about Family!
I spent most of my morning with my younger sister, Sarah.
Then spent the rest of my morning on the telephone with my older sister, Leslie.
After that, I went over to my moms house and spent some quality time.
Then {I know the list just goes on & on!} we went to dinner with William's Aunt, Uncle & cousin Mark.
It was such a wonderful day! It was so nice to see everyone and spend so much time focusing on them.
I am so thankful for our loving family :)

"A Family is one of natures masterpieces.." ~George Santayana

{Me & my little sister Sarah Being goofy!} 


Thursday, April 21, 2011

{Cupcakes}

Last night, My dear friend Julie came over. We made Easter Cupcakes!
It has been a tradition of ours for a long time now. Every holiday, we get together and make themed cupcakes or cookies. Its always a blast!
Julie Has been a good friend of mine for... 7 years now? We met when we were freshman in High-school and have been best friends ever since! We do everything together! Couldn't live without her :)



Tuesday, April 19, 2011

{Sunday}

This last sunday was palm sunday. As Christians, on palm sunday, we celebrate Jesus Entrance into jerusalem. This year however, we also celebrated another very special occasion, Williams grandpas' 88th Birthday!
William comes from Ethnic descent. Both of his Grandparents, on his mothers side, are lebanese. His Grandfather actually grew up and lived in Lebanon for most of his life. His Grandmother grew up here in AZ! They found each other & got married.
Since they are both lebanese, Their children grew up speaking arabic in different circumstances. Still, our family uses a lot of arabic in every day life, just out of habit! Even me, the whitest in the family :) We refer to his grandmother and grandfather as Jido (gpa) & Sito (gma). They are both so sweet.
On sunday during the birthday and palm sunday celebration, Jido broke out singing a love song in arabic & the entire family joined in! This is a tradition their family has always had. Whenever we gather, Jido starts the singing & we all join in as a family. It is so special :)
I love the family i married into, it is so different & exciting!
Happy 88th Birthday Jido! Wishing you many more years to come!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

{So Surreal}

When my husband and I were in high school, his parents helped out with prom every year. They would set up a table where they made fabulous iced coffee drinks and italian sodas. It was always a huge hit!

Once we graduated, we kept their tradition alive! We have set up that same italian soda and coffee bar at  prom every year since we graduated {3 years to be exact} & it's still a big hit.

Last night, we went & set up our table at the prom. It was so surreal to see everyone! Seeing the people that were getting ready to graduate was so strange! I remember when they were all in junior high!
Its the first time i really felt old. :)

It was really cool to see how many people still remembered us, students and hired vendors alike! William & I were in student counsel every year in High school, and many of the vendors the school uses for their events today, we had found 5 years ago!

The photography group we had found when we were just sophomores, was there last night, and the guy that was in charge remembered us! He sat & talked to us for quite a bit & couldn't believe we had gotten married already! He also demanded we get our picture taken {haha} for memories sake.

Any ways, their prom was beautiful! The theme was masquerade and all the students had beautiful masks and dresses. It was so fun! Kind of makes me miss high school... or does it?

Friday, April 15, 2011

{Here We go}

Its official! I am now a Blogger! After months and months of debating, and friends constantly reminding me{thanks julie} :), I finally gave in. For those of you that don't know, my name is Ashley & my husband is William. We are each other's  best friends, and were madly in love.
We are High school sweethearts, {awe!} & March 8th 2011 was our 2 year wedding anniversary. These last two years have gone by so fast! So much has happened!
From this point on, we will be documenting all the little things that happen in our every day life on this blog.  Hope you enjoy reading! And feel free to post comments and let us know what you think :)




Oh! I forgot to mention! {silly me} We Have another johnston living in our home, our puppy Irwin.
Irwin is an australian shepherd. He will be 2 years old in august. We have had him since he was 10 weeks old. If you know anything about Aussies, you know that they are... crazy! Seriously. He definitely keep us on our toes. :)

Thursday, April 14, 2011