Our little family

Who would have thought that I would meet the man of my dreams at a country bar called Rooster's?? Not me, but here we are now a little over a year later and planning a wedding. We met on February 21st, 2008, and began dating shortly after that. It was a little of an adjustment for the both of us, and it wasn't always easy. Coming into a relationship with both of us having been married before and having kids, we weren't sure how our lives would fit together! Andee was going through the infamous "terrible two's" when we started dating and definitly made for some "we'll-look-back-at-this-and-laugh" moments, or at least at the time thats what I was hoping for! She wouldn't fall sleep til 2 o'clock in the morning, spilled water all over Steve's "important" work papers, threw her food, colored on Steve's television, and took all of Samantha's clothes out of her dresser and scattered them all over her room(to name a few haha). It's funny now, but at the time I was sure Steve was gunna run for the hills. He went from being a single part time dad with a clean, quite house to dating a "not so clean and quiet" girl with a messy 2 year old, and a stinky snoring bulldog. But he stuck around and helped me to be a better mom, and has been incredible with Andee. I couldn't ask for more! As for Samantha and Andee, they were instant best friends. Samantha is such a good big sister and has adjusted so well to sharing all her toys and having a constant shadow! Andee just adores everything about her, and wants to be just like her. We really lucked out with those 2! As if our house isn't crazy enough... we also have 2 dogs! A chocolate lab named Vader, and my "stinky" bulldog Rocky! We like them most of the time! Vader is the "ultimate" puppy! He chews up everything, barks non-stop, and can't be left alone with out something getting ruined. If you've seen Marley & Me, that pretty much sums him up! Rocky pretty much just snores, farts, and lays around most of the time. It is definitly never quiet around here, that's for sure (but I think Steve secretely likes the chaos, haha)! When we're not playing house and Steve's not out saving the world... we love to travel! Our favorite quick get-a-way is Rocky Point! We try to go every couple of months! We have also been to New York for a mini reunion with some of Steve's friends, Minnesota to visit Steve's family, Disneyland and Sea World in California (Steve and Samantha's first time), Hawaii a couple times, and we went to Florida for the Super Bowl! For Spring Break Samantha and Kayte are coming to stay with us! Andee and I are so excited to finally get to meet her! We plan on going camping and hopefully making a trip down to Rocky Point! We are also going to spend these next 2 weeks planning our wedding! So we'll keep you posted!!

As for now... Steve is a detective for DPS and works with the U.S. Marshalls as a fugitive finder. So he basically tracks down and arrests the really bad guys! So thanks to him we are all a little bit safer! He is such a hard worker! Some weeks working 60+ hours! He is so fortunate to be so good at what he does and also enjoy it!

As for me I finished my prerequisties for nursing school, and have been busy applying at several different programs all over the valley!! I find out in the beginning of April which program I get accepted into, and a start date! I'm so anxious to get started and move closer to graduating and working as a Registered Nurse! My ultimate goal is to specialize in Trauma/Emergency care!

Samantha is still living in Hawaii with her mom, and is in 1st grade! She is also taking golf lessons and seems to really like it! She is going to be 7 on May 23rd, and shortly after come stay with us for the summer! We are planning on signing her up for gymnastics/cheer class as well!

Andee turned 3 in January!! She is getting sooo big! We are still working on the potty training thing, and she is finally making some progress and showing interest! So we hope to have her completely out of pull ups by the end of spring break!! She is also in a combo class at the little gym where she does 20 minutes of tap, ballet, and gymnastics! She loves it!! She is also in swimming lessons to get her ready for the summer!!

We love our hectic little life, and are so lucky to have eachother!!
A year down forever to go!

Ashli and Steve's Bucketlist

( ) Walk down Bourbon Street in New Orleans
( ) See the White House in Washington D.C.
( ) Go deep sea fishing & eat our catch
( ) Go to the top of Seattle Space Needle
( ) Go on a cruise together
( ) Drive across the United States
(x) Ride in a hot air balloon
(x) Go sky diving
( ) Walked on the Great Wall of China
( ) Swim in the Mediterranean
( ) Go to the Greek Isles
( ) Ride along the W. coast in a Harley
( ) Go to Amsterdam
( ) Eat pizza in Venice
( ) Tell a French person to “F” off in Paris
( ) See the Eiffel tower
( ) Swim with sharks
( ) Get our rotary pilots license
( ) Swim with Dolphins
( ) Go skinny dipping in S. France
( ) Learn how to ballroom and swing dance
( ) Drink a German beer at Oktoberfest in Munich
( ) Go white water rafting
( ) Go on an African safari
( ) Volunteer at an orphanage in a 3rd world country
( ) Visit all 50 states…together
(x) Get a tattoo
( ) Watch a UFC fight live!
(x) Go surfing in Hawaii
(x) Buy something at the Mall of America
( ) Marry someone who you are head over heels in love with
(x) Watch the Cardinals play in the Super Bowl

How well do you know your husband (or in my case, FIANCE')??

It's Monday again and that means that Steve is back to saving the world! I know! I know! I should stop being so selfish and share him with the world, but I just want him to stay home with me! But since he's not... and I miss him, I saw this cute survey thing on somebodies blog and thought I would fill it out! Let's see how well I know him!

1) He's sitting in front of the TV. What is on the screen? The Office, Family Guy, Entourage, The Shield (when it was playing), some documentary on some biker gang (I swear he knows everything about every biker gang thats been around in the last 100 years), Curb Your Enthusiasm, Rookies, Cops, or Man Hunters! Oh wait orrr survival man or man vs. wild!! and out of all those shows you wanna know how many I like?? zero! haha. But since he watches my "girly" shows, I watch his!

2) You're out to eat...what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? ummm... that's a tricky one! He doesn't get salads very often, but I'll have to say Ranch?

3) What's one food he doesn't like? my cookies :( haha. But they really do suck! Um... besides that, I think he'll eat just about anything!

4) You go out to eat...what does he order to drink? Sprite or rootbeer! I know, I thought only people under the age of 10 drank those drinks!

5) Where did he go to High School? oh this is a tuffy! Linmare or something! I know their mascot was a Lion! Ya thats right I ask all the important questions! Not what highschool did you go to, but what was the mascot! haha

6) What size shoe does he wear? 11ish

7) If he was to collect anything, what would it be? He pretty much has a collection of dvd's and tattoos! haha

8) What's his favorite type of sandwich? honey and peanut butter or roast beef and pepperjack cheese with lots of mustard!

9) What would he eat every day if he could? peanut butter! All day everyday!

10) What's his favorite cereal? Ummm... Either the strawberry shredded wheat thingys orrr honey bunches of oats! I think??

11) What would he never wear? a jeweled Ed Hardy shirt! I've tried! Its not happening!

12) What's his favorite sports team? Green Bay Packers and Cardinals!

13) What is his dream car? Umm.... Prolly just a big truck that isnt messy and "falling apart"! :)) oops

14) Who is his best friend? Me of course! Then Jon Neyens and BA and Chad Johnson! I think?

15) What's something you do that he wishes you didn't do? not be "Hurricane Ashli" as he says! I guess I am kinda messy and break stuff alot!

16) What is his heritage? Bohemian! I dont know if I spelled that right? OOPS!

17) You bake him a cake for his bday...what kind of cake is it? um... I dont know! But it would have alot of candles and probably superman themed!

18) Did he play sports in high school? Yes. He wrestled anddd played football some I think! and he had a mullet! AWESOME!

19) What could he spend hours doing? playing his PS3 and anything with tools or outside!

20) What's one unique thing about him? He is Superman! Enough said! :))

I did pretty dang good! Now you do it! :)) Only 4 more hours til he gets home! I think I'll go do something productive!

elderjessejohnson.blogspot.com

I made a blog for Jesse so we can post updates, pictures, and some emails from him for everyone to see!! Also I think it would be cool if other people posted pictures, and wrote things for him on there! He is not supposed to look at it on his computer, but I am going to print it off every so often and mail it to him!! He can also look at it when he gets home! So go to his blog and scroll all the way down to the bottom and there is directions on how to post things and get on his blog... if your interested! If not just go check it out! His blog is elderjessejohnson.blogspot.com!

Sedona

Hot Air Balloon ride in Sedona for our 1 year anniversary!!

Mardi Gras party!!

Mardi Gras party at the clubhouse!! I could not get Steve to be serious for 1 picture!! haha. We had fun!

It looks like he is being serious but look at little closer at his teeth! Grosse!

This is the closest to normal I could get out of him!

Andee's first day at dance!

We signed Andee up for Dance/Gymnastics class at The Little Gym this past week!! It is 20 minutes of tap, 20 minutes of ballet, and 20 minutes of gymnastics!! She loved it, and is a natural of course!! :) Her only problem is that she is more concerned with her audience, and posing for the camera, than her teachers! A true performer I guess! Anyways she had lots of fun, and will be performing in a dance/gym recital in May!! The bigger the audience the better for Andee I'm sure, so we would love to have you come!

Andee's Valentines Party!

UFC

On our way to Hawaii we sat next to CB Dalloway and Ryan Badar for the Ultimate Fighter. Ryan was last years Ultimate Fighting Champion and CB was on the show 2 years ago and came in 2nd! They are both from AZ and wrestled at ASU! They were sooo cool!! Ryan and Steve exchanged numbers and everything! haha!

Hawaii February 09'

The reason we went to Hawaii was because Samantha's school put on a daddy daughter dance, and of course Steve being the great dad he is bought last minute tickets to fly out and be there with her!! He even wore a matching pink tie! They looked so cute!













































After all those years of living in Hawaii Steve finally took his first surf lesson!, and of course was great at it! I also took a little refresher course since its been a while!! Samantha took a little miniature lesson on the sand and shallow water but wasn't ready to face the deep water and bigger waves just yet! So we had fun playing on the board and watching daddy!

Steve took us to a place called Hanauma Bay to go snorkeling and play on the beach!! It was so beautiful and filled with so many beautiful colorful fish! We got a boogie board and pulled Samantha along with us while we snorkeled! Samantha wasn't so into the snorkeling, but loved taking turns burying eachother in the sand!