And So It Begins...

Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! 


Now that I've been married for almost 5 years and have an amazing 8 month old I thought it was time to stop thinking about blogging and start documenting life's little moments. I want to remeber every little detail of our amazing life it's true what they say the only thing you will have to hold onto at the end of the day is your memories so what better way?! I'm going to try and do a brief update of our life up until now...

When Boy Meets Girl & Girl Meets Boy

For the majority of people reading this blog you know that Jarrod and I grew up together. We lived in the same town, went to the same middle school and high school and had mutual friends. I would have never considered us "close friends" but more accountancies. Not until the summer of 2005. I was home from my first year of college and decided to throw a "welcome home" party for all of my friends who had returned from college that summer. It just so happened Jarrod attended the party... along with A LOT of other friends. I was in a serious relationship at the time and so was he... but as we hung out more and more that summer it was clear to both of us that we were quickly becoming more then just friends. Needless to say the rest is history between us...

Pups make 3 and 4 (Fall 2005)

You never really understand the meaning of what it is to have a pet until you have one of your own. I've had many dogs growing up, but getting my very own was not only a huge responsibility, but one of the most amazing things I've done. Lexi is a puggle (1/2 put and 1/2 beagle) she is truly our 1st child and one of the smartest/loviest most stubborn dogs/kids ever. For those of you who have met Lexi you know what I'm talking about. For many years she slept in our bed... She sat on our laps... She even sits on the toilet seat while we take showers. She is truly a family's best friend. I can't write a puppy post without mentioning our other dog Nalla, she was more or less a rescue dog and now they are best buds. I don't know what they would do without each other. I'm sure there will be many more posts to come reguarding the doggies, but for now here are some fun pictures.

-The start of the future Mr. & Mrs. Fogle (Summer 2006)

Jarrod and I knew that we wanted to be together. We had been dating seriously for about a year and I had always talk about our "bucket lists" and what we wanted out of life. (I will have to write another post about our bucket lists later) :) Back to the engagement story though. Something that I had always wanted to do and was pretty high up on my bucket list was to ride in a hot air balloon... The summer of 2006 Jarrod had bought and booked tickets to go in a hot air balloon... AMAZING right? Never in a million years did I expect anything then a fun ride high up in the clouds... but boy was I in for surprise...


We had to wake up REALLY early that morning like 4am... I guess that's the price you pay to cross things off your bucket list. haha. As we took off in the balloon it was so surreal. Jarrod being afraid of heights I was so proud he was taking it like a champ. Oh, did I forget to mention he IS deathly afraid of heights? well, he is. It was such a weird feeling being a hot air balloon... it feels like you're still on the ground but when you look down you are hundreds of feet up in the air. We flew over Lake Oswego, over the vineyards and pointing out all of the amazing million dollar homes... dreaming about what our house would be like one day... ok, ok back to the good stuff as we were about to descend I turned around from looking at one of the beautiful houses and Jarrod was down on one knee... I looked at him and asked what the heck he was doing? He said some sweet stuff I'm sure (I don't remember any of it) haha, and opened up a box with the most beautiful ring I have ever seen in it... All I can remember was holding my hand over my mouth saying "are you serious right now?" Not in a MILLION years did I ever think this was going to happen. I guess I finally said yes and when we got to the ground I called everyone I knew... The weird part was, was that EVERYONE I talked to (friends & family) had already known... I'm pretty sure the WHOLE town of Hood River was waiting for the balloon to come down. It is a day I'll never forget and I love every moment of that day!  

up up in the sky

College graduate Jarrod! (Spring 2007)

When Jarrod and I started dating I transferred schools from Oregon State (Go Beavs!) to Portland State... oh the things you do for love. But Jarrod was too far into his architecture program to ask him to transfer... in 2007 Jarrod graduated with a Bachelor's of Architecture! Soooo proud of him! 

Biggest purchase EVER (Spring 2007)

Being fortunate enough to have the money for a down payment to buy a house, we started looking... Not knowing how the housing market would fall on its head... we bought and jumped head first into our "starter" home! We were so excited. Making plans like buying a house and only planning on being in it for 2 years (to hopefully make some money on) and sell and upgrade... well needless to say God has other plans in store for us and we have been in our "cute little STARTER" home for 5 years now... oh well, what goes up must come down... and lets hope it's the same for the other way as well... Only time will tell.

Sometimes we have to remind our selves that we need to be thankful that we are in a house and that we can afford to stay there... and with that... we are so very thankful! 

Watch out World of Construction... Here comes Jarrod (Spring 2007)

Ironically, the day we got the key's to our NEW home... Jarrod got a job offer!! Jarrod was working at Nike when bought our house, but had graduated and wanted to get into the wonderful, crazy world of construction... He applied and interviewed with SD Deacon and received a job offer of "project engineer". He loves his job and has recently got promoted to estimator. The economy has hit the construction industry hard, but it is starting to come back in a fast way. Jarrod is in love his job, which is amazing for all parties involved! He does such a good job and we are so proud of him and all he has accomplished!   

Wedding Bells! (Summer 2007)

July 21, 2007... amazing day in the history of this Fogle Family! One of the best days of our lives! It was an perfect day, with beautiful weather, great friends and amazing family. This is going to be more of a picture blog... please enjoy!  

College graduate Ashley! (Spring 2008)

Hooray! Graduating college is a huge achievement! I graduated in 2008 with my Bachelor's of Psychology (with a focus on positive psychology) and a minor in Business Administration. We are excited to say that we are both college graduates and so excited to see what career path these degrees may takes us...

Now... what to do with that degree?! 

After college I started working at an advertising/marketing agency and had a lot of fun learning new things, when the economy fell the first thing to go were businesses' marketing departments so due to financial reasons I left that job and stayed home as a full-time wife for a few months... not my thing at all. I needed to work get back in the field. Jarrod did think it was cool that the house ALWAYS clean, laundry was ALWAYS put away, and dinner ALWAYs on the table...

I then went to work at a little cafe that catered to kids... it was a really cool concept where while the mom's and dad's ate dinner the kids would be in a play area where they were supervised... it was very fun! But, agin do to the economy and people not spending extra money the company closed it's doors... Ironically the week that they were closing I landed a new job as a college advisor!

Being a college advisor for a career college definitely has it's ups and downs, but for the last 2 years I'm so thankful to have met the people I have met and assisted the student's and graduates along the way. It was a VERY hard decision to end this career... more to come on that later! This sums up my career path up until now... I'm excited to see where life leads us next!

Our crazy department 

fun times

Vegas Baby?! (October 2011)

Jarrod and I had taken a much needed trip to Las Vegas. Jarrod had not been there as an adult and I thought it might be a fun spot for us to go and explore. While we were there I didn't feel very well and didn't really want to have a rowdy time. Well, neither Jarrod or I are too fond of clubbing or drinking anyway... so what better thing to do while in Vegas then go to SHOWS! Jarrod and I went to a few Circus de Sole shows... which are always amazing and we explored the hotels of course. It was fun to get away...

When we got home we like to do little fun spontanious things so we decided to make a bed downstairs and sleep on the floor... kinda like a sleepover... (I know, pretty cheesey, but still fun). When we woke up the next morning I felt kind of weird... and w/o Jarrod knowing or even waking up I snuck upstairs and decided to take a pregnancy test (it was kind of like a gut feeling)... and as I sit there waiting... and waiting... and waiting, geez it seemed like forever... there it was 2 lines!! eeeeeeek I didn't believe it at first... but I gathered myself together and slowly walked downstairs with a pregnancy test in my hand... I said "Jarrod... I need to tell you something" and the rest was history... well, I didn't believe it at all so we went to the store and I bought EVERY different kind of pregnancy test out there (one line, two line, happy face ones, sad face ones, digital ones, dollar tree ones ALL of them) haha and yes the all said the same thing!!! We were so excited after it all sank in. (and wouldn't you know the end of this day I started my morning sickness... but my was renamed to ALL day sickness, but I would do it again a million times over).


Oh and as I sit freaking out because we had just gone to Vegas I think it was God's good grace that I didn't feel good while there and therefore didn't "party"

Here are some famous mirror belly shots for you to enjoy! 

... and come to find out I was pregnant the week before we went to Vegas. Although it is an ongoing to joke that... What happened in Vegas came home with us as Brayden :)   

Life doesn't get much better... (July 2011)

I quit working under doctors orders on Thursday July 14, 2011. I had a little bit of high blood pressure and swelling so the doctor said there was no more working for me. She scheduled an ultrasound for Monday morning to see how everything was going. My dear friends Anna and Alyssa were in town that weekend b/c they were going to be joining me in the delivery room when our little man arrived... I wasn't due for a few more weeks, but wanted them to come in to get some last minute shopping done. We joked all weekend and wished, hoped and I might have even prayed that he would come... no such luck and they headed home that Sunday.


Our ultrasound appointment was at 8 on Monday and my mom and sister were in town that monday and I invited them to come with us. Jarrod was dressed and ready for work and we took 2 cars b/c he was going to head to work after the appointment. While in the ultrasound Brayden wasn't moving around as much as he should have been and was measuring much smaller then my doctor had anticipated. Although I was measuring on time Brayden was not. They said he was about 5lbs 5oz's... where he should be around 7 or 8lbs. After talking with my doctor they sent us right over to the hospital to be induced. Needless to say I was not prepared at all... I didn't even have my hospital bag in the car, had not taken a shower that morning and had nothing ready. The only thing that was going for us was that my mom and sister were already here... I asked if I could run home first and they said no. Everything was happening so fast. I quickly called Anna and Alyssa (who had just left the night before) and told they to head in... it was about 10am at this time.

Arriving at the hospital... with NO bag... Nothing but ourselves really!

Excited to meet our new addition! 

After a lot of waiting, a lot of poticin, the doctor came in to break my water... and I have never felt contractions come so fast and they were so painful... Prior to being induced we talked with our doctor and she said we had 2 choices... 1) she would take me in for a c-section right away or 2) we can try to do a "natura-ish" induction. Jarrod and I chose to try and have a "natural" induction, what could it hurt right? Our doctor did tell us that it's about a 50% chance that we would be able to make it through that with Brayden doing just fine and I doing just fine. I was in the induction phase for about 4 hours until we broke my water. When the contractions came on strong they were so close together Brayden nor I had time to recover between them. His heart rate was dropping so we went in for a c-section. That was quite an experience, but Brayden came out a happy healthy screaming baby boy! Weighing in at 5 pounds 10 ounces and 19.5 inches long on July 18, 2011.

Jarrod really wanted me to add this one... Brayden's very first picture grabbing the curtain! Very slimy still...

Checking out the lung power

First family photo... NOT how I imagined, but amazing none the less

love

While I finished in the OR Jarrod got to spend some quality bonding time with his new son. Oh did I forget to mention that I'm allergic to anesthesia and I get VERY sick for about 48 hours afterwards. Having 13 staples in your stomach and throwing up for 24 hours might have been the worst day of this whole process. All I wanted to do was hold my new baby and love on him... but dad got that duty (and the first poopy diaper) haha. We got to go home July 21, 2011 (which just so happened to be our 4 year anniversary) the best anniversary present I could ask for. I love this kid more then life itself!  

Daddy and baby time, while mom is in recovery. xoxo.

WOW congratulations on making through this CRAZY post. That was our past 5 years summed up in a few snapshots of life events. 


I'm sure for the next few months I will be adding random posts as I filter through my pictures and remember times that I don't want to forget... so bare with me while I begin this crazy journey of documenting lifes happenings.


Let the journey continue...