Dec. '06- Ashley and Carl come back from their missions.
Please note the RED hair. I am with Maira and Jose. They were "golden" as some might say.
Dec 31, 2007: Carl and Ashley start dating. As a relationship refresher, Carl and I met in the summer of 2004. We dated for a while and then Carlos left on a mission to Madagascar and I left for my mission 6 months later (convenient, huh). Here we are at a Couple's Conference for our Stake. There was a dance afterwards and we had a great time. At this point in our relation- ship, I may (read: definitely) outweighed Carl. This was huge motivation to diet!
One night we decided to be creative. We made a "candy pizza" for Carl's mom, Cathy. Being newly returned missionaries, we had a great opportunity to come up with some "creative dating option.
Here I am pretending to know what I am doing. Carl had not yet discovered my aversion to all things domestic.
I am proud to say that we only ate a slice of the pizza and the rest was delivered as promised! March 2007: The Engagement
I must say that Carl has excellent taste. I was pleasantly surprised to see this l
ovely ring. Here's a little story about picking out the ring:
ovely ring. Here's a little story about picking out the ring:Carl and I looked at rings together exactly one time. Within the next few days, we asked for a few references for good jewelers and we found one. On the same day, only a few hours apart, we visited Tom the jeweler. Carl and I picked out the exact same ring, even though we had never seen the rings Tom had to offer! I knew we were destined to be together after that!
Here we are at a Cardinal's game. That is my mother-in-law, Cathy, with us. We had a really great time, even though the Cards lost 14-1.
This was my big birthday surprise. Carl planned an entire day filled with activities around St. Louis that I always wanted to do but never had the time. We went on a picnic, to the Arch museum, on a riverboat cruise, and to dinner theater.
July 4, 2007: Every year my family goes to the Fair St. Louis to watch the live music show and watch the fireworks. Carl came with us this year and we had a great time, even though is was super hot. As you can see, we are both covered in sweat. The fireworks were awesome and Carl and I will definitely continue this tradition.
August 3, 2007:
Carl and I got married (finally)! We had a really lovely ceremony and a fun reception. It was such a beautiful day; I will never forget how special I felt. Carl truly is the perfect man for me. I am constantly amazed at his generosity, kindness, and dedication to the Gospel. On top of all that, he makes me laugh. I am so grateful that we will be together forever.
Since I don't have any photos of the wedding (darn copyright laws), I'll just put a few in here from our honeymoon. We went to Playa del Carmen, Mexico and we loved it down there.
The Ruins at Tulum
Tulum (it's a great pic of us)
Our last night in Mexico. We ate a great Mayan restaurant called Yac-Xe. The foood and ambience were both exceptional.
Poor Carl! He had to endure many trips into little boutiques. He handled it like a champ.
Here we are on our way home. We were so sad!
