Changed for Good

Changed for Good

I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I am who I am today
Because I knew you

It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend...


- From Wicked

Remembering John

My very close friend, boss and mentor John Velandra was killed yesterday in a car accident. He was hit by a speeding vehicle that was involved in a police chase.

John and I on our birthday - April 3rd last year

I was and still am in shock that someone who has made such an impact on my life since living here in Fayetteville is now gone. I can not think of one part of my life as it is today that John did not touch in some way. He even helped me to stop biting me finger nails at one point which was a terrible habit of mine - he cared that much about every part of a persons life even the small things :) I first contacted John about possibly doing an internship with him towards the end of my senior year in college. I needed to complete an internship in my two fields on interest (business and exercise and wellness) in order to graduate. I was able to meet with John for the first time when I came to visit Dan in March... I was so nervous at our meeting but John was completely laid back and made me feel right at home from the very beginning. After talking he felt comfortable with bringing me on as intern and that's how it all started. Once I moved to Fayetteville in May I started my internship with John and I have learned more about nutrition, exercise, wellness and helping others on a different sort of level than I have my entire life. He took time out of everyday to explain things to me, to ask me really tough questions in order to make me think outside the box, practice consultations with me (my least favorite thing because he would come up with the craziest pretend clients - but in reality it was great practice for me and just what I needed) so that I could do them on my own, do workouts with me so that I could learn the movements and just to sit and chat while we drank cup after cup of Starbucks Coffe (his favorite). I loved my internship time because we got to spend so much time together and I really came to know and love John as family. I remember the day that he told me that he thought I was ready for my first client and that he wanted to keep me on as a trainer after my internship ended. I have never felt so honored - to have the trust of such an amazing trainer/coach. John did not have to do any of this with me... he could have easily said no to the internship because I was brand new to the field, had no experience with personal training or CrossFit and was not very confident about myself or what I had to offer. I'll never know what made him bring me on as an intern but I am FOREVER grateful that he did... John and my time spent with him has changed my life and the way I live. As a trainer John could bring out the best in people, make them see and feel things about themselves that they never had before and accomplish things they never thought possible - this is the kind of trainer and person I want to be. John showed me that I could be this kind of trainer with time, patience and a lot of heart. He always took that extra step, showed concern for others , took the time to make each individual feel special and welcome others into his family without hesitation. I learned a lot about the kind of person I wanted to be and from how I see it the kind of person I am meant to be thanks of John. He helped Dan and I turn to God and start attending Manna Church... we are closer to God and each other because of the way our faith has been strengthened through our time at Manna. He met Dan and I late one night last January after Dan's accident to bring us dinner that he had just made since we were coming home late from the hospital and hadn't eaten yet. He came to watch me run in the Jingle Jog two Decembers ago while Dan was at SF selection... he just came to cheer me on... I didn't ask or anything he just came because he wanted to be there - it was so nice to know that I had him when at the time I didn't have any other real friends here. He also came to a track meet that I ran in last spring along with his wife Niv. He would send me a text at the beginning of each week with his workout schedule so that I could tag along - we had some of the best workouts... the tougher we could make it the better :) He invited us over for holidays in case we weren't going to MD to see my family. He would always send a text when he hadn't seen me in a couple days to make sure I was doing ok. And the thing that sticks with the most right now is how excited he was to meet Ava - he was already Uncle John to her. I would picture him sometimes when I would eventually come back to train at the gym sitting with Ava at his computer, sipping coffee and just hanging out with her. I loved how excited he would get seeing me workout during this pregnancy... made me feel so good just to know he was proud of me. I am so sad that Ava will not have the chance to know her Uncle John the way Dan and I have come to know him but she will know him through the stories we tell, the pictures we show her and his spirit that will live on through us in our everyday lives and our workouts. I am so thankful to have known John and to have had the kind of bond and friendship that we had. I love you John and you will never EVER be forgotten... thank you for everything, you are an amazing man and I am proud to call you my friend.

P.S. We will always have our birthday to share and I will always do a workout in your honor on that day.

RIP

John Velandra
April 3, 1966 - January 6, 2010

This is a video from about a month ago of John and I working with my client Kristin on her box jumps... I love how excited he is to sneakily take this video so she can see her accomplishment :) I am glad to have this video of us together, doing what we love to do.

Ava's Room

This past weekend we spent most of our time working on Ava's room and we were able to finish up with the painting and put together her dresser :) We're soooo happy with how it has turned out so far - here are some pictures...

Painting

Finished painting the top half!

Assembling the Dresser



So excited we are finally putting the dresser together... we told ourselves we couldn't put the dresser together till we were done with the painting. The motivation worked :)



Dan getting started with the dresser - this picture gives you a good idea of how the paint colors and the crib look next to each other too.


Dresser complete - yay!!


Ava's Dad and her room! He did such a great job with everything :)

Now that we've finished up with the painting and have the dresser together it's onto the decorating and organizing which I'm really excited about getting started on. Will most likely start with the wall decorations and figuring out where all of those will look best. Also will be working on getting her clothes organized in her dresser and cleaning out her closet. I'm excited about all of these things though... it may seem like work to someone else but I love this kind of stuff! That's all for today. Hope you all are having a great Tuesday so far :) We have our rescheduled 3d / 4d ultrasound today... will let you all know how that goes!

Belly Photos - Week 30

30 Week Pictures

This morning Dan took a few belly pictures for me - we got the inspiration for this photo from a picture we saw at the 3d / 4d ultrasound place we went to here in town


This is my favorite one - I love my Ava and I love daisies!



In my pj's - we call these "butter pants" because they're so soft and I could literally live in these pants if given the opportunity!


Me and Ava - she weighs almost 3 pounds now and is a little over a foot long from head to toe.

We got to see her for a couple minutes the other day during our 3d / 4d ultrasound but she was sleepy and had her hands up near her face so they re scheduled us for January 5th. Hopefully we'll get to see more of her little face next time :) I loved seeing her even though it wasn't a clear shot - the best part was seeing her toes wiggle around. They are all the way up by her head now! Will post our ultrasound pictures once we get them next week.

Have a great day!

Christmas Update

Happy New Year;s Eve Day Everyone :)

Hope you all had a great Christmas and are ready to have a great New Year! Dan and I had an awesome Christmas in Maryland with my family... we even got to see lots of snow while we were up there (the pups loved it too!). It has been a while since my last post so I am going to do an over view of all the fun things that have happened since then...

Ava's First Christmas Presents

Picture of me being cheesy with Ava's first Christmas Present from Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Hampton :)


Her presents - My favorite part about the first one is that the sleeves fold over to make little mittens... the second one will be really cute once it gets warm outside!


Ava's AWESOME new jogging stroller that we got from Bi-Bi and Grandpa Troy... can't wait to take this out for a spin once Ava gets here (lots of trails to run on base!).

Thanks everyone for the sweet gifts for Ava!

Painting Ava's Room

Before we left for Maryland we started painting Ava's room... here's a picture of Dan before we started (he's so cute!). The bottom half looks great and we're going to hopefully get started on the top half today which will be a slightly lighter color than what you see below. We really love the dark wood of her crib and soon to be dresser against this tan color!


It's coming along!

Christmas Treats

Dan working on the insane amount of chocolate pretzels we made - we made these for my Mama for her birthday around Thanksgiving and they liked them so much that they asked us to make them for Christmas too :) So we made them...



Buckeyes - Peanut Butter dipped in Chocolate, yum!

We also made sugar cookies which were my personal favorites - so simple but so tasty. We had lots of fun making these even though we waited till the last minute... thank goodness Dan helped out so much or else I would have been up all night :) It would have been worth it though since the family enjoyed them so much!

Christmas Eve Pictures


Me and Ava - Christmas Eve 2009


Dan, Me and Ava - Christmas Eve 2009


Me and my brother Connor (he's growing up so fast!) - Christmas Eve 2009



My family - Connor, Troy and Mama :)

It was a great Christmas Eve with my family... Aunt Pooh and Ed were there too! We all went out to dinner at Morton's and got to have a lot of tasty food. My favorites were the salad with Thousand Island dressing, mac and cheese and the chocolate lava dessert - yum! Ava seemed pretty excited about the food as well and also the Journey we listened to on the way home (she was rolling her feet and hands all over the place - I loved it!). Dan and I also went to church for the candlelight service once we got home from dinner.

So that was our Christmas in a nutshell! I wish I had a picture of the pups playing in the snow... they had so much fun. We're home now and ready to spend the next couple of months getting ready for Ava's arrival - only about 2 months to go!

Have a great New Years Eve everyone! We'll be spending it with some great friends here in Fayetteville :)

Week 28 Belly Picture and Update

Hey Everyone!

Well another week is coming to a close and I can still hardly believe how fast time is going by now and how fast Ava is growing! I have been getting to feel her move in different ways the last week or so - it has turned from kicks and punches into rolling and pressing type of movements. I always try and picture what she's doing in there and which body part is pressing against my belly. It's tough to figure out right now but I'm thinking in a couple of weeks it should be easier to tell. This past month Ava was the size of an eggplant weighing in at around 2.5 pounds. In this 7th month she will now be the size of a squash and will weigh 3.8 pounds by the end of this month :) I can really start to feel her weight shifting around when I lay down or when she lays off to one side more than the other. Bending over is also becoming quite a challenge and it appears that my organs are moving further and further up along with Ava making this difficult. Dan has had to help me tie my shoes and paint my toe nails now (very sweet of him!) a couple of times. I have also been getting more and more worn out during the day despite how little or how much I do - this has the been the toughest thing for me to get used to so far since I'm not able to necessarily do all of the things I'd like to do during the day... taking it easy so I don't tire both me and Ava out is very important to me though (not saying I am good at always taking it easy - I'm working on it). Workouts have decreased quite a bit but if I am feeling good still later in the afternoon I will usually get one in and as always I am loving yoga! As the weeks continue to fly by I am getting more and more excited with anticipation about meeting Ava face to face for the first time. I can only imagine how amazing it is going to be to finally have her with us - Dan is as excited as I am, especially since he doesn't get to spend the quality time with her right now like I do :) I wanted to share this poem that I read on another pregnancy blog that I love to follow :

Awaiting Little You By Sherri L. Sides

Coming into my world, is what I long await
Nine months have passed so slowly, giving you and me time to relate.
Your arrival will give wings to us, changing couple to sweet family,
Bonding us all in our lifetimes as the two of us become three.
I have read to you lines of poetry to develop your love of verse,
I have sung to you songs and hymns I love, to quench your spiritual thirst. I have spoken to you of family and the world they mean to me,
All of whom will surround you soon, this beautiful new baby to see.
I have spoken to you of our home and the warmth and love you will bring, may you always know your importance here and how your laughter will make my heart sing. I have spoken to you of God, the joy and hope He gives to my heart, praying that you, too, will discover the richness His love imparts. Little baby you just can't imagine wondrous blessings as your life begins, may you feel the love that we have for you and know that it has no end.

Me and Ava at 28 weeks :)
Somehow my belly button is still in... but just barely.

Thanks to the blogger that shared this poem - I absolutely fell in love with it when I read it and couldn't help but cry a little out of pure excitement for us to meet Ava in a few short months. Hope you all enjoyed it too - especially you other expectant Mama's out there :)

As for things that have been going on this week - just finishing up Christmas presents, had another puppy play date with my friend Sam, took my 1 hr. glucose tolerance test (YUCK!) and today I'll be going to my next prenatal appointment. Hope you all have a great rest of your week and that you all are enjoying the holiday spirit - I know I am and especially just taking time to let others know how much they mean to me and reflecting on all Dan and I have to be grateful for :)

<3 Love,

Ash, Dan and Baby Ava

Christmas Truffles

This year for Christmas Dan and I made truffles and fudge to send as presents to a few family members. I love making homemade gifts as Christmas presents and especially the kind you can eat :) They were a lot of fun to make - a little bit trickier then I first anticipated but I am really happy with how they turned out. Now all I hope is that they make it where they are going in one piece! Here are the pictures from our truffle making adventure -

Almond covered truffles

The finished product :)


Here is the Martha Stewart packaging that I bought at Micheal's to put the truffles and fudge in - I love the little details that come with these boxes like the stickers and the tissue paper. Not to mention I got them 50% off - such a good deal! Packaging and wrapping presents are one of my favorite things to do during the holidays. I feel like having special packaging can make any present so much more special for people to receive and open! Here's the recipe if any of you guys are interested in making truffles of your own :

Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients

2 cups of 60% Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
1/3 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa
1/3 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
6 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, cut into small pieces

Directions

In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer. Add the butter and stir until melted. Add the chocolate chips. Stir until completely melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and pour into a shallow bowl.

Cool, cover, and refrigerate the mixture until firm, at least 2 hours.

Using a melon baller or small spoon, roll the mixture into 1-inch balls. Roll each ball in the cocoa. Enjoy immediately or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Note: The Unsweetened Cocoa can be replaced with 3/4 cup of chopped almonds or pecans.