Every few weeks..

Don't you just hate it when life gets so busy that even the simplest of things seem so far out of your reach? That has been my life as of lately. I feel like sometimes I don't have anything going on so I can just relax and other times, I am so busy that I don't even know what relaxing is anymore. It can be extremely stressful.

But here is what has been going on in my life lately:

-I got to help these pretty ladies celebrate Barb's baby shower for Tommy! (who is due February 13th!!) 

-Zach and I celebrated our 'two year date-iversary" by going to Fuddrucker's for dinner and finishing the evening watching an ISU basketball game. 

-Zach, Jon, Sam and I ventured to Monona to celebrate Thanksgiving with Zach's mom's side of the family. It was a lot of fun and it's always good to be able to see all of Zach's aunts. 

-My sisters also came back for Thanksgiving so I got to spend that Saturday with them which was a lot of fun!

-My mom got me the iPhone 6 for Christmas and I got to activate it on Black Friday!!

-One evening, Zach picked me up for Panera and Mockingjay. It was awesome to be able to have a date night with him. :)

-Last week, I got to help Alex paint this mural for Barb's birthday. Christin, Zach's sister, HAND DREW this picture! What an amazing job she did too!! So Zach, Christin, Alex, and I got to paint it as a surprise for Barb. It was such a great gift from Alex.

More things probably happened in there but these are just the highlights of what went on in my life and why I wasn't blogging. :)

I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season! Only 17 more days until Christmas!!

xoxo

Birthday celebrations

For my birthday this year, my nanny family gave me a $100 gift card to Fleming's and I was shocked. I couldn't believe they did something so wonderful! Then came a beautiful Joules dress, 13 Scratch cupcakes, and lots of birthday hugs. They were all such excellent gifts and I definitely cried a good amount of tears. Zach and I had planned on going to Fleming's a few weeks ago but we decided to save it so we could celebrate both of our birthdays. Then Zach got food poisoning, things got busy, and we rescheduled the date night. After a few weeks of that gift card burning a hole in my wallet, we finally got to experience Fleming's last night. Neither of us had ever been so it was a nice thing to check off our "firsts together" list. We made reservations and arrived promptly at 7:15 pm. We were seated and very well taken care of. We looked at the menu for a while then Zach decided he wanted to try a martini. The waiter brought his martini and prepared it for him at the table. Shortly after, we placed our orders. I got the petite filet mignon, Zach got the main filet mignon, and we split a side of asparagus. I had never a filet before so I was excited to try it out. Let me tell you what, it was fabulous. I highly recommend it! After we finished our dinner, we were getting ready to pay and the waiter knew we were celebrating our birthdays. He gave us each a $25 gift card and 4 chocolate truffles. If that isn't wonderful customer service, I don't know what is. If we ever celebrate a big life event, I would definitely choose Fleming's again. After dinner we decided to walk around the pond at Jordan Creek (the weather was so perfect last night), we went to Scheel's quickly before they closed then stopped by Hy-Vee to grab a bottle of wine. All-in-all it was a wonderful night and I'm so glad we finally got to celebrate our birthdays in style. :)

Plus - how handsome does Zach look in our picture above? It may be my new favorite picture ever!!

Listen

Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.

Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers

Yesterday was my 26th birthday. If you know me at all, you will know that 26 is the year I've been waiting for since I was in grade school. That's when I decided I would be married, have two children, a house, two dogs and a white picket fence in a cute little cottage-like home. I have prayed year after year that on my 26th birthday, all of my deepest wishes would come true. Well, I'll be the first to tell you, none of those things suddenly happened on my 26th birthday.

Growing up, I always knew I wanted to be a wife. I didn't really know what I wanted to go to school for, seeing as there were so many options. At one point I wanted to be an astronaut (who doesn't want to be that when they grow up?), an art teacher (if you could see my artwork, you would question why I ever thought that was a good idea), a wedding planner, a teacher, an interior designer, a chef, an author, and a ballerina. (although I never took a ballet class.) But one day, I decided I didn't want to do any of those things. I just wanted to work with children. If I can't have my own, why not love and care for other people's? It's a close second right? Working with children is such a roller coaster ride. I love every child that I've had the pleasure of working with and have learned TONS of things for my future family. But sometimes, it can cause a lot of stress and anxiety. (Like any job, I'm sure.) That's when I try to turn it around and see the joy in every situation.

I know that I am not ready to have my own children right now because there are so many things I want to do before I have them. I want to be engaged and enjoy every moment of telling people I have a fiancé. I want to have my dream wedding & stress over all of the planning that comes along with that special day. I want to travel the world, take pictures of all sorts of landscapes and daydream about all of the places I will go. I want to spend quality time with my husband before we have to schedule dates around work, babysitters, play dates, and birthday parties.

I also don't want a house yet either. I have only been to a few places in the United States and I'm not sure Iowa is my "forever home". It's crazy to think that someday I may be moving away from my wonderful family and the greatest of friends, but I know there is much more out there than what I can get in Iowa. But who knows, maybe this is where I'm meant to be. Only time will tell.

Along with that, I don't know if I'm ready for two dogs yet. I have the most amazing dog I could have ever asked for. I'm not sure how I got so lucky with her. Yes, sometimes she makes me want to pull my hair out. And every once in a while she makes me want to cry, but I love Penny with every bit of my heart. She is my first child. I can't imagine loving another dog as much as I love her. Maybe when she gets a little bit older, I will get her a companion. But for right now, Penny is just what I need in my life.

As far as God answering prayers, He did answer one of my prayers. I have always prayed that God would bring the right man into my life to grow with, to share a life with, to spend time with and love wholeheartedly. He brought that person into my life when I met Zach. I don't know what my life would be like without him, but I don't want to imagine it. He is everything I've ever wanted.

Sorry for the long, drawn out post about birthdays. But if you knew me at all, you would know that yesterday was a rough day for me knowing none of my prayers had been answered. It wasn't until this morning while eating my Raisin Bran & enjoying the sound of some Michael Bublé coming out of my computer that I realized not every prayer is answered. But sometimes, the right ones are.

in this crazy life and in these crazy times, it's you.

Sorry I haven't posted in quite some tim. It has been a crazy couple of weeks recently so I haven't had  whole lot of free time to blog. 

Last week was Zach's last hooray before he had to start his job yesterday. We celebrated by getting lunch together at Tacopocolypse, walking to the Capital, going to the High Trestle Bridge (where we were the only ones there!) and watching movies with one another. I'm sad that he has to work during the day when I have free time but I'm excited that he has taken this job. He will do a remarkable job and get so many great opportunities.

The last two pictures were taken at the Iowa State game this weekend We went down for the morning to tailgate and planned on going to the game, but then decided to just go home and watch it. It was a good choice because we were exhausted. I can't wait to do more fall things with Zach!

Hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful fall weather. I know I am!

xoxo- Ashley

My family > yours.

About two weeks ago, my sisters and Ethan came back to visit. While they were back, we got to go wedding dress shopping, regular shopping, eat at Belluci's, and have everyone come back for the engagement party. As some of you may know, I am a definite party planner and love doing things for people so throwing an engagement party was right up my alley. I got everyone to come to town, bring something for the pot luck and almost all of our family wore their favorite team shirts! (Zach had an ISU shirt on under his nice red shirt.) 

I am so thankful for such a wonderful family. It was so nice for us to get together & spend some time celebrating the engagement of my baby sister. We have quite an adventure ahead with this wedding and I can't wait to help her plan it. As her maid of honor, I have to plan her bachelorette party and bridal shower with my sister Emily and we are going to have so much fun planning & decorating. And as far as my maid of honor speech goes, I may or may not already have it pretty much finished. Crazy OCD kicking in. 

Anyways, I can't wait for Ethan to become my brother and my sister to marry the man of her dreams. oh...and have a Schultz dance party :) 

happy almost Friday! xoxo

2014 : the year of engagements

I don't know what I never posted about this earlier (probably because I have been so busy) but MY BABY SISTER IS ENGAGED!! Ethan proposed about a month ago to Maddie and she obviously said yes. I couldn't be happier for them. But it also got me thinking about when we were kids & we would talk about our wedding days....

Growing up, we had just our Mom. Our parents were divorced when we were little and we never spent time with our Dad. We never really talked about marriage with Mom because we didn't want to bring up the memories or make her feel bad. So everything the Schultz girls learned about marriage, was from the movies. Boy meets girl, boy courts & romances girl, boy falls head over heels in love with girl (and vice versa), boy proposes to girl in a very romantic way, girl obviously screams yes!!!, girl plans big beautiful wedding, boy and girl get married & live happily ever after. (then they have a big house with lots of kids and a golden retriever. - at least that's my fairytale.) But as it seems, life has different plans for us. I know that Ethan and Maddie were made for one another. It took them some time to find one another, but when they did, boy was it perfect. Ethan was just what Maddie needed in her life and the same can be said for Ethan. Ever since the first day they started dating, they have been together. I've known from the very beginning that Ethan would some day be my brother & it's been such a joy spending time with him and getting to know him better. I can't wait to have him officially be apart of the family and to watch him be a loving husband to my beautiful, thoughtful, amazing little sister Madison. I never thought that my 19 year old sister would get married before me, (especially at 25) but God has a funny way of doing things. I know soulmates are unrealistic but ever since I was a little girl, movies have showed me that they are real. If they are real, then Ethan and Maddie are most definitely soulmates.

They are coming home this weekend to see family/attend their engagement party on Sunday. I can't wait to see them & celebrate their next stage in life!!

I hope everyone is enjoying the nice weather outside & taking full advantage of it!

-xoxo

a few steps behind.

Sorry I haven't been on top of my blog game recently.. This whole moving and starting a new job thing has been kind of overwhelming. Getting used to three new kids, two new parents, two cats, and one dog is crazy. but it's all been worth it so far. The good news is I have finally found an apartment!! I live about 5 minutes away from where I nanny and 5 minutes away from Zach. Perfect location. Penny gets to live with me and I have an awesome new roommate. Life is going along pretty swell right now. 

Here is a picture of my nanny children. We have David, Julia and Aj.

A few weeks ago, Zach and I got to go bowling with his brothers, sisters, parents, niece and nephews, and his grandpa. What a fun day it was!

Penny :)

Last night we got to attend Ashley Thorpe and Josh McDonald's wedding. It was the most fun I've had in a long time. It was so great to be able to see all of my high school friends & dance the night away.

Lastly, here are some pictures of my new apartment! I have been frantically searching for a dresser and Zach's mom called me one day and said they have an old dresser up in their attic. IT IS PERFECT. Also, I have been looking for a new desk because my other one was just an old plain writing table. My aunt found this one for me and it is perfect as well!! The other pictures are of our kitchen and living room. (Sorry it's not decorated yet, we just got all moved in yesterday!)

I promise I won't wait so long to write again! I hope everyone has a great week!

xoxo

everythings not lost

as some of you may know, I am officially a Des Moines resident. Clive to be precise. I got everything moved down and settled in on Sunday. It took a few car loads but I was thankful I didn't have to use a truck! Friday of last week was a little rough for me because it was my last day with the Wakefield girls, Emily's last day with the Kaptur's and I had to say goodbye to Emily before she moved to Kansas. The Wakefield farewell went better than I thought because I tried as hard as I could not to cry, I only cried a little bit. But things didn't work out so well with my sister. I thought I would be able to physically say goodbye to her/hug her before she left, but time just wasn't in our favor. At least she's coming back home in September so I will get to see her. (thank goodness!) I already miss her like crazy.

I started my new job yesterday and things went pretty well. The boys don't start school until tomorrow so that will be a fun thing for them.

Other than that, I don't have much to report on. I hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for checking in! xoxo!

clocks

Sometimes coming back from vacation can be rough and this week was just that. So here's my week in review: On Monday, Zach and I went to Ankeny to babysit for his niece Imogene and nephew Jude. We got to take them to El Azteca, Target, we got to play outside, and give them baths. They are such great kids and I love spending time with them. I especially love watching Zach interact with them and imagine what he may be like when we have children together. 

On Tuesday, Zach and I had a date night at The Spice which was much needed. I am going to miss being able to go there whenever we want.

The rest of the week was pretty routine and nothing too special happened.

On Friday, I put together a mustache bash for the Wakefield girls and the Kaptur family. We had so much fun & it was a good end of the week party. Friday evening, I went down to Des Moines to get dinner with Zach, Alex and Barb at Trostel's Dish. Afterwards we went back to Alex and Barb's to play Scattegories and then watch Bridesmaids. Phew, it was nice to relax after a long day of mustache fun.

On Saturday, I got to take my adorable cousin Claire to Adventureland. It was PACKED. We waited in line for an hour and 20 minutes to ride the Space Shot.. After that, we rode the bumper cars and the Underground. That's it. We spent the next few hours at the water park, which was packed as well, and it was a lot of fun. We ate some lunch, swam in the wave pool, and the lazy river. After I left, I had the pleasure of going to dinner at Brick City Grill with some of my best friends from high school. Missy, the soon to be bride, her fiancé Nate, Aleesha, one of the bridesmaids, her friend Kyle, Kelsie, another one of the bridesmaids, her husband Adam, and Zach. It was a lot of fun to get everyone together for dinner and drinks. Afterwards, we got to go to Kelsie & Adam's for a bonfire, Head's Up, and a few good laughs. I'm so glad we are all able to get everyone together every once in a while! Can't wait to do it again soon! :) 

Anyways, this is my last week with the Wakefield girls and we are going to have the best week EVER!! :) I am going to miss them like crazy. I hope you have a great week! Thanks for reading, xoxo.

paradise

Ah, to be back from vacation is the worst. We had a week in beautiful Estes Park, Colorado and a few great nights in Denver. But it feels like when you get back, you just have so much work to do between unpacking, laundry, catching up on sleep, etc. But I wouldn't trade that for the world. We started out our adventure around 4:00 on Friday afternoon with Jon and Jordan. We left Ames, headed to Des Moines to pick up Zach's sisters camera and then we were off to Phillipsburg, Kansas to visit my sister Maddie and Ethan. It was so good to see them both, it seems like it's been forever since I've seen either of them. We only got to spend one evening and a half day with Maddie, but it was worth it. We went out for lunch on Saturday afternoon then we were on our way to Denver! The drive seemed to go faster than I thought it would. We listened to music, I finished a few books, and just had a good time. We arrived in Denver around 4 and took it easy with Zach's aunt Trish, her husband Buddy, and their adorable son Otto for the rest of the evening. The next morning we woke up and Buddy wanted to take us on a hike at Chief mountain. That was the first time I've done a full-on hike. It was a lot of fun and definitely worth it to get to the top. Later on that day, Alex and Barb arrived and we all went to Fogo de Chao for dinner. (One of my top 3 favorite moments of the trip!) The next day we were off to Estes Park! We arrived at our beautiful condo and spent the evening there. The next few days were full of hikes, great meals, swimming, hot tubbing, and tourist shopping. I won't go into too many details about the trip but I will say that it was an amazing trip and I can't wait to go back again. On the last Friday we were there, Zach and I decided to stay for an extra evening. We drove to Boulder and did some shopping then stayed at Buddy and Trish's for the evening. Trish took us to downtown Denver for some amazing mexican and a Colorado Rockies game! It was such a great time. We saw a double rainbow AND the Rockies won! Before we left on Saturday we were able to go to Red Rocks and it was absolutely beautiful. I can't wait to get back out there and attend a concert with Zach.

All in all, I think this trip really helped our relationship grow and it was just such a great experience for us to say we got to do together. Another vacation coming soon! (Hopefully)

thanks for reading and have a great week! xoxo

and the big news is...

I know everyone is dying to know the big news I've been waiting to share. (or not) But it's very big news to me.

I have accepted a job in Des Moines as a nanny and I am moving down there August 10th!! I am VERY sad to be leaving the Wakefield's, Roland, and all of my babysitting families, but I know that this is the next step for me. Zach is also moving to Des Moines to live with his brother and sister-in law and start a new job. He hasn't gotten one yet, but I know he will find something great. We have decided not to move in together before marriage and I know sometimes it would be more convenient to live together, but we are holding off. We will still spend a lot of time together, but just not living under the same roof. The new family I will be working with has 3 kids. They are 7, 5, and 3. Two boys and a girl. I am going to be living with them for the first two months, then I will be moving into my own place with Penny. I am very excited for this new adventure but very nervous at the same time.

I know this really wasn't the news everyone was hoping for but hey, it's a big step!!

Thanks for reading, xoxo!

daylight

Today I took my nanny girls, Gabriella and Kendall to the Blank Park Zoo. We went with my sister Emily, her nanny kids Cole, Reese, and Claire, and my little cousin, Ellie. We started off freezing cold, all of us with sweatshirts/jackets on and it was perfect. After walking around a little, we warmed up but it was a picture perfect day to go to the zoo. The kids had fun looking at all of the animals, riding the train, getting Jolly Rancher ice cream, and spending the day together. If we have time to go again this summer, we will most likely be back. But we still haven't been to the Science Center so it may be a hard choice seeing as the girls LOVED the Science Center last summer.

Another really great thing happened today. My friend from high school, Kelsie, had her third baby today! He is the most adorable little guy ever. I mean look at those lashes!! (you can't see his hair in this one but he has a whole head full!) I'm so glad Owen decided to come before I went on vacation Friday! Yay for babies!

Lastly, my best friend asked me to be her maid of honor in her wedding!!!! I am so excited! I have never been a maid of honor before so the pressure to have everything perfect is on :) ahh...so much planning to do since the wedding is less than a year away!! 

some big news is going to be revealed tomorrow, so get ready! thanks for reading, xoxo.