(Ash writes:)  Okay so this is our FIRST blog entry.  What do we say?  Haha . . . makes you think of open mic at the comedy club:  *thunk thunk*  Is it on?  But truthfully, I want to start by telling the story of Josh and me.

I graduated high school in May 2004 and decided to get the hell out of Dodge (a.k.a. Show Low), and moved back down to Goodyear, where I grew up.  One night while hanging out with one of my best friends, we'll call her Mackenzy, we found ourselves at an old friend's apartment, trying not to be bored.  Zach was in the air force and we had met him through Mackenzy's ex boyfriend, months before.  Now Zach was living with Josh, who was also in the air force (and very good looking). 

Josh first struck me as quiet and standoffish.  I kept forgetting his name (I've never told him that), and I couldn't get him to talk to me until I started flirting.  Finally he responded by making impressions of Pauly Shore and showing off his air force awards and commendations.  We spent the entire night talking and actually fell asleep next to each other.  When we woke up the next morning, Josh told me in a whisper that I was beautiful, that he really liked me, but that his life was too busy for him to entertain anything more than friendship.  He promised that if I could stick around and prove to be a true friend, he'd try something more than friendship in the future.  I've never been a patient person, but I promised the same.  If you told me that morning that I'd spend the rest of my life with the guy who was staring into my eyes at that moment . . . I don't know . . . I probably would have laughed . . . I'd definitely have smiled.

That was the last time I saw Josh for nearly seven months.  We talked a few more times that week but he finally stopped calling and I took that as a subtle "leave me alone" message, so I did.  I moved on, dated other guys, went through a few tragedies and one enormous broken heart.  Josh dated around a little, too, met another girl in the air force who he dated for a few months until she ended up cheating on him.

Christmas Eve, 2004:  my phone rings and I can't recognize the number.  When I answer it, the guy on the other line says "Ashley?  Hi . . . this is Josh."  It took me almost a minute to register who I was talking to.  I think I had tried to forget him.  I think part of me knew he was everything I wanted and because I didn't think I could have him, I was trying so hard to let go.

Because I was seeing someone (albeit not very seriously), Josh and I agreed to be friends.  We met for coffee every now and then, and he called me once a week to make sure things in my life were not breaking me down (I was going through a rough time).  When my boyfriend (at the time) and I broke up, Josh was entirely supportive and didn't cross any lines.  But when I got sick two weeks later and Josh came to take care of me, I crossed every line (and actually got him sick, too).

That's when we both started falling.  Josh sewed his wild oats and broke ties with casual girlfriends while I impatiently waited for him to discover that he needed me (at least, I was hoping he needed me and that he'd soon realize it).  We went through a rough first few weeks, but we've been together since . . . February 23? . . . yeah, sure . . . and we're both so happy.

At 5 am (he loves waking me up early) on Sunday, April 24th, Joshua got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife.  I said no. 

Okay . . . just kidding, I said "of course, baby" and the rest is -- well, soon-to-be history.

People say we're moving fast and tell us that we're still kids.  Perhaps that's the truth but if Josh and I lived our lives like everyone else, we wouldn't be Josh and Ashley, and things would never have been this perfect.  We're two intelligent young individuals and we may not have everything figured out, but we know what we want and we know how to get there.  We've just decided to do it together.