Belated Holiday Letter & Card

I worked on our Christmas card in December but dropped the ball and am now finally get it out there. This post is for anyone who didn't get it who may be interested to read it!

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Another eventful year for the books! We had some fun experiences this year like going to Gen Con for the first time and seeing the total solar eclipse, as well as some un-fun experiences this year like dealing with seizure-related health problems. We still miss Utah but are getting used to living in Indiana. We also had visits from some of Ashley's family and of course we see Josh's family throughout the year. Life is a lot, but we do the best we can!

Josh was promoted to a lead position at Omnicare this summer and now works second shift instead of night shift. We are so proud of him and his hard work! The change has been tough on him as he sees the twins even less now with his lead schedule, but we try to make the most of the times that we get. Wehn he has time to himself Josh likes to play word games, video games, online Dungeons & Dragons with some of his friends, and watching his and Ashley's favorite comfort shows over again together.

Ashley is still working full-time over various online jobs while holding down the fort at home with the kids. She misses her family in Utah but loves that she lives closer to her sister in Tennessee. Still a drive, but they have been able to see each other a few times this year! She also stays connected to her family through online video games. Ashley loves hanging out with Josh any chance they get, and sharing some of her hobbies with the twins by playing video games or board games together.

The twins got baptized in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in January and it was a beautiful occasion, surrounded by family and by the Sprit. This summer they took swim lessons again and can now swim on their own, which is a win for everyone! They are also learning to roller skate recently. They both qualified for some advanced classes in school and also joined the Yearbook Club and are enjoying that new experience.

Jacob tried soccer and baseball this year, and fell in love with baseball! His team won the championship (out of 3 teams but still!), and he is likely to do more of it in the future. He also got really into Fortnite this year and is actually quite good for a 9-year-old. Jacob still loves space, fidget toys, Rubik's cubes, crafts, and cute things. His favorite subject in school is gym, he loves reading graphic novels, his favorite colors are light blue and rainbow, and he loves spicy food.

Lauren tried soccer and cheerleading this year and especially enjoyed cheerleading. She wants to go back to doing gymnastics next, but may try cheerleading again sometime in the future. She loves taking care of her baby dolls, playing wth Barbies, and occasionally playing video games with family. Lauren loves cats, drawing, and crafts. Her favorite subjects in school are gym and reading, she also loves graphic novels, her favorite colors are pink and turquoise, and she loves doing handstands and cartwheels around the house.

As always we're grateful for the love we feel from friends and family. We're especially grateful for the love and comfort we find in Christ. We don't know what the future holds for us, but we have faith in each step we take. We love you all dearly, and wish you the best year available to you. ♥

Happy Holidays & Happy New Year

I did write a Christmas card but I got busy and didn't do anything with it until now, so Happy Belated Holidays, and Happy New Year! If you didn't get the letter or are just curious how our year went, I'm sharing it here too!

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This year had some surprising curveballs. Our long struggle with worker's comp for Josh's work unjury while doing Amazon delivery came to an end, but without going into details it also led to us moving to Indiana pretty suddenly this summer for Josh to take up a new job. The move has been a major life change and hard on all of us in various ways and we discovered that we had grown to love Utah more than we realized, but we are grateful for the help we received getting here and for now living close to Josh's family!

Josh started his new job this fall with Omnicare doing pharmaceutical delivery for things like assisted living facilities. His brothers work there as well and were the ones who referred him. Josh currently works the night shift for now and while it's been an adjustment getting on and keeping up that schedule, he's doing well and enjoying his job so far! Aside from that he loves spending time with the twins and being able to see his family now that we live near them. He also still enjoys gaming and playing Dungeons & Dragons.

Ashley said goodbye to her job at Gymcats with the move, but still does various online work full-time. Moving has been especially hard on her as she doesn't do well with change and she also moved away from most of her family, but Josh and the twins have been a big comfort to her, along with a lot of prayer and Priesthood blessings. Ashley was also able to go to Seattle with some of her siblings this year to attend Nintendo Live and PAX West and had a blast.

The twins left their French immersion program with the move, which was too bad but we're grateful they could be part of it even for a short time. They enjoyed doing gymnastics through the summer, took a jazz/ballet dance class together, and also took swim lessons for the first time. They can't quite swim on their own yet, but they are close! They are also preparing to be baptized this January, and are very excited about it! It's been hard for them to say goodbye to their friends and family in Utah, and especially their best friend we lived just down the street from, but they have been making new friends and are doing well at school here.

Jacob became obsessed with space this year. He loves watching YouTube videos that teach about galaxies, black holes, etc., and just loves everything space-related. His favorite subjects in school are science and art, and he has also gotten pretty interested in Rubik's cubes. He doesn't know how to solve them yet, but we think he'll learn before long! Jacob is still obsessed with cute things, loves rainbow colors, enjoys playing video games, watching YouTube videos, and is still the biggest Mama's boy.

Lauren learned how to ride a bike without training wheels this year, without the help of Mom and Dad. Her love of cats has only continued to grow, as does her Barbie collection. Her favorite subjects in school are library, music, and P.E., and she's been reading more and more. She is our silly girl and loves doing handstands and cartwheels wherever she can. Lauren loves pink and turquoise, playing games with family, watching YouTube videos or Bluey, and is Daddy's little love bug.

As always we're grateful for the love we feel from friends and family. We're especially grateful for the love and comfort we find in Christ. We don't know what the future holds for us, but we have faith in each step we take. We love you all dearly, and wish you the best year available to you. ♥

Ten Year Anniversary

Ten years ago today Josh and I got married. It's crazy to think of where our lives have taken us since then. I don't think we could've predicted much of it haha!

How it started:

How it's going:

A lot can happen in ten years, good and bad. Sometimes it feels like we go through hell, sometimes it feels like we're stuck, and sometimes we step back and see the good times and the magic.

The hard:
- Stillbirth
- Unemployment
- Mental health struggles
- Kidney stones
- Infertility
- Financial strain
- Suicide attempt
- Seizure
- Worker's comp fights
- Hospital visits (& bills)

The good:

- Visiting Harry Potter World

- Seeing Wicked
- College graduation

- Having twins
- Seeing the Grand Canyon

- Visiting each other's families

- Family snuggles

- The every day smiles and laughter
- Being there for each other when it's hard

- Being married to my best friend

Our lives have been a lot sometimes, but there is no one I would rather be with through all of it than Josh. He picks me up when I'm down, he laughs at my stupid jokes (usually ;) and makes me laugh, he nerds out with me, he is warm and compassionate, he is smart and talented, and he is my person.

And in honor of our tenth anniversary, I picked a couple songs to share some lyrics from ♥

"You and I
Happy ending and a tragedy combined
But we both can't live without it and we tried
We should take our own advice

Don't give up
There's a mountain in the middle of the road
It'll take a little longer to get home
Baby all we've got is time

You can't help when your stomach sinks
See your life happen in a flash
In your head it could be so real
That you almost feel the crash
The panic is temporary
But I'll be permanent
So when it hits, don't forget
As scary as it gets
It's just turbulence"

- Turbulence, Pink


"Can't count the years on one hand
That we've been together
I need the other one to hold you
Make you feel, make you feel better
It's not a walk in the park
To love each other
But when our fingers interlock
Can't deny, can't deny you're worth it

Cause after all this time, I'm still into you

I should be over all the butterflies
But I'm into you
And baby even on our worst nights
I'm into you
Let 'em wonder how we got this far
Cause I don't really need to wonder at all
Yeah after all this time
I'm still into you"

- Still Into You, Paramore



I love you with my whole heart Josh, and I'm never gonna stop. ♥

Love,

Ashley

Roth Christmas Letter 2022

 ♦  Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays  ♦

This year was another hard one for our family, but there has been lots of good still. In the spring we had a family reunion with Ashley's family and got to see everyone together there for the first time in a while. In the fall we went to Disney World and Universal Studios in Orlando with Josh's family, which was so fun for the twins and fulfilled our wish of going back to Harry Potter World since our honeymoon there almost 10 years ago. It was an amazing trip and we are so grateful! Over the year we were also able to visit nearby family and be visited by traveling family, all of which we have loved.

Josh is still working for an Amazon delivery company, though his work situation was complicated when he injured his knee on the job in March. Since then we have been dealing with worker's comp and trying to take care of hi knee, which is all still a work in progress. In the meantime he's been doing what work he still can, though his knee causes him a lot of pain. We are finally planning for him to have surgery to hopefully fix it in January, and are optimistic that that will improve Josh's quality of life. Aside from all of that, Josh loves to spend time playing games online with his siblings and friends, snuggling with the twins, and watching shows with Ash.

Ashley took on some extra work this year and works full-time across a handful of jobs. Most of them are various computer-related work-from-home jobs, but she also started working at a gymnastics facility across the street - just a few minutes walking distance! She works at the front desk which is kind of her ideal type of job, and loves her boss and her workplace. She also gets to take the twins to gymnastics classes sometimes while she is working, which they have been loving. Aside from work, Ashley loves to spend time rewatching her favorite TV shows, playing games online with her siblings, listening to the twins' antics, and accidentally falling asleep watching shows with Josh.

The twins started a French immersion program at their elementary school this year. We wondered how they would do being thrown into half of their school day being in a different language, but they are loving it and thriving. We're so impressed with how much they have learned already!

Jacob loves video games and Legos, and especially loves to play with others. His favorite color is rainbow, he loves hearts, and is still the *biggest* lover of cute things of anyone we know. Most of all, he loves penguins - and we even got to feed penguins at the aquarium for their birthday! He is super curious about the world, and has also gained a lot of physical confidence doing gymnastics. Jacob has also grown arguably even more attached to Mama this year.

Lauren loves all kinds of play, and enjoys playing with others or independently. Her favorite color is pink and she loves unicorns, cats, and most of all "uni-kitties". Lauren also loves doing art and writing notes for people, even just around the house. She is the silliest kid we know and loves giving and receiving "loves" (hugs, etc). She loves school and has also loved doing gymnastics along with Jacob. Lauren especially loves snuggling with Daddy and is still a total Daddy's Girl.

As always we're grateful for the love we feel from friends and family. We're especially grateful for the love and comfort we find in Christ. We love you all dearly, and wish you the best year available to you. ♥

October Wrap-Up

Okay, I haven't posted here since the Christmas card from last year, and my next post will probably be the next Christmas card. Oh well! Mostly I just wanted to share stuff from October because this year our October was jam-packed.

At the beginning on the month we flew out to to Orlando, FL to visit Disney World and Universal for Josh's sister's quinceañera. It was a whirlwind trip with amazing memories and fun family time!

Our flight out was cancelled last minute so long story short, we ended up flying first class on a different flight instead. It was incredible and the twins lived their best life!

After getting to Orlando, the next day we spend with Josh's dad. That included Chuck-E-Cheese which the twins loved.

Day 2 was Disney World, most of which we spent in the Magic Kingdom. We had the twins watch a bunch of classic Disney movies to prepare, which they ended up loving, and which ended up making the park extra fun because of all the things they now recognized!

The twins loved taking the ferry from the parking lot to the park!

The main features at the entrance had legit lines for taking pictures, so we just snapped one off to the side when we got in the park.

So fun to see the castle, and even more fun that we were there during the 50th Anniversary celebration!

This one was a smaller roller coaster for kids, but it was surprisingly rough. We convinced them to try Space Mountain later, but that was even worse. Lauren ended up loving it anyway, but Jacob cried the whole time. We didn't make him try any other roller coasters after that.

This was more of a gentle, see all around the park ride, and it was more fun than I was expecting!

Lauren really wanted to see some Disney characters while we were in the park, which we weren't sure whether that would happen and we weren't about to wait for a meet-and-greet. Thankfully we stumbled upon the Festival of Fantasy Parade and we got to see lots characters!

We let the twins each pick out a hat or pair of ears, and they settled on these ones. So cute!

After spending most of the day in Magic Kingdom, we had to stop in Hollywood Studios to visit the Star Wars attractions.

It was amazing to see the Millennium Falcon and just the sites around the area!

Had to snap a pick of Josh and the twins all in their Mandalorian/Baby Yoda shirts once we got to the Star Wars stuff!

Blurry, but I had to take a quick picture of us in the queue for the Smuggler's run!

Day 3 was spent at Universal, which we split between the Universal Studios park and Islands of Adventure. It was an extra special visit for me and Josh because Harry Potter World was where we went for our honeymoon. We've talked about going back for our 10-year anniversary (which is next year), especially because they have since added Diagon Alley and we've been dying to go. It's really different spending the time there with kids, but it was still amazing to be there! Plus the twins are now really into Harry Potter after watching the first movie before the trip.

The obligatory photo of the Gringotts dragon breathing fire, because it's legitimately really cool.

I believe this was in line for the Transformers ride. It was a fun one.

We happened upon an appearance by Bumblebee not long afterwards, too!

The twins also got to take a photo with a Minion after the Minions ride!

The twins each picked out an interactive wand, and the interactive spots can be tricky but we got things to work a couple of times.

Hogwarts ♥

The twins had a blast during the trip and they got totally spoiled too. It's exhausting going to theme parks with small kids, but so worth it. And they're at just the right age for it too. ♥

After the trip was Josh's birthday, then we squeezed in a visit to my parents, then toward the end of the month was the twins' birthday. Josh's mom was able to visit us for a couple days right around their birthday, and they even got to stay in the hotel with her!

For their birthday this year we took them to the aquarium's penguin encounter, where you get to see the penguins up close and feed them. They both love penguins (especially Jacob) and it was such a fun surprise for them! (I only wished we could've pet them, but it wasn't allowed :)

Feeding the penguins went by really quickly but was really fun.

After they ate, we just got to hang out and watch them while they came in and out of the room and played around. They were so cute!

I still can't believe they're 7, but time marches on ♥

Of course after their birthday comes Halloween, and to finish out the month, we visited Cornbelly's on November 1st. October was busy, but full of good stuff. :)

Love,

Ashley

Roth Family Christmas Letter 2021

♦ Happy New Year ♦

I meant to get this done as a Christmas letter but I didn't have the mental energy until now, so let's just call it a New Year letter! 2021 was one heck of a year. It was another particularly rough year for our family, but there was definitely good in there too. Here is the big stuff.

As most of you know, we were going through fertility treatments including IUI and IVF that ultimately led to a dead end, and we eventually decided this year to close that part of our journey. It was a heartbreaking decision, but one we feel comfortable with. We remain grateful beyond words for having the twins before facing infertility as well as for the incredible love and support that we experienced.

We have also had a number of big medical events this year. The biggest was Josh having a seizure. It was of course a big ordeal and I'm so grateful that we were around family at the time. He is back on seizure meds now and things seem to be going fine, so hopefully that remains the case! He also had a particularly bad kidney stone that resulted in multiple emergency room visits as well as surgery.

In our more daily lives our trials range from mental health struggles to financial strain to parenting and general life stuff. Now let's move on to the good stuff!

Josh got a new job this year doing Amazon delivery. It's very physical and sometimes that really manifests (knees for sure), but it's been a good job so far. it's straightforward and he gets to do his thing as long as the work gets done. He also built a new computer from scratch for the first time. Ashley got a new at-home job as a web rater. It's more intensive than her other at-home work, but it's been a great addition. She also stepped down from being a moderator for the Utah Chapter of Mormon Women for Ethical Government for now.

Lauren and Jacob started Kindergarten this year, and they are crushing it. They are thriving academically and socially, they have made lots of friends, and their favorite part of school is the bus ride. I put them in the same class for now, because I can't imagine them being apart, but maybe that will change over the years.

Lauren loves unicorns, pink, purple, turquoise, and anything sparkly. She is a friend to everyone and is a natural leader in that she is not afraid to direct people when playing games and things - sometimes that translates to bossy when she's coming on especially strong, but I hope she never loses that spark.

Jacob loves red, orange, and yellow because those are "lava colors", and also rainbow. He is also obsessed with penguins as well as anything cute - I don't think I've met someone who loves cute things more than he does. He is so sweet and always tries to cheer people up, and is as curious about the world as ever.

We've felt so much love and support in our lives this year. We are especially grateful for the love and comfort we find in Christ. We love you all dearly, and wish you the best year available to you. ♥

First Day of School

The twins had their first ever first day of school today. I can't believe they're in Kindergarten already. It feels like a whole new phase of parenthood to have kids in school. My thoughts on all of this are probably a bit disjointed, so bear with me ;)

I had hoped that this school year would be normal compared to last year, and it is a bit, but with everything how it is right now we are still sending them to school with masks. They don't love it but thankfully we have some fun ones for them to wear, and their teacher will help them if they have trouble putting them on or anything. I wish the pandemic wasn't the way it is, but until then, we are doing our best with the situation.

They've been so excited to start school, especially after meeting their teacher and seeing their classroom. Recently it's been "x more tomorrows until school!" every day. I had them start with being in the same class together in Kindergarten, and we'll see how things progress from there for if/when they eventually do separate. It's been comforting to know that they'll have each other for now.

Although honestly, I have nothing to worry about. They're old for their grade, they're smart kids, they're good at listening to teachers, and they make friends so fast. They're going to be fine. I know that.

But they're also my babies. Thinking of them riding the bus, going to school, and ultimately starting a new phase of life where they gradually rely on me less and have to figure things out for themselves, it's a lot. I don't know what will be too new, hard, or scary to them. And this might sound dramatic, but I also know that in a way this is the beginning of the end. Over the years they will come to rely on themselves and their friends and need me less. That's what we want, but it's still a lot. (And I can't help thinking of the song There Goes My Life by Kenny Chesney, give it a listen if you feel like crying)

I was excited to take the typical first day of school pictures though! I can't wait to see how they progress through the years.

She wanted to take a picture like this too, and she added Movie Maker to her dream jobs :)

Sending them off on the bus this morning was really cute. Their backpacks are at least half the size of their bodies. And they already have some friends in their class. They got to play with a friend for a bit while waiting for the bus, and then when they were getting on they all held hands. I can't handle that amount of cuteness!!

It's also a complicated feeling in other ways, sending them off to their first day of school. I'm reminded that that's a milestone we never got to have with Matthew. And I always thought I'd have other sibling(s) in tow as we sent them off and welcomed them home, that they'd be so excited to see them and that I would get more individual time with the younger one(s) in the meantime. Of course none of that came to be.

Instead, this is our first *and* last time sending kids to school for the first time. It's mostly sweet, but still bittersweet.

Ultimately though, I'm excited for the twins and excited to see them keep learning and growing. These kids, you guys. They are my heart. ♥

Love,
Ashley