This weekend I had the priviledge of doctumenting Ashley and Karl's journey to become parents. These two people hold such a speacial place in my heart and I cannot imagine anything greater than to be a part of their son Quin's life and for them to be a part of my future children's lives.
I have known Karl since I was 14 and since the day I met him my first day at a new school, he has been one of the most caring, kind and hilarious people I have ever met. He has always been a dear friend of mine and I love him as I love my 4 brothers (probably more, to be truthful- he never tried to beat me up!)
When I met Ashley, she and Karl had been engaged for a month.
We were on a camping trip in Brevard, NC- it was 15 degrees and we were in the woods with nothing but firewood, crystal light and a handle of vodka.
Bonding ensued.
Ever since, Ashley and I have been extremely close. We have the same weirdo sense of humor and love of all things baby, Hobby Lobby and Martha Stewart.
In April of this past year, I called Ashley pretty concerned- I hadn't heard from her in about a week and was getting worried. I called Karl since I couldn't get her on the phone and he assured me that all was well, she was just really busy with school and work. A few minutes after I got of the phone with him, Ashley called. She told me that the reason she hadn't called back is because she had something to tell me...
"I am definitely.... with child."
I don't think I've screamed so loud into my phone before. Ever since that day, I have been the one that wanted to hear everything about the pregnancy (being baby-obsessed myself), who wanted to help clean up and organize the baby's room, who was willing to do baby laundry and sit and talk. Willing, even to help name the baby! One summer afternoon we were discussing how this child, being male, was going to be the 5th in a line of KJMs. Not wanting to go with either the K or the J name, we finally googled all of the different roots and languages for the word "five" or "fifth". By that afternoon, everyone was settled on Quin.
Karl and Ashley are amazing people who are going to be amazing parents. Here are a few of the pics that we took this weekend.
I got to take some pictures of Miss Gracie Poo this past weekend for her Christmas card. I love her and would like to steal her if her mommy would let me... some days she says it's cool.
I swear to the Lord above, this girl is going to have Quin any freaking moment now. 
I thought the candy-cane-striped saw was a cute touch! That's Joe in the background dragging our tree to the road for pick-up!
This is where everyone guessed what day Quin would actually get here (calendar on scrapbook paper laying down). BTW, those are framed scrapbook pages of Ashley's mom's from when she was born! Her mom is an AWESOME scrapbooker! There's even the little piece of paper where her dad wrote down the contraction times!
This is where everyone wrote down a qish for Quin- since he's the 5th, when we read them out loud, the 5th persons we read got a prize!
A few gifts!
The "congratulations" sign a la Mrspaz!
We're 99.9998% akward. All the time.
A few cupcakes are missing, but you get the idea!
Stephanie, Ashley and I!
The favors!
The diaper cake turned out amazing!
Ashley's seat
RED HAIR!!!!
Gah, I love him. 
