Brandon and Emilie's Wedding

The ASHBY FAMILY!
On February 19th we had 15 grandkids but on February 20th four more joined our ranks! This is the whole bunch of us!

February 20th our son Brandon married Emilie Eldredge Wasdon.....a girl he has known since 1st grade. John'[s brother, Ray Ashby, performed the wedding ceremony and joined their two families of four kids each.....eight is great!

The wedding was held at Wheeler Farm and they had a lot of family and friends from high school attend. We are super happy for this new family and pray for their continued happiness and a long life together.

Emilie has three daughters (Sydney, Aubrey and Sophie, and one son, Isaac). Brandon has two boys, (Alex and Raistlin) and two girls (Aurora and Grace).

Brandon and Emilie shared this story about the way they came together:

Early September 1981, Emilie was 6 and Brandon had just turned 7, it was first grade... the friendship had begun. We were good friends all through grade school, Emilie saw Brandon as someone she could run to when kids were being bullies, someone to confide in and someone that would always treat her well. Brandon saw Emilie as a cute soft hearted friend that was always nice to him no matter what, he always admired her kindness to everyone and how she made every situation fun.

We had home room together in every grade except 3rd grade. In fourth grade we got in trouble for meeting up and "chit chatting" in Mrs. Neilson's reading wagon. Later in the 4th grade we were in charge of being clowns for an assembly. Emilie was a clown juggling and Brandon was her nemesis court jester stealing her juggling balls, it was a total blast and never to be forgotten. The crowd loved us! In the 5th grade we were chastised and threatened to be sent to the principal's office for talking too much to each other in class, at one point the teacher had to move us across the room from each other. We could also be seen in LC5 walking around together, meeting and talking to as many people as we could get away with.

The sad day came when Lone Peak Elementary was built and we were separated for 6th grade.

When 7th grade came, the reunion was sweet and genuine. The hug was long and deep and the reminiscing of the friendship began. We knew we were kindred spirits, but shied away from stepping forward into "liking each other" and both resolved to the idea that we were just best friends. That wasn't without a few hopeful slow dances at the afternoon middle school dances. By the way, the hugs never did stop...

Our friendship remained as we grew. In 10th grade our mutual friend, John Gillings asked Emilie to the prom at the last minute. Brandon was bent that he didn't know she hadn't been asked yet and kicks himself to this day. Emilie then moved away in the middle of 11th grade. When Brandon found out his heart was sad, he knew he would always miss her.

Seventeen years later... Brandon was going through a picture album of his Sprucewood elementary days and saw Emilie's picture and vowed in the morning to search for her on the web. That next morning a work friend coaxed Emilie to join Facebook. The first friend invite she made that day was Brandon Ashby... Neither one knowing the other was now single! (go figure!)

Getting hooked up again was interesting, after a 3 hour phone call and many Facebook chats, our schedules were finally free enough to have a date!! (The anticipation was torture) The first date began with that same long deep hug from long ago and we both knew we were home. All holiday plans changed as of that night. We got all 8 of our kids together and went to the cabin for the holidays.

Friday, January 16th, was a really frosty evening; we drove to the Gateway mall for sushi. We were supposed to go ballroom dancing right after, but Brandon took a detour and asked if Emilie had ever been to the roof of the LDS Conference Center. Next thing we knew we were racing up flights of stairs, our breath blowing out steam and our nose hairs frozen. We got to the last flight of stairs and saw that it was chained off, not to be entered without a tour. After standing there for a few moments looking at the view, Brandon said, "I think we should jump the chain and go up anyway!" So, off we ran up the last flight of stairs hoping we wouldn't be seen. When we got to the top we followed icy pathways along running steamed fountains and snow capped evergreens. When we meandered around far enough out of sight, Brandon sat down and pulled Emilie to his lap. He sweetly said, he knew that she was a blessing in his life and never wanted a life without her, that his love was pure and that he had always loved her, he said that we had always been best friends and planned on staying best friends from here on out. Then he said, "I have a question to ask you...." He dropped to one knee and said, "Will you do me the honor of being my wife?" Then he opened the ring box. Emilie looked into his beautiful eyes and answered, "Absolutely yes!" Then the tears began... It was a magical night! Yes, we still did go dancing... and it was on cloud nine!