Holiday Time!

So theory is, that bad things come in 3's right? Well I used to say that its just a stupid theory but after the past couple of weeks we have had I would say it is very true! Austin and I have been having this feeling at work that he is going to get layed off for several different reasons. First he took at 22% pay cut and then work decided that they wouldn't work with his school schedule which then came to only getting 35 hours a week instead of 40. May not seem like a huge deal but with the 22% pay cut and 5 hour cut it wasn't a good combination at all! Austin started looking for a job about a month ago and had no luck until he found the perfect job for him at overstock as their Jr. accountant. Which is what he is going into! So he quickly applied. As time goes on, I got really sick with what I thought was the flu but it turned out to be something different, right now we are thinking its a gall bladder issue, but still nothing has been confirmed. So right now we are at 2 bad things......... I was just waiting for the next bad thing to happen and sure enough the day we are leaving for Chicago to see my family for Thanksgiving # 3 happens! Austin finds out he is being let go the day he gets back from Chicago. BUT he did get the job at Overstock and I also got a part time job at a Salon. So my theory of bad things coming in 3's in now that for every 3 bad things you get one-two good thing! :) I must say we have truly been blessed in more ways then one and I am so grateful for this time of year because it makes you look at your lives and realize how truly fortunate we all are.

When we were in Chicago we went down town to see "the Adams family" the musical (which was so funny!) . As we were walking out there were 5 kids with big bags of clothes talking to a homeless man on the street giving him stuff from their bags. My heart sunk and I was so impressed with those kids and how they were giving to the homeless and who knows, that could have made his day. Normally people in Chicago are getting mad at people for standing to close to their purse. haha I was at the movie theatre and was giving my dad a hard time for not being there earlier enough... (there was a little line but he told me there wouldn't be :) ) I laughed with my dad about it and some guy turns around and says " its just because the movie isn't out yet" then turns his head. If it wasn't for my husband to stop me I would have let that guy have it. I wanted to say " my name is ashlyn nice to meet you sense I asked you" haha So needless to say having that little experience in Chicago made me feel better and know that there are nice people in Chicago. :)

I have also decided that I am done seeing movies about the south! We went and saw "the blind side" and it made me miss the south soo much that I can't see stuff like that anymore. haha My poor husband. It was an amazing movie though. I will say though my husband kept looking over at me the entire movie and kept saying " you would do this", "you would do that", " you would say that". I think he now appreciates the way I am now after seeing that movie.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Thanksgiving Time!

Thanksgiving time is by far my favorite time of year. The one thing that drives nuts is when people start wearing Christmas stuff and we havn't even had Thanksgiving yet! Its like we totally forget about Thanksgiving time. :)

This year Austin and I get to go to Chicago to see my family for Thanksgiving and I can't wait. I love going home because its like we can get away from all the chaos that happens on an day to day bases. Austin recently took a major pay cut and cut of hours and it was hard because he has been with the company for almost 3 years. The company is struggling financially and we felt that he needed to start to look for another job. With this horrible economy it makes it super hard! We truly have been blessed though because the first interview he had they offered him the job. He applied for a job at Overstock as there jr accountant/account manager, WHICH is so much better because that is what he is going into. I must say we do have someone looking out for us and I am very greatful for that.

I recently got really sick last friday night early saturday morning. I thought I had the flu but it wouldn't go away. I finally sucked it up and went to the doctor to find out that I have to get a ultra sound done, blood drawn, as well as a endoscope (where they stick a camera down my throat to look at my stomach). The doctor is thinking its my galblader, hypo thyroid, or a gultin free problem. So needless to say it has been a rough couple of weeks haha. I have realized through all of this that I am greatful for my husband. He is truly my best friend and I couldn't have asked for a better friend/companion. Crappy things can help, you can lose a job, be sick, and even lose friends but I will always have him and in all honesty that is all I need in my life.

I honestly love this holiday year and expecially Thanksgiving and thought that I would list some of the things I am thankful for sense Thanksgiving is next week of course! :)

1. My husband
2. Cooper
3. My family
4. My inlaws and brother and sister in laws
5. My adorable Nephew
6. A brother in law on a Mission
7. My mom and dad because they are truly examples to me
8. The gospel
9. My friends
10. A JOB
11. My home
12. Food that I can provide to my family
13. Tithing
14. Prayer
15. My savior

Those are to list just a few. They always say to write down things that your greatful for because then you can see what all you have and how those little things in life that seem horrible just don't seem so horrible after all once you realize what all you really have. HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Our Fun Summer

I am a horrible Blogger! I can manage to read everyone else's blogs but can't even update my own, isn't that so sad. :)Our lives have been so busy this summer and now that it is fall we are able to enjoy ourselves and that is the biggest relief! We sat down at the beginning of the week (like we always do) to look at what we had going on for this week and realized we had NOTHING! But of course it quickly got filled up with Birthday dinners and the Duck hunt that just opened this weekend. I love Fall, its such a pretty time of year and I am glad that we are able to enjoy it!

Our summer has been filled with Lake Powell, New York, Orlando, Family in town, mission farewells, baby blessings, Birthdays, and just pure fun with friends. I went to New York with my mother in law and 2 sister in laws (with one missing!). We had a blast! It has been awhile sense I have been to New York and within the first hour of being there I realized I am not a East coast person. The people are so short and I swear they never smile! haha By the end of that day I was so annoyed I realized I was acting just like them and quickly stopped. I love New York but its just a place to visit for me! I do have to say though shopping in New York is the best shopping EVER! I spent a lot more then I thought I would AND could have spent more for sure. It did rain the WHOLE time expect for our very last day and that was the day we went to Central Park. I think I could build a little cottage and live in central park! It was beautiful!!! We also had the chance to see the musical Chicago and I have seen lots of Broadway musicals because my parents moved to Chicago, BUT this was amazing! My sister in law got us 2nd row tickets which made the show much better!! And even Jerry Springer was in it, he played the lawyer and I was actually really impressed with how well he can sing. When I got back from New York, Austin dropped me off at home and headed back to work. I walked up stairs and came back down and Cooper had diarrhea with blood I might add! Of course I just freaked out and cleaned it up and he went 4 more times after that in about 20 min. So I called Austin up and he told me that he had been just fine so it was weird he was doing that so........ I took him to the vet. I explain to the nurse what is going on and she says " has he had any trauma going on right now like a move?" I said " nope, I have been gone for 5 days and just got back into town and this is what happened" so she smiles and says " hold on I am going to get the doctor". Needless to say my dog was sick because I left!!!! Are you kidding me!!!! The doctor told me that he didn't realize that I had left until I came home with my stuff and then he realized I had left him and stressed himself out! mamas boy???? :)


Lake Powell was another fun adventure this summer. We decided to take Cooper with us and I have to admit we were both a little nervous! But he was an angel, he had so much fun swimming and running up and down the sand, he seriously looked like he was in heaven. Although Austin lost his wedding ring in Lake Powell this year, so his ring is now with everyone else's rings, cell phones, wallets, you name it down at the bottom of Powell. We say that if Lake Powell ever goes away we will be the first ones there to see what all we can get. haha. We left Thursday night and stayed in this little PO dunk town WHICH was so much fun. We walked into our motel and just started laughing and of course did not sleep on the sheets! haha. It was our last Lake Powell trip with Zack (Austins brother who just left on a mission) so it was extra special trip.
Austins brother and my brother in law left to Argentina for a 2 year mission about 2 weeks ago and he did amazing on his talk. I was very impressed with him he is going to be an amazing missionary and the people are just going to love him. It was sad to see him go but we know he is going to be an amazing missionary! WE LOVE YOU ZACK!

We also had the chance to go Las Vegas this summer as well with 2 of our really good friends. I always had a hard time with making friends at work because I keep to myself and like to keep work and my regular life separate. (weird I know!) Well we started hanging out with some friends at work and I have to say they are the coolest couple! We absolutely love them. We went to Vegas with them and had a blast! Austin now has a gym buddy to go with as well. This guy is training for UFC fighting and so Austin gets some good work out tips from him and she is my shopping buddy, she manages to find the cheapest things! and I thought I was good. We have played games with them a lot and I thought Austin and I were bad at talking crap to each other but they have managed to beat us on that, BUT I must say I still always win at games!!! Needless to say, I have stopped being anti social at work haha
I have also started decorating my house for the Fall season and with a bigger house now I need more furniture and I didn't realize that until I got all my decorations out. So we are on the hunt for furniture!!! (tables and such) I also have 2 rooms upstairs that look so bare and need help! So my project is to finish my salon in the basement, get furniture, and fix those 2 rooms!!! This could take awhile though because Austin and I tend to by random things every once in awhile, we get on these kicks of " oh that would be sweet to get that!" so this week it was MTN bikes......... I know I know summer is over but they were a good deal and what can I say you can't pass up a good deal right???
I am excited for Thanksgiving this year too because number 1 its my favorite holiday and number 2 we get to go to CHICAGO this year!! and we are going to bring Cooper...... it will be VERY interesting. I told the vet I needed something to knock him out and he goes " oh a little Tylenol will work" I go "no I need something stronger than that he is the worlds biggest mamas boy and baby", so we are going to knock him out haha. It'll be fun to take him home though, I hate leaving him at home, I feel like I am abandoning him. Although Austin tells me he doesn't even know I left, I still fell like he knows! :)

Basketball

As most of you already know I am a die hard fan of the Mavs. Well during the NBA finals I have to admit I was a little nervous for my team. We lost to the Spurs last year and we got stuck playing them again. Well for all you none Basketball fans. The spurs are #3 in their conference and we are #6, so the odds are not very high for us beating them. The Mavs have a thing for not just winning or losing by a little its either we win by creaming or lose by embarrassment. First game goes by and The Mavs win not only do we beat them but on their home court. Second game we get creamed!!! So at this point we are 1:1. Well we head back to our home court which if they are anything like the Jazz we would do very well at home, but yet still it had me worried. The 3rd game starts and I have never seen a score like I did in all my times of watching the finals with the Mavs.... we beat them 88- 67, now that is a pretty low scoring game but hey we beat them!. I would like to say that after the 4th game the Mavs are now up 3:1! Against my negative attitude they came out and surprised me. We head back to the Spurs home court and I hope we can pull off another win! Now on Saturday nights game, I was little upset with Dirk, he is supposed to be our star player and he only made 9 attempt shots and pretty sure he made 4 of them. This guy is 7 feet tall and stood on the 3 point line and our guard who is 6 foot was getting our rebounds. I have never been so ticked off at him! He looked like he hadn't played a game of basketball in his life! Not to mention the fact that a rookie is out doing him.


Now to talk about the Jazz and Lakers.... I must say I do like the Jazz on one condition... THEY ARE NOT PLAYING THE MAVS! I have to stay strong with my team. I was kinda hoping that the Jazz would be the Lakers even though they are favored to win. I can't stand Kobe! Like most people would say. I was talking to a friend who is a huge Lakers fan and he was going on and on and on about how he thinks Jazz fans hate and want to kill Kobe. I told him I hate to break it to him but I think most of the United States thinks that! haha. He asked me why I didn't like Kobe, my answers were simple. " he is cocky, pig headed, rude, selfish, and prideful, BUT he is an amazing basketball player", so I then asked, why don't you like dirk, he says " hes stupid and he over does it", I then said " thats it??? you are about to tell me that is your reason you don't like him? ". I guess my point is, if you are going to dislike a player make sure you have good reasoning and not " hes stupid" haha I will be the first to admit that Dirk is an idiot sometimes but he is/can be a good player. Saturday night he was an idiot. :)

If the Mavs go far enough to play the Lakers I will be the first to say ( IF we lose) that the lakers are the better team. You can't stand up for a team when they did horrible, if you want to talk stats then talk stats but you can't talk stats if your star player only makes 9 attempted shots! :)

Orlando and Cali

So Austin and I had the chance to go to California and Orlando! We both got new positions at work and so he is the event cordinator and I do the awards for the events, so it makes it fun that we get to travel together. And on friday I actually moved desks and so now im 2 desks down from him now! I get to now watch him. Everyone has always given us such a hard time for working with eachother. We always get the question, " how can you guys work with eachother, I could never work with my spouse". Austin and I have always been like "why?". We LOVE working with eachother, we have that type of relationship where we love being with eachother all the time, its actually probably pathetic haha. I can't imagine what it will be like once he is done with school and we don't work with eachother anymore. What more could be better? Working with your best friend and person you love more than anything.... my answer is... nothing! :)


We had a blast in California and Orlando. We went to Disney Land in Cali and Universal in Orlando. It was awesome! Not only that but it was our first time going there with eachother, so that was very fun. We worked so hard when we were there that it was so nice to have a day to just have fun! We actually get to go to Orlando again in October for work so we love it!

We also got a new flat screen tv this weekend! Austin has been wanting one so bad so finally we caved in and bought one. Which we love it, its always nice to have a big TV.

Our anniversary is coming up in 2 weeks!!!!! CRAZY! I can't believe we have already been married a year, its so fun! So I can't wait for that, we have some fun things planned. I never understood why the frist year is the hardest and I can honestly say I still don't understand. This has been the best year, we have had so much fun and I can honestly say I couldn't have asked for a better husband he is awesome and I never doubt for one second that he loves me more than anything in the world. :) We have a wonderful relationship and I wouldn't trade what we have for anything.

I am ready for the winter to be over!! I hate it when its cold, I told Austin the other day to start looking up jobs for when he graduates in warm states, mostly Texas though. :) He is all for it so that makes it nice. We actually get to go to Texas in September so then I can show him why I love it so much! Hopefully I'll beable to convince him. Im taking him in September which isn't to bad so instead of taking him in July where he would say " no we are NEVER moving here" I'll take him when its perfect! I told him that in Utah we start the cars in the winter to warm them up and in Texas we always started the cars up in the summer to cool them down. haha I know what yall are thinking " ugh " but trust me, I love it there....... so cross our fingers he will love it too! :) Now I do have to say this I don't hate Utah, I actually really do love it here, its beautiful and I wouldn't mind staying here BUT its way to cold here!!! I love it in Texas, the people the weather and the Church out there is AMAZING, so we will see what happens.

Valentines Day

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! First and for most. I am late but I do love Valentines day. Its kinda a cheesy holiday but its fun to beable to have such a fun day to spend with people you love!

We had a wonderful day, we kept it very low key becuase we both got new positions at work which allow us to travel which we both love alot! So we are going to California this weekend and then after that we head out to Florida! I can't wait. We will be working but we decided to stay a few extra days to enjoy being in the warm weather.

We did the typical thing for us on Vday, dinner and a movie! That is usually a weekend for us. But Austin got me a pedicure and beautiful flowers. It was perfect. our first Valentines day together married. We are also coming up on our year and its crazy how fast time has gone by, it feels like we just got married! :)

Cooper got his tally fixed on last week, so its been a fun week with him. Most of the things I read were... " once they have been fixed they calm down, stop biting... blah blah blah...." well I am here to say that the only thing he has stopped doing is oh wait NOTHING!!! haha I still think its because hes only 8 months so he is still a puppy. I do have to say though he does sleep more, which is really nice for Austin and I. He is such a good little guy.

The other day Austin and I were talking about kids (not planning on them yet haha) but I told him that for awhile I always wondered if I would be a good mom. I know that I will be the best I can be but I look at other moms and I think " wow they are sooo patient and loving I hope I can be that way". This may sound so stupid but once we got Cooper I didn't realize how protective I am of him and he is just my dog. I watch him when little kids play with him, I make sure he isn't getting into trouble, the typical mommy thing. I realized then that I will be a great mom! I can only imagine how I will be with a child if I am this bad with my dog! So it makes me excited to have kids knowing that I have full confidence in myself. I have babysat kids my whole life but for some reason it was just one of those " can I really be a great mom?"BUT we had some friends over the other night and she has 2 girls and once they left Austin and I turned to eachother and said " no kids!!!". When we first got married it was 4, then 3,and then we were happy at 2 and now we don't want any! haha I am totally kidding I think we are going to sit at 2 so we will see what is in store for us :)

Tragic Puppy stories/dreams

During Christmas when we were in Chicago visiting my family we went and saw the movie "marley and me" Which I have to say was a super cute move! Although I cried not just tears coming down but bawled. Austin gives me a hard time for being so sensitive with animal movies. I choose not to see movies that have animals dying, getting hurt, etc. So basically everytime we see a movie and he knows something bad is about to happen to an animal he makes sure I close my eyes so he isn't humiliated by my bawling. I am so bad that when they have those things on TV with the sad music about how animals are getting abused and need homes or to have you donate money to save them, I call and donate because I bawl through the whole thing! Or I can watch someone dying on TV but if it is ANY type of animal Im gone! I can't even watch animal planet because I don't like watching the animals fight each other. I know I know I am pathetic! If I could make sure every animal has a home I would because it breaks my heart to know that people treat animals the way they do sometimes.

I was watching the news a few weeks ago.... I know this is a horrible story so be prepared..... BUT the news was talking about a women whos house got broken into and she got home and saw that there was smoke coming from the kitchen and opened the ove to find her 3 month old poodle in there!! I literally bawled not only that but the entire time they were talking about this they were showing the little puppy with home videos. So don't worry that night I had a horrible dream that Cooper got stuck in the oven. THEN I came home from work to find Cooper not is his kennel!!!! And sure enough I check the oven! Come to find out Austin had gotten out of class early and had taken Cooper with him to run errands.

So on Sunday night I fell asleep and had yet another weird dream. I had a dream that someone broke into our house and Austin told me to run and hide so I ran into our other bedroom under the bed (with cooper of course) and then I realized that wasn't such a good place to hide so for some strange reason I went into the dryer ( who knows!! ) While Austin is doing whatever he is doing with the robber in our bedroom, Cooper barks and so the robber comes and puts chairs by the dryer so we can't escape and turns it on. So being the loving wife I am I am yelling " help help I have a dog in here and he isn't breathing help me out hurry". So Austin tells me " wow ash thanks for being concerned at wether or not Im ok". Which he should know by now Cooper is my main priority haha jk. So basically a long story short I realize I have had some pretty strange dreams and I hope they NEVER come true!!! Not only that but I have pretty pathetic to have been so concerned about my dog then if my husband is okay in the other room! haha