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

Holiday Season

So much has gone on during the Holiday season, just to name a few things.....
1. Thanksgiving with my new husband
2. Austins Birthday
3. My parents coming into town
4. Cooper loosing his horrible razor sharp teeth
5. Bonus at work!!
6.Christmas Decorations
7.Cooper learning new tricks
8.Not having to watch Cooper every second to make sure he isn't getting into everything
9. Going to Chicago for Christmas
10.MALLORY AND CASEY FINALLY having their cute new baby boy Beck
11. Finally getting all of the Friends episodes
12. Getting Lots of snow (just because its pretty)
13. Sliding to the car in Chicago
14. Being able to stand on snow because it was iced over in Chicago
15. Going from -29 to 50 degrees in Chicago

This holiday season has been so full of fun things and I couldn't be more happy to have such a loving family and a wonderful husband to spend the time with. Cooper has become such a good dog. He is also finally getting out of his puppy stage so hes more calm and its nice not having to watch every move he makes (but thats because I am a bit OCD). Austin and I went to the gym and I left him home for almost 2 hours and he was an angel, which was a very very good thing.

Austin and I went to Chicago for Christmas this year and we had a VERY great Christmas! Minus the one day it was -7 but felt like -29 and then two days later it was 54....... very interesting. We got snow, fog, ran, wind, warm and cold weather. So basically we got it all! Austin also gained 9 pounds due to my moms cooking, which is odd because she only does this when he comes...... :) But no worries we have been home for 3 days and he has already lost 6 of it! Wouldn't it be nice to not doing anything and just lose weight? Chicago was really fun because we got to do lots of fun things with my family that Austin got to be apart of. My family loves, music, sports, and musicals and so Austin got to join us in on that. And as well Austin brought his card playing games and we played lots of those as well. We are very glad we were able to go to Chicago to spend time with my family its always fun when we all get together because they don't live close. Hopefully one of these days they wont be so far away!

I think the highlight of coming back was Mal and Casey having their baby boy FINALLY!! After being late 3 days he came, and he is the most adorable baby ever! It was very weird seeing my two best friends having a child, but at the same time it was a comforting feeling knowing that they are doing it first so when it is my turn she can give me tips! :) He is such a good baby only crys when you try to wake him up (at least when we were there thats all he did ). He is such a tiny baby too, but it fits those to perfectly! Mallory looks great and looks like a new mommy full of joy and love. Casey is a great dad already you can tell he just loves this new little one more than anything. Makes me excited to have alittle one!! (don't get any ideas it wont be for awhile..... HOPEFULLY)

I am so greatful for this holiday season and how much it makes you realize you have and to also realize the true meaning of Christmas. I remember one Christmas my family bought chirstmas presents for a family that didn't have much and wasn't going to have a Christmas. We went over Chirstmas Eve when they were out and when we walked in the door they had 3 presents under the tree and it broke my heart. It made me realize how lucky I was to beable to have a Christmas every year. The next day at church the kids came up to us and said " guess what!!!! santa came to our house!! he NEVER comes to our house!" at that moment my heart just broke and I was so greatful I had the chance to do that. I hope we all remembered the true meaning of Chirstmas and how greatful we all are to be blessed in the families we do have and for of course Christ and all he does for us. MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Choice or Decision?

I am not the type to post churchy stuff on here but I had a wonderful lesson in my sunday school class at church on sunday and found it intersting to share.........

My bishop in my ward is a wonderful man. He is very honest and straight to the point which is my kind of bishop. He gave a lesson on the difference between choice and decision. He had a lady get up and asked her " do you want chocolate or vanilla ice cream" she says " chocolate" our bishop then asks her "why" the lady says " well because I like chocolate better of course" he goes on to talk about how she is making a decision. In my eyes Im thinking okay so what? He gives an example of a choice, you choose to make decisions in your life for example. I can choose to marry my wife or I can choose to marry the red head. I will never be happy with all my choices in my life. " I can look at my wife and think after a year of marriage ugh she squeezes the tooth paste from the top and not the bottom im so stupid for picking her I will get a divorce and marry the red head, and then a year from that marriage I will pick out the problems as well and never be fully happy with my choice."

Its interesting to me because he tells us that we make CHOICES in our lives not decisions, we may make the wrong choice or the right choice but its how we choose to take those choices. If we make a bad choice we move on from the bad choice and learn from it and let it go. He also talks about Forgivness and how it goes hand in hand. That to truly forgive is a choice we make, we can choose to forigve or we can choose to hold a grudge. What we choose is then our decision.


I am a person who chooses to learn from my mistakes and also from the good choices I make in my life. I am not a perfect person and have made some horrible choices in my life! But I have chosen in my life as a decision to learn from it to grow and become a better person. Its not anyone elses fault if I choose to do something I know is not right, because by making a choice I have to deal with what is in store of that choice wether it be good or bad.

Chocolate or Vanilla? " I choose niether because I have chosen to not like ice cream " ;)