Beautiful Bahamas

Sad to say but we just got back from our trip with my family from the Bahamas. I must say I would buy a summer home there in a heartbeat. I have never seen such beautiful blue water in my life. I have been to Cancun and seen beautiful water but nothing like what I saw last week. Pictures don't do it justice! Our first day we headed to Key West, which is still in Florida but was still so pretty. The water was blue and the weather was hot and humid (just what I like).



Next stop was Nassau, Bahamas. This was such a fun Island, not what I expected at all but still so fun. Lots of history there of pirates and so of course Austin was in heaven. Property value there is SOOOOO high. To give you an example, our house we have would be classified as poverty. I guess people there make a lot of money and your classified as poverty if you make less than 100,000 a year. They don't have a high crime rate there either because they don't put up with crap basically. If you rape or touch a little kid in any way they hang you. They are not afraid to hang anyone if you do something the Bahamian government doesn't like. If you steal you get kicked off the Island. They basically take EVERYTHING very seriously. On the Island is where the hotel Atlantis is as well, this hotel was amazing! There is a room there that is 25,000 a night and the min stay is 4 nights. Everything is also made out of gold. CRAZY!! This hotel was crazy but beautiful.

Here is a picture of Hotel Atlantis, the middle part of the picture is the room that is 25,000 a night.


This picture is of a place they call "The Queens Staircase". Its where the people of the Bahamas would go when they were being attacked. They would go down this staircase to a door that would take them under ground to the other side of the Island... Keep in mind the Island is only 7 miles long total. :) But the slaves actually built this, it was insane how tall it was and it was sooo pretty.



Off to CocoCay, Bahamas. This I must say was my favorite stop. We got to spend a whole day on the beach and enjoy the beautiful weather and wonder water and sand. This is a little Island that Royal Caribbean (our cruise ship owns). It’s a private Island and only guest on the cruise ship are allowed on this Island. There is SOOO much to do too. The best part was wave running, it was so cool to see how blue the water was and just getting to wave run in the Bahamas is amazing. There is so much to see and appreciate for sure! There is an Island for sell to for 9 million.... trying to convince my dad to buy it haha.

Here is a picture of us on the beach


Picture of us Wave Running!


Every night, we got to go to a very formal dinner on the ship. It was so fun to get dressed up and be wined and dined for sure! Best part of a cruise is the food, you can't get enough. Also the pina coladas, they are my favorite!

Formal Dinner night


We also got the chance to go to Chicago for one day to see my sister graduate High school. It was so weird to see her graduate, she is too little to graduate! :) She actually heads out to start summer semester at BYU next week, now that is weird but I am very glad she will be out here. Which means she gets to spend more time with us and have Austin annoy her more then he already does, looks like she won’t be able to get away from my dad because Austin annoys her just as much as my dad. haha

Kelsi Graduating


There is just a little glimpse of our wonderful cruise we had with my family! I am so greatful for my family and how much fun we have with them. They are awesome and I wish they lived closer so we could have more memories with them. Thanks again mom and dad for the wonderful trip! We love you lots and I am so proud of my little sis who isn't so little anymore for graduating High School and going to BYU.

Cruise Time!

We will be leaving on Friday for Chicago to see my sister graduate from High School, which is super super weird that she is old enough to start college! Then on Sunday we will be heading to Miami to catch our cruise to the Bahamas! We seriously are in need of a vacation. I think this is the longest we have gone without going somewhere... I know I know "poor us!" :). But we get to go with my family and they are so fun to be with so I am sure we will have lots of stories.






Goodbye Utah snowy weather to beautiful warm Bahama weather this weekend! Maybe that means my allergies will clear up too. haha

R.I.P. Dallas MAVS

Well with the series being 3-1, Spurs ahead, I feel the need to express my deep depression of my teams lack of ability to beat them. Yes I know we still have a chance but the chance of us catching up is 4%, 4%!!!! Thats not enough hope, although I must say I still have hope that we can pull out the next 2 games to tie it up, and as for the 3rd game.... well I will leave that up to the MAVS.

Jason Kidd has done a great job and my hat goes off to you for being 37 and showing all these younger guys that even at an old age you can still be on top.

Jason Terry you are my hero on the 3 point shots! BUT man oh man when you are off you are off. But I do have to say I am a big fan of you and think you bring alot to the team!

I can't forget to talk about my new favorite player on the Mavs. BUTLER!! I have been impressed with him this year and hope he stays with us because he has been an awesome defensive player!

Last but not least Dirk! You are awesome, I love your over dramatic fouls and the one finger hair swipe! LOVE YOU :)

Although I have R.I.P Dallas Mavs, I will still have hope that you will pull through!!!

HAPPY 2 ANNIVERSARY TO US

2 years ago from today I remember waking up in the morning, getting in the shower and thinking "I cannot believe this day is finally here!". I put my make-up on, with the help of my good friend Mallory and then off we went to get my hair done. For some reason I kept thinking in my head " he better show up!" :) Needless to say I was the one that was late but I did show up and he was there waiting for me. We have been through so many good times the past 2 years and I don't see why people say they are hard when you get married. I have never been so happy in my entire life as I am today. I am just as happy now, if not more, then I was the day we got married. I love that my family adores him and he adores them just the same. He is my best friend, I can’t imagine doing anything without him. As pathetic as it is, our lives are not as fun when each other is not around. I can’t imagine going on a trip without him, the most time we have spent away from each other was 5 days and we both said we will never do that again! J My parents are the best examples to me and if Austin and I can have a marriage like my parents then I would say we will have the best marriage. I often explain to people that they act like they just got married and have been married for 26 years. I see my dad a lot in Austin, in the sense that my dad would do ANYTHING for my mom and I have never questioned my dad’s love for my mom and I hope our kids will never questioned our love for eachother. My mom would always tell me “when you look for your future husband if you look at them and think my dad would never treat my mom like that, then you know he is not the one for you”. I have found the perfect man for me!!

He puts up with my crazy OCD habits, the fact that I don't like watching anything that has an animal getting hurt, killed, scared etc, my love for Cooper, he goes to musicals with me (haven’t gotten him to a ballet yet, but I’m sure he would go :) ), my complaining when I have a bad day, and making sure to give me a kiss every morning when he leaves for work and when he gets home from work/school.

My family means the world to me and it makes all the difference in the world to know that I married someone that fits perfectly, almost to perfectly in our family. Sometimes I think they love him more than me :)

I have the most wonderful life and the most wonderful husband to share my life with. He will be an amazing Father someday and I will be so blessed to have a husband who will cherish a little life just as much as I will. Who knows what the next year will bring us but I can say right now I am happy to be married to such a wonderful, loving, caring, humble man. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BABE I LOVE YOU WITH ALL OF MY HEART!

SPRING COME SOON!!

The weather here in Utah has been very frustrating the past couple of weeks. One day we have 60 degree weather and then the next its snowing and cold. I have decided that spring needs to come NOW! I love the winter but only in December and then after that I have had it. This is one reason I keep trying to convince Austin that we should move to Texas for the winters, although they havn't been getting any better weather then we have.

We are also such a married couple in the winter. We have our TV shows every night and look forward to them ALOT! I can't wait for the spring when we can go outside and do something and we don't have to watch what we eat and work out as much in fear of gaining those horrible winter pounds. They are a pain to get off and we have realized this year that next winter will be different. :) Cooper has even put on the pounds but for him its probably a good thing!

We have so many fun plans this summer and I can't wait to go out and do them. So please weather no more snow, wind, or cold weather. Lets just stick to the beautiful spring time weather!!

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