Tuesday, November 9, 2010

new blog :)

Hey friends,

Just wanted to let ya'll know that I made a new blog for me and Ki. The new web address is jensenlife.blogspot.com if you would care to blog stalk us :)

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

procrastination...

After having a productive day, tonight we gave up on all our planned responsibilities, and made Rice Krispie treats followed by a 6 episode Leverage marathon. I knew every time that we started a new episode that Ki should be studying, and I should be packing, but I didn't resist the welcome snuggle fest with the hubby. I figure tomorrow we'll get around to the packing and the studying :) meh oh well, no regrets. I'd much rather snuggle on the couch then pack anyways

Saturday, April 17, 2010

blogging has been seriously neglected in my marriage :)

Sorry everyone! I keep getting a bunch of you asking why I never update my blog, when I'm going to update my blog, If I am even alive etc etc. I am very much alive! :) So worry your little heads no more. I mean obviously I am busy, who isn't these days? But I somehow find time to fit facebook into my life so I guess I am just out of the habit of blogging. Anywho, I am so behind on the details/events of my life I don't even know where to begin! I guess I will just start spurting out random details of things that are on my mind.

Ki and I will be headed on a long 18-20 hr trek to Oklahoma in 13 days! THIRTEEN! That is less then 2 weeks and we have SO much to do before then. We will be doing the same thing as last summer, Ki is managing the summer sales office, and I'm the office administrator again. But man, we both have to finish finals, get our new car registered/on our insurance, move all of our stuff except the essentials into storage, clean the apartment, put down payment on new apartment for next Fall, and have 2 birthdays before we can go! Its going to be a crazy few weeks.

I keep getting a million emails from the accounting department practically begging me to be an accounting major and inviting me to a million seminars because of my "exceptional grades" How ironic that my highest grade at BYU is probably the thing I find the least interesting... I mean sure I have found many of the things I've learned applicable to my life and even some minutely interesting, but if all my classes were accounting classes I think I would die.

I promise to TRY to be better at blogging, but in the mean time here is a story to tide you over until the next time I grace you with the presence of a new post from my blog ;)

A couple of weeks ago, Ki and I were driving down to Cedar City late Friday evening (we had to wait until 10 because I procrastinated taking a test haha) so that Ki could ordain his little brother a deacon on the coming Sunday. We made it as far as Cove Fort where we filled up with gas, and then out of nowhere it started blizzarding! We braved the storm though and got back on the freeway to complete our trek South. We had only gone like 5 minutes before the road was completely covered in snow, and we had to slow our speed to about 40 to avoid driving off the road. But before we knew what was going on we were going 35, then 30, then 25 because the snow was coming down so hard, we could only see a couple feet in front of us! I was on the verge of a panic induced breakdown! It wouldn't have been so bad perhaps if we had a car to follow, or if we could tell the difference between the road we were driving on, and the side of the road, but alas both were COMPLETELY covered with a thick blanket of snow. Ki being the sweet thoughtful husband that he is(or because he was certain he couldn't stand an extra 2 hr drive in the car with the maniac who was sitting next to him) suggested that for our safety, it might be best to pull off at the next exit with the option of a motel and spend the night there. So we drove for another 30 minutes in this crazy spring snowstorm until we reached Beaver where we exited the highway. It seemed everyone else had the same idea as us however, because when we got there of the 4 motels in town, only 1 had vacancies.. and it was of course the one I would've most preferred to NOT stay in. I mean it was the grossest looking thing ever! Our room was located on the abandoned side of the Motel and I was almost sure we were going to get mugged, or beaten to death by drug lords (I told you I was on the verge of a breakdown). In fact I was so paranoid, that I made Ki bring his gun in the room with us. Yes, I typed that correctly, I ASKED him to bring it. Now for those of you who know me, now you are convinced that I have gone insane, because I HATE guns, and I refuse to let Ki bring it anywhere except on the occasion of camping. Which is no small feat because Ki dreams of being Jack Bauer and one of his most prized posessions is his concealed weapons permit..

In order to further paint you a picture of our delightful motel room, you must know that the first things we noticed when we walked in were A) that it was just as cold inside as it was outside,and B)that there was an ash tray on the mini table just inside the door and that the room smelled a lot like SMOKE. Interesting seeing as how the owner had specifically told us he would give us one of the Non-Smoking Rooms! First thing we did was to turn on the electric heater because I was FREEZING! I hadn't packed anything very warm, because it was almost APRIL! 5 minutes with the heater on and we knew that the room wasn't going to get warm for a VERY long time. Ki took out the filter, to try and scrub the thick layer of sick stuff off in order to make the heater work a little better, but pretty soon I had to take over, because his allergies started going crazy, and when Ki's allergies go too crazy he starts having a really hard time breathing. So after I clean the vent and brush my teeth I lay in bed fully dressed in an attempt to get warm. As I laid there waiting for Ki to finish brushing his teeth, to my dismay I notice that the thin, felt blankets that are covering the bed are full of little curly black hairs! I gagged. Up until this point I had been calmly holding most my emotions inside my head, making the best of the situation, but the curly hairs that suspiciously looked a lot like pube hairs had done me in! I screamed to Ki to come look, and when he came in and saw the condition of the blankets on the bed that we would be sleeping in he just looked at me, and then we both just burst out laughing. This night just kept getting more and more ridiculous. I tried to pull the sheet over the top of the blankets so that the blankets wouldn't touch my face as I slept, but as luck would have it we found out that the sheet was a twin sheet, and it didn't even tuck into the edges of our Full size bed without pulling it up over the blankets. Ki however was thoroughly fatigued at this point and fell asleep, but between the smoke in the room, and the vent full of dust that he had attempted to clean, his asthma was pretty bad. So while he slept I listened to his wheezing to make sure he wouldn't stop breathing (I've never had experience with someone with asthma before, and his RARELY acts up so I was a bit nervous) But when I finally was too tired to worry about his breathing, or the hairs in the blankets, and the scary motel we were staying in I finally fell asleep. In the morning when we both woke up, all the snow was already melted and the sun was shining. We then got back in the car and marveled at the crazy Utah weather. The End. haha so this story is kind of anti-climatic but its the only story I got for ya right now :) I wish I had pictures from the motel to post so you would know I am not exaggerating, but in my sleep deprived state, I didn't think to take any. Love you all! And I wish all those of you who have finals this week or the next week good luck!! Not that you'll need it... just in case. ;)

Monday, November 16, 2009

alright fine. i'll update my blog :)

Sorry folks that I've been gone from the blogging world so long! I've just been... busy being newly-wed! haha. So the wedding was seriously perfect. Everything went so smoothly! The weather was beautiful, the luncheon was amazing, and the reception was perfect :) Thanks to all you family and friends who came and supported us! It really meant a lot to have everyone we love come out. I would post lots of wedding pics but... I have a thousand. No I'm not kidding, and even after I sorted through and chose all the best ones I still had a couple hundred! So there is just no way I will be uploading them all lol so either be happy with these five or go check out my facebook page! These are just a few of my favorite pics/ favorite moments.

coming out of the temple :) it was such a rush to see all our family and friends! Not to mention I felt so happy!

hugging my cute little bugga boo. my little mini me

haha this picture is just hilarious! I love Andrew's and Jaxon's faces!

this is my favorite pic of us in front of the temple :)

And well this picture is just funny to me because the sun was shining so bright in our eyes that Ki seriously couldn't keep his eyes open for the life of him! It was so funny our photographer kept having us shut our eyes and then open them on the count of 3 and this is still one of the only ones taken on that bench that Ki successfully managed to keep his eyes open in.

Ever since the wedding we have just been getting settled into our new apartment here in Provo, and spending as much time as we possibly can together! I must say that being married is far better then dating! Apart from being with each other every second that we can, we're both managing to stay pretty busy. Ki is busy going to school full-time and working at Linx Satellite as a manager getting ready to go out for what we hope, if all goes as planned and he graduates with his Business Marketing degree in 3 semesters like planned, is our last summer of Summer sales! yay! As for me, I'm settling into being a little housewife, making our apartment into a home and teaching myself how to cook a whole bunch of new things (which is actually going shockingly well considering my numerous food failures in the past) in the meantime I am also looking for a job to hold me over until next summer at which time I'll be office admin again. I'm also taking a bunch of fun classes right now at 24 hr. fitness (can you say hallelujah? I love going to the pilates, yoga, cycling, zumba and kick boxing classes. These classes seriously kick my butt and I love feeling like I'm getting back into shape finally!) I'm also trying to completely enjoy what little time I have left of my break from school. Because next semester I'll start full force into my major again. I'll be taking: physiology, kinesiology/bio mechanics, accounting, Adv. First Aid, and New Testament. I'll be honest, I'm not looking forward to going back, but it'll be good for me. School is good and who knows, maybe now that I'm married and I won't be livin the late night single life, I'll be able to buckle down and get better grades. We can hope at least, right?

At the moment I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas! They are two of my most favorite holidays ever! I think the thing I love most about these holidays is the family aspect. I LOVE spending time with both my family and Ki's family and am so grateful that I'm so blessed with such amazing people in my life! The second thing I love most about these holidays is of course the plethora of amazing FOOD and holiday TREATS! Anyone who knows me, knows I really really REALLY enjoy my food. Thanksgiving is so divine. I can hardly wait for the yams, turkey, stuffing, and of course apple pie! mm mm good! But in preparation for Christmas which I am also excitedly anticipating (even though its likely to be the smallest Christmas I've ever had) we put up our Christmas tree for Family Home Evening tonight! yay :) We put on some Christmas music, courtesy of pandora.com since I somehow lost all my favorite Christmas cd's.. and put up the little tree! We would've drank hot chocolate in honor of our festive FHE as well, but we were both still stuffed from dinner haha.

putting the finishing touches on the branches!

He is a cutie :)

both of us decorating the tree thanks to our handy self-timer

putting on the last little ball.

yay! all finished :)

Welp. Thats about all for tonight. Of course there have been many more adventures since I last updated but it would be far too long to blog about them all. If any of you want to come visit us feel free! We're finally all moved in and settled with the pictures on the walls and everything!


Tuesday, July 28, 2009

We're Engaged!!!

The rumors are true! We are engaged :) Sorry it has taken me so long to get this post on the blog, but its difficult to find time! Enough of my eager readers have bugged me about getting it up here however, so I am finally obliging :) ...speaking of people bugging me to get this post up on the blog... I never knew so many people read my blog! ya'll should think about commenting more often ;) who knows... maybe it might motivate me to update my blog more lol. So leave a comment every once and awhile you silent blog stalkers! Just so I know you're out there on the other side of cyber space. We're all friends right?

Now first off, I have to publicly repent for the many times I voiced how crazy I thought people were who got engaged quick. I have realized my error. When its right its right. It just happens different for everyone :)

Mine and Ki's first date was to a Jazz game on Feb. 24th and things since then have pretty much been a whirlwind. We hit it off from the get go. (hence... the quick engagement) After our first date we started seeing each other every single day. It SCARED me how much I liked him after the first date. I seem to remember coming home from that date and telling my roommates that I was scared to let myself date Ki because I had this feeling that I would fall in love with him (I wasn't really looking to get married at the time... who is? right?) Then I remember Holly asking me why I was freaking out. It had only been one date, and we weren't even actually "dating" yet. Well... lets just say I had this unexplainable feeling that I was going to fall for him! I had been on first dates before and they had never EVER felt like that. So I guess thats how it all started. The rest is history. We started talking about getting married at the beginning of the summer and at the end of June Ki was being so SO fishy and secretive whenever he wasn't working that I just knew he was doing research on rings and looking around. Yep you read correctly, Ki picked out my ring all by himself (he wanted it to be a complete surprise) Go ahead... be impressed :) I know I was!

Then the first week in July he unexplainably woke up a good 3 hrs before usual so he could "see if he would have more energy during the day if he woke up early" But I was a little suspicious because I know he loves sleeping in more then anything... and then I was really suspicious of his real reasons for coming in the office early when he just fell asleep on the office couch. Then when I was on the phone with one of the installers, my suspicions were confirmed when there was a knock on the door. Ki whom I had previously thought was asleep sprang off the couch and hurried outside the door. Thats when I KNEW he must've had the diamond for my ring shipped to the office. Why else would he jump up and run to the door and sneakily sneak outside when earlier he had been completely lifeless... I've never seen anyone get to a door that quick lol. But when he came back in the door I pretended as if his actions had been completely normal and that I was completely clueless of what was going on... but really from then on I was observing Ki's every move... maybe even being a titch too snoopy for my own good haha. So when he told me a few days later that we were going to take the next Saturday off I totally thought he was going to propose! In fact I told everyone I knew that it was coming lol. Ki must've sensed that I was on to him because he then told me the day before Saturday that he was having a lot of trouble picking out my wedding band, and that maybe I should help him after all so that I would like it for sure. He said we should go ring shopping on the following Monday. He also said that the reason we were taking the day off was because he wouldn't be able to take days off once he took over as Manager of the office starting the following week. I was kinda bummed that they were all such good excuses, because I had been SO sure that he was going to propose the coming weekend but I quickly got over it.

Saturday arrived, and I found out that Ki had rented a car for us and planned for us to go to Nauvoo for the day since I had never been before. I thought it was a brilliant idea because I've been wanting to go ever since I've been out here, and on the way to Nauvoo I couldn't help thinking that it was too bad he didn't have my ring yet. In Nauvoo we had the most amazing day ever! It was so cool to get tours of all the historic church sites but our favorite one by far had been when we went through the little brick yard. It was just us and the grandpa missionary on this particular little tour and he told us some amazing things! And he talked with such a strong spirit about him, it was really really neat. He told us that a brick has to be made in the right place in just the right way and at the right temperature otherwise when storms came the brick would just dissolve into mud. Then he said just like this brick your marriage and family have to be made in just the right way if they are going to last forever. I was shocked because neither Ki nor myself had even mentioned to him that we were planning on getting married, and I didn't have a ring on my hand to give anything of that sort away. It was so special and the whole time he was talking I was practically in tears. Then he gave us a brick to keep in our house to help us remember everything that he told us that day, and to constantly remind us to put our marriage and Heavenly Father first in our lives and that everything else would fall in to place if we did that. After we left the brickyard I found myself again thinking "its too bad he doesn't have my ring yet... it would be so perfect if he proposed today."

After we had gotten our touring in for the day, we went to dinner and the whole time we were eating Ki was unusually quiet and in his own little world. But I quickly attributed that to the fact that he was tired from walking around all day. After dinner we still had about 45 minutes until the Nauvoo Pageant was going to start so we decided to walk around the Nauvoo temple grounds. Then we were watching the sunset and looking at the view from the Nauvoo temple when he asked if I would remember that day forever, to which I replied yes of course I will. Then I told him I loved him and that I always would to which he turned to me and said I'm going to love you forever too... And thats what I told your dad this morning when I was talking to him on the phone.... HELLO!!! THIS IS WHEN I STARTED FREAKING OUT! He says my eyes got all big when I realized he was proposing, and then when I said are you serious? He got down on one knee and proposed :) to which I of course said YES! And then I was crying (seriously how could I not... ya'll know me... i'm such a baby) haha it was funny he was shaking so bad, and I was so caught off guard that my hand was shaking when he put the ring on my finger. Then after we were officially engaged we walked around the temple more and just talked about everything he talked to my dad about and everything my dad told him. We talked about the future and you know... all the lovey dovey stuff everyone always talks about when they get engaged :) It was the perfect moment, and so so special! I am so glad he had my ring after all! I was so freaking giddy during the Nauvoo Pageant I couldn't even concentrate for like the first half hour, but eventually I calmed down enough to focus. It was a marvelous day. And thats the story of the engaging! Sorry for the ultra long post. congratulations if you made it all the way through! And now of course the pictures :)
and so the adventure begins! We loved having a car for a day!

Illinois and I welcome you!


Ki in front of the Post Office

outside the brickyard with our special little brick!

Me in front of the temple. Ki was stalling, so we were taking pictures.. lol

now Ki in front of the temple :)

and of course a pic of the both of us in front of the Nauvoo temple! about a half hour before he proposed :)

Sorry for the lack of pictures after the engagement... unfortunately since we were too busy being ecstatic and happy that we were engaged!!! we didn't take any "we're engaged! pictures" after the fact. Plus we couldn't really take any good ones anyways since it was dark outside because he waited until sunset to pop the question.

but of course we finally got a decent one of the ring :)

oh yeah. I almost forgot to mention that we will be getting married on October 9th at 9 am in the Mt. Timpanogas Temple! yay! Be there or be square... or just somewhere else... haha we obviously won't be sending announcements out for awhile since we are in Iowa and won't be getting our engagement pics taken until after we get back on August 23rd, but be watching for the inevitable facebook group invitation if you want an announcement!

Monday, July 6, 2009

updating..

Because I never update my blog it probably seems like I don't do exciting things.. but that couldn't be more false! I do cool things everyday :) like...
  • accidently put my frozen bread in the microwave on defrost WITH the metal twist tie still on. (that was a fun mess to clean up)
  • mattress surfing down the stairs of my apartment building

  • getting hit by a car on my bike (don't freak I walked away with nothing but a scratch. i'm superwoman)

  • watching movies

  • making no smoking signs and hanging them in the equipment garage hoping the installers will get a hint :) sidenote: i don't hate people who smoke, i hate the SMELL of cigarette smoke. just thought I should add that tidbit of information to cover my bases... you can never be too careful... I hate accidently offending people.

  • finally located the channel So You Think You Can Dance is on, on the office's satellite haha... and was taught how to use the DVR... for the 2nd time. hooray!! I can finally partake of SYTYCD's fabulous-ness. I was terribly distraught over missing this season.

  • going to movies

  • substituting primary classes

  • good indian food

  • did i mention movies? (we watch alot of movies here)
  • not so good 4th of july parades with the not so good pink bubblegum. you know the kind i'm talking about? the kind that loses its flavor after about 3 seconds... and gets so hard that it takes all the strength your jaw can muster to chew... and leaves the most horrendous after-taste that you have no choice but to keep popping in new pieces.... every 15 seconds? yeah thats the candy that they throw out in Windsor Heights Iowa. If you happened upon getting a tootsie roll it was like Christmas.
But all in all I'm having a good time. still have days when I really miss the fam though! And still definitely feel like my female girl talk time is way too limited. Mostly due to lack of female friends here in Iowa. If you'd like to fix that, feel free to move in with me :) I have an extra room in my apartment. Here are some pics from the 4th of July. Our one day off this summer haha. We went to a parade, bailed on a really lame carnival, had a barbeque, and watched some fireworks! It was a good day :) I forgot what it feels like to have a whole day other then Sunday where you don't have to work!

Jordan, Devin, and Ki waiting oh so patiently for the parade to start

me and Ki. STILL waiting for the parade to start. we were glad we didn't show up early!

yay! the parade is finally here! might I also mention that this was the only float in the entire parade... yeah it was really a sad line-up. Mostly fire trucks and cars that had company logos on them haha.

The excited little school-boy gathering the candy in his plastic sack

"here kids! I'm out of candy, but you can have all my flyers and garbage"

Ki's sad face that all they are throwing out is gross bubblegum and Windsor Heights zipcode signs.

Well that about sums up my last couple weeks :) So goodbye and goodnight... until something else blog worthy happens.


Monday, June 22, 2009

I'm MELTING!!!!

Dear Mother Nature,

Was I complaining about the rain? I am deeply regretful. You can send the rain down anytime you want. It is infinitely better then 108 degrees coupled with humidity! And clearly, the fact that my air conditioner decided to break during this heat streak is bad karma for complaining about the abundant rain of the past month. I have learned my lesson. I shall never again be so ungrateful ...

Humbly,

Ashley Greenwood

SERIOUSLY people! If anyone has any brilliant ideas of how to stay cool, I am all ears! I think my body is completely drained of any fluid that once existed inside of me. And of course when I asked my apartment complex maintenance how long it would be before they could get out to fix my air conditioner they replied that I was the 29th person to call in this morning with a maintenance request for their air conditioner... perfect. So who knows how many days I will be without air conditioning. So in the meantime my apartment is sitting at a solid 83 degrees. Sigh.. I wont lie... I'm sitting here blogging in my swimsuit haha. Its much too hot to wear clothes today! :D

On a brighter note! Saturday night, Ki surprised me when he came home from selling for the day not only with 5 sales... but with a new bike for me! Meet Sylvester! My 9 dollar upgrade! 3 dollars for the bike... 6 dollars for the new grip tape :) He is infinitely better then ol' bessy. brakes are functional, he doesn't squeak up a storm and insist on embarrassing me everytime I pass another human being, and he's my very first road bike! It was love at first ride. Sylvester wasn't much of a looker when he was first brought home, but while I did all the paperwork that the sales reps brought home for the day, Ki scrubbed him down with water and a wire brush. Then he applied the new grip tape, and Sylvester looks good as new! almost :) When I went out to check on the progress of the bike, Luke (Ki's roommate) said to me, "Ash, the fact that Ki has put one hundred and eighty three percent more effort into your bike then his own goes to show what kind of a guy he is." How true! I feel lucky to have found him :) He is always thinking of me and things he can do for me. It almost makes a girl feel guilty to be treated so well! almost... :) But seriously he is the best. Not to mention that he works his tail off everyday in this unbearable heat (and i complain about the heat inside my apartment!) and continues to pull big numbers even though the rest of the office has pretty much plummeted in number of sales the past 2 weeks.

Also, i need all of ya'lls advice... this heat has pretty much eliminated my work out schedule... for you see, I have to be at the office from 7 am-3 pm and there is no way I could wake up early enough to exercise before I have to go to the office. But then I work again from 8:30-10 at night when its starting to kind of cool-off and then after that I just want to play with Ki and eat dinner! so you see... the problem is that my only free time is during the HOTTEST hours of the day. Anybody have any genius kick-butt workouts that can be done inside? Because I really need to be doing SOMETHING! I go crazy when I don't exercise... I just dont feel as good! And I've been eating so much ice cream lately (i crave it BAD in this weather haha) that i really need to be compensating for the amount of ice cream i'm consuming! come on ya'll share your secrets with a sista in need! I love and miss you all!

Ash

Sunday, June 7, 2009

FINALLY an update from me in Iowa :)

Dear readers, friends, and family,

yay! I hope you're all excited for this post! So first, I guess I should just tell ya'll about what I do? Well basically this is how it goes. I do paperwork, I print paperwork, I give the installers all their equipment everyday, I wait for shipments from the suppliers, take inventory, I do more paperwork, I listen to angry people (customers, installers, sales reps etc) vent their anger to me about misunderstandings and crazy situations, do more paperwork etc.. yada yada yada you get the idea. Its really not all that interesting. Except I am proud to say that I now know quite a bit about satellite and all the equipment so if you ever have any dishnetwork/dtv questions feel free to ask... i'd be happy to supply you with my plethora of newfound knowledge ;) ok ok... so there is actually a ton of crap I dont know so you'd probably just be better off calling dishnetwork/dtv directly.

New adjustments since coming to Iowa:
  • I cook for myself... every day. except for when Ki cooks (which is a fair amount). I'm getting better though! well.. I think so at least... I guess thats definitely up for debate. You might be better off asking Ki. I am definitely no chef, I don't take much pride in the meals I prepare haha. They mostly come from frozen mixes, pasta/rice boxes, breakfast meals... you get the idea. But hey, at least I am cooking that much. It is better then what I was eating in Provo.
  • I ride my bicycle which was purchased for me by one of the sales reps for 20 dollars EVERYWHERE. Ol' Bessy is my only form of transportation and means of getting anywhere. Her age and lack of certain necessary functions makes for interesting stories.. but i'll get to that in a second.
  • I wake up at 6:30 am (shocked?) every single day except for Sundays. This has definitely been a rough transition from my cushy lifestyle back at home lol
  • I get hit on ALL the time. Seriously girls, if you ever need a self esteem boost... move to Iowa. I've never been hit on more in my entire existance on this earth as I have in the short amount of time I've been living here. Not that its all too flattering the kinds of guys that I get hit on by lol. Delivery truck drivers, installers (every single one of them... including the old ones, and even though they know I have a boyfriend)
  • I'm pretty much never around girls... ever. Every single person I come in contact with every day of my life here is a male. I suddenly appreciate relief society on Sundays so much more :) lol.
  • Since coming here I have definitely had to develop somewhat of a tough skin. Because the nature of the people I come in contact with every day is pretty rough. I've definitely learned to stand up for myself more since being here, and not let people walk all over me as often.
  • profanity and smoking. (Is it possible to get lung cancer in 3 months?) The installers are always smoking when they pick up their equipment... I have to try hard to breathe normally haha. Ever since I can remember i've always held my breath whenever I pass someone smoking because A: I hate the smell and B: I always have the awful image of my lungs turning black after inhaling cigarette smoke like in the videos they show you in Elementary school.
  • humidity: my hair hates the humidity. Which in turn makes me dislike it.
  • rain. it rains ALOT in iowa. At least so far it has. The installers say something about it being because its spring time... but I always thought June was considered summer...
Things I love about Iowa:
  • There are cute little woodland creatures everywhere! squirrels, bunnies, ducks, birds :) I love it.
  • I think its beautiful. I really do.
  • It is definitely an adventure here. But with that said, I've definitely had my fair share of melt downs (just ask Ki) but for the most part I feel like it has been good for me. I honestly feel like I've grown in some ways because of this experience. But i've definitely missed my family and friends back home in Utah!!
  • Being around this really cute guy :) enough said.
  • And despite how much I gripe about my job... its somewhat fulfilling somehow.. to know that I've accomplished something difficult, that i've been able to find solutions to problems, and to just feel like I'm needed to make the office run smoothly. Its actually kind of fun sometimes :)
  • Fire-flys. Whenever we're riding our bikes back from somewhere in the dark, we will pass fields that are just sparkling like crazy! Fire-fly's are cool.
Now of course for the pics!!!
this is the view from the office window :) its beautiful and serene and I love it.

the equipment garage :) and ol' bessy. (believe me it was NOT this organized when i got here lol... kris aren't you so proud i was organized for once?)

my little duck friends. I also have a squirrel friend that always makes its way onto the back porch, but consequently every time it shows up, my camera is either nowhere to be found or the batteries are dead...
One of the hardest things i've had to deal with since getting here is grocery shopping aboard Ol' bessy.. because not only is she a bike, but she is a very old bike whose breaks do not work... its always a challenge. For example: The first time I went grocery shopping with nobody but Ol' bessy by my side we ran into a little problem. I was carrying like 2 bags in my left arm, and like 3 bags in my right arm while attempting to pedal my little tushie back to the apartment. Well I was concentrating so hard on strategically carrying the bags so that I wouldn't drop one/break the eggs/smush the bread that I completely forgot about Ol' Bessys brakes not being functional. So instead of slowing down by pedaling less as I was coming to the stoplight intersection where I had to cross the street, I just kept pedaling full force. Until I realized much to late that my options were either to go flying into the intersection where I would inevitably become road kill.... or topple off my bike into the bush at the end of the sidewalk. Given the two options I chose the lesser of two evils and went flailing into the bush. Miraculously, the eggs were not harmed. Just my ego. You should have seen the looks the people in passing cars were giving me :P

this pic is me and Ki after work one day (after work being like 10:30 pm haha) he brought me flowers and candy home just because! And once when I was having a bad morning, he made French Toast and brought it to me. He has this tendency of being super thoughtful. I think i'm kind of lucky.
by the time Saturday night comes I am EXHAUSTED. I try hard to stay awake but sometimes it just cant be done. I sleep alot on Sundays... but the 1 day weekend just doesn't seem to be enough recovery time before the next week starts

David (Ki) vs. Goliath (Brent)

one Saturday after the guys got back from selling (they get back at 5 on saturdays rather then 9:30 like the rest of the week) there was a heated discussion going and bets being taken on who would win should Brent and Ki wrestle. Most sided in favor of Brent what with him out weighing Ki by 60 lbs and having him in height, but there were a few that thought Ki, past state wrestling champion, could take him even though he isn't in as good of shape as he was in highschool. Since both Brent and Ki were confident they could win there was no way to find out except to let it play out. I couldn't decide who I was more scared for... Brent... or Ki. Because Brent is definitely a lot heavier, and really strong. But Ki has alot of experience and can definitely hold his own in muscle strength... below is the video of the event.

disclaimer: If I could mute my voice from this video I would. I can hardly bare to listen to myself. So you are warned... just try to ignore my highpitched squeals and "oh my gosh's" :D


It has become somewhat of a tradition to go out to chinese food every saturday night. Mostly because its delicious, and also because its the closest restaurant to our respective apartments.

Me and Ki feeling much better after eating the delicious orange chicken and egg rolls :)

this is a pic of us after we played in the rainstorm this past weekend. (thank heavens for self timer) We were watching a movie at my apartment when all of a sudden it started thundering and lightning (lightning striking?...) like crazy. It was down pouring! Not whimpy Utah rain, but like torrential rain. So we decided to go play out on the swingset to the side of my apartment! we were completely drenched within the first minute. So much fun. I was slightly worried that we were going to get struck by lightning, but the danger only made it that much more thrilling ;)

Well that about concludes the first entry of my Iowan Adventures! If you made it through all that congratulations! It was pretty much the longest post of my life. Then again.. maybe not. Love and miss you all!

Ash

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

I know, I know...

I am WAY overdue for a blog update. And its coming i promise! Things have just been crazy here trying to get the office up and running since the paperwork in this place had been building up in huge amounts the 2 weeks prior to me getting here. And I would update right now, but as soon as this last installer gets here to pick up his equipment I am outta here! I gotta make it to the grocery store and into the shower before I have to come back at 8. Plus I dont have any pics yet... so we're going to have to work on that. But fear not. hopefully the update will happen within the next few days :) Just know that I survived the first week and a half (also if you're expecting a phone call from me be patient... lol. I've barely had time to call my family. but i'm finally all caught up on everything so hopefully I'll have more free-time now.) Stay tuned. I love and miss you all, but am doing fabulously here in West Des Moines.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

memo to the blogging community of which i'm a part of:

If there is one thing i've learned these past few months its that life is full of so many unexpected twists and turns. Its been pretty hard, but whose life isn't? And even though its one of the biggest emotional roller coasters i've ever been on, I know without a doubt that the Lord's hand is in my life. Which is why I am moving to Iowa... tomorrow. Yes it is sudden, and my dear friends, if i haven't contacted you personally please be understanding! I didn't even know until yesterday afternoon that I would be leaving. And i've pretty much been scrambling ever since to get everything done that i need to before I leave! But back up i haven't even told you why im moving... well I have been offered a job that will pay close to triple what I would've made at wingers this summer so i'm going!!! I will be the office administrater for Linx (a company that sells sattelite) in Des Moines, Iowa. Crazy i know. I trained literally all day today so hopefully i remember everything im supposed to do! I'm definitely nervous but I have no doubt it will be a grand adventure :) Mostly I'm sad that i'll be gone from my family and friends for nearly 6 months! and that I will miss family vacations. But ya'll better stay in touch :) and i'll do my best to not disappear off the face of the earth. And i'll try to keep updating this blog. But now I got to finish packing! love you all!