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!

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!

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.

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

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

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.

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!

Happy Belated Mothers Day Mom :)

Mom thank you so much for everything. There is absolutely no way I could've survived these past 2 months without you! Or the past 20 years for that matter lol. You are one of my very best friends and someone I know I can always turn to no matter what. You've always been one of my biggest supporters and #1 fan in everything I do. Thank you hardly seems sufficient for everything you've done and continue to do for me, but thank you so much. I would've been a mess (more so then I already was) the past couple days without you. I love you mom! Happy Mothers Day.

Crazy-ness!

Wow. This week has been so so busy. The past 2 days alone I have used an ENTIRE tank of gas. No I am far from kidding :P And it isn't even an exaggeration. Also, goodbyes suck... thank heavens that starting tomorrow I have an entire week to spend with my girlies in California! I could definitely use a little road trip therapy right about now :D It is going to be a blast! Now if only my suitcase would pack itself...

I am 20!

woot woot its true... im getting... OLD gasp! Except not really, I feel just as young as ever :) My birthday this year was pretty awesome. I got to go to lunch and shopping with my mom and Kris, and then since my Dad and brothers were at scout camp, I went with Ki up to his old mission companion Chase's cabin for a double birthday party over Friday and Saturday (since it was Chase's birthday too) We all went four wheeling, played games, tried to sleep amidst Chase's dads chainsaw snoring, and then the next morning we went shooting! I am getting better at this shooting guns thing :P Maybe one day I'll hit the bottles that I am aiming at :D I wish I had been on the ball and gotten pics from the weekend but... I was majorly slacking and didn't even get one!

opening presents with mom and kris :)
Ki leaves for summer sales on Friday :( so now I have mr. snuggles

Then last night the whole fam, went to China Lily to celebrate mine and Andrew's birthdays :) It was a lovely birthday. Thanks to everyone for the facebook messages, texts, phone calls etc. Wishing me happy birthday! I have the best friends and family a girl could ask for! :)

St. George/ Zions :)

So I am finally updating about my family's spring break :) i've been dragging my feet on this whole blogging thing lately... not quite sure why lol. But I figured that the least i could do is upload some of the pics.

Because of my finals I couldn't drive down with my family on Thursday, so Ki was kind enough to be my sidekick for the weekend so I wouldn't kill myself driving down on Friday night. (I am pretty sure I would've been just fine, but it was a good excuse to request his company on the trip and it put my parents minds at ease lol) We drove down to Cedar City, and stayed the night with his family, and then met my family in Zions for some hiking on Saturday. It was pretty much the most perfect day for hiking ever! not too hot, just pleasant and sunny. I absolutely loved it.

the great outdoors :)
takin a break... well.. actually more like waiting for the parentals to catch up ;)
hiking with my family is more fun then just hiking. if you find a 20 foot arch you dont just look at it, you find a way to climb up it. Do you see what i've had to grow up with? Being the one thats afraid of heights has its down sides in these certain situations, but i almost NEVER let my little brothers and sisters show me up. i just suck it up and do whatever they are doing lol.
the fam on top of the arch.
the kids
canyoneering :)
on the way back down

Then after a long day of hiking, we head back to the hotel to do some "relaxing" in the hot tub and pool. But someone had the bright idea to have chicken wars in the pool :P which were a blast... when I wasn't busy practically drowning, but they were pretty much the opposite of relaxing :D Lets face it unless you were on Ki's team you were doomed to lose. And with competitive little andrew on my shoulders It was all I could do to keep my head above water :P Even when we would both go down in the water he refused to get off my shoulders until I struggled to stand and push him back up with my neck... I pretty much couldn't move my head the next day haha... poor little neck. But it was a blast just the same.

the beginning with a smile still on my face
towards the end... barely staying afloat :P

After spending time with my family we headed back to Cedar City to spend Sunday with Ki's family and cheer on the Jazz. The whole trip was a lot of fun, and I dont regret not studying the whole weekend... not even a little bit.

*Note to Self*

Never. never. NEVER again, save the hardest and most important final for last.

And to those of you who read my blog, I'll update about St. George soon :) Just as soon as I find the motivation to force myself to study for this last final! Its almost over! wahoo!

I'm sick of studying... so i'll blog!

Hello! So classes are officially over for 4 months woo hoo!!! The only thing still between me and my freedom is finals. Which will be over before I know it. And as this semester comes to a close. I find myself saying things to myself such as, "next semester I really ought to put more effort into that class" or "next semester i wont procrastinate studying for tests" or "next semester I will go to class EVERY day" yada yada yada. well I guess I can hope that one of these coming semesters in my education that I will do just as well as I intend to and be the "on top of it A" student that is hiding somewhere deep down inside of me.

As for my life next semester, I will be going to England! it is finally confirmed now that cougarette tryouts have passed and I have once again found myself lingering in the tryouts until the last round and then getting cut... sigh.. haha. But I did my best so I feel good about the outcome :) It was an insanely competitive audition this year. Probably the toughest yet. 77 girls fighting for the 3 open spots on the team! It was really a fun audition though :) congrats to my long-time friend Caitlyn Southwick who I danced with from the time we were little 6th graders - t0 12th grade for making the team! She is a beautiful dancer with flawless technique and I am SO excited that she made the team :) As for me... maybe next year? ;) haha or maybe i'll just take the past 3 years of auditions as a sign that maybe Cougarettes isn't for me lol. But what the heck.. no hurt comes from giving it a try anyways!

me and Caitlin on the Carousel in Central Park in 2006 after competing in NYCDA nationals

the one thing I did realize after Cougarette auditions however was.... just how MUCH I really am out of shape! I couldn't even walk the day after tryouts lol. And I think my knees were even more bruised then they were last year after auditions :) So, since I now fully realize how out of shape I've let myself get, I have recruited Ki as my personal trainer to get me back in shape. He took me to the gym on Monday and said he would "take it easy" on me since i was still sore from cougarette tryouts (yeah right, I can't believe i fell for that one) haha cause if I couldn't walk Sunday I REALLY couldn't walk yesterday! But sore is good :) even if it does make me whine a bit.
Monday after we worked out, we got to go to the Jazz game! It was a lot of fun :) I still think that I must be a good luck charm for the Jazz, because every time I go they end up winning. The only downside to the game were the guys sitting on my right. While they were pretty entertaining in a lot of the things they said throughout the game, they were a bit tipsy and each had a few too many beers to drink. In fact the guy sitting immediately to my right became so tipsy that he dropped his beer on the ground right next to my feet! It was so gross, and it got all over my shoes. So you can imagine my relief when he stood up to leave the arena for what i hoped would be a search for some paper towels to mop up the foul smelling liquid that was all over the ground in front of me. But it turns out that while I had hoped he was going to track down a mop, he really had just gone to buy yet ANOTHER beer. As if spilling beer all over my shoes wasn't enough as he went to sit down with his newly purchased beer he sloshed a good portion of his new beer all over my lap! Lol I just looked to my left at Ki and made my "wo is me frowny face" to which Ki and all the people to his left responded by just laughing and laughing (I suppose I probably would've found the situation highly amusing too if it wasn't ME getting spilled on all over the place haha)
Even though we had such good company in our regular seats (mild sarcasm) Kiley and I tried to move to what we thought were empty seats down in the lower bowl during half time. Haha turns out they weren't empty though so we ended up playing musical chairs like 7 times before the Usher spotted us and kicked us back up to our regular seats next to the.. not so graceful, loud drunks we had been sitting next to during the first half of the game... aw well. it was worth a try :D

Me and Ki in our matching Jazz Fan attire

Then we went on a walk to temple square to avoid getting stuck in the post jazz game traffic. Our photographer for this picture was awesome haha. He laid on the ground just to be able to get this shot. It was pretty awesome.

It was a beautiful spring night.... no signs of any snowstorms in sight. I can't wait to escape to St. George this weekend with my family for their Spring Break! (yes yes, I know... I am going on vacation in the middle of finals haha. sounds like me yes?) But the warm weather will be glorious! I cant wait to escape the snow!