♥Ashley.Whitten♥

Change of Address

2011-03-03T16:31:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone (if anyone...haha!)

Since my life has changed recently, I have decided to create a new blog featuring both myself as well as my dear husband, Brandon.

This new blog will be found at:

http://www.brandonandashleywhitten.blogspot.com

Thanks,

Ashley

I'm back...and MARRIED!

2010-10-11T14:23:00.001-07:00

Just some of the wedding pictures. :) More pics to come. Especially family pictures. :D

This is my "typical dramatic bride" look. :)

Engagement Pictures. :)

2010-07-26T10:31:00.001-07:00

Well, we finally got our pictures taken for our engagement!!! My aunt Carin did them and she did a WONDERFUL job. I did jack-squat. I basically just put them all on powerpoint and tweaked them a TAD bit (ya know, messed with the coloring, contrast, brightness...blah, blah, blah) and VOILA! Brandon and I made our announcements the other day, so we'll be trying to get those ordered and sent out pretty soon here. :) The first picture wasn't my favorite, but I thought it was still cute.

This picture made me laugh. While I do occasionally listen to some good ol' country music, I am not exactly what one would call a cowgirl. And frankly, country music makes Brandon want to puke on a spoon. Obviously the tractor was just a BIT out of place. So I do not at all find this tractor to be sexy, however the man ON the tractor... well that's just another story. One of my favorites. Bob. Is. Adorable. I thought this one was uber cute... Again, not my fave, but decent.

One of my all time favorites! It looks natural to me, so maybe that's why I like it.

Black and White. :)

Bob's face is adorable. Mine makes me laugh.

Another one of my faves. Because who doesn't enjoy kissing? ;)

Another Fave.

Mmmm... I do love my man.

I figure that sometime in the eternity that we'll be married, one of us is going to want to run over the other with a tractor... ;)

Another fave!

:) :) :) :) :)

Another favorite of mine. :)

Way good song. :)

2010-07-19T17:50:00.000-07:00

The Engagement: The Long, Non-Nutshell Version

2010-06-20T23:07:00.000-07:00

Okay, so just in case you are not a frequent "facebooker," or you are not in my ward, you PROBABLY haven't heard the news...BUT...Bob and I got engaged on Saturday! I was so surprised and so happy! Words could not describe how thrilled I was. I love him so much! More than I could ever explain!

So for all those people on facebook who have begged me to share the proposal story with them: rather than writing out the nutshell version 50 bajillion times, I decided to put the FULL story on here only once. That way, everyone who wants to can read it and everyone will be happy! Sound good!?

Thought so.

This potentially VERY lengthy story begins on Saturday, June 19th, 2010 at about 8am when Mr. Brandon (Bob) Whitten picked me up to take me out for breakfast. Now, some of you may wonder why I did not suspect anything because taking me out to breakfast is not a REGULAR thing that we do. However, Brandon was VERY convincing and told me that we were celebrating me FINALLY finding a job. Of course, I had to believe him, so I went to breakfast with him without any suspicion. We went to "The Grittle" located off of Overland road and it was AMAZING to say the least. We just started out with a side of biscuits and gravy as well as a side of hashbrowns and I was impressed with both things! When we discovered that we were still hungry, we ordered two crepes with raspberry jam and this weird (and yet oh so delicious) cream cheese-like filling. They. Were. Wonderful.

After that we were quite full and then Brandon took me home. (This was not what he had been planning to do, but I had made plans with my dear friend Jen to go out to lunch with her...little did I know that that DID kind of mess with his plans.) I hung out and did some chores at my house until Jen came to pick me up (all the while, Brandon was giving his plasma to earn some extra money) and then she and I headed over to Panda Express where we had a wonderful time eating their delicious food and catching up on everything that was going on in our lives. I had a great time and I always enjoy being with Jen. She's BASICALLY one of the most down to Earth people that I have ever known! She. Is. AWESOME!

Jen dropped me off back at home and when Brandon was done giving plasma, he came and picked me up and we headed out to Melba (yes, all the way out to Melba) where we arrived at "Walter's Butte"...or what I like to call "The Butt." Call me immature...but I find it hilarious. Bob grabbed his backpack (which contained water, a picknick blanket and sandwiches [as well as another choice item that I was oblivious to]) and we set out to hike the Butte. We had both been there before and it was one of my most favoritest things to do. So we hiked and hiked and hiked AND, just to let all of you know, Brandon is probably the cutest person to hike with. He was always grabbing my hand and helping me climb the more difficult parts. I swear, if I didn't already trust him with my life, the trips to the "Butt" as well as Kuna Caves and Smith's Crack that we've taken together sure as heck made me trust him with it! (That's right, even Kuna Caves scared me a wee bit...haha!) Well, we made it probably ABOUT halfway up the butte when we heard thunder and there were suddenly really dark clouds heading in our direction. Me, being the frightened person that I tend to be wanted to turn back. Brandon reassured me that we would be fine and that the lightning (which we hadn't actually seen at that point, but we assumed it was there since there was thunder) wouldn't harm us at all. Personally, I was not too stoked about being on top of a super tall Butte in the middle of thunder and lightning. After a little reassurance (he said that it probably wouldn't rain), I agreed to keep going. We had traveled a little further when it began pouring rain like no other. However, there was a small cave-like spot in the butte that was just so conveniently placed. We sat in there to stay dry as we waited for the rain to subside. We probably only waited for about ten minutes and then, VOILA! blue skies again. Of course, we could still see the small storm (which, by the way, is the coolest thing when you aren't in it) and we could hear the thunder and see lightning, but it was nowhere near us, plus, the weather was AMAZINGLY warm and wonderful. We headed out again and finally, made it to the top. We laid out the blanket and sat there with our little picknick, watching the storm in the distance and talking.

When we were done eating, Bob randomly stood up and pulled me up as well. I know ya'll probably don't want to hear about all the mushy gushy hugging and occasional kissy face, so I won't go into details, but let's just say that Bob suddenly got super cute. Of course, he's always super cute, but he just got WAY WAY adorable at that moment. Kind of like a lost puppy cute. He suddenly seemed vulnerable. Well, he finally started to talk and as he rambled on with his little speech, I regret to inform you that I wasn't really paying as much attention as I should have. He was just being very adorable and I was just lost in his handsome face. True story. Anyway, at one point he was like "I don't want you for a girlfriend anymore" and I totally thought he was breaking up with me. Boy was I sad or what!? Fortunately, my sadness lasted a total of about 2.3 seconds because what he said after was probably the most romantic and cute thing that he ever said. "I want you for my eternal companion." I swear, the words were like music to my ears. He then reached into his backpack and pulled out a little black box to which I exclaimed "Are you serious!!??" He got on one knee (!!!ADORABLE!!!) and opened it up to reveal my darling ring. Of course, I was on the verge of tears so I hardly noticed that beautiful little thing sitting in the box. He asked me to marry him and I said yes! I wrapped my arms around him and just hugged him for what felt like forever! I was basically bawling, but I didn't want him to know that. When my tears had pretty much gone away, I pulled away. Bob looked at me and said "You didn't answer me" to which I responded "I said yes!" Apparently I was just in so much shock that I didn't speak loud enough. Or perhaps I just thought that I said it, but really just thought it. Who knows? I was far from sane at that moment.

BUT, here is a picture of the ring that he got me. I absolutely love it! He had a bit of an advantage because a while back, we went with my brother to find a ring for his now fiance and so Bob got a little headsup on what I like. I really liked this ring because, for one, it's beautiful, but it is not too flashy and busy looking. It's just simple and easy to look at. I. Adore. It. I also adore the incredible man who gave it to me.
I must say, the picture does not do the ring justice really at all. I like it so much more in person and I really enjoy seeing it on my finger! It feels like it has always belonged there! AND, it was a perfect fit! :) I guess that I told him my ring size a while back, though I don't really remember doing that. Whatever I said about it, Brandon was really paying attention because he got it exactly right! I could not have been happier.

After heading back down the Butte, we got back to his car where he showed me the wedding band (in this case it is a wrap) which I, of course, will not actually get to wear until after we are married, and I was even more blown away by it! I was actually very shocked when he showed it to me and I liked it! It was a little more detailed and flashy than I think I would have expected, but I absolutely loved it! Here is a picture of the wrap WITH the engagement ring part.

Again, this is something that looks SO much better in person!!! The pictures just DON'T do it justice!!! I LOVE IT!!!

After all of that, Brandon took me home to change my dirty clothes and then we headed out to Buffalo Wild Wings (yes, that was technically my 4th meal that day...haha!) to have...well, wings. :D I absolutely love that place and it was even better since I was with my super amazing not to mention totally fantabulous fiance! :) We hung out there for a while and then got together with some of our friends (Spencer, Corryne (sp?), and Mary) to watch a movie with them. When the day was over, I was extremely exhausted but VERY happy. It was basically the greatest day of my life and I cannot wait until I can call Brandon my husband!!!

I will keep everyone updated on everything and will let ya'll know when we decide on a date to get married! We're working on that right now and should have one very soon!

Well, there you have it! The long, non-nutshell version of Brandon's proposal to me. ;) I hope you enjoyed it and I hope that you didn't get TOO bored!

Ashley Wallentine

Oh Goodness!

2010-06-11T12:15:00.001-07:00

So today, as I was browsing around on the internet, I was shocked to find a photo of me just randomly floating around the web. After examining the photo for a few short seconds, and after concluding that it was, indeed a cute picture of me, I decided to post it on here to share with all of you. So here it is...

BAM! There it is! Aren't I adorable!?

So, long story short, although that adorable picture of a chipmunk is not actually me, it might as well be. My cheeks look like chipmunk cheeks now because I...DUN DUN DUN!!!...got my wisdom teeth pulled yesterday...woo. So, now my cheeks are huge. And while big cheeks are definitly cute on little furry woodland creatures, they definitely DON'T look good on me. So, to save myself the embarrassment of having you see me with my chubby cheeks, I will not post a picture. Sorry to disappoint.

On a more positive note, I found a job yesterday as well. Before my dentist appointment, I went to Wahooz Family Fun Zone for an interview because I desparately needed a job. I need to earn money for college and want to eventually buy a cheap car so that I can get to school and work without having to drive one of my parents' cars around. Don't get me wrong, I like my parents' cars, but it's just so annoying to try to figure out who needs the car when. Not to mention, on the days my mother would need the car, it would be nothing short of humiliating to have my mom drop me off at work. 'Specially since I'm an adult. Which, by the way, according to my father, I am now a real woman as I am 18, graduated (from High School and Seminary), have a driver's license, not in Young Women's anymore, have a job, and have my wisdom teeth pulled out. Who would have thought that all those things would add up to being a REAL woman? I sure as heck wouldn't have guessed it.

But, back to what I was talking about, before I got all off topic-ish...I had the interview which seemed to last for friggin' EVER!!! And I think I was ready to leave after about an hour because I didn't feel like I had done very well at the beginning. I dunno, I just didn't feel like I impressed the manager all that much. So I was kind of bummed out. They told us that they would call us no later than 5pm today if we got the job. If we didn't get a call, it means that we didn't get the job. That stressed me out. Well, I got home from getting my mouth hacked at by the dentist at about 4pm or so and then at 5:30, the phone rang...DUN DUN DUN!!! So...I checked the Caller ID...DUN DUN DUN!!! And guess what it said? DUN DUN DUN!!! Okay, so that's not REALLY what it said, but I just figured that I would keep with the pattern that I had going on there. Anyway, the Caller ID said "Wahooz Family Fun Zone." I thought that was peculiar because I didn't think they would call until the next day...AND, I didn't think I got the job anyway. So, rather than sitting around like a total moron wondering if I got the job or not, I answered the phone like any normal, non-idiot American would do. AND...I GOT IT!!! Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Oh yeah, yeah, yeah! Haha! It's safe to say that I was pretty much stoked. I nearly screamed at the top of my lungs. Of course, I didn't, because my mouth was in far too much pain for that, but it's all goooood!

So then, Bob came over and we had a wonderful rest of the evening together. He ate dinner with my family and me--they ate delicious spaghetti while I chowed down on some yogurt....haha.

Overall, pretty good day yesterday. :) It was a great day that I didn't think was going to be all that great!

Senior Pictures :)

2010-06-08T08:37:00.000-07:00

My Young Women's President, Alesha Russo, did my senior pictures and I think they turned out really good. :) She's so amazing and I appreciated her doing them so much!!! I procrastinated getting them done for a long time, so it was so wonderful of her to take them so quickly! This first picture is...well, me. Haha. You just can't put a girl like me in front of a camera and expect me NOT to make a face! :)

One of my favorites.

Also like this one. :)

This is probably my all time favorite. :)

And this is a close second. :D

I love him. :)

2010-06-04T10:44:00.000-07:00

Ashley....is blogging....

2010-06-03T21:37:00.000-07:00

FROM HER NEW LAPTOP!!!! YAY!!!
:) Bob (aka, the most wonderfullest man in the entire universe whom I love more than my own life!!!!) and my parents (aka, two very legitly awesome people) got it for me for GRADUATION! And I'm STOKED!!! It's AMAZING!!!
So graduation....was long. And slightly boring, but aren't all graduations?
But...it's over now...and I'm OFFICIALLY done! FOREVER! *Evil chuckle*
Yes. It's grand.
And that is all I have to say.
So bye.
Farewell.
Hasta La Vista.
Au Wieterzein (sp?)
Tot ziens.
Au revoir
Tchao.
Yeah....

Oh man oh man oh man oh MAN!!!

2010-04-28T17:35:00.000-07:00

I....have mono. Exciting, eh?

Well...it's really not exciting at all. Hmph. I've been in and out of school for a week now...and it will probably last another few weeks or so. I go to like ONE class every day (because that's pretty much all I have energy for) and then I do a LOT of homework at home. It's pretty insane. And not necessarily in a good way.

BUT, I have pretty much the bestest, nicest, most wonderfullest boyfriend in the entire world.

He's come over every single day and he has basically kept me SANE! He puts up with all of my being sick feeling and random cravings (yes, they are quite random. Popcorn seems to be the main one...hmmm). He's just wonderful.

Oh Thursday, he came over and we watched the 1st Lord of the Rings (Fellowship of the Ring) extended edition, of course ;) and then on Friday, we watched the 2nd (The Two Towers) also extended edition and THEN on Saturday, we watched the 3rd and final one (Return of the King)...you guessed it, extended edition. Dude...I love those movies. And they are even better when you're watching them with a handsome man. :)

Anyways, Prom was Saturday night, but since Brandon/Bob is 22 (his birthday was on Tuesday last week!!! :D), he couldn't take me (the MAX age for school dances is 19 apparently...?) and, I got mono, so it didn't really matter anyway. But, my dearest mother and father made a delicious and nice dinner for he and I. They made steak and potatoes and then we had chocolate fondue after dinner. It was wonderful. Then, I was feeling really good after dinner (something that hadn't happened for a while) and so Brandon and I went to Kim's house (Kim is Brandon's sister) and played some games with her and her husband. Overall, it was pretty rad.

But yes, other than the mono thing, life has been pretty grand. :) I'm just hoping I get over this mono before summer. Summer with mono would be no bueno.

Also, something that I didn't blog about earlier...a few weeks ago (the Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of Spring Break...aka, General Conference weekend), Brandon and I took a little road trip to East Idaho to visit my brother and Katie as well as some of Brandon's family and mission buddies. It was basically legit. There is nothing greater than spending 4 straight days with your best friend/boyfriend. We first stopped in Pocatello and spent the night there (unfortunately, Katie had a huge test the next day and we were unable to see her much). Brandon and I stayed up until like...3am playing guitar hero and super smash bros brawl! Haha! It was so fun! (And I'm not even that big of a video-gamer). The next day (Friday), we hung out with Jason a bit while Katie went to take her test and then we headed to St. Anthony to visit Brandon's Aunt Gloria and her family. That was way fun. We went to the church with Brandon's uncle Alvin (I THINK that was his name...) and some of the kids and we played dart tag in the dark. It was HILARIOUSLY fun!!! Friday night, a bunch of Brandon's aunts and uncles (there are 16 kids in his dad's family...WOW! Not ALL of them came. haha) came over and we played lots of games and had a grand ol' time. We played a game called "Curses" that was HILARIOUS!!! I think I know what game I'm buying! ;) Then on Saturday, Brandon and I accidently slept in, so we missed half of the first session of conference, but we got the last half, and the second Saturday session of conference. :) Way good talks. THEN, we drove to Rexburg and went to dinner with a mission buddy (and the mission buddy's girlfriend) of Brandon's. Afterward, we went to Rigby to hang with another one of Brandon's mission buddies and his girlfriend. So it was kind of like a triple date? haha. Anyways, it was way fun to meet them. Brandon and I spent the night in Rigby and then on Sunday morning, we headed back to Pocatello to catch the Sunday morning session of conference with Jason and Katie. After the session, we began the 3 and a half hour long ride back to Boise. It was quite grand. We tried to catch the Sunday afternoon session of conference on the radio, but there was so much static, we couldn't even hear the talks. I went back and read the talks later. :) They were quite fabulous. Overall, the trip was way fun, and over WAY too fast. We had been planning it for a while and it NEVER seemed to come fast enough...and then it was over too fast. Sad day. :( BUT, in Brandon's words...I "thoroughly enjoyed it."

Well, that's all I got for ya for now!

-Ash

The Butte and Arctic Circle...doesn't get much better than that. :)

2010-03-30T15:42:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago (or so), Jason and his girlfriend (Ooooooh), Katie came into Boise from good ol' Pokey and spent some grand time with me and my boyfriend (Oooooooh!), Brandon/Bob. It was quite fun and fabulous. The Saturday they were here, we went and hiked the Butte out in Melba and then went to Arctic Circle afterward. It was a blast!!! The first picture is Jason....yep, that's Jason. ;)

This was the "Vampire Cave." It seemed to fit, since Brandon IS in the middle of reading Twilight right now...Haha! I must say, his serious face is much more impressive than mine...

Me and Brandon. He's such a man. Go ahead, just say "Awww..."

Brandon climbing in an awkward position and me looking like a total model. Haha!

Jason and Katie. Notice Katie's shoes...they are my ten year old sisters...ha!!!

More of me and Brandon. We're basically LEGIT!

Brandon and me before climbing the Butte. Isn't he a stud?!

After at Arctic Circle. Not sure what we were doing, but we are the most photogenic people you would ever meet...that's for sure...

This, was right after I had slammed my elbow into the cliff. Thus the pained smile on my face. Brandon was having a grand old time pulling faces...as is obvious.

Jason trying to look cool (haha JK!) and Brandon helping me climb. How sweet is he?

Bob and myself. :) Aren't we cute?

2010-03-15T21:57:00.000-07:00

Me and Bob....we're rad and we know it. :)

FINALLY A NEW POST!!! :)

2010-02-13T19:10:00.001-08:00

SOOOOOO I am FINALLY posting something new! (Here ya go, Sister Steele! :D) When we first bought this dress (for $12 dollars at JC Penny) it was size 14 or 16, can't remember which and it was strapless and the back was WAY too low. So, we saw this as a great opportunity to get a personal progress project finished. Anyways, after 10+ hours of hard work, my mother and I finally got it finished today! :) It was kind of hard and required a lot of sewing, picking seams and more sewing, but it was so worth it! It's not perfect, but I think it turned out GREAT, especially considering that neither of us had ever done anything like this before!
PS-don't pay attention to my face....no makeup and unfixed hair....lovely.
Also, to enlarge the photos, just click on them. :D

This made me laugh...gotta love SNL :)

2010-01-16T10:37:00.001-08:00

Oh my good golly gosh!

2009-12-30T13:13:00.000-08:00

I just realized that I never even blogged about Christmas! How awful of me! That is so horribly unchristmasy of me I just can't stand it!
Welllll... for Christmas this year, I got a snuggie (which, by the way, is pretty much the coolest nothing ever. It was a genius and yet so simple invention...). Santa Claus tried to find me a hot pink one (cause it would have been LEGIT) but he told me that only blue ones were left. So that's what I got. It's all gooooood though. Cause I loves blue. :) As you can see below...that's me in my snuggie. :) I think I look like I should be in Hogwarts.

Alsoooo... I got some more canvas boards and paints so I can do more FABULOUS paintings of places in Europe. I am currently working on a painting of Rome. Hopefully it will turn out FAIRLY good. :D Below is a painting that I did of Gent, Belgium a few weeks ago. (PS, to see it enlarged, click on the picture.) It was my first time ever painting with acrylics, but I was pretty happy that I was at least able to do it. You may notice that the painting looks a little sloppy...it's in the style of Impressionism (so the way Monnaie painted, among other artists) so it is SUPPOSED to be a little sloppy. You're supposed to see the paint strokes and such. Anyways...there ya go. Haha.

This is a random charcoal drawing that I did one Sunday when I was bored. Haha. The face and hair look lame...but that's my prom dress. :)

I did this charcoal drawing last year in art class. Guess who!? :)

Well, that's all I got for ya! I hope you all had a Merry SAFE Christmas and I wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR! Talk to you next year! :) ~Ash

Whoa...long time!

2009-11-29T18:02:00.000-08:00

Sooooo....it's been freaking FOREVER since the last time I blogged! So...if any of you were waiting anxiously to see how my life is going, I apologize for keeping you waiting. Well, the only major thing that I can think of that happened recently was the Harvest (Sadie Hawkins) dance that was earlier this month. It was pretty fun! I asked a boy named Josh that's in my ward and we dressed 50's (just in case you couldn't tell from the pictures) :D. It was pretty great. We (the girls) made the boys breakfast in the morning and then we all went ice skating. We dropped the boys off at about 3ish and then picked them up again at about 6. We ate dinner and then went to the dance for a bit. Afterwards, we went back to my house for doughnuts and hot chocolate. :) We had a great time! The first picture is of me and Josh, all decked out in our 50's outfits.
Hannah and Tom in their LEGIT togas!
Alex and Sarah. Go BSU! :)
Skye and Johnny with their X-men shirts.
Rachel and Jesse with their matching shirts!
Yeah...I wasn't ready...?
This...is my favorite picture. Unfortunately, it is also the only one that didn't really turn out. It's WAAAY dark. But anyways, Josh is combing his hair (he had a comb in his back pocket! lol) and I'm looking at him like "ooh-la-la...?" haha.
The group!
Again! Tom, Hannah, Skye, Johnny, Jesse, Rachel, Sarah, Alex, Josh, and ME!!! :)
Only some of the coolest people you would ever meet....
They wouldn't quite making him laugh!!! ;)
Dinner!
Dinner again!
Difficulties with the glasses...
Take that!
So anyways, it was pretty great. Also, this week, on wednesday, Hannah, Tom, and I went to the temple before school. We decided that we (along with our friend Mike who could not go on Wednesday due to a Seminary Council meeting) are going to go to the temple at least twice a month before school on Wednesdays. It's a pretty grand Idea, we thought.
OHHHH! And Thursday was THANKSGIVING!!! So Happy LATE Thanksgiving! Gma and Gpa Wally came over on Thursday for dinner and then on Friday and Saturday, we hung out at Gma and Gpa Decker's house. Caitlyn and I wrote a freaking awesome spoof to "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus. It went a little something like this:
I hopped of the plane at SLC
With my Bible and my BOM
Welcome to the land of the LDS
I think I'm gonna fit in

Jumped in the shuttle here I am for the first time
Look to my right and I see the temple square sign
This is all so crazy!
Everybody seems so righteous

My heart is pounding and I'm feeling kinda anxious
Teachin' discussions will be no sinch
But then the shuttle man turned on the radio
And a Mo-tab song was on X3

So I put my hands up
It's such a great song
The spirit is so strong!
I'm folding my arms like, yeah!
Bowing my head like, yeah!

I put my hands up
It's such a great song
It's all going great for me
Yeah, I'm excited for the MTC X2

I got to the door at the MTC
Everybody's lookin' at me now
Like "Who's that chick with the pretty eyes
She's gotta be worth eight cows!"

So hard with my mom not beside me
Definitely not my old ward's parties
Cause all I see's a mob of ELDERS!
I don't see a single SISTER!

And it goes on and on and on and on...but I'm just too tired to type the rest of the song as it is not exactly short. Anyways, Caitlyn and I are in the process of filming it and putting in on YouTube, so then I will post it here when I'm done. :)

Anyways! I'd better get going! Got some homework to attend to!!! :)
Ash

Oh My License!!!

2009-10-30T16:56:00.000-07:00

GUESS WHO GOT HER LICENSE TODAY!?!?!?

MEEEE! THAT'S WHO!!!
AND IT IS ABOUT STINKING TIME TOO!!! SINCE I'M ALREADY 18! WHOA! I'M OLD!!! :D
JKJKJK

WELL....NOTHING ELSE TO REPORT EXCEPT THAT I'M SUPER DUPER HAPPY!!! AND STOKED!!! AND....YEAH....

ANYWAYS! TALK TO YOU ALL LATER! HAPPY HALLOWEEN TOMORROW!!!

XOXO
ASHLEY

Show Some Respect!!!

2009-09-29T14:42:00.000-07:00

Cause I'm an adult. RESPECT ME!!!

Haha, just kidding. Well, not about the "adult" part. Cause I totally am. And you can just tell. Cause ever since I turned 18, I've been like MEGA mature. Like today at lunch when I ate 5 1/2 cookies and then ran around the hall with my cousin (well, first cousin once removed) singing a song and teasing the sophomores. Yes, it is nice to be mature.

Hmm....I think that's all I wanted to say. I just wanted to let you all know how maturely mature I am. Be jealous...er....

Ash

OINK!

2009-09-23T18:21:00.001-07:00

Once upon a time, Ashley used to think that pigs were adorable. Cause in all honesty....they are....er....WERE. I mean, just look at that little guy....That's right, appraise his awesomeness.

BUT THEN! Due to a turn of VERY unfortunate events....Ashley decided that pigs are dumb and she dislikes them with a VERY VERY strong passion.

The End

Okay, so that's not really the end of my tale. But I am not really in love with pigs right now. Cause guess what!? I might POSSIBLY have swine flu. Gross. I've missed school for 3 days already and it doesn't appear like I will be attending school tomorrow either. Which BITES...cause it's my 18th birthday. Lamesauce. So I wrote a little song. Some of you may know the "Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day..." song. Well, here's mine...

"Swine flu, Swine flu, go away...come again when it's not my freaking 18th BIRTHDAY!!! Or just stay away forever...that'd be good too...."

Now, my tale is finished....

'Tis been a long time....

2009-09-17T21:03:00.001-07:00

So today was my last day of driver's ed. Well, the classroom part. (I turn 18 next week, but I was in driver's ed because [if you've read my blog a lot, you'd know this...haha] driving age in Belgium was 18, and so I never got a license over there [and it wouldn't have done me any good over here anyway] and so I just barely signed up for driver's ed. AND, technically, I wouldn't have had to take the lessons, but father dear said that "no child of his was going to drive any of his cars unless they took lessons." So...I did.) BUT I'M DONE NOW! Just one more drive to go before I'm done for good!!! YAY! I'm STOKED! And then I can get my license as soon as I want! (One of the advantages to being older...I don't have to wait 6 months. :D) Anyway, the two pictures are pictures of my driver's ed class. :D We had some pretty cool people in there. (And I was even able to look past the fact that they were all about 2 years younger than me!!! [probably since I was the most immature one there...er...haha]). Anyway, we made lots of cool memories and I'm gonna miss them quite a lot!!!

Laurel President

2009-09-06T16:09:00.000-07:00

So......I'm Laurel President now.

Yay?

No, honestly, it should be fun, and a super good experience, but what SUCKS is the girl whose place I'm sort of taking. She left for college and she is the most INCREDIBLE person in the whole world! Like seriously! I don't think she ever realized how much I looked up to her!

So it's a LITTLE (or a LOT) scary for me to have to fill her shoes. I'm terrified (and yes, that is an understatement...).

Plus, like all the other girls LOVE Jen (the old Laurel Pres) and I dunno...it just doesn't feel like I'm as....liked (?) as she was/is. Maybe I'm just being hard on myself, but it just doesn't seem like I can click as well with the girls.

I dunno.

I actually get set apart next Sunday (though I was called about a month ago...haha, things keep getting in the way of being set apart) they sustained me and my counselors today, so it's all good. I'm not breaking any rules by announcing it on the internet. ;)

Anyway...that's my frightening information for today.

Later!
Ash

Driver's Education

2009-09-05T12:27:00.000-07:00

Today I had drove for my first time in driver's ed. :) And guess what!? I didn't even crash! Haha! Now, you might say "So what?" but really....it is an accomplishment that I didn't crash. I learned that I'm not very good at turning--well, it's more like the slowing down before turns that I'm not so great at. I was going 40mph down Locust Grove and I was supposed to turn into Sportsmans Point Subdivision and I guess I didn't slow down enough for the turn because the car like went out of control when I turned....my bad! But in my defense, it WAS the first time I'd ever done it before. 40 was the fastest I'd ever gone in my life....haha.
Monday is my next driving lesson...hopefully I'll be a LITTLE bit better then. *sigh*. Driving is harder than it looks....

Well...I got done with driver's ed at 10 and then I took a nap from about 10 until noon. And now it's about one thirty....though it feels like it should be about 5pm....this day is going so slow....ugh. Haha.

OH! And I finished Alma the other day! YAY! And I'm about half way through Helaman! :) I'm planning to finish it probably today. :) Then hopefully I'll get 3rd Nephi done tomorrow. :D Wish me luck!!

Ash

SENIOR POWER!!!

2009-09-03T18:57:00.000-07:00

So.....basically, I just realized that I never blogged about my first day of school (which was Monday).....HOW TOTALLY CRIMINAL OF ME, RIGHT?! Haha. JK. But seriously, I probably should write a little bit about it.
Soooo it's my Senior year. YAY! I'm the top dog now. I got a top locker (which makes me feel even more superior to everyone else) and life is just grand. Actually, the first day of school....I was pretty much frightened. Like seriously. I think it was pathetic, but whatevs. I'm over the nerves now anyway, so it's all good. So...my schedule goes as follows:
A days:
1. American Government with Mr. Dawley--who is slightly intimidating but at the same time hilarious. You may be wondering how a man with the name Dawley (pronounced like Dolly...as in a little Doll...muahaha) could be intimidating....but you'd just have to know him to understand.
2. 10th Grade U.S. History (Aw, yes. One of the baby classes that I am required to make up...) with Mr. Wolf--who is also a little intimidating, but at least you feel like you can approach him without getting killed.
3. Pre-Calculus with Mr. Knight--who makes me laugh so hard it feels like my stomach is going to fall out. He tells us hilarious stories and jokes...it's grand. And makes Math a heck of a lot more interesting...
4. English with Ms. Thomas--who kind of intimidates me as well. Maybe I'm just a spineless jellyfish...or perhaps I just have scary teachers. I vote for the second. Also, not sure if she's married....hence the "Ms."

B days:
1. Honors Economics (which I found out that the only difference between honors and normal econ is that the honors classes just have to do 2 more current events than the normal...) with Mrs. Jackson--who is quite possibly the most hilarious person that I have ever met in my entire 17 and eleven months plus ten day long life. She's freaking HYSTERICAL!
2. Seminary (WOO!) with Brother Knight--who is quite wonderful. And it's cool, cause I have two teachers with the name Knight. :)
3. 11th Grade U.S. History (Ugh...) with Ms. Martinez--who I also don't know if she is married. I guess I could look for a ring or something...but I tend to be fairly unobservant.
4. Drawing and Painting (LEGIIIT) with Mrs. Ritzer--who was Miss Soper when I had her freshman year. You can only imagine my confusion when I walked into the room to see the so called "Mrs. Ritzer" standing in the front of the classroom when I knew very well that she was indeed NOT Mrs. Ritzer, but instead was Miss Soper. Turns out I was wrong...and too stupid to remember that names change when you get married.

So yes, this year is going to rock. But be slightly annoying at the same time. But I shall make the best of it. And it's gonna rock.

OH! And I realized today--I had an epiphany--that I am a way more socially awkward person than I thought I was! Isn't that great? And I thought I was pretty socially awkward to begin with. Turns out my social skills have gotten worse. *Sigh*.

Well, that's it for now!

Ash

P.S.--okay, I lied, for that is most definitely NOT all. I TURN 18 IN 21 DAYS! WOOO! ADULTHOOD HERE I COME! (But when I told my dad I would be an adult...he laughed.)

makemebabies.com

2009-08-25T09:59:00.000-07:00

makemebabies.com is only the most LEGIT website EVERR!!! This, is what our baby would look like if I ever married and had children with Gilbert Blythe (from Anne of Green Gables). It is the most beautiful baby ever. Much more beautimous than all the other babies in the world. Be jealous.

What do you think about my little new baby Poopsie?
MakeMeBabies.com - What will your baby look like?

Oh Jen....

2009-08-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

So today....was sad.
Our old Laurel President Jen is leaving for college on Tuesday and today was her last day at church. She's our bishop's daughter and is INCREDIBLY AMAZING!!! She's such a good friend to EVERYONE and she's just one of those people that you just can't help LOVING! She is just....AHHHH! No words could describe her awesomeness.
She's headed to BYU Provo and she'll do absolutely wonderful there! Of course, I'm totally jealous of everyone at BYU...because they will get her and we won't anymore. :(
Anyway, this was just a short little post to say goodbye to her! (Even though I'm PRETTY sure that she doesn't read this. :D) I'll miss her tons! I don't know what we'll do without her!
Ash

Foreva ago!!!

2009-08-19T08:22:00.000-07:00

Last February, Me, Elke (middle), and Charlene (far right) went to a Valentine's dance. Girls were supposed to wear pink and boys were supposed to wear blue. Well, we went shopping that day in Holland (where Elke had moved) and we found the AMAZING shirts and glasses that you see us wearing in this first picture. :) It was a BLAST! We straightened our hair so that we matched perfectly and we even painted our nails and did our makeup the same way!!! :D Good times, good times....
It was FAAAABULOUS!
This one has officially been dubbed "Yes, I'm the snobby-looking blonde one..." Haha! JK
Did I mention FABULOUS?
Not sure what we're doing here....but that's okay.

It's exciting to know things!

2009-08-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

I don't know how many people are aware of everything that has been going on as far as my education goes. (I also don't know how many people really care either, but that's beside the point.) Just in case you weren't "in the loop" let me just fill you in a little bit. While I was over in Belgium I missed my entire sophomore year, with the exception of a year of online math and a semester of online english (the second semester I'm still trying to finish...) that I finished while I was living there. All the while, I was also taking adult Dutch classes that were three hours a day, four days a week and went on for about six months. Then, when my junior year of high school rolled around, I started attending a regular school in Belgium (all of the classes were in Dutch except for the English and French classes that were taught in...well, English and French). The problem was, once we finally moved back to the States in the middle of my junior year, not all of the work I'd done at the Dutch school could be transferred over--causing me to be very behind. It didn't look as though I would graduate in 2010 like I was supposed to.

So for a while, I'd had my mind set on just taking an extra year of high school. It seemed reasonable enough for me. After all, I'd technically had one and a half years less of high school than the rest of my friends. I didn't see it as a huge deal to take another year. Well after talking to many people, I decided that taking an extra year was NOT the direction that I wanted to take. Why prolong the high school experience? Why not just move on to college as soon as I could? What also helped me in making my decision was the fact that I felt like I was so through with high school. I hated the drama that came with it and I was so ready to move on to bigger and more mature things.

And so, I decided that I would take the GED. I learned that you can get into BYU-Idaho with a GED, if you score high enough on the ACT's. So my plan was to study hard for the ACT's and take them until I got a good enough score, and then take the GED. However, I wouldn't get to walk the line with my friends at graduation which was something that I had been wanting to do since the beginning of my high school career. Everyone told me that it wasn't really that big of a deal to walk the line, but I didn't care. It was kind of something that I wanted to do.

Yesterday, we went to the school to meet with my counselor and to plan out my senior year. We played around with my schedule for a while and, to my surprise, we were able to fit in all of the classes that I needed to make up! It was a miracle! Not only was I able to fit in the classes I needed, but I was also able to take Seminary (which I would have taken anyway, and I would have just taken one of the other classes online or something) without having to do online classes or night school and I was also able to enroll in an art class. To say that I was/am stoked would be a HUGE understatement! This means that I will be able to graduate in June of 2010 with the rest of the kids my age! I'll get to walk the line and everything! Things are finally looking up!!!

Of course, there is a SMALL downside. But it is one that I am more that willing to overlook. I will be taking 10th grade history, 11th grade history, and American Government (required for seniors) all at the same time. Yikes. But I'm determined to make it fun. The history classes were the major ones that I had to make up and I'm just psyched that I don't have to do them online. But wish me luck that I'll be able to do it!

Well, that's my good news for today!

Ash

Alma Alma ALMA!!!

2009-08-11T17:14:00.000-07:00

So basically I'm a total spirichal person, it's official.
I am now OFFICIALLY in Alma! WHAT!?
And I'm determined to finish it in 4 days! Woot!
It means about 40 pages each day!
I'm so gonna do it!
But I'll need all the help I can get!
I'm way excited though!
Well hmmm....what's happened in the past week?
I went camping at the Walker Family Reunion. We got totally rained on. But other than that, it was pretty legit, I suppose. Oh, and I'm also writing a new story. It's fabulous, just to let you know.
And I won awesome prizes from the library, just for reading for 15 hours this summer!!! I got them like a week ago. They gave me a free book (it's called "Heartbeat" and it's amazing, just to let you know), A Boise Hawks ticket, an Applebee's coupon thing, an Ice world 2 for 1 coupon....um, 2 airheads....and....A GIANT PIXI STICK!!! IT'S HUGE! :D I was in heaven. Muahaha!
And today, they called me and told me that my name was drawn to win 4 day tickets to the YMCA (woot!) and something else that I didn't understand....haha. But I'm going to pick those up probably tomorrow! Woot!!!
Anyway, that's my awesome news for today! Yay!
Hope all is well with everyone in the world (*sigh* if only if only we could have world peace...). School is almost here which is not so grand, but I'm a SeNiOr!!! Which is TOTALLY awesome! One more year Babe-ay! Dunno if I ever mentioned it on here, but I was planning on taking another year of high school (to make up for all the things I missed while I was in Belgium). Except now, I think I've decided to just take the GED instead of taking another year. YAY Me!!!
Anyway, have a FANTABULICIOUSLY WONDERFABTASTIC DAY!!!

Mosiah Mosiah MOSIAH!!!

2009-08-04T09:27:00.000-07:00

Oh man oh man oh man oh MAN!
Like SERIOUSLY! Last night, was reading my BOOK O' Mormon (just like a darling little child who is actually almost an adult) and I read the books of Jacob and Mormon and all of the ones in BETWEEN! It took me only a little while (cause they are all short books). So now I'm in....dun Dun DUN!!! MOSIAH!!! And I'm totally DETERMINED to finish it today! BAM! WHAT!? See, this year in Seminary we will be studying the BOM, so I decided that it'd be a good idea to read it before the years starts. Only I started a little late, so I'm way behind. But no matter, I still have like...25ish days or something until school starts (YIKES!). AND, it is my Personal Progress Project for the value VIRTUE! Weee!
Oh! And guess what! I only have ONE MORE value experience to do with Personal Progress and then I have 5 projects to do (including reading the BOM). So I should be done...er...shortly. Except that I have online school to do as well...lame. But the fan on our laptop is broken, so I can't very easily do my online school just yet. Dumb. Oh well, I've got lots of garbage that I must do now...BORING! ;) so I must go!
Hasta La Vista!
Ash

Ashley Teases the Elderly

2009-08-02T21:32:00.000-07:00

Indeed, the title says it all. I tease the Elderly.
Okay, so not ALL of the Elderly. Just my grandpa mostly. :)
So today we went to the home of my dear old Grandpa and Grandma Wallentine. Man, some people don't like going to their grandparents' houses, but Ryan and I totally enjoy it because ever since May 2008 (when Ryan and I came to visit from Belgium and stayed with my grandparents for two weeks--Gramps says it felt like 6 months....:D) Ryan and I have totally had a grand old time teasing my darling grandfather. Oh believe me, it's a blast!
He's a total choco-holic and so he has stashes of M&M's stashed pretty much EVERYWHERE! Ryan and I didn't know this until once (while we were staying with them) Ryan accidentally knocked one of the hats off of the bookshelf in the den (my grandpa is also a big hat collector) and behind it was a mug FILLED to the BRIM with Peanut M&M's! So then we started taking all the hats off of the shelves and BEHOLD: mugs of M&M's and their chocolaty and peanuty goodness behind every hat! Of course, we are good little children, so we didn't steal any when grandpa wasn't there. No, we waited until he was there so that he could yell at us. (Actually, he more like pretend yelled. Because he loves us. Who wouldn't?)
So today, we joked around about his secret hoards that really aren't that secret anymore. And we ran all fast-like into his den and pulled one of the hats off and VOILA! we scored some choc-oh-lat-ay! And Gramps was right behind us and grabbed the cup all quick-like from me. It displeased me. But, being the wonderfully and excellent person that he is, gave us some of that amazingly righteous stuff. I grabbed a WHOLE handful! :D
And then we teased him more. And he gave us some of the best advice ever. He told us "Don't be careless with your money." Well, what he really said was "Darn kids need to go home now" (of course, he laughed while he said it) but we knew what he REALLY meant. And that is to "not be careless with our money." :)
Then comes the grand game of Croc-o-nole (sp?). I really have NO idea how to spell it, but the correct spelling is insignificant to my story anyway.
So when Ryan and I were staying with Grandma-ma and Grandpa-pa, we played the delightful game of Croc-o-nole (or whatever). Ryan and I were on a team and the dear old couple was on a team. To put it simply and nicely, we kicked their trash. Ryan and I laughed and joked (and teased the grandparents) the whole time and Grandpa blames our adorable (or did he say obnoxious...?) behavior for him losing. Only, Ryan and I are amazing, so that's how we won. Muahaha! Well, we teased him about that today too! We worded our teasings quite brilliantly, if I do say so myself...which I just did!!! They were just TOO COOL FOR WORDS, YO! Anyway, then Gramps gave us another wondertastic piece of advice. He told us "Don't do drugs and love your mother" though it sounded a lot more like "Ohhh, just go home. Haven't you been here long enough." Ryan and I can just tell what he REALLY means when he says stuff. :)
Ryan and I have a master plan. The master-osity of it is just so spiffed out that you will probably lose your pants when you read about it. So here it is:
Tomorrow Ryan and I are going to take a "mysterious" trip to Walmart (and by Walmart, I mean my grandparents house). But on the way, we are going to stop at Winco or some excellent place like that and buy a bag of Peanut M&M's. Then we'll head to "Walmart" (muahaha) and knockety knock on the door. When the grandparents open the door, then we'll be like "SURPRISE" or something along the lines. We'll hide the M&M's and say we are there for a visit. And THEN, when we are all seated, we'll go into the den and steal some M&M's. When Grandpa gets mad at us, we'll say "Well, see, we were having a huge craving for M&M's, so we went and bought some..." [show him the M&M's that WE bought] "...but where's the fun in that? We decided that there was just no excitement in buying our OWN M&M's. It's much more fun to steal them from our dear Grandpa. I mean, where's the PUNCH in buying some?"
Yes, it is a grand idea. And so then as we were driving away, I yelled out the window in a menacing voice to my grandpa "We'll come back tomorrow!" He just laughed, whatever that's supposed to mean.
But yes, it was grandly grand.
Peace out!

Oh the joys of....dun dun DUN....doctors....

2009-07-27T18:32:00.001-07:00

So...today was fairly uneventful. Oh, except for the fact that my mother took me to the doctor today where they took me to a nice little room with lots of pretty pictures and turned on "Mulan" for me to watch. I was quite content. That is, until Mr. Doctor starting HACKING AWAY AT MY TOE! Okay, so that's a little harsh sounding, I supposed that "Chiseling away at my toes" would be a much more soothing word...or perhaps not. The correct word is insignificant and I digress. So I've had this horrible in-grown toenail for a while now (like 2 years, to be exact) and it had really started to get on my NERVES! It wasn't really that horrible LOOKING, just a little bit swollen, but it HURT LIKE HOLY HECK! (Not that I'm saying Heck is HOLY in any way. Because it's not...) Anyway, so I finally got to the doctor and it's fixed! For now. :D Sometimes you have to get it fixed more than once I suppose. This is the 2nd time for me. Whoop-de-doo! I'm just praying that it will work and I won't have to go through that torture again! Okay, so actually it wasn't that bad DURING the operation. Because my toe was numb. AND I was watching "Mulan", so it's all good. No, it's NOW that it hurts. :P I can't really even walk. So I'm on crutches right now. Well, not right NOW since I'm sitting down. But yes, crutches are a gift from heaven. I just have one thing to say about them....THEY HURT YOUR ARM PITS!!! AHHHHH! Like REALLY! I even put some handy dandy towels on them to make them softer. Well, it DIDN'T really work all that FABULOUSLY! But, on the positive side, I probably won't need to use them after today. Because hopefully I'll be able to walk tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day and so on and what not. Anywho, the picture below is of my toe. It's beautimous all wrapped up in fancy-shmancy bandages and such. Woot! And you can't really tell from the picture, but my foot is WAY swollen! The picture doesn't give the swollen-osity of it much justice, but that's life I suppose. I must say, that I didn't feel a single thing while the doctor was wreaking havoc on my poor toe. Just some pushing and pulling. It wasn't until he put on this weird chemical stuff to kill part of the nail bed that it started throbbing, but like I said, I'd been through it once before, so I knew what to expect. :P So now here I sit, writhing in pain (I'm not in QUITE as much pain as that statement allows you to think, but that's okay...) as I type out this super long explanation that will probably have absolutely no impact on any of your lives. In fact, I think that I maybe painted some gross pictures in your darling little brains. I could have made it worse. I could have told you all the gory details. I didn't even know all the gory details until my dear mother started telling me about them. She was watching (and trying not to pass out) the whole time. Yay her!
Well, 'Tis dinner time!
XOXO

Huzzah!

2009-07-25T17:37:00.001-07:00

Yep, that's right. Okay, nuff said. Good bye....

Okay, so just kidding.

But really, I'm stoked at this very moment in time. (And no, this doesn't have anything to do with the fact that my oldest brother, Jason, just went back to college today, which is true, but I was actually a little bummed about it...) Basically, I was finally able to get A Break With Charity from the library. I'd started it about 2 months ago, but I didn't have a library card at the time, so I used Sheali's. Well, then the time came to turn it in and I was only about half way through it. But I had to turn it in (for some reason we didn't re-new it...? haha). Anyway, I went back to get it another time and the library had misplaced it...somehow. So I placed it on hold and they notified me yesterday that it was there for me! Yay! So I got it! And I just finished it like....20 minutes ago! Oh my gosh! So amazing! It's about the Salem Witch Trials which I am currently pretty obsessed with. Anyway, it was amazing. And I would recommend it to anybody and everybody! Again, it's A Break With Charity by Ann Rinaldi.

Anywho, just thought I'd recommend that amazingly awesome book!

Ash

33 Random Things! (yes, it is a random number...)

2009-07-23T18:22:00.000-07:00

1. I actually LIKE doing laundry...
2. Going to the temple is like my favoritest thing in the entire world.
3. I tend to think out loud.
4. I tend to get into strange/awkward situations due to my thinking aloud.
5. I laugh at really inappropriate times.
6. I've never actually been to a concert. (How pathetically pathetic am I?)
7. I keep track of how many dates I've been on and how many different guys I've gone on dates with. (right now I'm at 12 dates with 8 different guys....)
8. I crave random things at random times. My big time cravings are Nutella and Potato chips.
9. I am usually unable to give into those cravings due to a lack of job which = a lack of money.
10. I like to dance and lip-sync to my favorite songs. (When no one is watching of course).
11. I play out conversations in my head. (The way I hope they WILL go, the way they SHOULD have gone...etc.)
12. I'm pretty much independent. Though some people may just say I'm a loner. Trust me, there IS a difference.
13. I write stuff. All the time.
14. I'm in the process of "compiling my personal history" in story form for a Personal Progress Project! Whoo-hoo!
15. I actually DO read my BOM every day!
16. Why yes, I do often break out in song!!!
17. I can't sing worth beans.
18. I'm currently part of the VLC, and have absolutely no intention of changing that any time soon.
19. I'm practically president of the VLC.
20. I've been counting down the days until I turn 18 for the past 5 years...
21. I can't drive yet.....at least, not LEGALLY.
22. Sometimes I talk with a British accent...on purpose.
23. I tend to obsess over characters in books. Right now my obsession is stuck between Mr. Darcy and Jacob Black.
24. I'm way interested in the Salem Witch Trials. I could read about them all day long!
25. I love the Disney Princesses.
26. I adore kids. In fact, I used to say that I was going to have 32 kids when I got older. (Key words there..."USED to say")
27. My favorite movies of all time are "Anne of Green Gables," "Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel," and "Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story."
28. GILBERT BLYTHE!!! (Nuff said)
29. Joseph Smith is my hero.
30. Batman is not quite as much of a hero as Joseph Smith, but he's close to the top of the list...
31. I can raise both of my eyebrows separately.
32. One of my pet peeves is Make-up.
33. As far as I'm concerned, boys still have cooties....;)

Shopping with Charlene and Caitlin!

2009-07-21T11:18:00.000-07:00

So last week, Caitlin, Charlene, and I went to the mall and spent about 5ish hours there just blowing our money on clothes that we really didn't need. Haha! Okay, so THEY needed some clothes, and I needed some new shirts, but whatever. :) We ate at Panda Express as well and it was DELICIOUS! The first pic was after our big day of shopping! Woot! Me and Caitlin!
Obviously, I don't have the face for glasses....bummer for me. I've been trying to find some cute ones. Contacts can be so annoying sometimes.
I loved these. I almost bought them...
Heart glasses!
Weird headband thing and funny hat!
Some shirt that Charlene tried on. She didn't buy it though.
I ALMOST bought this one....but I didn't.
Charlene's green "Glinda" dress (Glinda's is actually pink) and the yellow shirt that I bought!

Oh Em Gee (meaning Gosh) Beer on Tap!

2009-07-14T21:25:00.001-07:00

Okay, so it isn't actually BEER. But it's ROOT beer. I just wanted to see if anyone would notice that I [purposefully] left out the "root" part of it. :D
Anywho....
Speaking of Root Beer on tap, Charlene, my dear old dad, and I all went and got some tonight at A&W (which stands for Ashley & Wallentine, FYI). It was basically SO MUCH BETTER THAN ANY OTHER ROOT BEER I'VE EVER TASTED IN ALL MY ALMOST 18 YEARS OF LIFE!!! WOWZERS! Oh yeah, Charlene and Caitlin are here! I guess I forgot to mention that. :D But we picked them up last night and it is SO STRANGE but COOL having them here! I'm stoked outa my mind! WHOO!!!
Well, I have to go for now! But I'll post more randomness later!!
XOXO
Ash

From a little while ago....

2009-07-12T18:17:00.001-07:00

So a few weeks ago, I FINALLY hung out with Jacqueline! AHHH! I'd been DYING to see her practically forever! :D I was so happy that I got to see her! Jason Wald, Austen Gray, Jacqueline, and I all went to Wahooz and got unlimited passes. It was so much fun. We rode the go carts a TON and played mini-golf. :D Then Jac had to leave, so Austen, Jason, and I played Lasortag. After Austen had to go, Jason and I rode the little virtual rollercoaster thing. We both about puked. Haha. I guess we both don't do well with virtual stuff. :) Anyway, it was a while ago, but I'd forgotten to post pics. Also, as you can tell by the EXTREMELY small amount of pictures, I'd kinda forgotten to take out my camera like the whole time. :/ oops...

Family Reunion Pictures

2009-07-11T20:37:00.001-07:00

Long story short, it was amazing. :)
Krista!
Caffeine Free MOUNTAIN DEW!!! AHHH! Only in Utah....
Merry-Go-Round!
I loved that horse...
Tire swing at the Park City City Park ;)
July 4th
Again!
And again...
And, yet again.

AND I'M.......BACK!

2009-07-11T16:51:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone! (If anyone)!

I'm finally back from my family reunion in Park City! (I probably failed to mention that I even had a family reunion to go to, but I'm telling you now!) It was basically amazing, just to let you all know.

It was fabulous to see Katie and Krista again since I haven't seen them for a while. (Well, actually, I saw Katie in March, but it was cool to see them both just the same.) We had oodles of fun! We floated the Provo Canyon in inner tubes one day and it was SOOOO fun! There were a few scary parts, but it was all good and we SURVIVED! :)

Then, the next day, we went to Lagoon. I hadn't been there FOREVER! Haha! So that was loads of excitement! Wicked, is the newish ride that they have there, and might I just say....WOW! It was INCREDIBLE! Best ride in the entire park! Oh man! Just can't fathom how amazing it was!

On the 4th of July (happy late 4th of July, by the way) we watched the firework show that they put on in Park City. It was pretty wonderful, not gonna lie. The finale was CRAZY! :) But that's the way we like it. :)

Brittany (my first cousin-once removed) came with us to the family reunion too. So that was cool.

Hmmm, what else?

I think that's about it.
Oh, except that Charlene and Caitlin are almost here!!!

Well, it's amazing to be home! *sigh* No place like it. :)

I will post pictures when I get around to it.

XOXO

Girls Camp 2009!

2009-06-26T21:07:00.001-07:00

So these pictures....are in backwards order....but that's okay, I hope. :) The first pic, is of our ward flag. We were France, so we made a French flag that said "Sherbrooke Ward" really big in gold letters (gold for virtue) and then we made little footprints (with our hands) all over it. (For the "Amazing Race", which was the theme of this year's camp.) :)
This was the plank walk. Yeah, we (meaning our whole ward) basically dominated. This is Sister Smith, Sister Webster, Sister Griffen, Me, and Alyssa Brotherson doing our part to help out the team. :D
Again.
We found a FLUTTERBY! I was quite pleased.
This is beautiful. And I'd like to take credit for the picture taking skills, but I have to give credit to Skye Cranney (for ALL these pictures actually. I stole them from her facebook....muahaha. haha)
On our hike.
Me, Mikayla, and Skye. We are amazing. And I love these girls. They are really probably the two most amazing girls that you'd ever meet. I consider myself very fortunate to know them.
I'm a smurf. Cause that's how I roll.
Ladies in blue! Skye, me, and Becca.
Me, Skye, Christina, and Amanda all ready for skit rehearsal. We are attractive, no?
Talk to the hand ya'll.
Oh snap.
Our darling little sign. Yes, it was fabulous. :)
Me in front of the Haulocast cabin....haha.
The Haulocast cabin with a duct-taped window. It was spooky.
Skye and I have BLUE BLUE BLUE eyes! :)
2 kool 4 wordz...
Last two pictures are courtesy of Miss Sarah Elizabeth Allen (who I always call by her full name, FYI). This was us waiting to do our magnificent skit rehearsals. Go YCL's! Skye, Becca, me, Christina, and Amanda. Not sure why Becca wasn't all fancied up, but that's beside the point.
Me, Mikaila, Skye, Sarah Elizabeth Allen, and Kirsten being amazing. What else?

Greatest song ever written!

2009-06-10T14:00:00.001-07:00

Coolest ssong on the planet. Seriously you guys. The BellyButton Song! Woo!

Mountain Dew and Mital.....

2009-06-01T22:11:00.000-07:00

DON'T MIX!!!
Just thought you all should know that.
Yeah, when you are going to take Mital, DON'T take it with Mountain Dew and then finish the can off afterward.
Yeah, 2 pills has the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee....

So you may wonder how I know that they don't mix....
Well, I tried that today.
Yeah, BAD IDEA!
I was just sitting around, helping my brother in the kitchen, when I start like shaking uncontrollably and laughing for no reason at all!
Oh my gosh I was so scared! Haha!
I have like 0 tolerance for caffeine, I suppose.
Which is good, cause it shows that I like NEVER drink it! Haha!
Anyway, I thought I'd just share that nice little piece of knowledge with you all since I hadn't blogged for a while. :)

Ash

The Sky is....

2009-05-22T14:47:00.000-07:00

Blue.

(There ya go Sister Steele, there's my positive thought for the day. :P)

Yeah, but I actually had a fabulous day today. Except for when I got home because parents like to be lame and ridiculous to their nearly-adult daughters, I decided. Rude. But whatever. It's a long and retarded story that I won't get into (of course, I'm totally in the right. because parents are good at being in the wrong...).

So seminary was super fun. Dunno why. Just was. And lunch was relaxing. And then in English we watched the movie "The Great Gatsby" because we just finished reading the book. It was a lame movie. But the book is good, I suppose. :) so that was relaxing. And then we reviewed for the physics final that is a week from today. I'll probably bomb it. But that's okay, because I have an 89% in the class, so even if I get a 0% on the test, I'd still have a 79%, so I'd still pass. :) Oh, and I found out that I now have a 98% in Biology. Yeah, best grade I've ever had in science. :D Yeah, I'm pretty stoked.

And I decided that I'm going to either A) ship my parents off to Tonga so they can't annoy me and boss me around in unreasonable ways anymore or B) move out and live on my own. (which is really sounding amazing right now.)

Dude, I'm almost 18. Shouldn't parents treat me like I'm 18? Or at least give me the CHANCE to be responsible. Retarded.

Sigh

2009-05-11T18:52:00.000-07:00

I'm like Waaaaay tired today! Ahh!
I took like a....3 hour nap even and I'm still just zonked out! :/
And on top of that, I have allergies....gross. And a cough....grosser.
AND (you're going to get soooo tired of me complaining) I'm super duper stressed out! Ah!
I failed my Algebra 2 final exam for my online class, so I'm supposed to retake it. Well, you'd think that after going through it 2 times, I'd understand it all, right? Well, wrong! Grrr. I'm so horrible at math. Math should be illegal....seriously.
But oh well, life goes on, I suppose.
So today was fairly uneventful. I woke up late, rushed to get ready, had an unproductive and slow morning as office assistant first period, totally butchered my self-portrait in art, ran my butt off in gym, and then nearly died from a coughing fit in Biology.
And then tomorrow...
I'll wake up super early so that I'll have time to work on my online Health class before school. Then head off to school where I have Seminary 2nd period (I don't have a first period on A days), study math during lunch, sleep my way through English (okay, so I probably won't fall asleep, but I'dd be super tired), and then barely make it through Physics.
Yeah....it's going to be super exciting....maybe.
Wow, this post is really pessimistic sounding. And I wouldn't want you guys to think that I was some negative, depressed child, now would I???
Of course not!
So I just decided that I'm going to be positive all day tomorrow. No matter how gross I feel, or annoying people are....I'm going to be nothing but OPTIMISTIC! Woot! :D
Haha.
I'll let you know how that goes. But for now, I must get going!
XXX
Ash

Prom 2009, Part 3: The Pictures

2009-05-03T14:45:00.000-07:00

Okay! Here's the pictures that we took before prom! I have a ton of them, and I chose my very favorites! :D The first one is what happens when I try to walk "gracefully" down the stairs in a huge dress! Scary...I know.
Trying to pin on his flower. Yeah, my mother basically did it all...
Dufur and Sheali! Woot!
The Corsage! (That Aunt Terri made! She also made Kyle's Boutonniere [or however you spell it])

When I sat in the car, my dress poofed up all the way to my face. I swear, I wouldn't have even needed a seat belt, I had my own airbag right there.
My mom wanted this picture. She was like "turn toward each other." And I was like "this isn't a wedding..." haha!

The group!
Strong...?

I'm so gangsta...
Don't mess...

While I am infatuated with my dress, Sheali looks off in the distance, while Kyle talks to Dufur about something unimportant...probably cars or video games.... :D
Oh SNAP!
Amanda, Sheali, Mekensy, and me!
Again!
They said "Show some leg!" Yeah...couldn't really get all twelve-ish layers of my dress lifted up.
Our group and Amanda's and Kensy's group.
Dinner!
Again!
Leaving for the dance.
Prom was loads of fun! I really enjoyed it! I didn't go to sleep until about 3.30 or so. Haha! I wore my dress from about 6pm-3.00am! haha. I didn't wanna take it off! :D

Prom 2009, Part 2: Getting Ready

2009-05-03T14:25:00.001-07:00

This is the getting ready portion of my pictures! Woot! My wonderful Aunt Terri (Who IS wonderful, just to let you know) fixed my hair all pretty-like for the dance! :D I was so excited that my hair actually CURLED! I've never been able to get it to hold in curls!
She was so good at it!
This was BEFORE she clipped it all down. :) Crazy hair!
This was the finished product. And even after that, I asked her to change the front of it a little to make it not as big. I was super impressed though!
Sheali and I raced into my house to get our dresses and makeup on and Kyle played the piano while he and Dufur waited. I didn't even know Kyle could PLAY the piano...
Me putting on more make-up.
Me still putting on make-up, and Sheali doing....something. :P
Mom got a kick out of this. This is known as "Ashley trying to get her shoes on while wearing a super huge-ish dress...."
Yes, it was indeed huge.

Prom 2009, Part 1: The Day Date

2009-05-03T14:08:00.001-07:00

Okay, so there really is no great way to post pictures when you have so many of them. So if this seems a little unorganized to you, it's because frankly, it IS unorganized. :P So I'm doing this is parts. This is Part 1 as you can see by the title.
We went mini-golfing at Wahooz (we were going to go to the zoo, but there was some confusion, so mini-golf was our next choice) and it was really fun! We got rained out about halfway through (they kicked us out because of lightning) but it was still okay. We had fun.
Me and my date, Kyle. (notice the matching necklaces....yeah, only 10 tickets!)
I've always wanted to drive a Tonka truck.
We played this game....I lost....bummerr.
Oh yeah!
Sheali and her date, Dufur, and....(drum roll please) SPIDERMAN!
Yeah, I'd have to say we're fans of Spidey (but Batman could still kick his butt....)

It's here! Finally!

2009-04-30T17:01:00.001-07:00

Finally! I got to bring my prom dress home!!! I was so excited! :D Saturday is prom and it should be FABULOUS! Ahhh! I'm just so stoked! First dance EVERR! (That's right, "ever" spelled with 2 R's!) Sheali (The girl with the red dress) and her date, Dufur, are doubling with Kyle and I! We're going to the zoo! Haha! I haven't been there forever! So I'm super duper psyched! :D

!!!Dance Festival 2009!!!

2009-04-26T13:54:00.000-07:00

Video to the song we danced to for the couple's dance (the introduction with the talking was playing while we walked in):

So last night, Brandon and I had the opportunity to participate in a HUGE dance festival! For about 2 months (normally I think it was 2 1/2 months, but we've only been here for 2) we practiced 2 dances that we would perform. One, was a jazz dance (with all 6 participating stakes) to the song "You Can't Stop the Beat" from the musical Hairspray. The other was the Hustle (or as most of us called it: The Couple's Dance haha. It was only our stake.) to the song "The Rising" by Nashville Tribute, or something like that. It's an AMAZING song! I included a YouTube video of it above, and I STRONGLY suggest that you listen to it! It's Beautiful! I may be a little biased, but I think that our stake really had the best song. It was the only one that was gospel-related. It's just such a beautiful song and it was such a cool dance as well! We will be getting the DVD of the festival sometime (hopefully soon!) and I will try to post the video of our dance because it was really pretty, or so people said. :) The first picture is the couple's dance.

Couple's Dance Again.
Jazz Dance. There were 1,400 kids down there dancing!!!
Jazz Dance. There's me right there! With the red circle around me. Brandon is off to the right, if you can see him.
Jazz again. Me circled, and Brandon to the right again.
Couple's Dance. Me (with the arrow pointing toward me) and my first partner, Hunter.
Finish of the Jazz Dance. Like the cheesy smile and waaaay too much make-up??? (PS, the pictures enlarge if you click on them.)

Waaaaaay too long....

2009-04-17T18:13:00.000-07:00

Wow. It's been a way long time since I last blogged. And, though not much has really happened, I figured that I might as well fill my few readers in on what's been going down in my life lately.

Well, first things first....
I'm goin' to PROM! :D I'm super excited. I'm going with my friend Kyle, who goes to Kuna High School. I mentioned him briefly in one of my earlier posts, so yeah, same person. Anyway, he and I are going together.
I already found a dress too. It's light blue and HUGE! Haha. It's really pretty, in my opinion. Anyway, it's getting sleeves put on it right now (because modest IS hottest) so I don't have it yet, but as soon as I get it, I will put it on and take some pictures of it so that you all can see! So excited! :D
I'll also try to get pictures of Prom Day. And post those as well. :) I so excited. This will be my first dance. Yay!

Anyway, I got a bunch of new books. Sheali and I made a random trip to the library and we just grabbed a bunch of books to read. I haven't finished any yet, though I've had them for like....2 weeks already. My bad. I'll be doing a lot of reading at night and on the weekends. So yeah....

Well, I really don't have much else to say, which is surprising because usually I have loads to say. haha.

Anyway, TALK TO YOU ALL LATER!!!

Ash

New Faves and New Non-Faves....

2009-04-06T20:42:00.000-07:00

Roses and Butterflies.

'nuff said.

Okay, maybe not, because you probably have NO idea what I'm talking about.
Or perhaps you do. And if you do, then congratulations. Here's a round of applause (picture me clapping obnoxiously). So what do you want? A prize or something??? Too bad.

Anyway....

"Roses and Butterflies" is a title of a song by the band Making April. In other words, that is like one of my favorite songs ever. Sheali showed it to me and I loved it right from the beginning.

It's the first song on my playlist, so chances are, you can hear it playing right now. Yay! I hope you like it as much as I do!

Well, as for the Non-Faves, I decided that I don't like Physics (even though it's conceptual physics....) or Algebra 2. Of course, those aren't exactly NEW Non-Faves...but whatever. I was doing a Physics test (I did it as a take home test...) and I could use my notes and my book and everything and it was still so DIFFICULT! GAH! Haha. But, I finally finished. No idea how I did, but I tried my very best! So hopefully I did okay. :D

I also had my very first Physics quiz on Friday. I THINK I did okay, but I kinda spaced....drat.

AND AND AND!!! On THURSDAY I have to take my final for my online math class....bummerrr. I'm horrible at math. Sucks. But I'm gonna try and hopefully I'll be able to do well.

Well....this is basically all that I have to say for now!

XOXO
Ash

My Life As A Non-Boy-Crazy 17 Year Old...Seriously.

2009-04-05T17:38:00.000-07:00

Like...an hour ago...Jason and I got back from Salt Lake City, Utah. (The whole family came, but Jason and I drove home separately while the rest of the fam drove Ryan back to Utah State University.) We went down there for General Conference and it was AMAZING to be back there again! I forgot how much I really enjoy just walking around temple square. We only attended the 2nd session on Saturday (we tried to get into the first, but it was super full), but it was really neat to actually be IN there with the PROPHET! Oh my gosh! Just so cool! My favorite time of the day, was probably right after the second session. That's when all the BOYS started coming for the Priesthood meeting. Ow OW! Seriously! There were tons of boys (and their fathers of course, but I wasn't interested in them...) lined up in Temple Square in the Stand-by line. I was in HEAVEN! I can imagine that's probably what Heaven is like...er...haha. Jk. Even BETTER, was when my parents went to get us some food, so Ryan and Brandon (Jason was in Provo at BYU visiting a friend) stood in line, while Tyler, Emily, Caleb, and I sat on a bench pretty close by. (Actually, I was the only one sitting...the kids were running around and being loud...) So I got a WONDERFUL look at all of those Righteous Dudes! And I tell you what...MY GOODNESS WERE THEY GORGEOUS OR WHAT!?!?!? There is just nothing better than righteous young men that just HAPPEN to be super-duper handsome at the same time! Wowzers! I think I'll go back every April and October!!! :D What was really funny was that I was really one of the only teenage girls nearby (most of the others went home, I'm sure...they missed out...BIG TIME!) so I got lots of funny looks from the guys. Hopefully they were "Oooo!" looks instead of "Ew!" looks, though I can't be sure. Boys are too hard to read anywho. We also happened upon Brother Hatfield and Josh Hatfield waiting in line. (They are just some guys in our ward. I'd heard they were coming down for conference, so that was cool to see them for like 5 seconds. :P)
Seriously though, I'm not super boy crazy or anything (though that whole post about boys really made me ask myself if I really am...). In fact, it's amazing how as you grow up, you go through different stages with boys. Ages 1-7: Boys? What is that? Aren't we all human? Ages 8-11: Boys are gross. They all have cooties. Uhh...ew!!! Ages 12-16: BOYS! EEEEEE!!! SHRIEKING OUT HERE!!! OH MY GOSH! HE LOOKED AT ME!!! WHOA!!! And then that brings things to me....Age 17. And I'm sittin' here thinking, "Hmm, boys are fun" one minute and then "I HATE BOYS!" five minutes later. Most of the time though, I'm just thinking that they all have cooties again. Except for when I'm sitting in Temple Square surrounded my super cute future missionaries (cause we all know that missionaries are studs...even though we aren't allowed to admit it.)--that just doesn't count. I was totally searching for some "husband material" and don't worry...there were LOTS of choices! I like to compare it to when you go to WalMart for ketchup and you walk into the ketchup aisle and there are like FIVE BILLION types of KETCHUP!!! It's like Heaven! That's what Temple Square is like! It's just like Ketchup Shopping! Except better! Because they are boys! Whoa! So yeah! When I'm older I'm totally making a trip to Salt Lake again. BIG SMILE! (This is the part where you picture me smiling cutely while shrieking "EEEEEeeee!" Really loud.)
Seriously though, I'm not boy-crazy....ahem.
Well, I'd better go before I start confusing myself and questioning my sanity....*cough cough*
Anyway, enjoy my beautimous pictures. I thought they were quite excellent.

Oh snap! Totally forgot something! It was SUPER fun to see the Mountains in Utah again! Now, they ain't exactly the Alps, but they are INCREDIBLE! *Sigh* Miss them already...
Okay, NOW it's finished! You can breathe again! Have a fabulous day!

Oh My GOSH!!! This can NOT be happening!!!

2009-04-01T17:22:00.000-07:00

SOOOOO! BIG NEWS!!!
YOU WILL NEVER GUESS WHAT JUST HAPPENED!
MY DEAR OLD FATHER GOT A JOB!!!
IN SINGAPORE!!!!
AHHHHH!!!
SO WE ARE MOVING TO SINGAPORE!!!
TOMORROW!!!!
AND I WILL NEVER SEE MY FRIENDS OR FAMILY AGAIN BECAUSE WE WILL LIVE THERE FOREVER!!!
OH MY HOLY GOSH!
HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?
THIS IS SOOOOOO NOT WHAT I EXPECTED....

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APRIL FOOLS!!!

Yeah, so you PROBABLY didn't fall for that. Especially when I said we were moving tomorrow. (not to mention the fact that the APRIL FOOLS part stood out from the rest of the post. So that was probably the first thing you saw...) That whole thing would be crazy-ridiculous. If that makes any sense at all....yeah, I didn't think so....
Anywho....it was a LAME-O thing to say, but I had to do SOMETHING for this amazing, important holiday (that is....not so important). And that was the first thing that came to my mind. Dunno why I thought of Singapore....just thought about it. :D
Anyway, so I'm NOT really moving anywhere, but I'm just staying here. Weeee.
I really don't have ANYTHING else to say, so I'mma gonna go.
Too-da-loo!
Ash

Itttttt's Light-saber Time!!!

2009-03-30T07:19:00.000-07:00

Okay, this isn't rocket science, people. Basically, My brothers and I were bored so we took out our light-sabers and had awesome light-saber fights! It was TIGHT!!! And I totally kicked their tushies, don't worry. I thought my green light-saber was quite wonderful, if you ask me. :D

General Young Women Thing

2009-03-29T09:01:00.001-07:00

Hey All. It's been a while since I blogged! Okay, so it's really only been about 4 days, but whatever. You know what I mean.
Onward now....
Last night was the General Young Women Meeting....thing. I don't actually know the actually title of it, but you know what I mean. :D
Anyway, it was pretty fun. And afterward, my mother and I went and got some delicious Ben & Jerry's ice cream!!! MMMmmm! I got the kind called "Half-Baked." Which is Chocolate and Vanilla ice cream with brownie hunks and globs of chocolate-chip cookie dough! It was FABULOUS! I didn't finish my tub of it though. It's still sitting in the freezer. But, it's fast Sunday today, so I can't have it...yet. Muahaha!
:D
Well...church doesn't start for another hour. Bummer.
It's only 10 am and I've been up since 7. So I've been ready for a while now. Fun fun. Haha.
Well, I'm going to go now, since I really have nothing else to say. :)
XXX
Ash

gasp it's GONE!

2009-03-24T11:46:00.000-07:00

So basically when I typed that title, I thought of that scene in "The Dark Knight" when the Joker does that little "Magic Trick" with the pencil where he makes it disappear. When really he just shoved it into the other guy's head...
And no, I don't usually have such gruesome thoughts.
Anyway, I'm not talking about a pencil, pen, eraser, marker...or any other lame thing like that. Nopety-nope. Instead, I'm talking about my HAIR!!!
Cause it's all GONE! Wooo!
It's like...super choppy...and like....and inch or two above my shoulders. so it's SUPER SHORT! But that's the way I WANTED it! It's like almost EXACTLY the way I pictured it in my head!
*Sigh* Dawn (the lady that cuts my hair) does such a wonderfabutistic job always!
She's only the best. Seriously!
:D
Well, I gotta go! I'm having NOODLES for lunch! YUMMERS!
XOXO
Ash

Wonderful Day!!!

2009-03-18T16:48:00.000-07:00

So today was a great day! :D
I got to sit with some of my friends at lunch today. (I hadn't talked to them in forever.) Actually, I spent like...half of my lunch time looking for Sheali to eat lunch with her. But I couldn't find her anywhere (she's one of my friends that has been nice enough to give me a ride to school a few times). So then I found Christina, and Amanda, and Rachel and sat with them. It was fabulous. :D
But yeah....what else do I have to say???
Gabby came over today. For like...and hour and a half or so. It was fun. We haven't really seen much of each other lately, so it was nice to get together and catch up a little. :)
What else???
Well, actually I think that I'm done.
OH! Forgot! I'm chopping all my hair off. Haha. I'm getting it cut like Sheali's, except a little shorter, and my bangs will be longer. :D I hope it's good. I still have to call Dawn though to set an appointment though. She wasn't home the first time I called.
Well, now THAT'S all I have to say. :D
XXX
Ash
PS-Miss you Charly!

Just like Kindergarten

2009-03-13T20:23:00.000-07:00

So basically today was my first day back at MVHS and it was....WEIRD!!!
I saw a bunch of people that I used to know that changed like TONS! It was crazy!
And my classes are all in English! Whoa!!! Who'da thunk???
But it totally felt like kindergarten...like seriously. Because I was SO STINKIN' NERVOUS! It was HORRIBLE! But it got much, much better as the day went on and I wasn't so nervous about everything.
But yeah, it's great!
I'm so happy to be back.
But I miss those people in Belgium too!
It was uber sad to leave them!
It's so odd being back in our house!
But it almost feels as though we never left!
How weird is that?!?!
Well, for those of you who find this fascinating (the whole...2 of you haha) I'm sorry to say that this is a short post. There really isn't much to report for now. This was just a little update to tell everyone that I'm alive and in the States safely.
Oh, and that I survived my first day of school. Yay me!!!
XXX
Ash

Chill-axin' is duh Shiz.

2009-03-07T12:51:00.000-08:00

Last night was super duper. We (my family) went to my uncle Ben's house and had a wonderful barbecue. And then me, Jason (the RM), Katie (my cousin who came up from BYU), and Kyle (my friend) went to Ross and went shopping. Haha. It was really funny shopping with two guys. But Jason needed some clothes (he had like nothing casual since he has been on a mission) and Kyle basically just following us everywhere and acting like he didn't like shopping for dresses with me and Katie, though we all know that he was really into it. Haha. Just kidding. Then we went to Walmart, because it's wonderfabulous and I hadn't been there for a while. I bought some wonderful (non-fizzy) water and some Stride gum (only the best).
Then we went back to Ben's house and stuffed our faces some more. Then Kyle had to go home to bbsit or something like that. And Katie, Jason, and I drove over to the dollar theater and saw Valkyrie. It was such a good movie! And we ate tons of popcorn and drank lemonade and coke (I didn't drink the coke, but whatever) and me and Katie were like compulsing in our seats from the sugar high. It was fabulous.
Well, apparently my cousin has to get on the comp. for homework. Dang.
I gotta go!!!
Love ya!
Miss you Belgian people!
Ash

Trains, Planes, and Popcorn.

2009-03-05T16:10:00.001-08:00

Well, unfortunately, this stupid computer won't let me do pictures right now. So we'll just skip that part. Whatever.
So right now I'm in Denver. Yes, Denver Colorado.
And my flight to Boise leaves in like...30 minutes or so. So I'll be home in like...er...I dunno, like....4 hours or something, I guess.
How exciting. But at the same time, super sad.
I have to admit: I knew that I would be sad to leave Belgium. But I didn't realize that I would be THIS sad. It's a bummer.
Anyway, so that covers the PLANES part of my title. I'm about to get on a plane. It's not rocket science.
The TRAINS part: my last day in Belgium, we rode to Brugge on a train and it seemed to take FOREVER! AH! haha. But it was a great way to end our stay in Belgium.
And, the popcorn. Like, 5 minutes ago, I was pigging out on true American popcorn! AMAZING! So yeah.
Things are boring right now.
Not much to do in an airport.
Dang, because I like exciting.
And dislike boring.
Odd, because after all that has happened in the past year and a half, you'd think I wouldn't like exciting anymore.
Well, gotta go!
Love you all!
See (some of) you soon!
Ash

Random Church Times

2009-03-02T07:05:00.001-08:00

(Check out the post below this one too. I ended up doing 2 posts today...again.)

These are just some pictures that were taken at church. The first 3 are from yesterday (my last Sunday in Gent) and the rest are from the Sunday before. I just thought some of these were cute. Check out mine and Charlene's matching shirts in the below picture. :D They are the same shirt, just different colors. :D Yay us! Above: Amy, Charlene, and ME!

Me, Irene, and Charlene!!!
Arne, Amy, Caitlin, Charlene, Me, Ruben, Mom, and Brandon.

I lied...

2009-03-02T06:48:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I ended up having a minute or two to blog. Yay me! Anyway, while we were in London, my dear mother and father were kind enough to get me, my mom, Jason, Brandon, and Tyler tickets to WICKED!!! It was SOOOO AMAZING! And ten times better than I had expected! Which is saying something! Because I had HUGE expectations for it! And it was SOOO much better than my expectations! It was great! And probably one of the best times of my life!!!

On the down side (yes, there was one, sadly...) I wasn't feeling too hot that day. I dunno if any guys read this, but lets just say that I had a visitor that was not fun. So my stomach was killing me all day and my head hurt, and I just walked around in my sweatpants all day with no make-up or anything. But who cares? Cause I still gotta go see Wicked!!! Haha! It was FABULOUS!
We all liked it. Even Jason, Brandon, and Tyler enjoyed it quite a bit, I think. Good thing too, because those tickets aren't exactly Cheap-o. :D

No Time What-so-everr!

2009-03-02T01:58:00.000-08:00

Hey!
I haven't updated for a while, so here you go!
I really have no time to update with pix or anything, but those will be coming soon enough, (I hope!) Though, chances are, I won't be able to do that until AFTER we are back in the States. So just bear with me.
When I am able to do it, I will post pix of London, Wicked (so good!), Disneyland (there's not very much of them. But whatever), and Church stuff. Since that's all that has been going on in the last week!
Love you all!
Ash

Fifth and Final Trip to Paris

2009-02-22T06:29:00.000-08:00

All of these pictures are really self-explanatory. So I won't go into any long, boring, ridiculous, unnecessary explanations. :D Enjoy.

Creme Brulee. Or however it is spelled. YUMMY! (And no, I'm not angry in this pic. I was just REALLY into that Creme Brulee. :D)
The Louvre

Elder Wallentine

2009-02-18T03:31:00.000-08:00

Yes, that's right, he returns to us again! Only this time it's in different circumstances, a different house, and even a different country. Not for long though.

It's so weird having him home. Not bad, good actually, but weird. And technically now he's still a missionary (he hasn't been released yet--he doesn't get released until tonight. We have to drive to Antwerpen to the stake center...fun.) so we have to be careful still. He still can't listen to "real music" (teehee) and he can't watch movies, but that's okay. He's been doing that for 2 years, so I suppose that he's used to it.

Picking him up at the airport was really hilarious. We were all waiting and acting all excited (well, I guess I should re-phrase. We weren't ACTING excited, we WERE excited, but you get what I mean.) while we held up the awesome banner that we made for him that said "Welkom in Belgie" (Welcome to Belgium)(The 2nd e on Belgie is supposed to have 2 dots over it...but these American keyboards don't allow that...) in huge letters across it. Well, Mom and Dad started talking to some guy who I guess was a member of the church too (he was waiting for his wife) and they were pretty distracted, I guess. I was getting impatient (we'd been there for like an hour already!) and had kind of stopped paying attention. So then suddenly, I look up and BAM! Elder Wallentine is right there in front of me, looking quite nervous as he didn't seem to notice us standing there. So I turn to Mom and go, "Uhm...there he is...." all casual like, and Mom goes "WOO!" and runs over to hug him in a very Mommy-type way. She was squealing so loud, I think that everybody in Belgium heard her, but that's mothers for you. :D

Anyway, that's my good news for today.
Will post tomorrow (if I find the time).
XOXO
Ash

PS~ I found out that THIS is actually my 200th post...not the one from...whenever. Dang.

200th Post!!!

2009-02-16T06:38:00.001-08:00

Holy Gosh! This is like totally my 200th post on this blog thing! Isn't that FABULOUS??? It's so fun!!! Blogging is like the coolest thing since the invention of bubble wrap!!! Like SERIOUS!!! Anyway, check out the first picture! It's me with those new FABULOUS sunglasses that I talked about in yesterday's post! Sweeeeet, I know!
But yeah, they are really amazingly crazy and intense and just....AWWWWSOME! I was pretty thrilled. Well, the next photos are all just intensely awesome ones that were taking during Mutual at Sasha's house. We made delicious dinner that was MARVELOUS! Below (from left to right): Sasha, Jessica, Me, Charlene, and Mbo!
And Again!
This is what I look like when I DON'T know that I'm getting my picture taken. I know, I'm actually normal...surprise surprise....
Hotties!!!
Darling!
The Amazing Dinner!!! The plates were PINEAPPLES!!!
Preparing the dinner.
Me and Charlene playing with Eva. She's adorable.

Pink nails, straight hair, sunglasses....and more....

2009-02-15T05:16:00.000-08:00

Yep. So yesterday was the Regional Valentine's Day Dance for my stake and some others. Earlier in the morning, Charlene and I had a temple trip (and Elke was there too!!!) and then we went over to Elke's house for a while. It rocked. It was tons of fabulous fun-ness. We went shopping and Charlene was nice enough to lend me a few euros so that I could buy an awesome purse and then we all bought matching pink sunglasses for the dance! :D They are so freaking amazing!!! We also had matching shirts that match the glasses like...PERFECTLY! That's right...be jealous. Haha. JK. And LOL. We painted our nails all awesomely pink (and I forgot to take the polish off...so I had them like that at church today...cute...) and we straightened all of our hair. It was cool.
So, the dance coulda been better, actually. I was happy I went though, because I was able to see some of my friends for the last time, but there weren't really a ton of people there. Hardly anybody danced. But that's okay, I suppose. Anyway, we ended up not getting home until like....1.30 this morning.
So now I'm like totally tired....ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!
I'm gonna go...do somethin' else.
Because I'm tired of blogging.
And talking to an unknown audience.
So Hasta La Vista!!!
XOXO
Ash
PS~Happy [late] Valentine's Day

Gotta love moving....

2009-02-13T01:30:00.001-08:00

Or rather....hate moving....haha. It's not so much the "having to be in a different place" part that I hate, but mostly the PROCESS of getting there. Last night was my last night to sleep on my soft matress. And tonight, we get to sleep on the nice, hard, tile floor. Doesn't that sound like fun? You should be totally jealous that I get to sleep there....ahem...

Well, below, you see our super-duper long truck that will take all of our belongings over the deep blue sea to our home in Meridian. Intense, I know.

This was dinner last night, which consisted of mashed potatoes (the cool instant kind the you can get at the cannery [we are trying to use up our food storage because we can't move it back to the states...]) with some strange meat sauce (that we made with this weird sausage-like meat that had been sitting in our fridge for like....2 weeks....whatever). We used paper plates and utensils (no dishes) and sat on the floor (no table). It's like camping in our own home...
This is our living room full of boxes. It's adorable, we know, and we were seriously thinking of just re-decorating our house in Meridian like this...er...not.

Leather Jacket!!!

2009-02-12T07:54:00.001-08:00

So my mom and I went shopping today (the movers were in the house packing up and there is NOTHING to do while they are here...so we really didn't have anything better to do. Plus, we figured that it wouldn't be too crowded since everyone else was in school at the time...) and we found these AWESOME LEATHER JACKETS! They are, of course, fake leather, but they are SO CUTE! So we got MATCHING ones!!! :D Which might seem like totally uncool for some of you teens, but just to let you know...it is SO COOL! haha. Of course, we prolly won't wear them on the say day. and if we do, then we'll be wearing everything else different, so it's okay. :) But whatever. They were originally about 50 euros (so that's like....I dunno....75ish dollars?) but it was marked as 50% off, so 25 euros (37.5 dollars...ish). So we were like "HECK YES!" Well, actually, mom got it first, and so she bought it (and I was like "Boohoo" because I wanted it...) but then it rang up as only 12.5 EUROS!!! AHHHH! So I was like "I'm getting one!!!" And I went back and grabbed one! Of course, afterward, mom's fit me better and mine fit her better, so we traded! Haha! But it's all good. And I got these awesome SNOOPY sweats! Because I can't seem to find my sweats...but the new ones are SOOOOO comfy and just AWESOME!!!
But yeah. Charlene and I wanted to go shopping on Saturday so that we could get pink shirts for the Valentine's dance on Saturday (we would go shopping AFTER the temple trip and before the dance...), but I don't think that's gonna work out after all. Because then we'll be gone ALL DAY on VALENTINE'S Day. And my mom is already sacrificing Valentine's Day night so that Charlene and I can go to this dance (it's like....2.5 hours driving....at least!) so I feel bad asking her to take us shopping...(sorry, Charlene [if you're reading this] but that's just too much to ask for one day...)
I also got this cute orange shirt that I saw with Marieke, Zoe, and Charlene yesterday, along with a pink and black striped shirt and a purple and black striped shirt. They are super cute!
But yeah. Tonight is the last night that I get to sleep on my comfy matress. Yikes! Tomorrow night, I'll be sleepin' on the floor!!!
Haha!...fun?
Love you!
Ash

Girls (And Brandon's) Day Out!!!

2009-02-11T09:37:00.000-08:00

2 posts in one day...again. :D Oh well. Something more exciting happened, so it's all good. So as kind of a "farewell", Charlene, Marieke, Zoe, Brandon, and I all went for a "girl's day out." Of course, it wasn't really a Girl's day out with Brandon there, but it was fun just the same. :) I felt guilty leaving him home to be bored while I was out having fun. However, I don't know that he had tons of fun...shopping never is too thrilling for a boy, but he enjoyed getting candy, and fries, and doughnuts. :D We rode the train to Gent and then rode the trams all around the city which was really cool. (Since I can't drive yet, it was nice to be able to get around without my parents having to drive me. :D)
On the way home, we ran into the Elders, and we talked to them for a few minutes. It was cool because since there are only 2 Elders for a large area, we hardly ever get to see them. So it was nice to see them for once. :) And then, we ran into Gianni and Miel on the train, so it was cool to see them again also. It was a really fun day (for me anyway) and I hope that everybody else had a really fun time! There were some sales at the H & M and some really cute and cheap clothes at the C & A, so I hope to be able to go back later this week when I have more money!!! :D

Movers, boxes, and smoke...

2009-02-11T00:02:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I'm sure you can guess what the movers and boxes have to do with my life right now, but you may be wondering about the smoke. Well, unfortunately for you, it's nothing to exciting, in fact, it's rather boring. The movers that are here right now packing up all of our crap-o-la smell like cigarette smoke...like REALLY like it. Ew. But, they are packing up the stuff so that I don't have to, so I suppose that I can be a little bit grateful. *sigh* I'm such a saint...haha. JK.
So basically I'm just sitting here bored to tears as three old guys box up EVERYTHING. They'll be here ALL DAY! Ugh. Oh well. But later, I'm going to Gent to chill-ax with Charlene and (maybe) some other friends. So that will be fun. And it will get me away from the smoke smell for a while...except that lots of people smoke in Gent too, so I probably won't be able to escape it there either. That's okay though, I shall endure it.
Well....there really is not a ton left to say right now.
Except that I can't believe that this day is actually here.
I mean, a year and a half ago, moving seemed like forever away and now BAM it's right around the corner. (Which is both a good AND a bad thing...)
*Sigh* Life is crazy, I tell you what.
Well, now I'm listening to the mover dudes blabber to each other in Dutch...oh well.
Okay, I'm just droning on and on now, so I guess that it's time for me to shut up. Since you're probably getting tired of reading this obnoxiously boring and tedious post.
Oh well.
XXX
Ash

And so everything happens for a reason....

2009-02-08T12:45:00.000-08:00

At least, that's what they SAY! Haha.
Actually, I think that I believe that even more now that I ever have in my entire 17 and five month old life. Haha.
The funny part is...
We knew that we were sent to Belgium for SOME reason. And I suppose when I really THINK about it, there are many things that could have POSSIBLY been the reason. Perhaps I was supposed to become friends with certain people over here because I would effect their lives in some way, or vise versa. Or maybe someone will join the church because of me and my family. Or perhaps this was all just to help us all grow as human beings and everything like that. It could also have been to help us get closer as a family. (Though that seems a little unlikely in MY perspective, since my siblings and I still fight a lot. :P) Or, it could be that I met someone here who would eventually be my husband or something like that. (How cool would that be???) Of course, that is just me going out on a limb here. :D
Although all of those are WONDERFUL reasons, I have to say that I was a little disappointed when the reason didn't just JUMP out at me. I guess that it's safe to say that I was kind of waiting for a really obvious "Here you go, Ashley! Here's the reason you were sent here!!!" And have the answer just spelled out right in front of me.
I guess that God doesn't really work that way, does he?
Which is really a shame for people like me who are exceptionally unobservant. :)
Well, even though I don't really have a good reason as to WHY we were sent here, I still have no doubt in my mind that this was what we were supposed to do. Just the fact that I've SURVIVED is proof that it was all meant to be.
Who knows, maybe sometime down the road, I'll see the results of this little year and a half long adventure.
Anyway, I don't really have anything useful to say with this post, but I hadn't posted for about 3 days and that just bugs me. :) So....I posted and this was pretty much all that I could think to say.

Oh yeah!
I'm working on packing my suitcase now and it BITES big time! I HATE packing. UNpacking after a move is super duper fun, but PACKING FOR a move is BORING! Haha. Wish me luck! Hopefully I won't DIE of boredom! :D

XXX
Ash

Last Day of School....

2009-02-05T07:35:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was my last day of Belgian school. It was happy and sad. Happy because I don't have to worry about taking classes in another language anymore. Sad because I made lots of friends and it was really horrible to have to just walk away from them....possibly for the last time ever.

Spazztastic Adventures....

2009-02-03T11:46:00.000-08:00

This is a result of when Gianni steals my camera. He takes random pictures during Dutch class. :D
Gym class....don't ask. :)
Gym class again. Stefanie, Laurien, and Lynn.
Me, Laurien and Marieke doing...who knows what....?
Me and Lynn
Laurien swinging on the rope! AHHH! :D
Me Swinging! That HURT!
Stefanie and Laurien
Lynn, Marieke, Laurien, and Stefanie
Marieke, Laurien, Me, and Stefanie. :D
Me, Laurien, and Stefanie
Me....er....washing my hands. :D
Zoe pretending to study French. :D
Me...Marieke took it...don't ask.
Me and Lynn
Stefanie, Me, and Lynn
Stefanie, Me, and Lynn again
Fleur (sp?), Lora (sp?), and Me
Marieke and Me

Gent Time!!!

2009-02-03T11:33:00.001-08:00

We were in this awesomely awesome cafe that was full of smoke....yuck....but their hot chocolate was good and tasted AMAZING after being outside in the cold for so long!!!
Yeah, my weird face, Cecilia's smile, Charlene's sneer, and Steffi's spoon on her nose....maybe it's better that you just don't ask. :)
Another one of those things that you just shouldn't ask about....:D Good times....
Charlene, Steffi, Cecilia, and me in GENT!

Kids say the darnest things....

2009-02-02T09:05:00.000-08:00

So Caleb comes up to my mom today, and here's how the conversation went:

Caleb: "Mom, what do you do to make stuffy noses be gone?"
Mom: "Oh, I'll probably have to give you some medicine."
Caleb: (he'd been distracted by his video game and had apparently not heard her) "What?"
Mom: "I said that I'd probably have to give you some medicine."
Caleb: "Ohhhh. And that makes the stuffy nose be gone?"
Mom: "Yes, and you should probably rest too."
Caleb: (frantic now) "Oh, No! I'm not sick!" (smiles angelically)
Mom: "Well, if you are getting sick then you will have to rest."
Caleb: "Well, I'm wearing socks." (yes, we have no idea why he was telling us about that...)
Mom: "Okay, well, do you want to rest?"
Caleb: "Does resting make the stuffy nose go away?"
Mom: "Yes."
Caleb: "I'm not sick, I'm wearing socks."

Haha, so I had a good laugh about that. :) He says some hilarious things sometimes. Some of my personal favorites is what he would always say to Ryan. He's say "Ryan, we're brothers because we kick each other, huh?" And then he would keep on saying "Huh?" Until Ryan would finally answer "Yes." He would also so "Get your biscuits, Ryan." And we have NO idea where that came from...

So today was a good day. We had 2 hours of study (my STW teacher was sick) and then we got to go home an hour early because my Social Studies teacher was in a meeting. :) And then tomorrow, I get to come to school 3 hours later because my cooking teacher is sick. So that should be super duper. And then Wednesdays are always half days, and this Wednesday just happens to be my last day of school in Belgium. Crazy stuff. But I'll keep everyone updated with all the latest and coolest news...

Okay, so it might not be THAT cool, but I could always stretch the truth a little bit if I want to. :)

Well, I gotta go!
Mom and I are making me a quilt! WEEEE!
Ash

Ice Skating Time!!!

2009-01-30T13:31:00.000-08:00

Ice Skating....nuff said....

Sad...but at the same time...good...

2009-01-27T13:39:00.000-08:00

And no, I'm not talking about my "so sudden" move back to the States. :P

You wanna know what is amazing as well as totally obnoxious and annoying!?:

You like someone.
They like you.
You guys talk a lot.
Then it just stops...
Altogether.
That person ignores you for a long time...(or at least that's what it feels like)
THEN!
A miracle happens.
You get OVER that person. (Hallelujah!)
BUT!
Then, it seems as though, the second that you are decidedly OVER that person...
They come BACK into your life!
Why?
They've been ignoring you.
They were gone.
It was as if they didn't exist.
So why now?

EVEN BETTER!!!
You talk to that person.
You dreamed of this for so many nights.
And days.
But then you realize...
That the conversations just don't flow...
The way that they used to.
They just come to a sudden...
End.
And you realize that you and that person
Really don't have much in common anymore.

Yes, it's sad.
But it's also good.
Good that there are no hard feelings.
You don't know how that person feels.
But you know how you feel.
And you feel fine.
Complete.
Whole.

Yep. Basically this is how I feel right now. Good. There just is no other word to describe my feelings. I'm not going to say WHO I'm talking about, (and I'm sure that if that person read this, they would probably be pretty unaware that it was THEM that I'm talking about [Charly, you can probably GUESS who I'm talking about...seeing as though we've had MANY conversations dealing with this in the past...:P]) but it doesn't matter. Because I'm so over it.

But not in the snobby "You're so Yesterday" type of way. But more in the "Let's just be friends" way. Maybe not even that. Maybe it's more like "I'm glad I met you, but we just don't have any relationship anymore." And of course the "I'll never forget you" feeling.

And it's true. I won't forget. But I don't have to dwell on just wondering if I were to ever speak to or see that person again.
I won't lose anymore sleep about it.
And that's all there is to it.
Done.
Finished.
All.

XXX
Ashley

All so sudden...

2009-01-26T13:31:00.000-08:00

I was sick today and stayed home from school.
I was just laying in my bed, minding my own business sleeping, when my mom comes up to my room. She wakes me up and says that last thing that I was expecting her to say.
The conversation went a little something like this:

"Ashley! I just got off the phone with Dad." Mom said.
"Mmm...great..." I mumbled, pulling the covers over my head.
"He just got out of a meeting."
"Cool. Cool." Still mumbling, not really caring about what she was saying.
"His contract was shortened and his last day of work is on Friday."
My eyes shot open and I sat up. "Huh?" I asked with wide eyes.
"We're moving back to Idaho in March!" She said in a voice that was hard to tell if it was sad or happy. My guess is that it was both.
I can't really say what I felt like at that moment. On the one hand, I wanted to jump in the air and cheer because, well, I'm going home. But, on the other hand, I wanted to cry. I had to think about the things that I would be leaving behind. My friends here in Belgium. I'd gotten so close to them in the past year and a half. How was I supposed to just abandon them?

Okay, so I thought that MAYBE that would be a FAIRLY nice way to break the ice to any of you Belgian friends who may be reading this blog. (I think Charlene may be the only one, but we'll see...)

Sudden, I know. Crazy, yes.

Honestly, we were planning on leaving in May, but this just goes to show that things can change in the blink of an eye. It also shows that God really does work in mysterious ways and that sometimes prayers are answered differently than what we would expect or want.

There's been some problems with my dad's work for some time now, and every morning, night, and day, our prayers would be full of "Bless that everything will work out with Dad's job in a way that will be best for our family..." or something like that. It's odd to think that THIS is the way that prayer is getting answered.

Even funnier is how we even ended up in Belgium to begin with. It's kind of a long story, but here it is in a nutshell:

Dad got laid off April 2007 and began searching for another job. He came up empty. Until, one day, a company in little ol' Belgium finds us and we get offered a job. After much prayer and fasting, it was obvious that God wanted us in Belgium for some reason. Dad accepted and we were moved within about...2 months I think. We were off to a rough start, and would have just turned around and immediately gone back home if it hadn't been for the wonderful people of the Gent Branch that helped us out SO MUCH! We never would have survived without them!

Well, time passed and I became really close friends with some of the people in our Branch. I'm so glad that I was able to meet and become friends with so many people over here. They are such great people. My only regret is that I didn't quite get to know them, or hang out with them as much as I now wish I had. Though it seems like my time is kind of up.
:

Well, that's about all that I have to say. This is another one of those LONG posts that I've been shying away from for the past few months or so. It seems like I never have enough time to blog lately. I suppose that it was high-time for another lengthy post.

I've said basically all that there is to say for now.
I guess all that I can do now is to make the best of the time that I have left!
XXX
Ash

PRINCE CASPIAN!

2009-01-24T13:43:00.000-08:00

So that's a randomly random title, but just look at this guy!:

Seriously! Just look at him!!! Isn't he just GORGEOUS??? I think so! He's just so ADORABLE! And so great in the movie!!! My siblings are all watching that right now while I BLOG ABOUT IT! SUPER FUN! Another GREAT movie that EVERYONE should see is "Horton Hears a Who"! So funny! "NO! NOT THE CHILDREN!" Haha. You'd just have to see it to know what the heck I'm talking about. :) But it's REALLY hilarious and I laughed SOOO MUCH!!!

BESTEST MOVIE EVERRRR!!!! Well, it's like...11ish pm...so I'd better start getting ready for bed. Grrr.

I'm sure that this is a boring post, but you'll just have to live with that for now. Sorry. Perhaps tomorrow I'll have something a bit more exciting for ya!

Kisses!
Ash

Mormon...

2009-01-19T11:39:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!
So last Thursday in my Zedenleer class (I think in English that would be....Morals class or something) we were given an assignment to research a religion of our choice and then on Wednesday, we have to present what we learned in front of the class. Well, I chose to do it on Mormonism, since I am a Mormon.

But that's going to be super hard. Haha. What to say...what to say???
Well, I'll figure something out. It's hard to tell people what the church is all about when you've been in it your whole life...odd, I know, but so true also. :D

Well, this post is really short (for once) but I just thought I'd keep everyone updated!

XOXO
Ash

Just because this movie was freaking AWESOME!

2009-01-17T02:22:00.000-08:00

This is a short video of me and my friends in April 2008. :D One of my friends put it on YouTube. Haha! Good times, good times...

5 weeks...

2009-01-11T09:57:00.000-08:00

Jason comes home from his mission in 5 WEEKS FROM TOMORROW!!! Super Exciting!

And tomorrow is the 2nd week of school after the Christmas Vay-Cay. Yippee...

I'm totally not looking forward to it.

Well...not much exciting has happened, as you can probably tell, but I just thought that I'd check in, since I haven't done that for a while.

The keyboard to this computer is being stupid...whenever I want to type a T or an E, I have to practically PUNCH the keyboard. HOW ANNOYING!!! Oh well.

We just finished watching "The Best Two Years" (for all you LDS people out there) and it was loads of fun to see how much of the Dutch I could understand. (for those of you who have seen it, you know that they are in Holland, so there are some Dutch parts).

Anyway, it was fun! :D

Waiting for the dang year to end already...

2009-01-03T12:49:00.000-08:00

So, you're probably wondering why in the world I would be wanting the year to end already when it just started.

Well, I guess that title isn't completely correct because what I really mean is "waiting for the dang SCHOOL year to end already"...but that didn't sound as smooth as the one I put for the title.

School starts on Monday...and I'm really not looking forward to it...in case you didn't notice. Mostly I'm just dreading French class...and history...and pretty much every class. I mean, who really cares how to say "my name is Ashley" in French? (which btw, I happen to know is j'mappelle Ashley, but I probably spelled that wrong.) 'Cause last time I checked, French won't do me any good in the States. The same goes for Dutch....

So now I'm stuck in the position where I wanna just bag it, but can't, because all my classes are in Dutch, so I'm gonna NEED to know it.

Crap, crap, CRAP!

Okay, I'm finished.

Seriously, I am...

I just read through this post again and...it didn't make much sense to me, so don't feel bad if your confused...

Could we be sisters???

2009-01-02T07:29:00.000-08:00

This is the product of me and my sister (well, mostly me) being bored. I did our make-up and we took PICAMATURES!!! EEEE!

The bottom one is my FAVE! I think Emily looks really nice right there!

Neuschwanstein Castle

2009-01-01T07:24:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time...
We went to the Neuschwanstein Castle and froze our tushies off...
But it was a beautiful castle and it was really fun, so we survived.
The End.
See, I can write fairy-tales too...

Munich, Germany

2009-01-01T07:17:00.001-08:00

Munich was really cool also. (Like the rest of Germany. Haha) Above: I just thought it was a nice picture. Below: Tyler bought this AWESOME hat and I just HAD to try it on!!!
!!!Glockenspiel!!!
Hofbrau (sp?) House. We didn't drink any beer though...don't just to conclusions. Haha.
Glockenspiel again!

Barbie MADNESS!!!

2009-01-01T06:57:00.000-08:00

Okay, so basically, I don't know what was up with my fascination with Barbies all of the sudden, but I took like...50 pictures of them. Oops. I mean, it's not like I PLAY with Barbies still, but I guess I just like their outfits. Haha. At least, that is my excuse. Above is a Donny Osmond Barbie that made me laugh so hard! And below is Martina McBride! Haha!
I lurved her dress...I want it!
This is to be my future wedding dress. When I told my dad, he rolled his eyes and told me "Good luck with that." Dang-it.
Hahaha...It's LUCY!
This was the coolest Barbie EVERR! BYU Cheerleader Barbie! Who'da thunk? And yes, Mindy, BYU Barbie does seem a little bit Oximoronic, or whatever word it was that you used. :D
Pretty dress...again.
She's flying! I want a dress that makes me fly!
Haha...The Spice Girls! Woot!...er...
And little Britney Spears...I believe this was BEFORE she went all wack-a-doo.

Okay, done with Barbies now...

Prague, The Czech Republic

2009-01-01T06:49:00.001-08:00

PRAGUE! It was amazing!!! My pictures don't do it justice!!! At all!!! Above: just a cool view! Below: The Prague Castle.
Check this bad-boy clock! It tells time like...6 different ways or something. It was pretty cool!
Us inside the walls of the Prague Castle.
Us in front of the cathedral inside the walls of the Prague Castle.

Berlin, Germany

2009-01-01T06:13:00.001-08:00

Berlin was really cool. We went to this awesomely awesome chocolate shop where they had lots of chocolate sculptures! Yummy! The first one is the Brandenburg gate in Berlin...but in CHOCOLATE! EEEEEEeeee!
The Titanic!!!
Some big huge building that I didn't recognize!!!
This little hole in the ground...thingy...was kind of a memorial to remember when the Nazi's burned all the books. This was the square that they burned them in. If you look in the hole in the ground, you can see that they built bookshelves in remembrance.
This is the square where the books were burned and the big building you see is where the Grim Brother's and Albert Einstein all attended college!!!
Hotel Adlon...sound familiar? Probably not. But this is where Michael Jackson shocked hundreds of people when he dangled his baby over one of the hotel balconies. Fun stuff...
This was...dang, I can't remember the name...but it was some political building. I know that much.
These pictures are out of order, but these slabs are a memorial for all of those politicians that were killed off by Hitler. He killed them because he knew that they had the power to destroy him. If you look closely, you can see that the person's name is on the slab. The slabs that have KZ on them, means that that person was sent to a concentration camp.
The political building again.
That is all of the slabs with the politicians' names on them.
The Brandenburg gate--the last of the 12 gates to (I think) West Berlin still standing.
Checkpoint Charlie. This was the ONLY place where foreigners could enter into East Berlin.
As we were walking around Berlin, every so often, we would happen upon these strange rows of bricks placed in 2 rows. Well, it turns out that those bricks show where the West Berlin Wall USED to stand, until it was finally torn down in 1989 (correct me if I'm wrong on the year).
What is left of the Berlin Wall.
The Berlin Wall again (sorry, it's a horrible picture; it was raining and night time).
The Brandenburg Gate again.
These box things were also some kind of memorial. I think it was for soldiers who died, but I'm not completely positive.

I don't think this was the ACTUAL sign. The real one stood about 400 meters away from us. :P I almost bought a shirt that said that on it for a souvenir.
U.S. Army Checkpoint.

Fairy-tale Road: Bremen, Germany

2009-01-01T06:10:00.001-08:00

This is the statue of the Bremen Town Musicians which consisted of a donkey, a dog, a cat, and a rooster. This fairy-tale was kind of boring and pointless to me, so I won't get into it much. Haha. But yeah, it was cool to see the statue.

Fairy-tale Road: Hameln, Germany

2009-01-01T06:01:00.001-08:00

Hameln was where some other tale (can't remember the name) was inspired and/or took place. It is said that people are not sure exactly if the tale is true or made up. In summary, here's the story: Hameln was having some kind of plague of rats. One day, a man came to town and said that he could get rid of the rats if he got a reward for it. The townspeople agreed and he proceeded to walk about the town, playing his flute. Slowly, one by one, the rats all began to follow him and he led them to the river, where they all drown. When he came back to town to get his reward, however, the townspeople laughed at him and refused to give him the reward. So, that night, he walked about the streets, playing his flute and slowly, one by one, all of the townschildren began following him. He led them away and the rest of the town never saw or heard from them again.

Happy story, I know. :P So the above to pictures are things from the story that you see everywhere. There are rats painted on the sidewalks and if you follow them, they lead you to the statue that you see below. It was really funny to try and follow the rats because, in many places, the paint has rubbed or worn off, so we would lose our way and have to find the rats once more.

Fairy-tale Road: Teendelburg, Germany

2009-01-01T05:56:00.000-08:00

This tower in Teendelburg, Germany was what inspired the story of Rapunzel. Can't you totally just see her letting down her hair for the handsome prince to climb up to her on???

Fairy-tale Road: Sababurg, Germany

2009-01-01T05:54:00.000-08:00

This is what inspired Sleeping Beauty's castle. It is in Sababurg, Germany. I has actually been turned into a hotel and we were going to try to stay in it, but it was SUPER expensive! :P

Fairy-tale Road: Kassel, Germany

2009-01-01T05:41:00.001-08:00

In Kassel, Germany, there was a really neat Grim Brother's Museum that took us FOREVER to find because the signs were marked all weirdish like. Haha. But, after wandering around for a while we finally found it. :) Below: My dad just wanted a picture of a forest so that we could get the feel of the fairy-tales. Haha.

This is what my dad and I called the "significant dome." Of course, we had absolutely no idea what the significance of it is, or even if it IS significant, but it just looked cool.
Cool old wall...thingy.
At the museum. They were lying on a giant puzzle that was pretty awesome. It was 9 cubes and, depending on which way you turned the cubes, you could solve the puzzle 6 different ways--getting a different picture every time. All of the pictures were from the Grim Brother's fairy-tales.
Us in front of a throne in the room that was constructed like a fairy-tale.
Again.
There were lots of paintings and pictures that people made to depict some of the fairy-tales. Here are a couple. The first is, of course, Little Red Riding Hood. And the second is Hansel and Grettle.

Fairy-tale Road: Ziegenhain, Germany

2009-01-01T05:36:00.000-08:00

Ziegenhain, Germany is where Little Red Riding Hood was inspired. Supposedly, all of the unmarried women used to wear little red hoods and that is where Little Red Riding Hood wore one also. We had heard that the women STILL wear the hoods, but we came and went so fast, that we didn't really see any. This is a picture of the hotel we stayed in. I just thought it looked cool because it is EXACTLY what I think of when I think of Germany.

Fairy-tale Road: Steinau, Germany

2009-01-01T05:27:00.000-08:00

Steinau is the city where the Grim Brother's grew up and I THINK that it also inspired some of their stories. I can see why it would have. The ENTIRE place was TUDOR! I was absolutely in LOVE with it!!!
This tower was really cool too. It had their stories carved into the tower (ex. a picture of Jack climbing the beanstalk; a picture of Little Red Riding Hood being eaten by the wolf, which DOES happen in the REAL Grim Brother's Little Red Riding Hood...don't worry, she gets cut out again by the woodsman.) and there were also statues around the tower (ex. the frog prince: there was a statue of the Princess and then of the frog sitting a few feet away from her.)
Here is the Princess and the Frog Prince!
Us...standing in from of the marionette theater.

Fairy-tale Road: Hanau, Germany

2009-01-01T05:17:00.000-08:00

After we saw the Frankfurt temple, we went to the town of Hanau to begin what is called "The Fairy-tale Road." Hanau was the city where the Grim brothers were born and you can see the statue of them below. However, it took awhile to FIND that statue because we accidentally put normal gas inside of our Diesel car and it had to be towed, so we had to WALK to find the statue while Dear Old Dad went to the car place while they pumped the bad gas out of the engine.
It wasn't all bad though. We happened upon this darling little Christmas market and were able to ride on this cute little ferris wheel. I hadn't been on one for a long time, so it was really fun! :)

Frankfurt Temple

2008-12-31T05:07:00.000-08:00

The Frankfurt Temple. Not much to say here except that it was BEAUTIFUL!

We are just so darling and pure looking, aren't we?

Update

2008-12-29T17:17:00.000-08:00

Hey all. Haven't updated for a while, cause we just got back from Germany. It was great. We had a very nice time. One of the highlights was that we got to stay in Marriott hotels for five nights in a row! SO NICE and COZY!!! They are my fave! Another highlight was that we watched "Horton Hears a Who" in our hotel room and it is my new FAVORITE movie!!! So hilarious!!! Funniest EVERR! We also went to Prague (in the Czech Republic) and it is an INCREDIBLE CITY! OMGosh! One of my fave European cities of all TIME!!! (that and Venice) So I'm SUPER stoked that I gotta go there! I wasn't expecting it to be so amazing! But it was! I'll be posting pictures later, but they don't do it justice. Oh! And in Prague, we went to a Barbie and Toy museum and I took I think...53ish pictures of Barbies...haha...oops. Don't really know why...I just liked their clothes and stuff. So I'll be posting lots of those. Some of them are hilarious. Like the Michael Jackson, Martina McBride, Spice Girls, Rosie O'Donnel, Donny Osmond, and Frank Senatra barbies. They made me laugh. Also, they had lots of cheerleader barbies with different college logos on them, and we found a BYU one!!! Crazy! Who wouldn't thunk that we'd be all the way in Europe (where nobody except the very few members of the church know what BYU is...) and we'd see a BYU Barbie. My mom freaked!!! Haha.

Well, it's about 2 in the morning right now, so I'm gonna try to go to sleep (key word: try) but that probably won't work too great. Haha! Wish me luck!

Cool quotes that I found on the internet!!!

2008-12-19T08:05:00.000-08:00

JUST SOME COOL QUOTES THAT I CAME ACROSS---

Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there's love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong.
Ella Fitzgerald

When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.
Charles Austin Beard

Inspiration never arrived when you were searching for it.
Lisa Alther

Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.
James Dean

Reflect upon your present blessings - of which every man has many - not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
Charles Dickens

The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him with his friendship.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

We should always pray for help, but we should always listen for inspiration and impression to proceed in ways different from those we may have thought of.
John H. Groberg

The dearest possession a man has is his family. In the divine assurance that family ties may transcend the boundaries of death, and may continue throughout endless ages of eternity, I find supreme consolation and inspiration.
David O. McKay

Each one of us is the architect of his own fate; and he is unfortunate indeed who will try to build himself without the inspiration of God, without realizing that he grows from within, not from without.
David O. McKay

A story is someone else's view on the world. If you don't like it, ignore it and write your own.
Unknown

Ask yourself this question:
"Will this matter a year from now?"
Richard Carlson, writing in Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

It is not work that kills men, it is worry. Work is healthy; you can hardly put more on a man than he can bear. But worry is rust upon the blade. It is not movement that destroys the machinery, but friction.
Henry Ward Beecher

It is the trouble that never comes that causes the loss of sleep.
Chas. Austin Bates

It is idle to dread what you cannot avoid.
Publius Syrus

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.
Lanston Hughes

You cannot dream yourself into a character: you must hammer and forge yourself into one.
Henry D. Thoreau

The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.
Paul Valery

Our waking hours form the text of our lives, our dreams, the commentary.
Anonymous