ugly

i don't know why we love to make ourselves look the worst...somehow we pull it off very well. my computer has the photo booth feature. the options are endless, and i am sure we just got started!

-ash

High School Musical 3

What happens when a bunch of us love the movies High School Musical 1 & 2? Well, of course we are more than happy/thrilled/excited/giddy to go and see the 3rd one! It was so much fun to have a girl's night out and celebrate how this high school was nothing like ours. Oh that Zach Effron!
-ash

Katie Bigelow, Lindsey Birrell (the HSM3 crew), Ashlee Ward, Miranda Porter,

Madi Campbell, Abby Birrell

irritations

so i went onto ebay the other day, found an apothecary jar i fell in love with, bought it, and got it in the mail. i am not sure if it is going to work. i wanted to put my pinecones in it. i was thrilled to get the box on our porch...then i looked closely and saw that someone in the mail room had a bad day or something. it was kicked in. now, i thought when the word 'fragile' was written on a box, it really meant it was fragile...is that not the case anymore? i wanted to cry when i saw i wouldn't be able to use it at all. the good news is, somehow the lid survived, though not much good it will do. i would love to know how something like this happens...any guesses? hopefully i will have better luck next time.

-ash

one project down, zillion to go

doesn't it feel so good to get a project finished. i love that feeling. my dad's mom taught me how to crochet and i must admit...very therapeutic. i am so glad i asked her to teach me how to crochet. i got to spend a few hours with her, just her. i loved every minute of it. she is so willing to teach me anything. a couple years ago, she taught me how to make banana cream pies from scratch... her way (there isn't a better way). anywho...i have heard some of my family members refer to this hobby as a waist of time. not at all! i foolishly made paul an afghan that was 7 feet tall by 4.5 feet wide in a SINGLE STITCH! totally learned my lesson on that one. i love scarfs, love them. so i thought i would make myself a scarf. i went to heinzelmans's, picked out wool-blend yarn and started. i did this one with a double stitch zig-zag pattern. finally finished. i added little pom poms at each end to finish it off. i am so glad i asked grandma to teach me something she loves to do. i love it now too...thanks for passing on one of my passions.

-ash

sick day

i am hardly ever sick, but today just didn't start out well. you see, when i eat a lot of bread, chocolate, spicy food, red meat, etc (you are probably thinking what can't i eat?), i get the worst heart burn. mom always says i don't have a lot of room at the waist...so true. i have about 1.5 inches between my ribs and my hips...not a lot of room. we had meatloaf, mashed potatoes and roasted veggies for dinner last night. to top it off, we had pumpkin dessert squares. i went to bed knowing i wouldn't sleep well. i woke up this morning and still didn't feel well. katie finally realized my pain when she became prego with heart burn. not fun. anywho, i went into work for a tiny bit and went back home. i finished crocheting my scarf, started my little pom poms for the scarf, finished preserving my recipes and watched the love bug. still not feeling well at dinner time and i am too scared to try to eat something. i know tomorrow will be a better day. 

-ash

end of summer

each time i look at the mountains and see the changing of the leaves, i know that the ward home will change too! here are a couple changes. the car doesn't smell like fuel, dirt clumps aren't all over my kitchen floor and paul is a little cleaner. paul loves working outside...he loves getting dirty and smelly. i must admit i do too. i love looking down the road seeing paul coming. he gets out of the car and as he walks, dust comes up from his boots and pant legs. i thought i would share a little of what he does all summer. i must say he did a great job at this home. i love the water feature (just to let you know, the term is not waterfall...it is water feature...after 5.5 years i ought to know). i do love the changing of the seasons, and the changing of our home. i guess that's what makes us 'tick'. 

ash

one of our favorite places

we have been thinking of one of our favorite places in the world...in 2006 we went to europe. we back packed/toured 5 countries. we went to england, france, italy, austria, and switzerland. paul and i really wanted to go to normandy beach. we took a train up to bayeux france. the town was beautiful. the homes and churches look just like the movies. very quaint and quiet. we took a taxi ride through beautiful communities and ended up at normandy beach. it was an overcast day. paul and i were the first ones there. the united states purchased the beach there and built a beautiful memorial. there is a host from the united states stationed at the memorial. he and his family are there for 5 years. he was so nice. he let us in early and gave us a lot of great insights to the memorial. walking around the grounds was so humbling, so...words can't express how we felt. then we took the trail down to the beach. looking from the beach up to the hills brought us to tears. i had to take some of the sand back home with me. we spent all afternoon there and didn't want to leave. it is by far one of our favorite places.

-ash

peach jam

i will admit that i went a little overboard with making peach freezer jam this year! our trees finally ripened and paul went out and picked me peaches to make fresh pies, shakes and jam. i have no idea how to make a little at a time. after a few trips to the store for jars and pectin (oh and then lemon juice), my kitchen was a disaster zone. bowls, sugar, syrup and peach skins everywhere! i started on sunday and invited katie, ransom and conrad to come and help on monday for family night. we made pizza, conrad slept with a cold and we had a lot of laughs. by 11pm we were done. i wasn't though. i had run out of jars, but had some peaches pureed and lemoned! tuesday i wrapped it up finally. i don't want to make another jar of jam (unless of course strawberries or raspberries come back into season). now we can look forward to having warm rolls smothered in jam with stew!

-ash