out of the garage

our friends matt and kayla invited us to their cabin up at midway. it was so fun. we watched movies, made dinner, made breakfast, enjoyed the view of heber/midway, had girl/guy talk, played catch phrase electronic, and laughed so hard i could have wet my pants (spagatini). as we were getting ready to leave, matt said that they have a tradition that you have to run out of the garage and jump over the sensor in a "cool" way. this is what paul and i came up with...cool huh? the faces are the best! i wonder if he made that up just so i would do it? hmmm...

-ash

girls camp 2007

i love girls camp. i love camping, being outdoors, tin foil dinners, hiking, canoeing on a lake, and looking at the huge sky of stars. i know girls camp is often known of girls who are snotty and tired, dirty food, sleeping with bugs, never getting enough sleep! it is all true. but the nice thing is being with the girls and enjoying the fresh air. we go to camp shalom. when i was in young women's i thought shalom was hours away. it is only 1 hour and 45 minutes. not bad. i love watching the girls hang out with each other, going on the morning/night hikes and all the traditional pranks we play. my really good friend, angela, asked me to go with her. we were the 5th-its (like nephites). we made totem polls and had each leader and girl write their testimony down (had that bound in a book for them). one morning, angela woke all of us up (around 5:30am). told us to gather out scriptures and packs. we had to leave everything behind. (she wanted to let us feel what it was like for nephi and his brothers to leave suddenly without packing, just leaving) it was wonderful. the girls of course murmured, but when we got to the top of the ridge, we all sat and watched the sun rise. then we were able to read the testimonies and letters from our loved ones. it was such a tender moment. ang did a wonderful job. it is one of my favorite camp memories of all. she is a great camp director. i have a feeling she will be at camp for a lot of years. it always seems to rain at least one day when we are there. mom and i had just taken cold showers. when i say cold, i mean cold. (snow run off cold) i went to the pavilion to see what the girls were doing, and it started to rain. of course our camp site was at the opposite end. we all ran. i can't believe how much it rained in so little time. ahh...the memories. some of my favorite foods camping are scones, anything dutch oven, and cobbler. i can't wait until next year. 

-ash

girl's night

lindsey was dating a boy named russ, and suddenly they had broken up. she really liked him, so this was really hard for her. dad pulled us girls aside and said that we should take lindsey to park city for a night away with just the girls. he got us a room at the marriott (the one next to the alpine slide). so sweet. we left on friday after work and got to the room. it was a nice, nice room. lindsey wasn't in the mood to do anything at all. the rest of us wanted to go out, walk around...so naturally...we all argued. katie was going to have ransom come up and pick her up, abby was her quiet self, kelsie was frustrated, lindsey was moody and i wanted to go home. you see, we girls are very passionate about the very same things and yet very different things. we can't spend a lot of time together because we all get passionate and then frustrated. anywho...we finally got things figured out, went to dinner, went on the alpine slide, walked around the outlets and then came home. i will say that it is so nice to be with my sisters. i love them and would do anything for them!

-ash

our garden

Nothing makes us feel more empowered than when we work hard and plant our very own garden. It feels so good to dig in the dirt, and to watch out little baby plants growing. Even better to eat it! Paul and I really enjoy the fruits of our labors, and love how pretty it looks all newly planted with no weeds.
-ash

#26

So far, today has been a great day. I woke up this morning to some knocking on my door, and when I opened to see who it was, my dad and mom were scurrying away leaving a couple adirondack chairs with balloons. Pebbles also surprised me with a little party and decorations. Paul took me to dinner to Brick Oven, then we got some ice cream. I am so lucky to be loved.
-ash

#28

Happy Birthday Paul! My husband turned 28 today. Today started with waffles for breakfast, a full day of work, then dinner and a new shirt, and a movie. He really makes surprising him a challenge. I love being married to him. Thank you for attempting to let me surprise you this year.
-ash

spring training in arizona

we went down to arizona to watch the baseball spring training games. paul wasn't able to come because of work. katie is a month or two along in her pregnancy and feeling really sick. we started on the looong drive down and i dreaded being cooped up in the car for 10-13 hours. when we got to phoenix, we got to see ransom's grandpa who is in the hospital, and we also saw his mom and dad. paul called while we were in the waiting room. he went over to dad and mom's to feed snuggle, the guinea pig, and snuggle was not moving. he died the day we left. mom was so sad. on the way to dennis and angie's home, we went down a road that was very wavy. katie was getting sick. we got to their home and linds went in and got some soda and crackers for her (no one but us knew at that point she was prego). of course kristen and angie knew right away she was pregnant. most of the week, katie laid on the couch waiting to throw up, and the rest of us played. i loved cooking there and giving angie some recipes, going out to lunch and going to the games. the best game was with the rockies. it ended up being cloudy and then it rained. linds, kels, mom, angie, and i wanted to stay in our seats and enjoy the game. the rest of the group went into the store out of the rain. much to our surprise...kevin and zach were under the pavilion...out of the rain. it was a great trip. katie towards the middle of the trip started to feel a little better and could keep the medicine down with out throwing it up. i missed paul madly! on the last night, dennis took the kids outside to their pool. the pool water was very cold...he bet each of them $10 to jump in. zach, alex, tyler, and ryan did. sydney wanted to so bad, but it was too cold for her. it was a great trip and so fun to be with family...

-ash