A Colorado Christmas Again

It's a Colorado Christmas again,

Going to share it with my family and friends...

Anyways, as you guessed Ashley and I spent our Christmas in Colorado with my parents and brother.  I was delighted to be back in Colorado for Christmas but, for Ashley, this was her first Christmas away from home.  It was a bit bittersweet for her that way, but we have really enjoyed our time.

As cliche as it may seem, our favorite thing about Christmas is giving gifts and this year was extra special.  Ever since October, Ashley has spearheaded a project for a gift for my parents.  My parents are notoriously hard to get anything for.  More things equals more stuff to find a place for in their house and food gifts often imply something unhealthy which they are not exactly looking for either.  So this year, Ashley found on Pinterest an idea for a gift. (Ashley's insert: the original idea came from this blog http://mymixofsix.blogspot.com/2010/01/thompson-sign.html)  The concept is to spell out the family name using different children and their families.  She then realized that my family has five children and five letters in my last name.  It was a perfect fit, made much better by the fact that my family has not been all together for a picture often and it has been years since we have had a picture together without a wedding involved.  So we got them a picture frame with a picture of each of my siblings and their respective families holding one of the letters.  It was a wonderful surprise that made my mother cry, she was so touched. :-)

For another surprise gift, I have been working on a project since October.  I was doing dishes one day while listening to music from a mix cd that Ashley gave me early in our courtship.  I then thought of the idea of putting pictures of us and places we know to some of the music.  It was a long and challenging project, especially with all of the demands of school and two jobs, and a grant proposal.  I originally was hoping to make videos for all 20 tracks but that was impossible.  I then aimed for 5 tracks, but I was running out of time the week before we left for Colorado and had to cut it down to 3 tracks.  I had it set up in time for Christmas and when Ashley opened the gift, she saw a jump drive in the package.  I told her to connect it to the computer and open up the folder.  She then watched three videos to three of the songs she gave me.  By the end of them all she was in tears of delight.  So I guess this will be the first Christmas where I can say I was happy to make two girls cry.

The holiday time has been great for us, even though it has been rather low-key.  Outside of running to different stores for last minute shopping, we have mostly spent our time inside, playing games with my family.

Christmas, however, was a great treat.  As much as I enjoyed giving, we also received some wonderful presents.  Among the top gifts given to us include a Kodak all-in-one type printer that can print photos, scan materials, and copy papers on top of normal printing, and the related photo paper and ink from my parents.  We also got some movies and television shows that we were hoping for.  Ashley got me a few gifts, but some of my favorites included a music book that contains songs from older movies, such as Singing in the Rain and Make 'Em Laugh, and a card game called Five Crowns.  We had first played the game at Ashley's aunt's house and I really enjoyed it.  We have since played it a couple of times with my brother and one memorable game with my parents as well as my brother where I came in a distant last place.  I was doing so bad it was laughable.

My family has a tradition of taking pictures with all of the gifts we got on Christmas (My mom also writes down who came from which person).  I really like it because I look back over the years and remember the fun presents I have received.

Me with my presents

Ashley with her gifts

Ashley also had some really good gifts given to her, but since I am writing this, I get to mention the ones I feel were the best (aka mine).  Ashley got a Harry Potter Film Wizardry book from me which is all about the making of the Harry Potter films.  She has already found it very interesting and has liked it very much.  I also got her a recipe box so that we can put in some of our family recipes in one convenient location.  Staying with the cupcake theme our kitchen has, it is decorated on the outside with cupcakes.  She also got some gloves from my mother that are touch-screen friendly (if that is the right term).  She really likes the fact she can keep her fingers warm and still use her iPod.  

It has been a wonderful holiday filled with fun, games, and rest.  We hope each of you had a very wonderful Christmas holiday!

Fall semester and Thanksgiving break

Hey everyone!

Sorry its been soooo long since we did a blog but this semester has been incredibly busy. Adam has enjoyed his job working as a TA for independent study which he will be doing next semester as well. I've continued working as a secretary and a lab assistant in the testing lab, which I will also be doing next semester. We just got past finals week and it is glorious!! Its so nice to be done and have a 3 week break (although we'll have about a week that we'll be here and just working). 

I've thoroughly enjoyed my classes this semester and I actually did better than I've ever done at BYU! It was tough but I got through it. I did really well in my Writing within Psychology class and I might submit my literature review to the undergrad psychology journal. I volunteered in the Children's Unit at the state mental hospital and it was been so great to get that experience. I will be needing to volunteer for one of my classes next semester so I am thinking of continuing at USH (Utah State Hospital). The kids are great and I got to be involved in their Christmas program :) I got to teach a group of kids to sing Last Christmas which they did great at :) the kids did songs and dances and at the end all of the psych techs did an awesome dance. After this experience, I am thinking of trying to get an internship or a job at USH. This will give me good experience for applying to grad school. I am now considering the possibility of me waiting a year after undergrad to get experience for a Master's in Social Work program. We'll see :)

Adam's also done very well in his classes (as always) :) He applied for an ORCA grant and is now waiting to hear back, which will happen probably in February. He officially has only two semesters left of college, although he is thinking of doing spring term to finish off his Spanish classes. It has been a hard semester but he has held up great. Not to mention his professors love him :)

We've also LOVED working at the temple this semester :) We've got to know so many great people and its been a great experience :) Its wonderful to have a space of time each week to be in such a spiritual place :) we are so glad we decided to become temple workers.

Also, we got to spend Thanksgiving with my family which was great! We decided to fly there which was so nice because we got more time with my family and I hate long car rides. We had fun spending time with my parents, and with my aunt and uncle who we stayed with part of the time. Then my sister Stephanie, her husband, and baby came on Thanksgiving day which was AWESOME :) My nephew is getting so big! Almost 6 months old now :)

He's such a smiley chubby cute baby :) my sister and her husband are planning on moving down to Utah next year so I'm SUPER excited :) Anyways, we had a great Thanksgiving and Adam enjoyed seeing my family's traditions for the first time including my dad barbecuing the turkey and my mom's gravy and stuffing :) My sister's and I even got time together to see the new Twilight movie and get some photobooth pictures done :)

So fun :) Also when Adam and I got home we got to put up our first tree as a married couple :)

Merry Christmas to you all!!
           <3 Ashley

My birthday, one year, Utah State Hospital, mocktails, the temple, and football!

 It has been a very busy week!! So I guess I should start at the beginning..
Monday was great because we got to know a few of our neighbors! We hung out with a couple in the fourplex we live in and played games while a couple of the other people that live dropped by as well. It was so nice to really get to know the people that surround us. Hopefully we'll do more stuff with them in the future :)
Tuesday was my 21st birthday!! We planned to do a party later in the week but my actual birthday was very fun :) Adam got me a super fun game called Forbidden Island! It is a cooperative game (meaning that its all of the players working together to beat the game rather than each other) which I love because I don't like when games get too competitive. He also got me Tangled!! :)

This is the Forbidden Island game when we played today after church :)
So anyways, he made me a yummy breakfast in the morning too! The rest of the day I just worked a lot which turned out to be great! I work as a secretary in the Office of Digital Humanities at BYU. When I came in on Tuesday, everyone in the office knew it was my birthday which I think was due to my great boss, Bonnie :) I also had to file something in our conference room when Mel and the student computer support reps that he's in charge of were about to start their weekly meeting. haha they promptly sang me happy birthday and gave me snickerdoodle the size of my hand! Imagine 6-7 college age IT guys singing happy birthday haha it was great :) Later, Adam and I went to Red Robin for dinner to claim my free burger which of course was delicious :) Then Adam made cupcakes and Kayla and Steven came over to play my new game :) It was a very good day!
Wednesday marked one year from the time that Adam proposed :) In honor of that, we sort of recreated what we did that night. We went to the park that we fed the ducks at and where he hid the ring (and couldn't find the ring for the longest time haha). It was after dark when we went the first time so it was great going in the daylight because that park is BEAUTIFUL!! We fed the ducks which was fun because of how excited they got and they crowded around us. There was a bunch of different colored ones too :)

We walked around looking at all the benches we sat at (referring to Adam not finding the ring for a while). Someone was having a picnic at the one where he actually proposed at but it was still fun :) Then we went to Farr's for frozen yogurt which is always yummy :)
Thursday, I went to my orientation for the volunteer work I have to do at the Utah State Hospital for my Abnormal Psychology class. I am going to be working in the children's unit which I think will be very rewarding. I got to meet some of the kids even and they were so happy to see us volunteers. I think I will learn a lot from this.
Then there was Friday :D we had a birthday mocktail party for me (50s style)! We got a bunch of stuff for fake cocktails and everyone dressed up. My friend Kayla did my hair as well :) We listened to big band music, had cocktail snacks and lots of virgin drinks! It was great being with those people some I hadn't seen in a while like Carissa and KJ :) Also Adam made me a homemade chocolate cake (all by himself I might add)!! Here's some pictures from the party :)

As you can see, everyone looked so gosh darn cute!! :) A thoroughly epic birthday party :)
Then on Saturday, we worked at the temple as we always do :) It was my first time working now that I'm not in training anymore!! I felt very legit :) It is such a glorious blessing we have to be able to work in the temple while we are in Provo. What a great way to spend our Saturday afternoons :) then that evening we went over to our friends' Andre and Michelle to watch the BYU vs. U of U game which was of course very exciting :)
All around a very busy but amazing week :D

Love,
Ashley

the meaning behind the name of our blog :)

Hey you all :)

I thought I should explain briefly the meaning behind the name of our blog and the quote at the top of the page. It is from the song that was played during our first dance at our wedding reception :) It is called Mario Cart Love Song haha

Here is the original video:

Well there you go :) Enjoy!

<3 Ashley

"Fall is here, ring the bell, back to school..."

Greetings everyone!

Well, Ashley and I are now ready to embark upon another school year.  Ashley had about a four month break from school and I had a two-month break.  With that in mind, we were both ready to get back into school.  For Ashley, that had been the longest she had gone with no school since she started school!  That last week of Summer was quite busy as we prepared for school, especially for me.

I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but I am a part of a pilot program that BYU is attempting.  BYU has created 12 online courses.  These courses are for enrolled students at BYU and will be counted as part of their tuition.  Anyways, I was hired to be the TA for one of these courses.  Since they are all online, the TAs have a lot of responsibility and I spent much of the week before school learning the technological side of things, preparing the set-up, conversing with the professor and etc.

Now that a week has gone by, things have been quite a bit different.  Continuing the thread of the previous paragraph, my TA job has been going well.  We held our orientation meeting, the only in-person meeting of the entire semester, on Tuesday and it went very well.  I have since met with a few students one-on-one as the program requires and the meetings have gone well.  It is still a bit of adjusting, (including having my own cubicle to work in! Well, I share it with one other person, but still...) but it has been quite interesting.  I think it will be a very nice resume builder.

School has been another matter.  As much as Ashley and I were really bored without school, we were not prepared for the sudden decrease of time we got to spend together.  For the first few days, even when I was home with Ashley, I was required to do homework or reading for my classes.  That has made life a little challenging but we will get adjusted as the semester wears on.

Now for classes: I am taking a lot of interesting courses.  I am taking two Humanities seminar classes.  One is studying Hans Christian Andersen which has been very interesting and the other is addressing current issues in the Humanities.  For the latter course, we are focusing on the reactions to 9-11.  This is a very challenging class.  On Friday, we watched some footage from the day.  At the end of the class (there are only three students so it is pretty open) the professor remarked about how this class was going to be tough emotionally in some ways.  I responded that it was important for me since I was a child when 9-11 actually occurred to actually come to terms with this tragic event as an adult.  So I am very interested in that class, no matter how challenging the subject matter is.

I am also taking a US History course from 1945-the present.  So far, I am LOVING the class.  I knew I chose the right emphasis when I decided to read my history textbook for fun before class even started.  Right now, we are discussing the foundations of the Cold War, which has been very interesting.  I am learning a lot.  My other two courses are a computers in the humanities course where I will be learning about internet publishing, aka learning the basics of html, css, and java script.  I have had some background in java script but I am excited to learn other scripting languages.  My last course is Spanish 205 and easily the most demanding course of them all.  I am way out of my element when it comes to learning a language but it will be for the best.

Ashley is also taking a full class load.  She is taking one of the pilot courses that I was mentioning earlier in the post.  Her class is Doctrine and Covenants so it is not too hard, but she is excited to try it out.  She is also taking Abnormal Psychology, Psychology Testing, Writing within psychology, and Theatre and Media arts for a GE.  Her Abnormal Psychology will be having her favorite coursework because of her interest in psychopathology but it also requires 22 hours of volunteering during the semester at the Utah State Hospital working with the mentally ill.  It'll be a challenge to work it into the schedule but the experience should be very rewarding.  In Psychology Testing, it will require a group project which are always demanding.  She had experience last semester with a very inadequate group in her Research methods class.  She is really excited to be into her major classes but is going to be burdened with a lot of work.

On top of school, Ashley and I will still be working at the temple and working about 18-20 hours each week.  Therefore, we shall be quite busy.  We are super excited though to be able to learn at this wonderful school.  Life has been very kind to us.  For all of you, whomever chooses to read this, we wish you the best of luck in work/school/family life/whatever else you may be doing! :-)

Temple Work and Other Matters

Hi everyone! This is Adam again.  I am here to give you my perspective on our trip and what we have done since then.  So... to begin:

The trip was a wonderful break from the normal life found here in Utah.  Prior to this trip, Ashley and I had not made a trip outside of Utah since January.  We both needed this trip.  It was a lot of fun to be around Ashley's family, which had all gathered for our nephew's baby blessing.  Ashley loved spending time with her new nephew.  In fact, Ashley and her mother were in what I considered a lighthearted competition to hold the new baby the most.

After going to Seattle, we returned to Vancouver where we got to spend a lot of time with Ashley's friends and visiting new places (or old places that Ashley remembered, whichever you prefer).  We also got to go visit the beach, which was really special for me, since I have only gone to the beach a few times and I have never spent a long time there and never in Summer.  It was a lot of fun, and a special day with just Ashley.

Ok, so moving on... we then returned to our home where we began our temple assignment.  Saturday was our first day and we were quite nervous when we got there.  Fortunately, there was a lot of willing assistance, and we had a great time.  It was a very spiritual experience.  Not only were we able to serve other people, which was a delightful experience, but it was also a chance to learn as well.  I am really looking forward to our shift each Saturday.

Trip to Washington: Day 5-8

So after we came back to Vancouver, we got to do more stuff :) On Monday, we got lunch at Gustav's, a German restaurant in the Vancouver/Portland area. We had delicious fondue! After that we hung out with a couple of friends of mine, Chelsea and Alex. We all went up to a waterfall that my family discovered north of Vancouver. Its a beautiful drive and the waterfall is kind of hidden from the road so we've always called it Hidden Falls. haha not sure how we found it. Anyways, it was fun to go there and cool down. We put our feet in the water but it was of course freezing (it's basically snow melt). We did get to take some fun pictures!

 There's also a little trail that leads to an old railroad which I discovered one time from going to the falls with my family. Chelsea and Alex had fun playing chicken :)

 Then Chelsea and I went to the mall and got pedicures. Yay for girl time! Then the next day was temple day!! We got some great pictures from our wedding but I wish that it hadn't rained at the temple and I hadn't had bronchitis xP So Adam and I attempted to take more pictures in our wedding clothes at the temple but when it was sunny. Alex and Chelsea helped us and we used one of my dad's cameras which sadly we couldn't figure out how to turn on the flash but we did get some good ones. It was very hot as well haha it made us appreciate the coolness on our wedding day. We tried not to get in the way of a bridal party that was doing stuff but it was interesting to see people stare at us haha. Since I got married in December, the grounds weren't exactly crawling with people. A family with two little girls (about 5 or 3 was my guess) came up to me and asked me my name and wanted to look at my dress and my ring. So cute!! I kinda felt like a princess at Disneyland haha. I thoroughly enjoyed it. My dad will help edit them but here's one of them :)

We then got to go through a session which was absolutely wonderful!! It was great being back in the place we got married and feeling the spirit there. I love Adam so much more now than I did when we got married and I know it will continually be growing with time. We also got to go into the new visitors' center briefly :) Then we traveled back to have an early dinner with my friend Sarah and her boyfriend. We went to Dok Koon Thai food and it was very yummy as always :) It was great seeing Sarah again however briefly since she's been my friend since we were 13 :) After that we went over to my aunt and uncle's house with my mom and my sister. Haha that morning we got a surprise by finding out that my aunt Amber had come to visit from Idaho and brought her kids!! She got to meet Adam when we went to Idaho Falls last year but I hadn't seen her since. She also had a baby boy in that time! My other aunt Sarah (the house we went to) had a baby girl too. So I got to meet my two new cousins who were completely adorable. Naomi was a very content little one and I got to hold her a lot and watch her make funny faces haha. Benjamin was cute as well in all his attempts to crawl but getting thoroughly frustrated.

I am so glad I got to see them all and Adam got to enjoy being around a bunch of little cousins who like to kick him and hit him with their toys haha ;)

The next day (Wednesday) Adam and I went to the coast (Cannon Beach, OR to be exact)! It was so fun to be there with him because he's only been to the beach twice in his life. Once when he was ten but it was cold and rainy and in March, and another on his mission but of course he didn't get to do anything. It was fun to show him all of the places my family would go. It was a gorgeous day at the beach and relatively warm for the Oregon coast. We walked along the surf collecting sea shells, getting our feet wet, and running from the waves. We also got to go to the tidepools and see a starfish and little fish that change color to their surroundings. We then ate at a seafood restaurant overlooking the ocean. A wonderful time :) 

 Then the next day we drove all the way back to Utah which was very long and very tiring. I'm so glad that we got to make this trip and Adam could experience a little bit of WA summertime :) So glad I got to see so many friends and family :) Now for relaxing and preparing for the coming semester of school!!

Love,

Ashley <3

Trip to Washington: Days 1-4

So Adam and I just got back from our summer trip to Washington to visit my family. This was the third time Adam had been to WA and the first time coming as a married couple. We drove the long trek with a friend of mine who had her first term this summer at BYU. It was really fun having her along to talk to and to have an extra driver was nice. We got in Thursday evening and basically went straight to bed. The next morning my parents, sister, Adam, and I drove up to Seattle to spend the weekend with my other sister, her husband, and NEW BABY!!! This was very exciting for me as this is my first niece/nephew that I had not inherited by marriage. He was blessed that Sunday and my mom's birthday was Saturday so it was a pretty eventful weekend. Little Anders is about a month and a half old and so adorable. He makes the funniest faces and looks a lot like my dad. He's also started to smile and giggle and make noises. SO CUTE :) I got to hold him and cuddle him lots to help pacify me until I get to see him next time whenever that may be.

On Saturday, we got to go to Snoqualmie Falls, which is east of Bellevue (where my sister lives). It was very hot and crowded but very beautiful :)

We also got to go to The British Pantry, a British shop with a little restaurant, for lunch which was yummy. And in the evening, we went to Claim Jumpers. By the end of the day, Anders was completely tuckered out, poor guy. But the next day he slept through all of sacrament meeting (including the blessing) and through being passed around for a zillion pictures. Then we drove back to Vancouver. Overall it was awesome and I can't wait to see him again :)

Work Responsibilities

Hey all, so no pictures for this blog post.  The past few weeks has kept me (Adam) very busy.  My boss at the testing lab has been gone for two weeks on vacation and has no access to his e-mail.  In his place, he has asked me to make sure things would run smoothly.  When he left, he created a list of things to do, which consisted mostly of printing out exams and compiling four exams.  However, as it always happens, there were many unexpected occurrences.  One teacher forgot to let my boss know about an exam, so I had to scramble to create the exam and schedule the time.  I was also asked to proctor a few credit exams on the first Saturday.  Well, a few students didn't show up, so I had to set up another Saturday session for the credit exam.  I was able to manage it all, but I did have a few days worth of work and had to conduct many e-mails worth of conversations with teachers.

In the end, it was a very great opportunity to gain experience and also to impress professors and secretaries.  Tomorrow, my boss will come home, so we shall have to see what trouble I shall get into.  That is all for now!

I have one of the best husbands!! (not to gloat haha)

Hey guys! So Adam and I try to go on a date every Friday if possible. Usually we don't do anything super exciting. Well Adam decided to switch it up on Friday and surprise me a bunch! His goal was to try to make an ordinary day extra special and boy, did he succeed! The day started off with me going to work at noon. On Fridays, Adam doesn't work until 2 so he drops me off. After he dropped me off and I got settled in at work, in he comes with roses!!

 This is obviously not at work but a good picture of the flowers in our kitchen :) Anyways, my job can get pretty boring so I chat with Adam on facebook. He would constantly tell me how excited he was about our date and that it was going to be really fun and special but he wouldn't tell me what it was. After work, we came home and he blindfolded me. He had me pick a piece of paper out of four of them and then took off my blindfold and this is what he had :)

So if you can't tell from the picture the papers say Bingo Dating!! haha so Adam spent his shift in the testing lab creating this bingo dating game for our date! He completely came up with the idea on his own (not even enlisting help from the internet). Needless to say, he's incredible :) So, we started off at our favorite Provo thai place, Thai Mango (the BEST thai food is sadly all the way in Washington at Dok Koon). It was quite yummy. And then we started the game. Basically, the hat is filled with little pieces of paper each with a letter (D, A, T, or E) and a number for the Bingo part of the game. On the other side of each piece was an activity that we had to do. We then had to draw pieces until someone got bingo and we had to do all the activities that we drew. Adam got bingo :P haha so some of the things we drew were eat cookies, arrange a fort, speak only in questions, go to a bowling alley, play name that tune, annoy friends, speak in a British accent, exchange little gifts, taste the rainbow (eat skittles), enjoy the view, play phase 10, and some more!! There were more that he had made that we didn't do because he got bingo so we'll get to do this again! It was so much fun running around Provo together :) I always thought that I would never get a date like that again because that amount of creativity is usually reserved for if you want to impress someone but I got to have that while being married!! We had lots of fun bowling :)

Adam took a bowling class his freshman year so of course he slaughtered me. But it was still fun. We did enjoy the view at our favorite spot at Rock Canyon :)

 And we had fun playing games, eating things, going to the Dollar Tree to buy little gifts for each other, and annoying our friends Steven and Kayla (we made up for it by giving them a Spiderman puzzle though). All in all an amazing day, thanks to Adam. I'm just incredibly amazed that he did all that for little old me :)

 I know that I am one lucky girl to have Adam as my companion for eternity and I don't mind being mushy to say so!!

Love, Ashley <3