i guess i'm graduating...

My daily Sonic run

So I have a million things I want to blog about but i have been so busy doing 2 online classes in 2 weeks so that I can graduate in a few weeks here. Can we say procrastinator??? I am super excited to graduate though because I HATE school and homework and everything that comes with it. I'd rather be at a job I love making $$$$. Don't get me wrong, I love the college social life, but not the academic part. In fact, I don't get what all the hype is about graduation. My Dad called the other day asking about the ceremony which I never planned on going to. At BYU you have the 1st day where everyone who is graduating walks and they call your name, and than the 2nd day it is just your major that gets together and they call you name and you get your actual diploma. I am planning on going to the 2nd day (although I could care less about that too) but the fist day... really? Why would I want to sit through 5,000+ names? I can think of a better way to spend my day... like eating, or in bed.
And grad announcements? FORGET IT. I didn't send them out in high school and I'm not planning on it now. For starters, people only send those out to get money, and I don't know any rich people so why bother? And 2nd it IS a great accomplishment and all, but lets face it, the Bachelors degree is the new high school diploma. Send me an announcement when you get your masters or doctorate and then I'll be impressed. While some saps will be crying on graduation day, I'm going to be giving everyone high-fives yelling "See ya later suckers!! I'm going to actually START my life and get married while the rest of you wonder 'now what?'. PEACE!!"

In more exciting news... Me and Spence signed a contract for our new studio apartment and on top of that we should be getting our wedding rings soon. I feel like a kid playing grown-up. It's unreal. Oh and the job at the hospital that I thought I didn't get, called me back and said they wanted to interview me again! Fingers crossed!! Also I'm very excited to announce that my sister Amelia had a baby!! After 3 boys she finally had a little girl and they named her Lillian Marie Hoggan. I get to see little Lilli this weekend and I'm so excited to pinch those fat, fat cheeks. She looks just like me when I was born! Also yesterday Spencer and I (but really just me) made homemade margarita pizza and homemade salsa and it was delish! The store ran out of salsa so I thought, why not make some! I included the recipe at the bottom. It super easy and so good!

The Festival of Colors

Lilli!

And did I mention The Hunger Games was AMAZING! 

Sadly, no picture of the salsa. But here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1- 14 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1- 10 oz can orginal Rotel
• 1/2 small onion, roughly chopped
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed
• 1/2-1 jalapeno, seeded or not (depends on how spicy you like it)
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• small to medium size handful of cilantro, washed
• juice of 1 lime

All you do is throw it in a blender or food processor and voila! Just a note: The Rotel and diced tomaotes I used were not "original," they had lime juice and cilantro in them so that way I didn't have to buy either of those. Also, I only did 1/2 a jalapeno and it was pretty freakin' spicy, and I like spicy but I also like to eat a ton at once. Next time I think I'll just use 1/4 of a jalapeno. AND this is a runny salsa so if you like your salsa chunky then don't blend up the Rotel and tomatoes and add that in after you blend. Enjoy!!
   

I Think I'm In Love With This Weekend.

Considering I have no school and no job and I'm spending the next two weeks doing my online classes like a mad woman so that I can graduate in April, I am rather excited for the weekend weather: 

Pay no mind to anything past Sunday. If you need me, I'll be studying by the pool! Some other things I'm excited for this weekend:

I think Spence and I are going to be signing a contract for that studio apartment tomorrow. I was on Ikea's website ALL day yesterday looking at all the cute ways you can make small spaces seem larger! And even cooler is that the balcony over-looks the new Temple they are building!

 We are also going back to the Sierra West Jewelers to start on the mold of my custom ring! FINALLY! It will feel official. Here is the ring for those who missed it a few posts ago! 

Also, the Festival of Colors is on Saturday! This is something that the Krishna Temple throws to celebrate the coming of spring and basically you just throw a bunch of colored chalk in the air. This picture is from 2 years ago. Here is a super cool video to show you what it's like! Everyone come if you are in the area! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqsRFAJVN9c

I can't wait to freaking see this tomorrow night!!! Team Peeta!!  

And last but not least I can't wait to play with my new bunny Honeybunny. She is the cutest thing in the world and never bites and will just lay on my chest for hours and let me pet her! I'm obsessed with her and it's borderline NOT healthy! Happy weekend!

Blonde Moments...

So this last weekend Spence and I went to Vegas to have a little party for his parents' birthdays. Well apparently Vegas doesn't like me because it was hot all week before I got there and it is hot all this next week, but I was given rain and cold. How rude Vegas! So this week I had 3 great blonde moments (which Spence would say happens often). First off, half way to Vegas I realized I had forgotten underwear, socks, pajamas, and my shoes for the next days outfit. Whaaa??? Who does that!? Needless to say I got the Wal-Mart special in the sock and panties department but I had to just wear the same jeans again because the leather leggings I had brought for Saturday just weren't going to cut it with TOMS shoes.

Here is the exact outfit I brought to wear so obviously not TOMS appropriate. I got the leggings from Windsor here. and I'm obsessed with them. Oh and isn't my prego BFF Alisha just adorable! Meet you soon baby girl!

The next blonde moment came when all the lights were turned off in the house and everyone was in bed. I had to find my way from Spencer's bedroom to my bedroom so naturally I pulled out my handy dandy flashlight app that I had downloaded for my iPhone. Well it was some how malfunctioning because it wouldn't stay on constantly; it just kept flashing! The next day I was having the same problem until... I realized I was using a camera app I had downloaded and that constant flashing was was the flash of my camera! I finally realized it when I found about 16 of these babies on my phone (I compiled a few of my personal favorites): 

Now this last blonde moment isn't actually mine, but I was a part of it so I had to include it. Spencer's dad is a smart man, but since he just turned 68 he is allowed a senior moment every once and a while. Friday night he had misplaced his cell phone and was using the home phone to call it. I decided to help him and as a stood near the bedroom I could hear it faintly but than I lost it. Joel (Spencer's dad) had wandered to the other end of the house when he soon yelled at me to come into the bathroom. 

"I can hear it in here!" he yelled. "I think it's coming through the vents!"  

Well you certainly could hear it in the bathroom, but as he wandered away I noticed the ringing was wandering with him. 

"Joel, is it in your pocket?"

And wouldn't you know... it was. Haha I laughed for a good five minutes.

I have about ZERO pictures from this weekend, but I here are the ones I managed to snag: 

Don't mind my awkward pose. Spencer was obviously thrilled about Joel snapping this gem.  

This is Spencer's mom (who I absolutely adore). For her birthday we picked her out a bikini because she was joking that she needed one to match all the other daughter-in-laws at Lake Tahoe.

I made Spencer pull over when I saw a giant sign that said "Bulldogs" on a pet store. They are my dream dog and I am going to make Spencer get me one when we live somewhere that will allow it. Ugg they were adorable!!! I just wanted to eat them! 

And lastly (and very off topic), I wont be able to sleep tonight because I am too excited to go see the studio apartment that me and Spence are hoping to get. We see it tomorrow morning. We haven't actually seen the inside yet (besides pictures of the drywall up) because they are still being built as we speak but we've seen the floor plan. Here is (another) picture of the outside Gosh they are adorable! Wish us luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*Some Wedding Odds and Ends*

This week is my last week of my internship and I am soooooooo excited (because I hate it)!! But I'm also excited to have time to do things I've been wanted to do forever, like wedding stuff, and experiment with backgrounds on this blog, and download music and sleep in! 

So I am so pumped for this wedding. Not only because I'm marrying my best friend, but because I've had this whole thing planned for years so it's not even a stress to me; it's fun! One thing I am most excited about, is my mom making my dress!! I have been telling her for the last year it's what I wanted and of course she acted like she wasn't going to do it but of course she caved! Not only is she now making my wedding dress, but my 9 bridesmaid's dresses too!! Such a trooper. We went to go pick out patterns last week and I am sooooo excited.

 I won't spoil my dress because it is one of a kind and AMAZING! I designed it of course, so how could it not be. I'll share with you a rough idea of what my bridesmaid's dresses will look like (but in yellow). Light, flowey, flattering on everyone, and something they could even wear again: 

 

For those of you who don't know, our wedding is going to be in  my backyard. On top of being the greatest sewer ever, my mother is also the most amazing gardener/landscaper EVER and our backyard should be on the cover of Home and Garden. Sadly I don't really have any pictures of our backyard really except for these two but you can kind of get the idea. I'm obsessed with our little stream too that runs through it!

(My sisters wedding)

Lastly, I just want to take this time to RAVE about the photographer I got for our wedding. I'm a girl who definitely enjoys to try to make money stretch as far as possible, and if you look at the prices for most photographers it's a rip off! So many people have told me that the pictures are going to be the only thing I have to remember that night by so not to skimp on a good photographer. With that said I was definitely up to the challenge of finding a budget friendly photographer. A friend of mine from high school has a sister that I knew did weddings and photo shoots. I decided to check out her fan page on Facebook and low and behold I had stumbled upon a gold mine! This girl is only 21 years old and she has more talent in her pinky than I do in my whole being. Not only is she an amazing photographer, but she is also an artist and a singer. She is working on an album as we speak and has been playing shows all over Utah. Her name is Tessa Barton and at the end of this post a will show you just a few of the pictures that made me fall in love with her style. She should seriously be taking pictures for Vogue! Because she is not one of those upscale snooty photographers I got a KILLER deal! And she even does videos and lets you have all the rights to the pictures! Oh and the best part of it all is that I want to take our wedding pictures and engagements at my Uncle's cute little rustic farm house on the Idaho boarder which is about 2 hours from Salt Lake. She is only charging me around $50 for the drive! NO photographer would EVER do that without charging an arm and a leg! Seriously check her out. before she becomes a mega star and raises her killer prices. I'm getting my bridals, engagements, complete wedding day, video, and rights to it all for a little over $1,500! Oh and on top of that she is gorgeous with killer style and I have such a girl crush on her! Check here out:

INFO:

Tessa Barton

FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/tessa.barton1  

FB fan page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tbartonphotography/153425511394305 

Blog: http://tbartonphotography.blogspot.com/ 

Email: tessa-11@hotmail.com

This last photo is her in the flesh and this is the photo that sold me!! So gorgeous! I'm no model though, so fingers crossed that she can make me look like one!

                                         

The Future (aka the next 2 weeks) Looks Bright!!

So some exciting things happened this week, and there are some more exciting things to come that I am antsy about! First off, I got an iPhone! Finally! It was a little graduation present to myself. I’m pretty sure Spencer was more excited then I was. He walked right up to the counter at Verizon and told them what’s up. Haha. Second, the weather here in Provo is great! Spring has sprung early! Me and Spencer were once again able to start our “Sunday walks” back up because it was so warm. We didn’t actually walk though, we took the scooter. We went to Sonic and got a drink, and then drove past our (hopefully) new apartment (more on that later). 

The iPhone case I just ordered. Isn't it just the cutest!!!

I can call him fiance now. Weird. 

I also got a chance to go snowboarding for the 2nd time and I'm a pro!! Well, almost. I didn't fall once my last run down the mountain and it was very exciting. 

Well, I can't tell everyone how excited I am for the next 2 weeks. Some big things are in store. This weekend we are going to Vegas for Spencer's parents birthday. And on top of that... we are looking at rings! Yay. I've decided to go with the first one from my last post. I can't wait to have the real deal on my hand. Another thing happening is that on the 20th we get to go tour the studio apartment we've had our eye on! They are brand new and still being built. They are also completely furnished with nice new furniture so we don't have to buy any! Here is a picture of the outside. I'm so excited for the cute balcony! 

I've always strayed away from studio apartments but this one has a half wall to separate the bedroom so it's not bad at all. Plus there are so many cute things you can do to make the room feel separate that I've found.

Sliding barn doors

The last thing that I am very excited for this week is a job interview. Tomorrow I have an interview at Intermountain Healthcare for receptionist/front desk position. I'm very excited for it. It's taken me a while but I've finally realized that it is ok to not do anything with your major if it doesn't make you happy or you don't want to. It's really just the degree that matters. There has been nothing I've enjoyed as much as my receptionist/secretary jobs and I wan't to work somewhere that I love. So fingers crossed! I need to make some dough so I can put the (future) hubby through school. I'm a grown-up! Yikes!! 

Putting A Ring On It...

Are all my posts going to be about the wedding... no... but I can't help that that's whats on my mind so tough cookies. So as most of you know I was proposed to with a fake ring. I was the one behind this plan because:

a) I would never trust anyone but myself to pick out a ring I had to wear for the rest of my life and

b) I hate when couples pick out the ring before hand because then the engagement is not a true TRUE surprise. I wanted to be totally caught off guard and BABY OH BABY I was!! 

So, Spencer's sister-in-law is good friends with a family that owns a custom ring store in Vegas so we are planning on going down there next weekend. Let me tell you I am one of those girls that has had her wedding planned for ages! Not because I was overly excited to get married, but because I am a control freak and I don't know how you can go into something unplanned. I mean I knew I was getting married one day right? Might as well be prepared for it and make your life easy when you get to that point. Well, the ring on the other hand was one of the LAST things I had prepared for. All I have to say is God bless Pintrest. 

So if you know me, then you know I am not traditional. In fact I am the ANTI-traditional. My wedding dress is going to be short, I'm not planning on having a bouquet (I mean why do I want to carry something around all day that I'm just going to be trying to figure out where to put it down so that I can find it again later). No thanks. I hate cake (I'm having pie) and I hate in general the "cake cutting" moment. Oh yay! You've finally reached a stage where you can be trusted with sharp utensils! BORING! And forget about not seeing the bride until the wedding day! We are taking our bridals (and groomals?) weeks in advance because the last thing I want to do on MY (I mean our) day is stand around taking pictures. The list goes on, and when it comes to the ring, I'm no different. 

First off, going along with my "non-traditionalist" views, I don't like anything bling-y, princess-y, diva-licious, or overly-flashy. As Spencer would put it, "Nah man, that ain't me." I think in today's society we put to much emphasis on the ring. "Oh you're engaged? Let me see the ring so I can judge it, and decide if your marriage will last based on it's clarity and size." The ring is not the important part to me. It's the man that puts it on my finger. He is the one that needs to measure up to all my expectations. Beside, why the heck would I want thousands of dollars on my hand to walk around with everyday! If you know me and my rate of losing things, then you know that is a disaster waiting to happen. 

So now to unveil my choices! Da-dadada!!! Well for starters, I don't want a silver ring (which I never thought I would say). I want a rose gold/almost copper ring. I mean silvers great, but for me and the type of ring I want I think it would only look good with a colored diamond. Sometimes I don't like the way the silver and the diamonds blend together into this big ball of SHINE... 

If I have a diamond I just want it to stand out. Shiny on shiny just isn't me and doesn't do the diamond justice. It's hard to see where the diamond ends and the band begins. I also want the metal to be a little rough and not shiny. I love the contrast of the two. With that said here are my two rings I am debating between. I love them both (although Spencer loves one more than the other) but only one ring will prevail. Best of luck to you both. Keep in mind these are not exact but they are pretty close.

This was the first one I found. Simple. Clean. Classic. I wouldn't mind it in a rectangle shape either. 

This is the other ring I love! It's so different. OBVIOUSLY those aren't diamonds so you have to imagine it with diamonds. And the diamonds would be closer together so you can't see any metal in between on the 2 triangle sections. Anyway there you have it. Decisions, decisions. Only one week to decide my life sentence!

The Proposal Video

Luckily Spencer's roommate was hiding under the bed filming this. Don't ask me what I said at the beginning. No idea! Super embarrassing. I was in too much shock to care though!

The Engagement

(Just a warning: I wrote this fast and there are probably many typos)

I just wanted to start off by saying I LOVE my engagement story. This is a blessing because some people hate their story. There was no helicopter ride over the city, no rose pedals and candles, and my name wasn’t up on the scoreboard at half time. I asked Spencer that my engagement only include 3 things:

1.       Be filmed or photographed so we have proof it actually happened

2.       Be personal in a “only he and I get it” kind of way

3.       Not be in pubic aka baseball game, restaurant, karaoke night etc...

And the boy did me well!! Boo-ya! So this is a long and complicated story. I’m sorry. Leave now if you don’t love me.

First off, I “hinted” to Spencer that I wanted a Leap Day engagement some time ago. I mean let’s face it, how can that NOT be good luck. I mean they made a whole movie about it right? Also, we knew we were getting married on July Friday the 13^th. How cool would it be to have my engagement and wedding on two very rare “holidays?” If you know me, it is TOTALLY me. BUT at last my heart had given up since Spencer had informed me he had to work an extra 10 hours this week and he had a test. I did not think a leap day engagement was in my future. I could only hope he would propose to me before the snow melted.  

Tuesday (day before Leap Day) night I was doing the dished and I always take my rings off when I do this (trust me this is all important). As many of you know I have a ring with Spencer and I’s initials that I always wear. Seriously... shower, face wash, dishes... only time it comes off.  Later that night Spencer came over to study and I realized I didn’t have my ring on. I searched for it frantically. I remember putting it on the table and then throwing away garbage on said table... so naturally I put on some cleaning gloves and dug through the trash. Spencer begged me to stop and told me that he would help me look for it tomorrow. REMEMBER... this is all very important.

The next day I woke up really sick and had to miss work (I’m sure Spencer was sweating about that). When Spencer got home from school that afternoon, he offered to take me to get a Dr. Pepper (because we know that cures all illnesses). BUT before we left he told me to change out of my pajamas because he had a surprise for me. [Now did I think at this point I was getting proposed to... no. Because Spencer had work in 45 minutes and we weren’t in any hurry... but I still hoped.]

We got my DP, and as we were pulling up to the “secret location” Spencer turned to me and said “I know you had your hopes up for something special to happen today and I didn’t want it to be a complete disappointment so I brought you to look at puppies.” Low and behold he brought me to a pet shop. Obviously we weren’t getting anything, but Spencer knows how much I love puppies so it did make me feel better.

After that Spencer dropped me off home and went to work. He was scheduled to work until 9pm. My roommates had later asked me if I wanted to go to the mall but because I was sick I didn’t feel like walking around watching them buy things. So they convinced me finally to just go get some food with them. I would later find out they were instructed to get me out of the house.

So FINALLY we arrived home. I opened the door... and there on the kitchen floor was my volleyball. Not just any volleyball, but the volleyball I got at the volleyball camp that I met Spencer at when we were 16 years old. And he had signed it for me. I still didn’t suspect anything. I just thought it had rolled out of the kitchen closet or something. Then as I moved to the hallway, there was Spencer's jacket. I still didn’t suspect anything. My first thought was that Spencer had gotten off work early and was pulling some kind of joke on me and hiding in my room... but then I spotted the trail of items leading down the hallway to my bedroom door; items that meant a lot to me and Spencer... and they were in chronological order; like a timeline. My eyes began to get misty. I just kept thinking “No no no... this isn’t... it can’t be...

The jacket following the volleyball was the jacket he wore the first time I saw him 3 years later after volleyball camp. Next was the Halloween costume he wore when we went to a very eventful Halloween party. Next were my purple skinny jeans and a movie ticket. They were the jeans I wore on our first “real” date and the movie ticket was from the actually movie we had seen that he had found in his pocket 2 years later. Next were the 3 movies we watched together right before he left on his mission. Then the box of letters I had written on his mission. Those were followed by some random costume items we had worn and won at an arcade. Next was our pair of matching Rock ‘n’ Republic jeans and Nixon watches because we always match. After that was a Jazz jersey and his snowboard to represent the Jazz game we went to and the time he taught me how to snowboard. And last... was my bulldog stuffed animals he gave me for Christmas last year to represent the puppies we had gone to see that day.

Finally when I had reached the end of our timeline, I opened the door... and there, in a blue striped shirt that brought out his eyes, was Spencer... with a box in his hand. My face turned bright red! His roommate filmed the whole thing and I can’t even tell you what I said when I walked in because I had my hands over my face and I was in complete shock. Spencer then looked at me and said “Ashley, I’ve loved every moment that brought us to this point... and I want to make a lifetime more. So Ashley Celestia Barnum, [he then got on one knee] will you marry me?” I was in too much shock to cry or talk so I just nodded my head and kissed him. I just kept thinking “This is it. This is my moment. This is my engagements story.” Oh and did I mention... when he opened the ring box there was my ring! The one with our initials! That’s why I said in the video “You had it!” (meaning my ring). He had watched me dig through that garbage knowing that my roommate had stolen it right out from under me to give to him.

To wrap it up, Spencer’s roommates all jumped out of hiding (they had been filming it and taking pictures). Once we were over all the shock, Spencer told me he had reservations at 3 different restaurants. We ended up going to La Jolla Groves, a super nice restaurant with amazing food in Provo that I had never been to before. The waiter probably thought we hated each other since most of the dinner we were texting and calling loved ones and figuring out how to work Facebook’s relationship status. All in all I am one happy girl. I couldn’t have asked for a better love story; I couldn’t have asked for a better proposal; and on Friday July 13, 2012, I know I will have the greatest wedding in the world because I will have my best friend by my side!

(P.s. his roommate has the video of this but I will upload it later when I get it from him)

Spence practicing first with his roommate